वासवदत्ता (महाकवि सुबन्धु - श्लेष-प्रधान शास्त्रीय गद्यकाव्य सान्वय सटीक)

viii PREFACE
fall into the hands of students of literature, who may here find
points of similarity to, or divergence from, the writings to which
their special attention may be directed. I dare not flatter
myself that I have invariably hit the true meaning of the original,
for there are passages which repeated study, through these eleven
years, has failed to solve to my own complete satisfaction. But
even for this I scarcely grieve, for, like Propertius, I feel,
Quod si deficiant uires, audacia certe
Laus erit: in magnis et uoluisse sat est.
And if the cruces that have baffled me shall be solved by other
minds, none will feel greater joy in their success than I.
It is with a feeling almost akin to regret that I lay down my
pen. Perhaps to me the Vāsavadattā has deeper associations
than to almost any one else who has laboured on it. In hours
of bitterness and sorrow it has helped me to forget; and it has
heightened the pleasure of happy days. With all its faults,
I love it; possibly I have even been so blind as to reckon its
failings virtues; possibly, too, the innate Anglo-Saxon sympathy
for the 'under dog' has made me only the more determined in
its praise. Is it worth while, or not? As the Arabs say, Allāhu
a'lamu, 'God best knows (and man can't tell).'
I am happy to have had, in my work, the assistance of many
friends—Mr. Thomas and Dr. Haas, to whom I have already
alluded; others to whose courtesies reference will be made in the
course of the book—Dr. George A. Grierson, Professor Theodor
Zachariae, Mr. Richard Hall; Professor Washburn Hopkins,
whose notes aided in introducing me to the mysteries of
Grantha script; Professor Charles R. Lanman, who enabled me
to use the Harvard copy of Hall's edition until I could procure
my own—a courtesy which had already been accorded me for
a year previous by the library of the Deutsche Morgenländische
Gesellschaft; Mr. T. K. Balasubrahmanya, who replied in full
to my queries concerning the 'southern' text; and Mr. G.
Payn Quackenbos, who called my attention to the reference to
Subandhu in the Subhāṣitaratnabhāṇḍāgāra, while to Dr. Charles
J. Ogden I am indebted for a number of helpful suggestions and