Note.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Somadeva Bhatta, active 11th century and Tawney, C. H. (Charles Henry)
Properly speaking, there are 24 instead of 25 stories in this version of the Vetála Panchavinśati. The same appears to be the case with the redaction ascribed to Śivadása, according to Oesterley, and with the Tamul version. The 24th tale in Oesterley’s translation is simply a repetition of the 22nd.
Source notes
1 I read with the MS. in the Sanskrit College lipta for klipta, and púrṇa for púrva.
2 See Addendum to Fasciculus IV, being a note on Vol. I, p. 306.
3 The Sanskrit College MS. reads nishkampam̱. But perhaps we ought to read nishkampa, “O fearless one.” Satyam̱ must be used adverbially. Kulabhúbhṛitám also means “of great mountains.”
4 I read netraiśeha for netre cha with the Sanskrit College MS.
5 Perhaps páṭitát would give a better sense.
6 The story is here taken up from page 232.
7 The Sanskrit College MS. reads sa kṛitártham̱.
8 So in Melusine, p. 447, the hero of the tale “La Montagne Noire” rides on the back of a crow, to whom he has to give flesh, as often as he says “couac”. At last he has to give him flesh from his own thighs. The wounds are healed instantaneously by means of a “fiole de graisse” which he carries with him. See No. 61 in Gonzenbach’s Sicilianische Märchen with Dr. Köhler’s notes.
9 The Sanskrit College MS. reads kopita for mánada i. e., “Since I was separated from you by the curse of the enraged Nága.”