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VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE or, Tales of Hindu Devilry
VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE or, Tales of Hindu Devilry
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Richard F. Burton has expanded Vikram into a volume which is profusely decorated with weird and powerful, and, we must add, repulsive sketches.
On the thread of each revolting story is the intention to display the supernatural prowess, perseverance, and triumph of the far-famed Vikramaditya, a sovereign who ascended the throne of Delhi about the period of the Christian era. The era of Vikram's victory over the Shakos is A.D. 78, and is one of the classic 'termini a quo' of the confused Hindu chronologies. We shall not attempt to give specimens of the skill with which Burton has translated these wild apologues into our vernanacular, and occasionally into the slang of characters who may be thought in these days to correspond with the dramatis persona of the old legendary recitals.
There is a quaint, savage humour about some of the fables, and an abundant use of the element of magic as well as satire, in the records of Hindu devilry: those who wish by an easy process to acquaint themselves with some of the forms of thought which interest the oriental mind may use this volume as an introduction to one department of Hindu literature. The skeleton is at least clothed with flesh and blood, and the tame and uninteresting recitals of the original are made to wriggle into something like life. A translation of the tales was made in 1825 by a learned native of Bombay, and another by Captain Hollings in 1848. Richard F. Burton does not profess to have translated, but has 'adapted' them.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
This e-book edition contains thrity-three illustrations by Ernest Griset as they appeared in the Longmans, Green & Co. publication of 1870.
On the thread of each revolting story is the intention to display the supernatural prowess, perseverance, and triumph of the far-famed Vikramaditya, a sovereign who ascended the throne of Delhi about the period of the Christian era. The era of Vikram's victory over the Shakos is A.D. 78, and is one of the classic 'termini a quo' of the confused Hindu chronologies. We shall not attempt to give specimens of the skill with which Burton has translated these wild apologues into our vernanacular, and occasionally into the slang of characters who may be thought in these days to correspond with the dramatis persona of the old legendary recitals.
There is a quaint, savage humour about some of the fables, and an abundant use of the element of magic as well as satire, in the records of Hindu devilry: those who wish by an easy process to acquaint themselves with some of the forms of thought which interest the oriental mind may use this volume as an introduction to one department of Hindu literature. The skeleton is at least clothed with flesh and blood, and the tame and uninteresting recitals of the original are made to wriggle into something like life. A translation of the tales was made in 1825 by a learned native of Bombay, and another by Captain Hollings in 1848. Richard F. Burton does not profess to have translated, but has 'adapted' them.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
This e-book edition contains thrity-three illustrations by Ernest Griset as they appeared in the Longmans, Green & Co. publication of 1870.
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