{"product_id":"2940015723380","title":"Nala \u0026 Damayanti\u0026 Other Poems","description":"CONTENTS:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNALA AND DAMAYANTI\u003cbr\u003e  NOTES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE DEATH OF YAJNADATTA\u003cbr\u003e  NOTES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE BRAHMIN'S LAMENT\u003cbr\u003e  NOTES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE DELUGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE DESCENT OF THE GANGES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e       *       *       *       *       *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose friends who have taken an interest in my literary productions\u003cbr\u003emay feel some surprise at my appearance in the character of a\u003cbr\u003etranslator of Sanscrit poetry. To those, and indeed to all who may\u003cbr\u003etake up the present volume, I owe some explanation of my pretensions\u003cbr\u003eas a faithful interpreter of my original text. Those pretensions are\u003cbr\u003every humble; and I can unfeignedly say, that if the field had been\u003cbr\u003elikely to be occupied by others, who might unite poetical powers with\u003cbr\u003ea profound knowledge of the sacred language of India, I should have\u003cbr\u003ewithdrawn at once from the competition. But, in fact, in this country\u003cbr\u003ethe students of oriental literature, endowed with a taste and feeling\u003cbr\u003efor poetry, are so few in number, that any attempt to make known the\u003cbr\u003epeculiar character of those remarkable works, the old mythological\u003cbr\u003eepics of India, may be received with indulgence by all who are\u003cbr\u003einterested in the history of poetry. Mr. Wilson alone, since Sir W.\u003cbr\u003eJones, has united a poetical genius with deep Sanscrit scholarship;\u003cbr\u003ebut he has in general preferred the later and more polished\u003cbr\u003eperiod--that of Kalidasa and the dramatists--to the ruder, yet in my\u003cbr\u003eopinion, not less curious and poetical strains of the older epic\u003cbr\u003ebards.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA brief account of the manner in which I became engaged in these\u003cbr\u003estudies, will best explain the extent of my proficiency. During the\u003cbr\u003etwo last years in which I held the office of Professor of Poetry in\u003cbr\u003ethe University of Oxford, having exhausted the subject which I had\u003cbr\u003echosen for my terminal course, I was at a loss for some materials for\u003cbr\u003ethe few remaining lectures before my office should expire. I had been\u003cbr\u003eled by the ardent curiosity, which I have ever felt to acquire some\u003cbr\u003eknowledge of the poetry of all ages and nations--to examine some of\u003cbr\u003ethe publications of French and German, as well as English scholars, on\u003cbr\u003ethe subject of Indian poetry; chiefly those of the Schlegels, of Bopp,\u003cbr\u003eand of De Chezy. I was struck with the singularity and captivated by\u003cbr\u003ethe extreme beauty, as it appeared to me, of some of the extracts,\u003cbr\u003eespecially those from the great epic poems, the Mahabharata and the\u003cbr\u003eRamayana, in their Homeric simplicity so totally opposite to the\u003cbr\u003eordinary notions entertained of all eastern poetry. I was induced to\u003cbr\u003eattempt, without any instruction, and with the few elementary works\u003cbr\u003ewhich could be procured, the Grammars of Wilkins and Bopp, the\u003cbr\u003eGlossaries of Bopp and Rosen (Mr. Wilson's Dictionary was then out of\u003cbr\u003eprint and could not be purchased), to obtain some knowledge of this\u003cbr\u003ewonderful and mysterious language. The study grew upon me, and would\u003cbr\u003ehave been pursued with more ardour, perhaps with more success, but for\u003cbr\u003ethe constant interruption of more imperative professional and literary\u003cbr\u003eavocations. In itself the Sanscrit is an inexhaustible subject of\u003cbr\u003einterest; in its grammatical structure more regular, artificial, and\u003cbr\u003ecopious than the most perfect of the western languages; in its origin,\u003cbr\u003ethe parent from which the older Greek, the Latin and the Teutonic\u003cbr\u003etongues seem to branch out and develop themselves upon distinct and\u003cbr\u003ediscernible principles.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI ventured to communicate to the Members of the University who\u003cbr\u003eattended my lectures, my discoveries, as it were, in the unknown\u003cbr\u003eregion of Indian poetry, and to introduce translations of such\u003cbr\u003epassages as appeared to me of peculiar singularity or beauty. Though I\u003cbr\u003ewas still moving in the leading-strings of my learned guides, I had\u003cbr\u003eobtained sufficient acquaintance with the language to compare their\u003cbr\u003einterpretations with the original text. I afterwards embodied some\u003cbr\u003eparts of my lectures in an article in the Quarterly Review, in order\u003cbr\u003eto contribute as far as was in my power to open this new and almost\u003cbr\u003euntrodden field of literature to the English reader.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStill I should not have presumed to form these translations into a\u003cbr\u003eseparate work, nor acceded to the proposal of the publisher of the\u003cbr\u003epresent volume, who has himself deserved so well of the students of\u003cbr\u003eoriental lore by his excellent translation, or rather recomposition of\u003cbr\u003eAdelung's \"Historical Sketch of Sanscrit Literature,\" but for the\u003cbr\u003eencouragement and assistance of Mr. Wilson, now, the University may be\u003cbr\u003eproud to say, the Boden Professor of Sanscrit at Oxford. To his most\u003cbr\u003efriendly care in revising these sheets, I owe the correction of many\u003cbr\u003eerrors; and Sanscrit scholars will find in the notes some observations\u003cbr\u003eon the text, which will contribute to elucidate the poem of Nala.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147836834032,"sku":"2940015723380","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015723380","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}