In view of the comprehensive character of the *' Temple Classics,'* it has seemed desirable to include Mr. Dutt's version of India's great Epic- the work of a distinguished soldier and patriot. The im- portance of the poem is sufficiently explained in Mr. Dutt's Note, The translator's high position in Modern Indian Literature is attested by the following reference in Mr. R. W. Frazer's recent '* Literary- History of India " [an excellent survey of the whole subject, to which the reader should turn, more especially for its luminous account of the Epics and Dramas of Ancient India) :--" A worthy follower of Indians first great novelist (Bankim Chandra Chatterji) ap- peared in Romesh Chandra Dutt, the ablest native member of the Indian Civil Service, His novels have now passed through five or six editions in the Bengali. . . . His translation of the ' Rig Veda Sanhita ' into Bengali appeared in 1887 ; his valuable < History of Civilisation of Ancient India/ in English, in three volumes, from 1889, &C. &c. . . . A whole library of
- Sorrow and Song ' -was poured forth by this Butt family of
Rambagan." Mr. Dutt is at present resident in London, holding the office of Lecturer in Indian History at University College, and devoting himself to literary and other labours, I. G. Nov. 15th, 1898
