Collected Works of Edwin Arnold: Buddhism and Hinduism Studies, Poetry & Plays (Illustrated): The Essence of Buddhism, Light of the World, The Light of Asia, The Song Celestial, Indian Poetry, Hindu Literature, The Japanese Wife, Death--And Afterward

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Table of Contents:

The Essence of Buddhism

Hindu Literature: Comprising The Book of good counsels, Nala and Damayanti

Death--And Afterwards

The Light of Asia

Indian Poetry

The Song Celestial or Bhagavad-Gita (from the Mahâbhârata)

Light of the World; or, The Great Consummation

Potiphar’s Wife

Adzuma; or, The Japanese Wife

Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work, The Light of Asia. The literary task which he set before him was the interpretation in English verse of the life and philosophy of the East. His chief work with this object is The Light of Asia, which was translated into various languages such as Hindi.

The Light of Asia, subtitled The Great Renunciation, is in a form of a narrative poem. The book endeavors to describe the life and time of Prince Gautama Siddhartha, who after attaining enlightenment became The Buddha, The Awakened One. The book presents his life, character, and philosophy, in a series of verses. It is a free adaptation of the Lalitavistara. A few decades before the book's publication, very little was known outside Asia about the Buddha and Buddhism, the religion which he founded, and which had existed for about twenty-five centuries. Arnold's book was one of the first successful attempts to popularize Buddhism for a Western readership.