Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | 页面 514

THE FAITHFUL MINISTER
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to him the truth on a point of such importance, evinced,
on the contrary, more affection and confidence than ever
towards his minister, and continued to regard him as the
most faithful and stanch of all his adherents.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Niti Slokas, or Moral Stanzas.
The slokas, or moral stanzas, of which I am about to
give a translation, are familiar to all Hindus who are in
any way educated. In most Hindu schools children are
made to learn them by heart as a kind of catechism. They
are written in Sanskrit verse, but as this classical language
is not studied or understood by many people, each sloka is
accompanied by a literal translation in the vulgar tongue.
The Hindus take great delight in introducing these slokas
into their ordinary conversations.
I have tried in my
translation to diverge as little as possible from the original
text
but the difficulty of reproducing in a European
language certain terms and expressions peculiar to the
Indian languages has resulted in a few of these sentences
being somewhat incoherent. This fault, of course, is not
observable when they are read in the original. In trans-
lating them I have followed the order observed by the
Indian author. The original collection contains a very
large number of others, but I have restricted myself to
reproducing the principal of them in order not to tire my
;
readers.
I. He who feeds us is our father
he who helps us is
our brother he who places his confidence in us is our
friend
those whose sentiments accord with ours are our
kinsmen.
II. If a margosa seed be dropped into a beverage com-
posed of sugar, honey, and ghee, the whole of it becomes
so bitter, that although milk may rain upon it for a thou-
sand years the mixture will lose nothing of its bitterness.
This is symbolical of the wicked, who, however good people
may be to them, never lose their natural tendency to
;
;
;
do
evil.
Beware of becoming attached to any country which
not your own, or of serving any master who is a foreigner
III.
is
;