ar, Chand Bibi, and the romantic
story of her struggle against Akbar, in 1596, is the subject of the poem
on p. 353. Only the bright side is, however, presented; the tragic fate
which overtook the unfortunate princess three years later is not
referred to.[185] The famous battle of Samugarh, 1658, by which
Aurangzib gained the Mogul Empire, is narrated on p. 310, according to
the account of Bernier.[186] In this connection we may also mention "Das
Mikroskop," p. 370, the familiar anecdote of the Brahman who refused to
drink water, after the microscope had revealed to him the existence
therein of countless animalcules (Ritter, _Erdk._ iv. 1. p. 749).

* * * * *

Besides the poems falling under the groups discussed above there are
many of purely didactic or moralizing tendency, embodying general
reflections. It would take us too far, were we to attempt to discuss
them, even if their interest were sufficiently great to repay the
trouble. We must, however, point out that even the Sanskrit vocabulary
is impressed into service to furnish material for such poems. Thus the
fact that the word _pada_ may mean either "foot," "step," or "ray of
the moon or sun," is utilized for the last lines of "Vom Monde," p. 368.
The meaning of the term _bakravratin_, "acting like a crane," applied to
a hypocrite, is used for a poem on p. 363. Similarly the threefold
signification of _dvipa_ as "brahman," "bird," and "tooth" suggests
"Zweigeboren," p. 423, and more instances might be adduced. It is not to
be wondered at that such poetizing should often degenerate into the most
inane trifling, so that we get such rhyming efforts as that on p. 326
with its pun on the similarity of _hima_ "winter" with _hema_ "gold,"
_Himalaya_ and _himavat_ with _Himmel_ and _Heimat_, or that on p. 385
with its childish juxtaposition of the Vedantic term _maya_, the Greek
name _Maia_, and the German word _Magie_.

* * * * *

If the poems discussed in the preceding pages were found to be largely
didactic and gnomic in character, the great collection called _Die
Weisheit des Brahmanen_ is entirely so. The poems composing this bulky
work appeared in installments during the period 1836-1839, and, while
many of them, as will be shown below, are the outcome of Rueckert's
Oriental studies, the majority simply embody general reflections on
anything and everything that happened to engage the poet's attention.