Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/302

-WM* t 1&T&.] BOOK NOTICES. .-: word, but hi* work*, the unovrtaut light of natural phsaaaracna. A* (In- world grew older, the lusting problem of life and d«*tb ; the riddlr- of m and ]"."trtv. >uathandeldagrj; the tvts-Up of sickness or health, good or evil luck ; the nice <{UMfJonit of eo*eul led virtu o Ami eo-ropatad vice, fbf "I thLuiidref on the notice of thinking minds, mud, a* they worked ou in una booties* round, induced thai sytte which man call phiWjjihy ; and ahmr great Philosophic Age begun to dawn, uuW -,! in hr fltich iuda as Zoroaster, I ihu wise men of Greece, and tho viae >■ India. In that forth rmno into existence Lhu nix • I* of Indian Philosophy (p. 4V). Nothing u mora striking, as Professor William* shows, than tl Deo of inch diverg. ju in ono apparently rigid fmuicwor 1 5M, 61*70). Hrabmanlatn and nationalism, under the semblance or orthodoxy, advanced hand In hand : Bon ideas were conceived, expanded, blos- somed, and in the rasa or Diiddlikui wore oxttn- gnishr-d forcibly hy the secular power: and hero ihu author incidentally notes (p. 5) the n'mgular rmmnu nations hnra adopt- ed Buddhism, a faith of Aryan parentage, while ryan haio rt ttTTOd n r od ibcinstdves to Semitic dogma*. To tho casual reader the chapter on thu TWo* ii fait of interest. To it follow* an aeoouui U and Uprtnithmlt, and or tho system* of philosophy: tho account of the Jain* (p. 127) nnd of the Iffcityi.trrtd.jrfM (p. 136) hare a Strang* fascination, an I knap up the in ten: -it alter Tour leetWH on the Stnfiti, 8m4riH'ttltr<t, and law-books, until wo reach the epic*, and proceed d to tho grand clerical age of Sanskrit literature. Ebnor Wdltams aiitnrn into tho detail* of the groat epics* tho Riimdtfava (p. ;U17} and .)f,iKd- hhdmi [p iptor to a comparison of then* with pOOttH ( p. 125): he add* a choice selection of their re- d ioJitiiiwiitfl fp- tV>), as sly test of tho degreo of moral perception tlteir ti>riipilcnf. and those who hang rapturously on their ifedtatfon iu tin- voraaetthtr, had arrived i tome of those wo may quote in later pages. iinvn now reached tho*n portions of the lite- raturn which may he called comparatively rno- dern; they constat of— I. the artificial poenrn ip, J L the drama- I II. the Ptwfa 1 < aild fablua The former class comprise eoinn poems which illustrate botli tho beauty mid the defects of the Kaiifilcpt language and Itto n,— tho jno&uinglc&s play of words, the fauci* ful conceits, the ' linked nweotuedS long drawn fchafA it to tfic finest thrr lutticul forms, tho exeeptimiahle chain of word*. In thuie pan teniae no poem in any lan- guage can compete as regards singulariiy, charm of originality, and highly wrought finish with tho SaghuiiiiMii.il>. 456%iTojJl^aWavBaiioth«ra. Many a Sonskritiat who can read aba «pln« t or tho laws Of M«uu t with facility, will find a deeper study usccaaary to Open bbo looks of a poam whose erory a separaio pns.«lm und yet the grand aonoroua Uneo who llmxigfa thn gall time with a rythmical rthration whloh caa never bumr.- ilomcric huxain read tamely by thu Mido oTtho Kahdiaa, whr«o etnhri runs n the unlimited use of melodious homophonea* The dnunaaaro t«» well known to require further - pnus ou to thu Purda it *, whinh aro practically the prnper fodmt of |»p innn. Tbey an uiudt-ru tu daso, rory nnmordn' of varying popularity- They are «*y thoeiol^r) of tho F*da to the lower cu»to'j and to women. The compiler* m into thir pitfall ol pretending to tench "nearly every subject of knowledge/' " to give the hj -if thn win emoteafc agos f and claim to be the inspired reran lent «u as well «w ■ but In fact they aro aero- and bite ZV*e«  Tiiii'd, and aro justly charged with 'Very i" omuineteucif' 1 ip. -100). Wo rise from a study of this book with a senile orthngrw, at nnd tho general scholar by this bringing together fo n a readily aecosaiblu form lhu .-orjois Of •■Indian WiKd-ini." Those only who cOmnt if Sanskrit thirty or iortj years ago am fully appreciate the value and aar>; : iuch a volume. At that period no one could say with certainty what were the boundonos of Sauskrili literature Tho last thirty yearn hare indeed been of wondmoa expansion— a gathering in of a rich Indian harvest into Kuropoan granariotci. French, (iermnn. Knglifth, ttaliana, natives of I ml in, Danes, and citutens of tho United Stales hare all on r i tio tho groat work ; and now in bis latest work Professor stonier Wd! gives us a comi pectus of tho whole subjuct — a mine ■if refurenco, and a ettdoBtik-we* for fnlaro "holara, It is a real gratification that the K: school of Sanskr lirod in tins hnroir. ag*> bj ih- gni&tl i 11 II Wilson, to whom I . feisU of ' ■ iniis" is cheerfully coiuhxIoI by all Eunrjaui. l*tAtk-% t June lBtv. rj.