A History of Sanskrit Literature c17.28

c17.28

These three collections of fairy tales are all written in prose and are comparatively short. There is, however, another of special importance, which is composed in verse and is of very considerable length. For it contains no less than 22,000 çlokas, equal to nearly one-fourth of the *Mahābhārata*, or to almost twice as much as the Iliad and Odyssey put together. This is the *Kathā-sarit-sāgara*, or "Ocean of Rivers of Stories." It is divided into 124 chapters, called *tarangas*, or "waves," to be in keeping with the title of the work. Independent of these is another division into eighteen books called *lambakas*.