Page:Stories of India's Gods & Heroes.djvu/9



HE word "Preface" suggests to many youthful minds something learned and dry, and the result is that the Preface is not read. Certainly a book of stories like these ought not to be burdened with anything dry at the outset; but if the stories themselves are to prove reasonably interesting, it will do no one any harm to know something about the books in which they are found and the people among whom the books were written.

The language in which these tales have come down to us is called Sanskrit, a name which has nothing to do with that of any people—like the names English, French, German, etc.—but is simply an adjective of which our term "high class," though not an exact translation, gives a good idea; because Sanskrit was the language spoken by the Brahmans,—i.e. the priests—and kings of various different nations of ancient India, while other classes of society commonly spoke what was called Prákrit, a vulgar form of Sanskrit.

Many centuries before the time of Christ, there came into India a people who called themselves