Nalopákhyánam : Story of Nala / an episode of the Mahábhárata: the Sanskrit text, with a copious vocabulary, grammatical analysis, and introduction by Monier Williams. The metrical translation by the Very Reverend Henry Hart Milman.

Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nalopákhyánam : Story of Nala / an episode of the Mahábhárata: the Sanskrit text, with a copious vocabulary, grammatical analysis, and introduction by Monier Williams. The metrical translation by the Very Reverend Henry Hart Milman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    shall he accorded to this language which shall exempt it from yielding to our customs and requirements as learners. Before Greek and Latin came to he much cultivated in England, they had, so to speak, to be anglicised. Grammars were written and books edited according to an English plan; all the contractions common in MSS. were discarded; sj)acing, punctuation, and the various devices of typography were employed; and even the pronunciation was adapted to our peculiar English notions. If this be true of Greek and Latin, it aj^plies with ten-fold force to the more com¬ plex Sanskrit. We cannot study any language for its own sake; and certainly Sanskrit can never be to us what it appears to be to the Brahmans—the sole end and object of education. Before we consent to cast our¬ selves in a Sanskrit mould, we require Sanskrit to cast itself in something of our own mould. We bend to Siin- skrit, if Sanskrit will first bend to us. We study its pecu¬ liarities, if it will condescend to study ours. Before this language can become popuhir amongst Englishmen, the road to its acc|uirement must be thoroughly anglicised. The first step in this direction was taken by the Delegates of the Oxford Press in publishing the second edition of my Sanskrit Grammar in good clear type, and at a moderate price. The second step is also made by the same liberal body in putting forth the beautifully printed volume now completed. Convinced, then, that just as facilities for travelling in¬ crease travelling and create traffic, the puldication of these books will infallibly tend to i)romote a more general study of Sanskrit in this country, I proceed to explain more at large the plan and scope of the j)resent volume. First,—as to the text. I have taken care that the ])resent edition shall have, as far as possible, a pure and accurate text. An excellent MS. of the Malut-bharata, belonging to the India House