Page:Hindoo Tales, or, The Adventures of Ten Princes.djvu/12

 invisible, but sometimes assuming a human or a more terrible form ; occasionally beneficent, but more commonly injurious to human beings.

At the time when the original work was written, India appears to have been divided into a large number of small kingdoms or principalities, the rulers of which are here termed "Raja," a word almost adopted into our language, but which I have rendered by the equivalent and more familiar term "King."

The numerous uncouth names, which cannot well be shortened or translated, will, it is feared, cause some annoyance to the reader. As many as possible have been omitted, and of those which occur a list is given in the Appendix, together with a few terms which seemed to require explanation. This will save the reader the trouble of referring, when