Art. XII.—The Buddhist Sources of the (Old Slav.) Legend of the Twelve Dreams of Shahaïsh

The Old Russian literature took up the theme of the king, who gets the explanation of some miraculous dreams from a wise man, in two different versions. In the first of these versions, the dreams concern events in the king's life, and this version enters into the complex of Stephanit and Ichnelat, showing itself thus a pretty correct reproduction of the Indian original through the Pehlevi, Arab, and Greek over-workings. In the second version the dreams have an eschatological character, and this version appears as an independent tale, known as ‘Word (=legend) of the dreams of king Mamer,’ ‘Word of the twelve dreams of Shahaïsh,’ etc.: the nearest sources of this legend are yet unknown.