LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 



149 



SaJsoontala or The Fatal Riny, by this author, 

 has received the warmest commendation from 

 modern critics. " All its scenes," says the 

 genial Herder, " are connected by flowery 

 hands, eacli grows out of the subject as natu- 

 rally as a beautiful plant. A multitude of sub- 

 lime as well as tender ideas are found in it, 

 which we should look for in vain in a Greek 

 drama." A valuable translation of this poem 

 has been made by Sir William Jones. 



The influence of religious speculation in 

 India early gave birth to numerous philosoph- 

 ical writings. With the love of contempla- 

 tion, to which the natives are so strongly in- 

 clined, and the progress of thought in opposi- 

 tion to the doctrines of the Vedas, a variety of j 

 philosophical systems was the natural conse- 

 quence. The oldest of these is called the San- 

 khya. It teaches the duality of matter and 

 spirit, which are essentially different in their 

 nature, though found in such intimate union. 

 The problem of life is the emancipation of the 

 soul from the dominion of the senses, and the 

 attainment of blessedness by the supremacy of 

 the intellect. Another system of transcenden- 

 tal speculation is named the Nyaya. This is 

 constructed from strict logical deductions, 

 which it applies to the interpretation of nature, 

 and arrives at a theory of materialism, the re- 

 verse of the Sankhya ideality. The Nyaya 

 school has produced a multitude of writings. 

 Opposed to each of these systems is the Mim- 

 ansa, which maintains the doctrines of the 

 Yedas in their original strictness, and strives 

 to reconcile them with the suggestions of phi- 

 losophy. 



The Sanskrit literature, moreover, abounds 

 in works on various other branches of learning. 

 Its philological treatises, especially, are of 

 great value. The Indian grammarians sur- 

 pass those of any other ancient people. No 

 less important are the Sanskrit works on rhet- 

 oric, criticism, music, astronomy, and juris- 

 prudence. They well deserve the attention of 

 the scholar, not only on account of their in- 

 trinsic character, but as precious memorials of 

 the early development of the intellect, and 

 .significant illustrations of the history of the 



ARABIC LITERATURE. 



Literature, after its decay and final extinc- 

 tion in the Eastern and Western Roman Em- 

 pires, revived first among the Arabic tribes in j 

 the East. Even before the era of Mahomet, ' 

 there were renowned poets and story-tellers in 

 Arabia. In the fifth century, during the great j 

 fairs of Mecca, poetical contests frequently ; 

 took place, the victorious productions being 

 lettered with gold and hung up in the Caaba. 



Among the most renowned poets of this period 

 were Amralkeis, Tharafa, and Antar. Their 

 works are distinguished by imaginative power, 

 richness of illustration, and great skill in de- 

 picting the passions of love and revenge. With 

 Mahomet commenced a memorable epoch in 

 Arabic literature. Through the Koran, which 

 was arranged from Mahomet's teachings, by 

 Abubekr, the first caliph, the method of writ- 

 ing and the literary style of the nation were 

 determined. The reigns of Ilaroun Al-Raschid 

 and Al-Mamun in the seventh and eighth cen- 

 turies were the most enlightened periods of 

 the Arabic dominion, though for two cen- 

 turies afterwards the nation produced many 

 eminent geographers, philosophers, jurists, and 

 historians. Under the government of Al- 

 Mamun, excellent universities were established 

 at Bagdad, Bussora, and Bokhara, and exten- 

 sive libraries in Alexandria, Bagdad, and 

 Cairo. The dynasty of the Abbassides in 

 Bagdad emulated that of the Ommanides in 

 Spain ; during the tenth century the University 

 of Cordova was almost the only refuge of 

 literature in Europe. The labors of the Arabic 

 scholars and travelers contributed greatly to 

 the spread of geographical knowledge. Ibn 

 Batuta, who in the thirteenth century visited 

 Africa, India, China, and Russia, ranks with 

 Marco Polo and Rubruquis. 



In the twelfth century Abu'l Kasein wrote 

 the history of the Arabs in Spain ; Bohaeddin, 

 a biography of Sultan Saladin ; Ibn Arabschah 

 described the exploits of Tamerlane, and 

 Hadji Khalfa, in later times, has produced an 

 encyclopedia of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish 

 literature. The style of the Arabian historians 

 is clear, concise, and unincumbered with 

 imagery. The most renowned philosopher was 

 Avicenna, who flourished in the eleventh cen- 

 tury. Averrhoes, whose name is also familiar 

 to scholars, was famous as an expounder of 

 the system of Aristotle. In the departments 

 of medicine, astronomy, geometry, and arith- 

 metic, there are many Arabic works which ex- 

 hibit great research and scientific knowledge. 



The number and variety of the works pro- 

 duced by the Arabian poets is most remark- 

 able, and their influence on the modern litera- 

 ture of Europe was greater than is generally 

 suspected. In picturesque narration they 

 have rarely been excelled, and the Thousand 

 and One Nights, which first appeared in its 

 collected form during the reign of Caliph Man- 

 sur, in the ninth century, has been naturalized 

 in all modern languages. Only half of this, 

 however, is Arabic, the remainder having 

 been translated from the Sanskrit and Persian. 

 The Arabian poets left many poetic chronicles, 

 the most celebrated of which are : The Deeds 



