XXXI.—­The Perfect Hermitage
 XXXII.—­Visvamitra’s Sacrifice
XXXIII.—­The Sone
 XXXIV.—­Brahmadatta
  XXXV.—­Visvamitra’s Lineage
 XXXVI.—­The Birth of Ganga
      [Cantos XXXVII. and XXXVIII. are omitted]
 XXXIX.—­The Son of Sagar
    XL.—­The Cleaving of the Earth
   XLI.—­Kapil
  XLII.—­Sagar’s Sacrifice
 XLIII.—­Bhagirath

SAKOONTALA

Introduction
Dramatis Personae
Rules for Pronunciation of Proper Names
Prologue
Act First
Act Second
Prelude to Act Third
Act Third
Prelude to Act Fourth
Act Fourth
Act Fifth
Prelude to Act Sixth
Act Sixth
Act Seventh

POEMS BY TORU DUTT

Introduction
ballads of Hindostan.—­
  Jogadhya Uma
  Buttoo
  Sindhu.—­
    Part I
    Part II
    Part III
miscellaneous poems.—­
  Near Hastings
  France
  The Tree of Life
  Madame Therese
  Sonnet
  Sonnet
  Our Casuarina-Tree

THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS

* * * * *

SELECTED FROM

THE HITOPADESA

[Translated from the Sanscrit by Sir Edwin Arnold]

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

A story-book from the Sanscrit at least possesses the minor merit of novelty.  The “perfect language” has been hitherto regarded as the province of scholars, and few of these even have found time or taste to search its treasures.  And yet among them is the key to the heart of modern India—­as well as the splendid record of her ancient Gods and glories.  The hope of Hindostan lies in the intelligent interest of England.  Whatever avails to dissipate misconceptions between them, and to enlarge their intimacy, is a gain to both peoples; and to this end the present volume aspires, in an humble degree, to contribute.

The “Hitopadesa” is a work of high antiquity, and extended popularity.  The prose is doubtless as old as our own era; but the intercalated verses and proverbs compose a selection from writings of an age extremely remote.  The “Mahabharata” and the textual Veds are of those quoted; to the first of which Professor M. Williams (in his admirable edition of the “Nala,” 1860) assigns a date of 350 B.C., while he claims for the “Rig-Veda” an antiquity as high as B.C. 1300.  The “Hitopadesa” may thus be fairly styled “The Father of all Fables”; for from its numerous translations have come AEsop and Pilpay, and in later days Reineke Fuchs.  Originally compiled in Sanscrit, it was rendered, by order of Nushiravan, in the sixth century, A.D., into Persic.  From the Persic it passed, A.D. 850, into the Arabic, and thence into Hebrew and