Francis William Bain (29 April 1863 – 24 February 1940) was a British writer of fantasy stories that he claimed were translated from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
.
Biography
He was born on 29 April 1863, the son of Joseph Bain.
He was educated at
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
, before going up to
Christ Church, Oxford where he distinguished himself as a student of Classics.
In 1889, he was elected a fellow of
All Souls College
All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...
.
In his youth he was a keen amateur
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
, representing the
University
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
against
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
between 1883 and 1886; he was also a member of the leading amateur teams of the time,
Wanderers and
Corinthians
The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...
.
In 1892, he entered the Indian Educational Service, going on to become a professor of History in the
Deccan College of Poonah (
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
), in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, until his retirement in 1919.
He died on 24 February 1940.
Writings
The first of these was ''
A Digit of the Moon'' (1898), which Bain claimed was his translation of the eighth part of sixteen of a Sanskrit manuscript given to him by a
brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
. In the story, the king Súryakánta falls in love with the wise and beautiful princess Anangarágá, who will marry only the suitor who asks her a question she cannot answer. The king, with his clever friend Rasakósha, sets off to win the hand of the princess.
During Bain's life, the argument raged about whether the story was truly a translation or whether Bain had written it himself. While some early reviewers took his statements at face value, many did not. A contemporary review said, in part:
:Though palpably a pretense, they are graceful fancies, and might as well have appeared for what they really are instead of masquerading as "translations". No Hindu, unless of this generation and under foreign influence, ever conceived these stories. . . . Moreover, they are of a strict propriety, whereas original Hindu love stories would put
Rabelais's ghost to the blush.
The book contains numerous footnotes referring to Sanskrit puns and wordplay that the author claimed to have been unable to render in English.
''A Digit of the Moon'' was followed by a number of other stories in the same mode: ''Syrup of the Bees'', ''Bubbles of the Foam'', ''Essence of the Dusk'', ''Ashes of a God'', ''Mine of Faults'', ''Heifer of the Dawn'', and others. As more books appeared, it became clearer that Bain was writing these stories himself, not translating. A review of ''Bubbles of the Foam'' in 1912 said:
: Yet, despite the beauty of the whole, there is much in the volume that seems non-Indian; in fact, distinctly Occidental. The phraseology lacks in great part the subtle Sanskrit flavor…
Significant portions of his book ''Descent of the Sun'' were used, often word-for-word and with credit, by
Meatball Fulton
Thomas Lopez, aka Meatball Fulton (born 1935), is president of the ZBS Foundation and one of the foundation's founders. He writes and produces the ZBS Foundation's audio drama productions. When he was working in radio in the 1960s, Lopez took " ...
for his
''Fourth Tower of Inverness'' radio series.
Before his fantasy series, he also wrote other works, including political works. One was "Antichrist: A Short Examination of the Spirit of the Age":
: It is difficult for a critic to do justice to a book which he finds irritating from cover to cover. Mr. Bain starts from the position that the French Revolution was "not necessary."
The Quarterly Review
The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967. It was referred to as ''The London Quarterly Review'', as reprinted by Leonard Scott, f ...
, Volume 203
pp.64–67
/ref>
Bibliography
* A Digit of the Moon (1898)
* The Descent of the Sun 903
__NOTOC__
Year 903 ( CMIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* King Berengar I of Italy proceeds to issue concessions and privileges to the Lo ...
* A Heifer of the Dawn 904
__NOTOC__
Year 904 ( CMIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* July 29 – Sack of Thessalonica: A Muslim fleet, led by the Greek ren ...
* In the Great God's Hair 905* A Draught of the Blue (1905)
* An Essence of the Dusk (1906)
* An Incarnation of the Snow (1908)
* A Mine of Faults (1909)
* The Ashes of a God (1910)
* Bubbles of the Foam (1912)
* A Syrup of the Bees (1914)
* The Livery of Eve (1917)
* The Substance of a Dream (1919)
See also
* False document
A false document is a technique by which an author aims to increase verisimilitude in a work of fiction by inventing and inserting or mentioning documents that appear to be factual. The goal of a false document is to convince an audience that what ...
technique
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
The Indian Stories of F. W. Bain
at the Internet Sacred Texts Archive
The Internet Sacred Text Archive (ISTA) is a Santa Cruz, California-based website dedicated to the preservation of electronic public domain religious texts.
History
The website was first opened to the public on March 9, 1999 by John Bruno Hare ...
*
F. W. Bain
at the Encyclopedia of Fantasy
''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is a 1997 reference work concerning fantasy fiction, edited by John Clute and John Grant. Other contributors include Mike Ashley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, David Langford, Sam J. Lundwall, Michael Scot ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bain, F. W.
1863 births
1940 deaths
People educated at Westminster School, London
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Oxford University A.F.C. players
Wanderers F.C. players
Corinthian F.C. players
Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
British fantasy writers
Association footballers not categorized by position
English footballers