What Ten Young Men Did

[isabelle.onians at CLAYSANSKRITLIBRARY.ORG]

Dear Colleagues,

Last month I wrote to ask if any of you knew 
whether any translation of the Da"sakumaaracarita 
had attempted to reproduce the absence of labials 
in Mantragupta's story. I will assume that the 
lack of response means that none are known.

Today I have a further question for you. Do any 
of you happen to know if there is truth to the 
rumour that some elements of Da.n.din's narrative 
have echoes in European literature? I am not 
referring to European texts inspired by 
nineteenth century translations of the book, such 
as Mallarmé's "Le Portrait enchanté" (Oupahara 
and Soundari) in his "Contes indiens."

I would be most grateful to learn if any of the 
stories find their way into, for example, 
Boccaccio's Decameron, or indeed to older 
authors, such as Petronius or Apuleius. The four 
women, particularly the evil ones, in 
Mitragupta's responses to the raak.sasa's 
questions seem like likely candidates.

I ask because I [think I] saw such an assertion, 
once upon a time, in a long forgotten source.

Thank you very much in advance for your kind attention.

Yours truly,

Isabelle Onians