Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Tale of the Four Durwesh: Translated From the Urdu Tongue of Meer Ummun of Dhailee, Illustrative of the Manners, Customs and Ideas of the Natives of India
I undertook this Translation to begu'le the tediousness of time 111 India, which must weigh heavy on every active mind that is not dedi cated to official duties or literary pursuits. The work itself is the best and the most correct that has been composed in the Gordoo lan guage a language which is both dulcet and elegant, and which was little known to Europeans until the zeal, labour, and talents of Mr. Gilchrist opened to us a perfect path to acquire it. Moreover the Bagk 0 Bufiar is a classical work in the College of Fort William it highly deserves its distinguished fate, as it contains various modes of expression in correct language it displays a great variety of Eas tern manners and modes of thinking, and it is an excellent introducu tion not only to the colloquial style of Hindoosmn, but toa knowledge of its various idioms. The Tale itself is interesting, if We keep in our minds the previous idea, that no Asiatic Writer of Romance or His tory was ever consistent, or free from fabulous credulity the can tious march of undeviating truth, -and a careful regard to vraisemblance never enters into their plan wildness of imagination, fabulous machi nery, and unnatural scenes ever pervade through the compositions of every Oriental Author even their most serious works on History and Ethics are stained with these imperfections. But as the Arabian Night Tales, the. Grand prototype of all Asiatic Romances, have these imperfections, and are still read with undiminished pleasure, I hope my friend Meer Umman may rise a smile, or exhilarate a languid hour. He will likewise instruct those who wish to view the outre pictures. Of Eastern manners his Genu and his Demons, his Fairies and his Angels, formed parts of his religious creed; he believed in their existence on the faith of the Q 0) an and as Mahometans are much more superstitiously attached to their Religion than we are to our's, we ought not to be surpised at their credulity.
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