A History of Indian Literature v1.c5.5

v1.c5.5

Regarding the works upon which I have drawn and to which I am indebted, the Notes to the separate sections give information. What I owe to the "Akademische Vorlesungen über Indische Literaturgeschichte" by Albrecht Weber (2nd edition, Berlin 1876) which paved the way for Indian literary historiography, and to those stimulating and valuable lectures on "Indiens Literatur und Cultur in historischer Entwicklung" by Leopold v. Schroeder (Leipzig 1887) could naturally not be recorded in every single case. I also owe much, without always having specially mentioned it, to the valuable "Bulletins des Religions de l'Inde" by A. Barth in the Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, Tomes I, III, V, XI, XIV, XXVIIIf, XLIf, and XLV (1880-1902). The ingenious essays of H. Oldenberg, “Die Literatur des alten Indien” (Stuttgart and Berlin 1903) deal more with an aesthetic view and appreciation of Indian literature, which was somewhat outside the scope of my plans. The works of A. Baumgartner (Geschichte der Weltliteratur II. Die Literaturen Indiens und Ostasiens, 3. und 4. Aufl., Freiburg i. B. 1902), A. A. Macdonell (A History of Sanskrit Literature, London 1900) and V. Henry (Les Littératures de l’Inde, Paris 1904), though quite useful for their own purposes, hardly offered me anything new. The outlines of Indian literature by Richard Pischel in Part I, Section VII (“Die Orientalischen Literaturen”), of the series “Die Kultur der Gegenwart” (Berlin and Leipzig 1906), exceedingly short, but a masterpiece in their brevity, appeared only when my MS. was already finished and partly printed. I would not wish to leave unmentioned the services rendered to me by the “Orientalische Bibliographie” by Lucian Scherman, which is so indispensable to every Orientalist. Finally, I express my sincere gratitude to all those who have written friendly reviews or offered expert criticism on the first half volume which appeared two years ago.