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thing has been done towards encouraging the study of Sanskrit by the Civil Servants of India. It is a matter of regret, however, that the little that is acquired under compulsion while in course of training for the first test or the Departmental examinations, is rarely improved from a love of knowledge in after life. The cause, however, is not far to seek. The study of Sanskrit is attended with difficulties that are nearly insuperable in the case of the over-worked Indian official. Unless blessed with linguistic faculties of an exceptional nature, the little leisure that the Indian official might command, even if wholly devoted to the acquirement of Sanskrit, can scarcely produce desirable results. Viewed also in the light of a mean to an end, viz, of understanding the wishes and aspirations of the Indian races for purposes of better government, the study of Sanskrit may be dispensed with if all that is contained in the great Sanskrit works of antiquity becomes obtainable by Englishmen through the medium of translation. Any effort, therefore, that is made towards unlocking Manu and Yajnyavalkya, Vyasa and Valmiki, to Englishmen at home or in India, can not but be regarded as a valuable contribution to the cause of good government.
With regard to the Mahabharata in particular, on which, as remarked by Oriental scholars, Aryan poets and prose-writers of succeeding ages have drawn as on a national bank of unlimited resources, I am fully persuaded that the usefulness of such a translation and its gratuitous distribution in India and Europe (America also has been included at the suggestion of my friends) would recommend itself to the patriotism of my countrymen without the need of any eloquent elaboration. It is impossible to suppose that the liberality of my countrymen could have been exhausted by supporting the "Bharat Karyalya" for a period of seven years only. The English translation will cost, at a rough estimate, Rs. 100,000. After my experience of the liberality of my countrymen, this sum, apprently large though it be, seems to me to be a trifle. I purpose therefore to publish an English translation of the Mahabharata in monthly parts of 10 forms each, octavo, demy, the first part of which is issued herewith.
