20 BLOOMFIELD— ON THE ART OF 



The Brahman restored to life the parrot, and the great Vikrama 

 recovered his own body. 



In this way Vikramaditya acquired the art of entering another 

 body. 



It requires no sharp attention to note that this brief account reads 

 hke a digest of some such story as either of the following two. 

 Especially the unmotivated passage of the king from parrot to 

 lizard, and the still less clear mention of " the queen, likely to die " 

 point to a fuller narrative. As against this the change in some 

 proper nouns is of no significance, since it is a constant factor in the 

 repetition of stories. One verse of the final summary, a sort of 

 versus memorialis of the main points of the story, is repeated 

 almost verbatim at the end of the Vetalapaiicavihgati version, to wit : 



vipre praharake nrpo nijagajasyange 'viqad vidyaya, 

 vipro bhiipovapur vigesa^^ nrpatih krldaquko 'bhiit tatah. 



Uhle's prose version, edited and translated excellently from a 

 single manuscript in ZDMG. XXIII. 443 fif., is again, a drier hand- 

 ling of some svich version as that of the Pargvanatha. The events 

 of the two stories are alike step by step, but they are narrated 

 here succinctly and with avoidance of all rhetoric. Though the 

 Parcvanatha introduces episodes, secondary moralizing, and much 

 ornamentation, it represents a closer approach to the prime form 

 than Uhle's version which, again, is not very much more than 

 a table of contents. Inasmuch as Uhle's version is reflected step 

 by step that of Pargvanatha it need not be summarized, especially 

 as the publication is readily accessible. In one or two points 

 Uhle's version is readily improved in the light of Pargvanatha's. 

 Thus the passage, p. 446, 1. 15, avameva asmai datavya, which Uhle 

 very doubtingly renders, "Give him only the lowest (Science)!" 

 must mean, "Give him (namely the Brahman) the (Science) first!" 

 In the immediate sequel the Science is, in fact, bestowed upon the 

 Brahman first : tada igvarena brahmanaya rajne ca parakaya-pravega- 

 vidya datta ; cf. Pargvanatha 3. 140, 141. Read in Uhle's text 



" Uhle's manuscript has the word in this form ; he makes out of it and 

 the next word the compound vigesa-nrpatih. Merutunga's vipro bhijpavapur 

 vive^a is the true reading. 



