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TRUBNER'S                 ORIENTAL              SERIES.
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THE FOLLOWING WORKS HAYE ALREADY APPEARED:Third Edition, post 8vo, cloth, pp. xvi.-428, price I6s.
ESSAYS ON THE SACRED LANGUAGE, WRITINGS,
AND RELIGION OF THE PARSIS.
BY MARTIN HAUG, PH.D.,
Late of the Universities of Tilbingen, Gottingen, and Bonn; Superintendent
of Sanskrit Studies, and Professor of Sanskrit in the Poona College.
EDITED AND ENLARGED BY DR. E. W. WEST.
To which is added a Biographical Memoir of the late Dr. HAUG
by Prof. E. P. EVANS.
I. History of the Researches into the Sacred Writings and Religion of the
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Post 8vo, cloth, pp. viii.-176, price 7s. 6d.
TEXTS FROM THE BUDDHIST CANON
COMMONLY KNOWN AS "DHAMMAPADA."
WTith Accontpanying Narratzves.
Translated from the Chinese by S. BEAL, B.A., Professor of Chinese,
University College, London.
The Dhamnapada, as hitherto known by the Pali Text Edition, as edited
by Fausboll, by Max MUller's English, and Albrecht Weber's German
translations, consists only of twenty-six chapters or sections, whilst the
Chinese version, or rather recension, as now translated by Mr. Beal, consists of thirty-nine sections.  The students of Pali who possess Fausbill's
text, or either of the above-named translations, will therefore needs want
Mr. Beal's English rendering of the Chinese version; the thirteen abovenamed additional sections not being accessible to them in any other form;
for, even if they understand Chinese, the Chinese original would be unobtainable by them.
"Mr. Beal's rendering of the Chinese translation is a most valuable aid to the
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canonical books, and generally connected with some incident in the history of
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everyday life in India at the remote period at which they were written, and upon
the method of teaching adopted by the founder of the religion. The method
employed was principally parable, and the simplicity of the tales and the excellence
of the morals inculcated, as well as the strange hold which they have retained upon
the minds of millions of people, make them a very remarkable study." —Times.
" Mr. Beal, by making it accessible in an English dress, has added to the great services he has already rendered to the comparative study of religious history."-Academy.
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professed by I45 millions, who have overlaid its austere simplicity with innumerable
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principle that a religion whose founder denied a God, now worships that founder as
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Third Edition, post 8vo, cloth, pp. xxiv.-36o, price los. 6d.
THE HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE.
BY ALBRECHT WEBER.
Translated from the Second German Edition by JOHN MANN, M.A., and
THEODOR ZACHARIAE, Ph.D., with the sanction of the Author.
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to the students in our Indian colleges and universities. I used to long for




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such a book when I was teaching in Calcutta. Hindu students are intensely
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A SKETCH OF
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BY ROBERT N. CUST.
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A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF HINDU MYTHOLOGY
AND RELIGION, GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, AND
LITERATURE.
BY JOHN DOWSON, M.R.A.S.,
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" It is no slight gain when such subjects are treated fairly and fully in a moderate
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MODERN INDIA AND THE INDIANS,
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Post 8vo, pp. xliv. —376. cloth, price 14s.
METRICAL TRANSLATIONS FROM SANSKRIT
WRITERS.
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Second Edition, post 8vo, pp. xxvi.-244, cloth, price Ios. 6d.
THE GULISTAN;
OR, ROSE GARDEN OF SHEKH MUSHLIU'D-DIN SADI OF SHIRAZ.
Translated for the First Time into Prose and Verse, with an Introductory
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BY EDWARD B. EASTWICK, C.B., M.A., F.R.S., M.R.A.S.
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MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS RELATING TO INDIAN
SUBJECTS.
BY BRIAN HOUGHTON HODGSON, ESQ., F.R.S.,
Late of the Bengal Civil Service; Corresponding Member of the Institute; Chevalier
of the Legion of Honour; late British Minister at the Court of Nepal, &c., &c.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
SECTION I.-On the Kocch, B6d6, and Dhimal Tribes.-Part I. Vocabulary.Part II. Grammar.-Part III. Their Origin, Location, Numbers, Creed, Customs,
Character, and Condition, with a General Description of the Climate they dwell in.
-Appendix.
SECTION II.-On Himalayan Ethnology.-I. Comparative Vocabulary of the Languages of the Broken Tribes of Nepal.-II. Vocabulary of the Dialects of the Kiranti
Language.-III. Grammatical Analysis of the Vayu Language. The Vayu Grammar.
-IV. Analysis of the Bahing Dialect of the Kiranti Language. The Bahing Grammar.-V. On the Vayu or Hayu Tribe of the Central Himalaya.-VI. On the Kiranti
Tribe of the Central Himalaya.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
SECTION III.-On the Aborigines of North-Eastern India. Conparative Vocabulary
of the Tibetan, B6d6, and Gdr6 Tongues.
SECTION IV.-Aborigines of the North-Eastenl Frontier.
SECTION V.-Aborigines of the Eastern Frontier.
SECTION VI.-The Indo-Chinese Borderers, and their connection with the Himalayans and Tibetans. Comparative Vocabulary of Indo-Chinese Borderers in Arakan.
Comparative Vocabulary of Indo-Chinese Borderers in Tenasserim.
SECTION VII.-The Mongolian Affinities of the Caucasians.-Comparison and Ana
lysis of Caucasian and Mongolian Words.
SECTION VIII.-Physical Type of Tibetans.
SECTION IX.-The Aborigines of Central India.-Comparative Vocabulary of the
Aboriginal Languages of Central India.-Aborigines of the Eastern Ghats.-Vocabulary of some of the Dialects of the Hill and Wandering Tribes in the Northern Sircars
-Aborigines of the Nilgiris, with Remarks on their Affinities.-Supplement to the
Nilgirian Vocabularies.-The Aborigines of Southern India and Ceylon.




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MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS RELATING TO INDIAN SUBJECTScontinued.
SECTION X.-Route of Nepalese illission to Pekin, with Remarks on tile WaterShied and Plateau of Tibet.
SECTION XI.-Route from Kithmdnd6, tile Capital of Nephl, to Darjeelfing in
Sikinm.-Memorandum relative to the Seven Cosis of Nephl.
SECTION XII.-Some Accounlts of tile Systems of Law and Police as recognised iii
the State of NepAl.
SECTION XIII.-Tlie Native Mfethod of mlaking tile Paper denominated Hindustan,,N6p~ilese.
SECTION XIV.-Pre-einilence of tile Vernaclllars; or, the Angliciats Answered
Being Letters on tile Edllcation of the People of India.
" For the study of the lesa-knowll races of India Mr. Brian Hodgson's IMiscellaneous Essays will be found very valuable both to the philologist and the ethnologist."
New and Revised Edition. Post 8vo, p1. Xxiv.-420, cloth, price i8s.
CHINESE BUDDHISM.
A VOLUME OF SKETCHES, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL.
By J. EDKINS, D. D.
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English writers. -Record.
Post 8vo, ist Series, ios. 6d.;2nd Series, with 6 Maps, 2IS.; 3rd Series,
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LINGUISTIC AND ORIENTAL ESSAYS.
WRITTEN FROM THE YEAR 1846 TO 1890.
By ROBERT NEEDHAM CUST,
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and Author of " The Modern Languages of the East Indies."
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Post 8vo, pp. civ.-348, cloth, price I8s.
BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES; or, Jataka Tales.
The Oldest Collection of Folk-lore Extaut:
BEING THE JATAKATTHAVANNANA,
For the first time Edited in the original Pali.
BY V. FAUSBOLL;
And Translated by T. W. RHYS DAVIDS.
Translation. Volume I.
"These are tales supposed to have been told by the Buddha of what he lad seeln
and heard in his previous births. They are probably the nearest representatives
of the original Aryan stories from which sprang the folk-lore of Europe as well as
India. Tie introduction contains a most interesting disquisition on the migrations
of these fables, tracing their reappearance in the various groups of folk-lore legends.
Among other old friends, we meet with a version of the Judgment of Solomon."- Times.
" It is now some years since Mr. Rhys Davids asserted his right to be heard on
this subject by his able article on Buddhism in the new edition of the ' Encyclopaedia
Britannica.' "-Leeds Mercuzy.
" All who are interested in Buddhist literature ought to feel deeply indebted to
Mr. Rhys Davids. His well-established reputation as a Pali scholar is a sufficient
guarantee for the fidelity of his version, and the style of his translations is deserving
of high praise. " —Acatdemy.
" No more competent expositor of Buddhism could be found than Mr. lRhys Davids.
In the Jataka book we have, then, a priceless record of the earliest imaginative
literature of our race; and...it presents to us a nearly complete picture of the
social life and customs and popular beliefs of the common people ot Aryan tribes,
closely related to ourselves, just as they were passing through the first stages of
civilisation."-St. James's Gazette.
Post 8vo, pp. xxviii.-362, cloth, price I4s.
A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY;
OR, A THOUSAND AND ONE EXTRACTS FROM THE TALMUD
THE MIDRASHIM, AND THE KABBALAH.
Compiled and Translated by PAUL ISAAC HERSHON,
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With Notes and Copious Indexes.
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" Mr. Hershon has... thus given English readers what is, we believe, a fair set
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" This book is by far the best fitted in the present state of knowledge to enable the




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general reader to gain a fair and unbiassed conception of the multifarious contents
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Post 8vo, pp. xii.-164, cloth, price Ios. 6d.
THE HISTORY OF ESARHADDON (Son of Sennacherib),
KING OF ASSYRIA, B.C. 681-668.
Translated from the Cuneiform   Inscriptions upon Cylinders and Tablets in
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THE MESNEVI
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IEVLANA      (OUR LORD) JELALU 'D-DIN MUHAMMED ER-RUMI.
Book the First.
Together with some Account of the Life and Acts of the Author,
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Illustrated by a Selection of Characteristic Anecdotes, as Collected
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MEVLANA SHEMSU-'D-DIN AHMED, EL EFLAKI, EL 'ARIFI.
Translated, and the Poetry Versified, in English,
BY JAMES       W. REDHOUSE, M.R.A.S., &c.
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Third Edition. Post 8vo, pp. x.-130, cloth, price 6s.
A MANUAL OF HINDU PANTHEISM. VEDANTASARA,
Translated, with copious Annotations,
BY MAJOR G. A. JACOB,
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INDIAN POETRY;
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BY EDWIN ARNOLD, C.S.I., Author of "The Light of Asia."
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from the allurements of the forest nymphs, in whom the five senses are typified." —
Times.
" No other English poet has ever thrown his genius and his art so thoroughly into
the work of translating Eastern ideas as Mr. Arnold has done in his splendid paraphrases of language contained in these mighty epics." —Daily Telegraph.
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" The translator, while producing a very enjoyable poem, has adhered with tolerable fidelity to the original text." —Overland Mail.
" We certainly wish Mr. Arnold success in his attempt 'to popularise Indian
classics,' that being, as his preface tells us, the goal towards which he bends his
efforts."-Allen's Indian Mail.
A 2




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THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA.
BY A. BARTH.
Third Edition.
Translated from the French with the authority and assistance of the Author.
The author has, at the request of the publishers, considerably enlarged
the work for the translator, and has added the literature of the subject to
date; the translation may, therefore, be looked upon as an equivalent of a
new and improved edition of the original.
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Post 8vo, pp. viii.-I52, cloth, price 6s.
HINDU PHILOSOPHY.
THE SANKHYA KARIKA OF IS'WARA KRISHNA.
An Exposition of the System of Kapila, with an Appendix on the
Nyaya and Vais'eshika Systems.
BY JOHN DAVIES, M.A. (Cantab.), M.R.A.S.
The system of Kapila contains nearly all that India has produced in the
department of pure philosophy.
"The non-Orientalist... finds in Mr. Davies a patient and learned guide who
leads him into the intricacies of the philosophy of India, and supplies him with a clue,
that lie may not be lost in them. In the preface he states that the system of
Kapila is the 'earliest attempt on record to give an answer, from reason alone,
to the mysterious questions which arise in every thoughtful mind about the origin of
the world, the nature and relations of man and his future destiny,' and in his learned
and able notes he exhibits 'the connection of the Sankhya system with the philo



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sophy of Spinoza,' and 'the connection of the system,f Kapila with that of Schopenhauer and Von Hartmann.' "-Foreign Church Chronicle.
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P;i 5 2~
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/f f L'*Z, - - 


A HISTORY


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OF
CIVILISATION IN ANCIENT INDIA


BASED ON SANSCRIT LITERATURE
BY
ROMESH CHUNDER DUTT, C.I.E.
OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE; AND OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
AND OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL


REVISED EDITION, IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.-B.C. 2000 TO 320
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER, & CO. LTD
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD
1893




The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.




.-  r
N r                      Ai.
TO
MY GENTLE AND LOVING DAUGHTERS,
KAMALA AND BIMALA,
WHO HAVE CHEERED MY LABOURS AND BLESSED MY LIFE
WITH THEIR AFFECTION,
I DEDICATE THIS WORK
WITH A FATHER'S LOVE.








PREFACE.
"IF I were asked," says Professor Max Miiller, "what
I consider the most important discovery which has been
made during the Nineteenth Century with respect to
the ancient history of mankind, I should answer by the
following short line:"Sanscrit, DYAUSH PITAR=Greek, ZET2IIATHP
(ZEUS PATER)= Latin, JUPITER = Old Norse, TYR."
And certainly, the discoveries which have been made
by European.scholars within the last hundred years,
with the help of the old Aryan language preserved
in India, form one of the most brilliant chapters in
the history of the advancement of human knowledge.
It is not my intention to give a sketch of that history
here; but a few facts which relate specially to Indian
Antiquities may be considered interesting.
It is about a century since Sir William Jones startled
the scholars of Europe by his translation of Sakuntala,
"one of the greatest curiosities," as he said in his
preface, "that the literature of Asia has yet brought
to light," and one of the tenderest and most beautiful
creations of human imagination produced in any age
or country. The attention of European literary men was
roused to the value and beauty of Sanscrit literature;
and the greatest literary genius of the modern age has
recorded his appreciation of the Hindu dramatic piece




viii


PREFACE.


in lines which have been often quoted, in original and
in translation:"Wouldst thou the life's young blossoms and the fruits of its
decline,
And all by which the soul is pleased, enraptured, feasted, fed,Wouldst thou the, earth and heaven itself in one sweet name
combine?
I name thee, O Sakuntala, and all at once is said."-GOETHE.
Sir William  Jones translated  Manu, founded the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, and lived to continue his
researches into the store-house of Sanscrit literature,
and achieved valuable results; but he did not live to
find what he sought,-a clue to India's "ancient history
without any mixture of fable." For his enthusiastic
labours were mostly confined to the later Sanscrit literature,-the literature of the Post-Buddhist Era; and he
paid little heed to the mine of wealth that lay beyond.
Colebrooke followed in the footsteps of Sir William
Jones.  He was a mathematician, and was the most
careful and accurate Sanscrit scholar that England has
ever produced.  Ancient Sanscrit literature concealed
nothing from his eyes. He gave a careful and accurate
account of Hindu Philosophy, wrote on Hindu Algebra
and Mathematics, and, in I805, he first made Europeans
acquainted with the oldest work of the Hindu and of
the Aryan world, viz., the Vedas. Colebrooke, however,
failed to grasp the importance of the discovery he had
made, and declared that the study of the Vedas "would
hardly reward the labour of the reader, much less that
of the translator."
Dr. H. H. Wilson followed in the footsteps of Colebrooke; and although he translated the Rig Veda Sanhita
into English, his labours were mostly confined to later




PREFACE.


ix


Sanscrit literature. He translated into elegant English
the best dramatic works in Sanscrit, as well as the
beautiful poem of Kalidasa, called "Meghaduta."  He
also translated the Vishnu Purana, and laboured to adjust
the history of the later Hindu period, and settled many
points on a satisfactory basis.
In the meantime, a great genius had arisen in France.
The history of Oriental scholarship contains no brighter
name than that of Burnouf. He traced the connection
between the Zend and the Vedic Sanscrit, and framed a
Comparative Grammar for his own use before German
scholars had written on Comparative Grammar. By such
means he deciphered the Zend language and scriptures,
elucidated the Rig Veda, and showed its true position
in the history of Aryan nations. Versatile as he was
profound, he also deciphered the Cuneiform inscriptions
of Assyria, and thus earned for himself an undying
fame in Europe. And further, in his Introduction to
Buddhism, he gave the first philosophical and intelligible
account of that great religion. His lessons created a
deep sensation in Europe during nearly a quarter of
a century (I829-I852), and left a lasting impression on
the minds of admiring and enthusiastic pupils in Paris,
some of whom, like Roth and Max Muller, have lived to
be the profoundest Vedic scholars of our age.
German scholars, in the meantime, had commenced
their labours; and when once they began work in this
line, they soon excelled and even ousted all other
labourers in the field of Indian Antiquities! Rosen,
the contemporary and friend of Raja Ram Mohan Roy,
published the first Ashtaka of the Rig Veda, with a
Latin translation, but his untimely death prevented the
further progress of the work.




X


PREFACE.


But the most eminent German scholars of the day
set before themselves a higher task; and the industry,
perseverance, and genius of men like Bopp, Grimm,
and Humboldt, soon achieved a result which ranks as
one of the noblest and most brilliant discoveries of the
century. They marked and traced the connection among
all the Indo-European  languages,-the Sanscrit, the
Zend, the Greek, the Latin, the Slav, the Tuton, and
the Celtic,-they demonstrated all these languages to
be the offshoots of the same original stock, and they
even discovered the laws under which words were transformed in passing from one language to another. Classical
scholars of the day, who believed that all civilisation
and culture began with the Greek and the Latin, at first
smiled and ridiculed, then stood aghast, and ultimately
gave way with considerable chagrin and anger to the
irresistible march of Truth!
The desire to elucidate ancient Hindu literature and
history deepened among scholars as they became more
thoroughly alive to the value of Sanscrit. Roth, one of
the profoundest Vedic scholars of the century, produced
his edition of Yaska with his most valuable notes, and
later on he published, with Whitney, an edition of
the Atharva Veda, and completed, with Boehtlingk, the
most accurate and comprehensive Sanscrit Dictionary
yet written. Lassen published his profound work, Indische Alterthumskunde, displaying a deep learning and
accurate scholarship which has seldom been excelled.
Weber published the White Yajur Veda with its Brahmana
and Sftras, elucidated many obscure points of Ancient
Hindu History in his Indische Studien, and gave the
first clear and comprehensive account of Sanscrit literature
in his History of Indian Literature. Benfey published a




PREFACE.


xi


most valuable edition of the Sama Veda, of which an
edition, with translation, had been published by Stevenson and Wilson before. And Muir collected the most
suggestive and historically-valuable texts from Sanscrit
literature, in five volumes, which are a monument of his
industry and learning.
And lastly, Professor Max Muller mapped out the
whole of the ancient Sanscrit literature chronologically
in I859.
More valuable to Hindus than this great work-more
valuable than the learned Professor's numerous works
and contributions on Language, Religion, and Mythology,
is his magnificent edition of the Rig Veda Sanhita, with
Sayana's Commentary. The work was hailed in India
with gratitude and joy; it opened to Hindu students
generally the great and ancient volume, which had
hitherto remained sealed with seven seals to all but a
very few scholars; and it awakened in them a historical
interest in the past,-a desire to inquire into their ancient
history and ancient faith from original sources.
Jones and Colebrooke and Wilson had worthy successors in India, but none more distinguished than James
Prinsep. The inscriptions of Asoka on pillars and rocks
all over India had remained unintelligible for over a thousand years, and had defied the skill of Sir William Jones
and his successors.  James Prinsep, then Secretary to
the Asiatic Society, deciphered these inscriptions, and a
flood of light was thus thrown on Buddhist antiquities
and post-Buddhist history. Prinsep was also the first to
deal in a scholar-like way with the coins of the postBuddhist kings found all over Western India. He has
been followed by able scholars. Dr. Haug edited and
translated the Aitareya Brahmana, and elucidated the




Xii


PREFACE.


history of the Parsis; Dr. Burnell wrote on South Indian
Paleography; Dr. Bihler has ably dealt with the ancient
legal literature; and Dr. Thibaut has, in late years, discovered Ancient Hindu Geometry.
Among my countrymen, the great reformers, Raja
Ram Mohan Roy and Dayanand Sarasvati, turned their
attention to ancient Sanscrit literature.  The first translated a number of Upanishads into English, and the
latter published a translation of the Rig Veda Sanhita in
Hindi. Sir Raja Radha Kanta Dev cultivated Sanscrit
learning, and published a comprehensive and excellent
dictionary entitled the Sabdakalpadruma. Dr. Bhao Daji
and Professor Bhandarkar, Dr. K. M. Banerjea and Dr.
Rajendra Lala Mitra have, by their varied and valuable
contributions, taken their fair share of work in the field
of antiquities. My esteemed friend, Pandit Satyavrata
Samasramin has published an excellent edition of the
Sama Veda with Sayana's Commentary, and an edition
of the White Yajur Veda with Mahidhara's Commentary, and is now engaged in a learned edition of Yaska's
Nirukta. And lastly, my learned friend, Mr. Anand
Ram Borooah,* of the Bengal Civil Service, has published
a handy and excellent English-Sanscrit Dictionary, and
is now engaged in a Sanscrit Grammar of formidable
size and erudition!
General Cunningham's labours in archaeology and in
the elucidation of ancient Indian Geography are invaluable; and Burgess and Fergusson have treated on Indian
* Since the above lines were written, the author has received the sad
intelligence of the death of the talented scholar. His untimely death is
a loss to Sanscrit scholarship in this country, which will not be easily
remedied. To the present writer, the sorrow is of a personal nature, as
he enjoyed the friendship of the deceased for twenty years and more,since the old College days in this country and in England.




PREFACE.                   xiii
Architecture. Fergusson's work on the subject is accepted as the standard work.
In Europe, Dr. Fausboll may be said to be the founder
of Pali scholarship, and edited the Dhammapada so far
back as I855, and has since edited the Jataka Tales.
Dr. Oldenberg has edited the Vinaya texts; and these
scholars, as well as Rhys Davids and Max Muller, have
now given us an English translation of the most important portions of the Buddhist Scriptures in the invaluable
series of Sacred Books of the East.
I wish to say a word about this series, because I
am in a special degree indebted to it. Professor Max
Muller, who has, by his life-long labours, done more than
any living scholar to elucidate ancient Hindu literature
and history, has now conceived the noble idea of enabling
English readers to go to the fountain-source, and consult Oriental works in a series of faithful translations.
More than thirty volumes, translated from the Sanscrit,
Chinese, Zend, Pahlavi, Pali, Arabic, &c., have already
been published, and more volumes are expected. I take
this opportunity to own my great indebtedness to the
volumes of this series which relate to Indian History.
I have freely quoted from them,-allowing myself the
liberty of a verbal alteration here and there; and I have
seldom thought it necessary to consult those original
Sanscrit works which have been translated in this faithful and valuable series.
And this brings me to the subject of the present work,
about which I wish to say a few words. I have often
asked myself: Is it possible, with the help that is now
available, to write, in a handy work, a clear, historical
account of the civilisation of Ancient India, based on
ancient Sanscrit literature, and written in a sufficiently




xiv


PREFACE.


popular manner to be acceptable to the general reader?
I never doubted the possibility of such a work; but I
have often wished-even when engaged in this taskthat it had been undertaken by an abler scholar, and
by one who could devote his attention and time more
exclusively to it than I could possibly do.
Scholars who have devoted their lifetime to the study
of Indian Antiquities, and who have brought out rich
ores from that inexhaustible mine, seem however to have
little time or little inclination to coin the metal for the
every-day use of the general public. That unambitious
task must, therefore, devolve on humbler labourers.
That there is need for such a popular work will not
be denied. The Hindu student's knowledge of Indian
History practically begins with the date of the Mahommedan Conquest,-the Hindu period is almost a blank
to him.  The school-boy who knows all about the
twelve invasions of Mahmud, knows little of the first
invasions and wars of the Aryans, who conquered and
settled in the Punjab three thousand years before the
Sultan of Ghazni.  He has read of Shahab-ud-din
Muhammad Ghori's conquest of Delhi and Kanouj, but
has scarcely any historical knowledge of the ancient
kingdoms of the Kurus and the Panchalas in the same
tract of country. He knows what emperor reigned in
Delhi when Sivaji lived and fought, but scarcely knows
of the king who ruled in Magadha when Gautama Buddha
lived and preached. He is familiar with the history of
Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golkonda, but has scarcely
heard of the Andhras, the Guptas, and the Chalukyas.
He knows exactly the date of Nadir Shah's invasion of
India, but scarcely knows, within five centuries, the date
when the Sakas invaded India, and were repelled by




PREFACE.


XV


Vikramaditya the Great. He knows more of the dates of
Ferdusi and Ferishta than of Aryabhatta or BhavabhOti,
and can tell who built the Taj Mahal without having the
faintest notion when the topes of Sanchi, the caves of
Karli and Ajanta, the temples of Ellora, Bhuvanesvara,
and Jagannatha were built.
And yet, such things should not be. For the Hindu
student the history of the Hindu Period should not be
a blank, nor a confused jumble of historic and legendary names, religious parables, and Epic and Puranic
myths. No study has so potent an influence in forming
a nation's mind and a nation's character as a critical
and careful study of its past history. And it is by such
study alone that an unreasoning and superstitious worship of the past is replaced by a legitimate and manly
admiration.
It almost seems an irony of fate that the past should
be considered a blank in a country where ancient sages
have handed down traditions and elaborate compositions
through thousands of years, and where, generation after
generation, they have preserved the heritage by a feat of
memory which is considered a miracle in modern days!
In vain must the thousands of ancient Hindu students
and scholars have toiled to preserve these works, if the
works give us no clue to a general outline History of
Ancient India. And in vain, too, must eminent European
scholars and antiquarians have worked during the last
hundred years, if it be still impossible to put together
the results of their learned researches in the shape of a
connected history which will be intelligible to the general
reader and the ordinary student.
Happily this is no longer impossible. And although
many portions of Indian History are still obscure,
VOL. I.                                 b




xvi


PREFACE.


although many questions of detail are still subjects of
controversy, to construct a general history of the Hindu
Period is no longer a hopeless task. And, however
unfit I feel myself to accomplish this task, I, nevertheless, venture to make a commencement, in the hope that
abler scholars will pardon my shortcomings, rectify my
inevitable errors, and perform skilfully and well what
I may do clumsily or leave undone.
In undertaking this great work, I must, once for all,
disclaim any intention to make any new discoveries, or
to extend in any way the limits of Oriental scholarship
and research.  My limited knowledge of the subject
precludes the possibility of such a pretension being
advanced, and the limits of the present work make it
impossible that any such results should be achieved. I
have simply tried to string together, in a methodical
order, the results of the labours of abler scholars, in
order to produce a readable work for the general reader.
If, in the fulfilment of this design, I have been sometimes betrayed into conjectures and suppositions, I can
only ask my readers to accept them as such,-not as
historical discoveries.
Ten years ago I collected and arranged the materials
then available to me, with a view to write a little schoolbook in my own vernacular; and the little work has
since been accepted as a text-book in many schools in
Bengal. Since that time I have continued my work in
this line, as far as my time permitted; and when, three
years ago, I was enabled by the generosity of the
Government of Bengal to place a complete Bengali
translation of the Rig Veda SanhitA before my countrymen, I felt more than ever impelled to rearrange the
historical materials furnished by our ancient literature




PREFA CE.


XVIi


in a permanent form. In pursuance of this object, I
published some papers, from time to time, in the Calcutta Reviewe; and these papers, together with all other
materials which I have collected, have been embodied
and arranged in the present work.
The method on which this work has been written is
very simple. My principal object has been to furnish the
general reader with a practical and handy work on the
Ancient History of India,-not to compose an elaborate
work of discussions on Indian Antiquities. To study
clearness and conciseness on a subject like this was
not, however, an easy task. Every chapter in the present
work deals with matters about which long researches
have been made, and various opinions have been recorded.
It would have afforded some satisfaction to me to have
given the reader the history of every controversy, the
account of every antiquarian discovery, and the pros and
cons of every opinion advanced. But I could not yield
to this temptation without increasing the work to three
or four times its present humble size, and thus sacrificing
the very object with which it is written. To carry out my
primary object, I have avoided every needless controversy
and discussion, and I have tried to explain as clearly,
concisely, and distinctly as I was able, each succeeding
phase of Hindu civilisation and Hindu life in ancient
times.
But, while conciseness has been the main object of the
present work, I have also endeavoured to tell my story so
that it may leave some distinct memories on my readers
after they have closed the work. For this reason, I have
avoided details as far as possible, and tried to develop,
fully and clearly, the leading facts and features of each
succeeding age. Repetition has not been avoided, where




Xviii


PREFACE.


such repetition seemed necessary to impress on my
readers the cardinal facts-the salient features of the
story of Hindu civilisation.
The very copious extracts which I have given (in translation) from the Sanscrit works may, at first sight, seem
to be inconsistent with my desire for conciseness. Such
extracts, however, have been advisedly given. In the
first place, on a subject where there is so much room for
difference in opinion, it is of the highest importance to
furnish the reader with the text on which my conclusions
are based, to enable him to form his own judgment, and
to rectify my mistakes if my conclusions are erroneous.
In the second place, it is a gain in the cause of historical
knowledge to familiarize the reader with the texts of our
ancient authors. It is scarcely to be hoped that the busy
student will spend much of his time in reading the ancient
and abstruse works in the original or even in learned
translations, and the historian who seeks to familiarize
his readers with some portions at least of these ancient
works, adds in so far to the accurate knowledge of his
readers on this subject. And lastly, it has been well said,
that thought is language, and language is thought. And
if it be the intention of the historian to convey an idea of
ancient thought,-of what the ancient Hindus felt and
believed,-he cannot do this better than by quoting the
words by which that ancient people expressed themselves.
Such brief extracts very often give the modern reader a
far more realistic and intimate knowledge of ancient Hindu
society and manners and ways of thinking than any
account that I could give at twice the length. And it is
because I have desired the modern reader to enter into
the spirit and the inner life of the ancient Hindus, that I
have tried to bring the old composers of hymns and sfttras




PREFACE.


xix


face to face with the reader, and allowed them to speak
for themselves. Such an intimate grasp of the inner life
and feelings of the ancients is the very kernel of true
historical knowledge, and I have felt it a hopeless task to
impart this knowledge more accurately or more concisely
than in the words of the ancients. It is for this reason
mainly, and consistently with my anxiety to be concise,
that I have quoted copiously from ancient works.
In conclusion, I have to crave the indulgence of the
reader for the many deficiencies which he will, no doubt,
find in the present work, written in moments stolen from
official work, and in places where a decent library was
never available.  Such claim to indulgence is seldom
admitted, and the reader very pertinently inquires why a
writer should ever undertake a work for which he was not
in every way fully equipped.  Nevertheless, I mention
these circumstances, as they may explain, if they cannot
justify, the shortcomings of the work. The time of the
present writer is not his own, and the charge of a Bengal
District with an area of over six thousand square miles
and a population of over three millions, leaves little leisure
for other work. To arrange my materials, under these
circumstances, has been an arduous work, and I can only
ask the indulgent consideration of my readers for any
errors and defects which may have crept into this work.
R. C. DUTT.
MYMENSIN(G DISTRICT, BENGAI,
I3t/h August 1888.








CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
PREFACE.
INTRODUCTION.-EPOCHS AND DATES.
BOOK I.


PA(;G
vii
I


VEDIC PERIOD, B.C. 2000 TO 1400.


CHAP.
I. THE INDO-ARYANS: THEIR LITERATURE
II. AGRICULTURE, PASTURE, AND COMMERCE 
III. FOOD, CLOTHING, AND TIE ARTS OF PEACE
IV. WARS AND DISSENSIONS 
V. SOCIAL LIFE 
VI. VEDIC RELIGION..
VII. VEDIC RISHIS...


26
34
41
48
6o
75
98


BOOK II.
EPIC PERIOD, B.C. 1400 TO 1000.


I. LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD 
II. KURUS AND PANCHiLAS 
III. VIDEHAS, KOSALAS, AND KASIS.
IV. ARYANS AND NON-ARYANS..
V. CASTE
VI. SOCIAL LIFE.
VII. LAW, ASTRONOMY, AND LEARNING
VIII. SACRIFICIAL RITES OF THE BR&HMANAS
IX. RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES OF THE UPANISHADS.107
120
131
144
151
162
173.i8o.190




xxii


CONTENTS.


BOOK III.
RATIONALISTIC PERIOD, B.C. IOOO TO 320.


CHAP.
I. LITERATURE OF THE PERIOI)
II. EXPANSION OF THE HINDUS
I11. ADMINISTRATION, AGR"ICULTURE, AND ARTS
IV. LAWS
V. CASTE
VI. SOCIAL LIFE
VII. GEOMETRY AND GRAMMAR
VIII. SXNKHYA AND YOGA
IX. NYIYA AND VAISESIKA
X. PORVA MIMINS1 AND VEDANTA
XI. BUDDHiS'r SACRED LITERATURE
XII. LIFE OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA
XIII. DOCTRINES OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA
XIV. MORAL PRECEPTS OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA


PAGE. 199. 210
221. 231
*   245. 254
269
276. 289
I   *..  296
305. 320
342
* 358
368
381


XV. HISTORY OF BUDDHISM
XVI. HISTORY OF JAINAISM 






CIVILISATION IN ANCIENT INDIA.
INTRODUCTION.
EPOCHS AND DATES.
THE History of Ancient India is a history of thirty
centuries of human culture and progress.  It divides
itself into several distinct periods, each of which, for
length of years, will compare with the entire history of
many a modern people.
Other nations claim an equal or even a higher antiquity
than the Hindus. Egyptian scholars have claimed a
date over four thousand years B.C. for the foundation of
the first Egyptian dynasty of kings. Assyrian scholars
have claimed a date over three thousand years B.C. for
Saragon I., who united Sumir and Accad under the
Semetic rule; and they claim a still earlier date for the
native Turanian civilisation of Accad which preceded the
Semetic conquest of Chaldea. The Chinese claim to have
an authentic history of dynasties and facts from about
2400 B.C. For India, modern scholars have not claimed an
earlier date than 2000 B.C. for the hymns of the Rig Veda,
although Hindu civilisation must have been centuries or
thousands of years old when these hymns were composed.
But there is a difference between the records of the
Hindus and the records of other nations. The hieroglyphic records of the ancient Egyptians yield little information beyond the names of kings and pyramid-builders,
and accounts of dynasties and wars.  The cuneiform
VOL. I.                                 A




2


INTRODUCTION.


inscriptions of Assyria and Babylon tell us much the same
story. And even ancient Chinese records shed little light
on the gradual progress of human culture and civilisation.
Ancient Hindu works are of a different character. If
they are defective in some respects, as they undoubtedly
are, they are defective as accounts of dynasties, of wars,
of so-called historical incidents. On the other hand, they
give us a full, connected, and clear account of the advancement of civilisation, of the progress of the human mind,
such as we shall seek for in vain among the records of
any other equally ancient nation. The literature of each
period is a perfect picture-a photograph, if we may so
call it-of the Hindu civilisation of that period. And the
works of successive periods form a complete history of
ancient Hindu civilisation for three thousand years, so
full, so clear, that he who runs may read.
Inscriptions on stone and tablets, and writings on
papyri are recorded with a design to commemorate
passing events.  The songs and hymns and religious
effusions of a people are an unconscious and true reflection of its civilisation and its thought. The earliest
effusions of the Hindus were not recorded in writing,they are, therefore, full and unrestricted,-they are a
natural and true expression of the nation's thoughts and
feelings. They were preserved, not on stone, but in the
faithful memory of the people, who handed down the great
heritage from century to century with a scrupulous exactitude which, in modern days, would be considered a
miracle.
Scholars who have studied the Vedic hymns historically are aware that the materials they afford for constructing a history of civilisation are fuller and truer than
any accounts which could have been recorded on stone or
papyri. And those who have pursued Hindu literature
through the different periods of ancient Hindu history,
are equally aware that they form a complete and comprehensive story of the progress and gradual modifications




EPOCHS AND DATES.


3


of Hindu civilisation, thought, and religion through three
thousand years. And the philosophical historian of human
civilisation need not be a Hindu to think that the Hindus
have preserved the fullest, the clearest, and the truest
materials for his work.
We wish not to be misunderstood. We have made the
foregoing remarks simply with a view to remove the very
common and very erroneous impression that Ancient India
has no history worth studying, no connected and reliable
chronicle of the past which would be interesting or instructive to the modern reader.
Ancient India has a connected story to tell, and so far
from being uninteresting, its special feature is its intense
attractiveness.  We read in that ancient story how a
gifted Aryan people, separated by circumstances from the
outside world, worked out their civilisation amidst natural
and climatic conditions which were peculiarly favourable.
We note their intellectual discoveries age after age; we
watch their religious progress and developments through
successive centuries; we mark their political career, as
they gradually expand over India, and found new kingdoms
and dynasties; we observe their struggles against priestly
domination, their successes and their failures; we study
with interest their great social and religious revolutions
and their far-reaching consequences.  And this great
story of a nation's intellectual life-more thrilling in its
interest than any tale which Shaharzadi told-is nowhere
broken and nowhere disconnected.  The great causes
which led to great social and religious changes are manifest to the reader, and he follows the gradual development
of ancient Hindu civilisation through thirty centuries, from
2000 B.C. to I000 years after Christ.
The very shortcomings of Hindu civilisation, as compared with the younger civilisation of Greece or Rome,
have their lessons for the modern reader. The story of
our successes is not more instructive than the story of
our failures. The hymns of Visvamitra, the philosophy




4..INTRODUCTION.
of Kapila, and the poetry of Kalidasa have no higher
lessons for the modern reader than the decadence of our
political life and the ascendency of priests. The story of
the religious rising of the people under the leadership of
Gautama Buddha and Asoka is not more instructive than
the absence of any efforts after popular freedom. And
the great heights to which the genius of Brahmans and
Kshatriyas soared in the infancy of the world's intellectual life are not more suggestive and not more instructive
than the absence of genius in the people at large in their
ordinary pursuits and trades,-in mechanical inventions
and maritime discoveries, in sculpture, architecture, and
arts, in manifestations of popular life and the assertion of
popular power.
The history of the intellectual and religious life of the
ancient Hindus is matchless in its continuity, its fulness,
and its philosophical truth. But the historian who only
paints the current of that intellectual life performs half
his duty. There is another and a sadder portion of Hindu
history,-and it is necessary that this portion of the story,
too, should be faithfully told.
We have said before that the history of Ancient India
\divides itself into several distinct and long periods or
epochs. Each of these periods has a distinct literature,
and each has a civilisation peculiar to it, which modified
itself into the civilisation of the next period under the
operation of great political and social causes. It is desirable that we should, at the outset, give a brief account of
these historical epochs and the great historical events by
which they are marked. Such an outline-account of the
different periods will make our readers acquainted with
the plan and scope of this work, and will probably help
them to grasp more effectually the details of each period
when we come to treat them more fully. We begin with
the earliest period, viz., that of Aryan settlements in the
Punjab. The hymns of the Rig Veda furnish us with the
materials for a history of this period.




FIRST EPOCH.                  5
FIRST EPOCH. 
/ < o
In this priceless volume, the Rig Veda, we find the  c.
Hindu Aryans as conquerors and settlers on the banks of  2 ', 6
the Indus and its five branches; and India beyond the Sut-.
lej was almost unknown to them. They were a conquering race, full of the self-assertion and vigour of a young
national life, with a strong love of action and a capacity
for active enjoyments. They were, in this respect, far
removed fiom the contemplative and passive Hindus of
later days; they rejoiced in wealth and cattle and pasturefields; and they carved out, with their strong right arm,
new possessions and realms from the aborigines of the
soil, who vainly struggled to maintain their own against
the invincible' conquerors. Thus, the period was one of
wars and conquests against the aborigines; and the
Aryan victors triumphantly boast of their conquests in
their hymns, and implore their gods to bestow on them
wealth and new possessions, and to destroy the barbarians. Whatever was bright and cheerful and glorious
in the aspects of nature struck the Aryans with admiration and gladness, and such manifestations of nature were
worshipped and invoked as gods.
It is needless to say that the entire body of Aryans
was then a united community, and the only distinction
of castes was between the Aryans and the aborigines.
Even the distinction between professions was not very
marked; and the sturdy lord of many acres, who ploughed
his fields and owned large herds in times of peace, went
out to defend his village or plunder the aborigines in
times of war, and often composed spirited hymns to the
martial gods in his hours of devotion. There were no
temples and no idols; each patriarch of a family lighted
the sacrificial fire in his own hearth, and offered milk
and rice offerings, or animals, or libations of the Soma
juice to the fire, and invoked the "bright" gods for




6


INTRODUCTION.


blessings and health and wealth for himself and his
children. Chiefs of tribes were kings, and had professional priests to perform sacrifices and utter hymns for
them; but there was no priestly caste, and no royal caste.
The people were free, enjoying the freedom which belongs
to vigorous pastoral and agricultural tribes.
What is the date of this period of Aryan settlements
in the Punjab as pictured in the Rig Veda? We think
we agree with the general opinion on the subject when
we fix 2000 to 1400 B.C. for this first period of Hindu
history. And, for the sake of convenience, we will call
this period the Vedic Period.
SECOND EPOCH.
When once the Hindu Aryans had come as far as the
Sutlej, they did not lose much time in crossing that river
and pouring down in numbers in the valley of the Ganges.
We have rare mention of the Ganges and the Jumna in
the Rig Veda, showing that they were not yet generally
known to the Hindus in the first or Vedic Period, although
adventurous colonists must have issued out of the Punjab
and settled in the shores of those distant rivers. Such
settlements must have multiplied in the second period,
until, in the course of some centuries, the entire valley
of the Ganges, as far down as modern Tirhut, were the
seats of powerful kingdoms and nationalities, who cultivated science and literature in their schools of learning,
and developed new forms of religion and of civilisation
widely different from those of the Vedic Period.
Among the nations who flourished in the Gangetic
valley, the most renowned have left their names in the
epic literature of India. The Kurus had their kingdom
round about modern Delhi.    The PanchAlas settled
further to the south-east, round about modern Kanouj.
The Kosalas occupied the spacious country between the




SECOND EPOCH.


7


Ganges and the Gunduck, which includes modern Oudh;
the Videhas lived beyond the Gunduck, in what is now
known as Tirhut; and the Kasis settled down round
about modern Benares. These were the most renowned
nations of the second period, though other less powerful
nationalities also flourished and extended their kingdoms
from time to time.
When the first Kurus and Panchalas settled in the
Doab, they gave indications of a vigorous national life, 
and their internecine wars form the subject of the first
National Epic of India, the Mahabharata. And, although
this work, in its present shape, is the production of a
later age-or rather of later ages-yet, even in its
present form, it preserves indications of that rude
and sturdy vigour and warlike jealousies which characterised the early conquerors of the Gangetic valley.
The Hindus did not, however, live many centuries in the
soft climate of this valley before losing their vigour and
manliness, as they gained in learning and civilisation.
As they drifted down the river they manifested less and
less of the vigour of conquering races. The royal courts
of the Videhas and the Kasis were learned and enlightened,
but contemporary literature does not bear witness to their
warlike qualities. The Kosalas, too, were a polished
nation, but the traditions of that nation, preserved in the
second National Epic of India, the Ramayana (in its
present form, a production of later ages), show more
devotion to social and domestic duties, obedience to priests,
and regard for religious forms, than the sturdy valour
and the fiery jealousies of the Mahabharata.
This gradual enervation of the Hindus was the cause
of the most important results in religious and social
rules.  Religion changed its spirit. The manly but
simple hymns with which the sturdy conquerors of the
Punjab had invoked nature-gods scarcely commended
themselves to the more effete and more ceremonious
Hindus of the Gangetic valley. The hymns were still




8


INTRODUCTION.


repeated, but lost their meaning and sense, and vast
ceremonials and observances took the place of simple
forms. The priestly class increased in number and in
influence, until they formed a hereditary caste of their
own. The kings and warriors of the Gangetic valley
lived in more splendid courts, and had more gorgeous
surroundings than the simple agricultural warriors of
the Punjab, and soon separated themselves from the
people and formed a caste of their own. The mass of the
people-the Vaisyas or Visas of the Riga Veda-became
more feeble than their forefathers in the Punjab, and
wore, without a protest, the chains which priests and
warriors —the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas - threw
around them. And as subjection means demoralisation,
the people in Hindu kingdoms never afterwards became
what the people in ancient and modern Europe have
striven to be. And lastly, the aborigines who were subjugated and had adopted the Aryan civilisation formed the
low caste of Sudras, and were declared unfit to perform the
Aryan religious rites or to acquire religious knowledge.
Such was the origin of the Caste-system in India, in
the second period of Hindu history. The system arose
out of weakness and lifelessness among the people, and,
to a certain extent, it has perpetuated that weakness
ever after.
It will be observed that this Second Period was a
period of the submission of the people under the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas, and of the submission of the
Kshatriyas themselves under the Brahmans.  At the
close of the period, however, there appears to have been
a reaction, and the proud Kshatriyas at last tried to
prove their equality with the Brahmans in learning and
religious culture. Wearied with the unmeaning rituals
and ceremonials prescribed by priests, the Kshatriyas
started new speculations and bold inquiries after the
truth. The effort was unavailing. The priests remained
supreme.  But the vigorous speculations which the




SECOND EPOCH.


9


Kshatriyas started form the only redeeming portion of the
inane and lifeless literature of this period. And these
speculations remained as a heritage of the nation, and
formed the nucleus of the Hindu philosophical systems
and religious revolutions of a later day.
It was in this period of Aryan expansion in the Gangetic valley that the Rig Veda and the three other Vedas
-Saman, Yajus, and Atharvan-were finally arranged
and compiled. Then followed another class of compositions known as the Brahmanas, and devoted to sacrificial
rites; and these inane and verbose compositions reflect
the enervation of the people and the dogmatic pretensions
of the priests of the age. The custom of retirement from
the world into forest life, which was unknown in the
earlier ages, sprang up, and the last portions of the
Brahmanas are Aranyakas devoted to forest rites. And
lastly, the bold speculations started by Kshatriyas are
known as the Upanishads, and form the last portions
of the literature of this period, and close the so-called
Revealed Literature of India.
Scholars have generally held that a period of at least
four or five centuries was required for the great social
and political changes of this epoch. Within this period
the valley of the Ganges, as far as Tirhoot, was cleared,
colonised, and Hinduised, and formed into sites of
powerful kingdoms. Religious observances were vastly
elaborated; social rules were changed; the caste-system
was formed; the supremacy of priests was established
and confirmed, and ultimately questioned by the
Kshatriyas; and lastly, within this age, a varied and
voluminous literature was recorded. The Period may,
therefore, be supposed to have extended approximately
from 1400 to 1000 B.C.
One or two facts may be cited here which confirm
these dates. The central historical fact of this period
was a great war between the Kurus and the Panchalas,
which forms the subject of the MahabhArata, and of




IO0


INTRODUCTION.


which we shall have something to say further on. The
central literary fact of this period was the compilation
of the Vedas. Tradition and the Epic itself inform us
that the compiler of the Vedas was a contemporary of
the war; but we may accept or reject this as we like.
We will examine these two facts separately.
First, with regard to the compilation of the Vedas.
Tradition has it that when the Vedas were compiled, the
position of the solstitial points was observed and recorded
to mark the date. The Jyotisha in which this observation
is now found is a late work, not earlier than the third
century before Christ, but the observation was certainly
made at an ancient date, and Bentley and Archdeacon
Pratt-both able mathematicians-have gone over the
calculation and found that it was made in II81 B.C.
Much has been written of late against the value of this
discovery in Europe, America, and India, but we have
found nothing in these discussions which goes against
the genuineness of the astronomical observation. We
are inclined to believe that the observation marks approximately the true date of the final compilation of the
Vedas; and as the work of compilation occupied numerous
teachers for generations together, we may suppose that
the Vedas were compiled during the fourteenth and
thirteenth centuries B.C. And this date falls within the
period which we have assigned for the Second Epoch.
Next, with regard to the Kuru-Panchala War. The
annals of different kingdoms in India allude to this
ancient war, and some of these annals are not unreliable.
The founder of Buddhism lived in the sixth century B.C.,
and we learn from the annals of Magadha that thirty-five
kings reigned between the Kuru-Panchala War and the
time of Buddha. Allowing twenty years to each reign,
this would place the war in the thirteenth century B.C.
Again, we know from coins that Kanishka ruled in
Kashmira in the first century A.D., and his successor
Abhimanyu probably reigned towards the close of that




SECOND EPOCH.


I I


century. The historian of Kashmira informs us that
fifty-two kings reigned for I266 years from the time of
the Kuru-Panchala War to the time of Abhimanyu, and
this would place the war in the twelfth century B.C.
We do not ask the reader to accept any of the particular dates given above. It is almost impossible to fix
any precise date in the History of India before Alexander
the Great visited the land; and we may well hesitate,
even when astronomical calculations point to a particular
year, or historical lists point to a particular century. All
that we ask, and all that we are entitled to ask, is that
the reader will now find it possible to accept the fact that
the Vedas were finally compiled and the Kuru-Panchala
War was fought sometime about the thirteenth century
or the twelfth century B.C.
And, if the Kuru-Panchala War was fought in the thirteenth century B.C. (i.e., about a century before the Trojan
War), it is impossible to fix a date later than I400 B.C.
for the commencement of the Second Epoch of which
we are speaking. For at the time of the Kuru-Panchala
War, the tracts of country round modern Delhi and
Kanouj were the seats of powerful nations who had
developed a civilisation and literature of their own.
And two centuries must be allowed between the date
when the Aryans issued out of the Punjab and the
date when these results had been achieved in the Gangetic valley.
To accept I400 B.C. as the date when the Aryans
issued out of the Punjab, is to confirm the dates we have
given (2000 to 1400 B.C.) for the First Epoch, the Vedic
Period.
Again, many of the Brahmanas contain internal evidence
that they were composed at the time or after the time
of the Kurus and the Panchalas. We may, therefore,
suppose these to have been composed in the thirteenth
and twelfth centuries B.C. And the Upanishads, which
mark the close of Brahmana literature, were composed




1 2


INTRODUCTION.


about the eleventh century B.C. Janaka, the king of
the Videhas, gave a start to the Upanishads; we may,
therefore, suppose the Videhas and the Kosalas to have
flourished about I200 to I000 B.C., as the Kurus and
the Panchalas flourished about 1400 to 1200 B.C.
For the sake of convenience we will call this second
period the Epic Period. It was the period when the
nations described in the national epics of India lived and
fought; when the Kurus and the Panchalas, the Kosalas and the Videhas, held sway along the valley of the
Ganges.
THIRD EPOCH.
The Third Epoch is, perhaps, the most brilliant period
of Hindu history. It was in this period that the Aryans
issued out of the Gangetic valley, spread themselves far and
wide, and introduced Hindu civilisation and founded Hindu
kingdoms as far as the southernmost limits of India.
Magadha or South Behar, which was already known to
the Hindus in the Epic Period, was completely Hinduised in the Third Epoch; and the young and powerful
kingdom founded here soon eclipsed all the ancient
kingdoms of the Gangetic valley. Buddhism spread from
Magadha to surrounding kingdoms, and Chandragupta, the
contemporary of Alexander the Great, brought the whole
of Northern India, from the Punjab to Behar, under the
rule of Magadha. With this great political event, viz., the
consolidation of all Northern India under one great empire,
the Third Epoch ends and the Fourth Epoch begins.
Aryan colonists penetrated to Bengal and introduced
Hindu religion and civilisation among the aborigines.
The kingdoms founded in the south won greater distinction. The Andhras founded a powerful kingdom in
the Deccan, and developed great schools of learning.
Further south, the Aryans came in contact with the
old Dravidian civilisation.  The more perfect Hindu




THIRD EPOCH.


I3


civilisation prevailed, and the Dravidians were Hinduised
and founded kingdoms which became distinguished for
learning and power. The three sister-kingdoms of the
Cholas, the Cheras, and the Pandyas made their mark
before the third century B.C., and Kanchi (Conjeveram),
the capital of the Cholas, distinguished itself as the seat
of Hindu learning at a later day.
In the west the Saurashtras (including Gujrat and the
Maharatta country) received Hindu civilisation; while,
beyond a strip of the sea, Ceylon was discovered, and
formed a great resort of Hindu traders.
The practical and enterprising spirit of the age shows
itself in literature as well as in territorial conquests.
The whole of the verbose teachings and rites of the
Brahmanas and Aranyakas were condensed into Sutras
or aphorisms so as to form handy manuals for the sacrifice. Other Sutras were framed for laying down the
rules of domestic rites and social conduct. Sutra schools
sprang all over India, in the north and in the south,
and works multiplied. And besides these religious works,
phonetics, metre, grammar, and lexicons were studied,
and Yaska wrote his Nirukta, and 'Panini his Vyakarana
early in this period. And the construction of sacrificial
altars according to fixed rules gave rise to geometry,
which was first discovered in India.
And, lastly, the lessons of the Upanishads were not
lost. The bold speculations started in these works were
pursued, until Kapila started the Sankhya philosophythe first closely-reasoned system of mental philosophy
known in the world. Other systems of philosophy were
started by other thinkers, but the Sankhya philosophy
was destined to have the greatest influence on the future
of India; for Gautama Buddha was born in the sixth
century B.C., and he added to the cold logic of the
Sankhya philosophy a world-embracing sympathy and
love for mankind which has made his religion the religion
of a third of the human race.




14


INTRODUCTION.


We have no difficulty in fixing the dates of this epoch.
Chandragupta, the contemporary of Alexander the Great,
united Northern India in 320 B.C. We may, therefore,
date the Third Epoch from Iooo B.C. to 320 B.C. For
the sake of convenience, we will call it the Philosophical
or Rationalistic Period.
The great political, literary, and religious incidents of
the period require the wide space of seven centuries that
we have allotted to the epoch; and all the facts that we
know confirm these dates. The dates which Dr. Buhler
has given to the Sutras of Gautama, Baudhayana,
Vasishtha, and Apastamba fall within the limits given
above. Dr. Thibaut assigns the eighth century to the
Sulva Sutras or geometry. Writers on Sankhya philosophy assign the seventh century to Kapila's philosophy,
and Gautama Buddha lived, as we know, in the sixth
century.
These dates, which have been ascertained with tolerable
certainty, confirm the dates which we have accepted for
the previous or the Epic Period. For, if the philosophy
of Kapila, which was a distant and matured result of the
Upanishads, was started in the seventh century, the
Upanishads themselves must have been composed several
centuries earlier. And we are presumably correct in
assigning B.C. IOOO for the Upanishads,-the works
which closed the Epic Period.
FOURTH EPOCH.
The epoch begins with the brilliant reign of Chandragupta. His grandson Asoka the Great made Buddhism
the state religion of India, settled the Buddhist Scriptures
in the great council of Patna, and published his edicts of
humanity on stone pillars and on rocks. He prohibited the
slaughter of animals, provided medical aid to men and cattle
all over his empire, proclaimed the duties of citizens and




FOURTH EPOCH.


I5


members of families, and directed Buddhist missionaries
to proceed to the ends of the earth, to mix with the rich
and the poor, and to proclaim the truth. His inscriptions show that he made treaties with Antiochus of Syria,
Ptolemy of Egypt, Antigonus of Macedon, Magas of
Cyrene, and Alexander of Epiros, and sent missionaries to
these kingdoms to preach the Buddhist religion. "Both
here and in foreign countries," says Asoka, "everywhere the people follow the doctrine of the religion
of the Beloved of the Gods, wheresoever it reacheth."
"Buddhist missionaries," says a Christian  writer,*
"preached in Syria two centuries before the teaching of
Christ (which has so many moral points in common) was
heard in Northern Palestine. So true is it that every
great historical change has had its forerunner."
The Maurya dynasty, which commenced with Asoka's
grandfather Chandragupta about 320 B.C., did not
last very long after the time of Asoka.  It was followed by two short-lived dynasties, the Sunga and
the Kanva (183 to 26 B.C.), and then the great Andhras,
who had founded a powerful empire in the South, conquered Magadha and were masters of Northern India
for four centuries and a half, B.C. 26 to A.D. 430. They
were generally Buddhists, but respected Brahmans and
orthodox Hindus; and throughout the Buddhist Epoch,
the two religions flourished in India side by side, and
persecution was almost unknown. The Andhras were
followed by the great Gupta emperors, who were
supreme in India till about 500 A.D., and then their
power was overthrown.   The Guptas were generally
orthodox Hindus, but favoured Buddhism also, and made
grants to Buddhist churches and monasteries.
In the meantime Western India was the scene of continual foreign invasions. The Greeks of Bactria, expelled
by Turanian invaders, entered India in the second and
first centuries before Christ, founded kingdoms, introduced
* Mahaffy, "Alexander's Empire," chapter xiii.




INTRODUCTION.


Greek civilisation and knowledge, and had varied fortunes in different parts of India for centuries after.
They are said to have penetrated as far as Orissa. The
Turanians of the Yu-Chi tribe next invaded India, and
gave a powerful dynasty to Kashmira; and Kanishka
the Yu-Chi king of Kashmlra had an extensive empire in the first century A.D., which stretched from
Kabul and Kashgar and Yarkand to Guzrat and Agra.
He was a Buddhist, and held a great council of the
Northern Buddhists in Kashmira. The Cambojians and
other tribes of Kabul then poured into India, and were in
their turn followed by the locust-hordes of the Huns,
who spread over Western India in the fifth century A.D.
India had no rest from foreign invasions for several
centuries after the time of Asoka the Great; but the
invaders, as they finally settled down in India, adopted
the Buddhist religion, and formed a part of the people.
Buddhism gradually declined during the centuries after
the Christian Era, much in the same way as the Hinduism
of the Rig Veda had gradually declined in the Epic
Period when the Hindus had settled down in the Gangetic
valley. Buddhist monks formed a vast and unmanageable body of priesthood, owning vast acres of land
attached to each monastery, and depending on the resources of the people; and Buddhist ceremonials and forms
bordered more and more on Buddha-worship and idolatry.
Many of these forms and ceremonials, which were dear
to the common people, were adopted by the Hinduism of
the day, and thus a new form of Hinduism asserted itself
by the sixth century after Christ.  An effete form of
Buddhism lingered on for some centuries in some parts
of India after this, until it was stamped out by the
Mahomedan conquerors of India.
We find an uninterrupted series of Buddhist rockcut caves, chaityas or churches, and viharas or
monasteries, all over India, dating from the time of
Asoka to the fifth century A.D.; but there are scarcely




FOURTH EPOCH.


I7


any specimens of Buddhist architecture of a later date.
Temple-building and Hindu architecture flourished from
the sixth century A.D. to long after the Mahommedan
conquest.
The most valuable portions of Buddhist literature left
to us are the scriptures as finally settled in the Council
of Patna by Asoka, and sent by him all over India and
India. 'These scriptures, preserved in the Pali language
beyond in Ceylon, form our best materials for the history
of early Buddhism, while later forms of this literature
have been found in Nepal, in Thibet, in China, in Japan,
and in all Northern Buddhist countries.
We have said that Buddhism had a marked effect on
Hinduism. Buddhism had questioned the sacredness of
the Vedas, and modern or Puranic Hinduism, though
nominally revering the Vedas, shows a complete estrangement and emancipation from those ancient works. Hindu
astronomy, mathematics, laws, and philosophical speculations had sprung from the Vedas and the Vedic sacrifices,
and belonged to different Vedic schools. But Hindu science
and learning of the post-Buddhist age have no reliance on
the Vedas and do not belong to any Vedic school. Puranic
Hinduism is not a religion of Vedic sacrifices, but of
the worship of images and gods unknown to the Vedas.
The Code of Manu represents Hindu thought and
manners of the Buddhist Epoch. It is based on the
ancient Dharmasutras or social laws of the Philosophical
Period; but while the Dharmasutras belong to different
Vedic schools, Manu's SanhitA knows of no Vedic schools
and professes to be the law for all Aryans.  On the
other hand Manu adheres to the Vedic sacrifices, eschews
image-worship, and does not know of the Trinity of
Puranic Hinduism.  Thus Manu marks the transition
stage from Vedic Hinduism to Puranic Hinduism.
For reasons which will appear from the foregoing
remarks, we date the fourth or Buddhist Period from
320 B.C. to 500 A.D.
VOL. I.                                  B




I8.. INTRODUCTION.


FIFTH EPOCH.
The fifth or last epoch of Hindu history is the epoch of
Hindu revival, and covers five centuries from 500 A.D.
to IC0O A.D., the date of the first invasions of Mahmud
of Ghazni.
The period begins with great deeds in politics and
literature.  Foreign invaders had harassed India for
centuries before, and at last a great avenger arose.
Vikramaditya the Great, of Ujjayini, was the master of
Northern India; he beat back the invaders known as
the Sakas in the great battle of Korur, and asserted
Hindu independence. Hindu genius and literature revived under his auspices, and a new form of Hinduism
asserted itself.
The three centuries commencing with the time of
Vikramaditya the Great (500 to Sco A.D.) may be called
the Augustan era of later Sanscrit literature, and nearly
all the great works which are popular in India to this
day belong to this period. Kalidasa wrote his matchless
dramas and poems in Vikrama's court. Amara Sinha,
the lexicographer, was another of the "nine gems" of
this court. And Bharavi was Kalidasa's contemporary
or lived shortly after.  Siladitya II., a successor of
Vikramaditya, ruled from 6io to 650 A.D., and is the
reputed author of Ratnavali.  Dandin, the author of
Dasakumara Charita, was an old man when Siladitya
II. reigned, and Banabhatta, the author of Kadambari,
lived in his court. Subandhu, the author of Vasavadatta,
also lived at the same time; and there are reasons to
believe that the Bhattikavya was composed by Bhartrihari, the author of the Satakas, in the same reign.
In the next century Yasovarman ruled between 700
and 750 A.D., and the renowned Bhavabhuti composed
his powerful dramas in this reign. BhavabhOti, however was, the last of the galaxy of the poets and literary




FIFTH EPOCH.


19


men of ancient India,-and no great literary genius arose
in India after the eighth century.
It was in this Augustan era also that the great national
epics of India, the production of many ages, received
their last additions and touches, and assumed their final
shape; and the voluminous Puranas, which have given
their name to this period, began to be composed in their
present shape.
In modern Hindu science, too, we have the brightest
names in these three centuries. Aryabhatta, the founder
of modern Hindu astronomy, was born in 476 A.D., and
produced his work early in the sixth century. Varahamihira, his successor, was one of the "nine gems" of
Vikrama's court. Brahmagupta was born in 598 A.D.,
and was, therefore, a contemporary of Banabhatta, the
novelist. Other astronomers of note also lived about the
sixth century.
This brilliant period of three centuries (500 to 800 A.D.)
was followed by two centuries of impenetrable darkness!
The history of Northern India from 800 to 1000 A.D.
is a perfect blank. No great dynasties rose to power,
no literary or scientific men rose to renown, no great
work of architecture or art was constructed in Northern
India. History is silent over these two dead centuries!
But we have indications of what was transpiring.
The two dark centuries witnessed the fall of ancient
dynasties, and the crumbling down of ancient kingdoms
and nationalities.  They resemble the dark ages of
Europe, which witnessed the fall of the Roman power,
and which cleared up when Feudal power arose.  In
India, too, the power of ancient races and dynasties was
silently swept away during the period of darkness, and
when light breaks in again, we see a new race of Hindu
Feudal barons as the masters of India,-the modern
Rajputs! In the general dissolution of ancient power
and the struggle for supremacy, the youngest and the
most vigorous race came to the forefront, and about IOOO




20


INTRODUCTION.


A.D. we find Rajput dynasties ruling everywhere in
Northern India. They inherited the throne of Vikramaditya and his successors in Ujjayini and Kanouj; they
usurped the power of the powerful Ballabhi kings of
Gujrat and Western India; they ruled Bengal and the
Deccan; and they tried to oppose the progress of Sabaktagin and Mahmud in the Punjab.
Different theories have been put forward as to the
origin of the Rajputs.  H. H. Wilson and other
authorities maintain that they were descended from the
Scythian invaders of India who poured in through successive centuries, who were once beaten back by Vikramaditya the Great, but who, like other invaders, settled
down in the deserts of Western India, and ruled and
conquered when they could.  Be that as it may, the
Rajputs certainly appear to have been new converts to
Hindu civilisation, for there is no mention of them in
older records.  Like all new converts, they espoused
Hinduism with exceptional zeal; they were proud to be
styled Kshatriyas,-descended from the Solar and Lunar
races; and wherever they conquered, Hindu temples
arose.  Priestly monopoly in its closest form and the
unhealthiest restrictions of modern Hinduism date from
this period, and were perpetuated during the seven
centuries of national lifelessness under the Musalman
rule.
It is impossible not to be struck with the resemblance
between European history and Indian history at the
period which marks the close of the Ancient Age. The
efforts of Vikraniaditya to beat back the Sakas have
a close resemblance to the efforts of the last Roman
Emperors and armies to keep back the hordes of barbarians who pressed eagerly forward for conquests. For
centuries the Hindus and the Romans succeeded; but
the waves of invasion and conquest at last overwhelmed
the ancient empires in India and in Italy, and marked
the fall of ancient thrones and institutions! For centuries




DA TES.


2I


after this event, Western Europe and Northern India
have scarcely any history; or the history is one of
violence and wars which closed the Ancient Age and
ushered in the Modern Age! When, at last, the darkness clears up, we find a new feudal power in Europe,
and a new feudal power in India. And the new dynasties
of Europe had embraced Christianity, and exerted as
zealously and enthusiastically for the mediaeval priests,
as the newly-converted Rajputs did for the Brahmans
and the modern form of Hinduism.
But the parallel does not end here. The new masters
of India had to fight as hard against the waves of
Mahommedan invasion as the new masters of Europe
did in France, in Spain, and in Syria. Richard the Lionhearted was fighting at the same period as Prithu Rai
of Delhi, and against the same rising power. In Europe
the Christian barons saved their independence, and ultimately expelled the Musalmans even from Spain; in
India the Hindu barons struggled and fell. Shahabuddin
Ghori overthrew the Rajput kingdoms of Delhi and
Ajmere, Kanouj and Benares, in II93 and II94 A.D.,
and the boldest of the Rajputs retreated to their desert
fastnesses, where they enjoy a sort of independence to
the present day, through the generous sufferance of the
British Government.
We have dated the Fifth or Puranic Period from 500
A.D. to I000 A.D., but from what has been stated above
it will appear that the Puranic Age really ends at 800 A.D.
The history of Ancient India terminates at that date, and
is followed by two centuries of Dark Age.
DA TES.
There are two Eras prevalent in India, viz., the Samvat
Era, running from 56 B.C., and the Sakabda Era, running
from 78 A.D. Scholars have experienced the greatest




22


INTRODUCTION.


difficulty in finding out what great events these Eras
really commemorate; and the conclusions arrived at are
not yet beyond the pale of controversy.
It has been now ascertained that the Sakabda or Saka
Era is the Era of the Saka king Kanishka, who conquered
Kashmir and Western India in the first century after
Christ, and spread Buddhism over neighbouring countries.
Thus the Sakabda was originally a Buddhist Era. It
was adopted in Buddhist India, and it was known and
used in all Buddhist countries-in Thibet and Burma,
in Ceylon and Java. It was after the Hindu revival of
the sixth century that the date was adopted by Hindus,
and the story was added, that the Era marked, not the
reign of a Buddhist Saka king, but the defeat of the Sakas
by a Hindu king.       But wherever the Era is cited by
ancient writers, it is cited as the Era of the Saka king; *
and to the present day the Era is known in our almanacs
as the Sakabda, or more fully as Saka Narapater Atztabda, which means the Era of the Saka king, not the Era
of the destruction of the Sakas by a Hindu king.
The Samvat Era is still more perplexing. Popularly
it is known as the Era of a great victory of Vikramaditya.
But history knows of no Vikramaditya of Ujjayini in
56 B.C., and it is pretty certain, that Vikramaditya the
Great, the patron of Kalidasa, lived in the sixth century
after Christ.
It is still more curious that the Samvat Era has come
into use in comparatively recent times. No instance has
yet been discovered of the use of this Era in the centuries
* The exceedingly careful and observant scholar, Colebrooke, pointed
out seventy years ago, that the astronomer, Varahamihira, who lived in the
sixth century A.D., cited the Saka Era as the Saka Bhupa Kdla or
Sakendra Kdla, i.e., the Era of the Saka king. His commentator explains this as the Era when the barbarians called Sakas "were discomfited
by Vikramndditya." Again, the astronomer Brahmagupta, who flourished
in the seventh century A.D., cites the Era as Saka Nripdnte, i.e., after the
Saka king. His commentator explains this as "after the reign of Vikramdditya, who slew a people of barbarians called Sakas. "-Colebrooke's
Algebra, &c., from the Sanscrit, p. xliii. London, 1817.




DATES.


23


immediately after the Christian Era. No trace of this
Era is found in the inscriptions of the Buddhist Period
in India, or in other Buddhist countries,-Thibet and
Burma, Ceylon and Java.
There certainly seems to be some mystery about the
Samvat Era, 56 B.C.    It pretends to commemorate a
victory of a king of whom history knows nothing; and
it is an Era which does not seem to have been used in
the numerous inscriptions of India for several centuries
after it pretends to have been established.
Probably the true origin of the Era has been discovered
by Mr. Fleet in his volume on the inscriptions of the
Gupta kings. It would seem that the Era was originally
an obscure Era of the Malava tribe, and came subsequently
to be connected with the name of Vikramaditya, who in
the sixth century after Christ raised the Malavas to the
rank of the first nation in India.
We now proceed, for facility of reference, to give a
table of dates for the different Epochs, premising, that
the dates should be taken as only approximately correct,
and that the earlier dates are supposed to be correct only
within two or three centuries.
EPOCH I.-VEDIC PERIOD, B.C. 2000 to 1400.
Aryan settlement in the Indus valley.  BC. 2000 to 1400
Composition of the Rig Veda hymns
EPOCH I I.-EPIC PERIOD, B.C. 1400 to 1000.
Aryan settlements in the Ganges valley.. B.C. 1400 to I000
Lunar Zodiac fixed. Astronomical observations B.C. 400 to 1200
Compilation of the Vedas.
Flourishing Period of the Kurus and the Pan- B.c. 140 to 1200
chalas........
Kuru-Panchala War..... B.C. 1250
Flourishing Period of the Kosalas, the Kasis, B.C. 1200 to I000
and the Videhas......
Composition of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas B.C. 1300 to IIO0
Composition of the Upanishads... B.C. I oo to wooo




24


24        ~~INTRODUCTION.


EPOCH III.-RATIONALISTIC PERIOD, B.C. 1000 to 320.


Aryan Conquest of all India
Ya'ska...
Pa'nini...
Suitra Schools.
Sulva Sutras (Geometry)
Kapila and Sa'nkhya Philosophy
Other Schools of Philosophy
Gautama Buddha
Bimbisa'ra, King of Magadha
Ajatasatru,
First Buddhist Council
Second Buddhist Council
Nine Nandas, Kings of Magadha


*.B.C. 1000 to 320
*.B.C. 9th century.
B.C. 8th century.
B.C. 800 to 400
B.C. 8th century.
B. C. 7th century.
B..600 to Christian
~.. Era.
B.C. 557 to 477
B. C. 537 to 485 -*.B.C. 485 to 453
B. C. 477
B.C. 377
*.B.C. 370 to 320


EPOCH IV.-BUDDHIST PERIOD, B.C. 320 to A.D. 500.


Chandragupta, King of Magadha
Bindus~ra, King of Magadha
Asoka, King of Magadha
Third Buddhist Council
The Maurya Dynasty in Magadha ends
The Sunga Dynasty in Magadha
The K~nva Dynasty in Magadha
The Andhra Dynasty in Magadha
The Gupta Emperors.
The Bactrian Greeks invaded India
The Yu-Chi invaded India.


B.C. 320 to 290
B.C. 290 to 260
B.C. 260 to 222
B.C. 242
B.C. 183
B.C. 183 to  71
B.C. 71 to  26
B.C. 26 to A.D. 430
A.D. 300 to A.D. 500
B. C. 2nd and i st
centuries.
A D. I St century.


Kanishka, the Yu-Chi King of Kashmilra, A.D. 78
founded the Saka Era.
The Shah Kings ruled in Saur~shtra.  A.AD. 150 to 300
The Cambojians invaded India.               3r   an   4t
I..centuries.
The White Huns invaded India...A.D. 5th century.
EPOCH V.-PURANIC PERIOD, A.D. 500 TO 1000.
Vikrama'ditya of Ujjayin'i and Northern India A.D. 500 to 550
K.Aididsa, Amarasinha, Vararuchi, &c.. A.D. 500 to 55o
Bhiravi, about.... A.D. 550 to 6oo
Aryabhatta, founder of modem Hindu As- A.D. 476 to 530
tronomy.




DA TES.


Varahamihira.
Brahmagupta.
Si1aditya II., Emperor of Northern India.
Dandin
Banalbhatta and Subandbu
Bhartrihari and the B3hattikaivya
Bhavabhflti
Sankarachlrya.
The Dark Ages in Northern India


2 5.. A.D. 500 to 550. A.D. 598 to 650. A D. tdo to 65o
* A.D. 570 to 620
}A.D. 6io to 6qo
* A.D. 700 to 750. A.D. 788 to 850. A.D. 8oo to 0ooo




BOOK I.


VEDIC    PERIOD, R.C. 2000 TO B.C. 1400.
CHAPTER I.
THE INDO-ARYANS.-THEIR LITERATURE.
THE site of the early home of the Aryans * has been a
subject of endless controversies among scholars. Enthusiastic and patriotic Hindu scholars will not admit that
the first home of the Aryans was anywhere outside
India; while equally patriotic European scholars would
place the seat of the primitive Aryans on the shores of
the Baltic Sea. We need hardly say that it is not our
object to enter into this discussion; and we merely repeat
here the theory of many moderate thinkers that the early
home of the Aryans was somewhere in Central Asia.
The main arguments on which this conclusion is based
have been summed up by Professor Max Muller in a
recent work, and we quote them for our readers:"Firstly, we have two streams of language, one tending south-east to India, and the other north-west to
* Recent anthropological researches have disclosed that the nations
speaking Aryan languages are not descended from the same stock, and
never belonged to the same race. At the same time it is admitted that the
ancestors of these races must have derived their languages from a common
source; they must have been subject to one great race which imposed its
language on them, or lived in one common tract of country. When we
speak of the early home of the Aryans, we mean this common country;
and when we speak of Aryans, we mean races speaking Aryan languages.
26




CHAP. I.]


INDO-ARYANS.


27


Europe. The point where these two streams naturally
intersect, points to Asia."
"Secondly, the earliest centres of civilised life were
in Asia." And we may add that the most primitive form
of all Aryan languages-the nearest approach to that
language which was spoken by the primitive Aryan races
-is the Vedic Sanscrit of Ancient India.
"Thirdly, we see in later times large ethnic waves,
rising from Central Asia and overwhelming Europe.
Such are the Huns in the fourth and the Mongols in the
thirteenth century.
"Fourthly, if the migration had taken place from
Europe to Asia, particularly from Scandinavia, we should
naturally look in the common Aryan language for a
number of words connected with maritime life." But this
is not the case. While we find common names for particular animals and birds, and even common names for
animals (pasu) and birds (vi) in general, we find no
names for special fishes, and no general name for fish,
nor even is there a common name for the sea!
Various pictures, more or less imaginary, of the civilisation of the early Aryans before they separated have been
drawn by various scholars from the slender materials of
the words which are found in common use among the
different Aryan nations in the world. Pictet's work in
two large volumes, published in Paris in I859-63, created
a wider interest than any preceding attempt of a similar
nature; and this was followed by Dr. Fick's work in
I868, and Dr. Hehn's work in I870. It is not our intention to draw such pictures here; we will only give a few
facts about the life of the primitive Aryans about which
there is no dispute.
The domestic economy among the early Aryans was
much the same as it is among the Ayran nations of the
present day. The historian of man does not find in Aryan
history any traces of Hetairism (or of promiscuous relationship between the sexes), of families being reckoned




28


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


on the mother's side, or of inheritance by the female line.
On the contrary, the father was the protector and the
nourisher of the family, the mother looked after and fed
the children, the daughter milked the cattle, and relationship by marriage was recognised. Probably the primitive
Aryans had already reached a higher state of civilisation
than promiscuous living would imply. The family, and
not the tribe, was the unit of society; and the father was
the head of the family.
Many of the useful animals had been domesticated and
brought under the service of man. The cow, the bull,
the ox, the sheep, the goat, the swine, the dog, and the
horse had all been domesticated. The wild bear, the wolf,
the hare, and the dreaded serpent were known. Similarly
among birds, the goose, the duck, the cuckoo, the raven,
the quail, the crane, and the owl were well known to the
early Aryans.
The various industries were still in their infancy; but
a commencement in manufactures and arts had been
made. The Aryans built houses, villages, and towns,
made roads, and constructed boats for communication by
water or for a humble kind of trade. Weaving, spinning,
and plaiting were known, and furs, skins, and woollen
fabrics were made into garments. Carpentry must have
made considerable progress, and dyeing was known.
It need scarcely be stated that agriculture was practised
by the primitive Aryans, and it was this occupation which
probably gave them their name (Arya = cultivator). Many
words familiar to cultivators, like the plough, the waggon,
the cart, the wheel, the axle, the yoke, in common use
among the Aryan nations, point to the same primitive
roots from which they have been derived. Corn was
ground, prepared, and cooked in various ways; while the
flocks of sheep and cows by which every family was
surrounded afforded milk and meat. There can be little
doubt that, although agriculture was largely resorted to,
many patriarchs of families used also to rove about from




CHAP. I.]


INDO-ARYANS.


29


place to place with their attendants and flocks in search
of new pastures, and a fairly large portion of the early
Aryans led a nomad life. Of this we have some trace
even in the Rig Veda, as we shall see farther on.
War was not infrequent in those primitive times, and
weapons of bone and of wood, of stone and of metals,
were known. The bow and the arrow, the sword and the
spear seem to have been the weapons of war.
It argues some advance in civilisation that the use of
gold and of silver was undoubtedly known to the early
Aryans; and with the simplicity of early races, they
called gold by the name "yellow " and silver by the name
"white." A third metal (ayas) was also known, but it is
doubtful if it was iron.
It is perhaps impossible to conjecture the sort of
government which obtained in those olden days. Patriarchs of tribes and leaders of men undoubtedly obtained
ascendency, and the simple subjects looked up to them
and called them the protectors or nourishers of men, or
the shining chief (Pati, Vispati, Rvdja) in war as well as in
peace. The natural feelings of civilised man distinguished
between right and wrong, and custom and a vague perception of what was good for the nation had the force of law.
And lastly, the primitive religion of the Aryans was
suggested by whatever was beautiful and striking in the
phenomena of Nature. The sky or the bright sky was
an eternal object of wonder and of worship. The sun, the
dawn, the fire, and the earth, the storms and the clouds
and the thunder, all received worship. But religion was
still simple and archaic. Myths and legends about the
gods and their relationship had not yet multiplied; elaborate rites and ceremonials had not yet been fabricated.
The bold forefathers of the Aryan nations looked up with
a manly veneration to whatever was wondrous and beautiful in Nature, imagined such manifestations as instinct
with deity, and offered their praise and their prayers with
a grateful and fervent heart.




30


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


Adventurous bands of Aryans left their primitive home
from time to time in quest of food or pasture, of
kingdoms or plunder. The exact order in which the
different nations left has not been ascertained, and
will never be ascertained. Professor Max Miller holds
that the first division of the Aryan races was into two
branches, viz., the North-Western or European, and
the South-Eastern or Asiatic; and that, 'after they
became once separated, the two branches never met
again. The North-Western branch travelled towards
Europe; and five distinct races occupied five different
portions of Europe at periods which cannot be ascertained. The Celts settled, or were more probably driven
onwards by other races to settle in the extreme west of
Europe, in France, Ireland, Great Britain, and Belgium;
the robust Tutons settled in northern and central
Europe, from which they issued after the downfall of
Rome to conquer the whole of Europe; the Slavs
settled in eastern Europe, i.e., in Russia and other
places; and the Italic and Greek races settled in the
south of Europe.
The Asiatic branch travelled southwards, and according to Max Miiller, the still undivided Indo-Iranians
came as far as the Indus, to the land of the five rivers,
or the Punjab. Here, "within sight of the Indus and its
tributaries, the undivided South-Eastern Aryans spoke
a language more primitive than the Sanscrit or Zend."
Religious schism then separated them; the worshippers
of the Devas or the Hindus remained in the Punjab,
the worshippers of the Asuras or the Iranians went away
to Persia.
It is the worshippers of the Devas-the Hindu Aryans
-who have composed those hymns which are known as
the Rig Veda, and we will say a few words here about
this ancient work. Probably there is not another work in
the literature of mankind which is so deeply interesting,
so unique in the lessons it imparts. The hoary antiquity




CHAP. I.]


INDO-ARYANS.


3I


of this ancient work, the picture it affords of the earliest
form of civilisation that the Aryans developed in any
part of the world, and the flood of light it throws on the
origin of the myths and religions of all Aryan nations,make the Rig Veda deeply interesting.
But the work has a yet higher import, a deeper significance. To the philosophical historian of man the Rig
Veda discloses the origin of religious faith and religious
feelings. It explains how the mind of man in its infancy
worships what is bright and glorious in nature, what is
powerful and striking. Among less happy nations, religion began with the dread of diseases and of evils, as
these made the most lasting impression on the mind.
But among the Aryans, the brighter and pleasanter aspects
of nature,-the bright sky, the blushing dawn, the rising
sun, and the glowing fire,-created the deepest impression,
and called forth songs of gratitude and praise and worship.
This is the Rig Veda Sanhita,-this is the earliest form of
Aryan religion known.
But the Rig Veda is more than this. It shows us how
the mind is led from Nature up to Nature's God. For the
sages of the Rig Veda do not always remain satisfied with
the worship of the manifestations of Nature; they sometimes soar higher, and dare to conceive that all these
phenomena-the sun, the sky, the storms, and the thunder
-are but the actions of the Unknowable One.
And if such is the value of the Rig Veda to the historian of man, its value to the historian of Aryan nations
is still greater. It is the oldest work in the Aryan world.
It gives us a picture of the oldest civilisation which the
Aryans developed in any part of the world. And as we
have said before, it enlightens and clears up much that is
dark and obscure in the religions and myths of Aryan
nations all over the world. It would be entirely foreign
to our present object to illustrate this by instances, but
some instances are so well known as to merely require a
mention to illustrate our views.




32


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


Zeus or Jupiter is the Vedic Dyu, or the sky; and
Daphne and Athena are probably the Vedic Dahana and
Ahana, the dawn. Uranus is Varuna, the sky; and
probably Prometheus is the Vedic Pramantha, the fire
which is produced by friction.
To the Hindus the Rig Veda is a work of still higher
importance. It explains the whole fabric of the later
Hindu religion; it clears all the complications of later
mythology; it throws light on the history of the Hindu
mind from its earliest stage of infancy. The Hindu learns
from this ancient and priceless volume that Vishnu the
supreme preserver, and his three steps covering the
universe, mean the sun at its rise, its zenith, and its
setting; that the terrible god Rudra the supreme destroyer originally meant the thunder or thunder-cloud;
and that Brahma the supreme creator was originally prayer
or the god of prayer.
The Rig Veda consists of I028 hymns, comprising over
ten thousand verses. The hymns are generally simple,
and betray a child-like and simple faith in the gods, to
whom sacrifices are offered, and libations of the Soma juice
are poured, and who are asked for increase of progeny,
cattle, and wealth, and implored to help the Aryans in
their still doubtful struggle against the black aborigines
of the Punjab.
The hymns of the Rig Veda are divided into ten
Mandalas or Books, and with the exception of the first
and last books, every one of the remaining eight books
contains hymns said to have been composed or rather
proclaimed by one Rishi,-by which we may understand
one family or line of teachers. Thus the second book is
by Gritsamada; the third is by Visvamitra; the fourth
is by Bamadeva; the fifth is by Atri; the sixth is by
Bharadvaja; the seventh is by Vasishtha; the eighth is
by Kanva; and the ninth is by Angiras. The first book
contains 191 hymns, which, with scattered exceptions, are
composed by fifteen Rishis; and the tenth book also




CHAP. I.]


INDO-ARYANS.


33


contains 191 hymns, which are mostly ascribed to fictitious
authors.
The hymns of the Rig Veda were handed down from
father to son, or from teacher to pupil for centuries
together, and it was in a later age, in the Epic Period,
that they were arranged and compiled. The whole, or
greater portion of the tenth book, seems to have been
the production of this later period, but was thrown in
and preserved with the body of the older hymns.
The arrangement and compilation of the Rig Veda
hymns in their present shape must have been completed
within the Epic Period. In Aitareya Aranyaka II, 2,
we have fanciful derivations given of the names of the
Rishis of the Rig Veda in the order in which the Mandalas are arranged. And this is followed by an account
of a Sukta or hymn, of a Rik or verse, of a half Rik, of
a Pada or word, and of an Akshara or syllable. The
Rig Veda Sanhita, therefore, had not only been arranged
Mandala by Mandala, but had been carefully divided,
subdivided, and analysed within the Epic Period.
By the close of the Epic Period, every verse, every
word, every syllable of the Rig Veda had been counted.
The number of verses, as computed, varies from 10,402
to I0,622, that of words is 153,826, that of syllables
432,000.


VOL. I.


C




CHAPTER II.


AGRICULTURE, PASTURE, AND COMMERCE.
THE main industry of the ancient Hindus, as of the
modern Hindus, was agriculture; and as might be expected, we have frequent allusions to it in the Rig Veda.
The very name Arya, by which the Aryan conquerors of
India have distinguished themselves from the aborigines
or Dasas, is said to come from a root which means to
cultivate. Professor Max Miller believes that traces of
this root are to be found in the names of many Aryan
countries, from Iran or Persia, to Erin or Ireland, and
argues that the word was invented in the primeval home
of the Aryans, to indicate their partiality to cultivation, as
distinguished from the nomadic habits of the Turanians,
whose name is supposed to indicate their rapid journeys
or the fleetness of their horse. Certain it is that the
word Arya is the one word in the Rig Veda which distinguishes the conquerors as a class, or even as a caste,
from the aborigines of the country. And there are remarkable passages also which show that the new settlers,
in calling themselves Arya, had not altogether forgotten
the original signification of the word. One instance will
suffice:"0 ye two Asvins! you have displayed your glory
by teaching the Arya to cultivate with the plough and
to sow corn, and by giving him rains for the production
of his food, and by destroying the Dasyu by your
thunderbolt" (I, I 17, 2I).
There are two other words in the Rig Veda which
34




CHAP. II.]


AGRICULTURE, ETC.


35


are synonymous, not with the Aryan tribe, but rather
with man generally; and both of them come from roots
which indicate cultivation. The words are Charshana
(I, 3, 7, &c.) and Krishti (I, 4, 6, &c.), and both these
words come from modifications of the same root Krish
or Chrish to cultivate.
Thus the very names which the Aryan conquerors of
India gave themselves are names which are believed to
indicate that useful occupation which distinguishes the
civilised man from the barbarian, viz., cultivation of the soil.
There are numerous direct allusions in the Rig Veda
to agriculture, but the most remarkable among them is
a hymn which is dedicated to a supposed god of agriculture, the Lord of the Field as he is called, and which we
will translate in full:"I. We will win (cultivate) this field with the Lord
of the Field; may he nourish our cattle and our horses;
may he bless us thereby.
" 2. 0 Lord of the Field! bestow on us sweet and pure
and butter-like and delicious and copious rain, even as cows
give us milk. May the Lords of the water bless us.
"3. May the plants be sweet unto us; may the skies
and the rains and the firmament be full of sweetness;
may the Lord of the Field be gracious to us. We will
follow him uninjured by enemies.
" 4. Let the oxen work merrily; let the men work
merrily; let the plough move on merrily. Fasten the
traces merrily; ply the goad merrily.
"5. 0 Suna and Sira! accept this hymn. Moisten
this earth with the rain you have created in the sky.
"' 6. 0 fortunate Furrow! proceed onwards, we pray unto
thee; do thou bestow on us wealth and an abundant crop.
" 7. May Indra accept this Furrow; may Pushan lead
her onwards. May she be filled with water, and yield
us corn year after year.*
* In these two remarkable verses, the furrow, Sita, is addressed as a
female, and asked to yield copious harvests. In the Yajur Veda also, the




36


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


"8. Let the ploughshares turn up the sod merrily;
let the men follow the oxen merrily; may Parjanya
moisten the earth with sweet rains. O Suna and Sira!
bestow on us happiness" (IV, 57).
We shall seek in vain in the entire range of later
Sanscrit literature for a passage in which the humble
hopes and wishes of simple agriculturists are so naturally
described. This is the unique charm of the Rig Veda as
a literary composition. Whether it be an account of a
battle with the aborigines, or a prayer to friendly Indra
to come and have a cup of Soma, or a song of the simple
cultivator,-the Rig Veda hymn always takes us nearer
to the workings of a simple and manly heart than anything
in the literature of later times.
We will translate a portion of another hymn, also
relating to agriculture:" 3. Fasten the ploughs, spread out the yokes, and
sow the seed on this field which has been prepared. Let
the corn grow with our hymns; let the scythes fall on
the neighbouring fields where the corn is ripe.
"4. The ploughs have been fastened; the labourers
have spread the yokes; the wise men are uttering prayers
to gods.
"5. Prepare troughs for the drinking of the animals.
Fasten the leather-string, and let us take out water from
this deep and goodly well which never dries up.
" 6. The troughs have been prepared for the animals;
the leather-string shines in the deep and goodly well
which never dries up, and the water is easily got. Take
out water from the well.
"7. Refresh the horses; take up the corn stacked in
the field; and make a cart which will convey it easily.
This well full of water for the drinking of animals, is one
furrow is similarly worshipped. And when the Aryans gradually conquered the whole of India, and primeval jungles and waste lands were
marked with the furrow, the furrow or Sita assumed a more definite
human character, and became the heroine of the Epic which describes the
Aryan conquest of Southern India.




CHAP. II.]


AGRICULTURE, ETC.


37


drona in extent, and there is a stone wheel to it. And
the reservoir for the drinking of men is one skanda.
Fill it with water" (X, IOI).
Irrigation and cultivation in the Punjab are only possible
by means of wells, and wells are reserved also for the
drinking of men and of beasts; and it is not surprising
therefore that we should find references to wells in the
Rig Veda. Another remarkable fact which appears from
the passages translated above is, that horses were used
for cultivation in those days, a custom still common in
Europe, but not in India in modern times.
In X, 25, 4, and in many other places we have allusions
to wells. In X, 93, 13, we are told how water was raised
from wells for irrigation. The contrivance is the same
as is still in vogue in Northern India; a number of pots
are tied to a string, and as the pots go up and down by
the movement of a wheel, they are filled in the well and
pulled up and emptied and sent down again. The contrivance is called ghatichakra, or the circle of pots, and
bears the same name to the present day.
In X, 99, 4, we have another allusion to irrigation of
fields by means of canals which were replenished with
water by means of a drona. And in X, 68, I, we are
told that cultivators who irrigated their fields kept away
birds by uttering loud cries.
As stated above, the allusions to pasture are by no
means so frequent as the allusions to agriculture.
Pfishan is the god of shepherds,-he is the sun as
viewed by shepherds,-and is supposed to protect them
and travellers generally in their wanderings over the
country. And here and there in a hymn to Pfshan, we
find that the Aryans of India had brought with them
recollections and songs about those migrations which
they occasionally undertook in their primitive home, if
not after their settlement in India.  We translate one
such hymn below:" I. O Pishan! help us to finish our journey, and




38


VEDIC PERIOD. 


[BOOK I.


remove all dangers. O Son of the Cloud, do thou march
before us!
"2. 0 Pushan! do thou remove from our path him
who would lead us astray, who strikes and plunders
and does wrong.
"3. Do thou drive away that wily robber who intercepts journeys.
"4. Do thou trample under thy foot the vile carcass
of him who plunders us in both ways (by stealth and
by force) and who commits outrages.
"5. 0 wise Pushan, destroyer of enemies! we implore
of thee the protection with which thou didst shield and
encourage our forefathers.
"6. 0 Pushan, possessed of all wealth, possessed of
golden weapons, and chief among beings! bestow on us
thy riches.
"7. Lead us so that enemies who intercept may not
harm us; lead us by an easy and pleasant path. O
Puishan! devise means (for our safety) on this journey.
"8. Lead us to pleasant tracts covered with green
grass; let there be no extreme heat by the way. O
Pushan! devise means (for our safety) on this journey.
" 9. Be powerful in thy protection; fill us with riches;
bestow on us wealth; make us strong and give us
food! O Pushan! devise means (for our safety) on this
journey.
"( o. We do not blame Pfshan; but we extol him in
our hymns.   We solicit wealth from  the handsome
Pfishan" (I, 42).
There is also another interesting hymn on the practice
of taking out cattle to pasture fields, and bringing them
back. A few verses are worth translating:"4. We call the cowherd, let him take out these cows;
let him pasture them in the fields; let him know and
pick out the animals; let him bring them back to the
house; let him pasture them on all sides.
" 5. The cowherd seeks for the cows and brings them




CHAP. II.]


AGRICULTURE, ETC.


39


back to the house; he pastures them on all sides. May
he come home safe.
"8. O cowherd! pasture the cows in all directions,
and bring them back. Pasture them in various parts of
the earth, and then bring them back " (X, I9).
There are allusions in the preceding passages to
robbers who infested outlying tracts of the country, probably to the cattle-lifters and thieves among the aboriginal races, who hung around the Aryan villages and
clearances, and lived by intercepting peaceful industry.
We shall speak of them further on.
Allusions to trade and commerce must be necessarily
rare in a collection of hymns to gods; but, nevertheless,
we are here and there surprised by passages which throw
a curious light on the manners of the times. Loans and
usury were well understood in those days, and Rishis
(who, we should always remember, were worldly men in
those days, and not hermits or anchorites), occasionally
lament their state of indebtedness with the simplicity of
primitive times. In one remarkable verse again, we are
reminded of the finality of a sale-transaction, when once
the sale is completed:" One sells a large quantity for a small price, and then
goes to the purchaser and denies the sale, and asks for
a higher price. But he cannot exceed the price once
fixed on the plea that he has given a large quantity.
Whether the price was adequate or inadequate, the price
fixed at the time of sale must hold good " (IV, 24, 9).
A passage like the above would indicate the existence of current money for the purposes of buying and
selling. We have instances of Rishis acknowledging
the gift of a hundred pieces of gold (V, 27, 2, &c.), and
there can be no doubt, pieces of gold of a certain fixed
value were used as money as indicated in these passages.
At the same time it must be admitted that there is no
distinct allusion to coined money in the Rig Veda. The
word Nishka (I, 126, 2, &c.) is often used in the Rig




40


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


Veda in a dubious sense. In some passages it means
money, in others it means a golden ornament for the
neck. The two interpretations are not necessarily contradictory, for in India pieces of gold used as money
have habitually been used as ornaments for the neck
since times immemorial.
On the other hand, there are distinct references to
voyages by sea, though of course the words used may
mean rivers only, and not the sea. The shipwreck of
Bhujyu, and his deliverance by the gods Asvins, is constantly alluded to (I, 16, 3, &c.), and in I, 25, 7, the
god Varuna is said to know the paths of the birds
through the sky, and the paths of the ships over the sea.
In IV, 55, 6, the poet refers to the " people who desiring
to acquire wealth pray to the sea before undertaking a
voyage "; while in VII, 88, 3, Vasishtha says:'When Varuna and I went on a boat and took her
out to sea, I lived in the boat floating on the water and
was happy in it, rocking gracefully (on the waves)."
While there are these and other distinct allusions to
voyage, there is absolutely no prohibition against it in
the Rig Veda.




CHAPTER III.


FOOD, CLOTHING, AND THE ARTS OF PEACE.
BARLEY and wheat seem to have been the principal
produce of the field, and the principal articles of food.
The names of grain found in the Rig Veda are somewhat misleading, as they have come to bear a different
signification in modern days from what they had in the
ancient times. Thus the word Yava, which in modern
Sanscrit implies barley only, was used in the Veda to
imply food-grains generally, including wheat and barley.
And the word Dhdna, which, in Bengal at least, means
paddy or rice, implies in the Rig Veda fried barley, which
was used as food and offered to the gods. There is no
allusion to vrthi (rice) in the Rig Veda.
We also find mention of various kinds of cakes prepared from these grains and used as food and offered to
the gods. Pakti (from pach, to cook, or to prepare) means
prepared cakes, and various other terms like Puroddsa
and Apzipa and Karambhza, are also used (III, 52, I and 2;
IV, 24, 7, &c.)
It may be easily imagined that animal food was largely
used by the early Hindus of the Punjab. We have
frequent allusions to the sacrifice and to the cooking
of cows, buffaloes, and bulls (I, 6I, 12; II, 7, 5; V, 29,
7 and 8; VI, 7, I I; VI, 16, 47; VI, 28,4; X, 27, 2;
X, 28, 3, &c.)
In X, 89, I4, there is mention of a slaughter-house
where cows were killed, and in X, 9I, 14, there is an
allusion to the sacrifice of horses, bulls, and rams. The
41




42


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


allusions to the sacrifice of the horse are extremely
rare, showing that, although the custom was introduced
into India by the early Aryans from their primitive home,
the flesh of horse as an article of food soon fell into
disuse.  In later times the sacrifice of the horse or
the Asvamedha was performed on rare occasions with
great pomp and circumstance by powerful kings, after
they had subdued their neighbours and assumed a title
answering to the Imperial title in Europe. There can be
no doubt this great imperial rite rose out of the simple
sacrifice of the horse practised in primitive times when
the horse was still an article of food. The pomp and
ceremony, as well as certain revolting rites connected
with the horse-sacrifice of later days, were unknown in
Vedic times.
A fairly complete account of the sacrifice of the horse,
such as it prevailed in the Vedic times, is to be found in
hymn I62 of the first Mandala of the Rig Veda. The
body of the horse was marked with a cane and was then
dissected along the lines marked, and the ribs and the
different limbs were separated. The meat was roasted
and boiled, while the soul of the horse was supposed to
go to the gods.
Who could have believed that this simple horse-sacrifice of the Rig Veda, the carving and the roasting and
the boiling of the horse for worship and for the purposes
of food, would have developed into the imperial ceremony
of Asvamedha in later times? But many a practice
which we see in its simple and natural aspect in the
Veda has developed into pompous ceremonials in later
days; and many a simple Vedic allegory relating to the
striking phenomena of Nature has also developed into
elaborate Puranic legends. Herein constitutes the true
value of the Veda; we trace in it Hindu rites and ceremonials and the Hindu religion itself to their simple
natural beginnings.
The fermented juice of the plant called Soma appears




CHAP. III.]


ARTS OF PEACE.


43


to have been the only intoxicating drink used in the
Vedic times. So much were the ancient Aryans addicted
to this drink that Soma was soon worshipped as a deity
both in India and in Iran (under the name H/aoma in the
latter country), and we find one entire Mandala or Book
of the Rig Veda dedicated to this deity.  The IndoAryans appear to have been more addicted to fermented
and intoxicating Soma than their peaceful brethren of
Iran; and many are the allusions in the Zendavesta to
the hated customs of their Indian brethren. Some antiquarians think that this was one great reason of those
dissensions which broke out among the southern Aryans,
and which led to the final separation of the Iranians from
the Hindus.
The process by which the Soma-juice was prepared
has been fully described in IX, 66, and in other hymns.
We will translate a few verses from this hymn:"7. 0 Soma! you have been crushed; you flow as a
stream to Indra, scattering joy on all sides; you bestow
immortal food.
" 8. Seven women stir thee with their fingers, blending
their voices in a song to thee; you remind the sacrificer
of his duties at the sacrifice.
"9. You mix with water with a pleasing sound; and
the fingers stir you over a woollen strainer, and filter
you. Your particles are thrown up then, and a sound
arises from the woollen strainer.
( 11. The woollen strainer is placed on a vessel, and the
fingers repeatedly stir the Soma, which sends down a
sweet stream into the vessel.
" I3. 0 Soma! you are then mixed with milk. Water
runs towards thee with a pleasing sound."
From this description it would appear that the juice of
Soma used to be taken-much as Siddhi is taken in our
times-mixed with milk. The poets of the Rig Veda
go into ecstasy over the virtues and the exhilarating
powers of the Soma; and some of their descriptions have




44


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


developed into strange Puranic legends in subsequent
times. One or two verses will illustrate this:
" O Soma! there is nothing so bright as thou. When
poured out, thou welcomest all the gods to bestow on
them immortality " (IX, Io8, 3).
"The praiseworthy Soma has from ancient times been
the drink of the gods; he was milked from the hidden
recesses of the sky; he was created for Indra and was
extolled" (IX, I io, 8).
"In that realm where there is perennial light, and
where the Heaven is placed, O Soma, lead me to that
deathless and immortal realm! Flow thou for Indra"
(IX, I 3, 7).
Such passages as these are to be found throughout the
ninth book of the Rig Veda. Who could have guessed
that the strange Puranic legends of the churning of the
ocean and the discovery of the Amrita or immortal drink
would have arisen from these simple Vedic descriptions of
Soma! The sky in the Veda is considered watery, and
is often confused with the sea, and the milking of Soma
from the sky is translated in the Puranas into the churning of the ocean for the Amrita!
It would appear from many passages in the Rig Veda
that many arts were carried to a high state of excellence.
Weaving was well known of course, and deft female
fingers wove the warp and the woof in ancient times
as in modern days (II, 3, 6; II, 38, 4, &c.). In one
curious passage (VI, 9, 2), the Rishi laments his ignorance of the mysteries of religious rites by saying: "I
know not the warp and I know not the woof " of religious rites; and in another place (X, 26, 6), the weaving and bleaching of sheep's wool are attributed to the
god Pushan, who, as we have already seen, is the god of
shepherds.
Every Aryan village had probably its barber then as
now; and the clearances of forests by fire are in one
passage somewhat mysteriously described as the shaving




CHAP. III.]


ARTS OF PEACE.


45


of the earth (I, 164, 44).  Carpentry was also well
known, and we have frequent allusions to the construction of carts and chariots (III, 53, I9; IV, 2, 14; IV,
I6, 20, &c.)  The use of iron, of gold, and of other
metals was well known; in V, 9, 5, we have a reference
to the work of an ironsmith, and in VI, 3, 4, we are told
of goldsmiths melting gold.
But we get a better idea of working in metals in the
Vedic times from the description of various gold ornaments and iron utensils and implements of war which is
to be found throughout the Rig Veda. The allusions are
numerous, and we can therefore only make a selection
here which will convey a fair idea of the manufactures of
those days. We are told of armours used in war in
I, I40, Io; in II, 39, 4; in IV, 53, 2; and in various other
places. In II, 34, 3, we have reference to golden helmets,
and in IV, 34, 9, there is mention of armour for the
shoulders or arms, probably a shield. The lightning has
been compared to a javelin (rishti) in V, 52, 6, and in
V. 54, I I; and also to a sword or battle-axe (bdshi), and
to bows and arrows and quivers in V, 57, 2.   Three
thousand mailed warriors are spoken of in VI, 27, 6;
feathered, sharp-pointed, shining shafts are described in
VI, 46, I; and sharp-edged swords are spoken of in
VI, 47, IO. And in verses 26 and 29 of the same hymn
we are told of war-chariots and kettle-drums. And lastly,
in the 75th hymn of the sixth Mandala, we have a spirited
account of the arms and accoutrements of war which we
will translate for our readers further on.
In IV, 2, 8, we have a reference to horses with golden
caparisons, and in IV, 37, 4, V, 19, 3, and many other
places we have allusions to the Nis/zka, a golden ornament worn in the neck. In V, 53, 4, the lighting ornaments of the Maruts are compared with jewelry (Anji),
with necklaces (Srak), with golden breastplates (Rukma),
and with bracelets and anklets (Khadi). In V, 54, II,
we are again told of anklets for the feet, and golden




46


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


breastplates for the breast, and of golden crowns (Siprdh
hiranmayih) for the head.
Thus it will be seen that a very considerable advance
was made in the manufacture of arms, weapons, and
various kinds of ornaments. We have references also
to skin vessels (VI, 48, I8), and iron vessels (V, 30, 15),
and in several places to iron towns, which must be taken
in a figurative sense as signifying strong forts (VII, 3, 7;
VII, 15, I4; VII, 95, I, &c.) We have also references
to a hundred stone-built towns in IV, 30, 20, and other
places.
There can be no doubt that in the various rocky and
mountainous tracts where the early Hindus established
their colonies, they soon learnt to utilise stone as a
durable and cheap material for architecture; and there
can be no difficulty in believing that in numerous Hindu
towns many structures and surrounding walls were of
stone.  That the art of building was carried to some
degree of excellence appears from many allusions to
mansions with thousand pillars (II, 41, 5; V, 62, 6, &c.);
but at the same time it must be admitted that there
is no distinct allusion in the Rig Veda to the art of
sculpture properly so-called. The researches of antiquarians have failed to discover in any part of India
traces of sculptured stone of a time long previous to the
Buddhist era; and in the numerous great museums of
Europe, which are filled with the ancient stone monuments of Egypt and Babylon, India is not represented
by any such monuments dating much before the Buddhist
Period.
Most of the animals domesticated at the present day
were domesticated in India in the remote period of the
Rig Veda. We have spirited accounts of the war-horse
in several places (VI, 46, 13 and 14, &c.)
Indeed, these war-horses were so highly prized by the
early Aryans in their battles against the aborigines, that
the horse, under the name of Dadhikrd, soon became an




CHAP. III.]      ARTS OF PEACE.                 47
object of worship; and in IV, 38, we have a spirited
account of the respect paid to this god-like being.
In IV, 4, i, we have a reference to a king riding with
his ministers on an elephant. Among other domesticated
animals, we have frequent mention of cows, goats, sheep,
buffaloes, and dogs, which last were used in carrying
burdens.




CHAPTER IV.


WARS AND DISSENSIONS.
As has been stated before, the early Hindus wrested
the fertile tracts on the banks of the Indus and its tributaries from the primitive races of the Punjab; but the
aborigines did not give up their birthright without a
struggle. Retreating before the more civilised organisation and valour of the Hindus in the open field, they still
hung round in fastnesses and forests near every Hindu
settlement and village, harassed them in their communications, waylaid and robbed them at every opportunity,
stole their cattle, and often attacked them in considerable
force. Well might they exclaim with the Gaels of Scotland,
who had been similarly dispossessed of their fertile soil
by the conquering Saxons, and had similarly retreated to
barren fastnesses:"These fertile plains, that softened vale,
Were once the birthright of the Gael;
The stranger came with iron hand,
And from our fathers reft the land.
Where dwell we now? See rudely swell
Crag over crag, and fell o'er fell.
Pent in this fortress of the North,
Think'st thou we will not sally forth,
To spoil the spoiler as we may,
And from the robber rend the prey?
Ay, by my soul! While on yon plain
The Saxon rears one shock of grain,
While, of ten thousand herds, there strays
But one along yon river's maze,The Gael, of plain and river heir,
Shall, with strong hand, redeem his share!"
48




CHAP. IV.]


WARS.


49


Unfortunately, however, they had no poet to hand down
to us their view of the case, and the only account we have
of this long war of centuries is from the conquering Hindus.
It is needless to say that the conquerors viewed the aborigines with the contempt and hatred which have marked
the conduct of all conquering nations, whether on the banks
of the Indus seventeen hundred years before Christ, or
on the banks of the Mississippi seventeen hundred years
after Christ! History repeats itself; and the Punjab was
cleared of its non-Aryan aborigines just as the United
States of America have, in modern times, been cleared of
the many powerful and brave Indian races who lived and
hunted and ruled within its primeval forests.
Of these wars with the aborigines we have frequent
allusions in the Rig Veda; and a translation of some of
these passages will give a better idea of these interminable hostilities than any account that we can give of them.
The allusions are so numerous that our only difficulty is
in making a selection.
"Indra, who is invoked by many, and is accompanied
by his fleet companions, has destroyed by his thunderbolt the Dasyus and Simyus who dwelt on earth, and
then he distributed the fields to his white-complexioned
friends (Aryans). The thunderer makes the sun shine
and the rain to fall" (I, IOO, I8).  "Indra with his
weapon, the thunderbolt, and in his vigour, destroyed
the towns of the Dasyus, and wandered at his will. O
holder of the thunderbolt! be thou cognisant of our
hymns, and cast thy weapon against the Dasyu, and
increase the vigour and the fame of the Arya" (I,
I03, 3).
In the very next hymn, we come across a curious allusion to aboriginal robbers who dwelt on the banks of four
small streams called the Sifa, the Anjasi, the Kulisi, and
the Virapatni, whose courses cannot now be determined.
These robbers issued from their fastnesses and harassed
the civilised Aryan villages, much in the same way as
VOL. I.                                  D




50


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


a true descendant of those aborigines, the Bhil Tantia in
our own times, harassed the peaceful villages of Central
India! We translate the two verses below:" Kuyava gets scent of the wealth of others and appropriates it. He lives in water and pollutes it. His two
wives bathe in the stream; may they be drowned in the
depths of the Sifa river!
" Ayu lives in water in a secret fastness. He flourishes
amidst the rise of waters. The rivers Anjasi, Kulisi, and
Virapatni protect him with their waters " (I, 104, 3 and 4).
We proceed with some more extracts:"Indra protects his Ady'a worshipper in wars. He
who protects him on countless occasions, protects him
in all wars. He subdues the people who do not perform
sacrifices for the benefit of men (Aryans).  He flays the
enemy of his black skin and kills him and reduces him to
ashes. He burns down all who do injury, and all who
are cruel" (I, 130, 8\
" O destroyer of foes! collect together the heads of
these marauding troops, and crush them with thy wide
foot! Thy foot is wide!
"0   Indra! destroy the power of these marauding
troops! Throw   them into the vile pit-the vast and
vile pit!
"O Indra! thou hast destroyed three times fifty such
troops!  People extol this thy deed; but it is nothing
compared to thy prowess!
"0 Indra! destroy the Pishachis, who are reddish in
appearance and utter fearful yells.  Destroy all these
Rakshasas"   (I, 1 33, 2-5).
"0 Indra! the poet prays to thee for pleasant food.
Thou hast made the earth the bed (burial-ground) of the
Dasas. Indra has beautified the three regions with his
gifts; he has slayed Kuyavadcza for King Daryoni.
"0   Indra! Rishis still extol that ancient deed of
* Pishachis and Rakshasas may mean imaginary demons. We would
rather think, however, that they here refer to the aborigines.




CHAP. IV.]


WARS.


I


prowess! Thou hast destroyed many marauders to put an
end to war; thou hast stormed the towns of enemies who
worship no gods; and thou hast bent the weapons of
foes who worship no gods " (T, I74, 7 and 8).
"0 Asvins! destroy those who are yelling hideously
like dogs, and are coming to destroy us! Slay those who
wish to fight with us! You know the way to destroy
them.   Let each word of those who extol you bring
wealth in return.  0 you truthful ones! accept our
prayers " (I, I82, 4).
"The far-famed and graceful Indra is gracious to men
(Aryans)! The destroying and powerful Indra has cast
down the head of the malignant Ddsa!
"Indra, who slayed Vritra and stormed towns, has
destroyed the troops of the black Dasas, and has made
the earth and the water for Manu.* May he fulfil the
wishes of the sacrificer" (II, 20, 6 and 7).
We know how the Spaniards, the conquerors of America,
owed their successes to a very great extent to their horses,
animals previously unknown to the American aborigines,
and therefore regarded with a strange terror. It would
seem that the war-horses of the early Indo-Aryans inspired the aborigines of India with a similar fear. The
following passages, translated from a hymn to Dadhikrd,
or the deified war-horse, will therefore be regarded with
interest:"As people shout and raise a cry after a thief who has
purloined a garment, even so the enemies yell and shout
at the sight of Dadhikra! As birds make a noise at the
sight of the hungry hawk on its descent, even so the
enemies yell and shout at the sight of Dadhikra careering in quest of plunder of food and cattle!
"Enemies fear Dadhikra, who is radiant and destroying as a thunderbolt. When he beats back a thousand
* Here, as elsewhere, Manu is spoken of as the ancestor of the Aryan
man. In many places he is spoken of as the originator of cultivation and
of the worship of fire which distinguished the Aryans.




VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


men around him, he becomes excited and uncontrollable
in his strength " (IV, 38, 5 and 8).
It would seem from numerous passages in the Rig
Veda that Kutsa was a powerful warrior and a mighty
destroyer of the black aborigines. We are told in hymn
I6 of the fourth Mandala, that Indra slew the "Dasyu,
who is wily and impious," to bestow wealth on Kutsa
(verse 9); that he helped Kutsa and came to his house
with the common object of slaying the Dasyu (verse io);
and that he slew fifty thousand "black-complexioned
enemies " in battle (verse I3). In IV, 28, 4, we are told
that Indra has made the Dazsyus devoid of all virtues,
and the object of hatred of all men; and in IV, 30, 15,
we learn that Indra destroyed five hundred and a thousand Dcsas.
We have similar allusions to the subjugation and
destruction of Dasyus or Ddsas in V, 70, 3; VI, 18, 3;
and VI, 25, 2; while there is a curious reference to an
unknown region inhabited by the Dasyus in VI, 47, 20,
which deserves translation:
"0 ye gods! We have travelled and lost our way,
and come to a region where cattle do not pasture. The
extensive region gives shelter to Dasyus only.  0
Brihaspati! lead us in our search for cattle. 0 Indra!
show the way to your worshippers who have lost their
way."
It will be seen that the Aryan poets are sufficiently
uncomplimentary in speaking of the shouts and yells
of the aboriginal barbarians. The civilised conquerors
could scarcely imagine that these yells could form a
language, and have therefore in some places described
the barbarians as without a language (V, 29, Io, &c.)
We have spoken before of Kuyava and Ayu, two
aboriginal robbers who dwelt in fastnesses surrounded
by rivers, and harassed the Aryan villages. We have
frequent allusions to another powerful aboriginal leader
who is called Krishna, probably because of his black




CHAP. IV.]


WARS.


53


complexion. One of the passages relating to him deserves
translation:"The fleet Krishna lived on the banks of the Ausumati
river with ten thousand troops. Indra of his own wisdom
became cognisant of this loud-yelling chief. He destroyed
the marauding host for the benefit of men (Aryans).
"Indra said: 'I have seen the fleet Krishna. He is
lurking in the hidden region near the Ausumati, like the
sun in a cloud. O Maruts! I desire you to engage in
fight, and to destroy him.'
"The fleet Krishna then appeared shining on the
banks of the Ausumati. Indra took Brihaspati as his
ally, and destroyed the fleet and godless army " (VIII, 96,
I3-15).
Not only have the aborigines been described as fond
of yelling and devoid of a language, but they are in other
places considered as scarcely human. We are told in
one place:
"We are surrounded on all sides by Dasyz tribes.
They do not perform sacrifices; they do not believe in
anything; their rites are different; they are not men!
O destroyer of foes! kill them. Destroy the Dasa race!"
(X, 22, 8).
In X, 49, Indra proclaims that he has deprived the
Dasyu race of the name of Arya (verse 3); that he has
destroyed Navavastva and Brihadratha of the Dasa race
(verse 6); that he cuts the Dasas in twain,-" it is for
this fate that they have been born!" (verse 7).
Such were the aborigines with whom the early Hindus
carried on an interminable war, and such was the fate
to which they consigned their less civilised neighbours,
the primeval owners of the Indian soil! It is abundantly
evident that no love was lost between the conquerors and
the conquered. It was by ceaseless fighting that the
conquerors protected themselves in their newly-conquered
country, gradually extended the limits of cultivation, built
new villages, threw out new colonies in primeval jungles,




54


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


and spread the light of civilisation and the fame of their
prowess around.  They hated the despised barbarians
with a genuine hatred, killed numbers of them when
they could, thinned their ranks with their horses, called
them yelling hounds and men without a tongue and
brutes below the rank of men, and almost believed they
were born to be slain,-" it is for this fate that they
have been born!" On the other hand, the stubborn
barbarians had their revenge too. Retreating before the
more civilised valour of the Hindus, they hung about in
every fastness and every bend of a river, they waylaid
and robbed travellers, harassed villages, killed or stole
cattle, and sometimes fell on the Hindus in great
numbers. With that dogged tenacity which is peculiar
to barbarians they disputed every inch of ground as
they retreated, they interrupted the religious rites of the
conquerors, despised their gods, and plundered their
wealth. But in spite of every resistance the colonies of
the more civilised races extended in every direction, the
area of civilisation widened, jungles and wastes were
brought under cultivation and dotted with villages and
royal towns, and the kingdoms of the early Hindus extended over the whole of the Punjab. The barbarians
were either exterminated, or retreated before the everadvancing line of Aryan civilisation into those hills and
fastnesses which their children still inhabit.
It may be imagined, however, that some among the
weaker barbarians preferred abject subjection to extermination or exile. We find traces accordingly in the
Rig Veda of Dasyus who at last owned the domination
of the more powerful race, and who adopted their civilisation and their language. These, then, were the first
Hinduised aborigines of India.
Our extracts on the subject of the wars of the Aryans with
the aborigines have been numerous. We will now quote
one or two passages to show that the Aryan conquerors
were not always at peace among themselves! Sudas was




CHAP. IV.]


WARS.


55


an Aryan king and conqueror, and we are frequently told
that various Aryan tribes and kings combined against
him, and he was victorious over them all. The allusions
to these internecine wars among Aryan races, and to the
particular tribes who fought against Sudas, are historically
among the most important passages in the Rig Veda.
"8. The wily foes planned destruction, and broke
down the embankment of the Adina (to cause an inundation). But Sudas filled the earth with his prowess, and
Kavi, the son of Chayamana, fell like a victim.
"9. For the waters of the river flowed through their
old channel and did not take a new course; and Sudas'
horse marched over the country. Indra placed the hostile
and talkative men and their children under Sudas.
" I. Sudas earned glory by killing twenty-one men
of both regions. As the young priest cuts the kusa grass
in the house of sacrifice, even so Sudas cut his enemies.
The hero Indra sent the Maruts for his succour.
" 14. The sixty-six thousand six-hundred and sixtysix warriors of Anu and Druhya, who had desired for
cattle, and were hostile to Sudas, were laid low. These
deeds proclaim the glory of Indra!
" 7. It was Indra who enabled the poor Sudas to
achieve these deeds. Indra enabled the goat to kill the
strong lion.  Indra felled the sacrificial post with a
needle. He bestowed all the wealth on Sudas " (VII, I8).
The poet Tritsu or Vasislhtha, who sang these deeds of
Sudas' glory, was not unrewarded for his immortal verse.
For in verses 22 and 23, he acknowledges with gratitude
that the valiant Sudas rewarded him with two hundred
cows and two chariots and four horses with gold trappings!
We quote below another hymn relating to Sudas.
' I. O Indra and Varuna! Your worshippers, relying
on your help and seeking to win cattle, have marched
eastwards with their weapons. Crush, Indra and Varuna,
your enemies, whether Dasas or Aryas, and defend Sudas
with your protection.




56


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


" 2. Where men raise their banners and meet in battle,
where nothing seems to favour us, where the men look
up to the sky and tremble, then, O Indra and Varuna!
help us and speak to us words of comfort.
"3. 0 Indra and Varuna! the ends of the earth seem
to be lost, and the noise ascends to the skies! The
troops of the enemy are approaching. O Indra and
Varuna! who ever listen to prayers, come near us with
your protection.
"4. 0 Indra and Varuna! you pierced the yet unassailed Bheda, and saved Sudas. You listened to the
prayers of the Tritsus. Their priestly vocation bore fruit
in the hour of battle.
" 5. 0 Indra and Varuna! the weapons of the enemy
assail me in all directions, the foes assail me among
marauding men. You are the owners of both kinds of
wealth! Save us in the day of battle.
" 6. Both parties invoked Indra and Varuna for wealth
at the time of war. But in this battle you protected
Sudas with the Tritsus who were attacked by ten kings.
"7. 0 Indra and Varuna! the ten kings who did not
perform sacrifices were unable, though combined, to beat
Sudas."
"8. You bestowed vigour, Indra and Varuna, to
Sudas, when surrounded by ten chiefs; when the whiterobed Tritsus, wearing braided hair, worshipped you with
oblations and hymns " (VII, 83).
Another remarkable hymn gives an account of the
weapons used in war in those days. We make some
extracts:" I. When the battle is nigh, and the warrior marches
in his armour, he appears like the cloud! Warrior, let
not thy person be pierced; be victorious; let thy armour
protect you!
"2. We will win cattle with the bow, we will win
with the bow; we will conquer the fierce and proud
enemy with the bow! May the bow foil the desires of




CHAP. IV.]


VWARS.


57


the enemy! We will spread our conquests on all sides
with the bow!
"3. The string of the bow when pulled approaches
the ear of the archer, making way in battle. It whispers
words of consolation to him, and with sound it clasps the
arrow, even as a loving wife clasps her husband.
" 5. The quiver is like the parent of many arrows; the
many arrows are like its children. It makes a sound,
and hangs on the back of the warrior, and furnishes
arrows in battle, and conquers the enemy.
"6. The expert charioteer stands on his chariot and
drives his horses wheresoever he will. The reins restrain
the horses from behind. Sing of their glory!
"7. The horses raise the dust with their hoofs, and
career over the field with the chariots, with loud neighings.
They do not retreat, but trample the marauding enemies
under their feet.
" I. The arrow is feathered; the deer (horn) is its
teeth. Well pulled and sent by the cow-leather-string,
it falls on the enemy. Wherever men stand together or
are separate, there the shafts reap advantage.
( 14. The leather guard protects the arm from the
abrasion of the bow-string, and coils round the arm like
a snake in its convolutions. It knows its work, and is
efficient, and protects the warrior in every way.
"15. We extol the arrow which is poisoned, whose
face is of iron; * whose stem is of Parjanya " (VI, 75).
Before concluding our extracts, we will make one more
from a hymn about the coronation of victorious kings.
"I. 0 king! I place you in the station of a king.
Be the lord of this country! Be immovable and fixed!
Let all the subjects cherish thee! Let not your kingdom
be destroyed!
"2. Remain here fixed as the mountain; do not be
* This passage shows that the arrow-heads were of iron. Parjanya is
the god of rains. Stems of Parjanya probably mean stems of reed growing in
the rains. Verse I 1 shows that arrow-heads were sometimes of deer-horn.




VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


dethroned! Remain fixed like Indra, and support the
kingdom!
"3. Indra has received the sacrificial offerings, and
supports the newly-coronated king! Soma blesses him.
"4. The sky is fixed, the earth is fixed, the mountains
are fixed, this universe is fixed. He also is fixed as king
among his subjects!
" 5. May King Varuna make you immovable! May
the good Brihaspati make you immovable; may Indra
and Agni support you and make you immovable.
" 6. See, I mix these immortal offerings with the
immortal Soma-juice. Indra has brought your subjects
under your rule, and made them willing to pay you
revenue!" (X, 73).
These extracts are enough. We have elsewhere shown
that the warriors used not only armour and helmets, but
also protecting armour for the shoulder, probably shields.
They used javelins and battle-axes, and sharp-edged
swords, beside bows and arrows. All the weapons of
war known elsewhere in ancient times were known in
India four thousand years ago. Drums assembled men
in battle, banners led them on in compact masses, and
the use of war-horses and chariots was well known.
Tame elephants were in use too, and we have allusions
to kings riding on richly-caparisoned elephants with their
ministers (IV, 4, I). But it does not appear that elephants
were regularly used in war in the Vedic Period, as they
were in the third and fourth centuries before Christ when
the Greeks came to India.
For the rest, it was a turbulent time when the Vedic
warriors lived and fought. They had not only to wage
an interminable war against the aborigines, but the
Hindu States were divided among themselves, and a
powerful leader was often bent on annexing his neighbour's state. Rishis engaged in sacrifices asked for
prowess to conquer the foes, or prayed to the gods for
sons who would win victory in battles. Every able-bodied




CHAP. IV.]


WARS.


59


man was a warrior, and was ever prepared to defend his
home and his fields and his cattle with his strong right
arm. Every Hindu colony or tribe, while attentive to the
worship of the gods and to the cultivation of the various
arts of peace, was at the same time alive to the fact that
its national existence depended on a constant preparedness for war. And the great conglomeration of Hindu
tribes, which spread from the banks of the Indus to the
banks of the Sarasvati, consisted of hardy, brave, and
warlike peoples, who maintained their footing in the land,
and their independence and national existence by constant
struggles, and a determination to win or die.
It is sad to contemplate this state of things. But
where is the country in which, in ancient times, tribes
and nations had not to maintain a ceaseless war for their
aggrandisement, or even for their very existence? And
even in modern times, during the two thousand years
which have elapsed since Gautama Buddha and Jesus
Christ preached their messages of peace, where shall we
seek for the tribe or nation which could hope to reap the
results of its peaceful industry without a constant struggle
against its neighbours? With the exception of a few
countries advantageously situated, all the nations of
Europe are armed to the teeth; all the individuals, by
millions, of great kingdoms and empires, are eternally
prepared for war, ready on a week's notice to leave their
homes and occupations and march to the frontier!
Civilisation has done much for the cause of humanity;
but civilisation has not converted the sword into the
scythe, or enabled man to reap the results of his peaceful industry without a struggle to the death against his
neighbour.




CHAPTER V.


SOCIAL LIFE.
IT was by such continuous wars against the aborigines of
the soil that the Aryans at last conquered the whole of
the Punjab from the Indus to the Sarasvati, and from the
mountains probably to the sea.
As might be expected, we have frequent allusions to
the Indus and its five tributaries. Hymn 75 of the tenth
Mandala is a remarkable instance, and we will give our
readers a translation of the entire hymn:" I. O ye streams! The bard celebrates your excellent
prowess in the house of the worshipper. They flow
in three systems, seven streams in each system. The
prowess of the Indus is superior to that of all others.
"2. 0 Indus! when you ran towards lands rich in
food, Varuna opened out the way for you. You flow over
a spacious path on the land. You shine above all flowing
rivers.
" 3. The mighty sound of the Indus ascends above the
earth to the sky! She flows with mighty force and in
radiant form. Her mighty sound is heard as if rains are
descending from the clouds with great noise. The Indus
comes roaring like a bull.
"4. As cows bring milk to their calves, even thus, O
Indus, the other streams come sounding to you with their
waters! As a king marches with his forces to battle,
even thus you march in front with two systems of rivers
flowing by your side! *
* i.e., the tributaries coming from Cabul in the west, and the tributaries
flowing through the Punjab in the east, as named in the two following verses.
6o




CHAP. V.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


"5. 0 Ganga! 0 Yamuna and Sarasvati and Sutudri
(Sutlej) and Parushni (Ravi)! share this my praise among
you! 0 river combined with Asikni (Chinab)! O Vitasta
(Jhilam)! O Arjikiya (Beas), combined with Sushoma
(Indus)! hear my words.
"6. 0 Indus! first thou flowest united with Trishtama,
then with Susartu and Rasa and the Sveti. You unite
Krumu (Kurum river) and Gomati (Gomal river) with
Kubha (Cabul river) and Mehatnu. You proceed together
with these rivers.
" 7. The irresistible Indus proceeds straight, white and
dazzling in splendour! She is great, and her waters fill
all sides with mighty force. Of all the flowing rivers,
none is flowing like her! She is wild like a mare,
beautiful like a well-developed woman!
"8. The Indus is ever young and beautiful. She is
rich in horses, in chariots, and in garments; she is rich
in gold and is beauteously clad! She is rich in corn and
in wool and in straw, and has covered herself with sweet
flowers.
" 9. The Indus has fastened horses to her easy chariot,
and has brought food therein to us. The greatness of
the chariot is extolled as mighty; it is irresistible and
great and rich in its fame! "
The hymn is remarkable for its power and its beauty,
and remarkable also for the extensive vision of the poet
who, as Professor Max Miller says, takes in at one swoop
three great river-systems, those flowing from the northwest into the Indus, those joining it from the north-east,
and in the distance the Ganges and the Jumna with their
tributaries. "It shows the widest geographical horizon
of the Vedic poets, confined by the snowy mountains in
the north, the Indus and the range of the Suleiman mountains in the west, the Indus or the sea in the south, and
the valley of the Jumna and Ganges in the east. Beyond
that the world, though open, was unknown to the Vedic
poets."




62


VEDIC PERIOD.


[POOK I.


The rivers of the Punjab are sometimes spoken of
together as the " seven rivers," and it is explained in one
place (VII, 36, 6), that the seven rivers have the Indus
for their mother and the Sarasvati as the seventh. The
Indus and its five branches still water the primeval home
of the early Hindus, but the Sarasvati, which was the
most sacred of ancient rivers and was worshipped even
in that remote time as a goddess, has since ceased to flow.
Its bed is still visible near Kurukshetra and Thanesvar,
and these places are still considered sacred by the Hindus.
There is one somewhat curious passage in which the
Rishi Visvamitra, encumbered with the chariots and horses
and other rewards bestowed on him by King Sudas, finds
a difficulty in crossing the confluence of the Beas and
the Sutlej, and pours out an entire hymn (III, 33) to
appease the anger of the roaring flood! We have seen
that this Sudas was a mighty conqueror and subjugated
ten surrounding kings, and was the victor of great
battles which form the theme of some spirited hymns.
This mighty conqueror seems also to have been a patron
of learning and religion, and liberally rewarded the sages
of the houses of Visvamitra and Vasishtha alike.  As
a consequence, there was jealousy between these two
priestly houses to which we will allude further on.
While references to the rivers of the Punjab are thus
frequent, allusions to the Ganges and the Jumna are
rare. We have already translated a hymn in which both
those rivers are named.
The only other passage in the Rig Veda where the
Ganges is alluded to, is VI, 45, 31, where the high banks
of the Ganges are the subject of a simile. The famed
cattle in the pasture-fields along the banks of the Jumna
are alluded to in V, 52, 17.
Thus the land of the five rivers was the earliest home
of the Aryan settlers in India; and it would seem that
the settlers along the five rivers gradually formed themselves into five tribes or nations. The "five lands"




CHAP. V.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


63


(Panzcha-Kshiti) are alluded to in I, 7, 9; I, I76, 3; VI,
46, 7, and in other places. Similarly we read of the "five
cultivating tribes" (Pancha-Krishti) in II, 2, IO; IV, 38,
10; and other places, and we read of "five peoples"
(Pancha-Jacia) in VI, I, 4; VI, 51, II; VIII, 32, 22;
IX, 65, 23, and other places.
It was these "five tribes" of simple, bold, and enterprising Aryans, living by agriculture and by pasture on
the fertile banks of the Indus and its tributaries, which
have spread their civilisation from the Himalayas to Cape
Comorin.
We now turn to the interesting and pleasing subject of
the social and domestic manners and the home-life of these
five tribes of the Punjab. The first thing that strikes us
here is the absence of those unhealthy rules and restrictions, those marked distinctions between man and man
and between class and class, which form the most unpleasant feature of later Hindu society. We have already
seen that the sturdy Hindus of the Vedic times recognised
no restrictions against the use of beef, and that they refer
with pride to their merchants going to the sea. We have
seen too, that the Rishis did not form a separate and exclusive class, and did not pass their lives away from the world
in penance and contemplation. On the contrary, the
Rishis were practical men of the world who owned large
herds of cattle, cultivated fields, fought against the aboriginal enemies in times of war, and prayed to their gods
for wealth and cattle, for victory in wars, and for blessings
on their wives and children. Every father of a family was
in fact a Rishi on a small scale, and worshipped his gods
in his own house in his own humble fashion, and the
women of the family joined in the worship, and helped in
the performance of the ceremonies. Some among the
community were of course prominent in the composition
of hymns and the performance of great sacrifices; and
kings and rich men sent for them on great occasions,
and rewarded them handsomely. But even these great




64


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


composers-these great Rishis of the Rig Veda-did not
form an exclusive caste of their own. They were worldly
men, mixed and married with the people, shared property
with the people, fought the wars of the people, and were
of the people.
One martial Rishi for instance (in V, 23, 2) prays for a
son who will conquer enemies in war. Another (in VI,
20, I) prays for wealth and corn-fields and a son who will
destroy his foes. Another (in IX, 69, 8) prays for wealth
and gold, for horses and cows, for profuse harvests, and
excellent progeny. Another Rishi, with nafve simplicity,
says that his cattle are his wealth and his Indra! (VI,
28, 5.) Throughout the Rig Veda the Rishis are the
people. There is not the shadow of any evidence that the
Rishis or priests were a "caste" of their own, different
from the fighters and cultivators.*
This will be considered by impartial judges to be very
good evidence that the caste-system did not exist. It
proves a negative much more convincingly than many
positive facts can be proved. In a vast collection of
hymns, composed during six hundred years and more,
and replete with references to the habits and manners
and customs of the people,-replete with allusions to
agriculture and pasture and manufacture, to wars against
aborigines, to marriage and domestic rules, and the duties
and position of women, to religious observances and to
elementary astronomy as then known,-we have not one
single passage to show that the community was cut
up into hereditary " Castes." Is it possible to suppose
* The solitary mention of the four castes, in X, 90, 12, will not be considered an exception, or weaken our argument. The hymn itself was composed centuries after the time when the Rig Veda hymns were generally
composed, as is proved by its language and its ideas. It was composed
after the Rik, and the Saman and the Yajur Vedas had been separately
classified (verse 9), and after the idea of the sacrifice the Supreme Being
(unknown elsewhere in the Rig Veda) had found a place in the Hindu religion. It was composed, as Colebrooke states, after the rude versification
of the Rig Veda had given place to the more sonorous metre of a later age.
All scholars agree as to this hymn being comparatively modern.




CHAP. V.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


6;


that that wonderful system existed, and yet there is no
allusion to that fundamental principle of society in the
ten thousand verses of the Rig Veda? Is it possible to
find a single religious work of later times, of one-tenth
the dimensions of the Rig Veda, which is silent on that
system?
So far, then, we have proved a negative in the only
way in which a negative can be proved. But curiously
enough there is positive proof, and various passages in
the Rig Veda show, that the caste-system did not exist.
The very word "z varna, " which in later Sanscrit indicates
caste, is used in the Rig Veda to distinguish the Aryans
and the non-Aryans, and nowhere indicates separate sections in the Aryan community (III, 34, 9, &c.). The very
word IKs/atria, which in later Sanscrit means the military
caste, is used in the Veda simply as an adjective which
means strong, and is applied to gods (VII, 64, 2; VII,
89, I, &c.). The very word Vipra, which in later Sanscrit
means the priestly caste, is used in the Rig Veda merely
as an adjective which means wise, and which is applied to
gods (VIII, II, 6, &c.). And the very word BrtJ'/iana,
which in later Sanscrit means also the priestly caste, is
used in a hundred places in the Rig Veda to imply the
composers of hymns, and nothing else (VII, 103, 8, &c.).
We would gladly multiply evidence, but our limits
forbid.  But we cannot help producing one piece of
evidence. With that charming simplicity which is the
characteristic beauty of the Rig Veda, one Rishi says
pathetically of himself:"Behold, I am a composer of hymns, my father is a
physician, my mother grinds corn on stone. We are all
engaged in different occupations. As cows wander (in
various directions) in the pasture-fields for food, so
we (in various occupations) worship thee, O Soma! for
wealth. Flow thou for Indra!" (IX, 112, 3). Those
who suppose that the hereditary caste-system existed
in the Vedic times will find some difficulty in explaining
VOL. I.                                  E




66


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


passages like the above, where father, mother, and son
are described as physician, corn-grinder, and composer
of hymns!
Later asserters of the caste-system have sometimes
tried to explain these passages, and with the most wonderful results! Like most other Rishis of the Rig Veda
(who, we have seen before, constantly prayed for warlike
sons), Visvamitra was a warrior and a composer of hymns.
Later Hindus were shocked at this, and invented a
beautiful Puranic myth to explain how Visvamitra was
first a Kshatriya and then became a Brahman. Needless endeavour, for Visvamitra was neither a Kshatriya
nor a Brahman!      He was a Vedic Rishi, i.e., a warrior
and priest, long before the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas,
as such, were known! *
As we have seen, then, every father of a family was his
own priest, and his home was his temple. There is no
mention of idols in the Rig Veda, none of temples or
places of worship where the people were to congregate.
The sacred fire was lighted in the house of every householder, and he chanted the beautiful and simple hymns
which we now find collected in the Rig Veda. We have
a pleasing picture of women who assisted at these sacri* It gives us much pleasure to be able to cite here the authority of three
scholars who have devoted their lifetime to the study of the Veda, and who
form the Triumvirate of Vedic scholarship in Europe:"If then, with all the documents before us, we ask the question, does
caste, as we find it in Manu, and at the present day, form part of the most
ancient religious teaching of the Vedas? We can answer with a decided
'No.' "-Max Miiller, Chips from a German Workshop, vol. ii. (I867),
p. 307.
" There are no castes as yet, the people are still one united whole, and
bear but one name, that of Visas."-Weber, Indian Literature (translation), p. 38.
And lastly, Dr. Roth shows how in the Vedic Age the domestic priests
of petty kings were called Brahmans, and had not yet formed into a caste.
And the great scholar explains how in a later age,-that of the Mahabharata,-" powerful communities should arise among the domestic priests
of petty kings, and their families should attain to the highest importance in
every department of life, and should grow into a caste. — Quoted in Muir's
Sanscrit Texts, vol. i. (1872), p. 291.




CHAP. V.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


67


fices, who ordered the necessary things, prepared them with
pestle and mortar, extracted the Soma-juice, stirred it with
their figures, and strained it through a woollen strainer.
In numerous places we find mention of wives joining their
husbands, and performing the sacrifice together. They
offer the oblations together, and hope thereby to go to
heaven together (I, 131, 3; V, 43, 15, &c.). A few verses
from a pious hymn on this subject will no doubt interest
our readers.
"5. 0 ye gods! The married couple who prepare
oblations together, who purify the Soma-juice and mix it
with milk,
"6. May they obtain food for their eating, and come
united to the sacrifice. May they never have to go in
quest of food.
"7. They do not make vain promises of offerings to
the gods, nor withhold your praise. They worship you
with the best offerings.
" 8. Blest with youthful and adolescent offspring, they
acquire gold, and they both attain to a mature age.
" 9. The gods themselves covet the worship of such a
couple who are fond of sacrifices, and offer grateful food
to the gods. They embrace each other to continue their
race, and they worship their gods! " (VIII, 3I).
Still more grateful to us is the picture of cultured ladies
who were themselves Rishis, and composed hymns and
performed sacrifices like men. For there were no unhealthy restrictions against women in those days, no
attempt to keep them secluded or uneducated or debarred
from their legitimate place in society. There is mention
of veiled wives and brides, but no allusion to women being
kept in seclusion. On the contrary, we meet them everywhere in their legitimate spheres of action, taking a share
in sacrifices, and exercising their influence on society.
We cherish the picture of the cultured lady Visvavara,
which has been handed down to us through thousands of
years,-a pious lady who composed hymns, performed




68


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


sacrifices, and with true fervency invoked the god Agni
to regulate and keep within virtuous bounds the mutual
relations of married couples (V, 28, 3). We meet with
the names of other ladies also who were Rishis of the Rig
Veda.
In a society so simple as that of the Vedic times, the
relations of life were determined by the needs and requirements of individuals rather than by cast-iron rules
as in later days; and there was no religious obligation,
therefore, that every girl must be married. On the contrary, we find allusions to unmarried women who remained
in the homes of their fathers, and naturally claimed and
obtained a share of the paternal property (II, 17, 7).
On the other hand, we have frequent references to careful and industrious wives who superintended the arrangements of the house, and like the dawn roused and sent
every one in the house to his work in the morning (I,
124, 4), and who possessed those domestic virtues for
which Hindu wives have always been noted from the
earliest to the present times. Occasionally we have allusions to women who went astray (II, 29, I); to maidens
who had no brothers to watch over their morals; and
wives who were faithless to their husbands (IV, 5, 5;
X, 34, 4). And we are told of the wife of a ruined
gambler who becomes the object of other men's lust
(X, 34, 4).
It would seem that girls had some voice in the selection of their husband. Their selection was not always
happy, for "many a woman is attracted by the wealth of
him who seeks her. But the woman who is of gentle
nature and of graceful form selects, among many, her own
loved one as her husband" (X, 27, 12). We can almost
imagine we see the Svayamvara system of later times
foreshadowed in the above verse. There can be no doubt,
however, that fathers always exercised a wise control in
the selection of husbands for their daughters; and as at
the present day, fathers gave away their girls gracefully




CHAP. V.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


69


adorned and decked with golden ornaments (IX, 46, 2;
X, 39, I4).
The ceremony of marriage was an appropriate one, and
the promises which the bridegroom and bride made to
each other were suitable to the occasion. We will translate some verses from a hymn in the later portion of the
Rig Veda, in which we find a pleasing picture of the
ceremony. The first two among the following verses will
show that the unnatural custom of child-marriage was
unknown, and that girls were married after they had
attained their youth:" 2. O Visvavasu! (god of marriage), arise from this
place, for the marriage of this girl is over. We extol Visvavasu with hymns and prostrations. Go to some other
maiden who is still in her father's house and has attained
the signs of the age of marriage. She will be your share,
know of her.
"22. 0 Visvavasu! arise from this place. We worship thee, bending in adoration. Go to an unmarried
maiden whose person is well developed; make her a wife
and unite her to a husband.
"23. Let the paths by which our friends go in quest
of a maiden for marriage be easy and free of thorns. May
Aryaman and Bhaga lead us well. O gods! may the
husband and wife be well united.
"24. 0 maiden! the graceful sun had fastened thee
with ties (of maidenhood), we release thee now of those
ties. We place thee with thy husband in a place which is
the home of truth and the abode of righteous actions.
"25. We release this maiden from this place (her
father's house), but not from the other place (her husband's house). We unite her well with the other place.
O Indra! may she be fortunate and the mother of worthy
sons.
" 26. May Pushan lead thee by the hand from this place.
May the two Asvins lead thee in a chariot. Go to thy
(husband's) house and be the mistress of the house. Be




70


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


the mistress of all, and exercise thine authority over all in
that house.
"27. Let children be born unto thee, and blessings
attend thee here. Perform the duties of thy household
with care. Unite thy person with the person of this thy
husband; exercise thy authority in this thy house until
old age.
"40. First Soma accepts thee; then Gandharva accepts
thee; Agni is thy third lord; the son of man is the fourth
to accept thee.*
"41. Soma bestowed this maiden to Gandharva, Gandharva gave her to Agni, Agni has given her to me with
wealth and progeny.
"42. 0 bridegroom  and bride! do ye remain here
together; do not be separated. Enjoy food of various
kinds; remain in your own home, and enjoy happiness in
company of your children and grandchildren.
"43. (The bride and bridegroom say', May Prajapati
bestow on us children; may Aryaman keep us united till
old age. (Address to the bride), O bride! Enter with
auspicious signs the home of thy husband. Do good to our
male servants and our female servants, and to our cattle.
"44. Be thine eyes free from anger; minister to the
happiness of thy husband; do good to our cattle. May
thy mind be cheerful; and may thy beauty be bright. Be
the mother of heroic sons, and be devoted to the gods.
Do good to our male servants and our female servants,
and to our cattle.
"45. 0 Indra! make this woman fortunate and the
mother of worthy sons. Let ten sons be born of her, so
that there may be eleven men in the family with the
husband.
"46. (Address to the bride), May thou have influence
over thy father-in-law, and over thy mother-in-law, and be
as a queen over thy sister-in-law and brother-in-law.
* This and the following verse would show that the bride was offered to
the three gods before she was united to the bridegroom.




CHIAP. V.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


7 


"47. (The bridegroom and bride say), May all the gods
unite our hearts; may Matarisvan and Dhatri and the
goddess of speech unite us together" (X, 85).
Our extract has been somewhat lengthy, but our readers
will not regret it. The extract shows at once the appropriate nature of the ceremony that was performed, and the
position which the young bride occupied in the home and
the affections of her lord.
Polygamy was allowed among kings and the rich people
in Vedic times, as it was allowed in olden times in all
countries and among all nations. Domestic dissensions
were the natural result in such instances, and we have
hymns in the latter part of the Rig Veda in which wives
curse their fellow-wives (X, I45; X, I59). The evil
seems, however, to have grown in the latter part of the
Vedic Age, for there are scarcely any allusions to it in the
earlier hymns.
There are two curious verses which seem to lay down
the law of inheritance, and are therefore of peculiar interest. We give a translation below:" I. The father who has no son honours his son-in-law,
capable of begetting sons, and goes (i.e., leaves his property) to the son of his daughter.  The sonless father
trusts in his daughter's offspring, and lives content.
"2. A son does not give any of his father's property
to a sister. He gives her away to be the wife of a husband.
If a father and mother beget both son and daughter, then
one (i.e., son) engages himself in the acts and duties of
his father, while the other (daughter) receives honour"
(III, 31).
This is the first germ of the Hindu law of inheritance,
which makes the son, and not the daughter, the inheritor
of his father's property and religious duties, and which
allows the property to go to the daughter's son only in
the absence of male issue. We think we discover the
first germs of the Hindu law of adoption too in such
passages as the following:



72


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


"As a man who is not indebted gets much wealth, so
we too shall get the treasure that endures (i.e., a son).
O Agni! let us not have son begotten of another. Do
not follow the ways of the ignorant.
"A son begotten of another may yield us happiness,
but can never be regarded or accepted as one's own.
And verily he ultimately goes back to his own place.
Therefore, may a son be newly born unto us who
will bring us food and destroy our foes" (VII, 4, 7
and 8).
We have spoken in this chapter of marriage and inheritance; we will complete our account of domestic
customs by making some extracts with regard to funeral
rites. Yama in the Rig Veda is not the god of hell, but
the god of the heaven of the righteous, the god who
rewards the virtuous man after his death, in a happy
land. His two dogs, however, are objects to be avoided
or propitiated.
" 7. 0 thou deceased! proceed to the same place where
our forefathers have gone, by the same path which they
followed. The two kings, Yama and Varuna, are pleased
with the offerings; go and see them.
" 8. Go to that happy heaven and mix with the early
forefathers. Mix with Yama and with the fruits of thy
virtuous deeds. Leave sin behind, enter thy home.
" 9. 0 ye ghosts! leave this place, go away, move
away. For the forefathers have prepared a place for
the deceased.  That place is beautiful with day, with
sparkling waters and with light; Yama assigns this place
to the dead.
"1. O thou deceased! these two dogs have four
eyes each, and a strange colour. Go past them quickly.
Then proceed by the beautiful path to those wise forefathers, who spend their time in joy and happiness with
Yama" (X, I4).
These verses give us some idea of the belief in future
happiness as it prevailed among the Hindus of the Vedic




CHAP. V.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


73


Age. The rites of cremation and burial are alluded to
in the following passages:"0 fire! do not reduce this deceased into ashes; do
not give him pain. Do not mangle his skin or his person.
O fire! send him to the home of our fathers as soon as
his body is burnt in thy heat" (X, I6, I).
" Io. O thou deceased! go to the extended earth who
is as a mother; she is extensive and beautiful. May her
touch be soft as that of wool or of a female.  You
have performed sacrifices, may she save thee from unrighteousness.
"I(. O earth! rise up above him, do not give him
pain. Give him good things, give him consolation. As
a mother covers her child with the hem of her cloth, so
cover the deceased.
" 12. Let the earth, raised on him as a mound, lie
light. Let a thousand particles of dust rest on him.
Let them be to him as a house filled with butter, let
them form a shelter to him " (X, I8).
It remains only to allude to one more remarkable verse
of this hymn, which distinctly sanctions the marriage of
widows:"Rise up, woman, thou art lying by one whose life is
gone; come to the world of the living, away from thy
husband, and become the wife of him who holds thy
hand, and is willing to marry thee " (X, I8, 8).
The translation is based on Sayana's rendering of the
passage in the Taittirtya Aranyaka, and there can be little
doubt as to its correctness, because the word Didhishu
used in the passage has only one meaning in the Sanscrit
language, viz., the second husband of a woman. We
quote here with pleasure the following remarks with which
Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra winds up a paper on Funeral
Ceremony in Ancient India:-" That the remarriage of
widows in Vedic times was a national custom, can be
established by a variety of proofs and arguments; the
very fact of the Sanscrit language having, from ancient




74


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


times, such words as Didhishu, 'a man that has married
a widow,' Parapurva, 'a woman that has taken a second
husband,' Paunarbhava, 'a son of a woman by her second
husband,' are enough to establish it."
It is with pain and regret that we refer to another
passage, also belonging to this remarkable hymn, which
is perfectly harmless in the Rig Veda itself, but which
was altered and mistranslated in later times to sanction
the barbarous custom of Satz, or the burning of the
widow on the pyre of her husband. That most cruel of
all modern Hindu institutions finds no sanction in the
Rig Veda. There is a perfectly harmless passage (X,
18, 7), which refers to a procession of women at a funeral
ceremony. The passage may be thus translated:" May these women not suffer the pangs of widowhood.
May they who have good and desirable husbands, enter
their houses with collyrium and butter. Let these women,
without shedding tears, and without any sorrow, first
proceed to the house, wearing valuable ornaments."
There is not a word in the above relating to the
burning of widows. But a word in it Agre was altered
into Agize, and the text was then mistranslated and misapplied in Bengal to justify the modern custom of the
burning of widows.  In the words of Professor Max
Miiller, "This is, perhaps, the most flagrant instance of
what can be done by an unscrupulous priesthood. Here
have thousands of lives been sacrificed and a fanatical
rebellion been threatened on the authority of a passage
which was mangled, mistranslated, and misapplied."




CHAPTER VI.


VEDIC RELIGION.
THE religion of the Rig Veda is well known. It is preeminently the worship of Nature in its most imposing
and sublime aspects. The sky which bends over all, the
beautiful and blushing dawn which like a busy housewife
wakes men from slumber and sends them to their work,
the gorgeous tropical sun which vivifies the earth, the
air which pervades the world, the fire which cheers and
enlightens us, and the violent storms which in India
usher in those copious rains which fill the land with
plenty,-these were the gods whom the early Hindus
loved to extol and to worship.  And often when an
ancient Rishi sang the praises of any of the gods with
devotion and fervour, he forgot that there was any other
god besides, and his sublime hymn has the character and
the sublimity of a prayer to the one God of the universe.
This is what makes many scholars often pause and hesitate before they give the Vedic religion any other name
than Monotheism. Indeed the Rishis themselves often
rose higher than the level of Nature-worship, and they
boldy declared that the different gods were but different
manifestations or different names of the one Primal Cause.
The landmarks between Nature-worship and Monotheism
have been passed, and the great Rishis of the Rig Veda
have passed from Nature up to Nature's God.
The sky was naturally the most prominent object of
worship, and as the sky assumes various aspects, various
names were given to it, and the conception of various
75




75


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


deities was formed. The oldest probably is Dyu (literally
the shining), the Zeus of the Greeks, the first syllable of
the Jupiter of the Romans, the Tiu of the Saxons, and
the Zio of the Germans. This common name among many
Aryan races indicates that the deity was worshipped by
the ancestors of all these nations in their first primeval
abode.
But while Zeus and Jupiter maintained their supremacy
among the gods of Greece and Rome, in India he soon
lost his place, and the sky in one of its pcculiarfunctiols
soon usurped his place. For in India the annual rise of
rivers, the fertility of land, and the luxuriance of crops
depend, not on the sky which shines above us, but on the
sky t/hat rains, and Indra, which means the rain-giver,
soon became the first among the Vedic gods.
Another ancient name of the sky was Varuna, the
Uranus of the Greeks.  The word signifies to cover,
and Varuna was the sky which covered the earth, probably the sky without light, the nightly sky. For we
find another name for the bright sky of day, viz., Mitra,
the Mithra of the Zendavesta. Sanscrit commentators
naturally explain Varuna as night and Mitra as day,
and the Iranians worshipped the sun under the name of
Mithra, and gave the name of Varuna to a happy region,
if not the sky.
These facts show that the idea and name of Varuna as
a god of sky was known to the ancestors of the Aryan
nations before those nations separated and migrated to
Greece, to Persia, and to India.  Indeed the eminent
German scholar Dr. Roth is of opinion that before the IndoAryans and the Iranians separated, Varuna was the highest
and holiest of the gods of their ancestors, and represented
the spiritual side of their religion. After the separation had
taken place, this deity of righteousness was translated in
Iran into Ahura Mazd, the supreme Deity. And although
in India, Varuna yielded the foremost place among gods
to the young and vigorous rain-giver Indra, still he never




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


77


became divested of that sanctity and holiness which
entered into his first conception, and the holiest hymns
of the Rig Veda are his, not Indra's. Whatever be the
value of these opinions, the fact of Varuna's pre-eminent
sanctity in the Rig Veda cannot be denied, and we will
give a few short translations from the hymns to Varuna
to illustrate this:
"6. 0   Varuna! the birds that fly have not attained
thy power, or thy vigour; the water which flows ceaselessly and the moving wind do not surpass thy speed.
"7. King Varuna of unsullied power remains in the
firmament, and holds on high the rays of light. Those
rays descend downwards, but proceed from above. May
they sustain our existence.
" 8. King Varuna has spread out the path for the course
of the sun.   He has made the path for the sun to traverse in pathless space. May he rebuke our enemies who
pierce our hearts.
"9. 0    King Varuna! a hundred         and  a thousand
medicinal drugs are thine; may thy beneficence be vast
and deep. Keep unrighteousness away from us, deliver
us from the sins we have committed.
" I. Yonder stars * which are placed on high, and are
seen by night,-where do they go by day?        The acts of
Varuna are irresistible; the moon shines brightly by his
mandate " (I, 24).
" 3. 0 Varuna! with an anxious heart I ask thee about
my sins. I have gone to learned men to make inquiry;
* The word used in the text is Riksha, which may either mean stars
generally, or the stars of the constellation Great Bear. The root rich
means to shine, whence in course of time the word Riksha came to have
two meanings-the shining stars of a particular constellation, and an
animal with bright eyes and shining glossy hair. By a natural confusion of
ideas, therefore, the constellation itself ultimately came to be called the
Bear. The question is discussed with remarkable eloquence and learning
by Max Miiller in his Science of Language, and he explains that " the surprise with which many a thoughtful observer has looked at these seven bright
stars, wondering why they were ever called the Bear, is removed by reference to the early annals of human speech."




78


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK 1.


the sages have all said to me,-'Varuna is displeased
with thee.'
"4. 0 Varuna! what have I done that thou wishest
to destroy thy friend, thy worshipper? O thou of irresistible power, declare it to me, so that I may quickly
bend in adoration, and come unto thee.
" 5. 0 Varuna! deliver us from the sins of our fathers.
Deliver us from the sins committed in our persons. O
royal Varuna! deliver Vasishtha, like a calf from its tether,
like a thief who has feasted on a stolen animal.
" 6. 0 Varuna! all this sin is not wilfully committed
by us. Error or wine, anger or dice, or even thoughtlessness, has begotten sin. Even an elder brother leads his
younger astray, sin is begotten even in our dreams.
" 7. Freed from sin, I will faithfully serve, as a slave,
the Varuna who fulfils our wishes and supports us. We
are ignorant, may the Arya god bestow on us knowledge.
May the wise deity accept our prayer and bestow on us
wealth " (VII, 86).
"(. O King Varuna! may I never go to the earthen
home. O thou of great power! have mercy, have mercy.
"2. 0 Varuna with thy weapons! I come trembling
even like a cloud driven by the wind. O thou of great
power! have mercy, have mercy.
"3. 0 rich and pure Varuna! I have been driven
against righteous acts through weakness. O thou of
great power! have mercy, have mercy.
"4. Thy worshipper hath thirsted even when living
in water. O thou of great power! have mercy, have
mercy.
"5. 0 Varuna! we are mortals. In whatever way
we have sinned against gods, in whatever manner we
have through ignorance neglected thy work-0! do not
destroy us for these sins " (VII, 89).
These and many other hymns show that Varuna was
never divested in India of that idea of holiness which is
said to have entered into his original conception. But




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


79


nevertheless, Varuna like Dyu was supplanted in power
by the younger Indra, a god who is peculiarly Indian,
and is unknown to other Aryan nations.
One of the most famous legends about Indra, the most
famous legend probably in the Aryan world, is about
the production of rain. The dark heavy clouds to which
man looks up with wistful eyes, but which often disappoint him in seasons of drought, are called by the
ancient name of Vritra.
Vritra is supposed to confine the waters, and will not
let them descend until the sky-god or rain-god Indra
strikes the monster with his thunderbolt. The captive
waters then descend in copious showers, rivers rise
almost instantaneously, and gods and men rejoice over
the changed face of nature.  Many are the spirited
hymns in the Rig Veda in which this combat is narrated
with much glee and rejoicing. The storm-gods, Maruts,
help Indra in the combat, the sky and earth tremble at
the noise, Vritra long wages an unequal combat, and then
falls and dies,-the drought is over, and rains begin.
We have said that Indra is a peculiarly Indian name,
and is unknown to other Aryan nations. But the legend
given above and the name of Vritra appear in various
shapes among various Aryan nations. Vritraghna, or the
slayer of Vritra, is worshipped in the Zendavesta as
Verethraghna, and we also find in the same work an
account of the destruction of Ahi, which in the Veda is
another name for Vritra. Threyetana is the slayer of
Ahi, and the genius of the great French scholar Burnouf
has recognised this identical Threyetana in the Ferudin
of Ferdusi's Shah Nama,-translated from mythology to
history after thousands of years! It will probably surprise modern readers more to know that scholars have
traced this Ahi of the Veda and the Zendavesta in the
dragon Echis and Echidna of Greek mythology; that in
the dog Orthros, the offspring of Echidna, they have
recognised our old friend Vritra or the rain-cloud, and




8o


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


Hercules therefore, the slayer of Orthros, is the counterpart of Threyetana of the Zendavesta, and of Indra of
the Rig Veda!
It would be easy to multiply such legends, but our
limits forbid such a course. We will therefore only
make a passing mention of one more legend, viz., that
about the recovery of light by Indra after' the darkness
of night.  The rays of light are compared to cattle
which have been stolen by the powers of darkness, and
Indra (the sky) seeks for them in vain. He sends
Saralznd, i.e., the dawn, after them, and Sarama finds
out the Bilt, or fortress, where the Ptanis, or powers
of darkness, have concealed the cattle. The Panis try
to tempt Sarama, but in vain. Sarama comes back to
Indra, and Indra marches with his forces, destroys the
fort, and recovers the cattle; darkness is gone, and it is
day! This is a well-known Vedic legend, and there are
constant allusions to it in the hymns to Indra.
Professor Max Muller maintains that the story of the
siege of Troy is a development of this simple Vedic
myth, and is " but a repetition of the daily siege of the
East by the Solar powers that every evening are robbed
of their brightest treasures in the west." Ilium according
to the Professor is Rilu, the cave or the fortress of the Rig
Veda. Paris is the Pz1is of the Veda who tempt, and
Helena is the Vedic Saraman who resists the temptation
in the Veda, but succumbs to it in Greek mythology.
We cannot say that Max Muller has proved his theory,
but the evidence of a historical siege of Troy does not necessarily disprove it, for nothing is more common in ancient
history than the blending of mythical names and incidents
with historical events.  Arjuna the hero of a historical
Kuru-Panchala war is a myth, and is a name of the raingod Indra; and it is not impossible that the poet who sang
of a historical siege of Troy blended with it a solar myth
with its names and incidents. We will now make short extracts from the Rig Veda illustrating these two legends:



CHAP. VI.]


V~EDIC RELIGION.


8i


" I. We sing the heroic deeds which were performed
by Indra the thunderer. He destroyed Ahi (cloud) and
caused rains to descend, and opened out the paths for
the mountain streams to roll.
"2. Indra slayed Ahi resting on the mountains;
Twashtri had made the far-reaching thunderbolt for him.
Water in torrents flowed towards the sea, as cows run
eagerly towards their calves.
" 3. Impetuous as a bull, Indra quaffed the Soma-juice;
he drank the Soma libations offered in the three sacrifices.
He then took the thunderbolt, and thereby slayed the
eldest of the Ahis.
"4. When you killed the eldest of the Ahis, you destroyed the contrivances of the artful contrivers. You
cleared the sun and the morning and the sky, and left
no enemies behind.
" 5. Indra with his all-destructive thunderbolt slayed
the darkling Vritra (cloud), and lopped his limbs. Ahi
now lies touching the earth like the trunk of a tree felled
by the axe.
" 6. The proud Vritra thought that he had no equal,
and defied the destroyer and conqueror Indra to combat.
But he did not escape destruction, and Indra's foe fell,
crushing the rivers in his fall.
" 8. Glad waters are bounding over the prostrate body
as rivers flow over fallen banks. Vritra when alive had
withheld the water by his power; Ahi now lies prostrate
under that water.
( Io. The prostrate body lies concealed and nameless
under ceaseless and restless waters, and the waters flow
above. Indra's foe sleeps the long sleep" (I, 32).
The above is a hymn relating to the legend of Vritra.
We now turn to a hymn relating to the legend of
Sarama:I. The Panis say:-" O   Sarama! why hast thou
come here? It is a long distance. He who looks back
cannot come this way. What have we with us for which
VOL. I.                                  F




82


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOKI.


thou hast come? How long hast thou travelled? How
didst thou cross the Rasa? "
2. Sarama replies:-" I come as the messenger of
Indra. O Panis! it is my object to recover the abundant
cattle which you have hidden. The water has helped
me; the water felt a fear at my crossing, and thus I
crossed the Rasa."
3. The P'anis.-"What is that Indra like, whose
messenger thou art, and hast come from a long distance?
How does he look? (To one another:) Let her come, we
will own her as a friend. Let her take and own our cows."
4. Sarauma.-" I do not see any one who can conquer
the Indra whose messenger I am, and have come from
a long distance. It is he who conquers everybody. The
deep rivers cannot restrain his course. O Panis! you
will surely be slain by Indra and will lie down."
5. Panis.-" 0 beautiful Saranma! thou hast come from
the farthest ends of the sky; we will give thee without
any dispute these cows as thou desirest. Who else
would have given the cattle without a dispute? We have
many sharp weapons with us."
9. Panis.-" 0 Sarama! thou hast come here because the
god threatened thee and sent thee here. We will accept
thee as a sister; do not return. O beautiful Saramai! we
will give thee a share of this cattle."
IO. Saramd.-" I do not comprehend your words about
brothers and sisters.  Indra and the powerful sons of
Angiras know all. They sent me here to guard the cattle
until recovery. I have come here under their shelter. O
Panis! run away far far from here " (X, Io8).
It will be seen from the few extracts we have made that
the hymns to Indra are characterised by force and vigour,
as those to Varuna are marked with a feeling of righteousness.  Indra is, in fact, the most vigorous of the Vedic
gods, fond of Soma wine, delighting in war, leading his comrades the Maruts to fight against drought, leading hosts of
the Aryans against the black aborigines, and helping them




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


83


to carve out for themselves with their strong right arm the
most fertile spots along the five rivers of the Punjab. The
sky and earth gave him birth as a cudgel for the enemies
(III, 49, I). The young and vigorous infant went to his
mother Aditi for food, and saw Soma wine on her breast;
he drank Soma before he drank from his mother's breast
(III, 48, 2 and 3). And the great drinker and fighter often
hesitates between the temptation of Soma libations at sacrifices, and the temptation of his home where a beautiful
wife awaits him (III, 53, 4-6).
We have thus far spoken of Dyu and Varuna and
Mitra and Indra as the principal sky-gods of the Rig
Veda. All these gods may, however, also be considered
as gods of light, as the idea of the bright light of sky
enters into the conception of all these deities, even of
Varuna in some passages. We will now, however, speak
of some deities who have more distinctly a solar character, and some of whom are grouped together under the
common name of Adityas or sons of Aditi, and this
brings us to the most remarkable name that occurs in
the Rig Veda mythology. Unlike Indra, which comes
from Ind to rain, and Dyu, which comes from Dyui to
shine, the word Aditi involves a more complicated idea.
Aditi means the undivided, the unlimited, the eternal.
It is in reality, as has been stated, the earliest name
invented by man to express the Infinite,-the visible
infinite, the endless expanse, beyond the earth, beyond
the clouds, beyond the sky.  The fact that such an
idea should enter into the conception of a deity argues
a remarkable advance in the culture and thought of the
early Hindus. The word has no counterpart among the
names of the deities of other ancient Aryan nations,
and must have been coined in India after the Indo-Aryan
section had settled in this country. It means, according
to the eminent German scholar Dr. Roth, the eternal and
inviolable principle, the celestial light.
There is much confusion in the Rig Veda as to who




84


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


the Adityas are,-the sons of this celestial light. In
II, 27, Aryaman and Bhaga and Daksha and Ansa are
named besides Varuna and Mitra, of whom we have spoken
before. In IX, 114, and in X, 72, the Adityas are said
to be seven in number, but are not named. We have
seen before that Indra is called a son of Aditi. Savitri,
the sun, is often described as an Aditya, and so are
Pushan and Vishnu, who are also different names of
the sun. When, in course of time, the year was divided
into twelve months, the number of the Adityas was fixed
at twelve, and they were the suns of the twelve months.
Surya and Savitri are the most common names of the
sun in the Rig Veda, the former word answering to the
Greek Helios, the Latin Sol, and the Iranian Khorshed.
Commentators draw a distinction between Savitri, the
rising or the unrisen sun, and Surya, the bright sun of
day. The golden rays of the sun were naturally compared with arms until a story found its place in Hindu
mythology that Savitri lost his arm at a sacrifice, and
it was replaced by a golden arm. The same story reappears in a different form in German mythology, in which
the sun-god placed his hand in the mouth of a tiger and
lost it!
The only extract we will make from the hymns to
the sun will be that most celebrated of all the verses
in the Rig Veda, the Gayatri, or the morning hymn of
the later Brahmans. But the Rig Veda recognised no
Brahmans, the caste-system was not formed then, and
the sublime hymn was the national property of the early
Hindus who dwelt on the banks of the Indus. We
give the original verse and Dr. Wilson's translation:" Tat saviltr varenyam bhargo devasya dhtzlahi
" Dzyo yo nai prachodaydt."
"We meditate on the desirable light of the divine
Savitri who influences our pious rites" (III, 62, IO).
Pushan is the sun as viewed by shepherds in their
wanderings in quest of fresh pasture-lands. He travels




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


in a chariot yoked with goats, guides men and cattle in
their travels and migrations, and knows and protects
the flocks. The hymns to Pushan, therefore, often breathe
a simplicity which is truly pastoral. A few extracts from
such hymns have been given before.
Vishnu has obtained such a prominent place as the
Supreme Deity in later Hinduism that there is a natural
reluctance among orthodox modern Hindus to accept
him in his Vedic character as a mere sun-god. Yet such
he is in the Rig Veda, and he is quite a humble deity
in the Vedic pantheon, far below Indra or Varuna, Savitri
or Agni. It was not till the Puranic times, long after
the Christian Era, that Vishnu was considered a Supreme Deity. In the Veda, Vishnu is said to traverse
space in three steps, viz., the sun at rising, at zenith, and
at setting. In the Puranas this simple metaphor has led
to a long story.
Fire was an object of worship among all ancient nations,
and in India sacrificial fire received the highest regard.
As no sacrifice could be performed without fire, Agni or
fire was called the invoker of the gods. He was called
Yavishtha, or the "youngest" among the gods, because
he was kindled anew at each time of sacrifice by the friction of arani, or the sacrificial wood. For this reason, he
also received the name of Pramantha, ize., produced by
friction.*
So high was the esteem in which fire was held among
the gods of the Rig Veda, that when the ancient commentator Yaska tried to reduce the number of the Vedic gods
* According to Mr. Cox, many of the Greek and Latin deities owe their
name to the Sanscrit names of Fire. "In this name, Yavishtha, which
is never given to any other Vedic god, we may recognise the Hellenic
Hephaistos. Note.-Thus with the exception of Agni, all the names of the
Fire and the Fire-gods were carried away by the Western Aryans; and we
have Prometheus answering to Pramantha, Phoronus to Bharanyu, and
the Latin Vulcanus to the Sanscrit Ulka."-Cox's Mythology of Aryan
Nations.
"Agni is the god of fire; the Ignis of the Latins, the Ogni of the
Sclavonians."-Muir's Sanscrit Texts.




86


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


into three, he named Agni or fire as the god of the earth,
Indra or Vayu as the god of the firmament, and the Sun
as the god of the sky.
But Agni is not only the terrestrial fire in the Rig Veda;
he is also the fire of the lightning and the sun, and his
abode is the invisible heaven. The Bhrigus discovered
him there, Matarisvan brought him down, and Atharvan
and Angiras, the first sacrificers, first installed him in this
world as the protector of men.
Vayu, or the air, has received less consideration from
the Vedic bards, and there are but few hymns assigned
to him. But the Maruts or the storm-gods are oftener
invoked, as we have seen before, probably because they
inspired more terror; and they are considered as the
companions of Indra in obtaining rain from the reluctant
clouds! The earth trembles as they move in their deeryoked chariots, and men see the flashing of their arms or
the sparkle of their ornaments, the lightning. But they
are benevolent all the same, and they milk from the udder
of their mother Prisni (cloud) copious showers for the
benefit of man.
Rudra, a fierce deity, is the father of the Maruts, loudsounding as his name signifies, and a form of fire as the
commentators Yaska and Sayana explain. There can be
no doubt, therefore, as to the correctness of Dr. Roth's
conclusion, that the original meaning of this loud-sounding fire, this father of storms, is Thunder. Like Vishnu,
Rudra is a humble deity in the Rig Veda, and only a
few hymns are assigned to him. But like Vishnu, Rudra
has attained prominence in later times, and is one of the
Hindu Trinity of the Puranic religion, a portion of the
Supreme. In some of the Upanishads we find the names
KAil, KarAli, &c., used as the names of different kinds of
flame, and in the White Yajus Sanhita, we find Ambika
spoken of as the sister of Rudra. But when Rudra
assumed a more distinct individuality in the Puranas, all
these names were construed as the different names of his




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


87


wife! We have only to add that none of these goddesses,
nor Lakshmi, the wife of Puranic Vishnu, is so much as
mentioned by name in the Rig Veda.
Another god who has also changed his character in the
Puranas (and very much for the worse!) is Yama, the
king of the dead. In the Puranas he is called the child
of the Sun, and there are some reasons (which Professor
Max Muller explains with his usual eloquence) for supposing that the original conception of Yama in the Rig
Veda is the conception of the departing sun. The sun
sets and disappears, just as a man's life ends: and the
imagination of a simple race would easily conjure up an
after-world, where that departed deity would preside over
departed spirits.
According to the Rig Veda, Vivasvat the sky is the
father, and Saranyu the dawn is the mother, of Yama and
his sister Yamt.
Who can be the offspring of the sky and the dawn but
the sun or the day? It is difficult to resist the conclusion
that the twins Yama and Yami are day and night in their
original conception. There is a curious passage in the
Rig Veda in which the amorous sister Yami desires to
embrace her brother as her husband, but the brother
declines such union as unholy (X, io). It is not difficult
to fathom the import of this conversation:-Day and
Night, though eternally pursuing each other, can never be
united.
But whatever the original conception of Yama may be,
there is no doubt that even in the Rig Veda itself, that
deity has attained a distinct individuality, and he is the
king of the departed. So far his Vedic character agrees
with his Puranic character, but here the parallel ends.
In the Veda, he is the beneficent king of the happy world
where the virtuous live and enjoy themselves in after-life.
Clothed in a glorious body, they sit by the side of Yama
in the realms of light and sparkling waters, they enjoy
endless felicity there, and are adored here below under




88


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


the name of Pitris or fathers. How different is the
character which Yama bears in the Puranas as the cruel
and dread Punisher of the guilty!
" I. Worship Yama the son of Vivasvat with offerings.
All men go to him. He takes men of virtuous deeds to
the realm of happiness. He clears the way for many.
" 2. Yama first discovered the path for us. That path
will not be destroyed again. All living beings will, according to their acts, follow by the path by which our
forefathers have gone " (X, I4).
We may also quote here another passage from a hymn
to Soma, which contains a fuller allusion to the future
world. Soma, it is well known, was the juice of a plant
made into wine, and used as libation in sacrifices. Soma
soon attained the rank of a deity, and all the hymns of
the ninth Mandala are dedicated to him.
"7. 0 flowing Soma! take me to that immortal and
imperishable abode where light dwells eternal, and which
is in heaven. Flow, Soma! for Indra.
" 8. Take me where Yama is king, where there are the
gates of heaven, and where mighty rivers flow. Take me
there and make me immortal. Flow, Soma! for Indra.
"9. Take me where there is the third heaven, where
there is the third realm of light above the sky, and where
one can wander at his will. Take me there and make me
immortal. Flow, Soma! for Indra.
" io. Take me where every desire is satiated, where
Pradhma has his abode, where there is food and contentment. Take me there and make me immortal. Flow,
Soma! for Indra.
"I I. Take me where there are pleasures and joys and
delights, where every desire of the anxious heart is
satiated. Take me there, and make me immortal. Flow,
Soma! for Indra" (IX, I 3).
We have spoken above of Yama and Yami as the twin
children of Vivasvat the sky, by Saranyu the dawn. It
is remarkable that the same parents had another twin




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


children, the two Asvins. There can be little doubt that
they too, like Yama and Yami, were in their original
conception the day and the night, or the dawn and the
evening.
But whatever the original conception of the Asvins may
be, they appear in the Rig Veda as great physicians,
healers of the sick and the wounded, and tending many
persons with kindness. Long lists of the kind acts of the
two Asvins are given in several hymns, and the same
cures are spoken of over and over again. On their threewheeled chariot, they make the circuit of the world day
by day, and succour men in their distress.
Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati is the lord of hymns,
Brahman in the Rig Veda meaning hymn. The conception of this deity arose in much the same way as the conception of the deities Fire and Soma. As there is power
in the flame and the libation of the sacrifice, so there is
power in the prayer uttered; and this power of prayer
is personified in the Vedic god Brahmanaspati.
He is quite a humble god in the Rig Veda, but has
a great future. For in course of centuries, the thinkers
of the Upanishads conceived of a Supreme Universal
Being, and gave him the Vedic name Brahman. Then,
when Buddhism flourished in the land, the Buddhists
themselves tolerated Brahma as a gentle and beneficent
spirit in their pantheon. And when at last Puranic
Hinduism supplanted Buddhism in India, the Puranic
thinkers gave the name of Brahma to the Supreme Creator
of the Universe. Thus, by looking into our national
records of the farthest antiquity, we trace the simple
beginnings of that gorgeous Puranic mythology which has
for over a thousand years swayed the opinions and conduct
of hundreds of millions of our countrymen and countrywomen. It is like tracing one of our great Indian rivers,
which spreads for miles together at its mouth, to its very
source, where a narrow but pure and crystal streamlet
issues from the eternal mountains! Ideas develop in the




90


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


course of time, just as rivers expand and receive fresh
supplies of water in their course, until they lose all their
primitive character, although still bearing the same names.
And we can no more recognise the simple Vedic character
of Brahman the prayer, of Vishnu the sun, and of Rudra
the thunder, in the Supreme Creator, the Preserver and
the Destroyer of the Puranas, than we can recognise the
crystal streamlet at Hardwar in the sea-like expanse of
the Ganges where it mingles with the Bay of Bengal.
These are the important gods of the Rig Veda. Of
the goddesses there are only two who have any marked
individuality, viz., Ushas, the dawn, and Sarasvati, the
goddess of the river of that name, and afterwards the
goddess of speech.
There is no lovelier conception in the Rig Veda than
that of the dawn. There are no hymns in the Veda
more truly poetical than those dedicated to her, and
nothing more charming is to be found in the lyrical
poetry of any ancient nation. We can make room here
for only a few extracts:"20. What mortal knoweth thee, 0 immortal Ushas
fond of our praise! Whom, 0 mighty one, dost thou
favour?
"2I. Far-extending, many-tinted, brilliant Ushas! we
know not thy abode, whether it be nigh or remote.
" 22. Daughter of the sky! accept these offerings, and
perpetuate our welfare" (I, 30).
"7. She, the young, the white-robed daughter of the
sky, the mistress of all earthly treasure, dawns upon us,
dissipating darkness! Auspicious Ushas! shine upon us
to-day on this spot.
"8. Following the path of mornings that have passed,
to be followed by endless mornings to come, bright Ushas
dispels darkness, and awakens to life all beings, unconscious like the dead in sleep.
"Io. How long have the Dawns risen? How long
will the Dawns arise?  The present morning pursues




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


91


those that are gone, future mornings will pursue this
resplendent Ushas.
" II. Mortals who beheld the pristine Ushas have
passed away; we behold her now; and men will come
after us who will behold Ushas in the future" (I, I 3).
"4. Ahana gently proceeds to every house; she comes
ever diffusing light, and blesses us and accepts our offerings.
"I I. Radiant as a bride decorated by her mother, thou
displayest thy person to the view. Auspicious Ushas!
remove the investing darkness; no other dawns but thee
will disperse it" (I, 123).
The Dawn was known by various names, and most
of these names and the legends connected with them
were brought by the Hindus from their original abode,
since we find phonetical equivalents of these names, and
a repetition of some of the legends too, in Greek mythology. Ushas is the Eos of the Greeks and the Aurora of
the Latins. Arjuni, according to philologists, is the Greek
Argynoris, Brisaya is Briseis, and Dahana is Daphne.
Sarama is phonetically equivalent to the Greek Helena.
Saranyu, the mother of Yama and of the Asvins, is the
Greek Erinys, and Ahana is the renowned goddess Athena.
We have already alluded to the legend of Saranyu
running away from her husband Vivasvat, and then
giving birth to the twin Asvins. We find the same
legend among the Greeks who believed in Erinys Demeter
running away in the same manner, and giving birth to
Areion and Despoina. The idea in both cases is the
same; it is the dawn or gloaming disappearing as the day
and night advance.  The same idea has given rise to
another beautiful Greek legend whose origin, too, we trace
in the Rig Veda. In many passages (I, 15, 2, for instance), we find allusions to the sun pursuing the dawn
as a man pursues a woman. The Greek Apollo in the
same way pursues the Greek Daphne, until she is metamorphosed, i.e., the dawn disappears!
Sarasvatl, as her name signifies, is the goddess of the




92


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


river of that name, which was considered holy because
of the religious rites performed on its banks and the
sacred hymns uttered there. By a natural development
of ideas, she was considered the goddess of those hymns,
or in other words the goddess of speech, in which character she is worshipped now. She is the only Vedic
goddess whose worship continues in India to the modern
day; all her modern companions, Durga, Kali, Lakshmi,
and others, are creations of a later day.
Such is the nature-worship of the Rig Veda; such
were the gods and goddesses whom our forefathers worshipped four thousand years ago on the banks of the
Indus. The conception of the nature-gods and the singlehearted fervency with which they were adored, argue
the simplicity and vigour of a manly race, as well as the
culture and thoughtfulness of a people who had already
made a considerable progress in civilisation. And the
very conception of the Vedic gods argues an elevated
sentiment, a high tone of morality in the men who conceived such deities. As M. Barth justly observes, the
Vedic gods are masters close at hand, and require a due
performance of duty by man.   " He must be sincere
towards them, for they cannot be deceived.  Nay he
knows that they in turn do not deceive, and that they
have a right to require his affection and confidence as a
friend, a brother, a father.... How could it be permitted to men to be bad when the gods are good, to be
unjust while they are just, to be deceitful when they
never deceive? It is certainly a remarkable feature of the
hymns that they acknowledge no wicked divinities, and
no mean and harmful practices.... We must acknowledge then that the hymns give evidence of an exalted
and comprehensive morality, and that in striving to be
' without reproach before Aditi and the Adityas,' the Vedic
minstrels feel the weight of other duties besides those of
multiplying offerings to the gods." *
* The Religions of India (translation), p. 32 el seq.




CHAP. VI.1


VEDIC RELIGION.


93


There are no indications in the Rig Veda of any
"temples reared by mortal hands" and consecrated as
places of worship. On the contrary, every householder,
every patriarch of his family, lighted the sacrificial fire in
his own home, and poured libations of the Soma-juice,
and prayed to the gods for happiness to his family, for
abundant crops and wealth and cattle, for immunity from
sickness, and for victory over the black aborigines. There
was no separate priestly caste, and men did not retire
into forests, and subject themselves to penances in order
to meditate on religion, and chant these hymns. On the
contrary, the old Rishis,-the real Rishis as we find them
in the Rig Veda, and not the fabled ones of whom we
have legendary accounts in the Puranas,-were worldly
men, men with considerable property in crops and in
cattle and surrounded by large families, men who in
times of danger exchanged the plough for the spear and
the sword, and defended against the black barbarians
those blessings of civilisation which they solicited from
their gods, and secured with so much care.
But though each householder was himself the priest,
the warrior and the cultivator, yet we find evidence of
kings performing rites on a large scale by help of
men specially proficient in the chanting of hymns and
other religious rites, and engaged and paid for the purpose. And as we go towards the later hymns of the Rig
Veda, we find this class of professional priests gaining in
reputation and in wealth, honoured by chiefs and kings,
and rewarded by gifts of cattle and cars.  We find
mention of particular families specially proficient in the
performance of religious rites, and in the composition of
hymns; and it is probable that the existing hymns of the
Rig Veda were composed by members of these families,
and were traditionally learnt by rote and preserved in
those families.
The hymns of the Rig Veda are divided into ten
Mandalas, so arranged according to the Rishis by whom




94


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


they were composed. The first and the last Mandalas
contain hymns composed by numerous Rishis, but the
remaining eight Mandalas belong, each of them, to a
particular Rishi, or rather to a particular house or school
of Rishis. As we have stated before, the second Mandala
is a collection of hymns composed by Gritsamada of the
house of Bhrigu, the third Mandala belongs to Visvamitra, the fourth Mandala belongs to Vamadeva, the fifth
to Atri, the sixth to Bharadvaja, the seventh to Vasishtha,
the eighth to Kanva, and the ninth to Angiras. All these
names are familiar to modern Hindus through the numberless legends which have surrounded them in Puranic
times, and modern Hindus still love to trace their descent
from these ancient and revered houses. We shall have
something to say about these Rishis and their legends in
our next chapter.
It is to these and other venerable houses that the Aryan
world owes the preservation of the most ancient compositions of the Aryan race. From century to century the
hymns were handed down without break or intermission,
and the youths of the priestly houses spent the prime of
their life in learning by rote the sacred songs from the
lips of their grey-headed sires. It was thus that the
inestimable treasure, the Rig Veda, was preserved for
hundreds of years.
In course of time the priests boldly grappled with the
deeper mysteries of nature, they speculated about creation and about the future world, and they resolved the
nature-gods into the Supreme Deity.
" I. That all-wise Father saw clearly, and after due
reflection created the sky and the earth in their watery
form, and touching each other. When their boundaries
were stretched afar, then the sky and the earth became
separated.
" 2. He who is the Creator of all is great; he creates
and supports all, he is above all and sees all. He is
beyond the seat of the seven Rishis.  So the wise




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


95


men say, and the wise men obtain fulfilment of all their
desires.
" 3. He who has given us life, he who is the Creator, he
who knows all the places in this universe-he is one,
although he bears the names of many gods. Other beings
wish to know of him.
"7. You cannot comprehend him who has created all
this; he is incomprehensible to your mind. People make
guesses, being shrouded in a mist; they take their food
for the support of their life, and utter hymns and wander
about " (X, 82).
This sublime hymn teaches us in unmistakable words
that the different Vedic gods are but different names of
the One incomprehensible Deity. We quote another such
hymn below.
" I. At that time what is, was not, and what is not, was
not. The earth was not, and the far-stretching sky was
not. What was there that covered? Which place was
assigned to what object?  Did the inviolate and deep
water exist?
" 2. At that time death was not, nor immortality; the
distinction between day and night was not. There was
only ONE who lived and breathed without the help of air,
supported by himself. Nothing was, except HE.
"3. At first darkness was covered in darkness. All
was without demarcation; all was of watery form. The
world that was a void was covered by what did not exist
and was produced by meditation.
" 4. Desire arose in the mind, the cause of creation was
thus produced. Wise men reflect, and in their wisdom
ascertain the birth of what is from what is not.
"5. Males with generating seed were produced, and
powers were also produced. Their rays extended on both
sides and below and above, a self-supporting principle
beneath, an energy aloft.
" 6. Who knows truly? Who will describe? When
was all born? Whence were all these created?  The




96


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


gods have been made after the creation.  Who knows
whence they were made?
"7. Whence all these were created, from whom they
came, whether any one created them or did not create,
-is only known to Him who lives as Lord in the
highest place. If He knows not (no one else does)"
(X, 129).
Such is the first recorded attempt among the Aryan
nations of the earth to pierce into the mysteries of creation; such are the bold and sublime if vague ideas which
dawned in the minds of our forefathers thousands of years
ago, regarding the commencement of this great universe.
One more hymn we will quote here, a remarkable hymn,
showing, again, how the later Rishis soared beyond the
conception of the nature-gods to the sublime idea of One
Deity:" I. In the beginning the Golden Child existed. He
was the Lord of all from his birth. He placed this earth
and sky in their respective places.  Whom shall we
worship with offerings?
"2. Him who has given life and strength; whose will
is obeyed by all the gods; whose shadow is immortality,
and whose slave is death. Whom shall we worship with
offerings?
" 3. Him who by his power is the sole king of all the
living beings that see and move; him who is the Lord
of all bipeds and quadrupeds. Whom shall we worship
with offerings?
"4. Him   by whose power these snowy mountains
have been made, and whose creations are this earth and
its oceans. Him whose arms are these quarters of space.
Whom shall we worship with offerings?
"5. Him who has fixed in their places this sky and
this earth; him who has established the heavens and the
highest heaven; him who has measured the firmament.
Whom shall we worship with offerings?
"6. Him by whom the sounding sky and earth have




CHAP. VI.]


VEDIC RELIGION.


97


been fixed and expanded; him whom the resplendent
sky and earth own as Almighty; him by whose support
the sun rises and gains its lustre. Whom shall we
worship with offerings?
" 7. Mighty waters pervaded the universe, they held in
their womb and gave birth to fire. The One Being, who
is the life of the gods, appeared. Whom shall we worship
with offerings?
" 8. He who by his own prowess controlled the waters
which gave birth to energy, he who is the Lord above
all gods, he was One. Whom shall we worship with
offerings?
"9. He, the True, who is the creator of this earth,
who is the creator of the sky, who is the creator of the
glad and mighty waters,-may he not do us harm. Whom
shall we worship with offerings?
1 Io. O Lord of creatures! None but thee has produced all these created things.  May the object with
which we worship be fulfilled. May we acquire wealth
and happiness " (X, 121).
We now see the force of the remark that the religion
of the Rig Veda travels from Nature up to Nature's God.
The worshipper appreciates the glorious phenomena of
nature, and rises from these phenomena to grasp the
mysteries of creation and its great Creator.


VOL. I.


G




CHAPTER VII.


VEDIC RISHIS.
WE have stated in the last chapter that certain pious
and learned families obtained pre-eminence in the Vedic
Period by their knowledge of performing religious sacrifices and their gift of composing hymns; that kings
delighted to honour and reward these families; and that
it is to them that the Aryan world is indebted for handing
down the Vedic hymns from generation to generation.
Modern Hindus take a pride in tracing their descent from
these ancient families, and their names are a household
word in modern Hindu society. Some account of these
ancient Rishis,-the revered pioneers of the Hindu religion,
-will therefore not be unwelcome to Hindu readers.
Pre-eminent among the Vedic Rishis, or rather Rishi
families, stand the Visvamitras and the Vasishthas. The
learned and industrious scholar Dr. Muir has, in the first
volume of his " Sanscrit Texts," collected many legends
about these Rishis from later Sanscrit literature; but
there is no Hindu who has not heard from his boyhood
innumerable legends of this kind, connected with those
revered names.
The Vasishthas and the Visvamitras were both honoured
by the powerful conqueror, Sudas. The hymns of the
third Mandala are ascribed to the Visvamitras, and in the
53rd hymn we find the following passage:-" The great
god-born, god-commissioned Rishi, the beholder of men,
has stayed the watery current. When Visvamitra sacrificed for Sudas, then Indra was propitiated through the
98




CHAP. VII.]


VEDIC RISHIS.


99


Kausikas." Again, the hymns of the seventh Mandala
are ascribed to the Vasishthas, and in the 33rd hymn we
find the following passage:-" The Vasishthas in white
robes, with their hair knots on the right, devoted to
sacred rites, have gladdened me. Rising up, I call the
people round the sacrificial grass. Let not the Vasishthas
depart from my door."
There was naturally some jealousy between these two
priestly houses, and hard words were exchanged. The
following verses in III, 53, are said to contain an imprecation against the Vasishthas:"21. Indra, approach us to-day with many excellent
succour: be propitious to us. May he who hates us fall
low; and let the breath of life forsake him whom we
hate.
"22. As the tree suffers from the axe, as the Simbala
flower is broken, as the cauldron boiling over casts forth
foam, so may the enemy, O Indra.
"23. The might of the destroyer is not perceived.
Men lead away the Rishi as if he were a beast.  The
wise do not condescend to ridicule the fool. They do
not lead the ass before the horse.
"24. These Bharatas have learnt to turn away from,
not to associate with (the Vasishthas). They urge the
horse against them as against a foe. They bear about
the bow in battle."
Vasishtha is supposed to have hurled back the imprecation in the following verses of VII, I04:"I3. Soma does not bless the wicked nor the ruler
who abuses his power. He slays the demon; he slays
the untruthful man; both are bound by the fetters of
Indra.
"14. If I had worshipped false gods, or if I had
called upon the gods in vain,-but why art thou angry
with me, 0 Jatavedas?  May vain talkers fall into thy
destruction.
"15. May I die at once if I be a Yatudhana, or if I




100


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


hurt the life of any man. But may he be cut off from
his ten friends who falsely called me a Yatudhana.
" 6. He who called me a Yatudhana, when I am not
so, or who said I am a bright devil,-may Indra strike
him down with his great weapon, may he fall the lowest
of all beings."
So far the jealousy of the two angry priests is intelligible and even natural, however unbecoming of their
great learning and sanctity. But when we proceed from
the Rig Veda to later Sanscrit literature, incidents which
are human and natural become lost in a cloud of miraculous and monstrous legends.
It is assumed from the commencement in these later
legends that Vasishtha was a Brahman and Visvamitra
was a Kshatriya, although the Rig Veda justifies no such
assumption and knows no Brahmans and Kshatriyas as
castes. On the contrary, Visvamitra is the composer of
some of the finest hymns cherished by later Brahmans,
including the sacred Gayatri, the morning prayer of
modern Brahmans.
Having assumed that Visvamitra was born a Kshatriya,
the Mahabharata, the Harivansa, the Vishnu Purana, and
other later works repeat an amusing story to account
for the sage's attaining Brahmanhood.  Satyavati, a
Kshatriya girl, had been married to Richika, a Brahman.
Richika prepared a dish for his wife, which would make
her conceive a son with the qualities of a Brahman,
and another dish for his mother-in-law (a Kshatriya's
wife), which would make her conceive a son with the
qualities of a Kshatriya. The two ladies, however, exchanged dishes; and so the Kshatriya's wife conceived
and bore Visvamitra with the qualities of a Brahman,
and the Brahman's wife Satyavati bore Jamadagni, whose
son, the fiery Parasurama, though a Brahman, became
a renowned and destructive warrior! Such were the
childish stories which the later writers had to invent to
remove the difficulty they had created for themselves




CHAP. VII.]


VEDIC RISHIS.


0II


by assuming that Vedic Rishis belonged to particular
castes!
In the celebrated legend of Harischandra, Visvamitra
appears as a rapacious Brahman. He not only made the
king give up his whole empire, but compelled him to sell
his queen, his boy, and himself as slaves to pay the
inexorable Brahman's fee! If such stories are invented
to teach respect and duty due to Brahmans, they fail in
their object and inspire other sentiments. The bereaved
Harischandra was, however, rewarded in the end, and
Visvamitra anointed his son as king, and Harischandra
went to heaven. Vasishtha became angry and cursed
Visvamitra to be a Vaka or crane, and Visvamitra, too,
transformed Vasishtha into an Ari bird! The two birds
began a furious contest which shook the whole world,
until Brahma had to interpose, and restored the saints
to their own forms, and reconciled them!
In the legend of Trisanku, we are told that that prince
wished to go bodily to heaven. Vasishtha declared the
thing impossible, and in return for the king's angry words
changed him to a Chandala. The fiery Visvamitra now
appeared on the scene. He declared the thing quite
possible, and began a great sacrifice and proceeded with
it in spite of Vasishtha's absence. Trisanku ascended
to heaven, but Indra refused to receive him, and threw
the intruder, head downwards, towards the earth. The
irrepressible Visvamitra, however, threatened to create
another heaven with Indra and gods and stars! The
gods had to give in, and Trisanku ascended to heaven,
and shone like a star beyond the sun's course, but in a
somewhat uncomfortable position, with his head still
downwards!
In various other legends, which have almost become
household stories for Hindu boys and girls, these two
sages continually appear, in defiance of chronology and
date, and are always at enmity with each other. The
rival priests appear in courts of kings, twenty, thirty,




IO2


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


or fifty generations removed from each other, and there
is hardly a classical composition of note about a royal
house or a semi-divine hero in which we do not find
mention of Vasishtha and Visvamitra, eternally the rivals
of each other. Thus the Vishnu Purana makes Vasislitha
the priest of Ikshvaku's son Nimi, as well as the priest
of Sagara, who was thirty-seventh in descent from Ikshvaku; and the Ramayana makes Vasishtha the priest
of Rama, who was sixty-first in descent from Ikshvaku!
Such is the use which later romancers have made of the
simple materials furnished by the Rig Veda, and such is
the manner in which they have piled story upon story,
and myth upon myth in connection with incidents which
in the ancient Veda are simple, natural, and human. Not
only the Rishis of the Veda, but every deity, and we may
almost say every simile or allegory in the Rig Veda about
a natural phenomenon, have received such treatment in
the hands of the later imaginative Hindus.
But while a hundred wild stories were invented in later
days to account for Visvamitra's attaining Brahmanhood,
there was no thought of denying that accepted fact. Every
legend, every learned disquisition, every childish tale,
every great work, from the Mahabharata to Manu and the
Puranas,-admit that Visvamitra was a Kshatriya and a
Brahman. Yudhisthira in the Anusasana Parva (section
3) of the Mahabharata inquires of Bhishma how Visvamitra had not only become a Brahman but had established
" the great and wise family of the Kusikas, which included
Br-d/znans and hundreds of Bra/hzanz Rishis." The question would be a difficult one to answer in the Puranic
Age in which the Mahabharata received its last touches.
The question would not be difficult of solution in the Epic
Age when the caste-system was still a pliable institution.
And the question would not arise at all in the Age of
Visvamitra himself, i.e., in the Vedic Age, when caste as
such did not exist.
From the legends of the Visvamitras and the Vasish



CHAP. VII.]


VEDIC RISHIS.


I03


thas, let us now turn to the scarcely less renowned houses
of the Angirases, the Vamadevas, the Bharadvajas, and
the Bhrigus. All these were families of Vedic Rishis, composers of Vedic hymns; and later writers therefore feel
somewhat uncertain about their caste. They are sometimes called Brahmans with the character of Kshatriyas,
sometimes Kshatriyas with the character of Brahmans;
and occasionally the bold truth is conjectured that these
Rishis lived before the institution of caste was formed.
The Angirases are the reputed authors of the ninth
Mandala of the Rig Veda. About the Angirases, the
Vishnu Purana (IV, 2, 2) has the following:-" The son
of Nabhaga was Nabhaga; his son was Ambarisha; his
son was Viruipa; from him sprang Prishadasva, and from
him  Rathinara. On this subject there is this verse:
These persons descended fromz a Kshatrij'a stock and
afterwards knouwn as Angirases were the chief of the
Rathinaras, Brahm/zans possessing a/so the character of
Ksiatlriyas. "
Vamadeva and Bharadvaja are reputed to be the authors
of the fourth and sixth Mandalas of the Rig Veda. The
Matsya Purana includes them  (section 132) among the
Angirases of whom we have spoken before.
To the Gritsamadas are attributed the hymns of the
second Mandala of the Rig Veda. The commentator
Sayana says of him that he was formerly of the Angiras
race, but he afterwards became Gritsamada, of the Bhrigu
race. This somewhat mystic legend is elaborated in the
Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva (section 30), in which
we are told that Vitahavya, a Kshatriya king, had taken
shelter with Bhrigu, and Bhrigu, in order to save the
fugitive from his pursuer, stated "there is no Kshatriya
here, all these are Brahmans." The word of Bhrigu
could not prove untrue, and the fugitive Kshatriya
Vitahavya forthwith bloomed into Brahmanhood and
became Gritsamada! It must be allowed that this was an
easier process than the penance of thousands of years




Io4


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


which Visvamitra is said to have performed,-not to
mention that his mother had exchanged dishes with a
Brahman's wife!
But the story of Gritsamada's change of caste is not
universally accepted. The Vishnu Purana and the Vayu
Purana conjecture the bold truth that Gritsamada lived
before the caste institution was formed. "From Gritsamada was descended Saunaka, who orziinated t/e four
castes " (Vish. Pur., IV, 8).
Lastly, let us turn to the Kanvas and the Atris. The
Kanvas are the authors of the eighth Mandala of the Rig
Veda, and we find the same uncertainty about their caste.
The Vishnu Purana (IV, I9), and the Bhagavata Purana
(IX, 20, 6, 7), maintain that Kanva was a descendant of
Puru, a Kshatriya. Nevertheless the Kanvas were regarded as Brahmans. "From Ajamidha sprang Kanva,
and from him Medhatithi, from whozm were descended the
Kanvanaaya Brah/imans" ( Vish. Pur., IV, 9).
The Atris are the reputed authors of the fifth Mandala
of the Rig Veda, and we find the same uncertainty about
their caste also. Thus the Vishnu Purana (IV, 6), calls
Atri the grandfather of Pururavas, who belonged to the
KIshatriza race.
These extracts are enough.  They are made from
works composed or revised two or three thousand years
after the time of the Vedic Rishis, but those extracts
enable us to comprehend the status and position of
the Vedic religious leaders and warriors, and are therefore not out of place in an account of the Vedic Period.
Writing at such a long distance of time from the Vedic
Age the modern authors often misapprehended ancient
facts and traditions. But nevertheless, the unswerving
loyalty to the past which has ever characterised Hindu
writers prevented them from tampering with such traditions. Those traditions pointed to a state of society which
had long passed away, and which had become almost
unintelligible. Puranic writers could scarcely comprehend




CHAP. VII.]


VEDIC RISHIS.


os5


that priests and warriors could spring from the same race,
that a Rishi could be a warrior, or that a warrior could
be a priest. They tried to explain such traditions by a
hundred different theories and legends, but nevertheless
they have faithfully and piously handed down the traditions unchanged and unaltered. Thus, to make only one
more extract, the Matsya Purana enumerates 9I Vedic
Rishis, and concludes with the following suggestive
passage, (section 132):-" Thus 9I persons have been
declared, by whom the hymns have been given forth.
Th7ey were Brd/zmanzs, ]Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, all sons
of Rishis. They were the offspring of the Rishikas,
sons of Rishis, Vedic Rishis."
Thus the Purana faithfully preserves the ancient tradition that the Vedic hymns were the common property of
the entire Aryan population. And when the writer tells
us that the composers of those hymns were Brahmans,
Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, we have little difficulty in discovering in that statement a dim recollection of the truth
that the hymns were composed by the undivided ancestors
of those castes.
Modern writers have classed Rishis under three classes,
viz., Devarshis, or saintly gods like Narada; Brahmarshis, or saintly Brahmans like Kanva of the Sakuntala
drama; and Rajarshis, or saintly Kshatriyas like Janaka,
king of the Videhas. The ancient Vedic Rishis did not
answer to any of these classes, did not belong exclusively
to any of these categories, and were therefore a standing
puzzle to modern writers. Hence the numerous legends
to account for what was unaccountable; and often in the
midst of these wild conjectures, the modern writer made
a bold guess after the truth, and maintained that the
Vedic Rishis must have lived before caste was originated.
We do not wonder at the theories and legends which
were multiplied in such profusion; we admire the boldness with which the truth was sometimes conjectured.
For the rest, these invaluable traditions-that priests




Io6


VEDIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I.


and warriors were descended from the same races, and
that the same Rishis were often both priests and warriors,
-enable us to comprehend the true position of Vedic
Rishis. For, divested of their miraculous and legendary
character, what do these traditions indicate? They indicate that the venerable families of the olden times,like those of the Vasishthas, the Visvamitras, the Angirases, and the Kanvas,-furnished renowned warriors and
eminent priests at the same time. A Percy or a Douglas
might be an ambitious priest or a fiery warrior, and so
might a Kanva or an Angiras. To be sure, the Hindu
houses were pre-eminently priestly as the European
houses were military, but caste was as unknown to the
one as to the other. Many a baron of Mediaeval Europe,
whose name is still preserved in the history of the
crusades, had his father or uncle, son or nephew, immured
in the solitude of holy monasteries; and many a Vasishtha
or Visvamitra, whose religious hymns we still cherish and
revere, had his son or nephew engaged in the wars of
the Vedic Period, in the unending contests against the
aborigines of the soil. These facts are proved by the
texts of the Rig Veda itself which we have quoted in a
previous chapter; and they are confirmed by the legends
and traditions which we have quoted in this chapter from
later Sanscrit literature.  The Vedic Rishis composed
their hymns, fought their wars, and ploughed their fields;
but were neither Brahmans, nor Kshatriyas, nor Vaisyas.
The great Rishi houses of the Vedic Age furnished priests
and soldiers, but were no more Brahmans or Kshatriyas
than the Percies or Douglases of Mediaeval Europe were
Brahmans or Kshatriyas.




BOOK II.


EPIC PERIOD, B.c. 1400 TO 1000.
CHAPTER I.
LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.
WE have closed our account of the Vedic Age, when the
Hindu Aryans gradually conquered and occupied the
whole tract of the country watered by the Indus and its
five tributaries. We have seen that the sole work of this
period which remains to us is the collection of hymns
known as the Rig Veda Sanhita, and we have also seen
how these hymns illustrate the civilisation of the Vedic
Period. We now proceed to describe the civilisation of
the Epic Period, when the Hindus crossed the Sutlej,
moved down the basin of the Ganges and the Jumna,
and founded powerful kingdoms along the entire valley
as far down as modern Benares and North Behar. And
as in the case of the Vedic Age, so in the case of the
Epic Age, we will base our account on contemporaneous
literature.
What is the contemporaneous literature of the Epic
Age? And what is the contemporaneous literature of
the Philosophical or Rationalistic Age that followed?
The Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads,
which constantly refer to the actions of the Kurus, the
Panchalas, the Kosalas, and the Videhas living in the
valley of the Ganges, form the literature of the Epic Age.
The Sutras, which presuppose the rise of rationalism in
I07




io8


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


India, and which were composed when the Aryans had
expanded all over India, form the literature of the Rationalistic Age.
About thirty years ago Professor Max Miller published
his great work on Sanscrit literature, and gave reasons,
which have since generally been accepted, for considering
the mass of Sutra literature as subsequent to the Brahmana literature.    He showed that the Suitra literature
presupposed and quoted from the Brahmana literature, and
the converse was never the case. He showed that the
Brahmana literature reflected an age of priestly supremacy
and unquestioning obedience on the part of the people,
which was anterior to the practical and philosophical and
sceptical age of the Sutras.    He showed that the Brahmana literature down to the Upanishads was considered
revealed in India, while all Sutra works were ascribed to
human authors. And he enforced these arguments by a
wealth of illustrations and a degree of erudition which
left nothing to be desired.*
It is needless to say that we cannot enter into the
* Later researches have confirmed the view. Not only are the Sutras
of a particular school subsequent to the Brahmanas of the same school,
but the body of the Sutra literature as a whole is subsequent to the
body of the Brahmana literature. Thus, to quote one instance only, Dr.
Biihler, who does not altogether agree with Max Miller on this point,
nevertheless points out in his Introductions to the Dharma Sutras that
those Sftras repeatedly quote from Brahmanas of different schools. He
shows that Gautama's Dharma Sutra, which is the oldest extant, presupposes an Aranyaka of the Black Yajur Veda, a Brahmana of the Sama
Veda and even an Upanishad of the Atharva Veda! He points out that
Vasishtha's Dharma Sutra quotes from a Brahmana of the Rig Veda, an
Aranyaka of the Black Yajur Veda and a Brahmana of the White Yajur
Veda, and also mentions an Upanishad of the Atharva Veda.. So also
Baudhayana's Dharma Sutra quotes from the Brahmanas both of the Black
and the White Yajur Veda. On the other hand, no Brahmana ever quotes
from any Sutra work.
No scholar maintains that the last Brahmana work was composed before
the first Sutra work was written. But there can be little doubt on the
evidence now before us, that there was a period when the prevailing style
of writing was the prose style of the Brahmanas, and that this period was
followed by a period when the prevailing style was aphorisms or Suftras.




CHAP. I.]  LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.


o109


details of these learned discussions.  True to the plan
of the present work, we will make only a few remarks
not on the literary, but on the historical bearings of the
facts stated above.  What is the historical import of
this sequence in the different classes of Ancient Sanscrit
literature? What is the historical reason of this sequence?
Why did the Ancient Hindus compose their works in one
particular form, the Vedic hymns, for a number of centuries? Why did they gradually abandon that style of
composition, and write the prolix and dogmatic prose
Brahmanas, for some succeeding centuries? And why
again did they gradually change this for the concise
aphorisms of the Sutras during the next few centuries?
What is there in the nature of things that would induce
the Ancient Hindus to take up different styles of composition at different periods of their history,-as if to
afford the future historian a clue to the dates of their
writings?
The question is more easily asked than answered. It
may be answered, however, by a counter-question. What
is there in the nature of things which prevented the
Chronicles and Romances of Mediaeval Europe being
composed after the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?
Why did not Hume and Gibbon compose Chronicles?
Why did not Fielding and Scott compose Mediaeval
Romances? The subjects were still the same;-why was
the composition so different that it would be possible to
demarcate the feudal ages from the modern period on the
testimony of European literature, even if every vestige of
European history was destroyed?
An Englishman would answer: It was impossible that
Chronicles and feudal Romances should be continued
after Elizabeth had reigned and Shakespeare and Bacon
had written. A new light had dawned on Europe. The
human mind had expanded. Religion was purified. A
new world had been discovered. Modern philosophy had
taken its rise. Commerce and maritime enterprise had




I IO


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


received a wonderful development. Feudalism had died
a natural death. The face of the European world had
been changed.
Were it possible to bring before the reader the history
of Hindu civilisation as vividly as he has before him
the history of European civilisation, he would give similar
replies with regard to the epochs of Indian History. It
was impossible in the nature of things that Hymns like
those of the Rig Veda should be composed after the
Hindus had achieved the elaborate civilisation, and adopted
the pompous religious rites of the Epic Period. The
simple fervency with which the Punjab Aryans looked
up to the Sky, the Dawn, or the Sun, had passed, once
and for ever. Simple natural phenomena did not excite
the wonder and religious admiration of the cultured and
somewhat artificial Gangetic Aryans engaged in solemn
rites and pompous sacrifices. The fervent prayer to
the rain-god Indra, or the loving address to the dawngoddess Ushas, was almost impossible. The very import
and object of the old simple hymns were forgotten,
and sacrifices of various descriptions, from the simple
morning and evening libations to the elaborate royal
sacrifices lasting for many years, formed the essence of
the later religion. The rules of the sacrifices, the import
and object of every minute rite, the regulations for each
insignificant observance,-these occupied the religious
minds of the people, these formed the subjects of discussion
between learned kings and royal priests, these formed
the bulk of the Brahmana literature. It was as impossible
for the cultured writers and thinkers of the day to go
back to the buried past and disinter the simple faith of
the Vedic Hymns, as it was impossible for the erudite
schoolmen of Medieval Europe to produce the wild and
simple Norwegian Sagas of a bygone age.
Again, the elaborate and dogmatic trifling of the
scholastic philosophy of Europe was impossible after
Descartes had lived and Bacon had written. In the




CHAP. I]  LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.


III


same way, and for the same reason, the elaborate trifling
of the Brahmanas were impossible in the Hindu world
after Kapila had taught and Gautama Buddha had preached.
The human mind in India had received a new impetus.
A new world had been discovered beyond the Vindhya
range, though the name of the Indian Columbus, who
first planted the Hindu flag in a southern kingdom, is
forgotten. The earnest and fervent Upanishads had been
written, and marked a strong reaction against priestly
pedantry. Kapila-the Descartes of India-had startled
the Hindu world by his Sankhya philosophy; and Gautama
-the Luther of India-had proclaimed a reformed faith
for the poor and the lowly, and protested against the
privileges of priests.  New sciences had started into
existence. A new light had dawned in the Hindu world.
The Brahmana literature died a natural death. The
elaborate and unmeaning dogmas were left in the shade;
the rules for the performance of the ancient sacrifices
were condensed for practical purposes. It was a practical
age, when everything was condensed and codified. The
rules of life were codified. Philosophy was condensed
into aphorisms, science and learning in every department
were condensed.  Treatises were composed in every
branch of human knowledge in a concise style, in which
teachers could teach and learners could learn by rote.
And thus it is that we have the entire literature of
the Rationalistic Age in the shape of aphorisms,-of
Sutras.
This is the historical import of the three different
classes of Ancient Sanscrit literature, which represent
three distinct epochs of Hindu history. The Hymns
reflect the manly simplicity of the Vedic Age. The
Brahmanas reflect the pompous ceremonials of the Epic
Age. The Sutras reflect the science and learning, and
even the scepticism of the Rationalistic Age.
We have said before that the tide of Hindu colonisation
rolled eastward and southward in each successive period,




112


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


and the different classes of Sanscrit literature spoken
of attest to this onward movement. In Europe feudal
literature and modern literature were developed on the
same arena, in Italy and Germany, in France and England.
In India the case was different.  For the Aryans of
India went on conquering through successive periods,
and the literature of each period speaks of the portion
of India under the Aryan influence and domination in
that particular period. This in itself is an invaluable
index to the dates of the different classes of literature.
The Hymns of the Rig Veda speak of the Punjab
alone,-India beyond the Punjab is unknown to the Rig
Veda. The banks of the distant Ganges and the Jumna
are rarely alluded to; the scenes of all the wars and
social ceremonies and religious sacrifices of the Rig Veda
are the banks of the Indus and its tributaries and the
Sarasvati. This was the Hindu world when the hymns
were composed.
But tile Hindus soon threw out colonies all over
Northern India. In course of centuries these colonies
rose into importance and were formed into powerful
kingdoms, and by their progress and learning threw the
mother-country, the Punjab, into the shade. In the
Brahmanas we hear of the mighty Kurus in the tract
of the country round modern Delhi; we hear of the
powerful Panchalas in the country round modern Kanouj;
we read of the Videhas in the country now known as
North Behar; we read of the Kosalas in Oudh; and
we read of the Kasis in the country round modern
Benares. These colonists developed pompous sacrificial
rites, and had illustrious and learned kings like Janaka
and Ajatasatru and Janamejaya Parikshita. They founded
schools or parishads in villages and towns, and they
developed a new social system based on caste distinctions. It is of these colonists and their civilisation
that we mostly read in the Brahmanas;-the Punjab is
almost forgotten, and Southern India is still unknown,




CHAP. I.]  LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.


IV3


or is referred to as the home of wild beasts and wild
men.
And lastly, the Sutra literature makes us familiar with
great Hindu kingdoms in Southern India, and some of
the existing Sutras were composed in Southern India.
Thus the countries and nations described by the different
classes of literature point to their respective ages.
We have spoken of the Vedic Period and the Rig Veda
Hymns in the First Book of this work. We will speak
of the Epic Period and the Brahmana literature in this
Second Book. And we will speak of the Rationalistic
Period and the Sutra literature in the Third Book.
We have seen before that the Rig Veda Hymns were
composed in the Vedic Age and were finally comnzpiled in
the Epic Age. The other three Vedas known as the
Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda (White and Black), and the
Atharva Veda, were also compiled in this Epic Age.
The reasons which led to the compilation of the Sama
Veda and the Yajur Veda have been ascertained with a
fair degree of certainty. We find mention in the hymns
of the Rig Veda of different classes of priests who performed different duties at sacrifices.  The Adhvaryus
were entrusted with the material performance of sacrifice.
They measured the ground, built the altar, prepared the
sacrificial vessels, fetched wood and water, and immolated
animals. The Udgatris, on the other hand, were entrusted
with the duty of singing, as according to ancient custom
some parts of the sacrifice had to be accompanied by
songs. The Hotris had to recite hymns. And lastly, the
Brahmans presided at sacrifices over all the rest.
Of these four classes of priests, neither the Brahman
nor the Hotri required any special manual. For the
Brahman was required to know the entire ceremonial, to
be able to superintend the performance of the sacrifice, to
advise the other priests on doubtful points, and to correct
their mistakes. The Hotri too had simply to recite, and
if he knew the hymns of the Rig Veda, he did not require
VOL. I.                                  H




114


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


any separate compilation. But the duties of the Adhvaryu
and the Udgatri required special training. Special sacrificial formulas must have existed for the former, and a
stock of the Rig Veda Hymns, set to music, must have
also existed for the latter in the Vedic Period, for we find
the names Yajus and Saman in the Rig Veda Hymns.
These formulas and chants were, however, separately collected and compiled at a later age, i.e., in the Epic Period;
and these separate compilations, in the shape which they
last took, are the Yajur Veda and the Sama Veda as we
have them now.
No name has been handed down to us as the compiler
of the Sama Veda. Professor Benfey has pointed out,
what Dr. Stevenson previously suspected, that all the
verses of the Sama Veda, with the exception of a few,
are to be found in the Rig Veda; and it is supposed that
these few verses too must have been contained in some
other recension of the Rig Veda now lost to us. It is
quite clear, therefore, that the Sama Veda is only a
selection from the Rig Veda set to music for a special
purpose.
Of the compilers of Yajur Veda, we have some information. The more ancient or Black Yajur Veda is called the
Taittiriya Sanhita from Tittiri, who probably compiled or
promulgated it in its present shape. In the Anukramani
of the Atreya recension of this Veda, however, we are told
that the Veda was handed down by Vaisampayana to
Yaska Paingi, by Yaska to Tittiri, by Tittiri to Ukha, and
by Ukha to Atreya. This would show that the existing
oldest recension of the Yajur Veda was not the first
recension.
We have fuller information with regard to the more
recent White Yajur Veda. It is called the Vajasaneyi
Sanhita, from Yajnavalkya Vajasaneya, the compiler or
promulgator of that Veda. Yajnavalkya held the influential position of chief priest in the court of Janaka,
king of the Videhas, and the promulgation of this new




CHAP. I.]  LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.


I I 5


Veda proceeded probably from the court of that learned
king.
There is a striking difference in arrangement between
the White Yajur Veda and the Black Yajur Veda. In the
latter, the sacrificial formulas are followed by dogmatic
explanations, and by accounts of ceremonials belonging to
them. In the former, the formulas only find place in the
Sanhita, the explanation and the ritual being assigned to
the Brahmana. It is not improbable, as has been supposed, that it was to improve the old arrangement, and
to separate the exegetic matter from the formulas, that
Yajnavalkya, of the court of Janaka, founded the new
school known as the Vajasaneyins, and that their labours
resulted in a new (Vayasaneyi) Sanhita and an entirely
separate (Satapatha) Brahmana.
But although the promulgation of the White Yajur Veda
is ascribed to Yajnavalkya, a glance at its contents will
show that it is not the compilation of any one man or
even of one age. Of its 40 chapters only the first I8 are
cited in full and explained in due order in the first nine
books of the Satapatha Brahmana; and it is the formulas
of these I8 chapters only which are found in the older
Black Yajur Veda. These I8 chapters then are the oldest
portion of the White Yajur Veda, and may have been
compiled or promulgated by Yajnavalkya Vajasaneya.
The next 7 chapters are very likely a later addition.
The remaining 15 chapters are undoubtedly a still later
addition, and are expressly called Parisishta or Khila, i.e.,
supplement.
Of the Atharva Veda, we need only state that it was
not generally recognised as a Veda till long after the
period of which we are speaking, though a class of literature known as the Atharvangiras was growing up during
the Epic Period, and is alluded to in the later portions
of some of the Brahmanas. Throughout the first three
Periods of Hindu history, and even in Manu and other
metrical codes, three Vedas are generally recognised.




EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


And although the claims of the Atharvan were sometimes
put forward, still the work was not generally recognised as
a fourth Veda till long after the Christian Era. Numerous
passages recognising three Vedas only could be cited
from the literature of the period of which we are now
speaking; but we are unable to make room for such passages. We will only refer our readers to some of them,
viz.: Aitareya Brahmana, V, 32; Satapatha Brahmana,
IV, 6, 7; Aitareya Aranyaka, III, 2, 3; Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad, I, 5; and Chhandogya Upanishad, III and
VII. In this last work, after the three Vedas are named,
Atharvangiras is classed with Itihasa. It is only in the
Brahmana and Upanishads of the Atharva Veda itself that
we find a uniform recognition of this work as a Veda.
For instance, it is the principal object of the Gopatha
Brahmana to show the necessity of four Vedas. A carriage, we are told, does not proceed with less than four
wheels, an animal cannot walk with less than four feet,
nor can sacrifice be perfect with less than four Vedas!
Such special pleading only proves that the fourth Veda was
not yet recognised generally, even in the comparatively
recent times when the Gopatha Brahmana was composed.
Atharvan and Angiras are, as Professor Whitney
remarks, half mythical names of ancient and venerated
Indian families, and it was sought to bring the recent
Veda into connection with these ancient names! The
Veda is divided into twenty books, and contains nearly
six thousand verses, and a sixth of this is in prose. Of
the remaining, one-sixth is found among the hymns of
the Rig Veda, mostly in the tenth book. The nineteenth
book is a kind of supplement to the previous eighteen,
while the twentieth book is made up of extracts from the
Rig Veda.
The entire Veda principally consists of formulas intended to protect men against the baneful influences of
divine powers, against diseases, noxious animals, and
curses of enemies. It knows a host of " imps and hob



CHAP. I.]  LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.


I 7


goblins," and offers homage to them to prevent them from
doing harm. The hymns are supposed to bring from the
unwilling hands of gods the favours that are wanted. Incantations calculated to procure long life or wealth or
recovery from illness, and invocations for good luck in
journeys, in gaming, &c., fill the work. These hymns resemble similar hymns in the last book of the Rig Veda;
only, as Professor Weber has pointed out, in the Rig
Veda they are apparently additions made at the time of
the compilation, while in the Atharva Veda they are the
natural utterance of the present.
We must now hasten to an account of the compositions called Brahmanas, after which the literature of
this Age has been named the Brahmana literature. We
have seen that in the Black Yajur Veda the texts are as
a rule followed by their dogmatic explanations. These
explanations were supposed to elucidate the texts and to
explain their hidden meanings, and they contained the
speculations of generations of priests.  A single discourse of this kind was called a Brahmana; and in later
times collections or digests of such discourses were called
Brahmanas.
The Rig Veda has two Brahmanas, viz., the Aitareya
and the Kaushitaki. The composition of the former is
attributed to Mahidasa Aitareya, son of Itara. In the
Kaushitaki Brahmana, on the other hand, special regard
is paid to the sage Kaushitaka, whose authority is considered to be final. For the rest, these two Brahmanas
seem to be only two recensions of the same work, used
by the Aitaryins and the Kaushitakins respectively, and
they agree with each other in many respects, except that
the last ten chapters of the Aitareya are not found in the
Kaushitaki, and belong probably to a later age.
The Sama Veda has the Tandya or Panchavinsa Brahmana, the Sadvinsa Brahmana, the Mantra Brahmana, and
the better known Chhandogya.
The Black Yajur Veda or Taittiriya Sanhita has its




118


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK 1I.


Taittiriya Brahmana, and the White Yajur Veda or
Vajasaneyi Sanhita has its voluminous Satapatha Brahmana.   We have already stated that the Satapatha
Brahmana is attributed to Yajnavalkya, though it is more
likely the handiwork of the school he founded, as he is
often quoted in the work. Nor does the work belong
entirely to one school or to one age. On the contrary,
as in the case of the White Yajur Veda Sanhita so in
the case of its Brahmana, there are reasons to think
that the work belongs to different periods. The first I8
chapters of the Sanhita are the oldest part of the work,
and the first nine books of the Brahmana, which comment
on these 18 chapters, are the oldest part of the Brahmana.
The remaining five books are of later date than the first
nine books.
The Atharva Veda has its Gopatha Brahmana, a comparatively recent production, the contents of which are a
medley, derived to a large extent from other sources.
Next after the Brahmanas come the Aranyakas, which
may indeed be considered as the last portions of the
Brahmanas. They are so called, as Sayana informs us,
because they had to be read in the forest, while the
Brahmanas were for use in sacrifices performed by householders in their homes.
The Rig Veda has its Kaushitaki Aranyaka and its
Aitareya Aranyaka, the latter ascribed to Mahidasa
Aitareya.  The Black Yajur Veda has its Taittiriya
Aranyaka, and the last book of the Satapatha Brahmana
is called its Aranyaka. The Sama Veda and the Atharva
Veda have no Aranyakas.
What gives these Aranyakas a special importance,
however, is, that they are the proper repositories of those
celebrated religious speculations known as the Upanishads. The Upanishads which are the best known, and
which are undoubtedly ancient, are the Aitareya and the
Kaushitaki, found in the Aranyakas of those names, and
belonging to the Rig Veda; the Chh.ndogya and the




CHAP. I.]  LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.


I I9


Talavakara (or Kena) belonging to the Sama Veda; the
Vajasaneyi (or Isa) and the Brihadaranyaka belonging
to the White Yajur Veda; the Taittiriya and Katha and
Svetasvatara belonging to the Black Yajur Veda; and
the Mundaka and Prasna and Mandukya belonging to the
Atharva Veda. These twelve are the ancient Upanishads
to which Sankaracharya principally appeals in his great
commentary on the Vedanta Sutras. But once after the
Upanishads had come to be considered sacred and authoritative works, new compositions of the class began to be
added, until the total number reaches 200 or more. The
later Upanishads, which are generally known as the
Atharva Upanishads, come down as far as the Puranic
times, and enter the lists in behalf of sectarian views,
instead of being devoted to an inquiry into the nature
of Brahman or the Supreme Spirit, like the old Upanishads.  Indeed, the later Upanishads come down to a
period long subsequent to the Mahommedan Conquest
of India, and the idea of a universal religion which was
cherished by the great emperor Akbar finds expression
in an Upanishad called the Allah Upanishad! We need
hardly say that we will refer in this work only to the
ancient Upanishads, and not to the later Upanishads.
With the Upanishads the Epic Period ends, and the
so-called revealed literature of India ends also.  Other
classes of works, besides those named herein, undoubtedly
existed in the Epic Period, but have now been lost to us,
or more frequently replaced by newer works. A fragment
only of the vast literature of the Epic Period has come
down to us, and the principal works which remain have
been detailed above.
Of the Epics themselves, the MahabhArata and the
Ramayana, we will speak in the next two chapters.




CHAPTER II.


KURUS AND PANCHALAS.
THE tide of Aryan conquests rolled onward. If the reader
will refer to a map of India, he will find that from the banks
of the Sutlej to the banks of the Jumna and the Ganges,
there is not a very wide strip of country to cross. The
Aryans, who had colonised the whole of the Punjab, were
not likely to remain inactive on the banks of the Sutlej or
of the Sarasvati. Already in the Vedic Period bands of
enterprising colonists had crossed those rivers and explored the distant shores of the Jumna and the Ganges,
and those noble streams, though alluded to in the hymns
as on the very horizon of the Hindu world, were not
unknown. In course of time the emigrants to the fertile
banks of the two rivers must have swelled in number,
until the colonists founded a powerful kingdom of their
own in the country near modern Delhi,-the kingdom of
the Kurus.
The colonists were no others than the Bharatas renowned in the wars of Sudas, but their kings belonged
to the house of Kurus, and hence the tribe went by
both names, Bharatas and Kurus. From what part of
the Punjab the Kurus came, is a question still involved
in obscurity. In the Aitareya Brahmana (VIII, 14),
it is stated that the Uttara Kurus and the Uttara Madras
lived beyond the Himalaya. In later works, the Mahabharata (I, 47, 19, &c.) and the Ramayana (IV, 44,
88, &c.), the land of the Uttara Kurus, has already
become a mythical country.  Uttara Kuru is identified
120




CHAP. II.]  KURUS AND PANCHALAS.


I21


with Ottorakorra of Ptolemy, and Lassen places the
country somewhere east of modern Kashgar; but we
would place the Uttara Kuru alluded to in the Aitareya
Brahmana somewhere north of the Sub-Himalayan range,
i.e., in Kashmir.  We assume that the colony of the
Kurus on the Ganges rose to prowess and fame about
1400 B.C.
When the Hindus had once begun to colonise the fertile
banks of the Jumna and the Ganges, swarms of the
colonists marched down the course of those streams and
soon occupied the whole of the Doab, i.e., the tract of
country between those rivers. While we find the Kurus
or Bharatas settling down in the country near modern
Delhi, we find another adventurous tribe, the Panchalas,
occupying the tract of country near modern Kanouj. The
original seat of the Panchalas is still less known than that
of the Kurus, and it has been supposed that they also came
from the northern hills, like the Kurus. Their name, however, which means " Five tribes," would seem to indicate
that they were of the Pancha-Krishti or Pancha-jana,
"five cultivating tribes " of whom we read so often in the
Rig Veda.
The Panchala kingdom probably rose to distinction
about the same time as the kingdom of the Kurus, and
the Brahmana literature frequently refers to these allied
tribes as forming the very centre of the Hindu world, and
renowned by their valour, their learning, and their civilisation. Many of the Brahmanas allude to the culture of
their schools, the sanctity of their priests, the ostentatious
religious sacrifices of their kings, and the exemplary lives
of the people.
For centuries had elapsed since the Aryans had first
settled on the banks of the Indus, and the centuries had
done their work in progress and civilisation. The Kurus
and the Panchalas were no longer like the warrior-cultivators who battled against the black aborigines and won
the banks of the Indus and its tributaries. Manners had




122


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


changed, society had become more refined and polished,
learning and arts had made considerable progress. Kings
invited wise men to their courts, held learned controversies with their priests, performed elaborate sacrifices
according to the rules of the age, led respectable
and trained armies to the field, appointed duly qualified
men to collect taxes and to administer justice, and performed all the duties of civilised administrators. The
relations and friends of the king and all the warriors of
the nation learnt archery and driving the war chariot
from their early youth, and also learned the Vedas and
all the holy learning that was handed down from generation to generation.  The priests multiplied religious
rites and observances, preserved the traditional learning
of the land, and instructed and helped the people in their
religious duties. And the people lived in their towns and
villages, cherished the sacred sacrificial fire in their houses,
cultivated the arts of peace, trained their boys from early
youth in the Vedas and in their social and religious duties,
and gradually developed those social customs which in
India have the force of laws. Women had their legitimate influence in society, and moved without restriction
or restraint.  Society in India, fourteen hundred years
before Christ, was more polished and refined than that
of the preceding Vedic ikge, and had more of healthy
life and vigour than Hindu society has had in succeeding
ages.
Civilisation, however, does not necessarily put a stop
to wars and dissensions; and of the political history of
the Kurus and the Panchalas, the only reminiscences we
possess are those of a sanguinary war in which many
neighbouring tribes took part, and which forms the subject
of one of the two great epics of India.
The incidents of the war described in the Mahabh.rata
are undoubtedly mythical, as the incidents described in
the Iliad are mythical. The five Pandava brothers and their
common wife are myths, as Achilles and Paris and Helen




CHAP. II.]  KURUS AND PANCHALAS.


123


are myths.  But nevertheless the great epic is based on
the recollections of a true war of the great Bharatas
(hence the name of the epic), and faithfully describes the
manners and customs of the ancient Hindus, as the Iliad
describes the manners of the ancient Greeks.
It is because the story of the existing epic throws valuable side-lights on the state of the society of the ancient
Hindus that we think it necessary to briefly narrate it
here. Let the reader attach no value to the names, which
are mostly mythical, or to the incidents, which are mostly
imaginary; let him only endeavour to draw from the story
a picture of Hindu life in the Epic Period, i.e., the period
of Aryan expansion in the Gangetic valley.
The capital of the Kurus at the time of which we are
speaking was the city of Hastinapura, the supposed ruins
of which have been discovered on the upper course of the
Ganges, about sixty-five miles to the north-east of Delhi.
Santanu, the old king of Hastinaipura, died, leaving two
sons, Bhishma, who had taken a vow of celibacy, and
a younger prince who became king. This young prince
died in his turn, leaving two sons, Dhritarashtra who was
blind, and Pandu who ascended the throne.
Pandu died, leaving five sons who are the heroes of
the epic. Dhritarashtra remained virtually the king during
the minority of the five Pandavas and of his own children,
while Dhritarashtra's uncle Bhishma, a renowned warrior,
remained the chief councillor and friend of the state.
The account of the training of the young Pandavas and
the sons of Dhritarashtra to arms throws much light on
the manners of royal houses. Drona was a Brahman,
and a renowned warrior, for caste had not yet completely formed itself, Kshatriyas had not yet obtained the
monopoly of the use of arms, nor Brahmans of religious
learning. He had been insulted by his former friend the
king of the Panchalas, and had retired in disgust to the
court of the Kurus and undertook to train the princes in
arms.




I24


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I I.


Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, never became
much of a warrior, but became versed in the religious
learning of the age, and is the most righteous character
in the epic. Bhima, the second, learnt to use the club, and
was renowned for his gigantic size and giant strength,
and is indeed the Ajax of the poem. The third, Arjuna,
excelled all other princes in the skill of arms, and aroused
the jealousy and hatred of the sons of Dhritarashtra, even
in their boyhood.  Nakula, the fourth, learned to tame
horses, and Sahadeva, the fifth, became proficient in astronomy. Duryodhana, the eldest son of Dhritarashtra,
was proficient in the use of the club, and was a rival to
Bhima.
At last the day came for a public exhibition of the proficiency which the princes had acquired in the use of arms.
A spacious area was enclosed. Seats were arranged all
round for the accommodation of ancient warriors and
chieftains, of ladies and courtiers. The whole population
of Kuruland flocked to see the skill of their young princes.
The blind king Dhritarashtra was led to his seat; and
foremost among the ladies were Gandhari, the queen of
Dhritarashtra, and Kunti, the mother of the first three
Pandavas. The last two were Pandu's sons by another
wife.
There was shooting of arrows at a butt, and there was
fighting with swords and bucklers and clubs. Duryodhana
and Bhima soon began to fight in right earnest, and
rushed towards each other like mad elephants. Shouts
ascended to the sky, and soon the fight threatened to have
a tragic end. At last the infuriated young men were
parted, and peace was restored.
Then the young Arjuna entered the lists in golden
mail, with his wondrous bow.   His splendid archery
surprised his most passionate admirers and thrilled the
heart of his mother with joy, while shouts of admiration
rose from the multitude like the roar of the ocean. He
played with his sword, which flashed like lightning, and




CHAP. II.]  KURUS AND PANCHALAS.


125


also with his sharp-edged quoit or chakra, and never
missed his.mark. Lastly, he brought down horses and
deer to the ground by the noose, and concluded by doing
obeisance to his worthy preceptor Drona, amidst the
ringing cheers of the assembled multitude.
The dark cloud of jealousy lowered on the brow of
Dhritarashtra's sons, and soon they brought to the field
an unknown warrior, Karna, who was a match for Arjuna
in archery.  King's sons could only fight with their
peers, like the knights of old, and Dhritarashtra therefore
knighted the unknown warrior, or rather made him a
king on the spot, so that Arjuna might have no excuse
for declining the fight. To awkward questions which
were put to him, the haughty Karna replied that rivers
and warriors knew not of their origin and birth,-their
prowess was their genealogy. But the Pandavas declined
the fight, and the haughty Karna retired in silence and
in rage.
Drona now demanded the reward of his tuition. Like
doughty warriors of old he held revenge to be the dearest
joy of a warrior, and for his reward he asked the help of
the Kurus to be revenged on Drupada, king of the Panchalas, who had insulted him. The demand could not
be refused. Drona marched against Drupada, conquered
him, and wrested half his kingdom. Drupada swore to
be avenged.
Dark clouds now arose on the horizon of Kuruland.
The time had come for Dhritarashtra to name a Yuvaraja, i.e., or a prince who would reign during his old age.
The claim of Yudhisthira to the throne of his father
could not be gainsaid, and he was appointed Yuvaraja.
But the proud Duryodhana rebelled against the arrangement, and the old monarch had to yield, and sent the
five Pandavas in exile to Varanavata, said to be near
modern Allahabad, and then the very frontier of Hindu
settlements.  The vengeance of Duryodhana pursued
them there, and the house where the Pandavas lived was




126


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


burnt to ashes. The Pandavas and their mother escaped
by an underground passage, and for a long time roamed
about disguised as Brahmans.
Heralds now went from country to country, and proclaimed in all lands that the daughter of Drupada, king
of the Panchalas, was to choose for herself a husband
among the most skilful warriors of the time. As usual
on such occasions of Svayamvara, or choice of a husband
by a princess, all the great kings and princes and warriors
of the land flocked to the court of Drupada, each hoping
to win the lovely bride, who had already attained her
youth, and was renowned for her beauty. She was to
give her hand to the most skilful archer, and the trial
ordained was a pretty severe one.  A heavy bow of
great size was to be wielded, and an arrow was to be
shot through a whirling chakra or quoit into the eye of a
golden fish, set high on the top of a pole!
Not only princes and warriors, but multitudes of spectators flocked from all parts of the country to Kampilya,
the capital of the Panchalas. The princes thronged the
seats, and Brahmans filled the place with Vedic hymns.
Then appeared Draupadi with the garland in her hand
which she was to offer to the victor of the day. By her
appeared her brother Dhrishtadyumna, who proclaimed
the feat which was to be performed.
Kings rose and tried to wield the bow, one after
another, but in vain.  The skilful and proud Karna
stepped forth to do the feat, but was prevented.
A Brahman suddenly rose and drew the bow, and shot
the arrow through the whirling chakra into the eye of
the golden fish. A shout of acclamation arose! And
Draupadi, the Kshatriya princess, threw the garland
round the neck of the brave Brahman, who led her away
as bride.  But murmurs of discontent arose like the
sound of troubled waters from the Kshatriya ranks at this
victory of a Brahman, and the humiliation of the warriors;
and they gathered round the bride's father and threatened




CHAP. II.]  KURUS AND PANCHALAS.


I27


violence. The Pandavas now threw off their disguise,
and the victor of the day proclaimed himself to be Arjuna,
a true-born Kshatriya!
Then follows the strange myth that the Pandavas went
back to their mother and said, a great prize had been won.
Their mother, not knowing what the prize was, told her
sons to share it among them. And as a mother's mandate
cannot be disregarded, the five brothers wedded Draupadi
as their wife. It is needless to say that the story of
Draupadi and of the five Pandavas is a myth.  The
Pandavas now formed an alliance with the powerful king
of the Panchalas, and forced the blind king Dhritarashltra
to divide the Kuru country between his sons and the
Pandavas.  The division, however, was unequal; the
fertile tract between the Ganges and the Jumna was retained by the sons of Dhritarashtra, while the uncleared
jungle in the west was given to the Pandavas.  The
jungle Khandava Prastha was soon cleared by fire, and
a new capital called Indraprastha was built, the supposed ruins of which are shown to every modern visitor
to Delhi.
Military expeditions were now undertaken by the Pandavas on all sides, but these need not detain us, especially
as the accounts of these distant expeditions are modern
interpolations.  When we find in the Mahabharata
accounts of expeditions to Ceylon, or to Bengal, we may
unhesitatingly put them down as later interpolations.
And now Yudhishthira was to celebrate the Rajasuya
or coronation ceremony, and all the princes of the land,
including his kinsmen of Hastinapura, were invited. The
place of honour was given to Krishna, chief of the Yadavas
of Gujrat.  Sisupala of Chedi violently protested, and
Krishna killed him on the spot. Krishna is only a great
chief, and not a deity, in the older portions of the Mahabharata, and his story shows that Gujrat was colonised
from the banks of the Jumna in the Epic Age.
The tumult having subsided, the consecrated water was




128


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


sprinkled on the newly-created monarch, and Brahmans
went away loaded with presents.
But the newly-created king was not long to enjoy his
kingdom. With all his righteousness, Yudhishthira had
a weakness for gambling like the other chiefs of the time,
and the unforgiving and jealous Duryodhana challenged
him to a game.   Kingdom, wealth, himself and his
brothers, and even his wife were staked and lost,-and
behold now, the five brothers and Draupadi the slaves
of Duryodhana! The proud Draupadi refused to submit
to her position, but Duhsasana dragged her to the
assembly-room by her hair, and Duryodhana forced her
down on his knee in the sight of the stupefied assembly.
The blood of the Pandavas was rising, when the old
Dhritarashtra was led to the assembly-room and stopped
a tumult. It was decided that the Pandavas had lost
their kingdom, but should not be slaves. They agreed
to go in exile for twelve years, after which they should
remain concealed for a year. If the sons of Dhritarashtra
failed to discover them during the year, they would get
back their kingdom.
Thus the Pandavas again went in exile; and after
twelve years of wanderings in various places, disguised
themselves in the thirteenth year and took service under
the king of Virata. Yudhishthira was to teach the king
gambling; Bhima was the head cook; Arjuna was to
teach dancing and music to the king's daughter; Nakula
and Sahadeva were to be master of horse and master of
cattle respectively, and Draupadi was to be the queen's
handmaid.  A difficulty arose.  The queen's brother
was enamoured of the new handmaid of superb beauty,
and insulted her and was resolved to possess her. Bhima
interfered and killed the lover in secret.
Cattle-lifting was not uncommon among the princes of
those days, and the princes of Hastinapura carried away
some cattle from Virata. Arjuna, the dancing master,
could stand this no longer; he put on his armour, drove




CHAP. II.]  KURUS AND PANCHALAS.


129


out in chariot, and recovered the cattle, but was discovered! The question whether the year of secret exile
had quite expired was never settled.
And now the Pandavas sent an envoy to Hastinapura
to claim back their kingdom. The claim was refused, and
both parties prepared for a war, the like of which had
never been seen in India. All the princes of note joined
one side or the otler, and the battle which was fought
in the plains of Kurukshetra, north of Delhi, lasted for
eighteen days, and ended in fearful slaughter and carnage.
The long story of the battle with its endless episodes
need not detain us. Arjuna killed the ancient Bhishma
unfairly, after that chief was forced to desist from fighting.
Drona, with his impenetrable "squares" or phalanxes,
killed his old rival Drupada, but Drupada's son revenged
his father's death and killed Drona unfairly. Bhima met
Duhsasana, who had insulted Draupadi in the gambling
room, cut off his head, and in fierce vindictiveness drank
his blood! Lastly, there was the crowning contest between Karna and Arjuna, who had hated each other
through life; and Arjuna killed Karna unfairly when his
chariot wheels had sunk in the earth, and he could not move
or fight. On the last or eighteenth day, Duryodhana fled
from Bhima, but was compelled by taunts and rebukes
to turn round and fight, and Bhima by a foul blow (because struck below the waist) smashed the knee on
which Duryodhana had once dragged Draupadi. And the
wounded warrior was left there to die. The bloodshed
was not yet over, for Drona's son made a midnight raid
into the enemy's camp and killed Drupada's son, and thus
an ancient feud was quenched in blood.
The remainder of the story is soon told. The Pandavas went to Iastinapura, and Yudhishthira became king.
He is said to have subdued every king in Aryan India,
and at last celebrated the Asvamedha ceremony or the
great horse-sacrifice. A horse was let loose and wandered
at its will for a year, and no king dared to stop it.
VOL. I.                                  I




130


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


This was a sign of the submission of all the surrounding
kings, and they were then invited to the great horsesacrifice. We have seen that in the Vedic times the horse
was sacrificed simply for eating; in the Epic Period the
horse-sacrifice became a means of expiation of sin, and of
the assumption of supremacy among kings.
Such is the story of the great epic divested of its
numerous legends and episodes, its supernatural incidents
and digressions. Krishna, the Island-born, and compiler of
the Vedas, (not Krishna the Yadava chief), is said to have
been the son of the unmarried girl who afterwards married
Santanu. He was therefore the half-brother of Bhishma.
He often appears on the scene abruptly and in a supernatural manner, and imparts instruction and advice. The
story has a historical interest, and shows that the Vedas
were compiled before the time of the Kuru-Panchala war.
For the rest, it will appear from the above brief account
that the first Hindu colonists of the Gangetic valley had
not yet lost the sturdy valour and the stubborn warlike
determination of the preceding Vedic Age. Kings now
ruled over larger countries and peoples, manners were
more polished, the rules of social life and of chivalry
were more highly developed, and the science of war itself
was better organised. But nevertheless the stern and
relentless valour of the Vedic warriors breaks through
the polished manners of the Kurus and the Panchalas,
and those nations, if they had gained in civilisation, had
scarcely yet lost much in the vigour of national life. How
imperfectly the caste-system flourished among these sturdy
races is shown by many facts which still loom out in bold
outline amidst the interpolations and additions of later
writers. Santanu, the ancient king of Hastinapura, had
a brother Devapi, who was a priest. The most learned
character in the epic, Yudhishthira, is a Kshatriya, and
the most skilful warrior Drona is a Brahman. And the
venerable compiler of the Vedas, Krishna Dvaipayana
himself-was he a Brahman or a Kshatriya?




CHAPTER III.


VIDEHAS, KOSALAS, AND KASIS.
TIE tide of Aryan conquests rolled onward. When the
country between the Jumna and the Ganges had been
completely conquered, peopled, and Hinduised, new bands
of adventurous settlers crossed the Ganges and marched
further eastwards to found new colonies and new Hindu
kingdoms. Stream after stream was crossed, forest after
forest was explored and cleared, region after region was
slowly conquered, peopled, and Hinduised in this onward
march towards the unknown east. The history of the
long struggles and the gradual development of the
Hindu power in these regions has been lost to us; and
we only see, in the literature which has been preserved,
the establishment of powerful and civilised Hindu kingdoms east of the Ganges,-the kingdom of the Kosalas
in the country known as modern Oudh, that of the
Videhas in North Behar, and that of the Kasis round
modern Benares.
Some recollection of the eastern march of the Videhas
has been preserved in a stray passage in the Satapatha
Brahmana, quoted below:" Io. Madhava the Videgha carried Agni Vaisvanara in
his mouth. The Rishi Gotama Rahugana was his family
priest. When addressed by the latter he made no
answer, fearing lest Agni might fall from his mouth.
"I13. Still he did not answer. (The priest continued):
'Thee, O butter-sprinkled one, we invoke!' (Rig Veda,
131




I32


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


V, 26, 2). So much he uttered when, at the very mentioning of butter, Agni Vaisvanara flashed forth from the
king's mouth; he was unable to hold him back; he issued
from his mouth and fell down on this earth.
" 14. Madhava the Videgha was at that time on the
river Sarasvati. He (Agni) thence went burning along
this earth towards the east; and Gotama Rahugana and
the Videgha Madhava followed after him as he was burning along. He burnt over (dried up) all these rivers.
Now that river which is called Sadanira (Gunduck river)
flows from the northern (Himalaya) mountain: that one
he did not burn over. That one the Brahmans did not
cross in former times, thinking it has not been burnt over
by Agni Vaisvanara.
I5. Nowadays, however, there are many Brahmans
to the east of it. At that time it (the land east of the
Sadanira) was very uncultivated, very marshy, because it
had not been tasted by Agni Vaisvanara.
' I6. Nowadays, however, it is very cultivated, for
the Brahmans have caused Agni to taste it through
sacrifices. Even in late summer that river, as it were,
rages along; so cold it is, not having been burnt over by
Agni Vaisvanara.
" I7. Madhava the Videgha then said to Agni,
'Where am I to abide?' 'To the east of this river be
thy abode!' said he. Even now this river forms the
boundary of the Kosalas and Videhas; for these are
the Madhavas (or descendants of Madhava)" (Satapatza
Brahmana, I, 4, I).
Here then we have an account, in a legendary form,
of the gradual march of the colonists from the banks of
the Sarasvati eastwards until they came to the Gunduck.
That river formed the boundary between the two kingdoms; the Kosalas lived to the west of it, and the Videhas
to the east of it.
In course of years, probably of centuries, the kingdom
of the Videhas rose in power and in civilisation, until




CHAP. III.] VIDEHAS, KOSA LAS, AND KASIS.


I33


it became the most prominent kingdom in Northern
India.
Janaka, king of the Videhas, is probably the most
prominent figure in the history of the Epic Period in
India. That monarch had not only established his power
in the farthest confines of the Hindu dominions in India,
but he gathered round him the most learned men of his
time, he entered into discussion with them, and instructed
them in holy truths about the Universal Being. It is this
that has surrounded the name of Janaka with undying
glory. King Ajatasatru of the Kasis, himself a learned
man and a most renowned patron of learning, exclaimed
in despair, "Verily, all people run away, saying, Janaka
is our patron! " (7'ri/iaddranyaka Upanishad, I, I).
The great fame of Janaka is partly owing to the culture
and learning of the chief priest of his court, Yaj'navalkya
Vajasaneyin. Under the royal auspices of Janaka this
priest conceived the bold idea of revising the Yajur Veda
as it then existed, of separating the formulas from the
exegetic matter, of condensing the former in the shape of
a new Yajur Veda (the White Yajur Veda), and of amplifying the latter into a vast body of Brahmana (the
Satapatha Brahmana). Generations of priests laboured
at this stupendous work, but the glory of starting the
work belongs to the founder of the school, Yajnavalkya
Vajasaneyin, and his learned patron, King Janaka of
the Videhas.
But Janaka has a still higher claim to our respect
and admiration.  While the priestly caste was still
multiplying rituals and supplying dogmatic explanations
for each rite, the royal caste seems to have felt some
impatience at this priestly pedantry.  Thinking and
earnest Kshatriyas asked themselves if these rites and
dogmas were all that religion could teach.  Learned
Kshatriyas, while still conforming to the rites laid
down by priests, gave a start to healthier speculations,
and inquired about the destination of the Soul and the




134


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


nature of the Supreme Being. So bold, so healthy and
vigorous were these new and earnest speculations, that
the priestly classes, who were wise in their own esteem,
at last felt their inferiority, and came to Kshatriyas to
learn something of the wisdom of the new school. The
Upanishads contain the healthy and earnest speculations
which were started at the close of the Epic Period; and
King Janaka of Videha is honoured and respected,-more
than any other king of the time,-as an originator of the
earnest speculations of the Upanishads.
The teaching of the Upanishads will be dwelt on more
fully in a subsequent chapter of this Book, but an account
of Janaka and of the other kings of the period and their
place in Hindu literature will not be complete unless we
cite a few passages here, illustrating their relations with
their priests, and their labours in the cause of earnest
philosophical thought in India.
"Janaka of Videha once met some Brahmans who had
just arrived. They were Svetaketu Aruneya, Somasushma
Satyayajni and Yajnavalkya. He said to them: 'How
do you perform the Agnihotra?'"
The three Brahmans replied as best they could; but
not correctly. Yajnavalkya came very near the mark, but
was not quite correct. Janaka told them so, and mounted
his car and went away!
The priests said: "This fellow of a Rajanya has
insulted us." Yajnavalkya mounted his car, followed
the king, and had the difficulty explained (Satapatha
]Brdhmana, XI, 4, 5). "Henceforth Janaka became a
Brahman" (S. Br. XI, 6, 2, I).
We find in Chhandogya Upanishad, V, 3, that one of
the three Brahmans named above, Svetaketu Aruneya,
came to an assembly of the Panchalas, and Pravahana
Jaivali, a Kshatriya, asked him some questions which
puzzled him. He came back sorrowful to his father and
said: "That fellow of a Rajanya asked me five questions, and I could not answer one of them." The father,




CHAP. III.] VIDEHAS, KOSALAS, AND KASIS.


I35


Gautama, was himself puzzled and went to the Kshatriya
to have his difficulty removed. Pravahana Jaivali replied,
"Gautama, this knowledge did not go to any Brahman
before you, and therefore this teaching belonged in all the
worlds to the Kshatra class alone." And then he imparted
the knowledge to Gautama.
In another place in this Upanishad (I, 8), this Pravahana silenced two boastful Brahmans, and then imparted
the true knowledge of the Highest God to them.
A story is told in the Satapatha Brahmana (X, 6, I, I),
and is repeated in the Chhandogya Upanishad (V, II),
that five Brahman householders and theologians became
anxious to know, 'What is our Self and what is God?'
They came to Uddalaka Aruni to obtain the knowledge, but Aruni had his misgivings, and therefore took
them to the Kshatriya king, Asvapati Kaikeya, who
courteously invited them to stay at a sacrifice he was
going to perform. He said: " In my kingdom there is
no thief, no miser, no drunkard, no man without an altar
in his house, no ignorant person, no adulterer, much less
an adulteress. I am going to perform a sacrifice, sirs, and
as much wealth as I give to each Ritvik priest, I shall
give to you, sirs. Please to stay here."
They stayed and told him what they had come for, and
" on the next morning they approached him, carrying fuel
in their hands (like students), and he, without any preparatory rites," imparted to them the knowledge they had
come for.
It is curious how we meet the same names over and
over in the different Upanishads, and often the same story
too in different forms, showing that the old Upanishads
were composed at much the same time. We find Uddalaka Aruni, also called Gautama, and his son Svetaketu
again in the Kaushitaki Upanishad; and the father and
the son went to Chitra Gangyayani, fuel in hand, to learn
the truth. Chitra, a Kshatriya king, said: " You are
worthy of Brahman, O Gautama, because you were not led




I36


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK IT.


away by pride. Come hither, I shall make you know
clearly" (I, I).
A celebrated story is told in the Kaushitaki Upanishad
(IV), of a conversation between Gargya Balaki, a celebrated man of learning, and Ajatasatru, the learned king
of the Kasis. The boastful Brahman challenged the king,
but in course of the learned dispute which followed, he
collapsed and became silent. Ajatasatru said to him:
'Thus far do you know, O Balaki?' 'Thus far only,'
replied Balaki. Then Ajatasatru said to him: 'Vainly
did you challenge me, saying, Shall I tell you of God?'
'  Balaki, He who is the maker of those objects (which
you mentioned), I-e of whom all this is the work, He
alone is to be known.'
"Then Balaki came, carrying fuel in his hand, saying:
'May I come to you as a pupil?' Ajatasatru said to him:
' I deem it improper that a Kshatriya should initiate a
Brahman. Come, I will make you know clearly.'"
This story, as well as the story of Svetaketu Aruneya
and the Kshatriya king Pravahana Jaivali, are repeated
in the Brihadaranyka Upanishad.
There are numerous such passages in the Upanishads
in which the Kshatriyas are represented as the wisest
teachers in true religious knowledge. But it is needless
to multiply instances here. What we have said is enough
to indicate the place which belongs to the royal caste at
the close of the Epic Period in the history of Hindu religion
and philosophy. The Upanishads mark a new era in the
history of human knowledge, and this knowledge, which
dates about I000 B.C., "did not belong to any Brahman
before," "it belonged in all the worlds to the Kshatra
class alone."
These are real claims of Janaka, king of the Videhas,
to the admiration and gratitude of posterity. Curiously
enough, posterity remembers him and the Videhas and
the Kosalas also through a myth which has clung round
their revered names. That myth relates to the Aryan




CHAP. III.  VIDEHAS, KOSALAS, AND KASIS.


I37


conquest of Southern India; and with a fervid and blind
gratitude poets of subsequent ages have connected that
great historical event with the names of ancient kings who
had nothing to do with the conquest! Historical knowledge in Europe, even in the dark ages, was never so dim
as to allow a poet to attribute the recovery of Jerusalem
to Charlemagne or Alfred the Great! But the second
great epic of India conceives and describes the conquest
of Ceylon by a king of the Kosalas who had married the
daughter of Janaka, king of the Videhas.
It is not possible with our present knowledge to state
when the Ramayana was composed in its original shape.
We find references to the Mahabharata in the Suitra
literature, but we find no such reference to the Ramiayana.  The   discovery and conquest of Ceylon by
Vijaya from Bengal took place in the fifth century B.C.,
and at first sight one would be inclined to refer the
first conception of the epic, which has its scene of action
in that island, to that date. On the other hand, the
existence of the island was well known to the Hindus
for centuries before its conquest by Vijaya. And the
composition of the Ramayana, which makes no allusion
to Vijaya's conquest, may be referred to an age anterior
to Vijaya, when the island was still very imperfectly
known to the Hindus.
That this view is more probable appears from the fact
that the whole of India south of the Vindhya chain is
described in the Ramayana as one interminable forest, inhabited by aborigines who are described as monkeys and
bears. Now we know that the banks of the Godaivari and
even of the Krishna river were colonised by the Aryans
early in the Rationalistic Period, and great empires like
that of the Andhras rose to power and started new schools
of science and learning several centuries before Christ.
The first conception of the Ramayana must be referred
to a period anterior to these movements in the South, for
the Ramayana speaks of no Aryan civilisation south of




138


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


the Vindhyas. The original Ramayana, like the original
Mahabharata, belongs therefore to the Epic Age.
Like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is utterly valueless as a narrative of historical events and incidents. As
in the Mahabharata, so in the Ramayana, the heroes are
myths, pure and simple.
Sita, the field furrow, had received divine honours from
the time of the Rig Veda, and had been worshipped
as a goddess. When cultivation gradually spread in
Southern India, it was not difficult to invent a poetical
myth that Sita was carried to the South. And when
this goddess and woman-the noblest creation of human
imagination,-had acquired a distinct and lovely individuality, she was naturally described as the daughter of the
holiest and most learned king on record, Janaka of the
Videhas!
But who is Rama, described in the epic as Sita's husband and the king of the Kosalas? The later Puranas
tell us that he was an incarnation of Vishnu, but Vishnu
himself had not risen to prominence at the time of which
we are speaking! Indra was still the chief of the gods
of the Epic Period. And in the Sutra literature (e.g.,
Paraskara Grihya Sutra, II, 17, 9) we learn that Sita,
the furrow goddess, is the wife of Indra. Is it then an
untenable conjecture that Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, is in his original conception, like Arjuna, the
hero of the Mahabharata, only a new edition of Indra
battling with the demons of drought? The myth of
Indra has thus been mixed up with the epic which describes a historic war in Northern India, and with the
epic which describes the historic conquest of Southern
India!
But though the Ramayana is utterly valueless as a
narrative of events, still, like the Mahabharata, it throws
side-lights on the state of ancient society in India, and
the story of the epic therefore needs be briefly told.
Only we must premise that, even as a picture of life,




CHAP. III.]  VIDEHAS, KOSALAS, AND KASIS.


I39


the Ramayana is long posterior to the Mahabharata, and
belongs to the very close of the Epic Period. We miss
in the Ramayana the fiery valour and the proud selfassertion of the Kshatriyas of the Mahabharata; and
the subordination of the people to the priestly caste is
more complete. Janaka himself is not described as the
proud asserter of Kshatriya learning and dignity that
he was, but as a humble servant of priests. And Rama
himself, the hero of the epic, though he encounters and
defeats a Brahman warrior Parasu Rama, does so with
many apologies and due submission!   The story of
Parasurama probably conceals a great historic truth. He
is said to have fought against the Kshatriyas and exterminated the caste; and then he was conquered by the
Kshatriya Rama, the hero of the epic. It would seem
that this story indicates the real rivalry and hostilities
between the priestly and warrior castes,-indications of
which we have found in a literary form in the Upanishads.
For the rest, one feels on reading the Ramayana that
the real heroic age of India had passed, and that centuries of residence in the Gangetic valley had produced an
enervating effect on the Aryans. We miss the heroic
if somewhat rude and sturdy manners and incidents
which mark the Mahabharata. We miss characters distinguished by real valour, and battles fought with real
obstinacy and determination.  We miss men of flesh
and blood, and pride and determination, like Karna
and Duryodhana and Bhima; and the best developed
characters in the Ramayana are women like the
proud and scheming Kaikeyi or the gentle and ever
suffering Sita. The heroes of the Ramayana are somewhat tame and commonplace personages, very respectful to priests, very anxious to conform to the rules
of decorum and duty, doing a vast amount of fighting
work mechanically, but without the determination, the
persistence of real fighters! A change had come over




140


FPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


the spirit of the nation; and if princes and men had
become more polished and law-abiding, they had become
less sturdy and heroic. For a picture of Hindu life of
the thirteenth century, when the hardy and conquering
Kurus and the Panchalas ruled in the Doab, we would
refer our readers to the Mahabharata. For a picture of
Hindu life of the eleventh century, when the Kosalas
and the Videhas had, by a long residence in the Gangetic
valley, become law-abiding and priest-ridden, learned
and enervated, we would refer our readers to the Ramayana.  The two epics represent the change which
Hindu life and society underwent from the commencement to the close of the Epic Age.
We proceed now with the story of the Ramayana.
The people who lived in the wide tract of country between the Ganges and the Gunduck were known by the
general name of the Kosalas, as we have seen before.
Dasaratha, a distinguished king of this nation, had his
capital in Ayodhya, or Oude, the ruins of which ancient
town are still shown to travellers in some shapeless
mounds. Dasaratha had three queens honoured above
the rest, of whom Kausalya bore him his eldest born
Rama, Kaikeyi was the mother of Bharata, and Sumitra
of Lakshmana and Satrughna. Dasaratha in his old age
decided on making Rama the Yuvaraja or reigning prince,
but the proud and beauteous Kaikeyl insisted that her
son should be Yuvaraja, and the feeble old king yielded
to the determined will of his wife.
Before this Rama had won Sita, the daughter of Janaka
king of the Videhas, at a Svayamvara. Kings and princes
had assembled there, but Rama alone could lift the heavy
bow, and bent it till it broke in twain. But now, when
Ayodhya was still ringing with acclamation at the prospect
of Rama's being installed as Yuvaraja, it was decided
in queen Kaikeyi's chambers that Bharata must be the
Yuvaraja, and further that Rama must go into exile for
fourteen years.




CHAP. III.] VIDEHAS, KOSALAS, AND KASIS.


T14


Rama was too obedient and dutiful to resist or even
resent this decision. His faithful half-brother Lakshmana
accompanied him, and the gentle Sita would not hear
of parting with her lord. Amidst the tears and lamentation of the people of Ayodhya, Rama and Sita and
Lakshmana walked out of the city.
The exiles first went to the hermitage of Bharadvaja
in Prayaga or Allahabad, and then to that of Valmiki in
Chitrakuta, somewhere in modern Bandelkund. Valmiki
is reputed to be the author of the epic Ramayana, just as
Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas,
is said to be the author of the Mahabharata.
Dasaratha died of grief for Rama, and Bharata followed
Rama to Chitrakuta, and informed him of their father's
death, and implored his return. But Rama felt himself
bound by the promise he had made, and it was agreed
that Rama would return after fourteen years and ascend
the throne. Bharata returned to Ayodhya.
Leaving Chitrakuita, Rama wandered in the Dandaka
forest and towards the sources of the Godavari among
jungles and non-Aryan tribes. For Southern India had
not yet been colonised by the Aryans. Thirteen years
thus passed away.
Ravana, the monster king of Lanka or Ceylon, and of
Southern India, heard of the beauty of Sita now dwelling
in jungles; and in the absence of Rama took her away
from their hut, and carried her off to Ceylon. Ramna,
after a long search, obtained clue of her; he made
alliances with the non-Aryan tribes of Southern India,
who are described as monkeys and bears, and made
preparations for crossing over to Ceylon to recover his
wife.
Bali was a great king among the non-Aryans, but his
brother Sugriva thirsted after his kingdom and his wife.
Rama fought and killed Bali, helped Sugriva to win the
kingdom and Bali's widow, and Sugriva then marched
with his army to Lanka.




142


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I I.


Hanuman, the commander-in-chief of the non-Aryan
army, led the way. He leaped over the strait of sixty
miles which separates India from Ceylon, found Sita,
and gave her the ring sent by Rama. He then caused
a conflagration in the capital of Ravana, and returned to
Rama.
A causeway was then built across the strait by boulders
and stones. The reader is aware that a natural causeway
runs nearly across the strait, and there is no doubt that
the physical aspect of this locality suggested to the poet
the idea that the causeway was built by the superhuman
labours of Rama's army. The whole army then crossed
over and laid siege to the capital of Ravana.
The account of the war which follows, though full of
poetical incidents and stirring description, is unnatural
and tedious. Chief after chief was sent out by Ravana
to beat back the invaders, but they all fell in the war,
Rama using his supernatural weapons and mystic mantras.
Indrajit, the proud son of Ravana, battled from the clouds,
but Lakshmana killed him. Ravana came out in rage and
killed Lakshmana, but the dead hero revived under the
influence of some medicine brought by the faithful
Hanuman.   One of Ravana's brothers, Bibhisana, had
left his brother and had joined Rama, and told him the
secret by which each warrior would be killed, and thus
chief after chief of Ravana's proud host fell. At last
Ravana himself came out, and was killed by Rama.
Sita was recovered, but she had to prove her untainted
virtue by throwing herself into a lighted pyre, and then
coming out of it uninjured.
The fourteenth year of exile having now expired,
Rama and Sita returned to Ayodhya and ascended the
throne. But the suspicions of the people fell on Sita,
who had been in Ravana's house, and could not, they
thought, have returned untainted. And Rama, as weak
as his father had been, sent poor, suffering Sita-then
gone with child-to exile.




CHAP. ITT.]  VIDEHAS, KOSALAS, AND KASIS.


T43


Valmiki received her at Chitrakuta, and there her two
sons, Lava and Kusa, were born.  Valmiki composed
the poem of the Ramayana and taught the boys to repeat
the piece, and thus years were passed.
Then Rama decided to celebrate the Asvamedha sacrifice, and sent out the horse.  The animal came as
far as Valmiki's hermitage, and the boys, in a playful
humour, caught it and detained it. Rama's troops tried in
vain to recover the animal. At last Rama himself saw
the princely boys, but did not know who they were; he
heard the poem Ramayana chanted by them, and it was
in a passion of grief and regret that he at last knew them
and embraced them as his own dear boys.
But there was no joy in store for Sita. The people's
suspicions could not be allayed, and Rama was too weak
to act against his people.  The earth which had given
poor Sita birth yawned and received its long-suffering
child. The Vedic conception of Sita, as the field-furrow,
manifests itself in the Epic in this incident. But to the
millions of Hindus, Sita is a real human character,-a
pattern of female virtue and female self-abnegation. To
this day Hindus hesitate to call their female children
by the name of Sita; for if her gentleness, her virtue,
her uncomplaining devotion, and her unconquerable
love for her lord, were more than human, her sufferings
and woes too were more than usually fall to the lot of
woman. There is not a Hindu woman in the length
and breadth of India to whom the story of suffering
Sita is not known, and to whom her character is not a
model to strive after and to imitate. And Rama too,
though scarcely equal to Sita in the worth of character,
has been a model to men for his truth, his obedience,
and his piety. And thus the epic has been for the
millions of India a means of moral education, the value
of which can hardly be over-estimated.




CHAPTER IV.


ARYANS AND NON-ARYANS.
THE great river systems of Northern India determined
the course of Aryan conquests; when we survey the
course of these rivers, we comprehend the history of
Aryan conquests during ten centuries. And when we
have traced the course of the Indus and its tributaries,
and of the Ganges and the Jumna as far as Benares and
North Behar, we have seen the whole extent of IndoAryan world as it existed at the close of the Epic Period,
or about I000 B.C.  Beyond this wide tract of Hindu
kingdoms lay the whole extent of India yet unexplored
or rather unconquered by the Aryans, and peopled by
various aboriginal tribes.  A wide belt of this NonAryan tract, surrounding the HIindu world to the east,
south, and west, was becoming known to the Hindus
about the very close of the Epic Period. South Behar,
Malwa, and a portion of the Deccan and the regions to
the south of the Rajputana desert, formed a wide semicircular belt of country, as yet not Hinduised, but becoming gradually known to the Hindus, and therefore finding
occasional mention in the latest works of the Brahmana
literature, as regions peopled by Satvas, i.e., living
creatures, hardly human beings.  We can imagine hardy
colonists penetrating into this encircling belt of unknown
and uncivilised regions, obtaining a mastery over the
aborigines wherever they went, establishing some isolated settlements on the banks of fertile rivers, and presenting to the astonished barbarians some of the results
144




CHAP. IV.]  ARYANS AND NON-ARYANS.


I45


of civilised administration and civilised life.  We can
imagine also saintly anchorites retiring into these wild
jungles, and fringing the tops of hills or fertile valleys
with their holy hermitages, which were the seats of
learning and of sanctity. And lastly, adventurous royal
huntsmen not unoften penetrated into these jungles, and
unhappy princes, exiled by their more powerful rivals,
often chose to retire from the world and took up their
abodes in these solitudes. In such manner was the belt
of Non-Aryan country gradually known to the Hindus,
and we will cite a passage or two which will show how far
this knowledge extended, and how the civilised Hindus
named the different aboriginal tribes dwelling in this
tract, probably in the eleventh century B.C.
There is a passage in the last book of the Aitareya
Brahmana which, along with an account of the principal
Hindu kingdoms of the time, makes some mention of
aboriginal races in the south and south-west; and the
passage deserves to be quoted:"The Vasavas then inaugurated him (Indra) in the
eastern direction during thirty-one days by these three
Rik verses, the Yajus verse, and the great words (all
just mentioned), for the sake of obtaining universal
sovereignty.  Hence all kings of eastern nations are
inaugurated to universal sovereignty and called Samzrdj
i.e., universal sovereign, after this precedent made by
the gods.
"Then the Rudras inaugurated Indra in the southern
region during thirty-one days, with the three Rik verses,
the Yajus, and the great words (just mentioned), for obtaining enjoyment of pleasures. Hence all kings of living
creatures* in the southern region, are inaugurated for
the enjoyment of pleasures and called B/ioja, i.e., the
enjoyer.
" Then the divine Adityas inaugurated him in the western region during thirty-one days, with those three Rik
* Satvdndm is the word in the original.


VOL. I.


K




I46


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


verses, that Yajus verse, and those great words for obtaining independent rule. Hence all kings of the Nzi'cyas
and Apdchyas in the western countries * are inaugurated
to independent rule, and called "independent rulers."' 
"Then the Visvedevah inaugurated him during thirtyone days in the northern region by those three Rik verses,
&c., for distinguished rule. Hence all people living in
northern countries beyond the Himalaya, such as the
Uttara KYurus, Uttara Maddras, are inaugurated for living
without a king ( Vairdjyam), and called Virdj, i.e., without
king.
"Then the divine Sadhyas and Aptyas inaugurated
Indra during thirty-one days in the middle region, which
is a firmly established footing (the immovable centre)
to the kingship (Rdjya). Hence the kings of the Kuru
PancAidas, with the Vasas and Uszzaras, are inaugurated
to kingship and called kings (Raja)."
This passage shows us at one glance the whole of the
Hindu world as it existed at the close of the Epic Period.
To the farthest east lived the Videhas and the Kasis and
the Kosalas, as we have seen before, and those newest and
youngest of the Hindu colonists excelled in learning and
reputation their elder brethren in the west. Their kings,
Janaka and Ajatasatru and others, took the proud title of
Samraj; and worthily maintained their dignity by their
learning and their prowess.
In the south, some bands of Aryan settlers must have
worked their way up the valley of the Chumbal, and
become acquainted with the aboriginal tribes inhabiting
the country now known as Malwa. These tribes were
called Satvas, i.e., living creatures, scarcely human beings!
We note, however, that the kingdoms in this direction
already went by the name of Bhoja (however fancifiul the
derivation which the author gives to the word), and Bhoja
was in later times the name of the same region, lying
* Pratchy&m is the word in the original.
t Svardt is the word in the original,whence Saurdshlra and Surat.




CHAP. IV.]  ARYANS AND NON-ARYANS.


147


immediately to the north of the Vindhya chain, and along
the valley of the Chumbal.
Westwards from this place surged the waves of Aryan
settlers or adventurers, until the invaders came to the
shores of the Arabian sea, and could proceed no further.
The aboriginal races in these distant tracts were looked
upon with some degree of contempt by the civilised colonists or invaders, and were significantly called Nlchyas
and Apac/hyas, and their rulers had the significant name of
Svardt or independent rulers. These, races dimly known
at the very close of the Epic Period, were the ancestors
of the proudest and most warlike Hindu tribe of later
times, viz., the Maharattas.
To the north the Uttara Kurus and the Uttara Madras
and other tribes lived-beyond the Himalaya we are told
-but which probably means beyond the lower ranges and
among the valleys of the Himalayas. To the present day
men in these hills live in independent primitive communities, and have very little concern with chief or king; and
it is no wonder that in ancient times they should be known
as peoples without kings.
And then, in the very centre of the Hindu world, along
the valley of the Ganges, lived the powerful tribes of the
Kurus and the Panchalas, and the less known tribes, the
Vasas and the Usinaras.
In the west, the deserts of Rajputana were wholly
unexplored by the Aryans. The Bhil aborigines of those
deserts and mountains were left undisturbed until new and
hardy tribes of invaders entered India after the Christian
era and settled down in these parts.
In the far east, South Behar was not yet Hinduised.
In a passage in the Atharva Veda pointed out by Professor
Weber, special and hostile notice is taken of the Angas
and the Magadhas. The passage shows that the people
of South Behar did not yet belong to the Hindu confederation of nations; but were nevertheless becoming known to
the Aryans. Bengal proper was as yet unknown.




r48


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


And the whole of Southern India, i.e., India south of the
Vindhya range, was yet unoccupied by the Hindus. The
Aitareya Brahmana gives (VII, I8), the names of certain
degraded barbarous tribes, and among others that of the
Andhras. We shall see that in the Rationalistic Period
the Andhras rose to be a great civilised Hindu power in
the Deccan.
We have now spoken of all the principal Aryan races
and kingdoms which flourished in the Epic Period, and of
the non-Aryan kingdoms, which formed a semicircular belt
in the south of the Hindu world. It will be our pleasant
task in the following chapters to give some account of the
social customs and the domestic life of the people. But
before we take leave of kings, we must make some mention
of the great coronation ceremony, as it has been described
in many works of the Epic Period. This ceremony and
the horse-sacrifice were the most imposing and ostentatious royal ceremonials of Ancient India, and we have
already said something about both these rites, in connection with the two Epics of the Hindus. An extract or
two about the coronation ceremony are all that is needed
here:"He spreads the tiger-skin on the throne in such a
manner that the hairs come outside, and that part which
covered the neck is turned eastward. For the tiger is the
Kshattra (royal power) of the beasts in the forests. The
Kshattra is the royal prince; by means of this Kshattra,
the king makes his Kshattra (royal power) prosper. The
king, when taking his seat on the throne, approaches it
from behind, turning his face eastwards, kneels down with
crossed legs, so that his right knee touches the earth, and
holding the throne with his hands, prays over it an appropriate mantra.
"The priest then pours the holy water over the king's
head, and repeats the following: 'With these waters,
which are happy, which cure everything, increase the
royal power, the immortal Prajapati sprinkled Indra, Soma




CHAP. IV.]  ARYANS AND NON-ARYANS.


149


sprinkled the royal Varuna, and Yama sprinkled Manu;
with the same sprinkle I thee! Be the ruler over kings
in this world. The illustrious mother bore thee as the
great universal ruler over men; the blessed mother has
borne thee, &c.' And the ceremony concludes with a
drink of the Soma wine which the priest hands over to
the king" (Aitareya Bra/zmnana, VIII, 6-9).
We are then told that with this ceremony priests invested a number of kings whose names are already known
to us. Tura, the son of Kavasha, thus inaugurated Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit. "Thence Janamejaya went
everywhere, conquering the earth up to its ends, and
sacrificed the sacrificial horse." Parvata and Narada thus
invested Yudhamsraushti, the son of Ugrasena. Vasishtha
invested Sudas, the great conqueror of the Rig Veda
hymns; and Dirghatamas invested Bharata, the son of
Duhshanta, with this ceremony.
We have another excellent account of the coronation rite
in the White Yajur Veda, from which we quote a remarkable passage in which the priest blesses the newly-crowned
king: " May God who rules the world bestow on you the
power to rule your subjects. May fire, worshipped by
householders, bestow on you supremacy over the householders. May Soma, the lord of trees, bestow on you
supremacy over forests. May Vrihaspati, the god of
speech, bestow on you supremacy in speech. May Indra,
the highest among gods, bestow on you the highest
supremacy. May Rudra, the cherisher of animals, bestow on you supremacy over animals. May Mitra, who
is truth, make you supreme in truth. May Varuna, who
cherishes holy works, make you supreme in holy acts"
(IX, 39).
In the address to the people which follows, the priest
tells them: "This is your king, O ye such and such
tribes." The Kanva text reads thus: " This is your king,
O ye Kurus, O ye Panchalas."
We will conclude this chapter with an excellent piece




I50                EPIC PERIOD.              [BOOK II.
of advice which is given to kings further on, in the same
Veda, which modern rulers will do well to remember:" If thou shalt be a ruler, then from this day judge the
strong and the weak with equal justice, resolve on doing
good incessantly to the public, and protect the country from
all calamities " (X, 27).




CHAPTER V.


CASTE.
THE entire isolation in which the Hindu Aryans lived
from the outer world for centuries and thousands of years,
-an isolation which has no parallel in the history of any
other nation,-had its advantages and also its disadvantages. Among other results it led to social institutions
being more and more crystallised into hard and fast rules,
which gradually contracted the liberties and the free
energies of the people. Four or five centuries of peaceful
residence in a genial climate in the fertile basin of the
Ganges and the Jumna enabled the Hindus to found
civilised kingdoms, to cultivate philosophy, science, and
arts, and to develop their religious and social institutions; but it was under the same gentle but enervating
influences that they also divided themselves into those
separate social classes known as "castes."
We have seen that about the close of the Vedic Period
the priests had already formed themselves into a separate
profession, and sons stepped forward to take up the duties
of their fathers. When religious rites became more elaborate in the Epic Period, when with the founding of new
kingdoms along the fertile Doab kings prided themselves
on the performance of vast sacrifices with endless rites
and observances, it is easy to understand that the priests
who alone could undertake such complicated rites rose in
the estimation of the people, until they were naturally
regarded as aloof from the ordinary people, as a distinct
and superior race,-as a caste. They devoted their life151




I 5 2


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


time to learn these rites, and they alone were able to
perform them in all their details, and the natural inference in the popular mind was that they alone were worthy
of the holy task. And when hereditary priests were thus
completely separated from the people by their fancied
sanctity and their real knowledge of elaborate rites, it was
scarcely considered "good form" on their part to form
misalliances with the people outside their holy rank.
They might still condescend to honour particular families
by choosing brides from among them, but young ladies
of priestly houses must never give their hands to men
outside their ranks. What is a feeling and a custom
among modern nations soon became an inviolable and
religious rule among a custom-abiding people like the
Gangetic Hindus, isolated from the outside world.
The very same causes led to the rise of a royal caste.
Royalty had not assumed a very high dignity among the
Punjab Hindus. Warlike chiefs led clans from conquests
to conquests; and the greatest of them, like Sudas the
patron of the Vasishthas and the Visvamitras, were looked
upon more as leaders of men and protectors of clans than
as mighty kings. Far different was the state of things
with the Gangetic Hindus. Probably in the early days
of the martial Kurus and Panchalas, caste distinctions
had not yet been fully matured. But later in the day,
the kings of the peaceful Kosalas and Videhas, surrounded
by all the pomp and circumstance of royalty, were looked
upon by the humble and lowly and extremely law-abiding
people as more than human. It was scarcely possible,
under these circumstances, that maidens of the royal or
warlike classes should condescend to marry men from the
ranks. The stigma which attaches to such misalliances
all over the world gave rise to an inviolable rule in
India. And when priests and warriors were thus separated
by absolute and inviolable rules from the people, the
humblest girls of the former classes were debarred from
marriage with the greatest and richest among the Vaisyas.




CHAP. V.]


CA STE.


I53


It is difficult to find in the history of European institutions any parallel to the caste-system of India. Yet
there was a time in Europe when institutions somewhat
similar to the caste-system of India sprang from the same
causes which operated in India, viz., the feebleness of the
people, and the power of warriors and priests. When the
Roman Empire fell to pieces, and barbarian chiefs and
barons carved out among themselves the fairest portions
of Europe, the mass of the people were devoid of political
life and political freedom. Never in Europe was there
such a wide distinction between a powerful clergy and a
powerful soldiery on the one hand, and a lifeless and
powerless people on the other, as in the days of feudalism
in Europe. Vast monasteries arose all over Europe; great
feudal towers frowned on every navigable river and every
humble village; and the dwellers of villages and the
humble artisans in little towns were scarcely regarded
as better than slaves. The clergy, the knighthood, and
the people of Europe in the Middle Ages answered in
some respects to the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, and the
Vaisyas of India.
But the resemblance is in appearance only. The clergy
of Feudal Europe did not marry, and their ranks were
recruited from the ablest, the cleverest, the most learned
among the people. The knights too were glad to welcome
into their ranks doughty squires and brave warriors among
the people.  The people, too, soon formed leagues to
protect their commerce, fortified their towns to meet the
marauding barons, formed municipal corporations, and
trained themselves to arms to defend their interests in
those insecure times. Ambitious scions of baronial houses
often mixed with the people, and fought their battles in
the field arid at the council board; and this healthy admixture, which the caste-system prevented in India, revived
and strengthened the people in Europe. Feudalism and
the absolute power of the clergy decayed as trade and
commerce and political life rose among the people; and




I54


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK It.


the danger of the people being divided into three " castes,"
if it ever existed in Europe, passed away once and for
ever.
The simple origin of the caste institution as narrated
above is obscured in later Hindu literature in a cloud of
strange myths and legends. But in spite of such wonderful legends, later Hindu writers never completely lost
sight of the fact that caste was originally only a distinction based on professions. And this simple and natural
account of the origin of caste often cccurs in the same
Puranic works which elsewhere delight in strange and
monstrous myths about the origin of the institution. We
have room only for one or two extracts.
In the Vayu Purana we are told that in the first or
Krita Age, there were no castes, and that subsequently
Brahma established divisions among men according to
their works. "Those of them who were suited for command and prone to deeds of violence, he appointed to
be Kshatriyas, from their protecting others. Those disinterested men who attended upon them, spoke the truth,
and declared the Veda aright, were Brahmans. Those of
them who formerly were feeble, engaged in the work of
husbandmen, tillers of the earth, and industrious, were
Vaisyas, cultivators and providers of subsistence. Those
who were cleansers and ran about on service, and had
little vigour or strength, were called Sudras." Accounts
more or less similar to this occur in the other Puranas
also.
The Ramayana in its present shape is, as we have
seen before, the work of later ages.  In the Uttara
Kanda, chapter 74, we are told that in the Krita Age
Brahmans alone practised austerities: that in the Treta
Age, Kshatriyas were born, and then was established the
modern system of four castes. Reduced from mythical to
historical language, the above account may be read thus:
-In the Vedic Age, the Hindu Aryans were a united body
and practised Hindu rites. In the Epic Age, however,




CHAP. V.]


CASTE.


I55


priests and kings separated themselves as distinct castes,
and the people also formed themselves into the lower
orders, the Vaisyas and Sfidras.
The Mahabharata also, as we have seen before, is in its
present shape a work of later ages, but here also we occasionally meet with a sensible and honest attempt to account
for caste. In the Santi Parva, section I88, we are told
that " red-limbed twice-born men who were fond of sensual
pleasure, fiery, irascible, daring, and forgetful of their
sacrificial duties, fell into the caste of Kshatriyas. Yellow
twice-born men, who derived their livelihood from cows
and agriculture, and did not practise religious performances, fell into the caste of Vaisyas. Black twice-born
men who were impure and addicted to violence and
lying, and were covetous and subsisted by all kinds of
works, fell into the caste of Sudras. Being thus separated
by these their works, the twice-born men become of other
castes. "
The composers of these and similar passages no doubt
knew of the legend of the four castes springing from four
members of Brahma's body; but they ignored it, and
treated it as an allegory, which it is. They maintain
that in the earliest age there were no castes, and they
make a very fair and sensible conjecture that castes were
developed in a later age from distinctions in work and
professions.  We must now, however, return from this
digression, and examine the caste-system as it prevailed
in the Epic Period.
As we have stated before, the caste-system first formed
itself among the peaceful citizens of Gangetic India; it
never should be forgotten, however, that the worst results
of that system did not appear, and could not appear,
until the Hindus had ceased to be a free nation. In the
Epic Period the body of the people were still entitled to
acquire religious knowledge and learning, and to perform
religious rites, just like Brahmans and Kshatriyas. And
even intermarriage between Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and




I56


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


Vaisyas was allowed under certain restrictions. However
much, therefore, the historian of Ancient India may deplore the commencement of the caste-system, he should
never forget that the worst results of that system were
unknown in India until after the Mahommedan conquest.
In the sixteenth chapter of the White Yajur Veda
we meet with the names of various professions which
throw some light on the state of society at the time the
chapter was compiled. It is apparent, however, the list
is one of different professions, not of different castes.
Thus, various kinds of thieves are enumerated in Kandikas, 20 and 21, and horsemen, charioteers, and infantry
are spoken of in 26. Similarly the carpenter, the chariotmaker, the potter, and the blacksmith, mentioned in 27,
also formed different professions, and not castes. The
Nishada and others, also mentioned in the same KandikA,
were obviously aboriginal tribes, who, then as now, formed
the lowest strata of Hindu society.
The list is very much enlarged in the 30th chapter of
the same work, which, as we have seen before, is of a
considerably later date, and indeed belongs to the Khila or
the supplement. But here, too, we meet with many names
which indicate professions only, and many others which
undoubtedly refer to the aborigines; and we find no
evidence that the mass of the Vaisya population had been
divided into sub-castes.  We find names of dancers,
orators, and frequenters in assemblies; of chariotmakers, carpenters, potters, jewellers, cultivators, arrowmakers, and bow-makers; of dwarfs and crookedly formed
men, and blind and deaf persons; of physicians and astronomers; of keepers of elephants, horses, and cattle; of servants, cooks, gate-keepers, and wood-cutters; of painters
and engravers; of washermen, dyers, and barbers; of
learned men and proud men and women of various descriptions; of tanners, fishermen, hunters and fowlers; of
goldsmiths and merchants and men with various diseases;
of wig-makers and poets and musicians of various kinds.




CHAP. V.]


CASTE.


I57


It is plain that this is not a list of castes. On the other
hand, the Magadha and Suta and Bhlmala and Mrigayu
and Svanin, and Nishada, and Durmada, and others mentioned in the list, are clearly aborigines, living under the
shadow of the Aryan society. We have only to add that
the same list, with slight modifications, is given in the
Taittiriya Brahmana.
The above lists throw some light on the state of the
society and the professions which were recognised in the
period of which we speak; but they have nothing to do
with caste. Throughout the Epic Period, and throughout
the succeeding periods almost to the time of the Mahommedan conquest, the great body of the Aryan people
were Vaisyas, although they followed numerous professions. Along with the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas
they formed the Aryan nation, and were entitled to all
the rights and privileges, and the literary and religious
heritages of the nation. The conquered aborigines, who
formed the Sudra caste, were alone debarred from the
heritage of the Aryans.
This is the cardinal distinction between the ancient
caste-system, and the caste-system of the present age.
Caste reserved some privileges for priests, and some
privileges for warriors, in ancient times; but never
divided and disunited the Aryan people.  Priests and
warriors and citizens, though following their hereditary
professions from generation to generation, felt that they
were one nation and one race, received the same religious
instructions, attended the same schools of learning, possessed the same literature and traditions, ate and drank
together, intermarried and intermixed in all respects, and
were proud to call themselves the Aryan race as against
the conquered aborigines. Caste in modern times has
cut up the Aryan people, the Vaisyas, into scores of
communities, has opened the wide gulf of race distinctions among these different communities, has interdicted
marriage and social communion among them, has starved




I58


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


the entire body of the people of religious knowledge
and literature, and has degraded them to the rank of
Sudras.
There are numerous passages in the Brahmana literature which show that the distinctions between the castes
were by no means so rigid in the early times as at a later
period. A remarkable passage, for instance, occurs in the
Aitareya Brahmana (VII, 29). When a Kshatriya eats
at a sacrifice the portion assigned for Brahmans, his
progeny has the characteristics of a Brahman " ready to
take gifts, thirsty after drinking Soma, and hungry of
eating food, and ready to roam about everywhere according to pleasure." And " in the second or third generation
he is capable of entering completely the Bradzmanszip."
When he eats the share of Vaisyas his "offspring will
be born with the characteristic of Vaisyas, paying taxes
to another king;" "and in the second or third degree
they are capable of entering the caste of Vaisyas."
When he takes the share of Sudras, his progeny "will
have the characteristics of Sudras; they are to serve
the three higher castes, to be expelled and beaten according to the pleasure of their masters." And "in the
second or third degree, he is capable of entering the
condition of Sudras."
In a previous chapter we have seen that Janaka, king
of the Videhas, imparted to Yajnavalkya learning unknown to the priest before, and was thenceforward considered a Brahman (Satapatha Brahmana, XI, 6, 2, I).
In Aitareya Brahmana (II, I9), we are told of Kavasha,
the son of Ilusha, whom the other Rishis expelled from
a sacrificial session, saying, "How should the son of a
slave girl, a gamester, who is no Brahman, remain among
us and become initiated! But Kavasha knew the gods
and all the gods knew him, and he was admitted as a
Rishi. Similarly, in the beautiful legend of Satyakama
Jabala in the Chhandogya Upanishad (IV, 4), is exemplified the fact that truth and learning opened out in those




CHAP. V.]


CASTE.


I59


days a path to the highest honour and to the highest
caste. The legend is so beautiful in its simplicity and
its poetry, that we feel no hesitation in quoting a portion
of it:"I. Satyakama, the son of Jabala, addressed his
mother and said: 'I wish to become a Brahmacharin
(religious student), mother. Of what family am I?'
"2. She said to him: 'I do not know, my child, of
what family thou art. In my youth when I had to move
about much as a servant, I conceived thee. I do not know
of what family thou art. I am Jabala by name, thou art
Satyakama; say that thou art Satyakama Jabala.'
"3. He, going to Gautama Haridrumata, said to him:
'I wish to become a Brahmacharin with you, sir. May
I come to you, sir?'
"4. He said to him: 'Of what family are you, my
friend?' He replied: 'I do not know, sir, of what
family I am. I asked my mother, and she answered"In my youth when I had to move about much as a
servant, I conceived thee. I do not know of what family
thou art. I am Jabala by name, thou art Satyakama."
I am therefore Satyakama Jabala, sir.'
" 5. He said to him: 'No one but a true Brahman
would thus speak out. Go and fetch fuel, friend; I shall
initiate you. You have not swerved from the truth.'"
And this truth-loving young man was initiated, and,
according to the custom of the times, went out to tend
his teacher's cattle.  In time he learnt the great truths
which nature, and even the brute creation, teach those
whose minds are open to instruction. Yes, he learned
truths from the bull of the herd that he was tending,
from the fire that he had lighted, and from a flamingo
and a diver-bird which flew near him, when in the evening
he had penned his cows and laid wood on the evening fire, and sat behind it.  The young student then
came back to his teacher, and his teacher at once said:
"Friend, you shine like one who knows Brahman: who




160


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK. II.


then has taught you?"  "Not men," was the young
student's reply. And the truth which the young student
had learnt, though clothed in the fanciful style of the
period, was that the four quarters, and the earth, the
sky, the heaven and the ocean, and the sun, the moon,
the lightning, and the fire, and the organs and minds
of living beings, yea the whole universe, was Brahman
or God.
Such is the teaching of the Upanishads, and such are
the poetical legends in which the teaching is clothed, as
we shall see further on. A legend like that of Satyakama
Jabala, which is full of human feeling and pathos and the
highest moral lessons, cheers and refreshes the student
after he has waded through pages of the dry and meaningless dogmas and rituals of the Brahmanas. But our
purpose in quoting the legend here is to show that the
rules of caste had not become yet rigid when such
legends were composed. We find in the legend that the
son of a servant girl, who did not know his own father,
became a religious student simply through his love of
truth, learnt the lessons which nature and the learned
men of the time could teach him, and subsequently became
classed among the wisest religious teachers of the time.
Surely the caste-system of that ancient time must have
been freedom itself compared to the narrow system of
later times, when the entire nation except the priests
was cruelly debarred from religious knowledge,-that
knowledge which is the food of a nation's mind, and the
life of a nation's life.
It was in the Epic Period that the sacrificial cord
Yajnopavita came into use. We are told in the Satapatha
Brahmana (II, 4, 2) that when all beings came to Prajapati, the gods and the fathers came, wearing the sacrificial
cord. And we are told in Kaushitaki Upanishad (II, 7)
that the all-conquering Kaushitaki adores the sun when
rising, having put on the sacrificial cord.
The Yajnopavita was worn in this ancient period by




CHAP. V.]


CA STE.


Brahmans, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas alike, but only at the
time of performing Yajna or Vedic sacrifice.
Things have changed since those ancient times. The
Yajnopavita is now habitually and ostentatiously worn
at all times, by the members of one caste only-the
Brahmans-and that caste has forgotten to perform Vedic
Yajna!


VOL. I.


T,




CHAPTER VI.


SOCIAL LIFE.
THE great distinction, then, between the society of the
Vedic times and the society of the Epic Period was that
the caste-system was unknown in the former, and had
grown up in the latter. But this was not the only distinction. Centuries of culture and progress had their
influence on society, and the cultured Hindus of the Epic
Period were as widely different in their social manners
from the warrior-cultivators of the Vedic Period, as the
Greeks of the time of Pericles were different from the
Greeks of the time of Agamemnon and Ulysses.
The Hindus of the period of which we are speaking
had attained a high degree of refinement and civilisation,
and had developed minute rules to regulate their domestic
and social duties. Royal courts were the seats of learning, and the learned and wise of all nations were invited,
honoured, and rewarded. Justice was administered by
learned officers, and laws regulated every duty of life.
Towns, with their strong walls and beautiful edifices,
multiplied among all nations, and had their judges, their
executive officers, and their police. Agriculture was fostered, and the king's officers looked to the collection of
taxes and the comforts of cultivators.
We have said that the courts of enlightened and learned
kings, like those of the Videhas, the Kasis, and the
Kuru-Panchalas, were the principal seats of learning in
those times. Learned priests were retained in such courts
for the performance of sacrifices, and also for the purpose
162




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


I63


of the cultivation of learning; and many of the Brahmanas which have been handed down to us, were composed in the schools which these priests founded. On
great occasions men of learning came from distant towns
and villages, and discussions were held not only on
ritualistic matters, but on such subjects as the human
mind, the destination of the soul after death, the future
world, the nature of the gods, the fathers, and the
different orders of being, and lastly, on the nature of
that Universal Being who has manifested himself in all
the works we see.
But learning was not confined to royal courts. There
were Parishads or Brahmanic establishments for the
cultivation of learning, answering to the Universities of
Europe, and young men went to these Parishads to acquire
learning. Thus in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad VI, 2, we
learn that Svetaketu went to the Parishads of the Panchalas
for his education. Professor Max Muller, in his History
of Sanscrit Literature, quotes passages which show that,
according to modern writers, a Parishad ought to consist of twenty-one Brahmans well versed in philosophy,
theology, and law; but these rules, as he points out, are
laid down in later law books, and do not describe the
character of the Parishads of the Epic Period. Parasara
says that four, or even three, able men from amongst the
Brahmans in a village, who know the Veda and keep the
sacrificial fire, form a Parishad.
Besides these Parishads, individual teachers established
what would be called private schools in Europe, and often
collected round themselves students from various parts
of the country. These students lived with their teachers,
served them in a menial capacity during the time of
their studentship, and after twelve years or longer, made
suitable presents to their teachers and returned to their
homes and their longing relatives.  Learned Brahmans
too, who retired to forests in their old age, often collected
students round them, and much of the boldest speculations




i64


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


of this period has proceeded from these sylvan and retired seats of sanctity and learning. Such is the way in
which learning has been cultivated and preserved during
thousands of years among the Hindus, a nation who
valued learning and knowledge perhaps more than any
other nation in ancient or modern times. Good works
and religious rites lead, according to the Hindu creed, to
happier states of life and to their due reward; but true
knowledge alone leads to final union with God.
When students had thus acquired the traditional learning of the age either in Parishads or under private teachers,
they returned to their homes, married, and settled down
as householders. With marriage began their duties as
householders, and the first duty of a householder was to
light the sacrificial fire under an auspicious constellation,
to offer morning and evening libations of milk to the
fire, to perform other religious and domestic rites, and
above all, to offer hospitality to strangers. The essence
of a Hindu's duties are inculcated in passages like the
following:"Say what is true! Do thy duty! Do not neglect
the study of the Veda! After having brought to thy
teacher the proper reward, do not cut off the lives of
children! Do not swerve from the truth! Do not swerve
from duty! Do not neglect what is useful! Do not
neglect greatness! Do not neglect the learning and
teaching of the Veda!
Do not neglect the works due to the gods and fathers!
Let thy mother be to thee like unto a god! Let thy father
be to thee like unto a god! Let thy teacher be to thee
like unto a god! Whatever actions are blameless, those
should be regarded, not others. Whatever good works
have been performed by us, those should be observed by
thee" (Taittirzya Upanishad, I, 2).
Pleasing pictures of a happy state of society are presented in many passages which we meet with in the
iterature of the period: "May the BrAhmans in our




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


I65


kingdom," says the priest at a horse-sacrifice, "live in
piety; may our warriors be skilled in arms and mighty;
may our cows yield us profuse milk, our bullocks carry
their weights, and our horses be swift; may our women
defend their homes, and our warriors be victorious; may
our youths be refined in their manners.... May Parjanya
shower rain in every home and in every region; may our
crops yield grains and ripen, and we attain our wishes
and live in bliss " ( Whie Yajur Veda, XXII, 22).
The wealth of rich men consisted in gold and silver
and jewels; in cars, horses, cows, mules and slaves; in
houses and fertile fields, and even in elephants (Chhandogya Upanishad, V, 13, 17, and I9; VII, 24; Satapatha Brahmana, III, 2, 48; Taittiriya Upanishad, I, 5,
12, &c., &c.). Gold is considered a proper gift at sacrifice,
the gift of silver being strictly prohibited. The reason is
sufficiently grotesque, as the reasons given in the Brahmanas generally are: When the gods claimed back the
goods deposited with Agni, he wept, and the tears he shed
became silver; and hence if silver is given as daks/iind,
there will be weeping in the house! The reason scarcely
veils the cupidity of priests, which was the real cause
of gifts in gold.
Not only was the use of gold and silver known, but
several other metals are mentioned in White Yajur Veda,
XVIII, 13. The following passage from the ChhAndogya
Upanishad specifies some metals then in use:"As one binds gold by means of lavana (borax),
and silver by means of gold, and tin by means of silver,
and lead by means of tin, and iron by means of lead,
and wood by means of iron, and also by means of
leather" (IV, 17, 7).
In Aitareya Brahmana (VIII, 22), we are told, evidently
in the language of exaggeration, that the son of Atri
presented ten thousand elephants and ten thousand slave
girls, "well endowed with ornaments on their necks,
who had been gathered from all quarters."




I 66


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


As in the Vedic Period, the food of the people consisted of various kinds of grain as well as the meat of
animals. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (VI, III, I3),
ten kinds of seeds are mentioned, viz., rice and barley
(brihiyavas), sesamum and kidney beans (tilamashas),
millet and panic seed (anupriyangavas), wheat (godhumas)
lentils (masuras), pulse (khalvas) and vetches (khalakulas).
In the White Yajur Veda (XVIII, 12) we have a list
of these grains, beside mudga, nivara, and syamaka.
Grains were ground and sprinkled with curds, honey,
and clarified butter, and made into different kinds of
cake. Milk and its various preparations have ever been
a favourite food in India.
Animal food was in use in the Epic Period, and the
cow and the bull were often laid under requisition. In
Aitareya Brahmana (I, 15) we learn that an ox or a cow
is killed when a king or an honoured guest is received;
and an honoured guest is called, even in comparatively
modern Sanscrit, a cow-killer.
In the Brahmana of the Black Yajur Veda, the kind
and character of the cattle which should be slaughtered
in minor sacrifices, for the gratification of particular
divinities, are laid down in detail. The same Brahmana
lays down instructions for carving, and the Gopatha
Brahmana tells us who received the different portions.
The priests got the tongue, the neck, the shoulder, the
rump, the legs, &c.; while the master of the house (wisely)
appropriated to himself the sirloin, and his wife had to
content herself with the pelvis! Plentiful libations of the
Soma beer were taken to wash down the meat!
In III, I, 2, 21 of the Satapatha Brahmana there is an
amusing discussion as to the propriety of eating the meat
of an ox or a cow. The conclusion is not very definite:
"Let him (the priest) not eat the flesh of the cow and
the ox."  Nevertheless Yajnavalkya said (taking apparently a very practical view of the matter), " I for one eat
it, provided that it is tender! "




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


I67


The practical Yajnavalkya could scarcely, however,
have contemplated the wonderful effects of vegetable and
animal diets respectively, as laid down in the following
passage in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (VI, 4, I7
and I8):" And if a man wishes that a learned daughter should
be born to him, and that she should live to her full age,
then after having prepared boiled rice with sesamum
and butter they (the husband and wife) should both eat,
being fit to have offspring.
"And if a man wishes that a learned son should be
born to him, famous, a public man, a popular speaker,
that he should know all the Vedas, and that he should
live to his full age, then, after having prepared boiled
rice with meat and butter, they (the husband and wife)
should both eat, being fit to have offspring. The meat
should be of a young or of an old bull."
We scarcely thought that the venerable composers of
the Vedic Brahmanas ever suspected any sort of connection between beef-eating and public-speaking, such
as has manifested itself in later days!
And now let our readers construct for themselves a
picture of the social life which the Hindus of the Epic
Period-which the citizens of Hastinapura and Kampilya and Ayodhya and Mithila-lived three thousand
years ago. The towns were surrounded by walls, beautified by edifices, and laid out in streets, which would
not bear comparison with the structures and roads of
modern days, but were probably the finest of their kind
in ancient times. The king's palace was always the
centre of the town, and was frequented by boisterous
barons and a rude soldiery, as well as by holy saints
and learned priests. The people flocked to the palace
on every great occasion, loved, respected and worshipped
the king, and had no higher faith than loyalty to the
king. Householders and citizens had their possessions
and wealth in gold, silver, and jewels; in cars, horses,




I68


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


mules, and slaves; and in the fields surrounding the
town. They kept the sacred fire in every respectable
household, honoured guests, lived according to the law
of the land, offered sacrifices with the help of Brahmans, and honoured knowledge. Every Aryan boy was
sent to school at an early age. Brahmans and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas were educated together, learnt the
same lessons and the same religion, and returned home,
married, and settled down as householders.  Priests
and soldiers were a portion of the people, intermarried
with the people, and ate and drank with the people.
Various classes of manufacturers supplied the various
wants of a civilised society, and followed their ancestral
professions from generation to generation, but were not
cut up into separate castes. Agriculturists lived with
their herds and their ploughs in their own villages, and
according to the ancient custom of India, Hindu village
communities managed and settled their own village concerns.  The picture of ancient life can be indefinitely
enlarged; but each reader will probably do this for himself. We will turn from this general account of ancient
society to examine the position which women held in
that society.
We have seen that the absolute seclusion of women was
unknown in ancient India. Hindu women held an honoured
place in society from the dawn of Hindu civilisation four
thousand years ago; they inherited and possessed property; they took a share in sacrifices and religious duties;
they attended great assemblies on state occasions; they
openly frequented public places; they often distinguished
themselves in science and in the learning of their times;
and they even had their legitimate influence on politics
and administration.  And although they never mixed
so freely in the society of men as women do in modern
Europe, yet absolute seclusion and restraint were not
Hindu customs; they were unknown in India till the
Mahommedan times, and are to this day unknown in




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


I69


parts of India like the Maharashtra, where the rule of
the Moslems was brief. No ancient nation held their
women in higher honour than the Hindus, but the Hindus
have been misjudged and wronged by writers unacquainted
with their literature, and who received their notions of
the women of the East from Turkish and Arab customs.
Innumerable passages could be quoted from the Brahmana literature, showing the high esteem in which women
were held, but we will content ourselves with one or two.
The first is the celebrated conversation between Yajnavalkya and his learned wife Maitreyi on the eve of his
retirement into forests:" I. Now when Yajnavalkya was going to enter upon
another state, he said: 'Maitreyi, verily I am going away
from this my house. Forsooth let me make a settlement
between thee and Katyayani.'
"t2. Maitreyi said: 'My Lord, if this whole earth full
of wealth belonged to me, tell me, should I be immortal
by it?' ' No,' replied Yajnavalkya; 'like the life of rich
people will be thy life. But there is no hope of immortality by wealth?'
"3. And Maitreyi said: 'What should I do with that
by which I do not become immortal? What my lord
knoweth of immortality, tell that to me?'
"4. Yajnavalkya replied: 'Thou who art truly dear
to me, thou speakest dear words. Come, sit down, I will
explain it to thee, and mark well what I say."'
And then he explained the principle which is so often
and so impressively taught in the Upanishads, that the
Universal Soul dwells in the husband, in the wife, in the
sons, and in wealth; in the Brahmans and Kshatriyas, and
in all the worlds; in the Devas, in all living creatures, yea,
in all the universe. Maitreyi,-the wise, the accomplished,
the learned lady-received and grasped this great truth,
and valued it more than all the wealth of the world
(Brihaddranyaka Upanishad).
Our next quotation, which is also from the same




170


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


Upanishad, relates to a great assembly of learned men in
the court of Janaka, king of the Videhas:"Janaka Videha sacrificed with a sacrifice at which many
presents were offered to the priests of (the Asvamedha).
Brahmans of the Kurus and the Panchalas had come
thither, and Janaka wished to know which of those
Brahmans was the best read. So he enclosed a thousand
cows, and ten padas (of gold) were fastened to each pair
of horns.
"And Janaka spoke to them: 'Ye venerable Brahmans, he who among you is the wisest, let him drive away
these cows.' Then those Brahmans durst not, but Yajnavalkya said to his pupil, 'Drive them away, my dear.'
He replied, 'O glory of the Saman!' and drove them
away."
On this the Brahmans became angry, and plied the
haughty priest Yajnavalkya with questions, but Yajnavalkya was a match for them all. Asvala the Hotri
priest, Jaratkarava Artabhaga, Bhujyu Lahyayani, Ushasta
Chakrayana, Kahola Kaushitakeya, Uddalaka Aruni, and
others plied Yajnavalkya with questions, but Yajnavalkya
was not found wanting; the learned men, one by one,
held their peace.
There was one in the great assembly-and this is a
remarkable fact which throws light on the manners of
the time-who was not deficient in the learning and the
priestly lore of those times, because she was a lady. She
rose in the open assembly, and said: "0 Yajnavalkya,
as the son of a warrior from the Kasis or Videhas might
string his loosened bow, take two pointed foe-piercing
arrows in his hand and rise to battle, I have risen to fight
thee with two questions. Answer me these questions."
The questions were put and were answered, and Gargi
Vachaknavi was silent.
Do not these passages and such passages as these indicate that women were honoured in ancient India, more
perhaps than among any other ancient nation in the face




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


17I


of the globe? Considered as the intellectual companions
of their husbands, as their affectionate helpers in the
journey of life, and as the inseparable partners of their
religious duties, Hindu wives received the honour and
respect due to their position. They also had their rights
to property and to inheritance, which indicate the regard
in which they were held. It would be scarcely fair to
compare ancient customs with the institutions of modern
civilisation; but the historian of India, who has studied
the literature of the ancient Hindus, will have no hesitation in asserting that never in the most polished days of
Greece or Rome were women held in such high regard
in those countries as in India three thousand years ago.
As we have said before, early marriage and childmarriage were still unknown in the Epic Period, and we
have numerous allusions, in the Epics and elsewhere, to
the marriage of girls at a proper age. Widow-marriage
was not only not prohibited, but there is distinct sanction
for it; and the rites which the widow had to perform
before she entered into the married state again are distinctly laid down. As caste was still a pliable institution,
men belonging to one caste not unoften married widows
of another, and Brahmans married widows of other castes
without any scruple. "And when a woman has had
ten former husbands, not Brahmans, if a Brahman then
marries her, it is he alone who is her husband " (Atharva
Veda, V, I7, 8).
Polygamy was allowed among the Hindus as among
many other ancient nations, but was confined to kings
and wealthy lords as a rule. Modern readers, who would
judge harshly of ancient Hindu civilisation from the prevalence of this custom, should remember that polygamy
was nearly universal among the wealthy people of all
nations in ancient times, and that, to take some instances,
Alexander the Great and his successors Lysimachus,
Seleucus, Ptolemy, Demetrius, Pyrrhus, and others were
all polygamists! Polyandry, we need hardly say, was




172


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


unknown in Aryan India: "For one man has many
wives, but one wife has not many husbands at the same
time" (Aitareya Brdhmana, III, 23).
There is in the Satapatha Brahmana (I, 8, 3, 6) a curious passage prohibiting marriages among blood relations
to the third or fourth generation: " Hence from one and
the same man spring both the enjoyer (the husband) and
the one to be enjoyed (the wife);" "for now kinsfolk
live sporting and rejoicing together, saying, in the fourth
or third generation we unite." The rule of prohibition
became more strict in later times.
Women in India have ever been remarkable for their
faithfulness and their duteous affection towards their
husbands, and female unfaithfulness is comparatively
rare. It would appear that Hindu priests, like Roman
Catholic priests, found a way to discover the most hidden
secrets of frail women, and the following reads like a rule
of Catholic confessional:"Thereupon the Pratiprasthatri returns to the place
where the sacrificer's wife is seated. When he is about
to lead the wife away, he asks her: 'With whom holdest
thou intercourse?' Now when a woman who belongs
to one man carries on intercourse with another, she
undoubtedly commits a sin against Varuna. He therefore asks her, lest she should sacrifice with a secret pang
in her mind; for when confessed, the sin becomes less,
since it becomes truth: this is why he thus asks her.
And whatever connection she confesses not, that indeed
will turn out injurious to the relatives" (Satapatha
Brdhmana, II, 5, 2, 20).




CHAPTER VII.


LAW, ASTRONOMY, AND LEARNING.
THE punishment of criminals and the proper administration
of laws are foundations on which all civilised societies
are built, and we find a true appreciation of laws in some
passages in the Brahmana literature: " Law is the kshatra
(power) of the Kshatra, therefore there is nothing higher
than the law. Thenceforth even a weak man rules a
stronger with the help of the law as with the help of a
king. Thus the law is what is called the true. And if
a man declares what is true, they say he declares the
law; and if he declares the law, they say he declares what
is true. Thus both are the same" (Brihaddranyaka, I,
4, 14). No nobler definition of law has been discovered
by all the jurists in the world.
The judicial procedure was still however crude, and,
as among other ancient nations, criminals were often tried
by the ordeal of fire.
"They bring a man hither whom they have taken by
the hand, and they say: ' He has taken something, he has
committed theft.' (When he denies, they say): 'Heat
the hatchet for him.' If he committed the theft, then
he... grasps the heated hatchet, he is burnt, and
he is killed. But if he did not commit the theft, then
he... grasps the heated hatchet, he is not burnt, and
he is delivered" (Chhdndogya, VI, I6). Murder, theft,
drunkenness, and adultery are considered the most heinous
offences.
We will now turn to Astronomy. The first elementary
knowledge of the astronomical science is discernible in
173




I74


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


the Rig Veda itself. The year was divided into twelve
lunar months, and a thirteenth or intercalary month was
added to adjust the lunar with the solar year (I, 25, 8).
The six seasons of the year were named Madhu, Madhava,
Sukra, Suchi, Nabha, and Nabhasya, and were connected
with different gods (II, 36). The different phases of the
moon were observed and were personified as deities.
Raka is the full moon, Sinivali is the last day before the
new moon, and Gungu is the new moon (II, 32). The
position of the moon with regard to the Nakshatras or
the lunar mansions is also alluded to (VIII, 3, 20), and
some of the constellations of the lunar mansions are also
named in X, 85, 13. It would appear from this that the
Nakshatras were observed and named in the Vedic Age,
and it was in the Epic Period that the lunar zodiac was
finally settled.
As might be expected, there was a considerable progress made in the Epic Period.  Astronomy had now
come to be regarded as a distinct science, and astronomers by profession were called Nakshatra Darsa and
Ganaka (Taittiriya Brahmana, IV, 5, and White Yajur
Veda, XXX, 0o, 20). The twenty-eight lunar mansions
are also enumerated in the Black Yajur Veda, and
a second and later enumeration occurs in the Atharva
Sanhita and in the Taittiriya Brahmana. An interesting
passage in Satapatha Brahmana (II, I, 2) shows how
sacrificial rites were regulated by the position of the moon
in reference to these lunar asterisms. It is too long to
be quoted, and we will therefore give extracts:"I. He may set up two fires under the Krittikds
(the pleiades), for they, the Krittikas, are doubtless
Agni's asterism....
"6. He may also set up his fires under Rohzinz. For
under Rohini it was that Prajapati, when desirous of
progeny, set up his fires....
"8. He may also set up his fires under the asterism
of Mrzigastrsha. For Mrigasirsha, indeed, is the head




CHAP. VII.]  LA IV, ASTRONOMY, ETC.


of Prajapati... He may also set up his fires under the
Phal/gunts. They, the Phalgunis, are Indra's asterism,
and even correspond to him in name; for, indeed, Indra
is also called Arjuna, this being his mystic name; and
they (Phalgunis) are also called Arjunis...
( I2. Let him set up his fire under the asterism Hastd,
whosoever should wish that presents should be offered
him: then indeed that will take place forthwith; for
whatever is offered with the hand (hasta), that indeed is
given to him.
"13. He may also set up his fires under Chitr',"
&c., &c.
It will thus appear that the setting up of the sacrificial
fires was regulated by the constellations. In the same
way, sacrifices lasting for a year were regulated by the
sun's annual course. Dr. Martin Haug, the editor and
translator of the Aitareya Brahmana, has made some
excellent remarks on this subject, which deserve to be
quoted:"The great sacrifices take place generally in spring in
the months Chaitra and Vaisdk/za (April and May). The
Sattras, which lasted for a year, were, as one may learn
from a careful perusal of the fourth book of the Aitareya
Brahmana, nothing but an imitation of the sun's yearly
course. They were divided into two distinct parts, each
consisting of six months of thirty days each; in the midst
of both was the Visliuvan, i.e., equator or central day,
cutting the whole Sattra into two halves.  The ceremonies were in both the halves exactly the same; but
they were in the latter half performed in an inverted
order. This represents the increase of the days in the
northern and their decrease in the southern progress;
for both increase and decrease take place exactly in the
same proportions " (Introduction, p. 47).
We have said that the lunar zodiac was finally arranged
in India towards the commencement of the Epic Period,
say, B.C. 1400. The illustrious Colebrooke first stated




I76


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


his opinion that the Hindus arranged the lunar mansions
from their own observations, and later researches into
the intimate connection between the Vedic rites and the
position of the moon with regard to the stars, leave no
doubt whatever as to the indigenous origin of Hindu
astronomy.  But nevertheless some European scholars
have indulged in conjectures as to the foreign origin
of Hindu astronomy, and a controversy which may really
be called a battle of books has raged in Europe and
America!
The eminent French savant Biot, writing in I86o, described the Chinese system of Sieu as an indigenous
Chinese institution, and the inference was that the Hindu
Nakshatras and Arab Manazil were borrowed from the
Chinese. The German scholar Lassen was led to adopt
this opinion.  Professor Weber, however, took up the
subject, and in two elaborate essays, published in I86o
and I86I, proved that the Chinese Sieu as well as the
Arab Manazil, "in respect of order, number, identity of
limiting stars, and inequality of distance, correspond to
one of the most modern phases of the Hindu Nakshatras,
prior to which these have their own peculiar history of
development." Professor Weber thus finally disposes of
the theory of the Chinese origin of the Nakshzatras, and
further proves that the Arab lunar mansions were imported by the Arabs from India. And this is exactly the
conclusion to which Colebrooke had arrived as far back
as 1807, when he wrote that the Hindus had an ecliptic,
" seemingly their own: it was certainly borrowed by the
Arabians."
Having thus finally disposed of the Chinese and
Arabian theories, Professor Weber must needs start a
theory of his own, which we may call the Chaldean
theory!  He conjectures that the Hindu system may
have been derived from some foreign source, probably
Babylon.  This is nothing but a conjecture, a mere
suspicion, for Assyrian scholars have not yet obtained




CHAP. VI.]  LA W, ASTRONOMY, ETC.


177


any trace of a lunar zodiac among the archives of old
Babylonian learning; but Professor Whitney of America
supports this "suspicion," as he calls it, because he thinks
the Hindus "were not a people of such habits of mind "
as to make observations in the heavens and settle the
lunar zodiac.  The argument is so amusing that the
learned professor almost withdraws it himself, stating
that the argument "is not of a character to compel
belief."
When scholars condescend to such wild reasoning, it
is idle to pursue the controversy.  We will therefore
conclude this subject with a passage in which Professor
Max Miller puts forward the common sense view of the
subject. "The 27 Nakshatras, or the 27 constellations
which were chosen in India as a kind of lunar zodiac,
were supposed to have come from Babylon. Now the
Babylonian zodiac was solar, and in spite of repeated
researches, no trace of a lunar zodiac has been found,
where so many things have been found, in the cuneiform
inscriptions. But supposing even that a lunar zodiac
had been discovered in Babylon, no one acquainted with
Vedic literature, and with the ancient Vedic ceremonial,
would easily allow himself to be persuaded that the
Hindus had borrowed that simple division of the sky
from the Babylonians." 
Besides fixing the lunar zodiac, the Hindus of this
period observed the solstitial points to fix the dates of
momentous events, and divided the year into months,
naming each month after the lunar constellation in which
the moon was at its full in the particular month. According to Bentley the lunar zodiac was fixed in 1426 B.C.,
and the months were named in I I S B.C.t A knowledge
of the solar zodiac was borrowed from the Greeks, after
the Christian era, as we will see in a subsequent book.
Besides astronomy, other branches of learning were
* India: What can it teach us (1883), p. 126.
+ Hindu Astronomy (London, I825), pp. 3 and Io.


VOL. I.


M




178


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


also cultivated in the Epic Period. Thus in Chhandogya
Upanishad (VII, I, 2) we find Narada saying to Sanatkumara, "I know the Rig Veda, sir, the Yajur Veda, the
Sama Veda, as the fourth the Atharvana, as the fifth the
Itihasa Purana, the Veda of the Vedas (grammar); the
Pitrya (rules for sacrifices for the ancestors); the Rasi
(the science of numbers); the Daiva (the science of
portents); the Nidhi (the science of time); the Vakovakya
(logic); the Ekayana (ethics); the Deva Vidya (etymology); the Brahma Vidya (pronunciation, prosody, &c.);
the Bhuta Vidya (the science of demons); the Kshatra
Vidya (the science of weapons); the Nakshatra Vidya
(astronomy); the Sarpa Devanjana Vidya (the science of
serpents and of genii). All this I know, sir."
In Brihadaranyaka (II, 4, Io) we are told that " RigVeda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, Atharvangirasas, Itihasa
(legends), Purana (cosmogonies), Vidya (knowledge), the
Upanishads, Slokas (verses), Sutras (prose rules), Anu
Vyakhyanas (glosses), Vyakhyanas (commentaries), have
all been breathed forth from the Supreme Being."
Again, in the eleventh book of the Satapatha Brahmana,
we have mention of the three Vedas, the Atharvangirasas,
the Aunsasanas, the Vidyas, the Vakovakya, the Itihasa
Purana, the Narasansis, and the Gathas.
Professor Weber is of opinion that these names do
not necessarily imply distinct works which existed in the
Epic Period, and which have been since lost to us. He
points out that many of the names merely imply the
different subjects which we will still find in the Brahmanas. It was at a later age, in the Rationalistic Period,
that these different subjects which we find interwoven
in the Brahmanas and Upanishads branched out as
separate subjects of study, and were taught in the
separate Sutra works and compositions which have came
down to us.
There is some force in this supposition, but, at the
same time, many of the subjects enumerated above could




CHAP. V1I.]   LA IV, ASTRONOMY, ETC.           179
scarcely have been taught properly and handed down
from teacher to pupil without the help of special works
on those subjects. We therefore believe that such separate works existed in the Epic Period, which have been
lost to us, because they have been replaced by more
elaborate and scientific works of a later age on the same
subjects.




CHAPTER VIII.


THE SACRIFICIAL RITES OF THE BRAHMANAS.
TIE main feature which distinguishes the religion of the
Epic Period from that of the preceding age is the great
importance which came to be attached to sacrifice. In
the earlier portion of the Vedic Period, men composed
hymns in praise of the most imposing manifestations of
nature; they deified these various natural phenomena, and
they worshipped these deities under the name of Indra or
Varuna, of Agni or the Maruts. And the worship took
the shape of sacrifice, i.e., the offering of milk or grain,
of animals or libations of the Soma-juice to the gods.
A gradual change, however, is perceptible towards the
close of the Vedic Age, and in the Epic Age sacrifice as
such,-the mere forms and ceremonials and offerings,had acquired such an abnormal importance, that everything else was lost in it. This was inevitable when the
priests formed into a caste. They multiplied ceremonials,
and attached the utmost importance to every minute rite,
until both they and the worshippers almost lost sight of
the deities they worshipped in the voluminous rites they
performed.
Sacrifices were generally accompanied by gifts of cattle,
gold, garments, and food, and by the offering of animals
as victims. There is a curious passage in Satapatha
Brahmana, I, 2, 3, 7 and 8, about animal sacrifice, which
deserves to be quoted:"At first, namely, the gods offered up a man as a
victim. When he was offered up, the sacrificial essence
x80




CHAP. VIII.]


SACRIFICIAL RITES.


went out of him. It entered into the horse. They offered
up the horse. When it was offered, the sacrificial essence
went out of it. It entered into the ox. When it was offered
up, the sacrificial essence went out of it. It entered into
the sheep. They offered up the sheep. When it was
offered up, the sacrificial essence went out of it. It
entered into the goat. They offered up the goat. When
it was offered up, the sacrificial essence went out of it. It
entered into this earth. They searched for it by digging.
They found it in the shape of those two substances, the
rice and barley: therefore even now they obtain those
two by digging; and as much efficacy as all those sacrificed animal victims would have for him, so much efficacy
has this oblation (of rice, &c.) for him who knows this."
Professor Max Miller infers from this passage that
human sacrifices prevailed among the ancient Hindus,
not in the Epic Period, not even in the Vedic Period,
but at a still remoter age. Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra,
we regret to observe, follows the lead of Professor Max
Muller, and infers from certain other passages which
he quotes from the literature of this period, that the inhuman custom prevailed in the remote past. We demur
to the conclusions of both these scholars.
If human sacrifice had prevailed in India before the
Rig Veda hymns were composed, we should certainly
have found allusions to it in the hymns themselvesallusions far more frequent than we find in the later
Brahmana literature. We find no such allusions. The
story of Sunahsepha, as told in the Rig Veda, is no
evidence of human sacrifice. And there is absolutely
nothing else in the Rig Veda which can be construed
as evidence of this custom. It is impossible to suppose
that such a striking and fearful custom should have
existed and gradually fallen into disuse without leaving
the slightest trace in the Vedic hymns, some of which
have come down from a very ancient date.
And where do we find allusions to this custom in the




182


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


literature of the Epic Period? The Sama Veda is compiled
from the Vedic hymns, and of course there is no mention
of human sacrifice in this Veda. There is no mention
of the custom in the Black Yajur Veda, and there is
no mention of it in the White Yajur Veda, properly socalled. It is in the very latest compositions of the Epic
Period,-in the khida or supplementary portion of the
White Yajur Veda, in the Brahmana of the Black Yajur
Veda, in the Aitareya Brahmana of the Rig Veda, and
the last but one book of the Satapatha Brahmana, that we
have accounts of human sacrifice. Is it possible to postulate the existence of a horrible custom in India in the
remote past of which we find no mention in the Rig Veda,
in the Sama Veda, in the Black or White Yajur Veda, but
the memory of which suddenly revived after a thousand
years in the supplements and Brahmanas of the Vedas?
Or is it not far more natural to suppose that all the allusions to human sacrifice in the later compositions of the
Epic Period are the speculations of priests, just as there
are speculatious about the sacrifice of the Supreme Being
Himself? If the priests needed any suggestion, the
customs of the non-Aryan tribes with whom they became
familiar in the Epic Period would yield that suggestion.
We will now give a brief account of the principal sacrifices which were performed in this ancient age. We know
from the Yajur Veda what these sacrifices were.
The Darsa pi2rnamdsa was performed on the first day
after the full and new moon, and Hindus down to the
present time consider these days as sacred. The Pindapitri yaija was a sacrifice to the departed ancestors, and
is one of the few ancient sacrifices which are performed to
this day.
The Agni hotra was the daily libation of milk to the
sacred fire, performed morning and evening. And the
Ch&turmdsya was a sacrifice which was performed only
once every four months.
The Agni shtomna was a Soma sacrifice; while the




CHAP. VIII.]


SACRIFICIAL RITES.


183


Sautrdmnant was originally an expiation for over-indulgence in Soma. The Rdja szya was the imperial coronation sacrifice which was performed by great kings after
they had established their prowess and fame by conquests;
and the Asva mzedha was the celebrated horse-sacrifice
which was also performed after great wars and conquests. Humbler than these, but far more important for
our purpose, was the Agniddhldna or setting up of the
sacrificial fires, which had an important bearing on the
life of every Hindu, and which deserves a few words in
explanation.
Asvapti, as has been observed before, boasted that in
his kingdom there was no thief, no miser, no drunkard, no
ignorant person, no adulterer or adulteress, and "no man
without an altar in his house." In those days, to keep the
sacred fire in the altar was a duty incumbent on every
householder, and the breach of this rule was regarded as
positive impiety and irreligiousness. The student who
had returned home from his teacher or his Parishad
married in due time, and then set up the sacrificial fires.
This was generally done on the first day of the waxing
moon, but sometimes also at full moon, probably to enable
the newly married couple to enter on the sacred duties as
early as possible. The performance of the Agniadhana,
or the establishment of the sacred fires, generally required
two days. The sacrificer chose his four priests, the
Brahman, the Hotri, the Adhvaryu, and the Agnldhra,
and erected two sheds or fire-houses, for the Garhapatya and the Ahavaniya fires respectively. A circle was
marked for the Garhapatya fire, and a square for the
Ahavaniya fire; and if a southern or Dakshinagni was
required, a semicircular area was marked to the south of
the space between the other two.
The Adhvaryu then procured a temporary fire, either
producing it by friction, or obtaining it from certain specified sources in the village, and after the usual five-fold
lustration of the Garhapatya fire-place, he laid down the




184


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


fire thereon. Towards sunset the sacrificer invoked the
gods and manes. He and his wife then entered the
Garhapatya house, and the Adhvaryu handed him two
pieces of wood, the A4rani, for the production of the
Ahavaniya fire on the next morning. And the sacrificer
and his wife laid them on their laps, performed propitiatory ceremonies, and remained awake the whole night
and kept up the fire. In the morning the Adhvaryu
extinguished the fire, or if there was to be a Dakshinagni,
he kept it till that fire was made up. Such in brief is
the ceremony of the Agniadhana, or the setting up of
sacrificial fires, which formed an important duty in the
life of every Hindu householder in ancient days, when the,gods were worshipped by each man in his fire-place, and
temples and idols were unknown.
The illustrious scholar Dr. Roth first pointed out in
1854, from a passage in the Rig Veda (X, IS, II), that
in ancient ages burial was practised by the Hindus.
This custom was followed by the burning of the dead and
the burial of the ashes. That this latter custom was also
in vogue in the Rig Veda Period appears from other
passages, such as X, 15, 14, and X, i6, I. In the Epic
Period, of which we are now speaking, the custom of burying had ceased altogether, and the dead were burnt, and
the ashes were buried. We find an account of this in the
35th chapter of the White Yajur Veda. The bones of the
deceased were collected in a vessel and buried in the
ground near a stream, and a mound was raised as high
as the knee and covered with grass. The relatives then
bathed and changed their clothes and left the funeral
ground. The same ceremony is more fully described in
the Aranyaka of the Black Yajur Veda. It is scarcely
necessary to add that the custom which now prevails
among the Hindus is simple cremation, without the burial
of the ashes. This recent custom began, according to Dr.
Rajendra Lala Mitra, shortly after the commencement of
the Christian Era.




CHAP. VIII.]


SACRIFICIAL RITES.


Another important rite which deserves some explanation is the Pindapitri yajna, or the gift of cakes to the
departed ancestors.  The cakes were offered to Fire
and to Soma, and the Fathers were invoked to receive
their shares. Then followed an address to the Fathers
with reference to the six seasons of the year. The
worshipper then looked at his wife and said: "Fathers!
you have made us domestic men-we have brought these
gifts to you according to our power." Then offering a
thread or wool or hair, he said: "Fathers! this is your
apparel, wear it."  Then the wife ate a cake with a
desire to have children, and said: "Fathers! let a
male be born in me in this season. Do you protect
the son in this womb from all sickness."  Departed
spirits, according to the Hindu religion, receive offerings
from their living descendants, and get none when the
family is extinct. Hence the extreme fear of Hindus to
die without male issue, and the birth or adoption of a
son is a part of their religion.
We do not propose to give an account of the other
sacrificial rites; what we have already said will convey a
general idea as to how sacrifices were performed. We
will now turn to some of the legends of the Brahmanas,
which are curious and interesting. A most remarkable
legend is told of Manu, who in the Vedic hymns is alluded
to as the ancient progenitor of man, who introduced cultivation and worship by fire. The legend in the Satapatha
Brahmana (I, 8, I) is not unlike the account of the
Deluge in the Old Testament. As Manu was washing
his hands a fish came unto him and said: "Rear me, I
will save thee." Manu reared it, and in time it told him
"in such and such a year that flood will come. Thou
shalt then attend to me (i.e., to my advice) by preparing
a ship." The flood came, and Manu entered into the
ship which he had built in time, and the fish swam up to
him and carried the ship beyond the northern mountain.
The ship was fastened to a tree there, and as the flood




I86


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


subsided, Manu gradually descended. "The flood then
swept away all these creatures, and Manu alone remained
here."
The legends relating to the creation of the world are
also interesting. There is a beautiful Vedic simile in
which the Sun, pursuing the Dawn, is compared to a
lover pursuing a maiden. This gave rise to the legend
which is found in the Brahmanas (Satapatha, I, 7, 4;
Aitereya, III, 33, &c.) that Prajapati, the supreme god,
felt a passion for his daughter, and this was the origin
of creation! This legend in the Brahmanas was further
developed in the Puranas, where Brahma is represented
as amorous of his daughter. The whole of these monstrous legends arose from a simple metaphor in the Rig
Veda about the Sun following the Dawn. That such is
the origin of the Puranic fables was known to Hindu
thinkers and commentators, as will appear from the following well-known argument of Kumarila, the great opponent
of Buddhism, and the predecessor of Sankaracharya:"It is fabled that Prajapati, the Lord of Creation, did
violence to his daughter.  But what does it mean?
Prajapati, the Lord of Creation, is a name of the sun;
and he is called so because he protects all creatures.
His daughter Ushas is the dawn. And when it is said
that he was in love with her, this only means that at
sunrise the sun runs after the dawn, the dawn being at
the same time called the daughter of the sun because
she rises when he approaches. In the same manner it
is said that Indra was the seducer of Ahalya. This does
not imply that the god Indra committed such a crime;
but Indra means the sun, and Ahalya the night; and as
the night is seduced and ruined by the sun of the morning,
therefore is Indra called the paramour of Ahalya."
There is another legend of creation in the Taittiriya
Brahmana (I, I, 3, 5).  In the beginning there was
nothing except water, and a lotus leaf standing out of it.
PrajApati dived in the shape of a boar and brought




CHAP. VIII.]


SACRIFICIAL RITES.


I87


up some earth and spread it out and fastened it down
by pebbles. This was the earth.
A similar story is told in the Satapatha Brahmana
(II, I, i, 8), that after the creation, the gods and asuras
both sprung from Prajapati, and the earth trembled like a
lotus leaf when the gods and asuras contended for mastery.
We know that in the Rig Veda, the word Asura is an adjective which means strong or powerful, and is invariably
applied to gods except in the very last hymns of the last
Mandala. In the Brahmanas the word has changed its
meaning altogether, and is applied to the enemies of the
gods, about whom many new legends were invented.
Another account of creation is given in the Satapatha
Brahmana (II, 5, I): "Verily in the beginning Prajapati
alone existed here." He created living beings and birds
and reptiles and snakes, but they all passed away for
want of food. He then made the breasts in the forepart
of their body (ie., of the mammals) teem with milk, and
so the living creatures survived.  And thus the world
was originally peopled.
While thus legends and sacrificial rites multiplied
in the Epic Period, religion was still the same as in
the Vedic Period. The gods of the Rig Veda were still
worshipped, and the hymns of the Rik, Saman, or Yajus
were still uttered as texts. Only the veneration with
which the gods were looked up to in the Vedic Period
was now merged in the veneration for the sacrificial
ceremonies.
New gods, however, were slowly finding a place in the
Hindu pantheon-names which have acquired importance
in later times. We have already seen that Arjuna was
another name of Indra, even in the Satapatha Brahmana.
In Chapter XVI of the White Yajur Veda, we find Rudra
already assuming his more modern Puranic names, and
acquiring a more distinct individuality. In the Rig Veda,
as we have already seen, Rudra is the father of the
storms, he is the thunder. In the White Yajur Veda he




188


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


is also described as the thunder-cloud, but is specially
represented as a fearful god, and often the god of thieves
and criminals, and altogether a destructive power. Ile
is called Girisha (because clouds rest on mountains); he
is called Tdmra or Aruna or Babh/ru (from the colour
of the clouds); he is named Nilakantha or blue-necked
(also from the same reason); Kapardin or the longhaired; Pasupati or the nourisher of animals; Sankara
or the benefactor; and Siva or the beneficent. Thus
in the Epic Period we find Rudra in a transition stage,
and we already see the origin of some of the Puranic
legends about him.  But nowhere in the Brahmana
literature do we find those legends fully developed,
or Rudra represented as the Puranic Siva, the consort
of Durga or Kali. In the Kaushitaki Brahmana, we
find great importance attached in one passage to Isana
or Mahadeva.   In Satapatha Brahmana, we find the
following remarkable passage:-" This is thy share, 0
Rudra! Graciously accept it together with thy sister
Ambika!" (II, 6, 2, 9). And in a celebrated passage in
the Mundaka Upanishad, an Upanishad of the Atharva
Veda, we find Kali, Karali, Manojava, Sulohita, Sudhumarvarna Sphulingini, and Bisvarupi as the names of
the seven tongues of fire. In Satapatha Brahmana (II,
4, 4, 6), we are told of a sacrifice being performed by
Daksha Parvati; and in the Kena Upanishad we find
mention of a female called Uma Haimavati, who appeared before Indra and explained to Indra the nature of
Brahman. These are a few specimens of the scattered
materials in the Brahmana literature, out of which the
gorgeous Puranic legend of Siva and his consort was
reared.
In Aitareya Brahmana (VI, I5), and in Satapatha
Brahmana (I, 2, 5), we are told the story of the gods
obtaining from the Asuras the part of the world which
Vishnu could stride over or cover, and thus they managed
to get the whole world. It is in the last book of the




CHAP. VIII.]


SA CRIFICIAL RITES.


I89


Satapatha Brahmana (XIV, I, I), that Vishnu obtains
a sort of supremacy among gods, and his head is then
struck off by Indra. Krishna, the son of Devaki, is not
yet a deity; he is a pupil of Ghora Angirasa in the
Chhandogya Upanishad (III, I7, 6.)
While in these scattered allusions we detect materials
for the construction of the gorgeous Puranic mythology
of a later day, we also find in the Epic Period traces
of that disbelief in Brahmanical rites and creed which
broke out also at a later day in the Buddhist revolution.
The Tandya Brahmana of the Sama Veda contains the
Vratya-stomas, by which the Vratyas or Ar yans not
living according to the Brahmanical systenz could get
admission into that community. Some of them are thus
described:-" They drive in open chariots of war, carry
bows and lances, wear turbans, robes bordered with red
and having fluttering ends, shoes, and sheep skins folded
double; their leaders are distinguished by brown robes
and silver neck ornaments; they pursue neither agriculture nor commerce; their laws are in a state of
confusion; they speak the same language as those who
have received Brahmanical consecration, but nevertheless
call what is easily spoken hard to pronounce." For the
rest, a Vratya was not yet looked upon with contempt,
and the Supreme Being is addressed in Prasna Upanishad
as a Vratya.




CHAPTER IX.


THE RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES OF THE UPANISHADS.
IT is a relief to pass from the rituals and legends of the
Brahmanas to the more vigorous speculations of the
Upanishads.  Some impatience appears to have been
felt with the elaborate but unmeaning rites, the dogmatic
but childish explanations, and the mystic but grotesque
reasoning which fill the voluminous Brahmanas; and
thinking men asked themselves if this was all that
religion could teach. Earnest men, while still conforming to the rites laid down in the Brahmanas, began
to speculate on the destination of the Soul and on the
nature of the Supreme Being.   Learned Kshatriyas
must have given a start to these healthier speculations,
or at least carried them on with vigour and success, until
Brahmans came to them to learn something of the wisdom
of the new school. And even after the lapse of nearly
three thousand years, it is impossible not to be struck
with the vigour, the earnestness, and the philosophy
which characterise the doctrines of the Upanishads.
The most important among them are (I) the Doctrine
of a Universal Soul, (2) the Doctrine of Creation, (3)
the Doctrine of Transmigration of Souls, and (4) the
Doctrine of Final Beatitude.
We begin with the Doctrine of a Universal Soul, an allpervading Breath which is the keystone of the philosophy
and thought of the Upanishads. This idea is somewhat
different from monotheism as it has been generally
understood in later days.  For monotheism generally
190




CHAP. IX.]


RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES.


I9i


recognises a God and Creator as distinct from the created
beings; but the monotheism of the Upanishads, which has
been the monotheism of the Hindu religion ever since,
recognises God as the Universal Being;-all things else
have emanated from him, are a part of him, and will mingle
in him, and have no separate existence. This is the lesson
which Satyakama Jabala learnt from nature, and this
is the lesson which Yajnavalkya imparted to his beloved
and esteemed wife Maitreyi. This too is the great idea
which is taught in the Upanishads in a hundred similes and
stories and beautiful legends, which impart to the Upanishads their unique value in the literature of the world.
"All this is Brahman (the Universal Being). Let a man
meditate on the visible world as beginning, ending, and
breathing in the Brahman..
"The Intelligent, whose body is spirit, whose form
is light, whose thoughts are true, whose nature is like
ether (omnipresent and invisible), from whom all works,
all desires, all sweet odours and tastes proceed; he who
embraces all this, who never speaks and is never surprised.
"He is my self within the heart, smaller than a corn
of rice, smaller than a corn of barley, smaller than a
mustard seed, smaller than a canary seed or the kernel
of a canary seed. He also is my self within the heart,
greater than the earth, greater than the sky, greater
than heaven, greater than all these worlds.
" He from whom all works, all desires, all sweet odours
and tastes proceed, who embraces all this, who never
speaks and is never surprised, he-my self within the
heart-is that Brahman. When I shall have departed
from hence, I shall obtain him" (C/i/dndogya, III, I4).
Such is the sublime language in which the ancient
Hindus expressed their sublime conception of the minute
but all-pervading and Universal Being whom they called
Brahman or God.
We proceed with other extracts from the Chhandogya.




I92


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


Svetaketu, as we have seen before, stayed with his teacher
from his twelfth year to his twenty-fourth, and then
returned home, "having then studied all the Vedas,
conceited, considering himself well read, and stern." But
he had yet things to learn which were not ordinarily
taught in the schools of the age, and his father Uddalaka
Aruneya taught him the true nature of the Universal
Being in beautiful similes:"As the bees, my son, make honey by collecting the
juices of distant trees, and reduce the juice into one form.
And as these juices have no discrimination, so that
they might say, I am the juice of this tree or that, in the
same manner, my son, all these creatures, when they have
become merged in the True, know not that they are
merged in the True....
"These rivers, my son, run, the eastern (like the
Ganges) towards the east, the western (like the Indus)
towards the west. They go from sea to sea (i.e., the
clouds lift up the water from the sea to the sky and send
it back as rain to the sea). They become indeed sea.
And as those rivers, when they are in the sea, do not
know, I am this or that river, in the same manner, my
son, all these creatures, proceeding from the True, know
not that they have proceeded from the True....
"'Place this salt in water, and then wait on me in the
morning.'
"The son did as he was commanded. The father said
to him: 'Bring me the salt which you placed in the
water last night.' The son having looked for it found it
not, for, of course, it was melted.
"The father said: 'Taste it from the surface of the
water.  How   is it?' The son replied: 'It is salt.'
'Taste it from the middle. How is it?' The son replied:
' It is salt.' 'Taste it from the bottom. How is it?'
The son replied: 'It is salt.' The father said: Throw
it away, and then wait on me.' 
"The son waited on the father, and the father ex



CHAP. IX.]


RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES.


193


plained to his son that the Universal Being, though
invisible, dwells in us, as the salt is in the water"
(Chhazndogya, VI).
These extracts from the Chhandogya bring home to
us the Hindu idea of a Universal Being. We will now
quote one or two passages from the Kena and the tsa:"At whose wish does the mind, sent forth, proceed on
its errand?" asks the pupil. "At whose command does
the first breath go forth? At whose wish do we utter
this speech? What god directs the eye or the ear? "
The teacher replies: "It is the ear of the ear, the
mind of the mind, the speech of the speech, the breath of
the breath, and the eye of the eye....
"That which is not expressed by speech, and by which
speech is expressed.... That which does not think by
mind, and by which mind is thought.... That which
does not see by the eye, and by which one sees.... That
which does not hear by the ear, and by which the ear is
heard.... That which does not breathe by breath, and
by which breath is drawn,-thia alone know as Brahman,
-not that whici people here adore " (Kena Upanishad, I).
The italics are, of course, ours. But who does not see
in the above passage an effort of the human mind to shake
itself from the trammels of meaningless ceremonials which
priests taught and the "people here" practised, to soar
into a higher region of thought and to comprehend the
incomprehensible,-the breath of the breath and the soul
of the soul? Who is not struck by this manly and
fervent effort made by the Hindu nation, three thousand
years ago, to know the unknown Maker, to comprehend
the incomprehensible God.
And the joy of him who has comprehended, however feebly, the incomprehensible God, has been well
described:" He who beholds all beings in the Self, and Self in all
beings, he never turns away from it.
" When to a man who understands, the Self has become
VOL. I.                                  N




194


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


all things, what sorrow, what trouble can there be to him
who once beheld that unity?
"He, the Self, encircled all, bright, incorporeal, scatheless, without muscles, pure, untouched by evil, a seer,
wise, omnipresent, self-existent, he disposed all things
rightly for eternal years" (fsa Upanishad).
Lastly, in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad we are told
that all gods are the manifestation of Self or Purusha,
"for he is all gods" (I, 4, 6). And likewise that he
exists in all men, in the Brahman, the Kshatriya, the
Vaisya, and the Sudra (I, 4, I5).
Our extracts on this subject have been somewhat
lengthy, but the reader will not regret it. For the Doctrine of a Universal Soul is the very keystone of the IIindu
religion, and it is necessary to know how this idea was
first developed in India in the Upanishads. We will now
pass on to another important doctrine, viz., the Doctrine
of Creation.
The Creation of the world was still a mystery to those
early thinkers, and the attempts to solve it were necessarily fanciful. A few passages may be quoted:"In the beginning this was non-existent. It became
existent as it grew. It turned into an egg. The egg lay
for the time of a year. The egg broke open. The two
halves were one of silver, the other of gold.
"The silver one became this earth, the golden one the
sky, the thick membrane (of the white) the mountains,
the thin membrane (of the yolk) the mist with the clouds,
the small veins the rivers, the fluid the sea.
"And what was born from it was Aditya, the Sun. When
he was born shouts of hurrah arose, and all beings arose,
and all things which they desired " (Clhzandogya, III, I9).
A different account is given in VI, 2, of the same Upanishad, where we are told that-" In the beginning there
was that only, which is,-One only, without a second."
And that sent forth fire, and fire sent forth water, and
the water sent forth the earth.




CHAP. IX.]


RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES.


I95


The Aitareya Aranyaka describes how Prana, the
Universal Breath, created the world, and then discusses
the question of the material cause out of which the world
was created. As in the Rig Veda (X, I29), and as in the
Jewish account of creation, water is said to be the first
material cause.
" Was it water really? Was it water? Yes, all this
was water indeed. The water was the root, the world
was the shoot. He (the person) is the father, they (earth,
fire, &c.), are the sons." Mahidasa Aitareya knew this.
(II, I, 8, I).
Elsewhere in the same Upanishad the following account
of Creation is given:"Verily in the beginning all this was Self,-one only.
There was nothing else blinking whatsoever." And that
Self sent forth the water (above the heaven), the lights
which are the sky, the mortal which is the earth, and the
waters under the earth. He then formed the Purusha,
and the universe was produced from the Purusha.
Some of these extracts clearly recognise an original
Creator,-the Breath or the Soul or the Self-and also
a material cause, water or fire. We shall see hereafter
how this doctrine of a Primal Soul and Primal Matter
is developed in later Hindu Philosophy. We must now
turn to the most important Doctrine of Transmigration of
Souls. It is to the Hindus what the doctrine of Resurrection is to Christians. And while the Christians believe
that our souls will live in another sphere after death, the
Hindus believe that our souls have lived in other spheres
before, and will live again in other spheres after death.
The central idea is that which has been adopted as
the cardinal principle of the Hindu religion, that good acts
lead to their rewards in future existences, but it is true
knowledge only which leads to union with the Universal
Spirit. "As here on earth, whatever has been acquired
by exertion perishes, so perishes whatever is acquired
for the next world by sacrifices and other good actions




I96


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


performed on earth. Those who depart from hence without having discovered the Self and those true desires, for
them there is no freedom in all the worlds " (C/hhdndogja,
VIII, I, 6).
The doctrine of transmigration of souls is fully and
beautifully explained in the Brihadalranyaka (IV, 4), and
we will make an extract from that Upanishad:"As a caterpillar, after having reached the end of a
blade of grass, and after having made another approach
to another blade, draws itself together towards it, thus
does the Self, after having thrown off this body, and dispelled all ignorance, and after making another approach
to another body, draw itself together towards it.
"And as a goldsmith, taking a piece of gold, turns it
into another newer and more beautiful shape, so does the
Self, after having thrown off this body, and dispelled all
ignorance, make unto himself another newer and more
beautiful shape, whether it be like the Fathers, or like the
Gandharvas, or like the Devas, or like Prajapati, or like
Brahman, or like other beings....
" So much for the man who desires. But as to the man
who does not desire; who, not desiring, free from desires,
is satisfied in his desires, or desires the Self only, his
vital spirits do not depart elsewhere; being Brahman, he
goes to Brahman....
"And as the slough of a snake lies on an anthill, dead
and cast away, thus lies the body; but that disembodied
immortal spirit is Brahman only, is only light."
And this brings us to the Doctrine of Final Beatitude and Salvation. There is nothing sublimer in the
literature of the ancient Hindus than the passages in
which they fervently recorded their hope and faith that
the disembodied Soul, purified from all stains and all sins,
will at last be received in the Universal Soul even as
light mingles with light. We quote another passage from
the Brihadaranyaka:"He, therefore, that knows it, after having become




CHAP. IX.]


RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES.


197


quiet, subdued, satisfied, patient, and collected, sees self
in Self, sees all in Self. Evil does not overcome him, he
overcomes all evil. Evil does not burn him, he burns all
evil. Free from evil, free from spots, free from doubt, he
becomes a true Brahman;-enters the Brahma world."
It was this Doctrine of Final Beatitude which Death
explained to Nachiketas in that beautiful idyll of an
Upanishad called Katiza. We will close the present
chapter with an extract from that beautiful creation of
fancy and of piety.
Nachiketas was given by his father unto Death and
entered the abode of Yama Vaivasvata, and asked him for
three boons, the last of which was this:"There is that doubt, when a man is dead;-some
saying, he is; others, he is not. This I should like to
know taught by thee; this is the third of my boons."
But Death was unwilling to reveal his secrets, and told
Nachiketas to ask for other boons.
" Choose sons and grandsons who shall live a hundred
years, herds of cattle, elephants, gold, horses. Choose
the wide abode of the earth, and live thyself as many
harvests as thou desirest.
" If you can think of any boon equal to that, choose
wealth and long life. Be king, Nachiketas, on the whole
earth. I make thee the enjoyer of all desires.
" Whatever desires are difficult to attain among mortals,
ask for them, anything to thy wish;-these fair maidens
with their chariots and musical instruments,-such are
indeed not to be obtained by men; be waited on by them
whom I give thee, but do not ask me about dying."
Nachiketas said: "These things last till to-morrow, 0
Death, for they wear out this vigour of all the senses.
Even the whole of life is short. Keep thou thy horses,
keep dance and song for thyself."
Pressed by the pious inquirer, Death at last revealed
the great secret, which is the principle of the Upanishads
and the principle of the Hindu religion:



I98


EPIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II.


"The wise who, by means of meditation on his self,
recognises the Ancient, who is difficult to be seen, who
has entered into the dark, who has hidden in the cave,
who dwells in the abyss, as God,-he indeed leaves joy
and sorrow far behind.
"A mortal who has heard this and embraced it, who
has separated from it all qualities, and has thus reached
the subtle Being, rejoices because he has obtained what
is a cause for rejoicing. The house of Brahman is open,
I believe, 0 Nachiketas!"
Who can, even in the present day, peruse these pious
inquiries and fervent thoughts of a long buried past,
without feeling a new emotion in his heart, without seeing
a new light before his eyes! The mysteries of the unknown future will never be solved by human intellect or
by human science; but the first recorded attempts to
solve them in a pious, fervent, philosophical spirit will
ever have an abiding interest for every patriotic Hindu
and for every thoughtful man.
In the words of the eminent German writer and
philosopher Schopenhauer: " From every sentence deep,
original and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is
pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit. Indian air
surrounds us, and original thoughts of kindred spirits..
In the whole world there is no study except that of the
originals, so beneficial and so elevating as that of the
Oupnekhat.* It has been the solace of my life; it will
be the solace of my death."


* Latin translation of the Upanishads.




BOOK    IlI.


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD, B.C. o000 TO 320.
CHAPTER I.
LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.
A CHANGE came over the spirit of the Hindu world in
the third period, and the change is reflected in the Sutra
literature of India. The Vindhya range was the extreme
southern limit of the Hindu world in the Epic Period;
but now the Hindus crossed that chain of mountains,
and penetrated beyond the wastes and jungles of Central
India, and founded powerful Hindu kingdoms on the
banks of the Godavari and the Krishna, extending to
the blue waters of the ocean. In the east the kingdom
of Magadha rose to power and greatness and threw out
colonies into Bengal and Orissa, and in the west the
kingdom of Saurashtra extended its limits to the Arabian
Sea. This expansion of the Hindu world had its effect
on the Hindu mind; the Hindus became more venturesome, and their ideas became more expanded. Whatever
literature was handed down from ancient times was put
in a condensed, practical shape, and new discoveries in
every department of science were made with the boldness
of new explorers and conquerors.
The practical spirit of the age showed itself in the'
form which literature assumed. All learning, all sciences,
all religious teachings, were reduced to concise practical
manuals. Brevity is the characteristic of the Sitra litera199




200


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


ture, as verbosity is of the Brahmana literature. Indeed,
the writers went from one extreme to another;-verbose
prose was replaced by aphorisms, and the proverbial
saying which applies to the Suitra literature is often
quoted, that "an author rejoiceth in the economising of
half a short vowel as much as in the birth of a son! "
One main reason which led to this extreme conciseness
was that young Hindu students were expected in their
early years to learn these Sutras by rote. Aryan boys
were expected to place themselves under some teacher
at the early age of eight or ten or twelve, and for twelve
years or more they remained in their teacher's house,
doing menial service under him, begging alms for him,
and learning day by day the ancestral religion by rote.
The diffuse details of the Brahmanas were therefore compressed into short treatises in order that they might be
imparted and learnt with ease, and a separate body of
Sutras was thus composed for each Sutra Charana or
school. The names of the authors of many of these
compositions have been handed down to us, and while
the Vedas and the Brahmanas are declared to be revealed,
no such claim is put forward for the Sutras, which are admitted to be human compositions. The so-called revealed
literature of India closes therefore with the Upanishads,
which form the last portions of the Brahmanas.
When once the Sutras began to be composed, the
system spread rapidly all over India, and Sutra schools
multiplied. The Charanyavyuha names five Charanas of
the Rig Veda, twenty-seven of the Black Yajur Veda,
fifteen of the White Yajur Veda, twelve of the Sama
Veda, and nine of the Atharva Veda. Each Sutra
Charana must have had a separate body of Sutras for
itself, and the adherents of any particular Charana,-in
whatever part of India they might live,-learnt and imparted to students the Sutras of that particular school.
A vast mass of SAtra literature thus gradually sprung
up in India, but of the numerous bodies of Sitras




CHAP. I.]


LITERATURE.


20I


which must have been composed and taught in these
numerous Sutra Charanas a lamentably small number
has been left to us! As with the Brahmanas, so with
the Sutras, a limited number of works only have been
saved from the shipwreck of ancient Sanscrit literature.
We will now rapidly survey the different branches of
learning which gradually assumed the Sutra form, and
we will begin with religion. Details of ceremonials relating to Vedic sacrifices were compressed into concise
manuals, and these manuals are called Srazta Szutras.
Two collections of these Srauta Sutras belonging to
tihe Rig Veda, called Asvalayana and Sankhayana; three
belonging to the Sama Veda, and called Masaka, Latyayana and Draihyayana; four belonging to the Black Yajur
Veda, and called Baudhaiyana, Bharadvaja, Apastamba,
and Hiranyakesin; and one belonging to the White Yajur
Veda, and called Katyayana, have been left entire. An
account of these Srauta Sutras will not be interesting to
our readers, but nevertheless, some facts about them
deserve mention.
Asvalayana is said to have been the pupil of the celebrated Saunaka, and the teacher and pupil are said to
have been the joint authors of the last two books of the
Aitareya Aranyaka. The fact clearly points to the interesting fact that the earliest works of the Siutra literature
connect themselves with the last works of the Brahmana
or Epic Period.
Saunaka is indeed an interesting character of the Epic
Period. In an anterior state of existence he is said to
have been Gritsamada, the "seer" of the second book
of the Rig Veda, and by this legend we may probably
understand that he belonged to the line of teachers or
families by whom that book of the Rig Veda was handed
down from century to century. Saunaka was again the
priest of Janamejaya Parikshita in the famous horsesacrifice which he celebrated. We may infer therefore
that a line of Saunakas were celebrated priests and men




202


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


of learning in the Epic Period.  No wonder that the
earliest compilers of Sutras seek to connect themselves
with this honoured name.
The Sankhayana Srauta Sutra, it has been conjectured,
belongs to the Western part of Hindustan, as the Asvalayana belongs to the Eastern.
Of the Sama Veda the Masaka Srauta Sutra is only a
tabular enumeration of prayers belonging to different ceremonies, the Latyayana embodies the opinions of various
teachers, and both these Sutras connect themselves with the
great Tandya or Panchavinsa Brahmana of the Sama Veda.
The Drahyayana differs but little from the Latyayana.
The Sutras of the Black Yajur Veda have been chronologically arranged as those of Baudhayana, Bharadvaja,
Apastamba, and Hiranyakesin, and Dr. Buhler, who has
recovered the lost Bharadvaja Sutra, justly remarks that
the distance in years between Baudhayana and Apastamba must be measured not by decades but by centuries.
In a most valuable introduction to his translation of the
Dharma Sutra of Apastamba, Dr. Biihler states that a
powerful Hindu kingdom, i.e., of the Andhras, had been
founded in Southern India before the Christian era, that
the capital of the empire was probably situated near
modern Amaravati on the river Krishna, that Apastamba
was probably born or naturalised in this country and
founded his Sutra school there, and that the date of his
work cannot be put down later than the third century
before Christ.  And as Apastamba speaks not only of
the six Vedangas, but also of the Puirva Mimansa and
the Vedanta schools of philosophy, we can conclude that
the philosophical schools of India had begun their work
previous to that date.
The Srauta Sutra of the White Yajur Veda is by
KAtyayana, who also claims to be a pupil of the renowned
Saunaka. Katyayana was a critic of Panini the grammarian, and lived, according to Max Miiller, in the fourth
century before Christ. An interesting "battle of books"




CHAP. I.]


LI TERA TURE.


203


has been waged by scholars about the date of Panini,
but we must avoid entering into the arena reserved for
doughty scholars, and only express our assent to the
prevailing opinion that the grammarian must have lived
some centuries before his critic. The Katyayana Sutra
strictly follows the Satapatha Brahmana, and the first
eighteen chapters of the Sutra correspond with the first
nine books of the Brahmana. As in Latyayana, so in
Katyayana we find allusion to Magadhadesiya Brahmabandhu, who are supposed to be the first Buddhists.
We turn with pleasure from the Srauta Sutras to the
Dharzma Sztras, which present to us the customs and
manners and laws of the times, and are, therefore, far
more valuable for our historical purpose. In the Srauta
Sutras we see the Hindus as sacrificers; in the Dharma
Sutras we see them as citizens.
But the Dharma Sutras of this ancient period have a
still further claim to our attention, because they are the
originals which have been modified and put into verse
at a later age, and transformed into those law-books with
which modern Hindus are familiar, such as Manu and
Yajnavalkya. This was pointed out by Professor Max
Muller thirty years ago, and the researches which have
been made since have fully confirmed the fact. A world of
conjectures and fancies about the Code of Manu, previously
supposed to be the work of legislators and rulers, has been
exploded by this discovery, and we now know what the
so-called codes are, and how and why they were framed.
In their original Stitra form (often in prose, sometimes in
prose and verse, but never in continuous verse like the
later codes), they were composed, just as the Srauta Sfitras
were composed, by the founders of the Sutra Charanas,
and were learnt by rote by young Hindus, so that they
might, in later life, never forget their duties as citizens and
as members of society. No nation has taken greater precautions than the Hindus to implant in the mind of every
member of society his religious, social, and legal duties.




204


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


Among the Dharma Sutras which are lost, and have
not yet been recovered, was the Manava Sutra or Sutra
of Manu, from which the later metrical Code of Manu
has been compiled.  It seems that the Dharma Sutra
of Manu was held in high honour in the Sutra Period,
as the metrical Code of Manu is held in honour in the
present day.  The references to Manu are frequent in
the Sutra literature, and Dr. Bihler has pointed out
two quotations from Manu in Vasishtha's and Gautama's
Dharma Sutras.
Among the Dharma Suitras still extant, Vasishtha
belonging to the Rig Veda, Gautama belonging to the
Sama Veda, and Baudhayana and Apastamba belonging
to the Black Yajur Veda, have been translated by Dr.
Buhler.
In point of time Gautama is the oldest, and we find
Baudhayana transferring a whole chapter of Gautama's
into his Sutra, and Vasishtha again has borrowed the
same chapter from Baudhayana.   And we have seen
before that Apastamba also comes after Baudhayana.
We have spoken of the Srauta Sutras which treat of
the duties of a worshipper, and of the Dharma Sitras
which treat of the duties of a citizen.  But man has
other duties and responsibilities beyond those of a
worshipper and a citizen. As a son, a husband, and a
father, he has duties to perform towards the members of
his family. He has little rites to perform in connection
with domestic occurrences, which are quite different from
the more elaborate ceremonials taught in the Srauta
Sutras. A distinct class of rules was necessary to fix
the details of these Grihya or domestic rites, and these
rules are given in the Gri/zya Sz2tras.
A great deal of interest attaches to these simple
domestic rites performed at the domestic fireside, and
not at the hearths which had to be specially lighted at
great sacrifices. The domestic fire was lighted by each
householder on his marriage, and the simple rites, the




CHAP. I.]


LITERA TURE.


205


Pakayajnas, were easily performed. "A log of wood,"
says Professor Max Muller, "placed on the fire of the
hearth, an oblation poured out to the gods, or alms given
to Brahmans, this is what constitutes a Pakayajna."
Gautama enumerates seven Paka sacrifices, viz.:-(i)
Astaka, performed in the four winter months; (2) Parvana, at full and new moon; (3) Sraddha, or monthly
funeral oblations; (4 to 7) Sravani, Agrahayani, Chaitri,
and Asvajuji, performed on the days of full moon in the
months from which the rites have been named.  The
account of these rites contained in the Grihya Sutras is
deeply interesting to Hindus, because after a lapse of
over two thousand years we are still practising, as will
be seen further on, the same interesting rites, sometimes
under the same name, and often under a different name
and in a somewhat different way. The Grihya Sutras
also contain accounts of social ceremonies performed at
marriage, at the birth of a child, at his first feeding, at
his assuming the life of a student, &c. And thus we get
a complete idea of domestic life among the ancient Hindus
from these invaluable Grihya Sutras.
The Sankhayana and Asvalayana Grihya Sutras belonging to the Rig Veda, and the Paraskara Grihya
Sutra belonging to the White Yajur Veda, have been
translated by Herman Oldenberg.  A second volume,
which promises to contain a translation of Gobhila, &c.,
has been announced but has not yet been published.*
The Srauta Sutra, the Dharma Sfitra, and the Grihya
Sftra go collectively under the name of Kalpa Sfitra.
Indeed, each Sutra Charana is supposed to have had
a complete body of Kalpa Sutra including the divisions
mentioned above, but much of what existed has been
lost, and we have only fragments of the Sftra literature
left. The entire Kalpa SCitra of Apastamba still exists,
and is divided into thirty prasnas or sections. The first
twenty-four of these treat of Srauta sacrifices; the 25th
* It has been published since the above was written.




206


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


contains the rules of interpretation; the 26th and 27th
treat of the Grihya rites; the 28th and 29th contain the
Dharma Sutra, and the 30th section, the Sulva Siztra,
teaches the geometrical principles according to which the
altars for the Srauta sacrifices had to be constructed.
These interesting Sulva Sutras have been made known
to the western world by Dr. Thibaut. The publication
of his work confirms the conclusions of Von Schrader,
that Pythagoras learnt not only his theory of transmigration but his mathematics also from India in the sixth
century before Christ.
We have so long spoken of the Kalpa Sutra, as the
Kalpa Sutra forms the most important and, historically, the
most valuable portion of the literature of the period. Our
ancient writers enumerate five other Vedangas or departments of Vedic study, and we will briefly allude to them
here.
Siksha/ or Phonetics is the science of pronunciation,
and there is reason to believe that rules on the subject
were formerly embodied in the Aranyakas and even in
the Brahmanas of the Epic Period, but that they have
disappeared in consequence of the appearance of more
scientific works on the same subject in the Rationalistic
Period. These works are called Pratisakhyas, which were
collections of phonetic rules applicable to each Sakha or
recension of each Veda.
Many of the Pratisakhyas, however, have been lost, and
only one Pratisakhya for each Veda (except the Sama
Veda) has been preserved to us. The Pratisakhya of the
Rig Veda is ascribed to the renowned Saunaka. Similarly,
a Pratisakhya of the White Yajur Veda is also extant and
is ascribed to Katyayana. A Pratisakhya of the Black
Yajur Veda and one of the Atharva Veda are also extant,
but the names of the authors are forgotten. It will
interest our readers to learn that among the teachers
named in tke Pratisakhya of the Black Yajur Veda we
have the name of a Valmiki!




CHAP. 1.]


LITERA TURE.


207


Ch'izandas or Metre is spoken of in the Vedas, and
whole chapters in the Aranyakas and Upanishads are
devoted to it. But as in the case of Siksha, so in the case
of Chhandas, we have a clear scientific treatment of the
subject for the first time in the Sutra literature. There
are some chapters on the metre of the Rig Veda at the
end of the Pratisakhya of that Veda. For the Sama
Veda we have the well-known Nidana Sutra.
The deservedly great fame of Panini in the department
of Vydkarana or Grammar has eclipsed that of all other
grammarians of the period. Panini belonged to the extreme north-west corner of India, where the Brahmanas
and Aranyakas and Upanishads, composed mostly on the
banks of the Ganges and the Jumna, were little known or
respected; and Panini therefore knew little of them. Dr.
Goldsticker is right in holding Panini to be anterior to
Buddha.
Similarly, the great fame of Yaska (anterior to Panini
according to Dr. Goldstiicker and other scholars) in the
department of Nirukta has eclipsed the fame of his predecessors, of whom we know little except from the mention made of them in Yaska's work. A common mistake
is made in calling Yaska's work the Nirukta. Nirukta
is a work, as Sayana says, where only a number of words
is given. Yaska takes up such an old existing Nirukta,
and on this text he writes a commentary, which is his
work.
Colebrooke speaks of different treatises on Jyotisza or
Astronomy for each Veda, and he calls one which has a
commentary, the Jyotisha of the Rig Veda. Professor
Max Miller, however, has found the works to be different
manuscripts of the same work, and he believes the work
to have been composed after the SOtra Period, although
the doctrines and rules propounded in it belong to the
earliest stage of Hindu astronomy. Its practical object
is to convey a knowledge of the heavenly bodies necessary for fixing the time for sacrifices, and to establish




208


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


a sacred calendar. However recent the date of the existing work may be, it contains observations made in India
during the Epic Period, i.e., when the Vedas were collected
and arranged, and it furnishes evidence therefore of the
date of that period, which should not be lightly rejected
or ignored.
Besides the six Vedangas detailed above, there is
another class of works called the Anukramani or Index
to the Vedas, which also belongs to Sutra literature. The
Anukramanl of the Rig Veda is ascribed to Katyayana,
and gives the first words of each hymn, the number of
verses, the name of the poet, the metre, and the deity.
There were some older Anukramanis of the Rig Veda,
which have all been replaced by Katyayana's fuller work.
The Yajur Veda has three Anukramanis, viz., one for
the Atreya recension of the Black Yajur Veda, one for
the recension of the Charakas, and the third for the
Madhyandina recension of the White Yajur Veda.
Of the Sama Veda we have an ancient index in the
Arsheya Brahmana, and some more among the Parisishtas or supplementary works. An Anukramani of
the Atharva Veda has been discovered in the British
Museum.
We have still to refer to the most important product of
the Hindu mind in the Rationalistic Period. The doctrines and philosophical inquiries started at the close of the
Epic Period in the Upanishads led to those deeper investigations and profound researches which are known as the
six schools of Hindu Philosophy. Professor Weber justly
remarks that it was in Philosophy as well as in Grammar
that the speculative Hindu mind attained the highest
pitch of its marvellous fertility. The abstrusest questions
of matter and spirit, of creation and future existence,
were dealt with in Sankhya Philosophy, not as in the
Upanishads in guesses and speculations, but with the
strictest method and relentless logic. Other schools of
Philosophy followed the lead of Sankhya Philosophy, and




CHAP. I:]


LITERA TURE.


209


inquired boldly into the mysteries of soul and mind, of
creation and of the Creator.
Orthodox Hindus became alarmed at the spread of
sceptical ideas, and a reaction set in. The result is the
Vedanta system of Philosophy, which reasserts the great
doctrines of the Upanishads, and which forms to this day
the basis of Hindu beliefs and religious convictions. In
the meantime, however, a far mightier movement than that
caused by philosophical opinions had been set on foot.
Gautama Buddha was born in the sixth century before
Christ, and proclaimed to the poor and the lowly that
Vedic rites were useless, that a holy and tranquil and
benevolent life is the essence of religion, that caste-distinctions do not exist among those who strive after holiness and purity. Thousands responded to his appeal, and
thus a catholic religion began to spread in India, which
has since become the religion of Asia.
From the brief account of the literature of the age
given above, the reader will have some idea of the intellectual activity of this most brilliant period of Hindu
civilisation. Religious rights and duties were laid down
lucidly and concisely for householders; civil and criminal
laws were compiled; phonetics, metre, and grammar were
dealt with with scientific accuracy; geometry and mathematics were cultivated; mental philosophy and logic were
studied and developed with marvellous success; and a
noble religion was proclaimed which is now the religion
of a third of the human race.


VOL. I.


O




CHAPTER II.


EXPANSION OF THE HINDUS.
THE History of India receives a new light in the Rationalistic Period, as it was in this period that the Greeks
visited India and also compiled accounts of it from report.
Greek civilisation and national life had not commenced
during the long centuries of the Vedic Age in India.
Again, the rude heroes of the Trojan War knew little of
their civilised but distant contemporaries, the Hindus of the
Epic Age. The first two epochs of Hindu history receive
no light therefore from Greek literature. The first Greek
who is supposed to have borrowed his learning from the
Hindus is the philosopher Pythagoras. He lived in the
sixth century before Christ, i.e., in the Rationalistic Period
of Hindu history, and his theories and ideas throw some
light on the prevailing ideas of the Hindus of that age.
He learnt the Doctrine of Transmigration of Souls and
the Doctrine of Final Beatitude from the Upanishads and
the current faith of the Hindus, and his ascetic observances
and prohibition to eat flesh and beans were also borrowed
from India. He learnt his elementary geometry from the
Sulva Sutras; his notion of the virtues of numbers was
borrowed from Sankhya Philosophy; and lastly, his idea
of the five elements was essentially an Indian idea.
Herodotus, the father of Greek history, lived in the fifth
century before Christ; and although he never visited
India, he gives accounts of the Hindus from report which
are valuable, although he mixes them up with legends and
stories, and often confounds the customs of the Hindus




CHAP. II.]


HINDU EXPANSION.


21 I


with those of the uncivilised aborigines who still inhabited
large tracts in India. Herodotus tells us that the Indians
were the greatest nation of the age, that they were divided
into various tribes and spoke different tongues, that they
procured great quantities of gold in their country, that
India abounded in quadrupeds and birds larger than any
other country, and produced wild trees which bore wool
(cotton) from which the Indians made their clothing (III,
94-I06). Elsewhere he says, speaking of the Thracians,
that they were the greatest of nations among men excepting only the Indians (V, 3). Herodotus also mentions
the fact, which is probably historically true, that Darius,
king of Persia, subjugated a part of India, and his ships
sailed down the Indus to the sea (IV, 44).
And lastly, Megasthenes came to India in the fourth
century before Christ, and lived in the court of Chandragupta in Pataliputra or ancient Patna. And although his
original account is lost, still extracts from his writings are
found scattered in many subsequent works. These have
been carefully collected by Dr. Schwanbeck of Bonn and
translated into English by Mr. MacCrindle, and are invaluable for the purposes of Indian History, and we shall
frequently have occasion to quote them.  Pythagoras,
Herodotus, and Megasthenes are unimpeachable witnesses
to the high civilisation of India during three successive
centuries which fall within the Rationalistic Period, viz.,
the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries before Christ.
We have seen that by the end of the Epic Period the
whole of the valley of the Ganges and Jumna from Delhi to
North Behar had been conquered, peopled, and Hinduised.
We have seen that towards the very close of that period,
i.e., about I000 B.C., Hindu settlers and adventurers,
colonists, and " pilgrim fathers " had left the valley of the
Ganges and had penetrated into remote unknown lands,
into Southern Behar, Malwa, the Deccan, and Gujrat.
And we have seen that these non-Aryan provinces were
becoming gradually known to the Hindus, and were slowly




212


RA TIONA LISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


coming under Hindu influence and power when the Epic
Period closed and the Rationalistic Period began.
The waves of Hindu conquests rolled onwards, and
the aborigines submitted themselves to a higher civilisation and a nobler religion. Rivers were crossed, forests
were cleared, lands were reclaimed, wide wastes were
peopled, and new countries hitherto aboriginal witnessed
the rise of Hindu power and of Hindu religion. Where
a few scanty settlers had penetrated at first, powerful
colonies arose, where religious teachers had retired in
seclusion, quiet villages and towns arose. Where a handful of merchants had made their way by some unknown
river, boats navigated up and down with valuable cargoes
for a civilised population. Where hardy warriors or
scions of royal houses had dwelt in exile or by the chase,
powerful monarchs reigned over a conquered, civilised,
Hinduised aboriginal population. And where foresters
had felled trees and cleared small tracts of land, smiling
fields covered with waving corn spread for miles and miles
around, betokening the spread of civilisation and of the
civilised arts of life.
Such was the history of Aryan conquests from generation to generation and from century to century in the
Rationalistic Period, and each succeeding Sfitra work that
we take up shows that the circle of civilisation has spread
wider, and that the zone of unreclaimed barbarism hareceded further and further. And long before we come
to the close of the Rationalistic Period, i.e., the fourth
century B.C., we find that the entire peninsula has been
reclaimed, civilised, and Hinduised, and that primitive
barbarians dwelt only in rocks, forests, and deserts which
the Aryans disdained to conquer. It is not a story of 
conquests only, which would have little interest for the
philosophical reader. It is a story of the spread of Hindu
civilisation among hitherto unknown countries and aboriginal nations. It was the acceptance, by the Andhras of
the Deccan and the SaurAshtras of Gujrat, by the Cholas,




CHAP. II.]


HIND U EXPA NSION.


213


Cheras, and Pandyas of Southern India, by the Magadhas,
the Angas, the Vangas, and the Kalingas of Eastern India
-of that superior religion and language and civilisation
which the Hindu Aryans offered to them. The gift was
accepted and cherished, and henceforth the Dravidian and
other tribes of Southern and Eastern India bore the livery
of Aryan religion, Aryan language, and Aryan civilisation.
This was the great work and result of the Rationalistic
Period.
Baudhayana lived probably in the sixth century before
Christ, and was, as we have seen before, one of the
earliest of the Sutrakaras. In his time the zone of
Hindu kingdoms and civilisation extended as far south as
Kalinga or the eastern seaboard, stretching from modern
Orissa southward to the mouth of the Krishna. The
passage we refer to is interesting, because it shows that
the ancient Aryan region along the Ganges and the Jumna
was still regarded as the suitable home of the Aryans,
while tracts of country in which the non-Aryan tribes
had been recently Hinduised were looked upon with some
degree of contempt.
"9. The country of the Aryas (Aryavarta) lies to the
east of the region where the River (Sarasvati) disappears,
to the west of the Black Forest (Kalakavana), to the north
of the Paripatra (Vindhya mountains), and to the south of
the Himalaya. The rule of conduct which prevails there
is authoritative.
"Io. Some declare the country between the Yamuna
and Ganga (to be the Aryavarta).
"I I. Now the Bhallavins quote also the following verse.
12. In the west the boundary river, in the east the
region where the sun rises, as far as the black antelopes
wander, so far spiritual pre-eminence is found.
"13. The inhabitants of Avanti (Malwa), of Anga
(East Behar), of Magadha (South Behar), of Saurashtra
(Gujrat), of the Deccan, of Upavrit, of Sindh, and the
Sauviras (South Punjab) are of mixed origin.




214


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


" I4. He who has visited the Arattas (in the Punjab),
Karaskaras (in South India), Pundras (in North Bengal),
Sauviras (in the Punjab), Vangas (in Eastern Bengal),
Kalingas (in Orissa), or Pranunas shall offer a Punastoma
or a Sarvaprishtha sacrifice" (Baudziayana, I, i, 2).
The passage is interesting, because it shows us the
extent of the Hindu world in the early part of the Rationalistic Period, and also because it divides the Hindu world
into three circles as it were, which were regarded with
different degrees of esteem. Aryavarta, stretching from
the Sarasvati to the confines of Behar, and from the Himalayas to the Vindhyas, forms the first circle; and it is
remarkable that the Punjab, which was the earliest home
of the Aryans in the Vedic Age, is not included in this
sacred circle. That realm had since then been backward
in the later developments of Hindu religion and culture,
and was rarely alluded to even in the literature of the
Epic Period. The second circle, the people of which are
said to be of mixed origin, includes Southern Punjab,
Sindh, Gujrat, Malwa, the Deccan, and South and East
Behar. If the reader refers to the fourth chapter of our
last Book, he will find that these were the very regions
which were becoming dimly known to the Hindus
at the very close of the Epic Period.  Early in the
Rationalistic Age they had already become recognised as
Hindu kingdoms, and Hindu influence and civilisation
had travelled beyond these kingdoms to other regions
which are included in the third circle. That third or last
circle embraces the country of the Arattas in the Punjab,
some parts of Southern India, Eastern and Northern
Bengal, and Orissa. A person travelling in these places
had to expiate the sin by a sacrifice. This was the
extreme limit of the Hindu world,-say in the sixth
century before Christ.
That portions of Southern India had not only been
colonised by this date, but had become the seats of
Hindu kingdoms and of distinct schools of laws and




CHAP. II.]


HINDU EXPANSION.


215


learning, is proved by the writings of Baudhayana.
Baudhayana himself may have been a southerner, at
any rate he takes care to mention the peculiar laws and
customs of Southern India.     We will cite one passage:
" I. There is a dispute regarding five practices, in the
south and in the north.
"2. We will explain those peculiar to the south.
" 3. They are to eat in the company of an uninitiated
person, to eat in the company of one's wife, to eat stale
food, to marry the daughter of a maternal uncle or of a
paternal aunt.*
"4. Now the customs peculiar to the north are, to
deal in wool, to drink rum, to sell animals that have teeth
in the upper and in the lower jaws, to follow the trade of
arms, and to go to sea.t
" 5. He who follows these practices in any other
country than where they prevail commits sin.
" 6. For each of these customs the rule of the country
should be the authority.
"7. Gautama declares that that is false" (Baudhayana, I, I, 2).
Let us now take leave of Baudhayana and come to
the next Sutrakara of India.  If Baudhafyana be supposed
to have flourished in the sixth century before Christ,
Apastamba probably flourished in the fifth.+ There can
be little doubt that Apastamba lived and taught in the
Andhra country, and the limits of that great monarchy
embraced all the districts between the Godavari and
the Krishna.   Dr. Biihler supposes that the capital of
this southern empire was situated near modern Amara* Dr. Buihler points out that such marriages still prevail among the
Desastha and Karhada Brahmans of the Deccan.
+ Later degeneracy has fabricated a prohibition against going to sea for
all Hindus.
+ Dr. Bihler would on linguistic grounds place Apastamba in the third
century B.C., but on other grounds he would put back that Sutrakara by
another 150 or 200 years, i.e., to the fifth century B.C.




216


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK II1.


vati on the lower Krishna. It was the Andhra text of
the Taittiriya Aranyaka which Apastamba recognised and
followed, and his teachings are to this day held in regard
by the Brahmanas of Nasik, Puna, Ahmadabad, Satara,
Sholapur, and Kolhapur, and other places in the Deccan
who are Apastamblyas.
Thus we find that the conquest of Southern India which
was commenced at the close of the Epic Period went on
through succeeding centuries; that by the sixth century,
Bengal, Orissa, Gujrat, and the Deccan had been conquered and Aryanised; and that by the fifth century the
Deccan as far south as the Krishna river was the seat of
a powerful Hindu Empire. By the fourth century B.C.,
the whole of Southern India south of the Krishna river
had been Hinduised, and three great Hindu kingdoms,
those of the Cholas, the Cheras, and the Pandyas had been
founded, stretching as far south as Cape Comorin; and
Ceylon too had been discovered. And when we come
towards the close of this (fourth) century, we issue now
from the obscurity of isolated passages in the Suitra works
to the sunlight of Greek accounts of India! For it was
in this century that Megasthenes, the ambassador of
Seleucus, came to India and resided in the royal court of
Chandragupta in Pataliputra (or ancient Patna) between
317 and 312 B.C.
The account of the races and kingdoms in India given
by Megasthenes is full and intelligible, and gives us a
clear idea of the state of the country at the close of the
Rationalistic Period.
The Prachyas, by which name we are now to understand the Magadhas, had become the most powerful and
foremost nation in India in the fourth century B.C., as
the Kurus, the Panchalas, the Videhas and the Kosalas
had been in the Epic Period. They had their capital
at Pataliputra, a flourishing town described at 80 stadia
or 9 miles long (a stadium=2021 yards) and I5 stadia
or nearly 2 miles wide. It was of the shape of a parallelo



CHAP. II.]


HINDU EXPANSION.


217


gram, girded with a wooden wall * pierced with loopholes
for the discharge of arrows, and defended by a ditch in
front.
It would seem that the whole of Northern India was
now included in the powerful and extensive empire of
Chandragupta, for the Jumna flowing through Mathura
and Caresbora, was said to run through the kingdom of
Pataliputra. The nation surpassed in power and glory
every other people in India, and their king Chandragupta
had  a standing    army of 6oo,ooo      foot soldiers, 30,000
cavalry, and 9oo0 elephants, "whence may be formed
some conjecture as to the vastness of his resources."
Speaking of South Bengal, Megasthenes mentions the
Calingce living nearest the sea, the Mandu and the
Malli living higher up, the Gangerides, near the mouths
of the Ganges, and the Modo-Galingce in an island
in the Ganges. It is impossible not to recognise in
the first and last of these names the ancient name of
Kalinga, which included Orissa and the sea-coast of
Bengal.
* The wooden wall was still standing in the fifth century after Christ,
when the Chinese traveller Fa Hian saw it. Fa Hian writes: "The
palaces of the king which are in the city have walls of which the stones
have been collected by the genii. The carvings and the sculptures which
ornament the windows are such as this age could not make; they still
actually exist." The fall of Pataliputra was accomplished shortly alter Fa
Hian's time, for when Houen Tsang visited the place in the seventh century
after Christ, he found nothing but ruins, and a village with two or three
hundred houses. In an excavation made in I876 for the construction of a
public tank, some remains were discovered of what is supposed to have
been the wooden wall spoken of by Megasthenes. In a part of Patna, half
way between the railway station and the chauk or market-place, the excavators discovered, some twelve or fifteen feet below the surface, a long
brick wall running from north-west to south-east. Parallel to this wall was
found a line of palisades, the strong timber of which it was composed, being
inclined slightly towards the wall. In one place there appeared to be an
outlet or gate, two wooden pillars rising to a height of eight or nine feet,
with no palisades between them. A number of wells were also found
covered with fragments of broken mud vessels, and one of the wells being
cleared yielded capital drinking water, while among the rubbish taken out
were discovered several iron spear heads-See MacCrindle's Megasthenes
and Arrian, p. 207, note.




218


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


Megasthenes describes Parthalis as the capital of the
Calingoe. The powerful king of this place had 60,000
foot soldiers, Iooo horse, and 700 elephants. A large
island in the Ganges is said to have been inhabited by
the Modo-Galingce (Madhya-Kalinga), and beyond them
several powerful tribes lived under a king who had 50,000
foot soldiers, 4000 cavalry, and 400 elephants. Beyond
them again lived the Andaroe, in whom it is impossible
not to recognise the Andhras of Southern India. The
Andhras were a great and powerful nation who had
settled originally between the Godavari and the Krishna,
but who before the time of Megasthenes had extended
their kingdom as far north as the Narmada. Megasthenes writes that they were a powerful race, possessed
numerous villages and thirty walled towns, and supplied
their king with IO10,00 infantry, 2000 cavalry, and IOOO
elephants.
In the extreme North-West, Megasthenes speaks of
the Isari, the Cosyri, and other tribes located probably
in Kashmir or its neighbourhood.  The Indus is said
to skirt the frontiers of the Prachyas, by which we
understand that the powerful and extensive empire of
Magadha extended as far as the frontiers of the Punjab,
and embraced all Northern India.
A great portion of modern Rajputana was still the
home of aboriginal tribes in the time of Megasthenes,
of men who lived in woods, among tigers noted for
their ferocity. He speaks of the tribes who lived in the
fertile tracts surrounded by deserts, and of tribes who
inhabited the hills, which ran in an unbroken chain
parallel to the shores of the ocean. He also speaks of
the tribes who lived enclosed by the loftiest mountain,
Capitalia, which has been identified with Abu. He speaks
further on of the Horatce, who were undoubtedly the
Saurashtras. They had a capital on the coast, which
was a noble emporium of trade, and their king was the
master of I600 elephants, 150,000 foot, and 5000 horse.




CHAP. II.]


HINDU EXPANSION.


219


" Next come the Pandoe, the only race in India ruled
by women. They say that Hercules having but one
daughter, who was on that account all the more beloved,
endowed her with a noble kingdom. Her descendants
rule over 300 cities and command an army of I50,000
foot and 500 elephants."
Such is the half mythical account which Megasthenes
gives us of the Pandyas, who were the ruling nation
in the extreme south of India. These Pandyas have a
history which is remarkable.
The Yadavas, who under the leadership of Krishna
left Mathura and settled in Dwarka in Gujrat, did not
flourish there long. They fell fighting among themselves,
and the remainder left Dwarka by sea. It is believed
that they came to Southern India, where they founded
a new kingdom. They called themselves Pandyas probably because they pretended to be of the same race with
the Pandavas, and they named their new southern capital
Mathura or Madura, as the town is called to the present
day. Megasthenes no doubt refers to Krishna under the
name of Hercules, and he probably heard some legend,
which was then current in India, about the foundation
of the southern kingdom by Krishna for his daughter.
And lastly, the Island of Ceylon too was known in the
time of Megasthenes. It was conquered by Vijaya, a
prince of Magadha who had been exiled by his father for
his misdeeds in the fifth century before Christ. When
Megasthenes came to India, Ceylon was already a Hindu
kingdom. The island was called Taprobane by the Greeks,
the name being slightly altered from the Pali name Tambapannt, which corresponds to the Sanscrit Tamraparni or
the copper-leaved. Megasthenes says that the island was
separated from the mainland by a river, and that the
country was productive of gold and large pearls, and
elephants much larger than the Indian breeds.  AElian
who wrote long after Megasthenes, but like most other
Greek and Roman writers got much of his information




220


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


about India from the account of Megasthenes, says that
Taprobane was a large mountainous island full of palm
groves, that the inhabitants dwelt in huts of reeds, and
transported their elephants in boats which they constructed for the purpose, and sold them to the king of
Kalingai.
We have surveyed the political results of the seven
centuries included in the Rationalistic Period, as we surveyed the literary results in the last chapter. Within
this period Hindu colonists issued in bands from the
Gangetic valley, came to strange lands, conquered strange
nations, and gradually imposed upon them their language,
their religion, and their civilisation. The Magadhas of
South Behar were not only Hinduised, but became the
foremost nation in India. The Saurashtras of Gujrat and
the Angas, the Vangas, and the Kalingas of the east were
fIinduised. The great Andhra tribe not only accepted
Hindu religion and civilisation, but distinguished itself by
schools of Hindu learning rivalling the great schools of
the Gangetic valley. Further down, other nations accepted the superior civilisation, religion, and language of
the Aryans; and all India, Aryan and non-Aryan, wore
the mantle of Hindu-Aryan civilisation.




CHAPTER III.


A DMINISTRA TION, AGRICULTURE, AND ARTS.
AN account of the system    of administration which
prevailed in India over two thousand years ago will
naturally interest our readers, and fortunately, both
Hindu Sutrakaras and Greek writers furnish us with
reliable information on the subject. We will begin our
account with some extracts from Sutra works. The king
is directed to build a royal town, and a palace for himself,
looking towards the south:" 3. The palace shall stand in the heart of the town.
" 4. In front of that there shall be a hall. That is called
the hall of invitation.
"5. At a little distance from the town to the south
he shall cause to be built an assembly house with doors
on the south and on the north sides, so that one can see
what passes inside and outside."
Fires shall burn constantly and oblations shall be offered
in these fires, and" 8. In the hall he shall put up his guests, at least those
who are learnt in the Vedas.
"9. Rooms, a couch, meat and drink should be given
to them according to their good qualities."
A table with dice should also be provided, and Brahmans, Vaisyas, and Sudras may be allowed to play there.
Assaults of arms, dancing, singing and music are allowed
in the houses of the king's servants; and the king shall
constantly take care of his subjects:" I5. That king only takes care of the welfare of his




RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK 1II.


subjects in whose dominions, be it in villages or forests,
there is no danger from thieves " (zpastamba, II, Io, 25).
Vasishtha thus details the duties of the king:"I. The particular duty of a king is to protect all
beings; by fulfilling it he obtains success.
"3. Let him appoint a domestic priest to perform the
rites obligatory on the order of householders.
"8. Let him punish those who stray from the path
of duty.
II. Let him  not injure trees that bear fruit and
flowers.
(1 I2. He may injure them in order to extend cultivation.
" I3. The measures and weights of objects necessary
for households must be guarded (against falsification).
' 14. Let him not take property for his own use from
the inhabitants of his realm.
" 5. The measures and price of such property shall
only be liable to deductions in the shape of taxes"
( Vasishltha, XIV).
Vasishtha (I, 42) and Baudhayana (I, IO, I8, I) declare
that the king is entitled to a sixth portion of the income
of his subjects as taxes, but exempt many classes who
are unable to pay. Gautama details the taxes thus:"24. Cultivators pay to the king a tax amounting to
one-tenth, one-eighth, or one-sixth (of the produce).
"25. Some declare that the tax on cattle and gold
amounts to one-fiftieth (of the stock).
"26. In the case of merchandise one-twentieth (must
be paid by the seller) as duty.
" 27. Of roots, fruits, flowers, medicinal herbs, honey,
meat, grass, and firewood, one-sixtieth.
"31. Each artisan shall monthly do one day's work
(for the king).
" 32. Hereby the taxes payable by those who support
themselves by personal labour have been explained.
" 33. And those payable by owners of ships and carts.




CHAP. III.]


ADMINISTRA TION, ETC.


223


"34. He must feed these persons while they work
for him" (Gautama, X).
Megasthenes gives us a valuable account of the
manner in which the work of administration was actually
carried on, and the following passages will be read with
interest:"Those who have charge of the city are divided into
six bodies of five each. The members of the first look
after everything relating to the industrial arts. Those
of the second attend to the entertainment of foreigners.
To these they assign lodgings, and they keep watch over
their modes of life by means of those persons whom they
give to them for assistants. They escort them on the
way when they leave the country, or in the event of
their dying, forward their property to their relatives.
They take care of them when they are sick, and if they
die bury them. The third body consists of those who
inquire when and how births and deaths occur, with the
view not only of levying a tax, but also in order that
births and deaths among both high and low may not
escape the cognisance of Government. The fourth class
superintends trade and commerce. Its members have
charge of weights and measures, and see that the products
in their season are sold by public notice. No one is
allowed to deal in more than one kind of commodity
unless he pays a double tax. The fifth class supervises
manufactured articles, which they sell by public notice.
What is new is sold separately from what is old, and
there is a fine for mixing the two together. The sixth
and last class consists of those who collect the tenths
of the prices of the articles sold."
The military officers "also consist of six divisions
with five members to each. One division is appointed
to co-operate with the Admiral of the fleet; another with
the Superintendent of the bullock trains which are used
for transporting engines of war, food for the soldiers,
provender for the cattle, and other military requisites...




224


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


The third division has charge of the foot soldiers, the
fourth of the horses, the fifth of the war chariots, and
the sixth of the elephants."
Besides the municipal officers and military officers,
there was yet a third class of officers who superintended
agriculture, irrigation, forests, and generally the work
of administration in rural tracts. "Some superintend
the rivers, measure the land as is done in Egypt, and
inspect the sluices by which water is let out from the
main canals into their branches, so that every one may
have an equal supply of it. The same persons have
charge also of the huntsmen, and are entrusted with
the power of rewarding or punishing them according to
their deserts. They collect the taxes, and superintend
the occupations connected with land as those of the woodcutters, the carpenters, the blacksmiths, and the miners.
They construct roads, and at every ten stadia set up a
pillar to show the by-roads and distances " (MacCrindle's
Translation).
Of the personal habits and occupations of kings,
Megasthenes has given us a picture which agrees in
the main with the picture given in Sanscrit literature.
The care of the king's person was entrusted to female
slaves, who were bought from their parents, and the
guards and the rest of the soldiery were stationed outside the gates. The king attended the court every day,
and remained there during the day without allowing
the business to be interrupted. The only other occasions
on which he left the palace were when he performed
sacrifices or went out for the chase. Crowds of women
surrounded him when he went out for the chase, and
outside this circle the spearmen were ranged. Armed
women attended the king in chariots, on horses, or on
elephants, when he hunted in the open grounds from
the back of an elephant. Sometimes he shot arrows from
a platform inside an enclosure, and two or three armed
women stood by him on the platform. These accounts




CHAP. III.]


ADMINISTRATION, ETC.


225


show that the sturdy and warlike manners of the Kurus
and the Panchalas of the Epic Age had already been
replaced by more luxurious and effeminate habits in the
Rationalistic Age. The age of chivalry had gone, and
that of luxury had come!
Arrian gives an account of the mode in which the Hindus
equipped themselves for war:-" The foot soldiers carry
a bow made of equal length with the man who bears it.
This they rest upon the ground, and pressing against
it with their left foot, thus discharge the arrow, having
drawn the string far backwards: for the shaft they use
is little short of being three yards long, and there is
nothing which can resist an Indian archer's shot,-neither
shield nor breastplate, nor any stronger defence, if such
there be. In their left hand they carry bucklers made
of undressed ox-hide, which are not so broad as those
who carry them, but are about as long.   Some are
equipped with javelins instead of bows, but wear a
sword, which is broad in the blade, but not longer than
three cubits; and this, when they engage in close fight
(which they do with reluctance), they wield with both
hands to fetch down a lustier blow. The horsemen are
equipped with two lances like the lances called Sauntza,
and with a shorter buckler than that carried by the foot
soldiers. For they do not put saddles on their horses;
nor do they curb them with bits in use among the Greeks
or the Kelts, but they fit on round the extremity of the
horse's mouth a circular piece of stitched raw ox-hide
studded with pricks of iron or brass pointing inwards,
but not very sharp; if a man is rich he uses pricks made
of ivory " (JacCrindle's Translation).
The laws of war were more humane among the Hindus
than among other nations in the world. "The Aryans
forbid the slaughter of those who have laid down their
arms, of those who beg for mercy with flying hair or
joined hands, and of fugitives" (Apastamba, II, 5, Io, I).
"Let him not fight with those who are in fear, intoxicated,
VOL. I.                                  p




226


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


insane, or out of their minds, nor with those who have
lost their armour, nor with women, infants, aged men, and
Brahmans" (Baudhdyana, I, io, i8, i ). "The wives (of
slain soldiers) shall be provided for" (Vasis/tha, XIX,
20). And Megasthenes too vouches for the humane laws
of war among the Hindus.  " For whereas among other
nations it is usual in the contests of war to ravage the
soil, and thus to reduce it to an uncultivated waste,
among the Indians, on the contrary, by whom husbandmen are regarded as a class that is sacred and inviolable,
the tillers of the soil, even when battle is raging in their
neighbourhood, are undisturbed by any sense of danger;
for the combatants on either side, in waging the conflict,
make carnage of each other, but allow those engaged in
husbandry to remain quite unmolested.  Besides, they
neither ravage an enemy's land with fire, nor cut down
its trees."
Megasthenes tells us that the Indian tribes numbered
I I8 in all.  On the north of India, and beyond the
Himalaya, the country "is inhabited by those Scythians
who are called the Sakai." Such is the brief mention
made of that powerful tribe which hung like an ominous
cloud on the northern slopes of the Himalaya in the
fourth century before Christ, but which in course of
a few centuries burst like a hurricane on the plains
of Western India, and convulsed and shattered Hindu
kingdoms.
Of the peaceful and law-abiding people in India,
Megasthenes gives an account which every Hindu will
read with legitimate pride:-" They live happily enough,
being simple in their manners and frugal. They never
drink wine, except at sacrifices. Their beverage is a
liquor composed from rice instead of barley, and their
food is principally a rice pottage. The simplicity of their
laws and their contracts is proved by the fact that they
seldom go to law. They have no suits about pledges and
deposits, nor do they require either seals or witnesses,




CHAP. I1I.]


ADMINISTRATION, ETC.


227


but make their deposits and confide in each other.  Their
houses and property they generally leave unguarded.
These things indicate that they possess sober sense....
Truth and virtue they hold alike in esteem. Hence they
accord no special privileges to the old unless they possess
superior wisdom."
Megasthenes further states that the Indians did "not
even use aliens as slaves, and much less a countryman
of their own," that thefts were very rare among them,
that their laws were administered from memory, and even
that they were ignorant of the art of writing. We have
the evidence of Nearchos that writing was known in India
in the Rationalistic Period, and the statement of Megasthenes only shows that writing was in very little use,
either in schools where boys received their learning and
their religious lessons by rote, or even in Courts of Justice
where laws, i.e., the Dharma Sutras, were administered
by learned Judges entirely from memory.
Arrian quotes a passage from Nearchos, and says that
the Indians "wear an under-garment of cotton which
reaches below the knee half way down to the ankles, and
also an upper garment which they throw partly over their
shoulders and partly twist in folds round their head....
They wear shoes made of white leather, and these are
elaborately trimmed, while the soles are variegated, and
made of great thickness." And the great mass of the
"people of India live upon grain and are tillers of the
soil, but we must except the hillmen, who eat the flesh of
beasts of chase."
Our faithful guide Megasthenes also gives us an
account of cultivation in Ancient India which, on the
whole, corresponds with the system of cultivation prevalent
at the present time. Megasthenes speaks of a double
rainfall in the year, considering the winter showers as
a regular rainfall. He speaks of "many vast plains of
great fertility, more or less beautiful, but all alike intersected by a multitude of rivers.  The greaterpart of the




228


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


soil moreover is under irrigation, and consequently bears
two crops in the course of the year. It teems at the
same time with animals of all sorts, beasts of the field and
fowls of the air, of all different degrees of strength and
size. It is prolific, besides, in elephants which are of
monstrous bulk.... In addition to cereals, there grows
throughout India much millet, which is kept well watered
by the profusion of river streams, and much pulse of
different sorts, and rice also, and what is called bosporum,
as well as many other plants useful for food, of which
most grow spontaneously. The soil yields, moreover, not
a few other edible products fit for the subsistence of
animals about which it would be tedious to write. It is
accordingly affirmed that famine has never visited India,
and that there has never been a general scarcity in the
supply of nourishing food. For since there is a double
rainfall in the course of each year,-one in the winter
season, when the sowing of wheat takes place as in other
countries, and the second at the time of the summer
solstice, which is the proper season for sowing rice and
bosporum, as well as sesamum  and millet,-the inhabitants of India almost always gather in two harvests
annually; and even should one of the sowings prove
more or less abortive, they are always sure of the other
crop. The fruits moreover of spontaneous growth, and
the esculent roots which grow in marshy places and
are of varied sweetness, afford abundant sustenance for
man."
It is impossible for a Hindu in the modern day to
read without a feeling of pride this impartial testimony
of an intelligent and observant foreigner regarding the
prosperous condition of India as administered by Hindus
over two thousand years ago. An industrious and peaceful peasantry peopled the fair villages, and cultivated and,
irrigated, carefully and laboriously, the endless expanse
of fertile fields, while the artisans in towns carried the
various manufactures and arts of peace to a high state of




CHAP. III.]


ADMINISTRATION, ETC.


229


excellence. It is impossible to suppose that these results
were achieved without a careful and watchful system of
administration, without a fair degree of security of life
and property, and without the help of laws which were
on the whole just and fair. And even when kings fell
out among themselves, and riotous Kshatriya chiefs
were engaged in their frequent wars, a humane custom,
unknown elsewhere in the ancient world, mitigated the
horrors of war, and saved the peaceful villagers and
industrious cultivators from disturbance and danger.
The excellent manufactures of India were known to the
traders of Phoenicia and in the markets of Western Asia
and Egypt long before the Christian era. Megasthenes
naively says that the Indians were " well skilled in the arts,
as might be expected of men who inhale a pure air and
drink the very finest water." The soil, too, has " under
ground numerous veins of all sorts of metals, for it contains much gold and silver, and copper and iron in no
small quantity, and even tin and other metals, which are
employed in making articles of use and ornament, as well
as the implements and accoutrements of war."
With regard to finery and ornament, Megasthenes says
that "in contrast to the general simplicity of their style,
they love finery and ornament. Their robes are worked
in gold and ornamented with precious stones, and they
wear also flowered garments made of the finest muslin.
Attendants walking behind hold up umbrellas over them:
for they have a high regard for beauty, and avail themselves of every device to improve their looks."
More striking, however, is a passage in which Strabo
describes a gorgeous procession, such as Megasthenes
must have seen paraded in the streets of Pataliputra:" In processions at their festivals, many elephants are
in the train, adorned with gold and silver; numerous
carriages drawn by four horses and several pairs of oxen;
then follows a body of attendants in full dress (bearing)
vessels of gold, large basins and goblets an orgtia in




230           RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.        [BOOK III.
breadth, tables, chairs of state, drinking cups and lavers
of Indian copper, most of which are set with precious
stones, as emeralds, beryls, and Indian carbuncles; garments embroidered and interwoven with gold; wild beasts,
as buffaloes, panthers, tame lions, and a multitude of birds
of variegated plumage and of fine song" (Bohn's Translation of Strabo, III, p. I 7).




CHAPTER IV.


LA WS.
TIHE equality of laws between the conquerors and the
conquered, between priests and laymen, has not been
known in the world's past history. There was not the
same law in the past ages for the Greek and the Helot,
the Patrician and the Plebeian, the baron and the serf, the
monk and the layman, the white man and the negro, or
the white man and the red man. And as in other parts of
the world, so in India too, we find inequality in laws
among the different classes of the people. There was one
law for the Brahman, another for the Sudra; the former
was treated with undue leniency, the latter with excessive
and cruel severity. If a Brahman committed one of the
four or five heinous crimes enumerated in the law-books,
i.e., if he slew a Brahman, violated his guru's bed, stole
the gold of a Brahman, or drank spirituous liquor, the
king branded him on the forehead with a heated iron and
banished him from his realm. If a man of a lower caste
slew a Brahman, be was punished with death and the
confiscation of his property. If such a man slew a man
of equal or lower caste, other suitable punishments were
meted out to him (Baudhdyana, I, IO, I8 and I9).
Adultery has always been looked upon in India not
only as a criminal offence, but as an offence of a heinous
nature; but the punishment for this offence also was
regulated by the caste of the offender. A man of the
first three castes who committed adultery with a Sidra
woman was banished; but a Sfdra who committed
231




232


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


adultery with a woman of the first three castes suffered
capital punishment (Apastamba, II, I0, 27).
Indeed Brahman legislators have painted themselves
worse than they really were. In order to point out the
vast distinction between themselves and the Sfidras, they
prescribed monstrous punishments for insolent Sudras,
which, it is safe to assert, always remained an empty
threat, and were meant as a threat only. The tongue of a
Sudra who spoke evil of a virtuous person belonging to
one of the first three castes was to be cut out, and a
SAdra who assumed an equal position with those castes
was to be flogged (Apastamba, II, IC, 27). Similarly we
are told that a Sudra who reviled a twice-born man or
assaulted him with blows should lose the limb with which
he offended; that if he listened to a recitation of the
Veda, his ears should be stopped with molten lac or
tin; that if he recited the Veda, his tongue should be
cut out; and if he remembered Vedic texts, his body
should be split in twain! (Gautama, XII). The reader
will easily perceive, that the Brahman composers of
the Sutras were anxious to emphasise the distinction
between themselves and the other castes and specially
Sudras, and have therefore represented the laws as ten
times more iniquitous than they were as actually administered by sensible kings and Kshatriya officers, or
even by Brahman judges.
A Kshatriya abusing a Brahman pays IOO karshapanas,
and beating a Brahman pays 200 karshapanas. A Vaisya
abusing a Brahman pays 150 karshapanas, and we suppose pays 300 for beating him. But a Brahman pays
only 50 karshapanas for abusing a Kshatriya, 25 for
abusing a Vaisya, and for abusing a Sudra,-nothing!
(Gautama, XII, 8-13).
Death or corporal punishment seems to have been the
punishment for theft at least in some cases; and the thief
is directed to appear before the king with flying hair,
holding a club in his hand, and proclaiming his deed. If




CHAP. IV.]


LA W'S.


233


the king pardons him and does not slay him or strike
him, the guilt falls on the king (Gautama, XII, 45). The
prerogative of mercy was the king's alone, but a guru, a
priest, a learned householder or a prince could intercede
for an offender, except in the case of a capital offence
(Apastamba, II, 10, 27, 20).
Vasishtha reserves the right of self-defence in the case
of a person attacked by an Atatayin, and that term includes an incendiary, a poisoner, one ready to kill with
a weapon in his hand, a robber, a man who takes away
another's land, or abducts another's wife. A man may
slay an Atatayin who comes to slay, even if the latter
"knows the whole of the Veda, together with the Upanishads" ( asis/ztha, III, I5- 8).
Agriculture and trade were the means of the people's
subsistence, and crimes relating to a cultivator's land
or to an artisan's trade were punished with the utmost
severity. We have seen that defence of land was one of
the cases in which the right of self-defence was allowed,
and false evidence given about land was looked upon with
the utmost detestation. By giving false evidence concerning small cattle, a witness commits the sin of killing
ten men; by false evidence concerning cows, horses, and
men, he commits the sin of killing a hundred, a thousand,
and ten thousand men respectively; but by false evidence
concerning land, he commits the sin of killing the whole
human race. "Hell is the punishment for a theft of
land" (Gautama, XIII, 14-I7). Similarly, with regard
to artisans, Megasthenes informs us that he who caused
an artisan to lose his eye or his hand was punished with
death.
A severe penance is ordained for the man who attempts
suicide, and the relations of a suicide are prohibited
from performing funeral rites for him ( Vasishtha, XXIII,
14, &c.).
Such was the Criminal Law of the Hindus over two
thousand years ago. We now turn to the more com



234


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


plicated subject of Civil Law, which may be conveniently
treated under five heads, viz., (I) Law of Agriculture and
Pasture, (2) Law of Property, (3) Usury Laws, (4) the
all-important Law of Inheritance, and (5) the Law of
Partition. We begin with the Law of Agriculture and
Pasture:
"I. If a person who has taken a lease of land does not
exert himself, and hence the land bears no crop, he shall,
if he be rich, be made to pay the value of the crop that
ought to have been grown.
"2. A servant in tillage who abandons his work shall
be flogged.
"3. The same punishment shall be awarded to a
herdsman who leaves his work.
"4. And the flock entrusted to him shall be taken away.
"5. If cattle, leaving their stable, eat crops, the owner
of the crops may make them lean (by impounding them);
but shall not exceed.
" 6. If a herdsman who has taken cattle under his care,
allows them to perish or loses them, he shall replace them
to the owners.
"7. If (the king's forester) sees cattle that have been
sent into the forest through negligence, he shall lead
them back to the village and make them over to the
owners" (Apastamba, II, II, 28).
Again, Gautama says:" Ig. If damage is done by cattle, the responsibility
falls on the owner.
"20. But if the cattle were attended by a herdsman,
it falls on the latter.
"21. If the damage was done in an unenclosed field
near the road, the responsibility falls on the herdsman
and on the owner of the field " (Gauamna, XII).
As in the present day, unenclosed fields were used as
common property for grazing cattle and for obtaining
firewood.
"He may take, as his own, grass for a cow, and fuel




CHAP. IV.]


LA WS.


235


for his fire, as well as the flowers of creepers and trees,
and their fruit if they be unenclosed" (Gautama, XII, 28).
Some equitable provisions are laid down by Vasishtha
about the right of way, and about the evidence necessary
in disputes about immovable property.
" Io. It is declared in the Smriti that there are three
kinds of proof which give a title to property, viz., documents, witnesses, and possession; thereby an owner may
recover property which formerly belonged to him.
"II. From fields through which there is a right of
way, a space sufficient for the road must be set apart,
likewise a space for turning a cart.
" 12. Near new-built houses and other things of the
same description, there shall be a passage three feet
broad.
"13. In a dispute about a house or a field, reliance
must be placed on the depositions of neighbours.
" 4. If the statements of the neighbours disagree,
documents may be taken as proof.
"I5. If conflicting documents are produced, reliance
must be placed on the statements of aged inhabitants of
the village or town, and on those of guilds and corporations of artisans or traders " ( Vasishtha, XVI).
And this brings us to the Law of Property. Property
is divided into eight classes, thus:" I6. Now they quote also the following verse: 'Property inherited from a father, a thing bought, a pledge,
property given to a wife after marriage by her husband's
family, a gift, property obtained for performing a sacrifice,
the property of re-united co-partners, and wages as the
eighth.'
"I7. Whatever belonging to these eight kinds of
property has been enjoyed by another person for ten
years continuously is lost to the owner.
" I8. They quote also a verse on the other side: 'A
pledge, a boundary, and the property of minors, an (open)
deposit, a sealed deposit, women, the property of a king,




236


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


and the wealth of a Srotriya, are not lost by being enjoyed
by others.'
" I9. Property entirely given up by its owner goes to
the king " ( Vasisit/ha, XVI).
Gautama has similar rules:
" 37. The property of a person who is neither an idiot
nor a minor, having been used by strangers before his
eyes for ten years, belongs to him who uses it.
"38. But not if it is used by Srotriyas, ascetics, or
royal officials.
"39. Animals, land, and females are not lost to the
owner by another's possession " (Gautama, XII).
Women    and females in the above extracts mean
female slaves.  With regard to minors, widows, &c.,
there are provisions to the effect that the king shall
administer their property and shall restore it in the
case of a minor when he comes of age ( Vasisztha, XVI,
8 and 9).
We next turn to the important Usury Laws of Ancient
India, and many of our readers will admit that they
compare not unfavourably with usury laws which prevailed in Europe only a few centuries ago.
"Hear the interest for a money-lender declared by
the words of Vasishtha: Five Jds/l ds for twenty (Kdrshdpanas) may be taken every month; thus the law is
not violated " ( asishtzia, II, 5 ).
Similarly Gautama declares (XII, 29):"The legal interest for money lent is at the rate of
five Mas/ids a month for twenty (Kdrs/dzpanas)."
The commentator Hara Datta reckons 20 mashas to
the karshapana, so that the rate of interest comes to Ii
per cent. per month, or 15 per cent. per annum. Krishna
Pandita correctly states that this rate of interest applies
to loans for which security is given.  Manu specially
mentions (VIII, I40) that this rate is prescribed by
Vasishtha.  Gautama says that after the principal has
been doubled, interest ceases, and when the object pledged




CHAP. IV.]


LA WS.


237


is an object used by the creditor, the money lent bears no
interest at all (XII, 31 and 32).
Other articles might be lent at a much higher percentage of interest, apparently when no security was given.
"44. Gold may be lent, taking double its value on
repayment, and grain trebling the original price.
"45. The case of flavouring substances has been
explained by the rule regarding grain.
"46. As well as the case of flowers, roots, and fruit.
"47. He may lend what is sold by weight, taking eight
times the original value on repayment."
Similarly Gautama says:"The interest on products of animals, on wool, on the
produce of a field, and on beasts of burden, shall not
increase more than five-fold the value of the object lent"
(Gautama, XII, 36).
Thus apart from the loan of money on security, articles
and products were lent, apparently without security, at
an enormous rate of interest.  In the former case the
interest was only I5 per cent., and the principal could
only be doubled; in the latter case it could increase six
or eight-fold.
Gautama names no less than six different forms of
interest, viz., compound interest, periodical interest, stipulated interest, corporal interest, daily interest, and the
use of a pledge (XII, 34 and 35). He lays down that the
heirs shall pay the debts of a deceased person, but provides that money due by a surety, a commercial debt, a
fee due to the parents of the bride, immoral debts, and
fines shall not devolve on the sons of the debtor (XII,
40 and 41).
And this brings us to the most important portion of
the Civil Law, viz., the Law of Inheritance.
To leave male issue was considered a religious duty
by the ancient Hindus, and in the absence of a legitimate
son, therefore, other kinds of sons seem to have been
recognised in ancient times.




238


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


In the following passage Gautama indicates the different kinds of sons who were considered by him to be
heirs, and those who were not heirs, but only members
of the family:"32. A legitimate son (Aurasa), a son begotten on
the wife (Kshetraja), an adopted son (Datta), a son made
(Kritri;ia), a son born secretly (Gudhaja), and a son
abandoned (Apaviddha), inherit the estate.
"33. The son of an unmarried damsel (Kdnzna), the
son of a pregnant bride (Sa/iod/ha), the son of a twicemarried woman (Paunarbhava), the son of an appointed
daughter (Putrikdputra), a son self-given (Svayamdatta), and a son bought (Krtda), belong to the family"
(XXVIII).
Baudhayana and Vasishtha lived long after Gautama,
and their opinions varied from that of Gautama as well
as from each other in some respects.
" I4. One must know a son begotten by the husband
himself on a wedded wife of equal caste to be a legitimate
son of the body (Aurasa)....
" 15. The male child born of a daughter after an agreement has been made is the son of an appointed daughter
(Putrikdputra)...
"17. He who is begotten by another man on the
wife of a deceased man, of a eunuch, or of one diseased,
after permission, is called the son begotten on a wife
(Kshetraja).
" 20. He is called an adopted son (Datta) who, being
given by his father and his mother, or by either of the
two, is received in the place of a child.
"21. He is called a son made (Kri!rima) whom a man
himself makes his son with the (adoptee's) consent only,
and who belongs to the same caste.
" 22. He is called a son born secretly (Gzgdhaja) who
is secretly born in the house, and whose origin is afterwards recognised.
"23. He is called a son cast off (Apaviddha) who,




CHAP. IV.]


LA WS.


239


being cast off by his father and his mother, or by either,
is received in the place of a child.
" 24. If anybody approaches an unmarried girl without
the permission (of her father or guardian), the son born
by such a woman is called the son of an unmarried
damsel (Kdntza).
"25. If one marries either knowingly or unknowingly
a pregnant bride, the child which is born of her is called
a son taken with the bride (Sahod/ha).
" 26. He is called a son bought (Krtta) who, being purchased from his father and his mother, or from either of
them, is received in the place of a child.
"27. He is called the son of a twice-married woman
(Paunarbhava) who is born of a remarried female, i.e., of
one who, having left an impotent man, has taken a second
husband.
" 28. He is called a self-given son (Svayamdatta) who,
abandoned by his father and his mother, gives himself
to a stranger.
" 29. He who is begotten by a man of the first twiceborn caste, on a female of the Sudra caste, is called
a NisJiada.
" 30. He who is begotten by the same parents through
lust is called a Pdrasava.... " (Baudhdyana, II, 2, 3).
Baudhayana then quotes verses which declare that of
the fourteen kinds of sons enumerated above, the firstnamed seven, i.e., the Aurasa, the Putrikaputra, the
Kshetraja, the Datta, the Kritrima, the Guidhaja, and the
Apaviddha, were entitled to share the inheritance. The
next six, i.e., the Kanina, the Sahodha, the Krita, the
Paunarbhava, the Svayamdatta, and the Nishada, were
considered members of the family. The Parasava was
not even considered a member of the family.
Vasishtha enumerates twelve kinds of sons like Gautama.
" 12. Twelve kinds of sons only are noticed by the
ancients.




240


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


"(13. The first is begotten by the husband himself on
his legally married wife (Aurosa).
" I4. The second is the son begotten on a wife (or
widow-Kshetraja), duly authorised thereto on the failure
of the first kind of sons.
"I5. The third is an appointed daughter (Putrikdputra).
" I6. It is declared in the Veda, 'a maiden who has no
brothers comes back to the male ancestors (of her own
family); returning she becomes their son.' *
"17. With reference to this, a verse        (to be spoken
by the father when appointing his daughter), 'I shall give
thee a brotherless damsel, decked with ornaments, the
son whom she may bear, shall be my son.'
"( I8. The fourth is the son of a remarried widow
(Paunarbhava).
" I9. She is called remarried (PunarbhA) who, leaving
the husband of her youth, and having lived with others,
re-enters his family.
"20. And she is called remarried who, leaving an
impotent, outcast, or mad husband, or after the death of
her husband, takes another lord.t
"21. The fifth is the     son   of an   unmarried damsel
(Kdnzna).
"24. A   male child secretly born in the house is the
sixth (Gzdhjaja).
"25. They declare that these six are heirs and kinsmen, preservers from a great danger.
* "The curious fact that Vasishtha here calls the appointed daughter a
son may perhaps be explained by a custom which, though rarely practised,
still occurs in Kashmir, ard by which a brotherless maiden is given a
male name.   A historical instance of this kind is mentioned in the
Rajatarangini, where it is stated that Kalyanadevi, princess of Gauda
and wife of King Jayapida, was called by her father Kalyanamalla."Dr. Biihler.
+ The circumstances which allowed the second marriage of a woman
have been enumerated in this verse. They are insanity, impotency, loss
of caste, or death of her husband. The son of a woman thus remarried
a second time is allowed by Vasishtha to inherit.




CHAP. IV.]


LA WS.


241


" 26. Now among those sons who are not heirs but
kinsmen, the first is he who is received with a pregnant
bride (Sahiodhia).
"28. The second is the adopted son (Datta).
"30. The son bought (KrIta) is the third.
"33. The fourth is the son self-given (Svayamdatta).
"36. The son cast off is the fifth (Apaviddha).
"38. They declare that the son of a woman of the
S Udra caste (N~isha'da) is the sixth..."(Vasishtha,
XVII1).
The last-named six kinds of sons cannot inherit according to Vasishtha, but he quotes a verse that they shall be
allowed " to take the heritage of him who has no heir
belonging to the first-mentioned six classes."
The rules of Gautama, Vasishtha, and Baudha'yana may
be thus shown in parallel columns:
GAUTAMA.      VASISIMTIA.     BAUDH-11YANA.
I. Aurasa. i. Aurasa.      i. Aurasa.
2.Kshetraja.  2. Kshetraja.   2. Putrika'putra.
Kinsmn  3.Datta.      3. Putrika~putra.  3. Kshetraja.
and    4. Kritrima.   4. Paunarbhava.  4. Datta.
hers 5. G 'd haj a.  5. Ma"nin a.   5. Kritrima.
6.Apaviddha.  6. GU~dhaja.    6. G id h aja-.
7. Apaviddha.
7. Kanina.     7. Sahodha.     8. Ka~nina.
Kinsmen   8. Sahodha.     8. Datta.       9. Sahodha.
not        9. Paunarhhava. 9. Krilta.    i o. Krita.
i i. Svayanmdatta. i i. Apaviddha.  12. Svayamdatta.
12. Krita.    I12. Nishada.   I13. Nishada.
Neither
kinsmen,,,,,,,,     1~~~~~4. Parasava.
nor     (
heirs. )
But a reaction appears to have set in early against
the recognition of sons legitimate and illegitimate,-even
to escape the torments of hell after death! Apastamba,
who lived a century or more after Baudhayana, protests
against the recognition of heirs and sons of various kinds,
and explains away ancienit customs by stating that what
VOL. 1.                                         Q




242


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


had been allowed in ancient times could not be permitted
among the sinful men of the present time.
" I. Sons begotten by a man who approaches in the
proper season a woman of equal caste, who has not
belonged to another man, and who has been married
legally, have a right to follow the occupations (of their
castes).
"2. And to inherit the estate.
"8. Transgression of the law and violence are found
among the ancients.
" 9. They committed no sin on account of the greatness
of their lustre.
" Io. A man of later times who, seeing their deeds,
follows them, falls.
"I I. The gift (or acceptance of a child) and the right
to sell (or buy) a child are not recognised " (Apastamba,
II, 6., I3).
Elsewhere Apastamba says:"2. (A husband) shall not make over his (wife), who
occupies the position of a 'gentilis,' to others than to
his 'gentiles' in order to cause children to be begot for
himself.
" 3. For they declare that a bride is given to the family.
"4. That is (at present) forbidden on account of the
weakness of men's senses.
" 5. The hand of a 'gentilis' is considered in law to be
that of a stranger, as well as that of any other person
except the husband.
"6. If the marriage vow is transgressed, both husband
and wife certainly go to hell" (Apastamba, II, Io, 27).
Thus Apastamba makes a clear sweep not only of
Niyoga or appointment of a wife to raise issue, but also
of the adoption or the buying of a son. Modern Hindus
recognise no kinds of sons except legitimate sons, and
sons adopted in the absence of legitimate issue.
Lastly, we come to the subject of the Law of Partition.
There is the same dissimilarity of opinion in respect of




CHAP. IV.]


LA WS.


243


the partition of property among brothers. The law of
primogeniture never obtained in India, but so long as
the joint family system remained in vogue, the property
of the father was inherited by the eldest son, who supported the rest as a father. It would seem, however,
that to live in a joint family under the eldest brother was
never the universal custom in India, and even Gautama,
the earliest of the Sutrakaras whose works are extant,
considers a partition among brothers preferable, for
"in partition there is an increase of spiritual merit"
(XXVIII, 4).
According to Gautama, the eldest son gets as an
additional share a twentieth part of the estate, some
animals, and a carriage; the middlemost sons gets some
poor animals, and the youngest get sheep, grain, utensils, a house, a cart, and some animals; and then the
remaining property is equally divided.  Or he would
allow the eldest two shares, and the remaining sons one
share each; or he would allow them each to take one
kind of property by choice according to seniority; or
the special shares may be adjusted according to their
mothers (XXVIII, 5-I7).
Vasishtha allows the eldest brother to take a double
share and a little of the kine and horses; he allows the
youngest to take the goats, sheep, and house; while
the middlemost gets utensils and furniture. And if a
Brahman has sons by Brahman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya
wives, the first gets three shares, the second two shares,
and the third, i.e., the son by the Vaisya wife, gets one
share (XVII, 42-50).
Baudhayana allows all the children to take equal
shares, or the eldest son to take one tenth in excess.
Where there are sons born of wives of different castes,
the sons will take four, three, two and one shares, according to the order of the castes (II, 2, 3, 2-Io).
Apastamba differs in this respect also from his predecessors, and protests against the unequal division of




244


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


property. He quotes the opinion about giving a preference
to the eldest son, examines the texts on which the opinion
is based, argues that the texts make a statement of facts
and is not a rule, and therefore declares the preference
of the eldest son to be forbidden. All sons who are
virtuous inherit, but he who spends money unrighteously
shall be disinherited, though he be the eldest son (II,
6,14, I-I5).
The separate property of a wife, i.e., her nuptial
presents and ornaments, were inherited by her daughters
(Gautama, XXVIII, 24; Vasis/htha, XVII, 46; Baudhdyana, II, 2, 3, 43).
Such were the laws of the Rationalistic Age. They
show unmistakably the vast distance of time between this
and the Epic Age, and show also the culture, the training,
and the practical method of dealing with intricate subjects
which were the peculiar features of the Rationalistic
Period. Everything that was confused during the Epic
Period was brought to order and subjected to a severe
classification; everything that was discursive was condensed; everything that was vague and uncertain was
dealt with in a practical manner. Criminal offences and
civil cases were no longer dealt with according to the
vague and varying opinions and feelings of learned men
and priests; those opinions were arranged, condensed,
and codified into bodies of laws which learned men were
called upon to administer. The caste-rules, which were
still pliable in the Epic Period, were made more rigid,
more in accordance with the inviolable codified rules of
the Rationalistic Period; and the whole social system of
the Hindus underwent a similar rigid treatment. We will
dwell on these two subjects in the next two chapters, and
will then proceed to show how Science and Philosophy
also underwent the same logical treatment.




CHAPTER V.


CASTE.
IN trying to reduce the caste-system into a code of
rigid rules, the Sutrakaras of the period met with an
initial difficulty. They firmly believed that there were
originally but four castes among men, viz., Brahmans,
Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Suidras;-but they actually found
around them various other castes, formed by tribes of
non-Aryans, who had gradually entered into the Hindu
fold, and formed low Hindu castes. Whence these new
castes?  What was their origin?  Believing that all
mankind was originally divided only into four castes, the
Sutrakaras tried to evolve the new castes from the four
parent castes. The strange fiction was then conceived
that the new castes were formed by inter-marriages
among the parent castes! We may imagine a dogmatic
Greek priest of the fifth century declaring that the Huns
were descended from a Roman patrician who married
a Parthian maiden; or we may conceive a monk of
the thirteenth century declaring that the Moguls were
descended from a German baron who married a Chinese
maiden. Such wild theories would be accepted in an
ignorant age, but would be forgotten with the progress of
knowledge. But in India, where popular knowledge has
become gradually restricted, such theories have been
scrupulously adhered to by all later writers, and obtain
credence in India to the present day!
Vasishtha says:"I. They declare that the offspring of a Sfidra
245




246


RA TIONA LISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


and of a female of the Brahman caste, becomes a
Chandala.
" 2. That of a Sudra and of a female of the Kshatriya
caste, a Vaina.
"3. That of a Sudra and of a female of the Vaisya
caste, an Antyavasayin.
" 4. They declare that the son begotten by a Vaisya on
a female of the Brahman caste becomes a Ramaka.
" 5. The son begotten by the same on a female of the
Kshatriya caste, a Paulkasa.
"6. They declare that the son begotten by a Kshatriya
on a female of the Brahman caste becomes a Suta.
"8. Children begotten by Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and
Vaisyas on females of the next lower, second lower,
and third lower castes become respectively Ambashthas,
Ugras, and Nishadas.
9. The son of a Brahman and of a Sudra woman is a
Parasava "( Vasishtha, XVIII).
Baudhayana is somewhat different.
"3. A Brahman begets on a female of the Kshatriya
caste a Brahman, on a female of the Vaisya caste an
Ambashtha, on a female of the Sudra caste a Nishada.
"4. According to some, a Parasava.
"5. A Kshatriya begets on a female of the Vaisya
caste a Kshatriya, on a female of the Sudra caste an
Ugra.
" 6. A Vaisya begets on a female of the Sudra caste a
Rathakara.
"7. A Sudra begets on a female of the Vaisya caste a
Magadha, on a female of the Kshatriya caste a Kshattri,
but on a female of the Brahman caste a Chandala.
" 8. A Vaisya begets on a female of the Kshatriya
caste an Ayogava, on a female of the Brahman caste
a Suta."
And so a Svapaka has an Ugra father and a Kshattri
mother; a Vaina has a Vaidehaka father and an Ambashtha mother; a Paulkasa has a Nishada father and a




CHAP. V.]


CASTE.


247


SOdra mother; a Kukkutaka has a Sidra father and
a Nishada mother; and "the wise declare those sprung
by an intermixture of the castes to be Vratyas" (Baudhzyanza, I, 9, 7).
Gautama's enumeration is comprehensive as well as
brief, and we will give it below:"t 6. Children born in the regular order of the wives
of the next, second, or third lower castes become Savarnas, i.e., of equal caste, Ambashthas, Ugras, Nishadas,
Daushyantas, and Parasavas.
"17. Children born in the inverted order (of wives
of higher castes) become Sutas, Magadhas, Ayogavas,
Kshattris, Vaidehakas, or Chandalas.
" 18. Some declare that a woman of the Brahman
caste has borne successively to husbands of the four
castes sons who are Brahmans, Sutas, Magadhas, or
Chandalas;
"19. And that a woman of the Kshatriya caste has
borne to the same Murdhavasiktas, Kshatriyas, Dhivaras,
Paulkasas.
"20. Further, a woman of the Vaisya caste has borne
to the same Bhrigyakanthas, Mahishyas, Vaisyas, and
Vaidehas;
"21. And a woman of the Sudra caste to the same
Parasavas, Yavanas, Karanas, and Suidras" (Gautama, IV).
Here we have an authoritative statement which may
well stagger the most faithful believer! Magadhas and
Vaidehas who were different races, Chandalas and Paulkasas who were undoubtedly non-Aryan tribes, and even
Yavanas who were Bactrian Greeks and foreigners, were
all treated by the same general and rigid law which
recognised no exception, and were all declared to be
descended from the four parent castes! And as the
Hindus came to know other foreign nations later on, the
elastic theory was stretched, and Manu derived those
nations too from the same Hindu parent castes!
It is remarkable, however, that the castes or races




248


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


named above, of whom such a strange origin has been
expounded, were nearly all aboriginal tribes or foreigners,
or Aryans who had incurred odium by their partiality for
scepticism and Buddhism. We do not find names of profession-castes, answering to the Kayasthas, the Vaidyas,
the goldsmiths, the blacksmiths, the potters, the weavers,
and other artisans of Modern India.       How    were these
professions classed in Ancient India, if they were not
classed as separate castes? The reply is plain, that the
great and yet undivided Vaisya caste of the Rationalistic
Period still embraced all those different professions which
in modern times have been divided and disunited into
castes.* The Aryan Vaisyas followed different trades
and professions in Ancient India without forming separate
castes; they were scribes and physicians, goldsmiths and
blacksmiths, potters and weavers, while still belonging
to the same common Vaisya caste. Thus the great body
of the Aryan population was still united, and was still
entitled to religious knowledge and learning.
The study of the Veda, the performance of sacrifices,
and the gift of alms are prescribed for all twice-born
men, i.e., for Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas. The
special and additional occupations of the Brahman were
the performance of sacrifice for others, and the receiving
of alms, and agriculture and trade were also allowed to
him provided lie did not work himself (Gautama, X, 5).
* One instance will suffice. The Vaidyas or physician caste of Bengal
were unknown in the Rationalistic Period, but later tradition has applied
to them the same fiction that was developed in the Rationalistic Period,
and the Vaidyas are said to have descended from the union of men and
women of different castes. And yet common sense would suggest that they
are the descendants of a section of the Aryan people,-the Vaisyas,-who
specially applied themselves to one particular science as soon as the science
was sufficiently developed to call for special application, and thus in course
of time formed a hereditary caste. This view receives a curious confirmation from the name which the Bengal Vaidyas still bear. All Vaidyas are
Guptas (Sena Guptas, Dasa Guptas, &c.). Now there are passages in the
Sfitra literature which clearly lay down that all Brahmans are Sarmans, all
Kshatriyas are Barmans, and all Vaisyas are Guptas. We will quote such
a passage in the next chapter.




CHAP. V.]


CASTE.


249


The abuses begotten of the privileges of caste had already
commenced as early as the Rationalistic Period, and
Brahmans, relieved of manual labour, had already commenced to feed on the resources of the industrious classes,
without acquiring that learning which would alone justify
their exemption from labour. Vasishtha felt the abuse and
the injustice keenly, and protested against idlers being
supported and fed, in language which could only be indited
when Hinduism was still a living nation's religion.
i I. (Brahmans) who neither study nor teach the Veda
nor keep sacred fires become equal to Szhdras.
"4. The king shall punish that village where Brahmans, unobservant of their sacred duties and ignorant of
the Veda, subsist by begging, for it feeds robbers.
"6. The sin that dunces, perplexed by zirnlorance, and
unacquainted with the sacred law, declare to be duty,
shall fall, increased a hundred-fold, on those who propound it.
"I I. An elephant made of wood, an antelope made of
leather, and a Brahman ignorant of the Veda, those three
have nothing but the name of their kind.
" 12. Those kingdoms where ignorant men eat the food
of the learned will be visited by drought; or some other,great evil will befall thet " ( Vasishitha, III).
The additional occupations of the Kshatriya were
to govern and fight and make conquests, to learn the
management of chariots and the use of the bow, and to
stand firm in battle and not to turn back (Gautamaa, X,
15 and I6). The special occupations of the Vaisya were
trade, agriculture, tending cattle, lending money, and
labour for gain (Gautama, X, 49). Sudras were to serve
the other three castes, but were also allowed to labour for
gain (Gautama, X, 42); and there can be no doubt they
traded and earned money by independent work to a large
extent in the Rationalistic Period as in all succeeding
periods. Religious knowledge was, however, forbidden to
Sfdras.




250


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


"To see ourselves as others see us " is always a gain,
and we will therefore now examine how the caste-system
was regarded by foreigners. It is quite evident that the
seven castes spoken of by Megasthenes are virtually the
four castes spoken of above. His philosophers and councillors were the Brahmans, those who engaged themselves
in religious study, and those who took employment under
the State respectively. His husbandmen, shepherds, and
artisans were the Vaisyas and Sudras, who engaged themselves in cultivation, in pasture, and in manufacture. And
his soldiers were the Kshatriyas; while his overseers were
only special servants, spies of the king.
Megasthenes further subdivides the philosophers into
Brahmans or householders, and Sramans or ascetics.
Of the former he says that "the children are under the
care of one person after another, and as they advance in
age, each succeeding master is more accomplished than
his predecessor. The philosophers have their abode in a
grove in front of the city within a moderate-sized enclosure.
They live in a simple style, and lie on beds of rushes or
(deer) skins. They abstain from animal food and sensual
pleasures, and spend their time listening to religious discourse and in imparting their knowledge to such as will
listen to them.... After living in this manner for seven
and thirty years each individual retires to his own property,
where he lives for the rest of his days in ease and security.
They then array themselves in fine muslin, and wear a few
trinkets of gold on their fingers and in their ears. They
eat flesh, but not that of animals employed in labour.
They abstain from hot and highly seasoned food. They
marry as many wives as they please, with a view to having
numerous children, for by having many wives, greater
advantages are enjoyed, and since they have no slaves,
they have more need to have children around them to
attend to their wants."
Of the Sramans or ascetics, Megasthenes tells us that
"they live in the wood, where they subsist on leaves of




CHAP. V.]


CASTE.


251


trees and wild fruits, and wear garments made from the
bark of trees.... They communicate with the kings, who
consult them by messengers, regarding the causes of
things, and who through them worship and supplicate the
deity." Some of them practised medicines, and Megasthenes
writes: " By their knowledge of pharmacy they can make
marriages fruitful, and determine the sex of the offspring.
They effect cures rather by regulating diet than by the use
of medicines. The remedies most esteemed are ointments
and plasters." We learn from this account, as we learn
from other sources, that sects of ascetics subsisting on
roots and wild fruits, lived in Ancient India, and bore the
name of Sramanas, before and after the time of Gautama
Buddha. And when that great reformer preached a holy
life and retirement from the world, as the essence of his
religion, his followers, who retired from the world, were
called Sakyaputriya Sramans,-or ascetics who followed the
Sakya,-to distinguish them from other sects of ascetics.
Elsewhere Megasthenes says of the Philosopher-caste
that they, " being exempted from all public duties, are
neither the masters nor the servants of others. They are
however engaged by private persons to offer the sacrifices due in lifetime, and to celebrate the obsequies of the
dead.... They forewarn assembled multitudes about
droughts and wet weather, and also about propitious winds
and diseases." We have thus a brief but intelligent sketch,
from the hand of an impartial foreigner, of the life which
the Brahmans lived in the Rationalistic Period. They
gave religious instruction to the young, they presided at
sacrifices and funeral ceremonies, they advised villagers
and cultivators about weather and harvests, and they also
prescribed medicines for various diseases. Kings looked
up to them for advice in emergencies, and the class of
Brahmans whom Megasthenes considers a separate caste
and calls councillors, also advised the king in state affairs,
were entrusted with the treasury, and were the judges in
civil and criminal cases. The educated classes looked up




252


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


to the Brahmans for priestly advice and assistance at large
sacrifices, while the humble cultivators consulted the wise
men about the prospects of the year. With the gradual
decline of the nation the caste so universally honoured
gradually came to abuse its privileges, and tried to
strengthen by superstition that pre-eminence which was
first acquired by sanctity and knowledge.
Of the military class or the Kshatriya caste Megasthenes
gives a very brief sketch. The soldiers were organised
and equipped for war, but in times of peace gave themselves up to idleness and amusements.
"The entire force, men-at-arms, war-horses, war-elephants, and all are maintained at the king's expense."
It was the duty of the overseers to inquire into all that
went on in the kingdom and report them to the king.
Of the husbandmen, shepherds, and artisans, who
obviously were the Vaisya and Sudra castes, Megasthenes
gives us a more interesting and life-like sketch. Being
exempted from fighting and other public services, the
husbandmen "devote the whole of their time to tillage;
nor would zan enemy, comining upon a husbandzman at work
on his land, do him any harmn, for men of this class, being
regarded as public benefactors, are protected from all
injury. The land thus remaining unravaged, and producing heavy crops, supplies the inhabitants with all that
is requisite to make life very enjoyable.... They pay a
land tribute to the king, because all India is the property of the crown, and no private person is permitted
to own land.   Besides the land tribute, they pay into
the royal treasury a fourth part of the produce of the
soil." *
" The shepherds neither settle in towns nor in villages,
but live in tents.t  By hunting and trapping they clear
* The usual land tax in India was one-sixth of the produce in the Hindu
times.
t This description must refer to some tribes of aborigines who were
scarcely yet completely Hinduised.




CHAP. V.]             CASTE.                   253
the country of noxious birds and wild beasts. Of the
artisans some are armourers, while others make the implements which husbandmen and others find useful in their
different callings. This class is not only exempted from
paying taxes, but even receives maintenance from the
royal exchequer."




CHAPTER VI.


SOCIAL LIFE.
IT is in the Sutras that we first find mention of the
different forms of marriage with which we are familiar
from the later metrical codes of law. Vasishtha mentions
only six forms, viz.:Brdahma marriage; the father pours out a libation of
water and gives his daughter to a suitor, a student.
Dazva marriage; the father decks his daughter with
ornaments and gives her to an officiating priest, when
sacrifice is being performed.
Airsha marriage; the father gives his daughter for a
cow or a bull.
Gcndizarva marriage; the lover takes and weds a loving
damsel.
TKshdtra (or Rdkslzasa) marriage; the bridegroom
forcibly takes a damsel, destroying her relatives by
strength of arms.
Maditsha (or Asura) marriage; the suitor purchases a
damsel from her father.
Apastamba, too, recognises only these six forms of
marriage, but calls the Kshatra marriage by the name
Rakshasa, and the Manusha marriage by the name Asura.
Apastamba further mentions the first three forms only,
viz., the Brahma, the Daiva, and the Arsha, as praise
worthy.
The older writers Gautama and Baudhayana, however,
prescribe eight forms of marriage, adding to the above
six forms one rite, Prajapatya, which was considered
254




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


255


praiseworthy, and another form, Paisdcha, which was
sinful. In the Prajapatya form the father simply gave
away his daughter to the suitor, saying, "Fulfil ye the
law conjointly." The Paisacha form was simply a form
of rape, when a man embraced a woman deprived of
consciousness.
Marriages among kinsfolk were rigorously prohibited
in the Rationalistic Period. Vasishtha prohibits marriage
between a man and a woman of the same Gotra or
Pravara, or who are related within four degrees on the
mother's side, or within six degrees on the father's side
(VIII, I and 2). Apastamba prohibits marriage between
men and women of the same Gotra, or who are related
(within six degrees) on the mother's or (father's) side
II, 5, It, I5 and I6). But Baudhayana allows a man
to marry the daughter of a maternal uncle or a paternal
aunt (I, I, 2, 4).
The marriage of girls at a tender age was not yet prevalent in the Rationalistic Period. Vasishtha says:"67. A maiden who has attained puberty shall wait
for three years.
"68. After three years, she may take a husband of
equal caste" (XVII).
In contradiction, however, to the above, there is a passage, immediately after, recommending the marriage of
girls while they are yet children. The passage appears
to be an interpolation.
The marriage of widows, which was a prevalent custom
in the Vedic and Epic Periods, continued to prevail in
the Rationalistic Period, but except in the case of childwidows, was not looked upon with favour. The son of a
widow married again was, as will appear from passages
quoted in the previous chapter, often classed with adopted
sons, or sons by an appointed wife or daughter.
Such are the rules laid down in the Dharma Sutras
for marriage. Marriage marks the entrance to a new
stage of life, viz., that of a Householder; before marriage,




256


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


a young man is only a Stiudent. It would be interesting
to briefly review the rules laid down in the Sutras regarding the conduct of a student and that of a householder, respectively.
The first great event in a boy's life seems to have
been his initiation as a student. A Brahman boy was
initiated between 8 and I6, a Kshatriya between ii and
22, and a Vaisya between 12 and 24. The initiated boy
then lived as a religious student in the house of his
teacher for 12, 24, 36, or 48 years, according as he wished
to master one, two, three, or the four Vedas. During this
period of his life he avoided all spiced food, perfumes, and
articles of luxury; he tied his hair in a knot, he bore a
staff and a girdle, and a cloth of flax or hemp, or even only
a skin. Avoiding all places of amusement and of pleasure,
restraining his senses, modest and humble, the young
student went out every morning with his staff to beg for
food from charitable householders in the neighbouring
villages, and all that he obtained in the course of the day
he placed before his teacher, and he only tasted food after
his teacher had done with his meals. He went to the
forest to fetch fuel, and evening and morning he fetched
water for iousehold use. Every morning he swept and
cleaned the altar, kindled the fire, and placed the sacred
fuel on it; and every evening he washed his teacher's
feet and rubbed him and put him to bed, before he retired
to rest.  Such was the humble and simple life which
ancient Hindu students led, when they devoted all the
energies of their mind to the acquisition of the sacred
learning of their forefathers.
Instruction, it is needless to repeat, was imparted by
rote. The student respectfully held the hand of his
teacher, and fixed his mind on the teacher and said, "Venerable sir, recite," and the Savitri (the well-known Gayatri
verse of the Rig Veda) was recited, and learnt as the
introduction to the learning of the Vedas (Gautama, I,
55, 56). And from day to day new lessons were recited




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


257


and learnt, the student dividing his day's work between
minding his lessons and minding the household work of
his teacher.
When after years of study, often under different
teachers, the student at last returned to his home, he made
a handsome gift to his instructors, married, and settled
down as a householder or sndtaeka, i.e., a man who has
bathed after his studentship is over. The Sutrakaras are
never tired with impressing on householders the paramount duty of courtesy and hospitality towards guests,
for the reception of guests is an everlasting sacrifice
offered by the householder to God (Apastamba, II,
3, 7, I).
Besides the order of the student and that of the householder, there were two other orders of life, viz., those of
the Ascetic (Bhikshu), and that of the Hermit (Vaikhanasa). We learn from later Sanscrit literature that a
typical or perfect life was the life of a man who belonged
to these four orders in the successive periods of his life.
Apastamba, too, who is one of the latest of the Sutrakaras, says that "if he lives in all these four (orders of
life)... he will obtain salvation" (II, 9, 21, 2). But
this was not the original idea, and in early times a man
might have chosen to spend the whole of his life in one of
these four orders. Thus Vasishtha says that a man after
completing his education may, according to his choice,
embrace one of the four orders for the rest of his life
(VII, 3), and Baudhayana too quotes a rule that a man
on finishing his education may be an ascetic at once (II,
10, I7, 2). It is needless for our purpose to dwell on
rules laid down for an ascetic and a hermit respectively.
It will suffice to state that an ascetic shaved his head, had
no property or home, practised austerities, fasted or lived
on alms, wore a single garment or a skin, slept on the
bare ground, wandered about from place to place, discontinued the performance of all religious ceremonies,
but never discontinued the study of the Veda or the
VOL. I.                                   R




258


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK IIT.


contemplation of the Universal Soul (Vasis/itha, X). A
hermit, on the other hand, though dwelling in woods, living
on roots and fruits, and leading a chaste life, kindled the
sacred fire and offered the morning and evening libations
(Vasis/t/a, IX).
We now return to the householders, who form the
best of the four orders. For the householders, and not
hermits and ascetics, formed the nation, and "as rivers,
both great and small, find a resting place in the ocean,
even so men of all orders find protection with householders "( Vasisht/wa, VIII, 15).
No less than forty sacraments have been prescribed
for the householder (Gautama, VIII, 14-20), and an
account of these sacraments will give us a glimpse into
the religious and domestic life of the ancient Hindu.
Domestic ceremonies.-(I) Garbhadhana (ceremony to
cause conception); (2) Pumsavana (ceremony to cause the
birth of a male child); (3) Simantonnayana (arranging
the hair of the pregnant wife); (4) Jatakarman (ceremony
on birth of a child); (5) naming the child; (6) the first
feeding; (7) the tonsure of the head; (8) the initiation;
(9 to 12) the four vows for the study of the Veda;
(13) the bath or completion of studentship; (14) marriage, or, as it is called, the taking a helpmate for the
performance of religious duties; and (I5 to 19) the five
sacrifices to gods, manes, men, spirits, and to Brahman
or God.
Grilya rites, also called Pdkayajnas.-(I) Astaka,
or rites performed in winter; (2) Parvana, or new and
full moon rites; (3) Sraddha, or sacrifices to departed
ancestors; (4) Sravani, a rite performed in the Sravana month; (5) Agrahayani, performed in the Agrahayana month; (6) Chaitri, performed in the month of
Chaitra; and (7) Asvayugi, performed in the month of
Asvina.
Srauta rites.-These are again divided into two classes,
viz., Haviryajna, performed with offerings of rice, milk,




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


259


butter, meat, &c.; and the Somzaya.na, performed with
libations of the Soma-juice.
The Haviryajnas are-(I) Agnyadhana, (2) Agnihotra,
(3) Darsapurnamasa, (4) Agrayana, (5) Chaturmasya,
(6) Nirudhapasubandha, and (7) Sautramani.
The Somayajnas are (I) Agnishtoma, (2) Atyagnishtoma, (3) Ukthya, (4) Shodasin, (5) Vajapeya, (6) Atiratra,
and (7) Aptoryama.
Such were the forty sacraments prescribed for householders;-but far above the performance of these sacrifices
was esteemed the possession of virtue and goodness, which
alone led to heaven. Gautama says:"lte who is sanctified by these forty sacraments, but
whose soul is destitute of the eight good qualities, will
not be united with Brahman, nor does he reach His
heaven.
"But he, forsooth, who is sanctified by a few only
of these forty sacraments, and whose soul is endowed
with the excellent qualities, will be united with Brahman
and will dwell in His heaven " (VIII, 24 and 25).
Similarly Vasishtha says:"The Vedas do not purify him who is deficient in
good conduct, though he may have learnt them all, together with the six Angas; the sacred texts depart from
such a man, even as birds when full fledged leave their
nests.
" As the beauty of a wife causes no joy to a blind man,
even so all the four Vedas, together with the six Angas
and sacrifices, bring no blessing to him who is deficient
in good conduct.
"The several texts do not save from sin the deceitful man who behaves deceitfully. But that Veda, two
syllables of which are studied with due observances of
rules of conduct, purifies, just as the clouds in the month
of Asvina" (VI, 3-5).
We will now say a few words about the forty sacraments, or rather with regard to those of them which




260


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


illustrate Hindu life.  They include, as stated above,
Domestic ceremonies, Grihya rites, and Srauta rites. The
Srauta rites are described in detail in the Yajur Veda
and the Brahmanas, and also in a condensed form in the
Srauta Sftras, as we have stated before. These rites
have been briefly described in our account of the Epic
Age, and throw little light on the manners and life of the
people, and are therefore not of very much importance
for our historical purpose.  The Domestic ceremonies
and Grihya rites, on the other hand, give us glimpses
which are of inestimable value into the manners of the
ancient Hindus, and indeed give us a perfect picture of
the life that they lived and the habits and customs they
followed.
We will first treat of the Domestic ceremonies, and
afterwards speak of the Grihya religious rites. The
most important of the Domestic ceremonies are Marriage,
Ceremonies performed during pregnancy of wife, Birth
of child, Annaprasana or the first feeding of a child,
Tonsure, Initiation, and Return from School on the completion of education.  As we read accounts of these
domestic ceremonies, we think we survey the whole
life of our ancient ancestors;-and the ceremonies are
all the more interesting to us, because we continue to
practise many of them to the present day, after a lapse
of over two thousand years.
Marriage.-The bridegroom sends messengers to the
house of the girl's father, reciting verse X, 85, 23, of
the Rig Veda, which we have translated before. If the
proposal pleases both parties, the promise of marriage
is ratified, and both parties touch a full vessel into
which flowers, fried grain, barley, and gold have been
put, and recite a formula. The bridegroom then performs
a sacrifice. On the appointed day, the bride's relations
wash her with water fragrant with the choicest fruits
and scents, make her put on a newly dyed garment,
and cause her to sit down by a fire while the family




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


26r


Acharya performs a sacrifice.  The bridegroom, who
has also bathed and gone through auspicious ceremonies,
" is escorted by happy young women who are not widows
to the girl's house" (Sdnkhtdydna.)
The actual marriage ceremony varied in detail in
different localities, but agreed in the essential points.
"Various indeed are the customs of the different countries, and the customs of the different villages.... What
however is commonly accepted, that we shall state"
(Asvaldyana). The bridegroom holds the bride by the
hand, and leads her three times round a fire, reciting
some verses, as, "Come, let us marry. Let us beget
offspring. Loving, bright, with genial mind, may we
live a hundred autumns."   Each time he makes her
tread a millstone, saying, "Like a stone be firm." The
bride's brother or guardian fills her hands with Ajya
or fried grain, and she sacrifices it to the fire. The
bridegroom then causes the bride to step forward seven
steps, reciting suitable words. The going round the fire,
treading the stone, sacrificing the fried grain, and stepping
forward seven steps, constituted the principal forms of
the marriage ceremony. " And she should dwell that
night in the house of an old Brahman woman whose
husband is alive, and whose children are alive. When
she sees the Polar star, the star of Arundhati, and the
Seven Rishis (Ursa Major), let her break the silence,
and say, May my husband live, and I get offspring"
(Asvalayana).  Sankhayana says, "Let them sit silent,
when the sun has set, until the Polar star appears. He
shows her the star with the words, 'Firm be thou,
thriving with me.' Let her say, 'I see the Polar star;
may I obtain offspring.' Through a period of three nights
let them refrain from conjugal intercourse."
Pregnancy.-Various were the rites performed during
the pregnancy of a wife. In the first place, there was the
GarbhAdh.na rite, which was supposed to secure conception. The Pumnsavana rite was supposed to determine




262


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


the male sex of the child, and the Garbhaarakshana
secured the child in the womb from  dangers.  The
Stmantonna)ana, performed according to Asvalayana
in the fourth month, and according to Sankhayana in
the seventh month of pregnancy, is a more interesting
ceremony.  Gobhila says it may be performed in the
fourth, sixth, or eighth month, and it consisted in the
husband affectionately parting his wife's hair, with certain
rites.
Birth of child.-The rites performed on this occasion
are called Jdtakarman or birth ceremony, Mled/iyaznanzaz
or the production of intelligence, and Aysishya or rite for
prolonging life. On this occasion the father gives the
child a secret name,-of an even number of syllables if
the child is male, and an uneven number if it is female,
and only the father and mother know that name. On the
tenth day, when the mother gets up from childbed, a name
for common use is given to the child. "The name of a
Brahman should end in Sarman (e.g., Vishnu Sarman),
that of a Kshatriya in Varman (e.g., Lakshmi Varman), that of a Vaisya in Gupta (e.g., Chandra Gupta)"
(Il'raskara, I, 17, 4).
Firstfeeding of the child with solidfood.-This is the
well-known A nnaprasana ceremony.  The child seems
to have been allowed a greater variety of food in the
olden days than in the present time. "Goat's flesh, if
he is desirous of nourishment; flesh of partridge, if
desirous of holy lustre; boiled rice with ghee, if desirous
of splendour" (Asvaldyaua and Sankhayana). "Flesh
of that bird called Bharadvaji, if he wishes fluency
of speech; fish, if swiftness was desired, &c., &c."
(Pdraskara).
Tonsure of the child's head, called ChIdda Karana.This was performed when the child was one year old
according to Sankhayana and Paraskara, or when the
child was in his third year according to Asvalayana and
Gobhila. The child's head was shaved with a razor with




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


253


certain mantras (without mantras in the case of a girl),
and some hair was left and arranged according to the
custom of the family.
Initiation or Upanayana. -This was an important
ceremony, and was performed when a boy was made over
by his father or guardian to the teacher for education.
The age of initiation, as we have seen before, varied in
the case of Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, and the
sacred thread was worn on this occasion by all the three
castes.
A garment, a girdle, and a staff of appropriate materials
were then assumed by the student, and he approached
the teacher.
" He (the teacher) fills the two hollows of his own and
the student's joined hands with water, and then says to
him (i.e., to tile student), ' What is thy name?'
"'I am N. N., sir,' says the other.
"'Descending from the same Rishis,' says the teacher.
"' Descending from the same Rishis, sir,' says the
other.
"'Declare that thou art a student, sir.'
"' I am a student, sir,' says the other.
"With the words 'Bhur Bhuvah Svah,' the teacher
sprinkles thrice with his joined hands water on the joined
hands of the student.
"And seizing the student's hands with his own hands,
holding the right uppermost, he murmurs:"By the impulse of the god Savitri, with the arms of the
two Asvins, with Pushan's hands, I initiate thee, N. N."
Such was the ceremony of the Ulpanayana in ancient
times, the initiation into the life of a student, the
commencement of the study of the Veda. How has the
Upalnayana custom degenerated in modern times!  It
no longer means the study of the Veda, which is now
forgotten, nor the performance of sacrifices, which have
now fallen into disuse.  It now  means the habitual
assumption of a meaningless thread, which was neither




264


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


meaningless nor habitually worn in ancient days; and
modern Brahmans claim a monopoly of the sacrificial
thread, which the ancient Brahmans used to wear along
with Kshatriyas and Vaisyas, who all sacrificed and learnt
the Veda. Thus national degeneracy has converted significant rites into meaningless forms, all tending to the
enforced ignorance of the people, and to the exclusive
privileges of priests.
Return from  sc/ool. — The student, after he had
finished his education, returned to his home, and if he
had no ancestral house to go to, had to build a house.
This, too, was accompanied by a ceremony and by the
utterance of the hymns of the Rig Veda (VII, 54, 55)
to Vastospati, the lord of dwelling-houses, as well as
to other divinities.  Then followed marriage, and the
setting up of fires,-the Agnyadhana-which is a Srauta
rite, and which has been described in Chapter VIII. of
the last Book. The student is now changed into a householder, and has other and graver duties to perform.
Such were the most important Domestic ceremonies in
which the ancient Hindus rejoiced. We will now give
a brief account of the Grihya rites.
The most important of the Grihya rites was the Srdddha
or monthly offering to the departed fathers, and the feeding
of Brahmans. "Brahmans who are endowed with learning, moral character, and correct conduct," were invited,
and sat down "as representatives of the fathers" to
whom the oblations were offered. The sacrificer then
offered the Arghya water to the fathers with the words,
"Father, this is thy Arghya; Grandfather, this is thy
Arghya; Great-grandfather, this is thy Arghya." Gifts of
perfumes, garlands, incense, lights, and clothes were then
offered to the Brahmans. With the permission of the
BrAhmans, food of the SthdlzMpka prepared for the
Pindapitriyajna was smeared with ghee and sacrificed in
the fire, or in the hands of the Brahmans, together with
other food.  And when the sacrificer saw that the




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIA L LIFE.


265


Brahmans were satiated, he recited the verse (Rig Veda,
I, 82, 2), "They have eaten, they have enjoyed themselves " (Asvaclyana).
Parvana.-This was the rite observed on the new and
full moon days, and consisted in fasting as well as in
offering cooked oblations to the deities of those days,
with appropriate mantras. Orthodox Hindus still make
it a point to fast on these days.
Sravant.-This was a rite observed on the full moon
day of the month of Sravana in the rainy season, and
the idea was to propitiate serpents, which multiply in
India in the rains. The words uttered were sufficiently
grotesque.
The propitiation of serpents as such has nearly disappeared from the upper classes of the people of India,
and they will have some difficulty in recognising the rite
performed at the Rakf Pzurninma as a survival of the
Srdvani rite of the Rationalistic Period.  The RdkF
string bracelet which friends distribute to friends, and
sisters affectionately send to their brothers, is a bracelet
which is intended to save them from any harm or evil
proceeding from serpents.*
Asvayugt'.-This was a rite performed on the full
moon day of Asvayuga or Asvina month.
" i. On the full moon day of Asvayuga a milk-rice
oblation to Indra.
"2. Having sacrificed Ajya with the words, 'To the
two Asvins, svaha! To the two Asvayuga, svaha! To
the full moon of Asvayuga, svaha!    To the autumn,
svaha!   To Prajapati, svaha!    To the tawny one,
svah! '
"3. He shall sacrifice a mixture of curds and butter
with this hymn, 'The cows come hither' (Rig Veda, VI,
28), verse by verse.
* A new and aboriginal goddess, the Manasd, is now worshipped in
Bengal to save men from snake-bite, and the story of her admission into
the Hindu Pantheon is dimly seen in the popular tale of Manasdr Bhdsdn.




266


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


"4. That night they let the calves join their mothers.
"5. Then feeding of the Brahmans."
This is all the account which Sankhayana gives of this
rite, and it is impossible not to suspect from the above
account that the rite is essentially agricultural.  This
suspicion is confirmed when Paraskara tells us that the
above rite was to be followed by a sacrifice to Sita, the
goddess of the ficld flrrow.
"In whose substance dwells the prosperity of all Vedic
and worldly works, Indra's wife zitd, I invoke. May
she not abandon me in whatever work I do. Svaha!
" Her, who, rich in horses, rich in cows, rich in delight,
indefatigably supports living beings, Urvard (thze fertile),
wvho is twreathed1 witah threshingZ floors, I invoke at this
sacrifice, the firm  one.  May she not abandon me.
Svaha!" i(II, 17, 9).
The worship of Sita or the furrow goddess, following
the Asvajugi rite, her description as the wife of Indra
the rain-giver, and as Urvara or the fertile, wreathcd with
thresling floors, all suggest that the Asvajugi rite was
an agricultural rite of thanksgiving on the reaping of the
crop which was harvested in Asvina.    And if this
rite of agricultural thanksgiving was already somewhat
obscure in the Rationalistic Period, how has that rite
been further obscured in the K(y'jad ra Lakshluz Pzyu of
modern India.
Lakshmi is a young goddess who was unknown in the
Rationalistic Period, but is now the most cherished deity
in the Hindu Pantheon. Sita is now remembered only
as the heroine of the Ramayana, and as a pattern of
female virtue and female self-abnegation, but Lakshmi
has taken her place as the goddess of crops and of rice.
We have seen that the Kojagara Lakshmi Puja is the
modern form of the ancient Asvajugi rite. Still more
recent than the Lakshmi Puja is the worship of Durga,
which has in Bengal assumed wonderful dimensions
within recent times, owing no doubt to the gladness of




CHAP. VI.]


SOCIAL LIFE.


267


the harvest season. How has the petty harvest festival,
-the milk-rice oblation to Indra and his consort Sita,developed in modern times!
Agra/hayanrzT.-This rite was performed on the full moon
day of Agrahayana month. This particular night was
considered to be the consort of the year, or the image of the
year, and adoration was offered to the year, to Samvatsara,
Parivatsara, Idavatsara, Idvatsara, and to Vatsara, whicl
terms designate the different years of the quinquennial
period of Yuga (P]raskra-, III, 2, 2).
Ashtakd.-So called because they were rites which
were performed on the eigghth day of the three or
four successive dark fortnights after the full moon of
Agrahayana.   Oblations were made with vegetables,
flesh, and cakes respectively. Gobhila quotes different
opinions as to the object of these oblations, and says they
may be for the gratification of Agni, or of the Fathers, or
of Prajapati, or of the Season gods, or of all the gods
(Gobhi/a, III, 2, 3). The intelligent reader will hardly
fail to perceive, however, that the rites were suggested by
the winter season, which is an enjoyable season in India,
when the Aman rice is harvested and wheat and barley
thrive, and when cakes and flesh and vegetables are not
only acceptable to the "season gods," but are also highly
gratifying to men! And the Hindu reader will, no doubt,
at once perceive that a survival of this ancient rite still
exists in Bengal in the IPausha ]Pdrvana, when, after the
Aman has been harvested, our ladies delight in the preparation of delicious cakes of various kinds, to the infinite
joy of the young and old alike!
Chaitrt, the last rite in the year, was performed on the
full moon day of Chaitra. Indra and Agni and Rudra
and the Nakshatras or constellations were propitiated.
Such were the Domestic ceremonies and Grihya rites
in which Hindu ladies delighted in ancient times. And
if some of these rites have since lost their original significance, and have even been replaced by modern forms,




268          RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.        [BOOK III.
we can nevertheless trace most of them in the rites
that we practise to this day, after a lapse of two thousand years and more. The conservative spirit of the
Hindus and their loyalty to the past are pre-eminently
conspicuous in their adherence to ancient ceremonies,
which were generally conceived in a pure and healthy
spirit.  And the healthy joyousness which attended
ancient Hindu celebrations has certainly lost nothing
in the course of many centuries of foreign subjection
and national decline.




CHAPTER VII.


GEOMETRY AND GRAMMAR.
WE have seen before that it was in the Rationalistic Age
that all the religious rules and laws of the previous ages
received a philosophical treatment, and were condensed,
arranged, and codified. It was in this period that the
contents of the verbose and somewhat chaotic Brahmanas
were brought into order, that civil and criminal laws and
the law of inheritance were codified, that the caste rules
and social laws were rigidly fixed, and the duties of men,
both as citizens and as members of a family, defined.
And it can well be imagined, therefore, that science
and philosophy received a high degree of development
in this age, and some departments of inquiry and
thought received their last development in India in this
period.
We do not know what progress was made in this
period in Astronomy. No Sutra work on Astronomy has
come down to us, and there can be little doubt that the
astronomical works of the Rationalistic Period have long
since been replaced by the later and completer works of
the Puranic Period,-by the works of Aryabhatta and
Varahamihira, of Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya. But
there is one branch of mathematics which was carried
to a high degree of excellence in the Rationalistic Period.
Dr. Thibaut has deserved the thanks of all Oriental
scholars by publishing the fact that Geometry, as a
science, was first studied in India. The Greeks of a
later age cultivated the science with greater success, but
269




2/0


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


it should never be forgotten that the world owes its first
lessons in Geometry not to Greece, but to India.
Geometry, like Astronomy, owes its origin in India to
religion, and Grammar and Philosophy too were similarly
inspired by religion. As Dr. Thibaut remarks: " The want
of some rule by which to fix the right time for the sacrifices gave the first impulse to astronomical observations;
urged by this want, the priest remained watching night
after night the advance of the moon through the circle of
the Nakshatras, and day after day the alternate progress
of the sun towards the north and the south. The laws of
phonetics were investigated, because the wrath of the gods
followed the wrong pronunciation of a single letter of
the sacrificial formulas; grammar and etymology had the
task of securing the right understanding of the holy texts.
The close connection of philosophy and theology,-so
close that it is often impossible to decide where the one
ends and the other begins,-is too well known to require
any comment." And the learned Doctor then lays down
the principle, which should never be overlooked by
Indian historians, that whatever science "is closely
connected with the Ancient Indian Religion must be
considered as having sprung up among the Indians themselves," and not borrowed from other nations.*
Geometry was developed in India from the rules for
the construction of altars.  The Black Yajur Veda (V,
4, II) enumerates the different shapes in which altars
could be constructed, and Baudhayana and Apastamba
furnish us with full particulars about the shape of these
clitis and the bricks which had to be employed for their
construction. (I) The Chaturasra Syena is a falconshaped altar built of square bricks, and is the most
ancient.  (2) The Syena Vakrapakshavyastapuchchha
is an altar of the shape of a falcon with curved wings
and outspread tail. (3) The Kankachit is a heron-shaped
altar with two feet, and (4) the Alajachit is very similar
* Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal, 1875, p. 227.




CHAP. VII.]  GEOMIETRY AND GRAlMMlAR.


27r


to it. (5) The Praugachit is of the shape of the forepart
of the poles of a chariot, an equilateral triangle, and (6)
the Ubhayatah Praugachit is of the form of two such
triangles joined with their bases.  Then follow (7) the
Ratha Chakrachit and (8) the Sararatha Chakrachit of
the shape of wheels, without and with spokes. (9) The
Chaturasradronachit and (IO) the Parimandaladronachit
are of the shape of a drona or vessel, square or circular.
(I ) The Parichayyachit is also of a wheel-shape, and
(I2) the Samuhyachit has likewise a circular shape.
(I3) The Smasanachit is a sloping quadrilateral altar
wider at one base than at the other, and higher at the
wider end. The last chiti mentioned is the Kurma or
tortoise, which may be either (14) Vakranga, curved, or
(I5) angular, or (I6) Parimandala, circular.
The area of the earliest Chaturasra Syena was to be
71- square purushas, which means 71 squares, the side of
each square being equal to a purusha, i.e., the height of a
man with uplifted arms. When any other shape of altar
was required, the size or area did not change, so that a
wheel, an equilateral triangle, or a tortoise had to be
constructed,-all of the area of 7~ purushas.  Then
again at the second construction of the altar one square
purusha had to be added to the area, and at the third
construction two square purushas had to be added, without
changizng the shape or the relativeproportions of the figure.
All this could not be done without a considerable knowledge of Geometry, and the science of Geometry was thus
invented. As Dr. Thibaut says, "squares had to be found
which would be equal to two or more given squares; or
equal to the difference of two given squares; oblongs
had to be turned into squares and squares into oblongs;
triangles had to be constructed equal to given squares or
oblongs; and so on. The last task, and not the least,
was that of finding a circle, the area of which might equal
as closely as possibly that of a given square."
The result of these operations was the compilation of




272


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK     III.


a series of geometrical rules which are contained in the
Sulva Sutras, which form a portion of the Kalpa Sutras,
as we have stated before.  These Sulva Sutras date
from the eighth century before Christ. The geometrical
theorem that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to
the squares of the other two sides of a rectangular
triangle is ascribed by the Greeks to Pythagoras; but it
was known in India at least two centuries before, and
Pythagoras undoubtedly learnt this rule from India. The
proposition referred to above is contained in two rules,
viz., (I) The square of the diagonal of a square is twice as
large as that square, and (2) The square of the diagonal
of an oblong is equal to the square of both its sides.
Our limits forbid us to follow Dr. Thibaut's remarks
contained in his most valuable and instructive paper,
and all we can do is to briefly mention a few of the
most important results achieved in the Sulva Sutras.
One remarkable result was to find the value of a
diagonal in number in relation to the side of the square.
The rule laid down is, " Increase the measure by
its third part, and this third by its own fourth, less
the thirty-fourth  part of that fourth."  In other
words, if I represents the side, the diagonal will be
I      IThre I
I + — +                   =.1 442156. The real
3   3x4     3x4X34
value of the diagonal is, we know,  /2 = I'4142 3.
and we see, therefore, that the rule given in the Sulva
Sfitras is correct up to five places of the decimal.
Rules were framed for the formation of squares of
three, four, five, or any times the area of a given square;
for combining two squares of different sizes; for deducting one square from another; for turning an. oblong into
a square or a square into an oblong; for turning a square
into a circle or a circle into a square. As an example,
we will quote the rule of describing a circle equal to a
given square.




CHAP. VII.]  GEOMETRY AND GRAMMAR.


273


The rule is this: " If you wish to turn a square into
a circle, draw half of the cord stretched in the diagonal
from the centre towards the Prachi line (i.e., the line
due east); describe the circle, together with the third
part of that piece of the cord which will lie outside the
square."
The rule may be thus illustrated:E B is half of the
cord of the square   A                    B
A B C D stretched
in the diagonal C B.
Keep the point E
fixed, and draw the 
cord  towards the                        F 1H 
Prachi or eastern
line E F. A part
of the cord, i.e.,
F G, will lie outside  c 
the square. Take a
third part of it, F H, together with the part inside, E F,
and describe a circle with the radius E H.
It is needless to add that the result is only approximately correct.
Similarly: " If you wish to turn a circle into a square,
divide the diameter into eight parts, and again one of
these eight parts into twenty-nine parts; of these twentynine parts remove twenty-eight, and moreover the sixth
part (of the one left part) less the eighth part (of the
sixth part)."
The meaning of the rule is this:7      I           I               I
8   8x29      8x29x6+                     of the
g    8 x 29   8 x 29 x 6    8 x 29 x 6 x 8
diameter of a circle is the side of a square, the area of
which is equal to the area of the circle.
Geometry is a lost science in India; for as soon as it
was found that geometrical truths could be represented
VOL. I.                                   S




274


4   RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


by algebra and arithmetic, Geometry gradually fell out
of use.  And the practical necessity for geometrical
studies no longer existed in India when the Hindus began
to worship images in the Puranic Age, and the setting
up of sacred fires in the worshipper's house was discontinued, and the construction of altars was forgotten.
While the Greeks soon left the Hindus far behind in
Geometry, they could never rival their Asiatic brethren
in the science of Numbers. The world owes the Decimal
Notation to the Hindus, and Arithmetic as a practical
science would have been impossible without the Decimal
Notation. The Arabs first learnt that notation from the
Hindus and introduced it into Europe.  The ancient
Greeks and Romans were ignorant of it, and consequently
never made much progress in the numerical science.
There is yet another science in which the Hindus
were the first in the field, and achieved results in the
Rationalistic Period which have never since been surpassed in the world. Professor Max Muller says that
the Hindus and the Greeks are the only nations who
developed the science of Grammar; but the achievements
of the Greeks in Grammar are poor indeed compared
with the marvellous work of Panini,-the greatest Grammarian that the world has ever seen. We will not enter
into the controversy on the age of Panini.  Professor
Max Miller calls him the contemporary of Katyayana, and
gives the fourth century before Christ as his probable
date, while Dr. Goldstucker maintains that the Grammarian lived in the ninth or tenth century before Christ.
Our own opinion is that he lived long before Katyayana,
and before the rise of Buddhism, and that the eighth
century before Christ is not an improbable date.  He
undoubtedly belongs to the Rationalistic Period, the
period when every department of learning received a
philosophical treatment. But being born in the extreme west of India, he may not have been acquainted
with, or may not have recognised, the Brahmanas and




CHAP. VII.]  GEOMETRY AND GRAMMAR.


275


Upanishads, which, as we have seen before, were mostly
produced among the nations of the Gangetic valley, who
were widely separated by their learning, their customs,
and even their form of religion from the Punjab Hindus.
It would be foreign to our purpose to attempt even a
brief review of Panini's system of Grammar. The great
discovery has been made in Europe in the present century
that the tens of thousands of words in a language can be
resolved to a small number of roots. This discovery was
made in India three thousand years ago, before the time
of Panini, and the great Grammarian resolves the Sanscrit
language of his time to its simple roots.
It was the knowledge of Sanscrit which enabled
European scholars in the present century to discover
the Science of Language; and Bopp and Grimm, and a
host of other learned scholars, have resolved the Aryan
languages to their original roots, as Panini resolved the
Sanscrit language to its roots in the dawn of Aryan
history, when Athens and Rome were unknown!




CHAPTER VIII.


SANKHYA AND YOGA.
BUT the glory of the Rationalistic Period consists in
the philosophy of Kapila and the religion of Buddha.
Kapila and Buddha worked to some extent on the
same lines. They both started with the great object of
affording humanity a relief from the suffering which
is the lot of all living beings.  They both rejected
with evident scorn the remedies which the Vedic rites
pretended to offer, and called those rites impure, because
connected with the slaughter of living beings. They both
declared knowledge and meditation to be the means of
salvation (see Sankhya Karika, I and 2). They both
adopted the doctrine of transmigration from the Upanishads (Sankhya Karika, 45), and declared that pious acts
lead to higher states of life. And lastly, they both aimed
at Nirvana (Sankhya Karika, 67), and the creed of the
philosopher as well as of the reformer is agnostic.
But here the parallel ends.  Kapila, who probably
lived a century before Buddha, started the system of
philosophy, but meant it only as philosophy. He addressed himself to high thinkers and to speculative
scholars. His philosophy knows nothing of sympathy
with mankind in general, he did not go to the masses,
he founded no society or class. Buddha came after him,
and was probably born in the very town sanctified by
the memory of the great philosopher.* Certain it is that
* Buddha was born in Kapilavastu, which, according to the Pali Datha
Vansa, was built by the sons of Ikshvaku, by the permission of the sage
Kapila.
276




CHAP. VIII.]


SANKHYA AND YOGA.


277


he was well versed in the philosophy of Kapila, and
obtained his principal tenets from that source. But he
possessed, what his predecessor did not possess, a living,
all-embracing sympathy, a feeling for the poor, a tear for
the bereaved and the sufferer. This was the secret of
Buddha's great success. For philosophy is barren if it
is not true to its name, if it does not seek earnestly, and
in a loving spirit, the good of fellow-creatures, if it does
not look with equal eye on the rich and the poor, on the
Brahman and tie Sudra. And the Sudra and the poor
came to Buddha one by one for his loving sympathy and
meek beneficence. Good men admired his high-souled
piety, just men yielded to his theory of the equality of
men, and all the world admired his pure system of
morality. The tide of the new religion rolled onwards,
and swept away in its course the inequality of laws and
the inequality of castes. Three centuries after his death,
the Emperor of Pataliputra, who ruled over the whole
of Northern India, accepted the poor man's religion, and
proclaimed it as the religion of all India. And a living
nation accepted the faith of the equality of men, such as
the Hindus have never done again since they have ceased
to be a living nation.
These matters, however, will be treated in future
chapters, and we return therefore to the philosophy of
Kapila,-" the first recorded system of philosophy" in
the world, " the earliest attempt on record to give an
answer from reason alone, to the mysterious questions
which arise in every thoughtful mind about the origin of
the world, the nature and relations of man and his future
destiny." *
The Sdnkhya Pravac/iana or Sdinkhya Sztra is ascribed
to Kapila himself, but has probably been compiled or recast
at a more recent age. An excellent edition of the work,
with commentaries and translation, has been published
by Dr. Ballantyne. The Scnkhya Sdra is composed by
* Davies's Hindu Philosophy.




278


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


Vijnana Bhikshu, the commentator of Sankhya Pravachana. And lastly, the Sadnkiya Kdrika is an ancient
and concise treatise on the subject in only seventy-two
distichs, composed by Isvara Krishna, and commented on
by Guadapada and Vachaspati. This small but excellent
treatise has been translated into Latin by Lassen, into
German by Windischmann and Lorinser, into French by
Pantier and St. Hilaire, and into English by Colebrooke
and Wilson, and recently by Davies. This small treatise
will be our guide, specially as we have Mr. Davies's valuable notes to help us. We have only to add that it is impossible to give our readers the barest skeleton of Sankhya
Philosophy in a few pages, and that all we can do here
is to notice a few essential principles of the system.
To relieve mankind from the three kinds of pain, viz.,
(I) bodily and mental, (2) natural and extrinsic, (3) divine
or supernatural, is the object of Kapila's philosophy.
Vedic rites are inefficacious, because they are impure, and
are tainted with the slaughter of living beings; the complete and final emancipation of the soul is secured by
knowledge alone.
Nature and Soul are eternal and self-existent. From
nature (Prakriti) is produced the intellect, the consciousness, the five subtle elements, the five grosser elements,
the five senses of perception, the five organs of action, and
the mind. Soul (Puruisia) produces nothing, but is only
linked with Nature, with the corporeal body, until its
final emancipation. Kapila does not accept the orthodox
opinion of the Upanishads that all Souls are portions
of the Universal Soul.  He asserts that each Soul is
separate, and has a separate existence after its emancipation from the bonds of Nature.
It will be seen that according to Kapila everything
except Purusha, or soul, is derived from Prakriti, or
primordial matter, and is therefore material. Not only
the elements and the senses and the organs of action, but
the mind, the consciousness, and the intellect are results




CHAP. VIII.]


SANKHYA AND YOGA.


279


of matter, of "mind stuff," as European philosophers call
it. Kapila only differs from modern materialistic philosophers in asserting that there is a soul, independent of
matter and eternal, though for a time linked with matter.
It is necessary to clearly understand the distinctions
between the senses, the organs, the mind, the consciousness, the intellect, the elements, and the soul, in order to
grasp the mental philosophy of Kapila.
The five senses simply observe, i.e., receive impressions; the five organs of action, the voice, hands, feet,
&c., act according to their functions (S. K. 28). The
mind (nzanas) is not what is implied by the English word,
but is only a sense organ (S. K. 27); it is the sensoriutn
cozmmzune, it simply arranges the impressions and presents
them to consciousness. Consciousness (S. K. 24) individualises those impressions as " mine." And the intellect
distinguishes and discriminates (S. K. 23), and forms them
into ideas.  It will thus be seen that the distinctions
made between the senses, the nmanas, the consciousness,
and the intellect are real distinctions in the functions of the
mind. In the language of European philosophy, manas
receives the sensations and makes them actual perceptions;
consciousness individualises them as " mine," and intellect
turns individualised perceptions into "concepts or judgments," in the language of Sir W. Hamilton.
Hindu commentators love to describe this mental operation in a poetic garb. "As the headmen of the village,"
says Vachaspati, " collect the taxes from the villagers
and pay them to the governor of the district, as the local
governor pays the amount to the minister, and the minister
receives it for the use of the king, so the nanas, having
received ideas from the external organs, transfers them to
consciousness, and consciousness delivers them to the
intellect, the general superintendent, who takes charge
of them  for the use of the sovereign, Soul."  Such
metaphorical descriptions should not disguise from us
the strictly scientific nature of the distinctions made,



280


RA TIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


distinctions which are recognised by European philosophers as well as by Hindu thinkers. " Sensation proper,"
says Morell in his Elements of Psychology, "is not
purely a passive state, but implies a certain amount
of mental activity."  A clock, for instance, may strike
within our hearing, and yet we may be perfectly unconscious of the fact if we are absent-minded, i.e., if our
mind is not sufficiently active to catch the sensation;
and this mental activity, which has no special name
in European philosophy, is the manzas of Kapila.
It shows no ordinary philosophic acumen in Kapila
to have declared, at a time when the functions of the
brain were still imperfectly understood, that the zanzas,
the consciousness or ahankzdra, and even the intellect
or buddzi, were material in their origin.  More than
this, Kapila declares that the elements proceed from
consciousness.  Kapila herein seems to anticipate the
philosophy of Berkeley and Hume, that objects are but
permanent possibilities of sensations; and he agrees with
Kant that we have no knowledge of an external world
except as by the actions of our faculties it is represented
to the soul, and take as granted the objective reality
of our sense perceptions.
It will be observed that Kapila is not content with
enumerating the five gross elements, ether, air, earth,
fire, and water, but adds the five subtler principles, sound,
tangibleness, odour, visibility, and taste. What are we
to understand by the statement that these subtle principles have an independent existence?  "The doctrine
of Kapila seems to be, that in hearing, the ear has a
relation not only to the ether, but to the subtler principle
which underlies it, a dim apprehension of the truth that
hearing depends not only on some channel of communication between the ear and the source of sound, but
on some modification of the material element through
which the sound is conducted." *
* Davies, p. 72.




CHAP. VIII.]  SANKHYA AND YOGA.


28I


Kapila recognises only three kinds of evidence, viz.,
Perception, Inference, and Testimony (S. K. 4). The
Nyaya or Logical school recognises four, - dividing
Kapila's Perception into Aznumdna or perception, and
Upazaza or analogy.    The Vedantic school adds a
fifth, which is called Arthdapatti, an informal kind of
presumption: "Devadatta does not eat by day and yet
is fat; it is presumed, therefore, that he eats by night."
Kapila will admit nothing which cannot be known
by his three kinds of evidence. He rejects all inner
ideas.  And as neither Perception, nor Inference, nor
reliable Testimony, presents to him the idea of an
external Author of all things, the Supreme Deity is not
admitted by him as knowable by his philosophy.
Kapila, however, believes in causation; sat-kdryamasat-akdranat; what exists must have been caused, as
there can be no existence without cause (S. K. 9). He
also appeals to the observation of mankind that cause
and effect imply each other, and ends by stating that
an effect is identical with cause.
The three  unzias, or constituent elements of nature,
sattva (goodness), rajas (passion), and tamnas (darkness),
form an important part of all Hindu philosophy, and
find a place in Kapila's (S. K. I ). The gunas are only
a hypothesis which accounts for the manifest differences
in the conditions of all formal existences.
Kapila argues the production of all formal existences
from Prakriti or Nature on five different grounds (S. K.
I5). Firstly, specific objects are finite in their nature and
must have cause. Secondly, different things have common
properties and must be different species of the same primary
genus. Thirdly, all things are in a constant state of progression, and show an active energy of evolution which must
have been derived from a primary source.  Fourthly, the
existing world is an effect, and there must be a primary
cause. And fifthly, there is an undividedness, a real
unity in the whole universe, which argues a common




282


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


origin. On these grounds Kapila argues that all formal
existences have been produced from Prakriti or primordial
matter.
All except Purusha or Soul. And his reasons for the
separate existence of soul also deserve mention.  The
first is the celebrated argument of design, but Kapila
uses it differently from modern theologians. Matter has
been apparently collected and arranged with a design,
but this proves, according to Kapila, not a Designer, but
the existence of soul, for which the things must have
been arranged (S. K. 17). As a bed, argues Gaudapada, which is an assemblage of bedding, props, cotton,
coverlet, and pillows, is for another's use, not its own,
even so this world, which is an assemblage of the five
elements, is for the use of the soul. Secondly, Matter
furnishes materials for pleasure and pain; hence sentient
nature, which feels pleasure and pain, must be different
from it. Thirdly, there must be a superintending force.
Fourthly, there must be a nature that enjoys. And the
fifth argument is Plato's argument that the yearning
for a higher life points to the possibility of gaining it.
These are Kapila's arguments for the existence of soul
independent of matter, but he will not believe in one
soul, but asserts and gives reasons for believing that the
souls of different beings are different, not one (S. K. 18).
Here he goes counter to the Upanishads and to the
Vedantic school, which is based on the Upanishads.
The vital actions of living systems are ascribed to
certain subtle forces, and are generally described in Hindu
philosophy as the five vital "airs."  It was these subtle
forces which were supposed to cause respiration, exertion,
digestion, the circulation of blood, and the sensibility
of the skin.
We have already said that Kapila borrowed the doctrine of transmigration of souls from the Upanishads.
And having borrowed this idea, he had to suit it to
his own system of philosophy. The soul, according to




CHAP. VIII.]


SANKHYA AND YOGA.


283


Kapila, is so passive that the individuality of a man is
scarcely stamped on it. The intellect, the consciousness,
and the manas, all belong to the material part of a man.
Hence Kapila was constrained by his own rigid reasoning
to assume that something more than the soul migrated,
that a subtle body, consisting of the intellect, the consciousness, and the zmanas and the subtle principles,
migrated with the soul (S. K. 39 and 40). And this
idea of a subtle body, the linga sartra, runs through
the whole of Hindu philosophy, and Manu says (XII, I6)
that a subtle body envelops the souls of the wicked,
that they may suffer the torments of hell. The religious
systems of all nations furnish something analogous to
this idea, and the notion of a li~iga sarira is accepted
by the Hindus as the doctrine of the resurrection of the
body is accepted by all Christian nations. This linga
sartra forms the personality of an individual, and ascends
to a higher region or descends to a lower with the soul,
according to the virtues or vices committed in this life
(S. K. 44). The different regions are (I) that of Pisachas,
(2) that of Rakshasas, (3) that of Yakshas, (4) that of
Gandharvas, (5) that of Indra (sun), (6) that of Soma
(moon), (7) that of the Prajapatis, the abode of the Fathers
and Rishis, and (8) that of Brahma, the highest heaven.
Besides these eight superior orders of beings, there are
five inferior orders: (I) domestic quadrupeds, (2) wild
quadrupeds, (3) birds, (4) reptiles, fishes, and insects,
and (5) vegetables and inorganic bodies. Man stands
alone between the eight superior orders and the five
inferior orders (S. K. 53). The quality of sattva prevails
in the superior orders, of rajas in man, and of tamas
in the lower orders (S. K. 54). A man, according to
his actions, may descend or ascend to a lower or higher
order, or be born again as man of some caste or other.
When the soul is finally rid of the linga sarzra, it is
finally emancipated.
It is the knowledge which the soul acquires through




284


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK I I I.


its union with nature that leads to its final emancipation.
"As a dancer having exhibited herself on the stage
ceases to dance, so does nature cease when she has
made herself manifest to soul" (S. K. 59).
Even after the soul has obtained complete knowledge,
it resides for a time in the body, "as a potter's wheel
continues to revolve from the force of the previous
impulse." This is the lVirvana of Buddha, a state of
quietude, when perfect knowledge has been gained, when
all passions have been restrained, all desires have been
checked, and the enlightened soul awaits its final emancipation. That separation of soul and matter comes at
last. Nature ceases to act, as her purpose has been
accomplished, and the soul obtains an abstraction from
matter, and both continue to exist eternally isolated
from each other, and independent (S. K. 68).
Such is the barest outline of Sankhya Philosophy. The
latest German philosophy, the system of Schopenhauer
(I819) and Von Hartmann (I869), is "a reproduction
of the philosophic system of Kapila in its materialistic
part, presented in a more elaborate form, but on the
same fundamental lines. In this respect the human
intellect has gone over the same ground that it occupied
more than two thousand years ago; but on a more
important question it has taken a step in retreat. Kapila
recognised fully the existence of a soul in man, forming
indeed his proper nature,-the absolute ego of Fichte,
-distinct from  matter and immortal; but our latest
philosophy, both here and in Germany, can see in man
only a highly developed physical organisation. 'All external things,' says Kapila, 'were formed that the soul
might know itself and be free.' ' The study of psychology
is vain,' says Schopenhauer, 'for there is no Psyche.'" *
The great want of Kapila's philosophy as a creed for
the people was its agnosticism,-and the Yoga system
of philosophy sought to remove this want. It is ascribed
* Davies, Preface to Hindu Philosophy.




CHA.P. VIII.]


SANKHYA AND YOGA.


285


to Patanjali, who, according to Dr. Goldstiicker, lived in
the second century before Christ. All that we know of
the life and history of Patanjali is that his mother was
called Gonika, as he himself tells us, and that he resided
for a certain time in Kashmira, a circumstance which may
have led to his great grammatical commentary having been
preserved by the kings of that country. Patanjali calls
himself Gonardiya, or a native of Gonarda, a place in the
eastern part of India.
We have seen before that Katyayana attacked Panini's
grammar about the fourth century B.C., and Patanjali's
greatest work was his Mahabhasya or Great Commentary,
in which he defended Panini, and left a monument of
his profound erudition. The Yoga system of philosophy
is also ascribed to him, and it is quite reasonable to
suppose that the great defender of Panini also sought
to popularise Kapila among his countrymen by adding
to his cold and agnostic philosophy the doctrine of faith
in a Supreme Deity, as well as some mystic practices
and meditation by which final emancipation (it was
believed) could be obtained.
The work ascribed to Patanjali-the Yoga Sztra-has
been edited and translated into English by Dr. Rajendra
Lala Mitra, who also gives a brief abstract of its contents
in his preface. As a system of philosophy the Yoga has
no value by the side of the Sankhya, and our account of
it will therefore be brief. And the learned translator of
the Yoga Sutra will be our guide in our brief account of
the system.
The Yoga SUtra comprises 194 aphorisms, divided into
four chapters. The first chapter is called Samadd/i Pdda,
and contains 51 aphorisms treating of the nature of meditation. The second chapter consists of 55 aphorisms,
and is called Sddhana Pdda, and treats of the practices
and exercises required in meditation. The third chapter is called Viblhziti Pdda, and treats in 55 aphorisms
of the occult powers which may be acquired.   The




286


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


fourth chapter is called Kaiz'alya Pdda, and treats in 33
aphorisms of the isolation and detachment of the soul
from all worldly ties, which is the ultimate object of
meditation.
In the first chapter Yoga is derived from  Yuj/ "to
join" or "to meditate," and this meditation is possible
only by the suppression of the functions of the mind.
By constant exercise and by dispassion the functions of
the mind may be suppressed, and Yoga, conscious or unconscious, may be attained. The latter form of Yoga is
higher than the former, and is devoid even of deliberation
or joy, egoism or the exercise of reason.
Devotion to God hastens the attainment of this coveted
state of mind. The conception of God or tsvara is that
of a Soul untouched by affliction, works, deserts, and
desires. In Him "the seed of the Omniscient attains
infinity," and He "is the instructor of even all early
ones, for He is not limited by time" (Yoga Stztra, I,
25 and 26). The sacred syllable om indicates the Deity.
Disease, doubt, worldly-mindedness, &c., are obstacles
to the attainment of Yoga, but these may be overcome
by concentration of the mind, by benevolence, by indifference to happiness or misery, and even by the regulation
of the breath. The chapter ends with a description of
various kinds of Yoga.
The second chapter details the exercises necessary for
the performance of the Yoga. Asceticism, the muttering
of a mantra, and devotion to God, are the earliest exercises.  These overcome all afflictions like ignorance,
egoism, desire, and aversion or ardent desire to live.
These are the motives to work, and works must bear
their fruits in subsequent births. We shall see hereafter
that this is the Buddhist theory of Karma, about which
so much has been written. The object of Yoga is to
devise means to abstain from works, and so preclude
future births.
We have then the Sankhya definition of the soul and




CHAP. VIII ]


SANKHYA AND YOGA.


287


the intellect; knowledge finally severs the connection
between the two, and thenceforward the soul is free, and
an end is put to future births and suffering. Knowledge
passes through seven stages before it is perfect, and eight
means (which remind one of the eight-fold path of the
Buddhists) are prescribed, by which this perfect knowledge can be obtained.  The first way is abstaining
from evil actions, slaughter, falsehood, theft, incontinence,
and avarice; and the second consists of an obligation
to perform certain acts, purification, contentment, penance, study, and devotion to God. These two means
are prescribed for all, householders and ascetics alike.
Then come the duties special to Yogins. The third is
assuming special postures for meditation; the fourth is
regulation of the breath; the fifth is the abstraction of
the organs from their natural functions; and the sixth,
seventh and eighth are steadfastness (Dhazrald), contemplation (DhJiyana), and meditation (Samddhi), which
three are the essential constituents of Yoga itself. When
these three are united, Sawmyama follows, and results in
the acquisition of occult powers.
The occult powers, or Siddhis, described in the third
chapter are indeed wonderful! One may know the past
and the future, make himself invisible to men, observe
the details of what is passing in distant regions or in the
stars and planets, converse with spirits, travel in the
air or through water, and acquire various superhuman
powers! The noble philosophy of Kapila was trailed
through dirt and mire as soon as it was blended with
popular superstitions!
But these occult powers are not the final objects which
a Yogin seeks. The ultimate isolation of the soul is the
final object of the Yogin, and this is discussed in the
fourth and last chapter. We come back now to the
theory that all works, all sensations and impressions on
the mind, bear their fruit in future births. A discussion
ensues regarding the nature of sensations and perceptions,




28S


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[BOOK 1II.


of the intellect and the soul, and the distinctions are
much the same as in Sankhya philosophy.    Having
explained these distinctions, Patanjali concludes by saying
that perfect knowledge sweeps away all residue of former
works (IV, 28-30), and the moment at last arrives when
the three qualities become defunct, and the soul abides
solely in its own essence.  This emancipation of the
soul is the object of Yoga (IV, 33), it is absolute and
eternal, and the soul which has attained it remains free
for evermore.
It will thus be seen that as a system of philosophy
Yoga is valueless; all its fundamental maxims about the
soul and intellect and sensations, about the transmigration of souls and their eternity and final emancipation
by knowledge, are those of Sankhya Philosophy.  In
fact, Patanjali tried to blend the idea of a Supreme Deity
with the philosophy of Kapila; but unfortunately he also
mixed up with it much of the superstition and the mystic
practices of the age! Or rather we are inclined to hold
that the great Grammarian founded a pure theistic system
of philosophy, which has since been mixed up with much
of popular superstitions and mystic rites, and the result
is the Yoga Sutra as we find it now. In still later times
the philosophy of the Yoga system has been completely
lost sight of, and the system has degenerated into cruel
and indecent Tantrika rites, or into the impostures and
superstitions of the so-called Yogins of the present day.




CHAPTER IX.


NYAYA AND VAISESIKA.
GAUTAMA* is the Aristotle of India, and his system of
Nyaya is the Hindu Logic. His date is unknown, and
he is said to have married Ahalya. He lived no doubt
in the Rationalistic Period, but probably a century after
Kapila. The NlVya Szotra, which is ascribed to him, is
divided into five books, each divided into two "days"
or diurnal lessons, and these are again divided into
articles, and each article consists of a number of Sutras.
Nyaya is still a favourite study in India, and we have
seen students from Kashmir and Rajputana and Northern
India attending the celebrated Nyaya schools in Navadvipa in Bengal, living in the houses of their teachers, and
pursuing their studies for years together, in the very
same way in which students among the Magadhas and
Angas and Kosalas and Videhas pursued their studies
when Gautama, the logician, lived and taught! Everything else has changed in India, but ancient traditional
learning is still handed down in tols from generation to
generation in the same ancient method. The spirit of
the time, however, has told on these time-honoured
institutions; the mass of students turn away from these
secluded seats of learning to schools and universities;
the founders of tols get scarcely enough to live upon,
and travel from place to place to seek the bounty of well* One must be careful to distinguish Gautama the earliest Sutrakara
from Gautama the Logician. And we have a third Gautama still,-the
founder of Buddhism.
VOl,. I.              289                  T




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[BOOK III.


disposed men; and the number of students is getting
fewer year by year. Nevertheless, with their wonderful
loyalty to the past, Hindu pandits and Hindu students
still adhere to this ancient system of teaching, of which
we have given a brief account before from the Dharma
Sutras; and it is to be hoped this relic of the past will
yet survive modern changes and innovations.
The Nyaya system starts with the subjects to be discussed. These are (i) Pramazna, proof, and (2) Pramzeya,
or the thing to be proved. These are the principal
subjects, while there are fourteen subsidiary subjects,
viz., (3) Doubt, (4) Motive, (5) Instance or Example,
(6) Determined truth, (7) Argument or Syllogism, (8)
Confutation, (9) Ascertainment, (Io) Controversy, (I I)
Jangling, (12) Objection, (I3) Fallacy, (14) Perversion,
(15) Futility, and (I6) Controversy.
Proof, as we have said before, is of four kinds:
Perception, Inference, Analogy, and Verbal Testimony.
Cause (Kdrana) is that which necessarily precedes an
effect, which could not be without the cause; and effect
(Karya) is that which necessarily ensues and otherwise
could not be. For the relation of cause and effect, the
connections might be twofold,-simple conjunction (Sanjoga), and constant relation (Samavdya). Hence cause
may be of three kinds: (I) Immediate and direct, as the
yarn is of cloth; (2) Mediate or indirect, as the weaving
is of cloth; and (3) Instrumental, as the loom is of
cloth.
The things to be proved, the objects of knowledge, are
(I) Soul, (2) Body, (3) the Senses, (4) the Objects of
Sense, (5) Intellect, (6) Manas, (7) Production, (8) Fault,
(9) Transmigration, (IO) Fruit or Retribution, (i I) Pain,
(I2) Emancipation.
The soul is different in each person, and is separate
from the body and the senses, and is the seat of knowledge. Each individual soul is infinite and eternal, and
transmigrates according to the works performed in life.




CHAP. IX.]


NYAYA AND VAISESIKA.


291


So far we see an agreement with Kapila's philosophy. But
the Nyaya adds that the Supreme Soul is one, the seat of
eternal knowledge, and the maker or former of all things.
The body is earthly, the five external senses are also
material, and the nanas is the organ of the senses. The
reader will mark here how far the Nyaya system, and
indeed every system of Hindu Philosophy, is indebted to
Sankhya Philosophy, which may justly be called the basis
of Hindu Philosophy.
Intellect is two-fold, including mnezory and concept. A
concept is true if derived from clear proof, and is wrong
if not derived from proof. Similarly, memory may be
right or wrong. The objects of sense are odour, taste,
colour, touch, and sound.
Production or action is the cause of virtue or vice,
of merit or demerit; and the only motive to action, as
we are told by European philosophers also, is the desire
to attain pleasure or to avoid pain.
Transmigration is the passing of the soul to successive
bodies. Pain is the primary evil, and there are twentyone varieties of evil which are causes of pain. The soul
attains its emancipation by knowledge and not by action.
The speciality of Nyaya is its development of inference
by the construction of a true syllogism, and, as Mr.
Davies states, "the right methods of reasoning have
been discussed with as much subtlety as by any of the
Western logicians." We quote below an instance of
Hindu syllogism:
I. The hill is fiery.
2. For it smokes.
3. Whatever smokes is fiery, as a kitchen.
4. The hill is smoking.
5. Therefore it is fiery.
The Hindu syllogism therefore consists of five parts,
which are called (I) the proposition (pratzjnd), (2) the
reason (hetli or apadesa), (3) the instance (uddharana or
nidarsana), (4) the application of the reason (upanaya),




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[BOOK III.


and (5) the conclusion (nziamanana). If the first two or
the last two parts be omitted, it becomes a perfect
syllogism of Aristotle. The question therefore arises,
Is this coincidence purely accidental, or did one nation
get some hint from another? Comparing dates, we are
disposed to say of this as of many other sciences, The
Hindus invented logic, the Greeks perfected it.
Among the many technical terms in use in Hindu
logic, Vydpti and Upadhzi are the most important. Vydpti
means invariable concomitance,-the connection in the
major premiss of Aristotle's syllogism. "Whatever smokes
is fiery,"-this invariable concomitance is Vyapti. As
Sankara Misra argues, "It is not merely a relation of
co-extension. Nor is it the relation of totality. For if
you say that invariable concomitance is the connection of
the middle term with the whole of the major term, such
connection does not exist in the case of smoke (for smoke
does not always exist where there is fire). We proceed
then to state that invariable concomitance is a connection
requiring no qualifying term  or limitation.  It is an
extensiveness co-extensive with the predicate. In other
words, invariable concomitance is invariable co-inherence
of the predicate." *
On the other hand, the qualifying term or limitation
is called Upddhi.  Fire always underlies smoke, but
smoke does not invariably accompany fire. The proposition, therefore, that smoke accompanies fire requires
a qualifying condition,-a limitation,-an Upddhi, viz.,
that there must be moist fuel.
Logic is a favourite study with learned Hindus, and
neither the Ancient Greeks, nor the Mediaeval Arabs, nor
the European schoolmen of the Middle Ages displayed
more acuteness and subtlety in reasoning, or more rigid
and scientific strictness in their discussions, than is witnessed in the numerous works of the Hindus on Logic.
* Gough's Translation. Quoted in Monier Williams' Indian Wisdom,
P. 73.




CHAP. IX,]


NYAYA AND VAISESIKA.


293


Kanada's atomic philosophy is supplementary to Gautama's logic, as the Yoga is supplementary to the Sankhya,
and therefore need not detain us long. The cardinal principle of Kanada is that all material substances are aggregates of atoms. The atoms are eternal, the aggregates
only are perishable by disintegration.
The mote which is visible in the sunbeam is the
smallest perceptible object. But being a substance and
an effect, it must be composed of what is less than
itself;-the ultimate atom only is not a compound, but
is simple.
The first compound is of two atoms; the next consists of three double atoms, and so on. The mote visible
in the sunbeam is thus a compound of six atoms. In
this way two earthly atoms acting under an unseen law,
adris/ita, (and not under the will of God, which is unknown in Kanada's philosophy), constitute a double atom
of earth; three binary atoms constitute a tertiary atom;
four tertiary atoms make a quarternary atom; and so
on to gross, grosser, and grossest masses of earth. In
this manner the great earth is produced, the great water
is thus produced from aqueous atoms, great light from
luminous atoms, and great air from aerial atoms.
Kanada recognises seven categories of objects (paddrtha), viz., (i) Substances, (2) Quality, (3) Action, (4)
Community, (5) Particularity, (6) Coherence, and (7)
Non-existence.
Under the first of these categories, the nine substances
of Kanada are (I) Earth, (2) Water, (3) Light, and (4)
Air, all eternal in atoms, but transient and perishable in
aggregates. Next is (5) Akdsa or Ether, which transmits
sound, and which has no atoms, but is infinite, one, and
eternal. (6) Time and (7) Space similarly are not material,
and therefore are not compounded of atoms. They are
infinite, one, and eternal. The last two in the category
are (8) Soul, and (9) Manas or the Internal Organ.
Light and heat are considered as only dzfferent forms of




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[BOOK lII.


the same essential substance. Akasa or ether conveys
sound; and Manas or the internal organ is supposed to
be extremely small, like an atom.
The second category, Quality, embraces seventeen
varieties or qualities of the nine substances enumerated
above. The qualities are colour, savour, odour, tangibility,
number, extension, individuality, conjunction, disjunction, priority, posteriority, intellections, pleasure, pain,
desire, aversion, and volition.
The third category, Action, is divided into five kinds,
upward and downward movement, contraction, dilation,
and general motion.
The fourth category, Community, is the source of our
notion of genus. It denotes qualities common to many
objects, and also denotes species.  These genera and
species have a real and objective existence according to
Kanada, but not according to the Bauddhas, who affirm
that individuals only have existence, and that abstractions are unreal conceptions. "It is the quarrel revived
in the Realist and Nominalist theories of the mediaeval
schoolmen." *
The fifth category, Particularity, denotes simple objects,
devoid of community. They are soul, mind, time, place,
the ethereal element, and atoms.
The sixth category, Coherence (the samavaya of
Gautama's philosophy), is connection between things
which must be connected so long as they exist, as yarn
and cloth.
The seventh category, Non-existence, is either universal or mutual.
It will be seen from the above brief account that the
Vaisesika system  of Kanada, in so far as it is an
original system, is physics more than philosophy.  It
was the first attempt made in India to inquire into
the laws of matter and force, of combination and disintegration.
* Davies, p. I31.




CHAP. IX.]    NYAKA AND VAISESIKA.              295
In every system of Hindu Philosophy (except Vedantism) matter is supposed to be eternal, and distinct from
soul. The Vedantists alone regard matter as the manifestation of the One Supreme Soul who comprises and
is himself all. Of this system we will speak in the next
chapter.




CHAPTER X.
PURVA MIMANSA AND VEDANTA.
WE now come to the last two systems of the philosophy
of the Hindus, the Purva Mimansa of Jaimini and the
Uttara Mimansa of Badarayana Vyasa. To the historian
of India they are of the utmost importance and value.
For the Mimansa schools represent the conservative phase
of the Hindu mind at a time when philosophers and laymen were alike drifting towards agnostic and heterodox
opinions. Sankhya philosophy led away hosts of thinking men from the teachings of the Upanishads on the
Universal Soul; and the Buddhist religion was embraced
by many of the lower classes as a relief from caste
inequalities and elaborate Vedic rites.  Against this
general movement of the day the Mimansa schools made
a stand. The Purva Mimansa insisted on those Vedic
rites and practices which modern philosophers had come
to regard as useless or even as unholy; and the Uttara
Mimansa proclaimed the doctrine of the Universal Soul
which the Upanishads had taught before, and which
continues to be the cardinal doctrine of Hinduism to
this day.
The controversy, or rather the division in opinion, went
on for centuries, but orthodoxy prevailed in India in
the end. The great Kumarila Bhatta, who lived in the
seventh century after Christ, wrote his celebrated Vartika
or commentary on the Purva Mimansa Sutras, and was
the most redoubted champion of Hinduism, and the most
uncompromising opponent of Buddhism.  He not only
296




CHAP. X.]  MIMANSA AND VEDANTA.


297


vindicated the ancient rites of the Vedas, he not only proclaimed against the heterodox opinions of the Buddhists,
but he denied them any consideration even when they
happened to agree with the Veda.
The Uttara Mimansa too had its champion,-and a
greater man than Kumarila rose, two centuries later,
in the celebrated Sankaracharya. Sankara's great commentary is known as the Sariraka Mimansa Bhasya.
He was born in 788 A.D., and therefore wrote and
preached in the first half of the ninth century.
Thus both Kumarila and Sankaracharya belong to the
Puranic Period, but they finally secured the triumph of that
orthodox philosophy which was based on the Brahmanas
and Upanishads.  The history of philosophy in India
is the history of the Hindu mind; and an account of
the systems of philosophy which took their rise in the
Rationalistic Period would not be intelligible, unless we
indicated, however briefly, the bearings of these systems
on the later history of the nation.
The Sutras of the Purva Mimansa are ascribed to
Jaimini, and are divided into twelve lectures and subdivided into sixty chapters.  The Sutras have an old
commentary by Sabara Svami Bhatta. Kumarila Bhatta
came later on the stage, and his commentary, as we have
stated before, marks a new epoch in the history of this
school, and has been respected by a host of succeeding
commentators.
Jaimini's Sutras, as stated before, are divided into
twelve lectures. The first lecture treats of the authority
of enjoined duty. The varieties of duty, supplemental
duties, and the purpose of the performance of duties are
treated in the second, third, and fourth chapters. The
order of their performance is considered in the fifth, and
the qualification for their performance is treated in the
sixth. This completes the first half of the Sutras.
The subject of indirect precept is treated in chapters
seven and eight.  Inferable changes are discussed in




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[BOOK III.


the ninth, and exceptions in the tenth chapter. Efficacy
is considered in the eleventh chapter, and the work closes
with a discussion of co-ordinate effect in the twelfth
chapter.
These are the principal topics of the Purva Mimansa
Sutras, but a great many other matters are introduced,
which are very interesting.
In the very first lecture we are told that the Vedas
are eternal and revealed. They had no human origin,
because no human author is remembered. This eternal
and superhuman Veda consists of two parts, 3Mantra
and Brahmnana. Mantras are distinguished under three
designations, viz., (i) those in metre are Rik, (2) those
chanted are Saman, and (3) the rest are Yajush. Generally, a Mantra is a prayer or invocation; a Brahmana
is a precept directing religious observances, and the
Brahmanas include the Upanishads.
After the Veda, which is Sruti, comes the Smriti,
or works composed by holy personages, and possessing
authority as grounded on the Veda. Sinriti includes the
Dharnasasiras (the Dharma Sutras of the Rationalistic
Period), comprising the institutes of civil and religious
law.
Besides the Dharma Sutras, we are told of the Kalpa
Stitras, also composed by authors conversant with the
Veda. The Kalpa Sutras are not a part of the Veda, and
have no authority except as is derived from the Veda.
The reader will mark the broad line of demarcation
which ancient Hindus have drawn between the Brahmana
literature, which is considered revealed and eternal, and
the Sftra literature, which is ascribed to human authors,
and has no independent authority. The priority of the
Brahmana literature may fairly be inferred from this.
Sacrifice (Ydga) is the act of religion most inculcated
in the Veda, and consequently most discussed in the
Mimansa.   Three ceremonies are mentioned as types
of the rest: they are the setting up of the sacrificial




CHAP. X.]  MIMANSA AND VEDANTA.


2Q9


fire, the presenting of an oblation, and the preparation
of the Soma. Various curious questions are raised and
discussed and answered with regard to sacrifices. One
very remarkabe example will suffice.
At certain sacrifices the votary is told to bestow all his
property on the officiating priests. The question is raised
whether a king should give up all lands, including pasture
lands, highways, and the sites of lakes and ponds. The
answer is that a king has not property in t/ze land, and
cannot bestow it. His kingly power is for the government of the realm, but the right of property is not thereby
vested in him, else he would have property in house and
lands appertaining to his subjects.  The lands of a
kingdom cannot be given away by a king, but a house or
field acquired by purchase, &c., may be given away.
Similarly, the question of self-immolation on fire, the
question of performing sacrifices to injure others, and
various similar questions are discussed with considerable
acumen and closeness of reasoning. As Colebrook remarks, the logic of the Mimansa is the logic of the law.
"Each case is examined and determined upon general
principles, and from the cases decided the principles may
be collected. A well-ordered arrangement of them would
constitute the philosophy of the law; and this is in truth
what has been attempted in the Mimansa."
To return to the subject of sacrifices, which is the
all-pervading subject of the Purva Mimansa, we are told
that the full complement of persons officiating at a great
ceremony is seventeen, viz., the sacrificer and sixteen
priests. On occasions of less solemnity four priests only
are engaged.
The number of victims varies according to the nature
of the sacrifice. At an Asvamehda sacrifice there must
be not fewer than 609 victims of all kinds, tame and
wild, terrestrial and aquatic, walking, flying, swimming,
and creeping things!
The cardinal idea of the Mimansa is to teach man his




300


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[BOOK III.


Duty. Jaimini commences his Mimansa with the enunciation of Duty, the only topic he has to propound.
"Now then," he begins, "the study of Duty is to be
commenced. Duty is a purpose which is inculcated by a
command. Its reason must be inquired." But his idea
of Duty is extremely limited, it consists in the proper
performance of Vedic rites and practices. Purva Mimansa
Philosophy is therefore merely a philosophy of Vedic rites.
In his anxiety to insist on ancient Vedic rites and
practices, Jaimini has forgotten to speak of Vedic faith
and belief! As Dr. Banerjea says in his Dialogues on
Hindu Philosophy, Jaimini "urges the consideration of
Duty without caring for any to whom it may be due."
While insisting on the eternity of the Veda, as Sabda
or the Word, he has made no mention " of any co-eternal
Intelligence uttering or revealing it."  While enjoining
the performance of the sacrifices inculcated in the Brahmanas, he has nothing to say of the Universal Soul of
the Upanishads. The philosophy of Jaimini has, therefore, although orthodox, been stigmatised as agnostic,
and even Sankaracharya admits that God is not deducible
from this philosophy.
A supplementary system of philosophy was therefore
called for, and the Uttara Mimansa or Vedanta supplied
this want. It is the Vedanta which tells us of the Supreme
Being, the Universal Soul, the Pervading Breath, as the
Purva Mimansa speaks of rights and sacrifices.  The
Vedanta is the direct outcome of the Upanishads, as the
Purva Mimansa is the outcome of the Brahmanas. The
very first aphorism of the Vedanta substitutes Brahman
or God for Dharma or Duty. The two schools of Mimansa
taken together represent orthodox Vedic Hinduism,Hinduism in rites and observances, and Hinduism in its
belief. The two schools taken together are an answer to
Buddhist heretics who ignored Vedic rites and ignored a
Supreme Being. The two schools together are an answer
to the agnostic Sankhya system of philosophy, and to




CHAP. X.]


MIMANSA AND VEDANTA.


3or


other systems which proclaim matter eternal. The two
schools together form the basis of true Hinduism.
The Sariraka Mimansa Sutra or Brahma Sutra is attributed to Badarayana Vyasa. It refers to the doctrines
of Kapila, and the Yoga of Patanjali; and also to the
Atomic theory of Kanada, which is itself a sequel to the
Nyaya of Gautama. There is reference also to Jaimini,
and to the sects of Jainas, Bauddhas, and Pasupatas; and
altogether the Brahma Sutra is undoubtedly the latest of
the six schools of philosophy, and could not have been
compiled very long before the Christian Era.
The Vedanta adopts the syllogism of Nyaya, with the
obvious improvement of reducing its five members into
three, as in the syllogism of Aristotle. Colebrooke thinks
this improvement was borrowed from the Greeks, which
is very likely.
Badarayana's Brahma Sutra is divided into four lectures,
and each lecture is subdivided into four chapters. Anything like a complete analysis of this work is impossible
within our limits, and we must therefore glean a few leading tenets from Colebrooke's excellent analysis, to which
we refer those of our readers who wish to have an
adequate idea of the subject.
The Uttara Mimansa opens precisely as the Purva
Mimansa, announcing its purport in the very same terms,
only substituting Brahman or God for Dharma or Duty.
The author then confutes the Sankhya doctrine of Nature
being the material cause of the universe, and declares
a Sentient Rational Being to be the first Cause. That
Supreme Being is the material as well as the efficient cause
of the universe. To Him meditation should be directed,
and on Him the thoughts are to be fixed for obtaining final
emancipation.
The second lecture continues the confutation of Kapila's
Sankhya philosophy, as well as of Patanjali's Yoga philosophy and Kanada's Atomic theory. All the universe is
rigidly assigned to Brahman, who is the Cause and the




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[BOOK III.


Effect. The distinction between cause and effect, and
between different effects, does not invalidate the unity of
the whole. " The sea is'one and not other than its waters;
yet waves, foam, spray, drops, froth, and other modifications of it, differ from each other" (II, I, 5). "As milk
changes into curd, and water to ice, so is Brahman variously
transformed " (II, I, 8).
Then follows a confutation of the doctrines of the
Sankhyas, the Vaisesikas, the Bauddhas, the Jainas, the
Pasupatas, and the Pancharatras.
The soul is active, not passive as the Sankhyas maintain.
Its activity is, however, adventitious. As the carpenter,
having tools in hand, toils and suffers, and laying them
aside, rests and is easy, so the soul in conjunction with the
senses and organs is active, and quitting them, reposes
(II, 3, I5). The soul is a portion of the Supreme Ruler,
as a spark is of fire (II, 3, I7). As the sun's image reflected on water is tremulous, quaking with the undulations
of the pool, without however affecting the images on other
sheets of water, or the solar orb itself, so the sufferings of
one individual affect not another, nor the Supreme Ruler.
The corporeal organs and the vital actions are all modifications of Brahman.
The third lecture treats of transmigration of souls, of
the attainment of knowledge, of final emancipation, and
of the attributes of the Supreme Being. The soul transmigrates, invested with a subtle frame, passing from one
state to another. Departing from one body, it experiences
the recompense of its works, and returns to occupy a new
body with the resulting influence of its former deeds.
Evil doers suffer in seven appointed regions of retribution.
The Supreme Being is impassable, unaffected by worldly
modifications, as the clear crystal, seemingly coloured by
the hibiscus flower, is really pellucid. He is pure Sense,
Intellect, Thought.
"Like the sun and other luminaries, seemingly multiplied by reflection though really single, and like space




CHAP. X.]


ClMIMANSA AND VEDANTA.


303


apparently subdivided in vessels containing it within limits,
the Supreme Light is without difference or distinction."
"There is none other but He " (III, 2). The reader will
perceive that the Vedanta philosophy is a direct and
legitimate result of the Upanishads, and the idea of
Unity is carried to its extreme limit in the Vedanta as in
the Upanishads.
The last half of this lecture relates to devout exercises
and pious meditation, which are necessary for the reception
of divine knowledge.
The fourth and last lecture relates to the fruit of pious
meditations properly conducted, and the attainment of
divine knowledge. So soon as that knowledge is attained,
past sins are annulled and future sins are precluded. In
like manner the effects of merit and virtue are also annulled.
And "having annulled by fruition other works which had
begun to have effect, having enjoyed the recompense and
suffered the pains of good and bad actions, the possessor
of divine knowledge, on the demise of the body, proceeds
to a reunion with Brahman" (IV, I, I4). This, as we
know, is the Final Beatitude of the Upanishads.
There are two other less perfect forms of emancipation.
One of them qualifies the soul for reception at Brahman's
abode, but not for immediate reunion and identity with his
being. The other is still less perfect, and is called Jtvanmiukti, which can be acquired in lifetime by Yogins, and
enables them to perform supernatural acts, as evoking the
shades of forefathers, assuming different bodies, going
immediately to any place at pleasure, &c. This is only a
repetition of superstition of the Yoga philosophy, described
in a previous chapter.
The attributes of God, according to the Vedanta philosophy, have thus been recapitulated by Colebrooke:
" God is the omniscient and omnipotent cause of the
existence, continuance, and dissolution of the universe.
Creation is an act of His will.  He is both efficient
and material cause of the world, creator and nature,




304


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[BOOK III.


framer and frame, doer and deed. At the consummation
of all things, all are resolved into Him.... The Supreme
Being is one, sole existent, secondless, entire, without
parts, sempiternal, infinite, ineffable, invariable, ruler of all,
universal soul, truth, wisdom, intelligence, happiness." *
Such are the six systems of philosophy which were
developed in India in the Rationalistic Period; such are
the answers which Hindu philosophers have given to
the questions which were started in the Upanishads, to
questions which rise in the mind of every reflective man,
but which it is not given to him to answer completely,
-What is God, and What is man?
For the rest, the Rationalistic Period is rich in results
of which every Hindu may be proud. It was probably
in this period that the great Epics of India received
their epic form. It was in this period that the infant
sciences of Geometry and of Grammar were developed
by the Hindus. It was in this period that the first recorded systems of Mental Philosophy and of Logic were
conceived and perfected. It was in this period that Civil
and Criminal Laws were codified and treated on a
scientific basis. It was at the close of this period that
the whole of Northern India was first brought under one
great and able ruler, and that an excellent and enlightened
system  of administration was finally perfected.  And,
lastly, it was in this period that the great saint and reformer Gautama Buddha proclaimed that religion of
equality and brotherhood of man which is at the present
day the living faith of one-third of the human race. To
the story of that great revolution we now turn.
* The Philosophy of the IHindus ( Veddna).




CHAPTER XI.


BUDDHIST SACRED LITERATURE.
IN the sixth century before Christ, India witnessed the
commencement of a great revolution.  Her ancient religion, which the Hindu Aryans had practised and proclaimed for fourteen centuries, had degenerated into
forms. The gods of the Rig Veda, whom the ancient
Rishis had invoked and worshipped lovingly and fervently, had come to be regarded as so many names;
and Indra and Ushas raised no distinct ideas and no
grateful emotions.  The simple libations of the Somajuice, or offerings of milk, corn, or flesh, which the
Rishis of old had offered with a fervent heart to their
gods, had developed into cumbrous ceremonials, elaborate
rites, unmeaning forms. The descendants or successors
of those Rishis had now stepped forth as a powerful
and hereditary caste, and claimed the right to perform
elaborate religious rites and utter sacred prayers for
the people.  The people were taught to believe that
they earned merit by having these rites performed and
prayers uttered by hired priests. The religious instinct,
the grateful emotions which had inspired the composers
of the Vedic hymns, were dead; vast ceremonials, dead
forms, remained.
A reaction had taken place.  About the eleventh
century before Christ, i.e., five centuries before the time
of which we are now speaking, earnest and thoughtful
VOL. I.               305                U




306


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


Hindus had ventured to go beyond the wearisome rituals
of the Brahmana literature, and had inquired into the
mysteries of the soul and its Creator.  The composers
of the Upanishads had dared to conceive the bold idea
that all animate and inanimate nature proceeded from
One Universal Deity, and were portions of One Pervading
Soul. Inquiries were made into the mysteries of death
and the future world, conjectures were made about the
transmigration of souls, and doctrines were started containing in a crude form the salient principles of later
Hindu philosophy.
But few could devote their lives to these abstruse
speculations, and the abstruse philosophy which they led
to. The mass of the Aryan householders,-Brahmans,
Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas,-contented themselves with
performing the rites, unintelligible to them, which the
Brahmanas had laid down and the Sutras had condensed.
The rules of social and domestic life were similarly condensed for the people in the Sftras, and all the learning
and science known to the age were also codified in the
Sutra form.
Such was the state of things in India in the sixth
century before Christ. Religion in its true sense had
been replaced by forms.  Excellent social and moral
rules were disfigured by the unhealthy distinctions of
caste, by exclusive privileges for Brahmans, by cruel
laws for Sudras.  Such exclusive caste privileges did
not help to improve the Brahmans themselves. As a
community they became grasping and covetous, ignorant
and pretentious, until Brahman Sutrakaras themselves
had to censure the abuse in the strongest terms. For
the Sudras, who had come under the shelter of the Aryan
religion, there was no religious instruction, no religious
observance, no social respect.  Despised and degraded
in the community in which they lived, they sighed for a




CHAP. XI.]  BUDDHIST LITERATURE.


3o7


change. And the invidious distinction became unbearable
as they increased in number, pursued various useful
industries, owned lands and villages, and gained in influence and power. Thus society was still held in the
cast-iron mould which it had long outgrown; and the
social, religious, and legal literature of the day still proclaimed and upheld the cruel injustice against the SOdra
long after the Sudra had become civilised and industrious,
and a worthy member of society.
To an earnest and inquisitive mind, to a sympathetic
and benevolent soul, there was something anomalous in
all this. Gautama of the Sakya race was versed in the
Hindu learning and religion of the age, but he pondered
and asked if what he had learnt could be efficacious or
true. His righteous soul rebelled against the unrighteous
distinctions between man and man; and his benevolent
heart hankered for a means to help the humble, the
oppressed, and the lowly.  The dead ceremonials and
rites which householders practised appeared as vain and
fruitless to him as the penances and mortifications which
hermits voluntarily underwent in forests. The beauty of
a holy life, of a sinless benevolent career, flashed before
his mind's eye as the perfection of human destiny, as the
heaven on earth; and, with the earnest conviction of a
prophet and a reformer, he proclaimed this as the essence
of religion. His world-embracing sympathy led him to
proclaim this method of self-culture and holy living to
suffering humanity, and he invited the poor and the
lowly to end their sufferings by cultivating virtue, by
eschewing passions and evil desires, and by spreading
brotherly love and universal peace. The Brahman and
the Sudra, the high and the low, were the same in his
eyes,-all could equally effect their salvation by a holy
life, and he invited all to embrace his catholic religion
of love.  Mankind responded to the touching appeal,




308           RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.         [BOOK III.
and Buddhism in the course of a few centuries became
the prevailing faith, not of a sect or a country, but of the
continent of Asia.*
Nevertheless, it would be historically wrong to suppose
that Gautama Buddha consciously set himself up as the
founder of a new religion. On the contrary, he believed to
the last that he was proclaiming only the ancient and pure
form of religion which had prevailed among the Hindus,
among Brahmans, Sramans, and others, but which had
been corrupted at a later day.  As a matter of fact,
Hinduism recognised wandering bodies of ascetics who
renounced the world, performed no Vedic rites, and
passed their days in contemplation (see ante, Chap. VI.).
Such bodies were known as Bhikshus in the Hindu lawbooks, and were generally known as Sramans. Gautama
founded only one sect of Sramans among many sects
which then existed, and his sect was known as that
of the Sakyaputriya Sramans, to distinguish them from
others. He taught them relinquishment of the world,
a holy life, and pious meditation, such as all sects of
Sramans recommended and practised.
What then is the distinguishing feature in Buddha's
life-work which has made his tenets a religion,-and the
religion of a third of the human race?
Gautama's holy and pious life, his world-embracing
* The figures given below will show approximately the proportion of
Buddhists to the world's population:Jews....                    7,000,000
Christians....                  328,o00,000
Hindus.........  60o,ooo,0ooo
Musalmans.... 155,ooo,ooo
Buddhists...                      500,000,000
Not included in the above.. oo00,000,000
Population of the world..,250,000,000
Between the fifth and tenth centuries after Christ more than one-half of
the human race were Buddhists.




CHAP. XI.]  BUDDHIST LITERATURE.


309


sympathy, his unsurpassed moral precepts, his gentle
and beautiful character, stamped themselves on his
teachings, which were not altogether new, gathered round
him the meek and the lowly, the gentlest and the best of
the Aryans, struck kings on their thrones and peasants
in their cottages, and united sects and castes together as
in a communion of love! And the sacred recollections of
his life and doings remained after he had passed away,
and held together the community which cherished his
teachings, and in course of time gave those teachings the
character of a distinct and noble religion.
Inspired by his love of purity, and a holy, gentle life,
Gautama eschewed the rites of the Vedas and the
penances of ascetics alike; he insisted only on selfculture, on benevolence, on pious resignation. He knew
of no caste-distinction among his Bhikshus; he recognised no meritorious ceremonials and no meritorious
penances except the practice of virtue. This is what
has made Buddhism a living and life-giving religion,
when so many rival forms of asceticism have withered
and died away.
It will be our endeavour to indicate the salient features
of the Buddhist religion, and its far-reaching consequences on the history of India. Fortunately, we have
no reason to complain of want of materials.
Indeed, so much has been written about Buddhism in
recent years that it is almost difficult to imagine that
Buddhist literature and religion were almost an unknown
subject half a century ago. The distinguished missionary,
Dr. Marshman, who lived and wrote in India for many
years, could give no better account of Buddha in I824
than that his worship was probably connected with the
Egyptian Apis!  And theories more wild and more
imaginary were seriously recorded by other scholars.
Happily those days are past. Earnest inquirers and
scholars have collected Oriental manuscripts and works
in different Buddhist countries, have studied, published,




3Io


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


and translated many of them, and have thus formed a
generally accurate idea of the religion as it was first
preached by Gautama, and as it was subsequently modified in different times among different nations. It is not
our purpose to record here a history of the researches
into Buddhism during the last half-century, but a few
facts are so interesting that they cannot be passed over.
Mr. Hodgson was the English resident of Nepal from
1833 to I843, and he was the first to collect original
manuscripts on which a sober account of the religion
could be based. He sent 85 bundles to the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, 85 to the Royal Asiatic Society of
London, 30 to the India Office Library, 7 to the Bodleian
Library of Oxford, and 174 to the Societe Asiatique in
Paris, or to M. Burnouf personally. Mr. Hodgson also
gave some account of these works and of the Buddhist
religion in his essays.
The genius of Eugene Burnouf breathed life into these
dead manuscripts, and his "Introduction to the History
of Indian Buddhism," published in 1844, was the first
rational, scientific, and comprehensive account of the
Buddhist religion. The fame of the eminent scholar and
the great ability and philosophical acumen with which he
treated the subject attracted the attention of learned
Europe to this wonderful religion, and the inquiry which
Burnouf started has continued to the present day, and has
been fruitful of great results.
What Hodgson did in Nepal, Alexander Csoma Korosi,
a Hungarian scholar, did in Thibet. The annals of
literary inquiry and research have few more wonderful
stories to tell than that of the single-minded devotion
of this simple Hungarian. He early made up his mind
to devote himself to the study of Eastern languages, and
he set forth from Bucharest in 1820, without friends
or money, and travelled on foot or by water on a raft
till he came to Bagdad.  He pushed on to Teheran,
and thence started again with a caravan and came by




CHAP. XI.]  BUDDHIST LITERATURE.


311


Khorasan to Bokhara. In 1822 he came to Kabul and
thence to Lahore, and from Lahore he travelled through
Kashmir to Ladak, where he finally settled. He sojourned
and travelled long in these parts, and in 1831 he was
at Simla "dressed in a coarse blue cloth loose gown,
extending to his heels, and a small cloth cap of the same
material. He wore a grizzly beard, shunned the society
of Europeans, and passed his whole time in study."*
In 1832 he came to Calcutta, where he was kindly
received by Dr. Wilson and Mr. James Prinsep, and
resided many years. In 1842 he left Calcutta again to
go to Thibet, but died of fever on his way, at Darjeeling.
The Asiatic Society of Bengal has raised a monument
on his grave in Darjeeling. The present writer had the
mournful satisfaction of paying a visit to this grave, not
many months ago.
About his work on Thibetan Buddhist books, we
find all necessary information in Vol. XX. of the
Asiatic Researches. Since Csoma's time other scholars
have laboured in the same field of Thibetan Buddhist
literature, and have added to our knowledge of the
subject.
To the Rev. Samuel Beal is due the credit of procuring
a complete collection of Chinese works on Buddhism.
A request was made to this effect to the Japanese
ambassador who visited England, and the ambassador
at once acceded to the request, and on his return to
Tokio ordered the entire collection known as "The
Sacred Teaching of the Three Treasures" to be sent to
England. The collection contains over 2000 volumes,
and represents the entire series of sacred books taken
during successive centuries from India to China, as also
works and commentaries of native Chinese priests.
Buddhism and Buddhist scriptures were carried to
Ceylon in the reign of Asoka the Great, about 242 B.C.,
and the whole of the Buddhist scriptures, the "Three
* Quoted in Beal's Buddhism in China, from Ralston's Thibetan Tales.




312


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


Baskets," exist to this day in Ceylon, as we will see
further on, in the Pali language, and in almost the
identical shape in which they were taken there over two
thousand years ago.  A number of eminent scholars,
Tumour, Fausboll, Oldenberg, Childers, Spence Hardy,
Rhys Davids, Max Miller, Weber, and others, have
worked on these materials, and much of the Pali scriptures has been published, and the most important portions
of them have been translated.
Burma too has contributed to our knowledge of
Buddhism, and a great deal of information on Burmese
Buddhism is embodied in Bigandet's life of the Gaudama,
first published in I868. All countries near and around
India have furnished us with valuable records and contributions towards a scholarlike knowledge of this great
religion. India alone,-the home of that religion,-the
country where it flourished more or less for nearly fifteen
centuries,-has kept no memorials worth the name of
that noble faith! So complete has been the destruction
of Buddhism, Buddhist monasteries, and Buddhist records
in India!
Thanks to the researches of the scholars whom we
have named above, the English-reading public have
sufficient materials before them now for studying the
developments of Buddhism in the different countries of
the world,-in China, Japan, and Thibet, in Burma and
Ceylon. English readers can thus study the progress of
the religion in its various phases, at different ages, and
among different conditions of life and civilisation.
The historian of India must, however, forego that
pleasant and most interesting task. The developments
which Buddhism received in China, and Thibet, and
Burma, have no direct bearing on Indian history. It is
his duty, therefore, to select from the materials before
him those works only which illustrate the history of
Early Buddhism in India. It is necessary for him to
go to the fountain source of the information which is




CHAP. XI.]  BUDDHIST LITERATURE.


313


available, and to place his reliance on those works
specially which illustrate the rise of Buddhism in India
in the Rationalistic Period.
The forms of Buddhism prevailing in Nepal and Thibet,
China and Japan, are called Northern Buddhism, while the
forms prevailing in Ceylon and Burma are called Southern
Buddhism. The Northern Buddhists furnish us with
scanty materials directly illustrating the religion in its
earliest form in India. For the Northern nations embraced Buddhism some centuries after the Christian Era,
and the works which they then obtained from India do
not represent the earliest form of Indian Buddhism. The
Lalita Vistara, a most important work of the Northern
Buddhists, is only a gorgeous poem; it is no more a
biography of Gautama than the Paradise Lost is a biography of Jesus. It was composed probably in Nepal
in the second or third or fourth century after Christ,
although it contains passages,-the Gathas,-which are
of a very much older date. In China, Buddhism was
introduced from the first century after Christ, but did not
become the state religion until the fourth century, and
the works on Buddhism which were then carried by
Chinese pilgrims from India from century to century, and
translated into the Chinese language, do not illustrate the
earliest phase of Buddhism in India. Buddhism spread in
Japan in the fifth century, and in Thibet in the seventh
century after Christ. Thibet has drifted far away from
primitive Buddhism in India, and has adopted forms and
ceremonies which were unknown to Gautama and his
followers.
On the other hand, the Southern Buddhists furnish us
with the most valuable materials for our purpose. The
sacred books of the Southern Buddhists are known by the
inclusive name of the Three Pitakas; and there is evidence to show that these Pitakas, now extant in Ceylon,
are substantially identical with the canon as settled in
the Council of Patna about 242 B.C.




3I4


RA TIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


The date of Buddha's death was for a long time believed
to be 543 B.C.; but many facts ascertained within the
last thirty years lead to the conclusion that the great
reformer was born about 557 B.C., and died in 477 B.c.
A Council of 500 monks was held in Rajagriha, the capital
of Magadha, immediately after his death, and they chanted
the sacred laws together to fix them on their memory. A
hundred years later, i.e., in 377 B.C., a second Council was
held in Vesali, mainly for the discussion and settlement
of ten questions on which difference of opinion had
arisen. A hundred and thirty-five years after this, the
great Asoka, king of the Magadhas, held a third Council
in Patna about 242 B.C., to finally settle the religious
works or Pitakas.
It is well known that Asoka was a most zealous
Buddhist, and sent missionaries to foreign countries, and
even to Syria, Macedon, and Egypt, to preach the religion.
He sent his own son Mahinda to Tissa, the king of
Ceylon, about 242 B.C., and Mahinda took with him a
number of Buddhist monks, and thus conveyed to Ceylon
the Pitakas as just settled in the Council of Patna.* It is
needless to say that Tissa, the king of Ceylon, was glad
to embrace the religion which Asoka recommended and
his son preached, and thus Ceylon embraced Buddhism
in the third century B.C. About a hundred and fifty years
after this these Pitakas were formally reduced to writing,
and thus we have the most authentic account of the
earliest form of Buddhism in Magadha in the Pali Pitakas
of Ceylon.
These facts will show that the Three Pitakas of the
Southern Buddhists can claim a date anterior to 242 B.C.
For no work which could not claim a respectable antiquity
was included as canon by the Council of Patna. Indeed,
* Dipavansa, XII. According to this historical epic of Ceylon, Mahinda,
was the son of Asoka (born when Asoka was a sub-king at Ujjayini under
his father, who was king at Magadha), by the daughter of the Sethi or
banker of Vidisa (Ditavansa, VI, 15 and I6).




CHAP. XI.]  BUDDHIST LITERATURE.


315


there is internal evidence in the Vinaya Pitaka to lead to
the supposition that the main portions of that Pitaka were
settled before the Vesali Council, i.e., before 377 B.C.
For in the main portions of the Vinaya Pitaka there is no
mention of the discussion on the ten questions alluded to
above,-questions which were "as important for the
history of Buddhism as the Arian controversy for that
of Christianity," and which agitated the whole of the
Buddhist world to its very centre. The inference is
irresistible that the main portion of the Vinaya Pitaka
is anterior to the date of the Council, i.e., anterior to
377 B.C.
We have thus found in the Scriptures of the Southern
Buddhists reliable materials for the history of India for
the centuries immediately after the time of Gautama
Buddha. For the contents of the Three Pitakas were
composed, settled, and arranged in India during the
hundred or two hundred years after the death of
Gautama, just as the four Christian Gospels were composed and settled within a century or two after the
death of Jesus. Hence the Three Pitakas illustrate the
manners and life of the Hindus and the history of Hindu
kingdoms in the Gangetic valley. And, lastly, they give
us a more consistent and a less exaggerated account of
the life and work and teachings of Buddha himself than
anything which the Northern Buddhists can supply us
with. Both as an index to the Hindu civilisation of the
period, and as an account of Gautama's life and work,
the Three Pitakas will be our guide. It is to these Pali
works that "we must go in preference to all other sources
if we desire to know whether any information is obtainable regarding Buddha and his life." *
The Three Pitakas are known, as the Sutta Pitaka, the
Vinaya Pitaka, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka. The works
comprised in the Sutta Pitaka profess to record the sayings and doings of Gautama Buddha himself. Guatama
* Oldenberg's Buddha (translation), p. 75.




RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


himself is the actor and the speaker in the earliest
works of this Pitaka, and his doctrines are conveyed
in his own words. Occasionally one of his disciples is
the instructor, and there are short introductions to indicate where and when Gautama or his disciple spoke.
But all through the Sutta Pitaka, Gautama's doctrines
and moral precepts are preserved, professedly in Gautama's own words.
The Vinaya Pitaka contain very minute rules, often
on the most trivial subjects, for the conduct of monks
and nuns,-the Bhikkhus and the Bhikkhunis who had
embraced the holy order.  Gautama respected the lay
disciple (Upasaka), but he held that to embrace the Holy
Order was a quicker path to salvation. As the number of
Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis multiplied, it was necessary
to fix elaborate rules, often on very minute subjects, for
their proper conduct and behaviour in the Vihara or
monastery. As Gautama lived for nearly half a century
after he had proclaimed his religion, there can be no
doubt that he himself settled many of these rules. At
the same time, it is equally certain that many of the
minute rules grew up after his death, but they are all
attributed in the Vinaya Pitaka to the direct order of
the Blessed One himself.
And lastly, the Abhidamma Pitaka contains disquisitions on various subjects, on the conditions of life in
different worlds, on personal qualities, on the elements,
on the causes of existence, &c. We now subjoin a list
of works contained in the Three Pitakas:I. Sutta Pitaka.
I. Digha Nikaya or long treatises, being a collection
of 34 Suttas.
2. Majjhima Nikaya or middling treatises, a collection
of 152 Suttas of moderate size.
3. Samyutta Nikaya, or the connected treatises.




CHAP. XI.]  BUDDHIST LITERATURE.


317


4. Anguttara Nikaya, treatises in divisions the length
of which increases by one.
5. Khuddaka Nikaya or short treatises. It contains
15 works which should be mentioned in detail: *(I) Khuddaka Patha or short passages.
(2) Dhammapada, an excellent collection of Moral
Precepts.
(3) Udana, 82 short lyrics supposed to have been
uttered by Gautama at different periods under strong
emotion.
(4) Itivuttika, I o0 sayings of Buddha.
(5) Sutta Nipata, 70 didactic poems.
(6) Vimana Vatthu, stories of celestial mansions.
(7) Peta Vatthu on departed spirits.
(8) Thera Gatha, stanzas of monks.
(9) Theri Gatha, stanzas of nuns.
(Io) Jataka, 550 stories of former births.
(i i) Niddesa, explanations on the Sutta Nipata (No. 5)
by Sariputta.
(I2) Patisambhida, on intuitive insight.
(I3) Apadana, legends about Arhats or Saints.
(I4) Buddha Vansa. Lives of 24 preceding Buddhas,
and of Gautama, the historical Buddha.
(I5) Chariya Pitaka, Gautama's virtuous acts in former
births.
II. Vinaya Pitaka.
I. Vibhanga. Doctors Oldenberg and Rhys Davids consider it as only an extended reading of the Patimokkha,
i.e., as the Patimokkha with notes and commentary
included. The Patimokkha is a formular of sins and
their punishments recited every new moon and full moon
day, and the members of the order who have committed
any such sin are supposed to confess it and are disburdened of it.
* The fifteen works composing the fifth Nikaya are by some classed in
the Abhidhamma, and not in the Sutta Pitaka.




318


RA TIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


2. Khandakas, i.e., the Mahavagga and the Chullavagga.
3. Parivara Patha, admittedly an appendix and a later
resume of the preceding portions of the Vinaya Pitaka.*
III. Abhidamma Pitaka.
I. Dhamma Sangani. Conditions of life in different
worlds.
2. Vibhanga, I8 books of disquisitions.
3. Katha Vatthu, Iooo subjects for controversy.
4. Puggala Pannatti. On Personal Qualities.
5. Dhatu Katha.   On the elements.
6. Yamaka, i.e., pairs, i.e., on apparent contradictions
or contrasts.
7. Patthana. On the causes of existence.
Such are the contents of the Three Pitakas which have
preserved to us the most reliable materials that are available for the history of Buddha's life and work, and the
history of Buddhist India. Although writing was known
when the Three Pitakas were settled and compiled, yet for
hundreds of years they were preserved solely by memory,
even as the Vedas in India were preserved by memory.
"The text of the Three Pitakas and the commentary
too thereon.
" The wise Bhikkhus of former time had handed down
by word of mouth." 
And it was in the first century before Christ, about 88
B.C., that the sacred works were at last recorded into
writing, as we have seen before.
It is well known that Gautama, disregarding the precedent set by all classical writers and thinkers in India,
preached his doctrine and morality to the people of India
* But compiled by the time of Asoka and carried to Ceylon by his son
Mahinda according to the Dipavansa, VII, 42. The works learnt and
carried to Ceylon by Mahinda are thus described: —The five Nikayas
(Sutta Pitaka), the seven sections (Abhidhamma), the two Vibhangas, the
Parivara, and the Khandaka (Vinaya).
t Dipavansa, XX, 20, 21.




CHAP. XI.]  BUDDHIST LITERATURE.


3I9


in the language of the people, not in Sanscrit. It is said
in the Chullavagga (V, 33, I), that "There were two
brothers, Bhikkhus, by name Yamelu and Tekula, Brahmans by birth, excelling in speech, excelling in pronunciation." And they went up to Gautama and said, "At the
present time, Lord, Bhikkhus differing in name, differing
in lineage, differing in birth, differing in family, have gone
forth. These corrupt the word of the Buddhas by their
own dialect. Let us, Lord, put the word of the Buddhas
into Sanscrit verse (Chhandaso aropema)."
But Gautama would have none of this;-he worked for
the humble and the lowly, his message was for the people,
and he wished it to be conveyed to them in their own
tongue. "You are not, O Bhikkhus, to put the word of
the Buddhas into (Sanscrit) verse.... I allow you, O
Bhikkhus, to learn the word of the Buddhas each in his
own dialect."
Generally we can apply to the Three Pitakas the
remarks which Doctors Rhys Davids and Oldenberg
make in respect of the Vinaya Pitaka. "The text, as it
lies before us, stands so well against all proofs, whether
we compare its different parts, one with another, or with
the little that is yet known of its Northern counterparts,
that we are justified in regarding these Pali books as in
fact the authentic mirror of the old Magadhi text as fixed
in the central schools of the most ancient Buddhist
Church. That text in the dialect of Magadha may have
been lost to us once for all; and we can scarcely hope,
unless some isolated sentences may hereafter be found,
preserved here and there in inscriptions, that this loss will
ever be even partially made good. But we may well be
thankful that the faithful zeal and industry of these old
monks has preserved for us a translation, in a dialect so
nearly allied to the original, and in so perfect and trustworthy a state as the Pali version of the Vinaya still
undoubtedly presents."*
* Vinaya Texts (translation), Part I., Introduction, xxxvi.




CHAPTER XII.


LIFE OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA.
IN the sixth century before Christ, the kingdom  of
Magadha was rising to power and greatness. The kingdom, corresponding to modern South Behar, extended to
the south of the Ganges, and on either side of the Son
river. To the north of the Ganges it had a powerful
rival in the haughty confederation of the Lichchavis.
Rajagriha, to the south of the Ganges, was the capital of
Bimbisara, king of the Magadhas; and Vaisali, to the
north of the Ganges, was the capital of the Lichchavis. To
the east lay the kingdom of Anga or East Behar, which
is spoken of in connection with Magadha, and Champa
was the capital of Anga. Far to the north-west lay the
ancient kingdom of the Kosalas, and its capital had been
removed fron Ayodhya or Saketa further northwards to
the flourishing town of Sravasti, where Prasenajit reigned
at the time of which we are speaking. The equally ancient
country of the Kasis, lying to the south, seemed to be at
this time subject to the king of Sravasti, and a viceroy of
Prasenajit ruled at Benares.
A little to the east of the Kosala kingdom, two kindred
clans, the Sakyas and the Koliyans, lived on the opposite
banks of the small stream Rohini, and enjoyed a sort of
precarious independence, more through the jealousies of
the rival kings of Magadha and Kosala than by their own
power.  Kapilavastu was the capital of the Sakyas,
who were then living in peace with the Koliyans, and
320




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


32r


Suddhodana, chief of the Sakyas, had married two
daughters of the chief of the Koliyans.
Neither queen bore any child to Suddhodana for many
years, and the hope of leaving an heir to the principality
of the Sakyas was well-nigh abandoned. At last, however, the elder queen promised her husband an heir, and,
according to ancient custom, left for her father's house in
order to be confined. But before she reached the place
she was confined, in the pleasant grove of Lumbini, of
a son. The mother and the child were carried back to
Kapilavastu, where the former died seven days after,
leaving the child to be nursed by his step-mother and
aunt, the younger queen.
The birth of Gautama is naturally the subject of many
legends which have a most remarkable resemblance with
the legends about the birth of Jesus Christ. One of
them may be quoted here. The Rishi Asita saw the
gods delighted, and
"Seeing the gods with pleased minds, delighted, and
showing his respect, he said this on that occasion: 'Why
is the assembly of the gods so exceedingly pleased, why
do they take their clothes and wave them?'...
" The Bodhisatta, the excellent pearl, the incomparable,
is born for the good and for a blessing in the world of
men, in the town of the Sakyas in the country of Lumbini.
Therefore, we are glad and exceedingly pleased."
Having obtained this reply, the Rishi went to Suddhodana's palace and asked, "Where is this prince? I wish
to see him."
"Then the Sakyas showed to Asita the child, the
prince, who was like shining gold, manufactured by a
very skilful smith in the mouth of a forge, and beaming
in glory and beautiful." And the Rishi foretold that the
boy would reach the summit of enlightenment, and would
establish righteousness, and that his religion would be
widely spread (Ndlzaka Sztta).
The boy was named Siddhartha, but Gautama was his
VOL. I,                                 X




322


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


family name. He belonged to the Sakya tribe, and is
therefore often called Sakya Sinha; and when he had
proclaimed and preached a reformed religion, he was
called Buddha, or the "awakened" or "enlightened."
Little is known of the early life of young Gautama,
except that he was married to his cousin Subhadhra or
Yasodhara, daughter of the chief of Koli, about the age of
eighteen. It is said that Gautama neglected the manly
exercises which all Kshatriyas of his age delighted in, and
that his relations complained of this. A day was accordingly fixed for the trial of his skill, and the young prince
of the Sakyas is said to have proved his superiority to
his kinsmen.
Ten years after his marriage, Gautama resolved to quit
his home and his wife for the study of philosophy and
religion. The story which is told of the young prince
abandoning his home and his position is well known.
He must have for a long time pondered deeply and
sorrowfully on the sins and sufferings of humanity, he
must have been struck with the vanity of wealth and
position. In the midst of his prosperity, position, and
wealth, he felt a secret yearning after something higher,
which neither wealth nor position could satisfy; and a
strong, irresistible desire to seek for a remedy for the
sufferings of men arose in his heart even in the midst
of the luxuries and comforts of his palace-home. It is
said that the sight of a decrepit old man, of a sick
man, of a decaying corpse, and of a dignified hermit
led him to form his resolution to quit his home.  The
story has little foundation in truth, and only represents
in a concrete shape the thoughts that arose in his mind
with regard to the woes of a worldly life, and the holy
calm of a retired life.
At this time a son was born unto him. It is said that
the news was announced to him in a garden on the riverside, and the pensive young man only exclaimed, ' This is
a new and strong tie I shall have to break." The news




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


323


gladdened the heart of the Sakyas, and Kapilavastu resounded with notes of joy at the birth of an heir to the
throne. A perfect ovation awaited Gautama on his return
to that town, and among the deafening cheers which
arose, Gautama heard a young girl say, " Happy the
father, happy the mother, happy the wife of such a son
and husband." Gautama understood the word " happy"
in the sense of " emancipated " from sins and new births,
and he took off his necklace of pearls and sent it to the
girl. The girl believed the young prince was enamoured
of her, and little knew the thoughts which were struggling
within him.
That night he repaired to the threshold of his wife's
chamber, and there-by the light of the flickering lamphe gazed on a scene of perfect bliss. His young wife lay
surrounded by flowers, and with one hand on the infant's
head. A yearning arose in his heart to take the babe in
his arms for the last time before relinquishing all earthly
bliss. But this he might not do. The mother might be
awakened, and the importunities of the fond and loving
soul might unnerve his heart and shake his resolution.
Silently he tore himself away from that blissful sightthat nest of all his joy and love and affection. In that
one eventful moment, in the silent darkness of that night,
he renounced for ever his wealth and position and power,
his proud rank and his princely fame, and more than all
this, the affections of a happy home, the love of a young
wife and of a tender infant now lying unconscious in
sleep. Hte renounced all this, and rode away to become
a poor student and a homeless wanderer. His faithful
servant Channa asked to be allowed to stay with him and
become an ascetic, but Gautama sent him back, and repaired alone to Rajagriha.
Rajagriha, as we have stated before, was the capital of
Bimbisara, king of the Magadhas, and was situated in a
valley surrounded by five hills. Some Brahman ascetics
lived in the caves of these hills, sufficiently far from the




324


RA TIONA LISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


town for studies and contemplation, and yet sufficiently
near to obtain supplies. Gautama attached himself first to
one Alara, and then to another Udraka, and learnt from
them all that Hindu philosophers had to teach.
Not satisfied with this learning, Gautama wished to see
if penances would bring superhuman insight and power
as they were reputed to do. He retired therefore into
the jungles of Uruvela, near the site of the present temple
of Buddha Gaya, and for six years, attended by five
disciples, he gave himself up to the severest penances
and self-mortification. His fame spread all round, for
the ignorant and the superstitious always admire selfinflicted pain; but Gautama did not obtain what he
sought. At last one day he fell down from sheer weakness, and his disciples thought he was dead. But he
recovered, and despairing of deriving any profit from
penance, he abandoned it. His disciples, who did not
understand his object, lost all respect for him when he
gave up his penances; they left him alone and went away
to Benares.
Left alone in the world, Gautama wandered towards
the banks of the Niranjara, received his morning meal
from the hands of Sujata, a villager's daughter, and sat
himself down under the famous Bo-tree or the tree of
wisdom.  Many are the legends told of Mara, the evil
spirit, who tempted him on this occasion, legends
which have a curious resemblance with the legends of
the temptation of Jesus Christ.  For a long time he sat
in contemplation, and the scenes of his past life came
thronging into his mind. The learning he had acquired
had produced no results, the penances he had undergone
were vain, his disciples had left him alone in the world.
Would he now return to his happy home, to the arms
of his loving, widowed wife, to his little child now a
sweet boy of six years, to his affectionate father and his
loyal people? This was possible; but where would be
the satisfaction?  What would become of the mission




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


32;


to which he had devoted himself? Long he sat in contemplation and in doubt, until the doubts cleared away
like mists in the morning, and the daylight of truth
flashed before his eyes.  What was this truth which
learning did not teach and penances did not impart?
He had made no new discovery, he had acquired no
new knowledge, but his pious nature and his benevolent
heart told him that a holy life and an all-embracing love
were the panacea to all evils. Self-culture and universal
love,-this was his discovery,-this is the essence of
Buddhism.
The conflict in Gautama's mind, which thus subsided
in calm, is described in Buddhist writings by marvellous
incidents. Clouds and darkness prevailed, the earth and
oceans quaked, rivers flowed back to their sources, and
peaks of lofty mountains rolled down. Dr. Rhys Davids
justly states that these legends have a deep meaning,
and are " the first half-inarticulate efforts the Indian mind
had made to describe the feelings of a strong man torn
by contending passions." *
Gautama's old teacher Alara was dead, and he went
therefore to Benares to proclaim the truth to his five
former disciples. On the way he met a man of the name
of Upaka, belonging to the Ajivaka sect of ascetics,
who, looking at the composed and happy expression on
Gautama's face, asked, "Your countenance, friend, is
serene; your complexion is pure and bright. In whose
name, friend, have you retired from the world? Who is
your teacher? What doctrine do you profess? " To this
Gautama replied that he had no teacher, that he had
obtained Nirvana by the extinction of all passions, and
added, " I go to the city of the Kasis to beat the drum of
the immortal in the darkness of the world." Upaka did
not understand him, and replied after a little conversation,
* Buddhism. —Dr. Rhys Davids quotes a passage from Milton's Paradise Regained, describing a similar disturbance of the elements on the
occasion of Christ's Temptation.




326


RA TIONA LISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


" It may be so, friend," shook his head, took another road,
and went away (_lfa/avagga, I, 6).
At Benares Gautama entered the Deer Park (Migadaya) in the cool of the evening and met his former
disciples. And he explained to them his new tenets.
"There are two extremes, O Bhikkhus, which the man
who has given up the world ought not to follow,-the
habitual practice, on the one hand, of those things whose
attraction depends upon the passions, and specially of
sensuality, a low and pagan way, unworthy, unprofitable,
and fit only for the worldly minded;-and the habitual
practice, on the other hand, of asceticism, which is painful,
unworthy, and unprofitable.
"There is a middle path, O Bhikkhus, avoiding these
two extremes, discovered by the Tathagata (Buddha), a
path which opens the eyes and bestows understanding,
which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to
full enlightenment, to Nirvana!"
And then he explained to them the four truths concerning suffering, the cause of suffering, the destruction
of suffering, and the way which leads to such destruction
of suffering. And the way was described to be eightfold, and consisted in correct beliefs, aims, speech and
actions, in correct living and endeavour, mindfulness and
meditation." And this doctrine, Gautama rightly said,
"was not, O   Bhikkhus, among the doctrines handed
down."   "In Benares, in the hermitage of Migadaya,
the Supreme Wheel of the Empire of Truth has been
set rolling by the Blessed One,-that wheel which not by
any Saman or Brahman, not by any god, not by any
Brahma or Mara, not by any one in the universe, can
ever be turned back" (D/hamnlz   Chakka Ppavattana
Sutta; A nguttara Nikaya).
* We shall have to dwell hereafter on these four truths and the eightfold path which are the cardinal principles of Buddhism. The above
extracts will show that they were also the principles which Gautama
proclaimed to the world at the very outset of his career.




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


327


It is needless to say that the five former disciples
were soon converted, and were the first members of
the Order.
Yasa, son of the rich Sethi (banker) of Benares, was
his first lay disciple, and the story of the conversion of
this young man, nurtured in the lap of luxury and wealth,
is worth repeating.  " He had three palaces, one for
winter, one for summer, one for the rainy season." One
night he awoke from sleep and found the female musicians
still sleeping in the room with their dress and hair and
musical instruments in disorder. The young man, who
had apparently been satiated with a life of luxury, became disgusted with what he saw, and in a moment of
deep thoughtfulness said: "Alas! what distress; alas!
what danger! " And he left the house and went out.
It was dawn, and Gautama was walking up and down
in the open air, and heard the perplexed and sorrowful
young man exclaiming, "Alas! what distress; alas!
what danger!" The sage replied, " Here is no distress,
Yasa, here is no danger. Come here, Yasa, sit down; I
will teach you the truth." And Yasa heard the truth
from the lips of the saintly instructor.
Yasa's father and mother and wife missed him, and
they all came to Gautama and listened to the holy truth.
And they soon became lay disciples (Mahdvaqgg'a, I,
7 and 8).
Within five months after his arrival at Benares
Gautama had sixty followers. And now he called them
together and dismissed them in different directions to
preach the truth for the salvation of mankind. "Go ye
now, O Bhikkhus, and wander, for the gain of the many,
for the welfare of the many, out of compassion for the
world, for the good, for the gain, for the welfare of gods
and men. Let not two of you go the same way. Preach,
O Bikkhus, the doctrine which is glorious in the beginning, glorious in the middle, glorious in the end, in the
spirit, and in the letter; proclaim a consummate, perfect,




328


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


and pure life of holiness" (im}ahavz agga,, I  II, I). No
missionaries of later days have evinced a holier zeal to
proclaim the truth to the ends of the earth than the
followers of Gautama, acting on the sacred mandate
quoted above. Gautama himself went to Uruvela, and
Yasa remained in Benares.
At Uruvela, Gautama achieved distinguished success
by converting three brothers named Kasyapa, who worshipped fire in the Vedic form, and had high reputation as hermits and philosophers. The eldest brother
Uruvela Kasyapa and his pupils "flung their hair, their
braids, their provisions, and the things for the agnihiotra
sacrifice into the river," and received the Pabbajja and
Upasampada ordination from the Blessed One.   His
brothers, who lived by the Nadi (River Niranjara) and
at Gaya, soon followed the example (Ma/idvagga, I,
15-20).
The conversion of the Kasyapas created a sensation, and
Gautama with his new disciples and a thousand followers
walked towards Rajagriha, the capital of Magadha. News
of the new prophet soon reached the king, and Seniya Bimbisara, surrounded by numbers of Brahmans and Vaisyas,
went to visit Gautama. Seeing the distinguished Uruvela
Kasyapa there, the king could not make out if that great
Brahman had converted Gautama, or if Gautama had
converted the Brahman. Gautama understood the king's
perplexity, and in order to enlighten him, asked Kasyapa,
"What knowledge have you gained, O inhabitant of
Uruvela, that has induced you, who were renowned for
your penances, to forsake your sacred fire." Kasyapa
replied that he had "seen the state of peace," and " took
no more delight in sacrifices and offerings." The king
was struck and pleased, and, with his numerous attendants,
declared himself an adherent of Gautama, and invited him
to take his meal with him the next day.
The solitary wanderer accordingly went, an honoured
guest, to the palace of the king, and the entire population




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


329


of the capital of Magadha turned out to see the great
preacher of the religion of love, who had suddenly
appeared in the land. The king then assigned a bamboo
grove (Veluvana) close by for the residence of Gautama
and his followers, and there Gautama rested for some time.
Shortly after Gautama obtained two renowned converts,
Sariputra and Moggallana (Mahalvag'ga, I, 22-24).
The daily life of Gautama hias been well described by
Dr. Oldenberg. " He, as well as his disciples, rises early,
when the light of dawn appears in the sky, and spends
the early moments in spiritual exercises or in converse with
his disciples, and then he proceeds with his companions
towards the town. In the days when his reputation stood
at its highest point, and his name was named throughout
India among the foremost names, one might day by day
see that man before whom kings bowed themselves, almsbowl in hand, through streets and alleys, from house to
house, and without uttering any request, with downcast
look, stand silently waiting until a morsel of food was
thrown into his bowl."
Such was the manner in which the greatest man of his
age begged his food, day by day, from house to house,
and preached his religion of love to men and to women.
For women were Gautama's listeners as well as men.
"The seclusion of women from the outer world, which
later custom has enjoined, was quite unheard of in
ancient India; women took their share in the intellectual
life of the people, and the most delicate and tenderest of
the epic poems of the Indians show us how well they
could understand and appreciate true womanhood." *
The fame of Gautama had now travelled to his native
town, and his old father expressed a desire to see him
once before he died.  Gautama accordingly went to
Kapilavastu, but, according to custom, remained in the
grove outside the town. His father and relations came
to see him there; and the next day Gautara himself
* Oldenberg's Biddha (translation), pp. I49 and I64.




33~


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[ROOK III.


went into the town, begging alms from the people who
once adored him as their beloved prince and master!
The story goes on to say that the king rebuked Gautama
for this act, but Gautama replied, it was the custom of
his race. "But," retorted the king, "we are descended
from an illustrious race of warriors, and not one of them
has ever begged his bread."  ' You and your family,"
answered Gautama, "may claim descent from kings, my
descent is from the prophets (Buddhas) of old."
The king took his son into the palace, where all the
members of the family came to greet him except his wife.
The deserted Yasodhara, with a wife's grief and a wife's
pride, exclaimed, " If I am of any value in his eyes, he
will himself come; I can welcome him better here."
Gautama understood this and went to her, with only two
disciples with him. And when Yasodhara saw her lord
and prince enter,-a recluse with shaven head and yellow
robes,-her heart failed her, she flung herself to the
ground, held his feet, and burst into tears. Then, remembering the impassable gulf between them, she rose
and stood aside. She listened to his new doctrines, and
when, subsequently, Gautama was induced to establish
an order of female mendicants,-Bhikkhunis,-Yasodhara
became one of the first Buddhist nuns. At the time of
which we are now speaking, Yasodhara remained in her
house, but Rahula, Gautama's son, was converted.
Gautama's father was much aggrieved at this, and
asked Gautama to establish a rule that no one should
be admitted to the Order without his parents' consent.
Gautama consented to this, and made a rule accordingly
(Jataka, 87-90; Maahdvaga I, 54).
On his way back to Rajagriha, Gautama stopped for
some time at Anupiya, "a town belonging to the Mallas."
And while he was stopping here, he made many converts both from the Koliyan and from the Sakya tribe,
some of whom deserve special mention. Anuruddha, the
Sakya, went to his mother and asked to be allowed to




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


33'


go into the houseless state. His mother did not know
how to stop him, and so told him, " If, beloved Anuruddha,
Bhaddiya, the Sakya Raja, will renounce the world, thou
also mayest go forth into the houseless state."
Anuruddha accordingly went to Bhaddiya, and it was
decided that they would embrace the Order in seven
days. "So Bhaddiya the Sakya Rftja, and Anuruddha
and Ananda and Bhagu and Kimbila and Devadatta,
just as they had so often previously gone out to the
pleasure ground with fourfold array, even so did they
now go out with fourfold array, and Upali the barber
went with them, making seven in all.
"And when they had gone some distance, they sent
their retinue back and crossed over to the neighbouring
district, and took off their fine things, and wrapped them
in their robes and made a bundle of them, and said to
Upali the barber, 'Do you now, Upali, turn back. These
things will be sufficient for you to live upon.'"  But
Upali was of a different mind, and so all the seven went
to Gautama and became converts. And when Bhaddya
had retired into solitude he exclaimed over and over, "0
happiness! 0 happiness! " and on being asked the cause
said"Formerly, Lord, when I was a king, I had a guard
completely provided both within and without my private
apartments, both within and without the town, and within
the borders of my country. Yet though, Lord, I was
thus guarded and protected I was fearful, anxious, distrustful, and alarmed. But now, Lord, even when in the
forest, at the foot of a tree, in solitude, I am without fear
or anxiety, trustful, and not alarmed; I dwell at ease,
subdued, secure, with mind as peaceful as an antelope"
(Chullavazgga, VII, I).
We have narrated the above story because some of
the converts, spoken of here, rose to distinction. Ananda
became the most intimate friend of Gautama, and after
his death led a band of 500 monks in chanting the




332


RA TIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


Dharma in the Council of Rajagriha. Upali, though a
barber by birth, became an eminent member of the
Holy Order, and was recognised as an authority in
matters connected with Vinaya. It is a striking proof
how completely the caste-system was ignored in the
Holy Order established by Gautama. Anuruddha lived
to become the greatest master of Abhidamma or metaphysics. Devadatta became subsequently the rival and
opponent of Gautama, and is even said to have advised
Ajatasatru, the prince of Magadha, to kill his father
Bimbisara, and then attempted to kill Gautama himself
(ChudZ/aZ'actgga, VII, 2-4). All these charges, however,
which are heaped on Devadatta, who was a rival of
Gautama, should not be accepted.
After spending his second vassa or rainy season in
Rajagriha, Gautama repaired to Sravasti, the capital of
the Kosalas, where, as we have seen before, Prasenajit
reigned as king. A wood called Jetavana was presented to
the Buddhists, and Gautama often repaired and preached
there.  Gautama's instructions were always delivered
orally, and preserved in the memory of the people, like
all the ancient books of India, although writing was
known in his tine.*
The third vassa was also passed in Rajagriha, and in
the fourth year from the date of his proclaiming his
creed Gautama crossed the Ganges, went to Vaisali, and
stopped in the Mahavana grove. Thence he is said to
have made a miraculous journey to settle a dispute between
the Sakyas and the Koliyans about the water of the
boundary river Rohini. In the following year he again
repaired to Kapilavastu, and was present at the death of
his father, then ninety-seven years old.
His widowed step-mother Prajapati Gautami, and his
* "Brief written communications, brief written notifications, appear to
have been common in India even at that time (i.e., Gautama Buddha's
time): books were not written, but learnt by rote and taught from memory."
-Oldenberg's Buddha (translation), p. I77.




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


no less widowed wife Yasodhara, had now no ties to
bind them to the world, and insisted on joining the Order
established by Gautama. The sage had not yet admitted
women to the Order, and was reluctant to do so. But
his mother was inexorable and followed him to Vaisali,
and begged to be admitted.
Ananda pleaded her cause, but Gautama still replied,
"Enough, Ananda! Let it not please thee that women
should be allowed to do so." But Ananda persisted, and
asked"Are women, Lord, capable-when they have gone
forth from the household life and entered the homeless
state, under the doctrine and discipline proclaimed by the
Blessed One,-are they capable of realising the fruit of
conversion or of the second path, or of Arhatship? "
There could be only one reply to this. Honour to
women has ever been a part of religion in India, and
salvation and heaven are not barred to the female sex
by the Hindu religion. "They are capable, Ananda,"
replied the sage.  And Prajapati and the other ladies
were admitted to the Order as Bhikkhunis under some
rules making them strictly subordinate to the Bhikkhus
(C/hullaagg'a, X, I). After this Gautama retired to
Kosambi near Prayaga.
In the sixth year, after spending the rains at Kosambi,
Gautama returned to Rajagriha, and Kshema, the queen
of Bimbisara, was admitted to the Order. In the same
year Gautama is said to have performed some miracles at
Sravasti, and went to heaven to teach Dharma to his
mother, who had died seven days after his birth.
In the eleventh year Gautama converted the Brahman
Bharadvaja by the parable of the sower, which deserves
to be quoted.
Kasi Bharadvaja's five hundred ploughs were tied in
the sowing season. He went to the place where his men
were distributing food to the poor, and he saw Gautama
standing there to get alms. On this he said:



334


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK        III.


"I, 0 Saman, both plough and sow, and having
ploughed and sown, I eat; thou also, O Saman, shouldst
plough and sow, and having ploughed and sown, thou
shouldst eat."
"I also, O Brahman, both plough and sow, and having
ploughed and sown, I eat." So said Bhagavat.
"Yet we do not see the yoke or the plough, or the
ploughshare, or the goad, or the oxen of the venerable
Gautama."
Bhagavat answered,-" Faith is the. seed, penance
the rain, understanding my yoke and plough, modesty
the pole of the plough, mind the tie, thoughtfulness my
ploughshare and goad....
"Exertion is my beast of burden; carrying me to
Nibbana, he goes without turning back to the place
where, having gone, one does not grieve."
The Brahman was abashed, and after further instructions joined the order (Sutta Nzipta; Kdst Bagdradvdja
Sutta).
In the next year he undertook the longest journey he
had ever made, and went to Mantala and returned by
Benares, and then preached the famous Maha Rahula
Sutta to his son Rahula, then eighteen years old. Two
years after, Rahula, being twenty, was formally admitted
in the Order, and the Rahula Sutta was preached.
In the following year, i.e., in the fifteenth year from
the date of his proclaiming his creed, he visited Kapilavastu again, and addressed a discourse to his cousin
MAhAnama, who had succeeded Bhadraka, the successor
of Suddhodana, as the king of the Sakyas. Gautama's
father-in-law, Suprabuddha, king of Koli, publicly abused
Gautama for deserting Yasodhara, but is said to have
been swallowed up by the earth shortly after.
In the seventeenth year he delivered a discourse on
the death of Srimati, a courtesan; in the next year he
comforted a weaver who had accidentally killed his
daughter; in the following year he released a deer caught




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


335


in a snare and converted the angry hunter who had
wanted to shoot him; and in the twentieth year he
similarly converted the famous robber Angulimala of the
Chaliya forest.
For twenty-five years more Gautama wandered through
the Gangetic valley, preached benevolence and a holy
life to the poor and the lowly, made converts among
the high and the low, the rich and the poor, and proclaimed his law through the length and breadth of the
land. His pure life of benevolence and his pure religion
of love were widely known and universally respected by
his followers and the orthodox Hindus alike; nations
and their kings honoured the doctrines of the saintly
reformer whose acts were those of kindness and benevolence; and when Gautama died at the advanced age of
eighty, Buddhlism was already a power in the land, which
" not by any Saman or Brahman, not by any god, not by
any Brahma or Mara, not by any one in the universe,
could ever be turned back."
Gautama lived forty-five years from the date of his
proclaiming his new religion; and accepting the year
477 B.c. as the year of his death, the mains facts of his
life may be thus arranged:Born near Kapilavastu..           5 57 B)c.
His marriage with Yasodhari...   538,,
He left his home, wife, and infant... 528,,
He became enlightened at Buddha Gaya, and
proclaimed his religion at Benares...522,,
He revisited his home....     52,,
His father Suddhodana died. and his step-mother
and wife joined the Order  5..7,,
His son Rahula joined the Order... 508,,
Yasodhara's father died....     507,,
Gautama died.......  477,,
Happily we have a fairly complete account of the
events immediately before his death in the Ma]aparinibbana Sutta in the Ditgia Nikaya, and to these facts
we now turn.




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[nOOK III.


Gautama was now eighty years of age, and the generation among whom he had worked in his youth
had passed away.   Most of those men whom he had
known in his early days were dead, and the aged saint
preached to sons and grandsons the same holy law which
he had proclaimed to their sires and grandsires before.
Many of his intimate friends were dead, but the faithful
Ananda still accompanied him like his shadow, and
ministered to his wants. The old king of Rajagriha
was no more; his warlike and ambitious son Ajatasatru
had ascended the throne of Magadha,-it is said by
murdering his father, and was now maturing schemes
of conquest. It was no part of Ajatasatru's policy to
offend so popular and widely respected a person as
Gautama, and, outwardly at least, Ajatasatru honoured
the reformer.
The powerful Vajjian clans who occupied the plains
on the northern shore of the Ganges, opposite to Magadha,
first attracted Ajatasatru's attention. They were a Turanian tribe who had entered into India through the northern mountains, and had established a republican form of
government in the very centre of Hindu civilisation, and
were threatening the conquest of all Magadha.  They
were probably the same Yu-Chi tribe* who conquered
Kashmira and Western India four or five centuries later,
and became, under Kanishka, the most powerful supporters
of Buddhism.
Ajatasatru Videhiputra-t said to himself, "I will root
out these Vajjians, mighty and powerful though they be.
I will destroy these Vajjians, I will bring these Vajjians
to utter ruin."
Gautama was then residing in the Vulture's Peak
* See Beal's Buddhism in China, p. 43.
t This appellation shows that the king's mother was a lady of the
ancient Videha tribe. Persons were frequently called in those days by
their mother's name; and Upatissa, the distinguished disciple of Gautama,
was always better known as Sariputra.




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


337


(Gridhrakuita), a cave on the side of the loftiest of the
five hills overlooking the beautiful valley of Rajagriha.
Ajatasatru, who was not without some kind of superstitious faith in prophecies, sent his prime minister Vassakara
to Gautama to inquire how his expedition against the
Vajjians would end. Gautama was no respecter of kings,
and replied that so long as the Vajjians remained united
in their adherence to their ancient customs " we expect
them not to decline, but to prosper."
From the Vulture's Peak Gautama wandered to neighbouring places,- to Ambalathika, to Nalanda, and to
Pataligrama, the site of the future capital of Magadha,
Pataliputra. At the time of Gautama it was an insignificant grama or village, but Sunidha and Vassakara,
the chief ministers of Magadha, were building a fortress
at Pataligama to repel the Vajjians.  Such was the
origin of the town which became the capital of Chandragupta and Asoka, and was the metropolis of India for
nearly a thousand years, and which is still one of the
largest cities in India. Gautama is said to have prophesied
the greatness of the place and said to Ananda: "And
among famous places of residence and haunts of busy
men, this will become the chief, the city of Pataliputra, a
centre for the interchange of all kinds of wares."
Vassakara and Sunidha, the ministers of Ajatasatru,
invited Gautama there and fed him with sweet dishes
of boiled rice and cakes, and after this Gautama left
the place, and is said to have crossed the Ganges, which
was then brimful and overflowing, by a miracle,-passing
over the water without a boat or a raft.
He then went to Kotigrama, and then to Nadika, where
he rested in the "brickhall," which was a resting-place
for travellers. There Gautama taught Ananda the pregnant lesson that each disciple could ascertain for himself
if he had attained salvation. If he was conscious, if he felt
within himself, that he had faith in the Buddha, that he
had faith in Dharma, that he had faith in the Order;
VOL I.                                   Y




338


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[BOOK III.


then he was saved. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha became
the Trinity or the Buddhists.
From Nadika, Gautama came to Vaisali, the capital of
the powerful confederacy of the Lichchavis to the north of
the Ganges. Ambapali, a courtesan, heard that the saint
was stopping in her mango grove and came and invited
him to a meal, and Gautama accepted the invitation.
" Now the Lichchavis of Vaisali heard that the Blessed
One had arrived at Vaisali and was staying at Ambapali's
grove. And ordering a number of magnificent carriages
to be made ready, they mounted one of them and proceeded with their train to Vaisali. Some of them were
dark, dark in colour, and wearing dark clothes and
ornaments; some of them were fair, fair in colour and
wearing light clothes and ornaments; some of them were
red, ruddy in colour, and wearing red clothes and ornaments; some of them were white, pale in colour, and
wearing white clothes and ornaments.
" And Ambapali drove against the young Lichchavis,
axle to axle, wheel to wheel, and yoke to yoke; and the
Lichchavis said to Ambapali the courtesan, How is it,
Ambapali, that thou drivest up against us thus?
"My Lords, I have just invited the Blessed One and
his brethren for their morrow's meal, said she.
"Ambapali, give us this meal for a hundred thousand,
said they.
"My Lords, were you to offer all Vaisali with its
subject territory, I would not give up so honourable a
feast.
"Then the Lichchavis cast up their hands exclaiming,
'We are outdone by this mango-girl,* we are outreached
by this mango-girl,' and they went on to Ambapalika's
grove."
There they saw Gautama and invited him to a meal
on the morrow, but Gautama replied, "O Lichchavis,
I have promised to dine to-morrow with Ambapali the
* Am7bapdlikd means the grower of mangoes.




CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


339


courtesan." And Ambapali fed Gautama and his brethren
with sweet rice and cakes, and "waited upon them        till
they refused any more." And then she was edified and
instructed, and said, " Lord, I present this mansion to
the Order of mendicants, of which Buddha is the chief,"
and the gift was accepted.*
From Ambapali's grove, Gautama went to Beluva. He
felt his end approaching, and said to the faithful Ananda,
" I am  now  grown old and full of years, my journey is
drawing to its close, I have reached the sum of my days,
I am turning eighty years of age.... Therefore, O
Ananda! be ye lamps unto yourselves. Be ye a refuge
to yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge.
Hold fast to the truth as a lamp. Hold fast as a refuge
to the truth."
In Chapala Chetiya, Gautama delivered a discourse in
which he enumerated four classes of men, viz., the Nobles,
the Brahmans, the Householders, and the Samans;and four classes of angels, viz., the Angels, the Great
Thirty-three,t Mara,+ and Brahma.~
At Kutagara, Gautama once more proclaimed to his
followers the substance and essence of his religion, and
enjoined upon them to practise it, to meditate upon it,
and to spread it abroad, "in order that pure religion
may last long and be perpetuated, in order that it may
continue to be for the good and the happiness of the
great multitudes."
Having paid his last visit to Vaisali, Gautama then
* Bishop Bigandet says: "In recording the conversion of a courtesan
like Apapalika, her liberality and gifts to Buddha and his disciples, and
the preference designedly given to her over princes and nobles, who,
humanly speaking, seemed in every respect better entitled to attentions,one is almost reminded of the conversion of 'a woman that was a sinner,'
mentioned in the Gospels."-Life or Legend of Gaudama.
t Vedic gods reduced to the position of beneficent spirits.
$ The tempter or evil spirit. " Mara est le demon de l'amour, du peche,
et de la mort; ce la tentateur et l'ennemi de Buddha."-Burzouf.
~ The Universal Being of the Upanishads reduced to the position of a
beneficent spirit.




340


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[BOOK III.


wandered through villages, Bhandagrama, Hastigrama,
Ambagrama, Jambugrama, and Bhoganagara, and then
went to Pava. There, Chunda, a goldsmith and ironsmith,
invited him to a meal, and gave him sweet rice and
cakes and a quantity of dried boar's flesh. Gautama
never refused the poor man's offering, but the boar's
flesh did not agree with him. "Now when the Blessed
One had eaten the food prepared by Chunda, the worker
in metal, there fell upon him a dire sickness, the disease
of dysentery, and sharp pain came upon him even unto
death. But the Blessed One, mindful and self-possessed,
bore it without complaint."
On his way from Pava to Kusinagara, Gautama converted a low-caste man Pukkusa. At Kusinagara, eighty
miles due east from Kapilavastu, Gautama felt that his
death was nigh. With that loving anxiety which had
characterised all his life, he tried on the eve of his death
to impress on his followers that Chunda was not to
blame for the food he had supplied, but that the humble
smith's act, kindly meant, would redound to length of
life, to good birth, and to good fortune.
It is said that just before his death the trees were in
bloom out of season, and sprinkled flowers on him; that
heavenly flowers and sandalwood powder descended on
him, and that music and heavenly songs were wafted
from the sky. But the great apostle of holy life said,
"It is not thus, Ananda, that the Tathagata (Buddha)
is rightly honoured, reverenced, venerated, held sacred,
or revered. But the brother or the sister, the devout
man or the devout woman, who continually fulfils all
the greater and the lesser duties, who is correct in life,
walking according to precepts,-it is he who rightly
honours, reverences, venerates, holds sacred, and reveres
the Tathagata with the worthiest homage." Who is not
reminded by these noble precepts of the holy precept in
the Bible so happily rendered into verse by a Christian
poet?



CHAP. XII.]


LIFE OF BUDDHA.


341


"But Thou hast said, the flesh of goat,
The blood of ram, I would not prize,
A contrite heart, an humble thought,
Are My accepted sacrifice."
On the night of Gautama's death, Subhadra, a Brahman philosopher of Kusinagara, came to ask some questions, but Ananda, fearing that this might be wearisome
to the dying sage, would not admit him.  Gautama,
however, had overheard their conversation, and he would
not turn back a man who had come for instruction. He
ordered the Brahman to be admitted, and with his dying
breath explained to him the principles of his religion.
Subhadra was the last disciple whom Gautama converted,
and shortly after, at the last watch of the night, the
great sage departed this life,-with the exhortation to
his brother men still on his lips,-"Decay is inherent
in all component things; work out your salvation with
diligence."
The body of Gautama was cremated by the Mallas of
Kusinagara who surrounded his bones "in their councilhall with a lattice-work of spears and with a rampart of
bows; and there, for seven days, they paid honour and
reverence and respect and homage to them with dance
and song and music, and with garlands and perfumes."
It is said that the remains of Gautama were divided
into eight portions.  Ajatasatru of Magadha obtained
one portion, and erected a mound over it at Rajagriha.
The Lichchavis of Vaisali obtained another portion, and
erected a mound at that town. Similarly the Sakyas
of Kapilavastu, the Bulis of Allakappa, the Koliyas of
Ramagrama, the Mallas of Pava, the Mallas of Kusinagara, and a Brahman Vethadipaka obtained portions of the
relics and erected mounds over them. The Moriyans of
Pipphalivana made a mound over the embers, and the
Brahman Dona made a mound over the vessel in which
the body had been burnt.




CHAPTER XIII.


DOCTRINES OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA.
IT is not possible that we should, within the limits of a
single chapter, give our readers anything like a complete
summary of the doctrines of a religion which now forms
the subject of so much elaborate and learned inquiry by
so many distinguished and able scholars. Our attempt
will rather be to give here the substance of the great
lessons and ideas which Gautama preached and inculcated
to his countrymen.
Buddhism is, in its essence, a system of self-culture
and self-restraint. Doctrines and beliefs are of secondary
importance in this system; the effort to end human suffering by living a holy life, free from passions and desires,
is the cardinal idea with which Gautama was impressed
on the day on which he was "enlightened" under the
Bo-tree in Buddha Gaya, and it was the central idea
which he preached to the last day of his life.
When he went from Buddha Gaya to Benares, and first
preached his religion to his five old disciples, he explained
to them the Four Truths and the Eightfold Path, which
form the essence of Buddhism.
"This, O Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of Suffering.
Birth is suffering, decay is suffering, illness is suffering,
death is suffering. Presence of objects we hate is suffering, not to obtain what we desire is suffering. Briefly,
the fivefold clinging to existence (i.e., clinging to the five
elements) is suffering.
"This, O Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Cause
342




CHAP. XIII.]  DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA.


343


of Suffering. Thirst, that leads to re-birth accompanied
by pleasure and lust, finding its delight here and there.
(This thirst is threefold), viz., thirst for pleasure, thirst
for existence, thirst for prosperity.
"This, O Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering. It ceases with the complete cessation
of thirst,-a cessation which consists in the absence of
every passion, with the abandoning of this thirst, with
the doing away with it, with the deliverance from it, with
the destruction of desire.
"This, O Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Path
which leads to the cessation of suffering.  That holy
Eightfold Path, viz.Right Belief,
Right Aspiration,
Right Speech,
Right Conduct,
Right Means of Livelihood,
Right Exertion,
Right Mindfulness,
Right Meditation " (M3ahdvagg a, I, 6).
The substance of this teaching is that life is suffering,
the thirst for life and its pleasures is the cause of suffering, the extinction of that thirst is the cessation of suffering, and that such extinction can be brought about by a
holy life. It is impossible to convey in a few words all
that is implied by the eight maxims into which a holy
life has been analysed, but to Buddhists, trained in the
traditions of their religion, these maxims speak volumes.
Correct views and beliefs must be learnt and entertained;
high aims and aspirations must always remain present
before the mind's eye; truthfulness and gentleness must
characterise every word that is uttered; uprightness and
absolute integrity must mark the conduct. A livelihood
must be sought and adhered to which does no harm to
living and sentient things; there must be a lifelong perseverance in doing good, in acts of kindness, gentleness,




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[BOOK III.


and beneficence; the mind, the intellect must be active
and watchful; a calm and tranquil meditation shall fill
the life with peace. This is the Eightfold Path for conquering desires and passions and thirst for life. A more
beautiful picture of life was never conceived by poet or
visionary; and a more perfect system of self-culture was
never proclaimed by philosopher or saint.
The idea of self-culture was no doubt developed during
the long course of meditation and practical good work
in which Gautama passed his life. On the eve of his
death he called together his brethren, and appears to have
recapitulated the entire system of self-culture under seven
heads, and these are known as the Seven Jewels of the
Buddhist Law.
" Which, then, O brethren, are the truths which, when
I had perceived, I made known to you; which when you
have mastered, it behoves you to practise, meditate upon,
and spread abroad, in order that pure religion may last
long and be perpetuated, in order that it may continue to
be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world, to the good and the gain and
the weal of gods and men?
"They are these:The four earnest meditations,
The fourfold great struggle against sin,
The four roads to saintship,
The five moral powers,
The five organs of spiritual sense,
The seven kinds of wisdom, and
The Noble Eightfold Path" (Madparinibbana(
Sutta, III, 65).
Here, again, it is impossible to convey in a few words
any adequate conception of all that is implied by these
rules of discipline; a volume could be written on this most
edifying subject.
The four earnest meditations alluded to are the meditations on the body, the sensations, the ideas, and the




CHAP. XIII.]  DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA.


345


reason. The fourfold struggle against sin is the struggle
to prevent sinfulness, the struggle to put away sinful
states which have arisen, the struggle to produce goodness, and the struggle to increase goodness. The fourfold
struggle comprehends in fact a life-long, earnest, unceasing endeavour on the part of the sinner towards more
and more of goodness and virtue. The fourfold roads to
saintship are the four means,-the will, the exertion, the
preparation, the investigation,-by which Iddhi is acquired.
In later Buddhism, Iddhi means supernatural powers, but
what Gautama meant was probably the influence and
power which the mind by long training and exercise can
acquire over the body. The five moral powers, and the
five organs of spiritual sense, are Faith, Energy, Thought,
Contemplation, and Wisdom; and the seven kinds of
wisdom are Energy, Thought, Contemplation, Investigation, Joy, Repose, Serenity.  The Eightfold Path has
already been described.
It is by such prolonged self-culture, by the breaking
of the ten fetters, doubt, sensuality, &c., that one can at
last obtain NIRVANA.
"There is no suffering for him who has finished his
journey and abandoned grief, who has freed himself on
all sides, and thrown off all fetters.
"They depart with their thoughts well collected, they
are not happy within abode; like swans who have left
their lake, they leave their house and home.
"Tranquil is his thought, tranquil are his word and
deed, who has been freed by true knowledge, who has
become a tranquil man " (Dhawmapada, 90, 91, 96).
It was generally believed that " Nirvana " implied final
extinction or death; and Professor Max Miiller was the
first to point out, what most scholars have now accepted,
that Nirvana does not mean death, but only the extinction
of that sinful condition of the mind, that thirst for life and
its pleasures, which brings on new births. What Gautama
meant by Nirvana is attainable in life; it is what he




346


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


attained in life; it is the sinless calm state of mind, the
freedom from desires and passions, the perfect peace,
goodness and wisdom, which continuous self-culture can
procure for man. As Rhys Davids puts it, " the Buddhist
heaven is not death, and it is not on death, but on a
virtuous life here and now, that the Pitakas lavish those
terms of ecstatic description which they apply to Arhatship, the goal of the excellent way, and to Nirvana as one
aspect of it."
But is there no future bliss, no future heaven beyond
"the virtuous life here and now" for those who have
attained Nirvana?  This was a question which often
puzzled Buddhists, and they often pressed their great
Master for a categorical answer.
On this point Gautama's replies are uncertain; nor
does he ever appear to have inspired in his followers any
hopes of heaven, beyond Nirvana, which is the Buddhist's
heaven and salvation.
Malufkyaputta pressed this question on Gautama, and
desired to know definitely if the perfect Buddha did or
did not live beyond the death. Gautama inquired, "Have I
said, Come, Malukyaputta, and be my disciple; I shall teach
thee whether the world is everlasting or not everlasting? "
"That thou hast not said, sire," replied Malfkyaputta.
"Then," said Gautama, "do not press the inquiry." If a
man, struck by a poisoned arrow, says to his physician, " I
shall not allow my wound to be treated until I know who
the man is by whom I have been wounded, whether he
is a Kshatriya, a Brahman, a Vaisya, or a Siudra,"-what
would be the end of him? He would die of his wound.
And so would the man perish who did not strive after
enlightenment and a holy life, because he did know what
lay beyond. "Therefore, Malfkyaputta, whatsoever has
not been revealed by me, let that remain unrevealed, and
what has been revealed, let it be revealed" (ChzlaMalukya-Ovdda, Majjhimna Nikdya).
In the same manner we are told that King Prasenajit




CHAP. xIII.]  DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA.


347


of Kosala, during a journey between his two chief towns,
Saketa and Sravasti, fell in with the nun Khema, renowned
for her wisdom. The king paid his respects to her, and
asked: "Venerable lady, does the Perfect One exist
after death? "  She replied: " The Exalted One, O great
King, has not declared that the Perfect One exists after
death."  "Then does the Perfect One not exist after
death, Venerable lady? " inquired the king. But Khema
still replied: "This also, O great King, the Exalted One
has not declared, that the Perfect One does not exist after
death " (Samj utta Nikaya).
These extracts will show that Gautama's religion does
not look beyond the Nirvana.*  Gautama's aim was clear
and well-defined; he invited all men, by a strict selfculture, to end their sufferings, to avoid future states of
suffering, to attain in this world to a state of holy bliss
and perfect sinlessness, which is Nirvana.
If a man does not attain to this state of Nirvana in
life, he is liable to future births. Gautama did not believe in the existence of a soul; but, nevertheless, the
theory of transmigration of souls was too deeply implanted
in the Hindu mind to be eradicated, and Gautama therefore adhered to the theory of transmigration without
accepting the theory of soul. But if there is no soul,
what is it that undergoes transmigration? The reply is
given in the Buddhist doctrine of KARMA.
The doctrine is, that "Karma," or the "doing" of a
man cannot die, but must necessarily lead to its legitimate
result. And when a living being dies, a new being is
produced according to the Karma of the being that is
dead. Thus, though the pious Buddhist does not believe
in a soul, he believes that his state of life is determined
by his Karma in a previous birth. And Buddhist writers
* See the question fully and elaborately discussed by Dr. Oldenberg in
his work on Buddha, his Life, his Doctrine, his Order. The learned
scholar has based his opinion on a careful examination of the entire body
of the Buddhist canon.




348


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


are fond of comparing the relation of one life to the next,
as that of the flame of a lamp to the flame of another
lighted by it. And if the innocent man suffers in this
world, he argues, " It is the result of my own work, why
should I complain?" But wherein is the identity of the
man who suffers with the man who is dead, if there is no
soul?  The Buddhist answers: " In that which alone
remains when a man dies and is dissolved into atomsin his action, thought and speech, in his Karma, which
cannot die."
The reasoning seems to us like arguing in a circle,
but nevertheless there is one aspect of the theory the
correctness of which will be admitted by modern social
philosophers. The Buddhist believes, as well as the
modern philosopher, that each generation is the heir to
the consequences of the virtues and sins of the preceding
generation, and that, in this sense, a nation reaps as it
sows. "The Buddhist saint does not mar the purity of
his self-denial by lusting after positive happiness which
he himself shall enjoy hereafter. His consciousness will
cease to feel, but his virtue will live and work out its
full effect in the decrease of the sum of the misery of
sentient beings." *
But the theory of transmigration was not the only
doctrine which Gautama accepted from ancient Hinduism
and adopted in a modified form into his own religion.
The whole of the Hindoo Pantheon of the day was
similarly accepted, and similarly modified to suit his
cardinal idea, the supreme efficacy of a holy life. The
thirty-three gods of the Rig Veda were recognised, but
they were not supreme. Brahma, the Supreme Deity of
the Upanishads, was recognised, but was not supreme.
For they too were struggling through repeated births, to
attain to that holy life, that Nirvana, which alone was
supreme. Never was there such a daring attempt made
by man to elevate holiness and purity above the super* Rhys David's Buddhism, p. 104.




CHAP. XIi ]  DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA.


349


natural and the celestial; to raise goodness,-attainable
by man,-above the gods and the unknown powers of the
universe!
It is necessary, however, to remark that it is doubtful
whether Gautama himself recognised the Hindu Pantheon.
It is not impossible that the Devas and Gandharvas and
Brahma lingered in the traditional language of the people
who had adopted Buddhism.
With regard to the Caste-system, Gautama respected
a Brahman as he respected a Buddhist Sraman, but he
respected him for his virtue and learning, not for his caste,
which he in his soul ignored. When two Brahman youths,
Vasishtha and Bharadvaja, began to quarrel on the question, " How does one become a Brahman? " and came to
Gautama for his opinion, Gautama delivered to them a
discourse in which he emphatically ignored caste, and held
that a man's distinguishing mark was his work, not his
birth. " The grass and the trees," he said, " the worms,
moths, and ants, the quadrupeds, snakes, fishes, and
birds are all divided into species which are known by
their distinguishing marks. Man, too, has his distinguishing mark, and that is his profession.
" For whoever amongst men lives by cow-keeping,
know this, O Vasishtha, he is a husbandman, not a
Brahman.
"And whoever amongst men lives by different mechanical arts... is an artisan, not a Brahman.
"And whoever amongst men lives by trade... is a
merchant, not a Brahman.
"And whoever amongst men lives by serving others. is a servant, not a Brahman.
"And whoever amongst men lives by theft... is a
thief, not a Brahman.
"And whoever amongst men lives by archery... is
a soldier, not a Brahman.
"And whoever amongst men lives by performing household ceremonials... is a sacrificer, not a Brahman.




350o


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[BOOK III.


"And whoever amongst men possesses villages... is
a king, not a Brahman.
"And I do not call one a Brahman on account of his
birth, or of his origin from a particular mother,-he may
be called Bhupati, and he may be wealthy,-but the one
who is possessed of nothing and seizes upon nothing,
him I call a Brahman....
"The man who is free from anger, endowed with holy
works, virtuous, without desire, subdued, and wearing his
last body, him I call a Brahman.
"The man who like water on a lotus leaf, or a mustard
seed on the point of a needle, does not cling to sensual
pleasures, him I call a Brahman " (Vasettha Sutta).
Similarly in the Assalayana Sutta of the Majjhima
Nikaya we are told that a distinguished Brahman scholar,
Assalayana, came to controvert Gautama's opinion that
all castes were equally pure. Gautama, who could meet
a logician with his own weapons, asked if the wives of
Brahmans were not subject to all the disabilities of childbirth like other women.  "Yes," replied Assalayana.
"Were there not differences in colour among the people
of adjacent countries like Bactria and Afghanistan," asked
Gautama, " and yet could not slaves become masters, and
masters slaves, in those countries?" "Yes," replied
Assalayana. "Then," asked Gautama, "ifa Brahman is a
murderer, a thief, a libertine, a liar, a slanderer, violent
or frivolous in speech, covetous, malevolent, given to false
doctrine, will he not after death be born to misery and
woe, like any other caste?"  "Yes," said Assalayana,
and he also admitted that good works would lead to
heaven irrespective of caste. Gautama proceeded further
to argue that when a mare was united with an ass, the
offspring was a mule, but the offspring of a Kshatriya
united to a Brahman resembled its parents, and the
obvious conclusion, therefore, was that there was really
no difference between a Brahman and a Kshatriya! By
such arguments Gautama drove the truth home to the




CHAP. XIII.]  DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA.


331


young logician's mind, and he "sat there silent, awkward,
distressed, looking downwards, reflecting, not able to
answer,"-and then became a disciple of Gautama.
At another time Gautama explained to his followers,
"As the great streams, O disciples, however many they
may be,-the Ganga, Yamuna, Asiravati, Sarabhui, and
Mahi,-when they reach the great ocean lose their old name
and their old descent, and bear only one name,-the great
ocean,"-so also do Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and
Sudras lose their distinctions when they join the Order.
And we know that this theory was consistently carried out
in practice, and Upali, a barber, as we have seen before,
joined the Order and became one of the most revered and
learned of Buddhist monks. A touching story is also told
in the Theragoat/a, which enables us to comprehend how
Buddhism came like a salvation to the humble and the
lowly in India, and how they eagerly embraced it as a
refuge from caste-injustice. Sunita the thera or elder
says, " I have come of a humble family, I was poor and
needy. The work which I performed was lowly,-sweeping the withered flowers. I was despised of men, looked
down upon and lightly esteemed. With submissive mien
I showed respect to many. Then I beheld Buddha with
his band of monks as he passed, the great hero, into the
most important town of Magadha. Then I cast away my
burden and ran to bow myself in reverence before him.
From pity for me he halted, that highest among men.
Then I bowed myself at the master's feet, stepped up to
him and begged him, the highest among all beings, to
accept me as a monk. Then said unto me the gracious
master, 'Come hither, O monk '-that was the initiation
I received." And the passage concludes with the lesson
which Gautama had so often preached, "By holy zeal
and chaste living, by restraint and self-repression,
thereby a man becomes a Brahman: that is the highest
Brahmanhood."
Who can read this touching story of humble Sunita's




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RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


conversion without realising the loving spirit of equality
which was the soul of early Buddhism, and which ensured
its success? 1 he great teacher who regarded nor wealth,
nor rank, nor caste, came to the poor and the despised
as well as to the rich and the noble, and welcomed them
to effect their own salvation by a pure life and unstained conduct. A virtuous life opened the path to the
highest honour to the low-born and the high-born alike,
-no distinction was known or recognised in the Holy
Order. Thousands of men and women responded to this
loving and rational appeal, and merged their caste inequalities in a common love for their teacher and a
common emulation of his virtues.   And within three
centuries from the date when Gautama proclaimed his
message of equality and of love in Benares, the religion
of equality and of love was the state religion of India.
Caste was unknown within the Holy Order, and lost its
sting among laymen outside the Order; for it was open
to the lowest born among them to embrace the Order and
thus win the highest honour.
"393. A man does not become a Brahman by his
platted hair, by his family, or by birth; in whom there is
truth and righteousness, he is blessed, he is a Brahman.
" 394. What is the use of platted hair, O fool! What
of the raiment of goat skins?  Within thee there is
ravening, but the outside thou makest clean.*
"422. Him I call, indeed, a Brahman, the manly, the
noble, the hero, the great sage, the conqueror, the impassible, the accomplished, the awakened.
t I141. Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not
fasting or lying on earth, nor rubbing with dust; nor
sitting motionless, can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires " t (DihaTumrapada).
* Compare Matthew xxiii. 27, Luke xi. 39.
t Professor Max Miller has the following interesting note to the above
verse:"Walking naked and the other things mentioned in our verse, are out



CHAP. XIII.]  DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA.


353


It is a mistake to suppose that Gautama positively
enjoined on all to retire from the world and to embrace
the Holy Order. To conquer the yearning for life and
its pleasures was the cardinal aim of the reformer, and
he assigned no peculiar virtue to an outward act of renouncement of the world. But, nevertheless, as it is
difficult to conquer that thirst so long as one is actually
living in the midst of his family and enjoying the pleasures
of life, Gautama recommended the life of a Bhikkhu as
the more efficacious means for securing the great end.
And so thousands retired from       the world and became
Bhikkhus, and thus the Buddhist Monastic system was
formed; probably the first organised Monastic system
in the world.
It is not necessary to narrate here the rules of the
Buddhist Monastic system, as they do not come in among
the essential doctrines of the religion.     We will only
quote here a beautiful Sutra, giving a supposed conversation between Gautama and a herdsman relating to
the comparative virtues of worldly life and a religious
life:I. " I have boiled my rice, I have milked my cows,"-so
said the herdsman Dhaniya,-" I am living together with
my fellows near the banks of the Mahi river. My house
is covered, the fire is kindled: therefore, if thou like,
rain, 0 Sky!"
"2. I am free from anger, free from stubbornness,"so said Bhagavat,-" I am     abiding for one night near the
ward signs of saintly life, and these Buddha rejects because they do not
calm the passions. Nakedness he seems to have rejected on other grounds,
if we may judge from Sumalgadha Avadana. A number of naked friars
were assembled in the house of the daughter of Anatha Pindika. She
called her daughter-in-law Sumnagadha, and said, 'Go and see those highly
respectable persons.' Sumagadha, expecting to see some of the saints like
Sariputra, Maudgalayana, and others, ran out full of joy. But when she
saw these friars, with their hair like pigeon-wings covered by nothing but
dirt, offensive, and looking like demons, she became sad. 'Why are you
sad?' said her mother-in-law. Sumagadha replied, 'O mother, if these
are saints, what must sinners be like?'"
VOL. I.                                           Z




354


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


banks of the Mahi river. My house is uncovered, the
fire (of passions) is extinguished: therefore, if thou like,
rain, 0 Sky!"
3. "Gadflies are not to be found with me,"-so said
the herdsman Dhaniya,-"in meadows abounding with
grass the cows are roaming, and they can endure the rain
when it comes: therefore, if thou like, rain, O Sky! "
4. "By me is made a well-constructed raft,"-so said
Bhagavat,-" I have passed over (to Nirvana). I have
reached the further bank, having overcome the torrent
(of passions); there is no further use for a raft: therefore,
if thou like, rain, O Sky! "
5. "My wife is obedient, not wanton,"-so said the
herdsman Dhaniya,-" for a long time she has been living
together with me. She is winning, and I hear nothing
wicked of her: therefore, if thou like, rain, O Sky! "
6. " My mind is obedient and freed,"-so said Bhagavat,
-" it has for a long time been highly cultivated and well
subdued. There is no longer anything wicked in me:
therefore, if thou like, rain, O Sky! "
7. " I support myself by my own earnings,"-so said
the herdsman Dhaniya,-" and my children are about me
healthy. I hear nothing wicked of them: therefore, if
thou like, rain, 0 Sky!"
8. "I am no one's servant,"-so said Bhagavat,-" with
what I have gained, I wander about in all the world.
There is no need for me to serve: therefore, if thou like,
rain, 0 Sky!"
9. "I have cows, I have calves,"-so said Dhaniya,"I have cows in calf and heifers. And I have also a
bull as lord over the cows; therefore, if thou like, rain,
0 Sky!"
IO. " I have no cows; I have no calves,"-so said
Bhagavat,-"I have no cows in calf and no heifers.
And I have no bull as a lord over the cows: therefore,
if thou like, rain, O Sky! "
I I.  The stakes are driven in, and cannot be shaken,"




CHAP. XIII.]  DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA.


355


-so said the herdsman Dhaniya,-" the ropes are made
of munga grass, new and well made, the cows will not
be able to break them: therefore, if thou like, rain, 0
Sky!"
12. "Having, like a bull, rent the bonds; having, like
an elephant, broken through the galuchchhi creeper, I
shall not again enter into a womb: therefore, if thou like,
rain, 0 Sky!"
Then at once a shower poured down, filling both sea
and land.   Hearing the sky raining, Dhaniya spoke
thus:
I3. "No small gain indeed to us, since we have seen
Bhagavat. We take refuge in thee, 0 thou endowed
with the eye of wisdom! Be thou our master, 0 great
Muni!" (Dhianiyasutta).*
These are the leading doctrines of Gautama's religion,
and a brief recapitulation of them will probably be useful
to our readers. We have explained that Buddhism is in
its essence a system of self-culture,-an effort towards
a holy life on this earth, and nothing more. We have
seen that Gautama preached the Four truths that life was
suffering, the thirst after life was the cause of suffering,
the conquering of that thirst was the cessation of suffering, and the path of self-culture was the means of
conquering the thirst after life. Placing a holy life and
sinless peace as the ideal of his religion and as the
highest aim of human destiny, Gautama carefully elaborated a system of self-culture, a method of selfrestraint in thought, word, and speech, which he called
the Noble Eightfold Path, or which is known as the
Seven Jewels of the Law.
And that holy peace, that sinless, tranquil life which
is the object of so much self-restraint and self-culture,
is attainable in this earth; it is the Buddhist's heaven,
it is Nirvdna.  Gautama's religion offers no glowing
rewards in a world to come; virtue is its own reward;
* Compare the parable in St. Luke xii. i6.




3;6


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


a virtuous life is the Buddhist's final aim; a virtuous
peace on earth is the Buddhist's Nirvana.
We have seen that Gautama nevertheless adopted the
Hindu idea of transmigration in a modified form into
his own religion. If Nirvana is not attained in life, the
Karma or actions of a living being lead to their legitimate
results in re-births, until the discipline is complete and
Nirvana is attained.
In the same manner Gautama adopted or permitted the
adoption of the popular belief in the Hindu Pantheon,the thirty-three gods of the Rig Veda, and Brahma, and
the Gandharvas. All these beings, all living creatures
in the universe, are struggling through repeated births
in various spheres to attain that Nirvana which is the
supreme aim and destiny and salvation of all.
But there were doctrines and customs of Hinduism which he could not accept. The caste-system he
eschewed, asceticism and penances he disapproved, the
Vedic rites he declared to be fruitless.  In place
of such rites, he enjoined a benevolent life and the
conquest of all passions and desires; and he recommended a retirement from the world as the most efficacious means for securing this end. The recommendation was followed, and led to the Buddhist l-Monastic
system. 
The great distinguishing feature of Buddhism, then,
is that it is a training towards a virtuous and holy life
on this earth, and takes little thought of rewards and
punishments.  It appeals to the most disinterested
feelings in man's nature, sets before him virtue as its
own reward, and enjoins a life-long endeavour towards
its attainment. It knows of no higher aim among gods
or men than the attainment of a tranquil, sinless life;
it speaks of no other salvation than virtuous peace, it
knows of no other heaven than holiness.  "It swept
away from the field of its vision the whole of the great
soul-theory which had hitherto so completely filled and




CHAP. XIII.]  DOCTRINES OF BUDDHA.


357


dominated the minds of the superstitious and of the
thoughtful alike. For the first time in the history of the
world, it proclaimed a salvation which each man could
gain for himself, and by himself, in this world, during
this life, without any, the least, reference to God or
to gods, either great or small." *
On the other hand, this very feature of Buddhism is
the subject of charges frequently brought against the
religion.  It is urged that it is an agnostic religion,
that it knows of no God, no soul, no future world for
those who have attained salvation.  Dr, Rhys Davids
points out, however, that agnostic philosophy has come,
not once or twice, but repeatedly to the forefront when
theology has failed to offer satisfactory replies to inquiries after the unknown, and men have sought for new
solutions to old questions. " It is their place in the progress of thought that helps us to understand how it is
that there is so much in common between the agnostic
philosophers of India, the stoics of Greece and Rome,
and some of the newest schools in France, in Germany,
and among ourselves." t
* Rhys Davids, Hibbert Lectures, I8SI.
t Buddhist Suttas, p. 145.




CHAPTER XIV.


MORAL PRECEPTS OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA.
A RELIGION, the great aim of which is the teaching of
holy living in this world, must necessarily be rich in
moral precepts, and such precepts are the peculiar beauty
of Buddhism, for which the religion is held in honour all
over the civilised world. It will be our pleasant task in
this chapter to glean some of these graceful precepts,
which will give our readers some idea of the essence of
Gautama's moral teachings.
Gautama prescribed for lay disciples five prohibitory
rules or Commandments, which were, no doubt, suggested
by the five Mlahdzpdtiakas or heinous crimes of the Hindu
law books, referred to before.
" I8. A householder's work, I will also tell you, how
a Savaka is to act to be a good one; for that complete
Bhikkhu Dhamma cannot be carried out by one who is
taken up by worldly occupations.
" I9. Let him not kill or cause to be killed any living
being, nor let him approve of others killing, after having
refrained from hurting all creatures, both those that are
strong and those that tremble in the world.
20. Then let the Savaka abstain from taking anything
in any place that has not been given to him, knowing it
to belong to another; let him not cause any one to take,
nor approve of those that take. Let him avoid all theft.
"21. Let the wise man avoid an unchaste life as a
burning heap of coals; not being able to live a life of
chastity, let him not transgress with another man's wife.
358




CHAP. XIV.]  PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.


359


" 22. Let no one speak falsely to another in the hall
of justice, or in the hall of the assembly; let him not
cause any one to speak falsely, nor approve of those that
speak falsely. Let him avoid all untruth.
"23. Let the householder, who approves of this
Dhamma, not give himself to intoxicating drinks; let
him not cause others to drink, nor approve of those that
drink, knowing it to end in madness."-Dhanmika Sutta,
Sutta Nipata.
These five precepts, which are known as the Five Commandments, or the five rules of conduct (Pancha Sila),
are binding on all Buddhists, laymen, and Bhikkhus.
They are recapitulated thus:"25. Let not one kill any living being.
Let not one take what is not given to him.
Let not one speak falsely.
Let not one drink intoxicating drinks.
Let not one have unchaste sexual intercourse."
(Ibid.)
Three other rules are laid down which are not considered obligatory, but which are recommended to austere
and pious lay disciples. They are"25, 26. Let him not at night eat untimely food.
Let him not wear wreaths or use perfumes.
Let him lie on a bed spread on the earth."
(Ibid.)
The austere and pious householder is recommended
to take a vow of all these eight precepts, which are
known as the Eight Commandments, or the eight rules
of conduct (Ashtanga Sila).
To these eight rules two more are added, and they
are: To abstain from dancing, music, singing, and stage
plays; and, To abstain from the use of gold and silver.
These Ten Commandments (Dasa Sila) are binding on
Bhikkhus, as the Five Commandments are binding on all
laymen.
To honour one's father and mother, and to follow an




360


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


honourable trade, though not included in the Commandments, are duties enjoined in the same Sutta on all householders.
"Let him dutifully maintain his parents, and practise
an honourable trade. The householder who observes
this strenuously goes to the gods Sayampabhas (Sanscrit
SvayambhO)."
A more exhaustive category of the duties of the householder is given in the well-known Szialovdda Sutta,
common both to the Northern and the Southern Buddhists,
and which has been more than once translated into European languages. The enumeration of the duties gives
us so clear an insight into the state of Hindu society and
into the ideal of Hindu social life, that we feel no hesitation
in quoting it:I. Parents and Children.
Parents shouldI. Restrain their children from vice.
2. Train them in virtue.
3. Have them taught in arts or sciences.
4. Provide them with suitable wives or husbands.
5. Give them their inheritance.
The child should sayI. I will support them who supported me.
2. I will perform family duties incumbent on them.
3. I will guard their property.
4. I will make myself worthy to be their heir.
5. When they are gone, I will honour their memory.
2. Ptzils and Teachers.
The pupil should honour his teachersI. By rising in their presence.
2. By ministering to them.
3. By obeying them.
4. By supplying their wants.
5. By attention to instruction.




CHAP. XIV.]  PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.


36r


The teacher should show his affection to his pupilsI. By training them in all that is good.
2. By teaching them to hold knowledge fast.
3. By instruction in science and lore.
4. By speaking well of them to their friends and
companions.
5. By guarding them from danger.
3. Husband and Wzfe.
The husband should cherish his wifeI. By treating her with respect.
2. By treating her with kindness.
3. By being faithful to her.
4. By causing her to be honoured by others.
5. By giving her suitable ornaments and clothes.
The wife slould show her affection for her husbandI. She orders her household aright.
2. She is hospitable to kinsmen and friends.
3. She is a chaste wife.
4. She is a thrifty housekeeper.
5. She shows skill and diligence in all she has to do.
4. Friends and Companions.
The honourable man should minister to his friendsI. By giving presents.
2. By courteous speech.
3. By promoting their interest.
4. By treating them as his equals.
5. By sharing with them his prosperity.
They should show their attention to himI. By watching over him when he is off his guard.
2. By guarding his property when he is careless.
3. By offering him a refuge in danger.
4. By adhering to him in misfortune.
5. By showing kindness to his family.




362


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


5. Masters and Servants.
The master should provide for the welfare of his dependentsI. By apportioning work to them according to their
strength.
2. By supplying suitable food and wages.
3. By tending them in sickness.
4. By sharing with them unusual delicacies.
5. By now and then granting them holidays.
They should show their attachment to him as follows:I. They rise before him.
2. They retire later to rest.
3. They are content with what is given them.
4. They work cheerfully and thoroughly.
5. They speak well of him.
6. Laymen and those devoted to religion.
The honourable man ministers to Bhikkhus and Brlhmansi. By affection in act.
2. By affection in words.
3. By affection on thoughts.
4. By giving them a ready welcome.
5. By supplying their temporal wants.
They should show their affection to himi. By dissuading him from vice.
2. By exhorting him to virtue.
3. By feeling kindly towards him.
4. By instructing him in religion.
5. By clearing up his doubts and pointing the way
to heaven.
What glimpses of pure Hindu life, of pleasant domestic
and social feelings and duties, do we obtain from the
above categories!. The anxious care of parents to give




CHAP. XIV.]  PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.


363


children education and moral teaching and earthly comforts; the dutiful desire of children to support and respect
their parents and honour their memory when dead; the
respectful behaviour of the pupil towards the teacher, and
the teacher's anxious care and affection for the pupil; the
respect, the kindness, the honourable and affectionate
treatment which the Hindu religion has ever enjoined
on husbands towards their wives, and the faithfulness
and scrupulous attention to domestic duties for which
Hindu wives have always been known; the kindly relations between friends and friends, between masters and
servants, between laymen and spiritual instructors: these
are among the noblest lessons that the Hindu religion
has taught, and these are among the noblest traditions
which Hindu literature has handed down for thousands
of years. Buddhism accepted this noble heritage from
the ancient Hindus, and embalmed it in its sacred
literature.
We turn now from Gautama's categories of duties to
those precepts and benevolent maxims to which Buddhism
mainly owes its deserved fame in the modern world.
Gautama's religion was a religion of benevolence and
love; and five centuries before Jesus Christ was born,
the Hindu teacher had declared"5. Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time,
hatred ceases by love: this is its nature."
" 197. Let us live happily, not hating those who hate
us. Among men who hate us, let us live free from
hatred."
"223. Let one overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good. Let him overcome the greedy by
liberality, the liar by truth " (DEhammapada).
Parables were told to impress this great lesson on the
followers of the gentle and pure-souled Gautama, and we
will here narrate one of these parables as briefly as we
can. Trying to heal contentions and differences among
his followers, Gautama said:



364


RA TIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


"In former times, O Bhikkhus, there lived at Benares
a king of the Kasis, Brahmadatta by name, wealthy, rich
in treasures, rich in revenues, and rich in troops and
vehicles, the lord over a great realm, with full treasuries
and storehouses. And there was also a king of the
Kosalas, Dighiti by name, not wealthy, poor in treasures,
poor in revenues, poor in troops and vehicles, the lord over
a small realm, with empty treasuries and storehouses."
As often happens, the rich king robbed the weak one of
his realm and treasures, and Dighiti with his queen fled
to Benares, and dwelt there in a potter's house in the
guise of an ascetic. There the exiled queen gave birth to
a child who was called Dighavu, and in course of time the
boy reached his years of discretion.
In the meantime King Brahmadatta heard that his
former rival was living in the town in disguise with his
wife, and he ordered them to be brought before him, and
had them cruelly executed.
Their son Dighavu was then living outside Benares, but
happened to come to the town at the time of his father's
execution. The dying king looked at his son, and with
more than human forgiveness left his last injunctions on
his son. "Not by hatred, my dear Dtghiavu, is hatred
appeased. By love, my dear Di'ghvu, hatred is appeased."
And young Dighavu, O Bhikkhus! went to the forest;
there he cried and wept to his heart's content. He then
returned to the town, after having formed his resolutions,
and took employment under an elephant trainer in the
royal stables.
Early in the dawn he arose and sang in a beautiful voice
and played upon the lute. And the voice was so beautiful
that the king inquired who it was that had risen so early
and had sung in the elephant stables in so beautiful a
voice. And the young boy was taken to the king, pleased
him, and was employed as his attendant.
And it so happened that on one occasion the king went
out to hunt, taking young Dighavu with him. Dighavu's




CHAP. XIV.]  PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.


365


secret resentment was burning within him, and he so drove
the royal chariot, that the hosts went one way, and the
king's chariot went another way.
At last the king felt tired and lay down, laying his head
on the lap of young Dighavu, and as he was tired, he fell
asleep in a moment.
"And young Dighavu thought, O Bhikkhus, 'This king
Brahamadatta, of Kasi, has done much harm to us. By
him we have been robbed of our troops and vehicles, our
realm, our treasuries, and storehouses. And he has killed
my father and mother. Now the time has come to me to
satisfy my hatred,'-and he unsheathed his sword."
But with the recollection of his father, the last words of
his dying parent came to the recollection of the vengeful
prince. "Not by hatred, lzmy dear Digzchdvz is hatred
appeased.  y  C, love, my dear DigZdv "v, hatred is appeased."
It would not become me to transgress my father's word,
said the prince, and he put up his sword.
The king dreamt a frightful dream, and arose terrified
and alarmed. Dighavu told him the whole truth. The
king was astonished, and exclaimed, "Grant me my life,
my dear Dighavu! Grant me my life, my dear Dighavu! "
The noble young prince forgave his father's murder in
carrying out his father's injunction, and granted Brahmadatta his life. And Brahmadatta gave him back his father's
troops and vehicles, his realm, his treasures and storehouses, and he gave him his daughter.
" Now, O Bhikkhus, if such is the forbearance and mildness of kings who wield the sceptre and bear the sword, so
much more, O Bhikkhus, must you so let your light shine
before the world, that you, having embraced the religious
life according to so well-taught a doctrine and a discipline,
are seen to be forbearing and mild " (Malhavagg,,a, X, 2).
But not only forbearance and mildness, but the virtue
of good acts is repeatedly and impressively enjoined by
Gautama on his followers.
"5 I. Like a beautiful flower, full of colour, but without




366


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


scent, are the fine and fruitless words of him who does
not act accordingly."
"I83. Not to commit sin, to do good, and to purify
one's mind, this is the teaching of the Buddhas."
" 200. In like manner his good works receive him who
has done good and who has gone from this world to the
other-as kinsmen receive a friend on his return."
" 260. A man is not an elder, because his head is grey.
His age may be ripe, but he is called old in vain."
" 26 I. He in whom there is truth, virtue, love, restraint,
moderation, he who is free from impurity and is wise, he
is called an elder" (Dhammnapada).
And Gautama told the parable of Matanga, the Chandala, who reached the highest fame, mounted the vehicle
of gods, and went to the Brahma world by good deeds.
Therefore,
" Not by birth does one become an outcast, not by birth
does one become a Brahman. By deeds one becomes an
outcast, by deeds one becomes a Brahman" ( Vasala Sutta,
Sutta Nipdta, 27).
And again in the Amagandha Sutta of the Sutta Nfpdta,
Gautama explains to a Brahman, Kasyapa by name, that
destroying life, killing, cutting, binding, stealing, lying,
fraud, and adultery; backbiting, treachery, and cruelty;
intoxication, deceit, and pride and a bad mind and wicked
deeds are what defile a man. Neither abstinence from fish
or flesh, nor nakedness, nor tonsure, nor matted hair, nor dirt,
nor rough garment, nor sacrifices to the fire, nor penances,
nor hymns, nor oblations, nor sacrifices can purify him.
The whole of the DDhammapada is a string of 423 moral
precepts which for their beauty and moral worth are unsurpassed by any similar collection of precepts made in
any age or country. And a good-sized volume might be
compiled from the legends and maxims, the parables and
precepts which are interspersed throughout the Buddhist
Sacred Scriptures. We will close this chapter with only
a few more extracts:



CIIAP. XIV.]  PRECEPTS OF BUDDHA.


367


" I29. All men tremble at punishment, all men fear
death. Remember that you are like unto them, and do
not kill, nor cause slaughter.
" I30. All men tremble at punishment, all men love life.
Remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill
nor cause slaughter."
"252. The fault of others is easily perceived, but that
of oneself is difficult to perceive; a man winnows his
neighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides,
as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler" (Dhammapada).
"This is called progress in the discipline of the Noble
One, if one sees his sin in its sinfulness, and duly makes
amends for it, and refrains from it in future" (Malhavagga,
IX, I, 9).
"Thus he lives as a binder together of those who are
divided, an encourager of those who are friends, a peacemaker, a lover of peace, impassioned for peace, a speaker
of works that make for peace " (Tevijja Sutta, II, 5).
Who is not struck by the remarkable coincidence of
these noble precepts with those preached five hundred
years after in Palestine by the gentle and pure-souled
Jesus Christ? But the relations between Buddhist and
Christian ethics and moral precepts will be discussed in
the following chapter.




CHAPTER XV.


HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.
WE are told in the Chullavaggfa, XI, that, on the death
of Gautama, the venerable Mahakasyapa proposed, "Let
us chant together the Dhamma and the Vinaya." The
proposal was accepted, and 499 Arhats were selected
for the purpose; and Ananda, the faithful friend and
follower of Gautama, completed the number 500.
"And so the Thera Bhikkhus went up to Rajagriha to chant together the Dhamma and the Vinaya."
Upali, who was a barber before, was questioned as the
great authority on Vinaya, and Ananda, the friend of
Gautama, was questioned as the authority on Dhamma
(Sutta).
This was the Council of Rajagriha held in the year of
Gautama's death, 477 B.C., to settle the sacred text and
fix it on the memory by chanting it together.
A century after the death of Gautama the Bhikkhus
of Vaisali (Vajjians), promulgated at Vaisali ten theses,
which permitted among other things the use of unfermented toddy, and the receipt of gold and silver by
Bhikkhus or monks.
Yasa, the son of Kakandaka, a venerable Bhikkhu,
protested against these licenses, and invited venerable
teachers to a great Buddhist Council at Vaisali. He
" sent messengers to the Bhikkhus of the western
country, and of Avanti, and of the southern country,
saying, 'Let your reverences come! We must take in
charge this legal question before what is not Dhamma is
368




CHAP. XV.]   HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.


369


spread abroad and what is Dhamma is put aside; before
what is not Vinaya is spread abroad and what is Vinaya
is put aside.'"
In the meantime the Bhikkhus of Vaisali heard that
Yasa was obtaining support from the Bhikkhus of the
Western Provinces, and they too sought for support from
the East. Indeed the difference was between the Eastern
Buddhists of Vaisali, and the Western Buddhists of the
provinces along the higher course of the Ganges, and
also of Malwa and the Deccan. The Eastern opinions
were started by the Vajjians of Vaisali,'and if the Vajjians be the same as the Turanian Yu-Chi tribe, as has
been supposed by Beal, the dispute was mainly between
Turanian Buddhists and Hindu Buddhists.  We shall
see further on that the Eastern opinions were subsequently upheld by the Buddhists of the Northern school,
and that the Turanian nations of the world, the Chinese,
the Japanese and the Thibetans belong to this Northern
school.
The proceedings in the Council are interesting. The
Sangha met at Vaisali, and after much talk —
"The venerable Revata laid a resolution before the
Sangha: 'Let the venerable Sangha hear me. Whilst
we are discussing this legal question, there is both much
pointless talking, and no sense is clear in any single
speech. If it seem meet to the Sangha, let the Sangha
settle this question by referring it to a jury.'"
And he proposed four Bhikkhus from the East and
four Bhikkhus from the West to form the jury. The
resolution was put to the vote and carried unanimously
that these eight should form a jury.
The ten questions were then put one by one to the
jury, and the jury disallowed all the ten licenses for
which the Vaisali Bhikkhus had contended, except only
the sixth license, which, it was declared, was allowable
in certain cases, and not in other cases.
At this rehearsal, seven hundred Bhikkhus took part,
VOL. I.                                2 A




370


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


and this was called the Council of Vaisa1i, and was held
in 377 B.C.
It must not be supposed, however, this settlement of
the ten questions was finally accepted by all parties.
The older and more influential members of the order
decided the questions, but the majority was against
them, and they seceded in large numbers from the
bosom of the orthodox church.  And the Northern
Buddhists are the successors of these seceders. Hence
the stream of Buddhism flows in two different channels,
known as the Northern Buddhism of Nepal, Thibet, and
China, and the Southern Buddhism of Ceylon, Burma,
and Siam.
It has been well observed that new religious systems,
however noble in their intrinsic worth, depend much
on external circumstances for their acceptance by mankind. The Christian religion, which made little progress
during the first few centuries, was then embraced by
Constantine when Roman sway and Roman culture
were predominant in Europe, and thus made an easy
and rapid progress in the western world. The religion
of Muhammad was proclaimed when the Arabians
had no rivals to oppose them in the world, when the
Roman power had declined, and the Feudal power had
not been developed in Europe.  In India the ancient
Hindu religion had spread with the conquests of the
Aryans issuing from the Punjab and subjugating the
whole of India. In the same way the religion of Buddha, which made no distinction between the Brahman
and the low-born, found acceptance in the non-Aryan
kingdom of Magadha more than in older Aryan provinces.
And when Magadha became the supreme power in India
in the third century before Christ, Buddhism was accepted
as a state religion for India.
The Sisunaga dynasty, to which Bimbisara and Ajatasatru belonged, came to an end about 370 B.C., and
Nanda, born of a Sudra woman, ascended the throne,




CHAP. XV.]   HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.


37I


and he and his eight sons ruled for about fifty years.
A defeated rebel under the last of the Nandas escaped
from Magadha about 325 B.C., and met Alexander the
Great on the banks of the Sutlej. After Alexander's
departure, Chandragupta gathered round him the hardy
warriors of the west, and, about 320 B.C., succeeded in
having the last Nanda killed, and ascended the throne of
Magadha.
Neither Chandragupta nor his son Bindusara was
a Buddhist. But Bindusara's successor, who ascended
the throne about 260 B.C., embraced the popular religion, and became its most powerful promulgator all over
India, and beyond India. Asoka's name is honoured
from the Volga to Japan, and from Siberia to Ceylon,
and " if a man's fame can be measured by the number of
hearts who revere his memory, by the number of lips
who have mentioned and still mention him with honour,
Asoka is more famous than Charlemagne or Caesar." *
Asoka extended his empire all over Northern India,
and his inscriptions have been found at Delhi and
Allahabad, near Peshawar and in Gujrat, in Orissa, and
even in Mysore.
He held the third Council at Patna about the eighteenth
year of his reign, i.e., about 242 B.C. One thousand elders
attended the Council which lasted for nine months, under
the presidency of Tissa son of Moggali. And the sacred
texts were once more chanted and settled.
After the close of the Council, Asoka sent missionaries,
as we are told in the Dz)pavansa and the Maahdvansa, to
Kashmir and Gandhara, to Mahisa (near modern Mysore),
to Vanavaso (probably Rajputana), to Aparantaka (West
Punjab), to Maharattha, to Yonaloka (Bactria and Greek
kingdoms), to Himavanta (central Himalayas), to Subannabhumi (probably Burma), and to Lanka (Ceylon).
The edicts of Asoka also inform us that his orders were
carried out in Chola (Madras country), Pandya (Madura),
* Kopen, quoted in Rhys Davids' Buddhism', p. 222.




372


RA TIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


Satyapura (Satpura range), Kerala (Travancore), Ceylon,
and the land of the Greek king Antiochus of Syria. And
in another edict he tells us that he sent embassies to five
Greek kingdoms, viz., Syria, Egypt, Macedon, Epiros, and
Cyrene.
We have seen before that Asoka sent his own son to
Ceylon, and Mahinda soon converted the king and spread
Buddhism in Ceylon. The scenes of Mahinda's labours
are still visible in Ceylon. Eight miles from the ruined
city of Anuradhapura is the hill of Mihintale, where the
Ceylonese king built a monastery for the Indian monks.
"Here on the precipitous western side of the hill, under
a large mass of granite rock, at a spot which, completely
shut out from the world, affords a magnificent view of
the plains below, he (Mahinda) had his study hollowed
out and steps cut in the rock, over which alone it could
be reached. There also the stone couch which was carved
out of the solid rock still exists, with holes, either for
curtain rods, or for a protecting balustrade beside it. The
great rock effectually protects the cave from the heat
of the sun, in whose warm light the broad valley below
lies basking. Not a sound reaches it from the plain, now
one far-reaching forest, then full of busy homesteads..
I shall not easily forget the day when I first entered that
lonely, cool, and quiet chamber, so simple and yet so
beautiful, where more than 2000 years ago the Great
Teacher of Ceylon had sat and thought and worked
through the long years of his peaceful and useful
life." *
After the death of King Tissa, and of Mahinda, Ceylon
was twice overrun and conquered by Dravidian conquerors,
who were finally expelled by Watta Gamini about 88 B.C.
And it was then that the Three Pitakas, which had been
so long preserved by word of mouth, are said to have
been reduced to writing, " seeing the destruction of men,"
as the Dipavansa has it.
* Rhys Davids' Buddhism, pp. 230, 231.




CHAP. XV.]   HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.


373


Buddhagosha was the great commentator of Buddhist
sacred works, the Sayanacharya of Buddhism. He was a
Brahman of Magadha, and went to Ceylon and wrote the
great commentaries for which he is known.  He then
went to Burma about 450 A.D., and introduced Buddhism
into that country.
Buddhism was introduced in Siam in 638 A.D. Java
seems to have received Buddhist missionaries about the
same time, and Buddhism seems to have spread thence
to Sumatra. All these countries belonged to the Southern
Buddhist school.
With regard to Northern Buddhism, we know that it
was the prevailing faith in the north-west of India before
the commencement of the Christian Era. Pushpa Mitra,
king of Kashmir, persecuted the Buddhists early in the
second century B.C., and Pushpa Mitra's son Agni Mitra
met the Greeks on the banks of the Ganges. The Greeks
under Menander were victorious, and about I50 B.C.
extended their conquests as far as the Ganges. But the
victory of the Greeks was no loss to Buddhism, and
Nagasena, a renowned Buddhist teacher of the time,
had religious controversies with the Greek king, which
have been preserved to us in a most interesting Pali
work.
In the first century after Christ the Yu-Chis under
Kanishka conquered Kashmir.  Kanishka's vast empire
extended over Kabul, over Yarkand and Khokan, over
Kashmir and Rajputana, and over the whole of the Punjab,
to Gujrat and Sind in the south, and to Agra in the east.
He was a zealous Buddhist of the Northern school, and
held a Council of 500 monks. If this Council had settled
the text as the Council of Asoka at Patna had done, we
should now have had in our possession the settled
scriptures of Northern Buddhism as we have the Three
Pitakas of the South. But Kanishka's Council satisfied
itself with writing three commentaries only, and Northern
Buddhism therefore has drifted more and more from the




374


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


original religion, and assumed different forms in different
countries. It is necessary to add that Kanishka's Council is unknown to the Southern Buddhists, as Asoka's
Council is unknown to the Northern Buddhists. Asvaghosa, who has written a life of Buddha for the Northern
Buddhists, lived in Kanishka's court. It is supposed that
the Christian apostle St. Thomas visited Western India
about this time, and died a martyr. The king Gondophares of the Christian legend is supposed to be Kanishka
of Kandahar.
As early as the second century B.C., Buddhist books
were taken to the Emperor of China, probably from
Kashmir. Another emperor, in 62 A.D., procured more
Buddhist works, and Buddhism spread rapidly from
that date until it became the state religion in the fourth
century.
From China Buddhism spread to Korea in 372 A.D.,
and thence to Japan in 552 A.D. Kochin-China, Formosa,
Mongolia, and other places received Buddhism from China
in the fourth and fifth centuries; while from Kabul the
religion travelled to Yashkand, Balk, Bokhara, and other
places.
Buddhism must have penetrated into Nepal early, but
the kingdom became Buddhist in the sixth century, and
the first Buddhist king of Thibet sent for scriptures from
India in 632 A.D.
We have now narrated the history of the spread of
Buddhism in the Southern countries, as well as among
the nations of the North and East. And it remains for us
only to ascertain the result of the missions which Asoka
sent to the West, i.e., to Egypt and Palestine. And this
brings us face to face with one of the most interesting
questions in the history of modern civilisation and religion.
The remarkable resemblance between the legends,
traditions, forms, institutions, and moral precepts of
Christianity and those of Buddhism has struck every
candid inquirer. A few instances only are cited below.




CHAP. XV.]  HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.


375


The myths connected with the birth of Buddha are
strangely similar to those relating to the birth of Jesus.
In both the cases there was a divine annunciation, both
to the father and to the mother of the child, and both
the children were miraculously born, or virgin-born. "By
the consent of the king," says the Lalita Vistara, "the
queen was permitted to lead the life of a maiden, and not
of a wife, for the space of thirty-two months." We are
not aware, however, that this myth is to be found in the
older Pali records of the southern Buddhists.
As in the case of Jesus, a star presided at the birth of
Gautama, and the star was Pushya, identified by Colebrooke with 8 of cancer. Asita, the Simeon of Buddhist
story, came to Gautama's father and wished to see the
divine child. The child was shown, and the saint foretold that the boy would establish righteousness, and his
religion would be widely spread (Nalaka Sutta.)
We do not attach much importance to the good omens
which are said to have hailed the auspicious event in the
one case as in the other. At Buddha's birth "the blind
received their sight as if from very longing to behold his
glory; the deaf heard the noise; the dumb spake one
with another; the crooked became straight; the lame
walked; all prisoners were freed from bonds and chains."*
Such happy events are narrated by the followers of all
religions as attending on the birth of their Great Masters.
We have commented before on the close and remarkable resemblance between the temptation of Gautama and
the temptation of Jesus. The story of the temptation is
told in a poetic garb in the Lalita Vistara, but even as told
in the southern records, it has a curious resemblance
with the Biblical story.
Like Jesus, Gautama had twelve disciples. "Only in
my religion," said he shortly before his death, "can be
found the twelve great disciples who practise the highest
virtues, and excite the world to free itself from its
* Rhys Davids' Birth Stories, p. 64.




376


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


torments."* And the same missionary spirit impelled
the preacher of Kapilavastu and the preacher of Bethlehem. "Let not two of you go the same way," said
Gautama. " Preach, 0 Bhikkhus, the doctrine which is
glorious" (l/lIahdvagga, I, II, I).
Baptism is common to Buddhism and to Christianity,
and indeed John the Baptist adopted the rite of baptism
from the Essenes, who admittedly represented the Buddhist movement in Palestine, before the birth of Christ, as
we shall see later on. When Jesus was a young preacher
in Galilee, the fame of John the Baptist reached him.
Jesus went to John and lived with him, and no doubt
learnt from John many of the precepts and teachings of
the Essenes, and adopted the rite of baptism which John
had practised so long. Baptism has since been accepted
as a fundamental rite in Christendom. A Christian acknowledges the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost at
baptism, as a Buddhist, after abhisheka, acknowledges
Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
We pass by the subject of miracles, which are said to
have been performed both by Gautama and by Jesus.
And we also pass by Gautama's parables, of which we
have said something in a previous chapter, and which
have such a remarkable resemblance with Christian
parables. Renan, who is so unwilling to admit Buddhist
influence on the development of the Christian faith,
nevertheless states that there was nothing in Judaism
which could have furnished Jesus with a model for the
parable style.  On the other hand, "we find in the
Buddhist books parables of exactly the same tone and
the same character as the Gospel parables." t
It is when we turn to monastic forms, rites, and
ceremonies, that we are struck with the most remarkable resemblance, a resemblance about which Dr. Rhys
Davids states, "If all this be chance, it is a most
* Bigandet, p. 301.
t Life of Jesus (translation), p. 136.




CHAP. XV.]  HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.


377


stupendous miracle of concidence; it is in fact ten thousand miracles." *
A Roman Catholic missionary, Abbe Huc, was much
struck by what he saw in Thibet. " The crosier, the mitre,
the dalmatic, the cope or pluvial, which the grand llamas
wear on a journey, or when they perform some ceremony
outside the temple, the service with a double choir,
psalmody, exorcisms, the censer swinging on five chains
and contrived to be opened or shut at will, benediction by
the llamas with the right hand extended over the heads
of the faithful, the chaplet, sacerdotal celibacy, lenten
retirements from the world, the worship of saints, fasts,
processions, litanies, holy water, these are the points of
contact between the Buddhists and ourselves." Mr. Arthur
Lillie, from whose book the above passage is quoted,
remarks, " The good Abbe has by no means exhausted
the list, and might have added confessions, tonsure, relic
worship, the use of flowers, lights and images before
shrines and altars, the sign of the cross, the Trinity in
Unity, the worship of the Queen of Heaven, the use of
religious books in a tongue unknown to the bulk of the
worshippers, the aureole or nimbus, the crown of saints
and Buddhas, wings to angels, penance, flagellations, the
flabellum or fan, popes, cardinals, bishops, abbots, presbyters, deacons, the various architectural details of the
Christian temple." -
It is not possible for us to go into the details of all
these rites and ceremonies, or to point out how the whole
fabric and structure of the Roman Catholic system seems
like a copy of the Buddhist system. So strong is the
resemblance, that the first Christian missionaries who
travelled in Thibet believed and recorded their impression that the Buddhist Church had borrowed their
rites and forms from the Roman Catholic Church. It is
well known, however, that the Buddhists excavated many
* Hibbert Lectures, 1881, p. 93.
t Buddhism in Christendom, p. 202.




378


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


of their great church edifices in India before Jesus Christ
was born; that a vast monastery, a wealthy church, and
a learned university flourished in Nalanda near Patna,
before similar church edifices and monasteries were seen
in Europe; and that as Buddhism declined in India,
gorgeous Buddhist rites, ceremonials, and institutions
were copied from Nalanda and other places by the Buddhists of Nepal and Thibet, before Europe had yet recovered
from the invasions of barbarous races, or had developed
her Feudal civilisation or Feudal church system. It is
clear, therefore, that the entire structure of church government and church institutions-in so far as there is
resemblance between the two systems-was borrowed
from the East by the West, not from the West by the East.
But we are not concerned here with the later forms
and institutions of the Buddhist Church.  The glory
of Buddhism consists not in the pompous eeremonials
which were witnessed in Nalanda and Thibet, and which
were reproduced after several centuries in Rome, but
in the moral precepts of surpassing beauty which were
preached in Benares and Rajagriha by Gautama himself,
and were repeated after five centuries in Jerusalem.
"Never has any one," says M. Renan, "so much as He
(Jesus) made the interests of humanity predominate in
His life over the littlenesses of self-love.... There never
was a man, Sakya Muni, perhaps, excepted, who has to this
degree trampled under foot family, the joys of this world,
and all temporal care."  To do good unto those who
smite you, to love those who hate and persecute you, and
to relinquish the world for righteousness,-these were the
cardinal teachings of Gautama and of Jesus. Was this
similarity in precepts merely accidental?
In order to enable our readers to form an opinion on
this great question, we will refer them to a few historic
facts. We know from the edicts of Asoka that he sent
Buddhist missionaries to work in Egypt and in Syria,
and these missionaries settled in those countries and




CHAP. XV.]  HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.


379


formed large and influential Buddhist communities. The
Therapeuts of Alexandria and the Essenes of Palestine
who were so well known to the Greek world were in
fact communities of Buddhist Bhikkhus, practising Buddhist rites, preaching Buddhist doctrines and precepts, and
spreading the teachings of Gautama Buddha in the West.
Christian thinkers like Dean Mansel and Dean Milman,
and philosophers like Schelling and Schopenhauer alike
admit that the Therapeuts and the Essenes sprang from
the Buddhist missionaries who came from India.
The communities lived and continued their work. Three
centuries after the time of Asoka,-and at the time when
Jesus Christ lived and preached,-the Essenes were so
well known, and so influential, that the celebrated Pliny
wrote of them.
Pliny flourished between 23 and 79 A.D., and thus
describes the Essenes:-" On the western shore (of the
Dead Sea), but distant from the sea far enough to escape
its noxious breezes, dwelt the Essenes.  They are an
hermit clan, one marvellous beyond all others in the
whole world, without any women, with sexual intercourse
entirely given up, without money; and the associates of
palm-trees. Daily is the throng of those who crowd
about them renewed, men resorting to them in numbers,
driven through weariness of existence and the surges
of ill fortune in their manner of life. Thus it is that
through thousands of ages, incredible to relate, their
society, in which no one is born, lives on perennial"
(Hist. Nat., V, 17).
This is a most remarkable piece of evidence. It is the
evidence of an impartial and cultured Roman, describing
the progress which Eastern ideas and institutions had
made in Palestine at the time of Jesus Christ. We see
in the passage given above the result which Buddhist
missionaries had achieved in Palestine in three centuries
from the time of Asoka. They had founded a sect there
answering to the Buddhists of India, and the sect




380


RA TIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


followed the same practices, engaged themselves in the
same speculations, and lived the same abstemious and
celibate life as the Indian Buddhists. The heritage of
Gautama's moral precepts was not lost on them; they
revered it and repeated it, and spread it among the pious
and thoughtful among the Jews.
We are content to leave the matter here. We have
shown that Buddhism   was preached in Syria in the
third century B.C. We have shown that Buddhism was
received in Palestine, and that Buddhists under different
names lived in Palestine when Christ was born, and were
preaching Gautama's doctrines and moral precepts in
Palestine. We have shown that Christ came in contact
with their rites and teachings through John, as well as
through various other channels probably. And, lastly,
we have shown the remarkable resemblance between
Christian moral precepts and Buddhist precepts in sentiment and in language, between Christian resignation of
the world and Buddhist resignation, between Christian
and Buddhist rites and legends and forms. Is this coincidence fortuitous? Let each reader form his own opinion
on the subject.
Some writers go so far as to maintain that early Christianity was Essenism, i.e., Buddhism as it prevailed in
Palestine. We do not agree in this opinion. Christianity
in doctrinal matters is little indebted to Buddhism,-Christ
having adopted the national Monotheistic faith of the
Jews, as Gautama had adopted the national beliefs of the
Hindus in Transmigration and Final Beatitude. Christianity as an ethical and moral advance on the religions
of antiquity is indebted to Buddhism, as preached in
Palestine by the Essenes when Jesus was born.




CHAPTER XVI.


HISTORY OF JAINAISM.
THE Jaina religion has long been considered as an offshoot from the religion proclaimed by Gautama Buddha.
Houen Tsang, who travelled in India in the seventh century
after Christ, viewed it in this light; and all that we have
hitherto known of the tenets of Jainaism justified this
supposition.
Both Lassen and Weber denied, and with very good
reasons, the independent origin of the Jaina religion, and
both the scholars maintained that the Jainas were seceders
from Buddhism, and had branched off from the Buddhists,
and formed a sect of their own. The scriptures of the
Jainas were not reduced to writing till the fifth century
A.D., and Barth held very plausibly that the traditions
of the Jainas as to the origin of their religion were formed
of vague recollections of the Buddhist tradition. Jaina
architecture in India, too, is of comparatively recent date,
and, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter, may be said
to have commenced centuries after Buddhist architecture
had declined and disappeared in India.
Doctors Buhler and Jacobi, however, have recently
discovered facts on the basis of which they contend
that Jainaism had its commencement at about the same
time as the religion of Gautama, and that the two religions flowed in parallel streams for long centuries,
until Buddhism declined, while Jainaism still continues
to be a living religion in some parts of India. We will
381




382


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


place before our readers the facts and traditions on which
this opinion is based.
The Jainas, both Svetambaras (with white clothing),
and Digambaras (without clothing), allege that Mahavira,
the founder of the religion, was the son of Siddhartha
of Kundagrama, and belonged to the clan of Jnatrika
Kshatriyas.  We know that Gautama Buddha, when
travelling in Kotigrama, was visited by the courtesan
Ambapali and the Lichchavis. This Kotigrama is identified with Kundagrama of the Jainas, and the Natikas
spoken of in the Buddhist Scriptures are identified with
the Jnatrika Kshatriyas. Further, Mahavira's mother
Trisaa is said to have been the sister of Kataka, king of
Vaisali, whose daughter was married to the renowned
Bimbisara, king of Magadha.
Mahavira, at first called Vardhanana or Jnatriputra,
was like his father a Kasyapa. At the age of twentyeight he entered into the Holy Order, and after twelve
years of self-mortification, became a Kevalin or Jina,
Tirthakara or Mahavira, i.e., a saint and prophet. During
the last thirty years of his life he organised his Order of
ascetics. He was thus a rival of Gautama Buddha, and
is mentioned in Buddhist writings under the name of
Nataputra as the head of the Niganthas (Nirgranthas,
without clothing), already a numerous sect in Vaisali.
Mahavira died at Papa.
The Jaina tradition goes on to say that in the second
century after Mahavira's death there was a famine in
Magadha.   The renowned Chandragupta was then the
sovereign of Magadha. Bhadrabahu, with a portion of
his Jaina followers, left Magadha under pressure of the
famine and went to Karnata. During his absence, the
Jainas of Magadha settled their scriptures, consisting of
the eleven Angas and the fourteen Puvvas, which latter
are sometimes called the twelfth Anga. On the return
of peace and plenty, the exiled Jainas returned to
Magadha; but within these years a difference in custom




CHAP. XVI.]   HISTORY OF JAINAISiM.


383


had arisen between those who had stayed in Magadha,
and those who had gone to Karnata. The former had
assumed a white dress, and the latter adhered to the old
rule of absolute nakedness.  The former were thus
called Svetambras, the latter were called Digambaras.
The scriptures which had been settled by the former
were not accepted by the latter, and for the Digambaras
therefore there are no Angas.   The final division
between the two sects is said to have taken place in 79
or 82 A.D.
In course of time the scriptures of the. Svetambaras
fell into disorder, and were in danger of becoming
extinct.  It was necessary to record them into writing,
and this was done at the Council of Vallabhi (in Gujrat)
in 454 or 467 A.D. The operations of the Council resulted in the redaction of the Jaina canon, in the form
in which we find it at the present day.*
Besides these facts and traditions, inscriptions have
been discovered on the pedestals of Jaina statues at
Mathura which, according to Dr. Buhler (who first discovered this evidence), proves that the Svetambara sect
existed in the first century A.D. The inscriptions are
dated according to the era of Kanishka, king of Kashmir,
i.e., the Saka Era, 78 A.D. One of the inscriptions, dated
9 of the Era (and therefore corresponding to 87 A.D.),
states that the statue was erected by a Jaina lay-woman
Vikata.
Such is the substance of the evidence on which it
is contended that the Jaina religion is coeval with
Buddhism, and not an offshoot from that religion. From
the mention of "Nataputra" and of the "Nirgranthas"
in the Buddhist Scriptures, it is reasonable to suppose
that the Jaina sect of unclad ascetics had its origin too
about the same time. Indeed, we have repeatedly stated
before that various sects of ascetics lived in India at
the time when Gautama Buddha lived and taught and
* Dr. Hcernle's Introduction to his translation of the Uvasagadasao.




384


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK IIT.


led his sect of ascetics.  What we find it difficult to
accept is that the Jaina religion, as we have it now, was
professed by the Nirgranthas of the sixth century B.C.
The story that the Jaina canon was settled in a Council
in Magadha at the time of Chandragupta is probably a
pure myth; and even if that story was true, the canon
settled in the third century B.C. would be very different
from the canon recorded in the fifth century A.D. For
there can be little doubt that the early tenets of the
first Nirgranthas have long since been modified, and
completely transformed; and that the more cultured
section of that body, who adopted a white garment, continuously borrowed their maxims and precepts, their rules
and customs, their legends and traditions from Buddhism,
which was the prevailing religion of India after the third
century B.C. Thus the Jainas drifted more and more
towards Buddhism for long centuries, until they had
adopted the substance of the Buddhist religion as their
own, and very little of the early tenets of the unclad
Nirgranthas was left. It was then,-in the fifth century
A.D.,-that their scriptures were recorded, and it is no
wonder that those scriptures appear like a copy of the
Buddhist Scriptures recorded six centuries before. Admitting, then, the independent origin of the Nirgranthas in
the sixth century B.C., we hardly think Houen Tsang was
very far wrong, when he described the Jaina religion, as
he saw it in the seventh century (and as we see it in the
present day), to be an offshoot from Buddhism.
Among the other sects of ascetics which flourished
side by side with the Buddhists and the Nirgranthas in
the sixth century B.C., the Ajivakas founded by Gosala
were the best known in their day. Asoka names them
in his inscriptions, along with the Brahmans and Nirgranthas. Gosala was therefore a rival of Buddha and
Mahavira; but his sect has now ceased to exist.
It follows from what has been stated before, that the
religious tenets of the Jainas differ but slightly from that




CHAP. XVI.]   HISTORY OF JAINAISM.             385
of the Buddhists. Like the Buddhists, the Jainas have
their Monastic Order, and they refrain from  killing
animals, and praise retirement from the world. In some
respects they even go further than the Buddhists, and
maintain that not only animals and plants, but the
smallest particles of the elements, fire, air, earth, and
water, are endowed with life or jiva. For the rest, the
Jainas, like the Buddhists, reject the Veda, they accept
the tenets of Karma and of Nirvana, and believe in the
transmigration of souls. They also believe in 25 Tirthakaras, as the early Buddhists believed in 24 Buddhas who
had risen before Gautama Buddha.
The sacred books or Agamas of the Jainas consist of
seven divisions, among which the Angas form the first
and most important division. The Angas are eleven in
number, of which the Acharanga Sutra, setting forth the
rules of conduct of Jaina monks, has been translated by
Dr. Jacobi, and the Upasakadasah, setting forth the rules
of conduct of Jaina laymen, has been translated by Dr.
Hoernle.
We will now present our readers with some extracts
relating to the life of Mahavira from the Acharanga SAtra.
Hermann Jacobi, the learned translator of the work, assigns
to it the third or fourth century B.C., but from the verbose
and artificial language of the work, many readers will be
inclined to assign to it a date as many centuries after
Christ. The entire work reads like a very distant and
very perverted imitation of the simple Buddhist accounts
of the life of Gautama.
" When the Kshatriyani Trisala, having seen these fourteen illustrious great dreams, awoke, she was glad, pleased
and joyful,.... rose from her couch and descended
from the footstool. Neither hasty nor trembling, with a
quick and even gait like that of a royal swan, she went
to the couch of the Kshatriya SiddhArtha. There she
awakened the Kshatriya Siddhartha, addressing him with
kind, pleasing, amiable, tender, illustrious, beautiful, lucky,
VOL. I.                                 2 B




386


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


blest, auspicious, fortunate, heart-going, heart-easing, wellmeasured, sweet and soft words.... '0 beloved of the
gods, I was just now on my couch.... and awoke after
having seen the fourteen dreams, to wit, an elephant, &c.
What, to be sure, 0 my Lord, will be the happy result
portended by these fourteen illustrious great dreams?'....
He grasped the meaning of those dreams with his own
innate intelligence and intuition, which were preceded by
reflection, and addressing the Kshatriyani Trisala with
kind, pleasing, &c., words, spoke thus: 'O beloved of
the gods, you have seen illustrious dreams, &c....
you will give birth to a lovely, handsome boy, who will
be the ensign of our family, the lamp of our family, the
crown of our family, the frontal ornament of our family,
the maker of our family's glory, the sun of our family, the
stay of our family, the maker of our family's joy and fame,
the tree of our family, the exalter of our family.'....
"Surrounded by many chieftains, satraps, kings, princes,
knights, sheriffs, heads of families, ministers, chief ministers, astrologers, counsellors, servants, dancing masters,
citizens, traders, merchants, foremen of guilds, generals,
leaders of caravans, messengers, and frontier-guards, hethe lord and chief of men, a bull and a lion among men,
shining with excellent lustre and glory, lovely to behold,
like the moon emerging from a great white cloud in the
midst of the flock of the planets and of brilliant stars and
asterisms-left the bathing-house, entered the exterior hall
of audience, and sat down on his throne with the face
towards the east.... Quickly, 0 beloved of the gods,
call the interpreters of dreams who well know the science
of prognostics with its eight branches, and are well versed
in many sciences besides!'.... When the interpreters
of dreams had heard and perceived this news from the
Kshatriya Siddhartha, they-glad, pleased, and joyful, &c.
-fixed the dreams in their minds, entered upon considering them, and conversed together.....
" In that night in which the venerable ascetic Mah.vira




CHAP. XVI.]  HISTORY OF JAINAISM.


387


was born, there was a divine lustre originated by many
descending and ascending, gods and goddesses, and in
the universe, resplendent with one light, the conflux of
gods occasioned great confusion and noise.... Before
the venerable ascetic Mahavira had adopted the life of
a householder (i.e. before his marriage), he possessed
supreme, unlimited, unimpeded knowledge and intuition.
The venerable ascetic Mahavira perceived with this his
supreme unlimited knowledge and intuition that the time
for his Renunciation had come. He left his silver, he
left his gold, he left his riches, corn, majesty, and kingdom, his army, grain, treasure, storehouse, town, seraglio,
and subjects; he quitted and rejected his real, valuable
property, such as riches, gold, precious stones, jewels,
pearls, conches, stones, corals, rubies, &c.; he distributed
presents through proper persons. He distributed presents among indigent persons.... The venerable ascetic
Mahavira for a year and a month wore clothes; after that
time he walked about naked, and accepted the alms in
the hollow of his hand. For more than twelve years the
venerable ascetic Mahavira neglected his body and abandoned the care of it; he with equanimity bore, underwent,
and suffered all pleasant or unpleasant occurrences arising
from divine powers, men, or animals.... During the
thirteenth year, in the second month of summer, in the
fourth fortnight, the light (fortnight) of Vaisakha, on its
tenth day, when the shadow had turned towards the east
and the first wake was over, on the day called Suvrata,
in the Muhurta called Vijaya, outside of the town Jrimbhikagrama on the bank of the river Rijupalika, not far from
an old temple, in the field of the householder Samaga,
under a sal tree, when the moon was in conjunction with
the asterism Uttaraphalguni (the Venerable One) in a
squatting position with joined heels exposing himself to
the heat of the sun, after fasting two and a half days
without drinking water, being engaged in deep meditation, reached the highest knowledge and intuition, called




388


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


Kevala, which is infinite, supreme, unobstructed, unimpeded, complete, and full....
"In that period, in that age, the venerable ascetic
Mahavira stayed the first rainy season in Asthikagrama,
three rainy seasons in Champa and Prishtichampa, twelve
in Vaisali and Vanijagrama, fourteen in Rajagriha and
the suburb of Nalanda, six in Mithila, two in Bhadrika,
one in Alabhika, one in Panitabhumi, one in Sravasti, one
in the town of Papa, in king Hastipala's office of the
writers: that was his very last rainy season. In the
fourth month of that rainy season, in the seventh fortnight, in the dark (fortnight) of Kartika, on its fifteenth
day, in the last night, in the town of Papa, in king
Hastipala's office of the writers, the venerable ascetic
Mahavira died, went off, quitted the world, cut asunder
the ties of birth, old age, and death; became a Siddha, a
Buddha, a Mukta, a maker of the end (to all misery),
finally liberated, freed from all pains."
The Upasakadasah, as its name indicates, details the
duties of Jaina laymen in ten lectures. The first lecture
details the vows and observances that must regulate a
layman's conduct; the next four lectures detail various
kinds of temptations arising from external persecutions;
the sixth lecture treats of temptations from internal
doubts, and specially from the antagonism of other
religions, like that of the Ajivakas founded by Gosala;
the seventh shows the superiority of the Jaina religion;
the eighth dwells on the temptations to sensual enjoyments; and the ninth and tenth give examples of a
quiet and peaceful career of a faithful Jaina layman.
We are unable to make room for extracts from Dr.
Hoernle's translation of this work, but we will glean
some facts from the portion which treats of Ananda's
conversion, which will be interesting, as detailing many
articles of luxury in which a Hindu householder indulged
in the olden times. Ananda does not become a monk,
but only becomes a Jaina layman, and he therefore takes




CHAP. XVI.]  HISTORY OF JAINAISM.


389


the five lesser vows, anu-vratdni, in contrast with the
mIahd-vratdni of monks, as also the disciplinary vows.
Ananda renounces all gross ill-usage of living beings,
all gross lying, and all gross theft. He contents himself
with one wife, saying, "excepting with one woman,
Sivananda my wife, I renounce every other kind of
sexual intercourse." He limits himself to the possession
of a treasure of four kror measures of gold deposited in
a safe place, of a capital of four kror measures of gold
put out on interest, and of a well-stocked estate of the
value of four kror measures of gold. Similarly he limits
himself to the possession of four herds, each consisting
of ten thousand head of cattle; to the possession of 500
ploughs and land at the rate of Ioo nzivartanas for each
plough; to the possession of five hundred carts for foreign
traffic, and five hundred carts for home traffic; and lastly,
to the possession of four boats for foreign traffic and four
boats for home use. The above enumeration gives us a
very fair idea of a Hindu capitalist, land-owner, moneylender, and merchant of olden days,-a Seth, such as
Jains have always been in India. We now turn to the
articles of household use and luxury.
Ananda limits himself to one kind of red-tinted bathing
towel, to one kind of green stick for tooth-cleaning, to one
kind of fruit, the milky pulp of Amalaka, to two kinds of
oil as unguents, to one kind of scented powder, to eight
gharas of washing water, to one kind of clothes, viz.,
"a pair of cotton clothes;" to perfumes made of aloes,
saffron, sandal, and similar substances, to one kind of
flower, the white lotus, to two kinds of ornaments, viz.,
ear-pendants and a finger-ring engraved with his name,
and to certain kinds of incense.
With regard to food, he limits himself in his use of
beverages to a decoction of pulses or rice, and in the use
of pastry to such as are fried in clarified butter or turned
in sugar.  He confines himself to boiled rice of the
cultivated varieties, to ddl made of kalai, Smug, or ras, to




390


RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.


[BOOK III.


clarified butter produced from cows' milk in autumn, to
certain kinds of curry, to one kind of liquor made from
pdlangd, to plain relishes or sauces, to rain water as
drinking water, and lastly, to betel with its five spices.
Many of our readers will be inclined to think that our
friend Ananda with his broad acres and large trade, and
with the articles of use and luxury left to him, was not
so badly off after all.
ENI) OF VOL. I.


PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON




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