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Fables of Bidpai

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This Content Downloaded From 154.80.126.171 On Sat, 26 Oct 2024 08:36:21 UTC

Fables of Bidpai

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tariqkhan764695
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Review: The Fables of Bidpai

Reviewed Work(s): The Earliest English Version of the Fables of Bidpai, "The Morall
Philosophie of Doni," by Sir Thomas North by Joseph Jacobs
Review by: Richard Gottheil
Source: Hebraica , Oct., 1889, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Oct., 1889), pp. 67-69
Published by: The University of Chicago Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/527430

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BOOK NOTICES. 67

former professor. It is time for Mr. Smi


friends in America, even his former Le
uncalled-for and childish personal abuse
Semitic students are under many obli
those who have contributed to its pag
Yale Universit

THE FABLES OF BIDPAI.*

Perhaps no one book in the world's literature has had such a unique hi
as the collection of stories which goes under the name of "Kalilag and Dam
Originating over two thousand years ago in the pious circles of the followe
Gautama and destined only for a small band of the faithful, they have, by
of their inherent hunmanity, traveled thousands of miles beyond their ori
home, have formed a sort of human bond between different peoples divide
nationality, religion and history, and have been translated into almost ev
human tongue. No one can doubt their inherent power; and the study of
journeyings of these Buddhistic tales is one of the most fascinating to the p
gist and literateur alike.
In the handsomely gotten-up volume before us Mr. Jacobs has given u
faithful reprint of the English translation of the Fables of Bidpai made i
year 1570 by Thomas North, bearing the title, The Morall Philosophie of
Drawne out of the ancient writers, etc., etc. The original editions have both be
very scarce and the students of Tudor English Prose will no doubt be very t
ful for this reprint of a work of one who "came just midway betwee
exaggerated Ciceronianism of Berners, Elliot, and Ascham . . . and the
exaggerated Guevarism (if it must be so) of Lyly and his school" (p. liv). As this
English translation is only the last of a series, the former parts of which are now
at our disposal, it is, in itself, of little interest to oriental students.
The introduction, however, of some sixty-seven pages is well worth careful
perusal. It is a pity that it has not been detached from the work itself and sold
separately. We find in it a careful r6sum6 of much of the work done in regard to
this literature. One new point Mr. Jacobs has brought out for which "find" he
has earned the thanks of all students of these tales.tf That some of the Arabic
and Hebrew manuscripts had contained illustrations to these tales was already
known. It was left for Mr. Jacobs to show that in all probability the Sanskrit

* The earliest English version of the Fables of Bidpai, "The Morall Philosophie of Doni," by
Sir Thomas North, whilom of Peterhouse, Cambridge. Now again edited and induced by Joseph
Jacobs, late of St. John's College, Cambridge. London: Nutt, MDCCOLXXXVIII., pp. LXxI., 264.
k Cf. Athenc~um, May 12, 1888, p. 600, and an article entitled "Jewish Diffusion of Folk-Tales"
in The Jewish Chronicle, London, June 15, 1888, p. 12.

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68 HEBRAICA.

original also contained th


"this migration of illustra
history of art as the fabl
(p. xxiii).
We are still further indebted to Mr. Jacobs for pointing out the evident con-
nection which exists between these illustrations and the Jatakas or Birth Stories
which were sculptured around the stupas of Amaravati and Bharhut, as early as
the third century B. C., and specimens of which may still be seen in the British
Museum. This discovery with reference to the illustrations may at some time
bring order into the chaos which now reigns in the codification of the Arabic
manuscripts of Kalilah and Dimnah.
Whether Mr. Jacobs' suggestion of an independent translation from the
Sanskrit into Arabic (p. xix) will hold good, remains yet to be seen. The only
authority upon which such a supposition can be based is a statement of a wander-
ing Jew, Abraham ibn Ezra (12th century). Dr. Steinschneider himself does not
seem to lay much stress upon this account.* He has proved conclusively that
Ibn Ezra himself never visited India,f and his statement, therefore, is at second
or third hand.

There is another point in Mr. Jacobs' Introduction which is worthy of note.


On p. xxxiii he combats the prevailing tendency to refer all such "miirchen " back
to an Indian source. Many scholars will be with him in working upon the
"common human nature underlying" many of these tales for an explanation of a
number of curious coincidences. Very interesting is the parallel Mr. Jacobs
draws between one of the well known stories of Uncle Remus and a passage from
the Jataka of the Demon with the Matted Hair (p. xliv). Still, for our fables of
Bidpai, the Indian origin is quite certain, and even Mr. Jacobs does not hesitate
to say (p. xlix) that "the fables of Bidpai are the fables of Buddha."
With a Buddhistic background the prominence given to the animals becomes
perfectly clear; and the work done by Benfey and Rhys-Davids in identifying some
of these tales with the Buddhistic Birth Stories becomes very fruitful.$ If we
accept Mr. Rhys-Davids' chronology this would place the collection of these
stories between 400 and 200 B. C.
Mr. Jacobs writes a terse English style, but very often one feels an antiqua-
rian research after unusual and obsolete words. This may fit in with the
"inducing" and re-editing of an old book, but it jars somewhat upon one's ears.

* ZDMG, xxIv., 326.


t ZDMG, xx., 430.
$ An interesting parallel to this is the history of the Barlam and Josaphat romance which
contains the biography of Buddha (ZDMG, xxIv., 326, xxxII. 584). In this way Buddha, in the
form of Josaphat, was canonized by the Church of Rome. Keith-Falconer, Kalilah and Dim-
nah, p. lii, note 1.
? See p. xli and The Academy, Aug. 11, 1888, p. 87.

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BOOK NOTICET. 69

If I mistake not, this attempt has led Mr. Jacobs astray in one or two instances
and has brought down upon him the ire of such a man as Sir Richard Burton.
I would also call attention to the useful Analytical Table of Contents and
Pedigree of the Bidpai Literature attached to the introduction.
RICHARD GOTTHEIL,
Columbia College.

PEISER'S CONTRACT TABLETS.*

The long and extremely interesting Assyrian historical inscription


their vivid descriptions of murder and pillage, of siege and battle, ha
this time, received more study than any other class of texts. Some of t
important have been repeatedly edited or translated or both. And this was
natural. Here was ready-made history, which needed only the interpreter's skill
to place it within ready control of our own historiographers, who were glad of the
opportunity of reconstructing the story of forgotten empires and kingdoms. But
these historical inscriptions, great and numerous though they are, are yet but a
small portion of the vast Assyrian literature already recovered. And just as
Green's History of the English People, with its brilliant pictures of the develop-
ment of science, art and literature, is of a higher order of historical writing than
many a previous story of that same land, which spoke only of kings and their
wars, just so will there be a higher and better knowledge of Assyria when, to our
acquaintance with the deeds of kings as recorded on historical inscriptions, there
is added a knowledge of the daily life of the people.
Fortunately we have rich sources of history outside the royal annals. We
have also an extensive religious literature, many treatises on medicine, and not to
mention yet other sources, we have the so-called contract tablets,-the deeds of
sale and transfer and loani,-which will give to us, when made accessible, a com-
plete picture of the everyday life of the people. When these have been translated
and published, there will be needed only the genius of a Green to give us a picture
of Assyrian life and history more detailed and more accurate than has yet been
written even of Greece!

Unfortunately, for us who would fain make haste in this process of history
writing, these contract tablets are difficult, usually difficult to decipher from t
clay, almost always difficult to translate when deciphered. Because of their gre
present importance and still greater future importance, and because of the diff
culty which they present to all workers, we heartily welcome every attempt to

* KEILSCHRIFTL1CHE ACTEN-STUECKE AUS BABYLONISCHEN STAEDTEN. Von Steinen und


Tafeln des Berliner Museums in Autographie, Transcription und Uebersetzung herausgegeben
und commentiert von Dr. F. E. Peiser. Nebst zwei Lichtdrucktafeln. Berlin: Wolf PeIser
Verlag. 1889.

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