Description
Except from The Dabistán, or School of Manners, Vol.2: Translated From the Original Persian, With Notes and Illustrations. The cup-bearer poured into the goblet the wine of the celestial soul, Veda, the generic term for the sacred writings, or scriptures, of the Hindus. See a subsequent note about the four Vedas. It is generally known that sir William Jones was the first who drew the attention of Orientalists to the Dabistan. This happened live years after the beginning of a new era in Oriental literature, the foundation of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta by that illustrious man. It may not appear inopportune here to revive the grateful remembrance of one who acquired the uncontested merit of not only exciting in Asia and Europe a new ardor for Oriental studies, but also of directing them to their great objects-—-MAN and NATURE; and of endeavoring, by word and deed, to render the attainment of languages conducive to the required knowledge equally easy and attractive.