A Literary History of India (2024)

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A Literary History of India (New York, 1904) by Frazer.

There is for every nation a history, which does not respond to thetrumpet-call of battle , which does not limit its interest to the conflict of dynasties. This-the history of intellectual growth and artistic achievement -ifless romantic than the popular panorama of kings and queens, finds its material in imperishable masterpieces, and reveals to the student something at once more vital and more picturesque than the quarrels of rival parlia- ments. Nor is it in any sense unscientific to shift the point of view frompolitics to literature. It is but a fashion of history which insists that anation lives only for her warriors, a fashion which might long since have been ousted by the commonplace reflection that, in spite of history, the poets are the true masters of the earth. If all record of a nation's progress were blotted out, and its literature were yet left us, might we not recover the out- lines of its lost history?It is, then, with the literature of nations, that the present series is concerned.Each volume will be entrusted to a distinguished scholar, and the aid of foreign men of letters will be invited whenever the perfection of the series demands it.THE LIBRARYOFLITERARY HISTORYA Literary History of IndiaTFU

Wer den Dichter will verstehenMuss in Dichters Lande gehen.GOETHEA Literary Historyof India76652ByRobertNationR. W Frazer=, LL.B.Lecturerin Telugu and Tamil at University College, and the Imperial Institute,Awardsfrom Government ofMadrasfor High Proficiency in Sanskrit,Uriya, and Telugu; Member ofCouncil, Royal Asiatic SocietyAuthor ofSilent Gods and Sun- Steeped LandsandBritish India ( " Story of the Nations " Series)LondonT. Fisher UnwinPaternoster Square1898Copyright by T. Fisher Unwin, 1897, for Great Britain and theUnited States of AmericaPREFACEIN essaying to set forth a connected history of India fromsuch evidences as I have selected from its literature, I havebeen obliged to evade, and not to emphasise, difficultieseverywhere patent to the scholar or specialist. In mostcases, however, I have accepted the conclusions of thosewho are recognised authorities. In those cases wherescholars still disagree I have indicated in footnotes theevidences on which I had to form conclusions of my own.On many points, especially those relating to the significance of the early, sacrificial systems, to the origin andpurport of the Epics, and to the Græco- Roman influenceon the form of the Indian Drama, it was manifestly impossible, in a work such as this, to enter on any prolongeddiscussion.The main outlines of the history are never likely to bematerially affected by future decisions on these debatablepoints.X PREFACEThe early incursion of fair-skinned Aryan tribes, amidthe darker aboriginal inhabitants, forms the starting- point.Ofthese Aryans, the only literary record we possess is thatpreserved in the Vedic Hymns, for it does not seemprobable that an unaided Science of Philology will everthrow much light on their past history or religious beliefs.The early course of these invading tribes can be traced asthey forced their way among the aborigines, and madetheir settlements in the most favoured river tracts north ofthe Vindhya range of mountains. The vast area overwhich the tribes, whose members can never have been verynumerous, spread themselves prevented them from forminga united and compact nationality of their own among theruder aboriginal races. The tribal deities lost their importance and failed to coalesce into the ideal of onenational God.As the early sacrificial cult drifted from its primitivesignificance the idea was evolved of a Brahman, or selfexistent Cause or Force, underlying the Universe. Thenature of this Brahman was ultimately declared to beUnknowable to reason, but to have been revealed in thesacred Vedic literature to the Brahmans, or descendants ofthe early poet- priests who composed the hymns, prayers,or incantations to their tribal deities.The first hope that Aryans and aborigines might becomeinfused with a common ideal and faith dawned with thepersonality and teachings of the Buddha at a time when thePREFACE xifull strength of Aryan intellectual vigour was about to culminate in phases of thought which gave rise to the schoolsof formulated philosophic reasoning. I have endeavouredto trace the political effects of these forces, and to indicatethe causes which prevented the great civilising powerof early Aryanism in India from saving the people fromdivisions and dissensions, which left them an easy prey toforeign invaders. The divisions of the people were stereotyped by a system of caste originally based on racial andintellectual differences. The intrusion of Scythian, Persian,Arab, Afghan, and Mughal hordes but increased thediversity of the factors into which the community wasdivided. The primary forces which prevented even anAkbar from implanting vital principles of union amongthe people were religious fanaticism, class distinctions,and race hatred . While these forces still exist, the introduction of printing into India, and the higher educationof the natives through the medium of English, are implanting new modes of thought and new principles ofaction among the class which claims to represent publicopinion. The orthodox Brahmans, and the high- castenatives of the old conservative school, however, remainhostile to all innovations, determined to maintain thefundamental doctrines of their religion, and preserve thebest of their ancient social customs. On the other hand,the more advanced natives of the new school, whosetrend of thought is, for the most part, towards agnosticismxii PREFACEand freedom from all caste and social restraints, strivemore and more to assume the position of leaders of thepeople and exponents of their views. The position isone produced by the deliberate and consistent policy ofeducation in India. The stage is a stage of transitionand unrest but happily for India it seems to be fraughtwith fewer elements of danger than the stage throughwhich the nations of the West seem destined topass.Throughout the work the transliteration of native wordshas been of great difficulty. Cerebrals and nasals areunmarked, as the omission will not confuse any oneacquainted with Eastern languages, and my experience,after many years teaching of Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu,is that it is impossible for any one unfamiliar with thesound of the languages as spoken in India to acquireeven an approximate pronunciation of these letters.I regret that it is impossible for me fully to acknowledge my indebtedness to the many works I haveconsulted. To the delegates of the Clarendon Press Iam especially indebted for permission to quote from theSeries ofthe " Sacred Books of the East "-a monumentalundertaking full of evidence of the scholarship, untiringindustry and wide sympathies in all matters connectedwith the East of Professor The Right Honourable F.Max Müller.To the Rev. Dr Pope, the Oxford Professor of Tamil,PREFACE xiiimy sincere thanks are due for having placed valuableoriginal translations at my disposal, and I trust that Ihave not too freely availed myself of his permission toquote from them. To the Editor of the Series in whichthis history appears I owe much for valuable suggestionsand literary criticism, all of which I have most gladlyaccepted. To Miss C. M. Duff I am grateful for havingkindly allowed me to peruse the proof sheets of her forthcoming " Chronology of India." Had I seen her workearlier I should have been spared several months of uncongenial labour in preparing a chronological frameworkfor the present history.LONDON INSTITUTION,5th November 1897.R. W. FRAZER.

CONTENTSCHAP.I. THE ARYANS ·II. THE GREY DAWN MISTSIII. THE EARLY BARDSIV. THE TWILIGHT OF THE OLDER AND THE DAWNOF NEWER DEITIESPAGEIIO1740V. BRAHMANISM • 63VI. FROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM · 94VII. BUDDHISM 114VIII. THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANSIX. THE FINAL RESTING- PLACE OF ARYAN THOUGHT148188X. THE EPICS • 210XI. THE ATTACK 242XII. THE Drama 263XIII. SOUTH INDIAXIV. THE FOREIGNER IN THE LANDXV. THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW66 FRONTISPIECE. -From Manners in Bengal," by Mrs Belnos.300332384

LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIACHAPTER I.THE ARYANS.No invasion of India is feasible in the present day save bya maritime nation holding the supremacy of the seas, or bya force advancing from Central Asia with strength sufficientto break its way through the defences on the west andnorth-west frontiers. From Chitral in the extreme north,where the Ikshkamun and Baroghil Passes show the wayacross the Hindu Kush to the lonely heights of the Pamirs,southwards to where the Khaibar Pass gives access toKabul, the Gūmal and Tochi Passes lead to Ghazni, andthe Bolan still further south to Quetta and Chaman, on tothe seaport town of Karachi in Sind, a distance of 1200miles, the whole north-west and west frontiers are heldby British troops, backed by defensive entrenchments andbatteries, prepared to meet the first advancing armies thatventure to tread the historic paths of old that so often ledthe nomad hosts of Central Asia to the conquest of India.From time immemorial, bands of warlike invaders haveswarmed down from beyond these barrier passes to conquerthe effete inhabitants of the fertile river valleys of theplains of India, only themselves in turn to fall subduedA-2LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAby the enervating influence of the climate, and be sweptaway by succeeding bands of hardier invading races.When the history of India first dawns in literature, it isthrough these same bleak mountain passes that tribesof warrior heroes, bred in cold and northern climes, areseen slowly advancing to seek new homes beneath thewarm and southern sun. Proud in their conquering might,these tribes called themselves Ārya, or “ Noble,” a termdenoting the contempt they felt for the dark- skinned racesthey found in possession of the land. Full four thousandyears ago, these first historic invaders of India must havestood gazing, in wonder and amazement, from the loftyheights of some one of these northern passes, on the richvalleys lying smiling at their feet. To their gods theysang their songs of thanksgiving that at length their wearyjourney from colder realms was at an end, and that victoryhad been given them over their foes, who lurked amid themountain forests, and opposed their progress with fiercecries and rude weapons. These invading tribes were afair-skinned race with whom all Brahmans and twice-bornhigher castes of India now claim kindred,2 holding themselves aloof from the darker- skinned descendants of theaboriginal inhabitants. The birthright of the Brahmansof India is to keep preserved in their memories the earlyhymns sung by their Aryan forefathers. These hymnsevery stress and accent marked as in days long past, everysyllable and word intoned according to ancient usage,33 1 "Atall fair-complexioned dolichocephalic and presumedly lepterhine race.'-Risley, "Study of Ethnology in India , " p. 249; Journal AnthropologicalInstitute (February 1891 ).2 It must be borne in mind that in using the term, " Āryan, " with reference tomodern India, it merely refers to those people who speak Aryan languages,no suggestion being made that these people are necessarily of Aryan descent.As clearly stated by Max Müller, in a letter to Mr Risley (" Biographies ofWords, " p. 245): Aryas are those who speak Aryan language, whatevertheir colour, whatever their language. In calling them Aryas, we predict nothingof them except that the grammar of their language is Aryan."""THE AR YANS 3remain the sacred treasure of their hereditary custodians,so that the utterances of the early Aryan invaders of Indialive to-day as clear and distinct as when first sung by theVedic poets. These treasured verses, as collected togetherin the 1028 hymns, known as the " Hymns of the Rig Veda,"are all that are left to enable us of to-day to pierce the mistsof the long past history of India. To all orthodox Hindus,they are held as having been breathed forth as a divinerevelation from before all time. The reducing of them towriting, and even the hearing of their recitation by foreigners,or by any but the twice- born castes, is still looked upon assacrilege and profanation by those who claim the sole rightto hear their sacred sound.The first of a long line of priestly legislators who stroveto reduce all the laws and customs of the people of Indiato ideals founded on priestly ordinances declared¹ that aSūdra, or one of non-Aryan blood, who dared to listen tothe recitation of the Vedic Hymns, should have his earsfilled with molten tin or lac; should the Sūdra repeat thewords he had heard, his tongue should be cut out; shouldhe remember the sound, his body should be split in twain.These Hymns, though they are still held as revelationsfrom the Creator of the universe, tell nothing of the long,dark night that preceded the advent of these Aryan tribes,who loom so indistinct on the horizon of the literary historyof India.To the Vedic bards, standing as they did on the thresholdof a new world, the story of their nation's past faded into insignificance before the brightness of its present. Enthronedin the pride of race, the poet sang of the might of hispeople, of his own power to win, by the magic of his wordsand cunning of his spells, the favour of the gods, so thatthey might lead the Aryan tribes to victory. For him thehand of time passed by unnoticed. To have told of the1 "Gautama, " chap xii. 4-6, S. B.E. vol. ii.4 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAJpast in the intoxicated fervour of his imagination, as healone could have done it , would have dimmed the gloryof the present. The time had not come when his mind,grown full of halting fears, would brood in misgivings overthe future. Yet, strange to say, the very words over whichthe poets lingered in syllables of soft cadence, or whichcame rushing from their lips with the sound of the heavyroll of war chariots, held the secret, not only of their own,but of many other people's past.The torch of learning, set aglow by the first Aryaninvaders of India, was kept for long alight by an hereditaryline of Brahman priests, poets, and philosophers, whoministered, sang, and reasoned far and wide-from theholy land of Aryavarta, to the distant seminaries in theSouth; from the Buddhist monasteries in the West, to therenowned schools of logic in the East. Fresh conquerorsappeared in the land, but still the Brahmans kept on theireven way. At length the advancing wave of a Westerncivilisation, founded on new ideals, crept up the banksof the sacred rivers of India, and spread all over the land.In the eager race for wealth that ensued on the entry ofthese new invaders, the whole foundations on which thefantastic structure of the religious and social life of Indiawas based remained unnoticed, as though Vedic song hadnever been sung in the land, and Brahman had neverexisted.The first to take note of the ancient learning of the landwas the English Governor- General Warren Hastings, whosummoned eleven Brahmans to Calcutta, there to compilefor their new rulers a code of Hindu religions and customs.¹The reasons set forth by the Governor- General for thusdesiring to ascertain somewhat of the laws of the Brahmans1 The first published translation from Sanskrit into any European languagewas " Bhartrihari's Satakas, " by Abraham Roger, first Dutch chaplain atPulicat ( 1631-1641 ) , Grierson , " Satsaiya of Bihari, " p . 2.THE ARYANS 5was, that "the Hindus had for long fallen under theMuhammadan rule, so that terror and confusion hadfound a way to all the People, and Justice was notimpartially administered. " The work compiled by theseeleven Brahmans reached England in the year 1776, butstill the Sanskrit on which it had been founded held itssecret safe. Nine years later ( 1785) a young merchant,J. Wilkins, sent forth his translation of the Indian Song ofSongs, the " Bhagavadgīta,” and two years later ( 1787), thecollection of Hindu stories, known as the " Hitopadesa," theoriginal source of the famed fables of Bidpai. Yet theWest woke not up to the fact that India possessed aughtof more value than bales of calico, rich spices, and gems.Two years later, a drama of Kālidāsa, the Shakespeare ofIndia, was given to the West by Sir William Jones. Thisdrama, the now well-known " Sakuntala," showed that Indiapossessed a literature. To Kālidāsa Alexander vonHumboldt allotted " a lofty place among the poets of allages," and of the drama itself Goethe sang in raptures inhis well-known lines:-"Willst du die Blüthe des frühen, die Früchte des späteren Jahres,Willst du was reizt und entzückt, willst du was sättigt und nährt,Willst du den Himmel die Erde, mit einem Namen begreifen;Nenn' ich Sakuntalá dich und so ist alles gesagt."The attention, not only of men of taste but also ofscholars, was naturally attracted to these works, andefforts were made in Europe to study and master theSanskrit in which they were composed. So far an interestan interest of curiosity-was aroused in the literature ofIndia, but no expectations were entertained that the West.had anything further to learn from the lore of the East.1 Halhed's Introduction to " The Code of Gentoo Laws " (London, 1776).2 F. Schlegel ( 1808) , " Upon the Language and Wisdom of the Hindus,"where he derives the Indo- Germanic family from India.6 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIASoon, however, it came to light¹ that India not only possesseda sacred literature, that of the Vedic Hymns, but that theSanskrit of these hymns was of a primitive and archaictype, preserving in structure and grammatical formsaffinities with the Aryan languages of Europe. At oncethe belief arose that this Vedic Sanskrit was the primitivelanguage of humanity, and the old belief that the Eastwas the cradle of the human race gained new strength.It was fondly hoped that the Brahmans of India hadpreserved the parent speech, out from which had grownthe Greek, Latin, Iranian, Celtic, Lettic, Teutonic, andSlavonic languages. Soon these hopes were doomed todisappointment. Sanskrit was found to be but one branchof the great Indo- European family of languages, and noteven as such to have preserved a structure which can beconsidered more primitive than that of the other knownbranches.3The plea for India as the lost home of primitive mandied away, and in its place the belief that the nations ofEurope had migrated in early days from the Bactrian plainsof Central Asia, was held as a fundamental axiom in all enquiries into the origin ofthe Indo- European races. Even theroutes by which these early people spread from their Asiatichome towards Europe were clearly traced out, and acknowledged as correct. The ablest scholars accepted this Asiatic1 F. Rosen ( 1838 ) , " Rig Veda, Sanhita Sanskritè et Latinè. "2 Weber, "Modern Investigations on Ancient India " ( 1857 ) .3.46 Although no historic conclusions may be drawn from the primitivenessof Sanskrit, that primitiveness itself remains the same as ever. ”—Max Müller," Biographies of Words, " p. 99."Of all the existing tongues of the whole great family, the Lithuanian orthe Baltic retains by far the most antique aspect. "-Whitney, " Language,and the Study of Language, " p. 203.4 Grimm, "Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache, " pp. 113-122.Pictet, " Origines Européennes, " 1859.66 6 Max Müller, Lectures on the Science of Language. "THE ARYANS 7theory, while Sayce¹ agreed that "it is in the highlandsof Middle Asia, between the sources of the Oxus andJaxartes," that the first traces of the Aryan languagesappear in history.The most pathetic instance of the unrelenting vindictiveness meted out by orthodoxy to originality, is to be seenin the ridicule showered on Dr Latham, when he ventured 2upon the enunciation of a new suggestion, that the originalhome ofthe Aryans might be sought in Europe rather thanin Asia. Various theories followed in rapid succession. Itwas not long before grounds were found for locating theprimitive Aryans somewhere to the north of the BlackSea, from the Danube to the Caspian, while again on furtherinvestigation, the home was shifted to Central and WestGermany. The habitat was then removed to the whole ofNorth Europe, from the shores of the Atlantic to the confines ofthe Ural range of mountains, until at length the theorywas propounded that the Aryan people have always occupiedthe same relative position they now hold, and that linguisticvarieties arose in situ.6In 1878, Poesche, met by the difficulty arising fromconnoting unity of race, with unity of language, called in1 "Principles of Comparative Philology " ( 1874) , p. 101 .2 First in " Native Races of the Russian Empire, " 1854. See Rendall,"Cradle of the Aryans, " p. 8. See Schrader, " Prehistoric Antiquities, " p. 85.3 Max Müller still declares himself " more inclined to the Asiatic hypothesis '(Athenæum, April 4, 1896).دو• Benfey's Introduction to Fichte's " Wörterbuch der Indo- GermanischenGrundsprache " ( 1868) , p. ix. and “ Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft, " 1869.5 Geiger, " Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Menschheit " ( 1871 ).Schrader, p. 87.See6 Cuno, " Forschungen in Gebiete der alten Völker- kunde " ( 1871 ) . SeeSchrader, p. 89.7 See Taylor, "Origin of the Aryans, " p. 36.8 "Die Arier, Ein Beitrag zur historischen Anthropologie " ( 1878 ). In themarshes of Pinsk, "the phenomenon of depigmentation or ablinism is ofextremely common occurrence, and is clearly marked in men, animals, andplants, " and accounts for the blonde colour of Indo- Europeans. See Schrader,p. 100.8LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe aid of anthropology and archæology, and propoundedhis theory that there was but one true Aryan race, a racetall, blue- eyed, fair- skinned, with a dolichocephalic skull,whose ancestral home he assigned to a clime where plants,animals, and men soon became bleached, to the Rokitnoswamps of Russia.¹More plausible and fascinating was the theory 2 thatScandinavia was the original home of the typical Aryans,who are now only to be found in North Germany andScandinavia, language alone being left in other parts ofEurope and in India as a sign of an Aryan conquest, theAryan race itself having succumbed in Southern climes toclimatic influences. That there did exist a people, livingunited somewhere, probably in Europe,3 known to us asAryans, who spoke a language from which the modernlanguages of Europe have diversified, as well as the languagesspoken by the Zend- speaking Iranians of Persia, and theSanskrit-speaking peoples of Vedic times in India, admits ofbut little doubt. That these Aryan- speaking people separatedthe one from the other in some ancient period , the ancestorsof the Indo- Iranians travelling East to seek new pasturelands and homes, the Europeans holding together until theyreached a halting ground, probably bordered on the South1 Taylor, "Origin of the Aryans, " p. 43.2 Penka, " Origines Ariacæ " ( 1883 ); “ Die Herkunft der Arier " ( 1886) ."The Ice Age drove the majority of the human race from central Europe.The Aryans remained , and it is " the climate of the Ice Age, and the strugglewith their environment that they have to thank for their blonde hair, blueeyes, gigantic limbs, and dolichocephalous skulls. ” —Schrader, p . 102.3 Huxley, Nineteenth Century, 1890, pp. 750-777: -" As to the ' home'of the Aryan race, it was in Europe, and lay chiefly east of the central highlands and west of the Ural. " Van den Gheyn has in " L'Origine Européennedes Aryas " ( 1885 ) , analysed all these theories.R. von Ihering in " The Evolution of the Aryan " ( tr. A. Drucker, 1897) ,has adopted " the prevailing opinion that the original home of the Aryanswas in Ancient Bactria ( Central Asia) , " and holds that "the ancient Aryans lived in a hot zone " ( see pp. 1 , 2) .• Schrader, " Prehistoric Antiquities, " chap. xiv. p. 434.THE ARYANS 9by the Danube, and on the West by the Carpathians, wherethey evolved the elements of their future civilisation , seemsnow the most reliable conjecture. From the Celts whofollowed their ever-waning fortunes towards the Main andRhine; from the Teutons who stolidly marched along theVistula and Oder; from the Greeks who found a restingplace at the foot of Mount Olympus, thence to send Southtribes of Ionians, Æolians, Achæans and Dorians; from theLatin, Slav and Lithuanian races, the Indo- Iranians partedfor ever, to carry to the East the intellectual vigour andphysical energy they inherited, in common with all racesbred and nurtured amid the harsh necessities of a northernclime. Ofthe long pilgrimage of these eastward- travellingtribes, along the pasture-lands of the Oxus and Jaxartes—the only natural route-neither archæology nor philologycan throw any light. On this long march the eastern-goingtribes first became known as Aryans.Speaking some language, older in its primitive form thanZend or Sanskrit, the Indo- Iranians held long together, untilat length a feud, probably religious, arose and divided themfor ever. All that is certainly known is, that one divisionofthe tribes, the Iranian, sought a home in Persia, the other,the Indo- Aryans, passed onwards towards the Indus, to seeknew homes in the sunlit plains of India.CHAPTER II.THE GREY DAWN MISTS.FOR long it was hoped that the Science of Comparative Philology might weave out a history of the periodbefore the Aryan people separated to build up their owndistinctive languages and civilisations. In spite of thebrilliant results at first obtained, it is now recognised thatonly here and there a few faint clues can be found as to themode of life of these Aryans before the time when theirliterary records rise from out the dim mists of the prehistoric days.The Science of Language, in the words of Dr Schrader,can only give us a skeleton, and to cover the dry boneswith flesh and blood is the prerogative of the ComparativeHistory of Culture. That the Indo- Europeans did possessthe notion of a house the philologists show us, for theSans. damá, Lat. domus, Greek Sópos, Slav. domů, correspond; but how these houses were constituted the historianof primitive culture alone can ascertain.'"Forthe construction of such a skeleton, the strict rules ofphilological research demand, in order that a word may be1 The earliest list of common Aryan words was by Colebrooke ( 1803) . SeeMax Müller's " Biographies of Words, " p. 128; Schrader, " Prehistoric Antiquities, " p. 149.2 Schrader, p. 149.10THE GREY DAWN MISTS IItaken as a fossil of prehistoric life, that it should not onlybe represented in at least one section of the European andone of the Asiatic groups, but that it should also agree insuffix as well as root.¹ Care must also be taken toeliminate from consideration such concepts as may possiblyhave been borrowed by one language from another.2Allowing for all these and similar restrictions, which holdthe imagination ruthlessly bound to the dry accuracy ofscientifically-proved fact, some flickering gleam of light canstill be shed on the dim past of the Indo-Aryans-beforehistory dawns in the Vedic Hymns-as they emerge on theNorth-West passes, thence to descend down the rivervalleys ofthe Ganges and Jumna, take up their abodes inthe fertile plains, send their warriors and missionariesacross the Vindhya range of mountains, only to see theirvaunted pride droop before the eternal decrees of Fate,which ever bid the Aryan succumb, as he drifts furtherfrom the cold realms wherein his warlike manhood wasfirst nurtured.Philology, however, affords but vague and uncertainevidence respecting the thoughts, beliefs, and ideals ofthe primitive Aryans before they left their cold northernhomes. It may be assumed that, as human beings, theyhad their own aspirations towards the ideal, and longingsfor a knowledge of the Divine. It may be held for certainthat they had not sunk their heritage as reasoningcreatures to the level of the brute instincts of the flocksthey pastured.The chilling hand of science, however, lies heavy onthose who fain would paint a brilliant sunlit backgroundto light up the simple picture of the life and homes of ourearliest historic forefathers.1 Schrader, p. 30; Rendall, " Cradle of the Aryans, ” p. 9.2 See also Max Müller, "Contributions to the Science of Mythology,"vol. i. p. xi.12 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIt has even been held that the early Aryans weredevoid of all religious ideas. Again they are declaredmerely to have " believed in a multitude of ghosts andgoblins, making offerings to the dead and seeing in thebright sky a potent deity."2Professor Max Müller, however, still contends that notonly had the Aryans, before their arrival in India, gods whowere the personified representations of the phenomena ofNature, but that they, in common with the undivided branchesof the Aryan family, had an abiding faith in deities knownas “ asuras," or " devas. " These were the gods of whom themyths were told, chief of them all being the supreme deityof the sky; for, as the same authority says: " Even themost stubborn opponents of all attempts at tracing Greekand Indian gods back to a common source seem to haveyielded an unwilling assent to the relationship betweenthe Greek Zeus-Tarip, the Vedic Dyaush-pitar, the LatinJupiter, and the Teutonic Týr." 6Yet in India in the first utterances of the Vedic Hymns,Dyaus appears merely as a designation of the visible sky,his personality as a supreme god having faded before thepurely Vedic " devās," or bright ones. According to Dr1 Otto Gruppe, " Die Griechischen Kulte und Mythen. ”p. 410.2 Sayce, p. 890, British Association ( 1887) .See Schrader,3 Max Müller, " Contributions to Science of Mythology," vol. i. p. 74.4 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 448, arguing from Lat. credo, etc. , " the idea offaith also must have been realised, " etc. See, however, Schrader, p.415.566 Many equations of names once made in the first enthusiasm of discoveryand generally accepted , have since been rejected , and very few of those thatremain, rest on a firm foundation. Dyaús-Zevs, is the only one which can besaid to be beyond the range of doubt. ” —A. A. Macdonell, " Vedic Mythology "(Grundriss) , p. 8.6 Max Müller, " Contributions to Science of Comp. Mythology," vol. ii.P. 498.7 Sans. dēvàs, Lat. deus, O. N. tivár and div. Lat. flamen, Sans.brahman-worshipping. Schrader, " Prehistoric Antiquities, ” p. 416.THE GREY DAWN MISTS 13Schrader, "the personification of the sky cannot have gonevery far in that prehistoric period , else it would be difficultto see why the meaning of ' sky ' should have got the upperhand again in later times." The Aryans, in fact, presentin their Vedic Hymns the first literary landmarks inthe history of India, and beyond those same Vedic Hymns,little can be definitely asserted as to their mythology ortheir beliefs in God or the after life.Philology can, however, tell that the Aryans came from aland where the climate was, for the most part, cold, althougha summer was known. Time was there measured by themoon; the year was lunar, unadjusted to a solar year,and time itself was computed by the night, a reminiscence of which computation still lives in the Englishfortnight and sennight.³That they had made some advance towards civilisationis clear. Copper was probably known, but it is doubtfulif iron, gold, or silver were in use.¹The people were grouped together in clans; each memberwithin the separate clans bearing, as a distinctive appellation,the name of some common ancestor or father, under whosepatriarchal authority the " sib," or clan would have remainedif he were living. The clans united together for warfare,defence, or corporate management, formed the tribe.Strangers were held as enemies, so that with them no trade.or commerce was possible. Inside the tribe, exchange¹ Schrader, " Prehistoric Antiquities, ” p. 417."That the Aryans did not come from a very southern clime has longbeen known, since they possessed common names for winter, such as Sanskrit,hima, Greek, Xepov, Latin, hiems, Old Slav. zima, Irish, gam. "-MaxMüller, " Biographies of Words, " p. 103.3 See Schrader, " Prehistoric Antiquities, " p. 311; Tacitus, " Germ. " XI.:Nec dierum numerum sed noctium computant. See Schrader, chap. vi; Sayce,British Association ( 1887 ) , p. 889.Max Müller, " Biographies of Words, " p. 180; Rendall, " Cradle of theAryans ," p. 12.Schrader, " Prehistoric Antiquities," pp. 398-9.14 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAwas carried on by barter, the standard of value being thecow. Marriage was as a rule monogamous, the bride beingpurchased from a neighbouring tribe, or captured by forcefrom a hostile tribe. On entering her new home, the wifefell absolutely under the dominion of the patriarchal headof the household. The term " daughter " may be derivedfrom a common root, which, according to one view, wouldpleasantly depict her as filling up the outlines of an idyllicpicture, as the milkmaid of the household, or, accordingto the more probable, though more prosaic, rendering,would view her as nothing more than a mere nourisherof offspring. However this may be, the husband's powerover his wife was absolute. He had the right to decideif her offspring should be allowed to live, or, in consequenceof infirmity or sex, be exposed to die. In the words ofDr Schrader, " the wife belongs to the man, body andsoul, and what she produced is his property, as much asthe calf of his cow and crop of his fields. " Philologyaffords no evidence of any matriarchate system underwhich the children and property would belong to themother, the father being a subsidiary element in the familylife.4The word " father " itself may be traced back througha series of equations which would represent him as theprotector of the family, and the word " mother "5 through aparallel series, representing her as a mere maker or fashionerof children, or, according to Sir John Lubbock and others,those very terms " Pa" and " Ma, " which denote protectionand fostering, may have been evolved from the earliest spon1 Grimm, "Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache, " p. 694; Max Müller,"Selected Essays, " I. , p. 124.2 Rendall, p. II: "The derivation from duh, ' suck, ' has rather betterphonetic warrant.3³ Schrader, p. 388.

• Max Müller, " Biographies of Words, " p. xvii.

5Schrader, p. 371; Max Müller, " Biographies of Words, " p. xvi.THE GREY DAWN MISTS 15taneous utterances of a child by mere labial or dentalsuppression ofits breath.¹In their original habitat the early Aryans were, forthe most part, pastoral, though agriculture2 was practisedto some extent. The ploughs, however, were primitiveand simple, being made of bent wood shod with stone.Seeds were sown, the cereal rye at least was grown, thereaping- hook and mill-stone were used, as was the yokefor oxen. Cows were milked; oxen drew such rudewaggons as were fashioned. Horses were kept in drovesfor milk or food, but not until Vedic and Homeric timeswere they ridden.The tribes, for the most part pastoral nomads, drove theirflocks from grazing-ground to grazing-ground, ever readyto migrate and seek more favoured pasture-lands. Theirhouses were domed, of basket-work, daubed with mud, orelse the family lived underground. Scraped skins sewntogether by bone- needles, or wool close pressed togetherand made with glutinous fat into felt, formed their clothing, while a mead made from honey was an intoxicatingbeverage to which they seem to have been addicted.Such is the main outline of the meagre skeleton whichphilology builds up of the life lived in common by theprimitive ancestors of the European peoples, and by thoseof the first Aryan invaders of India. It shows them tieddown to a neolithic primitiveness, preparing for an advanceto an Age of Bronze.At what period these Aryans entered India is unknown.' Lubbock, " Origin of Civilisation, ” p. 427; Westermarck, " History ofHuman Marriage, " p. 88.2 "When we say that the Aryas before their separation were agricultural,we mean no more than that they did not depend for their food on mere chance,but cultivated the soil and grew some kind of corn. ” —Max Müller, “ BiographiesofWords," p. 134." All the other arts which we ascribe to the Ancient Aryans, such asplaiting, sewing, spinning, weaving, must all be conceived as most simple andprimitive. "-Max Müller, " Biographies of Words, " p. 135.16 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAPride of race, and pride of birthright still hold the imagination of the pious and orthodox Brahman of to- day to thefond belief that the Vedic Hymns were a revelation frombefore all time. Even though this be considered no longerworthy of credence, yet the Brahman views, with impassiveface, the efforts of historic enquiry to pierce through themists of an antiquity he still feels to be beyond the ken ofman. To the unbiassed enquirer the period of civilisation,which witnessed the composition of the Vedic Hymns,seems to fade further into distant time, instead of, as mightbe hoped, drawing nearer to such historic dates as fall withinthe limits even of Homeric time. From 1200 to 1500 years¹before the Christian era was for long held the earliestperiod to which, with safety, the composition of the VedicHymns could be assigned. Should the latest theories, basedon astronomical data, fail to win adherents to the conclusion that the period of Vedic civilisation extended backas far as 4500 years B.C. , and the Hymns themselves to2500 B.C. , it seems daily to grow more probable that thewhole period of early Sanskrit literature must be placedat a much earlier date than that to which it has until latelybeen allotted.3Be the date what it may, it is in these Hymns that mustbe sought the evidences as to what were the hopes andideals of the times, for in them is contained all that thetribe, sib, or family of the poets who composed themdeemed worthy of being preserved as a record ofthe bestthe age knew, as a record of the literature of their race.1 Max Müller, "India: What Can It Teach Us," p. 202 ( 1500 B.C. );Kaegi, " Rig Veda, " p. 11 ( 2000 to 1500 B.C. ); Haug, " Introd. to Ait Brah. ," i. 47 ( 2400-1400 B. C. ).2 Max Müller, "Biographies of Words, " p. 153: -" Within sight of theIndus and its tributaries, the undivided South - Eastern Aryas spoke a languagemore primitive than Sanskrit or Zend, about 2000 B.C. "3 See Barth, " Ind. Ant. , " September 1894.CHAPTER III.THE EARLY BARDS.ON the first dawn of Vedic history, the Aryans appearamid the bleak mountain ranges in the north-west of India,where the Swāt, Kabul, Kumār, and Kuram rivers find theirway through unfrequent fertile valleys to the lowland plainsand land of the Five Rivers of the Panjab. These riversthe Aryans had to cross before they could set aside theirconquering arms, and, beyond the sacred Sarasvati, seekrest in the holy land of Brahmavarta,¹ thence to spreadtheir civilising mission down the rich river-valleys of theGanges and Jumna, and claim all India north of theVindhya as the abode of their race-as the renownedAryavarta. For weary centuries the tribes had journeyedon towards the rising sun, their hopes buoyed up by storiestold of the warm, sunlit plains. These once gained,no longer would the sacred and first duty of each headof a family be to nourish and cherish, as the chief greatfriend of their race, the heaven- sent Agni," the Godof Fire."Manu, " II, 17:-" Between the two divine rivers, Sarasvati and Drishadvati, lies the tract of land, which the sages have named " Brahmävarta, ”because it was frequented by gods. " -G. C. Haughton.2 Ibid. , 11 , 22:-"As far as the eastern, and as far as the westernoceans, between the two mountains, Himalaya and Vindhya, lies the tract whichthe wise have named Aryāvartā, or " abode of the learned. "B1718 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThen there would be time for peace, and rest, and sleep,and thought; for once the dark aborigines were conqueredor propitiated, to them could be allotted all manual labour.No wonder that the imagination of the Vedic poet wasstirred to its deepest depths as he stood amid the movingtimes. From the shadowed recesses of the silent forestsbordering the mountain ranges, murmuring echoes answeredback the poet's exulting song of joy and the tribesmen'sfiercer notes of warlike might. From the far- off plains therain-clouds rolled on towards the mountain passes, in blackand heaving billows, while from out them dashed the vividgleam of an Indian lightning as the thunder sent its pealsfrom mountain peak to peak. It was down in the arid,lowland plains that Indra, the God of Rain, became theAryan tribesmen's champion-the god who won theirbattles, broke open the heavenly fortresses, and let thewaters forth to cool the parched fields. It was Nature¹ thatheld spell-bound the imagination of the new-come Aryans,and it was to glorify her, and seek the aid of her powersvaguely personified as " devas," "deities," or " bright ones,"-that the Vedic poets composed their songs of praise. Ofhistory, pure and simple, the hymns tell but little. Thecomings and goings ofthe people, the trivial life of mankind,appeared but as a breath when compared to the mystery ofthe unchanging vault of Heaven, the depths of the clear,starlit nights ever soothing to rest, the sad rise and waneof the moon, the glad, red blush of the dawn as it awokeall Nature to life, the unchanging passings of the sunin its three steps across the sky, until, in the silence ofeventide, it descends towards the land of the fathers, thereto abide until it again rises towards morn over the landof the living.¹ See Regnaud, p. 64, for the theory that the adoration of Nature in Vedictimes was only an illusion produced by the phraseology, or rather by the rhetoric of the hymns.THE EARLY BARDS 19To those whose ears are not attuned to the sound of themusic that throbs through every stanza of the Vedic Hymns,the whole secret of the power they held over the hearts ofthe people will be lost. Held as sacred treasures of the race,they have been handed down from generation to generation,as all that has been deemed worthy of preservation, as thebest the age brought forth. In verses full of the sound of therush of moving waters, the poet tells, with swelling pride,the glories of the new-found land his race had come toclaim and make its own, as far as from the Sindhu orIndus in the West, away to the distant Ganges in thethen unknown East:-"Let¹now the poet, here waiting in the place ofsacrifice, tell, O rivers,your chief glories. The Rivers have come forth by seven and sevenfrom three quarters, the Sindhu surpassing all in her glory. Fromthe mountains onward towards the sea, the Sindhu hasteneth in herstrength, rushing in the path that Varuna had smoothed out; eagerfor the prize, she surpasses in the race all that run. Above the earth,even in the heavens, is heard the sound of her rolling waters; thegleam of bright light lengthens out her unending course. From themountain-side the Sindhu comes roaring like a bull, as from the cloudsthe waters rush amid the roll of thunder. The other rivers run topour their waters into thee."From both sides thou drawest on the flowing streams like to aconquering king rushing to the front, leading his following hosts.O Ganges, Jumna, Sarasvati, Sutlej, and Ravi, and you also, OAsikni, Marudvridhā, hearken O Vitastā and Ārjīkīyā with theSushomā, listen now to this my praise. Flashing, sparkling, gleaming, in her majesty the unconquerable, the most abundant of streams,beautiful as a handsome, spotted mare, the Sindhu rolls her watersover the lands." Mistress of a chariot, with noble horses richly dressed, golden,adorned, yielding nutriment, abounding in wool, youthful, gracious,she traverses a land full of sweetness. May she grant us vigour in thisstruggle; for greatly celebrated is the glory of that unconquered,illustrious, and much-lauded Sindhu.2¹ Re-translated with the aid of Muir's " Sanskrit Texts, " vol. v. p. 343;‹ƒ. R. V. , x. 75, and Max Müller, " India: What Can It Teach Us? " pp. 164-5(1892); Griffith, R.V. , p. 251.2 Muir, vol. v. p. 344.20 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIt was in the extreme north-west of India that the Aryansfirst made their homes. Thence tribes spread South as faras the junction of the Indus, with the rivers of the Panjab; ¹Yet all those who remained there, as well as all those whoformed alliances, matrimonial or political, with the aboriginalinhabitants, were held by the orthodox Aryan of later timesas impure. They were considered as having fallen from theranks of those Aryans who left the plain-land of the FiveRivers behind them, and passed onwards to the Sarasvati,Ganges and Jumna, there to rest and collect the treasuredhymns of their forefathers into what is now known as theSanhita of Vedic Hymns. Centuries, not years, representthe period of the composition of these verses, but 1017 or10282 in number, which contain 153,826 words, and now holdall that will ever be known of the past of the Aryan forefathers ofthe great priestly families of India.Of the aboriginal inhabitants whom the Aryans found inpossession ofthe land history has preserved no record. TheVedic Hymns merely mention their existence in order torevile them as Dasyus (foes), as slaves. Tothe fair- skinnedAryans these dark aborigines were no-nosed and fierce,eaters ofraw flesh, and godless. Yet oftheir forts and castlesthere is mention, and of their wealth there are clear indications, while there is ample evidence that with many ofthem the Aryans made matrimonial connections, and thatthe offspring formed a new class, considered as of more orless pure blood and social position. The Aryans, however,1 In the North, probably in Kashmir, tribes known as the Kuru-Krivis (inlater times renowned as the Panchālas) , are held to have taken up their abode;to the further West, in the valleys of the Kabul and Kuram, the tribes knownas the Gandhāra found a home; while even as far South as Sind, traditiontells of the tribe known as the Yadavas (see Baden- Powell, " Ind. Vill.Com. , " p. 97; and Zimmer, “ Alt. Ind. Leben. , " pp. 122-124).2 Max Müller, " Hibbert Lectures, " p. 153.3 See Muir, O.S.T. , vol. i. p. 174 ( ed. 1890); Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , "pp. 115-118.4 R.V., 3, 34, 9.THE EARLY BARDS 21for the most part lived as joint families, united in theirancient sibs, or clans, into settlements under a commonchief. When the clans or settlements joined together forwar or defence, they formed the tribe. The king, or “ rājā,”was elected from among the chieftains, as their chosenrepresentative, though the office soon became practicallyhereditary.By the king's side stood his priestly counterpart, the"purohita," who, by his solemn invocations and charmsof noted potency, held his position secure. On theelection of a chieftain to be king, the chosen poet of thepeople poured forth his benediction in flowing verse, such ashas been so aptly translated by Mr Griffith: 6-" Be with us; I have chosen thee; stand steadfast and immovable.Let all the people wish for thee: let not thy kingdom fall away.Be even here; fall not away: be like a mountain unremoved.Standsteadfast here like Indra's self, and hold the kingship in thygrasp .• ·Firm is the sky, and firm the earth, and steadfast also are these hills.Steadfast is all this living world, and steadfast is this king of men.· •On constant Soma let us think with constant sacrificial gift.And then may Indra make the clans bring tribute unto thee alone. "Other verses tell of the power and influence of the king's"purohita," or domestic chaplain: —"Maythis prayer of mine be successful; may the vigour and strength1 "Viś, " Schrader, pp. 399, 403.2 "Viś pati, " Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , " p. 172.3 Baden- Powell, " Ind. Vill. Com. , " p. 204 ( cf. R.V. , 2, 26, 3) , in whichthe tribe, clan, or minor clan, or connected single families held together bysome tie of descent. Robertson Smith, " Religion of the Semites, " p. 34.Jevons, " Introduction to History of Religion, " for separation of Kingly andPriestly Functions, originally united, p. 275.

• Probably, as a rule, an Atharva priest ( cf. " Yajnavalkya, " i. 312) , Bloomfield, S.B. E. , vol. 42, p. xlvi, also lviii.

6 R.V. , x. 173.22 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAbe complete, may the power be perfect, undecaying, and victorious ofthose of whom I am the priest (purohita). . . . May all those whofight against our wise and prosperous (prince) sink downward, and beprostrated. With my prayer I destroy his enemies, and raise up hisfriends. May those of whom I am the priest be sharper than an axe,sharper than fire, sharper than Indra's thunderbolt. I strengthen theirweapons; I prosper their kingdom rich in heroes. . . . Ye with thesharp arrows smite those whose bows are powerless; ye whose weaponsand arms are terrible (smite) the feeble. When discharged, fly forth,O arrow, sped by prayer. Vanquish the foes, assail, slay all the choicestof them; let not one escape." 1To their kings the people rendered obedience. Theofferings or tribute to the chosen chief were held to bevoluntary, though there are verses that liken a king unto afire that burns up the forest, in the way he sweeps up thegoods of the rich. There are also hymns, which tell howthe king sat, decked with gold and jewels, in what is describedas a palace, with a thousand pillars and a thousand doors.Headed by their chosen king or chieftain, the tribesadvanced to battle, and, as they marched, the proud song ofthe king's elected " purohita, " or poet- priest, rang in their ears.Not by the king's valour nor by his well- known heroicmight, not by the impetuous rush of the conquering tribeswas the victory to be gained. It was the incantations ofthe haughty purohita who summoned the gods to hovernear and win the day, that cheered on the clansmen andmade them sure of victory. The knowledge that the godsfought on their side, added to the war-chant of the chosenpoet-laureate, inspired the god- intoxicated enthusiasm ofall ranks alike, and held the Aryans united against theirdarker foe. The weird influence of the magic of thepriestly spell, the sound of the blast of the tempest, and the1 Muir, O.S.T. , pp. 283-4; " Atharva-veda, " 111 , 19, 1 .2 R.V. , 1 , 65, 4.3 Zimmer, "Alt. Ind. Leben. , " p. 167; R.V. , 8, 5, 38; 1 , 85 , 8; 10, 78, 1 .THE EARLY BARDS 23howl ofbattle- rage subtly mingled in the inspiring chant ofthe purohita, who proudly sings the song of war: ¹—"Increased In- is now this prayer (brahma) , the might, the power.creased the warrior sway of which I am the conquering Purohita.I lengthen out the lordly rule with heaven ascending smoke-incense,I hew asunder the foemen's arms. Let those who rage against ourmighty king sink low, with this my prayer (brahma) I vanquish allwho are not friends and raise up those near. Advance and conquer,heroes! Let now your arms be fierce. Strike down with pointed arrowsthe weak bowmen, strike with fierce weapons the powerless foe. "No translation could give the full force of these lines,changing as they do in the original from sound to sound tosuit the sense. In the last verse, calling on the tribes toadvance and conquer, the fierce passion of battle strifeseems to shake the utterances of the inspired poet, as herepeats again and again the harsh sounds which thrillthrough the last two sounding lines, calling on the Aryansto strike down the foe.Though there were kings and purohitas and sacrificialpriests (brahmans); though there were warriors and thegreat body of the people, cultivators, artisans, or dealersin articles of food, in grain or merchandise, there is noevidence that anywhere were the people tied down tothe rigidity of a caste system where a fixed hereditaryoccupation was allotted to the members.3The composers of the Vedic Hymns, or Brahmans, asthey were called, belonged to no one class or order. Heon whom the gift of song had fallen became the poetpriest. One poet tells how that, although he is a maker 41 "Atharva- veda, ” 111 , 19.2 " Pretā jayantā nara ugrā vāh santu bāhavah.Tiksnesavo abala dhanvano hata ugrā ayudhā abalān ugrabāhavah. ""Caste is a European word, but it has become so completely naturalised in India that the vagueness of its meaning seems to have reacted on the native mind. The Sanskrit word for caste is varna, literally ' colour ' or iāti,literally ' breed,' or ' kith. ' " -Max Müller, " Biographies of Words, " p. 247 ."Rig Veda," ix. 112, 3.24 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAof the hymn he sings, yet his father was a physician, whilehis mother ground grain between millstones. Every one,he says, has a different occupation and varied opinions—thecarpenter seeks something to mend, the physician someone in distress, the priest one who has an offering to make.All in the world stand waiting for wealth, even as the cowherd stands watching his cattle. The horse longs for acart that runs smoothly; those who love talking long forthose who talk; frogs long for water, and desire roamethwild after that which it desireth. In one well-known hymn,¹of which the language and tenor is modern, comparedwith the rest of the collection, the people are describedas divided into four distinctive classes.The hymn tells of the creation of all things from thesacrifice ofa fabulous monster-man, or " Purusha, " his severedlimbs giving birth to the world. As is pointed out by MrAndrew Lang, the same primitive mode of accounting forcreation is found in the Norse legend, where the earth, theseas, water, mountains, clouds, and firmament, are formedby dividing up the body of the Giant Ymir. So also in theChaldæan story a monster woman is divided in twain byBel, to form the heavens and earth. The same story runsthrough the myths of the Iroquois in North America,as well as through those of Egypt and Greece. In theVedic legend the monster Purusha has a thousand heads,a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet. So great was thisprimeval being, that he spread over the earth and yet tenfingers' breadth beyond. By the gods he was offered up insacrifice. From him sprang forth all the creatures of theair and all animals, wild or tame, also the three Vedas-the" Rig," " Saman," and " Yajur"-horses, and all creatureshaving two rows of teeth, goats, and sheep.So far the story runs close to those of other folk. The1 R. V. , x. 90.2 "Myth. Ritual and Religion, " vol. i . p. 243 .THE EARLY BARDS 25The Vedic account,Purusha also sprangThere is no escapeattempt to force anconception points back to a very early phase of thought,almost to the childhood of mankind.however, goes on to add that fromfour castes or classes of the people.from the conclusion that this is anantiquity for a modern social system by connecting it withan undeniably ancient legend. The four castes are held tohave existed from before all time. The Brahmans, as adistinct class of priests who recited the brahman, or " prayer,"are said to have been created from the mouth of Purusha;the " Rājanya, " or warriors, to have sprung from his arms; the“Vaisya, ” or main body ofthe Aryan people, agriculturists ortradesmen, were born from his thighs, while last and lowestborn were the Sūdras, the servile conquered foes, createdfrom the feet of Purusha. The Brahman priesthood werethus held to have been divinely created, according to therevealed evidence of the Vedic text, as supreme abovekings, warriors, or servile workers. All alike were madeto feel the power thus placed in the hands of theBrahmans.In the " Atharva-veda," where much more of the lifethrob of the people is felt than in the more dignifiedand stately " Rig Veda," clear evidence is given of theunrelenting vengeance of the Brahman priests towardsthose who intrigued against them or sought to take theirwealth:-"Hewho thinks the Brahman mild, ” declares one hymn,1 " and slayshim, he who reviles the gods, lusts after wealth without thought, in hisheart Indra kindles a fire; him both heaven and earth hate whilehe lives."More fierce than this is the invective poured forth"Atharva- veda, " v. 18, 5 ( Bloomfield); S.B. E. , vol. xlii; Muir, O.S.T. ,vol. i. p. 285.26 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAagainst those unbelieving oppressors of the priest whoholds the magic spell:-"The Brahman's tongue turns into a bow- string, his voice into theneck of an arrow; his windpipe, his teeth are bedaubed with holy fire;with these the Brahman strikes those who revile the gods, by meansof bows that have the strength to hurt, discharged by the gods. "“The Brahmanas have sharp arrows, are armed with missiles, thearrow which they hurl goes not in vain, pursuing him with their holyfire and their wrath, even from afar do they pierce him. " ¹The earlier Vedic Hymns show the Aryans free from allcaste restraint, priestly aggression or kingly oppression.The poet or maker of the Vedic Hymns merely calls uponthe king and people to be liberal in gifts, for those whoare liberal sink not into sin nor sorrow; they abide for everglorious, living long lives and reaping rich rewards hereafter. One poet praises the liberality of a chieftain whodwelt on the bank of the Sindhu, or Indus, from whom*one hundred horses, sixty thousand kine, eight cows,all good milkers, and one hundred necklaces had beenreceived.Between the two famed poet- priests, Vasishta andVisvamitra, of whom every Hindu household in Indiato-day holds legends, the rivalry was great to securethe favour of the renowned king Sudās, who led thewhite-robed Tritsu tribe to battle against ten other kingswho had raised the standard of revolt.3Visvamitra at length was obliged to retire before his rivalVasishta, who remained to sing the praise of his patron, theconquering Sudās. It was Vasishta who, by his mysticprayers, brought the aid of Indra to the king, and hurled66 1 S.B.E. , vol. xlii. p. 170; Muir, O.S.T. ( 1890) , p. 258, for use of wordbrahmăn, first as a sage, a poet, " next as an officiating priest, and later as aspecial description of priest, or even as " a priest by profession, " and Brahmanaas the son of a brăhmăn, denoting the hereditary transmission of the function.2 R. V. , x. 107 , 2; 7 , 33 , 6; 3 , 53 , 12.3Zimmer, "Alt. Ind. Leben. , " p. 170; R.V. , vii. 18, 23.THE EARLY BARDS 27back Visvamitra and his warlike friends the Bharatas. ToVasishta wealth and honour were poured forth; twochariots with mares were given him, along with four horsesdecked with pearls, so that the seven rivers of the Panjabmight spread abroad the liberality of Sudās. No greaterglory could the devout Aryan win than to bestow hiswealth on the tribal laureate.¹ Those who gave richgarments lived long; those who gave gold enjoyedundyingness: 2 liberality was held the best armour for awise man to wear. The coming of the rich man is awaitedwith joy by maidens gleaming in fine garments; the abodeof the liberal man is a lake of enjoyment spread with lotusleaves. The brahmăn, or maker of the prayer, became, astime rolled on and the sacrifices to the gods more frequent,complicated, and relied on, of greater importance. The"purohita," or domestic chaplain, swayed the policy of thetribe and ruled the king's thoughts. The purohita waselected from among the ranks of the poet- priests orBrahmans, who knew or had composed hymns honouredas of special merit or potency. In course of time, as theritual developed, other sacrificing priests were appointed tochant the hymns, perform the sacrifice, or assist in varioussubsidiary duties.The Brahmanas or Brahmans, sons or descendants of theearly poet-priests, were trained to hold in their family thegeneral supervision over the entire sacrificial system.Changes such as these came not until the Aryans hadadvanced far into India, and found time, leisure, andopportunity to develop the primitive system of worship oftheir deities by mystic prayers.In the early hymns of the " Rig Veda " the Aryans are,1 R.V. , 10, 107, 2.2 Amritatwam.3 For the plea raised by the Atharvan priest that from amongst them theBrahman should be chosen, see S. B. E. , vol. xlii. p . lxv,28 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfor the most part, pastoral tribes. These tribes are oftenreferred to as five in number,¹ references that, however, canhardly be taken to denote any special division of thepeople, since the word " five " is often used to express anyindefinite number. Although the pastoral habits of thetribes are often described-horses, kine, sheep and ewes 3being frequently mentioned-yet agriculture was common.Wheat and barley were sown and reaped, though, strangeto say, there is no reference to rice. Watercourses arementioned, and it seems as though they had been speciallyconstructed for the purpose of irrigation. In course oftime the Aryans allowed all direct agricultural operationsto lapse, for the greater part, into the hands of theaboriginal darker race, becoming themselves landlords andco-sharers of the lands where they found a home, thedarker races being then, as the Dravidians are to- day,skilled builders of irrigation reservoirs or " tanks," and aptin terracing sloping land for cultivation. In the Veda theplough and ploughshare are addressed as objects of Divineworship. One hymn is addressed to a deity, vaguelypersonified as the lord who presides over the fields, hebeing prayed to direct the plough straight in the furrow, or"sītā," to keep the land sweet, so that the husbandmanmay cheerfully drive the oxen with his goad.Trade was carried on by barter, and although the mediumof exchange was the cow, gold pieces are referred to, as arealso usurers, yet there was no recognised system of coinage.1 Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts ( 3rd ed. ) , vol. i. p. 177.2 Ibid. , p. 179.3 R.V. , x. 91 , 14: -" Horses, bulls, oxen and barren cows offered for sacrifice , " also (x. 89, 14) , " a place of slaughter mentioned " (Muir, vol. v. p. 463).Baden- Powell, " Ind. Vill. Com. , " p. 89:-" Whatever customs regardingland are of Aryan origin, they are the customs of a conquering race, or at leastof a race which took the superior position in everything. The tenures thatarose from their State arrangements, and their locations of Chiefs, were allessentially overlord , or at least landlord tenures."R.V. , iv. 57.THE EARLY BARDS 29Weaving and working in leather were well-known, garmentsbeing made from the wool of sheep.¹ Women are describedas well adorned, as wearing jewels, having their hair braided,and well-oiled. The white- robed tribe of the Tritsus adorntheir hair in special coils, as do also the deities, Rudraand Pushan.The raging storm-deities are described as having goldbreastplates and anklets, and as wearing gold crowns, whiletheir white horses ³ are depicted as caparisoned with goldchains and trappings.Like unto a barber shaving a beard, so fire is said toclear the stubble from the earth, while the pious pray thatthey may be sharpened even as a razor, or pair of scissorsis sharpened by a barber.It is doubtful if the early Aryans ever knew of the ocean.The seas of water they mention may have referred to thewide-stretching Indus. Ships, however, are frequentlyreferred to, and one oft-quoted incident records howTugra abandoned in the midst of the waters his sonBhujyu, who was rescued by the Aśvins in a ship with ahundred oars.5From the earliest Vedic Hymns, making all allowancesfor poetic exaggeration, a picture of social life is seen, farremoved from primitive simplicity. The Aryans, in fact,emerge on the horizon of Indian history as entering throughthe North-west Passes, in well-organised tribes, holdingtheir popular assemblies, led by renowned chieftains orkings, honouring their bards and priests, free from socialdistinction, and possessing many of the arts and refinementsof civilisation. Even physicians are mentioned, who collectherbs for the curing of diseases, magic spells being recitedwhen the herbs were applied to the patient."1 See Muir, O.S.T. , pp. 462ff.2 R. V., v. 54, II.

• Ibid. , v. 54, 11; iv. 2, 8; iv. 37, 4.

64 Ibid., viii. 4, 16; x. 142, 4.5 Muir, vol. v. 245, 465 .6 R.V., x. 97, 6.7 Ibid. , x. 97, 19.30 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIATo the Asvins laud is given, for that when, in thetime of battle, a leg was severed like a wild bird's pinion,"Straight ye gave Vispală a leg of iron that she might move whattime the conflict opened. " ¹Stranger still, the Aśvins restore the eyesight of oneblinded for his evil deeds.Other traits, however, both social and religious, are to befound, recalling faint reminiscences from a distant past.The aged 2 were left forlorn and deserted, and their propertydivided , a custom not far removed from that of the ancientGermans, where the useless father, when over sixty, waseither killed or turned to menial work by his son, who tookpossession of his property; or from that of the Romans.who threw the aged into the Tiber. The position of womanhad in many respects improved from that of the IndoGermanic period, when she was treated as a chattel, theabsolute property of her lord and master. Possibly themany hardships encountered during the long march of theAryans towards India, the losses and opposition met withfrom opposing tribes, may have given woman time andopportunity to work out her own individuality, whilst herlessened numbers must have gained for her a considerationshe would not otherwise have received. The further factthat the conquered were made slaves, must have giventhe women of the Aryan tribes a dominant position,independent of household drudgery, the full benefit ofwhich they naturally would not be slow to avail themselves.1 R.V. , i. 116 , 15.Ibid. , viii. 51 , 2; Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , " 327; R.V. , i. 70, 5:"Parting as ' twere an aged father's wealth. "3 Kaegi (note 50) , p . 112; Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , " pp. 326-328.For women being made slaves, viii. 46, 33; ix. 67, 10, 11. For wholesubject of slavery in India, see Article by W. Lee Warner, " Jour. Soc. Arts, "February 1897.THE EARLY BARDS 31Polygamy was, no doubt, common in Vedic times,yet the general custom seems to have favoured monogamy, either from necessity or from the growth of arefined sentiment.The woman who was handsome is recorded to have beenallowed to choose her own friend or lover; ¹ and the hymnwhich records the custom, states, with dry humour, that noone would object to a man carrying off the blind daughterof another.There is no evidence to show that women were in theseearly times curtailed of their freedom or confined to thesolitude of their own homes, as is the custom now in Indiaamong the respectable Hindu families, a custom primarilydue to the fear of insult from foreign conquerors. In oneVedic hymn 2 the story is told of the wrath of the wife ofIndra, whose path was obstructed by an offending demon.The goddess rails that, great as were her swelling charms,great as her joy in Indra's love, the demon had checkedher course, although she urges that it was the custom forwomen to go openly to the festival, and to the place ofsacrifice.Again the Dawn is depicted as coming forth, as womenthrong to a festal meeting, while in many cases it was thecustom for husband and wife to perform the necessarysacrifices together. Not only was this so, but one hymnto Agni is ascribed to a poetess Viśvavārā, in which sheprays the deity to maintain the well-knit bonds of wifeand husband.More suggestive of the true position held by woman inthis early period are the verses recited at the wedding ofSoma and Surya, the Moon and Sun, an idealised type ofall earthly ones. For the bride and bridegroom fortune,prosperity, and sons are besought; for the bride it is1 R.V., x. 27, 12.Ibid. v. 28.

• Ibid. , x. 86.

4 Ibid. , x. 85.32 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAprayed that she may rule over her household and bearaffection to her husband. The assembled people areprayed to bid the bride good fortune, and as the bridegroom takes her by the hand, he declares that the godshave appointed her head of his household, to share his joys,to twine her arms around him, and love him fitly, so thatthey both may reach old age together. At the thresholdof her new home the bride is bidden to enter, and bringdown a blessing on all who dwell there, so that the homemay grow full of happiness, full of joy and mirth, full ofsons and grandsons.In some respects the life in these archaic times seems tohave been not far different from that to be seen in manyparts of India to- day. One hymn¹ tells of the vintner'shouse, and of the wine- skins kept within. The Aryansthen ate flesh and drank deep.2 The intoxicating juiceofthe Soma plant was poured out at the sacrifice until itcame to be worshipped as a loved deity. The Indo- Aryans,wandering in search of new homes and gods, may wellhave cried out in the words of the Persian poet: ³—'Yesterday this Day's madness did prepareTo-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair,Drink for you know not whence you come, nor why,Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where. "Drinking, fighting, and living free, despising the darkerskinned aborigines, the Vedic Aryans, except for theirbelief in their gods and sacrifices, stand out as a race inmany points akin to the Greeks of Homeric days. Nogloomy speculations are to be found over the mysteryof the soul and terrors of an hereafter. To the Aryan,1 R. V. , i . 191 , 10.2 Ibid., viii " Ait.. 58, 11 , refers to all the gods as being intoxicated.Brāh. , " v. 11 , states that at the mid- day libation the gods are totally drunk.3 Omar Khayyam.THE EARLY BARDS 33Nature was instinct with joy, while love was bold anduntamed.Gambling in ancient, as in modern, India, was a favouritevice. One despairing gambler pours forth his lament interms which, in spite of their archaic setting, might wellfind an echo in many a modern Rajput household. Hebemoans¹ how, though his wife had never shamed him,had never blamed him, had never turned away from himor from his friends, but had been ever gentle, yet for onethrow of the dice he had for ever turned his face from her.He then continues: 2 " My mother- in-law detests me, mywife rejects me, I cannot discover what is the enjoyment ofthe gambler. Others pay court to the wife of the manwhose wealth is coveted by the impetuous dice. Yet assoon as the brown dice when they are thrown make asound, I hasten to their rendezvous like a woman to herparamour. Hooking, piercing, deceitful, vexatious, delighting to torment, the dice dispense transient gifts, and againruin the winners. They appear to the gambler coveredwith honey. They roll downward, they bound upward,having no hands, they overcome him who has. Thedestitute wife of the gambler is distressed, and so, too, isthe mother of a son who goes she knows not whither. Itvexes the gambler to see his own wife, and then to observethe wives and happy homes of others. In the morning heyokes the brown horses (the dice); by the time whenthe fire goes out he has sunk into a degraded wretch.Never play with dice, practise husbandry; rejoice in thyproperty, esteeming it sufficient. "There is no doubt evidence,³ for those who care to pursuethe subject, that women's vows were as frail in ancient1 R.V. , x. 34.

• Muir, v. 426-7.
• Pischel and Geldner, " Vedische Studien. " ( 1889-92) , for evidence of exist- ence of hetairai.

C34 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAVedic times as they are to-day, and that monogamy, theideal bond of earthly union, carried in its wake some farfrom submissive swains. Charms against rival wives,charms to hold the flickering love of man or woman, aregiven in the hymns ofthe " Atharva-veda," which evidentlygoes back in its underlying basis as far as do the hymns ofthe more stately "Rig Veda. " Bloomfield, in his recenttranslation of the Atharvan Hymns, has given a numberof these spells, some of which are said in the spellsthemselves to have travelled from distant places. One ofthese spells¹ is as follows:-" From folk belonging to allkinds of people, from the Sindhu thou hast been fetched,the very remedy for jealousy. As if a fire is burning him,as ifthe forest fire burns in various directions, this jealousyof him do thou quench, as a fire is quenched by water. "More pleasing is the love- charm for a bride and bridegroom, as translated by Griffith: 2-"Sweet are the glances of our eyes, our faces are as smooth as balm,Within thy bosom harbour me, one spirit dwell in both of us. "Another potent charm tells how to bind the love of areluctant maiden: ³-"My tongue hath honey at the tip, and sweetest honey at the root,Thou yieldest to my wish and will, and shalt be mine and only mine.My coming in is honey sweet, and honey sweet my going forth;My voice and words are sweet: I fain would be like honey in mylook.Around thee have I girt a zone of sugar-cane to banish hate.That thou may'st be in love with me, my darling, never to depart. "There are verses of the " Rig Veda " 4 which allude to the¹ A. V. , vii. 45; S.B.E. , vol. xlii . p. 107.2Ibid. , vii. 36.8 Ibid. , i. 34.R.V., iv. 19, 9; iv. 30, 16; 11 , 29, I.THE EARLY BARDS 35sons of unwedded women, sometimes to the birth ofchildren in secret shame.¹ The union of a widow in"levirate" marriage 2 with her brother-in- law, for the purposeof raising up offspring to the deceased husband, givesevidence in itself of, at least, the non- universality of theancient Aryan custom of the widow being put to deathon the decease of her husband. On death the bodyof the deceased was burned, though burial was also invogue. In one hymn it is prayed that both those whoare burned and those who are not burned may hereafter gain the perfect path, and a body such as theydesire. One hymn gives the entire funeral surroundingswhen the tribe brings forth its deceased kinsman torestore him to mother earth. Round the burial- place thefriends and relatives of the deceased assemble andcommence their wail to death.From amid the throng the cry of the bard goes forth toDeath:-"Go thou now far away, I speak to thee who seest not, and hearestnot, injure thou not our children nor our fighting men. These allstanding here are now divided from the dead. We look to dance andsong, we long to lengthen out our days. Let all here live a hundredyears. Between those living and him now dead we heap up stones; letnone advance beyond them; by this stone we now set up, let death bekept away. Let first the women not yet widowed, those with noblehusbands go hence, weeping not, strong, adorned with jewels, let themgo first towards the house. Now let the wife of the dead man arise.Let her go to the world of the living . Your husband's life is fled, youare now the widow of him who grasps your hand and leads you forth.'Take now the bow from the hand of him who lies dead. Enter, O1 Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , " p. 324.

• Deuteronomy, ii. 5 , 5; R. V. , x. 40, 2.

3 Oldenberg, "Rel. des Vedas," p. 570.4 R.V., x. 15, 14.5 Asunīti.• “ Ārohantu janayo yonim agre. "7 " Du bist die gattin dessen geworden, derjetzt deine Hand ergreift und dichaufstehen macht. ” —Oldenberg, " Rel. des Vedas, ” 575 (note).36 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAlifeless one, the mother earth, the widespread earth, soft as a maiden; inher arms rest free from sin. Let now the earth gently close around you,even as a mother gently wraps her infant child in soft robes. Let nowthe fathers keep safe thy resting- place, and let Yama, the first mortalwho passed the portals of death, prepare for thee a new abiding-place."It would be rash to affirm from this hymn that widowburning was totally unknown in Vedic times. The customwas an old one, and survived in India down to very recentdays. In the " Atharva-veda,” ¹ it is referred to as an ancientcustom, so that it will be safer 2 to accept the conclusion thatthe custom was not one belonging to the family or tribe ofthe poet who composed the Vedic Hymn. The fact, too,that the bow was taken from the hand of the deceased andgold substituted, shows an advance on the older custom,where the belongings of the dead man were burned withhim, and may tend to support the suggestion that thewidow was similarly rescued by a special rite.The one great perplexing question for all mankind—thequestion as to what becomes of man after death-stillremained to perplex the Indo- Aryan mind, if haply it mightfind some solution, and then hand on the weary quest asa heritage to occupy the subtle thought and untiring effortsof succeeding generations. Death, so far as can be learnedfrom the Vedic literature, was held to be the going-forthfrom the living of his breath, or of the thinking part, themind, which was held to reside in the heart. Yama wasthe first mortal to find the after world.Those who had done good in this world; those who had1 A.V. , xviii. 3, I.2 " Dharma purana ' als uralte sitte . ' "-Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. ,"PP. 329-31.3 11 Nicht anders steht es mit der Wittwe-sie besteigt den Scheiterhaufen, und es bedarf eines eignen rituellen Actes um sie von dort zur Weltder Lebenden zurückzuführen. "-Oldenberg, " Rel. des Vedas, " p. 587.4 For this, the asu, or physical breath, see Oldenberg, p. 525 ( note 2). For the manas, the subtle body of the Sanhhya, R.V. , x. 15, 1. See Barth for theajobhagas, x. 16, 4.THE EARLY BARDS 37performed sacrifices, been liberal, warriors or ascetic saints,gained the happy heaven where dwell Yama, the fathers ¹and the gods who have passed to the land similar to thatdescribed in the Odyssey: 2"To the plain Elysian, where light- haired Rhadamanthus doth dwell.Where restful is life and ever with men it goeth full well."There they met with Yama, who was guarded by twofour- eyed brindled dogs, with broad nostrils, Death'smessengers among men, though again the Dove is mentioned as Death's envoy. They dwell with Yama as theFathers who have again gained spirit or breath, knowingright, and returning to earth to eat the funeral oblations, towhich they are periodically summoned. These Fathers areprayed not to injure the living. It is they, who, withSoma, have stretched out the heavens and the earth, setthe stars in the firmament, and given the great light.5In this happy after-life the body of the deceased, thoughnot in the form it bore during life, takes part, and pines forraiment and nourishment, provided for it by devout sons atthe funeral oblation. So when the deceased is cremated thedeity of the Fire is besought not to consume him entirely,not to scatter his body or skin, but to give to thefathers, endowed with breath and clothed with a new body,any portion that may have been injured by bird, ant, serpentor beast of prey, fully restored.1 "Ancestor worship and the cult of the dead have no place in the Homericworld, and can have none. "-Schrader, p. 424.Avia, "Odyssey, ” x. 561.3 R. V. , x. 165, 4.A Ibid., x. 15, 1: "Asum ye iyuh " (Muir, v. 295).5 Ibid., iii. 55, 2.Ibid., viii. 48, 13.Sat. "" Sat. " Oldenberg, " Rel. des Vedas, " v. p. 529. For a later idea, seeBräh. , ” x. 4, 4, 4, where the deceased has human passions in Heaven.Bräh. , " xi. 2, 7, 33, good and evil deeds are weighed, and recompense givenaccordingly (" Sat. Brāh. , " vi. 2, 2, 27; x. 5 , 4, 15).8 R. V. x. 16, 1.38 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAThe home of the dead is said to lie at the back of thesky: it is, again, a place where there is uncreated light, aworld wherein the sun is placed; it is within the sky'sdeepest depths. Again, it is in the third firmament,³ in thethird sky, where there is joy and delight, attainment of allwishes, where one dwells immortal, and the fathers wanderas they will. Another verse tells how those, who havegiven rich offerings to the priests during life, go to thehighest heaven; those who have given gifts of horses dwellby the sun. Yet again the deceased is addressed in a hymn 5which tells the good deeds done by those who have wonthe happy shores, where a mead made from honey, or Soma,awaits those who, by their penance, have become invincibleand gained the light. There dwell warriors who in thefight have given up their bodies, and those who have onearth upheld the right.Heaven, a happy hereafter, was all that was lookedforward to by these Vedic Aryans. Throughout thehymns there is no weariness of life, no pessimism. Theday's work had to be done, a new home won with swordin hand, and there were friendly gods to cheer on thewarriors. The time had yet to come, as come it does toall, when the sword is laid aside, and man shudders atthe thought that in the fight for advance and progress hemust take his weaker brother's life, and blast all the idealswhich set peace and goodwill to all men as the prototypeof heavenly mercy.As to the future of the evil-doer and the sinful, there is1 R.V. , i . 125, 5.2Ibid. , x. 14, 7.3 R.V. , ix. 113, 9: "In the third sphere of inmost heaven, where lucidworlds are full of light " ( Griffith ) .4 Ibid. , x. 107, 2.5 Ibid. , xv. 4.6 Tapasă, "durch askese " ( Oldenberg, 534) . " Through religious abstraction " (Muir, O.S.T. , vol. v. p. 310). " By fervour " (Griffith).THE EARLY BARDS 39but faint allusion. In one verse¹ Indra and Soma areprayed to cast the wicked into the depths,2 into a darknessprofound, from which they emerge not. Again, in anotherverse, it is said that a deep place³ has been made for thosemaidens without brothers who wander about doing evil;for women who deceive their husbands, who are sinful,unrighteous, and untruthful.1 R.V. , vii. 104, 3.2 " Abyss " ( Muir, p. 312); " In den Kerker " (Oldenberg, p. 538).3 R. V. , iv. 5, 5.CHAPTER IV.THE TWILIGHT OF THE OLDER AND THE DAWN OFNEWER DEITIES.As the Aryan tribes wandered on through mountain passes,gloomy forests, and scantily cultivated river-valleys towardsthe lowland plains of India, the sacred duty of each householder was to preserve bright within his homestead theonce-kindled spark of fire. In Greece, Hestia, the goddessof the domestic hearth, had the sacred fire ever kept lightedin the Delphic Temple. Vesta had her temple at Lavinium,and there the sacred fire brought first from Troy by Æneaswas kept burning with pious care. To-day, in India, whenthe sedate Hindu awakes to feel the cold, grey dawn creepslowly through the early morning mists, he rises, and fromamid the ashes, carefully heaped together the night beforeon the household hearth, unfolds the glowing spark, andwith his palm-leaf fan kindles again the friendly fire. Nodefiling breath from his impure mouth is ever wafted onthe sacred friend of man. No Hindu, however low orfallen, would dare to extinguish a burning light by profanely blowing on it as do the foreigners.Should once the life go from the gleaming spark, and itlie cold as man lies cold in death, then the kindling sticks ofAruni wood are brought forth, one twirling piece is placed 40THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 4Iin the bored- out hollow of the other, and twirled roundso that the skilled hand of a native soon brings again tolife the sacred flame. Here to the primitive mind, untrainedin scientific terminology, is an exact type of all birth andre-creation. To- day everywhere may be seen, in householdsand by the roadside, emblems outwardly phallic in theirform, yet symbolic of the wooden implements whereby anew birth takes place, whereby something is producedwhich is endowed with a vital life. The new-born firehas a will, a potency of its own, as much as has man. Itis animated by a soul, it breathes, it goes free, rejoicing,laughing, crackling; it is a friend in the household, a friendas it rushes through the undergrowth, drives the foe fromhis hiding- places, and burns down his strongholds. It isa god resembling, more or less, in the thoughts of theperplexed observer, something which must be human,endowed with human powers and attributes, the assistanceof which must be courted, the great power of which mustbe won as an aid to the conquering Aryans. So all thephenomena of Nature become more or less vaguely personified in one form or another, and prayers, charms, andincantations are composed and sung to sway these deities,to make them more propitious and extend their aid totheir worshippers.In times of danger from increasing foes, in times ofvictory or public rejoicing, in times of drought, in timeswhen the storms burst forth, the thunder rolls, and theterror-striking lightning gleams along the clouds, burststhrough the heavens, and sends its thunderbolts to tear .with heavy crash the sobbing earth asunder, then the peopleturn to their gods, and the tribal sacrifice is made. Those ofthe tribe on whom the gift of music and of song have fallenare then called forth to carry out the sacrifice, so that thegods may be drawn near.In Vedic sacrificial times, an open space, or large thatched42 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhall was first prepared. There the sacrificial altar was setup, and the posts, to which the sacrificial victims werebound, adorned. Priests move busy to and fro amidthe scene. Seven officiating priests are named. The dutyof the Brahman, who in later ritual becomes the chief overseeing priest of the entire sacrifice, is referred to as that ofkindling the fire, and the recital of the hymns to Indra.*Three fires were the number to be prepared within thesacrificial hall. The first represented the household fire,always lighted from fire obtained by drilling one piece ofhard Aruni wood into another. It was the fire beforewhich, in the private sacrifices, each householder recitedsuch Vedic Hymns as were held in his family to havespecial potency to summon the deities, to whom chiefly theintoxicating Soma juice was offered, so that it might pleaseand exhilarate them as it did man. The second, knownas the " Southern Fire," stood to the eastward; it was kindledfrom the household fire. From the South were held tocome unclean spirits, malignant influences, and the spiritsof the departed; these the " Southern Fire " was supposedto ward off from the sacrifice held sacred to the gods alone.The third fire stood yet further to the East. It was thechief fire of the ceremony.First used and kept ready to destroy all of the offeringnot consumed by the gods, it came to be the place whenceamid the flames and incense, nourishment was waftedtowards the heavens and eager deities. Near at hand wereplaced seats of sacred grass, on which the gods were prayedto be seated, and partake of the offering. One strangerelic of bygone days was the offering of human blood.¹ R. V. i. 162, 5 ( Griffith ) , for sixteen priests.2The "Hotár, '39.66 Potár, " " Neshtar, "" Agnîdh, " " Praśāstar,” “ Adhvaryu,”and " Brahman " ( see x. 91 , 10; Haug, p. 12; " Ait. Brāh. ") .3 R.V. , x. 52, 2.♦ Oldenberg, p. 396, holds him to be the Brahmanacchamsin. Wise sonsof Brahmans are mentioned in eight hymns.THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 43Only this year the natives fled from Bombay in thousands,not for fear of the plague, but because the whisper hadgone forth that their foreign rulers had prepared a holocaust of human victims, to appease the divinity of theQueen- Empress, whose statue in Bombay had been insulted.Among the Khonds of the wild hill-tracts of Ganjam, humanvictims, purchased from the lowland traders, were untillately sacrificed, and their blood and flesh given to theearth to ensure its fertility, and increase the redness of theturmeric by its magical and physical influence.In the Vedic Hymn the story is told of how the youthSunashepa was bound as a victim to the sacrificial post,and by his supplications to the gods released from his fate.In another hymns the order of procession, when a horseis led forward to be sacrificed, is detailed. The horse itselfgoes first, then follows a cart, then a human being (martyo)succeeded by cows and troops of maidens.In the more refined Vedic Hymns there are few tracesto be found of human sacrifice, the commonest form of allsavage rites. In later days, when the details of the fullydeveloped sacrificial system were set forth in the prolixand wearisome prose manuals, it is declared that in thebeginning the sacrifice most acceptable to the gods wasman. The text then goes on to tell how, for the man ahorse was substituted , then an ox, then a sheep, then agoat, until at length it was found that the gods were mostpleased with offerings of rice and barley. Here in the¹ The evidence for this is founded on indisputable authority, and was referredto by Lord Reay in the course of remarks on Surgeon- Captain Burton Brown's Paper at the Royal Asiatic Society, on the Ruins of Dimapur " (March 1897).

• See Frazer, J.G. , " Golden Bough, " vol. i. pp. 384-390.

3 R.V. , i. 163, 8; Macdonell, J.R.A.S. ( 1895 ) , p. 960. See Oldenberg," Rel. des Vedas, " p. 365: -" Was sonst für die Existenz vedischer Menschenopfer angeführt wird, scheint mir nicht jeden Zweifel auszuschliessen. "Barth, " Rel. of India, " p. 35, for the offerings of melted butter, curdledmilk, rice, soups, and cakes, and Soma mixed with water or milk." Śat. Brāh. , ” xii. 3, 5.44 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAancient manual, is clearly set forth the gradual passing ofmankind through the early stages of primitive culture.First, they start as wild and savage hunters, then turnto pasturage, tending horses to be used for food and milk,then to taming the wilder animals, and at last settle downto agriculture, from which laborious mode of life—the mostlaborious of all save mining-they gained those habits ofperseverance and patient industry which led them onwardsto the invention of mechanical appliances.One other great offering to the deities was the intoxicatingSoma juice, squeezed from the succulent stems of a plantnow unknown in India. This offering of the Soma juicebecame in time the type of all true sacrifices.¹From the Vedic Hymns may be imagined the hall oropen space strewn with grass; the sacrificial stakes welldecorated; the trembling animals led near; the altarsbuilt and prepared; the three fires flaming upwards. TheSoma plants are standing ready in a cart, to which areharnessed two goats; the officiating attendants prepare thestraining presses and goat-hair strainer, through which thejuice drops down like glistening rain; the sacrificing priestwaits ecstatic, he is already in communion with the gods,he is indeed a god himself. The Vedic Hymns are beingmurmured or chanted, every accent, stress, and intonationcarefully marked, for the least mistake would vitiate thewhole ceremony, and bring danger to all present.The gods are invited to take their places, eat of theviands or drink the Soma juice, yet nowhere can the formsof gods be seen. There are no idols present, the time wasyet to come when the sacrificial post, well- carved andornamented, would be brought within a temple as the idolor form ofthe god, to be honoured, fed with offerings andworshipped. Who then are the gods invoked by theseearly Aryans at the domestic altar, or before the triple¹ Stevenson's " Preface to the ' Sama Veda, ' " p. vii.THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 45fires? Each god has his defined rank, each has his allottedritual. In the mind of the Vedic priest there was no haziness as to the god he adored.¹ Yet the gods all moveto and fro, so far as the hymns depict them, in nebulousanthropomorphic forms. The singer, as he recites the praiseof each god in turn, lauds and exaggerates the attributesof the deity he carries for the moment before him in hisimagination. The deity at its highest is some personifiedphenomenon of Nature. It is addressed as if it were manlike, endowed with human will and potency, yet in themystic utterances of the poet, it never assumes the objectivereality, with which it would have been endowed by aSemitic or Greek dramatic genius.So indistinct is the delineation of the gods, as fashionedby the Vedic poet, that Professor Max Müller, with allhis vivid imagination, has but been able to trace theshadowy forms of various gods, each rising in turn to besupreme and highest god.First of all the gods is Fire, or " Agni." He is the greatloved god ofthe Aryans, to whom the opening hymn oftheVedas is addressed as the deity praised by new poets aswell as by old. Yet though Agni is father of all the gods,he is but a younger deity, for originally Fire merely consumed the offerings left from the repast of the other gods;so he is son to all the other gods, and had no part in thedrinking of the Soma juice. Thrice born was Agni.From the heavens he fell to earth as lightning, on earth heis produced by the rubbing of the firesticks, in the water 5also he finds his birth as lightning in the clouds, or assprung from the wood which holds water as its essence.1 Oldenberg, "Rel. des Vedas , " p. 101 (note 1).

• Max Müller, " India: What Can it Teach Us, " p. 147 .

3 Oldenberg, p. 104.Muir, vol. v. p. 221; Oldenberg, p. 44; R.V. , vii . 1; iii . 13 , 4.5 Oldenberg, p. 108.6 Ibid. , p. 114.46LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAHe finds his place in the three sacrificial fires, ¹ and at thedomestic hearth he is worshipped three times a day by allHindus. Strong when born he never ages, he neversleeps, he is ever beautiful, he has ruddy limbs, yet he isnot to be touched for his locks are flames. He is theguest in every dwelling; he is the bearer of messages; hisears are ever listening, he carries the sacrificial food to thegods. He is the charioteer of the worshipper. As he goeson his way, rich in splendour, and adorned with gold andglittering ornaments, he carries his banner of smoke andhis flames of war, " like the roaring waves of the Sindhu. ” 7His black trail is to be seen in the brushwood; he is nevertired and ever greedy; when the butter is poured over himhis back shines like that of an anointed youth who runs arace. His jaws are fiery, his strength is as that of a bull,he breaks down the stronghold of the Dāsa foe. To winhis aid " wise men fashion forth spells," 10 for " he upholdsthe sky by his efficacious spells." To him " three hundredgods, and three thousand and thirty more did honour. " "1As the poet composes his best song he prays: " May thiswell-composed prayer, O Agni, be more welcome than abadly composed one. " 12 It is Agni who protects the man whospeaks the right and the truth.13 To Agni the sinner prays:-"Whatever sin, O youngest god, we have committed against theein thoughtlessness, men as we are make thou us sinless before Aditi;release us from guilt on all sides, O Agni. " 141 R.V. , v. 3 , 1.4 R.V. , ii. 10, 5.6 Ibid., v. 4, 5.(Griffith).2 Ibid., iv. 7, 10.5 Ibid. , i. 141 , 8.3 Ibid. , i. 143, 3."As dear house friend, guest welcome in the dwelling "7 lbid. , v. 44, 12 (tr. Oldenberg, p. 38).8 See Pischel, " Vedische Studien. , " vol. i . p. 151.9 R. V. , iii. 12, 6.1º Ibid. , i. 67, 4.11 Ibid. , iii. 9, 9; x. 52 , 6.12 Oldenberg, S.B. E. , vol . xlvi . p. 142.13 46' Rita, " S. B. E. , vol. xlvi . p. 316; R. V. , iv. 2.14 R. V. , iv. 12, 4 (tr. Oldenberg, S. B.E., vol. xlvi. ).THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 47Agni is four-eyed; he watches his worshippers on allsides; he accepts the praise of the poor; to him theprayer goes up:—And again-"Have mercy upon us; thou art great ." 2"Forgive, O Agni, this our fault, look graciously on the way which we have wandered from afar." 34He is prayed to carry the sacrifice to the gods, " for whenever we sacrifice constantly to this or to that god, to thee alonethe sacrificial food is offered." He flames forth against allthose who are wicked , and against all sorcerers. He drivesaway sickness, and ever stays near his worshippers as afather stays near to a son; and he is chief of all theclans.He is the god, indistinct, and clothed in all the subjective mysticism of his worshippers, who is prayed to cometo the sacrifice, and take his place on the sacred grassamong the gods as Hotar, Priest and Purohit, and giver oftreasure.Such are the Vedic gods of whom it may be said, in thechastened language of Andrew Lang: " The lights ofritualistic dogma, and of pantheistic and mystic and poeticemotion, fall in turn like the changeful hues of sunset, onfigures as melting and shifting as the clouds of sunset. "In such forms the gods everywhere crowd through thethree regions and hover round the altars. Some, abstractconceptions, such as Wrath, Faith, Speed, and Abundance; others, the personifications of active agencies,1 R.V. , i. 31 , 13.

Oldenberg, i. 36, 12; S. B. E. , vol. xlv. 1.

3 R. V. , i. 31 , 16; S.B.E. , vol. xlvi.4 Oldenberg, i. 26, 6; S.B.E., vol. xlvi.5 R.V. , i. 12, 5; S.B.E. , vol. xlvi."Myth. Ritual and Religion, " vol. i . p. 161 .7 Macdonell, J.R.A.S. ( 1895 ) , p. 948.48LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAas Tvashtar, the lord who forms all things, who fashionsthe sun in the heavens and the child in the mother; Pushan,the Guide, who shows the path ofdeath to the sacrificer; andSavitar, the Quickener or Inspirer, who with his raised armsholds forth his blessing and giveth hope to all. Brihaspatior Brahmanaspati, the lord of the Brăhmăn, or “prayer,” takesshape and form as does Prajapati, the lord of all creatures,for "the image of the Creator floats hazily among others inthe great, grey, shapeless mist which surrounds the world ofcreation. "3As the imagination strives to pierce through the mists,and form out one by one the Vedic gods, a figure glidesgently out from amid the rest, rising, clothed in garmentsof purest light, as the loved maiden-goddess, the gleamingbride, the Dawn. As she draws near, the youth withruddy limbs and locks of flame, grows pale and fades away,while the dark Night rises to make place for her loved sister,the glowing ever-welcome light, the first- born daughter ofthe Sky. Seated on her car she cometh; ruddy horsesspeed her over the land of her worshippers. At hercoming the birds fly up from their nests, and man risesfrom sleep to gaze in solemn wonder at the fair goddesswho steals forth as a dancer, never resting, her breastsbared, her garments adorned, for he remembereth how-"All those who watched for thee of oldAre gone, and now ' tis we who gazeOn thy approach; in future daysShall other men thy beams behold. "With the Dawn rise two horsem*n, the Aśvins, her twinbrothers or husbands, sons of Dyaus. They are everinseparable, like to the Dioscuri, sons of Zeus, who in1 Wallis, "Cosmology of the Veda, " p. 9.Macdonell, J. R.A.S. ( 1895 ) , p. 951; R.V. , i . 95, 7.3 Oldenberg, " Buddha, ” p. 22.4

• Hopkins, "Rel. of India, " P. 80.

THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 49Attica freed their sister Helena from Theseus. They yetdwell ever apart; they are wonder- workers,¹ of " goldenbrilliancy." Swift as young falcons, wearing lotus garlands,their chariot is triple- wheeled and threefold in its parts,with golden reins and drawn by swift-flying birds.2 TheAsvins are the physicians of the gods, bringing health toall: they are the friends of all lovers. Yet so indistinctlydo they loom in their forms and attributes, that they havebeen held to be the morning and evening star, and yetagain the blending light and darkness of morning dawn, orelse the Heaven and Earth, the Sun and Moon, or Day andNight.5Before Surya, the Sun-god, who supports the sky evenas truth supports or upholds the earth, who springs fromAurora, his mother, and speeds forth on his chariot, drawnby seven swift steeds, the Dawn fades away:-"But closely by the amorous Sun,Pursued and vanquished in the race,Thou soon art locked in his embrace,And with him blendest into one."7It is as Savitar, the Quickener, the Inspirer, that the Sun"stands forth as the golden deity, yellow-haired, surroundedby a golden lustre, and with upraised arms holds forthblessings and hope to his worshippers." As he arises thechant bursts forth:-1 R. V. , viii. 5.

• Muir, vol. v. p. 241.

8 Ibid.4 Oldenberg, " Rel. des Vedas, " p. 213.Macdonell, J.R.A.S. ( 1895) , p. 953, et seq.; Muir, vol. v. p. 234.R.V., iii. 61 , 4; vii. 63, 3; Hopkins, " Rel. of India, ” p. 42.7 Muir, vol. v. p. 196.Macdonell, J.R.A.S. ( 1895 ) , p. 951 .9 Muir, vol. v. pp. 162, 163.Ꭰ50 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA"Uprisen is Savitar, this god to quicken, Priest who neglects notthis most constant duty.To the gods, verily, he gives rich treasure, and blesses him who callsthem to the banquet.Having gone up on high, the God, broad-handed, spreads his armswidely forth that all may mark him.Even the waters bend them to his service; even this wind rests in thecircling regions. " 1In later mythology the solar deity emerges from thebrotherhood of all the Vedic gods as Vishnu, the preserving god of the world, who moves in three steps over theuniverse,2 bearing in his hand as symbol of his origin thesolar disc, and having by his side the heavenly bird,Garuda.So Rudra, the bearer ofthe thunderbolt and father of the"Maruts " or Storm-gods, arising clear from the seething fluxof changing thought, lives to-day in Indian worship as thedread god, Śiva, the " Auspicious," the potential Destroyerofthe Universe. In Vedic times he was the demon bred inforests and in mountains, bearer of his dreaded message offever and disease. *From around the altars of the Vedic Aryans older deitiespass away and are forgotten; for them hymns are no morefashioned. Newer deities inspire the poets ' praise asfulfilling new functions in the course ofthe people's changing life. Dyaus, the Sky, the Father of the Silent Heavens,and Mother Earth herself early vanish from the scene. Soalso Trita sinks to rest, while the great encompassing Sky,1 Griffith, R. V. , ii . 38; i. 2.2 Macdonell, J.R.A.S. ( 1895 ) , pp. 170, et seq. Oldenberg (" Rel. desVedas," p. 228) holds Vishnu to be the vast wideness of space, and names him the "Wanderer. " Macdonell (J. R.A.S. , 1895 ) holds his three steps tobe in air and earth, and the last leading to his dwelling- place in Heaven.38 lbid. , p. 957.4 Oldenberg, “ Rel. des Vedas, ” p. 223: —“ Auf Berge und Wälder sowieseine schädliche krankheitbringende Macht begründet zu sein. "THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 51the ancient Varuna,¹ the Avestan Ahura Mazda, gives placeas a popular deity to Indra, as the Sun-god Mitra, theAvestan Mithra, does to Savitar. Even the hymns to theDawn pale before those to Agni and Soma when firebecame the symbol of sacerdotal power, and Soma thepersonified deity of the intoxicating beverage from whencethe seers derived their inspiration.Yet Varuna was the deity who rose nearest to the heightsof monotheistic greatness as sole ruler of the universe. Itwas he who by his magic measured out the earth with thesun, and he was the god who saw into the hearts of all,knowing the guilty as they came trembling before him toconfess their guilt:—" If we have sinned against the man who loves us, have ever wrongeda brother, friend or comrade, the neighbour ever with us, ora strangerO Varuna, remove from us the trespass. If we as gamesters cheat atplay, have cheated, done wrong unwittingly or sinned of purposeCast all these sins away like loosened fetters, and Varuna, let us bethine own beloved. "The poet prays to Varuna to forgive man for the lawsbroken day by day. He seeks to bind the deity with a newsong, as he wails sadly in soft, pleading tones, the full senseof which lies only in the sound of the Sanskrit:-“ Parā hi me vimanyavah patanti vasya ishtaye.Vayo no vasantir upa."No translation can give the full throb which beatsthroughout the lines. Like all the rest of the Vedic Hymns1 Hopkins, " Rel. of India, " pp. 71 , 72. The equation Varuna (Oupavos)is not accepted by Oldenberg; but see Macdonell, J.R.A.S. ( 1894 ) , p. 528;also Grundriss, d. I.-A. Philologie u. Altertumskunde, " Vedic Mythology, "A. A. Macdonell ( 1897):-" The equation, though presenting phonetic difficulties, seems possible; " also Barth, " Rel. of India, " p. 17.2 Griffith, R.V. , v. 85, 7, 8.52 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe meaning alone can be given:-" Yet my wearied mindturns only to thoughts of gaining wealth, even as a birdflies to its resting- place." But the beauty and spiritof the Vedic Hymns can only be known or judgedwhen heard recited in the land of their birth. Thepoet having in the above lines attuned the sound of hisverses to the lament of his soul over its own impotentstrivings to reach the ideals he had ever set before him,again bursts forth in a triumphant peal of ringing melody,skilfully designed to echo forth the glory of the god onwhom all efforts of man depend: —"Kadā Kshatra sriyam narramā Varunam Karamahe,Mrilikaya urucakshasam . "("When shall we turn him the Lord of Strength, the Hero,the Beholder of All, the god Varuna. ")Or as the same idea is expressed later on in the translations, so often here chosen for the fidelity with which theyexpress the sense of the original:-"Thou, O wise god, art Lord of all, thou art the king of earth and heaven:Hear, as thou goest on thy way.'" 1The great heroic deity of the conquering Aryans was notthe passive Varuna, the judge of good and evil, the god who,with his gentler attributes toned down by philosophic refinements, escaped the vulgar gaze; it was Indra, the god ofbattle and of storm, the Soma-drinking boon-companion ofrough-and-ready warriors. Indra rose to power when theDasyu foes had to be driven from their stronghold, whenthe Aryans settled in the lowland plain, and prayed for theThunderer to sound throughout the heavens, and bring therain- clouds near. When the lands were parched, and the1 Griffith, R. V. , i . 25, 20.THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 53cattle driven to the forest-clad mountains there to graze—asthey are to-day in India in all villages during the long, hotweather, or when famine rages-the people longed to seethe coming of the rain, and watch with glad joy the herdsmen drive back again their well- fed herds. Indra was thegreat deity who slew the dreaded Drought Sushmā, whichheld back the light and waters. In heaven and on earth,¹the combat raged. The Pānis were the robber chieftains,who held the clouds, or cows, deep hidden in the cave,where Vala, the Demon of the Cave, had concealed them,and Śaramā was the messenger sent by Indra to demandtheir release. As the combat rages, and the sacrificingpriests call on Indra to take his seat before the altar andquaff the invigorating Soma juice, there grows to life noclear figure of this great deity. If Indra be sought amid theassembled throng of Vedic deities, the first clue to hisidentity is his great thirst. How much more is typicalof Indra, as distinguished from the other gods, so that hemight be painted as a dramatic figure of life-like interest,would be hard to say. So when Saramā gives her messageto the Pānis, with doubting laughter they reply:-"Who is he? What does he look like, this Indra,Whose herald you have hastened such a distance,Let him come here, we'll strike a friendship with him,He can become the herdsman of our cattle. " 3In his hand Indra carries the flaming lightning; he isseated upon a golden chariot, and by his side the Stormgods, or " Maruts," ride through the heavens, with all therush and fury oftempests. As he advances to slay Sushmathe Drought, and Ahi the Snake, and Vritra the Demon,1 Oldenberg, "Rel. des Vedas, " p. 151.2 For connection of Paris with the Pānis, etc. , see Oscar Meyer, " QuæstionesHomerica " ( 1867) , p. 10, et seq.; also Kaegi, “ Veda, ” p. 137.³ Kaegi, p. 42 tr. of x. 108, 3.54 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhe shines with all the beauty of the dawn, with all theglory of the sun; he " speaks in thunder; "¹ he " gleamslike the lightning ":-"Yet not one form alone he bears,But various shapes of glory wears,His aspect changing at his will,Transmuted, yet resplendent still. "By the side of Indra hasten the Maruts, with phantom,anthropomorphic shapes as created in the lyric effusions ofthe Vedic Soma- inspired bards.The cracking of their whips is heard as they advance tothe hall of sacrifice. The earth trembles as the roll of theirchariot wheels is heard; they drive spotted deer, with a redone for leader. They are slayers of demons, tall and manlylike unto giants. They are seven, thrice seven, and againthrice sixty in number. They are born from the clouds,and Rudra was their father. They are like wild elephantswho eat up the forests, yet they are handsome like gazelles,and the golden tyres of their chariot gleam as they glidedown to take their seats before the sacrificial altar anddrink the Soma juice. They have golden helmets on theirheads, golden daggers in their hands, golden chains ontheir breasts, quivers on their shoulders and glitteringgarments. To few is their birth known; it is a secret,possessed, perhaps, only by the wise. They are prayed togrant strong sons to their worshippers, and to lead the wayacross the waters towards new lands, to be won by theirconquering aid. The Soma juice they drink was the loveddrink of all the deities and of men. As its drops fall to theground, pressed forth from the straining pans by the gold1 Hopkins, "Rel. of India, " p. 92.2 "" Muir, Metrical Sketch of Indra, " vol. v. p. , 129.8 R.V. , i. 64, 2.4 Hopkins, " Rel. of India, " p. 98.5 R.V., vii. 56, 2, 4: —“ Verily no one knoweth whence they sprang: theyand they only, know each other's birth " (Griffith).THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 55adorned hands of the sacrificial priests, it fell to earth likethe glistening rain, and so was held to induce the cloudsto shed their moisture by the sympathetic magic of itscharm, just as in our later days the frame of man issupposed to fade when his waxen image was placed beforea fire and melted away. The mystery of the Soma plantmay never be disclosed. No one knows whence it came; ¹no one knows truly how the intoxicating juice wasfermented and prepared, although the great Soma sacrifices are asserted to be still occasionally performed inIndia, as are other great fortnightly and four- monthlyofferings before the three sacred fires. As on earth theSoma juice was poured forth, so was it in the heavens, wherethe gods themselves were supposed to sacrifice. The yellowmoon, the reservoir of the dew, was held to be the sourceof the heavenly Soma juice, and as such to represent theearthly Soma. Yet in the Vedic Hymns this is a secretknown only to the wise, so the identification of the Somawiththe moon, alluded to in the later hymns, can hardly betaken to signify that the moon, and not the earthly Somaplant, personified as a deity, was the centre of the Vedicworship.5Each poet as he sang the praises of his favoured deitystrove in his song to magnify its attributes. To him themain conception of each deity was determined and defined,yet its glory was enhanced byascribing to it universal powers,and giving to it praises, couched in sounding words andsentences, applied equally to it and all the other deities.The entire worship is pervaded by a common and early1 Max Müller, " Biographies ofWords, " p. 234 , for a suggestion that "hopsand soma " were one and the same thing ( Academy, 1885) .2 See Bhandarkar, " Ind. Ant. " ( 1874 ), p. 132.3 Hillebrandt, "Vedische Mythologie, ” vol. i.4 R.V. , x. 85, 3.5 Oldenberg, " Rel. des Vedas, " pp. 599-612 .56LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIApantheistic phase of thought. Nature in all its phenomenawas held to be endowed with soul life.With patient strife and long pondering the poets strove topierce the secret of the Universe, tear from the moaningtempests the message they bore, catch the whispered voicesthat stole, as the evening fell, through the deepening stillness of the forest:-"Goddess of wild and forest who seemest to vanish from the sight,How is it thou seekest not the village? Art thou afraid?Here one is calling to the cows, another there has felled a tree.At eve the dweller in the wood fancies that somebody hathscreamed. " 1This is Nature worship; the expression of the vagueunaided intuitions of the soul as it seeks for some solutionof that which lies beneath the reality of things. It isexpressed throughout the stately Vedic Hymns, the earliestrecorded answer of man, in rhythmic lines, which wail to usstill, with all their echoing charm of solemn and majesticresonance.To these poet- priests Nature had indeed manifestedherselfin all her solemnity, in all her glory and beauty, sothat their voices burst forth in poetic raptures over theirnew deities, and such of their old as had come to dwellin the new-found homes, with renewed brightness andvigour.Old deities fade away amid the moving times; the formsof others become more clear, while the faint outlines ofgods, such as Rudra and Vishnu, loom but barely recognisable as the prototypes of those personifications ofDestruction and Preservation, now worshipped everywherein Hindu India. At times, as the fervour of some singerbursts forth in the vague raptures of his Soma- inspiredsong, it seems as if the many gods were about to blend into1 Griffith, R. V. , x. 146, 1-4.THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 57the conception of one supreme god who for a time stands.forth as sole deity.66Thus one hymn tells howThey call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and he is the heavenlywinged Garutmān.To what is one, the Sages give many a title, they call it Agni, YamaMatarisvan." 1And again when the question is asked"What pathway leadeth to the gods? Who knoweth this of a truth,and who will now declare it? "2The answer quickly comes back: 3 ." One All is Lord of what is fixed, and moving, that walk, that flies,this multiform creation. "Yet soon the soul's triumph dies away in the moan ofdespair, as the Hymns declare that all the gods are unreal,that the Universe must have existed before the gods, orany of the gods arose from out the mundane darkness, thatstill the weary search remains to find " kasmai devāyahavishā vidhema " (" to what god shall we now offer oursacrifices >").,So in vague and mysterious fancies the thought of thepoet wandered. Hymns there are which peal with thesound of fiercest battle-strife; others which tell in softerstrains ofthe daily life of the people; others which echo withthe triumphant note of some new-born prophet who, in hislofty pride, declares the will of the gods and the secret ofthis and the after-life.1 Griffith, R.V. , i. 164, 46.2 Ibid. , iii. 54, 5 (Griffith's translation).3 Wallis, "Cosmology of the Veda,” p. 51 .4 Muir, R.V., x. 121 , 1; vol. iv. pp. 15, 16.5 Barth, "Rel. of India, " p. 28.58 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAFrom the Vedic Hymns of these Indo- Aryans, proudin their intellectual power and subduing strength overalien foes, glorying in their conquests, standing on thethreshold of creating a philosophy which, in its metaphysicalsubtleties, has seen as deep, though perhaps not so clear,as any Western philosophies, there arises the sad wail, setto sadder music, of the soul's lament over the defeat ofhuman hopes to pierce the secret of the Omniscientand Omnipotent Cause, which existed from before alltime:-"Then there was not Being, and Non- Being there was not; there wasnot Air, nor yet beyond that Sky.What covered all? What held all safe?Where was the deep abyss of waters?There was not Death, and Non- Death there was not, and changeneither of Day nor Night.One alone then breathed, calm and self- contained, naught else beyondnor other.Darkness first was hid in darkness, all this was one Universeunseen.What lay void and wrapt in darkness, that by fervour grew.Desire then in the beginning arose, the first germ of the mind.The bond ' twixt Non- Being and Being, as knowledge wise men findhid in their hearts.The Bond that knit all things, was it below or up above?First source of life sprang forth, and all was heaving unrest.Who knows this? Who can here tell whence all this issued forth?The gods themselves came afterwards,Who then knows whence it all became?Who knows it all, if it was made or not?He who rules it all in the highest realms, He indeed knows, orperchance He knows it not. "The gods were but created in mobile anthropomorphicform out of the lyric raptures of the poet's heart. Nonesprings to birth instinct with the same dramatic realitywith which the genius of a Hebrew prophet, a Homer, anEschylus or Sophocles would have endowed their fancies.THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 59It was the mystic ecstatic song, often poured forth underthe influence of the intoxicating Soma juice, just as theDelphic oracles were declared by the priestess " maddenedby mephitic vapours," ¹ that, for weal or woe, held sway overthe imagination of the people, who deemed that the crywent forth with power to influence even the gods themselves.The poet-priest was held to be in actual communion withthe deity invoked. The Hymns were considered as prayers,which not only swayed the deities and held them bound,but compelled them, when strengthened and invigoratedby the sacrificial food, to hearken to the people's call, anddo their bidding. Without the prayer the sacrifice was invain.2 The prayer, the brahman (neuter) had to be intonedwith exact precision by the brāhman (masc. ) , or offerer ofthe prayer; one word wrongly pronounced or misplacedwould vitiate its whole magic influence. The prayer couldbe offered by any who knew, or who composed the spell, forthough sons and descendants (brāhmanas) of brahmans arementioned, it is not until later times that the Brahmansbecame a hereditary and professional class of overseeingpriests. So words, when poured forth, either in the rhapsodies of a Delphic oracle; in the wild broken accents ofa savage chieftain, who sacrifices all to emotion, that hemay raise his tribesmen's untamed instincts; in the mysticeffusions of a Vedic seer; or in the chastened utterancesof an absolute poet, where the forms assimilate more andmore to the " concrete and artistic expression of the humanmind in emotional and rhythmical language,"³ will everensure to him who holds the divine gift of poetry andeloquence, a certain power over the emotions and thoughts.of man.¹G. L. Dickenson, "The Greek View of Life," p. 29.

• Muir, vol. i. ( 1878) , p . 241; vol. iii. pp. 128-144; R.V. , x. 105, 8.

"Encyclopædia Britannica " (Poetry).60 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIn the Vedic Hymns themselves, Speech becamepersonified as the goddess Vac, who declares of herself: 1-" I am the greatest of all deities. I am the Queen, the first of allthose worthy of worship. I am she to whom the gods havegiven many places, set in many homes, and sent for abroad. Hewho hears and breathes, who listens to the spoken word, eatsfood. They know me not, and yet live near.Let the wise manhear. I tell that which is to be believed.I sing myselfthe truth dear to gods and men,Whom I love I make mighty, I make him a Brāhman, Seer andWise.I for Rudra bend the bow, so that the arrow may pierce the hater ofthe hymn.I make the people join together, I have entered both Heaven and Earth.I have revealed the heavens to its inmost depths, I dwell in waters and in sea,Over all I stand, reaching by my mystic power to the height beyond.I also breathe out like the wind, I first of all living things.Beyond the heavens and this earth here, I have come to this greatpower. "One more hymn to Vac, or " Speech," declares that whenshe was first sent forth, all that was hidden, all that wasbest and highest, became disclosed through love. Throughsacrifice Speech was sought out and found, yet thoughsome looked, they saw her not, and though some listened,they heard her not; her beauty she keeps closed, as theloving wife shows hers but to her lord alone. He wandersabout in vain delusion who knows not the flower and fruitof Speech.With the conscious pride and haughty tone of a nationwhich has won its way to victory, these vague guesses1 R. V., x. 125.2 In the " Sat. Brāh. ," Vac becomes " the mother of the Vedas " (iii.8, 8, 5).THE OLDER AND NEWER DEITIES 61swell in solemn resonance through the stately periods ofthe Vedic Hymns: yet, under- lying all is no uncertainsound of the sad wail that ever and again murmurs fromthe seer's soul, declaring that man's proud answers butmock at its yearning cry to know the invisible, the unbound. The true end of the struggle is found in the oneverse handed down from Vedic times, and murmured byallorthodox Hindus of to-day, as they wake to find the realityof the world rise up around them, and still know thatbeyond the reality is that which they still yearn to know.Like all the best of Vedic Hymns, this hymn, known as the"Gayatri," has its form in its sound, and therefore remainsuntranslatable in words, even as does music which rouses,soothes, and satisfies in its passing moods. It still holds itssway over the millions who daily repeat it, as it also heldentranced the religious fervour of countless millions in thepast. The birthright of the twice-born was to hearwhispered in their ear by their spiritual preceptors thissacred prayer of India:-" Om.¹ Tat Savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahidhiyo yo nah pracodayāt. " 2Once heard in the land of its own birth, once learnedfrom the lips of those whose proudest boast is that theycan trace back their descent from the poets who firstcaught the music which it holds in every syllable,it rings for ever after as India's noblest tribute to theDivine, as an acknowledgment of submissive resignation to the decrees which bid man keep his soul inpatience until the day dawns when all things shall berevealed.1 The syllable is a syllable of permission, for whenever we permit anythingwe say, om, " yes. " " Taitt. Brāh. , " ii. p. 1 .

• Let us meditate on the to-be- longed- for light of the Inspirer; may it incite all our efforts.

62 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAAs the life of the nation is traced in its literature, it will befound that, down to the present day, the ceaseless cry, firstheard in Vedic times, has ever since sent its echo downthrough the ages, so that now it sounds as clear as it didwhen first moaned sadly forth-"To what god shall we now offer up our sacrifice? " ¹¹ R.V. , x. 12, 1; Muir, vol. iv. pp. 11, 16.CHAPTER V.BRAHMANISM.FROM the arid mountains and the intervening fertilevalleys lying to the north-west of India, the Aryans slowlymade their way down to the plains of India. Along therivers and close to the mountains they formed their settlements, even as far South as Sind on the lower Indus Valley,sometimes engaging in conflict, sometimes forming allianceswith the ruder races. In the Vedic Hymns those whoopposed the new-comers are described as demons andgoblins. It was the god, Indra, who conquered thoseslaves, as they are also called, and who gave their land tothe Aryan tribes. To the Aryans, these dark, flat- nosedaborigines were without sacrificial rites or gods; theywere revilers and despisers of Indra, haters of brahman, or"prayer"; they were fierce foes and cannibals.¹ The colour,or " varna " of the aborigines, their " black skins " 2 becamethe sign of servitude, and Indra was prayed to drive it faraway from the sight of the fair- skinned invaders. Thereare no valid grounds for holding that the dark-complexioned and broad-nosed people, whom the Aryans.1 R.V., x. 87, 2 ff.2 Muir, ii. p. 391; R.V. , ix. 41 , 1; i. 130, 8.⁹ Risley, "Tribes and Castes of Bengal, " vol. i . ( Preface), p. 32.6364LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAfound in possession of the river- valleys, and cultivating thecleared lands on the forest sides, differed in essentialcharacteristics or in the fundamental framework of theirsocial relationships, from the present Dravidian races ofIndia.At the present day the process whereby the rudeaborigines who inhabit the highlands of Central India, theforest tracks above the eastern and western ghāts, and theslopes of the more important mountain ranges, graduallyreceive the impress of civilisation from settlers whoimmigrate from the lowland tracts¹ can be clearly traced,and it cannot be far different from that of Vedic times.All traces of social intercourse with the darker races havein the Vedic Hymns been eliminated perhaps by the vanityof the early Aryan immigrants.In the later literature evidence is everywhere forthcoming to show how a compromise was made between themore advanced religious notions of the Aryans and themore primitive cults of the earlier inhabitants.2 Τοdiscriminate now in how far the religious practices ofmodern Hinduism have been derived from the elementsintroduced by the Aryan invaders, and how much is anaccretion from the savage rites of the more primitiveaborigines, would be a task leading to but slight profitableresults, except, perhaps, to the augmentation of thereputation of the enquirer for ingenuity. Even in thesimple question as to the social position assumed by theAryans among the earlier inhabitants, the evidence isequally evasive and delusive.In North India of the present day, where the Aryaninfluence is more strongly marked than in the South, those1 Hewitt, " Ruling Races of Prehistoric Times, " p. 46.2 For phallic worship, the " śiśna deva " of R.V. , x. 27, 19; x. 99, 3; vii. 21,5, see Hewitt, p. 207, and Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , ” p. 116; also Muir,vol. ii. p. 391.BRAHMANISM 652races who approach most to the typical Aryan type arefound to be in landlord ¹ possession of the villages, or tohold the land in joint- partnership, or under a late developedsystem of joint- family ownership, the actual cultivation.of the soil being relegated to the dark- skinned folk. Inthe South of India, where the Aryan infusion is of arelatively late date, the land remains, for the greater part, inthe hands ofthe Dravidian people, who themselves own itand cultivate it, acknowledging no over-right except thatof the ruling power, to exact its share of the produce inexchange for its protecting rule.There are evidences that even in the Vedic times theaborigines had attained to a considerable degree of materialcivilisation.The Sambara, a race living amid the mountains, againstwhom the Aryan chieftain, Divodāsa, father of the renowned Tritsu king, Sudās, waged many a war, are said tohave possessed castles of stone, one hundred in number.³Against the cities and castles of these Śambara the Aryansadvanced again and again, until Indra came to the aid ofhis chosen people, and broke in pieces the iron strongholdsofthe aboriginal foes with his thunderbolts. The Hymnstell how it was to gain the land and cows5 of these foes thatthe Aryans advanced with their horses and chariots, andmore striking evidence still of the wealth of the aborigines1 The whole subject has been treated by Hewitt in Essay 11 , pp. 106-131 ,"Ruling Races of Prehistoric Times, " where he brings a store of erudition toevolve his theory that "village communities originated in India, and thatthis communal system, together with the matriarchate form of governmentinstituted by their founders, was brought by the Indian cultivating races andtheir allies into Europe. " The main outline of this movement is stated asfollows:-" It was immigrants from the South, who, during the Neolithic Age,introduced into Europe the agriculture they had learned in these Southernvillages, while North-Western Europe was made uninhabitable to tillers of thesoil by the rigorous climate of the Palæolithic period " (Preface, pp. vi. , vii. ).2 Baden- Powell, "Ind. Vill. Com. , " p. 241:-" The joint-village is, in fact,coterminous with the range of Aryan and later conquests. "3 R.V. , iv. 30, 20. • Ibid., ii. 20, 8. 5 Muir, vol. ii. p. 384.E66 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAis an account given of how they possessed treasures of gold,¹and of rich jewels.Across the Five Rivers of the Panjab the Aryans presseduntil they reached the land to the East, renowned everafterwards as Brahmāvarta, and described as a land"created by the gods, lying between the two divine rivers,the Sarasvati and Drishadvati. " There the Vedic Hymnswere collected together, and the entire sacrificial systemelaborated. The land ofthe Five Rivers was then no longerlooked to as a fit abiding-place for the Aryan race. Thelater literature of the Epic period declared that " in theregion where the Five Rivers flow . . . let no Aryan dwellthere even for two days. . . . There they have no Vedicceremony nor any sacrifice. "8The Panjab evidently saw no extensive settlement oftheAryan tribes; it was in the land further to the East, inBrahmavarta and Kurukshetra, that the rise of theBrahmans to power, and the glorification of their priestlyoffice can be traced. The land left behind became accursed,the abiding- place of impure tribes, such as the Bāhīkas," who are outcasts from righteousness, who are shut outfrom the Himavat, the Gangā, the Sarasvati, the Yamunā,and Kurukshetra, and who dwell between the Five Rivers." 4"The women who dwell there are addicted to incestuouspractices, and are without shame; " 5 they are “ drunk andundressed, wearing garlands, and perfumed with unguents,sing and dance in public places, and on the ramparts ofthe town.""16As the Aryans advanced further into the plain- country thetime was forgotten when they were designated, as in theVedic Hymns, "the five " people, or people of the five tribes.1 R. V., iii. 34, 9; Baden- Powell, " Ind. Vill. Com. , " 84.2 " Manu, " ii. 17, 19.4 "Mahābhārata, " viii. 202, 9 ff.6 Ibid., v. 20, 35; Ibid. , vol. ii . p.7 Pancajanáh.3.46 Mahābhārata, " v. 20, 63.5 Muir, vol. ii . p. 483.482.BRAHMANISM 67When they passed beyond the sacred abode lying betweenthe Sarasvati and Drishadvati, and reached the fertile landalongthe Jumna, praised¹ as the country where wealth in kineand wealth in steed was to be gained, and thence madetheir way onward to the high banks of the Ganges, theyno longer preserved their ancient tribal names. The Tritsus,loved of Vasishtā, and the Bhāratas to whom Visvamitraturned in his wrath, had united as friends, and with thethird great Vedic tribe, the Purus- whose king, Kutsa, hadled the Bharatas and allied ten tribes 3 in Vedic war againstSudās, king of the Tritsus-fused together to form the greatalliance ofthe Kurus, who dwelt in the plains ofKurukshetra,and who afterwards built their renowned capital at Hastinapura on the Ganges, sixty- five miles north-east of Delhi.6South-east of the land claimed by the Kurus, a secondAryan tribe, who early in Vedic times dwelt in the valleysof Kashmir, and was there known as the Krivi, took upits abode, and became renowned as the Panchālas, withits capital at Kampilya on the Ganges. Kurukshetrabecame the great place of sacrifice for the Aryans, the placewhere the sacred literature was compiled and elaborated ,the place where the Brahmans consolidated their power,established their schools of learning, and thence spreadabroad their civilising influence.From the Brahmanic families of the Kuru Panchālastrained scholars went abroad to the outlying tracts whereadventurous Aryans had made their settlements, untilgradually the whole of India fell subdued to the sacerdotal1 R.V. , v. 52, 17.2 Ibid. , vi. 45, 31.3 See Oldenberg, " Buddha, " pp. 404-5, for original identity of Tritsus andBharatas, and Ludwig, " Mantra Literatur, " p. 175.For identification of these, see Hewitt, p. 115. For the allies of theTritsus, see Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , " p. 434; Hewitt, p. 114.

• Zimmer, p. 102; Oldenberg, " Buddha, " p. 401; " Sat. Brāh. , ” xiii. 5, 47;

Eggeling, p. xli ." Oldenberg, " Buddha, ” p. 395.68 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAordinances oftheir priestly guides. The succeeding history ofIndia, as preserved in its literature, is one unending struggleof the Brahmanic power to assert its supremacy, and topromulgate far and wide the ordinances it laid claim toformulate under Divine sanction. Never, since the KuruPanchālas first settled on the upper reaches of the Gangesand Jumna, has the struggle ceased, and never has theBrahman failed to take from the hands of his opposing foesthe weapons they used, and add them to his alreadyskilfully-arranged armoury. Against the priestly ordinancesfree thought and philosophy revolted; against the longarray of Vedic texts, on which the existence of a soul toman and a Divine Ruler to the Universe was postulated,the agnosticism of Buddhism strove in vain in its effortsto win the allegiance of man, born to live in wonder and diein hope.The power of the Brahmans, temporal and spiritual,remained supreme, so that Manu¹ was able to declare that,from a Brahman born in the plain of Kurukshetra, “ immediately after Brahmävarta," where dwell the Kurus, thePanchālas, the Matsyas, and the Surasenas, all men onearth should learn their duties, for it was the ever-famedabode ofthe Brahmarshis or Brahmanical sages.From the collection of hymns known as the " RigVeda," such hymns as were chanted by the Udgatarpriest at the sacrifices, where the clarified juice of theSoma plant was offered to the deities, were collectedtogether into a " Sanhita," or metrical text, known as the"Sāma Veda," the verses of which were set to a tune ormelody in " Gana," or Song-books. The entire sacrificialsystem, with varied explanations of the significance of eachact, were set forth in a third Veda, named the " BlackYajur Veda," a text- book compiled for the instruction ofthe Adhvaryu priests, whose duties were connected with the1 "Manu, " ii . 17, 19, 20, 21 .BRAHMANISM 69performance of the practical details of the great Horseand Soma sacrifices. The " Black Yajur Veda " was latersimplified and systematised in a clearer arrangement,called the " White Yajur Veda. "All this extensive literature was not considered sufficientfor the exposition of the religious history of the Aryans,and the elucidation of the mysteries of the sacrificialsystem. To each of the Vedas were attached, bysucceeding generations of priests, long, wearisome discourses, often in prose, describing in minute detail theentire Brahmanic ritual, so far as its origin could be traced,or its significance understood, by the sacrificers themselves,whose minds were intent more on its practical import atthe time than on its historical purpose or development.These treatises are known as the "Brahmanas." The centreof the period during which they were composed may beplaced at somewhere not far removed from the tenthcentury before our era.¹In these " Brahmanas " it is found that not only had theAryans spread across the Sarasvati, and reached the banksofthe Ganges and Jumna, but that adventuring bands hadpenetrated as far to the East as Oudh, Benares, and NorthBehar. The Kasis had gone as an advance guard, andmade the land around Benares their own, and the Magadhashad gone even further East. The Kośālas settled in Oudh,and the Videhas established themselves in North Behar,where they were destined to take a prominent position inthe history of India, though in the early period, when theBrahmanic system was being developed in the homes ofthe Kuru Panchālas to the West, they had no part in theVedic culture or sacrificial rites.2During the Brahmanic period the centre of Vedic culture¹ Oldenberg, " Buddha, " p. 18: --" Somewhere between the ninth andseventh centuries before the Christian era. "2 Ibid., p. 391.70 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAlay from the divine Sarasvati beyond Kurukshetra to theJumna in the East. It was there that the Kuru Panchālasand allied tribes had their homes: it was there that Vác, orthe divine " Speech," was held to be purer than elsewhere; itwas the place where the great Vaidik or Śrauta sacrificeswere performed before the three sacred fires. The fullnumber of these sacrifices reached to upwards of a thousand,and some of the more important extended to long sessionsoffrom ten to one hundred years in length.¹According to the classification of the " Śrauta Sūtras," theshorter rules formed for the preservation of the Brahmanicteaching, the chief sacrifices fall within three chief groups,each of seven typical sacrifices. The first seven were thegreat Soma sacrifices, performed with three fires, at one ofwhich, the Vājapeya, chariot races and games took place,and the intoxicating " sūra " was drunk. The next sevensacrifices consisted of oblations of butter, milk, rice, andmeat. These were known as the Havir sacrifices. Thefirst was performed on the setting up of the sacred fires inthe home of a new householder. This rite lasted for twodays, and required the presence of the four priests, theBrahman, Hotar, Adhvaryu and Agnidh. The other sixHavir sacrifices were those of daily oblation; those on daysof full and new moon; those in times of harvest; fourmonthly sacrifices; animal sacrifice; and lastly, a specialexpiation for over- indulgence in drinking the Soma.These fourteen were the types of Vaidik ceremony.The third group of seven sacrifices consisted of rites performed before the domestic hearth with oblation of cookedfood. These seven were called the Pāka sacrifices,1"The legendary history of India knows of such sessions, which are said tohave lasted for one hundred and even for a thousand years. "-Haug, " Ait.Brāh. " (Introd . ) , 6.2 The great type was the Agnishtoma sacrifice, which lasted five days.3 Weber, " Ueber den Vājapeya " Sitz. ber. Berlin Acad. , 1892.4.66 Sankhāyana Grihya Sūtra, ” i. 1 , 15; " Gautama, " viii . 15.BRAHMANISM 71performed in winter, on new and full moon days, at timesof the Śraddha, or funeral sacrifices, and four falling duein specified months-Śrāvana, Āgrahāyanī, Chaitra, andAśvina.For all sacrifices there had first to be a sacrificer, and byhim were selected the priests to whom gifts and presentswere given. The place of sacrifice was usually a roomwithin a Brahman's house. For important sacrifices, such asthe Soma sacrifices, a large shed was erected in an open place,the floor in all cases being covered with the sacred Kusagrass, the favourite food of the black antelope. The East,or Āhavaniya fire- place was square; the South, or Dakshināgni, was spherico-triangular, ¹ the West, or Gārhapatya,was round. The altar itself was a low wall running in aserpentine curve from fire- place to fire-place. One direction 2for the construction of an altar for a Havir sacrifice stated:" Let the Altar measure a fathom across on the west side;they say that namely is the size of a man, and the Altarshould be of the man's size . . . let him make it as long ashe thinks fit in his own mind."A significant description is given as to the shape of thealtar in the same text: 3 "The altar should be broad on thewest side, contracted in the middle, and broad again on theeast side; for thus shaped they praise a woman, broad aboutthe hips, somewhat narrow about the shoulders, and contracted in the middle (or about the waist). Thereby hemakes it (the altar) pleasing to the gods."A further essential feature of the altar follows immediately after the above direction. " It should be slopingtowards east, for the east is the quarter of the gods; andalso sloping towards north, for the north is the quarter ofmen. To the south side he sweeps the rubbish (loose soil),for that is the quarter of the deceased ancestors.If it (the¹ Stevenson, " Sama Veda " (Introd . ) , viii.2 " Śat. Brāh. , " i. 2, 5, 14. 3 Ibid., i. 2, 5, 16.72 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAaltar) were sloping towards south, the sacrificer wouldspeedily go to yonder world."In the case of the sacrifice of animals, besides the threefires and altar, a sacrificial pillar, for the tying of the animal,has to be hewn and erected, for it is directed: 1 " There areboth an animal and a sacrificial stake, for never do theyimmolate an animal without a stake. And as to why thisis so -well, animals did not at first submit thereto thatthey should become food, as they are now become food;for just as man here walks two- footed and erect, so did theywalk two-footed and erect."The pillar was hewn with an axe, care being taken toutter the incantation: " O axe, hurt it not. " 2As a further precaution, a blade of " darbha " grass wasplaced between the axe and the tree, so that it mightreceive the first blow. When the tree, out of which thesacrificial part had to be hewn, was cut down, offerings weremade upon the stump, " lest evil spirits should arise therefrom." 3 The sacrificial stake was then carved eight- sided,ornamented with a top ring, anointed and dedicated toVishnu. The Adhvaryu priest then girds (the stake witha rope of Kusa grass). Now it is to cover its nakednessthat he girds it, wherefore he girds it in this place (viz. ona level with the sacrificial navel) for it is thus that this(nether) garment is (slung round) . He thereby puts foodinto him, for it is there that the food settles; therefore hegirds it at that place." One of the chips hewn off the postwas then placed beneath the rope. In the description oftheceremonies, as given in the "Aitareya Brahmana," the Hotarpriests recited the Vedic Hymn, and adored the sacrificialpost as a youth7 well robed, fastened by the sacrifice to the1 66 Sat. Brāh. , " iii. 7, 3, 1 .4 Ibid. , iii. 7, I , 19.Haug,5" Ait. Brah. ," p. 77.2 Ibid. , iii. 6, 4, 10. 3 Ibid. , iii. 6, 4, 15.Ibid. , iii. 7, 19.' R. V. , iii. , 8, 4-6; see Oldenberg ( tr. ) , S.B.E. , vol. xlvi. pp. 252, 253.BRAHMANISM 73earth, fashioned by the axe, as divine, as standing beforethe worshippers to grant them treasures and offspring.To the ancient Brahmanic expounders of the sacrificialsystem the whole primitive significance of the sacrifice hadbeen lost. The protracted ceremonies are minutelydescribed, and laboured explanations of them are given, butnowhere is there any clue given as to the true history oftheir primitive origin. The altar itself was clearly but adeveloped table, or hearth, arising out of the primitivealtar, which, as " among the northern Semites as well asamong the Arabs, was a great stone or cairn at which theblood of the victim was shed " 1The importance of these details of the early sacrificialsystem in the history of India is self-evident. The tendency would have been for an advance from the worshipof the Vedic deities to a grand conception of monotheism ,ifthe Aryan tribes had remained combined into united andcompact bodies, with a commonly accepted ideal of onetribal God. The actual result was a lapse into idolatryand unrestrained polytheism after the political forceswidened and weakened themselves by compromises withworshippers of strange idols and fetishes. Of peculiarsignificance are the words in which Jehovah directed Mosesto deliver unto the children of Israel His ordinances as tothe setting forth of the altar:-"An altar ofearth thou shalt make unto me, and shall sacrifice thereonthy burnt- offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep and thy oxen. . . .And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it ofhewn stone for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. " 2In the Canaanite and Hebrew sanctuaries was the altar,and also near at hand the pillar of stone, such as Jacob setup and anointed, so that it " shall be God's house." Thealtar was the place on which the sacrificial blood was¹ Robertson Smith, " History of the Semites, " p. 185.2 Exodus xx. 24, 25.74 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAdrained, so that its sanctity should not pass into the earth,and the pillar on which the blood was sprinkled " wasa visible symbol or embodiment of the presence of thedeity " which, in process of time, came to be fashionedand carved in various ways, until, ultimately, it became "astatue or anthropomorphic idol of stone, just as the sacredtree or post was ultimately developed into an image ofwood. " 2 It can be traced ³ how the pillar or post becamegradually more artistically developed, was placed in a house,or temple, and became the idol.According to the Brahmanic theory, the sacrifice on earthtook place merely as a counterpart of a divine sacrificeheld periodically by the gods. Prajapati, the Lord of allCreatures, was held to have been the first sacrificer, thereason given for the motive which impelled him to sacrificebeing, that he " having created living beings, felt himself, asit were, exhausted." Eleven were the sacrifices he offered,so that " the creatures might then return to me; thecreatures might abide with me, for my food and joy. ” 5In imitation of the sacrifice by Prajapati, all sacrificerswere directed to offer eleven victims. The first victim wassacrificed to Agni, chief of all the gods, the father of thegods, and by that sacrifice the offerer becomes reunited withAgni. By a second sacrifice to Sarasvati, the goddess Vāc,or Speech, the sacrificer " becomes strong by speech, andspeech turns unto him, and he makes speech subject untohimself." By a third sacrifice to Soma, food becomessubject; by a fourth to Pushan cattle become subject; by afifth to Brihaspati, the priesthood becomes subject; by asixth to the Viśve Devās, or all gods, the sacrificer becomes1 Jevons, Introd. to2 Robertson Smith,3 Jevons, p. 135." History of Religion, " pp. 13, 178." History ofthe Semites," p. 187.4 "Sat. Brāh. , " iii. 9, I , I.5 Ibid. , iii. 9, I , 2. In "Śat. Brāh. , " xi. 7, 1 , 3 , flesh is called the highestfood. Raj. Mitra, " Indo-Aryans, " vol. i. pp. 361-374.6 Ibid. , iii. 9, I , 7.BRAHMANISM 75"strong by everything; everything turns to him, and hemakes everything subject to himself." By a seventhsacrifice to Indra, the God of Warrior Might, the sacrificergained valour and power. By the eighth sacrifice, that to theMaruts, who are said to personify the clan and abundance,abundance was made subject; bya ninth to Indra and Agnithe double energies of these gods were made subject; by atenth to Savitri, the Impeller of the gods, all wishes weremade subject to the sacrificer, while by the eleventh and lastsacrifice, that to Varuna, the sacrificer freed himself "fromevery noose of Varuna, from every guilt against Varuna."So far, it can be seen that the sacrifice of an animal wassupposed to be efficacious in endowing the sacrificer withboth natural and supernatural powers, similar to those hesacrificed to obtain. There was but a slight advance onthe primitive idea, generally found at some stage in thehistory of humanity, of the sacrifice of an animal, and theactual drinking of its blood and partaking of its flesh inorder that the sacrificer might become endowed with thesupernatural powers of the animal he thus sought tobecome kin with. The phase of thought on which theseideas are based has risen naturally from the primitiveconstruction of society.Everywhere primitive man is found to hold together insibs, or clans, where the bond of blood relationship is thesole security from attack or treachery. Should a strangerseek to join the brotherhood, the blood of the adoptedkindred must be made to flow in his veins by actualinoculation. This is the blood covenant, and outside itslimits there is neither friendship nor kindred. Not onlywith his brother man does primitive humanity in the earlystruggle for existence find himself at variance, but he is1 Jevons, p. 242, for Mars as a vegetable deity; and Haug, p. 92, for theMaruts being the " Vaiśyas, " or subjects of the gods.2 lbid. , p. 97.76 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAconfronted with the whole supernatural powers of Nature,with which he would willingly be in alliance. Man findshimself surrounded by strange manifestations of an unknown power, over which his mind knows not how toreason. The very animals have strange cunning, and inall savage folk-tales they speak naturally as human beings.For defence or attack animals unite together; their kinshipwithin their own species is as that of man within thebrotherhood. Should an animal be slain, the enmity of itsspecies is aroused against the slayer; it can be equally afriend or a foe, though different from man, its powers areoutside the reach of primitive intelligence.So the savage seeks to be on good terms with, and winthe friendship of, such animals as he is most brought intocontact with, or regards with special fear and reverence.To do this, there is but one way, and that is to follow theanalogy of the human race and claim a blood relationship.The savage, therefore, wears the skin of some animal lovedor feared of his sib; he decorates his head with its horns,and, similarly to its body, he mutilates or paints his own, sothat he may become endowed with its virtues or supernatural powers. There is but one step further, and that isto cement a blood covenant with the clan¹ or species towhich the animal belongs. The animal or object whosealliance is thus sought, then becomes the " Totem " 2 of thecommon brotherhood. A social bond has been made withthe species. The animal and the human clan are regardedas having sprung from a common ancestor, the animal, and asbeing of one kindred. More important is the aspect of thereligious bond which binds the human clan in affection to1 Frazer, J. G. , " Golden Bough, " p. 26.2 Ibid., "Totemism," p. 1: -" A Totem is a class of natural objects whicha savage regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists betweenhim and any member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation. "See, however, Frazer, J. G. , " Golden Bough, " vol. ii. p. 38: -" It is not yetcertain that the Aryans ever had Totemism. "BRAHMANISM 77the animal supposed to be supernaturally endowed. Therecan be no more fitting way to cement these bonds than forthe human clan periodically to assimilate to themselves allthe qualities of the animal, by actually partaking of its fleshand blood.The animal is of necessity slain for this purpose, yet theact of killing is one arising from affection, not from lust ordesire for food. The act itself is sacrilegious. The bloodas it falls is "taboo "; it is received on the altar, no partmust touch the ground. Everywhere throughout theBrahmanic sacrifice, traces are to be found of the repugnance to shed the blood of the victim, and scrupulous careis taken to remove all traces of it, the pillar being left as asign that the ground is to be avoided. One peculiar resultis recorded in the " Brahmanas ":-" Now those who madeofferings in former times touched the altar and theoblations while they were sacrificing. They becamemore sinful, and those who sacrifice not become righteous,they said." 2It was the sacrificer who struck the first blow and whopartook of the flesh and blood that became endowedwith the supernatural qualities of the animal slain. Hebecame reborn with the powers of the animal slain. Heemerged from the sacrifice as the god himself, possessed ofall the powers which the alliance of the animal had brought.The sacrifice in its primitive signification in no wayindicated a gift or payment by the worshippers to theirdeities. It was a bond, an act of communion 3 betweenthe worshippers and the animals, or any natural object theyheld possessed of supernatural powers, whose aid theysought to win for themselves.1 The cow, though sacred, was slain for sacrifice.2 “ Šat. Brāh. , ” 1, 2, 5, 24.3 Robertson Smith, " History of the Semites, " pp. 365, 442: -" The sacrificewas in no sense a payment to the god, but simply an act of communion of theworshippers with one another and their god. "78 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThe sacrifice had its foundation laid securely in themental structure of all mankind. It was the highestexpression of religious instincts which at all times and inall places impelled the individual to seek close union withthe ineffable mystery ofthe Divine, in which no powers ofreason will ever persuade him he has no part. With theforces which he sees underlying all Nature-animals, trees,and plants-he hopes at first to form a bond of friendship.As the animals become domesticated, and agriculture isintroduced, the sacrifice assumes the form of a gift ofan animal, or harvest offerings to the god whose aid it wassought to secure, the primitive idea of the necessity ofincorporating it as kin to the clan fading away.¹In India, even down to the time of Manu, it was heldthat the land " where the black antelope naturally roams,one must know to be fit for the performance of sacrifices;the tract different from that is the country ofthe " Mlecchas " (barbarians).2 It would be hazardous at present toassert that the Aryans in India held the black antelopefor a Totem, or that it ever was a Totem for them, inasmuchas they had for long passed beyond the early stage ofcivilisation out of which the primitive ideas of sacrificearise. Nevertheless, the place taken by the black antelopeduring the Brahmanic ceremony shows that it had assumed,metaphorically at least, the position which would have beendevoted to a tribal Totem. The great sacrifices were, inthese Brahmanic times, performed for the benefit and at the1 See Jevons, Introd. to the " History of Religion, " p. 331 , et seq. , for theintroduction into Greece in the sixth century B.C. of the North Semitictendency to abandon, under stress of national calamity, the gift idea of sacrifice,and to revert to the primitive conception of the sacrificial meal being anactual participation of the essence of the god by the worshippers.24"Manu, " ii. 2, 3.Hewitt, " Ruling Races of Prehistoric Times, " p. 367; Max Müller,"Mythology," vol. i . pp. 8, 200: -" Sanskrit scholars would certainlyhesitate before seeing in Indra a Totem, because he is called .See Oldenberg, " Rel. des Vedas, " pp. 85 , 415.bull."BRAHMANISM 79cost of some pious householder, who had first to preparehimself by a ceremony of initiation, through which hebecame re-born into a condition in which he was supposedto enter into actual communion with the deity worshipped.The ceremony as described in the "Brahmanas" is conclusiveon the subject. The sacrificer is first sprinkled with water,"for water is seed." He is then anointed with butter, forby such anointing, " they make him thrive." His eyes arethen darkened with collryrium by which lustre is imparted,and he becomes a " Diksh*tā. " They then " rub him cleanwith twenty-one handfuls of darbha grass," they thus makehim pure. He then enters a place prepared for him, whichrepresents a place of birth; he is thus supposed to becomean embryo. " In this place, he sits as in a secure abode,and thence he departs. Therefore the embryos are placedin the womb as a secure place, and thence they are broughtforth (as fruit). Therefore the sun should neither rise norset over him, finding him in any other place than the spotassigned to the Diksh*tā; nor should they speak to him."The succeeding portion of the ceremony is so clear as tothe underlying significance of the rite, and points out sounmistakably the origin of the triple thread still worn byall people of India to-day, who call themselves twice- born,that it is quoted in full from Dr Haug's valuable translation,which unfortunately is now out of print. The sacrificerremains in the place chosen for the new birth, while thepriests "cover him with a cloth. For this cloth is the cowlofthe Diksh*ta (with which he is to be born like a child) .1 Max Müller, in his " Comp. Mythology, " p. 227, contending againstOldenberg's views that this Dikshã, or initiatory ceremony, was 66 to excite anecstatic state which helps forward an intercourse with gods or spirits," con- cluded by stating his opinion " that this initiatory ceremony was meant as anact of propitiation and sanctification; or, like the Upanayana, as a symbolical representation of that new birth which distinguishes the three upper classes as fit for sacrifice. "Haug, "Ait. Bräh. , " p. 8.80 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAOutside (this cloth ) there is (put by them) the skin of ablack antelope. For outside the cowl there is the placenta.Then they cover him (symbolically by the skin of theantelope) with the placenta. He closes his hands. Forwith closed hands the child is born. As he closes hishands, he thus holds the sacrifice and all its deities in histwo hands closed. " 1The ceremony ends by the sacrificer removing the skinof the black antelope, and then, still wearing the cloth,purifying himself by bathing.A similar account of the initiatory ceremony is givenin the well- known “ Śatapatha Brahmana," 2 attached to the"White Yajur Veda."Here the place of sacrifice is where the ground is higherthan any surrounding ground, "for it was thence thatthe gods ascended to heaven, and he who is consecratedindeed ascends to the gods."An enclosed shed is erected, with its beams runningWest and East, for the gods come from the East, and thesacrifice is to be performed facing East. The sacrificermust be one of the Aryan race, a Brāhman, Kshatriya, orVaisya, for the gods have no commerce with Sūdras.The sacrificer's hair and beard is shaved, the hair beingfirst touched with the sacred grass, both the hair and grassbeing laid in water; his nails are cut, and he then bathes,so as to become pure. He then clothes himself in a newlinen garment, and is anointed five times, for the five1 The original is- “ jajnam ca eva tat sarvās ca devatā mushtyo kurute. "2 " Sat. Brah. , " iii. I , I.3 The explanation, according to the Brahmana, of the shaven head is asfollows:-"Then as to the Sacrificer shaving his head all round . Now yondersun, indeed, faces every quarter; it drinks up whatever moisture it dries uphere; hence this Sacrificer thereby faces every quarter, and becomes a con- sumer of food. "-" Sat. Brāh. , " ii. 6, 3, 14. An objector to this theory remarks:-"What in the world has it to do with his face, even if he were to shave off all the hair off his head?. let him therefore not trouble himselfabout shaving his head. "—" Śat. Brāh. , ” ii. 6, 3, 17..BRAHMANISM 81seasons, from head to foot with fresh butter; his eyes beingtouched with a reed stalk. When further purified by beingstroked with one, seven, or twenty-one stalks of sacredgrass, he then enters the hall of sacrifice, and walks about atthe back of the Ahavanīya fire, which faces the east door,and in front of the Garhapatya fire, which faces the westdoor, the altar lying between these two fires. " The reasonwhy this is his passage until the Soma pressing is this: thefire is the womb of the sacrifice, and the consecrated is theembryo; and the embryo moves about in the womb."1Two black antelope skins are then spread on the ground,on which the sacrificer sits down with his hands folded, likeunto an embryo. He then places round himself a triplehempen cord, in which is twined a reed; he covers his head,ties a black deer's horn to his garment, and lays hold of astaff of Udambara wood (Ficus glomerata) 2 and so remainssilent. " Thereupon someone calls out, ' Consecrated is thisBrahman, consecrated is this Brāhman,' him being thusannounced, he thereby announces to the gods: ' Of greatvigour is this one who has obtained the sacrifice; he hasbecome one of yours, protect him.' " 8The sacrificer remains silent until sunset, when hebecomes reborn, a god himself, and is fed with milk andbarley to which vegetables are sometimes added. Thereason why the food must be cooked is because " he who isconsecrated draws nigh to the gods and becomes one ofthe deities. But the sacrificial food of the gods must becooked, and not uncooked: hence they cook it, and hepartakes of that fast-milk and does not offer it in thefire. "4It must be borne in mind that the speculations of the1 " Śat. Brāh. , ” iii. 1 , 3 , 28; S.B.E. , vol. xxvi. ( Eggeling's translation).2 For the Ficus glomerata as the parent tree of the trading races whointroduced the Soma sacrifice , see Hewitt, " Ruling Races of Pre- historicTimes," p. 367.3 "Sat. Brāh. , " iii . 2, 1 , 39. 4 Ibid. , iii. 2, 2, 10.F82 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIApriestly compilers of the " Brahmanas " were earnest andsincere efforts to explain the hidden meaning of thecomplicated ritual that had in process of time grown uparound the sacrifice. Not only are the rules which bear onthe ceremony set forth, but every effort is made to giverational explanations of every step of the ritual.Philosophic disquisitions abound as to the intention ofthe early sacrificers, and philological reasons are given forspecial uses of Vedic texts. Stories of ancient sacrificersand legends of former sacrifices are introduced, with anevident intention of expounding, so far as it was understood,the necessity for the due performance of the religiousceremonies in the new-found homes ofthe Aryans. In thecourse of ages the true meaning of much of the ritual hadbeen lost to the priesthood, much remained obscure, and onmany points in the ceremony there were held variedopinions and practices.At times the sacrifice is declared to be man; it is therepresentation of the sacrificer himself; therefore the altarextends as far as a man's outstretched arms on the Westside, and it is in human shape. Again the sacrifice isprayer, or speech, for it is handed down from priest topriest by speech. It was first taught by the gods to man,who handed it on from father to son.³ By the sacrifice thegods gained their place in Heaven, and then fearing thatman by the same means might conquer their celestialhome, they concealed it until man found it again forhimself.4The most striking and most important account of theancient sacrifice is that given in connection with thelegend of the Flood, as preserved in the " SatapathaBrahmana." The account differs in so many respects from1 " Śat. Brāh. , " i. 3 , 2, 1; Eggeling, S.B.E. , vol. xii.2 Ibid. , i. 5, 2, 7.♦ Ibid. , iii. 4, 1 , 17; iii. 9, 4, 22.³ Ibid. , i. 6, 2, 4.BRAHMANISM 83the Biblical record of the deluge, that at present there is noevidence to connect the Indian with the Semitic tradition.In the Brahmanic story, Manu¹ takes the part ofNoah in the Old Testament, though with striking dissimilarities. The story commences with a description of howwhen Manu was one day washing his hands he foundthat he had seized a small fish. To his surprise the fishspoke, and prayed to be saved from destruction, promisingin return that he would in time to come preserve Manufrom a great danger. The danger that was to come wasforetold by the fish to be a flood, that would sweep awayall creatures. So Manu kept the fish and placed it in a jar.When the fish grew large it told Manu the year in whichthe flood would come. It then counselled Manu to builda great ship, and enter into it when the waters rose, saying,“ I will save thee from the flood." Manu accordingly builtthe ship, and as the fish had grown too big to remain in thejar, he placed it in the sea. As the fish had foretold, theflood came. When Manu entered into his ship the fishswam towards him, and Manu tied the ship to a horn onthe fish's head, and was towed to the Northern Mountainwhere he tied the ship to a tree. Then the waters recededand Manu was left alone. The narrative is simple, naturalaccording to primitive ideas, and, as annual floods arecommon in all tropical lands, there is at present nonecessity for holding that it contains more than the recordof a wide-spread catastrophe. The real interest of thestory is not in the suggested connection of the wordsManu, ship, flood, with Noah, ark, deluge, but in the sidelight which is thrown on the primitive history of the sacrificial cult. This is to be seen in the steps taken by Manuto acquire supernatural power and reproduce creation.At first Manu, " being desirous of offspring, engaged1 " Śat. Brāh. , ” i. 8, I , I.84LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAin worshipping and austerities; during this time he alsoperformed a ' pāka ' sacrifice: he offered up in the watersclarified butter, sour milk, whey, and curds. Thencea woman was produced in a year." The woman thenannounced to Manu that she was his daughter, that shehad been produced through his offerings, declaring to him:"I am the blessing: make use of me¹ at the sacrifice; thouwilt become rich in offering, and cattle. " With the woman" Manu went on worshipping and performing austerities.Through her he generated this race, which is the race ofManu; and whatever blessing he invoked through her, allthat was granted to him. " A further important referenceto the position of the woman in the sacrificial ritual is theinjunction given that after the rice had been poured fromthe winnowing basket into a mortar preparatory to itsbeing ground between the two mill- stones as an offering,the sacrificer should be summoned forward, an injunctionfollowed by the important remark, so full of significance inthe history of the development of the ritual, that, " now informer times it was no other than the wife of the sacrificerwho rose at this call."The ancient custom of the participation of women inharvest offerings, as well as harvest festivals-a custom tobe traced in much of the folk- lore of India to-day-is in" Sat. Brāh. ," i . 1 , 4, 16-17, for the actual sacrifice of Manu's wife:-"When she had been sacrificed the voice went out of her, and entered into the sacrifice." Also Ibid. , i. 8, 1 , 9.2 " Idā. Śat. Brāh. , ” i . 8, 1 , 11 ."Sat. Brāh. ," i. 8, 1 , 10.4 "As a rule, the wife of the sacrificer was present, with hands joined to herhusband " (" Taitt. Brah. , " iii . 3, 10) .sacrifice " (" Sat. Brāh. , " ii . 5 , 2, 20).5 "Sat. Brāh. , " i . I, 4, 8.6 Ibid. , i. I , 4, 13."The wife has to confess at theFor his wife is (as itSee also Hillebrandt,7 " Gobhila Grihya Sūtrās, " i. 3, 15: -" If they like, his wife may offer themorning and evening oblations over the domestic fire .were) his house, and that fire is the domestic fire. "“ Rituel Litteratur, ” p. 70.BRAHMANISM 85the above texts clearly referred to as being rememberedat the time of the Brahmanic sacrifice, although for priestlyreasons it was overlooked, or but obscurely hinted at.Theexplanation ofthis appearance ofwomen on the scenearises from the fact that in primitive times the duties ofa*griculture lay, for the most part, in the hands of women.The historical development of this portion of the sacrifice is tersely summed up in the words of Mr Jevons: " Itis therefore an easy guess that the cultivation of plants.was one of women's contributions to the development ofcivilisation; and it is in harmony with this conjecture thatthe cereal deities are usually, both in the Old World andin the New, female."Agriculture, however, when its benefits becamethoroughlyunderstood, was not allowed amongst civilised races to continue to be the exclusive prerogative of woman, and theCorn Goddess, maiden or mother, had to admit to the circleof her worshippers the men as well as the wives of thetribe. The gradual transition from the early sacrifice ofhuman beings, to the stage in which horses, kept in drovesand tended by man during the pastoral stage, were sacrificed, thence on to the substitution of various animals asthey became domesticated, ending with the offering of thefruits of the earth when agriculture became known, is setforth as a recognised fact in the " Aitareya Brāhmana." Theaccount given is that man was the primitive form of sacrifice, but that in time the sacrificial essence went out of manand passed into the horse. From the horse the sacrificialessence went to the ox, which was sacrificed; in the samemanner for the ox, sheep were substituted, for sheep, goats,which remained the best suited for sacrifice. From thegoat the sacrificial essence passed into the earth, and so1 Jevons, Introd. to " The History of Religion, " pp. 240-1 .2 For the great Horse Sacrifice, see “ Taitt. Brāh. , ” iii . 8. For the yearthe horse was allowed to roam, sacrifices being performed by day.86 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfinally the sacrificial part turned into rice. It is also laiddown as an injunction that no one of these animals, out ofwhich the sacrificial essence had gone, should be eaten.This special prohibition evidently indicated that the eatingof flesh was a custom in ancient India. In the " ŚatapathaBrahmana " there is a direction that the flesh of cows oroxen should not be eaten, although Yajnavalkya declared:"I for one eat it, provided that it be tender."When the animal was killed for the sacrifice, every limbwas preserved, the offal being buried in the earth.According to the later custom, the animal was killed bybeating it to death.2 The priest during the slaying avertedhis eyes; any blood that fell was received on the sacredgrass, and considered an offering to the Rakshasas, ordemons. To the officiating priest, and to the sacrificer,allotted parts of the cooked food were presented. In the"Aitareya Brahmana " the animal had to be divided intothirty-six portions, for the priests, the sacrificer, and hiswife.To those who thus divided the offering into thirty- sixparts, the animal " becomes the guide to Heaven. Butthose who make the division otherwise, are like scoundrelsand miscreants, who kill an animal merely for gratifyingthe lust after flesh."The origin of human sacrifice may be traced backto early Aryan times,5 when a chieftain's wives and attendants were slain, in order that they might accompanyhim to the after-world. Its introduction into theBrahmanic ritual as an atonement for the guilt of some1 Haug, "Ait. Brāh. ," p. 91. 2 Ibid. , p. 85.3 " Śat. Brāh. , " iii . 8, 1 , 15: “ Then they step back to the altar and sitdown-lest they should be eye- witnesses to its being strangled. "4 Haug, "Ait. Brāh. , " p. 443.5 Tylor, " Primitive Culture, " vol. i. p. 464; Jevons, Introd. to "TheHistory of Religion, " p. 161 .BRAHMANISM 871member of the community is indicated in the wellknown story of Sunahsepa, as narrated in the " AitareyaBrahmana. "The story is one always to be recited with an accompaniment of one hundred Vedic verses before a king, sothat his blood- guiltiness as a warrior may be removed.The Hotar who recites it must be rewarded with a gift ofa thousand cows and a silver ornamented carriage drawn bymules. To the Adhvaryu priest who, during the recitalmakes the fitting responses, a hundred must be given, andupon Adhvaryu and Hotar, as an additional reward, a goldembroidered carpet must be bestowed. To all who hearthe story, the gods will allot long days and offspring.The story is as follows:-Harischandra of the Ikshvāku race, mighty king thoughhe was, had no son. To his household priests he pouredforth his sorrow, asking them why it was that every onehad so great a desire for male offspring. The answer,ancient though it may be, is one that would be given byall pious Hindus of modern India. "A son is ever to bedesired, for a son hands down his father's life; the wife whobears a son re-creates the father: a son shines as a lightin Heaven. He is the greatest of all earthly possessions;he gains immortality for the father. A daughter is but anobject of compassion." The holy advisers of the king toldhim that the desire was unconquerable, that all wonderedat such Brahmans as turn from a family life, and go forthas wanderers over the earth to live as hermits in the forest,or as religious mendicants.So the king prayed to Varuna, the god who fulfils allwishes, and swore that were he but permitted to see theface of a son, he would sacrifice the child when born to"This was probably the origin of the sacrifice of human beings to thegods amongst the Mediterranean peoples. Amongst the Americans it was . . .due to the lack of domesticated animals. "-Jevons, p. 161 .88 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAVaruna. The god granted the king's desire, and a child,Rohita, was born. The king put off from day to day thefulfilment of his vow, until Rohita grew to manhood, andbecame a warrior. When his father's vow was made knownto Rohita, he fled into the wilderness, and there hid himself,whereupon Varuna caused a grievous illness to fall uponthe king. Rohita remained concealed for the space of sixyears, at the end of which time he met a Brahman sage,who had three sons, the second of whom was namedŚunahsepa. For a gift of one hundred cows, the Brahmangave his son Sunahsepa as a ransom sacrifice to Varuna.The good god Varuna on hearing of this, bowed his headand accepted Śunahśepa as a sacrifice in place of the king'sson, for he knew that the offspring of a Brahman was ofmore value than the son of a king.At this time the great priest Visvamitra was the Hotarto King Harischandra, and the renowned Vasishta was the"purohita," yet no one could be found to bind Śunahśepa tothe sacrificial post. Then the father of Sunahsepa, onreceiving a further gift of one hundred cows, consented tobind his own son to the sacrificial post. The sacrificial firewas prepared, the Vedic texts ordained for such a sacrificewere duly recited, yet no one could be found to slayŚunahsepa. For a fourth gift of one hundred cows, thefather of Sunahsepa agreed to slay his own son.When the sharpened knife was raised, Sunahsepa prayedto Prajapati, to Agni, to Savitri, to Varuna, to the AllGods, to Indra, to the Aśvins, and to the Dawn, and as heprayed, the fetters which bound him fell off one by one,and King Harischandra was restored to health.The evidence for the actual existence of human sacrifice¹1 The " Taitt. Brah. " gives a list of various men and women fit for sacrificeto one hundred and seventy-nine gods. "-Barth, " Rel. of India, " pp. 57, 58."Der Purushamedha ist eben der Uberrest eines barbarischen Zeitalters deswir fur Indiens so evenig wie für andere Länder zu leugnen haben. "--Hillebrandt, " Rituel Litteratur, " p. 153.BRĀHMANISM 8966during the Brahmanic period, rests on accounts such asthat of Śunahsepa, where, however, as in the Biblical accounts of Abraham and Isaac, the victim is released, showing that the rite was one then no longer in use. In theSatapatha Brahmana " ¹ it is stated that the animals usedfor sacrifice are " a man, a horse, a bull, a ram and a he-goat.”With regard to these the direction to the sacrificer is: 2"Let him slaughter those very five victims as far as hemay be able to do so; for it was those Prajapati was thefirst to slaughter, and Syāparna Sāyakāyana the last, andin the interval also, people used to slaughter them. Butnowadays only these two are slaughtered, the one forPrajapati, and the one for Vayu. " The two animals herereferred to are he-goats. The fact that the compiler ofthe texts records the name of the last sacrificer who performed a human sacrifice, shows that the practice had diedout in the home or family of the compiler.3It would be futile to seek for clear matter- of-fact statements or commonplace explanations of the sacrificial systemin the early Brahmanic literature.The entire ritual was a cult falling more and more intothe hands of a hereditary class of priests, determined tohold the power they thus obtained free from outsidecriticism or attack. The commanding position the priesthood obtained in the community by their exclusive knowledge of the complicated details of the sacrificial system,which so closely hemmed in the whole life of every Aryanhouseholder, would naturally incline them to attach to theiroffice and to all its duties not only an esoteric significance,but further in every way to heighten and exaggerate thesupernatural basis on which they were primitively founded.Over the whole ceremony the superintending Brahmanpriest hovered, as a man possessed of divine knowledge anddivine power.1 “ Šat. Brāh. , ” vi. 2; 1 , 15. 2 Ibid. , vi. 2; I , 39. 3 Ibid. , vi. 2, 2, I.90 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAHe was the central figure, looming mysterious in his carefully preserved silence, yet held to possess powers potentenough in their overshadowing might never to call fortheir actual manifestation. For days or for years the ritesmight drag on their mysterious ways; it was the Brahmanalone who held the knowledge and power to set in motionthe whole performance; his nod or word could break thethread of the ceremony, and bring the direst results to allengaged. At the morning libation he gave permissionthat the Vedic Hymns might be chanted by uttering thewords, " Bhur! ye may sing! " So at the mid- day libationhe muttered, " Bhuvah! ye may sing! " and at the eveninglibation he says, " Svar! ye may sing! " He stood overseeing all as a very god. " Verily there are two kinds ofgods, for indeed the gods are the gods, and the Brahmanswho have studied and teach sacred lore are the humangods. The sacrifice of these is divided into two kinds;oblations constitute the sacrifice to the gods; and gifts tothe priests that to human gods."The Brahman wisely left all the outward signs of powerin the hands of his serving priests. At the bidding of theBrahman, the reciting priest, the Hotar, a class from whichthe Brahmans were chiefly recruited,³ commenced therecitation of such Vedic Hymns as were ordained for use.As the stately music of the words, intoned by the Udgātarpriest, rose and fell, it cast around its spell of magic power,moving amid the people as though it subtly bound theirsouls to the gods who thronged around them. Should theHotar desire to deprive a sacrificer of life, or sense, limb,strength, or speech, he had but to omit a Vedic verse in his1 A special remark made by the renowned Āruni, who composed many of the sacrificial formulæ, is as follows: Why should he sacrifice who wouldthink himself the worse for a miscarriage of the sacrifice? I for one am thebetter for a miscarriage of the sacrifice. "—" Śat. Brāh. , " iv. 5, 7, 9.2 Haug, "Ait. Brāh. , " pp. 377, 378.3 S.B. E. , vol. xii.; Eggeling ( Introd . ) , xx.BRAHMANISM 91recitation, or pronounce it confusedly, it was held that byhis so doing the union of the sacrificer with the gods wouldat once be broken, and the whole sacrifice rendered futile,¹ thewish of the Hotar alone resulting. To deprive a sacrificerof his wealth, or a king of his subjects, the Hotar had but torecite a hymn out of its proper order, and so great was theinherent power of the sacred word that the required resultwould inevitably follow. Should the priest desire todeprive a sacrificer of the whole fruit of the sacrifice, he hadbut to pronounce a verse in a different tone from that inwhich it should be pronounced, and the sacrifice would falluseless. Not only did the priestly power reign supremeover the religious life of the people, but, politically itextended side by side with that of the tribal chieftain orking. No king could succeed in deeds that were notfounded on priestly advice, and the gods are said to turnaway from the food of a king who has no " purohita " orBrahman guide.It is said that a king who appoints no family priest or"purohita" is cast out from Heaven,³ deprived of his heroism,of his dignity, kingdom, and subjects. To the king whohas a " purohita," Agni Vaiśvanara gives protection; hesurrounds the king as the sea surrounds the earth; such aking dies not before he has lived one hundred years; hedies not again, for he is not reborn; his subjects obeyhim " unanimously and undivided." 5Imprecations almost fiendish in their malignity are calleddown on one who should curse the Hotar at any part ofthe ceremony, all being finally summed up: For in "like¹The various means for rectifying blunders are given in the " KauskītakiBrahmana," vi. 11. One opinion is given: "As far as the blunder extends, so farlet him say it again, whether a verse, a half verse, a foot, a word, or a letter."2 For union of the two offices, king and priest, as the first sacrificer, seeJ. G. Frazer, " Golden Bough, " vol. i. pp. 8, 223.3 Eggeling, xiv.Haug, p. 530.Ibid. , S.B.E. , vol. xii. p. xii."Sat. Brāh. ," i. 4, 3 , 22; S.B.E. , vol . xii.92 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAmanner, as one undergoes suffering, on approaching the firethat has been kindled by means of the kindling verses, soalso does one undergo suffering for cursing a priest(brahmana) who knows and recites the kindling verses." ¹With the " purohita " swaying the councils of the king byhis sacerdotal power, backed as it was by an assumedknowledge of sorcery and incantation; with the priesthoodenclosing the whole daily life of the people with complicated religious rites, the efficacy of which depended onthe supposed supernatural influence of the Brahmans overthe gods themselves, the national independence of thoughtand exuberant free-play of imagination, which in earliertimes had produced the poetry and visions of the " RigVeda," passed away for ever, to give place to fatalism andthe quiescence of pantheism.To their growing powers the priesthood failed not to addthat of wealth . For each sacrifice the officiating priestsdemanded their " dakshina, " or reward of gold and kine;one text 2 mentions the liberality of a worshipper who gave85,000 white horses, 10,000 elephants, and 80,000 slavegirls adorned with ornaments, to the Brahman whoperformed the sacrifice.Throughout the early history of India, tradition tellsof fierce conflicts between the Brahmans and the warriorclass, out from which the Brahmans ever emerged victorious.Prajapati, the lord of all creatures, was held to havecreated divine knowledge and the sacrifice for Brahmans,not for warriors. At the inauguration of a king, when hewas anointed by the sprinkling of water and admitted to1 The ancient mode of destroying an enemy by making an image of wax andplacing it before a fire is narrated in the " Sämavidhāna Brahmana "”::--"Theimage of the person to be destroyed or afflicted is made of dough, and roasted,so as to cause the moisture to exude, and then cut in pieces and eaten by thesorcerer. "-Burnell (Introd . ) p. xxvi.2 Weber, " Ind. Stud. , ” x . p. 54. See also " Sat. Brāh. , ” ii . 6 , 3, 9; iv. 5,I, II; iv. 3 , 4 , 6; " Taitt. Brāh. , " iii . 12, 5 , 11-12.3Haug, "Ait. Brāh. , " p. 471 (tr. ).BRAHMANISM 93the drinking of the Soma juice, he had for the time beingto lay aside the signs of his warriorhood,¹ his horse, hischariot, his armour, his bow and arrow, and take up thesigns of the sacerdotal power, the sacrificial implements,and become a Brahman so long as the inauguration lasted.With the natural tendency of a class rising to almostsupreme power, the priesthood sought in every way toconsolidate its position and enforce its rules and ordinanceson those whom it could force to submit.The king and his " purohita," originally holders of a jointoffice, stood apart and separate in their functions, both atype of the class or caste division into nobles and priests,of those who held power over the labouring community.3The agricultural or trading members of the Aryan clansheld themselves proudly aloof from the despised blackskinned and broad- nosed aborigines, with whom for the mostpart they abstained from intermarriage or social intercourse.The road was gradually being prepared for the divisionof the people into distinctive classes, a system ultimatelyto develop into a modern theory of caste, founded ondifferences of colour, descent, occupation, or livelihood.The Aryans by the close of the Brahmanic period hadspread far to the East, where those tribes or clans, who werefurthest removed from the homes ofthe Kuru Panchālasand the sacrifice, were to rise in opposition to the wholetheory on which Brahmanic supremacy was founded, andinaugurate a revolt which culminated in the formulateddoctrines of Buddhism.1 Haug, " Ait. Brāh, ” p. 472 (tr.).2 Frazer, " Golden Bough, " vol. i. p. 224.3 Senart, "Castes dans l'Inde, " p. 149.CHAPTER VI.FROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM.THE"Brahmanas" tell how, from the plains of Kurukshetra,from the abodes of the Kuru Panchālas, Brahman priestswent to carry to the homesteads of those adventuringwarriors, who had gone further east to seek new fortunes,the knowledge of the sacrificial mysteries, the power theyheld to sway the gods, and to claim in return some shareof the wealth that had fallen to the Aryan race. To theEast, as far as to the banks of the Sadānīra, or ModernGandak, which flows into the Ganges near Patna, theKośālas had made their homes, while the Videhas hadventured to cross the cold water of the same stream, andtake up their abode in the rich land beyond.The ancient literature of India still tells how once theland to the east of the Sadānīra, " she who is always filledwith water," was for long " very uncultivated and verymarshy," and how no Brahmans dwelt there. By theadvancing Aryans the sacred fire was at length carriedacross the deep stream, and by it the undergrowth burnedaway and the forest trees cleared. The story as told in theBrahmana of One Hundred Paths," is one of the few factsregarding the people and their movements that the timesthought it worth while recording.146 Sat. Brāh. ," i. 4, 1 , 15.94FROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 95'Nowadays," narrates¹ the chronicler of the advanceofthe Aryans eastward to Videha, " the land is very cultivated, for the Brahmans have caused Agni to taste itthrough sacrifices. Even in winter that river, as it were,rages along so cold is it, not having been burned overby Agni Vaisvānara.""Mādhava, the Videgha, then said to Agni, ' Where amI to abide? ' 'To the east of this river be thy abode,' saidhe. Even now this river forms the boundary of theKośālas and Videhas; for these are the Mathavas ordescendants of Madhava."The wandering course of tribes other than the Kośālasand Videhas can also be traced in early Vedic literature.Tribes known as the Kāsis found an abiding- place roundthe modern city of Benares, the sin-destroying Kāsi, withinsight of whose myriad temples all who die are said to passstraight to the heavens of the Hindu gods. Beyond theKāsis lived the Magadhas and Angas, tribes who wanderedfar beyond the pale of Aryan civilisation 2 to venture theirfortunes amid the fever-smitten tracts, where they mightlive free from the strict rules of sacerdotal orthodoxy.In the history of the times there is no evidence that overany of these tribes-far as they may have gone to the East,or long as they may have settled in the fertile valleys ofthe Ganges and Jumna-the enervating influence ofclimate, sloth, or luxury, had cast its fatal spell. The wilduntrammelled play of fancy that had inspired the lyric outburst of early Vedic song gave place, it is true, to thereasoned and more ordered train of thought, seen in theprose, diffuse and artificial though it be, of the " Brāhmanas,”¹ S.B.E. , vol. xii.; " Śat. Brāh. , " i. 4, 1 , 16-17.

• See Oldenberg, “ Buddha, ” p. 400.

' S.B.E., vol. xlii.; " Atharva- veda, " p. 2:-" Destroy the fever thatreturns on each third day, the one that intermits each third day, the one that continues without intermission, and the autumnal one. To the Gandhāris, theMūjavantas, the Angas, and the Magadhas, we deliver over the fever, like aservant, like a treasure. "96 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA“Āranyakas,” and “ Upanishads." Full as the “ Brahmanas ”are of evidences how the Kuru Panchala Brahmans sought,for the purpose of their own aggrandisem*nt, to gain atemporal and spiritual dominion over the superstitiousmass of the people, yet in Magadha, in the far East, thealmost sublime figure of Buddha stands forth , not only asa personification of stately self- restraint, but also of heroicprotest against the usurpation by men of power over theeternal destinies of their fellow- creatures. In the leadingprinciples of the " Upanishads," which contain the free andearnest speculations of a rising class of philosophers-priests,kings, and warriors alike-who thronged to the courts ofthe chieftains of Kośāla and Videha, there is to be foundthe bursting forth of an advanced order of thought, andthough this may be peculiarly, and exclusively Indianin the deeply religious and intensely subtle mode of itsexpression, yet as a phase of thought, it was a naturalgrowth from the preceding religious history of the people,and as such shows nothing unworthy of taking a foremostplace in the intellectual history of the world at the periodin which it arose. That the Aryans advanced into Indiain numbers sufficient to oust the aboriginal tribes, and themselves to colonise the vast area over which their influencecan be traced, has never been held as probable, or evenpossible. The previous inhabitants were numerous, andmore or less civilised. At the present day, the only evidenceIndia affords of an invasion of Aryan people in Vedictimes, outside the literary record and existence of thegreat group of northern Aryan languages, derived fromSanskrit, is the presence of an upper stratum offair- skinnedand refined families in the great mass of the dark-skinned,and more illiterate agricultural population. The very1 The case of South India, where the Aryan influence spread later, is typical." It has often been asserted, and is now the general belief of ethnologists, thatthe Brahmans ofthe South are not pure Aryans, but are of mixed Aryan andDravidian race. "-H. A. Stuart, " Madras Census Report " ( 1891 ). Mr EdgarFROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 97denunciations in the early Sanskrit literature againstmatrimonial relationship between members of the Aryancommunity and those of the aboriginal tribes, as well asthe relegation of any offspring to despised or inferiorclasses ofmixed descent, show plainly that the interminglingof the newcomers with the earlier inhabitants was far fromuncommon. Even though this may have been so, to agreater extent than at present it would be safe to assert,it is certain that the Aryans, in the course of theirmigrations from the Sarasvati to the limits of WesternBengal, left the impress of their language and culture overthe whole of this extensive area, assuming, as must bedone for the present, that Buddhism, in its primary significance, was a legitimate outcome of Aryan thought. TheseAryans, as they spread far and wide, remained, for the mostpart, united into clans and tribes, each under its ownlocal chieftain. As in the earliest Vedic times so down tothe time of Buddha in the sixth century B.C., and evenlater, these scattered tribes show no inability to push theirway amid opposing foes, or even, if opportunity afforded, totake possession of the territories of those of their own racethan whom they found themselves more powerful. TheThurston, who has taken a series of anthropological measurements ( “ MadrasGovernment Museum Bulletin, " No. 418, 1896 ) , states that the Brahmans of theSouth " are separated from all the classes or tribes of Southern India which I haveas yet investigated, with the exception ofthe Kongas of Coimbatore, bythe relationofthe maximum transverse diameter to the maximum antero- posterior diameterof the head (cephalic index) . Though the cephalic index of the Kongas isslightly greater, the mean length and breadth of their heads are considerably less than these of the Brahmans, being 17.8 cm. and 13.7 cm. against186 and 142." Again: " The length of the head of Brahmans, Kammalans, Pallis, and Pariahs show that the average length is the same inall except the Kammalans, in whom it is slightly ( ' 2 cm. ) shorter. " Also: "Inall except the Paniyans the average width of the nose is the same, but the length is slightly greatest in the Brahmans. " "I came across many darkskinned Brahmans with high nasal index. " Finally, he sums up his results:"The Brahmans are characterised by the greatest weight, greatest breadth ofhead, greatest distance from the middle finger to the patella, and the largest hands " (p. 229).G98LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAmore the once-united and compact body of Aryans diffused themselves over the vast extent of Northern India,separating into groups under chieftains, each desirous ofextending his possessions and influence by conquest over,or by alliances with, other rich and powerful chieftains,aboriginal or Aryan, the more their life-history becomesdisseminated into devious courses, never again to re-uniteinto one combined nationality.Popular religious movements, such as those of Buddhismand Jainism, which appealed to the understanding andsympathies of the mass, had undoubtedly an influence ininfusing the community with a commonenthusiasm .purpose andThese movements had their results in ancient India,as similar popular religious movements have had, andundoubtedly will have in the future, in modern India,and were taken advantage of by chieftains anxious to seizethe opportunity of extending their local influence. Yetfrom their very nature they proved powerless to unite forlong the diverse elements which went to make up thecommunity into a combined body, powerful and coherentenough to resist the disintegrating effects of a rude shockfrom foreign invasions. These movements left their ownpeculiar literary record, though the history of the phase ofthought out of which they arose, preserved as it is in theearlier " Brahmanas " and " Upanishads," is one of the mostobscure in the whole range of Indian literature.While the Aryan people were bereft of all hope of everseeing a great national leader arise among them to combinethe scattered elements, into which the people were drifting,into one political unity, it would be as vain to seek, in thehistory of the times, for the growth of any tendency toevolve a clearly-defined conception of a monotheism, as itwould be to seek for any great literary outburst in whichcould be read the national expression of the desire of theFROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 99race for expansion. At the most, it must be expected thatthe literary history of the period is one in which all thatwas left of the past was fostered and elaborated or developedalong its own inherent lines by the peculiar genius of agifted race, able to preserve its intellecual power amid thecrumbling ruins of its political career. In the literaturewe find not the record of an intellectual movement, sinkingdeeper into despondency and despair from climatic orpriestly influences, ¹ but rather the free discussion amongthe outlying portions of the community of the wholereligious tradition and new-founded claims of the priesthood, the enunciation of doctrines in many cases subversive of such claims, and, unhappily, in many casesshowing evidences of the incorporation of beliefs, superstitions, and debasing cults of alien races, with whom themore orthodox Aryans had entered into social and politicalrelations.The evidences for the changing order of things are tobe sought in the philosophic disquisitions of the earlier"Upanishads. " 2At the court of the renowned Janaka, the patron of allwise men and chieftain of Videha, there stands forth thefigure of a celebrated Brāhman priest, Yājnavalkya, whowas deeply versed in all the ritual of the sacrificial cult aspractised in the holy land of the Kuru Panchālas. Thefame Yajnavalkya brought to the land of the Videhas 4¹ Garbe, " Monist, " p. 50 ( 1892): -" India was governed by priests, and the weal of the nation was sacrificed with reckless indifference. " The samelearned writer also remarks that " it is no exaggeration to say that priest- rulewas the ruin of India. " It should not, however, be forgotten that the driftingofthe destinies of a nation, or even of a movement, into corrupt or incompetenthands, is but one of the symptoms of decay, not the cause.2 P. Regnaud, " Matériaux pour servir à l'Histoire de Philosophie dans l'Inde," p. 30.3 For his instructor, Ārunī, see Oldenberg, “ Buddha,” p. 396 (note); “ Śat.Brah. ," iii. 3, 4, 19.4Where he compiled the " White Yajur Veda" and its " Satapatha Brahmana. "100 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAieven aroused the anger and jealousy of Ajātasatru, thechieftain of the distant Käsis.Janaka, proud of the fame he had won, held a greatsacrifice, and offered a reward of one thousand cows,bearing each ten pieces of gold fastened to their horns, tothe wisest of all the assembled Brahmans, who hadgathered together at his court from the western lands ofthe Kuru Panchālas. Then Yajnavalkya directed hispupil to drive away the cows, for he held himself to bethe wisest of all wise men. Challenged as to his knowledge,he silenced all enquirers by repeating the whole sacrificialcult. Yet there was one question put to him he would notanswer before the assembled warriors, or in the hearing ofthose who placed their salvation in the hands of the priesthood and in the efficacy of the duly performed sacrifice.So Yajnavalkya turned to his enquirer with the remark:"Take my hand, O friend, we two alone shall know ofthis; let this question of ours not be discussed in public." 2The question Yajnavalkya would not answer before theassembled crowd was for him a perplexing one, an answerto which it was the mission of Buddha to proclaim openlybefore all men. It was the question as to what became ofman after he departed from this world, and in the heavens.had received the reward of all his labours.In the hands of the Brahmans the rites of the sacrificelay. It was solely on the efficacy of the sacrifice that thewelfare, here and hereafter, of all depended. The practicalresult of the disquisition was that the two friends arrivedat the conclusion that, from all good deeds, sacrificeincluded, only good results would flow, and from bad deeds,non-sacrifice included, only bad results would flow. Thewords ofthe "Upanishad" state:-" Then these two went out1 " Śat. Brāh. , ” i . 4, 1 , 10; Oldenberg, p. 398; S.B.E. , vol. xii. p. xliii.;"Brih. -Aran. Up. , " iii . 1 , 2, 1: -"Many presents were offered to the priests of the Aśvamedha. "2 "Brih. -Aran. Up. , " iii. 2, 13.FROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 101and argued, and what they said was Karman ("work "); whatthey praised was Karman; viz. that a man becomes goodby good work, and bad by bad work. "The soul might pass after death into different habitationsaccording to its acts; but the question referred to theposition of those who had gained a knowledge that was tolead to the overthrow of the whole sacrificial system. Itopened up the whole question of the knowledge whichman possesses of the true nature of the world as it ispresented by the senses, including, as it necessarily does,the relationship of man to the changing scene of birth andre- birth, of ever - ceaseless becoming and never- abidingbeing, in which he finds himself move as a factor in thegreat scheme of creation.The weary cry raised by the Vedic poets that their godswere many, and that, amid them all, they still wondered towhat god they should offer their sacrifice, had died away inechoing murmurs that though all the gods are of equalmight and majesty, yet no man knew where stood the tree,nor where grew the wood out from which the heavens andearth were fashioned.¹ At the close of the early Vedictimes, when all the sacerdotal learning of the priestly casteof Kurukshetra had been brought to the Eastern lands,where dwelt the Videhas, Kośālas, Kāsis, and Magadhas,there to be sifted by the ruthless logic of more independentminds, the triumphal answer came that " Brahmanthe tree, that " Brahman " was the wood out from whichthe world was hewn.2wasWhen Yajnavalkya was again questioned at the court ofVideha by a proud woman, Gārgi Vāchakanavi: " In whatare the worlds of Brahman woven, like warp and woof? "he answered: " O Gārgī, do not ask too much lest thy head¹ R.V. , x. 81 , 4: -"Ye thoughtful men enquire within your spirit whereonHe stood when He established all things " (Griffith).2 "Taitt. Brāh. , ” ii . 8, 9 , 6; see Deussen, " Das System des Vedānta, "p. 51.102 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAshould fall off. Thou askest too much about a deity aboutwhich we are not to ask too much." When the womancried out against the learned priest:-" O Yajnavalkya, asthe son of a warrior from the Kāsis and Videhas mightstring his loosened bow, take the pointed foe - piercingarrows in his hand, and rise to battle, I have risen tofight thee."2 He was forced to reply to the question sheput to him: " That of which they say that it is abovethe heavens, beneath the earth, embracing Heaven andearth, past, present, and future, tell me in what it iswoven, like warp and woof? " The answer given formsthe basis of the whole philosophic thought of the time.The sacrificial system was once for all placed in a subsidiary position in relation to a new doctrine of salvationwhich looked upon the performance of religious practices,and the doing of good deeds, merely as a basis whereonshould be founded the true aim of mankind: the attainment of a true knowledge of the relationship of the Selfto the Self of the Universe.Yajnavalkya declared to Gārgi, of him who did notpossess this true knowledge, that "though he offer oblationsin this world, sacrifices, and performs penances for athousand years, his works will have an end." He " departsthis world; he is miserable, like a slave."There remained but two simple concepts for the futureof India to brood over with all the fervour and subtletyof its unrivalled powers of insight into the true nature ofthings. First, the whole reality of the world, as perceivedby the senses, had to be pierced through, and that whichunderlay it, that which gave it being, ascertained anddefined. So when Gärgi questioned Yajnavalkya as towhat underlay all objective reality, what permeated all,what wove all together, like warp and woof, there camethe answer that there remained only " Brahman," that which1 " Brih. - Aran. Up. , ” iii . 6, 1 . 2 Ibid., iii. 8.FROM BRĀHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 103"is unseen but seeing; unheard but hearing; unperceivedbut perceiving; unknown but knowing. There is nothingthat sees but it; nothing that hears but it; nothing thatperceives but it; nothing that knows but it. "1So far there remained, as the result of the earliestphase of philosophic thought in India, nothing but theUnconscious Brahman, yet, as the Indian sage himselfasserts, he knew, too, that he himself also exists, for noman says, " I am not."It was not given to the East to undertake an analysis ofthe human thinking faculties, and see how far the externalappearances ofthings were thereby conditioned. It thereforebecame necessary to explain in what relationship that whichman postulates the existence of his own Self, his own Soul-stood in regard to the Imperishable, the Brahman. TheIndian mind had to seek for knowledge that was of morevalue than sacrifice or good deeds, the knowledge not onlyof Brahman, but of that which told all men that even iftheir perceptions of the objective reality of the world befounded on nescience, there yet remained, calling for someexplanation, the subjective evidence man possesses of hisown Self, of his own existence.Whilst the Indian mind was thus searching for the Causefrom which issued the objective form of the world, it was,at the same time, seeking out from the subjective realitythe underlying Self or Soul by which man knows heexists. The answer respecting the Cause was clear.From " Brahman " proceeded the creation ofthe world, theform of whose arrangement no mind can grasp, where allbecoming has its own time, and place, and cause. Theword Brahman itself is formed from a root, brih, signifyingbursting forth, expanding, spreading, growing. From brih1 "Brih. - Aran. Up. , " iii. 8, 11; S.B.E. , vol. xv.2"Brahma Sutras, " i . 1 , 2.

• “ Ibid. , i. 1, 1:—“ Root brih =to be great ”; see Gough, “ Philosophy of

the Upanishads, " p. 38; Max Müller, " Vedānta, " pp. 21 , 148.104 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe word Brahman was first formed; it was the prayer sentforth by the Vedic seer to invoke the near presence of thedeities. Brihaspati was the lord of prayer, the lord ofspeech. From the prayer, from the creative fervour of thepoet's imagination and aspiration, all the gods had sprungto birth, the triple " Vedas," on which all truth is founded,had sprung to life. " Brahman was that from which all theuniverse, extended in name and form, was issued forth.It was the tree and the wood from which the heavens andearth were hewn; it was that in which all things are woven,like warp and woof. In its full definition, as later given,³" Brahman " was held to be that Omniscient and OmnipotentCause from which came the birth, the stay, and the decayof this Creation, as seen spread out by name and form,wherein abide many actors and enjoyers, wherein arisesthe fruit of good and evil deeds, all having their own time,and place, and cause; a Creation, the planning of whoseform no mind can grasp. The answer respecting the Soulor Self had further to be formulated.From earliest times the wondering powers of theprimitive mind were set to fathom sleep and death, andtheir surrounding mysteries. In sleep are seen visions ofwell-known faces; scenes are fancied forth; joys and fearscome and go; yet, as man moves not, the first solution isthat something-the breath, the spirit, or the soul-has goneforth to wander free. From death there is no awakening;the shade, the breath, soul, or spirit has gone forth and1 R.V. , ii. 23, 1:-"Als Priestlicher Schachtgott "; Oldenberg, "Rel. desVedas," p. 67, as sacerdotal side of Agni's nature "; Macdonell, J.R.A.S.(1895) , p. 948.2 R. V. , x. 98, 2 , 3; x. 71 , 1. Vachaspati, see Max Müller, " Vedanta, " p. 149.For Brahman as Logos of Fourth Gospel, see Deussen, p. 51; Max Müller,"Vedānta, ” p. 148: —“ He created first of all the Brähman "; cf. S. B. , vi. 1 , x ,8, which is translated:-" He created first of all the word. "3 "Brāh. Sūtras, " i. 1 , 2.4 Huxley, " Romanes Lecture, " p. 40; Rhys Davids, " Hibbert Lectures,"p. 83.FROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 105returns not. The lifeless body is still loved by friends,¹and feared by those who were foes. Efforts are made byfriends to recall the soul, to guide it to the place whereit once dwelt, food is placed near, offerings made, and allthe means so familiar to students of folk-lore, taken tohasten it on its journey. To these spirits, Pitris, or fathers,who had gone away 2 (" preta ") along the path first troddenby Yama, the Vedic Soma was poured forth, and theywere summoned to take their place among the assembledgods, and partake of the sacrifice. In the "TaittiriyaBrahmana " the souls of the deceased are said to dwell inthe heavens above as stars,5 and again in the stars are"the lights of those righteous men who go to the celestialworld. " In the " Śatapatha Brāhmana " death is the sunwhose rays attach to mortals their life breath, yet, as theKatha Upanishad " 8 declares: " No mortal lives by thebreath that goes up and the breath that goes down. Welive by another in whom these two repose."There was something which went out of man in sleepand death; something underlying the Ego, the I , the vitalbreath, more subtle than life.In the " Rig Veda," the sun, though it holds the lifebreath of mortals, is something more. It is the Self, or theĀtman," of all that moves and moves not, of all that fillsthe heavens and the earth. So of man there is also theAtman,10 "the Self, smaller than small, greater than great,hidden in the heart of that creature." A man who is free1¹ Jevons, "History of Religions, " pp. 46, 54.

• Max Müller, " India: What Can It Teach Us? " p. 220.

³ R. V. , x. 15, 1: -" The fathers who deserve a share of the Soma. "4Ibid. , x. 15, 11:-" Fathers whom Agni's flames have tasted , come yenigh: in proper order take ye each your proper place. Eat sacrificial food presented on the grass " (Griffith).♪"Taitt. Brāh. , " v. 4, 13.7"Sat. Brah. ," x. 3, 3, 7, 8.9 R.V. , i. 115, I.6.44 Sat. Brah. , " vi. 5, 4, 8.8 " Katha Up. , " ii . 5, 5; S.B. E. , vol. xv.10 " Katha Up. , " i. 2, 20.106 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfrom desires and free from grief sees the majesty of theSelf by the grace of the Creator.¹It is this Atman, or Self, more abstract in its conceptionthan soul, Psyche, or " anima," that becomes also theUniversal Self, the Self of the World, " bhūmiyāh ātman , "of which the " Veda " 2 speaks: " When that which had nobones bore him who has bones, when that which wasformless took shape and form."The Indian sage, seeking out the primal cause ofcreation, had first to sweep away all that which had beenproduced, even the gods themselves, and to his gaze thereremained but the neuter essence, Brahman, from whichall things issued forth, and into which all things resolvethemselves. There remained also the Self, the Soul, theAtman of man. There was but one step further to bereached by the Indian mind, and that was taken when allduality vanished, and the Brahman became the Great Self,the " Paramatman," the Universal Self, into which wasmerged the Atman, or Self, of man.In the closing scenes of the teachings of the priest,Yajnavalkya, at the court of Videha, this doctrine of theĀtman, which was to have so great an influence on thefuture of India, is set forth in clear and plain language.Maitreyi, the wife of Yajnavalkya, appeared and prayedher husband, who was preparing to go forth from his homeand end his days, according to the custom of the time,as a hermit in the forest, to expound unto her the secretof death and immortality. Yājnavalkya replied to his wife:"Thou art, indeed, dear to me, therefore I will explain it toyou, and mark well what I say. "3So he told her that to all the world was dear; that wivesand sons were dear; wealth, the gods, sacrifice, and knowledge, for the simple reason that they were all held in the1 "Dhatu prasādāt, " see Max Müller, " Vedanta, " p. 50.2 R. V. , i. 164, 4. 3 "Brih. -Aran. Up. , " iv. 5, 5.FROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 107Self, that they were all permeated by the Self, that theywere all one in the Self. " Verily, the Self is to be seen,to be heard, to be perceived, to be marked, O Maitreyi!When the Self has been seen, heard, perceived, and known,then all this is known." 1The futility ofthe efforts to inculcate these philosophicspeculations among the people, so that they might becomepotential principles of a new religious movement, a consummation only effected by Buddha with respect to thedoctrines he taught, is dramatically set forth and artisticallyforeshadowed by generally putting forth women such asGargi and Maitreyi to receive instruction. This can beseen in the answer made to Yajnavalkya by his wife.Then Maitreyi said: " Here, sir, thou hast landed me inbewilderment. Indeed, I do not understand."2The remark gave Yajnavalkya the opportunity for settingforth, in the simplest language, the doctrine of the unityof the Self of Man and the Self ofthe Universe, the peculiarEastern mode of expressing "the Monistic doctrine of theAll in One which has had the greatest influence on theintellectual life of modern times." 3 In the answer ofYajnavalkya there is no exulting cry of one seeking, bythe keenness of his intellect, to overthrow rival creeds;there is no vaunting boast that the riddle of existence hadbeen solved; there is but the sad wail that the mind hadpierced as keenly into the nature of things as it was able,and that even then there was room for wonder-room notonly for wonder, but room for doubt that any reasonedthought of man would ever satisfy the eager thirst ofhumanity to seek out a living faith in keeping with theinstincts which make its manhood. Nowhere in thehistory of the world's thought can there be found more.earnest efforts to seek out for suffering mankind some2 Ibid. , iv. 5, 14. 1 " Brih. -Aran. Up. , " iv. 5 , 6.3 Garbe, "The Monist, " p. 58 (Oct. 1894).108 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsolution of the perplexing questions which surround hislife than in those sedately and reverently-expressed speculations of the awakened thought of India. Yet, strange tosay, these speculations never touched the hearts of thepeople. They worked no such revolution as did the crudeagnosticism of Buddha.From the sedate and learned priest, prepared as he wasto leave wealth and fame, wives and sons, and end his daysin subdued submission to the scheme of things which heldhim powerless, and was soon to claim his life, came thegentle answer to his wife Maitreyi:-"O Maitreyī, I say nothing that is bewildering. Verily, beloved,that Self is imperishable and of an indestructible nature. For whenthere is, as it were, duality, the one sees the other, one smells theother, one tastes the other, one salutes the other, one hears theother, one perceives the other, one touches the other, one knowsthe other; but when the Self alone is all this, how should one seeanother, how should one smell another, how should one taste another, how should one salute another, how should one hear another, how should one touch another, how should he know another?How should he know him by whom he knows all this? ThatSelf is to be described by no, no! He is incomprehensible forhe cannot be comprehended; he is imperishable for he cannotperish; he is unattached for he does not attach himself; unfettered,he does not suffer, he does not fail. How, O beloved, should heknow the knower? Thus, O Maitreyī, thou hast been instructed.Thus far goes immortality. Having said so Yajnavalkya went awayinto the forest. "The Indian mind had, however, long to wait before itclearly saw its course to Monism, notwithstanding theanswer here given by Yajnavalkya as the last result of hislong efforts to rest within the dreamy depths whence thereality of the world fades away into the Universal Self,outside of which there is no duality.As yet this Self is but that which pervades and underlies all things; it stands apart, yet from out it springsCreation. Close to a pure idealistic conception of theFROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 109Universe and the unreality of everything, the perceptionof which by our senses is mere delusion, comes the wellknown teaching of Uddālaka to his son Svetaketu in the"Chandogya Upanishad "1 where it is declared: " In thebeginning, my dear, there was that only which is (Tò ov)one only without a second. Others say, in the beginningthere was that only which is not (rò µǹ öv) , one only withouta second, and from that which is not, that which is, wasborn."" But how could it be thus, my dear? " the father continued. " How could that which is, be born of that whichis not? No, my dear, only that which is, was in thebeginning, one only without a second. "So far it might seem as if there could exist no realitynor duality from which the creation of anything outside theOne Universal Self could rise. Yet the teaching goes onto declare that what in the beginning was one only withouta second thought, " may I be many, may I grow forth.It sent forth fire."It remains still that Self out of which the heavensand earth were made. It is still, as the one piece of claygives its name to the whole piece of clay, that from whichall creation derives its name and form. It still has thought, *and from its thought plurality springs forth, first fire, thenwater, food, and earth. It is still the Self which Deathdeclares to Nachiketas, who had gone to the realms ofYamato redeem a vow made by his father." From YamaNachiketas claimed a boon, for Death, who had been busyamong mortals, had kept him waiting, and the boon heclaimed was, that Yama should declare to him what was" Ch. Up. , " vi. 2 1. 2 "Taitt. Brāh. , " ii. 8, 96. 3 "Ch. Up. , " vi. 1 , 4.♦ Ibid. , vi. 2, 3:-"It thought, may I be many, may I grow forth. It sentforth fire. " S.B.E. , vol. i .; Oldenberg, " Buddha, " p. 41:-Therefore " involving the duality of the subject and object. "

• " Katha Up. ,” p. 54, for which Oldenberg claims a pre- Buddhistic origin.

110 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe great secret beyond the grave. In vain Death prayed¹not to be asked the question. He offered to Nachiketas fairmaidens, and chariots, and song. Yet of them Nachiketascried: " They last till to- morrow, O Death; they wear outthe vigour of all the senses. Even the whole of life isshort. Keep thy horses; keep dance and song to thyself."' Nachiketas but desired to know the mystery of death. SoDeath told him all that the mind of man had been ableto fathom of the unknown the portals of which had beenfashioned out from fantastic dreams of evanescent fancy,still more dear to the mystic mind of the East than thestately portals of Western constructive thought, where eachline is laboriously laid down to serve a purpose. So Deathweaves a web through which one may seek the infinite,fine-spun and vague as the thread of thought whichstretched from Vedic times towards Buddha's feet."Fools and blind leaders of the blind," 2 Death says, " arethey who fall into my hands. They are those who deemthere is no world but theirs, who know not the truth ofSelf. The Self is not to be known by the ' Veda,' nor bythe teaching. It is not born; it dies not; it sprang fromnothing; nothing sprang from it. It is hidden in the heartof every creature. The wise who knows the Self as bodilesswithin the bodies, as unchanging among changing things,*as great and omnipresent, does never grieve, but he who hasnot turned away from his wickedness, who is not tranquiland subdued, or whose mind is not at rest, he can neverobtain the Self (even) by knowledge." Amid all thesestrange guesses which the enquiring mind of the Indianphilosopher hazarded respecting the nature of Soul and1 Max Müller, "Hibbert Lectures," p. 335.2 S.B.E. , vol . xv. pp. 10-12; Oldenberg, " Buddha, " pp. 53-7; MaxMüller, " Hibbert Lectures, " pp. 333-7."Katha Up. ," i. 2, 18.↑ Ibid. , i. 2, 23; -" He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can begained."FROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 111Supreme Being, and their connection, in which all of theold is held fast, for as yet the sage is not satisfied that he haspierced to the truth, there comes one belief stranger to ourears than all others, declared as follows: 1 " Self cannot begained by the ' Veda,' nor by understanding, nor by muchlearning. He whom the Self chooses, by him the Selfcan be gained. The Self chooses him (his body as his own)."So from thought to thought the mind wandered on in itsown course, over the anxious questions never to be solvedyet never silenced. "Breath to air, and to the immortal, " 2cries the dying soul; " then this my body ends in ashes.Om! mind, remember! Remember thy deeds. Mind,remember! Remember thy deeds."" He who knows at the same time both the cause and thedestruction of the perishable body, overcomes death bydestruction, and obtains immortality through knowledge ofthe true cause. ""When to a man who understands the Self has becomeall things, what sorrow, what trouble can there be to himwho once beheld that unity? " 8 "And he who beholds allbeings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, he never turnsaway from it." 4 " All who worship what is not the truecause enter into blind darkness; those who delight in thetrue cause enter, as it were, into greater darkness. " 5The full doctrine of the " Brahman" and the "Atman" isset forth in the well- known " Śandilyavidya," or sayingsof the sage, Sandilya, so often quoted in succeedingdisquisitions:-"All this is Brahman (neuter). Let a man meditate on that (visibleworld) as beginning, ending, and breathing in it (the Brahman).Now man is a creature of will. According to what his will is in this1 "Katha Up. , " i. 2, 23. " Mandukya Up. , " iii. 2, 3, gives the same.2 "Isa. Up. ," 17; S.B.E. , vol. i . p. 313.4 "Isa. Up. "; S.B.E. , vol. i . p. 312.3 Ibid. , vol. i. p. 312.Ibid. , vol. i. p.312."Ch. Up. ," iii. 14; " Vedanta Sūtras, " iii. 3, 31.112 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAworld, so will he be when he has departed this life. Let him thereforehave this will and belief.The intelligent, whose body is spirit, whose form is light, whosethoughts are true, whose nature is like ether (omnipresent andinvisible), from whom all works, all desires , all sweet odoursand tastes proceed; he who embraces all this, who never speaks,and is never surprised; he is my Self within the heart, smallerthan a corn of rice, smaller than a corn of barley, smaller thana mustard seed, smaller than a canary seed or the kernel of a canaryseed. 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 tastesproceed, who embraces all this, who never speaks, and who is neversurprised-he, my selfwithin the heart, is that Brahman (neuter) . WhenI shall have departed from hence, I shall obtain him (that Self). Hewho has this faith has no doubt; thus said Śandilya, yea, thus hesaid."This is the teaching which has ever had the deepestfascination for all succeeding thought in India. It was theteaching in which Ajatasatru, King of the Videhas,instructed the proud Brahman, Gārgya Bālāki, remarkingas he did so: " Verily, it is unnatural that a Brahmanashould come to a Kshatriya hoping that he should tell himthe Brahman. " 1It was the knowledge of the Self and its oneness withBrahman that inspired Brahmans to give up all desire forsons, for wealth, and a life amid the gods, to go forth fromtheir homes and wander as mendicants. The knowledgewas not one to be obtained by argument,³ and " he who hasnot first turned away from his wickedness, who is nottranquil and subdued, or whose mind is not at rest, he cannever obtain the Self even by knowledge." The path tothe Self is difficult to pass over; it is sharp as the edge of arazor. The Self is seated in the body as if in a chariot; theintellect drives, the mind becomes the reins, yet the senses41 " Brih. - Aran. Up. , " ii. 1. 15: -" Then let me come to you as a pupil. "2 Ibid., iii. 5, I.4 Ibid. , i. 2, 24.3 "Katha Up. , " i. 2, 9.5 Ibid. , i. 3, 14.FROM BRAHMANISM TO BUDDHISM 113are as vicious horses which speed it along, over a roadstrewn with the objects of sense.¹The Agnihotra, the new moon, the full moon, the fourmonthly, the harvest sacrifices 2 lead to the heaven of thegods. They lead the sacrificer, " as sun rays,³ to where the oneLord of the Devas dwells; they lead him to where there isrejoicing over his good deeds." But they are 5 " fools whopraise this as the highest good; (they) are subject again andagain to old age and death."4"Fools, dwelling in darkness, wise in their own conceit,and puffed up with vain knowledge, go round and round,staggering to and fro like blind men led by the blind.Considering sacrifice and good works as the best-these foolsknow no higher-and having enjoyed (their reward) in theheight of heaven, gained by good works, they enter againthis world or a lower one."Yet, before the teaching ofthe "Vedas " and " Upanishads"was systematised in the " Brahma Sūtrās," and commentedupon by the greatest of all commentators, Sankaracharya, astrange belief had arisen in India, which for upwards of onethousand years set its impress on the history of the land,and gave to its literature a rich wealth of treasure, the fullvalue of which is but now dawning on the nations of theworld. The belief was that known as Buddhism, claimingfor its founder the Sakya chief, Siddartha, greater thanwhom there came but One other among the sons of men topreach the gospel of peace and goodwill unto all.1 " Katha Up. , " i. 3, 4.4 Ibid. , i. 2, 6.2 " Mandukya Up. , " i . 2, 3.5 Ibid. , i. 2, 8, 10.3 Ibid. , i. 2, 5.HCHAPTER VII.BUDDHISM.THE sacrificial fires still burned in India. From the threealtars still arose to the gods the incense-bearing smoke.The Brahmans still chanted their Vedic Hymns, and preserved the ancient traditions of their race; still strove tohold their place amid the councils of the local chieftains,and gain rich lands, kine, and wealth.The sacrificial victims were still slain, harvest- offeringsmade to all the gods. Priestly ordinances hemmed in thelife of each Aryan householder to fixed and immovablerites, to customs all bearing a divine sanction. Therewere Brahmans and laity, men and women alike, who had,however, turned their gaze from the sacred fires, and nolonger saw their gods personified as in days of yore.Beyond the heavens, beyond the gods, beneath the throbof life, there lay, not one great personal God, Creator ofthe World, but the imperishable Brahman, " the UnconsciousSelf of the Universe, " " never contaminated by the miseryof the world." Deeper than the transmigratory soul , whichreaped the reward of good and evil deeds, lay the Self ofman, that moved free, undivided from the Self of the1 "Katha Up. , ” ii . 5, 11.114BUDDHISM 115Cosmos, when man rests in dreamless sleep, ¹ when he nolonger distresses himself with the thought: " Why did Ido what is good? Why did I do what is bad? " By aknowledge of the true nature of Brahman, and Self, allduality vanishes; the Self of man recognises itself as buttemporarily separate from the Self of the Universe. "Allthe world is animated by the supersensible. This is true;this is Self. That art thou." 3The mystic charm of idealistic Monism stole over theminds of many with all the soothing rest of a mid-daysiesta in a tropical clime, where the heavens, the waters, theearth, and all that it contains, the very air itself, seems torest profound and calm in the unison of sleep.56From the earliest Vedic times there had been asceticsages who had cut themselves adrift from all the caresof life to wander free from observance of sacrificial ritesor priestly ordinances. In the laws set forth by theBrahmans for all the Aryan community, the position ofthese ascetic dreamers had to be considered, and theirclaims to sever themselves from the duties of a householder acknowledged.So it was held that the ascetic might leave his home,and discontinue the performance of all religious ceremonies,"Ch. Up. ," vi. 8, 4; Huxley, " Romanes Lecture, " p. 18: -" Practicalannihilation involved in merging the individual existence in the unconditioned ,the Atman in Brahman. "2"In zahlreiche Gleichnissen suchen die Upanishads das Wesen desBrahman zu beschreiben , aber diese Betrachtungen gipfeln in dem Satze, dassdas innerste Selbst des Individuums eins ist mit jener alles durch dringendenUrkraft (tat tvam asi, das bist du ). ” —Garbe, " Śānkhya Philosophie, " p. 109.3 " Ch. Up. , ” vi. 15; Gough, " Phil. of the Upanishads, " p. 90.

• R.V. , x. 154, 2; i. 69, 2; see Barth, “ Rel. of India, ” p. 34.

' For the existence of women ascetics, see Oldenberg, “ Buddha, ” pp. 62,154; Fichte, " Die Sociale Gliederung in N.O. India, " p. 42, et seq.; Arrian,"Indica," xii. 8, 9.6 "There can be no doubt, from the laws laid down respecting them, thatthey had a recognised position about the eighth century B.C. ” (Jacobi)."Vasishta," x. I , 4.116 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA"but never let him discontinue the recitation of the ' Veda.'By neglecting the ' Veda ' he becomes a Sudra, therefore heshall not neglect it. "There were other rules laid down, even before the timeof Buddha,¹ for these wanderers from village to village andhermit-dwellers in the forest. Those who chose to wanderfree from all bondage or restraint, from all Vedic observances, had first to take five great vows.The first greatvow was not to injure any living thing. The other fourvows were to be truthful, to abstain from the property ofothers, to be content and liberal. Besides these five chiefvows there were five lesser for all these saddened sageswho withdrew themselves from the busy ways of men, andturned their backs for ever on the blind struggle to live asothers lived, preferring to go to the forest and dream outtheir own lives apart, or wander from land to land seeing ifany knew or had heard the truth of the Brahman and theSelf. Many of these wandering folk were, no doubt, corruptand vicious, given to the practice of unholy rites, hopingto obtain insight into the unknown and gain supernaturalpowers by self- imposed tortures, by mesmeric trances, andby all the varied means so common in later India. Forthe guidance of these strict rules were necessary, so it washeld that a true ascetic should take the vows to be freefrom all anger, to be obedient,² not rash, cleanly, and purein eating.8The ground had been well prepared for the growth ofnew beliefs and new doctrines outside the orthodoxbulwarks of Brahmanism."He who has finished his studentship may become an ascetic immediately. "-" Baudhāyana, ” ii . 10, 17.To his guru.3 See Bühler, " Ind. Ant. " ( 1894) , p. 248: -For the worship of Narayana, astaught by the Bhagavatas or Pancaratras, had taken root, a cult afterwards todevelop into the deification of the heroic Krishna. For reference to Krishnaand dramatic representations of scenes in his life by Patanjali (take as secondcentury B.C. ) , see Bhandarkar, " Ind . Ant. " ( 1874) , p. 14.BUDDHISM 117It was amid this changing flux of thought that Buddhamoved, and wove out for himself the solution of the riddleof the Cosmos, which placed man's fate, for weal or woe,here and hereafter, in man's own hands, and taught him tolook not beyond himself for hope or aid.BurialThe birthplace of Buddha has lately been sought andfound in the now forest-grown and fever-laden tract ofcountry lying along the southern slopes of the Himalayas,almost 200 miles to the northward of Benares.¹topes and mounds, inscriptions carved on stones, all stilllie buried beyond the dense jungle that, during the lastfifteen hundred years, has crept over the rich land whereonce the Buddha lived happily.According to the account of the Chinese traveller,Hiouen Tsang who left his own country in 629 A.D. , tolearn in India the tenets of Buddhism, the country ofthe Sakya people, among whom Buddha was born, "isabout 4000 li (sixty-four miles) in circuit. There aresome ten deserted cities in this country, wholly desolateand ruined. The capital, Kapilavastu, is overthrown andin ruins. The foundation walls are still strong and high.It has been long deserted. The people and villages arefew and waste. . . . The ground is rich and fertile,and is cultivated according to the regular season. Theclimate is uniform, the manners of the people soft andobliging." 3Different from the account of the Chinese traveller isthat recorded in the Pāli Scriptures by a Brāhman,¹ Bühler, Athenæum ( March 6, 1897 ): -Where Nigliva is placed 13 milesfrom Paderia, the site of Buddha's birth, 8 miles from Kapilavastu.Barth (Jour. des Savants, Feb. 1897) places Nigliva " à 37 miles au nordouest de la station Ushka du North Bengal Railway, par 83 ° E. ofGreenwich. "2 "In Fa Hian's time, about A.D. 400, the country was already a wilderness,with very few inhabitants, and full of ancient mounds and ruins. "-Bühler,Athenæum (March 6, 1897).

• Beal, " Budd. Rec. of West. World, " vol. ii. p. 14.

118 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAAmbattha, who visited Kapilavastu, and there foundthat the rude warrior clan had no respect for the loftyclaims advanced by the haughty priest. " The Sakyanrace," the young Brahman angrily complained, "is fierce,violent, hasty, and long- tongued. Though they are naughtbut men of substance, yet they pay no respect, honour, orreverence to Brahmans. "More full of interest is the Buddha's recorded reply tothe Brahman, pointing out that there was no occasion forwrath, for it was well known that the Sākyas, as Kshatriyas,held themselves aloof from the Brahmans; that they refusedto acknowledge the offspring of one of their class and aBrahman as a true Sakyan, while the Brahmans acceptedsuch as pure Brahmans. In the important article by MrChalmers here quoted, it is further pointed out that " theyoung Brahman is forced to admit that, if a Kshatriya isexpelled by his fellows, the Brahmans will welcome him asone of themselves, and he will rank 2 as a full Brahman;whereas, an expelled Brahman is never received by theKshatriyas." The position of Brahmanism in relation toBuddhism is clearly indicated in the words of the " Sutta," ³where it is declared that " it is mere empty words togive it out among the people that the Brahmans are thebest caste, and every other caste is inferior; that theBrahmans are the white caste, every other caste is black;that only the Brahmans are pure, not the non- Brāhmans;that the Brahmans are the legitimate sons of Brahma, bornfrom his mouth, Brahma born, Brahma made, heirs ofBrahma. "The land of the Sakyas lies within the Nepalese Terai,north ofthe district of Gorakhpur. To the south of it lay,1 Chalmers, " Madhura Sutta, " J. R. A.S. (April, 1894): -Where he quotes above from the " Ambattha Sutta of the Digha Nikaya. "2 See Rhys Davids, " Hibbert Lectures " ( 1881 ) , p. 24; " In Valley ofGanges ":-" No Kshatriya could any longer become a Brähman. ”3 Chalmers, J.R.A.S. ( 1894 ) , p. 360.BUDDHISM 119in the time of Buddha, the land of the Kośālas, before whosepower it was soon to fall subject. The Sakyas themselveswere a warrior clan, and if of Aryan descent, had, in theirdistant retreat, mingled their blood with non- Aryan folk,and accepted many of their habits. They refrained fromintermarriage with other Aryan families, being forced fromtheir isolation " to develop the un-Aryan and un- Indiancustom of endogamy." 1 The tradition, however, stillremains that they claimed descent from Ikshvāku, thefabled first king of Oudh, the son of Manu, and progenitorof Purukutsa, the king of the Purus. With the Vedic sage,Gotama, they also claimed alliance, so that the great gloryof their race was known not only as Buddha, " TheEnlightened," and Siddartha, " one whose aim has beenaccomplished," but as the ascetic Gautama, the descendantof Gotama, the reputed founder of his family.In the land of the Sakyas, the father of Buddha ownedsome part of the fertile lands that now lie waste, and therehe became renowned as Suddhodhana, "the possessor ofpure rice." These are but dull facts. Better tradition withits imagination, its romance, and poetry, that tells how theBuddha's father was a king, and how the queen, Mayadevi,conceived miraculously. Facts seem now to supporttradition so far that in the middle of the sixth centuryB.C. the Buddha was born to Mayadevi in the gardenLumbini. The route to this spot was marked out towardsthe close of the second century by a row of pillars stretchingnorth from Patna, the capital of Asoka, the Constantine ofBuddhism, who journeyed to Kapilavastu, there to see forhimself the place where the Sakya prince was born.It was to the West, with all its stern love for realism ,that the honour fell of discovering the long-fabled garden1 Bühler, Athenæum ( March 6, 1897).Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , " p. 130; Oldenberg, " Buddha, " p. 403;" Sat. Brāh. , ” xiii. 5, 45.120 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAwhere Mayadevi housed on her journey to her father'shome, and where the Buddha was born. The news cameto England in a brief telegram of the Times of December28, 1896, and there it passed unnoticed and unremarked.From the time when Hiouen Tsang and Fa Hian visitedthe spot, the miasma of the forest had warded off allstray travellers, and left the deserted ruins a grazing- placefor cattle until, in the strange vicissitudes of time, themystery was unravelled that had so long hung round thebirthplace of the sage, whose teaching held India spellboundfor one thousand years, and is now accepted, in more orless perverted forms, by so large a proportion of the humanrace in Ceylon, Siam, Burma, Nepal, Tibet, China, andJapan.¹Asoka, who visited the spot in his own day, erected apillar there, engraved with an inscription. This pillar wasseen and described by Hiouen Tsang during his travels.Since then all memory of the pillar and its inscription fadedaway from memory until it was found by Dr Führer, andthe inscription thereon interpreted by Hofrath ProfessorBühler as follows: " King Piyadasi (or Asoka), belovedof the gods, having been anointed twenty years, himselfcame and worshipped, saying: ' Here Buddha Sakyamuniwas born,' . . . and he caused a stone pillar to beerected, which declares, ' Here the worshipful one wasborn.'" 2In his father's home the future Buddha must, like allother Kshatriyas, have been trained to take his part indefence of his home and homestead. All had to join inthe tribal fights against surrounding clans or encroachingprincipalities. Hiouen Tsang states that when he visitedthe ruins of Kapilavastu, " within the eastern gate of thecity, on the left of the road, is a stupa (burial mound);1 See Max Müller, " Chips from a German Workshop, " p. 214.2 Bühler, Athenæum ( March 6, 1897)BUDDHISM 121this is where the Prince Siddartha practised athletic sportsand competitive arts. " 1 The tribe, not able to hold its own,was soon subdued by another more powerful, and thetradition tells how the Kshatriyas murmured becauseSiddartha neglected to train himself as a warrior andprepare himself to fight in case of war. Thus challenged,Siddartha came forth and " contended with Sakyas inathletic sports, and pierced with his arrows the irontargets. "Round all the early life of the Buddha, tradition lovesto set a halo of mystery and miracle. Hiouen Tsangstates that he himself had seen a fountain, the clear watersof which had miraculous powers of healing the sick, for,as he says, " there it was, during the athletic contest, thatthe arrow of the prince, after penetrating the targets, felland buried itself up to the feather in the ground, causing aclear spring of water to spring forth." So succeedingages have woven into the early life of Buddha a fantasticweb of legends, which find their source in the poetic andpious imagination of those who saw in all the deeds of theascetic sage something more than human.From all this legend may be sifted out the fact that, atthe age of sixteen, the Buddha was married to his cousin,Yasodhara, daughter of the Koliyan chief, and ten yearslater a child, Rahula, was born. The story has beenframed in poetic fancy of how, to Buddha, the woesof life were borne home by visions of decrepitude, ofold age, of palsied sickness, and of death. Buddhaat length saw a means to escape these haunting terrorsin the vision of an ascetic sage who had wanderedforth from his home, resolved that never more shouldhis eyes behold the unaided sufferings of those to whomhe had knit his soul. So Buddha rose and in the1 Beal, "Hiouen Tsang, ” vol. ii . p. 23.2 lbid. , vol. ii. p. 211.122 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAnight-time passed forth from his wife and child, from hishome and homestead, to find if, amid the fair villagesand peaceful groves of India, where sedate and learnedBrahmans, ascetic hermits, and strange recluses dwelt,there were any who knew the secret of the mystery of lifeand death, of sorrow and suffering.The time was one when strange unrest and strange forebodings had everywhere been borne to the soul of man.Near at hand in Persia, Zoroaster had proclaimed, as somesolution of the bitter wail of mankind, the existence ofthe two ever-conflicting principles of good and evil . InPalestine, Jeremiah poured forth his lament " that all hisdays are sorrow, and his travail grief. That which befalleththe sons of men befalleth beasts. " At Ephesus, Thaleshad struck the first note of independent thought and unorthodox belief by declaring that water was the primalgerm of all things, to be followed by Heracl*tus, who saweverywhere evidences of unresting change, the mere glowand fading away, like unto fire, of all things , an eternalbecoming, and a never- existing Being, as of flowing water,wherein no firm resting-place remained for man but insome negation of change, some cessation of the entirescheme of Creation.So to the soul of Buddha crept the sad murmur of thebitter wail that " the millions slept, but a hushed and wearysound told that the wheel of life still revolved. " 2 Therewas a question Buddha had perforce to face -a questionto which if there came no answer, to the soul of man alljoys and pleasures fade as transient dreams. What toBuddha, what to all men, are the rewards of life, the loveof wife, of parents, offspring, the fond memory of thosewho have passed the chilling gates of death; what thehopes and aspirations that hover round life if they are allHuxley, " Romanes Lecture, " p. 39 ( note 2).2 E. Garnett, "An Imaged World, " p. 91.BUDDHISM 123but mockeries of man's vain efforts to raise himselfabove the brute beasts? All had better be relinquishedthan be retained at the relentless nod of a jeeringdestiny, than grow bright only to be severed by thedecrees of an impotent Cosmos, that answers back themoan of suffering with the cold stare of nescience, whereincan be read no gleam of purpose working to an omniscientend. Better for Buddha that he should have cast from himall ties which daily grew closer round him, and made lifemore dear, than that they should clasp him tighter anddrag him down to a darkness profound amid his unavailingcries for help, when neither from Brahmans nor from burnedofferings could he find the aid for which his soul cried out.For Buddha, and for all men in whom reasoned thoughthad risen, the religious systems of the time held forth nohope. The Vedic gods were gods for a conquering folkwhose future had but dawned. They were friendly godswho led the way to victory, and so long as victory wasassured, a united people sang their praise.The Sakyan land was far removed from homes wherethe Aryan brotherhood held its traditions firm amid alienfoes. The echoes of an Aryan past that came to itsborders were vague and uncertain ere they fell on Buddha'sears. He may have heard of the doctrines of the early."Upanishads," ¹ how rest was to be sought by knowledge ofthe Brahman and Self. His efforts, after he had left hiswife, and child, and fatherland, seem to have been to gain,by asceticism, morbid fancies, and religious austerities,some supernatural or mystic power whereby his soul mightrise free from all the trammels of the desires of the body,and be no longer subject to the domain of death. IfBuddha was versed in Brāhmanic lore, as many have1 Rhys Davids, " American Lectures, " p. 29.2 Ibid. , p. 102, states that Buddha, in his early probation at Rājagriha,received a teaching on the problems " discussed by such later schools as theSankhya and Vedanta. " He continues: " It is certainly evident that Gotama,124 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsought to prove, he must have been appalled not only bythevisions of a hereafter, which confronted himself and thosehe held dear, but by the drear future which lay before allmankind. Long before his days the weird doctrine ofthetransmigration of the soul through endless births and rebirths had crept its way into the beliefs of the people.In the early Vedic times there seems to have been nogloom or despair surrounding the idea of death or thehereafter.Agni¹ was besought to bear those who died to the abodeof the Fathers, where there was joy and happiness. Later2Agni was declared to be the bond, the bridge leading tothe gods, with whom the dead dwell in friendship. Theman who sacrifices goes after death to abide with the gods.The more he sacrificed, the greater was his piety, thecloser he became in his nature to that of the gods.the thought grew, it was with his own true body 5 thatman gained immortality, and great became the care inIndian life that none of the bones of the deceased weremissing when his funeral rites were performed.AsThere were some who sacrificed, and some who neglectedthe sacred duty, some who gave rich rewards to the priests,some who were nigg*rdly, against whom the sacred textsare vehement in their denunciations. So for the Aryaneither during or before this period, must have gone through a very systematicand continued course of study in all the deepest philosophy of the time. " Iagree with the learned Professor, with the exception that I do not see that anyevidence is forthcoming that Buddha had any such knowledge when he leftKapilavastu; he obtained it in Magadha. Even ifthe Sankhya, as a philosophy,existed before the time of Buddha, there is no evidence that it was known to,or influenced, Buddha. See Oldenberg, " Buddha, " p. 64; Rhys Davids,"American Lectures, " p. 29; and for opposite view, Garbe, " SankhyaPhilosophie "; and Huxley, " Romanes Lectures, " p. 17.1 R. V. , ix. 133 , 66."Sat. Brāh. ," ii. 6, 4, 8.2Taitt. Brāh. , " iii. 10, ii . 1.4 Ibid. , x, 1, 5, 4.5 Ibid. , iv. 6, 11 , xi. 1 , 8, 6 , xii. 8, 3 , 31; Weber, Z.D. M. G. , ix. 237 ƒƒ;quoted in Muir, " Sans. Texts, " vol. v. 314-15.6 " Śat Brāh. , ” xi. 6 , 3 , 11 , xiv. 6, 9, 28.BUDDHISM 125householder there grew to be the rewards and punishmentsin the next world according to how he performed hisduties in this world, according as he completed the fullcourse ofthe stated sacrifices. The idea was that in the nextworld his deeds were weighed in a balance, and accordingto the result his award was meted out, for he " is born intothe world which he has made. " 2So the thought wanders hazily along. The whole world,to the primitive mind, is animated with soul life. The trees,animals, the running brook and solitary mountain, thepetrified fossil over which man wonders, the dreaded snakeand abhorred reptile, are all endowed equally with soulsor spirits; there is no broad line drawn between man andthe rest of that into which the Divine has breathed life. Sothe bewildering idea is set forth-bewildering only to thelearned, not to those who love to watch the flowers in thechanging warmth and cold of Spring-time, who conjure upthe eager contest between St George and the dragon, andwho dread to see in May the " Three Great Ice Kings.""Now the Spring assuredly comes into life again out ofthe Winter, for out of the one the other is born again;therefore, he who knows this is, indeed, born again in thisworld." 3Not in modes of formal thought, but in the dreamy fancyofone who loves to walk in the fallacious paths of speciousanalogy, comes the reasoning over the soul of him who hasnot won by his acts release from the common course ofNature's working. "Whoever goes to yonder world nothaving escaped Death, him he causes to die again andagain in yonder world." 4 Of all good acts that man coulddo, the performance of the sacrifice was highest, and of allsacrifices the Agnihotra sacrifice was best. So " verily he1 " Śat. Brāh. , ” xi. 2, 7, 33, xi. 7, 2, 23.2 Ibid. , vi. 2, 2, 27:-" Man is born into the world made by him. "3 Ibid. , i . 5, 3, 14.• See also Ibid. , ii . 3, 3, I.126 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthat knows that release from death is the Agnihotra, isfreed from death again and again. " ¹2The full tragedy of this phase of thought, of this destiny of mankind—a destiny to which the direst of Greektragedies, pursuing to its relentless end the result of act oromission, presents but a pale and colourless contrast-issummed up in the appalling words of the " ChandogyaUpanishad," believed not only in Buddha's time, but alsoin India to-day: " Those whose conduct here has beengood will quickly attain some good birth-the birth of aBrahman, or of a Kshatriya, or a Vaisya. But those whoseconduct here has been evil will quickly attain an evil birth-the birth of a dog, or a hog, or a chandala." Another "6Upanishad," having allotted the place of the Soul to theMoon, sets forth the same idea of transmigration, in more.laboured fashion: " According to his deeds he is bornagain here as a worm, or as an insect, or as a fish, or as abird, or as a lion, or as a boar, or as a serpent, or as atiger, or as a man, or as a something else in differentplaces. "Probably no scholar has shown more dogged determination to view Buddhism from a purely historical andphilosophic standpoint than Professor Rhys Davids, yet,when he approaches the realms of metempsychosis, heseems almost to shudder at the monstrous aberrations ofthought which beset man in his cherished beliefs over thesoul theory: " Thus is the soul tossed about from life tolife, from billow to billow, in the great ocean of transmigration. And there is no escape save for the very fewwho, during their birth as men, obtain to a right knowledgeof the Great Spirit and then enter into immortality, or as1 " Śat. Brāh. , ” ii. 3 , 3, 9; see also ii. 3 , 3 , 8: —“ Whoever goes to yonderworld not having escaped Death, him he causes to die again and again in yonder world. "2 " Ch. Up. , " v. 10, 7; S.B.E. , vol. i.3 Offspring of a Sūdra and a Brahman woman.BUDDHISM 127the later philosophies taught, are absorbed into the DivineEssence."1Some such doctrines the Buddha must have learnedduring his early probation near Rajagriha, the capital ofMagadha. It was his mission to view with his own mastermind all the current phases of thought that were strugglingforth among the scattered people, as the expression of whatthe ages had produced, and combine them into thestructure known as Buddhism. This master- work ofBuddha stands out colossal in awe- inspiring loneliness asa memorial that the Eastern world had, for the time, closeditself in from all hope of knowledge of the Divine. It is welltypified by the dome-shaped mounds of Sanchi, Bharhut,and Amrāvati, wherein were shut all that was left forthe Buddhist to reverence, the relics of the Sākya prince.These mounds remain the outward form of Buddhistthought, just as the Parthenon and the memory of PallasAthene remain the memorials of Grecian ideals of beautyand of reasoned thought; just as Shah Jahan's Taj Mahaland Akbar's tomb shadow forth the hopes that were bursting forth in India in Mughal times, only to fade away indreams, as soft and pleasing as those of the sister TajMahal and stately bridge that was designed to span thewaters ofthe far- stretching Jumna.So the dome-shaped mounds in India, left as memorialsof the artistic conception of Buddha's mission, tell their ownstory-the story of how man turned his gaze from theheavens above and entombed his soul, so that never moremight his aspiring hopes be roused to fancied dreams bystately minarets or soaring spires.The new reformer had been born into the world to view,from a lonely standpoint, and weave into an artistic whole,the thoughts the age had brought forth. From the earliest1 Rhys Davids, " Hibbert Lectures, " p. 86.128 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAVedic times there were those who had denied the existenceof even the Vedic deities.¹The Vedas themselves had been denounced, reviled, andheld as unworthy the consideration of wise men.2 Atheists(nāstikas = na asti, i.e. non est) flourished and spreadabroad their unbelief. A worldly sect known as theLokayatas had freely declared: 3-"There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in anotherworld.Nor do the actions of the four castes, or orders, produce any realeffect.While life remains let man live happily, let him feed on ghee eventhough he runs in debt.When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return again?Ifhe who departs from the body goes to another world,How is it that he comes not back again, restless for love of hiskindred?Hence it is only as a means of livelihood the Brahmans haveestablished hereAll these ceremonies for the dead-there is no other fruit anywhere.The three authors of the ' Vedas ' were buffoons, knaves and demons. ”There is yet another phase of thought which must beconsidered in connection with the underlying factors out ofwhich grew Buddhism.In the sixth century B.C., a great reforming preacher,Mahāvira, had spread abroad the doctrines of Pārśva, thefounder of the Jaina sect, who had lived in the eighthcentury B.C. He, like Buddha, was a Kshatriya. Hisfather is said to have been named Siddartha, a chieftain ofthe Kundagrama village, his mother being a sister of thechieftain of Vaisāli, the chief town of the Licchavis, andalso related to Bimbisāra, King of Magadha. At the age of¹ R.V. , ii. 12, 5: -" They ask, Where is He? Or verily they say of Him,Heis not " (Griffith).2 Monier-Williams, " Buddhism, " p. 8.3 Cowell and Gough, " Sarva Darśana Sangraha, ” p. 10.4 "Ind. Ant. ," p. 248 ( Sept. 1894).BUDDHISM 129twenty- eight he set forth on his mission, and becameknown as the Jina, "The Conqueror," and his teaching asJainism, just as Buddha is known as " The Enlightened,"and his teaching properly as Bauddhism.By the Jains the world is held to be eternal, and madeup of atoms. Time revolves in two ever- recurring cyclesof fabulous age, in the first of which goodness increases onlyto decrease in the next. Twenty- four Jinas appeared inthe past cycle; they are now reigning as gods; twentyfour have appeared in the present cycle-a cycle in whichgoodness is ever decreasing—and twenty-four are yet toappear in a future cycle.The great object of the Jain is to attain victory over allworldly desires; to free his soul and so become divine likeunto the Jinas. These were known as Nirgranthas, ¹ “ thosewho have no bonds," and in the middle of the fourth centuryB.C. they parted into two great sects, those known as theŚvetämbaras, " who are attired in white raiment," and thoseknown as the Digambaras, or " sky- clad ," who show how theyhave cast off from themselves everything of the world bywandering about unclothed. The Jains are still numerous inIndia, the faith being followed by the wealthy Seths, thegreat banking families. The costly Jaina temples, wherethe images of the Jinas live in lonely isolation on thesummit of Mount Abu, still preserve the highest ideals ofpure Hindu architecture. In many points the history ofJainism closely resembles that of Buddhism, a system fromwhich it was for long considered an offshoot. The Jains , likethe Buddhists, have lay members, "Śrāvakas, " who are in andof the world, and also ascetic monks, " Yatis," who live apartin monasteries. For the Jaina generally there were threegems " bywhich the soul obtained liberation, or " Moksha. """1 Jacobi, Z.D. M.G. , xxxviii. 17; Hopkins, " Rel. of India, " p. 284.2 " Census of India,” ( 1891 ): —“ Jains now number 409,715; Buddhists only243,677."I130 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThese three were, right insight ( darśana), right knowledge,and right conduct. In the observance ofthe last injunctionthe monastic Jaina monks were vowed never to tell lies;never to steal; never to be immoderate in thought, word ordeed; never to desire too much; but above all, never to killor injure any living thing. So the Jaina monk to-day upholds hospitals for the care of all animals, even for thenurture of foul insects. The water they drink they firststrain in hopes of removing all life; they sweep the groundbefore them as they walk, so that their feet may not fallon any living thing; they even wear veils over their mouthsthat nothing with life may be drawn in by their breath.Even if Buddha had not heard in his own home of anyof these doctrines of the Vedantic or Sankhyan philosophies,of Jainism, of agnosticism, or of the Brahman and Ātman,nevertheless, the spirit of the times was moving towardsthem, and the practical success of his mission shows thathe had, with true insight, set forth an ideal which in theEast received assent from wondering myriads of men andwomen who lived and died in simple and devout reverenceof his teaching and his Order. The force he sent forthwas sufficient for a time to overshadow that on which therising power ofBrahmanism was based.Inasmuch as Buddhism found its truest abiding homein Scythian or Turanian lands, it might be held that it wasnot the true outcome of Aryan thought, yet a parallel is tobe seen in the spread of Christianity among Teutonic races.When Buddha, at the age of twenty-nine, departed fromthe northern home ofthe Sakyas, he made his way towardsRājagriha, where ruled Bimbisāra, the chieftain of theMagadhas, over a district extending over one hundred milessouth of the Ganges, and one hundred miles east of theSon. To the north of the Ganges were the Licchavis,whose chieftain, Kataka, ruling at his capital, Vaisāli, wasbrother to Trisala, the mother of the Jaina saint, Mahāvīra.BUDDHISM 131Still further to the east of Magadha was the land of theAngas, with their capital at Chompã, while away to thenorth-west lay the Kośālas, whose king, Prasenajit, ruledat Srāvasti, whither the ancient capital had been removedfrom Ayodhya. At Rājagriha Buddha met two Brāhmans,¹Udraka and Alāra, and from them he learned the meanswhereby they sought to vanquish all that held them boundto take their part in life—a part which at its best, many ofto-day would say, is not worth taking unless some firmfaith or trust in its Divine purpose be the guiding light.From the two Brahmans Buddha could have obtainedno such light. They could but point to their wasted frames,to their own sunken eyes. They could but have told him oftheir austerities, of their hopes that light might some daycome, when the mystery which shrouded their lives wouldpass away, and they become as gods with insight morethan human.From the two Brahmans Buddha parted.still lay before him, for still he knew and felt"I am as all these menWho cry upon their gods and are not heard,Or are not heeded. -Yet there must be aid!His questFor them, and me, and all, there must be help! " 2From Rajagriha he wandered on to the lonely forests ofUruvela, near to the present temple of Buddha Gāyā, southof Patna, where pilgrims now bring from far lands theirvotive gifts to lay, in lowly reverence, on the spot where thefeet of their master and teacher once pressed.For five weary years Buddha strove to seek out his ownsalvation. Penances, austerities, fastings and contemplationbrought neither superhuman knowledge nor power. Fiveascetic sages sat by and watched the lengthened struggle,¹ Oldenberg, " Buddha, " p. 106; Hopkins, " Rel. of India, " pp. 303-4Rhys Davids, " American Lectures, " p. 102.

• Edwin Arnold, " Light of Asia. "

132 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAwondering if at last one mortal might pierce the Infinite,and grasp eternal knowledge of the Divine.From the lips, thin and bereft of colour, there came nomurmur; from the eyes, sunk deep beneath the archingbrows, there came no gleam to show that the soul of thesage had been quickened by a knowledge more sustainingthan earthly food. The Buddha remained silent and suffering. At length in despair he turned from his asceticism ,and his five companions left him.One night-the sacred night of Buddhism-while Buddhadreamed on alone beneath the sacred Bo-tree, whose shadeyet falls on Buddhist pilgrims, he clearly grasped in hisown mind the whole cause of the world's sorrow, and themeans whereby the soul might free itself for ever from thecontinued course of birth and re- birth. The attainment ofenlightenment by Gotama, who by it became the Buddha,"The Enlightened," has been surrounded by later tradition 2with miraculous events and supernatural portents. Whenthe powers of darkness struggled to hide the light fromSakya Muni, the mountains trembled, the earth shook, thestorms broke loose, the sun hid itself away, and the starsmoved from their spheres. The truth, however, slowlyworked its way to Buddha's soul. Then Māra, “ the EvilOne," crept close and sought, with soothing words and visionsof delight, to stay The Enlightened from proclaiming abroadthe knowledge he had attained. Muchalindra, “ the King ofthe Snakes," folded itself as a safeguard round the Buddha'sbody. Brahma Sahāmpati descended from his heaven.and bade the Muni go forth and free all mankind from thebondage of birth, old age, and death. While Buddhawondered to whom he should first proclaim his doctrine,he learned that his two former teachers, Alāra and Udraka,were dead, so he turned towards Benares to seek out the1 Ficus religiosa.2 Rhys Davids, " American Lectures, " p. 104.BUDDHISM 133five ascetics who had watched his early struggles. Hefound them seated in the Deer Park, three miles north ofBenares, then known as Varānasī. But as he approachedthey said one to another: " Friends, yonder comes theascetic, Gotama, who lives in self- indulgence, who has givenup his quest and returned to self- indulgence. We shallshow him no respect, nor rise up before him, nor takehis alms- bowl and his cloak from him; but we shall givehim a seat, and he can sit down if he likes." Their subsequent conduct, however, shows how it was Buddha's ownpersonal influence, an influence founded on an absolutebelief in himself and in his own mission, supported andextended by his overpowering eloquence, and the mesmericcharm a powerful and determined mind has over others,that won for him success as a teacher and propagator ofhis doctrines. When all this had departed , Buddhism livedin its purity only so long as those who remembered hispersonality exercised their influence to preserve the faithsimple and uncorrupted.He was the first to show that the races of India werecapable of being infused by a firm master- mind with acommon purpose, and of being held together by a commonbond of union. It was through the work commenced byBuddha that Asoka,2 the first temporal Chakravarti, oremperor, was able to unite the scattered Aryan tribes andalien races beneath his sceptre.Once Buddha's personality faded away, his religion foundits chief rallying- point in the cohesion of a mendicantorder of monks, who transformed their Buddha into agod, and mingled legend, miracles, idolatrous practices¹ Oldenberg, " Buddha, ” p. 125 ( quoted from “ Mahāvagga, ” i. 6-10).2 Neither Chandragupta nor Bimbisāra were Buddhists, nor Asoka until thetwentieth year of his reign.3 Rhys Davids, " Buddhism, " pp. 200-1 , for the rise of the worship of theBuddhist trinity, Maitreya Buddha, Manju Sri, and Avalokitesvara; alsop. 128 - Gautama was very early regarded as omniscient, and absolutelysinless "; p. 189: -" After his death the miracles and exaggeration increase."134 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAand debasing beliefs with the moral teachings of thefounder which they had forgotten to follow.When Buddha approached nearer to the five ascetics,who watched his approach in the Deer Park near Benares,they could no longer abide by their resolution to show himno respect. They rose and prostrated themselves beforehim , and as they listened to his burning words, pouredforth in the soft and pleading Pali, each of the ascetics feltas though the Master addressed him alone. These fivewere his first disciples, so that, " at that time there weresix Arahats (persons who had reached absolute holiness)in the world. " 1To the five ascetics the Master first declared that hehad at length found the great truth which all had sought-a truth giving freedom from bondage and from re- birth,leading to enlightenment, to Nirvana in this life, and thento Parinirvana, when the body falls to decay bereft of allKarma. He then told them how the truth could not befound in wordly pleasures nor yet in morbid asceticism.There was but one path whereby it could be reached.This was the Middle Path, journeyed through by thefollowing of the Eightfold Precepts, whereby he hadobtained emancipation of the mind which " cannot belost; this is my last birth; hence I shall not be bornagain." This Eightfold Path consisted of Right Views,3Right Aspirations, Right Speech,' Right Conduct, RightLiving, Right Effort, Right Thought, and Right SelfConcentration.10 Such was the simple Middle Path for1662' Mahāvagga, " i . 7, 3; S.B. E. , vol. xi . ( Rhys Davids ' translation).2 S.B. E. , " Mahävagga, " i. 6, 29. 3 Free from superstition and delusion.High and worthy of the intelligent, earnest man.5 Kindly, open, and truthful. 6 Peaceful, honest, pure.7 Bring hurt or danger to no living thing.8 In self- training and self- control. The active, watchful mind.10 In deep meditation on the realities of life.- Rhys Davids, " AmericanLectures, " pp. 137-38.BUDDHISM 135those to follow who desired to obtain peace, enlightenment, and freedom from re- birth.The centre point of Buddha's faith, round which all histeaching revolves, was the doctrine of Karma, one of themost important and far- reaching philosophic theories everreached by the intuitive reasoning powers of man. It wasa new and enormous contribution to the sum of humanspeculation. Its importance in the history of Indian socialand political life cannot be over - estimated. No othertheory at all similar to it was ever enunciated by any ofthe philosophic schools of India with the same clearness,the same breadth and depth of view regarding its bearings,and absolute certainty regarding its transcendent importance, as was this master-stroke of one who " saw deeperthan the greatest of modern idealists. "1Two of the most important philosophic theories whichthe thought of India has produced-important not only intheir practical influence in the past, but in being the twotheories forming the whole basis on which the orthodoxclasses in India at present confront the advances ofChristianity-are theories which rest on assumptions incapable of substantiation or proof. They have to betaken on faith, and therein consists the strength of theirposition. The first is the doctrine of Karma.The ancient doctrine of transmigration of the soulhad taught the Indian sage that: " Every sentient beingis reaping as it has sown, if not in this life, thenin one or other of the infinite series of antecedentexistences of which it is the latest term ." It was theact, or character, of individuals " which passed from lifeto life and linked them in the chain of transmigrations;and they held that it is modified in each life, not merelyby confluence of parentage, but by its own acts. They1 Huxley, " Romanes Lecture, " p. 19.2 Ibid. , p. 14.136 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAwere, in fact, strong believers in the theory, so muchdisputed at present, of the hereditary transmission ofacquired character.” ¹Inasmuch as Buddha denied the existence of a Soul,for which his scheme had no place, he had, by someother theory, to account for that which was continuallytaking place, the ever-becoming, the never-being.Buddha had to show a cause for the condition of sorrowinto which man is born; he had to give some reason for thenecessity of following his Eightfold Path, which had fourstages leading from acceptance of his doctrines on togreater and greater freedom from re-birth to absoluteArahatship. If there were no soul, and all enquiryrespecting the existence of God were but vain labour, asBuddhism asserted, then there must be causeto condition the becoming, the re-birth, which Buddhaadmitted. This re-birth was that of a sentient being inno way connected by bonds of blood with the previousbeing; it had no bond with the past except throughthe one mystery of Karma, or act. It must, however,1 "That the manifestation of the tendencies of a character may be greatlyfacilitated or impeded by conditions of which self- discipline, or the absence ofit, are among the most important, is indubitable; but that the character itselfis modified in this way is by no means so certain. It is not so sure that thetransmitted character of an evil liver is worse, or that of a righteous man better, than that which he received. Indian philosophy, however, did notadmit of any doubt on this subject; the belief in the influence of conditions,notably of self- discipline, on the Karma, was not merely a necessary postulateof its theory of retribution, but it presented the only way of escape from theendless round of transmigrations. "-Huxley, " Romanes Lecture," p. 15 .2 " Granting the premises, I am not aware of any escape from Berkeley'sconclusion, that the ' substance ' of matter is a metaphysical, unknown quantity,of the existence of which there is no proof. What Berkeley does not seem tohave so clearly perceived is that the non- existence ofa substance of mind is equallyarguable, and that the result of the impartial application of his reasonings is the reduction of the All to co -existences and sequences of phenomena,beneath and beyond which there is nothing cognoscible. It is a remarkableindication of the subtlety of Indian speculation that Gautama should haveseen deeper than the greatest of modern idealists. "-Huxley, " Romanes Lecture, " p. 19.BUDDHISM 137be clearly borne in mind how this theory differs fromthe modern theory of evolution and the disputed theoryoftransmission of character from parent to offspring.When a man died, when the elements which Buddhaheld to constitute man passed away-and in these elementsthere was no abiding soul-all that remained, according toBuddha, was his Karma-his doing, the result of his goodand evil actions, of his words, and of his thoughts. ThisKarma had to work out its potentiality; it had to receivepunishment or reward; so a new conscious existence, unconnected with the old, was produced as a habitation forits working.The assumption was an ingenious hypothesis to accountfor transmigration without the necessity of assuming theexistence of a soul, or of any underlying substance ofmatter or of mind.It is but seldom that the weakness of the entire systemof Buddhism is recognised. Professor Rhys Davids, whohas so clearly recognised the historical importance ofBuddhism, has pointed out¹ the factors which inspiredthe faith of its followers: " On one side of the keystone is the necessity of justice, on the other the lawof causality." At the same time he clearly recogniseshow they "have failed to see that the very keystoneitself, the link between one life and another, is a mereword. "2According to Buddha, man is made up of aggregates, orSkandas, of " material qualities, sensations, abstract ideas,tendencies of mind, and mental powers. "3Nowhere amid these Skandas, nor in their sub- divisions,is there any such thing as Soul. The Skandas exist alone,ever passing from change to change, leaving no abidingRhys Davids, " Buddhism, " p. 105. 2 Ibid. , p. 106.Ibid. , p. 90; or Oldenberg, " Buddha " p. 128 ( note):- "Corporeal form ,sensations , perceptions, conformations (or aspirations) , and consciousness. "138 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAprinciple whatsoever. When a sage attains Nirvana, whenthere is no result of his Karma calling for new existenceto work out its effects, the body truly remains, and “ whilehis body shall remain, he will be seen by gods and menbut after the termination of life, upon the dissolution ofthe body, neither gods nor men will ever see him.”The first of the " Four Noble Truths " laid down byBuddha shows that sorrow is inseparable from birth, oldage, disease, and death; from union with those not loved,and separation from those loved; from non- attainment ofwhat one desires-in fact, a clinging to all that springs fromthe five Skandas.The second " Truth " was, that the thirst (Trishnā) forexistence led to new becomings " accompanied by pleasureand lust, finding its delight here and there." 1The third " Truth " was, that sorrow comes only from"the destruction in which no craving remains over, of thisverythirst; the laying-aside of, the getting-rid of, the beingfree from, the harbouring no longer of, this thirst. ” 2The fourth " Truth " was, that if the Eightfold Path ofRight Discipline be followed, suffering will be extinguished.By following the Eightfold Path, the Buddhist first freeshimself from all delusion of Self, from doubt as to theteachings of Buddha, from trust in rites and ceremonies,and reaches a stage, " better than universal empire in thisworld, better than going to heaven, better than lordshipover all worlds. " By further progress in the Right Paththe Buddhist becomes almost freed from all bodily passion ,from ill- feelings towards others, from desire to live onearth; his Karma will but act to produce one new birth.So the course goes on, until all remnant of longing for lifeon earth or in heaven, all pride, ill - feeling, bodily passion,1S. B. E., " Mahāvagga," i . 6, 20.2 Rhys Davids, " American Lectures," p. 137.3 Ibid. , " Buddhism, " p. 108.BUDDHISM 139self-righteousness, and ignorance vanish, the man becominga perfect Arahat having attained Nirvana.¹The Nirvana gained, there ensues the one great sinlessand actionless state of mind, in which the Karma is deprivedof “ potential.” The " wheel oflife " stands poised, therebeing no longer a motive force, springing out from ignorance and leading on to despair, to speed it on its saddenedround of desire, attachment, birth, death, and re-birth.It was strength, and daring strength, that sent Buddhaforth to seek out for his times some solution of thequestion of how the Creator"Would make a world and keep it miserable,Since, if, all powerful, he leaves it so,He is not good, and if not powerful,He is not God? " 3It was genius unequalled among the sons of men thatinspired the Buddha's teaching. It was genius, commanding in its dictatorial strength, that held together his Order.It was genius, the first and last that India saw, that, in itslofty aims and universality, foreshadowed the possibilityof uniting the people into one great nationality, if such hadever been possible.It cast no shadow over Indian thought. It gave it in thedoctrine of Karma the best and surest motive it could everreach unaided for the deepening of a sense of individualresponsibility, for act, thought, deed, or speech.¹ It is neither annihilation nor everlasting bliss, it is " but an epithet of astate of mind to be reached and enjoyed only in the present life . "-J.R.A.S.(1897), p. 407.2 Rhys Davids, " American Lectures, " pp. 120-21 .3 Arnold, Sir E., " Light of Asia. "

• See an important article (J.R.A.S. 1897 , p. 410) by Mrs Rhys Davids,

pointing out the danger of introducing " ill-fitting Western terminology " intoquestions dealing with Eastern modes of thought. It may be generally saidthat all the plausible similarities pointing to connection between Eastern andWestern modes of thought, are either fallacious or unhistorical . Their discussion would entail a considerable space, and the result, in nearly all cases,would be so problematic that they have been unnoticed to a great extent in140 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIn viewing Buddhism in its historical significance, in itsbeing the culminating point to which the wave of Indianthought had reached, the wreckage of the past that stillclung around it, and was carried on with it, must not beconfused with the wave itself. Amid this wreckage muchcan be found to delight the prurient mind, much from whicha system could be framed for morbid mysticism, and muchto encourage those who seek for themselves a reputationfor the possession of prophetic and supernatural powers,such as were undoubtedly ascribed by the common mindto Buddha, if not in his own days, at least shortly afterhis decease. To those who study the past of India downthrough the ages, and look for the future which is yet todawn, when all her latent intellectual and spiritual forces willonce again awaken to add their strength to the history ofthe world's progress, the chief point of interest in Buddhismis to ascertain how high the wave of thought reached inBuddha's time, not to probe how low to the earth theinstincts and superstitions of the mass could creep.Buddha, in his own life- time, could defend his teachingand maintain his Order by his own power of eloquenceand by the force of his own character and personalinfluence. Of these the Order was deprived on his death.The stately structure that the architectonic genius ofBuddha had raised to impress and fascinate the Easternworld had to be sustained by means other than those whichthe master-builder could alone employ. So long as helived he claimed no Divine birth, no miraculous power,no supernatural insight.From the literature as we now possess it-for we possessthe body of this manual. The author is not prepared to admit any classicalinfluence on the Indian drama, and can only see very special and exceptionalevidences of Greek or Roman art having affected Indian architecture. Thewhole of Indian thought and art is impressed indelibly with an individualstamp of its own, and for the present the evidences of this must remain morea matter of feeling than one for profitable discussion.BUDDHISM 141no work of which even the author or date is known beforethe middle of the third century B.C. , ¹ and books in manuscript are not known until long afterwards-it is almostimpossible to extricate the real teachings of Buddha as heformulated them, yet the earliest burial mounds erected tohis memory, and temples wherein his sayings were recited,show plainly that the whole system is free from superstition,idolatry, or the worship of Buddha as a divine being towhom miraculous or supernatural powers were ascribed.-For forty- four years Buddha wandered to and fro,enrolling Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas, low- caste men,and even women within his Order. There was no distinction made on account of caste; the Buddhist monkshad but to declare that they desired to take refuge inBuddha, his Law, and his Order. Once they donned theorange coloured robes of Buddhism and assumed theEastern form of tonsure, they abandoned their families, wentforth as mendicants to live a life of seclusion, meditation,chastity, and moderation in all things. Far and wide themonks were sent, yet never in twos, to preach the fame ofBuddha, and proclaim the knowledge that had dawnedfrom out the Sākyan race. Buddha himself journeyed allthrough the Aryan homes inculcating everywhere hisFour Great Truths, his Eightfold Path, and Four Stagesleading to Nirvana. To those who sought his help andcounsel he told the stories of the good deeds done informer births by good or evil livers, the Karma of whichwas but working out its results in the joys and sorrows thepeople suffered. From Magadha to Kapilavastu, fromKośāla to Videha, his fame went forth: it was soon evident1 " The Kathā Vatthu: or, Account of Opinion, ” “ written by Tissa, son ofMogali, about the year 250 B.C. "-Rhys Davids, " American Lectures, " p. 64.2 Professor Bendall, whose search for Sanskrit MSS. in Nepal have yielded suchvaluable results, informs me that an MS. of the third century A.D. , in Kharosthicharacter, has been found recently by a Russian Consul in Kashgaria. Seealso J.R.A.S. (April, 1897).142 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthat a new power had arisen among the Aryan people,and that strange changes would arise from out the newawakened life. At Magadha, the chieftain, Bimbisāra,listened to the words of Buddha, and gave him a grove¹close to his capital. At Kośāla the chieftain, Prasenajit,received him at his capital Srāvastī,2 and there a wealthymerchant, Anathapindika, purchased land for golden piecessufficient to cover its extent, and gave it to Buddha, andthere the monastery, Jetāvana, arose.At Kapilavastu he enrolled his son, Rahula, in the Order,but conceded to the request of his father, Suddodhana, thatno more would sons be admitted to the Order without theconsent of their parents. At first the people cried outagainst Buddha and his Order, for the system meant thedestruction of family life. This Buddha could not help.The Buddhist had to remain celibate, for a woman was,above all things, to be avoided; she was as " a burning pitof live coals. " 3 At length the Buddha gave way so far asto allow women to enter the Order, and his widowed wife,Yasodhara, was admitted in the fifth year of his travels,and in the following year, Kshema, the wife of Bimbisāra.4In temporal affairs Buddha's influence was soon felt.In a dispute between the Sākyans and Koliyans respectingtheir claims to the waters of their boundary river, Kohāna,he had to adjudicate. When Ajātasatru ascended thethrone of Magadha-it is said by the murder of his father,Bimbisāra-he consulted Buddha as to the success of anexpedition he was about to undertake against the advancing tribe of Wajjian Turanians, north of the Ganges, andBuddha's answer was that those who remained united,and held to their ancient customs, would retain theirindependence.1 Veluvana, identified in Cunningham's "Ancient Geography of India, ”P. 451.2 Ibid. , p. 407.3 "Cullavagga. "4

• 485 to 453 B.C.

BUDDHISM 143Towards the end of his career, in the forty-fourth seasonof his itinerary, Buddha crossed the Ganges at the site ofthe modern city of Patna. There he found the ministersof Ajātasatru laying the foundations of Pātaliputra, themodern Patna, a city destined to become the capital ofthe rising kingdom of Magadha, and the centre of Indianlife for almost one thousand years, a greatness foretold byBuddha. Thence he passed on to Vaisāli, the chief townof the Licchavis, whose proud nobles he insulted byreceiving, in preference to theirs, the hospitality of thedancing-girl, Ambapālī, who refused to give up to herrivals her right to feed the Buddha: " My lords, were youto offer all Vaisāli, with its subject territory, I would notgive up so honourable a feast. "From Vaisāli he journeyed on to Belugāmaka, andthence to Kusinagara, a town eighty miles east ofKapilavastu, and one hundred and twenty north- east ofBenares.To his favourite disciple, Ananda, he poured forth hislast injunctions: " I, too, Ananda, am now grown old andfull of years; my journey is drawing to its close. I havereached my sum of days; I am turning eighty years of age.Therefore, O Ānanda, be ye lamps unto yourselves. Beye a refuge to yourselves. Betake yourselves to noexternal refuge. Hold fast to the truth as to a lamp.Hold fast as a refuge to the truth. Look not for refugeto any one besides yourselves."To Ananda he also declared: " I have preached thetruth, Ananda, without making any distinction of exotericor esoteric doctrine; for, in respect of the truths, theTathāgata has no such thing as the clenched fist of ateacher who keeps some things back. ” 1To his disciples Buddha left no other guide save theLaw and Rules of his Order. They were to work out their1 Rhys Davids.144 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAown salvation, ever following the Eightfold Path. His lastwords for the Mendicant Brotherhood were an exhortationthat they should remember how " everything that comethinto existence is ever passing on; permanency abidethnowhere; and so strive without ceasing." 1The clearer the simplicity of Buddha's teaching standsout, the more sublime rises the figure of the Eastern sagewith saddened face and folded hands, a man born ofwoman, not divine nor arrogating to himself any divinity,sending forth his plaintive wail that man is for ever shutout from piercing the mysteries of creation so long as hehopes to find the clue through his own limited intuitions oftime, space, and cause.It was not long after the death of Buddha that strangechanges crept over the land as well as over the spirit of hisreligion. The year before Buddha's death, Ajātasatru, theKing of Magadha, conquered Srāvasti, the chief town ofthe Kośālas and centre of Buddhism, and razed to theground Kapilavastu.Not much more than one hundred and fifty yearsfrom the date of the death of Buddha, Chandragupta,2with whom the successor of Alexander the Great inthe East was forced to make a treaty, became King ofMagadha, and Emperor of all North India, an empireconsolidated by the greatest native ruler India has seen,the famed Asoka, the Constantine of Buddhism, whoselife and deeds have, strange to say, found no place inthe " Rulers of India " Series. Though Asoka adopted theBuddhist faith, many changes had taken place in it sinceit had lost the guiding hand of its founder.On the death of Buddha, five hundred of his disciplesgathered together in a cave, known as the Satapanni Cave,near Rājagriha, where all the teachings, the rules, and1 Oldenberg, " Buddha, " p. 202; see also Rhys Davids, " Buddhism, ” p. 83.315 to 291 B.C. 2BUDDHISM 145precepts, as remembered by those who had listened toBuddha's words, were collected together, learned, andrecited by the whole Council, so that they should ever beremembered. The stricter Buddhists of Ceylon hold thatin these Pāli books of the three Pitakas, they possess thefull doctrines of Buddha as chanted at the first Council.One hundred years rolled on during which time but littlemore is known of the Buddhists. India was on the vergeof revolution. The Empire of the Magadhas had not onlybroken in pieces the separate power of the outlyingchieftains, and brought them under its own sway, but lowcaste usurpers¹ were to seize the empire for themselves,while the time was approaching when Alexander theGreat was to break through the isolation which separatedIndia from communion with the thought and beliefs of theWestern world.The second great Buddhist Council met at Vaisāli, theancient capital of the Wajjians, in 377 B.C., and signs ofcoming changes were apparent. The edifice raised byBuddha was to receive the first rude shock which ultimatelyshattered it to pieces in India, and left its crumbling ruinsto form a relic of the past in Ceylon, Burma, and Siam, andan ignoble and debasing refuge for the myriad peoplesclassed as Buddhists in China and Tibet. The WajjiansofVaisāli, at the Council, strove to formulate ten indulgences,including the right of the Buddhists to receive gold andsilver, and over these ten indulgences the Council divided.With the Wajjians the Buddhists of Mālwā joined, whilethe representatives of the more remote outlying Southernand Western countries clung to the older and moreorthodox teaching of Buddha. But of the orthodox and unorthodox parties, eighteen sects arose, all belonging to the¹ The Sisunāga dynasty of Magadha lasted from 600 B.C. to 370 B.C. , andthen the Sudra dynasty of the Nandas held possession for fifty years, till thetime of Chandragupta, 32 B.C. K146 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIALittle Vehicle, or Southern school, and not to the Northern,or Turanian school, which followed what came to be knownas the Great Vehicle, a debased form of Buddhism. Theunorthodox party subsequently formed a council of theirown, known as the Great Council, and by the Southernschool their proceedings were denounced as heretical:-"They broke up the old scriptures and made a new recension.A discourse put in one place they put in another.These monks, who knew not what had been spoken at length,And what had been spoken concisely,What was the obvious, and what the higher meaning,Attached new meaning to new words as if spoken by the Buddha,And destroyed much of the spirit by holding to the shadow of the letter. " 2Henceforth the history of Buddhism in India no longertouches the life- history of the thought of the people. Itmerges itself into the political history of the time, beingused as a state religion to support the authority andposition of emperors whose existence it had madepossible.In the early burial mounds, such as that of Bharhut,where the freest and most artistic indigenous work insculpture that India has ever produced is to be found,the bas-reliefs merely depict the good deeds done byBuddha in previous births; and in the early temples, suchas those of the Lomas Rishi, and those at Bhāja, andKārli, between Bombay and Poona, there is no trace ofidolatrous worship of Buddha or infusion of debasingsuperstition or primitive native cults. All is severe andsimple, such as Buddha himself might have designed. In1 Rhys Davids, J.R.A.S. ( 1892-3 ); Dutt, " Ancient India, " vol. ii. p. 295,where he states that the " Eastern opinions were subsequently upheld by theBuddhists of the Northern (Turanian) school. "2 Rhys Davids, " Buddhism , " p. 217 ( quoting the " Dipavamśa ").BUDDHISM 147the later burial mounds, such as those at Sanchi, somewhere about 250 B.C. to the first century A.D. , and Amrāvati,perhaps one hundred years later-domes adorned with allthe art which India could furnish forth or bring to her aidfrom foreign lands- Buddha is fashioned as a god, notman, crowned with a nimbus, guarded by snakes, whilenear at hand are sculptured trees and snakes all equallyentitled to worship. In time the old forms of spirit- worshipgrew again and claimed the people's superstitious awe. TheSoul of man assumed its old place. Buddha became theimmaculate offspring of his mother, Māyā; he was enthroneda god in the highest heaven, there to be adored in an outward form of worship, more simple in its forms, and morecongenial to the monks and laity than the tediousfollowing of his precepts. Bodhisatvas -those enlightenedsaints who have deemed it best not to follow Buddha'spath and gain Nirvana, but allowed their Karma to workso that their good deeds might benefit humanity-wereplaced side by side with Buddha, and claimed the reverence once paid solely to the founder of the Buddhistdoctrines. The whole future history of Buddhism inIndia is the history of the receding of the wave of thoughtthat in the sixth century B.C. had reached its culminatingpoint. The surging force that sent it onward wasBrahmanism, and that was a force with strength enoughto sweep Buddhism from before its path, and drive it toits natural resting-place amid the Scythian race. Thefinal wave of Brahmanism covered in its course all India,and there it still rests, so that the dove may wing its wayto and fro and never find a resting- place from which it candiscern any sign that the flood may pass away, and leave theland and people free from its depths of brooding waters.CHAPTER VIII.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS.WHILE Buddha held aloft the standard of revolt againstpriestly hierarchy, endeavouring to establish among thepeople of the land through which he passed a religiousorder, whose rallying point was a disregard of all distinction founded on race, class, or caste, the Brahmanpower was carrying on the ancient tradition of itsown past.The Brahmans had been for long the sole custodians.of the treasured wealth of Aryan lore. They had grownto power side by side with kings and chieftains. Theyheld the sacred guardianship of the mysteries of thesacrificial cult, the necessity of which was, from anunknown past, implanted in the very mental fibre ofthose who gathered round the smoke-ascending incense.The power which Buddha strove to eradicate had its rootsimplanted in the religious, social, and racial instincts ofthe Aryan folk. So long as this was so, and so long asBrahmanism allowed not its strength to be wholly sappedby the ever - increasing foreign elements with which itwas surrounded, its vitality remained unimpaired.Down to the present day Brahmanism preserves itspower through all the wreck of ages - possibly as a148THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 149mere phantom shadow of its past -because those itadmits within its ranks acknowledge not only the highclaims of the Aryan priesthood to be the custodians ofDivine ordinances, but also bow before the laws andcustoms of caste, which ever tend to preserve them fromchange in creed, thought, or mode of life.Buddhism, viewed from its political aspect, strove tobreak through those mighty barriers which separatedrace from race and caste from caste. It was a consummation which even centuries of advanced thoughthave been unable to accomplish in the West, evenbetween the neighbouring Celts and Teutons, wherenone but a Celt feels how deep the separation lies.India saw the fatuity of Buddha's efforts, not in thethrusting out of his religion by the Brahmanic power, butin the impossibility for an Asoka, a Sivaji, or RanjitSingh, to combine the varied peoples of India into oneunited whole, capable of sending forth the message that,as their land holds one-fifth of the human race, they candemand a recognition of their right to stand forth as morethan a subject people.From the extreme north-west, in early days, the Aryanshad spread their influence from the sacred Sarasvati to farbeyond Magadha in the east, so that the land where theysettled became renowned as Aryavarta, " the land of theAryans," where " the rule of conduct which prevails isauthoritative."2 From the Himalayan mountains southto the Vindhya range, over the rich land where the blackantelope wanders, the Brahmans established their sway,31 The failure of Akbar is not a case in point.2 "Baudhāyana, " i . 1 , 2, 9; " Vasishta, " i. 10.3 Ibid. , i. 13; " Baudhāyana, " i. 1 , 2, 12. " The Oryx cervicapra selectsfor its home the well- cultivated rich plains of India only, and is entirelywanting in the sandy, mountainous, or forest districts, which are now, just asin ancient times, the portion of the aboriginal tribes, "-Bühler, S. B. E. , vol.xiv. p. 3 (note).150 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAholding that where they dwelt could alone be found"spiritual pre-eminence."1 Down the valley of the Indusother tribes, such as the Yadava, went and made theirsettlement in Sind; others took up their abode in thePanjab, the Land of the Five Rivers. For long theVindhya range shut out the south from the Aryan advance.As time went on, even this geographical barrier to allincursion from the north gave way before the fair- skinnedrace that spread along the Narbada and Tapti, across theDeccan, so that even before the Christian era a greatkingdom-that of the Andhra 3-was established betweenthe Krishna and Godavari, with its capital at Amrāvati,not fifty miles from the eastern sea. As the Aryan peoplespread to the further east and to the south, the Brahmansfollowed in the wake of the conquering chiefs, gainingreward in land and wealth for their learning, sacredknowledge, and the right they held to dictate the lawsand ordinances of the people. Writing must have beenknown in those days, but the Brahmans preferred to holdtheir sacred texts preserved in their own memories, so that1 "Baudhāyana, " i. 1 , 2, 12; " Vasishta, " i. 13.2 Even earlier than the sixth century B.C. Barth, " Ind. Ant. " ( 1894),p. 246; see Burnell quoted, p. 91; Nelson, " View of Hindu Law "; Bühler,S. B. E. , vol. ii . p. xxxvi.: " There can be no doubt that the South of Indiahas been conquered by the Aryans, and has been brought within the pale ofBrahmanical civilisation . . . long before the authentic history ofIndia begins, atthe end ofthe fourth century B.C. " Baden- Powell, J. R.A.S. ( 1897) , p. 247;" Study ofthe Dakhan Villages ":-"At the western extremity the ' Vindhyan 'barrier ceases, some way before the coast is reached, and thus the interesting country of Gujarat is open .. and once in Gujarāt, it would not be difficultto dominate the Narbada valley, and to extend to the Tapti valley, to Berar,and to the Dakhan. "3 S.B. E. , vol. ii. p. xxxvi.4 For the Northern alphabet, known as Kharosthi , used in Asoka's inscriptions, and on the Græco- Indian coins, and derived from the Aramaic alphabet,used by the Achæmenian dynasty, ruling N. W. of India from 550 B.C. to thetime of Alexander the Great, 327 B.C. , as well as for the Brahmi alphabets,derived from Phoenician traders, see Bühler, " Indische Palæographie, " p. 19,et seq.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 151as far as possible-for Aryans other than the Brahmansclaimed a right to be taught the texts-their power andinfluence should remain in their own hands.Trained as the memories of the Brahmans were-andeven yet there are Brahmans able to repeat the Vedic textof their own school by heart, and others who learn thewhole grammar of Panini, with all the " Vārtikhas," orexplanation of Katyāyana, and the interpolations of the"Mahābhāshya" of Patanjali-it would have been impossible thus to preserve, free from corruption, the long proseramblings of the Brahmans, and the later sacred literature.At every centre of Brahmanism there were schools forimparting instructions in the sacred texts, and from theseschools trained Brahmans went forth to act as priests,advisers, and counsellors of kings and chieftains, or tobecome teachers of their particular recension of the " Veda,"and subsidiary treatises founded thereon. The rules forthe Vedic sacrifices, for the domestic rites, for the construction of the altars, and for the duties and customs ofthe Aryans, were therefore reduced to the most conciseand condensed form possible, and strung together inleading aphorisms, or “ Sūtras," so that they might be easilycarried in the memory. These " Sūtras " were not held , likethe previous literature, to be of Divine revelation. They wereprofessedly compiled by human authors for the convenienceof teaching the essential elements of the subjects theyexpound. So there grew to be different " Sūtras " ascribedto different authors, who followed in their teaching one orother of the recensions of the four " Vedas " preserved intheir family.¹¹ See Max Müller, letter to Prof. Henry Morley, S. B. E. , vol. ii . (Preface)pp. ix. , x. The "Sūtras " relating to the Vedic sacrifices were known as the"Srauta Sutras "; those of the domestic rites, the "Grihya Sūtras "; thoserelating to laws, the " Dharma Sūtras "; and those relating to the building ofthe altars, which dealt with geometry, the " Sulva Sūtras. " The whole fourbeing known as the " Kalpa Sūtras.”1152 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIt may be safe to take the whole of this Sūtra period asextending from the fifth to the first century B.C.¹One Brahmanic family, known as the Manavas, followedtheir own recension ofthe " Black Yajur Veda," and thoughthe Sūtra Aphorisms of their laws are now lost, they are oftenquoted, and from them the later metrical law book, popularly known as the " Laws of Manu," was compiled. Theearliest work in which an account of the laws and customs ofthe Aryans is to be found, is that known as the " Aphorismsof Gautama, " a Brahman law-giver, who followed therecension of the " Sama Veda " of his own school. Gautamawas succeeded by Baudhāyana, whose teaching is acceptedin India, south of the Vindhyan range of mountains, afterwhom came Apastamba in the fifth century, B.C. , who,like Baudhāyana, followed the " Black Yajur Veda," andis of authority in the south. The school of the fourthgreat law compiler, Vasishta, who followed the " RigVeda," was probably that in vogue in a school of NorthIndia. From the Brahmanic codes of law, it can beclearly seen that, wherever the Brahmans spread over India,north of the Vindhya, and south to the Godavari, the idealaimed at, whatever the practice may have been, was topreserve the sharp distinction between the Aryan race andthe aboriginal inhabitants; to stereotype for ever thetraditions that had set the priestly clans as custodians of1 Max Müller fixes the date of the Sutra period between 600 and 200 B.C.Bühler places the origin of the Āpastambiya school probably " in the last five centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. "-S. B. E. , vol. ii. p. xviii.See "Jaina Sūtras, " p. 30; " Encyclopædia Britannica, " p. 279; " Ind. Ant. ”( 1894) , p. 247; Jolly, " Recht und Sitte, " pp. 3, 6.2There are also some faint indications that the Andhra country is theparticular district to which Baudhayana belonged. " -Bühler, S.B. E. , vol. xiv.p. xliii.3 Ibid., vol. ii . p. 43.4 Ibid.5 For connection with the Vasishta of the " Rig Veda, " see S. B. E. , vol. xiv.p. 12.6 Ibid. , vol. xiv. p. 22.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 153the Divine decrees and expounders of the laws and customsof the people.The dark-skinned Sūdras,¹ the aboriginal settlers, wereoutside the Aryan pale. If the Sūdra " assumes a position.equal to that of a twice-born man in sitting, in lyingdown, in conversation, or on the road, he shall undergocorporal punishment. " 2No pride of conquering race, or pride of white- skinnedbirth could run higher than it did in India over twothousand years ago. Should a Sūdra dare raise his eyesto an Aryan woman, the law declared that he should beslain or mutilated. If he listened to a recitation of theVedic texts his ears were to be filled with molten lac ortin; if he repeated the sacred words his tongue was to becut out; if he remembered them, "his body shall be slitin twain." The penalty for the slaughter of a Sūdra wasthe same as that for killing " a flamingo, a crow, an owl, afrog, or a dog. "4 Elsewhere a higher price was placed onthe dark man's skin, the penalty for slaying a Sūdra beingplaced at ten cows.5 The sole object for which the Sudrawas created was servitude; yet contact with him was soabhorred that " a Brahman who dies with the food of aSūdra in his stomach will become a village pig in his nextbirth, or be born in the family of that Sūdra." Foodtouched by a Sūdra becomes unfit for eating. Should anAryan, when eating, even be touched by a Sūdra, he hadto abandon his food.81 "Nous ne saurions discerner si la population comprise sous la dénominationde Sūdras était uniquement composée de ces éléments aborigènes qui rencontrèrent les Aryens en immigrant du nord - ouest dans l'Inde, ou si ellesenglobaient des éléments mélangés. La point est secondaire. D'Aryens àSūdras il y a certainement à l'origine une opposition de race, qu'elle soit plusou moins absolue. "-Senart, " Les Castes dans l'Inde, " p. 146.2 "Gautama, " xii . 7; 66viii. 281.3 "Gautama," xii . 6.Apastamba, " S. B. E. , vol. ii. 10, 27, 16; " Manu,"366 Baudhāyana, " i . 10, 19, 2.7 "Āpastamba, " i . 5, 16, 22 .4 "Baudhāyana, ” i . 10, 19, 6.646 Vasishta," vi. 27.8 Ibid. , i. 5, 17, 1; ii . 2, 3, 4.154 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAApastamba, however, also declares that a Sūdra mayprepare the food of a householder if he is under thesuperintendence of men of the three higher castes.Gautama, while laying down that the duty of a Sūdrais to serve the three higher castes, to wear their cast-offshoes and garments, to eat the remnants of their food,shows that the rules of class differences had not in his timecrystallised themselves into the strict laws of the professional and trade castes of later times. His laws statethat the Sūdra may live by mechanical arts. The laws ofManu, some three hundred years later, declare that aSūdra could only support himself by handicraft when hewas unable to find service under a twice-born Aryan, orwhen he was in danger of dying from hunger.From intermarriage, and from all fellowship and contactwith the Sūdras, the three Aryan classes of Brahmans, andKshatriyas, and Vaiśyas were, above all things, exhortedto abstain. The Sūdra race was a burial - ground,³ therefore "let one not give advice to a Sūdra, nor eat whatremains from his table, nor let him explain the holy law tosuch a man, nor order him (to perform) a penance. " Thetwice-born Aryan who “ declares the law to such a man,and he who instructs him in (the mode of) expiating (sin),sinks together with that very man into the dreadful hell. "The practical tendency of such rules was to exclude thegreat mass ofthe population from entering into combination,or alliance, with the Aryan race to form a new nationality.51 "Āpastamba, ” x. 55-67.2 See also Ibid. , x. 40, where a Sudra of eighty years of age was to be honoured.3 lbid. , i. 3, 9, 9; " Vasishta , " xviii. 11 .4 "Vasishta, ” xviii. 14, 15; " Manu, " iv. 80-81." The Indian caste system is a highly developed expression ofthe primitiveprinciple of taboo, which came into play when the Aryans first came into peaceful contact with the platyrhine race, which we may provisionally call Dravidian.This principle derived its initial force from the sense of difference of race asindicated by difference of colour, and its great subsequent development has.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 155The division between race and race, thus stereotyped bythe Brahmanic laws, was to penetrate even further as thetendency became stronger for each separate group toformulate for itself its own peculiar laws and customs, andto engage only in such occupations as were hereditary.Intercommunication, eating or drinking with members ofoutside groups was surrounded with the same Divinesanction as the Brahmans fulminated against those of theAryan race who mingled, ate, or drank with the darkerskinned Sudras.The offspring of a Sūdra with a Brahman woman becamea Chandāla,¹ whom " it is sinful to touch . . . to speak to,or to look at. "2 The son of a Brahman and a Sūdrawoman is as " that of one who, though living, is as impureas a corpse." By the Brahmanic law the varied peoplesand races of India sprang from the forbidden union betweenthose of a different class. The offspring, for instance, ofa Sūdra and Vaisya became a Magadha, with whom theYāvanas, the Ionians, or Bactrian Greeks were classedlikewise as descendants of a Sūdra woman.been due to a series of fictions by which differences of occupations, differencesof religion, changes of habitat, trifling divergences from the established standardof custom , have been assumed to denote corresponding differences of blood, andhave thus given rise to the formation of an endless variety of endogamousgroups. "-Risley, " Study of Ethnology in India " ( AnthropologicalJournal, 1891 ,p. 260) . Mr J. Kennedy, in a peculiarly instructive review of " The Tribes andCastes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, " by W. Crooke, has summarised the results of Mr Crooke's laborious work by his conclusion: -" Thecephalic index proves that the whole population has a large intermixture ofDravidian blood; the nasal index shows, with equal clearness, that the highercastes are of purer blood than the lower. " The question of caste and nationalitytherefore reduces itself, according to Mr Kennedy, to this position: —“ We knowon historic and linguistic grounds that the Dravidian population which coveredNorthern India were invaded at various times by Aryan and Turanian tribes.These invaders were exogamous, and intermarried freely with the aborigines;they subsequently formed themselves into endogamous groups, and the wholesocial hierarchy now professes to be based on a superiority of descent. "-J.R.A.S. , July 1897.166 Vasishta,"' xviii. I.3 "Vasishta, " xviii . 10.2 " Āpastamba, " ii . 1 , 2 , 8.4.66 Baudhayana, " i‚.9, 7.156 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIATo Baudhāyana, the inhabitants of Malwā, Behar,Guzarat, the Deccan, Sind, and the South Panjab were allof mixed origin and not pure Aryans. For an Aryanwho visited the people of the Panjab, those of South India,or those of Bengal, a penance had to be performed;while " he commits sin through his feet who travels to thecountry ofthe Kalingas. This prohibition against visitingtribes held to be degraded, such as the Kalingas, the peopledwelling south of Orissa to the mouths of the Krishna,shows clearly how the Aryan law-givers strove, withwhat at first sight seems an infatuation almost suicidal, tocurb any tendency towards cohesion of the varied people,or intrusion of outside influence which might have infusedthe old with new life. The power of these Brahmanic lawsin their own sphere was no mere phantom. Down to to-day,no Brahman can dwell among the nations of the Westwithout risk of forfeiting his social rank, or without beingobliged to perform costly and irksome penances on hisreturn home. The history of this subject is dismal, andwould be trivial were it not that it forms the turning- pointfor the future of India. It shows how the Aryans spreadamong inferior races in numbers insufficient to exterminatethem, or drive them from before their path, as was doneby the Aryans in America or Australia. They dared notchance the risk of intermingling with them, and depend ontheir own physique and constant recruitment from newarrivals to preserve their own racial characteristics predominant. As a consequence, the Brahmans followed theonly course open to them if they were to preserve theirown national characteristics, and impress their languageand culture, such as it was, over the lands where theyspread. They had to hold themselves, as far as possible,free from any contaminating influence which might probably have undermined their very existence as a more1 16 Baudhāyana, " i. I , 2. 2 Ibid. , i. 1 , 2, 15.THE POWER OF THE BRĀHMANS 157gifted, more refined race, with higher developed mentaltendencies than the dark-skinned people with whom theyfound themselves in contact. As the Brahmans spread inever-diminishing numbers to the extreme south, into Bengaland Orissa, the disaster followed which the race foresaw,and in their own wisdom sought to provide against, for inthese lands it would often be impossible to discern howthose dark-skinned Brahmans, who claim Aryan ancestry,have preserved any of the typical Aryan characteristics;they have, in fact, been swamped by intermarriage withother peoples.¹One very important statement of Baudhāyana 2 showshow confusion had already sprung up in his time, and howcarefully it had to be guarded against. He states that inthe south the custom was for Brahmans to eat in thecompany of one uninitiated,³ " to eat with one's own wife,to eat stale food, or marry the daughter of a maternaluncle or of a paternal aunt. " He also states that in thenorth, Brahmans, as they do now in Kashmir, were wontto deal in wool. There were also those who drankspirituous liquors-an evil which is becoming all tooprevalent in India—and of which Āpastamba declared, " Adrinker of spirituous liquor shall drink exceedingly hotliquor so that he dies."5Another custom of the northern Brāhmans was to go to¹ Senart refers to Mr Nesfield in the following words:-" La communauté deprofession est, à ses yeux, le fondement de la caste-il exclut délibérémenttoute influence de race, de religion. C'est pour lui illusion pure que de distinguer dans l'Inde des courants de populations diverses, aryens et aborigènes,etc."-" Les Castes dans l'Inde, " p. 186.2 "Baudhāyana, ” i. 1 , 2, 3.3 "A Rome il suffit de la présence d'un étranger une sacrifice de la gens pour offenser les dieux. La Sūdra est une étrangère elle n'appartenent pas àla race qui par l'investiture du cordon sacré, nait à la plenitude de la vie religieuse. "-Senart, " Castes dans l'Inde, " p. 212.4 Bühler, " Baudhāyana, " note to i. I, 2, 4."Apastamba, ” i. 9, 25 , 3.158 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsea.¹ Another was " to follow the trade of arms," a customwhich at the time of the Mutiny led to fatal results. Withrespect to this northern custom of Brahmans becomingwarriors, Gautama held that a Brahman might only usearms if his life were threatened, while Apastamba declaredthat a Brahman shall not take a weapon into his handthough he be only desirous of examining it. The following of any other practices in any country except wherethey prevail is, according to Baudhāyana, a sin. Thestandard rule of conduct was that which obtained inAryavarta. Gautama, on the other hand, held that thelaws of countries, castes, or families, are of authority ifthey are not opposed to the teachings of the " Vedas," andsubsidiary sacred books; while, at the same time, " cultivators, traders, herdsmen, money-lenders, and artisans haveauthority to lay down rules for their respective classes. 5From the time of Warren Hastings the Brahmanic lawbooks consulted-or such of them as were known to theBrahmans-have been held to set forth the laws andcustoms of the people of India. As a matter of fact, thegreat mass of the population has never heard of thesacred law books of the Aryans. These law treatiseswere separately compiled as the received tradition of aschool or class of Brahmanical families, who strove, byall means at their command, to inculcate their teachingamong the community, and impress the importance oftheir observances at the courts of the kings or chieftainswith whom they had gained influence. As for the massof the people, the dark-skinned aborigines, they could1 "Apastamba, " ii . I , 2, I. Acustom which he afterwards declares entailsloss of caste.2 Ibid. , i. 10, 29, 6.3.44 Baudhayana," i . 1 , 2 , 5.4 "Baudhayana, ” i. 1 , 2, II , 12. 5 "Gautama," xi. 21.6 "That any class of Hindus, save perhaps the Manavas, at any time regarded the " Manava Dharma Šāstra " as a law book of paramount authority,no person who has the most elementary knowledge of things Hindu can for amoment suppose. "-- Nelson, " View of Hindu Life, " p. 12.THE POWER OF THE BRÂHMANS 159preserve their own habits and customs so long as theyremained in a servile condition. When these non-Aryanfolk became of social importance, or wealthy enough todemand recognition of their position, they themselvestended to rise to an Aryan status and amalgamate theircustoms, cults, and superstitions, on such terms as theBrahmans were inclined, from prudence, to offer, with thelaws and religions of the ruling class.¹On the Brahman, as well as on the king, the whole moralwelfare of the world was held to depend. So the kingchose as a " purohita " a Brahman austere and righteous, andof a noble family. The man who raised his hand againsta Brahman was declared to be shut out from Heaven forone hundred years.4 If he struck a Brahman he lostHeaven for one thousand years. The shedder of aBrahman's blood was debarred from entering Heaven forthe number of years to be counted by the particles ofdust held together by the shed blood. "According to Baudhāyana," " the murderer of a Brāhmanshall practise the following vow during twelve years:"Carrying a skull and the foot of a bedstead ( instead of astaff); dressed in the hide of an ass; staying in the forest;making a dead man's skull his flag; he shall cause a hut tobe built in a burial - ground and reside there; going toseven houses in order to beg food; while proclaiming hisdeed, he shall support life with what he gets there, andshall fast if he obtains nothing." Vasishta held that theexpiation for Brahman murder was the burning by themurderer of his own body piecemeal. A milder penance 81 See Nesfield, "Caste Systems, " pp. 171-2.264' Gautama, " viii . 1: -They " uphold the moral order in the world. "3 Ibid. , xi. 12.566 4 Ibid. , xxi. 20-21 .Ibid. , ii . 1 , 1 , 3. 6' Baudhāyana, " iii . 1 , 2, 3.7 "Vasishta," xx. 25-26.866' Les rédacteurs des livres ont simplement soudé en ce système des faitsisolés, plus ou moins exceptionnels qu'un idéal de perfection rarement réalisés. ”-Senart, " Castes dans l'Inde. " p. 126.160 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAset forth by the same law- giver for the murderer was: “ Lethim fight for the sake of the king or for the sake of theBrahmans, and let him die in battle with his face turned tothe foe. "1There are clear evidences, however, that between thefour ideal classes no insurmountable barriers had grownup at the time of the earliest law-giver, Gautama, whomay be ascribed to before the sixth century. His lawslay down the rule that a Brahman, in time of distress,might assume the occupation of a Kshatriya, Vaiśya,³ orSudra, though in no case should he mix with, or eat with,a Sudra. The ordinary duties of a Brahman were, however, held to be sacrificing for others, accepting gifts, andteaching. Apastamba similarly allowed a Brahman totrade, although, ordinarily, trade was not lawful for aBrahman. Vasishta held, that those who were unable tolive by their own occupations might adopt those of thelower classes, but never those of a higher class.The one great permanent division between the Brahmans,Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Sūdras was the rite of initiationinto the Aryan brotherhood. This was the consecration,in accordance with the texts of the " Veda," of a male who"is desirous of, and can make use of, sacred knowledge. "7It was this initiation which made the three higher classestwice-born. It excluded Sūdras and women from evertaking part in the religious life of the Aryans; theknowledge sufficient for them was dancing, singing, andsuch arts.The initiation for a Br hman took place from the age1 "Vasishta," xx. 27.2 "Apastamba" is placed by Bühler (S. B. E. , vol. ii . p. 43) two hundredyears before the third century B.C.43 "Gautama, " vii . 6-7.♦ Ibid. , vii. 22-23; " Manu, " x. 81; “ Yajn. , ” iii . 35 .5 "Vasishta, " ii . 14.6 "Apastamba, " i . 7 , 20, 10.7 Ibid. i, 1, 1, 8.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 161of eight to sixteen. He was then invested with the girdleof sacred grass and taught the holy verse to Săvitrī. Theage of initiation for a Kshatriya was from eleven to twenty,when he received a girdle made from a bow- string. Theage for a Vaiśya was from twelve to twenty- two; his girdlewas of wool. Before the initiation took place the neophytewas viewed as a Sūdra, and as such was presumed to act,speak, and eat as he felt inclined. After the initiation thetwice-born Aryan passed from the care of his father to thecare of a teacher, or " guru," with whom he dwelt for thepurpose of being instructed in his sacred duties, for asApastamba held: " Virtue and sin do not go about andsay, ' Here we are; ' nor do gods, Gandharvas, or Manessay, 'This is virtue, that is sin.' But that is virtue, thepractice of which wise men of the three twice- born castespraise; what they blame is sin. ” 2Twelve years was the time fixed 3 for a student to remainunder tutelage. This was the time required for learningby rote one of the " Vedas," so that if the four " Vedas " hadto be learned, the time had to be extended to forty-eightyears.¹ This rule was, no doubt, an injunction which itwould be meritorious to obey. It was no doubt followed inmany cases, yet, like nearly all the laws of the Brahmanicorder, it was an ideal counsel of perfection, to be modifiedaccording to circ*mstances; one law-giver declaring thatstudentship might last only so long as it was necessaryto impart the sacred instruction. During his training thepupil should remain restrained in all his acts, be chaste,refrain from all spirituous liquor, and live only on foodobtained by begging.The student, during his1 "Gautama, " ii . I.3 " Gautama, " ii. 45.4 "Apastamba," i . 1 , 2, 12;pupilage, was under the absolute244 Āpastamba, " i . 7, 20, 6, 8.' Manu , " iii. 1; " Gautama, " ii . 46."A Brahman always, a Kshatriya and Vaiśya during studentship. ”—Ibid., ii. 20 ( note).L162 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAcontrol of his Guru, who was to be revered and reverencedas holy. Āpastamba, while explaining that a Brahmancould alone be chosen as a teacher, clearly shows that nogreat rigidity of class distinction had taken place up to histime, for he allows that, in a matter of such great importance as that of choosing a spiritual preceptor, a Brahmanmight, in times of distress, study under a Kshatriya orVaisya.¹ More striking still is the injunction that theBrahman, " during his pupilship must walk behind such ateacher. Afterwards the Brahman shall take precedenceof his Kshatriya or Vaisya teacher."The course of study ended, the Guru received a fee, andthe pupil underwent a new rite, that of ceremonial bathing,a ceremony that set him free to face the world. He thenbecame a householder, and took to himself a wife.wives 2 were allowed for a Brahman, two for a Kshatriya,one for a Vaisya.ThreeBy all Aryan householders there were forty great sacrifices to be performed, including the nineteen domesticceremonies, the seven Pāka sacrifices, the seven Havirsacrifices, and the seven Soma sacrifices. Once the sacredfire was lighted in the householder's home, his chief dailyduty was to worship the gods, the manes, the goblins andsages of old, to daily recite such portions of the " Veda " as1 “Āpastamba, ” ii. 2, 4, 25-26.2 The wife should not belong to the same Gotra, nor be a Sapinda relative of his mother. "-Gobhila, Grihya Sutras," iii. 4, 4, 5. "Gautama, "xiv. 13; “ Manu, ” v. 60, ii . 4, 5; Jolly, “ Recht und Sitte, " p. 62: —" Da diese exogamische Princip schon in den Grihyasūtras auftritt so besteht kein Grund an den hohen Alter desselben zu zweifeln wenn die Forderung hinsiehtsich und erst allmählig gesteigert haben. " The term "caste," as used inthe "Census Report, " p. 182, is defined as " the perpetuation of status or function by inheritance and endogamy. "3 The Census of India " ( 1891 ) , p. 254 , states of polygamy that "theextent to which it exists among the Brahmanic section of the people must bevery slight. ""Gautama, " v. 7.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 163he had learned from his Guru, and as far as possible performthe sacrifices. Yet, although he performed these duties, itwas declared that, " all the four ' Vedas ' together with thesix Angas and sacrifices, bring no blessing to him who isdeficient in good conduct. " 1The whole forty sacrifices were vain if the Aryan householder was not endowed with the eight good qualities of thesoul. These eight good qualities comparable to the EightfoldPath of Buddha are: Compassion on all creatures, forbearance, freedom from anger, purity, quietism , auspiciousness, freedom from avarice, and freedom from covetousness.2The path for the Aryan was made easy; he had but to takethe place allotted to him by the Brahmans and all wouldgo well with him. " He, forsooth, who is sanctified by a fewonly ofthese forty sacraments, and whose soul is endowedwith the eight excellent qualities, will be united withBrahma, and will dwell in his Heaven. " 3The guest was ever to be welcomed in the Aryan homestead, honour being first paid to old age, then to learning,after which followed in due order, birth, occupation, relations, and lastly, wealth. When life was drawing to itsclose the householder passed out from amid his peopleto take upon himself the fourth stage of life, and preparehis soul for its final doom. He then became either ahermit (vaikhānas), living in the forest on roots and fruits,practising austerities,5 yet still keeping up the sacred fire,and worshipping the gods, the Brahmans, the forefathers,men and goblins, or else he passed at once into the laststage of all, that of the ascetic sage (bhikshu). The ascetic166 Vasishta, " vi. 4.2 See "Apastamba, ” i. 8, 23, 6.3 See Hopkins, " Rel. of India, " p. 255.4.66'Gautama, ” iii. 1; " Vasishta, " vii . 3; " Baudhāyana , " ii. 10, 17, 2, forthe student after his studentship directly assuming the life of a hermit orascetic.5 “ Baudhāyana,” ii. 10, 17.164 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsage was to be dead to all around him. He entered 1the haunts of men but to beg for food, and then onlywhen all others had finished eating. He was merely towear a rag to cover his nakedness, and to have noregard to either his temporal or spiritual welfare. Forhim the scene was ended and was fading into the dimnessofthe past.So every man's lot in life was mapped out by theBrāhmans. Those enfolded within the twice- born Aryanranks were stamped for all eternity as separated from theSūdra and far- removed alien races. Rules forbiddingintermarriage, eating and drinking, or habits of socialintercourse between the ever-increasing divisions amongthe people were, under Brahmanic guidance, given thesanctity of Divine ordinances. As with the sacrificial rites,customs that had sprung from principles underlying allprimitive social life became stereotyped and preserved forever, as sacred and inviolable laws of caste.The Aryans of Vedic times were divided into their tribes,and clans, and groups of families. The great binding tieof the family was descent from some common ancestor.The sacrifice was alone for the benefit of the group thatheld together in the very closest bonds of descent from thesame blood. No one outside of these bonds could partakeofthe sacrificial feast. The feast became a sign of relationship, and the very act of eating —among primitive peoplerestricted to the family for whom the food is laboriously1" Gautama, " iii.2 Zimmer, " Alt. Ind. Leben. , " p. 204; Caldwell, " Gram. of DravidianLanguages, " p. 112: -" Whatever may have been the origin of the word' Sūdra, ' it cannot be doubted that it was extended in course of time to all whooccupied or were reduced to a dependent condition; whilst the name ' Dasyu 'or ' Mleccha ' came to be the appellation of the unsubdued non- Aryanised tribes. "3 Baden- Powell, " Ind. Vill. Com. , " 194, 206.4 "A Rome il suffit de la présence d'un étranger au sacrifice de la gens pouroffenser les dieux. "--Senart, " Castes dans l'Inde, " p. 214.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 165acquired, and carried on with a reserve and secrecy whichcivilisation but slowly breaks down-became surroundedwith greater importance and significance. It grew to bea sign of blood- fellowship. The drinking of water togethertypified a family union; the accepting of salt made theaccepter, for the time, one with the sib of him from whomit was accepted. The prohibitions and restrictions thathemmed round intermarriage were founded on primitivecustoms. In savage life, in many cases, female infanticideis a common, if not a necessary, custom, when foodis hard to obtain. From this cause it is difficult, if notimpossible to find a wife within the clan or family; ¹ onehas to be stolen or bought from an outside group morefavourably circ*mstanced. The group possessing femalechildren naturally looked upon them as valuable articles ofmerchandise.The tendency was to place strong restrictions on thesefemales being acquired or married by young men of theirown group. Robbery of a bride can only take place froma hostile tribe, the purchase of a bride in primitive societyonly by barter with a friendly tribe. The principle wouldthus be soon established that a marriage could only takeplace outside a specified group, and within the limits ofa nore extended group.These primitive restrictions as to communality andconnubuism are at the very foundation of the divisionswhich separate the different castes in India from oneanother at the present day. They grew deeper as theracial and class divisions became of greater import in the1 "Autémoignage de Plutarque les Romains dans la période ancienne n'épousaient jamais de femmes de leur Sang. "-Senart, " Castes dans l'Inde, " p. 209.2 " Vielleicht ist die Exogamie uberhaupt zuerst bei den Rajputen ( Kshattriyas) aufgekommen, bei denen sie sich, wie dies Sir A. Lyall anziehend schildert (' Asiatic Studies, ' pp. 219-21 ) in Rajputana in verbindung mit den noch jetzt üblichen Schein raub und dem ehemaligen Frauenraub und derGeschlechter verfassung noch in ihren ursprünglichsten Form studieren lässt. ”-Jolly, " Recht und Sitte, " p. 63.166 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsocial life of the people under the fostering care of theBrahmanic hierarchy. In the books of law and domesticcustom,¹ the limits within which the twice- born may marrywithin their own groups are restricted 2 more and morebetween those where no traces of common descent fromaccepted ancestors, saintly or heroic, can be recognised; justas among the lower races intermarriage is forbiddenbetween those who trace their genealogy from the sameanimal, or totem.3So in the present day, although marriage is forbiddenbetween members of the varied groups into which thepeople of India have been subdivided under the persistentpressure of the hierarchial pretensions, yet, within thesegroups, marriage has its exogamous limits.*In the metrical law book, ascribed to the fabled Manu,"First-born of the Creator," composed at a late date, probablyabout the commencement of the Christian era, the law ofmarriage within the caste is stated to be in the northern1 “ Manu, ” iii . 5; “ Āpastamba, ” ii . 5, 11 , 15; “ Gobhila, ” iii . 4, 3-5;"Vishnu, " xxiv. 9; Baudhayana, " 1. 1, 2, 3. In "Recht und Sitte , " Jollygives the full reference to the literature of the subject. Grierson, " BiharPeasant Life," § 1354-2 Hopkins, " Rel. of India, " p. 270.3 Risley ("Caste Systems of N. W. Provinces and Oudh "), in discussingNesfield's statement that " function , and function alone, has determined theformation of the endogamous groups which in India are called castes, " propounds his theory, that " community of race, and not, as has been frequentlyargued, community of function, is the real determining principle, the true causa causarum, of the ' caste system ' ( p. 254). " In Bengal proper, casteswith a platyrhine index have totemistic exogamous divisions " ( p. 253) .Brahmanical system which absolutely prohibits marriage within the gotra "(p. 245).399" The"Differences of religious practice, within the limits of Hinduism, do not necessarily affect the jus connubii. ” —Risley, p. 241 , loc. cit. "In SouthernIndia differences of religion ( Vaishnavism, Śaivism, etc. ) , and even narrowerdivisions, are a bar to marriage between members of what is strictly called thesame caste. "-Burnell, note to " Manu, " iii. 12-13. See Grierson, " BiharPeasant Life," § 1354, for the custom of the Soti Brahmans of East Tirhutkeeping registers of genealogical descent, and giving certificates of lawfulmarriage to show that " the patres are not within prohibited degrees of affinity. ”THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 167country where the rules were in vogue as follows: "Adamsel who is neither a Sapinda on the mother's side, norbelongs to the same family (gotra) on the father's side, isrecommended to twice-born men for wedlock and conjugalunion." According to the two great commentators ofManu, Medhātithi and Kullūka, the bride must be one"between whose father's and the bridegroom's family noblood relationship is traceable." 2 Bühler further expandsthe meaning by stating that it is very probable that the fullmeaning of the text is, " that in the case of Brahmanas,intermarriage between families descended from the sameRishi, and in case of other Aryans, between families bearingthe same name or known to be connected, are forbidden."It is sufficiently clear that the people were subdividing upinto groups, separated from each other by restrictions inevitably tending to prevent the creation of any nationallife or spirit, whereby social, sectarian, and racial distinctionsmight become obliterated or give place to higher ideals.From violation of the laws of marriage, from intermarriageor illicit union of members of the original four theoreticalgroups, that of Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Sūdras,it was held that the confusion of castes had arisen as theoffspring had to be relegated to inferior positions, there tointermarry and form new sub-groups. The law book ofManu, having described the baser castes which had beencreated from the abhorred irregular union between membersof the four castes, proceeds to point out how to each castethere were specific functions. " These races," he declares,"which originate in a confusion of the castes, and havebeen described according to their fathers and mothers, maybe known by their occupations, whether they conceal or1 " Manu," iii. 5 ( S.B.E. , vol. xxv. ) . See, as mentioned in the note to“ Āpastamba, ” ii . 5, 11 , 15-16; “ Gautama, ” iv. 2-5; “ Vasishta, ” viii . 1-2;' Baudhāyana, ” ii . 11 , 37; “ Yājn. , ” i. 53.662 Note to 66 Manu, " iii. 5 ( S.B.E. , vol. xxv. ).3 Ibid. , x. 40.168 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAopenly show themselves. " " Those who have been mentioned as the base- born offspring of Aryans, or as producedin consequence of a violation of the law, shall subsist byoccupations reprehended by the twice- born. "It is, in fact, the life-history of a struggling group offoreigners shut out from aid, vainly fighting that theirlife's strength should not be slowly sucked from out themby parasitic growths.The world is strewn with monuments of the past, and thesaddest tomb the world has ever reared is the tomb ofdespairing Aryanism in India. Stone by stone, as the tombis built, it tells its own story, and down through the pagesof history the same story runs that, in conquering, theAryan always succumbs.¹In India the Aryan threw round himself the bulwarkwhich his genius told him could alone ward off final decay-the bulwark of caste. Down to the present day theAryan has preserved much of his heritage from beingentombed in the structure he has raised, and the greatproblem for England to face is whether she has broughtaid to the beleaguered camp in time to infuse it with newlife. If England has not succeeded in warming intovitality the latent spirit of Aryanism, in spreading newhope amid the cultured classes of India, that they maycome out from their caste restrictions to aid her withoutfear of defeat in the crusade against superstition andignorance, her mission is a failure and her past in the Eastmust inevitably be entombed in the same grave as that overwhich she found Aryanism hovering on her advent intoIndia. For this reason alone it is necessary to note thefaintest light that breaks through the mists shrouding somuch ofthe past history of India from our ken. So muchremains steeped in the doubt that a Brahmanic genius, keenenough to rise and respond to the beating mark of time1¹ Rendall, " Cradle of the Aryans. "THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 169would not have been equally subtle to screen its deepermovements from vulgar gaze. The suspicion of wilfulreticence, of predesigned purpose, stays the mind as itventures to trace the lines of Brahmanic thought in thepages of its own literature.A vague gleam of light from Western sources flickers fora moment over the social and political life of India duringthe few centuries preceding the Christian era. From thetime when the Aryans first sang their victorious songs ofpraise, as they marched in their manhood and tribalstrength, down to the days when the Brahman theocracystrove to isolate the scattered fragments of the race fromthe contaminating influence of more uncivilised people, theunhappy remnant of the great Indo- European familyremained closed off from all share in the heritage that hadfallen to its brethren in the West. The fables that are toldby Diodorus of the expeditions of Sesostris or Semiramisto the far East may serve to adorn a tale told in hopes ofrousing the youthful interest in the past history of India,but nowhere can the sober historian, as he views theteak found in the city of Ur, the indigo or porcelain foundin ancient Egypt, discern evidences that the east and westAryan-speaking people had joined hands in these earlydays.¹ Herodotus shows that India was not unknown byrepute to the West. He narrates 2 how Dareios, son ofHystaspes sent Skylax of Karyanda on an expeditionof discovery down the Indus, and how Skylax reachedthe ocean and returned home by way of the Red Sea.Herodotus, in enumerating the possessions of Dareios, whohad advanced his conquests as far as the Panjāb, statesthat India formed the twentieth satrapy of the Persianmonarch whence he drew a tribute of three hundred and¹ See M'Crindle, " Homeric Use of Kassiteros and Elephos, " p. 3; Birdwood,Athenæum; Grünwedel, " Buddh. Kunst, " p. 8; M'Crindle, "Ancient Indiaas Described by Megasthenes and Arrian, " p. 5.2"Herodotus, " book iii. 98.170 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsixty talents of gold dust, a tribute exceeding that paid byall other people.¹ Indian soldiers 2 marched with thePersian troops of Xerxes into Thessaly and fought underMardonius at Plataea.¹Ktēsias of Knidos, a physician who remained in Persiafor seventeen years, from 416 B.C. to 398 B.C. , learned theresomething of India, and the fragments of his " Indika,"preserved by later historians,5 give marvellous tales of themysterious home of fables. They tell of a fountain fromwhich could be drawn pitchers full of gold, fluid whendrawn but soon solidifying. The sun appeared ten timeslarger in India than in other lands, and the sea, for fourfingers in depth, was so hot that fish never came to thesurface.His fragments of history also give a graphic account ofa man-eating monster living in India, with a face like aman, with double rows of teeth, with a tail like a scorpion's,a cubit long, from which it discharged darts capable ofkilling every animal save the elephant.They are full of stories of burning mountains, miraculouslakes, and healing fountains, four- headed birds whichguarded the gold of the desert, slaying all who came inquest of the precious metal that had to be sought for inthe night-time by bands of men, one and two thousandstrong. They also describe a race of pygmies less thantwo cubits high, and a tribe one hundred and twentythousand in number, who are men, and yet have heads,teeth, and claws like those of dogs, their speech beingcarried on by barking and signs, yet they are, “ like all theother Indians, extremely just men. " The stories of Ktēsiasare not unlike many which delight a credulous , wonderloving public, who still believe that Yogis remain buried1 " Herodotus, " iii . 94; M'Crindle, " Ancient India as Described by Ktesias,the Knidian. "2 Ibid., vii . 65.3 Ibid. , viii. 113. 4 Ibid., ix. 31. 5 lbid. , iii. 94.THE POWER OF THE BRĀHMANS 171beneath the earth for long spaces of time, without food ornourishment; who believe that Mahātmas can rival thefeats of Maskelyne and Cooke; that magicians can remainsuspended in the air without support and make mango treesgrow from out a juggler's bag; that scorpions sting themselves to death with their own poison; and that themongoose when smitten by a cobra knows of a plant tofree itself from death.The remark of Strabo¹ that, " generally speaking, the menwho have hitherto written on the affairs of India, were aset of liars," was harsh, for there was much of truth in theaccounts he had before him. These accounts were derivedfrom the description of the country by the trained historianswho accompanied Alexander the Great in the first effortof the West to pierce through the mysteries that had solong separated it from the East. Alexander the Great, sonof Philip of Macedon, found himself in 336 B.C., at theearly age of twenty, King of Macedonia, with the fortunesof Greece at his disposal. Within one year he had curbedthe Northern barbarians, put Attalos to death, reducedThebes to submission , and stood prepared to set forth asthe conqueror of the world, and fulfil the mission of hisfather as humbler of the proud Persian.The Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus, stretched fromthe shores of the Aegean and Levant to the far eastJaxartes and Indus. Its king, Dareios Kodomameos, however, lacked the power to hold beneath his sway the satrapswho longed to have for themselves the provinces into whichthe kingdom had been divided, and over which they helda more or less independent rule. On the plains of Issos,the King Dareios fled in his chariot from before the newrisen Conqueror of the World, and left his treasures, hiswife, children, and mother, at the mercy ofthe Macedonianking. Alexander turned aside for a season to reduce1 M'Crindle, p. 18.172 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAPhoenicia, and crowned himself with glory by capturing theisland fortress of Tyre, though he tarnished his fame byslaying and selling into captivity its inhabitants andmerchant princes. In Egypt he founded Alexandria sothat the commerce of the world should follow the path whichhe saw, with commanding genius, was marked out for it,and then turned again to follow his relentless purpose. Onthe field of battle known as Arbela, Dareios fled in dismayto perish by the treachery of his own kinsman, the Satrapof Bactria. Into Babylon Alexander entered in triumph,gave back to the people their own gods, and restored to thepriesthood the wealth they had enjoyed under their Assyriankings. At Susa he found wealth greater than he hadleft behind him in Babylon, and as he passed on toward thefar East, he left naught to tell of the wealth and power ofthe Persian nation save the burned ruins of Persepolis, andthe rifled tomb of Cyrus. A new Alexandria was built byhim at the gateway of India, now known as Herat, whencehe over-ran Bactria and Samarkhand, piercing to theJaxartes, along the banks of which he established his ownsoldiers in fortified positions, in order to shut out from hispossessions the Northern Scythian hordes.Early in the year 327 B.C. his troops marched down onthe plains of India. Crossing the river Indus near Attock,on a bridge of boats, he passed unopposed through the landof a Turanian people called the Taxilas, there being no onebetween the Indus and the Jhelum ( Hydaspes) to combine the petty chieftains and tribes against the invadingforce. Beyond the modern battle-field of Chilianwala,Alexander the Great crossed the Jhelum, and was there1 M'Crindle, p. 31.2 Ibid.3 "The sums contained in the treasury amounted to 40,000 talents ofuncoined gold and silver, and 9000 talents of coined gold, and there wasother booty besides of immense value, including the spoils which Xerxes had carried off from Greece. "-M'Crindle, p. 32.See Curzon, " Persia, " vol. ii. p. 76.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 173met by Porus, a Paurava chieftain of the Lunar race, thefirst Indian prince to come forward and defend hisdominions. In the battle that ensued Porus was wounded,his son slain, and his troops trampled down by his ownelephants. With Alexander, the Indian chieftain madean alliance, and received back his territories. Near thebattle-field Alexander founded a new city, and called itBucephala, after his famed charger, Bucephalus, slain duringthe fight. He thence marched through the land of theArashtra, made alliance with the king of the Sophytes,pierced as far as Amritsar, and then razed the city of theKathians, who, in the history of Diodorus the Sicilian, arerecorded to have possessed the custom that widows shouldbe burned with their husbands, so that the men mightnot go in fear of being poisoned by their wives during theirlifetime. Strange rumours soon reached the Macedoniancamp of the desert lands and fierce tribes to the far East.Outcast adventurers, however, told Alexander the truth, thatthere was no chieftain powerful enough to stay his conquering the land as far as the Ganges. The Macedonian soldierswere laden with wealth and weary from travel; they longedto see their homes once again. On the banks of the Beas(Hyphasis), Alexander saw the visions he had dreamed-ofpiercing to the eastern seas, and enrolling the whole worldunder one sceptre-fade away as his troops refused tofollow him further past the Sutlej, towards the broad Jumnaand river- valleys of the Ganges.The Conqueror of the World turned from the rich prize,and led his troops down the banks of the Indus towardsthe unknown ocean. In an impetuous assault at Multan,on the fortress of the fierce tribe of the Malloi, Alexanderwas wounded almost to death by an arrow, yet he foundedanother Alexandria at the modern Ucch, before he leftIndia to commence his perilous journey across the sandydeserts of Gedrosia towards Babylon, where he died at the174 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAearly age of thirty-two from fever and drink. The recordsof the historians and scientific men who accompanied theMacedonian king on his expedition into India haveperished, and the accounts given of them by later writers,such as Arrian, Strabo, and Pliny, remain the only lightthat comes from the West regarding the social life ofthe people of India during the period.While Alexander remained in the Panjab, a base- bornadventurer, one Chandragupta, destined to become thefirst Emperor of North India, is said to have told themonarch how he might advance down the Ganges andspread his conquests over all the divided tribes and people.Chandragupta, finding his advice not taken, left the Macedonians and sought refuge in Magadha. There he offendedthe reigning Nanda king, and again returned to thePanjab, where he found that the Greek governor, Eudemos,left by Alexander, had foully murdered Porus, and thatthe greater part of the Greek garrison had been withdrawnfrom the cities of the Panjab to join in the dissensionsthat had broken out in the West on the death of Alexander.Chandragupta at once headed an uprising of the nativetribes, and soon found himself in power as sole ruler overthe Panjab and lands of the lower Indus.Remembering the weakness of the kingdoms in thevalley of the Ganges, he returned to Magadha, and thereby his intrigues secured for himself the throne by theassassination of the last of the Nanda dynasty. India,for the first time, saw, in the low-caste Chandragupta, aruler whose empire extended from the Indus to the lowerGanges.In the meantime, Seleukos Nikator, the successor to1 " Sandrakottos ( Chandragupta) was of obscure birth, and from the remarkof Plutarch that in his early years he had seen Alexander, we may infer that hewas a native of the Panjab. "-M'Crindle, p. 405.2 The story is told in the " Mudrarakshasa, " by Visākadattā, see p. 294 ( post).3 His accession dates from 315 B.C. , or 312 B.C.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 175the eastern dominions of Alexander, marched from Syriaand Asia Minor to re-establish his power in Bactria andWestern India. With the new Maurya Emperor ofNorthern India, Seleukos Nikator found it prudent tomake an alliance. The Syrian king gave his daughter inmarriage to Chandragupta, and sent his ambassador,Megasthenes, to reside at Pataliputra, the city whosefoundations Buddha had seen laid by the generals ofBimbisāra as a fortress to check the raids of the Wajjians.At Pātaliputra, Megasthenes resided for eight years, from306 to 298 B.C. In what remains, in the writings¹ of laterGreek and Roman writers, of the " Indika of Megasthenes,"the Western world has preserved its only literary recordof the condition of India, at a period of time when theAryan race was approaching a doom from which it was,for a time, saved by the dread of the Macedonian soldieryto penetrate further into the East and raise the veil whichthe priestly chronicles have drawn over the political lifeofthe times.From Strabo 2 it is learned that Megasthenes held that noreliance could be placed on any previous Western accountof India, for " its people he says never sent an expeditionabroad, nor was their country ever invaded or conqueredexcept by Herakles and Dionysus in old times, and bythe Macedonians in our times."The belief held by the Indians themselves evidentlywas that they were autochthonous, and for some reason,perhaps to gratify the pride of Megasthenes, they alsoasserted that their gods, myths, and philosophies weresimilar to those of Greece.The history of Megasthenes was evidently founded on1 " Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian, ' being atranslation of the fragments of the ' Indika of Megasthenes, ' collected by DrSchwarbach, and of the first part of the ' Indika of Arrian "" (M'Crindle).2 Strabo, xv. 1 , 6-8; M'Crindle, p. 107. See Pliny, " Hist. Nat. , " vi. ,xxi. 4-5.176 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfacts he had himselfobserved, or on the evidence ofwitnesseshe deemed credible. The more it is examined the moreit is found to be trustworthy, while the whole account ofIndian social and political life falls in with what mighthave been imagined forth from the vague references ofthesacred literature of India. Pataliputra, the capital ofChandragupta, the walls of which have recently been.unearthed 12 to 15 feet beneath the modern city of Patna,is described as the greatest city in all India, stretching80 stadia along the river to a breadth of 15 stadia. Theditch surrounding its wooden palisades-for all cities nearrivers were of wood, those on eminences alone beingconstructed of mud and brick-was 600 feet broad,and 30 cubits in depth, the walls of the city having sixtyfour gates and five hundred and seventy towers. To theking there were six hundred thousand foot soldiers, thirtythousand cavalry, and nine thousand elephants. It wouldbe difficult to enumerate all the different tribes scatteredover India who were mentioned by the ambassador ofSeleukos Nikator and of whom many cannot now be identified. It is evident that over the vast continent separatestable governments existed , many holding vast resourcesat their command. The King of Kalinga, although hewas subject to Chandragupta, held independent possessionof his own dominions along the eastern coast, while abranch of the race he ruled over seems to have beenthe people of Lower Bengal, near the mouth of theGanges. The capital of this great eastern viceroy wasat Parthalis, and the army consisted of sixty thousandfoot soldiers, one thousand horsem*n, and seven hundredelephants.The great Andhra kingdom between the Godavari andthe Krishna, where the law books of Baudhāyana andApastamba were revered, stretched far and wide, having¹ M'Crindle, " Alexander, " p. 364; " Megasthenes, " p. 155.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 177numerous villages,¹ thirty walled and defended towns, anda king having an army of one hundred thousand foot men,two thousand cavalry, and a thousand elephants.On the west coast were varied tribes, now more or lessidentified, while in the basin of the Chambal were thePandae, a branch of the famed Pandus,2 " the only race inIndia ruled by women. They say that Herakles havingbut one daughter, who was, on that account, all the morebeloved, endowed her with a noble kingdom. Herdescendants ruled over three hundred cities, and commanded an army of one hundred and fifty thousand foot,and five hundred elephants. "Many ofthe stories told by Megasthenes seem incredible,but then it would be unwise to stigmatise the historian aswilfully setting forth false statements. Some of the storieshe relates were furnished by credulous narrators, and whenthese are eliminated there is generally a solid substratum ofhistoric facts in the remaining portions of his writings. Thedanger into which a too incredulous reader might fall inrejecting everything as false, the evidence for which liesnot on the surface, may be seen from a single example.Pliny narrates that, according to Megasthenes, there liveda race in India whose feet were turned backwards. Thispalpably cannot be accepted as a true statement of fact.Nevertheless, the historian merely recorded statements hehad heard from what he deemed reliable sources, and thevery fact that he mentions this strange race shows that hissources of information must have been numerous andvaried.1 M'Crindle, " Megasthenes, " p. 138.2 See Ibid. , p. 147 (note).... 3 Ibid. , p. 147: -" They further assert that Herakles was also born amongthem. They assign to him, like the Greeks, the club and the lion's skin. . .Marrying many wives he left many sons, but one daughter only. " See also p. 39 (note), “ apparently Śiva is meant. ”4 Pliny, " Hist. Nat. , " vii. 11 , 14, 22.M178 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThis belief in the existence of spirits and witches whowander about with their feet turned backward is commonnot only in India but elsewhere. The following accountofone ofthis race of Churels, as they are called, is told byMr Crooke, who has done much to probe the depths ofprimitive belief in India, and no doubt the Greek historianhad heard somewhat similar stories on which he based hisrecord. One of the race of Churels generally " assumesthe form of a beautiful young woman and seduces youthsat night, particularly those who are good-looking. Shecarries them off to some kingdom of her own, keepsthem there till they lose their manly beauty, andthen sends them back to the world grey- haired old men,who, like Rip Van Winkle, find all their friends deadlong ago. I had a smart young butler at Etah, whoonce described to me vividly the narrow escape he hadfrom the fascinations of a Churel who lived in a pipal treenear the cemetery. He saw her sitting on a wall in thedusk and entered into conversation with her, but hefortunately observed her tell- tale feet and escaped. Hewould never again go by that road at night without anescort."The sources of information at the disposal of Megasthenes, and the accordance, for the greater part, of the factsnarrated by him with what is known to have been thestate of affairs at the period during which he visited India,make his statements of peculiar value for the purposesof adding reality to the hazy outline of the Brahmanictexts.The population of India is by him divided into sevenmain classes. At the head of all in dignity and importancewere those whom he called the philosophers, easily recognised as the Brahmans. They, according to Megasthenes,1 Crooke, "Popular Religion and Folk-lore in Northern India, " p. 169;Tylor, " Primitive Culture, " vol. i . p. 307.THE POWER OF THE BRĀHMANS 179are of great benefit to the people, for, " when gatheredtogether at the beginning of the year, they forewarn theassembled multitudes about droughts and wet weather, andalso about propitious winds, and diseases, and other topicscapable of profiting the hearers. " 1Should a philosopher make any error in his prognostications, he incurs " no other penalty than obloquy, and hethen observes silence for the rest of his life."Thesephilosophers not only confer great benefits on the people,they also " are believed to be next door to the gods, and tobe most conversant with matters pertaining to Hades."They perform all sacrifices due by the people; theyperform the funeral rites, and, in " requital of such services,they receive valuable gifts and privileges."The philosophers, according to Megasthenes, weredivided into two orders. First, the Brahmans proper, wholive as students for thirty-six years,2 and then becomehouseholders, when " they eat flesh, but not that of animalsemployed in labour." "The Brahmans keep their wives-and they had many wives-ignorant of all philosophy, forif women learned to look on pleasure and pain, life anddeath, philosophically, they would become depraved, orelse no longer remain in subjection." This statement isin accord with the teaching of the " Vedanta," which excludes all women from its scheme of salvation . The basisof much of Indian thought is contained in his summing- upof the Brahmanic speculations of his time: " They considernothing," he records, " that befalls man to be either goodor bad; to suppose otherwise being a dream- like illusion." 4Their views regarding the soul and creation were declaredto be the same as the Greek, and " they wrap up theirdoctrines about immortality, and future judgment, andkindred topics, in allegories, after the manner of Plato."1 M'Crindle, " Megasthenes, " p. 41 .See M'Crindle, " Megasthenes, " p. 100.2.44 Manu, " iii. I.• Ibid. , p. 100.180 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThe second order of the Brahmans was the Sarmanes, or"ascetics," of whom the most honoured were the Hylobioi,¹who "live in the woods, where they subsist on leaves oftrees and wild fruits, and wear garments made from thebark of trees."2 Besides the orthodox Brahmans, therewere numerous diviners and sorcerers living on the superstitions of the people, begging their way from village tovillage, and even women were said in some cases to"pursue philosophy."The second class into which Megasthenes divided thepopulation was that of husbandmen. They, as they doto-day, formed the gross mass of the population living inscattered villages.The land, according to the Greek account, was theproperty of the king, to whom a land tribute was paid,as well as a fourth part of the produce raised by eachcultivator. The husbandmen are depicted as remainingsupremely indifferent to the change of their rulers, to thecoming and going of new invaders: even in those days theywere as they are to-day, when, " the Mogul, the Afghan, thePindari, the Briton, and the mutinous Sepoy, with others,have swept to and fro, as the dust storm sweeps the land,but the corn must be grown, and the folk and cattle mustbe fed, and the cultivator waits with inflexible patience tillthe will of Heaven be accomplished, and he may turn againto the toil to which he is appointed. " 4The picture of the agricultural labourer was much thesame over two thousand years ago. The Greek historian1 Haradatta, in his note to " Gautama, " iii . 2 , says: " The Vanaprasthais called the Vaikhānasa, because he lives according to the rule promulgated byVikhanas; " and adds, " for that sage chiefly taught that order. " See Bühler,'Manu, " p. xxviii.; S. B. E. , vol . xxv.2 M'Crindle, " Megasthenes, " p. 102.3 "Among the Indians are those philosophers also who follow the preceptsof Boutta, whom they honour as a god on account of his extraordinarysanctity. "-M'Crindle, p . 105 .4 Lockwood Kipling, " Man and Beast in India, " p. 154.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 181narrates how, when soldiers fought their way to overlordship of the soil the cultivators remained silentspectators. "While the former are fighting and killingeach other as they can, the latter may be seen close athand tranquilly pursuing their work, perhaps ploughingor gathering in their crops, pruning the trees, or reapingthe harvest."1The shepherds, artisans, soldiers, and overseers formedthe next four classes into which the people were divided;the seventh and last being that of the councillors, orassessors, to whom belonged " the highest posts of government, the tribunals of justice, and the general administration of public affairs. "3The salient features of the system of caste division ofthe people into distinct groups, ranging from the Brāhmandownwards, is described in an extract from Megasthenespreserved by Arrian: " No one is allowed to marry out ofhis own caste, or to exchange one profession or trade foranother, or to follow more than one business. An exception is made in favour of the philosopher, who, for hisvirtue, is allowed this privilege."The Indians, as a nation, are depicted as frugal andabstemious in their habits. Wine was only drunk at sacrifices. They seldom went to law. Theft was rare; housesand property were left unguarded. The women werepurchased as wives for a yoke of oxen. The care of' M'Crindle, " Indika of Arrian, " p. 210.2 "The fifth class consists of fighting men, who, when not engaged in activeservice, pass their time in idleness and drinking. They are maintained at theking's expense, and hence they are always ready, when occasion calls, to takethe field, for they carry nothing of their own with them but their own bodies. "-M'Crindle, p. 85.3 Ibid. , p. 85.See also Ibid. , p. 213: -" It is permitted that the sophist only befrom any caste; for the life of the sophist is not an easy one but the hardest of all. "5 Ibid., p. 86. 6 Ibid. , p. 70.182 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe king's person, in his palace and when hunting, wasentrusted to female guards. Famine is affirmed never tohave visited India. " The greater part of the soil , moreover, is under irrigation, and consequently bears twocrops in the course of the year. " ¹Arrian, in his history, gives a realistic, matter- of-factaccount of the form of marriage, so often poetically andprettily alluded to in the epics and drama as that of theSvāyamvara, or " choice by the bride of a bridegroom ":"The women, as soon as they are marriageable, are broughtforward by their fathers and exposed in public, to beselected by the victor in wrestling or boxing or running,or by some one who excels in any other manly exercise."?Differing from Strabo, who fixed the ordinary price of abride at a yoke of oxen, Arrian says that there was nodowry given or taken.The worship of the god Śiva, or his counterpart—a deityfinding its birthplace among the fiercer Scythian tribes,and then accepted into Brāhmanism as a form of the VedicRudra-as well as the worship of Krishna, born amidshepherd folk, are both described by Megasthenes as havingbeen fully incorporated into Brahmanism.Writing of the philosophers, Megasthenes records, that"such of them as live on the mountains are worshippersof Dionysos, showing, as proofs that he had come amongthem, the wild vine which grows in their country only, andthe ivy, and the laurel, and the myrtle, and the box-tree, andother evergreens. They observe also certain customswhich are Bacchanalian. Thus they dress in muslin, wearthe turban, use perfumes, array themselves in garments dyedof bright colours; and their kings, when they appear inpublic, are preceded by the music of drums and gongs. Butthe philosophers who live in the plains worship Herakles. " ³¹ Diodorus, " Epitome of Megasthenes, " ii. 36; M'Crindle, " Megasthenes, "p. 31.3 Ibid., p. 97.12 Ibid. , p. 222.THE POWER OF THE BRĀHMANS 183While these and other strange changes had crept intoBrahmanic orthodoxy, there was one task remaining for itto accomplish before it had to withdraw within the defencesit had reared, and there await the attacks soon to be madeagainst it, the last of which has come from all the forcesat the command of a Western civilisation.The enormous mass of sacred literature of the variedschools, the knowledge of which led towards Heaven, madeit almost impossible that it could be all remembered, orserve as a guide through life.¹The special rules of the early " Sūtras " were more guidingprinciples of life than practical expositions of the civil andcriminal law. Some authoritative statement of the practicalrelationship of the varied classes, and of the civic duties ofeach member of the Aryan community, had to be set forthwith a prestige sufficient to inspire the allegiance of all.Father Manu was a name wherewith to conjure.It wasa name held sacred throughout the pages of literature.From him all men had sprung. At the time of the Floodhe had preserved in his own self the human race for recreation. He was ruler of all law and order, father andrevealer of the sacrifice, the author of Vedic Hymns, and thegreat legendary forefather and guide of all Aryan people.Among the varied Brahmanic schools for the preservationand teaching of Vedic texts, the ritual, and subsidiarybranches of learning, there was one great school of theMānavas-a branch of the Maitrāyanīya Black Yajur Vedaschool-whose founder became, in time, identified with theprimeval Manu.The ancient Sūtra law book of the school is lost.1 See the exhaustive and learned treatise on the whole subject prefixed byBühler to his translation of " Manu " (S. B. E. , vol. xxv. p. xlv. ) , under the fourheads:-( 1 ) What circ*mstances led to the substitution of a universally binding" Mānava Dharma Šāstra " for the manual of the Vedic school? ( 2) Whywas so prominent a position assigned to the remodelled " Smriti "? ( 3 ) Howwas the conversion effected? (4) When did it probably take place184 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThis was the text seized on by the Brahmans, out ofwhich they composed a systematic treatise on law andorder, free from sectarian strife, so that it might standforth as a code of civil and criminal jurisdiction for allAryan people. The well-known lawbook of Maru has thusobtained the sanction of an antiquity held to date back toprimeval days, when the Divine decrees were revealed byManu, the offspring of the Self-Existent, the mythicalprogenitor ofthe human race. The date of the compositionof the work can now be confidently placed somewhere nearthe commencement of the Christian era.³Tradition, however, holds that the Creator, having createdthe universe, composed the law, and taught it to Manu,who taught it to the ancient seers. The work itself was forthe Aryan community, for the use of those Brahmans whoassisted kings and princes to administer the law. Thepeculiar customs of countries, peoples, and families lyingoutside the sphere of Brahmanism were always acknowledged to have retained their own validity. Not untilmuch later did the idea grow up that local laws shouldgive place to Brahmanic ideals, and not until Englishlawyers fell into the error of seeing in the law books ofManu the sacred and common source from which thehabits and customs of the entire people of India had sprung,did it become the text by which disputes between peopie,who had never heard of its existence, were decided.1 In the easy metre of the late epic " Anushtubh Śloka. ”—Bühler, p. xix.2 "Yaska, Nirukta, ” iii. 4; Bühler, p. lxi.; " Manu, " i , 102.3 Bühler, p. cxvii.:-" It certainly existed in the second century A.D. , andseems to have been composed between that date and the second century B.C. "Burnell, " Ordinances of Manu, ” p. xxiv.:-" Between about I A.D. and 500A.D."4 "Manu, " viii . I.5 Ibid. , i. 118; Burnell, p. xxxvi.; " Baudhāyana, ” i. 1 , 2, 1-7; " Āpastamba, " ii. 6, 15, I; “ Gautama, ” xi . 20-21 .6 Burnell, p. xxxvii. See Lee Warner, W., "Jour. Soc. Arts " (February1897 ) , p. 170.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 185In the words of the late profound scholar and jurist,Dr Burnell, the result is that " we shall soon see ' Jackthe Giant Killer ' cited as an authority on the law ofhomicide. "1 The laws of Manu grew out of a naturaldevelopment in the political and social life of BrahmanicIndia. The ruder races, as they rose in the social scale,naturally fell under the influence of the system formulatedby the learned and priestly classes, and modified their ownusages and customs so that, as far as possible, they mightconform to the ideals of the higher castes. It was theBrahmans 2 alone who could expound the laws of Manu,and it was to the three higher castes alone that the rightof studying them was given.³All women, Sūdras, and tribes outside the Aryan pale,were excluded from " these Institutes " by the very wordsofthe text. The pretensions of the Brahmans were risinghigher, and signs of change are evident in the laws themselves. In one verse the ancient custom of the sale ofwomen in marriage is condemned, for " no father whoknows the law must take even the smallest gratuity forhis daughter."5The Greek historian narrated how brides were sold fora yoke of oxen, and Manu bears witness to the fact thatthe sale was in vogue, for " some call the cow and bullgiven at an Arsha wedding a ' gratuity,' but that is wrong,since the acceptance of a fee, be it small or great, is a saleofthe daughter."Again the same want of consistency, showing how variedthe local customs were, is seen from the fact that in thelaw book it is declared that not even a Sūdra should sellhis daughter, that such a custom had never been heard ofin any creation. And again, in a different chapter, & treating1 Burnell, " Manu, " p. xxxviii.Ibid. , x. 126.7Ibid. , is 98.2 Ibid., i. 103. 3 Ibid. , ii. 16.5 Ibid., iii. 51. 6 Ibid., iii. 53.8 Ibid. , viii. 204.!186 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAof the sale of chattels, the text lays down: " If after onedamsel has been shown, another be given to the bridegroom, he may marry them both for the same price; thatManu ordained."The confusion arose from the fact that the laws andcustoms ofthe people were changing in the course of time,and were varied among the different sections of the people.The Brahmans, however, hoped to stereotype the conditionsof life and society to which they owed their position, wealth,and power; and so far they have succeeded, for, from thetime Warren Hastings drew from the Brahmans their"Gentoo Code," down to the time when the Queenissued her proclamation after the Mutiny, declaring thatthe " ancient rights, usages, and customs of India ” shouldbe duly regarded, it has been held that " Manu " and laterlaw books were codes wherein to find a sure and safeguide for the administration of civil law to all Hindus.There were Sūdras and Sūdra kings in India at the timeof the compilation of the laws of Manu, who, according toits tenets, would have been excluded from its purpose, whilethe Kshatriyas and Vaisyas, for whom it was compiled,find few or no representatives in India of to- day. TheBrahmans sought but to frame laws for the preservationof the usages and customs of the people with whom theywere concerned, and whom they recognised as within thesphere of Aryanism.2These efforts of Brahmanism have received a finality andsanction which not even Brahmanism itself now wouldclaim, or if it did, be powerful enough to sustain. Thelaw but follows and recognises the changing course ofsocial life. In accepting the Brahmanic law books as final,1 Nelson, " Scientific Study of the Hindu Law, " p. 5.2 " The authority of the inferior castes to make their own laws was earlyadmitted " ( " Baudhāyana, ” i . 1 , 2, 1-7; " Gautama, ” xi . 20, 21; " Āpastamba, ”ii . 6, 15 , 1 ) . “ Neither were the Sanskrit Brähman laws forced on them, norwere their own customs ignored, as is nowthe case. "—Burnell ( Pref. ) , p. xxxvi.THE POWER OF THE BRAHMANS 187the whole transition of the society from its ancient condition to that of an advancing civil community has beenretarded, if not frustrated, while much of its progress hasbeen reduced to a chaos, out of which few can see anypossibility of restoring law and order.CHAPTER IX.THE FINAL RESTING- PLACE OF ARYAN THOUGHT.THE Brahmans had, with all the care and pains grantedonly to high genius, with all the insight bred of longhereditary training, striven manfully in the fight they hadto fight-the fight for the consolidation and preservation oftheir own race, class, and power.They were to abide immutably the intellectual guides ofthe people, for so Divine ordinance had decreed. Kingsand warriors had their appointed places as upholders ofthe State, and favoured allies of the Brahmanic might.The varied classes of those who were Aryan by descent,or had been admitted within the ranks of Aryanism, wereone and all allotted their appointed place in life, and bidlook for their spiritual welfare in obedience to the priestlydictates.The very gods had come on earth to dwell personifiedas the Brahmans. The Creator of the Universe hadresigned his earthly sceptre to the high keeping of thosewhose hands and feet still show that their ancestors, forgenerations past, have never sullied themselves by submission to vulgar toil and labour, and whose features bearthe stamp of conscious knowledge of their high calling.All alien races and tribes were the polluted offspring of 188THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 189those who had confounded the divinely-decreed divisionsbetween class and class.The Brahmans based their claim to rule supreme solelyon their traditional lineage from Vedic bards, on theirhigh intellectual power and sacred calling. It was thought,not action, mind alone, not mind working out its idealsin dramatic, sculptured, or artistic forms, that enslavedthe nation. The architect, the builder, or sculptor, wererelegated to the lower classes, in common with all thosewho worked with their hands. No great architecturalbuildings, no temples, no works of sculpture, whose origincan be traced back to Brahmanic genius, remain inIndia. The Aryan had set before him but one ideal,and that was to unravel the secret that set strife on earthas the stepping-stone to law and order, to solve themystery of the seeming endless struggle wherein the eviland the strong men often prosper while the good andweak are swept away. It is a problem yet unsolved, aproblem Nietsche has newly set forth with the all toooverpowering earnestness of one born into a world outof joint to set it right.Even the weak, diseased, and contaminated are nurturedand left free to send their taint to future generations bycivilisations which hold forth, as their highest ideals, sympathy towards the suffering, and protection towards thefeeble. Yet these same civilisations take heed to standarmed at every point, straining every nerve to add to theirstrength, knowing well that speedy decay and dissolutionawait the nation not stern enough to fling its boastedshibboleths of peace and goodwill to the winds whenassailed by stronger foes. India, subdued to her ownideals, fell, and so remains fallen. Before she fell, allthat she held of intellect or genius had prepared her coursedown to a soothing resting- place. If she ever rises itwill be because those before whom she fell will wake190 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAher from a peaceful sleep and send her forth to find newleaders, who no longer seek to see their fitting end instriving to reconcile man's ethical notions of right andwrong, justice and injustice, with the struggle and strifeof life, but simply rest assured that, while they take theirpart in the battle of the world's strife, the lofty ideals theyheld aloft when Europe was plunged in barbarism will, inthe appointed time, be fully realised, and until then canbut be held as guiding hopes.While Brahmanism was cradling its wasted strength inthe summit of the many-storeyed wicker- work edifice ofcaste, into which all outsiders might creep from below, andwork their way upward from storey to storey, it sentabroad throughout the land those bright rays of thoughtwhich are the sole guiding stars to those who still in Indialove to tread the paths of old.The cry, the incessant cry sent forth by Aryan India,was that life was pain-pain from the body, pain from theworld, pain from the heavens, and the gods.¹The cry went up from Brahmanism. The first answerphilosophy had to give is ascribed to Kapila, said to be thefounder of the Sankhya philosophy. By him the Aryanpeople were directed to fix their gaze on two facts -theworld as they saw it spread out before them, and their ownsouls. So far they knew and no more. The phenomenalworld was self- evident. Kapila undertook to prove theexistence of soul in five ways. Firstly, he held the soul toexist from an inverted doctrine of design. If one beholdsa bed, he naturally concludes there must be a sleeper; so,when one sees the world, he must conclude that there issoul to enjoy it. Secondly, soul is shown to exist becauseevery one is conscious of something inside himself distinctfrom matter. Thirdly, soul must exist as a superintending1 See Garbe, " Šankhya Philosophie," p. 133." Davies, " Hindu Philosophy, " p. 46,THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 191power. Fourthly, it must exist to enjoy; and fifthly, andlastly, because all men feel within themselves that the soulexists, yearning, striving to free itself from the contamination of matter. So far the existence of soul, soul transmigrating from birth to re-birth, having been proved, theconnection between it and the world had to be traced, forin this connection lay pain and sorrow. Freed frommatter the soul would remain isolated, inactive, anduncreative, unconsciously self- existent and self- contained.It would remain quiescent, placid as a lake on whosesurface no ripples break. The Indian sage loves to brood,in a dreamy semi-hypnotic trance, over that calm restingplace to which the soul might take wing, having shakenoff from itself all bonds that keep it fettered. The soul,however, is constrained to rouse itself from painless isolation. The allurements of the flesh and the evidences of thesenses constrain it to lend its reluctant consent to joinin the drama sent forth by matter. Primordial matter,unmanifested, is, according to Kapila, that which originallyexisted outside, and independent of, soul. This matter,the primordial germ substance, eternal, indivisible, selfdeveloped, ever invisible, had potentially to send forthreal existence. This primal matter has, as its nature, thethree modes of goodness, passion, and darkness. Thesystem knows no idealistic monism; germ matter andsoul remain distinct-the soul, when separated frommatter, being self-existent, with no object of thought.So far Kapila held forth before the astonished gaze thePrakriti, into which he had resclved all objective reality,and the inward light, the soul, having an existence of its1 The Prakriti or Pradhana.2 "After all, what do we know of this terrible ' matter, ' except as a namefor the unknown and hypothetical cause of states of our own consciousness. ”-Huxley, " Lay Sermons, " p. 142, quoted Davies (note) , p. 19.3These three modes, or gunas, are not to be taken as qualities of Prakriti; theclear distinction between substance and its qualities had not been marked outat this period. The three gunas are the very constituents of Prakriti.192 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAown. From Prakriti he had to create a rival worldwherein the soul would find its sorrow. With all thelimitation of man's knowledge of time, and space, and cause,the Eastern Frankenstein had to set to work and evolve thespectral vision of a world, and then, haunted by the terrorof the scene of woe and desolation, point out a means tomankind how they might escape from their brooding fears.A change had to take place in primordial matter, so thatthe different forms of matter might become manifest.Prakriti had, as its essential nature, but the three equipoisedqualities of goodness, passion, and darkness. From theproximity of soul to matter a disturbance takes place inmatter. The quality of passion is roused, matter no longerremains quiescent. She manifests herself to soul¹ so thatsoul may contemplate creation, and learn for itself the bliss.of its primeval condition of isolated self- existence. In thisaction of Prakriti there is no intelligent design. Thesystem knows of no Creator, matter is unintelligent. Thefavourite simile is that matter manifests itself unconsciously,without intelligence, just as milk is secreted without anydesign on the part of a cow.2 Prakriti is blind, it cannotsee; the soul is lame, it cannot act. So "it is that the soulmay be able to contemplate Nature, and to become entirelyseparated from it, that the union of both is made, as of thehalt and the blind, and through that ( union) the universeis formed." 8In the tragedy evolved by unconscious Nature for thesoul's training, the soul remains inactive, receiving as asovereign all that is presented to it, yet preserving itsfreedom from contact with matter. Prakriti first sendsforth intellect (buddhi) for the benefit of soul. Fromintellect, consciousness, or egoism, is evolved, and from1 "As the loadstone is attracted by iron merely by proximity, without resolving (either to act or to be acted upon) , so by the mere juxtaposition of thesoul, Nature (Prakriti) is changed. "-Davies ( note) , p. 37; see Garbe, p. 222.2 See Davies, p. 93. 3 lbid. , p. 51.THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 193consciousness the mind (manas).¹ The mind- matter receivesfrom the senses such sensations as are to be passed on toconsciousness, thence to the intellect, for presentation tothe soul, so that the pulsating and heaving life may beviewed by Soul, as though all passed before it like objectsseen in a mirror. From consciousness are evolved five subtleelements-sound, touch, odour, form, and taste.2 Fromthese five subtle principles proceed the five gross elements-ether, air, earth, light, and water. From consciousnessalso proceed the five organs of sense and the five organsof action. Intellect, consciousness, and mind, with thefive subtle elements, form a subtle body, which covers inthe soul, and remains connected with it from transmigrationto transmigration, passing in its course to celestial abodes,ranged in order of rewards for virtue or vice. The soulis thus held in bondage, subject to imperfections, disease,decay, and transmigration. Until it sees the sadness oflife spread out before it, in all its hopeless gloom, it isunconscious, with no object of thought, knowing nothingof the unfruitfulness of desire. To reach again this selfexistent, unborn, and undying stage, it has but to gainknowledge of itself, of Prakriti, of intellect, consciousness,mind, the five subtle elements, the five gross elements, thefive senses, and the five organs of action. The soul thenbecomes freed from pain, freed from the subtle body whichsinks back into Prakriti; for " as a dancer, having exhibited herself on the stage, ceases to dance, so doesNature (Prakriti) cease (to produce) when she has madeherself manifest to Soul. "5Such was the new-found solution held forth for man who,looking within himself, found there the problem raisedwhich is the mission of all higher art, philosophies, andreligion to present in one form or another.¹ See Davies, p. 108.• See Davies, p. 82.2 Ibid. , p. 19.5 Ibid. , p. 94.8 The linga sári› a.N194 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThe great aim for the Eastern sage was to obtain restfrom transmigration, from re- birth, wherein the higher castesmight descend to lower ranks, and thence into bestial anddegraded forms. The problem was set forth, worked, andsolved, in methods peculiarly Eastern, and therefore evasivein their subtle mysticism. Nature, or Prakriti, abstract andself-existent, was beyond the ken of the Sankhyan sage.It could but be connoted by its triple gunas¹ of goodness,passion or energy, and darkness-the threefold essenceafterwards personified in the triple gods, Vishnu, “ The Preserver," Brahma, " The Creator," and Śiva, " The Destroyer. "The Eastern mind, trained from Vedic times to trace allcreation from human analogy, could not escape the fatalstep, and so Soul had to approach close to Nature, with theresult that passion was aroused and creation ensued—a hazygeneralisation that could only find its fitting place, not ina philosophy to be couched in occidental phraseology, butin the half- man, half-woman symbolic form in which thegod Śiva came to be represented. The Eastern sagewandered on in a priori guesses, here and there betrayinghis trend of thought when he likens Nature to a femaledancer who exposes her charms that Soul may satiateitself, and then send forth the wail that its yearnings forthe Infinite, the Ideal, the Absolute, have been mocked, withthe result that Nature retires abashed, leaving Soul to itsown loneliness.The mystic charm is everywhere, gently persuading themind to accept the analogy by which Nature is represented,retreating from the gaze of wearied Soul " as a modestmaiden who may be surprised in déshabillé by a strangeman, but takes good heed that another shall not beholdher off her guard. ” ³1 These gunas, or qualities, are taken as the actual substance of Prakriti.See note to p. 208.244 Sankya Kar. , " p. 59. Wilson, "Tattwa Kaumudi, " p. 173.THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 195The descent from the high idealistic beauty ofthe poet'sdream is apparent in the setting of Śankhyan fine- spunthought in terms of formal philosophy, as well as in thehazy speculations of the Eastern dreamer, who, in his hopesto cast a halo of reality about his visions, sends themforth as a guide towards the unknown, with the declaration:"He who knows the twenty-five principles, whatever orderof life he may enter, and whether he wears braided hair,or a top knot only, or be shaven, he is free; of this thereis no doubt. " 1This doctrine was one too far removed from the yearning hopes of humanity to find acceptance outside theschools of esoteric thought. Its theological completion,however, found expression in a system by Patanjali, whoin the second century B.C. compiled his " Yoga Sutras," inwhich the idea of a Supreme Being is introduced. ThisSupreme Being, or Lord, is an Omniscient Soul, addressedas the mystic syllable " Om," infinite, directing and presidingover Nature, yet living far away, untouched by good orevil and their results. With this Divine Essence the individual soul hopes to gain union (yoga), and in it findabsorption. By self-restraint, religious observances, bysitting in strange postures, by suppression of the breath,subduing the senses, fixing the mind by contemplation andmeditation, the senses become stayed, the will falls into amesmeric trance in which the soul is supposed to wanderfree with occult powers, finding nearness and ultimateunion (yoga) with the Supreme Soul. The far-famedYogis 2 of India identify this Supreme Spirit with thedread god Śiva, and in their austerities and self- inflictedtortures give ample evidence of how slight the partitionis 'twixt sanity and reason.1 Davies, p. 55.2 For Yogis, astral bodies, Mahatmas, etc. , see the interesting account in"Indian Life, " by Professor Oman.196 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThe great crown and glory of Indian thought is to befound in the tenets of the system known as the " Vedānta,"or the summing-up of all the revealed knowledge of theVedic literature.Believers in, and expounders of, the " Vedānta" are to befound in every Hindu village. Of all philosophies of theEast it is the only one which presents a seemingly unassailable frontto metaphysic doubt, and at the same time extendsits principles far enough to win the adherence of those whowould seek some simple explanation of the lonely cravingsof their soul for peace and rest in the moving changes oflife. So the most learned admirer of the " Vedānta " in theWest has recently declared, in the course of an address tothe Bombay branch ofthe Royal Asiatic Society, that " the'Vedānta,' in its unfalsified form, is the strongest support ofpure morality, is the greatest consolation in the sufferings oflife and death. Indians, keep to it. " ¹The full "Vedānta " doctrines were systematised and reduced to terse leading phrases in the " Brahma Sūtras " ofBādarayana, which probably date from the fourth centuryB.C.2 The full meaning of the " Sūtras " was commented onby various commentators, the greatest of whom was the renowned reformer of the eighth century, Sankara Āchārya.The first " Sūtra " of Bādarayana gives the keynote tothe system in the short rule: " Then, therefore, a desire toknow Brahman." This rule as well as the remaining rules¹ Deussen, " Elements of Metaphysics, " p. 337.2 See Telang, " Bhagavad Gita, ” p. 52; Max Müller (" Vedanta Philosophy, "note, p. 29) assigns Bādarāyana to 400 A.D.It would be out of place to enter here upon the question as to whetherSankara Āchārya's interpretation of the " Sūtras " is most consistent with theframework of the system. His commentary sets forth the accepted view ofat least 75 per cent. of Vedantists in India, and though the system ofRāmānuja may be more in accordance with the letter of the " Sutras, " it is moreto the purport ofthis history to accept the more advanced and typical rendering of Sankara. The four schools of Vedantic teaching are known as Advaita,Viśishthādvaita, Dvaita, and Śuddhādwaita, having as their representativesŠankara, Rāmānuja, Mādhava, and Vallabha.THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 197are to be carried in the memory; their full meaning mustbe expounded and explained by a competent teacher.Each word had to be commented on, and in course of timenew commentaries and explanations arose. The word"then" denotes that something is antecedent to all enquiryinto the "Vedānta. " The person who desires to obtain thefull benefit of the salvation promised by the system must,before he commences the enquiry, be in the frame of mindwhich the word " then " presupposes him to have acquired.This antecedent qualification draws the line closely roundthose select few who are competent to enter on the enquiry.It limits all enquiry, and resulting salvation, to those whoseminds have been chastened by long training, to thosewho can claim the same heritage of refined thought andreligious instincts that has fallen to the lot of the twiceborn Aryans of India. The essential requisites are thatthe enquirer should discriminate between eternal and noneternal; that he should be free from all desire for the rewardof his acts here or hereafter; that he should be tranquil andself-restrained; that he should renounce the performance ofall religious rites and ceremonies, and have patience insuffering, concentration of mind, and lastly, faith. Theseessentials are all the products of Eastern modes of life andthought; they strike at the basis on which are founded mostof the great religious systems of the world. This muchsprings from the first word " then " of the " Brahma Sūtras."The word following is " therefore," on which depend equallyimportant results. The whole of the teaching of the"Vedānta" is professedly founded on the sacred and revealedcharacter of the Vedic literature in which were recorded allthe past hopes and aspirations of the Aryan race, nowcalled upon to venture on a hope of a higher salvationthan that to be obtained from good deeds or burned offerings of the priesthood. The word " therefore " indicatesthat, as the revealed texts themselves declare, " as here198 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAon earth whatever has been acquired by action perishes, soperishes in the next world whatever is acquired by acts ofreligious duty. " There must be some higher aim for mankind. This highest aim is itself declared in one Upanishadto be the knowledge of Brahman, for " he who knows theBrahman attains the highest. "2 From this it " therefore "naturally follows that one has " a desire to know Brahman,"and the object of the whole system is to show that thenature of Brahman is revealed in the sacred literatureof India; and that he who knows the true nature ofBrahman obtains release from the weary transmigration ofSoul.From the use of the word " Brahman " in the " Sūtra,” itis intended that the derivation of the term from itsverbal root brih, which indicates its chief attributes of pervading and eternal purity, will be brought to mind. It isfurther stated that there is " a desire " for a knowledge ofBrahman. This implies that the desire will not befrustrated; that the nature of Brahman will be fully explained, and an exhaustive analysis made of all subjectsnecessary for its comprehension, so that ignorance may beremoved and the soul be prepared to reach freedom fromthe causes leading on to transmigration. The secondaphorism of the " Vedānta" is, shortly: " From which theorigin, etc. of this. " The expanded meaning is that Brahmanis that from which the origin, stay, and decay of this worldproceed. From out this aphorism springs the startingpoint of cleavage between the varied schools holdingdiverse opinions as to the true interpretation of theVedantic teaching. In the system of Śankara Āchārya—asystem of uncompromising monistic Advaita, or " nonduality "-Brahman is held to be sole entity, defined as 31 Thibaut, S.B.E. , vol. xxxiv. p. 12; also " Ch. Up. , " viii . 1 , 6.2Taitt. Up. , " ii. 1 .8 S. B.E., " Vedanta, " vol. xxxiv. p. 16.THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 199"that omniscient, omnipotent cause from which proceedsthe origin, subsistence, and dissolution of this worldwhich world is differentiated by names and forms, containsmany agents and enjoyers, is the abode of the fruits ofactions, these fruits having their definite places, times, andcauses, and the nature of whose arrangement cannot evenbe conceived by the mind-that cause we say is Brahman."Still the question remains unanswered as to what is thenature of Brahman before the production of the world takesplace, and what caused it to produce. According toSankara, the above definition of Brahman applies to aUniversal Being, of the nature of pure thought or intelligence as its sole constitution, beyond which nothingexists save an illusive principle called Māyā.¹ With thisMāyā, Brahman is associated, and through it sends forth animaged world, just as a magician produces illusive effects, ora man in sleep fashions forth appearances of animate andinanimate beings.2Brahman, the Supreme Soul, which alone existed indivisible, in the beginning, as pure thought without anyobject of thought, had no desire nor purpose to createuntil Māyā produced the illusive appearance of divisibility,through which individual souls (jivas) seem separatedfrom the Supreme Soul. In its ignorance Soul knows notit* true nature, which is veiled from its knowledge by Māyā,and the web of seeming reality which Māyā has woven. Notonly is the creation unreal and delusive, but, moreover, it is a1 Avidya, or " ignorance. " The subject has been ably handled in the " Doctrineof Maya: its Existence in the Vedāntic Sūtra, and Development in the LaterVedānta, " by Raghunath N. Apte ( Bombay, 1896). His conclusions are, thatthe doctrine of Māyā, although it had its germ in the " Upanishads, " does notexist in the " Sutras, " and that it arose from the fourth century A.D. on arevival of Brahmanism and vigorous speculation of Gaudapada and Śankara.“Gaudapada explained and formulated the doctrine, and Āchārya worked out its details. "2 Thibaut, S. B.E., xxxiv. p. xxv.200 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAprofound error consequent on the action of Māyā. Oncethe individual soul holds for true its surrounding environment of mind, body, and organs of sense, it becomes apartaker in their merits and demerits, unable to shake itselfclear from the necessity of birth and re-birth as the resultof its acts. At the end of each period, or " kalpa,” ofcreation, the Supreme Soul rests free from the power ofMāyā, and all individual souls merge back into the pureBrahman. The great object of the " Vedanta" therefore is toteach the individual souls the true knowledge of Brahmanand the delusive working of Māyā. From knowledge theindividual soul recognises itself truly as Brahman-a knowledge which nullifies the delusion of Māyā and obtains forthe soul immediate release and freedom, or union andidentity with Brahman. The great cry of Vedantic releasefrom transmigration is: " Tat twam asi " (" Thou art That ");or in Western phraseology, Thy soul is not merely Divineor God-like, it is Divine, it is God; and there is no real existence anywhere save God and Soul which are identical.The world is a dream, presenting passing visions of sinand sorrow amid which the soul moves in lonely separationuntil it finds its safe abiding- place in eternal union withBrahman. The " Vedānta " further, according to Sankara,teaches a twofold knowledge. It teaches that there is aLord, or " Isvara,"a lower Brahman, conditioned by attributesand related to the world so long as the delusive action ofMāyā subsists. By following the practices of meditationand devotion, as laid down in the Vedic texts, which declarethe nature of, and the conduct to be pursued in relationto, the lower Brahman, the individual gains his reward hereand hereafter, and rises to higher and higher spheres ofactivity and enjoyment. Yet these are but preparations forthe knowledge of the higher Brahman; pure consciousnesswithout any object to be conscious of; pure joy withoutanything to rejoice over; pure being without any second,THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 201which is taught also in Vedic texts, the expounding ofwhich is the purport ofthe " Vedānta. " 1Kant, followed by Schopenhauer, showed how thephenomenal world, as existing in space, and time, andmoved throughout 2 by causality, is but a representation ofthese three innate perceptive forms of our intellect. SoŚankara Āchārya held that the highest Brahman, beingdevoid of all these three innate perceptive forms of time,space, and cause, can only be defined by negation. Theone loved answer to all enquiries as to the qualities ofBrahman is, " No, no," for there is no power of mind thatcan fathom its true nature. Śankara simply held that thehuman intellect had not arrived at that stage of development in which it could postulate that its innate perceptiveform of time, space, and causality were applicable indealing with the nature of a Brahman and its manifestations, transcending, as these do, all finite limitations.³The world seen is but the shadowed-forth form of the subjective forms of intellect, and therefore but realised so faras the imperfectly- developed condition of the intellectpermits it to be conceived. The man who dreams, and anorganism imagined as moving in space of two dimensions,or even of one dimension, have as limited a knowledge ofthe true mysteries of life and existence as the man whomthe Vedantist holds to be bound by the spell of Māyā.The " Sutras "4 themselves declare that, in the pursuit ofknowledge, reasoning which disregards revelation is of novalue. Sankara, in his interpretation of the " Sutra,"declares that arguments, ingenious in themselves, are but¹ Sad-cid-ānanda, the triple constitution of Brahman, just as satwas, raja,tamas was the triple constitution ofthe Sankyan Prakriti.2 Deussen, " Metaphysics, " p. 331.³ S.B.E. , vol. xxxviii.; " Sūtras, " iii . 2, 3:-" But the dream- world is mereillusion-Māyā, on account of its nature not manifesting itself with the totality ofthe attributes of reality. "S.B. E. , vol. xxxiv. 2, 1 , 11.202 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAadvanced by clever men to be afterwards found fallaciousby others more clever. He holds that " the true nature ofthecause of the world, on which final emancipation depends,cannot, on account of its excessive abstruseness, even bethought of without the help of the holy texts." 1As sources of knowledge, the " Upanishads " 2 are held bySankara to be the chief works, and as confirmation for theirimport, the " Smriti." The lower Brahman, as limited byattributes, and as seen by ignorance, is but an object ofworship. " According as a man worships him that hebecomes. " The highest Brahman, as free and pure, can beonly an object of revealed knowledge. Yet remains thequestion as to why Brahman, through this association withMāyā, should be under any necessity to create the world,for it acts just as a " person when in a state of frenzyproceeds, owing to his mental aberration, to action withouta motive."4 The answer is that " Brahman's creativeactivity is mere sport, such as we see in ordinary life.” 5Even then comes in the question why the Creator hascruelly awarded merit and demerit indifferently. Easternpessimism holds that the gods are happy, men less happy,and animals eminently unhappy; yet the Scriptures declarethe Lord to be of essential goodness. The answer givenis similar to that given by Hamlet, unable to explain tohimself why he should be thrust into a world out of jointto set it right: " For if the sun bred maggots in a deaddog" is that to be argued as against the purity of thesun? Śankara answers: " The position of the Lord is tobe looked upon as analogous to that of Parjanya, ' The Giverof Rain.' For as Parjanya is the common cause of theproduction of rice, barley, and other plants, while the1 See S.B.E. , vol. xxxiv. p. 316.2 Not only the older " Upanishads, " but also the later, as well as the" Mahābhārata " and " Bhagavad Gita. "3 S. B.E., vol. xxxiv; " Sūtra, " i . 1 , 11 .4 Ibid., ii. 1, 32. 5 Ibid., ii. 1, 33. • Ibid. , p. 358.THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 203difference between the various species is due to the variouspotentialities lying hid in the respective seeds, so the Lordis the common cause of the creation of gods, man, etc. ,while the differences between these classes of beings are dueto the different merit belonging to the individual souls. "If the enquirer ask further how the Lord came to bebound in His creation by a regard for past merit anddemerit, the answer is, that it is known from the revelationofVedic texts, that " a man becomes good by good work, badby bad work." And the " Gita" declares in confirmation:" I serve men in the way in which they approved me." 2The answer is, in fact, that the emanation of the transmigratory world is without a beginning, and that merit anddemerit arise like seed and sprout, without which no onecould come into existence."4If the Brahman alone exists "without parts, withoutactions, tranquil, without fault, without taint," and hisnature is only to be described by silence, or by the everrepeated formula, " No, no, " it may be asked how it, Oneonly without a Second, can cause the creation of the world,which existed from before all time. The only answer is, thatit is by a " peculiar constitution of its causal substance, asin the case of milk " which turns into curds, or analogousto the manner in which the " female crane conceives without a male, and as the lotus wanders from one pool toanother without any means of conveyance." It is, in short,impossible, without the aid of Scripture, to conceive "thetrue nature of Brahman, with its powers unfathomable bythought. "If the objector answers that he cannot, from holy texts,"Brih. -Aran. Up. , " iii . 2 , 13; S. B. E. , vol. xv.2 "Bhagavad Gita, " S. B. E. , viii . iv. p. 59.3 S. B. E. , vol. xxxiv. p. 360. 4 "Svetās. Up. , " vi. 19.5 “ Brih. -Aran. Up. ," vi. 6, 15: —“ That Self is to be described by No, no! "6 Ibid. , ii. 1 , 24; "Vedānta Sūtras, " S. B. E. , vol. xxxiv. p. 346.7 "Brih. - Aran. Up. , " ii . 1 , 25; “ Vedānta Sūtras, " S. B. E. , vol. xxxiv. p. 347.204 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAunderstand what is apparently contradictory, the reply isthat the apparent inconsistency is due to the fact that allthese questions are mere matter of names and forms, forBrahman itself is raised above the world and the " elementof plurality which is the fiction of nescience."The individual soul remains, according to Sankara,ever eternal. Its essence is intelligence or knowledge. Itis identical with Brahman, from which it is separated at thetime of creation by its illusive connection with its adjuncts."It is not born; it dies not; it is immortal. It is, indeed,Brahman. " 1So long as the soul gains not freedom by knowledgeof its true nature, it passes 2 to reap its reward for gooddeeds to the moon, and then descends to earth again.By meditation on Brahman, and by Divine knowledge,the soul " shakes off all evil as a horse shakes his hair, andshaking off the body as the moon frees herself from themouth of Rahu, obtains, self-made and satisfied, theuncreated world of Brahman. " 4The wise man who sees through the unreality of painand sorrow, and recognises that this whole fabric of avision will vanish as a dream, will find that "the fetter ofthe heart is all broken, doubts are solved, extinguishedare all his works." 5 And yet again, " as water does notcling to a lotus leaf, so no evil deed clings to him whoknows this." The full sublimity of this freedom fromthe results of even past acts on the attainment of knowledge is shortly summed up as follows: " Brahman am I ,hence I neither was an agent nor an enjoyer at anyprevious time, nor am I such at the present time, nor1 "Vedanta Sūtras, " ii . iii. 17.

• Surrounded by subtle elements ( bhūta sukshma), the abode of the eleven

prānās (buddhindriyas, Karmedriyas, and the manas).3 " Brihad. Up. , " iii . 1 , 8-10.5.66"Mandukya. Up. , " ii . 28.4 “ Ch. Up. , ” viii. 13.6 " Ch. Up. , " iv. 143.THE FINAL RESTING- PLACE 205shall I be such at any future time. " More definitelyand tersely is summed up freedom from all results of goodor evil deeds in the verse: 2 " If one should recognisethe Soul saying, I am Brahman, desiring what, or for thelove of whom should he trouble himself." As enunciatedby Sankara, the crown and glory of his system is, that onceBrahman is comprehended all duties come to an end, allwork is over.It is not meant here that the Vedantic system is nonmoral in its essence; it simply means that when the soulbecomes free from the delusion of belief in a world as setforth by Māyā, it is one with Brahman. It rests in sovereignisolation, untouched by the sin or sorrow of the world,"watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, thewitness, the perceiver, the only one, free from allqualities. "The system of Sankara stands supreme as the loftiestheight to which Eastern intuitive thought has reached.It has more influence in India than all other phases ofthought. It is part of the life-blood of the nation. It isas natural to the land as the miasmic vapours which riseand permeate, with their heavy taint, the brain- matter of1 " Śankara Com. , " p. 355; S.B.E., vol. xxxiv.2 "Brihad. Up. , " iv. 4, 12.3 See Deussen, p. 433: —“ Die Erlösung durch keine Art von Werk, auchnicht durch moralische Besserung, sondern allein durch die Erkenntnissvollbracht wird. " An objection to the teaching is given by Prof. R. K.Bhandarkar in his " Visit to the Vienna Congress " (J.R.A.S. , Bonibay, vol.xvii. p. 76), where he narrates a conversation he had on the subject with Prof. Max Müller:-" As I am not an admirer of the doctrine in the form in whichit is taught by Sankara Āchārya, and which is now the prevalent form in India,I observed that though, according to his system, a man must rise to the knowledge, ' I am Brahma, ' previous to his entering on the state of deliverance or ofeternal bliss, still it is essential that the feeling of me or egoism should be destroyed as a necessary condition of entrance into that state. The me is the first fruit ofignorance, and it must be destroyed in the liberated condition. A soul has noindividual consciousness when he is delivered , and in that state he cannot havethe knowledge, I am Brahma. ' ”206 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe dwellers in the land where man has thought much thatat times astounds for its deep and clear insight, and muchthat astounds for its lack of freedom from the trammelsof a time-worn past. In the Vedantic philosophy therelies one assumption-that of Māyā-which pervades andvitiates the whole philosophic purport of the teaching.Once accepted as a working hypothesis it solves theproblem that Kant and Kapila had to take for granted-the objective reality of the perceptions of the senses.With this doctrine the school of Rāmānuja, who followsthe more exoteric teaching of qualified non- duality, willhave naught to do. Brahman, according to his rendering, istruly the deity Vishnu, or Nārāyana, who is endowed withall good qualities, intelligence being but its chief attribute.He is all-knowing, all-merciful, all- pervading, and allpowerful, matter and soul being the very essential elementsof his nature, though in but a germinal state till creationoccurs.¹ At the beginning of great " kalpas," or periods ofcreation, this Lord, by his own volition, acts on unevolvedmatter and non-manifest soul, so that the former becomesmanifest, and souls acquire material bodies correspondingto their good or bad deeds in previous existences. According to this doctrine of modified non-duality, Vishnu,Brahma, or the Lord, is, by nature, a personal deity, evolving the world and individual soul out from himself. Thesoul remains personally existent, and on its release frommigration, passes into an undisturbed bliss in Heaven.The systems of the " Sankhya," " Yoga," " Vedānta,” andthat of the " Bhagavad Gita," stand naturally together asseeking to free the soul from its ceaseless transmigration.Starting from the Sankhya assumption that matterPradhāna, or Prakriti-is roused to action by the nearproximity of Soul, just as a magnet, by its inherent nature,acts on the keeper brought close to it, the constant yearning1¹ Thibaut, S.B.E., vol. xxxiv. p. xxix.THE FINAL RESTING- PLACE 207of the Indian mind is to seek some means whereby the actofcreation may be nullified, and the soul once more set freefrom the force which condemned it to conscious existences,compelling it to proceed from birth to birth, through longperiods, or " kalpas," during which the initial force, set inaction at the commencement of creation, continues itspotentiality.All these systems, down to that of the "Bhagavad Gita,"which takes a more strictly theological than philosophicalview of the question, are allied as consecutive phases ofinvestigation by the same order of mind, tied down by itsenvironment, physical and climatic, to a mode of viewinglife and reasoning thereon in a manner essentially Eastern.Everywhere there is an exuberant play of fancy, asthough the soul was but dreaming dim visions of amirrored life, and the mind was not sternly laying down coldand logical facts concerning the injustice of God, and thedeeps of despair into which His act has hurled the pleadingsoul. The whole treatment of the subject is mystic,unemotional, except in so far as the theoriser is concerned.The mind has reached, by the deepest intuitive stretch ofthought that the history of the world's philosophy knows of,to an a priori solution of some of the profoundest problemsbefore science of to-day. Nevertheless, when the mindturns back to trace the course by which it arrived at theseconclusions, it is constrained to linger everywhere alongthe path, and lose itself in dreamy ponderings over someidea conjured up by the fancy or lose itself in play overits own marvellous guess- work.Even when the whole subject has been reduced to dryand formal aphorism, it is the ingenuity, and the craft, anddelicate manipulation and cunning whereby everything isso set, as in mosaic that no flaw is left to found thereon ahostile criticism, that remains as the chief charm, andconstrains the admiration rather than the dignity of the208 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsubject-matter or importance of the facts set forth.Though a deeper ring of earnestness runs through thecogitations of the Indian philosopher than through thecorresponding schools of Greek philosophy, yet this ispurely subjective and not objective. Never could it passbeyond the observer, and become actively interested in thepractical application of his methods. To the Vedantistall nature is GOD; nothing truly exists except God.Man is God if man but chooses to recognise himself assuch; yet all Sūdras, all women, all not twice- born, wereabsolutely shut out, after careful consideration, fromparticipation in the knowledge of the "Vedanta," and fromany hope of arriving at that knowledge.Two schools of philosophy-those known as the Nyāyaand Vaiseshika -stand apart from the more orthodox schoolsas individual in themselves, and are more allied to thepurely scientific order of thought that produced such worksas the "Grammatical Aphorisms of Panini," and those dealingwith the subjects of medicine, geometry, or astronomy.The " Nyaya of Gautama " deals not only with the generalsubjects of human knowledge, but also gives an analyticalexposition of the laws of thought and reasoning.The Vaiseshika system of Kanada¹ obtains its namefrom the doctrine that the world is supposed to be formedfrom the aggregation of atoms, each atom having aneternal essence, Visesha, of its own; the atoms, which areeternal and existing without a cause, uniting, form the¹ Jacobi in tracing ( S. B. E. , vol. xlv. p. xxxiv. ) the relative position of Jainismwith reference to other systems, points out the unscientific phraseology ofthe" Vedānta ”and “Šankhya," arising from the confusion of the category of substancewith that of the category of quality: " Things which we recognise as qualitiesare constantly mistaken for and mixed up with substance. " Alluding to themore scientific and philosophic arrangement of the Nyaya- Vaiśeshika, " hefurther remarks that " the categories of substance and qualities had beenalready clearly distinguished for one another, and had been recognised ascorrelative terms . . . in the Vaiśeshika philosophy which defines substance asthe substratum of quality, and quality as that which is inherent in substance. "THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE 209world. Colebrooke describes the process of creation asfollows: " Two earthly atoms concurring by an unseenpeculiar virtue (adrishta) or by the will of God, or bytime, or by other competent cause, constitute a doubleatom of earth; and by concourse of these binary atoms atertiary atom is produced, and by concourse of four tripleatoms a quaternary atom, and so on to a gross, grosser, orgrossest man of earth, the great earth is produced ."By the side of this atomic theory is the theory ofexistence of eternal souls, and a Supreme Soul of theUniverse. " The seat of knowledge is the Soul. It is twofold-the living and the Supreme Soul. The SupremeSoul is Lord, omniscient, one only, subject to neitherpleasure nor pain, infinite and eternal."1 Monier-Williams, " Indian Wisdom, " p. 83.

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CHAPTER X.THE EPICS.ONE great task remained in India for Brāhmanism to setit* hand to. If in that task Brahmanism may be said tohave failed, the failure cannot be ascribed to lack of genius.In all spheres of higher art, genius is ever confined to working on the lines along which it is impelled by its owninstincts. Outside these limits it may venture and attainto results that astound and compel admiration, but in thoseresults there will be ever found wanting the true touch ofthat inspiration which demands the universal and abidingrecognition of humanity that something has been produced that the world would not willingly let die.India has sent forth work stamped with all the peculiarimpress of its own genius-works such as the lyric outburstsofthe " Vedas," the mystic ponderings of the " Upanishads "and " Vedānta," as well as the highly dramatic productionsof Sur Dās and Tulsi Dās in the later days of Akbarwhich will ever demand a place in the very first ranks oftheworld's literature, but this place could never be claimed forthe two great Herculean labours of Brahmanism—the construction of the two Indian so- called epics, the “ Mahābharata," and " Rāmāyana." These two vast poems were 210THE EPICS 211compiled by Brahmans for the purpose of giving sacerdotalrecognition to the floating folk- lore and epic traditions ofthe people, which have thus been preserved in the onlyform that Aryan genius could have preserved them , andthat is a form curtailed of nearly all that was realisticallyand dramatically essential to the true epic.Side by side with the Vedic literature¹ there existed inIndia, from times that may stretch back to the mists ofIndo- Germanic antiquity, the legends of tribal warriorsand their heroic deeds. These were held among the peopleas their national folk-songs, and were sung from court tocourt, from homestead to homestead, by travelling bards.Even to-day the professional bard, with his store of songs,is known everywhere in India, from north to south, fromeast to west. Not only are the tales of Rajput chivalryand Maratha daring recited in the homes where those ofRajput or Maratha descent dwell, but even the wars,victories, and defeats of the French and English, in theirconquests over the petty chieftains and great feudatories,are sung from village to village. All of these ruggedlyversed stories are instinct with dramatic power. Withtrue epic genius they are more concerned in the charactersthan in the historic setting. It is impossible to generalisefor a vast continent such as India, especially when thereare no written records dealing with the subject, so it canonly here be asserted that, so far as South India is concerned, where the author has listened to, and copied thesongs, of many travelling bards, these narratives are ofabsorbing dramatic reality. So deeply do the bards enterinto the moving scenes they so vividly picture forth, and,strange to say, their imagination seems to dwell more, sofar as the West is concerned, on the exploits of Frenchgenerals, such as Dupleix, Bussy, and Labourdonnais, thanon the deeds of the English, that the emotions of the1 Holtzmann, " Mahābhārata:-,, Epos und Veda sind gleich alt. "212 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAreciters follow in quick, changing moods each scene andincident. So intensely are the feelings of these impulsiveEastern bards aroused, that as their tears fall, and theirfeelings rise at the most pathetic lines -such as thosedescribing how the women of Bobbili sought death in theflames to escape from the French conquest, and their fighting men rushed forth to die, arms in hand-they, to concealthe deep hold the narrative has taken over them, oftenburst forth for a moment into a jingling verse of meaningless import, or even of ribald nonsense.Throughout the two great compositions known as the"Mahabharata " and " Rāmāyana," there lies a substratumof this old, true, epic narrative.In the West, in the lands of the Kuru Panchālas, and inthe East, in the land of the Kośālas, the local bards, fromtime unknown, had sung the heroic deeds of the tribalheroes and deities, mingling fact and fiction, natural andsupernatural, into short and disconnected dramatic pictures,wherein the characters move free and life-like.¹ All thesefolk-songs and supernatural legends of local aboriginaldeities were outside the stately purposes for which earlyBrahmanism had set itself, in sovereign isolation, apartfrom the mass of the people. The time, however, camewhen it had to recognise the existence of traditions,thoughts, and aspirations, other than its own. Somecompromise had to be made; a bond of friendship andalliance had to be entered into with the mass of localhistory, superstition, and religion, so that they might beassimilated into Brahmanic literature, and pass as part ofthe armoury of priestcraft. The compromise was one of¹ Professor Ker, in his " Epic and Romance, " says that " to require of thepoetry of an heroic age that it shall recognise the historical incoming andimportance of the events in which it originates, and the persons whose namesit uses, is entirely to mistake the nature of it. Its nature is to find or makesome drama played by kings and heroes, and to let the historical framework take care of itself. "THE EPICS 213bondage ill-suited to the Aryan genius, and as a consequence, the traces of it are patent everywhere. ¹The cultured and learned Brahmans-the " Mahābhārata "is ascribed to one Vyasa-accordingly wove into twocolossal verse poems, one for the West of India, one forthe East, all the floating mass of epic tradition, demonology,and local hero-worship, essaying, in the effort, to unite thewhole into connected stories. So far as the epic portionwas concerned, its movements were foreign to Brahmanicinstincts and genius. The Brahmans were subtle dreamersand thinkers. They had drawn themselves apart from thewarrior class and warrior ways, yet they now found themselves called upon to glorify and dramatise the acts ofheroes, and to depict the stirring scenes of strife andbloodshed. So far as demonology and hero-worship wereconcerned, the Brahmans had long since ceased to buildup for themselves even the indistinct outlines of the Vedicgods, and yet they essayed to clothe the local heroes,demons, goblins, and fierce deities, with the cast- offarmoury and attributes of their Indra, Surya, Rudra, andfollowing train of Devas. The task 2 has been accomplished; the " Mahābhārata " runs to 20,000 lines in eighteensections, and the " Rāmāyana ” to no less than 48,000 lines.In the " Rāmāyana " the legends of the hero Rāma, assung by the Eastern bards in their vernaculars, were strungtogether in the classical Sanskrit verse by the Brahmanpoet, Valmiki. Rāma, a local conquering warrior and deified1 Here I part altogether from Mr Dahlmann's theory that the union of epicand law is a chemical union and not a mechanical union. J. Dahlmann, " DasMahābhärata als Epos und Rechtsbuch " (Berlin , 1895-98); see Bühler and Kirste, " Ind. Stud. " ( 1892).2 "Not re- edited or re- published in the polished Sanskrit language till theadaptation of Sanskrit to profane literature somewhere about thirteenth centuryof our era. "-Grierson, " Ind. Ant. " (December 1894), p. 55. " It has beenconclusively shown " (Bühler and Kirste, " Contribution to Study of Mahabharata ") " that the poem was recognised in 300 A.D. , and by 500 A.D. wasessentially the same as it now exists. "214 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhero, rises in the " Rāmāyana " to be exemplar of all moralityand duty, a descent on earth or incarnation of the godVishnu for the repression of wrong and the inculcation ofvirtue. This didactic element is the Brahmanic infusionwhich in the " Rāmāyana," as well as in the " Mahābhārata,”strings the detached epic elements and disconnectedepisodes together, to the unavoidable weakening of thedramatic force and epic character of the narrative.In the " Rāmāyana " the deeds of Rama, the descendantof the Solar race of Ikshvaku, form the epic background.Rāma, the eldest son of Dasaratha, the fabled king ofAyodhya, or Oudh, was banished from his father's kingdomin consequence of Dasaratha's submission to Kaikeyi, thewicked mother of Rama's younger brother Bharata, forwhom she longed to procure the crown. Rāma and hisgentle wife, Sītā, departed from Ayodhya to spend theirterm of fourteen years' banishment in the southernforests. The unity of the narrative centres round theadventures in the forest and heroic deeds of Rāma toregain his wife, Sītā, who was forcibly borne away by afierce ten-headed monster, Rāvana, King of Lanka, anisland which some, forgetting the unhistorical motive of theearly preservers of epic tradition, have identified withCeylon. In the hands of Tulsi Dās, the Shakespeare ofAkbar's time, the characters rise from out their didacticsurroundings and live not in their lost original epicreality, but with a dramatic vividness that has raised theminto romantic ideals. Whatever of interest for a study ofthe history of the Indian people is preserved in the ancientSanskrit so-called epic, " Rāmāyana, " will therefore be foundin the much more popular vernacular rendering of TulsiDas, where it can be best considered.¹The"Mahābhārata" remains unaltered from its chaotic andearly Sanskrit redaction. Whatever historic value it may1 See p. 367 (post) .THE EPICS 215have lies not in its scattered and subdued epic fragments, ¹loosely strung together by didactic teachings, irrelevantepisodes, artificial battle scenes, and classic descriptions ofscenery, but in the evidences it affords of the existence ofbeliefs and creeds that were aspiring to the patronage ofBrāhmanism, with which they were to unite to form thepopular religion, known as Hinduism, of the mass of Aryanand non-Aryan people classed as Hindus.The central story of the epic revolves round the rivalriesbetween the Kurus, the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra,descendant of Bharata of the Lunar dynasty, the fabledconqueror of all India north of Delhi, and the five Pandavaprinces, said to be sons of Dhritarashtra's elder brother,the pale skinned Pandu. The "Mahābhārata " is thusmade to represent a great contest between the descendantsof Bharata for the possession of North India, ever knownas the land of Bhārata, or Bhārata Varsha.-The rivalries of the warrior heroes end in eighteen battlesfought on the plain of Kurukshetra, in which the Kurus areexterminated and the Pandavas gain the kingdom, performthe great horse sacrifice, denoting their universal sway, andfinally, after a glorious reign, take their long and lonelyjourney towards Mount Meru, there to enter the Heaven ofIndra. Asin the" Rāmāyana" and " Iliad," the wrongs sufferedby a woman supply the motive force to rouse the heroismofthe warriors, for the true epic ever rises free above all the"I believe that the Hindu epic is ancient, as ancient in its origin as theearliest traditions of the nation. "-Barth, " Ind. Ant. " ( 1895 ) , p. 71 .2 Holtzmann ( " Das Mahābhārata, ” i . 156; ii. 174) has advanced weightyreasons for concluding that Bhishma, the uncle of the Pandavas, was the realfather of the five princes, having been appointed to marry his brother's wife.The Niyoga, similar to the Levirate, allowed the sonless widow to bear a childto her brother-in- law on her husband's death, so as to continue the family. Inthe early law books the custom was restricted by very definite directions. Itwas not until the time of the revised epic that the Brahmans made efforts tobecome the chosen partners of sonless wives or widows. The meaning is quiteobvious, and totally opposed to Mr Dahlmann's theory of the epic as a law hook.216 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIArestraining facts of prosaic history. Draupadi, the commonwife ofthe five Pandava brothers is, in the "Mahābhārata,"the cause of the great slaughter on the plain of Kurukshetra, where, as the narrator of the poem tells, " in thatgreat battle of the Kurus came hundreds and thousandsof monarchs for fighting against each other. The namesof that innumerable host I am unable to recount even inten thousand years." Kurukshetra, the scene of slaughter,where the ancient race of Kurus was defeated by aconfederacy of hostile tribes, headed by a band of nonAryan warriors, to whom Brahmanic power was obligedto submit and assign a fictitious relationship with Aryanfolk, became one of the holiest places of pilgrimagefor all Hindus. This holy place of sacrifice, the plainon which Aryanism and Brahmanism¹ suffered their firstcrushing defeat at the hands of the despised non- Aryan,probably Dravidian, races, was the very spot over whichBrahmanism sang its loudest songs of triumph, so thatall record of the defeat might be passed over in thepages of history. The battle- field was lauded as so sacredthat "he is freed from all sins who constantly sayeth, ' Iwill live in Kurukshetra.' The very dust of Kurukshetra,conveyed by the wind, leadeth a sinful man to a blessedcourse in after life. They that dwell in Kurukshetra,which lieth to the south of the Sarasvati and the north ofthe Drishadvatī, are said to dwell in Heaven. O hero, oneshould reside there, O thou foremost of warriors, for a¹ Even if this defeat be held not to be conclusively shown to have happenedat the hands of an un- Aryan foe (see Jolly, " Recht und Sitte, " p. 48) , and evenif it be contested that there is not sufficient evidence, though I do not see thatthe weight ofthe evidence does not establish it, that a custom such as polyandrymay be no more than a family custom, still this does not affect the main pointwhich it is here the object to lead up to, the intrusion of Krishna and Śivaworship into Brahmanic circles. The whole history is doubtful and obscure.The view that presents itself as most plausible and readily understood is hereaccepted, though I am perfectly aware of the insecurity of the position . In the" Lalita Vistara " the Pandavas are a rude tribe. See Weber, " Indian Literature," pp. 126-35.THE EPICS 217month. Thou, O Lord of the earth, the gods with Brahmāat their head, the Rishis, the Siddhas, the Charanas, theGandharvas, the Apsaras, the Yakshas, the Nāgas, oftenrepair, O Bhārata, to the highly sacred Kurukshetra. Oforemost of warriors, the sins of one that desireth torepair to Kurukshetra, even mentally, are all destroyed,and he finally goeth into the region of Brahmā.” TheMahābhārata " is steeped in exordiums such as this, inculcating sacred duties and expounding moral principles,all necessary for a Brahmanic purpose ever desirous ofextending its influence over established systems andsupporting de facto principalities.The Pandavas are stated in the poem to have been instructed, at Hastinapur, in the use of arms and in warriorfeats, along with their fictitious cousins, the Kuru princes,by Drona, a Brahman preceptor. When the time came forYuddhisthira, the leader ever firm in war, the eldest of thePandava brothers, to be crowned King of Hastinapur, heand his brothers were persuaded by the intrigues of theone hundred Kuru princes, to depart from the city on avisit to a town eight days' distance. The Pandavas werethus removed from Hastinapur, where it was necessary, forthe purpose ofthe poem-to give them a relationship withthe Kurus-that they should spend their childhood. Itwas further necessary to account for the mode wherebythey afterwards appeared as leaders of a great nationalmovement against the exclusive system built up byAryanism. The Pandavas, as ultimately the winning side,are glorified as models of all virtue, law and justice. It haseven been held that the whole poem is an allegory symbolising the ever-recurring strife between the might ofrighteousness and the evil of passion, between justice andinjustice, between right and wrong,¹ justice being personi-¹ Dahlmann, " Das Mahābhārata als Epos und Rechtsbuch " ( Berlin, 1895-98).Although the theory of Dahlmann is ingeniously worked out, I am unable toaccept it as in any sense setting forth the purport of the poem.218 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfied in Yuddhisthira, the leader of the Pandavas, injusticebeing personified in Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kurus.It could not, however, have been until long after these events-untilthe Pandavas, in fact, had won their cause, and establishedtheir position -thattheywereglorified bytheBrahmansas incarnations of divinity, and all evidence of their rudehabits and alien descent obliterated as far as possible. ThePandavas, with their mother, are represented as leavingHastinapur for their pleasure-trip to the eight-days'- awaytown, amid the weeping and wailing of all the inhabitants.The Kurus, in the meantime, prepared for their receptiona house, into the walls of which had been skilfully built"hemp, resin, heath, straw, and bamboo, all soaked inclarified butter." The Pandavas found out the details ofthe plot laid against their lives and at once prepared toescape. They dug an underground passage from the houseto the outside forest, and then enacted a part more fittingto rude savages than to incarnations of justice. They prepared a feast, " and desirous of obtaining food, therecame, as if impelled by the. fates, to that feast, in courseof her wandering, a Nishāda woman, the mother of fivechildren, accompanied by all her sons. And, O king, sheand her children, intoxicated with the wine they drank,became incapable. " The cunning of the Pandavas hadsucceeded. They set the house on fire, and disappearedthrough the underground passage. The low-caste womanand her five children, whom Brahmanic justice sees nomoral wrong in slaying, were burned to death, and whentheir charred bodies were recovered, the rumour was spreadabroad that the Pandavas had vanished off the scene.The trick is one of stage melodrama. The Pandavas werecut adrift from Hastinapur, and free to commence theirtrue career. The entrance of the brethren on the new scenehas a true epic touch, although it be in the uncertainrealms of the supernatural. The figure of Bhima, the fierceTHE EPICS 219and savage warrior, the smasher, in the last great fight, ofthe thigh of Duryodhana, emerges from the undergroundpassage, with all the avenging might of a demon foe let loose.to pursue his relentless course. He was the fierce Vrikodara,the "Wolf Stomached," who hovered near his brethrenendowed with more than human powers, and armed withmagic missiles. The supernatural shrouds him round, butfrom it he rises clear and distinct, the life- like creation oftrue epic genius. The wooden hut is burning fiercely; thefirst links uniting Aryanism with its new fetters are beingforged; while from out the darkness of the cavern arisesBhima, " taking his mother on his shoulders, the twinbrothers, Nakula and Sahadeva, on both his arms, Vrikodara, of great energy and strength, and endowed with thevelocity of the wind, commenced his march, breaking thetrees with his breast, and pressing deep the earth with hissteps."The scene grows darker and gloomier. Brahmanismhas to watch the coming struggle, note its course, and sidewith the winning force. New ways and customs have tobe temporised with, new gods accepted, and new superstitions made room for. The storm the Pandavas andtheir allies were to raise was coming fast. The epic fadesaway as the Brahmans set the story to a purpose. Bhimahastens on, bearing his mother and his brothers, to seekthe deep recesses ofthe forest, whence he and the Pandavasemerge on their true career. " The twilight deepened, thecries of birds and beasts became fiercer; darkness surrounded everything from view, and an untimely windbegan to blow that broke and laid low many a tree, largeand small, and many a creeper with dry leaves and fruit. " ¹Brahmanism had for long remained in sovereign isolation.As Bhima cried out in his wrath against the Kurus: " Hewho hath no jealous and evil-minded relatives, liveth in1 "Adi Parva, " § 153.220 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhappiness in this world, like a single tree in a village. Thetree that standeth single in a village with its leaves andfruits, from absence of others of the same species, becomethsacred and is worshipped and venerated by all." ¹The first great friendship made in the forest by thePandavas, was with the sister of a demon Rakshasa. ThisRakshasa was a cannibal, an eater of raw flesh, such as theearly Aryans described their Dasyu foes to have been.This fierce dweller in the forest recesses, where dwelt therude aboriginal races, " was now hungry and longing forhuman food."2A long fight ensued between Bhima and the fierceRākshasa, until at length "the Rakshasa sent forth aterrible yell that filled the whole forest, and deep as thesound of a wet drum. Then the mighty Bhima, holdingthe body with his hands, bent it double, and breaking itin the middle, greatly gratified his brothers." 3The sister of the demon stood by watching the fight,for, at the bidding of her brother, she had assumed the formof a fair woman to entice the Pandavas into her brother'spower, but had relented of her purpose on beholding thebeauty of the fierce Bhima. For one year she remainedwith Bhima, and then her son was born, and namedGhatotkacha, or " pot-headed," for his head was bald.Ghatotkacha became the famed warrior, an incarnationof Indra, who fought in the foremost rank against theKurus, only to be slain by Karna.¹The further allies of the Pandavas had now to beaccounted for. News came to them that Draupadi, thedaughter of the King of the Panchālas, was about to holdher Svayamvāra. Draupadi is described as having " eyeslike lotus leaves, and features that are faultless; enduedwith youth and intelligence, she is extremely beautiful."1 "Adi Parva, " § 153. 2 Ibid. , p. 446. 3 Ibid., p. 454.4 Son of Kunti-the son miraculously conceived before her marriage with Påndu.THE EPICS 221She is "the slender-waisted Draupadi, of every feature perfectly faultless, and whose body emitteth a fragrance likeunto that of a blue lotus full two miles round."1To her Svayamvāra came monarchs and princes fromvarious lands, and " from various countries, actors, andbards, singing the panegyrics of kings and dancers, andreciters of ' Purānas, ' and heralds, and powerful athletes." 2All failed to bend a wondrous bow, the test of the skill andstrength ofthe competing suitors. The five Pandu princesadvanced, disguised as Brāhmans, and Arjuna, the idealtype of manly heroism and knightly courtesy, drew thebow and pierced the mark, so that Draupadi became hisprize, and the Pandus won the alliance of the Panchālas.So far the poem is free from taint, but, unfortunately forBrahmanic purposes, the early epic preserved the unfetteredtruth that the Pandavas were of a polyandrous race, likemany of the present aboriginal races of India. Draupadi,in the original epic, was the common wife of the five Pandava brethren. This was a custom opposed to all Aryanhabits, for, as the present poem itself contends, " it hathever been directed that one man may have many wives,but it never hath been heard that one woman may havemany husbands. O son of Kunti, pure as thou art, andacquainted with the rules of morality, it behoveth theenot to commit an act that is sinful, and opposed to usageand the Vedas.' This is the Brāhmanic objection urgedby the father of Draupadi to Yuddhisthira, the eldest of thePandu brothers. The Pandus and their polyandry, andall the aboriginal customs, superstitions, and tribal deities,had, nevertheless, to be brought within the fold of Brāhmanism. The marriage of Draupadi to the five brothersis explained away by the Brahmanic apology that it aroseout of a mistake. The Pandus, when they brought Draupadihome to their mother, who resided in a potter's house, a1 "Adi Parva, " p. 525.2 Ibid., p. 528.222 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhouse in which a Brahman may still take up his residence,are represented in the poem to have cried out that they hadobtained alms that day. The mother, not understandingthat her five sons referred to Draupadi, directed them toshare together,¹ and as the command of a mother could notbe recalled or broken, Draupadi had to consent to wed thefive Pandus. With their new-won allies the Pandavasappeared again in Hastinapur and demanded their sharein the kingdom. Their claim was compromised, and theyreceived the land lying along the Jumna, where they laidthe foundations of the ancient Delhi, known from of oldas Indra- prastha.At Indra-prastha the five princes measured out thelimits of their new abode. There they cleared the forest,reclaimed the land, and raised the walls of India's greatcapital, " and surrounded it by a trench wide as the sea,and by walls reaching high into Heaven, and awhile, as thefleecy clouds or the rays of the moon, that foremost ofcities rose adorned like the capital of the nether kingdom ,encircled by the Nāgas. And it stood adorned withpalatial mansions and numerous gates, each furnished witha couple of panels resembling the outstretched wings ofGaruda. And the gateways that protected the town werehigh as the Mandara mountain, and massy as the clouds.And furnished with numerous weapons of attack, the1 "Adi Parva," ¶ 193. The whole accounts in the poem are disjointed anddisconnected. Three solutions are set forth to explain the action of the fivebrothers, all equally evasive of the main issue. I fail to follow the fantastictheory of Dahlmann, that the united marriage of the five brothers symbolisedthe undivided unity of a joint family. The subject of the joint family, as wellas of the Niyoga, have been so far carefully avoided. The whole evidence onthe subject is fully in the hands of scholars, and as yet no historical treatise onthe subject is forthcoming. The law books ( “ Gautama, ” xxvii. 4 ) show thatdivision was favoured by the Brahmans, as encouraging an increase of responsibility and rites. The undivided family exists in India down to the present day(see Jolly, " Tagore Law Lectures ” ( 1883), p . 90) . It is the one dividing linebetween Aryans and non- Aryans in India (see Baden- Powell, "Ind. Vill.Com. " ( 1896).THE EPICS 223missiles of the foe could not make the slightest impressionon them. And the turrets along the walls were filledwith armed men in course of training. And the wallswere lined with numerous warriors along their whole length.And there were thousands of sharp hooks and machinesslaying a century of warriors, and numerous other machineson the battlements. And there were also large iron wheelsplanted on them. And with all these was that foremostof cities adorned. And the streets were all wide, andlaid out excellently. And there was no fear in them ofaccidents. And, decked with innumerable white mansions,the city became like unto Amaravati, and came to becalled Indra-prastha ( like unto Indra's city '). And in adelightful and auspicious part of the city rose the palaceof the Pandavas filled with every kind of wealth. Andwhen the city was built, there came, O King, numerousBrahmans well acquainted with all the ' Vedas ' and conversant with every language, wishing to dwell there. " 1As the Pandavas reared their city, the gods whose aidthey sought were not the Aryan gods of old, though theywere to become the gods of the people, and the gods beforewhom Brahmanism had to bow down. To fuse these newdeified heroes and fierce deities into Brahmanism, Arjunais represented as going forth from Indra- prastha to seektheir aid for the Pandava brethren. The Brahmanic poemtells its own tale."Then Arjuna, of immeasurable prowess, saw, one afteranother, all the regions of sacred waters and other holyplaces that were on the shores of the Western ocean, andthen reached the sacred spot called Prabhasa. " HereArjuna meets Krishna, the deified hero destined to becomethe loved deity whose name is heard in every village, atevery festival, at every place of pilgrimage, throughout allIndia. "And Krishna and Arjuna met together, and,1 "Adi Parva, " pp. 577-78. 2 Ibid. , p. 602.224 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAembracing each other, enquired after each other's welfare.And those dear friends, who were none else than the RishiNāra, and Nārāyana of old, sat down. " The meetingends with the establishment of a great fellowship betweenKrishna and Arjuna, the Pandu prince ultimately fallingin love with Krishna's sister. Arjuna told Krishna of hislove, and the Western chieftain, whose love-adventures arethe favourite themes of all Indian women, placed hisexperience at the disposal of his friend. " O thou bullamongst men, the Svayamvāra hath her ordained for themarriage of the Kshatriyas. But that is doubtful, as wedo not know this girl's temper and disposition. In the caseof Kshatriyas that are brave, a forcible abduction forpurposes of marriage is applauded, as the learned havesaid. Therefore, carry away this, my beautiful sister, byforce, for who knows what she may do in a Svayamvāra? " 2This translation of the poem, by the pious and charitableProtap Chandra Roy, clearly shows how impossible itwould be for a Western to attempt to understand the truespirit of the Brahmanic redaction . It requires a simplicity, adirectness, a firm faith in the perfect unison of the whole,to avoid the fatal error of so many Western adaptationsin endeavouring to improve on the tone of the original.There is no attempt here to trifle with the loved personalityof Krishna, the deity glorified as a very incarnation ofthe Vedic Vishnu, who strode through the three spaces,placing his last footstep over the heavens. In the poemitself Krishna takes his place as highest among the gods.When Yuddhisthira was finally established as sovereignover all known India, and had performed the great horsesacrifice, symbolic of his universal sway, he bowed downbefore Krishna as chief of all the gods. Krishna was thendeclared to be the first of all warriors, the regent of theuniverse, therefore " do we worship Krishna amongst the2 Ibid. , p. 605.-"Adi Parva," § 220.THE EPICS 225best and the oldest and not others." 1 Krishna is he who"is the origin of the universe, and that in which theuniverse is to dissolve. Indeed, this universe of mobile andimmobile creatures hath sprung into existence from Krishnaalone. He is the unmanifest primal matter (avyaktaprakriti), the Creator, the eternal, and beyond the ken ofall creatures. Therefore doth he of unfailing glory deservethe highest worship. " 2The legends and character of Krishna stand out clearin the underlying epic. He was the son of Devaki, andwas saved by his father, Vasu-deva, of the Lunar race, fromthe wrath of the King of Mathura, whose death had beenforetold would take place at the hands of a descendant ofVasu-deva. In his youth he was sent to be nursed byYasoda, the wife of a cowherd of the Yadava race, in whosehome he lived first at Gokula or Vraja, then at Vrindāvana, now the holy places of pilgrimage for all worshippersof Krishna. There he loved the "gopis," or milkmaids, destroyed a great serpent, and held upthe mountain Govardhanaon his finger to save the " gopis " from the anger of Indra.There he also lived happy with Rādhā," his favoured andoften forsaken loved one, and it was from there that he tookthe inhabitants of Mathura to his holy city of Dvārakā1 "Sabha Parva, " p. 108. 2 Ibid. , p. 109.3"The earlier legends represent Indra as created from a cow. . . .was probably the clan deity of some powerful confederacy of Rajput tribes.Cow-worship is thus closely connected with Indra and with Krishna in hisforms as the ' herdman god ' . . . and it is at least plausible to conjecturethat the worship of the cow may have been due to the absorption of the animalas a tribal totem of the two races. "-Crooke, " Religions and Folk- Lore ofN. India, " vol. ii . p. 229.4 Monier-Williams, " Ind. Wisdom, " p. 334.KrishnaSee Hewitt, 1st Series, p. 450: -" Rādhā means the maker (dhā) of Rā,the darkness or chaotic void from which the sun- god of light was born, and isthus another form of Rama, the darkness, the mother of Rā. "6"This story telling of the removal of the Yadavas to the sea- shore is themythical form assumed by national history, when it told how the inland race of the sons of the tortoise had settled on the sea- shore and become a race ofmariners. "-Hewitt, 1st Series, p. 469.P226 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAin Guzarāt. Krishna had to win his way slowly to Brāhmanic recognition and favour. Even in the "Mahābhārata, " Siśupāla, King of Chedi, reviled him, askinghowis it that they 1 " who are ripe in knowledge are eagerto eulogize the cowherd who ought to be vilified even bythe silliest of men. If in his childhood he slew Śakuni, orthe horse and the bull who had no skill in fighting, whatis the wonder? . . . If the mountain Govardhana, a mereanthill, was held up by him for seven days, I do notregard that as anything remarkable. . . . And it is nogreat miracle that he slew Kansa, King of Mathura, thepowerful king whose food he had eaten." For this speechthe King of Chedi had his head smitten off by Krishnawith a discus, so that he " fell like a mountain smittenby a thunderbolt. " To Krishna the place of honour atthe Rājasuya, or " coronation ceremony," performed byYuddhisthira, had been given, and before Krishna thePandava chief bowed down and claimed him as the onegreat deity of the people. " Owing to thy grace, O Gōvinda,have I accomplished the great sacrifice; and it is owing tothy grace that the whole Kshatriya world, having acceptedmy sway, have come hither with valuable tribute. O hero,without thee, my heart never feeleth any delight." Sothe black, deified, hero of a shepherd clan, fabled king ofDvārakā, and chief of the Yadavas, became the adoredincarnation of Vishnu, who came on earth to aid thePandavas and allied alien tribes in their struggle forsupremacy, and in their demand for recognition of theircults and customs at Brahmanic hands. The Pandavashad to pass through sore tribulation and trial before theygained their ends. Yuddhisthira, the eldest brother amongthe Pandavas, the righteous guide and apotheosis of allvirtue, fell before the guile of the Kurus. A challenge towar or gambling was a challenge no warrior could with1 Muir, " Sanskrit Texts, " vol. iv. p. 210. " Sabha Parva, " p. 126.THE EPICS 227honour refuse, so Duryodhana, chief of the Kurus,challenged Yuddhisthira, chief of the Pandavas, to showhis skill with dice. The Kurus, over whom Brahmanismhad to pour forth its condemnation in its praises ofthe Pandavas, are said to have played unfairly. At eachfall of the dice Yuddhisthira lost to Duryodhana hiswealth, his kingdom, his brothers one by one, and thenhimself. There remained but one more stake-the fairfigure, trailing hair, beauty and love of Draupadi. Thestroke was made, the dice rolled and fell , and Draupadibecame the prize of the exulting Duryodhana. Thescene, in its underlying pathos, is the finest picture ofthepoem. One can imagine the vivid reality of what musthave been the original epic as sung in the vernacular bythe rude and impulsive wandering bard. There the deeppathos of the reciter, as he told the shame and sorrow ofthe noblest type of womanhood that Indian literature knows,found its relief-in a manner seen constantly in Westerndrama-in rude and ribald jeers and gibes even againstDraupadi herself. In the Brahmanic poem, as we nowpossess it, pathos and obscenity all have been mingledtogether bythe Brahmanic redactor into the most repulsive,cold, and unrealistic description of suffering womanhood thatthe literature of any country has preserved. The scenehas been described in English adaptations over and overagain as typifying the Indian ideal of womanhood,and as showing from the manner in which her sufferingswere respected, the high place she had acquired. Thisideal probably did underlie the original epic story. The"Mahābhārata " version is untranslatable, unreadable, without feelings of horror. Draupadi has been degraded, according to all sane thought, by her Brahmanic redactors to depthsfrom which she never again can rise. She has become thecentre figure of a scene, once realised from the Sanskrit,that could only be willingly forgotten for ever. If she is to228 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAbe remembered it must be by striving to recreate her as shelived in the lost epic of the rough and ready minstrels, whofirst sung her moving story to crowds of simple folk. Thegod Krishna, in the preserved version, is drawn into thescene to clothe the outraged woman with numerouscelestial robes, as her single raiment was torn repeatedly offher suffering body in the gambling room before thehumbled Pandavas and one hundred rejoicing sons ofKuru. There is some excuse for the horrors which follow.The fierce and raging Bhīma swore to hew the head ofDuhśāsana-who dragged Draupadi, a woman who hadnever seen the sun, from her private apartments to theassembly-from off his body and drink his heart's blood, avow he fulfilled on the plains of Kurukshetra. He alsovowed that he would smash Duryodhana's thigh, and thishe did by a foul stroke in the final fight, and left the vileKuru to die amid his brethren on the avenging battlefield.The Pandavas had to wait long for their revenge. Inthe gambling hall, Dhritarashtra, the aged and blind fatherof the Kurus, stayed the rising wrath of the assembledheroes. The Pandavas were judged to have lost all, yetthey were not to be treated as slaves. Draupadi theyreceived back, but only on their promising that they wouldgo with her for twelve years into exile, and then remainconcealed for one year longer, when, if they were undiscovered, they should receive back their kingdom. The storyof the exile is the crowning glory of the " Mahābhārata.”Here, in the classic beauty of its language, in its depth ofthought, and in its incident, and to an Eastern in its description of scenery and didactic teaching, the poem is unrivalledin the history of India's literature. All the beauty of thepoem, however, pertains to the form of the literature itselfand not to epic narrative, dramatic reality, or even theprosaic history told by that literature. Outside its formTHE EPICS 229the"Mahābhārata " is only valuable¹ as showing the changefrom Vedic Brahmanism towards the tangled growth ofmodern Hinduism. The older Vedic deities-Agni, andSurya, Vayu, Varuna, and Indra-truly remain, but shornof their ancient power and brilliancy. Indra still has hisHeaven, the Valhalla of the warriors. Yama is no longerDeath, but grows more akin to Justice. The great Vedicsacrifices, and the occasional sacrifices, are performed, butby their side, equally sacred, are pilgrimages to holy places,sacred rivers and bathing in streams, the worship of snakesand trees, idolatry and bowing down before painted images.³The great deities of modern Hinduism rise distinct andclear as the sole personal objects of worship, in whom all thesubsidiary deities of India merge, and are held to have theirsource. The Supreme Spirit assumes the triple form ofthe personal Creator, Brahmā, the personal protector, Vishnuor Krishna, and the fierce Śiva, the potential destroyer.Śiva, to the Brahmanic mind, is the Rudra of the Vedas. "In the underlying epic of the " Mahābhārata," he was evengreater than Krishna; he was the wild, fierce deity of anaboriginal folk, and the chief aid of the Pandavas. Whenthe five brethren stayed with their restored wife, Draupadi,in the forest, Arjuna was directed by Indra to go to theHimalayas and seek the aid of the fierce deity, Śiva. Theabode of Śiva was in the Heaven, Kailāsa, where he waswaited on by the Yakshas, once gods among men, and hadas his consort, the goddess, Kāli, or, as she is otherwiseknown, Uma, the gracious, Devī, Durgā, Gaurī, Bhairavā,the various names, along with her many others, that still echo1 "Let the reader attach no value to the names which are mostly myths, orto the incidents which are mostly imaginary. "-Dutt, " Ancient India, ” vol. i.p. 189.2 Hopkins, " Religions of India, ” p. 380 ( note 2).3 lbid. , p. 374.See Holtzmann, Z.D.M.G. , xxxviii. p. 204; Hopkins, p. 412.5 Muir, "Sanskrit Texts, " iv. p. 283.230 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfrom the weary bands of pilgrims who travel to her manyshrines all over India. It was not until Arjuna saw andsubmitted to the might of Śiva that he obtained thedivine missiles which were to scatter the Kuru force. Thepromise held out by Indra to Arjuna declared the risingsway of Śiva. "When thou art able to behold the threeeyed, trident- bearing Śiva, the lord of all creatures, it isthen, O child, then I will give thee all the celestial weapons.Therefore, strive thou to obtain the sight of the highest ofthe gods, for it is only after thou hast seen him, O son ofKunti, that thou wilt attain all thy wishes."Arjuna set forth to seek the deity, and, being defeatedin a fierce fight, acknowledged the power of Śiva, felldown before him, and sang the Brahmanic song of recognition of the fierce god of his race. " I am unable todeclare the attributes of the wise Mahadeva, who is an allprevailing god, yet is nowhere seen, who is the creator andthe lord of Brahmā, Vishnu, and Indra, whom the gods fromBrahma to the demons worship, who transcends materialnatures as well as spirits, who is meditated upon by sagesversed in contemplation (yoga) and possessing an insightinto truth, who is the supreme, imperishable Brahman, thatwhich is both non-existent, and at once existent and nonexistent. He is the deity who has a girdle of serpents, anda sacrificial cord of serpents, in his hand he carries adiscus, a trident, a club, a sword, and axe-the god whomeven Krishna lauds as the supreme deity."Deep as the worship of Śiva is steeped in the underlyingepic, it fades away before the worship of Krishna, theincarnation of Vishnu, who led the Pandavas to victory,and whose adoration is inculcated more than that of Śivaby the Brahmanic framers of the “ Mahābhārata. ”The dark figure of Krishna hovers mysteriously in thebackground of early Indian history. Inthe " Mahābhārata ”1 Muir, " Sanskrit Texts, " vol. v. p. 187.THE EPICS 231Krishna rises to such prominence, that it has been held thatthe whole poem must have been written to extend his worship, and establish it for ever as the true faith for all India.The entire conception of a religion, founded on a faith inthe saving grace of Krishna, is declared by some¹ to bemerely the Hindu mode of inculcating the doctrines ofChristianity, which first reached India in the second andthird centuries of our era.It has been asserted that in the " Mahābhārata " itself, aclear reference is made to Christian doctrines and Christianworship in an account of a pilgrimage made to the WhiteCountry, or Svetadwipa. In the White Country thepilgrims are said to have " beheld glistening men, white,appearing like the moon, adorned with all auspiciousmarks, with their palms ever joined in supplication,praying with their faces turned to the East. The prayerwhich is offered up by these great-hearted men is calledthe 'mental prayer.'"The pilgrims further heard those who in the WhiteCountry offered oblations to the god, singing their song ofpraise. " Thou art victorious, O lotus- eyed one. Hail tothee, O Creator of the Universe! Hail to thee, thou firstborn Supreme Being! "3There is nothing to show that the worship of Krishnahad not arisen in India as the natural outcome of the lifeand thought of the period immediately preceding, or1 Lorinser ( 1869); Weber, " Krishna Gebürts Fest. , " p. 316; see Hopkins,"Religions of India, " p. 429. The whole subject is luminously treated in J. M.Robertson's " Christ and Krishna " (Freethought Publishing Company, 1890).2 "The ancient Bhāgavata, Satvata, or Pancharatra sect, devoted to theworship of Nārāyana and its deified teacher, Krishna Devakīputra, dates froma period long anterior to the rise of the Jains in the eighth century B.C. "-Barth, " Ind. Ant. , " p. 248 ( September 1894) . Krishna Devakiputra isreferred to in " Ch. Up. , " iii . 17, 6 , though no effort is made afterwards toconnect him with Krishna, the son of Vasu- deva. See "Sandilya Sūtras "(ed. Ballantyne, tr. Cowell) , p. 51; S.B.E. , vol. i. p. 52 (note).3 See Hopkins, " Religions of India, " p. 432.232 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsubsequent to, the Christian era. Throughout all earlythought in India there runs an individuality of its own,removing it far from all lines of thought with which it isso frequently compared. Fresh inspirations have, undoubtedly, for a time, acted in the past from outside, andinfluenced certain phases of Indian literature and art, butthe Indian mind soon sinks back to its own accustomedmode of thought and expression, so that, when the firstmotive force of the new influences fades and dies away,little is left in the essential form that the keenest eye ofthe scholar or artist can detect as not truly native in itsexecution, genesis, or tendency. Resemblances betweenphases of Indian philosophic thought and those of theWest, from the time of Xenophanes¹ down to that ofSchopenhauer and Von Hartmann, have been sought, andthough there are coincidences everywhere, none has beenshown not to have been evolved by independent, thoughsimilar, orders of thought. The whole case, on the sideof those who claim an Eastern source for certain Westernforms, has been recently examined in connection withcertain practices referred to in the Buddhist Canon, assettled in the Council at Pataliputra, or Patna, in 259B.C., by order of Asoka. Yet even here failure has tobe confessed: " If the celibacy of the clergy, if confessions, fasting, nay, even rosaries, were all enjoined in theHinayana Canon, ³ it followed, of course, that they couldnot have been borrowed from Christian missionaries. Onthe contrary, if they were borrowed at all, the conclusion.1 Garbe, " Śānkhya Philosophie "; Davies, " Hindu Philosophy, " p. 143.Huxley (" Romanes Lecture, " p. 19) comparing Buddha and Berkeley. Betterwould be a comparison with Hume.2 Max Müller, "CoincidencesP. 16.(Trans. R.S. L. ) , vol. xviii. part 2,3 "To avoid all controversy, we may be satisfied with the date of Vattagāmani,88 to 76 B.C. , during whose reign the Buddhist Canon was first reduced towriting. "-Max Müller, Ibid. , p. 14.THE EPICS 233would rather be that they were taken over by Christianityfrom Buddhism. I have always held that the possibilityof such borrowing cannot be denied, though, at the sametime, I have strongly insisted on the fact that the historicalreality of such borrowing has never been established."The form in which the worship of Krishna is set forthand inculcated in the " Mahābhārata " precludes any possibility of its historical connection with the West ever beingestablished, if, indeed, there are any grounds why it shouldbe suspected. The same doubts, the same efforts to seekfor the soul a secret hiding-place from the injustices of theworld, the same black pall of despairing pessimism thatcan only be rent by belief or faith in the teachings ofrevealed truths by a qualified preceptor, all are woven intothe very texture of the " Mahābhārata,” even more thanthey are throughout the fuller exposition of Indianthought as seen in the " Vedānta." In India of the past,humanity had to tread the path that leads through life todeath, and mark, as it marched, how the road was narrow,and the pitfalls many, how those who wandered fromthe track sank deep and were for ever lost to humanaid or help. The whole of the best of Indian thought wasone ceaseless effort to mark each snare and pitfall, to map.the line out clear and plain, so that the age might passfrom off the scene with something of hope and certainty.The beacon lights that were set ablaze to direct thequivering soul in its flight through time may appeardim and uncertain to us of to-day, who stand listeningwearily to the muffled sound that comes from thechambers of science, in vain expectation that it maybreak forth into a cry that the secret of the Universehas been disclosed and matter reigns supreme. Nevertheless, those beacon lights, that in India guided thosenow passed away, and still guide many, were all theoutcome of the deep and earnest brooding thought of234 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAgenerations of devout and holy men, who placed onrecord in their literature the efforts they had madeto direct all things for the best, although those effortsoften bear the taint, as all human efforts must, of selfishinterest.The underlying current of Indian thought, leadingnaturally, as it does, through faith in the teachings of the"Vedas," " Upanishads,” and “ Vedānta,” or in a spiritual preceptor, on to faith in the teachings of the divine Krishna,has its keynote fully set forth in the song of despairsung by Draupadi to Yuddhisthira when the Pandavabrethren lived in the forest, bereft of all hope or aid.Here Draupadi bewailed to her husband how he, the chiefof the Pandava brothers, the very incarnation of virtue,uprightness, and fair-dealing, was powerless against the willof the Creator, who had ordained all things, and in whosehands all are as playthings. All men, urged the despairingqueen, are subject to the will of God, and not to their owndesires. " The humble and forgiving person is disregarded,while those that are fierce, persecute others. It seemeththat man can never attain prosperity in this worldby virtue, gentleness, forgiveness, and straightforwardness.Like the shadow pursuing a man, thy heart, O tigeramong men, with singleness of purpose, ever seeketh virtue.Yet virtue protecteth thee not. The Supreme Lord andOrdainer of all, ordaineth everything in respect of the wealand woe of all creatures, even prior to their births. Ohero amongst men, as a wooden doll is made to move itslimbs by the wire- puller, so are creatures made to workby the Lord of all. Like a bird tied with a string everycreature is dependent on God. Like a pearl on its string,or a bull held fast by the cord passing through its nose, ora tree fallen from the bank into the middle of the stream ,every creature followeth the command of the Creator.1 "Vana Parva, " § 28, 30.THE EPICS 235They go to Heaven or hell urged by God Himself. Likelight straws dependent on strong winds, all creatures, OKing, are dependent on God. The Supreme Lord, according to His pleasure, sporteth with His creatures, creating anddestroying them like a child with his toy. Beholdingsuperior, and well-behaved, and modest persons persecutedwhile the sinful are happy, I am sorely troubled. If theact done pursueth the doer and no one else, then, certainly,it is God Himself who is stained with the sin of every act."The wail of condemnation of the Cosmos was here againraised. The Brahmanic mind was framing, in its ownmode, the expression of the people's thought. It remainedfor an answer to be given which all classes might recogniseas consonant with their own religious conceptions, andyet one that blended in with the prevailing philosophicnotions of the age. This answer is fully set forth in thedivine song, the " Bhagavad Gita," set, as a mosaic, in the"Bhishma Parva " ofthe "Mahābhārata." It is here declaredthat those who worship whatever god they choose, orperform whatever rites they will, are all sure to gainthe Heaven they long for. It is Krishna himself whomakes their faith firm. It is Krishna alone who grantsthe desires of all, though the foolish, in their ignorance,worship other deities, and fail to recognise him asthe Supreme Spirit, and understand not his saving help.¹Krishna is the sole Lord, Divine, without a belief in whomall sacrifices are in vain.2In the " Bhagavad Gita," this doctrine of belief or faithin Krishna is distinctly declared to contain the wholesum of man's duty on earth. When the Pandavas, withtheir allies from all quarters, crowded round the Kurus toclaim back their kingdom, they sought the active aid ofKrishna, as greater than all human aid, an aid soughtalso by Duryodhana, chief of the Kurus. To both Krishna1 Davies, " Bhagavad Gita, " vii . 20-5. 2 Ibid., vii. 28.236 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAgave the same answer. He would take no part in thecoming fight; they could choose between him, as passivespectator, and a hundred million warriors he threw intothe other scale. Arjuna chose Krishna, Duryodhana chosethe warriors. On the plains of Kurukshetra, the greatbattle- field of India, the old and new met for the firsttime.Krishna, though he would not fight, appeared as charioteerto Arjuna. When Arjuna saw the vast host of warriors.drawn up in hostile array his heart failed. The cry onceraised by Draupadi unnerved his arm. He prayed toKrishna to instruct him as to the meaning ofthe strangeconflict between his innate conceptions of justice and thedeeds of blood towards which fate had now drawn himnear. Between Arjuna and Krishna question and answerfollowed, as told in the " Bhagavad Gita."The object of the poem might be shortly summed up,according to Western notions, as inculcating that it is bestfor man to do the duty that lies nearest to his hand, andto leave the rest in God's keeping. There the poem mightbe left, were it not that the whole guidance of India's futurehas been assumed by the English nation, and that this isa task doomed to failure unless the leading principles areunderstood which still holds India tied to its own past.Above all, the wide- spread faith in Krishna, the mysticbroodings of the soul over a longed- for union with theSupreme Spirit, are factors that missionary enterprise inIndia must first probe down to their roots before it canbe said that the ground, which it is sought to clear andprepare for the sowing of new seed, has even been surveyed.Were the task an easy one it would have been long agoaccomplished. There is no more illusive phase of thoughtthan that of Eastern mysticism. To the Western mind itis evanescent, and only perceived in the peculiar stage inwhich it passes from the ideal to the real and becomesTHE EPICS 237impossible of recognition. In the " Bhagavad Gita," whereit finds its chief source, it is bound up with some of themost perplexing problems in the whole course of thehistory of Indian thought.¹To some it would appear that the " Bhagavad Gita " preceded any formal system of Śankhyan or Vedāntic philosophic thought,2 while to others, with what appears a surerview, it presents an unscientific exposition of existingphilosophies, simplified in order to make them readily intelligible to the mass ofthe people.All these critical points fade away into insignificancewhen the true purport, and subsequent influence, of theteachings which the poem promulgates are fully realised.It is sufficient for all practical purposes to direct theattention to the words of the poem itself, and the doctrinestherein laid down. The poem dates from some time beforethe Christian era, and holds its place in the imagination ofthe people down through the ages to the present day.Not by knowledge of the true nature of matter and soul,as in the Śānkhyan system, not by piercing through themisty film of delusion which separates the individual soul1 "This much is certain, that the student of the ' Bhagavad Gita ' must, forthe present, go without that reliable historical information touching the authorof the work, the time at which it was composed, and even the place it occupiesin literature, which one naturally desires when entering upon the study of anywork. "-Telang, S. B.E. , vol. viii . p. 1 .2 See Hopkins, " Religions of India, " p. 400. The question of the date of the " Bhagavad Gita, " and the opinions of Dr Thibaut, Dr Bhandarkar,and Telang, are learnedly discussed in a small pamphlet of Prof. T. R.Amalnerkar's ( Bombay Education Society's Press, 1895) . With his opinionthat the song is Post- Buddhistic, and after the time of the " Vedānta Sūtras, "I agree. " The decay of philosophy, to which the ' Gita ' bears testimony,may be roughly estimated as having taken place in the second century B.C. ,which brings us to the end of the Sutra period " (p. 7) . See Davies,Bhagavad Gita, " p. 194, fixing date " not earlier than third century B.C. "See Telang, S.B.E. , vol. viii. p. 34, for the opinion that "the latest date atwhich the ' Gita ' can have been composed must be earlier than the thirdcentury B.C." Weber and Lassen are of opinion that the song was not writtenbefore the third century B. C.66238 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfrom its own true essence, the Supreme Soul, as taught bythe Vedantists, nor yet by pious meditation, as in the "Yoga, 'is deliverance from the bonds of transmigration to be found.The way is declared by Krishna, the charioteer to thewarrior, Arjuna: ¹—"Hear now once more my deep words, most hidden in their meaning.Firmly you are desired of Me, therefore I will declare thatwhich is for your welfare."Fix your mind on Me, praise Me, sacrifice to Me, reverence Me."To Me only you shall come, truly to thee I promise, for dear youare to Me. All duties having forsaken, to Me only for pro- tection come."I will release you from all sins , do not sorrow."This doctrine of salvation, by devotion to, and faith in,Krishna, finds its conclusion in the instruction: 3-" This doctrine is not to be declared to him who practises not austererites, or who never worships, or who wishes not to hear, nor to one who reviles Me."He who shall teach this supreme mystery to those who worship Me,he, offering to Me this highest act of worship, shall doubtlesscome to Me."Nor is there any one among mankind who can do Me better servicethan he, nor shall any other on earth be more dear to Methan he."And by him who shall read this holy converse held by us, I maybe sought through this sacrifice of knowledge. This is mydecree. And the man who may hear it in faith, without reviling,shall attain, when freed from the body, to the happy regionof the just. "1 46 Bhagavad Gita, " xviii. 64-6.2 Telang, S. B. E. , vol. viii , p. 129 ( note 3): -"Of caste or order such asAgnihotra, and so forth. " Davies, p. 176: -" All religious duties. "3 The Eastern form of the poem is given in the translation by the lateKasinath Trimbak Telang in S.B. E. , vol. viii. p. 129, and shows howa very different impression is left in the mind as to the relationship ofthe song to the New Testament:-" This (the ' Gita ' ) you should neverdeclare to one who performs no penance, who is not a devotee, nor to onewho does not wait on (some preceptor), nor yet to one who calumniatesMe. He who, with the highest devotion to Me, will proclaim this supreme mystery among my devotees, will come to Me freed from all doubts. No oneTHE EPICS 239Krishna further declares that, surrounded as he is bythe delusion of his mystic power,¹ he is not manifest to all."This deluded world knows me not, unborn and inexhaustible. I know, O Arjuna! the things which have been,those which are, and those which are to be. But Me nobodyknows. All beings, O terror of your foes, are deluded atthe time of birth by the delusion. "2 Krishna is representedas the Supreme Spirit, as Brahman, the indestructiblespiritual essence, the origin and cause of men and gods.He is the indivisible energy pervading all life and thedivisible forms of men and things, so that " he who leavesthis body and departs from this world, remembering Mein his last moments, comes into my essence." ³The supreme object of mankind therefore should be devotion, and not action, just as meditation was the supremestate for the Yogin. The " Bhagavad Gita " accordinglyholds a strange casuistical doctrine respecting action.Krishna declares, " the truth regarding action is abstruse.The wise call him learned whose acts are all free fromdesires and fancies. " Arjuna, as a warrior, was directed by.Krishna to perform his duty as a soldier and fight, althoughby devotion alone was he to gain salvation. All acts musttherefore be done without attachment to them. " He who,casting off all attachment, performs actions dedicating themto Brahman, is not tainted by sin, as the lotus leaf is nottainted by water. " The man is saved, according to thewords of Krishna, " who sees Me in everything, and every4among men is superior to him in doing what is dear to Me. And there willnever be another on earth dearer to Me than he. And he who will study thisholy dialogue of ours will, such is my opinion, have offered to Me the sacrificeof knowledge. "166"Yoga māyā samāvritah, " vii. 28.2 S.B.E. , vol. viii. p. 78.3 "Even if you are the most sinful of all sinful men, you will cross over alltrespasses by means of the boat of knowledge alone. "-Ibid. , p. 62.▲ Ibid., p. 64.240 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthing in me, I am never lost, and he is not lost in me."The reply of Arjuna pursues the question still further. " OKrishna, the mind is fickle, boisterous, strong, and obstinate,and I think that to restrain it is as difficult as to restrain thewind. " So Krishna continues his teaching regarding renunciation of attachment to works, at length weighingdown all objection by the cry:-"I am death, the destroyer of the worlds, fully developed, and I nowam active about the overthrow of the worlds. Even withoutyou the warriors, standing in the adverse hosts, shall all ceaseto be. Therefore, be up, enjoy glory, and, vanquishing yourfoes, obtain a prosperous kingdom. All these have beenalready killed by Me. Be only the instrument, O shooter, withthe left as with the right hand. ” ªAll action is, in short, tainted with evil, yet, by doingone's duty without attachment, one does not incur sin,so Krishna holds that one, “ even performing all actions,always depending on Me, he, through my favour, obtainsthe imperishable and eternal seat." Arjuna, therefore, hasto do his duty and fight. For the four castes the dutiesto be done are laid down in the following words: 3-" Tranquillity, restraint of the senses, penance, purity, forgiveness,straightforwardness, also knowledge, experience, and beliefin a future world, this is the natural duty of Brahmans.Valour, glory, courage, dexterity, not slinking away frombattle, gifts , exercise of lordly power, this is the naturalduty of Kshatriyas. Agriculture, tending cattle, trade, thisis the natural duty of Vaisyas. And the natural duty ofSūdras consists in service. Every man intent on his ownrespective duties obtains perfection." The wise man, however, looks upon “ a Brāhman possessing learning andhumility, on a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a low- caste manas alike. " Such are the teachings of the " Bhagavad Gita,"¹ S.B. E. , vol. viii . p. 71 . 2 Ibid. , p. 95. 3 Ibid. , p. 126.THE EPICS 241as set forth by Krishna, who promises salvation to all whobelieve in his saving grace."Devote thy heart to Me; worship Me, sacrifice to Me, bow downbefore Me; so shalt thou come to Me. I promise thee truly for thou art dear to me."Forsaking all religious duties, come to Me as the only refuge. I willrelease thee from all thy sins; grieve not." 11 Davies, p. 176 (trans. ).QCHAPTER XI.THE ATTACK.INDIA was fast marching towards its doom. The monarchwho claimed universal sovereignty performed the horsesacrifice as symbolic of his sovereignty. For one year ahorse was let loose to wander where it would; he whostayed its course was presumed to show he did notrecognise the ruling right of the sovereign over the landswhere the horse had strayed. Should the wanderings ofthe horse not be opposed, it was sacrificed with due rites.The Pandava brethren were fabled in the epic to haveperformed a horse sacrifice, a custom in its origin essentiallyTuranian or Scythian.With the Pandavas, and all their surrounding fierce andheroic gods, superstitions, and aboriginal beliefs, Brāhmanismhad to compromise; it could no longer stay their course.It had to recognise that the great mass of the people ofIndia would never accept the abstract teachings of the" Upanishads" or " Vedānta " philosophies; they would everfollow their own ways and gods. Asoka, sprung as he wasfrom the outcast Chandra Gupta, found it wise to embracethe Buddhist faith, so that his renown and sway mightincrease among the people by his standing forth as thesupporter of a religious system recognising no distinction.of caste or family name.Brahmanism had marked its descent from its lofty ideals 242THE ATTACK 243when it compromised with beliefs alien to its own truespirit. Asoka showed the signs of his empire's decay whenhe set forth as principles on which sovereignty should restthose inculcated by the Buddha, instead of those principles,symbolised by the rough and ready defiance of horsesacrifice, on which his rule could alone abide amid thedark days it had soon to face.Although Asoka succeeded his father, Bimbisāra, son ofChandra Gupta, about 259 B.C., yet it was not until thetwenty- ninth year¹ of his reign that he stood forth as thechampion of Buddhism. From Kābul and Kandahar toKalinga on the east coast, which he conquered in the ninthyear of his reign,2 from Kapilavastu in the north, to Mysorein the south, he had established his fame and sovereignty.All over this vast tract he gave orders that his edictsshould be engraven on stone pillars, on the rocky sides ofmountains, and in caves, so that his ordinances shouldabide for ever. The inscriptions in the north, such as thatat Kupardagiri, or Shāhbāzgahrī on the Afghan frontier, areall written from right to left in a character derived from aPhoenician source, known for long as Northern Asoka, orArian, sometimes as Arian Pāli, Bactro Pāli, or Gandhārian,and now called Kharosthi. Those to the south, such asthat at Girnar in Kāthīawār on the west coast of India, runfrom left to right, and were in what is known as theSouthern Asoka, Indo Pāli, Mauriya writing, to which thename of Brāhmī is now applied.The thirteenth edict states that Asoka sent missionariesto Antiochus II . of Syria, Ptolemy II . of Egypt, Antigonos1 "Epigraphia Indica, " vol. ii . p. 246: -" His conversion to Buddhism fell.. in the twenty- ninth year of his reign. " Rhys Davids ( " Buddhism, ”p. 222, 1894) says:-" After his conversion, which took place in the tenth year ofhis reign, he became a very zealous supporter of the new religion. "2 Edict XIII.3 Hunter (" Indian Empire, " p. 190) gives the sites of the fourteen rock andseventeen cave inscriptions as described by Cunningham.244 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAGonatas of Macedonia, Magas of Cyrene, and AlexanderII. of Epirus.On the historic ridge, near Delhi, a pillar, broken in fourpieces by an earthquake, is inscribed with the most interesting of these inscriptions of Asoka.The edicts¹ tell their own story of the king's efforts toframe rules of ideal governance for his kingdom.EDICT I. -King Piyadasi, beloved of the gods, speaks thus:-" AfterI had been anointed twenty- six years I ordered this religious edictto be written. Happiness in this world and in the next is difficultto gain except by the greatest love of the sacred law, the greatestcirc*mspection, the greatest obedience, the greatest fear, thegreatest energy. . . . And my servants, the great ones, thelowly ones, and those of middle rank, being able to lead sinnersback to their duty, obey and carry out (my orders) likewise alsothe wardens of the marches. Now the order is to protectaccording to the sacred law, to govern according to the sacredlaw, to give happiness in accordance with the sacred law, toguard according to the sacred law. "EDICT II. -King Piyadasi, beloved of the gods, speaks thus:-" (Tofulfil ) the law is meritorious. But what does (the fulfilment)of the law include? ( It includes) sinlessness, many goodworks, compassion, liberality, truthfulness, purity. The gift ofspiritual insight I have given (to men) in various ways;on two-footed and four-footed beings, on birds, and aquaticanimals I have conferred benefits of many kinds, even the boonof life, and in other ways I have done much good. It is forthis purpose that I have caused this religious edict to be written(viz.) that men may thus act accordingly, and that it may endurefor a long time. And he who will act thus will perform a deed of merit. "EDICT III.-King Piyadasi, beloved of the gods, speaks thus: -" Manonly sees his good deeds ( and says unto himself), ' This gooddeed I have done.' But he sees in no wise his evil deeds (anddoes not say unto himself), ' This evil deed I have done; this iswhat is called sin. ' But difficult, indeed, is this self-examination.Nevertheless, man ought to pay regard to the following ( and1¹ Bühler, “ Epigraphia Indica, ” vol. ii . pp. 248-254.THE ATTACK 245say unto himself), ' Such (passions) as rage, cruelty, anger,pride, jealousy (are those) called sinful; even through these Ishall bring about my fall.' But man ought to mark most thefollowing (and say unto himself), ' This conduces to my welfarein this world, that, at least, to my welfare in the next world." "EDICT IV. - King Piyadasi, beloved of the gods, speaks thus: -"AfterI had been anointed twenty-six years I ordered this religiousedict to be written. My Lajūkas are established (as rulers)among the people, among many hundred thousand souls; Ihave made them independent in (awarding) both honours andpunishments. Why? In order that the Lajūkas may do theirwork tranquilly and fearlessly, that they may give welfare andhappiness to the people of the provinces, and may conferbenefits (on them). They will know what gives happiness andwhat inflicts pain, and they will exhort the provincials inaccordance with the principles of the sacred law. How? Thatthey may gain for themselves happiness in this world and in the next. But the Lajūkas are eager to serve me. My (other)servants also, who know my will, will serve (me), and they, too,will exhort some (men) in order that the Lajūkas may strive togain my favour. For as (a man) feels tranquil after makingover his child to a clever nurse, saying unto himself, ' Theclever nurse strives to bring up my child well,' even so I haveacted with my Lajūkas for the welfare and happiness of theprovincials, intending that, being fearless and feeling tranquil,they may do their work without perplexity. For this reason Ihave made the Lajūkas independent in (awarding) both honoursand punishments. For the following is desirable. What?That there may be equity in official business, and equity in theaward of punishments. And even so far goes my order, Ihave granted a respite of three days to prisoners on whomjudgment has been passed, and who have been condemned to death. Their relatives will make some (of them) meditatedeeply (and), in order to save the lives of those (men), or inorder to make (the condemned) who is to be executed meditatedeeply, they will give gifts with a view to the next world or willperform fasts! For my wish is that they (the condemned), evenduring their imprisonment, may thus gain bliss in the nextworld; and various religious practices, self- restraint, andliberality, will grow among the people."In the year 246 B.C., the eleventh year of Asoka's¹ See Monier-Williams, " Buddhism, " p. 59:-"Sixteenth or seventeenthyear. " Oldenberg, “ Vinaya Pitakam ” ( Introd. ), xxxi.; S. B. E. , x. , xxvi. -xxxix.246 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAreign, the whole Buddhist Canon was fully recited at aCouncil of one thousand Buddhist monks, who assembledtogether at Pātaliputra. Missionaries were then sentto far - off lands to propagate the Buddhist faith.¹Mahendra, the son of Asoka, carried the three " Pitakas,"or "books of law," in the Pali language to Ceylon, andwas soon after followed by his sister, Sanghamitta, whobrought a branch of the sacred bo - tree, under whichBuddha had attained enlightenment, a branch plantedat Anuradhapura, from which grew the famous tree, forlong held to be the oldest historical tree in the world.²The alliance made by Asoka with Buddhism broughtto him no peace, nor to his empire security. His endwas full of trouble and sorrow. He lived to see his ownson's eyes put out by the woman he loved, and himselfrestrained in his pious gifts to the so-called Buddhistmendicants.Buddhism, though it might tend to break down theracial and class distinctions of an enslaved people, andunite them into one nation, yet rose above all thepractical considerations of real life. And so it remainsin its ideals a dream for the philosopher, in its degradedform a refuge for the indolent, in its results a warningto the man of action. Those who truly joined the Orderbecame celibate monks, recluses, men of thought, notaction. When they were slain or driven from theirmonasteries by the later Muhammadan invaders, andpossibly by the reforming Brahmans, the religion diedout in India, for the lay professors of the faith had noguides nor preceptors, no mendicant monks to feed,clothe, or endow with wealth. The more a temporal1Dipavamsa, " chap. viii .; " Mahāvamśa, ” chap. xii.2 Tennent, " Ceylon , " vol. ii. p. 613. In the reign of Vattagāmini ( 88-76 B.C.) the Buddhist Canon was reduced to writing, and in 450 A.D. the faithspread to Burma through the great Buddhist commentator, Buddha Ghosha,See Rhys Davids, “ Buddhism, " pp 234, 237.THE ATTACK 247-sovereign and his subjects drifted towards the idealsinculcated by Buddha, the more unfitted they becamefor the war and strife on which alone an empire could befounded and maintained, so long as alien foes pressedround, prepared and eager to carve out a kingdom andheritage for themselves and their own race. Asoka hadframed an ideal state.¹ A minister of religion had beenappointed, in the fourteenth year of his reign, to supervisemorals; wells were dug, resting groves and waysideavenues planted, medical aid provided for man and beast.All, Aryans and aborigines alike, were to be constrainedto the ideals set forth by Buddha with gentleness andkindness, not by force. The picture is the most patheticin the whole vista of the struggles of humanity to reachand realise the ethical ideal, regardless of the stern dictatesthat decree the victory to the best fitted, physically andmentally, to maintain his place in the strife of life. Theideal must remain for the real to strive towards andnever attain.Asoka strove to realise the ideals personified in thepassive figure of the Buddha, just as many of to-daywould urge England to do, and stay her stern careerwherein she sets before herself no other ideal than thatofjustice, unswayed by sentiment or emotion.In the days of Asoka there were rough and readyNorthern hosts, even as there are to-day, should Englandfall back from her high mission, ready to break downfrom their Northern homes and win a heritage for themselves amid a people unprepared, and too disunited, todefend their own birthright.On the death of Asoka, the great Empire of Magadhadrifted to decay. Of his grandson and successor,Dasaratha, history knows but little except what iscontained in a few inscriptions, of interest alone to1 Hunter, "Indian Empire, " pp. 190-91.248 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAarchæologists.¹ New dynasties arose, among which onemonarch figured as the hero in Kālidāsa's well- knownplay Mälavikāgnimitra. By the middle of the fifthcentury Pataliputra, the ancient capital of India, lostit* importance, and was described by the Chinesepilgrim, Hiouen Tsang," as " an old city, about 70 liround. Although it has been long deserted, its foundation walls still survive."The history of India, from Asoka's time down to thedark days of Muhammadan raids, is , in fact, a history ofa disunited people, ruled over by local chieftains, amongwhom one here and there rose to a more or less extendedsovereignty, and of invasions from Northern foes.When first the rapid, moving, hardy horsem*n, knownas Turanians, commenced their raids across the Jaxartes,nothing loth to leave their arid grazing-ground of CentralAsia for the richer Southern lands, is a question still outside the limits of historic evidence. It has been held, andexcavations at Kapilavastu may prove the surmise true,that the Sakya race, among whom Buddha was born, was anearly incursive band of these Northern warrior tribes, whomhistory loosely classes together as Scythian. Alexanderthe Great, before he ventured to invade India, had established posts along the Jaxartes to hold these Northernbarbarians in check. Two hundred years later, a Tartartribe drove out the Greeks from Bactria, and by the firstcentury B.C. a yellow race, described as of pink and whitecomplexion, and known to the Chinese chroniclers as the1 "Mahāvamsa, " cxx.; Miss Manning, " Ancient India, " 316.2 Pushpamitra overthrew the Maurya dynasty, and established Sungadynasty ( 178 B.C.). See Burgess, " Cave Temples of India, " p. 25.3 Agnimitra, son of Pushpamitra, who fought against the Bactrian Greeks.See Shankar P. Pandit, " Mālavikāgnimitra " ( Preface) .4 V. A. Smith (J.R.A.S. , p. 24, 1897 ) holds that Pātaliputra was the earlycapital of Samudra Gupta ( 345-380 A.D. ) . Fleet, " Gupta Inscrip. , ” p. 5;Bühler, "Origin of the Gupta and Valabhi Era, " p. 13.Visited India 629-645 A.D.THE ATTACK 249Yueh-Chi, ¹ came riding down into the Panjab to take theirplace in the annals of Indian history.In Kashmir these Scythians established their rule. Ofthe Scythian monarchs little is known from the time theypoured their fierce bowmen across the north- west mountainpasses until they disappear at the close of the sixthcentury A.D. Vikramaditya, the enemy of the Scythians,stands out as the sole national hero of North India atthis period, and round him is centred all that was gloriousof the times which commenced with the new Indian era of56 B.C.2The greatest ofall the Scythian conquerors was Kanishka,3who extended his rule beyond Kashmir, as far south asGuzarāt, and east to Agra, founding for himself and hisrace an era known as the Sāka era, which dates from78 A.D. Kanishka, in his new home, accepted Buddhism ashis state religion. It is known that he summoned a greatcouncil of five hundred monks to a monastery at Jalandrain Kashmir, and there formulated, in Sanskrit, the doctrinesofNorthern Buddhism, designated as those of the Mahāyāna,or " Great Vehicle," accepted by all Scythian races. Thefull record of this Council now lies buried beneath somevast mound of earth. The only guide left to direct thesearcher after these lost treasures was given thirteenhundred years ago by the Chinese pilgrim, Hiouen Tsangas follows:"Kanishka-rājā forthwith ordered these discourses to beengraven on sheets of red copper. He enclosed them in a1 For connection of the Yueh- Chi with the Goths, as well as with the Jats ofIndia, and the Rajputs, see Max Müller, " India: What Can It Teach Us?"p. 86. Also Hunter, " Indian Empire, " chap. vii. , where the whole intricatehistory is summed up. J.R.A.S. , N.S. , xiv. p. 47.2 See J. F. Fleet, " Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum,” vol . iii . p. 37.The " Rāja- Taranginī " gives as predecessors Hushka and Jushka. SeeAlbiruni, "Sachau, " ii . 11.4 Beal, " Buddhist Rec. of Western World, " vol. i. p. 156.250 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAstone receptacle, and having sealed them he raised over ita stūpa with the Scriptures in the middle. "The sheets of copper probably still remain beneath themound where Kanishka deposited them, and fame andwealth awaits him who searches out the Scriptures, andreveals to the world the long- lost Canon of the Māhāyanaof the Northern Buddhists. On the death of Kanishkahis kingdom fell to pieces. Inscriptions and coins are allthat tell of the fluctuating fortunes of various dynastiesthat rose to power and extended their sway during thesucceeding centuries through which India passed, beforeit fell a prey to foreign conquest.At Surashtra, or Guzarāt, the Sena kings are traced bytheir coinage from 70 B.C. to 235 A.D. , while in the eastthe Andhras of the Deccan ruled over Magadha from26 B.C. to 430 A.D. A long line of Gupta monarchs¹ isknown to have held imperial sway all over North Indiaand Kathiawār, from the middle of the fourth century A.D.until 530-33, when the empire passed to Yasodharman 2 ofWest Malwa, who held the whole north until it fell toa Varman dynasty, that ruled down to 585 A.D., fromwhom it passed to the Vardhana kings of Thaneswar andKanauj.Among the Vardhana chieftains, one monarch rose tosupreme power, the great Harsha Vardhana, known asSiladitya II., ruler of Kanauj from 606 to 648 A.D.3 Downto the time of the Arab raid into Sind, in the eighth century,the Vallabhis held rule in Guzarāt (480-722 A.D.) among1 Gupta, 320 A.D.; Ghatotkacha, 340; Candra Gupta I. , 360; SamudraGupta, 380 (345-380 ) .-Vincent Smith , J.R.A.S. ( 1897 ) , part 1 , 19. CandraGupta II. , 400-414; Kumāra Gupta I. , 415-454: Skanda Gupta, 455-468;Pura Gupta, 470; Narasimka Gupta, 485; Kumara Gupta II. , 530.-ho*rnle, " Inscribed Seal of Kumāra Gupta, " vol. lviii .; J. R.A.S. (Bengal),p. 88.2 ho*rnle, Ibid. , 96, for connection with Hūnas.3 Cowell and Thomas, "Harsha Charita, " p . x.; Bendall, " CatalogueBuddhist Sanskrit MSS. , ” xli,THE ATTACK 251whom a new supreme emperor, Siladitya III. held theimperial rule in 670 A.D.How far these later Indian rulers consolidated theirconquests, and held under their own sway the territoriesover which their sovereignty is recorded to have spread,would now be impossible to ascertain. So long as tributewas paid, local principalities and chieftains might holdand administer their own territories, though the suzeraincounted them as subject states.Samudra Gupta, who ruled first at Pātaliputra,¹ and thenchanged his capital westward, until it finally rested atKanauj, is referred to in an inscription as "the restorer ofthe Aśvamedha sacrifice "2-the great horse sacrifice. Inone inscription, still preserved on a pillar at Allahābād,the praises of Samudra Gupta are recited, and all hisconquests set forth in order.³Nine kings of Āryāvarta were " violently exterminated; "kings of forest countries became his slaves. Twelvekings, whose names are given in the inscription, weresubdued and then set free. These included the King ofKanchi, or Conjeveram, near Madras, the King of all theWestern Malabar coast, the King of Central India andOrissa, the King of Kōttarā in Coimbatore, in South India,as well as kings over lands in the present Godavari district,and south of the Krishna. From the kings of LowerBengal, Nepal, and Assam, he is recorded to have exactedhomage and tribute, as he also did from frontier tribes,while from foreign nations, and from Ceylon, he receivedservices and presents. More astounding than this recordof the Empire of Samudra Gupta, in the middle of thefourth century of our era, is the record of the conquests ofhis son and successor, Chandra Gupta II. , who extendedthe Gupta Empire to its furthest limits. The pillar on1 V. A. Smith, J. R.A.S. ( 1897) , p. 27 ( note 1 ).2 Thid. , p. 22 (note 2).Ibid., p. 27.252 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAwhich the fame of Chandra Gupta is set forth, has remained for long one of the many strange marvels ofthe East. The pillar stands in the courtyard of a greatmosque, built by Katb-ud- din, about 9 miles south ofmodern Delhi. The pillar rises 22 feet above the ground,there being 1 foot 8 inches below ground. The wholepillar is solid, of malleable iron, wrought and welded into amass of over six tons' weight. The pillar was erected in orabout the year 415 A.D., by order of Kumāra Gupta I., sonand successor of Chandra Gupta II . The construction ofsuch a pillar of wrought- iron at so early a date seems,even to the Western world, a feat almost beyond belief." It is not many years since the production of such apillar would have been an impossibility in the largestfoundries of the world, and even now there are comparatively few where a similar mass of metal could beturned out. "1The inscription on the pillar has been translated by MrVincent Smith, in his valuable article on the " AncientHistory of India from the Monuments ":-"This lofty standard of the divine Vishnu was erected on MountVishnupada by King Candra, whose thoughts were devoted infaith to Vishnu. The beauty of that king's countenance was asthat of the full moon (candra); -by him, with his own arm,sole worldwide dominion was acquired and long held; -andalthough, as if wearied, he has in bodily form quitted this earth,and passed to the other- world country won by his merit, yet,like the embers of a quenched fire in a great forest, the glow ofhis foe-destroying energy quits not the earth; -by the breezesof his prowess the southern ocean is still perfumed; —by him,having crossed the seven mouths of the Indus, were theVahlikas vanquished in battle; —and when, warring in the Vangacountries, he breasted and destroyed the enemies confederateagainst him, fame was inscribed on (their) arm by his sword."1 Valentine Ball, " Economic Geology of India, " p. 338.2 Balkh or Baluchistan.3 Bengal Lower generally. Vincent Smith, J. R.A.S. ( 1897) , p . 8.THE ATTACK 253These details of the reigns and deeds of the kings ofthevaried dynasties, who, in the first seven centuries of theChristian era strove, with a success never lasting long, tobend the various chieftains, races, and people of India intorecognition of one central power, capable of swaying thedestinies of an empire, are preserved in the evidencerecorded on coins and inscriptions. The evidences arenot such as to enable any vivid picture to be drawn thatwould present a life- like history of the period. Suchresults as may be obtained are of interest to the antiquarianand archeologist; they can never throw a clear light on thecauses whereby India was advancing to her doom, as aneasy prey to foreign conquerors.The self-control of Buddhism, the intellectual supremacydemanded by Brahmanism, the gross ignorance of superstitious Hinduism, were all but products of the life of thetimes. The centre fact that the historian longs to arriveat, is the clue to the subjection of the East to the West.The enervating influence of climate may afford a solutionwhen a Southern race is debarred from recruiting its moreactive and ruder instincts by hardier immigrants from colderclimes, as Mughal and Portuguese rule found to their cost,and the Aryan has ever found in his migrations south. Thismay explain the present condition of the people of India;and if it be so, then the prospect in the future, both forBengal Sikh, border Pathān, and Southern Pariah, is oneof submission to the dictates of Nature. In the early agesthere is no evidence that in the north, at least, the barriersof India had ever been closed to new- comers.Persian, Greek, and Scythian alike swarmed in andmade their own settlements, without great show ofopposition. The Scythian element has been traced far tothe east, among the Jāts,' in Central India, and amongNow four and a half millions in number. See Hunter, " Indian Empire, "p. 226.254 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe Rajputs arace that rose with all its chivalry and manhood to oppose Muhammadan fanaticism, at a time whenin the land there were no other signs of any tendencytowards national life and spirit. North of the Vindhya,each chieftain and petty king strove to secure his ownposition, increase his forces, raid the territories of hisneighbours, and win for himself the favour and support ofBrahmanism or Buddhism as the times inclined him.South of the Vindhya, great and ancient dynasties-Rashtrakūta, Chalukyan, Pallava, Chera, Chola, orPandyan-preserved and increased, as they could, the limitsof their own kingdoms.A welcome light is thrown across the history of thisearly period by the account of the Chinese Buddhisttraveller, Hiouen Tsang. The great ruler of North Indiawas then Śri Harsha, or Harsha Vardhana, the King ofThaneswar and Kanauj. He is described by the Chinesetraveller as wavering between Buddhism and Brāhmanism,one day setting high a statue of Buddha, the next that ofthe sun, or the great god, Śiva. The " believers in Buddhaand the heretics "1 were described as about equal innumber, there being some hundred of monasteries, withten thousand priests, studying both the Great and LittleVehicle, and two hundred Hindu temples. The king, in sixyears, according to Hiouen Tsang, conquered all the FiveIndies, subdued all who were not obedient, and his armyreached the number of one hundred thousand cavalry andsixty thousand war elephants.2In one great assembly held by the king at Kanauj, orKanyā Kubja, as it was then called, kings of twentycountries are described as forming part of the king's escort,as he marched in procession with a golden statue ofBuddha, high as himself, carried in front. Not only does1 Beal, " Buddhist Rec. of Western World, " vol. i . p. 207.2 For his defeat by Pulikesin, see Ibid. , p. 213 ( note 21 ) .THE ATTACK 255the presence of the twenty kings indicate the dividedauthority of Harsha Vardhana, but a more serious elementof disunion is apparent from the recorded fact that theBrahmans, jealous of the wealth showered on the Buddhists,laid plots to take the king s life, so that " the king punishedthe chief of them and pardoned the rest. He banishedthe five hundred Brāhmans to the frontiers of India.” ¹This account ofHiouen Tsangis fortunately supplementedby a realistic description of the court and camp of HarshaVardhana, by the contemporary poet, Bāna, whose work isthe only romance of any historical importance in theliterature of the period. The work, so far as it goes-for itis unfinished in the original-has happily recently appearedin an English translation, most skilfully rendered from thedifficult Sanskrit of the original.2 There is but one otherbook comparable to it, in the manner in which it lays barethe very facts that are of peculiar interest and value forrealising the exact chances of success any of the early socalled monarchs of North India had of uniting the scatteredprincipalities and races into a political entity, containingpermanent elements of stability. The position of affairsis strikingly similar to the account left in the " Lettersfrom a Maratha Camp," during the year 1809, by ColonelBroughton, who travelled with the predatory and irresponsible forces of Mahārāja Scindia, in the raids, or, as anative chronicler would describe them, victorious progressof a universal monarch, into the semi-feudatory state ofRājputāna.The impression left by the two accounts-that by Bāna,contemporary in the seventh century with HarshaVardhana, and that by the English resident at the court ofScindia, at the beginning of the nineteenth century- may be1 Beal, " Buddhist Rec. of Western World, " vol. i . p. 221.2 "The Harsha Charita of Bana, " translated by Prof. Cowell and F. W.Thomas (Oriental Translation Fund, 1897).256 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsummed up in the words of Sir M. E. Grant Duff, in hispreface to the letters of Colonel Broughton:-"First, how far away seem the scenes which they describe . . . andsecondly, how soon they would come back if the power whichsaved, and saves India from tearing her own vitals, were to bewithdrawn for a single lustrum. . . . Who can doubt that allthejealousies, all the passions, all the superstitions , which are setforth ... are still there ready to break forth at any moment? "It seems almost sacrilege to tear from out their setting,in a work of beauty such as the " Harsha Charita ” of Bāna,such few references as may serve to furnish facts forhistory.Bāna wrote for a purely artistic purpose, his only effortbeing to combine in his narrative " a new subject, a dictionnot too homely, unlaboured double meaning, the sentimenteasily understood, the language rich in sonorous words. " ¹The motives that incited him to recount the deeds of hislord are plainly indicated, and were purely artistic. Hetells how one dramatist 2 " gained as much splendour byhis plays, with an introduction spoken by the manager, fullof various characters, and furnished with startling episodes,as he would have done by the erection of temples, createdby architects, adorned with several storeys, and decoratedwith banners "; and how all are delighted at "the beautifulexpressions uttered by Kālidāsa, as at sprays of flowerswet with honey sweetness." Accordingly his narrative ismerely to be viewed as " like a bed, which is to wake up itsoccupant happily refreshed," and how it has been " set offby its well- chosen words, like feet, luminous with the cleverjoinings of harmonious letters. " It would be well if thenarrative could be left in the beauty of its own repose, for"a return of the mind to itself from seeking fact after fact,1 Introductory verse, p. 2 (Cowell's Translation ).2 Bhāsā. See Weber, " History of Indian Literature, ” p . 205 ( note 213) .THE ATTACK 257and law after law, in the objective world; a recognitionthat the mind itself is an end to itself, and its own law. " 1This is the proper realm of all Sanskrit literature, indeed,of all Indian life and thought-a realm far more seductivein its pleasant paths than that furnished by unendingresearch in the objective reality of the world's phenomena.The whole of Bāna's narrative must therefore be taken inits own setting, if the true spirit of its composition is tobe properly judged. Bāna commenced his story by pointingout, to those whom he addressed, his limitation: "What mancould possibly, even in a hundred of men's lives, depict hisstory in full? If, however, you care for a part, I am ready."The descent of Harsha Vardhana is first traced down tothat of his father, Prabhakara Vardhana, King of Thaneswar, who was famed far and wide under a second name,Pratāpacila, a lion to the Hūna deer, a burning fever to theKing of Indus land, a troubler to the sleep of Guzarāt, abilious plague to that scent elephant, the lord of Gāndhāra,a looter to the lawlessness of the Jāts, an axe to thecreeper of Malwa's glory." To Yasovati, wife of thismonarch, two sons were born, Rājyavardhana and Harsha,the hero of the story. There was also one daughter,Rājya Śrī, who married Grahavarman, son of a MukharaKing of Kanya Kubja, or Kanauj.32Prabhakara Vardhana is described as being a sunworshipper. " Day by day at sunrise he bathed, arrayedhimself in white silk, wrapped his head in a white cloth, andkneeling eastwards upon the ground, in a circle measuredwith saffron paste, presented for an offering a bunch of redlotuses, set in a pure vessel of ruby, and tinged, like his ownheart, with the sun's hue."4On the birth of the king's second son, Harsha, the¹ W. P. Ker, “ Essays in Philosophical Criticism, ” p. 173; quoted in “ ThePhilosophy ofthe Beautiful, " by William Knight ( 1891).2 " Harsha Charita," p. 101. 3 See Ibid. (Introd. ), p. xii.4• Ibid. , p. 104.R258 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAcapital held high revel. A weird light is thrown on thescene, where the populace are depicted as having lost theirsense with joy:-"Entrance to the harem in no wise criminal; master and servantsreduced to a level; young and old confounded; learned andunlearned on one footing; drunk and sober not to be dis- tinguished; noble maidens and harlots equally merry. Thewhole population of the capital set a- dancing. "¹As the young princes grew up, the king appointed, astheir companion, Kumāra Gupta and Mādhavā Gupta, sons ofthe king of Malwā. When Rājya Śri, the king's daughter,came of age, it was determined that she should be marriedto Grahavarman, the son of the Mukhara King ofKanyā Kubja, for, " now at the head of all royal housesstands the Mukharas, worshipped, like Śiva's footprint, byall the world."2The political struggles of the time now commenced.When Rajyavardhana, the king's eldest son, grew oldenough to wear armour, he was sent " at the head of animmense force, attended by ancient advisers and devotedfeudatories, towards the north to attack the Hūnas. " ³During the prince's absence, the king, Prabhākara,was seized with illness, resulting in his death. Harsha,who had accompanied his brother towards the Himalayasto encounter the Hūnas, hastened back to the capitalwhere the people were plunged in grief. Rarely has amore fearful description of Hindu superstition beensummed up in a few lines than in the words describing theappearance of the grief-smitten city. "There youngnobles were burning themselves with lamps to propitiatethe mothers. In one place a Dravidian was ready tosolicit the Vampire with the offering of a skull. Inanother an Andhra man was holding up his arms like arampart to conciliate Chandī. Elsewhere distressed young1 "Harsha Charita, " p. 111. 2 Ibid. , p. 122. Ibid., p. 132.THE ATTACK 259servants were pacifying Mahākāla by holding meltinggum on their heads. In another place a group ofrelatives was intent on an oblation of their own flesh,which they severed with keen knives. Elsewhere againyoung courtiers were openly resorting to the sale of humanflesh."1The panorama referred to in the drama of the " MudraRakshasa " is also described as being displayed. Theshowman displays his painted canvas, whereon is depictedYama, "the Lord of Death," seated on his dreaded buffalo,while he recites his verses to the assembled crowd: 2"Mothers and fathers in thousands, in hundreds childrenand wives, age after age have passed away, whose arethey, and whose art thou? "8The whole narrative, in fact the whole romance, in itsperfect translation by Professor Cowell and Mr Thomas,gives more real information respecting the inner life of thepeople than any other work relating to India. Fromevery page new life dawns, and in every sentence someunexpected beauty lies half-concealed.On the king's death, Harsha Vardhana's grief wasassuaged by " Brahmans versed in ' Śrūti,' ' Smriti,' and' Itihāsas,' anointed counsellors of royal rank, endowed withlearning, birth, and character; approved ascetics, welltrained in the doctrine of the Self; sages indifferent topain and pleasure; Vedāntists skilled in expounding thenothingness of the fleeting world; mythologists expert inallaying sorrow."4In the midst of the city's grief, news arrived thatGrahavarman had been slain by the King of Malwa, andRajya Śri cast into fetters. Rājyavardhana, the elderbrother, who had returned to the capital after driving1 "Harsha Charita, " p. 136. See also p. 222: -" Yet a seller of human flesh . "Kipling, Lockwood, “ Man and Beast in India, ” p. 123: —“ God looksout of the window of Heaven and keeps account. ""Harsha Charita, " p. 136 ( trans. ).4♦ Ibid. , p. 162.260 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAback the Scythian Hūnas from the north-west, set forth witha mighty army, and defeated the King of Malwa only tofall a victim to the intrigues of the King of Gauda. HarshaVardhana now steps forth, as the true hero of the romance,to avenge the ill fate of his race. Before starting on hisavenging expedition he vowed that he would establish hissupremacy as sole monarch. "Bythe dust of my honouredlord's feet I swear that, unless in a limited number of daysI clear this earth of Gaudas, and make it resound withfetters on the feet of all kings who are excited to insolenceby the elasticity of their bows, then will I hurl my sinfulself, like a moth, into an oil-fed flame. "1Harsha Vardhana started on his conquering careeramid the beat of drums, the bray of trumpets, the bustleof an Eastern camp, and general lack of all system orcontrolling authority over the semi- independent chieftainswho joined in the foray. " Elephant keepers, assaultedwith clods by people starting from hovels which had beencrushed by the animals' feet, called the bystanders towitness the assaults. Wretched families fled from grasscabins ruined by collisions. Despairing merchants sawthe oxen, bearing their wealth, flee before the onset of thetumult. A troop of seraglio elephants advanced wherethe press of people gave way before the glare of theirrunners' torches. "2 Looting of the standing crop goes onat all sides. The cries of the rabble are heard: " Quick,slave, with a knife, cut a mouthful of fodder from thisbean field. Who can tell the fate of his crop when we aregone?" The picture is dramatically true to life . " Therepoor unattended nobles, overwhelmed with the toil andworry of conveying their provisions upon fainting oxen,provided by wretched village householders, and obtainedwith difficulty, themselves grasped their domestic appurtenances, grumbling as follows: -' Only let this one1 "Harsha 2 Ibid. , p. 201. Charita, ” p. 187.THE ATTACK 261expedition be gone and done with.' ' Let it go to thebottom of hell.' ' An end to this world of thirst.' "1On all sides the peaceful villagers fled, "others, despondentat the plunder of their ripe grain, had come forth, wivesand all, to bemoan their estates, and to the imminent riskof their lives, grief dismissing fear, had begun to censuretheir sovereign, crying: ' Where's the king? ' ' What righthas he to be king? ' ' What a king! ' " 2The king on his march turned aside to save his sister,Rajya Śri, from burning herself to death, and vowed that heand she would both join the Buddhist order when all hisdesigns had been accomplished.The narrative ends before Harsha Vardhana finallyoverthrew all his opponents, and established himself asone of the few monarchs who essayed to build up anempire from out the shifting interests of rival creeds anddivided principalities.The extent of India was, however, too vast; the incongruous race- elements it held too diverse and scattered;the caste restrictions too firmly planted; the religiousdivisions too deeply founded in the life-history of thepeople, to give hope in those early ages that India fromthe Himalayas to the Vindhyas, much less to CapeComorin, from Dvārakā to Kālighāt, would ever throbwith the one great racial feeling and purpose that makesa Fatherland. It remains for the future to watch andmark how the dividing lines of old are breaking down,and how, where race and caste and creed no longer holdthe people asunder, they may combine to demand theruling of their own national life.In the midst of the changing scene Aryanism andBrahmanism remained unmoved, watching all and noting allfrom their own safe retreat, heedless of kings and warriors,battles and contests, greed for empire and the coming1 " 2 Ibid. , p. 209. Harsha Charita, " p. 207.262 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAstorm, the tramp of passing bands of fighting men, theflames of burning towns, the wreck of principalities, theaggrandisem*nt of new conquerors, and the submission ofthe people, all of which were but the crude factors wherewith poets and dreamers might fashion their drama of theworld's history.The classic beauties of the early drama, the romancesand lyrics are all that later Aryanism has left us, fromwhich may be shadowed out something of the " very ageand body of the time."CHAPTER XII.THE DRAMA.To understand the full significance of the influenceAryanism had on the language and literature of India asa whole, somewhat must be realised of the actual resultsattained, and the elements on which these influences hadto work.From the last Census returns¹ the population of India,excluding Burma, was numbered at nearly 295,000,000of people; Indo- Aryan vernaculars were spoken by210,000,000; the Dravidian languages by only 53,000,000,the rest ofthe populace speaking other languages.While in the literature of India the Vedic Sanskritbecame modified into the later classical language, moreor less artificial in its structure, it further, from aboutsome five hundred years before Christ, broke down into avernacular known as " Prakrit, ” which existed up to about1000 A.D.2The Eastern branch of this Prakrit was the Magadhi,spoken in Magadha, or South Behar, while the Westernbranch was the Sauraseni, spoken in the lands lying betweenthe Ganges and Jumna. Intermediate between these twodistinctive homes of the Aryan culture lay the land, thevernacular of whose people showed traces of connection1 Census of 1891.Grierson, " Indo- Aryan Vernaculars, " Calcutta Review ( October 1895).263264 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAwith both the Magadhi and the Sauraseni, so that it wascalled the Ardha Magadhi, or Half Magadhi.Outside these three distinctive branches of the Aryanvernacular, the spoken language of the North- Western district was known as the " Apabramsa, " or decayed language.From these four vernaculars all the modern Aryanvernaculars of India have descended, as shown in thefollowing table taken from Mr Grierson's article in theCalcutta Review, to which reference has been alreadymade.VEDIC SANSKRITOLD PRAKRIT VERNACULARWESTERN PRAKRIT EASTERN PRAKRITAPABRAMSA SAURASENI PRAKRIT ARDHAMAGADHI PRAKRIT MAGADHI PrakritMAGADHI GAUDI UTKALI VAIDARBHIMARATHISINDHI KASHMIRI SAURASENI GAURJARI AVANTI MAHARASHTRIPANJABI HINDIDIALECTS 1. Bräj 2. Kanauji 3. Urdu 4. Hindustani 5. High HindiThe term Hindi is here used by Mr Grierson, not asincluding the dialects of Rajputana, the Baiswāri of Oudh,and the distinct dialect of Behar, but more scientificallyto connote all the dialects of the North-West Provincesfrom Cawnpur westwards. The Braj dialect is that ofthe Gangetic Doab, south to Agra, northward to Multanand Delhi, thence beyond the Sivälik Hills. Kanaujiruns down the lower Doab to the south- east of Cawnpurtowards Allahābād, where it merges into Baiswarī.Urdu is the mixed language that grew up in the camp1 Grierson, " Indo- Aryan Vernaculars, " p. 264.THE DRAMA 265of the Mughal invaders of India who used the localgrammar, chiefly that of Brāj, to cement together avocabulary mainly composed of Indian and foreign words.When used for literary purposes by the Mussalmans, thevocabulary employed was mainly Persian or Arabic.When used as a lingua franca for the people speakingthe varied dialects of Hindustan, the vocabulary is mainlycomposed of the common words of the market- place, andthe language itself called Hindustānī is readily intelligibleto Hindus and Muhammadans alike. High Hindi ispurely a book language evolved under the influence ofthe English, who induced native writers to compose worksfor general use in a form of Hindustani, in which all thewords of Arabic or Persian origin were omitted, Sanskritwords being employed in their place.Great as has been the spread of languages finding theirsource in Aryan Sanskrit, still greater has been the classicinfluence of the Aryan literature itself on the wholethought and mode of expression of the great mass ofthepopulation with which Aryanism has come in contact.Everywhere, even to the remotest South, the Aryanliterature of India spread, and became the model for allclassic composition, and the means for the education andadvancement of the people towards trained and orderedthought. The drama here exercised its own influence.There is a vast difference between the stately reposeof the cultured though somewhat artificial early Sanskritdramas, and the primitive revel of dance and song, to beseen in every Indian village, when the temple deity is ledforth on its high and costly decorated car, and the dancinggirls, with measured step and mystic gestures, march infront, singing the deeds the god has done, and the joys ofwhich its worshippers partake. In every step, and everymotion, in every sign of the upheld hands and movement1 "Rig Veda, " i. 10, 1 , 1 , 924; "Atharva-veda, " xii. 1 , 41.266 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAof the dancing- girl's swaying body, the dramatic gesturesand rhythmic movements all denote an advance in reasonedthought far beyond the fierce dances of the wild untamedtribesmen, who still live in the hill tracks in their barbaricfreedom.In their remote mountainous and fever-smitten homesthe savage folk in their tribal war dances love to rehearsetheir fierce fights and the slaying of their enemies, orsometimes in their gentler moods to imitate the dancingand cooing of birds, peaco*cks, or jungle- fowl. Even inthese forest tracks, it may be seen how the play instinctsof the rude untutored races are even to-day beingtrained to higher purposes.To the chance traveller in these tracks, perhaps nothingmay be visible but these imitative dances of the savagefolk. In the half- frenzied dance the warriors still revel intheir mimic combats; every now and then some aged chieffalls into an ecstatic trance, and his gesticulations showthat he believes himself possessed by some evil spirit orsome god whose commands or decrees he pours forth inwild cries that rush incoherently from his foaming lips.The savage expresses in his own way the instincts andsuperstitious fears his reason has not yet restrained.Animism rules the people who fancy that each burninghill, haunted grove, and fever-laden rill is endowed withspirit life.These are the factors Brahmanism has to work on andmould to its own purpose.As the forests are cleared from the mountain's side, andthe land prepared for permanent cultivation, Brahmansand lowland traders take up their abode among theruder indigenous races, and Hinduism slowly works itsway towards its own advancement. The Brahmansto be found in such districts may be schoolmasters,village merchants, land- owners, or agents for some over-THE DRAMA 267lord, to outward appearance coldly indifferent to theways and beliefs of the rude hill folk from whom theyhold aloof in their pride of learning and pride of birth.The influence of the Brahman, and the spell of Hinduism,is, nevertheless, ever at work in its tendency to turn thepeople from their more savage rites, and bring themwithin the fold of Hinduism, with all its gods and classrestrictions.The stranger may move among the villages and marksomewhat of outward change. The elder people arebecoming more settled; their axes may perhaps be losingtheir ancient form, and changing gradually to forms suitedfor agricultural purposes. The belt of cultivated land isextending deeper into the surrounding forest, and a schoolperhaps has been established. Should the stranger desireto see how the Brahman schoolmaster trains the villagechildren, he can note how these children sit for hourslearning to make letters and figures, by using their fingersto write in the dust, and to read, reckon, and recite byrepeating all together sentence after sentence their simplelessons. There is, however, the legendary history of thegod honoured by the preceptor to be learned, and somuch as is necessary of the myths and fables, on whichpopular Hinduism is based.Here the drama plays its part. In Vedic literature, inthe temple dances, and in the wild, savage war dances anduncouth revels of the aboriginal folk, its past origin can betraced, but nowhere can its course of development into theform in which it first appears, full grown in the masterpiecesof classic Sanskrit times, be followed. The form in whichit is found among the people themselves can be best seenby asking the Brahman preceptor to bid his pupils performan act or two of some drama he has taught them. Nopreparations are necessary. The play will take place inthe centre of the village or near the traveller's tents. There268 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAin the evening time the villagers will assemble, seat themselves in rows, all sedate and grave, unnoticing the clearstarlit canopy of Heaven above, and ring of fire that,running along the distant mountain side, clears the feveredjungles.In the centre of the front rank will be seated thestranger; at his side, sitting on a rug, will be the fewBrahmans the village contains-it may be only theBrahman preceptor-the village traders, and officials.Behind, the ruder folk and aboriginal tribesmen standor sit on their heels in native fashion.There is no scenery. Two torch-bearers stand to rightand left, their flaring torches dripping burning oil on tothe ground. To one side sit the musicians, both incessantly and untiringly beating with their fingers ahide-covered drum. The actors stand at first behindone of the torch - bearers. Many are the disputes asto the setting of the piece and arraying of the boyactors. All, audience, actors, and torch-bearers, talk inhigh tones, yet all goes pleasantly.Slowly from among the actors one boy moves forward,with feet shuffling along the ground in unison with thebeat of the drum. He wears a high head- dress coveredwith tinsel and coloured glass, which sparkle now and thenas the torches flare up; his face is fixed in an immoveablestare; his hands are held still, the palms turned towardsthe audience. His part he recites in prose and verse, hisvoice ever in rhythm with the music. The spectators arewrapped in dreamy bliss; they glance furtively at theforeigner to see if he is pleased, yet they no more thanthe foreigner understand one word of what is said, forthe opening lines are in Sanskrit verse, composed bythe preceptor. The audience merely knows the purportof the story represented.As the chief actor plays his part the others move to andTHE DRAMA 269fro as they will. Until the time arrives for them to takepart in the action they hold a white or coloured shawl infront of them, to let the audience understand that theyare not supposed to be seen.They now drop their screen and commence their part.They are five in number, all dressed as girls. In themeantime, the first actor, with his shawl concealing him, ishoisted by some attendants, with much talking, on to thetop of a post, and held there, seated on a cross- piece ofwood. A light at last dawns on the spectators. The firstactor is the god Krishna in his youth, the five others arethe five milkmaids who have come to bathe in the riverJumna, not knowing that the god is watching them. Theplay goes on; the five milkmaids lay their outer white robeson the ground and pretend to bathe, singing songs in thelocal vernacular, mingled with praise of Krishna, all nowmore or less intelligible to the audience. Krishna descendsfrom the tree, creeps near where the girls are supposed tobe talking, steals their clothes, and then is hoisted back tothe cross-piece on the top of the pole. The milkmaidsdiscover their loss and come wailing to Krishna, declaretheir love and devotion, and beg the return of theirgarments.For hours the play continues. The people never wearyof the monotonous cadence of the actors' voices, relievednow and then by the local jokes and coarse allusions ofthe buffoon, generally represented as a Brāhman.Beneath the whole performance can be seen the effortto represent, as it were, in the guise of a mystery play, thedeeds of Krishna and the joy of those who worship him,for though "some knew him and sought him as a son,some as a friend, some as an enemy, some as a lover;in the end all obtained the blessing of deliverance andemancipation."¹ Wilkins, “ Hindu Mythology, ” p. 176.270 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIt is impossible to trace any connection between representations such as these or other dramatic forms foundamong the people, and the artificial drama of classicSanskrit. This classic drama appears in India perfectedand formed, affording no conclusive evidence as to whetherit arose indigenously, or derived its classic impress fromoutside sources. The derivation of the terms “ nātyā ” and"nātaka," applied to dramatic representations, from a root"nat," a corruption of " nrit," " to dance," brings no freshlight to bear on the subject. The no doubt strikingresemblances between the best known Sanskrit plays andthose of Terence and Plautus have been held to justify theassumption that the Indian classic drama borrowed its formfrom Grecian and Roman sources. The question, so far,has received no final answer.The drama that may be taken as most typical of theearliest form of the classic school, and as giving a pictureof Indian life about the commencement of the Christianera, more life-like and less artificial than any other knownIndian drama, is the play of the " Mud Cart," the"Mricchakatikā," of unknown date and author.4The play itself has movement enough and is sufficientlyrealistic to be easily adapted to ensure a favourableWilson, "Theatre of the Hindus, ” p. xix.2 Lassen, " Indische Altertumskunde, " ii. 507.3 See Lévi, " Théatre Indien, ” for the connection between ( 1 ) the “ vidūsaka ”and " servus currens " ( p. 358 ); ( 2) the "vita " and " parasitus edax " (p. 360);(3) the "sakāra" and " miles gloriosus " (p. 360); ( 4) the Indian curtain, or"yavanika" as derived from " yavana "; the recognition ring, prologue,division into acts, etc. (p. 348 ) . As the subject relates to literature, it is notfurther referred to here. It still remains for those who assert foreign influenceto prove it more conclusively than up to the present has been done. See,especially, " Græco- Roman Influence on the Civilisation of Ancient India(J.R.A.S. , Bengal, No. III. 1889).• Ascribed to Dandin of the sixth century A. D. , by Pischel. See Col. Jacob,"Notes on Alankara Literature, " J.R.A.S. ( 1897 ) , p. 284. From internalevidence I should , if discussing the work from a literary standpoint, place itbefore the time of Kālidāsa,THE DRAMA 271reception in an English theatre. It was played only afew years ago at the Royal Court Theatre in Berlin, aswell as at the Court Theatre at Munich, where it rousedenthusiasm sufficient to recall the actors eight times beforethe curtain. The play as there acted was adapted for thestage from the well- known and accurate German translationof Böhtlingk. For the English student of literature, or forthe lover of the drama, there is a translation by HoraceHayman Wilson, which, meritorious and skilful though itbe, fails to preserve the form of the original.The play is in Sanskrit, mingled with the Prakrits, elevenof the characters speaking Saurasenī, two Avanti, onePraciya, six Māgadhī, the king's brother-in-law, the keeperof the gambling - house, the low caste Chāndālas andacolytes speaking Apabramsa. The play opens with abenediction to Śiva, the dread god, whose blue neck,when encircled with the clinging arm of his wife,Parvati, gleams like a dark cloud crossed by a runningline of lightning." 1The " Sutradhāra," or stage- manager, first enters, andspeaks in praise of the play and its author. The play, hestates, is to treat of love and real life. The name of theauthor is declared to be Sūdraka, "first of warriors," with thewalk of a noble elephant, the eye of a chakora bird, the faceof a full moon, who, though a king, became a poet ofunfathomable learning. He knew well the " Rig and SamaVedas," mathematics, the art of singing, dancing, andwanton dalliance, and the management of elephants. Thestage-manager then narrates how this kingly author losthis eyesight, had it restored to him by the favour of Śiva,then placed his son on the throne, performed the greathorse sacrifice, and, at the age of one hundred years andten days, ended his life by entering the fire. By thisSūdraka the play was written to tell how, in the town of1 Wilson, "Theatre of the Hindus, " vol. i. p. xxxv.272 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAAvanti, a young but poor Brahman, Charudatta, was lovedby Vasantasenā, a wanton like unto the goddess of Spring,and how from that pleasant love- feast arose in the courseoffate the triumph of right conduct over the wickedness ofjudicial enquiry and the behaviour of the bad. The placeof action of the drama is in the wealthy city of Avanti, orUjjain. The time of opening is a day of festival. Thestreets are decorated; girls grind paint to adorn the housefronts; flowers are being strung to form festoons; from thehouses comes the scent of savoury cooking. The giver ofthe feast but waits for a worthy Brahman to partake firstof the viands so that the feast may commence. This givesopportunity for the mention of Charudatta's name, for noactor may appear until his name is introduced. Charudattathen at length appears, dejected and downcast, sighingdeeply as he presents an offering before the threshold ofhis house to the household gods. As he scatters the scantystore he sighs, and looking upward recites in Sanskrit versehis lament:-"The ample offering to this, the threshold of my home, was quickly,in former days, borne away by swans and cranes; now it fallsbut a mere handful on the half-grown grass to be sought outby worms. "[ His friend Maitreya, a Brahman, the " Vidūshaka," or familiarcompanion ofthe hero, then enters and presents Charudattawith a jasmine-scented robe, sent by the giver of the feast.As Charudatta receives the robe, he remains plunged inthought.]"Bho! " cries Maitreya, " why should you now ponder? "“ Alas, my friend," answers Charudatta, “ happiness to one plunged insorrows gleams but as the glimmer of a lamp amid deep dark- ness. The man who sinks from wealth to poverty is deadindeed; he lives but bound to the body."MAITREYA [asks].-" Is then death to be preferred to poverty?" Andquickly comes the answer:"Death is by me preferred to poverty. Death is but fleeting pain,poverty is unending sorrow. "THE DRAMA 273MAITREYA. -Nay, in you, your wealth all bestowed on loved friends,your poverty is to be admired, just as is the glory of the waningmoon when its full brightness is snatched away by the immortalgods.CHARUDATTA. -Friend! Truly I take no heed of mylost wealth. Bythe course of fate riches come and go. One thought burns me,and that is how the world falls off from friendship with onewhose wealth has fled. Then from poverty flows shame;wrapped round by shame one's fame is lost; devoid of fameone is despised; then come deep despondency and grief. Themind then sunk in sorrow grows weak, the man sinks low.Wealth once gone, all other losses follow.MAITREYA. - Cease lamenting, friend. Wealth is but a trivial thing.CHARUDATTA. -Friend! Poverty overwhelms one with thought.Sneered at by strangers and the true strength of our enemies,it is the jest of friends and cause of scorn of one's own relations.It makes one long for the solitude of the forest, there to befree from the reproach of one's own wife. The fire of sorrowlingers in the heart, it burns not out. Friend, go, the offeringsto the household deities have now been made; go, offer themto the Mothers at the cross-roads.MAITREYA. -I go not.CHARUDATTA. -Why?MAITREYA.--Why should one honour the gods? By you they havebeen long honoured , yet they are not favourable.CHARUDATTA. - Friend! Not so, not so. Where the gods are worshipped by holy men with offering, penance, mind and words,they are ever pleased. Consider, bear the offerings to theMothers.MAITREYA. -Bho! I shall not go. Send some one else. For meeverything appears turned the wrong way round; right is left,and left right, just like an image seen in a mirror. Besides this,at this time of night on the high road dancing- girls, lewd men,servants and relations of the king wander about, and I mightbe seized just as the mouse was by the black serpent on thelook-out for a frog. What shall you do seated here?CHARUDATTA. -So be it.religious meditation.Stay then, and I shall engage myself inVoice is heard behind the screen].-Stay, Vasantasenā, stay.[Then enters Vasantasenā, followed by the king's brother-in- law,his companion a lewd parasite and a servant. ]THE COMPANION. -Vasantasenā! stay, stay! Why, from fear, yourS274 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAgentle grace abandoned, your feet ever gleaming in the dance,thrown here and there, your eyes throwing out side glances,anxious and trembling, do you fly like a deer startled bythepursuing hunter.KING'S BROTHER- IN - LAW, THE PRINCE. - Stay, dear Vasantasenā, stay.Why are you going? Why do you run? Why fly stumbling?Gentle one, be quieted, you shall not die, therefore stay.My heart with love is burning like flesh fallen on the burningcoal.ATTENDANT. —Stay, honoured lady, stay. Frightened, you go, sistermine, like a hot weather pea-hen with spread- out tail, whilemy respected master quickly follows like a young hound in the forest.ATTENDANT. -Vasantasenā! stay, stay. Why do you go shakinglike the young plantain tree, the edge of your red robe flutteringin the wind, scattering forth the opening buds from the massesof red lotuses, just like a cave of red ochre burst in pieces byan axe.PRINCE. -Stay, Vasantasenā, stay! Inflaming my love, born of thebodiless god of love, cruelly driving sleep from my couch bynight, you fly, stricken with fear, stumbling and slipping, youhave fallen into my possession, as Kunti into that of Rāvana.ATTENDANT. -Vasantasenā! Why do you with your steps exceedmine? Like a snake dreading the king of birds you speedaway. But I outstrip the rushing wind. In seizing you, Obest of limbed, there is to me no effort.PRINCE. -Sir, Sir! I have called her the scourge of money- stealers,the fish-eater, the wanton, no-nosed, destroyer of families,unowned, the treasure-casket of Cupid, a keeper of lewd houses,an adorned post, a parrot, a harlot; by me these ten nameshave been made for her, yet she loves me not.ATTENDANT. -Why do you fly disturbed by fear? With your cheeksbeaten by your swaying earrings , just as the Vīna struck by aVita with the finger- nails.PRINCE. Why do you fly, like Draupadi¹ from Rāma, all yourornaments jingling as you go?eat fish and flesh.search of these.ATTENDANT. -Take now the king's brother-in-law, and you shallDogs wait not in a dead man's house inHonoured Vasantasena, why do you flyovercome with fear, bearing on your hip your garland of manyfolds, gleaming with speckled stars like pearls, with your facedeep dyed with red paint, like the city goddess?¹ The speaker here, as elsewhere, makes humorous blunders.THE DRAMA 275PRINCE. You are now being closely followed by us, as in the forestthe fox by dogs; you fly quickly, hurrying with speed, bearingmy heart with its covering.[Vasantasenă cries for help].PRINCE [in fear].-Sir, Sir! There are men.ATTENDANT. -Fear not, fear not.VASANTASENA. -Madanikā! Madanikā!ATTENDANT [ laughing].—Fool, she summons her attendants.PRINCE. -Sir, Sir! She seeks women.ATTENDANT. -Then what?PRINCE. I am a hero. I can kill a hundred women.VASANTASENĀ [seeing no one].-Alas, alas! Even my attendantsWho can helpyou by the hairhave disappeared. I must indeed protect myself.ATTENDANT. -Search! search!PRINCE. -Dear Vasantasenā! Cry, cry out for aid.you, followed by me? I, myself, having seizedof the head. Now see, now see, the sword is sharp and thehead ready. We cut off the head or we slay. There is enoughof your running away. One who is about to die does not trulylive.VASANTASENĀ. -Sir, I am but a woman.ATTENDANT. For that alone you will be preserved.PRINCE. For that alone you will not die.VASANTASENA [ aside].-How even his very courtesy engenders fear.Let it be so then [ aloud] -Then you desire some jewels.ATTENDANT. -Forfend us, Lady Vasantasenā. The gardener desiresnot to steal flowers. Therefore there is no fear for your jewels.VASANTASENA. -Then what indeed now?PRINCE -That I, a god-like hero, a man, an incarnation of wealth,am to be loved.VASANTASENA [ with anger].-Shame! Shame! you speak unworthily.PRINCE [clapping his hands and laughing gently, mistaking the exclamation Shame! ( Sānta) for “ śrānta ” ( weary) ] .— Noble sir, seenow, how courteous is this young dancing-girl, since she asksme, Are you weary, are you tired. I have gone to no othervillage nor town. Lady, I swear by your head, and by myfeet, that by following close on you I have become wearyand tired.ATTENDANT. -The fool imagines the girl says " be rested," when shecries "forfend us!" Vasantasenā, your house is that of adancing- girl, open to all. You, a wanton, are like the waysidecreeper swayed equally by peaco*ck and crow.VASANTASENĀ.-Merit and not power is truly the only cause of love276 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAPRINCE. She is a dancing-girl from her birth. From the day shefirst saw Charudatta in the temple of the God of Love, she hasbecome enamoured of him, and will not bend to my will. Take care, his house is near, see that she escape not from our hands.ATTENDANT ON PRINCE [ aside] -What! the fool blurts out what heshould hide. Vasantasena in love with Charudatta! then truly pearls match pearls. Let the fool go. I shall aid Vasantasenā.[Aloud] Hullo! all in deep darkness. The house of Charudattais to the left. [In a whisper] Vasantasena, conceal yourself in the evening darkness like lightning shut in by heavy clouds;let not the perfume from your garlands nor sound of yourjewelsbetray you.[Vasantasena removes her garlands and jewels, and feels her wayby the side wall of Charudatta's house. Charudatta is seeninside his house with Maitreya and a female servant. ]CHARUDATTA. -My prayers are now ended. Go, present the offeringsto the Mothers.MAITREYA. -I go not.not his words.CHARUDATTA. -Alas! From poverty of a man, even his friends heedHis power is laughed at; none desires hisacquaintance, nor speaks to him with respect. Truly povertyis the sixth great sin.MAITREYA. O friend, if I must go, then let the servant go with meas a companion.CHARUDATTA. -Be it so.[As the servant takes a light, Maitreya opens the side door, nearwhich stands Vasantasena, who, as the servant approaches,blows out the light with the end of her garment. ]MAITREYA [exclaims].—Ah! by the opening of the door the light hasbeen extinguished. Pass out, servant, while I go again inside torelight the lamp.[The servant goes into the street, where she is seized by the princeand his attendant. She cries out. ]THE PRINCE. - See, see, I have seized Vasantasenā. Recognising herflying by the perfume of her garland I have seized her by thehair of her head. Now let her cry, weep, and rage on allthe gods.[The servant cries out, and Maitreya returns with an upraisedstick. ]MAITREYA. - Shame! a dog in his own house would be outraged bythis violence. How much more I , a Brahman? With thisTHE DRAMA 277knotted stick, rough as our fate, I shall grind like dried-upreeds your heads with blows. [ Seeing the prince] Are, Are, badman, this is not fit. Ifthe honoured Charudatta be poor, whatthen? Has he not made all Ujjayin renowned by his merits.Why, then, is there this disgrace of strangers entering his house?ATTENDANT ON PRINCE. -Great Brahman, stay, stay, we came notthrough insolence; one loved by us was sought.MAITREYA. -Who? This servant?ATTENDANT. -Avert the sin. No, one who is as fire. She is nowlost. By our mistake this insolence has occurred. Take nowthis sword, and let all be yours [ offering sword andfalling atMaitreya's feet.]THE PRINCE. Ofwhom are you afraid? Who is this Charudatta whohas no food in his house? Who is he? slave from his birth,and son of a slave from her birth. Is he a renowned warrioror one ofthe heroes of old?ATTENDANT [rising].-Fool! he is the noble Charudatta. The tree ofplenty to the poor, bowed down by its own good fruits. He isthe support of all good people, the model of all training, thetouchstone of good behaviour, the boundary shore of decorum,the doer of good, the despiser of none, a mine of manly merit,courteous, gentle, and strong. He alone is worthy of praise.He alone lives, others merely breathe. Let us go.PRINCE. -What! without Vasantasenā? I shall not go until Iget her.ATTENDANT. -An elephant may be held by a rope, a horse by abridle, but have you not heard that a woman can only be heldby her heart? Let us go [ departs by himself.]PRINCE [ turning to Maitreya].— Hold! you crow- foot headed fool.Tell that beggar, Charudatta, that since the day Vasantasenāsaw him in the temple of the God of Love she has becomeenamoured of him. As I sought to seize her by force she hasnow entered his house. If now he deliver her into my handshe wins my firm affection, if not, my deadly hatred. Go in andtell him this, else I shall chaw your head like a nut crunchedbeneath a door [departs. ][Maitreya commands the servant to say nothing of the affray toCharudatta, so as not to increase the distress of his ill- fate.Charudatta in his house mistakes Vasantasenā, who has entered inthe darkness, for his servant, and holds out to her the jasminerobe, directing her to take it to his child, Rohasena, as thenight is cold. ]278 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAVASANTASENA [aside] .- He conceives that I am one of his servants[taking the robe. ] Strange, the robe is scented with the perfumeofjasmine flowers. Then he is not yet indifferent to everything.[Charudatta, on discovering his mistake, apologises. Vasantasenāasks permission to leave her casket of jewels at his house;Charudatta consents, and the first act ends by her beingescorted home by Charudatta and Maitreya. ]The second act introduces the home of Vasantasena,both the inside of the house being seen and also a streetwith a small, empty temple.A servant plys Vasantasena with questions concerningCharudatta. A cry is heard from the street, announcing thata gambler has fled from a gaming- house without havingpaid ten gold pieces which he had lost. The keeper ofthe gaming- house and other gamblers are pursuing him tomake him pay his debts. The gambler appears, bemoaning his bad luck and passion for gambling. Seeing thetemple empty he enters, and stands there as if he were theimage of the god. The pursuers sit down before the templeand proceed to play. The first gambler, unable to listen tothe rattle of the dice, rushes from his place in the templeto join in the game. He is seized and beaten; a riotoccurs, during which he escapes and flies for safety intothe house of Vasantasenā, who, on hearing that he hadbeen in the service of Charudatta, sends out to the keeperof the gambling- house and his associates a bracelet inpayment of the debt. The gambler, overcome by hisdisgrace, departs, declaring his intention of becoming aBuddhist mendicant.In the third act a dissipated Brahman, in love with anattendant of Vasantasenā, steals the jewel casket confided byVasantasenāto the care ofCharudatta. The midnight scene,depicting the cutting through of the wall of Charudatta'shouse, the entry and seizure of the casket, is a most subtlepicture of Hindu ingenuity. It is too long and minute inits descriptions for Western ideas, but in the East, whereTHE DRAMA 279every restless want is soon satiated, an audience gladlyluxuriates in these subdued effects.When Charudatta's wife hears of the loss, she sends allthat remains of her wealth—a wondrous string of pearlsto her husband, telling him to save his honour by forwarding them to Vasantasena in exchange for the lost casket.The fourth act shows Vasantasena's house. The burglarof the night before brings the casket of jewels to hismistress, the attendant of Vasantasenā, by whom thecasket is restored to Vasantasenā, who rewards herservant by giving her in marriage to the now reformedBrahman robber.So far the imagery throws a vivid light on the people,their thoughts and mode of life. The unity of action isnow broken by introducing into the main plot a secondplot, in which is well depicted the petty intrigues surrounding the downfall of a local chieftain and uprising of a newdynasty.As the Brahman robber and his wife depart from thehouse of Vasantasenā a herald's cry is heard:—"Ho! ho! there, Bho! The king's brother- in- law hereby proclaims.It has been prophesied that one Āryaka, a cow- herd, shall yet become king. Now let each one hear and remain content inhis own place, for the King Pālaka has taken the cow-herdĀryaka and placed him in a deep dungeon."THE BRAHMAN ROBBER. -Alas! the King Pālaka has bound my dearfriend Āryaka, and I am about to marry. Ah, fate! In thisworld two things are very dear to a man, a friend, and a wife.Better, however, than even one hundred fair girls is one dearfriend. I go not home.[The Brahman at once sends his new wife to his home, andhastens himself to raise a band to release Āryaka from theviolence of the reigning king, Pālaka. Maitreya next entersVasantasena's house, and tells her of the loss of the casket.He presents to her the string of pearls in exchange, and shesmilingly announces her intention of visiting Charudatta. ]The fifth act ushers in the tempestuous suddenness of a280 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAtropical storm preluding the love of Charudatta andVasantasena. Charudatta is seated in his pleasure-garden,awaiting the visit of Vasantasena, who hastens to his side,defying all the evil omens that hover round."Let the clouds fall in torrents, thunder roar,And Heaven's red bolt dart fiery to the ground.The dauntless damsel faithful love inspiresTreads boldly on nor dreads the maddening storm.” 1[Charudatta receives her gently, and prays her not to revile thecloud: ]"Reprove it not, for let the rain descend,The heavens still lour and wide the lightnings launchAhundred flames; they have befriended me,And given me her for whom I sighed in vain. " *In the sixth act Vasantasenā awakens in the house ofCharudatta to find that he has gone to a neighbouringpleasure-garden, having left a message that she is to follow.Her carriage awaits her. Before she enters, the driverdiscovers that he has forgotten the cushions, and drives offto fetch them. In his absence, the carriage of the king'sbrother- in- law passes down the street. In the press of thetraffic its driver stays it at the door of Charudatta's house,and descends to clear the road. Vasantasenā, taking it forher own, ascends, and is driven away.The rebel Aryaka now appears on the stage. He isfettered, having escaped from the king's dungeon. Hebewails his lot, and, seeing Vasantasena's empty carriage,ascends it, and is driven to the pleasure-garden, where he ismet by Charudatta, who, pitying his condition, removes hisfetters, gives him a sword, and directs him to escape fromthe town.The seventh act takes place in the same pleasure-garden.The gambler, who has turned a Buddhist mendicant,2 Ibid. , P. 280, 1 Wilson, "Theatre of the Hindus, " vol. i. p. 97.THE DRAMA 281appears, and is met by the king's brother-in-law. In fearhe cries out:-"Alas! here comes the king's brother-in-law. We know that he wasonce insulted by a mendicant, and now he slits the nose of everyBuddhist beggar he sees, and drives him forth. Where shall Iunprotected fly? The lord Buddha is now my only refuge."[As the Buddhist conceals himself, Vasantasenā arrives, and as shealights the king's brother-in- law falls at her feet and pleadshis false love]:"Mother, sister, hear my prayer. Here, O large- eyed one, at your feetI fall. With upraised hands I pray you, O fair-limbed one, toforgive the fault that in my passion I may have committed."[Vasantasenā spurns him with her foot, and upbraids him for hisignoble behaviour. In his rage he drags her by the hair ofher head from the carriage, and calls on the driver of thecarriage by threats and bribes to slay her. The driver criesin horror that Vasantasenā has done no wrong; she is young,the ornament of the whole town. Should she be slain, the fourquarters would bear witness to the deed, as would the sylvangods, the Moon, the Sun with its bright rays, Justice and theWind, the Inward Self, the Earth, the true witnesses of Rightand Wrong.[The king's brother- in-law beats the driver, who flies from the garden. An attendant alone remains concealed close athand. The prince again pleads his suit, and Vasantasenāanswers]: 1"I spurn you;Nor can you tempt me, abject wretch with gold.Though soiled the leaves, the bees fly not the lotus,Nor shall my heart prove traitor to the homageIt pays to merit though its lord be poor."[The enraged Prince taunts her for still remembering Charudatta,and she replies]:"Why should I not remember that which is planted in my heart."PRINCE. Then that which is planted in your heart, and you also,lover of a mean, wealth- forsaken Brāhman, I shall slay. Stay,stay.VASANTASENĀ. —Speak again those words, for they flatter me.1 Wilson, "Theatre of the Hindus, " vol. i. p. 135.282 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAPRINCE. Let then that Charudatta, son of a dancing-girl, now protectyou.VASANTASENĀ. -He would protect me if he could but see me.[Prince seizes her.]VASANTASENĀ—Ho! mother, where are you! Ha, noble Charudatta!The vile wretch slays me even before my wish has beenaccomplished. Yet I shall not cry out. No, that were shameshould Vasantasena's cry be heard. Let there be only this:salutation to the noble Charudatta!PRINCE. Again, the slave from her birth, uses the name of Charudatta[seizes her by the throat]. Remember, slave from your birth,remember.VASANTASENĀ. —Salutation to the noble Charudatta [ falls senseless].PRINCE. -Now, at last, this bamboo box of wickedness, this abidingplace of incivility, who came to meet her lover Charudatta, hasmet her death.[The prince covers Vasantasena with leaves, and then departs.The Buddhist mendicant appears, and discovers Vasantasenā.He pours water over her, and she revives. Fearing to toucha woman, he bends down a branch of a neighbouring tree,so that Vasantasenā may seize it, and rise. They depart fora neighbouring convent, where dwells a holy sister, theBuddhist mendicant reciting his lay that the man whose acts,and thoughts, and senses are subdued, has naught to do withaffairs of the world, for he holds in his grasp the next worldfirm. ]The ninth act gives the only picture of a Court ofJustice in Indian literature. There the prince carries allbefore him. Charudatta is accused ofthe crime, condemned,and led forth to execution sorrowfully lamenting:-"Alas, my poor friend!Had due investigation been allowed me,Or any test proposed, water or poison,The scales or scorching fire, and I had failedThe proof, then might the law have been fulfilledAnd I deservedly received my doom.But this will be avenged, and for the sentenceThat dooms a Brahman's death, on the mere chargeOf a malicious foe, the bitter portionThat waits for thee, and all thy line, O king,Is Hell- proceed-I am prepared. " 11 Wilson, " Theatre of the Hindus, " vol. i. p. 159.THE DRAMA 283The tenth act occurs at the place of execution. At thelast moment the truth is made known, and Charudatta isreleased. The news is then announced that the kingPālaka has been slain, and Aryaka placed on the throne.Charudatta is raised to high office, and signalises hisaccession to power by ordering the immediate release ofthe prince, whom the mob would have torn to pieces. TheBuddhist mendicant is made chief of all the Buddhistmonasteries in the land. Charudatta is restored to his wife,and the last words of the play are uttered:-"Fate views the world,A scene of mutual and perpetual struggleFor some are raised to affluence, some depressedIn want, while some are borne awhile aloft,And some hurled down to wretchedness and woe. "1The play differs essentially from all other plays of theclassic period. In its dramatic interest, in its realistic viewof life, in its humour and raciness, it is unique in the wholeliterary history of India. Many of the scenes are undoubtedly filled in with all the exuberance and artificialityof an Eastern poet's imagination, which makes it rash toassert that the whole play is the work of one hand.Nevertheless, to any one acquainted with the inner life ofIndia, especially that phase of it dealt with in the " MudCart," the position of the dancing-girl, the surroundings andassociates of a debauched Indian prince, the life of themerchant Brahman, Charudatta, the behaviour of the officersof the household guard, of whom two are depicted in theplay as falling to fisticuffs over the escape of Āryaka, thecondition of affairs, and appearance of effeminate men, in thepleasure-garden of Vasantasenā, are all life- like, and foundedon what must have been facts at the period treated of. Thegreat value of the play is contained in the side- light itthrows on the history of the people, revealing them, not as1 Wilson, " Theatre of the Hindus, ” vol. i. p. 180.284 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAseen in the ideal descriptions of the law books and morerecondite literature, but as types well known to the audiencefor whom the play was prepared. Although the simplicityof the style and structure of the language afford noconclusive evidence respecting the age of the play, stillit may, in the absence of any reliable evidence to thecontrary, be accepted as giving a poetic description,drawn from life, of the manners of the country where itwas produced, at or about the commencement of theChristian era.The difficulties in the way of ascertaining the dates ofany of the earlier Sanskrit dramas seem to be almost asinsurmountable as those for arriving at any unanimousopinion regarding the genesis of their form. WhileKālidāsa is universally accepted as the Shakespeare of theIndian drama, it must be remembered that this is merelymeant to indicate that his plays represent the purest and—according to Eastern ideals-highest artistic form of theclassic drama.Any natural tendency of the classic drama to recogniseand assimilate to itself the common life - history of thepeople, and their modes of thought and expression, wasunfortunately checked by foreign conquest. Kālidāsa,¹¹ Peterson, J. R. A. S. ( Bombay) , vol. xviii. p. 110: -"For it is certain now thatKālidāsa must be put earlier than has lately been very generally supposed.He stands near the beginning of our era, if indeed he does not overtop it, anddates from the year one of Vikrama's era. ” See more particularly G. R.Nandargikar, " Meghaduta of Kālidāsa " ( Bombay, 1894) , p. 84: —“ And it isalso probable, nay almost certain, that Kālidāsa, the Virgil of the Hindus, mayhave lived some forty years before the beginning of the Christian era, and mayalso have been a poet in the imperial court of Vikramaditya, who began toreign from 57 B.C. "To Miss Duff I am indebted for the following note:-" The Jaina poetRavikirti flourished 610 A.D. , being contemporary with Pulikeśin II . , ‘ EarlyChalukya. ' He was the composer of Pulikeśin's Aihole Meguti inscription,in which he claims equality with the poets Kālidāsa and Bhāravi, thus incidentally proved to have flourished before this time. No definite date can, asyet, be fixed for Kālidāsa, but, according to Kielhorn, he cannot be placed laterthan 472 A.D. , the date of Kumāra Gupta's Mandasor inscriptions, a verse ofTHE DRAMA 285therefore, remains the sole, unrivalled exponent ofthe pure,classic mode of representing life and thought in theearly ages.While with Wilson it may be said that " it is impossibleto conceive language so beautifully musical and so magnificently grand as that of many of the verses of Bhavabhutiand Kālidāsa," the two great dramatists of classical India,it must be remembered that these dramas are studiedcompositions, the Sanskrit portions being intended exclusively as an intellectual feast for the learned. So muchof the life of the period as is shadowed forth in thedramas of Kālidāsa can only be fully understood in theform in which the poet's mind conceived it in the originalSanskrit. Bereft of this, the vision is blurred and indistinct,lifeless facts alone remaining in any translation, howeverperfect. In the Sanskrit alone can the lines be traced onwhich the poet's fancy modelled a form such as grew tolife in " Sakuntalā," who spoke in a music, each note ofwhichwas skilfully attuned to her own gentle grace.The play itself is a true Nātaka, considered the highestform of Indian dramatic art, having for its object therepresentation of heroic or god- like characters, and thepresentation of good deeds. The play does not profess togive a realistic picture of the life of the people. It isidealistic in its conception, full of lofty sentiment, artificialand wilfully elaborate in its diction, the Sanskrit portionsbeing unintelligible to the greater part of the audience whichheard the play.The play opens with the appearance of the legendaryking, Dushyanta, of the Lunar Race, descendant of Puru.1 which so closely resembles Kālidāsa's ' Ritusanhāra ' as to justify the inferencethat this work was in existence when the inscription was incised. Similarlythe Buddha Gaya inscription of Mahāvārnam contains a passage closely resembling one in the ' Raghuvansa. ' "-B.D. , 59, vol. iii. 121 ff; " Ind. Ant. , ”xix. 285; xx. 190; J.B.R.A.S., xix. 35.1 I fail to see that there are any grounds for the conclusion286 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAHe is seated in his chariot and is armed with bow andarrow. The absence of stage properties gives opportunityfor the description of the scenery. The king's horses arebeing urged in pursuit of a flying deer. As Dushyantagains on the deer he prepares to shoot an arrow, when avoice is heard, declaring that he is trespassing on a sacredhermitage, south of Hastinapur, the dwelling of the sageKanva and his disciples.Sakuntala, the daughter of a heavenly nymph sent fromHeaven by Indra to allure the ascetic sage Visvamitrafrom his penances, dwells in the hermitage under the careof her foster- father Kanva. Her lips gleam with the gleamof the young bud, her arms are twining like the tendercreeper, while over all her limbs youth glows as in theblossom of a flower. The king stands in the midst of thehermitage, the peace of which he has so rudely broken.The hermits move quietly to and fro; the smoke of sacrificerises here and there in the sacred grove, lingering amidthe foliage ofthe variegated forest trees; fawns graze fearlesson the sacred grass; water led in channels flows throughout the grove; parrots flit from out the hollow trunks oftrees; the garments made of bark for the sage's pupils hanghere and there. Kanva, the sage, is absent from thehermitage, having gone on a pilgrimage to the sea- coastnear Gujarāt.As Sakuntalā appears on the scene the king standswatching her, wondering if he, a warrior, can ever hope towin one whom he takes to be the daughter of a Brahman.Though the king knows that among hermits, whose onlytreasure is their store of forbearance, there lies deep hiddena burning and passionate wrath which may blaze forthagainst those who oppose their sacred calling, still he knowsthat though the maiden is in the charge of the ascetic sage,his heart cannot turn back from her, no more than watercan from the low land. The same is true of Sakuntalā.THE DRAMA 287Gentler, more winning in her grace, more youthful thanGretchen or Juliet, she has a deeper note, a more humancharm than either. Eastern, subtle, evasive, throbbingwith love, veiled with reserve, there yet grows within her apassionate and seething love for the king, which she triesto stifle, but from which she can find no peace. The kinglearns the secret of her descent from the warrior sageVisvamitra, and so all impediment to their union isremoved. No adaptation, however skilful, no wealth ofscenery, however gorgeous, could ever prevent the playfrom being laughed off an English stage. The languor ofthe movement as the love scenes subtly blend thewhole ascetic grove into throbbing sympathy with thedrama of life woven out by the poet is too essentiallyEastern to stay the quick eagerness of Western thought.The king and Sakuntala twine their lives together,according to the Gandharva¹ form of marriage, a simpleplighted troth, by which, as Dushyanta urges, otherdaughters of great sages have been led away, unblamed bytheir fathers. Dushyanta has soon to leave Sakuntalā,on an urgent summons to return to his kingdom. ToSakuntala he leaves as sign of future recognition his tokenring. She, dreaming of her departed husband, neglects toreceive with due rites of hospitality a great sage, whoseanger and imprecations were so feared that even the godswent in dread of him. This fierce sage, enraged bytheneglect, cursed Sakuntalā, declaring that the king wouldnever more recollect her face. He afterwards relented inso far as to declare that the king's memory would berestored on sight of the token ring.The remainder of the play is the working out of theresult of the sage's curse. Sakuntalā lost the ring whenbathing, and it was swallowed by a fish. The king disowned her when she arrived at the court with her child,1 "Manu, " iii. 32.288 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe famed Bharata. The plays ends with the recovery ofthe ring by two fishermen, the restoration of the king'smemory, and the recognition of Sakuntala as queen, andof her son Bharata as heir to the kingdom.The second great drama of Kālidāsa, the "Vikramorvasi,”or " Urvasi, Won by Valour," depicts in five short acts theadventures of a heavenly nymph, Urvasi, who was rescuedfrom a demon by her lover, the heroic king, Purūravas.The third play deals with history. It is the story ofa*gnimitra, the son of Pushpamitra, who having put todeath the last of the Maurya monarchs, founded theSunga dynasty of Magadha. In spite of the opposition ofhis two queens, Agnimitra falls in love with a girl of hiscourt, Mālavikā, and ultimately succeeds in marrying her,and in having her recognised by her rivals.The second great romantic dramatist of India wasBhavabhūti, who flourished at the end of the seventhcentury of our era. To him three plays are ascribed, the"Malati Madhava," the " Mahā-vīra- Charitra," and the" Uttara- Rama-Charitra. "The over-elaborated and fantastic style of Bhavabhūti,especially in the "Malati Madhava," has produced a resultso artificial and purely literary, that Mr Grierson declares:"I do not believe that there ever was even a pandit inIndia who could have understood, say, the more difficultpassages of Bhavabhūti at first hearing, without previousstudy."The poet in his opening prologue shows that hewrote his play with no attempt to appeal to any butscholars and learned pandits. " How little do they know,"he wrote, " who speak of us with censure. The entertainment is not for them. Possibly some one exists, or willexist, of similar tastes with myself, for time is boundless,and the world is wide. "Notwithstanding the extreme artificiality of much of theTHE DRAMA 289style ofthe " Mālati Madhava," it is invaluable for the stronglight it throws on certain phases of the more obscuresuperstitious rites of Hinduism. In order to produce hiseffects, the dramatist conjures up scenes that seize theimagination, with a reality more vivid and a spell moreweird and uncanny than even the witch's scene in Macbeth,or the Walpurgis Night in Faust. In the play, Malati isthe daughter of the minister of Ujjayin, and Mādhava, theson ofthe chief minister of the state of Viderbha or Berar.Mālati is nursed by a Buddhist nun at Ujjayin. ThereMadhava is also sent, for, as the drama declares, it wascustomary in these days for students to crowd to theschools of the Buddhists to learn logic. The King ofUjjayin demands Mālatī in marriage for a favourite of hisown. The chief value of the story, as a revelation ofIndian thought, consists not only in the evidence it affordsas to the position of Buddhism at the period , but also inthe light it throws on later Hindu beliefs and practices.In the more important eighteen " Puranas " a fullaccount is given of Hinduism, so far as it is concernedwith the worship of Brahma, Vishnu, and Śiva, whilein the numerous " Tantras," the tenets of the Śaktas, orworshippers of the Sakti, the active, creative side of eachdeity, personified as a female energy, bearing the Śānkhyarelationship of the Prakriti to Purusha, are detailed in alltheir forbidding reality.In the drama of Bhavabhūti, these Tantric practices arepictured forth in scenes which never could have beenimagined unless they were based on a substratum of fact.Though these practices are reprobated in the text, and setforth in their more unholy aspect as fit only for outcastsand heretics, yet there is ample evidence that they werenot uncommon.The goddess whose worship is described in the " MālatīMadhava," is Chamundā, a form of Durgā, the consort ofT290 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAŚiva. Her high priest has vowed to present to the dreadgoddess a chaste virgin as a sacrifice, and the choice fallson Malati. The maiden is led by sorcery to the templeof the goddess, there to be slain. Kapāla Kundalā, ¹ theserving priestess, sings the praise of the goddess, thepersonification of divine energy. The scene takes placein a burning ground, near which stands the temple of thedread deity. Inside the temple Malati lies bound. Inthe midst of the horrible scene, the most horrible thatgenius has ever made sublime, Madhava enters. Determined to call in the aid of foul demons and sorcery to winMalati for his bride, he has come to put the unholy Tantricrites into practice on the very ground where stands thetemple of Chamundā. He is unaware of the fact thatMalati has been entrapped, and lies bound near at hand.The darkest aspect of Indian superstition is now revealed inthe play:-"Now wake the terrors of the place, besetWith crowding and malignant fiends; the flamesFrom funeral pyres scarce lend their sullen lightClogged with their fleshy prey to dissipateThe fearful gloom that hems them in. Pale ghostsSpirit with foul goblins, and their dissonant mirthIn shrill respondent shrieks is echoed round. "2Madhava enters bearing the flesh of man, “ untouchedby trenchant steel," to present to the fell demons andunholy spirits, and so gain their aid.The priestess enters, " in a heavenly car, and in a hideousgarb" to disclose the means whereby, some have imagined,the Yogis of India acquire mystic powers:-"Glory to Saktinath, upon whose steps,The mighty goddesses attend, whom seekSuccessfully alone the firm of thought.He crowns the lofty aims of those who knowAnd hold his form, as the pervading spirit,1 The title chosen for one of Bankim Chandra Chatterji's novels.2 Wilson, "Theatre of the Hindus, " vol. ii . p. 55.THE DRAMA 291That, one with their own essence, makes his seatThe heart, the lotus centre of the sphereSixfold by ten nerves circled. Such am I.Freed from all perishable bonds, I viewThe eternal soul embodied as the God,Forced by my spells to tread the mystic labyrinth,And rise in splendour throned upon my heart.Hence through the many channelled veins I drawThe grosser elements of this mortal body,And soar unwearied through the air, dividingThe water- shedding clouds. Upon my flight,Horrific honours wait;-the hollow skulls,That low descending from my neck depend,Emit fierce music as they clash together,Or strike the trembling plates that gird my loins. " ¹The scene that follows is horribly revolting. To thosebefore whom it will bring up memories of the true recordsofthe Aghoris, or human flesh-eating religious maniacs ofrecent days in India, it is a scene of extreme interest, aswell as to all students of Indian thought, who cannotneglect anything that tends to throw light on a subjectwhich is ever fascinating-the strange diversity of thewanderings of Eastern beliefs. Madhava shakes off thedemon host and unclean spirits:-"Race dastardly as hideous. All is plungedIn utter gloom. The river flows before me,The boundary of the funeral ground that windsThrough mouldering bones its interrupted way.Wild raves the torrent as it rushes past,And rends its crumbling banks, the wailing owlHoots through its skirting groves, and to the soundsThe loud, long moaning jackal yells reply. "2Within the temple the human- sacrificing priest dances hisTantric dance around his victims, invoking the goddess:-" Hail! hail! Chamundā, mighty goddess, hail!I glorify thy sport, when in the danceThat fills the court of Śiva with delight,Thy foot descending spurns the earthly globe.12Wilson, "Theatre ofthe Hindus, " vol. ii . p. 53. Ibid. , p. 56.292 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA" The elephant hide that robes thee, to thy stepsSwings to and fro: the whirling talons rendThe crescent on thy brow; from the torn orbThe trickling nectar falls, and every skullThat gems thy necklace laughs with horrid life. " 1Madhava breaks in upon the scene. He slays the priestand rescues Malati, happily ending one of the most aweinspiring pictures that the history of the literature of anynation could fashion from real life, and clothe in thebrilliant colours so typical of all the work of Bhavabhūti.The play moves on through many more incidents, themost interesting being the appearance of a Buddhistpriestess towards the end of the drama, who, by practisingall the principles laid down in the " Yoga," has arrived at acommand over sorcery even greater than that reached by aBodhisattva.The second great play of Bhavabhūti, the " MahaviraCharitra," dramatises the first six books of the " Rāmāyana,”detailing the story of Rama, who rescues from the grasp ofthe ten - headed monster, Rāvana, the King of Lanka(Ceylon), his wife, Sīta, the loved of all Indian women.In the " Uttara- Rama- Charitra," the third play of Bhavabhūti, the seventh book ofthe " Rāmāyana " is dramatised, inwhich the chastity of Sītā is questioned, and she is fora time divorced from Räma, to be reunited after manytrials:-" Tis Sītā: mark,How lovely through her tresses darkAnd floating loose, her face appearsThough pale and wan and wet with tears.She moves along like TendernessInvested with a mortal dress. " 2In the " Uttara- Rama- Charitra " is introduced the strange1 Wilson, "Theatre of the Hindus, " vol. ii. p. 58.2 Ibid. , vol. i. p. 327.THE DRAMA 293story of Sambūka, a Sūdra, who was slain by Rāma forthat he, being a Sūdra, dared to engage in pious penances.To Rama-"... There came a voice from HeavenCommanding him go forth and seek Sambūka,One of an outcast origin, engagedIn pious penance: he must fall by Rāma. "In Manu¹ the duty of a Sūdra is distinctly laid down asmeekly serving the three higher castes. In the " Raghuvamsa" of Kālidāsa the same story of Sambūka is repeated.Here Rāma finds the Sūdra practising penance by hanging,head downwards, from a tree, his eyes full of smoke. OnRāma questioning the Sūdra, the “ drinker of smoke," as heis called, replied that he desired to attain the position of agod, whereon Rāma cut off his head as a punishment foroverstepping the duties of his caste and engaging inpenance. In both these cases the Sūdra obtained theheavenly reward,³ not because of his penance, but becausehe had been slain by the deified hero, Rāma.By some the legend of this punishment of the SūdraSambūka is held to contain a reference to Christianinfluences on the west coast of India.¹The " Nāgānanda " is remarkable as being the onlyBuddhist drama known. It is often ascribed to the king,Śiladitya II. , whom Hiouen Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim,found as King of Kanauj in the seventh century when hevisited India, but it was more probably the work of a poetDhavaka.5 The two last acts of the play are laid in thewestern Ghats, where the Garuda, the king of birds, isengaged in daily devouring a Nāga, a man- like snake.The hero of the drama, Jimūtavāhana, gives his own1 "Manu, " i. 91. 2 " Raghuvamsa, ” 15, 50."Satāmgatim, 15, 53; " Raghuvamsa. "See V. A. Smith, " Civilisation of Ancient India, " J. B. R. A.S. , vol. lxi.part 1 , p. 76.See Cowell's Introduction to Boyd's translation.294 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAbody to be devoured, so as to save the Naga race fromdesecration. The Garuda, recognising him as a Bodhisattva,exclaims:"What a terrible sin have I committed! In a word, this is aBodhisattva whom I have slain. "Jimūtavahana revives and expounds to the Garuda theBuddhist doctrine of respect for all life."Cease for ever from destroying life; repent of thy former deeds;labour to gather together an unbroken chain of good actionsby inspiring confidence in all living beings."The " Mudra Rakshasa," ascribed to one Visākadatta, aplay ofthe twelfth century, is based on the revolution thatplaced Chandra Gupta, the Sandrakottos of Megasthenes, onthe throne of Pātaliputra, in the commencement of thefourth century B.C., by the aid of the crafty Brahmanminister, Chanakya, who slew the reigning Nanda king.¹The plot is, for the most part, the winning over ofRakshasa, the minister of the deposed monarch, to theparty of the new king, Chandra Gupta I. , of the Mauryadynasty. The play opens with Chanakya devising meansto secure the kingdom he had won for Chandra Gupta againstall future intrigues."Tis known to all the world,I vowed the death of Nanda and I slew him.The current of a vow will work its wayAnd cannot be resisted. What is doneIs spread abroad, and I no more have powerTo stop the tale. Why should I? Be it known,The fires of my wrath alone expireLike the fierce conflagration of a forestFrom lack of fuel, not from weariness." 2The rumour has been spread throughout the citythat the murder of Nanda had been perpetrated by1 The story of Nanda, as given in the " Brihad Kathā ” of Vararuchi, isdetailed in Wilson's " Theatre of the Hindus, " vol. ii. pp. 138-41.2 Wilson's translation , vol. ii . p. 157.THE DRAMA 295Rakshasa, the late minister, and the cunning craft ofChanakya has now to work to gain Rakshasa to thewinning side. So Chanakya soliloquises how to effect hispurpose:-"I have my spies abroad-they roam the realmIn various garb disguised, in various tonguesAnd manners skilled, and prompt to wear the showOfzeal to either party, as needs serve."1One of the spies is depicted as wandering through thecountry with a panorama,2 describing the terrors of hell,and the tortures there suffered by the wicked. The sametravelling show is common in India to-day, and is alsoalluded to in the " Harsha Charita " of Bāna, showing howslowly changes take place in habits and customs.This showman in his travels, while displaying hispanorama and singing his ballads, enters the house ofone, Chandana Dās, where the wife of Rakshasa is concealed.The spy observes her, manages to secure the signet ringshe wears, and bring it to Chānakya, who recognises it asthat of Rakshasa. The wily minister has obtained theclue he sought, and lays his plans accordingly. ChandanaDas is cast into prison, there to await his death forrefusing to declare where he has hidden the wife ofRakshasa. The news of his friend's danger is brought toRakshasa by a spy of his own, a snake- charmer, whoobtains entrance into the houses he wishes to inspect byhis cry: " Tame snakes, your honour, by which I get myliving. Would you wish to see them? Those who areskilled in charms and potent signs, may handle fearlesslythe fiercest snakes." In the conference between the snakecharmer and Rakshasa, the former refers to the late revolt,1 Wilson, "Theatre ofthe Hindus, " vol . ii. p. 159.2 Wilson, in his footnote, p. 160, confesses his ignorance of the meaning ofthe text. "The person and his accompaniments is now unknown, " is his remark.The panorama is described in the " Harsha Charita. "296 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAin which Chandra Gupta advanced against the city, accompanied by a wild multitude" Of Sakas, Yavanas, and mountaineers;The fierce Kambogas, with the tribes who dwellBeyond the western streams, and Persia's hosts,Poured on us like a deluge."Rakshasa still longs to revive the hopes of the ancientdynasty, but against his plans the subtle brain of Chanakyahas devised counter-plans. These plans Chanakya worksout himself. The opponents of Chandra Gupta are drivento quit the city, so that inside no intrigues may be fomented,and Rakshasa remains alone and unsupported. Even theking Chandra Gupta is ignorant of his minister's intrigues,and when he ventures to question the haughty Chanakya,the answer given shows the proud consciousness of intellectual superiority of the Brahman:-"What I have done,Is done by virtue of the state I hold;And to enquire of me why I did it ,Is but to call my judgment or authorityIn question, and designedly offend me."The moral to be drawn is clear; without Brahmanic aidthe warrior-might, even of a monarch such as ChandraGupta, could be of no avail. Chandra Gupta attempts torule unaided. He defies the Brahmanic power, and in hisanger at feeling himself a puppet in the hands of theminister, dismisses Chanakya. He does so, however, in fearand trembling for the result. As he watches the angryface of the Brahman, he wonders in doubt:-"Is he indeed incensed? methinks the earthShakes apprehensive of his tread, recallingThe trampling dance of Rudra, from his eye,Embrowned with lowering wrath, the angry dropsBedew the trembling lashes, and the browsAbove are curved into a withering frown. " ¹1 Wilson, "Theatre of the Hindus, " vol . ii . p. 203.THE DRAMA 297He has, however, made his choice, and the third act closesin with his dejected forebodings:-"My mind is ill at easeOh, how can those who have indeed provokedThe awful anger of their sacred guide,Survive the terrors of such dread displeasure."The king's fears are soon to be realised. The son ofthelate king approaches Pataliputra, with a hostile force toavenge his father's death. The intrigues of Chanakya workout their purpose. Dissension and distrust are sown inthe camp of the advancing prince. Spies spread thefalsehood that Rakshasa, not Chanakya, had murdered thelate king, and insinuate that Rākshasa was now luring thelast ofthe Nanda race to his doom.Rakshasa, in disgrace, is driven from the cause of theNanda dynasty he has so long and faithfully supported,and no course remains open to him except that preparedby Chanakya, the saving of his friend, Chandana Dās, whois condemned to death for sheltering his wife and family.A scene similar to the execution scene in the " Mud Cart,"opens the seventh act. As Chandana Dās is led forth,followed by his wife and children, to be impaled, Rākshasarushes forward, demanding that the penalty should fall onhim alone. He is brought before Chanakya, and thereacknowledges how he and the Nanda cause have fallenbefore the subtler brain and power of Chanakya."Mine ancient faithAnd grief for Nanda's race, still closely cling,And freshly, to my heart; and yet perforceI must become the servant of their foes! "Chanakya declares to Rākshasa and to Chandra Gupta theintrigues whereby the designs of the discontented within298 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthe city were frustrated, and the advancing host fromoutside broken to pieces by a cunningly devised stratagem.Chandra Gupta bows before the Brahmanic keenness ofChanakya's intellect:-"And yet what need of prowess, whilst alert,My holy patron's genius is aloneAble to bend the world to my dominion?Tutor and guide, accept my lowly reverence. " 1The whole drama ends with the strangest and mostimpressive strokes of genius that Brahmanism could everhave evolved. Chanakya had firmly established the rule ofthe new monarch Chandra Gupta, won the allegiance ofRakshasa, the hereditary minister of the ancient dynasty,but the crowning master- touch still was wanting. Aboveall personal considerations, Chandra Gupta, as fount of allhonour and support of the Brahmanic power, has to beplanted firm. Chanakya accordingly resigns to his rival,Rakshasa, the right to remain sole minister, so that allfriends and upholders of old and new might be reconciled,and the State dwell in unison.From Vedic times down to the dark days of the Mutiny,the Brahman power never failed to work its way, andnever lost its cunning. To-day it moves on in subtlepaths, for the Brahman is still prepared, before all his hopesfade away, to watch unmoved—" From numerous pyres, and undisturbed, the smokeSpread a long veil of clouds beneath the sky,And blurr the light of day, expectant flightsOf vultures hover o'er the darkness, and clapTheir wings with hope."1 Wilson, " Theatre ofthe Hindus, " vol. ii . p. 248.THE DRAMA 299So the Brahman will yet remain as determined, proud,and cunning as the crafty Chanakya."Rather let me own,The wise Chānakya; an exhaustless mineOflearning-a deep ocean stored with gems Ofrichest excellence. Let not my envyDeny his merits. " ¹1 Wilson, " Theatre of the Hindus, " vol. ii . p. 247.CHAPTER XIII.SOUTH INDIA.THE land claimed by the Aryans had for its extremenorthern boundary the Himalayan range of mountainsstretching from extreme East to West as far as from themouth of the Thames to the Caspian Sea. In the centreof this vast tract were the districts now known as theNorth-West Provinces and Oudh, with an area equal tothat of Italy, and a present population nearly as large asthat of the German Empire. Bengal to the east has nowa population almost equal to that of the United States andMexico, while its extent rivals that of the whole UnitedKingdom. Aryanism had, however, to extend its conquestsstill further until they spread down to Cape Comorin, andembraced the whole of India, a continent equal in area toall Europe, leaving out Russia, and with a present population of about one-fifth of the human race. As a result ofAryan influence in the North, almost ¹ two hundred millionsofpeople in India to-day speak languages based on Sanskrit,while even more designate themselves as Brahmanic byreligion. Besides Aryanism, powerful though its influencehas been, there are other factors to be considered in dealing with the problem of the history of the Indian people.1195,463,807. 2 307,731,727.800SOUTH INDIA 301One -fifth of the entire population class themselves asMuhammadan, and look back to Mecca and Muhammad astheir guiding lights.Again, over seven millions of the people speak languagesknown as Tibeto- Burman. These Tibeto- Burman- speakingraces are the descendants of early invaders, who pressedin through the North- East passes and found abiding- placesin the higher slopes of the Himalayas, along the upperreaches of the Brahmaputra, or in Burma. Nearly¹ threemillions of the population speak languages classed asKolarian. The ancestors of these so - called Kolariansare held to have entered India through the North- East,at some unknown period, and to have fallen back fromthe plain country and river-valleys before more vigorousand civilised invaders. At present they dwell in isolatedand detached groups, in the more inaccessible hill-tracts,preserving traces of a common origin in speaking dialectswhich, from linguistic similarities, must be classed as havingoriginally sprung from one parent stock. Of these theSantāls dwell along the Eastern edges of the central plateau,where it slopes down to the Ganges, while allied tribes, suchas the Kūrkū,2 Mundas, Kharrias, and Bhunjias, carry theKolarian speech across India, until it almost reaches thesea-coast on the West, where it is spoken by the Bhils. Faraway from their own Kolarian kinsmen are found, in thehill-tracts of Orissa and Ganjam on the East coast, the stillalmost uncivilised Juangs, Savaras, and Gadabas.All these rude races, as well as the great mass of thelabouring population of India , find the natural expressionof their thoughts and feelings more in the local folk- songsand folk-lore than in any formulated writings or recordsthat can be classed as literature. There is thus a wholelife- history of a large proportion of the people which mustremain untold. For the greater part, the literary history2 "Census Report, " p. 147.1¹ 2,959,006.302 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAof the people of India must be an effort to note and markthe culminating waves of thought that rise on the greatstream of Aryan literature that flows from Vedic timesdown to our own days.There still remains to be noted the wave of thought thatswept across the central range of mountains to rouse theDravidian people of South India to new ideals and leadthem to claim the gods of the Hindu Pantheon as their own.From Vedic times, down to late Brahmanic days, theSouth was shut off from the Aryans of the North bythelofty range of mountains known as the Vindhyas. Thisrange is the second great barrier to all invaders from theNorthward, a barrier that up to the advent of the Englishhad effectually prevented even an Aurangzib from consolidating his rule from the South to " Far-off Delhi."To the Aryans, all beyond the Vindhyas was for long animpenetrable forest. It was held to have been the abodeof Rakshasas, fierce demons and ape-like men. It wasthe Dakshina, or " southern " part, a Sanskrit word that inthe Prakrit, or broken vernaculars, became corrupted into"Dakkhina," thence into the modern Dekkan or Deccan,now used to designate the centre table-land lying betweenthe Eastern and Western mountain ranges. By the peopleof South India the tradition still is held that the sageAgastya was the first to cross the Vindhyas and bring theNorthern language, grammar, and religions, to Dravidianhomes. At Agastya's bidding the mountains, once loftierthan the Himalayan peaks, are said to have bowed down,so that the sage might cross them. As Agastya passed on,he bade the range remain bowed down until his returning,but as he remained in the South, the Vindhyas still havetheir heads lower than the Northern range.The Dravidians, however, probably once had possessionof the whole of India, long before the arrival of the fairskinned Aryans, and still retain their own languages andSOUTH INDIA 303civilisation in the South. North of the Vindhyas almostall traces of their former existence have faded away beforethe stronger forces of Aryan speech and culture. Thelong pause given to the fair-skinned invaders, who foundtheir course and progress stayed by the forest and centralmountain ranges, preserved the indigenous languages,customs, and forms of land tenure of the South, freefrom the dominating force of the Northern influence.So the Aryans, when at length they reached the South,found the Dravidian speech too well established andthe literature too formed to accomplish more than to enrichthem with words from the new vocabulary, and mouldthem to Sanskrit forms of thought, rules of prosody andmetre.¹Down to the present day the Dravidian languages,such as Telugu, Tamil, Canarese, and Malayalam , haveaccordingly preserved a rich literature of their own.Long before Aryan influences commenced to work, theSouthern people sang their own songs of love and war,had their own sacrificial rites and cults, and worshippedtheir own tribal gods, akin to the deities the Aryanshad in the North accepted from the aborigines andincluded in the Hindu Pantheon as forms of Vishnu,Krishna, or Śiva. Like the Dravidians of to-day, theywere, as can be ascertained from linguistic evidences,skilled potters, weavers, and dyers. They were buildersof ships, and traded far and wide from their coast villages,known then as now, as " patnams" or " pattanams” ( villages) ,seen in the native termination of so many towns, such asCennapatnam 2 (Madras), and Masulipatam, Fish Village.1 The Sentamil or classic Tamil has, however, preserved its own structureand alliterative form of metre free from any foreign mixture. See especiallySenāthi Rājā, " Pre- Sanskrit Element in Ancient Tamil Literature, " J.R.A.S. ,vol. xix. p. 558.2 For suggestion that it may mean Chinatown, see Burnell and Yule," Glossary of Anglo- Indian Words. "304 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThe great mass of the people were skilled agriculturists,cultivators of rice, and builders of the vast tanks andworks of irrigation, still used and preserved under Britishrule. Each cultivator held and cultivated his own clearing,as is done to-day under the form of tenure known as the"Raiatwari," or individual holding, ofthe Madras Presidency.The agricultural population crowded together in wellwatered tracts, where their town bore the commonDravidian termination " ūr," or village, a term often seenstill in some places as Nellore, Tanjore, Coimbatore, andMangalore. The most noted town in the South wasMadura, or Mudur, the old town. The same form may,perhaps, be traced in the Northern Mathura,¹ the homeof Krishna, the dark deity, who finds his counterpartand probable prototype in the Dravidian deity stillworshipped by the simpler folk of the South, as Karuppan,or " dark one. " 2The management of the external policy and internaleconomy of such villages fell naturally into the hands ofthe oldest or most renowned member of the community,who became known as the " Kiravan," or " Pandiyan,"3both terms having the common meaning of " elder," or" old man."When robber bands came sweeping down on the richvillages the sturdy retainers of the land-owners beat theirrude drums, or " parrais," to summon the villagers forth toman the mud-walls that enclosed the settlement. Down toour own days the servile classes of South India are knownas the Parriyars, or " beaters of drums," though their castename has become a term of abuse to Western ears long¹ See Madura, " Glossary of Anglo- Indian Words, " where Mathurā ofNorth is said to have its name " modified after Tamil pronunciation. "2 Senathi Rājā, J. R.A.S. , vol . xix. p. 578, note 3.

• For connection with the Northern Pandavas, see Caldwell, “ Gram.

Dravidian Languages, " p. 16; and " Senathi Rājā, ” p. 577.SOUTH INDIA 305accustomed to hear the pariahs, or " servile workers withtheir hands," reviled by those who live on their labours. Astime rolled on the forests around the parent villages werecleared, and new lands were brought into cultivation.Hamlets and new villages (Perur) were established, whichall looked back to the old village (Müdür) and its Pandiyanas their ancient home and chieftain. So from earliest timeshistory holds record of a Pandiyan or Pandya chieftain rulingthe far South from his capital at Madura. Other chieftainsclaimed for themselves the open land along the eastern andwestern sea-coast. The Cheras, or Keralas, held the powerin Malabar and South Mysore. Another dynasty-that ofthe Cholas-had, from the second century, their capital atthe ancient town of Uraiyur, changed in the seventh century for Combaconam, and then in the tenth century forTanjore. The Cholas held the land to the north and eastof the Pandiyans, leaving the land north of Conjeveram tofall to the dynasty known as that of the Pallavas.It was long before the Aryans of North India penetratedto these Southern villages, there to work their way topower and spread abroad their civilising influence. TheRāmāyana,” according to tradition, is the allegorical storyof the Aryan conquest of South India. Sītā, the lovedwife of the hero Rāma, is, according to this view, the “ fieldfurrow" sung of in the Vedic Hymns. As she advancedSouth, Rāma, the incarnation of Vishnu, followed andestablished the worship of the Hindu gods. The monkeyarmy, who aided him against the fierce demon Rāvana,represented the wild races of the South, while Lanka, theisland home where Sitā was kept bound, has, without anysupport from the epic, been held to represent Ceylon. The" Mahābhārata," however, shows a greater knowledge ofthe Southern region than even the " Rāmāyana. "¹ Sewell, " Lists of Antiquities in Madras, ” vol. ii. p . 154.2 Bhandarkar, " History of the Dekkan " ( 1895) , p. 10.U306LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAThe latter epic, although it mentions the Cholas andKeralas, and refers to the golden gates, adorned withjewels, of the Pandya city, only knows the whole countrysouth of the Vindhyas as the Great Southern Forest, or"Dandakāranya," where Rāma lived in his hermitage,Pancavati, on the banks of the Godavari.The " Mahabharata," on the other hand, mentions manyplaces in the Deccan as then well known. To both poemsthe land of the King of Vidarbha, or modern Berar, wasknown, as it had been early entered by Aryans whoadvanced along the eastern coast.In the " Aitareya Brahmana,” the Andhras, or Teluguspeaking Dravidians of the Northern Circars, probablythen dwelling near the mouths of the Godavari, arereferred to as the people to whom the fifty sons ofVisvamitra were banished, so that " the Andhras, Pundras,Śabaras, Pulindas, and Mūtibas, and the descendants ofVisvamitra, formed a large portion of the Dasyus." It isclear that in the seventh century B.C., this country of theAndhras and the east coast, or Kalinga, were known inNorth India. They are mentioned by the grammarian,Panini, who makes no reference to the existence of theSouthern kingdoms of the Pandyans, Cheras, and Cholas,although, in the sixth century B.C. , these kingdoms were sofamed for their importance and wealth that a king, Vijaya,is recorded to have been sent from Magadha in the northto Ceylon, and to have married a daughter of a Pandyamonarch.1 "Rāmāyana, " iii . 13, 13.2 Foulkes, " Civilisation of the Dekkan. "" Ait. Brāh. ," vii . 18; Bhandarkar, " History of Dekkan, " p. 6.4 Caldwell, p. 15 , quoting Mahāvamsa; Turnour, pp. 55-57 . Vijaya ofMagadha is supposed, on authority of Dipavamsa and Mahāvamsa, to have conquered Ceylon in 543 B.C. See "Ind. Ant. " (October 1872) forBurnell's view that the Dravidian people held aloof from Aryan influence,until at least the advent of Kumārila, who reached the South on his mission ofBrahmanic reform in the eighth century of our era.SOUTH INDIA 307The first clear literary references to the kingdoms of SouthIndia occur in the first half of the fourth century B.C. , in the" Vārtikas," ¹ or explanation to the rules of Panini by thecommentator, Katyāyana, who adds to the examples givenby the earlier grammarians, for the formation of the namesof tribes and kings, the two instances of the Pandyas andCholas, showing that he knew the Southern kingdoms thenextending from the modern district of Tanjore to Madura.By the middle of the third century B.C. , Asoka, in hissecond and thirteenth edicts, mentions the Andhras, Cheras,Cholas, and Pandyas, as well as Maharashtra along theGodavari, then governed by the Rattas and Bhojas. Onehundred years later, in 150 B.C., the grammarian, Patanjali,shows his knowledge of Behar, Conjeveram, and Kerala orMalabar. From this time forth the political history ofSouth India has to be pieced together from inscriptionson rocks, temples, and in caves, from copper- plate grants,local traditions, and the uncertain evidence afforded bylater Puranic accounts of kings and principalities. Southofthe Vindhyas, in the northern Deccan, a dynasty, knownas that of the Buddhist Andhrabrityas, ruled for a periodextending from 73 A.D. to 218 A.D. , during which theBuddhist mound at Amrāvati was built.2Local chieftains succeeded until, in the sixth century,a new dynasty, known as that of the Chalukyas,arrived from Ayodhya, or Oudh, and held sway up tothe middle of the eighth century (747 A.D.). Under therule of this new-formed dynasty Buddhism gave way toJainism, and a revival of the Brāhmanic sacrificial system,along with a worship of the Hindu deities, chief amongwhom was Śiva. The greatest of all the early Chalukyanmonarchs was " He with the Lion Locks," or Pulikesin II.,whose rule, from 611 to 634 A.D. , forms a landmark in theearly political and literary history of India. Some idea of1 "Panini, " iv. 1 , 168. See Bhandarkar, p. 7.2 See Sewell, " Lists of Antiquities of Madras, " vol. ii . p. 141.308LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAthe divided rule of the various dynasties and principalitiesof India, at the period when this Chalukyan monarch roseto paramount power, and Jainism and Brahmanism gainednew life and influence, can be obtained from the inscriptionssetting forth the conquests of this great Southern monarch,Pulikesin II. He is recorded to have subdued the princeof the Ganga family, who ruled over the Chera kingdom,then extending over the modern province of Mysore, aswell as the chieftain who held the Malabar coast. "Witha fleet of hundreds of ships he attacked Puri, which wasthe mistress of the western sea, and reduced it. " Thekings of Lata, Mālava, and Gūrjara were conquered, andbecame his dependents.Harshavardhana, King of Kanauj, then endeavoured toextend his power to the south of the Narmadā, but wasopposed by Pulikeśin, who killed many of his elephantsand defeated his army. Thenceforward, Pulikeśin received,or assumed, the title of " Parameśvara," or lord paramount.This achievement was considered so important by the laterkings of the dynasty, that it alone is mentioned in such oftheir copper-plate grants as record the deeds of Pulikesin II." Pulikesin appears to have kept a strong force on thebanks of the Narmada to guard the frontiers. Thus, by hispolicy as well as valour, he became the supreme lord ofthethree countries called Mahārāshtrakas, containing ninetynine thousand villages. The kings of Kośāla and Kalingatrembled at his approach and surrendered. After sometime he marched with a large army against the King ofKanchipura, or Conjeveram, and laid siege to the town.He then crossed the Kāverī and invaded the country oftheCholas, the Pandyas, and the Keralas. But these appearto have become his allies. After having, in this manner,established his supremacy throughout the South, he enteredhis capital and reigned in peace. "1 From Bhandarkar, " History of the Dekkan, " p. 51.SOUTH INDIA 309The newly-founded kingdom of the Chalukyas fell topieces in 747 A.D. Local Kshatriya warriors, the Rashtrākūtas, then held sway for some two hundred and fiftyyears.¹A new and later Chalukyan line again rose to power,and kept a divided rule down to the end of the twelfthcentury, during which Buddhism and Jainism disappearedbefore Brahmanism and the rise of the sect of Lingayatas.2The Hoysala Ballālas, Yādavas of Halibid in Mysore,succeeded and ruled the whole Deccan, contending withthe remaining dynasties of the South, the Pandiyas andCholas, down to the year 1318, when the Muhammadansinvaded the country from Delhi, captured Devagiri, theSouthern capital, and flayed alive the last Hindu monarch,Harapāla. A Vijayanagar chieftain at length succeededin driving out the Muhammadans, and his successors maintained native independence down to the time when it fell,to rise no more, on the fatal field of Talikota in 1565.So far history traces the fluctuating fortunes of the rulerswho in the early ages held the sovereign power south of theVindhyas. The literature of the South, like that ofthe North,takes but little note of the political history of the times.Before Brahmanism, Jainism, and Buddhism came fromAryan homes to Dravidian villages, there exist no evidencesin literature from which the previous religious notions ofthe people can be ascertained. The Dravidian languagesshow that there was a word for a god, and a word for atemple, still, all the great temples of South India are laterthan the days of Aryan influence, and are dedicated to theHindu gods, Vishnu, and Śiva. From folk- lore, from astudy of the primitive beliefs of the more uncivilised Dravidian people of to-day, as well as from noting the sacrificial customs, the gods, demons, or godlings worshipped¹ Kielhorn in " Epigraphia Indica, " vol. iii. p. 268, gives nineteen Rāshtrākūtakings. 2 Bhandarkar, " Dekkan, " p. 96.Sewell, " Antiquities of Madras, " vol. ii. p. 142.310 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAby the wild hill races, some clue may be gained as to thereligious ideas of the Dravidian people in pre-Aryan days.From such sources, however, little more can be culled thanis to be found in all primitive life, that is, superstition,animism, demon-worship and devil-dancing, human sacrifices and offerings to local deities. Amid the numerousdeities worshipped in pre-Aryan times by the Dravidiansthere may have been prototypes of such gods as Śiva, andhis son Skanda, and Krishna or the Black One, introducedin the " Mahabharata " by the Pandus into Brahmanism.Brahman priests, Buddhist monks, and Jaina ascetics musthave reached the land before the Christian era, and established themselves at the court of ruling princes, wherethey founded schools of learning, and exercised their influence on the thought of the times. The local gods,national deified heroes, and sacrificial cults of the peoplebecame in time absorbed into Brahmanism. At the sametime the local literature and poetry were assimilated toSanskrit models and forms, so that the new ideas mightbe disseminated among the Dravidian races. The oldestTamil grammars¹ cite treatises evidently compiled on theSanskrit system of Vyakarana, or Grammar. The ancientclassic Tamil poetry, in which the epics and folk- songs ofthe people were composed, had, however, sufficient vitalityof its own to resist the foreign influence, and so it retainsdown to the present day, alone of the Dravidian languages,its own peculiar forms of alliterative metre and rhythm.The infusion of Aryan thought and learning among theSouthern people soon produced its effect in the awakeningof Dravidian literature to proclaim the new message ithad received from Northern lands. It was through thefostering care of the Jainas, that the South first seems to1 For the " Tolkāppiyan, " see J. R.A.S. , vol . xix. p. 550.2 Rice (" Early History of Kannada Literature, " J. R.A.S. , vol . xxii. p. 249)holds that in the first half ofthe second century the Jaina poet, Samantabhadra,preached from Kanchi in the south to Pataliputra, Benares, Ujjayini, Mālwā,SOUTH INDIA 311have been inspired with new ideals, and its literatureenriched with new forms of expression.In the words of the veteran Dravidian scholar, Dr Pope,the "Jain compositions were clever, pointed, elegant, full ofsatire, ofworldly wisdom, epigrammatic, but not religious."Jainism has faded away in South India of to-day, andthe worship of Śiva remains the prevailing faith of allTamil-speaking people. This worship of Śiva is also prevalent, in a bigoted form, among the Canarese- speakingVīra Śaivas, or Lingayatas, and recognised by the Smartasect of Brahmans; 2 in the West, however, it is popularlyconsidered as degrading in its outward forms, and revoltingin its rites and practices.The phase of thought which inculcates a devout faith inthe saving grace of this deity, Śiva, contains much that isworthy of study, not only by the student of humanity andby the missionary, but also by the administrator.India can never be severed from its own past or bedrilled into entirely new modes of thought. Her pastmust be studied and understood before a commencementcan be made in training her genius into directions inwhich its tendencies can alone attain results beneficialto the world at large. Mills and factories, science andmatter-of-fact realities are products of the West. Τοhope to transplant them into the enervating plains of SouthIndia, with the prospect of attaining the advancement theyshould court amongst races to whom they are more congenial, would be a hope as visionary as to expect that theoak could thrive in the East, overgrow and dwarf theand Panjab in the north. Fleet, J. F. , in his exhaustive " Dynasties of theKanarese Districts " (Bombay, 1896) , p. 320, places the authenticated evidencesfor the earliest Western Gangas after about 750 A.D.; vol. xv. pp. 3-4. SeePope, Introd. to " Nalādiyar, ” p. x. , also xiii.1 "History of Mānikka Vāśagar " (paper read at Victorian Institute, May17, 1897).2 Sundaram Pillai, " Some Milestones in Tamil Literature," p. I ,312 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAdrooping grace of the palm-tree. If Christianity can besaid to have failed in awakening the mass of the peopleof India, it is because Christianity has been, for the greaterpart, presented to them by those who had not grasped thesecret of their thoughts and feelings, which can alone beread in the literature they have handed down to the agesas a record of their deepest aspirations.In the West there are patent evidences that the thoughtsof many are swinging back from realism, and the hastilyraised hopes that the misunderstood aims of science wereto solve the ultimate truth of all things, to old- world dreamsof spiritualism and supernaturalism, mysticism , idealism ,and their ancient faiths. In this movement the thoughtof India has had no small influence. Eastern Buddhism,mysticism, spiritualism, and Vedantism have all playedtheir part in America, India, and France, affecting their art,literature, and emotions. Strong as this influence is, andwill continue to be, the movements in India itself havedrifted between an Eastern mode of idealisation andassimilation of Christianity and a reaction towards Vedism,Vedāntism, and supernaturalism.To the missionary who is unacquainted with the" Vedānta," with the spirit of the true mysticism underlying the worship of Krishna, with the " Rāmāyana " ofTulsi Das, with the quatrains of the " Nalādiyar," the taskset before him is one that must always lack somewhat ofits full promise of success. He cannot throw aside literature such as the Indian people love and cherish as thoughit were nothing but folly and superstition. Of the bestof the Dravidian, as well as the Aryan, literature itcan be said, in the words of the learned scholar andmissionary, who has assimilated the language and thethought of the people of the South as though they werehis own, that " there seems to be a strong sense of moralobligation, an earnest aspiration after righteousness, a ferventSOUTH INDIA 313and unselfish charity, and generally, a loftiness of aim, thatare very impressive. " 1These words refer specially to the " Naladiyar," stilltaught in every vernacular Tamil school. It consists offour hundred quatrains of moral and didactic sayings, eachone composed, according to tradition, by a Jaina ascetic.The story goes that eight thousand Jains came in time offamine to a monarch of the Pandiya kingdom, who stroveto retain them when the famine had departed, so that hemight add an additional lustre by their presence to hiskingdom. They, however, departed in secret, leaving eacha verse behind. The indignant king threw all the versesinto the river, when, to his surprise, four hundred of themfloated against the current, and, in consequence of thismiraculous event, were preserved and formed into thepresent collection, dating, according to native belief, fromsome two thousand years before our era. The whole ofthe verses, however, treat of topics familiar to a student ofSanskrit literature, the misery of transmigration, the effectsof Karma, and the joy of release from bondage and re- birth.³The unconnected four hundred verses of the " Nalādiyar ”present no definite philosophic or religious teaching, althoughgenerally they have a didactic tendency. Each aphorismis lighted up with a brilliant play of fancy and revels inan Eastern love for soothing sounds, apt and startlingsimiles, quaint conceits, and sensuous imagery. The poemdeals with the three great objects of life-virtue, wealth,and pleasure; cach subject being treated in typical Easternmodes of thought so skilfully rendered in Dr Pope's1 Pope, " Naladiyar, " p. xii.2 See Rev. G. U. Pope, Introd. to " The Naladiyar, ” p. x. See also Rice," Early Kannada Authors, " J.R.A.S. , vol. xv. p. 295:-" That an extensiveold literature exists in the Kannada ( or so- called Canarese ) language is admitted by more than one eminent writer on Oriental subjects, but ofthe natureand history of that literature little or nothing is known, beyond the fact thatit was ofJaina origin. "See Introd. to " Nalādiyar, ” p. xi.314 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAtranslation here quoted. Before all things, the poet declares, let virtue be practised by man, even as if Deathhad already seized him by the hairs of the head:-" Like a cloud that wanders over the hills, the body here appears, andabides not; it departs and leaves no trace behind. "Youth fades away, love dies, beauty sinks to decrepitude,and losses crowd round as man prepares to leave the scenewherein his part was played:-"Then look within and say what profit is there in this joyous life ofthine? The cry comes up as from a sinking ship. "The fancy plays round the same pessimistic wail of thesoul's unsatisfied longings."Youth decays. Desire not her whose eyes gleam bright as darts.Full soon, she too will walk bent down with a staff to aidher dim sight." ¹"Considering that all things are transient as the dewdrop on the tipof a blade of grass, now, now at once, do virtuous deeds.' Even now he stood, he sat, he fell, while his kindred criedaloud he died.' Such is man's history. "12"Though worthless men untaught should fret my soul, and rave ofteeth like jasmine buds and pearls, shall I forego my fixedresolve, who have seen in the burning ground those bones-thefallen teeth strewn round for all to see."13."Lord ofthe sea's cool shore, where amid the wave swans sport, tearingto shreds the Adamba flowers. When those whose hearts aresore with urgent need stand begging, and wander through thelong street in sight of all, this is the fruit offormer deeds. " 4" They went to bathe in the great sea, but cried, ' We will wait till allits roar is hushed, then bathe. ' Such is their worth who say,'We will get rid of all our household toils and cares, and thenwe will practise virtue and be wise. ' " 51 Pope, " Naladiyar, " 17.• Ibid. , 107.2 Ibid. , 29.5 Ibid., 332.8 Ibid. , 45.SOUTH INDIA 315The following verse brings up a vision worthy to formthe subject of an artist's picture:-"She of enticing beauty, adorned with choice jewels, said forsooth,' I will leap with you down the steep precipice; ' but on thevery brow of the precipice, because I had no money, she,weeping, and pointing to her aching feet, withdrew and left me alone." 1The same three subjects of virtue, wealth, and pleasure,are further exhaustively dealt with in the two thousand sixhundred and sixty short couplets of the " Kurral," theuniversally acknowledged masterpiece of South Indiangenius. These verses were composed for the Tamil peopleby Tiruvalluvar, a pariah weaver, who lived on the sea-coastin a suburb of Madras named St Thomé, in memory ofthedoubting Apostle, St Thomas, who, for very long, wassupposed to have suffered death at the hands of a fowler,who, legend and tradition hold, accidentally shot theApostle when he was engaged in prayer. As told in the"Acts of Thomas," the Apostle declared to the Saviour,who appeared before him in the night-time: " WheresoeverThou wishest to send me, send me elsewhere, for to theIndies I am not going." There can be no doubt that StThomas never did go to India.2That the weaver pariah, who lived within sound of theceaseless swell and break of the waves along the sandyshore near Mayilāpūr, or St Thomé, may have heard of theteachings of Christianity is not impossible, though thereis no evidence of any Christian influence or doctrines in hisverses. Every Hindu sect, including the Jains, claims thatthe poet designed to set forth in his work, the dogmas oftheir special creeds. The teaching of Tiruvalluvar is,1 Pope, "Naladiyar, " 372.2 See Geo. Milne Rae, " The Syrian Church in India " ( 1892) , p. 24:-" Inshort, we look in vain among the writings and monuments of the first fivecenturies for any attestation of the existence of the South Indian Church. " "3 See Pope, " The Sared Kurral, ” p. iv.316 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhowever, purely eclectic, and inculcates such principlesas are common to all systems of morality. The firstcouplet of the " Kurral " gives the poet's eclectic view ofthe deity called Bhagavan, the Lord who stands first inall the world, just as the letter " A" stands first in all speech.As in the " Bhagavad Gita," they who have faith in thisdeity, "they who dwell in the true praise of this Lord, ”"Affects not then the fruit of deeds done ill or well. ”The poet, having thus first enunciated the cardinal dogmaof faith in a primal deity, proceeds to build up an entiresystem of an ideal state, treating ofVirtue under its differentaspects-in domestic life, in ascetic renunciation, and in theeffects of fate or former deeds. Wealth, or property, isviewed as it relates to royalty, to ministers of the king,to the State itself, and the individual. The third objectof enquiry, Love, is subdivided into two chapters-the firsttreating of concealed love, the second of wedded love.Domestic virtue is inculcated in a string of short epigrammatic verses, rivalling, in their crisp and cuttingvigour, the soft languid grace of the aphorisms of theNalādiyar: "-"In Nature's way who spends his calm domestic days,' Mid all that strive for virtue's crown hath foremost place. " ¹The patient Griselda of the household stands out in allher plaintiveness, finding, in adoration of her husband, hersole faith:-"No god adoring, low she bends before her lord;Then rising serves the rain falls instant at her word. "In describing, under the division Wealth, the qualities ofa great king, a plea is set forward for what now would becalled the unrestricted liberty ofthe Press:-1 Pope, " Kurral, " 47. 2 Ibid., 55.SOUTH INDIA 317"The king of worth, who can words bitter to his ear endure,Beneath the shadow of his power the world abides secure. "" 1The minister of state is provided with some salutaryadvice, which might be accepted with advantage by nota few modern politicians:-"Though knowing all that books can teach, 'tis truest tact,To follow common- sense of men in act. "» 2The following hint, if judiciously acted on, might serveto establish the reputation of a man as wise in council:-"Speak out your speech, when once 'tis past disputeThat none can utter speech that shall your speech refute."Although it is full one thousand years since Tiruvalluvarcomposed the following aphorism, it has a strange homelytruth for us of to-day:-"Who have not skill ten faultless words to utter plain,Their tongues will itch with thousand words men's ears to pain." 4The full power of Tiruvalluvar to compress into theintricate setting of the Vempa, the most difficult metre inhis language, some of the most perfect combinations ofsound, set to the most delicate play of fancy, is to be bestseen in his verses on love. The intimate and perfectacquaintance of Dr Pope with the people and theirlanguage, has enabled him to preserve, in an unrivalledmanner, the form of the Eastern setting. Every verse isperfect in the original:—“ A sea of love, 'tis true, I see stretched out before,But not the trusty barque that wafts to yonder shore. " 5"The pangs that evening brings I never knew,Till he, my wedded spouse, from me withdrew. "6"My grief at morn a bud, all day an opening flower,Full-blown expands in evening hour. " 71 Pope, "Kurral, " 389.5 Ibid., 1164.2 Ibid. , 637.6 Ibid. , 1226.3 Ibid. , 645.7 Ibid. , 1227.• Ibid. , 649.318LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIA" Or bid thy love, or bid thy shame depart;For me, I cannot bear them both, my worthy heart. " 1The short sayings ofthe " Kurral " end with what may havebeen the poet's own experience of the subject he treats sogracefully:-"Though free from fault, from loved one's tender armsTo be estranged awhile hath its own special charms. ”2In lover quarrels, ' tis the one that first gives wayThat in reunion's joy is seen to win the day. " 3"Let her whose jewels brightly shine, aversion feign.That I may still plead on, O night, prolong thy reign. ""Unfortunately, no certain date can be ascribed to theseearly outbursts of song, the first sign of the awakening of the Dravidian genius after contact with Aryancivilisation. They are fabled to have been issued from theSangan, or College of Madura, where the Pandiyanmonarch assembled learned Jaina and Buddhist monks.Tradition holds that this famed seminary of learning atMadura ceased to exist when its chief members drownedthemselves in despair, on the miraculous preservation of thedespised " Kurral " of the low- caste Tiruvalluvar.5However that may be, the early Brahmanic influencesoon reasserted itself, and led to the downfall of bothJainism and Buddhism, which virtually disappeared fromthe Tamil country by the eleventh century of our era.The first great sign of the coming change was seen in therevival of the worship of Śiva, the deity early accepted bythe South as the Brahmanic representation of the ancient1 Pope, " Kurral, " 1247. 2 Ibid. , 1325. 3 Ibid. , 1327. 4Ibid., 1329.See Caldwell, " Gram. of Dravidian Languages, " p. 130: -"We should notbe warranted in placing the date of the ' Kurral ' later than the tenth centuryA.D." See also p. 122: -" There is no proof of Dravidian literature, such aswe now have it, having originated much before Kumārila's time (700 A.D. ),and its earliest cultivators appear to have been Jainas. "SOUTH INDIA 319Dravidian god,¹ or gods. This revolt, from the dominatingagnosticism of the times, found its earliest literary expression in the "Tiru Vāśakam," or " Holy Word," composed byMānikka Vāśagar,2 who turned the thoughts of the peopleonce more to the weary quest of the suffering soul for restin a union with a personal deity.This fierce opponent of the heretical Jains and Buddhistswas born near Madura, where his father was a Brāhman atthe court of the Pandya monarch, Arimarttanar, " TheCrusher of Foes. " The poet is said to have acquired all theSanskrit learning by the age of sixteen, when he was madeprime minister at Madura. The dread god, Śiva, with rosaryround his neck, his body smeared with ashes, with a thirdeye in his forehead, is said to have appeared before thesage, while on a journey, and revealed his true nature, asthe Divine Essence, in knowledge of which there is aloneenlightenment and salvation. The poet at once boweddown before the deity, whose worship was to spread allover South India, and in whose honour the great Śaivitetemples were built, and in many cases covered over withplates of gold.The longings of the poet's soul had found no answer inthe agnosticism of Buddhism or Jainism. The answer hadcome to the henceforth bitter opponent of the dominantJains, and to Śiva he poured forth his prayer: "HenceforthI renounce all desires of worldly wealth and splendour.To me, thy servant, viler than a dog, who worships at thy¹ Probably the earlier form was Skanda. See Senāthi Rājā , " Pre- SanskritEl. in Ancient Tamil Lit., " J.R. A.S. , vol. xix. p. 376 ( note 1 ).2 See Pope, " History of Manikka Vāśagar, ” p. 3 ( note): -" The date heregiven for the poet is 1030 A.D. , reckoning two hundred years before SundaraPandiyan's time and Sambhanda's time. If the date of Sambhanda be, however, taken as the middle ofthe sixth century, then Tiru Vāśagar must be placedin the fourth century, along with the Śaivite revival. As these dates dependslargely on the Tiru Vilaiyādal Purāna ' and ' Periya Purana, ' no certainty can be claimed for them. " See, however, P. Sundaram Pillai's article quoted later.3 See Pope, Ibid. , p. 7.320 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfeet, grant emancipation from corporeal bonds. Take meas thy slave, O King of my Soul! "No finer picture could be given of an Eastern enthusiast,stirred by emotions that are as deep in India to-day asthey were when the soul of Manikka Vāśagar was roused topreach a salvation through a faith in Śiva, than that sketchedforth of the converted sage in the earnest words of DrPope: ¹"From his head depends the braided lock of the Śiva devotee, onehand grasps the staff, and the other the mendicant's bowl: hehas for ever renounced the world -all the worlds, save Śivan'sself. And he is faithful henceforward, even to the end. In thewhole legendary history of this sage, whatever we may thinkofthe accuracy of many of its details, and whatever deductionswe are compelled to make for the exaggerations that havegrown up around the obscurity of the original facts, therestands out a character which seems to be a mixture of that ofSt Paul and of St Francis of Assisi. Under other circ*mstances what an apostle of the East might he have become!This is his conversion as South India believes it; and in almostevery poem he alludes to it, pouring forth his gratitude inecstasies of thanksgiving, and again and again repeating thewords, ' I am Thine, save me! ' His poetry lives in all Tamilhearts, and, in the main and true essence of it, deserves soto live! "Persecutors of the new reformer now succeeded, and, asis usual in all Eastern biographies, miracles, more or lessabsurd and meaningless, are recorded to have been worked.The news of the revived faith in Śiva was preached by thereformer in the land of the Cholas, and in Cithambaram,where he is still held as the patron saint. To Cithambaramthe King of Ceylon is said to have come, and there withall his court, to have been converted from Buddhism toŚaivism, by the sage's argument which showed that,according to the heretic monks, there can be " neithergod, nor soul, nor salvation. " 2The poems of Manikka Vāśagar are held to have been1 See Pope, " Manikka Vāsagar, " p. 7. 2 Ibid. , p. 16.SOUTH INDIA 321transcribed in one thousand verses by the god Śiva himself.They still " are sung throughout the whole Tamil countrywith tears of rapture, and committed to memory in everytemple by the people, amongst whom it is a traditionalsaying that ' he whose heart is not melted by the " TiruVāśagam " must have a heart of stone.' " 1To learned and unlearned alike, these mystic raptures, inperfect verse, over the soul's faith in the deity are sacredtreasures, and have a deep importance to all who wouldseek to read the spirit of the best of Indian religiousthought. Happily these are soon to be published in anEnglish translation by the Oxford Professor of Tamil.They are all but unknown to the West, yet a careful andwide-read scholar, in whose native language the poemsare written, states: 2 " There are, indeed, but few poems inany language that can surpass ' Tiru Vāśagam, ' or the ' HolyWord' of Manikka Vāśagar, in profundity of thought andearnestness of feeling, or in that simple, child- like trustin which the struggling human soul, with its burdens ofintellectual and moral puzzles, finally finds shelter."The whole essence of the teachings of the new reformer,who did so much to rouse an active opposition to thedebased Buddhism then in vogue, and whose followersinaugurated the temple- building era in South India, has beensummed up as follows:"He taught the people that there was one supreme personal God, nomere metaphysical abstraction, but the Lord of Gods and men.He also taught that it was the gracious will of Śiva to assumehumanity, to come to earth as a guru, and to make disciplesof those who sought him with adequate preparation. He announced that this way of salvation was open to all classes of thePope, " History of Mānikka Vāśagar, ” p. 17.166 2 P. Sundaram Pillai, M.A. , M. R.A.S. , Fellow of the Madras University,and Professor of Philosophy, 'Some Milestones in the History of TamilLiterature, " p. 3. (The news of the early death of this able scholar wasreceived after the above was written. )3Pope, “ Mānikka Vāśagar, ” p. 18.X322 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAcommunity. He also taught very emphatically the immortalityof the released soul-its conscious immortality—as he said that the virtual death of the soul which Buddhism teachesis not its release. It will be seen how very near in somenot unimportant respects the Śaiva system approximates toChristianity; and yet, in some of the corruptions to which ithas led, by what almost seems a necessity, are amongst themost deplorable superstitions anywhere to be found. "How popular are these lyric raptures of a soul tossed indoubt, yet still seeking some answer to its wail of loneliness,may be judged from the fact that a whole series of themis still sung as a rhythmic accompaniment to a game,played by six girls sitting in a circle, who toss balls orpebbles from one to the other. The forthcoming translation of the poem will, it is hoped, give these verses; atpresent it must suffice to quote one verse as sung by thesix girls in chorus as they play their game, known asAmmanāy ":-"C"While bracelets tinkling sound, while earrings wave, while jettylocksDishevelled fall, while honey flows and beetles hum,The Ruddy One, who wears the ashes white, whose homeNone reach or know, Who dwells in every place, to loving onesThe true, The Sage Whom hearts untrue still deem untrue,Who in Ai Arru ' dwells, sing and praise, Ammanãy see! "aMany personal details of the poet's own life are scatteredthrough his poems. The allurements of earthly love, whichdrag the soul from its calm repose, are fought against inverses that tell of the bitter grief of a lapse from highideals:-"Flames in forest glade, Sense-fires burn fierce with smoky glare.I burn! Lo, thou'st forsaken me! O Conquering King of Heaven,The garlands on Whose braided locks drip honey, while the beesHum softly ' mid Mandaram buds, whence fragrant sweetnessbreathes. "1 A shrine near Tanjore , lit. " The Five Rivers. "? For this and the following verses I am indebted to the great kindness ofthe Rev. Dr Pope.SOUTH INDIA 323And again:-"Sole help, whilst thou wert near I wandered, wanton deeds my help.Thou hast forsaken me, Thou Helper of my guilty soul;The source of all my being's bliss; Treasure that never fails.I can't one instant bear this grievous body's mighty net."The same theme is sung again, ending with the prayerfor faith:--"Choice gems they wore, those softly- smiling maids; I failed, I fell.Lo, thou'st forsaken me. Thou gav'st me place ' midst Saints whowept,Their beings fill'd with rapturous joys; in grace did'st make meThine!Show me thy feet, even yet to sense revealed, O Spotless One. "The monistic essence of the deity, Śiva, is summed upin one verse: -"O King, my joy, mean as I am, who know not any path!O Light, Thou hast forsaken me,Thou the true Vedic Lord,Thou art the First, the Last!Thou art this universal Whole. "These poems of the earliest exponent of pure Vedanticteachings were included in a renowned collection ofHymns which forms the " Vedas," " Upanishads,” and" Purānas " for the great mass of Saivas of South India.The first three books of this Śaiva Bible contain the threehundred and eighty-four hymns of a virulent opponentof all heretic Buddhist and Jaina monks-the renownedpatron saint and impromptu lyric poet of the Tamil people,the sage, Tiru Nana Sambandha, ¹ whose fame in the Southis so renowned that there is scarcely a Śiva temple in the1 An interesting contribution towards the elucidation of the literary historyof South India has been recently made by P. Sundaram Pillai in his Essay,"Some Milestones in the History of Tamil Literature, " in which he hasadvanced very strong proof that Sambandha must have lived before ŚankaraAcharya, i.e. in the seventh century A.D.324 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIATamil country where his image is not daily worshippedIn most of them special annual feasts are held in hisname, when the leading events of his life are dramatically represented for the instruction of the masses.1 Asis usual in the case of poets, the life of Sambandha beginswith miraculous events and ends in mystery. Born, asthere is no reason to doubt, of Brahman parents in theChola country, a few miles south of Chidambaram, he issaid to have composed, when a child, his earliest lyric hymnsof praise to Śiva which were set to a music, now lost,and played on an instrument, the form of which is nowno longer remembered. To account for his unrivalledmastery over form and verse, tradition holds that, when asa child Sambandha was left alone, the local goddessappeared and nourished him herself, whereon the childrecited the first of his inspired hymns and received thename of Tiru Nana Sambandha, or " He who is united tothe deity through wisdom." In all, three hundred andeighty-four hymns were composed by this poet, who, withhis disciples, strove vehemently to uproot the Jaina faithand establish the worship of Siva. The reigning Pandiyanking was led by Sambandha to renounce Jainism , and soonthe people of the Tamil land forsook Buddhism, or at leastthe debased form of it then existing, though the cult didnot finally become extinct until the eleventh century.The tenth verse of each hymn of Sambandha was launchedagainst Buddhists and Jains alike, though there is nocertainty as to why these heretics had aroused the hate of1 See also " Epigraphia Indica, " vol . iii. pp. 277-78: -" The two great Śaivadevotees, Tirunavukkarayar (or Appar) , 573 A.D. , and Tirunāna Sambandhawere contemporaries of the two Pallava kings, Mahendravarman I.and Narasimhavarman I." " Tirunana Sambandhar was a contemporary of ageneral of the Pallava king, Narasimhavarman I., whose enemy was theWestern Chalukya king, Pulikesin II. "See Caldwell, " Dravidian Grammar, " p. 138. See P. Sundaram Pillai,"Milestones in Tamil Literature, " p. 7 ( note 1 ) , for the six companions ofSambandha, who accompanied his impromptu lyric songs with music.SOUTH INDIA 325the Śaivite sage. With the passing-away of Sambandhaand his disciples, a new era dawned in South India.Temples to Śiva and Vishnu took the place of Buddhistmonasteries, while a series of Āchāryas, or theologicalteachers, spread far and wide in one form or anotherthe philosophic doctrines of the "Vedanta " until the closeof the twelfth century, when darkness settled down overthe whole literary history of the people with the adventof the Muhammadans.It would have been strange if the extension and revival ofBrahmanism and downfall of Jainism and Buddhism hadnot inspired those who stood forward as victors with a newawakened fire of enthusiasm for the cause they championed.So it came that Śankara Āchārya, the greatest revivalistof Aryanism, and the greatest commentator that India hasknown, arose in the South, and that at a period when hemight have been expected-the period round which centresthe " Kurral " and Brāhmanic revival, towards the eighthcentury of our era.¹This greatest of all great ascetic sages 2 bears a namerevered by every learned Hindu, all over the land wherehe preached and taught from his monastery of Badrināthin the south to that of Sringiri in the north, from Dvārakā,the city of Krishna, in the west, to Jagannath, once theBuddhist place of worship, now the common ground ofassembly for all Hindus, on the coast of Orissa in theeast.3All sects claim him as their own patron saint.1 "It is certainly inadvisable to assail Śankara's date ( i.e. 788-820 A.D. ) ,which is given most circ*mstantially by his own followers. "-Yajñeśvar Sāstrï,“Āryavidyā Sudhākara, " p. 226, etc. etc.; Bühler, " Ind. Ant. , " xiv. 64.Other references are:-" Ind. Ant. , " xiv. 185 ( note 13); xi. 174; xiii. 95ff.;xvi. 42, 160; J.B.R.A.S. , xviii. 88ff. , 218, 233; W.L. , 51; Bhandarkar,Report, 1882-3, 15. See Pathak, J.R.A.S. ( Bombay, 1891 ) , xviii. p. 88; also Barth, " Ind. Ant. " ( 1895) , p. 35.2 For Kumārila Bhatta, see Hunter, " Indian Empire " 240, 259, 388;Cowell and Gough, “ Sarva Darśana Sangraha. ”3 Monier-Williams, " Brāhmanism and Hinduism, " p. 58; Wilson, " Rel. ofHindus, " vol. i. p. 28.326 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAAll scholars, Eastern and Western, honour his learningand scholarship. He seems to have risen as an inspiredgenius to throw a quick, bright light, like to the momentaryafter-glow of an Indian sunset before darkness descendsover the land, on the fading glories of Aryanism beforethey sink into the dimness of the drear days of Hinduism.Of his life almost nothing is known. In legendary lorehe appears everywhere in India; now persecuting theBuddhists, now vehemently denouncing the sectariandifferences whereby Hinduism was being divided againstit*elf, so that it could not abide. Again he appears asthe miraculously -born son of a Brahman woman, hisfather being the dread god, Śiva, and as finally departingfrom the world no one knows how.The " Great Conquest," or life of Śankara Āchārya, wastold in a work supposed to have been composed in theninth or tenth century, while the sage's " Great Conquestof the Quarters " 2 was written by the second greatcommentator of South India, Mādhava Āchārya, in thefourteenth century.From these accounts and others, no safe historical factscan be deduced. At most, it may be held that Śankarawas born in Malabar in the eighth century of our era, andthat he died at Kedernath, in the Himalayas, at the earlyage of thirty-two, after having enriched, in the short courseof his life, the literature of India by commentaries on mostof its later sacred texts. He is popularly held to havebeen an incarnation of Śiva. The Smärta sect of Brahmans,recognisable by wearing on their foreheads one or threehorizontal lines of sandal paste, with a red or black spot inthe middle, hold him to have been the founder of theirOrder. These Smārtas look upon Śiva as the Unconscious1 "This spurious work. "-See Barth, " Ind. Ant. , " vol. xxiv. (February 1895).2 See Telang, "Ind. Ant. , " vol . v. p. 287, who places it before the fourteenthcentury.SOUTH INDIA 327Spirit ofthe Universe, with which the soul unites to realiseits ideals.According to the teachings of Sankara, the entire systemof Vedantic thought finds its natural culmination in an uncompromising declaration that the sole object of the sacredliterature of India was to reveal the delusive appearanceofwhat appeals to the senses as reality and the doctrine ofnon-duality.The evidences of the senses are wiped away as merelydelusive. The question of metaphysic is solved, not asKant resolved it, by referring all objective reality toperceptions of the intellect where he sought a solution,but in endeavouring to pierce, in the manner of Plato, andParmenides, beyond the reality itself. This objectiveform was held by Sankara to be but the mode in whichthe delusion of life was mirrored forth. This phase ofidealistic monism which is ably expounded in Sankara'scommentary on the " Vedanta Sūtras," finds a popularexposition in a song that can be obtained from anytravelling pedlar of books in South India for about onetwelfth of a farthing.The song itself contains but twelve verses, said to havebeen addressed by Sankara to a learned Brahman, whomhe found studying the rules of Sanskrit grammar outsidea Hindu temple. One or other of these verses is constantly recited with a smile or a sigh by educated Hindusofthe South. The refrain all through is, " Bhaja Govinda! "or "Praise the Lord! " It means to a Hindu what " PraiseGod " means to a Salvationist. There is a yawninggulf of thought and feeling, bred of race and climate,between the two modes of expression of the aspirations ofthose who in East and West use the words.The verses of Śankara are so terse, hold so much thesense in the sound, that it is impossible to give theirmeaning in a translation. As they are unknown in the328 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAWest, and so often quoted in the East, their meaning ishere given as true to the original as possible.The sage stands before the Brahman, who has pausedin his studies, and declares the truth of the emptiness ofthe vain dream of life, and its struggles after wealth andfame."Give up this greed," is the sad reproof, " for storingwealth, O Fool! place in your mind the thirst for knowledge of the Existent, satisfied with what each day bringsforth.""As the water drop lies trembling on the lotus leaf, sorests our fleeting life. The world is full of sorrow, seizedby pain and pride of self. Gain wealth, and then yourfriends cling near; sink low, and then no one seeks news.When well in health, they ask your welfare in the house;when the breath of life goes forth, then the loving wifeshrinks from that body. Gain leads but to loss; in wealththere is no lasting happiness; in childhood we are attachedto play; in youth we turn to love; in old age care fills themind. Towards (para Brahman) God alone no one isinclined. As the soul moves from birth to birth, who remains the wife, the son, the daughter, who you, or whence?Think truly, this life is but an unreal dream.""With mind fixed on truth, one becomes free from attachment. To one freed from attachment, there is no delusion;undeluded, the soul springs clear to light freed from allbondage. When youth goes, who is moved by love? Whenwealth goes, who then follows? When the great truth, thatthe Soul and Brahman are One is known, what then is thispassing show? Day and night, morning and evening,Spring and Winter come and go, time plays and age goes,yet desire for life passeth not. Take no pride in youth,friends, or riches, they all pass away in the twinkling of aneye. Give up all this made of Māyā, gain true knowledge,and enter on the path to Brahman."SOUTH INDIA 329Such has ever been the incessant cry of culturedBrahmanic thought, and of much of Western pessimism.It was the cry with which was to be met the fiercefanaticism of Muhammadanism, soon to burst forth inrelentless warfare against all idolaters and unbelievers inGod and Muhammad as His sole Prophet.Though the darkness of desolation, unrest, rapine, andwar was to settle over the land, the Brahmans of theSouth could hold on to the even tenor of their ways, andproclaim that the moans of the suffering, the gleam of thesword, the lust of conquerors, and the rule of the foreigner,were but the unreal visions of a passing dream, woven outby the fictitious power of Māyā.The strict Advaita doctrines of Śankara Āchārya were nodoubt useful in their own way, as opposing the hereticagnosticism of Buddhism. In their inculcation of idealistic non-duality, and of non- reality of the intuitionof perception, they had also their own charm for thedreamer and religious mystic who turns away from a crudematerialism.An intermediate resting- place had, however, to be foundfor the mass of the people who placed their faith in thesaving grace of a personal deity. In the system ofŚankara, this was supplied by the sectarian schools, whichhold that the god Śiva was a personal manifestation oftheUnconscious Spirit of the Universe, and claim that, bya worship of this deity, the soul finds its salvation.The true revolt from the teachings of Sankara, and thedrifting of the thought of India back to its more orthodoxbeliefs, came in the reformation led by the second greatcommentator of South India, the Brahman Rāmānuja, bornat the beginning of the eleventh century.¹ Rāmānuja heldthe doctrine of qualified non-duality, according to which the¹ Monier-Williams, " Brahmanism and Hinduism, " p. 119:-" Born 1017 A.D. at Parambattur. "330 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIASupreme Spirit is both the cause of the visible world andthe material from which it is created. He further proclaimedthe adoration of the god Vishnu, as representative of theSupreme Spirit, so that the Heaven of the god might beultimately gained, and freedom from re-birth obtained.Until this consummation was arrived at, when the separatespirits are reunited with the Supreme Spirit, re-birth occursin its incessant round, there being a plurality of formcontinued in respect of that which is Soul, and that whichis non- Soul.¹The final step was taken by Madhava, the last of theSouthern Teachers, a renowned Brahman of the Kanaresecountry in South India, who died towards the close of thetwelfth century. By him the worship of Vishnu, or Hari,was preached as the worship of one Supreme God, eternally existent, the world subsisting as his form, on Whomthe souls of men are dependent, though abiding themselvesdistinct. So the thought of India, North and South,remained divided between a salvation, from transmigration,by a faith in Krishna, or by a worship of Vishnu, or Śiva;the aspiration of the soul ever being to find a closer unionwith, or knowledge of, the Supreme Cause that manifesteditselfin the works of Creation.Vedism, and the gods of the Vedas, had passed awayfrom the memories of the people; the South had found theexponents of its intellectual life in the persons of the greatscholars, Śankara, Rāmānuja, and Madhava. The deepmoral tendencies of the age were preserved in the"Nalādiyar, " and " Kurral " of Tiruvalluvar, and the DevāranHymns of Sambandha and his disciples. The crude superstitions, lusts, and ignorance of the mass of the peoplewho passed from the scene, leaving no literary record1 "Sarva Darśana Sangraha, " p. 75.2 Died 1198 A.D. P. Sundaram Pillai, " Some Milestones in Tamil Literature," p. 27 (note 1 ).SOUTH INDIA 331behind them, were satisfied with worship of the villagegodlings, ghosts, and demons, with foul and obscenecarnivals of Tantric orgies, and with stray and furtivevisits and offerings to the great temples of the Hindudeities. New conquerors had come to guide the destiniesof the land and leave the people to work out their ownideas.CHAPTER XIV.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND.WHEN in 631 of our era Muhammad proclaimed waragainst the civilised world, he had first given to allidolaters the choice between the Koran and the sword.All Jews and Christians who would not accept a beliefin the unity of God, and in Muhammad as the Prophetof that God, were to be subdued and made to pay tribute.The creed of the Prophet known as Islām , or "submission tothe will of God," was outwardly simple-simple enough toensure for it an early and speedy success. The creed isshortly: " There is no God but God, and Muhammad is HisProphet."There are further five daily prayers, fastings in dueseason, giving of alms, and a pilgrimage to Mecca, thebirthplace of the Prophet.The fanatics of the Arabian desert, inspired by the wildrhetoric of the new Prophet who denounced idolatry,licentiousness, infanticide, drunkenness, and gambling,came swarming from their tents, drunk with zeal, topropagate the creed and to revel in the slaughter andplunder of their opposing foes.¹¹ See an article by Sir Roland K. Wilson in the Indian Magazine and Review(December 1896) , p. 634, criticising Mr Arnold's statement in " The Preachingof Islam , " that " it is due to the Muhammadan legists and commentators that 832THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 333Against the Western frontier of India, from Sind toPeshawar, the Muhammadan wave of conquest flowed andebbed for four hundred years.¹ In Sind the Rājputgarrisons, unable to hold their strongholds against thefierce Arabs, placed their women and children on thefuneral pyre there to find in death safety from dishonour,and fell themselves in one last despairing and avengingonslaught on their enemies. From Lahore the Hinduchieftains chased back, through the passes of Afghanistan,the raiding Turks of Ghaznī only to court their ownavenging fate.The full wave of desolation spread over the north- westwhen, in 1002 A.D., Muhammad of Ghaznī, born of a Turkifather and a Persian mother, burst down on Lahore,that ancient meeting- place of many races. Its wealth wascarried back to Ghaznī, and its chieftain, the twice-defeatedJaipāl, mounted the funeral pyre, according to the sterndictates of his Hindu subjects. For twenty- five yearsMuhammad of Ghazni continued, year by year, his raids.From the holy city of Thaneswar, not far from Delhi, hecarried off to his Afghan home the riches of its greattemples, and two hundred thousand of its inhabitants hemade slaves to his soldiery. At Kanauj, north of Cawnpur,jihad comes to be interpreted as a religious war against unbelievers, who might be attacked even though they were not the aggressors. But though someMuhammadan legists have maintained the righteousness of unprovoked waragainst unbelievers, none (as far as I am aware) have ventured to justify compulsory conversion, but have always vindicated, for the conquered , the right ofretaining their own faith on payment of ji*zyah." He writes: " What MrArnold will find it difficult to disprove is, that the intimate companions andimmediate successors ofMohamet considered, without a shadow ofdoubt, that theyhad ample warrant in the Koran, and in the example of their master, forextirpating idolatry and enforcing the whole law ofIslam throughout Arabia atthe cost ofa most sanguinary struggle, and for pushing hostilities against thetwo neighbouring empires far beyond any possible requirements of self- defence-in fact, without any other limit than the enemy's power of resistance. " SirRoland Wilson, however, continues: " We are willing to allow that medievalIslam was, by one degree, less tolerant than medieval Christendom. "...1 From 647 to 1030, the death of Muhammad of Ghazni.334 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhe received the submission of its garrison, said to haveconsisted of eighty thousand men in armour, fifty thousandcavalry, and five hundred thousand foot men. With thewealth of Muttra-the rubies, sapphires, and pearls of itsidols-he raised Ghazni from a hovel of mud huts to acity of marble palaces, mosques, domes, and pillared halls.From the ocean- beaten temple of Somnath in Guzarāt,with its vast array of Brahman priests and dancing- girls, hecarried away the massive gates, twelve phallic emblems, ¹and a vast store of treasure, and left nothing behind himbut the slain garrison and dejected priesthood.Aryanism in India was about to realise what, happily inthe West, remained but the shadow of a passing danger.The fate that overtook the East was one visioned forth forthe West in the words of Freeman: " If Constantinoplehad been taken by the Muhammadans before the nationsofWestern Europe had at all grown up, it would seem as ifthe Christian religion and European civilisation must havebeen swept away from the earth."Spared from Muhammadan dominion, a Sivaji, or aRanjit Singh might have arisen in India and founded amore lasting native rule than even that of Chandra Gupta,Asoka, or Harsha Vardhana. Even had that been so, itseems impossible that Marāthā could ever have coalescedwith Sikh or Rajput to bend the distant Easterns and faroff Southerns to yield obedience to the supremacy of anyone indigenous dynasty. Even had a Hindu Akbar, orAurangzib sprung up and extended his rule over Marāthā,Rajput, Sikh, Bengali, and the clansmen of South India,the sceptre would soon have passed from the hands of oneor other of his degenerate descendants, and the land beenplunged in anarchy such as that from which the Mughal1 R. P. Karkaria, Calcutta Review ( October 1895 ) , p. 411: -" It is clearfrom Albiruni that the idol of Somnath was merely a solid piece of stone,having no hollow in which jewels and precious stones could be concealed toreward the pious zeal of an iconoclast. "THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 335Aurangzib, with his army of three hundred thousand horseand four hundred thousand men, could not for long preserveit. As it was, the rivalries between the Rajput PrithiviRājā,¹ the last great Chauhān king of Delhi and Ajmere,and the Rāhtor prince of Kanauj led, before the close ofthe twelfth century, to the defeat and overthrow of both bythe Afghans of Ghor. The new Muhammadan Emperorraided the country as far as Benares and Gwalior, while hisgenerals drove out ( 1203 ) the distant Sen king of Bengalfrom the ancient capital at Nadiyā.2

This very lack of unity and central authority, however,saved Brahmanism from disappearing before the attacks ofa rival creed or foreign rulers. The whole fabric ofBuddhism disappeared, for when once its mendicant andcelibate monks were slain, and their monasteries burned,it fell to decay. The idols and temples of the Hindus wereshattered to pieces, and their wealth carried off to Ghazniand Ghor; the Brahmans were slain in Kanauj, Muttra,Benares, and at distant Somnath. Nevertheless, the rootsof Brahmanism remained firmly fixed in the very structureof Indian life, social observances, and in its undecayingliterature. For three hundred years the Muhammadan rulein India strove in vain to hold the outlying nationalitiessubject to its sway. The early Muhammadan invaders ofIndia swarmed into the land in the double rôle of religiousenthusiasts with a mission to root out unbelief in theteachings ofthe Koran, and of roving bands of adventurerseager to seize the wealth of the Hindu temples. Disunited1 Prithi Rājā- Rāyasă of Chand. Tod in his " Rajasthān " (vol. i. p. 254, note)states he had translated thirty thousand stanzas. Grierson (" Literature ofHindustan ," p. 3) gives an account of the work done on this history; butin the " Padumawati Bib. Ind. " (Calcutta, 1894, Introd. ) , he states that thegenuineness of this work is doubtful. See also J.B.R.A.S. ( 1868) , vol.xxxvii. p. 119; vol. xxxviii. p. I.2 The Rajput clans of North India departed to the desert east of the Indus,where they established their chieftainship over their new homes, still knownas Rājputāna.336 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAamong themselves as these raiders were, they were for longunable to gain a resting-place east of the Indus, and whenat length they came in numbers sufficient to force their wayto Delhi, and there establish a permanent centre for revenueexactions, they were ever menaced with the swarming-downof new robber bands from central Asia; while the basis onwhich Muhammadanism was founded precluded their compromising with, or conciliating of, the Hindu people in orderto gain their aid or support in repelling new invaders. TheRajputs might be driven to the deserts of Rajputāna, theirproud reserve survived not only to defy the august power ofAkbar, but for the best oftheir chivalry and manhood to comeforth and parade the London streets and grace the triumphof their sovereign lady, the Queen- Empress of India.Though the unwarlike people of Bengal were obligedto submit, in 1203 , to Bkhtiyar Khiljī, the general ofMuhammad of Ghor, the lower province soon becameindependent of the distant authority of the Delhi emperor,and in 1340 set up an independent ruler of its own, in theperson of the local governor, Fakir- ud- din, who was succeeded by a line of twenty sovereigns until Akbar, in 1576,reconquered the revolted province.Muhammad of Ghor, who may be classed as the firstMuhammadan ruler of India, fell before a fierce attack of abody of hill Gakkars, from the Sewālik hills, who crept intothe monarch's tent and, as he lay sleeping, stabbed him todeath with no less than twenty-two wounds, before thegaze of his petrified attendants. On his death, Katb-uddin, a Turki slave-whose name is remembered by the greatmosque he built at Delhi, and the majestic minar, rivallingin finish and moulding, though not in height, the Campanileat Florence-proclaimed himself, at Delhi, monarch of allIndia. His dynasty, which lasted until 1290, continuedthe ceaseless contest against Rājput princes, fierce hill¹ See Syed Mahomed Latif, " History of the Panjab, ” p. 94.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 337tribes, revolting Hindu principalities, and incursive bandsof warlike Mughals, who rode down to pillage the plaincountry east of the Indus. The Khilji and Tughlakdynasties followed, until at length, in 1393, the lame Timur,or Tamerlane, named by Ferishta " The Firebrand of theUniverse," collected together his wild horsem*n, sweptdown through the north-west passes of Afghanistān, andmarched towards Delhi. " My principal object in comingto Hindustan," says Timur, " and in undergoing all this toiland hardship, was to accomplish two things. The first wasto war with infidels, the enemies of the Muhammadanreligion, and by this religious warfare to acquire someclaim to reward in the life to come. The other was aworldly object, that the army of Islām might gain something by plundering the wealth of the infidels: plunder inwar is as lawful as their mother's milk to Mussulmanswho fight for their faith, and the consuming of that whichis lawful is a means of grace. " ¹The famed city of Delhi was captured by a ruse, and forfive days the newly- proclaimed emperor sat in the mosque,constructed by Firoz Tughlak, giving praise to God thatthe idolaters had submitted like " sheep to the slaughter,"and that the Hindus lay dead in heaps so that the streetswere impassable. The fabulous wealth of Delhi was borneaway; a hundred thousand Hindu prisoners were slain " withthe sword of holy war"; the women were dragged intoslavery, and the stone masons and workers in marble weredriven across the wasted land of the Panjab, and beyondthe bleak passes of Afghanistan, to build, for the newconqueror of the world-from Delhi in the south to Siberiain the north, from Syria in the west to China in the easta mosque at Samarkhand. His descendants were to foundthe great Mughal Empire of India, and point the lessonwhich Timur had learned before he ventured on his rapid1 Holden , E., " Mughal Emperors, " p. 52.Y338 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAraids into the country. The lesson was plainly taught toTimur in the answer given by those of his court whom heconsulted on the enterprise: " If we tarry in that land ourposterity will be lost, and our children and our grandchildren will degenerate from the vigour of their forefathersand become speakers of the language of Hind. " ¹For over a century after the passing-away of Timur,weak dynasties, Sayyid and Lodi, held a feeble rule aroundDelhi and Agra until the so- called Mughal invasion of Babar.During the early centuries of Muhammadan raids andrule, the intellectual life of Northern India seems to havebeen seized with a paralysis that crept even as far to theeast as Mithila or North Behar, which had remained thegreat centre of philosophic thought since the days ofJanaka, King of the Videhas. It was a palsy under whichMithila sank to decrepitude.In the eighteenth century the great logician of India,Raghunath, had to turn to where vitality alone remained to the land where the torch of learning hasbeen kept burning down to the present day-to Bengal,where he established, at Navadvip, the most renownedschool of logic in all India. It was Bengal that sawalmost a second Buddha appear in the ecstatic dreamerand revivalist, Chaitanya, in the fifteenth century, and not,as might have been expected, in Magadha or South Behar.Here Kullaka Bhatta wrote his famous commentary on"Manu" in the fourteenth century, almost five centuriesafter Mithila had had learning enough to send forthMedātithi, the second great commentator of the samesacred law book of the Hindus. It was in Bengal alsothat Jimutavahana wrote, in the fourteenth century, the"Dayabhāga," a work which has become there the recognised law book on Hindu succession and inheritance,1"Institutes, Politicaland Military, written originally inthe Mogul Language bythe Great Timour, " published, Clarendon Press ( 1783 ) , by J. White, B.D., p. 131 .THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 339a task that Vijnānesvara had done in his " Mitākshara,"or " Commentary on the Law Book of Yajnavalkya," in theeleventh century for Behar and the West.Bengal had, however, produced for itself a poet as earlyas the twelfth century. Set to the sweetest music of soundand of moving rhythm of which the Sanskrit language hasbeen found capable, Jaya Deva had sung the theme thatbecame, in one form or another, universal in subsequentIndian literature. It was the mystic theme of the longing ofthe soul to find union with, or absorption into, the DivineEssence, personified in one or other of the Hindu deities,Rāma or Krishna. There is no direct evidence that thepoem itself was written with any religious purport. Itsimply tells of the longings and laments of Radha, thefavourite of Krishna, for her lord and lover. Still, allVaishnavites take the poem as the mystic rendering of thelonging of the soul for the Divine.¹ Jaya Deva2 was bornin the Birbhum district of Bengal, in the twelfth century.The poem opens with the customary reverence toGanesa, the opposing deity of all good efforts. Thepraises of Vishnu are then sung, and the deeds reciteddone during his descent on earth in various forms, in whichhe still retained his Divine Essence. His first descentwas as the Fish that bore to a resting- place, on the northernmountains, the ship in which Manu escaped from theFlood. The second form in which Vishnu appeared was asa Tortoise, on whose back was suspended the mountainMandara, round which was wound the huge serpent Sesha,to form a rope that the gods and demons might churn thewaters of the flood, and bring to the surface the fourteenprecious treasures lost during the deluge. The last of1 Weber, " History of Indian Literature, " p. 210.2 Monier- Williams, " Hinduism, " p. 139. The Nimbarkas, a Vaishnavitesect, without a literature, who worship Krishna and Rādhā, claim Jaya Devaas a follower of their founder, Nimbārka, or Nimbaditya, of the twelfthcentury.340 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAthese lost treasures was the poison which would havedestroyed humanity had it not been drunk by Śiva, whoseneck it burned so badly that he still bears the mark-thesymbol of the sufferings he bore for man-and is thereforecalled " The Blue-throated God."Again Vishnu descended in the form of a Boar, to raisethe earth from below the waters and hold it firm. As theMan-Lion, Vishnu came on earth to tear to pieces themonster, Hiranya Käsipa, whom the god Brahma hadgiven security from mortal injury. The fifth incarnationthe poet reverences is that of the Dwarf, the form inwhich Vishnu appeared before the demon, Bali, who hadusurped dominion over the three worlds. Bali, in jest,offered the Dwarf so much of the worlds as he could strideover in three steps, whereon, in three strides, the deity reannexed the three worlds. The sixth incarnation is thatof Parasu Rāma, or “ Rāma with the Axe," who came toextirpate the warrior caste, and re-establish Brahmanicalmight. The seventh was that of Rama Chandra, “ TheMoon- like Rāma," whose victory over Rāvana is told inthe " Rāmāyana. " The eighth form was that of Krishna," The Dark God," the chief of the Yādus, the charioteer toArjuna when the Pandavas fought against the Kurus. Theninth incarnation was that of Buddha, who came to freethe land from Vedic sacrifices of animals. The last incarnation, one yet to come, is that of Kalki, who willappear seated on a white horse, bearing a sword to slayall those who in the Kāli, or " depraved age," do wrong andwork unrighteousness. The Kāli, or " present age," isthat described in the " Vishnu Purāna": ¹—"The observance of caste, order, and institutes will not prevail in theKāli Age, nor will that of the ceremonial enjoined by the ' Sama,'' Rik,' and ' Yajur Vedas.' Marriages, in this Age, will not beconformable to the ritual, nor will the rules that connect the1 Wilson, H. H., " Vishnu Purana, " pp. 622-23.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 341spiritual preceptor and his disciple be in force. The laws thatregulate the conduct of husband and wife will be disregarded,and oblations to the gods with fire no longer be offered. Inwhatever family he may be born, a powerful and rich man willbe held entitled to espouse maidens of every tribe. Aregenerateman will be initiated in any way whatever, and such acts ofpenance as may be performed will be unattended by any results.Every text will be Scripture that people choose to think so:all gods will be gods to them that worship them, and all ordersof life will be common alike to all persons. In the Kāli Age,fasting, austerity, liberality, practised according to the pleasureof those by whom they are observed, will constitute righteousness. Pride of wealth will be inspired by very insignificantpossessions. Pride of beauty will be prompted by (no otherpersonal charm than fine) hair. Gold, jewels, diamonds,clothes, will all have perished, and then hair will be the onlyornament with which women can decorate themselves. Wiveswill desert their husbands when they lose their property; andthey only who are wealthy will be considered by women as their lords. He who gives away much money will be themaster of men, and family descent will no longer be a titleof supremacy. Accumulated treasures will be expended on(ostentatious) dwellings: The minds of men will be whollyoccupied in acquiring wealth, and wealth will be spent solelyon selfish gratifications. Women will follow their inclinations,and be ever fond of pleasure. Men will fix their desires uponriches even though dishonestly acquired. No man will partwith the smallest fraction of the smallest coin, though entreatedby a friend. Men of all degrees will conceit themselves to beequal with Brāhmans. Cows will be held in esteem only asthey supply milk. The people will be almost always in dreadof dearth, and apprehensive of scarcity , and will hence everbe watching the appearances of the sky; they will all live,like anchorets, upon leaves, and roots, and fruit, and put aperiod to their lives through fear of famine and want. In truth,there will never be abundance in the Kāli Age, and men willnever enjoy pleasure and happiness. They will take their foodwithout previous ablution, and without worshipping fire, gods,or guests, or offering obsequial libations to their progenitors.The women will be fickle, short of stature, gluttonous; theywill have many children and little means. Scratching theirheads with both hands, they will pay no attention to thecommands of their husbands or parents. They will be selfish,abject, and slatternly; they will be scolds and liars; they will342 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAbe indecent and immoral in their conduct, and will ever attachthemselves to dissolute men. Youths, although disregardingthe rules of studentship, will study the ' Vedas.' Householderswill neither sacrifice nor practise becoming liberality. Anchoretswill subsist upon food accepted from rustics, and mendicantswill be influenced by regard for friends and associates. Princes,instead of protecting, will plunder their subjects, and underthe pretext of levying customs, will rob merchants of theirproperty."The poet, having duly honoured Vishnu, commences thespecial subject of the poem, the love of Radha for the darkgod Krishna.With all the sensuous languor of an Eastern mind, theloves ofthe gopis, or shepherd girls, who woothe god, are setto the gentle music and soft sound to which the Bengalipoet has moulded the sounding Sanskrit. As the love- sickshepherdesses flit round the god, Radha, the favourite ofKrishna, remains apart pouring forth her longings for thenear presence of her lover. She conjures up to herselfmemories of his might and majesty, his once-whisperedwords of love, when she alone was his loved bride.The love of Radhā is also remembered by Krishna whenhe has freed himself from the allurements of the fiveshepherdesses -perhaps allegorical of the five senses. Theform of Radha rises up before him; he prays her to return,to fear no more, for he no longer bears the form of thefierce god who roams with ash- besmeared and mattedlocks. He has covered himself with the dust of the sweetsandal-wood, and wears a dark lotus leaf to conceal theblue stain his throat bears. The words of Radha are thenborne to Krishna. The messenger tells how she sitsbeneath the moonbeams weeping over her deep sorrow,and the separation of her soul from that of her beloved.The soft south wind, as it steals round her limbs, soothesher no longer; it is as though it had crept through sandaltrees where it had received the taint of the poisoned breathTHE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 343of serpents. She is languid and weary; she pants to beonce more near to her beloved in whom alone her hopesare centred. Krishna cries for her to come, but as sheapproaches, adorned with all her ornaments, her stepsfalter. She weeps, she cries on Hari, her lord, to come andsupport her failing feet; she sinks to the ground, to embrace,to kiss the shadow of the passing dark blue cloud, imagining that it is Krishna who approaches near. Her strengthfails to Bear her further. She weeps, she wails, for in herfancy she sees the lips of a rival touching those of herlord, the rival's long black hair trailing over the dark god'sface, like to evening clouds sweeping past the clear moon;the rival twines white flowers in his dark locks. Rādha'scompanion prays her to tarry not, to hasten to the god,for she has teeth with the gleam of the moon; she has butto fall at her lord's feet and claim his love with gentle wordsof faith.Let the lyric raptures of the poem be taken as they may,either as an allegory of the soul striving to pierce throughthe bondage of the sense and find rest, or else as a lovesong, too sensuous and unrestrained for Western ideas,it is a poem that found its way to the hearts of the myriadsof pilgrims who have, for centuries past, journeyed to thebirthplace of Jaya Deva, crying out the praises of Vishnu,Krishna, Hari, Lord ofthe Braided Locks, Lord ofthe World.Although portions of the poem are untranslatable fromthe poet's unrestraint, yet his artistic reserve saved himfrom the gross lewdness which is too often, especially inBengal, the besetting sin of so many of his imitators andsuccessors. The poem of Jaya Deva marks the gradualdevelopment in the twelfth century of the doctrine of faith(bhakti), of devotion, and personal love towards a deity inhuman form. The Krishna of the " Gita Govinda " is nowusually taken by all the Vaishnavites as an incarnation ofthe Divine Essence. In the poem itself there is no direct344 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAindication that its object was to found any phase of religionbased on the saving grace of a faith in Krishna. Oneverse is often quoted in proof of the poem's mystic andreligious significance. Krishna, in despair at the anger ofRadha, is represented as kneeling down, and praying her toplace her feet on his head. Later tradition holds that thepoet could never have so far forgotten the divine nature ofKrishna as to represent him thus addressing Rādhā, andasserts that Krishna himself wrote these words. The storyis that, in the absence of Jaya Deva, the god entered hishouse and inserted these words in a half-finished line.The poet had commenced the line with the words: " On myhead as an ornament," and then, pausing, had gone out toconsider how he could possibly represent the god as havinga foot placed on his head. In his absence, Krishna, in theform of Jaya Deva, appeared and finished the line, so thatit now reads: " On my head as an ornament place thybeauteous feet. "This doctrine of " bhakti," or faith, so often ascribed toChristian influence, became from its inculcation in the" Bhagavad Gita," and fuller exposition in the " BhagavadPurāna," and " Bhakti Sūtrā " of Sandilya in the twelfthcentury, the almost pervading theme of Indian literature.It passed from the system of Yoga, or attainment ofabsorption of the Soul into the essence of the deity inwhom faith is placed, to its final development in the hopeof salvation, following from a faith or absolute belief inthe words and doctrines of the great teachers, such asŚankara Āchārya, Rāmānuja, Ramānand, Bassava, VallabhaĀchārya and the Sikh gurus.¹From the commencement of the fourteenth century,almost coincident with the disappearance of Tamerlane,with his blood - stained horsem*n across the passes to the¹ For erotic literature, see Beames, J. , “ Ind. Ant. , " i . 215; “ Vishnu Purāna, "xiv. (Preface); Wilson, “ Select Works, " vol. i . 161. Muir, " Metrical Trans. "(Introd. ), gives full account of connection between Christianity and Hinduism.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 345north-west, when the Muhammadan Sayyid¹ and Lodi 2dynasties ruled from Delhi with what feeble power theypossessed until the arrival of the Mughal Bābar, theGangetic valley and the East saw a great literary revivalcentring itself around the doctrines of Vaishnavism.Rāmānand early heralded in the worship of Vishnu, asincarnated in Rāma, the hero of the " Rāmāyana,” andin the lands where he sang his songs, especially nearAgra, his sects, the Rāmavats, or Rāmānandis,+ still forma large community.6The most famous of all Rāmānand's early discipleswas one Kabir," a weaver of Benares, reputed to havebeen the son of a virgin Brāhman woman. His writings,especially the " Sukh Nidhān," are quoted widely at thepresent day, and mark the tendency of the time, underthe stress of contact with Muhammadanism, to breakfree from the exclusive bondage to Hindu sacred literature, and rise above the restrictions of caste, sect, and thebowing-down to idols. In place of these there wasinculcated faith in one Vedantic conception of a deityaddressed as "Ali " by the Muhammadans, and " Rāma" byHindus. To this was added a belief in the guidance ofa guru, or spiritual preceptor, the principle that in timewelded the religious sect of Sikhs, or disciples of Nānak,into a political power under the tenth Panjab guru, GovindSingh.In the " Śabdabali, " or " One Thousand Sayings of Kabir,"the Vedantic doctrine of Māyā, the Jaina, Buddhistic, andBrahmanic doctrines of compassion towards all life were1 1414-50.21450-1526.3 Grierson, " Modern Literature of Hindustan," p. 7: -" I have collectedhymns written by, or purporting to have been written by him, as far east as Mithila. "4 Wilson, H. H., " Religious Sects, " p. 67.5 Hunter, " Indian Empire, " p. 269 ( 1380-1420).6 In the " Bhakta Mālā." 7 Barth, "Rel. of India, " 239.346 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAbrought side by side with the monotheistic conception ofVishnu: ¹-"To Ali and Rāma we owe our existence, and should therefore showsimilar tenderness to all that live. Of what avail is it to shaveyour head, prostrate yourself on the ground, or immerse yourbody in the stream, whilst you shed blood you call yourselfpure and boast of virtues that you never display. Of whatbenefit is cleaning your mouth, counting your beads, performingablution, and bowing yourself in temples, when, whilst youmutter your prayers, or journey to Mecca and Medina, deceitfulness is in your heart? The Hindu fasts every eleventh day,the Mussulman during the Ramazan. Who formed the remaining months and days that you should venerate but one? IftheCreator dwells in Tabernacles, whose residence is the universe?Who has beheld Rama seated amongst images, or found himat the shrine to which the Pilgrim has directed his steps? ...Behold but one in all things, it is the second that leads youastray. Every man and woman that has ever been born is ofthe same nature with yourself."On the death of Kabir, the Hindus and Muhammadansare represented by tradition as disputing over their respective rights to claim the body of the teacher. TheMuhammadans, according to their custom, desired tobury it, the Hindus to burn it. Kabir, it is said,appeared in the midst of the disputants and directedboth Hindus and Muhammadans to raise the clothcovering his supposed remains. Beneath the cloth theyfound nothing but a heap of flowers. In the holy cityof Benares half of the flowers were burnt by the Hindus,and there the ashes were kept as sacred relics; halfwere claimed by the Muhammadans, who buried thembeneath a tomb near Gorakhpur.2.All over the land the loves of Sītā for Rāma, ofRadha for Krishna, were sung in more or less realisticor mystic significance. As all hopes of a national¹ Wilson, H. H. , " Religious Sects, " " Sabda, " lvi . p. 81 .2 Flourished in 1400 A.D.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 347existence were further fading away, the people seemedin their loneliness to be wailing forth their despairing cryfor the sympathy of a human or Divine love or aid.To the East, in Behar, Bidyapati Thakur told in hispassionate and never - imitated sonnets, in the Maithilidialect, the longings of the Soul for God, in theallegorical form of the love of Rādhā for Krishna. Inthe songs of Chandīdās, the imitator of Bidyapati inBengal, a deeper note, though not so sweet, is given ofthe same phase of thought which sent the intellectuallife ofthe time in on itself to brood over a love of Godfor humanity, and humanity for God, in times whenMughal raids had, for their rallying cry, the Prophet'sdeclaration of a Divine revelation: " Slay the unbelieverand infidel where he may be found. " 1Chandidās sang the same wail of love in which theSoul, personified as Rādhā, pours forth her love for theDivine, as incarnate in Krishna.This surrender of the Soul and the Self, as dreamed ofin all the true mystic symbolism of Jaya Deva, reached itstenderest, though perhaps not its truest, depths in thevision of Mira Bai,2 of Mewar, in the West of Hindustan,in the fifteenth century, as it did in the sixteenth centuryin Spain in the ecstasies of Santa Theresa. Mira Bai'scommentary on the " Gita Govinda " shows her passionatedevotion to the form of Krishna she worshipped, whilesongs of her own composition are sung far and wide,from Dvārāka to Mithila. Tradition loves to tell how,as she worshipped the image of Krishna, pouring forthher impassioned appeal for its love, the image opened and41 Timur, " Designs and Enterprises, " p. 2.2 Wilson, H. H., " Sects of the Hindus, " p. 138; Grierson, " ModernLiterature of Hindustan, " p. 12.3 G. C. Cunningham, " Santa Theresa: Her Life and Times, " EdinburghReview (October 1896).4 Tod, J. , " Rajasthan, " vol . i . p. 289.348 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAclosed around her so that she for ever disappeared fromearth.1 The piety of Mira Bai, the devoted follower ofKrishna, and founder of the Mira Bai sect, did not saveher from scandal and from persecution by her family.The theme she sang had its own fascinations and dangers.The mystic brooding over the longings of the Soul whichfound expression in the burning terms of human love usedby Jaya Deva in the twelfth century in India, and by SanJuan de la Cruz in the West, tottered on the verge of asteep precipice.In the soft, relaxing lowlands of Bengal the step wasearly taken that sped mysticism down to realism. Thesafeguard of spiritualism once abandoned, all was lost onwhich the theme could preserve itself free from the contaminating taint of the earth and earthly. The tendencyof the whole literature was to sink lower and lower intothe abyss of lewd imaginings and sensuous fancies. Theoutward and popular expression of the same realistictendency took the form of foul Tantric orgies, until atlength literature and religion dragged down in their fallall the best on which they were founded.Both phases of thought, the realistic and spiritualistic,found their fullest expression and glorification in thewritings, teachings, and influence of two great foundersof distinct Vaishnava sects-the one, Vallabha Acharya, stillhaving numerous followers in Central India, Bombay, andGujarat, the other, Chaitanya, a name familiar in everyhousehold of Bengal.Vallabha Acharya, the founder of the Swami Vallabhasect, is held to have been an embodiment of a portion of theDivine Essence of Krishna, and numerous are the storiescurrent of his superhuman intelligence and power. Hisgreat work was a commentary on the " Bhāgavata Purāna.”1 Tod, J., " Rajasthan, " vol. ii . p. 760.2 Lewis, D. , " St John of the Cross: Life and Works. "THE FOREIGNER IN THE LANQ 349According to his teachings, the human soul, thoughseparated from the Divine Essence of Krishna, is identicalwith it, and, as such, is as though it were a divine spark ofthe Supreme Spirit itself. The body, as the abode of thisportion of the Divine Essence of Krishna, should behonoured and revered, not subjected to asceticism, butnourished with every luxury in the way of eating, drinking,and enjoyment. The doctrine was one destined to attracta numerous following. The personality and undoubtedgenius of Vallabha secured for it the recognition of thewealthy and influential members of the community whowere shut out from all national life or political power.These Epicureans of India might be passed over in silence,along with all the worshippers of Sakti, or " force personifiedas a goddess," and followers of Tantric rites, inasmuch asthey show no strife against the more debasing factors ofhuman nature, were it not that the most remarkable libelcase that could ever have arisen in a Court of Justicerespecting the privileges of a priesthood was heard in 1862before the Supreme Court of Bombay, when a charge wasbrought against the Mahārājas, or modern successors ofVallabha, that they claimed, as actual manifestations ofKrishna, to be entitled to receive from their disciples notonly adoration, expressed by submission of mind andoutpourings of wealth, but also by dedication of the bodiesof their female worshippers to probably the most eccentricwhims the depraved imaginings of a sect, working outperverted ideals, could evolve.Chaitanya, held to have been an absolute incarnation ofKrishna, and a worker of many miracles, represents to themystic-loving East what Luther represents to the West.Born at Nadiya ( Navadvīp) in 1485 A.D., this enthusiasticreformer and preacher, Chaitanya, gave expression in Bengalto the peculiar mode in which its life and thought hadbecome modelled under climatic and political pressure, just350 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAas Kabir before him had proclaimed the form the religiousthought ofthe people was taking in North India.Of all the varied phases of Indian thought arising withinthe lull that preceded the final conquests of the Mughals,that phase which it was the mission of Chaitanya to proclaim,with all the power of his eloquence and mesmeric influenceof his presence, shows most clearly how deeply the timewas moved by a faith or devotion in a deity, with whom,as a consummation, complete union is sought. Chaitanya,first inspired at Buddha Gaya by the universal sympathyof the Buddhist sage, and then roused to enthusiasm bythe memories of the thought of past ages as they sweptround the temple of Jagannath, went forth from his wifeand child as an enthusiast, to proclaim the love for, and of,Krishna, at a time when Luther was preparing to rouseEurope by his preaching. Five hundred years have passedaway since the time Chaitanya spread a faith in the savinggrace of Krishna throughout the land, nevertheless, downto the present day, the same spirit that inspired Chaitanyacontinues still to dwell among his followers.2In an interesting account of the life and precepts ofChaitanya, lately published by his devout and agedfollower, Śri Kedar Nath Dutt, Bhakti Vinod, it can beread how this spirit preserves its vitality undiminishedamid the changes that are sweeping over the land. Thisexponent of the hopes of the present followers of theteachings of Chaitanya declares his firm faith that, from adevoted love to Krishna, a love like that of a girl for aloved one, shown by constant repetition of his name, byecstatic raptures, singing, calm contemplation and fervour,a movement will yet take place to draw to the futurechurch ofthe world " all classes of men, without distinctionof caste or clan to the highest cultivation of the spiritThis church, it appears, will extend all over the world, and1 The standard life is that of Krishna Das Kavi Raj. 1895.2THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 351take the place of all sectarian churches, which exclude outsiders from the precincts ofthe mosque, church, or temple." ¹The spirit that is to animate this new church is to befounded on the principle that " spiritual cultivation is themain object of life. Do everything that keeps it, andabstain from doing anything which thwarts the cultivationof the spirit." A devoted love to Krishna is to be theguiding light, as preached by Chaitanya: " Have a strongfaith that Krishna alone protects you, and none else.Admit him as your only guardian. Do everything whichyou know Krishna wishes you to do, and never think thatyou do a thing independent of the holy wish of Krishna.Do all you do with humility. Always remember that youare a sojourner in the world, and you must be preparedfor your own home." 2The simple piety of this latest preacher of the teachingsof Chaitanya holds that Chaitanya “ showed in his character,and preached to the world, the purest morality as anaccompaniment of spiritual improvement. Morality, as amatter of course, will grace the character of a bhakta (onewho has faith) ." 3The perplexing question of idolatry receives its usualexplanation in the following manner: " Those who saythat God has no form, either material or spiritual, andagain imagine a false form for worship, are certainlyidolatrous. But those who see the spiritual form of thedeity in their soul's eye, carry that impression as far aspossible to the mind, and then frame an emblem for thesatisfaction of the material eye, for continual study of thehigher feelings are by no means idolatrous." 4Thewords seem as ifthey pointed to the images Chaitanyain his trances used to vision up before him of the deity andthe shepherdesses. In one of these trances, Chaitanya is¹ Dutt, K. N., " Chaitanya: His Life and Precepts, " p. 60.2 Ibid. , p. 57. 3 Ibid. , p. 58.4• Ibid. , p. 47.352 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAheld by tradition to have seen a vision of Krishna and theshepherdesses, sporting in the glistening waters of the seanear Puri, in Orissa, and, as he walked out towards them,passed away forever from the world, having gained theheaven of Vaikuntha in 1527 A.D. , at the age of forty-two.While Chaitanya in Bengal, moved by the same spiritthat had inspired the sonnets of Bidyapati in Behar, theecstatic trances of Mira Bai in Mewar, and the languid andenervated sensualism of Vallabha Acharya in Benares, waspouring forth his mystic raptures over the loves of Rādhāand Krishna, a new line of conquerors, whose song wasthe " Song of the Sword," and whose love was a love forplunder and the firebrand, was biding its time until allthings were prepared for the raid on Hindustan, and captureof Agra, where all of the army were to gain presents insilver and gold, in cloth, in jewels, and in captive slaves.¹In 1526, Babar, "The Lion, " fifth in descent from Timur, orTamerlane who had conquered Kabul in 1504, received aninvitation from the contending rulers of the north-west toenter India with his Turki hordes, and proclaim himselfEmperor of Hindustan.Babar and his hardy troops soon swarmed down throughthe Khaibar Pass, and on the fatal field of Panipat brokein pieces the forces of the last king of the Lodi dynasty.The new emperor, in his " Memoirs," narrates how this, hisfifth invasion, was crowned with success:-"In consideration of my confidence in Divine Aid, the most High Goddid not suffer the distress and hardships I had undergone to bethrown away, but defeated my formidable enemy and made methe conqueror of the noble country of Hindustan. This successI do not ascribe to my own strength, nor did this good fortuneflow from my own efforts, but from the fountain of the favour andmercy of God. "2Though the rule of Babar and his descendants is known1 Holden , E. , " Mughal Emperors, " p. 87.2 Leyden, John, " Memoirs of Babar, " p. 310.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 353as that of the Mughals, Bābar himself, as descended fromTamerlane, was a Turk, and, although his mother was aMughal, he speaks of that race with disdain and contempt,as composed of wretches who plundered foes and alliesalike:-"If the Mughal race were a race of angels, it is a bad race.And were the name Mughal written in gold, it would be odious.Take care not to pluck one ear of corn from a Mughal's harvest.The Mughal seed is such that whatever is sown with it is execrable. " ¹Bābar, having overthrown the power of the Lodi king,found that, beyond the immediate neighbourhood of Delhi,Hindu princes and Afghan governors and garrisons heldindependent rule over such lands as yielded revenue, whilethe outlying tracts were left at the mercy of maraudingbands, and of such petty chieftains as were capable ofraising themselves to power. Thus, when in 1526 Bābarreached the Chenab, he recorded how66 Every time that I have entered Hindustan, the Jāts (of the Panjāb)and the Gujyars have regularly poured down in prodigiousnumbers from their hills and wilds in order to carry off oxen andbuffaloes. These were the wretches that really inflicted thechief hardships, and were guilty of the severest oppression onthe country. These districts, in former times, had been in a stateof revolt and yielded very little revenue that could be comeat. On the present occasion, when I had reduced the whole ofthe neighbouring districts to subjection, they began to repeattheir practices. As my poor people were on their way fromSialkot to the camp, hungry and naked, indigent and in distress,they were fallen upon by the road, with loud shouts, andplundered. " "Bābar's own views of the country, its religions and people,show how he and his race came to the land as muchforeigners as the succeeding European adventurers.1 Leyden, J. "Memoirs of Babar, " p. 93.2 Ibid., p. 294.ZHis354 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAaccounts read almost as though they were the superficialobservations of some stray traveller of to-day: ¹—" Most of the natives of Hindustan are Pagans. They call thePagan inhabitants of Hindustan, Hindus. Most of the Hindushold the doctrine of transmigration. The officers of revenue,merchants, and work-people, are all Hindus. In our nativecountries, the tribes that inhabit the plains and deserts haveall names, according to their respective families; but hereeverybody, whether they live in the country or in villages, havenames according to their families. Again, every tradesmanhas received his trade from his forefathers, who for generationshave all practised the same trade. Hindustan is a countrythat has few pleasures to recommend it. The people are nothandsome. They have no idea of the charms of friendlysociety, of frankly mixing together, or of familiar intercourse.They have no genius, no comprehension of mind, no politeness of manner, no kindness or fellow-feeling, no ingenuity ormechanical invention in planning or executing their handicraftworks, no skill or knowledge in design or architecture; theyhave no good horses, no good flesh , no grapes or musk- melons,no good fruits, no ice or cold water, no good food or bread intheir bazars, no baths or colleges, no candles, no torches, nota candlestick. "His " Memoirs " give a vivid picture of the times in hisfamed siege of Chanderi, one hundred and thirty-five milessouth of Agra. He describes the despairing valour of thegarrison in words which recall the incident so proudlysung of in the Rajput ballads:-The troops likewise scaled the walls in two or three places. In ashort time the Pagans, in a state of complete nudity, rushedout to attack us, put numbers of my people to flight, andleaped over the ramparts. Some of our people were attackedfuriously and put to the sword. The reason of this desperatesally from their works was, that on giving up the place for lost,they had put to death the whole of their wives and women, andhaving resolved to perish, had stripped themselves naked, inwhich condition they had rushed out to the fight, and engagingwith ungovernable desperation, drove our people along theramparts. Two or three hundred Pagans . . . slew each other1 Leyden, J. , " Memoirs of Babar, " pp. 332-33.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 355in the following manner: One person took his stand with asword in his hand, while the others, one by one, crowded inand stretched out their necks, eager to die. In this way manywent to hell; and by the favour of God, in the space of twoor three hours, I gained this celebrated fort.' 1One short couplet of Bābar sums up the sentiments thatinspired the fierce valour of the new-come, hardy Northernwarriors, in their contests with the gentler and less physicallycapable Hindus of the East and South." Let the sword of the world be brandished as it may,It cannot cut one vein without the permission of God. " 9His remark to his son on the subject of style in letterwriting, shows how much sympathy Bābar himself wouldhave had for the sensuous languor, the musical cadence ofword and rhythm, the use of brilliant metaphor and startlingallegory so loved by all Hindu poets. In writing to hisson, Humayun, Bābar records with all the frankness andunpleasing truth of a Cobbett: " You certainly do not excelin letter-writing, and fail chiefly because you have too great adesire to show your acquirements. Forthe future you shouldwrite unaffectedly, with clearness, using plain words whichwould cost less trouble, both to the writer and reader." 3Bābar had but short time to do more than extend hisrule from Multan to Behar. He died in 1530, leavingan empire which extended from "the River Amu in CentralAsia, tothe borders of the Gangetic delta in Lower Bengal."4His son Humayun, after a troubled reign, from 1530 to 1556,during which he was driven from India by the previousAfghan settlers under Sher Shah, the Governor of Bengal,left the task of founding and consolidating the Mughalrule to his son and successor, Akbar.During the long and glorious reign of Akbar ( 1556-1605), coinciding almost with that of Elizabeth in England,India, for the first time, saw hopes that her varied peoples,2 Ibid. , p. 415.Empire, " p. 344.1 Leyden, J., " Memoirs of Bābar, ” p. 377.3 Ibid., p. 392.4• Hunter, "Indian356 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAdivided as they were one from the other by race, language,creed, and customs, might, under one sole ruler, tolerant ofall beliefs, and setting forth as his ideal the principle that"every class of the community enjoys prosperity," ¹ lay asidetheir differences , unite and acknowledge " the suzeraintyof one prince who would protect and not persecute. " 2From first to last the endeavour of Akbar, with the aidof his friend and biographer, Abul Fazl, was to reconcilethe contending claims of rival creeds and of varied racesthat clamoured for recognition in the body politic. Hindusand Muhammadans were employed alike. To win theallegiance of the Rajput princes he intermarried with theirdaughters. No one was persecuted for conscience sake,and India obtained what it had never before possessed,some hope that union, peace, and prosperity might besecured within its borders. Akbar, in the words of oneof the most brilliant historians of India, " had convincedhis own mind that the old methods were obsolete; that tohold India by maintaining standing armies in the severalprovinces, and to take no account of the feelings, thetraditions, the longings, the aspirations of the children ofthe soil-of all the races in the world the most inclinedto poetry and sentiment, and attracted by the strongestties that can appeal to mankind to the traditions of theirforefathers would be impossible. " ³He early abolished the poll tax imposed by formerMuhammadan rulers on those of their subjects who didnot follow the faith of Muhammad. In the same year heput an end to the inland tolls which each semi- independentlocal governor had levied on the confines of the separateprovinces. He further relinquished a lucrative source ofrevenue by refusing to continue the imposition of thepilgrim tax on Hindus whose religion necessitated the1 " Ain-i - Akbari, " quoted in Holden's " Mogul Emperors. "2 Malleson, " Akbar " ( Ruler of India Series) , p. 98. 3 Ibid., p. 154.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 357performance of pilgrimages to holy shrines, temples, andsacred bathing- places.There were, however, Hindu customs and ancient riteswhich Akbar, tolerant as he was, refused to recognise.These he strove vehemently to suppress, and by his effortsand laws forestalled the British Government in some ofthe most important enactments by which its administrationhas been signalised. He put an end to the time- honouredcustom of making slaves of those captured during war.He made the re- marriage of widows legal, forbade infantmarriage, and prohibited, unless the act was voluntary onthe woman's part, the practice of Satī, or the burning of awidow on her husband's death.In his efforts to form a state religion, wide enough to beacceptable to all his subjects, he was actuated by the spiritthat had already given rise to the teaching of Kabir, andwas to infuse the army of the Khālsā with a bond of Sikhunionism .He directed his " king of poets," and friend Faizi,¹ thebrother of Abul Fazl, to prepare a translation of the NewTestament into Persian, and his historian, Abul KādirBadauni, the author of the " Tarikh-i- Badaunī, " to translatethe " Rāmāyana," and part of the " Mahābhārata."To strict Muhammadans Akbar was an apostate fromthe true dictates of his own religion. In his efforts toframe a religion eclectic enough for both Muhammadansand Hindus, he went so far as to erase the name ofMuhammad from the creed , " There is but one God, andMuhammad is His Prophet." He himself was to be thedeclarer of the more merciful decrees of the one God, andhe was to be the sole arbitrator in religious matters andthe source of all legislation.1 Raja Birbal was the Hindu Poet Laureate, and Faizi, the Persian Laureate. Blochmann, " Ain- i - Akbari, " p. 404 (note 1 ) . "Faizi alsotranslated the ' Līlāwati, ' and Abul Fazl the ' Kalilah Damnah. ' ”—Ibid. ,P. xvii.358 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThe full meaning and result of this design of Akbar isset forth in the introduction to Blochmann's translation ofthe " Ain- i - Akbari, or Account of the Religion, Politics,and Administration of the Times," by Abul Fazl: -"If Akbar felt the necessity of this new law, Abul Fazl enunciated itand fought for it with his pen; and if the Khân Khānāns gainedthe victories, the new policy reconciled the people to the foreignrule; and whilst Akbar's apostasy from Islām is all but forgotten,no emperor ofthe Mughal dynasty has come nearer to the idealof a father of his people than he. The reversion , on the otherhand, in later times to the policy of religious intoleration, whilstit has surrounded, in the eyes of the Moslems, the memory ofAurangzib with the halo of sanctity, and still inclines the piousto utter a ' May God have mercy on him, ' when his name ismentioned, was also the beginning of the breaking- up of theempire." ¹Although Akbar encouraged Brahmans, Mussalmans,Jews, Parsis, and Christians, to proclaim freely beforehim their creeds, beliefs, and faiths, and although traditiontells, though perhaps on no strong evidence, that one ofhis wives was a Christian, still the task to which he hadset his hand was one impossible to accomplish. Hisdesire to see good in every religion and good in everyman, his very tolerance and efforts to extract the bestfrom every faith, left him indifferent to the carping distinctions of dogmas and creeds.For himself he fashioned forth an eclectic creed of hisown. Not only did he bow down before the Sun, as therepresentative and ruler of the Universe, but he claimedfor himself the homage and adoration of his subjects—aworship which strict Muhammadans held to be due to Godalone. As a result, the bigotry of Muhammadanism led tothe assassination of Abul Fazl, and, on the death of Akbar,the contending interests of rival religions and races brokeforth afresh with a vigour and animosity renewed fromtheir long slumber.¹ Blochmann, “ Ain- i- Akbari, ” p. xxix. (Introd . ).THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 359Akbar's own Poet Laureate Birbal, was a Brahman Bhāt,or minstrel of Kālpī, whose wise sayings and bon- mots arestill remembered in North India.¹ In 1583 Birbal was sentto fight against the Yusufzais, and there, to the grief ofhis devoted friend, Akbar, met his death. The poet gainedthe lasting hate of all orthodox Muhammadans for thepart he was supposed to have taken in influencing theemperor to forsake Islām.Badauni, the historian, in recording the defeat of thearmy, the severest defeat suffered by Akbar, grimly says:-"Nearly eight thousand men, perhaps even more, were killed. Birbalalso, who had fled from fear of his life, was slain, and enteredthe row of the dogs in hell, and thus got something for theabominable deeds he had done during his life- time."The same historian, while narrating the events of theyear 1588, mentions:-"Among the silly lies -they border on absurdities-which, during thisyear, were spread over the country, was the rumour that Birbal,the accursed, was still alive, though in reality he had then forsome time been burning in the seventh hell. The Hindus, bywhom His Majesty is surrounded, saw how sad and sorry he wasfor Birbal's loss, and invented the story that Birbal had beenseen in the hills of Nagarkot, walking about with Jogis and Sannāsīs. His Majesty believed the rumour, thinking thatBirbal was ashamed to come to court on account of the defeatwhich he had suffered at the hands of the Yusufzais; and it was,besides, quite probable that he should have been seen withJogis, inasmuch as he had never cared for the world. " ³What shape the course of Indian history might havetaken had the Mughal dynasty produced a successorworthy of Akbar is now impossible to foresee. Hehimself, it is said, had designed his tomb to be crownedwith a dome. Perhaps he foresaw in the early death of¹ Blochmann, "Ain-i- Akbari " p. 404; Grierson, " Literature of Hindustan,"p. 35.2 Ibid. , p. 204.3 Ibid. , p. 404.4 Purchas, " His Pilgrims, " vol . i . p. 440, quoted by Fergusson, p. 587.360 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhis sons, and the debaucheries of the heir-apparent, PrinceSalim, who had instigated the assassination of Abul Fa:l,the speedy decay of the empire, and left his design uncompleted, dreaming, as he is pictured by the late PetLaureate:-" I watch'd my sonAnd those that follow'd , loosen stone from stoneAll my fair work; and from the ruin aroseThe shriek and curse of trampled millions, evenAs in times before; but while I groan'dFrom out the sunset poured an alien raceWho fitted stone to stone again, and Truth,Peace, Love, and Justice came and dwelt therein."There is no evidence that the hopes of Akbar wouldhave been realised even if his work had been continued bysuccessors gifted with a genius equal to his own. Therule of the earlier Muhammadan emperors had shown howimpossible it was to keep the land from being turned intoa battle-field whereon the rival claims of divided chieftains,princes, and robber bands should be for ever contested andnever finally placed at rest.Guzarat, in the West, had thrown off the authority of theDelhi Sultan, and remained an independent kingdom, from1371 to 1573 , gaining strength to include, in 1531 , withinits dominions the territories of the adjoining ruler ofMälwä. Even the independent Muhammadan state ofJaunpur, which included Benares, the sacred city of theHindus, continued independent from 1393 to 1478.In the South the kingdom of Vijayanagar, until overthrown at the battle of Talikot, in the middle of thesixteenth century by the Muhammadan rulers of theDeccan, held independent rule from its ancient capital,whose ruins now lie scattered along the banks of theTangabhadra, and the last of its kings had authorityenough to grant the site of Madras to the English in 1639.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 361More convincing still ofthe impossibility of a native centralauthority being able to preserve touch with all the outlyingstates of India, and to conquer and compel the allegianceof, or to conciliate, the varied races and nationalities, is thefact that, on the break up of the great Bahmani dynasty,which exercised independent rule over the Deccan from themiddle of the fourteenth century to the end of the sixteenth century, the five great Muhammadan governorships, with their capitals at Bijapur, Golconda, Bidar,Ahmadnagar, and Ellichpur, founded dynasties known asthose of the Adil Shāhī, Katb Shāhī, Barīd Shāhī, NizāmShāhī, and Imad Shāhī, and preserved sovereign independence until overthrown, the first four by Aurangzib, andthe last two, which had united in 1572, by Shāh Jahān in1636.The whole of the difficulties of the situation are indicatedin the summing-up, by Sir W. Wilson Hunter,¹ of theresults attained by the early Muhammadan rulers at Delhi,where he shows how " they completely failed to conquermany of the great Hindu kingdoms, or even to weld theIndian Muhammadan state into a united Muhammadanempire. " 2By the time of the death of Bābar, Muhammadan rulehad shown no sign of obtaining a permanent abiding- placein India. In 1541 , Humāyūn was a fugitive in Sind, andreturned not to Delhi until 1554, and then only for a fewmonths' reign.Four years later, when Akbar came to the throne,Benares, Behar, and Bengal were independent, and India,South and West, was beyond the limits of his empire. Itwas not until he had reigned almost twenty years, that all1 " Indian Empire, " p. 343.2 In the fourteenth century Muhammad Tughlak had conquered the Deccan,but at his death the Afghan dynasty of the Bahmani kings, whose possessions ,at the close of the fifteenth century, were divided into the five kingdomsof the Deccan, assumed possession.362 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIndia north of the Vindhyas, and Orissa, acknowledgedhis sway. After subduing Berar and capturing Ahmadnagar in the Deccan, he had to be content with tributeand vows of friendship from the kings of Bijapurand Golconda.The spirit of Akbar's time and genius has its memorialwritten imperishably in stone, in the tomb built for him atSikandra. In itself, it typifies the limit reached byMuhammadan and Hindu compromise.¹The tomb, like Akbar's eclectic religion, represents theconception his master-mind had worked out, of a reconciliation of all racial and religious difference, so that thebest that India held of valour and genius might unite torule the land for the benefit of all, and evolve in peace andrest new ideals of law and order.The early Muhammadan architecture, like its rule, wasessentially foreign to the people, and to the soil of India.The dynasty of Ghor built its mosques with high frontwalls, overlapping courses and ogee-pointed arches. Thedynasty ofKhilji lapsed into horse- shoe arches and elaboratedecoration, while the house of Tughlak stamped the impressof its heavy hand on its great sloping walls, plastereddome, and pointed stucco arches. The commencement ofthe rule of the Mughals was marked by their own peculiarstyle, as seen in the tall Persian domes and glazed tiles ofthe tomb of Humayun. During the long reign of Akbar,the compromise with the Hindu architecture ran parallelwith the development of Akbar's eclectic religion andphilosophic systems, the Hindu bracket and horizontalstyle of building leading gradually to the disappearance ofthe arch. The great fort and palace at Agra, and the"A design borrowed, as I believe, from a Hindu or, more correctly,Buddhist model. "-Fergusson, " Ind. Architecture, " p. 583. "The consequenceis a mixture throughout all his works of two styles , often more picturesque than correct, which might, in the course of another half century, have been blendedinto a completely new style if persevered in. "-Fergusson, p. 574.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 363magnificent ruins at Fatehpur Sikri tell the spirit of Akbar'sreign as distinctly as do the " Ain- i - Akbari " of Abul Fazl,the history of Badaunī, or the " Tabākat- i-Akbari " of Nizāmud-din- Ahmad.The builders of the Mosque of Katb- ud- din at Delhi hadrazed the Hindu temples to the ground, hewn the idolatrousdecorations from the stately pillars, and then used them assupports for their own arched colonnades. The tombs ofthe Ghori Altamsh and his son, the great majestic southgateway of the Katb Mosque, the Tughlak Mosque ofKhān Jahān at Delhi, and the later Afghan Kila KonaMosque at Indrapat, as well as the tall, domed tomb ofHumāyūn, all stand forth uncompromising, in their sternseverity and strict adhesion to their own ideals andpurposes. The palaces of Akbar, the ruins of his buildings at Fatehpur Sikri, and his own tomb, show, step bystep, the weakening of the vigour, and simplicity of theforeign influence, the drooping of the fanaticism andintolerant spirit of Muhammadanism, until, finally, thepalaces and tombs, with their pictured mosaics and lavishdecorations, of the luxurious and pleasure- loving sensualist,Shah Jahan, tell not of a tolerance, but of an indifferenceand submission to the bondage of climatic influence, whichall the bigotry and fanatic Muhammadanism of Aurangzibcould not strive against. There were elements of dangerand decay underlying the whole of this spirit of toleration.The climate was quickly producing its enervating effect onthe rude and rough soldiers who had won Babar hisempire. From beyond the frontiers no new recruits werecoming to preserve the pristine vigour of the ancestors ofAurangzib. Bijapur and Golconda had yet to beconquered. The Marathas, in their mountain homes, werea race waiting to rise to power, defy the whole army ofAurangzib, and sorely try the valour of British troops. Theproud Rajputs would support an Akbar who respected364 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAtheir chivalry and honour, yet their aid could easily beturned into defiance. The great general of Akbar,Bhagavan Dās, the Raja of Jaipur, gave his daughterto the Mughal Emperor, and bears a name among theRajputs which is still " held in execration, as the first whosullied Rajput purity by matrimonial alliance with theIslamite." The successor of Akbar, born the son of aRajput princess, continued more from indifference thantoleration the policy of his father, a policy followed byShah Jahan, also the son of a Rajput princess, daughter ofthe Raja of Marwar. The intolerance and bigotry ofAurangzib, however, roused the Rajputs to rebellion, andHinduism showed its power and strength when the stiffnecked Aurangzib imposed again the odious poll tax, andgave orders " to all governors of provinces to destroy, witha willing hand, the schools and temples of the infidels, and. . . to put an entire stop to the teaching and practising ofidolatrous forms of worship."2 The effete Mughals wereleft to continue their work of the conquest of the South,with new forces rising around them on all sides, threateningto sweep away the structure already undermined and sappedof its strength.Brahmanism remained with its undying vitality ofintellectual life to continue its own course unmoved.The glorious reign of Akbar had seen an outbreak ofnative genius that, in its own lines, rivals that seen inEngland in Elizabethan times. In his days, his greatfinance minister, Todar Mal, a Kshatriya of Oudh, notonly wrote vernacular poems himself on morals (nīti),³but translated the " Bhagavata Purāna " into Persian, toinduce the Hindus to learn that language, in which heordered that all government accounts should be kept, a2¹ Malleson, “ Akbar, ” p. 182, quoting Tod's " Rajasthan . ”Quoted in S. Lane-Poole's " Aurangzib, " p. 135.3 Grierson, " Vernac. Lit. of Hindustan, " p. 35.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 365determination that soon gave rise to the new Urdūdialect.Typical of the time is the story of Hari Nāth, a poet who,having received one lakh of rupees from Man Singh forone verse, and two lakhs from another prince for twoverses, met, on his way home, " a mendicant of the Nāgāsect, who recited a sloka to him, at which he was so pleasedthat he gave the beggar all the presents he had collectedand returned home empty-handed." ¹The two poets who stand forth as shining stars of theperiod were the blind bard, Sūr Dās, and the greater poet,Tulsi Dās, whose life and work extended into the reign ofJahangir. Mr Grierson, whose every word in criticism isweighed and uttered after a thorough and unique masteryof his subject in all its bearings, classes the master- piecesof Sur Dās and Tulsi Dās as not far behind the work ofSpenser and Shakespeare. These two names in themselves would have made the reign of Akbar the mostrenowned in the history of Indian literature since thedays of Kālidāsa. Sūr Dās, the blind bard of Agra, sangof the faith in Krishna, in his " Sur Sagar," said to containsixty thousand verses -as the deity to whom he was devoted, and who, according to popular tradition, appeared andwrote down the verses as the blind poet spoke them. Thestory goes that the poet, finding that his amanuensis wrotefaster than his own thoughts flew, seized the deity by thehand and was thrust away, on which the poet wrote a versedeclaring that none but the deity himself could tear thelove of Krishna from his heart:-2"Thou thrustest away my hand and departest, knowing that I amweak, pretending that thou art but a man,But not till thou depart from my heart will I confess thee to be amortal. "3¹ Grierson, " Literature of Hindustan, " p. 39. 2 Ibid. , p. 24 (note 3).3 Ibid. , p. 24 (note 4).366 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAReferring to verses of the later poet, Bihāri Lal, whosang, in his incomparable seven hundred lyric couplets inthe Braj Basha, near Mathura, the same mystic rapturesover the loves of Radha and Krishna as did Sur Dās,Mr Grierson has happily expressed himself, with nouncertain meaning, as to the importance of a correctappreciation of Eastern mysticism within its properlimitations. Dealing first with the Christian expressionof love to God, and the answering love of God for hiscreatures, the Eastern mode of thought is then fearlesslyput forward in words that must be weighed by all whowould read the native mind:—"Hence the soul's devotion to the deity is pictured by Radha's selfabandonment to her beloved Krishna, and all the hot blood ofOriental passion is encouraged to pour forth one mighty floodof praise and prayer to the Infinite Creator, who waits withloving, outstretched arms to receive the worshipper into hisbosom , and to convey him safely to eternal rest across the seemingly shoreless Ocean of Existence. ... Yet I am persuaded thatno indecent thought entered their minds when they wrote theseburning words; and to those who would protest, as I have oftenheard the protest made, against using the images ofthe lupunarin dealing with the most sacred mysteries of the soul, I canonly answer:-'Wer den Dichter will verstehenMuss in Dichters Lande gehen. 'A deeper, though less mystic, expression of the deepreligious broodings of the people was given by Tulsi Dasin his rendering of Valmiki's " Rāmāyana," a work in whichhe showed the latent powers of Eastern dramatic genius.The drifting of the soul and self into a mystic dream ofecstatic union with the throbbing life that beats throughoutthe universe had found in India a congenial resting-place1 For 1617-1667 . For the " Sapta Śatikā " of Hāla, see Von Schrader,"Ind. Literature, " 575.2 The remarks of Mr Grierson in his Introduction to the edition of the“Satsaiya of Bihari, ” by Śri Lallu Lal Kavi ( Calcutta, 1896), were unfortunately received too late for more than reference here.3 Grierson, " Satsaiya " ( Introd . ) , p . 8.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 367in the spiritualising by Jaya Deva of the pastoral loves ofRādhā and Krishna. This phase of thought rose to itsculminating point in the raptures of such great mystics ofthe Middle Ages as Vallabhā, Mira Bai, and Bidyāpāti, andthe greater poets of Akbar's days such as Krishna Dās andthe blind bard, Sūr Dās. A love and faith in Rāma, amore human and heroic figure than that of Krishna, andthe love of Sītā, a more perfect and womanly love thanthat of Rādhā, were the themes that inspired Ramānand,Kabir, and the great master poet of North India, Tulsi Dās.The Western mode of estimating the value and influenceof the work is given in the words of Mr Grierson:-" Pandits may talk of ' Vedas ' and of the ' Upanishads,' anda few may even study them; others may say they pin theirfaith on the ' Purānas,' but to the vast majority of thepeople of Hindustan, learned and unlearned alike, their solenorm of conduct is the so- called ' Tulsi krit- Rāmāyan. '" 1The real title of the famed work is the " RāmaCharit Manas," or " Sea of Wanderings of Rāma." It wascommenced in 1574, but the date of its completion is unknown. Tulsi Das, however, died in 1624 A.D. Rāmarepresents the Supreme Being, through faith in whom allintuition of Self fades away, leaving the soul in a trancelike ecstasy to sink into placid oneness with the deity'sown true nature, the Universal Essence from which proceeded all Creation.The poem of Tulsi Dās was founded on the story ofRāma and Sitā, as told in the second great epic of India,the " Rāmāyana " of Vālmīki. In the well-known “ BhaktāMālā, " or " Legends of the Saints, " by Nābhā Dās, giving,in a hundred and eight verses, a short account of theVaishnavite poets who flourished in the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries in Hindustan, one verse being givento each poet, it is declared that the pronunciation of a1 Grierson, " Literature of Hindustan, " p. 43.368 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsingle letter of the " Rāmāyana " of Vālmīki, written as itwas in the Treta Age for the salvation of mankind, wouldsuffice to save from all sin, even that of Brahman murder.In the same " Legends of the Saints," Vālmīki is said tohave appeared again on earth, in this the vile Kāli Age, inthe person of Tulsi Dās, so that a new “ Rāmāyana ” mightbe constructed to lead mankind, as if in a boat, across theocean of endless births and re- births.In the " Rāmāyana " of Valmiki, Rāma was the son ofDasaratha, King of Ayodhya of the Solar dynasty. As theking for long had no son, a great horse sacrifice wasperformed, and the gods thus propitiated. Rāma was bornto the king's first wife, Kausalyā, Bhārata to the secondwife, Kaikeyi, and Lakshmana and Satrughna to the thirdwife, Sumitrā.Rāma, who possessed in the epic half the essence ofVishnu, while still a youth, bent the wondrous bow of Śiva,kept by Janaka, King of Videha, and, by doing so, won ashis reward the king's daughter, Sītā, the type of ideal loveand womanly grace. Through the intrigues of Kaikeyi,who desired the kingdom for her son, Bhārata, Rāma wasbanished by his father, King Dasaratha, from Ayodhya.During the sojourn of Rāma and Sītā in the forest retreat,Rāvana, the demon king of Lanka, bore off Sītā to hisisland home where he in vain sought to win her love.The recovery of Sita by Rāma and his ally, Sugrīva, Kingofthe Monkeys, who built the bridge of Rama and burneddown the stronghold of the demon, Rāvana, has been heldas the metaphorical rendering of the Aryan conquest ofSouth India and Ceylon, the monkeys representing theaboriginal inhabitants. The epic finds its fitting close inthe return of Rāma and Sītā to Ayodhya, and their coronation as king and queen.The story, however, is continued in a seventh book,dramatised by Bhavabhūti in his " Uttara- Rāma- Charitra,"THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 369where Rāma hears of the lying rumour spread among hissubjects of Sita's submission to the love of Rāvana. Rāma,though he knew the falseness of the rumour, held that aking's first duty was the care of his subjects, so he banishedSītā from his kingdom, loth to have her share his throneuntil all suspicion had been set at rest.and Sītā found once more reunion andrest.In the end hepassed to finalThe rendering of the epic story in the " Sea of Wanderings of Rāma," by Tulsi Dās, stands as an abiding landmark in the literary history of North India, for not onlydid it spread far and wide the doctrines of Rāmānand,and of a faith in Vishnu, but saved the people by theinfluence of its chastened style and purity of sentimentand thought from falling into the depths of that lewdnessand obscenity towards which the realistic rendering of themystic and spiritual loves of Rādhā and Krishna was evertending, and reached in Tantric and Śaivite orgies.The mission of Tulsi Das was simply to set before thepeople of North India, in their own vernacular, the figureof Rāma as a personification of the underlying Essence ofthe Universe, as a revelation beyond the senses and reason,to be received with faith, and cherished with love andpiety. In the commencement of his poem, Tulsi Dāsdeplores, in the orthodox manner, his own want of ability,genius, or even capacity, for the theme he has undertaken.He, however, proceeds with the task from the belief thateven an enemy would turn from censure if so exalted atheme be told in clear style.¹In terms of mysticism he then calls on the reader torepeat and ponder over the name of Rāma, as symbolisingmore than mere form, as connoting all that shadowsforth the path along which the soul must be led beforeevery semblance of the material is spiritualised. By thus66 1 Growse, F. S. , Rāmāyana, ” p. 10.2 A370 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfixing the thoughts, the soul " enjoys the incomparablefelicity of God, who is unspeakable, unblemished, withouteither name or form."1 In the first age of the world thepoet declared that salvation was to be found in contemplation; in the second age, in sacrifices; in the third,Dvapara Age, in worship in temples, " but in this vile andimpure Iron Age, where the soul of man floats like a fishin an ocean of sin, in these fearful times, the name is theonly tree of life, and by meditating on it, all commotionis stilled. In these evil days neither good deeds, nor piety,nor spiritual wisdom is of any avail, but only the name ofRāma."2The deep sincerity of Tulsi Dās, the purest of all thepoets of his day, in seeking this refuge for the longingsof his soul, breaks forth in the words of Janaka, King ofVideha, whose daughter, Sītā, is won by the warrior Rāma:—" O Rāma how can I tell thy praise, swan of the Manas lake of theSaints and Mahādeva's soul, for whose sake ascetics practisetheir asceticism, devoid of anger, infatuation, selfishness, andpride; the all- pervading Brahman, the invisible, the immortal,the Supreme Spirit, at once the sum and negation of all qualities,whom neither words nor fancy can portray, whom all philosophyfails to expound, whose greatness the divine oracles declareunutterable, and who remainest the self- same in all times, past,present, or future. Source of every joy, thou hast revealedthyself to my material vision; for nothing in the world isbeyond the reach of him to whom God is propitious. "3The true power of Tulsi Das as a descriptive poet isshown in his treatment of the intriguing and crafty hunchback maid of Kaikeyī, the mother of Bhārata, who is led todemand, on the day when Rama was to be installed as heirto his father's kingdom, the fulfilment of a vow made toher by the king, that her own son, Bhārata, should receivethe inheritance, and that Rama should be banished from1 Growse, F. S. , " Rāmāyana, ” p. 15.2 Ibid. , p. 18. ³ Ibid. , p. 167.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 371the kingdom for fourteen years. The whole poem mustbe read if any conception is to be obtained of its artisticunity and dramatic power-a power unequalled in thewhole history of Indian literature.The translation of Mr Growse happily preserves thespirit and the form of this almost new Indian mode ofthought.The handmaid of the queen Kaikeyi thus prepares themotive for the poem: ¹-"Taking Kaikeyī as a victim for the slaughter, the Humpback whettedthe knife of treachery on her heart of stone, and the queen,like a sacrificial beast that nibbles the green sward, saw notthe approaching danger. Pleasant to hear, but disastrous intheir results, her words were like honey mingled with deadlypoison. Says the handmaid: ' Do you or do you not, my lady,remember the story you once told me of the two boons promised you by the king? Ask for them now, and relieve yoursoul: the kingdom for your son, banishment to the woods forRāma. Thus shall you triumph over all your rivals. But asknot till the king has sworn by Rāma, so that he may not goback from his word. If you let this night pass it will be toolate; give heed to my words with all your heart.' . . . Thequeen thought Humpback her best friend, and again and againextolled her cleverness, saying: ' I have no such friend as youin the whole world; I had been swept away by the Flood butfor your support. To-morrow, if God will fulfil my desire, Iwill cherish you, my dear, as the apple of mine eye.' Thuslavishing every term of endearment on her handmaid, Kaikeyīwent to the dark room. Her evil temper being the soil inwhich the servant-girl, like the rains, had sown the seed ofcalamity which, watered by treachery, took root and sproutedwith the two boons as its leaves, and in the end ruin for itsfruit. Gathering about her every token of resentment, sheundid her reign by her evil counsel. But meanwhile, the palaceand city were given over to rejoicing, for no one knew of thesewicked practices. "Rāma, with his wife Sītā, and his brother Lakshmana,1 Growse, F. S. , " Rāmāyana, " p. 191.372 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAgo for fourteen years as hermits to abide in the forests,where Rāma is represented as a mere man, yet, by hiswisdom and heroic virtues, pointing out the path of dutyand virtue by which such of his devotees, as might realisehim as truly Divine, should pass over the sea of transmigration as if by a bridge. Lakshmana, as he watchesRāma and Sītā sleeping in the forest on their bed ofleaves, declares the lesson to illustrate which the poem hasbeen composed. The doctrine of the delusive unreality ofall external form and appearance is first expounded, andthen Lakshmana continues"Reasoning thus, be not angry with any one, nor vainly attribute blameto any. All are sleepers in a night of delusion, and see manykinds of dreams. In this world of darkness they only are awakewho detach themselves from the material, and are absorbed incontemplation of the Supreme, nor can any soul be regardedas aroused from slumber till it has renounced every sensualenjoyment. Then ensues spiritual enlightenment and escapefrom the errors of delusion, and finally, devotion to Rāma.This . . . is man's highest good-to be devoted to Rama inthought, word, and deed. Rāma is God, the totality of good,imperishable, invisible, uncreated, incomparable, void of allchange, indivisible, whom the ' Veda ' declares it cannot define.In his mercy he has taken the form of a man, and performshuman actions out of the love he bears to his faithful people,and to earth, and the Brahmans, and cows, and gods. " ¹Again, when the pilgrims visit Vālmīki 2 in his retreat inthe forest, the ascetic sage declares that Rāma alone islord over all gods; that man is but a puppet, playing thepart allotted to him in the dream of life, not knowing theeternal truth until Rāma, by his grace, bestows knowledgeso that all may become united with the deity, with Rāmahimself, pure joy and bliss. This grace is only vouchsafedto those who simply love Rāma, and not to those who begfor favours. The love for Rāma is summed up in the1 Growse, F. S. , " Rāmāyana, " p. 223. 2Ibid. , p. 238.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 373words: " Perish property, house, fortune, friends, parentskinsmen, and all that does not help to bring one toRāma. " ¹The universal salvation held out by faith in Rāma to allclasses ofthe people, irrespective of caste, is set forth in thewords:-"Even a dog-keeper, the savage hill people, a stupid foreigner, anoutcast, by repeating the name of Rāma becomes holy andrenowned throughout the world 2 . . . for he is omniscient,full of meekness, tenderness, and compassion. " 3The best of all that Hinduism holds is sublimely renderedin one grand hymn to Rāma: 4———"I reverence thee, the lover of the devout, the merciful, the tenderhearted; I worship thy lotus feet which bestow upon the un- sensual thine own abode in heaven. I adore thee, thewondrously dark and beautiful; the Mount Mandar to churnthe ocean of existence; with eyes like the full-blown lotus; thedispeller of pride and every other vice; the long-armed hero ofimmeasurable power and glory, the mighty Lord of the threespheres, equipped with quiver, and bow, and arrows; theornament of the Solar race; the breaker of Śiva's bow; thedelight ofthe greatest sages and saints; the destroyer of all theenemies of the gods; the adored of Kāmadeva's foe (i.e. ofŚiva); the reverenced of Brahma and the other divinities; thehome of enlightened intelligence; the dispeller of all error;Lakshmi's lord; the mine of felicity; the salvation of the saints.I worship thee with thy spouse and thy brother, thyself theyounger brother of Sachi's lord. Men who unselfishly worshipthy holy feet sink not in the ocean of existence, tost with thebillows of controversy. They who, in the hope of salvation, withsubdued passions, ever delightedly worship thee, having discarded every object of sense, are advanced to thy own spherein Heaven. I worship thee, the one, the mysterious Lord, theunchangeable and omnipresent power, the eternal governor ofthe world, the one absolute and universal spirit; the joy of allmen day after day. I reverently adore thee, the king of incomparable beauty, the lord of the earth- born Sītā; be gracious tome and grant me devotion to thy lotus feet. "1 Growse, F. S. , " Rāmāyana, " 264.3 Ibid., 271.2Ibid. , 268.▲ Ibid., 335.374 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAUnder the indifferent tolerance of Jahangir, the able,though drunken and debauched, son and successor ofAkbar, this faith in the saving aid of Rāma was taughtby Tulsi Das in North India, by the disciples of Dādu, ¹a cotton cleaner of Ahmadabad, throughout Ajmere andRajputāna.The long and peaceful thirty years' reign of Shāh Jahānleft to the country prosperity, and to the emperor, in hislater days, wealth and leisure to build, at Delhi, his greatfort and palace, and the stately Juma Musjid, or “ GreatMosque." At Agra, the chastened beauties of the Gemand Pearl Mosques, the magnificence, pomp, and splendourof the palaces, long the wonder of the world for theirmosaics set in precious stones, depicting flowers, andfruits, and birds, even human faces and figures, somethe work of Italian or Florentine artists, the storiesleft by travellers of the Peaco*ck Throne and its inlaidsapphires, rubies, pearls, and emeralds, all give evidenceof the easy luxury of the times. The Taj built by ShāhJahan to his devoted wife, Muntāj Mahal, the mother ofhis fourteen children, remains, for the Mughals, the greatmemorial of how their fierce wrath and lust for war andplunder fell on gentle sleep in the soothing plains of India.On the death of Shah Jahan, his vast treasures and empirefell to his third son, Aurangzib, the ascetic saint andbigoted adherent of Islam. The new emperor, in hisfanatic zeal for the Sunni faith, changed the Deccan froma Dār-al-Hab to a Dār-al- Islām, and by his poll tax on allHindus, whose idolatry he hated, turned the Rajputs fromsupporters of his throne to sullen foes. The Sikhs hechanged from caste followers ofthe meek and humble precepts ofthe " Adi Granth " of their first Guru, Nanak, to arace of fiercest fighting men, who gave up all claim to caste,1 Founder of the Dādū Panthi sect, who worship Rāma from a Vedanticstandpoint.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 375so that, under their tenth Guru, Gōvind Singh, they mightunite "to wreak bloody revenge on the murderers of hisfather, to subvert totally the Muhammadan power and tofound a new empire upon its ruins." By his cold contemptfor Sivaji, " the Mountain Rat," he allowed the wily chieftain-the protector of all " Brahmans and cows "-to weld theMaratha peasantry into roving bands of predatory soldierswith a burning religious zeal and hatred of Muhammadanism, until they grew into a power capable of exactinga tribute of one- fourth of all the revenue up to the limitsof the English factory at Surat, away to the " Marathaditch," which had to be dug around Calcutta as a defenceagainst their raids.While Aurangzīb wasted his strength and resources infutile efforts to reduce the last two strongholds of independent rule in South India, held by the representativesof the Katb Shāhi dynasty at Golconda, and the AdilShāhi dynasty at Bijapur, the people of the Panjab hadwelded themselves into a bond of the fiercest warriorsthe English ever met in India, while the Marāthas werelaughing at the feeble efforts of the emperor to followtheir quick course.Nanak, the founder of the religious faith of the Sikhs,was born of Hindu peasant parents in the year 1469, at avillage named Talvandi, on the banks of the Ravi, notfar from Lahore. Following close on the lines of hispredecessor Kabir, a large number of whose verses areincluded in the " Adi Granth," the first utterances ofNānak which stirred the fanatic fury of both Hindu andMuhammadans against him were: " There is no Hindūand no Musalman." 3 Of his real life but little is known.He is said to have visited Ceylon, thence returned home1ĀdiTrumpp, Ernest, " Adi Granth, " p. xc.2 Burned as far as the English factory by Sivaji in 1664.3 Trumpp, Ernest, " Adi Granth, " p. iv.376 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAperformed miracles, and to have been captured by thetroops of Babar, on the conquest of the Panjab in 1524and then to have been released. Before his death, in1538 A.D., he appointed his servant and disciple, Lahanato succeed him as Guru in his teachings, though it was notuntil the time of the fifth Guru, Arjuna, that the writings ofNanak and his successors were collected into the " Sikh AdiGranth," or Scriptures, held to be of Divine revelation. Thesystem inculcated by Nanak, the first Sikh, was, in itsessentials, that taught by the "Bhagavad Gita," by Kabir,and by Vedantism.It was the worship of One Supreme Being, manifestingitself in a plurality of forms, under the power of Maya, ordelusion, which produces the fallacious appearance of duality.To the Sikh, this Supreme Being was known as “ Brahm,the Supreme Brahm, Paramesur, ' the Supreme Lord, ' andespecially Hari, Ram, Gōvind. "“All is Gōvind, all is Gōvind; without Gōvind there is no other.As in one string there are seven thousand beads ( so) , is that Lordlengthwise and crosswise.Awave of water, froth, and bubble, do not become separate from thewater.This world is the sport of the Supreme Brahm, playing about he doesnot become another."Like all Vedantic and Eastern Pantheistic teaching thesystem of Nanak had no quarrel with Hindu idolatryand the gods of the Hindu Pantheon. The various formsin which the Supreme Being manifests itself as sport,through the delusion of Māyā, were, however, not to bemistaken for the real , uncreated , invisible, incomprehensible,and indescribable Essence:-1 Trumpp, " Ādi Granth, " p. v.2 Ibid. , p. xcviii.Ibid., p. xcix.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 377"Kabir says: A stone is made the Lord, the whole world worshipsit.Who remains in reliance on this, is drowned in the blackstream ."» 1The position has been clearly put by Ernest Trumpp,the late learned translator of the " Adi Granth "-a workno Sikh Guru could read until he had first prepared agrammar and dictionary of the old Hindu dialect, for,as he records, " the Sikhs, in consequence of their formerwarlike manner of life, and the troublous times, had lost alllearning. " According to his view"It is a mistake if Nānak is represented as having endeavoured tounite the Hindu and Muhammadan idea about God. Nānakremained a thorough Hindu, according to all his views, andif he had communionship with Musalmans, and many of theseeven became his disciples, it was owing to the fact that Sufism,which all these Muhammadans were professing, was, in reality,nothing but a Pantheism, derived directly from Hindu sources,and only outwardly adapted to the forms of the Islām. Hinduand Muslim Pantheists could well unite together as they entertained essentially the same ideas about the Supreme; the Hindumythology was not pressed on the Musalmans, as the Hinduphilosophers themselves laid no particular stress upon it. Onthese grounds tolerance between Hindus and Turks is oftenadvocated in the ' Granth,' and intolerance on the part of theTurks rebuked. "The Nirvana, or absorption of the Soul into the SupremeEssence, was to be obtained by meditation on, and repeating of, the name and qualities of the Supreme Being, Hari,which must be taught by the Sikh Guru:-"After the true Guru is found, no wandering (in transmigration)takes place, the pain of birth and death ceases.From the perfect word all knowledge is obtained, he (the disciple)remains absorbed in the name of Hari." 4Trumpp, "Adi Granth, " p. ci.2 Ibid. (Preface) , p. vi .3 Ibid. , p. ci.4 Ibid. , p. 95.378 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIADevotion to the Guru and faith in his teachings, lead tothe true knowledge of Brahman and the power of Maya,whence flows freedom from all delusion of duality:-"In whose heart there is faith in the Guru:Into that man's mind comes Hari, the Lord.That devotee is heard of in the three worlds,In whose heart the One is.True is his work, true his conduct,In whose heart the True One is, who utters the True Onewith his mouth.True is his look, true his impression,That the True One exists, that his expansion is true.Who considers the Supreme Brahm as true:That man is absorbed in the True One, says Nānak. " 1Though Nanak received all men without respect ofcaste, and claimed for himself no divinity, no sanctity oflearning, the power placed in the hands of the Gurus soonled to their very deification as the form of the SupremeBeing itself.In the days ( 1581-1606) of the fifth Guru, Arjuna, theverses of Nanak, and the later saints and Gurus, werecollected in the " Adi Granth," as the guide to the people,whose hitherto voluntary contributions to the Guru werereduced to a form of regulated taxation. Arjuna himselfgrew in wealth; the Sikh faith spread fast throughout theJāt population of the Panjab, until at length the fears ofJahangir were roused. The Guru was arrested, imprisonedat Lahore, and there, it is said, he died from tortureand ill-treatment. Guru Har Gōvind ( 1606-1638) , the sonof Arjuna, roused the Sikh disciples to arms against themurderers of his father, and sent them forth to blackmailthe local governors of the Mughal emperor, Shāh Jahan, andretaliate for the insults levied on the Sikh Gurus. Theninth Guru, Teg Bahadur ( 1664-1675), was seized by thefanatic, Aurangzīb, at Delhi, cast into prison, and there1 "Adi Granth, " p . 407.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 379cruelly tortured along with some Brahmans, in hopes thatthey might consent to embrace the Muhammadan faith.The Guru in despair, and wearied of his tortures, bowedhis head before the keen sword of a Sikh disciple, hiscompanion in misfortune, sending word to his son, GovindSingh, the tenth and last Guru, to avenge his death:-"My strength is exhausted, fetters have fallen upon me, there is nomeans of escape left;Nanak says: Now Hari is my refuge, like an elephant he will becomemy helper. " 1Guru Govind Singh first summoned from Benares someBrahmans to prepare him for the course he had set before him—a religious war against Muhammadanism andAurangzib. The aid of Durgā, the blood- loving wife ofŚiva, the favourite deity worshipped by Govind Singh, hadfirst to be gained. One of his disciples offered himself as asacrifice to Durgā, and on his head being presented to thegoddess, it is fabled that she appeared and promisedsuccess to the sect of the Sikhs. Five more disciplesoffered themselves as further sacrifices. Sherbet, stirredby a two- edged dagger, was given them to drink. TheGuru drank himself, his disciples followed, and all were thusinitiated as the first members of the Khälsa, or " specialproperty of the Guru." To every disciple the name ofSingh, or " Lion, " was given. Their vows were: Not to cuttheir hair, to carry a comb, a knife, and sword, and to wearbreeches reaching to the knee. To gather in all thepeople into one united body opposed to Muhammadans,Govind Singh abolished caste, and wrote for his followersa " Granth " of his own to " rouse their military valour andinflame them to deeds of courage." 2Sivaji, the welder of the Marathas of the Deccan and1 A couplet in the "Granth, " written by Teg Bahadur, quoted by Thorntonin J. R.A.S. , vol. xvii. p. 393.2 "Ādi Granth, " p. xci.380 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAWest Coast into a band of robbers and fierce fighting men,was wise enough to use the same power of religious enthusiasm for his own purposes. Crafty, fierce, and determined, he had early taken as his Guru the BrahmanRāmadās, so that he might be the acknowledged championof Brahmanism against Islām.For long the Marathas had slumbered in peace, tilledtheir fields, and worshipped their idol , Vithobā, ¹ whose praisesthe great emotional poet of the Marathas, Tukā Rāma,a Sūdra of Poona, sang in his five thousand hymns:—"Sing the song with earnestness, making pure the heart;If you would attain God, then this is an easy way.Make your heart lowly, touch the feet of saints,Of others do not hear the good or bad quality, nor think of them.Tuka says: Be it much or little, do good to others." 3The policy of Sivaji was not wholly the outcome ofhis cunning. Like all Hindus, he had his own strongreligious convictions, and these inspired many of hisactions. His power he professedly held as the gift ofhis Guru, Rāmadās. All his wealth and kingdom heplaced at the feet of the Brahman, and would only receiveit back as a gift, holding himself as the disciple andservant of his Guru, a position indicated by the flag hishorsem*n carried, the " red ochre- coloured cloth worn bySanyāsīs. " To Tukā Rāma, the Sudra poet of the Marathanation, he sent a message, accompanied by a retinue ofservants, elephants, horses, and the state umbrella, beggingthe favour of a visit, only to receive back the answer from1 Dr Murray Mitchell, " Hinduism, " p. 170, for an account of the deitywho derives his name from standing on a brick, and described by Tukā as" beautiful is that object , upright on the brick, resting his hand on his loin. "2 " Poems of Tukā Rāma, " edited by Vishnu Parashurām Shastri Pandit(Bombay, 1869).3 Quoted from Sir A. Grant's translation in Fortnightly Review ( 1867) .4 "Poems of Tukā Rama, ” p. 16.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 381the preacher of a salvation to the Maratha nation, througha faith in Krishna, worshipped under the form of Vithoba:-"Brahma has created this Universe, making it the scene of hisdiversion and skill.I observe an amiableness in thy letter which proves theeA child of skilfulness, devout in faith and wise, with a heartdevotedly loving thy spiritual guide.The holy name ' Śiva ' was rightly given thee, since thou art thethroned monarch of the people, the holder of the strings oftheir destiny.• ·What pleasure is there in paying a visit? The days of life arefleeting past.Having known one or two duties which are the real Essence, I shallnow live in my own delusion.The meaning of the whole which will do thee good is this-God isthe all-pervading soul in every created object.Live with thy mind unforgetful of the all - pervading soul, and witnessthyself in Rāmadāsa.Blessed is thy existence on earth, O king, thy fame and praiseextend over the three worlds. "Like all great reformers Tukā Rāma had to suffer bitterpersecution:-" It was well, O God, that I became bankrupt; it was well that famine afflicted me.The deep sorrow which they produced kept in me the recollectionofthee, and made worldly pursuits nauseating to me.It was well, O God, that my wife was a vixen; it was well that Icame to such a miserable plight among the people.It was well that I was dishonoured in the world; it was well thatI lost my money and cattle.It was well that I did not feel worldly shame; it was well that Isurrendered myself to thee, O God.It was well that I made thy temple my abode, neglecting children and wife."Being a Sūdra, Tukā Rāma had to win his way againstBrahmanic opposition, and by his preaching, singing, andsimple life rouse the slumbering spirit of the Marathanation. The potential force of such a movement is too382 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAoften lost sight of by those who judge Indian life from aWestern standpoint.In the life of the poet¹ by a native scholar accustomedto Western modes of thought, and trained to a Westernrespect for historic accuracy, the living power of a forceexercised by such a character as Tukā Rāma is clearlyindicated by the estimation given of his influence on themovements of the time:-"By that inherent force of truth to triumph, and to outlive, and bythat unforeseen and unexpected succour which the truly faithfuland sincere receive from quarters unknown, call it miracle oranything else, Tukā Rāma and his poems outlived his persecutorsand inculcated in the Maratha nation the great doctrine of'Salvation by Faith. ""It was Maratha daring, Rājput chivalry, and the stubbornheroism of Sikh soldiery that England had to meet beforeit conquered India, and the West may rest assured that theawakening of a spirit of revolt in India will be firstpresaged by a wide-spread religious movement, broadenough in its basis, and popular enough in its forms, toenrol the sympathies of the mass of the people. All othermovements must fall to pieces for want of strength, unity,or cohesion, or motive power.2When the unloved and worn-out king crept back toAhmadnagar to die in 1707, after twenty-six years' wearyefforts to hold the Deccan free from Maratha raids, hewailed forth, in a letter to his son, Azim,³ the sad downfallof all his hopes and the wreck of his empire:-" I am grown very old and weak, and my limbs are feeble. Manywere around me when I was born, but now I am going alone.¹ By Jānārdan Sakhārām Gādgil, B.A. , prefixed to the " Poems of Tukā Rāma" ( 1869), p. 12.2 This was written before the Maratha outrages of Poona, towards the endofJune. Much uneasiness might have been assuaged , and much hasty counselignored, if a wider insight into Indian life and history was more prevalent than it seems to be at present.3 Quoted in S. Lane- Poole's " Aurangzib, " p. 203.THE FOREIGNER IN THE LAND 383I know not why I am, or wherefore I came into the world. Ibewail the moments which I have spent forgetful of God'sworship. I have not done well by the country or its people.My years have gone by profitless. God has been in my heart,yet my darkened eyes have not recognised His light. The armyis confounded, and without heart or help even as I am. . . .Come what will, I have launched my bark upon the waters.Farewell! "Not one hundred years later the English took from outthe keeping of his Maratha captors, the blind Shāh Alam,"King of the World," and the feeble remnant of Mughalsupremacy passed under British power. The tragedy waswell played out. The relentless sword of Bābar wassheathed by Akbar, its handle set with precious gems, andthe scabbard cased in velvet by Shah Jahan. WhenAurangzib once more drew the blade to proclaim a Jihad,or "Holy War," against all infidels, he found that thefanatic faith that fired his soul would call on God in vainto brighten up the blade and steel the edge, for the mightthat clove a way for Bābar's Mughal hosts was not thearm of God, but the fierce Northern strength of race andclime that had long since passed away from the debauchedand effeminate nobles and followers of Aurangzib, whowere left in their vain crusade without hope or help.India fell not from Mughal sway to the divided rule andcontending claims of Rajput, Maratha, or Sikh; it fell toa power able to hold all North India, from Calcutta toBombay, and all south of the Vindhya range, secure frominward strife of race, religion, caste, or sect; powerfulenough to protect it from all foreign invasion, and wiseenough never to allow its manhood to decay by longresidence or settlement in a clime where race after raceof Northern conquerors, Aryan, Pathan, Mughal, Turk,and Portuguese have sunk to soothing rest in the sunsteeped plains.CHAPTER XV.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW.EVERY ten years the Government of India presents to theHouse ofCommons a statement of the " Moral and MaterialProgress and Condition of India " during the nine precedingyears. A similar statement, presented annually, shows theprogress and change made during the year under review.These statements give a graphic description of thefrontiers and protected states. They contain a detailedaccount of the administration, of the laws, legislation,litigation, and crime. They give full information regardingthe sources of revenue, trade, commerce, and manufactures,the outlay on, and income from, public works, vitalstatistics, and sanitation, and include tables of net revenueand expenditure, as well as a short account of publicinstruction, literature, and the Press. The statements setforth the salient features of the administrative machineryworking for the advancement of the material improvementofthe community. It, however, remains a task outside thescope and limits of a Blue Book to discern and chronicle inhow far a Western civilisation has wrought changes of apermanent character in the religious or moral feeling ofthe 384THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 385people, or infused a new intellectual life into thetraditional modes of thought that had satisfied thebrooding spirit of Brāhmanical and indigenous genius,so long overwhelmed by the sea of Muhammadanconquest.In how far, it might be asked, would the people of India,if left to govern themselves, undisturbed by foreign invasionor internal anarchy, carry out the ideals of a progressivecivilisation, working for the amelioration of the lot ofmankind? Would commerce thrive, or would it drift into acondition where none of the agricultural produce would beforthcoming for exportation, in exchange for the manufactures, metals, hardware, etc. , of the West? Would Indiasubmit to religious intolerance, and a corrupt administration, after having been accustomed to the impartiality andjustice of a British rule? Would the great works of irrigation be neglected and allowed to fall into decay? Wouldrailways, and all efforts for sanitary improvement beabandoned if bereft of Western control? Would famine beallowed to devastate the land, and no efforts be made fora widespread organised relief, or medical skill be nomore forthcoming to combat the ravages of pestilence anddisease? Would caste once again forge its bonds, andenslave the people? Would superstition regain its oldsway, and customs, abhorrent to humanity, be honouredas in days of old? Would India, in fact, drift back intoa stationary condition of society as the final outcome ofthree hundred years of Western effort for its moral andmaterial progress, or has she had implanted in her anything ofthe vital principles of energetic strife for advance inthe history of the nations of the world? It may be laiddown as a truism, that nothing of permanent good that hasonce been brought into contact with the East will be whollythrown away or rejected. The subtle brain of the Easternwill patiently, all too slowly for unimaginative and hasty2 B386 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAWesterns, sift everything, assimilate what it finally discernsto be best suited for its own purposes, ultimately accretingnothing to itself, which with its own unfailing instinct itfeels to be antagonistic to the conditions whereby it has itsown existence.Difficult as the task must always be, even if for the greaterpart it be not altogether impossible, to ascertain in how farthe literature, architecture, science, and religions of Indiahave been moulded or impressed by foreign influences—Accadian, Macedonian, Scythian, Muhammadan, Mughal,or Portuguese-still more difficult is it to discriminate inhow far British rule in India has worked towards implanting new ideals destined to advance the moral andintellectual condition of the people. At the presentday the evidence is so evasive and slight, so localised anddifficult to discern, that it must remain more a matter ofopinion¹ and feeling, than of proof, as to how far the peopleof India have been influenced by the new world of thoughtopened up to the educated natives through the medium ofEnglish education. The surest evidence is to be found inthe literature which the thought of the time has produced.If the best of that literature indicates that new modes ofthought and expression have been created, it may withconfidence be expected that such a literature is yet destined,not only to remain an inalienable possession of the people,but also to abide as an influence for furthering the intellectual and moral advancement of the community. Themeans taken by the British Government to advance theintellectual life of the people, and what has been recordedas a result in the literature of the country, can only besummarised and indicated. It must remain for the future¹ Sir Alfred Lyall has recently held that: " To no foreign observer, therefore,are sufficient materials available for making any sure and comprehensive estimate ofthe general movement or direction of ideas during the last forty years. "-Nineteenth Century ( June 1897).THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 387to disclose whether, as claimed by the natives themselves,"We arejust accommodating ourselves to environment that has hitherto been so unfavourable to the development of creative power.Within a quarter of a century more we shall be quite at homein our surroundings. Our future is a glorious one. Let nildesperandum be our motto, and we shall yet show to thecivilised world that we are not only apt and facile imitators, butthat we have genius for original intellectual work, and that wecan produce results that will even excel the past splendours ofHindu literature and art. " 1or whether, as has been urged, the Indian genius iseffete, and no signs have as yet come to show that aninfusion of new life and thought has had any power torouse it to creative purposes.The world presents no problem more interesting or moremomentous. On its solution depends in history the finaljudgment on the success of England's mission in the East.The entire industrial resources of modern scientific days,the best of the intellectual heritage handed down fromSemitic, Grecian, and Roman genius, are borne to Indiafrom the West, and yet the result of all these forcesseems to remain within the realm of doubt and controversy. The forces are those on which the future hopesof the world are founded, and India can no more refuseto bend before them, than the West can refuse to recogniseand accept the returning gift of her long record of howhumanity, in its rest and quiet, has wearily turned from allthat Nature can bestow, and probably all that she candisclose of her deepest mysteries to the intelligence of man,for some solution of the problem that lies nearest anddearest to him-that of himself, and of his aspirationstowards some ideal completeness of life.As yet the long past that has culminated in a Western1 S. Satthianadhan, M.A., LL.D. (Cantab. ) , " What has English Educationdone for India? " Indian Magazine and Review ( November 1896) .388 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAcivilisation, still on its rapid progress towards strangechanges, has but clashed with the dead inertia of anEastern civilisation that drags its heavy weight of tradition,time-worn philosophies, creeds, and customs behind it,restraining all its best endeavours for progress and advance.Only one hundred years ago, in 1797, Charles Grantpresented to the Court of Directors a treatise, written in1792, in which he laid down the truth that " although intheory it never can have been denied that the welfare ofour Asiatic subjects ought to be the object of our solicitude,yet, in practice, this acknowledged truth has been but slowlyfollowed up. " He further states that " we have beensatisfied with the apparent submissiveness of the people,and have attended chiefly to the maintenance of ourauthority over the country, and the augmentation of ourcommerce and revenues, but have never, with a view tothe promotion of their happiness, looked thoroughly intotheir internal state. " He proposed a scheme for futureguidance which included the gradual instruction of thepeople in English and their education, "let not the idea hastilyexcite derision, progressively with the simple elements ofour arts, our philosophy, and religions. " By the introduction of English into the business of Government,"wherein Persian is now used," it was hoped that the useof the language would by degrees become general; thathabits of correct reasoning on natural phenomena wouldbe inculcated, natural philosophy diffused, the art ofinvention promoted, and finally, Christianity would triumphover superstition, idolatry, and the universal depravity ofthe native population.In 1781 Warren Hastings had given evidence of hisstatesmanship by founding the Calcutta Madrissa, orMuhammadan College, for the purpose of promoting the¹ Syed Mahmoud, " Observations on the State of Society among the AsiaticSubjects of Great Britain, etc. ," p. II.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 389study of Arabic and Persian and the Muhammadan law,so as to educate natives for the Courts of Justice.¹Three years later Sir William Jones gave the inauguraldiscourse at a meeting of thirty gentlemen, called inCalcutta for the purpose of instituting a society forenquiring into the history, civil and natural, the antiquities,arts, sciences, and literature of Asia-a society establishedunder the name of the " Asiatic Society." Warren Hastingswas invited to be the first president, an honour he declined,whereon the office fell to Sir William Jones, who remainedpresident down to his death, in 1794. In 1791 , Mr JonathanDuncan, Resident at Benares, endowed the Sanskrit Collegeat Benares for the teaching of Hindu law, as well as Hinduliterature.The two Lithuanian and Danish Lutheran missionaries,Ziegenbalg and Plutschau, both sent out from the Universityof Halle in 1706 to the Danish Settlement at Tranquebar,had translated the Gospel of St Matthew into the dialect ofMalabar as early as 1714.2 The efforts of these missions werelargely supported by the Society for Promoting ChristianKnowledge, under whom Schwartz worked in Tanjore,founding the Tinnevelly Mission, from his arrival in 1750.More important in its effects were the efforts made bythe Baptists, whose first missionary, William Carey, landedin Bengal in 1794, to be followed in 1799 by the twofamed Baptist missionaries, Marshman and Ward, who1 " Previous to the enunciation of this view, Warren Hastings had, in 1773,summoned eleven Brahmans to Calcutta, and directed them to compile a textcomprising all the customs of the Hindus, so that it might be translated intoPersian for the use of the Court, and he appointed Hindu and Muhammadan advisers to the European judges to expound the laws and customs of the people,the first movement for an intellectual understanding of the literature of Indiabythe Company. "-" Papers relating to the affairs of India " ( General Appendix I.: Public, 1832).2 The translation of the Bible into Tamil was completed in 1725 by Schultze,the successor of Ziegenbalg.3 Hunter, " Indian Empire, " p. 313.390 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfound a safe refuge from the East India Company at theDanish Settlement at Serampur, fifteen miles from Calcutta¹There their endeavours for the conversion and educationof the natives in the vernaculars of the country continuedin spite of the Despatch of the Court of Directors in 1808(7th December), declaring their policy of strict neutralityin all matters religious, and in spite of the contempt thrownon their efforts at home.In England it was feared that any efforts at conversionwould lead to insurrection and a risk to the Empire. Itwas also urged that if once the Hindu faith was undermined,no fresh principles of faith would be engrafted on theconverted natives, who would become merely nominalChristians. In spite of all these discouragements Careyand Marshman cast their own type, and, in 1822, startedthe first vernacular newspaper in India, the SamāchārDarpan, the first English newspaper, Hicky's Gazetteerhaving appeared in 1780.The Bible was soon printed in twenty- six vernaculars,including Bengalī, Marāthī, and Tamil, and in 1801 Careywas appointed, by Lord Wellesley, Professor of Bengali,Marathi, and Sanskrit at the new college of Fort StWilliam. There he continued his work, issuing numerousbooks from the press, including an edition of the" Rāmāyana " in three volumes, the " Mahābhārata,” and aBengali newspaper, while at the same time he establishedupwards of twenty schools for the education of nativechildren.41 It was at this time also that H. J. Colebrooke, who had landed in 1782 asa writer in the Company's service in Bengal, commenced his series of contributions to the " Researches " of the Asiatic Society towards Oriental learning.In 1794 he produced his treatise on the duties of a " Faithful Hindu Widow, "in connection with the controversy on Sati, followed in 1798 by his " Digestof Hindu Law, " and in 1805 by his " Grammar, " founded on the rules of Panini.2 Edinburgh Review, 1808. 3 Contemporary Review, vol. xxxvii. 458.R. C. Dutt, " History of the Literature of Bengal, " p. 136.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEWThe clear and patent evidence that a new spirit wasworking among the people was the appearance of the firstgreat reformer and apostle of modern India. Ram MohunRoy, who lived and died a Brahman, was born in 1774 atRādhānagar, in the district of Hughli. In his own villagehe read Persian, proceeded to Patna to learn Arabic,and thence to Benares to study, in Sanskrit, the"Upanishads," and " Vedānta." In 1790, at the age of sixteen, he produced-probably as much under Muhammadaninfluence as any other-a treatise antagonistic to theidolatrous religion of the Hindus,¹ in which he laid thefirst foundations of a prose literature in his own vernacular,that of Bengali. As Ram Mohun Roy wrote himself:-"After my father's death I opposed the advocates of idolatry withstill greater boldness. Availing myself of the art of printing,now established in India, I published various works andpamphlets against their (the advocates of idolatry) errors, inthe native and foreign languages. . . . I endeavoured to showthat the idolatry of the Brahmans was contrary to the practiceoftheir ancestors, and the principles of their ancient books. " 2After three years spent in Thibet to study Buddhism, hereturned home and commenced the study of English, alanguage he afterwards wrote with a grace, ease, andprecision that led Jeremy Bentham to declare that hewished that the style of James Mill had been equal to it.³In other phases of thought the unrest, the waking-up toface the increasing pressure of the West, was equallyapparent and no less real. The literature of India at thecommencement of the nineteenth century was, for the mostpart, religious, devoted to mystic raptures over Rāma andKrishna. What may be called a new impulse was given1 Max Müller, in " Biographical Essays, " p. 15, doubts the authenticity ofthe book (see note 1 ).2 Carpenter, M., " Last Days in England of Ram Mohun Roy, " p. 19.3 Dutt, R. C. , " History of the Literature of Bengal, " p. 149.392 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAby the introduction of printing into India, about thebeginning ofthe nineteenth century.In 1803 , Lallu Ji Lal, by the advice of Dr John Gilchrist,wrote his "Prem Sagar," printed in 1809, in a new language,Hindi, in which the Urdu of the camp¹ was taken as themodel, with all its Persian and Arabic words omitted, theirplace being supplied by Sanskrit words, so that it could beused for prose of a literary character but not for poetry.In Bengal, Ram Mohun Roy used the vernacular Bengalifor his prose writings, commencing in 1790 with his earlyessay against idolatry, but neither in this nor in his laterwritings on the " Vedanta," translations ofthe " Upanishads,"in 1816 and 1817, and subsequent polemics on the subjectof widow-burning, did the language show any adaptabilityfor becoming a medium to express his views so clearly andgracefully as he was enabled to express them in hisSanskrit and English writings. He but showed that thevernaculars were capable of being used for literary prosepurposes, for, before his time, they had been used merelyfor poetic effusions.When Ram Mohun Roy commenced to write, fewEuropeans, and probably fewer natives in Bengal outsidethe Brahman caste, knew anything of the ancient Vedictexts. Ram Mohun Roy wrote, in 1816, regarding theuniversal system of idolatry:-"Hindus of the present age, with very few exceptions, have not theleast idea that it is to the attributes of the Supreme Being, asfiguratively represented by shapes corresponding to the nature1 Urdu itself is the camp language, with its structure and grammar framedon that of the North Indian dialects; most of the substantives are foreignwords, which were mostly Persian or Arabic when the language was used bythe Muhammadans for literary purposes. When this Urdū is deleted of most of its foreign words, and words of common use from the local vernaculars areinserted, the lingua franca of all India, the Hindustani is arrived at, a languageof common use for speaking all over North India, and also largely in theSouth. See Grierson, Calcutta Review ( October 1895) , p. 265.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 393ofthese attributes, they offer adoration and worship under thedenomination of god and goddess. " 1His mission was a wide one and ably he filled it. Hehad first to create a new prose literature, to raise his ownvernacular to the dignity of a medium for inculcatingamong the uninstructed mass of the people not only whathe found suited to his own national instincts in thelearning of the West, but what he deemed worthy ofpreservation in the sacred writings of his own race.The work of perfecting the use of Bengali for literarypurposes was carried on by Isvara Chandra Gupta, whostarted the monthly Sambad Prabhakar in 1830, a journalin which his own poetry, not of a very high order, as wellas his prose translations from the Sanskrit, and lives ofBengali poets, appeared from time to time, along with thewritings of a class of rising authors. In a Minute of 1811Lord Minto had drawn public attention to the deplorabledecay of literature in India, due to a want of patronagefrom either the princes, chieftains, rich natives, or theGovernment itself, and advised the establishment ofcolleges in various places for the restoration of Hinduscience, and literature, and Muhammadan learning. Atthe renewal of the Company's Charter in 1814, for a furtherperiod of twenty years, it was enacted by Act 53, Geo. III.c. 155, that a sum of £10,000 should be allotted for "therevival and improvement of literature, and the encouragement ofthe learned natives of India, and for the introduction.and promotion of the knowledge of the sciences among theinhabitants of the British territories in India."" That the early growth of the native Press was but slow, can be judgedfrom the fact that, in 1850, after twenty- eight years of existence, there were buttwenty-eight vernacular papers in existence in all North India, with an annualcirculation ofabout sixty copies , while in 1878 there were ninety- seven vernacularpapers in active circulation, and in 1880 there were two hundred and thirty,with a circulation of 150,000. The first vernacular newspaper was printed in1818, at Serampur. In 1890-91 there were four hundred and sixty-threevernacular papers. ”—Contemporary Review, vol. xxxvii . p. 461 ,394 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIn 1815 Ram Mohun Roy published a work on Vedāntaphilosophy in Bengali, and a treatise on it in English, andin the following year his translation of several "Upanishads." The first decided step taken to further Englisheducation was initiated, strange to say, by a watchmaker in Calcutta, Mr David Hare, who, in conjunctionwith Ram Mohun Roy, inaugurated, in 1816, the HinduCollege of Calcutta, with its famed teachers, Richardsonand Derozia, which gradually, in spite of many disheartening failures, increased its number of pupils from twenty, in1817, its first opening, to four hundred and thirty- six in1820, when the subjects taught were Natural Science,History, Geography, with Milton and Shakespeare.The name of Jognarain Ghosal of Benares deserves alsoto be remembered, for having founded a school at Benaresfor the teaching of English, Persian, Hindustani, andBengali. The management of this school was entrustedto the Rev. D. Corrie of the Calcutta Church MissionarySociety, and it was endowed with a sum of 20,000 Rs. ,and the revenues of certain lands. Another institutionstarted for the moral and intellectual improvement of thenatives was the Calcutta School Book Society, foundedin 1817, which received an annual grant of 6000 Rs. fromthe Government in 1821 , after it had published 126,446copies of useful works.The full force of these influences was soon apparent.In 1816, Ram Mohun Roy had, with his friend DvārakaNath Tagore, founded a society for spiritual improvementcalled the Atmiya Sabha. In 1820, he published, in Bengal,his "Precepts of Jesus: a Guide to Peace and Happiness,"and raised a storm of controversy over, what his chiefopponent, Dr Marshman, termed, his “ heathen " adaptationof Christian doctrines to Eastern modes ofthought.2¹ Syed Mahmoud, " History of English Education in India, ” p. 26.2 Ram Mohun Roy replied with a first and second Appeal, but the BaptistTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 395In his preface Ram Mohun Roy declares:-"This simple code of religion and morality is so admirably calculatedto elevate man's ideas to high and liberal notions of One God,who has equally subjected all living creatures, without distinction of caste, rank, or wealth, to change, disappointment,pain, and death, and has equally admitted all to be partakers ofthe bountiful mercies which He has lavished over Nature; and isalso so well fitted to regulate the conduct of the human race inthe discharge of their various duties to God, to themselves, andsociety, that I cannot but hope the best effects from its promulgation in the present form." ¹The new religion has been called Unitarianism. Itsmonotheism, however, was not that of the West. TheBrahman, Ram Mohun Roy, went back to the UnconsciousEssence, to the Brahman of the " Vedanta " for his SupremeDeity. It was to found an eclectic system of practicaland universal morality that the apostle of the new religion published his " Precepts of Jesus," from which wereeliminated all abstruse doctrines and miraculous relationsof the New Testament.Ram Mohun Roy indeed acknowledged: " that I havefound the doctrines of Christ more conducive to moralprinciples, and better adapted for the use of rational beingsthan any other which have come to my knowledge." 2 Yetthe tendency of the school of thought, out of which arosehis new religion, was his statement in his final Appeal,³that "whatever arguments can be adduced against aplurality of Gods, strike with equal force against thedoctrine of a plurality of persons of the Godhead; and onthe other hand, whatever excuse may be pleaded infavour of a plurality of persons of the Deity can beoffered with equal propriety in defence of polytheism."Press refused to publish his last Appeal, the third, so he had to start a press ofhis own and print his own works, which, however, the Unitarian Societyrepublished in 1824.1 Max Müller, " Biographical Essays, " p. 22.2 Monier-Williams, " Brāhmanism and Hinduism, " p. 483.3 Ibid., p. 484.396 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThe real commencement of the struggle, to decide thegeneral lines on which the future of the moral and intellectual development of the natives of India was to becarried out, commenced from the year 1823, when theGeneral Committee of Public Instruction received thelac of rupees allotted by the Act of Geo. III. of 1813 foreducation. As a matter of fact, the average expenditureduring the twenty years, from 1813 to 1830, exceeded twolacs of rupees. The keynote to the situation was struckin the year 1823 , when Ram Mohun Roy addressed aletter to Lord Amherst expressing his lively hopes thatthe amount which Parliament had directed should beapplied to the instruction of the natives, might be “ laid outin employing English gentlemen of talents and educationto instruct the natives of India in mathematics, naturalphilosophy, chemistry, anatomy, and other useful sciences,"for "the Sanskrit system of education would be the bestcalculated to keep this country in darkness.” In a fewsentences, extolled by Bishop Heber for their goodEnglish, good sense, force, and thought, he drew a dismalpicture of the waste of time spent over what he describedas "the puerilities of Sanskrit grammar, the viciousnessof the doctrines of Maya and Ignorance, as expoundedby the Vedantic philosophy, the inherent uselessness ofthe ' Mīmāmsa,' and the lack of all improvement to themind in the study of the ' Nyaya.' "The Court of Directors had, however, made up their ownminds on the subject. In their Despatch of 1824, theyinformed the Committee of Public Education that, “ inprofessing to establish seminaries for the purpose of teaching mere Hindu or mere Muhammadan literature, youbound yourself to teach a good deal of what was frivolous,not a little of what was purely mischievous, and a smallremainder, indeed, in which utility was not in any way¹ Trevelyan, " Education of the People of India, ” pp. 55-71 .THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 397concerned." In their opinion, if there were any documentsof historical importance to be found in Oriental languages,they could be best translated by Europeans. The greatobjects to be aimed at were the teaching of useful learning,and the introduction of reforms in the course of study,anything being retained that might be found of use in nativeliterature.To this the Committee pointed out that, with the exception of those natives who studied English for thepurpose of obtaining a livelihood, the people, both learnedand unlearned, held " European literature and science invery slight estimation," and that, in the Committee'sopinion, " metaphysical science was as well worthy ofbeing studied in Arabic and Sanskrit as in any otherlanguage, as were also arithmetic, algebra, Euclid, law,and literature." Western education and European ideashad, however, permeated deeper than even the Committeeseem to have noted. The Brahma¹ Samāj, or " TheSociety of the Believers in Brahman, the Supreme Spirit,"or, as it is called, the Hindu Unitarian Church, wasinaugurated, in 1828, by Ram Mohun Roy, and finallyestablished at a house in Chitpore Road, Calcutta, in1830.This was the first outward sign of the change broughtabout through the influence and spread of Westernliterature among the educated natives of India. Notonly had Ram Mohun Roy studied the " Veda " in Sanskrit,the "Tripitaka " in Pali, but he had acquired Hebrew tomaster the Old Testament, and Greek to read the New.At the weekly meetings, held in the new church, or temple,monotheistic hymns from Vedic literature were chanted,and moral maxims from the same source explained. Anew religion was being evolved to fill up the voidproduced by the destruction of old beliefs, under the¹ Adjective form from Brăhmă.398 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAdisintegrating influence of European teaching, and beforesome new system was developed to take its place.In the same year, 1830, the Directors, in a furtherDespatch expressed their satisfaction that it was evidentlybecoming clear, both from the reports they received, andfrom the success of the Anglo- Indian College at Calcutta,that the higher ranks of the natives were prepared towelcome a further extension of the means of cultivatingthe English language and literature, and of acquiring aknowledge of European ideas and science. It was, intheir opinion, of primary importance that English shouldbe taught, both because of the higher tone and betterspirit of European literature, and further, because it was"calculated to raise up a class of persons qualified, by theirintelligence and morality, for high employment in theCivil Administration of India."In the Report of the following year, 1831 , the Committeeof Public Education stated that, although measures forthe diffusion of English were only in their infancy, theresults obtained at the Vidyalaya, or College of Calcutta,surpassed all their expectations: "A command of theEnglish language, and a familiarity with its literature andscience has been acquired to an extent rarely equalled byany schools in Europe." They pointed out, in conclusion,that, "the moral effect has been equally remarkable, andan impatience of the restrictions of Hinduism, and a disregard of its ceremonies are equally avowed by manyyoung men of respectable birth and talents, and entertained by many more who outwardly conform to thepractices of their countrymen."When the Company's Charter was renewed by Parliament in 1833 , it was definitely laid down, in a resolutionproposed by Mr Charles Grant, that the government ofBritish India was entrusted to the Company for " thepurpose of extending the commerce of the country, and ofTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 399securing the good government, and promoting the religiousand moral improvement of the people of India."Lord Macaulay, who was appointed President of the Committee of Education on his arrival in India as Member oftheSupreme Council, produced his celebrated "Minute " in 1835,which forever decided the question so momentous for thewhole future intellectual history of the land. According tohis view, the action of the Committee of Public Education,in confining their attention to the study of the classicallanguages of India, to the neglect of English, could onlybe paralleled by supposing that our own ancestors, inthe fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth centuries, hadbeen infatuated enough to neglect all classical literature,and continue the study of Anglo- Saxon chronicles andNorman-French romances. To the people of India, thelanguage of England was to be their classic language. Itwas to do for them what the study of Greek and Latinhad done for the West. To him the demand for theteaching of English was imperative.¹ Not only did it giveaccess to the vast intellectual treasures of the past, not onlywas it likely to become the language of commerce in theEastern seas, as it was in South Africa and Australasia,but further, " a single shelf of a good European library wasworth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. " 2The result was inevitable, Lord William Bentinck and1 "Lord Macaulay's celebrated ' Minute, ' which, in 1835, determinedthe Anglicising of all the higher education, is not quite so triumphantly unanswerable as it is usually assumed to be; for we have to reckon, on the otherside, the disappearance of the indigenous systems, and the decay of the study ofthe Oriental Classics in their own language. "-Sir A. Lyall, “ India UnderQueen Victoria, ” Nineteenth Century (June 1897), p. 881.2 At this time, be it remembered, although H. H. Wilson had published histranslation of the " Megha Dūta " in 1813, his " Sanskrit Dictionary " in 1819,his " History of Kashmir, from the Rājā Tarangini, " and his four dramas inthe "Theatre of the Hindus " in 1834, the essay of H. J. Colebrooke on the"Vedas " in the " Asiatic Researches " did not appear until 1837, and even thenwas the only information possessed on the subject of the ancient language and religion of the Hindus.400 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAhis Council finally decided, in 1835, that the educationalpolicy of the Government should be confined to the promotion of European literature and science, and that for thefuture all funds set apart for education should be devotedto that purpose, and no portion of them be expended onthe printing of Oriental works.One other view of the situation has been ably given bySir John Malcolm, Governor of Bombay, in a Minute of1828, where he advocated, as the wisest policy, the educationof a certain proportion of natives in the English languageand science, for the object of enabling them to diffuse theirknowledge through their own vernacular dialect to theirown countrymen.Although it was finally decided that the higher educationof the native population should be through the medium ofthe English language, it was always acknowledged andunderstood that it was but a small class of the mostadvanced and educated natives who could be so instructed.¹The hope and expectation was that those natives who hadreceived a liberal education, from a Western standpoint,would by degrees communicate their knowledge to themass ofthe people through the local vernaculars. It doesnot appear to have been foreseen at the time that nativeseducated on English lines might compose original works inthe vernaculars, through which ideals and forms of thought,assimilated under Western influences, would disseminatethemselves among the mass of the population. Whetherthe immediate object of the encouragement of the study ofEnglish was to raise a class of natives fitted for carryingon the duties of the public service, so that in time thelanguage of public business might be English, is not ofimmediate importance. Be the motives what they may,from the point of view of the Directors, to obtain a class of1 "Printed Parliamentary Papers: Second Report of Select Committee ofHouse of Lords " ( Appendix I. , p. 481 , 1852-53 ); Syed Mahmoud , p. 57.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 401servants to carryon economicallythe duties of public servants,and to have ready means of obtaining accurate informationof details of revenue affairs, or from the point of view ofthe missionaries, the hope that a liberal education wouldfurther the advance of Christianity, and prove the mosteffectual weapon for attack against what was palpablyvicious, false, and erroneous in the popular beliefs, theresult was that the study of English was almost exclusivelyencouraged. Lord Auckland, in 1839, somewhat modifiedLord William Bentinck's resolution by upholding theSanskrit and native colleges, and by setting aside funds fortheir encouragement. Further, by the Despatch of 1854,known as that of Sir Charles Wood, it was fully acknowledged that vernacular schools for elementary educationshould be encouraged, and that funds should be raised forthe purpose by a special levy imposed on the land.The object expressly desired by the Court of Directorswas declared to be "the diffusion of the Improvements,Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Europe-in short, ofEuropean knowledge," and this was to be accomplished bythe establishment, throughout India, of a graduated seriesof schools and colleges, with a central university for eachof the Presidencies.Universities, on the model of the University of London,were founded at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay duringthe dark days of the Mutiny in 1857, and were followedby one for the Panjāb at Lahore in 1882, and one for theNorth-West Provinces at Allahabad in 1887.As a result of an exhaustive investigation into thesubject of education made by a Commission in 1882, theGovernment finally decided to retire, in all cases where itwas possible, from competition with the private management and control of secondary education. The Government steadily pursued this policy, with a result that,although there was a vast increase during the succeeding2 C402 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAten years in secondary education, the cost to Governmentdecreased, the expense being met from the fees charged.The ten years' result can be judged from the followingtable giving the number of colleges, schools, and pupilsunder education: -1881-82. 1891-92.GRADE.No. Pupils. No. Pupils.Arts 8University 8,127 104 12,985 Professional . 24 2,411 37 3,292 Secondary . 4,432 418,412 4,872 Primary 90,700 2,537,502 97,109473,294 2,837,607 Normal 135 4,949 152 5,146Technical 189 8,503 402 16,586TOTAL · 95,566 2,979,904 102,676 3,348,910So far as the higher education is concerned, the followingstatement, by Sir Raymond West, in the course of anaddress on " Higher Education in India " to the OrientalCongress of 1892, speaks for itself:-"The youths receiving secondary education amount, after all, to onlysome five per cent. of the whole number recorded as underinstruction in India. The students in colleges amount to nomore than one per cent. In England the proportion is twice asgreat; in a German State four or five times as great, of youthsunder secondary instruction. In a German town, indeed, froma third to a half of the children are in the higher schools; butin Germany it is everywhere recognised, in direct opposition tothe principle announced by the Government of India, that theState is more especially interested in the higher education, thetown or locality in the lower. The contributions of Governmentare regulated accordingly.According to the last Census Returns, prepared by MrBaines, the annual average of candidates, during the previousTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 403five years, presenting themselves for matriculation at thePresidency colleges was 18,150, of whom 5,875 pass. Theintermediate examination is reached by 2,213 students, theBachelor of Arts degree is attained by 761 members, andthe Master of Arts by only 54.At the lower end of the scale there are only 109 malesand 6 females in every 1000 of the population able to readand write, the corresponding numbers for the colouredpopulation of the United States being 254 males and 217females, and for Ireland 554 males and 501 females.The formation of the Brahma Samaj was the first uneasymovement made in slumbering Brahmanism, as the clearcut thought of the earliest recipients of English educationpierced through the whole of Indian religious and philosophicspeculations, and saw their strength and weakness whenbrought face to face with new ideals and new modes ofreasoning.Ram Mohun Roy, the first apostle of this new gospel, inwhich the old and new were strangely fused-the worshipof Brahman of the " Vedānta," with much of Christianity--however lived and died a Brahman, tended by his ownBrahman servant, and wearing his Brahmanic thread. Hewas buried at Bristol in 1853 without any religious service.He was succeeded by Debendra Nath Tagore who, bornin 1818, and educated at the Hindu College at Calcutta,joined the Brahma Samāj in 1843.¹ By him a monthlyperiodical, the Tattva-bodhini-patrikā, was started in 1843,and under the editorship of Akhay Kumar Datta, commenced the publication of Vedāntic literature. By 1847,upwards of seven hundred and sixty-seven Brahmans hadjoined the society, and agreed to the essential Seven Articlesof Faith, including the worship of a God, One without a¹ Max Müller, “ Biographical Essays, ” p. 37 ( note 1 ): —“ In 1838 or 1841. ”Monier-Williams, " Indian Theistic Reformers, " J.R.A.S. ( January 1881 ) ,gives 1841. In 1839 he had formed his own society, the " Tattva- bodhiniSabha. "404 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIASecond, the Cause of the Emanation (srishti), Stay, andDecay (pralaya) of the World, and the Cause of emancipation (mukti karana). The Seven Articles of Faith were asfollows:-First Vow. " By loving God and by performing the works which Heloves, I will worship God, the Creator, the Preserver, and theDestroyer, the Giver of Salvation, the Omniscient, the Omnipresent, the Blissful, the Good, the Formless, the One onlywithout a Second."Second Vow.-" I will worship no created object as the Creator."Third Vow.-" Except the day of sickness or tribulation, every day,the mind being undisturbed, I will engage in love and veneration of God."Fourth Vow.-" I will exert myself to perform righteous deeds. "Fifth Vow. " I will be careful to keep myself from vicious deeds. "Sixth Vow. " If, through the influence of passion, I have committedany vice, I will, wishing redemption from it, be careful not todo it again. "Seventh Vow.-" Every year, and as the occasion of every happydomestic event, I will bestow gifts upon the Brahma Samāj.Grant me, O God, power to observe the duties of this great faith."The essential point to note is, that the god worshipped,as clearly shown in the four essential principles set forth byDebendra Nath, is the neuter essence, Brăhmă (nom. ofBrăhmăn). The faith begins with the declaration that"before this universe existed, Brahma (the Supreme Being)was, nothing else whatever was," and then goes on todeclare that " He created the Universe " (tad idam sarvamasrijat). The movement could not rest; it had yet leftwithin it a respect for caste, the use of the sacred thread,a leaning towards the old, and ancestral rites. All thesehad to be swept away, as were already the belief intransmigration and the Vedantic doctrine of Absorptionof the Soul.¹1 The first change came in 1845, when Debendra Nath Tagore, and theBrahma Samaj, decided that the " Vedas " could no longer be held as ofDivine origin.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 405The leaven of English education had yet to sink deeper.In 1838 Keshab Chandar Sen was born, a Vaidya by caste,of orthodox Hindu family. He was educated at thePresidency College, Calcutta, and joined the Brāhma Samājin the days of the Mutiny.It may be safely prognosticated that the future greatreformer of Hinduism, the reformer who will spread hisinfluence and disturbing power all over India, and arouse theenthusiasm of Bengali, Sikh, Maratha, and Tamil, will notbe a Bengali. The reformer—and it seems probable thatone will appear-will arise without known parentage ornationality, and it may also safely be believed that hewill be considered to be infused with the same spirit whichKeshab Chandar Sen is said to have been infused with,when it is recorded that on his marriage, in 1856, hedeclared: " I entered the world with ascetic ideas, and myhoneymoon was spent amid austerities in the house of theLord." 1Under the guidance of Keshab Chandar Sen the BrahmaSamaj gradually cut itself adrift from Hindu rites andcustoms. In 1861 , Debendra Nath Tagore allowed his owndaughter to be married by a simple Brahmic ceremony,without the orthodox Hindu festivities, expenses, and rites.In 1864, a marriage was performed between members ofdifferent castes by Keshab Chandar Sen, who further insistedon the leaving-off of the sacred thread, the ancient birthrightof all twice- born Aryans. These reforms were opposed tothe conservative instincts of Debendra Nath Tagore andthose of the more orthodox Hindus who soon repudiatedtheir new leader. Keshab Chandar Sen, with his cousin,Protab Chandar Mozoondar, accordingly, in 1866, foundeda new and advanced Brahma Samaj, with the IndianMirror as its organ, leaving the old society the name of1 " Biographical Essays, ” p. 53.406LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAthe " Adi Brahma Samaj," which had as its leader, DebendraNath Tagore, and as its secretary, Rāj Nārain Bose.Between the two societies there were but few doctrinaldifferences. The old leaven of Vaishnava bhakti, or faith,still permeated Keshab Chandar Sen, and brought him closeto Christianity-a faith which his pride in his own heritagefrom the past forbade him to accept. Brahmanism mightbe outwardly discarded, nevertheless, the new progressiveSamaj held that"God Himself never becomes man by putting on a human body. Hisdivinity dwells in every man, and is displayed more vividly insome; as in Moses, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Nānak, Chaitanya,and other great Teachers who appeared at special times, andconferred vast benefits on the world. They are entitled touniversal gratitude and love. . . . Every sinner must suffer theconsequences of his own sins sooner or later, in this world orthe next. Man must labour after holiness by the worship ofGod, by subjugation of the passions, by repentance, by thestudy of Nature and of good books, by good company, and bysolitary contemplation. These will lead, through the action ofGod's grace, to salvation. " 1In England he set forth his own views as to the Christthe West had offered to the East:-"Methinks I have come into a vast market. Every sect is like asmall shop where a peculiar kind of Christianity is offered forsale. As I go from door to door, from shop to shop, eachsect steps forward and offers, for my acceptance, its owninterpretations of the Bible, and its own peculiar Christianbeliefs. I cannot but feel perplexed, and even amused, amidst countless and quarrelling sects. It appears to me, and hasalways appeared to me, that no Christian nation on earthrepresents fully and thoroughly Christ's idea of the kingdomof God. I do believe, and I must candidly say, that no Christiansect puts forth the genuine and full Christ as He was and asHe is, but, in some cases, a mutilated, disfigured Christ, andwhat is more shameful, in many cases, a counterfeit Christ.1 Monier-Williams, “ Indian Theistic Reformers, ” J. R.A.S. ( January 1881 ),p. 25.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 407Now, I wish to say that I have not come to England as onewho has yet to find Christ. When the Roman Catholic, theProtestant, the Unitarian, the Trinitarian, the Broad Church,the Low Church, the High Church all come round me, andoffer me their respective Christs, I desire to say to one and all:' Think you that I have no Christ within me? Though anIndian, I can still humbly say, Thank God that I have myChrist.""The first important reform inaugurated by the newsociety was the passing of the Native Marriage Act of1872, introducing, for the first time, a form of civilmarriage for persons who did not profess the Christian,Jewish, Hindu, Muhammadan, Parsi, Buddhist, Sikh, orJaina religions.Into the religious struggles of Keshab Chandar Sen's lifeit would be unprofitable to enter, as they show no solidadvance, drifting, as they did, between Christianity, Yogiism,Bhakti, and Asceticism, mingled with a practical propaganda for social reformation.The times were not ripe for the missionary work ofreformation he had set before him, although he possessedmuch to sway the mass: "A fine countenance, a majesticpresence, and that soft look which of itself exerts an almostirresistible fascination over impressionable minds, lent wonderful force to a swift, kindling, and practical oratory,which married itself to his highly spiritual teaching asperfect music unto noble minds."1In spite of all the efforts made by Keshab Chandar Senfor the abolition of early marriages, he lost ground in 1878by permitting his own daughter, aged fourteen, to be marriedto the young Mahārāja of Kuch Behar, the result beingthat, in 1878, a new society called the "Sadhārana " (orgeneral) "Brahma Samaj " was formed. With all the brillianteloquence of his fervid imagination, though with a waningof his undoubted intellectual powers, Keshab Chandar SenIndian Daily News. Quoted in Max Müller's " Biographical Essays, " p. 72.408 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAcontinued his preaching, declaring himself to be theapostle of what he called the " New Dispensation Church,"in which there was to be an amalgamation of all creeds ina belief in the Unity of the Godhead, the acceptance ofChrist as an ideal Yogi, Oriental in His character andmission, Hindū in faith, whose Godhead he still denied.In his " Manifesto " of 1883 , he poured forth, in the spirit ofWalt Whitman, his rhapsody:-"Keshab Chandar Sen, a servant of God, called to be an apostle ofthe Church of the New Dispensation, which is in the holy cityof Calcutta, the metropolis of Āryāvarta."To all the great nations of the world, and to the chief religious sectsin the East and the West; to the followers of Moses, ofJesus, of Buddha, of Confucius, of Zoroaster, of Mahomet, ofNanak, and the various branches of the Hindu Church, gracebe to you and peace everlasting. Gather ye the wisdom ofthe East and the West, and assimilate the examples of thesaints of all ages.“Above all, love one another, and merge all differences in universalbrotherhood."Let Asia, Europe, Africa, and America, with diverse instruments,praise the New Dispensation, and sing the Fatherhood of Godand the Brotherhood of Man. " 1More extraordinary was his " Proclamation, " issued, in1879, in the columns of the Indian Mirror, which hasbeen abridged by Sir Monier Monier-Williams in hisarticle on " Indian Theistic Reformers ""To all my soldiers in India my affectionate greeting. Believe thatthis Proclamation goeth forth from Heaven in the name andwith the love of your Mother. Carry out its behests like loyalsoldiers. The British Government is my Government. TheBrahma Samaj is my Church. My daughter Queen Victoriahave I ordained. Come direct to me, without a mediator asyour Mother. The influence of the earthly Mother at home,ofthe Queen- Mother at the head of the Government will raisethe head of my Indian children to their Supreme Mother.I will give them peace and salvation. Soldiers, fight bravelyand establish my dominion. "1 Monier-Williams, " Hinduisin, " p. 573.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 409To all who understand the Eastern mode of thought,the following words spoken by Keshab Chandar Sen in asermon, a masterpiece of eloquence, delivered in 1879before the Bishop of Calcutta, other Europeans, and athousand listeners, only represent what might have beenexpected as the furthest the new reformer would proceedin his fusing of Hinduism and Christianity:-" It is Christ who rules British India, and not the British Government. England has sent out a tremendous moral force in thelife and character of that mighty prophet to conquer and holdthis vast empire. None but Jesus, none but Jesus, none butJesus ever deserved this bright, this precious diadem, India,and Jesus shall have it. Christ comes to us as an Asiatic inrace, as a Hindu in faith, as a kinsman, and as a brother. . . .Christ is a true Yogi, and will surely help us to realise ournational ideal of a Yogi. . . In accepting Him, therefore,you accept the fulfilment of your national Scriptures andprophets."...Though the work of Keshab Chandar Sen was carried onby his brother, Krishna Behari Sen, Gaur Govind Roy, andothers, and received the enthusiastic support of the Mahārāja and Mahārāni of Kuch Behar, its importance wanedbefore the Sadhārāna Samāj, which numbered amongstit* leaders the Hon. Ananda Mohan Bose, the only nativeCambridge wrangler, its able secretary, Rajani Nath Roy,and its minister, Pandit Sivanath Sastri.The full conservative Hindu reaction was marked by aneffort to fall back on Vedic authority for a pure Theism,where there was to be but one formless abstract Godworshipped by prayer and devotion, with the four "Vedas "as primary, and later Vedic writings as secondary, authoritiesin all matters of moral conduct.During the last Census of 1891 there were 3,051 whor*turned themselves as followers of the faith of Brahmanism, of whom 2,596 were in Bengal, while the followersI410 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAof Dayananda Saraswati, who, in 1877, founded a Theismbased purely on Vedic authority, numbered 40,000 , mostlywriters or traders.The recoil of orthodox Hindu thought back to the oldwas led by Dayananda Saraswati, a Brahman of Katthiäwär,who formed a new society called the " Arya Samaj. " Hehimself was from his youth brought up in the strictestschool of Hindu orthodoxy. As he wrote, in the strangerecords of his life: 1-"I was but eight when I was invested with the sacred Brahmanicthread and taught the Gayatri hymn, the Sandhyā (morningand evening) ceremony, and the ' Yajur Veda. ' As my fatherbelonged to the Śiva sect, I was early taught to worshipthe uncouth piece of clay representing Śiva, known as the 'Parthiva Linga.' "Dayananda Saraswati early abandoned idol- worship,but he remained firm in his belief in Vedic revelation,the doctrine of metempsychosis, and the worship of OneGod, held to be the deity addressed by Vedic Aryans asAgni, Indra, and Surya.Whatever form these strange minglings of “ Veda,”“ Upanishad,” “ Kuran,” “ Tripitakas," " Zend Avesta,” andChristian Bible, may assume in the future, they all denotean upheaval of thought among the educated classes ofIndia, the result of the meeting of the new and old. Toclaim that movement as indicating a future triumph forChristianity would first necessitate a survey of the wholecourse of Christianity in India, the marking out of itssuccess and the causes for its undoubted failures. It ishoped that time and opportunity may be found for undertaking such a task, for no work yet published has viewedthe subject from an Indian standpoint; at present itmust suffice to take refuge under the words of the learned1 Max Müller, " Biographical Essays, " p. 172.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 411Sir Monier Monier-Williams, who has given deep thoughtto the subject:—"We maybe quite sure that men like Debendra Nath Tagore, KeshabChandar Sen, and Ananda Mohan Bose, are doing good workin a Christian self-sacrificing spirit, though they may fall intomany errors, and may not have adopted every single dogma of the Athanasian Creed." Let us hold out the right hand of fellowship to these noble-mindedpatriots-men who, notwithstanding their undoubted courage,need every encouragement in their almost hopeless strugglewith their country's worst enemies-Ignorance, Prejudice, andSuperstition. Intense darkness still broods over the landin some places a veritable Egyptian darkness thick enough tobe felt. Let Christianity thankfully welcome, and wisely makeuse of, every gleam and glimmer of true light, from whateverquarter it may shine. "All these movements, denoting as they do the disintegrating force of Western education, had their owninfluence in moulding the whole literature of the peopleto new forms and uses.The strength of the barriers that the sacerdotal classhad ranged round the sacred literature, so as to keep itssecrets from vulgar gaze or scrutiny, can be judged fromthe fact that Romesh Chandra Dutt's translation ofthe " RigVeda" into Bengali was looked upon as a sacrilege, andvehemently opposed by his own countrymen. Amongstthe few who dared to support the undertaking werethe wise and enlightened Isvara Chandra Vidyasagar andAkhay Kumar Datta, the two great writers who mustbe placed in the first rank of those who ably secondedthe work of the Brahma Samaj in perfecting Bengali as aprose medium for a new school of writers who, trained inWestern modes of thought, handed on their impressionsand ideas to the mass of the people in the local vernaculars.Akhay Kumar Datta, at the age of sixteen, commencedhis education in English at the Oriental Seminary at1 R. C. Dutt, " The Literature of Bengal, " p. 178.412 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIACalcutta. He afterwards acquired a knowledge of Sanskrit,a language he ably used, for the purpose of enrichingBengali as a prose literature, in his work in the Tattvabodhini-patrikā, a monthly journal started in 1873 byDebendra Nath Tagore. Isvara Chandra Vidyasagar, onthe other hand, applied himself to the study of Sanskritin the Sanskrit College at Calcutta, which he entered atthe age of nine for the orthodox course of study. Forthree years he studied grammar, and by the age of twelvehad read the greater portion of the best works of theclassic period of Sanskrit verse. Sanskrit he afterwardsread and wrote as well as his own vernacular. Beingappointed, in 1841 , head pandit of the Fort William College,he commenced his study of English and Hindi. By 1847he published, in Bengali, the " Betal Panchavimsati, ” translated from the Hindi, a work instinct with poetic feeling.This work raised him, in spite of much that was artificialand over-elaborated in it, to the position of an acknowledgedmaster ofa pure and classical prose style in the vernacular.In 1862, the publication of his " Exile of Sītā," ¹ based onBhavabhuti's " Uttararāma Charitra," showed how Bengalihad become a classic prose language, with all the flexibility,dignity, and grace requisite for the purpose of interpretingto the mass of the people the old life-history of the nation,and the new phase of thought introduced from the West.Isvara Chandra Vidyasagar brought down on his head thebitter curses and ribald abuse, sung throughout the streetsof Calcutta, of his more bigoted Brahman brethren by hiswritings, in 1855, against the system of enforced widowhood,which his deep learning in Sanskrit lore enabled him toprove beyond question was no part of the decrees of theVedic Scriptures. Byhis subsequent writings and efforts, heaided towards the first step in the course he had marked¹ Sricharan Chakravarti, " Life of Pandit Isvara Chandra Vidyasagar "(Calcutta, 1896).THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 413out, the passing of the Act of 1856, which enacted thatthe sons of re-married Hindu widows should be held aslegitimate heirs.The dangers feared were neither imaginary nor trifling.The ancient traditions of Brahmanism were being scatteredto the winds, and the system itself called upon to justifythe inherent strength of its position before the newly- arisenscepticism. Ancient customs, habits, and beliefs, all findingtheir authority and sanction in the will of the Creator oftheworld, as revealed in the sacred literature of India, werebeing questioned. The hereditary custodians of the sacredlore, claiming as they did to be the specially createdpartakers of the confidence of the deity, were being forcedto come forth and defend their birthright.Ram Mohun Roy had shaken to its foundations thewhole established fabric of Brahmanic power by his fiercedenunciations of, and irrefutable arguments against,idolatry and widow-burning. One task Vidyasagar hadset his hand to he had to leave unaccomplished. Heendeavoured in vain to put an end to the system wherebythe class known as the Kulin Brāhmans of Bengal enteredinto marriages, sometimes formal, sometimes real, withdaughters of those of their own class who, unable to obtainhusbands, were glad to pay a Kulin Brāhman large sums ofmoney for forming a matrimonial alliance which left themfree to abandon the numerous women they had thusmarried. In 1871 , his famous work, " Whether PolygamyShould be Done Away With," not only gave a list of theseKulin Brahmans, showing the number of wives each ofthem had, but also proved that the custom could notpossibly find any support from ancient law or history.Akhay Kumar Datta at the same time continued topour forth, in earnest and forcible prose, a series of articlesscientific, biographical, and moral, printed in the Tattvabodhini-patrikā, uncompromising in their sincerity and love414 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAfor truth until he at last saw, as the crowning reward ofhis labours, the Brahma Samāj reject the belief in theinfallibility and revealed authority of the " Vedānta. " ¹The work begun by Akhay Kumar Datta and IsvaraChandra Vidyasagar was followed bythe efforts of a seriesof able writers who carried every widening current ofreform further into the social life of the people bypublishing works on history and biography, and by writingtales satirising social habits and customs.2The spirit ofthe times may be judged from the fact thatthe first Bengali play, the " Kulina Kula Sarvasa,” composedin 1854 by Ram Narayan Tarkaratna, and acted in 1856at the Oriental Seminary, was a satire on the Kulincustom of polygamy. The play was followed bythe " NalaNatak," in which the same author satirised the custom ofchild-marriage. Happily, the early efforts of the risingschool to express their thoughts in English proved unsuccessful and unprofitable. Madhu Sudan Datta was thefirst to recognise the difficulty. He was educated in theHindu College, founded in 1817, and at the age of nineteenforsook his own caste and religion and was baptised aChristian, adopting the name Michael. At seventeen hehad already published some indifferent verse, in imitationofthose of Byron. The influence of Western ideas had sopermeated him that, after becoming a Christian, he marriedan English wife, daughter of an indigo planter in Madras,from whom, however, he soon separated, when he marrieda second English wife, the daughter of the Principal ofthe Madras Presidency College. His "Captive Ladie,"published in 1849, telling, in English verse, the storyof Prithivi Rāj, the famous Hindu King of Delhi and his1 Dutt, R. C., " The Literature of Bengal, " p. 169.2 Such as the " Alaler- gharer Dulal, " of Pyari Chand Mitra, which has beentranslated into English, and the " Hutam Pechar Naksha, " of Kali PrasannaSinha, who also translated the " Mahābhārata ” into Bengali, a work alsoaccomplished ( 1885) for the " Rāmāyana " by Hem Chandra Vidyaratna. SeeDutt, R. C. , " The Literature of Bengal, " pp. 182-183.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 415wife, Sanjuta, clearly showed the impossibility even of apoetic genius, such as he undoubtedly was, ever finding anoutlet for his imagination in the uncongenial trammels ofan English garb.The task has been essayed by nearly all the recentnative writers who may be safely held to have beenendowed with that unceasing striving, and indomitableperseverance that denotes genius, but never yet have theyreached a result worthy of their efforts. Michael wiselyturned away from English, and in 1858 produced an originalplay, the " Sarmishta, " a second Padmavati, and then, in1859, set to work on two great works in blank verse. In thesehe abandoned the Bengali rhyme, and in 1860 publishedthe " Tillottama," and in 1861 , the " Meghanad badh Kavya."The work of the drama, abandoned by Madhu SudanDatta for epic poetry, was resumed by others, the moststriking being Dinabandu Mitra, who in 1860 produced his" Nil Darpan," a fierce satire on the indigo planters ofJessore and Nadiya. The Rev. James Long published theplay, as translated into English by a native, for which hewas fined and imprisoned. An exhaustive enquiry into thesubject by an Indigo Commission ultimately led to thefailure of much of the indigo growing in Nadiya, and arefusal of the cultivators to sow indigo. As the play hasnow only an historical and literary importance, and as acopy of it is now difficult, if not impossible, to procure, nofault can be found if it is used for the purpose of throwingsome light on the thought of the time, when the drama hadtravelled from its ancient classic repose to an active powerfor social reform.Theintroduction to the "Nil Darpan," or " Indigo PlantingMirror," states that, as the Bengali drama had exposed"the evils of Kulin Brahmanism, widow-marriage prohibition, quackery, fanaticism, " the " Nil Darpan " pleadsthe cause of those who are the feeble. It purports, according416LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAto the Introduction, to describe " a respectable ryot, a peasantproprietor, happy with his family in the enjoyment of hisland till the indigo system compelled him to take advances"for the cultivation of indigo, to the neglect of his own landand crops, so that he became beggared, and reduced " to thecondition of a serf and vagabond." The effect of all thissystem on his home, children, and relatives is " pointed outin language plain but true; it shows how arbitrary powerdebases the lord as well as the peasant. Reference is alsomade to the partiality of various magistrates in favour ofplanters, and to the act of last year penally enforcingindigo contracts." 1In the play itself the English planter is depicted asupbraiding his native manager for want of zeal, and isanswered by the retorts: " Saheb, what signs of fear hastthou seen in me? When I have entered on this indigoprofession I have thrown off all fear, shame, and honour;and the destroying of cows, Brahmans, of women, andthe burning-down of houses are become my ornaments."The cultivators who refuse to accept advances are draggedbefore the planter, who twists their ears, beats them with aleather strap, calls them scoundrels, " bloody nigg*rs," andthen, with many " God damns!" and other words of chastisem*nt, orders them to be imprisoned unless they acceptadvances binding them to grow indigo instead of rice.The ryots assemble together and declare there is no hopefor them, for they had seen " the late Governor Saheb goabout all the indigo factories, being feasted like a bridegroom just before the celebration of the marriage. Did younot see that the planter Sahebs brought him to this factorywell- adorned like a bridegroom? " The whole despairinglot of the village is summed up in a favourite verse: —"The missionaries have destroyed the caste;The factory monkeys have destroyed the rice." 31 Long. Rev. J. , " Nil Darpan, " iii 2 Ibid. , p. 13. 3 Ibid. , p. 29. .THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 417The " Indigo Planter " declares the fate in store for thecultivators: "We indigo planters are become the companions of death; can our factories remain if we havepity? By nature we are not bad; our evil disposition hasincreased by indigo cultivation. Before, we felt sorrow inbeating one man; now we can beat ten persons with theleather strap, making them senseless, and immediately after,we can, with great laughter, take our dinner or supper."" 1As a result, tragedy is piled on tragedy, to show that"the sorrows which the ryots endure in the preparationof the indigo is known only to themselves and the greatGod, the preserver of the poor." With less of exaggeration,and less of melodrama, the play would have served itspurpose better, and had an independent artistic value.The great interest of the play is now purely literary.The use of it, for a social purpose, shows how the newweapon, placed in the hands of the people, could serve adouble purpose. Its realistic movement and over-wroughttragedy have been adapted from the West, probably, sofar as can be judged, from the vague idea a translationnecessarily gives of the original, from an imperfect readingof the spirit of " Macbeth," " Hamlet," and the " Merchantof Venice."Traces are here and there to be seen of truly Easternpoetic charm and idealism . An extraordinary mixture ofEastern conventional symbolism, with ideas and touchesborrowed from Elizabethan tragedy, occurs in the finalscene, where the last surviving member of a family ofcultivators pours forth his lamentation over his wife, Sarala,and all his relations, who have been brought to a tragicdeath through the wickedness of the indigo planter. Inhis deep sorrow the cultivator cries out:-"In this world of short existence, human life is as a bank of a river,which has a most violent course and the greatest depth. How1 "Nil Darpan, " p. 53.2 D418LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAvery beautiful are the banks, the fields covered over with newgrass most pleasant to the view, the trees full of branches newlycoming out; in some places the cottages of fishermen, in othersthe kine feeding with their young ones. To walk about in sucha place, enjoying the sweet songs of the beautiful birds, and thecharming gale full of the sweet smell of flowers, only wraps themind in contemplation of that Being who is full of pleasure.... The cobra de capello, like the indigo planters, with mouthsfull of poison, threw all happiness into the flame of fire. Thefather, through injustice, died in the prison; the elder brother inthe indigo field; and the mother, being insane through griefforher husband and son, murdered, with her own hands, a mosthonest woman. . . . The cry of mama, mama, mama, mama, doI make in the battle-field and the wilderness whenever fear arisesin the mind.... Ah! ah! it bursts my heart not to knowwhere my heart's Sarala is gone to. The most beautiful, wise,and entirely devoted to me; she walked as the swan, and hereyes were handsome as those of the deer. . . . The mind wascharmed by thy sweet reading, which was as the singing of thebird in the forest. Thou, Sarala, hadst a most beauteous face,and didst brighten the lake of my heart. Who did take awaymy lotus with a cruel heart? The beautiful lake became dark.The world I look upon is as a desert full of corpses; while Ihave lost my father, my mother, my brother, and my wife! " 1The play, however weak and artificial, marks the gravedangers that must be faced when England gives India, inconsideration of her political servitude, the fullest possiblefreedom ofthought, of conscience, and of expression of herneeds and aspirations. Ifnot true to fact, the very exaggeration of such writings as the " Nil Darpan " train the peoplewho know the truth to more sober views of the situation,and to gradual mistrust of similar effusions. To establisha new industry, and especially to expect an agriculturalpopulation to accept more profitable modes of cultivationthan those followed by their forefathers, is a task difficultof success, and one that must invariably lead to thestrongest opposition against those who strive to movehabits which have become almost instincts. Perhaps, formany reasons, it was well for India that the cultivation1 "Nil Darpan, " p. 101.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 419of indigo had a check, even as had the efforts to introducethe English plough, in preference to the surface- scratchingnative one, for speedy results, in a land like India, oftenmean speedy exhaustion, and permanent decay. The " NilDarpan" was the instinctive reaction of a poetic mind, everready, through the stress of its imagination, to exaggeratethe meaning of passing changes, and revolt against a systemit could not fit into its conception of the times.The whole course of England's mission is calmly to notethe power of the old, mark its failing strength, and graftany of its lasting principles of vitality on to new ideals.Nowhere better than in the novels of Bankim ChandraChatterji can the full force of this strife between old andnew be traced. The novels themselves owe their form toWestern influences, but the subject- matter and spirit areessentially native. Bankim Chandra Chatterji himself wasthe first B.A. of the Calcutta University. Born in 1838, hisearliest novel, " Durges Nandini," ¹ appeared in 1864, professedly inspired as a historical novel under the influenceof the works of Sir Walter Scott. This work was followedby"Kopala Kundala," a tale of life in Bengal some twohundred and fifty years ago, and was succeeded by the"Mrinalini." In 1872 the novelist commenced, in his newlystarted magazine, the Banga Darsan, the monthly publication of his novel of social life, the " Bisha Brikka," translatedinto English as " The Poison Tree " in 1884.3 The " DebiChaudhurani," " Ananda Mathar," and " Krishna Kanta'sWill"4 followed, the last being translated into English in1895. The " Krishna Charitra," published in 1886, is, however, the work through which the name of Bankim ChandraChatterji will probably remain famed in the memory of hisown country- people.1 Translated by Charu Candra Mookerji ( Calcutta, 1880).2 Translated by H. A. D. Phillips (Trübner & Co. , 1885).

• Translated by Marian Knight, with Preface by Sir Edwin Arnold.

Translated by Marian Knight, with Introduction by Prof. J. F. Blumhardt.420 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAIt is the crowning work of all his labours. It inculcates,with all the purity of style of which the novelist was soperfect a master, a pure and devout revival of Hinduism,founded on monotheistic principles. The object was to showthat the character of Krishna was, in the ancient writings,an ideal perfect man, and that the commonly- receivedlegends of his immorality and amours were the accretionsof later and more depraved times. Bankim ChandraChatterji is the first great creative genius modern India hasproduced. For the Western reader his novels are a revelation ofthe inward spirit of Indian life and thought.As a creative artist he soars to heights unattained byTulsi Das, the first true dramatic genius India saw. Toclaim him solely as a product of Western influence wouldbe to neglect the heritage he held ready to his hand fromthe poetry of his own country. He is, nevertheless, the firstclear type of what a fusion between East and West may yetproduce, and the type is one reproduced in his successor,Romesh Chandra Dutt, and in a varied manner by others,such as Kasinath Trimbak Telang, in Bombay. It isnames such as Ram Mohun Roy, Keshab Chandar Sen,Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Toru Dutt, and Telang thatwould live in the future as the memorial of England'sfostering care, if all the material evidences of Westerncivilisation were swept from off the land.To those who would know something ofthe life, thoughts,feelings, and religions of the Indian people, no betterinstructor can be found than Bankim Chandra Chatterji.The English reader must not be surprised if, in thenovels of the greatest novelist India has seen, there ismuch of Eastern form, much of poetic fancy and spiritualmysticism alien to a Western craving for objective realism.Bankim Chandra Chatterji, with all the insight of Easternpoetic genius, with all the artistic delicacy of touch soeasily attained by the subtle deftness of a high-caste nativeTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 421of India, or a Pierre Loti, weaves a fine-spun drama of life,fashioning his characters and painting their surroundingswith the same gentle touch, as though his fingers workedamid the frail petals of some flower, or moved along thelines of fine silk, to frame therewith a texture as unsubstantial as the dreamy fancies with which all life is woven,as warp and woof. So the " Kopala Kundala " opens witha band of pilgrims travelling by boat to the sacred placeof pilgrimage, where the holy River Ganges pours itssin-destroying waters into the boundless ocean. The frailboat, with its weight of sin, is being swept by the rushingflood out towards the sea. The boatmen are powerless;they cry for help to the Muhammadan saints, thepilgrims wail to Durgā, the dreaded wife of Śiva, theDestroyer. One woman alone weeps not; she has casther child into the flowing stream, for such was her vow ofpilgrimage. In its unguided course the boat, by chance,touches land, and the hero, Nobo Kumar, volunteers towander along the sandy shore in search of firewood. Thetide rises, the boat is swept away, and Nobo Kumar isleft to gaze after it in despair. The sandy waste is theabode of an ascetic worshipper of Kāli, who is waited on bythe heroine, "Kopala Kundala, " destined as a sacrifice to thefierce goddess. The ascetic sage is clothed in tiger skins;he is seated on a corpse, and wears a necklace of rudraseeds and human bones; his hair is matted and unshorn.The wild scene is depicted with all the dreamy, poeticrepose which saturates the whole life of the East. Theocean is spread in front; across it speeds an English tradingship, with its sails spread out like the wings of some largebird; the blue waters gleam like gold beneath the settingsun; far out, in the endless expanse, the waves break infoam; along the glittering sands there runs a white streakof surf like to a garland of white flowers. The two scenesone the lonely pilgrim and the near- seated, hideous, human-422 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAsacrificing ascetic, the other of the vastness and stillnessof the sea-seem to picture forth the emptiness of man'simaginings and efforts amid the impassive immensity ofthe universe. Over all, the murmuring roll of the ocean,echoed as it is in the poet's words, seems as though itbore to the senses the wailing moan of a soul lost in timeand space. In the midst of the mystic scene a woman,the heroine, appears. She is a maiden, with hair as blackas jet trailing to her ankles in snake- like curls. Her face,encircled by her black hair, shines like the rays of themoon through the riven clouds. As Nobo Kumar gazeson her form, she tells him to fly from the ascetic Yogi,who has already prepared the sacrificial fire and awaits ahuman victim . Spellbound, Nobo Kumar has no powerto fly from the devotee to Kāli; he follows to the placeof sacrifice, and is there bound. Kopala Kundala, in theabsence of the priest, appears, severs the bonds, andreleases Nobo Kumar. The priest returns, seeks the sacrificial sword, then notes how his victim has been released.In his rage he rushes to and fro along the sandy dunes,from the summit of one of which he stumbles in the darkness, falls, “ like a buffalo hurled from some mountainpeak," and breaks his arms. The hero and heroine, beforethey fly from the waste of sands, are married. KopalaKundala, however, longs to know the will of the goddess.A leaf placed at the foot of the dread deity falls to theground, fatal omen that the goddess is displeased.So the fate of man is, for the poet's purpose, as uncertainas the face of a trembling raindrop on a lotus leaf. Thenew-made wife departs, weeping, from the shrine. Thenovelist has now to follow her destiny to its relentlesscourse. The shadow of her future soon throws its darkgloom across the soul of Kopala Kundala. Amid theintrigues of the Mughal court of the time of Jahangir thecourse is prepared for the tragedy to close round KopalaTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 423Kundala, whose husband grows to doubt her love, and thento witness what has been cunningly devised to seem herfaithlessness. The ascetic sage, with broken arms, nowappears before Nobo Kumar, and declares that the angeredgoddess still claims a sacrifice. In his rage, Nobo Kumaroffers to sacrifice his wife, and so at once to appease Kāliand his own blind jealousy. Kopala Kundala has herselfresolved to fulfil her fate. The relentless decrees, thathold the destiny of man at their beck and nod, have nowalmost worked out their purposes. The voice of the priestwails with pity as he calls on the victim; her husbandseizes the sword, but his passion bursts forth in moaningcries to his beloved to assure him, at the last moment, thatshe has not been faithless. He hears the truth, that all hissuspicions were roused by cunning design. Fate, typifiedby the will of the goddess, must be worked out. NoboKumar extends his arms to clasp his love, but KopalaKundala steps back, and the waters of the Ganges riseto sweep her away in its sin-destroying flood, where NoboKumar also finds his death.The novel throughout moves steadily to its purpose.There is no over-elaboration, no undue working after effect;everywhere there are signs of the work of an artist whosehand falters not as he chisels out his lines with classicgrace. The force that moves the whole with emotion, andgives to it its subtle spell, is the mystic form of Easternthought that clearly shows the new forms that lie ready forinspiring a new school of fiction with fresh life. Outsidethe " Mariage de Loti " there is nothing comparable to the"Kopala Kundala " in the history ofWestern fiction, althoughthe novelist himself, and many of his native admirers, seegrounds for comparing the works of Bankim Bābu withthose of Sir Walter Scott, probably because they areoutwardly historical.A novel far surpassing " Kopala Kundala " in realistic424 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA·interest is the same novelist's " Poison Tree." This novelhas its own artistic merits, but its chief value, for Englishreaders, lies in the life-like pictures it presents of modernIndian life and thought. With subdued satire theinterested efforts of would-be social reformers are shown tobe founded often on motives of self-interest, dishonesty, orimmorality. The evil results which too often follow thebreaking away from the strict seclusion and moral restraints of Hindu family life under the influence ofWestern education are indicated plainly. These modernmovements are depicted as often leading the nativemore towards agnosticism and impatience of control thantowards the implanting of a vigorous individuality, foundedon a heightening of religious feelings, and wider views ofthe necessity of self-control and altruistic motives of action.It is a danger which grows graver daily; it is a movementwhich must be expected in the history of a nation'sadvance from bondage to freedom, and one to be resolutelymet with a firm faith in the eternal elements underlyingall enlightenment and social progress, and not with ahopelessness of a pessimistic despair. The novel itself isvery simple. It deals with the same few human elementswhich always form the leading motive for any great creativework of universal and abiding interest. The hero,Nagendra Nath, is a wealthy landlord, aged thirty, a modelamongst men, wealthy and handsome, surrounded byfriends, retainers, and relations, all of whom live an ideallife of happiness through his bounty. He rejoices in thepossession of a beloved and loving wife, Surja Mukhi, agedtwenty-six, who moves amid the household with a calmdignity and graceful gentleness, an ideal picture of a faithful Hindu spouse and well- educated, sensible woman.Nagendra, during a journey to Calcutta, befriends anorphan girl, Kunda, aged but thirteen-an age described asthat in which all the charm of simplicity is combined withTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 425Thisthe radiance of the moonbeams and scent of sweet flowers.Nagendra brings the girl to his married sister at Calcutta,but, as he seems in no hurry to depart, his wife writesplayfully upbraiding him, and suggesting in jest that heshould bring his new-found treasure home and marry herhimself, or give her to the village schoolmaster, who has notyet found a willing bride. The child is accordingly broughtto the village and married to the schoolmaster.schoolmaster, snub-nosed, conceited, and copper- coloured,is represented as an up-to-date product of an undigestedsurfeit of Western emancipation. He has received anEnglish education at a free mission school, and plantedhimself amid the village community as a very mine oflearned lore; it was whispered abroad that he had read the"Citizen ofthe World," and passed in three books of " Euclid. "He extracted essays against idolatry, against the seclusionof women and child-marriage from the Tattva-bodhini,and published them under his own name. He joined thelocal Brahma Samaj, established by the spendthrift of theneighbourhood, who had imbibed all the Western vicesand abandoned all the native virtues, who drank wine fromdecanters with cut-glass stoppers, carried a brandy flask,and ate roast mutton and cutlets, and who, when not drunk,occupied his time in encouraging the marriage of low- castewidows, so that he might pose as a local reformer. Thesatire is perfect, the characters satirised true to life. Thenew product of Western influences encouraged the infatuated schoolmaster to read papers and deliver eloquentaddresses on the subject of the emancipation of women,and the moralising influence of bringing women out intopublic life, but finds that although the schoolmaster can bejeered into allowing him to visit Kunda, the outraged prideof the timid beauty bursts forth in a flood of indignanttears.Luckily for Kunda, the schoolmaster dies. The widow426LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAreturns to the home of her former protector, the all-lovingNagendra. The gentle beauty of Kunda sinks deep intothe heart of Nagendra, whose want of self-control sows theseeds of the poison tree, whose baneful fruit must beeaten. Nagendra's wife looks on in sorrow until herhusband, unable to stifle his thoughts or bear her silentreproaches, seeks to drown his feelings in drink. At lengthhe can bear the restraint no longer. Isvara Chandra Vidyasagar has proved, from the ancient law books, that widowmarriage is allowable, although no Hindu custom. Hiswife hides her wounded feelings, wondering if IsvaraChandra Vidyasagar be a pandit, who then is wanting inwisdom? She sacrifices all her feelings to her great lovefor her husband and prepares the marriage ceremonies, butonce the marriage takes place, she steals away from thehappy home where she was once sole mistress. She hadmade her resolve to wander as a mendicant from place toplace, unable to remain at home and bear the pain of seeingKunda claim her husband.The suffering of Surja Mukhi, the despair of Nagendrawhen he finds his once loved wife has left, and that, asa consequence, his overwhelming passion for Kunda hasturned to indifference, almost to loathing, are set forth witha fulness of sympathy and emotional feeling which anative can so deeply feel and express. To its bitterestdepths the novelist traces the stern course of the unrelentingdestiny which decrees that the seeds of sin once sown mustgrow, and the fruit be reaped.A welcome relief comes when the story breaks into somewhat laboured humour. The eager servants of Nagendrago forth with coaches and palanquins in search of theirmistress, whose face they have never seen. Every goodlooking and high- caste woman along the road, by thebathing tanks, or river-side, is forcibly seized and brought,with cries of joy, to the unfortunate husband, to see if heTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 427can recognise among them his lost wife, so that, finally, nowoman dare venture from home for fear of being broughtto Nagendra. Surja Mukhi returns not. Her husbandleaves his new wife, Kunda, to mourn alone over her destinyin the now deserted home, once so full of joy and happiness.Nagendra returns after weary wanderings to end his lifein pious deeds and holy living. Kunda he is resolvednever more to speak to nor to see. For her, therefore,there is only death; the poisoned fruit must be eaten thatgrew from the seed of sin. Before she dies the long- lost wifereappears, and Kunda, in her dying moments, is receivedas a younger sister, and sinks to rest, her hands claspingher rival's feet, her head supported by her husband, whoselove she had once won, and whom she now knows cannotabide by her.In Nagendra's love for Kunda the novelist declares thathe wished to depict the fleeting love of passion, as sung byKālidāsa, Byron, and Jaya Deva, and in his love for SurjaMukhi, the deep love which sacrifices one's own happinessfor the love of another, as sung by Shakespeare, Vālmīki,and Madame de Stäel.The Bengali novelist could not so readily shake himselffree from his Eastern form of thought, and view all thingsfrom an objective point of view. The love for Kunda isstill the fettering of the soul by the objects of sense; thelove of the husband for his first wife is still the mystic loveof the soul for God.The wealth of material which lies to the hand of thefuture great novelist of India has been virtually untouched.Bankim Chandra Chatterji, has but led the way andindicated the material which awaits the next great artist.He leaves us in doubt whether he is depicting life as itthrobbed around him, or whether he has hemmed in hischaracters with a surrounding of Eastern mysticism andromantic reserve born of Western conventionality.428LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAIf Bankim Chandra Chatterji has struck a chord whichvibrates through the hearts of the many women of zenanasin India, whose eyes must have wept bitter tears over theagony of Surja Mukhi, deplorable indeed, and worthy of allhis deep feeling as an artist, must be the condition of avast multitude of suffering women in the East, who havebeen nurtured to see their life blasted by a rival love placedby their side to rejoice their lord's heart, or that a son maybe born to save their husband's soul. We are, however,left in doubt as to whether Nagendra sinned in having asecond wife -he defends polygamy in the course of thestory or whether his fault lay in marrying a widow againstsocial custom. The motive for fatality of act should havebeen as clear and unmistakable as it was in the " MudCart," where the jealousies of the two rival wives whobecame reconciled do not influence the action.The same idea is further worked out in " Krishna Kanta'sWill. " Here the true workings of the novelist's mind areapparent; a deeper vein is touched. The love of the erringhusband for his wife, and the rival love by which he isinfatuated, typifies a struggle between a Divine love andthe ever-recurring phantasmal attraction of the soul to theobjects of sense, from which freedom can only be reachedby centring the mind on ideal perfections.The praise of Krishna, as a perfected man, is sung bythepoet in his greatest work, the " Krishna Charitra," publishedin 1862, as a contribution to a Hindu revival in the ancientnational religion, which Romesh Chandra Dutt describes as" the nourishing and life-giving faith of the ' Upanishads,'and the ' Vedanta, ' and the ' Bhagavad Gīta, ' which has been,and ever will be, the true faith of the Hindus."1A worthy follower of India's first great novelist appearedin Romesh Chandra Dutt, the ablest native member ofthe Indian Civil Service. His novels have now passed1 Dutt , R. C., "The Literature of Bengal, " p. 235.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 429through five or six editions in the Bengali. He has resistedall entreaties to translate them into English, although heis as able with his pen in English, as he is in Sanskritand Bengali. The advice given him by Bankim ChandraChatterji now no longer applies; the Eastern form has fusedsufficiently with the English motive force to make a prosetranslation by himself of his works not only widely acceptable by the Western public, but necessary for all studentsof history and literature.Bankim Chandra's advice was given in 1872, and thenmainly referred to poetry, not to prose: " You will neverlive by your writings in English," he said; " look at others.Your uncles, Govind Chandra and Shashi Chandra'sEnglish poems will never live. Madhu Sudan's Bengalipoetry will live as long as the Bengali language willlive. "In his own time the elder novelist clearly recognised theyounger as a worthy rival, and on the appearance, in 1874of Romesh Chandra Dutt's first novel, " Banga Bijeta," atale of the times of Akbar, he wrote: " I am crowding mycanvas with characters; it won't do for a veteran like meto be beaten by a youngster."The other five novels of Romesh Chandra Dutt followedin quick succession. " Rajput Jiban Sandhya " ( 1878), atale of the times of Jahangir; " Madhalei Kankan " ( 1876),a tale of the times of Shah Jahan; " Maharashtra JibanPrabhat" ( 1877), a tale of the times of Aurangzib;"Sansar" ( 1885); " Samaj " ( 1894); two social novelscontinuing the same story. His translation of the " RigVeda Sanhita" into Bengali appeared in 1887; his valuable" History of Civilisation of Ancient India," in English, inthree volumes from 1889; his second edition of "TheLiterature of Bengal," so often quoted in this work, in1895; and his selection of translations from the " Rig VedaPurānas," and " Hindu Sāstras," from 1895 to 1897.430 LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAAwhole library of " Sorrow and Song" was poured forthby this Dutt family of Rambagan. Govind Chandra Duttand Shashi Chandra Dutt first published the " Dutt FamilyAlbum," in 1870, in England, hoping, as they said, that theirpoems would be regarded in England as curiosities, andthe work of foreigners educated at the Hindu College atCalcutta who had become Christians.Their work, like much similar work of the same class-the" Lotus Leaves " of H. C. Dutt, the " Cherry Blossom "of G. C. Dutt, the " Vision of Sumeru," and other poems,by S. Chandra Dutt and others-indicate the enormousdifficulties which lie before even the most gifted who workin English verse.A few verses from " A Vision of Sumeru, and otherPoems," by the estimable Shashi Chundra Dutt, a RaiBahadur and Justice of the Peace at Calcutta, strike a keynote that wails of itself:-MY NATIVE LAND."My native land, I love thee still!There's beauty yet upon thy lonely shore;And not a tree, and not a rill,But can my soul with rapture thrill,Though glory dwells no more.""What though those temples now are loneWhere guardian angels long did dwell;What though from brooks that sadly run,The naiads are for ever goneGone with their sounding shell! "Those days of mythic tale and song,When dusky warriors, in their martial pride,Strode thy sea-beat shores along,While with their fame the valleys rung,And turn'd the foe aside.¹ Thacker Spink (Calcutta, 1879) .THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 431"Then sparkled woman's brilliant eye,And heaved her heart, and panted to enslave;And beauteous veils and flow'rets shy,In vain to hide those charms did tryThat flash'd to woo the brave."My fallen country! where abideThy envied splendour, and thy glory now?The Páthán's and the Mogul's pride,Spread desolation far and wide,And stain'd thy sinless brow.""And beauty's eye retains its fire,What though its lightnings flash not for the brave;And beauteous bosoms yet aspire,With passion strong and warm desire,To wake the crouching slave." My country! fallen as thou art,My soul can never cease to heave for thee:I feel the dagger's edge, the dartThat rankles in thy widow'd heart,Thy woeful destiny! "The full force of the clashing of new and old reached itsclimax in the short, sad life of the " Jeune et célébreHindoue de Calcutta."1Toru Dutt, the gifted daughter of a gifted family, wasborn in Calcutta in 1856, where, as she sings:-"The light green graceful tamarinds aboundAmid the mango clumps of green profound.And palms arise, like pillars grey, between,And o'er the quiet pools the seemuls lean." 2She died at the early age of twenty-one, but in her shortspan of life she had crowded her imaginative mind withimagery gleaned from French, German, English, andSanskrit literature, and with her retentive memory had" Le Journal de Mdlle. d'Arvers par Toru Dutt " ( Paris, 1879).

• Toru Dutt, " Ballads and Legends of Hindustan " ( 1885).

432 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAstored up an unique knowledge which she afterwards showedin "A Sheaf gleaned in French Fields," published in 1876,containing unaided translations from the French, some byher sister Aru, and criticisms, amongst others, of Leconte deLisle, Alfred de Musset, Victor Hugo, François Coppée,and Théophile Gautier. More remarkable was " Le Journalde Mdlle. d'Arvers," a romance in French, published withan account of Toru Dutt's life and work by Mdlle. ClarisseBader in 1879. The work, however, by which she will bebest known to English readers is her " Ancient Ballads andLegends of Hindustan," published in 1885, with an introduction by Edmund Gosse. The poems often faultless asthey are in technical execution, sometimes the verse, as MrGosse truly says, being exquisite to a hypercritical ear, cannever take an abiding- place in the history of English orIndian literature. The old ballads and legends have lostall their plaintive cadence, all the natural charm they borewhen wrapped round with the full-sounding music of theSanskrit, or in what lay ready to the hands of the poetess,her own classical Bengali.The imagery, the scenery has even lost its own Orientalcolour and profusion of ornamentation. The warmth ofexpression and sentiment has of necessity been toned downby the very use of a language which, even had it beenplastic in the hands of Toru Dutt, could never have affordedher the delicate touch and colour which she found in theFrench.In her poem "Jogadhya Uma," her own creative powershave found their fullest play. In her own vernacular thepoem would have been sung to music so weird and soothing,the words would have been attuned to feelings so deep andsincere, that, although she had parted from her ancientfaith and become a Christian, it would have been a poemdestined to live in the religious poetry of Hinduism, andtake a place among the songs of the people. As it is,THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 433while it shows all her innate resources, it also shows thelack of power of her choice of a medium to express herideals. The story is one she has learned for herself:-"Absurd may be the tale I tell,Ill-suited to the marching times,I loved the lips from which it fell,So let it stand among my rhymes. "In the poem a pedlar wanders to and fro crying hiswares:-" Shell bracelets, ho! Shell bracelets, ho!Fair maids and matrons come and buy! "As he cries,"A fair young woman with large eyes,And dark hair falling to her zone,She heard the pedlar's cry arise,And eager seemed his ware to own."A shell bracelet is bought, and the woman tells thepedlar to go to her home, a manse near the village templewhere her father is priest. The pedlar goes to the priestand demands the price, and from the story he tells, thepriest discerns that it was the goddess Uma who hadappeared to the pedlar.The priest cries:—"How strange! how strange! Oh blest art thouTo have beheld her, touched her hand,Before whom Vishnu's self must bow,And Brahma and his heavenly band.Here have I worshipped her for years,And never seen the vision bright.Vigil and fasts and secret tearsHave almost quenched my outward sight;And yet that dazzling form and faceI have not seen, and thou, dear friend,To thee, unsought- for, comes the grace.What may its purport be, and end?"2 E434 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAThey hasten back to the water- side, where the goddesshad been seen bathing, but there"The birds were silent in the wood,Over all the solitude.A heron as a sentinel,Stood by the bank. . . .”The goddess had disappeared, but in answer to thepriest's prayer for her reappearance" Sudden from out the water sprungArounded arm on which they saw,As high the lotus buds amongIt rose, the bracelet white." It sinks.39They bowed before the mystic Power,And as they home returned, in thoughtEach took from thence a lotus flower,In memory of the day and spot.Years, centuries have passed away,And still before the temple shrine,Descendants ofthe pedlar payShell bracelets of the old design,As annual tribute . Much they ownOn land, and gold, —but they confessFrom that eventful day alone,Dawned on their industry, -success."A novel of great interest, entitled " Induleka," has passedalmost unnoticed in England, although it was translated bythe able Malayalam scholar, Mr Dumergue of the IndianCivil Service. It appeared in 1889, and was written in thevernacular language of the Malabar coast, Travancore, andCochin by Mr O. Chandu Menon. It was avowedly writtenfor the purpose of introducing the Western form of fiction tothe home of the novelist, so that when " stories composedof incidents true to national life, and attractively and gracefully written, are once introduced, then, by degrees, the oldTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 435order of books, filled with the impossible and the supernatural, will change, giving place to the new."In the course of the story, the newly-acquired thoughtsand habits of natives educated on English lines, are contrasted with those of the old school of conservative andorthodox Hindus.The inward life of a Nair family or Tarwad, ruled, according to the local custom, by the chief of the house, or“ Karnavan,” is laid bare, with the conflict waged by theyounger members against their " unprogressive " elders.The author, in his preface, describes the hero, Madhavan,as "a graduate both in Arts and Law. He is extremelyhandsome in appearance, and extraordinarily intelligent,and a good Sanskrit scholar. He excelled in sports andEnglish games, such as cricket and lawn-tennis." As thenovel is to be " a novel after the English fashion," theauthor confesses that " it is evident that no ordinaryMalayalee lady could fill the rôle of the heroine ofsuch a story. My Induleka is not, therefore, an ordinaryMalayalee lady. She knows English, Sanskrit, music, etc. ,and is at once a very beautiful and a very accomplishedyoung lady of about seventeen years of age when our storyopens."That the reader should not imagine that the characteris altogether untrue to life, the novelist hastens to add: " Imyself know two or three respectable Nair ladies nowliving, who, in intellectual culture (save and except in theknowledge of English), strength of character, and generalknowledge, can well hold comparison with Induleka. Asfor beauty, personal charms, refined manners, simplicity oftaste, conversational powers, wit and humour, I can showhundreds of young ladies, in respectable Nair Tarwads,who would undoubtedly come up to the standard of myInduleka."The story of the trials of the hero and heroine and of436LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAthe final triumph of their love, is well worked out on thelines of English fiction, with the added interest and charmof Eastern life and Eastern scenery.One chapter towards the end of the story gives, in theform of a conversation between Madhavan, the hero, hisfather, Govinda Panikkar, a " bigoted Hindu," and hiscousin, Govinda Kutti Menon, the current native view onsuch subjects as religion, education, and the NationalCongress. Madhavan's father first upbraids his son withwant of love, faith, and veneration:-"The cause of all this, I say, is English education. Faith in Godand piety should rank foremost in the hearts of men, but you wholearn English have neither. . . . Your new-fangled knowledge andnotions have ruined everything. I see you continually forsaking thegood old practices which we Hindus have observed from time immemorial. . . . All this hostility to our time- honoured rules ofvirtuouslife, is due to nothing but the study of English. If the acquisition ofhuman knowledge and human culture comes into conflict with faith inthings Divine, then they are most utterly worthless. It behoves eachand every man to cling to the faith of his forefathers, but you apparentlythink that the Hindu religion is altogether contemptible. "The usual arguments on the subjects of theism, atheism,and agnosticism follow. The father, Govinda Panikkar, atlength retorts: —"If you say that God is omnipresent, can you therefore make upyour mind not to go to the temples? Besides, do you really mean tosay that there are no saints upon earth who have freed themselvesfrom all worldly cares and passions? ""I certainly do," answered Madhavan. " I maintain emphaticallythat, except when all natural appetites and desires are quenched bysickness, there is no man devoid of the impulses and passions which are inherent in the flesh.""This is dreadful, " exclaimed Govinda Panikkar. " Just think howmany great devotees and ascetics have conquered all fleshly lusts. ""I don't believe there are any who have, ” replied Madhavan."Then are you an atheist altogether, my son? "" I am no atheist; on the contrary, I firmly believe there is a God. ""Then what about the ascetics?"THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 437" I do not believe there are any such men as you mentioned,whether they are devotees or not. "" But I saw an ascetic once who lived on nothing but seven peppercorns and seven neem leaves a day. He never even drank water."66 He must have been an uncommonly clever impostor," saidGovinda Kutti Menon, " and I have no doubt he humbugged you. ""He stayed for nine days in the lodge with me," returned GovindaPanikkar, “ and ate nothing the whole time. ""You did not see him eat anything, brother," said Govinda KuttiMenon, " and believed that he ate nothing; that's all. A man cannotlive without food. It is so ordained by nature, and what is the use ofany one telling lies about it? "" There, now," said Govinda Panikkar, " this perversity comes fromyour intercourse with English people. You never believe a word wesay. "Long extracts from the writings of Bradlaugh are quotedto break down the faith of the orthodox Hindu in all hisancient religion. The story of creation and of Adam, asdealt with by Bradlaugh, are next discussed:-"But there is no mention of any man named Adam in our ' Shastras 'and ' Purānas,' and I don't believe a word of what you have read,"objected Govinda Panikkar."You need not believe in Adam," replied Govinda Kutti Menon." But the account given by the Christian Scriptures of the curse whichis said to have fallen on Adam, and the tribulation which is describedas resulting from the wrath of God, is nothing compared with similaraccounts in our ' Purānas.' According to them, it is not only God, butalso saintly men and minor deities, and Brāhmans, and, more than this,women, that are paragons of virtue, who, in their wrath, take cruel andmanifold vengeance on immortals and mortals, and the dumb brutecreation from one birth to another. None of this rank, preposterousfolly appears in the Christian Scriptures. ""Don't speak like that," said Govinda Panikkar. " What do youmean by saying such things of our ' Purānas, ' Govinda Kutti? Do youimagine any one will believe you when you condemn as rank folly our' Purānas,' which are as old as the world itself, simply because you haveread an English book, a creation of yesterday? But, apart from that,if there is no God, then what you say must amount to this, that mancalled himself into existence.""It amounts to more," replied Govinda Kutti, " because I say that not only man, but also the whole world, came into existence through438LITERARYHISTORYOFINDIAvarious elements and forces, and is attaining complete developmentspontaneously."“ Then, in that case, when a man dies, what becomes ofthe spirit oflife?" asked Govinda Panikkar."Nothing," replied Govinda Kutti Menon. "It simply becomesextinct. If you put out a lighted candle, what becomes of the flame?Surely nothing; it is simply extinguished, and so it is with the spiritoflife. ""Then man has no future state! All is ended in death! ” exclaimedGovinda Panikkar. " Verily, this is a creed fit only for devils! "The unfortunate father has, however, to sit still and listento a discussion over the relative merits of the writings ofDarwin, Huxley, Herbert Spencer, and other Englishwriters, and those of the Indian sages. The case for andagainst the National Congress is next considered,Madhavan's cousin vehemently opposing its purposesand methods:-"Even for the English, with all their unity of caste and fusion ofrace, Parliamentary Government is a matter of difficulty, and howpreposterous then is the idea entertained by some bawling Babus,Brahmans, and Mudalis of forming, out of the inhabitants of India,who are divided by ten thousand differences of caste into sectionsas antagonistic to each other as a mongoose is to a snake, anassembly like Parliament for the administration of the country?The project is sheer folly, nothing else. It is simply their fear ofbeing knocked over by bullets and their weakness that has madethe nations between the Himalayas and Cape Comorin live atpeace with one another since the advent of the English, but letthe English leave India to-morrow, and then we shall see the greatness and valour of the Babus. Will these open-mouthed demagoguesbe able to protect the country for a single minute? Why, if theyreally possessed that fine feeling of self-esteem which they profess,they would long ago have obtained the privileges they so earnestlydesire. But in truth they possess neither courage, nor strength,nor energy, nor patience. Clamour is almost everything with them.Their sole object, their one set ambition is to make a fine speechin English. If the English Government, working on its present lines,gradually introduces changes and reforms into India for the nextgeneration, this is all that is required. There are thousands ofcustoms and institutions in India which are wholly imperfect or dis-THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 439graceful, and should be developed and improved. Why should thesupporters of the Congress neglect them utterly and go beyond allbounds in grasping first of all at sovereignty? Why, for instance,do they make no attempt to remove the obstacles to improvementand progress which are interposed by so many unnecessary distinctions of caste? Why do they not, in order to relieve the poverty ofthe land, try to teach its nations trade with foreign countries, bettermodes of agriculture, manufacture, mechanical engineering? Whynot endeavour to spread education among women? Why not seekto reform our obscure household customs and barbarous practices?It is now many years since the railway, and telegraph, and otherwonderful inventions, were introduced into India, and why shouldno efforts be made to instruct Hindus and Muhammadans how toconstruct them and work them? "The case for the Congress is argued out by Madhavan,who sets forth its objects shortly in the following words:-"With the beginning of their administration began not only thediffusion of knowledge and education among the natives of India,but also a desire to participate in the privileges to which knowledgeaffords us a title. Inasmuch then as we have every reason tobelieve that the English Government will, in justice grant us thefulfilment of this desire if we ask for it, the Congress has beenestablished in order to prefer our request by all lawful and reasonablemeans. "In Madras the two novels " Saguna," and " Kamala "were written by Mrs S. Satthianadhan, whose fragile lifepassed away in 1894. She was born in 1862, her parents,Haripunt and Radhabai, being the first Brahman convertsto Christianity in the Bombay Presidency.¹ Her novelsare now well known in England. The two conspicuousfeatures of her novels-both derived from her Englisheducation and surroundings-are seen in the followingextract from " Saguna. " The scene is one she witnessedwith her brother in the Deccan. The objective mode of1 "Kamala: a Story of Hindu Life, " by Mrs S. Satthianadhan, with Memoirby Mrs H. B. Grigg (Madras, 1894) . “ Saguna: a Story of Native ChristianLife," with Preface by Mrs R. S. Benson ( Madras, 1895).440 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAascribedviewing Nature is peculiarly the outcome of Western influence, to which influence must also beher sincerely Christian piety."The mountain path with its loose stones, moss-grown and dark, thetrees loaded with foliage, the twisted, gnarled trunks springingfrom the midst of granite rocks and stones, the huge serpentinecreepers swinging overhead, and over it all the faint glimmering light of dawn-all this formed a picture too full of livingbeauty, light and shade, to be ever forgotten. We ascendeda little rocky eminence, and were looking at the wonders roundus, the mists and the shadows, and the play of the light overall, when suddenly the scene changed, and the sun emergedfrom behind a huge rock. In a moment the whole place wasbathed in light. Did the birds make a louder noise, or wasthe echo stronger, for I thought I heard, with the advent oflight, quite an outburst of song and merriment? My brother,in his usual earnest way, remarked that it is just like this,shadowy, dark, mystic, weird, with superstition and bigotrylurking in every corner, before the light of Christianity comesinto a land. When the sun rises, he said, all the glory of thetrees and the rocks comes into view, each thing assumes itsproper proportions and is drawn out in greater beauty andperfection. So it is when the sunbeams of Christianity dispelthe darkness of superstition in a land. ”In later years the names crowd round of those whoshow thatDuring the last two generations India has gone through a new andunique development, fraught with momentous consequences toitself and to the British Empire. Under Western influences theformer traditional moorings are already being gradually leftbehind, and the educated classes are drifting towards anothergoal. " ¹It would be almost an endless task to even enumeratethe names of those whose works and labours show evidencesof this new influence, this awakening of the torpid Hinduintellect from the sleep into which it had been thrown bythe fierce, foreign rule of the Muhammadans during sevencenturies. Of all the names, that of Behramji Malabari is1 Karkaria, "India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform, " p. 13.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 441most familiar to English readers, from his well-knownwork, " The Indian Eye on English Life," and his “ Guzaratand the Guzaratis."Malabari, a Parsi, was born in 1853 at Baroda, in thedominion of the Gaikwad, now one of surviving representatives of the great Maratha power. Failing to passthe matriculation examination at Bombay, he commenceda desultory course of reading described by himself:-"I have ranged aimlessly over a very wide field of poetry, Englishas well as Indian; also Persian and Greek translated . Asto English masters, Shakespeare was my daily companionduring schooldays, and a long while after that. Much of myworldly knowledge I owe to this greatest of seers and practical thinkers. Milton filled me with awe. Somehow I used to feelunhappy when the turn came for ' Paradise Lost.' His torrentsof words frightened me as much by their stateliness as bymonotony. Nor could I sympathise with some of the personalteachings of this grand old singer. Wordsworth is my philosopher, Tennyson is my poet. " 1The command Malibari obtained over Guzarati resultedin the production of his " Niti Vinod," or " Pleasures ofMorality," and his acquaintance with English emboldenedhim to risk his " Indian Muse in English Garb," to anEnglish public. From the latter a few lines 2 will indicatethe spirit in which the new reformer commenced his work,and the style of his verse:-"O mourn thou not in vain regretsThat fancied wrong thy peace alloys;When thy ungrateful heart forgetsWhat bliss thy conquered race enjoys.What ifthy English brother lordsIt o'er thee, with contempt implied?Recall the day when Moslem swordsCut thee and thine in wanton pride!Think how a generous nation strivesTo win thee back thy prestige lost;Ofwhat dear joys herself deprivesTo aid thee at a frightful cost! "1 Karkaria, " Indiaec," p. 40. 2 Ibid. , p. 67.442 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIADuring his active life Malabari cast the whole of thepower his command over Guzarati and English gave himinto the tasks of endeavouring to soften race antipathies,and to introduce some of the more obviously requiredreforms into Indian society. As editor of the Spectatorhe exercised an influence far-spread and deep, being, inthe words of Mr Martin Wood, the editor of the Timesof India, “peculiarly fitted for being a trustworthy interpreter between rulers and ruled, between the indigenousand immigrant branches of the great Aryan race. It iseasy to see that he thoroughly understands the mentaland moral characteristics of these two great divisions ofthe Indian community, not only as presented in Bombay,but in other provinces in India. " In his notes on “ InfantMarriage and Enforced Widowhood, " Malabari pointed outforcibly the two gravest social blots in Indian life. As aresult of his labours, both in the Press and on the platform,in England as well as in India, he had the satisfaction ofseeing the " Age of Consent Bill of 1891 " passed, duringthe administration of Lord Lansdowne, by which the ageofconsummation of marriage was raised from ten to twelve.In his " Sketch of the Life and Times of Behramji M.Malabari," R. P. Karkaria points out, from an Indian pointof view, the tendencies, so apparent to all, in one direction ofthe continued contact with a new and Western civilisation: -"The work of destruction is being done effectively; belief in the oldreligion is giving way among the men who receive an Englishtraining. This may not be perhaps quite desirable, as it isbetter to be, in the phrase of Wordsworth, ' a Pagan suckled ina creed outworn,' than to have no creed at all. The old creedsare found to be outworn by them, but they have taken definitelyto no new creed. The ground for such a one, however, is beingcleared. What that creed is to be is a matter for speculation.That it will be Christianity in any dogmatic form, one cannothope. The present agnostic tendency of European thoughtseems to have a fascination for the Indian intellect, and thereare signs here and there to show that atheism is spreading andTHE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 443taking the place of the old superstitions. The writings ofa*gnostics and atheists are growing in favour with our academicyouths, who seem to consider all religion as superstition, and every creed to be an anachronism. ” ¹1In the same work the opinion of Malabari is quoted onthis problem of the future, the most momentous, not onlyfor India, but for the whole civilised world: —"I know not if India will become Christian, and when. But this muchI know, that the life and work of Christ must tell in the end.After all, He is no stranger to us Easterns. How much of ourown He brings back to us, refined and modernised? HisEuropean followers seek Him most for His Divine attributes,to me, Jesus is most Divine in His human element. He is sohuman, so like ourselves, that it will not be difficult to understand Him, though it is doubtful if the dogmas preached in Hisname will acquire a firm hold on the East. " 2What may be expected in the near future, as a result of acontact between the intensely earnest and brooding thoughtof the East with the best of what may be called Westerncivilisation, can, in some measure, be dimly shadowedforth, as some hope of encouragement to England in thework she has undertaken, if the lines are read and re- readof a brilliant article that has appeared on the situation bySir Raymond West, in his review of the life and work ofKasinath Trimbak Telang, a Judge of the High Court ofBombay, who died in 1894.Kasinath Trimbak Telang was born, in 1850, of a respectable family in Bombay. He early perfected himself inMarathi and Sanskrit, and by 1869 had taken the degree ofM.A. and LL.B. in the Bombay University. In 1872 hebecame an advocate, and soon, "in all matters of Hindulaw, Telang was, by general acknowledgment, facile princepsof the Bombay Bar."To a native alone can be known the true force of thevarious schools of Hindu law among the varied classes¹ Karkaria, " Sketch of the Life and Times of B. M. Malabari, ” p. 67.2Ibid. , p. 81 .444 LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIAof the community, and in how far local circ*mstances,habits, or customs have the binding force of law outsideall the formulated codes of the Brahmanical legislators.The English judge naturally accepts these Brahmanicalcodes as of universal authority, and as being generallyknown or accepted as such. That the Brahmanical codeswere made by a special class, and for a special class, of thecommunity is evident to all acquainted with the literaryhistory of India. To the overworked and practical administrator, or advocate, a law is accepted as law, and appliedwithout those restrictions which only an intimate acquaintance with the past history or present life of the peoplewould suggest. The peculiar province of a native advocateor judge, such as Telang, is to impress these facts ontheir English legislators and jurists. In the words of SirRaymond West, ¹ Telang " felt very strongly that in HinduLaw, as elsewhere, life implies growth and adaptation. Hehailed with warm welcome the principle that custom mayameliorate, as well as fix, even the Hindu law, and it wasrefreshing sometimes to hear him arguing for modernization, while, on the other side, an English advocate, to whomthe whole Hindu system must have seemed more or lessgrotesque, contended for the most rigorous construction ofsome antique rule."Telang received, as a fitting recognition of his positionas "the most capable of Hindus of our generation," aJudgeship of the High Court of Bombay, in 1889, andafterwards the Vice- Chancellorship of the University. Asa Legislative Member of the Council at Bombay he threwthe whole weight of his scholarship and power as anadvocate against such of his orthodox countrymen asopposed the raising of the age of consummation ofmarriage for child - wives. He showed that by neitherVedic authority, nor by the wording of the Queen's1 West Sir Raymond, J R.A.S. ( 1894).THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 445Proclamation was the English Government anything butfree to legislate on the subject. "It is the boundenduty of the Legislative," he said, "to do what it is nowdoing in the interests of humanity, and of the worldlyinterests of the communities committed to its charge,and for such a purpose as the present to disregard, ifneed be, the Hindu Shastras.' " 1As a profound Sanskrit scholar, he is known as authorof many valued works. As a debater whose " languageof a limpid purity would have done credit to an Englishborn orator," he is remembered for his stirring addresses onsuch subjects as the Ilbert Bill, Licence and Salt Taxes,his advocacy for the extended admission of natives to theIndian Civil Service, and on many other important measuresand topics. In these addresses " his style was framed on theclassic writers, and expressed his meaning with admirableforce and clearness. It may, indeed, be doubted if anynative orator has equalled him in lucidity and that restraint which is so much more effective than exaggerationand over-embellishment. "23As a member of the Education Commissioners of 1882his report is, " in some respects, the most valuable of acrushingly voluminous collection," and, as Vice- Chancellorof the University, he warmly supported all the great effortsof Lord Reay for the establishment and encouragement oftechnical education, and convinced as he was that " successin the modern world was to be obtained only by adaptationto the needs of modern life, he wished his fellow- Hindus tounite an inner light of Divine philosophy, drawn from thetraditional sources, and generously interpreted, to a masteryof the physical sciences, and the means of natural improvement." Jurist, statesman, scholar, orator, poet, lover ofNature, and meditative sage, he remains to the West the1 West, Sir Raymond, J.R.A.S. ( 1894), p. 119. 2 Ibid. , 113.

• See Hunter, Bombay, " A Study in Indian Administration, ” p. 157.

446LITERARYHISTORYOF INDIAconvincing proof that " it is by the word and the exampleof him and his like that India must be regenerated, and themoral endowments of her children made noble, serviceablefor the general welfare of mankind. "To his fellow- countrymen, he is the example of how"thepresent generation of cultivated Hindus want only physicalrobustness and public experience, or a modest sense ofinexperience and reasonable limitation of practical aims,to be outwardly distinguished from the mass of pushing,intelligent Europeans with whom they mingle."There are other well- known names whose places and famefuture times will have to record and note, as affording clearevidences that East and West have met, and sent new forcesout into the world for the solving of its plan and mysteries.There are names, such as Rajendra lāl Mitra, Bhagvan lalIndraji, Ram Krishna Gopal Bhandarkar, which tell howIndia, with a newly-awakened respect for historical accuracy,and perspective combined with labour, can produce worksfullyable to rankwith those ofthe best ofWestern scholarship.The West has plainly recognised how the subtle, nervoustemperament, the quick co- relation between thought andaction joined to untiring perseverance, can produce acricketer, probably the keenest the world has seen; and yetthere are doubts that the same qualities cannot produce,and have not produced, their due effect in the realms morecongenial to them, those of thought, where for the presenttheir true working must remain more or less hidden fromour gaze.Men such as Ram Mohun Roy, Keshab Chandar Sen,Michael Sudan Datta, Bankim Chandra Chatterji, KasinathTrimbak Telang are no bastard bantlings of a Westerncivilisation; they were creative geniuses worthy to bereckoned in the history of India with such men of old asKālidāsa, Chaitanya, Jaya Deva, Tulsi Dās, and Śānkara1 See " Memoir " in I.B. R.A.S. , vol. xvii. p. 18.THE FUSING POINT OF OLD AND NEW 447Āchārya, and destined in the future to shine clear as thefirst glowing sparks sent out in the fiery furnace wherenew and old were fusing.Year by year the leaders of Indian thought in Indiaspread their influence over ever-widening circles , thoughwhat the final result may be when these leaders, infusedwith all the best of the spirit of the East and West, riseup to proclaim that East and West have met, and fromthe union new forms of thought, new modes of artisticexpression, new ways of viewing life, new solutions ofreligious, social, and moral problems have been produced,as produced they must be, is one that the whole past historyof the world teaches us is to be watched with hope, notfear or doubt. Slowly the movement will take place, andin each step there will be unrest and dangers both to Stateand people, and in a land like India fierce commotion,taking all the steadying hand of the English rule to directand guide it towards a safe haven. The words of one ofthe many of the great thinkers of India, who has received,in his own sphere of thought, a recognition that might beextended more liberally to all those who strive to findexpression for what the West has inplanted in them, maybe quoted as some hope for the future, though not, perhaps,in the sense intended by Professor Bose: ¹-"How blind we are! How circ*mscribed is our knowledge! Thelittle we can see is nothing compared to what actually is! Butthings which are dark now will one day be made clear.Knowledge grows little by little, slowly but surely. Patientand long-continued work will one day unravel many of themysteries with which we are surrounded. Many wonderfulthings have recently been discovered, much more wonderfulthings still remain to be discovered. We have already caughtbroken glimpses of invisible lights. Some day, perhaps not fardistant, we shall be able to see light-gleams, visible or invisible,merging one into the other, in unbroken sequence."¹ Indian Magazine and Review ( May 1897), p. 237; S. J. L. Bose, on"Electric Waves. "

A SHORT LIST OF USEFUL WORKS RECOMMENDED FOR FURTHER STUDY2F

A SHORT LIST OF USEFUL WORKS RECOMMENDED FOR FURTHER STUDY.BADEN- POWELL, B. H. The Indian Village Community. 1896.BARTH, A. The Religions of India. Authorised Translation.Rev. J. Wood. London, 1882.ByBERGAIGNE, ABEL. La Religion Védique. 3 vols. Paris, 1878-83.BIGANDET, Bishop. The Life or Legend of Gaudama. Rangoon,1858. London, 1880.CAMPBELL, F. Index Catalogue of Bibliographical Works relating toIndia. London, 1897.CHATTERJEE, B. C. Poison Tree. Translated. London, 1884.Kopala Kundala. Translated. London, 1885.Krishna Kanta's Will. Translated. London, 1895.COLEBROOKE, H. T. Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of theHindus. London, 1882.COWELL, E. B. , and A. E. Gough. Sarva Darsana Sangraha.COWELL, Professor E. B., and Mr THOMAS of Trinity College,Cambridge. Bana's Harsa Carita. Oriental Translation Series.1897.CROOKE, W. The Tribes and Castes of the North-West Provincesand Oudh. Calcutta, 1896.CROOKE, W. Popular Religion and Folk- Lore of Northern India.2 vols. London, 1896.DAHLMANN, JOSEPH. Das Mahābhārata als Epos und Rechtsbuch.Berlin, 1895.DARMESTETER, J. English Studies. 1896.451452 WORKS FOR FURTHER STUDYDAVIDS, T. W. RHYS. Buddhist Birth- Stories. London, 1880.Buddhism. 2nd edit. London, 1894.Buddhism1896.Its History and Literature (American Lectures).DAVIES, J. Bhagavad- gita. London, 1882.DAVIES, Rev. J. Hindu Philosophy. 1881 .DEUSSEN, P. Das System des Vedanta. 1883.DUFF, J. G. A History of the Mahrattas.Later Editions.3 vols. London, 1826.DUTT, J. C. Kings of Kashmir. Calcutta. 1879.DUTT, R. C. A History of Civilisation in Ancient India. 2 vols.London, 1893.Literature of Bengal. London, 1895.DUTT, TORU. Journal de Mdlle. d'Arvers.Lays and Ballads of Hindustan. London, 1882.EDUCATION in India, Progress of. Second Quinquennial Review.Calcutta, 1893.FERGUSSON, Dr J. Tree and Serpent Worship. London, 1868.History of Indian and Eastern Architecture. London, 1876.FICK, R. Die Sociale Gliederung in N. Östlichen Indien zuBhudda's Zeit. Kiel, 1897.GARBE, R. Sankhya Philosophie.GOUGH, A. E. The Philosophy of the Upanishads. Oriental Series.1882.GRIFFITH, R. Sama Veda. Benares, 1893.Atharva Veda. 2 vols. Benares, 1896.GROWSE, F. S. Ramayana of Tulsi Das. Translated from the Hindi.HAUG, MARTIN. Aitareya Brahmana. Text, Translation, and Notes.2 vols. Bombay, 1863.HIBBERT LECTURES: -LECTURES on the Growth of Religion, as Illustrated by somePoints in the History of Indian Buddhism. By T. W. RhysDavids. London, 1881 .LECTURES on the Origin and Growth of Religion , as Illustratedby the Religions of India. By F. Max Müller. 2nd edit.London, 1878.HOLTZMANN, A. Das Mahābhārata, 1892-1895.WORKS FOR FURTHER STUDY 453HOPKINS, E. W. Religions of India. Boston, 1895.The Social and Military Position ofthe Ruling Caste in AncientIndia. Reprint. Newhaven, 1889.HUNTER, Sir WILLIAM WILSON. The Indian Empire: Its History,People, and Products. London, 1893. 3rd edit.Annals of Rural Bengal. 5th edit.Orissa: Its History and People. 2 vols. London, 1872.Our Indian Musalmans. 3rd edit.Rulers of India Series. Edited by Oxford.Indian Magazine and Review. A Monthly Publication. London.JEVONS, F. B. Introduction to the History of Religions. London,1896.KAEGI, Professor A. The Rig Veda. Translated by Arrowsmith, R.1886.KARKARIA, R. P. India: Forty Years of Progress and Reform.London, 1896.LASSEN, C. Indische Alterthumskunde. Bonn, 1847-61 . 2nd edit.Leipzig, 1867-74.LEVI, S. Théatre Indien. Paris, 1890.LUDWIG, ALFRED. Der Rigveda, oder die heiligen Hymnen derBrahmana. A Translation in German. 6 vols. Prague, 1876-88.LYALL, Sir ALFRED. Asiatic Studies. London, 1882.MACCRINDLE, J. W. The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great,as described by Q. Curtius, Diodorus, Plutarch, and Justin . Withan Introduction containing a Life of Alexander. 1893.MACDONELL, A. A. Vedic Mythology ( Grundriss der Indo-ArischenPhilologie und Altertumskunde, herausgegeben von Georg Bühler).1897.MAHABHARATA, The, of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa. Translatedinto English Prose by Pratapa Chandra Ray. Calcutta, 1893-96.MANNING, Mrs. Ancient and Mediæval India. London, 1869.MITCHELL, J. MURRAY. Hinduism, Past and Present. London, 1885.MONIER-WILLIAMS, Sir MONIER. Non- Christian Religious Systems:Hinduism. London, 1877.Indian Wisdom. 1876.454 WORKS FOR FURTHER STUDYMONIER-WILLIAMS, Sir MONIER.1891.Brahmanism and Hinduism.Religious Life and Thought in India. 1893.Sakuntala of Kalidasa. 1887.MUIR, J. Metrical Translations from Sanskrit Writers. 1879.Original Sanskrit Texts. Translated into English.1858-61. 2nd edit. 1868-73-5 vols.MÜLLER, MAX. A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature. London,1859.Chips from a German Workshop. 2nd edit. London, 1868.India: What Can It Teach us. London, 1892.Biographical Essays. 1884.Biographies of Words. London, 1888.Sacred Books of the East. Translated by various Scholars,and edited by Prof. Max. Müller.OLDENBERG, H. Buddha, sein Leben, etc.lation. London, 1882.Die Religion Des Veda. Berlin, 1894.Berlin, 1881. TransOMAN, J. C. Indian Life, Religious and Social. 1889.PADFIELD, Rev. J. E. The Hindu at Home. 1896.POPE, Rev. G. U. Naladiyar. Oxford, 1893.RAE, G. MILNE. The Syrian Church in India. London, 1892.RAGOZIN, Z. A. Vedic India: Story of the Nations. 1896.RAMAYANA of Valmiki. Translated into English Verse, by R. T. H.Griffith. I vol. Benares, 1895.RENDALL, G. H. Cradle of the Aryans. 1889.SAMUELSON, JAMES. India, Past and Present. London, 1890.SCHRADER, Dr O. Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan People.Translated by Jevons, F. Byron. 1890.SENART, E. Les Castes dans l'Inde. 1896.Essai sur la Légende du Buddha, son Caractère et ses Origines.Paris, 1882.STEVENSON, Rev. J. Translation of the Sama Veda. 1841.TASSY, GARCIN DE. Les Auteurs Hindoustanis et leurs Ouvrages.2nd edit. Paris, 1868.WORKS FOR FURTHER STUDY 455TASSY, GARCIN DE.doustanie. 3 vols.Histoire de la Littérature Hindouie et Hin2nd edit. Paris, 1870-71 .TAYLOR, ISAAC. Origin of the Aryans. 1890.THIBAUT, G. Vedānta Sūtras, S.B.E. Vols. XXXIV. and XXXVIII.1890-96.TOD, Lieut. - Col. J. Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. London,1829-32.TRUMPP, E. The Adi Granth.London, 1877.Translated from the Gurmukhi.TUKĀ RĀMA, The Poems of. Edited by Vishnu Parashurām ShāstrīPandit, with a Life of the Poet in English. Bombay, 1869.WALLIS, H. W. The Cosmology of the Rig-Veda. London, 1887.WARREN, H. C. Buddhism in Translations. 1896.WEBER, ALBRECHT. The History of Indian Literature. London,1878.WEST, Sir RAYMOND. Higher Education in India: Its Position andClaims. Transactions of the Ninth Oriental Congress. London,1892.WILSON, H. H. Translation of Hymns of the Rig Veda, continuedby Professor E. B. Cowell and W. F. Webster. 1850-88.Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus. 2 vols.1835.The Vishnu Purana. London, 1840.Sketch ofthe Religious Sects of the Hindus. Calcutta, 1846.Complete Works of. 12 vols. London, 1862-77.WINDISCH, E. Der griechische Einfluss im indischen Drama.Berlin, 1882.ZEITSCHRIFT der deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. Quotedthroughout as Z.D.M.G.

ABORIGINAL races, 301.Abul Fazl, 356, et seq.Abul Kadir Badauni, 357.Acharyas in South India, 325.Adhvaryu priests, 68, 72 , 87.Adi Brahma Samāj, 406.Ādi Granth, 374, et seq.Adil Shāhi dynasty, 375.Aditi, 46.Agastya, 302.Aghoris, 291.Agni, 17, 95, 124.attributes, 45-47.INDEXthe first victim always sacrificedto, 74.Agnihotra sacrifice, 113.Agnimitra, 288.Agni Vaiśvanara, the protector of theking, who has a purohita, 91 .Agriculture performed by women, 85 .Āhavaniya altar, 71 , 81 .Ahi, the snake, 53.Ain-i -Akbari, 358.Aitareya Brahmana, 72.on sacrifice, 85.story of Sunahsepa, 87 , et seq.Ajātasatru, 142, 144.instructs a Brahman, 112.Akbar, 355-364.Alara, a Brahman teacher of Buddha,131-132.Alexander the Great, 171 174.Alexander II. of Epirus, 244.Alexandria in Egypt, 172.the modern Herat, 172.the modern Ucch, 173.Ali and Rāma, 346.Altamsh, tomb of, 363.Altar for Brahmanic sacrifice, 71 .shape of, 71 , 73.Ambapāli entertains Buddha, 143.Ambattha visits Kapilavastu, 118.Amrāvati, 127, 147, 150.Ananda, Buddha's injunctions to, 143.Anāthapindika, 142.Andhra kingdom, 150, 176.Andhrabrityas, 307.Andhras, 250, 306.Angas, 95, 131 .Animal sacrifice substituted for human,43, 75.Antelope, black, 78.Antigonos Gonatas of Macedonia, 244.Antiochus II. of Syria, 243.Apastamba, 176.law book of, 152, 154, et sea.rules for Sūdras, 154.rules for Brahmans, 160.Apsaras, 217.Arahat, 139.Aranyakas, 96.Arashtra, 173.Arbela, the battle of, 172.Arjuna, 221 .457458INDEXArjuna draws the bow, 221.236.meets Krishna, 223.marries Krishna's sister, 224.submits to Siva, 230.chooses Krishna as charioteer,addressed by Krishna, 238-241.Arjuna, fifth Sikh Guru, 376.put to death, 378.Arrian, 181.Aruni wood, 40.Arya, meaning noble, 2.Aryan vernaculars, 264.literary influence, 265.Aryans early ideas as to habitat, 6;later theories, 7-9, 13; early beliefs,II; Nature worshippers, 12; entry into India, 2, 17; their first home inIndia, 20; alliances with aboriginalfolk held impure, 20; settled inSind, 63; intercourse with darkerraces eliminated from Vedas, 64;settled in Oudh, Benares, and Behar,69; mix with aboriginal races, 97;causes oftheir disunion, 98.Aryavarta, 4, 149, 251 .Ascetics, 115.rules for, 116.last stage of life, 163.Asoka, 119, 133, 334.erected a pillar at Buddha's birthplace, 120.adopted Buddhism, 144.embraces Buddhism, 242 .publishes his Edicts, 243-47 .sends foreign embassies, 243-44.death of, 247.Aśvamedha, 242, 251.Turanian in origin, 242.Asvins, 29.physicians of the gods, 48.Atharva-veda: Hymns setting forth vengeance on oppressors, etc. , of theBrahmans, 25-26.Atharva-veda, love- charms, 33.on widow-burning, 36.Atheism in Vedas, 58.in ancient India, 128.Atman as the sun, 105.the Self of man, 105.the universe, 106, et seq. ,114.Buddha's knowledge of, 123.Ātmiya Sabha, 394.Attock, 172.Aurangzib, 364, 374, et seq.Ayodhya, ancientcapital ofKośālas, 131 .the home of Rāma, 214.BABAR, 338, 345, 352-55.Babylon, 172.Bactria, 172.Bādarayana, 196.Badauni, 357.Badrinath monastery, 325.Bähikas, 66.Bali, the demon, 340.Bāna, 255, 257; the Harsha Charita,255-62.Banga Darsan, 419.Baptist missions, 389.Bassava, 344.Baudhāyana, 176; law book of, 152,et seq.; penalties on Sūdras, 153;penalties for mixing of twice- bornwith Sūdras: penances for Brahmanmurder, 159.Belugamaka visited by Buddha, 143.Benares, 132.Bhagavad Gita, 203 , 207; its answer topessimism, 235; its doctrine of faithin Krishna, 235, 238; its essentialdoctrines, 236; mysticism, 236; itshistorical position, 237; duties ofthefour castes as taught by, 240.Bhagavan, 316.Bhagavan Das, 364.Bhāgavata Purana, 348.INDEX 459Bhairavā, 229.Bhaja Govinda, 327.Bhaja temple, 146.Bhaktā Mālā, 367.Bhandarkar, R. G. , 446.Bharata, brother of Rāma, 214.Bharatas, 67.Bhārāta Varsha, 215.Bharhut, the mound at, 127.Bhartrihari's Satakas, 4 (note).Bhavabhūti , 288-93.Bhima, 218, et seq.slays the demon Rākshasa, 220.Vows vengeance on Kurus, 228.Bhujyu, 29.Bidyapati Thakur, 347.Bihāri Läl, 366.Bimbisāra, King of Magadha, 128, 130,142, 243.Birbal, 359.Blood covenant, 75, 164.Boar incarnation of Vishnu, 340.Bose, S. J. L. , 447.Brahmā, 194, 217.Brahman (prayer) , 23 , 230; power overthe gods, 59; evil effect if wronglypronounced, 59; the neuter essence,106; as the cause of the world, 101 ,103; the self- existent, 103; in relationship to the Self, 103; derivationof the word, 103; as prayer, 104; inVedanta Sūtras, 198, et seq.Brahmanas, 69, 96.Brahmanic supremacy asserted , 68.Brahmanical power, 148, et seq.; ruleshave retarded advance, 187; victory,188; claim to supremacy, 189; cryof pain, 190.Brahmanism, 310, 335, 364; its positionas regards Buddhism, and the Epics,210, 212; accepts Krishna, 226;Śiva, 230; compromises with aboriginal beliefs, 243.Brahmans, composers of Vedic Hymns,23; no one class or order, 23-24;created from mouth of Purusha, 25;described as gods, 90, 188; theirwealth, 92; conflicts with warriorclass, 92; missionary efforts, 94;instructed by a Kshatriya, 112;looked down on by Kshatriyas, 118;supremacy of, 148, et seq.; taught byword of mouth, 150; their aim topreserve themselves apart from aborigines, 152; custom of going tosea, 158; penalties for touching,159; permitted to perform duties ofa lower caste, 160; described byMegasthenes, 179; accept the demonology ofthe masses, 213.Brahma Samaj founded, 397.essential articles of, 403-4.Brahma Sutras, 196.Brahmāvartā, 17, 66.Brahmi alphabet, 243.Brihaspati, lord of prayer, 74, 104.Broughton, Colonel, Letters from aMaratha Camp, 255.Bucephala, founded by Alexander, 173.Buddha, 96, 117, 119; his birthplace,117; his visions, 121; leaves hishome, 122, 130; his philosophy, 122,et seq.; his knowledge of the Upanishads, 123; of the various philosophies, 130; his quest after knowledge, 131; gains knowledge, 132;goes to the five ascetics, 133; hispersonality, 133; declares the truth,134, et seq.; his journeys, 143;worshipped, 147; injunctions toAnanda, 143; changes after hisdeath, 144; his ideals, 246-7; as anincarnation of Vishnu, 340.Buddhism, 113, 323, 324, 335; arevolt from Brahmanism, 93; anoutcome of Aryan thought, 97;powerless to unite the masses, 98;460 INDEXBuddhism (continued)—position as regards Brahmanism, 118;its philosophy, 122-27; resemblanceto Jainism, 129; spread amongScythians, 130; doctrines of, 132-139; historical significance of, 140;took no account of caste, 141; acelibate order, 142; drifts intoidolatry, 147; failure to breakthrough caste, 149; driven out byMuhammadans, 246; accepted byAsoka, 243; and by Kanishka, 249.Buddhist Canon, 232.Councils, 145.Edicts of Asoka, 234.CALCUTTA Madrissa, 388.Carey, the Baptist missionary , 389, 390.Caste, 93, 148-69.Census of 1891 , 263.Chaitanya, 338, 348, et seq.Chalukyas, 307.Chamunda, a form of Durgā, 289.Chanakya, 294.Chandala, offspring of a Sudra and aBrahman woman, 126, 155.Chanderi, siege of, 354.Chandidas, 347.Chandogya Upanishad, the teaching ofUddālaka, 109; on transmigration ,126.Chandragupta, 144, 174, 176, 334;makes alliance with Seleukos Nikator, 175.Chandra Gupta I. , 242, 294.II. , 251.Charanas, 217.Charudatta, hero ofMricchakatikā, 272,et seq.Chatterji, Bankim Chandra, and hisnovels, 419-29.Cheras, or Keralas, 305, 306.Chola dynasty, 305, 306.Christianity, supposed traces in Bhagavad Gita, 231-32; its failure in India,312.Civilisation in Vedic times, 27-33.Climatic influence on the people ofIndia, 253.Creation of man in Vedic Hymns, 24.Cyrus the Persian , 171-72.DĀDŪ, 374.Dakshina, the reward to the Brahman,92.Dakshina, or southern part, 302.Dakshinägni fireplace, 71 .Dareios, 169, 171.Dasaratha, 214, 247.Dasyus, 52; abhorred by Aryans, 20;their civilisation, 20.Datta, Akhay Kumar, 403, 411, 414.Madhu Sudan, 414, et seq.Dawn, 31 , 48.Dayabhäga, 338.Death, ideas concerning, in Veda, 36-39;later ideas of, 124-26.Deccan, 302, 306, 361 , 382.Dekkan. See Deccan.Derozia, 394.Devaki, mother of Krishna, 225.Devaran, Hymns of Sambandha, 330.Devi, or Kāli, 229.Dhavaka, probable author of Nāgānanda, 293.Dhritarashtra, father of the hundredKurus, 215.Diksh*ta, 79.Diodorus, 169, 173.Dionysos, the worship of, 182.Divodāsa, 65.Drama, 265-99.Draupadi, 216, 220; her Svayamvāra,220; marriage to the Pandavas, 221;staked and lost , 226; bewails thepower of evil, 234.Dravidians, 302, et seq., 309.INDEX 461Drishadvati, 66, 216.Drona, the preceptor of the Pandavas,217.Duncan, Jonathan, endows BenaresCollege, 389.Durgā, 229; as Chāmundā, 289.Duryodhana, 218, et seq. , 227, 235.Dushyanta, hero of Sakuntalā, 285.Dutt, Romesh Chandra, 428.his works, 429.Dutt, Shashi Chundra, his works, 430.Dutt, Toru, 431 .434.her poems and novels, 432-Dvapara Age, 370.Dvārakā, 225, 226, 325.Dwarf incarnation of Vishnu, 340.Dyaus, 12 , 50.EDUCATION --Grant's Treatise, 388;college and school founded at Calcutta and Benares, 394; Court ofDirectors on, 396-98; Macaulay'sMinute, 399; Lord W. Bentinck on,399; Sir J. Malcolm's Minute, 400;Sir C. Wood's Despatch, 401; universities founded, 401; Sir R. Weston higher, 402; Census Report of1892, 402.Eightfold Path, 134, 138, 141 , 144.Endogamy, 165, et seq.England's mission in India, 168.Epics, 210, et seq.Eudemos murders Porus, 174.Exogamy, 165, et seq.FA HIAN, the Chinese traveller, 120.Faizi, 357.Fakir-ud- din, 336.Fire reverenced by Hindus, 40; thethree sacrificial fires, 42.Fish incarnation of Vishnu, 339.Five Rivers inveighed against as accursed, 66.Five People, epithet in Vedic Hymnsof Aryans, 66.Five organs of sense and action, 193.Five subtle elements, 193.Flood in Satapatha Brahmana, 83 .Folk- songs, origin of the Epic, 211 .Four Noble Truths, 138, 141 .Funeral ceremonies in the Veda, 35.GAMBLING in Vedic Hymns, 32.Gāna, or song-books, 68.Gandharvas, 217.Gangā, 66.Gārgi argues with Yajnavalkya, 101 .Gārgya Bālāki, a Brāhman instructedby a Kshatriya, 112.Garhapatya fireplace, 71 , 81.Garuda, 50, 222, 293.Gauri, 229.Gautama, the Buddha, 119.Gautama, the aphorisms of, 152, et seq.rules for Brahmans, 158-60.penalties on Sūdras reciting VedicHymns, 3.Gautama, author of Nyaya system, 208.Gayatri, 61 .Gentoo Code, 4, 186.Girnar inscriptions, 243.Gita Govinda, 339-44.Gods-Vedic gods phenomena ofNature, 45.Gotama, the Vedic sage, 119.Govind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru,345, 375, 379.forms the Khālsā, 379.Grahavarman of Kanauj, 257-59.Grant, Charles, on education, 388.Greeks in India, 169-82.Gunas, the triple, 194.Gupta line, 250.Isvara Chandra, 393.Guzarāt, 249, 250, 257.HAIR- DRESSING , 29.462 INDEXHare, David, 394.Har Govind, sixth Sikh Guru, 378.Hari, or Vishnu, taught as supreme Godby Madhava, 330.Hari Nath, 365.Harischandra, the story of, 87.Harsha Charita of Bana, 255-62.Harsha Vardhana, 250, 257, 308, 334;described by Hiouen Tsang, 254; theHarsha Charita, 255-62; his lineage,257.Hastinapur, 67; Pandavas removedfrom, 217; return to, 222.Hastings, Warren, founds CalcuttaMadrissa, 388.Havir sacrifices, 162.Heracl*tus , 122.Herakles, 177 , 182.Herat founded by Alexander, 172.Hermit, the third stage of life, 163.Herodotus, 169.Hicky's Gazetteer, 390.Hinayana Canon, 232.Hinduism, 289; how far aboriginal, 64.Hiouen Tsang, 248, 249, 254; onKapilavastu , II7 , 120.Hiranya Käsipa, the monster, 340.Horse sacrifice , 242, 251.Turanian in origin, 242.Hotar priest, 87, 90.Imprecations on those who cursethe, 91.Householder, duties to be performedby, 162-63.Hoysala Ballālas, 309.Human sacrifice, 42, 86.story of Sunahsepa , 88.Śatapatha Brahmana on, 89.Humayun, 355.Hylobioi ascetics, 180.IKSHVĀKU, 119; the Solar race of, 214.Indika of Ktesias, 170.of Megasthenes, 175.Indian Mirror, 405.Indra, 18, 31 , 38, 51 , 75; the rise of,52; the slayer of Sushmã, 53; Hymnto, 53; the destroyer of the foes ofthe Aryans, 63-65.Indraji, Bhagvanlal, 446.Indra- prastha, 222.Induleka, 434-39.Indus, or Sindhu, Vedic Hymn to, 19.Initiation, 79, 160.age for, and duties after, 161.Intermarriage between Aryan and Sūdras forbidden, 154.restrictions on, 164, et seq.Iron Pillar of Delhi, 252.Islām, 332.JAINISM, 311, 323-24; its resemblanceto Buddhism, 129; the three gems,129; its tenets, 129-30.Jains, 128, et seq.129.the object of, 129.Śvetāmbara and Digambara sects,Jalandra, the monastery, 249.Janaka, King of Videha, 99, 338, 370.Jaya Deva, 339-44.Jetavana, the monastery of, 142.Jimütavahana, hero of Nāgānanda, 293.Jimütavāhana, the author of Dayabhāga,338.Jina, the conqueror, 129.Jognarain Ghosal, 394.Joint- partnership in village community,65.Jones, Sir W., elected President of theAsiatic Society, 389.KABIR, 345-46, 376, et seq.Kaikeyi, the wife of Dasaratha, 214,368, 370, et seq.Kailasa, the heaven of Śiva, 229.Kāli, 229.INDEX 463Kāli Age, account of in Vishnu Purāna ,340.Kālidāsa praised by Goethe, 5; hisMālavikāgnimitra, 248, 288; Sakuntalā, 285, et seq.; Vikramorvasi, 288.Kalki, the future incarnation of Vishnu,340.Kalpas, 207.Kamala, 439.Kampilya, capital of the Panchālas, 67.Kanada, author of Vaiseshika system,208.Kanauj , 250, 254, 257, 333 , 335.Kanishka, 249.Kansa, King of Mathura, slain byKrishna, 226.Kant, 327; and the Vedānta, 201 , 206.Kanya Kubja, or Kanauj, 250, 254, 257,333, 335.Kapāla Kundalā, priestess in MalatiMadhava, 290.Kapila, 190-206.Kapilavastu, II7 , II9, I4I , 143 , 248.Karkaria, R. P. , his life of Malabari, 442.Kārli temple, 146.Karma, the doctrine of, 135, 147, 313.Karman (work) , 101 .Karuppan, southern name of Krishna,304.Käsis, 69, 95.Kataka, chief of the Licchavis, 130.Katb-ud-din, 252, 336; the mosque of,363.Katb Shāhi dynasty, 375.Kathians defeated by Alexander, 173.Katyayana, the Vārtikhas, 151.Kedernath, 326.Keralas, or Cheras, 305, 306.Kharosthi alphabet, 243.Khilji dynasty, 337.King in Vedic times, 21 .Kiravan, or elder, 304.Kohana, the river, 142.Kolarian languages, 301.Koliyans, 142.Kopala Kundala, a novel by Chatterji,421.Kośālas, 69, 94, 119, 131 , 144, 212.Krishna, 223 , et seq. , 304; his worshipdescribed by Megasthenes, 182;meets Arjuna, 224; his place in theMahābhārata, 224; legends, 225;and the gopis, 225; received intoBrahmanism, 226; subordinated toŚiva, 229; in Mahabharata, 230;rises supreme in Mahābhārata, 231;as the saviour in Bhagavad Gita,235, 238; as Arjuna's charioteer,236; his discourse to Arjuna, 238-41;as Brahman, 239; teaches duty ofthe four castes, 240; in village plays,269; as incarnation of Vishnu,340.Krishna Charitra, 419.Krishna Kanta's Will, 428.Krivis, 67.Kshatriyas, 186; their conflicts withBrahmans, 92; instruct Brahmans,112; hold aloof from Brahmans, 118.Kshema, wife of Bimbisāra, 142.Ktēsias, 170.Kulina Kula Sarvasa, 414.Kulin Brahmans, 413.Kullaka Bhatta, 338.Kumāra Gupta I. , 252.Kurral, 316, 325, 330.Kuru Panchālas, 94, 212.Kurukshetra, 66, 70, 215 , et seq.;starting- point of Brahmanic missionary effort, 94; the holy place ofpilgrimage, 216.Kurus, 215, 226.Kusa grass, 71 .Kusinagara visited by Buddha, 143.Kutsa, King ofthe Purus, 67.LALLU JI LAL, author of PremSāgar, 392.464 INDEXLanka, 214, 305.Law books, 148, et seq.notbindingonthe masses, 158 , 184.their study forbidden to Sudrasand women, 185.Levirate marriage in the Veda, 35.Licchavis, 128, 130, 143.Lingayatas, 309, 311.Lodi dynasty, 338, 345.Lokayatas, an atheistic sect, 128.Lomas Rishi Cave, 146.Long, Rev. J., 415.Lumbini Garden, the birthplace of Buddha, 119.MACAULAY'S MINUTE, 399.Madhava Acharya, 326.330.teaches Vishnu as supreme god,Madhura Sutta, 118.Magadha, 128 , 130, 141 , 142.Mahābhashya, 151 .Mahadeva, or Siva, 230.Mahārājas, sect of, 349.Mahārāshtrakas, 308.Mahātmas, 171.Mahavira Charitra of Bhavabhūti, 288,292.Mahavira, the Jaina preacher, 128, 130.Mahāyāna school, 249.Maitreyi, the wife of Yajnavalkya, 106.Malabari, Behramji, his works, 441 .Malati Madhava of Bhavabhūti, 288-92.Mālavikāgnimitra, 248.Manas, 193.Mandara mountain, 222, 339.Mānava Dharma Śāstra, 183.Manavas andthe Black Yajur Veda, 152.the school of the, 183.Mānikka Vāśagar, 320, 322, et seq.Man- Lion incarnation of Vishnu, 340.Män Singh, 365.Magadha, the offspring of a Sūdra and Manu and the Flood, 83.Vaisya, 155.Magadhas, 69, 95, 130, 145 .Magadhi Prakrit, 263.Magas of Cyrene, 244.Mahabharata, 210, et seq.; 305.its Brahmanic purpose, 211.Dahlmann's theories, 213.didactic element of, 214.229.217.229.shows the rise of Hinduism, 215 ,the motive of, 215.as strife between right and wrong,fading away of the Epic, 219.polyandry in, 221.231.Vedic gods change their attributes,sees rise of the triple deity, 229.Śiva in, 229-30.Krishna in, 231.supposed Christian doctrines in,repeopled the world, 84.the law book of, 152, 154, 183.Marathas, 375.Mardonius, 170.Marriage among Aryans, 14; forbiddenbetween Aryans and Sūdras, 154;restrictions, 164, et seq.; by saie, 185;rules concerning, 185-86; Act of,1872, 407.Marshman, 389.Maruts, 50, 53, 75.their attributes, 54.Māyā, 345, 376; in the Vedanta, 199,et seq.Mayadevi, the mother of Buddha, 119.Mayilapur, 315.Mecca, 332.Medhātithi, 167, 338.Megasthenes, 175 , 177-82.divides the people of India, 179-80.Menon, O. Chandu, 434-39.Meru, Mount, 215.INDEX 465Mira Bai, 347-48, 352.Mitakshara, 339.Mitra, the Avestan Mithra, 51 .gives place to Savitar, 51.Mitra, Dinabandu, 415.Mlecchas, 78.Moksha, 129.Monism, 107, 115.Monotheism, conception of, in VedicHymns, 57.Mount Abu, 129.Mozoondar, Protab Chandar, 405.Mricchakatikā, 270-84.Mrinalini, 419.Mud Cart, 270-84.Mudra Rakshasa, 294.Muhammad, 332; of Ghazni, 333; ofGhor, 336.Muhammadans, 332.Mukharas, 257.Multan, Alexander wounded at, 173.Muttra sacked by Muhammad ofGhazni,334.Muntaj Mahal, 374.Mysticism taught in BhagavadGita, 236.NABHA DAS , 367.Nachiketas and Death, 109, et seq.Nadiyā, 335.Nāgā sect, 365.Nāgānanda, 293,Nāgas, 217.Nakula, brother of Bhima, 219.Naladiyar, 313-14, 316, 330.Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, 345, 374,et seq.Nārāyana, 206.Narbadā, 150.Nataka, 270, 285.Native Press, rise of, 391 , et seq.Nature worship, 40, 56.Navadvip school of logic, 338.Nepalese Terai, the land of the Sakyas,118.Nietsche, 189.Nil Darpan, 415, et seq.Nirgranthas, 129.Nirvana, 134, 138, 141 , 147 .Nishada womanburnt by Pandavas , 218.Niti Vinod, 441.Nyaya school of philosophy, 208.OCCUPATIONS in Vedic times, 27-28," Om," the mystic syllable, 61.the title of the Supreme Being inYoga Sutras, 195.PĀKA sacrifices, 162.Panchālas, 67.Pandae, 177.Pandavas, the five princes, 215, 217,et seq. , 226.111- leave Hastinapur, 217.escape from death by burning, 218,life in the forest, 220.at Draupadi's Svayamvāra, 221 .take Draupadi for their commonwife, 221.build Indra- prastha, 222.go into exile, 228.have Śiva for their aid, 229.perform horse sacrifice, 242.Pandiyan, or elder. See also Pandyan,304.Pandus, 310.Pandyas, 304, 305, et seq. , 313, 318, 324.Pānini, I5I , 208 , 307.Pānis, 53.Pantheism in Vedic Hymns, 56.Paramātman, 106.Parasu Rāma, 340.Pariah. See Parriyar, 304.Parjanya, 202.Parmenides, 327.Parriyar, 304.Pārsva, the founder of the Jains, 128.Parthalis, the capital of the King ofKalinga, 176,2 G466 INDEXRahu, 204.Pātaliputra, 143 , 175 , 176, 232, 248,251 , 294.Patanjali, 151 , 195.Patna, 119, 143.Penances for Brahman murder, 159.l'itakas collected , 145.Pitris, or Fathers, 37, 105.I had their home in the stars, 105.Plato, 327.Pliny, 177.Plutschau, 389.Poison Tree, by Chatterji, 424.Polygamy in Vedic Hymns, 30.Porus defeated by Alexander, 173.defeated Eudemos, 174.Prabhakara Vardhana, father of Harsha,257.death of, 258.Pradhana, 206.Prajapati, the first to sacrifice humanbeings, 74, 89.Prakriti, 191-93 , 206, 289.Prakrits , 263.Prasenajit, King of the Kośālas, 131,142.Pratāpacila, name of Prabhakara Vardhana, 257.Prayer (Brahman): its power over thegods in the Veda, 59.- evil effect if wrongly pronounced,59.Prem Sagar, 392.Prithivi Rājā, 335.Proclamation of the Queen, 186.Ptolemy II. of Egypt, 243.Pulikesin II. , 307.Purānas, 289.Puri attacked by Pulikeśin, 308.Purohita, 21-23, 91 , et seq. , 159.Purukutsa, 119.Purus, 67.Purusha, 24, 25, 289.Pushan, 74RADHA, 225, 339-44, 346-48.Raghunath, 338.Rahula, 121 , 142.Raiatwari tenure, 304.Rājā, or king, in Vedic times, 21.Rājagriha, 127 , 130, 131.Rajanya, or warriors created from armsofPurusha, 25.Rājasuya, coronation ceremony, 226.Rajendra läl Mitra, 446.Räjputs, 254.Rājya Śrī, sister of Harsha Vardhana,257-61.Rajyavardhana, elder brother of Harsha,257-60.Rakshasa, the demon enemy of thePandavas, 220; character in theMudra Rakshasa, 294.Rama, 213 , 214, 292, 305.Chandra, 340.Rāmadās, the Guru of Sivaji, 380.Rāmānand, 344, 345, 369.Rāmānandis, 345.Ram Mohun Roy: his essay on idolatry,392; work on the Vedanta, 394;founds the Atmiya Sabhā, 394; publishes Precepts of Jesus, 395; foundsBrahma Samaj, 397; death, 403.Rāmānuja, 206, 329, 344.Rāmavats, 345.Rāmāyana, 210, 292, 305.its Brahmanic purpose, 211.Rāmāyana ofTulsi Dās, 367.Ranjit Singh, 334.Rashtrakūtas, 309.Rāvana, 214, 292, 305.Richardson, 394.Rig Veda, 3; Hymns referring to levirate marriage, 34; Hymns referring tofuneral ceremonies, 35.Rishis, 217.Ritual, meaning of obscured, 82.Rohita, son of Harischandra, 88.Rudra, 50.INDEX 467ŚABDĀBALĪ, 345.Sacrifice, tribal, 41 .human, 42.animal, 43.declared in Brahmanas to be man,and again speech, 82; animal substituted for human, 85; of Sunahsepa,88; as a means of salvation, 124.Sacrificer, must be twice- born, 80.the food of, 81.disquisitions on the intentions, 82.Sacrifices, 70; funeral, 71; counterpart ofdivine sacrifice, 74; Agnihotra,113; for householder, 162; horsesacrifice, 242.Sacrificial observances in the Veda, 41,et seq.; ceremonial, 71; pillar, 72;stake, 72; participation of women,84; subordinated to knowledge oftheSelf, 102.Sadānīra, 94.Sādhārana Samāj, 407.Saguna, 439.Sahadeva, brother of Bhima, 219.St Thomas, 315.Šaiva Bible, 323.Saktas, 289.Śakti, 289, 349.Śakuni, 226.Sakuntalā, 285, et seq.Sakyas, 113 , 116, et seq. , 127, 142.Samachar Darpan, 390.Samarkhand, 171; mosque, 337.Sāma Veda, 68, 152.Sambad Prabhakar, 393.Sambandha.Śambara, 65.See Tiru Nana, 323-30.Sambūka, the story of, 293.Samudra Gupta, 251.his conquests, 251 .Sanchi, the mound at, 127, 147.Śandilya, III, 344.Sangan, or College of Madura, 318.Sankara Āchārya, 113, 196-205, 325, etseq, 344.life of, 326.the Bhaja Govinda, 327.Advaita doctrine, 329.Sankhya philosophy, 190-206.Śānkhyan solution, 193-94.Sanskrit as primitive language, 6.later theories, 8-9.Śaramā, 53.Sarasvati, 17, 66, 70, 74, 216.Saraswati, Dayananda, 410.Sarmanes, an Order of Brahman mentioned by Megasthenes, 180.Satapanni Cave, 144.Śatapatha Brahmana, 80, 83, 86, 89,105.Sati, 357.Satsaiya of Bihārī, 366.Satthianadhan, Mrs, novels of, 439.Sauraseni Prakrit, 263.Savitar, the Quickener, 49.Savitri, 75.verse to, used at initiation, 161 .Sayyid dynasty, 338, 345.Schopenhauer, 232; and the Vedanta,201.Schwartz founds Tinnevelly Mission,389.Scythians, 248-50.Self, the knowledge of, as means ofsalvation, 102, 123.103.in relationship to the Brahman,as the Sun, 105.of man, or Atman, 105.ofthe Universe, 106, et seq. , 114.Seleukos Nikator, 174, 176.makes alliance with ChandraGupta, 175.Semiramis, 169.Sen, Keshab Chandar, 405, 407, et seq.Serampur, Danish Settlement at, 390.Sesha, the serpent, 339.463 INDEXSesostris, 169.Shah Alam, 383.Shah Jahan, 361 , 363, 374.Ships in Vedic Hymns, 29.Sib, or Aryan clan , 13 , 21 .Siddartha, 113 , 119, 121.the father of Parsva, 128.Siddhas, 217.Sikhs, 345, 374-80.Siladitya II . , or Harsha Vardhana,250; author of Nāgānanda, 293 .Sindhu, Hymn to the river, 19.compared to Agni, 46.Sisupala, King of the Chedi, 226.Sită, Hymn addressed to , 28; wife ofRama, 214, 292, 305.Siva, 50, 182, 194, 229, 309, 311 , 319,326, 330.Sivaji, 334, 375, 379, 380.Skanda, 310.Skandas, 137.Skylax of Karyanda, 169.Smärta Brähmans, 326.Smriti, 202.Soma, 31 , 38, 55 , 68, 74; sacrifices,162.Sommath, 334.Son, the river, 130.Sophytes made alliance with Alexander,173.Soul, 193.Soul ofthe Universe, 209.Speech personified in Vác, 60.Spells used in Atharva- veda, 34.Śrauta sacrifices, 70.Śrāvakas, lay members of the Jains, 129.Srävasti, capital of the Kośālas intime of Buddha, 131 , 142 , 144.Sringiri monastery, 325.Strabo, 171.Studentship, duration of, 161.Subtle body, 193.Sudās, 26, 65 , 67.Suddhodhana, the father of Buddha,119, 142.Südra, duties of, 293.Sūdraka, author of Mricchakatikā, 271 .Sūdras, 3 , 25, 153-55, 186.Sukh Nidhan, 345.Sun, the, as holder of the life- breath ofmortals, 105.as the Self, or Atman, 105.Sunahsepa, story of, 43, 87.Supreme Being, introduced in YogaSūtras, 195.Surashtra, or Guzarat, 250.Sür Das, 210, 365.Sür Sagar, 365.Surya, the Sun- god, 49.Susa, 172.Sushina, the Drought, slain by Indra, 53.Sutradhara, 271.Sūtras, Vedic rules reduced to, 151 .Svayamvāra, 182, 221 , 224.Svetadwipa, 231 .Svetaketu, 109.Svetambara, sect ofJains, 129.Syaparna Sayakayana, the last to sacrifice human beings, 89.TAGORE, Dvāraka Nath, 394.Debendra Nath, 403, 405. [406.founds Adi Brahma Samāj,Taittiriya Brahmana on the home ofthedead, 105.Taj Mahal, 127.Talikota, battle of, 309, 360.Talvandi, birthplace of Nanak, 375 .Tamerlane, 337, 344.Tamil poetry, 310-31 .Tangabhadra, 360.Tanjore, later capital of Cholas, 305.Tantras, 289.Tantric rites, 289-91.Tapti, 150.Tarikh-i-Badaunî, 357.Tattva-bodhini-patrikā, 403, 412.INDEX 469Taxilas, 172.Teg Bahadur, ninth Sikh Guru, 378.Telang, K. T. , 443-46.Thales, 122.Thaneswar, 250, 257, 333.Tibeto-Burman languages, 301.Timur, 337.Tiru Nana Sambandha, 323.life of, 324.Devaran Hymns of, 330.Tiruvalluvar, 315, 330.Tiru Vāśakam, 319-32.Todar Mal, 364.Tortoise incarnation of Vishnu, 339.Totemism, 76, 164.Transmigration, 126, 135, 193, 206,313, 330.Tripitaka, 232.Trisala, mother of the Jain Mahāvira,130.Trita, 50.Tritsus, 26, 28, 67.Tugra, 29.Tughlak dynasty, 337.Tukā Rāma, 380, et seq.Tulsi Das, 210, 213 , 365, 387.Turanian raids, 248.Tyre, 172.UDDALAKA, his discourse on the Self,109.Udgatar priests, 68, 90.Udraka, a Brahman teacher of Buddha,131-32.Umā, 229.Universities founded, 401.Upanishads, 96, 99, 123, 202, 210.Ur, 169.Uraiyur, ancient capital of Cholas, 305.Uttara- Rama- Charitra of Bhavabhūti,288, 292.VAC, the goddess of speech, 60, 70, 74.Vác, Vedic Hymn to, 60.Vaidik sacrifices, 70.Vaikhānas, or hermit , 163.Vaisāli , 128, 130, 143.Buddhist Council at, 145.Vaiseshika school of philosophy, 208.Vaisyas, 25 , 186.Vala, 53.Vallabha Āchārya, 344, 348.Vallabhi line , 250.Valmiki, author of Rāmāyana, 213.Varanasi, 133.Vardhana, kings of Thaneswar andKanauj, 250.Varman dynasty, 250.Vārtikas of Panini, 307.Varuna, 51 , 75, 87.Vasantasena, heroine of Mricchakatikā,274, et seq.Vasishta, 26, 67, 88; the law book of152; penances for Brahman murder,159.Vayu, 89.Vedanta philosophy, 179 , 196-209, 233,323, 325, 327.Vedas , 210.Vehicle, the Little, 146.the Great, 146.Vedic Hymns, birthright of the Brahmans, 3; penalties on Sūdras forreciting, 3; Cate of composition ,16; outcome of Nature worship, 18;their poetic power, 19; the Sanhitamade, 20; to Sindhu , 19; of thepurohita, 21-23; one describes thepeople as divided into four classes,24; showing vengeance ofthe Brahmans on their enemies, 25; praisingliberality towards priests, 26-27;people in the early Hymns pastoral,27; one addressed to Sitā, 28; occupations in, 27-28; ships mentioned,29; social life not primitive, 29;physicians mentioned, 29; positionof woman, 30-32; at wedding ofSoma and Surya, 31; gambling in,32; love-charms, 33-34; referring to470 INDEXVedic Hymns (continued)—levirate marriage, 34; funeral ceremonies, 35; widow-burning, 35-36;idea of death, 36-39; sacrificial observance in, 42, et seq.; story ofSunahsepa, 43; substitution of animal for human sacrifice, 43; to Agni,46, et seq.; to Varuna, 51-52; Indra,53; considered as prayers, 59; toVac, 60; the Gayatri, 61 .Vempa metre, 317.Vernaculars, Aryan, 264.Videhas, 69, 94.Vidyasagar, Isvara Chandra, 411.Vijnanesvara, 339.Vikramaditya, 249.Vikramorvasi of Kālidāsa, 288.Village plays, 267-70.Vindhyas, a barrier to Aryan advance,151, 302.Vīra Śaivas, 311 .Vishnu, a solar deity, 50.sacrificial stake dedicated to, 72.the worship of, 194, 206, 309, 330.in Gita Govinda, 339.incarnations of, 339-40.Vispală, 30.Visvamitra, 26, 67, 88, 306.Visākadatta, author of Mudra Rāk- shasa, 294.Visesha, or eternal essence, 208.Viśve Devas, 74.Vithoba, the Maratha idol, 380.Von Hartmann, 232.Vrikodara, name of Bhima, 219.Vritra, the demon, 53.Vyasa, fabled author of Mahābhārata,213.WAJJIANS, 142, 145 .Ward, the Baptist missionary, 389.Weaving in Vedic times, 28.White Country, 231.Widow-burning in Veda, 35-36.Wife, position of, among Aryans , 15.Wilkins, translation of BhagavadGita, 5.translation of Hitopadesa, 5.Woman in Vedic Hymns, 30-32.84.142.participation in sacrificial ritual,to be avoided according to Buddha,142.admitted to the Buddhist Order,excluded from studying the lawbooks, 185.XENOPHANES, 232.Xerxes, 170.YADAVAS settled in Sind, 150.of Halibid, 309.Yajnavalkya, 86, 99.questioned by Gargi, 101 .his wife Maitreyi, 106.Yajur Veda, Black, 68, 152, 183.White, 69.Yakshas, 217, 229.Yama, 36, 105.and Nachiketas, 109.Yamuna, 66.Yasoda, foster-mother of Krishna, 225.Yasodhara, the wife of Buddha, 121 .Yasodhara admitted to the Order, 142.Yasodharman, 250.Yasovati, wife of Prabhakara Vardhana,257.Yatis, Jaina ascetics, 129.Yoga, the Sūtras, 195; the system, 216.Yogis, 195.Yuddhisthira, 217, et seq. , 221 , 224, 226,234.Yueh-Chi, 249.ZIEGENBALG, 389.Zoroaster, 122.SILENT GODS AND SUN-STEEPED LANDS.With a Photogravure Frontispiece and four other full-pageIllustrations by A. D. McCORMICK.Elegantly bound in cloth, price 3s. 6d. Second Edition.By R. W. FRAZER, LL.B., I.C.S.(RETIRED. )SOME PRESS OPINIONS.' Only now, after nearly three hundred years, has a book at last appeared written by aman who has lived with the people of India, has learnt to understand them, and has become steeped in their manner ofthought and their way of expression. These stories by Mr R. W. Frazer are a landmark in the history of our literature, for they are the first imaginative treat- ment by a scholar and a poet of the vast mass of information which has slowly been accumu- lating about the people and their lives. These poems-for poems they are, though written in no verse rhythm- could only have been conceived by a man with learning so deep that he could conceal it, and give full play to the creative impulse without fear of departing from truth on the one hand, or of being cramped by a painful pedantry on the other.Thosewholove poetry will care for it; those whose ears are attuned to a slow, chant- like rhythm,with antiphonic clauses full of colour and a stately music, will not find the formality of its style anything but suggestive of the Oriental imagery with which it teems. "-Speaker."A series of stories not only terribly weird and fascinating, not only set in a glamour of Eastern light and shade, depicted in poetic language, but containing a distinct underlying current of thought respecting many pressing questions-religious, social , and political-in India of to-day. "-Indian Magazine." Such a book could only have been written by a man who is steeped-to borrow a word from his title to the finger ends in Indian lore and Indian superstition. "-Mr COULSON KERNAHAN, in the Literary World."These weird, dramatic, half- savage, wholly mystical idylls which Mr Frazer has woven in this remarkable book. " -Vanity Fair."The sketches bear, in short, the stamp of universal truth, and are the work ofan artist in letters who is at the same time a scholar and a philosopher. "-Home News."There is a weird horror about some of his tales. "—Westminster Gazette."The Author has succeeded in permeating every page with the spirit of India with a spirit and a force which can spring only out of an intimate and scholarly knowledge of history and ofmodern conditions in the East. "-Academy."The volume is almost oppressively sombre , but its combination of intimate knowledge with a certain intensity of imagination makes it deeply interesting. " -Daily Chronicle."It is a good long time since I have read a more fascinating book. .. MrFrazer's prose, simple and unelaborated as it is, has that quality of imaginative expressiveness which belongs only to the prose of a potential poet, and with it as a vehicle he can render the strange beauty, as well asthe haunting terror, of the twilight in which the old faiths of India are slowly falling on sleep. "-New Age."An example offar-reaching research into the inner and hidden life ofthe Indian peoples. "-Pall Mall Gazette."Told with such skill that one goes on reading story after story until the book is finished. "Queen."The glamour of the East is over the whole book. Everywhere the language has the languor and rhythm of slow-moving leaves and heaving waters. "-—SundayTimes."An impressive example is given of the operation of the social law that forbids the re- marriage of Hindu widows. Still more striking is the story of a human sacrifice performed by the Khonds. "-St James' Gazette."Mr Frazer is a polished writer, and possesses the art of story-telling in a high degree. "—Christian World.LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, Paternoster Square, E.C.BRITISH INDIA."STORY OF the natioNS " SERIES.By R. W. FRAZER, LL.B., I.C.S. ` ·(RETIRED. )Lecturerin Telugu and Tamilat University College and at the Imperial Institute; Awards from Government of Madras for High Proficiency in Sanskrit, Uriya, and Telugu;Secretary and Principal Librarian, London Institution.Author of " SILENT GODS AND SUN- STEEPED Lands. "SOME PRESS OPINIONS."In this task Mr Frazer has succeeded in a remarkable degree. For the plan ofthe book does not confine itselfto a succinct statement of facts. It aspires to be something more than an accurate catalogue of battles, kings, and dates. Mr Frazer may fairly claim that he has raised the student's manual into a story of human interest for grown- up men and women.Mr Frazer selects his point of view with a real insight into the essentials of history, and what he chooses to tell us he tells with accuracy, with fairness of spirit, and in good English. "-Times."The results of a close study of the most helpful documents.thoroughness ofhis reading may be seen in every page. ” —Athenæum,The extent and"It is a wonderful story, and it is written fittingly, in a spirit of grave historical accuracy,with balanced judgment, and with a strong faith. One rises from the book with an added sense of dignity, with an added sense of responsibility, with a quickened consciousness,too, ofthe terrible possibilities which surround the situation . "-Academy." Il nous manquait, à l'usage du grand public, un résumé bien fait, reposant sur de solides recherches personnelles. M. Frazer-vient de nous le donner-tout son récit, clair, substantiel et forcièrement impartial, montre qu'il a fait de ces sources l'usage le plus consciencieux. " —M. BARTH, Journal des Savants." Bright and lively enough not to repel even the most superficial of general readers, and sufficiently full and accurate to supply the student with a handy compendium for ordinary reference. " Journal ofthe Royal Asiatic Society." His book is of absorbing interest, and comes very near to being a perfect short history,Mr Frazer has given us the best popular history of British India ever written. "-Saturday Review." British India ' needs no extraneous aid to become the popular standard work on the subject. "-New Saturday."To fully appreciate what we have accomplished in India, in spite of almost overwhelming difficulties, and what difficulties have still to be overcome, you cannot do better than read this admirable history of British India by Mr Frazer. "-Pall Mall Gazette." British India, ' by the author of ' Silent Gods and Sun- Steeped Lands ' is, as might be expected from the pen of so gifted a writer on Indian subjects, a brilliant sketch, and reads with all the ease of a novel . ”—Dundee Advertiser."In tracing the history of India through the administration of these rulers the author has shown remarkable skill, and that not merely in the ordering of his facts, but in his estimate ofpolicy, and his appreciation of character as well. ”—Glasgow Herald.46 He has an eye for the suggestive points. He can indicate a character without any laborious word- painting. It is one of the best volumes yet published in the 'Story ofthe Nations ' Series, "-Daily News."The old, romantic, fascinating story of our early commerce with the East is told once again in this bright little history . "-Daily Mail.Any one who has read Mr Frazer's ' Silent Gods and Sun- Steeped Lands ' must respect the author's power of literary expression. Here he proves that he has, in a high degree, the gifts ofwide comprehension and condensation. " —Sheffield Independent."A volume which, while modest in proportion, indicates at once, clearly and vividly, the agencies and influences that have been at work in founding and expanding the British Empire in India. " -Scotsman.LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, Paternoster Square, E.C.

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The LibraryofLiterary HistoryThe Library of Literary HistoryA LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA.FRAZER, LL.B.Other Volumes in Preparation.By R. W.A LITERARY HISTORY OF FRANCE. Volume I.From the Origin to 1550. By MARCEL SCHWOB.A LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND. BY DOUGLASHYDE.A LITERARY HISTORY OF THE JEWS.ISRAEL ABRAHAMS.ByA LITERARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.By BARRETT Wendell.ETC. ETC. ETC.In Demy 8vo, Cloth, price 165.