(2)
version ending abruptly in the middle of a sentence, there is nothing in it to find fault with.—Civil & Military Gazette.
An English edition of the "Mahabharata" is in course of publication by Mr. Protap Chundra Roy, of Calcutta, under the auspices of the "Datavya Bharata Karyalya," a literary society devoted to the gratuitous distribution of Hindu classical literature. The society was formed seven years ago, and during its existence it has distributed thousands of copies of a Bengali translation of the "Mahabharata," and vast numbers of copies of the "Harivansa." Altogether about 18,000 copies of the sacred books of India have been distributed, the number representing, Mr. Roy thinks, "a degree of interest taken by the people in the history of their past that is certainly not discouraging to patriotic hearts." We had always thought that sensational novel reading was peculiarly a Western vice, but it seems from Mr. Roy's preface to the first part of the English edition of the Mahabharata which lies before us, that the fair daughters of the East are not averse to a little blood and thunder literature now and then. Mr. Roy says that he would feel himself amply repaid for his labour in connection with the Datavya Bharata Karyalya if his exertions "have contributed in the least towards withdrawing any portion of my countrymen and countrywomen from a perusal of the sensational literature of the present day in which, under the pretence of improvement, the plots and situations of fifth-rate French novels are introduced, vitiating the manly Aryan taste and leaving no substantial instruction behind." The work is to be published in monthly parts of ten forms each, and it is estimated that it will cost Rs. 1,00,000—a large sum for a private society to expend on a work of this description. Whether the advantages secured will be proportionate to the labour and expense bestowed upon the translation it is not for us to say; but it is quite certain that the book will commend itself to all English-speaking people, who desire to get an insight into the great Hindoo epic. So far as we are able to judge, the translation is a good one, Mr. Roy having striven to embody in his version the beauties of the original.—Bombay Gazette.
The first instalment of Mr. Pratap Chundra Roy's English (prose) translation of the Mahabharata has been published. The rendering appears to be faithful and spirited. As we said a few weeks ago, the value of such a work cannot be over-estimated. The enlightened Bharat Karyalaya, of which Mr. Roy is the life and soul, will lay their countrymen as well as the representatives of Western scholarship under lasting obligation if they carry this undertaking to a successful issue. And of this we have no doubt, seeing what an indefatigable worker Mr. Roy has proved himself to be. The work as well as the worker has a claim upon the support of every intelligent native; and we trust that on suitable occasions, such as marriage and otherwise, Hindus of all sections will swell the list of subscriptions in aid of this important national movement.—Indian Spectator.
