Page:Monier Monier-Williams - Indian Wisdom.djvu/55

 the original truth imparted to mankind should be diligently sought for iu every religious system, however corrupt, so that when any fragment of the living rock is discovered1 Surely we should study to be absolutely fair in our examination of other religions, and avoid all appearance of a shadow of misrepresentation in our description of them, endeavouring to take a just and comprehensive view, which shall embrace the purest form of each false system, and not be confined to those corruptions, incrustations, and accretions which in all religions tend to obscure, and even to conceal altogether, what there is of good and true in them. Missionaries would do well to read 'An Essay on Conciliation in Matters of Religion, by a Bengal Civilian,' published in Calcutta in 1849. Let them also ponder the words of Sir William Jones, in his ' Discourse on the Philosophy of the Asiatics' (vol. iii. p. 242, &c., of his Works). This great Orientalist there maintains that our divine religion, the truth of which is abundantly proved by historical evidence, has no need of such aids as many think to give it by asserting that wise men of the heathen world were ignorant of the two Christian maxims which teach us to do to others as we would they should do unto us, and to return good for evil. The first exists in the sayings of Confucius, and the spirit of both may be traced in several Hindu precepts. One or two examples will be found in the Hitopadesa, and Sir "VV. Jones' is the following: Sii-jano no, yati vairam para-hita-bud- dhir vinasa-kale 'pi Chede 'pi candana-taruh surabhayati mukham kufha- rasya, 'A. good man who thinks only of benefiting his enemy has no feelings of hostility towards him even at the moment of being destroyed by him; (just as) the sandal-tree at the moment of being cut down sheds perfume on the edge of the axe.' Sir W. Jones affirms that this couplet was written three centuries B. c. It is given by Boehtlingk in his 'Indische Spriiche.' Professor Aufrecht, in his late article on the Sarn-gadhara-paddhati, mentions a similar verse in that Anthology attributed to an author Ravi-gupta. The Persian poet Sadi of Shiraz has a maxim taken from the Arabs, ' Confer benefits on him who has injured thee.' Again, ' The men of God's true faith grieve not the hearts e'en of their foes' (chap. ii. story 4). Hafiz is also quoted by Sir "W. Jones thus:

' Learn from yon Orient shell to love thy foe, And store with pearls the hand that brings thee woe. Free, like yon rock, from base vindictive pride, Imblaze with gems the wrist that rends thy side.

Mark where yon tree rewards the stony shower With fruit nectareous or the balmy flower. All nature calls aloud, " Shall man do less Than heal the sraiter and the railer bless 1" '

In S'arn-gadhara's Anthology a sentiment is given from the Maha- bharata, which is almost identical with St. Matt. vii. 3—Tf 8e jSXomr To

Kap o(j)daXp.w Tou u6VAt/)m- crov, rijv 5t tv Tut <tgj iit^aX^w doxof oil Karavof'ts., it may (so to speak) at once be converted