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Sanskrit-Pâli word Nîti is equivalent to "conduct" in its abstract, and "guide" in its concrete signification. As applied to books, it is a general term for a treatise which includes maxims, pithy sayings, and didactic stories, intended as a guide to such matters of everyday life as form the character of an individual and influence him in his relations to his fellow-men. Treatises of this kind have been popular in all ages, and have served as a most effective medium of instruction. In India a very comprehensive literature sprang up, known as the Nîtisâstras, embracing what is called "Beast-fable" lore, represented by the Pañćatantra, and its epitome the Hitopadeśa of Vishnusarman, and the numerous ethico-didactic anthologies which, based chiefly on the Mahâbhârata and other ancient poems, gained popularity by the collected apophthegms of Bhartṛihari and Ćâṇakya. Anthological study at length became so inviting, that in the Śârṅgadgarapaddhati, a compilation of the fourteenth century A.D., we find about 6000 stanzas, gathered from more than 250 sources.

The Buddhist Jâtakaṁ, containing 550 stories, is a rich storehouse of fables, and, though in character similar to the Pañćatantra, is not classed as a Nîti, nor does the Dhammapada, and other treatises of the same kind, full of maxims of morality and religious reflections, come under the designation. The term Nîti, in so far as it describes anthological collections, is, in Burma, found