2.
The "Nîti,"[1] in this world, is a man's substance, his father, his mother, his teacher, his friend: a person, therefore, knowing the "Nîti," is a wise man, both excellent and well-informed.
3.
How can there be proficiency for one who is indolent, wealth for one without proficiency, friendship for one without wealth, happiness for the friendless, merit for the uhappy, and Nibbân[2] for the unmeritorious person?
4.
Wealth is not equal in value to learning. Thieves do not take away learning:[3] it is friendship in this world, and the bearer of happiness in the next.
5.
One should not despite a little; he should keep in his mind what has been acquired: drops of water in an ant-hill will fill it at length.[4]
- ↑ This word has the form niti also in Burmese palm-leafs. The orthography nidhi, signifying a "repository," is met with occasionally, but this, no doubt, is the result of phonetic similarity. For remarks on Nîti literature, see the Introduction to this work.
- ↑ This is the form which the Sanskrit Nirvâna takes in Burmese literature. [Nibbân = nibbâna = ni + vâ + na = nivvâna, which, according to rule, becomes nibbâna, "a going out."]
- ↑ The idea is borrowed from Ćâṇakya:—
"With knowledge say what other walth
Can vie, which neither thieves by stealth
Can take, nor kinsmen make their prey;
Which lavish'd, never wastes away." —Muir.
Or, more literally, "That jewel knowledge, which kinsmen plunder not, nor thieves carry away, which decreaseth not by giving, is great wealth."
- ↑ Compare Hitopadeśa, ii. 10:—
"By drops of water falling one by one,
Little by little may a jar be filled;
Such is the law of all accumulations—
Of money, knowledge, and religious merit." —Indian Wisdom.
people Prasii. The chief places of Buddhistic interest in Magadha were Buddha Gayâ, Râjagriha, Nâlanda, and Kusâgârapura, the original capital. The sacred texts written in the Mâgadha dialect are properly speaking, termed Pâḷi. The latter word is spelt Pâlî by the Burmese.
Sanskrit chiefly. There is internal evidence to show that preexisting Buddhistic compilations have also been made use of in this anthology.
