Note 401 — Chapter II · (continued 3)

The Dabistán (p. 269, edit. of Calc.) affords a curious specimen of a Sanskrit prayer transcribed in Persian characters; this prayer is here restored to its original form in Devanagari. The literal translation of it, subjoined, shows that it is composed of a series of epithets encomiastical of the sun; these epithets have been most freely amplified in the paraphrase which the author of the Dabistán has given of the original prayer:

महज्योतिः उत्तमोदयः नृस्वादः लोकनः आहारः सुदर्शनः दृष्टिः मिथनः महावतारः उत्तमप्रकासः पथ्वी स्मरणः महादातामुक्तसङ्गः आत्मदाता शरीरज्योतिः स्व आत्म वुधनाथः सर्व ज्योतिः आतपः प्रकाशः औपमिकः स्वर्ग दाता देवसहायः

“Thou art the great light—most gloriously rising—the delight of men—resplendent—granter of food—agreeable to sight—the eye of heaven—the promoter of union—the great incarnation—the most excellent manifestation—mindful of the earth—the chief bestower of the devotion to emancipation—the dispenser of life—the light of bodies—the lord of intellect and of interior life—all illuming—the radiance of the day—the effulgency—the supreme light—only like thyself—the donor of heaven—the companion of the gods.”