The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hindoo Tales, by Translated by P. W. Jacob

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Title: Hindoo Tales
Or, The Adventures of Ten Princes

Author: Translated by P. W. Jacob

Release Date: March 28, 2004 [EBook #11738]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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HINDOO TALES

_OR, THE ADVENTURES OF TEN PRINCES_

FREELY TRANSLATED FROM THE SANSCRIT OF THE DASAKUMARACHARITAM

BY P. W. JACOB

STRAHAN & CO. 56 LUDGATE HILL, LONDON

1873

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

The Sanscrit work entitled "Dasakumaracharitam, or the Adventures of
Ten Princes," though printed more than twenty-five years ago, has not,
as far as I can ascertain, been translated into any European language.
Many parts of it are written in such a turgid "Oriental" style, that a
close translation would be quite unsuitable to the English reader.
Such passages have therefore been much condensed; others, which are
hardly decent--or, as in the speech of the parasite in the last story,
tedious and uninteresting, have been omitted; but in general the
original has been pretty closely adhered to, and nothing has been
added to it.

The exact date of the composition of the "Dasakumaracharitam" is not
known. It is supposed to have been written about the end of the
eleventh century, and was left unfinished by the author; but as the
story of the last narrator is almost finished, not much could have
been wanting to complete the work, and the reader may easily imagine
what the conclusion would have been.

Some of the incidents correspond with those of the "Arabian Nights,"
but the stories on the whole are quite different from anything found
there, and give a lively picture of Hindoo manners and morals.
Unscrupulous deception, ready invention, extreme credulity and
superstition, and disregard of human life, are strongly illustrated.

The belief in the power of penance, which was supposed to confer on
the person practising it not merely personal sanctity, but even great
supernatural powers, was very generally entertaine