Bahíyyih Khánum
Bahiyyih Khanum CONTENTS Baha'i Terms of Use [Dedicatory Passage] I: From the Writings of BAHA'U'LLAH 1: Let these exalted words be thy love-song on ... 2: O My Leaf! Hearken thou unto My Voice: ... II: From the Writings of 'ABDU'L-BAHA 1: O my well-beloved, deeply spiritual sister! ... 2: O thou my affectionate sister! In the daytime ... 3: Dear and deeply spiritual sister! At morn and ... 4: Dear sister, beloved of my heart and soul! ... 5: O thou my loving, my deeply spiritual ... 6: To my honoured and distinguished sister do ... 7: O Diya! It is incumbent upon thee, ... 8: O thou my affectionate sister! ... 9: O my dear sister! ...
novelty. The "perfect language" has been hitherto regarded as the
province of scholars, and few of these even have found time or taste to
search its treasures. And yet among them is the key to the heart of
modern India--as well as the splendid record of her ancient Gods and
glories. The hope of Hindostan lies in the intelligent interest of
England. Whatever avails to dissipate misconceptions between them, and
to enlarge their intimacy, is a gain to both peoples; and to this end
the present volume aspires, in an humble degree, to contribute.
The "Hitopadesa" is a work of high antiquity, and extended popularity.
The prose is doubtless as old as our own era; but the intercalated
verses and proverbs compose a selection from writings of an age
extremely remote. The "Mahabharata" and the textual Veds are of those
quoted; to the first of which Professor M. Williams (in his admirable
edition of the "Nala," 1860) assigns a date of 350 B.C., while he claims
for the "Rig-Veda" an antiquity as high as B.C. 1300. The "Hitopadesa"
may thus be fairly styled "The Father of all Fables"; for from its
numerous translations have come AEsop and Pilpay, and in later days
Reineke Fuchs. Originally compiled in Sanscrit, it was rendered, by
order of Nushiravan, in the sixth century, A.D., into Persic. From the
Persic it passed, A.D. 850, into the Arabic, and thence into Hebrew and
Greek. In its own land it obtained as wide a circulation. The Emperor
Acbar, impressed with the wisdom of its maxims and the ingenuity of its
apologues, commended the work of translating it to his own Vizir, Abdul
Fazel. That minister accordingly put the book into a familiar style, and
published it with explanations, under the title of the "Criterion of
Bahiyyih Khanum CONTENTS Baha'i Terms of Use [Dedicatory Passage] I: From the Writings of BAHA'U'LLAH 1: Let these exalted words be thy love-song on ... 2: O My Leaf! Hearken thou unto My Voice: ... II: From the Writings of 'ABDU'L-BAHA 1: O my well-beloved, deeply spiritual sister! ... 2: O thou my affectionate sister! In the daytime ... 3: Dear and deeply spiritual sister! At morn and ... 4: Dear sister, beloved of my heart and soul! ... 5: O thou my loving, my deeply spiritual ... 6: To my honoured and distinguished sister do ... 7: O Diya! It is incumbent upon thee, ... 8: O thou my affectionate sister! ... 9: O my dear sister! ...