THE OCEAN OF STORY VOL. VII

The Brihat-Katha, or Great Story collection of Gunadhya, as well as the supposed excerpt from it, Somadeva’s Ocean, are pretty nearly unique both in size and in the wealth and welter of story-telling. If I am not mistaken, even Somadeva’s Ocean has no equal or superior in these respects in the fiction literature of the world; yet it is by no means a complete expression of what we might call the fiction genius of India. There are many other Brahmanical collections of importance, as well as equally impressive Buddhist and Jaina collections—Jatakas, Avadanas, Charitras, Kavyas and Kathanakas—known all over India and the Asiatic countries which, chiefly owing to the spread of Buddhism, have become intellectual tributaries of India.