James Gray

“ He firmly believes that his future happiness depends upon his behaviour in his present life, and relies more on practical deeds rather than on the faith which his religion demands; and nothing could be more suitable to his wants than a kind of literature which lays down for him in pithy stanzas, and often in metaphoric language, a number of simply-worded apophthegms which are to shape his career in this world and fit him for a better sphere of existence when he leaves it. ”

“ Wars between the Muns and Burmese led eventually to a good deal of intercommunication between the two races. Hindu colonists, besides, had settled on the lower valleys of the Irawadi and Sittang rivers, and a religious struggle between Brahmans and Buddhists resulted in evoking the erudition of the learned Puṇṇas. Their services were soon utilised by the Burmese kings in furtherance of the cause of literature, and it was through their invaluable assistance that the study of Sanskrit became a sine quâ non in the royal monasteries. ”

“ As applied to books, it is a general term for a treatise which includes maxims, pithy sayings, and didactic stories, intended as a guide to such matters of everyday life as form the character of an individual and influence him in his relations to his fellow-men. ”