विक्रम चरित (उज्जैन सम्राट् विक्रमादित्य - पराक्रम, न्याय एवं ३२ पुतलियों की कथा सटीक)

iv PREFACE. merit which may be due for the labour he has ventured upon. Emulation is at all times praiseworthy, more particu- larly in cases of the present kind. The enlightenment of the age, aided in a great measure by the encouragement received, has placed the translator of the present work in a position to carry out his design more satisfactorily, if not more successfully, than is likely to have fallen to the lot of any of his predecessors. It is therefore with some little confi- dence, not untempered with diffidence, that he appears before the public. No originality of thought or sentiment is claimed : the Prakrit Poems of Hurridass have supplied the subject, which, as has been stated, is now for the first time clothed in the English garb for the benefit of the reader. The translator has taken some pains to expunge such passages as in his opinion bordered on immorality or inde- cency ; and he will now let the work speak for itself, feeling confident that its shortcomings will be kindly dealt with by his friends and patrons, as well as by the public at large, who, keeping in view the fact that it can scarcely be expected of a Native so thoroughly to master the English idiom as one who has from his infancy lisped its accents, will deign to look upon his humble efforts with kind approbation, and, by a generous and liberal support, indemnify him for the trouble and expense he has necessarily incurred in this undertaking.