The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

JUNE 11, 1853. converts seems great enough to guarantee them from the dread of the persecution he eau stir u]► against them, they gladly throw off the yoke which the prospect of relict makes them feel to be intolerable. Our limits do not permit us to enter further into this interesting subject at ►resent. We will only add that the reasons which in former days induced us to treat with resel ye all pro posals tin• proselytising in Ireland are now swept away, and that it seems the duty of all good Protestants to co-operate in the great work which Providence has so suddenly and so unexpectedly laud before them. The , Birth If the lrar-tiod. A Poem by Kidi disa. Translated front the Sanskrit into English Verse by Ralph T. H. Griffith, M.A. London : W. H. Allen and Co. WHEN Colonel Baden founded the chair of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, with the praiseworthy object of promoting Christianity in India, he conferred, perhaps unwittingly. au immense benefit on the world of literature. His munificent bequest not only afforded en couragement for the study of one of the most ancient and polished of languages, but was the tneans of securing to the University the ser vices, as a teacher, of Horace Hayman Wilson, the most aeemnplished Sanskrit scholar that this or any other country has produced. Al ready are the fruits of' Professor Wilson's instructions becoming manifest, and Monier Williams and Ralph tiriffith, by contributing to the knowledge and diffusion of the lite rature of India. have shown themselves not unworthy of their learned master. Sanskrit poetry will, perhaps, never become generally popular in this country; for, although it admits of being more closely rendered into English than that of Arabia, Persia, or Turkey, there are so many mythological and historical allusions, so many metaphors and comparisons seemingly strained and extritvagant—in fact. so much for the English reader to Porn and un learn before be can be in a position to appre ciate mid admire the poetry of the Hindus — that, except for the few, we fear it will long remain a sealed book. There are, however, as we hope. if not a large number, at least a few, of the reading public who will not be deterred by these difficulties, and who may be willing to devote some little time, and make some allowances for their own ignorance, so that after a short space they may be enabled to understand and appreciate a poetry of which they cannot fail soon to discover the beauties. To such we heartily recommend the present volume. The intrinsic value of the poetry of India may not be disputed ; several of the greatest European poets, critics, and scholars have pronounced judgment in its favour ; and the admiration of such men as Sir W. Jones, Goethe, Schlegel, Humboldt, Wilson, and Mil man, must be considered decisive as to its merits. We have in Sanskrit epics and dramas which are entitled to be placed side by side with the noblest efforts of the classical writers, and which must be as imperishable. As yet few Sanskrit poems have been translated, but the " Specimens of the Hindu Theatre" by Wilson, Milman's version of the beautiful epi sode " Nala and Damayanti," and Griffith's " Specimens of Old Indian Poetry," will be sufficient to vindicate the opinion we have expressed. The present volume is the latest transla tion of Sanskrit poetry. The " Birth of the War-God" is the work of Kididitsa," the author "of the beautiful dramas of Sakontalit, and " the ' Hero and the Nymph,' the former of " which has long enjoyed an European cele brity in the translation of Sir W. Jones, and " the latter being one of the most charming ' of Professor Wilson's specimens of the Hindu •• theatre." Scarcely anything is known of the life of Kididisa; the time when he flourished is even uncertain. Mr. thiffith says Of the history of Kididissa, to w•t►om by genenil assent the " Kumara Sanibhaysi," or'• Birth of the War-( iod," is at tributed, we know but little with any certainty; we can only gather from a memorial-verse which enumerates their names, that he was one of the " Nine Precious Stones" that shone at the Court of Vikraraialitya, King of Oujein THE PRESS. in the half century immediately precetling the Christian era. As the examination o f ark .s i ts for and agsinst the correctness of this date is not likely to interest general readers, I ntu.t request them to rest sinistlea with the be• lief that. about the time when Virgil told Hornet• were shedding :111 Inlaying Issue ; upon the reign of Augustus. our poet Kislitlass lived, loved, and sang. giving and taking honour. at the polished court of the Ho l es s tw anitieent patron of Sanskrit literature, at the period of its highest perfection. Sir W. Jones calls Kilidisa the Shakspeare Of the East and Schlegel, in his criticism on the translation of the " Sakontali," repeats the comparison :—" The drama of ' Sakontala: says the greatest of dramatic , critics, "presents. " through its Oriental brilliancy of colouring, " striking at resemblance, upon the whole. " to our romantic drama. that it might be sus .' 'wiled the love of Shakspeare had influenced " the translator, if other Orientalists had not "borne testimony to the fidelity of his trans " lation." Professor Wilson mentions Kill olisa in terms of the highest poloist.. In his remarks on the " Hero and the Nymph' . he rya :—" The chief charm of this payee, how " ever, is its poetry. The story, the situations. "and the characters are all highly imaginative. " and nothing, if partiality does not mislead " the translator, can surpass the beauty and " justice of nanny of the t hou g hts." Although we scarcely dare place Kilidasat on an equality with the prince of poets, who must ever stand alone, yet all who have perused the works we have mentioned will agree with Mr. Oriffith in setting him "very high among the glorious " company of the sons of song." The most striking beauty in the poetry of the Hindus is the extreme richness of imagery and the marvellous Immer of description. In these respects Milldam is unrivalled. It is almost unfitly to select one passage to the disparagement of others, and we art' inclined to refer our readers to the volume itself. which must be read in its entirety in order to form an aecurate idea of the beauty of the poem. We, however, extract at hazard an °Mold tale on an inexhaustible subject : Her hidden beauties though no tongue nosy tell, Yet Siva's hove will aid the fancy well ; No other 'sushi could deem her boasted charms Worthy the clasp of such a husband's arms. Between the partings of fair Ullln ' S vest /'time hasty glimpses of a lovely breast : So closely then! the kissing hillocks rose, tearer could the Lotus in the vale repose ; And if her loosened zone e'er slipped below, All was so bright beneath the mantle's flow. So dazzling WOO, as if the maid haul braced A band of gems to sparkle Tomalley waist ; While the dear dimples of her downy skin Seemed fitting conch for Love to revel its. Her anus were softer than tlw flowery dart, Young Kinlatia arrow, that subdues the heart ; For vain his strife with Sivas, till at last lie chose those chains to bind his conqueror fast. E'en the new moon poured &Nil a paler' 'Winn When hot' long lingt•lN 11i0411191 their rosy gIYIIIII, And brighter dam Asolois rich leaves+ threw A glory round, like • .r's evening hue. The strings Or 114%11: 04TOSS her LOSOIII thrown Increased its beauty, and enhanced their own, — I her 'avast, her jewels, seeming to agree, The saunter now, and now the adorned to he. When Beauty gazes on the fait . full Moon, No Lotus chasms her, for it 1110011114 at 11.5111 : If on that Hower she tied her Named eye, No Moon is al g from the • tatty sky : She to on lima's face, lanore heavenly fair. And foffilld their Oasis% is Itil Milted there. The loveliest dower that ever opened yet lurid in the fairest branch—al twarl that's set In richest coral—with her smile might vie Dashing through lips bright with their rosy dye. And when she spoke—upon the maiden's toll gut., Distilling nectar, such rimd secants hung, The sweetest note that V . 4 1. the Koil poured Seemed harsh and tuneless us a jamng * } - , s tag Kringah • :4 firrooor. I Kansa. the Unpin 00.1, i.; armed With it biiN, the arrsiws ill Wldill sire made of timers. And brighter than Asoka's rich genres.) Nothing, we sire told, can excesshe beauty sof this NIII.II fl idilolll. It IS, of course, ' a t general favoutite tilt (lie poets sit In dl dia. 2 The strings if pen el.] "'flea, no, the pearl from out its shell 1 . 11140111 y, ilk the 14111111.4 K sea. (As 'twere a spirit, titreell to dwell In form unlovely) tens sclfree, And 'sound the sleek sof alumni tlirew .1 light it lent mist burriared Moony—hires tf the Angels. Moore is frequently the hest interpreter, iniconseiously, of tut Indian port's tl ••••• ght. I t is worth rclurrrkiut , that the Sanskrit word welkin, pearl (literally .treed), sitmities ttlso the spirU re leased from ititiltilutte existence, and rssintegritted with its divine original. # sweetest node the Noil erer rotored.] The Kukibt or Koil the Marl. or Italian Cuekoo, its the Bulbul sir Nightingale uf Him dila an. It is itbko the herald of Spring. e its Ellnop nem .sake, and the fetmde bird is the especial messengerk•a of Love. 139 The melting glance of that soft liquid eye, Tremulous like lilies when the breezes sigh, Which learnt it first—so winning a nd s o m ild — The gentle fawn, or Mena's gentler child? Anti oh, the arching of her brow ! so tine Was the rare beauty of its pencilled line — Lave gazed upon her fitreheutt in &spiv. And spurned the Iltiw he once esteemed so fitir : Her long bright tresses too might sham. the pride Of envious atitelors uu Ilia uou unlin Surely the Maker's van. hail lawn to cull From all that's lovely the most beautiful. As it ' till' world ' s I'mantr would behold All beauty centred in a single m l old. tillCAtioll Mlle whether any deseriptiou of female loveliness in the European languageh would appear to greater advantage in Iron lotion. The notes are 101111 the pen of Mr. Griffith. The translator's versification is smooth and even, is always above mediocrity, and fre quently rises into poetry of expression. The elision of the short vowels required by the metre (the vowels being written but nut sounded) is objectionable : in the very first line we find " Himalaya'," and in the above ev thug the womb; "tremulous" and "antelopes," which must be Ill'olltallleell 1 lima? ga, two hum, and Iliit/111/0 1 . lint this is perhaps hyper criticism. Our readers may place the most wrfect reliance on Mr. Griffith :4 accuracy, for we halve 'ourselves heard Professor Wilson testify to his scholarship. 'rranslatiton, how ever, at the best. and especially into verse, is a severe test ot' the merits of an original. Mr. Griffith modestly remarks : Flllly OW I 1.111151.11111 S 11111 V CIE I 11111 1 . 111111 111411 g Alt' ado.• gamely to reproilito. the bowlful creation o f the sweet siagur of iinjoiii; that mitino.rious lovatitiessi of thought and exiors.sissiiiii I may haw pivoted by, mistaken, nuirreol ; Clad in tunny of Ills. mode elalosorat I' 411•Seliptilins ray own ‘1.11.311 - 11.1111 tttt iS •• IlarSll AS 111 e jAlTillg of a taarksa chord, - i•ota. isitivil with the ntuisitly of lialiolasn'A rhythm no tiy id whosd• myeetaesse• and parity of laits.tina.ti., rdo 111111111111 k 11111111114111 1111' SIM 111111 he RIO 14.11.5111111, rosssy lins• of lik padm . s. , , would lime tried all the fertility of 1 1.'5111E1W, the ItettSitt . Skill, and the sAlltitSite ell' a the author of •• Lind llookli" 1 • welt'. I do lad think this. 'nada ils•sd•rvi.., ansl lum save it will not obtain. dud admiration whiell the authoweps um•sstertoiccus airs.asly made kitsiwn at made commanded; ut all 'Arid..., if the wsoll, 11,44 I. not intidior, it has 1101 1.11• joyesl the gISSI ftsettille of 1111%111g A 311111“, or Waistos for iriiiitslatior. The title of the 11111 . 111 is 11.11 apparent mis nomer. Since, as it hits come down to us, it only extends to the nuptials of the War-Ood's mother. It is uncertain whether Kiditlasa left his work unfinished, or whether the eon eluding portion has been lost; it is, however, traditionally reported that, the poem origindly consisted of twenty-twit cantos, of which only seven are now extant. We have one fault to find with Mr. Griffith : in mentioning his difh•rent obligations to pre vious writers, he speaks of Professor Stew.- ler's edition of the poem as follows :—" Valu able as this work is laud I will not disown my great obligations to it), it is much to be regretted that the extracts 'l'olll the native etalllllelltalla's are so scanty, and the annotations so few and brier From this at, fine would illlagine that Dr. Stenzler actually published, along with his excellent text, is Latin trandatiota. The omitting to notice so important all item in the labours of the learned Wyman may have, and we hope has, arisen from careless 'Less ; but we cannot help remembering that Mr. Oritlith in the preface to his " Speehnens of Ohl indium Poetry: whilst r e capitulating the various translations of Sanskrit poems, scarcely mentions Wilson's " Hindi' Theatre," the most remarkable of all. Mr. el riffith is entitled to the thanks of every lover of Oriental literature for the efforts he huts Millie in behalf of Sanskrit laletly, and we trust soon to see him again in the field. Why does he not try his hand on the Rionityama and the Nlaleiblthratit, two of the noblest epics in the world ° Wl. Want something more than mere extracts from these immortal works. Homer, Virgil. and Milton may be beyond all praise, but Vihniki and Vyitsa are not there fore to be neglected or despised. The present volume is published under the patronage of the Oriental Translation Fund. an institution which ham done much for Eastern literature, but, as we regret to learn, is now ----------. • Kumar% Saadilawn Ki Cannel+, Sankrite et Lath r eilidit A. F. Stetizier, 4iii. Herb++ and la.daltdi, la:ta. (Printed rid the Orietitul Trate-beam Fund.) The elaanient meliolar will derive +math pleasure frail a couirifrifiiat of sten7lei tren. 4 . 'alio' with the vor4iolt b;* )Ir. tirllllll4. t