in the royal monasteries. Being familiar with Mâgadhese(then the literary language of the country), and also acquainted with the local vernacular, they were of great help to the Buddhist Rahans in the interpretation of the Pitagat. And it is reasonable to suppose that when that great task was completed attention was paid to secular literature, the outcome of which was the compilation of the three Nîtis. Similar, or perhaps the very same treatises, were in use in the royal courts of India, and their introduction into the court of Ava was natural enough. The translation of Sanskrit works of a more erudite character was a work of later date.
That Brahmanic influence had been at work in the compilation of the Nîtis of Burma is evident from the nature of certain passages found in them. Evidence is also not wanting to show that additions have been made to the original treatises more in consonance with Buddhistic belief and idiosyncrasies. Partial emendations have also been resorted to, and can be discovered as the work of Rahans anxious to replace Hinduic ideas by others more congenial to their orthodoxy.
Sanskrit editionS of the three Nîtis are to be found among the Manipurian Punnas, who, driven from their native abode by the vicissitudes of war, made a home for themselves in Burma. They are written in Bengali characters, but editions in Sanskritised Burmese are also procurable. The Sanskrit Lokanîti of the Manipurian Punnas commences with the same stanza as the Hitopadeśa of Vishnuśarman—
- ↑ "For the good may there be success in achievements through the grace of Dhûrjati (Siva), on whose head there is the moon's sixteenth part, like a streak of the Ganges' foam."
