Page:Niti literature (Gray J, 1886).pdf/12

Rh an Indian reputation which was never extended to the Dhammanîti. The same may be said of the Râjanîti.

The stanzas of the Nîtis belong chiefly to the Vatta, or heroic measure, corresponding with the octosyllabic śślokas of the Mahâbhârata and Râmâyana, but the exigencies of expression have, as in those poems, necessitated the occasional use of longer-lined verses. The Pâli of the texts belongs to the later rather than to the earlier style as represented in the Dhammapada of the Buddhist canon. On the whole, the translations are faithful to the original Sanskrit from which they have been adopted. In some cases the Pâli is a mere transcript. For instance, the Sanskrit—

is rendered in Pâli by

Again, in Sanskrit we have—

and in Pâli—

In other instances some material modifications have been made necessary, as would be expected in a paraphrastic translation, in which the rules of versification have to be rigidly enforced, and in which Brahmanic sentiments had to be so modified as not to wound the suscep-