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diff --git a/41563-0.txt b/41563-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..82a9427 --- /dev/null +++ b/41563-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13646 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41563 *** + + A HISTORY OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE + + + By + + ARTHUR A. MACDONELL, M. A., Ph. D. + + Of Corpus Christi College, Oxford + Boden Professor of Sanskrit and Fellow of Balliol + + + + New York + D. Appleton and Company + 1900 + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +It is undoubtedly a surprising fact that down to the present time +no history of Sanskrit literature as a whole has been written in +English. For not only does that literature possess much intrinsic +merit, but the light it sheds on the life and thought of the population +of our Indian Empire ought to have a peculiar interest for the +British nation. Owing chiefly to the lack of an adequate account +of the subject, few, even of the young men who leave these shores +every year to be its future rulers, possess any connected information +about the literature in which the civilisation of Modern India can +be traced to its sources, and without which that civilisation cannot +be fully understood. It was, therefore, with the greatest pleasure +that I accepted Mr. Gosse's invitation to contribute a volume to this +series of Literatures of the World; for this appeared to me to be a +peculiarly good opportunity for diffusing information on a subject +in which more than twenty years of continuous study and teaching had +instilled into me an ever-deepening interest. + +Professor Max Müller's valuable History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature +is limited in its scope to the Vedic period. It has long been out of +print; and Vedic research has necessarily made great strides in the +forty years which have elapsed since its publication. + +The only book accessible to the English reader on the history of +Sanskrit literature in general has hitherto been the translation +of Professor Weber's Academical Lectures on Indian Literature, +as delivered nearly half a century ago at Berlin. The numerous and +often very lengthy notes in this work supply the results of research +during the next twenty-five years; but as these notes often modify, +or even cancel, the statements of the unaltered original text of +1852, the result is bewildering to the student. Much new light has +been thrown on various branches of Sanskrit literature since 1878, +when the last notes were added to this translation, which, moreover, +is not in any way adapted to the wants of the general reader. The +only work on the subject appealing to the latter is the late Sir +M. Monier-Williams's Indian Wisdom. That book, however, although it +furnishes, in addition to the translated specimens, some account of +the chief departments of Sanskrit literature, is not a history. There +is thus distinctly a twofold demand in this country for a history +of Sanskrit literature. The student is in want of a guide setting +forth in a clear and trustworthy manner the results of research down +to the present time, and the cultivated English reader looks for a +book presenting in an intelligible and attractive form information +which must have a special interest to us owing to our close relations +with India. + +To lack of space, no less than to the scope of the present series, +is due the exclusion of a full account of the technical literature +of law, science, and art, which contains much that would interest +even the general reader; but the brief epitome given in the Appendix +will, I hope, suffice to direct the student to all the most important +authorities. + +As to the bibliographical notes, I trust that, though necessarily +restricted in extent, they will enable the student to find all +further information he may want on matters of detail; for instance, +the evidence for approximate dates, which had occasionally to be +summarily stated even in the text. + +In writing this history of Sanskrit literature, I have dwelt more on +the life and thought of Ancient India, which that literature embodies, +than would perhaps have appeared necessary in the case of a European +literature. This I have done partly because Sanskrit literature, +as representing an independent civilisation entirely different from +that of the West, requires more explanation than most others; and +partly because, owing to the remarkable continuity of Indian culture, +the religious and social institutions of Modern India are constantly +illustrated by those of the past. + +Besides the above-mentioned works of Professors Max Müller and Weber, +I have made considerable use of Professor L. von Schroeder's excellent +Indiens Literatur und Cultur (1887). I have further consulted in one +way or another nearly all the books and monographs mentioned in the +bibliographical notes. Much of what I have written is also based on +my own studies of Sanskrit literature. + +All the quotations which I have given by way of illustration I have +myself carefully selected from the original works. Excepting the short +extracts on page 333 from Cowell and Thomas's excellent translation +of the Harshacharita, all the renderings of these are my own. In my +versions of Rigvedic stanzas I have, however, occasionally borrowed a +line or phrase from Griffith. Nearly all my renderings are as close as +the use of metre permits. I have endeavoured to reproduce, as far as +possible, the measures of the original, except in the quotations from +the dramas, where I have always employed blank verse. I have throughout +refrained from rhyme, as misrepresenting the original Sanskrit. + +In the transliteration of Sanskrit words I have been guided by the +desire to avoid the use of letters which might mislead those who do +not know Sanskrit. I have therefore departed in a few particulars +from the system on which Sanskrit scholars are now almost unanimously +agreed, and which I otherwise follow myself. Hence for c and ch I have +written ch and chh respectively, though in the rare cases where these +two appear in combination I have retained cch (instead of chchh). I +further use sh for the lingual s, and ç for the palatal s, and ri +for the vowel r. I have not thought it necessary to distinguish the +guttural n and the palatal ñ by diacritical marks, simply printing, +for instance, anga and pancha. The reader who is unacquainted with +Sanskrit will thus pronounce all words correctly by simply treating +all the consonants as in English; remembering only that the vowels +should be sounded as in Italian, and that e and o are always long. + +I am indebted for some suggestions to my friend Mr. F. C. S. Schiller, +Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, who looked through the +final proof of the chapter on Philosophy. To my pupil Mr. A. B. Keith, +Boden Sanskrit scholar and Classical scholar of Balliol, who has read +all the final proofs with great care, I owe not only the removal of +a number of errors of the press, but also several valuable criticisms +regarding matters of fact. + + +107 Banbury Road, Oxford, +December 1, 1899. + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. Introductory 1 + II. The Vedic Period 29 + III. The Rigveda 40 + IV. Poetry of the Rigveda 59 + V. Philosophy of the Rigveda 116 + VI. The Rigvedic Age 139 + VII. The Later Vedas 171 + VIII. The Brahmanas 202 + IX. The Sutras 244 + X. The Epics 277 + XI. Kavya or Court Epic 318 + XII. Lyric Poetry 335 + XIII. The Drama 346 + XIV. Fairy Tales and Fables 368 + XV. Philosophy 385 + XVI. Sanskrit Literature and the West 408 + Appendix on Technical + Literature--Law--History--Grammar--Poetics--Mathematics + and Astronomy--Medicine--Arts 428 + Bibliographical Notes 438 + + + + + + + A HISTORY OF + SANSKRIT LITERATURE + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +Since the Renaissance there has been no event of such world-wide +significance in the history of culture as the discovery of Sanskrit +literature in the latter part of the eighteenth century. After +Alexander's invasion, the Greeks became to some extent acquainted +with the learning of the Indians; the Arabs, in the Middle Ages, +introduced the knowledge of Indian science to the West; a few European +missionaries, from the sixteenth century onwards, were not only +aware of the existence of, but also acquired some familiarity with, +the ancient language of India; and Abraham Roger even translated the +Sanskrit poet Bhartrihari into Dutch as early as 1651. Nevertheless, +till about a hundred and twenty years ago there was no authentic +information in Europe about the existence of Sanskrit literature, but +only vague surmise, finding expression in stories about the wisdom +of the Indians. The enthusiasm with which Voltaire in his Essai sur +les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations greeted the lore of the Ezour +Vedam, a work brought from India and introduced to his notice in +the middle of the last century, was premature. For this work was +later proved to be a forgery made in the seventeenth century by +a Jesuit missionary. The scepticism justified by this fabrication, +and indulged in when the discovery of the genuine Sanskrit literature +was announced, survived far into the present century. Thus, Dugald +Stewart, the philosopher, wrote an essay in which he endeavoured +to prove that not only Sanskrit literature, but also the Sanskrit +language, was a forgery made by the crafty Brahmans on the model of +Greek after Alexander's conquest. Indeed, this view was elaborately +defended by a professor at Dublin as late as the year 1838. + +The first impulse to the study of Sanskrit was given by the practical +administrative needs of our Indian possessions. Warren Hastings, +at that time Governor-General, clearly seeing the advantage of +ruling the Hindus as far as possible according to their own laws +and customs, caused a number of Brahmans to prepare a digest based +on the best ancient Indian legal authorities. An English version +of this Sanskrit compilation, made through the medium of a Persian +translation, was published in 1776. The introduction to this work, +besides giving specimens of the Sanskrit script, for the first +time supplied some trustworthy information about the ancient Indian +language and literature. The earliest step, however, towards making +Europe acquainted with actual Sanskrit writings was taken by Charles +Wilkins, who, having, at the instigation of Warren Hastings, acquired +a considerable knowledge of Sanskrit at Benares, published in 1785 +a translation of the Bhagavad-gita, or The Song of the Adorable One, +and two years later, a version of the well-known collection of fables +entitled Hitopadeça, or Friendly Advice. + +Sir William Jones (1746-94) was, however, the pioneer of Sanskrit +studies in the West. It was this brilliant and many-sided Orientalist +who, during his too brief career of eleven years in India, first +aroused a keen interest in the study of Indian antiquity by his +unwearied literary activity and by the foundation of the Asiatic +Society of Bengal in 1784. Having rapidly acquired an accurate +knowledge of Sanskrit, he published in 1789 a translation of Çakuntala, +the finest Sanskrit drama, which was greeted with enthusiasm by such +judges as Herder and Goethe. This was followed by a translation of +the Code of Manu, the most important of the Sanskrit law-books. To Sir +William Jones also belongs the credit of having been the first man who +ever printed an edition of a Sanskrit text. This was a short lyrical +poem entitled Ritusamhara, or Cycle of the Seasons, published in 1792. + +We next come to the great name of Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765-1837), +a man of extraordinary industry, combined with rare clearness of +intellect and sobriety of judgment. The first to handle the Sanskrit +language and literature on scientific principles, he published many +texts, translations, and essays dealing with almost every branch of +Sanskrit learning, thus laying the solid foundations on which later +scholars have built. + +While Colebrooke was beginning his literary career in India during +the opening years of the century, the romance of war led to the +practical knowledge of Sanskrit being introduced on the Continent of +Europe. Alexander Hamilton (1765-1824), an Englishman who had acquired +a good knowledge of Sanskrit in India, happened to be passing through +France on his way home in 1802. Hostilities breaking out afresh just +then, a decree of Napoleon, directed against all Englishmen in the +country, kept Hamilton a prisoner in Paris. During his long involuntary +stay in that city he taught Sanskrit to some French scholars, and +especially to the German romantic poet Friedrich Schlegel. One of the +results of these studies was the publication by Schlegel of his work +On the Language and Wisdom of the Indians (1808). This book produced +nothing less than a revolution in the science of language by the +introduction of the comparative and the historical method. It led to +the foundation of the science of comparative philology by Franz Bopp +in his treatise on the conjugational system of Sanskrit in comparison +with that of Greek, Latin, Persian, and German (1816). Schlegel's work, +moreover, aroused so much zeal for the study of Sanskrit in Germany, +that the vast progress made since his day in this branch of learning +has been mainly due to the labours of his countrymen. + +In the early days of Sanskrit studies Europeans became acquainted +only with that later phase of the ancient language of India which is +familiar to the Pandits, and is commonly called Classical Sanskrit. So +it came about that the literature composed in this dialect engaged +the attention of scholars almost exclusively down to the middle of +the century. Colebrooke had, it is true, supplied as early as 1805 +valuable information about the literature of the older period in his +essay On the Vedas. Nearly a quarter of a century later, F. Rosen, +a German scholar, had conceived the plan of making this more ancient +literature known to Europe from the rich collection of manuscripts +at the East India House; and his edition of the first eighth of the +Rigveda was actually brought out in 1838, shortly after his premature +death. But it was not till Rudolf Roth (1821-95), the founder of Vedic +philology, published his epoch-making little book On the Literature +and History of the Veda in 1846, that the studies of Sanskritists +received a lasting impulse in the direction of the earlier and more +important literature of the Vedas. These studies have since been +prosecuted with such zeal, that nearly all the most valuable works +of the Vedic, as well as the later period, have within the last fifty +years been made accessible in thoroughly trustworthy editions. + +In judging of the magnitude of the work thus accomplished, it should +be borne in mind that the workers have been far fewer in this than +in other analogous fields, while the literature of the Vedas at least +equals in extent what survives of the writings of ancient Greece. Thus +in the course of a century the whole range of Sanskrit literature, +which in quantity exceeds that of Greece and Rome put together, has +been explored. The great bulk of it has been edited, and most of its +valuable productions have been translated, by competent hands. There +has long been at the service of scholars a Sanskrit dictionary, larger +and more scientific than any either of the classical languages yet +possesses. The detailed investigations in every department of Sanskrit +literature are now so numerous, that a comprehensive work embodying the +results of all these researches has become a necessity. An encyclopædia +covering the whole domain of Indo-Aryan antiquity has accordingly been +planned on a more extensive scale than that of any similar undertaking, +and is now being published at Strasburg in parts, contributed to by +about thirty specialists of various nationalities. By the tragic death, +in April 1898, of its eminent editor, Professor Bühler of Vienna, +Sanskrit scholarship has sustained an irreparable loss. The work begun +by him is being completed by another very distinguished Indianist, +Professor Kielhorn of Göttingen. + +Although so much of Sanskrit literature has already been published, +an examination of the catalogues of Sanskrit manuscripts, of which +an enormous number are preserved in European and Indian libraries, +proves that there are still many minor works awaiting, and likely to +repay, the labours of an editor. + +The study of Sanskrit literature deserves far more attention than it +has yet received in this country. For in that ancient heritage the +languages, the religious and intellectual life and thought, in short, +the whole civilisation of the Hindus, who form the vast majority of +the inhabitants of our Indian Empire, have their roots. Among all +the ancient literatures, that of India is, moreover, undoubtedly in +intrinsic value and æsthetic merit second only to that of Greece. To +the latter it is, as a source for the study of human evolution, even +superior. Its earliest period, being much older than any product +of Greek literature, presents a more primitive form of belief, and +therefore gives a clearer picture of the development of religious +ideas than any other literary monument of the world. Hence it came +about that, just as the discovery of the Sanskrit language led to the +foundation of the science of Comparative Philology, an acquaintance +with the literature of the Vedas resulted in the foundation of the +science of Comparative Mythology by Adalbert Kuhn and Max Müller. + +Though it has touched excellence in most of its branches, +Sanskrit literature has mainly achieved greatness in religion and +philosophy. The Indians are the only division of the Indo-European +family which has created a great national religion--Brahmanism--and +a great world-religion--Buddhism; while all the rest, far from +displaying originality in this sphere, have long since adopted a +foreign faith. The intellectual life of the Indians has, in fact, all +along been more dominated by religious thought than that of any other +race. The Indians, moreover, developed independently several systems +of philosophy which bear evidence of high speculative powers. The +great interest, however, which these two subjects must have for us +lies, not so much in the results they attained, as in the fact that +every step in the evolution of religion and philosophy can be traced +in Sanskrit literature. + +The importance of ancient Indian literature as a whole largely consists +in its originality. Naturally isolated by its gigantic mountain barrier +in the north, the Indian peninsula has ever since the Aryan invasion +formed a world apart, over which a unique form of Aryan civilisation +rapidly spread, and has ever since prevailed. When the Greeks, +towards the end of the fourth century B.C., invaded the North-West, the +Indians had already fully worked out a national culture of their own, +unaffected by foreign influences. And, in spite of successive waves +of invasion and conquest by Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Muhammadans, +the national development of the life and literature of the Indo-Aryan +race remained practically unchecked and unmodified from without down to +the era of British occupation. No other branch of the Indo-European +stock has experienced an isolated evolution like this. No other +country except China can trace back its language and literature, +its religious beliefs and rites, its domestic and social customs, +through an uninterrupted development of more than three thousand years. + +A few examples will serve to illustrate this remarkable continuity +in Indian civilisation. Sanskrit is still spoken as the tongue of +the learned by thousands of Brahmans, as it was centuries before +our era. Nor has it ceased to be used for literary purposes, for +many books and journals written in the ancient language are still +produced. The copying of Sanskrit manuscripts is still continued in +hundreds of libraries in India, uninterrupted even by the introduction +of printing during the present century. The Vedas are still learnt +by heart as they were long before the invasion of Alexander, and +could even now be restored from the lips of religious teachers if +every manuscript or printed copy of them were destroyed. A Vedic +stanza of immemorial antiquity, addressed to the sun-god Savitri, +is still recited in the daily worship of the Hindus. The god Vishnu, +adored more than 3000 years ago, has countless votaries in India at +the present day. Fire is still produced for sacrificial purposes by +means of two sticks, as it was in ages even more remote. The wedding +ceremony of the modern Hindu, to single out but one social custom, +is essentially the same as it was long before the Christian era. + +The history of ancient Indian literature naturally falls into two +main periods. The first is the Vedic, which beginning perhaps as +early as 1500 B.C., extends in its latest phase to about 200 B.C. In +the former half of the Vedic age the character of its literature +was creative and poetical, while the centre of culture lay in the +territory of the Indus and its tributaries, the modern Panjab; in the +latter half, literature was theologically speculative in matter and +prosaic in form, while the centre of intellectual life had shifted to +the valley of the Ganges. Thus in the course of the Vedic age Aryan +civilisation had overspread the whole of Hindustan Proper, the vast +tract extending from the mouths of the Indus to those of the Ganges, +bounded on the north by the Himalaya, and on the south by the Vindhya +range. The second period, concurrent with the final offshoots of Vedic +literature and closing with the Muhammadan conquest after 1000 A.D., +is the Sanskrit period strictly speaking. In a certain sense, owing to +the continued literary use of Sanskrit, mainly for the composition of +commentaries, this period may be regarded as coming down to the present +day. During this second epoch Brahmanic culture was introduced into and +overspread the southern portion of the continent called the Dekhan or +"the South." In the course of these two periods taken together, Indian +literature attained noteworthy results in nearly every department. The +Vedic age, which, unlike the earlier epoch of Greece, produced only +religious works, reached a high standard of merit in lyric poetry, +and later made some advance towards the formation of a prose style. + +The Sanskrit period, embracing in general secular subjects, achieved +distinction in many branches of literature, in national as well as +court epic, in lyric and especially didactic poetry, in the drama, +in fairy tales, fables, and romances. Everywhere we find much +true poetry, the beauty of which is, however, marred by obscurity +of style and the ever-increasing taint of artificiality. But this +period produced few works which, regarded as a whole, are dominated +by a sense of harmony and proportion. Such considerations have had +little influence on the æsthetic notions of India. The tendency +has been rather towards exaggeration, manifesting itself in all +directions. The almost incredible development of detail in ritual +observance; the extraordinary excesses of asceticism; the grotesque +representations of mythology in art; the frequent employment of vast +numbers in description; the immense bulk of the epics; the unparalleled +conciseness of one of the forms of prose; the huge compounds habitually +employed in the later style, are among the more striking manifestations +of this defect of the Indian mind. + +In various branches of scientific literature, in phonetics, grammar, +mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and law, the Indians also achieved +notable results. In some of these subjects their attainments are, +indeed, far in advance of what was accomplished by the Greeks. + +History is the one weak spot in Indian literature. It is, in +fact, non-existent. The total lack of the historical sense is so +characteristic, that the whole course of Sanskrit literature is +darkened by the shadow of this defect, suffering as it does from an +entire absence of exact chronology. So true is this, that the very +date of Kalidasa, the greatest of Indian poets, was long a matter of +controversy within the limits of a thousand years, and is even now +doubtful to the extent of a century or two. Thus the dates of Sanskrit +authors are in the vast majority of cases only known approximately, +having been inferred from the indirect evidence of interdependence, +quotation or allusion, development of language or style. As to the +events of their lives, we usually know nothing at all, and only in a +few cases one or two general facts. Two causes seem to have combined +to bring about this remarkable result. In the first place, early India +wrote no history because it never made any. The ancient Indians never +went through a struggle for life, like the Greeks in the Persian +and the Romans in the Punic wars, such as would have welded their +tribes into a nation and developed political greatness. Secondly, +the Brahmans, whose task it would naturally have been to record +great deeds, had early embraced the doctrine that all action and +existence are a positive evil, and could therefore have felt but +little inclination to chronicle historical events. + +Such being the case, definite dates do not begin to appear in Indian +literary history till about 500 A.D. The chronology of the Vedic +period is altogether conjectural, being based entirely on internal +evidence. Three main literary strata can be clearly distinguished +in it by differences in language and style, as well as in religious +and social views. For the development of each of these strata a +reasonable length of time must be allowed; but all we can here hope +to do is to approximate to the truth by centuries. The lower limit +of the second Vedic stratum cannot, however, be fixed later than +500 B.C., because its latest doctrines are presupposed by Buddhism, +and the date of the death of Buddha has been with a high degree +of probability calculated, from the recorded dates of the various +Buddhist councils, to be 480 B.C. With regard to the commencement of +the Vedic age, there seems to have been a decided tendency among +Sanskrit scholars to place it too high. 2000 B.C. is commonly +represented as its starting-point. Supposing this to be correct, +the truly vast period of 1500 years is required to account for a +development of language and thought hardly greater than that between +the Homeric and the Attic age of Greece. Professor Max Müller's +earlier estimate of 1200 B.C., formed forty years ago, appears to be +much nearer the mark. A lapse of three centuries, say from 1300-1000 +B.C., would amply account for the difference between what is oldest +and newest in Vedic hymn poetry. Considering that the affinity of +the oldest form of the Avestan language with the dialect of the Vedas +is already so great that, by the mere application of phonetic laws, +whole Avestan stanzas may be translated word for word into Vedic, so +as to produce verses correct not only in form but in poetic spirit; +considering further, that if we knew the Avestan language at as early +a stage as we know the Vedic, the former would necessarily be almost +identical with the latter, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion +that the Indian branch must have separated from the Iranian only a +very short time before the beginnings of Vedic literature, and can +therefore have hardly entered the North-West of India even as early as +1500 B.C. All previous estimates of the antiquity of the Vedic period +have been outdone by the recent theory of Professor Jacobi of Bonn, +who supposes that period goes back to at least 4000 B.C. This theory +is based on astronomical calculations connected with a change in the +beginning of the seasons, which Professor Jacobi thinks has taken +place since the time of the Rigveda. The whole estimate is, however, +invalidated by the assumption of a doubtful, and even improbable, +meaning in a Vedic word, which forms the very starting-point of the +theory. Meanwhile we must rest content with the certainty that Vedic +literature in any case is of considerably higher antiquity than that +of Greece. + +For the post-Vedic period we have, in addition to the results of +internal evidence, a few landmarks of general chronological importance +in the visits of foreigners. The earliest date of this kind is that of +the invasion of India by Alexander in 326 B.C. This was followed by +the sojourn in India of various Greeks, of whom the most notable was +Megasthenes. He resided for some years about 300 B.C. at the court +of Pataliputra (the modern Patna), and has left a valuable though +fragmentary account of the contemporary state of Indian society. Many +centuries later India was visited by three Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, +Fa Hian (399 A.D.), Hiouen Thsang (630-645), and I Tsing (671-695). The +records of their travels, which have been preserved, and are all now +translated into English, shed much light on the social conditions, +the religious thought, and the Buddhist antiquities of India in +their day. Some general and specific facts about Indian literature +also can be gathered from them. Hiouen Thsang especially supplies +some important statements about contemporary Sanskrit poets. It is +not till his time that we can say of any Sanskrit writer that he +was alive in any particular year, excepting only the three Indian +astronomers, whose exact dates in the fifth and sixth centuries have +been recorded by themselves. It was only the information supplied +by the two earlier Chinese writers that made possible the greatest +archæological discovery of the present century in India, that of the +site of Buddha's birthplace, Kapila-vastu, identified in December +1896. At the close of our period we have the very valuable account +of the country at the time of the Muhammadan conquest by the Arabic +author Alberuni, who wrote his India in 1030 A.D. + +It is evident from what has been said, that before 500 A.D. literary +chronology, even in the Sanskrit period, is almost entirely relative, +priority or posteriority being determined by such criteria as +development of style or thought, the mention of earlier authors +by name, stray political references as to the Greeks or to some +well-known dynasty, and allusions to astronomical facts which cannot +have been known before a certain epoch. Recent research, owing to +increased specialisation, has made considerable progress towards +greater chronological definiteness. More light will doubtless in +course of time come from the political history of early India, +which is being reconstructed, with great industry and ability, +by various distinguished scholars from the evidence of coins, +copper-plate grants, and rock or pillar inscriptions. These have +been or are being published in the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, +the Epigraphia Indica, and various journals devoted to the study of +Indian antiquities. The rise in the study of epigraphy during the last +twenty years has, indeed, already yielded some direct information +of importance about the literary and religious history of India, +by fixing the date of some of the later poets as well as by throwing +light on religious systems and whole classes of literature. Thus some +metrical inscriptions of considerable length have been deciphered, +which prove the existence of court poetry in Sanskrit and vernacular +dialects from the first century of our era onwards. No direct evidence +of this fact had previously been known. + +The older inscriptions are also important in connection with Sanskrit +literature as illustrating both the early history of Indian writing +and the state of the language at the time. The oldest of them are +the rock and pillar inscriptions, dating from the middle of the +third century B.C., of the great Buddhist king Açoka, who ruled +over Northern India from 259 to 222 B.C., and during whose reign was +held the third Buddhist council, at which the canon of the Buddhist +scriptures was probably fixed. The importance of these inscriptions can +hardly be over-rated for the value of the information to be derived +from them about the political, religious, and linguistic conditions +of the age. Found scattered all over India, from Girnar (Giri-nagara) +in Kathiawar to Dhauli in Orissa, from Kapur-di-Giri, north of the +Kabul river, to Khalsi, they have been reproduced, deciphered, and +translated. One of them, engraved on a pillar erected by Açoka to +commemorate the actual birthplace of Buddha, was discovered only at +the close of 1896. + +These Açoka inscriptions are the earliest records of Indian +writing. The question of the origin and age of writing in India, +long involved in doubt and controversy, has been greatly cleared up +by the recent palæographical researches of Professor Bühler. That +great scholar has shown, that of the two kinds of script known in +ancient India, the one called Kharoshthi employed in the country of +Gandhara (Eastern Afghanistan and Northern Panjab) from the fourth +century B.C. to 200 A.D., was borrowed from the Aramaic type of Semitic +writing in use during the fifth century B.C. It was always written from +right to left, like its original. The other ancient Indian script, +called Brahmi, is, as Bühler shows, the true national writing of +India, because all later Indian alphabets are descended from it, +however dissimilar many of them may appear at the present day. It +was regularly written from left to right; but that this was not its +original direction is indicated by a coin of the fourth century B.C., +the inscription on which runs from right to left. Dr. Bühler has shown +that this writing is based on the oldest Northern Semitic or Phoenician +type, represented on Assyrian weights and on the Moabite stone, +which dates from about 890 B.C. He argues, with much probability, +that it was introduced about 800 B.C. into India by traders coming +by way of Mesopotamia. + +References to writing in ancient Indian literature are, it is +true, very rare and late; in no case, perhaps, earlier than +the fourth century B.C., or not very long before the date of the +Açoka inscriptions. Little weight, however, can be attached to the +argumentum ex silentio in this instance. For though writing has now +been extensively in use for an immense period, the native learning +of the modern Indian is still based on oral tradition. The sacred +scriptures as well as the sciences can only be acquired from the lips +of a teacher, not from a manuscript; and as only memorial knowledge +is accounted of value, writing and MSS. are rarely mentioned. Even +modern poets do not wish to be read, but cherish the hope that their +works may be recited. This immemorial practice, indeed, shows that the +beginnings of Indian poetry and science go back to a time when writing +was unknown, and a system of oral tradition, such as is referred +to in the Rigveda, was developed before writing was introduced. The +latter could, therefore, have been in use long before it began to be +mentioned. The palæographical evidence of the Açoka inscriptions, +in any case, clearly shows that writing was no recent invention +in the third century B.C., for most of the letters have several, +often very divergent forms, sometimes as many as nine or ten. A +considerable length of time was, moreover, needed to elaborate from +the twenty-two borrowed Semitic symbols the full Brahmi alphabet of +forty-six letters. This complete alphabet, which was evidently worked +out by learned Brahmans on phonetic principles, must have existed +by 500 B.C., according to the strong arguments adduced by Professor +Bühler. This is the alphabet which is recognised in Pannini's great +Sanskrit grammar of about the fourth century B.C., and has remained +unmodified ever since. It not only represents all the sounds of the +Sanskrit language, but is arranged on a thoroughly scientific method, +the simple vowels (short and long) coming first, then the diphthongs, +and lastly the consonants in uniform groups according to the organs +of speech with which they are pronounced. Thus the dental consonants +appear together as t, th, d, dh, n, and the labials as p, ph, b, +bh, m. We Europeans, on the other hand, 2500 years later, and in a +scientific age, still employ an alphabet which is not only inadequate +to represent all the sounds of our languages, but even preserves the +random order in which vowels and consonants are jumbled up as they +were in the Greek adaptation of the primitive Semitic arrangement of +3000 years ago. + +In the inscriptions of the third century B.C. two types, the Northern +and the Southern, may be distinguished in the Brahmi writing. From +the former is descended the group of Northern scripts which gradually +prevailed in all the Aryan dialects of India. The most important +of them is the Nagari (also called Devanagari), in which Sanskrit +MSS. are usually written, and Sanskrit as well as Marathi and Hindi +books are regularly printed. It is recognisable by the characteristic +horizontal line at the top of the letters. The oldest inscription +engraved entirely in Nagari belongs to the eighth, and the oldest +MS. written in it to the eleventh century. From the Southern variety +of the Brahmi writing are descended five types of script, all in use +south of the Vindhya range. Among them are the characters employed +in the Canarese and the Telugu country. + +Owing to the perishability of the material on which they are written, +Sanskrit MSS. older than the fourteenth century A.D. are rare. The two +ancient materials used in India were strips of birch bark and palm +leaves. The employment of the former, beginning in the North-West +of India, where extensive birch forests clothe the slopes of the +Himalaya, gradually spread to Central, Eastern, and Western India. The +oldest known Sanskrit MS. written on birch bark dates from the fifth +century A.D., and a Pali MS. in Kharoshthi which became known in 1897, +is still older, but the use of this material doubtless goes back to +far earlier days. Thus we have the statement of Quintus Curtius that +the Indians employed it for writing on at the time of Alexander. The +testimony of classical Sanskrit authors, as well as of Alberuni, +shows that leaves of birch bark (bhurja-pattra) were also regularly +used for letter-writing in early mediæval India. + +The first example of a palm leaf Sanskrit MS. belongs to the sixth +century A.D. It is preserved in Japan, but there is a facsimile of +it in the Bodleian Library. According to the Chinese pilgrim Hiouen +Thsang, the use of the palm leaf was common all over India in the +seventh century; but that it was known many centuries earlier is +proved by the fact that an inscribed copper-plate, dating from the +first century A.D. at the latest, imitates a palm leaf in shape. + +Paper was introduced by the Muhammadan conquest, and has been very +extensively used since that time for the writing of MSS. The oldest +known example of a paper Sanskrit MS. written in India is one from +Gujarat, belonging to the early part of the thirteenth century. In +Northern India, where ink was employed for writing, palm leaves went +out of use after the introduction of paper. But in the South, where +a stilus has always been employed for scratching in the character, +palm leaves are still common for writing both MSS. and letters. The +birch bark and palm leaf MSS. are held together by a cord drawn +through a single hole in the middle, or through two placed some +distance apart. This explains how the Sanskrit word for "knot," +grantha, came to acquire the sense of "book." + +Leather or parchment has never been utilised in India for MSS., +owing to the ritual impurity of animal materials. For inscriptions +copper-plates were early and frequently employed. They regularly +imitate the shape of either palm leaves or strips of birch bark. + +The actual use of ink (the oldest Indian name of which is mashi) is +proved for the second century B.C. by an inscription from a Buddhist +relic mound, and is rendered very probable for the fourth century +B.C. by the statements of Nearchos and Quintus Curtius. + +All the old palm leaf, birch bark, and paper Sanskrit MSS. have +been written with ink and a reed pen, usually called kalama (a term +borrowed from the Greek kalamos). In Southern India, on the other +hand, it has always been the practice to scratch the writing on palm +leaves with a stilus, the characters being subsequently blackened by +soot or charcoal being rubbed into them. + +Sanskrit MSS. of every kind are usually kept between thin strips +of wood with cords wound round them, and wrapped up in coloured, +sometimes embroidered, cloths. They have been, and still are, preserved +in the libraries of temples, monasteries, colleges, the courts of +princes, as well as private houses. A famous library was owned by +King Bhoja of Dhar in the eleventh century. That considerable private +libraries existed in fairly early times is shown by the fact that the +Sanskrit author Bana (about 620 A.D.) had in his employment a reader of +manuscripts. Even at the present day there are many excellent libraries +of Sanskrit MSS. in the possession of Brahmans all over India. + +The ancient Indian language, like the literature composed in it, falls +into the two main divisions of Vedic and Sanskrit. The former differs +from the latter on the whole about as much as Homeric from classical +Greek, or the Latin of the Salic hymns from that of Varro. Within the +Vedic language, in which the sacred literature of India is written, +several stages can be distinguished. In its transitions from one to +the other it gradually grows more modern till it is ultimately merged +in Sanskrit. Even in its earliest phase Vedic cannot be regarded as a +popular tongue, but is rather an artificially archaic dialect, handed +down from one generation to the other within the class of priestly +singers. Of this the language itself supplies several indications. One +of them is the employment side by side of forms belonging to different +linguistic periods, a practice in which, however, the Vedic does not +go so far as the Homeric dialect. The spoken language of the Vedic +priests probably differed from this dialect of the hymns only in the +absence of poetical constructions and archaisms. There was, in fact, +even in the earlier Vedic age, a caste language, such as is to be +found more or less wherever a literature has grown up; but in India +it has been more strongly marked than in any other country. + +If, however, Vedic was no longer a natural tongue, but was already +the scholastic dialect of a class, how much truer is this of the +language of the later literature! Sanskrit differs from Vedic, but +not in conformity with the natural development which appears in living +languages. The phonetic condition of Sanskrit remains almost exactly +the same as that of the earliest Vedic. In the matter of grammatical +forms, too, the language shows itself to be almost stationary; for +hardly any new formations or inflexions have made their appearance. Yet +even from a grammatical point of view the later language has become +very different from the earlier. This change was therefore brought +about, not by new creations, but by successive losses. The most +notable of these were the disappearance of the subjunctive mood and the +reduction of a dozen infinitives to a single one. In declension the +change consisted chiefly in the dropping of a number of synonymous +by-forms. It is probable that the spoken Vedic, more modern and +less complex than that of the hymns, to some extent affected the +later literary language in the direction of simplification. But the +changes in the language were mainly due to the regulating efforts of +the grammarians, which were more powerful in India than anywhere else, +owing to the early and exceptional development of grammatical studies +in that country. Their influence alone can explain the elaborate nature +of the phonetic combinations (called Sandhi) between the finals and +initials of words in the Sanskrit sentence. + +It is, however, the vocabulary of the language that has undergone +the greatest modifications, as is indeed the case in all literary +dialects; for it is beyond the power of grammarians to control +change in this direction. Thus we find that the vocabulary has been +greatly extended by derivation and composition according to recognised +types. At the same time there are numerous words which, though old, +seem to be new only because they happen by accident not to occur +in the Vedic literature. Many really new words have, however, come +in through continual borrowings from a lower stratum of language, +while already existing words have undergone great changes of meaning. + +This later phase of the ancient language of India was stereotyped by +the great grammarian Panini towards the end of the fourth century +B.C. It came to be called Sanskrit, the "refined" or "elaborate" +(sam-skri-ta, literally "put together"), a term not found in the older +grammarians, but occurring in the earliest epic, the Ramayana. The +name is meant to be opposed to that of the popular dialects called +Prakrita, and is so opposed, for instance, in the Kavyadarça, +or Mirror of Poetry, a work of the sixth century A.D. The older +grammarians themselves, from Yaska (fifth century B.C.) onwards, +speak of this classical dialect as Bhasha, "the speech," in +distinction from Vedic. The remarks they make about it point to +a spoken language. Thus one of them, Patanjali, refers to it as +used "in the world," and designates the words of his Sanskrit as +"current in the world." Panini himself gives many rules which have +no significance except in connection with living speech; as when +he describes the accent or the lengthening of vowels in calling +from a distance, in salutation, or in question and answer. Again, +Sanskrit cannot have been a mere literary and school language, because +there are early traces of its having had dialectic variations. Thus +Yaska and Panini mention the peculiarities of the "Easterns" and +"Northerners," Katyayana refers to local divergences, and Patanjali +specifies words occurring in single districts only. There is, indeed, +no doubt that in the second century B.C. Sanskrit was actually +spoken in the whole country called by Sanskrit writers Aryavarta, or +"Land of the Aryans," which lies between the Himalaya and the Vindhya +range. But who spoke it there? Brahmans certainly did; for Patanjali +speaks of them as the "instructed" (çishta), the employers of correct +speech. Its use, however, extended beyond the Brahmans; for we read +in Patanjali about a head-groom disputing with a grammarian as to +the etymology of the Sanskrit word for "charioteer" (suta). This +agrees with the distribution of the dialects in the Indian drama, a +distribution doubtless based on a tradition much older than the plays +themselves. Here the king and those of superior rank speak Sanskrit, +while the various forms of the popular dialect are assigned to women +and to men of the people. The dramas also show that whoever did +not speak Sanskrit at any rate understood it, for Sanskrit is there +employed in conversation with speakers of Prakrit. The theatrical +public, and that before which, as we know from frequent references +in the literature, the epics were recited, must also have understood +Sanskrit. Thus, though classical Sanskrit was from the beginning a +literary and, in a sense, an artificial dialect, it would be erroneous +to deny to it altogether the character of a colloquial language. It +is indeed, as has already been mentioned, even now actually spoken in +India by learned Brahmans, as well as written by them, for every-day +purposes. The position of Sanskrit, in short, has all along been, +and still is, much like that of Hebrew among the Jews or of Latin in +the Middle Ages. + +Whoever was familiar with Sanskrit at the same time spoke one popular +language or more. The question as to what these popular languages +were brings us to the relation of Sanskrit to the vernaculars of +India. The linguistic importance of the ancient literary speech for +the India of to-day will become apparent when it is pointed out that +all the modern dialects--excepting those of a few isolated aboriginal +hill tribes--spoken over the whole vast territory between the mouths +of the Indus and those of the Ganges, between the Himalaya and the +Vindhya range, besides the Bombay Presidency as far south as the +Portuguese settlement of Goa, are descended from the oldest form +of Sanskrit. Starting from their ancient source in the north-west, +they have overflowed in more and more diverging streams the whole +peninsula except the extreme south-east. The beginnings of these +popular dialects go back to a period of great antiquity. Even at the +time when the Vedic hymns were composed, there must have existed a +popular language which already differed widely in its phonetic aspect +from the literary dialect. For the Vedic hymns contain several words +of a phonetic type which can only be explained by borrowings on the +part of their composers from popular speech. + +We further know that in the sixth century B.C., Buddha preached +his gospel in the language of the people, as opposed to that of the +learned, in order that all might understand him. Thus all the oldest +Buddhist literature dating from the fourth or fifth century B.C. was +composed in the vernacular, originally doubtless in the dialect of +Magadha (the modern Behar), the birthplace of Buddhism. Like Italian, +as compared with Latin, this early popular speech is characterised +by the avoidance of conjunct consonants and by fondness for final +vowels. Thus the Sanskrit sutra, "thread," and dharma, "duty," +become sutta and dhamma respectively, while vidyut, "lightning," is +transformed into vijju. The particular form of the popular language +which became the sacred idiom of Southern Buddhism is known by the +name of Pali. Its original home is still uncertain, but its existence +as early as the third century B.C. is proved beyond the range of doubt +by the numerous rock and pillar inscriptions of Açoka. This dialect was +in the third century B.C. introduced into Ceylon, and became the basis +of Singhalese, the modern language of the island. It was through the +influence of Buddhism that, from Açoka's time onwards, the official +decrees and documents preserved in inscriptions were for centuries +composed exclusively in Middle Indian (Prakrit) dialects. Sanskrit +was not familiar to the chanceries during these centuries, though the +introduction of Sanskrit verses in Prakrit inscriptions shows that +Sanskrit was alive during this period, and proves its continuity for +literary purposes. The older tradition of both the Buddhist and the +Jain religion, in fact, ignored Sanskrit entirely, using only the +popular dialects for all purposes. + +But in course of time both the Buddhists and the Jains endeavoured to +acquire a knowledge of Sanskrit. This led to the formation of an idiom +which, being in the main Prakrit, was made to resemble the old language +by receiving Sanskrit endings and undergoing other adaptations. It +is therefore decidedly wrong to consider this artificial dialect an +intermediate stage between Sanskrit and Pali. This peculiar type of +language is most pronounced in the poetical pieces called gatha or +"song," which occur in the canonical works of the Northern Buddhists, +especially in the Lalita-vistara, a life of Buddha. Hence it was +formerly called the Gatha dialect. The term is, however, inaccurate, +as Buddhist prose works have also been written in this mixed language. + +The testimony of the inscriptions is instructive in showing the +gradual encroachment of Sanskrit on the popular dialects used by +the two non-Brahmanical religions. Thus in the Jain inscriptions of +Mathura (now Muttra), an almost pure Prakrit prevails down to the first +century A.D. After that Sanskritisms become more and more frequent, +till at last simple Sanskrit is written. Similarly in Buddhist +inscriptions pure Prakrit is relieved by the mixed dialect, the latter +by Sanskrit. Thus in the inscriptions of Nasik, in Western India, +the mixed dialect extends into the third, while Sanskrit first begins +in the second century A.D. From the sixth century onwards Sanskrit +prevails exclusively (except among the Jains) in inscriptions, though +Prakritisms often occur in them. Even in the literature of Buddhism +the mixed dialect was gradually supplanted by Sanskrit. Hence most of +the Northern Buddhist texts have come down to us in Sanskrit, which, +however, diverges widely in vocabulary from that of the sacred texts +of the Brahmans, as well as from that of the classical literature, +since they are full of Prakrit words. It is expressly attested by +the Chinese pilgrim, Hiouen Thsang, that in the seventh century the +Buddhists used Sanskrit even in oral theological discussions. The Jains +finally did the same, though without entirely giving up Prakrit. Thus +by the time of the Muhammadan conquest Sanskrit was almost the only +written language of India. But while Sanskrit was recovering its +ancient supremacy, the Prakrits had exercised a lasting influence upon +it in two respects. They had supplied its vocabulary with a number of +new words, and had transformed into a stress accent the old musical +accent which still prevailed after the days of Panini. + +In the oldest period of Prakrit, that of the Pali Açoka inscriptions +and the early Buddhistic and Jain literature, two main dialects, the +Western and the Eastern, may be distinguished. Between the beginning +of our era and about 1000 A.D., mediæval Prakrit, which is still +synthetic in character, is divided into four chief dialects. In the +west we find Apabhramça ("decadent") in the valley of the Indus, +and Çauraseni in the Doab, with Mathura as its centre. Subdivisions +of the latter were Gaurjari (Gujarati), Avanti (Western Rajputani), +and Maharashtri (Eastern Rajputani). The Eastern Prakrit now appears +as Magadhi, the dialect of Magadha, now Behar, and Ardha-Magadhi +(Half-Magadhi), with Benares as its centre. These mediæval Prakrits +are important in connection with Sanskrit literature, as they are the +vernaculars employed by the uneducated classes in the Sanskrit drama. + +They are the sources of all the Aryan languages of modern India. From +the Apabhramça are derived Sindhi, Western Panjabi, and Kashmiri; +from Çauraseni come Eastern Panjabi and Hindi (the old Avanti), as +well as Gujarati; while from the two forms of Magadhi are descended +Marathi on the one hand, and the various dialects of Bengal on the +other. These modern vernaculars, which began to develop from about +1000 A.D., are no longer inflexional languages, but are analytical +like English, forming an interesting parallel in their development +from ancient Sanskrit to the Romance dialects in their derivation +from Latin. They have developed literatures of their own, which are +based entirely on that of Sanskrit. The non-Aryan languages of the +Dekhan, the Dravidian group, including Telugu, Canarese, Malayalam, +and Tamil, have not indeed been ousted by Aryan tongues, but they +are full of words borrowed from Sanskrit, while their literature is +dominated by Sanskrit models. + + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE VEDIC PERIOD + + +On the very threshold of Indian literature more than three thousand +years ago, we are confronted with a body of lyrical poetry which, +although far older than the literary monuments of any other branch of +the Indo-European family, is already distinguished by refinement and +beauty of thought, as well as by skill in the handling of language +and metre. From this point, for a period of more than a thousand +years, Indian literature bears an exclusively religious stamp; even +those latest productions of the Vedic age which cannot be called +directly religious are yet meant to further religious ends. This is, +indeed, implied by the term "Vedic." For veda, primarily signifying +"knowledge" (from vid, "to know"), designates "sacred lore," as a +branch of literature. Besides this general sense, the word has also +the restricted meaning of "sacred book." + +In the Vedic period three well-defined literary strata are to be +distinguished. The first is that of the four Vedas, the outcome of +a creative and poetic age, in which hymns and prayers were composed +chiefly to accompany the pressing and offering of the Soma juice or +the oblation of melted butter (ghrita) to the gods. The four Vedas are +"collections," called samhita, of hymns and prayers made for different +ritual purposes. They are of varying age and significance. By far the +most important as well as the oldest--for it is the very foundation of +all Vedic literature--is the Rigveda, the "Veda of verses" (from rich, +"a laudatory stanza"), consisting entirely of lyrics, mainly in praise +of different gods. It may, therefore, be described as the book of +hymns or psalms. The Sama-veda has practically no independent value, +for it consists entirely of stanzas (excepting only 75) taken from +the Rigveda and arranged solely with reference to their place in the +Soma sacrifice. Being meant to be sung to certain fixed melodies, +it may be called the book of chants (saman). The Yajur-veda differs +in one essential respect from the Sama-veda, It consists not only of +stanzas (rich), mostly borrowed from the Rigveda, but also of original +prose formulas. It resembles the Sama-veda, however, in having its +contents arranged in the order in which it was actually employed in +various sacrifices. It is, therefore, a book of sacrificial prayers +(yajus). The matter of this Veda has been handed down in two forms. In +the one, the sacrificial formulas only are given; in the other, these +are to a certain extent intermingled with their explanations. These +three Vedas alone were at first recognised as canonical scriptures, +being in the next stage of Vedic literature comprehensively spoken +of as "the threefold knowledge" (trayi vidya). + +The fourth collection, the Atharva-veda, attained to this position only +after a long struggle. Judged both by its language and by that portion +of its matter which is analogous to the contents of the Rigveda, +the Atharva-veda came into existence considerably later than that +Veda. In form it is similar to the Rigveda, consisting for the most +part of metrical hymns, many of which are taken from the last book +of the older collection. In spirit, however, it is not only entirely +different from the Rigveda, but represents a much more primitive +stage of thought. While the Rigveda deals almost exclusively with +the higher gods as conceived by a comparatively advanced and refined +sacerdotal class, the Atharva-veda is, in the main, a book of spells +and incantations appealing to the demon world, and teems with notions +about witchcraft current among the lower grades of the population, and +derived from an immemorial antiquity. These two, thus complementary to +each other in contents, are obviously the most important of the four +Vedas. As representing religious ideas at an earlier stage than any +other literary monuments of the ancient world, they are of inestimable +value to those who study the evolution of religious beliefs. + +The creative period of the Vedas at length came to an end. It was +followed by an epoch in which there no longer seemed any need to +offer up new prayers to the gods, but it appeared more meritorious +to repeat those made by the holy seers of bygone generations, and +handed down from father to son in various priestly families. The +old hymns thus came to be successively gathered together in the +Vedic collections already mentioned and in this form acquired an +ever-increasing sanctity. Having ceased to produce poetry, the +priesthood transferred their creative energies to the elaboration +of the sacrificial ceremonial. The result was a ritual system far +surpassing in complexity of detail anything the world has elsewhere +known. The main importance of the old Vedic hymns and formulas +now came to be their application to the innumerable details of the +sacrifice. Around this combination of sacred verse and rite a new +body of doctrine grew up in sacerdotal tradition, and finally assumed +definite shape in the guise of distinct theological treatises entitled +Brahmanas, "books dealing with devotion or prayer" (brahman). They +evidently did not come into being till a time when the hymns were +already deemed ancient and sacred revelations, the priestly custodians +of which no longer fully understood their meaning owing to the change +undergone by the language. They are written in prose throughout, and +are in some cases accented, like the Vedas themselves. They are thus +notable as representing the oldest prose writing of the Indo-European +family. Their style is, indeed, cumbrous, rambling, and disjointed, +but distinct progress towards greater facility is observable within +this literary period. + +The chief purpose of the Brahmanas is to explain the mutual relation of +the sacred text and the ceremonial, as well as their symbolical meaning +with reference to each other. With the exception of the occasional +legends and striking thoughts which occur in them, they cannot be +said to be at all attractive as literary productions. To support +their explanations of the ceremonial, they interweave exegetical, +linguistic, and etymological observations, and introduce myths and +philosophical speculations in confirmation of their cosmogonic and +theosophic theories. They form an aggregate of shallow and pedantic +discussions, full of sacerdotal conceits, and fanciful, or even absurd, +identifications, such as is doubtless unparalleled anywhere else. Yet, +as the oldest treatises on ritual practices extant in any literature, +they are of great interest to the student of the history of religions +in general, besides furnishing much important material to the student +of Indian antiquity in particular. + +It results from what has been said that the contrasts between the two +older phases of Vedic literature are strongly marked. The Vedas are +poetical in matter and form; the Brahmanas are prosaic and written in +prose. The thought of the Vedas is on the whole natural and concrete; +that of the Brahmanas artificial and abstract. The chief significance +of the Vedas lies in their mythology; that of the Brahmanas in +their ritual. + +The subject-matter of the Brahmanas which are attached to the various +Vedas, differs according to the divergent duties performed by the kind +of priest connected with each Veda. The Brahmanas of the Rigveda, +in explaining the ritual, usually limit themselves to the duties +of the priest called hotri or "reciter" on whom it was incumbent to +form the canon (çastra) for each particular rite, by selecting from +the hymns the verses applicable to it. The Brahmanas of the Sama-veda +are concerned only with the duties of the udgatri or "chanter" of the +Samans; the Brahmanas of the Yajur-veda with those of the adhvaryu, +or the priest who is the actual sacrificer. Again, the Brahmanas +of the Rigveda more or less follow the order of the ritual, quite +irrespectively of the succession of the hymns in the Veda itself. The +Brahmanas of the Sama- and the Yajur-veda, on the other hand, follow +the order of their respective Vedas, which are already arranged in +the ritual sequence. The Brahmana of the Sama-veda, however, rarely +explains individual verses, while that of the Yajur-veda practically +forms a running commentary on all the verses of the text. + +The period of the Brahmanas is a very important one in the history +of Indian society. For in it the system of the four castes assumed +definite shape, furnishing the frame within which the highly complex +network of the castes of to-day has been developed. In that system +the priesthood, who even in the first Vedic period had occupied an +influential position, secured for themselves the dominant power which +they have maintained ever since. The life of no other people has been +so saturated with sacerdotal influence as that of the Hindus, among +whom sacred learning is still the monopoly of the hereditary priestly +caste. While in other early societies the chief power remained in the +hands of princes and warrior nobles, the domination of the priesthood +became possible in India as soon as the energetic life of conquest +during the early Vedic times in the north-west was followed by a +period of physical inactivity or indolence in the plains. Such altered +conditions enabled the cultured class, who alone held the secret of +the all-powerful sacrifice, to gain the supremacy of intellect over +physical force. + +The Brahmanas in course of time themselves acquired a sacred +character, and came in the following period to be classed along with +the hymns as çruti or "hearing," that which was directly heard by or, +as we should say, revealed to, the holy sages of old. In the sphere +of revelation are included the later portions of the Brahmanas, +which form treatises of a specially theosophic character, and being +meant to be imparted or studied in the solitude of the forest, are +called Aranyakas or "Forest-books." The final part of these, again, +are philosophical books named Upanishads, which belong to the latest +stage of Brahmana literature. The pantheistic groundwork of their +doctrine was later developed into the Vedanta system, which is still +the favourite philosophy of the modern Hindus. + +Works of Vedic "revelation" were deemed of higher authority in cases +of doubt than the later works on religious and civil usage, called +smriti or "memory," as embodying only the tradition derived from +ancient sages. + +We have now arrived at the third and last stage of Vedic literature, +that of the Sutras. These are compendious treatises dealing with Vedic +ritual on the one hand, and with customary law on the other. The rise +of this class of writings was due to the need of reducing the vast +and growing mass of details in ritual and custom, preserved in the +Brahmanas and in floating tradition, to a systematic shape, and of +compressing them within a compass which did not impose too great a +burden on the memory, the vehicle of all teaching and learning. The +main object of the Sutras is, therefore, to supply a short survey of +the sum of these scattered details. They are not concerned with the +interpretation of ceremonial or custom, but aim at giving a plain and +methodical account of the whole course of the rites or practices with +which they deal. For this purpose the utmost brevity was needed, +a requirement which was certainly met in a manner unparalleled +elsewhere. The very name of this class of literature, sutra, "thread" +or "clue" (from siv, "to sew"), points to its main characteristic +and chief object--extreme conciseness. The prose in which these +works are composed is so compressed that the wording of the most +laconic telegram would often appear diffuse compared with it. Some +of the Sutras attain to an almost algebraic mode of expression, +the formulas of which cannot be understood without the help of +detailed commentaries. A characteristic aphorism has been preserved, +which illustrates this straining after brevity. According to it, +the composers of grammatical Sutras delight as much in the saving of +a short vowel as in the birth of a son. The full force of this remark +can only be understood when it is remembered that a Brahman is deemed +incapable of gaining heaven without a son to perform his funeral rites. + +Though the works comprised in each class of Sutras are essentially the +same in character, it is natural to suppose that their composition +extended over some length of time, and that those which are more +concise and precise in their wording are the more recent; for the +evolution of their style is obviously in the direction of increased +succinctness. Research, it is true, has hitherto failed to arrive at +any definite result as to the date of their composition. Linguistic +investigations, however, tend to show that the Sutras are closely +connected in time with the grammarian Panini, some of them appearing +to be considerably anterior to him. We shall, therefore, probably not +go very far wrong in assigning 500 and 200 B.C. as the chronological +limits within which the Sutra literature was developed. + +The tradition of the Vedic ritual was handed down in two forms. The +one class, called Çrauta Sutras, because based on çruti or revelation +(by which in this case the Brahmanas are chiefly meant), deal with +the ritual of the greater sacrifices, for the performance of which +three or more sacred fires, as well as the ministrations of priests, +are necessary. Not one of them presents a complete picture of the +sacrifice, because each of them, like the Brahmanas, describes only +the duties of one or other of the three kinds of priests attached to +the respective Vedas. In order to obtain a full description of each +ritual ceremony, it is therefore needful to supplement the account +given by one Çrauta Sutra from that furnished by the rest. + +The other division of the ritual Sutras is based on smriti or +tradition. These are the Grihya Sutras, or "House Aphorisms," which +deal with the household ceremonies, or the rites to be performed +with the domestic fire in daily life. As a rule, these rites are not +performed by a priest, but by the householder himself in company +with his wife. For this reason there is, apart from deviations +in arrangement and expression, omission or addition, no essential +difference between the various Grihya Sutras, except that the verses to +be repeated which they contain are taken from the Veda to which they +belong. Each Grihya Sutra, besides being attached to and referring +to the Çrauta Sutra of the same school, presupposes a knowledge of +it. But though thus connected, the two do not form a unity. + +The second class of Sutras, which deal with social and legal usage, is, +like the Grihya Sutras, also based on smriti or tradition. These are +the Dharma Sutras, which are in general the oldest sources of Indian +law. As is implied by the term dharma, "religion and morality," their +point of view is chiefly a religious one. They are closely connected +with the Veda, which they quote, and which the later law-books regard +as the first and highest source of dharma. + +From the intensely crabbed and unintelligible nature of their style, +and the studied baldness with which they present their subjects, +it is evident that the Sutras are inferior even to the Brahmanas as +literary productions. Judged, however, with regard to its matter, +this strange phase of literature has considerable value. In all other +ancient literatures knowledge of sacrificial rites can only be gained +by collecting stray references. But in the ritual Sutras we possess +the ancient manuals which the priests used as the foundation of their +sacrificial lore. Their statements are so systematic and detailed that +it is possible to reconstruct from them various sacrifices without +having seen them performed. They are thus of great importance for +the history of religious institutions. But the Sutras have a further +value. For, as the life of the Hindu, more than that of any other +nation, was, even in the Vedic age, surrounded with a network of +religious forms, both in its daily course and in its more important +divisions, the domestic ritual as well as the legal Sutras are our +most important sources for the study of the social conditions of +ancient India. They are the oldest Indian records of all that is +included under custom. + +Besides these ritual and legal compendia, the Sutra period produced +several classes of works composed in this style, which, though not +religious in character, had a religious origin. They arose from the +study of the Vedas, which was prompted by the increasing difficulty of +understanding the hymns, and of reciting them correctly, in consequence +of the changes undergone by the language. Their chief object was +to ensure the right recitation and interpretation of the sacred +text. One of the most important classes of this ancillary literature +comprises the Pratiçakhya Sutras, which, dealing with accentuation, +pronunciation, metre, and other matters, are chiefly concerned with +the phonetic changes undergone by Vedic words when combined in a +sentence. They contain a number of minute observations, such as have +only been made over again by the phoneticians of the present day in +Europe. A still more important branch of this subsidiary literature +is grammar, in which the results attained by the Indians in the +systematic analysis of language surpass those arrived at by any other +nation. Little has been preserved of the earliest attempts in this +direction, for all that had been previously done was superseded by the +great Sutra work of Panini. Though belonging probably to the middle +of the Sutra period, Panini must be regarded as the starting-point of +the Sanskrit age, the literature of which is almost entirely dominated +by the linguistic standard stereotyped by him. + +In the Sutra period also arose a class of works specially designed +for preserving the text of the Vedas from loss or change. These are +the Anukramanis or "Indices," which quote the first words of each +hymn, its author, the deity celebrated in it, the number of verses +it contains, and the metre in which it is composed. One of them +states the total number of hymns, verses, words, and even syllables, +contained in the Rigveda, besides supplying other details. + +From this general survey of the Vedic period we now turn to a more +detailed consideration of the different phases of the literature +it produced. + + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE RIGVEDA + + +In the dim twilight preceding the dawn of Indian literature the +historical imagination can perceive the forms of Aryan warriors, the +first Western conquerors of Hindustan, issuing from those passes in +the north-west through which the tide of invasion has in successive +ages rolled to sweep over the plains of India. The earliest poetry of +this invading race, whose language and culture ultimately overspread +the whole continent, was composed while its tribes still occupied +the territories on both sides of the Indus now known as Eastern +Kabulistan and the Panjab. That ancient poetry has come down to us +in the form of a collection of hymns called the Rigveda. The cause +which gathered the poems it contains into a single book was not +practical, as in the case of the Sama- and Yajur-veda, but scientific +and historical. For its ancient editors were undoubtedly impelled by +the motive of guarding this heritage of olden time from change and +destruction. The number of hymns comprised in the Rigveda, in the +only recension which has been preserved, that of the Çakala school, +is 1017, or, if the eleven supplementary hymns (called Valakhilya) +which are inserted in the middle of the eighth book are added, +1028. These hymns are grouped in ten books, called mandalas, or +"cycles," which vary in length, except that the tenth contains the +same number of hymns as the first. In bulk the hymns of the Rigveda +equal, it has been calculated, the surviving poems of Homer. + +The general character of the ten books is not identical in all +cases. Six of them (ii.-vii.) are homogeneous. Each of these, in +the first place, is the work of a different seer or his descendants +according to the ancient tradition, which is borne out by internal +evidence. They were doubtless long handed down separately in the +families to which they owed their being. Moreover, the hymns contained +in these "family books," as they are usually called, are arranged on +a uniform plan differing from that of the rest. The first, eighth, +and tenth books are not the productions of a single family of seers +respectively, but consist of a number of groups based on identity of +authorship. The arrangement of the ninth book is in no way connected +with its composers; its unity is due to all its hymns being addressed +to the single deity Soma, while its groups depend on identity of +metre. The family books also contain groups; but each of these is +formed of hymns addressed to one and the same deity. + +Turning to the principle on which the entire books of the Rigveda are +arranged in relation to one another, we find that Books II.-VII., if +allowance is made for later additions, form a series of collections +which contain a successively increasing number of hymns. This fact, +combined with the uniformity of these books in general character +and internal arrangement, renders it probable that they formed the +nucleus of the Rigveda, to which the remaining books were successively +added. It further seems likely that the nine shorter collections, +which form the second part of Book I., as being similarly based on +identity of authorship, were subsequently combined and prefixed to the +family books, which served as the model for their internal arrangement. + +The hymns of the eighth book in general show a mutual affinity hardly +less pronounced than that to be found in the family books. For they +are connected by numerous repetitions of similar phrases and lines +running through the whole book. The latter, however, does not form a +parallel to the family books. For though a single family, that of the +Kanvas, at least predominates among its authors, the prevalence in it +of the strophic form of composition impresses upon it a character of +its own. Moreover, the fact that the eighth book contains fewer hymns +than the seventh, in itself shows that the former did not constitute +one of the family series. + +The first part (1-50) of Book I. has considerable affinities with +the eighth, more than half its hymns being attributed to members of +the Kanva family, while in the hymns composed by some of these Kanvas +the favourite strophic metre of the eighth book reappears. There are, +moreover, numerous parallel and directly identical passages in the +two collections. It is, however, at present impossible to decide +which of the two is the earlier, or why it is that, though so nearly +related, they should have been separated. Certain it is that they +were respectively added at the beginning and the end of a previously +existing collection, whether they were divided for chronological +reasons or because composed by different branches of the Kanva family. + +As to the ninth book, it cannot be doubted that it came into being +as a collection after the first eight books had been combined +into a whole. Its formation was in fact the direct result of that +combination. The hymns to Soma Pavamana ("the clearly flowing") are +composed by authors of the same families as produced Books II.-VII., +a fact, apart from other evidence, sufficiently indicated by their +having the characteristic refrains of those families. The Pavamana +hymns have affinities to the first and eighth books also. When the +hymns of the different families were combined into books, and clearly +not till then, all their Pavamana hymns were taken out and gathered +into a single collection. This of course does not imply that the +Pavamana hymns themselves were of recent origin. On the contrary, +though some of them may date from the time when the tenth book came +into existence, there is good reason to suppose that the poetry of +the Soma hymns, which has many points in common with the Avesta, +and deals with a ritual going back to the Indo-Iranian period, +reached its conclusion as a whole in early times among the Vedic +singers. Differences of age in the hymns of the ninth book have been +almost entirely effaced; at any rate, research has as yet hardly +succeeded in distinguishing chronological stages in this collection. + +With regard to the tenth book, there can be no doubt that its hymns +came into being at a time when the first nine already existed. Its +composers grew up in the knowledge of the older books, with which +they betray their familiarity at every turn. The fact that the +author of one of its groups (20-26) begins with the opening words +(agnim ile) of the first stanza of the Rigveda, is probably an +indication that Books I.-IX. already existed in his day even as a +combined collection. That the tenth book is indeed an aggregate of +supplementary hymns is shown by its position after the Soma book, and +by the number of its hymns being made up to that of the first book +(191). The unity which connects its poetry is chronological; for it +is the book of recent groups and recent single hymns. Nevertheless +the supplements collected in it appear for the most part to be older +than the additions which occur in the earlier books. + +There are many criteria, derived from its matter as well as its +form, showing the recent origin of the tenth book. With regard to +mythology, we find the earlier gods beginning to lose their hold +on the imagination of these later singers. Some of them seem to +be disappearing, like the goddess of Dawn, while only deities of +widely established popularity, such as Indra and Agni, maintain their +position. The comprehensive group of the Viçve devas, or "All gods," +has alone increased in prominence. On the other hand, an altogether +new type, the deification of purely abstract ideas, such as "Wrath" +and "Faith," now appears for the first time. Here, too, a number of +hymns are found dealing with subjects foreign to the earlier books, +such as cosmogony and philosophical speculation, wedding and burial +rites, spells and incantations, which give to this book a distinctive +character besides indicating its recent origin. + +Linguistically, also, the tenth book is clearly distinguished as later +than the other books, forming in many respects a transition to the +other Vedas. A few examples will here suffice to show this. Vowel +contractions occur much more frequently, while the hiatus has +grown rarer. The use of the letter l, as compared with r, is, +in agreement with later Sanskrit, strikingly on the increase. In +inflexion the employment of the Vedic nominative plural in asas is on +the decline. With regard to the vocabulary, many old words are going +out of use, while others are becoming commoner. Thus the particle +sim, occurring fifty times in the rest of the Rigveda, is found +only once in the tenth book. A number of words common in the later +language are only to be met with in this book; for instance, labh, +"to take," kala, "time," lakshmi, "fortune," evam, "thus." Here, too, +a number of conscious archaisms can be pointed out. + +Thus the tenth book represents a definitely later stratum of +composition in the Rigveda. Individual hymns in the earlier books +have also been proved by various recognised criteria to be of later +origin than others, and some advance has been made towards assigning +them to three or even five literary epochs. Research has, however, +not yet arrived at any certain results as to the age of whole groups +in the earlier books. For it must be borne in mind that posteriority +of collection and incorporation does not necessarily prove a later +date of composition. + +Some hundreds of years must have been needed for all the hymns found in +the Rigveda to come into being. There was also, doubtless, after the +separation of the Indians from the Iranians, an intermediate period, +though it was probably of no great length. In this transitional age +must have been composed the more ancient poems which are lost, and in +which the style of the earliest preserved hymns, already composed with +much skill, was developed. The poets of the older part of the Rigveda +themselves mention predecessors, in whose wise they sing, whose songs +they desire to renew, and speak of ancestral hymns produced in days of +yore. As far as linguistic evidence is concerned, it affords little +help in discriminating periods within the Rigveda except with regard +to the tenth book. For throughout the hymns, in spite of the number of +authors, essentially the same language prevails. It is quite possible +to distinguish differences of thought, style, and poetical ability, +but hardly any differences of dialect. Nevertheless, patient and +minute linguistic research, combined with the indications derived +from arrangement, metre, and subject-matter, is beginning to yield +evidence which may lead to the recognition of chronological strata +in the older books of the Rigveda. + +Though the aid of MSS. for this early period entirely fails, we yet +happily possess for the Rigveda an abundant mass of various readings +over 2000 years old. These are contained in the other Vedas, which +are largely composed of hymns, stanzas, and lines borrowed from +the Rigveda. The other Vedas are, in fact, for the criticism of the +Rigveda, what manuscripts are for other literary monuments. We are +thus enabled to collate with the text of the Rigveda directly handed +down, various readings considerably older than even the testimony of +Yaska and of the Pratiçakhyas. + +The comparison of the various readings supplied by the later Vedas +leads to the conclusion that the text of the Rigveda existed, +with comparatively few exceptions, in its present form, and not +in a possibly different recension, at the time when the text of the +Sama-veda, the oldest form of the Yajur-veda, and the Atharva-veda was +constituted. The number of cases is infinitesimal in which the Rigveda +shows a corruption from which the others are free. Thus it appears that +the kernel of Vedic tradition, as represented by the Rigveda, has come +down to us, with a high degree of fixity and remarkable care for verbal +integrity, from a period which can hardly be less remote than 1000 B.C. + +It is only natural that a sacred collection of poetry, historical in +its origin, and the heritage of oral tradition before the other Vedas +were composed and the details of the later ritual practice were fixed, +should have continued to be preserved more accurately than texts formed +mainly by borrowing from it hymns which were arbitrarily cut up into +groups of verses or into single verses, solely in order to meet new +liturgical needs. For those who removed verses of the Rigveda from +their context and mixed them up with their own new creations would +not feel bound to guard such verses from change as strictly as those +who did nothing but continue to hand down, without any break, the +ancient text in its connected form. The control of tradition would +be wanting where quite a new tradition was being formed. + +The criticism of the text of the Rigveda itself is concerned with +two periods. The first is that in which it existed alone before the +other Vedas came into being; the second is that in which it appears +in the phonetically modified form called the Samhita text, due to the +labours of grammatical editors. Being handed down in the older period +exclusively by oral tradition, it was not preserved in quite authentic +form down to the time of its final redaction. It did not entirely +escape the fate suffered by all works which, coming down from remote +antiquity, survive into an age of changed linguistic conditions. Though +there are undeniable corruptions in detail belonging to the older +period, the text maintained a remarkably high level of authenticity +till such modifications as it had undergone reached their conclusion +in the Samhita text. This text differs in hundreds of places from +that of the composers of the hymns; but its actual words are nearly +always the same as those used by the ancient seers. Thus there would +be no uncertainty as to whether the right word, for instance, was +sumnam or dyumnam. The difference lies almost entirely in the phonetic +changes which the words have undergone according to the rules of Sandhi +prevailing in the classical language. Thus what was formerly pronounced +as tuam hi agne now appears as tvam hy agne. The modernisation of +the text thereby produced is, however, only partial, and is often +inconsistently applied. The euphonic combinations introduced in +the Samhita text have interfered with the metre. Hence by reading +according to the latter the older text can be restored. At the same +time the Samhita text has preserved the smallest minutiæ of detail +most liable to corruption, and the slightest difference in the matter +of accent and alternative forms, which might have been removed with +the greatest ease. Such points furnish an additional proof that the +extreme care with which the verbal integrity of the text was guarded +goes back to the earlier period itself. Excepting single mistakes of +tradition in the first, and those due to grammatical theories in the +second period, the old text of the Rigveda thus shows itself to have +been preserved from a very remote antiquity with marvellous accuracy +even in the smallest details. + +From the explanatory discussions of the Brahmanas in connection +with the Rigveda, it results that the text of the latter must +have been essentially fixed in their time, and that too in quite +a special manner, more, for instance, than the prose formulas of +the Yajurveda. For the Çatapatha Brahmana, while speaking of the +possibility of varying some of these formulas, rejects the notion +of changing the text of a certain Rigvedic verse, proposed by some +teachers, as something not to be thought of. The Brahmanas further +often mention the fact that such and such a hymn or liturgical group +contains a particular number of verses. All such numerical statements +appear to agree with the extant text of the Rigveda. On the other hand, +transpositions and omissions of Rigvedic verses are to be found in +the Brahmanas. These, however, are only connected with the ritual +form of those verses, and in no way show that the text from which +they were taken was different from ours. + +The Sutras also contain altered forms of Rigvedic verses, but these +are, as in the case of the Brahmanas, to be explained not from an +older recension of the text, but from the necessity of adapting them +to new ritual technicalities. On the other hand, they contain many +statements which confirm our present text. Thus all that the Sutra +of Çankhayana says about the position occupied by verses in a hymn, +or the total number of verses contained in groups of hymns, appears +invariably to agree with our text. + +We have yet to answer the question as to when the Samhita text, which +finally fixed the canonical form of the Rigveda, was constituted. Now +the Brahmanas contain a number of direct statements as to the number +of syllables in a word or a group of words, which are at variance +with the Samhita text owing to the vowel contractions made in the +latter. Moreover, the old part of the Brahmana literature shows +hardly any traces of speculations about phonetic questions connected +with the Vedic text. The conclusion may therefore be drawn that the +Samhita text did not come into existence till after the completion +of the Brahmanas. With regard to the Aranyakas and Upanishads, which +form supplements to the Brahmanas, the case is different. These works +not only mention technical grammatical terms for certain groups of +letters, but contain detailed doctrines about the phonetic treatment +of the Vedic text. Here, too, occur for the first time the names of +certain theological grammarians, headed by Çakalya and Mandukeya, who +are also recognised as authorities in the Pratiçakhyas. The Aranyakas +and Upanishads accordingly form a transition, with reference to the +treatment of grammatical questions, between the age of the Brahmanas +and that of Yaska and the Pratiçakhyas. The Samhita text must have +been created in this intermediate period, say about 600 B.C. + +This work being completed, extraordinary precautions soon began to be +taken to guard the canonical text thus fixed against the possibility +of any change or loss. The result has been its preservation with a +faithfulness unique in literary history. The first step taken in this +direction was the constitution of the Pada, or "word" text, which being +an analysis of the Samhita, gives each separate word in its independent +form, and thus to a considerable extent restores the Samhita text +to an older stage. That the Pada text was not quite contemporaneous +in origin with the other is shown by its containing some undoubted +misinterpretations and misunderstandings. Its composition can, however, +only be separated by a short interval from that of the Samhita, for +it appears to have been known to the writer of the Aitareya Aranyaka, +while its author, Çakalya, is older than both Yaska, who quotes him, +and Çaunaka, composer of the Rigveda Pratiçakhya, which is based on +the Pada text. + +The importance of the latter as a criterion of the authenticity of +verses in the Rigveda is indicated by the following fact. There are +six verses in the Rigveda [1] not analysed in the Pada text, but only +given there over again in the Samhita form. This shows that Çakalya did +not acknowledge them as truly Rigvedic, a view justified by internal +evidence. This group of six, which is doubtless exhaustive, stands +midway between old additions which Çakalya recognised as canonical, +and the new appendages called Khilas, which never gained admission +into the Pada text in any form. + +A further measure for preserving the sacred text from alteration with +still greater certainty was soon taken in the form of the Krama-patha, +or "step-text." This is old, for it, like the Pada-patha, is already +known to the author of the Aitareya Aranyaka. Here every word of the +Pada text occurs twice, being connected both with that which precedes +and that which follows. Thus the first four words, if represented by a, +b, c, d, would be read as ab, bc, cd. The Jata-patha, or "woven-text," +in its turn based on the Krama-patha, states each of its combinations +three times, the second time in reversed order (ab, ba, ab; bc, +cb, bc). The climax of complication is reached in the Ghana-patha, +in which the order is ab, ba, abc, cba, abc; bc, cb, bcd, &c. + +The Pratiçakhyas may also be regarded as safeguards of the text, +having been composed for the purpose of exhibiting exactly all the +changes necessary for turning the Pada into the Samhita text. + +Finally, the class of supplementary works called Anukramanis, or +"Indices" aimed at preserving the Rigveda intact by registering its +contents from various points of view, besides furnishing calculations +of the number of hymns, verses, words, and even syllables, contained +in the sacred book. + +The text of the Rigveda has come down to us in a single recension +only; but is there any evidence that other recensions of it existed +in former times? + +The Charana-vyuha, or "Exposition of Schools," a supplementary work +of the Sutra period, mentions as the five çakhas or "branches" +of the Rigveda, the Çakalas, the Vashkalas, the Açvalayanas, +the Çankhayanas, and the Mandukeyas. The third and fourth of these +schools, however, do not represent different recensions of the text, +the sole distinction between them and the Çakalas having been that the +Açvalayanas recognised as canonical the group of the eleven Valakhilya +or supplementary hymns, and the Çankhayanas admitted the same group, +diminished only by a few verses. Hence the tradition of the Puranas, +or later legendary works, mentions only the three schools of Çakalas, +Vashkalas, and Mandukas. If the latter ever possessed a recension of an +independent character, all traces of it were lost at an early period +in ancient India, for no information of any kind about it has been +preserved. Thus only the two schools of the Çakalas and the Vashkalas +come into consideration. The subsidiary Vedic writings contain +sufficient evidence to show that the text of the Vashkalas differed +from that of the Çakalas only in admitting eight additional hymns, +and in assigning another position to a group of the first book. But in +these respects it compares unfavourably with the extant text. Thus it +is evident that the Çakalas not only possessed the best tradition of +the text of the Rigveda, but handed down the only recension, in the +true sense, which, as far as we can tell, ever existed. + +The text of the Rigveda, like that of the other Samhitas, as well as +of two of the Brahmanas (the Çatapatha and the Taittiriya, together +with its Aranyaka), has come down to us in an accented form. The +peculiarly sacred character of the text rendered the accent very +important for correct and efficacious recitation. Analogously the +accent was marked by the Greeks in learned and model editions only. The +nature of the Vedic accent was musical, depending on the pitch of the +voice, like that of the ancient Greeks. This remained the character +of the Sanskrit accent till later than the time of Panini. But just +as the old Greek musical accent, after the beginning of our era, +was transformed into a stress accent, so by the seventh century +A.D. (and probably long before) the Sanskrit accent had undergone +a similar change. While, however, in modern Greek the stress accent +has remained, owing to the high pitch of the old acute, on the same +syllable as bore the musical accent in the ancient language, the modern +pronunciation of Sanskrit has no connection with the Vedic accent, +but is dependent on the quantity of the last two or three syllables, +much the same as in Latin. Thus the penultimate, if long, is accented, +e.g. Kalidasa, or the antepenultimate, if long and followed by a short +syllable, e.g. brahmana or Himalaya ("abode of snow"). This change of +accent in Sanskrit was brought about by the influence of Prakrit, in +which, as there is evidence to show, the stress accent is very old, +going back several centuries before the beginning of our era. + +There are three accents in the Rigveda as well as the other sacred +texts. The most important of these is the rising accent, called +ud-atta ("raised"), which corresponds to the Greek acute. Comparative +philology shows that in Sanskrit it rests on the same syllable as +bore it in the proto-Aryan language. In Greek it is generally on +the same syllable as in Sanskrit, except when interfered with by +the specifically Greek law restricting the accent to one of the last +three syllables. Thus the Greek heptá corresponds to the Vedic saptá, +"seven." The low-pitch accent, which precedes the acute, is called +the anudatta ("not raised"). The third is the falling accent, which +usually follows the acute, and is called svarita ("sounded"). + +Of the four different systems of marking the accent in Vedic texts, +that of the Rigveda is most commonly employed. Here the acute is +not marked at all, while the low-pitch anudatta is indicated by a +horizontal stroke below the syllable bearing it, and the svarita by +a vertical stroke above. Thus yajnasyà ("of sacrifice") would mean +that the second syllable has the acute and the third the svarita +(yajnásyà). The reason why the acute is not marked is because it is +regarded as the middle tone between the other two. [2] + +The hymns of the Rigveda consist of stanzas ranging in number +from three to fifty-eight, but usually not exceeding ten or +twelve. These stanzas (often loosely called verses) are composed in +some fifteen different metres, only seven of which, however, are at +all frequent. Three of them are by far the commonest, claiming together +about four-fifths of the total number of stanzas in the Rigveda. + +There is an essential difference between Greek and Vedic +prosody. Whereas the metrical unit of the former system is the +foot, in the latter it is the line (or verse), feet not being +distinguished. Curiously enough, however, the Vedic metrical unit +is also called pada, or "foot," but for a very different reason; +for the word has here really the figurative sense of "quarter" +(from the foot of a quadruped), Because the most usual kind of +stanza has four lines. The ordinary padas consist of eight, eleven, +or twelve syllables. A stanza or rich is generally formed of three +or four lines of the same kind. Four or five of the rarer types of +stanza are, however, made up of a combination of different lines. + +It is to be noted that the Vedic metres have a certain elasticity +to which we are unaccustomed in Greek prosody, and which recalls the +irregularities of the Latin Saturnian verse. Only the rhythm of the +last four or five syllables is determined, the first part of the line +not being subject to rule. Regarded in their historical connection, +the Vedic metres, which are the foundation of the entire prosody of the +later literature, occupy a position midway between the system of the +Indo-Iranian period and that of classical Sanskrit. For the evidence +of the Avesta, with its eight and eleven syllable lines, which ignore +quantity, but are combined into stanzas otherwise the same as those +of the Rigveda, indicates that the metrical practice of the period +when Persians and Indians were still one people, depended on no other +principle than the counting of syllables. In the Sanskrit period, +on the other hand, the quantity of every syllable in the line was +determined in all metres, with the sole exception of the loose measure +(called çloka) employed in epic poetry. The metrical regulation of the +line, starting from its end, thus finally extended to the whole. The +fixed rhythm at the end of the Vedic line is called vritta, literally +"turn" (from vrit, Lat. vert-ere), which corresponds etymologically +to the Latin versus. + +The eight-syllable line usually ends in two iambics, the first four +syllables, though not exactly determined, having a tendency to be +iambic also. This verse is therefore the almost exact equivalent of +the Greek iambic dimeter. + +Three of these lines combine to form the gayatri metre, in which nearly +one-fourth (2450) of the total number of stanzas in the Rigveda is +composed. An example of it is the first stanza of the Rigveda, which +runs as follows:-- + + + Agním ile puróhitam + Yajnásya devám ritvíjam + Hótaram ratnadhatamam. + + +It may be closely rendered thus in lines imitating the rhythm of +the original:-- + + + I praise Agni, domestic priest, + God, minister of sacrifice, + Herald, most prodigal of wealth. + + +Four of these eight-syllable lines combine to form the anushtubh +stanza, in which the first two and the last two are more closely +connected. In the Rigveda the number of stanzas in this measure +amounts to only about one-third of those in the gayatri. This +relation is gradually reversed, till we reach the post-Vedic period, +when the gayatri is found to have disappeared, and the anushtubh +(now generally called çloka) to have become the predominant measure +of Sanskrit poetry. A development in the character of this metre may +be observed within the Rigveda itself. All its verses in the oldest +hymns are the same, being iambic in rhythm. In later hymns, however, +a tendency to differentiate the first and third from the second +and fourth lines, by making the former non-iambic, begins to show +itself. Finally, in the latest hymns of the tenth book the prevalence +of the iambic rhythm disappears in the odd lines. Here every possible +combination of quantity in the last four syllables is found, but the +commonest variation, nearly equalling the iambic in frequency, is +[short][long][long][shortlong]. The latter is the regular ending of +the first and third line in the post-Vedic çloka. + +The twelve-syllable line ends thus: [long][short][long][short][short]. +Four of these together form the jagati stanza. The trishtubh stanza +consists of four lines of eleven syllables, which are practically +catalectic jagatis, as they end [long][short][long][shortlong]. These +two verses being so closely allied and having the same cadence, are +often found mixed in the same stanza. The trishtubh is by far the +commonest metre, about two-fifths of the Rigveda being composed in it. + +Speaking generally, a hymn of the Rigveda consists entirely of stanzas +in the same metre. The regular and typical deviation from this rule +is to conclude a hymn with a single stanza in a metre different from +that of the rest, this being a natural method of distinctly marking +its close. + +A certain number of hymns of the Rigveda consist not merely of a +succession of single stanzas, but of equal groups of stanzas. The +group consists either of three stanzas in the same simple metre, +generally gayatri, or of the combination of two stanzas in different +mixed metres. The latter strophic type goes by the name of Pragatha, +and is found chiefly in the eighth book of the Rigveda. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +POETRY OF THE RIGVEDA + + +Before we turn to describe the world of thought revealed in the hymns +of the Rigveda, the question may naturally be asked, to what extent +is it possible to understand the true meaning of a book occupying +so isolated a position in the remotest age of Indian literature? The +answer to this question depends on the recognition of the right method +of interpretation applicable to that ancient body of poetry. When the +Rigveda first became known, European scholars, as yet only acquainted +with the language and literature of classical Sanskrit, found that the +Vedic hymns were composed in an ancient dialect and embodied a world +of ideas far removed from that with which they had made themselves +familiar. The interpretation of these hymns was therefore at the +outset barred by almost insurmountable difficulties. Fortunately, +however, a voluminous commentary on the Rigveda, which explains or +paraphrases every word of its hymns, was found to exist. This was the +work of the great Vedic scholar Sayana, who lived in the latter half +of the fourteenth century A.D. at Vijayanagara ("City of Victory"), +the ruins of which lie near Bellary in Southern India. As his +commentary constantly referred to ancient authorities, it was thought +to have preserved the true meaning of the Rigveda in a traditional +interpretation going back to the most ancient times. Nothing +further seemed to be necessary than to ascertain the explanation +of the original text which prevailed in India five centuries ago, +and is laid down in Sayana's work. This view is represented by the +translation of the Rigveda begun in 1850 by H. H. Wilson, the first +professor of Sanskrit at Oxford. + +Another line was taken by the late Professor Roth, the founder +of Vedic philology. This great scholar propounded the view that +the aim of Vedic interpretation was not to ascertain the meaning +which Sayana, or even Yaska, who lived eighteen centuries earlier, +attributed to the Vedic hymns, but the meaning which the ancient +poets themselves intended. Such an end could not be attained by +simply following the lead of the commentators. For the latter, though +valuable guides towards the understanding of the later theological +and ritual literature, with the notions and practice of which they +were familiar, showed no continuity of tradition from the time of +the poets; for the tradition supplied by them was solely that which +was handed down among interpreters, and only began when the meaning +of the hymns was no longer fully comprehended. There could, in fact, +be no other tradition; interpretation only arising when the hymns +had become obscure. The commentators, therefore, simply preserved +attempts at the solution of difficulties, while showing a distinct +tendency towards misinterpreting the language as well as the religious, +mythological, and cosmical ideas of a vanished age by the scholastic +notions prevalent in their own. + +It is clear from what Yaska says that some important discrepancies +in opinion prevailed among the older expositors and the different +schools of interpretation which flourished before his time. He gives +the names of no fewer than seventeen predecessors, whose explanations +of the Veda are often conflicting. Thus one of them interprets the word +Nasatyau, an epithet of the Vedic Dioskouroi, as "true, not false;" +another takes it to mean "leaders of truth," while Yaska himself thinks +it might mean "nose-born"! The gap between the poets and the early +interpreters was indeed so great that one of Yaska's predecessors, +named Kautsa, actually had the audacity to assert that the science +of Vedic exposition was useless, as the Vedic hymns and formulas +were obscure, unmeaning, or mutually contradictory. Such criticisms +Yaska meets by replying that it was not the fault of the rafter if +the blind man did not see it. Yaska himself interprets only a very +small portion of the hymns of the Rigveda. In what he does attempt +to explain, he largely depends on etymological considerations for the +sense he assigns. He often gives two or more alternative or optional +senses to the same word. The fact that he offers a choice of meanings +shows that he had no earlier authority for his guide, and that his +renderings are simply conjectural; for no one can suppose that the +authors of the hymns had more than one meaning in their minds. + +It is, however, highly probable that Yaska, with all the appliances +at his command, was able to ascertain the sense of many words which +scholars who, like Sayana, lived nearly two thousand years later, +had no means of discovering. Nevertheless Sayana is sometimes found +to depart from Yaska. Thus we arrive at the dilemma that either +the old interpreter is wrong or the later one does not follow the +tradition. There are also many instances in which Sayana, independently +of Yaska, gives a variety of inconsistent explanations of a word, +both in interpreting a single passage or in commenting on different +passages. Thus çarada, "autumnal," he explains in one place as +"fortified for a year," in another as "new or fortified for a year," +and in a third as "belonging to a demon called Çarad." One of the +defects of Sayana is, in fact, that he limits his view in most cases +to the single verse he has before him. A detailed examination of his +explanations, as well as those of Yaska, has shown that there is in +the Rigveda a large number of the most difficult words, about the +proper sense of which neither scholar had any certain information from +either tradition or etymology. We are therefore justified in saying +about them that there is in the hymns no unusual or difficult word +or obscure text in regard to which the authority of the commentators +should be received as final, unless it is supported by probability, +by the context, or by parallel passages. Thus no translation of +the Rigveda based exclusively on Sayana's commentary can possibly +be satisfactory. It would, in fact, be as unreasonable to take him +for our sole guide as to make our understanding of the Hebrew books +of the Old Testament dependent on the Talmud and the Rabbis. It +must, indeed, be admitted that from a large proportion of Sayana's +interpretations most material help can be derived, and that he has +been of the greatest service in facilitating and accelerating the +comprehension of the Veda. But there is little information of value +to be derived from him, that, with our knowledge of later Sanskrit, +with the other remains of ancient Indian literature, and with our +various philological appliances, we might not sooner or later have +found out for ourselves. + +Roth, then, rejected the commentators as our chief guides in +interpreting the Rigveda, which, as the earliest literary monument +of the Indian, and indeed of the Aryan race, stands quite by itself, +high up on an isolated peak of remote antiquity. As regards its more +peculiar and difficult portions, it must therefore be interpreted +mainly through itself; or, to apply in another sense the words +of an Indian commentator, it must shine by its own light and be +self-demonstrating. Roth further expressed the view that a qualified +European is better able to arrive at the true meaning of the Rigveda +than a Brahman interpreter. The judgment of the former is unfettered +by theological bias; he possesses the historical faculty, and he has +also a far wider intellectual horizon, equipped as he is with all +the resources of scientific scholarship. Roth therefore set himself +to compare carefully all passages parallel in form and matter, with +due regard to considerations of context, grammar, and etymology, +while consulting, though, perhaps, with insufficient attention, +the traditional interpretations. He thus subjected the Rigveda to a +historical treatment within the range of Sanskrit itself. He further +called in the assistance rendered from without by the comparative +method, utilising the help afforded not only by the Avesta, which is +so closely allied to the Rigveda in language and matter, but also +by the results of comparative philology, resources unknown to the +traditional scholar. + +By thus ascertaining the meaning of single words, the foundations +of the scientific interpretation of the Vedas were laid in the +great Sanskrit Dictionary, in seven volumes, published by Roth in +collaboration with Böhtlingk between 1852 and 1875. Roth's method is +now accepted by every scientific student of the Veda. Native tradition +is, however, being more fully exploited than was done by Roth himself, +for it is now more clearly recognised that no aid to be derived from +extant Indian scholarship ought to be neglected. Under the guidance of +such principles the progress already made in solving many important +problems presented by Vedic literature has been surprising, when we +consider the shortness of the time and the fewness of the labourers, of +whom only two or three have been natives of this country. As a general +result, the historical sense has succeeded in grasping the spirit of +Indian antiquity, long obscured by native misinterpretation. Much, of +course, still remains to be done by future generations of scholars, +especially in detailed and minute investigation. This could not be +otherwise when we remember that Vedic research is only the product +of the last fifty years, and that, notwithstanding the labours of +very numerous Hebrew scholars during several centuries, there are, +in the Psalms and the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament, still many +passages which remain obscure and disputed. There can be no doubt that +many problems at present insoluble will in the end be solved by that +modern scholarship which has already deciphered the cuneiform writings +of Persia as well as the rock inscriptions of India, and has discovered +the languages which lay hidden under these mysterious characters. + +Having thus arrived at the threshold of the world of Vedic thought, +we may now enter through the portals opened by the golden key of +scholarship. By far the greater part of the poetry of the Rigveda +consists of religious lyrics, only the tenth book containing some +secular poems. Its hymns are mainly addressed to the various gods of +the Vedic pantheon, praising their mighty deeds, their greatness, +and their beneficence, or beseeching them for wealth in cattle, +numerous offspring, prosperity, long life, and victory. The Rigveda +is not a collection of primitive popular poetry, as it was apt to be +described at an earlier period of Sanskrit studies. It is rather a +body of skilfully composed hymns, produced by a sacerdotal class and +meant to accompany the Soma oblation and the fire sacrifice of melted +butter, which were offered according to a ritual by no means so simple +as was at one time supposed, though undoubtedly much simpler than the +elaborate system of the Brahmana period. Its poetry is consequently +marred by frequent references to the sacrifice, especially when the two +great ritual deities, Agni and Soma, are the objects of praise. At the +same time it is on the whole much more natural than might under these +conditions be expected. For the gods who are invoked are nearly all +personifications of the phenomena of Nature, and thus give occasion for +the employment of much beautiful and even noble imagery. The diction of +the hymns is, generally speaking, simple and unaffected. Compound words +are sparingly used, and are limited to two members, in marked contrast +with the frequency and length of compounds in classical Sanskrit. The +thought, too, is usually artless and direct, except in the hymns to +the ritual deities, where it becomes involved in conceit and mystical +obscurity. The very limited nature of the theme, in these cases, must +have forced the minds of the priestly singers to strive after variety +by giving utterance to the same idea in enigmatical phraseology. + +Here, then, we already find the beginnings of that fondness for +subtlety and difficult modes of expression which is so prevalent +in the later literature, and which is betrayed even in the earlier +period by the saying in one of the Brahmanas that the gods love the +recondite. In some hymns, too, there appears that tendency to play +with words which was carried to inordinate lengths in late Sanskrit +poems and romances. The hymns of the Rigveda, of course, vary much in +literary merit, as is naturally to be expected in the productions of +many poets extending over some centuries. Many display a high order of +poetical excellence, while others consist of commonplace and mechanical +verse. The degree of skill in composition is on the average remarkably +high, especially when we consider that here we have by far the oldest +poetry of the Aryan race. The art which these early seers feel is +needed to produce a hymn acceptable to the gods is often alluded to, +generally in the closing stanza. The poet usually compares his work +to a car wrought and put together by a deft craftsman. One Rishi also +likens his prayers to fair and well-woven garments; another speaks of +having adorned his song of praise like a bride for her lover. Poets +laud the gods according to knowledge and ability (vi. 21, 6), and +give utterance to the emotions of their hearts (x. 39, 15). Various +individual gods are, it is true, in a general way said to have granted +seers the gift of song, but of the later doctrine of revelation the +Rigvedic poets know nothing. + +The remark which has often been made that monotony prevails in +the Vedic hymns contains truth. But the impression is produced by +the hymns to the same deity being commonly grouped together in each +book. A similar effect would probably arise from reading in succession +twenty or thirty lyrics on Spring, even in an anthology of the best +modern poetry. When we consider that nearly five hundred hymns of the +Rigveda are addressed to two deities alone, it is surprising that so +many variations of the same theme should be possible. + +The hymns of the Rigveda being mainly invocations of the gods, their +contents are largely mythological. Special interest attaches to this +mythology, because it represents an earlier stage of thought than +is to be found in any other literature. It is sufficiently primitive +to enable us to see clearly the process of personification by which +natural phenomena developed into gods. Never observing, in his ordinary +life, action or movement not caused by an acting or moving person, +the Vedic Indian, like man in a much less advanced state, still +refers such occurrences in Nature to personal agents, which to him +are inherent in the phenomena. He still looks out upon the workings of +Nature with childlike astonishment. One poet asks why the sun does not +fall from the sky; another wonders where the stars go by day; while a +third marvels that the waters of all rivers constantly flowing into it +never fill the ocean. The unvarying regularity of sun and moon, and the +unfailing recurrence of the dawn, however, suggested to these ancient +singers the idea of the unchanging order that prevails in Nature. The +notion of this general law, recognised under the name rita (properly +the "course" of things), we find in the Rigveda extended first to the +fixed rules of the sacrifice (rite), and then to those of morality +(right). Though the mythological phase presented by the Rigveda is +comparatively primitive, it yet contains many conceptions inherited +from previous ages. The parallels of the Avesta show that several of +the Vedic deities go back to the time when the ancestors of Persians +and Indians were still one people. Among these may be mentioned Yama, +god of the dead, identical with Yima, ruler of paradise, and especially +Mitra, the cult of whose Persian counterpart, Mithra, obtained from +200-400 A.D. a world-wide diffusion in the Roman Empire, and came +nearer to monotheism than the cult of any other god in paganism. + +Various religious practices can also be traced back to that early +age, such as the worship of fire and the cult of the plant Soma +(the Avestan Haoma). The veneration of the cow, too, dates from that +time. A religious hymn poetry must have existed even then, for stanzas +of four eleven-syllable (the Vedic trishtubh) and of four or three +eight-syllable lines (anushtubh and gayatri) were already known, +as is proved by the agreement of the Avesta with the Rigveda. + +From the still earlier Indo-European period had come down the general +conception of "god" (deva-s, Lat. deu-s) and that of heaven as a divine +father (Dyaus pita, Gr. Zeus pater, Lat. Jupiter). Probably from an +even remoter antiquity is derived the notion of heaven and earth as +primeval and universal parents, as well as many magical beliefs. + +The universe appeared to the poets of the Rigveda to be divided +into the three domains of earth, air, and heaven, a division perhaps +also known to the early Greeks. This is the favourite triad of the +Rigveda, constantly mentioned expressly or by implication. The solar +phenomena are referred to heaven, while those of lightning, rain, and +wind belong to the air. In the three worlds the various gods perform +their actions, though they are supposed to dwell only in the third, +the home of light. The air is often called a sea, as the abode of +the celestial waters, while the great rainless clouds are conceived +sometimes as rocks or mountains, sometimes as the castles of demons +who war against the gods. The thundering rain-clouds become lowing +cows, whose milk is shed and bestows fatness upon the earth. + +The higher gods of the Rigveda are almost entirely personifications +of natural phenomena, such as Sun, Dawn, Fire, Wind. Excepting +a few deities surviving from an older period, the gods are, for +the most part, more or less clearly connected with their physical +foundation. The personifications being therefore but slightly +developed, lack definiteness of outline and individuality of +character. Moreover, the phenomena themselves which are behind the +personifications have few distinctive traits, while they share some +attributes with other phenomena belonging to the same domain. Thus +Dawn, Sun, Fire have the common features of being luminous, dispelling +darkness, appearing in the morning. Hence the character of each +god is made up of only a few essential qualities combined with many +others which are common to all the gods, such as brilliance, power, +beneficence, and wisdom. These common attributes tend to obscure those +which are distinctive, because in hymns of prayer and praise the former +naturally assume special importance. Again, gods belonging to different +departments of nature, but having striking features in common, are apt +to grow more like each other. Assimilation of this kind is encouraged +by a peculiar practice of the Vedic poets--the invocation of deities +in pairs. Such combinations result in attributes peculiar to the one +god attaching themselves to the other, even when the latter appears +alone. Thus when the Fire-god, invoked by himself, is called a slayer +of the demon Vritra, he receives an attribute distinctive of the +thunder-god Indra, with whom he is often coupled. The possibility of +assigning nearly every power to every god rendered the identification +of one deity with another an easy matter. Such identifications are +frequent enough in the Rigveda. For example, a poet addressing the +fire-god exclaims: "Thou at thy birth, O Agni, art Varuna; when kindled +thou becomest Mitra; in thee, O Son of Might, all gods are centred; +thou art Indra to the worshipper" (v. 3, 1). + +Moreover, mystical speculations on the nature of Agni, so important +a god in the eyes of a priesthood devoted to a fire-cult, on his +many manifestations as individual fires on earth, and on his other +aspects as atmospheric fire in lightning and as celestial fire in +the sun--aspects which the Vedic poets are fond of alluding to in +riddles--would suggest the idea that various deities are but different +forms of a single divine being. This idea is found in more than one +passage of the later hymns of the Rigveda. Thus the composer of a +recent hymn (164) of the first book says: "The one being priests speak +of in many ways; they call it Agni, Yama, Matariçvan." Similarly, a +seer of the last book (x. 114) remarks: "Priests and poets with words +make into many the bird (i.e. the sun) which is but one." Utterances +like these show that by the end of the Rigvedic period the polytheism +of the Rishis had received a monotheistic tinge. + +Occasionally we even find shadowed forth the pantheistic idea of a +deity representing not only all the gods, but Nature as well. Thus +the goddess Aditi is identified with all the deities, with men, +with all that has been and shall be born, with air, and heaven +(i. 89); and in a cosmogonic hymn (x. 121) the Creator is not only +described as the one god above all gods, but is said [3] to embrace +all things. This germ of pantheism developed through the later Vedic +literature till it assumed its final shape in the Vedanta philosophy, +still the most popular system of the Hindus. + +The practice of the poets, even in the older parts of the Rigveda, of +invoking different gods as if each of them were paramount, gave rise to +Professor Max Müller's theory of Henotheism or Kathenotheism, according +to which the seers held "the belief in individual gods alternately +regarded as the highest," and for the moment treated the god addressed +as if he were an absolutely independent and supreme deity, alone +present to the mind. In reality, however, the practice of the poets +of the Rigveda hardly amounts to more than the exaggeration--to be +found in the Homeric hymns also--with which a singer would naturally +magnify the particular god whom he is invoking. For the Rishis well +knew the exact position of each god in the Soma ritual, in which +nearly every member of the pantheon found a place. + +The gods, in the view of the Vedic poets, had a beginning; for they are +described as the offspring of heaven and earth, or sometimes of other +gods. This in itself implies different generations, but earlier gods +are also expressly referred to in several passages. Nor were the gods +regarded as originally immortal; for immortality is said to have been +bestowed upon them by individual deities, such as Agni and Savitri, +or to have been acquired by drinking soma. Indra and other gods are +spoken of as unaging, but whether their immortality was regarded by +the poets as absolute there is no evidence to show. In the post-Vedic +view it was only relative, being limited to a cosmic age. + +The physical aspect of the Vedic gods is anthropomorphic. Thus head, +face, eyes, arms, hands, feet, and other portions of the human +frame are ascribed to them. But their forms are shadowy and their +limbs or parts are often simply meant figuratively to describe their +activities. Thus the tongue and limbs of the fire-god are merely his +flames; the arms of the sun-god are simply his rays, while his eye +only represents the solar orb. Since the outward shape of the gods was +thus vaguely conceived, while their connection with natural phenomena +was in many instances still evident, it is easy to understand why no +mention is made in the Rigveda of images of the gods, still less of +temples, which imply the existence of images. Idols first begin to +be referred to in the Sutras. + +Some of the gods appear equipped as warriors, wearing coats of mail +and helmets, and armed with spears, battle-axes, bows and arrows. They +all drive through the air in luminous cars, generally drawn by horses, +but in some cases by kine, goats, or deer. In their cars the gods +come to seat themselves at the sacrifice, which, however, is also +conveyed to them in heaven by Agni. They are on the whole conceived +as dwelling together in harmony; the only one who ever introduces a +note of discord being the warlike and overbearing Indra. + +To the successful and therefore optimistic Vedic Indian, the gods +seemed almost exclusively beneficent beings, bestowers of long life +and prosperity. Indeed, the only deity in whom injurious features are +at all prominent is Rudra. The lesser evils closely connected with +human life, such as disease, proceed from minor demons, while the +greater evils manifested in Nature, such as drought and darkness, are +produced by powerful demons like Vritra. The conquest of these demons +brings out all the more strikingly the beneficent nature of the gods. + +The character of the Vedic gods is also moral. They are "true" and +"not deceitful," being throughout the friends and guardians of honesty +and virtue. But the divine morality only reflects the ethical standard +of an early civilisation. Thus even the alliance of Varuna, the most +moral of the gods, with righteousness is not such as to prevent him +from employing craft against the hostile and the deceitful man. Moral +elevation is, on the whole, a less prominent characteristic of the +gods than greatness and power. + +The relation of the worshipper to the gods in the Rigveda is in +general one of dependence on their will, prayers and sacrifices +being offered to win their favour or forgiveness. The expectation +of something in return for the offering is, however, frequently +apparent, and the keynote of many a hymn is, "I give to thee that +thou mayst give to me." The idea is also often expressed that the +might and valour of the gods is produced by hymns, sacrifices, and +especially offerings of soma. Here we find the germs of sacerdotal +pretensions which gradually increased during the Vedic age. Thus the +statement occurs in the White Yajurveda that the Brahman who possesses +correct knowledge has the gods in his power. The Brahmanas go a step +farther in saying that there are two kinds of gods, the Devas and the +Brahmans, the latter of whom are to be held as deities among men. In +the Brahmanas, too, the sacrifice is represented as all-powerful, +controlling not only the gods, but the very processes of nature. + +The number of the gods is stated in the Rigveda itself to be +thirty-three, several times expressed as thrice eleven, when each +group is regarded as corresponding to one of the divisions of the +threefold universe. This aggregate could not always have been deemed +exhaustive, for sometimes other gods are mentioned in addition to the +thirty-three. Nor can this number, of course, include various groups, +such as the storm-gods. + +There are, however, hardly twenty individual deities important +enough in the Rigveda to have at least three entire hymns addressed +to them. The most prominent of these are Indra, the thunder-god, +with at least 250 hymns, Agni with about 200, and Soma with over 100; +while Parjanya, god of rain, and Yama, god of the dead, are invoked +in only three each. The rest occupy various positions between these +two extremes. It is somewhat remarkable that the two great deities +of modern Hinduism, Vishnu and Çiva, who are equal in importance, +should have been on the same level, though far below the leading +deities, three thousand years ago, as Vishnu and Rudra (the earlier +form of Çiva) in the Rigveda. Even then they show the same general +characteristics as now, Vishnu being specially benevolent and Rudra +terrible. + +The oldest among the gods of heaven is Dyaus (identical with the Greek +Zeus). This personification of the sky as a god never went beyond a +rudimentary stage in the Rigveda, being almost entirely limited to the +idea of paternity. Dyaus is generally coupled with Prithivi, Earth, +the pair being celebrated in six hymns as universal parents. In a +few passages Dyaus is called a bull, ruddy and bellowing downwards, +with reference to the fertilising power of rain no less than to the +lightning and thundering heavens. He is also once compared with a +black steed decked with pearls, in obvious allusion to the nocturnal +star-spangled sky. One poet describes this god as furnished with +a bolt, while another speaks of him as "Dyaus smiling through the +clouds," meaning the lightening sky. In several other passages of +the Rigveda the verb "to smile" (smi) alludes to lightning, just as +in classical Sanskrit a smile is constantly compared with objects of +dazzling whiteness. + +A much more important deity of the sky is Varuna, in whom the +personification has proceeded so far that the natural phenomenon which +underlies it can only be inferred from traits in his character. This +obscurity of origin arises partly from his not being a creation of +Indian mythology, but a heritage from an earlier age, and partly +from his name not at the same time designating a natural phenomenon, +like that of Dyaus. The word varuna-s seems to have originally +meant the "encompassing" sky, and is probably the same word as the +Greek Ouranos, though the identification presents some phonetic +difficulties. Varuna is invoked in far fewer hymns than Indra, Agni, +or Soma, but he is undoubtedly the greatest of the Vedic gods by the +side of Indra. While Indra is the great warrior, Varuna is the great +upholder of physical and moral order (rita). The hymns addressed to +him are more ethical and devout in tone than any others. They form +the most exalted portion of the Veda, often resembling in character +the Hebrew psalms. The peaceful sway of Varuna is explained by his +connection with the regularly recurring celestial phenomena, the +course of the heavenly bodies seen in the sky; Indra's warlike and +occasionally capricious nature is accounted for by the variable and +uncertain strife of the elements in the thunderstorm. The character +and power of Varuna may be sketched as nearly as possible in the +words of the Vedic poets themselves as follows. By the law of Varuna +heaven and earth are held apart. He made the golden swing (the sun) to +shine in heaven. He has made a wide path for the sun. The wind which +resounds through the air is Varuna's breath. By his ordinances the +moon shining brightly moves at night, and the stars placed up on high +are seen at night but disappear by day. He causes the rivers to flow; +they stream unceasingly according to his ordinance. By his occult +power the rivers swiftly pouring into the ocean do not fill it with +water. He makes the inverted cask to pour its waters and to moisten +the ground, while the mountains are wrapt in cloud. It is chiefly with +these aërial waters that he is connected, very rarely with the sea. + +Varuna's omniscience is often dwelt on. He knows the flight of the +birds in the sky, the path of ships in the ocean, the course of +the far-travelling wind. He beholds all the secret things that have +been or shall be done. He witnesses men's truth and falsehood. No +creature can even wink without him. As a moral governor Varuna stands +far above any other deity. His wrath is roused by sin, which is the +infringement of his ordinances, and which he severely punishes. The +fetters with which he binds sinners are often mentioned. A dispeller, +hater, and punisher of falsehood, he is gracious to the penitent. He +releases men not only from the sins which they themselves commit, +but from those committed by their fathers. He spares the suppliant +who daily transgresses his laws, and is gracious to those who have +broken his ordinances by thoughtlessness. There is, in fact, no hymn +to Varuna in which the prayer for forgiveness of guilt does not occur, +as in the hymns to other deities the prayer for worldly goods. + +With the growth of the conception of the creator, Prajapati, as +a supreme deity, the characteristics of Varuna as a sovereign god +naturally faded away, and the dominion of waters, only a part of his +original sphere, alone remained. This is already partly the case in +the Atharva-veda, and in post-Vedic mythology he is only an Indian +Neptune, god of the sea. + +The following stanzas from a hymn to Varuna (vii. 89) will illustrate +the spirit of the prayers addressed to him:-- + + + May I not yet, King Varuna, + Go down into the house of clay: + Have mercy, spare me, mighty Lord. + + Thirst has come on thy worshipper + Though standing in the waters' midst: [4] + Have mercy, spare me, mighty Lord. + + O Varuna, whatever the offence may be + That we as men commit against the heavenly folk + When through our want of thought we violate thy laws, + Chastise us not, O God, for that iniquity. + + +There are in the Rigveda five solar deities, differentiated as +representing various aspects of the activity of the sun. One of the +oldest of these, Mitra, the "Friend," seems to have been conceived as +the beneficent side of the sun's power. Going back to the Indo-Iranian +period, he has in the Rigveda almost entirely lost his individuality, +which is practically merged in that of Varuna. With the latter he is +constantly invoked, while only one single hymn (iii. 59) is addressed +to him alone. + +Surya (cognate in name to the Greek Helios) is the most concrete +of the solar deities. For as his name also designates the luminary +itself, his connection with the latter is never lost sight of. The +eye of Surya is often mentioned, and Dawn is said to bring the eye +of the gods. All-seeing, he is the spy of the whole world, beholding +all beings and the good or bad deeds of mortals. Aroused by Surya, men +pursue their objects and perform their work. He is the soul or guardian +of all that moves and is fixed. He rides in a car, which is generally +described as drawn by seven steeds. These he unyokes at sunset:-- + + + When he has loosed his coursers from their station, + Straightway Night over all spreads out her garment (i. 115, 4). + + +Surya rolls up the darkness like a skin, and the stars slink away like +thieves. He shines forth from the lap of the dawns. He is also spoken +of as the husband of Dawn. As a form of Agni, the gods placed him in +heaven. He is often described as a bird or eagle traversing space. He +measures the days and prolongs life. He drives away disease and evil +dreams. At his rising he is prayed to declare men sinless to Mitra and +Varuna. All beings depend on Surya, and so he is called "all-creating." + +Eleven hymns, or about the same number as to Surya, are addressed to +another solar deity, Savitri, the "Stimulator," who represents the +quickening activity of the sun. He is pre-eminently a golden deity, +with golden hands and arms and a golden car. He raises aloft his +strong golden arms, with which he blesses and arouses all beings, +and which extend to the ends of the earth. He moves in his golden car, +seeing all creatures, on a downward and an upward path. He shines after +the path of the dawn. Beaming with the rays of the sun, yellow-haired, +Savitri raises up his light continually from the east. He removes evil +dreams and drives away demons and sorcerers. He bestows immortality +on the gods as well as length of life on man. He also conducts the +departed spirit to where the righteous dwell. The other gods follow +Savitri's lead; no being, not even the most powerful gods, Indra +and Varuna, can resist his will and independent sway. Savitri is not +infrequently connected with the evening, being in one hymn (ii. 38) +extolled as the setting sun:-- + + + Borne by swift coursers, he will now unyoke them: + The speeding chariot he has stayed from going. + He checks the speed of them that glide like serpents: + Night has come on by Savitri's commandment. + The weaver rolls her outstretched web together, + The skilled lay down their work in midst of toiling, + The birds all seek their nests, their shed the cattle: + Each to his lodging Savitri disperses. + + +To this god is addressed the most famous stanza of the Rigveda, +with which, as the Stimulator, he was in ancient times invoked at +the beginning of Vedic study, and which is still repeated by every +orthodox Hindu in his morning prayers. From the name of the deity +it is called the Savitri, but it is also often referred to as "the +Gayatri," from the metre in which it is composed:-- + + + May we attain that excellent + Glory of Savitri the god, + That he may stimulate our thoughts (iii. 62, 10). + + +A peculiarity of the hymns to Savitri is the perpetual play on his name +with forms of the root su, "to stimulate," from which it is derived. + +Pushan is invoked in some eight hymns of the Rigveda. His name means +"Prosperer," and the conception underlying his character seems to +be the beneficent power of the sun, manifested chiefly as a pastoral +deity. His car is drawn by goats and he carries a goad. Knowing the +ways of heaven, he conducts the dead on the far path to the fathers. He +is also a guardian of roads, protecting cattle and guiding them with +his goad. The welfare which he bestows results from the protection he +extends to men and cattle on earth, and from his guidance of mortals +to the abodes of bliss in the next world. + +Judged by a statistical standard, Vishnu is only a deity of the fourth +rank, less frequently invoked than Surya, Savitri, and Pushan in +the Rigveda, but historically he is the most important of the solar +deities. For he is one of the two great gods of modern Hinduism. The +essential feature of his character is that he takes three strides, +which doubtless represent the course of the sun through the three +divisions of the universe. His highest step is heaven, where the gods +and the fathers dwell. For this abode the poet expresses his longing +in the following words (i. 154, 5):-- + + + May I attain to that, his well-loved dwelling, + Where men devoted to the gods are blessèd: + In Vishnu's highest step--he is our kinsman, + Of mighty stride--there is a spring of nectar. + + +Vishnu seems to have been originally conceived as the sun, not in +his general character, but as the personified swiftly moving luminary +which with vast strides traverses the three worlds. He is in several +passages said to have taken his three steps for the benefit of man. + +To this feature may be traced the myth of the Brahmanas in which Vishnu +appears in the form of a dwarf as an artifice to recover the earth, +now in the possession of demons, by taking his three strides. His +character for benevolence was in post-Vedic mythology developed in +the doctrine of the Avatars ("descents" to earth) or incarnations +which he assumed for the good of humanity. + +Ushas, goddess of dawn, is almost the only female deity to whom entire +hymns are addressed, and the only one invoked with any frequency. She, +however, is celebrated in some twenty hymns. The name, meaning the +"Shining One," is cognate to the Latin Aurora and the Greek Eos. When +the goddess is addressed, the physical phenomenon of dawn is never +absent from the poet's mind. The fondness with which the thoughts of +these priestly singers turned to her alone among the goddesses, though +she received no share in the offering of soma like the other gods, +seems to show that the glories of the dawn, more splendid in Northern +India than those we are wont to see, deeply impressed the minds of +these early poets. In any case, she is their most graceful creation, +the charm of which is unsurpassed in the descriptive religious lyrics +of any other literature. Here there are no priestly subtleties to +obscure the brightness of her form, and few allusions to the sacrifice +to mar the natural beauty of the imagery. + +To enable the reader to estimate the merit of this poetry I will +string together some utterances about the Dawn goddess, culled from +various hymns, and expressed as nearly as possible in the words of +their composers. Ushas is a radiant maiden, born in the sky, daughter +of Dyaus. She is the bright sister of dark Night. She shines with +the light of her lover, with the light of Surya, who beams after +her path and follows her as a young man a maiden. She is borne on +a brilliant car, drawn by ruddy steeds or kine. Arraying herself in +gay attire like a dancer, she displays her bosom. Clothed upon with +light, the maiden appears in the east and unveils her charms. Rising +resplendent as from a bath, she shows her form. Effulgent in peerless +beauty, she withholds her light from neither small nor great. She +opens wide the gates of heaven; she opens the doors of darkness, +as the cows (issue from) their stall. Her radiant beams appear +like herds of cattle. She removes the black robe of night, warding +off evil spirits and the hated darkness. She awakens creatures that +have feet, and makes the birds fly up: she is the breath and life of +everything. When Ushas shines forth, the birds fly up from their nests +and men seek nourishment. She is the radiant mover of sweet sounds, +the leader of the charm of pleasant voices. Day by day appearing at +the appointed place, she never infringes the rule of order and of the +gods; she goes straight along the path of order; knowing the way, +she never loses her direction. As she shone in former days, so she +shines now and will shine in future, never aging, immortal. + +The solitude and stillness of the early morning sometimes suggested +pensive thoughts about the fleeting nature of human life in contrast +with the unending recurrence of the dawn. Thus one poet exclaims:-- + + + Gone are the mortals who in former ages + Beheld the flushing of the earlier morning. + We living men now look upon her shining; + They are coming who shall in future see her (i. 113, 11). + + +In a similar strain another Rishi sings:-- + + + Again and again newly born though ancient, + Decking her beauty with the self-same colours, + The goddess wastes away the life of mortals, + Like wealth diminished by the skilful player (i. 92, 10). + + +The following stanzas from one of the finest hymns to Dawn (i. 113) +furnish a more general picture of this fairest creation of Vedic +poetry:-- + + + This light has come, of all the lights the fairest, + The brilliant brightness has been born, far-shining. + Urged onward for god Savitri's uprising, + Night now has yielded up her place to Morning. + + The sisters' pathway is the same, unending: + Taught by the gods, alternately they tread it. + Fair-shaped, of different forms and yet one-minded, + Night and Morning clash not, nor do they linger. + + Bright leader of glad sounds, she shines effulgent: + Widely she has unclosed for us her portals. + Arousing all the world, she shows us riches: + Dawn has awakened every living creature. + + There Heaven's Daughter has appeared before us, + The maiden flushing in her brilliant garments. + Thou sovran lady of all earthly treasure, + Auspicious Dawn, flush here to-day upon us. + + In the sky's framework she has shone with splendour; + The goddess has cast off the robe of darkness. + Wakening up the world with ruddy horses, + Upon her well-yoked chariot Dawn is coming. + + Bringing upon it many bounteous blessings, + Brightly shining, she spreads her brilliant lustre. + Last of the countless mornings that have gone by, + First of bright morns to come has Dawn arisen. + + Arise! the breath, the life, again has reached us: + Darkness has gone away and light is coming. + She leaves a pathway for the sun to travel: + We have arrived where men prolong existence. + + +Among the deities of celestial light, those most frequently invoked are +the twin gods of morning named Açvins. They are the sons of Heaven, +eternally young and handsome. They ride on a car, on which they are +accompanied by the sun-maiden Surya. This car is bright and sunlike, +and all its parts are golden. The time when these gods appear is the +early dawn, when "darkness still stands among the ruddy cows." At +the yoking of their car Ushas is born. + +Many myths are told about the Açvins as succouring divinities. They +deliver from distress in general, especially rescuing from the ocean +in a ship or ships. They are characteristically divine physicians, +who give sight to the blind and make the lame to walk. One very +curious myth is that of the maiden Viçpala, who having had her leg +cut off in some conflict, was at once furnished by the Açvins with an +iron limb. They agree in many respects with the two famous horsemen +of Greek mythology, the Dioskouroi, sons of Zeus and brothers of +Helen. The two most probable theories as to the origin of these twin +deities are, that they represent either the twilight, half dark, +half light, or the morning and evening star. + +In the realm of air Indra is the dominant deity. He is, indeed, +the favourite and national god of the Vedic Indian. His importance +is sufficiently indicated by the fact that more than one-fourth of +the Rigveda is devoted to his praise. Handed down from a bygone age, +Indra has become more anthropomorphic and surrounded by mythological +imagery than any other Vedic god. The significance of his character +is nevertheless sufficiently clear. He is primarily the thunder-god, +the conquest of the demon of drought or darkness named Vritra, the +"Obstructor," and the consequent liberation of the waters or the +winning of light, forming his mythological essence. This myth furnishes +the Rishis with an ever-recurring theme. Armed with his thunderbolt, +exhilarated by copious draughts of soma, and generally escorted by +the Maruts or Storm-gods, Indra enters upon the fray. The conflict is +terrible. Heaven and earth tremble with fear when Indra smites Vritra +like a tree with his bolt. He is described as constantly repeating +the combat. This obviously corresponds to the perpetual renewal of +the natural phenomena underlying the myth. The physical elements in +the thunderstorm are seldom directly mentioned by the poets when +describing the exploits of Indra. He is rarely said to shed rain, +but constantly to release the pent-up waters or rivers. The lightning +is regularly the "bolt," while thunder is the lowing of the cows or +the roaring of the dragon. The clouds are designated by various names, +such as cow, udder, spring, cask, or pail. They are also rocks (adri), +which encompass the cows set free by Indra. They are further mountains +from which Indra casts down the demons dwelling upon them. They +thus often become fortresses (pur) of the demons, which are ninety, +ninety-nine, or a hundred in number, and are variously described as +"moving," "autumnal," "made of iron or stone." One stanza (x. 89, 7) +thus brings together the various features of the myth: "Indra slew +Vritra, broke the castles, made a channel for the rivers, pierced +the mountain, and delivered over the cows to his friends." Owing to +the importance of the Vritra myth, the chief and specific epithet of +Indra is Vritrahan, "slayer of Vritra." The following stanzas are from +one of the most graphic of the hymns which celebrate the conflict of +Indra with the demon (i. 32):-- + + + I will proclaim the manly deeds of Indra, + The first that he performed, the lightning-wielder. + He smote the dragon, then discharged the waters, + And cleft the caverns of the lofty mountains. + + Impetuous as a bull, he chose the soma, + And drank in threefold vessels of its juices. + The Bounteous god grasped lightning for his missile, + He struck down dead that first-born of the dragons. + + Him lightning then availèd naught, nor thunder, + Nor mist nor hailstorm which he spread around him: + When Indra and the dragon strove in battle, + The Bounteous god gained victory for ever. + + Plunged in the midst of never-ceasing torrents, + That stand not still but ever hasten onward, + The waters bear off Vritra's hidden body: + Indra's fierce foe sank down to lasting darkness. + + +With the liberation of the waters is connected the winning of light +and the sun. Thus we read that when Indra had slain the dragon Vritra +with his bolt, releasing the waters for man, he placed the sun visibly +in the heavens, or that the sun shone forth when Indra blew the dragon +from the air. + +Indra naturally became the god of battle, and is more frequently +invoked than any other deity as a helper in conflicts with earthly +enemies. In the words of one poet, he protects the Aryan colour +(varna) and subjects the black skin; while another extols him for +having dispersed 50,000 of the black race and rent their citadels. His +combats are frequently called gavishti, "desire of cows," his gifts +being considered the result of victories. + +The following stanzas (ii. 12, 2 and 13) will serve as a specimen of +the way in which the greatness of Indra is celebrated:-- + + + Who made the widespread earth when quaking steadfast, + Who brought to rest the agitated mountains. + Who measured out air's intermediate spaces, + Who gave the sky support: he, men, is Indra. + + Heaven and earth themselves bow down before him, + Before his might the very mountains tremble. + Who, known as Soma-drinker, armed with lightning, + Is wielder of the bolt: he, men, is Indra. + + +To the more advanced anthropomorphism of Indra's nature are due +the occasional immoral traits which appear in his character. Thus +he sometimes indulges in acts of capricious violence, such as the +slaughter of his father or the destruction of the car of Dawn. He +is especially addicted to soma, of which he is described as drinking +enormous quantities to stimulate him in the performance of his warlike +exploits. One entire hymn (x. 119) consists of a monologue in which +Indra, inebriated with soma, boasts of his greatness and power. Though +of little poetic merit, this piece has a special interest as being +by far the earliest literary description of the mental effects, +braggadocio in particular, produced by intoxication. In estimating +the morality of Indra's excesses, it should not be forgotten that the +exhilaration of soma partook of a religious character in the eyes of +the Vedic poets. + +Indra's name is found in the Avesta as that of a demon. His +distinctive Vedic epithet, Vritrahan, also occurs there in the form +of verethraghna, as a designation of the god of victory. Hence there +was probably in the Indo-Iranian period a god approaching to the +Vedic form of the Vritra-slaying and victorious Indra. + +In comparing historically Varuna and Indra, whose importance was +about equal in the earlier period of the Rigveda, it seems clear that +Varuna was greater in the Indo-Iranian period, but became inferior +to Indra in later Vedic times. Indra, on the other hand, became in +the Brahmanas and Epics the chief of the Indian heaven, and even +maintained this position under the Puranic triad, Brahma-Vishnu-Çiva, +though of course subordinate to them. + +At least three of the lesser deities of the air are connected with +lightning. One of these is the somewhat obscure god Trita, who is +only mentioned in detached verses of the Rigveda. The name appears +to designate the "third" (Greek, trito-s), as the lightning form of +fire. His frequent epithet, Aptya, seems to mean the "watery." This god +goes back to the Indo-Iranian period, as both his name and his epithet +are found in the Avesta. But he was gradually ousted by Indra as being +originally almost identical in character with the latter. Another +deity of rare occurrence in the Rigveda, and also dating from the +Indo-Iranian period, is Apam napat, the "Son of Waters." He is +described as clothed in lightning and shining without fuel in the +waters. There can, therefore, be little doubt that he represents fire +as produced from the rain-clouds in the form of lightning. Matariçvan, +seldom mentioned in the Rigveda, is a divine being described as having, +like the Greek Prometheus, brought down the hidden fire from heaven to +earth. He most probably represents the personification of a celestial +form of Agni, god of fire, with whom he is in some passages actually +identified. In the later Vedas, the Brahmanas, and the subsequent +literature, the name has become simply a designation of wind. + +The position occupied by the god Rudra in the Rigveda is very +different from that of his historical successor in a later age. He is +celebrated in only three or four hymns, while his name is mentioned +slightly less often than that of Vishnu. He is usually said to be +armed with bow and arrows, but a lightning shaft and a thunderbolt +are also occasionally assigned to him. He is described as fierce +and destructive like a wild beast, and is called "the ruddy boar +of heaven." The hymns addressed to him chiefly express fear of his +terrible shafts and deprecation of his wrath. His malevolence is +still more prominent in the later Vedic literature. The euphemistic +epithet Çiva, "auspicious," already applied to him in the Rigveda, +and more frequently, though not exclusively, in the younger Vedas, +became his regular name in the post-Vedic period. Rudra is, of course, +not purely malevolent like a demon. He is besought not only to preserve +from calamity but to bestow blessings and produce welfare for man +and beast. His healing powers are mentioned with especial frequency, +and he is lauded as the greatest of physicians. + +Prominent among the gods of the Rigveda are the Maruts or Storm-gods, +who form a group of thrice seven or thrice sixty. They are the sons +of Rudra and the mottled cloud-cow Priçni. At birth they are compared +with fires, and are once addressed as "born from the laughter of +lightning." They are a troop of youthful warriors armed with spears +or battle-axes and wearing helmets upon their heads. They are decked +with golden ornaments, chiefly in the form of armlets or of anklets:-- + + + They gleam with armlets as the heavens are decked with stars; + Like cloud-born lightnings shine the torrents of their rain + (ii. 34, 2). + + +They ride on golden cars which gleam with lightning, while they hold +fiery lightnings in their hands:-- + + + The lightnings smile upon the earth below them + What time the Maruts sprinkle forth their fatness.--(i. 168, 8). + + +They drive with coursers which are often described as spotted, and +they are once said to have yoked the winds as steeds to their pole. + +The Maruts are fierce and terrible, like lions or wild boars. With +the fellies of their car they rend the hills:-- + + + The Maruts spread the mist abroad, + And make the mountains rock and reel, + When with the winds they go their way (viii. 7, 4). + + +They shatter the lords of the forest and like wild elephants devour +the woods:-- + + + Before you, fierce ones, even woods bow down in fear, + The earth herself, the very mountain trembles (v. 60, 2). + + +One of their main functions is to shed rain. They are clad in a robe +of rain, and cover the eye of the sun with showers. They bedew the +earth with milk; they shed fatness (ghee); they milk the thundering, +the never-failing spring; they wet the earth with mead; they pour +out the heavenly pail:-- + + + The rivers echo to their chariot fellies + What time they utter forth the voice of rain-clouds.--(i. 168, 8). + + +In allusion to the sound of the winds the Maruts are often called +singers, and as such aid Indra in his fight with the demon. They are, +indeed, his constant associates in all his celestial conflicts. + +The God of Wind, called Vayu or Vata, is not a prominent deity in +the Rigveda, having only three entire hymns addressed to him. The +personification is more developed under the name of Vayu, who is +mostly associated with Indra, while Vata is coupled only with the less +anthropomorphic rain-god, Parjanya. Vayu is swift as thought and has +roaring velocity. He has a shining car drawn by a team or a pair of +ruddy steeds. On this car, which has a golden seat and touches the +sky, Indra is his companion. Vata, as also the ordinary designation +of wind, is celebrated in a more concrete manner. His name is often +connected with the verb va, "to blow," from which it is derived. Like +Rudra, he wafts healing and prolongs life; for he has the treasure of +immortality in his house. The poet of a short hymn (x. 168) devoted +to his praise thus describes him:-- + + + Of Vata's car I now will praise the greatness: + Crashing it speeds along; its noise is thunder. + Touching the sky, it goes on causing lightnings; + Scattering the dust of earth it hurries forward. + + In air upon his pathways hastening onward, + Never on any day he tarries resting. + The first-born order-loving friend of waters, + Where, pray, was he born? say, whence came he hither? + + The soul of gods, and of the world the offspring, + This god according to his liking wanders. + His sound is heard, but ne'er is seen his figure. + This Vata let us now with offerings worship. + + +Another deity of air is Parjanya, god of rain, who is invoked +in but three hymns, and is only mentioned some thirty times +in the Rigveda. The name in several passages still means simply +"rain-cloud." The personification is therefore always closely connected +with the phenomenon of the rain-storm, in which the rain-cloud itself +becomes an udder, a pail, or a water-skin. Often likened to a bull, +Parjanya is characteristically a shedder of rain. His activity is +described in very vivid strains (v. 83):-- + + + The trees he strikes to earth and smites the demon crew: + The whole world fears the wielder of the mighty bolt. + The guiltless man himself flees from the potent god, + What time Parjanya thund'ring smites the miscreant. + + Like a car-driver urging on his steeds with whips, + He causes to bound forth the messengers of rain. + From far away the lion's roar reverberates, + What time Parjanya fills the atmosphere with rain. + + Forth blow the winds, to earth the lightning flashes fall, + Up shoot the herbs, the realm of light with moisture streams; + Nourishment in abundance springs for all the world, + What time Parjanya quickeneth the earth with seed. + + Thunder and roar: the vital germ deposit! + With water-bearing chariot fly around us! + Thy water-skin unloosed to earth draw downward: + With moisture make the heights and hollows equal! + + +The Waters are praised as goddesses in four hymns of the Rigveda. The +personification, however, hardly goes beyond representing them as +mothers, young wives, and goddesses who bestow boons and come to the +sacrifice. As mothers they produce Agni, whose lightning form is, +as we have seen, called Apam Napat, "Son of Waters." The divine +waters bear away defilement, and are even invoked to cleanse from +moral guilt, the sins of violence, cursing, and lying. They bestow +remedies, healing, long life, and immortality. Soma delights in the +waters as a young man in lovely maidens; he approaches them as a lover; +they are maidens who bow down before the youth. + +Several rivers are personified and invoked as deities in the +Rigveda. One hymn (x. 75) celebrates the Sindhu or Indus, while +another (iii. 33) sings the praises of the sister streams Vipaç and +Çutudri. Sarasvati is, however, the most important river goddess, +being lauded in three entire hymns as well as in many detached +verses. The personification here goes much further than in the case +of other streams; but the poets never lose sight of the connection of +the goddess with the river. She is the best of mothers, of rivers, +and of goddesses. Her unfailing breast yields riches of every kind, +and she bestows wealth, plenty, nourishment, and offspring. One +poet prays that he may not be removed from her to fields which are +strange. She is invoked to descend from the sky, from the great +mountain, to the sacrifice. Such expressions may have suggested the +notion of the celestial origin and descent of the Ganges, familiar +to post-Vedic mythology. Though simply a river deity in the Rigveda, +Sarasvati is in the Brahmanas identified with Vach, goddess of speech, +and has in post-Vedic mythology become the goddess of eloquence and +wisdom, invoked as a muse, and regarded as the wife of Brahma. + +Earth, Prithivi, the Broad One, hardly ever dissociated from Dyaus, is +celebrated alone in only one short hymn of three stanzas (v. 84). Even +here the poet cannot refrain from introducing references to her +heavenly spouse as he addresses the goddess, + + + Who, firmly fixt, the forest trees + With might supportest in the ground: + When from the lightning of thy cloud + The rain-floods of the sky pour down. + + +The personification is only rudimentary, the attributes of the goddess +being chiefly those of the physical earth. + +The most important of the terrestrial deities is Agni, god of +fire. Next to Indra he is the most prominent of the Vedic gods, +being celebrated in more than 200 hymns. It is only natural that +the personification of the sacrificial fire, the centre around +which the ritual poetry of the Veda moves, should engross so much +of the attention of the Rishis. Agni being also the regular name +of the element (Latin, igni-s), the anthropomorphism of the deity +is but slight. The bodily parts of the god have a clear connection +with the phenomena of terrestrial fire mainly in its sacrificial +aspect. In allusion to the oblation of ghee cast in the fire, Agni +is "butter-backed," "butter-faced," or "butter-haired." He is also +"flame-haired," and has a tawny beard. He has sharp, shining, golden, +or iron teeth and burning jaws. Mention is also often made of his +tongue or tongues. He is frequently compared with or directly called +a steed, being yoked to the pole of the rite in order to waft the +sacrifice to the gods. He is also often likened to a bird, being winged +and darting with rapid flight to the gods. He eats and chews the forest +with sharp tooth. His lustre is like the rays of dawn or of the sun, +and resembles the lightnings of the rain-cloud; but his track and his +fellies are black, and his steeds make black furrows. Driven by the +wind, he rushes through the wood. He invades the forests and shears +the hairs of the earth, shaving it as a barber a beard. His flames +are like the roaring waves of the sea. He bellows like a bull when he +invades the forest trees; the birds are terrified at the noise when +his grass-devouring sparks arise. Like the erector of a pillar, he +supports the sky with his smoke; and one of his distinctive epithets +is "smoke-bannered." He is borne on a brilliant car, drawn by two +or more steeds, which are ruddy or tawny and wind-impelled. He yokes +them to summon the gods, for he is the charioteer of the sacrifice. + +The poets love to dwell on his various births, forms, and abodes. They +often refer to the daily generation of Agni by friction from the +two fire-sticks. These are his parents, producing him as a new-born +infant who is hard to catch. From the dry wood the god is born +living; the child as soon as born devours his parents. The ten +maidens said to produce him are the ten fingers used in twirling +the upright fire-drill. Agni is called "Son of strength" because +of the powerful friction necessary in kindling a flame. As the +fire is lit every morning for the sacrifice, Agni is described as +"waking at dawn." Hence, too, he is the "youngest" of the gods; +but he is also old, for he conducted the first sacrifice. Thus he +comes to be paradoxically called both "ancient" and "very young" +in the same passage. + +Agni also springs from the aërial waters, and is often said to +have been brought from heaven. Born on earth, in air, in heaven, +Agni is frequently regarded as having a triple character. The gods +made him threefold, his births are three, and he has three abodes +or dwellings. "From heaven first Agni was born, the second time from +us (i.e. men), thirdly in the waters." This earliest Indian trinity +is important as the basis of much of the mystical speculation of the +Vedic age. It was probably the prototype not only of the later Rigvedic +triad, Sun, Wind, Fire, spoken of as distributed in the three worlds, +but also of the triad Sun, Indra, Fire, which, though not Rigvedic, +is still ancient. It is most likely also the historical progenitor +of the later Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, Çiva. This triad of +fires may have suggested and would explain the division of a single +sacrificial fire into the three which form an essential feature of +the cult of the Brahmanas. + +Owing to the multiplicity of terrestrial fires, Agni is also said +to have many births; for he abides in every family, house, or +dwelling. Kindled in many spots, he is but one; scattered in many +places, he is one and the same king. Other fires are attached to him +as branches to a tree. He assumes various divine forms, and has many +names; but in him are comprehended all the gods, whom he surrounds +as a felly the spokes. Thus we find the speculations about Agni's +various forms leading to the monotheistic notion of a unity pervading +the many manifestations of the divine. + +Agni is an immortal who has taken up his abode among mortals; he is +constantly called a "guest" in human dwellings; and is the only god to +whom the frequent epithet grihapati, "lord of the house," is applied. + +As the conductor of sacrifice, Agni is repeatedly called both a +"messenger" who moves between heaven and earth and a priest. He is +indeed the great priest, just as Indra is the great warrior. + +Agni is, moreover, a mighty benefactor of his worshippers. With +a thousand eyes he watches over the man who offers him oblations; +but consumes his worshippers' enemies like dry bushes, and strikes +down the malevolent like a tree destroyed by lightning. All blessings +issue from him as branches from a tree. All treasures are collected +in him, and he opens the door of wealth. He gives rain from heaven +and is like a spring in the desert. The boons which he confers are, +however, chiefly domestic welfare, offspring, and general prosperity, +while Indra for the most part grants victory, booty, power, and glory. + +Probably the oldest function of fire in regard to its cult is that +of burning and dispelling evil spirits and hostile magic. It still +survives in the Rigveda from an earlier age, Agni being said to drive +away the goblins with his light and receiving the epithet rakshohan, +"goblin-slayer." This activity is at any rate more characteristic of +Agni than of any other deity, both in the hymns and in the ritual of +the Vedas. + +Since the soma sacrifice, beside the cult of fire, forms a main +feature in the ritual of the Rigveda, the god Soma is naturally one +of its chief deities. The whole of the ninth book, in addition to +a few scattered hymns elsewhere, is devoted to his praise. Thus, +judged by the standard of frequency of mention, Soma comes third in +order of importance among the Vedic gods. The constant presence of +the soma plant and its juice before their eyes set limits to the +imagination of the poets who describe its personification. Hence +little is said of Soma's human form or action. The ninth book mainly +consists of incantations sung over the soma while it is pressed by +the stones and flows through the woollen strainer into the wooden +vats, in which it is finally offered as a beverage to the gods on a +litter of grass. The poets are chiefly concerned with these processes, +overlaying them with chaotic imagery and mystical fancies of almost +infinite variety. When Soma is described as being purified by the +ten maidens who are sisters, or by the daughters of Vivasvat (the +rising sun), the ten fingers are meant. The stones used in pounding +the shoots on a skin "chew him on the hide of a cow." The flowing +of the juice into jars or vats after passing through the filter of +sheep's wool is described in various ways. The streams of soma rush +to the forest of the vats like buffaloes. The god flies like a bird +to settle in the vats. The Tawny One settles in the bowls like a bird +sitting on a tree. The juice being mixed with water in the vat, Soma +is said to rush into the lap of the waters like a roaring bull on the +herd. Clothing himself in waters, he rushes around the vat, impelled by +the singers. Playing in the wood, he is cleansed by the ten maidens. He +is the embryo or child of waters, which are called his mothers. When +the priests add milk to soma "they clothe him in cow-garments." + +The sound made by the soma juice flowing into the vats or bowls is +often referred to in hyperbolical language. Thus a poet says that "the +sweet drop flows over the filter like the din of combatants." This +sound is constantly described as roaring, bellowing, or occasionally +even thundering. In such passages Soma is commonly compared with or +called a bull, and the waters, with or without milk, are termed cows. + +Owing to the yellow colour of the juice, the physical quality of Soma +mainly dwelt upon by the poets is his brilliance. His rays are often +referred to, and he is frequently assimilated to the sun. + +The exhilarating and invigorating action of soma led to its being +regarded as a divine drink that bestows everlasting life. Hence +it is called amrita, the "immortal" draught (allied to the Greek +ambrosia). Soma is the stimulant which conferred immortality upon +the gods. Soma also places his worshipper in the imperishable world +where there is eternal light and glory, making him immortal where +King Yama dwells. Thus soma naturally has medicinal power also. It +is medicine for a sick man, and the god Soma heals whatever is sick, +making the blind to see and the lame to walk. + +Soma when imbibed stimulates the voice, which it impels as the rower +his boat. Soma also awakens eager thought, and the worshippers of the +god exclaim, "We have drunk soma, we have become immortal, we have +entered into light, we have known the gods." The intoxicating power +of soma is chiefly, and very frequently, dwelt on in connection with +Indra, whom it stimulates in his conflict with the hostile demons of +the air. + +Being the most important of herbs, soma is spoken of as lord of +plants or their king, receiving also the epithet vanaspati, "lord of +the forest." + +Soma is several times described as dwelling or growing on the +mountains, in accordance with the statements of the Avesta about +Haoma. Its true origin and abode is regarded as heaven, whence it has +been brought down to earth. This belief is most frequently embodied in +the myth of the soma-bringing eagle (çyena), which is probably only +the mythological account of the simple phenomenon of the descent of +lightning and the simultaneous fall of rain. + +In some of the latest hymns of the Rigveda Soma begins to be somewhat +obscurely identified with the moon. In the Atharva-veda Soma several +times means the moon, and in the Yajurveda Soma is spoken of as having +the lunar mansions for his wives. The identification is a commonplace +in the Brahmanas, which explain the waning of the moon as due to the +gods and fathers eating up the ambrosia of which it consists. In one +of the Upanishads, moreover, the statement occurs that the moon is +King Soma, the food of the gods, and is drunk up by them. Finally, +in post-Vedic literature Soma is a regular name of the moon, which is +regarded as being consumed by the gods, and consequently waning till +it is filled up again by the sun. This somewhat remarkable coalescence +of Soma with the moon doubtless sprang from the hyperbolical terms in +which the poets of the Rigveda dwell on Soma's celestial nature and +brilliance, which they describe as dispelling darkness. They sometimes +speak of it as swelling in the waters, and often refer to the sap as +a "drop" (indu). Comparisons with the moon would thus easily suggest +themselves. In one passage of the Rigveda, for instance, Soma in the +bowls is said to appear like the moon in the waters. The mystical +speculations with which the Soma poetry teems would soon complete +the symbolism. + +A comparison of the Avesta with the Rigveda shows clearly that soma +was already an important feature in the mythology and cult of the +Indo-Iranian age. In both it is described as growing on the mountains, +whence it is brought by birds; in both it is king of plants; in both +a medicine bestowing long life and removing death. In both the sap +was pressed and mixed with milk; in both its mythical home is heaven, +whence it comes down to earth; in both the draught has become a mighty +god; in both the celestial Soma is distinguished from the terrestrial, +the god from the beverage. The similarity goes so far that Soma and +Haoma have even some individual epithets in common. + +The evolution of thought in the Rigvedic period shows a tendency to +advance from the concrete to the abstract. One result of this tendency +is the creation of abstract deities, which, however, are still rare, +occurring for the most part in the last book only. A few of them are +deifications of abstract nouns, such as Çraddha "Faith," invoked in +one short hymn, and Manyu, "Wrath," in two. These abstractions grow +more numerous in the later Vedas. Thus Kama, "Desire," first appears +in the Atharva-veda, where the arrows with which he pierces hearts +are already referred to; he is the forerunner of the flower-arrowed +god of love, familiar in classical literature. More numerous is +the class of abstractions comprising deities whose names denote an +agent, such as Dhatri, "Creator," or an attribute, such as Prajapati, +"Lord of Creatures." These do not appear to be direct abstractions, +but seem to be derived from epithets designating a particular aspect +of activity or character, which at first applying to one or more +of the older deities, finally acquired an independent value. Thus +Prajapati, originally an epithet of such gods as Savitri and Soma, +occurs in a late verse of the last book as a distinct deity possessing +the attribute of a creator. This god is in the Atharva-veda and the +Vajasaneyi-Samhita often, and in the Brahmanas regularly, recognised +as the chief deity, the father of the gods. In the Sutras, Prajapati +is identified with Brahma, his successor in the post-Vedic age. + +A hymn of the tenth book furnishes an interesting illustration of the +curious way in which such abstractions sometimes come into being. Here +is one of the stanzas:-- + + + By whom the mighty sky, the earth so steadfast, + The realm of light, heaven's vault, has been established, + Who in the air the boundless space traverses: + What god should we with sacrifices worship? + + +The fourth line here is the refrain of nine successive stanzas, in +which the creator is referred to as unknown, with the interrogative +pronoun ka, "what?" This ka in the later Vedic literature came to be +employed not only as an epithet of the creator Prajapati, but even +as an independent name of the supreme god. + +A deity of an abstract character occurring in the oldest as well as +the latest parts of the Rigveda is Brihaspati, "Lord of Prayer." Roth +and other distinguished Vedic scholars regard him as a direct +personification of devotion. In the opinion of the present writer, +however, he is only an indirect deification of the sacrificial activity +of Agni, a god with whom he has undoubtedly much in common. Thus +the most prominent feature of his character is his priesthood. Like +Agni, he has been drawn into and has obtained a firm footing in the +Indra myth. Thus he is often described as driving out the cows after +vanquishing the demon Vala. As the divine brahma priest, Brihaspati +seems to have been the prototype of the god Brahma, chief of the later +Hindu trinity. But the name Brihaspati itself survived in post-Vedic +mythology as the designation of a sage, the teacher of the gods, +and regent of the planet Jupiter. + +Another abstraction, and one of a very peculiar kind, is the +goddess Aditi. Though not the subject of any separate hymn, she is +often incidentally celebrated. She has two, and only two, prominent +characteristics. She is, in the first place, the mother of the small +group of gods called Adityas, of whom Varuna is the chief. Secondly, +she has, like her son Varuna, the power of releasing from the bonds +of physical suffering and moral guilt. With the latter trait her +name, which means "unbinding," "freedom," is clearly connected. The +unpersonified sense seems to survive in a few passages of the +Rigveda. Thus a poet prays for the "secure and unlimited gift of +aditi." The origin of the abstraction is probably to be explained +as follows. The expression "sons of Aditi," which is several times +applied to the Adityas, when first used in all likelihood meant "sons +of liberation," to emphasise a salient trait of their character, +according to a turn of language common in the Rigveda. The feminine +word "liberation" (aditi) used in this connection would then have +become personified by a process which has more than one parallel in +Sanskrit. Thus Aditi, a goddess of Indian origin, is historically +younger than some at least of her sons, who can be traced back to a +pre-Indian age. + +Goddesses, as a whole, occupy a very subordinate position in Vedic +belief. They play hardly any part as rulers of the world. The only +one of any consequence is Ushas. The next in importance, Sarasvati, +ranks only with the least prominent of the male gods. One of the few, +besides Prithivi, to whom an entire hymn is addressed, is Ratri, +Night. Like her sister Dawn, with whom she is often coupled, she +is addressed as a daughter of the sky. She is conceived not as the +dark, but as the bright starlit night. Thus, in contrasting the twin +goddesses, a poet says, "One decks herself with stars, with sunlight +the other." The following stanzas are from the hymn addressed to Night +(x. 127):-- + + + Night coming on, the goddess shines + In many places with her eyes: + All-glorious she has decked herself. + + Immortal goddess, far and wide + She fills the valleys and the heights: + Darkness with light she overcomes. + + And now the goddess coming on + Has driven away her sister Dawn: + Far off the darkness hastes away. + + Thus, goddess, come to us to-day, + At whose approach we seek our homes, + As birds upon the tree their nest. + + The villagers have gone to rest, + Beasts, too, with feet and birds with wings: + The hungry hawk himself is still. + + Ward off the she-wolf and the wolf, + Ward off the robber, goddess Night: + And take us safe across the gloom. + + +Goddesses, as wives of the great gods, play a still more insignificant +part, being entirely devoid of independent character. Indeed, hardly +anything about them is mentioned but their names, which are simply +formed from those of their male consorts by means of feminine suffixes. + +A peculiar feature of Vedic mythology is the invocation in couples +of a number of deities whose names are combined in the form of dual +compounds. About a dozen such pairs are celebrated in entire hymns, +and some half-dozen others in detached stanzas. By far the greatest +number of such hymns is addressed to Mitra-Varuna, but the names +most often found combined in this way are those of Heaven and Earth +(Dyavaprithivi). There can be little doubt that the latter couple +furnished the analogy for this favourite formation. For the association +of this pair, traceable as far back as the Indo-European period, +appeared to early thought so intimate in nature, that the myth of +their conjugal union is found widely diffused among primitive peoples. + +Besides these pairs of deities there is a certain number of more +or less definite groups of divine beings generally associated with +some particular god. The largest and most important of these are the +Maruts or Storm-gods, who, as we have seen, constantly attend Indra +on his warlike exploits. The same group, under the name of Rudras, +is occasionally associated with their father Rudra. The smaller group +of the Adityas is constantly mentioned in company with their mother +Aditi, or their chief Varuna. Their number in two passages of the +Rigveda is stated as seven or eight, while in the Brahmanas and later +it is regularly twelve. Some eight or ten hymns of the Rigveda are +addressed to them collectively. The following lines are taken from one +(viii. 47) in which their aid and protection is specially invoked:-- + + + As birds extend their sheltering wings, + Spread your protection over us. + + As charioteers avoid ill roads, + May dangers always pass us by. + + Resting in you, O gods, we are + Like men that fight in coats of mail. + + Look down on us, O Adityas, + Like spies observing from the bank: + + Lead us to paths of pleasantness, + Like horses to an easy ford. + + +A third and much less important group is that of the Vasus, mostly +associated with Indra in the Rigveda, though in later Vedic texts +Agni becomes their leader. They are a vague group, for they are not +characterised, having neither individual names nor any definite +number. The Brahmanas, however, mention eight of them. Finally, +there are the Viçvedevas or All-gods, to whom some sixty hymns are +addressed. It is a factitious sacrificial group meant to embrace the +whole pantheon in order that none should be excluded in invocations +intended to be addressed to all. Strange to say, the All-gods are +sometimes conceived as a narrower group, which is invoked with others +like the Vasus and Adityas. + +Besides the higher gods the Rigveda knows a number of mythical beings +not regarded as possessing the divine nature to the full extent and +from the beginning. The most important of these are the Ribhus who +form a triad, and are addressed in eleven hymns. Characteristically +deft-handed, they are often said to have acquired the rank of deities +by their marvellous skill. Among the five great feats of dexterity +whereby they became gods, the greatest--in which they appear as +successful rivals of Tvashtri, the artificer god--consists in their +having transformed his bowl, the drinking vessel of the gods, into four +shining cups. This bowl perhaps represents the moon, the four cups +being its phases. It has also been interpreted as the year with its +division into seasons. The Ribhus are further said to have renewed +the youth of their parents, by whom Heaven and Earth seem to have +been meant. With this miraculous deed another myth told about them +appears to be specially connected. They rested for twelve days in the +house of the sun, Agohya ("who cannot be concealed"). This sojourn +of the Ribhus in the house of the sun in all probability alludes to +the winter solstice, the twelve days being the addition which was +necessary to bring the lunar year of 354 into harmony with the solar +year of nearly 366 days, and was intercalated before the days begin to +grow perceptibly longer. On the whole, it seems likely that the Ribhus +were originally terrestrial or aërial elves, whose dexterity gradually +attracted to them various myths illustrative of marvellous skill. + +In a few passages of the Rigveda mention is made of a celestial +water-nymph called Apsaras ("moving in the waters"), who is regarded +as the spouse of a corresponding male genius called Gandharva. The +Apsaras, in the words of the poet, smiles at her beloved in the +highest heaven. More Apsarases than one are occasionally spoken +of. Their abode is in the later Vedas extended to the earth, where +they especially frequent trees, which resound with the music of their +lutes and cymbals. The Brahmanas describe them as distinguished by +great beauty and devoted to dance, song, and play. In the post-Vedic +period they become the courtesans of Indra's heaven. The Apsarases are +loved not only by the Gandharvas but occasionally even by men. Such +an one was Urvaçi. A dialogue between her and her earthly spouse, +Pururavas, is contained in a somewhat obscure hymn of the Rigveda +(x. 95). The nymph is here made to say:-- + + + Among mortals in other form I wandered, + And dwelt for many nights throughout four autumns. + + +Her lover implores her to return; but, though his request is refused, +he (like Tithonus) receives the promise of immortality. The Çatapatha +Brahmana tells the story in a more connected and detailed form. Urvaçi +is joined with Pururavas in an alliance, the permanence of which +depends on a condition. When this is broken by a stratagem of the +Gandharvas, the nymph immediately vanishes from the sight of her +lover. Pururavas, distracted, roams in search of her, till at last +he observes her swimming in a lotus lake with other Apsarases in +the form of an aquatic bird. Urvaçi discovers herself to him, and +in response to his entreaties, consents to return for once after the +lapse of a year. This myth in the post-Vedic age furnished the theme +of Kalidasa's play Vikramorvaçi. + +Gandharva appears to have been conceived originally as a single +being. For in the Rigveda the name nearly always occurs in the +singular, and in the Avesta, where it is found a few times in the +form of Gandarewa, only in the singular. According to the Rigveda, +this genius, the lover of the water-nymph, dwells in the fathomless +spaces of air, and stands erect on the vault of heaven. He is also a +guardian of the celestial soma, and is sometimes, as in the Avesta, +connected with the waters. In the later Vedas the Gandharvas form +a class, their association with the Apsarases being so frequent as +to amount to a stereotyped phrase. In the post-Vedic age they have +become celestial singers, and the notion of their home being in the +realm of air survives in the expression "City of the Gandharvas" +as one of the Sanskrit names for "mirage." + +Among the numerous ancient priests and heroes of the Rigveda the most +important is Manu, the first sacrificer and the ancestor of the human +race. The poets refer to him as "our father," and speak of sacrificers +as "the people of Manu." The Çatapatha Brahmana makes Manu play the +part of a Noah in the history of human descent. + +A group of ancient priests are the Angirases, who are closely +associated with Indra in the myth of the capture of the cows. Another +ancient race of mythical priests are the Bhrigus, to whom the Indian +Prometheus, Matariçvan, brought the hidden Agni from heaven, and whose +function was the establishment and diffusion of the sacrificial fire +on earth. + +A numerically definite group of ancestral priests, rarely mentioned in +the Rigveda, are the seven Rishis or seers. In the Brahmanas they came +to be regarded as the seven stars in the constellation of the Great +Bear, and are said to have been bears in the beginning. This curious +identification was doubtless brought about partly by the sameness of +the number in the two cases, and partly by the similarity of sound +between rishi, "seer," and riksha, which in the Rigveda means both +"star" and "bear." + +Animals play a considerable part in the mythological and religious +conceptions of the Veda. Among them the horse is conspicuous as drawing +the cars of the gods, and in particular as representing the sun under +various names. In the Vedic ritual the horse was regarded as symbolical +of the sun and of fire. Two hymns of the Rigveda (i. 162-163) which +deal with the subject, further show that horse-sacrifice was practised +in the earliest age of Indian antiquity. + +The cow, however, is the animal which figures most largely in the +Rigveda. This is undoubtedly due to the important position, resulting +from its pre-eminent utility, occupied by this animal even in the +remotest period of Indian life. The beams of dawn and the clouds +are cows. The rain-cloud, personified under the name of Priçni, "the +speckled one," is a cow, the mother of the Storm-gods. The bountiful +clouds on which all wealth in India depended, were doubtless the +prototypes of the many-coloured cows which yield all desires in +the heaven of the blest described by the Atharva-veda, and which +are the forerunners of the "Cow of Plenty" (Kamaduh) so familiar +to post-Vedic poetry. The earth itself is often spoken of by the +poets of the Rigveda as a cow. That this animal already possessed a +sacred character is shown by the fact that one Rishi addresses a cow +as Aditi and a goddess, impressing upon his hearers that she should +not be slain. Aghnya ("not to be killed"), a frequent designation +of the cow in the Rigveda, points in the same direction. Indeed +the evidence of the Avesta proves that the sanctity of this animal +goes back even to the Indo-Iranian period. In the Atharva-veda the +worship of the cow is fully recognised, while the Çatapatha Brahmana +emphasises the evil consequences of eating beef. The sanctity of the +cow has not only survived in India down to the present day, but has +even gathered strength with the lapse of time. The part played by the +greased cartridges in the Indian Mutiny is sufficient to prove this +statement. To no other animal has mankind owed so much, and the debt +has been richly repaid in India with a veneration unknown in other +lands. So important a factor has the cow proved in Indian life and +thought, that an exhaustive account of her influence from the earliest +times would form a noteworthy chapter in the history of civilisation. + +Among the noxious animals of the Rigveda the serpent is the most +prominent. This is the form which the powerful demon, the foe of Indra, +is believed to possess. The serpent also appears as a divine being +in the form of the rarely mentioned Ahi budhnya, "the Dragon of the +Deep," supposed to dwell in the fathomless depths of the aërial ocean, +and probably representing the beneficent side of the character of +the serpent Vritra. In the later Vedas the serpents are mentioned as +a class of semi-divine beings along with the Gandharvas and others; +and in the Sutras offerings to them are prescribed. In the latter +works we meet for the first time with the Nagas, in reality serpents, +and human only in form. In post-Vedic times serpent-worship is found +all over India. Since there is no trace of it in the Rigveda, while it +prevails widely among the non-Aryan Indians, there is reason to believe +that when the Aryans spread over India, the land of serpents, they +found the cult diffused among the aborigines and borrowed it from them. + +Plants are frequently invoked as divinities, chiefly in enumerations +along with waters, rivers, mountains, heaven, and earth. One entire +hymn (x. 97) is, however, devoted to the praise of plants (oshadhi) +alone, mainly with regard to their healing powers. Later Vedic +texts mention offerings made to plants and the adoration paid to +large trees passed in marriage processions. One hymn of the Rigveda +(x. 146) celebrates the forest as a whole, personified as Aranyani, +the mocking genius of the woods. The weird sights and sounds of the +gloaming are here described with a fine perception of nature. In the +dark solitudes of the jungle + + + Sounds as of grazing cows are heard, + A dwelling-house appears to loom, + And Aranyani, Forest-nymph, + Creaks like a cart at eventide. + + Here some one calls his cow to him, + Another there is felling wood; + Who tarries in the forest-glade + Thinks to himself, "I heard a cry." + + Never does Aranyani hurt + Unless one goes too near to her: + When she has eaten of sweet fruit + At her own will she goes to rest. + + Sweet-scented, redolent of balm, + Replete with food, yet tilling not, + Mother of beasts, the Forest-nymph, + Her I have magnified with praise. + + +On the whole, however, the part played by plant, tree, and forest +deities is a very insignificant one in the Rigveda. + +A strange religious feature pointing to a remote antiquity is the +occasional deification and worship even of objects fashioned by +the hand of man, when regarded as useful to him. These are chiefly +sacrificial implements. Thus in one hymn (iii. 8) the sacrificial post +(called "lord of the forest") is invoked, while three hymns of the +tenth book celebrate the pressing stones used in preparing soma. The +plough is invoked in a few stanzas; and an entire hymn (vi. 75) is +devoted to the praise of various implements of war, while one in the +Atharva-veda (v. 20) glorifies the drum. + +The demons so frequently mentioned in the Rigveda are of two +classes. The one consists of the aërial adversaries of the gods. The +older view is that of a conflict waged between a single god and a +single demon. This gradually developed into the notion of the gods and +the demons in general being arrayed against each other as two opposing +hosts. The Brahmanas regularly represent the antagonism thus. Asura +is the ordinary name of the aërial foes of the gods. This word has a +remarkable history. In the Rigveda it is predominantly a designation +of the gods, and in the Avesta it denotes, in the form of Ahura, the +highest god of Zoroastrianism. In the later parts of the Rigveda, +however, asura, when used by itself, also signifies "demon," and +this is its only sense in the Atharva-veda. A somewhat unsuccessful +attempt has been made to explain how a word signifying "god" came +to mean "devil," as the result of national conflicts, the Asuras or +gods of extra-Vedic tribes becoming demons to the Vedic Indian, just +as the devas or gods of the Veda are demons in the Avesta. There is +no traditional evidence in support of this view, and it is opposed +by the fact that to the Rigvedic Indian asura not only in general +meant a divine being, but was especially appropriate to Varuna, the +most exalted of the gods. The word must therefore have changed its +meaning in course of time within the Veda itself. Here it seems from +the beginning to have had the sense of "possessor of occult power," +and hence to have been potentially applicable to hostile beings. Thus +in one hymn of the Rigveda (x. 124) both senses seem to occur. Towards +the end of the Rigvedic period the application of the word to the +gods began to fall into abeyance. This tendency was in all likelihood +accelerated by the need of a word denoting the hostile demoniac powers +generally, as well as by an incipient popular etymology, which saw +a negative (a-sura) in the word and led to the invention of sura, +"god," a term first found in the Upanishads. + +A group of aërial demons, primarily foes of Indra, are the Panis. The +proper meaning of the word is "niggard," especially in regard +to sacrificial gifts. From this signification it developed the +mythological sense of demons resembling those originally conceived +as withholding the treasures of heaven. The term dasa or dasyu, +properly the designation of the dark aborigines of India contrasted +with their fair Aryan conquerors, is frequently used in the sense of +demons or fiends. + +By far the most conspicuous of the individual aërial demons of the +Rigveda, is Vritra, who has the form of a serpent, and whose name means +"encompasser." Another demon mentioned with some frequency is Vala, +the personification of the mythical cave in which the celestial cows +are confined. In post-Vedic literature these two demons are frequently +mentioned together and are regarded as brothers slain by Indra. The +most often named among the remaining adversaries of Indra is Çushna, +the "hisser" or "scorcher." A rarely-mentioned demon is Svarbhanu, +who is described as eclipsing the sun with darkness. His successor +in Sanskrit literature was Rahu, regarded as causing eclipses by +swallowing the sun or moon. + +The second class of demons consists of goblins supposed to infest the +earth, enemies of mankind as the Asuras are of the gods. By far the +most common generic name for this class is Rakshas. They are hardly +ever mentioned except in connection with some god who is invoked +to destroy or is praised for having destroyed them. These goblins +are conceived as having the shapes of various animals as well as of +men. Their appearance is more fully described by the Atharvaveda, +in which they are also spoken of as deformed or as being blue, +yellow, or green in colour. According to the Rigveda they are fond +of the flesh of men and horses, whom they attack by entering into +them in order to satisfy their greed. They are supposed to prowl +about at night and to make the sacrifice the special object of their +attacks. The belief that the Rakshases actively interfere with the +performance of sacrificial rites remains familiar in the post-Vedic +period. A species of goblin scarcely referred to in the Rigveda, +but often mentioned in the later Vedas, are the Piçachas, described +as devouring corpses and closely connected with the dead. + +Few references to death and the future life are to be found in the +hymns of the Rigveda, as the optimistic and active Vedic Indian, +unlike his descendants in later centuries, seems to have given little +thought to the other world. Most of the information to be gained about +their views of the next life are to be found in the funeral hymns of +the last book. The belief here expressed is that fire or the grave +destroys the body only, while the real personality of the deceased +is imperishable. The soul is thought to be separable from the body, +not only after death, but even during unconsciousness (x. 58). There +is no indication here, or even in the later Vedas, of the doctrine of +the transmigration of souls, though it was already firmly established +in the sixth century B.C. when Buddhism arose. One passage of the +Rigveda, however, in which the soul is spoken of as departing to the +waters or the plants, may contain the germs of the theory. + + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +PHILOSOPHY OF THE RIGVEDA + + +According to the Vedic view, the spirit of the deceased proceeded to +the realm of eternal light on the path trodden by the fathers, whom +he finds in the highest heaven revelling with Yama, king of the dead, +and feasting with the gods. + +In one of the funeral hymns (x. 14, 7) the dead man is thus +addressed:-- + + + Go forth, go forth along those ancient pathways + To where our early ancestors departed. + There thou shalt see rejoicing in libations + The two kings, Varuna the god and Yama. + + +Here a tree spreads its branches, in the shade of which Yama drinks +soma with the gods, and the sound of the flute and of songs is +heard. The life in heaven is free from imperfections or bodily +frailties, and is altogether delectable. It is a glorified life +of material joys as conceived by the imagination, not of warriors, +but of priests. Heaven is gained as a reward by heroes who risk their +lives in battle, but above all by those who bestow liberal sacrificial +gifts on priests. + +Though the Atharva-veda undoubtedly shows a belief in a place of +future punishment, the utmost that can be inferred with regard to +the Rigveda from the scanty evidence we possess, is the notion that +unbelievers were consigned to an underground darkness after death. So +little, indeed, do the Rishis say on this subject, and so vague is +the little they do say, that Roth held the total annihilation of the +wicked by death to be their belief. The early Indian notions about +future punishment gradually developed, till, in the post-Vedic period, +a complicated system of hells had been elaborated. + +Some passages of the Rigveda distinguish the path of the fathers or +dead ancestors from the path of the gods, doubtless because cremation +appeared as a different process from sacrifice. In the Brahmanas the +fathers and the gods are thought to dwell in distinct abodes, for the +"heavenly world" is contrasted with the "world of the fathers." + +The chief of the blessed dead is Yama, to whom three entire hymns +are addressed. He is spoken of as a king who rules the departed and +as a gatherer of the people, who gives the deceased a resting-place +and prepares an abode for him. Yama it was who first discovered the +way to the other world:-- + + + Him who along the mighty heights departed, + Him who searched and spied out the path for many, + Son of Vivasvat, gatherer of the people, + Yama the king, with sacrifices worship. (x. 14, 1). + + +Though death is the path of Yama, and he must consequently have been +regarded with a certain amount of fear, he is not yet in the Rigveda, +as in the Atharvaveda and the later mythology, a god of death. The +owl and pigeon are occasionally mentioned as emissaries of Yama, but +his regular messengers are two dogs which guard the path trodden by +the dead proceeding to the other world. + +With reference to them the deceased man is thus addressed in one of +the funeral hymns (x. 14):-- + + + Run on thy path straight forward past the two dogs, + The sons of Sarama, four-eyed and brindled, + Draw near thereafter to the bounteous fathers, + Who revel on in company with Yama. + + Broad-nosed and brown, the messengers of Yama, + Greedy of lives, wander among the people: + May they give back to us a life auspicious + Here and to-day, that we may see the sunlight. + + +The name of Yama is sometimes used in the Rigveda in its primary +sense of "twin," and the chief of the dead actually occurs in this +character throughout a hymn (x. 10) of much poetic beauty, consisting +of a dialogue between him and his sister Yami. She endeavours to win +his love, but he repels her advances with these words:-- + + + The spies sent by the gods here ever wander, + They stand not still, nor close their eyes in slumber: + Another man thine arms shall clasp, O Yami, + Tightly as twines around the tree the creeper. + + +The incestuous union which forms the main theme of the poem, though +rejected as contrary to the higher ethical standard of the Rigveda, +was doubtless the survival of an already existing myth of the descent +of mankind from primeval "twins." This myth, indeed, seems to have +been handed down from the Indo-Iranian period, for the later Avestan +literature makes mention of Yimeh as a sister of Yima. Even the name +of Yama's father goes back to that period, for Yima is the son of +Vivanhvant in the Avesta as Yama is of Vivasvat in the Rigveda. + +The great bulk of the Rigvedic poems comprises invocations of gods +or deified objects as described in the foregoing pages. Scattered +among them are to be found, chiefly in the tenth book, about a +dozen mythological pieces consisting of dialogues which, in a vague +and fragmentary way, indicate the course of the action and refer to +past events. In all likelihood they were originally accompanied by a +narrative setting in prose, which explained the situation more fully +to the audience, but was lost after these poems were incorporated +among the collected hymns of the Rigveda. One of this class (iv. 42) +is a colloquy between Indra and Varuna, in which each of these +leading gods puts forward his claims to pre-eminence. Another, which +shows considerable poetic merit and presents the situation clearly, +is a dialogue in alternate verses between Varuna and Agni (x. 51), +followed by a second (x. 52) between the gods and Agni, who has grown +weary of his sacrificial office, but finally agrees to continue the +performance of his duties. + +A curious but prosaic and obscure hymn (x. 86), consists of a dialogue +between Indra and his wife Indrani on the subject of a monkey which +has incurred the anger of the latter. The circumstances are much more +clearly presented in a poem of great beauty (x. 108), in which Sarama, +the messenger of Indra, having tracked the stolen cows, demands them +back from the Panis. Another already referred to (p. 107) treats +the myth of Urvaçi and Pururavas. The dialogue takes place at the +moment when the nymph is about to quit her mortal lover for ever. A +good deal of interest attaches to this myth, not only as the oldest +Indo-European love-story, but as one which has had a long history in +Indian literature. The dialogue of Yama and Yami (x. 10) is, as we +have seen, based on a still older myth. These mythological ballads, +if I may use the expression, foreshadow the dramatic and epic poetry +of a later age. + +A very small number, hardly more than thirty altogether, of the +hymns of the Rigveda are not addressed to the gods or deified +objects. About a dozen poems, occurring almost exclusively in the +tenth book, are concerned with magical notions, and therefore belong +rather to the domain of the Atharva-veda, Two short ones (ii. 42-43) +belong to the sphere of augury, certain birds of omen being invoked +to utter auspicious cries. Two others consist of spells directed +against poisonous vermin (i. 191), and the disease called yakshma +(x. 163). Two are incantations to preserve the life of one lying at +the point of death (x. 58; 60, 7-12). A couple of stanzas from one +of the latter may serve as a specimen:-- + + + Just as a yoke with leathern thong + They fasten on that it may hold: + So have I now held fast thy soul, + That thou mayst live and mayst not die, + Anon to be unhurt and well. + + Downward is blown the blast of wind, + Downward the burning sunbeams shoot, + Adown the milk streams from the cow: + So downward may thy ailment go. + + +Here is a stanza from a poem intended as a charm to induce slumber +(v. 55):-- + + + The man who sits and he who walks, + And he who sees us with his gaze: + Of these we now close up the eyes, + Just as we shut this dwelling-house. + + +The first three stanzas of this lullaby end with the refrain, "Fall +fast asleep" (ni shu shvapa). + +The purpose of one incantation (x. 183) is to procure children, +while another (x. 162) is directed against the demon that destroys +offspring. There is also a spell (x. 166) aiming at the destruction of +enemies. We further find the incantation (x. 145) of a woman desiring +to oust her rival wives from the affections of her husband. A sequel to +it is formed by the song of triumph (x. 159) of one who has succeeded +in this object:-- + + + Up has arisen there the sun, + So too my fortunes now arise: + With craft victorious I have gained + Over my lord this victory. + + My sons now mighty warriors are, + My daughter is a princess now, + And I myself have gained the day: + My name stands highest with my lord. + + Vanquished have I these rival wives, + Rising superior to them all, + That over this heroic man + And all this people I may rule. + + +With regard to a late hymn (vii. 103), which is entirely secular in +style, there is some doubt as to its original purpose. The awakening +of the frogs at the beginning of the rainy season is here described +with a graphic power which will doubtless be appreciated best by those +who have lived in India. The poet compares the din of their croaking +with the chants of priests exhilarated by soma, and with the clamour +of pupils at school repeating the words of their teacher:-- + + + Resting in silence for a year, + As Brahmans practising a vow, + The frogs have lifted up their voice, + Excited when Parjanya comes. + + When one repeats the utterance of the other + Like those who learn the lesson of their teacher, + Then every limb of yours seems to be swelling, + As eloquent ye prate upon the waters. + + As Brahmans at the mighty soma offering + Sit round the large and brimming vessel talking, + So throng ye round the pool to hallow + This day of all the year that brings the rain-time. + + These Brahmans with their soma raise their voices, + Performing punctually their yearly worship; + And these Adhvaryus, sweating with their kettles, + These priests come forth to view, and none are hidden. + + The twelvemonth's god-sent order they have guarded, + And never do these men neglect the season. + When in the year the rainy time commences, + Those who were heated kettles gain deliverance. + + +This poem has usually been interpreted as a satire upon the +Brahmans. If such be indeed its purport, we find it difficult to +conceive how it could have gained admittance into a collection +like the Rigveda, which, if not entirely composed, was certainly +edited, by priests. The Brahmans cannot have been ignorant of the +real significance of the poem. On the other hand, the comparison of +frogs with Brahmans would not necessarily imply satire to the Vedic +Indian. Students familiar with the style of the Rigveda know that +many similes which, if used by ourselves, would involve contempt +or ridicule, were employed by the ancient Indian poets only for the +sake of graphic effect. As the frogs are in the last stanza besought +to grant wealth and length of days, it is much more likely that we +have here a panegyric of frogs believed to have the magical power of +bringing rain. + +There remain about twenty poems the subject-matter of which is of a +more or less secular character. They deal with social customs, the +liberality of patrons, ethical questions, riddles, and cosmogonic +speculations. Several of them are of high importance for the history +of Indian thought and civilisation. As social usages have always been +dominated by religion in India, it is natural that the poems dealing +with them should have a religious and mythological colouring. The +most notable poem of this kind is the long wedding-hymn (x. 85) of +forty-seven stanzas. Lacking in poetic unity, it consists of groups of +verses relating to the marriage ceremonial loosely strung together. The +opening stanzas (1-5), in which the identity of the celestial soma +and of the moon is expressed in veiled terms, are followed by others +(6-17) relating the myth of the wedding of Soma the moon with the +sun-maiden Surya. The Açvins, elsewhere her spouses, here appear in +the inferior capacity of groomsmen, who, on behalf of Soma, sue for +the hand of Surya from her father, the sun-god. Savitri consents, +and sends his daughter, a willing bride, to her husband's house on a +two-wheeled car made of the wood of the çalmali or silk-cotton tree, +decked with red kimçuka flowers, and drawn by two white bulls. + +Then sun and moon, the prototype of human marriage, are described as +an inseparable pair (18-19):-- + + + They move alternately with mystic power; + Like children playing they go round the sacrifice: + One of the two surveys all living beings, + The other, seasons meting out, is born again. + + Ever anew, being born again, he rises, + He goes in front of dawns as daylight's token. + He, coming, to the gods their share apportions: + The moon extends the length of man's existence. + + +Blessings are then invoked on the wedding procession, and a wish +expressed that the newly-married couple may have many children and +enjoy prosperity, long life, and freedom from disease (20-33). + +The next two stanzas (34-35), containing some obscure references to +the bridal garments, are followed by six others (36-41) pronounced +at the wedding rite, which is again brought into connection with the +marriage of Surya. The bridegroom here thus addresses the bride:-- + + + I grasp thy hand that I may gain good fortune, + That thou may'st reach old age with me thy husband. + Bhaga, Aryaman, Savitri, Puramdhi, + The gods have given thee to share my household. + + +The god of fire is at the same time invoked:-- + + + To thee, O Agni, first they led + Bright Surya with the bridal throng: + So in thy turn to husbands give + A wife along with progeny. + + +The concluding verses (42-47) are benedictions pronounced on the +newly-wedded couple after the bride has arrived at her future home:-- + + + Here abide; be not divided; + Complete life's whole allotted span, + Playing with your sons and grandsons, + Rejoicing in your own abode. + + +The last stanza of all is spoken by the bridegroom:-- + + + May all the gods us two unite, + May Waters now our hearts entwine; + May Matariçvan and Dhatri, + May Deshtri us together join. + + +There are five hymns, all in the last book (x. 14-18), which are more +or less concerned with funeral rites. All but one of them, however, +consist chiefly of invocations of gods connected with the future +life. The first (14) is addressed to Yama, the next to the Fathers, +the third to Agni, and the fourth to Pushan, as well as Sarasvati. Only +the last (18) is a funeral hymn in the true sense. It is secular in +style as well as in matter, being almost free from references to any +of the gods. Grave and elevated in tone, it is distinguished by great +beauty of language. It also yields more information about the funeral +usages of those early days than any of the rest. + +From this group of hymns it appears that burial was practised as well +as cremation by the Vedic Indians. The composer of a hymn addressed to +Varuna in Book VII. also mentions "the house of clay" in connection +with death. Cremation was, however, the usual manner of disposing of +the dead, and the later Vedic ritual practically knew this method +alone, sanctioning only the burial of ascetics and children under +two years of age. With the rite of cremation, too, the mythological +notions about the future life were specially connected. Thus Agni +conducts the corpse to the other world, where the gods and Fathers +dwell. A goat was sacrificed when the corpse was burned, and this +goat, according to the Atharva-veda (ix. 5, 1 and 3), preceded and +announced the deceased to the fathers, just as in the Rigveda the +goat immolated with the sacrificial horse goes before to announce +the offering to the gods (i. 162-163). In the later Vedic ritual a +goat or cow was sacrificed as the body was cremated. + +In conformity with a custom of remotest antiquity still surviving +in India, the dead man was provided with ornaments and clothing for +use in the future life. The fact that in the funeral obsequies of the +Rigveda the widow lies down beside the body of her deceased husband and +his bow is removed from the dead man's hand, shows that both were in +earlier times burnt with his body to accompany him to the next world, +and a verse of the Atharva-veda calls the dying of the widow with her +husband an old custom. The evidence of anthropology shows that this was +a very primitive practice widely prevailing at the funerals of military +chiefs, and it can be proved to go back to the Indo-European age. + +The following stanza (8) from the last funeral hymn (x. 18) is +addressed to the widow, who is called upon to rise from the pyre and +take the hand of her new husband, doubtless a brother of the deceased, +in accordance with an ancient marriage custom:-- + + + Rise up; come to the world of life; O woman; + Thou liest here by one whose soul has left him. + Come: thou hast now entered upon the wifehood + Of this thy lord who takes thy hand and woos thee. + + +The speaker then, turning to the deceased man, exclaims:-- + + + From the dead hand I take the bow he wielded, + To gain for us dominion, might, and glory. + Thou there, we here, rich in heroic offspring, + Will vanquish all assaults of every foeman. + + Approach the bosom of the earth, the mother, + This earth extending far and most propitious: + Young, soft as wool to bounteous givers, may she + Preserve thee from the lap of dissolution. + + Open wide, O earth, press not heavily on him, + Be easy of approach, hail him with kindly aid; + As with a robe a mother hides + Her son, so shroud this man, O earth. + + +Referring to the bystanders he continues:-- + + + These living ones are from the dead divided: + Our calling on the gods is now auspicious. + We have come forth prepared for dance and laughter, + Till future days prolonging our existence. + + As days in order follow one another, + As seasons duly alternate with seasons; + As the later never forsakes the earlier, + So fashion thou the lives of these, Ordainer. + + +A few of the secular poems contain various historical references. These +are the so-called Danastutis or "Praises of Gifts," panegyrics +commemorating the liberality of princes towards the priestly singers +employed by them. They possess little poetic merit, and are of late +date, occurring chiefly in the first and tenth books, or among the +Valakhilya (supplementary) hymns of the eighth. A number of encomia +of this type, generally consisting of only two or three stanzas, are +appended to ordinary hymns in the eighth book and, much less commonly, +in most of the other books. Chiefly concerned in describing the kind +and the amount of the gifts bestowed on them, the composers of these +panegyrics incidentally furnish historical data about the families and +genealogies of themselves and their patrons, as well as about the names +and homes of the Vedic tribes. The amount of the presents bestowed--for +instance, 60,000 cows--is sometimes enormously exaggerated. We may, +however, safely conclude that it was often considerable, and that +the Vedic chiefs possessed very large herds of cattle. + +Four of the secular poems are didactic in character. One of +these (x. 34), "The Lament of the Gambler," strikes a pathetic +note. Considering that it is the oldest composition of the kind +in existence, we cannot but regard this poem as a most remarkable +literary product. The gambler deplores his inability to throw off +the spell of the dice, though he sees the ruin they are bringing on +him and his household:-- + + + Downward they fall, then nimbly leaping upward, + They overpower the man with hands, though handless. + Cast on the board like magic bits of charcoal, + Though cold themselves, they burn the heart to ashes. + + It pains the gambler when he sees a woman, + Another's wife, and their well-ordered household: + He yokes these brown steeds early in the morning, + And, when the fire is low, sinks down an outcast. + + "Play not with dice, but cultivate thy cornfield; + Rejoice in thy goods, deeming them abundant: + There are thy cows, there is thy wife, O gambler." + This counsel Savitri the kindly gives me. + + +We learn here that the dice (aksha) were made of the nut of the +Vibhidaka tree (Terminalia bellerica), which is still used for the +purpose in India. + +The other three poems of this group may be regarded as the forerunners +of the sententious poetry which flourished so luxuriantly in Sanskrit +literature. One of them, consisting only of four stanzas (ix. 112), +describes in a moralising strain of mild humour how men follow after +gain in various ways:-- + + + The thoughts of men are manifold, + Their callings are of diverse kinds: + The carpenter desires a rift, + The leech a fracture wants to cure. + + A poet I; my dad's a leech; + Mama the upper millstone grinds: + With various minds we strive for wealth, + As ever seeking after kine. + + +Another of these poems (x. 117) consists of a collection of maxims +inculcating the duty of well-doing and charity:-- + + + Who has the power should give unto the needy, + Regarding well the course of life hereafter: + Fortune, like two chariot wheels revolving, + Now to one man comes nigh, now to another. + + Ploughing the soil, the share produces nurture; + He who bestirs his feet performs his journey; + A priest who speaks earns more than one who's silent; + A friend who gives is better than the niggard. + + +The fourth of these poems (x. 71) is composed in praise of wise +speech. Here are four of its eleven stanzas:-- + + + Where clever men their words with wisdom utter, + And sift them as with flail the corn is winnowed, + There friends may recognise each other's friendship: + A goodly stamp is on their speech imprinted. + + Whoever his congenial friend abandons, + In that man's speech there is not any blessing. + For what he hears he hears without advantage: + He has no knowledge of the path of virtue. + + When Brahman friends unite to offer worship, + In hymns by the heart's impulse swiftly fashioned, + Then not a few are left behind in wisdom, + While others win their way as gifted Brahmans. + + The one sits putting forth rich bloom of verses, + Another sings a song in skilful numbers, + A third as teacher states the laws of being, + A fourth metes out the sacrifice's measure. + + +Even in the ordinary hymns are to be found a few moralising remarks of +a cynical nature about wealth and women, such as frequently occur in +the ethical literature of the post-Vedic age. Thus one poet exclaims: +"How many a maiden is an object of affection to her wooer for the +sake of her admirable wealth!" (x. 27, 12); while another addresses +the kine he desires with the words: "Ye cows make even the lean +man fat, even the ugly man ye make of goodly countenance" (vi. 28, +6). A third observes: "Indra himself said this, 'The mind of woman +is hard to instruct, and her intelligence is small'" (viii. 33, 17); +and a fourth complains: "There are no friendships with women; their +hearts are those of hyenas" (x. 95, 15). One, however, admits that +"many a woman is better than the godless and niggardly man" (v. 61, 6). + +Allied to the didactic poems are the riddles, of which there are at +least two collections in the Rigveda. In their simplest form they are +found in a poem (29) of the eighth book. In each of its ten stanzas a +different deity is described by his characteristic marks, but without +being mentioned, the hearer being left to guess his name. Vishnu, +for instance, is thus alluded to:-- + + + Another with his mighty stride has made three steps + To where the gods rejoice in bliss. + + +A far more difficult collection, consisting of fifty-two stanzas, +occurs in the first book (164). Nothing here is directly described, the +language being always symbolical and mystical. The allusions in several +cases are so obscurely expressed that it is now impossible to divine +the meaning. Sometimes the riddle is put in the form of a question, +and in one case the answer itself is also given. Occasionally the poet +propounds a riddle of which he himself evidently does not know the +solution. In general these problems are stated as enigmas. The subject +of about one-fourth of them is the sun. Six or seven deal with clouds, +lightning, and the production of rain; three or four with Agni and his +various forms; about the same number with the year and its divisions; +two with the origin of the world and the One Being. The dawn, heaven +and earth, the metres, speech, and some other subjects which can +hardly even be conjectured, are dealt with in one or two stanzas +respectively. One of the more clearly expressed of these enigmas is +the following, which treats of the wheel of the year with its twelve +months and three hundred and sixty days:-- + + + Provided with twelve spokes and undecaying, + The wheel of order rolls around the heavens; + Within it stand, O Agni, joined in couples, + Together seven hundred sons and twenty. + + +The thirteenth or intercalary month, contrasted with the twelve +others conceived as pairs, is thus darkly alluded to: "Of the co-born +they call the seventh single-born; sages call the six twin pairs +god-born." The latter expression probably alludes to the intercalary +month being an artificial creation of man. In the later Vedic age +it became a practice to propound such enigmas, called "theological +problems" (brahmodya), in contests for intellectual pre-eminence +when kings instituted great sacrifices or Brahmans were otherwise +assembled together. + +Closely allied to these poetical riddles is the philosophical poetry +contained in the six or seven cosmogonic hymns of the Rigveda. The +question of the origin of the world here treated is of course largely +mixed with mythological and theological notions. Though betraying much +confusion of ideas, these early speculations are of great interest as +the sources from which flow various streams of later thought. Most +of these hymns handle the subject of the origin of the world in a +theological, and only one in a purely philosophical spirit. In the +view of the older Rishis, the gods in general, or various individual +deities, "generated" the world. This view conflicts with the frequently +expressed notion that heaven and earth are the parents of the gods. The +poets thus involve themselves in the paradox that the children +produce their own parents. Indra, for instance, is described in so +many words as having begotten his father and mother from his own body +(x. 54, 3). This conceit evidently pleased the fancy of a priesthood +becoming more and more addicted to far-fetched speculations; for in +the cosmogonic hymns we find reciprocal generation more than once +introduced in the stages of creation. Thus Daksha is said to have +sprung from Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha (x. 72, 4). + +The evolution of religious thought in the Rigveda led to the conception +of a creator distinct from any of the chief deities and superior to all +the gods. He appears under the various names of Purusha, Viçvakarman, +Hiranyagarbha, or Prajapati in the cosmogonic hymns. Whereas creation, +according to the earlier view, is regularly referred to as an act of +natural generation with some form of the verb jan, "to beget," these +cosmogonic poems speak of it as the manufacture or evolution from some +original material. In one of them (x. 90), the well-known Hymn of Man +(purusha-sukta), the gods are still the agents, but the material out +of which the world is made consists of the body of a primeval giant, +Purusha (man), who being thousand-headed and thousand-footed, extends +even beyond the earth, as he covers it. The fundamental idea of the +world being created from the body of a giant is, indeed, very ancient, +being met with in several primitive mythologies. But the manner in +which the idea is here worked out is sufficiently late. Quite in +the spirit of the Brahmanas, where Vishnu is identified with the +sacrifice, the act of creation is treated as a sacrificial rite, +the original man being conceived as a victim, the parts of which +when cut up become portions of the universe. His head, we are told, +became the sky, his navel the air, his feet the earth, while from +his mind sprang the moon, from his eye the sun, from his breath the +wind. "Thus they (the gods) fashioned the worlds." Another sign of +the lateness of the hymn is its pantheistic colouring; for it is here +said that "Purusha is all this world, what has been and shall be," +and "one-fourth of him is all creatures, and three-fourths are the +world of the immortals in heaven." In the Brahmanas, Purusha is the +same as the creator, Prajapati, and in the Upanishads he is identified +with the universe. Still later, in the dualistic Sankhya philosophy, +Purusha becomes the name of "soul" as opposed to "matter." In the Hymn +of Man a being called Viraj is mentioned as produced from Purusha. This +in the later Vedanta philosophy is a name of the personal creator as +contrasted with Brahma, the universal soul. The Purusha hymn, then, +may be regarded as the oldest product of the pantheistic literature +of India. It is at the same time one of the very latest poems of the +Rigvedic age; for it presupposes a knowledge of the three oldest Vedas, +to which it refers together by name. It also for the first and only +time in the Rigveda mentions the four castes; for it is here said that +Purusha's mouth became the Brahman, his arms the Rajanya (warrior), +his thighs the Vaiçya (agriculturist), and his feet the Çudra (serf). + +In nearly all the other poems dealing with the origin of the +world, not the gods collectively but an individual creator is +the actor. Various passages in other hymns show that the sun was +regarded as an important agent of generation by the Rishis. Thus he +is described as "the soul of all that moves and stands" (i. 115, +1), and is said to be "called by many names though one" (i. 164, +46). Such statements indicate that the sun was in process of being +abstracted to the character of a creator. This is probably the origin +of Viçvakarman, "the all-creating," to whom two cosmogonic hymns +(x. 81-82) are addressed. Three of the seven stanzas of the first +deserve to be quoted:-- + + + What was the place on which he gained a footing? + Where found he anything, or how, to hold by, + What time, the earth creating, Viçvakarman, + All-seeing, with his might disclosed the heavens? + + Who has his eyes and mouth in every quarter, + Whose arms and feet are turned in all directions, + The one god, when the earth and heaven creating, + With his two arms and wings together welds them. + + What was the wood, and what the tree, pray tell us, + From which they fashioned forth the earth and heaven? + Ye sages, in your mind, pray make inquiry, + Whereon he stood, when he the worlds supported? + + +It is an interesting coincidence that "wood," the term here used, was +regularly employed in Greek philosophy to express "original matter" +(hule). + +In the next hymn (x. 82), the theory is advanced that the waters +produced the first germ of things, the source of the universe and +the gods. + + + Who is our father, parent, and disposer, + Who knows all habitations and all beings, + Who only to the gods their names apportions: + To him all other beings turn inquiring? + + What germ primeval did the waters cherish, + Wherein the gods all saw themselves together, + Which is beyond the earth, beyond that heaven, + Beyond the mighty gods' mysterious dwelling? + + That germ primeval did the waters cherish, + Wherein the gods together all assembled, + The One that in the goat's [5] source is established, + Within which all the worlds are comprehended. + + Ye cannot find him who these worlds created: + That which comes nearer to you is another. + + +In a cosmogonic poem (x. 121) of considerable beauty the creator +further appears under the name of Hiranyagarbha, "germ of gold," a +notion doubtless suggested by the rising sun. Here, too, the waters +are, in producing Agni, regarded as bearing the germ of all life. + + + The Germ of Gold at first came into being, + Produced as the one lord of all existence. + The earth he has supported and this heaven: + What god shall we with sacrifices worship? + + Who gives the breath of life and vital power, + To whose commands the gods all render homage, + Whose shade is death and life immortal: + What god shall we with sacrifices worship? + + What time the mighty waters came containing + All germs of life and generating Agni, + Then was produced the gods' one vital spirit: + What god shall we with sacrifices worship? + + Who with his mighty power surveyed the waters + That intellect and sacrifice engendered, + The one god over all the gods exalted: + What god shall we with sacrifices worship? + + +The refrain receives its answer in a tenth stanza (added to the poem +at a later time), which proclaims the unknown god to be Prajapati. + +Two other cosmogonic poems explain the origin of the world +philosophically as the evolution of the existent (sat) from the +non-existent (asat). In the somewhat confused account given in one +of them (x. 72), three stages of creation may be distinguished: first +the world is produced, then the gods, and lastly the sun. The theory +of evolution is here still combined with that of creation:-- + + + Even as a smith, the Lord of Prayer, + Together forged this universe: + In earliest ages of the gods + From what was not arose what is. + + +A far finer composition than this is the Song of Creation (x. 129):-- + + + Non-being then existed not, nor being: + There was no air, nor heaven which is beyond it. + What motion was there? Where? By whom directed? + Was water there, and fathomless abysses? + + Death then existed not, nor life immortal; + Of neither night nor day was any semblance. + The One breathed calm and windless by self-impulse: + There was not any other thing beyond it. + + Darkness at first was covered up by darkness; + This universe was indistinct and fluid. + The empty space that by the void was hidden. + That One was by the force of heat engendered. + + Desire then at the first arose within it, + Desire, which was the earliest seed of spirit. + The bond of being in non-being sages + Discovered searching in their hearts with wisdom. + + Who knows it truly? who can here declare it? + Whence was it born? whence issued this creation? + And did the gods appear with its production? + But then who knows from whence it has arisen? + + This world-creation, whence it has arisen. + Or whether it has been produced or has not. + He who surveys it in the highest heaven, + He only knows, or ev'n he does not know it. + + +Apart from its high literary merit, this poem is most noteworthy +for the daring speculations which find utterance in so remote an +age. But even here may be traced some of the main defects of Indian +philosophy--lack of clearness and consistency, with a tendency to make +reasoning depend on mere words. Being the only piece of sustained +speculation in the Rigveda, it is the starting-point of the natural +philosophy which assumed shape in the evolutionary Sankhya system. It +will, moreover, always retain a general interest as the earliest +specimen of Aryan philosophic thought. With the theory of the Song of +Creation, that after the non-existent had developed into the existent, +water came first, and then intelligence was evolved from it by heat, +the cosmogonic accounts of the Brahmanas substantially agree. Here, +too, the non-existent becomes the existent, of which the first form +is the waters. On these floats Hiranyagarbha, the cosmic golden +egg, whence is produced the spirit that desires and creates the +universe. Always requiring the agency of the creator Prajapati at +an earlier or a later stage, the Brahmanas in some of their accounts +place him first, in others the waters. This fundamental contradiction, +due to mixing up the theory of creation with that of evolution, is +removed in the Sankhya system by causing Purusha, or soul, to play the +part of a passive spectator, while Prakriti, or primordial matter, +undergoes successive stages of development. The cosmogonic hymns of +the Rigveda are not only thus the precursors of Indian philosophy, +but also of the Puranas, one of the main objects of which is to +describe the origin of the world. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE RIGVEDIC AGE + + +The survey of the poetry of the Rigveda presented in the foregoing +pages will perhaps suffice to show that this unique monument of a +long-vanished age contains, apart from its historical interest, much of +æsthetic value, and well deserves to be read, at least in selections, +by every lover of literature. The completeness of the picture +it supplies of early religious thought has no parallel. Moreover, +though its purely secular poems are so few, the incidental references +contained in the whole collection are sufficiently numerous to afford +material for a tolerably detailed description of the social condition +of the earliest Aryans in India. Here, then, we have an additional +reason for attaching great importance to the Rigveda in the history +of civilisation. + +In the first place, the home of the Vedic tribes is revealed to us by +the geographical data which the hymns yield. From these we may conclude +with certainty that the Aryan invaders, after having descended into +the plains, in all probability through the western passes of the +Hindu Kush, had already occupied the north-western corner of India +which is now called by the Persian name of Panjab, or "Land of Five +Rivers." [6] Mention is made in the hymns of some twenty-five streams, +all but two or three of which belong to the Indus river system. Among +them are the five which water the territory of the Panjab, and, after +uniting in a single stream, flow into the Indus. They are the Vitasta +(now Jhelum), the Asikni (Chenab), the Parushni (later called Iravati, +"the refreshing," whence its present name, Ravi), the Vipaç (Beäs), +and the largest and most easterly, the Çutudri (Sutlej). Some of +the Vedic tribes, however, still remained on the farther side of +the Indus, occupying the valleys of its western tributaries, from +the Kubha (Kabul), with its main affluent to the north, the Suvastu, +river "of fair dwellings" (now Swat), to the Krumu (Kurum) and Gomati, +"abounding in cows" (now Gomal), farther south. + +Few of the rivers of the Rigveda are mentioned more than two or three +times in the hymns, and several of them not more than once. The +only names of frequent occurrence are those of the Indus and the +Sarasvati. One entire hymn (x. 75) is devoted to its laudation, but +eighteen other streams, mostly its tributaries, share its praises in +two stanzas. The mighty river seems to have made a deep impression on +the mind of the poet. He speaks of her as the swiftest of the swift, +surpassing all other streams in volume of water. Other rivers flow +to her as lowing cows hasten to their calf. The roar and rush of her +waters are described in enthusiastic strains:-- + + + From earth the sullen roar swells upward to the sky, + With brilliant spray she dashes up unending surge; + As when the streams of rain pour thund'ring from the cloud, + The Sindhu onward rushes like a bellowing bull. + + +The Sindhu (now Sindh), which in Sanskrit simply means the "river," +as the western boundary of the Aryan settlements, suggested to the +nations of antiquity which first came into contact with them in that +quarter a name for the whole peninsula. Adopted in the form of Indos, +the word gave rise to the Greek appellation India as the country of +the Indus. It was borrowed by the ancient Persians as Hindu, which +is used in the Avesta as a name of the country itself. More accurate +is the modern Persian designation Hindustan, "land of the Indus," +a name properly applying only to that part of the peninsula which +lies between the Himalaya and Vindhya ranges. + +Mention is often made in the Rigveda of the sapta sindhavah, or +"seven rivers," which in one passage at least is synonymous with the +country inhabited by the Aryan Indians. It is interesting to note +that the same expression hapta hindu occurs in the Avesta, though it +is there restricted to mean only that part of the Indian territory +which lay in Eastern Kabulistan. If "seven" is here intended for a +definite number, the "seven rivers" must originally have meant the +Kabul, the Indus, and the five rivers of the Panjab, though later the +Sarasvati may have been substituted for the Kabul. For the Sarasvati +is the sacred river of the Rigveda, more frequently mentioned, +generally as a goddess, and lauded with more fervour than any other +stream. The poet's descriptions are often only applicable to a large +river. Hence Roth and other distinguished scholars concluded that +Sarasvati is generally used by the poets of the Rigveda simply as a +sacred designation of the Indus. On the other hand, the name in a few +passages undoubtedly means the small river midway between the Sutlej +and the Jumna, which at a later period formed, with the Drishadvati, +the eastern boundary of the sacred region called Brahmavarta, lying +to the south of Ambala, and commencing some sixty miles south of Simla. + +This small river now loses itself in the sands of the desert, but +the evidence of ancient river-beds appears to favour the conclusion +that it was originally a tributary of the Çutudri (Sutlej). It is +therefore not improbable that in Vedic times it reached the sea, +and was considerably larger than it is now. Considering, too, the +special sanctity which it had already acquired, the laudations supposed +to be compatible only with the magnitude of the Indus may not have +seemed too exaggerated when applied to the lesser stream. It is to +be noted that the Drishadvati, the "stony" (now Ghogra or Ghugger), +in the only passage in which the name occurs in the Rigveda, is +associated with the Sarasvati, Agni being invoked to flame on the +banks of these rivers. This is perhaps an indication that even in the +age of the Rigveda the most easterly limit of the Indus river system +had already acquired a certain sanctity as the region in which the +sacrificial ritual and the art of sacred poetry were practised in +the greatest perfection. There are indications showing that by the +end at least of the Rigvedic period some of the Aryan invaders had +passed beyond this region and had reached the western limit of the +Gangetic river system. For the Yamuna (now Jumna), the most westerly +tributary of the Ganges in the north, is mentioned in three passages, +two of which prove that the Aryan settlements already extended to its +banks. The Ganges itself is already known, for its name is mentioned +directly in one passage of the Rigveda and indirectly in another. It +is, however, a noteworthy fact that the name of the Ganges is not to +be found in any of the other Vedas. + +The southward migration of the Aryan invaders does not appear to have +extended, at the time when the hymns of the Rigveda were composed, +much beyond the point where the united waters of the Panjab flow +into the Indus. The ocean was probably known only from hearsay, for +no mention is made of the numerous mouths of the Indus, and fishing, +one of the main occupations on the banks of the Lower Indus at the +present day, is quite ignored. The word for fish (matsya), indeed, +only occurs once, though various kinds of animals, birds, and insects +are so frequently mentioned. This accords with the character of the +rivers of the Panjab and Eastern Kabulistan, which are poor in fish, +while it contrasts with the intimate knowledge of fishing betrayed +by the Yajurveda, which was composed when the Aryans had spread much +farther to the east, and, doubtless, also to the south. The word which +later is the regular name for "ocean" (sam-udra), seems therefore, +in agreement with its etymological sense ("collection of waters"), +to mean in the Rigveda only the lower course of the Indus, which, +after receiving the waters of the Panjab, is so wide that a boat in +mid-stream is invisible from the bank. It has been noted in recent +times that the natives in this region speak of the river as the "sea of +Sindh;" and indeed the word sindhu ("river") itself in several passages +of the Rigveda has practically the sense of "sea." Metaphors such as +would be used by a people familiar with the ocean are lacking in the +Rigveda. All references to navigation point only to the crossing of +rivers in boats impelled by oars, the main object being to reach the +other bank (para). This action suggested a favourite figure, which +remained familiar throughout Sanskrit literature. Thus one of the +poets of the Rigveda invokes Agni with the words, "Take us across all +woes and dangers as across the river (sindhu) in a boat;" and in the +later literature one who has accomplished his purpose or mastered his +subject is very frequently described as "having reached the farther +shore" (paraga). The Atharva-veda, on the other hand, contains some +passages showing that its composers were acquainted with the ocean. + +Mountains are constantly mentioned in the Rigveda, and rivers are +described as flowing from them. The Himalaya ("abode of snow") range in +general is evidently meant by the "snowy" (himavantah) mountains which +are in the keeping of the Creator. But no individual peak is mentioned +with the exception of Mujavat, which is indirectly referred to as +the home of Soma. This peak, it is to be inferred from later Vedic +literature, was situated close to the Kabul Valley, and was probably +one of the mountains to the south-west of Kashmir. The Atharva-veda +also mentions two other mountains of the Himalaya. One of these is +called Trikakud, the "three-peaked" (in the later literature Trikuta, +and even now Trikota), through the valley at the foot of which flows +the Asikni (Chenab). The other is Navaprabhramçana ("sinking of the +ship"), doubtless identical with the Naubandhana ("binding of the +ship") of the epic and the Manoravasarpana of the Çatapatha Brahmana, +on which the ship of Manu is said to have rested when the deluge +subsided. The Rigveda knows nothing of the Vindhya range, which +divides Northern India from the southern triangle of the peninsula +called the Dekhan; [7] nor does it mention the Narmada River (now +Nerbudda), which flows immediately south of and parallel to that range. + +From these data it may safely be concluded that the Aryans, when the +hymns of the Rigveda were composed, had overspread that portion of +the north-west which appears on the map as a fan-shaped territory, +bounded on the west by the Indus, on the east by the Sutlej, and on +the north by the Himalaya, with a fringe of settlements extending +beyond those limits to the east and the west. Now the Panjab of the +present day is a vast arid plain, from which, except in the north-west +corner at Rawal Pindi, no mountains are visible, and over which no +monsoon storms break. Here there are no grand displays of the strife +of the elements, but only gentle showers fall during the rainy season, +while the phenomena of dawn are far more gorgeous than elsewhere in +the north. There is, therefore, some probability in the contention of +Professor Hopkins, that only the older hymns, such as those to Varuna +and Ushas, were composed in the Panjab itself, while the rest arose +in the sacred region near the Sarasvati, south of the modern Ambala, +where all the conditions required by the Rigveda are found. This is +more likely than the assumption that the climate of the Panjab has +radically changed since the age of the Vedic poets. + +That the home of the Aryans in the age of the Rigveda was the region +indicated is further borne out by the information the poems yield +about the products of the country, its flora and fauna. Thus the soma, +the most important plant of the Rigveda, is described as growing on +the mountains, and must have been easily obtainable, as its juice was +used in large quantities for the daily ritual. In the period of the +Brahmanas it was brought from long distances, or substitutes had to +be used on account of its rarity. Thus the identity of the original +plant came to be lost in India. The plant which is now commonly +used is evidently quite another, for its juice when drunk produces a +nauseating effect, widely different from the feeling of exhilaration +dwelt on by the poets of the Rigveda. Nor can the plant which the +Parsis still import from Persia for the Haoma rite be identical with +the old soma. Again, rice, which is familiar to the later Vedas and +regarded in them as one of the necessaries of life, is not mentioned +in the Rigveda at all. Its natural habitat is in the south-east, the +regular monsoon area, where the rainfall is very abundant. Hence it +probably did not exist in the region of the Indus river system when +the Rigveda was composed, though, in later times, with the practice +of irrigation, its cultivation spread to all parts of India. Corn +(yava) was grown by the tillers of the Rigveda, but the term is +probably not restricted, as later, to the sense of barley. + +Among large trees mentioned in the Rigveda, the most important is the +Açvattha ("horse-stand") or sacred fig-tree (Ficus religiosa). Its +fruit (pippala) is described as sweet and the food of birds. Its +sacredness is at least incipient, for its wood was used for soma +vessels, and, as we learn from the Atharva-veda, also for the drill +(later-called pramantha) employed in producing the sacred fire. The +latter Veda further tells us that the gods are seated in the third +heaven under an Açvattha, which may indeed have been intended +in the Rigveda itself by the "tree with fair foliage," in whose +shade the blessed revel with Yama. This tree, now called Peepal, +is still considered so sacred that a Hindu would be afraid to utter +a falsehood beside it. But the Rigveda does not mention at all, and +the Atharva-veda only twice, the tree which is most characteristic +of India, and shades with its wide-spreading foliage a larger +area than any other tree on the face of the earth--the Nyagrodha +("growing downwards") or banyan (Ficus indica). With its lofty dome +of foliage impenetrable to the rays of the sun and supported by many +lesser trunks as by columns, this great tree resembles a vast temple +of verdure fashioned by the hand of Nature. What the village oak is +in England, that and much more is the banyan to the dwellers in the +innumerable hamlets which overspread the face of agricultural India. + +Among wild animals, one of the most familiar to the poets of the +Rigveda is the lion (simha). They describe him as living in wooded +mountains and as caught with snares, but the characteristic on which +they chiefly dwell is his roaring. In the vast desert to the east of +the Lower Sutlej and of the Indus, the only part of India suited for +its natural habitat, the lion was in ancient times no doubt frequent, +but he now survives only in the wooded hills to the south of the +peninsula of Gujarat. The king of beasts has, however, remained +conventionally familiar in Indian literature, and his old Sanskrit +designation is still common in Hindu names in the form of Singh. + +The tiger is not mentioned in the Rigveda at all, its natural home +being the swampy jungles of Bengal, though he is now found in all the +jungly parts of India. But in the other Vedas he has decidedly taken +the place of the lion, which is, however, still known. His dangerous +character as a beast of prey is here often referred to. Thus the +White Yajurveda compares a peculiarly hazardous undertaking with +waking a sleeping tiger; and the Atharva-veda describes the animal +as "man eating" (purushad). The relation of the tiger to the lion in +the Vedas therefore furnishes peculiarly interesting evidence of the +eastward migration of the Aryans during the Vedic period. + +Somewhat similar is the position of the elephant. It is explicitly +referred to in only two passages of the Rigveda, and the form of the +name applied to it, "the beast (mriga) with a hand (hastin)," shows +that the Rishis still regarded it as a strange creature. One passage +seems to indicate that by the end of the Rigvedic period attempts +were made to catch the animal. That the capture of wild elephants +had in any case become a regular practice by 300 B.C. is proved by +the evidence of Megasthenes. To the Atharva- and the Yajur-vedas the +elephant is quite familiar, for it is not only frequently mentioned, +but the adjective hastin, "possessing a hand" (i.e. trunk), has +become sufficiently distinctive to be used by itself to designate +the animal. The regular home of the elephant in Northern India is +the Terai or lowland jungle at the foot of the Himalaya, extending +eastward from about the longitude of Cawnpore. + +The wolf (vrika) is mentioned more frequently in the Rigveda than the +lion himself, and there are many references to the boar (varaha), +which was hunted with dogs. The buffalo (mahisha), in the tame as +well as the wild state, was evidently very familiar to the poets, +who several times allude to its flesh being cooked and eaten. There +is only one reference to the bear (riksha). The monkey (kapi) is only +mentioned in a late hymn (x. 86), but in such a way as to show that +the animal had already been tamed. The later and ordinary Sanskrit +name for monkey, vanara ("forest-animal"), has survived in the modern +vernaculars, and is known to readers of Mr. Rudyard Kipling in the +form of Bunder-log ("monkey-people"). + +Among the domestic animals known to the Rigveda those of lesser +importance are sheep, goats, asses, and dogs. The latter, it may +be gathered, were used for hunting, guarding, and tracking cattle, +as well as for keeping watch at night. Cattle, however, occupy the +chief place. Cows were the chief form of wealth, and the name of the +sacrificial "fee," [8] dakshina, is properly an adjective meaning +"right," "valuable," with the ellipse of go, "cow." No sight gladdened +the eye of the Vedic Indian more than the cow returning from the +pasture and licking her calf fastened by a cord; no sound was more +musical to his ear than the lowing of milch kine. To him therefore +there was nothing grotesque in the poet exclaiming, "As cows low +to their calves near the stalls, so we will praise Indra with our +hymns," or "Like unmilked kine we have called aloud (lowed) to thee, +O hero (Indra)." For greater security cows were, after returning +from pasture, kept in stalls during the night and let out again in +the morning. Though the cow-killer is in the White Yajurveda already +said to be punishable with death, the Rigveda does not express an +absolute prohibition, for the wedding-hymn shows that even the cow was +slaughtered on specially solemn occasions, while bulls are several +times described as sacrificed to Indra in large numbers. Whilst the +cows were out at pasture, bulls and oxen were regularly used for the +purpose of ploughing and drawing carts. + +Horses came next in value to cattle, for wealth in steeds is +constantly prayed for along with abundance of cows. To a people so +frequently engaged in battle, the horse was of essential value in +drawing the war-car; he was also indispensable in the chariot-race, +to which the Vedic Indian was devoted. He was, however, not yet used +for riding. The horse-sacrifice, moreover, was regarded as the most +important and efficacious of animal sacrifices. + +Of the birds of the Rigveda I need only mention those which have +some historical or literary interest. The wild goose or swan (hamsa), +so familiar to the classical poets, is frequently referred to, being +said to swim in the water and to fly in a line. The curious power of +separating soma from water is attributed to it in the White Yajurveda, +as that of extracting milk from water is in the later poetry. The +latter faculty belongs to the curlew (krunch), according to the +same Veda. + +The chakravaka or ruddy goose, on the fidelity of which the post-Vedic +poets so often dwell, is mentioned once in the Rigveda, the Açvins +being said to come in the morning like a couple of these birds, +while the Atharva-veda already refers to them as models of conjugal +love. Peahens (mayuri) are spoken of in the Rigveda as removing +poison, and parrots (çuka) are alluded to as yellow. By the time of the +Yajurveda the latter bird had been tamed, for it is there described as +"uttering human speech." + +A good illustration of the dangers of the argumentum ex silentio +is furnished by the fact that salt, the most necessary of minerals, +is never once mentioned in the Rigveda. And yet the Northern Panjab +is the very part of India where it most abounds. It occurs in the +salt range between the Indus and the Jhelum in such quantities that +the Greek companions of Alexander, according to Strabo, asserted the +supply to be sufficient for the wants of the whole of India. + +Among the metals, gold is the one most frequently mentioned in the +Rigveda. It was probably for the most part obtained from the rivers +of the north-west, which even at the present day are said to yield +considerable quantities of the precious metal. Thus the Indus is +spoken of by the poets as "golden" or "having a golden bed." There +are indications that kings possessed gold in abundance. Thus one poet +praises his royal benefactor for bestowing ten nuggets of gold upon +him besides other bountiful gifts. Gold ornaments of various kinds, +such as ear-rings and armlets, are often mentioned. + +The metal which is most often referred to in the Rigveda next to gold +is called ayas (Latin, aes). It is a matter of no slight historical +interest to decide whether this signifies "iron" or not. In most +passages where it occurs the word appears to mean simply "metal." In +the few cases where it designates a particular metal, the evidence is +not very conclusive; but the inference which may be drawn as to its +colour is decidedly in favour of its having been reddish, which points +to bronze and not iron. The fact that the Atharva-veda distinguishes +between "dark" ayas and "red," seems to indicate that the distinction +between iron and copper or bronze had only recently been drawn. It is, +moreover, well known that in the progress of civilisation the use of +bronze always precedes that of iron. Yet it would be rash to assert +that iron was altogether unknown even to the earlier Vedic age. It +seems quite likely that the Aryans of that period were unacquainted +with silver, for its name is not mentioned in the Rigveda, and the +knowledge of silver goes hand in hand with that of iron, owing to +the manner in which these metals are intermingled in the ore which +produces them. These two metals, moreover, are not found in any +quantity in the north-west of India. + +The evidence of the topography, the climate, and the products of +the country thus shows that the people by whose poets the Rigveda was +composed were settled in the north-west of India, from the Kabul to the +Jumna. But they were still engaged in conflict with the aborigines, for +many victories over them are referred to. Thus Indra is said to have +bound 1000 or slain 30,000 of them for his allies. That the conquerors +were bent on acquiring new territory appears from the rivers being +frequently mentioned as obstacles to farther advance. The invaders, +though split up into many tribes, were conscious of a unity of race +and religion. They styled themselves Aryas or "kinsmen," as opposed to +the aborigines, to whom they gave the name of Dasyu or Dasa, "fiends," +in later times also called anarya, or non-Aryans. The characteristic +physical difference between the two races was that of colour (varna), +the aborigines being described as "black" (krishna) or "black-skins," +and as the "Dasa colour," in contrast with the "Aryan colour" or "our +colour." This contrast undoubtedly formed the original basis of caste, +the regular name for which in Sanskrit is "colour." + +Those of the conquered race who did not escape to the hills and were +captured became slaves. Thus one singer receives from his royal +patron a hundred asses, a hundred sheep, and a hundred Dasas. The +latter word in later Sanskrit regularly means servant or slave, +much in the same way as "captive Slav" to the German came to mean +"slave." When thoroughly subjected, the original inhabitants, ceasing +to be called Dasyus, became the fourth caste under the later name of +Çudras. The Dasyus are described in the Rigveda as non-sacrificing, +unbelieving, and impious. They are also doubtless meant by the +phallus-worshippers mentioned in two passages. The Aryans in course +of time came to adopt this form of cult. There are several passages +in the Mahabharata showing that Çiva was already venerated under the +emblem of the phallus when that epic was composed. Phallus-worship is +widely diffused in India at the present day, but is most prevalent +in the south. The Dasyus appear to have been a pastoral race, for +they possessed large herds, which were captured by the victorious +Aryans. They fortified themselves in strongholds (called pur), which +must have been numerous, as Indra is sometimes said to have destroyed +as many as a hundred of them for his allies. + +The Rigveda mentions many tribes among the Aryans. The most +north-westerly of these are the Gandharis, who, judged by the way they +are referred to, must have been breeders of sheep. They were later +well known as Gandharas or Gandharas. The Atharva-veda mentions as +contiguous to the Gandharis the Mujavats, a tribe doubtless settled +close to Mount Mujavat; evidently regarding these two as the extreme +limit of the Aryan settlements to the north-west. + +The most important part, if not the whole, of the Indian Aryans is +meant by the "five tribes," an expression of frequent occurrence in the +Rigveda. It is not improbable that by this term were meant five tribes +which are enumerated together in two passages, the Purus, Turvaças, +Yadus, Anus, and Druhyus. These are often mentioned as engaged in +intertribal conflicts. Four of them, along with some other clans, are +named as having formed a coalition under ten kings against Sudas, chief +of the Tritsus. The opposing forces met on the banks of the Parushni, +where the great "battle of the ten kings" was fought. The coalition, +in their endeavours to cross the stream and to deflect its course, +were repulsed with heavy loss by the Tritsus. + +The Purus are described as living on both banks of the Sarasvati. A +part of them must, however, have remained behind farther west, as +they were found on the Parushni in Alexander's time. The Rigveda often +mentions their king, Trasadasyu, son of Purukutsa, and speaks of his +descendant Trikshi as a powerful prince. The Turvaças are one of the +most frequently named of the tribes. With them are generally associated +the Yadus, among whom the priestly family of the Kanvas seems to have +lived. It is to be inferred from one passage of the Rigveda that the +Anus were settled on the Parushni, and the priestly family of the +Bhrigus, it would appear, belonged to them. Their relations to the +Druhyus seem to have been particularly close. The Matsyas, mentioned +only in one passage of the Rigveda, were also foes of the Tritsus. In +the Mahabharata we find them located on the western bank of the Yamuna. + +A more important name among the enemies of Sudas is that of the +Bharatas. One hymn (iii. 33) describes them as coming to the rivers +Vipaç and Çutudri accompanied by Viçvamitra, who, as we learn +from another hymn (iii. 53), had formerly been the chief priest of +Sudas, and who now made the waters fordable for the Bharatas by his +prayers. This is probably the occasion on which, according to another +hymn (vii. 33), the Bharatas were defeated by Sudas and his Tritsus, +who were aided by the invocations of Vasishtha, the successor and +rival of Viçvamitra. The Bharatas appear to be specially connected +with sacrificial rites in the Rigveda; for Agni receives the epithet +Bharata, "belonging to the Bharatas," and the ritual goddess Bharati, +frequently associated with Sarasvati, derives her name from them. In +a hymn to Agni (iii. 23), mention is made of two Bharatas named +Devaçravas and Devavata who kindled the sacred fire on the Drishadvati, +the Apaya, and the Sarasvati, the very region which is later celebrated +as the holy land of Brahmanism under the names of Brahmavarta and +Kurukshetra. The family of the Kuçikas, to whom Viçvamitra belonged, +was closely connected with the Bharatas. + +The Tritsus appear to have been settled somewhere to the east of the +Parushni, on the left bank of which Sudas may be supposed to have drawn +up his forces to resist the coalition of the ten kings attempting to +cross the stream from the west. Five tribes, whose names do not occur +later, are mentioned as allied with Sudas in the great battle. The +Srinjayas were probably also confederates of the Tritsus, being, +like the latter, described as enemies of the Turvaças. + +Of some tribes we learn nothing from the Rigveda but the name, which, +however, survives till later times. Thus the Uçinaras, mentioned only +once, were, at the period when the Aitareya Brahmana was composed, +located in the middle of Northern India; and the Chedis, also referred +to only once, are found in the epic age settled in Magadha (Southern +Behar). Krivi, as a tribal name connected with the Indus and Asikni, +points to the north-west. In the Çatapatha Brahmana it is stated to +be the old name of the Panchalas, who inhabited the country to the +north of the modern Delhi. + +The Atharva-veda mentions as remote tribes not only the Gandharis and +Mujavats, but also the Magadhas (Behar) and the Angas (Bengal). We +may therefore conclude that by the time that Veda was completed the +Aryans had already spread to the Delta of the Ganges. + +The Panchalas are not mentioned in either Veda, and the name of the +Kurus is only found there indirectly in two or three compounds or +derivatives. They are first referred to in the White Yajurveda; yet +they are the two most prominent peoples of the Brahmana period. On the +other hand, the names of a number of the most important of the Rigvedic +tribes, such as the Purus, Turvaças, Yadus, Tritsus, and others, +have entirely or practically disappeared from the Brahmanas. Even the +Bharatas, though held in high regard by the composers of the Brahmanas, +and set up by them as models of correct conduct, appear to have ceased +to represent a political entity, for there are no longer any references +to them in that sense, as to other peoples of the day. Their name, +moreover, does not occur in the tribal enumerations of the Aitareya +Brahmana and of Manu, while it is practically altogether ignored in +the Buddhistic literature. + +Such being the case, it is natural to suppose that the numerous Vedic +tribes, under the altered conditions of life in vast plains, coalesced +into nations with new names. Thus the Bharatas, to whom belonged +the royal race of the Kurus in the epic, and from whom the very name +of the Mahabharata, which describes the great war of the Kurus, is +derived, were doubtless absorbed in what came to be called the Kuru +nation. In the genealogical system of the Mahabharata the Purus are +brought into close connection with the Kurus. This is probably an +indication that they too had amalgamated with the latter people. It +is not unlikely that the Tritsus, whose name disappears after the +Rigveda, also furnished one of the elements of the Kuru nation. + +As to the Panchalas, we have seen that they represent the old +Krivis. It is, however, likely that the latter combined with several +small tribes to make up the later nation. A Brahmana passage contains +an indication that the Turvaças may have been one of these. Perhaps +the Yadus, generally associated with the Turvaças in the Rigveda, were +also one of them. The epic still preserves the name, in the patronymic +form of Yadava, as that of the race in which Krishna was born. The +name of the Panchalas itself (derived from pancha, five) seems to +indicate that this people consisted of an aggregate of five elements. + +Some of the tribes mentioned in the Rigveda, however, maintained +their individual identity under their old names down to the epic +period. These were the Uçinaras, Srinjayas, Matsyas, and Chedis. + +It is interesting to note that the Rigveda refers to a rich and +powerful prince called Ikshvaku. In the epic this name recurs as that +of a mighty king who ruled to the east of the Ganges in the city of +Ayodhya (Oudh) and was the founder of the Solar race. + +It is clear from what has been said that the Vedic Aryans were split up +into numerous tribes, which, though conscious of their unity in race, +language, and religion, had no political cohesion. They occasionally +formed coalitions, it is true, but were just as often at war with one +another. The tribe, in fact, was the political unit, organised much +in the same way as the Afghans are at the present day, or the Germans +were in the time of Tacitus. The tribe (jana) consisted of a number of +settlements (viç), which again were formed of an aggregate of villages +(grama). The fighting organisation of the tribe appears to have been +based on these divisions. The houses forming the village seem to +have been built entirely of wood, as they still were in the time of +Megasthenes. In the midst of each house the domestic fire burnt. For +protection against foes or inundations, fortified enclosures (called +pur) were made on eminences. They consisted of earthworks strengthened +with a stockade, or occasionally with stone. There is nothing to show +that they were inhabited, much less that pur ever meant a town or city, +as it did in later times. + +The basis of Vedic society being the patriarchal family, the government +of the tribe was naturally monarchical. The king (raja) was often +hereditary. Thus several successive members of the same family are +mentioned as rulers of the Tritsus and of the Purus. Occasionally, +however, the king was elected by the districts (viç) of the tribe; +but whether the choice was then limited to members of the royal race, +or was extended to certain noble families, does not appear. In times +of peace the main duty of the king was to ensure the protection of +his people. In return they rendered him obedience, and supplied him +with voluntary gifts--not fixed taxes--for his maintenance. His power +was by no means absolute, being limited by the will of the people +expressed in the tribal assembly (samiti). As to the constitution +and functions of the latter, we have unfortunately little or no +information. In war, the king of course held the chief command. On +important occasions, such as the eve of a battle, it was also his +duty to offer sacrifice on behalf of his tribe, either performing +the rites himself, or employing a priest to do so. + +Every tribe doubtless possessed a family of singers who attended the +king, praising his deeds as well as composing hymns to accompany the +sacrifice in honour of the gods. Depending on the liberality of their +patrons, these poets naturally did not neglect to lay stress on the +efficacy of their invocations, and on the importance of rewarding them +well for their services. The priest whom a king appointed to officiate +for him was called a purohita or domestic chaplain. Vasishtha occupied +that position in the employ of King Sudas; and in one of his hymns +(vii. 33) he does not fail to point out that the victory of the +Tritsus was due to his prayers. The panegyrics on liberal patrons +contain manifest exaggerations, partly, no doubt, intended to act +as an incentive to other princes. Nevertheless, the gifts in gold, +cows, horses, chariots, and garments bestowed by kings on their chief +priests must often have been considerable, especially after important +victories. Under the later Brahmanic hierarchy liberality to the +priestly caste became a duty, while the amount of the sacrificial +fee was fixed for each particular rite. + +The employment of Purohitas by kings as their substitutes in +the performance of sacrificial functions is to be regarded as the +beginning and the oldest form of the priesthood in India. It became +the starting-point of the historically unique hierarchical order in +which the sacerdotal caste occupied the supreme position in society, +and the State was completely merged in the Church. Such, indeed, +was the ideal of the Catholic Church in the West during the Middle +Ages, but it never became an accomplished fact in Europe, as it did +in India. No sooner had the priesthood become hereditary than the +development of a caste system began, which has had no parallel in +any other country. But during the period represented by Sudas and +Vasishtha, in which the older portion of the Rigveda was composed, +the priesthood was not yet hereditary, still less had the warrior +and sacerdotal classes became transformed into castes among the Aryan +tribes settled in the Panjab. This is confirmed by the fact that in +the epic age the inhabitants of Madhyadeça or Mid-land, where the +Brahmanic caste system grew up, regarded the people of the north-west +as semi-barbarians. + +In the simple social organisation of the Vedic tribes of this region, +where occupations were but little differentiated, every man was a +soldier as well a civilian, much as among the Afghans of to-day. As +they moved farther to the east, society became more complex, +and vocations tended to become hereditary. The population being +now spread over wider tracts of territory, the necessity arose for +something in the nature of a standing army to repel sudden attacks +or quell risings of the subject aborigines. The nucleus would have +been supplied by the families of the chiefs of lesser tribes which +had amalgamated under some military leader. The agricultural and +industrial part of the population were thus left to follow their +pursuits without interruption. Meanwhile the religious ceremonial was +increasing in complexity; its success was growing more dependent on +correct performance, while the preservation of the ancient hymns was +becoming more urgent. The priests had, therefore, to devote all their +time and energies to the carrying out of their religious duties and +the handing down of the sacred tradition in their families. + +Owing to these causes, the three main classes of Aryan society became +more and more separated. But how were they transformed into castes or +social strata divided from one another by the impassable barriers of +heredity and the prohibition of intermarrying or eating together? This +rigid mutual exclusiveness must have started, in the first instance, +from the treatment of the conquered aborigines, who, on accepting +the Aryan belief, were suffered to form a part of the Aryan polity +in the capacity of a servile class. The gulf between the two races +need not have been wider than that which at the present day, in the +United States, divides the whites from the negroes. When the latter +are described as men of "colour," the identical term is used which, in +India, came to mean "caste." Having become hereditary, the sacerdotal +class succeeded in securing a position of sanctity and inviolability +which raised them above the rest of the Aryans as the latter were +raised above the Dasas. When their supremacy was established, they +proceeded to organise the remaining classes in the state on similar +lines of exclusiveness. To the time when the system of the three Aryan +castes, with the Çudras added as a fourth, already existed in its +fundamental principles, belong the greater part of the independent +portions of the Yajurveda, a considerable part of the Atharva-veda +(most of books viii. to xiii.), but of the Rigveda, besides the one +(x. 90) which distinctly refers to the four castes by name, only a +few of the latest hymns of the first, eighth, and tenth books. The +word brahmana, the regular name for "man of the first caste," is still +rare in the Rigveda, occurring only eight times, while brahman, which +simply means sage or officiating priest, is found forty-six times. + +We may now pass on to sketch rapidly the social conditions which +prevailed in the period of the Rigveda. The family, in which such +relationships as a wife's brother and a husband's brother or sister had +special names, was clearly the foundation of society. The father was +at its head as "lord of the house" (grihapati). Permission to marry a +daughter was asked from him by the suitor through the mediation of an +intimate friend. The wedding was celebrated in the house of the bride's +parents, whither the bridegroom, his relatives, and friends came in +procession. Here they were entertained with the flesh of cows slain in +honour of the occasion. Here, too, the bridegroom took the bride's hand +and led her round the nuptial fire. The Atharva-veda adds that he set +down a stone on the ground, asking the bride to step upon it for the +obtainment of offspring. On the conclusion of the wedding festivities, +the bride, anointed and in festal array, mounted with her husband a +car adorned with red flowers and drawn by two white bulls. On this +she was conducted in procession to her new home. The main features +of this nuptial ceremony of 3000 years ago still survive in India. + +Though the wife, like the children, was subject to the will of her +husband, she occupied a position of greater honour in the age of the +Rigveda than in that of the Brahmanas, for she participated with her +husband in the offering of sacrifice. She was mistress of the house +(grihapatni), sharing the control not only of servants and slaves, +but also of the unmarried brothers and sisters of her husband. From +the Yajurveda we learn that it was customary for sons and daughters +to marry in the order of their age, but the Rigveda more than once +speaks of girls who remained unmarried and grew old in their father's +house. As the family could only be continued in the male line, +abundance of sons is constantly prayed for, along with wealth in +cattle and land, and the newly wedded husband hopes that his bride +may become a mother of heroes. Lack of sons was placed on the same +level as poverty, and adoption was regarded as a mere makeshift. No +desire for the birth of daughters is ever expressed in the Rigveda; +their birth is deprecated in the Atharva-veda, and the Yajurveda +speaks of girls being exposed when born. Fathers, even in the earliest +Vedic times, would doubtless have sympathised with the sentiment of +the Aitareya Brahmana, that "to have a daughter is a misery." This +prejudice survives in India to the present day with unabated force. + +That the standard of morality was comparatively high may be inferred +from the fact that adultery and rape were counted among the most +serious offences, and illegitimate births were concealed. + +One or two passages indicate that the practice of exposing old men, +found among many primitive peoples, was not unknown to the Rigveda. + +Among crimes, the commonest appears to have been robbery, which +generally took the form of cattle-lifting, mostly practised at +night. Thieves and robbers are often mentioned, and the Rigveda +contains many prayers for protection at home, abroad, and on +journeys. Such criminals, when caught, were punished by being tied +to stakes with cords. Debts (rina) were often incurred, chiefly, +it would seem, at play, and the Rigveda even speaks of paying them +off by instalments. + +From the references to dress which the Rigveda contains we may +gather that a lower garment and a cloak were worn. Clothes were woven +of sheep's wool, were often variegated, and sometimes adorned with +gold. Necklets, bracelets, anklets, and ear-rings are mentioned in the +way of ornaments. The hair was anointed and combed. The Atharva-veda +even mentions a comb with a hundred teeth, and also speaks of remedies +which strengthened or restored the growth of the hair. Women plaited +their hair, while men occasionally wore it braided and wound like a +shell. The gods Rudra and Pushan are described as being thus adorned; +and the Vasishthas, we learn, wore their hair braided on the right side +of the head. On festive occasions wreaths were worn by men. Beards +were usual, but shaving was occasionally practised. The Atharva-veda +relates how, when the ceremony of shaving off his beard was performed +on King Soma, Vayu brought the hot water and Savitri skilfully wielded +the razor. + +The chief article of food was milk, which was either drunk as it +came from the cow or was used for cooking grain as well as mixing +with soma. Next in importance came clarified butter (ghrita, +now ghee), which, as a favourite food of men, was also offered to +the gods. Grain was eaten after being parched, or, ground to flour +between millstones, was made into cakes with milk or butter. Various +kinds of vegetables and fruit also formed part of the daily fare +of the Vedic Indian. Flesh was eaten only on ceremonial occasions, +when animals were sacrificed. Bulls being the chief offerings +to the gods, beef was probably the kind of meat most frequently +eaten. Horse-flesh must have been less commonly used, owing to the +comparative rarity of the horse-sacrifice. Meat was either roasted on +spits or cooked in pots. The latter were made of metal or earthenware; +but drinking-vessels were usually of wood. + +The Indians of the Rigveda were acquainted with at least two kinds +of spirituous liquor. Soma was the principal one. Its use was, +however, restricted to occasions of a religious character, such as +sacrifices and festivals. The genuine soma plant from which it was +made also became increasingly difficult to obtain as the Aryans +moved farther away from the mountains. The spirit in ordinary use +was called sura. The knowledge of it goes back to a remote period, +for its name, like that of soma, is found in the Avesta in the form +of hura. It was doubtless prepared from some kind of grain, like the +liquor made from rice at the present day in India. Indulgence in sura +went hand in hand with gambling. One poet mentions anger, dice, and +sura as the causes of various sins; while another speaks of men made +arrogant with sura reviling the gods. Its use must have been common, +for by the time of the Vajasaneyi Samhita, the occupation of a "maker +of sura" (surakara) or distiller had become a profession. + +One of the chief occupations of the Vedic Indians was of course +warfare. They fought either on foot or on chariots. The latter had +two occupants, the fighter and the driver. This was still the case +in the Mahabharata, where we find Krishna acting as charioteer to +Arjuna. Cavalry is nowhere mentioned, and probably came into use at +a considerably later period. By the time of Alexander's invasion, +however, it formed one of the regular four divisions of the Indian +army. There are some indications that riding on horseback was at +least known to the Rigveda, and distinct references to it occur in +the Atharva- and the Yajur-vedas. The Vedic warriors were protected +with coats of mail and helmets of metal. The principal weapons were +the bow and arrow, the latter being tipped with poisoned horn or with +a metal point. Spears and axes are also frequently mentioned. + +The principal means of livelihood to the Vedic Indian was +cattle-breeding. His great desire was to possess large herds; and in +the numerous prayers for protection, health, and prosperity, cattle +are nearly always mentioned first. + +The Vedic Aryans were, however, not merely a pastoral people. They +had brought with them from beyond the valleys of Afghanistan at least +a primitive knowledge of agriculture, as is shown by the Indians and +Iranians having such terms as "to plough" (krish) in common. This had, +indeed, by the time of the Rigveda, become an industry second only to +cattle-breeding in importance. The plough, which we learn from the +Atharva-veda had a metal share, was used for making furrows in the +fields, and was drawn by bulls. When the earth was thus prepared, +seed was strewn over the soil. Irrigation seems not to have been +unknown, as dug-out channels for water are mentioned. When ripe, +the corn (yava) was cut with a sickle. It was then laid in bundles +on the threshing-floor, where it was threshed out and finally sifted +by winnowing. + +Though the Vedic Indians were already a pastoral and agricultural +people, they still practised hunting to a considerable extent. The +hunter pursued his game with bow and arrow, or used traps and +snares. Birds were usually caught with toils or nets spread on the +ground. Lions were taken in snares, antelopes secured in pits, and +boars hunted with dogs. + +Navigation in Rigvedic times was, as we have already seen, limited +to the crossing of rivers. The boats (called nau-s, Greek nau-s) were +propelled by what were doubtless paddles (aritra), and must have been +of the most primitive type, probably dug-out tree-trunks. No mention +is made of rudder or anchor, masts, or sails. + +Trade in those days consisted in barter, the cow being the pecuniary +standard by which the value of everything was measured. The transition +to coinage was made by the use of gold ornaments and jewelry as a form +of reward or payment, as was the case among the ancient Germans. Thus +nishka, which in the Rigveda means a necklet, in later times became +the name of a coin. + +Though the requirements of life in early Vedic times were still +primitive enough to enable every man more or less to supply his own +wants, the beginnings of various trades and industries can be clearly +traced in the Rigveda. References are particularly frequent to the +labour of the worker in wood, who was still carpenter, joiner, and +wheelwright in one. As the construction of chariots and carts required +peculiar skill, we find that certain men already devoted themselves +to it as a special art, and worked at it for pay. Hence felicity in +the composition of hymns is often compared with the dexterity of the +wheelwright. Mention is also sometimes made of the smith who smelts +the ore in a forge, using the wing of a bird instead of a bellows to +produce a draught. He is described as making kettles as well as other +domestic utensils of metal. The Rigveda also refers to tanners and the +skins of animals prepared by them. Women, it appears, were acquainted +with sewing and with the plaiting of mats from grass or reeds. An art +much more frequently alluded to in metaphors and similes is that of +weaving, but the references are so brief that we obtain no insight +into the process. The Atharva-veda, however, gives some details in a +passage which describes how Night and Day, personified as two sisters, +weave the web of the year alternately with threads that never break +or come to an end. The division of labour had been greatly developed +by the time of the White Yajurveda, in which a great many trades +and vocations are enumerated. Among these we find the rope-maker, +the jeweller, the elephant-keeper, and the actor. + +Among the active and warlike Vedic Aryans the chariot-race was a +favourite amusement, as is shown by the very metaphors which are +borrowed from this form of sport. Though skilful driving was still +a highly esteemed art in the epic period, the use of the chariot +both for war and for racing gradually died out in Hindustan, partly +perhaps owing to the enervating influence of the climate, and partly +to the scarcity of horses, which had to be brought from the region +of the Indus. + +The chief social recreation of men when they met together was gambling +with dice. The irresistible fascination exercised, and the ruin often +entailed by this amusement, we have already found described in the +Gambler's Lament. Some haunted the gaming-hall to such an extent that +we find them jocularly described in the Yajurveda as "pillars of the +playhouse" (sabhasthanu). No certain information can be gathered from +the Rigveda as to how the game was played. We know, however, from one +passage that four dice were used. The Yajurveda mentions a game played +with five, each of which has a name. Cheating at play appears in the +Rigveda as one of the most frequent of crimes; and one poet speaks of +dice as one of the chief sources of sinning against the ordinances of +Varuna. Hence the word used in the Rigveda for "gamester" (kitava) in +classical Sanskrit came to mean "cheat," and a later word for "rogue" +(dhurta) is used as a synonym of "gamester." + +Another amusement was dancing, which seems to have been indulged in by +men as well as women. But when the sex of the dancers is distinctly +referred to, they are nearly always maidens. Thus the Goddess of +Dawn is compared to a dancer decked in gay attire. That dancing +took place in the open air may be gathered from the line (x. 76, 6), +"thick dust arose as from men who dance" (nrityatam). + +Various references in the Rigveda show that even in that early age the +Indians were acquainted with different kinds off music. For we find +the three main types of percussion, wind, and stringed instruments +there represented by the drum (dundubhi), the flute (vana), and the +lute (vina). The latter has ever since been the favourite musical +instrument of the Indians down to the present day. That the Vedic +Indians were fond of instrumental music may be inferred from the +statement of a Rishi that the sound of the flute is heard in the +abode of Yama, where the blessed dwell. From one of the Sutras we +learn that instrumental music was performed at some religious rites, +the vina being played at the sacrifice to the Manes. By the time of +the Yajurveda several kinds of professional musicians appear to have +arisen, for lute-players, drummers, flute-players, and conch-blowers +are enumerated in its list of callings. Singing is, of course, very +often mentioned in the Rigveda. That vocal music had already got beyond +the most primitive stage may be concluded from the somewhat complicated +method of chanting the Samaveda, a method which was probably very +ancient, as the Soma ritual goes back to the Indo-Iranian age. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE LATER VEDAS + + +Of the three later Vedas, the Samaveda is much the most closely +connected with the Rigveda. Historically it is of little importance, +for it contains hardly any independent matter, all its verses except +seventy-five being taken directly from the Rigveda. Its contents are +derived chiefly from the eighth and especially the ninth, the Soma +book. The Samaveda resembles the Yajurveda in having been compiled +exclusively for ritual application; for the verses of which it +consists are all meant to be chanted at the ceremonies of the soma +sacrifice. Removed from their context in the Rigveda, they are strung +together without internal connection, their significance depending +solely on their relation to particular rites. In form these stanzas +appear in the text of the Samaveda as if they were to be spoken or +recited, differing from those of the Rigveda only in the way of +marking the accent. The Samaveda is, therefore, only the book of +words employed by the special class of Ugatri priests at the soma +sacrifice. Its stanzas assume their proper character of musical Samans +or chants only in the various song-books called ganas, which indicate +the prolongation, the repetition, and the interpolation of syllables +necessary in singing, just as is often done in European publications +when the words are given below the musical notation. There are four +of these songbooks in existence, two belonging to each division of +the Veda. The number of Samans here given of course admitted of being +indefinitely increased, as each verse could be sung to many melodies. + +The Samaveda consists of 1549 stanzas, distributed in two books called +archikas or collections of rich verses. The principle of arrangement +in these two books is different. The first is divided into six lessons +(prapathaka), each of which contains ten decades (daçat) of stanzas, +except the sixth, which has only nine. The verses of the first twelve +decades are addressed to Agni, those of the last eleven to Soma, +while those of the intermediate thirty-six are chiefly invocations +of Indra, the great soma-drinker. The second book contains nine +lessons, each of which is divided into two, and sometimes three +sections. It consists throughout of small groups of stanzas, which, +generally three in number, are closely connected, the first in the +group being usually found in the first book also. That the second book +is both later in date and secondary in character is indicated by its +repeating stanzas from the first book as well as by its deviating much +less from the text of the Rigveda. It is also a significant fact in +this connection that the verses of the first book which recur in the +second agree more closely with the readings of the Rigveda than the +other verses by which they are surrounded. This can only be accounted +for by the supposition that they were consciously altered in order to +accord with the same verses in the second book which were directly +influenced by the Rigveda, while the readings of the first book had +diverged more widely because that book had been handed down, since +the original borrowing, by an independent tradition. + +We know from statements of the Çatapatha Brahmana that the divisions +of the first book of the Samaveda existed at least as early as the +period when the second part of that Brahmana was composed. There is, +moreover, some reason to believe that the Samaveda as a collection is +older than at least the Taittiriya and the Vajasaneyi recensions of the +Yajurveda. For the latter contain verses, used also as Saman chants, +in a form which shows the variations of the Samaveda in contrast with +the Rigveda. This is all the more striking as the Vajasaneyi text has +an undoubted tendency to adhere to the readings of the Rigveda. On +the other hand, the view expressed by Professor Weber that numerous +variants in verses of the Samaveda contain archaic forms as compared +with the Rigveda, and were therefore borrowed at a time before the +existing redaction of the Rigveda took place, has been shown to be +untenable. The various readings of the Samaveda are really due in +part to inferior tradition, and in part to arbitrary alterations made +in order to adapt verses detached from their context to the ritual +purpose to which they were applied. + +Two schools of the Samaveda are known--the Kauthumas and the +Ranayaniyas, the former of whom are said still to exist in Gujarat, +while the latter, at one time settled mainly in the Mahratta country, +are said to survive in Eastern Hyderabad. Their recensions of the +text appear to have differed but little from each other. That of +the Ranayanayas has been published more than once. The earliest +edition, brought out by a missionary named Stevenson in 1842, +was entirely superseded by the valuable work of Benfey, which, +containing a German translation and glossary besides the text, +came out in 1848. The Samaveda was thus the first of the Vedas to +be edited in its entirety. The text of this Veda, according to the +recension of the same school, together with the commentary of Sayana, +was subsequently edited in India. Of the Kauthuma recension nothing has +been preserved excepting the seventh prapathaka, which, in the Naigeya +subdivision of this school, forms an addition to the first archika, +and was edited in 1868. Two indices of the deities and composers of the +Samaveda according to the Naigeya school have also been preserved, and +indirectly supply information about the text of the Kauthuma recension. + +The Yajurveda introduces us not only to a geographical area different +from that of the Rigveda, but also to a new epoch of religious +and social life in India. The centre of Vedic civilisation is now +found to lie farther to the east. We hear no more of the Indus and +its tributaries; for the geographical data of all the recensions of +the Yajurveda point to the territory in the middle of Northern India +occupied by the neighbouring peoples of the Kurus and Panchalas. The +country of the former, called Kurukshetra, is specifically the holy +land of the Yajurvedas and of the Brahmanas attached to them. It lay +in the plain between the Sutlej and the Jumna, beginning with the +tract bounded by the two small rivers Drishadvati and Sarasvati, +and extending south-eastwards to the Jumna. It corresponds to the +modern district of Sirhind. Closely connected with, and eastward +of this region, was situated the land of the Panchalas, which, +running south-east from the Meerut district to Allahabad, embraces +the territory between the Jumna and the Ganges called the Doab ("Two +Waters"). Kurukshetra was the country in which the Brahmanic religious +and social system was developed, and from which it spread over the rest +of India. It claims a further historical interest as being in later +times the scene of the conflict, described in the Mahabharata, between +the Panchalas and Matsyas on the one hand, and the Kurus, including +the ancient Bharatas, on the other. In the famous lawbook of Manu the +land of the Kurus is still regarded with veneration as the special +home of Brahmanism, and as such is designated Brahmavarta. Together +with the country of the Panchalas, and that of their neighbours to the +south of the Jumna, the Matsyas (with Mathura, now Muttra, as their +capital) and the Çurasenas, it is spoken of as the land of Brahman +sages, where the bravest warriors and the most pious priests live, +and the customs and usages of which are authoritative. + +Here the adherents of the Yajurveda split up into several schools, +which gradually spread over other parts of India, the Kathas, with +their subdivision the Kapishthalas, being in the time of the Greeks +located in the Panjab, and later in Kashmir also. The Kathas are now +to be found in Kashmir only, while the Kapishthalas have entirely +disappeared. The Maitrayaniyas, originally called Kalapas, appear +at one time to have occupied the region around the lower course of +the Narmada for a distance of some two hundred miles from the sea, +extending to the south of its mouth more than a hundred miles, as far +as Naasik, and northwards beyond the modern city of Baroda. There are +now only a few remnants of this school to the north of the Narmada in +Gujarat, chiefly at Ahmedabad, and farther west at Morvi. Before the +beginning of our era these two ancient schools must have been very +widely diffused in India. For the grammarian Patanjali speaks of the +Kathas and Kalapas as the universally known schools of the Yajurveda, +whose doctrines were proclaimed in every village. From the Ramayana, +moreover, we learn that these two schools were highly honoured in +Ayodhya (Oudh) also. They were, however, gradually ousted by the two +younger schools of the Yajurveda. Of these, the Taittiriyas have been +found only to the south of the Narmada, where they can be traced as +far back as the fourth century A.D. Their most important subdivision, +that of the Apastambas, still survives in the territory of the +Godavari, while another, the Hiranyakeçins, are found still farther +south. The school of the Vajasaneyins spread towards the south-east, +down the Ganges Valley. At the present day they occupy a wide area, +embracing North-East and Central India. + +Each of these four schools has preserved one or two recensions of the +Yajurveda. The text of the Maitrayani Samhita, which consists of four +books (kanda), subdivided into fifty-four lessons (prapathaka), has +been edited by Professor L. v. Schroeder (1881-86). The same scholar +is preparing an edition of the Kathaka Samhita, the recension of the +Katha school. These two recensions are nearly related in language, +having many forms in common which are not found elsewhere. Of +the Kapishthala-Katha Samhita only somewhat corrupt fragments have +hitherto come to light, and it is very doubtful whether sufficient +manuscript material will ever be discovered to render an edition of +this text possible. The Taittiriya Samhita, which comprises seven +books, and is subdivided into forty-four lessons, is somewhat later +in origin than the above-mentioned recensions. It was edited by +Professor A. Weber in 1871-72. These texts of the Yajurveda form +a closely connected group, for they are essentially the same in +character. Their agreement is often even verbal, especially in the +verses and formulas for recitation which they contain. They also +agree in arranging their matter according to a similar principle, +which is different from that of the Vajasaneyi recension. + +The Samhita of the latter consists entirely of the verses and +formulas to be recited at the sacrifice, and is therefore clear +(çukla), that is to say, separated from the explanatory matter +which is collected in the Brahmana. Hence it is called the White +(çukla) Yajurveda, while the others, under the general name of Black +(krishna) Yajurveda, are contrasted with it, as containing both kinds +of matter mixed up in the Samhita. The text of the Vajasaneyins has +been preserved in two recensions, that of the Madhyamdinas and of the +Kanvas. These are almost identical in their subject-matter as well +as its arrangement. Their divergences hardly go beyond varieties +of reading, which, moreover, appear only in their prose formulas, +not in their verses. Agreeing thus closely, they cannot be separated +in their origin by any wide interval of time. Their discrepancies +probably arose rather from geographical separation, since each has +its own peculiarities of spelling. The White Yajurveda in both these +recensions has been edited by Professor Weber (1849-52). + +It is divided into forty chapters, called adhyayas. That it +originally consisted of the first eighteen alone is indicated by +external as well as internal evidence. This is the only portion +containing verses and prose formulas (both having the common name of +mantras) which recur in the Taittiriya Samhita, the sole exceptions +being a few passages relating to the horse-sacrifice in chapters +22-25. Otherwise the contents of the last twenty-two chapters are +found again only in the Brahmana and the Aranyaka belonging to the +Taittiriya Samhita. Moreover, it is only the mantras of the first +eighteen chapters of the Vajasaneyi Samhita which are quoted and +explained word by word in the first nine books of its own Brahmana, +while merely a few mantras from the following seventeen chapters +are mentioned in that work. According to the further testimony of +an ancient index of the White Yajurveda, attributed to Katyayana, +the ten chapters 26-35 form a supplement (khila). + +The internal evidence of the Vajasaneyi Samhita leads to similar +conclusions. The fact that chapters 26-29 contain mantras relating to +ceremonies dealt with in previous chapters and requiring to be applied +to those ceremonies, is a clear indication of their supplementary +character. The next ten chapters (30-39) are concerned with altogether +new ceremonies, such as the human sacrifice, the universal sacrifice, +and the sacrifice to the Manes. Lastly, the 40th chapter must be a +late addition, for it stands in no direct relation to the ritual and +bears the character of an Upanishad. Different parts of the Samhita, +moreover, furnish some data pointing to different periods of religious +and social development. In the 16th chapter the god Rudra is described +by a large number of epithets which are subsequently peculiar +to Çiva. Two, however, which are particularly significant, Içana, +"Ruler," and Mahadeva, "Great God," are absent here, but are added in +the 39th chapter. These, as indicating a special worship of the god, +represent a later development. Again, the 30th chapter specifies +most of the Indian mixed castes, while the 16th mentions only a few +of them. Hence, it is likely that at least some which are known to +the former chapter did not as yet exist when the latter was composed. + +On these grounds four chronological strata may be distinguished in +the White Yajurveda. To the fundamental portion, comprising chapters +1-18, the next seven must first have been added, for these two parts +deal with the general sacrificial ceremonial. The development of the +ritual led to the compilation of the next fourteen chapters, which +are concerned with ceremonies already treated (26-29) or entirely new +(30-39). The last chapter apparently dates from a period when the +excessive growth of ritual practices led to a reaction. It does not +supply sacrificial mantras, but aims at establishing a mean between +exclusive devotion to and total neglect of the sacrificial ceremonies. + +Even the original portion of the White Yajurveda must have assumed +shape somewhat later than any of the recensions of the Black. For the +systematic and orderly distribution of matter by which the mantras +are collected in the Samhita, while their dogmatic explanation is +entirely relegated to a Brahmana, can hardly be as old as the confused +arrangement in which both parts are largely mixed up. + +The two most important portions of the Yajurvedas deal with the new and +full moon sacrifices, as well as the soma sacrifice, on the one hand, +and with the construction of the fire-altar on the other. Chapters +1-10 of the White Yajurveda contain the mantras for the former, +chapters 11-18 those for the latter part of the ceremonial. The +corresponding ritual explanations are to be found in books 1-5 and 6-9 +respectively of the Çatapatha Brahmana. In these fundamental portions +even the Black Yajurveda does not intermingle the mantras with their +explanations. The first book of the Taittiriya Samhita contains in +its first four lessons nothing but the verses and formulas to be +recited at the fortnightly and the soma sacrifices; the fourth book, +nothing but those employed in the fire-altar ritual. These books follow +the same order as, and in fact furnish a parallel recension of, the +corresponding parts of the Vajasaneyi Samhita. On the other hand, the +Taittiriya Samhita contains within itself, but in a different part, +the two corresponding Brahmanas, which, on the whole, are free from +admixture with mantras. The fifth book is the Brahmana of the fire +ritual, and the sixth is that of the soma sacrifice; but the dogmatic +explanation of the new and full moon sacrifice is altogether omitted +here, being found in the third book of the Taittiriya Brahmana. In +the Maitrayani Samhita the distribution of the corresponding material +is similar. The first three lessons of the first book contain the +mantras only for the fortnightly and the soma sacrifices; the latter +half of the second book (lessons 7-13), the mantras only for the fire +ritual. The corresponding Brahmanas begin with the sixth and the first +lesson respectively of the third book. It is only in the additions to +these fundamental parts of the Black Yajurveda that the separation of +Mantra and Brahmana is not carried out. The main difference, then, +between the Black and the White consists in the former combining +within the same collection Brahmana as well as Mantra matter. As to +its chief and fundamental parts, there is no reason to suppose that +these two kinds of matter, which are kept separate and unmixed, are +either chronologically or essentially more nearly related than are +the Vajasaneyi Samhita and the Çatapatha Brahmana. + +The Yajurveda resembles the Samaveda in having been compiled for +application to sacrificial rites only. But while the Samaveda deals +solely with one part of the ritual, the soma sacrifice, the Yajurveda +supplies the formulas for the whole sacrificial ceremonial. Like +the Samaveda, it is also connected with the Rigveda; but while the +former is practically altogether extracted from the Rigveda, the +Yajurveda, though borrowing many of its verses from the same source, +is largely an original production. Thus somewhat more than one-fourth +only of the Vajasaneyi Samhita is derived from the Rigveda, One half +of this collection consists of verses (rich) most of which (upwards +of 700) are found in the Rigveda; the other half is made up of prose +formulas (yajus). The latter, as well as the verses not borrowed from +the Rigveda, are the independent creation of the composers of the +Yajurveda. This partial originality was indeed a necessary result of +the growth of entirely new ceremonies and the extraordinary development +of ritual detail. It became impossible to obtain from the Rigveda +even approximately suitable verses for these novel requirements. + +The language of the Mantra portion of the Yajurveda, though distinctly +representing a later stage, yet on the whole agrees with that of +the Rigveda, while separated from that of classical Sanskrit by a +considerable interval. + +On its mythological side the religion of the Yajurveda does not +differ essentially from that of the older Veda; for the pantheon is +still the same. Some important modifications in detail are, however, +apparent. The figure of Prajapati, only foreshadowed in the latest +hymns of the Rigveda, comes more and more into the foreground as +the chief of the gods. The Rudra of the Rigveda has begun to appear +on the scene as Çiva, being several times mentioned by that name as +well as by other epithets later peculiar to Çiva, such as Çankara and +Mahadeva. Vishnu now occupies a somewhat more prominent position than +in the Rigveda. A new feature is his constant identification with +the sacrifice. The demons, now regularly called Asuras, perpetually +appear as a group of evil beings opposed to the good gods. Their +conflicts with the latter play a considerable part in the myths of the +Yajurveda. The Apsarases, who, as a class of celestial nymphs endowed +with all the seductive charms of female beauty, occupy so important a +place in post-Vedic mythology, but are very rarely mentioned in the +Rigveda, begin to be more prominent in the Yajurveda, in which many +of them are referred to by individual names. + +Certain religious conceptions have, moreover, been modified and +new rites introduced. Thus the word brahma, which in the Rigveda +meant simply "devotion," has come to signify the essence of +prayer and holiness, an advance towards its ultimate sense in the +Upanishads. Again, snake-worship, which is unknown to the Rigveda, +now appears as an element in Indian religion. That, however, which +impresses on the Yajurveda the stamp of a new epoch is the character +of the worship which it represents. The relative importance of +the gods and of the sacrifice in the older religion has now become +inverted. In the Rigveda the object of devotion was the gods, for the +power of bestowing benefits on mankind was believed to lie in their +hands alone, while the sacrifice was only a means of influencing their +will in favour of the offerer. In the Yajurveda the sacrifice itself +has become the centre of thought and desire, its correct performance +in every detail being all-important. Its power is now so great that +it not merely influences, but compels the gods to do the will of +the officiating priest. By means of it the Brahmans may, in fact, +be said to hold the gods in their hands. + +The religion of the Yajurveda may be described as a kind of mechanical +sacerdotalism. A crowd of priests conducts a vast and complicated +system of external ceremonies, to which symbolical significance is +attributed, and to the smallest minutiæ of which the greatest weight +is attached. In this stifling atmosphere of perpetual sacrifice and +ritual, the truly religious spirit of the Rigveda could not possibly +survive. Adoration of the power and beneficence of the gods, as well +as the consciousness of guilt, is entirely lacking, every prayer +being coupled with some particular rite and aiming solely at securing +material advantages. As a natural result, the formulas of the Yajurveda +are full of dreary repetitions or variations of the same idea, and +abound with half or wholly unintelligible interjections, particularly +the syllable om. The following quotation from the Maitrayani Samhita +is a good example: Nidhayo va nidhayo va om va om va om va e ai om +svarnajyotih. Here only the last word, which means "golden light," +is translatable. + +Thus the ritual could not fail to become more and more of a mystery +to all who did not belong to the Brahman caste. To its formulas, +no less than to the sacrifice itself, control over Nature as well +as the supernatural powers is attributed. Thus there are certain +formulas for the obtainment of victory; by means of these, it is said, +Indra constantly vanquished the demons. Again, we learn that, if the +priest pronounces a formula for rain while mixing a certain offering, +he causes the rain to stream down. Hence the formulas are regarded +as having a kind of magical effect by exercising compulsion. Similar +miraculous powers later came to be attached to penance and asceticism +among the Brahmans, and to holiness among the Buddhists. The formulas +of the Yajurveda have not, as a rule, the form of prayers addressed to +the gods, but on the whole and characteristically consist of statements +about the result of employing particular rites and mantras. Together +with the corresponding ritual they furnish a complex mass of appliances +ready to hand for the obtainment of material welfare in general as +well as all sorts of special objects, such as cattle or a village. The +presence of a priest capable of using the necessary forms correctly +is of course always presupposed. The desires which several rites are +meant to fulfil amount to nothing more than childish absurdity. Thus +some of them aim at the obtainment of the year. Formulas to secure +possession of the moon would have had equal practical value. + +Hand in hand with the elaboration of the sacrificial ceremonial +went the growth and consolidation of the caste system, in which +the Brahmans secured the social as well as the religious supremacy, +and which has held India enchained for more than two thousand five +hundred years. Not only do we find the four castes firmly established +as the main divisions of Indian society in the Yajurveda, but, as one +of the later books of the Vajasaneyi Samhita shows, most of the mixed +castes known in later times are already found to exist. The social +as well as the religious conditions of the Indian people, therefore, +now wear an aspect essentially differing from those revealed to us +in the hymns of the Rigveda. + +The Rig-, Sama-, and Yajur-vedas alone were originally recognised as +canonical collections. For they only were concerned with the great +sacrificial ceremonial. The Atharva-veda, with the exception of the +last book, which was obviously added in order to connect it with +that ceremonial, is essentially unconnected with it. The ceremonial +to which its hymns were practically applied is, with few exceptions, +that with which the Grihya Sutras deal, being domestic rites such as +those of birth, marriage, and death, or the political rites relating +to the inauguration of kings. Taken as a whole, it is a heterogeneous +collection of spells. Its most salient teaching is sorcery, for it is +mainly directed against hostile agencies, such as diseases, noxious +animals, demons, wizards, foes, oppressors of Brahmans. But it also +contains many spells of an auspicious character, such as charms to +secure harmony in family and village life, reconciliation of enemies, +long life, health, and prosperity, besides prayers for protection +on journeys, and for luck in gambling. Thus it has a double aspect, +being meant to appease and bless as well as to curse. + +In its main contents the Atharva-veda is more superstitious than +the Rigveda. For it does not represent the more advanced religious +beliefs of the priestly class, but is a collection of the most popular +spells current among the masses, who always preserve more primitive +notions with regard to demoniac powers. The spirit which breathes in +it is that of a prehistoric age. A few of its actual charms probably +date with little modification from the Indo-European period; for, as +Adalbert Kuhn has shown, some of its spells for curing bodily ailments +agree in purpose and content, as well as to some extent even in form, +with certain old German, Lettic, and Russian charms. But with regard +to the higher religious ideas relating to the gods, it represents +a more recent and advanced stage than the Rigveda. It contains, +indeed, more theosophic matter than any of the other Samhitas. For +the history of civilisation it is on the whole more interesting and +important than the Rigveda itself. + +The Atharva-veda is extant in the recensions of two different +schools. That of the Paippaladas is, however, known in a single +birch-bark manuscript, which is ancient but inaccurate and mostly +unaccented. It was discovered by Professor Bühler in Kashmir, and +has been described by Professor Roth in his tract Der Atharvaveda +in Kaschmir (1875). It will probably soon be accessible to scholars +in the form of a photographic reproduction published by Professor +Bloomfield. This recension is doubtless meant by the "Paippalada +Mantras" mentioned in one of the Pariçishtas or supplementary writings +of the Atharva-veda. + +The printed text, edited by Roth and Whitney in 1856, gives the +recension of the Çaunaka school. Nearly the whole of Sayana's +commentary to the Atharva-veda has been edited in India. Its chief +interest lies in the large number of readings supplied by it which +differ from those of the printed edition of this Veda. + +This Samhita is divided into twenty books, containing 730 hymns and +about 6000 stanzas. Some 1200 of the latter are derived from the +Rigveda, chiefly from the tenth, first, and eighth books, a few +also from each of the other books. Of the 143 hymns of Book XX., +all but twelve are taken bodily from the established text of the +Rigveda without any change. The matter borrowed from the Rigveda in +the other books shows considerable varieties of reading, but these, +as in the other Samhitas, are of inferior value compared with the +text of the Rigveda. As is the case in the Yajurveda, a considerable +part of the Atharva (about one-sixth) consists of prose. Upwards of +fifty hymns, comprising the whole of the fifteenth and sixteenth, +besides some thirty hymns scattered in the other books, are entirely +unmetrical. Parts or single stanzas of over a hundred other hymns +are of a similar character. + +That the Atharva-veda originally consisted of its first thirteen books +only is shown both by its arrangement and by its subject-matter. The +contents of Books I.-VII. are distributed according to the number of +stanzas contained in the hymns. In Book I. they have on the average +four stanzas, in II. five, in III. six, in IV. seven, in V. eight +to eighteen, in VI. three; and in VII. about half the hymns have +only one stanza each. Books VIII.-XIII. contain longer pieces. The +contents of all these thirteen books are indiscriminately intermingled. + +The following five books, on the contrary, are arranged according to +uniformity of subject-matter. Book XIV. contains the stanzas relating +to the wedding rite, which consist largely of mantras from the tenth +book of the Rigveda. Book XV. is a glorification of the Supreme +Being under the name of Vratya, while XVI. and XVII. contain certain +conjurations. The whole of XV. and nearly the whole of XVI., moreover, +are composed in prose of the type found in the Brahmanas. Both +XVI. and XVII. are very short, the former containing nine hymns +occupying four printed pages, the latter consisting of only a single +hymn, which extends to little more than two pages. Book XVIII. deals +with burial and the Manes. Like XIV., it derives most of its stanzas +from the tenth book of the Rigveda. Both these books are, therefore, +not specifically Atharvan in character. + +The last two books are manifestly late additions. Book XIX. consists +of a mixture of supplementary pieces, part of the text of which is +rather corrupt. Book XX., with a slight exception, contains only +complete hymns addressed to Indra, which are borrowed directly and +without any variation from the Rigveda. The fact that its readings are +identical with those of the Rigveda would alone suffice to show that +it is of later date than the original books, the readings of which +show considerable divergences from those of the older Veda. There is, +however, more convincing proof of the lateness of this book. Its matter +relates to the Soma ritual, and is entirely foreign to the spirit +of the Atharva-veda. It was undoubtedly added to establish the claim +of the Atharva to the position of a fourth Veda, by bringing it into +connection with the recognised sacrificial ceremonial of the three old +Vedas. This book, again, as well as the nineteenth, is not noticed in +the Pratiçakhya of the Atharva-veda. Both of them must, therefore, have +been added after that work was composed. Excepting two prose pieces +(48 and 49) the only original part of Book XX. is the so-called kuntapa +hymns (127-136). These are allied to the danastutis of the Rigveda, +those panegyrics of liberal kings or sacrificers which were the +forerunners of epic narratives in praise of warlike princes and heroes. + +The existence of the Atharva, as a collection of some kind, when the +last books of the Çatapatha Brahmana (xi., xiii., xiv.), the Taittiriya +Brahmana, and the Chhandogya Upanishad were composed, is proved by +the references to it in those works. In Patanjali's Mahabhashya the +Atharva had already attained to such an assured position that it is +even cited at the head of the Vedas, and occasionally as their only +representative. + +The oldest name of this Veda is Atharvangirasah, a designation +occurring in the text of the Atharva-veda, and found at the beginning +of its MSS. themselves. This word is a compound formed of the names of +two ancient families of priests, the Atharvans and Angirases. In the +opinion of Professor Bloomfield the former term is here synonymous +with "holy charms," as referring to auspicious practices, while the +latter is an equivalent of "witchcraft charms." The term atharvan +and its derivatives, though representing only its benevolent side, +would thus have come to designate the fourth Veda as a whole. In its +plural form (atharvanah) the word in this sense is found several times +in the Brahmanas, but in the singular it seems first to occur in an +Upanishad. The adjective atharvana, first found as a neuter plural with +the sense of "Atharvan hymns" in the Atharva-veda itself (Book XIX.), +is common from that time onwards. The name atharva-veda first appears +in Sutras about as early as rigveda and similar designations of the +other Samhitas. There are besides two other names of the Atharva-veda, +the use of which is practically limited to the ritual texts of this +Veda. In one of these, Bhrigu-angirasah, the name of another ancient +family of fire-priests, the Bhrigus, takes the place of that of the +Angirases. The other, brahma-veda, has outside the Atharvan literature +only been found once, and that in a Grihya Sutra of the Rigveda. + +A considerable time elapsed before the Atharva-veda, owing to +the general character of its contents, attained to the rank of a +canonical book. There is no evidence that even at the latest period +of the Rigveda the charms constituting the Atharva-veda were formally +recognised as a separate literary category. For the Purusha hymn, while +mentioning the three sacrificial Vedas by the names of Rik, Saman, +and Yajus, makes no reference to the spells of the Atharva-veda. Yet +the Rigveda, though it is mainly concerned with praises of the gods in +connection with the sacrifice, contains hymns showing that sorcery was +bound up with domestic practices from the earliest times in India. The +only reference to the spells of the Atharva-veda as a class in the +Yajurvedas is found in the Taittiriya Samhita, where they are alluded +to under the name of angirasah by the side of Rik, Saman, and Yajus, +which it elsewhere mentions alone. Yet the formulas of the Yajur-veda +are often pervaded by the spirit of the Atharva-veda, and are sometimes +Atharvan even in their wording. In fact, the difference between the +Rigveda and Yajurveda on the one hand, and the Atharva on the other, +as regards sorcery, lies solely in the degree of its applicability +and prominence. + +The Atharva-veda itself only once mentions its own literary type +directly (as atharvangirasah) and once indirectly (as bheshaja or +"auspicious spells"), by the side of the other three Vedas, while +the latter in a considerable number of passages are referred to +alone. This shows that as yet there was no feeling of antagonism +between the adherents of this Veda and those of the older ones. + +Turning to the Brahmanas, we find that those of the Rigveda do +not mention the Atharva-veda at all, while the Taittiriya Brahmana +(like the Taittiriya Aranyaka) refers to it twice. In the Çatapatha +Brahmana it appears more frequently, occupying a more defined position, +though not that of a Veda. This work very often mentions the three +old Vedas alone, either explicitly as Rik, Saman, Yajus, or as trayi +vidya, "the threefold knowledge." In several passages they are also +mentioned along with other literary types, such as itihasa (story), +purana (ancient legend), gatha (song), sutra, and upanishad. In these +enumerations the Atharva-veda regularly occupies the fourth place, +coming immediately after the three Vedas, while the rest follow in +varying order. The Upanishads in general treat the Atharva-veda in the +same way; the Upanishads of the Atharva itself, however, sometimes +tacitly add its name after the three Vedas, even without mentioning +other literary types. With regard to the Çrauta or sacrificial Sutras, +we find no reference to the Atharva in those of Katyayana (White +Yajurveda) or Latyayana (Samaveda), and only one each in those of +Çankhayana and Açvalayana (Rigveda). + +In all this sacrificial literature there is no evidence of repugnance +to the Atharva, or of exclusiveness towards it on the part of +followers of the other Vedas. Such an attitude could indeed hardly +be expected. For though the sphere of the Vedic sacrificial ritual +was different from that of regular magical rites, it is impossible +to draw a distinct line of demarcation between sacrifice and sorcery +in the Vedic religion, of which witchcraft is, in fact, an essential +element. The adherents of the three sacrificial Vedas would thus +naturally recognise a work which was a repository of witchcraft. Thus +the Çatapatha Brahmana, though characterising yatu or sorcery as +devilish--doubtless because it may be dangerous to those who practise +it--places yatuvidah or sorcerers by the side of bahvrichas or men +skilled in Rigvedic verses. Just as the Rigveda contains very few +hymns directly connected with the practice of sorcery, so the Atharva +originally included only matters incidental and subsidiary to the +sacrificial ritual. Thus it contains a series of formulas (vi. 47-48) +which have no meaning except in connection with the three daily +pressings (savana) of soma. We also find in it hymns (e. g. vi. 114) +which evidently consist of formulas of expiation for faults committed +at the sacrifice. We must therefore conclude that the followers of the +Atharva to some extent knew and practised the sacrificial ceremonial +before the conclusion of the present redaction of their hymns. The +relation of the Atharva to the çrauta rites was, however, originally +so slight, that it became necessary, in order to establish a direct +connection with it, to add the twentieth book, which was compiled +from the Rigveda for the purposes of the sacrificial ceremonial. + +The conspicuous way in which çrauta works ignore the Atharva is +therefore due to its being almost entirely unconnected with the +subject-matter of the sacrifice, not to any pronounced disapproval +or refusal to recognise its value in its own sphere. With the +Grihya or Domestic Sutras, which contain many elements of sorcery +practice (vidhana), we should expect the Atharva to betray a +closer connection. This is, indeed, to some extent the case; for +many verses quoted in these Sutras are identical with or variants +of those contained in the Atharva, even though the Domestic, +like the Sacrificial, Sutras endeavoured to borrow their verses +as far as possible from the particular Veda to which they were +attached. Otherwise, however, their references to the Atharva betray +no greater regard for it than those in the Sacrificial Sutras do. Such +references to the fourth Veda are here, it is true, more frequent +and formulaic; but this appears to mean nothing more than that the +Grihya Sutras belong to a later date. + +In the sphere, too, of law (dharma), as dealing with popular usage and +custom, the practices of the Atharva maintained a certain place; for +the indispensable sciences of medicine and astrology were distinctively +Atharvan, and the king's domestic chaplain (purohita), believed capable +of rendering great services in the injury and overthrow of enemies by +sorcery, seems usually to have been an Atharvan priest. At the same +time it is only natural that we should first meet with censures of +the practices of the Atharva in the legal literature, because such +practices were thought to enable one man to harm another. The verdict +of the law treatises on the whole is, that as incantations of various +kinds are injurious, the Atharva-veda is inferior and its practices +impure. This inferiority is directly expressed in the Dharma Sutra +of Apastamba; and the later legal treatise (smriti) of Vishnu classes +the reciter of a deadly incantation from the Atharva among the seven +kinds of assassins. Physicians and astrologers are pronounced impure; +practices with roots are prohibited; sorceries and imprecations +are punished with severe penances. In certain cases, however, +the Atharva-veda is stated to be useful. Thus the Lawbook of Manu +recommends it as the natural weapon of the Brahman against his enemies. + +In the Mahabharata we find the importance and the canonical character +of the Atharva fully recognised. The four Vedas are often mentioned, +the gods Brahma and Vishnu being in several passages described as +having created them. The Atharva is here often also referred to +alone, and spoken of with approbation. Its practices are well known +and seldom criticised adversely, magic and sorcery being, as a rule, +regarded as good. + +Finally, the Puranas not only regularly speak of the fourfold Veda, +but assign to the Atharva the advanced position claimed for it by its +own ritual literature. Thus the Vishnu Purana connects the Atharva +with the fourth priest (the brahman) of the sacrificial ritual. + +Nevertheless a certain prejudice has prevailed against the Atharva from +the time of the Dharma Sutras. This appears from the fact that, even at +the present day, according to Burnell, the most influential Brahmans +of Southern India still refuse to accept the authority of the fourth +Veda, and deny its genuineness. A similar conclusion may be drawn +from occasional statements in classical texts, and especially from +the efforts of the later Atharvan writings themselves to vindicate the +character of their Veda. These ritual texts not only never enumerate +the Vedas without including the Atharva, but even sometimes place +it at the head of the four Vedas. Under a sense of the exclusion of +their Veda from the sphere of the sacrificial ritual, they lay claim +to the fourth priest (the brahman), who in the Vedic religion was +not attached to any of the three Vedas, but being required to have a +knowledge of all three and of their sacrificial application, acted as +superintendent or director of the sacrificial ceremonial. Ingeniously +availing themselves of the fact that he was unconnected with any of +the three Vedas, they put forward the claim of the fourth Veda as the +special sphere of the fourth priest. That priest, moreover, was the +most important as possessing a universal knowledge of religious lore +(brahma), the comprehensive esoteric understanding of the nature +of the gods and of the mystery of the sacrifice. Hence the Gopatha +Brahmana exalts the Atharva as the highest religious lore (brahma), +and calls it the Brahmaveda. The claim to the latter designation +was doubtless helped by the word brahma often occurring in the +Atharva-veda itself with the sense of "charm," and by the fact that +the Veda contains a larger amount of theosophic matter (brahmavidya) +than any other Samhita. The texts belonging to the other Vedas never +suggest that the Atharva is the sphere of the fourth priest, some +Brahmana passages expressly declaring that any one equipped with the +requisite knowledge maybe a brahman. The ritual texts of the Atharva +further energetically urged that the Purohita, or domestic chaplain, +should be a follower of the Atharva-veda. They appear to have finally +succeeded in their claim to this office, doubtless because kings +attached great value to a special knowledge of witchcraft. + +The geographical data contained in the Atharva are but few, and +furnish no certain evidence as to the region in which its hymns were +composed. One hymn of its older portion (v. 22) makes mention of the +Gandharis, Mujavats, Mahavrishas, and Balhikas (in the north-west), +and the Magadhas and Angas (in the east); but they are referred to +in such a way that no safe conclusions can be drawn as to the country +in which the composer of the hymn in question lived. + +The Atharva also contains a few astronomical data, the lunar mansions +being enumerated in the nineteenth book. The names here given deviate +considerably from those mentioned in the Taittiriya Samhita, appearing +mostly in a later form. The passage in which this list is found is, +however, a late addition. + +The language of the Atharva is, from a grammatical point of view, +decidedly later than that of the Rigveda, but earlier than that of +the Brahmanas. In vocabulary it is chiefly remarkable for the large +number of popular words which it contains, and which from lack of +opportunity do not appear elsewhere. + +It seems probable that the hymns of the Atharva, though some of them +must be very old, were not edited till after the Brahmanas of the +Rigveda were composed. + +On examining the contents of the Atharva-veda more in detail, we +find that the hostile charms it contains are directed largely against +various diseases or the demons which are supposed to cause them. There +are spells to cure fever (takman), leprosy, jaundice, dropsy, scrofula, +cough, ophthalmia, baldness, lack of vital power; fractures and wounds; +the bite of snakes or injurious insects, and poison in general; mania +and other ailments. These charms are accompanied by the employment of +appropriate herbs. Hence the Atharva is the oldest literary monument +of Indian medicine. + +The following is a specimen of a charm against cough (vi. 105):-- + + + Just as the soul with soul-desires + Swift to a distance flies away, + So even thou, O cough, fly forth + Along the soul's quick-darting course. + + Just as the arrow, sharpened well, + Swift to a distance flies away, + So even thou, O cough, fly forth + Along the broad expanse of earth. + + Just as the sun-god's shooting rays + Swift to a distance fly away, + So even thou, O cough, fly forth + Along the ocean's surging flood. + + +Here is a spell for the cure of leprosy by means of a dark-coloured +plant:-- + + + Born in the night art thou, O herb, + Dark-coloured, sable, black of hue: + Rich-tinted, tinge this leprosy, + And stain away its spots of grey! (i. 23, 1). + + +A large number of imprecations are directed against demons, sorcerers, +and enemies. The following two stanzas deal with the latter two +classes respectively:-- + + + Bend round and pass us by, O curse, + Even as a burning fire a lake. + Here strike him down that curses us, + As heaven's lightning smites the tree (vi. 37, 2). + + As, rising in the east, the sun + The stars' bright lustre takes away, + So both of women and of men, + My foes, the strength I take away (vii. 13, 1). + + +A considerable group of spells consists of imprecations directed +against the oppressors of Brahmans and those who withhold from them +their rightful rewards. The following is one of the threats held out +against such evil-doers:-- + + + Water with which they bathe the dead, + And that with which they wet his beard, + The gods assigned thee as thy share, + Oppressor of the Brahman priest (v. 19, 14). + + +Another group of charms is concerned with women, being intended +to secure their love with the aid of various potent herbs. Some of +them are of a hostile character, being meant to injure rivals. The +following two stanzas belong to the former class:-- + + + As round this heaven and earth the sun + Goes day by day, encircling them, + So do I go around thy mind, + That, woman, thou shalt love me well, + And shalt not turn away from me (vi. 8, 3). + + 'Tis winged with longing, barbed with love, + Its shaft is formed of fixed desire: + With this his arrow levelled well + Shall Kama pierce thee to the heart (iii. 25, 2). + + +Among the auspicious charms of the Atharva there are many prayers +for long life and health, for exemption from disease and death:-- + + + If life in him declines or has departed, + If on the very brink of death he totters, + I snatch him from the lap of Dissolution, + I free him flow to live a hundred autumns (iii. 11, 2). + + Rise up from hence, O man, and straightway casting + Death's fetters from thy feet, depart not downward; + From life upon this earth be not yet sundered, + Nor from the sight of Agni and the sunlight (viii. 1, 4). + + +Another class of hymns includes prayers for protection from dangers and +calamities, or for prosperity in the house or field, in cattle, trade, +and even gambling. Here are two spells meant to secure luck at play:-- + + + As at all times the lightning stroke + Smites irresistibly the tree: + So gamesters with the dice would I + Beat irresistibly to-day (vii. 5, 1). + + O dice, give play that profit brings, + Like cows that yield abundant milk: + Attach me to a streak of gain, + As with a string the bow is bound (vii. 5, 9). + + +A certain number of hymns contain charms to secure harmony, to +allay anger, strife, and discord, or to procure ascendency in the +assembly. The following one is intended for the latter purpose:-- + + + O assembly, we know thy name, + "Frolic" [9] truly by name thou art: + May all who meet and sit in thee + Be in their speech at one with me (vii. 12, 2). + + +A few hymns consist of formulas for the expiation of sins, such as +offering imperfect sacrifices and marrying before an elder brother, +or contain charms for removing the defilement caused by ominous birds, +and for banishing evil dreams. + + + If waking, if asleep, I have + Committed sin, to sin inclined, + May what has been and what shall be + Loose me as from a wooden post (vi. 115, 2). + + +A short hymn (vi. 120), praying for the remission of sins, concludes +with this stanza:-- + + + In heaven, where our righteous friends are blessèd, + Having cast off diseases from their bodies, + From lameness free and not deformed in members, + There may we see our parents and our children. + + +Another group of hymns has the person of the king as its centre. They +contain charms to be used at a royal election or consecration, for +the restoration of an exiled king, for the attainment of lustre and +glory, and in particular for victory in battle. The following is a +specimen of spells intended to strike terror into the enemy:-- + + + Arise and arm, ye spectral forms, + Followed by meteoric flames; + Ye serpents, spirits of the deep, + Demons of night, pursue the foe! (xi. 10, 1). + + +Here is a stanza from a hymn (v. 21, 6) to the battle-drum meant to +serve the same purpose:-- + + + As birds start back affrighted at the eagle's cry, + As day and night they tremble at the lion's roar: + So thou, O drum, shout out against our enemies, + Scare them away in terror and confound their minds. + + +Among the cosmogonic and theosophic hymns the finest is a long one +of sixty-three stanzas addressed to the earth (xii. 1). I translate +a few lines to give some idea of its style and contents:-- + + + The earth, on whom, with clamour loud, + Men that are mortal sing and dance, + On whom they fight in battle fierce: + This earth shall drive away from us our foemen, + And she shall make us free from all our rivals. + + In secret places holding treasure manifold, + The earth shall riches give, and gems and gold to me: + Granting wealth lavishly, the kindly goddess + Shall goods abundantly bestow upon us. + + +The four hymns of Book XIII. are devoted to the praise of Rohita, +the "Red" Sun, as a cosmogonic power. In another (xi. 5) the sun +is glorified as a primeval principle under the guise of a Brahman +disciple (brahmacharin). In others Prana or Breath (xi. 4), Kama +or Love (ix. 2), and Kala or Time (xix. 53-54), are personified as +primordial powers. There is one hymn (xi. 7) in which even Ucchishta +(the remnant of the sacrifice) is deified as the Supreme Being; except +for its metrical form it belongs to the Brahmana type of literature. + +In concluding this survey of the Atharva-veda, I would draw attention +to a hymn to Varuna (iv. 16); which, though its last two stanzas are +ordinary Atharvan spells for binding enemies with the fetters of that +deity, in its remaining verses exalts divine omniscience in a strain +unequalled in any other Vedic poem. The following three stanzas are +perhaps the best:-- + + + This earth is all King Varuna's dominion, + And that broad sky whose boundaries are distant. + The loins of Varuna are these two oceans, + Yet in this drop of water he is hidden. + + He that should flee afar beyond the heaven + Would not escape King Varuna's attention: + His spies come hither, from the sky descending, + With all their thousand eyes the earth surveying. + + King Varuna discerns all that's existent + Between the earth and sky, and all beyond them; + The winkings of men's eyes by him are counted; + As gamesters dice, so he lays down his statutes. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BRAHMANAS + +(Circa 800-500 B.C.) + + +The period in which the poetry of the Vedic Samhitas arose was +followed by one which produced a totally different literary type--the +theological treatises called Brahmanas. It is characteristic of the +form of these works that they are composed in prose, and of their +matter that they deal with the sacrificial ceremonial. Their main +object being to explain the sacred significance of the ritual to those +who are already familiar with the sacrifice, the descriptions they give +of it are not exhaustive, much being stated only in outline or omitted +altogether. They are ritual text-books, which, however, in no way aim +at furnishing a complete survey of the sacrificial ceremonial to those +who do not know it already. Their contents may be classified under the +three heads of practical sacrificial directions (vidhi), explanations +(arthavada), exegetical, mythological, or polemical, and theological or +philosophical speculations on the nature of things (upanishad). Even +those which have been preserved form quite an extensive literature by +themselves; yet many others must have been lost, as appears from the +numerous names of and quotations from Brahmanas unknown to us occurring +in those which are extant. They reflect the spirit of an age in which +all intellectual activity is concentrated on the sacrifice, describing +its ceremonies, discussing its value, speculating on its origin and +significance. It is only reasonable to suppose that an epoch like this, +which produced no other literary monuments, lasted for a considerable +time. For though the Brahmanas are on the whole uniform in character, +differences of age are traceable in them. Next to the prose portions +of the Yajurvedas, the Panchavimça and the Taittiriya are proved by +their syntax and vocabulary to be the most archaic of the regular +Brahmanas. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that the latter +is, and the former is known to have been, accented. A more recent +group is formed by the Jaiminiya, the Kaushitaki, and the Aitareya +Brahmanas. The first of these is probably the oldest, while the +third seems, on linguistic grounds at least, to be the latest of the +three. The Çatapatha Brahmana, again, is posterior to these. For it +shows a distinct advance in matter; its use of the narrative tenses is +later than that of the Aitareya; and its style is decidedly developed +in comparison with all the above-mentioned Brahmanas. It is, indeed, +accented, but in a way which differs entirely from the regular Vedic +method. Latest of all are the Gopatha Brahmana of the Atharva and +the short Brahmanas of the Samaveda. + +In language the Brahmanas are considerably more limited in the use of +forms than the Rigveda. The subjunctive is, however, still employed, +as well as a good many of the old infinitives. Their syntax, indeed, +represents the oldest Indian stage even better than the Rigveda, +chiefly of course owing to the restrictions imposed by metre +on the style of the latter. The Brahmanas contain some metrical +pieces (gathas), which differ from the prose in which they are +imbedded by certain peculiarities of their own and by a more archaic +character. Allied to these is a remarkable poem of this period, the +Suparnadhyaya, an attempt, after the age of living Vedic poetry had +come to an end, to compose in the style of the Vedic hymns. It contains +many Vedic forms, and is accented, but it betrays its true character +not only by its many modern forms, but by numerous monstrosities due +to unsuccessful imitation of the Vedic language. + +A further development are the Aranyakas or "Forest Treatises," the +later age of which is indicated both by the position they occupy at the +end of the Brahmanas and by their theosophical character. These works +are generally represented as meant for the use of pious men who have +retired to the forest and no longer perform sacrifices. According to +the view of Professor Oldenberg, they are, however, rather treatises +which, owing to the superior mystic sanctity of their contents, +were intended to be communicated to the pupil by his teacher in the +solitude of the forest instead of in the village. + +In tone and content the Aranyakas form a transition to the Upanishads, +which are either imbedded in them, or more usually form their +concluding portion. The word upa-ni-shad (literally "sitting down +beside") having first doubtless meant "confidential session," came to +signify "secret or esoteric doctrine," because these works were taught +to select pupils (probably towards the end of their apprenticeship) +in lectures from which the wider circle was excluded. Being entirely +devoted to theological and philosophical speculations on the nature +of things, the Upanishads mark the last stage of development in +the Brahmana literature. As they generally come at the end of the +Brahmanas, they are also called Vedanta ("end of the Veda"), a term +later interpreted to mean "final goal of the Veda." "Revelation" +(çruti) was regarded as including them, while the Sutras belonged to +the sphere of tradition (smriti). The subject-matter of all the old +Upanishads is essentially the same--the doctrine of the nature of +the Atman or Brahma (the supreme soul). This fundamental theme was +expounded in various ways by the different Vedic schools, of which +the Upanishads were originally the dogmatic text-books, just as the +Brahmanas were their ritual text-books. + +The Aranyakas and Upanishads represent a phase of language which +on the whole closely approaches to classical Sanskrit, the oldest +Upanishads occupying a position linguistically midway between the +Brahmanas and the Sutras. + +Of the two Brahmanas attached to the Rigveda, the more important is the +Aitareya. The extant text consists of forty chapters (adhyaya) divided +into eight books called panchikas or "pentads," because containing +five chapters each. That its last ten chapters were a later addition +appears likely both from internal evidence and from the fact that the +closely related Çankhayana Brahmana contains nothing corresponding to +their subject-matter, which is dealt with in the Çankhayana Sutra. The +last three books would further appear to have been composed at a +later date than the first five, since the perfect in the former +is used as a narrative tense, while in the latter it still has its +original present force, as in the oldest Brahmanas. The essential +part of this Brahmana deals with the soma sacrifice. It treats first +(1-16) of the soma rite called Agnishtoma, which lasts one day, then +(17-18) of that called Gavamayana, which lasts 360 days, and thirdly +(19-24) of the Dvadaçaha or "twelve days' rite." The next part (25-32), +which is concerned with the Agnihotra or "fire sacrifice" and other +matters, has the character of a supplement. The last portion (33-40), +dealing with the ceremonies of the inauguration of the king and with +the position of his domestic priest, bears similar signs of lateness. + +The other Brahmana of the Rigveda, which goes by the name of Kaushitaki +as well as Çankhayana, consists of thirty chapters. Its subject-matter +is, on the whole, the same as that of the original part of the Aitareya +(i.-v.), but is wider. For in its opening chapters it goes through +the setting up of the sacred fire (agni-adhana), the daily morning +and evening sacrifice (agnihotra), the new and full moon ritual, and +the four-monthly sacrifices. The Soma sacrifice, however, occupies the +chief position even here. The more definite and methodical treatment +of the ritual in the Kaushitaki would seem to indicate that this +Brahmana was composed at a later date than the first five books of +the Aitareya. Such a conclusion is, however, not altogether borne out +by a comparison of the linguistic data of these two works. Professor +Weber argues from the occurrence in one passage of Içana and Mahadeva +as designations of the god who was later exclusively called Çiva, +that the Kaushitaki Brahmana was composed at about the same time +as the latest books of the White Yajurveda and those parts of the +Atharva-veda and of the Çatapatha Brahmana in which these appellations +of the same god are found. + +These Brahmanas contain very few geographical data. From the way, +however, in which the Aitareya mentions the Indian tribes, it may be +safely inferred that this work had its origin in the country of the +Kuru-Panchalas, in which, as we have seen, the Vedic ritual must have +been developed, and the hymns of the Rigveda were probably collected +in the existing Samhita. From the Kaushitaki we learn that the study +of language was specially cultivated in the north of India, and that +students who returned from there were regarded as authorities on +linguistic questions. + +The chief human interest of these Brahmanas lies in the numerous myths +and legends which they contain. The longest and most remarkable of +those found in the Aitareya is the story of Çunahçepa (Dog's-Tail), +which forms the third chapter of Book VII. The childless King +Hariçchandra vowed, if he should have a son, to sacrifice him to +Varuna. But when his son Rohita was born, he kept putting off the +fulfilment of his promise. At length, when the boy was grown up, his +father, pressed by Varuna, prepared to perform the sacrifice. Rohita, +however, escaped to the forest, where he wandered for six years, +while his father was afflicted with dropsy by Varuna. At last he +fell in with a starving Brahman, who consented to sell to him for a +hundred cows his son Çunahçepa as a substitute. Varuna agreed, saying, +"A Brahman is worth more than a Kshatriya." Çunahçepa was accordingly +bound to the stake, and the sacrifice was about to proceed, when the +victim prayed to various gods in succession. As he repeated one verse +after the other, the fetters of Varuna began to fall off and the +dropsical swelling of the king to diminish, till finally Çunahçepa +was released and Hariçchandra was restored to health again. + +The style of the prose in which the Aitareya is composed is crude, +clumsy, abrupt, and elliptical. The following quotation from the +stanzas interspersed in the story of Çunahçepa may serve as a specimen +of the gathas found in the Brahmanas. These verses are addressed by +a sage named Narada to King Hariçchandra on the importance of having +a son:-- + + + In him a father pays a debt + And reaches immortality, + When he beholds the countenance + Of a son born to him alive. + + Than all the joy which living things + In waters feel, in earth and fire, + The happiness that in his son + A father feels is greater far. + + At all times fathers by a son + Much darkness, too, have passed beyond: + In him the father's self is born, + He wafts him to the other shore. + + Food is man's life and clothes afford protection, + Gold gives him beauty, marriages bring cattle; + His wife's a friend, his daughter causes pity: + A son is like a light in highest heaven. + + +To the Aitareya Brahmana belongs the Aitareya Aranyaka. It consists +of eighteen chapters, distributed unequally among five books. The +last two books are composed in the Sutra style, and are really to +be regarded as belonging to the Sutra literature. Four parts can +be clearly distinguished in the first three books. Book I. deals +with various liturgies of the Soma sacrifice from a purely ritual +point of view. The first three chapters of Book II., on the other +hand, are theosophical in character, containing speculations about +the world-soul under the names of Prana and Purusha. It is allied in +matter to the Upanishads, some of its more valuable thoughts recurring, +occasionally even word for word, in the Kaushitaki Upanishad. The +third part consists of the remaining four sections of Book II., +which form the regular Aitareya Upanishad. Finally, Book III. deals +with the mystic and allegorical meaning of the three principal modes +in which the Veda is recited in the Samhita, Pada and Krama Pathas, +and of the various letters of the alphabet. + +To the Kaushitaki Brahmana is attached the Kaushitaki Aranyaka. It +consists of fifteen chapters. The first two of these correspond to +Books I. and V. of the Aitareya Aranyaka, the seventh and eighth +to Book III., while the intervening four chapters (3-6) form the +Kaushitaki Upanishad. The latter is a long and very interesting +Upanishad. It seems not improbably to have been added as an independent +treatise to the completed Aranyaka, as it is not always found in the +same part of the latter work in the manuscripts. + +Brahmanas belonging to two independent schools of the Samaveda +have been preserved, those of the Tandins and of the Talavakaras +or Jaiminiyas. Though several other works here claim the title of +ritual text-books, only three are in reality Brahmanas. The Brahmana +of the Talavakaras, which for the most part is still unpublished, +seems to consist of five books. The first three (unpublished) are +mainly concerned with various parts of the sacrificial ceremonial. The +fourth book, called the Upanishad Brahmana (probably "the Brahmana of +mystic meanings"), besides all kinds of allegories of the Aranyaka +order, two lists of teachers, a section about the origin of the +vital airs (prana) and about the savitri stanza, contains the brief +but important Kena Upanishad. Book V., entitled Arsheya-Brahmana, +is a short enumeration of the composers of the Samaveda. + +To the school of the Tandins belongs the Panchavimça ("twenty-five +fold"), also called Tandya or Praudha, Brahmana, which, as the first +name implies, consists of twenty-five books. It is concerned with +the Soma sacrifices in general, ranging from the minor offerings to +those which lasted a hundred days, or even several years. Besides +many legends, it contains a minute description of sacrifices performed +on the Sarasvati and Drishadvati. Though Kurukshetra is known to it, +other geographical data which it contains point to the home of this +Brahmana having lain farther east. Noteworthy among its contents are +the so-called Vratya-Stomas, which are sacrifices meant to enable +Aryan but non-Brahmanical Indians to enter the Brahmanical order. A +point of interest in this Brahmana is the bitter hostility which +it displays towards the school of the Kaushitakins. The Shadvimça +Brahmana, though nominally an independent work, is in reality a +supplement to the Panchavimça, of which, as its name implies, it +forms the twenty-sixth book. The last of its six chapters is called +the Adbhuta Brahmana, which is intended to obviate the evil effects +of various extraordinary events or portents. Among such phenomena +are mentioned images of the gods when they laugh, cry, sing, dance, +perspire, crack, and so forth. + +The other Brahmana of this school, the Chhandogya Brahmana, is only +to a slight extent a ritual text-book. It does not deal with the +Soma sacrifice at all, but only with ceremonies relating to birth +and marriage or prayers addressed to divine beings. These are the +contents of only the first two "lessons" of this Brahmana of the Sama +theologians. The remaining eight lessons constitute the Chhandogya +Upanishad. + +There are four other short works which, though bearing the name, are +not really Brahmanas. These are the Samavidhana Brahmana, a treatise on +the employment of chants for all kinds of superstitious purposes; the +Devatadhyaya Brahmana, containing some statements about the deities +of the various chants of the Samaveda; the Vamça Brahmana, which +furnishes a genealogy of the teachers of the Samaveda; and, finally, +the Samhitopanishad, which, like the third book of the Aitareya +Aranyaka, treats of the way in which the Veda should be recited. + +The Brahmanas of the Samaveda are distinguished by the exaggerated and +fantastic character of their mystical speculations. A prominent feature +in them is the constant identification of various kinds of Samans +or chants with all kinds of terrestrial and celestial objects. At +the same time they contain much matter that is interesting from a +historical point of view. + +In the Black Yajurveda the prose portions of the various Samhitas form +the only Brahmanas in the Katha and the Maitrayaniya schools. In +the Taittiriya school they form the oldest and most important +Brahmana. Here we have also the Taittiriya Brahmana as an independent +work in three books. This, however, hardly differs in character +from the Taittiriya Samhita, being rather a continuation. It forms a +supplement concerned with a few sacrifices omitted in the Samhita, +or handles, with greater fulness of detail, matters already dealt +with. There is also a Taittiriya Aranyaka, which in its turn forms +a supplement to the Brahmana. The last four of its ten sections +constitute the two Upanishads of this school, vii.-ix. forming the +Taittiriya Upanishad, and x. the Maha-Narayana Upanishad, also called +the Yajniki Upanishad. Excepting these four sections, the title of +Brahmana or Aranyaka does not indicate a difference of content as +compared with the Samhita, but is due to late and artificial imitation +of the other Vedas. + +The last three sections of Book III. of the Brahmana, as well as the +first two books of the Aranyaka, originally belonged to the school +of the Kathas, though they have not been preserved as part of the +tradition of that school. The different origin of these parts is +indicated by the absence of the change of y and v to iy and uv +respectively, which otherwise prevails in the Taittiriya Brahmana +and Aranyaka. In one of these Kathaka sections (Taitt. Br. iii. 11), +by way of illustrating the significance of the particular fire called +nachiketa, the story is told of a boy, Nachiketas, who, on visiting +the House of Death, was granted the fulfilment of three wishes by +the god of the dead. On this story is based the Kathaka Upanishad. + +Though the Maitrayani Samhita has no independent Brahmana, its fourth +book, as consisting of explanations and supplements to the first +three, is a kind of special Brahmana. Connected with this Samhita, +and in the manuscripts sometimes forming its second or its fifth book, +is the Maitrayana (also called Maitrayaniya and Maitri) Upanishad. + +The ritual explanation of the White Yajurveda is to be found in +extraordinary fulness in the Çatapatha Brahmana., the "Brahmana of the +Hundred Paths," so called because it consists of one hundred lectures +(adhyaya). This work is, next to the Rigveda, the most important +production in the whole range of Vedic literature. Its text has come +down in two recensions, those of the Madhyamdina school, edited by +Professor Weber, and of the Kanva school, which is in process of being +edited by Professor Eggeling. The Madhyamdina recension consists of +fourteen books, while the Kanva has seventeen. The first nine of the +former, corresponding to the original eighteen books of the Vajasaneyi +Samhita, doubtless form the oldest part. The fact that Book XII. is +called madhyama, or "middle one," shows that the last five books +(or possibly only X.-XIII.) were at one time regarded as a separate +part of the Brahmana. Book X. treats of the mystery of the fire-altar +(agnirahasya), XI. is a sort of recapitulation of the preceding ritual, +while XII. and XIII. deal with various supplementary matters. The +last book forms the Aranyaka, the six concluding chapters of which +are the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. + +Books VI.-X. of the Çatapatha Brahmana occupy a peculiar +position. Treating of the construction of the fire-altar, they +recognise the teaching of Çandilya as their highest authority, +Yajnavalkya not even being mentioned; while the peoples who are +named, the Gandharas, Salvas, Kekayas, belong to the north-west. In +the other books Yajnavalkya is the highest authority, while hardly +any but Eastern peoples, or those of the middle of Hindustan, the +Kuru-Panchalas, Kosalas, Videhas, Srinjayas, are named. That the +original authorship of the five Çandilya books was different from that +of the others is indicated by a number of linguistic differences, +which the hand of a later editor failed to remove. Thus the use of +the perfect as a narrative tense is unknown to the Çandilya books +(as well as to XIII.). + +The geographical data of the Çatapatha Brahmana point to the +land of the Kuru-Panchalas being still the centre of Brahmanical +culture. Janamejaya is here celebrated as a king of the Kurus, and +the most renowned Brahmanical teacher of the age, Aruni, is expressly +stated to have been a Panchala. Nevertheless, it is clear that the +Brahmanical system had by this time spread to the countries to the +east of Madhyadeça, to Kosala, with its capital, Ayodhya (Oudh), and +Videha (Tirhut or Northern Behar), with its capital, Mithila. The +court of King Janaka of Videha was thronged with Brahmans from the +Kuru-Panchala country. The tournaments of argument which were here +held form a prominent feature in the later books of the Çatapatha +Brahmana. The hero of these is Yajnavalkya, who, himself a pupil of +Aruni, is regarded as the chief spiritual authority in the Brahmana +(excepting Books VI.-X.). Certain passages of the Brahmana render +it highly probable that Yajnavalkya was a native of Videha. The fact +that its leading authority, who thus appears to have belonged to this +Eastern country, is represented as vanquishing the most distinguished +teachers of the West in argument, points to the redaction of the +White Yajurveda having taken place in this eastern region. + +The Çatapatha Brahmana contains reminiscences of the days when the +country of Videha was not as yet Brahmanised. Thus Book I. relates +a legend in which three stages in the eastward migration of the +Aryans can be clearly distinguished. Mathava, the king of Videgha +(the older form of Videha), whose family priest was Gotama Rahugana, +was at one time on the Sarasvati. Agni Vaiçvanara (here typical of +Brahmanical culture) thence went burning along this earth towards the +east, followed by Mathava and his priest, till he came to the river +Sadanira (probably the modern Gandak, a tributary running into the +Ganges near Patna), which flows from the northern mountain, and which +he did not burn over. This river Brahmans did not cross in former +times, thinking "it has not been burnt over by Agni Vaiçvanara." At +that time the land to the eastward was very uncultivated and marshy, +but now many Brahmans are there, and it is highly cultivated, for the +Brahmans have caused Agni to taste it through sacrifices. Mathava the +Videgha then said to Agni, "Where am I to abide?" "To the east of this +river be thy abode," he replied. Even now, the writer adds, this river +forms the boundary between the Kosalas (Oudh) and the Videhas (Tirhut). + +The Vajasaneyi school of the White Yajurveda evidently felt a sense +of the superiority of their sacrificial lore, which grew up in these +eastern countries. Blame is frequently expressed in the Çatapatha +Brahmana of the Adhvaryu priests of the Charaka school. The latter is +meant as a comprehensive term embracing the three older schools of the +Black Yajurveda, the Kathas, the Kapishthalas, and the Maitrayaniyas. + +As Buddhism first obtained a firm footing in Kosala and Videha, it is +interesting to inquire in what relation the Çatapatha Brahmana stands +to the beginnings of that doctrine. In this connection it is to be +noted that the words Arhat, Çramana, and Pratibuddha occur here for +the first time, but as yet without the technical sense which they have +in Buddhistic literature. Again, in the lists of teachers given in +the Brahmana mention is made with special frequency of the Gautamas, +a family name used by the Çakyas of Kapilavastu, among whom Buddha +was born. Certain allusions are also suggestive of the beginnings of +the Sankhya doctrine; for mention is several times made of a teacher +called Asuri, and according to tradition Asuri is the name of a leading +authority for the Sankhya system. If we inquire as to how far the +legends of our Brahmana contain the germs of the later epic tales, +we find that there is indeed some slight connection. Janamejaya, +the celebrated king of the Kurus in the Mahabharata, is mentioned +here for the first time. The Pandus, however, who proved victorious +in the epic war, are not to be met with in this any more than in the +other Brahmanas; and Arjuna, the name of their chief, is still an +appellation of Indra. But as the epic Arjuna is a son of Indra, his +origin is doubtless to be traced to this epithet of Indra. Janaka, +the famous king of Videha, is in all probability identical with the +father of Sita, the heroine of the Ramayana. + +Of two legends which furnished the classical poet Kalidasa with the +plots of two of his most famous dramas, one is told in detail, and the +other is at least alluded to. The story of the love and separation +of Pururavas and Urvaçi, already dimly shadowed forth in a hymn of +the Rigveda, is here related with much more fulness; while Bharata, +son of Duhshanta and of the nymph Çakuntala, also appears on the +scene in this Brahmana. + +A most interesting legend which reappears in the Mahabharata, that +of the Deluge, is here told for the first time in Indian literature, +though it seems to be alluded to in the Atharva-veda, while it is +known even to the Avesta. This myth is generally regarded as derived +from a Semitic source. It tells how Manu once came into possession of +a small fish, which asked him to rear it, and promised to save him +from the coming flood. Having built a ship in accordance with the +fish's advice, he entered it when the deluge arose, and was finally +guided to the Northern Mountain by the fish, to whose horn he had +tied his ship. Manu subsequently became the progenitor of mankind +through his daughter. + +The Çatapatha Brahmana is thus a mine of important data and noteworthy +narratives. Internal evidence shows it to belong to a late period +of the Brahmana age. Its style, as compared with the earlier works +of the same class, displays some progress towards facility and +clearness. Its treatment of the sacrificial ceremonial, which is +essentially the same in the Brahmana portions of the Black Yajurveda, +is throughout more lucid and systematic. On the theosophic side, too, +we find the idea of the unity in the universe more fully developed +than in any other Brahmana work, while its Upanishad is the finest +product of Vedic philosophy. + +To the Atharva-veda is attached the Gopatha Brahmana, though it has +no particular connection with that Samhita. This Brahmana consists of +two books, the first containing five chapters, the second six. Both +parts are very late, for they were composed after the Vaitana Sutra and +practically without any Atharvan tradition. The matter of the former +half, while not corresponding or following the order of the sacrifice +in any ritual text, is to a considerable extent original, the rest +being borrowed from Books XI. and XII. of the Çatapatha Brahmana, +besides a few passages from the Aitareya. The main motive of this +portion is the glorification of the Atharva-veda and of the fourth or +brahman priest. The mention of the god Çiva points to its belonging to +the post-Vedic rather than to the Brahmana period. Its presupposing the +Atharva-veda in twenty books, and containing grammatical matters of a +very advanced type, are other signs of lateness. The latter half bears +more the stamp of a regular Brahmana, being a fairly connected account +of the ritual in the sacrificial order of the Vaitana Çrauta Sutra; +but it is for the most part a compilation. The ordinary historical +relation of Brahmana and Sutra is here reversed, the second book of +the Gopatha Brahmana being based on the Vaitana Sutra, which stands +to it practically in the relation of a Samhita. About two-thirds of +its matter have already been shown to be taken from older texts. The +Aitareya and Kaushitaki Brahmanas have been chiefly exploited, and to +a less extent the Maitrayani and Taittiriya Samhitas. A few passages +are derived from the Çatapatha, and even the Panchavimça Brahmana. + +Though the Upanishads generally form a part of the Brahmanas, being +a continuation of their speculative side (jnana-kanda), they really +represent a new religion, which is in virtual opposition to the +ritual or practical side (karma-kanda). Their aim is no longer the +obtainment of earthly happiness and afterwards bliss in the abode of +Yama by sacrificing correctly to the gods, but release from mundane +existence by the absorption of the individual soul in the world-soul +through correct knowledge. Here, therefore, the sacrificial ceremonial +has become useless and speculative knowledge all-important. + +The essential theme of the Upanishads is the nature of the +world-soul. Their conception of it represents the final stage in +the development from the world-man, Purusha, of the Rigveda to +the world-soul, Atman; from the personal creator, Prajapati, to +the impersonal source of all being, Brahma. Atman in the Rigveda +means no more than "breath"; wind, for instance, being spoken of +as the atman of Varuna. In the Brahmanas it came to mean "soul" or +"self." In one of their speculations the pranas or "vital airs," +which are supposed to be based on the atman, are identified with the +gods, and so an atman comes to be attributed to the universe. In one +of the later books of the Çatapatha Brahmana (X. vi. 3) this atman, +which has already arrived at a high degree of abstraction, is said to +"pervade this universe." Brahma (neuter) in the Rigveda signified +nothing more than "prayer" or "devotion." But even in the oldest +Brahmanas it has come to have the sense of "universal holiness," +as manifested in prayer, priest, and sacrifice. In the Upanishads +it is the holy principle which animates nature. Having a long +subsequent history, this word is a very epitome of the evolution of +religious thought in India. These two conceptions, Atman and Brahma, +are commonly treated as synonymous in the Upanishads. But, strictly +speaking, Brahma, the older term, represents the cosmical principle +which pervades the universe, Atman the psychical principle manifested +in man; and the latter, as the known, is used to explain the former +as the unknown. The Atman under the name of the Eternal (aksharam) +is thus described in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (III. viii. 8, 11):-- + + + "It is not large, and not minute; not short, not long; without + blood, without fat; without shadow, without darkness; without wind, + without ether; not adhesive, not tangible; without smell, without + taste; without eyes, ears, voice, or mind; without heat, breath, or + mouth; without personal or family name; unaging, undying, without + fear, immortal, dustless, not uncovered or covered; with nothing + before, nothing behind, nothing within. It consumes no one and + is consumed by no one. It is the unseen seer, the unheard hearer, + the unthought thinker, the unknown knower. There is no other seer, + no other hearer, no other thinker, no other knower. That is the + Eternal in which space (akaça) is woven and which is interwoven + with it." + + +Here, for the first time in the history of human thought, we find +the Absolute grasped and proclaimed. + +A poetical account of the nature of the Atman is given by the Kathaka +Upanishad in the following stanzas:-- + + + That whence the sun's orb rises up, + And that in which it sinks again: + In it the gods are all contained, + Beyond it none can ever pass (iv. 9). + + Its form can never be to sight apparent, + Not any one may with his eye behold it: + By heart and mind and soul alone they grasp it, + And those who know it thus become immortal (vi. 9). + + Since not by speech and not by thought, + Not by the eye can it be reached: + How else may it be understood + But only when one says "it is"? (vi. 12). + + +The place of the more personal Prajapati is taken in the Upanishads by +the Atman as a creative power. Thus the Brihadaranyaka (I. iv.) relates +that in the beginning the Atman or the Brahma was this universe. It +was afraid in its loneliness and felt no pleasure. Desiring a second +being, it became man and woman, whence the human race was produced. It +then proceeded to produce male and female animals in a similar way; +finally creating water, fire, the gods, and so forth. The author then +proceeds in a more exalted strain:-- + + + "It (the Atman) is here all-pervading down to the tips of the + nails. One does not see it any more than a razor hidden in its case + or fire in its receptacle. For it does not appear as a whole. When + it breathes, it is called breath; when it speaks, voice; when it + hears, ear; when it thinks, mind. These are merely the names of + its activities. He who worships the one or the other of these, + has not (correct) knowledge.... One should worship it as the + Self. For in it all these (breath, etc.) become one." + + +In one of the later Upanishads, the Çvetaçvatara (iv. 10), the notion, +so prominent in the later Vedanta system, that the material world is +an illusion (maya), is first met with. The world is here explained +as an illusion produced by Brahma as a conjuror (mayin). This notion +is, however, inherent even in the oldest Upanishads. It is virtually +identical with the teaching of Plato that the things of experience +are only the shadow of the real things, and with the teaching of Kant, +that they are only phenomena of the thing in itself. + +The great fundamental doctrine of the Upanishads is the identity of the +individual atman with the world Atman. It is most forcibly expressed in +a frequently repeated sentence of the Chhandogya Upanishad (vi. 8-16): +"This whole world consists of it: that is the Real, that is the Soul, +that art thou, O Çvetaketu." In that famous formula, "That art thou" +(tat tvam asi), all the teachings of the Upanishads are summed +up. The Brihadaranyaka (I. iv. 6) expresses the same doctrine thus: +"Whoever knows this, 'I am brahma' (aham brahma asmi), becomes the +All. Even the gods are not able to prevent him from becoming it. For +he becomes their Self (atman)." + +This identity was already recognised in the Çatapatha Brahmana +(X. vi. 3): "Even as the smallest granule of millet, so is this +golden Purusha in the heart.... That self of the spirit is my self: +on passing from hence I shall obtain that Self." + +We find everywhere in these treatises a restless striving to grasp +the true nature of the pantheistic Self, now through one metaphor, +now through another. Thus (Brih. Up. II. iv.) the wise Yajnavalkya, +about to renounce the world and retire to the forest, replies to the +question of his wife, Maitreyi, with the words: "As a lump of salt +thrown into the water would dissolve and could not be taken out again, +while the water, wherever tasted, would be salt, so is this great +being endless, unlimited, simply compacted of cognition. Arising +out of these elements, it disappears again in them. After death +there is no consciousness;" for, as he further explains, when the +duality on which consciousness is based disappears, consciousness +must necessarily cease. + +In another passage of the same Upanishad (II. i. 20) we read: "Just +as the spider goes out of itself by means of its thread, as tiny +sparks leap out of the fire, so from the Atman issue all vital airs, +all worlds, all gods, all beings." + +Here, again, is a stanza from the Mundaka (III. ii. 8):-- + + + As rivers flow and disappear at last + In ocean's waters, name and form renouncing, + So, too, the sage, released from name and form, + Is merged in the divine and highest spirit. + + +In a passage of the Brihadaranyaka (III. vii.) Yajnavalkya describes +the Atman as the "inner guide" (antaryamin): "Who is in all beings, +different from all beings, who guides all beings within, that is thy +Self, the inward guide, immortal." + +The same Upanishad contains an interesting conversation, in which King +Ajataçatru of Kaçi (Benares) instructs the Brahman, Balaki Gargya, +that Brahma is not the spirit (purusha) which is in sun, moon, wind, +and other natural phenomena, or even in the (waking) soul (atman), +but is either the dreaming soul, which is creative, assuming any form +at pleasure, or, in the highest stage, the soul in dreamless sleep, +for here all phenomena have disappeared. This is the first and the +last condition of Brahma, in which no world exists, all material +existence being only the phantasms of the dreaming world-soul. + +Of somewhat similar purport is a passage of the Chhandogya +(viii. 7-12), where Prajapati is represented as teaching the nature +of the Atman in three stages. The soul in the body as reflected in +a mirror or water is first identified with Brahma, then the dreaming +soul, and, lastly, the soul in dreamless sleep. + +How generally accepted the pantheistic theory must have become by +the time the disputations at the court of King Janaka took place, is +indicated by the form in which questions are put. Thus two different +sages in the Brihadaranyaka (iii. 4, 5) successively ask Yajnavalkya +in the same words: "Explain to us the Brahma which is manifest and +not hidden, the Atman that dwells in everything." + +With the doctrine that true knowledge led to supreme bliss by the +absorption of the individual soul in Brahma went hand in hand the +theory of transmigration (samsara). That theory is developed in +the oldest Upanishads; it must have been firmly established by the +time Buddhism arose, for Buddha accepted it without question. Its +earliest form is found in the Çatapatha Brahmana, where the notion +of being born again after death and dying repeatedly is coupled with +that of retribution. Thus it is here said that those who have correct +knowledge and perform a certain sacrifice are born again after death +for immortality, while those who have not such knowledge and do not +perform this sacrifice are reborn again and again, becoming the prey +of Death. The notion here expressed does not go beyond repeated births +and deaths in the next world. It is transformed to the doctrine of +transmigration in the Upanishads by supposing rebirth to take place in +this world. In the Brihadaranyaka we further meet with the beginnings +of the doctrine of karma, or "action," which regulates the new birth, +and makes it depend on a man's own deeds. When the body returns to +the elements, nothing of the individuality is here said to remain +but the karma, according to which a man becomes good or bad. This is, +perhaps, the germ of the Buddhistic doctrine, which, though denying +the existence of soul altogether, allows karma to continue after +death and to determine the next birth. + +The most important and detailed account of the theory of transmigration +which we possess from Vedic times is supplied by the Chhandogya +Upanishad. The forest ascetic possessed of knowledge and faith, it is +here said, after death enters the devayana, the "path of the gods," +which leads to absorption in Brahma, while the householder who has +performed sacrifice and good works goes by the pitriyana or "path of +the Fathers" to the moon, where he remains till the consequences of +his actions are exhausted. He then returns to earth, being first born +again as a plant and afterwards as a man of one of the three highest +castes. Here we have a double retribution, first in the next world, +then by transmigration in this. The former is a survival of the old +Vedic belief about the future life. The wicked are born again as +outcasts (chandalas), dogs or swine. + +The account of the Brihadaranyaka (VI. ii. 15-16) is similar. Those +who have true knowledge and faith pass through the world of the gods +and the sun to the world of Brahma, whence there is no return. Those +who practise sacrifice and good works pass through the world of the +Fathers to the moon, whence they return to earth, being born again +as men. Others become birds, beasts, and reptiles. + +The view of the Kaushitaki Upanishad (i. 2-3) is somewhat +different. Here all who die go to the moon, whence some go by the +"path of the Fathers" to Brahma, while others return to various +forms of earthly existence, ranging from man to worm, according to +the quality of their works and the degree of their knowledge. + +The Kathaka, one of the most remarkable and beautiful of the +Upanishads, treats the question of life after death in the form of a +legend. Nachiketas, a young Brahman, visits the realm of Yama, who +offers him the choice of three boons. For the third he chooses the +answer to the question, whether man exists after death or no. Death +replies: "Even the gods have doubted about this; it is a subtle point; +choose another boon." After vain efforts to evade the question by +offering Nachiketas earthly power and riches, Yama at last yields to +his persistence and reveals the secret. Life and death, he explains, +are only different phases of development. True knowledge, which +consists in recognising the identity of the individual soul with the +world soul, raises its possessor beyond the reach of death:-- + + + When every passion vanishes + That nestles in the human heart, + Then man gains immortality, + Then Brahma is obtained by him (vi. 14). + + +The story of the temptation of Nachiketas to choose the goods of this +world in preference to the highest knowledge is probably the prototype +of the legend of the temptation of Buddha by Mara or Death. Both by +resisting the temptation obtain enlightenment. + +It must not of course be supposed that the Upanishads, either as a +whole or individually, offer a complete and consistent conception +of the world logically developed. They are rather a mixture +of half-poetical, half-philosophical fancies, of dialogues and +disputations dealing tentatively with metaphysical questions. Their +speculations were only later reduced to a system in the Vedanta +philosophy. The earliest of them can hardly be dated later than about +600 B.C., since some important doctrines first met with in them are +presupposed by Buddhism. They may be divided chronologically, on +internal evidence, into four classes. The oldest group, consisting, +in chronological order, of the Brihadaranyaka, Chhandogya, Taittiriya, +Aitareya, Kaushitaki, is written in prose which still suffers from the +awkwardness of the Brahmana style. A transition is formed by the Kena, +which is partly in verse and partly in prose, to a decidedly later +class, the Kathaka, Iça, Çvetaçvatara, Mundaka, Mahanarayana, which are +metrical, and in which the Upanishad doctrine is no longer developing, +but has become fixed. These are more attractive from the literary +point of view. Even those of the older class acquire a peculiar +charm from their liveliness, enthusiasm, and freedom from pedantry, +while their language often rises to the level of eloquence. The third +class, comprising the Praçna, Maitrayaniya, and Mandukya, reverts to +the use of prose, which is, however, of a much less archaic type than +that of the first class, and approaches that of classical Sanskrit +writers. The fourth class consists of the later Atharvan Upanishads, +some of which are composed in prose, others in verse. + +The Aitareya, one of the shortest of the Upanishads (extending to +only about four octavo pages), consists of three chapters. The first +represents the world as a creation of the Atman (also called Brahma), +and man as its highest manifestation. It is based on the Purusha hymn +of the Rigveda, but the primeval man is in the Upanishad described as +having been produced by the Atman from the waters which it created. The +Atman is here said to occupy three abodes in man, the senses, mind, +and heart, to which respectively correspond the three conditions of +waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. The second chapter treats of the +threefold birth of the Atman. The end of transmigration is salvation, +which is represented as an immortal existence in heaven. The last +chapter dealing with the nature of the Atman states that "consciousness +(prajna) is Brahma." + +The Kaushitaki Upanishad is a treatise of considerable length divided +into four chapters. The first deals with the two paths traversed by +souls after death in connection with transmigration; the second with +Prana or life as a symbol of the Atman. The last two, while discussing +the doctrine of Brahma, contain a disquisition about the dependence +of the objects of sense on the organs of sense, and of the latter on +unconscious life (prana) and conscious life (prajnatma). Those who +aim at redeeming knowledge are therefore admonished not to seek after +objects or subjective faculties, but only the subject of cognition +and action, which is described with much power as the highest god, +and at the same time as the Atman within us. + +The Upanishads of the Samaveda start from the saman or chant, just +as those of the Rigveda from the uktha or hymn recited by the Hotri +priest, in order, by interpreting it allegorically, to arrive at a +knowledge of the Atman or Brahma. The fact that the Upanishads have the +same basis, which is, moreover, largely treated in a similar manner, +leads to the conclusion that the various Vedic schools found a common +body of oral tradition which they shaped into dogmatic texts-books +or Upanishads in their own way. + +Thus the Chhandogya, which is equal in importance, and only slightly +inferior in extent, to the Brihadaranyaka, bears clear traces, +like the latter, of being made up of collections of floating +materials. Each of its eight chapters forms an independent whole, +followed by supplementary pieces often but slightly connected with +the main subject-matter. + +The first two chapters consist of mystical interpretations of the +saman and its chief part, called Udgitha ("loud song"). A supplement +to the second chapter treats, among other subjects, of the origin of +the syllable om, and of the three stages of religious life, those of +the Brahman pupil, the householder, and the ascetic (to which later +the religious mendicant was added as a fourth). The third chapter in +the main deals with Brahma as the sun of the universe, the natural sun +being its manifestation. The infinite Brahma is further described as +dwelling, whole and undivided, in the heart of man. The way in which +Brahma is to be attained is then described, and the great fundamental +dogma of the identity of Brahma with the Atman (or, as we might say, +of God and Soul) is declared. The chapter concludes with a myth +which forms a connecting link between the cosmogonic conceptions of +the Rigveda and those of the law-book of Manu. The fourth chapter, +containing discussions about wind, breath, and other phenomena +connected with Brahma, also teaches how the soul makes its way to +Brahma after death. + +The first half of chapter v. is almost identical with the beginning of +chapter vi. of the Brihadaranyaka. It is chiefly noteworthy for the +theory of transmigration which it contains. The second half of the +chapter is important as the earliest statement of the doctrine that +the manifold world is unreal. The sat by desire produced from itself +the three primary elements, heat, water, food (the later number being +five--ether, air, fire, water, earth). As individual soul (jiva-atman) +it entered into these, which, by certain partial combinations called +"triplication," became various products (vikara) or phenomena. But +the latter are a mere name. Sat is the only reality, it is the Atman: +"Thou art that." Chapter vii. enumerates sixteen forms in which Brahma +may be adored, rising by gradation from naman, "name," to bhuman, +"infinity," which is the all-in-all and the Atman within us. The first +half of the last chapter discusses the Atman in the heart and the +universe, as well as how to attain it. The concluding portion of the +chapter distinguishes the false from the true Atman, illustrated by the +three stages in which it appears--in the material body, in dreaming, +and in sound sleep. In the latter stage we have the true Atman, +in which the distinction between subject and object has disappeared. + +To the Samaveda also belongs a very short treatise which was long +called the Talavakara Upanishad, from the school to which it was +attached, but later, when it became separated from that school, +received the name of Kena, from its initial word. It consists of two +distinct parts. The second, composed in prose and much older, describes +the relation of the Vedic gods to Brahma, representing them as deriving +their power from and entirely dependent on the latter. The first part, +which is metrical and belongs to the period of fully developed Vedanta +doctrine, distinguishes from the qualified Brahma, which is an object +of worship, the unqualified Brahma, which is unknowable:-- + + + To it no eye can penetrate, + Nor speech nor thought can ever reach: + It rests unknown; we cannot see + How any one may teach it us. + + +The various Upanishads of the Black Yajurveda all bear the stamp +of lateness. The Maitrayana is a prose work of considerable extent, +in which occasional stanzas are interspersed. It consists of seven +chapters, the seventh and the concluding eight sections of the sixth +forming a supplement. The fact that it retains the orthographical and +euphonic peculiarities of the Maitrayana school, gives this Upanishad +an archaic appearance. But its many quotations from other Upanishads, +the occurrence of several late words, the developed Sankhya doctrine +presupposed by it, distinct references to anti-Vedic heretical schools, +all combine to render the late character of this work undoubted. It is, +in fact, a summing up of the old Upanishad doctrines with an admixture +of ideas derived from the Sankhya system and from Buddhism. The main +body of the treatise expounds the nature of the Atman, communicated +to King Brihadratha of the race of Ikshvaku (probably identical with +the king of that name mentioned in the Ramayana), who declaims at some +length on the misery and transitoriness of earthly existence. Though +pessimism is not unknown to the old Upanishads, it is much more +pronounced here, doubtless in consequence of Sankhya and Buddhistic +influence. + +The subject is treated in the form of three questions. The answer +to the first, how the Atman enters the body, is that Prajapati +enters in the form of the five vital airs in order to animate the +lifeless bodies created by him. The second question is, How does +the supreme soul become the individual soul (bhutatman)? This is +answered rather in accordance with the Sankhya than the Vedanta +doctrine. Overcome by the three qualities of matter (prakriti), +the Atman, forgetting its real nature, becomes involved in +self-consciousness and transmigration. The third question is, How +is deliverance from this state of misery possible? This is answered +in conformity with neither Vedanta nor Sankhya doctrine, but in a +reactionary spirit. Only those who observe the old requirements of +Brahmanism, the rules of caste and the religious orders (açramas), +are declared capable of attaining salvation by knowledge, penance, +and meditation on Brahma. The chief gods, that is to say, the triad of +the Brahmana period, Fire, Wind, Sun, the three abstractions, Time, +Breath, Food, and the three popular gods, Brahma, Rudra (i.e. Çiva), +and Vishnu are explained as manifestations of Brahma. + +The remainder of this Upanishad is supplementary, but contains several +passages of considerable interest. We have here a cosmogonic myth, +like those of the Brahmanas, in which the three qualities of matter, +Tamas, Rajas, Sattva, are connected with Rudra, Brahma, and Vishnu, and +which is in other respects very remarkable as a connecting link between +the philosophy of the Rigveda and the later Sankhya system. The sun +is further represented as the external, and prana (breath) as the +internal, symbol of the Atman, their worship being recommended by +means of the sacred syllable om, the three "utterances" (vyahritis) +bhur, bhuvah, svar, and the famous Savitri stanza. As a means of +attaining Brahma we find a recommendation of Yoga or the ascetic +practices leading to a state of mental concentration and bordering +on trance. The information we here receive of these practices is +still undeveloped compared with the later system. In addition to +the three conditions of Brahma, waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, +mention is made of a fourth (turiya) and highest stage. The Upanishad +concludes with the declaration that the Atman entered the world of +duality because it wished to taste both truth and illusion. + +Older than the Maitrayana, which borrows from them, are two +other Upanishads of the Black Yajurveda, the Kathaka and the +Çvetaçvatara. The former contains some 120 and the latter some 110 +stanzas. + +The Kathaka deals with the legend of Nachiketas, which is told in +the Kathaka portion of the Taittiriya Brahmana, and a knowledge of +which it presupposes. This is indicated by the fact that it begins +with the same words as the Brahmana story. The treatise appears to +have consisted originally of the first only of its two chapters. For +the second, with its more developed notions about Yoga and its much +more pronounced view as to the unreality of phenomena, looks like +a later addition. The first contains an introductory narrative, an +account of the Atman, of its embodiment and final return by means of +Yoga. The second chapter, though less well arranged, on the whole +corresponds in matter with the first. Its fourth section, while +discussing the nature of the Atman, identifies both soul (purusha) +and matter (prakriti) with it. The fifth section deals with the +manifestation of the Atman in the world, and especially in man. The +way in which it at the same time remains outside them in its full +integrity and is not affected by the suffering of living beings, is +strikingly illustrated by the analogy of both light and air, which +pervade space and yet embrace every object, and of the sun, the eye +of the universe, which remains free from the blemishes of all other +eyes outside of it. In the last section Yoga is taught to be the means +of attaining the highest goal. The gradation of mental faculties here +described is of great interest for the history of the Sankhya and Yoga +system. An unconscious contradiction runs through this discussion, +inasmuch as though the Atman is regarded as the all-in-all, a sharp +contrast is drawn between soul and matter. It is the contradiction +between the later Vedanta and the Sankhya-Yoga systems of philosophy. + +According to its own statement, the Çvetaçvatara Upanishad derives its +name from an individual author, and the tradition which attributes it +to one of the schools of the Black Yajurveda hardly seems to have a +sufficient foundation. Its confused arrangement, the irregularities +and arbitrary changes of its metres, the number of interpolated +quotations which it contains, make the assumption likely that the +work in its present form is not the work of a single author. In its +present form it is certainly later than the Kathaka, since it contains +several passages which must be referred to that work, besides many +stanzas borrowed from it with or without variation. Its lateness is +further indicated by the developed theory of Yoga which it contains, +besides the more or less definite form in which it exhibits various +Vedanta doctrines either unknown to or only foreshadowed in the +earlier Upanishads. Among these may be mentioned the destruction of +the world by Brahma at the end of a cosmic age (kalpa), as well as +its periodic renewal out of Brahma, and especially the explanation of +the world as an illusion (maya) produced by Brahma. At the same time +the author shows a strange predilection for the personified forms of +Brahma as Savitri, Içana, or Rudra. Though Çiva has not yet become +the name of Rudra, its frequent use as an adjective connected with +the latter shows that it is in course of becoming fixed as the proper +name of the highest god. In this Upanishad we meet with a number of +the terms and fundamental notions of the Sankhya, though the point +of view is thoroughly Vedantist; matter (prakriti), for instance, +being represented as an illusion produced by Brahma. + +To the White Yajurveda is attached the longest, and, beside the +Chhandogya, the most important of the Upanishads. It bears even +clearer traces than that work of being a conglomerate of what must +originally have been separate treatises. It is divided into three +parts, each containing two chapters. The last part is designated, even +in the tradition of the commentaries, as a supplement (Khila-kanda), +a statement fully borne out by the contents. That the first and second +parts were also originally independent of each other is sufficiently +proved by both containing the legend of Yajnavalkya and his two +wives in almost identical words throughout. To each of these parts +(as well as to Book x. of the Çatapatha Brahmana) a successive list +(vamça) of teachers is attached. A comparison of these lists seems +to justify the conclusion that the first part (called Madhukanda) +and the second (Yajnavalkya-kanda) existed during nine generations +as independent Upanishads within the school of the White Yajurveda, +and were then combined by a teacher named Agniveçya; the third part, +which consists of all kinds of supplementary matter, being subsequently +added. These lists further make the conclusion probable that the +leading teachers of the ritual tradition (Brahmanas) were different +from those of the philosophical tradition (Upanishads). + +Beginning with an allegorical interpretation of the most important +sacrifice, the Açvamedha (horse-sacrifice), as the universe, the first +chapter proceeds to deal with prana (breath) as a symbol of soul, +and then with the creation of the world out of the Atman or Brahma, +insisting on the dependence of all existence on the Supreme Soul, +which appears in every individual as his self. The polemical attitude +adopted against the worship of the gods is characteristic, showing that +the passage belongs to an early period, in which the doctrine of the +superiority of the Atman to the gods was still asserting itself. The +next chapter deals with the nature of the Atman and its manifestations, +purusha and prana. + +The second part of the Upanishad consists of four philosophical +discussions, in which Yajnavalkya is the chief speaker. The +first (iii. 1-9) is a great disputation, in which the sage proves +his superiority to nine successive interlocutors. One of the most +interesting conclusions here arrived at is that Brahma is theoretically +unknowable, but can be comprehended practically. The second discourse +is a dialogue between King Janaka and Yajnavalkya, in which the latter +shows the untenableness of six definitions set up by other teachers as +to the nature of Brahma; for instance, that it is identical with Breath +or Mind. He finally declares that the Atman can only be described +negatively, being intangible, indestructible, independent, immovable. + +The third discourse (iv. 3-4) is another dialogue between Janaka and +Yajnavalkya. It presents a picture of the soul in the conditions of +waking, dreaming, deep sleep, dying, transmigration, and salvation. For +wealth of illustration, fervour of conviction, beauty and elevation +of thought, this piece is unequalled in the Upanishads or any other +work of Indian literature. Its literary effect is heightened by the +numerous stanzas with which it is interspersed. These are, however, +doubtless later additions. The dreaming soul is thus described:-- + + + Leaving its lower nest in breath's protection, + And upward from that nest, immortal, soaring, + Where'er it lists it roves about immortal, + The golden-pinioned only swan of spirit (IV. iii. 13). + + It roves in dream condition up and downward, + Divinely many shapes and forms assuming (ib. 14). + + +Then follows an account of the dreamless state of the soul:-- + + + As a falcon or an eagle, having flown about in the air, exhausted + folds together its wings and prepares to alight, so the spirit + hastes to that condition in which, asleep, it feels no desire + and sees no dream (19). + + This is its essential form, in which it rises above desire, + is free from evil and without fear. For as one embraced by a + beloved woman wots not of anything without or within, so also + the soul embraced by the cognitional Self wots not of anything + without or within (21). + + +With regard to the souls of those who are not saved, the view of the +writer appears to be that after death they enter a new body immediately +and without any intervening retribution in the other world, in exact +accordance with their intellectual and moral quality. + + + As a caterpillar, when it has reached the point of a leaf, makes a + new beginning and draws itself across, so the soul, after casting + off the body and letting go ignorance, makes a new beginning and + draws itself across (IV. iv. 3). + + As a goldsmith takes the material of an image and hammers out + of it another newer and more beautiful form, so also the soul + after casting off the body and letting go ignorance, creates for + itself another newer and more beautiful form, either that of the + Fathers or the Gandharvas or the Gods, or Prajapati or Brahma, + or other beings (IV. iv. 4). + + +But the vital airs of him who is saved, who knows himself to be +identical with Brahma, do not depart, for he is absorbed in Brahma +and is Brahma. + + + As a serpent's skin, dead and cast off, lies upon an ant-hill, + so his body then lies; but that which is bodiless and immortal, + the life, is pure Brahma, is pure light (IV. iv. 7). + + +The fourth discourse is a dialogue between Yajnavalkya and his wife +Maitreyi, before the former, about to renounce the world, retires +to the solitude of the forest. There are several indications that +it is a secondary recension of the same conversation occurring in a +previous chapter (II. iv.). + +The first chapter of the third or supplementary part consists of +fifteen sections, which are often quite short, are mostly unconnected +in matter, and appear to be of very different age. The second chapter, +however, forms a long and important treatise (identical with that +found in the Chhandogya) on the doctrine of transmigration. The views +here expressed are so much at variance with those of Yajnavalkya +that this text must have originated in another Vedic school, and +have been loosely attached to this Upanishad owing to the peculiar +importance of its contents. The preceding and following section, +which are connected with it, and are also found in the Chhandogya, +must have been added at the same time. + +Not only is the longest Upanishad attached to the White Yajurveda, +but also one of the very shortest, consisting of only eighteen +stanzas. This is the Iça, which is so called from its initial +word. Though forming the last chapter of the Vajasaneyi Samhita, it +belongs to a rather late period. It is about contemporaneous with the +latest parts of the Brihadaranyaka, is more developed in many points +than the Kathaka, but seems to be older than the Çvetaçvatara. Its +leading motive is to contrast him who knows himself to be the same as +the Atman with him who does not possess true knowledge. It affords +an excellent survey of the fundamental doctrines of the Vedanta +philosophy. + +A large and indefinite number of Upanishads is attributed to +the Atharva-veda, but the most authoritative list recognises +twenty-seven altogether. They are for the most part of very late +origin, being post-Vedic, and, all but three, contemporaneous with +the Puranas. One of them is actually a Muhammadan treatise entitled +the Alla Upanishad! The older Upanishads which belong to the first +three Vedas were, with a few exceptions like the Çvetaçvatara, the +dogmatic text-books of actual Vedic schools, and received their +names from those schools, being connected with and supplementary +to the ritual Brahmanas. The Upanishads of the Atharva-veda, on the +other hand, are with few exceptions like the Mandukya and the Jabala, +no longer connected with Vedic schools, but derive their names from +their subject-matter or some other circumstance. They appear for the +most part to represent the views of theosophic, mystic, ascetic, or +sectarian associations, who wished to have an Upanishad of their own +in imitation of the old Vedic schools. They became attached to the +Atharva-veda not from any internal connection, but partly because the +followers of the Atharva-veda desired to become possessed of dogmatic +text-books of their own, and partly because the fourth Veda was not +protected from the intrusion of foreign elements by the watchfulness +of religious guilds like the old Vedic schools. + +The fundamental doctrine common to all the Upanishads of the +Atharva-veda is developed by most of them in various special +directions. They may accordingly be divided into four categories +which run chronologically parallel with one another, each containing +relatively old and late productions. The first group, as directly +investigating the nature of the Atman, has a scope similar to that of +the Upanishads of the other Vedas, and goes no further than the latter +in developing its main thesis. The next group, taking the fundamental +doctrine for granted, treats of absorption in the Atman through +ascetic meditation (yoga) based on the component parts of the sacred +syllable om. These Upanishads are almost without exception composed in +verse and are quite short, consisting on the average of about twenty +stanzas. In the third category the life of the religious mendicant +(sannyasin), as a practical consequence of the Upanishad doctrine, +is recommended and described. These Upanishads, too, are short, but +are written in prose, though with an admixture of verse. The last +group is sectarian in character, interpreting the popular gods Çiva +(under various names, such as Içana, Maheçvara, Mahadeva) and Vishnu +(as Narayana and Nrisimha or "Man-lion") as personifications of the +Atman. The different Avatars of Vishnu are here regarded as human +manifestations of the Atman. + +The oldest and most important of these Atharvan Upanishads, as +representing the Vedanta doctrine most faithfully, are the Mundaka, +the Praçna, and to a less degree the Mandukya. The first two come +nearest to the Upanishads of the older Vedas, and are much quoted by +Badarayana and Çankara, the great authorities of the later Vedanta +philosophy. They are the only original and legitimate Upanishads of the +Atharva. The Mundaka derives its name from being the Upanishad of the +tonsured (munda), an association of ascetics who shaved their heads, +as the Buddhist monks did later. It is one of the most popular of the +Upanishads, not owing to the originality of its contents, which are +for the most part derived from older texts, but owing to the purity +with which it reproduces the old Vedanta doctrine, and the beauty +of the stanzas in which it is composed. It presupposes, above all, +the Chhandogya Upanishad, and in all probability the Brihadaranyaka, +the Taittiriya, and the Kathaka. Having several important passages +in common with the Çvetaçvatara and the Brihannarayana of the Black +Yajurveda, it probably belongs to the same epoch, coming between the +two in order of time. It consists of three parts, which, speaking +generally, deal respectively with the preparations for the knowledge +of Brahma, the doctrine of Brahma, and the way to Brahma. + +The Praçna Upanishad, written in prose and apparently belonging to +the Pippalada recension of the Atharva-veda, is so called because it +treats, in the form of questions (praçna) addressed by six students +of Brahma to the sage Pippalada, six main points of the Vedanta +doctrine. These questions concern the origin of matter and life +(prana) from Prajapati; the superiority of life (prana) above the +other vital powers; the nature and divisions of the vital powers; +dreaming and dreamless sleep; meditation on the syllable om; and the +sixteen parts of man. + +The Mandukya is a very short prose Upanishad, which would hardly +fill two pages of the present book. Though bearing the name of +a half-forgotten school of the Rigveda, it is reckoned among the +Upanishads of the Atharva-veda. It must date from a considerably +later time than the prose Upanishads of the three older Vedas, with +the unmethodical treatment and prolixity of which its precision and +conciseness are in marked contrast. It has many points of contact +with the Maitrayana Upanishad, to which it seems to be posterior. It +appears, however, to be older than the rest of the treatises which +form the fourth class of the Upanishads of the Atharva-veda. Thus it +distinguishes only three morae in the syllable om, and not yet three +and a half. The fundamental idea of this Upanishad is that the sacred +syllable is an expression of the universe. It is somewhat remarkable +that this work is not quoted by Çankara; nevertheless, it not only +exercised a great influence on several Upanishads of the Atharva-veda, +but was used more than any other Upanishad by the author of the +well-known later epitome of the Vedanta doctrine, the Vedanta-sara. + +It is, however, chiefly important as having given rise to one of +the most remarkable products of Indian philosophy, the Karika of +Gaudapada. This work consists of more than 200 stanzas divided into +four parts, the first of which includes the Mandukya Upanishad. The +esteem in which the Karika was held is indicated by the fact that +its parts are reckoned as four Upanishads. There is much probability +in the assumption that its author is identical with Gaudapada, the +teacher of Govinda, whose pupil was the great Vedantist commentator, +Çankara (800 A.D.). The point of view of the latter is the same +essentially as that of the author of the Karika, and many of the +thoughts and figures which begin to appear in the earlier work are in +common use in Çankara's commentaries. Çankara may, in fact, be said +to have reduced the doctrines of Gaudapada to a system, as did Plato +those of Parmenides. Indeed, the two leading ideas which pervade the +Indian poem, viz., that there is no duality (advaita) and no becoming +(ajati), are, as Professor Deussen points out, identical with those +of the Greek philosopher. + +The first part of the Karika is practically a metrical paraphrase +of the Mandukya Upanishad. Peculiar to it is the statement that the +world is not an illusion or a development in any sense, but the very +nature or essence (svabhava) of Brahma, just as the rays, which are all +the same (i.e. light), are not different from the sun. The remainder +of the poem is independent of the Upanishad and goes far beyond its +doctrines. The second part has the special title of Vaitathya or the +"Falseness" of the doctrine of reality. Just as a rope is in the +dark mistaken for a snake, so the Atman in the darkness of ignorance +is mistaken for the world. Every attempt to imagine the Atman under +empirical forms is futile, for every one's idea of it is dependent +on his experience of the world. + +The third part is entitled Advaita, "Non-duality." The identity of the +Supreme Soul (Atman) with the individual soul (jiva) is illustrated +by comparison with space, and that part of it which is contained in +a jar. Arguing against the theory of genesis and plurality, the poet +lays down the axiom that nothing can become different from its own +nature. The production of the existent (sato janma) is impossible, +for that would be produced which already exists. The production of the +non-existent (asato janma) is also impossible, for the non-existent is +never produced, any more than the son of a barren woman. The last part +is entitled Alata-çanti, or "Extinction of the firebrand (circle)," +so called from an ingenious comparison made to explain how plurality +and genesis seem to exist in the world. If a stick which is glowing +at one end is waved about, fiery lines or circles are produced without +anything being added to or issuing from the single burning point. The +fiery line or circle exists only in the consciousness (vijnana). So, +too, the many phenomena of the world are merely the vibrations of +the consciousness, which is one. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SUTRAS + +(Circa 500-200 B.C.) + + +As the Upanishads were a development of the speculative side of the +Brahmanas and constituted the textbooks of Vedic dogma, so the Çrauta +Sutras form the continuation of their ritual side, though they are +not, like the Upanishads, regarded as a part of revelation. A sacred +character was never attributed to them, probably because they were felt +to be treatises compiled, with the help of oral priestly tradition, +from the contents of the Brahmanas solely to meet practical needs. The +oldest of them seem to go back to about the time when Buddhism came +into being. Indeed it is quite possible that the rise of the rival +religion gave the first impetus to the composition of systematic +manuals of Brahmanic worship. The Buddhists in their turn must have +come to regard Sutras as the type of treatise best adapted for the +expression of religious doctrine, for the earliest Pali texts are +works of this character. The term Kalpa Sutra is used to designate +the whole body of Sutras concerned with religion which belonged to +a particular Vedic school. Where such a complete collection has been +preserved, the Çrauta Sutra forms its first and most extensive portion. + +To the Rigveda belong the Çrauta manuals of two Sutra schools +(charanas), the Çankhayanas and the Açvalayanas, the former of whom +were in later times settled in Northern Gujarat, the latter in the +South between the Godavari and the Krishna. The ritual is described +in much the same order by both, but the account of the great royal +sacrifices is much more detailed in the Çankhayana Çrauta Sutra. The +latter, which is closely connected with the Çankhayana Brahmana, seems +to be the older of the two, on the ground both of its matter and of +its style, which in many parts resembles that of the Brahmanas. It +consists of eighteen books, the last two of which were added later, +and correspond to the first two books of the Kaushitaki Aranyaka. The +Çrauta Sutra of Açvalayana, which consists of twelve books, is related +to the Aitareya Brahmana. Açvalayana is also known as the author +of the fourth book of the Aitareya Aranyaka, and was according to +tradition the pupil of Çaunaka. + +Three Çrauta Sutras to the Samaveda have been preserved. The oldest, +that of Maçaka, also called Arsheya-kalpa, is nothing more than +an enumeration of the prayers belonging to the various ceremonies +of the Soma sacrifice in the order of the Panchavimça Brahmana. The +Çrauta Sutra composed by Latyayana, became the accepted manual of the +Kauthuma school. This Sutra, like that of Maçaka, which it quotes, +is closely connected with the Panchavimça Brahmana. The Çrauta Sutra +of Drahyayana, which differs but little from that of Latyayana, +belongs to the Ranayaniya branch of the Samaveda. + +To the White Yajurveda belongs the Çrauta Sutra of Katyayana. This +manual, which consists of twenty-six chapters, on the whole strictly +follows the sacrificial order of the Çatapatha Brahmana. Three of +its chapters (xxii.-xxiv.), however, relate to the ceremonial of the +Samaveda. Owing to the enigmatical character of its style, it appears +to be one of the later productions of the Sutra period. + +No less than six Çrauta Sutras belonging to the Black Yajurveda have +been preserved, but only two of them have as yet been published. Four +of these form a very closely connected group, being part of the +Kalpa Sutras of four subdivisions of the Taittiriya Çakha, which +represented the later sutra schools (charanas) not claiming a special +revelation of Veda or Brahmana. The Çrauta Sutra of Apastamba forms +the first twenty-four of the thirty chapters (praçnas) into which his +Kalpa Sutra is divided; and that of Hiranyakeçin, an offshoot of the +Apastambas, the first eighteen of the twenty-nine chapters of his +Kalpa Sutra. The Sutra of Baudhayana, who is older than Apastamba, +as well as that of Bharadvaja, has not yet been published. + +Connected with the Maitrayani Samhita is the Manava Çrauta Sutra. It +belongs to the Manavas, who were a subdivision of the Maitrayaniyas, +and to whom the law-book of Manu probably traces its origin. It seems +to be one of the oldest. It has a descriptive character, resembling +the Brahmana parts of the Yajurveda, and differing from them only in +simply describing the course of the sacrifice, to the exclusion of +legends, speculations, or discussions of any kind. There is also a +Vaikhanasa Çrauta Sutra attached to the Black Yajurveda, but it is +known only in a few MSS. + +The Çrauta Sutra of the Atharva-veda is the Vaitana Sutra. It is +neither old nor original, but was undoubtedly compiled in order to +supply the Atharva, like the other Vedas, with a Sutra of its own. It +probably received its name from the word with which it begins, since +the term vaitana ("relating to the three sacrificial fires") is equally +applicable to all Çrauta Sutras. It agrees to a considerable extent +with the Gopatha Brahmana, though it distinctly follows the Sutra of +Katyayana to the White Yajurveda. One indication of its lateness is +the fact that whereas in other cases a Grihya regularly presupposes +the Çrauta Sutra, the Vaitana is dependent on the domestic sutra of +the Atharva-veda. + +Though the Çrauta Sutras are indispensable for the right understanding +of the sacrificial ritual, they are, from any other point of view, a +most unattractive form of literature. It will, therefore, suffice to +mention in briefest outline the ceremonies with which they deal. It +is important to remember, in the first place, that these rites are +never congregational, but are always performed on behalf of a single +individual, the so-called Yajamana or sacrificer, who takes but little +part in them. The officiators are Brahman priests, whose number varies +from one to sixteen, according to the nature of the ceremony. In all +these rites an important part is played by the three sacred fires +which surround the vedi, a slightly excavated spot covered with a +litter of grass for the reception of offerings to the gods. The first +ceremony of all is the setting up of the sacred fires (agni-adheya), +which are kindled by the sacrificer and his wife with the firesticks, +and are thereafter to be regularly maintained. + +The Çrauta rites, fourteen in number, are divided into the two +main groups of seven oblation (havis) sacrifices and seven soma +sacrifices. Different forms of the animal sacrifice are classed with +each group. The havis sacrifices consist of offerings of milk, ghee, +porridge, grain, cakes, and so forth. The commonest is the Agnihotra, +the daily morning and evening oblation of milk to the three fires. The +most important of the others are the new and full moon sacrifices +(darçapurna-masa) and those offered at the beginning of the three +seasons (chaturmasya). Besides some other recurrent sacrifices, there +are very many which are to be offered on some particular occasion, +or for the attainment of some special object. + +The various kinds of Soma sacrifices were much more complicated. Even +the simplest and fundamental form, the Agnishtoma ("praise of Agni") +required the ministrations of sixteen priests. This rite occupied only +one day, with three pressings of soma, at morning, noon, and evening; +but this day was preceded by very detailed preparatory ceremonies, +one of which was the initiation (diksha) of the sacrificer and his +wife. Other soma sacrifices lasted for several days up to twelve; +while another class, called sattras or "sessions," extended to a year +or more. + +A very sacred ceremony that can be connected with the soma sacrifice +is the Agnichayana, or "Piling of the fire-altar," which lasts for +a year. It begins with a sacrifice of five animals. Then a long +time is occupied in preparing the earthenware vessel, called ukha, +in which fire is to be maintained for a year. Very elaborate rules +are given both as to the ingredients, such as the hair of a black +antelope, with which the clay is to be mixed, and as to how it is to +be shaped, and finally burnt. Then the bricks, which have different +and particular sizes, have to be built up in prescribed order. The +lowest of the five strata must have 1950, all of them together, a +total of 10,800 bricks. Many of these have their special name and +significance. Thus the altar is gradually built up, as its bricks +are placed in position, to the accompaniment of appropriate rites and +verses, by a formidable array of priests. These are but some of the +main points in the ceremony; but they will probably give some faint +idea of the enormous complexity and the vast mass of detail, where +the smallest of minutiæ are of importance, in the Brahman ritual. No +other religion has ever known its like. + +As the domestic ritual is almost entirely excluded from the Brahmanas, +the authors of the Grihya Sutras had only the authority of popular +tradition to rely on when they systematised the observances of daily +life. As a type, the Grihya manuals must be somewhat later than the +Çrauta, for they regularly presuppose a knowledge of the latter. + +To the Rigveda belongs in the first place the Çankhayana +Grihya Sutra. It consists of six books, but only the first four +form the original portion of the work, and even these contain +interpolations. Closely connected with this work is the Çambavya +Grihya, which also belongs to the school of the Kaushitakins, and +is as yet known only in manuscript. Though borrowing largely from +Çankhayana, it is not identical with that work. It knows nothing +of the last two books, nor even a number of ceremonies described in +the third and fourth, while having a book of its own concerning the +sacrifice to the Manes. Connected with the Aitareya Brahmana is the +Grihya Sutra of Açvalayana, which its author in the first aphorism +gives us to understand is a continuation of his Çrauta Sutra. It +consists of four books, and, like the latter work, ends with the words +"adoration to Çaunaka." + +The chief Grihya Sutra of the Samaveda is that of Gobhila, which +is one of the oldest, completest, and most interesting works of +this class. Its seems to have been used by both the schools of its +Veda. Besides the text of the Samaveda it presupposes the Mantra +Brahmana. The latter is a collection, in the ritual order, of the +mantras (except those occurring in the Samaveda itself), which are +quoted by Gobhila in an abbreviated form. The Grihya Sutra of Khadira, +belonging to the Drahyayana school and used by the Ranayaniya branch +of the Samaveda, is little more than Gobhila remodelled in a more +succinct form. + +The Grihya Sutra of the White Yajurveda is that of Paraskara, +also called the Katiya or Vajasaneya Grihya Sutra. It is so closely +connected with the Çrauta Sutra of Katyayana, that it is often quoted +under the name of that author. The later law-book of Yajnavalkya +bears evidence of the influence of Paraskara's work. + +Of the seven Grihya Sutras of the Black Yajurveda only three have +as yet been published. The Grihya of Apastamba forms two books +(26-27) of his Kalpa Sutra. The first of these two books is the +Mantrapatha, which is a collection of the formulas accompanying the +ceremonies. The Grihya Sutra, in the strict sense, is the second book, +which presupposes the Mantrapatha. Books XIX. and XX. of Hiranyakeçin's +Kalpa Sutra form his Grihya Sutra. About Baudhayana's Grihya not much +is known, still less about that of Bharadvaja. The Manava Grihya Sutra +is closely connected with the Çrauta, repeating many of the statements +of the latter verbally. It is interesting as containing a ceremony +unknown to other Grihya Sutras, the worship of the Vinayakas. The +passage reappears in a versified form in Yajnavalkya's law-book, +where the four Vinayakas are transformed into the one Vinayaka, the +god Ganeça. With the Manava is clearly connected the Kathaka Grihya +Sutra, not only in the principle of its arrangement, but even in +the wording of many passages. It is nearly related to the law-book +of Vishnu. The Vaikhanasa Grihya Sutra is an extensive work bearing +traces of a late origin, and partly treating of subjects otherwise +relegated to works of a supplementary character. + +To the Atharva-veda belongs the important Kauçika Sutra. It is not +a mere Grihya Sutra, for besides giving the more important rules of +the domestic ritual, it deals with the magical and other practices +specially connected with its Veda. By its extensive references to +these subjects it supplies much material unknown to other Vedic +schools. It is a composite work, apparently made up of four or five +different treatises. In combination with the Atharva-veda it supplies +an almost complete picture of the ordinary life of the Vedic Indian. + +The Grihya Sutras give the rules for the numerous ceremonies +applicable to the domestic life of a man and his family from birth +to the grave. For the performance of their ritual only the domestic +(avasathya or vaivahika) fire was required, as contrasted with the +three sacrificial fires of the Çrauta Sutras. They describe forty +consecrations or sacraments (samskaras) which are performed at +various important epochs in the life of the individual. The first +eighteen, extending from conception to marriage, are called "bodily +sacraments." The remaining twenty-two are sacrifices. Eight of these, +the five daily sacrifices (mahayajna) and some other "baked offerings" +(pakayajna), form part of the Grihya ceremonies, the rest belonging +to the Çrauta ritual. + +The first of the sacraments is the pumsavana or ceremony aiming +at the obtainment of a son. The most common expedient prescribed +is the pounded shoot of a banyan tree placed in the wife's right +nostril. After the birth-rites (jata-karma), the ceremony of giving +the child its names (nama-karana) takes place, generally on the tenth +day after birth. Two are given, one being the "secret name," known +only to the parents, as a protection against witchcraft, the other for +common use. Minute directions are given as to the quality of the name; +for instance, that it should contain an even number of syllables, +begin with a soft letter, and have a semi-vowel in the middle; that +for a Brahman it should end in -çarman, for a Kshatriya in -varman, +and a Vaiçya in -gupta. Generally in the third year takes place the +ceremony of tonsure (chuda-karana), when the boy's hair was cut, one +or more tufts being left on the top, so that his hair might be worn +after the fashion prevailing in his family. In the sixteenth year the +rite of shaving the beard was performed. Its name, go-dana, or "gift +of cows," is due to the fee usually having been a couple of cattle. + +By far the most important ceremony of boyhood was that of +apprenticeship to a teacher or initiation (upanayana), which in the +case of a Brahman may take place between the eighth and sixteenth +year, but a few years later in the case of the Kshatriya and the +Vaiçya. On this occasion the youth receives a staff, a garment, a +girdle, and a cord worn over one shoulder and under the other arm. The +first is made of different wood, the others of different materials +according to caste. The sacred cord is the outward token of the Arya +or member of one of the three highest castes, and by investiture with +it he attains his second birth, being thenceforward a "twice-born" +man (dvi-ja). The spiritual significance of this initiation is the +right to study the Veda, and especially to recite the most sacred +of prayers, the Savitri. In this ceremony the teacher (acharya) +who initiates the young Brahman is regarded as his spiritual father, +and the Savitri as his mother. + +The rite of upanayana is still practised in India. It is based on a +very old custom. The Avestan ceremony of investing the boy of fifteen +with a sacred cord upon his admission into the Zoroastrian community +shows that it goes back to Indo-Iranian times. The prevalence among +primitive races all over the world of a rite of initiation, regarded as +a second birth, upon the attainment of manhood, indicates that it was +a still older custom, which in the Brahman system became transformed +into a ceremony of admission to Vedic study. + +Besides his studies, the course of which is regulated by detailed +rules, the constant duties of the pupil are the collection of fuel, +the performance of devotions at morning and evening twilight, begging +food, sleeping on the ground, and obedience to his teacher. + +At the conclusion of religious studentship (brahmacharya), which lasted +for twelve years, or till the pupil had mastered his Veda, he performs +the rite of return (samavartana), the principal part of which is a +bath, with which he symbolically washes off his apprenticeship. He is +now a snataka ("one who has bathed"), and soon proceeds to the most +important sacrament of his life, marriage. The main elements of this +ceremony doubtless go back to the Indo-European period, and belong +rather to the sphere of witchcraft than of the sacrificial cult. The +taking of her hand placed the bride in the power of her husband. The +stone on which she stepped was to give her firmness. The seven steps +which she took with her husband, and the sacrificial food which she +shared with him, were to inaugurate friendship and community. Future +abundance and male offspring were prognosticated when she had been +conducted to her husband's house, by seating her on the hide of a +red bull and placing upon her lap the son of a woman who had only +borne living male children. The god most closely connected with +the rite was Agni; for the husband led his bride three times round +the nuptial fire--whence the Sanskrit name for wedding, pari-naya, +"leading round"--and the newly kindled domestic fire was to accompany +the couple throughout life. Offerings are made to it and Vedic formulas +pronounced. After sunset the husband leads out his bride, and as +he points to the pole-star and the star Arundhati, they exhort each +other to be constant and undivided for ever. These wedding ceremonies, +preserved much as they are described in the Sutras, are still widely +prevalent in the India of to-day. + +All the above-mentioned sacraments are exclusively meant for males, +the only one in which girls had a share being marriage (vivaha). About +twelve of these Samskaras are still practised in India, investiture +being still the most important next to marriage. Some of the ceremonies +only survive in a symbolical form, as those connected with religious +studentship. + +Among the most important duties of the new householder is the regular +daily offering of the five great sacrifices (maha-yajna), which are +the sacrifice to the Veda (brahma-yajna), or Vedic recitation; the +offering to the gods (deva-yajna) of melted butter in fire (homa); the +libation (tarpana) to the Manes (pitri-yajna); offerings (called bali) +deposited in various places on the ground to demons and all beings +(bhuta-yajna); and the sacrifice to men (manushya-yajna), consisting in +hospitality, especially to Brahman mendicants. The first is regarded +as by far the highest; the recitation of the savitri, in particular, +at morning and evening worship, is as meritorious as having studied +the Veda. All these five daily sacrifices are still in partial use +among orthodox Brahmans. + +There are other sacrifices which occur periodically. Such are the +new and full moon sacrifices, in which, according to the Grihya +ritual, a baked offering (paka-yajna) is made, while, according to +the Çrauta ceremony, cakes (purodaça) are offered. There is, further, +at the beginning of the rains an offering made to serpents, when the +use of a raised bed is enjoined, owing to the danger from snakes at +that time. Various ceremonies are connected with the building and +entering of a new house. Detailed rules are given about the site +as well as the construction. A door on the west is, for instance, +forbidden. On the completion of the house, which is built of wood +and bamboo, an animal is sacrificed. Other ceremonies are concerned +with cattle; for instance, the release of a young bull for the +benefit of the community. Then there are agricultural ceremonies, +such as the offering of the first-fruits and rites connected with +ploughing. Mention is also made of offerings to monuments (chaityas) +erected to the memory of teachers. There are, moreover, directions as +to what is to be done in case of evil dreams, bad omens, and disease. + +Finally, one of the most interesting subjects with which the Grihya +Sutras deal is that of funeral rites (antyeshti) and the worship +of the Manes. All but children under two years of age are to be +cremated. The dead man's hair and beard are cut off and his nails +trimmed, the body being anointed with nard and a wreath being placed +on the head. Before being burnt the corpse is laid on a black antelope +skin. In the case of a Kshatriya, his bow (in that of a Brahman his +staff, of a Vaiçya his goad) is taken from his hand, broken, and cast +on the pyre, while a cow or a goat is burnt with the corpse. Afterwards +a purifying ablution is performed by all relations to the seventh +or tenth degree. They then sit down on a grassy spot and listen to +old stories or a sermon on the transitoriness of life till the stars +appear. At last, without looking round, they return in procession to +their homes, where various observances are gone through. A death is +followed by a period of impurity, generally lasting three days, during +which the relatives are required, among other things, to sleep on the +ground and refrain from eating flesh. On the night after the death +a cake is offered to the deceased, and a libation of water is poured +out; a vessel with milk and water is also placed in the open air, and +the dead man is called upon to bathe in it. Generally after the tenth +day the bones are collected and placed in an urn, which is buried to +the accompaniment of the Rigvedic verse, "Approach thy mother earth" +(x. 18, 10). + +The soul is supposed to remain separated from the Manes for a time as a +preta or "ghost." A çraddha, or "offering given with faith" (çraddha), +of which it is the special object (ekoddishta), is presented to it in +this state, the idea being that it would otherwise return and disquiet +the relatives. Before the expiry of a year he is admitted to the +circle of the Manes by a rite which makes him their sapinda ("united +by the funeral cake"). After the lapse of a year or more another +elaborate ceremony (called pitri-medha) takes place in connection +with the erection of a monument, when the bones are taken out of the +urn and buried in a suitable place. There are further various general +offerings to the Manes, or çraddhas, which take place at fixed periods, +such as that on the day of new moon (parvana çraddha), while others +are only occasional and optional. These rites still play an important +part in India, well-to-do families in Bengal spending not less than +5000 to 6000 rupees on their first çraddha. + +From all these offerings of the Grihya ritual are to be distinguished +the two regular sacrifices of the Çrauta ritual, the one called +Pinda-pitri-yajna immediately preceding the new-moon sacrifice, the +other being connected with the third of the four-monthly sacrifices. + +The ceremonial of ancestor-worship was especially elaborated, and +developed a special literature of its own, extending from the Vedic +period to the legal Compendia of the Middle Ages. The Çraddha-kalpa +of Hemadri comprises upwards of 1700 pages in the edition of the +Bibliotheca Indica. + +The above is the briefest possible sketch of the abundant material +of the Grihya Sutras, illustrating the daily domestic life of ancient +India. Perhaps, however, enough has been said to show that they have +much human interest, and that they occupy an important place in the +history of civilisation. + +The second branch of the Sutra literature, based on tradition or +Smriti, are the Dharma Sutras, which deal with the customs of everyday +life (samayacharika). They are the earliest Indian works on law, +treating fully of its religious, but only partially and briefly of +its secular, aspect. The term Dharma Sutra is, strictly speaking, +applied to those collections of legal aphorisms which form part +of the body of Sutras belonging to a particular branch (çakha) of +the Veda. In this sense only three have been preserved, all of them +attached to the Taittiriya division of the Black Yajurveda. But there +is good reason to suppose that other works of the same kind which +have been preserved, or are known to have existed, were originally +also attached to individual Vedic schools. That Sutras on Dharma were +composed at a very early period is shown by the fact that Yaska, who +dates from near the beginning of the Sutra age, quotes legal rules +in the Sutra style. Indeed, one or two of those extant must go back +to about his time. + +The Dharma Sutra which has been best preserved, and has remained free +from the influence of sectarians or modern editors, is that of the +Apastambas. It forms two (28-29) of the thirty sections of the great +Apastamba Kalpa Sutra, or body of aphorisms concerning the performance +of sacrifices and the duties of the three upper classes. It deals +chiefly with the duties of the Vedic student and of the householder, +with forbidden food, purifications, and penances, while, on the +secular side, it touches upon the law of marriage, inheritance, and +crime only. From the disapprobation which the author expresses for a +certain practice of the people of the North, it may be inferred that he +belonged to the South, where his school is known to have been settled +in later times. Owing to the pre-Paninean character of its language and +other criteria, Bühler has assigned this Dharma Sutra to about 400 B.C. + +Very closely connected with this work is the Dharma Sutra of +Hiranyakeçin; for the differences between the two do not go much +beyond varieties of reading. In keeping with this relationship is +the tradition that Hiranyakeçin branched off from the Apastambas +and founded a new school in the Konkan country on the south-west +(about Goa). The lower limit for this separation from the Apastambas +is about 500 A.D., when a Hiranyakeçin Brahman is mentioned in an +inscription. The main importance of this Sutra lies in its confirming, +by the parallelism of its text, the genuineness of by far the greatest +part of Apastamba's work. It forms two (26-27) of the twenty-nine +chapters of the Kalpa Sutra belonging to the school of Hiranyakeçin. + +The third Dharma Sutra, generally styled a dharmaçastra in the MSS., +is that of Baudhayana. Its position, however, within the Kalpa Sutra +of its school is not so fixed as in the two previous cases. Its +subject-matter, when compared with that of Apastamba's Dharma Sutra, +indicates that it is the older of the two, just as the more archaic +and awkward style of Baudhayana's Grihya Sutra shows the latter to +be earlier than the corresponding work of Apastamba. The Baudhayana +school cannot be traced at the present day, but it appears to have +belonged to Southern India, where the famous Vedic commentator Sayana +was a member of it in the fourteenth century. The subjects dealt with +in their Dharma Sutra are multifarious, including the duties of the +four religious orders, the mixed castes, various kinds of sacrifice, +purification, penance, auspicious ceremonies, duties of kings, criminal +justice, examination of witnesses, law of inheritance and marriage, +the position of women. The fourth section, which is almost entirely +composed in çlokas, is probably a modern addition, and even the third +is of somewhat doubtful age. + +With the above works must be classed the well-preserved law-book of +Gautama. Though it does not form part of a Kalpa Sutra, it must at +one time have been connected with a Vedic school; for the Gautamas are +mentioned as a subdivision of the Ranayaniya branch of the Samaveda, +and Kumarila's statement that Gautama's treatise originally belonged +to that Veda is confirmed by the fact that its twenty-sixth section is +taken word for word from the Samavidhana Brahmana. Though entitled +a Dharma Çastra, it is in style and character a regular Dharma +Sutra. It is composed entirely in prose aphorisms, without any +admixture of verse, as in the other works of this class. Its varied +contents resemble and are treated much in the same way as those of +the Dharma Sutra of Baudhayana. The latter has indeed been shown +to contain passages based on or borrowed from Gautama's work, which +is therefore the oldest Dharma Sutra that has been preserved, or at +least published, and can hardly date from later than about 500 B.C. + +Another work of the Sutra type, and belonging to the Vedic period, +is the Dharma Çastra of Vasishtha. It has survived only in inferior +MSS., and without the preserving influence of a commentary. It contains +thirty chapters (adhyayas), of which the last five appear to consist +for the most part of late additions. Many of the Sutras, not only +here, but even in the older portions, are hopelessly corrupt. The +prose aphorisms of the work are intermingled with verse, the archaic +trishtubh metre being frequently employed instead of the later çlokas +of Manu and others. The contents, which bear the Dharma Sutra stamp, +produce the impression of antiquity in various respects. Thus here, +as in the Dharma Sutra of Apastamba, only six forms of marriage are +recognised, instead of the orthodox eight. Kumarila states that in +his time Vasishtha's law-book, while acknowledged to have general +authority, was studied by followers of the Rigveda only. That he +meant the present work and no other, is proved by the quotations +from it which he gives, and which are found in the published text. As +Vasishtha, in citing Vedic Samhitas and Sutras, shows a predilection +for works belonging to the North of India, it is to be inferred that +he or his school belonged to that part. Vasishtha gives a quotation +from Gautama which appears to refer to a passage in the extant text of +the latter. His various quotations from Manu are derived, not from the +later famous law-book, but evidently from a legal Sutra related to our +Manu. On the other hand, the extant text of Manu contains a quotation +from Vasishtha which actually occurs in the published edition of the +latter. Hence Vasishtha's work must be later than that of Gautama, +and earlier than that of Manu. It is further probable that the original +part of the Sutra of a school connected with the Rigveda and belonging +to the North dates from a period some centuries before our era. + +Some Dharma Sutras are known from quotations only, the oldest being +those mentioned in other Dharma Sutras. Particular interest attaches +to one of these, the Sutra of Manu, or the Manavas, because of its +relationship to the famous Manava dharma-çastra. Of the numerous +quotations from it in Vasishtha, six are found unaltered or but +slightly modified in our text of Manu. One passage cited in Vasishtha +is composed partly in prose and partly in verse, the latter portion +recurring in Manu. The metrical quotations show a mixture of trishtubh +and çloka verses, like other Dharma Sutras. These quoted fragments +probably represent a Manava dharma-sutra which supplied the basis of +our Manava dharma-çastra or Code of Manu. + +Fragments of a legal treatise in prose and verse, attributed to the +brothers Çankha and Likhita, who became proverbial for justice, have +been similarly preserved. This work, which must have been extensive, +and dealt with all branches of law, is already quoted as authoritative +by Paraçara. The statement of Kumarila (700 A.D.) that it was connected +with the Vajasaneyin school of the White Yajurveda is borne out by +the quotations from it which have survived. + +Sutras need not necessarily go back to the oldest period of Indian +law, as this style of composition was never entirely superseded by +the use of metre. Thus there is a Vaikhanasa dharma-sutra in four +praçnas, which, as internal evidence shows, cannot be earlier than +the third century A.D. It refers to the cult of Narayana (Vishnu), +and mentions Wednesday by the name of budha-vara, "day of Mercury." It +is not a regular Dharma Sutra, for it contains nothing connected +with law in the strict sense, but is only a treatise on domestic law +(grihya-dharma). It deals with the religious duties of the four orders +(açramas), especially with those of the forest hermit. For it is +with the latter order that the Vaikhanasas, or followers of Vikhanas, +are specially connected. They seem to have been one of the youngest +offshoots of the Taittiriya school. + +Looking back on the vast mass of ritual and usage regulated by the +Sutras, we are tempted to conclude that it was entirely the conscious +work of an idle priesthood, invented to enslave and maintain in +spiritual servitude the minds of the Hindu people. But the progress +of research tends to show that the basis even of the sacerdotal ritual +of the Brahmans was popular religious observances. Otherwise it would +be hard to understand how Brahmanism acquired and retained such a +hold on the population of India. The originality of the Brahmans +consisted in elaborating and systematising observances which they +already found in existence. This they certainly succeeded in doing +to an extent unknown elsewhere. + +Comparative studies have shown that many ritual practices go back to +the period when the Indians and Persians were still one people. Thus +the sacrifice was even then the centre of a developed ceremonial, and +was tended by a priestly class. Many terms of the Vedic ritual already +existed then, especially soma, which was pressed, purified through a +sieve, mixed with milk, and offered as the main libation. Investiture +with a sacred cord was, as we have seen, also known, and was in its +turn based on the still older ceremony of the initiation of youths +on entering manhood. The offering of gifts to the gods in fire is +Indo-European, as is shown by the agreement of the Greeks, Romans, +and Indians. Indo-European also is that part of the marriage ritual +in which the newly wedded couple walk round the nuptial fire, the +bridegroom presenting a burnt offering and the bride an offering +of grain; for among the Romans also the young pair walked round +the altar from left to right before offering bread (far) in the +fire. Indo-European, too, must be the practice of scattering rice +or grain (as a symbol of fertility) over the bride and bridegroom, +as prescribed in the Sutras; for it is widely diffused among peoples +who cannot have borrowed it. Still older is the Indian ceremony +of producing the sacrificial fire by the friction of two pieces +of wood. Similarly the practice in the construction of the Indian +fire-altar of walling up in the lowest layer of bricks the heads +of five different victims, including that of a man, goes back to an +ancient belief that a building can only be firmly erected when a man +or an animal is buried with its foundations. + +Finally, we have as a division of the Sutras, concerned with religious +practice, the Çulva Sutras. The thirtieth and last praçna of the +great Kalpa Sutra of Apastamba is a treatise of this class. These +are practical manuals giving the measurements necessary for the +construction of the vedi, of the altars, and so forth. They show +quite an advanced knowledge of geometry, and constitute the oldest +Indian mathematical works. + +The whole body of Vedic works composed in the Sutra style, is according +to the Indian traditional view, divided into six classes called +Vedangas ("members of the Veda"). These are çiksha or phonetics; +chhandas, or metre; vyakarana, or grammar; nirukta, or etymology; +kalpa, or religious practice; and jyotisha, or astronomy. The first +four were meant as aids to the correct reciting and understanding of +the sacred texts; the last two deal with religious rites or duties, +and their proper seasons. They all have their origin in the exigencies +of religion, and the last four furnish the beginnings or (in one case) +the full development of five branches of science that flourished in +the post-Vedic period. In the fourth and sixth group the name of the +class has been applied to designate a particular work representing it. + +Of kalpa we have already treated at length above. No work representing +astronomy has survived from the Vedic period; for the Vedic calendar, +called jyotisha, the two recensions of which profess to belong to +the Rigveda and Yajurveda respectively, dates from far on in the +post-Vedic age. + +The Taittiriya Aranyaka (vii. 1) already mentions çiksha, or phonetics, +a subject which even then appears to have dealt with letters, accents, +quantity, pronunciation, and euphonic rules. Several works bearing +the title of çiksha have been preserved, but they are only late +supplements of Vedic literature. They are short manuals containing +directions for Vedic recitation and correct pronunciation. The +earliest surviving results of phonetic studies are of course the +Samhita texts of the various Vedas, which were edited in accordance +with euphonic rules. A further advance was made by the constitution +of the pada-patha, or word-text of the Vedas, which, by resolving +the euphonic combinations and giving each word (even the parts of +compounds) separately, in its original form unmodified by phonetic +rules, furnished a basis for all subsequent studies. Yaska, Panini, and +other grammarians do not always accept the analyses of the Padapathas +when they think they understand a Vedic form better. Patanjali even +directly contests their authoritativeness. The treatises really +representative of Vedic phonetics are the Pratiçakhyas, which are +directly connected with the Samhita and Padapatha. It is their object +to determine the relation of these to each other. In so doing they +furnish a systematic account of Vedic euphonic combination, besides +adding phonetic discussions to secure the correct recitation of the +sacred texts. They are generally regarded as anterior to Panini, +who shows unmistakable points of contact with them. It is perhaps +more correct to suppose that Panini used the present Pratiçakhyas in +an older form, as, whenever he touches on Vedic sandhi, he is always +less complete in his statements than they are, while the Pratiçakhyas, +especially that of the Atharva-veda, are dependent on the terminology +of the grammarians. Four of these treatises have been preserved +and published. One belongs to the Rigveda, another to the Atharva-, +and two to the Yajur-veda, being attached to the Vajasaneyi and the +Taittiriya Samhita respectively. They are so called because intended +for the use of each respective branch (çakha) of the Vedas. + +The Pratiçakhya Sutra of the Rigveda is an extensive metrical work +in three books, traditionally attributed to Çaunaka, the teacher of +Açvalayana; it may, however, in its present form only be a production +of the school of Çaunaka. This Pratiçakhya was later epitomised, with +the addition of some supplementary matter, in a short treatise entitled +Upalekha. The Taittiriya Pratiçakhya is particularly interesting +owing to the various peculiar names of teachers occurring among +the twenty which it mentions. The Vajasaneyi Pratiçakhya, in eight +chapters, names Katyayana as its author, and mentions Çaunaka among +other predecessors. The Atharva-veda Pratiçakhya, in four chapters, +belonging to the school of the Çaunakas, is more grammatical than +the other works of this class. + +Metre, to which there are many scattered references in the Brahmanas, +is separately treated in a section of the Çankhayana Çrauta Sutra (7, +27), in the last three sections (patalas) of the Rigveda Pratiçakhya, +and especially in the Nidana Sutra, which belongs to the Samaveda. A +part of the Chhandah Sutra of Pingala also deals with Vedic metres; but +though it claims to be a Vedanga, it is in reality a late supplement, +dealing chiefly with post-Vedic prosody, on which, indeed, it is the +standard authority. + +Finally, Katyayana's two Anukramanis or indices, mentioned below, +each contains a section, varying but slightly from the other, on Vedic +metres. These sections are, however, almost identical in matter with +the sixteenth patala of the Rigveda Pratiçakhya, and may possibly be +older than the corresponding passage in the Pratiçakhya, though the +latter work as a whole is doubtless anterior to the Anukramani. + +The Padapathas show that their authors had not only made investigations +as to pronunciation and Sandhi, but already knew a good deal about +the grammatical analysis of words; for they separate both the parts of +compounds and the prefixes of verbs, as well as certain suffixes and +terminations of nouns. They had doubtless already distinguished the +four parts of speech (padajatani), though these are first mentioned by +Yaska as naman, or "noun" (including sarva-naman, "representing all +nouns" or "pronouns"), akhyata, "predicate," i.e. "verb"; upasarga, +"supplement," i.e. "preposition"; nipata, "incidental addition," +i.e. "particle." It is perhaps to the separation of these categories +that the name for grammar, vyakarana, originally referred, rather +than to the analysis of words. Even the Brahmanas bear evidence of +linguistic investigations, for they mention various grammatical +terms, such as "letter" (varna), "masculine" (vrishan), "number" +(vachana), "case-form" (vibhakti).Still more such references are to +be found in the Aranyakas, the Upanishads, and the Sutras. But the +most important information we have of pre-Paninean grammar is that +found in Yaska's work. + +Grammatical studies must have been cultivated to a considerable +extent before Yaska's time, for he distinguishes a Northern and +an Eastern school, besides mentioning nearly twenty predecessors, +among whom Çakatayana, Gargya, and Çakalya are the most important. By +the time of Yaska grammarians had learned to distinguish clearly +between the stem and the formative elements of words; recognising +the personal terminations and the tense affixes of the verb on +the one hand, and primary (krit) or secondary (taddhita) nominal +suffixes on the other. Yaska has an interesting discussion on the +theory of Çakatayana, which he himself follows, that nouns are +derived from verbs. Gargya and some other grammarians, he shows, +admit this theory in a general way, but deny that it is applicable +to all nouns. He criticises their objections, and finally dismisses +them as untenable. On Çakatayana's theory of the verbal origin +of nouns the whole system of Panini is founded. The sutra of that +grammarian contains hundreds of rules dealing with Vedic forms; but +these are of the nature of exceptions to the main body of his rules, +which are meant to describe the Sanskrit language. His work almost +entirely dominates the subsequent literature. Though belonging to +the middle of the Sutra period, it must be regarded as the definite +starting-point of the post-Vedic age. Coming to be regarded as an +infallible authority, Panini superseded all his predecessors, whose +works have consequently perished. Yaska alone survives, and that only +because he was not directly a grammarian; for his work represents, +and alone represents, the Vedanga "etymology." + +Yaska's Nirukta is in reality a Vedic commentary, and is older by some +centuries than any other exegetical work preserved in Sanskrit. Its +bases are the Nighantus, collections of rare or obscure Vedic words, +arranged for the use of teachers. Yaska had before him five such +collections. The first three contain groups of synonyms, the fourth +specially difficult words, and the fifth a classification of the +Vedic gods. These Yaska explained for the most part in the twelve +books of his commentary (to which two others were added later). In +so doing he adduces as examples a large number of verses, chiefly +from the Rigveda, which he interprets with many etymological remarks. + +The first book is an introduction, dealing with the principles +of grammar and exegesis. The second and third elucidate certain +points in the synonymous nighantus; Books IV.-VI. comment on the +fourth section, and VII.-XII. on the fifth. The Nirukta, besides +being very important from the point of view of exegesis and grammar, +is highly interesting as the earliest specimen of Sanskrit prose of +the classical type, considerably earlier than Panini himself. Yaska +already uses essentially the same grammatical terminology as Panini, +employing, for instance, the same words for root (dhatu), primary, +and secondary suffixes. But he must have lived a long time before +Panini; for a considerable number of important grammarians' names are +mentioned between them. Yaska must, therefore, go back to the fifth +century, and undoubtedly belongs to the beginning of the Sutra period. + +One point of very great importance proved by the Nirukta is that the +Rigveda had a very fixed form in Yaska's time, and was essentially +identical with our text. His deviations are very insignificant. Thus +in one passage (X. 29. I) he reads vayó as one word, against va +yó as two words in Çakalya's Pada text. Yaska's paraphrases show +that he also occasionally differed from the Samhita text, though +the quotations themselves from the Rigveda have been corrected so +as to agree absolutely with the traditional text. But these slight +variations are probably due to mistakes in the Nirukta rather than +to varieties of reading in the Rigveda. There are a few insignificant +deviations of this kind even in Sayana, but they are always manifestly +oversights on the part of the commentator. + +To the Sutras is attached a very extensive literature of Pariçishtas +or "supplements," which seem to have existed in all the Vedic +schools. They contain details on matters only touched upon in the +Sutras, or supplementary information about subjects not dealt with at +all by them. Thus, there is the Açvalayana Grihya-pariçishta, in four +chapters, connected with the Rigveda. The Gobhila samgraha-pariçishta +is a compendium of Grihya practices in general, with a special +leaning towards magical rites, which came to be attached to the +Samaveda. Closely related to, and probably later than this work, is +the Karma-pradipa ("lamp of rites"), also variously called sama-grihya- +or chhandogyagrihya-pariçishta, chhandoga-pariçishta, Gobhila-smriti, +attributed to the Katyayana of the White Yajurveda or to Gobhila. It +deals with the same subjects, though independently, as the Grihya +samgraha, with which it occasionally agrees in whole çlokas. + +Of great importance for the understanding of the sacrificial ceremonial +are the Prayogas ("Manuals") and Paddhatis ("Guides"), of which +a vast number exist in manuscript. These works represent both the +Çrauta and the Grihya ritual according to the various schools. The +Prayogas describe the course of each sacrifice and the functions +of the different groups of priests, solely from the point of view +of practical performance, while the Paddhatis rather follow the +systematic accounts of the Sutras and sketch their contents. There +are also versified accounts of the ritual called Karikas, which +are directly attached to Sutras or to Paddhatis. The oldest of them +appears to be the Karika of Kumarila (c. 700 A.D.). + +Of a supplementary character are also the class of writings called +Anukramanis or Vedic Indices, which give lists of the hymns, the +authors, the metres, and the deities in the order in which they +occur in the various Samhitas. To the Rigveda belonged seven of these +works, all attributed to Çaunaka, and composed in the mixture of the +çloka and trishtubh metre, which is also found in Çaunaka's Rigveda +Pratiçakhya. There is also a General Index or Sarvanukramani which is +attributed to Katyayana, and epitomises in the Sutra style the contents +of the metrical indices. Of the metrical indices five have been +preserved. The Arshanukramani, containing rather less than 300 çlokas, +gives a list of the Rishis or authors of the Rigveda. Its present text +represents a modernised form of that which was known to the commentator +Shadguruçishya in the twelfth century. The Chhandonukramani, which +is of almost exactly the same length, enumerates the metres in which +the hymns of the Rigveda are composed. It also states for each book +the number of verses in each metre as well as the aggregate in all +metres. The Anuvakanukramani is a short index containing only about +forty verses. It states the initial words of each of the eighty-five +anuvakas or lessons into which the Rigveda is divided, and the +number of hymns contained in these anuvakas. It further states that +the Rigveda contains 1017 hymns (or 1025 according to the Vashkala +recension), 10,580-1/2 verses, 153,826 words, 432,000 syllables, +besides some other statistical details. The number of verses given does +not exactly tally with various calculations that have recently been +made, but the differences are only slight, and may be due to the way in +which certain repeated verses were counted by the author of the index. + +There is another short index, known as yet only in two MSS., called +the Padanukramani, or "index of lines" (padas), and composed in the +same mixed metre as the others. The Suktanukramani, which has not +survived, and is only known by name, probably consisted only of the +initial words (pratikas) of the hymns. It probably perished because the +Sarvanukramani would have rendered such a work superfluous. No MS. of +the Devatanukramani or "Index of gods" exists, but ten quotations from +it have been preserved by the commentator Shadguruçishya. It must have +been superseded by the Brihaddevata, an index of the "many gods," +a much more extensive work than any of the other Anukramanis, as it +contains about 1200 çlokas interspersed with occasional trishtubhs. It +is divided into eight adhyayas corresponding to the ashtakas of +the Rigveda. Following the order of the Rigveda, its main object +is to state the deity for each verse. But as it contains a large +number of illustrative myths and legends, it is of great value as an +early collection of stories. It is to a considerable extent based +on Yaska's Nirukta. Besides Yaska himself and other teachers named +by that scholar, it also mentions Bhaguri and Açvalayana as well as +the Nidana Sutra, A peculiarity of this work is that it refers to a +number of supplementary hymns (khilas) which do not form part of the +canonical text of the Rigveda. + +Later, at least, than the original form of these metrical Anukramanis, +is the Sarvanukramani of Katyayana, which combines the data contained +in them within the compass of a single work. Composed in the Sutra +style, it is of considerable length, occupying about forty-six pages +in the printed edition. For every hymn in the Rigveda it states +the initial word or words, the number of its verses, as well as the +author, the deity, and the metre, even for single verses. There is an +introduction in twelve sections, nine of which form a short treatise on +Vedic metres corresponding to the last three sections of the Rigveda +Pratiçakhya. The author begins with the statement that he is going to +supply an index of the pratikas and so forth of the Rigveda according +to the authorities (yathopadeçam), because without such knowledge the +Çrauta and Smarta rites cannot be accomplished. These authorities are +doubtless the metrical indices described above. For the text of the +Sarvanukramani, which is composed in a concise Sutra style, not only +contains some metrical lines (padas), but also a number of passages +either directly taken from the Arshanukramani and the Brihaddevata, +or with their metrical wording but slightly altered. Another metrical +work attributed to Çaunaka is the Rigvidhana, which describes the +magical effects produced by the recitation of hymns or single verses +of the Rigveda. + +To the Pariçishtas of the Samaveda belong the two indices called Arsha +and Daivata, enumerating respectively the Rishis and deities of the +text of the Naigeya branch of the Samaveda. They quote Yaska, Çaunaka, +and Açvalayana among others. There are also two Anukramanis attached +to the Black Yajurveda. That of the Atreya school consists of two +parts, the first of which is in prose, and the second in çlokas. It +contains little more than an enumeration of names referring to the +contents of its Samhita. The Anukramani of the Charayaniya school of +the Kathaka is an index of the authors of the various sections and +verses. Its statements regarding passages derived from the Rigveda +differ much from those of the Sarvanukramani of the Rigveda, giving +a number of totally new names. It claims to be the work of Atri, who +communicated it to Laugakshi. The Anukramani of the White Yajurveda +in the Madhyamdina recension, attributed to Katyayana, consists of +five sections. The first four are an index of authors, deities, and +metres. The authors of verses taken from the Rigveda generally agree +with those in the Sarvanukramani. There are, however, a good many +exceptions, several new names belonging to a later period, some even +to that of the Çatapatha Brahmana. The fifth section gives a summary +account of the metres occurring in the text. It is identical with +the corresponding portion of the introduction to the Sarvanukramani, +which was probably the original position of the section. There +are many other Pariçishtas of the White Yajurveda, all attributed +to Katyayana. Only three of these need be mentioned here. The +Nigama-pariçishta, a glossary of synonymous words occurring in the +White Yajurveda, has a lexicographical interest. The Pravaradhyaya, +or "Chapter on Ancestors," is a list of Brahman families drawn up for +the purpose of determining the forbidden degrees of relationship in +marriage, and of indicating the priests suitable for the performance +of sacrifice. The Charana-vyuha, or "Exposition of the Schools" +of the various Vedas, is a very late work of little importance, +giving a far less complete enumeration of the Vedic schools than +certain sections of the Vishnu- and the Vayu-Purana. There is also a +Charana-vyuha among the Pariçishtas of the Atharva-veda, which number +upwards of seventy. This work makes the statement that the Atharva +contains 2000 hymns and 12,380 verses. + +In concluding this account of Vedic literature, I cannot omit to say +a few words about Sayana, the great mediæval Vedic scholar, to whom +or to whose initiation we owe a number of valuable commentaries on the +Rigveda, the Aitareya Brahmana and Aranyaka, as well as the Taittiriya +Samhita, Brahmana, and Aranyaka, besides a number of other works. His +comments on the two Samhitas would appear to have been only partially +composed by himself and to have been completed by his pupils. He died +in 1387, having written his works under Bukka I. (1350-79), whose +teacher and minister he calls himself, and his successor, Harihara +(1379-99). These princes belonged to a family which, throwing off +the Muhammadan yoke in the earlier half of the fourteenth century, +founded the dynasty of Vijayanagara ("city of victory"), now Hampi, +on the Tungabhadra, in the Bellary district. Sayana's elder brother, +Madhava, was minister of King Bukka, and died as abbot of the monastery +of Çringeri, under the name of Vidyaranyasvamin. Not only did he too +produce works of his own, but Sayana's commentaries, as composed under +his patronage, were dedicated to him as madhaviya, or ("influenced +by Madhava"). By an interesting coincidence Professor Max Müller's +second edition of the Rigveda, with the commentary of Sayana, was +brought out under the auspices of a Maharaja of Vijayanagara. The +latter city has, however, nothing to do with that from which King +Bukka derived his title. + + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE EPICS + +(Circa 500-50 B.C.) + + +In turning from the Vedic to the Sanskrit period, we are confronted +with a literature which is essentially different from that of +the earlier age in matter, spirit, and form. Vedic literature is +essentially religious; Sanskrit literature, abundantly developed in +every other direction, is profane. But, doubtless as a result of the +speculative tendencies of the Upanishads, a moralising spirit at the +same time breathes through it as a whole. The religion itself which now +prevails is very different from that of the Vedic age. For in the new +period the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Çiva are the chief +objects of worship. The important deities of the Veda have sunk to a +subordinate position, though Indra is still relatively prominent as the +chief of a warrior's heaven. Some new gods of lesser rank have arisen, +such as Kubera, god of wealth; Ganeça, god of learning; Karttikeya, +god of war; Çri or Lakshmi, goddess of beauty and fortune; Durga or +Parvati, the terrible spouse of Çiva; besides the serpent deities +and several classes of demigods and demons. + +While the spirit of Vedic literature, at least in its earlier phase, +is optimistic, Sanskrit poetry is pervaded by Weltschmerz, resulting +from the now universally accepted doctrine of transmigration. To +that doctrine, according to which beings pass by gradations from +Brahma through men and animals to the lowest forms of existence, +is doubtless also largely due the fantastic element characteristic +of this later poetry. Here, for instance, we read of Vishnu coming +down to earth in the shape of animals, of sages and saints wandering +between heaven and earth, of human kings visiting Indra in heaven. + +Hand in hand with this fondness for introducing the marvellous and +supernatural into the description of human events goes a tendency to +exaggeration. Thus King Viçvamitra, we are told, practised penance +for thousands of years in succession; and the power of asceticism +is described as so great as to cause even the worlds and the gods to +tremble. The very bulk of the Mahabharata, consisting as it does of +more than 200,000 lines, is a concrete illustration of this defective +sense of proportion. + +As regards the form in which it is presented to us, Sanskrit +literature contrasts with that of both the earlier and the later +Vedic period. While prose was employed in the Yajurvedas and the +Brahmanas, and finally attained to a certain degree of development, +it almost disappears in Sanskrit, nearly every branch of literature +being treated in verse, often much to the detriment of the subject, +as in the case of law. The only departments almost entirely restricted +to the use of prose are grammar and philosophy, but the cramped and +enigmatical style in which these subjects are treated hardly deserves +the name of prose at all. Literary prose is found only in fables, +fairy tales, romances, and partially in the drama. In consequence of +this neglect, the prose of the later period compares unfavourably with +that of the Brahmanas. Even the style of the romances or prose kavyas, +subject as it is to the strict rules of poetics, is as clumsy as that +of the grammatical commentaries; for the use of immense compounds, +like those of the Sutras, is one of its essential characteristics. + +Sanskrit literature, then, resembles that of the earlier Vedic age in +being almost entirely metrical. But the metres in which it is written, +though nearly all based on those of the Veda, are different. The bulk +of the literature is composed in the çloka, a development of the Vedic +anushtubh stanza of four octosyllabic lines; but while all four lines +ended iambically in the prototype, the first and third line have +in the çloka acquired a trochaic rhythm. The numerous other metres +employed in the classical poetry have become much more elaborate +than their Vedic originals by having the quantity of every syllable +in the line strictly determined. + +The style, too, excepting the two old epics, is in Sanskrit poetry +made more artificial by the frequent use of long compounds, as well +as by the application of the elaborate rules of poetics, while the +language is regulated by the grammar of Panini. Thus classical Sanskrit +literature, teeming as it does with fantastic and exaggerated ideas, +while bound by the strictest rules of form, is like a tropical garden +full of luxuriant and rank growth, in which, however, many a fair +flower of true poetry may be culled. + +It is impossible even for the Sanskrit scholar who has not lived in +India to appreciate fully the merits of this later poetry, much more so +for those who can only become acquainted with it in translations. For, +in the first place, the metres, artificial and elaborate though they +are, have a beauty of their own which cannot be reproduced in other +languages. Again, to understand it thoroughly, the reader must have +seen the tropical plains and forests of Hindustan steeped in intense +sunshine or bathed in brilliant moonlight; he must have viewed the +silent ascetic seated at the foot of the sacred fig-tree; he must have +experienced the feelings inspired by the approach of the monsoon; he +must have watched beast and bird disporting themselves in tank and +river; he must know the varying aspects of Nature in the different +seasons; in short, he must be acquainted with all the sights and sounds +of an Indian landscape, the mere allusion to one of which may call +up some familiar scene or touch some chord of sentiment. Otherwise, +for instance, the mango-tree, the red Açoka, the orange Kadamba, the +various creepers, the different kinds of lotus, the mention of each +of which should convey a vivid picture, are but empty names. Without +a knowledge, moreover, of the habits, modes of thought, and traditions +of the people, much must remain meaningless. But those who are properly +equipped can see many beauties in classical Sanskrit poetry which are +entirely lost to others. Thus a distinguished scholar known to the +present writer has entered so fully into the spirit of that poetry, +that he is unable to derive pleasure from any other. + +It would be a mistake to suppose that Sanskrit literature came into +being only at the close of the Vedic period, or that it merely forms +its continuation and development. As a profane literature, it must, +in its earliest phases, which are lost, have been contemporaneous +with the religious literature of the Vedas. Beside the productions +of the latest Vedic period, that of the Upanishads and Sutras, there +grew up, on the one hand, the rich Pali literature of Buddhism, and, +on the other, the earliest form of Sanskrit poetry in the shape of +epic tales. We have seen that even the Rigveda contains some hymns +of a narrative character. Later we find in the Brahmanas a number +of short legends, mostly in prose, but sometimes partly metrical, +as the story of Çunahçepa in the Aitareya. Again, the Nirukta, which +must date from the fifth century B.C., contains many prose tales, +and the oldest existing collection of Vedic legend, the metrical +Brihaddevata, cannot belong to a much later time. + +Sanskrit epic poetry falls into two main classes. That which +comprises old stories goes by the name of Itihasa, "legend," Akhyana, +"narrative," or Purana, "ancient tale," while the other is called +Kavya or artificial epic. The Mahabharata is the chief and oldest +representative of the former group, the Ramayana of the latter. Both +these great epics are composed in the same form of the çloka metre as +that employed in classical Sanskrit poetry. The Mahabharata, however, +also contains, as remnants of an older phase, archaic verses in the +upajati and vamçastha (developments of the Vedic trishtubh and jagati) +metres, besides preserving some old prose stories in what is otherwise +an entirely metrical work. It further differs from the sister epic in +introducing speeches with words, such as "Brihadaçva spake," which +do not form part of the verse, and which may be survivals of prose +narrative connecting old epic songs. The Ramayana, again, is, in the +main, the work of a single poet, homogeneous in plan and execution, +composed in the east of India. The Mahabharata, arising in the western +half of the country, is a congeries of parts, the only unity about +which is the connectedness of the epic cycle with which they deal; its +epic kernel, moreover, which forms only about one-fifth of the whole +work, has become so overgrown with didactic matter, that in its final +shape it is not an epic at all, but an encyclopædia of moral teaching. + +The Mahabharata, which in its present form consists of over 100,000 +çlokas, equal to about eight times as much as the Iliad and Odyssey put +together, is by far the longest poem known to literary history. It is +a conglomerate of epic and didactic matter divided into eighteen books +called parvan, with a nineteenth, the Harivamça, as a supplement. The +books vary very considerably in length, the twelfth being the longest, +with nearly 14,000, the seventeenth the shortest, with only 312 +çlokas. All the eighteen books, excepting the eighth and the last +three, are divided into subordinate parvans; each book is also cut +up into chapters (adhyayas). + +No European edition of the whole epic has yet been undertaken. This +remains one of the great tasks reserved for the future of Sanskrit +philology, and can only be accomplished by the collaboration of several +scholars. There are complete MSS. of the Mahabharata in London, Oxford, +Paris, and Berlin, besides many others in different parts of India; +while the number of MSS. containing only parts of the poem can hardly +be counted. + +Three main editions of the epic have appeared in India. The editio +princeps, including the Harivamça, but without any commentary, was +published in four volumes at Calcutta in 1834-39. Another and better +edition, which has subsequently been reproduced several times, was +printed at Bombay in 1863. This edition, though not including the +supplementary book, contains the commentary of Nilakantha. These +two editions do not on the whole differ considerably. Being derived +from a common source, they represent one and the same recension. The +Bombay edition, however, generally has the better readings. It contains +about 200 çlokas more than the Calcutta edition, but these additions +are of no importance. + +A third edition, printed in Telugu characters, was published in four +volumes at Madras in 1855-60. It includes the Harivamça and extracts +from Nilakantha's commentary. This edition represents a distinct +South Indian recension, which seems to differ from that of the North +about as much as the three recensions of the Ramayana do from one +another. Both recensions are of about equal length, omissions in the +first being compensated by others in the second. Sometimes one has +the better text, sometimes the other. + +The epic kernel of the Mahabharata or the "Great Battle of the +descendants of Bharata," consisting of about 20,000 çlokas, describes +the eighteen days' fight between Duryodhana, leader of the Kurus, and +Yudhishthira, chief of the Pandus, who were cousins, both descended +from King Bharata, son of Çakuntala. Within this narrative frame has +come to be included a vast number of old legends about gods, kings, and +sages; accounts of cosmogony and theogony; disquisitions on philosophy, +law, religion, and the duties of the military caste. These lengthy +and heterogeneous interpolations render it very difficult to follow +the thread of the narrative. Entire works are sometimes inserted to +illustrate a particular statement. Thus, while the two armies are +drawn up prepared for battle, a whole philosophical poem, in eighteen +cantos, the Bhagavadgita is recited to the hero Arjuna, who hesitates +to advance and fight against his kin. Hence the Mahabharata claims +to be not only a heroic poem (kavya), but a compendium teaching, +in accordance with the Veda, the fourfold end of human existence +(spiritual merit, wealth, pleasure, and salvation), a smriti or work +of sacred tradition, which expounds the whole duty of man, and is +intended for the religious instruction of all Hindus. Thus, in one +(I. lxii. 35) of many similar passages, it makes the statement +about itself that "this collection of all sacred texts, in which +the greatness of cows and Brahmans is exalted, must be listened +to by virtuous-minded men." Its title, Karshna Veda, or "Veda of +Krishna" (a form of Vishnu), the occurrence of a famous invocation +of Narayana and Nara (names of Vishnu) and Sarasvati (Vishnu's wife) +at the beginning of each of its larger sections, and the prevalence +of Vishnuite doctrines throughout the work, prove it to have been a +smriti of the ancient Vishnuite sect of the Bhagavatas. + +Thus it is clear that the Mahabharata in its present shape contains +an epic nucleus, that it favours the worship of Vishnu, and that it +has become a comprehensive didactic work. We further find in Book +I. the direct statements that the poem at one time contained 24,000 +çlokas before the episodes (upakhyana) were added, that it originally +consisted of only 8800 çlokas, and that it has three beginnings. These +data render it probable that the epic underwent three stages of +development from the time it first assumed definite shape; and this +conclusion is corroborated by various internal and external arguments. + +There can be little doubt that the original kernel of the epic has as a +historical background an ancient conflict between the two neighbouring +tribes of the Kurus and Panchalas, who finally coalesced into a single +people. In the Yajurvedas these two tribes already appear united, +and in the Kathaka King Dhritarashtra Vaichitravirya, one of the chief +figures of the Mahabharata, is mentioned as a well-known person. Hence +the historical germ of the great epic is to be traced to a very early +period, which cannot well be later than the tenth century B.C. Old +songs about the ancient feud and the heroes who played a part in it, +must have been handed down by word of mouth and recited in popular +assemblies or at great public sacrifices. + +These disconnected battle-songs were, we must assume, worked up by some +poetic genius into a comparatively short epic, describing the tragic +fate of the Kuru race, who, with justice and virtue on their side, +perished through the treachery of the victorious sons of Pandu, with +Krishna at their head. To the period of this original epic doubtless +belong the traces the Mahabharata has preserved unchanged of the +heroic spirit and the customs of ancient times, so different from the +later state of things which the Mahabharata as a whole reflects. To +this period also belongs the figure of Brahma as the highest god. The +evidence of Pali literature shows that Brahma already occupied that +position in Buddha's time. We may, then, perhaps assume that the +original form of our epic came into being about the fifth century +B.C. The oldest evidence we have for the existence of the Mahabharata +in some shape or other is to be found in Açvalayana's Grihya Sutra, +where a Bharata and Mahabharata are mentioned. This would also point +to about the fifth century B.C. + +To the next stage, in which the epic, handed down by rhapsodists, +swelled to a length of about 20,000 çlokas, belongs the representation +of the victorious Pandus in a favourable light, and the introduction on +a level with Brahma of the two other great gods, Çiva, and especially +Vishnu, of whom Krishna appears as an incarnation. + +We gather from the account of Megasthenes that about 300 B.C., +these two gods were already prominent, and the people were divided +into Çivaites and Vishnuites. Moreover, the Yavanas or Greeks are +mentioned in the Mahabharata as allies of the Kurus, and even the Çakas +(Scythians) and Pahlavas (Parthians) are named along with them; Hindu +temples are also referred to as well as Buddhist relic mounds. Thus +an extension of the original epic must have taken place after 300 +B.C. and by the beginning of our era. + +The Brahmans knew how to utilise the great influence of the old epic +tradition by gradually incorporating didactic matter calculated to +impress upon the people, and especially on kings, the doctrines +of the priestly caste. It thus at last assumed the character of +a vast treatise on duty (dharma), in which the divine origin and +immutability of Brahman institutions, the eternity of the caste system, +and the subordination of all to the priests, are laid down. When the +Mahabharata attributes its origin to Vyasa, it implies a belief in a +final redaction, for the name simply means "Arranger." Dahlmann has +recently put forward the theory that the great epic was a didactic +work from the very outset; this view, however, appears to be quite +irreconcilable with the data of the poem, and is not likely to find +any support among scholars. + +What evidence have we as to when the Mahabharata attained to the form +in which we possess it? There is an inscription in a land grant dating +from 462 A.D. or at the latest 532 A.D., which proves incontrovertibly +that the epic about 500 A.D. was practically of exactly the same length +as it is stated to have in the survey of contents (anukramanika) given +in Book I., and as it actually has now; for it contains the following +words: "It has been declared in the Mahabharata, the compilation +embracing 100,000 verses, by the highest sage, Vyasa, the Vyasa of +the Vedas, the son of Paraçara." This quotation at the same time +proves that the epic at that date included the very long 12th and +13th, as well as the extensive supplementary book, the Harivamça, +without any one of which it would have been impossible to speak even +approximately of 100,000 verses. There are also several land grants, +dated between 450 and 500 A.D., and found in various parts of India, +which quote the Mahabharata as an authority teaching the rewards of +pious donors and the punishments of impious despoilers. This shows +that in the middle of the fifth century it already possessed the +same character as at present, that of a Smriti or Dharmaçastra. It +is only reasonable to suppose that it had acquired this character +at least a century earlier, or by about 350 A.D. Further research +in the writings of the Northern Buddhists and their dated Chinese +translations will probably enable us to put this date back by some +centuries. We are already justified in considering it likely that +the great epic had become a didactic compendium before the beginning +of our era. In any case, the present state of our knowledge entirely +disproves the suggestions put forward by Prof. Holtzmann in his work +on the Mahabharata, that the epic was turned into a Dharmaçastra by +the Brahmans after 900 A.D., and that whole books were added at this +late period. + +The literary evidence of Sanskrit authors from about 600 to 1100 +A.D. supplies us with a considerable amount of information as to the +state of the great epic during those five centuries. An examination +of the works of Bana, and of his predecessor Subandhu, shows that +these authors, who belong to the beginning of the seventh century, +not only studied and made use of legends from every one of the +eighteen books of the Mahabharata for the poetical embellishment of +their works, but were even acquainted with the Harivamça. We also +know that in Bana's time the Bhagavadgita was included in the great +epic. The same writer mentions that the Mahabharata was recited in +the temple of Mahakala at Ujjain. That such recitation was already a +widespread practice at that time is corroborated by an inscription +of about 600 A.D. from the remote Indian colony of Kamboja, which +states that copies of the Mahabharata, as well as of the Ramayana +and of an unnamed Purana, were presented to a temple there, and that +the donor had made arrangements to ensure their daily recitation in +perpetuity. This evidence shows that the Mahabharata cannot have +been a mere heroic poem, but must have borne the character of a +Smriti work of long-established authority. Even at the present day +both public and private recitations of the Epics and Puranas are +common in India, and are always instituted for the edification and +religious instruction of worshippers in temples or of members of +the family. As a rule, the Sanskrit texts are not only declaimed, +but also explained in the vernacular tongue for the benefit both of +women, and of such males as belong to classes unacquainted with the +learned language of the Brahmans. + +We next come to the eminent Mimamsa philosopher Kumarila, who has +been proved to have flourished in the first half of the eighth +century A.D. In the small portion of his great commentary, entitled +Tantra-varttika, which has been examined, no fewer than ten of the +eighteen books of the Mahabharata are named, quoted, or referred to. It +is clear that the epic as known to him not only included the first book +(adiparvan), but that that book in his time closely resembled the form +of its text which we possess. It even appears to have contained the +first section, called anukramanika or "Survey of contents," and the +second, entitled parva-samgraha or "Synopsis of sections." Kumarila +also knew Books XII. and XIII., which have frequently been pronounced +to be of late origin, as well as XIX. It is evident from his treatment +of the epic that he regarded it as a work of sacred tradition and of +great antiquity, intended from the beginning for the instruction of all +the four castes. To him it is not an account of the great war between +the Kauravas and Pandus; the descriptions of battles were only used +for the purpose of rousing the martial instincts of the warrior caste. + +The great Vedantist philosopher Çankaracharya, who wrote his +commentary in 804 A.D., often quotes the Mahabharata as a Smriti, +and in discussing a verse from Book XII. expressly states that the +Mahabharata was intended for the religious instruction of those +classes who by their position are debarred from studying the Vedas +and the Vedanta. + +From the middle of the eleventh century A.D. we have the oldest +known abstract of the Mahabharata, the work of the Kashmirian poet +Kshemendra, entitled Bharata-Manjari. This condensation is specially +important, because it enables the scholar to determine the state of the +text in detail at that time. Professor Bühler's careful comparison of +the MSS. of this work with the great epic has led him to the conclusion +that Kshemendra's original did not differ from the Mahabharata as we +have it at present in any other way than two classes of MSS. differ +from each other. This poetical epitome shows several omissions, +but these are on the whole of such a nature as is to be expected in +any similar abridgment. It is, however, likely that twelve chapters +(342-353) of Book XII., treating of Narayana, which the abbreviator +passes over, did not exist in the original known to him. There can, +moreover, be no doubt that the forms of several proper names found in +the Manjari are better and older than those given by the editions of +the Mahabharata. Though the division of the original into eighteen +books is found in the abridgment also, it is made up by turning the +third section (gada-parvan) of Book IX. (çalya-parvan) into a separate +book, while combining Books XII. and XIII. into a single one. This +variation probably represents an old division, as it occurs in many +MSS. of the Mahabharata. + +Another work of importance in determining the state of the Mahabharata +is a Javanese translation of the epic, also dating from the eleventh +century. + +The best-known commentator of the Mahabharata is Nilakantha, who +lived at Kurpara, to the west of the Godavari, in Maharashtra, and, +according to Burnell, belongs to the sixteenth century. Older than +Nilakantha, who quotes him, is Arjuna Miçra, whose commentary, along +with that of Nilakantha, appears in an edition of the Mahabharata +begun at Calcutta in 1875. The earliest extant commentator of the +great epic is Sarvajna Narayana, large fragments of whose notes have +been preserved, and who cannot have written later than in the second +half of the fourteenth century, but may be somewhat older. + +The main story of the Mahabharata in the briefest possible outline +is as follows: In the country of the Bharatas, which, from the name +of the ruling race, had come to be called Kurukshetra, or "Land of +the Kurus," there lived at Hastinapura, fifty-seven miles north-east +of the modern Delhi, two princes named Dhritarashtra and Pandu. The +elder of these brothers being blind, Pandu succeeded to the throne +and reigned gloriously. He had five sons called Pandavas, the chief +of whom were Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna. Dhritarashtra had a +hundred sons, usually called Kauravas, or Kuru princes, the most +prominent of whom was Duryodhana. On the premature death of Pandu, +Dhritarashtra took over the reins of government, and receiving his five +nephews into his palace, had them brought up with his own sons. As the +Pandus distinguished themselves greatly in feats of arms and helped +him to victory, the king appointed his eldest nephew, Yudhishthira, +to be heir-apparent. The Pandu princes, however, soon found it +necessary to escape from the plots their cousins now began to set +on foot against them. They made their way to the king of Panchala, +whose daughter Draupadi was won, in a contest between many kings and +heroes, by Arjuna, who alone was able to bend the king's great bow and +to hit a certain mark. In order to avoid strife, Draupadi consented to +become the common wife of the five princes. At Draupadi's svayamvara +(public choice of a husband) the Pandus made acquaintance with Krishna, +the hero of the Yadavas, who from this time onward became their fast +friend and adviser. Dhritarashtra, thinking it best to conciliate +the Pandavas in view of their double alliance with the Panchalas and +Yadavas, now divided his kingdom, giving Hastinapura to his sons, and +to his nephews a district where they built the city of Indraprastha, +the modern Delhi (i.). + +Here the Pandavas ruled wisely and prospered greatly. Duryodhana's +jealousy being aroused, he resolved to ruin his cousins, with +the aid of his uncle Çakuni, a skilful gamester. Dhritarashtra +was accordingly induced to invite the Pandus to Hastinapura. Here +Yudhishthira, accepting the challenge to play at dice with Duryodhana, +lost everything, his kingdom, his wealth, his army, his brothers, +and finally Draupadi. In the end a compromise was made by which the +Pandavas agreed to go into banishment for twelve years, and to remain +incognito for a thirteenth, after which they might return and regain +their kingdom (ii.). + +With Draupadi they accordingly departed to the Kamyaka forest on +the Sarasvati. The account of their twelve years' life here, and +the many legends told to console them in their exile, constitute the +vana-parvan or "Forest book," one of the longest in the poem (iii.). + +The thirteenth year they spent in disguise as servants of Virata, king +of the Matsyas. At this time the Kurus, in alliance with another king, +invaded the country of the Matsyas, causing much distress. Then the +Pandus arose, put the enemy to flight, and restored the king. They +now made themselves known, and entered into an alliance with the king +(iv.). + +Their message demanding back their possessions receiving no answer, +they prepared for war. The rival armies met in the sacred region +of Kurukshetra, with numerous allies on both sides. Joined with the +Kurus were, among others, the people of Kosala, Videha, Anga, Banga +(Bengal), Kalinga on the east, and those of Sindhu, Gandhara, Bahlika +(Balk), together with the Çakas and Yavanas on the west. The Pandus, +on the other hand, were aided by the Panchalas, the Matsyas, part +of the Yadavas under Krishna, besides the kings of Kaçi (Benares), +Chedi, Magadha, and others (v.). + +The battle raged for eighteen days, till all the Kurus were destroyed, +and only the Pandavas and Krishna with his charioteer escaped +alive. The account of it extends over five books (vi.-x.). Then +follows a description of the obsequies of the dead (xi.). In the +next two books, Bhima, the leader of the Kurus, on his deathbed, +instructs Yudhishthira for about 20,000 çlokas on the duties of kings +and other topics. + +The Pandus having been reconciled to the old king Dhritarashtra, +Yudhishthira was crowned king in Hastinapura, and instituted a great +horse-sacrifice (xiv.). Dhritarashtra having remained at Hastinapura +for fifteen years, at length retired, with his wife Gandhari, to the +jungle, where they perished in a forest conflagration (xv.). Among +the Yadavas, who had taken different sides in the great war, an +internecine conflict broke out, which resulted in the annihilation +of this people. Krishna sadly withdrew to the wilderness, where he +was accidentally shot dead by a hunter (xvi.). + +The Pandus themselves, at last weary of life, leaving the young prince +Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna, to rule over Hastinapura, retired to the +forest, and dying as they wandered towards Meru, the mountain of the +gods (xvii.), ascended to heaven with their faithful spouse (xviii.). + +Here the framework of the great epic, which begins at the commencement +of the first book, comes to an end. King Parikshit having died of +snake-bite, his son Janamejaya instituted a great sacrifice to the +serpents. At that sacrifice the epic was recited by Vaiçampayana, who +had learnt it from Vyasa. The latter, we are told, after arranging the +four Vedas, composed the Mahabharata, which treats of the excellence +of the Pandus, the greatness of Krishna, and the wickedness of the +sons of Dhritarashtra. + +The supplementary book, the Harivamça, or "Family of Vishnu," is +concerned only with Krishna. It contains more than 16,000 çlokas, +and is divided into three sections. The first of these describes +the history of Krishna's ancestors down to the time of Vishnu's +incarnation in him; the second gives an account of Krishna's exploits; +the third treats of the future corruptions of the Kali, or fourth +age of the world. + +The episodes of the Mahabharata are numerous and often very extensive, +constituting, as we have seen, about four-fifths of the whole +poem. Many of them are interesting for various reasons, and some are +distinguished by considerable poetic beauty. One of them, the story of +Çakuntala (occurring in Book I.), supplied Kalidasa with the subject +of his famous play. Episodes are specially plentiful in Book III., +being related to while away the time of the exiled Pandus. Here is +found the Matsyopakhyana, or "Episode of the fish," being the story of +the flood, narrated with more diffuseness than the simple story told +in the Çatapatha Brahmana. The fish here declares itself to be Brahma, +Lord of creatures, and not yet Vishnu, as in the Bhagavata Purana. Manu +no longer appears as the progenitor of mankind, but as a creator who +produces all beings and worlds anew by means of his ascetic power. + +Another episode is the history of Rama, interesting in its relation to +Valmiki's Ramayana, which deals with the same subject at much greater +length. The myth of the descent of the Ganges from heaven to earth, +here narrated, is told in the Ramayana also. + +Another legend is that of the sage Riçya-çringa, who having produced +rain in the country of Lomapada, king of the Angas, was rewarded with +the hand of the princess Çanta, and performed that sacrifice for +King Daçaratha which brought about the birth of Rama. This episode +is peculiarly important from a critical point of view, as the legend +recurs not only in the Ramayana, but also in the Padma Purana, the +Skanda Purana, and a number of other sources. + +Of special interest is the story of King Uçinara, son of Çibi, +who sacrificed his life to save a pigeon from a hawk. It is told +again in another part of Book III. about Çibi himself, as well as in +Book XIII. about Vrishadarbha, son of Çibi. Distinctly Buddhistic in +origin and character, the story is famous in Pali as well as Sanskrit +literature, and spread beyond the limits of India. + +The story of the abduction of Draupadi forms an episode of her life +while she dwelt with the Pandus in the Kamyaka forest. Accidentally +seen when alone by King Jayadratha of Sindhu, who was passing with a +great army, and fell in love with her at first sight, she was forcibly +carried off, and only rescued after a terrible fight, in which the +Pandus annihilated Jayadratha's host. + +Interesting as an illustration of the mythological ideas of the +age is the episode which describes the journey of Arjuna to Indra's +heaven. Here we see the mighty warrior-god of the Vedas transformed +into a glorified king of later times, living a life of ease amid +the splendours of his celestial court, where the ear is lulled by +strains of music, while the eye is ravished by the graceful dancing +and exquisite beauty of heavenly nymphs. + +In the story of Savitri we have one of the finest of the many +ideal female characters which the older epic poetry of India has +created. Savitri, daughter of Açvapati, king of Madra, chooses as +her husband Satyavat, the handsome and noble son of a blind and +exiled king, who dwells in a forest hermitage. Though warned by the +sage Narada that the prince is fated to live but a single year, she +persists in her choice, and after the wedding departs with her husband +to his father's forest retreat. Here she lives happily till she begins +to be tortured with anxiety on the approach of the fatal day. When +it arrives, she follows her husband on his way to cut wood in the +forest. After a time he lies down exhausted. Yama, the god of death, +appears, and taking his soul, departs. As Savitri persistently follows +him, Yama grants her various boons, always excepting the life of her +husband; but yielding at last to her importunities, he restores the +soul to the lifeless body. Satyavat recovers, and lives happily for +many years with his faithful Savitri. + +One of the oldest and most beautiful stories inserted in the +Mahabharata is the Nalopakhyana, or "Episode of Nala." It is one of the +least corrupted of the episodes, its great popularity having prevented +the transforming hand of an editor from introducing Çiva and Vishnu, +or from effacing the simplicity of the manners it depicts--the prince, +for instance, cooks his own food--or from changing the character of +Indra, and other old traits. The poem is pervaded by a high tone of +morality, manifested above all in the heroic devotion and fidelity +of Damayanti, its leading character. It also contains many passages +distinguished by tender pathos. + +The story is told by the wise Brihadaçva to the exiled Yudhishthira, +in order to console him for the loss of the kingdom he has forfeited +at play. Nala, prince of Nishada, chosen from among many competitors +for her hand by Damayanti, princess of Vidarbha, passes several +years of happy married life with her. Then, possessed by the demon +Kali, and indulging in gambling, he loses his kingdom and all his +possessions. Wandering half naked in the forest with Damayanti, he +abandons her in his frenzy. Very pathetic is the scene describing +how he repeatedly returns to the spot where his wife lies asleep on +the ground before he finally deserts her. Equally touching are the +accounts of her terror on awaking to find herself alone in the forest, +and of her lamentations as she roams in search of her husband, and +calls out to him-- + + + Hero, valiant, knowing duty, + To honour faithful, lord of earth, + If thou art within this forest, + Then show thee in thy proper form. + Shall I hear the voice of Nala, + Sweet as the draught of Amrita, + With its deep and gentle accent, + Like rumble of the thunder-cloud, + Saying "Daughter of Vidarbha!" + To me with clear and blessed sound. + Rich, like Vedas murmured flowing, + At once destroying all my grief? + + +There are graphic descriptions of the beauties and terrors of the +tropical forest in which Damayanti wanders. At last she finds her +way back to her father's court at Kundina Many and striking are the +similes with which the poet dwells on the grief and wasted form of +the princess in her separation from her husband. She is + + + Like the young moon's slender crescent + Obscured by black clouds in the sky; + Like the lotus-flower uprooted, + All parched and withered by the sun; + Like the pallid night, when Rahu + Has swallowed up the darkened moon. + + +Nala, meanwhile, transformed into a dwarf, has become charioteer to +the king of Oudh. Damayanti at last hears news leading her to suspect +her husband's whereabouts. She accordingly holds out hopes of her +hand to the king of Oudh, on condition of his driving the distance of +500 miles to Kundina in a single day. Nala, acting as his charioteer, +accomplishes the feat, and is rewarded by the king with the secret of +the highest skill in dicing. Recognised by his wife in spite of his +disguise, he regains his true form. He plays again, and wins back his +lost kingdom. Thus after years of adventure, sorrow, and humiliation +he is at last reunited with Damayanti, with whom he spends the rest +of his days in happiness. + +Though several supernatural and miraculous features like those which +occur in fairy tales are found in the episode of Nala, they are not +sufficient to mar the spirit of true poetry which pervades the story +as a whole. + + + + +THE PURANAS. + +Closely connected with the Mahabharata is a distinct class of eighteen +epic works, didactic in character and sectarian in purpose, going by +the name of Purana. The term purana is already found in the Brahmanas +designating cosmogonic inquiries generally. It is also used in the +Mahabharata somewhat vaguely to express "ancient legendary lore," +implying didactic as well as narrative matter, and pointing to an +old collection of epic stories. One passage of the epic (I. v. 1) +describes purana as containing stories of the gods and genealogies of +the sages. In Book XVIII., as well as in the Harivamça, mention is even +made of eighteen Puranas, which, however, have not been preserved; for +those known to us are all, on the whole, later than the Mahabharata, +and for the most part derive their legends of ancient days from the +great epic itself. Nevertheless they contain much that is old; and it +is not always possible to assume that the passages they have in common +with the Mahabharata and Manu have been borrowed from those works. They +are connected by many threads with the old law-books (smritis) and +the Vedas, representing probably a development of older works of +the same class. In that part of their contents which is peculiar to +them, the Puranas agree so closely, being often verbally identical +for pages, that they must be derived from some older collection as +a common source. Most of them are introduced in exactly the same +way as the Mahabharata, Ugraçravas, the son of Lomaharshana, being +represented as relating their contents to Çaunaka on the occasion +of a sacrifice in the Naimisha forest. The object of most of these +legendary compilations is to recommend the sectarian cult of Vishnu, +though some of them favour the worship of Çiva. + +Besides cosmogony, they deal with mythical descriptions of the earth, +the doctrine of the cosmic ages, the exploits of ancient gods, saints, +and heroes, accounts of the Avatars of Vishnu, the genealogies of the +Solar and Lunar race of kings, and enumerations of the thousand names +of Vishnu or of Çiva. They also contain rules about the worship of +the gods by means of prayers, fastings, votive offerings, festivals, +and pilgrimages. + +The Garuda, as well as the late and unimportant Agni Purana, +practically constitute abstracts of the Mahabharata and the Harivamça. + +The Vayu, which appears to be one of the oldest, coincides in part of +its matter with the Mahabharata, but is more closely connected with +the Harivamça, the passage which deals with the creation of the world +often agreeing verbatim with the corresponding part of the latter poem. + +The relationship of the Matsya Purana to the great epic and its +supplementary book as sources is similarly intimate. It is introduced +with the story of Manu and the Fish (Matsya). The Kurma, besides giving +an account of the various Avatars of Vishnu (of which the tortoise or +kurma is one), of the genealogies of gods and kings, as well as other +matters, contains an extensive account of the world in accordance with +the accepted cosmological notions of the Mahabharata and of the Puranas +in general. The world is here represented as consisting of seven +concentric islands separated by different oceans. The central island, +with Mount Meru in the middle, is Jambu-dvipa, of which Bharata-varsha, +the "kingdom of the Bharatas," or India, is the main division. + +The Markandeya, which expressly recognises the priority of the +Mahabharata, is so called because it is related by the sage Markandeya +to explain difficulties suggested by the epic, such as, How could +Krishna become a man? Its leading feature is narrative and it is the +least sectarian of the Puranas. + +The extensive Padma Purana, which contains a great many stones +agreeing with those of the Mahabharata, is, on the other hand, +strongly Vishnuite in tone. Yet this, as well as the Markandeya, +expressly states the doctrine of the Tri-murti or Trinity, that Brahma, +Vishnu, and Çiva are only one being. This doctrine, already to be +found in the Harivamça, is not so prominent in post-Vedic literature +as is commonly supposed. It is interesting to note that the story +of Rama, as told in the Padma Purana, follows not only the Ramayana +but also Kalidasa's account in the Raghuvamça, with which it often +agrees literally. Again, the story of Çakuntala is related, not in +accordance with the Mahabharata, but with Kalidasa's drama. + +The Brahma-vaivarta Purana is also strongly sectarian in favour of +Vishnu in the form of Krishna. It is to be noted that both here and +in the Padma Purana an important part is played by Krishna's mistress +Radha, who is unknown to the Harivamça, the Vishnu, and even the +Bhagavata Purana. + +The Vishnu Purana, which very often agrees with the Mahabharata in +its subject-matter, corresponds most closely to the Indian definition +of a Purana, as treating of the five topics of primary creation, +secondary creation, genealogies of gods and patriarchs, reigns of +various Manus, and the history of the old dynasties of kings. + +The Bhagavata Purana, which consists of about 18,000 çlokas, derives +its name from being dedicated to the glorification of Bhagavata or +Vishnu. It is later than the Vishnu, which it presupposes, probably +dating from the thirteenth century. It exercises a more powerful +influence in India than any other Purana. The most popular part is +the tenth book, which narrates in detail the history of Krishna, +and has been translated into perhaps every one of the vernacular +languages of India. + +Other Vishnuite Puranas of a late date are the Brahma, the Naradiya, +the Vamana, and the Varaha, the latter two called after the Dwarf +and the Boar incarnations of Vishnu. + +Those which specially favour the cult of Çiva are the Skanda, the Çiva, +the Linga, and the Bhavishya or Bhavishyat Puranas. The latter two +contain little narrative matter, being rather ritual in character. A +Bhavishyat Purana is already mentioned in the Apastamba Dharma Sutra. + +Besides these eighteen Puranas there is also an equal number of +secondary works of the same class called Upa-puranas, in which the +epic matter has become entirely subordinate to the ritual element. + + + + +THE RAMAYANA. + +Though there is, as we shall see, good reason for supposing that +the original part of the Ramayana assumed shape at a time when the +Mahabharata was still in a state of flux, we have deferred describing +it on account of its connection with the subsequent development of +epic poetry in Sanskrit literature. + +In its present form the Ramayana consists of about 24,000 çlokas, +and is divided into seven books. It has been preserved in three +distinct recensions, the West Indian (A), the Bengal (B), and the +Bombay (C). About one-third of the çlokas in each recension occurs +in neither of the other two. The Bombay recension has in most cases +preserved the oldest form of the text; for, as the other two arose +in the centres of classical Sanskrit literature, where the Gauda +and the Vaidarbha styles of composition respectively flourished, the +irregularities of the epic language have been removed in them. The +Ramayana was here treated as a regular kavya or artificial epic, a +fate which the Mahabharata escaped because it early lost its original +character, and came to be regarded as a didactic work. These two later +recensions must not, however, be looked upon as mere revisions of the +Bombay text. The variations of all three are of such a kind that they +can for the most part be accounted for only by the fluctuations of oral +tradition among the professional reciters of the epic, at the time +when the three recensions assumed definite shape in different parts +of the country by being committed to writing. After having been thus +fixed, the fate of each of these recensions was of course similar to +that of any other text. They appear to go back to comparatively early +times. For quotations from the Ramayana occurring in works that belong +to the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. show that a recension allied to +the present C, and probably another allied to the present A, existed at +that period. Moreover, Kshemendra's poetical abstract of the epic, the +Ramayana-kathasara-manjari, which follows the contents of the original +step by step, proves that its author used A, and perhaps B also, in +the middle of the eleventh century. Bhoja, the composer of another +epitome, the Ramayana-champu, probably used C in the same century. + +The careful investigations of Professor Jacobi have shown that the +Ramayana originally consisted of five books only (ii.-vi.). The +seventh is undoubtedly a later addition, for the conclusion of the +sixth was evidently at one time the end of the whole poem. Again, +the first book has several passages which conflict with statements +in the later books. It further contains two tables of contents (in +cantos i. and iii.) which were clearly made at different times; for +one of them takes no notice of the first and last books, and must, +therefore, have been made before these were added. What was obviously +a part of the commencement of the original poem has been separated +from its continuation at the opening of Book II., and now forms the +beginning of the fifth canto of Book I. Some cantos have also been +interpolated in the genuine books. As Professor Jacobi shows, all these +additions to the original body of the epic have been for the most part +so loosely attached that the junctures are easy to recognise. They +are, however, pervaded by the same spirit as the older part. There +is, therefore, no reason for the supposition that they are due to a +Brahman revision intended to transform a poem originally meant for +the warrior caste. They seem rather to owe their origin simply to the +desire of professional rhapsodists to meet the demands of the popular +taste. We are told in the Ramayana itself that the poem was either +recited by professional minstrels or sung to the accompaniment of +a stringed instrument, being handed down orally, in the first place +by Rama's two sons Kuça and Lava. These names are nothing more than +the inventions of popular etymology meant to explain the Sanskrit +word kuçilava, "bard" or "actor." The new parts were incorporated +before the three recensions which have come down to us arose, but +a considerable time must have elapsed between the composition of +the original poem and that of the additions. For the tribal hero of +the former has in the latter been transformed into a national hero, +the moral ideal of the people; and the human hero (like Krishna in the +Mahabharata) of the five genuine books (excepting a few interpolations) +has in the first and last become deified and identified with the god +Vishnu, his divine nature in these additions being always present to +the minds of their authors. Here, too, Valmiki, the composer of the +Ramayana, appears as a contemporary of Rama, and is already regarded +as a seer. A long interval of time must have been necessary for such +transformations as these. + +As to the place of its origin, there is good reason for believing that +the Ramayana arose in Kosala, the country ruled by the race of Ikshvaku +in Ayodhya (Oudh). For we are told in the seventh book (canto 45) +that the hermitage of Valmiki lay on the south bank of the Ganges; the +poet must further have been connected with the royal house of Ayodhya, +as the banished Sita took refuge in his hermitage, where her twin +sons were born, brought up, and later learnt the epic from his lips; +and lastly, the statement is made in the first book (canto 5) that +the Ramayana arose in the family of the Ikshvakus. In Ayodhya, then, +there must have been current among the court bards (suta) a number +of epic tales narrating the fortunes of the Ikshvaku hero Rama. Such +legends, we may assume, Valmiki worked up into a single homogeneous +production, which, as the earliest epic of importance conforming +to the rules of poetics, justly received the name of adi-kavya, or +"first artificial poem," from its author's successors. This work was +then learnt by professional rhapsodists (kuçilava) and recited by +them in public as they wandered about the country. + +The original part of the Ramayana appears to have been completed +at a time when the epic kernel of the Mahabharata had not as yet +assumed definite shape. For while the heroes of the latter are not +mentioned in the Ramayana, the story of Rama is often referred to in +the longer epic. Again, in a passage of Book VII. of the Mahabharata, +which cannot be regarded as a later addition, two lines are quoted as +Valmiki's that occur unaltered in Book VI. of the Ramayana. The poem +of Valmiki must, therefore, have been generally known as an old work +before the Mahabharata assumed a coherent form. In Book III. (cantos +277-291) of the latter epic, moreover, there is a Ramopakhyana or +"Episode of Rama," which seems to be based on the Ramayana as it +contains several verses agreeing more or less with Valmiki's lines, +and its author presupposes on the part of his audience a knowledge +of the Ramayana as represented by the Bombay recension. + +A further question of importance in determining the age of the +Ramayana is its relation to Buddhistic literature. Now, the story +of Rama is found in a somewhat altered form in one of the Pali +Birth-Stories, the Daçaratha Jataka. As this version confines itself +to the first part of Rama's adventures, his sojourn in the forest, +it might at first sight seem to be the older of the two. There is, +however, at least an indication that the second part of the story, +the expedition to Lanka, was also known to the author of the Jataka; +for while Valmiki's poem concludes with the reunion of Rama and Sita, +the Jataka is made to end with the marriage of the couple after the +manner of fairy tales, there being at the same time traces that they +were wedded all along in the original source of the legend. Moreover, +a verse from the old part of the Ramayana (vi. 128) actually occurs +in a Pali form embedded in the prose of this Jataka. + +It might, indeed, be inferred from the greater freedom with which they +handle the çloka metre that the canonical Buddhistic writings are older +than the Ramayana, in which the çloka is of the classical Sanskrit +type. But, as a matter of fact, these Pali works on the whole observe +the laws of the classical çloka, their metrical irregularities being +most probably caused by the recent application of Pali to literary +purposes as well as by the inferior preservation of Pali works. On the +other hand, Buddhistic literature early made use of the Arya metre, +which, though so popular in classical Sanskrit poetry, is not yet to +be found in the Sanskrit epics. + +The only mention of Buddha in the Ramayana occurs in a passage which +is evidently interpolated. Hence the balance of the evidence in +relation to Buddhism seems to favour the pre-Buddhistic origin of +the genuine Ramayana. + +The question whether the Greeks were known to the author of our epic +is, of course, also of chronological moment. An examination of the +poem shows that the Yavanas (Greeks) are only mentioned twice, once +in Book I. and once in a canto of Book IV., which Professor Jacobi +shows to be an interpolation. The only conclusion to be drawn from +this is that the additions to the original poem were made some time +after 300 B.C. Professor Weber's assumption of Greek influence in the +story of the Ramayana seems to lack foundation. For the tale of the +abduction of Sita and the expedition to Lanka for her recovery has +no real correspondence with that of the rape of Helen and the Trojan +war. Nor is there any sufficient reason to suppose that the account +of Rama bending a powerful bow in order to win Sita was borrowed from +the adventures of Ulysses. Stories of similar feats of strength for +a like object are to be found in the poetry of other nations besides +the Greeks, and could easily have arisen independently. + +The political aspect of Eastern India as revealed by the Ramayana sheds +some additional light on the age of the epic. In the first place, no +mention is made of the city of Pataliputra (Patna), which was founded +by King Kalaçoka (under whom the second Buddhist council was held at +Vaiçali about 380 B.C.), and which by the time of Megasthenes (300 +B.C.) had become the capital of India. Yet Rama is in Book I. (canto +35) described as passing the very spot where that city stood, and the +poet makes a point (in cantos 32-33) of referring to the foundation of +a number of cities in Eastern Hindustan, such as Kauçambi, Kanyakubja, +and Kampilya, in order to show how far the fame of the Ramayana spread +beyond the confines of Kosala, the land of its origin. Had Pataliputra +existed at the time, it could not have failed to be mentioned. + +It is further a noteworthy fact that the capital of Kosala is in +the original Ramayana regularly called Ayodhya, while the Buddhists, +Jains, Greeks, and Patanjali always give it the name of Saketa. Now +in the last book of the Ramayana we are told that Rama's son, Lava, +fixed the seat of his government at Çravasti, a city not mentioned at +all in the old part of the epic; and in Buddha's time King Prasenajit +of Kosala is known to have reigned at Çravasti. All this points to the +conclusion that the original Ramayana was composed when the ancient +Ayodhya had not yet been deserted, but was still the chief city of +Kosala, when its new name of Saketa was still unknown, and before +the seat of government was transferred to Çravasti. + +Again, in the old part of Book I., Mithila and Viçala are spoken of +as twin cities under separate rulers, while we know that by Buddha's +time they had coalesced to the famous city of Vaiçali, which was then +ruled by an oligarchy. + +The political conditions described in the Ramayana indicate the +patriarchal rule of kings possessing only a small territory, and never +point to the existence of more complex states; while the references of +the poets of the Mahabharata to the dominions in Eastern India ruled by +a powerful king, Jarasandha, and embracing many lands besides Magadha, +reflect the political conditions of the fourth century B.C. The +cumulative evidence of the above arguments makes it difficult to +avoid the conclusion that the kernel of the Ramayana was composed +before 500 B.C., while the more recent portions were probably not +added till the second century B.C. and later. + +This conclusion does not at first sight seem to be borne out by the +linguistic evidence of the Ramayana, For the epic (arsha) dialect of +the Bombay recension, which is practically the same as that of the +Mahabharata, both betrays a stage of development decidedly later than +that of Panini, and is taken no notice of by that grammarian. But it +is, for all that, not necessarily later in date. For Panini deals only +with the refined Sanskrit of the cultured (çishta), that is to say, +of the Brahmans, which would be more archaic than the popular dialect +of wandering rhapsodists; and he would naturally have ignored the +latter. Now at the time of the Açoka inscriptions, or hardly more +than half a century later than Panini, Prakrit was the language of +the people in the part of India where the Ramayana was composed. It +is, therefore, not at all likely that the Ramayana, which aimed at +popularity, should have been composed as late as the time of Panini, +when it could not have been generally understood. If the language of +the epic is later than Panini, it is difficult to see how it escaped +the dominating influence of his grammar. It is more likely that the +popular Sanskrit of the epics received general currency at a much +earlier date by the composition of a poem like that of Valmiki. A +searching comparative investigation of the classical Kavyas will +probably show that they are linguistically more closely connected +with the old epic poetry, and that they deviate more from the Paninean +standard than is usually supposed. + +In style the Ramayana is already far removed from the naïve +popular epic, in which the story is the chief thing, and not its +form. Valmiki is rich in similes, which he often cumulates; he not +infrequently uses the cognate figure called rupaka or "identification" +(e.g. "foot-lotus") with much skill, and also occasionally employs +other ornaments familiar to the classical poets, besides approximating +to them in the style of his descriptions. The Ramayana, in fact, +represents the dawn of the later artificial poetry (kavya), which +was in all probability the direct continuation and development of the +art handed down by the rhapsodists who recited Valmiki's work. Such +a relationship is distinctly recognised by the authors of the great +classical epics (mahakavis) when they refer to him as the adi-kavi or +"first poet." + +The story of the Ramayana, as narrated in the five genuine books, +consists of two distinct parts. The first describes the events at the +court of King Daçaratha at Ayodhya and their consequences. Here we have +a purely human and natural account of the intrigues of a queen to set +her son upon the throne. There is nothing fantastic in the narrative, +nor has it any mythological background. If the epic ended with the +return of Rama's brother, Bharata, to the capital, after the old king's +death, it might pass for a historical saga. For Ikshvaku, Daçaratha, +and Rama are the names of celebrated and mighty kings, mentioned even +in the Rigveda, though not there connected with one another in any way. + +The character of the second part is entirely different. Based on a +foundation of myths, it is full of the marvellous and fantastic. The +oldest theory as to the significance of the story was that of Lassen, +who held that it was intended to represent allegorically the first +attempt of the Aryans to conquer the South. But Rama is nowhere +described as founding an Aryan realm in the Dekhan, nor is any +such intention on his part indicated anywhere in the epic. Weber +subsequently expressed the same view in a somewhat modified +form. According to him, the Ramayana was meant to account for the +spread of Aryan culture to the South and to Ceylon. But this form of +the allegorical theory also lacks any confirmation from the statements +of the epic itself; for Rama's expedition is nowhere represented +as producing any change or improvement in the civilisation of the +South. The poet knows nothing about the Dekhan beyond the fact that +Brahman hermitages are to be found there. Otherwise it is a region +haunted by the monsters and fabulous beings with which an Indian +imagination would people an unknown land. + +There is much more probability in the opinion of Jacobi, that +the Ramayana contains no allegory at all, but is based on Indian +mythology. The foundation of the second part would thus be a celestial +myth of the Veda transformed into a narrative of earthly adventures +according to a not uncommon development. Sita, can be traced to the +Rigveda, where she appears as the Furrow personified and invoked as a +goddess. In some of the Grihya Sutras she again appears as a genius +of the ploughed field, is praised as a being of great beauty, and +is accounted the wife of Indra or Parjanya, the rain-god. There are +traces of this origin in the Ramayana itself. For Sita is represented +(i. 66) as having emerged from the earth when her father Janaka was +once ploughing, and at last she disappears underground in the arms +of the goddess Earth (vii. 97). Her husband, Rama, would be no other +than Indra, and his conflict with Ravana, chief of the demons, would +represent the Indra-Vritra myth of the Rigveda. This identification +is confirmed by the name of Ravana's son being Indrajit, "Conqueror +of Indra," or Indraçatru, "Foe of Indra," the latter being actually +an epithet of Vritra in the Rigveda. Ravana's most notable feat, the +rape of Sita, has its prototype in the stealing of the cows recovered +by Indra. Hanumat, the chief of the monkeys and Rama's ally in the +recovery of Sita, is the son of the wind-god, with the patronymic +Maruti, and is described as flying hundreds of leagues through the air +to find Sita. Hence in his figure perhaps survives a reminiscence of +Indra's alliance with the Maruts in his conflict with Vritra, and of +the dog Sarama, who, as Indra's messenger, crosses the waters of the +Rasa and tracks the cows. Sarama recurs as the name of a demoness who +consoles Sita in her captivity. The name of Hanumat being Sanskrit, +the character is probably not borrowed from the aborigines. As Hanumat +is at the present day the tutelary deity of village settlements all +over India, Prof. Jacobi's surmise that he must have been connected +with agriculture, and may have been a genius of the monsoon, has +some probability. + +The main story of the Ramayana begins with an account of the city +of Ayodhya under the rule of the mighty King Daçaratha, the sons of +whose three wives, Kauçalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumitra, are Rama, Bharata, +and Lakshmana respectively. Rama is married to Sita, daughter of +Janaka, king of Videha. Daçaratha, feeling the approach of old +age, one day announces in a great assembly that he desires to make +Rama heir-apparent, an announcement received with general rejoicing +because of Rama's great popularity. Kaikeyi, meanwhile, wishing her son +Bharata to succeed, reminds the king that he had once offered her the +choice of two boons, of which she had as yet not availed herself. When +Daçaratha at last promises to fulfil whatever she may desire, Kaikeyi +requests him to appoint Bharata his successor, and to banish Rama +for fourteen years. The king, having in vain implored her to retract, +passes a sleepless night. Next day, when the solemn consecration of +Rama is to take place, Daçaratha sends for his son and informs him +of his fate. Rama receives the news calmly and prepares to obey his +father's command as his highest duty. Sita and Lakshmana resolve on +sharing his fortunes, and accompany him in his exile. The aged king, +overcome with grief at parting from his son, withdraws from Kaikeyi, +and passing the remainder of his days with Rama's mother, Kauçalya, +finally dies lamenting for his banished son. Rama has meanwhile +lived peacefully and happily with Sita and his brother in the wild +forest of Dandaka. On the death of the old king, Bharata, who in the +interval has lived with the parents of his mother, is summoned to the +throne. Refusing the succession with noble indignation, he sets out for +the forest in order to bring Rama back to Ayodhya. Rama, though much +moved by his brother's request, declines to return because he must +fulfil his vow of exile. Taking off his gold-embroidered shoes, he +gives them to Bharata as a sign that he hands over his inheritance to +him. Bharata returning to Ayodhya, places Rama's shoes on the throne, +and keeping the royal umbrella over them, holds council and dispenses +justice by their side. + +Rama now sets about the task of combating the formidable giants +that infest the Dandaka forest and are a terror to the pious hermits +settled there. Having, by the advice of the sage Agastya, procured +the weapons of Indra, he begins a successful conflict, in which he +slays many thousands of demons. Their chief, Ravana, enraged and +determined on revenge, turns one of his followers into a golden +deer, which appears to Sita. While Rama and Lakshmana are engaged, +at her request, in pursuit of it, Ravana in the guise of an ascetic +approaches Sita, carries her off by force, and wounds the vulture +Jatayu, which guards her abode. Rama on his return is seized with +grief and despair; but, as he is burning the remains of the vulture, +a voice from the pyre proclaims to him how he can conquer his foes +and recover his wife. He now proceeds to conclude a solemn alliance +with the chiefs of the monkeys, Hanumat and Sugriva. With the help +of the latter, Rama slays the terrible giant Bali. Hanumat meanwhile +crosses from the mainland to the island of Lanka, the abode of Ravana, +in search of Sita. Here he finds her wandering sadly in a grove and +announces to her that deliverance is at hand. After slaying a number +of demons, he returns and reports his discovery to Rama. A plan of +campaign is now arranged. The monkeys having miraculously built a +bridge from the continent to Lanka with the aid of the god of the sea, +Rama leads his army across, slays Ravana, and wins back Sita. After +she has purified herself from the suspicion of infidelity by the +ordeal of fire, Rama joyfully returns with her to Ayodhya, where he +reigns gloriously in association with his faithful brother Bharata, +and gladdens his subjects with a new golden age. + +Such in bare outline is the main story of the Ramayana. By the addition +of the first and last books Valmiki's epic has in the following way +been transformed into a poem meant to glorify the god Vishnu. Ravana, +having obtained from Brahma the boon of being invulnerable to gods, +demigods, and demons, abuses his immunity in so terrible a manner +that the gods are reduced to despair. Bethinking themselves at last +that Ravana had in his arrogance forgotten to ask that he should not +be wounded by men, they implore Vishnu to allow himself to be born +as a man for the destruction of the demon. Vishnu, consenting, is +born as Rama, and accomplishes the task. At the end of the seventh +book Brahma and the other gods come to Rama, pay homage to him, +and proclaim that he is really Vishnu, "the glorious lord of the +discus." The belief here expressed that Rama is an incarnation of +Vishnu, the highest god, has secured to the hero of our epic the +worship of the Hindus down to the present day. That belief, forming +the fundamental doctrine of the religious system of Ramanuja in the +twelfth and of Ramananda in the fourteenth century, has done much to +counteract the spread of the degrading superstitions and impurities +of Çivaism both in the South and in the North of India. + +The Ramayana contains several interesting episodes, though, of course, +far fewer than the Mahabharata. One of them, a thoroughly Indian +story, full of exaggerations and impossibilities, is the legend, told +in Book I., of the descent of the Ganges. It relates how the sacred +river was brought down from heaven to earth in order to purify the +remains of the 60,000 sons of King Sagara, who were reduced to ashes +by the sage Kapila when his devotions were disturbed by them. + +Another episode (i. 52-65) is that of Viçvamitra, a powerful king, +who comes into conflict with the great sage Vasishtha by endeavouring +to take away his miraculous cow by force. Viçvamitra then engages +in mighty penances, in which he resists the seductions of beautiful +nymphs, and which extend over thousands of years, till he finally +attains Brahmanhood, and is reconciled with his rival, Vasishtha. + +The short episode which relates the origin of the çloka metre is one +of the most attractive and poetical. Valmiki in his forest hermitage +is preparing to describe worthily the fortunes of Rama. While he +is watching a fond pair of birds on the bank of the river, the +male is suddenly shot by a hunter, and falls dead on the ground, +weltering in his blood. Valmiki, deeply touched by the grief of +the bereaved female, involuntarily utters words lamenting the death +of her mate and threatening vengeance on the wicked murderer. But, +strange to tell, his utterance is no ordinary speech and flows in a +melodious stream. As he wanders, lost in thought, towards his hut, +Brahma appears and announces to the poet that he has unconsciously +created the rhythm of the çloka metre. The deity then bids him compose +in this measure the divine poem on the life and deeds of Rama. This +story may have a historical significance, for it indicates with some +probability that the classical form of the çloka was first fixed by +Valmiki, the author of the original part of the Ramayana. + +The epic contains the following verse foretelling its everlasting +fame:-- + + + As long as mountain ranges stand + And rivers flow upon the earth: + So long will this Ramayana + Survive upon the lips of men. + + +This prophecy has been perhaps even more abundantly fulfilled than the +well-known prediction of Horace. No product of Sanskrit literature +has enjoyed a greater popularity in India down to the present day +than the Ramayana. Its story furnishes the subject of many other +Sanskrit poems as well as plays, and still delights, from the lips +of reciters, the hearts of myriads of the Indian people, as at the +great annual Rama festival held at Benares. It has been translated +into many Indian vernaculars. Above all, it inspired the greatest poet +of mediæval Hindustan, Tulsi Das, to compose in Hindi his version of +the epic entitled Ram Charit Manas, which, with its ideal standard +of virtue and purity, is a kind of bible to a hundred millions of +the people of Northern India. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +KAVYA OR COURT EPIC + +(Circa 200 B.C.-1100 A.D.) + + +The real history of the Kavya, or artificial epic poetry of India, +does not begin till the first half of the seventh century A.D., +with the reign of King Harsha-vardhana of Thaneçar and Kanauj +(606-648), who ruled over the whole of Northern India, and under +whose patronage Bana wrote his historical romance, Harsha-charita, +and other works. The date of no Kavya before this landmark has as yet +been fixed with certainty. One work, however, which is dominated by +the Kavya style, the Brihatsamhita of the astronomer Varahamihira, can +without hesitation be assigned to the middle of the sixth century. But +as to the date of the most famous classical poets, Kalidasa, Subandhu, +Bharavi, Gunadhya, and others, we have no historical authority. The +most definite statement that can be made about them is that their fame +was widely diffused by about 600 A.D., as is attested by the way in +which their names are mentioned in Bana and in an inscription of 634 +A.D. Some of them, moreover, like Gunadhya, to whose work Subandhu +repeatedly alludes, must certainly belong to a much earlier time. The +scanty materials supplied by the poets themselves, which might help to +determine their dates, are difficult to utilise, because the history +of India, both political and social, during the first five centuries +of our era, is still involved in obscurity. + +With regard to the age of court poetry in general, we have +the important literary evidence of the quotations in Patanjali's +Mahabhashya, which show that Kavya flourished in his day, and must have +been developed before the beginning of our era. Several of these quoted +verses are composed in the artificial metres of the classical poetry, +while the heroic anushtubh çlokas agree in matter as well as form, +not with the popular, but with the court epics. + +We further know that Açvaghosha's Buddha-charita, or "Doings of +Buddha," was translated into Chinese between 414 and 421 A.D. This +work not only calls itself a mahakavya, or "great court epic," but +is actually written in the Kavya style. Açvaghosha was, according to +the Buddhist tradition, a contemporary of King Kanishka, and would +thus belong to the first century A.D. In any case, it is evident that +his poem could not have been composed later than between 350 and 400 +A.D. The mere fact, too, that a Buddhist monk thus early conceived +the plan of writing the legend of Buddha according to the rules of the +classical Sanskrit epic shows how popular the Brahmanical artificial +poetry must have become, at any rate by the fourth century A.D., +and probably long before. + +The progress of epigraphic research during the last quarter of a +century has begun to shed considerable light on the history of court +poetry during the dark age embracing the first five centuries of our +era. Mr. Fleet's third volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum +contains no fewer than eighteen inscriptions of importance in this +respect. These are written mostly in verse, but partly also in elevated +prose. They cover a period of two centuries, from about 350 to 550 +A.D. Most of them employ the Gupta era, beginning A.D. 319, and first +used by Chandragupta II., named Vikramaditya, whose inscriptions and +coins range from A.D. 400 to 413. A few of them employ the Malava era, +the earlier name of the Vikrama era, which dates from 57 B.C. Several +of these inscriptions are praçastis or panegyrics on kings. An +examination of them proves that the poetical style prevailing in +the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries did not differ from that +of the classical Kavyas which have been preserved. Samudragupta, +the second of the Gupta line, who belongs to the second half of the +fourth century, was, we learn, himself a poet, as well as a supporter +of poets. Among the latter was at least one, by name Harishena, who in +his panegyric on his royal patron, which consists of some thirty lines +(nine stanzas) of poetry and about an equal number of lines of prose, +shows a mastery of style rivalling that of Kalidasa and Dandin. In +agreement with the rule of all the Sanskrit treatises on poetics, his +prose is full of inordinately long compounds, one of them containing +more than 120 syllables. In his poetry he, like Kalidasa and others, +follows the Vidarbha style, in which the avoidance of long compounds +is a leading characteristic. In this style, which must have been fully +developed by A.D. 300, is also written an inscription by Virasena, +the minister of Chandragupta II., Samudragupta's successor. + +A very important inscription dates from the year 529 of the Malava +(Vikrama) era, or A.D. 473. It consists of a poem of no fewer than +forty-four stanzas (containing 150 metrical lines), composed by a +poet named Vatsabhatti, to commemorate the consecration of a temple +of the sun at Daçapura (now Mandasor). A detailed examination of this +inscription not only leads to the conclusion that in the fifth century +a rich Kavya literature must have existed, but in particular shows that +the poem has several affinities with Kalidasa's writings. The latter +fact renders it probable that Vatsabhatti, a man of inferior poetic +talent, who professes to have produced his work with effort, knew and +utilised the poems of Kalidasa. The reign of Chandragupta Vikramaditya +II., at the beginning of the fifth century A.D., therefore seems in the +meantime the most probable approximate date for India's greatest poet. + +Besides the epigraphic evidence of the Gupta period, we have two +important literary prose inscriptions of considerable length, one +from Girnar and the other from Nasik, both belonging to the second +century A.D. They show that even then there existed a prose Kavya +style which, in general character and in many details, resembled that +of the classical tales and romances. For they not only employ long +and frequent compounds, but also the ornaments of alliteration and +various kinds of simile and metaphor. Their use of poetical figures +is, however, much less frequent and elaborate, occasionally not +going beyond the simplicity of the popular epic. They are altogether +less artificial than the prose parts of Harishena's Kavya, and à +fortiori than the works of Dandin. Subandhu, and Bana. From the Girnar +inscription it appears that its author must have been acquainted with +a theory of poetics, that metrical Kavyas conforming to the rules +of the Vidarbha style were composed in his day, and that poetry of +this kind was cultivated at the courts of princes then as in later +times. It cannot be supposed that Kavya literature was a new invention +of the second century; it must, on the contrary, have passed through +a lengthened development before that time. Thus epigraphy not merely +confirms the evidence of the Mahabhashya that artificial court poetry +originated before the commencement of our era, but shows that that +poetry continued to be cultivated throughout the succeeding centuries. + +These results of the researches of the late Professor Bühler and of +Mr. Fleet render untenable Professor Max Müller's well-known theory +of the renaissance of Sanskrit literature in the sixth century, which +was set forth by that scholar with his usual brilliance in India, +what can it Teach us? and which held the field for several years. + +Professor Max Müller's preliminary assertion that the Indians, +in consequence of the incursions of the Çakas (Scythians) and +other foreigners, ceased from literary activity during the first +two centuries A.D., is refuted by the evidence of the last two +inscriptions mentioned above. Any such interruption of intellectual +life during that period is, even apart from epigraphical testimony, +rendered highly improbable by other considerations. The Scythians, +in the first place, permanently subjugated only about one-fifth of +India; for their dominion, which does not appear to have extended +farther east than Mathura (Muttra), was limited to the Panjab, Sindh, +Gujarat, Rajputana, and the Central Indian Agency. The conquerors, +moreover, rapidly became Hinduised. Most of them already had Indian +names in the second generation. One of them, Ushabhadata (the Sanskrit +Rishabhadatta), described his exploits in an inscription composed +in a mixture of Sanskrit and Prakrit. Kanishka himself (78 A.D.), +as well as his successors, was a patron of Buddhism; and national +Indian architecture and sculpture attained a high development at +Mathura under these rulers. When the invaders thus rapidly acquired +the civilisation of the comparatively small portion of India they +conquered, there is no reason to assume the suppression of literary +activity in that part of the country, much less in India as a whole. + +The main thesis of Professor Max Müller is, that in the middle of +the sixth century A.D. the reign of a King Vikramaditya of Ujjain, +with whom tradition connected the names of Kalidasa and other +distinguished authors, was the golden age of Indian court poetry. This +renaissance theory is based on Fergusson's ingenious chronological +hypothesis that a supposed King Vikrama of Ujjain, having expelled +the Scythians from India, in commemoration of his victory founded +the Vikrama era in 544 A.D., dating its commencement back 600 years +to 57 B.C. The epigraphical researches of Mr. Fleet have destroyed +Fergusson's hypothesis. From these researches it results that the +Vikrama era of 57 B.C., far from having been founded in 544 A.D., +had already been in use for more than a century previously under the +name of the Malava era (which came to be called the Vikrama era about +800 A.D.). It further appears that no Çakas (Scythians) could have +been driven out of Western India in the middle of the sixth century, +because that country had already been conquered by the Guptas more +than a hundred years before. Lastly, it turns out that, though other +foreign conquerors, the Hunas, were actually expelled from Western +India in the first half of the sixth century, they were driven out, +not by a Vikramaditya, but by a king named Yaçodharman Vishnuvardhana. + +Thus the great King Vikramaditya vanishes from the historical ground +of the sixth century into the realm of myth. With Vikramaditya an +often-quoted but ill-authenticated verse occurring in a work of the +sixteenth century associates Dhanvantari, Kshapanaka, Amarasimha, +Varahamihira, and Vararuchi as among the "nine gems" of his court. With +the disappearance of Vikrama from the sixth century A.D. this verse +has lost all chronological validity with reference to the date of +the authors it enumerates; it is even inadmissible to conclude from +such legendary testimony that they were contemporaries. Even though +one of them, Varahamihira, actually does belong to the sixth century, +each of them can now only be placed in the sixth century separately +and by other arguments. Apart from the mythical Vikramaditya, there +is now no reason to suppose that court poetry attained a special +development in that century, for Harishena's paneygyric, and some +other epigraphic poems of the Gupta period, show that it flourished +greatly at least two hundred years earlier. + +None of the other arguments by which it has been attempted to place +Kalidasa separately in the sixth century have any cogency. One of +the chief of these is derived from the explanation given by the +fourteenth-century commentator, Mallinatha, of the word dignaga, +"world-elephant," occurring in the 14th stanza of Kalidasa's +Meghaduta. He sees in it a punning allusion to Dignaga, a hated +rival of the poet. This explanation, to begin with, is extremely +dubious in itself. Then it is uncertain whether Mallinatha means the +Buddhist teacher Dignaga. Thirdly, little weight can be attached to +the Buddhistic tradition that Dignaga was a pupil of Vasubandhu, for +this statement is not found till the sixteenth century. Fourthly, the +assertion that Vasubandhu belongs to the sixth century depends chiefly +on the Vikramaditya theory, and is opposed to Chinese evidence, which +indicates that works of Vasubandhu were translated in A.D. 404. Thus +every link in the chain of this argument is very weak. + +The other main argument is that Kalidasa must have lived after +Aryabhata (A.D. 499), because he shows a knowledge of the scientific +astronomy borrowed from the Greeks. But it has been shown by +Dr. Thibaut that an Indian astronomical treatise, undoubtedly written +under Greek influence, the Romaka Siddhanta, is older than Aryabhata, +and cannot be placed later than A.D. 400. It may be added that a +passage of Kalidasa's Raghuvamça (xiv. 40) has been erroneously +adduced in support of the astronomical argument, as implying that +eclipses of the moon are due to the shadow of the earth: it really +refers only to the spots in the moon as caused, in accordance with +the doctrine of the Puranas, by a reflection of the earth. + +Thus there is, in the present state of our knowledge, good reason to +suppose that Kalidasa lived not in the sixth, but in the beginning of +the fifth century A.D. The question of his age, however, is not likely +to be definitely solved till the language, the style, and the poetical +technique of each of his works have been minutely investigated, in +comparison with datable epigraphic documents, as well as with the +rules given by the oldest Sanskrit treatises on poetics. + +As the popular epic poetry of the Mahabharata was the chief source +of the Puranas, so the Ramayana, the earliest artificial epic, was +succeeded, though after a long interval of time, by a number of Kavyas +ranging from the fifth to the twelfth century. While in the old epic +poetry form is subordinated to matter, it is of primary importance in +the Kavyas, the matter becoming more and more merely a means for the +display of tricks of style. The later the author of a Kavya is, the +more he seeks to win the admiration of his audience by the cleverness +of his conceits and the ingenuity of his diction, appealing always +to the head rather than the heart. Even the very best of the Kavyas +were composed in more strict conformity, with fixed rules than the +poetry of any other country. For not only is the language dominated +by the grammatical rules of Panini, but the style is regulated by +the elaborate laws about various forms of alliteration and figures +of speech laid down in the treatises on poetics. + +The two most important Kavyas are Kalidasa's Raghuvamça and +Kumara-sambhava, both distinguished by independence of treatment +as well as considerable poetical beauty. They have several stanzas +in common, many others which offer but slight variations, and a +large number of passages which, though differing in expression, are +strikingly analogous in thought. In both poems, too, the same metre is +employed to describe the same situation. In both poems each canto is, +as a rule, composed in one metre, but changes with the beginning of +the new canto. The prevailing metres are the classical form of the +anushtubh and the upajati, a development of the Vedic trishtubh. + +The Raghuvamça, or "Race of Raghu," which consists of nineteen cantos, +describes the life of Rama together with an account of his forefathers +and successors. The first nine cantos deal with his nearest four +ancestors, beginning with Dilipa and his son Raghu. The story of Rama +occupies the next six (x.-xv.), and agrees pretty closely with that +in the Ramayana of Valmiki, whom Kalidasa here (xv. 41) speaks of as +"the first poet." The following two cantos are concerned with the +three nearest descendants of Rama, while the last two run through +the remainder of twenty-four kings who reigned in Ayodhya as his +descendants, ending rather abruptly with the death of the voluptuous +King Agnivarna. The names of these successors of Rama agree closely +with those in the list given in the Vishnu-purana. + +The narrative in the Raghuvamça moves with some rapidity, not being +too much impeded by long descriptions. It abounds with apt and striking +similes and contains much genuine poetry, while the style, for a Kavya, +is simple, though many passages are undoubtedly too artificial for +the European taste. The following stanza, sung by a bard whose duty it +is to waken the king in the morning (v. 75), may serve as a specimen-- + + + The flow'rs to thee presented droop and fade, + The lamps have lost the wreath of rays they shed, + Thy sweet-voiced parrot, in his cage confined, + Repeats the call we sound to waken thee. + + +More than twenty commentaries on the Raghuvamça are known. The most +famous is the Samjivani of Mallinatha, who explains every word of +the text, and who has the great merit of endeavouring to find out +and preserve the readings of the poet himself. He knew a number +of earlier commentaries, among which he names with approval those +of Dakshinavarta and Natha. The latter no longer exist. Among the +other extant commentaries may be mentioned the Subodhini, composed +by Dinakara Miçra in 1385, and the Çiçuhitaishini, by a Jain named +Charitravardhana, of which Dinakara's work appears to be an epitome. + +The Kumara-sambhava, or the "Birth of the War-god," consists, when +complete, of seventeen cantos. The first seven are entirely devoted +to the courtship and wedding of the god Çiva and of Parvati, daughter +of Himalaya, the parents of the youthful god. This fact in itself +indicates that description is the prevailing characteristic of the +poem. It abounds in that poetical miniature painting in which lies +the chief literary strength of the Indian. Affording the poet free +scope for the indulgence of his rich and original imaginative powers, +it is conspicuous for wealth of illustration. The following rendering +of a stanza in the Viyogini metre (in which lines of ten and eleven +syllables ending iambically alternate) may serve as a specimen. The +poet shows how the duty of a wife following her husband in death is +exemplified even by objects in Nature poetically conceived as spouses-- + + + After the Lord of Night the moonlight goes, + Along with the cloud the lightning is dissolved: + Wives ever follow in their husbands' path; + Even things bereft of sense obey this law. + + +Usually the first seven cantos only are to be found in the printed +editions, owing to the excessively erotic character of the remaining +ten. The poem concludes with an account of the destruction of the +demon Taraka, the object for which the god of war was born. + +More than twenty commentaries on the Kumara-sambhava have been +preserved. Several of them are by the same authors, notably Mallinatha, +as those on the Raghuvamça. + +The subject-matter of the later Kavyas, which is derived from the +two great epics, becomes more and more mixed up with lyric, erotic, +and didactic elements. It is increasingly regarded as a means for the +display of elaborate conceits, till at last nothing remains but bombast +and verbal jugglery. The Bhatti-kavya, written in Valabhi under King +Çridharasena, probably in the seventh century, and ascribed by various +commentators to the poet and grammarian Bhartrihari (died 651 A.D.), +deals in 22 cantos with the story of Rama, but only with the object +of illustrating the forms of Sanskrit grammar. + +The Kiratarjuniya describes, in eighteen cantos, the combat, first +narrated in the Mahabharata, between Çiva, in the guise of a Kirata or +mountaineer, and Arjuna. It cannot have been composed later than the +sixth century, as its author, Bharavi, is mentioned in an inscription +of 634 A.D. The fifteenth canto of this poem contains a number of +stanzas illustrating all kinds of verbal tricks like those described in +Dandin's Kavyadarça. Thus one stanza (14) contains no consonant but n +(excepting a t at the end); [10] while each half-line in a subsequent +one (25), if its syllables be read backwards, is identical with the +other half. [11] + +The Çiçupala-vadha, or "Death of Çiçupala," describes, in twenty +cantos, how that prince, son of a king of Chedi, and cousin of Krishna, +was slain by Vishnu. Having been composed by the poet Magha, it also +goes by the name of Magha-kavya. It probably dates from the ninth, +and must undoubtedly have been composed before the end of the tenth +century. The nineteenth canto is full of metrical puzzles, some of a +highly complex character (e.g. 29). It contains an example of a stanza +(34) which, if read backwards, is identical with the preceding one +read in the ordinary way. At the same time this Kavya is, as a whole, +by no means lacking in poetical beauties and striking thoughts. + +The Naishadhiya (also called Naishadha-charita), in twenty-two cantos, +deals with the story of Nala, king of Nishada, the well-known episode +of the Mahabharata. It was composed by Çriharsha, who belongs to the +latter half of the twelfth century. + +These six artificial epics are recognised as Mahakavyas, or +"Great Poems," and have all been commented on by Mallinatha. The +characteristics of this higher class are set forth by Dandin in his +Kavyadarça, or "Mirror of Poetry" (i. 14-19). Their subjects must +be derived from epic story (itihasa), they should be extensive, and +ought to be embellished with descriptions of cities, seas, mountains, +seasons, sunrise, weddings, battles fought by the hero, and so forth. + +An extensive Mahakavya, in fifty cantos, is the Haravijaya, or +"Victory of Çiva," by a Kashmirian poet named Ratnakara, who belongs +to the ninth century. + +Another late epic, narrating the fortunes of the same hero as the +Naishadhiya, is the Nalodaya, or "Rise of Nala," which describes the +restoration to power of King Nala after he had lost his all. Though +attributed to Kalidasa, it is unmistakably the product of a much +later age. The chief aim of the author is to show off his skill +in the manipulation of the most varied and artificial metres, as +well as all the elaborate tricks of style exhibited in the latest +Kavyas. Rhyme even is introduced, and that, too, not only at the +end of, but within metrical lines. The really epic material is but +scantily treated, narrative making way for long descriptions and +lyrical effusions. Thus the second and longest of the four cantos +of the poem is purely lyrical, describing only the bliss of the +newly-wedded pair, with all kinds of irrelevant additions. + +The culmination of artificiality is attained by the Raghava-pandaviya, +a poem composed by Kaviraja, who perhaps flourished about A.D. 800. It +celebrates simultaneously the actions of Raghava or Rama and of +the Pandava princes. The composition is so arranged that by the +use of ambiguous words and phrases the story of the Ramayana and +the Mahabharata is told at one and the same time. The same words, +according to the sense in which they are understood, narrate the events +of each epic. A tour de force of this kind is doubtless unique in the +literatures of the world. Kaviraja has, however, found imitators in +India itself. + +A Mahakavya which is as yet only known in MS. is the +Navasahasanka-charita, a poem celebrating the doings of Navasahasanka, +otherwise Sindhuraja, a king of Malava, and composed by a poet named +Padmagupta, who lived about 1000 A.D. It consists of eighteen cantos, +containing over 1500 stanzas in nineteen different metres. The poet +refrains from the employment of metrical tricks; but he greatly +impedes the progress of the narrative by introducing interminable +speeches and long-winded descriptions. + +We may mention, in conclusion, that there is also an epic in Prakrit +which is attributed to Kalidasa. This is the Setu-bandha, "Building +of the Bridge," or Ravanavadha, "Death of Ravana," which relates +the story of Rama. It is supposed to have been composed by the poet +to commemorate the building of a bridge of boats across the Vitasta +(Jhelum) by King Pravarasena of Kashmir. + +There are a few prose romances dating from the sixth and seventh +centuries, which being classed as Kavyas by the Sanskrit writers +on poetics, may be mentioned in this place. The abundant use of +immense compounds, which of course makes them very difficult reading, +is an essential characteristic of the style of these works. As to +their matter, they contain but little action, consisting largely of +scenes which are strung together by a meagre thread of narrative, and +are made the occasion of lengthy descriptions full of long strings +of comparisons and often teeming with puns. In spite, however, of +their highly artificial and involved style, many really poetical +thoughts may be found embedded in what to the European taste is an +unattractive setting. + +The Daça-kumara-charita, or "Adventures of the Ten Princes," contains +stories of common life and reflects a corrupt state of society. It is +by Dandin, and probably dates from the sixth century A.D. Vasavadatta, +by Subandhu, relates the popular story of the heroine Vasavadatta, +princess of Ujjayini, and Udayana, king of Vatsa. It was probably +written quite at the beginning of the seventh century. Slightly +later is Bana's Kadambari, a poetical romance narrating the fortunes +of a princess of that name. Another work of a somewhat similar +character by the same author is the Harsha-charita, a romance in +eight chapters, in which Bana attempts to give some account of the +life of King Harshavardhana of Kanauj. There is, however, but little +narrative. Thus in twenty-five pages of the eighth chapter there are +to be found five long descriptions, extending on the average to two +pages, to say nothing of shorter ones. There is, for instance, a long +disquisition, covering four pages, and full of strings of comparisons, +about the miseries of servitude. A servant, "like a painted bow, +is for ever bent in the one act of distending a string of imaginary +virtues, but there is no force in him; like a heap of dust-sweepings +gathered by a broom, he carries off toilet-leavings; like the meal +offered to the Divine Mothers, he is cast out into space even at night; +like a pumping machine, he has left all weight behind him and bends +even for water," and so on. Soon after comes a description, covering +two pages, of the trees in a forest. This is immediately followed by +another page enumerating the various kinds of students thronging the +wood in order to avail themselves of the teaching of a great Buddhist +sage; they even include monkeys busily engaged in ritual ceremonies, +devout parrots expounding a Buddhist dictionary, owls lecturing on +the various births of Buddha, and tigers who have given up eating +flesh under the calming influence of Buddhist teaching. Next comes +a page describing the sage himself. "He was clad in a very soft +red cloth, as if he were the eastern quarter of the sky bathed in +the morning sunshine, teaching the other quarters to assume the red +Buddhist attire, while they were flushed with the pure red glow of +his body like a ruby freshly cut." Soon after comes a long account, +bristling with puns, of a disconsolate princess lying prostrate in the +wood--"lost in the forest and in thought, bent upon death and the root +of a tree, fallen upon calamity and her nurse's bosom, parted from her +husband and happiness, burned with the fierce sunshine and the woes +of widowhood, her mouth closed with silence as well as by her hand, +and held fast by her companions as well as by grief. I saw her with her +kindred and her graces all gone, her ears and her soul left bare, her +ornaments and her aims abandoned, her bracelets and her hopes broken, +her companions and the needle-like grass-spears clinging round her +feet, her eye and her beloved fixed within her bosom, her sighs and +her hair long, her limbs and her merits exhausted, her aged attendants +and her streaming tears falling down at her feet," and so forth. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LYRIC POETRY + +(Circa 400-1100 A.D.) + + +Sanskrit lyrical poetry has not produced many works of any considerable +length. But among these are included two of the most perfect creations +of Kalidasa, a writer distinguished no less in this field than as +an epic and a dramatic author. His lyrical talent is, indeed, also +sufficiently prominent in his plays. + +Kalidasa's Meghaduta, or "Cloud Messenger," is a lyrical gem which +won the admiration of Goethe. It consists of 115 stanzas composed in +the Mandakranta metre of four lines of seventeen syllables. The theme +is a message which an exile sends by a cloud to his wife dwelling far +away. The idea is applied by Schiller in his Maria Stuart, where the +captive Queen of Scots calls on the clouds as they fly southwards to +greet the land of her youth (act iii. sc. 1). The exile is a Yaksha or +attendant of Kubera, the god of wealth, who for neglect of his duty +has been banished to the groves on the slopes of Ramagiri in Central +India. Emaciated and melancholy, he sees, at the approach of the rainy +season, a dark cloud moving northwards. The sight fills his heart with +yearning, and impels him to address to the cloud a request to convey +a message of hope to his wife in the remote Himalaya. In the first +half of the poem the Yaksha describes with much power and beauty the +various scenes the cloud must traverse on its northward course: Mount +Amrakuta, on whose peak it will rest after quenching with showers the +forest fires; the Narmada, winding at the foot of the Vindhya hills; +the town of Vidiça (Bhilsa), and the stream of the Vetravati (Betwah); +the city of Ujjayini (Ujjain) in the land of Avanti; the sacred region +of Kurukshetra; the Ganges and the mountains from which she sprang, +white with snowfields, till Alaka on Mount Kailasa is finally reached. + +In the second half of the poem the Yaksha first describes the beauties +of this city and his own dwelling there. Going on to paint in glowing +colours the charms of his wife, her surroundings, and her occupations, +he imagines her tossing on her couch, sleepless and emaciated, through +the watches of the night. Then, when her eye rests on the window, the +cloud shall proclaim to her with thunder-sound her husband's message, +that he is still alive and ever longs to behold her:-- + + + In creepers I discern thy form, in eyes of startled hinds thy + glances, + And in the moon thy lovely face, in peacocks' plumes thy shining + tresses; + The sportive frown upon thy brow in flowing waters' tiny ripples: + But never in one place combined can I, alas! behold thy likeness. + + +But courage, he says; our sorrow will end at last--we shall be +re-united-- + + + And then we will our hearts' desire, grown more intense by + separation, + Enjoy in nights all glorious and bright, with full-orbed autumn + moonlight. + + +Then begging the cloud, after delivering his message, to return with +reassuring news, the exile finally dismisses him with the hope that +he may never, even for a moment, be divided from his lightning spouse. + +Besides the expression of emotion, the descriptive element is very +prominent in this fine poem. This is still more true of Kalidasa's +Ritusamhara, or "Cycle of the Seasons." That little work, which +consists of 153 stanzas in six cantos, and is composed in various +metres, is a highly poetical description of the six seasons into which +classical Sanskrit poets usually divide the Indian year. With glowing +descriptions of the beauties of Nature, in which erotic scenes are +interspersed, the poet adroitly interweaves the expression of human +emotions. Perhaps no other work of Kalidasa's manifests so strikingly +the poet's deep sympathy with Nature, his keen powers of observation, +and his skill in depicting an Indian landscape in vivid colours. + +The poem opens with an account of summer. If the glow of the sun is +then too great during the day, the moonlit nights are all the more +delightful to lovers. The moon, beholding the face of beauteous +maidens, is beside itself with jealousy; then, too, it is that the +heart of the wanderer is burnt by the fire of separation. Next follows +a brilliant description of the effects of the heat: the thirst or +lethargy it produces in serpent, lion, elephant, buffalo, boar, +gazelle, peacock, crane, frogs, and fishes; the devastation caused +by the forest fire which devours trees and shrubs, and drives before +it crowds of terror-stricken beasts. + +The close heat is succeeded by the rains, which are announced by +the approach of the dark heavy clouds with their banner of lightning +and drum of thunder. Slowly they move accompanied by chataka birds, +fabled to live exclusively on raindrops, till at length they discharge +their water. The wild streams, like wanton girls, grasp in a trice +the tottering trees upon their banks, as they rush onwards to the +sea. The earth becomes covered with young blades of grass, and the +forests clothe themselves with golden buds-- + + + The mountains fill the soul with yearning thoughts of love, + When rain-charged clouds bend down to kiss the tow'ring rocks, + When all around upon their slopes the streams gush down, + And throngs of peacocks that begin to dance are seen. + + +Next comes the autumn, beauteous as a newly-wedded bride, with face +of full-blown lotuses, with robe of sugarcane and ripening rice, with +the cry of flamingoes representing the tinkling of her anklets. The +graceful creepers vie with the arms of lovely women, and the jasmine, +showing through the crimson açoka blossoms, rivals the dazzling teeth +and red lips of smiling maidens. + +Winter follows, when the rice ripens, while the lotus fades and the +fields in the morning are covered with rime-- + + + Then the Priyangu creeper, reaching ripeness, + Buffeted constantly by chilling breezes, + Grows, O Beloved, ever pale and paler, + Like lonely maiden from her lover parted. + + +This is the time dear to lovers, whose joys the poet describes in +glowing colours. + +In the cold season a fire and the mild rays of the sun are +pleasant. The night does not attract lovers now, for the moonbeams +are cold and the light of the stars is pale. + +The poet dwells longest on the delights of spring, the last of the +six seasons. It is then that maidens, with karnikara flowers on their +ears, with red açoka blossoms and sprays of jasmine in their locks, +go to meet their lovers. Then the hum of intoxicated bees is heard, +and the note of the Indian cuckoo; then the blossoms of the mango-tree +are seen: these are the sharp arrows wherewith the god of the flowery +bow enflames the hearts of maidens to love. + +A lyric poem of a very artificial character, and consisting of only +twenty-two stanzas, is the Ghata-karpara, or "Potsherd," called after +the author's name, which is worked into the last verse. The date of +the poet is unknown. He is mentioned as one of the "nine gems" at +the court of the mythical Vikramaditya in the verse already mentioned. + +The Chaura-panchaçika, or "Fifty Stanzas of the Thief," is a +lyrical poem which contains many beauties. Its author was the +Kashmirian Bilhana, who belongs to the later half of the eleventh +century. According to the romantic tradition, this poet secretly +enjoyed the love of a princess, and when found out was condemned +to death. He thereupon composed fifty stanzas, each beginning with +the words "Even now I remember," in which he describes with glowing +enthusiasm the joys of love he had experienced. Their effect on the +king was so great that he forgave the poet and bestowed on him the +hand of his daughter. + +The main bulk of the lyrical creations of mediæval India are not +connected poems of considerable length, but consist of that miniature +painting which, as with a few strokes, depicts an amatory situation +or sentiment in a single stanza of four lines. These lyrics are in +many respects cognate to the sententious poetry which the Indians +cultivated with such eminent success. Bearing evidence of great +wealth of observation and depth of feeling, they are often drawn by +a master-hand. Many of them are in matter and form gems of perfect +beauty. Some of their charm is, however, lost in translation owing +to the impossibility of reproducing the elaborate metres employed in +the original. Several Sanskrit poets composed collections of these +miniature lyrics. + +The most eminent of these authors is Bhartrihari, grammarian, +philosopher, and poet in one. Only the literary training of India +could make such a combination possible, and even there it has hardly +a parallel. Bhartrihari lived in the first half of the seventh +century. The Chinese traveller I Tsing, who spent more than twenty +years in India at the end of that century, records that, having +turned Buddhist monk, the poet again became a layman, and fluctuated +altogether seven times between the monastery and the world. Bhartrihari +blamed himself for, but could not overcome, his inconstancy. He wrote +three centuries of detached stanzas. Of the first and last, which are +sententious in character, there will be occasion to say something +later. Only the second, entitled Çringara-çataka, or "Century of +Love," deals with erotic sentiment. Here Bhartrihari, in graceful and +meditative verse, shows himself to be well acquainted both with the +charms of women and with the arts by which they captivate the hearts +of men. Who, he asks in one of these miniature poems, is not filled +with yearning thoughts of love in spring, when the air swoons with +the scent of the mango blossom and is filled with the hum of bees +intoxicated with honey? In another he avers that none can resist the +charms of lotus-eyed maidens, not even learned men, whose utterances +about renouncing love are mere idle words. The poet himself laments +that, when his beloved is away, the brightness goes out of his life-- + + + Beside the lamp, the flaming hearth, + In light of sun or moon and stars, + Without my dear one's lustrous eyes + This world is wholly dark to me. + + +At the same time he warns the unwary against reflecting over-much on +female beauty-- + + + Let not thy thoughts, O Wanderer, + Roam in that forest, woman's form: + For there a robber ever lurks, + Ready to strike--the God of Love. + + +In another stanza the Indian Cupid appears as a fisherman, who, +casting on the ocean of this world a hook called woman, quickly +catches men as fishes eager for the bait of ruddy lips, and bakes +them in the fire of love. + +Strange are the contradictions in which the poet finds himself involved +by loving a maiden-- + + + Remembered she but causes pain; + At sight of her my madness grows; + When touched, she makes my senses reel: + How, pray, can such an one be loved? + + +So towards the end of the Century the poet's heart begins to turn +from the allurements of love. "Cease, maiden," he exclaims, "to cast +thy glances on me: thy trouble is in vain. I am an altered man; youth +has gone by and my thoughts are bent on the forest; my infatuation is +over, and the whole world I now account but as a wisp of straw." Thus +Bhartrihari prepares the way for his third collection, the "Century +of Renunciation." + +A short but charming treasury of detached erotic verses is the +Çringara-tilaka, which tradition attributes to Kalidasa. In its +twenty-three stanzas occur some highly imaginative analogies, worked +out with much originality. In one of them, for instance, the poet +asks how it comes that a maiden, whose features and limbs resemble +various tender flowers, should have a heart of stone. In another he +compares his mistress to a hunter-- + + + This maiden like a huntsman is; + Her brow is like the bow he bends; + Her sidelong glances are his darts; + My heart's the antelope she slays. + + +The most important lyrical work of this kind is the Amaruçataka, +or "Hundred stanzas of Amaru." The author is a master in the art of +painting lovers in all their moods, bliss and dejection, anger and +devotion. He is especially skilful in depicting the various stages of +estrangement and reconciliation. It is remarkable how, with a subject +so limited, in situations and emotions so similar, the poet succeeds +in arresting the attention with surprising turns of thought, and +with subtle touches which are ever new. The love which Amaru as well +as other Indian lyrists portrays is not of the romantic and ideal, +but rather of the sensuous type. Nevertheless his work often shows +delicacy of feeling and refinement of thought. Such, for instance, +is the case when he describes a wife watching in the gloaming for +the return of her absent husband. + +Many lyrical gems are to be found preserved in the Sanskrit treatises +on poetics. One such is a stanza on the red açoka. In this the poet +asks the tree to say whither his mistress has gone; it need not shake +its head in the wind, as if to say it did not know; for how could it +be flowering so brilliantly had it not been touched by the foot of +his beloved? [12] + +In all this lyrical poetry the plant and animal world plays an +important part and is treated with much charm. Of flowers, the lotus +is the most conspicuous. One of these stanzas, for example, describes +the day-lotuses as closing their calyx-eyes in the evening, because +unwilling to see the sun, their spouse and benefactor, sink down bereft +of his rays. Another describes with pathetic beauty the dream of a bee: +"The night will pass, the fair dawn will come, the sun will rise, +the lotuses will laugh;" while a bee thus mused within the calyx, +an elephant, alas! tore up the lotus plant. + +Various birds to which poetical myths are attached are frequently +introduced as furnishing analogies to human life and love. The chataka, +which would rather die of thirst than drink aught but the raindrops +from the cloud, affords an illustration of pride. The chakora, +supposed to imbibe the rays of the moon, affords a parallel to the +lover who with his eyes drinks in the beams of his beloved's face. The +chakravaka, which, fabled to be condemned to nocturnal separation +from his mate, calls to her with plaintive cry during the watches of +the night, serves as an emblem of conjugal fidelity. + +In all this lyric poetry the bright eyes and beauty of Indian girls +find a setting in scenes brilliant with blossoming trees, fragrant +with flowers, gay with the plumage and vocal with the song of birds, +diversified with lotus ponds steeped in tropical sunshine and with +large-eyed gazelles reclining in the shade. Some of its gems are well +worthy of having inspired the genius of Heine to produce such lyrics +as Die Lotosblume and Auf Flügeln des Gesanges. + +A considerable amount of lyrical poetry of the same type has also been +produced in Prakrit, especially in the extensive anthology entitled +Saptaçataka, or "Seven Centuries," of the poet Hala, who probably +lived before A.D. 1000. It contains many beauties, and is altogether a +rich treasury of popular Indian lyrical poetry. It must suffice here +to refer to but one of the stanzas contained in this collection. In +this little poem the moon is described as a white swan sailing on +the pure nocturnal lake of the heavens, studded with starry lotuses. + +The transitional stage between pure lyric and pure drama is represented +by the Gitagovinda, or "Cowherd in Song," a lyrical drama, which, +though dating from the twelfth century, is the earliest literary +specimen of a primitive type of play that still survives in Bengal, +and must have preceded the regular dramas. The poem contains no +dialogue in the proper sense, for its three characters only engage +in a kind of lyrical monologue, of which one of the other two is +supposed to be an auditor, sometimes even no one at all. The subject +of the poem is the love of Krishna for the beautiful cowherdess Radha, +the estrangement of the lovers, and their final reconciliation. It is +taken from that episode of Krishna's life in which he himself was a +herdsman (go-vinda), living on the banks of the Yamuna, and enjoying +to the full the love of the cowherdesses. The only three characters +of the poem are Krishna, Radha, and a confidante of the latter. + +Its author, Jayadeva, was probably a native of Bengal, having been +a contemporary of a Bengal king named Lakshmanasena. It is probable +that he took as his model popular plays representing incidents from +the life of Krishna, as the modern yatras in Bengal still do. The +latter festival plays even now consist chiefly of lyrical stanzas, +partly recited and partly sung, the dialogue being but scanty, and to +a considerable extent left to improvisation. On such a basis Jayadeva +created his highly artificial poem. The great perfection of form he +has here attained, by combining grace of diction with ease in handling +the most difficult metres, has not failed to win the admiration of +all who are capable of reading the original Sanskrit. Making abundant +use of alliteration and the most complex rhymes occurring, as in the +Nalodaya, not only at the end, but in the middle of metrical lines, +[13] the poet has adapted the most varied and melodious measures +to the expression of exuberant erotic emotions, with a skill which +could not be surpassed. It seems impossible to reproduce Jayadeva's +verse adequately in an English garb. The German poet Rückert, has, +however, come as near to the highly artificial beauty of the original, +both in form and matter, as is feasible in any translation. + +It is somewhat strange that a poem which describes the transports of +sensual love with all the exuberance of an Oriental fancy should, +in the present instance, and not for the first time, have received +an allegorical explanation in a mystical religious sense. According +to Indian interpreters, the separation of Krishna and Radha, their +seeking for each other, and their final reconciliation represent the +relation of the supreme deity to the human soul. This may possibly +have been the intention of Jayadeva, though only as a leading idea, +not to be followed out in detail. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE DRAMA + +(Circa 400-1000 A.D.) + + +To the European mind the history of the Indian drama cannot but be +a source of abundant interest; for here we have an important branch +of literature which has had a full and varied national development, +quite independent of Western influence, and which throws much light +on Hindu social customs during the five or six centuries preceding +the Muhammadan conquest. + +The earliest forms of dramatic literature in India are represented by +those hymns of the Rigveda which contain dialogues, such as those of +Sarama and the Panis, Yama and Yami, Pururavas and Urvaçi, the latter, +indeed, being the foundation of a regular play composed much more than +a thousand years later by the greatest dramatist of India. The origin +of the acted drama is, however, wrapt in obscurity. Nevertheless, +the evidence of tradition and of language suffice to direct us with +considerable probability to its source. + +The words for actor (nata) and play (nataka) are derived from the +verb nat, the Prakrit or vernacular form of the Sanskrit nrit, +"to dance." The name is familiar to English ears in the form of +nautch, the Indian dancing of the present day. The latter, indeed, +probably represents the beginnings of the Indian drama. It must at +first have consisted only of rude pantomime, in which the dancing +movements of the body were accompanied by mute mimicking gestures of +hand and face. Songs, doubtless, also early formed an ingredient in +such performances. Thus Bharata, the name of the mythical inventor +of the drama, which in Sanskrit also means "actor," in several of the +vernaculars signifies "singer," as in the Gujarati Bharot. The addition +of dialogue was the last step in the development, which was thus much +the same in India and in Greece. This primitive stage is represented by +the Bengal yatras and the Gitagovinda. These form the transition to the +fully-developed Sanskrit play in which lyrics and dialogue are blended. + +The earliest references to the acted drama are to be found in the +Mahabhashya, which mentions representations of the Kamsavadha, the +"Slaying of Kamsa," and the Balibandha, or "Binding of Bali," episodes +in the history of Krishna. Indian tradition describes Bharata as having +caused to be acted before the gods a play representing the svayamvara +of Lakshmi, wife of Vishnu. Tradition further makes Krishna and his +cowherdesses the starting-point of the samgita, a representation +consisting of a mixture of song, music, and dancing. The Gitagovinda +is concerned with Krishna, and the modern yatras generally represent +scenes from the life of that deity. From all this it seems likely +that the Indian drama was developed in connection with the cult of +Vishnu-Krishna, and that the earliest acted representations were +therefore, like the mysteries of the Christian Middle Ages, a kind +of religious plays, in which scenes from the legend of the god were +enacted mainly with the aid of song and dance, supplemented with +prose dialogue improvised by the performers. + +The drama has had a rich and varied development in India, as is +shown not only by the numerous plays that have been preserved, but +by the native treatises on poetics which contain elaborate rules for +the construction and style of plays. Thus the Sahitya-darpana, or +"Mirror of Rhetoric," divides Sanskrit dramas into two main classes, +a higher (rupaka) and a lower (uparupaka), and distinguishes no fewer +than ten species of the former and eighteen of the latter. + +The characteristic features of the Indian drama which strike the +Western student are the entire absence of tragedy, the interchange +of lyrical stanzas with prose dialogue, and the use of Sanskrit for +some characters and of Prakrit for others. + +The Sanskrit drama is a mixed composition, in which joy is mingled +with sorrow, in which the jester usually plays a prominent part, while +the hero and heroine are often in the depths of despair. But it never +has a sad ending. The emotions of terror, grief, or pity, with which +the audience are inspired, are therefore always tranquillised by the +happy termination of the story. Nor may any deeply tragic incident +take place in the course of the play; for death is never allowed to +be represented on the stage. Indeed nothing considered indecorous, +whether of a serious or comic character, is allowed to be enacted in +the sight or hearing of the spectators, such as the utterance of a +curse, degradation, banishment, national calamity, biting, scratching, +kissing, eating, or sleeping. + +Sanskrit plays are full of lyrical passages describing scenes or +persons presented to view, or containing reflections suggested +by the incidents that occur. They usually consist of four-line +stanzas. Çakuntala contains nearly two hundred such, representing +something like one half of the whole play. These lyrical passages are +composed in a great many different metres. Thus the first thirty-four +stanzas of Çakuntala exhibit no fewer than eleven varieties of +verse. It is not possible, as in the case of the simple Vedic metres, +to imitate in English the almost infinite resources of the complicated +and entirely quantitative classical Sanskrit measures. The spirit +of the lyrical passages is, therefore, probably best reproduced by +using blank verse as the familiar metre of our drama. The prose of +the dialogue in the plays is often very commonplace, serving only as +an introduction to the lofty sentiment of the poetry that follows. + +In accordance with their social position, the various characters in a +Sanskrit play speak different dialects. Sanskrit is employed only by +heroes, kings, Brahmans, and men of high rank; Prakrit by all women +and by men of the lower orders. Distinctions are further made in the +use of Prakrit itself. Thus women of high position employ Maharashtri +in lyrical passages, but otherwise they, as well as children and +the better class of servants, speak Çauraseni. Magadhi is used, +for instance, by attendants in the royal palace, Avanti by rogues +or gamblers, Abhiri by cowherds, Paiçachi by charcoal-burners, +and Apabhramça by the lowest and most despised people as well as +barbarians. + +The Sanskrit dramatists show considerable skill in weaving the +incidents of the plot and in the portrayal of individual character, +but do not show much fertility of invention, commonly borrowing +the story of their plays from history or epic legend. Love is the +subject of most Indian dramas. The hero, usually a king, already +the husband of one or more wives, is smitten at first sight with +the charms of some fair maiden. The heroine, equally susceptible, +at once reciprocates his affection, but concealing her passion, keeps +her lover in agonies of suspense. Harassed by doubts, obstacles, and +delays, both are reduced to a melancholy and emaciated condition. The +somewhat doleful effect produced by their plight is relieved by the +animated doings of the heroine's confidantes, but especially by the +proceedings of the court-jester (vidushaka), the constant companion +of the hero. He excites ridicule by his bodily defects no less than +his clumsy interference with the course of the hero's affairs. His +attempts at wit are, however, not of a high order. It is somewhat +strange that a character occupying the position of a universal, +butt should always be a Brahman. + +While the Indian drama shows some affinities with Greek comedy, it +affords more striking points of resemblance to the productions of the +Elizabethan playwrights, and in particular of Shakespeare. The aim +of the Indian dramatists is not to portray types of character, but +individual persons; nor do they observe the rule of unity of time or +place. They are given to introducing romantic and fabulous elements; +they mix prose with verse; they blend the comic with the serious, and +introduce puns and comic distortions of words. The character of the +vidushaka, too, is a close parallel to the fool in Shakespeare. Common +to both are also several contrivances intended to further the action +of the drama, such as the writing of letters, the introduction of a +play within a play, the restoration of the dead to life, and the use +of intoxication on the stage as a humorous device. Such a series of +coincidences, in a case where influence or borrowing is absolutely out +of the question, is an instructive instance of how similar developments +can arise independently. + +Every Sanskrit play begins with a prologue or introduction, which +regularly opens with a prayer or benediction (nandi) invoking the +national deity in favour of the audience. Then generally follows a +dialogue between the stage-manager and one or two actors, which refers +to the play and its author, seeks to win public favour by paying +a complimentary tribute to the critical acumen of the spectators, +mentions past events and present circumstances elucidating the plot, +and invariably ends by adroitly introducing one of the characters of +the actual play. A Sanskrit drama is divided into scenes and acts. The +former are marked by the entrance of one character and the exit of +another. The stage is never left vacant till the end of the act, +nor does any change of locality take place till then. Before a new +act an interlude (called vishkambha or praveçaka), consisting of a +monologue or dialogue, is often introduced. In this scene allusion +is made to events supposed to have occurred in the interval, and the +audience are prepared for what is about to take place. The whole piece +closes with a prayer for national prosperity, which is addressed to +the favourite deity and is spoken by one of the principal characters. + +The number of acts in a play varies from one to ten; but, while +fluctuating somewhat, is determined by the character of the drama. Thus +the species called natika has four acts and the farcical prahasana +only one. + +The duration of the events is supposed to be identical with the +time occupied in performing them on the stage, or, at most, a day; +and a night is assumed to elapse between each act and that which +follows. Occasionally, however, the interval is much longer. Thus in +Kalidasa's Çakuntala and Urvaçi several years pass between the first +and the last act; while in Bhavabhuti's Uttara-ramacharita no less +than twelve years elapse between the first and the second act. + +Nor is unity of place observed; for the scene may be transferred from +one part of the earth to another, or even to the aërial regions. Change +of locality sometimes occurs even within the same act; as when a +journey is supposed to be performed through the air in a celestial +car. It is somewhat curious that while there are many and minute +stage directions about dress and decorations no less than about the +actions of the players, nothing is said in this way as to change +of scene. As regards the number of characters appearing in a play, +no limit of any kind is imposed. + +There were no special theatres in the Indian Middle Ages, and plays +seem to have been performed in the concert-room (samgita-çala) of royal +palaces. A curtain divided in the middle was a necessary part of the +stage arrangement; it did not, however, separate the audience from +the stage, as in the Roman theatre, but formed the background of the +stage. Behind the curtain was the tiring-room (nepathya), whence the +actors came on the stage. When they were intended to enter hurriedly, +they were directed to do so "with a toss of the curtain." The stage +scenery and decorations were of a very simple order, much being +left to the imagination of the spectator, as in the Shakespearean +drama. Weapons, seats, thrones, and chariots appeared on the stage; +but it is highly improbable that the latter were drawn by the living +animals supposed to be attached to them. Owing to the very frequent +intercourse between the inhabitants of heaven and earth, there may +have been some kind of aërial contrivance to represent celestial +chariots; but owing to the repeated occurrence of the stage direction +"gesticulating" (natayitva) in this connection, it is to be supposed +that the impression of motion and speed was produced on the audience +simply by the gestures of the actors. + +The best productions of the Indian drama are nearly a dozen in number, +and date from a period embracing something like four hundred years, +from about the beginning of the fifth to the end of the eighth century +A.D. These plays are the compositions of the great dramatists Kalidasa +and Bhavabhuti, or have come down under the names of the royal patrons +Çudraka and Çriharsha, to whom their real authors attributed them. + +The greatest of all is Kalidasa, already known to us as the author of +several of the best Kavyas. Three of his plays have been preserved, +Çakuntala, Vikramorvaçi, and Malavikagnimitra. The richness of creative +fancy which he displays in these, and his skill in the expression +of tender feeling, assign him a high place among the dramatists of +the world. The harmony of the poetic sentiment is nowhere disturbed +by anything violent or terrifying. Every passion is softened without +being enfeebled. The ardour of love never goes beyond æsthetic bounds; +it never maddens to wild jealousy or hate. The torments of sorrow +are toned down to a profound and touching melancholy. It was here at +last that the Indian genius found the law of moderation in poetry, +which it hardly knew elsewhere, and thus produced works of enduring +beauty. Hence it was that Çakuntala exercised so great a fascination +on the calm intellect of Goethe, who at the same time was so strongly +repelled by the extravagances of Hindu mythological art. + +In comparison with the Greek and the modern drama, Nature occupies +a much more important place in Sanskrit plays. The characters are +surrounded by Nature, with which they are in constant communion. The +mango and other trees, creepers, lotuses, and pale-red trumpet-flowers, +gazelles, flamingoes, bright-hued parrots, and Indian cuckoos, in +the midst of which they move, are often addressed by them and form an +essential part of their lives. Hence the influence of Nature on the +minds of lovers is much dwelt on. Prominent everywhere in classical +Sanskrit poetry, these elements of Nature luxuriate most of all in +the drama. + +The finest of Kalidasa's works are, it cannot be denied, defective +as stage-plays. The very delicacy of the sentiment, combined with +a certain want of action, renders them incapable of producing a +powerful effect on an audience. The best representatives of the +romantic drama of India are Çakuntala and Vikramorvaçi. Dealing +with the love adventures of two famous kings of ancient epic legend, +they represent scenes far removed from reality, in which heaven and +earth are not separated, and men, demigods, nymphs, and saints are +intermingled. Malavikagnimitra, on the other hand, not concerned +with the heroic or divine, is a palace-and-harem drama, a story of +contemporary love and intrigue. + +The plot of Çakuntala is derived from the first book of the +Mahabharata. The hero is Dushyanta, a celebrated king of ancient +days, the heroine, Çakuntala, the daughter of a celestial nymph, +Menaka, and of the sage Viçvamitra; while their son, Bharata, became +the founder of a famous race. The piece consists of seven acts, and +belongs to the class of drama by native writers on poetics styled +nataka, or "the play." In this the plot must be taken from mythology +or history, the characters must be heroic or divine; it should be +written in elaborate style, and full of noble sentiments, with five +acts at least, and not more than ten. + +After the prelude, in which an actress sings a charming lyric on the +beauties of summer-time, King Dushyanta appears pursuing a gazelle in +the sacred grove of the sage Kanva. Here he catches sight of Çakuntala, +who, accompanied by her two maiden friends, is engaged in watering +her favourite trees. Struck by her beauty, he exclaims-- + + + Her lip is ruddy as an opening bud. + Her graceful arms resemble tender shoots: + Attractive as the bloom upon the tree, + The glow of youth is spread on all her limbs. + + +Seizing an opportunity of addressing her, he soon feels that it is +impossible for him to return to his capital-- + + + My limbs move forward, while my heart flies back, + Like silken standard borne against the breeze. + + +In the second act the comic element is introduced with the jester +Mathavya, who is as much disgusted with his master's love-lorn +condition as with his fondness for the chase. In the third act, +the love-sick Çakuntala is discovered lying on a bed of flowers in +an arbour. The king overhears her conversation with her two friends, +shows himself, and offers to wed the heroine. An interlude explains +how a choleric ascetic, named Durvasa, enraged at not being greeted +by Çakuntala with due courtesy, owing to her pre-occupied state, had +pronounced a curse which should cause her to be entirely forgotten +by her lover, who could recognise her only by means of a ring. + +The king having meanwhile married Çakuntala and returned home, +the sage Kanva has resolved to send her to her husband. The way in +which Çakuntala takes leave of the sacred grove in which she has +been brought up, of her flowers, her gazelles, and her friends, +is charmingly described in the fourth act. This is the act which +contains the most obvious beauties; for here the poet displays to the +full the richness of his fancy, his abundant sympathy with Nature, +and a profound knowledge of the human heart. + +A young Brahman pupil thus describes the dawning of the day on which +Çakuntala is to leave the forest hermitage-- + + + On yonder side the moon, the Lord of Plants, + Sinks down behind the western mountain's crest; + On this, the sun preceded by the dawn + Appears: the setting and the rise at once + Of these two orbs the symbols are of man's + Own fluctuating fortunes in the world. + + +Then he continues-- + + + The moon has gone; the lilies on the lake, + Whose beauty lingers in the memory, + No more delight my gaze: they droop and fade; + Deep is their sorrow for their absent lord. + + +The aged hermit of the grove thus expresses his feelings at the +approaching loss of Çakuntala-- + + + My heart is touched with sadness at the thought + "Çakuntala must go to-day"; my throat + Is choked with flow of tears repressed; my sight + Is dimmed with pensiveness; but if the grief + Of an old forest hermit is so great, + How keen must be the pang a father feels + When freshly parted from a cherished child! + + +Then calling on the trees to give her a kindly farewell, he exclaims-- + + + The trees, the kinsmen of her forest home, + Now to Çakuntala give leave to go: + They with the Kokila's melodious cry + Their answer make. + + +Thereupon the following good wishes are uttered by voices in the air-- + + + Thy journey be auspicious; may the breeze, + Gentle and soothing, fan thy cheek; may lakes + All bright with lily cups delight thine eye; + The sunbeams' heat be cooled by shady trees; + The dust beneath thy feet the pollen be + Of lotuses. + + +The fifth act, in which Çakuntala appears before her husband, is deeply +moving. The king fails to recognise her, and, though treating her not +unkindly, refuses to acknowledge her as his wife. As a last resource, +Çakuntala bethinks herself of the ring given her by her husband, +but on discovering that it is lost, abandons hope. She is then borne +off to heaven by celestial agency. + +In the following interlude we see a fisherman dragged along by +constables for having in his possession the royal signet-ring, which he +professes to have found inside a fish. The king, however, causes him +to be set free, rewarding him handsomely for his find. Recollection +of his former love now returns to Dushyanta. While he is indulging in +sorrow at his repudiation of Çakuntala, Matali, Indra's charioteer, +appears on the scene to ask the king's aid in vanquishing the demons. + +In the last act Dushyanta is seen driving in Indra's car to Hemakuta, +the mountain of the Gandharvas. Here he sees a young boy playing with +a lion cub. Taking his hand, without knowing him to be his own son, +he exclaims-- + + + If now the touch of but a stranger's child + Thus sends a thrill of joy through all my limbs, + What transports must he waken in the soul + Of that blest father from whose loins he sprang! + + +Soon after he finds and recognises Çakuntala, with whom he is at +length happily reunited. + +Kalidasa's play has come down to us in two main recensions. The +so-called Devanagari one, shorter and more concise, is probably the +older and better. The more diffuse Bengal recension became known +first through the translation of Sir William Jones. + +Vikramorvaçi, or "Urvaçi won by Valour," is a play in five acts, +belonging to the class called Trotaka, which is described as +representing events partly terrestrial and partly celestial, and as +consisting of five, seven, eight, or nine acts. Its plot is briefly +as follows. King Pururavas, hearing from nymphs that their companion, +Urvaçi, has been carried off by demons, goes to the rescue and brings +her back on his car. He is enraptured by the beauty of the nymph, no +less than she is captivated by her deliverer. Urvaçi being summoned +before the throne of Indra, the lovers are soon obliged to part. + +In the second act Urvaçi appears for a short time to the king as +he disconsolately wanders in the garden. A letter, in which she +had written a confession of her love, is discovered by the queen, +who refuses to be pacified. + +In the third act we learn that Urvaçi had been acting before Indra +in a play representing the betrothal of Lakshmi, and had, when asked +on whom her heart was set, named Pururavas instead of Purushottama +(i.e. Vishnu). She is consequently cursed by her teacher, Bharata, +but is forgiven by Indra, who allows her to be united with Pururavas +till the latter sees his offspring. + +The fourth act is peculiar in being almost entirely lyrical. The +lovers are wandering near Kailasa, the divine mountain, when Urvaçi, +in a fit of jealousy, enters the grove of Kumara, god of war, which is +forbidden to all females. In consequence of Bharata's curse, she is +instantly transformed into a creeper. The king, beside himself with +grief at her loss, seeks her everywhere. He apostrophises various +insects, birds, beasts, and even a mountain peak, to tell him where +she is. At last he thinks he sees her in the mountain stream:-- + + + The rippling wave is like her frown; the row + Of tossing birds her girdle; streaks of foam + Her flutt'ring garment as she speeds along; + The current, her devious and stumbling gait: + 'Tis she turned in her wrath into a stream. + + +Finally, under the influence of a magic stone, which has come into +his possession, he clasps a creeper, which is transformed into Urvaçi +in his arms. + +Between the fourth and fifth acts several years elapse. Then Pururavas, +by accident, discovers his son Ayus, whom Urvaçi had secretly borne, +and had caused to be brought up in a hermitage. Urvaçi must therefore +return to heaven. Indra, however, in return for Pururavas' services +against the demons, makes a new concession, and allows the nymph to +remain with the king for good. + +There are two recensions of this play also, one of them belonging to +Southern India. + +The doubts long entertained, on the ground of its inferiority and +different character, as to whether Malavikagnimitra, or "Malavika and +Agnimitra," is really the work of Kalidasa, who is mentioned in the +prologue as the author, are hardly justified. The piece has been shown +by Weber to agree pretty closely in thought and diction with the two +other plays of the poet; and though certainly not equal to the latter +in poetic merit, it possesses many beauties. The subject is not heroic +or divine, the plot being derived from the ordinary palace life of +Indian princes, and thus supplying a peculiarly good picture of the +social conditions of the times. The hero is a historical king of the +dynasty of the Çungas, who reigned at Vidiça (Bhilsa) in the second +century B.C. The play describes the loves of this king Agnimitra and +of Malavika, one of the attendants of the queen, who jealously keeps +her out of the king's sight on account of her great beauty. The various +endeavours of the king to see and converse with Malavika give rise to +numerous little intrigues. In the course of these Agnimitra nowhere +appears as a despot, but acts with much delicate consideration for +the feelings of his spouses. It finally turns out that Malavika is by +birth a princess, who had only come to be an attendant at Agnimitra's +court through having fallen into the hands of robbers. There being +now no objection to her union with the king, all ends happily. + +While Kalidasa stands highest in poetical refinement, in tenderness, +and depth of feeling, the author of the Mricchakatika, or "Clay Cart," +is pre-eminent among Indian playwrights for the distinctively dramatic +qualities of vigour, life, and action, no less than sharpness of +characterisation, being thus allied in genius to Shakespeare. This +play is also marked by originality and good sense. Attributed to +a king named Çudraka, who is panegyrised in the prologue, it is +probably the work of a poet patronised by him, perhaps Dandin, as +Professor Pischel thinks. In any case, it not improbably belongs +to the sixth century. It is divided into ten acts, and belongs to +the dramatic class called prakarana. The name has little to do with +the play, being derived from an unimportant episode of the sixth +act. The scene is laid in Ujjayini and its neighbourhood. The number +of characters appearing on the stage is very considerable. The chief +among them are Charudatta, a Brahman merchant who has lost all his +property by excessive liberality, and Vasantasena, a rich courtesan +who loves the poor but noble Charudatta, and ultimately becomes his +wife. The third act contains a humorous account of a burglary, in +which stealing is treated as a fine art. In the fourth act there is a +detailed description of the splendours of Vasantasena's palace. Though +containing much exaggeration, it furnishes an interesting picture of +the kind of luxury that prevailed in those days. Altogether this play +abounds in comic situations, besides containing many serious scenes, +some of which even border on the tragic. + +To the first half of the seventh century belong the two dramas +attributed to the famous King Çriharsha or Harshadeva, a patron +of poets, whom we already know as Harshavardhana of Thaneçar and +Kanauj. Ratnavali, or "The Pearl Necklace," reflecting the court and +harem life of the age, has many points of similarity with Kalidasa's +Malavikagnimitra, by which, indeed, its plot was probably suggested. It +is the story of the loves of Udayana, king of Vatsa, and of Sagarika, +an attendant of his queen Vasavadatta. The heroine ultimately turns +out to be Ratnavali, princess of Ceylon, who had found her way to +Udayana's court after suffering shipwreck. The plot is unconnected +with mythology, but is based on an historical or epic tradition, which +recurs in a somewhat different form in Somadeva's Kathasaritsagara. As +concerned with the second marriage of the king, it forms a sequel to +the popular love-story of Vasavadatta. It is impossible to say whether +the poet modified the main outlines of the traditional story, but the +character of the magician who conjures up a vision of the gods and a +conflagration, is his invention, as well as the incidents, which are +of an entirely domestic nature. The real author was doubtless some +poet resident at Çriharsha's court, possibly Bana, who also wrote a +play entitled Parvatiparinaya. + +Altogether, Ratnavali is an agreeable play, with well-drawn characters +and many poetical beauties. Of the latter the following lines, in +which the king describes the pale light in the east heralding the +rise of the moon, may serve as a specimen:-- + + + Our minds intent upon the festival, + We saw not that the twilight passed away: + Behold, the east proclaims the lord of night + Still hidden by the mountain where he rises, + Even as a maiden by her pale face shows + That in her inmost heart a lover dwells. + + +Another play of considerable merit attributed to Çriharsha is +Nagananda. It is a sensational piece with a Buddhistic colouring, the +hero being a Buddhist and Buddha being praised in the introductory +benediction. For this reason its author was probably different from +that of Ratnavali, and may have been Dhavaka, who, like Bana, is +known to have lived at the court of Çriharsha. + +The dramatist Bhavabhuti was a Brahman of the Taittiriya school of the +Yajurveda and belonged, as we learn from his prologues, to Vidarbha +(now Berar) in Southern India. He knew the city of Ujjayini well, +and probably spent at least a part of his life there. His patron was +King Yaçovarman of Kanyakubja (Kanauj), who ruled during the first +half of the eighth century. + +Three plays by this poet, all abounding in poetic beauties, have come +down to us. They contrast in two or three respects with the works of +the earlier dramatists. The absence of the character of the jester is +characteristic of them, the comic and witty element entering into them +only to a slight extent. While other Indian poets dwell on the delicate +and mild beauties of Nature, Bhavabhuti loves to depict her grand and +sublime aspects, doubtless owing to the influence on his mind of the +southern mountains of his native land. He is, moreover, skilful not +only in drawing characters inspired by tender and noble sentiment, +but in giving effective expression to depth and force of passion. + +The best known and most popular of Bhavabhuti's plays is +Malati-madhava, a prakarana in ten acts. The scene is laid in Ujjayini, +and the subject is the love-story of Malati, daughter of a minister +of the country, and Madhava, a young scholar studying in the city, +and son of the minister of another state. Skilfully interwoven with +this main story are the fortunes of Makaranda, a friend of Madhava, +and Madayantika, a sister of the king's favourite. Malati and Madhava +meet and fall in love; but the king has determined that the heroine +shall marry his favourite, whom she detests. This plan is frustrated by +Makaranda, who, personating Malati, goes through the wedding ceremony +with the bridegroom. The lovers, aided in their projects by two amiable +Buddhist nuns, are finally united. The piece is a sort of Indian Romeo +and Juliet with a happy ending, the part played by the nun Kamandaki +being analogous to that of Friar Laurence in Shakespeare's drama. The +contrast produced by scenes of tender love, and the horrible doings +of the priestess of the dread goddess Durga, is certainly effective, +but perhaps too violent. The use made of swoons, from which the +recovery is, however, very rapid, is rather too common in this play. + +The ninth act contains several fine passages describing the scenery +of the Vindhya range. The following is a translation of one of them:-- + + + This mountain with its towering rocks delights + The eye: its peaks grow dark with gathering clouds; + Its groves are thronged with peacocks eloquent + In joy; the trees upon its slopes are bright + With birds that flit about their nests; the caves + Reverberate the growl of bears; the scent + Of incense-trees is wafted, sharp and cool, + From branches broken off by elephants. + + +The other two dramas of Bhavabhuti represent the fortunes of the +same national hero, Rama. The plot of the Mahavira-charita, or "The +Fortunes of the Great Hero," varies but slightly from the story told +in the Ramayana. The play, which is divided into seven acts and is +crowded with characters, concludes with the coronation of Rama. The +last act illustrates well how much is left to the imagination of the +spectator. It represents the journey of Rama in an aërial car from +Ceylon all the way to Ayodhya (Oudh) in Northern India, the scenes +traversed being described by one of the company. + +The Uttara-rama-charita, or "The Later Fortunes of Rama," is a +romantic piece containing many fine passages. Owing to lack of action, +however, it is rather a dramatic poem than a play. The description of +the tender love of Rama and Sita, purified by sorrow, exhibits more +genuine pathos than appears perhaps in any other Indian drama. The +play begins with the banishment of Sita and ends with her restoration, +after twelve years of grievous solitude, to the throne of Ayodhya +amid popular acclamations. Her two sons, born after her banishment and +reared in the wilderness by the sage Valmiki, without any knowledge of +their royal descent, furnish a striking parallel to the two princes +Guiderius and Arviragus who are brought up by the hermit Belarius in +Shakespeare's Cymbeline. The scene in which their meeting with their +father Rama is described reaches a high degree of poetic merit. + +Among the works of other dramatists, Viçakhadatta's Mudra-rakshasa, +or "Rakshasa and the Seal," deserves special mention because of +its unique character. For, unlike all the other dramas hitherto +described, it is a play of political intrigue, composed, moreover, +with much dramatic talent, being full of life, action, and sustained +interest. Nothing more definite can be said as to its date than that +it was probably written not later than about 800 A.D. The action of +the piece takes place in the time of Chandragupta, who, soon after +Alexander's invasion of India, founded a new dynasty at Pataliputra +by deposing the last king of the Nanda line. Rakshasa, the minister +of the latter, refusing to recognise the usurper, endeavours to be +avenged on him for the ruin of his late master. The plot turns on +the efforts of the Brahman Chanakya, the minister of Chandragupta, +to win over the noble Rakshasa to his master's cause. In this he is +ultimately successful. + +Bhatta Narayana's Venisamhara, or "Binding of the braid of hair," +is a play in six acts, deriving its plot from the Mahabharata. Its +action turns on the incident of Draupadi being dragged by the hair of +her head into the assembly by one of the brothers of Duryodhana. Its +age is known from its author having been the grantee of a copperplate +dated 840 A.D. Though not conspicuous for poetic merit, it has long +been a great favourite in India owing to its express partiality for +the cult of Krishna. + +To about 900 A.D. belongs the poet Rajaçekhara, the distinguishing +feature of whose dramas are lightness and grace of diction. Four +of his plays have survived, and are entitled Viddha-çalabhanjika, +Karpura-manjari, Bala-ramayana, and Prachanda-pandava or Bala-bharata. + +The poet Kshemiçvara, who probably lived in the tenth century +A.D. at Kanyakubja under King Mahipala, is the author of a play named +Chandakauçika, or "The Angry Kauçika." + +In the eleventh century Damodara Miçra composed the Hanuman-nataka, +"The Play of Hanumat," also called Maha-nataka, or "The Great +Play." According to tradition, he lived at the court of Bhoja, king of +Malava, who resided at Dhara (now Dhar) and Ujjayini (Ujjain) in the +early part of the eleventh century. It is a piece of little merit, +dealing with the story of Rama in connection with his ally Hanumat, +the monkey chief. It consists of fourteen acts, lacking coherence, +and producing the impression of fragments patched together. + +Krishna miçra's Prabodha-chandrodaya, or "Rise of the Moon of +Knowledge," a play in six acts, dating from about the end of the +eleventh century, deserves special attention as one of the most +remarkable products of Indian literature. Though an allegorical piece +of theologico-philosophical purport, in which practically only abstract +notions and symbolical figures act as persons, it is remarkable for +dramatic life and vigour. It aims at glorifying orthodox Brahmanism +in the Vishnuite sense, just as the allegorical plays of the Spanish +poet Calderon were intended to exalt the Catholic faith. The Indian +poet has succeeded in the difficult task of creating an attractive +play with abstractions like Revelation, Will, Reason, Religion, by +transforming them into living beings of flesh and blood. The evil +King Error appears on the scene as ruler of Benares, surrounded by +his faithful adherents, the Follies and Vices, while Religion and +the noble King Reason, accompanied by all the Virtues, have been +banished. There is, however, a prophecy that Reason will some day +be re-united with Revelation; the fruit of the union will be True +Knowledge, which will destroy the reign of Error. The struggle for +this union and its consummation, followed by the final triumph of +the good party, forms the plot of the piece. + +A large number of Sanskrit plays have been written since the twelfth +century [14] down to modern times, their plots being generally derived +from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Besides these, there are farces +in one or more acts, mostly of a coarse type, in which various vices, +such as hypocrisy, are satirised. These later productions reach a +much lower level of art than the works of the early Indian dramatists. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FAIRY TALES AND FABLES + +(Circa 400-1100 A.D.) + + +The didactic and sententious note which prevails in classical +Sanskrit literature cannot fail to strike the student. It is, however, +specially pronounced in the fairy tales and fables, where the abundant +introduction of ethical reflections and proverbial philosophy is +characteristic. The apologue with its moral is peculiarly subject to +this method of treatment. + +A distinguishing feature of the Sanskrit collections of fairy tales +and fables, which are to a considerable extent found mixed together, +is the insertion of a number of different stories within the framework +of a single narrative. The characters of the main story in turn relate +various tales to edify one another or to prove the correctness of their +own special views. As within the limits of a minor story a second +one can be similarly introduced and the process further repeated, +the construction of the whole work comes to resemble that of a set +of Chinese boxes. This style of narration was borrowed from India by +the neighbouring Oriental peoples of Persia and Arabia, who employed +it in composing independent works. The most notable instance is, +of course, the Arabian Nights. + +The Panchatantra, so called because it is divided into five books, is, +from the literary point of view, the most important and interesting +work in this branch of Indian literature. It consists for the most part +of fables, which are written in prose with an admixture of illustrative +aphoristic verse. At what time this collection first assumed definite +shape, it is impossible to say. We know, however, that it existed in +the first half of the sixth century A.D., since it was translated by +order of King Khosru Anushirvan (531-79) into Pehlevi, the literary +language of Persia at that time. We may, indeed, assume that it was +known in the fifth century; for a considerable time must have elapsed +before it became so famous that a foreign king desired its translation. + +If not actually a Buddhistic work, the Panchatantra must be derived +from Buddhistic sources. This follows from the fact that a number of +its fables can be traced to Buddhistic writings, and from the internal +evidence of the book itself. Apologues and fables were current among +the Buddhists from the earliest times. They were ascribed to Buddha, +and their sanctity increased by identifying the best character in +any story with Buddha himself in a previous birth. Hence such tales +were called Jatakas, or "Birth Stories." There is evidence that a +collection of stories under that name existed as early as the Council +of Vesali, about 380 B.C.; and in the fifth century A.D. they assumed +the shape they now have in the Pali Sutta-pitaka. Moreover, two +Chinese encylopædias, the older of which was completed in 668 A.D., +contain a large number of Indian fables translated into Chinese, +and cite no fewer than 202 Buddhist works as their sources. In its +present form, however, the Panchatantra is the production of Brahmans, +who, though they transformed or omitted such parts as betrayed animus +against Brahmanism, have nevertheless left uneffaced many traces of +the Buddhistic origin of the collection. Though now divided into only +five books, it is shown by the evidence of the oldest translation to +have at one time embraced twelve. What its original name was we cannot +say, but it may not improbably have been called after the two jackals, +Karataka and Damanaka, who play a prominent part in the first book; +for the title of the old Syriac version is Kalilag and Damnag, and +that of the Arabic translation Kalilah and Dimnah. + +Originally the Panchatantra was probably intended to be a manual for +the instruction of the sons of kings in the principles of conduct +(niti), a kind of "Mirror of Princes." For it is introduced with the +story of King Amaraçakti of Mahilaropya, a city of the south, who +wishes to discover a scholar capable of training his three stupid +and idle sons. He at last finds a Brahman who undertakes to teach +the princes in six months enough to make them surpass all others +in knowledge of moral science. This object he duly accomplishes by +composing the Panchatantra and reciting it to the young princes. + +The framework of the first book, entitled "Separation of Friends," is +the story of a bull and a lion, who are introduced to one another in +the forest by two jackals and become fast friends. One of the jackals, +feeling himself neglected, starts an intrigue by telling both the +lion and the bull that each is plotting against the other. As a result +the bull is killed in battle with the lion, and the jackal, as prime +minister of the latter, enjoys the fruits of his machinations. The +main story of the second book, which is called "Acquisition of +Friends," deals with the adventures of a tortoise, a deer, a crow, +and a mouse. It is meant to illustrate the advantages of judicious +friendships. The third book, or "The War of the Crows and the Owls," +points out the danger of friendship concluded between those who are old +enemies. The fourth book, entitled "Loss of what has been Acquired," +illustrates, by the main story of the monkey and the crocodile, how +fools can be made by flattery to part with their possessions. The fifth +book, entitled "Inconsiderate Action," contains a number of stories +connected with the experiences of a barber, who came to grief through +failing to take all the circumstances of the case into consideration. + +The book is pervaded by a quaint humour which transfers, to the animal +kingdom all sorts of human action. Thus animals devote themselves +to the study of the Vedas and to the practice of religious rites; +they engage in disquisitions about gods, saints, and heroes; or +exchange views regarding subtle rules of ethics; but suddenly their +fierce animal nature breaks out. A pious cat, for instance, called +upon to act as umpire in a dispute between a sparrow and a monkey, +inspires such confidence in the litigants, by a long discourse on the +vanity of life and the supreme importance of virtue, that they come +close up in order to hear better the words of wisdom. In an instant he +seizes one of the disputants with his claws, the other with his teeth, +and devours them both. Very humorous is the story of the conceited +musical donkey. Trespassing one moonlight night in a cucumber field, +he feels impelled to sing, and answers the objections of his friend +the jackal by a lecture on the charms of music. He then begins to bray, +arouses the watchmen, and receives a sound drubbing. + +With abundant irony and satire the most various human vices are +exposed, among others the hypocrisy and avarice of Brahmans, the +intriguing character of courtiers, and the faithlessness of women. A +vigorous popular spirit of reaction against Brahman pretensions here +finds expression, and altogether a sound and healthy view of life +prevails, forming a refreshing contrast to the exaggeration found in +many branches of Indian literature. + +The following translation of a short fable from the first book may +serve as a specimen of the style of the Panchatantra. + +"There was in a certain forest region a herd of monkeys. Once in the +winter season, when their bodies were shivering from contact with the +cold wind, and were buffeted with torrents of rain, they could find +no rest. So some of the monkeys, collecting gunja berries, which are +like sparks, stood round blowing in order to obtain a fire. Now a bird +named Needlebeak, seeing this vain endeavour of theirs, exclaimed, +'Ho, you are all great fools; these are not sparks of fire, they are +gunja berries. Why, therefore, this vain endeavour? You will never +protect yourselves against the cold in this way. You had better +look for a spot in the forest which is sheltered from the wind, +or a cave, or a cleft in the mountains. Even now mighty rain clouds +are appearing.' Thereupon an old monkey among them said, 'Ho, what +business of yours is this? Be off. There is a saying-- + + + A man of judgment who desires + His own success should not accost + One constantly disturbed in work + Or gamblers who have lost at play. + + +And another-- + + + Who joins in conversation with + A hunter who has chased in vain, + Or with a fool who has become + Involved in ruin, comes to grief. + + +"The bird, however, without paying any attention to him, continually +said to the monkeys, 'Ho, why this vain endeavour?' So, as he did +not for a moment cease to chatter, one of the monkeys, enraged at +their futile efforts, seized him by the wings and dashed him against +a stone. And so he (de)ceased. + +"Hence I say-- + + + Unbending wood cannot be bent, + A razor cannot cut a stone: + Mark this, O Needlebeak! Try not + To lecture him who will not learn." + + +A similar collection of fables is the celebrated Hitopadeça, or +"Salutary Advice," which, owing to its intrinsic merit, is one of the +best known and most popular works of Sanskrit literature in India, +and which, because of its suitability for teaching purposes, is read +by nearly all beginners of Sanskrit in England. It is based chiefly +on the Panchatantra, in which twenty-five of its forty-three fables +are found. The first three books of the older collection have been, +in the main, drawn upon; for there is but one story, that of the ass +in the tiger's skin, taken from Book IV., and only three from Book +V. The introduction is similar to that of the Panchatantra, but the +father of the ignorant and vicious princes is here called Sudarçana of +Pataliputra (Patna). The Hitopadeça is divided into four books. The +framework and titles of the first two agree with the first two of +the Panchatantra, but in inverted order. The third and fourth books +are called "War" and "Peace" respectively, the main story describing +the conflict and reconciliation of the Geese and the Peacocks. + +The sententious element is here much more prominent than in the +Panchatantra, and the number of verses introduced is often so great as +to seriously impede the progress of the prose narrative. These verses, +however, abound in wise maxims and fine thoughts. The stanzas dealing +with the transitoriness of human life near the end of Book IV. have +a peculiarly pensive beauty of their own. The following two may serve +as specimens:-- + + + As on the mighty ocean's waves + Two floating logs together come, + And, having met, for ever part: + So briefly joined are living things. + + As streams of rivers onward flow, + And never more return again: + So day and night still bear away + The life of every mortal man. + + +It is uncertain who was the author of the Hitopadeça; nor can anything +more definite be said about the date of this compilation than that +it is more than 500 years old, as the earliest known MS. of it was +written in 1373 A.D. + +As both the Panchatantra and the Hitopadeça were originally intended +as manuals for the instruction of kings in domestic and foreign +policy, they belong to the class of literature which the Hindus call +niti-çastra, or "Science of Political Ethics." A purely metrical +treatise, dealing directly with the principles of policy, is the +Niti-sara, or "Essence of Conduct." of Kamandaka, which is one of +the sources of the maxims introduced by the author of the Hitopadeça. + +A collection of pretty and ingenious fairy tales, with a highly +Oriental colouring, is the Vetala-panchavimçati, or "Twenty-five Tales +of the Vetala" (a demon supposed to occupy corpses). The framework of +this collection is briefly as follows. King Vikrama of Ujjayini is +directed by an ascetic (yogin) to take down from a tree and convey +a corpse, without uttering a single word, to a spot in a graveyard +where certain rites for the attainment of high magical powers are to +take place. As the king is carrying the corpse along on his shoulders, +a Vetala, which has entered it, begins to speak and tells him a fairy +tale. On the king inadvertently replying to a question, the corpse at +once disappears and is found hanging on the tree again. The king goes +back to fetch it, and the same process is repeated till the Vetala +has told twenty-five tales. Each of these is so constructed as to +end in a subtle problem, on which the king is asked to express his +opinion. The stories contained in this work are known to many English +readers under the title of Vikram and the Vampire. + +Another collection of fairy tales is the Simhasana-dvatrimçika, or +"Thirty-two Stories of the Lion-seat" (i.e. throne), which also goes +by the name of Vikrama-charita, or "Adventures of Vikrama." Here it +is the throne of King Vikrama that tells the tales. Both this and +the preceding collection are of Buddhistic origin. + +A third work of the same kind is the Çuka-saptati, or "Seventy Stories +of a Parrot." Here a wife, whose husband is travelling abroad, and +who is inclined to run after other men, turns to her husband's clever +parrot for advice. The bird, while seeming to approve of her plans, +warns her of the risks she runs, and makes her promise not to go and +meet any paramour unless she can extricate herself from difficulties +as So-and-so did. Requested to tell the story, he does so, but only +as far as the dilemma, when he asks the woman what course the person +concerned should take. As she cannot guess, the parrot promises to +tell her if she stays at home that night. Seventy days pass in the +same way, till the husband returns. + +These three collections of fairy tales are all written in prose and are +comparatively short. There is, however, another of special importance, +which is composed in verse and is of very considerable length. For +it contains no less than 22,000 çlokas, equal to nearly one-fourth of +the Mahabharata, or to almost twice as much as the Iliad and Odyssey +put together. This is the Katha-sarit-sagara, or "Ocean of Rivers +of Stories." It is divided into 124 chapters, called tarangas, or +"waves," to be in keeping with the title of the work. Independent of +these is another division into eighteen books called lambakas. + +The author was Somadeva, a Kashmirian poet, who composed his work +about 1070 A.D. Though he himself was a Brahman, his work contains +not only many traces of the Buddhistic character of his sources, +but even direct allusions to Buddhist Birth Stories. He states the +real basis of his work to have been the Brihat-katha, or "Great +Narration," which Bana mentions, by the poet Gunadhya, who is quoted +by Dandin. This original must, in the opinion of Bühler, go back to +the first or second century A.D. + +A somewhat earlier recast of this work was made about A.D. 1037 by a +contemporary of Somadeva's named Kshemendra Vyasadasa. It is entitled +Brihat-katha-manjari, and is only about one-third as long as the +Katha-sarit-sagara. Kshemendra and Somadeva worked independently +of each other, and both state that the original from which they +translated was written in the paiçachi bhasha or "Goblin language," +a term applied to a number of Low Prakrit dialects spoken by the most +ignorant and degraded classes. The Katha-sarit-sagara also contains +(Tarangas 60-64) a recast of the first three books of the Panchatantra, +which books, it is interesting to find, had the same form in Somadeva's +time as when they were translated into Pehlevi (about 570 A.D.). + +Somadeva's work contains many most entertaining stories; for instance, +that of the king who, through ignorance of the phonetic rules of +Sanskrit grammar, misunderstood a remark made by his wife, and overcome +with shame, determined to become a good Sanskrit scholar or die in +the attempt. One of the most famous tales it contains is that of King +Çibi, who offered up his life to save a pigeon from a hawk. It is a +Jataka, and is often represented on Buddhist sculptures; for example, +on the tope of Amaravati, which dates from about the beginning of +our era. It also occurs in a Chinese as well as a Muhammadan form. + + + + +ETHICAL POETRY. + +The proneness of the Indian mind to reflection not only produced +important results in religion, philosophy, and science; it also +found a more abundant expression in poetry than the literature of +any other nation can boast. Scattered throughout the most various +departments of Sanskrit literature are innumerable apophthegms in +which wise and noble, striking and original thoughts often appear +in a highly finished and poetical garb. These are plentiful in the +law-books; in the epic and the drama they are frequently on the lips +of heroes, sages, and gods; and in fables are constantly uttered by +tigers, jackals, cats, and other animals. Above all, the Mahabharata, +which, to the pious Hindu, constitutes a moral encyclopædia, is an +inexhaustible mine of proverbial philosophy. It is, however, natural +that ethical maxims should be introduced in greatest abundance into +works which, like the Panchatantra and Hitopadeça, were intended to +be handbooks of practical moral philosophy. + +Owing to the universality of this mode of expression in Sanskrit +literature, there are but few works consisting exclusively of +poetical aphorisms. The most important are the two collections by +the highly-gifted Bhartrihari, entitled respectively Nitiçataka, +or "Century of Conduct," and Vairagya-çataka, or "Century +of Renunciation." Others are the Çanti-çataka, or "Century of +Tranquillity," by a Kashmirian poet named Çilhana; the Moha-mudgara, +or "Hammer of Folly," a short poem commending the relinquishment of +worldly desires, and wrongly attributed to Çankaracharya; and the +Chanakya-çataka, the "Centuries of Chanakya," the reputed author of +which was famous in India as a master of diplomacy, and is the leading +character in the political drama Mudra-rakshasa. The Niti-manjari, or +"Cluster of Blossoms of Conduct," which has not yet been published, +is a collection of a peculiar kind. The moral maxims which it contains +are illustrated by stories, and these are taken exclusively from the +Rigveda. It consists of about 200 çlokas, and was composed by an author +named Dya Dviveda who accompanied his work with a commentary. In the +latter he quotes largely from the Brihåddevata, Sayana on the Rigveda, +and other authors. + +There are also some modern anthologies of Sanskrit gnomic poetry. One +of these is Çridharadasa's Sadukti-karnamrita, or "Ear-nectar of +Good Maxims," containing quotations from 446 poets, mostly of Bengal, +and compiled in 1205 A.D. The Çarngadhara-paddhati, or "Anthology of +Çarngadhara," dating from the fourteenth century, comprises about 6000 +stanzas culled from 264 authors. The Subhashitavali, or "Series of +Fine Sayings," compiled by Vallabhadeva, contains some 3500 stanzas +taken from about 350 poets. All that is best in Sanskrit sententious +poetry has been collected by Dr. Böhtlingk, the Nestor of Indianists, +in his Indische Sprüche. This work contains the text, critically edited +and accompanied by a prose German translation, of nearly 8000 stanzas, +which are culled from the whole field of classical Sanskrit literature +and arranged according to the alphabetical order of the initial word. + +Though composed in Pali, the Dhammapada may perhaps be mentioned +here. It is a collection of aphorisms representing the most beautiful, +profound, and poetical thoughts in Buddhist literature. + +The keynote prevailing in all this poetry is the doctrine of the vanity +of human life, which was developed before the rise of Buddhism in the +sixth century B.C., and has dominated Indian thought ever since. There +is no true happiness, we are here taught, but in the abandonment of +desire and retirement from the world. The poet sees the luxuriant +beauties of nature spread before his eyes, and feels their charm; +but he turns from them sad and disappointed to seek mental calm and +lasting happiness in the solitude of the forest. Hence the picture +of a pious anchorite living in contemplation is often painted with +enthusiasm. Free from all desires, he is as happy as a king, when the +earth is his couch, his arms his pillow, the sky his tent, the moon +his lamp, when renunciation is his spouse, and the cardinal points +are the maidens that fan him with winds. No Indian poet inculcates +renunciation more forcibly than Bhartrihari; the humorous and ironical +touches which he occasionally introduces are doubtless due to the +character of this remarkable man, who wavered between the spiritual +and the worldly life throughout his career. + +Renunciation is not, however, the only goal to which the transitoriness +of worldly goods leads the gnomic poets of India. The necessity of +pursuing virtue is the practical lesson which they also draw from +the vanity of mundane existence, and which finds expression in many +noble admonitions:-- + + + Transient indeed is human life, + Like the moon's disc in waters seen: + Knowing how true this is, a man + Should ever practise what is good (Hit. iv. 133). + + +It is often said that when a man dies and leaves all his loved ones +behind, his good works alone can accompany him on his journey to his +next life. Nor should sin ever be committed in this life when there +is none to see, for it is always witnessed by the "old hermit dwelling +in the heart," as the conscience is picturesquely called. + +That spirit of universal tolerance and love of mankind which enabled +Buddhism to overstep the bounds not only of caste but of nationality, +and thus to become the earliest world-religion, breathes throughout +this poetry. Even the Mahabharata, though a work of the Brahmans, +contains such liberal sentiments as this:-- + + + Men of high rank win no esteem + If lacking in good qualities; + A Çudra even deserves respect + Who knows and does his duty well (xiii. 2610). + + +The following stanza shows how cosmopolitan Bhartrihari was in his +views:-- + + + "This man's our own, a stranger that": + Thus narrow-minded people think. + However, noble-minded men + Regard the whole world as their kin. + + +But these poets go even beyond the limits of humanity and inculcate +sympathy with the joys and sorrows of all creatures:-- + + + To harm no living thing in deed, + In thought or word, to exercise + Benevolence and charity: + Virtue's eternal law is this (Mahabh. xii. 5997). + + +Gentleness and forbearance towards good and bad alike are thus +recommended in the Hitopadeça:-- + + + Even to beings destitute + Of virtue good men pity show: + The moon does not her light withdraw + Even from the pariah's abode (i. 63). + + +The Panchatantra, again, dissuades thus from thoughts of revenge:-- + + + Devise no ill at any time + To injure those that do thee harm: + They of themselves will some day fall, + Like trees that grow on river banks. + + +The good qualities of the virtuous are often described and contrasted +with the characteristics of evil-doers. This, for instance, is how +Bhartrihari illustrates the humility of the benevolent:-- + + + The trees bend downward with the burden of their fruit, + The clouds bow low, heavy with waters they will shed: + The noble hold not high their heads through pride of wealth; + Thus those behave who are on others' good intent (i. 71). + + +Many fine thoughts about true friendship and the value of intercourse +with good men are found here, often exemplified in a truly poetical +spirit. This, for instance, is from the Panchatantra:-- + + + Who is not made a better man + By contact with a noble friend? + A water-drop on lotus-leaves + Assumes the splendour of a pearl (iii. 61). + + +It is perhaps natural that poetry with a strong pessimistic +colouring should contain many bitter sayings about women and their +character. Here is an example of how they are often described:-- + + + The love of women but a moment lasts. + Like colours of the dawn or evening red; + Their aims are crooked like a river's course; + Inconstant are they as the lightning flash; + Like serpents, they deserve no confidence (Kathas. xxxvii. 143). + + +At the same time there are several passages in which female character +is represented in a more favourable light, and others sing the praise +of faithful wives. + +Here, too, we meet with many pithy sayings about the misery of poverty +and the degradation of servitude; while the power of money to invest +the worthless man with the appearance of every talent and virtue is +described with bitter irony and scathing sarcasm. + +As might be expected, true knowledge receives frequent and high +appreciation in Sanskrit ethical poetry. It is compared with a +rich treasure which cannot be divided among relations, which no +thief can steal, and which is never diminished by being imparted to +others. Contempt, on the other hand, is poured on pedantry and spurious +learning. Those who have read many books, without understanding their +sense, are likened to an ass laden with sandal wood, who feels only +the weight, but knows nothing of the value of his burden. + +As the belief in transmigration has cast its shadow over Indian thought +from pre-Buddhistic times, it is only natural that the conception +of fate should be prominent in Sanskrit moral poetry. Here, indeed, +we often read that no one can escape from the operation of destiny, +but at the same time we find constant admonitions not to let this +fact paralyse human effort. For, as is shown in the Hitopadeça and +elsewhere, fate is nothing else than the result of action done in a +former birth. Hence every man can by right conduct shape his future +fate, just as a potter can mould a lump of clay into whatever form +he desires. Human action is thus a necessary complement to fate; +the latter cannot proceed without the former any more than a cart, +as the Hitopadeça expresses it, can move with only one wheel. This +doctrine is inculcated with many apt illustrations. Thus in one +stanza of the Hitopadeça it is pointed out that "antelopes do not +enter into the mouth of the sleeping lion"; in another the question +is asked, "Who without work could obtain oil from sesamum seeds?" Or, +as the Mahabharata once puts it, fate without human action cannot be +fulfilled, just as seed sown outside the field bears no fruit. + +For those who are suffering from the assaults of adverse fate there +are many exhortations to firmness and constancy. The following is a +stanza of this kind from the Panchatantra:-- + + + In fortune and calamity + The great ever remain the same: + The sun is at its rising red, + Red also when about to set. + + +Collected in the ethico-didactic works which have been described in +this chapter, and scattered throughout the rest of the literature, +the notions held by the Brahmans in the sphere of moral philosophy +have never received a methodical treatment, as in the Pali literature +of Buddhism. In the orthodox systems of Hindu philosophy, to which +we now turn, they find no place. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PHILOSOPHY + + +The beginnings of Indian philosophy, which are to be found in the +latest hymns of the Rigveda and in the Atharvaveda, are concerned with +speculations on the origin of the world and on the eternal principle +by which it is created and maintained. The Yajurveda further contains +fantastic cosmogonic legends describing how the Creator produces all +things by means of the omnipotent sacrifice. With these Vedic ideas +are intimately connected, and indeed largely identical, those of the +earlier Upanishads. This philosophy is essentially pantheistic and +idealistic. By the side of it grew up an atheistic and empirical school +of thought, which in the sixth century B.C. furnished the foundation +of the two great unorthodox religious systems of Buddhism and Jainism. + +The Upanishad philosophy is in a chaotic condition, but +the speculations of this and of other schools of thought were +gradually reduced to order and systematised in manuals from about +the first century of our era onwards. Altogether nine systems may +be distinguished, some of which must in their origin go back to the +beginning of the sixth century B.C. at least. Of the six systems which +are accounted orthodox no less than four were originally atheistic, +and one remained so throughout. The strangeness of this fact disappears +when we reflect that the only conditions of orthodoxy in India were +the recognition of the class privileges of the Brahman caste and +a nominal acknowledgment of the infallibility of the Veda, neither +full agreement with Vedic doctrines nor the confession of a belief in +the existence of God being required. With these two limitations the +utmost freedom of thought prevailed in Brahmanism. Hence the boldest +philosophical speculation and conformity with the popular religion +went hand and hand, to a degree which has never been equalled in any +other country. Of the orthodox systems, by far the most important +are the pantheistic Vedanta, which, as continuing the doctrines of +the Upanishads, has been the dominant philosophy of Brahmanism since +the end of the Vedic period, and the atheistic Sankhya, which, for +the first time in the history of the world, asserted the complete +independence of the human mind and attempted to solve its problems +solely by the aid of reason. + +On the Sankhya were based the two heterodox religious systems of +Buddhism and Jainism, which denied the authority of the Veda, and +opposed the Brahman caste system and ceremonial. Still more heterodox +was the Materialist philosophy of Charvaka, which went further and +denied even the fundamental doctrines common to all other schools of +Indian thought, orthodox and unorthodox, the belief in transmigration +dependent on retribution, and the belief in salvation or release +from transmigration. + +The theory that every individual passes after death into a series +of new existences in heavens or hells, or in the bodies of men and +animals, or in plants on earth, where it is rewarded or punished for +all deeds committed in a former life, was already so firmly established +in the sixth century B.C., that Buddha received it without question +into his religious system; and it has dominated the belief of the +Indian people from those early times down to the present day. There +is, perhaps, no more remarkable fact in the history of the human mind +than that this strange doctrine, never philosophically demonstrated, +should have been regarded as self-evident for 2500 years by every +philosophical school or religious sect in India, excepting only the +Materialists. By the acceptance of this doctrine the Vedic optimism, +which looked forward to a life of eternal happiness in heaven, was +transformed into the gloomy prospect of an interminable series of +miserable existences leading from one death to another. The transition +to the developed view of the Upanishads is to be found in the Çatapatha +Brahmana (above, p. 223). + +How is the origin of the momentous doctrine which produced this change +to be accounted for? The Rigveda contains no traces of it beyond a +couple of passages in the last book which speak of the soul of a dead +man as going to the waters or plants. It seems hardly likely that +so far-reaching a theory should have been developed from the stray +fancies of one or two later Vedic poets. It seems more probable that +the Aryan settlers received the first impulse in this direction from +the aboriginal inhabitants of India. As is well known, there is among +half-savage tribes a wide-spread belief that the soul after death +passes into the trunks of trees and the bodies of animals. Thus the +Sonthals of India are said even at the present day to hold that the +souls of the good enter into fruit-bearing trees. But among such +races the notion of transmigration does not go beyond a belief +in the continuance of human existence in animals and trees. If, +therefore, the Aryan Indians borrowed the idea from the aborigines, +they certainly deserve the credit of having elaborated out of it +the theory of an unbroken chain of existences, intimately connected +with the moral principle of requïtal. The immovable hold it acquired +on Indian thought is doubtless due to the satisfactory explanation +it offered of the misfortune or prosperity which is often clearly +caused by no action done in this life. Indeed, the Indian doctrine of +transmigration, fantastic though it may appear to us, has the twofold +merit of satisfying the requirement of justice in the moral government +of the world, and at the same time inculcating a valuable ethical +principle which makes every man the architect of his own fate. For, +as every bad deed done in this existence must be expiated, so every +good deed will be rewarded in the next existence. From the enjoyment +of the fruits of actions already done there is no escape; for, in the +words of the Mahabharata, "as among a thousand cows a calf finds its +mother, so the deed previously done follows after the doer." + +The cycle of existences (samsara) is regarded as having no beginning, +for as every event of the present life is the result of an action done +in a past one, the same must hold true of each preceding existence +ad infinitum. The subsequent effectiveness of guilt and of merit, +commonly called adrishta or "the unseen," but often also simply karma, +"deed or work," is believed to regulate not only the life of the +individual, but the origin and development of everything in the world; +for whatever takes place cannot but affect some creature, and must +therefore, by the law of retribution, be due to some previous act of +that creature. In other words, the operations of nature are also the +results of the good or bad deeds of living beings. There is thus no +room for independent divine rule by the side of the power of karma, +which governs everything with iron necessity. Hence, even the systems +which acknowledge a God can only assign to him the function of guiding +the world and the life of creatures in strict accordance with the law +of retribution, which even he cannot break. The periodic destruction +and renewal of the universe, an application of the theory on a grand +scale, forms part of the doctrine of samsara or cycle of existence. + +Common to all the systems of philosophy, and as old as that of +transmigration, is the doctrine of salvation, which puts an end +to transmigration. All action is brought about by desire, which, +in its turn is based on avidya, a sort of "ignorance," that +mistakes the true nature of things, and is the ultimate source +of transmigration. Originally having only the negative sense of +non-knowledge (a-vidya), the word here came to have the positive +sense of "false knowledge." Such ignorance is dispelled by saving +knowledge, which, according to every philosophical school of India, +consists in some special form of cognition. This universal knowledge, +which is not the result of merit, but breaks into life independently, +destroys, the subsequent effect of works which would otherwise bear +fruit in future existences, and thus puts an end to transmigration. It +cannot, however, influence those works the fruit of which has already +begun to ripen. Hence, the present life continues from the moment of +enlightenment till definite salvation at death, just as the potter's +wheel goes on revolving for a time after the completion of the pot. But +no merit or demerit results from acts done after enlightenment (or +"conversion" as we should say), because all desire for the objects +of the world is at an end. + +The popular beliefs about heavens and hells, gods, demi-gods, and +demons, were retained in Buddhism and Jainism, as well as in the +orthodox systems. But these higher and more fortunate beings were +considered to be also subject to the law of transmigration, and, +unless they obtained saving knowledge, to be on a lower level than +the man who had obtained such knowledge. + +The monistic theory of the early Upanishads, which identified +the individual soul with Brahma, aroused the opposition of the +rationalistic founder of the Sankhya system, Kapila, who, according +to Buddhist legends, was pre-Buddhistic, and whose doctrines Buddha +followed and elaborated. His teaching is entirely dualistic, admitting +only two things, both without beginning and end, but essentially +different, matter on the one hand, and an infinite plurality of +individual souls on the other. An account of the nature and the mutual +relation of these two, forms the main content of the system. Kapila +was, indeed, the first who drew a sharp line of demarcation between +the two domains of matter and soul. The saving knowledge which +delivers from the misery of transmigration consists, according to the +Sankhya system, in recognising the absolute distinction between soul +and matter. + +The existence of a supreme god who creates and rules the universe is +denied, and would be irreconcilable with the system. For according +to its doctrine the unconscious matter of Nature originally contains +within itself the power of evolution (in the interest of souls, +which are entirely passive during the process), while karma alone +determines the course of that evolution. The adherents of the system +defend their atheism by maintaining that the origin of misery presents +an insoluble problem to the theist, for a god who has created and +rules the world could not possibly escape from the reproach of cruelty +and partiality. Much stress is laid by this school in general on the +absence of any cogent proof for the existence of God. + +The world is maintained to be real, and that from all eternity; for +the existent can only be produced from the existent. The reality of +an object is regarded as resulting simply from perception, always +supposing the senses of the perceiver to be sound. The world is +described as developing according to certain laws out of primitive +matter (prakriti or pradhana). The genuine philosophic spirit of +its method of rising from the known elements of experience to the +unknown by logical demonstration till the ultimate cause is reached, +must give this system a special interest in the eyes of evolutionists +whose views are founded on the results of modern physical science. + +The evolution and diversity of the world are explained by primæval +matter, although uniform and indivisible, consisting of three different +substances called gunas or constituents (originally "strands" of a +rope). By the combination of these in varying proportions the diverse +material products were supposed to have arisen. The constituent, +called sattva, distinguished by the qualities of luminousness and +lightness in the object, and by virtue, benevolence, and other pleasing +attributes in the subject, is associated with the feeling of joy; +rajas, distinguished by activity and various hurtful qualities, is +associated with pain; and tamas, distinguished by heaviness, rigidity, +and darkness on the one hand, and fear, unconsciousness, and so forth, +on the other, is associated with apathy. At the end of a cosmic period +all things are supposed to be dissolved into primitive matter, the +alternations of evolution, existence, and dissolution having neither +beginning nor end. + +The psychology of the Sankhya system is specially important. Peculiarly +interesting is its doctrine that all mental operations, such as +perception, thinking, willing, are not performed by the soul, but are +merely mechanical processes of the internal organs, that is to say, +of matter. The soul itself possesses no attributes or qualities, +and can only be described negatively. There being no qualitative +difference between souls, the principle of personality and identity +is supplied by the subtile or internal body, which, chiefly formed of +the inner organs and the senses, surrounds and is made conscious by the +soul. This internal body, being the vehicle of merit and demerit, which +are the basis of transmigration, accompanies the soul on its wanderings +from one gross body to another, whether the latter be that of a god, +a man, an animal, or a tree. Conscious life is bondage to pain, in +which pleasure is included by this peculiarly pessimistic system. When +salvation, which is the absolute cessation of pain, is obtained, +the internal body is dissolved into its material elements, and the +soul, becoming finally isolated, continues to exist individually, +but in absolute unconsciousness. + +The name of the system, which only begins to be mentioned in the +later Upanishads, and more frequently in the Mahabharata, is derived +from samkhya, "number." There is, however, some doubt as to whether +it originally meant "enumeration," from the twenty-five tattvas or +principles which it sets forth, or "inferential or discriminative" +doctrine, from the method which it pursues. + +Kapila, the founder of the system, whose teaching is presupposed +by Buddhism, and whom Buddhistic legend connects with Kapila-vastu, +the birthplace of Buddha, must have lived before the middle of the +sixth century. No work of his, if he ever committed his system to +writing, has been preserved. Indeed, the very existence of such a +person as Kapila has been doubted, in spite of the unanimity with +which Indian tradition designates a man of this name as the founder +of the system. The second leading authority of the Sankhya philosophy +was Panchaçikha, who may have lived about the beginning of our era. The +oldest systematic manual which has been preserved is the Sankhya-karika +of Içvara-krishna. As it was translated into Chinese between 557 and +583 A.D., it cannot belong to a later century than the fifth, and +may be still older. This work deals very concisely and methodically +with the doctrines of the Sankhya in sixty-nine stanzas (composed in +the complicated Arya metre), to which three others were subsequently +added. It appears to have superseded the Sutras of Panchaçikha, who +is mentioned in it as the chief disseminator of the system. There are +two excellent commentaries on the Sankhya-karika, the one composed +about 700 A.D. by Gaudapada, and the other soon after 1100 A.D. by +Vachaspati Miçra. + +The Sankhya Sutras, long regarded as the oldest manual of the +system, and attributed to Kapila, were probably not composed till +about 1400 A.D. The author of this work, which also goes by the +name of Sankhya-pravachana, endeavours in vain to show that there +is no difference between the doctrines of the Sankhya and of the +Upanishads. He is also much influenced by the ideas of the Yoga as well +as the Vedanta system. In the oldest commentary on this work, that of +Aniruddha, composed about 1500 A.D., the objectiveness of the treatment +is particularly useful. Much more detailed, but far less objective, is +the commentary of Vijnana-bhikshu, entitled Sankhya-pravachana-bhashya, +and written in the second half of the sixteenth century. The author's +point of view being theistic, he effaces the characteristic features +of the different systems in the endeavour to show that all the six +orthodox systems contain the absolute truth in their main doctrines. + +From the beginning of our era down to recent times the Sankhya +doctrines have exercised considerable influence on the religious +and philosophical life of India, though to a much less extent than +the Vedanta. Some of its individual teachings, such as that of the +three gunas, have become the common property of the whole of Sanskrit +literature. At the time of the great Vedantist, Çankara (800 A.D.), +the Sankhya system was held in high honour. The law book of Manu +followed this doctrine, though with an admixture of the theistic +notions of the Mimamsa and Vedanta systems as well as of popular +mythology. The Mahabharata, especially Book XII., is full of Sankhya +doctrines; indeed almost every detail of the teachings of this system +is to be found somewhere in the great epic. Its numerous deviations +from the regular Sankhya text-books are only secondary, as Professor +Garbe thinks, even though the Mahabharata is our oldest actual source +for the system. Nearly half the Puranas follow the cosmogony of the +Sankhya, and even those which are Vedantic are largely influenced +by its doctrines. The purity of the Sankhya notions are, however, +everywhere in the Puranas obscured by Vedanta doctrines, especially +that of cosmical illusion. A peculiarity of the Puranic Sankhya is the +conception of Spirit or Purusha as the male, and Matter or Prakriti +as the female, principle in creation. + +On the Sankhya system are based the two philosophical religions of +Buddhism and Jainism in all their main outlines. Their fundamental +doctrine is that life is nothing but suffering. The cause of suffering +is the desire, based on ignorance, to live and enjoy the world. The aim +of both is to redeem mankind from the misery of mundane existence by +the annihilation of desire, with the aid of renunciation of the world +and the practice of unbounded kindness towards all creatures. These +two pessimistic religions are so extremely similar that the Jainas, or +adherents of Jina, were long looked upon as a Buddhist sect. Research +has, however, led to the discovery that the founders of both systems +were contemporaries, the most eminent of the many teachers who in the +sixth century opposed the Brahman ceremonial and caste pretensions +in Northern Central India. Both religions, while acknowledging the +lower and ephemeral gods of Brahmanism, deny, like the Sankhya, +the existence of an eternal supreme Deity. As they developed, they +diverged in various respects from the system to which they owed +their philosophical notions. Hence it came about that Sankhya writers +stoutly opposed some of their teachings, particularly the Buddhist +denial of soul, the doctrine that all things have only a momentary +existence, and that salvation is an annihilation of self. Here, +however, it should be noted that Buddha himself refused to decide the +question whether nirvana is complete extinction or an unending state +of unconscious bliss. The latter view was doubtless a concession to +the Vedantic conception of Brahma, in which the individual soul is +merged on attaining salvation. + +The importance of these systems lies not in their metaphysical +speculations, which occupy but a subordinate position, but in their +high development of moral principles, which are almost entirely +neglected in the orthodox systems of Indian philosophy. The fate of +the two religions has been strangely different. Jainism has survived +as an insignificant sect in India alone; Buddhism has long since +vanished from the land of its birth, but has become a world religion +counting more adherents than any other faith. + +The Sankhya philosophy, with the addition of a peculiar form of mental +asceticism as the most effective means of acquiring saving knowledge, +appears to have assumed definite shape in a manual at an earlier period +than any of the other orthodox systems. This is the Yoga philosophy +founded by Patanjali and expounded in the Yoga Sutras. The priority +of this text-book is rendered highly probable by the fact that it is +the only philosophical Sutra work which contains no polemics against +the others. There seems, moreover, to be no sufficient ground to doubt +the correctness of the native tradition identifying the founder of the +Yoga system with the grammarian Patanjali. The Yoga Sutras therefore +probably date from the second century B.C. This work also goes by +the name of Sankhya-pravachana, the same as that given to the later +Sankhya Sutras, a sufficiently clear proof of its close connection +with Kapila's philosophy. In the Mahabharata the two systems are +actually spoken of as one and the same. + +In order to make his system more acceptable, Patanjali introduced into +it the doctrine of a personal god, but in so loose a way as not to +affect the system as a whole. Indeed, the parts of the Sutras dealing +with the person of God are not only unconnected with the other parts of +the treatise, but even contradict the foundations of the system. For +the final aim of man is here represented as the absolute isolation +(kaivalya) of the soul from matter, just as in the Sankhya system, +and not union with or absorption in God. Nor are the individual souls +here derived from the "special soul" or God, but are like the latter +without a beginning. + +The really distinctive part of the system is the establishment of the +views prevailing in Patanjali's time with regard to asceticism and the +mysterious powers to be acquired by its practice. Yoga, or "yoking" +the mind, means mental concentration on a particular object. The +belief that fasting and other penances produce supernatural powers +goes back to remote prehistoric times, and still prevails among savage +races. Bodily asceticism of this kind is known to the Vedas under the +name of tapas. From this, with the advance of intellectual life in +India, was developed the practice of mental asceticism called yoga, +which must have been known and practised several centuries before +Patanjali's time. For recent investigations have shown that Buddhism +started not only from the theoretical Sankhya but from the practical +Yoga doctrine; and the condition of ecstatic abstraction was from +the beginning held in high esteem among the Buddhists. Patanjali only +elaborated the doctrine, describing at length the means of attaining +concentration and carrying it to the highest pitch. In his system the +methodical practice of Yoga acquired a special importance; for, in +addition to conferring supernatural powers, it here becomes the chief +means of salvation. His Sutras consist of four chapters dealing with +deep meditation (samadhi), the means for obtaining it (sadhana), the +miraculous powers (vibhuti) it confers, and the isolation (kaivalya) +of the redeemed soul. The oldest and best commentary on this work is +that of Vyasa, dating from the seventh century A.D. + +Many of the later Upanishads are largely concerned with the Yoga +doctrine. The lawbook of Manu in Book VI. refers to various details +of Yoga practice. Indeed, it seems likely, owing to the theistic +point of view of that work, that its Sankhya notions were derived +from the Yoga system. The Mahabharata treats of Yoga in considerable +detail, especially in Book XII. It is particularly prominent in +the Bhagavadgita, which is even designated a yoga-çastra. Belief +in the efficacy of Yoga still prevails in India, and its practice +survives. But its adherents, the Yogis, are at the present day often +nothing more than conjurers and jugglers. + +The exercises of mental concentration are in the later commentaries +distinguished by the name of raja-yoga or "chief Yoga." The external +expedients are called kriya-yoga, or "practical Yoga." The more +intense form of the latter, in later works called hatha-yoga, or +"forcible Yoga," and dealing for the most part with suppression of +the breath, is very often contrasted with raja-yoga. + +Among the eight branches of Yoga practice the sitting posture (asana), +as not only conducive to concentration, but of therapeutic value, +is considered important. In describing its various forms later +writers positively revelled, eighty-four being frequently stated to +be their normal number. In the hatha-yoga there are also a number of +other postures and contortions of the limbs designated mudra. The +best-known mudra, called khechari, consists in turning the tongue +back towards the throat and keeping the gaze fixed on a point between +the eyebrows. Such practices, in conjunction with the suppression of +breath, were capable of producing a condition of trance. There is at +least the one well-authenticated case of a Yogi named Haridas who in +the thirties wandered about in Rajputana and Lahore, allowing himself +to be buried for money when in the cataleptic condition. The burial +of the Master of Ballantrae by the Indian Secundra Dass in Stevenson's +novel was doubtless suggested by an account of this ascetic. + +In contrast with the two older and intimately connected dualistic +schools of the Sankhya and Yoga, there arose about the beginning of +our era the only two, even of the six orthodox systems of philosophy, +which were theistic from the outset. One of them, being based on +the Vedas and the Brahmanas, is concerned with the practical side +of Vedic religion; while the other, alone among the philosophical +systems, represents a methodical development of the fundamental +non-dualistic speculations of the Upanishads. The former, which has +only been accounted a philosophical system at all because of its +close connection with the latter, is the Purva-mimamsa or "First +Inquiry," also called Karma-mimamsa or "Inquiry concerning Works," +but usually simply Mimamsa. Founded by Jaimini, and set forth in the +Karma-mimamsa Sutras, this system discusses the sacred ceremonies and +the rewards resulting from their performance. Holding the Veda to be +uncreated and existent from all eternity, it lays special stress on the +proposition that articulate sounds are eternal, and on the consequent +doctrine that the connection of a word with its sense is not due to +convention, but is by nature inherent in the word itself. Owing to +its lack of philosophical interest, this system has not as yet much +occupied the attention of European scholars. + +The oldest commentary in existence on the Mimamsa Sutras is the +bhashya of Çabara Svamin, which in its turn was commented on about 700 +A.D. by the great Mimamsist Kumarila in his Tantra-varttika and in his +Çloka-varttika, the latter a metrical paraphrase of Çabara's exposition +of the first aphorism of Patanjali. Among the later commentaries on the +Mimamsa Sutras the most important is the Jaiminiya-nyaya-mala-vistara +of Madhava (fourteenth century). + +Far more deserving of attention is the theoretical system of the +Uttara-Mimamsa, or "Second Inquiry." For it not only systematises +the doctrines of the Upanishads--therefore usually termed Vedanta, +or "End of the Veda"--but also represents the philosophical views of +the Indian thinkers of to-day. In the words of Professor Deussen, +its relation to the earlier Upanishads resembles that of Christian +dogmatics to the New Testament. Its fundamental doctrine, expressed +in the famous formula tat tvam asi, "thou art that," is the identity +of the individual soul with God (brahma). Hence it is also called +the Brahma- or Çariraka-mimamsa, "Inquiry concerning Brahma or the +embodied soul." The eternal and infinite Brahma not being made up of +parts or liable to change, the individual soul, it is here laid down, +cannot be a part or emanation of it, but is the whole indivisible +Brahma. As there is no other existence but Brahma, the Vedanta +is styled the advaita-vada, or "doctrine of non-duality," being, +in other words, an idealistic monism. The evidence of experience, +which shows a multiplicity of phenomena, and the statements of the +Veda, which teach a multiplicity of souls, are brushed aside as the +phantasms of a dream which are only true till waking takes place. + +The ultimate cause of all such false impressions is avidya or innate +ignorance, which this, like the other systems, simply postulates, but +does not in any way seek to account for. It is this ignorance which +prevents the soul from recognising that the empirical world is mere +maya or illusion. Thus to the Vedantist the universe is like a mirage, +which the soul under the influence of desire (trishna or "thirst") +fancies it perceives, just as the panting hart sees before it sheets +of water in the fata morgana (picturesquely called mriga-trishna or +"deer-thirst" in Sanskrit). The illusion vanishes as if by magic, +when the scales fall from the eyes, on the acquisition of true +knowledge. Then the semblance of any distinction between the soul +and God disappears, and salvation (moksha), the chief end of man, +is attained. + +Saving knowledge cannot of course be acquired by worldly experience, +but is revealed in the theoretical part (jnana-kanda) of the Vedas, +that is to say, in the Upanishads. By this correct knowledge the +illusion of the multiplicity of phenomena is dispelled, just as the +illusion of a snake when there is only a rope. Two forms of knowledge +are, however, distinguished in the Vedanta, a higher (para) and a lower +(apara). The former is concerned with the higher and impersonal Brahma +(neuter), which is without form or attributes, while the latter deals +with the lower and personal Brahma (masculine), who is the soul of +the universe, the Lord (içvara) who has created the world and grants +salvation. The contradiction resulting from one and the same thing +having form and no form, attributes and no attributes, is solved by +the explanation that the lower Brahma has no reality, but is merely +an illusory form of the higher and only Brahma, produced by ignorance. + +The doctrines of the Vedanta are laid down in the Brahma-sutras of +Badarayana. This text-book, the meaning of which is not intelligible +without the aid of a commentary, was expounded in his bhashya by +the famous Vedantist philosopher Çankara, whose name is intimately +connected with the revival of Brahmanism. He was born in 788 A.D., +became an ascetic in 820, and probably lived to an advanced age. There +is every likelihood that his expositions agree in all essentials with +the meaning of the Brahma-sutras, The full elaboration of the doctrine +of Maya, or cosmic illusion, is, however, due to him. An excellent +epitome of the teachings of the Vedanta, as set forth by Çankara, +is the Vedanta-sara of Sadananda Yogindra. Its author departs from +Çankara's views only in a few particulars, which show an admixture +of Sankhya doctrine. + +Among the many commentaries on the Brahma-sutras subsequent to +Çankara, the most important is that of Ramanuja, who lived in the +earlier half of the twelfth century. This writer gives expression to +the views of the Pancharatras or Bhagavatas, an old Vishnuite sect, +whose doctrine, closely allied to Christian ideas, is expounded in +the Bhagavadgita and the Bhagavata-purana, as well as in the special +text-books of the sect. The tenets of the Bhagavatas, as set forth +by Ramanuja, diverge considerably from those of the Brahma-sutras +on which he is commenting. For, according to him, individual souls +are not identical with God; they suffer from innate unbelief, not +ignorance, while belief or the love of God (bhakti), not knowledge, +is the means of salvation or union with God. + +The last two orthodox systems of philosophy, the Vaiçeshika and the +Nyaya, form a closely-connected pair, since a strict classification +of ideas, as well as the explanation of the origin of the world from +atoms, is common to both. Much the older of the two is the Vaiçeshika, +which is already assailed in the Brahma-sutras. It is there described +as undeserving of attention, because it had no adherents. This was +certainly not the case in later times, when this system became very +popular. It received its name from the category of "particularity" +(viçesha) on which great stress is laid in its theory of atoms. The +memory of its founder is only preserved in his nickname Kanada (also +Kanabhuj or Kana-bhaksha), which means "atom-eater." + +The main importance of the system lies in the logical categories +which it set up and under which it classed all phenomena. The six +which it originally set up are substance, quality, motion, generality, +particularity, and inherence. They are rigorously defined and further +subdivided. The most interesting is that of inherence or inseparable +connection (samavaya), which, being clearly distinguished from that +of accident or separable connection (samyoga), is described as the +relation between a thing and its properties, the whole and its parts, +genus and species, motion and the object in motion. Later was added a +seventh, that of non-existence (abhava), which, by affording special +facilities for the display of subtlety, has had a momentous influence +on Indian logic. This category was further subdivided into prior and +posterior non-existence (which we should respectively call future and +past existence), mutual non-existence (as between a jar and cloth), +and absolute non-existence (as fire in water). + +Though largely concerned with these categories, the Vaiçeshika system +aimed at attaining a comprehensive philosophic view in connection +with them. Thus while dealing with the category of "substance," +it develops its theory of the origin of the world from atoms. The +consideration of the category of "quality" similarly leads to its +treatment of psychology, which is remarkable and has analogies with +that of the Sankhya. Soul is here regarded as without beginning +or end, and all-pervading, subject to the limitations of neither +time nor space. Intimately connected with soul is "mind" (manas), +the internal organ of thought, which alone enables the soul to know +not only external objects but its own qualities. As this organ is, in +contrast with soul, an atom, it can only comprehend a single object +at any given moment. This is the explanation why the soul cannot be +conscious of all objects simultaneously. + +The Nyaya system is only a development and complement of that of +Kanada, its metaphysics and psychology being the same. Its specific +character consists in its being a very detailed and acute exposition of +formal logic. As such it has remained the foundation of philosophical +studies in India down to the present day. Besides dealing fully with +the means of knowledge, which it states to be perception, inference, +analogy, and trustworthy evidence, it treats exhaustively of syllogisms +and fallacies. It is interesting to note that the Indian mind here +independently arrived at an exposition of the syllogism as the form of +deductive reasoning. The text-book of this system is the Nyaya-sutra of +Gotama. The importance here attached to logic appears from the very +first aphorism, which enumerates sixteen logical notions with the +remark that salvation depends on a correct knowledge of their nature. + +Neither the Vaiçeshika nor the Nyaya-sutras originally accepted the +existence of God; and though both schools later became theistic, +they never went so far as to assume a creator of matter. Their +theology is first found developed in Udayanacharya's Kusumanjali, +which was written about 1200 A.D., and in works which deal with the +two systems conjointly. Here God is regarded as a "special" soul, which +differs from all other individual eternal souls by exemption from all +qualities connected with transmigration, and by the possession of the +power and knowledge qualifying him to be a regulator of the universe. + +Of the eclectic movement combining Sankhya, Yoga, and Vedanta +doctrines, the oldest literary representative is the Çvetaçvatara +Upanishad. More famous is the Bhagavadgita in which the Supreme +Being incarnate as Krishna expounds to Arjuna his doctrines in this +sense. The burden of his teaching is that the zealous performance +of his duty is a man's most important task, to whatever caste he may +belong. The beauty and the power of the language in which this doctrine +is inculcated, is unsurpassed in any other work of Indian literature. + +By the side of the orthodox systems and the two non-Brahmanical +religions, flourished the lokayata ("directed to the world of sense"), +or materialistic school, usually called that of the Charvakas from the +name of the founder of the doctrine. It was regarded as peculiarly +heretical, for it not only rejected the authority of the Vedas and +Brahmanic ceremonial, but denied the doctrines of transmigration and +salvation accepted by all other systems. Materialistic teachings +may be traced even before the time of Buddha, and they have had +many secret followers in India down to the present day. The system, +however, seems never to have had more than one text-book, the lost +Sutras of Brihaspati, its mythical founder. Our knowledge of it is +derived partly from the polemics of other schools, but especially from +the Sarvadarçana-samgraha, or "Compendium of all the Philosophical +Systems," composed in the fourteenth century by the well-known +Vedantist Madhavacharya, brother of Sayana. The strong scepticism +of the Charvakas showed itself in the rejection of all the means +of knowledge accepted by other schools, excepting perception. To +them matter was the only reality. Soul they regarded as nothing +but the body with the attribute of intelligence. They held it to +be created when the body is formed by the combination of elements, +just as the power of intoxication arises from the mixture of certain +ingredients. Hence with the annihilation of the body the soul also is +annihilated. Not transmigration, they affirm, but the true nature of +things, is the cause from which phenomena proceed. The existence of +all that transcends the senses they deny, sometimes with an admixture +of irony. Thus the highest being, they say, is the king of the land, +whose existence is proved by the perception of the whole world; +hell is earthly pain produced by earthly causes; and salvation is the +dissolution of the body. Even in the attribution of their text-book to +Brihaspati, the name of the preceptor of the gods, a touch of irony +is to be detected. The religion of the Brahmans receives a severe +handling. The Vedas, say the Charvakas, are only the incoherent +rhapsodies of knaves, and are tainted with the three blemishes of +falsehood, self-contradiction, and tautology; Vedic teachers are +impostors, whose doctrines are mutually destructive; and the ritual of +the Brahmans is useful only as a means of livelihood. "If," they ask, +"an animal sacrificed reaches heaven, why does the sacrificer not +rather offer his own father?" + +On the moral side the system is pure hedonism. For the only end of +man is here stated to be sensual pleasure, which is to be enjoyed +by neglecting as far as possible the pains connected with it, +just as a man who desires fish takes the scales and bones into the +bargain. "While life remains, let a man live happily, let him feed on +ghee even though he run into debt; when once the body becomes ashes, +how can it ever return again?" + +The author of the Sarvadarçana-samgraha, placing himself with +remarkable mental detachment in the position of an adherent in each +case, describes altogether sixteen systems. The six which have not been +sketched above, besides being of little importance, are not purely +philosophic. Five of these are sectarian, one Vishnuite and four +Çivite, all of them being strongly tinctured with Sankhya and Vedanta +doctrines. The sixth, the system of Panini, is classed by Madhava +among the philosophies, simply because the Indian grammarians accepted +the Mimamsa dogma of the eternity of sound, and philosophically +developed the Yoga theory of the sphuta, or the imperceptible and +eternal element inherent in every word as the vehicle of its sense. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SANSKRIT LITERATURE AND THE WEST + + +Want of space makes it impossible for me to give even the briefest +account of the numerous and, in many cases, important legal and +scientific works written in Sanskrit. But I cannot conclude this +survey of Sanskrit literature as an embodiment of Indian culture +without sketching rapidly the influence which it has received from and +exercised upon the nations of the West. An adequate treatment of this +highly interesting theme could only be presented in a special volume. + +The oldest trace of contact between the Indians and the peoples of +the West is to be found in the history of Indian writing, which, +as we have already seen (p. 16) was derived from a Semitic source, +probably as early as 800 B.C. + +The Aryans having conquered Hindustan in prehistoric times, +began themselves to fall under foreign domination from an early +period. The extreme north-west became subject to Persian sway from +about 500 to 331 B.C. under the Achæmenid dynasty. Cyrus the First +made tributary the Indian tribes of the Gandharas and Açvakas. The +old Persian inscriptions of Behistun and Persepolis show that his +successor, Darius Hystaspis, ruled over not only the Gandharians, +but also the people of the Indus. Herodotus also states that this +monarch had subjected the "Northern Indians." At the command of the +same Darius, a Greek named Skylax is said to have travelled in India, +and to have navigated the Indus in 509 B.C. From his account various +Greek writers, among them Herodotus, derived their information about +India. In the army which Xerxes led against Greece in 480 B.C. there +were divisions of Gandharians and Indians, whose dress and equipment +are described by Herodotus. That historian also makes the statement +that the satrapy of India furnished the heaviest tribute in the Persian +empire, adding that the gold with which it was paid was brought from +a desert in the east, where it was dug up by ants larger than foxes. + +At the beginning of the fourth century B.C., the Greek physician +Ktesias, who resided at the court of Artaxerxes II., learnt much from +the Persians about India, and was personally acquainted with wise +Indians. Little useful information can, however, be derived from +the account of India which he wrote after his return in 398 B.C., +as it has been very imperfectly preserved, and his reputation for +veracity did not stand high among his countrymen. + +The destruction of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great led to a +new invasion of India, which fixes the first absolutely certain date +in Indian history. In 327 B.C. Alexander passed over the Hindu Kush +with an army of 120,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry. After taking +the town of Pushkalavati (the Greek Peukelaotis) at the confluence +of the Kabul and Indus, and subduing the Açvakas (variously called +Assakanoi, Aspasioi, Hippasioi, by Greek writers) on the north and +the Gandharas on the south of the Kabul River, he crossed the Indus +early in 326. At Takshaçila (Greek Taxiles), between the Indus and +the Jhelum (Hydaspes), the Greeks for the first time saw Brahman +Yogis, or "the wise men of the Indians," as they called them, and +were astonished at their asceticism and strange doctrines. + +Between the Jhelum and the Chenab (Akesines) lay the kingdom of +the Pauravas or Pauras, whose prince, called Porus by the Greeks +from the name of his people, led out an army of 50,000 infantry, +4000 cavalry, 200 elephants, and 400 chariots to check the advance +of the invader. Then on the banks of the Jhelum was fought the +great historic battle, in which Alexander, after a severe struggle, +finally won the day by superior numbers and force of genius. He +continued his victorious march eastwards till he reached the Sutlej +(Greek Zadadres). But here his further progress towards the Ganges +was arrested by the opposition of his Macedonians, intimidated by +the accounts they heard of the great power of the king of the Prasioi +(Sanskrit Prachyas, or "Easterns"). Hence, after appointing satraps +of the Panjab and of Sindh, he sailed down to the mouths of the Indus +and returned to Persia by Gedrosia. Of the writings of those who +accompanied Alexander, nothing has been preserved except statements +from them in later authors. + +After Alexander's death the assassination of the old king Porus +by Eudemus, the satrap of the Panjab, led to a rebellion in which +the Indians cast off the Greek yoke under the leadership of a young +adventurer named Chandragupta (the Sandrakottos or Sandrokyptos of +the Greeks). Having gained possession of the Indus territory in 317, +and dethroned the king of Pataliputra in 315 B.C., he became master +of the whole Ganges Valley as well. The Maurya dynasty, which he +thus founded, lasted for 137 years (315-178 B.C.). His empire was the +largest hitherto known in India, as it embraced the whole territory +between the Himalaya and the Vindhya from the mouths of the Ganges +to the Indus, including Gujarat. + +Seleucus, who had founded a kingdom in Media and Persia, feeling +himself unable to vanquish Chandragupta, sent a Greek named Megasthenes +to reside at his court at Pataliputra. This ambassador thus lived +for several years in the heart of India between 311 and 302 B.C., +and wrote a work entitled Ta Indika, which is particularly valuable +as the earliest direct record of his visit by a foreigner who knew +the country himself. Megasthenes furnishes particulars about the +strength of Chandragupta's army and the administration of the state. He +mentions forest ascetics (Hylobioi), and distinguishes Brachmanes and +Sarmanai as two classes of philosophers, meaning, doubtless, Brahmans +and Buddhists (çramanas). He tells us that the Indians worshipped +the rain-bringing Zeus (Indra) as well as the Ganges, which must, +therefore, have already been a sacred river. By his description of +the god Dionysus, whom they worshipped in the mountains, Çiva must +be intended, and by Herakles, adored in the plains, especially among +the Çurasenas on the Yamuna and in the city of Methora, no other can +be meant than Vishnu and his incarnation Krishna, the chief city of +whose tribe of Yadavas was Mathura (Muttra). These statements seem to +justify the conclusion that Çiva and Vishnu were already prominent as +highest gods, the former in the mountains, the latter in the Ganges +Valley. Krishna would also seem to have been regarded as an Avatar of +Vishnu, though it is to be noted that Krishna is not yet mentioned +in the old Buddhist Sutras. We also learn from Megasthenes that the +doctrine of the four ages of the world (yugas) was fully developed +in India by his time. + +Chandragupta's grandson, the famous Açoka, not only maintained his +national Indian empire, but extended it in every direction. Having +adopted Buddhism as the state religion, he did much to spread its +doctrines, especially to Ceylon, which since then has remained the +most faithful guardian of Buddhist tradition. + +After Açoka's death the Græco-Bactrian princes began about 200 +B.C. to conquer Western India, and ruled there for about eighty +years. Euthydemos extended his dominions to the Jhelum. His son +Demetrios (early in the second century B.C.) appears to have held sway +over the Lower Indus, Malava, Gujarat, and probably also Kashmir. He +is called "King of the Indians," and was the first to introduce +a bilingual coinage by adding an Indian inscription in Kharoshthi +characters on the reverse to the Greek on the obverse. Eukratides +(190-160 B.C.), who rebelled against Demetrios, subjected the Panjab +as far east as the Beäs. After the reign of Heliokles (160-120 B.C.), +the Greek princes in India ceased to be connected with Bactria. The +most prominent among these Græco-Indians was Menander (c. 150 B.C.), +who, under the name of Milinda, is well known in Buddhist writings. The +last vestige of Greek domination in India disappeared about 20 B.C., +having lasted nearly two centuries. It is a remarkable fact that no +Greek monumental inscriptions have ever been found in India. + +With the beginning of the Græco-Indian period also commenced the +incursions of the Scythic tribes, who are called Indo-Scythians by +the Greeks, and by the Indians Çakas, the Persian designation of +Scythians in general. Of these so-called Scythians the Jats of the +Panjab are supposed to be the descendants. The rule of these Çaka +kings, the earliest of whom is Maues or Moa (c. 120 B.C.), endured +down to 178 A.D., or about three centuries. Their memory is preserved +in India by the Çaka era, which is still in use, and dates from 78 +A.D., the inaugural year of Kanishka, the only famous king of this +race. His dominions, which included Kanyakubja (Kanauj) on the Ganges, +extended beyond the confines of India to parts of Central Asia. A +zealous adherent of Buddhism, he made Gandhara and Kashmir the chief +seat of that religion, and held the fourth Buddhist council in the +latter country. + +About 20 B.C. the Çakas were followed into India by the Kushanas, +who were one of the five tribes of the Yueh-chi from Central Asia, +and who subsequently conquered the whole of Northern India. + +After having been again united into a single empire almost as great as +that of Chandragupta under the national dynasty of the Guptas, from 319 +to 480 A.D., Northern India, partly owing to the attacks of the Hunas, +was split up into several kingdoms, some under the later Guptas, till +606 A.D., when Harshavardhana of Kanauj gained paramount power over +the whole of Northern India. During his reign the poet Bana flourished, +and the celebrated Chinese pilgrim Hiouen Thsang visited India. + +With the Muhammadan conquest about 1000 A.D. the country again fell +under a foreign yoke. As after Alexander's invasion, we have the good +fortune to possess in Alberuni's India (c. 1030 A.D.) the valuable +work of a cultivated foreigner, giving a detailed account of the +civilisation of India at this new era in its history. + +This repeated contact of the Indians with foreign invaders from +the West naturally led to mutual influences in various branches +of literature. + +With regard to the Epics, we find the statement of the Greek +rhetorician Dio Chrysostomos (50-117 A.D.) that the Indians sang +in their own language the poetry of Homer, the sorrows of Priam, +the laments of Andromache and Hecuba, the valour of Achilles and +Hector. The similarity of some of the leading characters of the +Mahabharata, to which the Greek writer evidently alludes, caused him +to suppose that the Indian epic was a translation of the Iliad. There +is, however, no connection of any kind between the two poems. Nor +does Professor Weber's assumption of Greek influence on the Ramayana +appear to have any sufficient basis (p. 307). + +The view has been held that the worship of Krishna, who, as we have +seen, plays an important part in the Mahabharata, arose under the +influence of Christianity, with which it certainly has some rather +striking points of resemblance. This theory is, however, rendered +improbable, at least as far as the origin of the cult of Krishna is +concerned, by the conclusions at which we have arrived regarding the +age of the Mahabharata (pp. 286-287), as well as by the statements of +Megasthenes, which indicate that Krishna was deified and worshipped +some centuries before the beginning of our era. We know, moreover, +from the Mahabhashya that the story of Krishna was the subject of +dramatic representations in the second or, at latest, the first +century before the birth of Christ. + +It is an interesting question whether the Indian drama has any genetic +connection with that of Greece. It must be admitted that opportunities +for such a connection may have existed during the first three +centuries preceding our era. On his expedition to India, Alexander +was accompanied by numerous artists, among whom there may have been +actors. Seleucus gave his daughter in marriage to Chandragupta, and +both that ruler and Ptolemy II. maintained relations with the court of +Pataliputra by means of ambassadors. Greek dynasties ruled in Western +India for nearly two centuries. Alexandria was connected by a lively +commerce with the town called by the Greeks Barygaza (now Broach), at +the mouth of the Narmada (Nerbudda) in Gujarat; with the latter town +was united by a trade route the city of Ujjayini (Greek Ozene), which +in consequence reached a high pitch of prosperity. Philostratus (second +century A.D.), not it is true a very trustworthy authority, states +in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana, who visited India about 50 A.D., +that Greek literature was held in high esteem by the Brahmans. Indian +inscriptions mention Yavana or Greek girls sent to India as tribute, +and Sanskrit authors, especially Kalidasa, describe Indian princes +as waited on by them. Professor Weber has even conjectured that the +Indian god of love, Kama, bears a dolphin (makara) in his banner, +like the Greek Eros, through the influence of Greek courtesans. + +The existence of such conditions has induced Professor Weber to +believe that the representations of Greek plays, which must have +taken place at the courts of Greek princes in Bactria, in the Panjab, +and in Gujarat, suggested the drama to the Indians as a subject for +imitation. This theory is supported by the fact that the curtain of +the Indian stage is called yavanika or the "Greek partition." Weber +at the same time admits that there is no internal connection between +the Indian and the Greek drama. + +Professor Windisch, however, went further, and maintained such +internal connection. It was, indeed, impossible for him to point out +any affinity to the Greek tragedy, but he thought he could trace in +the Mricchakatika the influence of the new Attic comedy, which reached +its zenith with Menander about 300 B.C. The points in which that play +resembles this later Greek comedy are fewer and slighter in other +Sanskrit dramas, and can easily be explained as independently developed +in India. The improbability of the theory is emphasised by the still +greater affinity of the Indian drama to that of Shakespeare. It is +doubtful whether Greek plays were ever actually performed in India; at +any rate, no references to such performances have been preserved. The +earliest Sanskrit plays extant are, moreover, separated from the Greek +period by at least four hundred years. The Indian drama has had a +thoroughly national development, and even its origin, though obscure, +easily admits of an indigenous explanation. The name of the curtain, +yavanika, may, indeed, be a reminiscence of Greek plays actually seen +in India; but it is uncertain whether the Greek theatre had a curtain +at all; in any case, it did not form the background of the stage. + +It is a fact worth noting, that the beginning of one of the most famous +of modern European dramas has been modelled on that of a celebrated +Sanskrit play. The prelude of Çakuntala suggested to Goethe the plan +of the prologue on the stage in Faust, where the stage-manager, the +merryandrew, and the poet converse regarding the play about to be +performed (cf. p. 351). Forster's German translation of Kalidasa's +masterpiece appeared in 1791, and the profound impression it produced +on Goethe is proved by the well-known epigram he composed on Çakuntala +in the same year. The impression was a lasting one; for the theatre +prologue of Faust was not written till 1797, and as late as 1830 the +poet thought of adapting the Indian play for the Weimar stage. + +If in epic and dramatic poetry hardly any definite influences can be +traced between India and the West, how different is the case in the +domain of fables and fairy tales! The story of the migration of these +from India certainly forms the most romantic chapter in the literary +history of the world. + +We know that in the sixth century A.D. there existed in India a +Buddhist collection of fables, in which animals play the part +of human beings (cf. p. 369). By the command of the Sassanian +king, Khosru Anushirvan (531-579), this work was translated by a +Persian physician named Barzoi into Pehlevi. Both this version and +the unmodified original have been lost, but two early and notable +translations from the Pehlevi have been preserved. The Syriac one was +made about 570 A.D., and called Kalilag and Damnag. A manuscript of +it was found by chance in 1870, and, becoming known to scholars by +a wonderful chapter of lucky accidents, was published in 1876. The +Arabic translation from the Pehlevi, entitled Kalilah and Dimnah, +or "Fables of Pilpay," was made in the eighth century by a Persian +convert to Islam, who died about 760 A.D. In this translation a +wicked king is represented to be reclaimed to virtue by a Brahman +philosopher named Bidbah, a word which has been satisfactorily traced +through Pehlevi to the Sanskrit vidyapati, "master of sciences," +"chief scholar." From this bidbah is derived the modern Bidpai or +Pilpay, which is thus not a proper name at all. + +This Arabic version is of great importance, as the source of other +versions which exercised very great influence in shaping the literature +of the Middle Ages in Europe. These versions of it were the later +Syriac (c. 1000 A.D.), the Greek (1180), the Persian (c. 1130), recast +later (c. 1494) under the title of Anvar-i-Suhaili, or "Lights of +Canopus," the old Spanish (1251), and the Hebrew one made about 1250. + +The fourth stratum of translation is represented by John of Capua's +rendering of the Hebrew version into Latin (c. 1270), entitled +Directorium Humanæ Vitæ which was printed about 1480. + +From John of Capua's work was made, at the instance of Duke Eberhardt +of Würtemberg, the famous German version, Das Buch der Byspel der +alten Wysen, or "Book of Apologues of the Ancient Sages," first +printed about 1481. The fact that four dated editions appeared +at Ulm between 1483 and 1485, and thirteen more down to 1592, is +a sufficiently eloquent proof of the importance of this work as a +means of instruction and amusement during the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries. The Directorium was also the source of the Italian version, +printed at Venice in 1552, from which came the English translation of +Sir Thomas North (1570). The latter was thus separated from the Indian +original by five intervening translations and a thousand years of time. + +It is interesting to note the changes which tales undergo in the +course of such wanderings. In the second edition of his Fables +(1678), La Fontaine acknowledges his indebtedness for a large part +of his work to the Indian sage Pilpay. A well-known story in the +French writer is that of the milkmaid, who, while carrying a pail +of milk on her head to market, and building all kinds of castles in +the air with the future proceeds of the sale of the milk, suddenly +gives a jump of joy at the prospect of her approaching fortune, and +thereby shatters the pail to pieces on the ground. This is only a +transformation of a story still preserved in the Panchatantra. Here +it is a Brahman who, having filled an alms-bowl with the remnants of +some rice-pap he has begged, hangs it up on a nail in the wall above +his bed. He dreams of the money he will procure by selling the rice +when a famine breaks out. Then he will gradually acquire cattle, buy +a fine house, and marry a beautiful girl with a rich dowry. One day +when he calls to his wife to take away his son who is playing about, +and she does not hear, he will rise up to give her a kick. As this +thought passes through his mind, his foot shatters the alms-bowl, +the contents of which are spilt all over him. + +Another Panchatantra story recurring in La Fontaine is that of the +too avaricious jackal. Finding the dead bodies of a boar and a hunter, +besides the bow of the latter, he resolves on devouring the bowstring +first. As soon as he begins to gnaw, the bow starts asunder, pierces +his head, and kills him. In La Fontaine the jackal has become a wolf, +and the latter is killed by the arrow shot off as he touches the bow. + +Nothing, perhaps, in the history of the migration of Indian tales is +more remarkable than the story of Barlaam and Josaphat. At the court of +Khalif Almansur (753-774), under whom Kalilah and Dimnah was translated +into Arabic, there lived a Christian known as John of Damascus, +who wrote in Greek the story of Barlaam and Josaphat as a manual of +Christian theology. This became one of the most popular books of the +Middle Ages, being translated into many Oriental as well as European +languages. It is enlivened by a number of fables and parables, most of +which have been traced to Indian sources. The very hero of the story, +Prince Josaphat, has an Indian origin, being, in fact, no other than +Buddha. The name has been shown to be a corruption of Bodhisattva, +a well-known designation of the Indian reformer. Josaphat rose to the +rank of a saint both in the Greek and the Roman Church, his day in the +former being August 26, in the latter November 27. That the founder of +an atheistic Oriental religion should have developed into a Christian +saint is one of the most astounding facts in religious history. + +Though Europe was thus undoubtedly indebted to India for its mediæval +literature of fairy tales and fables, the Indian claim to priority +of origin in ancient times is somewhat dubious. A certain number of +apologues found in the collections of Æsop and Babrius are distinctly +related to Indian fables. The Indian claim is supported by the argument +that the relation of the jackal to the lion is a natural one in the +Indian fable, while the connection of the fox and the lion in Greece +has no basis in fact. On the other side it has been urged that animals +and birds which are peculiar to India play but a minor part in Indian +fables, while there exists a Greek representation of the Æsopian fable +of the fox and the raven, dating from the sixth century B.C. Weber and +Benfey both conclude that the Indians borrowed a few fables from the +Greeks, admitting at the same time that the Indians had independent +fables of their own before. Rudimentary fables are found even in +the Chhandogya Upanishad, and the transmigration theory would have +favoured the development of this form of tale; indeed Buddha himself +in the old Jataka stories appears in the form of various animals. + +Contemporaneously with the fable literature, the most intellectual game +the world has known began its westward migration from India. Chess +in Sanskrit is called chatur-anga, or the "four-limbed army," +because it represents a kriegspiel, in which two armies, consisting +of infantry, cavalry, chariots, and elephants, each led by a king +and his councillor, are opposed. The earliest direct mention of +the game in Sanskrit literature is found in the works of Bana, and +the Kavyalamkara of Rudrata, a Kashmirian poet of the ninth century, +contains a metrical puzzle illustrating the moves of the chariot, the +elephant, and the horse. Introduced into Persia in the sixth century, +chess was brought by the Arabs to Europe, where it was generally known +by 1100 A.D. It has left its mark on mediæval poetry, on the idioms +of European languages (e.g. "check," from the Persian shah, "king"), +on the science of arithmetic in the calculation of progressions with +the chessboard, and even in heraldry, where the "rook" often figures +in coats of arms. Beside the fable literature of India, this Indian +game served to while away the tedious life of myriads during the +Middle Ages in Europe. + +Turning to Philosophical Literature, we find that the early Greek and +Indian philosophers have many points in common. Some of the leading +doctrines of the Eleatics, that God and the universe are one, that +everything existing in multiplicity has no reality, that thinking +and being are identical, are all to be found in the philosophy of +the Upanishads and the Vedanta system, which is its outcome. Again, +the doctrine of Empedocles, that nothing can arise which has not +existed before, and that nothing existing can be annihilated, has +its exact parallel in the characteristic doctrine of the Sankhya +system about the eternity and indestructibility of matter. According +to Greek tradition, Thales, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus, and +others undertook journeys to Oriental countries in order to study +philosophy. Hence there is at least the historical possibility of +the Greeks having been influenced by Indian thought through Persia. + +Whatever may be the truth in the cases just mentioned, the dependence +of Pythagoras on Indian philosophy and science certainly seems to +have a high degree of probability. Almost all the doctrines ascribed +to him, religious, philosophical, mathematical, were known in India +in the sixth century B.C. The coincidences are so numerous that their +cumulative force becomes considerable. The transmigration theory, the +assumption of five elements, the Pythagorean theorem in geometry, the +prohibition as to eating beans, the religio-philosophical character +of the Pythagorean fraternity, and the mystical speculations of +the Pythagorean school, all have their close parallels in ancient +India. The doctrine of metempsychosis in the case of Pythagoras appears +without any connection or explanatory background, and was regarded +by the Greeks as of foreign origin. He could not have derived it +from Egypt, as it was not known to the ancient Egyptians. In spite, +however, of the later tradition, it seems impossible that Pythagoras +should have made his way to India at so early a date, but he could +quite well have met Indians in Persia. + +Coming to later centuries, we find indications that the Neo-Platonist +philosophy may have been influenced by the Sankhya system, which +flourished in the first centuries of our era, and could easily have +become known at Alexandria owing to the lively intercourse between +that city and India at the time. From this source Plotinus (204-269 +A.D.), chief of the Neo-Platonists, may have derived his doctrine +that soul is free from suffering, which belongs only to matter, +his identification of soul with light, and his illustrative use +of the mirror, in which the reflections of objects appear, for the +purpose of explaining the phenomena of consciousness. The influence +of the Yoga system on Plotinus is suggested by his requirement that +man should renounce the world of sense and strive after truth by +contemplation. Connection with Sankhya ideas is still more likely in +the case of Plotinus's most eminent pupil, Porphyry (232-304 A.D.), +who lays particular stress on the difference between soul and matter, +on the omnipresence of soul when freed from the bonds of matter, and +on the doctrine that the world has no beginning. It is also noteworthy +that he rejects sacrifice and prohibits the killing of animals. + +The influence of Indian philosophy on Christian Gnosticism in the +second and third centuries seems at any rate undoubted. The Gnostic +doctrine of the opposition between soul and matter, of the personal +existence of intellect, will, and so forth, the identification of soul +and light, are derived from the Sankhya system. The division, peculiar +to several Gnostics, of men into the three classes of pneumatikoi, +psychikoi, and hylikoi, is also based on the Sankhya doctrine of the +three gunas. Again, Bardesanes, a Gnostic of the Syrian school, who +obtained information about India from Indian philosophers, assumed +the existence of a subtle ethereal body which is identical with the +linga-çarira of the Sankhya system. Finally, the many heavens of +the Gnostics are evidently derived from the fantastic cosmogony of +later Buddhism. + +With regard to the present century, the influence of Indian thought +on the pessimistic philosophy of Schopenhauer and Von Hartmann is +well known. How great an impression the Upanishads produced on the +former, even in a second-hand Latin translation, may be inferred from +his writing that they were his consolation in life and would be so +in death. + +In Science, too, the debt of Europe to India has been +considerable. There is, in the first place, the great fact that the +Indians invented the numerical figures used all over the world. The +influence which the decimal system of reckoning dependent on those +figures has had not only on mathematics, but on the progress of +civilisation in general, can hardly be over-estimated. During +the eighth and ninth centuries the Indians became the teachers in +arithmetic and algebra of the Arabs, and through them of the nations +of the West. Thus, though we call the latter science by an Arabic name, +it is a gift we owe to India. + +In Geometry the points of contact between the Çulva Sutras and the +work of the Greeks are so considerable, that, according to Cantor, +the historian of mathematics, borrowing must have taken place on one +side or the other. In the opinion of that authority, the Çulva Sutras +were influenced by the Alexandrian geometry of Hero (215 B.C.), which, +he thinks, came to India after 100 B.C. The Çulva Sutras are, however, +probably far earlier than that date, for they form an integral portion +of the Çrauta Sutras, and their geometry is a part of the Brahmanical +theology, having taken its rise in India from practical motives as much +as the science of grammar. The prose parts of the Yajurvedas and the +Brahmanas constantly speak of the arrangement of the sacrificial ground +and the construction of altars according to very strict rules, the +slightest deviation from which might cause the greatest disaster. It +is not likely that the exclusive Brahmans should have been willing to +borrow anything closely connected with their religion from foreigners. + +Of Astronomy the ancient Indians had but slight independent +knowledge. It is probable that they derived their early acquaintance +with the twenty-eight divisions of the moon's orbit from the Chaldeans +through their commercial relations with the Phoenicians. Indian +astronomy did not really begin to flourish till it was affected by that +of Greece; it is indeed the one science in which undoubtedly strong +Greek influence can be proved. The debt which the native astronomers +always acknowledge they owe to the Yavanas is sufficiently obvious +from the numerous Greek terms in Indian astronomical writings. Thus, +in Varaha Mihira's Hora-çastra the signs of the zodiac are enumerated +either by Sanskrit names translated from the Greek or by the original +Greek names, as Ara for Ares, Heli for Helios, Jyau for Zeus. Many +technical terms were directly borrowed from Greek works, as kendra +for kentron, jamitra for diametron. Some of the very names of the +oldest astronomical treatises of the Indians indicate their Western +origin. Thus the Romaka-siddhanta means the "Roman manual." The title +of Varaha Mihira's Hora-çastra contains the Greek word hora. + +In a few respects, however, the Indians independently advanced +astronomical science further than the Greeks themselves, and at a later +period they in their turn influenced the West even in astronomy. For +in the eighth and ninth centuries they became the teachers of the +Arabs in this science also. The siddhantas (Arabic Sind Hind), the +writings of Aryabhata (called Arjehir), and the Ahargana (Arkand), +attributed to Brahmagupta, were translated or adapted by the Arabs, +and Khalifs of Bagdad repeatedly summoned Indian astronomers to their +court to supervise this work. Through the Arabs, Indian astronomy +then migrated to Europe, which in this case only received back in a +roundabout way what it had given long before. Thus the Sanskrit word +uchcha, "apex of a planet's orbit," was borrowed in the form of aux +(gen. aug-is) in Latin translations of Arabic astronomers. + +After Bhaskara (twelfth century), Hindu astronomy, ceasing to make +further progress, became once more merged in the astrology from which +it had sprung. It was now the turn of the Arabs, and, by a strange +inversion of things, an Arabic writer of the ninth century who had +written on Indian astronomy and arithmetic, in this period became an +object of study to the Hindus. The old Greek terms remained, but new +Arabic ones were added as the necessity for them arose. + +The question as to whether Indian Medical Science in its earlier +period was affected by that of the Greeks cannot yet be answered with +certainty, the two systems not having hitherto been compared with +sufficient care. Recently, however, some close parallels have been +discovered between the works of Hippocrates and Charaka (according +to a Chinese authority, the official physician of King Kanishka), +which render Greek influence before the beginning of our era likely. + +On the other hand, the effect of Hindu medical science upon the Arabs +after about 700 A.D. was considerable, for the Khalifs of Bagdad caused +several books on the subject to be translated. The works of Charaka +and Suçruta (probably not later than the fourth century A.D.) were +rendered into Arabic at the close of the eighth century, and are +quoted as authorities by the celebrated Arabic physician Al-Razi, +who died in 932 A.D. Arabic medicine in its turn became the chief +authority, down to the seventeenth century, of European physicians. By +the latter Indian medical authors must have been thought highly of, +for Charaka is repeatedly mentioned in the Latin translations of the +Arab writers Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Rhazes (Al-Razi), and Serapion (Ibn +Sarafyun). In modern days European surgery has borrowed the operation +of rhinoplasty, or the formation of artificial noses, from India, +where Englishmen became acquainted with the art in the last century. + +We have already seen that the discovery of the Sanskrit language +and literature led, in the present century, to the foundation +of the two new sciences of Comparative Mythology and Comparative +Philology. Through the latter it has even affected the practical +school-teaching of the classical languages in Europe. The interest in +Buddhism has already produced an immense literature in Europe. Some +of the finest lyrics of Heine, and works like Sir Edwin Arnold's +Light of Asia, to mention only a few instances, have drawn their +inspiration from Sanskrit poetry. The intellectual debt of Europe to +Sanskrit literature has thus been undeniably great; it may perhaps +become greater still in the years that are to come. + + + + + + +APPENDIX ON TECHNICAL LITERATURE + + +LAW. + +On Sanskrit legal literature in general, consult the very valuable +work of Jolly, Recht und Sitte, in Bühler's Encyclopædia, 1896 +(complete bibliography). There are several secondary Dharma Sutras of +the post-Vedic period. The most important of these is the Vaishnava +Dharma Çastra or Vishnu Smriti (closely connected with the Kathaka +Grihya Sutra), not earlier than 200 A.D. in its final redaction (ed. by +Jolly, Calcutta, 1881, trans. by him in the Sacred Books of the East, +Oxford, 1880). The regular post-Vedic lawbooks are metrical (mostly +in çlokas). They are much wider in scope than the Dharma Sutras, which +are limited to matters connected with religion. The most important and +earliest of the metrical Smritis is the Manava Dharma Çastra, or Code +of Manu, not improbably based on a Manava Dharma Sutra. It is closely +connected with the Mahabharata, of which three books alone (iii., +xii., xvi.) contain as many as 260 of its 2684 çlokas. It probably +assumed its present shape not much later than 200 A.D. It was ed. by +Jolly, London, 1887; trans. by Bühler, with valuable introd., in the +Sacred Books, Oxford, 1886; also trans. by Burnell (ed. by Hopkins), +London, 1884; text ed., with seven comm., by Mandlik, Bombay, 1886; +text, with Kulluka's comm., Bombay, 1888, better than Nirn. Sag. Pr., +ed. 1887. Next comes the Yajnavalkya Dharma Çastra, which is much +more concise (1009 çlokas). It was probably based on a Dharma Sutra +of the White Yajurveda; its third section resembles the Paraskara +Grihya Sutra, but it is unmistakably connected with the Manava Grihya +Sutra of the Black Yajurveda. Its approximate date seems to be about +350 A.D. Its author probably belonged to Mithila, capital of Videha +(Tirhut). Yajnavalkya, ed. and trans, by Stenzler, Berlin, 1849; +with comm. Mitakshara, 3rd ed., Bombay, 1892. The Narada Smriti is +the first to limit dharma to law in the strict sense. It contains +more than 12,000 çlokas, and appears to have been founded chiefly on +Manu. Bana mentions a Naradiya Dharma Çastra, and Narada was annotated +by one of the earliest legal commentators in the eighth century. His +date is probably about 500 A.D. Narada, ed. by Jolly, Calcutta, 1885, +trans. by him in Sacred Books, vol. xxxiii. 1889. A late lawbook is the +Paraçara Smriti (anterior to 1300 A.D.), ed. in Bombay Sansk. Series, +1893; trans. Bibl. Ind., 1887. The second stage of post-Vedic legal +literature is formed by the commentaries. The oldest one preserved +is that of Medhatithi on Manu; he dates from about 900 A.D. The most +famous comm. on Manu is that of Kulluka-bhatta, composed at Benares +in the fifteenth century, but it is nothing more than a plagiarism +of Govindaraja, a commentator of the twelfth century. The most +celebrated comm. on Yajnavalkya is the Mitakshara of Vijnaneçvara, +composed about 1100 A.D. It early attained to the position of a +standard work, not only in the Dekhan, but even in Benares and a +great part of Northern India. In the present century it acquired the +greatest importance in the practice of the Anglo-Indian law-courts +through Colebrooke's translation of the section which it contains on +the law of inheritance. From about 1000 A.D. onwards, an innumerable +multitude of legal compendia, called Dharma-nibandhas, was produced +in India. The most imposing of them is the voluminous work in five +parts entitled Chaturvarga-chintamani, composed by Hemadri about +1300 A.D. It hardly treats of law at all, but is a perfect mine of +interesting quotations from the Smritis and the Puranas; it has been +edited in the Bibl. Ind. The Dharmaratna of Jimutavahana (probably +fifteenth century) may here be mentioned, because part of it is the +famous treatise on the law of inheritance entitled Dayabhaga, which is +the chief work of the Bengal School on the subject, and was translated +by Colebrooke. It should be noted that the Indian Smritis are not on +the same footing as the lawbooks of other nations, but are works of +private individuals; they were also written by Brahmans for Brahmans, +whose caste pretensions they consequently exaggerate. It is therefore +important to check their statements by outside evidence. + + + + +HISTORY. + +No work of a directly historical character is met with in +Sanskrit literature till after the Muhammadan conquest. This is +the Rajatarangini, or "River of Kings," a chronicle of the kings of +Kashmir, begun by its author, Kalhana, in 1148 A.D. It contains nearly +8000 çlokas. The early part of the work is legendary in character. The +poet does not become historical till he approaches his own times. This +work (ed. M. A. Stein, Bombay, 1892; trans, by Y. C. Datta, Calc., +1898) is of considerable value for the archæology and chronology +of Kashmir. + + + + +GRAMMAR. + +On the native grammatical literature see especially Wackernagel, +Altindische Grammatik, vol. i. p. lix. sqq. The oldest grammar +preserved is that of Panini, who, however, mentions no fewer than +sixty-four predecessors. He belonged to the extreme north-west of +India, and probably flourished about 300 B.C. His work consists of +nearly 4000 sutras divided into eight chapters; text with German +trans., ed. by Böhtlingk, Leipsic, 1887. Panini had before him a list +of irregularly formed words, which survives, in a somewhat modified +form, as the Unadi Sutra (ed. by Aufrecht, with Ujjvaladatta's comm., +Bonn, 1859). There are also two appendixes to which Panini refers: +one is the Dhatupatha, "List of Verbal Roots," containing some +2000 roots, of which only about 800 have been found in Sanskrit +literature, and from which about fifty Vedic verbs are omitted; +the second is the Ganapatha, or "List of Word-Groups," to which +certain rules apply. These ganas were metrically arranged in the +Ganaratna-mahodadhi, composed by Vardhamana in 1140 A.D. (ed. by +Eggeling, London, 1879). Among the earliest attempts to explain +Panini was the formulation of rules of interpretation or paribhashas; +a collection of these was made in the last century by Nagojibhatta in +his Paribhashenduçekhara (ed. by Kielhorn, Bombay Sansk. Ser., 1868 and +1871). Next we have the Varttikas or "Notes" of Katyayana (probably +third century B.C.) on 1245 of Panini's rules, and, somewhat later, +numerous grammatical Karikas or comments in metrical form: all this +critical work was collected by Patanjali in his Mahabhashya or "Great +Commentary," with supplementary comments of his own (ed. Kielhorn, 3 +vols., Bombay). He deals with 1713 rules of Panini. He probably lived +in the later half of the second century B.C., and in any case not later +than the beginning of our era. The Mahabhashya was commented on in +the seventh century by Bhartrihari in his Vakyapadiya (ed. in Benares +Sansk. Ser.), which is concerned with the philosophy of grammar, and +by Kaiyata (probably thirteenth century). About 650 A.D. was composed +the first complete comm. on Panini, the Kaçika Vritti or "Benares +Commentary," by Jayaditya and Vamana (2nd ed. Benares, 1898). In the +fifteenth century Ramachandra, in his Prakriya-kaumudi, or "Moonlight +of Method," endeavoured to make Panini's grammar easier by a more +practical arrangement of its matter. Bhattoji's Siddhanta-kaumudi +(seventeenth century) has a similar aim (ed. Nirnaya Sagara Press, +Bombay, 1894); an abridgment of this work, the Laghu-kaumudi, by +Varadaraja (ed. Ballantyne, with English trans., 4th ed., Benares, +1891), is commonly used as an introduction to the native system of +grammar. Among non-Paninean grammarians may be mentioned Chandra +(about 600 A.D.), the pseudo-Çakatayana (later than the Kaçika), and, +the most important, Hemachandra (12th cent.), author of a Prakrit +grammar (ed. and trans. by Pischel, two vols., Halle, 1877-80), and +of the Unadigana Sutra (ed. Kirste, Vienna, 1895). The Katantra of +Çarvavarman (ed. Eggeling, Bibl. Ind.) seems to have been the most +influential of the later grammars. Vararuchi's Prakrita-prakaça is a +Prakrit grammar (ed. by Cowell, 2nd ed., 1868). The Mugdhabodha (13th +cent.) of Vopadeva is the Sanskrit grammar chiefly used in Bengal. The +Phit Sutra (later than Patanjali) gives rules for the accentuation of +nouns (ed. Kielhorn, 1866); Hemachandra's Linganuçasana is a treatise +on gender (ed. Franke, Göttingen, 1886). Among European grammars +that of Whitney was the first to attempt a historical treatment +of the Vedic and Sanskrit language. The first grammar treating +Sanskrit from the comparative point of view is the excellent work +of Wackernagel, of which, however, only the first part (phonology) +has yet appeared. The present writer's abridgment (London, 1886) +of Max Müller's Sanskrit Grammar is a practical work for the use of +beginners of Classical Sanskrit. + + + + +LEXICOGRAPHY. + +Zachariæ in Die indischen Wörterbücher (in Bühler's Encyclopædia, +1897) deals with the subject as a whole (complete bibliography). The +Sanskrit dictionaries or koças are collections of rare words +or significations for the use of poets. They are all versified; +alphabetical order is entirely absent in the synonymous and only +incipient in the homonymous class. The Amarakoça (ed. with Maheçvara's +comm., Bombay), occupies the same dominant position in lexicography +as Panini in grammar, not improbably composed about 500 A.D. A +supplement to it is the Trikanda-çesha by Purushottamadeva (perhaps +as late as 1300 A.D.). Çaçvata's Anekartha-samuchchaya (ed. Zachariæ, +1882) is possibly older than Amara. Halayudha's Abhidhanaratnamala +dates from about 950 A.D. (ed. Aufrecht, London, 1861). About a +century later is Yadavaprakaça's Vaijayanti (ed. Oppert, Madras, +1893). The Viçvaprakaça of Maheçvara Kavi dates from 1111 A.D. The +Mankha-koça (ed. Zachariæ, Bombay, 1897) was composed in Kashmir about +1150 A.D. Hemachandra (1088-1172 A.D.) composed four dictionaries: +Abhidhana-chintamani, synonyms (ed. Böhtlingk and Rieu, St. Petersburg, +1847); Anekartha-samgraha, homonyms (ed. Zachariæ, Vienna, 1893); +Deçinamamala, a Prakrit dictionary (ed. Pischel, Bombay, 1880); +and Nighantu-çesha, a botanical glossary, which forms a supplement +to his synonymous koça. + + + + +POETICS. + +Cf. Sylvain Lévi, Théâtre Indien, pp. 1-21; Regnaud, La Rhétorique +Sanskrite, Paris, 1884; Jacob, Notes on Alamkara Literature, in Journal +of the Roy. As. Soc., 1897, 1898. The oldest and most important work +on poetics is the Natya Çastra of Bharata, which probably goes back +to the sixth century A.D. (ed. in Kavyamala, No. 42, Bombay, 1894; +ed. by Grosset, Lyons, 1897). Dandin's Kavyadarça (end of sixth +century) contains about 650 çlokas (ed. with trans. by Böhtlingk, +Leipsic, 1890). Vamana's Kavyalamkaravritti, probably eighth century +(ed. Cappeller, Jena, 1875). Çringara-tilaka, or "Ornament of Erotics," +by Rudrabhata (ninth century), ed. by Pischel, Kiel, 1886 (cf. Journal +of German Or. Soc., 1888, p. 296 ff., 425 ff.; Vienna Or. Journal, +ii. p. 151 ff.). Rudrata Çatananda's Kavyalamkara (ed. in Kavyamala) +belongs to the ninth century. Dhanamjaya's Daçarupa, on the ten +kinds of drama, belongs to the tenth century (ed. Hall, 1865; +with comm. Nirnaya Sagara Press, Bombay, 1897). The Kavyaprakaça +by Mammata and Alata dates from about 1100 (ed. in the Pandit, +1897). The Sahityadarpana was composed in Eastern Bengal about 1450 +A.D., by Viçvanatha Kaviraja (ed. J. Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 1895; +trans. by Ballantyne in Bibl. Ind.). + + + + +MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. + +The only work dealing with this subject as a whole is Thibaut's +Astronomie, Astrologie und Mathematik, in Bühler-Kielhorn's +Encyclopædia, 1899 (full bibliography). See also Cantor, Geschichte +der Mathematik, pp. 505-562, Leipsic, 1880. Mathematics are dealt with +in special chapters of the works of the early Indian astronomers. In +algebra they attained an eminence far exceeding anything ever achieved +by the Greeks. The earliest works of scientific Indian astronomy +(after about 300 A.D.) were four treatises called Siddhantas; only one, +the Suryasiddhanta (ed. and trans. by Whitney, Journ. Am. Or. Soc., +vol. vi.), has survived. The doctrines of such early works were reduced +to a more concise and practical form by Aryabhata, born, as he tells +us himself, at Pataliputra in 476 A.D. He maintained the rotation +of the earth round its axis (a doctrine not unknown to the Greeks), +and explained the cause of eclipses of the sun and moon. Mathematics +are treated in the third section of his work, the Aryabhatiya +(ed. with comm. by Kern, Leyden, 1874; math. section trans. by Rodet, +Journal Asiatique, 1879). Varaha Mihira, born near Ujjain, began his +calculations about 505 A.D., and, according to one of his commentators, +died in 587 A.D. He composed four works, written for the most part in +the Arya metre; three are astrological: the Brihat-samhita (ed. Kern, +Bibl. Ind., 1864, 1865, trans. in Journ. As. Soc., vol. iv.; new +ed. with comm. of Bhattotpala by S. Dvivedi, Benares, 1895-97), +the Brihaj-jataka (or Hora-çastra, trans. by C. Jyer, Madras, 1885), +and the Laghu-jataka (partly trans. by Weber, Ind. Stud., vol. ii., +and by Jacobi, 1872). His Pancha-siddhantika (ed. and for the most +part trans. by Thibaut and S. Dvivedi, Benares, 1889), based on five +siddhantas, is a karana or practical astronomical treatise. Another +distinguished astronomer was Brahmagupta, who, born in 598 A.D., wrote, +besides a karana, his Brahma Sphuta-siddhanta when thirty years old +(chaps. xii. and xviii. are mathematical). The last eminent Indian +astronomer was Bhaskaracharya, born in 1114 A.D. His Siddhanta-çiromani +has enjoyed more authority in India than any other astronomical work +except the Surya-siddhanta. + + + + +MEDICINE. + +Indian medical science must have begun to develop before the beginning +of our era, for one of its chief authorities, Charaka, was, according +to the Chinese translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka, the official +physician of King Kanishka in the first century A.D. His work, the +Charaka-samhita, has been edited several times: by J. Vidyasagara, +2nd ed., Calcutta, 1896, by Gupta, Calcutta, 1897, with comm. by +C. Dutta, Calcutta, 1892-1893; trans. by A. C. Kaviratna, Calcutta, +1897. Suçruta, the next great authority, seems to have lived not +later than the fourth century A.D., as the Bower MS. (probably +fifth century A.D.) contains passages not only parallel to, +but verbally agreeing with, passages in the works of Charaka and +Suçruta. (The Suçruta-samhita, ed. by J. Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 3rd +ed., 1889; A. C. Kaviratna, Calcutta, 1888-95; trans. by Dutta, 1883, +Chattopadhyaya, 1891, Hoernle, 1897, Calcutta.) The next best known +medical writer is Vagbhata, author of the Ashtanga-hridaya (ed., +with comm. of Arunadatta, by A. M. Kunte, Bombay, Nir. Sag. Press, +1891). Cf. also articles by Haas in vols. xxx., xxxi., and by A. Müller +in xxxiv. of Jour. of Germ. Or. Soc.; P. Cordier, Études sur la +Médecine Hindoue, Paris, 1894; Vagbhata et l'Astangahridaya-samhita, +Besançon, 1896; Liétard, Le Médecin Charaka, &c., in Bull. de l'Ac. de +Médecine, May 11, 1897. + + + + +ARTS. + +On Indian music see Raja Sir Sourindro Mohun Tagore, Hindu Music +from various Authors, Calcutta, 1875; Ambros, Geschichte der Musik, +vol. i. pp. 41-80; Day, The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern +India and the Deccan, Edinburgh, 1891; Çarngadeva's Samgitaratnakara, +ed. Telang, Anand. Sansk. Ser., 1897; Somanatha's Ragavibodha, +ed. with comm. by P. G. Gharpure (parts i.-v.), Poona, 1895. + +On painting and sculpture see E. Moor, The Hindu Pantheon, London, +1810; Burgess, Notes on the Bauddha Rock Temples of Ajanta, Bombay, +1879; Griffiths Paintings of the Buddhist Cave Temples of Ajanta, +2 vols., London, 1896-97; Burgess, The Gandhara Sculptures (with +100 plates), London, 1895; Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship +(illustrations of mythology and art in India in the first and +fourth centuries after Christ), London, 1868; Cunningham's Reports, +i. and iii. (Reliefs from Buddha Gaya); Grünwedel, Buddhistiche +Kunst in Indien, Berlin, 1893; Kern, Manual of Buddhism, in Bühler's +Encyclopædia, pp. 91-96, Strasburg, 1896; H. H. Wilson, Ariana Antiqua, +London, 1841. + +On Indian architecture see Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern +Architecture, London, 1876; The Rock-Cut Temples of India, 1864; +Cunningham, The Bhilsa Topes, or Buddhist Monuments of Central India, +London, 1854; Reports of the Archæological Survey of India, Calcutta, +since 1871; Mahabodhi, or the great Buddhist Temple under the Bodhi +tree at Buddha Gaya, London, 1892; Burgess, Archæological Survey of +Western India and of Southern India; Daniell, Antiquities of India, +London, 1800; Hindu Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora, London, +1816; R. Mitra, The Antiquities of Orissa, Calcutta, 1875. + +On Technical Arts see Journal of Indian Art and Industry (London, +begun in 1884). + + + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES + + +CHAPTER I. + +On the history of Sanskrit studies see especially Benfey, Geschichte +der Sprachwissenschaft, Munich, 1869. A very valuable work for +Sanskrit Bibliography is the annual Orientalische Bibliographie, +Berlin (begun in 1888). Page 1: Some inaccurate information about +the religious ideas of the Brahmans may be found in Purchas, His +Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World and the Religions observed in +all Ages, 2nd ed., London, 1614; and Lord, A Discoverie of the Sect of +the Banians [Hindus], London, 1630. Abraham Roger, Open Deure, 1631 +(contains trans. of two centuries of Bhartrihari). Page 2, Dugald +Stewart, Philosophy of the Human Mind, part 2, chap. i. sect. 6 +(conjectures concerning the origin of Sanskrit). C. W. Wall, D.D., +An Essay on the Nature, Age, and Origin of the Sanskrit Writing +and Language, Dublin, 1838. Halhed, A Code of Gentoo [Hindu] Law, +or Ordinations of the Pandits, from a Persian translation, made +from the original written in the Shanscrit language, 1776. Page 4: +F. Schlegel, Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der Inder, Heidelberg, +1808. Bopp, Conjugationssystem, Frankfort, 1816. Colebrooke, +On the Vedas, in Asiatic Researches, Calcutta, 1805. P. 5: Roth, +Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Veda, Stuttgart, 1846. Böhtlingk +and Roth's Sanskrit-German Dictionary, 7 vols., St. Petersburg, +1852-75. Bühler's Encyclopædia of Indo-Aryan Research, Strasburg (the +parts, some German, some English, began to appear in 1896). Page 6: See +especially Aufrecht's Catalogus Catalogorum (Leipsic, 1891; Supplement, +1896), which gives a list of Sanskrit MSS. in the alphabetical order +of works and authors. Adalbert Kuhn, Herabkunft des Feuers, 1849; 2nd +ed., Gütersloh, 1886. Page 11: A valuable book on Indian chronology +(based on epigraphic and numismatic sources) is Duff's The Chronology +of India, London, 1899. On the date of Buddha's death, cf. Oldenberg, +Buddha, Berlin, 3rd ed., 1897. Page 13: Fa Hian, trans. by Legge, +Oxford, 1886; Hiouen Thsang, trans. by Beal, Si-yu-ki, London, +1884; I Tsing, trans. by Takakusu, Oxford, 1896. Führer, Monograph +on Buddha Sakyamuni's Birthplace, Arch. Surv. of India, vol. xxvi., +Allahabad, 1897; Alberuni's India, trans. into English by Sachau, +London, 1885. Page 14: Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, vol. i., 1877, +vol. iii., 1888, Calcutta. Epigraphia Indica, Calcutta, from 1888. + +Important Oriental journals are: Indian Antiquary, Bombay; Zeitschrift +der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Leipsic; Journal of +the Royal Asiatic Society, London (with a Bengal branch at Calcutta +and another at Bombay); Journal Asiatique, Paris; Vienna Oriental +Journal, Vienna; Journal of the American Oriental Society, New Haven, +Conn. On the origin of Indian writing (pp. 14-20), see Bühler, Indische +Palæographie, Strasburg, 1896, and On the Origin of the Indian Brahma +Alphabet, Strasburg, 1898. Page 18: The oldest known Sanskrit MSS., +now in the Bodleian Library, has been reproduced in facsimile by +Dr. R. Hoernle, The Bower Manuscript, Calcutta, 1897. The Pali +Kharoshthi MS. is a Prakrit recension of the Dhammapada, found near +Khotan; see Senart, Journal Asiatique, 1898, pp. 193-304. Page 27: +The account here given of the Prakrit dialects is based mainly on a +monograph of Dr. G. A. Grierson (who is now engaged on a linguistic +survey of India), The Geographical Distribution and Mutual Affinities +of the Indo-Aryan Vernaculars. On Pali literature, see Rhys Davids, +Buddhism, its History and Literature, London, 1896. On Prakrit +literature, see Grierson, The Mediæval Vernacular Literature of +Hindustan, trans. of 7th Oriental Congress, Vienna, 1888, and The +Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, Calcutta, 1889. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +On the text and metres of the Rigveda see especially Oldenberg, +Die Hymnen des Rigveda, vol. i., Prolegomena, Berlin, 1888; on the +accent, Wackernagel, Altindische Grammatik, vol. i. pp. 281-300 +(full bibliography), Göttingen, 1896; on the Rigveda in general, +Kaegi, The Rigveda, English translation by Arrowsmith, Boston, +1886. Editions: Samhita text, ed. Max Müller, London, 1873; Pada +text, 1877; Samhita text (in Roman characters), ed. Aufrecht, Bonn, +1877 (2nd ed.); Samhita and Pada text with Sayana's commentary, +2nd ed., 4 vols., by Max Müller, London, 1890-92. Selections in +Lanman's Sanskrit Reader (full notes and vocabulary); Peterson's +Hymns from the Rigveda (Bombay Sanskrit Series); A. Bergaigne and +V. Henry's Manuel pour étudier le Sanskrit Védique, Paris, 1890; +Windisch, Zwölf Hymnen des Rigveda, Leipzig, 1883; Hillebrandt, +Vedachrestomathie, Berlin, 1885; Böhtlingk, Sanskrit-Chrestomathie, +3rd ed., Leipsic, 1897. Translations: R. H. T. Griffith, The Rigveda +metrically translated into English, 2 vols., Benares, 1896-97; +Max Müller, Vedic Hymns (to the Maruts, Rudra, Vayu, Vata; prose), +in Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxxii., Oxford, 1891; Oldenberg, +Vedic Hymns (to Agni in Books i.-v.: prose), ibid., vol. xlvi., +1897; A. Ludwig (German prose), 6 vols., Prag, 1876-88 (introduction, +commentary, index). Lexicography: Grassmann, Wörterbuch zum Rigveda, +Leipsic, 1873; the Vedic portion of Böhtlingk and Roth's Lexicon and +of Böhtlingk's smaller St. Petersburg Dictionary (Leipsic, 1879-89); +Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1899; +Macdonell, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (for selected hymns), London, +1893. Grammar: Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar, 3rd ed., Leipzig, 1896; +Wackernagel, op. cit., vol. i. (phonology); Delbrück, Altindische +Syntax (vol. v. of Syntaktische Forschungen), Halle, 1888; Speijer, +Vedische und Sanskrit Syntax in Bühler's Encyclopædia, Strasburg, 1896. + + + + +CHAPTERS IV. AND V. + +Consult especially Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, in Bühler's +Encyclopædia, vol. iii. part 1 (complete bibliography), 1897; also +Kaegi, op. cit.; Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. v., 3rd ed., +London, 1884; Barth, The Religions of India, English trans., London, +1882; Hopkins, The Religions of India, Boston, 1895; Oldenberg, Die +Religion des Veda, Berlin, 1894; Bergaigne, La Religion Védique, 3 +vols., Paris, 1878-83; Pischel and Geldner, Vedische Studien, 2 vols., +Stuttgart, 1889-92; Deussen, Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie, +vol. i. part 1: Philosophie des Veda, Leipsic, 1894. On method of +interpretation (pp. 59-64), cf. Muir, The Interpretation of the Veda, +in the Journal of the Roy. As. Soc., 1866. Page 68: On the modification +of the threefold division of the universe among the Greeks, cf. Kaegi, +op. cit., note 118. P. 128: On dice in India and the Vibhidaka tree, +cf. Roth in Gurupujakaumudi, pp. 1-4, Leipsic, 1896. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Consult especially Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, Berlin, 1879. On the +home of the Rigvedic Aryans (p. 145) cf. Hopkins, The Panjab and the +Rig-Veda, Journal of the Am. Or. Soc., 1898, p. 19 ff. On the Hamsa +(p. 150) cf. Lanman, The Milk-drinking Hansas of Sanskrit Poetry, +ibid., p. 151 ff. On the Vedic tribes (pp. 153-157), cf. Excursus I. in +Oldenberg's Buddha, Berlin, 1897. On the origin of the castes (p. 160) +cf. Oldenberg, Journal of the Germ. Or. Soc., 1897, pp. 267-290; +R. Fick, Die Sociale Gliederung im nordöstlichen Indien zu Buddha's +Zeit, Kiel, 1897. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Samaveda: text with German trans. and glossary, ed. by Benfey, +Leipsic, 1848; by Satyavrata Samaçrami, Calcutta, 1873 (Bibl. Ind.), +trans. by Griffith, Benares, 1893. Yajurveda: 1. Vajasaneyi Samhita, +ed. Weber, with the comm. of Mahidhara, London, Berlin, 1852; +trans. by Griffith, Benares, 1899; 2. Taittiriya Samhita, ed. (in +Roman characters) Weber, Berlin, 1871-72 (vols. xi.-xii. of Indische +Studien); also edited with the comm. of Madhava in the Bibl. Ind.; +3. Maitrayani Samhita, ed. (with introduction) by L. v. Schroeder, +Leipsic, 1881-86; 4. Kathaka Samhita, ed. in preparation by the +same scholar. Atharvaveda: text ed. Roth and Whitney, Berlin, 1856 +(index verborum in the Journal of the Am. Or. Soc., vol. xii.); +trans. into English verse by Griffith, 2 vols., Benares, 1897, +and (with the omission of less important hymns) by Bloomfield into +English prose, with copious notes, vol. xlii. of the Sacred Books +of the East. Subject-matter: Bloomfield, The Atharvaveda in Bühler's +Encyclopædia, Strasburg, 1899. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Aitareya Brahmana, ed. Aufrecht, Bonn, 1879 (best edition); ed. and +trans. by Haug, 2 vols., Bombay, 1863; Kaushitaki or Çankhayana +Brahmana, ed. Lindner, Jena, 1887; Aitareya Aranyaka, ed. R. Mitra, +Calcutta, 1876 (Bibl. Ind.); Kaushitaki Aranyaka, unedited; Tandya +Mahabrahmana or Panchavimça Brahmana, ed. A. Vedantavagiça, Calcutta, +1869-74 (Bibl. Ind.); Shadvimça Brahmana, ed. J. Vidyasagara, 1881; +ed. with trans. by Klemm, Gütersloh, 1894; Samavidhana Brahmana, +ed. Burnell, London, 1873, trans. by Konow, Halle, 1893; Vamça +Brahmana, ed. Weber, Indische Studien, vol. iv. pp. 371 ff., and by +Burnell, Mangalore, 1873. Burnell also edited the Devatadhyaya Br., +1873, the Arsheya Br., 1876, Samhita Upanishad Br., 1877; Mantra +Br., ed. S. Samaçrami, Calc., 1890; Jaiminiya or Talavakara Br., +ed. in part by Burnell, 1878, and by Oertel, with trans. and notes, +in the Journal of the Am. Or. Soc., vol. xvi. pp. 79-260; Taittiriya +Br., ed. R. Mitra, 1855-70 (Bibl. Ind.), N. Godabole, Anand. Ser., +1898; Taittiriya Aranyaka, ed. H. N. Apte, Anand. Ser., Poona, 1898; +Çatapatha Br., ed. Weber, Berlin, London, 1859; trans. by Eggeling in +Sacred Books, 5 vols.; Gopatha Br., ed. R. Mitra and H. Vidyabhushana, +1872 (Bibl. Ind.), fully described in Bloomfield's Atharvaveda, +pp. 101-124, in Bühler's Encyclopædia, 1899. The most important work on +the Upanishads in general is Deussen, Die Philosophie der Upanishads, +Leipsic, 1899; trans. of several Upanishads by Max Müller, Sacred +Books, vols. i. and xv.; Deussen, Sechzig Upanishad's (trans. with +valuable introductions), Leipsic, 1897; a very useful book is Jacob, +A Concordance to the Principal Upanishads and Bhagavadgita (Bombay +Sanskrit Series), 1891. P. 226: Thirty-two Upanishads, ed. with +comm. in Anandaçrama Series, Poona, 1895; Aitareya Upanishad, +ed. Roer, 1850 (Bibl. Ind.), also ed. in Anandaçrama Series, 1889; +Kaushitaki Brahmana Upanishad, ed. Cowell, Calc., 1861 (Bibl. Ind.); +Chhandogya Up., ed. with trans. by Böhtlingk, Leipsic, 1889; +also in Anand. Ser., 1890. P. 229: Kena or Talavakara, ed. Roer, +Calc., 1850; also in Anand. Ser., 1889; Maitri Up., ed. Cowell, +1870 (Bibl. Ind.); Çvetaçvatara, ed. Roer, 1850, Anand. Ser. 1890; +Kathaka Up., ed. Roer, 1850, ed. with comm. by Apte, Poona, 1889, +by Jacob, 1891; Taittiriya Up., ed. Roer, 1850, Anand. Ser., 1889; +Brihadaranyaka Up., ed. and trans. by Böhtlingk, Leipzig, 1889, also +ed. in Anand. Ser., 1891; Iça Up., ed. in Anand. Ser., 1888; Mundaka +Up., ed. Roer, 1850, Apte, Anand. Ser., 1889, Jacob, 1891; Praçna Up., +Anand. Ser., 1889, Jacob, 1891; Mandukya Up., Anand. Ser., 1890, Jacob, +1891; ed. with Eng. trans. and notes, Bombay, 1895; Mahanarayana Up., +ed. by Jacob, with comm., Bombay Sansk. Ser., 1888; Nrisimhatapaniya +Up., Anand. Ser., 1895. P. 242: The parallelism of Çankara and Plato +is rather overstated; for Plato, on the one hand, did not get rid of +Duality, and, on the other, only said that Becoming is not true Being. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +On the sutras in general consult Hillebrandt, Ritual-Litteratur, +in Bühler's Encyclopædia, 1897; Açvalayana Çrauta Sutra, +ed. R. Vidyaaratna, Calc., 1864-74 (Bibl. Ind.); Çankhayana Çrauta, +ed. Hillebrandt, 1885-99 (Bibl. Ind.); Latyayana Çrauta, ed. A. Vagiça, +Calc., 1870-72 (Bibl. Ind.); Maçaka and Drahyayana Çrauta, unedited; +Katyayana Çrauta, ed. Weber, London, Berlin, 1855; Apastamba Çrauta, +in part ed. by Hillebrandt, Calc., 1882-97 (Bibl. Ind.); Vaitana Sutra, +ed. Garbe, London, 1878; trans. by Garbe, Strasburg, 1878. Açvalayana +Grihya Sutra, ed. with trans. by Stenzler, Leipsic, 1864-65; ed. with +comm. and notes, Bombay, 1895; trans. in Sacred Books, vol. xxix.; +Çankhayana Grihya, ed. and trans. into German by Oldenberg, Indische +Studien, vol. xv.; Eng. trans. in Sacred Books, vol. xxix.; Gobhila +Grihya, ed. with comm. by Ch. Tarkalamkara, Calc., 1880 (Bibl. Ind.); +ed. by Knauer, Dorpat, 1884; trans. by Knauer, Dorpat, 1887; trans. in +Sacred Books, vol. xxx.; Paraskara Grihya, ed. and trans. by Stenzler, +Leipsic, 1876; trans. in Sacred Books, vol. xxix.; Apastamba Grihya, +ed. Winternitz, Vienna, 1887; trans. in Sacred Books, vol. xxx.; +Hiranyakeçi Grihya, ed. Kirste, Vienna, 1889; trans. Sacred Books, +vol. xxx.; Mantrapatha, ed. Winternitz, Oxford, 1897; Manava Grihya, +ed. Knauer, Leipsic, 1897; Kauçika Sutra, ed. Bloomfield, New Haven, +1890; Pitrimedha Sutras of Baudhayana, Hiranyakeçin, Gautama, +ed. Caland, Leipsic, 1896. Apastamba Dharma Sutra, ed. Bühler, +Bombay Sansk. Ser., two parts, 1892 and 1894; Baudhayana Dh. S., +ed. Hultzsch, Leipsic, 1884; Gautama Dharma Çastra, ed. Stenzler, +London, 1876; Vasishtha Dharma Çastra, ed. Führer, Bombay, 1883; +Hiranyakeçi Dharma Sutra, unedited; Vaikhanasa Dharma Sutra, described +by Bloch, Vienna, 1896; Apastamba, Gautama, Vasishtha, Baudhayana, +trans. by Bühler, Sacred Books, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1897. Rigveda +Pratiçakhya, ed. with German trans, by Max Müller, Leipsic, 1856-69; +ed. with Uvata's comm., Benares, 1894; Riktantravyakarana (Sama Pr.), +ed., trans. Burnell, Mangalore, 1879; Taittiriya Prat., ed. Whitney, +Journ. of the Am. Or. Soc., vol. ix., 1871; Vajasaneyi Prat., ed. with +comm. of Uvata, Benares Sansk. Series, 1888; Atharvaveda Prat., +ed. Whitney, Journal Am. Or. Soc., vols. vii. and x. The Çulva Sutra +of Baudhayana, ed. and trans. by Thibaut, in the Pandit, vol. ix.; +cf. his article on the Çulvasutras in the Jour. of As. Soc. Bengal, +vol. xliv., Calc. 1875. Six Vedangas, Sanskrit text, Bombay, 1892; +Yaska's Nirukta, ed. R. Roth, Göttingen, 1852; ed. with comm. by +S. Samaçrami (Bibl. Ind.); Sarvanukramani, ed. Macdonell, Oxford, +1886 (together with Anuvakanukramani and Shadguruçishya's comm.); +Arshanukramani, Chhandonukramani, Brihaddevata, ed. R. Mitra, 1892 +(Bibl. Ind.); Pingala's Chhandah Sutra, ed. in Bibl. Ind., 1874; +in Weber's Indische Studien, vol. viii. (which is important as +treating of Sanskrit metres in general); Nidana Sutra, partly edited, +ibid.; Sarvanukrama Sutras of White Yajurveda, ed. by Weber in his +ed. of that Veda; ed. with comm., Benares Sansk. Ser., 1893-94; +Charanavyuha, ed. Weber, Ind. Stud., vol. iii. On Madhava see Klemm +in Gurupujakaumudi, Leipsic, 1896. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +On the Mahabharata in general, consult especially Holtzmann, +Das Mahabharata, 4 vols., Kiel, 1892-95; Bühler, Indian Studies, +No. II., Trans. of Imp. Vienna Academy, 1892; cf. also Jacobi +in Göttinger Gelehrte Anzeigen, vol. viii. 659 ff.; Winternitz, +Journal of the Roy. As. Soc., 1897, p. 713 ff.; Indian Antiquary, +vol. xxvii. Editions: 5 vols., Bombay, 1888, Calc. 1894; +trans. into Eng. prose at the expense of Pratapa Chandra Ray, +Calc., 1896; literal trans. into Eng. by M. N. Dutt, 5 vols., +Calc., 1896. Episode of Savitri, ed. Kellner, with introd. and +notes, Leipsic, 1888; Nala, text in Bühler's Third Book of Sanskrit, +Bombay, 1877; text, notes, vocabulary, Kellner, 1885; text, trans., +vocab., Monier-Williams, Oxford, 1876. On the Puranas in general, +consult introd. of H. H. Wilson's trans. of the Vishnu P., 5 vols., +ed. Fitzedward Hall, 1864-70; Holtzmann, op. cit., vol. iv. pp. 29-58; +Garuda P., ed. Bombay, 1888; ed. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1891; Agni, +ed. R. Mitra, Bibl. Ind., 1870-79, J. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1882; Vayu, +ed. R. Mitra, Bibl. Ind., 1888; Bombay, 1895; Matsya, Bombay, 1895; +Kurma, Bibl. Ind., 1890; Markandeya, ed. Bibl. Ind., 1855-62; trans. by +Pargiter, Bibl. Ind., 1888-99, by C. C. Mukharji, Calc., 1894; Padma, +ed. V. N. Mandlik, 4 vols., Anand. Ser., 1894; Vishnu, ed. with comm., +Bombay, 1887; five parts, Calc., 1888; prose trans. by M. N. Dutt., +Calc., 1894; Wilson, op. cit.; Bhagavata, ed. with three comm., 3 +vols., Bombay, 1887; 2 vols., Nirnaya Sagara Press, Bombay, 1894; +ed. and trans. by Burnouf, 4 vols., Paris, 1840-47, 1884; Brahma, +ed. Anand. Ser., 1895; Varaha, Bibl. Ind., 1887-93. On the Ramayana +in general, consult Jacobi, Das Ramayana Bonn, 1893; also Journal +of the Germ. Or Soc., vol. xlviii. p. 407 ff., vol. li. p. 605 ff.; +Ludwig, Ueber das Ramayana, Prag, 1894; Baumgartner, Das Ramayana, +Freiburg i B., 1894; Bombay recension, ed. Gorresio, Turin, 1843-67; +with three comm., 3 vols., Bombay, 1895; Bengal recension, Calc., +1859-60; trans. by Griffith into Eng. verse, Benares, 1895; into +Eng. prose, M. N. Dutt, Calc., 1894. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +On the age of Kavya poetry consult especially Bühler, Die indischen +Inschriften und das Alter der indischen Kunstpoesie, in Trans. of +the Imp. Vienna Academy, Vienna, 1890; Fleet, Corpus Inscr. Ind., +vol. iii., Calcutta, 1888. On the Vikrama era see Kielhorn, Göttinger +Nachrichten, 1891, pp. 179-182, and on the Malava era, Ind. Ant., +xix. p. 316; on the chronology of Kalidasa, Huth, Die Zeit des +Kalidasa, Berlin, 1890. Buddha-charita, ed. Cowell, Oxford, 1893; +trans. by Cowell, Sacred Books, vol. xlix. Raghuvamça, ed. Stenzler, +with Latin trans., London, 1832; ed. with Mallinatha's comm., +by S. P. Pandit, Bombay Sansk. Ser.; text with Eng. trans. by +Jvalaprasad, Bombay, 1895; ed. K. P. Parab, with Mallinatha, +Nirnaya Sagara Pr., Bombay, 1892; i.-vii., with Eng. trans., +notes, comm. of Mallinatha, and extracts from comm. of Bhatta +Hemadri, Charitravardhana, Vallabha, by G. R. Nangargika, Poona, +1896. Kumara-sambhava, ed. with Latin trans. by Stenzler, London, +1838; cantos i.-vi., ed. with Eng. trans. and comm. of Mallinatha, +by S. G. Despande, Poona, 1887; second part, with full comm., ed. by +J. Vidyasagara, 4th ed., Calc., 1887; ed. with comm. of Mallinatha +(i.-vii.) and of Sitaram (viii.-xvii.), 3rd ed., Nirnaya Sagara +Press, Bombay, 1893; ed. with three commentaries, Bombay, 1898; +trans. by Griffith, London, 1879. Bhattikavya, ed. Calc., 1628; +cantos i.-v., with comm. of Jayamangala, English trans., notes, +glossary, by M. R. Kale, Bombay, 1897; with comm. of Mallinatha and +notes by K. P. Trivedi, Bombay Sansk. Ser., 2 vols., 1898; German +trans. of xviii.-xxii., by Schütz, Bielefeld, 1837. Kiratarjuniya, +ed. by J. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1875; with Mallinatha's comm., Nirnaya +Sagara Press, Bombay, 1885; cantos i.-ii., trans. by Schütz, Bielefeld, +1843. Çiçupalavadha, ed. with Mallinatha's comm., by Vidyasagara, +1884; also at Benares, 1883; German trans. by Schütz, cantos i.-ix., +Bielefeld, 1843. Naishadhiya-charita, ed. with comm. of Narayana, +by Pandit Sivadatta, Bombay, 1894. Nalodaya, ed. Vidyasagara, Calc., +1873; German trans. by Shack, in Stimmen vom Ganges, 2nd ed., 1877; +Raghavapandaviya, ed. with comm. in the Kavyamala, No. 62. Dhanamjaya's +Raghavapandaviya, quoted in Ganaratnamahodadhi, A.D. 1140, is an +imitation of Kaviraja's work: cf. Zachariæ in Bühler's Encyclopædia, +pp. 27-28. For a modern Sanskrit drama constructed on a similar +principle see Scherman's Orientalische Bibliographie, vol. ix., +1896, p. 258, No. 4605. Haravijaya, ed. in Kavyamala, 1890; see +Bühler, Detailed Report, p. 43, Bombay, 1877. Navasahasankacharita, +ed. Bombay Sansk. Series, 1895; see Bühler and Zachariæ in Trans. of +Vienna Acad., 1888. Setubandha (in the Maharashtri dialect), ed. with +trans. by S. Goldschmidt, 1884; ed. in Kavyamala, No. 47, Bombay, +1895. Vasavadatta, ed. with introd. by Fitzedward Hall, Bibl. Ind., +1859; ed. with comm. by J. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1874. Kadambari, +ed. P. Peterson, Bomb. Sansk. Ser., 1889; ed. with comm. in Nirnaya +Sagara Press, Bombay, 1896; with comm. and notes by M. R. Kale, +Poona, 1896; trans., with occasional omissions, by C. M. Ridding, +Royal As. Soc, London, 1896. Harshacharita, ed. by J. Vidyasagara, +Calc., 1883; ed. with comm., Jammu, 1879; Bombay, 1892; trans. by +Cowell and Thomas, Roy. As. Soc. London, 1897. Daçakumara-charita, +Part i., ed. Bühler, Bomb. Sansk. Ser., 2nd ed., 1888; Part ii., +P. Peterson, ibid., 1891; ed. P. Banerji, Calc., 1888. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Meghaduta, ed. with vocab. by Stenzler, Breslau, 1874; with comm. of +Mallinatha, Nirnaya Sagara Press, Bombay, 1894; ed. by K. B. Pathak, +Poona, 1894. Eng. verse trans, by Wilson, 3rd ed., London, 1867; by +T. Clark, London, 1882; into German by Max Müller, Königsberg, 1847, +by Schütz, Bielefield, 1859, Fritze, Chemnitz, 1879. Ritusamhara, +ed. with Latin and German trans. by P. v. Bohlen, Leipsic, 1840; with +notes and Eng. trans. by Sitaram Ayyar, Bombay, 1897. Ghatakarpara, +ed. Brockhaus, 1841, trans. into German by Höfer (in Indische Gedichte, +vol. ii.). Chaurapanchaçika, ed. and trans. into German by Solf, Kiel, +1886; trans. by Edwin Arnold, London, 1896. Bhartrihari's Centuries, +ed. with comm., Bombay, 1884, trans. into Eng. verse by Tawney, +Calc., 1877; Çringara-çataka, ed. Calc. 1888. Çringaratilaka, +ed. Gildemeister, Bonn, 1841. Amaruçataka, ed. R. Simon, Kiel, +1893. Saptaçataka of Hala, ed. with prose German trans. by Weber, +Leipsic, 1881 (in Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, +vol. viii., No. 4). Mayura's Surya-çataka, or Hundred Stanzas in praise +of the Sun, ed. in Kavyamala, 1889. Gitagovinda, ed. J. Vidyasagara, +Calc., 1882; Bombay, Nir. Sag. Pr., 1899; trans. into German by +Rückert, vol. i. of Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, +Leipsic. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +On the Sanskrit drama in general, consult especially H. H. Wilson, +Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus, 2 vols., 3rd ed., +London, 1871; Sylvain Lévi, Le Théâtre Indien, Paris, 1890. Çakuntala, +Bengal recension, ed. by Pischel, Kiel, 1877; Devanagari recension, +Monier-Williams, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1876; M. R. Kale, Bombay, 1898; +trans. by Monier-Williams, 6th ed., London, 1894; into German by +Rückert, Leipsic, 1876; Fritze, 1876; Lobedanz, 7th ed., Leipsic, +1884; there are also a South Indian and a Kashmir recension +(cf. Bühler, Report, p. lxxxv). Vikramorvaçi, ed. S. P. Pandit, +Bombay, 1879; Vaidya, 1895; South Indian recension, ed. Pischel, +1875; trans. Wilson, op. cit.; Cowell, Hertford, 1851; Fritze, +Leipsic, 1880. Malavikagnimitra, ed. Bollensen, Leipsic, 1879; +S. P. Pandit, Bombay, 1869, S. S. Ayyar, Poona, 1896; trans. by +Tawney, 2nd ed., Calc., 1891; into German by Weber, Berlin, 1856; +Fritze, Leipsic, 1881. Mricchakatika, ed. Stenzler, Bonn, 1847; +J. Vidyasagara, 2nd ed., Calc., 1891; trans. by Wilson, op. cit.; +into German by Böhtlingk, St. Petersburg, 1877; by Fritze, Chemnitz, +1879. Ratnavali, ed. Cappeller, in Bohtlingk's Sanskrit-Chrestomathie, +1897; with comm. Nir. Sag. Pr., Bombay, 1895; trans. by Wilson, +op. cit.; into German by Fritze, Chemnitz, 1878. Nagananda, +ed. J. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1873; ed. Poona, 1893; trans. by Palmer +Boyd, with preface by Cowell, London, 1872. Bana's Parvatiparinaya, +ed. with trans. by T. R. R. Aiyar, Kumbakonam, 1898; Germ. by Glaser, +Trieste, 1886. Malatimadhava, ed. R. G. Bhandarkar, Bombay, 1876; +trans. by Wilson, op. cit.; by Fritze, Leipsic, 1884. Mahavira-charita, +ed. Trithen, London, 1848; K. P. Parab, Bombay, 1892; trans. by +J. Pickford, London, 1871. Uttararamacharita, ed. with comm. and +trans., Nagpur, 1895; ed. with comm. by Aiyar and Parab, Nirnaya Sagara +Press, 1899; trans. by Wilson, op. cit. Mudrarakshasa, ed. Telang, +Bombay, 1893; trans. by Wilson, op. cit.; into German by Fritze, +Leipsic, 1887. Venisamhara, ed. K. P. Parab, Nirnaya Sagara Press, +Bombay, 1898; N. B. Godabale, Poona, 1895; Grill, Leipsic, 1871; +trans. into English by S. M. Tagore, Calc., 1880. Viddhaçalabhanjika, +ed. J. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1883. Karpuramanjari, ed. in vol. vii. of +The Pandit, Benares. Balaramayana, ed. Govinda Deva Çastri, Benares, +1869; J. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1884. Prachandapandava, ed. Cappeller, +Strasburg, 1885. (On Rajaçekhara, cf. Kielhorn, Epigr. Ind., part +iv. 1889; Fleet in Ind. Antiq., vol. xvi. pp. 175-178; Jacobi in Vienna +Or. Journal, vol. ii. pp. 212-216). Chandakauçika, ed. J. Vidyasagara, +Calcutta, 1884; trans. by Fritze (Kauçika's Zorn). Prabodhachandrodaya, +ed. Nir. Sag. Pr., Bombay, 1898; trans. into German by Goldstücker, +with preface by Rosenkranz, Königsberg, 1842; also trans. by Hirzel, +Zürich, 1846; Taylor, Bombay, 1886. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Panchatantra, ed. Kosegarten, Bonn, 1848; by Kielhorn and Bühler +in Bomb. Sansk. Ser.; these two editions represent two considerably +divergent recensions; trans. with very valuable introd. by Benfey, +2 vols., Leipsic, 1859; English trans., Trichinopoli, 1887; +German by Fritze, Leipsic, 1884. The abstract of the Panchatantra +in Kshemendra's Brihatkathamanjari, introd., text, trans., notes, +by Mankowski, Leipsic, 1892. Hitopadeça, ed. F. Johnson, London, +1884; P. Peterson in Bomb. Sansk. Ser. Kamandakiya Nitisara, +ed. with trans. and notes, Madras, 1895; text ed. by R. Mitra, +Bibl. Ind. Calc., 1884. Çivadasa's Vetalapanchavimçatika, ed. H. Uhle +(in Abhandlungen der deutschen morgenl. Gesell. vol. viii., No. 1), +Leipsic, 1881. Sir R. F. Burton, Vikram and the Vampire, new ed., +London, 1893. Simhasana-dvatrimçika, ed. (Dwatringshat puttalika), +J. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1881. Çukasaptati, ed. R. Schmidt, Leipsic, +1893 (Abh. f. d. Kunde d. Morgenlandes), Munich, 1898; trans., Kiel, +1894; Stuttgart, 1898. Kathasaritsagara, ed. trans. by Brockhaus, +Leipsic (Books i.-v.) 1839, (vi.-xviii.) 1862-66; ed. Bomb., +1889; trans. by Tawney in Bibl. Ind., 1880-87. Brihatkathamanjari, +chaps. i.-viii., ed. and trans. by Sylvain Lévi in Journal Asiatique, +1886. Jataka-mala, ed. Kern, Boston, 1891; trans. by Speijer in Sacred +Books of the Buddhists, vol. i., London, 1895. Kathakoça, trans. by +C. H. Tawney from Sanskrit MSS., Royal As. Soc., London, 1895. Pali +Jatakas, ed. by Fausböll, London, (completed) 1897; three vols. of +trans. under supervision of Cowell have appeared, I. by Chalmers, +Cambridge, 1895; II. by Rouse, 1895; III. by Francis and Neil, +1897. Warren, Buddhism in Translations, Harvard, 1896. Bhartrihari's +Niti and Vairagya Çatakas, ed. and trans., Bombay, 1898 (on Bhartrihari +and Kumarila see Pathak in Journ. of Bombay Branch of Roy. As. Soc., +xviii. pp. 213-238). Mohamudgara, trans. by U. K. Banerjï, Bhawanipur, +Bengal, 1892. Chanakya Çatakas, ed. Klatt, 1873. On the Nitimanjari +cf. Kielhorn, Göttinger Nachrichten, 1891, pp. 182-186; A. B. Keith, +Journ. Roy. As. Soc. 1900. Çarngadhara-paddhati, ed. Peterson, +Bombay, 1888. Subhashitavali, ed. Peterson and Durgaprasada, +Bombay, 1886. Böhtlingk's Indische Sprüche, 2nd edition, 2 vols., +St. Petersburg, 1870-73; index by Blau, Leipsic, 1893. Dhammapada, +trans. by Max Müller in Sacred Books of the East, vol. x., 2nd revised +edition, Oxford, 1898. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +On Indian philosophy in general see Garbe's useful little book, +Philosophy of Ancient India, Chicago, 1897; F. Max Müller, Six Systems +of Indian Philosophy, London, 1899. Garbe, Sankhya Philosophie, +Leipsic, 1894; Sankhya und Yoga in Bühler's Encyclopædia, +Strasburg, 1896 (complete bibliography); Sankhya-karika, text +with comm. of Gaudapada, ed. and trans. by Colebrooke and Wilson, +Oxford, 1837, reprinted Bombay, 1887; ed. in Benares Sansk. Ser., +1883; trans. Ballantyne (Bibl. Ind.); Sankhyapravachana-bhashya, +ed. by Garbe, Harvard, 1895, trans. into German, Leipsic, 1889; +Aniruddha's comm. on Sankhya Sutras, trans. by Garbe, Bibl. Ind., +Calc., 1888-92; Sankhya-tattva-kaumudi, ed. with Eng. trans., Bombay, +1896, trans. by Garbe, Munich, 1892; Çankara's Rajayogabhashya, +trans. Madras, 1896; Svatmarama's Hathayogapradipa, trans. by +Walther, Munich, 1893; Hathayoga Gheranda Sanhita, trans. Bombay, +1895. On fragments of Panchaçikha cf. Garbe in Festgruss an Roth, +p. 74 ff., Stuttgart, 1893; Jacobi on Sankhya-Yoga as foundation +of Buddhism, Journ. of Germ. Or. Soc., 1898, pp. 1-15; Oldenberg, +Buddha, 3rd ed. Mimamsa-darçana, ed. with comm. of Çabara Svamin +(Bibl. Ind.), Calc., 1887; Tantravarttika, ed. Benares, 1890; +Çlokavarttika, fasc. i., ii., ed. with comm., Benares, 1898; +Jaiminiya-nyaya-mala-vistara, ed. in Anand. Ser. 1892. Arthasamgraha, +as introd. to Mimamsa, ed. and trans. by Thibaut, Benares, +1882. Most important book on Vedanta: Deussen, System des +Vedanta, Leipsic, 1883; Deussen, Die Sutra's des Vedanta, text +with trans. of Sutras and complete comm. of Çankara, Leipsic, +1887. Brahma Sutras, with Çankara's comm., ed. in Anand. Ser., +1890-91; Vedanta Sutras, trans. by Thibaut in Sacred Books, +vol. xxxiv., Oxford, 1890, and xxxviii., 1896. Panchadaçi, ed. with +Eng. trans., Bombay, 1895. On date of Çankara cf. Fleet in Ind. Ant., +xvi. 41-42. Vedanta-siddhanta-muktavali, ed. with Eng. trans. by Venis, +Benares, 1890. Vedantasara, ed. Jacob, with comm. and notes, Bombay, +1894, trans. 3rd ed., London, 1892. Bhagavadgita with Çankara's +comm., Anand. Ser., 1897, trans. in Sacred Books, vol. viii., +2nd ed., Oxford, 1898; by Davies, 3rd ed., 1894. Nyaya Sutras in +Vizianagram Sansk. Ser., vol. ix., Benares, 1896. Nyayakandali of +Çridhara, ibid., vol. iv., 1895. Nyaya-kusumanjali (Bibl. Ind.), Calc., +1895. Vaiçeshika-darçana, ed. with comm., Calc., 1887. Saptapadarthi, +ed. with comm., Benares, 1893; text with Latin trans. by Winter, +Leipsic, 1893. Tarkasamgraha, ed. J. Vidyasagara, Calc., 1897; ed. with +comm., Bombay Sansk. Ser., 1897; text and trans. by Ballantyne, +Allahabad, 1850. Sarvadarçana-samgraha, ed. by T. Tarkavachaspati, +Calc., 1872; trans. by Cowell and Gough, 2nd ed., London, 1894. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +M'Crindle, Ancient India as Described by Classical Authors, 5 +vols., especially vol. v., Invasion of India by Alexander, London, +1896. Weber, Die Griechen in Indien, in Transactions (Sitzungsberichte) +of the Roy. Prussian Acad., Berlin, 1890. Sylvain Lévi, Quid de Græcis +veterum Indorum monumenta tradiderint, Paris, 1890; also La Grèce et +l'Inde (in Revue des Etudes Grecques), Paris, 1891. Goblet d'Alviella, +Ce que l'Inde doit à la Grèce, Paris, 1897; also Les Grecs dans +l'Inde, and Des Influences Classiques dans la Culture Scientifique +et Littéraire de l'Inde, in vols. xxxiii., xxxiv. (1897) of Bulletin +de l'Académie Royale de Belgique. L. de la Vallée Poussin, La Grèce +et l'Inde, in Musée Belge, vol. ii. pp. 126-152. Vincent A. Smith, +Græco-Roman Influence on the Civilisation of Ancient India in Journal +of As. Soc. of Bengal, 1889-92. O. Franke, Beziehungen der Inder zum +Westen, Journ. of Germ. Or. Soc., 1893, pp. 595-609. M. A. Stein in +Indian Antiquary, vol. xvii. p. 89. On foreign elements in Indian art +see Cunningham, Archæological Survey of India, vol. v. pp. 185 ff.; +Grünwedel, Buddhistische Kunst, Berlin, 1893; E. Curtius, Griechische +Kunst in Indien, pp. 235-243 in vol. ii. of Gesammelte Abhandlungen, +Berlin, 1894; W. Simpson, The Classical Influence in the Architecture +of the Indus Region and Afghanistan, in the Journal of the Royal +Institution of British Architects, vol. i. (1894), pp. 93-115. P. 413: +On the Çakas and Kushanas, see Rapson, Indian Coins, pp. 7 and 16, +in Bühler's Encyclopædia, Strasburg, 1898. On the relation of Indian +to Greek fables, cf. Weber in Indische Studien, vol. iii. p. 327 +ff. Through the medium of Indian fables and fairy tales, which were +so popular in the Middle Ages, the magic mirror and ointment, the +seven-league boots, the invisible cap, and the purse of Fortunatus +(cf. Burnell, Samavidhana Brahmana, preface, p. xxxv), found their +way into Western literature. For possible Greek influence on Indian +drama, cf. Windisch, in Trans. of the Fifth Oriental Congress, part +ii., Berlin, 1882. On chess in Sanskrit literature, cf. Macdonell, +Origin and Early History of Chess, in Journ. Roy. As. Soc., 1898. On +Indian influence on Greek philosophy, cf. Garbe in Sankhya und Yoga, +p. 4. L. von Schroeder, Buddhismus und Christenthum, Reval, 2nd ed., +1898. P. 422-23: It seems quite possible to account for the ideas +of the Neo-Platonists from purely Hellenic sources, without assuming +Indian influence. On the relation of Çakuntala to Schiller (Alpenjäger) +and Goethe (Faust), cf. Sauer, in Korrespondenzblatt für die Gelehrten +und Realschulen Württembergs, vol. xl. pp. 297-304; W. von Biedermann, +Goetheforschungen, Frankfurt a/M., 1879, pp. 54 ff. (Çakuntala and +Faust). On Sanskrit literature and modern poets (Heine, Matthew +Arnold), cf. Max Müller, Coincidences, in the Fortnightly Review, +New Series, vol. lxiv. (July 1898), pp. 157-162. + + + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] vii. 59, 12; x. 20, 1; 121, 10; 190, 1-3. + +[2] The other three systems are: (1) that of the Maitrayani and +Kathaka Samhitas (two recensions of the Black Yajurveda), which mark +the acute with a vertical stroke above; (2) that of the Çatapatha +Brahmana, which marks the acute with a horizontal stroke below; and +(3) that of the Samaveda, which indicates the three accents with the +numerals 1, 2, 3, to distinguish three degrees of pitch, the acute +(1) here being the highest. + +[3] In verse 10, which is a late addition; see p. 51, footnote. + +[4] A reference to dropsy, with which Varuna is thought to afflict +sinners. + +[5] The sun is probably meant. + +[6] The component parts of this name are in Sanskrit pancha, five, +and ap, water. + +[7] From the Sanskrit dakshina, south, literally "right," because +the Indians faced the rising sun when naming the cardinal points. + +[8] German, vieh; Latin, pecus, from which pecunia, "money." + +[9] The word "frolic" alludes to the assembly-house (sabha) being a +place of social entertainment, especially of gambling. + +[10] Na nonanunno nunnono nana nananana nanu + Nunno 'nunno nanunneno nanena nunnanunnanut. + +[11] Devakanini kavade, &c. + +[12] Referring to the poetical belief that the açoka only blossoms +when struck by the foot of a beautiful girl. + +[13] E.g. amala-kamala-dala-lochana bhava-mochana. + +[14] It is interesting to note that two Sanskrit plays, composed in +the twelfth century, and not as yet known in manuscript form, have been +partially preserved in inscriptions found at Ajmere (see Kielhorn, in +Appendix to Epigraphia Indica, vol. v. p. 20, No. 134. Calcutta, 1899). + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Sanskrit Literature, by +Arthur A. MacDonell + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41563 *** |