Thanks to Mr. S. M. Mitra, the well-known Hindu psychologist and politician,who has done so much to draw more closely together the land of his birth andthat of his adoption, I am able to bring within reach of English children anumber of typical Hindu Tales, translated by him from the Sanskrit, some ofthem culled from the ancient classics of India, others from widely separatedsources. The latter have hitherto been quite inaccessible to western students,as they are not yet embodied in literature, but have been transmitted orallyfrom generation to generation for many centuries.
These tales are not only of a kind to enchain the attention of children. Theyalso illustrate well the close affinity between the two chief branches of thegreat Aryan race, and are of considerable ethical value, reflecting, as theydo, the philosophy of self-realisation which lies at the root of Hindu culture.They have been used from time immemorial by the best teachers of India as ameans of building up the personalities of the young and maintaining theefficiency of the adult. They serve in fact as text-books of the unique systemof Mind-Training which has been in use in India from remote Vedic times, theroot principle of which is as simple as it is effective.
Hindu children become familiar at their mothers’ knees with thesestories, and are trained to answer questions on them, subtly chosen to suittheir ages and call into action their mental faculties. Appealing to them as anamusing game, in which they vie with each other in trying to solve the problemspresented for their consideration, the boys and girls, who are educatedtogether till they are ten or twelve years old, early learn to concentratetheir attention; whilst the simultaneous development of all their powers isencouraged and they are, imperceptibly to themselves led to control theirthoughts and emotions from within, instead of having to obey orders which theydo not understand from without. They realize indeed, whilst still in thenursery, the ideal suggested by the sage Vidura in the Mahabharata: “Seekto know thyself by means of thyself, keeping thy mind, intellect and senses,under control; for self is thy friend as it is also thy foe.”
Nancy Bell.
Southbourne-on-Sea, 1918.
Long, long ago there lived far away in India a woodcutter called Subha Dattaand his family, who were all very happy together. The father went every day tothe forest near his home t