add the Aranyakas as well as in the prose legends interspersed? in the Mahabharata which, in the general tenor of their language present many salient points of similarity with the style of the Buddhistic Sutras. Most conspicuous among these are the Jataka tales, which treat of the prior births of Buddha and the Bodhisattwas. It is to this period we have to refer the earliest beginnings of sansjfcrit fiction. The didactic and sententious note, highly characteristic of the classical Sanskrit literature is specially pronounced in these fables, where " the abundant introduction of ethical reflections and proverbial philosophy is characteristic. The apologue with its moral is peculiarly subject to this method of treatment."
The extant collections of these tales afford us sufficient grounds for any conclusions regarding them. Their distinguishing feature lies in the mode of their narration and arrangement. The heroes of the main story in successive •* W turns relate various tales in support of their own views, which process goes on unimpeded to the very end of the story so that the whole series forms a set of Chinese boxes.
The Panchatantra. The monumental edifice of this mode of narration has come down to us in the Panchatantra. These fables were probably current in India for many centuries in the shape of vernacular folk-lore before they were arranged in their present form in easy and literary Sanskrit prose. "If aaot actually a Buddhist work," says MacDonnel "the Panchatantra must be derived from Buddhistic sources."
The internal evidence from the extant text confirms the conjecture. Apologues and fables? wefe current among: Buddhists from time immemorial.' Such Tales—Jatakafinite topics, denominated upadesa and nidana. All these tales, -ptrfly mythical, partly didactic and partly allegorical, reappear in a more archaic dress in the Brahmanas.e been pleased with hisa of his court and the rest by himself. It is doubted if the work had really anything to do with the royal author. Perhaps his name was purchased. BhojVs poetry is even more appreciated than his prose ; for in the latter the vices described of later Sanskrit prose had already begun to make their mark. Yet the language is very harmonious and musical. His choice of words is especially noteworthy. Tradition, unsupported however