PREFACE
This famous and marvellous Sanskrit poem occurs as an episode of the
Mahabharata, in the sixth--or "Bhishma"--Parva of the great Hindoo epic.
It enjoys immense popularity and authority in India, where it is reckoned
as one of the ``Five Jewels,"--pancharatnani--of Devanagiri literature. In
plain but noble language it unfolds a philosophical system which remains
to this day the prevailing Brahmanic belief, blending as it does the
doctrines of Kapila, Patanjali, and the Vedas. So lofty are many of its
declarations, so sublime its aspirations, so pure and tender its piety, that
Schlegel, after his study of the poem, breaks forth into this outburst of
delight and praise towards its unknown author: "Magistrorum reverentia a
Brachmanis inter sanctissima pietatis officia refertur.