TKWHf I .anz, V.B Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/vasavadattasansk00suba_0 VASAVADATTA A SANSKRIT ROMANCE V J COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY INDO-IRANIAN SERIES EDITED BY A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON PROFESSOR OF INDO-IRANIAN LANGUAGES IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Volume 8 Nefo Yorft COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1913 All rights reserved VASAVADATTA A SANSKRIT ROMANCE SUBANDHU TRANSLATED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY LOUIS H. GRAY, Ph.D. Nefo York COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1913 All rights reserved : : COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS SALES AGENTS NEW YORK LEMCKE & BUECHNER 30-32 WEST 27TH STREET LONDON HENRY FROWDE AMEN CORNER, E.C. TORONTO : HENRY FROWDE 25 RICHMOND STREET, W. PRINTED FROM TYPE BY HORACE HART, M.A. OXFORD, ENGLAND JANUARY, 1913 TO PROFESSOR A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON My Dear Guru—That you consented, on one of the many occasions that I have been privileged to be your guest, to accept the dedication of this translation of India’s oldest formal romance, has ever been to me a source of keenest joy. It is to you that I owe my knowledge of India and her sister land, Iran and to ; you I am indebted, as to a guru indeed—that word which no tongue can truly translate—for so much that makes for true manhood, without which, as without charity, mere knowledge is but ‘ as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.’ I have tried to make my work, here as always, worthy both of you and of Columbia, to which we are each so loyal. Generously you have helped me, even when your leisure was most limited, and gratefully I acknowledge your aid ; for of you I can say with all my heart, as the Irish host of legend cried to their hero, Cailte, Adrae buaid ocus bennachtain ; is mor in fis ocus in faillsiugud firinde doberi duind ar each ni fiarfaigther dti, ‘ Success and benison attend thee great is the lore and the ; disclosure of truth which thou givest us upon all that is asked ’ of thee ! L. H. G. PREFACE The precept of Horace, nonum prematur in annum has been , more than obeyed in this volume, for it was on November 3, 1901, that I began the translation of the Vasavadatta. From that day Subandhu’s romance has never been long absent from my thoughts, although many practical exigencies, some of them not wholly agreeable to a scholar, have forced me again and again to lay the task aside, often for six months at a stretch. Yet these clouds, too, have had their silver lining, for not only has my work thus had time to ripen, but much has appeared bearing on the novel during these intervals, or has been called to my attention by friends. The first draft of the translation was, for example, almost completed when, in March, 1903, Dr. George C. O. Haas noted for me an entry in a catalogue of Stechert, of New York, which enabled me to purchase a copy of the edition of the Vasavadatta printed in Telugu script at Madras in 1862. This necessitated a renewed study of the text in comparison with the edition of Hall, and ultimately led me to include a transliteration of the ‘ southern ’ recension in my work, together with the variants of all the other editions. Some of these would have been inaccessible to me, had it not been for the courtesy of the India Office, which, at the instance of Mr. F. W. Thomas, its librarian, most generously loaned me the texts I needed, so that I might use them at leisure in my own study. Excepting the blank-verse renderings of the few Sanskrit stanzas of the Vasavadatta, I have sought to make the translation as literal as the English language would permit, and throughout I have spared no pains to facilitate reference to the original text, as well as to explain each allusion that I could elucidate. In the latter regard I have considered others than professed Sanskritists, for I have ventured to hope that some copies of the work may vii viii PREFACE fall into the hands of students of literature, who may here find points of similarity to, or divergence from, the writings to which their special attention may be directed. I dare not flatter myself that I have invariably hit the true meaning of the original, for there are passages which repeated study, through these eleven years, has failed to solve to my own complete satisfaction. But even for this I scarcely grieve, for, like Propertius, I feel, Quod si deficiant uires, audacia certe Laus erit : in magnis et uoluisse sat est. And if the cruces that have baffled me shall be solved by other minds, none will feel greater joy in their success than I. It is with a feeling almost akin to regret that I lay down my pen. Perhaps to me the Vasavadatta has deeper associations than to almost any one else who has laboured on it. In hours of bitterness and sorrow it has helped me to forget and it has ; heightened the pleasure of happy days. With all its faults, I it I its love ; possibly have even been so blind as to reckon failings virtues possibly, too, the innate Anglo-Saxon sympathy ; ‘ for the under dog ’ has made me only the more determined in its praise. Is it worth while, or not ? As the Arabs say, Allahu alanui ‘ God best knows (and man can’t tell).’ , I am happy to have had, in my work, the assistance of many friends—Mr. Thomas and Dr. Haas, to whom I have already alluded ; others to whose courtesies reference will be made in the course of the book— Dr. George A. Grierson, Professor Theodor Zachariae, Mr. Richard Hall Professor Washburn Hopkins, ; whose notes aided in introducing me to the mysteries of Grantha script ; Professor Charles R. Lanman, who enabled me to use the Harvard copy of Hall’s edition until I could procure my own—a courtesy which had already been accorded me for a year previous by the library of the Deutsche Morgenlandische Gesellschaft in full ; Mr. T. K. Balasubrahmanya, who replied to my queries concerning ‘ ’ text and Mr. the southern ; G. Payn Quackenbos, who called my attention to the reference to Subandhu in the Subhasitaratnabhandagara while to Dr. Charles , J. Ogden I am indebted for a number of helpful suggestions and PREFACE IX corrections, particularly in the Introduction. In a very special way my thanks are due also to Mr. Alexander Smith Cochran, whose interest in the Columbia University Indo-Iranian Series has rendered possible the printing of this particular volume. My gratitude to my friend and teacher, Professor A. V. Wil- liams Jackson—here editor as well—is more fittingly expressed elsewhere within these covers. Suffice it to say that he read with me word by word the second of the three drafts of this translation, and that wellnigh every page bears some token of his careful scholarship. And to one other—my wife—my deepest obligations are due for whatsoever may be best in my work. She has subjected every line to a most minute and unsparing revision, besides taking upon herself the arduous task of pre- paring my manuscript for the press. Her interest in the work has never faltered, and to her criticism, at once most kindly and most severe, I owe more than I can tell. Louis H. Gray. November 25, 1912. CONTENTS PAGE Preface vii Abbreviations xii Introduction i Translation 43 Transcription 143 Bibliography 197 Lexicographical Appendix 200 XI ABBREVIATIONS ad loc. = {ad locum), on the passage. apud = in. bis = twice. cf. = compare. El. = Epigraphia Indica. H. = Hall’s edition of the Vasavadatta. IA. = Indian Antiquary. Introd. = Introduction. JAOS. = Journal of the American Oriental Society. JASBe. = Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. JRAS. = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. JRASBo. = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Bombay Branch. KZ. = Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen, ed. A. Kuhn and others. l.c. = {loco citato'), at the place previously cited. M. = edition of the Vasavadatta in Telugu script printed at Madras in 1862. No. = number. n. p. = no place of publication given. cited. op. cit. = {opus citatum), the work previously pp. = pages. S. = edition of the Vasavadatta printed at Srirangam in 1906- 1908. sqq. = (sequenles), following. s.v. = {sub verbo) under the word. SWAW. = Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften. Tel. ed. = edition of the Vasavadatta in Telugu script printed at Madras in 1862. Tel. ed. 61 = edition of the Vasavadatta in Telugu script printed at Madras in 1861. = verse. WZKM. = Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes. ZDMG. = Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft. Xll ; ABBREVIATIONS xiii * = when prefixed to a word or meaning in the lexicographical appendix, such word or meaning is cited by the St. Petersburg lexicons only on the authority of native Sanskrit lexicographers. = when prefixed to a word or meaning in the lexicographical appendix, such word or meaning is entirely omitted by it the St. Petersburg lexicons ; elsewhere denotes the omission of words or parts of words to be supplied from the context. < > = single paronomasia. <S » = double paronomasia. <« »> = triple paronomasia. when placed around or in words of the transcribed text, ( ) = the enclosed portions differ from the text of Hall when placed around numerals in the translation and transcription, these refer to the pages of the Madras edition of 1862. = when placed around or in words of the transcribed text, the enclosed portions, though contained in Hall's edition, are entirely omitted by the Madras edition of 1862 ; when placed around numerals in the translation and transcription, these refer to the pages of Hall’s edition.