Nala can conceal himself no longer; but the jealous thought, that his wife was about to commit the faithless and indecorous offence of taking a second husband, rankles in his heart, and he rebukes her with sternness. Damajanti adjures the wind, the sun, and the moon, to bear witness that she was guiltless of any such design, and only employed the innocent artifice to win back her lord.

He through all the world that wanders, witness the all-seeing Wind, Let him now of life bereave me, if in this 'gainst thee I've sinned. And the Sun that ever moveth o'er the bosom of the deep,

Let him now of life bereave me, if in this 'gainst thee I've sinned. Witness, too, the Moon that travels through the midst of all the world;

Let her, too, of life bereave me, if in this 'gainst thee I've sinned. These three gods are those that govern the three worlds-so let them speak.

If these gods can say with justice, " Cast her off," so let it be. Thus adjured, a solemn witness spake the Wind from out the air:"She hath done or thought no evil; Nala, it is truth I speak. King, the treasure of her virtue Damajanti well hath guarded; We ourselves have seen and watched her, closely for three live-long years."

Even as thus the Wind was speaking, flowers fell showering all around, And the god's sweet music sounded, floating on the soft west-wind. Nala re-assumes his form; and the poem ends with his winning back all that he had lost to his unprincipled brother, his re-ascending his ancestral throne, and recommencing a reign of piety, justice, and felicity.

Thus closes a piece which, for interest of story, characteristic variety of incident, purity of moral tone, delicacy of sentiment, and richness of imagery, inspires a very high idea of Indian imagination and feeling, and wants but the aid of a faithful and spirited translator to give the name of Vyasa acknowledged rank among the celebrated poets of antiquity. The heroic truth and devotedness of Damajanti,' observes A. Schlegel, at the close of a glowing passage on the general merit

of this poem, ' are as celebrated as those of Penelope in the west, and deserve to be as well known in Europe'.

Besides this, there are many other Indian poems which treat of the adventures of Nala. One of the most celebrated is the Naishad'hiya, by Shri Harscha, the son of Shri Kirah. This is one of the six Mahakavya, or capital poems of profane literature. It recites, in twenty-two cantos, the marriage of Nala with Damayanti, daughter of Bhima, king of Vidarbha, a very favourite subject of Indian poetry; and though not free from faults, it is by many esteemed the most beautiful composition in the Sanscrit language. Notwithstanding, however, its striking poetical beauties, according to Hindoo taste, it is very barren of incident. The story proceeds no further than the marriage of Nala and Damayanti, and the description of their mutual affection and happiness. Their romantic and interesting adventures subsequent to their marriage are wholly omitted; while the poet, with a degree of licentiousness, but too well accommodated to the taste of his countrymen, indulges in glowing descriptions of sensual love ".

A copious commentary in Sanscrit upon this poem, with remarks on the various kinds of metre in which it is composed, is in the possession of the Paris Asiatic Society. This manuscript bears the title of Sahityavidyadhari Tika. See Journ. Asiat. vol. xxxvi, p. 383.

Nala Daya, a poem, with a Commentary, Calcutta, 1813, 8vo. This Nala Daya, which is ascribed to the celebrated poet Calidasa, is a poem in four cantos, comprising two hundred and twenty couplets, or stanzas, on the adventures of Nala and Damayanti.

1 Indische Bibliothek, i, 98.

m In the foregoing extract from the Quarterly their mode of spelling this name is followed, though properly Damayanti.

" Colebrooke, on Sanscrit poetry, in Asiatic Researches, vol. x, p. 428.

In this singular poem rhyme and alliteration are blended in the termination of the verses: for the three or four last syllables of each hemistich within the stanza are the same in sound, though different in sense. It is a series of puns on a pathetic subject".

Nuloduyu, a celebrated romance, formerly translated by Fuezee into Persian verse, under the name Juldumum, Khizurpoor, 1814, 4to. The Persian version was made by Scheickh Fizee, Abulfazel's brother. See Götting. gel. Anz. 1813, No. clvi.

A French translation of this episode from the Persian version of the Mahabharat, exists among the manuscripts in the Bibliothèque du Roi, presented by professor Schultz of the Société Asiatique of Paris. See Journ. Asiat. Sept. 1825, p. 137.

Srimahábharate Nalôpákhyanam. Nalus, carmen Sanscritum, e Mahàbàrato. Edidit, Latine vertit, et adnotationibus illustravit Franciscus Bopp, Londini, Parisiis, et Argentor. 1819, 8vo. A critique upon this edition and version is given in A. W. v. Schlegel's Indischer Bibl. vol. i, p. 97-128, Götting. gel. Anz. 1820, p. 1; Leipz. Lit. Zeit, 1820, No. clvii—clix ; Revue Encycl. 1820, Mars, p. 357°.

Nala, eine indische Dichtung, von Vyasa, aus dem Sanskrit, im Versmaasse der Urschrift übersetzt und mit Erläuterungen begleitet von J. G. L. Kosegarten, Jena, 1820, 8vo.

A German metrical version of detached parts of Nala and Damayanti, and especially of the ix, x, xi, xii, and xiii cantos, is given by Francis Bopp, in his Indralokágamanam, or Ardscuna's Wanderung zu Indra's Himmel, u. s. w. Berlin, 1824.

n Colebrooke, in Asiatic Researches, vol. x, p. 402.

• This is the second book printed in Europe in the ancient Indian character the types used for it being the same as those with which Wilkins's Sanscrit Grammar was printed in 1808.

:

Nal und Damajanti. Eine indische Geschichte, von Fr. Rückert, Frankfort a. M. 1828, 12mo.

Another attempt of this sort is the Nala-Champú of Trivicrama. It recounts nearly the same story of the fortunes of King Nala and his wife Damayanti, in prose, with a very frequent mixture of poetry; a style in which numerous works have been composed in Sanscrit, and which is called Champu P.

cc. The History of Dushwanta and Sakuntala.

The Story of Dooshwanta and Sokoontala, translated from the Mahabharata, a poem in the Sanskreet Language, by Ch. Wilkins, esq., originally published in the Oriental Repertory, by Alex. Dalrymple, London, 1795, 12mo. Histoire de Douchmanta et de Sakountalâ, extraite du Mahabharata, poëme Sanscrit, et traduite sur la version Anglaise de M. Charles Wilkins, Journ. Asiat. 1828, Mai, p. 838-874.

Part of the history of Sakuntala (his birth), from the Mahabharata, is translated into German verse by Fr. Schlegel, in his Works: Ueber Weisheit und Sprache der Indier, p. 308-324.

Dushwanta and Sakuntala, an episode from Mahabharata, in the Asiatic Journal, 1817, May, p. 425; June, p. 548; July, p. 7; August, p. 126.

dd. The Fight with the Giants.

Der Kampf mit dem Riesen, Episode aus Mahabharat, in genauer metrischer Uebersetzung, nach einer pariser Handschrift, von Fr. Bopp, in his Conjugationssystem der Sanskrit-Sprache, Frankf. a. M. 1816, 8vo. p. 237-269.

P Colebrooke, 1. c. He mentions the Krishna Champu, the Ganga Champu, Vrindavanna Champu, etc.

ee. The Discourse of Dhritarashtra to his charioteer Sanjaya.

In English in the first number of the Annals of Oriental Literature, London, 1820.

Dhritarashtra sermo ex Mahabarato excerptus cum Nilakantha scholiis et expositione, in Othm. Frankii Chrestomathia Sanskrita, Monaci, 1820, 4to. vol i, p. 2. It consists of eighty slokas, or distichs, each comprising two lines of sixteen syllables, having a cæsura at the end of the eighth syllable.

ff. The Death of Sisupala.

Sisupâla-Badha, or the death of Sisupala, a poem in twenty cantos, ascribed to king Magha; yet, if tradition may be relied on, Magha, though expressly named as the author, was merely the patron, not the poet. As the subject is heroic, and even the unity of action well preserved, and the style of the composition elevated, this poem is entitled to the name of epic. It is taken from the Mahabharat, and narrates the war between Krishna and the princes who united themselves with Sisupala against him. A brief account of it is given by Colebrooke, in the Asiatic Researches, vol. x, p. 401; who observes, that the Indian taste for descriptive poetry, and particularly of the licentious kind, has disfigured this work, which is not otherwise undeserving of its high reputation.

The Maghu Kavyu, an epic poem in the original Sungskrit, published by H. H. Wilson, Calcutta, 1812, 4to. See W. Ward's View of the Literature, etc. vol. i, p. 511.

The Sisupala Badha, or Death of Sisupala; also entitled the Magha Cávya, or Epic Poem of Mágha,

4 Colebrooke.