66 
V. A. Smith— On the Civilization of Ancient India. [No. 1, 
in such discussions to obtain a result of objective certainty. Conviction 
may be attained, demonstration is impossible. 
So far as coincidences of this sort are not to be ascribed to a purely 
spontaneous, natural origin and development in both places, two further 
possibilities must be kept in view. The first is that the coincidences in 
question need not necessarily be ascribed to borrowing from either side, 
but may be derived from primitive nature myths of early Indo-Germanic 
times. The second is that, granted borrowing in historical times, the 
Grecian legend may not have been of Greek origin, but may have first 
come from the East, and travelled back again to India. 
What has been said above of epic myths holds good for the forms 
and materials of fairy tales and stories of enchantment, for folklore in short. 
Indian literature, thanks to the activity of the Buddhists, and, in later 
times, of their rivals the Jains, is specially rich in compositions of this 
class. Some of these, in their existing shape, date from tolerably recent 
times, but it is plain that they rest on old traditions and lost works, 
which were partly composed, not in Sanskrit, but in popular dialects. 
The older works of this kind are generally associated with the 
name of S'atavahana ; the more recent with that of Vikramaditya. 
Both of these kings are alike connected by tradition with the con¬ 
quests of foreign rulers, especially the S'akas, or Indo-Scythians, and 
are themselves represented with features of foreign origin. 
In yet another branch of literature a similar great agreement be¬ 
tween Greece and India is apparent, that is to say, in what may be 
called the iEsopian Fable. 
India has for some time past been considered the parent country of 
fables. With regard to the transfer of collections of Indian fables to 
the West since the sixth century A. D the statement holds good, especi¬ 
ally for many beast stories, which, so to say, have been pressed into the 
service of politics, to serve as a mirror for princes. Accordingly, in this 
department, and for the period named, we must add to the three, or 
rather four, possibilities to be weighed in estimating the value of coin¬ 
cidences between India and the West, yet a fifth.* 
But, as regards older times, we must absolutely give up the notion 
that India is the parent country of the iEsopian fable. On the con¬ 
trary, the Greek form of the fable (putting aside the question of its 
* The five possibilities referred to seem to be :—(1) Borrowing by India from 
Greece, (2) Spontaneons, natural, independent development in both countries, (3) 
Derivation from primitive Indo-Germanic (Aryan) nature myths, (4) Borrowing by 
Greece from India, and re-importation into India from Greece, (5) Transfer of 
political apologues from India to Europe in sixth century A. D. and later. [F. A. 0.] 
But see post . 
