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diff --git a/40960-0.txt b/40960-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78a3226 --- /dev/null +++ b/40960-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16501 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40960 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://archive.org/details/historyofantiqui04dunciala + + +Transcriber's note: + + 1. Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + 2. A carat character is used to denote superscription. A + single character following the carat is superscripted + (example: 1^2). + + 3. Mixed fractions in this text version are indicated with + a hyphen and forward slash. For example, four and a half + is represented by 4-1/2. + + 4. The original text includes Greek characters. For this + text version these letters have been replaced with + transliterations. + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF ANTIQUITY. + +From the German of + +PROFESSOR MAX DUNCKER, + +by + +Evelyn Abbott, M.A., LL.D., +Fellow And Tutor Of Balliol College, Oxford. + +VOL. IV. + + + + + + + +London: +Richard Bentley & Son, New Burlington Street, +Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. +1880. + +Bungay: +Clay and Taylor, Printers. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +BOOK V. + +_THE ARIANS ON THE INDUS AND THE GANGES._ + + CHAPTER I. PAGE + THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 1 + + CHAPTER II. + THE ARYAS ON THE INDUS 27 + + CHAPTER III. + THE CONQUEST OF THE LAND OF THE GANGES 65 + + CHAPTER IV. + THE FORMATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE ORDERS 110 + + CHAPTER V. + THE OLD AND THE NEW RELIGION 154 + + CHAPTER VI. + THE CONSTITUTION AND LAW OF THE INDIANS 188 + + CHAPTER VII. + THE CASTES AND THE FAMILY 236 + + CHAPTER VIII. + THE THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE BRAHMANS 270 + + +BOOK VI. + +_BUDDHISTS AND BRAHMANS._ + + CHAPTER I. + THE STATES ON THE GANGES IN THE SIXTH CENTURY B.C. 315 + + CHAPTER II. + BUDDHA'S LIFE AND TEACHING 332 + + CHAPTER III. + THE KINGDOM OF MAGADHA AND THE SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 365 + + CHAPTER IV. + THE NATIONS AND PRINCES OF THE LAND OF THE INDUS 383 + + CHAPTER V. + THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE INDIANS IN THE FOURTH + CENTURY B.C. 408 + + CHAPTER VI. + CHANDRAGUPTA OF MAGADHA 439 + + CHAPTER VII. + THE RELIGION OF THE BUDDHISTS 454 + + CHAPTER VIII. + THE REFORMS OF THE BRAHMANS 491 + + CHAPTER IX. + AÇOKA OF MAGADHA 521 + + CHAPTER X. + RETROSPECT 544 + + + + +BOOK V. + +THE ARIANS ON THE INDUS AND THE GANGES. + + + + +INDIA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE. + + +It was not only in the lower valley of the Nile, on the banks of the +Euphrates and the Tigris, and along the coast and on the heights of +Syria that independent forms of intellectual and civic life grew up in +antiquity. By the side of the early civilisation of Egypt, and the +hardly later civilisation of that unknown people from which Elam, +Babylon, and Asshur borrowed such important factors in the development +of their own capacities; along with the civilisation of the Semites of +the East and West, who here observed the heavens, there busily explored +the shores of the sea; here erected massive buildings, and there were so +earnestly occupied with the study of their own inward nature, are found +forms of culture later in their origin, and represented by a different +family of nations. This family, the Indo-European, extends over a far +larger area than the Semitic. We find branches of it in the wide +districts to the east of the Semitic nations, on the table-land of Iran, +in the valleys of the Indus and the Ganges. Other branches we have +already encountered on the heights of Armenia, and the table-land of +Asia Minor (I. 512, 524). Others again obtained possession of the +plains above the Black Sea; others, of the peninsulas of Greece and +Italy. Nations of this stock have forced their way to the shores of the +Atlantic Ocean; we find them settled on the western coast of the Spanish +peninsula, from the mouth of the Garonne to the Channel, in Britain and +Ireland no less than in Scandinavia, on the shores of the North Sea and +the Baltic. Those branches of the family which took up their abodes the +farthest to the East exhibit the most independent and peculiar form of +civilisation. + +The mutual relationship of the Arian, Greek, Italian, Letto-Sclavonian, +Germanic, and Celtic languages proves the relationship of the nations +who have spoken and still speak them; it proves that all these nations +have a common origin and descent. The words, of which the roots in these +languages exhibit complete phonetic agreement, must be considered as a +common possession, acquired before the separation; and from this we can +discover at what stage of life the nation from which these languages +derive their origin stood at the time when it was not yet divided into +these six great branches, and separated into the nations which +subsequently occupied abodes so extensive and remote from each other. We +find common terms for members of the family, for house, yard, garden, +and citadel; common words for horses, cattle, dogs, swine, sheep, goats, +mice, geese, ducks; common roots for wool, hemp or flax, corn (_i.e._ +wheat, spelt, or barley), for ploughing, grinding, and weaving, for +certain metals (copper or iron), for some weapons and tools, for waggon, +boat and rudder, for the elementary numbers, and the division of the +year according to the moon.[1] Hence the stock, whose branches and +shoots have spread over the whole continent of Europe and Asia from +Ceylon to Britain and Scandinavia, cannot, even before the separation, +have been without a certain degree of civilisation. On the contrary, +this common fund of words proves that even in that early time it tilled +the field, and reared cattle; that it could build waggons and boats, and +forge weapons, and if the general name for the gods and some names of +special deities are the same in widely remote branches of this +stock,--in India, Iran, Greece, and Italy, and even on the plains of +Lithuania,--it follows that the notions which lie at the base of these +names must also be counted among the common possessions existing before +the separation. + +We can hardly venture a conjecture as to the region in which the fathers +of the Indo-European nations attained to this degree of cultivation. It +must have been of such a nature as to admit of agriculture beside the +breeding of cattle. The varieties of produce mentioned and the domestic +animals point to a northern district, which, however, cannot have +reached down to the ocean, inasmuch as no common roots are in existence +to denote the sea. This proof is strengthened by the fact that in all +the branches the wolf and bear alone among beasts of prey are designated +by common roots. If we combine these considerations with the equal +extension of the tribes of this nation towards east and west, we may +assume that an elevated district in the middle of the eastern continent +was the abode of the nation while yet undivided. + +The branches which occupied the table-land of Iran and the valley of the +Indus were the first to rise from the basis acquired in common to a +higher civilisation; and even they did not attain to this till long +after the time when Egypt, under the ancient kingdom of Memphis, found +herself in the possession of a many-sided culture, after Babylon had +become the centre of a different conception of life and development. The +western branches of the Indo-Europeans remained at various stages behind +their eastern fellow-tribesmen in regard to the epochs of their higher +culture. If the Greeks, who were brought into frequent contact with the +civilisation of the Semites, came next in point of time after the +eastern tribes, and the Italians next to the Greeks, it was only through +conflict and contact with the culture of Greece and Rome that the +western branches reached a higher stage, while the dwellers on the +plains of the Baltic owe their cultivation to the influences of Germanic +life. Finally, when the West European branches, the Indo-Germans, had +developed independently their capacities and their nature, when in +different phases they had received and assimilated what had been left +behind by their Greek and Roman kinsmen, and formed it into the +civilisation of the modern world, their distant navigation came into +contact with the ancient civilisation, to which their fellow-tribesmen +in the distant East had finally attained some 2000 years previously. +With wonder and astonishment the long-separated, long-estranged +relatives looked each other in the face. But even now the ancient, +deeply-rooted, and variously-developed civilisation of the eastern +branch maintains its place with tough endurance beside the mobile, +comprehensive, and restlessly-advancing civilisation of the west. + +On the southern edge of the great table-land which forms the nucleus of +the districts of Asia, the range of the Himalayas rises in parallel +lines. The range runs from north-west to south-east, with a breadth of +from 200 to 250 miles, and a length of about 1750 miles. It presents the +highest elevations on the surface of the earth. Covered with boundless +fields of snow and extensive glaciers, the sharp edges and points of the +highest ridge rise gleaming into the tropic sky; no sound breaks the +deep silence of this solemn Alpine wild. To the south of these mighty +white towers, in the second range, is a multitude of summits, separated +by rugged ravines. Here also is neither moss nor herb, for this range +also rises above the limits of vegetation. Much lower down, a third +range, of which the average elevation rises to more than 12,000 feet, +displays up to the summits forests of a European kind; in the cool, +fresh air the ridges are clothed with birches, pines, and oaks. Beneath +this girdle of northern growths, on the heights which gradually sink +down from an elevation of 5000 feet, are thick forests of Indian +fig-trees of gigantic size. Under the forest there commences in the west +a hilly region, in the east a marshy district broken by lakes which the +mountain waters leave behind in the depression, and covered with +impenetrable thickets, tall jungles, and rank grass--a district +oppressive and unhealthy, inhabited by herds of elephants, crocodiles, +and large snakes. + +The mighty wall of the Himalayas decides the nature and life of the +extensive land which lies before it to the south in the same way as the +peninsula of Italy lies before the European Alps. It protects hill and +plain from the raw winds which blow from the north over the table-land +of Central Asia; it checks the rain-clouds, the collected moisture of +the ocean brought up by the trade winds from the South Sea. These clouds +are compelled to pour their water into the plains at the foot of the +Himalayas, and change the glow of the sun into coolness, the parched +vegetation into fresh green. Owing to their extraordinary elevation, the +mountain masses of the Himalayas, in spite of their southern situation, +preserve such enormous fields of ice and snow that they are able to +discharge into the plains the mightiest rivers in the world. From the +central block flow the Indus, the Ganges, and the Brahmaputra, _i.e._ +the son of Brahma. + +Springing from fields of snow, which surround Alpine lakes, the Indus +descends from an elevated mountain plain to the south of the highest +ridge. At first the river flows in a westerly direction through a cleft +between parallel rows of mountains. In spite of the long and severe +winter of this region, mountain sheep and goats flourish here, and the +sandy soil contains gold-dust. To the south of the course of the river +we find depressions in the mountains, where the climate is happily +tempered by the nature of the sky and the elevation of the soil. The +largest of these is the valley of Cashmere, surrounded by an oval of +snowy mountains. To the west of Cashmere the Indus turns its course +suddenly to the south; it breaks through the mountain ranges which bar +its way, and from this point to the mouth accompanies the eastern slope +of the table-land of Iran. As soon as the Himalayas are left behind, a +hilly land commences on the left bank, of moderate warmth and fruitful +vegetation, spreading out far to the east between the tributaries of the +stream. The river now receives the Panjab, and the valley is narrowed in +the west by the closer approach of the mountains of Iran; in the east by +a wide, waterless steppe, descending from the spurs of the Himalayas to +the sea, which affords nothing beyond a scanty maintenance for herds of +buffaloes, asses, and camels. The heat becomes greater as the land +becomes flatter, and the river more southerly in its course; in the dry +months the earth cracks and vegetation is at a standstill. Any overflow +from the river, which might give it new vigour, on the melting of the +snow in the upper mountains, is prevented for long distances by the +elevation of the banks. The Delta formed by the Indus at its mouth, +after a course of 1500 miles, contains only a few islands of good marsh +soil. The sea comes up over the flat shore for a long distance, and +higher up the arms of the river a thick growth of reeds and rushes +hinders cultivation, while the want of fresh water makes a numerous +population impossible. + +Not far from the sources of the Indus, at the very nucleus of the +highest summits of the Himalayas, rise the Yamuna (Jumna) and the +Ganges. The Ganges flows out of fields of snow beneath unsurmountable +summits of more than 20,000 feet in height, and breaking through the +mountains to the south reaches the plains; here the course of the river +is turned to the east by the broad and thickly-wooded girdle of the +Vindhyas, the mountain range which rises to the south of the plains. +Enlarged by a number of tributaries from north and south, it pours from +year to year copious inundations over the low banks, and thus creates +for the plains through which it flows a fruitful soil where tropic +vegetation can flourish in the most luxuriant wildness. This is the land +of rice, of cotton, of sugar-canes, of the blue lotus, the edible +banana, the gigantic fig-tree. On the lower course of the river, where +it approaches the Brahmaputra, which also at first flows between the +parallel ranges of the Himalayas towards the east, in the same way as +the Indus flows to the west, there commences a hot, moist, and luxuriant +plain (Bengal) of enervating climate, covered with coco and arica palms, +with the tendrils of the betel, and the stalks of the cinnamon, with +endless creepers overgrowing the trunks of the trees, and ascending even +to their topmost branches. Here the river is so broad that the eye can +no longer reach from one bank to the other. In the region at the mouth, +where the Ganges unites with the Brahmaputra, and then splits into many +arms, the numerous waters create hot marshes; and here the vegetation is +so abundant, the jungles of bamboo so thick and impenetrable, that they +are abandoned to the rhinoceros, the elephant, and the tiger, whose +proper home is in these wooded morasses. + +Into this wide region, which in length, from north to south, exceeds the +distance from Cape Skagen to Cape Spartivento, and in breadth, from east +to west, is about equal to the distance from Bayonne to Odessa, came a +branch of the family, whose common origin has been noticed, and their +civilisation previous to the separation of the members sketched. The +members of this branch called themselves Arya, _i.e._ the noble, or the +ruling. In the oldest existing monuments of their language and poetry +these Aryas are found invoking their gods to grant them room against the +Dasyus,[2] to make a distinction between Arya and Dasyu, to place the +Dasyus on the left hand, to turn away the arms of the Dasyus from the +Aryas, to make the hostile nations of the Dasyus bow down before the +Aryas, to increase the might and glory of the Aryas, to subjugate the +"Black-skins" to them.[3] In the epic poetry of the Indians we find +mention of black inhabitants of Himavat (_i.e._ inhabitants of the snowy +mountains, the Himalayas), and of "black Çudra" beyond the delta of the +Indus. By the same name, Çudra, the Aryas designated the population +which became subject to them in the valley of the Ganges; and when they +advanced from the valleys of the Indus and the Ganges towards the south, +to the coasts of the Deccan, they found there also populations of a +similar kind. Even at the present day the inhabitants of India fall into +two great masses, essentially distinguished from each other by the +formation of their bodies and their language. In the broad and +inaccessible belt of the Vindhya mountains, which separates the +peninsula of the Deccan from the plains of the two rivers, are situated +the tribes of the Gondas, men of a deep-black colour, with thick, long, +and black hair, barbarous manners, and a peculiar language. Closely +allied to these nations are the slim and black Bhillas, of small +stature, who inhabit the western slopes of the Vindhyas to the sea; and +the Kolas, who dwell in the mountainous district of Surashtra (Guzerat), +and to this day form two-thirds of the inhabitants of this district.[4] +On the eastern declivities and spurs of the Vindhyas we find in the +south the Kandas, in the north the Paharias, nations also of a dark +colour and thick long hair. Distinct from these rude savages, less dark +in colour, and exhibiting other modes of life, are the tribes which +possess the coasts of the Deccan, the Carnatas, Tuluwas, and Malabars on +the west, the Tamilas and Telingas on the east. Opposed to all these +tribes are the Aryas, with their light colour and decisively Caucasian +stamp. These once spoke Sanskrit, and are still acquainted with the +language, and to them is due the development of civilisation in these +wide districts. + +This juxtaposition of two populations, of which one is in possession of +the best districts in the country, while of the other only fragments +are in existence (combined masses are not found except in the most +inaccessible regions),--the indications supplied by these invocations, +according to which the light-coloured population on the Indus was in +conflict with the "Black-skins,"--the fact that the light-coloured +population, both on the Ganges and the coasts of the Deccan, has always +taken up an exclusive and contemptuous position towards the darker +tribes existing there, justify the conclusion that the whole region from +the Indus to the mouths of the Ganges, from the Himalayas to Cape +Comorin, once belonged to the dark population, and that the Aryas are +immigrants. These immigrants partly drove back the ancient population, +and confined it in hardly accessible mountains or morasses, partly +forced it to submit to their rule and accept their civilisation, partly +allowed it to live among them, as now, in a despicable and subordinate +position. In historical times we can trace this process, by which the +old population was driven back or civilised, on the coasts of the Deccan +and in Ceylon. From the position of the remnant of this population on +the Ganges, and these invocations of the Aryas, which spring from a time +when they were not yet established in the land of the Ganges, we may +conclude that a similar process went on in a severer form on the Indus. +Following the example of the Indians, modern science collects the +languages of these inhabitants of India, who are found under and among +the Aryas, so far as they at present exist, under the names of the +Nishada and Dravida languages.[5] The language of the Brahuis to the +west of the Indus,--they were settled there, or at least retired from +thence, at the time of the immigration of the Aryas,--the Canaresian, +the Malayalam, the language of the Tamilas, of the Telingas, the Badaga +of the inhabitants of the Nilgiri, on the southern apex of the Deccan, +are closely related, but to which of the great stems of language they +are to be apportioned is not determined.[6] + +The immigration of the Aryas into India took place from the west. They +stand in the closest relation to the inhabitants of the table-land of +Iran, especially the inhabitants of the eastern half. These also call +themselves Aryas, though among them the word becomes Airya, or Ariya, +and among the Greeks Arioi. The language of the Aryas is in the closest +connection with that of the Avesta, the religious books of Iran, and in +very close connection with the language of the monuments of Darius and +Xerxes, in the western half of that region. The religious conceptions of +the Iranians and Indians exhibit striking traits of a homogeneous +character. A considerable number of the names of gods, of myths, +sacrifices, and customs, occurs in both nations, though the meaning is +not always the same, and is sometimes diametrically opposed. Moreover, +the Aryas in India are at first confined to the borders of Iran, the +region of the Indus, and the Panjab. Here, in the west, the Aryas had +their most extensive settlements, and their oldest monuments frequently +mention the Indus, but not the Ganges.[7] Even the name by which the +Aryas denote the land to the south of the Vindhyas, Dakshinapatha +(Deccan), _i.e._ path to the right[8], confirms the fact already +established, that the Aryas came from the west. + +From this it is beyond a doubt that the Aryas, descending from the +heights of Iran, first occupied the valley of the Indus and the five +tributary streams, which combine and flow into the river from the +north-east, and they spread as far as they found pastures and arable +land, _i.e._ as far eastward as the desert which separates the valley of +the Indus from the Ganges. The river which irrigated their land, watered +their pastures, and shaped the course of their lives they called Sindhu +(in Pliny, Sindus), _i.e._ the river[9]. It is, no doubt, the region of +the Indus, with the Panjab, which is meant in the Avesta by the land +_hapta hindu_ (_hendu_), i.e. the seven streams. The inscriptions of +Darius call the dwellers on the Indus Idhus. These names the Greeks +render by Indos and Indoi. + +Can we fix the time at which the Aryas immigrated into India and +occupied the valley of the Indus? As we proceed it will become clear +that it was not till a late period that the nation began to record the +names of the kings of their states, that they never wrote down in a +satisfactory matter their legends and the facts of their history, and +that we cannot find among them any trustworthy chronology. Even with the +assistance of the statements of western writers, we can only go back +with any certainty to the year 800 B.C. for the dynasties of the kingdom +of Magadha, the most important kingdom in ancient times on the Ganges. +But if at this period the Aryas held sway not on the upper Ganges only, +but also on the lower, they must have been already settled on the Indus +for centuries. If the narratives already given of the foundation of the +Assyrian kingdom and the war of Semiramis on the Indus (II. 9 ff) were +historical, the Aryas must have been settled in that country even at +this date, _i.e._ about 1500 B.C. They must have lived there under a +monarchy which could place great forces in the field, and they must have +been already acquainted with the use of elephants in war. Stabrobates, +the name of the king of the Indians who met Semiramis and repulsed her, +would become Çtaorapati, _i.e._ lord of oxen, in the language of the +Aryas. But after what has been previously said (II. 19 ff), we can only +allow this narrative to have a value for the conceptions existing in +Persian epic poetry about the foundation of the empire of Assyria, and +the campaigns of Assyrian rulers to the distant East. In their +statements about India we can only, at most, expect to find a repetition +of the information existing about that country in the western half of +Iran in the seventh or sixth century, and even this takes a form +corresponding to the views expressed in the poems. In the monuments of +the kings of Assyria we found the elephant and the rhinoceros among the +tribute offered to Shalmanesar II., who reigned from 859-823 B.C. (II. +320); the inscriptions of Bin-nirar III. (810-781 B.C.) pointed to +campaigns of this king extending as far as Bactria (II. 328); we were +able to follow the marches of Tiglath Pilesar II. (745-727 B.C.) in the +table-land of Iran as far as Arachosia (III. 4). Hence the Assyrian +tablets do not as yet supply any definite information about the land of +the Indus. Arrian has preserved a notice according to which the +Astacenes and Assacanes, Indian nations on the right bank of the Indus, +between the river and Cophen (Cabul), were once subject to the +Assyrians.[10] The Indian epics extol the horses of the Açvakas, who, in +them also, are an Indian nation, and we may venture to regard them as +the Assacenes of Arrian. Alexander of Macedon found them in that region; +they could place many warriors in the field against him on their high +mountain uplands. But the observation in Arrian, even if we attach +weight to it, does not carry us far in answering the question when the +Aryas came into the valley of the Indus, for it does not make it clear +at what period the Açvakas were subject to the Assyrians. More may be +gained, perhaps, from the Hebrew scriptures. We saw that about 1000 B.C. +Solomon of Israel and Hiram of Tyre caused ships to be built and +equipped at Elath, on the north-east point of the Arabian Gulf. These +ships were to visit the lands of the south, and we saw what wealth they +brought back from Ophir after an absence of three years (II. 188). They +are laden with gold, silver, precious stones, and sandal-wood in +abundance, the like of which was not seen afterwards; peacocks, apes, +and ivory.[11] Now ivory, sandal-wood, apes, and peacocks are the +products of India, and peacocks and sandal-wood belong to that land +exclusively. It is true that they might have been transported to the +south coast of Arabia or the Somali coast of East Africa by the trade of +the Arabians, or even of the Indians (I. 321); but the ships of Solomon +and Hiram would not need to be absent for three years in order to obtain +them there. For our question it is decisive that the names with which +the Hebrews denote apes, peacocks, and sandal-wood, _kophim_, _tukijim_, +_almugim_, are Sanskrit (_kapi_, _çikhi_, _valgu_), and from this it +follows that the Aryas must have been in possession, at any rate, of +the land of the Indus and the coast of that region as early as 1000 B.C. +The book of the law of the Aryas mentions a nation Abhira. According to +the Aryan epics this nation possessed cows, goats, sheep, and camels. +Ptolemy places a land Abiria at the mouth of the Indus, and to this day +a tribe of the name of Ahir possesses the coast of the peninsula of +Cashtha (Kattywar).[12] These Abhiras may therefore have been meant by +the Ophir of the Hebrews. It is true that the genealogical table in +Genesis puts Ophir among the tribes which are said to spring from +Joktan, but no doubt it includes under the name of Joktan all the +nations of the south-east known to the Hebrews. If the ships of Hiram +brought back gold in abundance from their voyages to the mouth of the +Indus, this can only have been conveyed to the lower Indus, where there +is no gold, from the upper Indus, which is rich in gold, and from other +upland valleys in the Himalayas, where the mountain streams carry down +this metal. Hence about the year 1000 B.C. there must have been a lively +trade between the upper and lower Indus. Further, if the Phenicians and +Hebrews purchased sandal-wood among the Abhiras, this can only have been +transported to the mouth of the Indus by sea, and the coast navigation, +which is rendered easy in the Indian Sea by the regular occurrence of +the monsoons, for sandal-wood nowhere flourishes except in the glowing +sun of the Malabar coast. Whatever may have been the case with this +trade, products of India, and among them such as do not belong to the +land of the Indus, were exported from the land about 1000 B.C., under +names given to them by the Aryas, and therefore the Aryas must have been +settled there for centuries previously. For this reason, and it is +confirmed by facts which will appear further on, we may assume that the +Aryas descended into the valley of the Indus about the year 2000 B.C., +_i.e._ about the time when the kingdom of Elam was predominant in the +valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, when Assyria still stood under the +dominion of Babylon, and the kingdom of Memphis was ruled by the Hyksos. + +We have no further accounts from the West about the Aryas till the year +500 B.C., and later. It is not improbable that the arms of Cyrus reached +the Indus. The Astacenes and Assacanes are said to have been subject to +the Medes after the Assyrians; then Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, imposed +tribute upon them.[13] As Cyrus subjugated Bactria, fought in Arachosia, +and marched through Gedrosia, we may assume that he compelled the +nations of the Aryas on the right bank of the Indus to pay tribute. It +was in conflict with the Derbiccians, to whom the Indians sent elephants +as auxiliaries, that Cyrus, according to the account of Ctesias, was +slain. Darius, as Herodotus tells us, sent messengers to explore the +land of the Indus. Setting out from Arachosia, they proceeded from +Caspapyrus (Kaçpapura), a city which, according to Hecatæus, belonged to +the Gandarii[14]--_i.e._ without doubt from Kabura (Cabul) down the +Indus to the sea. According to Herodotus' account the Gandarii, together +with the Arachoti and Sattagydæ, paid 170 talents of gold yearly; the +rest of the Indians paid a larger tribute than any other satrapy--360 +talents of gold.[15] The Indians who paid this tribute were, according +to Herodotus, the most northerly and the most warlike of this great +nation. They dwelt near the city of Caspapyrus, _i.e._ near Cabul; their +mode of life was like that of the Bactrians, and they obtained the gold +from a sandy desert, where ants, smaller than dogs, but larger than +foxes, dug up the gold-dust.[16] Darius tells us himself, in the +inscriptions of Persepolis, that the Gandarii and the Indians were +subject to him. Like Herodotus, these inscriptions comprise the tribes +of the Aryas on the right bank of the Indus as far down as Cabul under +the name of Indians, so that the Açvakas were included among them. The +Gandarii, as is shown by their vicinity to and connection with the +Arachoti, lay to the south of Cabul. In the epos of the Indians the +daughter of the king of the Gandharas is married to the king of the +Bharatas, who lie between the Yamuna and the Ganges, and the Buddhist +writings speak of the Brahmans of the Gandarii as the worst in +India.[17] In the campaign of Xerxes, Herodotus separates the Gandarii +from the rest of the Indians who are subject to the Persian kingdom. The +first, he says, were armed like the Bactrians; with the rest marched the +Ethiopians of the East, equipped almost like the Indians; but on their +heads they had the skins of horses' heads, with the ears and mane erect, +and their shields were made from the skins of cranes. These Ethiopians +of the East were not distinguished from the others in form and +character, but by their language and hair. The Libyan Ethiopians, _i.e._ +the negroes, had the curliest hair of all men; but the hair of the +Eastern branch was straight.[18] We have already observed that now, as +in the days of Xerxes, remains of the dark-coloured pre-Aryan population +of India are found on the right bank of the Indus (p. 10). + +Of the Indians "who never obeyed Darius,"[19] Herodotus tells us that +they lived the furthest to the east of all the nations about which +anything definite was known. Still further in that direction were sandy +deserts. The Indians were the largest of all nations, and the Indus was +the only river beside the Nile in which crocodiles are found (they are +alligators).[20] The remotest parts of the earth have always the best +products, and India, the remotest inhabited land to the east, was no +exception. The birds and the quadrupeds were far greater in size here +than elsewhere, with the exception of the horse; for the Nisæan horses +of the Medes were larger than the horses of the Indians. Moreover, India +possessed an extraordinary abundance of gold, of which some was dug up +from mines, and some brought down by the rivers, and some obtained from +the deserts. The wild trees also produced a wool which in beauty and +excellence surpassed the wool of sheep; this the Indians used for +clothing. There were many nations of the Indians, and they spoke +different languages. Some were stationary; some dwelt in the marshes of +the rivers, and lived on raw fish, which they caught in canoes made of +reeds, and every joint of the reed made a canoe. These Indians wore +garments of bark, which they wove like cloths, and then drew on like +coats of mail. Eastward of these dwelt the Padæans, a migratory tribe, +who ate raw flesh; and when any one, even the nearest relative, among +them was sick, they slew him, in order to eat the corpse. This custom +was also observed by the women. Even the few who attained to old age +they killed, in order to eat them. Other Indian nations lived only on +herbs, which they ate cooked, and troubled themselves neither about +their sick nor their dead, whom they carried out, like the sick, into +desert places. All the nations spoken of were black in colour.[21] + +These, the oldest accounts from the West on the ancient pre-Aryan +population of India, and on the black-skins of the Rigveda, we owe to +Herodotus. His statements about their physical formation are correct; +those on their savage life may be exaggerated; but even to this day a +part of these nations live in the marshes and mountains in a condition +hardly removed from that of animals. + +The contrast between the light-coloured and dark population of India, +between the Aryas and the ancient inhabitants, did not escape Ctesias. +India, he maintained, was as large as the rest of Asia, and the +inhabitants of India almost as numerous as all the other nations put +together. The Indians were both white and black. He had himself seen +white Indians, five men and two women. The sun in India appeared ten +times as large as in other lands, and the heat was suffocating. The +Indus was a great river flowing through mountains and plains; in the +narrowest places the water occupied a space of 40 stades, or five miles, +in the broadest it reached 100 stades.[22] The river watered the land. +In India it did not rain, and there were no storms there, though there +were violent whirlwinds which carried everything before them.[23] On the +Indus grew reeds small and great; the stoutest reeds could not be +spanned by two men, and the height of the largest was equal to the mast +of a ship.[24] The fruit of the palms also in India was three times as +large as in Babylonia, and the sheep and goats there were equal in size +to asses elsewhere, and had such enormous tails that they had to be cut +off to enable them to walk. Ctesias goes on to describe the large cocks +of India, with their beautiful combs, and broad tails of gold, +dark-blue, and emerald; the peacocks, the many-coloured birds with red +faces, dark-blue necks, and black beards, which had a human tongue, and +could speak Indian, and would speak Greek if they were taught; the +little apes with tails four cubits long.[25] He was the first to +describe the elephant to the Greeks.[26] He had seen these animals, and +had been present in Babylon when the elephants of the Persian king had +torn up palm trees with their roots out of the ground. These animals +could even throw down the walls of cities. In war the king of India was +preceded by 100,000 elephants, and 3000 of the strongest and bravest +followed him.[27] + +After the army of Alexander of Macedon had encamped in the Panjab, the +Greeks could give more accurate accounts of India. Megasthenes assures +us that India reached in breadth, from west to east, an extent of from +15,000 to 16,000 stades (1940 to 2000 miles), while the length, from +north to south, was 22,000 stades (2750 miles);[28] and in these +distances he is not very greatly in error, for, measured in a direct +line, the breadth is 13,600 stades (1720 miles), and the length 16,400 +stades (2050 miles). To the north India was bounded by lofty mountains, +which the Greeks called Caucasus, and the Indians Paropamisos +(Paropanishadha[29]), and Emodos, or Imaos. Emodos, like Imaos, +is the Greek form of the old Indian name for the Himalayas, Haimavata +(Himavat).[30] In India there were many great mountains, but +still greater plains; and even the mountains were covered with +fruit-trees, and contained in their bowels precious stones of various +kinds--crystals, carbuncles, and others. Gold also and silver, metals +and salt, could be obtained from the mines,[31] and the rivers carried +down gold from the mountains.[32] The streams of India were the largest +and the most numerous in the world. The Indus was larger than the Nile, +and all the rivers of Asia; the Ganges, which took an easterly direction +on reaching the plains, was a great river even at its source, and +reached a width of 100 stades, or 12-1/2 miles. In many places it formed +lakes, so that one bank could not be seen from the other, and its depth +reached 20 fathoms.[33] The first statement is exaggerated, the second +is correct for the lower course of the river. The Indus, according to +Megasthenes, had 15 navigable affluents, and the Ganges 19, the names of +which he could enumerate.[34] In all there were 58 navigable rivers in +India. + +This abundance of streams in India the Greeks explained by the fact that +the lands which surrounded the country--Ariana, as the Greeks call +eastern Iran, Bactria, and the land of the Scythians--were higher than +India, so that the waters from them flowed down, and were collected +there.[35] The water was also the cause of the great fertility of India, +which the Greeks unite in extolling. The rivers not only brought down, +as Nearchus observes, soft and good earth into the land from the +hills,[36] but they traversed it in such a manner that, from the +universal irrigation, it was turned into a fruit garden.[37] Onesicritus +tells us that India is better irrigated by its rivers than Egypt by its +canals. The Nile flows straight on through a long and narrow land, and +so is continually passing into a different climate and different air, +while the Indian rivers flow through much larger and broader plains, and +continue long in the same region. Hence they are more nourishing than +the Nile, and the fish are larger than the fish in the Nile;[38] they +also refresh the land better by their moist exhalations.[39] Besides, +there were the inundations caused by the rivers; and the land was also +watered by the heavy rains, which fell constantly each year at a fixed +period with the regular winds, so that the rivers rose fully 20 cubits +above their beds,--a statement quite accurate,--and in many places the +plains were changed into marshes,[40] in consequence of which the Indus +had sometimes taken a new channel through them.[41] Since, then, the +warmth of the sun was the same in India as in Arabia and Ethiopia,--for +India lay far to the south, and in the most southern parts of the land +the constellation of the Bear was seen no longer, and the shadows fell +in the other direction, i.e. to the south,--[42]while in India there was +more water and a moister atmosphere than in those other countries, the +creatures of the water, air, and land were much larger and stronger in +India than anywhere else.[43] Further, as the water in the river and +that which fell from heaven was tempered by the sun's heat, the growth +of the roots and plants was extraordinarily vigorous. The strength of +the tiger, which, according to Megasthenes, is twice the size of the +lion, the docility of the elephant, the splendour of the birds, were the +admiration of the Greeks. With horror they saw the whale for the first +time in the Indian waters. Nearchus caused his ship to be rowed forward +at double speed to contend with this peaceful monster of the deep. + +According to the statement of Megasthenes--which for the land of the +Ganges is quite correct--there are two harvests in India. For the winter +sowing rice and barley were used, and other kinds of fruit unknown to +the Greeks; for the summer sowing, sesame, rice, and bosmoron; while +during the rainy season flax and millet were planted, so that in India +want and famine were unknown.[44] Equally luxuriant in growth were the +herbs and reeds. There was a reed there which produced honey without +bees (the sugar-cane); and in Southern India cinnamon, nard, and the +rest of the spices grew as well as in Arabia and Ethiopia.[45] The +Greeks did not know that the cinnamon is a native of India only, and +that the bark came to them from that country, though it came through +Arabia. The marshes of India were filled with roots, wholesome or +deadly; the trees there grew to a larger size than elsewhere; some were +so tall that an arrow could not be shot over them, and the leaves were +as large as shields. There were other trees there of which the trunks +could not be spanned by five men, and the branches, as though bent, grew +downwards till they touched the earth, and then, springing up anew, +formed fresh trunks, to send out other arches, so that from one tree +was formed a grove, not unlike a tent supported by many poles. Fifty or +even 400 horsemen could take their mid-day rest under such a tree. +Nearchus even goes so far as to say that there were trees of this kind +under which there was room for 10,000 men.[46] There were also trees in +India which produced intoxicating fruits. This description of the Indian +fig tree and the statements about the shelter its branches afford are +not exaggerated. By intoxicating fruits the coco and fan-palms are, no +doubt, meant, from which palm-wine is made.[47] + +The northern, _i.e._ the light-coloured, Indians, or Aryas, are said by +the Greeks of this period to have most closely resembled the Egyptians +in the colour of their skin and their shape. They were light, delicate, +and slim of body, and not so heavy as other nations. They were free from +diseases, for their climate was healthy, and their land possessed good +air, pure water, and wholesome fruits. The southern Indians, _i.e._ the +non-Aryan population, who were at that time far less broken up in the +Deccan by Aryan and other settlers than now, and must therefore have +existed in far greater masses, were not quite so black as the Ethiopians +(the negroes), and had not, like them, a snub nose and woolly hair. +Strabo was of opinion that their colour was not so black owing to the +moist air of India, which also caused the hair of the inhabitants to be +straight.[48] Of the 200 millions, at which the population of India is +now estimated, more then 150 millions either spring from the Aryas or +have adopted their civilisation. The number of the dark-coloured races, +dwelling in the mountains and broad marshes, who have remained free from +the dominion of the Aryas, the Mohammedans, and the English, and are, +therefore, strangers to their civilisation, is estimated at 12 +millions. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Whitney, "Language," p. 327; Benfey, "Geschichte der +Sprachwissenchaft," s. 598. + +[2] "Rigveda," 1, 59, 2; 7, 5, 6; 10, 69, 6. Cf. Manu, 10, 45. That in +the Rigveda the Dasyus are always enemies, and even evil spirits, is +beyond a doubt, and cannot excite any wonder when we remember how the +Indians confound the natural and supernatural; Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," +2^2, 358 ff. On the original meaning of the word Dasyu, and its +signification in the Mahabharata, cf. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, 633. + +[3] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 110, 113. + +[4] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 440. + +[5] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 461. + +[6] According to Whitney ("Language," p. 327), the language of the Kolas +and Santals is quite distinct from the Dravidian languages. Lassen's +view on the relation of the Vindhya tribes to the Dravida and the +Nishada is given, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 456. + +[7] The Ganges (Ganga) is mentioned only twice in the Rigveda, and then +without any emphasis or epithet; "Rigveda," 10, 75, 5; 64, 9. This book +is of later origin; Roth, "Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Veda," s. +127, 136, 137, 139. + +[8] This name, it is true, may also have arisen from the fact that the +Indians turned to the east when praying. + +[9] The root _syand_ means "to flow." + +[10] Arrian, "Ind." 1, 3; "Anab." 4, 25. + +[11] 1 Kings ix. 26-28; x. 11, 12, 22. + +[12] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 651 ff.; 2^2, 595 ff. + +[13] Arrian, "Ind." 1, 3. + +[14] Steph. _sub. voc._ + +[15] Herod. 3, 94, 105; 4, 44. + +[16] Herod. 3, 102 ff. + +[17] "Mahavança," ed. Turnour, p. 47. + +[18] Herod. 7, 66, 70. + +[19] Herod. 3, 101. + +[20] Herod. 3, 94; 4, 44. + +[21] Herod. 3, 96, 98 ff. + +[22] Ctes. "Ecl." 1. + +[23] "Ecl." 1, 8. + +[24] "Ecl." 6. + +[25] Ctes. "Ecl." 3; Aelian, 16, 2. + +[26] Herodotus only makes a passing mention of the elephant in Libya, 4, +191. + +[27] Ælian 17, 29. Arrian also ("Anab." 4, 14) maintains that the Indus +is 100 stades in breadth, and even broader; Megasthenes also relates +that the elephants tore down walls, and that the bamboo was a fathom in +thickness. Strabo, p. 711. That Ctesias followed Persian-Bactrian +accounts is clear from the fact that the scene of all his history is the +north-west of India. He knows that India is a civilised land, though he +also believes that it obeys only one king; he knows the veneration of +the Indians for their kings, their contempt of death, and some products +of Indian industry. The fabulous stories of the Pygmæans, Dog-heads, +Shovel-eared, Shadow-feet, and Macrobii he did not invent, but copied. +Similar marvels of men with dogs' heads, and without a head, and of +unicorns, are narrated by Herodotus, only he ascribes these stories to +the western Ethiopians, not to the eastern (4, 191). Homer had already +sung of the Pygmæans ("Il." 3, 6). Hecatæus had spoken of the +Shovel-eared and Shadow-feet (fragm. 265, 266, ed. Klausen), and also +Aristophanes ("Aves," 1553). Of the griffins, the one-eyed Arimaspians, +the long-lived, happy Hyperboreans, Aristeas of Proconnesus had told and +Æschylus had sung long before Ctesias (above, III. 232). Megasthenes +repeats the legends of the Pygmæans, Shovel-eared, Shadow-feet, +Dog-heads, and adds accounts of men without mouths, and other marvels. +Ctesias, therefore, had predecessors as well as followers in these +stories. The fantastic world with which the Indians surrounded +themselves, the nicknames and strange peculiarities which they ascribed +to some of the old population and to distant nations, reached the +Persians, and through them the Greeks. "Kirata" of small stature in the +Eastern Himalayas, against which Vishnu's bird fights, Çunamukhas +(Dog-heads), "brow-eyed" cannibals, "one-footed" men, who bring as +tribute very swift horses, occur in the Indian epics, and in other +writings. On the divine mountain Meru, according to the Indians, dwell +the Uttara Kuru, _i.e._ the northern Kurus, who live for 10,000 years, +among whom is no heat, where the streams flow in golden beds, and roll +down pearls and precious stones instead of gravel. Lassen, "Ind. +Alterth." 1, 511; 2, 653, 693 ff.; Muir, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 324 ff. +According to the cosmology of the Buddhists, whose Sutras also knew +these Uttara Kuru, Mount Meru is the centre of the world. To the south +of Meru is Yambudvipa, to the north the region of the Uttara Kuru, who +live for 1000 years, while the inhabitants of Yambudvipa only live for +100 years. Burnouf, "Introduction à l'histoire du Bouddhisme," p. 177; +Koppen, "Buddh." p. 233. Ptolemy, obviously following Indian sources, +puts the [Greek: Ottora Korra] to the north of the Imaus, beyond the +highest range, which with the Indians is a spur of the divine mountain +Meru. This land and nation is obviously the garden of Yima and his +elect, whom the myth of Iran places on the divine hill. These are the +long-lived Hyperboreans of the Greeks, who dwell in the remote north +beyond the Rhipaean mountains--one of the old common myths of the Aryan +and Greek branch of the Indo-Germanic stock. + +[28] Megasthenes and Eratosthenes in Strabo, pp. 689, 690; Arrian, +"Ind." 3, 8. + +[29] Lassen explains Paropamisus as Paropa-nishadha, "lower mountain," +in opposition to Nishadha, "high mountain," by which the high ridge of +the Hindu Kush is meant, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 27, _n._ 4. + +[30] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 2^2, 324, 328. + +[31] Strabo, pp. 690, 691. + +[32] Diod. 2, 35; Strabo, pp. 700, 717. + +[33] Megasthenes in Strabo, pp. 690, 702; cf. Arrian, "Ind." 4. Diodorus +allows the upper Ganges a breadth of 30 stades, at Palibothra a breadth +of 32 stades--2, 37; 17, 93. + +[34] Arrian, "Ind." 4. + +[35] Diod. 2, 37. + +[36] Strabo, p. 691. + +[37] Diod. 2, 37. + +[38] Strabo, p. 695. + +[39] Diod. 2, 37. + +[40] Strabo, pp. 690, 691. + +[41] Aristobulus in Strabo, pp. 692, 693; cf. Curtius, 8, 30, ed. +Mützell. + +[42] These statements, which are quite correct, are found in Megasthenes +in Strabo, p. 76; Diod. 2, 35. + +[43] Strabo, p. 695; Diod. 2, 35. + +[44] Strabo, pp. 690, 693. + +[45] Strabo, p. 695. + +[46] Strabo, p. 694; Arrian, "Ind." 11. + +[47] Strabo, pp. 692, 693. Arrian ("Ind." 7) mentions the Sanskrit name +of the umbrella palm, _tala_, and tells us that the shoots were eaten, +which is also correct. + +[48] Arrian, "Ind." 6, 17; Strabo, pp. 96, 690, 696, 701, 706, 709. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ARYAS ON THE INDUS. + + +We have already examined the earliest date at which the kings who +reigned in antiquity in the lower valley of Nile attempted to bring +their actions into everlasting remembrance by pictures and writing. The +oldest inscription preserved there dates from the period immediately +preceding the erection of the great pyramids. The same impulse swayed +the rulers of Babylon and Asshur, of whom we possess monuments reaching +beyond the year 2000 B.C. The Hebrews also began at a very early time to +record the fortunes of their progenitors and their nation. With the +Indians the reverse is the case. Here neither prince nor people show the +least interest in preserving the memory of their actions or fortunes. No +other nation has been so late in recording their traditions, and has +been content to leave them in so fragmentary a condition. For this +reason, fancy is in India more lively, the treasures of poetry are more +rich and inexhaustible. Thus it becomes the object of our investigation, +from the remains of this poetry, and the wrecks of literature, to +ascertain and reconstruct, as far as possible, the history of the +Indians. From the first the want of fixed tradition precludes the +attempt to establish in detail the course of the history of the Aryan +states and their rulers. Our attempts are essentially limited to the +discovery of the stages in the advance of the power of the Aryas in the +regions where they first set foot, to the deciphering of the successive +steps through which their religious views and intellectual culture were +developed. And when we have thus exhumed the buried history of the +Indians, we are assisted in determining its periods by the contact of +the Indians with their western neighbours, the Persian kingdom, and the +Greeks, and by the accounts of western writers on these events. + +The oldest evidence of the life of the Aryas, whose immigration into the +region of the Indus and settlement there we have been able to fix about +2000 _B.C._, is given in a collection of prayers and hymns of praise, +the Rigveda, _i.e._ "the knowledge of thanksgiving." It is a selection +or collection of poems and invocations in the possession of the priestly +families, of hymns and prayers arising in these families, and sung and +preserved by them. In the ten books which make up this collection, the +poems of the first book are ascribed to minstrels of various families; +in some the minstrel is even named. "This song was made by Dirghatamas, +of the race of Angiras;" "this new hymn was composed by Nodhas, a +descendant of Gautama." Of the other books, each is ascribed to a single +family of priests--to the Gritsamadas, Viçvamitras, Vamadevas, Atris, +Bharadvajas, Vasishthas, and Kanvas. The tenth book contains isolated +pieces which found no place in the earlier books; several of these +pieces bear the stamp of a later origin, as they exhibit a more +complicated ritual, the operation of various classes of priests, and +reflections of an abstract character.[49] + +We see, then, that from ancient times there were among the Aryas +families in possession of effectual invocations of the gods, who knew +how to pronounce and sing the prayers at sacrifice, and offer the +sacrifice in due form. We may gather further from the Rigveda that these +families were distinguished by special symbols. The family of Vasishtha +had a coil or knot of hair on the right side,[50] the family of Atri had +three knots, the family of Angiras five locks, while the Bhrigus shaved +their hair.[51] Sung for centuries in these families, in these circles +of minstrels and priests, these poems were thus revised and preserved, +until at length out of the possessions of these schools arose the +collection which we have in the Rigveda. We find frequent mention in the +poems of the invocations of ancient time, of the prayers of the fathers, +and hence what is in itself probable becomes certain--that we have +united in the Rigveda poems of various dates, and invocations divided in +their origin by centuries. + +Though the minstrels of the poems of the Rigveda could look back on a +distant past, though they could distinguish the sages of the ancient, +the earlier time, and the present, and the men of old from those of the +later and most recent times,[52] there is yet nothing in these poems to +point to an earlier home, to older habitations, or previous fortunes of +the nation, unless, indeed, we ought to find an indication of life in a +more northern region in the fact that the older poems in the collection +count by winters, and the later by autumns.[53] In any case there is no +remembrance of earlier abodes, and therefore we must conclude that even +the oldest of these poems had been sung long after the immigration. If +the assumption established above, that the immigration took place soon +after 2000 _B.C._, is approximately probable, the extinction of any +memory of earlier abodes and fortunes will hardly allow us to carry back +the origin of the oldest songs of the Veda beyond the sixteenth century +_B.C._ + +On the other hand, the hymns of the Veda contain conceptions of the +creation and early ages of the world, the outlines of which, like the +conception of the contrast between the men of the old time and the +present, must have been brought by the Aryas into the land of the Indus +from the common possession of the Aryan tribes. The oldest man, the +father and progenitor of the Aryas, is, in the hymns of the Veda, Manu, +the son of Vivasvat, _i.e._ "the illuminating," the sun. Frequent +mention occurs in these poems of the "father Manu," of "our father +Manu," "the paternal path which Manu trod," "the children of Manu," "the +people of Manu." Manu brought the first offering to the gods of light; +with Atharvan and Dadhyanch he kindled the first sacrificial fire; he +has set Agni to give light to all the people, and to summon the gods, +and prayed to him with Bhrigu and Angiras.[54] Five races of men sprung +from Agni--the Yadus, the Turvaças, Druhyus, Anus, and Purus.[55] Beside +Manu stands Yama (_geminus_), like Manu, the son of Vivasvat. In the +hymns of the Rigveda he is the assembler of the people, the king, the +pattern of just dealing. He "has discovered the path which leads from +the deeps to the heights;" he "has removed the darkness," and "made +smooth the path of the godly." He first discovered the resting-place +from which no one drives out those who are there. From the depth of the +earth he first ascended to the heights of heaven; he has had experience +of death, he has entered into heaven, and there gathered round him all +the godly and brave. "He went before us, and found for us a +dwelling-place on a plain, which no one takes from us, whither the +fathers of old time have gone; thither his path guides every child of +earth."[56] + +Manu and Yama are not unknown to the mythology of the nations of Iran. +With the Iranians Yama is Yima; his father, according to the laws of the +Bactrian, the language of East Iran, is not Vivasvat, but Vivanghat. The +meaning is of course the same. According to the myths of Iran, Yima is +the sovereign who first established the _cultus_ of fire, and first +tilled the field with the plough. In his reign of 1000 years there was +neither heat nor cold, hunger nor thirst, age nor sickness, hate nor +strife. And when this golden age came to an end, Yima continued to live +an equally happy life in his garden on the mountain of the gods (_i.e._ +in heaven), where the sun, moon, and stars shone together, where there +was neither night nor darkness, in everlasting light with the elect. In +the Rigveda the sacrificers of old time, who kindled the fire with Manu, +and offered the first sacrifice,--Angiras, Bhrigu, Atharvan, and their +families,--are half divine creatures, though not quite on an equal with +Manu and Yama. They were ranged with the spirits of light, and shone +like them, though with less brilliancy.[57] In the faith of the Aryas +the good and pious deed confers supernatural power; it makes the body +light, and therefore like the body of the gods. The myths of Iran also +praise certain heroes and sages of old time, who sacrificed first after +Yima. + +We can ascertain with exactness the region in which the greater number +of these poems grew up. The Indus is especially the object of praise; +the "seven rivers" are mentioned as the dwelling-place of the Aryas. +This aggregate of seven is made up of the Indus itself and the five +streams which unite and flow into it from the east--the Vitasta, Asikni, +Iravati, Vipaça, Çatadru. The seventh river is the Sarasvati, which is +expressly named "the seven-sistered." The land of the seven rivers is, +as has already been remarked, known to the Iranians. The "_Sapta +sindhava_" of the Rigveda are, no doubt, the _hapta hendu_ of the +Avesta, and in the form Harahvaiti, the Arachotus of the Greeks, we +again find the Sarasvati in the east of the table-land of Iran. As the +Yamuna and the Ganges are only mentioned in passing (p. 11), and the +Vindhya mountains and Narmadas are not mentioned at all, the conclusion +is certain that, at the time when the songs of the Aryas were composed, +the nation was confined to the land of the Panjab, though they may have +already begun to move eastward beyond the valley of the Sarasvati.[58] + +We gather from the songs of the Rigveda that the Aryas on the Indus were +not one civic community. They were governed by a number of princes +(_raja_). Some of these ruled on the bank of the Indus, others in the +neighbourhood of the Sarasvati.[59] They sometimes combined; they also +fought not against the Dasyus only, but against each other. They ruled +over villages (_grama_), and fortified walled places (_pura_), of which +overseers are mentioned (_gramani_, _purpati_).[60] We find minstrels +and priests in their retinue. "Glorious songs of praise," says one of +them, "did I frame by my skill for Svanaya, the son of Bavya, who dwells +on the Indus, the unconquerable prince." Other poems in the Veda tell us +that the princes make presents to the minstrels and priests of cows, +chariots, robes, slave-women, and bars of gold. Whatever we may have to +deduct from these statements on the score of poetical exaggeration, they +still show that the court and possessions of the princes cannot have +been utterly insignificant. The descriptions of the ornaments and +weapons of the gods in the Rigveda are without a doubt merely enlarged +copies of the style and habit of the princes. The gods travel in golden +coats of mail, on splendid chariots, yoked with horses; they have +palaces with a thousand pillars and a thousand gates; they linger among +the lights of the sky, like a king among his wives.[61] From these +pictures, by reducing the scale, we may represent to ourselves the life +and customs of the princes in the land of the Indus. + +From the numerous invocations for victory and booty, it follows that the +life of the Aryas in the Panjab was disturbed by wars, that raids and +feuds must have been frequent. War-chariots, and infantry, +standard-bearers, bows, spears, swords, axes, and trumpets are +mentioned.[62] We learn that those who fought in chariots were superior +to the foot-soldiers. "There appears like the lustre of a cloud when +the mailed warrior stalks into the heart of the combat. Conquer with an +unscathed body; let the might of thine armour protect thee. With the bow +may we conquer cattle; with the bow may we conquer in the struggle for +the mastery, and in the sharp conflicts. The bow frustrates the desire +of our enemy; with the bow may we conquer all the regions round. The +bow-string approaches close to the bowman's ear, as if to speak to or +embrace a dear friend; strung upon the bow, it twangs like the scream of +a woman, and carries the warrior safely through the battle. Standing on +the chariot, the skilful charioteer directs the horses whithersoever he +wills. Laud the power of the reins, which far behind control the impulse +of the horses. The strong-hoofed steeds, rushing on with the chariots, +utter shrill neighings; trampling the foe with their hoofs, they crush +them, never receding." Again and again are the gods invoked that the +bow-strings of the enemy may be snapped.[63] + +The poems of the Veda distinguish the rich from the poor. The +cultivation of the land is practised and recommended. Corn (_dhana_), +barley, beans, and sesame were sown, but the rice of the Ganges valley +is unknown. Channels also are mentioned for leading water on the land. + +Healing herbs are not unknown to the poems, nor the person who is +skilled in applying them, the physician. We find in them the desire for +health and a long life,[64] blessed with abundance, with sons and +daughters. Beautiful garments, precious stones, adorned women with four +knots of hair, dancers, wine-houses, and dice are repeatedly mentioned. +Weaving and leather-work are known, and also the crafts of the smith, +the carpenter, the wheelwright, and the shipbuilder.[65] + +Among the Aryas of those days more attention must have been given to the +breeding of cattle than to the cultivation of the field. A great number +of similes and metaphors in the hymns of the Veda show that the Aryas +must have lived long with their flocks, and that they stood to them in +relations of the closest familiarity. The daughter is the milkmaid +(_duhitar_), the consort of the prince is even in later poems the +buffalo-cow (_mahishî_), the prince is at times the cow-herd, or +protector of cows (_gôpa_), the assembly of the tribe and the fold which +encloses the cows are called by the same name (_gôshtha_), and the word +expressing a feud (_gavisshthi_) denotes in the first instance the +desire for cows. Similes are taken especially from cows and horses. +Beside cattle and horses, buffaloes, sheep, and goats are mentioned. The +gods are invoked to protect and feed the cows, to increase the herds, to +make the cows full of milk, and satisfy the horses, to lead the herds to +good pastures, and protect them from misfortune on the way. At the +sacrifices parched corn was sprinkled for the horses of the gods.[66] + +In regard to the ethical feeling and attitude of the nation, we learn +from the hymns of the Rigveda that it was filled at that time with a +courageous and warlike spirit, with freshness and enjoyment of life. +Liberality and fidelity were highly praised; theft and plunder held in +contempt; faithlessness and lying severely condemned. The friend of the +gods could look forward to horses, chariots, and cows. Beautiful to look +upon, and filled with vigorous strength, he will shine in the assembly +of the people. There is a lively feeling that the gods feel themselves +injured by untruth and falsehood, by neglect and improper offering of +the sacrifice, and the conscience is awake. The gods are earnestly +entreated to forgive the sins of the fathers, and those committed by the +suppliants, in wine, play, or heedlessness, to soften their anger, and +spare the transgressor from punishment or death. If princes and nobles +did not content themselves with one wife, monogamy was nevertheless the +rule, so far as we can see. The beautiful maiden is accounted happy +because she can choose her husband in the nation. Many a one certainly +would be content with the wealth of him who seeks her. + +In the beneficent forces and phenomena of nature, which are friendly and +helpful to men, the religious conceptions of the Aryas see the power of +kindly deities; and in all the influences and phenomena which injure the +prosperity and possessions of men they see the rule of evil deities. To +the Aryas light was joy and life, darkness fear and death; the night and +the gloom filled them with alarm, the light cheered them. With gladsome +hearts they greeted the returning glow of morning, the beams of the sun, +which awaken us to life. The obscuring of the sun by dark clouds raised +the apprehension that the heavenly light might be taken from them. In +the heat of the summer the springs and streams were dried up, the +pastures were withered, the herds suffered from want, and therefore the +more fervent were the thanks of the Aryas to the spirits who poured down +fructifying water from heaven, and caused the springs, streams, and +rivers again to flow full in their banks. + +The basis of these views the Aryas brought with them into the valley of +the Indus. Their name for the deity of light--_deva_, from _div_, to +shine--is found among the Greek, Italian, Lettish, and Celtic nations +in the forms [Greek: theoi], _dii_, _diewas_, and _dia_; it recurs in +the Zeus (_dyaus_) of the Greeks, and the Jupiter (_dyauspitar_) of the +Romans. The god of the upper air is with the Aryas Varuna, the Uranos of +the Greeks. And these were not the only ideas possessed by the Aryas +before their immigration. When they had broken off from the original +stem of the Indo-European tribes, they must for a time have lived in +union with another branch of the same stem, which inhabited the +table-land of Iran, and only after a long period of union did they +become a nation, and emigrate to the East. The nucleus of the view of +the nature and action of the gods is identical in the Aryas and the +tribes of Iran to such a degree that it can only have grown up in a +common life. In both it lies in the struggle and opposition in which the +spirits of light stand to the spirits of darkness, the spirits who give +water to the spirits who parch up all things--in the contest of good and +evil gods. It is assistance and protection against the evil spirits, the +boon of light and water, which is sought for in the worship of both +nations. The names of the deities of light, which the Indians and the +Iranians serve, are the same. Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Ushas are invoked +on the Indus and Sarasvati as well as on the Hilmend, in Bactria and +Media. Here, as there, the beneficent morning wind which drives away the +clouds of night is called Vayu; the same drink offerings were offered +under the same names in both nations to the good gods. With the Indians +Atharvan lights the sacrificial fire;[67] among the Iranians the fire +priests are called Athravas. The chief of the evil spirits, against +which the good spirits have to contend, is called Veretra among the +Iranians, and Vritra among the Indians; another evil spirit is called +Azhi (_Aji_) in one nation, Ahi in the other. Such was the development +given to the common inheritance from the parent stock, attained while +the Airyas and Aryas lived together; and after the community was broken +up, and the two nations became separated, those views received a +peculiar shape in each. The point in this special development reached by +the Aryas while yet in the Panjab we know from the poems of the Rigveda. + +To the Iranians, as to the Aryas, the brightness of fire was a friendly +spirit which gave light in darkness. To it, among both nations, almost +the first place was allotted. By far the greatest number of invocations +in the Rigveda are addressed to this spirit, Agni (_ignis_). When the +darkness of evening came on, the glowing fire scared the beasts of prey +from the encampment of men and the herds, and so far as the flame shone +it drove back the evil spirits of the night.[68] Then the demons were +seen from a distance hovering round the kindled fire, and the changing +outlines of their forms were seen on the skirts of the darkness. Thus in +the Rigveda, the fire-god is a bringer of light, who overpowers the +night with red hues, who drives away the Rakshasas, or evil spirits; he +is the conqueror and slayer of demons, with sharp teeth and keen +weapons, a beautiful youth of mighty power. But the fire of the hearth +also unites the family, and provides them with nourishment. As such Agni +is the gleaming guest of men, the dear friend and companion of men, the +far-seeing house-lord, who dwells in every house, and despises none; a +god, giving food and wealth;[69] the protector, leader, and guide of his +nation. As his power carries the sacrificial gifts to the gods, he is +also the priest of the house; to the sensuous conception of the Aryas +he is the messenger of men to the gods; his gleam leads the eye of the +gods to the sacrifice of men; hence he is himself a priest, the first of +priests, the true offerer of sacrifice, the mediator between heaven and +earth, the lord of all religious duties, the protector and supporter of +the worship. With his far-reaching tongue, the smoke of the kindled fire +of sacrifice, he announces to the gods the gifts offered, the prayers +which accompany the sacrifice, and brings the gods to the place of +offering. Through Agni they consume their food. He is to the gods what +the goblet is to the mouth of men.[70] With a thousand eyes Agni watches +over him who brings him food, _i.e._ wood, and pours fat and clarified +butter into his mouth; he rejects not the gifts of him who possesses +neither cow nor axe, and brings but small pieces of wood; he protects +him from hunger, and sends him all kinds of good; in the battle he +fights among the foremost, and consumes the enemy like dry underwood. +When he yokes to his chariot the red, wind-driven horses, he roars like +a bull; the birds are terror-stricken when his sparks come consuming the +grass; when, like a lion, he blackens the forest with his tongue, and +seizes it with his flames, which sound like the waves of the sea; when +he shears off the hair of the earth, as a man shaves his beard, and +marks his path with blackness. Nothing can withstand the lightning of +the sky, the sounding winds, and Agni; by his power the gods Varuna, +Mitra, and Aryaman are victorious.[71] + +In the conception of the Indians Agni was born from the double wood; in +this he lay concealed. They kindled fire by friction. A short staff was +fixed in a round disc of wood, and whirled quickly round till fire was +kindled.[72] This process was the birth of Agni. The disc was compared +to the mother, the staff to the father; the disc was impregnated by +friction, and soon a living creature springs forth from the dry wood. At +the moment of birth this golden-haired child begins to consume his +parents; he grows up in marvellous wise, like the offspring of serpents, +without a mother to give suck. Eagerly he stretches forth his sharp +tongue to the wood of the sacrifices; with gnashing and neighing he +springs up like a horse on high, when the priests sprinkle melted +butter; streaming brightly forth, he rolls up the sacred smoke, and +touches the sky with his hair, uniting with the sun.[73] Yet not on +earth only is Agni born; he is born in the air and the sky by the +lightning; in the lightning he descends to earth, and he is thus the +twice-born. But as the lightning descends in the torrents of the storm, +Agni is also born from the water of the sky, and is thus the +triple-born; he is also named the bull begotten in the bed of water.[74] +"We call on Agni, who gives food, with solemn songs," we are told in a +hymn. "We choose thee as a messenger to the all-knowing; thy rising +gleam shines far into the sky. To thee, rich youth, is every sacrifice +offered; be gracious to us to-day, and for the future. Sacrifice thyself +to the mightiest gods; bring our sacrifice to the gods. Mighty as a +horse, who neighs in the battle, give rich gifts, O Agni, to the +suppliant. Bring thyself to us, O mighty one; shine, most beloved of the +gods; let the winged smoke ascend. Bring thyself to us, thou whom the +gods once gave to man upon the earth. Give us treasures; gladden us. +Come, ascending at once to help us, like Savitar; shine and protect us +from sin by knowledge; make us strong for action and life; destroy our +enemies; protect us, Agni, from the Rakshasas; protect us from the +murderer and cruel bird of prey, and from the enemy who plans our +destruction, thou shining youth. Strike down the enemies who bring no +gifts, who sharpen their arrows against us, thou who art armed with a +gleaming beam as with a club, that our enemies may never rule over us. +No one can approach thy darting, strong, fearful flames; burn the evil +spirits, and every enemy."[75] + +If Agni scared away the spirits of the night for the Aryas, they greeted +with the liveliest joy the earliest light, the approach of breaking day, +the first white rays of the dawn, which assured them that the night had +not been victorious over the light, that the daylight was returning. +These rays are for them a beautiful pair of twins, the brothers of +Ushas, the morning glow, the sons of the sky.[76] They are named the two +Açvins, _i.e._ the swift, the horsemen; and also Nasatyas, _i.e._ +apparently, the trustworthy, or guileless. Swift spirits, they hasten on +before the dawn. As they pass onward victorious against the spirits of +the night, and each morning assist the earth against the darkness, they +are the helpers and protectors of men. That this conception of the +Açvins springs from the common possession of the parent-stock of the +Indo-Europeans, is proved by the Dioscuri of the Greeks. Dioskouroi +means, "the young sons of the sky," and in the myth of the Greeks they +are the brothers of Helena, _i.e._ of the Bright one, the Light; and if, +in this myth, they live alternately in heaven and in the gloom of the +under-world, this fact is no doubt founded in the idea that the first +beams which break forth from the night belong to the darkness as much as +to the light. In the Rigveda, the Açvins are compared to two swans, two +falcons, two deer, two buffaloes, two watchful hounds. They are invoked +to harness their light cars, drawn by swan-like, falcon-like, +golden-winged horses, to descend and drink the morning offering with +Ushas (the [Greek: Auôs, Eôs] of the Greeks.) They heal the sick, the +blind, the lame, and make the old young again, and strong; they give +wealth and nourishment, they accompany ships over the wide sea, and +protect them. In invocations in the Rigveda to the Açvins, in which the +benefits done by them to the forefathers are extolled and enumerated, we +find: "Açvins, come on your chariot which is yoked with the good horses, +which flies like the falcon, and is swifter than the wind, or the +thoughts of men, on which ye visit the houses of pious men; come to our +dwelling. On the chariot, whose triple wheel hastens through the triple +world (the Indians distinguish the heaven of light, the region of the +atmosphere and the clouds, and the earth as three worlds) approach us. +Make the cows full of milk, and feed our horses, and give us goodly +progeny. Approach in swift, fair-coursing chariots; listen, ye +bounteous, to my prayer; ye Açvins, whom the men of old extol as driving +away want. The falcons, the swift-winged ones, who fly like the vultures +in the sky, may they bring you, ye Nasatyas, like water streaming from +heaven, to the sacrifice. In old days ye gave nourishment to Manu; ye +speedily brought food to Atri in the dark dungeon, and freed him from +his bonds; ye restored light to the blind Kanva, ye bounteous ones, whom +we love to praise. With your onward flying horses ye brought Bhujyu +without harm from the wide pathless sea; for Çayu, when he prayed to +you, ye filled the cow with milk, and gave to Pedu the white horse, +clear-neighing, fearful, who is victorious over enemies, and defeats +them. Even as ye were of old, we invoke you, beautiful-born, to come to +our help; come with the swift flight of the falcons to us, for I summon +you to a sacrifice prepared at the first light of the eternal dawn."[77] + +This dawn is in the hymns of the Veda a ruddy cow, a tawny mare, a +beautiful maiden, who is born anew every day, when the Açvins yoke their +chariot.[78] Many are the generations of men that she has seen, yet she +grows not old. Like a maiden robed for the dance, like a daughter +adorned by her mother, as a loving wife approaches her husband, as a +woman rising in beauty from the bath, smiling and trusting to her +irresistible charms, unveils her bosom to the eye of the beholder, so +does Ushas divide the darkness and unveil the wealth hidden therein. +From the far east she travels on her gleaming car, which the ruddy +horses and ruddy cows bring swiftly over thirty Yojanas, and illumines +the world to the uttermost end. She looses the cows (_i.e._ the bright +clouds) from the stall, and causes the birds to fly from their nests; +she awakes the five tribes (p. 30), as an active housewife wakes her +household, and sets each to his work; she passes by no house, but +everywhere kindles the sacrificial fire, and gives breath and life to +all. Occasionally the hymns call upon her to accelerate her awakening, +to linger no longer, to hasten that the sun may not wither her away.[79] +"Come, Ushas," we find in invocations, "descend from the light of the +sky on gracious paths: let the red cows lead thee into the house of the +sacrificer. The light cows bring in the gleaming Ushas; her beams appear +in the east. As bold warriors flash their swords, the ruddy cows press +on; already they are shining clear. The bright beam of Ushas breaks +through the dark veil of black night at the edge of heaven. We are +beyond the darkness. Rise up. The light is there. Thou hast opened the +path for the sun; rise up, awakening glad voices. Listen to our prayer, +O giver of all good; increase our progeny."[80] + +The god of the sun was invoked under the names Surya and Savitar +(Savitri), _i.e._ "the impeller." The first name seems to belong +specially to the rising, the second to the sinking, sun. "Already," the +hymn tells us, "the beams raise up Surya, so that all see him. With the +night, the stars retire like thieves before Surya, the all-seeing. His +beams shine clear over the nations, like glowing flames. Before gods and +men thou risest up, Surya. With thy glance thou lookest over the +nations, wanderest through heaven, the broad clouds, measuring the day +and the night. Thy chariot, bright Surya, far-seeing one with the +gleaming hair, seven yellow horses draw. Looking on thee after the +darkness, we invoke thee, the highest light. Banish the pain and fear of +my heart; pale fear we give to the thrushes and parrots. The sun of +Aditi has arisen with all his victorious power;[81] he bows down the +enemy before me."[82] A hymn says to Savitar: "I summon Savitar to +help, who calls all gods and men to their place, when he returns to the +dark heaven. He goes on the ascending path, and on the sinking one; +shining from far, he removes transgression. The god ascends the great +gold-adorned chariot, armed with the golden goad. The yellow horses with +the white feet bring on the light, drawing the golden yoke. With golden +hands Savitar advances between heaven and earth. Golden-handed, Renewer, +rich one, come to us; beat off from us the Rakshasas; come, thou who art +invoked every night on thine old firm paths through the air, which are +free from dust; protect us to-day also."[83] In an evening song to +Savitar we find: "With the swift horses which Savitar unyokes, he brings +even the course of the swift one to a stand: the weaving woman rolls up +her web; the workman stops in the middle of his work; where men dwell, +the glimmer of the house fire is spread here and there; the mother puts +the best piece before the son; he who has gone abroad for gain returns, +and every wanderer yearns for home; the bird seeks the nest, the herd +the stall. From the sky, from the water, and the earth, Savitar caused +gifts to come to us, to bless the suppliant as well as thy friend, the +minstrel, whose words sound far."[84] A third god of light, who seems to +stand in some relation to the sun, especially the setting sun, is +Pushan, _i.e._ "the nourisher." He pastures the cows of the sky, the +bright clouds, and leads them back into the stall; he never loses one; +he is the protector and increaser of cattle; he weaves a garment for the +sheep; he protects the horses; he is also lord and keeper of the path of +heaven and earth; he protects and guides the wanderers in their paths; +he brings the bride to the bridegroom, and leads the souls of the dead +into the other world.[85] + +Above the spirits of fire, of the first streaks of light, of the dawn, +and the sun, are those gods of the clear sky, with which we have already +made acquaintance, as belonging partly to the undivided possessions of +the Indo-Europeans, and partly to the undivided possessions of the Aryas +in Iran and on the Indus. Though still enthroned in the highest light +and the highest sky, these spirits are nevertheless, in the minds of the +Aryas, expelled from the central position in their religious conceptions +and worship, by a form which, though it did not spring up in the land of +the Indus, first attained this pre-eminent position among the Aryas +there. With the tribes of Iran, the god of the clear sky, the god of +light, is Mitra, the victorious champion against darkness and demons. It +is he who has overcome Veretra, the prince of the evil ones, the demon +of darkness; as a warrior-god, he is for the Iranians the god of +battles, the giver of victory. The nature of the land of the Panjab was +calculated to give a special development and peculiar traits to the +ancient conception of the struggle of the god of light against the demon +of darkness. There the pastures were parched in the height of summer, +the fields burnt, the springs and streams dried up, until at length, +long awaited and desired, the storms bring the rain. Phenomena of so +violent a nature as the tropical storms were unknown to the Aryas before +they entered this region. The deluge of water in storm and tempest, the +return of the clear sky and sunlight after the dense blackness of the +storm, could not be without influence on the existing conceptions of the +struggle with the spirits. In the heavy black clouds which came before +the storm, the Aryas saw the dark spirits, Vritra and Ahi, who would +change the light of the sky into night, quench the sun, and carry off +the water of the sky. The tempest which preceded the outbreak of the +storm, the lightning which parted the heavy clouds, and caused the rain +to stream down, the returning light of the sun in the sky, these must be +the beneficent saving acts of a victorious god, who rendered vain the +object of the demons, wrested from them the waters they had carried off, +rekindled the light of the sun, sent the waters on the earth, caused +streams and rivers to flow with renewed vigour, and gave fresh life to +the withered pastures and parched fields. These conceptions underlie the +mighty form into which the struggle of the demons grew up among the +Aryas on the Indus, the god of storm and tempest--Indra. The army of the +winds fights at his side, just as the wild army surrounds the storm-god +of the Germans. Indra is a warrior, who bears the spear; heaven and +earth tremble at the sound of his spear. This sound is the thunder, his +good spear is the lightning; with this he smites the black clouds, the +black bodies of the demons which have sucked up the water of the sky; +with it he rekindles the sun.[86] With it he milks the cows, _i.e._ the +clouds; shatters the towers of the demons, _i.e._ the tempests which +gather round the mountain top; and hurls back the demons when they would +ascend heaven.[87] "I will sing of the victories of Indra, which the god +with the spear carried off," so we read in the hymns of the Veda. "On +the mountain he smote Ahi; he poured out the waters, and let the river +flow from the mountains; like calves to cows, so do the waters hasten to +the sea. Like a bull, Indra dashed upon the sacrifice, and drank thrice +of the prepared drink, then he smote the first-born of the evil one. +When thou, Indra, didst smite them, thou didst overcome the craft of the +guileful: thou didst beget the sun, the day, and the dawn. With a mighty +cast Indra smote the dark Vritra, so that he broke his shoulders; like a +tree felled with an axe Ahi sank to the earth. The waters now run over +the corpse of Ahi, and the enemy of Indra sleeps there in the long +darkness."[88] "Thou hast opened the cave of Vritra rich in cattle; the +fetters of the streams thou hast burnt asunder."[89] + +On a golden chariot, drawn by horses, yellow or ruddy, cream-coloured or +chestnut, Indra approaches;[90] his skilful driver is Vayu, _i.e._ "the +blowing," the spirit of the morning wind,[91] which, hastening before +the morning glow, frees the nocturnal sky from dark clouds. Indra is +followed by Rudra, _i.e._ the terrible, the spirit of the mighty wind, +the destroying, but also beneficent storm, and the whistling winds, the +swift, strong Maruts, who fight with Indra against the demons. These +are twenty-seven, or thirty-six in number, the sons of Rudra. Their +chariots are drawn by dappled horses; they wear golden helmets, and +greaves, and spears on their shoulders. They dwell in the mountains, +open the path for the sun, break down the branches of the trees like +wild elephants, and when Indra has overpowered Vritra, they tear him to +pieces. To Indra, as to Mitra, horses were sacrificed, and bulls also, +and the libation of soma was offered.[92] Indra is the deity addressed +in the greater part of the poems of the Rigveda. Himself a king, hero, +and conqueror, he is invoked by minstrels to give victory to their +princes. They entreat him "to harness the shrill-neighing, +peacock-tailed pair of cream-coloured horses;" to come into the ranks of +the warriors, like a wild, terrible lion from the mountains; to approach +with sharp spear and knotty club; to give the hosts of the enemy to the +vultures for food. The warriors are urged to follow Indra's victorious +chariot, to vie with Indra: he who does not flinch in the battle will +fight before them; he will strike back the arrows of the enemies. Indra +destroys the towers and fortresses of the enemies; he casts down twenty +kings; he smites the opponents by fifties and sixties of thousands.[93] +The prayer has already been mentioned in which Indra is invoked to give +the Aryas victory against the Dasyus. "Lead us, O Indra," we read in an +invocation of the Samaveda; "let the troop of the Maruts go before the +overpowering, victorious arms of the god. Raise up the weapons, O +wealthy god; raise up the souls of our warriors; strengthen the vigour +of the strong; let the cry of victory rise from the chariots. Be with +us, Indra, when the banners wave; let our arrows be victorious; give our +warriors the supremacy; protect us, ye gods, in the battle. Fear, seize +the hearts of our enemies, and take possession of their limbs."[94] + +The old Arian conception of Mitra as the highest god of light, may still +be recognised in the Rigveda; the hymns declare that his stature +transcends the sky, and his glory spreads beyond the earth. He sustains +heaven and earth; with never-closing eyes he looks down on all +creatures. He whom Mitra, the mighty helper, protects, no evil will +touch, from far or from near; he will not be conquered or slain. A +mighty, strong, and wise king, Mitra summons men to activity.[95] Driven +back by the predominance of Indra, the functions of Mitra in the Rigveda +are found amalgamated with those of Varuna, but even in this +amalgamation the nature of light is completely victorious. In the +conception of the Arians light is not only the power that awakens and +gives health and prosperity, it is also the pure and the good, not +merely in the natural, but also in the moral sense, the true, the +honourable, just and faithful. Thus Mitra, removed from immediate +conflict with the evil spirits, is combined with Varuna, the god of the +highest heaven, and the life-giving water which springs from the heaven; +and becomes the guardian of truth, fidelity, justice, and the duties of +men to the gods. The sun is the eye of Mitra and Varuna; they have +placed him in the sky; at their command the sky is bright; they send +down the rain. Even the gods cannot withstand their will. They are the +guardians of the world; they look down on men as on herds of +cattle.[96] The light sees all, illuminates all: hence Mitra and Varuna +know what takes place on earth; the most secret thing escapes them not. +They are angry, terrible deities; they punish those who do not honour +the gods; they avenge falsehood and sin. But to those who serve them, +they forgive their transgressions. Varuna, whose special duty it is to +punish the offences of men, is entreated in the hymns, with the greatest +earnestness, to pardon transgression and sin. In the conception of the +hymns of the Rigveda, he is the highest lord of heaven and earth. In the +waters of heaven he dwells in a golden coat of mail, in his spacious +golden house with a thousand doors. He has shown to the sun his path; he +has excavated their beds for the rivers, and causes them to flow into +the sea; his breath sounds with invigorating force through the breezes. +He knows the way of the winds, and the flight of birds, and the course +of ships on the sea. He knows all things in heaven, on earth, and under +the earth. Even he who would fly further than the sky extends is not +beyond his power. He numbers the glances of the eyes of men; where two +men sit together and converse, king Varuna is a third among them.[97] He +knows the truth and falsehood of men; he knows their thoughts, and +watches them as a herdman his herd. His coils, threefold and sevenfold, +embrace them who speak lies. "May he remain unscathed by them who speak +truth," is the prayer of the invocations. "Was it for an old sin, +Varuna," we read in a prayer, "that thou wishest to destroy thy friend, +who praises thee? Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from +those which we committed with our own bodies. Release Vasishtha, O king, +like a thief who has feasted on stolen oxen; release him like a calf +from the rope. It was not our own doing that led us astray, O Varuna, it +was necessity (or temptation), an intoxicating draught, passion, dice, +thoughtlessness. The old is there to mislead the young; even sleep +brings unrighteousness. Through want of strength, thou strong and bright +god, have I gone wrong: have mercy, almighty, have mercy. I go along +trembling, like a cloud driven before the wind; let not us guilty ones +reap the fruit of our sin. Let me not yet enter into the house of clay, +king Varuna. Protect, O wise god, him who praises thee. Whenever we men, +O Varuna, commit an offence before the heavenly host, whenever we break +the law through thoughtlessness, have mercy, almighty, have mercy."[98] + +The chief offering which the Aryas made to the spirits of the sky, was +of ancient origin; even before they entered the land of the Indus, at +the time when they were one nation with their fellow-tribesmen of +Iran--this libation had been established. It was a drink-offering, the +juice of a mountain plant, the soma, or haoma of the Irans, which they +offered. The expressed sap of this plant, which is the _asclepias acida_ +of our botanists, mixed with milk, narcotic and intoxicating, was to the +Arya the strongest, most exhilarating liquor, a drink fit for their +gods. According to the Rigveda, a tamed falcon brought the soma from the +summit of the sky, or from the tops of the mountains, where Varuna had +placed it. The drink of the soma inspires the songs of the poet, heals +the sick, prolongs life, and makes the poor believe themselves rich. +The rites of preparing the soma were already widely developed when the +songs of the Rigveda over the offering were composed. The sacrificial +vessels were washed out with kuça-grass, and with "the sacred word," +_i.e._ with traditional forms of words. The plants of the +soma--according to the rubrics of later times, they are to be collected +by moonlight on the hills,[99]--were crushed between stones. In the Veda +we are told that the suppliants "squeeze the soma with stones." The +liquor thus obtained was then strained through a sieve, with songs and +incantations. The sieve appears to have been made out of the hairs of a +ram's tail, and the juice is pressed through it with the ten sisters, +_i.e._ with the fingers; "it rushes to the milk as fiercely as the bull +to the cow." The sound of the drops of the golden fluid falling into the +metal vessels is the roaring of the bulls, the neighing of the horses of +Indra, "the hymn of praise, which the song of the minstrel +accompanies."[100] The drink thus prepared was then placed in the +sacrificial vessel, on outspread, delicate grass, over which was laid a +cloth. Then the Açvins, Vayu, the Maruts, Indra were invoked to descend, +to place themselves at the sacrificial cloth, and drink the draught +prepared for them. According to the faith of the Aryas, Indra fights on +the side of the tribe whose soma offering he has drunk, and gives the +victory to them. The invocations to Indra, to the Maruts, and the +Açvins, who were considered mightiest and most influential in inviting +and bringing down the gods to the sacrifice, are preserved in the +Rigveda. + +It would be futile to attempt to distinguish in detail the exuberant +abundance of conceptions and pictures which the young and vigorous fancy +of the Indians has embodied in the songs of the Veda. One poetical idea +presses on another; scarcely a single image is retained for any length +of time, so that we not unfrequently receive the impression of a +restless variety, of uncertain effort, of flux and confusion. On the +other hand, it is impossible to deny that in these poems there is a +freshness and vigour of thought, a wide sympathy and moral earnestness. +Beside the most lively conceptions of the phenomena of the heavens, the +formation of clouds and storms; besides deep delight in nature, and a +sensuous view of natural life, we find attempts to form a comprehensive, +exhaustive idea of the nature of God, the beginnings of reflection and +abstraction. If this contrast proves that the poems of the Veda were +divided in their origin by intervals of time, we can hardly be wrong if +we look upon the _naïve_, coarse and sensuous conceptions as the older, +and the attempts at combination and abstraction as of later origin. Yet +the basis of that conception of moral purity, of the just avenging power +of the high deities of light, Mitra and Varuna, cannot be regarded as of +later date, since it occurs also in the Mitra of the Iranians. We can +hardly find a more _naïve_ conception than the view expressed in the +poems of the Veda that the sacrifice not only gives food and drink to +the hungry deities, but also gives them the power to fulfil their +duties. The offering of soma strengthens Indra in the battles which he +has to fight against the evil spirits; it invigorates him for the +struggle against the enemies of the tribe whose offering he drinks. The +god requires strength for the contest; and this, according to the +peculiar view of the Indians, is increased by the offering of soma made +to him. And not only does the offering give strength, it inspires the +god for battle. Just as men sought courage in drinking, so does Indra +drink courage from the sacrificial goblet. If Indra is to give wealth +and blessing, if he is to fight victoriously his ever-recurring struggle +against Vritra and Ahi, to win the fructifying moisture, and contend in +the ranks of the tribe, the "honey-sweet" soma must be prepared for him +without ceasing, he must be invoked to harness his horses, and place +himself at the meal of the sacrifice, and exhilarate himself with the +drink prepared for him; in his exhilaration, victory over the demons is +certain; he will fight invincibly before the ranks of his friends. His +enemies, we are told of Indra, he overcomes in the inspiration of the +soma. "Drink, Indra, of the soma like a wise man, delighting thyself in +the mead; it is good for exhilaration. Come down, Indra, who art truly a +bull, and drink thyself full; drink the most inspiring of drinks. The +intoxicating drink of the rich gives bulls."[101] By the side of +conceptions such as this, the invocation praises the lofty power, the +sublime nature of the gods, in moving images, which attempt, to the +utmost degree, to glorify the power of the god to whom they are +addressed. They elevate him and his power above the other gods, and +concentrate the divine action in the deity to whom the prayer or +thanksgiving is made, at the expense of his divine compeers. The object +was to win by prayer and sacrifice the grace of the deity who was +invoked. In this manner Agni, Surya, Indra, Mitra, and Varuna are +celebrated as the highest deities. Of Indra we are told that none of the +gods is like him; that none can contend with him; that before him, the +thunderer, all worlds tremble. He is the lord of all; the king of the +firm land and flowing water; his power has set up the ancient hills, and +causes the streams to flow; he sustains the earth, the nourisher of all; +he has created the sky, the sun, the dawn; he has fixed the lights of +the sky; should he desire to take up both worlds--the heaven and +earth--it would be but a handful for him. Who of the seers of old has +seen the limits of his power?[102] As we have observed, the form of the +mighty storm-god which grew up in the land of the Indus, had driven back +the ancient forms of Mitra and Varuna, and thus the minstrels found a +strong tendency to unite in the mighty warrior, the thunderer, the sum +total of divine power. But Mitra and Varuna were not forgotten; and as +the warlike life fell into the back-ground, and the impulse to seize the +unity of the divine nature became stronger, these ancient forms were in +their turn more easily idealized, and framed into a higher ethical +conception than was possible with the peculiarly warlike nature of +Indra. In the songs of praise addressed to Varuna, which have been +quoted, it is impossible not to see the effort to concentrate in him as +the highest god the highest divine power. + +If in the conception of the gods in the Veda we find besides sensuous +views important ethical elements, and traits transcending sense, we also +find in the worship of the Aryas, in the relation of man to the gods, a +certain simplicity coexisting with sharply defined ethical perception. +Men pray to the gods for protection against the evil spirits, for the +preservation and increase of the herd, for help in sickness, and long +life, for victory in battle. It is allowed that sacrifices are offered +in order to obtain treasures and wealth. Indra is to "give gift for +gift;" he is to send wealth "so that one may wade therein to the knee." +From this the god will obtain his advantage in turn; if Indra gives +horses, chariots and bulls, sacrifices will be offered without +ceasing.[103] Like flies round a jar of honey, we are told in another +place, do the suppliants sit round the bowl of the offering; as a man +sets his foot in the chariot, so does the host of minstrels longing for +treasure place their confidence in Indra.[104] In a hymn, the minstrel +says to Indra: "If I were the lord of cattle, master of such wealth as +thou art, Indra, then would I assist the minstrel; I would not leave him +in need."[105] But, on the other hand, it is emphatically stated that +Indra rejects the wicked, as a man spurns a toadstool with his +foot;[106] that no evil is concealed from Mitra and Varuna. It is left +to Indra to give to the sacrificer whatever he considers best and most +valuable; he is entreated to instruct the sacrificer, to give him +wisdom, as a father to his child.[107] Stress is laid on the fact that +sacrifice can remove a multitude of sins, and purify him who offers it, +and we saw how earnestly Varuna was invoked to forgive the guilt that +had been incurred. + +The _naïve_ conception that the god drank vigour and courage out of the +sacrificial bowl is developed among the Aryas in a very peculiar manner. +From this fact they derived the idea that the sacrifice gave power to +the gods generally to increase their strength; that the gods "grew" by +prayer and sacrifice. Thus we read: "The suppliants, extolling Indra by +their songs of praise, have strengthened him, to slay Ahi. Increase, O +hero Indra, in thy body, praised with piety, and impelled by our +prayers. The hymns whet thy great strength, thy courage, thy power, thy +glorious thunder-club."[108] As it is men who offer sacrifice to the +gods, this conception gives mankind a certain power over the deities; +it lies with them to strengthen the gods by sacrifice and gifts; they +can compel the gods to be helpful to them, if only they understand how +to invoke them rightly. The holy words, _i.e._ the invocations, are, in +the conception of the Veda, "a voyage which leads to heaven." Hence +those who are acquainted with the correct mode of prayer and offering +become magicians, who are in a position to exercise force over the gods. +The idea that man has power to compel the gods is very _naïve_, +childlike, and childish; in its most elementary form it lies at the root +of fetishism. In other nations also great weight is laid on the correct +mode of offering sacrifices, as the essential condition of winning the +grace of the gods; but the conception that a hearing must attend a +sacrifice and prayer correctly made is far more strongly present in the +Indians, than in any other civilised people. Yet the hymns of the Veda +are far above fetishism, which attempts to exercise direct external +compulsion upon the gods. The Indian faith is rather that this effect is +obtained not merely by the custom of sacrifice, but by the intensity of +invocation, by the power of meditation, by elevation of spirit, by the +passionate force of prayer, which will not leave the god till he has +given his blessing. It is inward, not outward compulsion that they would +exercise. Developed in a peculiar direction, this mode of conception is +of deep and decisive importance for the religious and civic views of the +Indians. + +The power ascribed to the sacrificial prayers of bringing down the gods +from heaven; the eager desire of every man to invite the gods +effectually to his own sacrifice, in order that he may scorn the +sacrifice of his enemy; the notion that it was possible by the correct +and pleasing invocation to disturb the sacrifice of the enemy and make +it inoperative, had their natural effect. The singers of these prayers, +who knew the strongest forms of invocation, or could "weave" them--the +priests--early obtained a position of importance. It has been already +remarked what rich presents they boast to have received from the +princes. The minstrel Kakshivat tells us that king Svanaya had presented +him with one hundred bars of gold, ten chariots with four horses each, a +hundred bulls and a thousand cows.[109] Other songs advise the princes +to place before them a pious suppliant at the sacrifice, and to reward +him liberally. These suppliants or priests were called _purohita_, +_i.e._ "men placed before." "He dwells happily in his house," we are +told; "to him the earth brings fruit at all times; to that king all +families willingly give way, who is preceded by the suppliant; that king +is protected by the gods, who liberally rewards the suppliant who seeks +food."[110] The invocations which have drawn down the gods and have +obtained an answer to the prayer of the sacrificer, are repeatedly used, +and handed down by the minstrel to his descendants. This explains the +fact that even in the Veda we find these families of minstrels; that +some of the hymns are said to spring from the ancestors of these races, +while others are mentioned as the new compositions of members of these +families; that the supposed ancestors are considered the first and +oldest minstrels and suppliants, and have already become mythical and +half-divine forms, of whom some kindled the first sacrificial fire, and +offered the first sacrifice with Manu, the progenitor of the Aryas. + +The hymns of the Veda make frequent mention of the dead. They are +invited to the sacrificial meal; they are said to sit at the fire; to +eat and drink the gifts set before them on the grass. Those who have +attained "life," are entreated to protect the invocations of their +descendants, to ward off the evil spirits, to give wealth to their +descendants. We know from a later period that daily libations were +offered "to the fathers," and special gifts were given at the new moon; +that a banquet of the dead was kept. In Iran also similar honours were +given to the spirits of the dead. Yama, who first experienced death, who +ascended from the depths of the earth to the summit of heaven, has +discovered the path for mortals (p. 31). He dwells with Varuna in the +third heaven, the heaven of light. To him, in this heaven of light, come +the heroes who are slain in battle, the pious who are distinguished by +sacrifices and knowledge, who have trodden the path of virtue, who have +observed justice and have been liberal, _i.e._ all those who have lived +a holy and pure life, and have thus purified their own bodies. In this +body of light they walk in the heaven of Yama. According to the +Mahabharata, the heroes and saints of ancient days shine in heaven in a +light of their own (chapter viii.). In the heaven of Yama is milk, +butter, honey, and soma, the drink of the gods, in large vats.[111] Here +the weak no longer pay tribute to the strong;[112] here those whom death +has separated are again united; here they live with Yama in feasting and +rejoicing. The souls of the wicked, on the other hand, fall into +darkness.[113] According to an old commentary on the Rigveda, the heaven +of Yama is in the South-east, one thousand days journey on horse from +the earth.[114] + +The Aryas buried their dead, a custom which was also observed in old +time among the Arians of Iran. A form of words, to be spoken at the +burial, which is preserved among the more recent hymns of the Veda, +shows that even at this period burial was practised. The bow was taken +from the hand of the dead; a sacrifice was offered, in which the widow +of the dead and the wives of the family took part, and during the +ceremony a stone was set up as a symbol between the dead and the living. +"Get thee gone, death, on thy way,"--such is this form of words--"which +lies apart from the way of the gods. Thou seest, thou canst hear what I +say to thee; injure not the children nor the men. I set this wall of +separation (the stone) for those that live, that no one may hasten to +that goal; they must cover death with this rock, and live a hundred +autumns. He comes to a length of years, free from the weakness of age. +The women here, who are wives not widows, glad in their husbands, +advance with sacrificial fat and butter, and without tears; cheerful, +and beautifully adorned, they climb the steps of the altar. Exalt +thyself, O woman, to the world of life. The breath of him, by whom thou +art sitting, is gone; the marriage with him who once took thy hand, and +desired thee, is completed. I take the bow out of the hand of the +dead--the symbol of honour, of courage, of lordship. We here and thou +there, we would with force and vigour drive back every enemy and every +onset. Approach to mother earth; she opens to receive thee kindly; may +she protect thee henceforth from destruction. Open, O earth; be not too +narrow for him; cover him like the mother who folds her son in her +garment. Henceforth thou hast thy house and thy prosperity here; may +Yama procure thee an abode there."[115] + +The Arians in Iran gave up the burial of their corpses, and exposed them +on the mountains; the Arians on the Indus burnt them. For some time +burial and cremation went on side by side in the valley of the Indus. +"May the fathers," we are told in an invocation, "have joy in our +offering whether they have undergone cremation or not."[116] In other +prayers Agni is entreated to do no harm to the dead, to make the body +ripe, to carry the "unborn" part into heaven where the righteous keep +festival with the gods; where Yama says: "I will give this home to the +man who comes hither if he is mine."[117] "Warm, O Agni," so we are told +in one of these prayers, "warm with thy glance and thy glow the immortal +part of him; bear it gently away to the world of the righteous. Let him +rejoin the fathers, for he drew near to thee with the libation of +sacrifice. May the Maruts carry thee upwards and bedew thee with rain. +May the wise Pushan (p. 47) lead thee hence, the shepherd of the world, +who never lost one of his flock. Pushan alone knows all those spaces; he +will lead us on a secure path. He will carefully go before as a lamp, a +complete hero, a giver of rich blessing. Enter, therefore, on the old +path on which our fathers have gone. Thou shalt see Varuna and Yama, +the two kings, the drinkers of libations. Go to the fathers; there abide +with Yama in the highest heaven, even as thou well deservest. On the +right path escape the two hounds--the brood of Sarama--of the four eyes. +Then proceed onward to the wise fathers who take delight in happy union +with Yama. Thou wilt find a home among the fathers; prosper among the +people of Yama. Surround him, Yama, with thy protection against the +hounds who watch for thee, the guardians of thy path, and give him +health and painless life. With wide nostrils, eager for men, with +blood-brown hair, Yama's two messengers go round among men. O that they +may again grant us the pleasant breath of life to-day, and that we may +see the sun!"[118] In other invocations of the Rigveda the object of the +prayer is "to reach to the imperishable, unchangeable world, where is +eternal light and splendour; to become immortal, where king Vaivasvata +(Yama) dwells, where is the sanctuary of heaven, where the great waters +flow, where is ambrosia (_amrita_) and peacefulness, joy and delight, +where wishes and desires are fulfilled."[119] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[49] Max Müller, "Hist. of Sanskrit Liter." p. 481 ff. Kaegi, "Rigveda," +1, 9 ff. + +[50] Roth, "Literatur des Veda," s. 120. + +[51] In the later hymns of the Rigveda, Angiras and Bhrigu are combined +with other sages and minstrels of old time into a septad of saints (10, +109, 4), and designated the great saints. They are, beside Bhrigu and +Angiras, Viçvamitra, Vasishtha, Kaçyapa, Atri, Agastya. The eight saints +from whom the eight tribes of the Brahman priests now in existence are +derived are: Jamadagni, Gautama, Bharadvaja, Viçvamitra, Vasishtha, +Kaçyapa, Atri, Agastya. Jamadagni is said to have sprung from Bhrigu; +Gautama and Bharadvaja from Angiras. + +[52] Muir, "Sanskrit texts," 3, 117 ff.; 121 ff. + +[53] A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 1. 88. + +[54] Muir, "Sanskrit texts," 1^2, 160 ff. + +[55] Kuhn in Weber, "Ind. Stud." 1. 202. The Çatapatha-Brahmana (Weber, +"Ind. Stud." 1. 161) tells us that Manu, when washing his hands in the +morning, took a fish in his hands, which said to him--"Spare me, and I +will save thee; a flood will wash away all creatures." The fish grew to +a monstrous size, and Manu brought him to the ocean; and it bid Manu +build a ship, and embark on the ocean. When the flood rose, the fish +swam beside the ship, and Manu attached it by a rope to the horn of the +fish. Thus the ship passed over the northern mountains. And the fish +told Manu that he had saved him, and bade him fasten the ship to a tree. +So Manu went up as the waters sank from the northern hills. The flood +carried away all creatures; Manu alone remained. Eager for posterity, +Manu offered sacrifice, and threw clarified butter, curdled milk, and +whey into the water. After a year a woman rose out of the water, with +clarified butter under her feet. Mitra and Varuna asked her whether she +was their daughter, but she replied that she was the daughter of Manu, +who had begotten her, and she went to Manu and told him that he had +begotten her by the sacrifice which he had thrown into the water. He was +to conduct her to the sacrifice, and he would then receive posterity and +herds. And Manu did so, and lived with her with sacrifice and strict +meditation, and through her began the posterity of Manu. Cf. M. Müller, +"Hist. of Sanskrit Liter." p. 425 ff. The later form of the Indian +legend of the flood is found in an episode of the Maha-bharata. Here the +fish appears to Manu when he is performing some expiatory rites on the +shore of a river. The fish grew so mighty that Manu was compelled to +bring it into the Ganges, and when it became too large for this into the +ocean. When swimming in the ocean the fish announced the flood, and bade +Manu and the seven saints (Rishis) ascend the ship, and take with them +all kinds of seeds. Then the fish drew the ship attached to his horn +through the ocean, and there was no more land to be seen; for several +years all was water and sky. At last the fish drew the ship to the +highest part of the Himavat, and with a smile bade the rishis bind the +ship to this, which to this day bears the name of Naubandhana +(ship-binding). Then the fish revealed himself to the seven saints as +Brahman, and commanded Manu to create all living creatures, gods, +Asuras, and men, and all things movable and immovable; which command +Manu performed. The legend overlooks the fact that the new creation was +unnecessary, as we have already been told that Manu brought seeds of +everything on board ship. The poems of the Rigveda present no trace of +the legend of the flood. It may have arisen in the land of the Ganges, +from the experience of the floods there, unless it is simply borrowed +from external sources. In any case it is of later date; the +Çatapatha-Brahmana is one of the later Brahmanas. Weber, "Ind. Stud." 9, +423; Kuhn, "Beiträge," 4, 288. I cannot follow De Gubernatis, "Letture," +p. 228, ff, _seqq._ + +[56] Kaegi, "Rigveda," 2, 58. + +[57] On the Bhrigus see A. Weber, "Z. D. M. G." 9, 240. Kuhn, +"Herabkunft," s. 21 ff. + +[58] On the Sarayu, which is mentioned, "Rigveda," 4, 30, 14, and 10, +64, 9, cf. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 644. + +[59] "Rigveda," 1, 126, 1; 8, 21, 18. + +[60] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 451, 456. + +[61] "Rigveda," 7, 18, 2; in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 455. + +[62] "Rigveda," 1, 28, 5; 6, 47, 29. + +[63] "Rigveda." 6, 75, in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 469, 471. + +[64] Roth, "Das lied des Arztes," "Rigveda," 10, 97. "Z. D. M. G." 1871, +645. + +[65] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 457, 461, 465. + +[66] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 463. + +[67] "Rigveda," 10, 21, 5. Above, p. 29. + +[68] "Rigveda," 1, 94, 7; 1, 140, 1. + +[69] "Samaveda," by Benfey, 2, 7, 2, 1. + +[70] "Samaveda," by Benfey, 1, 1, 2, 2; 1, 1, 1, 9. + +[71] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 212 ff. + +[72] Kuhn, "Herabkunft des Feuers," s. 23 ff., 36 ff., 70 ff. + +[73] Kaegi, "Rigveda," 1, 23. + +[74] The triple birth is explained differently in the poems of the +Rigveda and in the Brahmanas. + +[75] "Rigveda," 1, 36; cf. 1, 27, 58, 76. + +[76] _Divo napata_: "Rigveda," 1, 182, 1, 4. + +[77] "Rigveda," 1, 112, 116, 117, 118, 119, according to Roth's +rendering; cf. Benfey's translation, "Orient," 3, 147 ff. + +[78] "Rigveda," 1, 92; 1, 30; 4, 52; 10, 39, 12. + +[79] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 193 ff. + +[80] "Rigveda," 1, 49; 1, 92; 1, 2, 5; 1, 113, 19 in Benfey's rendering, +"Orient," 1, 404; 2, 257; 3, 155. The three skilful Ribhus, who are +frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, are assistants of the spirits of +light. They assist the gods to liberate the cows, which the spirits of +the night have fastened in the rock-stable, _i.e._ the bright clouds. + +[81] The spirits of light are called sons of Aditi, _i.e._ of the +Eternal, Unlimited, Infinite; seven or eight sons are ascribed to her; +Hillebrandt, "Die Göttin Aditi." Originally Aditi meant, in mythology, +merely the non-ending, the imperishable, in opposition to the perishable +world, and the gods are called the sons of immortality because they +cannot die. Darmesteter, "Haurvatat," p. 83. + +[82] "Rigveda," 1, 50, according to Sonne's translation in Kuhn, "Z. V. +Spr." 12, 267 ff.; cf. Benfey's rendering, "Orient," 1, 405. + +[83] "Rigveda," 1, 35, according to Roth's translation; cf. Benfey, +"Orient," 1, 53. + +[84] "Rigveda," 2, 38, according to Roth's translation, "Z. D. M. G." +1870, 306 ff. + +[85] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 171 ff. Kaegi, "Rigveda," 2, 43. + +[86] Kuhn, "Herabkunft des Feuers," s. 66. + +[87] "Rigveda," 1, 51, 5; 2, 12, 12. + +[88] "Rigveda," 1, 32, according to Roth's translation; cf. Benfey, +"Orient," 1, 46. + +[89] "Rigveda," 1, 11; 1, 121. + +[90] Indra is derived by Benfey from _syand_, "to flow," "to drop," in +which case we shall have to refer it to the rain-bringing power of the +god. Others have proposed a derivation from _idh_, _indh_, "to kindle;" +others from _indra_, "blue." In any case, Andra, the corresponding name +in the Rigveda, must not be left out of consideration. + +[91] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 144. + +[92] Roth, "Zwei Lieder des Rigveda, Z. D. M. G.," 1870, 301 ff. Muir, +_loc. cit._ 5, 147 ff. + +[93] "Rigveda," 4, 30; "Samaveda," Benfey, 1, 3, 2, 1. 1, 4, 1, 1. + +[94] "Samaveda," Benfey, _loc. cit._ + +[95] "Rigveda," 3, 59, in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 69. + +[96] "Rigveda," 1, 115, 1 in Benfey; "Orient," 3, 157; "Rigveda," 6, 51, +2; 7, 61, 1; 7, 63, 4; in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 157. + +[97] "Atharvaveda," 4, 16, according to M. Müller's translation +"Essays," 1, 40, 41. Cf. Roth, "Atharvaveda," 8. 19. + +[98] "Rigveda," 7, 86, 89, according to Müller's rendering, "Essays," 1, +38, 39; cf. Muir's translation, _loc. cit._ 5, 63 ff. [who reads "like +an inflated skin" for "like a cloud," etc.] + +[99] Windischmann, "Abh. der Münch. Akademie," 1847, s. 129. + +[100] "Samaveda," 1, 6, 2, 2; "Rigveda," 1, 2, 2; 1, 5, 5, and +elsewhere. + +[101] "Samaveda," Benfey, 1, 4, 1, 1; 5, 2, 4, 1, 15, and elsewhere. + +[102] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 98, ff. + +[103] "Samaveda," Benfey, 1, 3, 2, 4. + +[104] "Samaveda," 2, 8, 2, 6. + +[105] "Samaveda," 1, 4, 1, 2; 2, 9, 2, 9. + +[106] "Samaveda," 1, 6, 2, 1. + +[107] "Rigveda," 1, 32; "Samaveda," 1, 3, 2, 4. + +[108] "Rigveda," 5, 31, 10; 1, 63, 2; 2, 20, 8; 1, 54, 8. + +[109] "Rigveda," 1, 126, 2, 3. + +[110] "Rigveda," 4, 50, 8, 9. Roth, "Z. D. M. G.," 1, 77. Lassen, _loc. +cit._ 1^2, 951. + +[111] M. Müller, "Z. D. M. G.," 9, 16. These bright bodies of the +fathers led to the idea that the souls of the fathers had adorned the +heaven with stars, and that they were these stars. "Rigveda," 10, 68, +11. + +[112] "Atharvaveda," 3, 29, 3; in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 310. + +[113] Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 308, 309, 311. In the later portion of the +Rigveda, 10, 15, the old conception of the fathers is already changed. +Three classes of fathers are distinguished, and burning and non-burning +are mentioned side by side. + +[114] "Aitareya-Brahmana," 2, 17; in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 322. + +[115] "Rigveda," 10, 18; according to Roth's rendering, "Z. D. M. G.," +8, 468 ff. + +[116] "Rigveda," 10, 15, 14; in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 297. + +[117] "Atharvaveda," 18, 2, 37; in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 294. + +[118] M. Müller, "Die Todtenbestattung der Brahmanen," s. 14 ff. + +[119] "Rigveda," 9, 113, 7 ff. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CONQUEST OF THE LAND OF THE GANGES. + + +The life of the Aryas in the Panjab was manly and warlike. From the +songs of the Rigveda we saw how familiar they were with the bow and the +chariot, how frequent were the feuds between the princes, and the +prayers offered to the gods for victory. Such a life could, no doubt, +increase the pleasure in martial achievements, and lead to further +enterprises, even if the plains and pastures of the Panjab had not been +too narrow for the inhabitants. We remember the prayer in which the +war-god was invoked to grant the Arian tribes room against the +black-skins (p. 8). As a fact the Aryas extended their settlements to +the East beyond the Sarasvati; and as on the lower Indus the broad +deserts checked any progress towards the region of the Yamuna and the +Ganges, the advance from the Sarasvati to the Yamuna must have taken +place in the North along the spurs of the Himalayas. + +From the hymns of the Rigveda we can ascertain that the Arian tribes +pressed on each other, and that the tribes settled in the East were +pushed forward in that direction by tribes in the West. Ten tribes of +the Panjab, who appear to have occupied the region of the +Iravati,[120]--the Bharatas, Matsyas, Anus, and Druhyus, are specially +mentioned among them--united for a campaign against king Sudas, the son +of Divodasa, the descendant of Pijavana, who ruled over the Tritsus on +the Sarasvati. On the side of the united tribes was the priest +Viçvamitra of the race of the Kuçikas; on the side of the Tritsus the +family of Vasishtha.[121] The Bharatas, Matsyas, Anus, and Druhyus, must +have crossed the Vipaça and the Çatadru in order to attack the Tritsus. +The Rigveda mentions a prayer addressed by Viçvamitra to these two +streams. "Forth from the slopes of the mountains; full of desire, like +horses loosed in the course, like bright-coloured cows to their calves, +Vipaça and Çatadru hasten with their waves. Impelled by Indra, seeking +an outlet to the sea, ye roll onward like warriors in chariots of war: +in united course with swelling waves ye roll into each other, ye clear +ones. Listen joyfully to my pleasant speech, for a moment. O abounding +in waters, halt on your steps to the sea. With strong earnestness, +crying for help, I entreat you, I, the son of Kuçika. Listen to the +minstrel, ye sisters; he has come from far with horse and chariot. +Incline yourselves, that ye may be crossed; your waves, ye streams, +must not reach the axles. When the Bharatas have crossed you, the +mounted host, goaded by Indra, then run on in your renewed course." +After the two rivers were crossed a battle took place. Viçvamitra +uttered the prayer for the Bharatas: "Indra, approach us with manifold +choice help; great hero, be friendly. May he who hates us fall at our +feet; may he whom we hate, be deserted by the breath of life. As the +tree falls beneath the axe, as a man breaks asunder a husk, as a boiling +kettle throws off the foam, so deal thou, O Indra, with them. These sons +of Bharata, O Indra, know the battle. They spur their horses; they carry +the strong bow like an eternal enemy, looking round in the battle."[122] + +In spite of the prayer of Viçvamitra the Bharatas and their confederates +were defeated; Sudas was even able to invade their land, to capture and +plunder several places. The song of victory of the Tritsus, which a +minstrel of Sudas may have composed after their success, runs thus: "Two +hundred cows, two chariots with women, allotted as booty to Sudas, I +step round with praises, as the priests step round the place of +sacrifice. To Sudas Indra gave the flourishing race of his enemies, the +vain boasters among men. Even with poor men Indra has done marvellous +deeds; by the weak he has struck down the lion-like. With a needle Indra +has broken spears; all kinds of good things he has given to Sudas. Ten +kings, holding themselves invincible in battle, could not strive against +Sudas, Indra, and Varuna; the song of them who brought food-offerings +was effectual. Where men meet with raised banner in the battle-field, +where evil of every kind happens, where all creatures are afraid, there +have ye, Indra and Varuna, spoken (words of) courage above us, as we +looked upwards. The Tritsus in whose ranks Indra entered went onward +like downward streaming water: their enemies, like hucksters when +dealing, leave all their goods to Sudas. As Sudas laid low twenty-one +enemies in glorious strife, as the sacrificer strews holy grass on the +place of sacrifice, so did Indra the hero pour out the winds. Sixty +hundred of the mounted Anus and Druhyus perished; sixty and six heroes +fell before the righteous Sudas. These are the heroic deeds, all of +which Indra has done. Without delay, Indra destroyed all the fortresses +of the enemy, and divided the goods of the Anus in battle to the +Tritsus. The four horses of Sudas, the coursers worthy of praise, richly +adorned, stamping the ground, will bring race against race to glory. Ye +strong Maruts, be gracious to him as to his father Divodasa, preserve to +him the house of Pijavana, and let the power of the righteous king +continue uninjured." In another song of the Rigveda the glory of this +victory of king Sudas is especially ascribed to Vasishtha and his sons +"in white robes with the knot on the right side" (p. 29). They were seen +surrounded in the battle of the ten kings, then Indra heard Vasishtha's +song of praise, and the Bharatas were broken like the staffs of the +ox-driver. The Vasishthas had brought the mighty Indra from far by their +soma-offering, by the power of their prayer; then had Indra given glory +to the Tritsus, and their tribes had extended.[123] + +The extension of the Aryas in the rich plains of the Yamuna and the +Ganges must in the first place have followed the course of the former +river towards the south, and then reached over the land between the two +rivers, until the immigrants arrived further and further to the east on +the banks of the Ganges. We have no historical information about the +facts of these migrations and conquests, of the occupation of the +valleys of the Yamuna, the upper and middle Ganges; we can only +ascertain that the valley of the Yamuna, and the doab of the two rivers +were first occupied and most thickly colonised. It is not till we come +lower down the course of the Ganges, that we find a large number of the +old population in a position of subjection to the Arian settlers. +Lastly, as we learn from the Indian Epos, the Aryas had not merely to +contend against the old population at the time of their settlement; nor +did they merely press upon one another, while those who came last sought +to push forward the early immigrants, as we concluded to be the case +from the hymns quoted from the Rigveda; they also engaged in conflicts +among themselves for the possession of the best land between the Yamuna +and the Ganges. In these struggles the tribes of the immigrants became +amalgamated into large communities or nations, and the successful +leaders found themselves at the head of important states. The conquest +and colonisation of such large regions, the limitation and arrangement +of the new states founded in them, could only be accomplished in a long +space of time. According to the Epos and the Puranas, _i.e._ the very +late and untrustworthy collections of Indian legends and traditions, it +was after a great war among the Aryas in the doab of the Yamuna and +Ganges, in which the family of Pandu obtained the crown of the Bharatas +on the upper Ganges, that the commotion ceased, and the newly founded +states enjoyed a state of peace. In the Rigveda, the Bharatas are to the +west of the Vipaça, in the Epos we find them dwelling on the upper +Ganges; on the Yamuna are settled the nations of the Matsyas, and the +Yadavas; between the upper Yamuna and the Ganges are the Panchalas, +_i.e._ the five tribes; eastward of the Bharatas on the Sarayu, down to +the Ganges, are the Koçalas. Still further to the east and north of the +Ganges are the Videhas; on the Ganges itself are the Kaçis and the +Angas, and to the south of the Ganges the Magadhas. + +Are we in a position to fix even approximately the period at which the +settlement of the Aryas in the valley of the Ganges took place, and the +struggles connected with this movement came to an end? The law-book of +the Indians tells us that the world has gone through four ages; the age +of perfection, _Kritayuga_; the age of the three fires of sacrifice, +_i.e._ of the complete observance of all sacred duties, _Tritayuga_; the +age of doubt, _Dvaparayuga_, in which the knowledge of divine things +became obscured; and lastly the age of sin, the present age of the +world, _Kaliyuga_. Between the end of one period and the beginning of +the next there came in each case a period of dimness and twilight. If +this period is reckoned in, the first age lasted 4800 divine years, or +1,728,000 human years; the life of men in this age reached 400 years. +The second age lasted 3600 divine years, or 1,296,000 human years, and +life reached 300 years. The third age lasted 2400 divine years, or +864,000 human years, and men only lived to the age of 200 years. The +present age will last 1200 divine years, or 432,000 human years, and men +will never live beyond the age of 100 years.[124] This scheme is +obviously an invention intended to represent the decline of the better +world and the increase of evil, in proportion to the distance from the +divine origin. In the matter of numbers the Indians are always inclined +to reckon with large figures, and nothing is gained by setting forth the +calculations in greater detail. From the Rigveda it is clear that the +year of the Indians contained 360 days in twelve months of 30 days. In +order to bring this year into accordance with the natural time, a month +of thirty days was inserted in each fifth year as a thirteenth month +although the actual excess in five years only amounted to 26-1/4 days. +Twelve of these cycles of five years were then united into a period of +60 years, _i.e._ 12 x 5, and both the smaller and the larger periods +were called _Yuga_.[125] On this analogy the world-periods were formed. +By multiplying the age of sin by ten we get the whole duration of the +world; the perfect age is four times as long as the age of sin.[126] A +year with the gods is as long as a day with men; hence a divine year +contains 360 years of men, and the world-period, _i.e._ the great +world-year, is completed in 12 cycles each of 1000 divine years, _i.e._ +360,000 human years. In the first age, the age of perfection, Yama and +Manu walked and lived on earth with their half-divine companions (p. +30); in the age of the three fires of sacrifice, _i.e._ of the strict +fulfilment of sacred duties, lived Pururavas, who kindled the triple +sacrificial fire,[127] and the great sacrificers or minstrels, the seven +or ten Rishis (p. 29 _n._ 2); the period of darkness and doubt was the +age of the great heroes. With the priests who invented this system of +ages the period of the great heroes was naturally placed lower than that +of the great sacrificers and saints. The historical value attaching to +this scheme lies in the fact that the Epos places the great war of the +Pandus and Kurus in the period of transition between the age of doubt +and the age of evil, in the twilight of the Kaliyuga, and the Puranas in +consequence make the beginning of the reign of the first Pandu over the +Bharatas after the great war, the accession of Parikshit, coincide with +the commencement of the Kaliyuga.[128] Now according to the date of the +Puranas the Kaliyuga begins in the year 3102 B.C. On this calculation +the great movement towards the east and in the east came to an end about +this time. + +That the Indians once contented themselves with smaller numbers in +fixing the ages than those which we find in the book of the law and the +Puranas, we may conclude from the statements of the Greek Megasthenes, +who drew up his account at the court of Chandragupta (Sandrakottos) of +Magadha at the end of the fourth century B.C. This author tells us that +in ancient times the Indians were nomads, clothed in the skins of +animals, and eating raw flesh, till Dionysus came to them and taught +them the tillage of the field, the care of vines, and the worship of the +gods. On leaving India he made Spatembas king, who reigned 52 years; +after him his son Budyas reigned for 20 years, who was in turn succeeded +by his son Kradeuas, and so the sceptre descended from father to son; +but if a king died without children the Indians selected the best man to +be king. From Dionysus to Sandrakottos the Indians calculated 153 kings, +and 6402 years. In this period the line had been broken three times; the +second interruption lasted 300 years, the third 120 years.[129] What +particular rite among the Indians caused the Greeks to represent +Dionysus as visiting India and to make him the founder of Indian +civilisation, will become clear further on. Putting this aside, the +account of Megasthenes of the triple break in the series of kings shows +that the system of the four ages was in vogue among the Indians even at +that time. If Megasthenes speaks of a single line of Indian kings ruling +over the whole of India from the very beginning, the reason is obviously +that he transfers to the past the condition in which India was at the +time when he abode on the Ganges. Chandragupta did what had never been +done before; he united under his dominion all the regions of India from +the Panjab to the mouth of the Ganges, from the Himalayas to the +Vindhyas. But the close of this series of kings at which Sandrakottos is +himself placed shows us plainly that the royal line of Megasthenes is no +other than the royal line of Magadha. The Puranas of the Indians also +carry back the line of Magadha to the ancient heroes, and through them +to the progenitors of the nation. Spatembas, with whom the series of +Indian kings commences in Megasthenes, may be the Manu Svayambhuva whom +the cosmogonic systems of the priests had meanwhile placed before Manu +Vaivasvata, the son of Vivasvat. Budyas the successor of Spatembas may +have been the Budha of the Indians who is with them the father of +Pururavas, the kindler of the triple fire of sacrifice: and Pururavas +himself may be concealed under the Kradeuas of the manuscripts, which +is possibly Prareuas, the Grecised form of the Indian name. However this +may be, the statements of Megasthenes present us with far smaller and +more intelligible numbers for the periods of Indian history than those +obtained from Manu's book of the law and the Puranas.[130] + +The year in which Chandragupta conquered Palibothra, and so ascended the +throne of Magadha, can be fixed with accuracy from the accounts of +western writers. It was the year 315 B.C. As 6042 years are supposed to +elapse between Spatembas and the accession of Sandrakottos, Spatembas +must have begun to reign over the Indians in the year 6717 B.C. But this +date it is impossible to maintain. In the first place it is impossible +that 153 reigns should have filled up a space of 6400 years. This would +allow each king a reign of 42 years, or of about 38 years if we deduct +600 years for the three interruptions in the series. Moreover, the +Indian lists of kings, at any rate as we now find them in the Epos and +in the Puranas, present a smaller total of kings than 153, whether they +come down to Chandragupta himself, or to his age. From Chandragupta to +Brihadratha, the supposed founder of the race, the lists of the kings of +Magadha give 53 kings according to the lesser total and 64 according to +the larger. If to these lists we add the rulers who unite the kings of +Magadha to the family of Kuru, and those who carry back the family of +Kuru to Manu, we are still able to add no more than 28 or 38 kings +according as we take the shorter or longer lists. Hence in these lists, +instead of 153 kings, we get at most only 100, as reigning before +Chandragupta. The list given in the Vishnu Purana for the kings of the +Koçalas is somewhat longer; it enumerates 116 kings from Manu to +Prasenajit, whose reign fills the interval between 600 and 550 B.C. If +we add 10 or 14 reigns for the period between Prasenajit and the +accession of Chandragupta, the longest of the lists preserved by the +Indians would still only present 130 reigns before the time of +Chandragupta.[131] + +It is not clear from the account of Megasthenes, or at any rate from the +excerpts which have come down to us, what was the extent of the period +which elapsed between the last interruption in the list of kings and +Sandrakottos. Hence we are not in a position to ascertain the duration +of the fourth age, or Kaliyuga, as it was fixed among the Indians in his +time; we must therefore have recourse to other proofs in order to +discover whether the year given in the Puranas, 3102 B.C., may be taken +for the commencement of a new period, _i.e._ the post-epic, or historic, +in the valley of the Ganges. The fixed point from which we must start is +the year of the accession of Sandrakottos, a date rendered certain by +the accounts of the Greeks. In the period before this date, the lists of +the Brahmans taken together with the lists of Buddhists carry back the +series of the kings of Magadha, which was the most important kingdom on +the Ganges long before Sandrakottos, with tolerable certainty as far as +the year 803 B.C., _i.e._ to the beginning of the sway of the dynasty +of the Pradyotas over Magadha.[132] + +Can we ascend beyond this point? According to the Puranas, the race of +the Barhadrathas had ruled over Magadha before the Pradyotas, from +Somapi to Ripunjaya, the last of the family, and their sway had +continued 1000 years. Of this family the Vayu-Purana enumerates 21 +kings, and the Matsya-Purana 32 kings. This domination of a thousand +years is obviously a round, cyclic sum: and both in the Vayu-Purana and +the Matsya-Purana the total of the reigns given for the several rulers +of this dynasty falls below the sum of 1000 years. If we take 25 years, +the highest possible average for each reign, 21 reigns or 525 years will +only bring us to the year 1328 B.C. (803 + 525). At this date, then, the +Barhadrathas may have begun to reign over Magadha. If, on the other +hand, we keep 32 as the number of these kings, and an average of only 15 +years is allotted to the several reigns--an average usually correct in +long lists of reigns in the East--we arrive at 1283 B.C. as the date of +the beginning of the reign of the Barhadrathas (803 + 480). To this +date, or near it, we come, if we test the lists of kings supplied by the +Puranas for the series of the kings of the Koçalas and the Bharatas in +the land of the Ganges. The time at which Prasenajit was king of the +Koçalas can be fixed at the first half of the sixth century B.C. (see +below). Before him the Vishnu-Purana gives a series of 23 kings down to +the close of the great war. Twenty-three reigns, allowing an average of +25 years for each, carry us 575 years beyond the commencement of +Prasenajit, _i.e._ up to 1175 B.C. (600 + 575). In the list of the +rulers of Hastinapura, for which throne the great war was waged, +Çatanika appears as the twenty-fourth successor of Parikshit, to whom, +as we found, this throne fell, after the conclusion of the great war. As +Çatanika died about the year 600 B.C. (cf. Book VI. chap, i.), 24 reigns +of 25 years before him would bring us to the year 1200 B.C. as the +beginning of the year of Parikshit. The statement of the Puranas that he +ascended the throne in the year 3102 B.C. and that the Kaliyuga began +with that year cannot therefore be maintained. And this date is +contradicted not only by the results of an examination of the lists of +the kings of Magadha, of the Koçalas and Bharatas, but also by a +statement in the Vishnu-Purana. This tells us that, from the beginning +of the Kaliyuga to the date when the first Nanda ascended the throne of +Magadha, a period of 1015 years elapsed.[133] The accession of this king +we can place with tolerable certainty in the year 403 B.C.; and thus, +even on the evidence of the Vishnu-Purana, the Kaliyuga began in the +year 1418 B.C., and Parikshit ascended the throne of the Bharatas in +that year. It is not impossible, therefore, that the 32 reigns which the +Matsya-Purana gives to the Barhadrathas may have filled up the time from +the year 1418 to the year 803 B.C. (615 years).[134] Before the first +Barhadrathas, Sahadeva, Jarasandha, and Brihadratha are said to have +reigned over Magadha. Hence the foundation of the kingdom of Magadha +would have to be placed, at the earliest, in the year 1480 B.C., and not +earlier; but rather, if we follow the comparison of the parallel reigns +as above, a century later. If the great movement towards the east and in +the east was brought to an end at the accession of Parikshit and the +commencement of the Kaliyuga in the year 1418 B.C., and thus in the +course of the fifteenth or fourteenth century the foundation could be +laid for the kingdom of Magadha, _i.e._ for a great civic community far +to the east, the migration into the regions of the Yamuna and the upper +Ganges must have commenced at the least about the year 1500 B.C. We have +already referred to the fact that the colonisation of such extensive +districts, the foundation and fortification of large kingdoms in them, +which was moreover rendered still more difficult by severe contests +among the immigrants, could not have been the work of a few decades of +years. + +If the immigration of the Aryas into the land of the Ganges took place +about 1500 B.C. we should have a point whereby to fix the time at which +the hymns of the Veda were composed, for in them, as has been already +remarked, the Ganges is rarely mentioned. The great number of the hymns +must therefore have received the form in which they were retained and +handed down by the families of minstrels before the year 1500 B.C. The +period of migration brought with it more serious and earnest tasks than +had occupied the Aryas in the Panjab. The struggles against the old +population, the wars of the newly-established states with one another, +claimed the whole power of the emigrants. Hence the duties of the +sacrificial songs or of hymns of thanksgiving were thrown into the +background by the imperative necessities of the moment. Men were +contented with the invocations of the gods which lived in the memory of +the minstrel-families, and had been brought from the ancient home. The +minstrels also, who led the emigrant princes and tribes, naturally gave +their attention to songs of war and victory--songs of which the fragment +preserved from the wars of the Bharatas against the Tritsus is an +example (p. 67). When at length the period of emigration, of settlement, +and struggle was over, with the advent of more peaceful times, the +excitement of the moment gave place to reflection and to the remembrance +of the great deeds of the ancestors. The inspired flights, the pressure +of immediate feeling which had prompted the songs before the battle and +after the victory, were followed by a more peaceful and narrative tone. +Hence grew up a series of songs of the marvels and deeds of the heroes +who had conquered the land in the Yamuna and Ganges, and had founded +states and cities there. As the heroes and events thus celebrated passed +into the background, as the intervening periods became wider, the +greater was the tendency of this mass of song to gather round a few +great names and incidents. The less prominent forms and struggles +disappeared, and in the centuries which followed the strain of +settlement and establishment an artificial culture of this warlike +minstrelsy united the whole recollections of the heroic times into the +narrative of the great war, the Mahabharata. + +If we could present to ourselves this Epos of the Indians in the form +which it may have assumed two or three centuries after the close of the +great migrations and struggles, _i.e._ about the eleventh century B.C., +it would still be a valuable source of historical knowledge. We could +not indeed have taken the occurrences described in it as historical +facts, without criticism, but we should have possessed a tradition of +which the outline would have been approximately correct, and a +description of manners historically true for the period when the poems +arose and were thrown into shape--though untrue for the period depicted +in the poem--after deducting what was due to the idealism of the poet. +Unfortunately, repeated revisions and alterations have almost effaced +the original lines; each new stage of civilisation attained by the +Indians has eagerly sought to infuse its ideas and conceptions into the +national tradition; older and later elements lie side by side often +without any attempt at reconciliation, sometimes in direct opposition. +The original warlike character of the poetry is forced into the +background by the priestly point of view of a later age. In the poems in +their present form there is none of that freshness of feeling and +impression which is so vividly expressed in the prayers of the priests +of the Bharatas, and the songs of the Tritsus; there is no immediate +recollection at work. The effort to comprise all the stories and legends +of the nation into a whole, to bring forward in these poems, as in a +pattern and mirror of virtue, every lesson of religion and morals, and +unite them into one great body of doctrine, has swelled the Indian Epos +into a heavy and enormous mass, an encyclopædia, in which it is not +possible without great labour to discover the connecting links of the +narrative in the endless chaos of interpolations and episodes, the +varying accounts of one and the same event. The Epos has thus become a +tangle in which we cannot discover the original threads. It received its +present form in the last centuries B.C.[135] + +In the poem of the great war once waged by the kings of the Aryas on the +Yamuna and the upper Ganges the Tritsus are no longer found on the +Sarasvati or the Yamuna. The enemies at this period are the Matsyas and +the Bharatas, the former on the Yamuna, the latter further to the east +on the upper Ganges. The Tritsus have been forced further to the east, +and have become lost among the Koçalas, who are situated on the Sarayu, +or have taken that name; at any rate, the name of Sudas appears in the +genealogical table of the rulers of the Koçalas, and in the Ramayana, as +in other traditions, Vasishtha, who (or whose family) then gained +victory by his prayers for Sudas, is the wisest priest among the +Koçalas.[136] Hence we may conclude that at a later time the Bharatas +were more fortunate in their advance to the east. The struggle for their +country and throne is the central point in the poem. According to the +Mahabharata the rulers of the Bharatas spring from Manu. With Ila, the +daughter of Manu, Budha the son of the moon, begot the 'pious' +Pururavas, _i.e._ the far-famed. Pururavas is succeeded by Ayus, +Nahusha, and Yayati. From Yayati's elder sons, Anu, Druhyu, Yadu, spring +the Anus, the Drahyus, and the Yadavas,[137] of whom we already have the +two first as confederates of the Bharatas.[138] Yayati was followed on +the throne by his youngest son Puru. Dushyanta, one of the successors of +Puru, married Çakuntala, the daughter of the priest Viçvamitra. To him +she bore Bharata, who reduced all nations, and was lord of the whole +earth. After Bharata, Bhumanyu, Suhotra, Ajamidha, and Samvarana, +occupied the throne of Hastinapura, the chief city of the kingdom on the +upper Ganges.[139] In Samvarana's reign the kingdom was attacked by +droughts, famine, and pestilence; and the king of the Panchalas advanced +with a mighty host, and conquered Samvarana in the battle, who fled with +his wife Tapati, his children and dependants, to the west, and took up +his abode in a forest hut in the neighbourhood of the Indus. There the +Bharatas lived for a long time, protected by the impenetrable country. +Afterwards Samvarana reconquered the glorious city which he had +previously inhabited, and Tapati bore him Kuru, whom the nation chose to +be king. Kuru was succeeded on the throne of Hastinapura by Viduratha, +Anaçvan, Parikshit, Pratiçravas, Pratipa and Çantanu. + +The names which the poem places at the head of the genealogical tree of +the rulers of the Bharatas are taken from the Veda. Yayati, like +Pururavas, is commended in the Rigveda as a sacrificer. The name of +Yayati's son, Puru, is borrowed from a name which in the Veda designates +the Bharatas, who in these poems are variously called Purus and +Bharatas.[140] The tribes of the Anus, and the Druhyus, whom the Rigveda +presented to us as confederates of the Bharatas, are in the Epos united +with them by their ancestors. We have become acquainted with Viçvamitra +as a priest and minstrel of the Bharatas, when they crossed the Vipaça +against the Tritsus. In the Epos a descendant of Puru begets Bharata, +_i.e._ the second eponymous hero of the tribe, with the daughter of +Viçvamitra. In order to glorify the position of this priest, and secure +his blessing for the royal race of the Puru-Bharatas, he becomes, in the +Epos, by his daughter, the progenitor of king Bharata, to whom at the +same time is ascribed the dominion over the whole earth. Thus far, it is +obvious, the Epos goes to work upon the names of the tribes, and changes +them into the names of heroes or kings. Apart from any poetical +exaggeration, the wide dominion of the mythical king Bharata is, no +doubt, an anticipation of the predominance to which the Bharatas +attained at a later time on the upper Ganges. At any rate, according to +the Epos, Samvarana, the descendant of Bharata, was compelled to return +once more to the Indus, and there take up his abode for a long time. The +statement that it is the Panchalas who conquer Samvarana is no doubt an +invention based on the attitude of the Panchalas towards the Bharatas in +the great war (p. 88). With Kuru, the successor of Samvarana, it is +obvious that a new dynasty begins to reign over the Bharatas. This is +obviously the first dynasty, whose achievements were widely felt, to +which the Epic poetry could attach itself. Owing to his justice, Kuru is +chosen by the nation of the Bharatas to be their king; this, of itself, +is evidence of a new beginning. But Kuru is also said to be of divine +origin, like Pururavas, the progenitor of his supposed ancestors. +Pururavas is the child of the son of the moon and the daughter of Manu; +Kuru is the child of Samvarana and the sister of Manu, the daughter of +the god of light. Manu was the son of Vivasvat (p. 30); Tapati, the +mother of Kuru, is the daughter of Vivasvat.[141] The name Kurukshetra, +_i.e._ land or kingdom of Kuru, which adheres to the region between the +Drishadvati and the Yamuna, is evidence that the Bharatas, under the +guidance of the kings descended from Kuru, first conquered this region +and settled in it. When they had been there long enough to give to the +country as a lasting name a title derived from their kings, they +extended their settlements from the Yamuna further to the north-east. +Here, on the upper Ganges, Hastinapura became the abode of their kings +of the stock of Kuru, whose name now passed over to the people, so that +the Bharatas, who, in the Veda, are called Purus and Bharatas, are now +called Kurus after their royal family. With the Bharatas, or soon after +them, other Arian tribes advance to the Yamuna; here we meet in the Epos +the tribes which, according to the Rigveda, once fought with the +Bharatas against the Tritsus, the Matsyas, and the Yadavas, the latter +lower down on the Yamuna. Hence we may conclude with tolerable certainty +that the Bharatas, under the guidance of the Kurus, succeeded in driving +further to the east the tribes which had previously emigrated in that +direction--the Tritsus (_i.e._ the Koçalas), Angas, Videhas, and +Magadhas (as they were afterwards called), and that it was the family of +the Kurus who established the first extensive dominion among the Indians +on the upper Ganges. It is the struggles of the tribes, who once in part +united with the Bharatas, and followed them into the valley of Yamuna, +against the kingdom of the Kurus which are described in the Mahabharata. + +Çantanu, the descendant of Kuru, had a son Bhishma, so we are told in +this poem. When Çantanu was old he wished to marry a young wife, +Satyavati; but her parents refused their consent, because the sons of +their daughter could not inherit the throne. Then Bhishma vowed never to +marry, and to give up his claim to the throne. Satyavati became the wife +of Çantanu, and bore him two sons. The oldest of these Bhishma placed, +after Çantanu's death, on the throne, and, when he fell in war, he +placed the younger son, Vijitravirya, to whom he married two daughters +of the king of the Kaçis, a people situated on the Ganges (in the +neighbourhood of Varanasi or Benares). But the king died without +children. Anxious that the race of Kuru should not die out, Satyavati +bade the wise priest Vyasa, the son of her love, whom she had borne +before her marriage with Çantanu, raise up children to the two widows of +Vijitravirya. When the first widow saw the holy man approach by the +light of the lamp, with knots in his hair, with flashing eyes, and bushy +brows, she trembled and closed her eyes. The second widow became pale +with fear; and so it befell that the son of the first, Dhritarashtra, +was born blind, and the son of the second, Pandu, was a pale man. +Bhishma took both under his care. He married Dhritarashtra to Gandhari, +the daughter of the king of the Gandharas, on the Indus; for Pandu he +chose the daughter of a prince of the Bodshas, Kunti; and with gold and +precious stones, Bhishma also purchased for him a second wife, Madri, +the sister of the prince of the Madras. As Dhritarashtra was blind, +Bhishma made Pandu king of Hastinapura, and he became a mighty warrior; +under him the kingdom was as powerful as under Bharata. But he loved +hunting even more than war. He went with his wives to the Himalayas in +order to hunt, and there he died at an early age. The blind +Dhritarashtra now reigned over the Bharatas. His wife Gandhari had first +borne him Duryodhana and then ninety-nine sons; but on the same day on +which Duryodhana saw the light Kunti had borne Yudhishthira to Pandu, +and after him Arjuna and Bhima. Madri bore twins to Pandu, Nakula and +Sahadeva. With these five sons Kunti returned to Hastinapura after +Pandu's death. Dhritarashtra received them into the palace, and they +became strong and brave, and showed their power and skill in arms at a +great tournament, which Dhritarashtra caused to be held at Hastinapura. +The martial skill exhibited in this tournament by the sons of Pandu, and +a victory which they obtained against the Panchalas, who had defeated +Duryodhana, induced Dhritarashtra to fix on Yudhishthira as his +successor. But Duryodhana would not allow the throne to be taken from +him. At his instigation Dhritarashtra removed the sons of Pandu from +Hastinapura to Varanavata at the confluence of the Yamuna and the +Ganges. Even here Duryodhana's hatred pursued them; he caused their +house to be set on fire, so that they with difficulty escaped from the +flames. They fled into the wilderness. As they wandered up and down, +they heard that Drupada, the king of the Panchalas, against whom they +had fought for Dhritarashtra, had made proclamation, that whosoever +could bend his great bow and hit the mark, should win his daughter. In +vain did all kings and heroes try their strength on this bow, till +Arjuna came. He strung the bow, hit the mark, and so won the king's +daughter to wife--whom he shared with his four brothers. When the Kurus +discovered that the sons of Pandu were alive and had become the +sons-in-law of the king of the Panchalas, they were afraid, and in order +to avoid a war between the Panchalas and Bharatas, Dhritarashtra divided +his kingdom with the sons of Pandu. As Dhritarashtra's royal abode was +at Hastinapura, on the Ganges, the sons of Pandu founded the city of +Indraprashtha in their portion of the kingdom (it lay to the south-west +of Hastinapura on the Yamuna), conquered the surrounding people, and +amassed great wealth in their new city, so that Yudhishthira offered the +great royal sacrifice. This aroused the envy and anxiety of Duryodhana. +He caused the sons of Pandu to be invited to Hastinapura to a game of +dice. As Çakuni, the brother of his mother Gandhari, was very skilful in +throwing the dice and always won, Duryodhana hoped to be able to gain +back his kingdom from Yudishthira. The sons of Pandu came. Yudishthira +lost his kingdom and his goods, his slaves, himself, and finally he lost +Draupadi. Duryodhana bade the latter, as a slave, sweep the room; and +when she refused, Dushana, one of his brothers, dragged her by her long +black hair. Then the blind Dhritarashtra came, and said that his sons +had done wrong; the Pandus should return into their kingdom and forget +what had happened on this day. When they returned home, Duryodhana +induced his father to allow a second game of dice against the Pandus, as +he and his brothers were not allowed to take up arms against them; the +defeated party was to go into banishment for twelve years. This was +done, and Çakuni, who again threw the dice for Duryodhana, was once more +victorious. For twelve years the Pandus wandered with Draupadi into the +desert, and lived by the chase. In the thirteenth they went in disguise +to Virata the king of the Matsyas, and became his servants. Yudishthira +was his instructor in the game of dice; Arjuna, clothed as a eunuch, +taught dancing and music in the women's apartment; Bhima was cook; +Nakula and Sahadeva were overseers of the horses and cattle; Draupadi +was the queen's maid. When Duryodhana invaded the land of the Matsyas +and lifted their cattle, Arjuna recovered the booty, and in reward, when +the Pandus had made themselves known, he received the king's daughter as +a wife for his son Abhimanyu. On the day after the marriage a +consultation was held how the Pandus could recover their sovereignty, as +the time of exile was now over. An embassy was sent to Hastinapura to +demand the part of the kingdom possessed by the Pandus. Through +Duryodhana's efforts the request was refused. The Pandus and Kurus +prepared for war. + +The armies met in the plain of Kurukshetra, in the ancient territory of +the Kuru-Bharatas, between the Drishadvati and the Yamuna. The Bharatas +were led by the aged Bhishma, Çantanu's eldest son, with whom was +associated his grand-nephew Duryodhana, the oldest son of Dhritarashtra +and the bitter foe of his cousins. With the Bharatas were the Çurasenas, +whom we afterwards find on the Yamuna, the Madras, the Koçalas, the +Videhas and the Angas--who were situated on the eastern affluents of the +Ganges, and the northern bank of the river. The Pandus were supported by +the Matsyas, the king of the Panchalas, Drupada, with his young son +Çikhandin, and his people, the Kaçis from the Ganges, and Krishna, a +hero of the Yadavas, with a part of his people; the remainder fought for +the Kurus. In front of the army of the Pandus were seen the five +brothers on their chariots of war, from which waved their standards. +Before the banner of Yudishthira, who stood upon his chariot, slim of +shape, in garments of yellow and gold, with a nose like the flower of +Prachandala, the two drums sounded; beside him was the long-armed Bhima, +holding in his hand his iron club adorned with gold, with dark glance +and knitted brows. The third was the bearer of the great bow, Arjuna, +with an ape on his banner, the steadfast hero of men, who reverenced the +men of old, the destroyer of the troops of the enemy, who banished the +fears of the fearful. Last were seen Nakula who fought with the sword, +and Sahadeva. Opposite them Bhishma's banner waved from his chariot on a +golden palm-stem; it displayed five silver stars. When the armies +approached each other Bhishma cried with a voice of thunder to his +warriors: "To-day the gates of heaven are opened for the brave; go ye +the way which your fathers and ancestors have gone to heaven, by falling +gloriously. Would ye rather end life on a sick-bed in pain? Only in the +field may the Kshatriya (warrior) fall." Then he seized the great +gold-adorned shell and blew for onset. As the sea surges to and fro in a +storm when driven by roaring winds, the armies dashed upon each other; +from afar the ravens screamed and the wolves howled, announcing a great +slaughter, and heaps of carcasses. The heroes fight against the hostile +heroes; rarely do they spring down from their chariots, and scatter the +"heads of the foot soldiers like seed." The princes mutually cover each +other with clouds of arrows; they shoot down the hostile charioteers, so +that the horses rage uncontrolled hither and thither in the battle; if +the elephants are driven against the chariots in order to overthrow +them, the riders shoot them like "peacocks from trees," or they seize +the great swords and hew off their trunks, at the root, close by the +tusks, so that "the harnessed elephants" raise a great roar. In their +turn they tear the warriors from their chariots; they press on +irresistibly through the ranks of the warriors, like streams "leaping +from rock to rock;" they check the advance of the enemy "as rocks beat +back the waves of the sea." Covered with arrows they drop blood, till, +deeply wounded in the head and neck, they fall to the ground, or turn +raging on their own army. When the heroes have shot forth their arrows, +their bows broken, the missiles driven through their coats of mail, so +that the warriors "blossom like rose-trees," they leap down from their +chariots, seize their great painted shields of hide, raise aloft their +war-clubs and rush like buffalo-bulls upon each other. At one time in +attack, at another in defence, they circle round each other, and spy out +a moment to give a deadly blow. If the shields are destroyed and the +clubs broken, they rush like "maddened tigers" to wrestle and fight hand +to hand, till one sinks to earth pouring out blood, like a tree of which +the root has been hewn through. + +Thus, for nine days, the contest went on between the two armies. The +army of the Kurus had the advantage; no one ventured to meet the aged +Bhishma. Then Krishna, the driver of Arjuna, advised him to mount the +chariot of Çikhandin, the young son of Drupada, the prince of the +Panchalas, on the following morning and to put on his armour. The aged +Bhishma would not fight against Çikhandin; he held it beneath him to +fight against children. When he saw Arjuna approach him with the ensigns +of Çikhandin, and in his armour, he cried out, "Attack me as you will, +I will not fight with you." Then Arjuna laid the smooth arrows of reed, +furnished with feathers from the heron and points of iron, on the string +of the bow, and covered Bhishma with arrows as a cloud in summer pours +its rain on the mountain. The invincible old man looked up with +astonishment, and cried: "Like a row of swarming bees, arrow hisses +after arrow through the air. As the lightning of Indra travels to earth, +so do these arrows fly. They are not the arrows of Çikhandin. Like +thunder-bolts shattering all they pierce through my mail and shield into +my limbs. Like poisonous snakes darting their tongues in anger, their +arrows bite me and drink my heart's blood. They are not the arrows of +Çikhandin; they are Yama's messengers (p. 63); they bring the death I +have long desired; they are the arrows of Arjuna." Head foremost, +streaming with blood, Bhishma fell from the chariot. Delighted at this +victory, Arjuna cried aloud with a clear lion's cry, and the army of the +Pandus shouted for joy and blew their shells. Duryodhana's warriors were +seized with panic; their tower and defence was gone. Drona, whom the +sons of Pandu had once instructed in the use of arms, now led the army +of the Kurus; and a second time they gained the advantage. Bhima sought +in vain to overcome Drona; then the brother of Draupadi attacked him, +and at Krishna's advice, Yudishthira and Bhima called to Drona that his +son Açvatthaman had fallen. Deceived by this craft, Drona allowed his +arms to drop, and Draupadi's brother smote off his head. After his fall, +the Kurus were led by Karna, the prince of the Angas. He passed as the +son of a waggoner; his real father, the sun-god Surya, appeared to him +in the night, and warned him against Arjuna; he would meet his death. +Glory was sweet to the living, when parents, children, and friends +surrounded him with pride, and kings celebrated his courage; but what +was honour and glory to the withered man who had become ashes?--it was +only the flowers and the chaplets placed on his corpse to adorn it. +Karna answered: He had no friend, no wife nor child; he feared not +death, and would gladly sacrifice his body in the battle; but Arjuna +would not conquer him. On the next morning he prudently besought Çalya, +the prince of the Madyas, to guide his horses, since Krishna, the best +of charioteers, guided the horses of Arjuna. At the instance of +Duryodhana, Çalya undertook to do this, but his heart was angered at the +degrading thought that he was guiding the horses of a waggoner, and he +guided them so that while Karna was fighting against Arjuna, and had +wounded him with his arrows, the chariot sank in a marsh. As Karna +sprang down in order to draw the chariot out, Arjuna, at Krishna's +instigation, shot a deadly arrow into the hero's back. Then one hero of +the Kurus fell after the other. On the eighteenth day of the struggle, +Duryodhana and Bhima met. As two raging elephants goad each other for +the possession of a female elephant, so did these princes meet with +their battle-clubs, whirling round sometimes to the right and sometimes +to the left, each seeking the unprotected part of his opponent, and +brandishing his club in the air. Duryodhana has the advantage. He has +retired before a stroke of Bhima's club, which has thus spent itself on +the ground; seeing the unprotected state of his opponent, he has dealt +him a mighty blow on the breast. Then, on Krishna's advice, Bhima dealt +a blow at Duryodhana's thigh, broke the bone, and the two fell to the +earth. The army of the Pandus shouted for joy, but Duryodhana spoke with +his dying voice: "We have always fought honourably, and, therefore, the +honour remains with us. You have won by craft and dishonour, and +dishonour attends your victory. In honourable fight you would never have +conquered us. In the garments of Çikhandin, Arjuna slew Bhishma when +defenceless. To Drona ye cried in subtlety that his son was dead, and +slew him as he dropped his arms. Karna, Arjuna slew by a shameful blow +from behind; by dishonour Bhima brings me to the ground, for it is said, +'In battle with the club it is dishonourable to strike below the +navel.'" Red with rage, Bhima stepped up to the king-lion who lay +outstretched, with his club beside him, beat in his skull with his foot, +and said: "We have not laid fire to burn our enemies, nor cheated them +in the game, nor outraged their wives; by the strength of our arms alone +we destroy our enemies." On the evening of the eighteenth day of the +battle, all the brothers of Duryodhana, all the princes who fought for +the Kurus, and all the warriors of the Kurus were dead. The victors blew +their shells, called Yudishthira to the king, and obtained as booty +numberless treasures in gold and silver, in precious stones, in cloths, +skins, and slave-women. Then all is sunk in deep slumber. But three +warriors of the army of the Kurus have escaped into the forest; +Açvatthaman, the son of the slain Drona, Kritavarman and Kripa. Sorrow +for his father made rest impossible for Açvatthaman; on the branches of +the fig-tree under which he lay he saw a troop of crows asleep; an owl +softly flew up and slew one crow after the other. Açvatthaman set out +with his companions and penetrated into the camp of the Pandus. First he +slays the brother of Draupadi who had killed his father; then he throws +fire into the camp, and slays the five sons of Draupadi, and all the +Matsyas and Panchalas. Then he hastens to the place where Duryodhana +lies. "Thou art still living," he says to Duryodhana; "listen, then, to +a word which will be pleasing to thine ear: all the Panchalas, all the +Matsyas, all the sons of Draupadi are dead." Only the four brothers, the +sons of Pandu, Krishna and his charioteer, escaped this nocturnal +massacre. + +Then the dead were buried on the field of Kurukshetra: the sons of Pandu +knelt before Dhritarashtra, and Vyasa reconciled the old king with the +sons of his step-brother; but Gandhari cursed Krishna, who by his +devices had brought her sons to death. Then the Pandus made their +entrance into Hastinapura, and Yudishthira was consecrated king under +the guidance of Krishna. He treated the old king as a son treats his +father, but the latter could not forget the death of Duryodhana and his +other sons: he went with Gandhari into the jungles on the Ganges, and +with her he perished, when the jungle was set on fire. At Vyasa's +command Yudishthira offered a sacrifice of horses, and then obtained the +dominion over the whole earth. Following the course of the sacrificial +horse (chap. VIII.) Arjuna conquered for him the Magadhas on the south +bank of the Ganges, the Chedis, the Nishadas, the Saindhavas, _i.e._ the +inhabitants of the Indus, and the Gandharas, beyond the Indus.[142] +Afterwards all the conquered kings presented themselves at this +sacrifice of the horse in Hastinapura, and acknowledged Yudishthira as +their lord. He sat on the throne of Hastinapura for 36 years, and then +heard that the curse which Gandhari had pronounced upon Krishna was +fulfilled. At a great festival of the Yadavas the reproach was made +against Açvatthaman that he had basely slain the heroes in their sleep, +after the great battle. Then there arose a strife among the princes of +the Yadavas. They seized their weapons and mutually slaughtered each +other. Distressed at the loss of his people Krishna retired into the +wilderness, and there he was slain by the arrow of a hunter who took him +for an antelope. The death of the hero to whom he owed his victory +filled Yudishthira and his brothers with deep sorrow. On Vyasa's advice +they determined to withdraw with Draupadi into the forest. All her sons +had fallen in the great battle; but the wife of one (Abhimanyu), who was +the daughter of the king of the Matsyas, had borne a son, Parikshit, +after the death of her husband. When he had been consecrated at +Hastinapura, the sons of Pandu went on a pilgrimage to the east, to the +Himalayas, and beyond this to the holy mountain, Meru. Draupadi was the +first to succumb, then Nakula and Sahadeva; last of all Arjuna and Bhima +fell exhausted. Yudishthira climbed on, till Indra met him with his +chariot, and carried him with his body to the imperishable world, the +heaven of the heroes; there he would again behold his brothers and his +wife, when their souls had been freed from the earthly impurity still +adhering to them. For Bhima had trusted too much to his bodily power, +and had eaten too much. Arjuna had loved battle too well, and had been +too harsh against his enemies; Sahadeva was too proud of his wisdom, +Nakula of his beauty; and Draupadi had loved Arjuna too dearly. But +Parikshit reigned in Hastinapura 60 years. He died from the bite of a +snake. Hence his son, Janamejaya, caused all the snakes to be burned in +one great fire of sacrifice. On this occasion he asked Vyasa how the +strife had arisen in old times between the Kurus and the Pandus, for +Vyasa had been a witness: "I would hear from thee, Brahman, the story of +the fortunes of the Kurus and Pandus." So the king concludes. Then Vyasa +bids Vaiçampayana repeat the great poem which he had taught him. +Janamejaya was succeeded by Çatanika, Açvamedhadatta, Asimakrishna, and +Nichakra, in his sway over the Bharatas, Nichakra changed the place of +residence from Hastinapura to Kauçambi lower down the Ganges. And after +Nichakra 24 kings of the race of Pandu reigned over the Bharatas. + +No words are needed to point out the absurdity and recent origin of an +arrangement which not only ascribes to Vyasa the reconciliation of the +last Kurus with the Pandus, but also makes him the father of the +progenitors of the two hostile houses of Dhritarashtra and Pandu, and +the author of the great poem. The name Vyasa means collector, arranger; +and if the arranger of the poem is also the father of the ancestors of +the contending tribes, this expression can only mean, that poetry has +invented the whole legend. But a more minute examination limits this +interpretation to a _naïve_ confession on the part of poetry, that she +and not tradition has transferred the origin of the Pandus to the race +of the Kurus, and has represented the progenitors of the hostile races +as brothers. + +We can do no more than make hypotheses about the original contents of +the poem on the great war. Against the Kurus, who, at the head of the +Bharatas, maintained their supremacy on the upper course of the Yamuna +and the Ganges, there rises in rebellion a younger race, the Pandus, who +have risen into note among the Panchalas. The sons of Pandu receive in +marriage the daughter of the king of the Panchalas, who are situated to +the south of the Bharatas on the confluence of the Yamuna and the +Ganges; and they are aided by the king of the Matsyas. It is Krishna, a +hero of the Yadavas, to whom the Pandus owe their success in council and +action. The Epos represents the Pandus as growing up in their childhood +in the forest, and afterwards again making their home in the wilderness; +they receive half of the kingdom of the Bharatas, and then lose it; and +in their half they found Indraprastha to the west of Hastinapura on the +Yamuna. From this we may conclude that the supremacy of the Bharatas +established by the Kurus was resisted by the Panchalas and Matsyas and a +part of the Yadavas--the Yadavas fight in the Epos partly for the Kurus +and partly against them--and that a family among these nations, +apparently a family of the Panchalas, succeeded in combining this +resistance and establishing another kingdom, with Indraprastha as a +centre, beside the kingdom of Hastinapura, from which they finally +conquered the Bharatas. This struggle of the Panchalas and Matsyas +against the Bharatas is the nucleus of the Epos. A tradition may lie at +the base of the statement in the poems, that the nations of the East, +the Madras, Koçalas, Videhas and Angas (in north-western Bengal), fight +beside the Kurus against the Panchalas and Matsyas: at any rate it would +be to the interest of the previous settlers on the Ganges to repel the +advance of later immigrants. On the other hand, the Kaçis, in the region +of the later Benares, may have fought against the Bharatas. However this +may be, the race of the Kurus disappeared in a great war, and kings of +the race of Pandu ascended the throne of Hastinapura. If, as we have +assumed, the Bharatas had previously forced the Tritsus from the +Sarasvati to the Yamuna, and from the Yamuna to the upper Ganges, and +from the upper Ganges further east to the Sarayu, they were now, in +turn, not indeed expelled, but over-mastered, by the tribes which had +followed them and settled on the Yamuna. The metropolis of the kingdom +which arose out of these struggles was Hastinapura, the chief city of +the Bharatas; under the rule of the race of Pandu it comprised the +Bharatas and the Panchalas; in the old ritual of consecration we find +the formula: "This is your king, ye Kurus, ye Panchalas."[143] + +The original poem no doubt took the part of the Kurus against the +Pandus, of the Bharatas against the Panchalas. In some passages of the +old poem, which have remained intact, Duryodhana, _i.e._ Bad-fighter, is +called Suyodhana, _i.e._ Good-fighter. It is not by their bravery but by +their cunning that the Pandus were victorious. The words of the dying +Duryodhana: "The Pandus have fought with subtlety and shame, and by +shame have obtained the victory," are an invention made from this point +of view. The vengeance which follows close after the victory of the +Pandus, the massacre of their army in the following night, through which +the life of the dying Duryodhana is prolonged; the fulfilment of the +curse which the mother of Duryodhana pronounces upon Krishna and the +Yadavas--at a later time the tribes of the Yadavas disappeared, at any +rate in these regions--all enable us to detect the original form and +object of the poem. It was the lament over the fall of the famous race +of the Kurus, which had founded the oldest kingdom in India, over the +death of Bhishma and his hundred sons, and the narration of the +vengeance which overtook the crime of Krishna and the Pandus. + +In any case certain traits which reappear in the Epic poetry of the +Greeks and the Germans--the contest with the bow for Draupadi, the death +of the young hero of half-divine descent by an arrow shot in secret, the +fall of an ancient hero with his hundred sons, the destruction even of +the victors in the great battle--are evidence that old Indo-Germanic +conceptions must have formed the basis of the original poem. Even in +the form in which we now have them they remind us of the grand, mighty, +rude style of the oldest Epic poetry. In other respects also traits of +antiquity are not wanting--the marriage of five brothers with one wife, +the hazard of goods, kingdom, wife, and even personal liberty, on a +single throw of the dice, which is an outcome of the passionate nature +already known to us through the songs of the Vedas. In the songs of the +conquests and struggles on the Yamuna and Ganges, sung by the minstrels +to the princes and nobles of these new states, these elements became +amalgamated with the praises of the deeds achieved by their ancestors at +their first foundation. This is proved by the tone of the poem, which +penetrates even the description of the great war. It was only before +princes who made war and battle their noblest occupation, before +assemblies of a warlike nobility, and in the spirit of such circles, +that songs could be recited, telling of the contests in all knightly +accomplishments--the wooing of the king's daughter by the bow, the +choice of a husband by the princess, who gives her hand to the noblest +knight. Only there could such lively and detailed descriptions of single +contests and battles be given, and the laws of knightly honour and +warfare be extolled with such enthusiasm. These must have penetrated +deeply into the minds of the hearers, when the decision in the great +battle could be brought about by a breach of these laws, and the +destruction of the Yadavas accounted for by a quarrel arising out of a +question of this kind. Even the law-book which bears the name of Manu +places great value on the laws of honourable contest.[144] Hence we may +with certainty assume that the songs of the princes who conquered the +land on the Yamuna and the Ganges, were sung at the courts of their +descendants, at the time when the latter, surrounded by an armed +nobility, ruled on the Ganges. There, after the tumult of the first +period of the settlement had subsided, these songs of the marvels and +achievements of ancient heroes, coloured with mythical conceptions, were +united into a great poem, the original Epos of the great war, and in +this the living heroic song came to an end. In the German Epos, the +Nibelungen, we find a foundation of mythical elements, together with +historical reminiscences of the wars of Dietrich of Bern, overgrown by +the conflicts and destruction of the Burgundians. + +At a much later time the Epos of the great war passed from the tradition +of the minstrels into the hands of the priests, by whom it was recorded +and revised from a priestly point of view. Descendants of the Pandus who +had overthrown the ancient famous race of the Kurus, and had gained in +their place the kingdom of Hastinapura, are said to have remained on the +throne for 30 generations in that city, and afterwards at Kauçambi. From +other sources we can establish the fact, that at least in the sixth +century B.C. the sovereignty among the Kuru-Panchalas belonged to kings +who traced their descent from Pandu; and even in the fourth century we +have mention of families of Nakula, and Sahadeva, and among the Eastern +Bharatas, of descendants of Yudhishthira and Arjuna.[145] Hence the +rulers of the tribe of Pandu must have thought it of much importance not +to appear as evil-doers and rebels, and to invent some justification of +their attack on the Kurus, and the throne of Hastinapura. In this way +they would appear both to the Panchalas and the Bharatas as legitimate +princes sprung from noble ancestors, and would share wherever possible +in the ancient glory of the kings of the Bharatas, who were sprung from +the race of Kuru. This end it was attempted to gain by revision and +interpolation; and the views of the priests, which were of later origin, +have no doubt supported the subsequent justification of the usurpation +of the race of the Pandus. The priestly order might think it desirable +to win the favour of the Pandu-kings of Kauçambi. Of this they were +secure if they united the ancestors of the race with the family of the +Kurus, while at the same time they brought the kings of the Bharatas and +Panchalas into connection with priestly views of life by representing +their ancestors as patterns of piety, virtue, and respect for priests. +In the old poem, Bhishma, the descendant of Kuru on the throne of the +Bharatas, perished, at an advanced age, with his son Suyodhana, and his +ninety-nine brothers, in stout conflict against the Pandus, who were at +the head of the Panchalas; but his fall was due to the craft of the +latter. On the other hand, the revision maintains that king Çantanu was +the last legitimate Kuru; that his son Bhishma renounced the throne, +marriage, and children; that Çantanu's younger son died childless; and +represents the Dritarashtras and the Pandus as his illegitimate +descendants. Thus the Pandus are brought into the race of Kuru, and the +claims of the descendants of Dhritarashtra and Pandu are placed on an +equality. It was an old custom among the Indians, not wholly removed by +the law-book of the priests, even in the later form of the regulation, +that if a father remained without a son his brother or some other +relation might raise up a son to him by his wife or widow.[146] +According to the poem, the wife of Çantanu charged her nearest +relation, her natural son, to raise up children to the two childless +widows of her son born in marriage. Agreeably to the tendency of the +revision, this son is a very sacred and wise person; and thus it is +proved that it was within the power of the priests to summon into life +the most famous royal families. But great as the freedom of the revision +is, it does not venture to deny the right of birth of the Kurus. +Dhritarashtra is the older, Pandu is the younger, of the two sons. In +order to clear the younger brother, Dhritarashtra is afflicted with +blindness, because his mother could not endure the sight of the great +Brahman. Even the son of Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana, is allowed to have +the right of birth; it is only maintained that Yudhishthira, Pandu's +elder son, was born on the same day. That this insertion of the Pandus +into the race of the Kurus in the Epic poem was completed in the fourth +century B.C. we can prove.[147] The revision then represents +Dhritarashtra as voluntarily surrendering half his kingdom to the sons +of Pandu, and this is a great help towards their legitimacy. When the +Pandus are resolved on war, Krishna removes Yudhishthira's scruples by +asserting "that even in times gone by it has not always been the eldest +son who has sat on the throne of Hastinapura." These traits are all +tolerably transparent. How weak the position of the Pandus was in the +legend, how little could be told of their ancestors and of Pandu +himself, is shown in the poem by the fact that the want of ancestors can +only be supplemented by inserting the family in the race of the Kurus, +and that no definite achievement of Pandu is mentioned. He is allowed to +die early, and his sons grow up in the forest. So transparent is the +veil thrown over the fact that an unknown family rose to be the leaders +of the Panchalas. The insertion of Dhritarashtra is caused by the +insertion of Pandu. The Indian poetry of the later period is not +troubled by the fact that Bhishma, Çantanu's eldest son, renounces the +throne in order to allow a blind nephew to reign in his place; that even +as a great-uncle he is the mightiest hero of the Kurus, and can only be +slain on the battle-field by treachery. + +Thus, rightly or wrongly, the Pandus were brought into the family of the +Kurus. But why should the elder branch make way for the younger? To +explain this circumstance, the blind king, the honourable Dhritarashtra, +_i.e._ "firmly holding to the kingdom," must first fix on Yudhishthira +as his successor, to the exclusion of his own sons, and then, even in +his own lifetime, divide the kingdom with Yudhishthira. Hence the Pandus +could advance claims, and the more fiercely Duryodhana opposed the +surrender of his legitimate right, the more does he lose ground from a +moral standard against the Pandus. His persecutions and villainies +provide the revision with the means to bring the Pandus repeatedly into +banishment, and into the forest, from which in the old poem they had +been brought to stand at the head of the Panchalas. It is Duryodhana who +causes the house of Pandu to be set on fire, who by false play wins +Draupadi from Yudhishthira, and treats her despitefully, and takes from +him the half of the kingdom. On the other hand, the sons of the Pandus, +so far as the lines of the old poem allow, are changed into persecuted +innocents, patterns of piety, virtue, and obedience to the Brahmans. It +is naturally the form of Yudhishthira which undergoes the main change +from these points of view, since he twice succumbs to the passion for +the game. By these interpolations his brother Bhima is fortunately put +in a position to answer the reproach of the dying Duryodhana--that the +Pandus had conquered by treachery and shame--by asserting that they had +not laid fire for their enemies as he had, or cheated them in the game, +or outraged their women. + +The revision carries the justification and legitimisation of the Pandus +even beyond the destruction of Duryodhana and the Kurus. Owing to his +blindness the king Dhritarashtra could not be brought into the battle +and slain there. Where the old poem represents the mother of the slain +Kurus as cursing Krishna, the revision interpolates a reconciliation +between the aged Dhritarashtra and the destroyers of his race, a +reconciliation naturally accomplished through the instrumentality of a +Brahman. Hence Yudhishthira is allowed to ascend the throne of +Hastinapura with the consent of the legitimate king, and reign in his +name. Lastly, in order to remove every stain from the Pandus, they are +represented as renouncing the world, and dying on a pious pilgrimage to +the divine mountain. + +A second revision of the poem--which, as will become clear below, +cannot, in any case, have been made before the seventh century +B.C.--represents the Pandus as becoming the sons of gods, and thus makes +still easier the task of their justification. It was not by Pandu that +Kunti became the mother of Yudhishthira, Arjuna, and Bhima, but the +first and most just of all rulers she bore to the very god of justice. +Hence his claim to the throne and his righteous life were established +from the first. The second brother, the great warrior Arjuna, owed his +birth to Indra; the third, Bhima, to the strong wind-god, Vayu; the +twin-sons of Madri are then naturally the children of the twins in +heaven, the two Açvins. More serious is the change of Krishna, _i.e._ +the black, into the god Vishnu, assumed in a third revision, which was +completed in the course of the fourth century B.C. (Book VI. chap. +viii.). Krishna, after whom the city of Krishnapura on the Yamuna is +said to have been named,[148] belongs to the tribe of the Yadavas, who +were settled on the Yamuna, in the district of Mathura. He is the son of +the cow-herd Nanda and his wife Yaçoda; he is himself a cow-herd, drives +off herds of cows, carries away the clothes of the daughters of the +herdsmen while they are bathing, and engages in many other exploits of a +similar kind. He rebels against the king of Mathura, and slays him. His +crafty and treacherous plans then bring the heroes of the Kurus to +destruction; at length, with his whole nation, he succumbs to the curse +hurled against him by the mother of Duryodhana. Out of this form of the +ancient poem the later revision has made an incarnation of Vishnu, the +beneficent, sustaining god. The child of Vasudeva and Devaki, who bears +all the marks of Vishnu, is no other than Vishnu, who permits himself to +be born from Devaki; he is changed with the child of Yaçoda, which was +born in the same night. But these new points of view are not thoroughly +carried out; the Mahabharata is not consistent about the origin of +Krishna or his divine nature. At one time he is a human warrior, at +another the highest of the gods, and the original position both of +Krishna and the Pandus is still perceptible.[149] + +The second great Epic of the Indians--the Ramayana--is essentially +distinguished from the poems of the great war. Here also a legend, or +ancient ballads, may have formed the basis; here, too, it is clear that +a later redaction has changed the hero of the poem into an incarnation +of a god. But the legend is already changed into the fairy tale, of +which the scene is principally the Deccan, the banks of the Godavari, +the island of Lanka (Ceylon) where the Aryas first arrived about the +year 500 B.C. The cast of the poem as a whole is essentially different +from that of the Mahabharata. The old legend may have related the story +of a prince who wins his wife by his power to string the great bow of +her father, and who, when banished from the banks of the Sarayu, +contends in the Himavat, or in the south of the Ganges, against the +giants dwelling there. These giants carried off his wife from the forest +hut, and he is only able to regain her after severe struggles. Rama, the +banished prince, is supposed to be a son of a king of the Koçalas (the +Tritsus of the Rigveda), who had taken up their abode on the Sarayu. +Daçaratha, the father of Rama, had apparently reigned a long time before +the great war; he was descended from Ikshvaku, the son of Manu. +According to the Vishnu-Purana, Daçaratha is the sixtieth king of this +family, the eleventh after Sudas, who repelled the attack of the +Bharatas.[150] In their battle the Tritsus were aided by the priest +Vasishtha, to whom in the poem of Rama the same place is allotted which +in the Mahabharata is first allotted to Viçvamitra and then to Vyasa. +Without regard to the ancient poems and their strongly-marked traits of +great battles and mighty contests, the priests entirely transformed the +legend of Rama from their point of view into the form in which it now +lies before us; and this took place at a period of Indian life, when the +warlike impulse had long given way to peaceful institutions, and the +requirements of the priests had driven out the military code of honour +and martial glory--a time when the weaker sides of the Aryan +disposition, submission and sacrifice, had won the victory over the hard +and masculine qualities of activity and self-assertion. The Ramayana +gives expression to the feeling of calm subjection, virtuous +renunciation, passionless performance of duties, patient obedience, +unbroken reticence. Throughout, prominence is given to the system of +priestly asceticism, of the eremite's life in the forest, of voluntary +suicide. Here we can scarcely find any echoes of that desire of honour, +that jealousy, that lust of battle, and eagerness for revenge, which +occur unmistakably in the Mahabharata; nothing remains of the knightly +pride which scorns to give a blow forbidden by the rules of the battle. +The hero of the Ramayana is a hero of virtue, not of the battle. He +commends without ceasing renunciation and the fulfilment of duties; he +abandons throne and kingdom; he gives up his right out of obedience to +his father, and respect for a promise made by him; his wife leads him +against his will into the desert, because she also knows her duties. +Respect, devotion, and sacrifice in the relation of children to their +parents, of younger brothers to the elder, of the wife to her husband, +of subjects to their lords, are described with great poetical beauty and +power, but often with the weakest sentimentality. The mission of the +hero in his banishment is the defence of the settlements of holy +penitents against the giants. But his battles are no merely human +struggle; he not only strings the bow of Çiva, he breaks it, so that it +sounds like the fall of a mountain or like Indra's thunder. He fights +with the bow of Indra and the arrows of Brahman, and at length even with +the chariot of Indra against the giants. These battles are no less +legendary than are his confederates' against the giants of Lanka, the +vulture Jatayu, the apes and bears, which build him a bridge into that +island. These are all described with an exaggeration and monstrous +unreality into which Indian poetry only strayed after traversing many +stages. We do indeed once hear, even in the Ramayana, of heroes "who +never turned in the battle, and fell struck in front." Even here, in +isolated passages, the old manly independence breaks forth, which, +conscious of its strength, beats down injustice instead of enduring it, +and makes a path for itself, but only in order to place in a still +clearer light a quick compliance, a patient fulfilment of duties, and +thus allow to the latter a greater advantage. + +At this day Epic poetry lives in India in full force, just as it left +the hands of the priests. At the close of the Mahabharata we are told: +"What the Brahman is to the rest of mankind, the cow to all quadrupeds, +the ocean to the pool, such is the Mahabharata in comparison with all +other histories." To the readers and hearers of the Mahabharata and +Ramayana the best rewards in this life and the next are promised: +wealth, forgiveness of sins, entrance into heaven. At all festivals and +fairs, at the marriages of the wealthy, episodes from one of the two +poems are recited to the eager crowd of assembled hearers; the audience +accompany the acts and sufferings of the heroes with cries of joy or +signs of sorrow, with laughter or tears. In the village, the Brahman, +sitting beneath a fig-tree, recites the great poems, in the order of the +events no doubt, to the community. The interest of the audience never +flags. If the piece recited touches on happy incidents--on victory, +triumph, happy return home, the marriage or consecration of the heroes, +the village is adorned with crowns as at a festival. The Indians live +with the forms of their Epos; they know the fortunes of these heroes, +and look on them as a pattern or a warning. The priests have fully +realised their intention of setting before the nation in these poems a +mirror of manners and virtue. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[120] This follows from the fact that the army of the confederates had +to cross the Vipaça and Çatadru in order to reach the Tritsus. + +[121] In the Rigveda king Sudas is at once a son of Divodasa and a scion +of the house of the Pijavanas, possibly because Pijavana was the father +or some ancestor of Divodasa. In the Samaveda (2, 5, 1, 5) Divodasa is +called the noble. In the book of Manu (7, 41; 8, 110) Sudasa is the son +of Pijavana. In the genealogy of the kings of the Koçalas, by whom the +Tritsus were destroyed, the Vishnu-Purana mentions in the fiftieth +generation after Ikshvaku, the founder of the race, a king Sudasa, the +son of Sarvakama, grandson of Rituparna. So also the Harivança, and in +the Vishnu-Purana (ed. Wilson, p. 381) Vasishtha is the priest of king +Sudas as well as of Nimi, the son of Ikshvaku. On the other hand the +Vishnu-Purana (p. 454, 455) is aware of a second Sudas, the grandson of +Divodasa, in the race of the moon. Viçvamitra is himself called a +Bharata; we shall see below that the Mahabharata connects Viçvamitra +with the genealogy of the kings of the Bharata. Cp. Roth, "Zur +Literatur," S. 142 ff. [On the names of Indian rivers, see Muir, _loc. +cit._ 2, 345 ff.] + +[122] Cf. Muir, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 339, where the hymn is translated. + +[123] Roth, "Zur Literatur," S. 87, 91 ff. [Rigveda, 3, 33; 7, 83. Muir, +_loc. cit._ 322, 323.] + +[124] Manu, 1, 67 ff. [Muir, 1, 43 ff.] + +[125] Weber, "Jyotisham, Abh. d. Berl. Akad." 1862, s. 23 ff. and below. + +[126] With similar exaggeration "Duty" tells king Parikshit at the close +of the Mahabharata that her four feet measured 20 yodhanas in the first +age, 16 in the second, 12 in the third, whereas now in the Kaliyuga they +only measure four yodhanas. The whole narrative is intended to point out +that in the Kaliyuga even Çudras could become kings. The Vishnu-Purana +(ed. Wilson, p. 467) calls the first Nanda who ascended the throne of +Magadha in 403 B.C. the son of a Çudra woman. + +[127] "Bhagavata-Purana," 9, 14. + +[128] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, 600. + +[129] Arrian, "Ind." 7, 8, 9. Plin. 6, 21, 4. Solin. 52, 5. As to the +numbers, Bunsen, "Ægypt." 5, 156; Von Gutschmid, "Beiträge," s. 64. The +duration of the first interruption is lost; but it was less than the +second, for Arrian says that the second continued as much as 300 years. +Perhaps the number of the first and third interruptions taken together +are as long as the second. Diodorus (2, 38, 39) allots the 52 years to +Dionysus, which Arrian gives to Spatembas. + +[130] That the Kalpa--_i.e._ the great world-period--was a current +conception in the third century B.C. is proved by the inscriptions of +Açoka at Girnar. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 238. + +[131] Not more than nine names can be given to the dynasty of the +Nandas, which reigned for 88 years before Chandragupta; seventeen for +the dynasty of the Çaiçunagas, even if Kalaçoka's sons are all counted +as independent regents; and five for the Pradyotas. For the Barhadrathas +the Vayu and Vishnu-Puranas give 21 kings after Sahadeva, the +Bhagavata-Purana 20, the Matsya-Purana 32. Hence, taking the highest +figures, the united dynasties number 64 reigns. To these are to be added +the seven names which connect Brihadratha with Kuru, and the 31 or 21 +names given in the longer and shorter lists of the Mahabharata between +Kuru and Manu. + +[132] Von Gutschmid, "Beiträge," s. 76 ff. See below. + +[133] P. 484, ed. Wilson. + +[134] Von Gutschmid, _loc. cit._ s. 85 ff. + +[135] That the main portions of the Epos in their present form cannot be +older, is clear from the views of the worship of Vishnu and Çiva which +prevail in the poem. These forms of worship first obtained currency in +the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. (see below). It is also clear from +the identification of Vishnu and Krishna, of Rama and Vishnu; the deeply +felt Brahmanic anti-Buddhist tendencies, seen in such a marked manner in +the Ramayana; the form of philosophic speculation, and the application +of astrology, which are characteristic of the Epos in its present state; +and finally from the mention of the Yavanas as the allies of the Kurus, +and Dattamira, _i.e._ Demetrius, the king of the Yavanas. This king +reigned in Bactria in the first half of the second century B.C. (Lassen, +_loc. cit._ 1, 557). Another king of the Yavanas who is mentioned is +Bhagadatta, _i.e._ apparently, Apollodotus, the founder of the +Græco-Indian kingdom in the second half of the first century B.C. (Von +Gutschmid, "Beiträge," s. 75). We are led to the same result by the +descriptions of Indian buildings, of paved roads and lofty temples, +which were first built by the Brahmans in opposition to the stupas of +the Buddhists. Lassen places the important pieces of the Mahabharata, in +their present form, between Kalaçoka and Chandragupta, _i.e._ between +425-315 B.C. (_loc. cit._ 1^2, 589 ff.) Benfey places them in the third +century B.C., A. Weber in the first century. The Mahabharata, which +according to the statement found in the poem (1, 81) originally had only +8,800 double-verses, now numbers 100,000: A. Weber, "Acad. Vorlesungen," +s. 176. The old form of the Mahabharata is much anterior to the fifth +century B.C.; certain passages of the present poem are much later: A. +Weber, "Indische Skizzen," s. 37, 38. When Dion Chrysostom remarks (2, +253, ed. Reiske) that the Homeric poems were sung by the Indians in +their own language--the sorrows of Priam, the lamentation of Hecuba and +Andromache, the bravery of Achilles and Hector--Lassen is undoubtedly +right in referring this statement to the Mahabharata, and putting +Dhritarashtra in the place of Priam, Gandhari and Draupadi in the place +of Andromache and Hecuba, Arjuna and Suyodhana or Karna in the place of +Achilles and Hector ("Alterth." 2^2, 409). It is doubtful whether the +remark of Chrysostom is taken from Megasthenes. That the Ramayana is +later in style than the Mahabharata will become clear below. + +[136] "Vishnu-Purana," ed. Wilson, p. 380, _seqq._ + +[137] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, Anhang xviii. n. 4. + +[138] In the Rigveda we find: "If you, Indra and Agni, are among the +Druhyus, Anus or Purus, come forth." + +[139] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1, xxii. n. 15. + +[140] "Rigveda," 1, 31, 4; 1, 31, 17; 7, 18, 13. + +[141] According to the Brahmanic recension of the poem which we now +possess, Samvarana is able to obtain the daughter of the god only by the +mediation of a sacred priest. The king therefore bethinks him of +Vasishtha, who ascends to the god of light and obtains his daughter for +the king. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, Anhang xxvi. + +[142] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2 656, n. and 1^2 850. + +[143] A. Weber, "Ind. Literaturgesch." s. 126^2. + +[144] Manu, 7, 90, 93. Yajnavalkya, 1, 323-325. + +[145] Panini in M. Müller, "Hist. of anc. Sanskrit Literature," p. 44, +_n._ 2. + +[146] Manu, 9, 59. + +[147] M. Müller, _loc. cit._ + +[148] "Vishnu-Purana," ed. Wilson, p. 440. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, +68 ff. + +[149] In Panini Krishna is called a god, but also a hero. M. Müller, +"Hist. of anc. Sanskrit Lit." p. 45 _n._ + +[150] On the form of the Rama legend in the Daçaratha-Jataka, cf. A. +Weber, "Abh. Berl Akad." 1870. The Vishnu-Purana enumerates 33 kings of +the Koçalas from Daçaratha to Brihadbala, who falls in the great battle +on the side of the Kurus. Including these this Purana makes 60 kings +between Manu and Daçaratha. For the same interval the Ramayana has only +34 names, of which some, like Yagati, Nahusha, Bharata, are taken from +the genealogical table of the kings of the Bharata, others, like Pritha +and Triçanku, belong to the Veda. We have already seen that the series +of the Bharata kings give about ten generations between the time when +they gained the upper hand on the Yamuna and upper Ganges, _i.e._ the +time of Kuru and Duryodhana. The Koçalas forced eastward by the Bharatas +would thus have existed on the Sarayu from 23 generations before Kuru. +Wilson, "Vishnu-Purana," p. 386. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE FORMATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE ORDERS. + + +The Aryas had now advanced far beyond the borders of their ancient +territory; from the land of the Panjab they had conquered and occupied +the valley of the Ganges. The plundering raids and feuds which had +occupied the tribes on the Indus had passed away, and in their place +came the migration, conquest, settlement, the conflict for the conquered +districts, and a warlike life of considerable duration. It was only when +attempted in large masses that attack or defence could be successful. By +this means the tribes grew up into larger communities; the small unions +of tribes became nations, which divided the land of the Ganges among +them. The tribal princes were changed into leaders of great armies. The +serious and important nature of the tasks imposed upon them by the +conquest and the settlement, by the need of security against the ancient +inhabitants or the pressure of their own countrymen, placed in the hands +of these princes a military dictatorship; so that in the new districts +which were won and maintained under their guidance, the princes had a +much greater weight, and a far wider power, than the heads of the tribes +on the Indus, surrounded by the warriors of their nations, had ever +ventured to exercise. Thus arose a number of monarchies in the +conquered land. Beside the Matsyas on the western bank of the Yamuna, +and the Çurasenas, who lay to the south in the cities of Mathura and +Krishnapura (in the place of the Yadavas), stood the kingdom of the +Bharatas and Panchalas on the upper course of the Yamuna and Ganges. +These nations were governed by the dynasty of Pandu, at first from +Hastinapura on the upper Ganges, and afterwards, apparently after the +accession of the eighth successor of Parikshit, from Kauçambi, which +lies on the lower Yamuna, about 30 miles above the confluence of the +Yamuna and the Ganges.[151] Further to the east, and to the north of the +Ganges, the Koçalas were situated on the Sarayu; the seat of their +kingdom was Ayodhya. Still further to the east were the Videhas, whose +rulers resided at Mithila (Tirhat). On the Ganges, below the confluence +with the Yamuna, were the kings of the Kaçis at Varanasi (Benares), and +farther to the east still, the kings of the Angas at Champa, also on the +Ganges. To the south of the river the Magadhas had won a large district; +their kings resided at Rajagriha (king's house) on the Sumagadhi.[152] +Thus in the east there was a complex of tolerably extensive states, +under a monarchy which owed its origin to military leadership in the +war, and its permanence to the success of the settlement; a state of +things forming a complete contrast to the old life of the tribes of the +Aryas in the land of the Panjab. + +Such a powerful, extensive, and complete alteration of the forms of the +civic community, combined with the new conditions of life rendered +necessary on the Ganges, must have exercised a deeply-felt influence on +the Aryas. The conquest, establishment, and arrangement of extensive +dominions had created the monarchy, but at the same time a warlike +nobility had sprung up beside the princes in these contests. The land of +the Ganges had been won by the sword and divided among the victors. No +doubt those who had achieved most in the battles, and stood nearest to +the princes, received the best reward in land and slaves, in captives or +dependants among the old population. In this way a number of families +with larger possessions became distinguished from the mass of the +population. In these the delight in arms and war became hereditary; the +feeling of the father passed to his son along with his booty, his +horses, and his weapons. He could apply himself to the chase, or to the +exercise of arms; he was raised above all care for his maintenance, or +the necessity of work. He possessed land and slaves to tend his herds or +till his fields. From the later position of this order, we might assume +that a nobility practised in the use of arms, the Rajnayas, _i.e._ the +princely, the Kshatriyas, _i.e._ the wealthy or powerful, surrounded the +princes in the Ganges in greater numbers and with greater importance +than the warriors of pre-eminent position, who in the land of the Indus +had aided the tribal princes in battle, in council, and in giving +judgment. + +The battles for the possession of the new territory were over, and the +mutual pressure of the Arian tribes had come to an end. War was no +longer a constant occupation, or carried on for existence; it was only +at a distance, on the borders of the new states, that battles took +place, either to check the incursions of the old inhabitants from the +mountains or to extend the territory already possessed. Hence the +majority of the settlers preferred to till their lands in peace, and +left it to those for whom booty or glory had a charm, to follow their +kings in beating back the enemy at the borders, or making an attack on +foreign tribes and countries. Those who had to work the soil with their +own hands gladly gave up the precedence to this military nobility; the +king might fight out his wars with their help, if under such protection +the herds could pasture in peace, or the fields be tilled without +interruption. It was time enough for the peasants to take arms when the +nobles who surrounded the princes were no longer able to keep off the +attacks of the enemy. No doubt the Kshatriyas formed a still more +favourable estimate of themselves and their position. Busied with their +arms, their horses, or the chase, they became proud, and despised the +work of the peasant, paying little respect to that laborious occupation +in comparison with their own free and adventurous life. + +Owing to their close relation to the king, to their weapons, and their +possessions, the Kshatriyas took the first place in the new states on +the Ganges. This they maintained beyond a doubt for centuries in the +kingdom of the Bharatas, among the Matsyas and Çurasenas, the Koçalas, +Kaçis, Videhas, Magadhas. In the royal houses and the families of the +Kshatriyas the achievements of the forefathers continued to live; they +preserved the recollection of the wars of conquest, the struggles for +the possession of the lands, which they now held. At their festivals and +banquets the minstrels sang to them the songs of the ancient heroes, +their ancestors, their mighty deeds, their sufferings and death; they +extolled the delight in battle and the martial spirit, the knightly +temper and mode of combat, and thus at length arose the poem of the +great war. If our assumption, that the conquest of the land on the +Ganges may have been completed about the year 1400 B.C., is tenable, we +might ascribe to the two following centuries the rise of the +Kshatriyas, the establishment of their prominent position in the +newly-conquered territory, and to the next century the composition of +the songs of the great war in their oldest form. + +In the development of other nations the periods of wide expansion, the +rise of the military element, and protracted war, usually repress the +influence and importance of the priesthood, but among the emigrant Aryas +this could not have been the case. We have already seen that among them +the contest of sacrifices preceded the contest of arms. The victory fell +to the side whose sacrificial bowl Indra had drained. As the correct +offering and correct invocation compelled the gods to come down and +fight for the nation whose sacrifice they received, the priests were +naturally most indispensable in the time of war. The singers of the +sacrificial hymns which caused the gods to come down were identical +among the Indians with the priests, and were in fact the priests in the +stricter sense. With them, minstrel and priest had one name--Brahmana, +_i.e._ one who prays. The hymns of the Vedas showed us how the princes +were commanded to set before them at the sacrifice a holy minstrel to +offer prayer, and to be liberal to him. The minstrels who accompanied +the emigrant tribes to the Yamuna and Ganges had, in those turbulent +times, to sing songs of war and victory, as well as to offer prayers at +sacrifice, and afterwards to compose the poems on the deeds of the +heroes. If the result was that no more new invocations were composed in +the period of heroic song, the minstrels nevertheless preserved the old +invocations which they had brought with them from the land of the Indus +very faithfully. They had imported the ancient worship of their native +deities into the new land; they had to preserve the old faith and the +old rites at a distance from their ancient home, to offer sacrifice in +the old fashion, and thus to win and retain the favour of the gods for +the emigrants in their new abode. In the families which claimed to +spring from Atri and Agastya, from Bhrigu and Gautama, from Kaçyapa and +Vasishtha, one generation handed down by tradition to another the +prayers which they had preserved as effectual, and which had been +composed, or were thought to have been composed, by these celebrated +minstrels, the rites which were considered requisite for the efficacy of +the sacrifice, for winning the favour and help of heaven. It is obvious +that these families did not consist exclusively of the actual +descendants of the supposed tribal ancestor. In ancient times the family +is the only form, as yet known, of community and instruction. As the +prayers pleasing to the gods and the form of sacrifice could only be +learnt from a minstrel and priest, those who had this object in view +must seek for admittance into a priestly family, and must be adopted as +disciples by a priest in the place of sons.[153] Such admittance was +naturally most sought after in the case of that race which bore the most +famous name, which was supposed to spring from the most celebrated +sacrificer of early times, and claimed to possess his songs. Among the +"sons of Vasishtha," who, according to the hymn of the Veda (p. 67), +sacrificed for the Tritsus, in the race of the Kuçikas to which +Viçvamitra belonged, and the other priestly races mentioned in the Veda, +we must consider that we have just as much disciples claiming to be +descended, or being actually descended, from these supposed ancestors, +as relations connected by blood. The importance of these families who +preserved the ancient customs and prayers, and worshipped the ancient +gods, must have risen in the new territory in proportion to the length +of the period between the emigration from the Indus and the present. In +different districts the kings regarded the sacrifice and supplication of +different races as the most pleasing to the gods. Among the Koçalas, +according to the Ramayana and the Puranas, Vasishtha was the priest of +the kings; among the Bharatas, the Kuçikas; among the Videhas and Angas, +the Gautamas.[154] The amalgamation of the various tribes into larger +nations had the effect of bringing the priestly families into +combination and union, and thus they had the opportunity of exchanging +the knowledge of their possession of hymns and ritual. This union taught +them to regard themselves as a peculiar order. Princes and nations are +always inclined to recognise the merit of those who know how to win for +them the favour of the gods, good fortune and health by prayer and +sacrifice. + +The ancient population of the new states on the Ganges was not entirely +extirpated, expelled, or enslaved. Life and freedom were allowed to +those who submitted and conformed to the law of the conqueror; they +might pass their lives as servants on the farms of the Aryas.[155] But +though this remnant of the population was spared, the whole body of the +immigrants looked down on them with the pride of conquerors--of +superiority in arms, blood, and character--and in contrast to them they +called themselves Vaiçyas, _i.e._ tribesmen, comrades--in other words, +those who belong to the community or body of rulers.[156] Whether the +Vaiçya belonged to the order of the nobles, the minstrels and priests, +or peasants, was a matter of indifference; he regarded the old +inhabitants as an inferior species of mankind. In the land of the Ganges +down to the lower course of the river this class of inhabitants bears +the common name of Çudras, and as this word is unknown to Sanskrit we +must assume that it was the original name of the ancient population of +the Ganges, just as the tribes of the Vindhyas bear to this day the +common name of Gondas. In the new states on the Ganges, therefore, the +population was separated into two sharply-divided masses. How could the +conquerors mix with the conquered?--how could their pride stoop to any +union with the despised servants? And even if they had been willing to +unite, would not the language and character of the immigrants be lost +and destroyed in this mixture with tribes of rude customs and manners? +As the conquered territory became more extensive, and the old +inhabitants more numerous--for many were spared by the numerically +weaker immigrants and continued to live among them as slaves or free +out-door servants, while others hung upon the borders of the conquered +regions--the more pressing was the danger that the noble blood and +superior character of the immigrants, and the worship of the ancient +gods, might be lost in mingling with this mass of servants. This danger +co-operated with the natural pride of the conqueror, and his feeling of +superiority, to place a strongly-marked separation between the Çudras +and the Aryas. + +In every nation which has gone beyond the primitive stages of life, +wealth and occupation form the basis of a division into more or less +fixed forms, more or less close orders. The states on the Ganges were no +exception. Here, beside the Kshatriyas, beside the minstrels and +priests, or Brahmans, stood the bulk of the immigrant Aryas, whose land +required the personal labour of the owner, to whom the name Vaiçya, at +first common to all, gradually passed as a special name. Below these +three orders were the Çudras. The name given by the Indians to their +orders, _varna_, _i.e._ colour, proves that the difference between the +light skin of the immigrants and the dark colour of the native +population was of considerable influence, and if a doubt were raised +whether or not another population is concealed in the fourth order or +Çudras, it would be removed by the close union of the three orders +against the fourth, the uncompromising exclusion of the latter in all +matters of religion, and the fact that the law of East Iran (the Avesta) +as well as that of the Ganges, recognises warriors, priests, and +peasants, but no fourth order. The sharp distinction between the Aryas +and Çudras may subsequently have had an influence on the orders of the +Aryas, so as to mark the divisions more strongly; resting on such a +foundation, the division of orders might strike deeper roots on the +Ganges than elsewhere. + +The higher and more favoured strata of society will seldom be free from +the desire to bequeath to posterity the advantages they possess; and +this feeling makes itself felt with greater force in earlier stages of +civilisation than in later. As the possessions and occupation of the +father descend to the son who grows up in them, the favoured orders are +inclined to maintain this natural relation, and elevate it into a legal +rule; they believe that the qualification for their special calling +depends on birth in it, or better blood, and make it so to depend. In +the states on the Ganges these tendencies must have been the more +strongly marked, as in this case the Aryas saw beneath them, in the +Çudras, a class of men less capable and less cultivated than +themselves; to descend to this class and mingle with it, seemed to them +as disgraceful as it was dangerous to the maintenance of their empire +over these men. Here it was more natural than elsewhere to pursue this +analogy further--to regard even the classes of their own tribe, +according to their more or less honourable occupation, as separate +circles, as races having different characters and higher or lower gifts, +and to transform these distinctions of occupation and social position +into rigid castes. Thus the Kshatriyas, in the full consciousness of +their aristocratic life, proud of their brave deeds and noble feeling, +must have rendered difficult or impossible all approach to their +occupation and order; they regarded the minstrels and the priests, and +the Vaiçyas, as classes of inferior birth. When the minstrels had sung +the praises of the ancient heroic age in the poem of the marvels of the +heroes, in the Epos in its earliest form, and so arrived at more +peaceful times in which everything no longer depended on the sword, a +feeling of their importance and dignity must have grown up among the +priests. Without them, without the accurate knowledge of the old songs +and customs of sacrifice, as given by Manu and Pururavas,--without +precise acquaintance with the prayers in which efficacy rested, +efficient sacrifices could not be offered. We have already remarked that +the amalgamation of the emigrant tribes, and the formation of the new +kingdoms, brought the priests, who had hitherto belonged to the separate +tribes, into closer connection and combination, and made them into a +separate order. At the same time, their importance as preserving the old +rites and the old faith tended to increase. The community thus arising +between the priestly families led of necessity to an interchange of +forms of prayer and invocations, of songs, and poems, and customs of +sacrifice, the exclusive possession of which had hitherto belonged to +each of these families or schools. Thus in each of the new states the +priestly families attained a larger collection of songs, and a ritual +which was the natural product of the liturgies of the various families, +the observances regarded by one or other of these as traditional and +indispensable. The traditional prayers and songs of praise were regarded +as magical spells, of which even the gods could not escape the power. +This exchange and combination of spells and rubrics of sacrifice no +doubt made the ritual more complicated. The strictly-preserved and now +extended possession of these prayers, invocations, and customs, which +were known to the priests, separated that order from the Kshatriyas, and +the Vaiçyas; they stood in opposition to the other orders, as the +exclusive possessors of the knowledge of the customs of sacrifice, and +efficient invocations. It was only among the members of this order that +the correct observances and invocations were known; how could the +Kshatriya or the Vaiçya avoid errors in his offering or invocation, such +as would remove their efficacy and change them into their opposite? The +constant increase of the prayers and forms accompanying every step in +the sacrifice occupied more priests: the _Hotar_ offered the invitation +to the god to come down and receive the sacrifice; the _Udgatar_ +accompanied the preparation of the offering with the solemn forms and +prayers; the _Adhvaryu_ performed the actual rite. + +Thus an equality of knowledge, advantage, and interests united the +priests against the Kshatriyas, Vaiçyas, and Çudras. By the +consciousness that they were in possession of the means to win the +favour of the gods for the king, the nobles, and the people, the pious +feeling aroused among them was greatly assisted towards gaining the +recognition of the other orders. Like the Kshatriyas, they must have +scorned to descend to the occupations of the Vaiçyas; they must have +felt that only the priest born a priest could perform the priestly +service, or offer pleasing sacrifice to the gods. They must have +maintained that birth alone in the order could confer the capacity for +so important and lofty a calling as theirs. If nobles and priests +debarred the Vaiçyas from entrance into their order, their occupations, +and modes of life, they must have been no less careful to maintain the +advantages of their birth against the Çudras. + +If the separation of the orders was the result of a natural progress, if +the effort of the favoured classes to close their circles was +essentially promoted by the common contrast of the immigrants to the +remnant of the old population, the natural conditions in which the Aryas +were placed on the Ganges were not without an influence on the +maintenance of the separation when once introduced. In the land of the +Indus the Aryas had not learned to endure such a climate and such heat +as they found on the Ganges. The atmosphere began by degrees to +undermine the active and vigorous feeling of the Aryas, to lead them to +a life of greater calm and rest, which inclined them to retain the +conditions and circumstances once introduced. + +The orders attain complete exclusiveness and become castes when not only +the change from one to another is forbidden, but when even marriage +between the members of different orders is either impossible, or if +allowed entails the loss of order, and other disadvantages. We do not +exactly know to what extent the mutual exclusiveness of the Kshatriyas, +the Brahmans, and the Vaiçyas was carried; we only know that these +distinctions existed, and that marriages between the orders took place +at the time when the priests succeeded in wresting the first place on +the throne and in the state from the Kshatriyas, who had maintained it +for centuries. + +The priests would never have succeeded in raising themselves above the +Kshatriyas and repressing the ancient pre-eminence of the armed nobility +so closely connected with the kings, who belonged to their order, and +were their born chiefs, had they not succeeded in convincing the people +on the Ganges, that the effectual sacrifice was the most important and +all-decisive act; that the position in which men stood to the gods was a +matter far transcending all other relations. They must have transformed +the old religious conceptions by a new doctrine, and by means of this +transformation given to themselves a special position, with a peculiar +sanction from above. This rise of the priesthood, and their elevation to +the first order, is the decisive point in the development of the Arians +in India. It was a revolution of Indian life, of the Indian state, of +Indian history, of which the effects still continue. It has been +observed that the peculiar relations of the tribes on the Ganges, and +the nature of the land, tended to fix more strongly there than elsewhere +the separation between the orders. But that this division is the +sharpest known in history; that the orders became castes, sub-divided in +turn into a number of hereditary under-castes; that this unnatural +social system has continued in spite of the severest attacks and most +violent shocks, and still does continue in unbroken force--this is due +to a development of the religious views supplied by the priests, and to +the position of the priesthood which was founded on this +transformation. The victory over the Kshatriyas was the first step on +this path. It was won by means of a new conception of the idea of God, +and a scheme of the origin of the world, and the stages of created +beings established thereon. On this foundation it was that the priests +obtained the highest position. + +When the priestly families on the Ganges passed beyond the borders of +their several states in their contact with each other, they perceived +the extent of the whole treasure of sacrificial song and forms of +prayer, which the races had brought over in separate portions from the +Indus. The confusing multitude of deities and their attributes, which +now forced themselves upon the priests, led to the attempt to discover +some unity in the mass. The astonishing abundance of conceptions and the +number of the supreme deities in the old prayers were essentially due, +as has already been pointed out, to the fact that the Indians desired to +render to every god whom they invoked the proper and the highest honour. +With this object the number of attributes was increased, and the god in +question endowed to a greater or less degree with the power and +peculiarities of other deities; and in order to win the favour of the +deity to whom the sacrifice was offered, men were inclined to praise him +as the highest and mightiest of all gods. This inclination was supported +by the circumstance that the quick and lively fancy of the Indians never +fixed the outlines of their deities or separated them as individuals, +and further, by the blind impulse already noticed, to concentrate the +power of the gods in one highest god, and seize the unity of the divine +nature. Thus we saw that Indra and Agni, Mitra and Varuna, were in turns +extolled as the highest deity. The task now before the priests was to +understand the meaning of these old prayers, to grasp the point of +agreement in these various invocations, the unity in these wide +attributes, ascribed sometimes to one god and sometimes to another. This +gave a strong impulse to the reflective mind of the Brahmans, and no +sooner did the Indians begin to meditate than their fancy became +powerful. The form of Indra, and the conception lying at the base of his +divinity--the struggle against the black spirits of darkness--faded away +in the land of the Ganges. In that region tempests do not come on with +the same violence as in the Panjab; the hot season is followed by the +rainy season and the inundation without any convulsions of the +atmosphere. Again, as the life of war fell into the background, the +position of Indra as a god of war and victory became less prominent. +Least of all could the priests in a time of peace recognise the god of +their order in the god of war, and in any case the national, warlike, +heroic character of Indra could offer few points of contact with +priestly meditation. If in consequence of the new circumstances and +relations of life, Indra passed into the background--the old gods of +light, the common possession of the Aryas in Iran and India, Mitra, +Aryaman, Varuna, beside and above whom Indra had risen, were again +allowed to come into prominence. The effort to grasp the unity of the +divine power seemed to find a satisfactory basis in the form of Varuna, +who from his lofty watch-tower beholds all things, is present +everywhere, and sits throned in unapproachable light on the waters of +heaven, and in the ethical conceptions embodied in the nature of this +deity. The Brahmans struck out another path: they set aside altogether +Aditi, _i.e._ the imperishable, who in the old poems of the Veda is the +mother of the gods of light, _i.e._ of "the immortal" (p. 45, _n._ 2), +and in other poems is extolled as the heaven and the firmament, as +procreation and birth, as well as other attempts to conceive this unity. +The effort to grasp the unity of the divine Being, the attempt to +comprehend its nature, took quite another direction--highly significant +and important for the character and development of the Indians. + +The soma was offered most frequently to Indra, the Açvins, and the +Maruts, and by it they are strengthened and nourished. The drink which +gave strength to men and intoxicated them nourished and inspired the +gods also in the faith of the Indians; it gave them strength, and thus +won for men the blessing of the gods. To the Indians it appeared that a +potency so effectual must itself be divine--a deity. Hence the soma +itself is invoked as a god, and by consistently following out the +conception, the Indians see in it the nourisher and even the creator of +the gods. "The soma streams forth," we are told in some songs of the +Rigveda, "the creator of heaven and the creator of earth, of Agni and of +the sun, the creator of Indra and of thoughts." The soma-plants are now +the "udders of the sky;" the god is pressed for the gods, and he is +offered as drink, who in his liquor contains the universe.[157] The +sacrificial drink which nourishes the gods, or the spirit of it, is thus +exalted to be the most bountiful giver of blessings, the bravest +warrior, the conqueror of darkness, the slayer of Vritra, the lord of +created things, and even to be the supreme power over the gods, the +creator of the sun, the creator and father of Indra and the gods;[158] +and so the highest power could be ascribed with greater justice to the +correct invocations, the efficacious prayers which, according to the +ancient faith of the Indians, compelled the gods to come down to the +sacrificial meal, and hear the prayers of men. If man could induce or +compel the gods to obey the will of men, the means by which this +operation was attained must of itself be obviously of a divine and +supernatural character. Only a divine power can exercise force over the +mighty gods. We saw above how the spirit of fire, which carried the +offerings to the sky, was to the Indian the mediator between earth and +heaven. But the gifts were accompanied by prayers, and these, according +to the idealistic tendencies of the Indians and the opinion of their +priests, were the most efficacious part of the sacrifice; in them was +contained the elevation of the mind to heaven; and therefore to the +Indian the priest was one who offered prayer; and the songs of the Veda +lay the greatest weight on "the holy word," _i.e._ on the prayer, which +with them "was the chariot which leads to heaven." Thus a second spirit +was placed beside Agni, the bearer of gifts, and this spirit carried +prayer into heaven, and was the means by which the priests influenced +the gods, the power which compelled the gods to listen to them. This +spirit is the personification of the cultus, the power of meditation. It +lives in the acts of worship, in the prayers; it is the spirit which in +these prayers is the constraining power upon the gods. In the faith of +the Indians the gods grow by invocations and prayers; this spirit, +therefore, gives them vigour and strength, and as he is able to compel +the gods, he must himself be a mighty god. + +This spirit of prayer is a creation of the priestly families, a +reflected expression of that power and compulsion which from all +antiquity the Indians believed could be exercised upon spirits, and +which they attribute to the power of meditation. The name of this deity +no less than his abstract nature is a proof of his later origin. He is +called Brahmanaspati, _i.e._ lord of prayer. "Brahmanaspati," we are +told in the Vedas, "pronounces the potent form of prayer, where Indra, +Varuna, Mitra, and the gods have made their dwellings."[159] The lord of +prayer, the leader of songs, the creator of the songs by which the gods +grow, and who gives them power, the "bright, gold-coloured," has in +reality done the deeds of Indra. "He has cleft the clouds with his +lightning, opened the rich hollow of the mountains (the hidden streams), +driven the cows from the mountains, poured forth streams of water, +chased away the darkness with his rays, has brought into being the dawn, +the clear sky, and fire."[160] Thus did the priests transfer the +achievements of the old god of storm and battle to their new god, their +own especial protector, whom they now make the possessor of all divine +attributes, and the father of gods. As this spirit was concealed, and +lived in the acts of sacrifice, in the priests who offered it, in their +prayers and meditations, and, on the other hand, had a power over the +gods, guiding them and compelling them, Brahmanaspati, the spirit of the +cultus, the mysterious force, the magic power of the rite, became with +the priests the Holy, an impersonal essence, which at last was looked on +by the priests as "Brahman."[161] It was not with the lightning, but +with the Brahman, _i.e._ with the power of the Holy, that Indra burst +asunder the cave of Vritra.[162] + +In Brahmanaspati the priests found a special god for their order and +vocation; they were also at the same time carried beyond the circle of +the ancient gods, whose forms had sprung up on a basis of natural +powers; they had arrived at a transcendental deity emanating from the +mysterious secret of their worship. It was a step further on the same +path to resolve Brahmanaspati into Brahman, the Sacred Being. +Nevertheless, even in the latest poems of the Veda, Brahman still +coincides with Brahmanaspati, with the power of meditation and +prayer.[163] But by degrees, in the eager desire to detach the unity of +the divine power from the plurality of divine shapes, and find the one +in the other, Brahman is elevated far above this signification; it +becomes the ideal union of all that is sacred and divine, and is +elevated into the highest divine power. If the Holy nourishes, leads, +and constrains the gods, it is mightier than the gods, the mightiest +deity, and therefore the most divine. If the Holy constrains the gods, +and at the same time gives them power, in it alone the special power of +the gods can rest, in so far as it is in them: the greater the portion +they have in it, the mightier are they. The self-concentrated Holy is +the mightiest power, the essence of all gods, the deity itself. Thus the +oneness of nature in the gods, their unity and the connection between +them, was discovered. Yet, this Holy, or Brahman, was not in heaven +only, but also existed on earth; it lived in the holy acts and in those +who performed them; in the ritual and prayer, in meditation and +heaven-ward elevation of spirit, in the priests. Thus there stood upon +the earth a holy and an unholy world in opposition to each other; the +world of the priests and of the laity, the holy order of the priests and +the unholy orders of the Kshatriyas, Vaiçyas, and Çudras. + +It was the power of meditation and prayer, of the holy word, which with +the priests had shaped itself into the divine power, the essence of the +divine, and had thus driven out the more ancient gods. From another side +this change was aided by ideas which the nature of the land of the +Ganges forced upon the Aryas. It was not merely that the climate +compelled them to rest, and thus won, for the priests more especially, +leisure for contemplation, reflection, and minute investigation--all +tendencies natural to the Aryas. Little care for his maintenance was +required from the man who went into the forest to pursue his thoughts +and dreams. There, instead of the hot sun which ripened the sugar-cane +and shone on the fields of rice, was cool shade under the vast bananas +and fig-trees; in the fruits growing wild in the forest, he found +sufficient food. The gods invoked in the land of the Indus had been the +spirits of light, of the clear sky, of the winds, the helpful force of +fire, the rain-giving power of the storm-god. It was the bright, +friendly, beneficial phenomena and gifts of the heavens and nature which +were honoured in Indra and Mitra, in Varuna, Surya, and Agni. On the +Ganges the Aryas found themselves surrounded by a far more vigorous +natural life. They were in the midst of magnificent forms of landscape, +the loftiest mountains, the mightiest rivers; around them was a +vegetation unwearied in the luxuriance of its ceaseless growth, throwing +up gigantic leaves and stems, and creepers immeasurable. They saw on +every side a bright-coloured and marvellous animal world; glittering +birds, hissing serpents, the colossal shapes of the elephant and +rhinoceros. The multifarious forms of their gods had impelled them to +seek for a single source, a point of unity among them, and the same +impulse was roused by the wealth, variety, and bewildering abundance of +this natural life, which in quick alternation of blossom and decay, went +on creating without rest, under shapes the most various. The more +variegated the pictures formed by this rich nature in the lively fancy +of the Indians, the more confusing this change and multitude, the +stronger was the effort required of the mind in order to grasp the +unity, the single source, of all this mighty stream of life. To the old +gods the phenomena and operations of a wholly different region and +climate had been ascribed, but here life was far more varied and +luxuriant; here there was no contest of fruitful land with desert, of +the spirits of drought with the god of the storm. On the contrary, the +inundations of the Ganges displayed a fixed and regular revolution, and +in every kind of growth and decay there was a constant unalterable +order. Who, then, was the author and lord of these mighty pulses of +life, and this order, which seemed to exist of themselves? What was the +element of existence and continuance in this alternation of growth and +decay? When once men had come to regard the wonderful life of the Ganges +as a whole picture, as one, that life was naturally ascribed to some one +comprehensive form of deity, to one great god. The meditation of the +priests finally brought them to the result that the dust, earth, and +ashes, into which men, animals, and plants fell and disappeared could be +neither the cause and seat of their own life, nor of the general life. +Behind the material and the phenomenon, which could be grasped and seen +by the senses, must lie the dim and secret source of existence; behind +the external side must be another, inward, immaterial, and invisible. +Thus not man only, but all nature, fell into two parts, body and soul. +As behind the body of men, so also behind the perishable outward side of +nature, there seemed to live a great soul, penetrating through all +phenomena, the source and fountain of their being. The priests +discovered that behind all the changing phenomena there must exist a +single breath, a soul, Atman--it is also called Mahanatma, Paramatman, +_i.e._ "the great soul"[164]--and this must be the creative, sustaining, +divine power, the source and seat of the life which we behold at one +time rising in gladness, at another sinking in exhaustion. + +This world-soul was amalgamated with Brahman and denoted by that name. +In and behind the prayers and sacred acts an invisible spirit had been +discovered, which gave them their power and efficacy, and this holy +spirit ruled over the deities, inasmuch as it compelled them to listen +to the prayers of men. Behind, above, and in the gods, the nature of the +Holy was all-powerful; and it was the divine, the highest form of deity. +The same spirit must be sought for behind the great and various +phenomena of the life of nature. There must be the same spirit ruling in +both spheres, a spirit which existed at once in heaven and on earth, +which gave force to the prayers of the Brahmans, and summoned into life +the phenomena of nature, and caused the latter to move in definite +cycles, which was also the highest god and the lord of the gods. Thus +the sacred spirit ruling over the gods became extended into a +world-soul, penetrating through all the phenomena of nature, inspiring +and sustaining life. + +From prayer and meditation, which are mightier than the power of the +gods, from this inward concentration, which, according to the faith of +the Indians, reaches even unto heaven, the priests arrived at the idea +of a deity which no longer rested on any basis in the phenomena of +nature, but was ultimately regarded as the Holy in the general sense of +the word. To them this Holy was the soul of the world, and the creator +of it, or rather, not so much the creator as the cause and basis. From +it the world emanated as the stream from the spring. The Brahman, the +'That' (_tat_), does not stand to the world in the contrast of genus and +species; it has developed into the world. In the latest hymns of the +Veda we read: "Let us set forth the births of the gods in songs of +praise and thanksgiving. Brahmanaspati blew forth these births like a +smith. In the first age of the gods being sprang out of not-being. There +was neither being nor not-being, neither air nor heaven overhead, +neither death nor immortality, no division of day or night, darkness +existed, and this universe was indistinguishable waters. But the 'That' +(from which was nothing different, and nothing was above it), breathed +without respiration, but self-supported. Then rose desire (_kama_) in +it; this was the germ which by their wisdom the wise discovered in their +hearts as the link uniting not-being and being; this was the original +creative seed. Who knows, who can declare, whence has sprung this +creation?--the gods are subsequent to this, who then knows whence it +arose?"[165] We see how, in spite of consistency, Brahman is retained +beside the purely spiritual potency, the fructifying water of heaven +beside not-being, as the material in existence from the first. + +From the point of view which the priests gained by this conception of +Brahman, a new idea of the world lay open to them. Behind and above the +gods stood an invisible, pure, and holy spirit, which was at once the +germ and source of the whole world, the life of nature's life; in +Brahman the world and all that was in it had their origin; there was no +difference between the nature of Brahman and the world. Brahman was the +efficient and material cause of the world, but while Brahman streamed +forth into the world and became at every step further removed from +itself, its products became less clear and pure, less like the +perfection of its nature. Beginning from a spiritual being, +suprasensual, transcendental, and yet existing in the world, the Indians +ended in discovering a theory of creation, according to which all +creatures proceeded from this highest being in such a manner, that the +most spiritual forms were the nearest to him, while the most material, +sensual, and rude were the most remote. There was a graduated scale of +beings from Brahman down to the stones, and from these again to the holy +and pure, the only true and real, self-existent, eternal being of this +world-soul. In the first instance the gods had sprung from Brahman. From +Brahman the impersonal world-soul, the self-existent Holy, a personal +Brahman, first streamed forth, who was the highest deity. The personal +Brahman was followed by the origin of the old gods. After the gods the +spirits of the air are said to have flowed from Brahman, and after them +the holy and pure men, the castes in their order, according as they are +nearer to the sanctity of Brahman or more remote. Men were succeeded by +the beasts according to their various kinds, by trees, plants, herbs, +stones, and the lifeless matter. + +In this way all created things emanated from Brahman, and to each class +and kind a definite occupation was appointed, to perform which was the +duty of the class in the universal system. Thus the life of all +creatures was defined, and their vocation assigned to them in such a +manner that they must fulfil it even in subsequent births.[166] The +orders of priests, Kshatriyas, Vaiçyas, and Çudras, were a part in the +divine order of the world; the distinction between them, the nature and +relative position of each, emanated from Brahman. They are, therefore, +distinct steps in the development of Brahman, and, for this reason, +distinct occupations are apportioned to them. Thus there now stood, side +by side, among the Indians, four classes or varieties of men, separated +by God, and each provided by him with a different function. Henceforth +no change was possible for one class into another, no mixture of one +with another could be endured. The limits drawn by God were not to be +broken through. The Brahmans are nearest to Brahman; in them the essence +of Brahman, the holy spirit, the power of sanctification, lives in +greater force than in the rest; they emanated from Brahman before the +others; they are the first-born order. In one of the latest songs of the +Rigveda, the Purusha-suktas, we are told of the world-spirit: "The +Brahman was his mouth, the Rajnaya (Kshatriya) his arm, the Vaiçya his +thigh, the Çudra his foot." This is a parable: the Brahman was his +mouth, because the Brahmans are in possession of the prayers and holy +hymns; whether the arm or the mouth, strength or speech, was preferable, +is a question which remains unanswered. More distinctly and with special +insistance that the mouth of Brahman is the best part of him, the law +book of the priests tells us: Brahman first allowed the Brahmans to +proceed from his mouth; then the Kshatriyas from his arms; next the +Vaiçyas from his thigh; and lastly, the Çudras from his foot.[167] The +duties fixed by Brahman for the Brahmans were sacrifice, the study and +teaching of the Veda, to give justice and receive it. The duty of the +Kshatriyas is to protect the people; of the Vaiçyas to tend the herds, +till the fields, and carry on trade; the Çudras were only pledged to +serve the three other orders.[168] It is a duty for the Kshatriyas and +Vaiçyas to be reverent, submissive, and liberal to the Brahmans or +first-born caste. The vocation of man is to adapt himself to the +existing order of the world, to fulfil the particular mission assigned +to him at birth. Any rebellion against the order of the castes is a +rebellion against the divine order of the world. + +This new view of the world, at which, beginning from the conception of +the Holy and the world-soul, the meditation of the priests had arrived, +was at variance with the old faith. The new idea of God and the doctrine +of the world-soul, in its abstract and speculative form, could have but +little influence on the kings, the nobles, the peasants, and the people. +As a fact, it shattered almost too violently the belief of the Aryas in +the ancient gods. With the people Indra continued to be the highest god, +and still, as before, the spirits of light, of the wind, of fire were +invoked. But even without the new doctrine the forms of the ancient gods +were fainter in the minds of the nobles and people, partly in +consequence of the change in climate and country, and partly because the +old impulses which had given the first place in heaven to the gods of +battle no longer moved the heart so strongly, when the Aryas lived in +larger states and under more peaceful relations. The atmosphere of the +valley of the Ganges also required a more passive life, and the ideas of +the people, no less than the fancy of the priests, must have received +from the gigantic forms of the landscape, and the rich and marvellous +animal world of the new region, a direction and elevation quite +different from that felt in the land of the Indus. More especially, the +reasons noticed above--the contrast between the Aryas on the one hand +and the Çudras on the other--facilitated the reception of the doctrine +maintained by the priests of the division of castes. The pious feeling +which penetrated the Indians would, moreover, have found it difficult to +resist the conviction that the first place must invariably belong to the +relation to the gods. Hence ready credence was given to the priests when +they spoke of their order as the first-born and nearest to the gods. + +It was not in the sphere of religion or worship, but in ethics, that the +doctrine of the priests attained to a thorough practical influence on +the state and life of the Indians, and this complete victory was due to +the consequences which the priests derived from it for the life of the +soul after death. We are acquainted with the ancient ideas cherished by +the Aryas in the Panjab on the future of the soul after death; the +spirits of the brave and pious passed into the bright heaven of Yama, +where they lived in happiness and joy on soma, milk, and honey; those +who had done evil passed into thickest darkness. Yama allowed or refused +entrance into his heaven; his two hounds kept watch (p. 64). The +descendants duly sprinkled water for the spirits of their ancestors, and +their families brought libations at the new moon, when the souls of the +fathers came in troops and enjoyed food and drink. In the oldest +Brahmanas, Yama holds a formal judgment on the souls. The actions of the +dead were weighed in a balance; the good deeds allowed the scale to +rise; the evil deeds were threatened with definite punishments and +torments in the place of darkness. The body of light which the pious +souls are said to have received in heaven, required, according to this +new conception, a less amount of food, or no food at all. But the deeper +change rests in the fact that the heaven of Yama, the son of the deity +of light, can now no longer be the reward of those who have lived a +purer life, and approached to the sanctity and perfection of Brahman. +They had raised themselves in the scale of existence, and must therefore +return into the bosom of the pure being from which they had emanated. +The souls which have attained to complete purity pass after death into +Brahman. Thus the heaven of Yama was rendered unnecessary, and was, in +fact, set aside. The sinner who has not lived according to the vocation +which he received at birth, has neither offered sacrifice nor purified +himself, must be severely punished, and it is Yama--now transformed from +a judge of the dead into a prince of darkness, and having his abode in +hell--who imposes on sinners the torments which they must endure after +death for their guilt. The fancy of the Indians depicted, in great +detail, according to the various torments, the place of darkness, the +hell, situated deep below the earth. As among the Egyptians, and all +nations living in a hot climate, so in the hell of the Indians fierce +heat is the chief means of punishment. In one place is the region of +darkness, and the place of tears, the forest where the leaves are +swords. In another the souls are torn by owls and ravens; in another +their heads are struck every day by the guardians of hell with great +hammers. In another and yet worse hell they are broiled in pans; here +they have to eat hot coals; there they walk on burning sand and glowing +iron; in another place hot copper is poured into their necks.[169] For +the kings and warriors, on the other hand, the heaven of Indra takes the +place of the heaven of Yama; and into this the brave warriors enter. In +the Epos, Indra laments that "none of the beloved guests come, who +dedicate their lives to the battle, and find death without an averted +countenance." We have already seen how Indra meets Yudhishthira in order +to conduct him into the heaven of the heroes, the imperishable world, +where he will see his brothers and his wife, when they are freed from +the earthly impurity still clinging to them. + +The torments provided in hell for the sinners could not satisfy the +system which the priests had established in the doctrine of the +world-soul. In this the holy and pure being had allowed the world to +emanate from itself; the further this world was removed from its origin +and source, the more melancholy and gloomy it became. If the gods, the +holy and pious men in the past, and the heaven of light of Indra, were +nearest to the purity of Brahman, the pure nature of this being became +seriously adulterated in the lower stages of removal. In the present +world, purity and impurity, virtue and passion, wisdom and folly, were +at least in equipoise. The worlds of animals, plants, and dead matter +were obviously still further removed from the pure Brahman. If, +according to this view, the world was an adulterated, broken, impure +Brahman, it received, along with this corruption, the duty of regaining +its original purity. All beings had received their origin from Brahman, +and to him all must return. From this point of view, and the requirement +that every being must work out its way to perfection, in order to be +adapted to its perfect origin, the priests arrived at the idea that +every creature must go through all the gradations of being as they +emanated from Brahman, before it could attain to rest. The Çudra must +become a Vaiçya, the Vaiçya a Kshatriya, the Kshatriya a Brahman, and +the Brahman a wholly sinless and sacred man, a pure spirit, before he +can pass into Brahman. From the necessity that every one should work up +to Brahman, arose the monstrous doctrine of regenerations. The Çudra who +had lived a virtuous life, was, it was thought, by the power of this +virtue and the practice of it, changed in his nature, and born anew in +the higher existence of a Vaiçya; the Kshatriya became a Brahman, and so +on.[170] In this manner the pure and holy life, according as it was +freed from all sensuality and corporeality, from the whole material +world, succeeded in winning a return to supersensual and incorporeal +Brahman. Conversely, the impure, spotted, and sinful were born again in +a lower order, and in the worst shape according to the measure of the +offence--sometimes they did not even become men at all, but animals--in +order to struggle back again through unutterable torments, and +innumerable regenerations, to their former condition, and finally to +Brahman. Thus a wide field was opened to the fancy of the Indians, on +which it soon erected a complete system of regenerations; and into this +the theory of hell was adopted. The man who had committed grievous sins, +sinks after death into hell, and for long periods is tortured in the +various departments there, that thus, after expiation of his sins, he +may begin again the scale of migration from the lowest and worst form of +existence. One who was guilty of less serious offences was born again +according to their measure as a Çudra or an elephant, a lion or a tiger, +a bird or a dancer.[171] One who had committed acts of cruelty was +re-born as a beast of prey.[172] One who had attempted the murder of a +Brahman was punished in hell one hundred or a thousand years, according +to the progress of the attempt, and then saw the light of the world in +twenty-one births, each time proceeding from the body of some common +animal. He who had shed the blood of a Brahman, was torn in hell by +beasts of prey for so many years as the flowing blood had touched grains +of sand; and if any one had slain a Brahman his soul was born again in +the bodies of the animals held in greatest contempt on the Ganges, the +dog and the goat.[173] If any one had stolen a cow he was born again as +a crocodile, or a lizard; if corn, as a rat;[174] if fruits and roots, +as an ape.[175] He who defiled his father's bed was to be born a hundred +times as a herb, or a liana--the creepers embracing the trees;[176] the +Brahman who is guilty of a fault in the sacrifice is born again for a +hundred years as a crow or kite, and those who eat forbidden food will +again see light as worms. He who reproaches a free man with being the +son of a slave-woman, will himself be born five times from the body of +a slave.[177] In this manner, partly fanciful, partly pedantic, the +priests built up the system of regenerations. According to the law-book +of the priests, inorganic matter, worms, insects, frogs, rats, crows, +swine, dogs, and asses, were on the lowest stage in the scale of +creation; above them came first, elephants, horses, lions, boars, the +Çudras and the Mlechhas; _i.e._ the nations who did not speak Sanskrit. +Above these were rogues, players, demons (Raksheras), Piçachas, _i.e._ +blood-suckers, vampyres; above these wrestlers and boxers, dancers, +armour-smiths, drunkards, and Vaiçyas; above them the Kshatriyas and the +kings, the men eminent in battle and speech, the genii of heaven, the +Gandharvas and Apsarasas. Above these were the Brahmans, the pious +penitents, the gods, the great saints, and finally, Brahman. + +Thus the new system effaced the specific distinctions between plants and +beasts, men and gods. Everywhere it saw nothing but spirits, which have +to work their way in a similar manner from greater or less impurity to +purity, from incompleteness to completeness and the original source of +their existence. The souls, when they had once been created and had +emanated from Brahman, found no rest or end till they had returned once +more to this their starting-point; and this they were unable to do till +they had been raised to the purity and sanctity of Brahman. + +However indifferent the kings, nobles, and peasants may have been to +this doctrine of the world-soul and Brahman, these new, severe, and +terrible consequences, derived from it by the priests for the life +after death, could not be without a deep impression. They operated with +immense force on the spirit of the Indians. To endure the torments of +hell in continuous heat, while even on earth the warmth of the climate +was so hard to bear, was a terrible prospect. But even this appeared +only as the lesser evil. Along with and after the torments of hell those +who committed grievous sins had to expect a ceaseless regeneration in +the bodies of men and animals until they had worked their way up to +Brahman. At the same time the priests took care to impress upon the +hearts of the people the fate which awaited those who did not follow +their ordinances. They reminded them perpetually of "the casting of the +soul into hell and hell-torments." The sinner was to think, "what +migrations the soul would have to undergo owing to his sin; of the +regeneration through ten thousand millions of mothers."[178] These +endless terrors and torments now in prospect for the man who did not +fulfil the vocation assigned to him by the creator at birth, or the +prescripts of the priests, were only too well adapted to win respect for +their requirements. Who would venture to trespass on the divine +arrangement of the world, according to which the first place was secured +on earth to the Brahman in preference to the wealthy armed noble, the +peasant, and the miserable Çudra, who was only on a level with the +higher order of animals? Who would not look up with reverence to the +purer incarnation of the world-soul, the holier spirit, which dwelt in +the Brahmans? Even though the theory of the world-soul remained +unintelligible to the many, they understood that the Brahmans, who +busied themselves with sacrifice, prayers, and sacred things, stood +nearer to the deity than they did; they understood that if they +misconducted themselves towards the sacred race or disregarded the +vocation of birth, they must expect endless torments in hell, and +endless regenerations in the most loathsome worms and insects, or in the +despised class of the Çudras--"those animals in human form." + +The priesthood cannot have succeeded in making good their claims to +superiority over the Kshatriyas, their new doctrine and ethics, without +long-continued struggles and contests. If the two first centuries after +the foundation of the states--the period between 1400 and 1200 +B.C.--were occupied, as we assumed above, with the arrangement and +consolidation of the new kingdom, the establishment of the position of +the nobles, and the composition of songs of heroism and victory, we may +assign to the next two centuries--from 1200 to 1000 B.C.--the sharper +distinction of the Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas, the amalgamation of the +families of minstrels and priests into an order; the rise of this order +in the states on the Ganges as the preserver of the ancient faith and +ancient mode of worship; the combination of the customs, formulæ, and +invocations hitherto handed down separately in the separate states. If +in the first period the immigrant Aryas separated themselves as a common +race from the Çudras, in the next the three orders of the Aryas became +distinguished. Only the man who was born a Kshatriya could partake in +the honour of this order; only one who sprung from a family of priests +could be allowed to assist in the holy acts of sacrifice; and he who was +born a Vaiçya must continue to till the field. + +At the beginning of the ensuing century--_i.e._ in the period from 1000 +B.C. downwards--the priests, now in possession of all the ancient +invocations and formulæ, may have begun their meditations with the +comparison of the invocations, the attempt to find out the right meaning +of them, and to grasp the unity of the divine nature. The hymns of the +latest portion of the Vedas, which are obviously a product of these +meditations, may perhaps have arisen in the first half of this period. +From the mysterious secret of the worship, the spirit of prayer, and the +idea of the mighty, ever-recurring stream of birth and decay in the land +of the Ganges, the Brahmans arrived at the idea of Brahman, the +world-soul, and from this deduced its consequences. We may with +certainty presuppose a long and severe struggle of the nobles against +the dominion of the priests--a struggle which went on for several +generations. Even the Vaiçyas can hardly have submitted without +resistance to all the requirements of the Brahmans. The impassable gulf +between the orders, the exclusion of intermarriage, was only carried +out, as we can show, with difficulty; and even the ethics of the new +doctrine must have met with resistance. + +We have already referred to the circumstances which rendered victory +easier to the Brahmans, to the changed conditions of life, and the +nature of the land of the Ganges. Another fact in their favour was that +the new doctrines of the Brahmans did not attack the monarchy. This +continued to remain in the order of the Kshatriyas, and no essential +limitation of their powers was required by the new doctrine from the +princes on the Ganges. It is true that it demanded recognition of the +superiority of the Brahmans to the other orders, and acknowledgment of +the special sanctity of the order even from the kings; it required +reverence, respect, and liberality, towards the Brahmans; yet in all +other respects the new system was calculated to increase rather than +diminish the power of the kings. The rule of unconditional submission to +the existing order must have strengthened considerably the authority of +the kings, and assisted them in removing the limitations hitherto, +without doubt, imposed upon them by the importance of the Kshatriyas; +and we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the kingdom on the Ganges +was first raised by the new doctrine to absolute power; on this +foundation it became a despotism. + +We may feel confident in assuming that the victory of the Brahmans in +the land of the Ganges was completed about the time when the dynasty of +the Pradyotas ascended the throne of Magadha, _i.e._ about the year 800 +B.C.[179] The districts from the Sarasvati eastward as far as the upper +Ganges are after that time a sacred land to the Indians. The country +between the Sarasvati and the Drishadvati is called Brahmavarta, _i.e._ +Brahma-land. Kurukshetra (between the Drishadvati and the Yamuna), the +districts of the Bharatas and Panchalas, of the Matsyas and Çurasenas, +_i.e._ the entire doab of the Yamuna and the Ganges, are comprised under +the name Brahmarshideça, _i.e._ the land of the holy sages. Here were +situated the famous residences of the Kurus and Pandus, Hastinapura, +Indraprastha, Kauçambi, and on the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges, +Pratishthana; here, finally, was the city of Krishna, Krishnapura, and +the sacred Mathura on the Yamuna; and elsewhere also in this district we +find consecrated places and shrines of pilgrimage. It is maintained that +the bravest Kshatriyas and the holiest priests are to be found in this +district; the customs and observances here are regarded as the best, and +as giving the rule to the remainder. The law-book of the priests +requires that every Arya shall learn the right walk in life from a +Brahman born in Brahmarshideça, and that, properly, all Aryas should +live there.[180] It cannot have been any reminiscence of the great war +which caused the priests to set such a value on these regions, and make +these demands, nor even the fact that these districts were the first +occupied by the emigrants from the Indus, so that here first in the new +country were consecrated places set up for the worship of the +immigrants, and the least intermixture took place with the ancient +population. It is due rather to the fact that in these regions the +civilisation and culture of the Indians were consolidated in an especial +degree; here the priestly reform of the religion, if it did not receive +the first impulse, yet acquired the victory and became supreme, owing +perhaps to the support of the princes of the dynasty of Pandu, who +reigned at Kauçambi. As these were the regions in which the priests +first regulated the ancient customs of worship, morals, and justice +according to the new doctrine, they could afterwards serve as a pattern +for all the rest. If the Brahmans, soon after they had succeeded in +carrying through their demands here, revised the Epos of the great war +in the light of their new system, they could claim the thanks of the +kings of the Bharatas for their support, they could show that the kings +who in ancient times had won the dominion in these lands, the ancestors +of the race then on the throne, had even in early times obediently +followed the commands of the priests, and they could set up the +conquerors in that struggle as patterns of the proper conduct of kings +to Brahmans (p. 101). + +Hence we may perhaps assume that it was in the districts on the upper +Yamuna and the upper Ganges that the priesthood first got the upper +hand, and the same change followed in the lands still further to the +east, after the great priestly families, with more or less difficulty, +delay and completeness, established themselves among the Kshatriyas of +these districts--the Vasishthas with the kings of the Koçalas, the +Gautamas with the kings of the Videhas, to whom no doubt they made very +clear the services their forefathers had rendered to the predecessors on +the throne. According as the previous circumstances offered more +resistance in one place, and less in another, the new system was +sometimes carried out more rapidly and thoroughly, and at others more +slowly and with less severity. + +No historical tradition has come down to us of the resistance made by +the nobles to the priestly order in defence of their possession, or by +the kings in questions affecting their power. It was the interest of the +Brahmans to establish and describe the position they had won by +conquest as occupied by them from the first. No nation has gone so far +as the Indians in their eagerness to forget the old condition of affairs +in every succeeding evolution, and to establish the new point of view as +one existing from the first. The liveliness and force of their fancy +must have unconsciously led them to regard the new and the present as +the old and the original after comparatively short intervals of time. + +In some episodes of the Epos and narratives of the Puranas we find +legends of kings and warriors who because they did not show the proper +respect for the Brahmans, or opposed them, were severely punished, and +of saintly heroes who slew the Kshatriyas. We cannot, however, assume, +that in the one or the other there is concealed any historic +reminiscence. They are merely intended to set up terrifying examples of +the lot which awaited kings and Kshatriyas who ventured to disregard the +Brahmans. The book of the law tells us that the wise king Vena became +infirm in mind owing to sensuality, and in this condition he brought +about the mixture of the orders.[181] King Nahusha, Sudas, the son of +Pijavana, and Nimi perished through want of humility, but Viçvamitra by +his humility was raised to the rank of a Brahman.[182] All these names +are taken from the legend as it existed previously to the great war. + +In the Rigveda, Vena is mentioned as the father of Prithu;[183] the +Ramayana enumerates Vena and his son Prithu among the first successors +of Ikshvaku, the progenitor of the kings of the Koçalas (p. 106). The +Vishnu-Purana, which assigns the same position to Vena, tells us that he +took upon himself to arrange the duties of men, and forbade the +Brahmans to sacrifice to the gods; no one might be worshipped but +himself. Then the holy Brahmans slew the sinner with swords of the +sacred sacrificial grass, which had been purified by invocations. And +when, on the death of the king, robbers sprung up on every side, the +Brahmans rubbed the right arm of the dead king, and from it sprung the +pious and wise Prithu, who shone like Agni; he ruled between the Yamuna +and Ganges, and subdued the earth, and by this noble son Vena's soul was +freed from hell. The Mahabharata tells us that Prithu inquired with +folded hands of the great saints about his duties, and that they bade +him maintain the Veda, abstain from punishing Brahmans, and protect +society from the intermixture of the castes.[184] + +King Nahusha belongs to the royal race of the Bharatas; he is mentioned +as the second successor of Pururavas (p. 82). The Mahabharata tells us +that he was a mighty king, but he laid tribute on the saints, and forced +them to carry him. Once he caused his palanquin to be carried by a +thousand great sages, and because they did not go fast enough, he struck +with his foot the holy Agastya who was among them. Then Agastya cursed +him and he was changed into a serpent.[185] + +Nimi, according to the Ramayana, is a son of Ikshvaku, the progenitor of +the Koçalas. He bade Vasishtha his priest offer a sacrifice for him, and +Vasishtha undertook to perform the second half of it. But the king +caused the sacrifice to be offered by another saint, by Gautama. When +Vasishtha heard this he pronounced a curse on Nimi that he should lose +his body, and Nimi forthwith died. He was not punished for rebellion +against a Brahman, but because he had not submitted himself with +absolute obedience to his own priest. + +Lastly Viçvamitra is said to have obtained the rank of a Brahman by +humility. Viçvamitra is known to us from the hymns of the seventh book +of the Rigveda as offering sacrifice for the Bharatas, while Vasishtha +or his race offer prayer and sacrifice for their opponent, Sudas, the +king of the Tritsus, who afterwards settle on the Sarayu and bear the +name of Koçalas (p. 66). But the Ramayana and the Puranas also place +Vasishtha at the side of the kings of the Koçalas, not at the time of +Nimi only, as we have seen, who is the son of the tribal ancestor +Ikshvaku, but at the side of Ikshvaku's descendants in the fifth +century, like Vena, and even in the twentieth and fiftieth generations. +The imagination of the Indians was not disturbed by such things in the +case of a great priest of the old time. Yet in other parts of the +Rigveda besides those quoted above, in the third book, we find prayers +offered by Viçvamitra for Sudas, and some obscure expressions may be +regarded as curses directed by Vasishtha against Viçvamitra. From the +circumstance that Viçvamitra at one time offers prayers for the king of +the Tritsus, and at another for the king of the Bharatas, we may draw +the conclusion, that the family of the Kuçikas to which Viçvamitra +belonged was driven out among the Tritsus by another family--that of +Vasishtha, and that afterwards the Kuçikas offered their services to the +kings of the Bharatas, and were allowed to perform them. Out of the +opposition of Viçvamitra and Vasishtha, indicated in the Rigveda, the +priestly literature of the Indians has invented a great contest between +Viçvamitra and the Kshatriyas, in order to bring to light the +superiority of the Brahmans. Even with the aid of his weapons, +Viçvamitra the Kshatriya cannot prevail against the Brahman Vasishtha. +At length he recognises the majesty of the Brahman, submits to Brahmanic +ordinances, and distinguishes himself by sanctity to such a degree "that +he became like a Brahman, and possessed all the qualifications of +one."[186] + +In the Vishnu-Purana Sudas is the fiftieth successor of Ikshvaku on the +throne of the Koçalas. His priest was Vasishtha; and Viçvamitra, the son +of a great Kshatriya, the king of Kanyakubja (Kanoja), wished to drive +him out. One day, while hunting, Sudas met a Brahman, who would not move +out of the way for him, and he struck him with his whip. The Brahman was +Çakti, the eldest of Vasishtha's hundred sons. Çakti pronounced on the +king the curse that he should become a cannibal, and the curse was +fulfilled. But by the help of an evil spirit Viçvamitra was able to +bring the consequences of the curse on the sons of Vasishtha; Çakti +himself and all his brothers were eaten by the king. In despair at the +death of his sons, Vasishtha sought to put an end to his own life, but +in vain. When at length he returned to his settlement, he found that the +widow of his eldest son was pregnant; and when she brought forth +Paraçara the hope of progeny revived in him. But Sudas desired to eat +Paraçara also. Then the holy Vasishtha blew on Sudas, sprinkled him with +holy water, and took the curse from him, and in return the king promised +never to despise Brahmans, to obey their commands, and show them all +honour. And when Paraçara grew up, and wished to avenge the death of his +father, Vasishtha told him that under the rule of Kritavirya (he is said +to have reigned over a tribe of the Yadavas) the Bhrigus, the priests +of the king, had become rich in corn and gold by his liberality. Arjuna, +the successor of Kritavirya, had fallen into distress, and sought aid +from the Bhrigus. Then some of them buried their possessions out of fear +of the Kshatriyas, and when by accident a Kshatriya discovered the +treasure hidden in the house of a Bhrigu they slew all the Bhrigus. But +their widows fled to the Himalayas, and there one of them brought forth +Aurva, who desired to avenge the death of the Bhrigus by the slaughter +of the Kshatriyas. But the spirits of the holy Bhrigus warned him to +give up his passion, and curb his anger; by concealment they had roused +the anger of the Kshatriyas, in order to arrive the sooner in heaven. In +like manner Paraçara abandoned the idea of avenging his father. + +No greater historical value is to be attached to a legend of the +destruction of the Kshatriyas by a Brahman. Gadhi, the father of +Viçvamitra, had given his daughter to wife to a saint, Richika, the son +of Aurva, of the race of the Bhrigus. She bore Jamadagni to Richika, who +lived as an eremite after the example of his father. One day Arjuna came +to the abode of Jamadagni, and though he received the king with honour, +Arjuna caused the calf of his cow to be carried away. Then Paraçurama, +_i.e._ Rama with the axe, the youngest son of Jamadagni, slew the king, +and the king's sons slew Jamadagni. To avenge the death of his father, +Paraçurama swore to destroy all the Kshatriyas from the earth. Thrice +seven times with his irresistible axe he cut down the Kshatriyas, and +appeased the manes of Jamadagni and the Bhrigus with the blood of the +slain. Then he offered a great sacrifice to Indra, and presented the +earth to the saint Kaçyapa. But Kaçyapa gave it to the Brahmans, and +went into the forest. Then the stronger oppressed the weaker, and the +Vaiçyas and Çudras behaved themselves wickedly towards the wives of the +Brahmans, and the earth besought Kaçyapa for a protector and a king; a +few Kshatriyas were still left among the women; and Paraçara had brought +up Sarvakarma, the son of Sudas. And Kaçyapa did as the earth entreated +him, and made the son of Sudas and the other Kshatriyas to be kings. +This was long before the great war.[187] In the Ramayana, Paraçurama +rebels when Rama has broken Çiva's great bow. All were in terror lest he +should again destroy the Kshatriyas. But Rama also strings Paraçurama's +great bow, shoots the arrow to the sky, not towards Paraçurama, "because +he was a Brahman," and Paraçurama returned to Mount Mahendra. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[151] Cunningham, "Survey," 1. 301 ff. + +[152] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 168 _n._ + +[153] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, 168. + +[154] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 671, 951. + +[155] Manu, 1. 91. + +[156] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 966 _n._ + +[157] "Samaveda," 1, 6, 1, 4, 5, in Benfey's translation. + +[158] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 5, 266 ff. + +[159] "Rigveda," 1, 40, 5, in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 272 ff. + +[160] "Rigveda," 10, 68, 8 ff. Roth, "Z. D. M. G." 1. 75. + +[161] _Brahmán_, from the root _barh_, connected with the root _vardh_ +(to become, to grow), means to raise, to elevate. The masc. _brahmán_ +means "he who elevates, makes to increase;" the neuter _bráhman_ means +first, "growth," the "creative power," and then, "the elevating and +elevated mood," the prayer and sacred form of words, the creative, +reproducing power. A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 2, 303; 9, 305. + +[162] Roth, _loc. cit._ 1. 73. + +[163]Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 382. + +[164] So in Manu, _e.g._ 6. 65. _Atman_ means "_breathing_;" +_paramatman_ "the highest breathing." + +[165] "Rigveda," 10, 72, 1-3; 10, 129, 1-6, in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 48 +ff. 356. + +[166] Manu, 1, 28, 29. + +[167] "Rigveda," 10, 90; Manu, 1, 31 and in the Puranas; Muir, "Sanskrit +Texts," 5, 371. A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 9, 7. + +[168] Manu, 1, 88-91, and in many other places. + +[169] In Manu, 4, 88-90 (cf. 12, 75, 76) eight hells are mentioned and +described, in each of which the torments grow worse as the offences are +more serious. The Buddhists retain these eight hot hells, and add eight +cold; Burnouf, "Introduction à l'histoire du Bouddhisme," p. 320, 366, +367, 201. The Singhalese have increased the number to 136, the Siamese +to 462. Koppen, "Relig. des Buddha," s. 244. Cf. A. Weber, in "Z. D. M. +G." 9, 237. + +[170] _e.g._ Manu, 9, 335. + +[171] Manu, 12, 43, 44. + +[172] Manu, 12, 59. + +[173] Manu, 12, 55. + +[174] Manu, 12, 62, 64. + +[175] Manu, 12, 67. + +[176] Manu, 12, 58. + +[177] Manu, 12, 59. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 274. Bohlen has already +observed that many of these regenerations are merely fanciful, "Indien," +24. + +[178] Manu, 6, 61-63. + +[179] In the sixth century B.C. the Brahmanic arrangement of the state +was in full force in the cities on the Ganges, and carried out most +strictly. Hence it must have obtained the upper hand about 800 B.C. at +the latest. It was not only established by law about the year 600 B.C., +but the doctrine of the Brahmans had already created scholastic and +heterodox systems of philosophy. Before this system could become +current, the idea of Brahman must have been discovered; the strong +elements of resistance in the ancient life and faith must have been +overcome. This would occupy a space of about two centuries, and may +therefore have filled the period from 1000 to 800 B.C., as assumed in +the text. Buddhism required a space of three centuries in order to +become the recognised religion in the kingdom of Magadha. Before the +idea of the world-soul could be discovered, the hymns of the Veda must +have reached a certain point of combination and synopsis, and the +confusing multitude of divine forms must have been sufficiently felt to +call forth the opposite idea of unity. From the book of the law it is +clear that the three Vedas were in existence before it was drawn up. It +refers perpetually to the triple Veda. The evidence of the Sutras proves +that four Vedas existed at the time of the appearance of Buddha. If +these were in existence in the sixth century the three which are +acknowledged to be older must have existed as early as the seventh +century B.C. + +[180] Manu, 2, 6, 12, 18, 20. + +[181] Manu, 9, 67. + +[182] Manu, 7, 38-42, 8, 110. + +[183] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 1, 268, 305. + +[184] Muir, _loc. cit._ 1, 297 ff. + +[185] Muir, _loc. cit._ 1, 307 ff. + +[186] Muir, _loc. cit._ 1, 157. + +[187] Muir, _loc. cit._ 1, 151, 200. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE OLD AND THE NEW RELIGION. + + +In the land of the Ganges the Brahmans had gained a great victory and +carried out a great reform. A new god had thrown the old gods into the +background, and with the conception of this new god was connected a new +view of the world, at once abstract and fantastic. From this in turn +followed a new arrangement of the state, and of the orders, which were +now of divine origin, as direct products of creation, and thus became +irrevocably fixed. The monarchy itself was of humbler descent than the +Brahmans, the first of the earth; to them the warlike nobles were made +inferior, while the doctrines of hell and regeneration, which the +Brahmans put in the place of the old ideas of life after death, must +gradually have brought about the subjugation of the national mind and +heart to the new religion. + +When the Brahmans succeeded in establishing their claims in the land of +the Ganges about the year 800 B.C. (as we ventured to assume), the old +sacrificial songs and invocations, which they had imported with them +from the land of the Indus, were no doubt to a great extent already +written down. When the various families of minstrels and priests had +first exchanged with each other their special treasures of ancient +prayers; when the Brahmans, passing beyond the borders of the separate +states, had become amalgamated into one order, and had thus consolidated +the existing stock of traditional formulæ and ritual--it must have been +felt necessary to preserve this valuable treasure in its greatest +possible extent, and, considering the belief of the Aryas in the magical +power of these forms, as securely as possible from any change. Whatever +might be the assistance which the compact form of these invocations lent +to the memory, the body of songs which had now passed from tradition and +the possession of the separate families into the general possession of +the orders, was too various and comprehensive,--minute and verbal +accuracy was too important,--for the resources of even the most careful +oral teaching, the strongest and most practised memory. But the process +of writing them down was not accomplished at once. In the first case, no +doubt, each family added to its own possessions the store of the family +most closely connected with it.[188] Beginning from different points, +after manifold delays, extensions, and enlargements from the invocations +first composed in the land of the Ganges, which allow us to trace the +change from the old views to the new system, the collection must at last +have comprised all that was essential in the forms and prayers used at +offerings and sacrifices. + +We do not know how far back the use of writing extends with the Indians. +According to the account of Nearchus, they wrote on cotton, beaten hard; +other Greeks speak of the bark of trees, while native evidence teaches +us that the leaves of the umbrella palm were used for the purpose. +Modern enquirers are of opinion that the Indian alphabet is not an +invention of the people, but borrowed from the Phenician.[189] As we +have shown, the Phenicians reached the mouth of the Indus in the tenth +century. But about this time, or perhaps before it, there existed a +marine trade between the Indians and Sabæans, on the coasts of south +Arabia. Granting the origin of the Indian alphabet from the Phenician, +it is thus rendered more probable that it was taken from the south +Arabian alphabet, which in its turn rose out of the Aramaic alphabet, +than that it was borrowed directly from the Phenician. In the latter +case we should have to presuppose a trade between Babylonia and India by +means of the Persian Gulf (in Babylonia the Aramaic alphabet was in use +beside the cuneiform in the eighth century B.C. at the latest) as a more +probable means of communication than the voyages of the Phenicians to +Elath, which had already been given up. But from whatever branch of the +Semitic races the Indian letters may have been taken, the general use of +them cannot be put much earlier than 800 B.C. The oldest inscriptions of +the Indians which have come down to us, are those of Açoka, king of +Magadha, and belong to the middle of the third century B.C. They exhibit +a complete alphabetic use of writing, and the forms of the letters are +not very different from those employed at a later time.[190] + +Among the Indians the collection of their old songs and forms is known +as the Veda, _i.e._ knowledge: it forms the knowledge of the priest. We +possess these songs in three groups. The oldest, and no doubt the +original group, the Rigveda, _i.e._ the knowledge of thanksgiving, +comprises in ten books more than a thousand of the traditional poems and +sacrificial songs. For the most part they are arranged according to a +certain recurring order in the deities invoked; and, as we have seen, +some poems are included which could never have been sung at sacrifices +at all. Besides this collection there are two collections of the +liturgic prayers which ought to accompany the performance of sacrifice. +The Samaveda comprises the prayers sung at the offering of the soma; +they are verses taken from the Rigveda, and the collection is a book of +songs or hymns.[191] The Yajur-veda contains the formulæ and ritual +which must be chanted at the dedication of the altar, the kindling of +the fire, and every act of every sacrifice. Thus the Samaveda supplied +the knowledge of the Udgatar, the prayers during the sacrifice of soma, +the Yajur-veda supplied the knowledge of the Adhvaryu, who had to +perform the material part of the sacrificial service, the ritual for the +separate acts of the ceremony. Compared with these two books the Rigveda +was the book of the Hotar, _i.e._ of the chief priest, who had to +conduct the sacrifice, and invoke the gods to come down to it.[192] If +in the parts of the hymns of praise and invitations, which are repeated +from the Rigveda in the Samaveda, the style and tone is often more +archaic than in the Rigveda, the explanation is that the prayer at the +sacrifice was no doubt preserved with more liturgic accuracy, than the +invitation to the god, which preceded the sacrifice. The Yajur-veda is +preserved in a double form; of which one, the black Yajus, is shown to +be the older by its want of systematic sequence; but even in this older +form we find, as in the tenth book of the Rigveda,[193] pieces of later +origin, the outcome of priestly meditation. + +The writing down of these invocations and the possession of the sacred +books formed a new bond to unite the Brahmans into an order distinct +from the others. The superior knowledge of the priestly families became +of still greater importance. By appealing to these writings, which in +the first instance were only accessible to the members of their order, +they were enabled to find a considerable support in asserting their +claims against the kings, Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas, though their contents +told against rather than for the new doctrine. Strong though the impulse +might be, which the variety of these invocations had supplied to advance +the new conception of god, this body of ritual, with the exception of a +few later pieces, was strongly opposed to the new doctrine. It was +filled with praise of those very gods, which, in the view of the +Brahmans, had given way to their new god. The way in which the Brahmans +harmonised the songs of the Veda, where Varuna, Mitra, Agni, and Indra +are each praised in turn as the highest deity, with their new idea of +god, was a matter for their modes of interpretation and their schools. +For the nation the chief object was to remove or conceal the striking +discord between the doctrine of the new god and the old faith, a task +all the more difficult, as the nation clung more closely to the old +forms of the gods, though some, as has been remarked, were almost +obliterated by the natural characteristics of the land of the Ganges, +and the novel conditions of life in the new states. Small as the space +was which the battles of Indra could claim in the eyes of the Brahmans +beside their own Brahman, they could not resist the Veda, which +testified to his existence in every part of the work, nor the belief of +the nation, so far as to set aside either this deity or the rest. On the +other hand, it was easy to subordinate the old gods to Brahman on the +system of the emanation of everything in the world from Brahman. They +were degraded into a class of higher beings, which had emanated from +Brahman before men, _i.e._ immediately before the Brahmans. From Brahman +the Brahmans first allowed a personal Brahman to emanate, unless indeed +this personification had already proceeded from Brahmanaspati (p. 128), +and was in existence beside the sacred world-soul, the impersonal +Brahman. The personal Brahman was a deity like the old gods, but far +more full of life. To him neither shrines were dedicated nor sacrifices +offered,[194] yet before meals corns of rice were to be scattered for +him as for the rest of the gods, and spirits. The personal Brahman, like +the impersonal, was the result of theory and meditation; in both Brahman +was a product of reflection, without life and ethical force, without +participation in the fortunes of men and states, without love and anger, +without sympathy and pity: a colourless, abstract, super-personal and +therefore impersonal being, the strictest opposite of that mighty +personality into which the Jehovah of the Hebrews grew, owing to the +historical, practical, and ethical development of the conception. +Brahman was not so much above the natural world which he has created by +his command, as its lord and master. Brahman was within it and inwoven +in it, and yet at the same time outside it, the hollow form of a being, +at once self-originating and returning into itself; or as a personal +Brahman he was the president of a meaningless council of heavenly +spirits. The old deities, the beings who stood first in the scale of +emanations from Brahman, surrounded this personal Brahman as a court +surrounds a king. Like other beings, they also have their duties +assigned to them; some of the old deities are raised into prominence, +and to them is given the old mission of conflict against the evil +spirits. They are to defend the eight regions of the earth entrusted to +their care against the attacks of the Asuras, or evil spirits. At the +head of these eight protectors Indra is naturally placed. To his keeping +is assigned the most sacred district, the north-east, where beyond the +Himalayas is the divine mountain Meru, which illuminates the northern +region, and round which move the sun, moon, and constellations. On this +mountain, according to the oldest conceptions of the Aryas, Indra has +his abode with the spirits of light. Yama is now king of the south-east, +where in the old religion his heaven of light lay with the kingdom of +the blessed spirits. Varuna, who previously was throned in the height of +heaven on the great waters, and sent sickness and death on sinners, is +now the deity of the distant ocean. Of the old gods of light, Surya, the +sun-god, found a place among the eight protectors of the world, and at +his side was Chandra, the moon-god. The remaining regions belong to Vayu +the wind-god, and Kuvera, the god of the inundation. Attempts to +localise the highest deities, though first carried out in the law book +of the priests, are found in the Yajur-veda.[195] Another classification +of the gods mentions Indra in the first series, and afterwards the eight +Vasus, the "givers of good;" among whom are Agni and Soma, whose +apotheosis has been already mentioned--then Rudra, the father of the +winds, with the ten Maruts, and after them the spirits of light, the +Adityas (the sons of Aditi), of which in the older period seven or eight +are enumerated. The hymns of the Veda sometimes mention a total of +thirty-three gods, eleven in heaven, eleven in the clouds, and eleven on +earth,[196] a total found also among the Aryas in Iran, and afterwards +retained by the Buddhists.[197] But the Indians could not remain +contented with such a moderate number of gods; the more each deity was +deprived of honour, the higher became the total. Even in the Rigveda we +find: "Three hundred, three thousand, thirty and nine gods honoured +Agni." In the older commentaries this number of 3339 is regarded as the +total sum of gods; but in later writings it is raised to 33,000.[198] +The people troubled themselves little about Brahman or the positions +which the Brahmans assigned to the gods, their classes or their number. +They continued to invoke Indra and Agni, Surya and Aryaman, as their +helpers and protectors. + +The removal of sacrifice was less to be thought of by the Brahmans than +the removal of the ancient gods, even if they had maintained the +strictest consistency in their conception of Brahman. The Rigveda was +mainly a collection of sacrificial chants and ritual. Brahmans no less +then Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas were accustomed to invoke the spirits of +light in the early dawn, to offer gifts at morning, mid-day, and evening +to Agni; to lay wood on the fire, or throw milk and butter into it; +above all, to celebrate sacrifices at the changes of the moon or the +seasons. It was not these sacrifices only, or the offering of the +soma-juice, which the Brahmans retained, but the whole service of +sacrifice, for which instructions were found in the sentences of the +Veda. The idea that every sacrifice when offered correctly was +efficacious, that a magic power resided in it, that the assistance and +therefore a part of the divine power or nature was gained by the +sacrifice, could not fail to retain the service of sacrifice in full +force in the new doctrines. According to this the divine nature was +present, and existed in the world in different degrees of purity or +dimness, of power or weakness, and owing to the direction taken in the +development of the new idea of god, it was especially alive in the +sentences and acts of sacrifice; so that the efficacy of the correct +sacrifice must apply a portion of the divine nature to the person +sacrificing. Hence the invocation of the old gods was allowed to remain; +sacrifice to them was still meritorious, and necessary for this world as +well as the other. + +We know from the Rigveda the old sentences used at burial, which were +supposed to avert death from the living, the prayers that the soul of +the dead might be taken up into Yama's heaven of light (p. 62 ff.). We +saw with what reverence the living thought of the spirits of their +forefathers; how careful the Aryas were to offer gifts to them, so that +their food and clothing might never fail. It was customary to sprinkle +water for the spirits of the forefathers, and in the land of the Ganges +to scatter grains of rice; at the funeral feast of the dead, kept by the +families on each new moon, three furrows were made, in which every +member of the family placed three cakes, for the father, the +grandfather, and great-grandfather; the cakes were then covered with +locks of wool, and the ancestors invoked to clothe themselves with it. +On the death-day of any member of the family, or a certain time after, +the family assembled, in order to offer fruits and flesh to his spirit. +There was now no longer any light heaven of Yama; he was the prince of +the hot hell (p. 137), where souls are tormented after death, and then +born again to a new life in plants, animals, and men: the chief object +now was to attain the end of all life and regeneration by a return into +Brahman. So far as they could, the Brahmans reconciled the old and new +conceptions. The heaven of Indra (p. 138) was substituted for the old +heaven of Yama. It was not the pure heaven of Brahman, but a higher, +brighter world. The soul of the virtuous passes into this outer heaven; +the soul of the sinner sinks into hell. But the merit of good works is +consumed, as the guilt of sin is expiated, by the lapse of time, by a +shorter or longer participation in the joys of the heaven of Indra, a +shorter or longer torment in hell. Then begins for the souls who have +thus received only the first reward of their lives a series of +regenerations. The old chants of burial could only be rendered in the +sense of the new system by the most violent interpretations. The belief +in the spirits of the ancestors, and the pious worship of them, had +struck roots far too deep and ancient into the heart of the nation for +the Brahmans to think of removing these services, the libations to the +spirits, or the funeral feast of the families, at which they invoked +their ancestors to come down and enjoy themselves at the banquet with +their descendants. Libation and feast continued to exist without +molestation. The Brahmans contented themselves with ordaining that at +the sacrifice to the dead, the fire Dakshina, _i.e._ the fire to the +right, was indispensable. When Yama's abode had been removed to the hot +south, the sacrificial fires for his kingdom must burn to the right, +_i.e._ towards the south. The theory of the priests then declared these +sacrifices to the dead to be indispensable in order to liberate the +souls out of certain spaces in hell; they also laid down the rule that a +Brahman should always be present at the funeral feast. The book of the +law gives very definite warnings of the evil consequences resulting from +funeral feasts celebrated without Brahmans, _i.e._ in the old +traditional manner. The elder of the family is to conduct the requisite +three Brahmans to his abode; the first Brahman after the necessary +prayers throws rice for the dead into the sacrificial fire; he then +makes funeral cakes of rice and butter, of which each member of the +family sacrifices three for his father, grandfather, and +great-grandfather. Then food is set forth, of which the Brahmans first +eat, with uncovered heads and feet, and in silence, in order that the +spirits may participate in the meal; after the Brahmans the rest +partake. According to the book of the law, cows' milk, and food made +from it, if set forth at the funeral feast, liberated the spirits of the +ancestors for a whole year; the flesh of horses and tortoises for eleven +months; of buffaloes for ten; of rams for nine; of antelopes for eight; +of deer for seven; of goats for six; of the permitted birds for five; of +wethers for four; game for three; fish for two--while water, rice, +barley, sesame were efficacious for one month only.[199] Though the +Brahmans changed the funeral feasts into banquets for the members of +their own order, yet the fact that they were retained, and with them the +connection of the families, the maintenance of this old form of worship, +though in reality at variance with the new arrangement of these unions +of the families and forms of ancient life, brought other and very +important advantages to the new system. + +The old religion rested on the contrast between the friendly spirits who +gave light and water, and the demons of darkness and drought. From this +arose the conception that certain objects belonged to the gloomy spirits +and were pleasing to them; that by contact or defilement with them a man +gave the evil spirits power over him. Contact with corpses, dead hair, +skin, or bones, defilement with the impurities of the body, spittle, +urine, excrement, &c., gave the evil powers authority over the person +so defiled. This faith we find in full force and the widest extent among +the Arians of Iran; but it must have existed in a degree hardly less +among the Aryas on the Indus and the Ganges. According to the new views +of the Brahmans, the two sides of nature--the bright, pure, and clear +side belonging to good spirits, and the foul and dark side belonging to +evil spirits--existed no longer; all nature had become dark and defiled; +even the Brahmans, the best part of creation, participated, like the +other orders, though in a less degree, in this defilement and gloom. In +the new doctrine the world fell into two halves, a supersensual and a +sensual. The first was indeed supposed to be present in the second, but +only in a corrupt and adulterated form; the sensual side had, at bottom, +no right to exist; it must be utterly removed and elevated into Brahman. +As corrupted Brahman the whole sensual world was imperfect and +transitory, wavering between growth and destruction, and filled with +evil because through its own nature it was impure. The new system +required, therefore, in order to be consistent, that man should not only +keep himself removed from all impurity, but should also free himself +from all the vileness of nature which clung to him; that he should +liberate himself from nature herself, and the whole realm of sense. As +the whole existing world was more or less impure, consistency required +that all ancient customs of purification, all usages intended to remove +defilements when incurred, must be allowed to drop in order to proclaim +the elevation and destruction of sensual nature as the only duty of man. +Nevertheless the Brahmans allowed the old rites of purification to exist +beside the old sacrifice. As the latter is efficacious for salvation +and increase of power in the person sacrificing, so is the old +purification meritorious, not because it keeps the evil at a distance, +but because it removes the grossest defilement; and from this point of +view it is developed by the Brahmans to a far wider extent. He who could +not attain to the highest must be content with something less. The +performance of these duties of purification is, according to the +doctrine of the Brahmans, an act of merit for this world and the next, +and saving for the soul. Sacrifice and purity form the circle of the +good works, which, according to the measure of completeness, lead souls +for a longer or shorter time into the heaven of Indra, while disregard +of them brings men into hell for long periods and severe torments. + +All the objects which a man touches, even the earth, can be impure, +_i.e._ defiled by spittle, blood, skin, bones, &c.; everything must +therefore be purified before it is taken into use. The earth is purified +by allowing a cow to lie on it for the night, the floors of houses by +throwing cow-dung upon them, clothes and woven-stuffs by sprinkling them +with the urine of a cow. To the Indians the cow was so sacred and +highly-revered an animal, that the same things, which in men and beasts +were considered most unclean, were regarded as means of purification +when coming from a cow. We have already seen how highly cows were prized +by the Aryas in the Panjab. The cow, the "highest of all animals," as +she is styled in the Mahabharata, was to them not only an emblem of +fruitfulness and bounteous nourishment; they compared her to the +nourishing earth, which is often spoken of as a cow. Moreover, the cow +provided food even for the gods, inasmuch as milk and especially butter +were offered to them. The patient, quiet existence of the cow is also +the pattern of the obedient and patient life now recommended by the +Brahmans. + +Any contact with a corpse causes defilement. A death in a family makes +it unclean for ten days, during which the relatives of the dead must +sleep on the earth, each by himself, and eat uncooked rice only. The +Brahman then purifies himself by touching water; the Kshatriya, by +taking hold of his weapons, his horse, or elephant; the Vaiçya, by +seizing the reins of his oxen, &c. + +The old customs of purity were considerably extended by the ordinances +of food, the rules about clean eating, laid down by the Brahmans. +According to their belief the whole world of animals was peopled with +the souls of the dead. In every tiger, elephant, ox, antelope, locust, +and ant, might be living the soul of a man, perhaps the soul of a +friend, relation, or ancestor. It was with aversion that any one brought +himself to make an attack on any creature, or any living animal. From +this point of view the Brahmans had to forbid entirely the eating of +flesh, whether of wild or domestic animals. They repressed hunting as +strictly as they could: "The man who slew animals for his pleasure would +not increase his happiness in life or death. He who slew an animal had a +share in its death no less than the man who dismembered it, or sold it, +or ate it." Above all, a Brahman himself was not to slay any animal +except for the purpose of sacrifice; and the sacrifice of animals never +prevailed to any great extent among the Indians. The Brahman who +offended against this law would in his regenerations die by a violent +death as many times as there were hairs on the skin of the slain animal. +But the Brahmans could not carry out the prohibition either of hunting +or eating flesh. They contented themselves with laying stress on the +advantages of nourishment by milk and vegetables; they limited +themselves to insisting that no ox-flesh should be eaten; birds of prey, +some kinds of the fish and the animals already mentioned, could be used. +The flesh of the rhinoceros also and the crocodile was not forbidden. +But even the flesh of the permitted kinds could only be eaten after it +had been offered to the gods or the ancestors, and the man who ate no +flesh at all would acquire a merit equal to a hundred festival +sacrifices.[200] Here, again, we see that the book of the law seeks to +bring the new doctrine into force, without having the courage entirely +to remove the old ways of life. At a later time the prohibition of flesh +was more strict. Of vegetables, leeks, garlic, and onions were +forbidden, and also all plants which had grown up among impure matter. +Drink of any kind must be purified before use by being cleared with the +stalks of kuça grass. Food could only be eaten at morning and evening; +always in moderation and with complete repose of mind. The sight of food +must give pleasure, and man must regard it with veneration; then it will +give muscular power and manly energy. Before each meal grains of rice +are to be sprinkled by the Dvija before the door, with the words: "I +greet you, ye Maruts;" and other grains must be thrown into the water +with the words: "I greet you, ye water-gods." On the pestle and mortar +grains of rice must be strewn with the words: "I greet you, ye deities +of the great trees." Grains of rice are also to be thrown into the air +for all the gods; into the middle of the house for the protecting deity +of the house, and Brahman; on the top of the house or behind it for all +living creatures; and the remainder must be strewn for the ancestors +with the face turned to the south. Any one who omits these offerings +before eating is a sinner.[201] At sunrise and sunset the Dvija is to +pronounce the prayer Gayatri on pain of losing caste;[202] and every day +he must pour libations to the saints, the gods, the spirits, the +ancestors, and strangers. + +The forms of purification underwent further change and important +extension. The new system, unlike the old custom, was not contented to +remove defilement, when incurred, by the use of rules of purification, +in which, in certain cases, traditional prayers and formulæ had to be +pronounced in order to obviate the evil consequences, or drive away the +bad spirits. In a large number of defilements the Brahmans saw something +more than mere impurity; they were sins which must be removed by +expiation. Their desire was not to expel the black spirits, but to +eradicated and quench the false and sinful feelings in men, which gave +rise to impurity. From the same point of view, and following the same +path, they required that a man who had committed an offence, should not +wait for the penalty of the court, but should punish himself, do penance +of his own will, and by this voluntary punishment and expiation remove +the consequences of his offence, not in this world only but in the next. +The forms of expiation instituted by the Brahmans for the removal of +impurity and offences consist of prayers, which at times have to be +repeated a thousand times daily, of fasts more or less severe, and +occupying more or less time, of corporal punishments, and in the case of +grievous offences, of voluntary death or suicide. Any one who by +misadventure has eaten forbidden food must perform the expiation of the +moon, or the Santapana. The expiation of the moon consists in eating +nothing but rice for a whole month; on the first day of the waning moon +fifteen mouthfuls are to be taken, and a mouthful less each day till the +sixteenth, when a total fast is to be kept; from this time for each day +of the increase of the moon a mouthful more is to be taken till the +fifteenth day.[203] The Santapana requires that the penitent should live +for a day on the urine and dung of cows mingled with milk, and drink +water boiled with kuça-grass; the day following he is to fast.[204] To +atone for the forbidden food eaten unintentionally by an Arya in the +course of a year, it was necessary to perform the penance of Prajapatya +for twelve days.[205] On the first three days he eats in the morning +only; on the next three, in the evening only; on the seventh, eighth, +and ninth day he eats only what strangers give him, without asking; on +the last three days he keeps a strict fast. Any one who intentionally +eats what is forbidden is expelled by the members of his family from the +family and caste. The Brahmans punished indulgence in intoxicating +drinks with severe penalties; we saw how much inclined the Aryas were to +excess in this respect. The excited and passionate state, induced by +such liquors, was diametrically opposed to the quiet, patient existence, +which was now the ideal of the Brahmans. Any one who wilfully became +intoxicated was to go on drinking boiling rice-water till his body was +entirely consumed; then only was he free from his sin. This offence +could also be expiated by drinking the boiling urine of a cow, or +boiling liquid of cow-dung, till death ensued. Drunkenness was not the +only sin on which the Brahmans imposed a penalty of voluntary death. Any +one who unintentionally killed a cow, was to shave his head, put on as +a garment the skin of the dead cow, repair to the pasture, salute the +cows and wait upon them, and then perform his ablutions with the urine +of cows instead of water. He must follow the cows step by step, swallow +the dust which they raise, bring them into shelter in bad weather and +guard them. If a cow is attacked by a beast of prey he must defend it +with his life. If he does not perish in the service, cow-keeping of this +nature continued for three months atones for his offence.[206] If a +Vaiçya or a Kshatriya unintentionally kills a Brahman, he must wander +over a hundred yodhanas, constantly reciting one of the three Vedas. If +a Kshatriya intentionally slays a Brahman, he must allow himself to be +shot down by arrows, or throw himself head-foremost three times into the +fire till death ensues. Any one who has defiled the bed of his father or +teacher must lie on a red-hot bed of iron, or expiate his offence by +self-mutilation, and death.[207] + +The purity and daily duties which the Brahmans imposed on themselves, +partly from custom, partly as a part of their new doctrine, were more +strict than those required from the other orders. The Brahman must rise +before the dawn, and repeat the Gayatri; _i.e._ the following words of +the Veda: "We have received the glorious splendour from the divine +Savitar (p. 46); may he strengthen our understanding;"[208] and purify +himself by a bath. Long prayers in the morning and the evening ensure +long life. He must never omit to perform the five daily duties--the +offering to the saints, the gods, the spirits, the ancestors, and the +strange guests. Each day he must bring gifts to Agni, the sun, +Prajapati, Dyaus, and Prithivi (the spirits of the heaven and the +earth), the fire of the good sacrifice, Indra, Yama, Varuna, and +Soma.[209] Each day he must repeat the mystical name of Brahman, _Om_ +(in the older form _am_, _i.e._ "yes," "certainly"), and the other three +sacred words, _Bhar_, _Bhuva_, and _Svar_, which, according to the +commentators, are to be regarded as the spirits of the earth, the air, +and the heaven.[210] Fire he must always consider as sacred. He may not +fan it with his breath, or step over it. He may not warm his feet at it, +or place it in a brazier under his bed or under his feet. He must not +throw any refuse into it. Offal, the remains of food, and water which +has been used for a bath or the feet, must be removed far away from the +fire. Nor was the Brahman allowed to throw refuse into water, or pour +blood or any drink into it, still less to vomit into it; he might not +look at the reflection of his body in water, or drink water in the +hollow of his hand. The clothes of a Brahman must be always clean and +white, and never worn by another. His hair, nails, beard, must be cut; +but he may not cut them himself (for so he would be defiled), nor gnaw +his nails with his teeth. In his ears he must wear very bright gold +rings. He must wear a wreath on his head, and in one hand carry a staff +of bamboo, in the other kuça-grass and a pitcher for his ablutions. He +may not play at dice, or dance or sing except at the sacrifice, when +required to do so by the ritual: he may not grind his teeth, or scratch +his head with his hands, or beat himself on the head, or take the wreath +from his head with his own hands. He must always so place himself that +on his right hand there may be an elevation of the earth, a cow, a jar +of butter, a crossroad, or a sacred tree. He may not tread on ashes, +hair, bones, cotton-stems, or sprouting corn. He may never step over a +rope to which a cow is tethered, or disturb a cow when drinking. At +morning, evening, and midday, he may not look at the sun. Before an +altar of Agni, in a fold of cows, when with Brahmans, or reading the +sacred scriptures, or eating, he must leave the right arm uncovered. He +may not wash his feet in a brazen vessel, or bathe naked, or sleep naked +on the earth, or run when it rains. + +If the use of flesh as food could not be entirely forbidden to the +Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas, the Brahman must live on milk and vegetables. +But he might not drink the milk of a cow when in heat, or that has +lately calved, or of a cow which had lost her calf, the milk of a camel, +the red gum which exudes from trees, or anything from which oil has been +pressed, or with which sesame has been mixed, or anything that from +sweet has become sour. He might not eat anything kept over night, or any +food into which lice have fallen, or which a cow has smelt, or anything +touched by a dog. He might not take the food of a criminal, or prisoner, +or usurer, or rogue, or hunter, or dog-trainer, or Çudra, or dancer, or +washer-woman; or of a man who is submissive to his wife, or allows her +infidelity, or into whose house the wife's paramour comes. All such food +is unclean for the Brahman; and so also is food offered to him in anger, +and that touched by a madman. Any one eating such things feeds on +"bones, hair, and skin." + +With the same minute exactness, regulations are laid down for the +Brahman as to the mode and position in which he is to take the permitted +kinds of food; with what parts of the hand or finger he is to perform +his ablutions, how he is to demean himself on all the occasions of life, +when travelling, etc., in order to preserve his purity and sanctity. +With equal detail we are told how the Brahman is to perform the natural +requirements of the body, and the purifications thereby rendered +necessary.[211] The least neglect in the fulfilment of these endless +duties, which it was impossible to keep in view at once, and more +impossible still to bear in mind at every moment, even with the most +devoted attention, might bring on centuries of punishment and endless +regenerations, unless it was expiated. + +The prescripts of the Brahmans have been thoroughly carried out, and +even the other orders to this time fulfil their daily duties. The +Brahman utters his morning prayer, bathes in the stream, the fountain, +the pool, or in his house, performs the invocations to the gods, +spirits, and ancestors, and then with his wife and child, who also have +bathed, offers prayers and gifts to the protecting deities of the +house.[212] Among wealthy families of the Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas the +morning prayers after the bath are performed under the guidance of the +priest of the house. No one eats the morning meal till the grains of +rice have been scattered for the Maruts, the gods of water and trees, +and the special deity of the house. No Hindoo proceeds to his work till +he has purified himself and performed his devotions. The Brahman does +not open his book, neither smith nor carpenter takes in hand his tool, +till he has uttered prayers. They neither stand up nor sit down, nor +leave the room, nor sneeze, nor vomit, without the prescribed formula. + +Thus the new doctrine of the Brahmans removed the old gods and +sacrifices, and gave to the old customs of purification a further +extension, and in part a new meaning, inasmuch as it developed them into +a wide system of expiation; but the change wrought in the sphere of +morals was far more radical. The moral law of the Brahmans is distinctly +in opposition to the requirements of the old time. War and heroism are +no longer the highest aim of life, but patience, obedience, +sanctification. As all animals have their origin from Brahman, and to +each, at creation, is allotted a special mission, as Brahman is this +order of the world, it is man's task to adapt himself obediently to this +arrangement of gods, and fulfil the duties laid upon him at birth. At +the same time, no one is to disturb another in the fulfilment of his +duties. He must injure neither man nor beast; he must spare even the +plants and trees. No one must go beyond the limits allotted to him, but +lead a quiet and peaceful life within them. Without ceasing, the Çudras +must serve the three higher orders; the Vaiçyas must till the field, and +tend the herds, and carry on trade, and bestow gifts; the Kshatriyas +must protect the people, give alms, and sacrifice; the Brahman must read +the Veda, and teach it, offer sacrifice for himself and others, and +receive gifts, if poor. It is the duty of each of the lower orders to +reverence the higher; the Vaiçyas and Kshatriyas must bow before the +Brahmans, and heap gifts upon them.[213] + +In opposition to the Çudras, who, as we saw, ranged with beasts (p. +142), Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaiçyas were united by community of +blood and common superiority of caste. The three upper orders are +distinguished from the Çudras as the "Dvijas," the twice-born, in the +phrase of the Brahmans. This second birth is performed by investiture +with the holy girdle. In old times this ceremony was no doubt the symbol +of the reception of boys and youths into the union of the family; at +present the girdle is not only the distinguishing sign of the three +upper orders, but from the Brahman point of view the pledge of higher +illumination. It is put on with solemn consecration, accompanied by the +most sacred prayer, and the second, higher birth consists in the +mystical operation of this ceremony. But the upper orders were not +merely united by origin, by superiority in rank, and this symbol of +superiority; the Dvijas alone had access to the worship, the sacrifice, +and the Veda. + +The care of the doctrine and worship belongs especially to the Brahmans. +They have not only to attend to a special, higher purity; they must +above all things acquire a knowledge of the positive basis of doctrine +and worship, of revelation. For in the teaching of the Brahmans the Veda +was revealed: the hymns and prayers in it are created and given by the +gods; they are the divine word.[214] The study of the Veda is the first +and foremost duty of the Brahman. He must never omit to read the book at +the appointed day, at the appointed hour. He is not old, we are told in +the book of the law, whose hair is gray, but he who when young has +studied the holy scriptures will be regarded by the gods as full of +years and honour. The Brahman who does not study the Veda is like an +elephant of wood, or a deer of leather. Hence among the Brahmans those +who are learned in the scriptures take the first rank. The book of the +law ordains that every young Brahman must be attached as a pupil to a +learned Brahman. This "spiritual father" he is to love and reverence +above all beside, above his natural father, "for the spiritual birth is +not for this world only but for the next." The strictest ceremonial of +reverence and respect for the teacher, the careful observance of these +duties, and the accurate knowledge of the Veda, is intended to train the +young Brahmans to become worthy representatives of their order. A +peculiar garb and special reserve are prescribed for the novice. He must +first learn the rules for purity, for keeping up the sacred fire, and +then the religious duties of morning, mid-day, and evening. After this +begin the readings in the Veda. Before each reading the pupil must +purify himself with water, rub his hands with kuça-grass, and then +perform obeisance to the holy text. Next he prostrates himself before +his tutor, and touches his feet with his hands. Clad in a pure garment, +with kuça-grass in his hands, he then sits down on kuça-grass with his +face to the east. Before beginning to read he draws in his breath three +times, and then pronounces the mysterious name of Brahman, Om. The +lesson then begins. Even the wife of his teacher must be saluted by the +pupil on his knees; and these customs are still to a great extent +preserved in the schools of the Brahmans.[215] The time of instruction +begins immediately after the ceremony of investing with the sacred +girdle; it must continue nine, eighteen, or thirty-six years, in each +case until the pupil knows the Veda by heart. Then he may take a wife, +and set up his house.[216] Not only the young Brahmans--though the main +object was to educate them as representatives and teachers of the new +doctrine--were expected to go through the period of instruction and the +school of the learned Brahmans; even the sons of the Kshatriyas and +Vaiçyas were instructed in the religious duties and the Veda: in fact +religious instruction was to include all the Dvijas. Every young Dvija +must become a pupil of a Brahman (Brahmacharin) after being invested +with the girdle. But the Brahmans alone enjoyed the privilege of +teaching and interpreting the Veda. Without this interpretation it was +probable that a result would be attained the opposite of that which this +general instruction and catechising of every Dvija was intended to +effect: the pupils would have quickly learnt other things from the hymns +of the Veda besides the tenets of the Brahmans. + +No doubt the pious performance of the daily customs, the offering of +sacrifice, the observance of the rules of purity, the voluntary +performance of expiations and penalties, the practice of duties imposed +on every caste and every being by the order of the universe, a respect +for the obligations and life of fellow-men, the peaceful conduct, the +regard for plants and animals, the eager study of the Veda,--the +"holiness of works" might lead a man into the heaven of Indra and the +gods, while the opposite conduct would plunge him into hell. But the +merit of works no less than the punishment of sins was exhausted in +time: it was no protection against new regenerations; it could indeed +shorten the process through which the soul must pass in order to attain +complete purity, but it did not cancel regeneration. That was only +excluded by attaining perfect purity and holiness, for then the process +of purification was complete, and with the return to Brahman, its divine +source, the existence of the soul ended. To bring about this return is +of all duties the highest; it is above the sanctity of works. Brahman +was an incorporeal, immaterial being. When changed into the world, +Brahman becomes ever more adulterated, dark, and impure, in these +successive emanations; it descends from the pure sanctity of itself, of +its undisturbed being. In this state of removal and alienation, the +world and mankind do not correspond to their origin, the nature of +Brahman, and in this condition man cannot return to Brahman. The better +side of men, the immaterial side closely akin to Brahman, the divine +elements, must become the ruling power; the impurity of matter, of the +sensual world, and the body must be done away. The rules of purification +only removed the grosser forms of defilement. The more that men +succeeded in doing away with the whole impurity of nature, the shorter +was the path of the soul after death to Brahman. It is, therefore, a +universal requirement of the Brahmanic system--a requirement laid upon +all, but more especially on the Brahmans--that the soul is not to be +over-grown, bound, and imprisoned by the body, the mind by the senses. +The sensual needs must be held in restraint; no great space must be +allowed to them. Men must be on their guard against the charms of sense; +sensual excesses are not to be indulged; to be lord of the senses is the +chief commandment. Even the affections and passions, which, in the +opinion of the Brahmans, sprang from the charm of the senses, must be +held in check. Every man must preserve a quiet calm, and dominion over +his passions, and the impressions which come from without and stir the +senses. But as it is the mission of every creature to return to his +divine origin, as no living being can find rest till it is purified for +this return, as Brahman is pure spirit--spirit, that is, and not +nature--it follows that no one can enter into Brahman who has not been +able entirely to free his soul from sensuality, to get rid utterly of +his body, and transform himself entirely into pure soul. From this point +of view all relations to the sensual world must appear as fetters of the +spirit, and the body as the prison of the soul. + +The Brahmans did not hesitate to draw these last conclusions from their +doctrine of Brahman. "This habitation of men," they said, "of which the +framework is the bones, the bands the muscles; this vessel filled with +flesh and blood, and covered with skin; this impure dwelling, which +contains its own defilement, and is subject to age, sickness, and +trouble, to sorrows of every kind, and passions; this habitation, +destined to decay, must be abandoned with joy by him who assumes it." +But the main point was not to await with calmness and yearning the +breaking of these fetters of the soul, it was the manner in which they +were broken in order that the soul might go forth free to Brahman, to +eternal rest, to union with the highest spirit. For this it was +necessary, when a man had learned to live obediently, and to govern his +senses and passions, to put aside the world altogether, and direct the +eye to heaven alone. This duty is completed when the Brahman, the Dvija, +leaves house and home, in order to become an eremite in the forest +(_Vanaprastha_). He clothes himself in a garment of bark, or in the skin +of the black gazelle; his bed must be the earth; he lives on fruits +which have fallen from the trees, or on the roots found in the forest, +and on water, which he previously pours through a woollen cloth, in +order to avoid killing the little insects which may happen to be in the +water. He performs the service of the sacred fire, and the five daily +offerings; bathes three times each day, reads the Veda, and devotes +himself to the contemplation of the highest being. By this means he will +purify his body, increase his knowledge, and bring his spirit nearer to +perfection. His hair, beard, and nails must be allowed to grow; he must +fast frequently, live aloof from all desires, and be complete master of +his sensual impulses; he must not allow himself to be disturbed in any +way by the world, or by any accident which overtakes him. From this +condition he will advance still further towards perfection, if he +proceeds to reduce his body by mortification. He should roll on the +ground; or stand all day long on his toes, or be continually getting up +and sitting down. By degrees the eremite ought to increase the severity +of these penances. In the cold season of the year he should always wear +a wet garment; in the rainy season he should expose himself naked to the +tempest of rain. In the warm season he must sit between four fires in +the hot rays of the sun.[217] By the eagerness and fervour of devotion +which leads the ascetic to these self-tortures, and enables him to +endure them, by these mortifications (_tapas_, _i.e._ heat) he must show +that the pain of the body cannot trouble the soul, that nothing which +befalls the one can influence the other, that he is liberated from his +body. + +When the eremite had reduced his body by mortifications gradually +increasing in severity, and attained complete mastery of the soul over +the flesh, he enters into the last stage, that of the _Sannyasin_, who +attempts by thought to be absorbed into the world-soul, to die while yet +alive in the body, by completing his return to Brahman. For this stage +the regulation is that the penitent is to wish for nothing, and expect +nothing, to observe silence, to live absolutely alone, in ceaseless +repose, in the society of his own soul. He must think of the misery of +the body, the migrations of the soul, which result from sin, and the +existence of the world-soul in the highest and lowest things; he must +suppress all qualities in himself which are opposed to the divine nature +of Brahman, and think of Brahman only. Brahman must be contemplated in +"the slumber of the most inward meditation, as being finer than an atom, +and more brilliant than gold!" By thus plunging in the deepest +reflection the penitent will succeed in carrying back his soul to its +original source: he will attain to union with Brahman, and will himself +become Brahman, from which he has emanated.[218] + +With such consistency did the Brahmans develop their system; such was +the ideal which they put before the Indians of the holy life, leading to +union with Brahman. When the Dvija had set up his house, and married +and begot a son, when he had fulfilled his duties as Grihastha (house +master), when he was old and saw "the posterity of his posterity," he +must go into the forest--so the law of the priests bade,--in order to +become a Vanaprastha and Sannyasin. Indeed the importance which the +system ascribed to the spiritual as opposed to the sensual, to +super-sensual holiness as opposed to the unholy world of sense, even led +them to declare marriage and the family as unnecessary, disturbing, and +unholy; and with strict consistency they gave command to repair to the +forest at once, and forswear the world from the first. Even in the +law-book of the priests this was permitted; but as an exception. The +Brahmacharin could, when he had finished his long period of instruction, +go at once into the forest as an eremite and penitent.[219] The large +majority neither could nor did observe such commands, but, so far as we +can see, the number of penitents was not inconsiderable soon after 600 +B.C.--and the ordinary people recognised the peculiar merit of those who +went into the forest. They looked on the penitents with respect. And +even to this day it is observed, that in the later years of life, when +the time approaches for receiving the reward or punishment of their +deeds, the Hindoos devote themselves with redoubled eagerness to their +religious duties. + +The Ramayana describes the abodes in the forest and the life of the +penitents. There are some who live constantly in the open air; others +who dwell on the tops of the mountains; others who sleep on the places +of sacrifice, or on the naked earth, or who do not sleep at all; some +only eat during one month in the year; others eat rice with the husks; +others feed only on uncooked nutriment, leaves, or water; others do not +eat at all, but live on the air and the beams of the sun and the moon. +Some constantly repeat the name of the same deity; others read the Vedas +without ceasing; the greater part wear clothes of bark; others wear wet +garments perpetually; other stand up to the neck in water; others have +fire on every side and the sun overhead; others stand perpetually on one +leg; others on the tips of their great toes; others on their heads; +others hang by their heels on the branches of trees.[220] When this +passage of the Ramayana was composed or altered, the practices of the +ascetics had already gone beyond the rules prescribed in the book of the +law. + +Beginning with the idea of a holy spirit, without admixture of anything +material, and forming the abstract opposite of nature, the Brahmans had +discovered that it is the duty of man to raise the spiritual above the +corporeal. The more excitable the nerves, the more receptive the senses, +the warmer the passions in that climate and nation, the more energetic +was the reaction of the spirit against the flesh, the more stringent the +command to become master of the senses and the body, to annihilate the +senses. It is true that the material world also had emanated from +Brahman; even matter had come from him. But this was an adulteration of +the pure Brahman; it was the non-sensual, not the material side of the +world which was the pure Brahman. Hence for the Brahmans these two +factors, the material and spiritual side, were again completely +separated. Hence the ethical problem was not to arrange the world of +sense for the objects of the spirit, to raise the soul to the mastery +over the body, and purify the sensual action by the spirit, but the +annihilation of the sensual elements by the soul, the removal and +destruction of the body--in a word, asceticism. Out of the absolute +annihilation of the material existence of man, his true intellectual +being--his real nature, _i.e._ Brahman--is to arise; it is only after +the complete destruction of the life of sense and the body that man can +plunge into the pure spirit. As this pure spirit could only be looked +upon as a negation of nature and the world, and was only regarded in +that light, and as it had no other quality but that of being +non-material, the command to think of Brahman and nothing but Brahman, +amounted to nothing less than this: on the one hand, every distinct +individual intuition was to be rejected and avoided; on the other, it +was a duty to develop the conception of an indefinite and indefinable +unity, in opposition to the multitudinous variety of the world and +nature. A conception of unity which altogether disregards the plurality +comprising it is nothing more than persistence in vacuity. Thus the +negation of the spiritual life was demanded beside that of the bodily +life; and this command was equivalent to bodily and spiritual +self-annihilation. + +The doctrine of Brahman, with the practical and ethical requirements +included in it, along with the command of obedience to the existing +order of the world, of subjugation of the senses and renouncement, of +severe treatment of self, and tender feeling for plants and cows, +finally of annihilation of the body by asceticism, were in sharp +contrast to the earlier motives which governed the life of the Indians +of the heroic age. Nothing was to be left of the old vigour in action, +the old warrior life, and heroic deeds; and as a fact, in spite of +earnest attempts in other directions, nothing did remain beyond the +courage for lingering suicide by mortification, the reckless asceticism +in which the Indians are not surpassed by any nation, and which +increased as the centuries went on, and ever assumed more fantastic +forms. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[188] The participation of all the Gotras of the Brahmans, who claim to +be derived from the Rishis, in the composition of the Rigveda, has been +acutely and convincingly proved by M. Müller. "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. +461 ff. + +[189] A. Weber, "Z. D. M. G." 10, 389 ff. + +[190] Strabo, p. 717. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 840; 2, 215-223. M. +Müller considers that the use of writing was known to the Indians before +600 B.C., but nevertheless is of opinion that the Veda was written down +later, and allows no written work to the Indians before 350 B.C., the +date at which he fixes Panini: "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. 311, p. 477 ff. +Since, however, the Brahmanas date from between 800 and 600 B.C., which +is M. Müller's opinion, it is hardly credible that controversies, and +discussions, and examples, such as we find largely in the Brahmanas, +could have received a fixed form if they merely referred to groups of +poems retained in the memory only, though of considerable extent. That +the Brahmanas existed in memory only seems to me to be quite impossible, +considering their form. How could Çaunaka, about the year 400 B.C. as M. +Müller supposes, write sutras to facilitate the understanding of the +Brahmanas, if the latter were not in existence in writing? A. Weber has +observed that in Panini the 60 pathas of the first nine books of the +Çatapatha-Brahmana are quoted, and the 30 and 40 Adhyayas of the +Aitareya and Kaushitaki-Brahmanas. In my opinion, the fact so acutely +and convincingly proved by M. Müller--that the Rigveda is allotted to +all the Gotras of the Brahmans, is strongly in favour of the composition +of the Vedas in a written form; the tradition of the Gotras and the +schools would never have given equal attention to all. If the Brahmanas, +which cite the Vedas accurately in their present arrangement, and speak +not only of syllables but of letters, arose between 800 and 600 B.C., it +appears to me an inevitable conclusion that the Vedas must have existed +in writing about the year 800 B.C. + +[191] Kaegi, "Rigveda," s. 3. + +[192] Madhusudana, in M. Müller, "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. 122; cf. p. +173, 467. + +[193] Roth, "Zur Literatur des Veda," s. 11. A. Weber, "Vorlesungen," s. +83, 84. Westergaard, "Aeltester Zeitraum der Ind. Gesch." s. 11. For the +legends of the Puranas on the origin of the black and white Yajus, which +allow the superior antiquity of the first, see M. Müller, _loc. cit._ p. +174, 349 ff. + +[194] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 776. + +[195] A. Weber, "Vajasaneya-Sanhitæ specimen," p. 33. + +[196] "Rigveda," 1, 33, "Ye Açvins, come with the three and thirty +gods." + +[197] Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Yaçna," p. 34 ff., and below. + +[198] "Rigveda," 3, 9, 9; A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 9, 265. Yajnavalkya +gives 33,000 gods; later we find 330 millions. + +[199] Manu, 3, 69-74, 141-148, 158, 187-238, 266-274, 282, 283. 4, 25, +26. 11, 7. Of. Roth in "Z. D. M. G." 8, 471 ff. + +[200] Manu, 5, 26-28; 54-56. + +[201] Manu, 3, 94-118. + +[202] Manu, 2, 101-103. + +[203] Manu, 11, 216. + +[204] Manu, 11, 212. + +[205] Manu, 11, 211. + +[206] Manu, 11, 108-116. Even to this day it is a custom in Bengal for a +man whose cow has died to wander from house to house with a rope round +his neck, to imitate the lowing of a cow, and without uttering a word go +on begging until he has collected enough to buy a substitute. + +[207] Oder sich selbst entmannen, und seine Scham in der Hand +südostwärts (d. h. dem Reiche Jama's zu) wandern, bis er todt hinstürzt. +[Cf. Manu, 11, 104, 105.] + +[208] "Rigveda," 3, 62. + +[209] Manu, 3, 84 ff. + +[210] Manu, 2, 76-78; A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 2, 188, 305. + +[211] Der, welcher im Angesicht des Feuers, der Sonne, des Mondes, einer +Cisterne, einer Kuh, eines Dvidscha, oder gegen den Wind urinirt, wird +seiner ganzen Schriftgelehrsamkeit beraubt werden. Der Brahmane darf +seinen Urin nicht lassen, und seine Excremente nicht niederlegen, weder +auf den Weg noch auf Asche, noch auf eine Kuhweide, noch auf einen +Ameisenhügel, noch auf den Gipfel eines Berges, noch in ein Loch, +welches lebende Wesen bewohnen können, weder gehend noch stehend. +Nachdem er die Erde mit Holz und Blättern und trockenen Kraütern bedeckt +hat, kann er seine Bedürfnisse schweigend, in sein Gewand gehüllt und +verhüllten Hauptes, verrichten. Bei Tage muss er dabei sein Gesicht nach +Norden wenden, bei Nacht gegen Süden. Lassen sich die Himmelsgegenden in +der Dunkelheit gar nicht unterscheiden, oder hat der Brahmane einen +Ueberfall durch Räuber oder wilde Thiere zu befürchten, so kann er sein +Angesicht dahin richten, wohin es ihm beliebt. Niemals aber darf er +Excremente ansehen, weder seine eigenen noch fremde. [Manu, 4, 45 ff.] + +[212] The daily duties which the Brahmans have now to perform, are given +in Belnos, "Daily Prayers of the Brahmins." + +[213] Manu, 1. 87-91; 2, 31, 32. + +[214] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 3, 149, 150. + +[215] Manu, 2, 69-76; 164-168; 173-181. On the reading of the Veda in +the schools cf. Roth, "Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Veda," s. 36. + +[216] Manu, 2, 66, 67; 3, 1. + +[217] Manu, 6, 1-8, 22, 23, 76, 77. + +[218] Manu, 6, 69, 79-85, 96. + +[219] Manu, 6, 38. + +[220] Talboys Wheeler, "Hist. of India," 2, 247. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE CONSTITUTION AND LAW OF THE INDIANS. + + +The requirements of the new doctrine extended throughout the whole +circle of life. The establishment of the arrangement into castes struck +deep into the sphere of the family, of civic society, and the state; the +old rules for purification were enlarged to suit the new system, and +changed into rubrics for expiation and penance, touching almost at every +step upon daily life. The ethical notions of the old time had to make +room for a new ideal of the life pleasing to God. How could the ancient +customs of the tribes, which hitherto had been the rule and standard of +family and inheritance, of _meum_ and _tuum_, resist such a sweeping +alteration of the social, religious, and moral basis of life? How could +the traditional punishments of transgressions and offences continue in +existence? Marriage and inheritance must be arranged so as to suit the +system of the castes; punishment must be dealt out according to the rank +of the castes, and the religious sin involved in each offence; the +administration of justice must take account of the new religious system +in which actions, hitherto regarded as permissible, were looked on as +offences. The monarchy had new duties to fulfil towards the Brahmans and +the new faith; the authority of the state, the power of inflicting +punishment, must side with the true faith, with the interests of the +priests, and the maintenance of the orders established by God. In the +circles of the Brahmans there must have been a lively desire to +establish the legal arrangement of the state on the basis of the divine +arrangement of the world; to regulate the state in all its departments +in a manner suitable to the nature of Brahman. The traditional +observances and legal customs, the usages of the families, races, and +districts, must be brought into harmony with the new doctrine; as an +almost inevitable consequence, a rule was set up for correct morals, +usages, and life, corresponding to the divine nature and will; a pattern +was drawn of the manner in which individual family and state might act +in every matter in accordance with the nature of Brahman. The commands +resulting from the system of the divine order of the world were combined +into one standard, set forth in a scheme universally accepted, and thus +elevated above all doubt and contradiction, and in this way the Brahmans +passed beyond the differences which could not but remain among them in +respect to this or that point, and did actually remain in the schools of +the priests, as the Brahmanas show. Moreover, unanimous prescripts, a +comprehensive and revered canon of law and morals, were naturally an +advantage to the position of the Brahmans; their status was thus +rendered more secure and distinctive; and success was more certain. + +The priesthoods of the various districts must have made a beginning by +influencing and modifying in the spirit of the new doctrine the customs +and usages of the land; they then proceeded to draw up the customs of +family law, of marriage and inheritance, the rights and duties of the +castes. In this compilation it was inevitable that the hereditary +customs should be revised in the spirit of the priesthood. Collections +of this kind serving as rules for certain departments of life have been +preserved in certain _Grihya-Sutras_, _i.e._ books of household customs, +and _Dharma-Sutras_, _i.e._ catalogues or tables of laws.[221] Out of +the oldest records of household customs and legal usages, altered and +systematised in the spirit of the priests, out of the collections and +revisions of the customs of law and morals made in various schools of +priests, a book of law at last grew up for the Brahmans, which comprised +both the civic and religious life, and in all relations set forth the +ideal scheme, according to which they should be arranged in the spirit +of the priesthood, _i.e._ in a manner suitable to the divine will. This +book of the law bears the name of Manu, the first man, the progenitor of +the race. + +It has been shown above that the victory of the Brahmans, the new faith +and code of morals, was first won in the regions between the Yamuna and +the Ganges, in the land of the Bharatas, Panchalas, Matsyas, and +Çurasenas. As it was there that the pre-eminence of the Brahmans was +first completely acknowledged, it was there that they were first able to +exercise an influence on the customs and ordinances of law; there also +that the need of a comprehensive regulation of life upon the Brahman +view was most strongly felt. "The land between the Sarasvati and the +Drishadvati was created by the gods (_devata_); and therefore the sages +give it the name of Brahmavarta"--so we are told in the book of the law. +The custom of Brahmavarta (_achara_), preserved unbroken in this land, +is for the book of the law the right custom, the correct law. Hence it +follows that the rules given in that book rest on the observances which +grew up in this region under the predominating influence of the +Brahmans. The book further tells us that on the borders of Brahmavarta +is Brahmarshideça, _i.e._ the land of the Brahmanic saints; this +includes the land of the Kurus (Kurukshetra) and that of the Panchalas, +Matsyas, and Çurasenas. From a Brahman born in this land all men are to +learn their right conduct upon earth. The "land of the middle" +(Madhyadeça), according to the book, extends from Vinaçana in the west +to Prayaga, _i.e._ to the confluence of the Yamuna and the Ganges; but +the law is to prevail from the Vindhyas to the Himalayas, from the +western to the eastern sea, over the whole of Aryavarta (_i.e._ the land +of the Aryas): "wherever the black gazelle is found, an efficacious +sacrifice can always be offered." In that land the Dvijas are to dwell; +"but the Çudra who cannot obtain sustenance there may dwell +elsewhere."[222] + +The book of the law naturally declares the revelation (_Çruti_), the +threefold Veda, to be the main source of law. The second source is +immemorial tradition or the custom (_Smriti_) of the good, which is +found in its typical form in Brahmavarta; in the third degree are the +utterances of the old priests and sages, who are in part quoted by name +and cited--Vasishtha, Atri, Gautama, Bhrigu, and Çaunaka.[223] But the +book of the law is also not inclined utterly to reject the ancient +observances and customs; on the contrary, all usages of families, races, +and districts remain in force, provided that they are not contradictory +to this code.[224] The Brahmans were wisely prepared to content +themselves with this looser form of unity; by thus sparing local life, +they might hope to gain the ascendant more easily and readily in the +points of chief importance. This regard for local law is counterbalanced +by the fact that the book includes in its sphere religious duties, +morals, and worship, and the entire arrangement of the state; in all +these departments it lays down the scheme on which they are to be +regulated in the spirit of the priesthood. The book is as copious on the +doctrine as on the practice; it contains the punishments of heaven as +well as those on earth; the arrangement of expiations and penalties as +well as of regulations for the trade of the market; the principles of a +vigorous management of the state, and the description of hell; the rules +for living the Brahman's life and conducting war successfully; the +decision of the judge on earth and beneath it. It is not content with +establishing rules of law, or commands of moral duty, it includes among +its ordinances moral maxims, a number of proverbs and rules of wisdom; +it not only shows how heaven is gained but also the proper demeanour in +society; a compendium of diplomacy follows the system of regenerations. +Hence this book gives striking evidence of the mixture characteristic of +the Indian nature, a mixture of superstitious fancy and keen +distinction, of vague cloudiness and punctilious systematising, of +soaring theory and subtle craft, of sound sense and over-refinement in +reflection. + +If from these indications about the customs of Brahmavarta and the +Brahmans of Brahmarshideça we can determine with tolerable certainty the +region in which the book of the law has grown up, it follows from the +introduction in which the holy Bhrigu recites the law as "Manu had +revealed it to him at his prayer," and from the close where we are again +told that this is "the law announced by Bhrigu,"[225] that the +collection of Brahmanic rules contained in this book have been preserved +in the form and revision received in the school derived from Bhrigu, and +connected with the old minstrel race of the Bhrigus.[226] It is more +difficult to find the date at which the germ of this collection of law +may have been brought to completion. Even if we set aside the +introduction and the close which are in no connection with the body of +the work, the book is still wanting in unity: it contains longer and +shorter rules on the same subject, is sometimes milder, sometimes more +severe; a fact in favour of the gradual origin of the book, which +indeed, as has been observed, is necessitated by the nature of the case. + +The Indians possess a series of books of law, which, like that called +after Manu, bear the name of a saint or seer of antiquity, or of a god. +One is named after Gautama, another after Vasishtha, a third after +Apastamba, a fourth after Yajnavalkya; others after Bandhayana and +Vishnu. According to the tradition of the Indians the law of Manu is the +oldest and most honourable, and this statement is confirmed by a +comparison of the contents and system of the rules contained in it with +those of the other books.[227] Not to mention the fact that a +considerable number of the rules in the book of Manu are repeated +verbally in the other collections, the legal doctrine of the Indians is +seen even in the older of these collections, in the book of Vishnu, +which belongs to the Brahman school of the Kathakas, in that of Gautama, +and finally in that of Yajnavalkya, which with the book of Gautama is +nearest in point of date to the book of Manu--in a far more developed +state, and with much more straw-splitting refinement. The book which is +named after Yajnavalkya of the race of Vajasani belongs to the eastern +regions of the Ganges, the kingdom of Mithila. It is based on a doctrine +which, unknown to Manu's law, came into existence in the fourth century +B.C.; the system of mixed castes and trade law is far more developed in +it than in Manu. We shall see below that this doctrine cannot be placed +much further back than the year 300 B.C.,[228] and it is assumed that +the laws of Yajnavalkya in their present form may date from the third +century of our era. If Manu's law is older than Yajnavalkya's, and the +latter rests on a doctrine, the rise of which we can fix about the year +300 B.C., while Manu's doctrine is older, there are other indications to +be gathered from Manu's work which enable us to fix the date more +clearly. Manu's law, as we have seen, limits the habitations of the +Aryas to the land north of the Vindhyas--from which we may conclude that +this view belongs to a period when the Aryas had not yet set a firm foot +on the coast of the Deccan. This extension of the Aryas to the south of +the Vindhyas began, as will be seen below, after the year 600 B.C. Soon +after this year we find the states on the Ganges completely arranged +according to the Brahmanic law, and the prescripts of the laws of Manu; +even in the first half of the sixth century we find a stricter practice +in regard to marriages outside the order, and a severer asceticism than +the law-book requires. The conclusion is therefore inevitable that the +decisive precepts, which we find in the collection, must have been put +together and written down about the year 600.[229] + +The introduction belongs undoubtedly to a later period. Manu is seated +in solitary meditation, and there come to him the ten great saints--the +book mentions Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Daksha, +Vasishtha, Bhrigu, Narada[230]--and say: "Thou alone, lord, knowest the +distinction of the pure and impure castes, the true meaning of this +universal order, which is self-existent; deign to explain it to us with +clearness and in order." Manu then first narrates to the saints the +story of creation. The highest being first created the water, and cast +into it procreative seed, which became an egg, bright as gold and +gleaming like the sun, and in this egg the highest being was born in the +shape of Brahman. Then Brahman caused the egg to divide and formed from +it the heaven and the earth and the great waters. He then divided +himself into a man and a woman, and the male half (Brahman Viraj) +produced him, Manu, who fashioned all things and created the ten Rishis, +and the seven Manus, who in turn created animals and plants. Then the +highest being caused him (Manu) to learn the book of the law by heart: +he imparted it to the great saints and taught it to Bhrigu, who would +recite it. Then Bhrigu takes up the word and says: "Learn from me the +law as Manu has revealed it at my prayer." Bhrigu then narrates how the +seven Manus had created various beings each in his age, and recites the +doctrine of the four great periods of the world (p. 70), of the origin +of the four castes and the majesty of the Brahmans.[231] + +It is no doubt a somewhat late form of Brahmanic cosmogony which is +recited in this introduction. We hear no more of the Manu of the +Rigveda, the progenitor of the Aryas; he is elevated in the priestly +system to be the first being beside Brahman, and made the creator of the +world. He is now called Manu Svayambhu, _i.e._ the self-existent Manu, +and creates from himself the ten Rishis, the seven other Manus, who in +their turn create living creatures and plants. The seven Manus are all +denoted by special epithets--the seventh is known as the ancient Manu; +he is called the son of Vivasvat, Vivasvata (p. 30). If Manu Svayambhu +had already imparted the law to the great saints, to whose number Bhrigu +belongs, and taught it especially to Bhrigu, it was unnecessary for the +great saints to ask it from Manu once more. This difficulty is as little +felt in the book as the still more striking contradiction that the +collection, though emanating from the first Manu or Brahman, is based +upon and even expressly appeals to the utterances of Vasishtha, Atri, +Gautama, Bhrigu. This is further explained by the fact that the +introduction is completely ignored in the text of the book. + +In the text we see the civic polity on the Ganges at an advanced stage. +The monarchy which rose up from the leadership of the immigrant hordes, +in conflict partly against the old inhabitants and partly against the +newly-founded states, has maintained this supreme position, and extended +it to absolute domination. It is in full possession of despotic power. +The Brahmanic theory, so far from destroying it, has, on the contrary, +extended and strengthened it. The Brahmans, it is true, demanded that +the king should regulate worship, law, and morals according to their +views and requirements; they imposed upon him duties in reference to +their own order, but, on the other hand, they were much in need of the +civic power to help them in carrying through their demands against the +other orders. This doctrine of submission to the fortune of birth, of +patient obedience, of a quiet and passive life, in connection with the +reference to the punishments after death, and the evils to come, were +highly calculated to elevate the power of the kings, and lull to sleep +energy, independence of feeling and attitude, boldness and enterprise, +in the castes of the Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas. The interest in another +world and occupation with the future must thus have become more +prominent than the participation in this world or care for the present. +In such circumstances the world was gladly left to those who had once +taken in hand the government of it. When the nation had gradually become +unnerved by such doctrines and cares, the monarchy had an easy game to +play. Its rule might be as capricious as it chose. In weaker nations, +unaccustomed to action, the need of order and protection is so great +that not only acts of violence against individuals but even the +oppression felt by the whole is gladly endured for the sake of the +security enjoyed in other respects by the entire population. + +The book compares the kings with the gods. "He who by his beneficence +spreads abroad the blessings of prosperity, and by his anger gives +death, by his bravery decides the victory, without doubt unites in +himself the whole majesty of the protectors of the world."[232] Brahman +created the king, the book tells us, by taking portions from the +substance of the eight protectors of the world, and these the king now +unites in his person.[233] "As Indra is the bright firmament, so does +the king surpass in splendour all mortal beings; as Indra pours water +from heaven for four months (the Indians on the Ganges reckoned the +rainy season at four months), so must he heap benefits on his people. +Like Surya (the sun-god) the king beams into the eyes and hearts of all; +no one can look into his countenance. As Surya by his rays draws the +moisture out of the earth for eight months, so may the king draw the +legal taxes from his subjects. As Vayu flies round the earth and all +creatures and penetrates them, so should the power of the king penetrate +through all. Like Yama in the under world, the king is lord of justice; +as Yama when the time is come judges friends and enemies, those who +honour him and those who despise him, so shall the king hold captive the +transgressors. As Varuna fetters and binds the guilty, so must the king +imprison criminals. Like Agni, the king is the holy fire: with the flame +of his anger he must annihilate all transgressors, their families and +all that they have, their flocks, and herds, and he must be inexorable +towards his ministers. As men rejoice at the sight of the moon-god +(Chandra), so do they take pleasure in the sight of the good ruler; as +Kuvera spreads abundance, so does the gracious look of the king give +blessing and prosperity.[234] The sovereign is never to be despised, not +even when he is a child; for a great divinity dwells in this human +form."[235] The king also represents, according to Manu, the four ages +of the world. On his sleeping and waking and action depends the +condition of the land. "If the king does what is good, it is Kritayuga +(the age of perfection); if he acts with energy, it is Tritayaga (the +age of the sacrificial fires); if he is awake, it is Dvaparayuga (the +period of doubt); if he sleeps it is Kaliyuga (the period of sin)."[236] +We have already become acquainted with the deification of kings in a +still more pronounced form in the inscriptions on the temples and +palaces of Egypt. It will always be found where there is nothing to +oppose the authority of the king but the impotence of subjects who +possess no rights, when life and death depend on his nod, and above all +where a divine order supposed to be gathered from the commands of heaven +is realised on earth in the state, and there are no institutions to +carry it out, but only the person of the king as the single incarnation +of power. + +However high the Brahmans placed the sanctity and dignity of their own +order above that of the Kshatriyas, the book makes no attempt to bring +the monarchy into the hands of the Brahmans. It lays down the rule that +the kings must belong to the order of the Kshatriyas;[237] and leaves +the throne to them, without feeling the contradiction that by this means +a member of a subordinate caste receives dominion over the first-born of +Brahman. It was part of the conception of the Brahmans that each order +had a definite obligation. The Kshatriyas must protect the other orders; +and therefore the chief protector must belong to this caste. But the +book does not even aim at confining the royal power of the Kshatriyas in +narrower limits for the benefit of the Brahmans. The kings are merely +commanded to be obedient to the law of the priests; the order of +Brahmans is declared to be especially adapted for public offices, +without excluding the rest of the Dvija from them. The king is further +recommended to advise chiefly with Brahmans on affairs of state, and to +allow Brahmans to pronounce sentence in his place.[238] For the great +sacrifices he must have a Brahman to represent him (Purohita); and for +household devotion and daily ritual he must keep a chaplain (Ritvij). + +Agreeably to the Brahmanic conception of the world, the maintenance of +the established order is the especial duty of the king. He must take +care that all creatures do what is required of them and perform their +duties. He must also protect his subjects, their persons, property, and +rights. He must reward the good and punish the bad. Justice is the first +duty of the king. By justice the book understands chiefly the +maintenance of authority and order by terror, by sharp repression and +severe punishment. The power of inflicting punishment is regarded as the +best part of the kingly office; the king must especially occupy himself +with pronouncing judgment, and punish without respect of persons. The +terror spread by punishment, and the apportionment of it in particular +cases, are the principles of the law of penalties. The Brahmans had +gained recognition for their doctrine mainly by the fear of the +penalties of hell, and the regenerations; they thought that nothing but +fear governs the world, and by that means only could order be maintained +in the state. The more the Brahmanic doctrine drained the marrow out of +the bones and the force out of the souls of the people, the more +dependent and incapable of self-help the subjects were made by the +severe oppression and tutelage of the kings, the more necessary it +became, as no one could now defend or help himself, to have an effectual +protection for persons and property, and this the book finds only in the +power of punishment exercised by the king. + +We find a complete theory of the preservative power of punishment, +before which all distinctions of criminal and civil process disappear, +and it becomes a matter of indifference whether an offence has taken +place from a doubtful claim, from error, carelessness, or evil +intention. "A man who does good by nature," so we are told in the book, +"is rarely found. Even the gods, the Gandharvas, the giants, the +serpents perform their functions only from fear of punishment. It is +this which prevents all creatures from abandoning their duties, and puts +them in a position to enjoy what is properly their own. Punishment is +justice, as the sages say; punishment governs the world; it is a mighty +power, a strong king, a wise expounder of law. When all things sleep, +punishment is awake. If the king did not ceaselessly punish those who +deserve it, the stronger would eat up the weak; property would cease to +exist; the crow would pick up the rice of the sacrifice, and the dog +lick the clarified butter. Only when black punishment with red eyes +annihilates the transgressors, do men feel no anxiety." + +The services rendered by the king in the exercise of justice and the +maintenance of order and the system of caste thus attained, are +naturally rated very highly by the book of law, in accordance with its +general tendency. "By the suppression of the evil and protection of the +good, the king purifies himself like a Brahman by sacrifice." "Then his +kingdom flourishes like a tree that is watered continually;" through the +protection which the king secures for the good by punishment, he +acquires a portion of the merits of the good. The portion of these +merits thus allotted to the king is determined by arithmetical +calculations. "The king who collects the sixth part of the harvest and +protects his people by punishment, obtains a sixth part of the merit of +all pious actions, and the sixth part of all rewards allotted by the +heavenly beings to the nation for their sacrifices and gifts to the +gods, and for the reading of the holy scriptures. But the king who does +not protect his people, and yet takes the sixth, goes into hell; as does +also the king who punishes the innocent and not the transgressors. Even +if the king has not himself pronounced the unjust sentence, a part of +the guilt falls upon him. The fourth part of the injustice of the +sentence falls on him who began the suit, a fourth on the false +witnesses, a fourth on the judge, a fourth on the king. A pure prince, +who is truthful, who knows the holy scriptures, and does not disregard +the laws, which he has himself given, is regarded by the sages as +capable of regulating punishment, of imposing it evenly, and thus he +increases the virtue, the wealth, and prosperity of his subjects (the +three means of happiness)." "To the prince who decides a case +righteously, the people will flock like the rivers to the ocean, and +when he has thus obtained the good-will of the nation"--so the book +continues--"he must attempt to subjugate the lands which do not obey +him."[239] + +Accompanied by Brahmans and experienced councillors, the king is to +repair without magnificence to the court of justice. After invoking the +protectors of the world, he begins, standing or seated, with the right +hand raised, and his attention fixed, to examine the case according to +the rank of the castes. Like Yama, the judge of the under world, the +king must renounce all thoughts of what is pleasing to him; he must +follow the example of the judge of all men, suppress his anger, and put +a bridle on his senses. If right wounded by wrong enters the court and +the king does not draw out the arrow he is himself wounded. From the +attitude of the litigants, the colour of their faces, and the tone of +their voices, their appearance and gestures, the king must ascertain +their thoughts and attain to truth, as the hunter reaches the lair of +the wild beast which he has wounded by following up the traces of its +blood. Beside these indications, witnesses are required for proof; and +if these are not forthcoming, oaths or the "divine declaration." +Respectable men of all the orders are allowed as witnesses, especially +the fathers of families; if these are not to be obtained, the friends or +enemies of the accused, his servants, or such as are in need and +poverty, and are afflicted with sickness. In cases of necessity the +evidence of a woman, a child, and a slave can be taken.[240] + +The book repeatedly and with great urgency exhorts the witnesses to +speak the truth, and threatens false witnesses with hell and a terrible +series of regenerations. In the presence of the accuser and accused the +king calls on the witness to tell the truth: to the Brahman he says, +"speak;" to the Kshatriya, "tell the truth;" to the Vaiçya, he points +out that false witness is as great a crime as theft of corn, cattle, and +gold.[241] "The wicked think," says Manu, "no one sees us if we give +false witness. But the protectors of the world know the actions of all +living creatures, and the gods see all men. The soul also is its own +witness; a severe judge and unbending avenger dwells in thine heart. The +soul is a part of the highest spirit, the attentive and silent observer +of all that is good and evil." The false witness will not only come to +misfortune in his life, so that, deprived of his sight, with a potsherd +in his hand he will beg for morsels in the house of his enemy--for all +the good that a man has done in his life at once departs into dogs by +false witness--in a hundred migrations he will fall into the toils of +Varuna, and at last will be thrown head foremost into the darkest abyss +of hell. Even his family and kindred are brought into hell by the false +witness. For further elucidation the book provides a scale; by false +witness about oxen five, about cows ten, about horses a hundred, and +about men a thousand members of the family of the false witness are +thrown into hell.[242] + +If no witnesses are forthcoming the king must endeavour to find out the +truth by the oaths of the accuser or the accused, which in cases of +special importance he may test and confirm by the "divine declaration." +Even the Brahmans could not refuse the oath; for Vasishtha had sworn to +the son of Pijavana (Sudas). The Brahman swore by his truthfulness; the +Kshatriya by his weapons, his horses, and elephants; the Vaiçya by his +cows, his corn, his grass; the Çudra, when taking an oath, must invoke +all sins on his own head.[243] If the king desires the "divine +revelation" on the truth of the oath, the person taking it must lay his +hand, while swearing, on the head of his wife, or the heads of his +children; or after taking it, he must undergo the test of fire and water +or fire; i.e. he is thrown into water and he must touch fire with his +hand. If in the second case no immediate harm follows, if in the first +the witness sinks like any other person, if in the third he is not +injured by the fire, the oath is correct. Fire, so the book proceeds, is +to be the test of guilt or innocence for all men; the holy Vatsa once +demonstrated his innocence by walking through fire without a hair of +his head being consumed.[244] When we consider the inclination of the +Indians to the marvellous, and their belief in the perpetual +interference of the gods, it cannot surprise us that these regulations +about the divine declaration--which are all that are found in the book +of the law--became at a later time much more extended and complicated; +it is also possible that the book has omitted certain hereditary forms +of the divine sentence, such as the carrying of hot iron, though they +continue to exist.[245] + +When the king had thus come to a conclusion about the matter and its +position by means of indications, evidence, oaths, and "divine +declaration," when he had considered the extenuating or aggravating +circumstances, _e.g._ special qualities in the criminal, or repeated +convictions, and reflected on the prescriptions given by the law, he is +to cause punishment to be inflicted on the guilty. The book +acknowledges that the king alone is not sufficient for the burden of +pronouncing justice; it is open to him to name a representative, and the +necessary judges from the number of the twice-born; no exclusive right +in this respect is reserved for the Brahmans, but they are especially +recommended. "A court of law, assembled by the king, and consisting of a +very learned Brahman and three Brahmans acquainted with writing, is +called by the sages the court of Brahman with four faces." A Çudra can +never be named by the king as his representative in a court of law. If +such a thing were to happen, the kingdom would be in the unfortunate +position of a cow which had fallen into a morass.[246] + +The doctrine of the Brahmans that no living creature is to be killed is +little attended to in respect of human life either in their penal code +or in their asceticism. The punishment of death is perhaps less +frequently imposed than elsewhere in the East, but mutilations are only +the more common, and at times they are employed to aggravate the +sentence of death, which is inflicted by beheading and impalement.[247] +The legends of the Buddhists show that cruel mutilations were not +uncommon. Men of the despised classes, especially Chandalas, served as +executioners.[248] The Brahmans are to be free from all bodily +punishment; the other castes could be punished either by loss of life, +or of the sexual organs, or in the belly, the tongue, feet and hands, +eyes and nose, and were distinguished by different brands on the +forehead.[249] But the book of the law adds a rule of some importance +intended to win respect and legal value for the priestly arrangements +of penances: all criminals, who perform the religious expiations +prescribed for their offence, are not to be punished in the body, but +only condemned to pay a fine. Next to corporal punishments, fines are +the most frequent; but imprisonment is mentioned; this was carried out +in gaols, which were to be erected on the highways "to spread terror." + +The book allows the kings absolute power to punish with capricious +severity and with death any attempt and even "any hostile feeling" +against themselves. This is necessitated by the position of the despotic +ruler whose throne depends on keeping alive the sense of fear in his +subjects. "He who in the confusion of his mind betrays hatred against +his king must die; the king must at once occupy himself with the means +to bring about his destruction." Any one who has refused obedience to +the king or robbed the king's treasury must be put to death with +tortures.[250] He who forges royal orders, puts strife between the +ministers of the king, appropriates the royal property, has any +understanding with the enemies of the king, and inspires them with +courage, must die. So also must the man who has killed a Brahman, a +woman, or a child,[251] who has broken down a dyke, so that the water in +the reservoir is lost.[252] Adultery under certain circumstances is +punished with death. Robbery, arson, attacks with violence on persons or +property, are punished very severely, for such crimes "spread alarm +among all creatures."[253] The punishments prescribed by the law for the +protection of property are, comparatively, the most severe; it seems +that the Brahmanic view, which allots to each creature his sphere of +rights, regarded property, the extended circle of the person, as an +appurtenance deserving the strictest respect, and that the Brahmans +looked on the protection of property as an essential part of a good +arrangement of the state, which must secure his own to every man and +maintain him in the possession of it. The king is to suppress theft with +the greatest vigour. In order to discover the thief, no less than the +gambler and cheat, the law recommends him to avail himself of the +espionage of those who apparently pursue the same occupation. These +spies are to be taken from all orders, and must watch especially the +open places, wells, and houses of courtesans in the cities, and in the +country the sacred trees, the crossways, the public gardens, and parks +of the princes. The king must cause every one to be executed who is +caught on the spot with the property upon him, and the concealers of the +thief must be punished as severely as the thief himself.[254] Any one +who steals more than ten kumbhas worth of corn is to be punished with +death; theft of a less value is followed by loss of hand or foot. Petty +stealing, _e.g._ of flowers, or of as much corn as a man can carry, is +to be punished by fines, in which the Vaiçya has to pay twice as much as +the Çudra, the Kshatriya four times, the Brahman eight or a hundred +times. Burglary is a capital offence; the sentence is carried out by +impalement, after the hands of the victim have been cut off.[255] A +cut-purse loses two fingers; on a second offence a hand and a foot; if +the offence is repeated he must die.[256] In regard to property, Manu's +laws are so severe that they not only put the sale of another's goods, +but even the loosing of a tied ox, or the tying of one which is loose, +the use of the slave, horse, or carriage of another on the same level +as theft. On the other hand, it is permissible to take roots, and +fruits, and even wood for sacrifice out of any unfenced field; the +hungry traveller, if a Dvija, may break two sugarcanes, but not +more.[257] Gamblers are punished like thieves, and any one who keeps a +gambling house must undergo corporal punishment; drunkards are branded +in the forehead. The law of contract and debt, the breach of covenants, +the non-payment of wages when due, the annulling of a purchase or sale, +the law of deposits, the collection of outstanding accounts, gambling +debts and wages, are discussed at some length. + +The views and regulations in the book of law about the unlimited power +of the king and the exercise of the right of punishment might appear to +be of a later date than has been assumed, if the sutras of the Buddhists +and the accounts of the Greeks from the end of the fourth century B.C. +did not exhibit the monarchy of India in the full possession of +unlimited power; the latter also mention the careful regard paid by the +kings to the administration of justice. Hence we can hardly be wrong in +assuming that the Arians in India were not later than their kindred in +Iran in reaching this form of constitution. + +Along with the absolute power of punishment the law allows the kings a +very liberal right of imposing taxes. The taxes were regarded as the +recompense which the subjects have to pay for the protection which the +king extends to them. However high the quota of taxes may be which the +king has the right to raise, the law calls attention to the fact that it +is not good "to exhaust the realm by taxes." The impositions are to be +arranged in such a way that the subjects may confess that king and +nation find "the just reward of their labour." The king is never to cut +off his own roots by raising no taxes at all on a super-abundance of +possessions, nor may he from covetousness demand too heavy a tribute, +and so cut off the roots of his subjects. As the exhaustion of the body +destroys the life of the animated creature, so does the exhaustion of +the kingdom destroy the life of the king. As a rule, he may only demand +the twelfth part of the harvest, _i.e._ above eight per cent., and the +fiftieth, _i.e._ two per cent., of animals and incomes in gold and +silver.[258] Yet the eighth or sixth corn could be demanded according to +the quality of the soil and the amount of labour required upon it, and +the fifth part of the increase in cattle and in gold and silver. In +cases of necessity the fourth part of the harvest could be demanded, +"when the king is protecting his people with all his power." Of the gain +on fruit-trees, herbs, flowers, perfumes and honey the king can take the +sixth part. From the wares of the merchant which come to be sold, the +king may take the twentieth;[259] and those who live by retail trade may +be compelled to pay a moderate tax. Artisans, day-labourers, and Çudras +who earn too little to be able to pay taxes, the king compels to work +for him one day in each month.[260] + +From this it is clear how extensive was the circle from which taxes were +paid; all incomes, whether from the soil and under it, even to flowers +and honey, or from the breeding of cattle, all purchases and sales were +taxed, and the rates at which the taxes were levied were high. There +were besides presents in kind. If we add to these the exactions of the +tax-gatherer, which in the East have rarely been wanting, the burdens +prescribed and imposed by the laws must have been very considerable. It +would afford little protection to those who had to pay that Manu's laws +required that the taxes should be collected by men of good family whose +characters were free from avarice.[261] Yet these and other rules in the +book show that an attempt was made to introduce order, and, at any rate, +a certain moderation into the taxation. The good advice given in +conclusion to the king, that he should collect his yearly tribute in +small portions, even as the bee and the leech suck in their nourishment +gradually,[262] is rather evidence of Machiavellian policy than of good +feeling towards the taxpayers, while the open reference to the leech as +a pattern of moderation is equivalent to an acknowledgment of the +draining process of which we find evidence elsewhere. From the general +duty of paying taxes the "learned Brahman" is alone exempted; from him +the king is never to take tribute even though he were dying of +hunger;[263] the Brahmans, as we shall see, paid their sixth in +intercessions.[264] + +The rules given in the law for taxation are not of recent date. The +sixth part of the harvest is there prescribed as the rule. From the +accounts of the Greeks about the year 300 B.C. the fourth part of the +harvest was collected, and a tenth from trade.[265] According to the +sutras of the Buddhists the pressure of taxes in some states on the +Ganges became exhausting. Subsequently, the princes of the Mahrattas +took a fifth of the harvest, which seems to have become the rule in +later times, and occasionally a fourth, in corn or coin. The Sultan +Akhbar caused the whole land to be measured and the value of the produce +to be calculated on an average of the harvests of nineteen years, and +the size of the farm; then he took the third part of the produce thus +estimated in gold, with entire release from all other taxes. Lands in +the possession of the Brahmans partially enjoy even to this day the +traditional freedom from taxation. + +As it is difficult for one man to govern a great kingdom the book +advises the king to choose seven or eight ministers from men whose +fathers have already been in the service of the crown, persons of good +family, of knowledge of the law, bold and skilful in the use of +weapons.[266] He is to secure their fidelity by an oath. With them he is +to consider all affairs, first with each singly, then with all together; +after this he may do what seems to him best. On matters of great +importance the king must always ask the advice of one Brahman of +eminence, and consider the affair with him as his first minister.[267] +The sutras of the Buddhists as well as the epic poems show us the court +of the king arranged according to these rules; in the Ramayana, king +Daçaratha of Ayodhya has eight ministers together with his Parohita and +Ritvij.[268] + +The plan presented by the law for the management of the state is very +simple. The king is to place officers (_pati_, lords) over every +village, and again over every ten or twenty villages (_grama_), so that +these places with their acreage formed together a district. Five or ten +such districts form a canton, which contains a hundred communities, and +over this in turn the king places a higher magistrate. Ten of these +cantons form a region, which thus comprised a thousand villages, and +this is administered by a governor.[269] The overseers of districts are +to have divisions of soldiers at their disposal to maintain order in +their districts. Thefts and robbery which they are unable to prevent +with their own forces they must report to the overseers of cantons.[270] +Thus the states of India were governed by a complicated series of royal +magistrates subordinated to each other, which is of itself evidence of +an advanced stage of administration. Whether the kings of India adopted +this or some other plan for the management of their states, which in the +first instance were of no great extent, experience must have taught, +before Manu's laws received their present form, that these magistrates +did not always discharge their duties faithfully, but were guilty of +caprice and oppression. The subordination of the magistrates is intended +to supply a means of control; but the law also requires regular payment +of officers. "Those whom the king employs for the security of the land," +we are told, "are as a rule knaves, who gladly appropriate the property +of the subjects."[271] In order to prevent this as far as possible +regular payment is absolutely necessary. The fourth class (the overseers +of the villages) is to receive what the village has to contribute to the +king in rice, wood, and drink; the third class (the overseers of +districts) must receive as pay the produce of an estate, which requires +twelve steers to cultivate it; the second class must receive the produce +of a plot five times as large, &c.[272] Moreover, in every great city +the king must nominate a head overseer, and must from time to time cause +reports to be made by special commissaries of the manner in which the +magistrates perform their duties; and those who take money from the +people with whom they have to do, the king must drive out of the land +and confiscate their property.[273] + +The advice which the book imparts to the kings on the duties they have +to fulfil beside the protection of the subjects, the maintenance of +order, and the supervision of their magistrates; the art of government +sketched for them, the regulations for personal security put into their +hand, are the result of an unfettered reflection on all these relations +for which no limitations and principles are in existence, except the +interest of uncontrolled dominion, and the respect due to the Brahmans. + +The king is to take up his abode in a healthy and rich district, +inhabited by loyal people, who get their living easily, and surrounded +by peaceful neighbours. In such a district he is to choose a place +difficult of access owing to deserts or forest. If these are not to be +found the king must build his citadel on a mountain, or he must make it +inaccessible by specially strong walls of stone or brick, or by trenches +filled with water. As a man can do nothing to a wild animal when in its +hole, so the king has nothing to fear in an inaccessible place. In the +midst of such a fortress the king must build his palace with the +necessary spaces properly divided in such a manner that it can be +inhabited at any period of the year. The palace must be provided with +water and surrounded with trees, the entire dwelling must then be +enclosed by trenches and walls. The citadel, in which the palace lies, +must be well provided with arms, supplies, beasts of burden, fodder, +machines, and Brahmans. One archer behind the breast of the wall easily +holds a hundred enemies in check.[274] The guard in the interior of the +palace is to be trusted only to men of little spirit, for brave men, +seeing the king frequently alone or surrounded by women, could easily +slay him at the instigation of his enemies. It is best to pay regularly +the servants of the palace; the chief servants are to receive six panas +a day, six dronas of corn a month, and six suits of clothes in the year; +the lowest receive one pana a day, one drona of corn a month, and an +upper and under garment twice in the year.[275] + +The king, his council, his treasure, his metropolis, his land, army, and +confederates--these are, according to the book of the law, the seven +parts of the kingdom, which ought mutually to support each other. The +king is the most important part, "because through him all the other +parts are set in motion;" his destruction brings with it the ruin of the +rest. Hence the king must take thought for his preservation. For this +object the book advises him--besides securing the metropolis, the +citadel, and the people in it--to pay attention to a good arrangement of +the day. With early dawn he is to rise and purify himself, in deep +meditation to offer his sacrifice to Agni, and show his respect for the +Brahmans who know the three holy books.[276] Then he must go to the +magnificent hall of reception, and there delight his subjects by +gracious words and looks. After administering justice he is to consult +with his ministers in some secret place where he cannot be overheard, on +a lonely terrace or on the top of a mountain. In the middle of the day, +if he is free from disquiet and weariness (or in the middle of the +night), he must reflect on virtue, content, and riches, on war and +peace, on the prospect of success in his undertakings. Then he must +bathe, take such exercise as becomes a king, and then repair to the meal +in his inner chambers. There he must take food prepared for him by old, +faithful, and trustworthy servants, but previously tested with the help +of a partridge, whose eyes become red if there is poison in the dish. He +must consecrate the food by prayers, which will destroy the poison +contained in it. He must at all times carry precious stones with him, to +counteract the effect of poison, and must mix antidotes with his +food.[277] After dinner the women make their appearance to fan him, and +sprinkle him with water and perfumes, but not till their ornaments and +dress have been carefully searched to see that neither weapons nor +poison are hidden in them. When the king has passed the suitable time +with his wives, he occupies himself anew with public business. He puts +on his armour, and reviews his warriors, elephants, horses, chariots, +and arms.[278] In the evening, after sacrifice, he repairs in his armour +to a remote part of the palace, in order to receive the accounts of his +spies. Then he takes his evening meal in his innermost chambers, at +which his wives attend him. After a light repast and some music, he lies +down to rest at the proper time, and rises refreshed in the +morning.[279] + +The book advises the king to make conquests, and gives him counsel on +the conduct of war. This may be explained as a survival of the old +warlike feeling of the people, or as the result of the duty imposed on +the Kshatriyas, or from the encyclopædic nature of the book, which +includes all sides of civic life. The ideal of the Brahmans lay no doubt +in a quiet and peaceful life, but like other priesthoods they were +inclined to leave the state a free course in its desire for extension +of power so long as it satisfied the requirements they laid upon it. +Conquests, the book tells us, cannot be made till a treasure has been +collected and the troops carefully exercised.[280] Every neighbour is to +be regarded as an enemy, but the neighbour of a neighbour as a friend. +While the king must carefully conceal the weaknesses of his own kingdom, +he must spy out the weakness of the enemy; he must send spies into the +enemy's land, just as he uses them to detect gambling, theft, and +cheating in his own. The persons best suited for this purpose are +fictitious penitents, degraded eremites, broken merchants, starving +peasants, and finally young men of bold and acute spirit; these must +collect accurate information concerning the ministers, treasures, and +army of the hostile state.[281] The choice of the ambassador sent to the +enemy's coast is of the first importance both for knowing the country, +and ascertaining the views of the prince. He must be a man of high +birth, of acuteness and honesty, friendly in his manners. In +negotiations with the hostile prince, this envoy must be able to judge +of his intentions from his conduct, tone, attitude, and demeanour; he +must detect his plans by secretly bribing a covetous minister.[282] When +acquainted with the strength and designs of the enemy, the king must +attempt to weaken their power and strengthen his own. For this purpose +he must by all possible means create dissension in the enemy's country, +or foster a dissension already existing; he must gain over relatives of +the prince who prefer a claim to the throne, or discontented and +displaced ministers; and make presents to the subjects of the hostile +prince. Finally, he must conclude treaties with the ambitious +neighbours of the hostile state, and attempt to break off his alliances, +by creating personal dissensions between the princes.[283] + +The issue of all things in this world, the book says, depends on the +laws of fate, which are regulated according to the acts of men in their +former existence. These laws are concealed from us; we must therefore +hold to things which are accessible. It is enough if the king keeps +three things before him in these undertakings; himself, the object he +has in view, the means of attaining it. Starting from the experience of +the past and the present situation of affairs, he must attempt to +discover the probable issue. He who can foresee the use or harm of any +resolution, who decides quickly at a given moment, and can see the +consequences of any event, will never be overcome. A prince who is firm +in his views, liberal and grateful to all who serve him, bold, skilful, +and fearless, will, in the opinion of the sages, hardly be overcome. +Fortune attends the enterprising and enduring prince, and he who keeps +his counsels secret will extend his power over the whole earth.[284] + +If the king is attacked unexpectedly he must take refuge in +negotiations; in such a case he must also make up his mind to endure +some slight injury, and even sacrifice a part of his kingdom. But if he +has made all his preparations and concealed them, if he has drawn all +the parts of his kingdom into himself like a tortoise; if the fortresses +are armed and garrisoned, if the six divisions of the army--the +elephants, chariots, cavalry, foot-soldiers, generals, and baggage--are +ready, and he has made arrangements for his absence, he must consider +like a hawk the best mode of attack, the object of which must be the +metropolis of the enemy, and make it suddenly at a favourable time of +the year. If the strength of his army consists in chariots, elephants, +and cavalry, he must set out in November (Margaçirsha) or in February +(Phalguna) in order to find the autumn or spring harvest in the fields, +in case some special misfortune has befallen the enemy, or the victory +is for general reasons beyond a doubt. The march must be secured by +making roads, by spies, and good advanced troops who know the signals, +for which purpose daring men, of whom it is known that they will not +desert, must be sought out. + +Battles must be avoided as much as possible if the object can be +attained by other means, for the issue of a battle can never be +foreseen. But if it is found impossible to compel the enemy to make +peace by devastating his land, by taking up strong positions and an +entrenched camp, or by blockading him in his camp, and cutting him off +from supplies--water, and wood for firing, by provoking him by day, and +attacking him by night--if a battle is unavoidable, it is best in a +plain to fight with cavalry and chariots, in a well watered region with +elephants, in a woodland district with archers, on open ground with +sword and shield. The Kshatriyas of Brahmavarta and Brahmarshideça, from +the lands of the Matsyas, Panchalas, and Çurasenas were to be placed in +the front ranks, or if these were not forthcoming, tall and skilful men +of other regions. Poisoned arrows and fire arrows are not to be used. A +man on a chariot or a horse is not to attack a foot-soldier; an enemy is +not to be attacked who is already engaged with an opponent, or has lost +his arms, or is wounded. These rules, like the precept that the king is +never to turn his back when the army has been set in array, are results +of the old warlike and knightly feeling united with the view of the +Brahmans, that each order should fulfil its proper office. It is the +duty of the Kshatriyas not to fly, says the book, but much more of the +king; kings who fight with great courage in the battle, eager to +overcome each other, and do not turn aside their heads, go straight into +heaven when they fall. Those who pray for life with folded hands, the +severely wounded, and those who fly, are not to be slain.[285] According +to these regulations the regions of Brahmavarta and Brahmarshideça +produce not only the best Brahmans but the best Kshatriyas. The accounts +of the Greeks from the fourth century B.C. prove that at any rate the +princes of the land of the Indus knew how to fight bravely. Megasthenes +tells us that they rarely came to close conflict, but generally carried +on the contest with large bows at a distance. + +When victory has been won, the law advises the king, however weary he +may be, to follow it up quickly. According to the regulations of the +Veda, gold and silver found in the booty belong to the king, everything +else to the man who has taken it. If the enemy's land is conquered an +attempt must be made to secure the possession of it. The king must issue +a proclamation to relieve all the inhabitants from alarm; he must +worship the deities worshipped by the conquered land, and pay respect to +the virtuous Brahmans in it. Under certain circumstances it is good to +make distributions to the people; to carry off treasures arouses hatred, +to distribute them excites love; each is worthy of praise or blame +according to circumstances. Finally, the book utterly disregards the +possible result of the excellent advice given by laying down the rule +that the king may hand over the conquered district to a prince of the +royal blood, and prescribe certain conditions with which he is to rule +there as a vassal king. It is obvious that such relations must soon end +in revolts. The position of the vassal king is too strong for obedience, +and his strength is a temptation to acquire complete freedom and +independence. Manu's doctrines are intended for these vassal kings also; +they may apply them like the chief kings for their own benefit. + +No regulations are given in the book for the succession to the throne. +It only requires that a consecration shall take place on the accession +of a new king. If the king feels that his end is near, he must +distribute his treasures to the Brahmans; hand over the kingdom to his +son, and seek death in battle; if there is no war, the old king must end +his life by starvation. The precept that the king should seek death in +battle is again a remnant of the old feeling; he must live and die like +a Kshatriya. + +The Epos and legends of the Brahmans are in complete agreement with the +book of the law as to the necessity of monarchy, its objects and duties. +It has been mentioned already how the Brahmans created a new king out of +the body of the dead king Vena (p. 149), as a protection against the +robbers who rose up on all hands. A land without a king, we are told in +the Ramayana, is like a cow without a bull, a herd without a herdsman, a +night without a moon, a woman who has lost her husband. There is then no +property; men consume each other as one fish eats another. When there is +no king Indra does not water the plains, the fields are not sown, the +son does not obey the father, No rich man builds houses and lays out +parks; no priest skilled in sacrifice brings offerings to the gods. The +people do not dance at the festival, the minstrels are not surrounded +by an audience. No maiden adorned with gold walks in the evening in the +gardens, no elephant sixty years old stands in the ways with tusks +adorned with bells. The peasant and the herdman cannot sleep securely +with open doors; the traders are not safe in the streets. When there is +no king the ceaseless sound of archers practising for battle is never +heard.[286] In the Mahabharata we are told of Yudhishthira's reign at +Indraprastha that he ruled with great justice, protected his subjects as +his sons, and conquered his enemies round about, so that every one in +the land was without fear or distress, and could apply his whole mind to +the fulfilment of religious duties. The kingdom received an abundance of +rain at the proper time; all the inhabitants were rich, and testified to +the virtues of the king in the abundance of the harvests, in the +increase of the flocks, and in the great growth of trade. There was +neither drought nor inundation; the parrots did not eat the corn; there +were no swindlers, liars, or thieves in the land. + +In the Epos also we find the kings dwelling in fortified cities and +citadels. According to the Ramayana, Ayodhya is a city surrounded by +high walls, with broad and deep trenches and strong gates; the gateways +and the towers on the walls are occupied with archers; in the midst of +the city was the royal citadel surrounded by walls, so lofty that no +bird could fly over it, watched by a thousand warriors strong and +courageous as lions. In the three first of the five courts of this +citadel, young soldiers kept watch; in the two last, where the king and +his wives dwelt, were old men. In the Epos the kings when old lay aside +their crowns, as the book commands, and resign them to their sons. The +aged Dhritarashtra of Hastinapura resigns the throne to Yudhishthira; +Daçratba of Ayodhya wishes to give it up to Rama. Dhritarashtha and +Yudhishthira end their days in the wilderness as Vanaprasthas, or +penitents, in the manner prescribed in the book for every Dvija in his +old age (p. 184). The ceremonial of consecration required by the book is +described at great length in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Rice, +white flowers, clods of earth, pieces of silver and gold, and precious +stones are brought to Yudhishthira; he touches them in the traditional +manner. Then fire, milk, honey, curdled milk, purified butter, the holy +goblets, leaves and twigs of the sacred trees, and vessels with +consecrated water are placed before the king. When the sacrificial fire +has been kindled, Yudhishthira with Draupadi seats himself before it on +a tiger's skin; the consecrating Brahman pours the libations into the +sacrificial fire--cow's milk, sweet and curdled, and melted butter--and +in order to purify the king and queen he pours the urine of cows on +their heads and then lays cowdung upon them. Then the consecrated water +is poured over them, and after this the music begins to sound, and the +minstrels sing the praises of Yudhishthira and his ancestors. At the +consecration of Rama the golden throne is set up, the yellow parasol and +the two flappers of buffalo-tails, the tiger-skin, bow and sword are +brought forward. The four-yoked chariots, the elephants, the great white +buffalo, the lion with strong mane, the cows with golden ornaments on +their horns, the flowers and the jars filled with water from the Ganges +and the holy springs and pools, are made ready.[287] Rama and Sita place +themselves in beautiful garments in the portico of the palace, their +faces to the east, and the people cry aloud: Long live the Maharaja +(great-king) Rama; may his reign be prosperous and continue for ever! +Then the Rishis come with jars full of consecrated water, say the solemn +words, and pour the water upon the heads of Rama and Sita. Then the +Brahmans do the same, the Kshatriyas, Vaiçyas, and Çudras, and all the +remaining classes of the people. When Rama and Sita have changed their +garments they return to their place in the portico; the yellow parasol +is spread over Rama, and he is fanned with the two flappers. And the +Brahmans and the people of Ayodhya came to bless Rama, and scattered +rice in the husk and kuça-grass on his head, and Rama sent away the +Brahmans with rich gifts, and the minstrels and dancers and +dancing-girls were rewarded. The sutras of the Buddhists mention as the +symbols of monarchy the turban and tiara, the sword, the yellow parasol, +the flappers of buffalo-tails, and the parti-coloured shoes.[288] In the +Ramayana, Bharata, the younger brother, will not accept the throne in +the place of his elder brother Rama, though commanded to do so by his +father. Then Rama takes off the gilded shoes and hands them to Bharata, +a symbol of his renunciation of the throne, which was in use even among +the Germans.[289] The virtuous Bharata is now compelled to reign; but he +places the shoes on the throne, holds the yellow parasol over them, and +causes them to be fanned by the first ministers, and before these shoes +of his brother he takes counsel and administers justice. + +The lecture which Rama gives his brother on the art of government is in +complete harmony with the doctrines of the book of the law. He asks +Bharata whether he is protecting the city of Ayodhya and all the cantons +of his kingdom in a proper manner; whether he pays due respect to +householders and proprietors, whether his judges give them justice? Is +an accused chief set at liberty through bribery? Are the judges in any +matter of law between rich and poor raised above the desire of gain? O +Bharata, the tears shed by those who have been condemned unjustly, +destroy the children and the flocks of him who governs with partiality. +He asks further whether Bharata despises the Brahmans who are so given +up to the satisfaction of the senses and the enjoyment of the world that +they do not trouble themselves about the things of heaven--whether he +despises men eminent in useless knowledge, and those who profess to be +wise without having learned anything: whether he prefers one learned man +to a thousand of the unlearned; ten thousand of the ignorant multitude +will not be able to render him any service in his government. Does he +employ distinguished servants in great matters, men of lower degree in +smaller affairs, and the lowest in the least important? In affairs of +great moment he must employ only those who have served his father and +grandfather, who have not opened their hand to bribes; heroic and +learned men, who are masters of their senses, and able to untie a knot. +Dost thou despise the counsel of women, and conceal from them thy +secrets? Or do thine own counsellors contemn thee, and the people, +oppressed by excessive punishments? Dost thou honour those who are bold +and skilful? Do thy servants and troops receive pay at the proper time? +Are thy fortresses well provided with corn, water, weapons, and +archers? Is the forest, where the royal elephants are kept, well chosen? +Art thou well equipped with horses and female elephants? Hast thou store +of young milch-cows? Is thy expenditure less than thy income? Dost thou +bestow thy wealth on Brahmans, Kshatriyas, needy strangers? or lavish it +on thy friends? Dost thou wake at the right time? Canst thou overcome +sleep? Dost thou divide thy time properly between recreation, state +business, and religious duties? Dost thou think at the end of the night +on the way to become prosperous? Dost thou take counsel with thyself and +with others also? Are thy resolutions kept secret? Do other princes know +thy aims? Art thou acquainted with that which they would undertake? Are +the plans formed in the councils of other princes known to thee and thy +counsellors? The concealment of his counsels by his ministers is the +source of success for a prince. He who does not remove an ambitious and +covetous minister, who maligns others, will be himself removed. Is thine +envoy a well-instructed, active man, able to answer any question on the +moment? Is he a man of judgment who knows how to deliver a message in +the words in which it is given to him? Art thou certain that thy +officers are on thy side, if sent into foreign lands, and if none knows +the commission given to another? Dost thou think lightly of enemies who, +though weak and expelled from their country, may easily return? Dost +thou seek to obtain land and wealth by all honest means? Dost thou bow +down before thy spiritual leaders; before the aged, the penitent, the +gods, strangers; before the holy groves and all instructed Brahmans? +Dost thou sacrifice wealth to virtue, or virtue to wealth, or both to +favouritism, covetousness, and sensuality? The prince who rules a +kingdom with justice, when surrounded with difficulties, wins heaven +when he leaves this world. + +We can only fix in a very general way the date at which these prescripts +of the book on the art of government, and the doctrines of the Epos so +completely in agreement with them, came into existence. The sutras of +the Buddhists and the accounts of the Greeks from the end of the fourth +century B.C. exhibit to us the kingdom of India occupied with efforts +which correspond in some degree to the views of the book and the +descriptions of the Epos. If however we were to conclude from the +despotic power to which the monarchy attained in the states on the +Ganges, that the subject populations at that time or later were +disconnected and reduced, without independent movement in any sphere of +life--our conclusion would be completely wrong. As traditions, modes of +worship and customs of the ancient time maintained themselves beside and +in spite of the new doctrine of the Brahmans, so did remains of the old +communities, of the old social and political life, maintain themselves +against the omnipotence of the kings. These were the clans of the +minstrels, formed naturally or by the adoption of pupils--which brought +the old invocations from the Indus and preserved them--which on the +Ganges sang the heroic songs, the Epos in its earliest form, and +afterwards became combined into the priestly order, out of whose +meditations rose the new system. These clans continued in the new +states. The names represent in part different traditions of the +doctrine, various schools and views. But even the clans of the +Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas, united by the common worship of ancestors, +existed on the Ganges. Only in them or in close local communities could +those customs of law grow up and perpetuate themselves, to which +reference is so frequently made in the book of the law. The spread of +the system of castes, the accompanying tendency to perpetuate what has +once come into existence, was not likely to injure the continuance of +these clans. They exercised a very important supervision over the +members; and by bringing the Brahmans to the funeral meals of the +families, as prescribed in the book (p. 163), this supervision became an +advantage to the new doctrine, and in any case assisted the Brahmans +essentially in carrying out their system, just as to this day it helps +in a higher degree to maintain that system. The book of the law lays +down detailed regulations who is to be invited to the funeral feasts and +the festivals for the souls of the departed, and who is to be excluded. +Those are to be excluded who are not true to the mission of their caste, +and neglect its obligations, who do not fulfil their religious duties, +who pursue forbidden and impure occupations, _e.g._ the burying of the +dead for hire, dancing as a trade, dog-breaking, buffalo-catching, etc.; +those who suffer from certain bodily infirmities, and finally those who +lead an immoral life; usurers, drunkards, gamblers, keepers of gambling +and drinking houses, adulterers and burglars, thieves and incendiaries, +every one of bad reputation and character.[290] In this way the clans +under the guidance of the Brahman assessors possessed the most complete +censorship over the lives of the members, and a power of punishment from +which there was no escape. The families could impose expiations and +fines on any member who transgressed or failed to fulfil his religious, +moral, or caste duties; if he refused to submit to these they could at a +certain time expel him for ever out of the community, by excluding him +from the funeral feast. The latter resolution of the family deprived the +person on whom it fell of his entire social position; in fact, of his +economical existence. It implied exclusion from the caste. No one could +have any dealings with a person so expelled, otherwise he became +infected by communion with him. He could not get his children married; +after his decease no sacrifice for the dead assuaged the punishments +which awaited him in the other world. Now as ever, the clans perform the +ceremony of adopting the young Dvija into the caste and family by +investiture with the sacred girdle; they still exercise this +jurisdiction, and as a penalty for breach of the arrangement of castes, +neglect of religious duties, drunkenness, slander, and other moral +errors, they impose exclusion from the family and caste by overturning +the water-jar and exclusion from the funeral feast. A sentence of social +extinction is thus pronounced upon the expelled person. He is civically +dead and despised. No one associates with him in any one relation; no +one holds any communion with him. The members of his own family will not +give him a draught of water after his expulsion; no member even of the +lowest order shelters him, for by doing so he would break the law of +caste. It is only by this self-government, this censorship of the clans, +that the system of caste has been able to strike such deep roots, to +resist every new doctrine, and the severest attacks of foreign tyranny; +that the religion, character, and civilisation of the Indians continue +to exist after centuries of oppression. + +The corporate form of the village communities were not of a much later +date than the authority of the clans over their members. Its early +stages must go back at least as far as the settlement of the Aryas in +the land of the Ganges, for we find it in the same form in the districts +which were not occupied by the Aryas till later, in Malava (Malva), +Surashtra (Guzerat), and to a considerable extent in the provinces of +the Deccan. The village community possesses a definite property (mark) +consisting of arable land, pasture, forest, and uncultivated soil. The +book of the law orders the overseers of districts to take care that the +boundaries of the properties are marked out by the planting of trees, by +wells and altars. If a contention arises between two villages about the +borders, they must be marked out afresh, according to the traces which +can be discovered, and the declaration of witnesses taken in the +presence of inhabitants of the village. These witnesses must take their +oaths in red garments, with crowns of red flowers on their heads. If +witnesses cannot be found in the contending neighbouring villages, the +people who dwell in the open land, or the forest, must be taken; the +cowherds, fishermen, hunters, bird-catchers, snake-hunters; and on their +declaration the borders must be fixed and set down in writing.[291] The +community has its overseers, and the office is hereditary. He divides +the quotas among the villagers, according to the measure and +productiveness of the land; he also divides the uncultivated land and +fixes the share in water allotted to each. He settles differences +between the villagers, and manages the police, having even the power of +imprisonment. As a reward for the labours of the office the overseer is +in possession of a larger share in land, and receives taxes from the +villagers, one or two handfuls, as a rule, from every measure of corn or +rice in the harvest. But the overseer does not govern the community by +his own power; he exercises all his functions surrounded by the +community, who assemble under the great tree, and provide him with +assessors, or deputies for settling quarrels. Beside the overseer the +community has its Brahman, who has to point out the proper time for +beginning every business--without such certainty the Hindu undertakes +nothing--who narrates stories to the peasants from the Epos and legends, +and in modern times at any rate is the school-master of the village. +There are also other officers, the smith, and guardian of the soil, and +even a dancing-girl, to whom, along with the overseer, land and taxes +are allotted.[292] In the sutras of the Buddhists we also hear of +resolutions of the communities in cities, and corporations of merchants, +who compel the members to pay respect to their rules by imposing +fines;[293] and Megasthenes tells us that the cities in the kingdom of +Magadha were governed by six independent colleges. From this we may +assume that the impulse to form associations and corporations was not +unknown to the cities on the Ganges: we are however without any +information as to the extent of these corporations, or the length of +time during which they were able to maintain themselves against the +power of the kings. The advice of the book that the king should place +chief overseers over the cities has been mentioned above (p. 215). On +the other hand, the village communities remain intact in their old form +till this day, and they with the clans form the principal entrenchment +behind which the old Indian character has maintained itself against +native and foreign despotism. The change of princes or government has +little influence on the village communities; they manage their own +affairs independently: the business rarely amounts to more than an +increase or diminution in taxes. The violence of the princes fell on the +surrounding districts, not on quiet humble villages; it was only the +tax-gatherer and the overseer of the districts that they had to fear. +But even if specially bad times came, if invasion reached and devastated +the village, and the inhabitants were slaughtered or driven out, all who +survived the sword and famine returned, or their children returned, to +the land they had left, rebuilt their huts, and began again to cultivate +the fields which their fathers had cultivated from immemorial antiquity. + +In spite of the violence and barbarity of native kings and foreign +conquerors, and the severe claims made upon them here and there, the +Indians in their clans and village communities possessed a considerable +share of freedom and self-government in the personal relations of life; +this was the case with the majority of the cultivators of the soil, and +the householders of all the upper castes. From the worship of the +ancestors, the combination of families, there grew up within the castes +of the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, and the Vaiçyas a pre-eminence and +favoured position for those families which claimed to be not only of +purer, but also of older and nobler origin than the rest. In the circles +of the separate castes this aristocracy took the place of the ancient +aristocracy of the Kshatriyas. However little weight might be attributed +to it by the kings, the example and pattern of these families had great +influence on the lower members of the caste. In later centuries the +importance of this aristocratic element was strengthened by the fact, +that in the land of the Ganges the office became hereditary to which the +princes had to transfer the collection of land-taxes or taxes generally +in the various districts of the land. Thus the tax-gatherers were +enabled to perpetuate their functions in these families; they oppressed +the village communities, from which they took the taxes till they became +their serfs, and thus in course of time they reached an influential and +important position, which they were able to maintain with success, and +have maintained in all essentials to this day. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[221] Müller, "Hist. of anc. Sansk. Lit." 133 ff; 200 ff. Lassen, "Ind. +Alterth." 2, 80; Johaentgen, "Gesetzbuch des Manu," s. 108, 163. + +[222] Manu, 2, 17, 18, 21-23, 24. + +[223] Manu, 3, 16; 8, 140. If Vasishtha and Çaunaka, as lawgivers, did +not mean the old Rishis and, apparently, some traditional statements of +theirs, but the first name referred to the Vasishtha-dharma-çastra, and +thus to the teacher of Açvalayana, these quotations like many passages +would be interpolations; and those of Çaunaka would not be very late, +for M. Müller places this Çaunaka about 400 _B.C._ "Hist. of Sansk. +Lit." p. 242 ff. + +[224] Manu, 8, 41, 46. + +[225] Manu, 1, 119; 12, 126. + +[226] There was a school of Brahmans, the Manavas, belonging to the +Madhyandinas, whose text-book was the black Yajus. From the name Manava, +Johaentgen concludes that it is the redaction of the Manava-school in +which we have these laws, and that Manu's book is really the book of the +Manavas. According to the tradition of the Indians, there ought to be +three redactions of Manu, of which one numbers 4000 verses. The copies +known as yet, and accessible to us, have only 2285 verses. + +[227] Jolly, "Z. Vgl. Richtsw., Die Systematik des indischen Rechts." + +[228] Cf. Stenzler, "Indische Studien," 1, 236, 246. Lassen, _loc. cit._ +1^2, 999. + +[229] Buddha's active life falls, as we shall see, in the period from +585 to 543 B.C. According to the sutras of the Buddhists, the Brahmanic +law was then in full force; in fact in the districts mentioned in the +text stricter rules were in force than those of the laws of Manu. The +law is cited in the legends of the Buddhists, _e.g._ Burnouf, +"Introduct. à l'histoire du Boud." p. 133; cf. Manu, 2, 233. It is true +we possess the old sutras of the Buddhists in the form which they +received in the third century B.C.; but Buddha's appearance presupposes +the prevalence of the Brahmanic system, the supremacy of the doctrine +and practice of it. In opposition to Buddhism the system of castes has +not been softened by the Brahmans, but demonstrably strengthened. +Moreover, the description of the legal and social conditions given in +the sutras cannot be suspected to be mere inventions. The book of the +law knows three Vedas only (cf. Manu, 4, 124); the sutras always quote +four. In Manu the sentence of the Atharvan is mentioned once only (11, +33); hence the Atharva-veda seems to be later than Manu's law. In the +Buddhist sutras the worship of Çiva is mentioned very frequently as in +common use (Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 131); but the book of the law knows +neither the name nor the god. From the accounts of the Greeks it is +further clear that the worship of Vishnu was widely spread towards the +end of the fourth century. This name the book contains only once, in the +concluding part (12, 107-126), which has very little connection with the +body of the book; and even here the word is used in the same sense as in +the Rigveda (12, 121). While Ceylon was occupied by the Aryas about the +year 500 B.C. and the southern Mathura was founded even earlier, the +knowledge of places in Manu's law does not really go beyond the Vindhyas +towards the south: the Odras and Dravidas are merely mentioned in a +general enumeration of nations (10, 44), and the Andhras as an impure +caste (10, 36, 49). The kingdoms of Mathura and Kerala would certainly +have been mentioned if they had been in existence. The book of the law +mentions the Nyaya (logic), the system of Mimansa, though only in the +suspected conclusion (12, 109, 111), but not the Buddhists. It is true +expressions occur, like liars (Nastika, 2, 11), revilers of the Veda +(Vedanindaka), but we know that before Buddha the Sankhya doctrine +denied both the gods and the Veda. I can, therefore, concede to +Johaentgen (who places the book between 500 and 350 B.C.) that germs and +analogies from the Sankhya doctrine occur in it, especially in the +doctrine given in the introduction of the elements and properties (1, +74-78); this requires no alteration in the date. It ought to be observed +that in the book of the law the kings and heroes of the Epos are not +mentioned at all, but names of kings are found which occur in the Vedas: +Vena, Nahusha, Pijavana, Sumukha, Nimi, Prithu (Manu, 7, 41, 42; 9, 44, +66); hence we may conclude that the book was brought to a close before +the revision of the Epos from a priestly point of view was accomplished, +or at any rate became a common possession of all. M. Müller's position, +that the _anushtubh çlòka_ was first used in the last centuries B.C., +would affect only the form of the book, not the rules themselves; and +Goldstücker is of opinion that this metre is of a far older date. +However this may be, the metrical redaction of the Manava-dharma-çastra +is not its original form: it is based upon a non-metrical Dharma-sutram. +That the oldest Grihya-sutras and Çrauta-sutras are older than the first +Dharma-sutra is allowed; but this does not prove the modern origin of +the latter. A complete civilisation like that exhibited to us in the +philosophy and grammar of the Indians before Buddha, by the sutras of +the Buddhists and the accounts of the Greek, was certainly not without a +systematic canon to answer the questions in life for the Brahmans. They +required the power of the state, and could not leave it without a guide. +It would be inconceivable how the condition of India, which Buddha +finds, could have grown up without such a guide for princes and judges. +Müller himself maintains that the distinction of Çruti and Smriti +existed before Buddha; that it was the Çruti already containing Mantras +and Brahmanas, which gave the impulse to his reforms. "Hist. of Sansk. +Lit." p. 78 ff,; p. 86, 107, 135. If Çaunaka wrote, as Müller concludes, +about the year 400 _b.c._, his sutras for the elucidation of the +understanding of the Brahmanas, and Açvalayana wrote the sutras of +ritual about the year 350, and Panini his grammar, far more important +Dharma-sutras must have been written for the Brahmans before this time, +and thus the grounds given above and taken for the contents of the book +are in my judgment supported. From these contents, and these essential +precepts, two or three prohibitions might be made to count for a later +origin (Manu, 4, 102, 114; 8, 363), precepts aimed at Buddhism, but +which may also have had other heterodoxy in view. There is also the +mention of the name of Yavana. The Yavanas are mentioned among the +nations who have sunk owing to omission of the sacred customs, along +with the Odras, Dravidas, Kambojas, Duradas, Çakas and Pahlavas (10, +44). Supposing that this list came from an older time, the Yavanas Çakas +and Pahlavas may easily have been interpolated at a later period for the +sake of completeness. In any case it is clear that the laws of Manu are +the oldest book of law in India in their contents and theory of law, and +that the material in it is in part older than the material in the +Dharma-sutras which have come down to us; Jolly, _loc. cit._ It is only +in regard to the law of debt that Jolly seems to find older regulations +in the book of Gautama than in that of Manu. "Abh. M. A." 1877, s. 322. + +[230] Manu, 1, 35. + +[231] Manu, 1, 1-78, 119; 12, 126. The four periods of the world are +mentioned in Kaushitaki-Brahmana, in M. Müller, "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." +p. 412. + +[232] Manu, 7, 4-11. + +[233] Manu, 5, 96. + +[234] Manu, 9, 304-309. + +[235] Manu, 7, 8. + +[236] Manu, 9, 301, 302. + +[237] _e.g._ Manu, 7, 2. + +[238] Manu, 7, 82-86. + +[239] Manu, 7, 26, 27, 31; 8, 175; 9, 251. + +[240] Manu, 8, 1-3, 23-26; 61-70. + +[241] Manu, 8, 88. + +[242] Manu, 8, 75, 82, 89-99. + +[243] Manu, 8, 113. + +[244] Manu, 8, 110, 114-116. A. Weber, "Ind. Stud." 9, 44, 45. + +[245] In Yajnavalka, 2, 95, we find: "The balance, fire, water, poison, +and lustral water are the judgment of the gods for purification; these +are applied in great charges, if the accuser is prepared for a fine." +The later law knows nine divine judgments; it adds the corns of rice, +the hot piece of gold, the ploughshare, and the lot. Brahmans, women, +children, old men, sick persons, and the weak are to be tested by the +balance; the Kshatriya by the fire, the Vaiçya by water, the Çudra by +poison. In the test of the balance (Yama weighed the souls on scales, +_supr._ p. 137), the point was that the person to be tested should be +found lighter on the second weighing than on the first; in the test of +fire, a piece of red-hot iron, covered with leaves, must be carried +seven paces forward; each burn was a mark of guilt. The red-hot +ploughshare must be licked by the accused person; if his tongue was not +burnt he was acquitted; a piece of gold must be picked out of boiling +oil and the hand must show no marks. The taking of a particular poison +which ought to have no evil effects on the accused, and the drinking of +lustral water poured over the images of the gods, which was not to be +followed by any evil effects, and the piece of gold in the boiling oil +are later additions. According to an Upanishad to the Samaveda, guilt or +innocence is proved by the grasping a red-hot axe; a burn is a proof of +guilt. Stenzler, in "Z. D. M. G." 9, 662 ff. A. Weber, "Vorles." s. +79^2. + +[246] Manu, 8, 11, 21. + +[247] Manu, 9, 276. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 413. + +[248] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 408. Yet Aryas are found also, Burnouf, +_loc. cit._ p. 365. + +[249] Manu, 9, 237, 239-242. + +[250] Manu, 9, 275. + +[251] Manu, 9, 232. + +[252] Manu, 9, 279. + +[253] Manu, 8, 344-347. + +[254] Manu, 9, 261-268, 278. + +[255] Manu, 9, 276. + +[256] Manu, 9, 277. + +[257] Manu, 8, 341, 342. + +[258] Manu, 7, 130. + +[259] Manu, 8, 398; 7, 131. + +[260] Manu, 7, 118, 138. + +[261] Manu, 7, 62. + +[262] Manu, 7, 129. + +[263] Manu, 7, 133. + +[264] Bohlen, "Indien," 2, 46. + +[265] Megasthenes, in Strabo, p. 708 and below. + +[266] Manu, 7, 54. + +[267] Manu, 7, 58, 59. + +[268] Ramayana, ed. Schlegel, 1, 7. + +[269] Manu, 7, 114. + +[270] Manu, 7, 116-118. + +[271] Manu, 7, 123. + +[272] Manu, 7, 118-120. + +[273] Manu, 7, 124. + +[274] Manu, 6, 69-75. + +[275] Manu, 7, 126. The Indians learned to coin money from the Greeks +after the year 300 B.C.; till that time their coinage consisted of +weighed pieces of copper, silver, and gold, with the mark of the weight +as a stamp. The _pana_ is a copper weight of this kind; to this day the +name denotes copper money in India. The _drona_ is a weight of about 30 +pounds. Cf. Lassen, 2, 574. + +[276] Manu, 7, 37. + +[277] Manu, 7, 218. + +[278] Manu, 7, 222. + +[279] Manu, 7, 224-226. + +[280] Manu, 7, 101-103. + +[281] Manu, 7, 154-158. + +[282] Manu, 7, 63-68. + +[283] Manu, 7, 107, 158-163, 198. + +[284] Manu, 7, 205, 210. + +[285] Manu, 7, 90-93. + +[286] Ramayana, 2, 52. + +[287] Ramayana, 2, 1-17. + +[288] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 166, 416, 417. The ritual for the +consecration of kings, according to the Aitareya-Brahmana, is given in +Colebrooke, "Asiatic Researches," 8, 408 ff. Cf. Schlegel, "Ind. +Bibliothek," 1, 431, and Lassen, "Alterth." 2, 246, 427. + +[289] Grimm, "Rechtsalterthümer," s. 156 ff. + +[290] Manu, 3, 150 ff. + +[291] Manu, 8, 229-260. + +[292] Mill, "History of British India," 2, 66. Montgom. Martin, +"Political Constitution of the Anglo-Eastern Empire," p. 271. + +[293] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 242, 245, 247. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE CASTES AND THE FAMILY. + + +The book of the law was the canon of pure conduct, and the holy order of +the state and society, which the Brahmans held up before the princes and +nations on the Ganges. They made no attempt to get the throne into their +own hands; they had no thought of giving an effective political +organisation to their caste; they did not seek to set up a hierarchy +which should take its place by the side of the state, or rise superior +to it, and thus secure such obedience for their demands among clergy and +laity as would ensure the carrying out of the commands of the book. For +this the Brahmans had not sufficient practical or political capacity; +they were too deeply plunged in their hair-splitting and fanciful +speculations, in their ceremonial and their penances. They were content +with demanding the place of assessor or president at the funeral feasts +in the families of the Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas, the influence of which +position went far beyond their expectations; with recommending members +of their order as ministers, judges, and magistrates to the king; with +requiring that he should protect the Brahmans as his sons, provide for +their support, be greatly liberal to them, abstain from imposing taxes +on learned Brahmans, and maintain their advantages and rights against +the other classes. If a Brahman had no heirs, the king must not take his +property, but present it to the members of the order, and give to a +Brahman any treasure which he may happen to find. In the epic poetry an +exaggerated attempt is made to bring this liberality plainly before the +mind: the Brahmans acquire hundreds of thousands of cows, treasures +without end, and the whole earth.[294] But all these commands are only +wishes; as a fact the Brahmans had no other status as against the kings +than the respect which their educational knowledge of the doctrine, +their acquaintance with the forms and ritual of sacrifice, gave them: +they had only the moral influence which their dogma and their +exhortations could exercise on the heart of the king, the power of the +faith which they could excite in their disciples. Their power, as we +have seen, they knew how to support by their views on the merit acquired +by the king in this and the next world by reason of his good works +towards the Brahmans, by the fear of the punishments in hell and the +regenerations, with which the book of the law so liberally threatens all +who despise Brahmans. But they had no external means for enforcing +obedience to their law, respect for their purifications, expiations, and +penances, in case it was not rendered willingly. They did not extend +their power beyond the limits of the conscience of the king and the +people. They were as absolutely the subjects of the king as the other +orders; no political limitations, no institutions, checked the authority +of the king in its operations on the Brahmans; and the knowledge of the +Veda and the law was accessible to him. The princes held up in the Epos +as patterns are praised for their knowledge of the holy Scriptures and +the law. The kings, not the Brahmans, offer the great sacrifices; but +they cannot offer them without the Brahmans, the Purohita (p. 202), and +other priests. This position of the Brahmans at the side of the king, +and that which they subsequently obtained by the side of the people in +the clans, enabled them by moral means, by conviction and faith, to +shape the life and politics of the Indians according to their system, +and establish a lasting dominion over them. + +If the Brahmans had no rights upward, they had at any rate forced the +Kshatriyas out of the first place; and they did not intend that the +aristocratic position which they had obtained over the other orders, +their privileges and advantages in regard to those beneath them, should +rest on moral authority merely. The book of the law is never weary of +impressing in every direction the pre-eminence of the Brahmans, the +subjection of the other orders. But as the wisdom of the Brahmans was +throughout unacquainted with the foundations and supports used by +aristocracies elsewhere to acquire and maintain their position--as they +were unable to create institutions of this kind--only one real and +effective means remained for legalising and securing their importance, +position, and privileges--and this was the exercise of penal +jurisdiction. In the division of penances and punishments, according to +the various orders, they attempted to bring the pre-eminence of their +own order into a position recognised and established by law. This fact +no doubt helped in causing the Brahmans to estimate the power of +punishment so highly. "Punishment alone," says the book, "guarantees the +fulfilment of duties according to the four castes; without punishment a +man out of the lower caste could take the place of the highest." But +here again there was a difficulty; it was not the Brahmans but the +kings who in the first instance had to dispense justice; the application +of the law depended on the princes. + +Though, in general, it is a supreme principle of law that it shall be +administered without respect of persons, that the same punishment for +the same offence shall overtake every offender, be his rank and position +what it may, the system of caste leads to an arrangement diametrically +opposite. Throughout, the book of the law measures out punishment +unequally, according to the rank of the castes, so that in an equal +offence the highest order has as a rule to undergo the least punishment. +This apportionment of punishment according to the castes is most +striking in the case of injuries and outrages inflicted by members of +the lower orders on the members of the higher. The Brahmans, and in a +less degree the Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas, are protected by threats of +barbarous punishments. The Çudra who has been guilty of injuring a Dvija +by dangerous language, is to have his tongue clipped; if he has spoken +disrespectfully of him, a hot iron is to be thrust into his mouth, and +boiling oil poured into his mouth and ears. If a Çudra ventures to sit +on a seat with a "twice-born," he is to be branded; if he lays hold of a +Brahman, both hands are to be amputated; if he spits at a Brahman, his +lips are cut off, etc. In actual injuries done to members of the higher +castes by the lower, the members of the latter are doomed in each case +to lose the offending member: he who has lifted up his hand, or a stick, +loses his hand; he who has lifted up his foot, loses the foot. For +slighter offences of language against a Brahman the Çudra is whipped, +the Vaiçya is fined 200 panas, the Kshatriya, 100. If, on the contrary, +a Brahman injures one of the lower castes he pays 50 panas to the +Kshatriya, 25 to the Vaiçya, and 12 to the Çudra. If members of the same +caste injure each other in word, small fines of 12 or at most 24 panas +are sufficient. More unfair still are other privileges secured by the +law to the Brahmans,--that in suits for debt they are never to be given +up as slaves to the creditors; that no crime or transgression on the +part of a Brahman is to be punished by confiscation of his property, or +by corporal punishment. He is never, even for the worst crime, to be +condemned to death; at the utmost he can only be banished.[295] On the +other hand, as has been remarked in the case of theft, the fine +increases according to the caste of the offender, so that here we have a +gradation in the opposite direction: the Brahman is fined eight-fold the +sum paid by the Çudra in a similar case; and in loans the Brahman is +allowed to receive only the lowest rate of interest--two per cent. In +courts of law the Brahman was addressed differently, and asked to give +his evidence differently, from the other orders; his oath is given in +different terms. With Brahmans, who naturally come to maturity sooner +than the other orders, the consecration by investiture takes place in +the eighth year, with the Kshatriyas in the eleventh, with the Vaiçyas +not till the twelfth. The holy girdle, the common symbol of the Dvija as +opposed to the Çudra, must consist with the Brahmans of three threads of +cotton, with the Kshatriyas of three threads of hemp, with the Vaiçyas +of three threads of sheep's wool. The Brahman wears a belt of +sugar-cane, and carries a bamboo staff; the Kshatriya has a belt of +bow-strings, and a staff of banana-wood; the Vaiçya a girdle of hemp, +and a staff of fig-wood. The staff of the Brahman reaches to his hair, +that of the Kshatriya to the brow, that of the Vaiçya to the tip of his +nose. This staff must be covered with the bark, must be straight, +pleasing to the eye, and have nothing terrifying about it. The Brahman +wears a shirt of fine hemp, and as a mantle the skin of the gazelle; the +Kshatriya a shirt of linen, and the skin of a deer as a cloak; the +Vaiçya a woollen shirt, and a goat-skin. Any one who is inclined to do a +civility, must, says the book, ask the Brahman whether he is advancing +in sanctity, the Kshatriya whether he suffers in his wounds, the Vaiçya +whether his property is thriving, the Çudra whether he is in +health.[296] + +We cannot exactly ascertain what position the old nobility, the +Kshatriyas, took up after the establishment of the new system. The +increased power of the kings, the elevation of the priesthood, the +change in the whole view of life, diminished their importance to a +considerable degree. If in some small tribes the warlike nobility on the +Ganges maintained its old position so far as to prevent the +establishment of the monarchy, or removed it altogether, this was an +exception.[297] In the Panjab, which did not completely follow the +development achieved in the regions on the Ganges, it was more generally +the case that the nobility overpowered the monarchy, and drove out the +old princes. This took place, no doubt, when the latter showed a desire +to take up a despotic position. In the fourth century we find among "the +free Indians," as the Greeks call them, numerous noble families in a +prominent position. The book of the law allows that the Brahmans cannot +exist without the Kshatriyas, but neither could the Kshatriyas without +the Brahmans; salvation is only to be obtained by a union of the two +orders: by this were Brahmans and Kshatriyas exalted in this world and +the next.[298] We have already remarked, that within their own caste the +old families of the Kshatriyas occupy a prominent place. + +According to the book, the members of all the castes, like every created +being, fulfil duties imposed upon them, _i.e._ carry on the occupations +allotted to them. The life of the Brahmans is to be devoted to the Holy +Scriptures, the sacred services, the teaching of the Veda and the law +(the latter could be taught by none but Brahmans), and, finally, to +contemplation and penance in the forest. But how was it possible to keep +the whole order of the Brahmans to the study of the Veda, to sacrifice +and worship, when it was also necessary for them to find support? How +could the whole order disregard the care of their maintenance, +especially when it was a duty to bring up a numerous family, or give up +every desire to amass property? True it is, that liberality to the +Brahmans was impressed on the kings and the other castes as a supreme +duty; the pupils of the Brahmans were bidden to support their teachers +by gifts; and the law permitted the Brahmans to live by gifts, to beg, +to gather corn or ears of rice. From the Buddhist sutras we know that +the kings followed the commands of the law, and that a multitude of +Brahmans lived at the royal courts. We also know from the Greeks that +every house was open to the wandering Brahman, and in the market they +were overburdened with presents of the necessaries of life. Greek and +Indian accounts inform us that troops of Brahmans wandered through the +land--a mode of life which in India is not the most unpleasant; and it +is certain that a considerable number lived as anchorites in the +forests. But these habits required that a man should give up all +thoughts of wife and child, house and home; and this all could not +undertake to do. On what, then, were the Brahman householders to live, +who possessed nothing, and were without land sufficient for their +support? There were only two means for keeping the whole order to the +study of the Veda and the performance of sacrifice; either they must be +provided with sufficient land, or they must be maintained at the cost of +the state. Among the Egyptians the priesthood lived on the land of the +temples; among the Phenicians and Hebrews, on the tithes of the harvest, +paid to the temples; in the middle ages our hierarchy lived on its own +land and people, on tithes and other taxes: but all these were political +institutions, and the Brahman lawgivers had neither the capacity to +discover them, nor had their states the power to establish and maintain +them. Still less could refuge be taken in a law forbidding to marry; all +Brahmans could not be allowed to live from youth up as anchorites in the +forest, if the Brahmans were to continue to exist as a caste by birth, +and it was on superiority of blood that their whole position rested. + +Practical life bid complete defiance to doctrine. The law must be +content to moderate in part, and in part to give up entirely the ideal +demands, the principles and results of system in favour of the necessity +for maintenance. It must allow that the Brahman householders, who +possessed no property, might lead the life of the Kshatriya. This +permission has been and is still used; at this time a great part of the +native Anglo-Indian army consists of born Brahmans. If a Brahman could +not earn a livelihood by service in war, he might lead the life of a +Vaiçya, and attempt to maintain himself by tilling the land and keeping +flocks. But if possible the Brahman must avoid tilling the field +himself; "the work of the field depends on the help of cattle; the +ploughshare cleaves the soil and kills the living creatures contained in +it." If the Brahman cannot live as a farmer, or a herdman, he may live +even by the "truth and falsehood of trade." But in regard to certain +articles of trade, the book is inexorable, and though it cannot threaten +trade in these with punishments from the state, it holds up the +melancholy consequences of such an occupation as a terror. Trade in +intoxicating drinks, juices of plants, perfumes, butter, honey, linen +and woollen cloths, turns the Brahman in seven nights into a Vaiçya: +trade in milk makes him a Çudra in three days. The Brahman who sells +sesame-seeds will be born again as a worm in the excrement of dogs; and +the punishment will even come upon his ancestors. The Brahman merchant, +like the Vaiçya, must never lend money on interest--in other places, as +has been mentioned, the law allows a low rate of interest (p. 240)--no +Brahman must attempt to gain a living by seductive arts, singing and +music, and he must never live by "the work of the slave--the life of the +dog."[299] The same exceptions are allowed by the law for the Kshatriya +as for the Brahman, if he possesses no property and cannot acquire +anything by the profession of arms. The Vaiçya, who cannot live by +agriculture, or trade, or handicraft, is allowed to live the life of a +Çudra. Hence there are the Brahmans of the Holy Scriptures and Brahmans +by birth,[300] and also Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas who belong to these +orders by birth only, not by occupation. Thus new distinctions arose +which must soon have become fixed and current. + +If the law is compelled to make these large concessions, so +contradictory to the system, it seeks in the opposite direction to +maintain the distinctions of the castes as strongly as possible; the +higher castes may descend to the lower, but no lower caste can ever +engage in the occupation of the higher. Such interference is punished +with confiscation of property and banishment. Still, even here, the law +allows an exception, and that in favour of the lowest caste, the Çudras, +whom the law rigidly keeps in the servitude imposed upon them by force +of arms. The Çudra is meant for a servant; he who is not born a slave is +to serve voluntarily for hire; he must first seek service with a +Brahman, then with Kshatriyas, then with Vaiçyas. Blind submission to +the command of his master is the duty of the Çudra. Yet if he cannot +find service anywhere, he may support himself by handicraft; but the law +adds, "it is not good for a Çudra to acquire wealth, for he will use it +in order to raise himself to an equality with the other orders." The +impure castes among the Çudras are not, for this very reason, to be +employed among the Dvijas for labour in the house and field. + +In the law the four castes are races divided from each other by +creation. As in all distinctions of orders, so in India, the separation +first applied to the men. The final point was not reached, the rigidity +of the order was not complete, the caste did not exist, till the women +also were included in the division, till the marriages between the +orders ceased and were forbidden, till the free circulation of blood +among the people was thus checked, and the classes stood towards each +other as distinct races and tribes of alien blood. In the book of Manu +we find two views on the connubium of the orders existing side by side, +one more strict than the other. From the nature of the case, and the +position which it occupies in the book of the law, the milder view is +the older, the more strict the later. According to the older view caste +is determined by descent from the father; a man belonging to the three +upper castes, _i.e._ a Dvija, may take a wife from the Brahmans, +Kshatriyas, or Vaiçyas, as he pleases; Çudra women only are excluded. In +this sense the law lays down that Çudra wives are not suitable for men +of the three upper classes, and wives of the three upper castes are not +suitable for Çudra husbands. In order to transform this, the current +custom, into a more severe practice, the law does not indeed forbid +marriage with women from any other of the three higher castes, but it +recommends that a maid of a man's own caste should be taken as his first +wife; and after this he may proceed according to the rank of the castes. +This recommendation met with more favour, it would seem, because a Çudra +woman could be taken as a second wife. It is obvious that only a wife of +equal birth could perform the sacrifices of the house with the +lord.[301] A Çudra woman could not be the first, _i.e._ the legitimate +wife; the Brahman who married a woman of that caste would be expelled +from his own.[302] The essential rule, by which the later and stricter +view seeks to remove the connubium existing among the three castes of +the Dvijas is this: in all orders, without exception, the children born +of women of that order remain participators in the order of the father. +When this rule was carried out, the castes were finally closed. The law +supported it by the doctrine that the children of mixed marriages, +according as the father or mother belonged to this or that order, formed +new divisions of the people. These divisions are impure because arising +out of a sinful union, and they perpetuate the stain of their +origin.[303] The law mentions by name a whole series of impure castes of +this kind, which must have been already in existence; it shows from what +combinations they have arisen, and sets them up as a warning example +against mixed marriages. + +These impure castes, which are said to have arisen from the mutual +connubium of the orders, were really, in part, tribes of the ancient +population, who did not submit, like the majority of the Çudras, to the +Aryas, and accept their law and mode of life, but either amalgamated +with them and lived on in poverty after the manner of their fathers, or +preserved a certain independence in inaccessible regions; in part they +were Aryan tribes, which did not follow the development on the Ganges, +and never adapted their mode of life to the Brahmanic system. These +tribes are commanded by the law to carry on occupations which did not +become the Dvijas,[304] for some it prescribes that they must only make +nets and catch fish; for others, that they must occupy themselves with +hunting;[305] from which it is clear that these were the original +occupations of such branches of the population. From the marriage of a +Brahman with a Vaiçya wife spring, according to the law, the +Ambashthas,[306] who in the Epos are spoken of as nations fighting in +the ancient manner with clubs.[307] From the marriage of a Brahman with +a Çudra woman spring the Nishadas, whose vocation, according to the law, +it is to catch fish.[308] From the marriage of a Kshatriya with Çudra +wives come the Ugras, who are to catch and kill animals living in +holes;[309] from the marriage of a Brahman with an Ambashtha, the +Abhiras, whom we have already mentioned as cowherds at the mouths of the +Indus;[310] from the marriage of a Çudra with a Brahman woman comes the +Chandala, "the most contemptible mortal." The Chandalas are a numerous +non-Aryan tribe on the Ganges. The book lays down the rule that they are +not to live in villages or cities, or to have any settled habitation at +all. A Brahman is polluted by meeting them; they are distinguished by +marks fixed for them by the king; and must not come into the towns +except in the daytime, in order that they may be avoided. They cannot +possess any but the most contemptible animals, dogs and asses, nor any +harness that is not broken; they can only marry with each other. No one +can have any dealings with them. If a Dvija wishes to give food to a +Chandala beggar, he may not do it with his own hand, but must send it by +a servant on a potsherd. Executions--which in the minds of the Aryans +and the Brahmans were impure actions--were to be carried out by +Chandalas, and the clothes of the persons executed are to be given to +them; these and the clothes of the dead are the only garments which they +may wear.[311] + +We can easily see that the rank, allotted by the law to the so-called +mixed castes, is taken from the degree of impurity assigned by the +Brahmans to the mode of life followed by them. By excluding them from +the other orders they compelled them to pursue these occupations for +ever, and so kept them in their despised condition. As they were all +branded with the stain of sinful intercourse between the castes, men +shrank from marriages outside their own caste, and if such connections +did take place, the children were thrust into the ranks of these +despised orders, they were compelled to adopt their modes of life and +occupations, and transmit them to their descendants. According to the +theory lying at the base of these regulations on the mixed castes, the +mixture is comparatively less impure in which men of higher castes are +connected with women of lower, and that mixture is the worst and most +impure in which women of the highest castes are united with men of the +lowest. The children of a Brahman by a wife of the Kshatriya caste stand +on the highest level, those of a Çudra by a Brahman on the lowest.[312] +The mixed castes, in their disposition and character, correspond to the +better or worse combination, just as in their duties the vocation of the +paternal caste is to be preserved in a descending line, and lower +degree, _e.g._ the Ugra--the son of a Kshatriya by a Çudra--is to live +by hunting, which is the vocation of a Kshatriya, but he is only to hunt +animals which live in holes, etc. The mixture of the impure castes with +the pure and other impure castes produces in turn new classes of men +with special duties and special dispositions, such as the Abhiras. The +system of mixed and consequently impure origin could not be very well +applied to nations which, though notoriously of Arian origin, or forming +independent states, led a life unsuited to the Brahmanic law; these the +law allows to be of a pure stock, but considers that they are corrupted +by neglect of their sacred duties. Among the degraded families of the +Kshatriyas the law-book reckons the Cambojas, the Daradas, and the +Khaças.[313] The Cambojas were settled in the west, the Daradas to the +north of Cashmere; the Khaças must be sought to the east of Cashmere in +the Himalayas.[314] + +With these views and fictions, with the actual and legal consequences +assigned to them, the system of castes was consistently developed and +extended over the whole population. All modes of life, classes, and +occupations were brought into its sphere; the remnant of the natives, +the refractory tribes of the Aryas, received their position in the +Brahman state; and the Çudras were followed by a long list of orders in +a yet more degraded position. + +From the contradictory views of the book on the connubium of the orders +it follows clearly that the castes were not completely closed at the +time when the book was finished; but they were closed, and, it would +seem, not long after. When the advantage of blood has been once brought +into such striking significance it must go on making further divisions; +new circles, distinguished by descent or vocation, must be marked off +from others as superior, and form an order; similar vocations, when the +occupation has once been connected with the caste, and the vocation with +descent, combine within the castes into new hereditary corporations. +This tendency to make new separations is supported by the law when it +arranges those tribes as new castes beside the four orders, and allots +to them on a certain system the descendants of mixed marriages, thus +creating a number of new castes by origin and descent. This was further +increased by a division of vocations within the chief orders. The +Brahmans, who also clung to the Veda and the worship, naturally regarded +themselves as in a better and higher position than those who descended +to the occupations of the Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas, and kept themselves +apart. The opposition between the schools which inevitably grew up among +the priestly Brahmans in course of time, gradually caused the adherents +of one school to close their ranks against the adherents of another. +The Kshatriyas, who remained warriors, stood apart from those who became +husbandmen; among the Vaiçyas, the merchants, the handicraftsmen, and +the husbandmen formed separate classes. Hence the different professions +and schools of the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas: the merchants, smiths, +carpenters, weavers, potters, etc. separated themselves each from the +other as hereditary societies, and as they only married within the +society, they became in turn subordinate castes, in reference to each +other. And as in spite of all commands marriages took place outside the +castes, those who were rejected in consequence of such marriages, and +the children of them, could only rank with others in a similar position, +and must form a new caste. If the marriage took place outside the main +caste the descendants of the person thus excluded from his old caste +must join the impure castes, which were, or were supposed to be, of +similar origin. The hereditary professional societies within the four +castes remained members of them in so far as they carried on occupations +approved by the book of the law; but such members as pursued forbidden +and impure trades and transmitted them to their descendants, stood +outside and far below the main castes, like the castes arising out of +mixtures, partly real and partly fictitious. At present the Brahmans are +divided into twenty-five different societies, which do not intermarry, +and in part refuse to eat with each other; the Kshatriyas are divided +into thirty-six societies similarly closed; the pure and impure Vaiçyas, +the better and worse Çudras, are divided into some hundred groups.[315] +On a rough calculation it is assumed that now only about a tenth of the +Brahmanic population of India carries on the occupation assigned in the +law to the four great orders; the great majority in these castes has +descended to the permitted vocations, and the greater part of the whole +population belongs to the classes below the four chief orders. + +We have already stated how closely the clans held together. The weight +given by the caste system to pure blood did not suppress even among the +Brahmans the pride in ancient and distinguished family descent. In the +fourth century B.C. the Brahmans who continued to be occupied with the +Veda and the sacred worship fell into forty-nine clans, which claimed to +be derived from the saints of old time: Jamadagni, Gautama, Bharadvaja, +Viçvamitra, Vasishtha, Kaçyapa, Atri, and Agastya. They were arranged in +eight large tribes (_gotra_) named after these progenitors. At the +consecration of the sacrificial fire the members of these clans invoked +the series of their ancestors.[316] We may assume the same pride in +descent among the Kshatriyas. We shall see how definitely the book of +the law and the forms of ritual require that the ancestors should be +mentioned up to the great-great-grandfather in the suit for any maiden, +and at this day the wealthy families in all the castes are desirous to +conclude alliances with houses of ancient origin for their children. + +According to the law every man ought to marry; he must have a son who +may one day pour for him the libations for the dead. Without sacrifice +for the dead performed by a son, the soul of the father can never be +liberated from a certain place in hell--from _Put_. The law +distinguishes various kinds of marriage, and promises greater or less +blessings to the descendants according as the marriage celebrated is of +a more or less holy kind. The son born of the better kinds of marriage +can purify a larger number of the members of the family upwards and +downwards, _i.e._ of those already dead and those still to be born. If a +father gives his daughter, bathed and adorned, to a husband learned in +writing whom he has honourably invited and received into his house, the +marriage is a Brahman-marriage. The son born of such a wife purifies ten +members upwards and downwards both on the father's and the mother's +side. When the father gives his daughter to the priest at the sacrifice +it is a divine marriage; the son purifies seven members upwards and +downwards on either side. If the father gives the daughter to the +bridegroom with the words: "Fulfil ye all duties which devolve on you;" +it is a _prajapati_ marriage, and the son purifies six members upwards +and downwards. If the bridegroom has given a pair of cattle (a bull and +cow) for religious objects, the marriage of the Rishis is celebrated; +the son purifies three members upwards and downwards. These are the good +forms of marriage, the four which follow are bad. Marriage from mutual +inclination on either side is the marriage of the heavenly musicians, +the Gandharvas. If the father has sold his daughter or taken gifts for +her, it is the marriage of the Asuras, or evil spirits. Still worse is +the marriage by abduction--the marriage of the Rakshasas; and the worst +form of all is when the bride is previously intoxicated by drugs. This +is the marriage of the blood-suckers (Piçacha). These kinds of marriages +have no expiatory power for the ancestors or descendants; none but +cruel, lying, and Veda-despising sons can spring from them.[317] To +these rules on the form of marriage the law adds that the younger +sister is not to be married before the elder--nor can the younger +brother marry before the elder--and advises that a wife be not taken +from families too nearly related, such as those belonging to the same +tribe (_gotra_); or from those which neglect the sacred rites, or those +in which diseases prevail. A girl of eight years old is suitable for a +husband of twenty-four; a girl of twelve for a husband of thirty. The +later collections of laws repeat the rule that marriages are not to be +celebrated with families which invoke the same ancestors.[318] + +The views lying at the base of these regulations of the law about the +various forms of marriage were transparent. Here, as everywhere, the +Brahmans are, above all, to be favoured. The learned Brahman is to +receive the girl from her father "adorned," _i.e._, no doubt, well +equipped. The Brahman, who officiates at the sacrifice, receives her as +a gift; in this way the father and the daughter have the happy prospect +of obtaining a blessing for ten or seven members of the family upwards +and downwards. But other forms of marriage--by purchase, inclination, +abduction--the law wishes to prevent, from which we may conclude that +these forms of marriage were in existence, a fact sufficiently +established by other evidence. The time, it is true, was long gone by +when the Aryan brothers had only one wife; in the Epos only do we find +traces of this custom. Draupadi is the wife of the five sons of Pandu; +and in the Ramayana the brothers Rama and Lakshmana are attacked with +the reproach--fictitious, it is true--that they have only one wife +between them. The abduction of maidens and wives is more frequent in the +Epos. In the Mahabharata, Bhishma carries off the three daughters of +the king of the Kaçis and marries the two younger to his step-brother +Vijatravirya; Jayadaratha, the prince of the Indus, lifts Draupadi into +his chariot and drives away with her, though her guardian cries out to +him, that according to the custom of the Kshatriyas he cannot carry her +off till he has conquered her husband in battle. It is skill in arms and +strength which gains their wives for the heroes of the Epos. Arjuna wins +Draupadi because he can bend the bow of her father, the king of the +Panchalas (p. 87). Rama wins Sita by mastering the bow of Çiva. We also +see in the Epos that princes allow their daughters the free choice of a +husband, and the suitors appear on a definite day. Thus Kunti chooses +Pandu for her husband; Damayanti, in her father's hall, places the +garland of flowers on Nala's neck, and declares that he is her husband. +The Greeks tell us that among the Cathæans, a tribe of the Panjab, young +men and maidens chose each other for marriage. The purchase of brides is +also mentioned in the Epos. Bhishma purchases the daughter of the prince +of the Madras for Pandu with gold and precious stones. In ancient times, +we can hardly doubt, purchase of the bride was the rule, except in the +case of princes, and those who carried off their wives or gained them in +battle.[319] The children, according to the conceptions peculiar to +primitive conditions, belong to the father; he must be recompensed for +the loss, and receive some return for the services which his daughter +can no longer render him. If the law declares that form of marriage to +be permissible in which a pair of cattle (a bull and a cow) are +given--it is true with the addition, "for religious objects"--we may +conclude that this was the customary price, and the law attempts to +embody the custom into its system by the additional proviso, that the +price is to be given "for religious objects." But the turn thus given in +the law to the purchase of the bride was slow in being carried out, and +was never carried out thoroughly. The Greeks at one time maintain that +among the Indians the bridegroom gave the father a yoke of oxen; at +another, that in contracting a marriage nothing was given or taken.[320] +The custom of giving a pair of oxen for the bride follows from the rites +of marriage still in existence,[321] and even now it is found in some +regions of India. Marriage from inclination is also not regarded with +favour in the law; such marriages might easily endanger the order of the +castes, and introduce mixed connections. Still as the law allows the +purchase of the bride under a very slight cover, so it allows the girl +the free choice of a husband in exceptional cases. It is a father's duty +to have his daughter married, for in the order of things she is intended +to be a mother. If in three years after the daughter is of age for +marriage the father makes no provision for giving her to a proper +husband, she may choose a husband for herself out of the men of her +caste; neither she nor the husband thus chosen are guilty in this +matter. But the ornaments which she has received from her father, +mother, and brothers she may not, in this case, carry into her new home; +in doing so she would commit a theft. On the other hand, the husband +whom she chooses has not to make any presents; the father has lost his +right over his daughter by keeping her back beyond the time at which she +could be a mother.[322] + +It was precisely in this sphere that the old customs and poetry, the +worship of the old gods, the old delight in life, were retained under +the law and the Brahmanic system, or even in spite of it. Not the least +proof of this is found in the prayers, formulas, and blessings in use at +marriages. These occur for the most part in the Atharvaveda. The +Grihya-sutras of Açvalayana from the middle of the fourth century B.C. +give the ritual which must be observed on these occasions.[323] The +playmates of a girl, who desire a husband for her, must, according to +the Atharvaveda, speak thus: "O Agni, may the suitor come to this maid +to our delight; may happiness come to her quickly by a husband; may +Savitar bring to you the man who answers to your wishes! There comes the +bridegroom, with hair-knot loosed in front. She was weary, O bridegroom, +of going to the marriage of other maidens."[324] According to the sutras +the man who desired a woman in marriage sent two of his friends to her +father to ask for her. Then the family assembles and sits down opposite +the two envoys, with their faces to the east. The envoys extol the +family of the suitor, enumerate his forefathers, and ask for the bride. +If the request is granted, "a bowl filled with fruits and gold is placed +on the head of the bride, and the envoys say: 'We honour Aryaman, the +kind friend, who brings the husband. I set thee (the bride) free from +this place (the house of her father) as the gourd from the stem, not +from thence.'" Then the bride is prepared for the arrival of the +bridegroom by consecration and the bath. Marriage ought to take place +in the autumn or the winter, but never when the moon is waning. At the +bathing of the bride, the water is drawn with blessings; after it she is +clad in the bridal garments with the following words: "May the +goddesses, who spun and wove it, stretched it and folded the ends round +about, clothe thee even to old age. Put on this garment, and long be thy +years. Whatever charm there is in dice or wine, whatever charm in oxen, +whatever charm in beauty--with this, ye Açvins, adorn her. So do we deck +this wife for her husband; Indra, Agni, Varuna, Bhaga, Soma, may they +enrich her with children." Then the bridegroom, accompanied by his +friends, comes to the house of the bride, where he is courteously +received by the father, and entertained with a draught of milk and +honey. The bridegroom hands over the bridal gift (at this day garments +and mantles are indispensable for this purpose), and when the family of +the bride have placed a dark-red neck-band adorned with three precious +stones on her, the Brahman unlooses two locks of hair and says: "I loose +thee now from the bands of Varuna, with which the sublime Savitar bound +thee. I loose thee from this place (the house of her father), not from +thence, that she may, O Indra, giver of blessings, be rich in sons and +prosperity." When the bands, which connect the bride with the house of +her father, have thus been loosed, the father with his face turned to +the north, with kuça-grass, water, and grain in his hand, hands over the +maid to the bridegroom with these words: "To thee, the son, grandson, +and great-grandson, of such and such a man, I give this maiden of this +family and this race," and then he places her hand on the right hand of +the bridegroom. The bridegroom has previously placed a stone on the +ground, not far from the sacrificial fire; when receiving the hand of +the bride he says: "For health and prosperity I take thy hand here. +Bhaga, Aryaman, Pushan, Savitar, the gods give thee to me to govern my +house." When the father has sprinkled the bride with melted butter, the +bridegroom leads her to the stone, causes her to place the tip of her +right foot on it, and says: "This sure and faithful stone I lay down for +thy children on the lap of the divine earth; step on it with joy and +looks of gladness. As Agni has taken the right hand of this earth, so +did I take thy right hand. Fail not, united with me, in prosperity and +progeny. Bhaga took thy right hand here, and Savitar. Thou art now my +lawful wife; I am thy lord. Rich in children, live with me as thy +husband for the space of a hundred autumns."[325] When the bride has +thrown corn into the fire, the marriage contract is sealed by the "seven +steps" which she makes, led by the bridegroom, towards the right, round +the fire. At each step he recites the proper sentence. With the seventh +the marriage is completed; and the Brahman sprinkles the youthful pair +with lustral water.[326] After a festival, at which young men and girls +dance and sing for three days, the husband conducts his wife to the car +yoked with a pair of oxen, which is to carry her to her new house.[327] +When ascending the chariot, the bride is thus addressed: "Ascend the +gay, well-furnished car, the place of delight, and make the journey a +glad one for thy husband. Viçvavasa (the spirit of virginity) depart +from hence, for she has now a husband; let the husband and wife unite. +May Pushan (p. 47) lead thee hence by the hand; may the Açvins conduct +thee with the chariot; go hence to the house, to be the lady therein. +Lift her up (upon the chariot); beat away the Rakshasas; let king Bhaga +advance. Whatever diseases follow after the glad bridal procession, may +the holy gods send them back whence they came; may the robbers who lie +in wait for the wedded pair fail to find them; may they go on a secure +path and escape danger. This wife is here beautifully adorned. Come all, +and look on her. Give her your blessing, and then disperse to your +homes."[328] In the house of the bridegroom his family awaited the +youthful pair, and then prayed: "Kind to the brother, the cattle, and +her husband, O Indra, bring her rich in sons to us here, O Savitar. Stay +not the maid on her way, O divinely-planted pair of pillars (the posts +of the door of the house). May this wife enter the house for good, for +the good of all two-footed and four-footed creatures. Look with no evil +eye, slay not the husband, be gracious, powerful, gentle with the people +of the house and propitious. Harm not thy relations by marriage, nor thy +husband. Be bright, and of cheerful spirit; bring forth sons that are +heroes; love the gods, and with friendly spirit tend the fire of this +house. Make her, Indra, rich in sons; place ten sons in her. May ye +never separate; enjoy your whole lives playing with sons and grandsons, +rejoicing in your house." When the young wife has entered the house, her +husband leads her to the dung-heap in the court, then round the fire of +the new hearth, which is either kindled by friction, or taken from a +fire which has last been used for sacrifice, and there causes her to +offer the first sacrifice, at which she receives the courteous greeting +of the assembled family of her husband. When ascending the marriage +bed, the bride is thus addressed: "Ascend the bridal bed with joy. Wise +and prudent as Indrani (Indra's wife) and careful, wake with the first +beams of morning." On the following morning the married pair give away +their bridal garments; the bridegroom's friend puts on a woollen +garment, saying: "Whatever evil deed, whatever thing requiring +expiation, has been done at this marriage, or on the journey, we cast it +on the robe of the bridegroom's friend." When dressing himself the young +husband says: "Freshly clad, I rise up to the beaming day; as the bird +leaves the egg, so I slip from all guilt of sin." Then both husband and +wife are thus addressed: "Waking up from happy union, rich in cows, +sons, and gear, may ye live through many beaming dawns." + +The law impresses on wives the greatest devotion and subjection to their +husbands. Never, we are told, is the woman independent. In her childhood +she depends on her father, then on her husband, and if he dies, on her +sons. The sister is in the tutelage and power of the brother. So long as +the husband lives, the wife is in a condition of subjection to him day +and night; neither in his life nor after his death must she do anything +displeasing to him, even though he is not irreproachable in his life, +and gives himself to other loves; she must be good-tempered, careful and +thrifty for house and home. She must honour her husband as a god; if she +honours him on earth, she will herself be honoured in heaven; if she has +kept her body, thoughts, and life pure, she receives one abode with him +in heaven. The Epos presents beautiful and touching pictures of Indian +wives, who follow their husbands into the wilderness, and when in the +power of the enemy keep their faith to their husbands, and without +doubt possess the qualities of devotion and self-sacrifice, which, +inherent in the disposition of the Aryas, were so greatly developed in +the Brahmanic system, and found in India their most beautiful +realisation in the character of women, to which indeed they chiefly +belong. Though in the law the husband is beyond question the master in +the house,--in case of resistance on the part of the wife, she may be +punished even with blows of the bamboo,--he is nevertheless bound on his +part to reverence and honour his wife; he must make her presents that +she may adorn herself; and he must not vex her, for where the wife is +vexed, the fire on the hearth soon goes out (it was quenched at the +death of the wife), and when the wife curses a house it will soon fall +to ruin.[329] + +Adultery is in some cases threatened with very heavy penalties by the +law. But here also the Brahman, when guilty, escapes with the least +punishment, and the severest threats are directed against the members of +the lower castes who have seduced a Brahman wife. If a Brahman commits +adultery of the kind, which in the members of other castes is punished +with death, he is to be shaven as a mark of disgrace, and the king must +banish him out of the land; but his property is not to be taken from +him; he may depart unharmed beyond the borders. But if Kshatriyas and +Vaiçyas commit adultery with a Brahman woman of good family, they are to +be burnt, and the woman is to be torn to pieces by dogs in a public +place. As in these rules for punishment two views are intermixed, we can +only ascertain that the later conception permits milder punishment in +the case of wives who are not watched. If a Brahman has a criminal +connection with a wife that is watched with her consent he must pay 500 +panas, if against her consent, 1000 panas. If a Kshatriya has a similar +connection with a Brahman woman who is watched, he is to be drenched +with the urine of asses and pay 1000 panas. A Vaiçya is to be imprisoned +for a year, and lose his whole property. If the wife was not watched, +the Kshatriya pays 1000 panas, the Vaiçya 500 panas.[330] The Çudra who +is guilty of adultery with the wife of a Dvija must die, if she was +watched; if not, he loses his sexual organs. + +Every approach to the wife of another man is looked on as equivalent to +an adulterous inclination. Secret conversations in pleasure-gardens or +in the forest, the sending of flowers and perfumes, and still more any +touching of a married woman, or suffering oneself to be touched by her, +or joking or playing with her, are proofs of adulterous love. Even the +man who speaks with the wife of another, if a beggar, minstrel, +sacrificer, cook, or artisan, is to be fined. The violation of a virgin, +and the attempt on the part of a man of lower caste to seduce a virgin +belonging to a higher caste are to be punished with death. + +It has been already remarked that the hymns of the Rigveda speak of more +than one wife among the princes of the Aryas. In one of these poems we +find that Svanaya, who reigned on the bank of the Indus (p. 34), gave +his ten daughters in marriage to the minstrel Kakshivat. But in the +hymns of burial we hear of one wife only. In the Epos, Daçaratha, king +of Ayodhya, has three wives, Pandu has two, and Vijitravirya has also +two. In Manu's law also, as the rules already quoted show (p. 245), +husbands are allowed to marry more than one wife. Still, not to mention +the fact that this was only possible for men of fortune, the book states +very distinctly that one only is the proper legitimate wife, that she +alone can offer the sacrifice of the house with her husband; more +plainly still does the law require that the king shall marry a wife from +his own caste; his other wives are merely concubines.[331] The ritual +observed at marriage recognises one wife only. If monogamy is not so +strictly insisted on in the law, the reason is that the attempted +removal of connubium between the three upper orders was made more +possible by allowing several wives; for in this way it became more +possible to insist that the first or legitimate wife, at any rate, +should be taken from a similar caste, even by those whose obedience +could not otherwise be gained. But the chief reason was that a son must +necessarily be born to the father to offer libations for the dead to +him. If the legitimate wife was barren, or brought forth daughters only, +the defect must be remedied by a second wife. Even now, Hindoo wives, in +a similar case, are urgent with their husbands to associate a second +wife with them, in order that they may not die without male issue. How +strongly the necessity was felt in ancient times is shown by an +indication of the Rigveda, where the childless widow summons her +brother-in-law to her bed,[332] and by the narrative in the Epos of the +widows of the king who died without a son, for whom children are raised +up by a relation, and these children pass for the issue of the dead king +(p. 85, 101). The law shows that such a custom did exist, and is not a +poetic invention. It permits a son to be begotten by the brother of the +husband, or the nearest of kin after him; in any case by a man of the +same race (_gotra_), even in the lifetime of the husband with his +consent. After the death of the husband this can be done by his younger +brother, but at all times it must be without carnal desire and only in +the sacred wish to raise up a male descendant for his relation. When a +son is born any further commerce is forbidden under pain of losing +caste. It is remarked, however, that learned Brahmans disapproved of +this custom. It might be omitted when there was a daughter's son in +existence, who could offer the funeral cakes for his maternal +grandfather; the younger son of another father could also be adopted, +but he must be entirely separated from his own family. At present the +old custom only exists among the Çudras and the classes below these; +among the Dvijas adoption takes place.[333] + +In the burial hymns in the Rigveda the marriage is declared to be at an +end, when the widow has accompanied the corpse of her dead husband to +the place of rest; after the funeral was over, the widow was required to +"elevate herself to the world of life." The law ordains that the widow +shall not marry again after the death of her husband, even though she +has had no children by him. If she does marry, she falls into contempt +in this world, and in the next will be excluded from the abode of her +husband. The widow is to remain alone, and not to utter the name of +another man. She is to starve herself, living only on flowers, roots, +and fruits; if in addition to this she avoids all sensual pleasure to +the end of her life, pardons every injustice, and performs pious works +and expiations, she ascends after death to heaven, even though she has +never borne a child.[334] These are the simple rules of the law +concerning widowhood. The Dvija, whose wife dies before him, is to bury +her, if she has lived virtuously according to rule, with sacred fire and +suitable sacrifice. When the funeral is over he is permitted by the law +to marry again and kindle the marriage fire.[335] + +On children the law impresses the greatest reverence towards parents; +and this respect is carried to a great extent in the Epos, where it +appears in that exaggerated and caricatured form into which the good +elements in the Indian character were driven by the victory of the +Brahmans. Rama, "who conquers his parents by obedience, and turns them +in the right way," greets his father and mother by falling down before +them, and kissing their feet; he then places himself with folded hands +at their side, in order to listen to what they have to say.[336] He +practises obedience with the utmost punctiliousness, as well as the +renunciation in which Brahmans saw the summit of all virtue. Even in the +law the pupil kneels before the Brahman and his wife; and the Buddhist +legends show us the sons lying at the feet of their fathers in order to +greet them. The younger brother must kneel before the elder if he would +give him a solemn salutation.[337] + +The old legal customs of the Aryas knew only of the family property as +undivided and in the possession of the father. Wife, sons, daughters, +and slaves have no property; they are in fact themselves pieces of +property.[338] If the father dies, his place is taken by the eldest son, +at the head of the house; and if the mother is alive, she is in his +tutelage. That the right of the person to share in the property was +already felt against this old custom is shown in the book of the law by +the regulation that the sons, after the death of the father, are not to +share during the lifetime of the mother. Even when both parents are dead +it is best for the sons not to divide the property, but to live together +under the eldest as the head of the family. The doctrines of the law in +favour of maintaining the old custom of a family property were not, as +it seems, without results. In the sutras of the Buddhists the fathers +urge their sons not to divide the property after their decease. That +when a division did take place, custom gave a pre-eminence to the eldest +son[339] is clear from the rule given in the law: the eldest son can +only demand the best piece when he is more learned and virtuous than the +rest; otherwise it must not be divided. Another view expressed in the +law, which militated against the connubium of the three orders, attempts +in this case also to bring in the division of castes: if the father has +several wives of different castes, the sons of those who belong to the +higher castes have the advantage. If, for instance, a Brahman has wives +from all the four castes the inheritance is to be divided into ten +parts: the son of the Brahman woman receives four parts, the son of the +Kshatriya three, the son of the Vaiçya two, of the Çudra only one.[340] +Landed property in India is inherited and always has been by males only; +but if there are no sons, a daughter may be put in as heir. In other +cases women have only a claim to maintenance out of the family +property. The distinction between inherited and acquired property is +first recognised in the later law of India, but even now the father has +only the right of disposal over the latter when he divides it in his own +lifetime among his children. At present the unmarried daughters, and +quite recently widows, have a right to a son's portion instead of +maintenance out of the family property.[341] + +In India, family life has in all essentials healthily developed and +maintained itself on the basis which we can detect in the sentences of +the marriage ceremony. The fortunate birth of a child, purification +after child-bed, and naming of the child--according to the law the name +of a boy ought to express among the Brahmans some helpful greeting, +among the Kshatriyas power, among the Vaiçyas wealth, among the Çudras +subjection[342]--the first cutting of the hair, the investiture of the +sons with the sacred girdle, the birthdays, betrothals, and marriages +are great festivals among the families, kept with considerable expense. +The Indians love their children; their maintenance and marriage form at +present the chief care of wealthy parents. The law allows a man to give +his daughter even to the poorest husband of his own caste; but now the +main effort of the family is not indeed to obtain the wealthiest husband +for a daughter, but to obtain one of at least equal wealth with their +own, and whenever possible of better descent. The claims of the priestly +Brahmans belonging to those eight tribes which carried back their origin +to the great saints, tribes existing in the fourth century B.C., are in +existence still;[343] but the number of the clans has increased. The +ceremonies at marriages are still essentially those of the old ritual. +Before walking round the fire the hands of the bride and bridegroom are +united with kuça-grass, and the points of their garments tied together. +It has long been a custom and a rule that the bride should be equipped +by her father, and the splendour with which marriages are celebrated +makes the wedding of a daughter a heavy burden on families that are not +wealthy. The Kshatriyas more especially suffer in this respect, since +they are peculiarly apt to seek after connections with ancient families. +In families of this caste it sometimes happens that daughters are +exposed or otherwise put out of the way in order to escape the cost of +their future equipment and marriage.[344] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[294] _e.g._ "Ramayana," 1, 13, 72, ed. Schlegel. + +[295] Manu, 8, 380, 381. + +[296] Manu, 2, 127. + +[297] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2, 80. + +[298] Manu, 9, 322. + +[299] Manu, 10, 80-117. + +[300] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 139. + +[301] Manu, 3, 12-15, 44; 9, 22-24, 85-87. + +[302] Manu, 3, 16-19; 10, 5, 6. + +[303] Manu, 10, 15. + +[304] Manu, 10, 46. + +[305] Manu, 10, 48. + +[306] Manu, 10, 8. + +[307] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 820, _n._ 2. + +[308] Manu, 10, 49. + +[309] Manu, 10, 48. + +[310] Manu, 10, 15; (above, p. 15). + +[311] Manu, 10, 51-56; (above, p. 168). + +[312] Manu, 10, 67. + +[313] Manu, 10, 43-45. + +[314] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 396, 439, 534. + +[315] Sherring, "Hindu Castes and Tribes," 7-9; 120, 247. + +[316] "Açvalayana Çrauta-Sutra," book 12, in M. Müller, "Hist. of +Sanskrit Lit." p. 381. + +[317] Manu, 3, 27-38, 160, 171; 9, 100, 127 ff. The analogous series in +the Açvalayana in A. Weber, "Indische Studien," 5, 284. + +[318] Açvalayana, Yajnavalkya, Apastamba in M. Müller, _loc. cit._ p. +378 ff. + +[319] A. Weber, "Indische Studien," 5, 343, 400, 407. + +[320] Strabo, p. 709. Arrian, "Ind." 17. + +[321] "Açvalayana," 1, 63, in A. Weber, _loc. cit._ + +[322] Manu, 9, 88-96. + +[323] Açvalayana says: "There are many different customs in different +districts and towns; we only give what is common." Haas and A. Weber in +the "Indische Studien," 5, 281. + +[324] Weber, _loc. cit._ 5, 219, 236. + +[325] A. Weber, _loc. cit._ 5, 201. + +[326] Haas, _loc. cit._ 5, 322, cp. however, p. 358. + +[327] A. Weber, _loc. cit._ 5, 214. + +[328] The first part of the sentence is from the latest part of the +Rigveda (10, 184), the second from the Atharvaveda, 2, 30; 5, 25. in A. +Weber, "Ind. Studien," 5, 218, 227, 234. + +[329] Manu, 9, 147-149; 3, 6-11; 55-62; 9, 2-7, 77-83. + +[330] Manu, 8, 371-376. + +[331] Manu, 7, 77, 78. + +[332] Rigveda, 10, 40 in Aurel Mayr, "Indisches Erbrecht," s. 79. + +[333] Manu, 9, 59-69, 144-146. Aurel Mayr, _loc. cit._ 3, 104. + +[334] Manu, 5, 157-162. + +[335] Manu, 5, 167-169. + +[336] _e.g._ "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 2, 3, 31. + +[337] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 238. + +[338] Aurel Mayr, "Indisches Erbrecht," s. 160 ff. + +[339] Aurel Mayr, _loc. cit._ s. 56. + +[340] Manu, 9, 104-220. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 239. In the sutras +we are told of a division in a merchant's family, after the brothers +have united; in this the oldest retains the house and lands, the other +the shops, the third the stock, beside land. Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. +242. + +[341] Aurel Mayr, _loc. cit._ 3, 167, ff. + +[342] Manu, 2, 29-34. + +[343] Above, p. 252. M. Müller, "Hist. of Anc. Sanskrit Lit." p. 380, +ff. + +[344] Sherring, _loc. cit._ p. 122. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE BRAHMANS. + + +The unity in regard to law and morals, which the book of the law sought +to establish throughout all the regions of India, between the Vindhyas +and Himalayas, was never carried out to this extent. Indeed, the book +itself is wanting in unity owing to the gradual accumulation of +different strata in it, and the various rules which it contains for the +same circle of life. Nor did it even attempt to remove the usages of +Brahmavarta, or the customs of "the good" in general. In other points +its requirements were pitched much too high, and were too ideal for +princes and judges to feel bound by them, directly and immediately, or +to guide their conduct by such rules, though on the whole they regarded +the book as a standard. Even on the Ganges some districts resisted the +law of the Brahmans, and took their law from their old customs,[345] +while on the other hand, in the land of the Indus, only a few regions +followed the development attained in the life of the emigrants on the +Yamuna and the Ganges; in these the elevation of the priestly order, the +reform of religion, and the exclusiveness of the castes were very +fitfully carried out. They clung obstinately to the older forms of +Indian life, and submitted but partially to the reaction which the land +of the Ganges exercised on the ancient home of the race. + +In other nations and ages the priests have turned their attention to the +past history of their states, and have recorded their fortunes, but on +the Ganges the victory of the priests threw the past entirely aside, and +established the Brahmanic system as the religion existing from the +beginning. Why should the Brahmans trouble themselves with the deeds of +ancient kings and heroes? These could only attract their attention in so +far as the action of the gods was seen in them, or when they could be +asked to prove that the power of the Brahmans had been from the first +greater than the power of the kings and the Kshatriyas. Or need the +Brahmans write the history of their own order? From this point of view +that order had always been what it now was; it formed no organised +corporation, no centralised system; the only points that could come into +question were the acts of the great saints, the ancestors of the Brahman +class, or the claim and advantage of being descended from this or that +priest of the old time. Ought the Brahmans to inquire into the laws of +nature? In their view the life of nature was as little independent, as +little founded on laws of its own, as the life and actions of men. +Nature was absorbed into the world-soul; the efficacy of sacrifices and +penalties could, in the opinion of the Brahmans, remove the laws of +nature at any moment. Where the order of the moral and physical world is +broken and subdued at will by the supernatural, no account can be made +of the actions of men, or the facts of nature, of history or natural +science; theology and things divine are the only possible subjects of +study. + +The Brahmans occupied themselves very earnestly with the study of +revelation, with the Veda, and with meditation on the highest being. If +the first was the peculiar task of the schools of the Brahmans, the +second was the essential duty of the anchorites in the forest. Moreover, +it was advantageous for the teaching of the people to interpolate the +new religion into the old Epos, and there also to exalt the acts of the +great saints above the acts of the ancient heroes. We have already +referred to the contradiction existing between the new doctrine and the +Veda, on which it was founded, and which it set forth as a divine +revelation. The invocations and prayers of the Veda arose out of the +circle of different tribes, and from different dates; in their origin +and tradition they proceeded from distinct races of priests. They were +due to a conception wholly at variance with that of the Brahmans. How +could these contradictions be removed? The contradiction between old and +new was aggravated by numerous differences in the ritual. Along with the +Veda the Brahmans regarded the sayings and conduct of the holy men of +old, the great saints, as sufficient authorities. But the ritual was not +the same in all the races of the Brahmans; and even customs and +tradition had, as we have seen, a claim in the eyes of the Brahmans. +Every priestly school, or family, appealed in its ritual to the custom +or word of the supposed progenitor, or to some other great saint. In +order to fix the correct ceremonial of the sacrifice, the true ritual +for purification, expiation, and penance, amid such varieties of +practice, it was necessary to go back to the Veda. But in the Veda +nothing was found on the greater part of the questions at issue, and +only contradictory statements on others. Which was the true ritual, the +form pleasing to the gods and therefore efficacious? Which were the +decisive passages in the Veda, and what was their true explanation? To +the difficult task of bringing the Veda into harmony with the idea of +Brahman, and the system of castes, and finding a proof for both in the +Veda, in which castes and Brahman as the world-soul were unknown, was +added the further difficulty of establishing the ritual so securely, as +to leave no doubt about the practice of it, and to make it quite certain +what liturgy was to be applied in each case, at every act. Owing to the +Indian belief in the mystic power of the sacrifice and each single +operation in it, this question was of very great importance. The +sacrifice was invalid unless the ritual given by revelation or by the +great priests of ancient times was used in it. From these questions and +investigations rose commentaries on the Vedas;--the Brahmanas, which in +part are still preserved to our times, the first compositions of the +Indians in prose. They are reflections and rules of a liturgical and +theological nature, and proceed on a plan somewhat of the following +kind. After mentioning the rite and the sacrifice in question, the +meaning of the words in the Veda which are supposed to refer to it is +given, generally in a singular form; the various modes of performing the +sacrifice are then mentioned, the sayings of the ancient saints in +favour of this or that form are quoted; and then follows a regular +solution, supported by legends from the history of the saints. We see +from the rules of the Brahmanas that offerings, consecrations, and +sacrifices were not diminished but rather increased by the idea of +Brahman, and the number of the sacrificing priests was greater; a fourth +priest was added to the Hotar, Udgatar, and Adhvaryu of the older +period, whose duty it was to superintend the whole sacrifice, to guard +against mistakes, and remedy them when made; at the greater sacrifices +sixteen or seventeen priests officiated, besides those who were required +for the supplementary duties; and beside the three daily sacrifices at +morning, midday, and evening, the sacrifices of the new moon and full +moon, the sacrifices to the ancestors, to fire, and the Soma, there were +rites which lasted from two to eleven days, and others which occupied +fourteen to one hundred days.[346] The Brahmanas fix the object and +operation of every sacrifice; they show how the place of sacrifice is to +be prepared and measured; how the altar is to be erected; how the +vessels and instruments of sacrifice were to be prepared; what sort of +wood and water is required, and the length of the pieces of wood which +are to be placed on the fire. Then follow the invocations and the +sentences at the use of the instruments of sacrifice, the paces and +functions incumbent on the four classes of priests, what one has to say +and another to answer. Not only each word but even the tone and gesture +is given formally at great length. An incorrect word, a false intonation +may destroy the efficacy of the entire sacrifice. For this reason the +rules for the great sacrifice, especially for the sacrifice of horses, +fill up whole books of the Brahmanas. + +Like the Arians of Iran, and the Germans, the Arians on the Indus +sacrificed horses to the gods. "May Mitra, Aryaman, Indra and the +Maruts," so we read in the Rigveda, "not rebuke us because we shall +proclaim at the sacrifice the virtues of the swift horse, sprung from +the gods, when the spotted goat is led before the horse adorned with +ornaments of pure gold. If thrice at the proper seasons men lead around +the sacrificial horse, which goes to the gods,--the goat, Pushan's +share, goes first (p. 47). She goes along the path which Indra and +Pushan love, and announces the sacrifice to the gods. May ye, O Hotar, +Adhvaryu--the names of the remaining officiating priests follow--fill +the streams (round the altar) with a well-prepared and well-accomplished +sacrifice! They who cut the sacrificial post, and they who make the ring +for the post of the horse, may their work be with us. My prayer has been +well performed: the bright-backed horse goes to the regions of the gods, +where poets celebrate him, and we have won a good friend among the gods. +The halter of the swift one, the heel-ropes of the horse, the girdle, +the bridle, and even the grass that has been put into his mouth, may all +these which belong to thee be with the gods. The ordure that runs from +the belly, and the smallest particle of raw flesh, may the immolators +well prepare all this, and dress the sacrifice till it is well cooked. +The juice that flows from thy roasted limb on the spit after thou hast +been killed, may it not run on the earth or the grass; may it be given +to the gods who desire it. They who examine the horse when it is +roasted, they who say 'It smells well, take it away;' they who serve the +distribution of the meat, may their work also be with us. The ladle of +the pot where the meat is cooked, and the vessels for sprinkling the +juice, the covers of the vessels, the shears, and the knives, they adorn +the horse. Where he walks, where he stands, where he lies, what he +drinks, and what he eats, may all these which belong to thee, be with +the gods. May not the fire with smoky smell make thee hiss, may not the +glowing cauldron swell and burst. The gods accept the horse if it is +offered to them in due form. The cover which they stretch over the horse +and the golden ornaments, the head-ropes of the horse, and the +foot-ropes, all these which are dear to the gods, they offer to them. +If some one strike thee with the heel or the whip that thou mayest lie +down, and thou art shouting with all thy might, then I purify all this +with my prayer, as with a spoon of clarified butter at the sacrifices. +The axe approaches the thirty-four ribs of the quick horse, beloved of +the gods. Do you wisely keep the limbs whole; find out each joint and +ligament. One strikes the horse, two hold it; this is the custom. May +the axe not stick to thy body; may no greedy and unskilful immolator, +missing with the sword, throw thy mangled limbs together. May not thy +dear soul burn thee while thou art coming near. Indeed thou diest not, +thou sufferest not, thou goest to the gods on easy paths. May this horse +give us cattle and horses, men, progeny, and all-sustaining wealth. May +the horse of this sacrifice give us strength."[347] This was the +foundation on which the Brahmanas construct an endless ritual for the +sacrifice of horses, "the king of sacrifices," as the book of the law +calls it. At the sacrifice of the horse, so we are told in the +Çatapatha-Brahmana, the Adhvaryu on the first day calls on the players +on the flute to celebrate the king who offers the sacrifice, and with +him the virtuous princes of ancient days. The priest narrates the +history begun by Manu Vaivasvata. On the second day he narrates the +history begun by Yama Vaivasvata, and on the third day that begun by +Varuna Aditya (p. 124); on the fourth day he narrates that begun by Soma +Vaishnava, etc.; on the tenth day that begun by Dharma Indra, and sings +the Soma, _i.e._ the hymns of the Samaveda.[348] In the Mahabharata, +Yudhishthira, after ascending the throne of Hastinapura, offers a +sacrifice of horses, in order to assuage his grief at the loss of his +heroes, and to extend his dominion. The Brahman Vyasa tells the king +that this sacrifice is very difficult; that he must sleep the whole year +through on the ground, with his wife at his side, and a naked sword +between them; if he does not keep his desires in subjection during the +whole of this time, the entire efficacy of the sacrifice is lost. The +horse with the necessary marks is found and brought forward. According +to the poem it must be as white as the moon, with a yellow tail, and the +right ear must be black; the horse can also be entirely black. On a +certain day, determined by the moon, the horse is let loose. It bears a +gold plate on its forehead with the name of the king to whom it belongs, +and the announcement that an army is following it, and any one who +detains the horse, or leads it astray, will be compelled by force of +arms to set it at liberty, and after the end of the year to appear at +the sacrifice of the horse. Arjuna overcomes all the princes who would +retain the horse. Then the princes who have submitted or been conquered +assemble at Hastinapura; Yudhishthira and Draupadi take a bath for +purification; the king ploughs the place of sacrifice with a golden +plough; Draupadi sows it to the accompaniment of the prayers of the +Brahmans; then the midst of the space is covered with four hundred +golden tiles, and round about these are set up eight posts, eight +trenches for the preparation of the curdled milk, clarified butter, and +soma, and provided with eight great spoons, in order to bring the +sacrificial gifts into the fire. Yudhishthira takes his place on the +throne of gold and sandal-wood; twenty-four princes and rishis go to the +Ganges in order to bring water for the sacrifice in pitchers on their +heads. When the king has been purified by this water, the horse is +brought, and it also is purified by having the water poured upon it. +Then the priests pressed the ear of the horse, and as milk ran out from +it, it was proved that the horse was pure; so Bhima smote off the head +with his sword. Then the priest held the flesh in the spoon over the +fire, and made Homa out of it, and the flesh smelt of camphor, and he +cried, "Indra, receive this flesh which has become camphor." To each of +the Brahmans who had officiated at the sacrifice Yudhishthira gave a +chariot, an elephant, ten horses, one hundred milch-cows, and slaves and +gold and pearls, and had them entertained. In the Ramayana, king +Daçaratha of Ayodhya offers a sacrifice of horses to obtain a son. At +the appointed time the horse was set at liberty for a year; and a +Brahman accompanied it. All the preparatory sacrifices were offered; the +place was made ready on the northern banks of the Sarayu; twenty-one +sacrificial posts were set up, and decked with flowers and ornaments, +and twenty-one trenches were dug when the horse returned. The Brahmans +kindle the sacred fire, the horse is led round it, and slain with the +consecrated sword, while the Udgatar recites the sentences. The Hotar +and the Ritvij bring the pieces of the horse according to the custom to +the fire, and the Ritvij pronounces the sentences while placing the +flesh in the fire. Then the first and second wives of the king are +brought to the horse and pass the night near it.[349] Rama offers a +horse sacrifice for another reason; he wishes to make atonement for the +offence which he has committed by the slaughter of the great giant +Ravana of Lanka, who was a descendant of the holy Agastya, and +consequently a Brahman. According to the narratives of the +Vishnu-Purana, king Pushpamitra, who sat on the throne of Magadha in +the first half of the second century B.C., offered a horse sacrifice. +The horse when set at liberty was carried off on the right bank of the +Indus by an army of the Yavanas (Greeks), but was again liberated by the +attendants. As a fact the land of the Indus as well as the Panjab was at +that time under the dominion of the Greek princes of Bactria. From the +period of the dynasty of the Guptas, who acquired the throne of Magadha +about the year 140 B.C., a coin has been preserved to our time, relating +to the efficacy of the horse sacrifice; it depicts an unsaddled horse +before an altar.[350] + +Not long after the time when the commentaries on the Vedas, or +Brahmanas, arose in the schools of the Brahmans, a fourth Veda was added +to the three collections of sacred songs and prayers already in +existence. Ancient poems were preserved which had not been received into +the Rigveda. These were not songs of praise or thanksgiving, prayers or +sentences intended to accompany the sacrificial acts, but charms to +avert evil, danger, sickness, or death, formulæ relating to life in the +house and family, bringing blessing or a curse. When the fourth +superintending priest was added to the three already officiating, and +the latter was charged with the office of avoiding the mistakes which +might be committed in it, and atoning for those which had been committed +by counter-charms and acts of expiation--a collection of the sentences +required, a book of prayers, seems to have been given to this priest +also, just as the Hotar had his Rigveda, the Udgatar his Samaveda, the +Adhvaryu his Yajurveda. Thus the sentences of this kind already living +in tradition may have been collected together, so as to form a fourth +Veda. That some of the exorcisms and incantations belonging to this +collection are also found in the Rigveda, that meditative hymns of later +date are received into the fourth Veda together with pieces of very +great antiquity, may count rather for than against this mode of origin. +The new collection was called the Atharvaveda after the ancient priest +Atharvan, who is said first to have enticed the fire from the pieces of +wood.[351] The Atharvaveda contains a number of ancient charms against +sickness and death. It is the healing powers of waters and plants which +are first invoked for assistance. In the Rigveda also all remedies are +found in waters and plants, both of which come from the sky.[352] "May +the waters of Himavat be blessed for thee," so we are told in the +Atharvaveda; "the waters of the springs, the waters of the rain, the +waters of the steppe, the waters of the cisterns, the waters of the +pitchers. We bless the best healers, the waters. The waters should heal +thee when pain overcomes thee; they should drive out thy sickness."[353] +Plants are not less efficacious. They pass into the limbs of the sick, +they expel the sickness victoriously from the body, they unite with +their king Soma in order to fight against the sickness; they obey the +voice of the priest, rescue the sick person from pain, and set free the +foot of man from the toils of Yama.[354] The Atharvaveda emphasises the +peculiar healing power of a plant against the Rakshasas (the evil +spirits); with this Kaçiapa, Kanva, Agastya, and the son of Atharvan had +defeated the Rakshasas. "Liberate," so the priest says to it, "liberate +this man from the spirits of the Rakshasas; lead him back into the +company of the living."[355] In other sentences of this Veda we are +told: "With this sacrificial butter I liberate thee, so that thou mayest +live; when the captor has seized him, do ye set him free, Indra and +Agni. If his life is failing I draw him back from the brink of +destruction unharmed for a hundred autumns" (p. 62). If the sickness is +a punishment from the gods, the offence must be wiped out by sacrifice, +prayer, and expiations; if it is the result of a charm, it must be +driven into another creature by a counter-charm. The Atharvaveda gives +us the following sentence against the demon Takman, who brings fever: +"May refusal meet Takman, who has glowing weapons. O Takman, go to the +Mujavant or further. Attack the Çudra woman, the teeming one; shake her, +O Takman. The Gandharas, the Angas, the Magadhas, we give over to Takman +as servants, or a treasure."[356] The ague is banished into the frog, +the jaundice into yellow birds. In the Rigveda the jaundice is put away +into parrots and thrushes; consumption is to fly away with the blue jay. +The custom of supporting the exorcism by laying down a leaf or a herb, +which is taught in the Atharvaveda, is not unknown to the Rigveda.[357] +The Atharva-veda also supplies charms against sprains, worms, and other +evils.[358] + +The Brahmanas of the various schools of priests were not merely rules +for ritual, but also exegetical and dogmatic commentaries on the +separate Vedas, each destined for one of the three classes of priests +who were allotted to the Rigveda, Samaveda, and Yajurveda. Of these +commentaries on the Rigveda, two, differing in their arrangement, +have been preserved to us; the Aitareya-Brahmana, and the +Kaushitaki-Brahmana, _i.e._ the commentaries of the schools of Aitareya +and Kaushitaka: for the Samaveda we have the Chandoga-Brahmana, and the +Tandya-Brahmana; for the Yajurveda the Taittiriya-Brahmana and the +Çatapatha-Brahmana, _i.e._ the commentaries of the schools of Tittiri +and Vajasaneya. In one or two of these Brahmanas we have additions at +the end of a speculative character. The compressed and difficult +language of these books, the abstruse dogmatism, the abundance of +examples and legends, made the Brahmanas so difficult to understand that +explanations of them were soon written in a more synoptical arrangement, +an easier style, and shorter form. These explanations were called +sutras, _i.e._ clues. If they were intended to explain the Veda, _i.e._ +revelation, they were known as Çrauta-sutras; if they collected in a +synoptical form the rules for the ritual given in the Brahmanas, they +were known as Kalpa-sutras. The oldest sutras of this kind, which have +come down to us, are supposed to have been written about the year 400 +B.C.[359] From the duty of properly intoning and pronouncing the +prescribed words of the Veda, marking the metre, correctly understanding +the ancient Vedic language which had subsequently taken the form of +Sanskrit, and gone through other changes in the mouth of the people, and +fixing the correct time for the sacrifice, there grew up among the +schools of the Brahmans the beginnings of metrical, grammatical, +etymological, and astronomical inquiries. As the people in the land of +the Ganges had ceased to understand Sanskrit in the sixth century +_B.C._, while the Brahmans were compelled to preserve it for the Vedas +and the Brahmanas, and as a learned and theological language, it became +necessary to learn it from teachers. The sutras of the Buddhists speak +of a grammar of Indra, which is also mentioned by the Chinese +Hiuan-Thsang as the earliest Indian grammar; from the fourth century +B.C. we have the grammatical rules of Panini remaining, which, based on +the previous Çrauta-sutras, present us with a complete grammatical +system, provided with an artificial terminology.[360] + +The desire to offer sacrifices to the gods at the correct and acceptable +time did not permit the Brahmans entirely to neglect the observation of +the heavens. Their attention was directed principally to the moon, to +the courses of the planets they paid no particular regard. According to +the advance of the moon in the heavens they distinguished twenty-seven, +and at a later period twenty-eight stations in the sky (_nakshatra_). +"The moon," we are told, "follows the course of the Nakshatras." The +year of the Indians was divided into twelve months of thirty days; the +month was divided into two halves of fifteen days each, and the day into +30 hours (_muhurta_). In order to bring this year of 360 days into +harmony with the natural time, the Brahmans established a quinquennial +cycle of 1860 lunar days. Three years had 12 months of 30 lunar days; +the third and fifth year of the cycle had thirteen months of the same +number of days. The Brahmans do not seem to have perceived that by this +arrangement the cycle contained almost four days in excess of the +astronomical time; and indeed they were not very skilful astronomers. +Twelve quinquennial cycles were united into a greater period (_yuga_) of +sixty years.[361] It was an old belief of the Indians that sacrifices +and important affairs in domestic and family life should only be engaged +in when the position of the sky was favourable--when the moon was +waxing, or the sun moving to the north. At a later time it was also +believed that the constellation, under which a child saw the light, was +of good or evil influence on his fortunes. Charms are preserved, which +are supposed to avert evil influences of this kind.[362] Some time after +the seventh century the Brahmans began to foretell the fortunes of +children from the position of the stars of their parents, to look for +the marks of good and bad fortune on the human body as well as in the +sky, and to question the stars about the favourable hours for the +transactions or festivals of the house, and the labours of the field, +voyages and travels. Though the book of the law declares astrology to be +a wicked occupation,[363] it was carried on to a considerable extent in +the fifth and fourth centuries. But this astrological superstition has +nevertheless remained without effect in advancing the astronomy of the +Brahmans; further advance was due to the foreign help gained by closer +contact with the kingdom of the Seleucids, and the influence of the +Græco-Bactrian kingdom, which extended its power to the east beyond the +Indus, and the Græco-Indian kingdom which succeeded it in the second +century.[364] The result of their grammatical and astronomical studies +were collected by the Brahmans as auxiliary sciences to the explanation +and interpretation of the Veda; and they termed them the members of the +Veda (Vedanga). They enumerated six of such members; the doctrine of +pronunciation and intonation, the doctrine of metres, grammar, +etymology, the ritual, and astronomy. The two first were declared to be +indispensable for the reading of the Veda, the third and fourth for +understanding the Veda, the fifth and sixth for the performance of +sacrifice.[365] + +From all antiquity, as has been already observed, the Indians were +greatly given to magic. It was the mysterious secret of the worship, the +power of the rightly-offered prayer, which exercised compulsion on the +gods. Out of this power grew their Brahmanaspati, and then Brahman. +Consequently, the Brahmans ascribed the greatest efficacy to the +severities of asceticism, the annihilation of the body. The sacrifice of +sensual enjoyment was more meritorious and powerful than all other +sacrifices. Was it not this devotion, this mortification, this +concentration, which annihilated the unholy part in men? Did not a man +by these means approach the holy nature of Brahman--did he not thus draw +into himself Brahman and its power? The Brahmans were convinced that +great penances and absorption into Brahman conferred a supernatural +power and a command over nature; and imparted to the penitent a +superhuman and even superdivine power, like that of Brahman. The Indians +invariably transferred the new point of view to the past. The past was +with them a mirror of the present, and therefore the ancient priests who +were supposed to have sung the hymns of the Veda, the mythical ancestors +of the leading priestly families, were not only patterns of Brahmanic +wisdom, but also great ascetics, examples of energetic penances. By such +penances these ancient saints, the Maharshis, _i.e._ the great sages as +they were now called, had obtained power over men and gods, and even +creative force. Hence in the order of beings the seven or ten great +saints received the place nearest to Brahman, above the gods--a change +which was rendered easier to the Brahmans because passages in the +Rigveda spoke of the "ancient-born sages" as illuminated, as seers and +friends of the gods.[366] With the Brahmans the force of asceticism was +so preponderant, and absorbed the divine nature to such a degree, that +it was soon regarded by them as the highest divine potency; in their +view the gods and Brahman itself exercised creative power only by virtue +of ascetic concentration on self, and severe penances. The theory of +creation was modified from this point of view. Creation was not any +longer the act of the ancient gods, though they are praised as creators +in the Veda; it no longer took place by the emanation of being out of +Brahman. According to the analogy of the asceticism of the Brahmans, the +gods and the personal Brahman who proceeded out of the impersonal +Brahman must have rendered themselves capable of creation by penance, +and gained their peculiar power in this way. In the black Yajurveda we +are told: "This world was at first water; in this moved the lord of +creation, who had become air. Then he formed the earth and created the +gods. The gods said: How can we form creatures? He replied: As I formed +you by the glow of my meditation (_tapas_), so do ye seek in deep +meditation the means of bringing forth creatures."[367] The introduction +to the book of the law goes further still in the theory of creation +given above. When Brahman had proceeded from the egg (p. 197), he +subjects himself to severe penance and so creates Manu. Then Manu begins +the most severe exercises, and by them creates the ten great sages, and +seven new Manus. The ten great saints, the lords of creatures, on their +part bring all created things into being. By the force of their penances +they create the gods and their different heavens, then the other saints +who possess unbounded power, the spirits of the earth (Yakshas), the +giants (Rakshasas), and the evil spirits (Asuras), the blood-suckers +(Piçachas), the serpent spirits (Nagas), the heavenly genii (the +Gandharvas and Apsarasas), and the spirits of the ancestors; after them +the thunder, the lightning, and the clouds, the wild animals, and last +of all the whole mass of creatures living and lifeless.[368] According +to this theory, Brahman has only given the impulse to creation; it is +completed by the penances of Manu and the other saints. The gods are +deposed, and the Brahmans, through their forefathers, the great saints, +become the authors of the gods and the world, the sovereign lords of +creation. The Brahman, learned or not, such is the teaching of the book +of the law, is always a mighty deity, just as fire, whether consecrated +or not, is always a mighty deity. Creation belongs to the Brahman, and +consequently all property is his; it is by his magnanimity that the rest +of the orders enjoy the goods of this world. Who would venture to injure +a Brahman, by whose sacrifice the gods live and the world exists? Any +one who harms a Brahman will be at once annihilated by the power of his +curse; even a king who ventures on such a thing will perish with his +army and their armour by the word of a Brahman.[369] + +The schools of the Brahmans sought to establish their ritual beyond the +power of doubt, to understand the Veda in its interpretation, as well as +in its etymology and grammar; they raised the centre of their ethics, +their asceticism, high above the gods of the Veda, and they also +attempted to embody their views and their whole system in the poems of +their Epos. The pre-eminence of their order must have been established +even in the ancient times; even then the Brahmans must have stood far +above the Kshatriyas; and the princes and heroes, of whom the Epos told +us, must have been patterns of reverence towards the Brahmans; they must +have walked in the paths which the theory of the Brahmans subsequently +prescribed. In this feeling the Brahmans proceeded to revise the Epos. +In contradiction to the ancient poem the princes of the Pandus were +placed in the best light, and, so far as was possible, were made eager +worshippers or obedient pupils of the Brahmans. + +We have already pointed out what an opposition the Brahmans had invented +between Vasishtha and Viçvamitra from a few hints given by the Rigveda; +how from this point of view, Viçvamitra is made into a Kshatriya, in +order to be able to point out from the example of his ruin as a +Kshatriya in opposition to Vasishtha the superiority of the Brahmans +over the Kshatriyas. But the Veda contains hymns by Viçvamitra; he +belonged, like Vasishtha, to the great saints; the one no less than the +other was the progenitor of an ancient and eminent branch of the +Brahmans. Hence the Kshatriya Viçvamitra must be changed again into a +Brahman, and this could only be done by penances of the most severe +kind. As the most powerful effects were attributed to these penances, +the Kuçikas and the other races derived from Viçvamitra were indemnified +for the previous defeat of Viçvamitra when he was still a Kshatriya. The +description of the feeble conflict of the Kshatriya against the Brahman, +of the prince against the Rishi, the marvellous exaltation of the +Kshatriya and the prince by submission to the Brahman law and severe +penances, are here set forth in the utmost detail and inserted in the +Epos. King Viçvamitra had ruled over the earth for several thousand +years. On one occasion he came with his warriors to the abode of +Vasishtha in the forest, who hospitably received and entertained him and +his army. Vasishtha possessed a marvellous cow--a wishing cow--which +brought forth whatever Vasishtha desired; she produced food and drink +for Viçvamitra and his army. This cow Viçvamitra wished to possess, and +offered 100,000 ordinary cows in exchange. It was a jewel, he said, and +the king has a right to all jewels found in his country; hence the cow +belonged of right to him, a deduction which is not contrary to certain +rules in the book of the law. Vasishtha refuses to part with the cow; +and Viçvamitra resolves to take her by force from the saint. The cow +urges her master to resist; wide and powerful as Viçvamitra's rule may +be, he is not more mighty than Vasishtha is; the wise praise not the +might of the warriors, the power of the Brahmans is greater. Instead of +the means of subsistence, with the production of which she has hitherto +been contented, she now brings forth different armies from the different +parts of her body; and when these are conquered by the warriors of +Viçvamitra, she goes on producing new armies till the host of the king +is destroyed. Then the hundred sons of Viçvamitra filled with rage rush +on Vasishtha; but the saint consumes them by the flame of meditation +which proceeds from his mouth. Viçvamitra acknowledges with shame the +superiority of the Brahman over the Kshatriya; he resolves to overcome +Vasishtha by penances. He goes into the forest, stands on his toes for +one hundred years, lives on air only, and in this way acquires the +possession of heavenly arms. With these he hastens to the settlement of +Vasishtha; sets it on fire by the heavenly arrows, and then hurls a +fiery weapon at the Brahman. Vasishtha cries aloud: "Vile Kshatriya, now +will I show thee what the strength of a warrior is!" and with his staff +easily wards off even the arms of the gods. With no better success +Viçvamitra throws the toils of Varuna, and even Brahman's dreadful +weapons against Vasishtha, who beats them away with his staff, "which +burned like a second sceptre of Yama." With sighs Viçvamitra +acknowledges that the might of kings and warriors is nothing, that only +the Brahmans possess true power, and now attempts by severe penances to +elevate himself to be a Brahman. He proceeds to the south, and undergoes +the severest mortifications. After a thousand years of penance Brahman +allows him the rank of a wise king. But he wishes to be a Brahman, and +therefore begins his penances over again. Triçanku, the son of Prithu, +the pious king of the Koçalas (p. 149), had bidden his priest Vasishtha +exalt him with his living body to heaven by a great sacrifice. Vasishtha +declares that this is impossible. Triçanku repairs to Viçvamitra, who +offers the sacrifice. But the gods do not descend to the sacrificial +meal. Then Viçvamitra in anger seizes the ladle, and says to Triçanku: +"By my own power I will exalt you to heaven. Receive the power of +sanctity which I have gained by my penances. I have certainly earned +some reward for them." Triçanku at once rose to heaven; but Indra +refused him admittance, and Triçanku began to sink again. In anger +Viçvamitra begins to found another heaven in the south, new gods and new +stars. Then the gods humbly entreat the saint to desist from conveying +Triçanku into heaven, but Viçvamitra had given his promise to Triçanku; +he must keep his word, and the gods must receive Triçanku. Then +Viçvamitra repairs to the west in order to begin further penances. After +a thousand years Brahman hails him as a sage. But Viçvamitra is resolved +to be a Brahman. He begins his penances once more, but is disturbed by +the sight of an Apsarasa, whom he sees bathing in the lake of Pushkara, +and for ten years he lies in her toils. Disgusted at his weakness +Viçvamitra repairs to the northern mountain, and there again undergoes +yet severer penances for a thousand years. Brahman now greets him as a +great sage; but Viçvamitra wishes to have the incomparable title of a +wise Brahman. This Brahman refuses because he has not yet fully mastered +his sensual desires. New penances begin; Viçvamitra raises his arms +aloft, stands on one leg, remains immovable as a post, feeds on nothing +but air, is surrounded in the hot season by four fires, and in the cold +by water, etc.--all which goes on for a thousand years. The gods are +alarmed at the power which Viçvamitra obtains by such penances, and +Indra sends the Apsarasa Rambha to seduce the penitent. Viçvamitra +resists, but allows himself to be transported with rage, and turns the +nymph into a stone. But anger also belongs to the sensual man, and must +be subdued. He leaves the Himalayas, repairs to the east, and there +resolves to perform the most severe penance; he will not speak a word, +and this penance he performs for a thousand years, standing on one leg +like a statue. The gods now beseech Brahman to make Viçvamitra a +Brahman, otherwise by the power of his penances he will bring the three +worlds to destruction; soon would the sun be quenched before the majesty +of the penitent. Brahman consents; all the gods go to Viçvamitra, pay +him homage and salute him: "Hail, wise Brahman!" Vasishtha hears of this +new dignity of Viçvamitra, and both now stand on the same footing. This +narrative teaches us not only that the power of the gods was nothing as +against the Brahmans, but also that it was easier to exercise compulsion +upon the gods, to create new gods and new stars, than for any one to +attain the rank of a Brahman who had been born as a Kshatriya.[370] + +Like Viçvamitra the heroes of antiquity were thought to have obtained +divine power by their penances. An episode, inserted by the Brahmans +into the Mahabharata, tells us how Arjuna, when the Pandus had been +banished into the forest after the second game of dice at Hastinapura, +practises severe penances on the Himavat, in order to obtain the weapons +of the gods for the conflict against the Kurus. Indra sends his chariot +in order to convey him to heaven, and there, in the heaven of Indra, +everything shines with a peculiar splendour. Here are the gods, the +heroes fallen in battle, sages and penitents by hundreds, who have +attained to the height of Indra, but not, as yet, to Brahman. Instead of +the blowing winds, his old companions in the fight, Indra is now +surrounded by troops of the Gandharvas, the heavenly musicians, and by +the Apsarasas. The gods and saints greet Arjuna to the sound of shells +and drums, and, as servants, wash his feet and mouth. Indra sits like +the king of the Indians under the yellow umbrella, with a golden staff +in his hands; he gives his bow to Arjuna; Yama, Varuna, and Kuvera (p. +160) also give him their weapons. Thus armed, Arjuna subdues in the +first place the Danavas, the sons of Danu (the evil spirits of darkness +and drought), whom Indra himself cannot overcome. For this object Indra +gives him his chariot, which is now yoked with ten thousand yellow +horses, and harness impenetrable as the air. Beyond the sea Arjuna comes +upon the hosts of the Danavas. They cover him with missiles, and then +contend with magic arts, with rain of stones and water and storms, and +shroud everything in darkness. Arjuna is victorious, though the Danavas, +at last changed into mountains, throw themselves upon him; and thus, as +is expressly said, he surpasses the achievements of Indra. Indra's +conflicts with the demons are transferred to Arjuna. We see to what an +extent the soaring fancy of the Brahmans has crushed and distorted by +these extravagances the simple and beautiful conception of Indra in +conflict with Vritra and Atri, the poetry of the ancient myth of Indra's +battle in the storm[371] (p. 48). + +It was a marvellous world which the imagination of the Brahmans had +created. The gay pictures, excited and nourished in the mind of the +Indians by the nature of the Ganges valley, became reflected in more +and more distorted and peculiar forms in the legends and wonders of the +great saints and heroes of the ancient time. The gods and spirits are +perpetually interfering in the life and actions of men. The saints +without intermission convulsed the sky, and played at will with the laws +of nature. The more the desire for the marvellous was satisfied, the +stronger it became. In order to go beyond what had been already achieved +brighter colours must be laid on; the power of the imagination must be +excited more vigorously, so as to enchain once more the over-excited and +wearied spirit. Thus, for the Indians, the boundaries of heaven and +earth gradually disappeared; the world of gods and that of men became +confounded in a formless chaos. The arrangement of the orders was of +divine origin; the gradations of being reached from the world-soul, +through the saints, the gods and spirits, down to plants and animals. +The earth was peopled with wandering souls; sacrifice, asceticism, and +meditation set man free not only from the impurity of sin, but also from +the laws of nature. They gave him powers transcending nature, which +raised him above the earth and the gods, secured divine power for him, +and carried him back to the origin and essence of all things. + +However fantastic this structure, the positive basis of it was supposed +to be revelation or the Veda. Extensive as the commentaries became owing +to the rivalry of the schools, vast as were the accumulations of ritual +and legends, of verbal explanations and sentences of the saints--the +main questions became only the more obscure. What saint was qualified to +decide? Which school taught the correct doctrine? By whom and in what +way was the Veda revealed? Were the words or the sense of the poems +decisive? How were the undeniable contradictions, the opposition +between various passages, to be removed? In order to obtain a firm +footing the Brahmans found themselves invariably driven back to the idea +of the world-soul. If in the interpretation of the words and the meaning +of the Veda, in the effort to smoothe down the contradictions between +them, and the necessity of finding a consistent mode of explanation and +proof, the Indian acuteness and delicate power of distinction grew into +a hair-splitting division of words and ideas, into the most minute and +complicated logic, the conception of the world-soul, the theories of the +creation, impelled them, on the other hand, to explain the whole life of +the world from one source, and to compass it with one measure. + +Forced as they were in these two directions, they were unavoidably +brought at last to attempt to establish the theory independently, to +construct Brahman and the world out of their nature and ideas. In all +advanced stages of rational thought, fancy, or its reverse-side, +abstraction, has seldom omitted to reflect the whole world as an +organised unity in the brain of man, and to bring the oppressive +multitude of things under some general conceptions and points of view. +In the schools of the Brahmans it was the formal side of these +philosophical efforts, the method of inquiry and investigation, in +connection with the sacred scriptures, religious traditions, and the +attempts to fix the interpretation of them, which was specially +developed. On the other hand, the anchorites in the forest opposed these +efforts from the opposite direction with the combined body of religious +conceptions, with their views of Brahman. The highest object of the +eremite was meditation, absorption in Brahman. The more uniform their +own lives, the stiller the life around them, the greater the ferment in +their minds. When these penitents were weary of the world of gods and +marvels which occupied their dreams, when the endless multitude of +bright pictures confounded their senses, they turned to the central +conception of the world-soul, and attempted to think of this more +deeply, acutely, comprehensively, to see the connection of Brahman and +the world more clearly, and explain it more distinctly. As the fancy, +and consequently the abstracting power of the Indians, was always +superior to the power of division, and remained the basis of their view +of the world, their constructive speculation, which was occupied with +the contents of their religious conceptions, surpasses their powers of +formal thought. The latter had indeed no other office than to arrange +and organise the pictures supplied by the former. + +The attempt to construct a world on general principles was neither +peculiarly bold nor peculiarly new. The way was prepared by the idea of +the world-soul as the origin and essence of the gods and the world, and +the path was opened for a constructive philosophy, developing the world +out of ideas and thoughts by this abstract single deity existing beside +and above the plurality of mythological forms, the exaltation of the +saints above the gods, and the consequent degradation of the latter, the +perpetual suspension of the natural order of things by the +transcendental and mystical world of the gods and saints, the removal of +the boundaries between heaven and earth, and the constant confusion of +the two worlds. After this, there was nothing remarkable in putting +abstract ideas in the place of the gods, and removing entirely the +distinction between the transcendental world and the world of sense. In +fact, the philosophy of the Indians is, in the first instance, nothing +but the dogmatism of the Brahmans translated into abstractions--nothing +but scholasticism, and their philosophical ethics no less than their +religious require the liberation from the body. + +Like all the productions of the Indian mind, with the exception of the +Veda, the philosophical systems of the Indians, which arose in the +seventh and sixth century B.C., are no longer before us in their +original shape. We only possess them in a pointed compendious form which +could not have been obtained without long labours, many revisions and +reconstructions--and which is in reality of quite recent date. We are +not in a position to ascertain the previous or intermediate stages +through which the Brahmans passed before they brought their system to a +close; here, as everywhere in India, the later forms have completely +absorbed their predecessors, the fathers are lost in the children. Hence +we can only guess at the original form of these philosophical systems. +Still the order of succession, and the essential contents, are fixed not +only on internal evidence--by the unalterable progress of development, +which cannot be passed over--but also by the fragments of genuine old +Indian philosophy contained in the system of Buddha, and in their turn +presupposing the existence of certain ideas and points of view.[372] + +The oldest system of the Indians contains much more theology than +philosophy. In part proceeding from the sacred scriptures and the +traditional side of religion, it is an explanation of the Veda; in part +it is an attempt to found a dogma on a basis of its own, on +philosophical construction. In this sense, regarded as exegetical +theology brought to a close by philosophical proof of dogma, this system +is denoted by the name Vedanta, _i.e._ end or object of the Veda. +Combined with the portion explanatory of the Veda, it is also +called Mimansa, _i.e._ inquiry; and the section which expounds +the ceremonial side of religion bears the name of the first or +work-investigation--Karma-mimansa; the speculative part is called +Uttara-mimansa (metaphysics), or Brahma-mimansa, _i.e._ investigation of +Brahman. The method of the first part, the investigation of works, is +obviously taken from the requirements of the situation at the moment, +and the process common in the schools of the Brahmans; the object was to +establish a definite kind of interpretation for explanation and +exegesis, and the development of dogma from the passages in the Veda. On +the consideration of a subject follows the doubt or the contradiction, +which has been or can be raised on the other side. The contradiction is +met by refutation on counter-grounds. This negative proof is followed by +positive proof, that the view of the opponents is in itself untenable +and worthless, and last comes the final proof of the thesis maintained +by demonstration that it agrees with the whole system. In this manner we +find philosophy treating first the authority of revealed scriptures, the +Veda, then the relation of tradition to it, the statements of the sages, +the commentary on the revelation. Then the variations and coincidences +of revelation and their inner connection are developed, and so the +system passes on to the explanation of the Veda. It is shown that all +passages in the Veda point directly or indirectly to the one Brahman. +At certain passages it is shown how a part of these plainly and another +part obscurely refer to Brahman, though even the latter refer to it as a +being worthy of divine reverence; another part of the passages in the +Veda point to Brahman as something beyond our knowledge. The +contradictions between the passages in the Veda are proved to be only +apparent. These explanations of the passages in the Veda are followed by +the doctrine of good works, as the means of salvation, which are either +external, like the observation of the ceremonial, the laws of +purification, or internal like the quieting and taming of the senses, +the hearing and understanding of revelation, and the acknowledgment of +Brahman.[373] + +The other part of the system, the Vedanta, leaves out of sight the +difficult task of proving the idea of Brahman from the Veda, and +bringing the two into harmony; it attempts to derive the existence and +nature of Brahman from the idea. Brahman--such is the line of argument +in the Vedanta--is the one eternal, self-existent essence, unalterable +and unchangeable. It developes into the world, and is thus creative and +created. As milk curdles, as water becomes snow and ice, Brahman +congeals into matter. It becomes first ether, then air, then fire, then +water, and then from water it becomes earth. From these elements arise +the finer and coarser bodies, with which the souls of the gods, spirits, +men and animals are clothed. These souls go forth from Brahman like +sparks from a crackling fire--a metaphor common in the book of the +law--they are of one essence with Brahman, and parts of the great +world-soul. This soul is in the world, but also outside and above it; to +it must everything return, for all that is not Brahman is impure, +without foundation, and perishable. + +In this view there lies a contradiction which could not escape the keen +penetration of a reflective spirit. Brahman is intended to be not only +the intellectual but also the material basis of the world. It is +regarded as absolutely non-material, eternal, and unchangeable, and yet +the material, changeable world is to rise out of it; the sensible out of +the non-sensible and the material out of the immaterial. In order to +remove this dualism and contradiction which the orthodox doctrine +introduced into Brahman, the speculation of the Brahmans seized upon a +means which if simple was certainly bold: they denied the whole sensible +world; they allowed matter to be lost in Brahman. There is only one +Being; this is the highest soul (_paramatman_, p. 131), and besides this +there is nothing: what seems to exist beyond this is mere illusion. The +world, _i.e._ matter, does not exist, but only seems to exist, and the +cause of this illusion is Maya or deception. Of this the sensible world +is a product, like the reflection of the moon in water, and the mirage +in the desert. Nature is nothing but the play of illusion, appearing in +splendour and then disappearing. It is deception and nothing else which +presents various forms to men, where there is only unity without +distinction. The movement and action of living beings is not caused by +the sparks of Brahman dwelling in them--for Brahman is consistently +regarded as single and at rest--but by the bodies and senses, which +being of themselves appearance and deception, adopt and reflect the +deception of Maya. By this appearance the soul of man is kept in +darkness, _i.e._ in the belief that the external world exists, and the +man is subject to the emotions of pain and joy. In his actions man is +determined by appearance and by the perception arising out of +appearance. In truth Brahman alone exists. It is only deception which +allows the soul to believe that it has a separate existence, or that the +perceptible world exists, or that there is an existent manifold world. +This deceptive appearance of the world, which seems to darken the pure +Brahman as the clouds darken the brightness of the sun, must be removed +by the investigation which teaches us the truth, that the only existing +being is the highest being, the world-soul. In this way the delusion of +a multiform world disappears. As the sunlight dispels mists, true +knowledge dispels ignorance, and destroys the glamour of Maya. This +knowledge is the way to liberation and the highest salvation. The +liberation of men from appearance, from the senses and the world of the +sense, from the emotions arising from these, is the knowledge that this +world of the senses does not exist, that the soul of a man is not +separated from the highest soul. Thus man finds the direct path from the +sensible world, the body and separate existence, to Brahman, by active +thought which penetrates deception. The sage declares: "It is not so, it +is not so;" he knows that the highest soul is all, and that he himself +is Brahman. Recognising himself as the eternal, changeless Brahman, he +passes into the world-soul; he who knows Brahman reposes in it beyond +reach of error. As the rivers flowing to the ocean disappear in it, +losing their names and form, so the man of knowledge liberated from his +name and his form passes into the highest eternal spirit. He who knows +this highest Brahman is freed from trouble and sin; from the bonds of +the body and the eye; he is lost in Brahman, and becomes himself +Brahman.[374] + +We cannot but acknowledge the capacity of the Indians for philosophic +speculations, and the vigour of thought which for the first time in +history maintained the thesis that our senses deceive us; that all which +surrounds us is appearance and deception--which denies the whole world +of things, and in opposition to the evidence of the tangible and actual +world, boldly sets up the inward capacity of knowledge, as a criterion +against which the evidence of the senses is not to be taken into +consideration. For a long time the actual world had been resolved into +the transcendental world of gods and saints; this is now contracted into +a simple substance, beyond and besides which nothing exists but +appearance. Instead of the appearance of the sensible world, in which +there is no being, there exists one real being, the one invisible +world-soul, which allows the corporeal world to arise into appearance +from it like airy bladders, and then again to sink back whence it came. +This universal deity is conceived as a being at rest; its activity and +development into a sensible world is only apparent. It is a Pantheism +which annihilates the world; matter and nature are completely absorbed +by the world-soul, are plunged and buried in it; the soul of a man is a +being only apparently separated from the world-soul. From these notions +the mission of a man becomes clear. He must turn from appearance; he +must unite with the world-soul by recognising the fact that all +perceptions and emotions come from the world of phenomena, and +therefore do not really exist; he must rise to the conception that only +Brahman exists, and that man is Brahman. If from an ancient period the +Indians were of opinion that they could draw down the gods to men by the +holy spirit ruling in their prayers and sacrifices--if the mortification +of the flesh in penances can give divine power and force to men--their +philosophy is no more than consistent, when by recognising the +worthlessness of sensible existence it allows Brahman to wake in the +human spirit, and thus re-establishes the unity of man with Brahman. + +The system of the Vedanta carried out the idea of Brahman so +consistently that the entire actual existence of the world is thus +annihilated. When once interest in speculation had been aroused, the +reaction against positions of this kind was inevitable. The reality of +actual things, the existence of matter, the certainty of the individual +existence, must be defended against such a doctrine. On these factors +was founded a new system, of which the founder in the tradition of the +Brahmans is called the Rishi Kapila. The name Sankhya given to this +system means "enumeration," "consideration." It maintains that reason +alone is in a position to lead man to a right view, to truth and +liberation.[375] It also exhibits the boldness arising from the fanciful +nature of the Indians; and as the Vedanta took up a position on the idea +of Brahman in order to wrest the world from its foundations, the Sankhya +system stands on the idea of the soul (_purusha_) and of nature or +matter (_prakriti, pradhana_). These two alone have existed from the +beginning, uncreated and eternal. Nature is uncreated and eternal, +creative and without cognition; the soul is also uncreated and eternal; +it is not creative but has cognition. All that exists is the effect of a +cause. The effect is limited in time and extension, subject to change, +and can be resolved into its origin, _i.e._ into its cause. As every +effect supposes a cause, every product supposes a producing force, every +limited an unlimited. If the limited or product is pursued from cause to +cause, there results the unlimited, eternal, creative, _i.e._ producing, +nature as the first cause of all that is produced and limited. But +beside nature there exists a second first cause. Nature is blind, _i.e._ +without cognition; "light cannot arise out of darkness," intelligence +cannot be the effect of nature. The cause of intelligence is the soul, +which though completely distinct from nature exists beside it. Nature is +eternal and one; the soul is also eternal, but manifold. Were the soul +one, it could not feel pain in one man at the same time that it feels +joy in another. The soul exists as the plurality of individual souls; +these existed from the beginning, and are eternal beside nature. But +they also entered into nature from the beginning. Their first case is +the primeval body (_linga_), which consists essentially of "I-making" +(_ahankara_), _i.e._ individualisation, and the primeval elements; the +second material body consists of the five coarse elements of ether, air, +light, water, earth. Neither the soul nor the primeval body dies, but +only the material body.[376] The primeval body accompanies the soul +through all its migrations; the material body is created anew at the +regenerations, _i.e._ the soul and the primeval body are constantly +clothed anew with new materials. The soul itself is uncreated, +unchangeable amidst all mutations, and eternal, but it does not carry +the consciousness of itself from one body to another. The soul is not +creative; it exercises no influence on nature; it is only perceptive, +observant, cognising, only a witness of nature. Nature is illumined by +the proximity of the soul, and the soul gives witness of nature; nature +takes its light from the soul, just as a white crystal appears red in +the proximity of a red substance.[377] + +The object of human life is to obtain liberation from the fetters of the +body which bind the soul. The office of true knowledge is to set the +soul free from the body, from nature. Man must grasp the difference of +the soul and the body; he must understand that beside the body and +nature, the soul is a completely self-existent being. The union of the +soul and the body is nothing but deception, error, appearance. "In +truth, the soul is neither bound nor free, nor a wanderer; nature alone +is bound or free or migratory."[378] The soul seems to be bound to +nature, but is not so. This appearance must be removed; the soul must +recognise that it is not nature. When the soul has once penetrated +nature it turns from it, and nature turns from the soul. The "unveiling +of the spirit" from the case of nature is the liberation of the soul; by +knowledge "release is brought about; by its opposite bondage."[379] By +conceiving the absolute independence of the soul, man sets himself free +from nature and his body; the idea of this independence is release. With +this idea the man of knowledge surrenders his body; he is no longer +affected or disturbed by it; even though his natural life continues, he +looks on the body only "as on the movement of the wheel by virtue of the +impulse once communicated to it."[380] + +In spite of the sharp contrast in which the doctrine of Kapila stands to +the system of the Vedanta, it works, in the last resort, with analogous +factors, only it applies them differently. The soul and nature were put +in the place of Brahman and Maya. Instead of the one intelligent +principle, which the Vedanta establishes in the world-soul, Kapila +maintains the plurality of individual spirits. In the Vedanta, it is +true, nature exists as an illusion only: still it is a factor, which +though it is also appearance, is nevertheless an existence, and in the +last resort exists in Brahman; it has ever to be overcome anew, and thus +in this system of unity, the basis is really a dualism. In the Sankhya +doctrine nature is actually and materially existent; but the intelligent +principle has to discover that this actually existent matter is, in +truth, not existent for it, and cannot fetter the soul. If in the +orthodox system the illusion of nature is to be annihilated by the free +passage of the individual into Brahman, the doctrine of Kapila requires +in the same way that man should rise to the idea that he is not nature, +that the body is not his being, that he is not matter; it requires that +man should be conscious of his freedom from nature, that he should +return to his independence, in the same way as the Vedanta requires the +absorption into Brahman. Then in the one case, as in the other, the +individual escapes the restless movement of the world. In both systems +the connection of the spirits and nature is only apparent, and the power +of this deception in the spirit is removed by knowledge. Both proceed +from the idea of an eternal being, self-contained, at rest, unmoved, +self-sufficient; this the Vedanta ascribes to Brahman, while the Sankhya +explains it as the nature of the soul. Nevertheless there is an +important difference. In the Sankhya the intellectual principle is not +the divine world-soul, which permits everything to emanate from itself +and return to itself; it is the individual self, and besides this and +material nature there is no real being, no real essence. If in the +Vedanta liberation is the identification with the world-soul or the +Godhead, liberation in the Sankhya is the retirement of the soul into +itself. According to the Vedanta the liberated man says, I am Brahman; +according to the Sankhya, I am not body nor nature.[381] + +In the certainty of conviction which the Sankhya doctrine opposed to the +orthodox system, in the clearness with which it drew out the +consequences of its point of view, in the boldness of scepticism +concerning the gods and revelation, in the courage with which it +protested against the regulations of the priests, and the whole +religious tradition of the people, lies its importance. By following the +rules of the Veda, so said the adherents of this philosophy, no peace +can be obtained; the means prescribed by the Veda are neither pure nor +of sufficient efficacy. How could it be a pure act to shed blood?--how +could sacrifices and ceremonies be of sufficient force? If they really +conferred the blessing of heaven, it could only be for a short time; the +blessing would merely last till the soul assumed a new body. Temporal +means could not give any eternal liberation from evil. The adherents of +Kapila explained the gods, including Brahman, to be souls, not much +distinguished from the souls of men; the more advanced denied their +existence altogether. There was no supreme soul, they said, and no god. +Even if there were a god, he must either be free from the world, or +connected with it. He cannot be free, for in that case nothing would +move him to creation, and if he were connected with the world he would +be limited by it, and could not be omniscient.[382] Thus not only were +the whole doctrine of Brahman and the whole system of gods overthrown, +but the authority of the Veda was annihilated on which the Brahmans +founded their belief no less than the worship by sacrifice, and with it +all revelation, all the positive basis of religious life. The doctrine +of Kapila found adherents. From orthodox scholasticism the Indian +philosophy very rapidly arrived at rationalism and scepticism, though +the latter, like the correct system, moved in scholastic forms and ended +with an unsolved dualism. + +While in this manner one constructive system superseded the other, the +formal side of knowledge did not remain without a keen and penetrating +examination. The objects and means of knowledge were tested; men +occupied themselves with fixing the categories of the idea, of doubt, of +contradiction, of fallacies, of false generalisation, and conversion; +and at last inquiries were made into the syllogism and the members of +it, and more especially into the categories of cause and effect. +Researches of this kind quickly grew into a system, the Nyaya or logic, +which chiefly used the results of the theory of knowledge to establish +the authority of the Veda, and overthrow the arguments brought against +the revelation of it.[383] In themselves, at any rate in the late form +in which we have them, the logical researches of the Indians are +scarcely behind the similar works of modern times in the acuteness and +subtilty of their categories. + +In the period between the years 800 and 600 B.C. the valley of the +Ganges must have been filled with the stir of intellectual life. No +doubt the times were long past when the ancient hymns of the Veda were +sung at the place of sacrifice, when the poems of victory and the heroic +deeds of men--the Epos in its original form--were recited at the courts +of princes or the banquets of the military nobility--the Kshatriyas. The +contest of the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas was also over; the Brahmans +had not only gained currency for their teaching in the sphere of +religion and the state, but had already developed it to its +consequences. They put before the princes and the people the canon of +correct life, of purity, of sins and penalties, of punishments beyond +the grave and regenerations, and held up the true law to the state. They +revised the Epos from their point of view; they established the ritual, +they justified every declaration and every ordinance in it from the +Veda, the sacred history; they explained the words and the sense of the +Veda; they went beyond the opposition of schools and authorities to +independent examination of the idea of Brahman, of the causes and +connection of the world, and to speculative philosophy. They have so +far succeeded that no nation has devoted its interest and power to +religion to the same degree as the Indians. The longer they lingered in +the magic world of gods and spirits, into which they were plunged by the +sacrifices, legends, and doctrines of the Brahmans, the more familiar +they became with these dreams, the more passive must they have grown to +the actual and prosaic connection of things, the more indifferent to the +processes going on in the world of reality. Hence in the end the Indians +knew more of the world of the gods than of the things of the earth; they +lived in the next world rather than in this. The world of fancy became +their fatherland, and heaven was their home. The more immutable the +limits of the castes, the heavier the taxation of the state, the greater +the caprice of the officers, the less the space left for the will or act +of the individual, the more uniform the life,--the more did the people +become accustomed to seek their fears and hopes in the kingdom of +fancies and dreams, in the world to come. Excluded from action in the +state, the Indians turned the more eagerly to the questions of worship +and dogma; for that was the only sphere in which movement found nothing +to check it, and the separation of the people into a number of tribes, +the mutual exclusiveness of the castes and local communities limited the +common feeling of the nation on the Ganges to the faith which they all +acknowledged. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[345] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2, 80. + +[346] M. Müller, "Hist. Anc. Skt. Lit." p. 469 ff. + +[347] "Rigveda," 1, 162, according to M. Müller's translation, _loc. +cit._ p. 553 ff. + +[348] "Çatapatha-Brahmana," 13, 3, 1, 1, in M. Müller, _loc. cit._ p. 37 +ff. + +[349] "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 1, 11 ff. A. Weber, "Vorles." s. 126^2. + +[350] "Vishnu-Purana," ed. Wilson, p. 470, 471. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." +2^2, 319, 346, 963, 1001. + +[351] M. Müller has placed the period of the origin of the Brahmanas in +the period from 800 to 600 B.C.--very successfully, so far as I can see. +The collection of the Atharvan will belong to the end of this period, +but not merely on the internal ground of the increase in the ceremonial +brought about with and through the Brahmanas. The book of the law +consistently cites the triple Veda; the sutras of the Buddhists and the +Epos as consistently cite four. That the magic formulas of Atharvan and +Angiras are quoted in Manu 11, 33, and not those of the Atharvaveda, +seems also to prove that the latter collection was not made when the +citations were written. Cp. A. Weber, "Vorl." s. 165^2. + +[352] "Rigveda," 10, 9, 5-7. + +[353] "Atharvaveda," 5, 19, 2, 1-5. + +[354] Darmesteter, "Haurvatat," p. 74. + +[355] "Atharvaveda," 2, 9. + +[356] "Atharvaveda," 1, 25, 2, 8, quoted by Grohmann in Weber's "Ind. +Stud." 9, 391, 403, 406 ff. If Takman is called Deva, this is due to the +connection in which he is placed with Varuna. Varuna sends diseases as +punishments, dropsy, as a water-god, but fever also, and thus Takman can +be called the son of Varuna. + +[357] "Rigveda," 1, 50, 11, 12; 10, 97. + +[358] Kuhn in his "Zeitschrift f. v. s." 13, 140 ff., where the +coincidence of the German language is pointed out. + +[359] M. Müller, "Hist. Anc. Skt. Lit." p. 230 ff.; 245 ff. A. Weber, +"Vorles." s. 48^2. + +[360] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 456. M. Müller, _loc. cit._ p. 305. +Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 474. + +[361] In the Brahmanas we only find traces of a quinquennial or +sexennial cycle. A. Weber, in "Z. D. M. G." 15, 132. The worship of the +Nakshatras, or houses of the moon, _i.e._ the division of the sky into +27 (later 28) parts by means of certain constellations as marks, is +first found in a developed form in Buddha's time, as is proved by +Burnouf and A. Weber ("Abh. d. Berl. Akad.," 1861, s. 320). Weber does +not believe in the Indian origin of these stations of the moon; he +regards them as Semitic, and borrowed from Babylonia, _loc. cit._ s. +363. The inquiry at what time these marks for the course of the moon +according to the position of the stars were made astronomical has led to +various results. Biot regards the year 2357 B.C. as the earliest point +(the original number of 24 stations was increased to 28 about the year +1100 B.C.). A. Weber thinks that the period between 1472 and 536 B.C. is +the space within which the observation of the Jyotisha was fixed +("Studien," 2, 240, 413, 414. "Abh. d. Berl. Akad." 1860, s. 284; 1861, +s. 354, 364), and shows that the use of these houses of the moon in +China, in the order usual there, cannot be proved before 250 B.C. The +Chinese order corresponds to the latest Indian arrangement of the +Nakshatras, cf. "Ind. Stud." 9, 424 ff., whereas the length given in the +Jyotisha for the longest and shortest day, suits the position of +Babylon, _loc. cit._ 1861, s. 361. The Veda knows the Nakshatras as +stars but not as stations of the moon, though they are known as the +latter in the Brahmanas. The Vedic names of several of the gods who +preside over the stations (Aryaman, Bhaga, etc.) prove a tolerably +ancient origin for the Nakshatras. The civic computation of time among +the Buddhists is founded on them. Hence we may assume that this division +of the sky was perhaps current among the Indians in the tenth century +B.C. + +[362] A. Weber, in "Abh. d. Berl. Akad." 1861, s. 291. + +[363] Manu, 3, 162; 6, 50. + +[364] A. Weber, "Vorl." s. 224 ff. The first traces of astrology in the +strict sense besides the mention in the book of the law are found in the +sutras of the Buddhists, _e.g._ in Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 140, 141, if +we do not prefer the accounts of the Greeks to those legends which were +written in Magadhi (Pali) the native language of Magadha, and the +central Ganges in general, and have come down in the form which they +received in the middle of the third century B.C., but also contain +fragments of far greater antiquity. In any case, preference must be +given to the simple sutras (Burn. _loc. cit._ p. 232), and these lay +great stress on the astrology and soothsaying of the Brahmans. After +this we meet with numerous traces of astrology in the Epos; but the +law-book of Yajnavalkya is the first to command the worship of planets. + +[365] M. Müller, _loc. cit._ p. 109 ff. + +[366] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 3, 245 ff. + +[367] A. Weber, "Indische Studien," 9, 2, 72, 74. + +[368] Manu, 1, 33-40, 61, ff. + +[369] Manu, 9, 31-34; 313-322. + +[370] "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 1, 51-65. In this extended form this +episode may, it is true, have first arisen at a much later time, as is +shown by the mention of Vishnu and Çiva, and the Yavanas (Greeks). If in +spite of these additions which are not important, I confidently place it +at this date, I do so because the importance of the penitent and his +power over the gods, the creation of beings by the penance of saints, +_i.e._ the degradation of the gods, must be placed before the appearance +of Buddha. This is the essential hypothesis for the religion which the +doctrine of Buddha found in existence. In the Mahabharata this legend is +told more briefly. Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 196 ff. + +[371] A. Weber, "Ind. Stud." 1, 414. + +[372] The Sankhya system, which Buddha found in existence, presupposes +the Vedanta system. The latter system must therefore have been in +existence before Buddha; Roer, "Lecture on the Sankhya Philosophy," +Calcutta, 1854, p. 19. The Vedanta is expressly mentioned in Manu, 2, +160, as belonging to the study of the Veda. The names Mimansa and Nyaya +are also mentioned in Manu, but only in the final part, which is very +loosely connected with the whole (12, 109, 111). + +[373] Colebrooke, "Miscellaneous Essays," 1, 325 ff. M. Müller, +"Beiträge zur Kenntniss der indischen Philosophie" in Z. D. M. G. 6, 6, +7. + +[374] Colebrooke, "Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society," II, 1. +Vans Kennedy, "Asiatic Journal," 1839, p. 441 ff. Köppen, "Religion des +Buddha," s. 57 ff. Wuttke, "Geschichte des Heidenthums," 2, 257, 281, +399 + +[375] It is in the later Upanishads that we first find the doctrine of +Kapila called by the name Sankhya, Weber, "Vorles." s. 212; "Ind. Stud." +9, 17. As with the Vedanta system, so also with the Sankhya: in the +Sankhya-Karika we have only a very late and compressed exposition in 72 +çlokas; but as Buddhism is founded on this system we are more certain +about the earlier form of it than in the case of the Vedanta. + +[376] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 511. + +[377] Roer, "Lecture," p. 15; Köppen, "Religion des Buddha," s. 65. + +[378] "Sankhya-Karika," çl. 63. + +[379] "Sankhya-Karika," çl. 44. Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 520, 522. + +[380] "Sankhya-Karika," çl. 67. By the side of this keen scepticism the +system of the Sankhya allows the gradation of creatures as fixed by the +Brahmans to remain, and the migration of souls with some slight +modifications. The lowest stage is formed by the minerals; above these +are the plants, reptiles, birds, wild animals, domestic animals. These +are followed by men in the order of the castes; and then come the +regenerations in the form of demons, Piçachas, Rakshasas, Yakshas and +Gandharvas; and last in the form of Indra, Soma, Prajapati, Brahman. +Barthelemy St. Hilaire, "sur le Sankhya," p. 286. + +[381] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 69. + +[382] Roer, "Lecture on the Sankhya Phil." p. 14; "Introduction to the +Çvetaçvatara-upanishad," p. 36; cf. "Sankhya-Karika," çl. 53-55. Muir, +"Sanskrit Texts," 3, 133 ff. + +[383] Muir, _loc. cit._ 3, 108 ff. + + + + +BOOK VI. + +BUDDHISTS AND BRAHMANS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE STATES ON THE GANGES IN THE SIXTH CENTURY B.C. + + +The list of the kings of Magadha, preserved not only among the Brahmans, +but from the seventh century B.C. downwards among the Buddhists who then +came forward to oppose them, allow us to assert with tolerable accuracy +that the dynasty of the Pradyotas, which ascended the throne of Magadha +in the year 803 B.C., was succeeded in 665 B.C. by another family, known +to the Brahmans as the Çaiçunagas.[384] The first two kings of this +house were Kshemadharman and Bhattya (the Kshatraujas of the Brahmans). +In 603 B.C. Bhattya was succeeded by his son Bimbisara. In the reign of +this king, according to the ancient sutras of the Buddhists, justice, +morals, and religion were regulated in Magadha and the neighbouring +states according to the wishes of the Brahmans. In these narratives we +find the rules of the law-book generally recognised and carried out in +all essential points, and in some respects they are even transcended. +The system of exclusive castes is complete. The stricter marriage law, +forbidding union with a woman of another caste, is victorious over the +more liberal view that the husband fixed the caste. "Brahmans marry +Brahmans only, nobles only nobles; a man takes a wife only from an equal +family."[385] Within the castes those of equal position are divided into +separate corporations. Among the Vaiçyas and Çudras, merchants, +artisans, barbers, form special castes, in which the occupation of the +father descends to the son; the son of a merchant is a merchant, and the +son of a butcher a butcher.[386] The laws on the order of the castes and +forbidden food were strictly observed. The lower and impure castes +thoroughly believe in their vocation. The Kshatriya, though sick to +death, refuses to take even as a remedy the forbidden onion (p. 169), +which the physician hands to him.[387] The Chandalas give notice of +their approach that the higher castes may not be rendered impure by +contact with them; they eat dog's flesh as the law requires, and carry +the dead out beyond the gates of the city.[388] Invested with the holy +girdle, the Brahmans, as the law directs (p. 173), bear continually in +their hands the staff of bamboo and the pitcher of water for +purification. The learned among them are occupied with the study of the +Veda; they recite the hymns, instruct pupils, and hold discussions on +theology and philosophy. Occasionally the princes take an interest in +these learned contests, and cause the disputations to go on at their +courts in their presence; one king favours this system, another that; +one protects this school, the other a different school. The penitent +Brahmans live as anchorites in the forest, in the mountains, on the holy +lakes Ravanahadra and Manasa, under Kailasa, the lofty peak of the +Himalayas. Some live in complete solitude, others dwell in such a manner +that a whole circle of settlements lie close together.[389] The +neighbours now and then combine for disputation, others give themselves +up in deep solitude to meditation and mortification. At that time +hundreds of these penitents are said to have lived on the holy lakes, +and the severity of their exercises appears already to have exceeded the +requirements of the book of the law. Some fast, others sit between four +fires, others perpetually hold their hands above their heads, others lie +on hot ashes, others on a wooden bed covered with sharp points.[390] +Other Brahmans, and it would appear a considerable number, wander as +mendicants through the land; others pursue the newly-discovered +avocations of astrology and sooth-saying;[391] others avail themselves +of the permission of the book of the law to drive the plough, and carry +on the business of a merchant.[392] Others think that they will find an +easier path to maintenance and money if they present the kings with +poems written in their praise, or give their daughters to be received +into the harem of princes. Not all Brahmans could read and write: many +confounded _Om_ and _Bhur_.[393] + +The life of the opulent classes, had become, it is said, easy and +luxurious. In such circles no one went without a servant to carry the +parasol and keep off the flies. The physician was sent for in every case +of sickness, and poor men entreated him not to order too costly +remedies. The lot of the beggar was considered miserable, because he +could not have a physician in sickness, or obtain medicine.[394] +Industry and trade flourished in spite of the hindrances thrown in the +way by the system of caste, or the taxation, which, as is shown by many +indications beside the directions in the book of the law, was severe. +That Magadha, even before the sixth century, was the seat of a lively +trade, we may conclude from the fact that the merchants are called +simply "Magadhas" in the book of the law. Caravans under the guidance of +a chief convey the wares from one city to another on camels, elephants, +oxen, and asses, or on the shoulders of bearers, till the sea-coast is +reached. Stuffs and woven cloths, especially silk of Varanasi, +sandal-wood, saffron and camphor, horses from the north, "noble Sindhu +horses," are mentioned as the commonest articles of traffic.[395] As the +most important the book of the law enumerates precious stones, pearls, +corals, iron, woven cloths, perfumes and spices, and advises the man who +wishes to amass money quickly to go to sea; "he who will obtain wealth +most quickly must not despise the dangers and misery of the great +ocean." According to the statements of the sutras the merchants go by +hundreds over the sea. The costly sandal-woods of the Malabar coasts are +embarked at Çurparaka (which must no doubt be looked for at the mouth of +the Krishna); from thence men sailed past Tamraparni (Ceylon) in order +to buy precious stones on a distant island.[396] In the larger cities +the merchants formed corporations, the chiefs of which treat with the +kings in the names of the whole;[397] some especially-favoured merchants +obtained the privilege of receiving their wares free of toll. The great +merchants in the cities did not find it necessary to pay at once for the +wares which came from a distance. They printed their seal on the bales +which they would buy, and paid a small deposit.[398] The members of the +family work at their occupation in common; while one brother stays at +home and attends to the sale, the others go with the caravans or are at +sea.[399] In these circles no one marries till he has amassed a certain +sum of money. The profits of the merchants appear to have been easy and +large, though their journeys were attended with danger. They were not +only threatened with the exactions of tax-gatherers and attacks of +robbers, but were exposed to great temptations in the cities. Mistresses +could be found there, "whose bodies were soft as the lotus flower, and +shone in gay attire." These, no doubt, gave themselves up to the young +travellers at no inconsiderable price.[400] + +The kings of Magadha resided at Rajagriha, _i.e._ the king's house, a +city which lay to the south of the Ganges and the east of the Çona. The +sutras mention Prasenajit, king of the Koçalas, who, as already +remarked, lay on the Sarayu, and Vatsa, the son of Çatanika, king of the +Bharatas, as contemporaries of Bimbisara, king of Magadha, and his son +Ajataçatru. Hence the reigns of Prasenajit and Vatsa may be placed in +the first half and about the middle of the sixth century B.C. Both +princes are mentioned in the tradition of the Brahmans. In the +Vishnu-Purana, Prasenajit is the twenty-third ruler of the Koçalas after +the great war. Vatsa is the twenty-fifth successor of Parikshit, who is +said to have ascended the throne of Hastinapura after the victory and +abdication of the sons of Pandu.[401] The kings of the Koçalas had +built a new city, Çravasti, to the north of their ancient capital +Ayodhya; the kings of the Bharatas resided at Kauçambi on the Ganges. To +the north of the kingdom of Magadha, on the other bank of the Ganges, +lay the commonwealth of the Vrijis on the Gogari, and the kingdom of +Mithila; to the east on both shores of the Ganges were the Angas, whose +capital appears to have been Champa (in the neighbourhood of the modern +Bhagalpur); to the west of Magadha on the Ganges were the Kaçis, whose +capital was Varanasi (Benares). The colonies of the Arians had advanced +and their territory had been extended to the south both on the east and +west. This is not merely proved by the mention of Çurparaka, for the +sutras of the Buddhists tell us of a great Arian kingdom on the northern +spur of the Vindhyas, the metropolis of which was Ujjayini (Ozene in +western writers) on the Sipra, and adjoining this on the coast was the +kingdom of Surashtra (Guzerat).[402] + +The life of the kings on the Ganges is described by our authorities in +glowing colours. Their palaces are spacious, provided with gardens and +terraces for promenading. Besides the women and servants, the bodyguard +and the executioners clothed in blue are domiciled in the royal +citadels. The princes eat off silver and gold, and are clothed in silk +of Varanasi. Friendly princes make handsome presents to each other, +_e.g._ suits of armour adorned with precious stones.[403] Their edicts +and commands are composed in writing and stamped with the seal of +ivory.[404] The labours of government are relieved by the pleasures of +the chase. In sickness the princes are served with the most select +remedies. When Bimbisari's son and successor fell down one day in a +swoon, he was placed in six tubs full of fresh butter, and afterwards +in a seventh filled with the most costly sandal-wood.[405] The harem of +the king was numerous, and the women had great influence; the children +which they bore were suckled by nurses, of whom one child had at times +eight.[406] Any one who ventured to cast a look upon one of the wives of +the king forfeited his life. When one of the wives of Prasenajit, king +of the Koçalas, was walking in the evening on the terrace of the palace +she saw the handsome brother of the king, and threw him a bouquet; when +this came to the ears of Prasenajit, he caused the feet and hands of his +brother to be cut off.[407] The same cruel and barbarous character marks +all the punishments inflicted by the king. On the order of a king whose +mildness and justice are commended, all the inhabitants of the city are +said to have been put to death on account of an error committed by one +of them.[408] If any one had to make a communication to the king, or lay +any matter before him, he first besought that he might not be punished +for his words. No one approached the king without a present; least of +all merchants. Happy events were announced by princes to their cities by +the sound of bells. Stones, gravel, and dirt were then removed from the +streets, which were sprinkled with sandal-water and strewed with flowers +and garlands, and silken stuffs were hung along them. At certain +distances jars filled with frankincense were placed; and if a guest of +distinction was to be received the ways were cleansed for a considerable +space before the gates, smoothed, and perfumed, and furnished with +standards, parasols, and resting-places of flowers.[409] + +We have already remarked how unfamiliar the abstract god which the +Brahmans had placed at the head of their theory remained to the people, +both in his impersonal and personal form. They had been more deeply +influenced by the degradation of the old gods, introduced by the +Brahmans in consequence of their religious system (p. 287). Yet it was +not so much these doctrines which caused the old gods to lose their +primitive power, and complete charm over the hearts of men, as the fact +that the motives which now governed the life of the Aryas were wholly +different from those which had filled them in old days on the Indus. +Indra, the hurler of the thunder-bolt, had fought with the tribes whose +offering of Soma he had drunk. The storm of the elements characteristic +of the Panjab was unknown on the Ganges; and in the civilised conditions +of a peaceful, obedient, quiet life the old slayer of the demons could +no longer excite the lively feelings of the people. The Brahmans might +recede ever further from nature; the people, the peasants and herdmen, +remained in constant contact with her, and with the phenomena of the sky +and the vegetative life of the earth; they felt themselves continually +surrounded by the mighty operations of nature. The feeling and faith of +the people required a more personal, present, living power, which +assured them of help and protection. While the Brahmans wearied +themselves with abstractions and philosophic systems, the needs of the +multitude, the poetical vein of the Indian nation, its realism as +opposed to the spiritualism of the priests and Brahmans, struck out new +paths. So it came about that as the supreme deities of the most ancient +and the early periods faded away more and more, as Mitra and Varuna, +Indra and Ushas passed into the background, forms hitherto little +regarded rose up out of the circle of these spirits, which were akin to +the present instincts and needs of the nation, the immediate modes of +feeling, and in closer relation to them. This movement was not confined +to the people; within the circles of the Brahmans, who were not wholly +given up to abstractions, the want of a living power, governing the +world, could not but be felt.[410] + +In the hymns of the Rigveda a god Vishnu is invoked, though but little +prominence is given to him. He is called a friend and comrade of Indra; +it said of him that he walks over the seven parts of the earth; that he +plants his foot in three places. The "far-stepping" Vishnu is invited +with Mitra, Varuna, and Aryaman to give salvation. He dwells in the +height; his exalted habitation, where honey flows, beams with clear +light. He sustains trebly the sky, the earth, and all worlds; he walks +with three steps through the wide firmament. He walks through the worlds +to secure long life for men. Not even the soaring winged birds could +reach up to his third step. He hastens on to ally himself with the +beneficent Indra; he favours and protects the Aryas. Fired by hymns of +praise Vishnu himself yokes the mighty mares, and dashes into the battle +in his youth and strength, accompanied by the Maruts. "Friend Vishnu," +said Indra, when planning the death of Vritra, "step out wide; thou +heaven, give room, that the thunder-club may descend; let us smite +Vritra and set the waters free. O strong god (Indra), in concert with +Vishnu thou hast smitten Vritra; thou hast smitten Ahi who held back the +waters." "Ye two heroes, who bring to nought the magic powers of the +hostile spirits, to you I bring songs of praise and sacrifice. Ye have +always conquered, ye have never been overcome. Come ye, Indra and +Vishnu, to the draught of Soma, bring treasures with you; may your +mares, which overpower the foe, sharing in your victories, bring you +hither; may our songs anoint you with the ointment of prayer. Rejoiced +by the draught of Soma, take ye your wide steps; make wide the +atmosphere and spread out the earth. Grant us rich sustenance in our +houses." "No mortal, O Vishnu, knows the uttermost limits of thy +greatness; thou hast surrounded the earth on both sides with beams of +light. Never does the man repent it, who serves the far-stepping Vishnu +with all his heart, and makes the mighty one favourable. Grant us, O +swift god, thy favour graciously, which includes all men; thy favouring +glance, that abundance, treasures, and horses may be ours. Thrice the +swift god stepped through the earth that he might make it to be a +dwelling for men."[411] + +Hence we must regard Vishnu, whose dwelling is in the height of heaven, +as a swift spirit of light. Invoked in the hymns of the Veda beside the +Adityas or spirits of light, he is not definitely named as such, though +we cannot refuse to him a close connection with the sun when we consider +the further development of the conception formed of him. As he supports +Indra in the battle against the demons, he must be regarded, like him, +as a protector against the evil ones, a giver of water and wealth. His +kindly feeling towards men, his beneficent acts are brought into +prominence. Hence from the early point of view he was a god bringing +blessing and help. The three steps are explained by the Mahabharata as +the earth, the air, and the heavens;[412] other explanations refer them +to the light of the sun at morning, noon, and evening. The Brahmanas +reckon Vishnu among their twelve Adityas (instead of the seven or eight +of the Rigveda), and give a myth of Vishnu. The Aitareya-Brahmana calls +him the gate-keeper, but also the highest deity, as Agni is the lowest; +the rest of the gods are between them. Leaning on his bow Vishnu stood, +as the Çatapatha-Brahmana relates, while the rest of the gods sacrificed +to Kurukshetra; the ants ate through the string, the bow sprung back and +tore off Vishnu's head, which now flew through heaven and earth. The +body was divided by the gods into three parts; Agni took the morning +sacrifice, Indra that at mid-day, and all the rest the third sacrifice. +But they received no blessing from their headless sacrifice, till the +Açvins, who were skilled in the art of healing, put back the head on the +sacrifice. Further, by sacrifice and penance Vishnu became the first of +the gods; in order to wrest this place from him the other gods caused +the ants to eat through the string and then divided Vishnu, the +sacrifice, into three parts.[413] Here the gods are found sacrificing a +god, but the self-sacrifice of the gods is common in the Brahmanas. +Mystical conceptions of this kind naturally remained outside the +national religion. The view of the Aitareya-Brahmana is nearer the +popular mind--that Vishnu took away from the Asuras the world of which +they had possessed themselves, and gave it back to the gods. This idea +is carried out in the Epos: Bali, a great Asura, had gained the dominion +over the earth, and conquered the gods; in order to help the gods out of +their distress Vishnu assumes the form of a dwarf, and entreats Bali to +allow him space for three steps of his dwarfish feet. Having obtained +his request he takes possession of earth, air, and heaven in three great +steps, hurls the Asura into hell, and thus, by the liberation of the +world and the gods, he became the younger brother of Indra.[414] + +This mighty god, the ruler of earth and heaven, this swift, bright, +friendly helper of gods and men, was invoked by the nation on the Ganges +as their best protecting deity. It was no doubt the helpful nature of +Vishnu, the characteristic celebrated in the songs of the Veda and in +the legends, which permitted this change. In the plains of the Ganges +fruit and increase naturally depended on the period of rain, on the +regular rise and overflow of the river, not on violent crises in the +sky, or the tempestuous storm in which Indra was still the ruling deity; +in this district the blessing of the land, the life-giving, fructifying +power of nature, could be ascribed to a deity who worked his beneficial +will in a ceaseless persistent course. In the book of the law Vishnu is +hardly mentioned; only once, in the addition at the close, is reference +made to his swift approach;[415] on the other hand, in the ancient +sutras of the Buddhists, Vishnu appears under the names Hari and +Janardana as a widely-honoured deity.[416] + +Rudra, the god of the storm, is repeatedly invoked in the Rigveda. +Derived from the tumult of the tempest, the name signifies "the roarer," +"the howler." He is the father of the Maruts, or winds, the god whom no +other surpasses in strength, terrible as a wild beast, as the boar of +the sky. Red or brown in colour, he wears his hair closely braided (an +idea no doubt taken from the clouds gathered together by the +storm-wind); the swift strong arrows from his mighty bow force their way +from heaven to earth; he is the lord of the heroes, the slayer of men. +"Bring to the venerable Rudra the draught of the Soma; I have praised +him with the heroes of the sky,"--so we are told in some prayers of the +Rigveda. "Submissively we call on the red boar of the sky; be gracious +to us, to our children and descendants! Smite neither the great nor the +small among us, neither father nor mother, neither our cattle nor our +horses. Listen to our prayers, father of the Maruts." "May Rudra's arrow +pass by us; may the spear which travels over the earth touch us not. May +the weapons which slay men and cows remain far from us! Grant us refuge +and protection; take thou our side. Remove from us sickness and want, +thou who art easily entreated. Thou bearest in thy hand a thousand +remedies; these I desire with the favour of Rudra. Be gracious to the +wandering sources of our nourishment; let our cows eat strengthening +plants, and drink abundant life-giving water. For our men and women, for +our horses, rams, sheep and cows, Rudra secures health and +prosperity".[417] It is the wild injurious force of the storm, the force +that carries off men and animals, which these prayers would avert, and +the beneficial consequences of this storm, the filling of springs and +streams, the refreshment of the meadows, the cooling and purification of +the air, are the blessings which these prayers would win from the double +nature of the easily entreated god. By the remedies which Rudra carries +in his hand along with the mighty bow the beneficial consequences of the +storm are no doubt to be understood. In the Atharvaveda, Rudra with +Bhava is invoked under the name of Çarva as a mighty, darkly-glancing +archer, with black hair, a thrower of the spear, who dashes on with a +thousand eyes, and slays the Andhakas. Here also he is entreated not to +be angry, not to smite men nor cattle, to hurl his heavenly weapons +against others and not against his suppliant.[418] He is more highly +exalted still in the Çatapatha-Brahmana, which unites in him the +attributes and functions of various gods, of Vayu, Chandra, Bhava, +Parjanya, _i.e._ the rain-god, and of Agni, represents the gods as +afraid of his power, and denotes him by the name Mahadeva (great god). A +long and extraordinary prayer which this Brahmana prescribes for +appeasing him, ascribes to him the most extensive power: it calls him +the inhabitant, the lord of the mountains, forests, and fields, of the +wild beasts, of the streets and hosts, who slays from before and from +behind, red in colour, with a blue neck. If the anger of the mighty +deity is appeased, he brings rain and blessing, and then he is the +gracious one, Çiva. The fruitfulness of this deity and the necessity of +propitiating him appear to have brought it about that this name, which +is found as an epithet of other gods, became his peculiar title. In the +old sutras of the Buddhists he is thus called, though he more frequently +bears the name Çankara, _i.e._ bringer of happiness. + +We see that the deity whose strong power drove up the rain-clouds to the +coast of Surashtra (Guzerat) and the heights of the Himalayas was +victorious over the ancient god of tempest. In this god there was a +destroying power, but his anger and rage were followed by the +fructifying showers of rain, causing vegetation to revive and the +springs to flow, cooling the air and refreshing man and beast. So the +nation looked up with thankful eyes to the god of storm who had now, in +reality, become a god of increase and prosperity, a healer of wounds and +sickness, as was already indicated in the poems of the Rigveda. Among +his retinue is a being of the name of Nandin, who appears later as a +bull, and is without doubt nothing more than an indication of the wild +force of the storm, and its fruitful operation.[419] As he is more +especially a lord of the mountains, and is said to be throned on +Kailasa, and the Ganges flows down over his head, as the Epos represents +the heroes as going to the Himalayas to worship Çiva, and the storm +rages fiercest in the hills, we may assume that it was the inhabitants +of the Western Himalayas who elevated Rudra-Çiva to be their protecting +deity, just as Vishnu became the god of the nations on the Ganges.[420] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[384] Cp. p. 76, 145, 321. + +[385] Burnouf, "Introduction à l'histoire du Bouddhisme," p. 208, 209, +151. + +[386] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 152. + +[387] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 150. + +[388] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 138, 205, 208. + +[389] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 157, 172. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, +581-585. + +[390] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 138, 415. + +[391] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 141, 149, 343. + +[392] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 141. + +[393] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 139, 140, 149. _Supra_, p. 173. + +[394] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 236, 420. + +[395] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 241, 244 ff. "Dhammapadam," translated by +A. Weber, 322. + +[396] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 223, 238. + +[397] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 247. + +[398] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 245, 246. + +[399] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 240. + +[400] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 146, 187. + +[401] Above, p. 95. Our chronology for the epochs of Indian history +depends essentially on fixing two points. The first is the accession of +Chandragupta in Magadha, already mentioned, from which the year 315 B.C. +is certain (cp. _infra_); the second point is the year of Buddha's +death. The Bhagavata-Purana puts Buddha's death 2000 years after the +beginning of the Kaliyuga (_supra_, p. 77); such a round number and so +general a date cannot lay claim to credibility. Besides this we have a +number of other Brahmanic statements about the date of Buddha's life, +varying more or less, but equally untrustworthy. More weight would +naturally be ascribed to the statements of the Buddhists; yet even these +differ widely from each other. The Thibetans have fourteen different +statements about the year of Buddha's death, which cover the interval +from 2422 to 546 or 544 B.C. The Chinese Buddhists as a rule assign +Buddha's death to the year 950 B.C., but Buddhism did not reach the +Chinese till after the birth of Christ. The most trustworthy statement +seems to be that of the Singhalese. Buddhism reached them soon after the +year 250 B.C.; from the year 161 B.C. their chronology agrees with +existing inscriptions: their chronological system and their era is based +on the year of Buddha's death, which they place in 543 B.C. If this date +is compared with the Brahmanic list of kings of Magadha we get the +following results: Before Chandragupta the dynasty of the Nandas reigned +for 88 years according to the Brahmanic accounts, and 22 according to +the Singhalese. On this point I agree with Lassen and Gutschmid in +preferring the statement of the Brahmans, because the error of the +Singhalese may very easily have arisen from the fact that the reign of +22 years, which they give to the sons of Kalaçoka, was incorrectly +repeated for the following dynasty. According to this the first Nanda +ascended the throne of Magadha in the year 403 (315+88). From this year +the items on the Singhalese list carry us up to the year 665 B.C. for +the accession of Kshemadharman (Çiçunaga), and the year 603 B.C. for the +commencement of the reign of Bimbisara (Gutschmid, "Beiträge," s. 79 +ff.), who is succeeded by Ajataçatru eight years before Buddha's Nirvana +("Mahavança," 2, 32, p. 10, ed. Turnour), which thus falls in the year +543 B.C. If we keep to the Singhalese date for the Nanda dynasty, we +arrive at the year 477 B.C. for Buddha's death. Bimbisara ascended the +throne 198 years according to the Matsya-Purana, and 193 years according +to the Vayu-Purana, before the first Nanda. If the year 403 B.C. marks +the accession of the Nandas, Bimbisara according to the Matsya-Purana +began to reign in 601 B.C., and according to the Vayu-Purana in 590 B.C. +Between Bimbisara's accession in 603 B.C. and the end of Açoka of +Magadha there intervene, according to the statements of the Buddhists, +375 years. If with this we compare the dates of the reigns in the list +of kings in the Vayu-Purana from Bimbisara to Açoka, we get 378 years +from the first year of Bimbisara to the last year of Açoka. There is +also another fact which agrees with the era 543 _B.C._ According to the +statements of the Singhalese the second synod of the Buddhists was held +100 or 110 years after Buddha's death, in the reign of Kalaçoka, _i.e._ +in 443 or 433 B.C. ("Mahavança," ed. Turnour, p. 15). Of these two +statements it is obvious that the more definite, 110 years, is more +deserving of credit. According to the detailed statements of the +Singhalese for the time of the separate reigns, Kalaçoka's reign begins +90 years after Buddha's death, _i.e._ 453; he reigns 28 years according +to the Singhalese, _i.e._ if we reckon up the single items from +Chandragupta (the Nandas 80, and Kalaçoka's sons 22 years) from 453 to +425 B.C. In this way the era of the Singhalese and the year of Buddha's +death are completely justified. Still the year is not wholly beyond a +doubt. According to the statement of the native Singhalese, Chandragupta +ascended the throne 162 years (and the various items agree with this +total) after Buddha's death, _i.e._ 162 years after the year 543 B.C., +and therefore in the year 381 B.C., but we know that his accession took +place in 315 B.C. Here we find an error of 66 years, which however we +have already removed by adopting the Brahmanic statement of 88 years for +the dynasty of the Nandas instead of the 22 years of the Singhalese. +Further, it does not agree with the era of 543 B.C., when we are told by +the Singhalese that the third Buddhist synod was held 118 years after +the second, _i.e._ 228 years after Buddha's death. We know from +inscriptions that this synod met in the seventeenth year of Açoka, +Chandragupta's second successor. Açoka reigned from 265 to 228, or from +263 to 226 B.C.: his seventeenth year reckoned from 265 would be 249 +B.C.; if we add to this 228 years we get 477 B.C. for the year of +Buddha's death; thus we have here again the same error of 66 years. +Lastly, it does not agree with the era of 543 B.C. when we are told that +the fourth Buddhist synod was held 400 years after the death of Buddha, +under Kanishka, king of Cashmere. Kanishka is a contemporary of Augustus +and Antonius (Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2, 412, 413); and according to +this statement, therefore, Buddha would have died about the year 400 +B.C. As the number of 400 years given for the fourth synod is +nevertheless designedly a round number, little weight is to be placed +upon it, and the year 543 can be kept as the year of Buddha's death. +Before the dynasty of the Nandas in Magadha (403-315 B.C.) the throne +was occupied by the Kshatrabandhus or Çaiçunagas for 262 years (665-403 +B.C.); before these came the Pradyotas with 138 years (803-665 B.C.), +who were again preceded (as is shown above, p. 77) by the Barhadrathas +with 615 years, _i.e._ from 1418 to 803 B.C. (Cf. Gutschmid in "Beiträge +zur Geschichte des alten Orients," s. 76, 87, and in "Zeitschrift d. D. +M. G." 18, 372 ff.) + +[402] As the Arian colonists go from Surashtra to Ceylon about the year +500 B.C., this kingdom must have been in existence in the sixth century +B.C. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 166 ff. + +[403] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 427. + +[404] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 407. + +[405] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 245. + +[406] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 237, 432. + +[407] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 146, 514. + +[408] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 423. + +[409] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 175, 261, 380. + +[410] If I ascribe the rise of Vishnu and Çiva primarily to the people, +this is done because the need pointed out must have been felt most +deeply by them; two rival deities would never have been elevated to +supreme positions if the movement had not begun from beneath, and the +life in two different districts had not formed the starting-point. + +[411] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 4, 67 ff. + +[412] "Vanaparvan," 484 ff. in Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 136. + +[413] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 124 ff., 127. + +[414] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 131, 252 ff. The epithet of Vishnu, Upendra, +_i.e._ Beside-Indra, points to this position. + +[415] Manu, 12, 121. + +[416] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 137; A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 2, 20; +Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, 918. + +[417] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 300-320. + +[418] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 184, 230, 269. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 922. +On the seats of the worship of Çiva on the coasts of the Deccan in the +Mahabharata, cp. Muir, _loc. cit._ 44, 28, 285. + +[419] _Nandin_ means having delight, delighted. + +[420] In the book of the law Vishnu is mentioned once only (12, 121), +and Çiva not at all. The old sutras of the Buddhists, on the other hand, +as has been stated, mentioned Çiva frequently under the name Çankara, +and Vishnu under the names Hari and Janardana. Lassen has rightly +perceived that the Narayana of the ancient sutras and of the law-book +was not yet Vishnu, but Brahman, and Narayana was not transferred to +Vishnu till later ("Alterth." 1^2, 918; 2^2, 464). The Mahavança (7, 47, +ed. Turnour) mentions Vishnu as the tutelary deity of the earliest +settlers in Ceylon. This settlement took place about 500 B.C., while +Çiva appears as the tutelary deity of the somewhat more ancient Mathura +in the south. The rise of the worship of Çiva and Vishnu according to +these indications must be placed between 600 and 500 B.C. Panini is +acquainted with Avataras of Vishnu (Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 921); in +the accounts of the Greeks Krishna is already identified with Vishnu, +and is widely worshipped both in the valley of the Ganges and in the +extreme south of India, while Çiva is worshipped in the mountains. The +development of this worship must therefore have taken place between 500 +and 300 B.C., and no doubt chiefly in the second part of this period. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BUDDHA'S LIFE AND TEACHING. + + +So far as we can ascertain the conditions of the states on the Ganges in +the sixth century B.C. the population suffered under grievous +oppression. To the capricious nature of the sentences pronounced by the +kings and the cruelty of their punishments were added taxes and +exactions, which must have been severely felt over wide circles. The +sutras tell us that a king who required money received this answer from +his two first ministers: "It is with the land as with grains of sesame; +it produces no oil unless it is pressed, cut, burnt, or pounded."[421] +The arrangement of castes now stamped in all its completeness on the +population of the Ganges; the irrevocable mission apportioned to each +person at his birth; the regulations for expiation and penance, which +the Brahmans had introduced; the enormous amount of daily offerings and +duties; the laws of purification and food, the neglect or breach of +which involved the most serious consequences, unless averted by the most +painful expiations, were serious burdens in addition to the oppression +exercised by the state. If the expiation of offences often unavoidable +was difficult, the most carefully-regulated life, the most pious +fulfilment of all offerings and penances, did not protect men from evil +regenerations. For time consumed the merit of good works, and man was +born again to a new life, _i.e._ to new misery. Thus not even death +brought the end of sorrow; it was not enough to bring to a close a +laborious life; even if after this life a man were not tormented in hell +for unexpiated transgressions, he was born again to ever new sorrows and +pains. One way only was known to the Brahmans by which a man might +possibly escape this fate;--flight from the world; the voluntary +acceptance of the most severe unbroken torture imposed upon the body; +the annihilation of the body and finally of the soul by absorption +through meditation into Brahman. Did a man really arrive at the goal by +this rough way?--did he by inexorable persecution of himself to the +extremest limits become elevated above a new birth, and so above a new +torture of life? + +The conception of such endless torment must have pressed the more +heavily upon the people as the hot climate in which they lived naturally +awaked in them the desire for repose, a desire which increased with the +increasing oppression of the state and religious duties, and was +strengthened by the fact that these causes at the same time allowed the +resistance which every healthy and strong nation can make to such +oppressions and demands to slumber. But complaint was inadmissible. All +the misfortune which a man had to bear now and expect in the future was +not an unmerited disaster, but a just ordinance of the righteous +arrangement of the world, the verdict and expression of divine justice +itself. Whether any one was born as a man or an animal, his position and +caste, and the conditions of his birth, the fortune he experienced, were +consequences, the reward or punishment, of actions done in a previous +state of existence; they were the sentences of a justice which none +could escape, of the divine order of the world, to which a man must +submit without murmurs. The Brahmans were right, the world was full of +evils; life was a chain of miseries, and the earth a vale of misery. +Pity and grace were nowhere to be found, only justice and punishment, +only righteous retribution. In past days, indeed, the Aryas had cried to +Varuna to be gracious, to pardon and blot out the offences which men had +committed against the gods, intentionally or involuntarily, from an evil +heart or from weakness and seduction (p. 53). But the theory which the +Brahmans had subsequently elevated to be the highest duty was without +sympathy or pity; it could only allot to every man, in the alternation +of birth and decay, the fruits of his deeds. No doubt the people, +impelled by the necessity to have above them conceivable, +comprehensible, helpful spirits, elevated Vishnu and Çiva from among the +faded and dishonoured forms of the ancient deities to be the protecting +powers of their life in opposition to the god of the Brahmans; but +though these gave rain and increase to the pastures and the fields, +though they cherished kindly feelings towards men, they were powerless +against the punishments after death, against regenerations, or the +existing order of the world, against the merciless justice of the gods, +which recompensed every one inexorably according to his works, and +caused every one to be born again without end to new torments. The old +healthy pleasure in life which would live for a hundred autumns, and +then looked forward to an entrance into the heaven of Yama, and +participation in the joys of that heaven with the company of the +fathers, was past. While all other nations almost without exception +regarded death as the worst of evils, and painfully sought to secure +continuance after death, the Indians were now tortured by the +apprehension that they could not die, that they must live for ever, they +filled with terrors their conception of life after death, of the endless +series of regenerations to a perpetually new life. + +Was there really no mercy on earth or in heaven, no grace, no means of +release from these never-ending torments? Was the long series of +sacrifices with their endless prescripts for every step, the multitude +of rules of purification, the performance of penance for every stain, +absolutely indispensable if the Brahmans themselves allowed that this +whole sanctity of works merely bestowed merits of a second rank, and +that the treasure even of good works could be exhausted by time? Was +this arrangement of castes and the observance of their duties absolutely +irrevocable? The Brahmans required the study of the Veda not only from +their own order but also from the Kshatriyas and the Vaiçyas. Did not +the book of the law contain the requirement (p. 184) that every Dvija, +after satisfying the duties of his order, and of the father of a family +(Grihastha) should become an eremite (Vanaprastha) and penitent +(Sannyasin)? Had not the Sankhya, the doctrine of Kapila, called in +question the merit of the sacrifice and the customs of purification? +Asceticism, it is true, again removed the distinctions of the orders; +the power of penance, the mortification of the pleasures of sense and +the body, carried back the members of the three upper orders in a +similar way by sanctification, through a greater or less application of +penance, into Brahman; the legends and the Epos showed by the example of +Viçvamitra that a man could rise by the power of penance from a +Kshatriya to a Brahman. Hence all Dvijas, in strictly logical sequence, +could reach supreme salvation by mortification of the body; and it was +easy from these premisses to draw the conclusion that little or nothing +depended on descent; that the degree of asceticism and the depth of +meditation was everything. If this was the case with sanctification by +works; if birth in any one of the three higher orders did not prevent a +man from attaining the highest sanctification by asceticism, could the +castes be really different races, different emanations from Brahman, and +distinct forms of his being? Was the nucleus of the system, the doctrine +of the world-soul, so firmly established as the Brahmans maintained? Had +not the philosophy of the Brahmans already passed from scholasticism to +heterodoxy? Did it not deny, in the Sankhya doctrine, the authority of +the Veda, the existence of the gods, and the Brahmanic world-soul? As we +have seen, the teaching of Kapila left only two existences; nature and +the individual spirit. + +In the north-east of the land of the Koçalas, on the spurs of the +Himalayas, by the river Rohini, which falls into the Çaravati (Rapti), a +tributary of the Sarayu, in the neighbourhood of the modern Gorakhpur, +lay a small principality named Kapilavastu, after the metropolis.[422] +It was the kingdom of the race of the Çakyas, who are said to have +migrated from Potala in the delta of the Indus into the land of the +Koçalas. Like the kings of the Koçalas the race traced its descent to +Ikshvaku, the son of Manu. And just as great priests of the ancient +times were woven into the list of the ancestors of the kings of the +Bharatas, so the Çakyas of Kapilavastu are said to have reckoned +Gautama, one of the great saints (p. 28), among their forefathers; they +called themselves Gautamas after the family derived from this priest. +At the present time a Rajaputra family in the district, in which the +Çakyas reigned, call themselves Gautamiyas.[423] To the house of the +Çakyas belonged king Çuddhodana, who sat on the throne of Kapilavastu in +the second half of the seventh century B.C. + +Of the son born to this prince in 623 B.C. the legend tells us that he +received the name Sarvathasiddha (Siddhartha), _i.e._ perfect in all +things, and that Asita, a penitent from the Himalayas, announced to the +parents that a very high vocation lay before the boy. The young prince +was brought up to succeed to the throne; he was instructed in the use of +arms, and in all that it became one of his rank to know. After +overcoming all the youths of the family of the Çakyas in the contest in +his sixteenth year, his father chose Yaçodhara as his wife, and beside +her he had two other wives and a number of concubines, with whom he +lived in luxury and delight in his palaces. Thus he lived till his 29th +year, when he saw, while on a journey to a pleasure-garden, an old man +with bald head, bent body, and trembling limbs. On a second journey he +met one incurably diseased, covered with leprosy and sores, shattered by +fever, without any guide or assistance; on a third he saw by the wayside +a corpse eaten by worms and decaying. He asked himself what was the +value of pleasure, youth, and joy if they were subject to sickness, age, +and death? He fell into reflection on the evils which fill the world, +and resolved to abandon his palace, his wives, and the son who had just +been born to him, and retire into solitude, that he might inquire into +the cause of the evils which torment mankind, and meditate on their +alleviation. + +The legends tell us that Çuddhodana opposed this design; he would not +allow his son, the Kshatriya and successor to his throne, to depart, and +commanded festivals to be held to retain him. Siddhartha is surrounded +by song, dance, and play, which are to enliven and change his mood. But +in the night he mounted his horse and left the palace secretly, +accompanied by one servant. After riding all night towards the east, he +reached the land of the Mallas (on the spurs of the Himalayas, upon the +Hiranyavati); there, in the neighbourhood of Kuçinagara, the metropolis +of the Mallas (some 150 miles to the north-east of Patna), he gave in +the morning his attire to his servant and sent him back with the horses. +He retained only the yellow garment which he was wearing (yellow is the +royal colour in India), and cut his hair short, in order to live +henceforth as a mendicant. After concealing himself for seven days he +passed on, begging his way to Vaiçali (to the south of Kuçinagara) and +from Vaiçali down the Hiranyavati to the Ganges; beyond the Ganges he +turned his course to the metropolis of Magadha, Rajagriha, near which +were the settlements and schools of the most famous Brahmans.[424] Here +he quickly learned all that the chiefs of the schools, Arada Kalama, +Rudraka, and others could teach him, and understood their doctrines; but +they could not adequately explain to him the origin of the sorrows of +men, nor give him any assistance. + +Dissatisfied with their instruction and doctrines Siddhartha resolved to +retire wholly from the world, and live in the forest without fire, in +order to penetrate to the truth by the most severe penances, the most +profound meditations. He now called himself Çakyamuni, _i.e._ anchorite +of the family of the Çakyas, went to the southern Magadha, and there, +near the village of Uruvilva on the Nairanjana (an affluent of the +Phalgu) he devoted himself to the most severe exercises. Seated without +motion he endures heat and cold, storm and rain, hunger and thirst; he +eats each day no more than a grain of rice or sesame. For six years he +continues these mortifications, and still the ultimate truths refuse to +disclose themselves to his reflections; at length he seemed to himself +to observe that hunger weakened the power of his mind, and resolved to +take moderate nourishment, honey, milk, and rice, which were brought to +him by the maidens of Uruvilva.[425] Then he went to Gaya in the +neighbourhood of Uruvilva, and there sank under a fig-tree into the +deepest meditation. About the last watch in the night, when he had once +more in spirit overcome all the temptations of the world, fear, and +desire, when he had found that longing could never be laid to rest, only +increased with satisfaction, as thirst that is quenched by drinking salt +water--when he had called to mind his earlier births, and gathered up +the whole world in one survey, revelation and complete illumination were +vouchsafed to him. + +For forty-nine or fifty days, as the legends assure us, Siddartha +considered in his own mind whether he should publish this revelation, +since it was difficult to understand, and men were in the bonds of +ignorance and sin. At last he determined to proclaim to the world the +law of salvation. When he had explained it to two merchants, travelling +with their caravans through the forest of Gaya, he took his way first to +Varanasi (Benares) on the Ganges (588 B.C.). In the deer-park near this +city he preached for the first time, and though several of the hearers +were astonished and said, "The king's son has lost his reason," he won +over the first five disciples for his doctrine.[426] From this time the +'Enlightened' (Buddha), as the legends call him after the complete +revelation was vouchsafed to him,[427] wandered as a mendicant, with a +jar in his hand for collecting alms, through the districts of India, +from Ujjayini (Ozene) at the foot of the Western Vindhyas[428] as far as +Champa on the Ganges, the metropolis of the Angas, in order to proclaim +everywhere the truth and the law of salvation. "Many," so Buddha +preached, "impelled by distress, seek refuge in the mountains and +forests, in settlements and under sacred trees. This is not the refuge +which liberates from pain. He that comes to me for refuge will learn the +four highest truths: pain, the origin of pain, the annihilation of pain, +and the way that leads to the annihilation of pain. Whoever knows these +truths is in possession of the highest refuge."[429] + +Twelve years had elapsed since Buddha left his paternal city +Kapilavastu, when at his father's invitation he returned thither; and +his father, his kindred, the whole family of the Çakyas and many of his +countrymen became converts to his doctrine. Surrounded by the most eager +of his disciples, he proceeded onward, and was among them, as the +legends say, "like the bull among the cows, like the elephant among his +young ones, like the moon in the lunar houses, the physician among his +patients."[430] Varanasi in the land of the Kaçis, Mithila in the land +of the Videhas, Çravasti (to the north of Ayodhya) in the land of the +Koçalas, Mathura in the land of the Çurasenas, Kauçambi in the land of +the Bharatas, were the chief scenes of his activity. + +Buddha was deeply penetrated by the conviction that the earth was a vale +of misery, and the world nothing but a "mass of pain."[431] The sorrows +which torture mankind excited his deepest compassion; he would fain help +men in their distress. Above all he was oppressed with the thought that +sorrows do not end with this life; that man is ever born again to new +misery, driven without rest through an eternal alternation of birth and +death, in order to find new sorrows without end, but no repose. He was +tortured by this "restless revolution of the wheel of the world," by the +torments of resurrection from another womb to new and greater pains; +more eagerly than any other, Buddha sought repose, peace, and death +without any resurrection. With the utmost eagerness he plunged into the +Brahmanic theory and speculation; it did not satisfy him; in it, and by +it, he found no alleviation, no end of the evil; he submitted to the +severest asceticism of the Brahmans; it crushed his spirit without +giving him rest. He therefore turned from the orthodox systems to the +heterodox doctrine of Kapila. Even that failed to satisfy him; but he +followed still further the path which it pointed out, in order to +discover the liberation from evil which he sought so earnestly. At last +he believed himself to be possessed of the delivering truth. + +With the adherents of the Sankhya doctrine Buddha believed himself to +have ascertained that neither the gods nor a supreme all-pervading +world-soul exists. He also, in opposition to the orthodox doctrine, +makes the individual soul his starting-point, and the multitude of +individual spirits, which alone have true existence and reality. But if +the doctrine of Kapila found the liberation from nature and the body in +the fact that the soul attains the consciousness of her independent +existence in opposition to nature, discovers her own absolute position +as opposed to the body, and merely contemplates the latter, Buddha +struck out a far more radical way for the liberation from evil and the +freedom of the soul. + +Buddha first establishes the fact that evil exists; then he inquires why +it exists and must always exist; he attempts to prove that it can and +ought to be annihilated, and finally he occupies himself with the means +of this annihilation.[432] He who will ascertain truth and acquire +freedom from evil, has first to convince himself that evil exists. Evil +is birth, sickness, the weakness of age, the restlessness and torment of +our projects and efforts, the inability to attain what we strive for, +the separation from that which we love, the contact with that which we +do not love. In this world of existence all is vanity. Happiness is +followed by misfortune; even the happiness and power of kings flows away +more rapidly than running water.[433] Mutability is the last and worst +evil; it is the fire which consumes the three worlds.[434] Birth is +changeable and worthless, for it leads to death; youth, for it becomes +age; health, for it is subject to sickness. All that exists, passes +away. This ceaseless change is bound up with pain and sorrow. Childhood +suffers the pain of weakness; youth is impelled by desires which cannot +be fulfilled, and which cause pain if unfulfilled. Age suffers the pain +of decay and sickness, and of death; with death begins a new life +through regeneration to the same or even greater torments. To this evil +of mutability, and consequently to pain, all living creatures without +exception are subject. Evil and pain are universal; men are destined to +lose what is dearest to them; and animals are destined to be eaten by +each other. From the knowledge that evil exists, that all living +creatures are subject to evil, follows the truth that men must strive to +liberate themselves from evil. + +After setting forth his problem in this formal and minutely systematic +manner, Buddha goes still further. If man will free himself from pain, +pain must be annihilated. In order to attain this end the cause of it +must be discovered. This cause is desire (_trishna_). Desire is the +passion which man feels to attain content and satisfaction, the +ever-renewed impulse to have pleasant sensations and avoid the +unpleasant, which is sometimes satisfied, but more frequently the +reverse.[435] If pain is to be annihilated, desire must be annihilated. +The cause of desire is sensation, and if we inquire into sensation we +find on reflection that it is something transitory. When we have the +sensation of what is pleasant, the sensation of what is unpleasant does +not exist any longer, and _vice versâ_; sensation therefore is subject +to annihilation, and in consequence is not permanent, nor has it any +real existence. Sensation is, as the Buddhists say, "empty and without +substance."[436] It does not belong to the nature of the soul. As soon +as we can say of sensation or of any other object, "I am not this, this +is not my soul," we are free from it; and when we have attained this +knowledge, no sensation whatever, nor conception, nor perception, +exercises any charm over man.[437] If this knowledge is acquired, man is +in a position to "unbind" himself from sensation, and as soon as he has +unbound himself from sensation he has liberated himself from it; he +feels neither inclination nor disinclination; neither restlessness nor +pain, nor despair;[438] his heart no longer clings to the "causes of +content, which were at the same time the causes of discontent, more +closely than drops of rain to the leaf of the lotus."[439] If we go +further in this direction and instruct ourselves by meditation that even +the senses, eyes, ears, etc., are perishable,[440] that the body is +subject to birth and death, and consequently that it is something +transitory and without permanence, we are freed from the body and +henceforth merely contemplate it. From this point of view we perceive +that the body of a man is his executioner; and in the senses we +recognise desolated villages, in the things of the external world, the +enemies and plunderers which perpetually attack men, disquiet and ravage +them.[441] Whatever a man has hitherto felt of dependence and +inclination, of care and submissiveness to the body; whatever content +and satisfaction he has felt through the body in the body,--is now +annihilated by the knowledge that the body is nothing real, that it is +not the soul. When we have reached this point, pain is removed, because +the cause of it is removed; man is no longer dazzled by desire, and +therefore no longer distressed; he is now lord of his senses and lord of +himself. Freed from all bonds, from all inclinations to, and dependence +on, the world, he feels the happiness and joy of repose.[442] + +Thus far Buddha has agreed with the doctrine of Kapila that the soul +must be separated and set free from the body, in his results, if the +mode of development be different; he now proceeds in his speculations +far beyond the Sankhya system. He was not content to have discovered the +path of liberation from the torments of sensuality, of the body, and the +external world; he asked further, How can man be raised above the +necessity of perpetually renewing this process of the liberation of the +soul from the body after new regenerations? If the Sankhya doctrine +established nature and matter as an eternal potency beside the plurality +of individual souls, and derived all existence from the creative power +of matter, Buddha rather saw the creative power, the basis of all +existence, in the individual souls, in the "breathing beings," and from +this view arrived at a different, more thorough means of liberation. + +According to the legends the way to this liberation was revealed to +Buddha in the night under the fig-tree of Gaya, when in the deepest +meditation he represented to himself the web of regenerations, how many +and what dwellings he had inhabited previously, and how many had been +the dwellings of other creatures; how he and the rest of the world lived +through a hundred thousand millions of existences--when he called to +mind the periods of destruction and the periods of regeneration. +"There," he said, "was I, in that place; I bore this name; I was of this +tribe and that family, and this caste; I lived so many years; I +experienced this happiness and that misfortune.[443] After my death I +was born again; I lived through these fortunes, and here, at last, I +have again come to the light. Is there then no means of escaping this +world, which is born, changes, and dies, and again grows up? Are there +no limits to this accumulation of sorrows?" At last, attaining to +immobility in thought about the last watch, just before the break of +day, he once more collected his powers and asked himself:[444] What is +the cause of age, death, and all pain? Birth. What is the cause of +birth? Existence. What is the cause of existence? Attachment to +existence. What is the cause of this attachment? Desire. What is the +cause of desire? Sensation. Of sensation what is the cause? The contact +of a man with things excites in him this or that sensation, sensation +generally.[445] What is the cause of contact? The senses. What is the +cause of the senses? Name and shape, _i.e._ the individual existence. +What is the cause of this? Consciousness. And of consciousness, what? +The existing not-knowledge,[446] i.e. the intellectual capacity; this is +no other than the soul itself. In order to annihilate pain, birth must +be annihilated; the annihilation of birth requires the annihilation of +existence; this requires the destruction of attachment to existence; and +to accomplish this destruction desire and sensation must be annihilated; +and this again requires the annihilation of contact with the world. But +as contact with the world rests on the receptivity of the senses, which +in turn rests on the individual existence, this existence rests on +consciousness, and consciousness on the not-knowledge, _i.e._ on the +possibility of not-knowledge in the individual spirit, on the +intellectual state; not-knowledge must in the end be annihilated. This +takes place by the true knowledge, which shows that the sensations of +men are only of a transitory nature, illusions, not belonging to his +true being; thus it is that the individual is loosed from pain and the +body, or merely contemplates it as it contemplates all existence; and +thus dependence on existence and desire are softened or removed. The +same result is also attained by the annihilation of not-knowledge as the +basis of individual existence, by the quenching of the individual, by +Nirvana, _i.e._ the extinction, the "blowing away" by which the +individual "falls into the void," and cannot be born again. From the +annihilation of the basis of existence follows the annihilation of +existence; it cannot arise again when the basis is destroyed. + +Though this series of causes and effects may first have received the +form in which we have it in the schools of the adherents of Buddha, the +nucleus belongs beyond a doubt to the founder of the doctrine. It shows +sufficiently with what dialectical consistency--though proceeding like +all the products of the Indian mind from fantastic hypotheses, and +coloured with fantastic elements, so that sequence of time is often +taken for the relation of cause and effect--Buddha attempted to +penetrate to final causes and ultimate aims. Evil is existence +generally. If evil is to be removed, existence must be removed, and not +existence only but the roots of it. This proposition is the leading +motive in his reasoning. He keeps steadily to the logical formula that +all existence is the operation of a cause, and consequently existence +can only be destroyed when the cause of it is destroyed. The nucleus of +his argument is: Whence do men come? They arise out of their nature, +which is the existing not-knowing, or, as we should say, the substratum +of knowing, the intellectual capacity. Where do men go in death? This +intellectual basis is compelled by its own nature to assume ever new +forms, to put on a new robe from the material of nature or the elements. +How can the soul, the intellectual capacity, be checked in this? By +self-annihilation. + +Here Buddha found himself at the most difficult problem of Indian +speculation, which failed to find an internal transition from not-being +to being, from being to not-being, so that in it the principles always +remain the same, and cause and effect are equally eternal. Hence in +order to be consistent, he must seek the solution of his problem, the +cessation of the regenerations, in the annihilation of the cause of +these regenerations; and this cause was in his view the intellectual +capacity. As the soul is first set free from sensation, and then from +the body, so man must finally be set free from the soul, the self, the +_Ego_, by destroying the basis and possibility of this; while the +adherents of the Sankhya doctrine merely separated the soul from the +body, merely looked on at the revolution of the wheel of nature; and the +Brahmans would plunge the soul in Brahman. At a later time a great deal +of controversy arose as to what Buddha meant by Nirvana, and persons of +great eminence in the Buddhist church have had recourse to the +explanation that he alone knows what Nirvana is who finds himself in +that state. Yet from the process and tendency of Buddha's philosophy, as +well as from the most ancient definitions, it is sufficiently clear what +condition, what results, were meant to be attained by Nirvana. The most +ancient explanations term it, "the cessation of thought, when its causes +are suppressed:" they denote it as a condition, "in which nothing +remains of that which constitutes existence."[447] With the +impossibility of feeling impressions, of knowing anything, and therefore +of desiring anything, the being of the individual also ceases, +according to Buddha's view, and it was the extinction of this at which +he aimed. In Nirvana, according to the older legends, nothing remains +but "emptiness;" it is frequently compared with "the exhaustion of a +lamp when it goes out."[448] But how this condition is brought about we +are not told; we only know that all contact, external or internal, with +the world must be removed.[449] When every distinct conception, and even +everything that may give rise to such a conception, had been avoided; +when a man had put aside every thought, and every excitement of the +spirit, he ought to succeed in destroying the thinking principle within +him. The man of knowledge has discovered that all which is, is +worthless; that nothing exists really and essentially; he has broken +through the shells of deception and ignorance. He has diverted and +liberated his feeling from these frivolities, and now passes into the +condition in which he has nothing more to think of, nothing more to +feel, and consequently nothing more to desire; that is, he has attained +a state in which feeling and thoughts are extinguished, and continue +extinguished. If any feeling or conception remains in this condition, +the _Ego_ in Nirvana would feel peace and joy at the thought that +nothing any longer existed, that itself ceased to exist. Thus it becomes +clear what was the object sought in Nirvana, and we cannot have any +doubt that this attempt at annihilation, if made in earnest, must +practically lead to the same results as the absorption of the Brahmans +in Brahman--that it caused men to become dull, stupid, and +brutalised.[450] + +Buddha was of opinion that through this series of thoughts he had +discovered the final causes, the absolute truth as well as absolute +liberation. When he has arrived at the final ground of existence, the +man of meditation can say to himself, according to the legends: "The +dreadful night of error is taken from the soul, the sun of knowledge has +risen,[451] the gates of the false path which lead to existences filled +with misery are closed.[452] I am on the further shore; the pure way to +heaven is opened; I have entered upon the way of Nirvana.[453] On this +way are dried up the ocean of blood and of tears, the mountains of human +bones are broken through, and the army of death is annihilated, as an +elephant throws down a hut of reeds.[454] He who follows this path +without faltering, escapes from pain, from mutability, from the changes +of the world, and the wheel of revolution, the regenerations. He can +boast: 'I have done my duty; I have annihilated existence for myself. I +cannot be born again; I am free; I shall see no other existence after +this.'"[455] An old formula of faith, which is often found under +pictures of Buddha, runs thus: "The beings which proceed from a cause, +their cause he who pointed out the way (Tathagata) has explained, and +what prevents their operation the great Çramana has also +explained."[456] + +Had Buddha contented himself with the results of his speculation, the +only consequence of his doctrine would have been this; he would have +added one more to the philosophical systems of the Indians; he would +have founded a new philosophical system, a subdivision of the heterodox +Sankhya doctrine. The question was really the same, whether the soul was +destroyed when in the one case it was plunged in Brahman, and in the +other annihilated by Nirvana; whether those who sought after liberation +had to become masters of their senses like the Brahmans, or to release +themselves from sensation and the body and existence like Buddha. For +both methods the profoundest meditation was necessary as a means; the +final manipulations and results were mystical on both sides; the only +difference was that the logical consistency of Buddha was more simple +and acute, the dialectics of the orthodox system more varied and +fantastic; the penances of the Brahmans were severe and painful, while +Buddha contented himself with a moderate asceticism. From his disciples +who would attain the highest liberation he demanded nothing more than +that they should renounce the world, _i.e._ should devote themselves to +a life of chastity and poverty. Then like their master they must shave +head and chin, while the Brahman penitents wore a tail of hair, put on a +robe of yellow colour, such as Buddha wore,--a garment of sewn rags was +best--take a jar in their hands for the collection of alms, and go round +the country begging, after the example of Buddha, in order to point out +to people the way of salvation. Only the rainy season might be spent in +retirement, in common discussion on the highest truths, or in lonely +meditation on the way of Nirvana. + +This new mode of asceticism would not have gone beyond the limits of the +school, had not Buddha added a moral for the whole world to his +philosophy for the initiated. As we have in the Sankhya system a kind of +rationalistic reaction, after the Indian measure it is true, against the +flighty theorems of the Brahmans, so in the practice of Buddha the +prominent features are more simple, healthy, and sensible. The Sankhya +system places liberation essentially in the release of the spirit from +nature by the power of knowledge; according to Buddha's doctrine +liberation must be sought not only in the path of knowledge but also in +the will and temper. When the temper is rendered peaceful; when desire +ceases, and the withering of the soul comes to an end, then knowledge +can begin.[457] In this repose of the passions, which arise from egoism, +there is a very definite practical and moral feature, of great +importance for development and edification. Buddha allowed that every +one could not attain the highest liberation by the mode of asceticism +and meditation which he taught; but he did not therefore leave the +people to their fate, like those who preceded him in philosophy; he did +not, like these, point to the sacrifices, customs, purifications, and +penances. Even for those who were not in a position to liberate +themselves wholly from the misery of the earth and the torments of +regenerations, by entering into the way of illumination, were to have +their pains and sorrows alleviated as far as possible. The desire to do +away with the passions, and with selfishness, the lively sympathy, the +earnest effort to alleviate the sorrows of men, from which Buddha's +philosophy starts, are also the source of his ethics, which are to be +preached to the whole nation. As contact with the world is the chief +cause of desire, and therefore of the pain and distress which come upon +men, the main object is to come into contact with the world as little as +possible, to live as far as may be in peace and quietness. The +requirement of a still and quiet life is the first principle of the +ethics of Buddha. Even the layman must bring repose into his senses. He +must moderate his impulses and passions, his wishes and his desires, if +he cannot annihilate them. He must guard against the excitement of +passions, for these are the chief cause of the pains which torment +mankind. He must be chaste and continent within the limits of reason; he +must drink no intoxicating liquor; at the accustomed hours he must take +the necessary food (otherwise the belly causes a multitude of +sins[458]); he must clothe himself simply. He must not attempt to amass +much silver and gold, or waste the property which he has, in order to +procure enjoyment. In a word, "he must turn his back on pain, ambition, +and satisfaction."[459] The evils which are unavoidable in spite of a +simple, moderate, and passionless life, he must bear with patience, for +in this way they become most tolerable. Injustice coming from others +must also be received with patience; ill-treatment, even mutilation and +death, must be borne quietly, without hatred towards those who inflict +them: "mutilation liberates a man from members which are perishable, +execution from this filthy body, which dies." Those who treat us in this +manner are not to be hated, because all that comes upon a man is a +punishment or reward for actions done in this or a previous life.[460] + +Though Buddha adheres to the conception of the Brahmans, which had long +been the common property of the nation, that a man's lot in this world +is the consequence of actions done in an earlier existence, he could +nevertheless point to further alleviations of the evils of life than +those attained by moderation and patience. All men without regard to +caste, birth, and nation, form in Buddha's view a great society of +suffering in the earthly vale of misery; it is their duty not mutually +to add other sorrows to those already imposed upon them by their +existence; on the contrary, they ought mutually to alleviate the burden +of unavoidable misery. As every man ought to attempt to lessen the +pains of existence for himself, so it is also his duty to lessen those +of his fellows. In Buddha's doctrine not our own sorrows but the sorrows +of our fellow-men are a cause for distress.[461] From this principle +Buddha derived the commands of regard, assistance, sympathy, mercy, +love, brotherly kindness towards all men. If, according to the doctrine +of the Brahmans, and of Buddha also, there was no love, no grace, and no +pity in heaven, they are henceforth to exist on earth. The love which +Buddha preaches is essentially sympathy; it arises from another source +than the love of Christianity. It is not in Buddhism the highest +commandment for its own sake alone: it is not the liberating, active, +creative, ethical power, which not only removes selfishness from the +negative side, but also positively transforms the natural into the moral +man, and exalts the family, community, and state into moral communities. +In Buddhism love wishes above all things to lament with others, and by +helpful communion to make life more endurable; it is simply the means to +alleviate the sorrows of the world. Hence Buddha commands us to be +without selfishness towards all men, to spend nothing on ourselves that +is intended for another. To speak hard words to a fellow-man is a great +sin; no one is to be injured by scornful speeches.[462] What can be done +must be done for the amelioration of a fellow-man and the promotion of +his prosperity. A man must be liberal towards his relations and friends; +gentle towards his servants; he must give alms without any intermission, +and practise works of mercy;[463] he must provide nourishment for the +poor; and must take care of the sick and alleviate their sorrows. He +must plant wholesome herbs, trees, and groves, especially on the roads, +that the poor and the pilgrims may find nourishment and shade; he must +dig wells for them, receive travellers hospitably, for that is a sacred +duty, and erect inns for them.[464] If the Brahmans are cautioned +against the killing of animals, and the eating of flesh is restricted +among them as much as possible (p. 168), Buddha is still more strict in +this respect. Nothing that has life is to be put to death, neither man +nor animal; pain is not to be inflicted on any living creature; a man +must have sympathy with the sufferings even of animals, and tend such as +are old and weak. + +Consistent in his attempt to discover the alleviation of pain in the +heart and mind of man, Buddha remits even the sins of commission by +internal change and improvement of mind. If a man has committed a sin of +thought, word, or act,[465] he must repent and acknowledge it before his +co-religionists, and those who have attained a higher degree of +liberation. Repentance and confession diminish or blot out the sin, +according to the degree of their depth and sincerity, and not painful +penances and expiations, which only increase the torments of the body, +the thing which we desire to diminish.[466] No one is to make a parade +of good works; these he should conceal, and publish his failings.[467] + +Thus the ethics of Buddha are comprehended in the three principles of +chastity, patience, and mercy, _i.e._ of a moderate and passionless +life, of ready and willing submission to any annoyance or unavoidable +evil, and finally of sympathy and active assistance for our fellow-men. +An old formula tells us: "The eschewing of evil, the doing of good, the +taming of our own thoughts, this is the doctrine of Buddha."[468] + +The legends tell us of a great disputation held at Çravasti (the +metropolis of the Koçalas), in which Buddha was victorious over six holy +penitents of the Brahmans; the leading Brahman even took his own life in +disgust and disappointment. As the legends relate, the Brahmans were +afraid that Buddha's doctrine would diminish their honour and +importance, that they would receive fewer gifts and presents; they were +distressed that Buddha allowed even the lowest and impure castes to +enter the order of penitents. According to the statement of the sutras +the Brahmans caused the communities to inflict fines on such persons as +listened to Buddha's words, and from the kings of certain districts they +procured edicts forbidding his doctrine. Though the Brahmans may have +succeeded in prejudicing one or two princes against Buddha and his +doctrine, in other regions of India, not to mention his own home, he did +not miss the effectual protection of the secular arm. From the very +first year of the public appearance of Buddha, Bimbisara king of Magadha +is said to have given him his protection and support, and to have +assigned to his disciples the Bamboo-garden, near the metropolis +Rajagriha, for their residence. The king of the Koçalas also, +Prasenajit, supported Buddha, and his metropolis, Çravasti, became a +favourite residence of Buddha in the rainy season, a centre of the new +doctrine, to the north of the Ganges, as Rajagriha was on the south of +the river. Lastly, the legends speak of Vatsa, the king of the Bharatas, +who resided at Kauçambi, and Pradyota of Ujjayini, and Rudrayana of +Roruka, a region which apparently lay to the east of Magadha, among the +protectors of Buddha. Towards the princes Buddha's conduct was prudent +and circumspect; he did not impart to any of their magistrates or +servants the initiation of the beggar; he adopted none of them into the +community of the initiated without the express sanction of the +king.[469] + +On the people his appearance and disputations with the Brahmans could +hardly make any other impression than that he also was one of the +philosophising penitents who wandered through the lands of the Ganges, +teaching and begging, with or without disciples.[470] If the Brahmans +persecuted Buddha, they called out to them: What would ye have?--he is a +mendicant like yourselves! Buddha is said to have suffered the most +severe persecution, when past his seventieth year, from Devadatta, a +near relation. Even in youth the eager rival of Siddartha in martial +exercises, Devadatta is said to have been filled with cruel envy by the +success of Buddha's teaching. So he determined to appear as a teacher in +Buddha's place, and for this object he united himself with Ajataçatru, +the son of Bimbisara of Magadha. The latter was to murder his father, +the protector of Buddha; Devadatta desired to assassinate Buddha +himself, and then the two, by mutual support, would hold the first +place. Devadatta assembled 500 disciples; Ajataçatru, in the year 551 +B.C., dethroned his father, and according to the legends of the +Buddhists caused him to die of starvation in a dungeon. After the death +of his protector the Enlightened was to perish also. From the top of the +vulture mountain near Rajagriha, Devadatta hurls a stone on Buddha as he +passes by underneath; but he merely wounded him slightly on the toes; in +vain is an elephant maddened with palm wine let loose upon Buddha, the +raging animal kneels down before him. To escape these persecutions +Buddha leaves Magadha and turns to Çravasti. Devadatta pursues him, in +order to attack him afresh there, and destroy him by the poisoned nails +of his fingers; but when he approaches Buddha he sinks into hell, while +king Ajataçatru is converted, and from a persecutor of Buddha becomes a +zealous protector of his doctrine.[471] + +This legend is obviously told in order to glorify the victorious +sanctity of Buddha, nevertheless it contains a certain nucleus of +history. At a very early time there was a division among the adherents +of Buddha; the author and leader of this division was called Devadatta. +Even in the seventh century A.D. there were monasteries in India which +followed the doctrine and rules of Devadatta. Among the eight disciples +of Buddha, according to the legends, Çariputra and Maudgalyayana, young +Brahmans of the village of Nalanda near Rajagriha, took the first place. +After these the sutras mention Kaçyapa a Brahman, Upali a Çudra, who had +been a barber, _i.e._ who had carried on one of the lowest, most impure, +and contemptible occupations before he followed Buddha, and two nephews +of Buddha of the race of Çakya, Anuruddha and Ananda. Ananda is said to +have accompanied Buddha for twenty-five years without interruption; to +"have heard the most, and kept the best what he heard." After these, +Nanda, a step-brother of Buddha, and Buddha's own son, Rahula, are +mentioned in the first rank. + +It was not the favour or dislike of princes, nor the speculative power +of his doctrine, nor the devotion of his nearest scholars, which +procured a reception for Buddha's doctrine. On the contrary, the +success of Buddha rests precisely on the fact that his teaching is not +restricted to doctrine, nor to a school. He ventured to step out of the +circle of the Brahmans, and the learned in the Veda, beyond the lonely +life in the forest; he was bold enough to break through the limitations +imposed upon instruction by tradition and law. He did not, like the +Brahmanic teacher, hold sittings with his pupils, at which they alone +were present; he spoke in the open market place, and addressed his words +not only to the Dvijas, but to the Çudras and Chandalas also--an +unheard-of event: for this purpose he speaks the language of the people, +not Sanskrit, the language of the Brahmanas and the learned; he preached +in a popular style, while the doctrines of the Brahmans, set forth in +the formulas of the schools, must have remained unintelligible to the +people, even if repeated in their language. With the people Buddha dwelt +far more on his ethics than on his metaphysics, though he did not +exclude the latter, and his ethical lectures in each case developed the +principle in application to the particular instance.[472] In other +respects his method of teaching must have been the most effective which +could be applied in India, unless we are deceived by the legends. By +means of the complete illumination vouchsafed to Buddha, he saw through +the web of regenerations. For every man he deduced the circumstances of +his present life, his good or evil fortune, from the virtues and sins of +a previous existence. To a man whose eyes had been put out by the order +of a king he revealed the fact that in a previous existence he had torn +out the eyes of many gazelles; but as he had also done good deeds in +that life he had been born again in a good family, with a handsome +exterior.[473] He told another that in a previous existence he had +killed an anchorite, and for this he had already suffered punishment in +hell for several thousand years; he would also lose his head in this +life, and would suffer the same misfortune for four hundred successive +existences.[474] + +However effective Buddha's method may have been, it was the tendency of +his doctrine which could not fail sooner or later to open the hearts of +the people. The lower castes were subject to the ill treatment and +exactions of the state, to the haughty pride of the Brahmans; they were +pressed into the unalterable arrangement of the castes, and thus branded +by law and custom, they were exposed to the severest oppression. The +doctrine of morals was resolved into the observance of the duties of +caste, into the endless series of offerings and sacrifice, purifications +and expiations; thus it became degraded into an artificial and painful +sanctification by works, which no one could ever satisfy. Religion was +lost in a confused medley of gods and magic on the one hand, and of +obscure and unintelligible speculation on the other. In opposition to +these circumstances, requirements, and doctrines, Buddha declared that +no one, not even the lowest and most contemptible castes, were excluded +from hearing and finding the truth; that alleviation of pain and rest, +salvation and liberation, could be acquired by any one. Instead of the +observance of the duties of caste he required the brotherly love of all +men; in opposition to distorted ethics he restores its due rights to +natural feeling. The sacrifice and sanctification by works of the +Brahmans is replaced by the taming of the passions, and sympathy, by +the fulfilment of simple duties, painful penances by easy asceticism, +by the plain morality of patience and quietism; the Veda and gods of the +Brahmans by a theory at any rate more intelligible, accompanied by the +doctrine that even without this theory every one of his own heart and +will could enter upon the way of salvation, and by such conduct +alleviate his fortune in this and the following courses of life, while +the initiated could at once force their way to death without +regeneration. Any man could assume the yellow robe if he vowed to live +in poverty and chastity, and wander through the land as a mendicant, a +mode of obtaining a livelihood which is not difficult in India. + +If the doctrine of the Brahmans had banished mercy out of heaven, it had +reappeared on earth in the "Enlightened," the "pointer of the way," who +met the pride and haughtiness of the Brahmans with gentleness and +humility; who showed sympathetic pity for the lowest and poorest, for +all the weary and heavy-laden;[475] who in the midst of oppressed +nations taught how unavoidable evils could be borne most easily; how +they could be alleviated by mutual help; who called on all to ameliorate +their lot by their own power, and considered it the highest duty to +obtain this amelioration for ourselves and provide it for others. + +According to Buddha's view the castes must fall to the ground. There was +no world-soul from which all creatures emanated, and therefore the +distinctions which rested on the succession of these emanations did not +exist. In the first instance, however, he attacked the castes from the +point of view that the body can only have a subordinate value. "He who +looks closely at the body," he said, "will find no difference between +the body of the slave and the body of the prince. The best soul can +dwell in the worst body." "The body must be valued or despised in +respect of the spirit which is in it. The virtues do not inquire after +the castes."[476] But he also applied the distinction of castes to show +that in fact they give a higher or lower position to men; that the +arrangement brings external advantages or disadvantages. It was the +conception of the more or less favourable regenerations which caused him +to assume these distinctions and bring them into the series of +regenerations. He allowed that there was a gradation leading from the +Chandalas to the Brahmans, that birth in a higher or lower position was +a consequence of the virtues or failings of earlier existences; but the +distinctions were not of such a kind that they limited the spirit; that +they could in any way prevent even the least and lowest from hearing the +true doctrine and understanding it, and attaining salvation and +liberation. Hence while the castes do indeed form distinctions among +men, these distinctions are not essential, but in reality indifferent. + +If the Brahmans reproached Buddha that he preached to the impure, he +replied: "My law is a law of grace for all."[477] He received Çudras and +Chandalas, barbers and street-sweepers, slaves and remorseful criminals, +among his disciples and initiated.[478] Nor did he exclude women; even +to them he imparted the initiation of the mendicant.[479] On one +occasion Ananda, the scholar of Buddha, met a Chandala maiden drawing +water at a fountain, and asked to drink. She replied that she was a +Chandala and might not touch him. Ananda answered: "My sister, I do not +ask about your caste, nor about your family; I ask you for water if you +can give it me." Buddha is then said to have received the maiden among +his initiated.[480] + +For twenty-four years, we are told, Buddha wandered from one place to +another, to preach his doctrine, to strengthen his disciples in their +faith, to arrange their condition, and in the rainy season to show to +the initiated the way to the highest liberation, to death without +regeneration. According to the legends of the Northern Buddhists, he saw +towards the end of his days the overthrow of his ancestral city, and the +defeat of his adherents. The Çakyas of Kapilavastu are said to have +become odious to Virudhaka (Kshudraka in the Vishnu-Purana), the +successor of king Prasenajit on the throne of the Koçalas. He marched +against them with his army; obtained possession of the city of +Kapilavastu, and caused the inhabitants to be massacred. Buddha is said +to have heard the noise of the conquest, and the cry of the dying. When +the king of the Koçalas had marched away with his army, Buddha, we are +told, wandered in the night through the ruined corpse-strewn streets of +his home. In the pleasure-garden of his father's palace, where he had +played as a boy, lay maidens with hands and feet cut off, of whom some +were still alive; Buddha gave them his sympathy and comforted them. The +massacre of Kapilavastu, the slaughter of the Çakyas, if it took place +at all, cannot have been complete, for at a later time the race is +mentioned as existing and active. + +In the eightieth year of his life Buddha is said to have visited +Rajagriha and Nalanda in the land of Magadha; afterwards he crossed the +Ganges, and announced to his disciples in Vaiçali, the metropolis of +the tribe of the Vrijis (p. 338), that he should die in three months. He +exhorted them to redoubled zeal, begged them, when he was no more, to +collect his commands, and preach them to the world. Accompanied by his +pupils Ananda and Anuruddha he then set out to the north, to the land of +the Mallas, and Kuçinagara, where in former days he had laid aside the +royal dress and assumed the condition of a mendicant. Falling sick on +the way, he came exhausted into the neighbourhood of Kuçinagara, where +Ananda prepared a bed for him in a grove. Here he said farewell, sank +into meditation, and died with the words "Nothing continues," never to +be born again. At Ananda's suggestion the Mallas buried the dead +Enlightened with the burial of a king. After preparations lasting +through seven days the corpse was placed in a golden coffin, carried in +solemn procession before the eastern gate of Kuçinagara, and laid on a +wooden pyre. The ashes were placed in a golden urn, and for seven days +festivals were held in honour of the "compassionate Buddha, the man free +from stain" (543 B.C.).[481] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[421] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 146. + +[422] Köppen, "Religion des Buddha," s. 84. Kapilavastu means habitation +of Kapila. It was the philosophy of Kapila which lay at the base of the +teaching of Buddha. + +[423] The Gautamas were the most important priestly family among the +Videhas. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 557; 2, 67; Burnouf, "Introduction," +p. 155; A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 1, 180. + +[424] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 154. + +[425] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 77, 154, 157. + +[426] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 94. + +[427] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 70. + +[428] Köppen, on the ground that Ujjayini is not mentioned among the +southern Buddhists, limits the sphere of the activity of Buddha to the +triangle formed by Champa, Kanyakubja, and Çravasti. + +[429] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 186. Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 220. + +[430] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 167. + +[431] _e.g._ Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 487. + +[432] These are the four sublime truths (_aryani satyani_) of Buddhism; +pain, the creation of pain, the annihilation of pain, and the way which +leads to the annihilation of pain. + +[433] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 410, 430. + +[434] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 418, 428, 629. + +[435] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 498, 508. + +[436] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 459, 462. + +[437] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 509, 510. + +[438] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 460. + +[439] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 418. + +[440] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 405. + +[441] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 418, 420. + +[442] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 251, 327, 460. + +[443] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 389, 393, 486. + +[444] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 486 ff. + +[445] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 460. + +[446]3 Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 488-509. For further information about +the series of the causes of being (_nidana_), which is not very +intelligible, see Köppen, s. 609. My object is merely to indicate the +line of argument. + +[447] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 73, 83, 589 ff. + +[448] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 252. + +[449] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 326. + +[450] Schlagintweit, "Buddhism in Tibet," p. 91 ff. + +[451] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 369. + +[452] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 265. + +[453] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 271. + +[454] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 203, 342. + +[455] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 462, 510. + +[456] Köppen, s. 223. + +[457] Köppen, s. 125. + +[458] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 254. + +[459] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 327. + +[460] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 253, 410. + +[461] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 429. + +[462] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 274. + +[463] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 325. + +[464] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2, 258. + +[465] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 300. + +[466] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 299. + +[467] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 261. + +[468] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 126, 153. Köppen, s. 224. + +[469] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 163, 189, 145, 190, 211. + +[470] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 101. + +[471] Köppen, s. 111. + +[472] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 126. + +[473] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 414. + +[474] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 195, 274, 381, 382. + +[475] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 174, 183. + +[476] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 375, 376. + +[477] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 198. + +[478] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 162, 197, 205, 212, 277. + +[479] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 206. + +[480] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 205 ff. + +[481] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 351; Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2^2, 80. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE KINGDOM OF MAGADHA AND THE SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH. + + +King Ajataçatru of Magadha, who is said to have dethroned his father +Bimbisara in the the year 551 B.C. and put him to death, to have +persecuted the "Enlightened," and then, from a persecutor to have +changed into a zealous follower, demanded, according to the legends of +the Buddhists, that the Mallas should give up to him the remains of +Buddha (the ashes and the bones of his corpse) for preservation. But the +Mallas refused to do this. The Çakyas also laid claim to them because +Buddha sprang from their family; the warrior families of the Vrijis of +Vaiçali because Buddha was a Kshatriya; and finally the Koçalas of +Ramagrama demanded them. Ajataçatru intended to possess himself of them +by force. Then a learned Brahman succeeded in preventing the decision by +an appeal to arms; the remains were divided into eight portions, and +distributed among the different claimants, of whom each erected a +memorial for his portion. Ajataçatru buried his portion under a stupa, +_i.e._ a tower with a cupola, near his metropolis Rajagriha.[482] + +Of the further deeds of Ajataçatru we only learn that he subjugated to +his dominion the Vrijis, who were governed by a council formed of the +elders of their families.[483] Of the immediate successors of Ajataçatru +in Magadha, Udayabhadra (519-503 B.C.), Anuruddhaka (503-495 B.C.), and +Nagadasaka (495-471 B.C.), nothing further is known than that each +murdered his father.[484] Nagadasaka, the great-grandson of Ajataçatru, +is said to have been dethroned by the people, who set up in his place +Çiçunaga a son of Ajataçatru, who seems to have previously ruled as a +vassal king in the city of the Vrijis, the conquered Vaiçali.[485] This +Çiçunaga, who ruled over Magadha from the year 471 to 453 B.C., was +succeeded on the throne by his son, Kalaçoka.[486] + +From this subjugation and conquest of the territory of the Vrijis, from +a statement of the legend of the Buddhists, according to which Kalaçoka +inflicts punishments in Mathura on the Yamuna,[487]--and further from +the fact that the lists of the Brahmans for the kingdoms of the Bharatas +and the Koçalas, and the territories of Varanasi and Mithila, end with +the third or fourth successor of the princes who reigned, according to +the legend of the Buddhists, at the time of the Enlightened--we may +assume that after the reign of Ajataçatru the power of the kings of +Magadha increased, and continued to extend till the neighbouring states +on the north and west of Magadha were gradually embodied in this +kingdom. Kalaçoka provided a new metropolis; he left Rajagriha and took +up his abode in a city of his own building, Pataliputra. The name means +son of the trumpet-flower. It lay to the north-west of Rajagriha on the +confluence of the Çona and the Ganges, on the bank of the great river, +a little above the modern Patna. Megasthenes, who spent some time in +this city a century and a half after it was built, tells us that +Palibothra (such is the form he gives to the name) was the greatest and +most famous city of India. In shape it was a long rectangle, with a +circuit of about 25 miles. The longer sides were 80, the shorter sides +15, stades in length. Sixty-four gates allowed entrance through the +wooden wall, pierced by windows for archers, and was surrounded by a +wonderful trench, 600 feet broad, and 30 cubits deep, which was filled +by the waters of the Ganges and the Çona; the wall was in addition +flanked by 570 towers. The royal palace in the city was splendid, and +the inhabitants very numerous.[488] We have already learnt from the +sutras the circuit, equipment, and wealth of the royal citadels. That +Palibothra, at the time when it was the metropolis not only of the whole +land of the Ganges but also of the valley of the Indus, was only +protected by a wooden wall, provided, it is true, with many towers, +_i.e._ by a palisade, is remarkable, for it is sufficiently proved that +the cities and citadels of the Panjab in the fourth century B.C. were +surrounded by walls of bricks or masonry. + +In the sutras of the Buddhists we have already seen that the Arian life +and civilisation extended in the first half of the sixth century from +the Panjab to the mouth of the Ganges, and also that the north-western +spurs of the Vindhyas, no less than the coast of Guzerat (Surashtra) +were occupied by Arian states. The ancient inhabitants of these regions, +the Bhillas and Kolas (Kulis), occupied here the same contemptible and +degraded position which the Chandalas occupied on the Ganges. In the +course of the sixth and in the fifth century B.C. the colonisation and +conquests of the Arian Indians made even more important advances. The +southern regions of the Deccan were appropriated, and the island of +Ceylon conquered. It has been observed that at an early time a trade +existed by sea between the land of the Indus and the Malabar coast; in +this way alone could the sandal-wood, which flourishes nowhere but this +coast, have reached the mouth of the Indus as early as 1000 B.C. (p. +15). The tradition of the Brahmans assigns the colonisation of the +Malabar coast, not of the northern part only, but even of Kerala, in the +south, to the twelfth century B.C. We shall be more secure if we assume +that the Arian settlements were not pushed further to the south till +Arian states arose on the coast of Surashtra. The first settlements on +the west coast are said to have been founded by Brahmans: an expedition +of Brahmans is said to have reached far to the south, and to have +founded settlements there; to have converted the inhabitants to +Brahmanism, and in this way to have founded the kingdom of Kerala (on +the sources of the Kaveri).[489] On the eastern shore of the Deccan the +Arian civilisation passed from the mouths of the Ganges to the south. We +do not know in what manner the Odras, who dwelt in the valley and on the +mouths of the Mahanadi, were gained over by the Brahmans. In the book of +the law they are reckoned among the degenerate warriors.[490] But in +this region the change to the Arian life must have been very complete; +there are no remains of an older language in the dialect of Orissa. The +language exhibits the stamp of Sanskrit, and the Brahmanic system was +afterwards carried out even more strictly here than in the valley of the +Ganges. Even on the Coromandel coast the southern parts are said to have +been colonised earlier than the centre. The first Arian settlers are +said to have landed on the island of Rameçvara, which lies off the mouth +of the Vaigaru, in the sixth century B.C., and then to have passed over +to the mainland, which was occupied by the tribes of the Tamilas, to +have eradicated the forests, and cultivated the land.[491] One of these +settlers, Pandya by name, is said to have obtained the dominion, and to +have given his name to the land, Sampanna-Pandya, _i.e._ the fortunate +Pandya; one of the successors of this Pandya built a palace further up +the Vaigaru, and called the new city Mathura. From this name we may +conclude that at least a part of the settlers who colonised the south +coast of the Deccan sprang from the banks of the Yamuna, and named the +new habitation after the sacred city of the ancient fatherland, just as +the name of the ruling family points to the Pandus, the ancient dynasty, +which for four generations after Buddha, _i.e._ down to the time of +Kalaçoka, ruled over the Bharatas between the Yamuna and the upper +Ganges. + +Hither also, to the distant south of the Deccan, the Arian settlers +brought the system of castes and the Brahmanic arrangements of the +state, which were carried out with greater strictness, as is invariably +the case when an arrangement already developed into a complete and close +system is authoritatively applied to new conditions. The immigrants were +Brahmans and Kshatriyas; they took possession of considerable portions +of land. The ancient inhabitants, who did not adapt themselves to the +Brahmanic law, occupied on the south of the Coromandel coast, where the +Tamil language is spoken, as the colonies spread, a position even worse +than the Chandalas on the Ganges; even to this day, under the name of +Pariahs, they are more utterly despised, more harshly oppressed, than +the Chandalas. Even now the Brahman is allowed without penalty to strike +down the Pariah who has the impudence to enter his house;[492] and +contact of a member of the higher castes with a Pariah involves the +expulsion of the person thus rendered impure. + +The books of the Singhalese, the oldest, and consequently the most +trustworthy, among all the historical sources of India, preserve the +following tradition about the arrival of the Arians on the island of +Ceylon. Vijaya was the son of the king of Sinhapura (lion city) in +Surashtra.[493] As the king was guilty of many violent actions, the +nation required him to put his son to death. The king instead placed him +on board a ship with seven hundred companions, and the ship was sent to +sea. These exiles called themselves Sinhalas, i.e. lions, after their +home, the lion city. The ship arrived at the island of Lanka. Vijaya +with his comrades overcame the original inhabitants, who are described +as strong beings (Yakshas); on the western coast of the island, at the +place where his ship touched the shore, he founded the city of +Tamraparni, and named the island, which now belonged to the victorious +lions of Surashtra, Sinhaladvipa, _i.e._ lion island. But Vijaya and his +companions had been banished from home without wives, and they would not +mingle their pure blood with the bad on the island. So he sent to the +opposite coast of the mainland, to Mathura on the Vaigaru, where Pandava +was king at that time, and besought his daughter in marriage, and +Pandava gave him his daughter with seven hundred other women for his +companions, and he in return sent to his father-in-law each year 200,000 +mussels and pearls. The marriage of Vijaya was childless, and when he +felt himself near his end, he sent to his brother Sumitra, who meanwhile +had succeeded his father on the throne of Sinhapura, to come to Lanka, +in order to govern the new kingdom. Sumitra preferred to keep his +ancestral throne, but sent his youngest son, Panduvançadeva, who reigned +over the island for 30 years, and founded the new metropolis of +Anuradhapura in the interior of the island. Pandukabhya, the second +successor of Panduvançadeva, arranged the constitution of the kingdom. +He set up a Brahman as high priest, and had the boundaries of the +villages measured. When enlarging the metropolis, he caused dwellings to +be erected for the Brahmans, before the city, as the law requires, and +made a place for corpses, and near it built a special village for the +impure persons who tend the dead. Settlements were also erected for the +penitents. The immigrants formed the castes of the Brahmans and the +Kshatriyas; the original inhabitants, who submitted to the Brahman law, +formed the castes of the Vaiçyas and Çudras; a special caste, the +Paravas, we find, at any rate at a later time, entrusted with the pearl +fisheries. But Pandukabhya is said not to have confined himself to the +Arians in conferring offices; tradition expressly informs us that chiefs +of the ancient inhabitants received prominent posts in the new +constitution.[494] + +We should deceive ourselves if we found in this tradition a credible and +certain narrative of the colonisation of Ceylon. The name of the +discoverer Vijaya, means victory and conquest; that of his successor, +Panduvançadeva, means god of the race of Pandu. In this tradition we can +only maintain the fact that the first settlers came from the west of +India, the coast of Guzerat; that a family from this region, which +claimed descent from the celebrated Pandu, acquired the dominion over +the island (the Greeks are acquainted with a kingdom of Pandus on the +peninsula of Guzerat, and the kingdom of Pandæa on the southern apex of +India); that the settlers in Ceylon entered into combination with the +older colony on the south coast of the Deccan, and, in contrast to +these, their fellow-tribesmen, formed a friendly relation with the whole +of the ancient inhabitants. Nor can we repose absolute faith in the +tradition of the Singhalese, which places the arrival of the first +settlers in the year 543 B.C. This year, which is the year of Buddha's +death, is obviously chosen because Ceylon from the middle of the third +century B.C. was a chief seat of Buddhism, and continued to be so when +their doctrine had been repressed and annihilated by the Brahmans in the +land of the Ganges, and on the whole mainland of India. Down to the +period of the introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon, and even for fully a +hundred years afterwards, the chronology of Singhalese authorities +abounds with impossibilities, contradictions, and demonstrable +mistakes.[495] We must therefore content ourselves with the assumption +that the first Arian immigrants landed in Ceylon about the year 500 B.C. + +Though the life, manners, and religion of the Indians became firmly +rooted on both coasts of the Deccan, and beyond it, the centre of the +peninsula remained for the time untouched by Arian colonisation. Here +the wild pathless ranges of the Vindhyas opposed insuperable obstacles +to the advance of the Arian colonisation from the north, running as they +do right across the middle of the land from sea to sea. Thus even to +this day the tribes of the black Gondas (p. 9) inhabit the almost +inaccessible valleys and gorges of the broad mountain region, in their +original barbarism, with their old language and old worship of the +earth-god, to whom the tribes bordering on Orissa offered human +sacrifice even in our times. Among other tribes on the Narmada, the +custom which Herodotus ascribes to certain Indian tribes (p. 19) is +still in use: they slay old and weak members of the family, and eat +them.[496] On the other hand, Brahmanic manners and civilisation +penetrated gradually from the Coromandel coast to the Godavari, the +Krishna, the Palaru, and the Kaveri. Supported by the arms and weight of +the increasing power of Magadha, the influence of the Arian nation +became powerful enough to subjugate the Kalingas, the Telingas, and the +Tamilas, to the religious doctrine and life of the Brahmans. Yet even +here the Telingas and the Tamilas, like the Karnatas, the Tuluvas, and +the Malabars on the western side, maintained their languages, though +transformed, it is true, and intermingled with Sanskrit. The southern +apex of the Deccan has remained entirely untouched by Arian +colonisation. The sunken plateau, running from the western Ghats to the +east coast, which fills up the entire peninsula of the Deccan, here ends +in a lofty group of mountains, the Niligiris (Neelgherries), _i.e._ the +blue mountains. Through a deep depression filled with marsh and jungle, +which is limited and intersected to the north, this mountain-range rises +far above the plateau to a height of 6-8000 feet. The proximity of the +equator, combined with the cooling influence of the surrounding ocean, +assures at such an elevation the clearest sky, an eternal spring, and a +completely European vegetation, in the midst of which a handsome and +vigorous race of men, the Tudas, still live and flourish in complete +isolation. + +The settlements on the coast of the Deccan and on the island of Ceylon +must have given a new impulse to the trade of India. The pearls, which +are found only on the north-west coast and in the straits of Ceylon, on +the numerous coral-banks of that region--the book of the law quotes +them, together with coral, among the most important articles of trade of +which the merchant ought to know the price--were not only an ordinary +ornament at the courts of Indian princes in the fourth century B.C., but +were even brought to the West about this period. The companions of +Alexander of Macedon tell us that the Persians and Medes weighed pearls +with gold, and valued pearl ornaments more than gold ornaments. +Onesicritus, the pilot of Alexander, tells us that the island of +Taprobane (Tamraparni) was 15,000 stades in the circuit; that there were +many elephants there, which were the bravest and strongest in India, and +amphibious animals, some like cows, others like horses. Taprobane was +twenty days' journey from the southern shore of India in the main sea; +but the ships of the Indians sailed badly, for they were ill built and +without decks.[497] Megasthenes tells us that Taprobane is richer in +gold and pearls even than India. The pearl oysters, which lay close +together, were brought up out of the sea with nets; the fleshy part was +thrown away, but the bones of the animals were the pearls, and the price +was three times as much as the price of gold.[498] + +The death of the Enlightened had not checked the adoption of his +doctrine in the land of the Ganges. The legend, mentioned above, of the +contest of princes, nations, and families on the middle Ganges for the +relics of Buddha, may have owed its origin to the worship of relics, +which became current among the Buddhists some considerable time after +their master's death. On the other hand, the further narrative, that +after Buddha's death, a number of his disciples met to establish the +main doctrines of their master, cannot be brought into doubt. As has +been already remarked, Buddha is said to have commanded his disciples to +collect his doctrines after his death. Obedient to this injunction, +Kaçyapa, to whom Buddha formerly gave up the half of his possessions and +whom he clothed with his mendicant's garb, caused five hundred believers +(_Sthavira_) in the Enlightened to be gathered together. Ajataçatru of +Magadha had caused a special hall to be built for their discussions at +Rajagriha, at the entrance of the Niagrodha cave. Here the assembly +charged Upali (p. 358) with the duty of drawing up the prescripts of the +discipline (_vinaya_), "the soul of the law," of which Buddha had +declared Upali to have the best knowledge. Ananda was to collect the law +(_dharma_). _i.e._ the words of the master; he knew them all by heart. +Kaçyapa was to undertake the philosophical system (_abhidharma_); and +each was to place his collection before the assembly for criticism and +approval. These works are said to have occupied seven months.[499] + +In the doctrine of Buddha a comparatively simple meaning prevailed, +which by its contrast to the fancifulness of the Brahmans must have +excited the desire to collect and retain what was in existence. +Moreover, the faith and conduct of the Buddhists had their +starting-points and centre so eminently in the life, example, and +doctrine of the master, that a meeting of disciples at the very moment +when their living centre was lost appears thoroughly probable. The need +of possessing the pure and entire doctrine of the master for support and +guidance, now that he was present in person no more, must have been very +deeply felt. But the tradition is obviously wrong in ascribing to the +earliest council the compilation of the entire canon of the Buddhist +scriptures as they were known at a later period, in the three divisions +of discipline, commands, and speculation. This assembly could do no more +than collect the speeches, doctrine, and rules of the master from +memory, and establish a correct copy of them by mutual control. It is +the words and commands, the sutras of Buddha, which were established and +collected at this meeting. Unfortunately we do not possess them in their +oldest and simplest form, since at a later time the occasion and +situation and place at which the master had spoken this or that +sentence, had uttered this or that doctrine, were added to the words of +Buddha. But in part at least it is possible to distinguish the old +simple nucleus from these additions.[500] + +Buddha had imparted to all who wished to tread the path of liberation, +who undertook vows of poverty and chastity, the initiation of the +Bhikshu, _i.e._ of the mendicant, of the Çramana, _i.e._ the ascetic, +the priest of his new religion. These Çramanas he had recommended to +withdraw themselves from the world, and live after his own example in +solitary meditation on the four truths: pain, the origin of pain, the +annihilation of pain, and the way which leads to this. But his eremites +were not to live the life of the eremite continuously any more than +himself. Even the mere fact that they had to make a livelihood by +begging excluded any long-continued isolation and settled residence; and +along with renunciation Buddha's doctrine taught sympathy and help to +all creatures. This sympathy the Bhikshus were to carry out in act; more +especially they were bound to impart to the brethren who received +initiation and to the people the healing truths, which had disclosed +themselves to their meditation, in the same way as Buddha had done. +According to the command of the master, they might not, like the Brahman +penitents, spend the rainy season in the forest; they must pass it +together in protected places, in caves, villages or cities, at friendly +houses: in this season they must mutually instruct each other and +confess their sins. Complete isolation of the initiated would have been +opposed to the whole tendency of the doctrine and the pattern of the +master. The Bhikshus, who came from various circles of life, and +different castes, and had abandoned the hereditary and customary law of +the castes, could not but feel the need of assuring themselves mutually +of the new law now governing their life, of observing and developing it +in common. The adherents, and above all the representatives, of any new +doctrine always feel it incumbent on them to keep alive and nourish the +sense of their fellowship and mutual support as against existing +authority. These motives early led to a monastic life among the +adherents of Buddha who had received the initiation of the mendicant, +and wished to advance to complete liberation from regeneration. The +places of refuge and shelter in which they passed the rainy season were +regularly visited. There they resided; but in the finer season of the +year they left them in order to beg in the country and to preach, or to +meditate in the forest; and at the beginning of the rains (which in the +Buddhist calendar extended from the full moon of July to the full moon +of November) they again returned to the accustomed shelter. These +retreats were partly rocky caves, partly detached buildings, of which a +hall of assembly (_vihara_) must form part. + +At the time when king Kalaçoka sat on the throne of Magadha (453 +B.C.-425 B.C.) the initiated in a monastery in the city of Vaiçali are +said not to have strictly kept the rules and commands of the +Enlightened, and to have abandoned the correct mode of conduct. They +permitted themselves to sit on carpets, to drink intoxicating liquors, +and to receive gold and precious things as alms. Relying on the +protection of king Kalaçoka, they disregarded the exhortations of pious +men. To put an end to this scandal, Revata, who surpassed all the +Buddhists in the depth of his knowledge and the purity of his conduct, +warned, as it is said, by a dream, declared himself against these +deviations, and summoned a great council of Bhikshus to Vaiçali. With +the usual exaggeration of the Indians the legends maintain that more +than a million of the initiated met together. Revata chose four of the +wisest Sthaviras of the west and four of the east, and with these he +retired into the Balukarama-Vihara, a sequestered monastery at Vaiçali, +in order to ascertain whether the conduct of the monastery could be +maintained in the face of the teaching of Buddha or not. The result of +the investigation was, that the teaching of Buddha did not permit such +proceedings, and that the monastery must be expelled from the community +of the faithful. In order to establish this decision, to revise the +discipline, and "maintain the good law," seven hundred initiated were +selected from the great assembly and met in the Vihara under the +presidency of Sarvakami. This more limited council is said to have +ordered the exclusion of 10,000 ecclesiastics of Vaiçali as heterodox +and sinners from the community of the believers in Buddha, and to have +established the general rule that everything which agreed with the +prescripts of the ethics and spirit of the doctrine of Buddha, must be +recognised as legal, whether it dates from an ancient period or comes +into existence in the future; all that contradicts this, even though +already in existence, is to be rejected. + +Whatever be the case with the separate facts in this tradition, we may +regard it as certain that when the first assembly of Sthaviras after +Buddha's death had collected his sayings, this second council undertook +the first statement in detail of the rules of discipline (_vinaya_). The +council was held one hundred and ten years after the death of the +Enlightened, in the year 433 B.C., in Vaiçali, _i.e._ in the territory +of Magadha, and consequently under the protection of king Kalaçoka; +their labours are said to have lasted eight months.[501] Owing to the +protection which Kalaçoka extended to Buddhism he is called among the +Brahmans, Kakavarna, _i.e._ Raven-black.[502] + +Kalaçoka was succeeded on the throne of Magadha by his sons Bhadrasena, +Nandivardhana, and Pinjamakha.[503] Pinjamakha, according to the +statements of the Buddhists, was deposed by a robber of the name of +Nanda. The band to which Nanda belonged is said to have attacked and +plundered villages after Kalaçoka's time. When the chief was killed in +an attack, Nanda became the leader, and set before his companions a +higher aim in the acquisition of the throne. Strengthened by +reinforcements, he formed an army, conquered a city, and there caused +himself to be proclaimed king. Advancing further, and favoured by +success, he finally took Palibothra, and with the city he gained the +kingdom. This Nanda, who ascended the throne of Magadha in the year 403 +B.C., is called by the Brahmans Ugrasena, _i.e._ leader of the terrible +army, or Mahapadmapati, _i.e._ lord of the innumerable army, and they +maintain that he was the son of the last king of Kalaçoka's tribe, who +had begotten him with a Çudra woman.[504] This statement and the +epithets quoted at any rate confirm the usurpation and the fact that it +was accomplished by force. + +Nanda's successors did not maintain themselves on the throne of Magadha +beyond the middle of the fourth century. We are without definite +information about their achievements, and can only conclude from the +renown of the kingdom at this time, that the supreme power which Magadha +had acquired in the land of the Ganges, under Ajataçatru and Kalaçoka, +was not lost under their dominion; and from the confusion in the +statements of the Buddhists about this dynasty we may gather that they +favoured the Brahmans. The last genuine Nanda was Daçasiddhika. He was +deposed and murdered by the paramour of his wife, Sunanda, a barber, who +is sometimes called Indradatta, and sometimes Kaivarta after his +despised caste. Indradatta bequeathed the crown thus obtained to his +son, whom the Buddhists called Dhanananda, _i.e._ the rich Nanda, or +Dhanapala, _i.e._ the rich ruler, and the Brahmans Hiranyagupta, _i.e._ +the man protected by gold. His reign lasted from the year 340 B.C. to +315 B.C., and he is said to have amassed great treasures. Western +writers called this king Xandrames or Agrames, and his kingdom the +kingdom of the Prasians, _i.e._ of the Prachyas (the Easterns) or the +Gangarides. They tell that Xandrames was of such a low and contemptible +origin that he was said to be the son of a barber. But his father had +been a man of extraordinary beauty, and by this means had won the heart +of the queen, who by craft killed her husband, the king. In this way the +father of Xandrames acquired the throne of the Prasians, and he +bequeathed it to his son, who nevertheless was detested and despised for +his low origin and his wickedness. At the same time the Greeks tell us +that Xandrames could put into the field an army of 200,000 foot +soldiers, 20,000 horses, 4000 elephants, and more than 2000 chariots of +war; others raise the number of the horse to 80,000, of the elephants to +6000, and put the chariots at 8000.[505] From these statements of the +Greeks and what they tell us elsewhere of the kingdom of the Prasians or +Gangarides, the western border of which is the Yamuna, it follows that +neither the change in the dynasty owing to the accession of the first +Nanda, nor the usurpation of Indradatta, interrupted the rise of the +power of Magadha, which had begun under Ajataçatru, and attained greater +dimensions under Kalaçoka. Not the army only but the gold of +Dhanapala-Xandrames, the son of Indradatta, is evidence of the splendour +and extent of the kingdom, which must have comprised the whole valley of +the Ganges to the east of the Yamuna. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[482] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 351, 372. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2, +80 ff. Köppen, "Rel. d. Buddha," s. 117. + +[483] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 86 ff. + +[484] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 89. + +[485] Von Gutschmid, "Beiträge," s. 81. + +[486] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 91. _n._ 1. + +[487] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 147, 435. + +[488] Diod. 2, 39. Strabo, p. 702. Arrian, "Ind." 10, 6, 7. + +[489] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, 649, 650. + +[490] Manu, 10, 45. + +[491] The date follows from the fact that the settlers who are said to +have landed in Ceylon in 543 B.C. according to the era of the +Singhalese, find the kingdom of the Pandus and the city of Mathura in +existence. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 23 ff; 99 ff; cp. _infr._ p. 372. + +[492] Benfey, "Indien," s. 221. Neither the book of the law nor the +sutras of the Buddhists mention the Pariahs, often as they speak of the +Chandalas. + +[493] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2^2, 99 ff., 108 ff. + +[494] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 137, _n._4, 2^2, 99 ff. The island then +received from the city of Tamraparni the name which is still in use +among the natives; Tamraparni is in Pali, Tambapanni; and from this is +formed the Taprobane of the Greeks. Lanka is no doubt the older name, +but like Sinhala it is still in use. + +[495] Westergaard, "Ueber Buddha's Todesjahr," s. 100 ff. Lassen, _loc. +cit._ 2^2, 100 ff. + +[496] Ritter, "Geographie," 4, 2, 519-542. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1. +377. These are, no doubt, the Padæans and Calatians of Herodotus (3, 98, +ff.). Lassen explains this name by _padya_, bad, and _kala_, black. + +[497] Strabo, p. 72, 690. + +[498] Arrian, "Ind." 8; Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 24. + +[499] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 351, 372. Köppen, "Religion des +Buddha," s. 117. On the forms of the Sanskrit in which the old sutras +were written, Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 106 ff. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, +493. + +[500] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 217, 232. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2, 79, 80. +Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 143. + +[501] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 93. Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 149. + +[502] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 90. + +[503] According to the Mahavança, Kalaçoka is succeeded by his ten sons, +who are followed by the nine Nandas. But as the commentary only allows +twelve rulers between Kalaçoka and Açoka it will suffice to mention the +eldest son, and the two last in the list of the brothers, whose names +are given by the scholia of the Mahavança, as these correspond to +Nandivardhana and Mahanandi among the Brahmans. "Vishnu-Purana," ed. +Wilson, p. 466; cf. Von Gutschmid, "Beiträge," s. 71, 77 ff. + +[504] Lassen, "Ind, Alterth." 2^2, 97. Von Gutschmid, _loc. cit._ + +[505] Diod. 17, 93. Plut. "Alex." 62. Curt. 9, 2. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE NATIONS AND PRINCES OF THE LAND OF THE INDUS. + + +The examination of the accounts of exploits said to have been performed +by Cyrus (Kuru), the founder of the Persian kingdom, in the region of +the Indus, showed us above (p. 16) that it was the Gandarians, the +neighbours of the Arachoti, whom Cyrus subjugated. Hence the spies of +Darius could travel from Caspapyrus, _i.e._ from the city of Cabul +(Kabura) down the Cabul and the Indus; from the mouth of the latter they +sailed round Arabia and returned home by the Arabian Gulf. Not quite +thirty years after the death of the Enlightened, towards the year 515 +B.C., Darius subjugated the tribes dwelling to the north of Cabul on the +right bank of the Indus, the "northern Indians," as Herodotus calls +them, as far as the upper course of the Indus. His inscriptions at +Persepolis add the "Idhus" to the Gandarians and Arachoti, who are +mentioned in previous inscriptions as subjugated.[506] The Gandarians +were united with the Arachoti and Sattagydæ into a satrapy of the +Persian kingdom; the Açvakas, who dwell on the left bank of the Cabul, +formed with the tribes who dwell further north up the course of the +Indus a separate satrapy, the satrapy of the Indians. By the successor +of Darius the soldiers in both satrapies were summoned to take part in +the campaign against Hellas. Herodotus, who wrote at the time when +Kalaçoka sat on the throne of Magadha, tells us that the Gandarians, who +were commanded by Artyphius, the son of Artabanes, were armed like the +Bactrians; the Indians, led by Pharnazathres, were clothed in garments +of cotton or bark, and armed with bows of reed, and arrows of reed +tipped with iron points. The horsemen among the Indians were clothed and +armed like the foot-soldiers, their chariots of war were equipped partly +by horses and partly by wild asses.[507] They marched over the bridges +of the Hellespont, and sixty years after the death of the Enlightened +they trod the soil of Hellas. They saw the temple of Athens in flames; +the infantry, horse, and chariots of the Indians wintered in Thessaly, +and were then defeated on the Asopus.[508] + +According to Herodotus the satrapy of the Indians paid the highest +tribute in the whole Persian kingdom; each year it had to deliver 360 +talents of gold to the king. The gold for this payment was obtained, as +Herodotus tells us, from a great desert, which lay to the east beyond +the Indus. Of that region no one could give any account. Where the +desert began there were ants, smaller than dogs and larger than foxes, +which dug up gold sand, when after the manner of ants they excavated +their nests in the ground. This sand the Indians took, put in sacks, and +carried it off as quickly as possible on the swiftest camels; for +should the ants overtake them, neither man nor beast could escape; +occasionally ants of the kind were captured and brought to the Persian +king.[509] This marvellous story is repeated by Megasthenes with even +more definite statements; the Indians who dwelt in the mountains of that +region are called Derdæ; the mountain plain, in which the ants are +found, is three thousand stades (about 400 miles) in circuit; the sand +thrown up by these animals requires but little smelting; and Nearchus +assures us that the skins of the ants are like those of panthers.[510] +That the Greeks are not relating a fable of their own invention is +proved by the Mahabharata, according to which the tribes which dwell in +the mountains of the north bring "ant gold" to Yudhishthira as a +tribute.[511] The Derdæ of Megasthenes must be the Daradas, whom the +book of the law counts among the degenerate races of warriors.[512] Even +at this day the Dardus dwell on the upper course of the Indus to the +north of Cashmere, in the valley of the Nagar, which flows into the +Indus from the north, to the east of the highest summits as far as +Iskardu, on the Darda-Himalayas (so called after the tribe), and speak a +dialect of Sanskrit.[513] Adjacent to this almost inaccessible +mountain-land are table-lands, where the sandy soil contains gold-dust. +Numerous marmot-like animals with spotted skins, of which the largest +are about two feet long,[514] burrow in this soil. The traveller who +first penetrated this region in our times informs us: "The red soil was +pierced by these animals, which sat on their hind legs before their +holes, and seemed to protect them."[515] We may assume that the Daradas +carried away the loose sand which these animals threw up in making their +winter holes, in order to extract the gold from it; and the Aryas on the +lower Indus and the Ganges, who did not know the marmot, compared them +with the ants, which, among them, built and dug holes in the earth, and +assuming that they were a large species of ant, called the gold of the +north after them (_pipilika_). What the Greeks tell us of the swiftness +and dangerous nature of these animals is fabulous. + +What effect the subjugation of the Aryas on the right bank of the Indus, +and their dependence on the Persian kingdom, exercised upon them, we +cannot ascertain. That they were not greatly alienated from the +community of their own nation may be concluded from the fact that in the +Aitareya-Brahmana and in the Mahabharata, a king of the Gandharas is +mentioned, Nagnajit by name;[516] that in the Epos the daughter of the +king of the Gandharas is married to the king of the Bharatas, and +Krishna relates that he has overcome all the sons of Nagnajit,[517] the +king of the Gandharas. A Rishi and Brahmans of the Gandharas are also +mentioned, the latter with the addition that they are the lowest of all +the Brahmans.[518] Of the tribes to the north of the Cabul, the Açvakas, +the Assacanes of the Greeks, are merely alluded to by name. Whether the +Persian kings maintained their dominion on the western bank of the Indus +down to the fall of the kingdom, is not certain. The products and +animals of India which Ctesias saw at the Persian court are described +as gifts of the king of the Indians. According to Arrian, the Indians +"from this side of the Indus" fought with some fifteen elephants in the +army of the last Persian king at Arbela; according to Megasthenes these +were the Oxydrakes (Kshudrakas), soldiers raised on the other side of +the stream.[519] + +From the time that the hymns of the Veda were sung in the land of the +Panjab we are without any information about the life in these regions. +From the Brahmans of the land of the Ganges and the writings of the +Buddhists we hardly learn more about the nations of the Panjab and their +fortunes than about the Aryas of the right bank of the Indus. The +Çatapatha-Brahmana and the Ramayana mention the nation of the Kaikeyas, +whose abodes are to be sought on the upper course of the Iravati and the +Vipaça. Both authorities denote the king of the Kaikeyas by the title +Açvapati, _i.e._ lord of horses.[520] The horses of the land of the +Indus were considered the best in India (p. 318). The metropolis of the +Kaikeyas is called in the Ramayana Girivraja, and the daughter of +Açvapati is given to wife to king Daçaratha of Ayodhya. The distance +from Girivraja to Ayodhya is fixed in the poem at seven days' journey in +a chariot on a paved road.[521] The sutras of the Buddhists mention a +region lying still further to the west. Not very far from the left bank +of the Indus was the city of Takshaçila. In this, according to the +sutras, the law of the Brahmans was current; Chandalas are said to have +performed the duties of executioners and buriers of the dead. According +to the Mahavança, Brahmans march in the fourth century B.C. from +Palibothra to Takshaçila, and from thence to Palibothra.[522] The +chronicle in this work, which it is true was not completed till the +twelfth century A.D., tells us that king Gopaditya, who must be placed +in the fourth century B.C., presented Brahmans from Aryadeça with lands, +that he observed the castes, and introduced the worship of Çiva.[523] + +The Brahmans of the Ganges looked down with scorn on the ancient home, +and the region of the seven streams, where the arrangement of the castes +and the Brahmanic law had not been brought into full recognition and +currency, where there were tribes and even whole nations, who lived not +only without Brahmans, but even without kings. We know the views of the +Brahmans concerning the necessity of the power of punishment, the royal +power, "since it is only from fear that all creatures fulfil their +duties." In regard to the fact that the Brahmanic arrangement, which +with them is the original arrangement given by God, was not entirely +observed in the Panjab, the inhabitants of the land are for the most +part called Vratyas, _i.e._ heretics; Bahikas, _i.e._ excluded; and the +tribes without kings Arattas, _i.e._ kingless. Of the Vratyas the +Tandya-Brahmana tells us: "They come on in uncovered chariots of war, +armed with bows and lances; they wear turbans and garments with a red +hem, fluttering points, and double sheepskins. Their leaders are +distinguished by a brown robe and silver ornaments for the neck. They +neither till the field nor carry on trade. In regard to law, they live +in perpetual confusion; they do indeed speak the same language with the +Brahmanic initiated; but what is easily spoken they call hard to be +spoken."[524] According to the evidence of Panini, the Bahikas dwelt in +villages, were without kings and Brahmans, and lived by war; the +Kshudrakas and Malavas were the mightiest among those who had no +king.[525] In the Mahabharata we are told that they are excluded from +the Himavat, the Yamuna and the Sarasvati; impure in manners and +character, they must be avoided. Their sacred fig-tree is called +cow-slaughter, and their market-place is full of drinking-vessels. The +wicked drink the intoxicating liquor of rice and sugar; they eat the +flesh of oxen with garlic, and other flesh with forbidden herbs. The +women wander through the streets and fields adorned with garlands, +intoxicated and without garments. With cries like the noise of horses +and asses they run to the bathing-places. They shout and curse, +intoxicated with wine. What is taught by those acquainted with the +sacred books passes elsewhere for law, but here, he who is born a +Brahman passes into the rank of the Kshatriya or Vaiçya and Çudra, and +the priest may become a barber, the barber a Kshatriya. Nowhere can the +priest live according to his pleasure; only among the Gandharas, +Kshudrakas and Bahikas is this reversal of everything a custom.[526] + +The path of their development had carried the Brahmans on the Ganges so +far from the original basis and motives of the old Arian life, that now +they hardly could or would find any common link between themselves and +these tribes. But even from their own point of view their attacks are +exaggerated. The accounts of western writers from the last third of the +fourth century B.C. show us that in the larger states and monarchies on +the Indus and in the Panjab the doctrines of the Brahmans were known +and practised. They were honoured and influential, though their rules +were not entirely observed, least of all, it would seem, in the +arrangement and closeness of the castes. From the same accounts we +perceive what form of life and civilisation had been attained in the +region of the Panjab since the time when the hymns of the Veda were sung +there. A considerable number of smaller and larger principalities had +arisen on the upper and lower Indus, and on the heights in the Panjab. +Between these, on the spurs of the Himalayas, on the middle and lower +course of the five streams, lay nations governed by overseers of +cantons, chiefs of cities and districts, among which, with the exception +of some pastoral tribes, the noble families were numerous and warlike. +The territory of the princes no less than that of the free nations was +thickly inhabited; even the latter possessed a considerable number of +fortified towns. Not only the great principalities but even the free +nations could put in the field armies of 50,000 men; and there were +cities among them where 70,000 men could be made captive. In the +monarchies between the Indus and the Vitasta Brahmans are found busied +with penitential exercises, and they are of influence in the councils of +the princes on the lower Indus. But even in one of the free nations a +city of Brahmans is mentioned. The princes kept without exception a +number of elephants for use in war; the ancient chariots were employed +in their armies. The free nations were without elephants, but had +hundreds and even thousands of chariots, in which, we cannot doubt, the +noble families went to battle. There was no lack of martial vigour and +spirit in the region of the Indus. With the exception of some minor +princes and tribes and one or two larger states who asked for favour +and help, the nations knew how to defend themselves with the utmost +stubbornness. When defeated in the field, they maintained their cities, +which were surrounded by walls and towers, chiefly, it appears, built of +bricks, but also of masonry, and containing no doubt a citadel within +them. Yet the walls of the cities cannot have been very strong, nor the +citadels very high; if they forced the enemy to a regular siege, the +walls did not long withstand the missiles and powerful besieging +engines, and when the walls were surmounted it was possible to leap down +without injury from the rampart to the ground. + +The dominion of the Persians cannot have exercised any deep influence on +the life of the Aryas on the right bank of the Indus, and still less on +the nations beyond the river. A new enemy, a dangerous neighbour, came +upon the Indians from the distant west, who brought upon their states +the first serious disaster from without. The extensive Persian kingdom +was broken before the mighty arm of Alexander of Macedon. His expedition +came from a greater distance than the armies of the kings of Asshur, of +Cyrus, and Darius; it penetrated further to the east than the Assyrians +and Persians had ever done, and brought with it important consequences, +which extended over the whole land of the Indus. + +What essentially tended to make the attack of these enemies easier was +the discord among the states and tribes of the land of the Indus. The +mightiest kingdom on this side of the Indus was the kingdom of Cashmere, +whose princes had extended their territory over the mountains in the +south, and the land of Abhisara. They were in excellent relations with +the princely race of the Pauravas, which reigned between the upper +course of the Vitasta and the Asikni. In common both states had sought +to subjugate the free nations between their territories and on the +borders of the Pauravas. They marched out with a great army, but they +were unable to accomplish anything.[527] In the land of the Panjab the +Pauravas possessed the most important warlike power; a neighbouring +family of the same name ruled between the upper Asikni and the Iravati. +Such a power was dangerous to the kingdom of Takshaçila, which lay to +the west between the upper Iravati and the Indus; the princes of this +state had long been at enmity with their neighbours, the Pauravas. A +similar feud on the lower Indus separated the princes of the Mushikas +and those of the region of Sindimana, which lay opposite, on the right +bank of the Indus. Of the free nations the Kshudrakas and Malavas could +together put 100,000 warriors in the field, but they were in a state of +feud and hostility. + +Alexander assembled his army for the march against the Indians at +Bactra, whither, according to the Epos of the Persians, Semiramis had +once summoned her troops against the Indian king Stabrobates. In the +spring of the year 327 B.C. he crossed the Hindu Kush with 120,000 foot +soldiers and 15,000 horse,[528] and when he arrived at Cabul he began +the reduction of the Aryas, who dwelt on the right bank of the +Indus.[529] At the confluence of the Cabul and the Indus lay the city of +Pushkala, of which the territory was called among the Greeks Penkelaotis +(Pushkalavati), and the prince Astes.[530] This city could not be +reduced without a siege of 30 days. To the north of the Cabul the +Açvakas, to the south the Gandarians had to be overpowered. Of the war +against the Gandarians we know very little; the Açvakas made such a +stubborn resistance that they were not completely subjugated till the +winter. The Greeks call the Açvakas Assacanes, Aspasians, and +Hippasians. They were under a king, who resided in the city of Maçaka +(Massaga) on the Maçakavati,[531] no doubt an affluent of the Suvastu; +lived in fruitful valleys, and kept horses and numerous herds of cattle +on the high mountain pastures.[532] Beside the metropolis there were +other walled cities and rocky citadels in the land of the Açvakas. At +the approach of Alexander they fled to the mountains and to their +fortified cities. When the Macedonians had taken the outer walls of the +first city which they attacked, and the assault on the second seemed +likely to succeed, the besieged sallied forth from the gates, and the +majority escaped to the nearest mountains. Retiring with his army to the +mountains from the open field before the Macedonians, the king of the +Açvakas (western writers call him like his people Assacanus) fell in +single combat; his people made the most violent efforts to recover his +corpse from the enemies, but in vain.[533] Then, by means of a surprise +at night, Alexander succeeded after a severe battle in dispersing the +army of the Açvakas; forty thousand Indians are said to have been made +prisoners, and above 230,000 cattle were taken as booty.[534] Before +Maçaka, where the mother of the fallen king (the Greeks call her +Cleophis) had assumed the conduct of affairs,[535] Alexander found an +army of 30,000 foot soldiers, 2000 horse, 30 elephants, and 7000 men +raised in the further part of India. By pretending to retire Alexander +induced the Açvakas to advance further from the walls of the city, but +though he made the movement he had prepared with all speed, he did not +succeed in slaying more then 200 men. The walls of the city, it is true, +gave way before his battering-rams on the very first day, yet he could +not take the place, though the assault was carried on with the utmost +vigour for four successive days. Then a shot from an engine killed the +commander of the besieged; and they began to negociate. Alexander merely +required that the mercenaries from the interior of India should leave +the city and take service with him. The condition was accepted; the +mercenaries marched out of the city and encamped on a hill opposite the +Macedonian camp. Then, according to the Greek account, they intended to +return to their homes in the night, to avoid bearing arms against their +own nation. This intention was made known to Alexander, who caused the +hill to be surrounded by his whole army, cut down the Indians to the +last man, and then took the city by storm; the mother and daughter of +Assacanus were captured. Whatever may have been the case with the +supposed intention of the Indian mercenaries, and the intelligence which +Alexander is said to have received of this intention--the city had +fulfilled the condition imposed upon it, and had given up the +mercenaries, why then was it attacked in this unexpected and unmerited +manner against the terms of the capitulation? Alexander hoped that the +fall of the metropolis would terrify the remaining cities into +submission. But Ora had in turn to be regularly invested, and when this +had been done Alexander in person took the city by storm. Lines were +constructed against Bazira during the siege of Ora in order to cut off +the supplies of the inhabitants. But on receiving the intelligence that +Ora had fallen the inhabitants of Bazira left their city, and with many +of their people sought refuge in the citadel of Aornus (no doubt +_avarana_, protection), which is said to have been situated close to the +Indus not far from its confluence with the Cabul, on an isolated hill, +above 5000 feet in height, and above twenty miles in circuit at the +foot. What is meant is apparently the steep height on the Indus, on +which the citadel of Ranigat now lies.[536] Though Indians were found to +point out to the Macedonians a hidden path to the summit of the hill, +and select Macedonian troops thus reached a rock opposite the citadel, +concealed themselves there during the night by a barricade of trees, and +occupied the defenders by their unexpected attack, Alexander on the +other side of the mountain could not force his way up. When the Indians +had driven him back, they attempted to overpower the troops on the rock. +To save these, Alexander had to take the same path which they had taken; +after a severe struggle, which lasted from early dawn to night, he +succeeded in joining his troops on this side. Then he caused his army to +labour incessantly for four days in constructing a dam of wood-work and +stones across the gorge which separated the ridge of rock from the +citadel. As the work rapidly extended to a second eminence, which the +Macedonians could now occupy, close to the citadel, the Indians +abandoned the latter. But even so the war against the Açvakas was not +ended. The brother of the fallen king (Diodorus calls him Aphricus, and +Curtius Eryx) had taken the government into his hands, and got together +a new force of 20,000 men and 15 elephants in the north of the land. +Alexander marched against it to Dyrta. He found the city abandoned; even +the population of the surrounding country had fled. Prisoners declared +that the king, and the whole nation with him, had sought refuge beyond +the Indus with Abhisares, _i.e._ in the region of Cashmere.[537] +Alexander was pursuing him, when the king's head and armour were brought +in by some of his people. When a few of his elephants had been captured, +Alexander returned in sixteen marches to Pushkala on the bank of the +Indus, and his army wintered in the land of the Açvakas.[538] + +Early in the year 326 B.C. Alexander prepared to cross the Indus in +order finally to measure himself against the fellow-tribesmen of the +nations who had so long detained his arms on the right bank of the +river. Even when he was in Sogdiana, Mophis the son of the prince of the +Indians, who ruled between the Indus and the Vitasta (the Greeks call +his territory the kingdom of Taxiles after the metropolis Takshaçila), +sent envoys requesting that he would take his part and receive him as a +vassal.[539] Mophis was moved to this step by the ancient feud between +the kingdom of Takshaçila and the greater empire of the Pauravas +between the Vitasta and the Asikni (the Greeks call this the empire of +Porus). In the meantime the father of Mophis had died, and Alexander now +received as the sign of submission on the part of the new prince, 3000 +bulls, 10,000 sheep, 25 elephants, and about 200 talents of silver. He +directed his march against the city of Takshaçila which lay half way +between the Indus and Vitasta.[540] Mophis came to meet him with his +warriors and elephants, and led him into his metropolis.[541] This city, +the Greeks tell us, was large (the largest between the Indus and the +Vitasta) and flourishing, and its constitution well arranged. The land, +which sank gradually to the plain, was cultivated and very +fruitful.[542] The king of Cashmere had sent his brother to Takshaçila +to announce his submission; some smaller princes, neighbours of the +territory of Takshaçila, came in person to pay homage to Alexander. + +At Takshaçila the Greeks found "wise men" of the Indians. Aristobulus +tells that he had there seen two Brahmans, one older and shaven, the +other younger and wearing his hair. Both had been accompanied by their +pupils. In the market-place they could take what pleased them, so that +they had abundant food of honey and sesame without any cost, and +everyone whom they approached drenched them so plentifully with sesame +oil that it ran down into their eyes. Not far from the city they had +given an example of endurance; the older, lying on the earth, exposed +himself to the heat of the sun and then to torrents of rain; the younger +went even further, for he stood on one leg and with both hands +supported a log of wood three cubits in length, and when one limb was +tired, he stood on the other, and continued standing the whole day long. +Alexander desired to have one of these sages, who were in the greatest +repute there,[543] about him, that he might learn their doctrine.[544] +The younger one accompanied him a short time, but soon returned to his +home; the older one remained with Alexander, and changed his clothing +and mode of life; to those who reproached him on this account he replied +that the forty years for which he had vowed asceticism (p. 179) were +past.[545] Onesicritus relates that he had found fifteen of these sages +to the south of the city, each in a different position, one sitting, +another standing, a third naked and lying immovable on the ground till +evening. The severest trial was the endurance of the heat, which at +midday was so great that no one else could touch the ground with the +naked foot. Among these sages, lying on stones, was the Calanus who +afterwards followed Alexander, and subsequently ended his life in +Persia. But Mandanis,[546] who was the first among them in age and +wisdom, had said: That doctrine was the best which removed pleasure and +pain from the soul; pain and effort were different things; effort was +the friend, pain the enemy of the soul; they exercised the body by toil +and nakedness and scanty nourishment, in order to stablish the spirit, +that so the division between them might be ended, and they might give +the best counsel to everyone. That house was the best which required the +least furniture.[547] Megasthenes assures us that the sages of the +Indians reproached Calanus because he renounced the blessedness which he +might have enjoyed among them, in order to serve another master than +God.[548] These accounts of the Greeks fully confirm the statements of +the Buddhists given above (p. 387), that the law and order of the +Brahmans were current in Takshaçila. + +Beyond the Vitasta (Hydaspes) was the kingdom of Porus, as the Greeks +called the ruler of it. He derived his race, as Plutarch says, from +Gegasius, by whom may be meant the Yayati of the Rigveda and the +Mahabharata (p. 82). The name Porus has been taken by the Greeks from +the dynasty; the Mahabharata speaks of a kingdom of the Pauravas or +Pauras, in the neighbourhood of Cashmere.[549] The territory of Porus +extended to the east as far as the Asikni. Spittakes the nephew of Porus +ruled over a small region on the west bank of the Vitasta; his cousin +reigned in the east between the Asikni and Iravati. In the north the +territory of Porus was separated from that of the king of Cashmere by a +few small tribes. According to the Greeks the kingdom of Porus was +superior to that of Cashmere; three hundred cities are enumerated in it. +Porus could bring into the field 200 elephants, 400 chariots of war, +4000 horse, and about 50,000 foot soldiers. + +Alexander encamped opposite the army of Porus, who held the left bank of +the Vitasta; though far superior in numbers--his army was twice as +strong and had been yet further increased by 5000 Indians from Mophis +and some smaller princes--Alexander for a long time hesitated to cross +the river in the face of Porus. At last he was decided by the +information that the king of Cashmere, notwithstanding his embassy, was +marching to join Porus, with an army not much weaker than his own, and +was only 50 miles distant. Alexander divided his troops, left half +opposite the camp of Porus, and with the other half hastened to cross +the river higher up in order to defeat Porus before the army of Cashmere +arrived. The crossing was accomplished in the neighbourhood of the +modern Jalam.[550] Porus also divided his army; with all his elephants, +chariots, and cavalry, and the greater part of his infantry, he marched +against Alexander. Two hundred elephants in a long row with intervals of +a hundred feet, as Arrian states, formed his first rank; the infantry +formed the second rank, the cavalry and chariots were on the wings. +After a fluctuating and desperate conflict the Macedonians were +victorious. Porus, wounded in the right shoulder, was among the last to +retire on his elephant. When his old enemy the prince of Takshaçila +called on him to desist from the battle,[551] he answered by raising his +javelin. The other retired hastily on his horse. Requested a second time +by an Indian, a friend of old days, and afterwards at the command of +Alexander, to lay down his weapons, he checked his elephants, quenched +his thirst, and then allowed himself to be brought before Alexander, +from whom his indomitable bearing and lofty form won respect. To +Alexander's question how he wished to be treated, he replied: Like a +king. His two sons and his nephew Spittakes had fallen; of his army, +according to the Greeks, 12,000 in some accounts and 20,000 in others +were slain (end of April or beginning of May, 326 B.C.).[552] + +The defeat of Porus terrified the king of Cashmere. He did not venture +to oppose Alexander unaided; at any rate he sought to avert the +threatening storm for the moment; he sent his brother with forty +elephants and other presents to appease Alexander by these tokens of +submission. Alexander required that he should pay homage in person; +otherwise he would visit him in his own land. He kept his word. The +cousin of Porus, whose territory lay between the upper course of the +Asikni and the Iravati--he had rendered no assistance to his kinsman +against Alexander--fled out of his land with a part of his army at +Alexander's approach,[553] and the Glaukas (Glausai, Glaukanikai among +the Greeks,) who inhabited thirty-seven considerable towns and many +villages on the heights to the north of the kingdom of the conquered +Porus, submitted. Beyond the Indus the Açvakas were again in open +revolt, and after crossing the Asikni, marching through the land of the +fugitive prince, and advancing beyond the Iravati, Alexander found the +most stubborn resistance among the Khattias (the Kathaioi of the +Greeks),[554] who dwelt to the south of the Kaikeyas between the Iravati +and Vipaça, and like the Glaukas obeyed no king. The Kshudrakas and +Malavas, dwelling in the lower land on the Asikni and the Çatadru, had +sent assistance to them. Hence the Khattias awaited the attack of the +foreigners at their chief city Çakala (Sangala), the modern Amritsir. +Near this spacious city, which abutted on a lake and was surrounded by a +wall of bricks, they were encamped on a gentle eminence behind a triple +row of packed waggons. After a bloody battle they were driven into the +city, and Alexander then began the regular investment of the city by +throwing up a double trench round it so far as the lake did not prevent +him. An attempt on the part of the besieged to break through, of which +Alexander received timely information by deserters, was abandoned after +a loss of 500 men. The engines were set up, the battering-rams and +wooden towers were prepared, when breaches appeared in the wall, which +had been already undermined. The army of Alexander made the assault, the +ladders were placed, the city taken. At this capture 17,000 Indians are +said to have been slain; the remainder of the army and the entire +population of the city, amounting together to 70,000 men, were made +prisoners. Among the captive soldiers were 500 horsemen; and 300 +chariots were taken. The city was levelled to the ground. This siege is +said to have cost the Macedonians 100 slain and 12,000 wounded.[555] As +the fate of Çakala did not terrify the remaining cities of the Khattias +into submission, Alexander caused the inhabitants of two other cities, +who fled at his approach, to be vigorously pursued; some hundreds who +failed to escape were overtaken and cut down. The remaining places then +submitted without opposition. + +Alexander had not merely restored Porus to his throne after the battle +on the Vitasta, but had even increased his power; he assigned to him the +territory of the Glaukas, and of his fugitive cousin, together with the +recently-conquered land of the Khattias, so that Porus, according to the +Greeks, now reigned over seven nations, and more than two thousand +considerable towns beside many villages.[556] The northern neighbours of +the Khattias were the Kaikeyas, whose prince--the Açvapati of the time +(p. 387), but the Greeks call him Sopeithes--welcomed Alexander, and +thus as well as by presents gave evidence of his submission. The Greeks +extol the good laws of this nation, and their vigorous dogs, a cross +breed between tigers and dogs, as some thought. The Ramayana mentions +among the Kaikeyas, "the dogs bred in the palace, gifted with the +strength of the tiger, and of huge body." Alexander received 150 of +these animals as a present from Açvapati.[557] + +From the land of the Kaikeyas the Macedonians reached the eastern stream +of the Panjab, which the Greeks call Hyphasis (it is the Vipaça of the +Indians), above the confluence with the Çatadru. When Alexander had +received here a further embassy from the king of Cashmere, which was +accompanied by a fresh present of 50 elephants, and the homage of the +prince of Uraça, whose territory lay to the west of Cashmere on the +Himalayas,[558] he returned in the autumn of the year 326 B.C. to the +Vitasta (Hydaspes); from hence he descended, sending part of his army on +board ship down the river, and taking the remainder along the banks, in +order to come to and along the Asikni, and from this to the Indus. +Before he reached the Asikni his army, on the right bank of the lower +Vitasta, came upon the nation of the Çibis; east of these, on the +confluence of the Vitasta and the Asikni, were the Kshudrakas (the +Greeks call them Oxydrakes), and still further to the east between the +Asikni and the Iravati the Agalassians, while beyond the Iravati as far +as the Çatadru were the Malavas, who like the Kshudrakas had already +sent help to the Khattias against Alexander. The Çibis, a pastoral +people, who carried the skins of animals and used clubs as weapons, were +overcome with little resistance, or submitted without a struggle.[559] +the Agalassians, who had put in the field some thousands of infantry and +3000 horse, were severely defeated by Alexander, and their cities +conquered. The Kshudrakas and Malavas forgetting their ancient hostility +had now combined against the foe, and together could bring into the +field 80,000 foot soldiers, 10,000 cavalry, and 7000 chariots of +war.[560] But the leaders whom the Kshudrakas put at the head of their +forces were not true to the Malavas; they retired into their cities. +These, unexpectedly attacked by Alexander, were taken one after the +other; one of them is mentioned expressly as a Brahman city.[561] The +largest city was found to be deserted; but on the banks of the Iravati +50,000 Malavas, it is said, had collected. They were put to flight, and +sought protection in a neighbouring fortified place on the western bank +of the Iravati. Alexander followed them. The attack on the city began. +The Indians retired into the citadel from the walls of the city; this +also Alexander at once attacked, and with his own hands seized on a +scaling-ladder and ascended; Peukestes the shield-bearer of the king, +Abreas and Leonnatus follow him; he gains the parapet and stands on the +gangway when the ladder breaks. As in that position he was too prominent +a mark, owing to the splendour of his armour, for the shots of the +Indians, especially from the two nearest towers, he leaps from the +gangway down into the citadel. The Indians press upon him; he beats down +some of the assailants. Peukestes, Abreas and Leonnatus follow his +example, and fight at his side, when an arrow pierces Alexander's mail +and penetrates his breast. The king falls; Abreas falls also, struck in +the face. With extreme effort Peukestes covers Alexander with the +shield of Athene of Ilium, Leonnatus assisting on the other side, till +at length the Macedonians force their way in, and put to death every +living creature in the citadel, men, women, and children.[562] Then +envoys came from the Malavas and promised the submission of the whole +people. They were followed by the overseers of the cities and cantons of +the Kshudrakas, accompanied by 150 chiefs of note, who pledged absolute +obedience. Alexander required 1000 nobles as hostages. They were sent +with 500 yoked and manned chariots of war, which the Kshudrakas added. +The chariots Alexander retained in his army, the hostages he sent back. + +These contests against the free Indians had occupied the autumn and +winter. Not till the second month in the year 325 B.C.[563] did +Alexander set out from his camp at the mouth of the Iravati to the +Asikni, and sail up the latter to the Indus. The tribes on the Panjab +and the Indus, the Abastanes, the Vasatyas, who lived according to +Brahmanic laws (the Greeks call them the Ossadians[564]), and the +Kshatris were easily reduced or submitted without a struggle. Arrived in +the valley of the lower Indus the Macedonians again came upon +principalities. There the nearest inhabitants on both sides of the river +were the Çudras, whom the Greeks call the Sodroi or Sogdoi, governed by +a king; then on the western shore followed the kingdom of Sambus, who at +first submitted, and then at the instigation of the Brahmans seized his +weapons, but soon fled over the Indus with 30 elephants. His metropolis, +Sindimana, opened its gates; the other cities had to be taken by storm. +In one of these Brahmans were captured, and those of them who had +advised the king to revolt were executed. The whole land was laid waste; +above 80,000 men are said to have been slain, and the rest sold as +slaves.[565] Opposite the principality of Sambus, on the eastern bank, +dwelt the Mushikas, whose king the Greeks call Musikanos, after his +people; he abandoned every thought of resistance, as the Macedonians +appeared on his borders earlier than he expected. When he had submitted, +he also, on the instigation of the Brahmans, attempted to liberate +himself by arms. He was defeated and crucified along with his Brahmans. +To the south of the Mushikas lay the Prasthas,[566] on the eastern bank. +The city, into which the prince had retired, was taken on the third day; +the walls of the citadel soon collapsed, the prince fell in battle, the +city was sacked. At the point where the Indus divides into two great +arms on its course towards the sea, lay the great city of Potala, _i.e._ +ship-station, the Pattala of the Greeks.[567] At Alexander's approach +the prince of this region fled, the city was abandoned by the +inhabitants, the surrounding country by the husbandmen. + +It was Alexander's intention to maintain his conquests in India. On the +Vitasta he had built Bucephala and Nicæa, on the Asikni a third fortress +of the name of Alexandria, on the confluence of the Panjab and the Indus +a fourth of the same name. Pattala was transformed into a well-fortified +harbour; he ordered a citadel to be erected there, a harbour and docks. +As satrap of the district of the Panjab he appointed Philippus; as +satrap of the region on the lower course of the Indus Peithon, the son +of Agenor. Garrisons were placed in the most important cities. Alexander +moreover counted on the fidelity and the interest of the princes, Mophis +and Porus, whose territories he had enlarged. When he had navigated the +two mighty arms of the Indus, and examined their outlets, he set out +towards the end of August, 325 B.C.[568], with the greater part of his +army, 80,000 men strong, to march through Gedrosia to Persia. In +September Nearchus left the Indus with the fleet, carrying the rest of +the army, in order to explore the unknown sea and return to the Persian +Gulf. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[506] The inscription of Behistun speaks of Harauvatis and Gandara as +subjugated; the inscription of Persepolis of Harauvatis, Idhus, and +Gandara. Hence Harauvatis and Gandhara belong to the hereditary part of +the kingdom; Idhus (Indun in the Balylonian form) was an addition. As +Herodotus speaks of Caspapyrus along with Pactyike, and Hecatæus gives +Caspapyrus to the Gandarians, the place may be identified with Cabul. + +[507] Herod. 7, 65, 66, 86. + +[508] Herod. 8, 113. + +[509] Herod. 4, 40; 3, 102. + +[510] Strabo, p. 705, 706. Cf. Arrian, "Anab." 5, 4; Plin. "Hist. Nat." +6, 22; 11, 36. + +[511] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, 1020. + +[512] Above, p. 249. Manu, 10, 43-45. + +[513] Ritter, "Asien," 2, 653. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 499, 500. + +[514] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 1022. + +[515] Moorcroft, "Asiatic Researches," 12, 435 ff. + +[516] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 769; 2^2, 151, n. 5. + +[517] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 4, 249. + +[518] Muir, _loc. cit._ 3, 350. "Mahavança," p. 47. + +[519] "Anab." 3, 8. Strabo, p. 678. + +[520] A. Weber, "Vorles." s. 147^2. + +[521] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2, 522 ff. + +[522] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 408. "Mahavança," ed. Turnour, p. 39 +ff. + +[523] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 861; cf. 2^2, 163. + +[524] A. Weber, "Vorlesungen," 74^2, 85^2. + +[525] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 794; 2^2, 181. + +[526] Lassen, "De Pentapotamia Indica," p. 22, 63: "Alterthumskunde," 1, +822. + +[527] Arrian, "Anab." 5, 22; Curt. 8, 12, 13. + +[528] Droysen, "Alexander," s. 302. + +[529] The Kophaios of the Greeks is obviously the prince who reigns at +Kophen, _i.e._ at Cabul. + +[530] Droysen explains this name, no doubt correctly, from the name of +the river Astacenus; _loc. cit._ s. 374. + +[531] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 502. + +[532] Aristobulus in Strabo, p. 691, tells us that the army wintered in +the mountain land of the Hippasians and the Assacanus (so we must read +here for [Greek: Mousikanos]). The Guræans must be considered a tribe of +the Açvakas. + +[533] Arrian, "Anab." 4, 24. + +[534] Arrian, "Anab." 4, 25. + +[535] Curt. 8, 10; Justin, 12, 7; Arrian, "Anab." 4, 27. + +[536] Cunningham, "Survey," 2, 103 ff. The accompanying sketch gives a +clear idea of the gorge over which Alexander laid the dam, in order to +reach the walls of the citadel. + +[537] The Abissareans of Arrian ("Ind." 4, 12), from whose mountains the +Soanas flows into the Indus, can only be the inhabitants of the district +called Abhisara, which comprises the ranges of the Himalayas in the +region of the sources of the Vitasta; Ritter, "Erdkunde," 3, 1085 ff. +According to Droysen ("Alexander," s. 373), Lassen ("Alterth." 2^2, +163), and the statements of Onesicritus (in Strabo, p. 598) on the +serpents of Abisares, we must assume that Abhisara belonged to Cashmere, +and was at that time the seat of the king of Cashmere, and the Greeks +took the name of the prince from the name of the land. + +[538] Arrian, "Anab." 4, 22, 30. Strabo, p. 691, 698. + +[539] Diod. 17, 86. + +[540] Cunningham, "Geogr." p. 111, considers the ruins near the modern +Shahderi to mark the site of the ancient Takshaçila. + +[541] Diod. 17, 86. + +[542] Arrian. "Anab." 5, 8. Strabo, p. 698. + +[543] Onesicritus in Strabo, p. 715 + +[544] Arrian, "Anab." 7, 2. + +[545] Aristobulus in Strabo, p. 714. + +[546] In Arrian ("Anab." 7, 2) and Plutarch ("Alex." 65) Dandamis. + +[547] Onesicritus in Strabo, p. 715. + +[548] Arrian, "Anab." 7, 2. + +[549] Plutarch, "De Fluviis," 1. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 721; 2^2, 154. + +[550] Droysen, _loc. cit._ s. 388. + +[551] Arrian, "Anab." 5, 18. + +[552] Droysen, _loc. cit._ s. 400. + +[553] Arrian, "Anab." 5, 21 + +[554] Lassen, 1^2, 127; 782, 2^2, 167. + +[555] Arrian, "Anab." 5, 21. + +[556] Arrian, "Anab." 6, 2. According to Plutarch ("Alex." 60) there +were 15 nations and 5000 cities. + +[557] Diod. 17, 92. "Ramayana," 2, 70, 21. + +[558] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 175. + +[559] Arrian, "Ind." 5, 12. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 792. + +[560] Diod. 17, 98. Curt. 9, 4. + +[561] Arrian, "Anab." 6, 7. + +[562] Arrian, "Anab." 6, 9, 10; Droysen, _loc. cit._ s. 438 ff. + +[563] Droysen, _loc. cit._ s. 445. + +[564] "Brahma-Vasatya" in the Mahabharata; Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 973. + +[565] Diod. 17, 102. + +[566] Praesti; Curt. 9, 8. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 187. + +[567] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 125. + +[568] Droysen, _loc. cit._ 464, 469. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE INDIANS IN THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C. + + +The Arians on the Indus and in the Panjab had remained more true to the +old tendencies of life than their tribesmen who had turned towards the +east. In the variety of the forms of their political life and their +stimulating influence on each other, in healthy simple feeling, in +warlike energy and martial spirit they were in advance of the land of +the Ganges. Great as was the number of the tribes and states which +filled the region of the Indus, and thickly as the land was populated, +wide and many-sided as was the civilisation, in the development of +religious and intellectual life, in industrial and mercantile activity, +in civilisation of external life, in comfort and wealth, the land of the +Ganges was undoubtedly in advance of the Indus. + +After Alexander's army trod the soil of the Panjab, the eastern district +also became better known to the Greeks. Megasthenes tells us that India +was inhabited by 118 nations; the cities were so numerous that it was +impossible to know and enumerate them.[569] Beyond the desert which +extends from the Vipaça and Çatadru to the lands of the east,--the +breadth is put by the Greeks at twelve days' journey--on the navigable +Yamuna (Yomanes) dwelt the Çurasenas, whose cities were Mathura and +Krishnapura;[570] further to the east were the Panchalas. At the head of +this tribe, as we have seen, the Pandus once deposed the Kurus, the +dominant family of the Bharatas, and took their place. Hence the name +Panchalas was used instead of the name Bharatas for the tribes governed +by the Pandus, first from Hastinapura and then from Kauçambi, as we +assumed from native accounts (p. 96).[571] It has been remarked above +(p. 366) that the dynasty of the Pandus came to an end about the middle +of the fifth century, and the Çurasenas and Panchalas became subject to +the kings of Magadha. In the south-west, on the hill and mountain +territory, which gradually rises to the spurs of the Vindhyas, lay the +Mavellas, according to the account of the Greeks, whose prince possessed +five hundred elephants;[572] on the gulf of Cambay reigned kings, who +resided in the city of Automela, which must have been a considerable +place of trade. Lastly, in the peninsula of Surashtra (Guzerat) was a +kingdom where the ruling family according to the Greeks bore the name of +Pandus, and who therefore were connected by their lineage with Pandu, +the father of Yudhishthira and Arjuna. The Pandus of Surashtra are said +to have reigned over 300 cities and to have possessed 500 elephants of +war.[573] If a branch of the house of Pandu, which ruled over the +Panchalas and Bharatas, had founded the second Mathura on the south side +of the Deccan, it was colonists from Surashtra who made Ceylon subject +to the Brahmanic law (p. 369, 370). We have already stated what was +known to Alexander and his companions of the inhabitants of the Ganges, +the kingdom of the Gangarides, the Prasians (Prachyas), _i.e._ the men +of the east, as they call themselves, obviously after the name common in +the land of the Indus. The ample resources and powerful army which were +ascribed in the land of the Indus to the ruler of this kingdom, the +well-known Magadha, may have contributed in no small measure to the fact +that Alexander's campaign came to an end on the Vipaça. In any case the +accounts which the Greeks received in the land of the Indus about +Magadha, confirm the predominant position which our inferences from +native authorities compel us to ascribe to this kingdom after the time +of king Kalaçoka, in the land of the Ganges. However exaggerated the +statement of the Greeks about the power of the king of the Prasians may +be, they give us the further proof that the consequence and power of +Magadha under the Nandas in the first half of the fourth century B.C. +had rather increased than diminished; they show us, finally, that even +the usurper who overthrew the Nandas, and the Dhanapala who sat on the +throne of Magadha at the time when Alexander marched through the +Indus--the Greeks call him Xandrames--maintained the ruling position of +Magadha on the Ganges. + +Of the nations which lay to the west of the Gangarides, _i.e._ to the +east of Magadha, the Greeks can mention few. First come the Kalingas who +dwelt on "the other sea," below the mouths of the Ganges. The kings of +this nation were masters of 60,000 foot soldiers and 700 elephants. Next +to them dwelt the Andhras in numerous villages and thirty cities with +walls and towers; these were followed by the most southern realm in +India, the land of Pandæa[574]--the kingdom of the southern Mathura, the +southern Pandus (p. 369) is meant--and the great island of Taprobane, +which lay off the southern shore of India. The mention of the Kalingas +and Andhras shows that the Arian colonisation must have made +considerable advances in the course of the fourth century in the region +between Orissa (p. 368) and the southern Mathura. + +To grasp clearly the picture which the contemporaries of Alexander +received of the life and pursuits of the Indians in its essential lines, +in order to compare it with the native traditions and to supplement +them, is of great importance owing to the peculiar nature of the latter. +The splendour of the Indian princes is described by the Greeks in +glowing colours. Gold and silver, elephants, herds of cattle and flocks +of sheep were possessed by them in abundance. Their robes were adorned +with gold and purple, even the soles of their shoes glittered with +precious stones.[575] In their ears they carried precious stones of +peculiar size and brilliance; the upper and lower arm no less than the +neck were surrounded by pearls, and a golden staff was the symbol of +their rank.[576] Every one showed them the greatest reverence; men not +only prostrated themselves before them but even prayed to them.[577] +Nevertheless conspiracies against them were common. For this reason the +kings were waited upon by women only, who had been purchased from their +parents. These had to prepare the food, bring the wine, and accompany +them to the bed-chamber, which for the sake of security was frequently +changed. In the daytime the kings of the Indians did not venture to +sleep.[578] Even when hunting the king was accompanied by his wives, who +were in turn surrounded by his bodyguards. Any one who ventured to +advance as far as the women lost his life. If the king hunted in a park, +he shot from a framework, on which stood also two or three women, +equipped for hunting; if in the open, he was still followed by the +women, partly in chariots, partly like the king himself on elephants. In +the same way women accompanied the Indian kings to war.[579] Except for +hunting and war the kings only left the palace to offer sacrifice. Then +they appeared in a beautifully-flowered robe.[580] Drum-beaters and +bell-players preceded them; then came elephants adorned with gold and +silver, four-yoked chariots, and others yoked with pairs of oxen. The +soldiers marched out in the best armour; gold utensils, great kettles +and dishes quite a fathom in diameter--tables, seats, and water-basins +of Indian copper, set with precious stones, emeralds, beryls, and +carbuncles, and gay robes adorned with gold were carried in procession. +After these wild animals were brought out--buffaloes, panthers, and +bound lions and tigers.[581] On waggons of four wheels stood trees with +large leaves, on which were various kinds of tame birds, some +distinguished by their gorgeous plumage, others by their fine +voices.[582] + +The splendour of the princes, the hundreds of "lotus-eyed" women who +surrounded and waited on them, no less than their anxious cares for +their own safety are well-known to us from the native authorities; and +the change in the succession, which we have so frequently met with, +proves that these precautions were not superfluous.[583] The sutras +describe how the kings at festivals march out on elephants to the sound +of all kinds of instruments, amid the scent of perfumes and clouds of +frankincense, accompanied by their ministers and multitudes of people. +An inscription of Açoka of Magadha ordains processions of elephants and +festal chariots, "announced by trumpets;"[584] and the Epos goes to +great length in the description of the processions of the princes for +the consecration of the king (p. 225), and on other occasions of a +similar kind. + +According to the Greeks the kings of the Indians gave great attention to +justice; they occupied themselves with it almost the whole day. The +other judges were also conscientious, and the guilty were severely +punished.[585] We remember how urgently the book of the law impressed on +the princes the duty of dispensing justice, the protection of persons +and property, the awarding of punishment (p. 203). The Indians were, the +Greeks assure us, honest in trade, and had few lawsuits. Personal +assaults were forbidden; no one might offer or receive them; and so the +Indians were accustomed to bring charges merely for wounding and murder. +Theft was rare, though little was locked up in the houses. Any one who +mutilated another was mutilated in the same manner and lost a hand in +addition; but any one who deprived an artisan of a hand or an eye must +be put to death. False witness was punished with loss of the hand or +foot; the worst criminals were punished at the king's order by +flaying.[586] + +The Indian nation was divided, we are told, into seven tribes. The +first was formed by the sages; in numbers it was the weakest, but in +importance and honour the most considerable. The second by the +magistrates, who "distinguished themselves by wisdom and justice." Out +of this order the kings, no less than the free nations of India, took +their supreme council; from them the kings also selected the overseers +of the cantons, the judges and leaders in war. The third was the order +of spies, whose business it was to find out everything that took place +in the cities and in the country; the kings maintained them for their +own safety, and the spies were assisted by the public women, both those +in the cities and those who in time of war went out in the camps. The +fourth order, that of the warriors, was numerous. It enjoyed great +liberty, and was the most prosperous, inasmuch as it had no other duty +but to practise the use of arms. The warriors were paid out of the +treasury of the king, and so liberally that they could even support +others on their pay. The armour, horses and elephants which they +required they received from the king, together with the necessary +servants, so that others forged their weapons for them, tended and led +their horses, adorned and drove their chariots and guided their +elephants. In time of war the soldiers fought; in time of peace they +lived in idleness and enjoyment, in pleasure and festivity. Those also +who practised arts and handicraft, or carried on trade, formed in India +a separate order (the fifth). Of these some made what the husbandmen +required, others were makers of armour and builders of ships. Most of +them were subject to taxes and had to give service beside; only the +artisans who manufactured implements of war, and the carpenters who +built ships were free not only from service and taxes but even received +maintenance from the king, for whom alone they were permitted to +work.[587] The most numerous order by far was that of the husbandmen +(the sixth). These never went to war, nor possessed weapons, nor were +employed in other public services; they even withdrew from dealings with +the cities. The Indian peasant lived undisturbed with his wife and +children on his farm, occupied only with the tillage of the field. Even +the outbreak of a war did not disturb his employment; under the +protection of the kings he carried on his labours quietly.[588] Some +accounts of the Greeks go so far as to assure us that the farms were +sacred and inviolable; that even the soldiers of the enemy were not +permitted to lay them waste, to burn trees and houses and lay hand on +the people, so that the peasants fearlessly followed the plough amid the +arrangements of battle and warfare, got in their harvest, and gathered +the fruits of the field.[589] The seventh and last class of the Indians +consisted of the hunters and herdmen. The herdmen led a wandering life +in the mountain regions and lived on their cattle, from which they had +to pay tribute to the king; the hunters were bound to cleanse the land +of wild animals, and protect the crops of the husbandmen against +them.[590] These seven orders of the Indians might not contract marriage +with each other, nor was it permitted to pass from one order into +another, or to carry on the occupation of two orders at once. Only those +who belonged to the first order could carry on the occupation of any +other, just as any one in any order could enter the order of the sages. + +This conception of the Indian castes is idealized in some points, and in +others falls into errors, of which the causes are easily detected and +pardonable. The happy, careless, and free life of the Kshatriyas is +obviously exaggerated for all the states in which they had not +maintained the position of a landed warlike nobility, as they did in the +free nations,[591] unless indeed among the monarchies a king sat on the +throne who especially favoured the Kshatriyas, and was in a position to +treat handsomely the soldiers in service, or registered for service. It +has already been mentioned that all Kshatriyas did not serve (p. 244); +and it would not occur to any prince to pay men who were not in service. +Still less do the idyllic descriptions of the honoured and inviolable +life of the husbandmen agree with the taxes and exactions and miserable +position of the villagers, to which we find such frequent references in +the native authorities. It is true that the Brahmanic law laid emphasis +on settled life, and gave the preference to agriculture over trade and +handicraft (p. 244), but of such a respect for husbandry as the Greeks +describe we often find the opposite. These and similar traits in the +Greek accounts owe in part their origin to the exaggerated picture of +this distant land, which the fame of Indian marvels, of the wisdom and +justice of the Indian nation, had produced among the Greeks. Yet we must +not overlook the fact that agriculture _was_ carried on with industry +and care, that these accounts are essentially based on the impression +which Megasthenes received of the condition of India circumstances in +the period soon after Alexander, when a great prince on the throne of +Magadha maintained peace and order in his wide dominions with a powerful +hand. Even the sutras of the Buddhists dwell on the flourishing +condition of agriculture at this period. + +If the Greeks give seven orders instead of four, if they speak of the +magistrates, spies, handicraftsmen, and finally of the hunters and +herdmen, as separate tribes beside the priests, warriors, and +husbandmen, the error is founded in the fact that they had a tendency to +find the distinction of castes everywhere. Beside the chief castes were +the castes of mixed origin, and it has been observed above how strong +was the tendency of persons engaged in similar occupations to form into +separate bodies within the castes. It was natural for an observant +foreigner to think that the retired life of the sages was separated from +the busy occupation of the magistrates by a sharper line, and to make +the special calling of the magistrates into a caste, though on the other +hand it did not escape the Greeks that the sages also were counsellors +of the kings. Manu's law had wisely prescribed that kings should +diligently avail themselves of the help of spies, whom they must select +out of all the orders; these spies were more especially to watch the +courtesans,[592] and the Ramayana extols the ministers of king Daçaratha +of Ayodhya for their skill in giving information of everything that went +on in the land.[593] If the Greeks could regard these spies as a special +caste, many persons must have been employed by the system of secret +police in the fourth century B.C. in India. That the unity of the caste, +which comprised agriculturists, merchants, and handicraftsmen, and on +the other hand the distinction between the Vaiçyas and the Çudras, was +overlooked, is easily to be explained, for even Manu's law permitted the +Çudras to be handicraftsmen, and the Brahmans and Kshatriyas to descend +to the occupation of the other castes (p. 243), a permission which, in +the case of the Brahmans, did not escape the Greeks. That the +handicraftsmen and others had to perform tax-labour for the king, is an +arrangement fixed by the book of the law (p. 212). Lastly, the Greeks +apparently included among the hunters and the herdmen the impure and +despised castes; the book of the law had also fixed what castes, _i.e._ +what tribes of the pre-Arian or Arian population, were to occupy +themselves with hunting and the capture of wild animals.[594] + +Of the order of the sages the Greeks tell us that it assisted the king +in the conduct of sacred worship, as the Magians assisted the Persians. +Nor was it kings only, but communities and individuals who employed the +services of these sages at sacrifices, because they stood nearest the +gods, to whom a sacrifice offered by others could not be acceptable. +Together with the sacrifice the sages conducted the burial and worship +of the dead, as they were acquainted with the under world. They even +occupied themselves with prediction, and soothsaying was in their hands. +They rarely told individual persons their fate, for this was too +insignificant and beneath the dignity of prophecy, but they foretold the +fortunes of the state. At the new year the kings annually summoned the +sages and a great assembly, when they announced whether the year would +be good or bad, dry or wet; whether there would be sickness or not. At +this assembly any sage also stated what he had observed that was of use +in the affairs of the community, to promote the prosperity of the fruits +and animals, etc. If any one prophesied falsely, no punishment awaited +him; but any one who for the third time announced what did not take +place was bound to keep silence for ever, a penalty so strictly observed +by those on whom it was imposed, that nothing in the world could move +them to utter another word.[595] + +The life of these sages was no easy one; on the contrary, it was the +most burdensome of all. From their earliest childhood they were brought +up to wisdom; nay, even before their birth guardians from among the +sages were allotted to them, who visited the mothers in order to ensure +them a happy delivery by magic arts; so at least it was believed; as a +fact they gave them wise exhortations. After birth other sages undertook +the education of the children, and with advancing years the boys ever +received better instructors. When grown up they lived for the most part +in groves, in solitary isolation from the cities, lay on the earth, +clothed themselves with the skins of animals, ate nothing that had life, +refrained from sexual intercourse, and exercised great firmness both in +bearing pain and in endurance, inasmuch as they sometimes remained in +one position for the whole day, or stood for a long time on one leg, and +carried on conversations on important matters. These could be listened +to even by the common people; but such listeners must sit in profound +silence; they must neither speak nor cough nor spit. Any sage who had +lived in this manner for thirty-six or forty years, which they call the +years of practice (p. 398), departs to his possessions and henceforth +lives a less severe life. He wears garments of cotton, and rings of gold +of moderate size on his hands and in his ears; he may eat the flesh of +animals which are useless, but he may not eat acid food. The sages then +take several wives, because it is important to have many children, in +order to propagate wisdom the better. Others, clad in cotton garments, +wander through the cities and teach, and are accompanied by pupils. The +greater part of the time they spend in the market-place, where they are +visited by many persons for advice. Others again live in the forest +under the huge trees and eat nothing but bark and ripe herbs. In summer +they endured without clothing the burning heat of the midday sun, and +the winter also they passed in the open air, amid torrents of rain. The +sages who live in the forest do not go to the kings, even though +requested to do so; but the kings from time to time ask questions of +them by messengers, and entreat them to call upon and worship the gods +on their behalf. Others of the sages, however, manage the business of +the state, and accompany the kings as counsellors; others are +physicians, who live simply on rice and barley, and heal sickness by +diet more than by any other means;[596] others again are soothsayers and +magicians, and acquainted with the sacrifices to the dead and the +ritual, and go about begging among the villages and cities. These were +the least cultivated of the sages, but even the others did not +contradict the fables of the under-world, "because they advanced piety +and sanctity."[597] + +The sages were one and all highly honoured by the kings and the nation. +They paid no taxes, they had no duties and services to perform, but on +the contrary received valuable presents. Those who lived in the cities +and gave advice in the market-place could take whatever and as much as +they pleased of the food exposed for sale there, especially of oil and +sesame; any one who is carrying figs or grapes gives to them of his +store without payment. All whom they visit feel themselves honoured, and +every house is open to them, except the apartments of the women; they +enter when they choose, and take part in the conversation and the meal. +Even the physicians among the sages are hospitably entertained in all +the houses, and receive rice and barley wherever they lodge.[598] + +Megasthenes tells us that the sages were divided into two sects, of +which the one was called Brahmans, the other Sarmans. There was also a +third sect, wrangling and quarrelsome men, whom the Brahmans regarded as +vain boasters and fools.[599] The Brahmans were held in higher +estimation than the Sarmans, because there was more agreement in their +doctrines. They occupied themselves with researches into nature, and the +knowledge of the stars, and taught everything like the Hellenes; +maintaining that the world was created, and globular, and perishable, +permeated by the Deity who created and governed it. The earth was the +centre of the universe. In addition to the four elements of the Hellenes +the sages of the Indians assumed a fifth, out of which arose the sky and +the stars. About the nature of the soul, also, the Indians had the same +notions as the Hellenes; but like Plato they interspersed many fables on +the imperishable nature of the soul, on the judgment which will be held +in the under-world on the souls, and other things of the kind. As a rule +their acts were better than their words; their proofs were generally +supported by the narration of extraordinary stories. They maintained +that in itself there was nothing good or bad; otherwise it would be +impossible that some persons should be in trouble about an event while +others felt delighted at it; that even the same persons should be +distressed and then in turn delighted at the selfsame occurrence.[600] +According to the account of Onesicritus quoted above (p. 398), the +Brahmans of Takshaçila considered that doctrine the best which removed +joy and sadness utterly from the soul. In order to attain this the body +must be accustomed to pain that the power of the soul may thus be +strengthened. That man is the best who has the fewest needs; he is the +most free who needs neither presents nor anything else from another; who +has to fear no threats; he who equally disregarded pleasure and toil and +life and death will be second to no other. The Brahmans spoke a good +deal of death, which they regarded as a deliverance from the flesh when +rendered useless by age. Life on earth they regarded merely as the +completion of birth in the flesh, death as the birth to true life, and +to happiness for the wise. Diseases of the body appeared to them +dishonourable; and if a man fell into sickness, he anointed himself, +caused a pyre to be erected, placed himself on it, gave orders that it +should be kindled, and was burnt, without moving. Others put an end to +their lives by throwing themselves into water, or over precipices; +others by hanging or by the sword. Yet Megasthenes maintains that +suicide was no article in the Indian creed.[601] + +In all essential points these accounts agree with the native +authorities, though the view taken is here and there too favourable, in +some points too advanced, in others not sufficiently discriminating. It +is true that the Brahmans and the initiated of the Enlightened, the +Çramanas, are confounded in the order of the sages; this is shown by the +statement that any one could enter into this order.[602] It would have +required peculiar acuteness on the part of a stranger to distinguish +matters so closely resembling each other in their external appearances; +and the one were mendicants no less than the others. It is evidence of +clear observation that the Brahmans like the Bhikshus were regarded by +the Greeks as philosophers rather than priests; they give prominence to +their position as advisers of the king and soothsayers as well as their +philosophical inquiries and conduct of sacrifices. The custom of +advising the princes agrees with the rules which are known to us from +the book of the law, the statements of the sutras, the Epos, the +Puranas, and the incidents in the land of the Indus which have been +mentioned above (p. 405); and with regard to soothsaying we have already +seen from the sutras how much the Brahmans were given to astrology after +the year 600 B.C.; how they suggested fortunate names to parents for +their children, and favourable times for investiture with the sacred +girdle, for cutting the hair, and for marriage. The assemblies at the +new year, of which the Greeks tell us, have reference no doubt to the +establishment of the calendar, _i.e._ to the fixing of the proper and +fortunate days for sacrifice and festivity, for seedtime, etc., as is +done at this day in every village by the Brahmans, and for the court and +kingdom by the Brahmans of the king. Even now nothing of importance is +undertaken in the state or in the house, before the Brahmans have +declared the signs of heaven to be favourable. As to the sacrifices to +the departed, we are acquainted with the meals for the dead, and their +importance, which the Brahmans retained, while the Bhikshus, as we shall +see, had meanwhile gone so far as to worship the manes of Buddha and his +chief disciples. The sutras have already informed us of the frequent use +of physicians; they were Brahmans who carried on the art of healing on +the basis of the Atharvaveda. The care of the young Brahmans and their +instruction is correctly stated; the time of teaching which the book of +the law fixes at thirty-six years (p. 179) is not forgotten; even among +the Bhikshus a noviciate was customary. In the description of the life +of the ascetics and wandering sages, the Brahmans and Bhikshus are again +confounded, and if the Greeks tell us that the severe sages of the +forest were too proud to go to the court at the request of the king, the +statement holds good according to the evidence of the Epos of the +Brahmanic saints, and the sutras of the great teachers among the +Buddhists.[603] + +In the examination of the doctrines of the Indian sages Megasthenes +distinguished the Brahmans and the Buddhists, inasmuch as he opposes the +less honoured sects to the first, and declares the Brahmans to be the +most important. From his whole account it is clear that at his date, +_i.e._ about the year 300 B.C., the Brahmans had distinctly the upper +hand. But, according to him, the Çramanas took the next place to the +Brahmans, among the less honoured sects. Among the Buddhists Çramana is +the ordinary name for their clergy (p. 377). The doctrines of the +Brahmans of the world-soul and the five elements (by the fifth, with +which the Greeks were not acquainted, the æther or Akaça of the Brahmans +is meant), the dogmas of liberation from sensuality and the body, are +rightly stated by Megasthenes in all essentials, and his assertion that +the Brahmans for the most part narrated fabulous stories in support of +their doctrines is based very correctly on the numerous Brahman legends +about the great saints. Megasthenes takes too favourable a view of the +object of Brahmanic asceticism, but he brings out with sufficient +prominence the mortification of the flesh, and remarks the diversity of +the views on voluntary death or suicide, which, as we have seen, the +book of the law, in case of incapacity, regards as a meritorious end to +the later years of life, while the Buddhists condemned it altogether. + +Of the religion of the Indians the Greeks ascertained that they +worshipped Zeus, who brought the rain, and other native, _i.e._ +peculiar, deities, and the Ganges. Of the gods of the Greeks Dionysus +was the first to come to India; he instructed the Indians in the culture +of the field and the vine, founded the monarchy, and taught them how to +wear the mitra and to dance the cordax (a Bacchic dance).[604] Heracles +also had been in India, but fifteen generations later than Dionysus. The +Indians called Heracles one of the earth-born, who had attained divine +honours after his death, because he surpassed all men in power and +boldness. This Indian Heracles had cleared land and sea from wild and +hurtful animals, and, like the Theban Heracles, had carried the lion's +skin and club. He had many sons, among whom India was equally divided, +and these had bequeathed their dominions to many descendants, from +generation to generation; some of these kingdoms existed even when +Alexander came to India. Beside these sons Heracles had one daughter, +Pandæa, whom he had also made a queen, and had given her for a kingdom +the land in which she was born, the most southern part of India;[605] +and when on one of his voyages Heracles had discovered pearls he +gathered together all that could be found in the Indian sea in order to +adorn his daughter with them. As he had never seen a man worthy of her, +when in old age he made her though but seven years old of full age for +marriage in order that he might beget with her a successor for her land. +After this time, all the women in the land named after her were of +marriageable age in their seventh year.[606] The Indians on the +mountains worshipped Dionysus, those in the plains Heracles;[607] the +latter was chiefly worshipped among the Çurasenas on the Yamuna,[608] +and the Çibis (p. 403), who wore the skins of animals and carried clubs +like Heracles, and branded their oxen and mules with the mark of a +club.[609] The Indians did not slaughter the animals for sacrifice, but +strangled them.[610] + +The rain-bringing Zeus is the ancient sky-god of the Indians, Indra, who +cleaves the clouds with the lightning, and sends down the fructifying +water, even as he causes the springs imprisoned in the rocks to bubble +forth in freedom. Concerning the sacredness of the Ganges we are +sufficiently instructed in Indian authorities. With regard to Dionysus, +the Greeks tell us that when Alexander was in the land of the Açvakas, +an embassy came from the Nysæans with the message that Dionysus had +founded their city, had given it the name of Nysa, and had called the +neighbouring hill Meron. In the valleys and on the hills of the Açvakas +the Greeks saw the vine growing wild, the thick creepers of a plant not +unlike ivy, myrtles, bay, box-trees, and other evergreens, along with +luxuriant orchards,[611] a vegetation which reminded them of their own +homes and the sacred places of Dionysus. When in the Hindu Kush they +heard the name of the tribe of the Nishadas and of the divine mountain +Meru, which with the Indians lay beyond the Himalayas (the highest +ranges were with them the southern slopes of the divine mountain), there +was no longer any doubt that the god of Nysa, who had grown up in the +Nysæan cave, and on the Nysæan mountain, had marched to India, just as +he had reduced the nations of Asia Minor as far as the Euphrates.[612] +In this way the Nysæan mountain, which the Greeks first placed in +Boeotia and Thrace, was then removed to the borders of Egypt, +afterwards to Arabia and Ethiopia,[613] and even to India. To the Greeks +the Nishadas were Nysæans and their city Nysa; they were at once +convinced that Meru received the name from Dionysus or in honour +of Dionysus, whom his divine father had once carried in his thigh +([Greek: mêros]).[614] Diodorus, after his manner, gives this pragmatic +explanation of the story: Dionysus was compelled to refresh his wearied +army on a mountain, which was then called Meros after him. Further, the +processions of the Indian princes to sacrifices and the chase reminded +the Greeks of the Dionysiac processions at home. They caught the sound +of cymbals and drums; they saw the number of the royal women with their +female servants in these trains; the king and his company in their long +gay and flowered robes, with turbans on their heads,[615] which reminded +them of the fillet of Dionysus; they saw great cups and goblets, the +treasures of the king's palace, and finally, lions and panthers, the +animals of Dionysus, brought forth in these processions; coloured masks +and beards, just as the Greeks were accustomed to paint the face at the +festival of Dionysus.[616] + +Among the Indians, as we saw, in the course of the sixth century, the +worship of Rudra-Çiva grew up first and chiefly in the high mountains +and valleys, where the storms were the most violent. He was a wild deity +like Dionysus; like him he was invoked as "lord of the hills" (p. 330), +a god of increase and fertility, of nature creating through moisture, of +reproduction. And if ecstasy and frenzy were peculiar to the worship of +Dionysus, there was also a certain wildness in the nature of Çiva-Rudra, +a trait which gradually became more strongly marked among the Indians in +contrast to the form of Vishnu. + +The culture of the vine on the Indus, the green mountain valleys, the +sound of the names Nishada and Meru, the procession of the Indian kings, +and the worship of Çiva, convinced the Greeks that they had found the +worship of their god. That they restricted this to the inhabitants of +the mountains is due, no doubt, to the fact that they were more closely +acquainted with the mountain land of the west, that the vine-clad +valleys and the names Nysa and Meru belonged to the region of the high +mountains, that even in the land of the Ganges the Himalayas passed as +the abode of Çiva (p. 330). Moreover, the plains of India did not +produce the vine, which indeed does not nourish in India, with the +exception of some districts on the Indus, and the inhabitants of the +Ganges valley did not drink wine. + +As the Indians of the mountains, according to the account of the Greeks, +worshipped Dionysus, so were the Indians of the plains worshippers of +Heracles. According to the statement of Megasthenes, he was worshipped +especially among the Çurasenas on the Yamuna and in the cities of +Mathura and Krishnapura, and therefore Krishna must be meant (p. 105). +Among the Indians Vishnu-Krishna carries the club, which Varuna once +gave to him, and is called the club-bearer (_gadadhara_); with the club +Krishna smote the wild tribes, the heroes, and the monsters. The weapon +carried by Krishna's nation, the extinct Yadavas, was the club. The +Greeks tell us that the Indian Heracles begot many sons; in the +Mahabharata Krishna entreats Mahadeva, _i.e._ Çiva, the god of +fertility, for hundreds of sons; the Vishnu-Purana ascribes to Krishna +16,100 wives and 180,000 sons.[617] According to the Greeks, Krishna was +first placed among the gods after his death; in the ancient conception +of the Indians, Krishna, as we know, was a strong herdman, who overcame +bulls, kings, and giants, gave crafty counsel in the great wars, and at +length died, wounded by the arrows of a hunter (p. 95); he becomes a +deity by amalgamation with Vishnu. That the Greeks overlook the peaceful +side of the deity in the incarnations of Vishnu as Paraçurama, Rama, and +Krishna, and their heroic achievements, is easily explained from their +tendency to find their native gods in India. The derivation of the royal +races of India from Heracles has reference only to the dynasties which +claimed to be derived from the Pandus, the extinct royal houses of the +Bharatas and Panchalas, the Pandus in Guzerat and southern Mathura, +whose ancestors the Epos places in such close connection with +Vishnu-Krishna. This derivation might easily be extended to the families +which carried their lineage beyond the Pandus to Kuru, Puru, and +Pururavas, like the Pauravas on the Panjab (p. 399), and the oldest +dynasty of the kings of Magadha (p. 74). The most southern part of India +is said to have fallen to Pandæa, the daughter of Heracles, and to have +received its name from her; the pearls were procured from the sea for +her adornment. We know that a Pandu family ruled there; among the heroic +achievements of Krishna, the Mahabharata mentions the conquest of the +giant Panchajana;[618] Vishnu is the bearer of the mussel, the lord of +the jewel, and the pearl fishery can only be carried on in the gulf +between Mathura and Ceylon. That a daughter and not a son of Heracles +founded the kingdom here, is perhaps due to an Indian legend, woven into +the history of this kingdom of Mathura. Sampanna-Pandya, the king +mentioned above, worshipped the protecting goddess of the city so +zealously that in order to reward him she caused herself to be born as +his daughter. She succeeds her father on the throne, marches through +India performing great deeds as far as the lake of Kailasa, the lofty +Himalayas, where she overcomes even Çiva by her beauty, so that he +follows her to Mathura, and there reigns at Sundara-Pandya (_i.e._ the +beautiful Pandya), and gives prosperity to the land.[619] Hence it is +possible that the protecting deity of Mathura and her warlike +achievements are the basis underlying the story of the daughter of +Heracles. If Heracles begets a son with this daughter in her seventh +year, and all the women of the land became henceforth marriageable at +that age, the latter part of the statement is correct; the fact is due +to the position of the country under the equator. Even the law of Manu, +which is adapted to the land on the central Ganges, permits marriage in +the twelfth and even in the eighth year (p. 254). + +Whatever may be the case with regard to the several items of the +statements of the Greeks about the worship of Dionysus and Heracles, +they make it certain that in the fourth century B.C. the worship of +Indra was indeed in existence, but not prominent, while the worship of +Rudra-Çiva and Vishnu was in the foremost position. The worship of +Vishnu was the chief worship of the Indians of the plains, _i.e._ of the +land of the Ganges, and Krishna and Rama, the figures in the Epos, were +already transformed into incarnations of Vishnu. + +Of the justice of the Indians, their contempt of death, and reverence +towards the kings, Ctesias has much to tell.[620] The companions of +Alexander extol their love of truth; no Indian was ever accused of a +lie. Megasthenes adds that the Indians lent money without witnesses or +seals; a man ought to know whom he could trust; if he made a mistake he +must bear the loss with equanimity. Wives were generally bought of their +parents for a yoke of oxen; but Megasthenes assures us that in Magadha +marriages were made without giving or receiving.[621] In that case the +rule of the book of the law (p. 255), had become current here. The +Indian wives were faithful and chaste, though it was the custom to have +more than one. The Greeks also extol the moderation of the Indians in +eating and drinking. The majority ate nothing but a little rice and +fruits of the field; the mountaineers alone lived on the flesh of the +wild animals which they caught in the chase. So little importance did +they ascribe to eating that they had no fixed hour for meals. Nor did +the inhabitants of the plains drink wine except at sacrifices, and this +was not prepared from the grape but from rice.[622] At the banquets of +the rich a separate table was set apart for each guest, with a golden +cup; in this first rice and then other vegetables were brought, which +the Indians were very skilful in cooking.[623] They were partial to +singing and dancing, and paid great attention to beauty and the care of +the body. They anointed themselves and had their bodies frequently +rubbed; even when the king was dispensing justice four men frequently +rubbed him with strigils. The hair of the Indians was plaited, and a +band worn like the Persian mitre. They preferred white garments, which +among them seemed brighter than with other nations, either because +cotton was whiter than linen or because they appeared brighter owing to +the dark colour of the Indians.[624] Over the cotton shirt, reaching +half way down the thigh, many threw a mantle, which was fastened under +the right shoulder. Many also wore linen clothes instead of cotton, and +gay garments embroidered with flowers. Their shoes were of white +leather, delicate in workmanship, and provided with high parti-coloured +heels, that the figure might appear taller. They allowed the beard to +grow, and tended it carefully; some tribes even stained the beard with +various lively hues--white, green, dark-blue, and purple-red--and the +country provided excellent colours for this purpose. The richer men had +rings of gold and ivory in their ears and on their hands; they had +beautiful parasols held over them, and did everything that could enhance +the beauty of their appearance.[625] Persons of importance rode only in +chariots with four horses; it was thought mean to make a journey on +horseback without a retinue.[626] + +We remember with what emphasis the hymns of the Veda inculcated honour, +fidelity, truth, and the eschewal of lying; and without doubt in the +ancient period the Aryas on the Indus laid as much weight on +truthfulness as the Airyas of Iran. But some observations in the book of +the law showed us that this virtue no longer entirely prevailed in the +land of the Ganges. Buddhism earnestly reiterates the precept not to +lie, and in spite of the conduct of the king of Cashmere and other +princes on the Indus towards Alexander, as related to us by the Greeks, +we can believe their assertions that at that time these virtues +prevailed through far larger circles than at present. The moderation of +the Indians in eating and drinking is due primarily, no doubt, to the +climate of the Ganges; in a less degree the laws of the Brahmans +respecting food, and the moderation preached by Buddha, must have +operated to the same end, and above all must have tended to remove the +old love of drinking among the Aryas. The love of the Aryas for dress +and adornment we know from the sutras; they showed us that the richer +men wore costly ear-rings of diamonds, and the poorer wore ornaments of +wood or lead.[627] Of Ayodhya the Ramayana boasts that no one was seen +there without ear-rings and a necklace, without a chaplet on the head +and perfumes.[628] The dress of the women was naturally still more +costly and stately. The Epos is acquainted with the custom of colouring +the hands and feet with sandal or lac;[629] in the later poems of the +Indians we have endless praises of the jingling of the anklets, the +shrill-sounding girdles, glittering with precious stones; the adornments +of the neck, the eye-brows and forehead coloured with musk, antimony, +and lac, the locks of hair and crowns of flowers. In all these matters +the Hindus have not changed. Even now they love to wear snow-white +garments, and next to these such as are of a brilliant colour; they +carry gracefully the ample garment in which they wrap themselves; they +dress their hair, and anoint it with palm oil, and though they no longer +stain their beards blue and red, they paint on the forehead the symbol +of the deity which each person specially worships. The turban, for which +in some districts material interwoven with gold is preferred, is still +picturesquely coiled round the head; by the different modes of wrapping +may be distinguished the inhabitants of different districts. A poor man +would rather give up anything than the silver ornaments of his girdle, +and the poorest porter is rarely without a gold ear-ring. Weavers of +garlands and silversmiths are still to be found in the most wretched +villages, and any one would rather go without a dinner than without +perfumes. + +According to the Greeks the rites of burial were plain and simple. It +was the custom of the Indians to burn the dead on pyres. As we have +seen, cremation was for a long time the universal practice. It took +place before the gates of the cities, where there were special places +for the purpose; the corpses were wrapped in linen, and carried out on +cushions amid hymns and prayers, some of the oldest of which we know (p. +62).[630] The bones and anything else which remained unburnt were thrown +into the water. Aristobulus says that he had heard that among some +Indians the widows burned themselves voluntarily with the corpses of +their husbands, and those who refused to do so were held in less +estimation.[631] The Greeks also observe, quite correctly, that it was +not the custom among the Indians to erect mounds. In the fourth century, +it is true, the followers of Buddha had erected stupas for his relics +(p. 365), and possibly for those of his greatest disciples; but in any +case these were so rare and so unimportant that they would hardly strike +the eye; one Greek authority nevertheless asserts that there were small +tumuli in India. The reason given for this omission which seemed so +strange to the Greeks, is that the Indians were of opinion that the +remembrance of the virtues of a man together with the hymns sung in his +honour (by which can only be meant the ritual of the burial and the +funeral feast) were sufficient to preserve his memory.[632] + +The industrial skill of the Indians was not unknown to the Greeks. As +early as the fifth century fine Indian clothes, silken garments called +_sindones_ or Tyrian robes, were brought by the trade of the Phenicians +to Hellas. Ctesias praises the swords of Indian steel of special +excellence and rare quality, which were worn at the Persian court. Other +evidence also shows that the Indians at an early time understood the +preparation and working of steel.[633] Mining, on the other hand, +according to the Greeks, they understood but ill, and their copper +vessels, which were cast, not beaten, were fragile and brittle. At the +sources of a river which flowed through lofty mountains into the Indus +there grew, as Ctesias tells us, a kind of tree, called Siptachora, on +the leaves of which lived small creatures like beetles, with long legs, +and soft like caterpillars. They spoiled the fruit of the trees just as +the woodlice spoiled the vines in Hellas, but from the insects when +pounded came a purple colour, which gave a more beautiful and brilliant +dye than the purple of the Hellenes.[634] These insects of Ctesias are +the beetles of the lac-tree, which suck the juice of the bark and +leaves, and so provide the lac-dye. The home of this tree is the north, +more especially the mountain-range on the upper Indus above Cashmere. +Ctesias' statement proves that the Indians knew how to prepare the +lac-dye in the fifth century B.C. The same authority mentions an +ointment of the Indians, which gave the most excellent perfume; it might +be perceived at a distance of four stades. This ointment, which they +prepared from the resin of a kind of cedar with leaves like a palm, the +Indians called Karpion. Possibly cinnamon-oil is meant, which is +obtained from the outer-bark of the cinnamon tree.[635] + +Of the military affairs of the Indians, besides what has been already +quoted about the order of soldiers, the Greeks tell us that the bow was +their favourite weapon. In the Veda and the Epos we found this to be the +chief arm (p. 35, 89), and the good management of it was the first +qualification of a hero. The Greeks tell us that the Indian bow, made of +reed, was as tall as the man who carried it. In stringing it the Indians +placed the lower end of the bow against the earth, and drew the string +back while pressing with the left foot against the bow; their arrows +were almost three cubits long. Nothing withstood these arrows; they +penetrated shield and cuirass.[636] Others were armed with javelins +instead of the bow, and with shields of untanned ox-hide, somewhat +narrower than a man but not less tall. When it came to a hand-to-hand +contest, which was rarely the case among the Indians, they drew the +broad-sword three cubits in length, which every one carried, and which +must have been wielded with both hands. The Indians rode without a +saddle; the horses were held in with bits, which took the form of a +lance. To these the reins were fastened, but along with them a curb of +leather, in which occasionally iron, and among the wealthier people +ivory points, were placed, so as to pierce the lips of the horse when +the rein was drawn.[637] The Indian horsemen carried two lances and a +shield smaller than that of the foot soldier. In every chariot of war +besides the driver were two combatants, and on the elephants three +besides the driver. On the march the chariots were drawn by oxen, and +the horses led in halters, so that they came into the battle-field with +vigour undiminished.[638] The beating of drums and the sound of cymbals +and shells, which were blown, gave the signal of attack to the +army.[639] The Epos exhibits to us the kings for the most part in their +chariots, and in these and on the elephants it places but one combatant +beside the driver. The oldest trace of the use of elephants in war is +not to be found in the battle-pieces of the Epos, into which the +elephants were introduced at a later time. We hear nothing of elephants +in the single contests of the heroes, but it is said that in the year +529 B.C. an Indian nation put elephants in the field against Cyrus (p. +16). At a later time Ctesias is our first authority for this practice; +he describes it, about the year 400 B.C., as the fixed custom of the +Indians. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[569] Arrian, "Ind." 7. Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 22, 23. + +[570] [Greek: Methora te kai Kleisobora.] Arrian, "Ind." 8, 5. + +[571] [Greek: Pazalai] in Arrian, "Ind." 4, 5. Ptolem. 7, 1. Passalæ in +Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 22. + +[572] Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 22, "gentes montanæ inter oppidum Potala et +Jomanem." Lassen, "Alterthum." 1, 657, _n._ 2. + +[573] Lassen, _loc cit._ Pliny, _loc. cit._ + +[574] Megasthenes in Pliny, "Hist. Nat." 6, 22, 23. Arrian, "Ind." 8. +Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1, 156, 618; 2, 111. + +[575] Strabo, p. 710, 718. + +[576] Curtius, 8, 9; 9, 1. + +[577] Strabo, p. 717. + +[578] Strabo, p. 710. Curtius, 8, 9. + +[579] Strabo, p. 710. Cf. Curt. 8, 9. + +[580] Strabo, p. 688. + +[581] Megasthenes in Strabo, p. 703. + +[582] Strabo, p. 710, 718. + +[583] _Supra_, p. 216, etc. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 417. + +[584] Lassen, "Alterth." 2, 227. + +[585] Strabo, p. 710. Diod. 2, 42. + +[586] Megasthenes, fragm. 37, ed. Schwanbeck. + +[587] Arrian, "Ind." 12, 1-5. Strabo, p. 707-709. Diod. 2, 41. + +[588] Strabo, p. 704. + +[589] Diod. 2, 36, 40. Arrian, "Ind." 11, 10. + +[590] Arrian, "Ind." 11, 11. Diod. 2, 40. Strabo, p. 704. + +[591] Like the warriors among the Vrijis, Glaukas, Khattias, Malavas +Kshudrakas, etc. cf. _supra_, p. 401 ff. + +[592] Manu, 7, 154; _supra_, p. 210. + +[593] _Supra_, p. 219, 228. "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 1, 7. + +[594] The following are the castes who ought to hunt wild animals +according to the book of the law: the Medas, Andhras, Chunchus, +Kshattars, Ugras, and Pukkasas. Manu, 10, 48-50; cf. _supra_, p. 247. + +[595] Strabo, p. 703. Arrian, "Ind." 11. Diod. 2, 40. + +[596] Strabo, p. 712-716. Arrian, "Ind." 11, 7, 8; 15, 11, 12. + +[597] Strabo, p. 714. + +[598] Strabo, p. 716. Diod. 2, 40. + +[599] In Strabo, p. 712 (cf. 718, 719), as in Clem. Alex. "Strom." p. +305, we must obviously read [Greek: Sarmanai] for [Greek: Garmanai]. The +third sect is called by Strabo [Greek: Pramnai]; perhaps with Lassen we +ought to explain it by _pramana_, _i.e._ logicians. + +[600] Megasthenis fragm. ed. Schwanbeck, p. 46; cf. Manu, 1, 75. Strabo, +p. 713. + +[601] Strabo, p. 712, 713, 716, 718. Arrian, "Anab." 7, 23. + +[602] Strabo, p. 707. Arrian, "Ind." 12, 8, 9. Curt. 8, 9. + +[603] _E.g._ Burnouf, "Introd." p. 379. + +[604] Arrian, "Ind." 7; Diod. 2, 38, 39; Polyæn. "Strateg." 1, 1; +_supra_, p. 73. + +[605] Arrian, "Ind." 8, 4, 7, 8; 9, 1-9. + +[606] Arrian, "Ind." _loc. cit._ The remark in Pliny that among the +Pandas (in Guzerat) women ruled, owing to the daughter of Heracles, +obviously refers to this story: "Hist. Nat." 6, 22. + +[607] Megasthenes in Strabo, p. 712. But others derived even the +Oxydrakes from Dionysus, simply for the reason that wine was produced in +this district; Strabo, p. 687, 688. + +[608] Arrian, "Ind." 8, 5. + +[609] Strabo, p. 688. Curtius, 9, 4. Arrian, "Ind." 5, 12. Diod. 17, 96. + +[610] Strabo, p. 718. + +[611] Strabo, p. 687, 711. Plin, "H. N." 6, 23. If Strabo observes that +wine is never brought to maturity in this district (_i.e._ North +Cabulistan) the observation only holds good for the more elevated +valleys. + +[612] Arrian, "Anab." 5, 1; Curt. 8, 10; Plut. "Alex." c. 58; Diod. 3, +62, 64. Here Diodorus also mentions the names of the Indian kings whom +Dionysus has conquered, Myrrhanus and Desiades, while in 2, 38 he has +stated that the Indians before Dionysus had no kings at all. + +[613] "Il." 2, 508; 6, 133. Homeric hymn in Diod. 1, 15; 4, 2. Cf. +Strabo, p. 405; Herod. 5, 7; Diod. 3, 63, 64; Herod. 2, 146; 3, 97, and +Steph. Byz. [Greek: Nysa]. Euripides is the first to speak of Dionysus' +march to Persia and Bactria. Strabo, p. 687. + +[614] Lassen, as already remarked, opposes Nishada and Parapanishada as +the upper and lower mountain range. Nearly in the same region, but +apparently in the range between Cashmere and the kingdom of Paurava +(_supra_, p. 391), _i.e._ to the east of the Indus, legend speaks of the +Utsavasanketa, who, as their name implies, passed their lives in +feasting and conviviality (_utsava_, festival; _sanketa_, meeting). +Lassen, 2, 135; Wilson, Vishnu-Purana, p. 167 ff.; and the places in the +Mahabharata, in Lassen, _loc. cit._ Modern travellers maintain that some +tribes in the Hindu Kush are very partial to the wine which is produced +abundantly in the mountains, and lead a life of joviality. Ritter, +"Asien," Th. 4. Bd. 1, 450, 451. + +[615] Strabo, p. 689. Arrian, "Ind." 5, 9. + +[616] Strabo, p. 688, 699, 710. + +[617] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 4, 195. "Vishnu-Purana," ed. Wilson, p. +591. + +[618] _Infra_, chap. viii. + +[619] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2, 110. + +[620] Ctesias, "Ind. ecl." 8. + +[621] Strabo, p. 709. Arrian, "Ind." 17, 4. + +[622] Strabo, p. 709. + +[623] Megasthenes in Athen. p. 153, ed. Schweigh. + +[624] Arrian, "Ind." 16, 1-5. + +[625] Strabo, p. 688, 699, 709, 710, 712. Arrian, "Ind." 7, 9. + +[626] Arrian, _loc. cit._ 17, 1, 2. + +[627] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 238. + +[628] "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 1, 6. + +[629] "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 2, 47. + +[630] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 240. + +[631] It is clear that this statement cannot refer to the inhabitants of +Takshaçila, for Aristobulus rather ascribes to them the custom of the +Iranians, who exposed corpses for vultures to eat them. Aristobulus in +Strabo, p. 714. + +[632] Strabo, p. 709. Arrian, "Ind." 10. Manu, 3, 232. + +[633] Ctes. "Ind. ecl." 4. Ritter, "Erdkunde," 3, 2, 1187. Humboldt, +"Kosmos," 2, 417. + +[634] Ctesias, _loc. cit._ "ecl." 19-21. Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 4, 46. + +[635] Ctesias, _loc. cit._ "ecl." 28. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2, 560. + +[636] Strabo. p. 717. Arrian, "Ind." 16, 6; _supra_, p. 404. + +[637] Arrian, "Ind." 16, 11. Strabo, p. 717. Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 3, +16. + +[638] Strabo, p. 709. + +[639] Strabo, p. 714, 708. Arrian, "Ind." 7, 9. Curtius, 8, 14, _supra_, +p. 89. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CHANDRAGUPTA OF MAGADHA. + + +The life of the Indians had developed without interference from without, +following the nature of the country and the impulse of their own +dispositions. Neither Cyrus nor Darius had crossed the Indus. The arms +of the Macedonians were the first to reach and subjugate the land of the +Panjab. The character and manners of another nation, whose skill in war, +power, and importance only made themselves felt too plainly, and to whom +civilisation and success could not be denied, were not only suddenly +brought into immediate proximity to the Indians, but had the most direct +influence upon them. + +We saw how earnestly Alexander's views were directed to the lasting +maintenance of his conquests, even in the distant east. Far-seeing as +were his arrangements for this purpose, strong and compact as they +appeared to be, they were not able long to resist the national aversion +of the Indians to foreign rule, after Alexander's untimely death. +Philippus, whom he had nominated satrap of the Panjab, was attacked and +slain by mutinous mercenaries, soon after Alexander's departure from +India. These soldiers had been defeated by the Macedonians of Philippus, +in whose place Eudemus together, with Mophis the prince of Takshaçila +was charged with the temporary government of this satrapy.[640] After +Alexander's death (June 11, 323 B.C.), Perdiccas, the administrator of +the empire, published an edict from Babylon, that "Mophis and Porus," so +Diodorus tells us, "should continue to be sovereigns of these lands in +the same manner as Alexander had arranged." According to Justin also the +satraps already in existence were retained in India; Peithon, whom +Alexander had made satrap of the lower Indus, received the command of +the colonies founded there.[641] In the division of the satrapies made +by Antipater at Triparadeisus in the year 321 B.C., Peithon is said to +have received the satrapy of upper India, while the lower region of the +Indus and the city of Pattala were allotted to Porus, whose kingdom was +thus largely extended. The land of Mophis, in the Vitasta, was also +considerably increased. "They could not be overcome without a large army +and an eminent general," says Diodorus; "it would not have been easy to +remove them," Arrian tells us, "for they had considerable power."[642] +Porus, at any rate, was removed in another manner. Eudemus, whom +Alexander had made temporary governor of the satrapy of the Panjab, must +have maintained his position; he caused Porus to be murdered, and seized +his elephants for himself.[643] + +Sandrakottos, an Indian of humble origin, so Justin relates, had +offended king Nandrus by his impudence,[644] and the king gave orders +for his execution. But his swiftness of foot saved him. Wearied with +the exertion he fell asleep; a great lion approached and licked the +sweat from him, and when Sandrakottos awoke the lion left him, fawning +as he went. This miracle convinced Sandrakottos that he was destined for +the throne. He collected a troop of robbers, called on the Indians to +join him, and became the author of their liberation. When he prepared +for war with the viceroy of Alexander, a wild elephant of monstrous size +came up, took him on his back, and bore him on fighting bravely in the +war and the battle. But the liberation which Sandrakottos obtained for +the Indians was soon changed into slavery; he subjugated to his own +power the nation he had set free from the dominion of strangers. At the +time when Seleucus was laying the foundation of his future greatness, +Sandrakottos was already in possession of India.[645] Plutarch observes +that Sandrakottos had seen Alexander in his early years, and afterwards +used to say that the latter could have easily subdued the Prasians, +_i.e._ the kingdom of Magadha, as the king, owing to his wickedness and +low origin, was hated and despised. Not long after Sandrakottos +conquered the whole of India with an army of 600,000 men.[646] + +According to this, Sandrakottos, while still a youth, must have been in +the Panjab and the land of the Indus in the years 326 and 325 B.C. when, +as we have seen, Alexander marched through them. He may therefore be +regarded as a native of those regions. Soon afterwards he must have +entered the service of king Nandrus, who cannot be any other than the +Dhanananda of Magadha, already known to us, whom the Greeks call +Xandrames, and at a later time he must have escaped from his master to +his own home, the land of the Indus. Here he found adherents and +summoned his countrymen to their liberation. They followed him; he +fought with success against the viceroys, including, no doubt, Mophis of +Takshaçila, and after expelling them he gained the dominion over the +whole land of the Indus. The miracles recorded by Justin point to native +tradition; we have seen how readily the warriors of India compared +themselves with lions. And when Sandrakottos called out his people +against the Greeks, it is the beast of India, the elephant, which takes +him on his back and carries him on the way to victory. Chandragupta's +martial achievements and successes surpassed all that had previously +taken place in India; it is sufficiently intelligible that the tradition +of the Indians should represent his rapid elevation as indicated by +marvels, and surround it with such. + +We can fix with tolerable exactness the date at which Sandrakottos +destroyed the satrapies established in the land of the Indus by +Alexander. In the year 317 B.C. Eudemus is in Susiana, in the camp of +Eumenes, who at that time was fighting against Antigonus for the +integrity of the kingdom. The three or four thousand Macedonians, with +120 elephants, which Eudemus brings to Eumenes, appear to be the remains +of the Macedonian power on the eastern bank of the Indus. Peithon, +Agenor's son (p. 407), we find in the year 316 B.C. as the satrap of +Antigonus in Babylon.[647] Hence the power of the Greeks in the Panjab +must have come to an end in the year 317 B.C. Eudemus could not have +removed Porus before the year 320 B.C., for, as has been observed, Porus +is mentioned in 321 as the reigning prince. Hence we may assume that in +the period between 325 and 320 B.C. Sandrakottos was in the service of +the king of Magadha, Dhanananda-Nandrus, that in or immediately after +the year 320 he fled to the Indus, and there, possibly availing himself +of the murder of Porus, summoned the Indians to fight against the +Greeks, and became the sovereign of them and of Mophis by the year 317 +B.C. + +When master of the land of the Indus, Sandrakottos turned with the +forces he had gained against the kingdom of Magadha. The weakness of the +rule of Dhanananda was no doubt well known to him from personal +experience; here also he was victorious. With a very large army he then +proceeded to carry his conquests beyond the borders of Magadha. Justin +tells us that he was in possession of the whole of India when Seleucus +laid the foundations of his power. Seleucus, formerly in the troop of +the 'companions' of Alexander, the son of Antiochus, founded his power +when he gained Babylon, fighting with Ptolemy against Antigonus in 312 +B.C., which city Peithon was unable to retain, and afterwards, in the +same year, conquered the satraps of Iran. Hence in the year 315 B.C. +Sandrakottos must have conquered Magadha and ascended the throne of +Palibothra, since as early as 312 he could undertake further conquests, +and by that time, according to Justin, had brought the whole of India, +_i.e._ the entire land of the Ganges, under his dominion. + +According to the accounts of the Buddhists, Chandragupta (Sandrakottos) +sprang from the house of the Mauryas. At the time when Viradhaka, the +king of the Koçalas, destroyed Kapilavastu, the home of the Enlightened +(p. 363), a branch of the royal race of the Çakyas had fled to the +Himalayas, and there founded a small kingdom in a mountain valley. The +valley was named after the numerous peacocks (_mayura_) found in it; and +the family who migrated there took the name of Maurya from the land. +When Chandragupta's father reigned in this valley, powerful enemies +invaded it; the father was killed, the mother escaped to Palibothra with +her unborn child. When she had brought forth a boy there, she exposed +him in the neighbourhood of a solitary fold. A bull, called Chandra +(moon) from a white spot in his forehead, protected the child till the +herdman found it, and gave it the name of Chandragupta, _i.e._ protected +by the moon. The herdman reared the boy, but when no longer a child he +handed him over to a hunter. While with the latter he played with the +boys of the village, and held a court of justice like a king; the +accused were brought forward, and one lost a hand, another a foot. +Chanakya, a Brahman of Takshaçila, observed the conduct of the boy, and +concluded that he was destined for great achievements. He bought +Chandragupta from the herdman, discovered that he was a Maurya, and +determined to make him the instrument of his revenge on king Dhanananda +who had done him a great injury. In the hall of the king's palace +Chanakya had once taken the seat set apart for the chief Brahman, but +the king had driven him out of it. When Chandragupta had grown up, +Chanakya placed him at the head of an armed troop, which he had formed +by the help of money hoarded for the purpose, and raised a rebellion in +Magadha. Chandragupta was defeated, and compelled to fly with Chanakya +into the wilderness. Not discouraged by this failure the rebels struck +out another plan. Chandragupta began a new attack from the borders, +conquered one city after another, and at last Palibothra. Dhanananda was +slain; and Chandragupta ascended the throne of Magadha.[648] + +Besides the greatness of Chandragupta, the Buddhists had a special +reason for glorifying the descent and origin of the founder of a dynasty +which afterwards did so much to advance their creed. From this point of +view it was very natural for the followers of Buddha to bring a ruler, +whose grandson adopted Buddha's doctrines, into direct relation with the +founder of their faith, to represent him as springing from the same +family to which Buddha had belonged. Chandragupta's family was called +the Mauryas; the Buddhists transformed the Çakyas into Mauryas. We shall +be on much more certain ground if we adhere to Justin's statement that +Chandragupta was sprung from a humble family until then unknown. The +marvels with which the Buddhists surrounded his youth are easily +explained from the effort to bring into prominence the lofty vocation of +the founder of the dominion of the Mauryas. His mother escapes +destruction. A bull protects the infant, guards the days of the child +who is to be mightier than any ruler of India before him. In the game of +the boys, Chandragupta shows the vocation for which he is intended. +Though the Buddhist tradition puts the birth of the future king of +Palibothra in that city, it allows us nevertheless to discover that +Chandragupta belongs to the land of the Indus by making him the slave +and instrument of a man of the Indus, Chanakya of Takshaçila. And as +Justin represents Chandragupta as injuring the king of Magadha, and +escaping death only by the most rapid flight, so does the tradition of +the Buddhists represent him as having excited a rebellion in Magadha, +the utter failure of which compels him to take refuge in flight. + +In all that is essential to the story there is scarcely any +contradiction between the narration of Justin and the Buddhists. We may +grant to the latter that Sandrakottos, relying too much on the weakness +of the throne of Magadha, raised a rebellion there, which failed of +success. He flies for refuge into the land of the Indus. Successful +there, and finally master of the whole, he is encouraged by his great +triumphs to attack Magadha from the borders, _i.e._ from the land of the +Indus, and now he captures one city after the other, until at length he +takes Palibothra. This means that when he had become lord of the land of +the Indus by the conquest of the Greeks and their vassals, he +accomplishes, with the help of the forces of this region, what he had +failed to carry out with his adherents in Magadha. We may certainly +believe the tradition of the Buddhists that Dhanananda was slain at or +after the capture of Palibothra.[649] + +In ancient times the tribes of the Aryas had migrated from the Panjab +into the valley of the Ganges; advancing by degrees they had colonised +it as far as the mouth of the river. These colonists had now been +conquered from their ancient home. For the first time the land of the +Indus stood under one prince, for the first time the Indus and the +Ganges were united into one state. After Sandrakottos had summoned the +nations of the west against the Greeks, he conquered the nations of the +east with their assistance. It was an empire such as no Indian king had +possessed before, extending from the Indus to the mouth of the Ganges, +over the whole of Aryavarta from the Himalayas to the Vindhyas. In the +south-west it reached beyond the kingdom of the western Pandus to the +peninsula of Guzerat, beyond the city of Automela (p. 409), and the +kingdom of Ujjayini; in the south-east it went beyond Orissa to the +borders of the Kalingas (p. 410). In regard to the management of this +wide empire founded by Chandragupta, Megasthenes tells us that the king +was surrounded by supreme counsellors, treasurers, and overseers of the +army. Besides these there were numerous officers. The management of the +army was carried on in divisions, which cannot surprise us after the +statements of the Greeks about the strength of the army which +Chandragupta maintained; Megasthenes puts it at 400,000, and Plutarch at +600,000.[650] One division attended to the elephants, another to the +horses, which like the former were kept in the royal stables; the third +to the chariots of war. The fourth was charged with the arming of the +infantry and the care of the armoury; at the end of each campaign the +soldiers had to return their weapons. The fifth division undertook the +supervision of the army, the baggage, the drummers, the cymbal-bearers, +the oxen for drawing the provision-waggons;[651] and the sixth was +charged with the care of the fleet. Manu's law has mentioned to us six +branches of the army, beside the four divisions of the battle array; +elephants, horsemen, chariots of war, and foot soldiers, the baggage as +the fifth, and the officers as the sixth member (p. 220). The land was +divided into districts, which were governed by head officers and their +subordinates; we remember that the book of the law advised the kings to +divide their states into smaller and larger districts of ten, twenty, a +hundred, or a thousand places (p. 214). Besides the officers of the +districts, the judges and tax-gatherers, there were, according to +Megasthenes, overseers of the mines, the woodcutters, and the tillers of +the land. Other officers had the care of the rivers and the roads. These +caused the highways to be made or improved, measured them, and at each +ten stades, _i.e._ at each yodhana (1-1/4 mile) set up a pillar to show +the distances and the direction. The great road from the Indus to +Palibothra was measured by the chain; in length it was ten thousand +stades, _i.e._ 1250 miles, a statement which will not be far wrong if +this road left the Indus near the height of Takshaçila, as we may assume +that it did.[652] The book of the priests is acquainted with royal +highways, and forbids their defilement; as we have seen, trade was +vigorous in the land of the Ganges as early as the sixth century B.C.; +the sutras of the Buddhists, no less than the Epos, often mention good +roads extending for long distances.[653] The magistrates who had care of +the rivers had to provide that the canals and conduits were in good +order, so that every one might have the water necessary for irrigation. + +The cities in turn had other officers, who superintended the +handicrafts, fixed the measures, and collected the taxes in them. Of +these officers there were thirty in every city, and they were divided +into six distinct colleges of five members each. The first superintended +the handicraftsmen, the second the aliens, who were carefully watched, +but supported even in cases of sickness, buried when dead, and their +property conveyed to their heirs. The third college kept the list of +taxes and the register of births and deaths, in order that the taxes +might be properly raised. The fourth managed the inns, and trade, in +order that correct measures might be used, and fruits sold by stamped +weights. The same tradesman could not sell different wares without +paying a double tax. The fifth college superintended the products of the +handicraftsmen and their sale, and marked the old and new goods; the +sixth collected the tenth on all buying and selling.[654] According to +the book of the priests the king was to fix the measures and weights, +and have them examined every six months; the same is to be done with the +value of the precious metals. It ordains penalties for those who use +false weights, conceal deficiencies in their wares, or sell what is +adulterated. The market price for necessaries is to be settled and +published every five or at any rate every fourteen days. After a +computation of the cost of production and transport, and consultation +with those who are skilled in the matter, the king is to fix the price +of their wares for merchants, for purchase and sale; trade in certain +things he can reserve for himself and declare to belong to the king, +just as in some passages of the book of the law mining is reserved for +the king, and in others he receives the half of all produce from mines +of gold, silver, and precious stones. The king can take a twentieth of +the profit of the merchant for a tax. In order to facilitate navigation +in the great rivers certain rates were fixed, which differed according +to the distance and the time of the year. The waggon filled with +merchandise had to pay for the use of the roads according to the value +of the goods; an empty waggon paid only the small sum of a pana, a +porter half a pana, an animal a quarter, a man without any burden an +eighth, etc. Any one who undertook to deliver wares in a definite time +at a definite place, and failed to do so, was not to receive the +freight. The price of transport by sea could not be fixed by law; when +differences arose the decisions of men who were acquainted with +navigation were to be valid. The book of the law requires from the +merchants a knowledge of the measures and weights, of the price of +precious stones, pearls, corals, iron, stuffs, perfumes, and spices. +They must know how the goods are to be kept, and what wages to pay the +servants. Lastly, they must have a knowledge of various languages.[655] +Megasthenes' account of the management of the cities shows that these +precepts were carried out to a considerable extent; that trade was under +superintendence, and taxed with a tenth instead of a twentieth, and that +a strict supervision was maintained over the market. + +We have already heard the Greeks commending the severity and wisdom of +the administration of justice. Megasthenes assures us that in the camp +of Chandragupta, in which 400,000 men were gathered together, not more +than two hundred drachmas' worth (£7 10_s._) of stolen property was +registered every day. If we combine this with the protection which the +farmers enjoyed, according to the Greeks, we may conclude that under +Chandragupta's reign the security of property was very efficiently +guarded by the activity of the magistrates, the police, and the courts. + +From all these statements, and from the narratives given above of the +luxurious life of the kings, which can only refer to the times of +Chandragupta and his immediate successor, so far as they are +trustworthy, it follows that Chandragupta knew how to rule with a +vigorous and careful hand; and that he could maintain peace and order. +He protected trade, which for centuries had been carried on in a +remarkably vigorous manner, took care of the roads, navigation, and the +irrigation of the land, upheld justice and security, organised +skilfully the management of the cities and the army, paid his soldiers +liberally, and promoted the tillage of the soil. The Buddhists confirm +what Megasthenes states of the flourishing condition of agriculture, of +the honest conduct of the Indians, and their great regard for justice; +they assure us that under the second successor of Chandragupta the land +was flourishing and thickly populated; that the earth was covered with +rice, sugarcanes, and cows; that strife, outrage, assault, theft, and +robbery were unknown.[656] At the same time the taxes which Chandragupta +raised were not inconsiderable, as we may see from the fact that in the +cities a tenth was taken on purchases and sales, that those who offered +wares for sale had to pay licenses and tolls; in addition to these a +poll-tax was raised, otherwise the register of births and deaths would +be useless. Husbandmen had to give up the fourth part of the harvest as +taxes, while the book of the law prescribes the sixth only of the +harvest, and the twentieth on purchases and sales (p. 212). + +When in the contest of the companions of Alexander for the empire and +supremacy Seleucus had become master of Babylon, he left the war against +Antigonus in the west, who did not threaten him for the moment, to +Ptolemy and Cassander, established his dominion in the land of the +Euphrates over Persia and Media, and reduced the land of Iran to +subjection (Alexander had previously given him the daughter of the +Bactrian Spitamenes to wife).[657] When he had succeeded in this, he +intended to re-establish the supremacy of the Greeks in the valley of +the Indus and the Panjab, and to take the place of Alexander. About the +year 305 B.C.[658] he crossed the Indus and again trod the soil on +which twenty years before he had been engaged in severe conflict by the +side of Alexander on the Vitasta against Porus (p. 400). He no longer +found the country divided into principalities and free states; he +encountered the mighty army of Chandragupta. In regard to the war we +only know that it was brought to an end by treaty and alliance. That the +course of it was not favourable to Seleucus we may gather from the fact +that he not only made no conquests beyond the Indus, but even gave up to +Chandragupta considerable districts on the western shore, the land of +the Paropamisades, _i.e._ the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush as far +as the confluence of the Cabul and Indus, the eastern regions of +Arachosia and Gedrosia. The present of 500 elephants, given in exchange +by Chandragupta, was no equivalent for the failure of hopes and the loss +of so much territory,[659] though these animals a few years later +decided the day of Ipsus in Phrygia against Antigonus,[660] a victory +which secured to Seleucus the dominion over Syria and the east of Asia +Minor in addition to the dominion over Iran, and the Tigris and +Euphrates. Chandragupta had not only maintained the land of the Indus, +he had gained considerable districts beyond the river. + +The man who annihilated Alexander's work and defeated Seleucus, who +united India from the Hindu Kush to the mouth of the Ganges, from +Guzerat to Orissa, under one dominion, who established and promoted +peace, order, and prosperity in those wide regions, did not live to old +age. If he was really a youth, as the Greeks state, at the time when +Alexander trod the banks of the Indus, he can scarcely have reached his +fifty-fifth year when he died in 291 B.C. The extensive kingdom which he +had founded by his power he left to his son Vindusara. Of his reign we +learn from Indian tradition that Takshaçila rebelled in it, but +submitted without resistance at the approach of his army, and that he +made his son Açoka viceroy of Ujjayini.[661] The Greeks call Vindusara, +Amitrochates, _i.e._, no doubt, Amitraghata, a name which signifies +"slayer of the enemies." This is obviously an honourable epithet which +the Indians give to Vindusara, or which he gave to himself. We may +conclude, not only from the fact that he is known to the Greeks, but +from other circumstances, that Vindusara maintained to its full extent +the kingdom founded by his father. The successors of Alexander sought to +keep up friendly relations with him, and his heir was able to make +considerable additions to the empire of Chandragupta. After the treaty +already mentioned, Megasthenes represented Seleucus on the Ganges; with +Vindusara, Antiochus, the son and successor of Seleucus, was represented +by Daimachus, and the ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy II., sent Dionysius to the +court of Palibothra.[662] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[640] Arrian, "Anab." 6, 27. + +[641] Diod. 18, 3. Justin, 13, 4; _supra_, p. 407. + +[642] Diod. 18, 39. Arrian, "Succ. Alex." 36; cf. "Ind." 5, 3. + +[643] Diod. 19, 14. + +[644] Von Gutschmid has rightly shown that Nandrus must be read for +Alexander in Justin (15, 4); "Rhein. Mus." 12, 261. + +[645] Justin, 15, 4. + +[646] "Alex." c. 62. + +[647] Droysen, "Hellenismus," 1, 319. + +[648] "Mahavanaça," ed. Turnour, p. 39 ff. Westergaard, "Buddha's +Todesjahr," s. 113. + +[649] We can hardly make any use of the description in the drama of +Mudra-Rakshasa, which was composed after 1000 A.D. (in Lassen, "Ind. +Alterth." 2^2, 211), for the history of Chandragupta. + +[650] Pliny ("Hist. Nat." 6, 27) gives 600,000 foot soldiers, 30,000 +horse, and 9000 elephants. + +[651] Megasthenes in Strabo, p. 707. + +[652] Strabo, p. 69, 689, 690. + +[653] Manu, 9, 282; _supra_, p. 387. + +[654] Strabo, p. 708. + +[655] Manu, 8, 39, 128, 156, 398, 409; 9, 280, 329-332. + +[656] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 432. + +[657] Arrian, "Anab." 7, 4. Droysen, "Alex." s. 396. + +[658] The date of the campaign of Seleucus can only be fixed so far that +it must be placed between 310 and 302 B.C., and as the subjugation of +Eastern Iran must have taken up some time, the campaign to India may be +placed nearer the year 302 B.C.; we are also compelled to do this by +Justin's words (15, 4); cum Sandracotto facta pactione compositisque in +oriente rebus, in bellum Antigoni descendit, _i.e._ to the battle of +Ipsus. + +[659] Justin, 15, 4. Appian, "De reb. Syr." c. 55. Strabo, p. 689, 724. +Pliny, "Hist. Nat." 6, 21. Athenæus, p. 18. + +[660] Diod. Exc. Vat. p. 42. Plut. "Demetr." c. 29. + +[661] "Açoka-avadana," in Burnouf, "Introd." p. 362. + +[662] Strabo, p. 70. Athenæeus, p. 653. Pliny, "Hist. Nat." 6, 21. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE RELIGION OF THE BUDDHISTS. + + +In the century and a half which passed between the date of Kalaçoka of +Magadha, the council of the Sthaviras at Vaiçali, and the reign of +Vindusara, the doctrine of the Enlightened had continued to extend, and +had gained so many adherents that Megasthenes could speak of the +Buddhist mendicants as a sect of the Brahmans. The rulers of Magadha who +followed Kalaçoka, the house of the Nandas, which deposed his son, and +the succeeding princes of that house, Indradatta and Dhanananda, were +not favourable to Buddhism, as we conjectured above. If the Buddhist +tradition quoted extols and consecrates the descent and usurpation of +Chandragupta, this must be rather due to the services his grandson +rendered the believers in Buddha than to any merits of his own in that +respect. The accounts of the Greeks about the religious services of the +Indians towards the end of the fourth century B.C., the description +given by Megasthenes of the Indian philosophers and their doctrines, as +well as his express statement that the Brahmans were the more highly +honoured among the Indian sages, leave no doubt that the Brahmans +maintained their supremacy under the reign of Chandragupta. Of Vindusara +the Buddhists tell us that he daily fed 600,000 Brahmans. + +In the doctrine of Buddha the philosophy of the Indians had made the +boldest step. It had broken with the results of the history of the +Arians on the Indus and the Ganges, with the development of a thousand +years. It had declared internecine war against the ancient religion, and +called in question the consecrated order of society. The philosophy +capable of such audacity was a scepticism which denied everything except +the thinking _Ego_, which emptied heaven and declared nature to be +worthless. Armed with the results of an unorthodox speculation, and +pushing them still further, Buddha had drawn a cancelling line through +the entire religious past of the Indian nation. The world-soul of the +Brahmans existed no longer; heaven was rendered desolate; its +inhabitants and all the myths attaching to them were set aside. No +reading, no exposition of the Veda was required; no inquiry about the +ancient hymns and customs. The contention of the schools about this or +that rite might slumber, and no sacrifice could be offered to gods who +did not exist. Dogmatism was banished in all its positions and +doctrines; the endless laws about purity and food, the torturing +penances and expiations, the entire ceremonial was without value and +superfluous. The peculiar sanctity of the Brahmans, the mediatory +position which they occupied in the worship between the gods and the +nation, were valueless, and the advantages of the upper castes fell to +the ground. And this doctrine, which annihilated the entire ancient +religion and the basis of existing society, and put in their place +nothing but a new speculation and a new morality, had come into the +world without divine revelation, and was without a supreme deity, or +indeed any deity whatever. Its authority rested solely on the dicta of a +man, who declared that he had discovered truth by his own power, and +maintained that every man could find it. That such a doctrine found +adherence and ever increasing adherence is a fact without a parallel in +history. The success of it would indeed be inconceivable, if the +Brahmans had not themselves long prepared the way for Buddha, if the +harsh contrast in which Buddha placed himself to the Brahmans had not +been in some degree a consequence of Brahmanism. + +The wildly-luxuriant and confused imagination of the Brahmans had +produced a moderation, a rationalistic reaction in faith, worship, and +morality no less than in social life. The speculative conception of +Brahman had never become familiar to the people. The ceaseless increase +in the number of gods and spirits, their endless multitude, had lessened +the value of the individual forms and the reverence felt for them. The +acts of the great saints of the Brahmans went far beyond the power and +creative force of the gods. The saints made the gods their playthings. +Could it excite any great shock when these playthings were set aside? +The Brahmans dethroned the gods, and themselves fell in this +dethronement. They allowed that sacrifice and ritual, and the pious +fulfilment of duties and expiations, the entire sanctification by works, +was not the highest aim that men could and ought to attain; that +asceticism, penance, and meditation ensured something higher, and could +alone lead back to Brahman; was it not a simple consequence of this view +that Buddha should set aside the whole service of sacrifice and form of +worship? The Brahmans granted that the distinction of caste could be +removed, at any rate in the three higher orders, by the work of inward +sanctification; was it not logical that Buddha should declare the +distinction of castes altogether to be unessential? According to the +Brahmans nothing but deep and earnest meditation on Brahman could raise +man to the highest point, to reabsorption into Brahman, and therefore +the Sankhya doctrine could consistently maintain that meditation free +from all tradition was the highest aim, that only by unfettered +knowledge could liberation from nature be attained; while Buddha was +enabled to find ready credence to his position that neither asceticism +nor penance, neither sacrifice nor works, but the knowledge of the true +connection of things guided men to salvation. From all antiquity the +Indians had allowed human devotion to have a certain influence on the +gods; in the oldest poems of the Veda we find the belief that the +correct invocation brings down the deities and exercises compulsion over +them. Following out this view, the Brahmans had developed the compulsion +exercised upon the gods to such a degree that fervour of asceticism and +holiness conferred divine power--power over nature; they held that man +could attain the highest point by penance and meditation; that he could +draw into himself and concentrate there the divine power and essence. +Was it not an easy step further in the same path when Buddha taught that +the highest, the only divine result, which he admitted, the knowledge of +truth, could be attained by man's own power; that his adherents and +followers, when the rishis of the Brahmans had been gifted with so many +mighty, divine, and super-divine powers, had not the least difficulty in +believing that the Enlightened had found absolute truth; that by his own +power he had attained the highest wisdom and truth? If the man who had +duly sanctified himself, attained, according to the Brahmanic doctrine, +divine power and wisdom, Buddha on his part required no revelation from +above. By his own nature and his own power, by sanctification, man could +work his way upwards to divine absolute liberty and wisdom. + +To religious tradition and the Veda Buddha opposed individual knowledge; +to revelation of the gods the truth discovered by men, to the dogmatism +of the Brahmanic schools the doctrine of duties; to sacrifice and +expiation the practice of morality; to the claims of the castes personal +merit; to lonely asceticism common training; to the caste of the priests +a spiritual brotherhood formed by free choice and independent impulse. +But two essential points in the Brahmanic view of the world, that the +body and the _Ego_ are the fetters of the soul, that the soul must +migrate without rest, he not only allowed to stand, but even insisted on +them more sharply to the conclusion that existence is the greatest evil +and annihilation the greatest blessing for men, inasmuch as freedom from +evil can only be attained by freedom from existence, and freedom from +existence only by annihilation of self. Salvation is the negation of +existence. But not only the bodily life of the individual must be +annihilated, the spiritual root of his existence must be torn up and +utterly destroyed. "What wilt thou with the knot of hair, or with the +apron (_i.e._ with the Brahmanic asceticism); thou art touching merely +the outside; the gulf is within thee?"[663] + +The Sankhya doctrine had announced that Brahman and the gods did not +exist, but only nature and the soul. Buddha in reality struck out nature +also. According to his doctrine there was neither creation nor creator. +The existence of the world is merely an illusion; there is nothing but a +restless change of generation and decay, an eternal revolution +(_sansara_). Hence the world is no more than a total of things past and +perishable, in which there is but one reality, one active agency. This +is the souls of men and animals, breathing creatures. These have been +existent from the first, and remain in existence till they find the +means of their annihilation and accomplish it. They have created the +corporeal world, by clothing themselves with matter, and this robe they +change again and again. The Brahmans had taught that "the desire which +is in the world-soul is the creative seed of the world" (p. 132). +Buddha, transferring this to the individual souls, taught that the +desire and yearning for existence, by which individual creatures were +impelled, produced existence. Existences are the fruit of the +inalienable impulse inherent in the soul; this brings the evil of +existence upon the soul, and causes it in spite of itself to cleave +thereto; "it is the chain of being" in which the soul is fettered. This +desire (_kama_) is a mistake; it rests on an inability to perceive the +true connection between the nature of existence and the world; it is not +only a mistake but a sin, nay, sin itself, from which all other sins +arise; desire is the great, original sin, hereditary sin (_kleça_).[664] + +Hence the existence of men is in itself the product of sin. The +perpetual yearning for existence ever draws the soul after the death of +the body into new existence, impels it into the corporeal world, and +clothes it with a new body. "All garments are perishable, all are full +of pain, and subject to another."[665] Each new bodily life of the soul +is the fruit of former existences. The merit or the guilt which the soul +has acquired in earlier existences, or brought upon itself, is rewarded +or punished in later existences; here also Buddhism retains the doctrine +of the Brahmans that the prosperity or misfortune of man is regulated +according to the acts of a former existence. The total of merit and +guilt accumulated in earlier existences determines the fortune of the +individual; it forms the rule governing the kind of regeneration, the +happy or unhappy life, the fate which rules each soul, the moral order +of the world. If the merit is greater than the guilt, man is not born as +an animal but as a man, and in better circumstances, with less trouble +and sorrow to go through; and according as a man bears these, and +practises virtue in this life, are the future existences defined. It is +the duty of man to acquire a tolerable existence for himself by his +merit, and also to remove the active guilt of earlier deeds, which are +not always punished in the next but often in far later existences, and +to destroy the yearning after existence in the soul. This is done by the +knowledge which perceives that existence is evil, that all is worthless, +and consequently lessens and removes the yearning after existence. This +removal is rendered more complete by renunciation, the resolution to +receive no conceptions or impressions, and hence to feel no desire for +anything; by placing ourselves in a condition where we are incapable of +feeling, and therefore incapable of desire. With this annihilation of +desire the fetters of the soul are broken; man is separated from the +revolution of the world, the alternation of births, because nothing more +remains of that which makes up the soul, and thus there is no substratum +left for a new existence.[666] + +There were converted Brahmans who declared that a penance of twelve +years did not confer so much repose as the truths which Buddha +taught.[667] For the satisfaction of the interest in philosophic +inquiry, to which earnest minds among the Brahmans were accustomed, the +speculative foundation of Buddha's doctrine provided amply and with +sufficient subtilty. Others might be attracted by the wish to be +relieved from tormenting themselves any longer with the formulas of the +schools and the commentaries on the Veda. And if the Brahmans objected +to the disciples of Buddha that they punished themselves too little, +there were without doubt members of the order who found the Buddhist +asceticism more agreeable than the Brahmanic. + +But the most efficient spring of the success of Buddha's doctrine did +not lie in this. It lay in the practical consequences which he derived +from his speculation or connected with it. The prospect of liberation +from regeneration, of death without resurrection, the gospel of +annihilation, was that which led the Indians to believe in Buddha. To +the initiated he opened out the prospect that this life would be the +last; to the laity he gave the hope of alleviation in the number and +kind of regenerations. And as this doctrine proclaimed to all without +exception an amelioration in their future fortunes, and declared that +every one was capable of liberation, it was at the same time a gospel of +social reform. Even among the Kshatriyas and Vaiçyas there were, no +doubt, many who were quite agreed that the privilege of birth, which the +Brahmans claimed in such an extravagant manner, ought to give way to +personal merit. To all who were oppressed or pushed into the background +the way was pointed out, to withdraw from the stress of the +circumstances which confined and burdened them; every one found a way +open for him to escape from the trammels of caste. The doctrine of the +Brahmans excluded the Çudras entirely from good works and liberation. +The doctrine of Buddha was addressed to all the castes, and destroyed +the monopoly of the Brahmans even in regard to teaching. The natural and +equal right of every man, whatever be his origin, to sanctification and +liberation from evil was recognised; the Buddhist clergy were recruited +from all the orders. The Çudra and even the Chandala received the +initiation of the Bhikshu. The attraction of this universality was all +the greater, especially for the lower orders, because Buddha, following +the whole tendency of his doctrine, turned more especially to the most +heavily laden; in his view wealth and rank were stronger fetters to bind +men to the world than distress and misery. "It is hard," the Enlightened +is declared to have said, "to be rich and to learn the way;" and in a +Buddhist inscription of the third century B.C. we read, "It is difficult +both for the ordinary and important person to attain to eternal +salvation, but for the important person it is certainly most +difficult."[668] Finally, the doctrine of Buddha was also a gospel of +peaceful life, of mutual help and brotherly love. The quietistic +morality of obedience, of silent endurance, which the disciples of +Buddha preached, corresponded to the patient character which the Indians +on the Ganges had gained under the training of the Brahmans and their +despotic princes, and to the instinct of the nation at the time. As +Buddha's doctrine justified and confirmed submission towards oppression, +it also pointed out the way in which to alleviate an oppressed life for +ourselves and for others. The gentleness and compassion which Buddha +required towards men and animals, suited the prevailing tone of the +people; men were prepared to avail themselves of them as the means of +salvation; and this patient sympathetic life, without the torments of +penances and expiations, without the burden of the laws of purification +and food, without sacrifice and ceremonial, was enough to guide future +regenerations into the "better" way. + +The Brahmans had never established a hierarchical organisation; they had +contented themselves with the liturgical monopoly of their order, with +their aristocratic position and claims against the other castes. It was +only as presidents at the feasts of the dead in the clans that they +exercised a powerful censorship over their fellows, as we have seen; a +censorship involving the most serious civic consequences for those on +whom its sentence fell. At the head of the Buddhists there was no order +of birth; the first place was taken by those who lived by alms, and were +content to abandon the establishment of a family. The two vows of +poverty and chastity withdrew the initiated among the Buddhists from the +acquisition of property, from the family, and life in the world; their +maintenance consisted in the alms offered to them. In this way they were +gained for the interests and the work of their religion to an extent +that never was and never could be the case with the Brahmans who did not +remove the obstacles of the family by celibacy, and indeed could not do +so, because their pre-eminence was founded on birth. The Brahman was and +must be the father of a family; he must provide for himself and his +family, while the Bhikshus without care for themselves or their families +gave themselves up exclusively to their spiritual duties. All the legal +precepts of the Brahmans, which made the maintenance of their order by +gifts the duty of the other castes, could not set their families free +from the care of their support and property; even the book of the law +was obliged to allow the Brahman to carry on other occupations besides +the sacrifice and study of the Veda; it could do no more than demand +that the Brahman father, when he had begotten his children and +established his house, should retire into solitude to do penance and +meditate (p. 184, 242). Buddhism excluded its clergy entirely from the +family and social life; it permitted them to live together in +communities, combined all the initiated into one great brotherhood, and +thus gained a firmer connection, a better organisation of its +representatives, a body engaged in constant work and preparation without +any other interests than those of religion. "He is not a Brahman," we +are told in an old Buddhist formula, 'the Foot-prints of the Law,' "who +is born as a Brahman." "He is a Brahman who is lean, and wears dusty +rags, who possesses nothing, and is free from fetters."[669] The +entrance into this community was open; Buddha imparted the consecration +of the mendicant to every one in whom he found belief in his doctrine +and the desire to renounce the world; and said, "Come hither; enter into +the spiritual life." With this simple formula the reception was +complete.[670] This pillar of Buddhism was never shaken, though after +the second council of Vaiçali (433 B.C.) a certain knowledge of the +canonic scriptures, the sutras and the Vinaya, as fixed by that +assembly, was required in addition to the qualifications of poverty and +chastity. Buddha had fixed that admission into the clerical order could +not take place before the twentieth year. After the pattern of the +Brahman schools (p. 178) it was the custom to receive boys and youths as +novices as soon as the parents gave permission, and one of the +consecrated was found willing to undertake the instruction of the +novice. At a later time this institution of the noviciate found a far +more solid basis in the monastic life of the Bhikshus than that which +the isolated Brahman could offer to the pupils in his own house. The +novice (_Çramanera_) might not kill anything, or steal, or lie; he must +commit no act of unchastity, drink no intoxicating liquor, eat nothing +after mid-day, neither sing nor dance, neither adorn nor anoint himself, +and receive no gold or silver. When the period of instruction was over, +the admission took place in the presence of the assembled clergy of the +monastery. When he had taken the vows of poverty, chastity, and +obedience, the newly-initiated received the yellow robe and the +mendicant's jar with the admonition: "To have no intercourse with any +woman, to take away nothing in secret, to wear a dusty garment, to dwell +at the roots of trees, to eat only what others had left, and use the +urine of cows as a medicine."[671] + +With his entrance into the community of the initiated, the Bhikshu had +left the world behind, and broken the fetters which bound him to his +kindred. If married before his admission, he was no longer to trouble +himself for his family: "those who cling to wife and child are, as it +were, in the jaws of the tiger." He is separated from his brothers and +sisters, and great as is the importance elsewhere attached in Buddhism +to filial affection, he is not to lament the death of his father or +mother. He is free from love; he holds nothing dear; for "love brings +sorrow, and the loss of the loved is painful."[672] He is without +relations; nothing but his mendicant's robe is his own; he may not work. +Not even labour in a garden is permitted to him; worms might be killed +in turning up the earth. Thus for the initiated the fetters of family, +possessions, and the acquisition of property, which bind us most +strongly to life, are burst asunder. He has nothing of his own, and +consequently can feel no desire to keep his possessions, or pain at +their loss; he inhabits an "empty house."[673] The rules of external +discipline were not too many. Beard, eye-brows, and hair were to be +shaved, a regulation which arose in contrast to the various hair-knots +of the Brahmanic schools and sects, and was an extension of the +Brahmanic view of the impurity of hair. With the Buddhists the hairs are +an impure excretion of the skin, refuse which must be thrown away; the +tonsure was performed at every new and full moon.[674] The Bhikshu was +never to ask for a gift, he must receive in silence what is offered. If +he receive more than he requires, he must give the remainder to others. +He must never eat more than is required for his necessities, nor after +midday, nor may he eat flesh. Even among the Buddhists the rules of food +are tolerably minute, and many of the prescripts of the Brahmans were +adopted by them. Essential importance was attributed to moderation; +desires were not to be excited by unnecessary satisfaction. The Bhikshu +must especially guard against women. He must not receive alms from the +hand of a woman, or look on the women he meets, or speak with them, or +dream of them. "So long as the least particle of the desire which +attracts the man to the woman remains undestroyed, so long is he +fettered like the calf to the cow;"[675] and Buddha is said to have +declared that if there were a second passion as strong as the passion +for women no one would ever attain liberation. It was reasons of this +kind, of modesty and chastity, which made it a rule for the Bhikshus, in +contrast to the nudity of the Brahmanic penitent, never to lay aside his +garments: his shirt and yellow garment which came over the shirt as far +as the knee--the rule required that it should be made of sewn rags--and +his mantle, worn over the left shoulder. The Bhikshu is to watch himself +like a tower on the borders, without a moment's intermission,[676] and +bridle his desires with a strong hand, as the leader holds back the +raging elephant with the spear.[677] He must always bear in mind that +the body is a tower of bones, smeared with flesh and blood, the nest of +diseases; that it conceals old age and death, pride and flattery; that +life in this mass of uncleanness is death.[678] In contrast to the +multitude who are driven by desire like hunted hares,[679] he is to live +without desire among those who are filled with desire; the passions +which run hither and thither like the ape seeking fruit in the forest, +which spring up again and again like creeping-plants if they are not +taken at the roots, he must tear up root and all, and strive after the +sundering of the toils, the conquest of Mara (p. 481) and his troop. +Freedom from desire is "the highest duty; and he is the most victorious +who conquers himself."[680] Victory is won by taming the senses, and +schooling the soul; no rain penetrates the well-roofed house, no passion +the well-schooled spirit.[681] "A man is not made a Bhikshu by tonsure," +nor by begging of another, nor by faith in the doctrine, but only by +constant watchfulness and work. The Bhikshu who fails in these had +better eat hot iron than the fruits of the field; the "ill practised +restraint of the senses leads into hell."[682] + +We know that the Bhikshus had to support each other mutually in this +work. Following the pattern of the master they passed the rainy season, +in common shelter, in monasteries. These, as we saw (p. 378), existed as +early as the reign of Kalaçoka. At first they sought protection in +hollows of the mountains like the cave of Niagrodha, near Rajagriha. +Then these caves were extended artificially, and in this way they came +by degrees to be cave cloisters with halls for assembly of considerable +extent. In the detached monasteries the halls were the central points, +and the monks had separate cells on the surrounding wall. The +description given in the sutras of these Viharas is far from +discouraging. Platforms, balustrades, lattice-windows were provided, and +good places for sleeping. The sound of metal cymbals or bells summoned +the monks to prayer or to meeting. In these monasteries the elders +instructed the disciples, those who had advanced on the way of +liberation, the less advanced. The four 'truths' were considered in +common (p. 340); in common the attempt was made "to cleave the twenty +summits of uncertainty with the lightning of knowledge." In the place of +the sacrifice, expiations, and penances by which the Brahmans held that +crimes, and sins, and transgressions of the rules of purity could be +done away, Buddha had established the confession of sin before the +brethren. Had a brother failed in the control of desire, and been +over-mastered by his impulses, he was to acknowledge his error before +the rest. As Buddha removed painful asceticism, so he desired no +external and torturing expiations. "Not nakedness," we are told in the +footsteps of the law, "nor knots of hair (such as the Brahman penitents +wore), nor filthiness, nor fasting, nor lying on the earth, nor rubbing +in of dust, nor motionless position, purify a man;"[683] the only +purification is the conquest of lust, the amelioration of the mind. Not +on works, but on the spirit from which they proceed, does Buddha lay the +chief weight. Sins when committed could be removed only by improvement +of spirit, by the pain of remorse. Confession was the proof and +confirmation of remorse, and thus the confirmation of a good mind. In +Buddha's view confession removed the sin when committed, and was +immediately followed by absolution.[684] In the monasteries the +initiated fasted in the days of the new and full moon, and after the +fast came the confessional. The list of duties was read;[685] after +every section the question was thrice asked whether each of those +present had lived according to the precepts before them. If a confession +was made that this had not been the case, the offence was investigated, +and absolution given by the president of the meeting. In accordance with +Buddha's command a common confession of all the brethren in every +monastery took place after the rainy season before the mendicants +recommenced their travels.[686] At a later time it was common at +confession to divide the offences into such as received simple +absolution, such as required reproof before absolution, such as were +subject to penance, and lastly such as involved temporary or entire +expulsion from the community. Obstinate heresy and unchastity entailed +complete expulsion; the man who indulged in sexual intercourse could no +longer be a disciple of Buddha. The penances imposed for errors of a +coarser kind were very slight and are so still; the performance of the +more menial services in the monastery, otherwise discharged by the +novices, or the repetition of a forced number of prayers. No one was +compelled because he had once taken a vow to observe it for ever; any +initiated person could and still can come back into the world at any +moment. The vow was not binding for the whole of life, and no one was to +discharge his duties against his will. + +Among the Bhikshus the authority of age was maintained; respect was paid +to experience, proved virtue, and wisdom; the teacher ranked above the +pupil, the older believer before the younger. Hence the Sthaviras, +_i.e._ the elders, held the foremost place among them. Still it was not +years, but liberation from the evil of the world, that made the +Sthavira.[687] Each monastery had a Sthavira at the head, whom the +Bhikshus had to obey, for in addition to vows of poverty and chastity +they took vows of obedience. Nevertheless Buddhism gave the greater +weight to the feeling and sense of equality and brotherly love. +Authority resided less in the Sthavira than in the assembly of the +initiated. Had not the first disciples of Buddha established his sayings +in common at the first council at Rajagriha, even though one of his most +beloved followers presided over them? The second synod at Vaiçali was +conducted in the same way; the community of the Bhikshus (_sangha_, the +assembly) had given their authoritative sanction to the rules of +discipline, which were to have general currency, after they had been +fixed by the elders. The monasteries were similarly organised; there +also the community gave the consecration of the priest, heard +confession, imposed penances, ordered temporary or complete expulsion +under the presidency of the Sthavira. + +There were merits of another kind among the Bhikshus which transcended +the rank of the teachers, of the elder, of the head of the monastery. +These were the merits of religious service, of deeper knowledge, of more +complete conquest over the natural man, the _Ego_. The Aryas, _i.e._ the +honourable or the rulers, who had learned "the four truths" (p. 340), +formed a privileged class of the Bhikshus. On the path "which is hard to +tread,"[688] the path of Nirvana, the Buddhists distinguish four stages. +The first and lowest has been entered upon by the Çrotaapanna; he cannot +any longer be born again as an evil spirit or an animal; and has only +seven regenerations to pass through.[689] The second stage is reached by +the Sakridagamin, _i.e._ "the once-returning;" who will only be born +once after his death. The third stage is that of the Anagamin, the +not-returning, who has to expect his regeneration in the higher regions +only, not as a man. On the highest stage stands the Arhat; he has +entered on the path which neither the gods nor the Gandharvas know; his +senses have entered into rest; he has overcome the impulse to evil as +well as the impulse to good; he desires nothing more, neither here nor +in heaven. He has "left behind every habitation, as the flamingo takes +his way from the sea;"[690] the gods envy him; he has attained the end +after which all the Bhikshus strive; he has arrived at Nirvana, and is +in the possession of supernatural powers. When he wills, he dies, never +to be born again. Like the Brahmans the Buddhists attempted to express +in numbers the eminence and value of those who had gone through the four +stages. The Çrotaapanna surpasses the ordinary man ten thousand-fold; +The Sakridagamin is a hundred thousand times higher than the +Çrotaapanna, the Anagamin a million times higher than the Sakridagamin. +The Arhat is free from ignorance, free from hereditary sin, _i.e._ free +from desire, and attachment to existence; he is free from the limitation +of existence, and therefore from the conditions of it. He possesses the +power to do miracles, the capacity of surveying in one view all +creatures and all worlds; of hearing all the sounds and words in all the +worlds; he has knowledge of the thoughts of all creatures, and +remembrance of the earlier habitations, _i.e._ of the past existences of +all creatures.[691] + +Buddha's system required, at bottom, that every man should renounce the +world, and take the mendicant's robes, in order to enter upon the path +of liberation. This requirement could not be realised any more than the +demand of the Brahmans that every Dvija should go into the forest at the +end of his life and live as a penitent; the Catholic view of the +advantage of monastic over secular life has not brought all Catholics +into monasteries; how could the Church live and the world exist if every +one abandoned the world? Yet the Enlightened was of opinion that help +might be given even to those who could not leave the world. In contrast +to the pride and exclusiveness of the Brahmans it was precisely the +promise of help to all, the strongly-marked tendency to relieve every +one, even the meanest, the sympathy with the sorrows of the oppressed, +the turning aside from the powerful and rich to the lonely and poor,--it +was the fact that mendicants took the highest place in the new +Church--which won adherents to Buddha's teaching from the oppressed +classes of the people. If the layman, so Buddha thought, resolved to +live according to the precepts of his ethics, he would not only lighten +the burden of existence for himself and others; by the practice of these +virtues he attained such merit that his regenerations became more +favourable, and followed in "good paths," so that he was allowed +eventually to receive initiation and thus attain the end of sorrows, +death without any return to life. He who would adopt this doctrine, had +only to declare that it was his will to perform the commands of its +ethics. The formula of entrance and adoption into the community of the +believers in Buddha ran thus: "I take my refuge in Buddha; I take my +refuge in the law (_dharma_); I take my refuge in the community +(_sangha_)," _i.e._ of the believers. With this declaration the convert +took a pledge not to kill anything that had life, not to steal, to +commit no act of unchastity, not to babble, nor lie, nor calumniate, nor +disparage, nor curse; not to be passionate, greedy, envious, angry, +revengeful. The layman is to control his appetites as far as possible, +to moderate his selfishness, and in the place of his natural corrupt +desires to put the right feeling of contentment and submission, of +beneficence, and pity, and love to his neighbour, a feeling out of +which, in Buddha's view, "the avoidance of evil and doing of good" +spontaneously arose. This repose, patience, and moderation would cause +even the laymen to bear the evils of existence more lightly, and keep +themselves as far as possible from the complications of the world. His +adherence to the doctrines of Buddha was to be shown in the first +instance by gifts to the clergy. The Church had no means of subsistence +except the alms of the laymen; their gifts, in the eyes of the +Buddhists, bring salvation for the giver no less than the receiver; the +latter ought humbly to beg the clergy to accept their presents.[692] + +Buddha's doctrine acknowledged no God. It was man who by the power of +his knowledge could attain to absolute truth; who by the force of his +will, the eradication of desire, the sacrifice of his goods and his body +for his nearest relations, the annihilation of his own self, would win +complete virtue and sanctity. "Self is the protector and the refuge of +self,"[693] But were the inculcation of prayers and precepts, the +discussion of the sayings of Buddha, on which they rested, enough to +make the laity and clergy able and willing to observe and perform them? +Must there not be some proof that these doctrines could be carried out, +that they had the most beneficial results, that the object at which they +aimed was really attainable? Clergy as well as laity needed a living +pattern to strive after, a fixed support and rule on which they could +lean in their conscience, their thoughts, actions, and sufferings, and +by which they could measure themselves. This pattern was given in the +person of the master, in his life, his acts, his end. His life and +actions were to be the subject of meditation; on this a man might raise +and elevate himself; after that pattern every one should guide his acts +and thoughts. If the initiated clung to his lofty wisdom which saw +through the web of the worlds, and could liberate self from nature and +annihilate it, the picture of the mendicant prince, who had left palace +and wife and child and kingdom and treasures in order to share and +alleviate the lot of the poorest, could not be of less influence on the +hearts of the laity. This wonderful religion had no object of worship +beside the person of the founder; on this it must be concentrated. The +pious remembrance of the profound teacher, thankfulness for the +salvation which he brought into the world, the study of the pattern of +wisdom and truth which he gave, of the ideal of perfect sanctification +and liberation, displayed in him,--these motives quickly made Buddha an +object of reverence, and ere long of worship, though to himself and his +disciples he was no more than a mere man. In this religion of +man-worship Buddha took the place of God; he was God to his believers. + +But the religion could not long remain contented with a thoughtful +remembrance, a vague recollection, and assurances of reverence towards +the departed as the means of arousing the heart and elevating the +spirit. Some external excitement, some symbol or sensuous sign was +needed, however rationalistic in other respects Buddha's doctrine might +be. But he who brought salvation and liberation into the world lived no +longer in the other world; he was dead, never to rise again. Nothing was +left of him but the bones and ashes of his body. We know that in ancient +times the Aryas buried their dead; and afterwards they burned them. The +additional emphasis which the old conceptions of the impurity of the +corpse, the worthlessness of the flesh, had received in the system of +the Brahmans, was no doubt the reason why they sought to remove the +remains of the cremation, the ashes and bones, by throwing them into +water. Buddha did not treat the body better than the Brahmans; with him, +though not strictly the cause, it was the bearer and medium of the +destruction and pain of mankind, inasmuch as in his eyes the perverse +direction of the soul and its dependence on existence were destruction. +This body, which Brahmans and Buddhists vied with each other in +regarding as a perishable and worthless vessel containing the Ego, which +a man must either break asunder, or liberate himself from it, the relics +of which had been considered for so many centuries as impure and +spreading impurity, received quite a new importance in the Buddhist +religion. Not long after the death of the Enlightened, when the +generation of disciples who had seen him and lived with him had passed +away, the need of some representation and idea of the pattern and centre +of these thoughts and efforts, of the person of their teacher, impelled +the believers to pay honour to his ashes and bones, to his relics. This +honour was soon extended to the bones of his leading disciples, a form +of worship which must have been shocking to the Brahmans. Similar honour +was then paid to the robes and vessels which Buddha had used, to his +mendicant's garment, his staff, his jar for alms and pitcher, and also +to the places which he had sanctified by his presence. Two centuries +after the death of the Enlightened, this worship of relics and +pilgrimage to the holy places were established customs. The believers in +Buddha travelled to Kapilavastu, his father's city. There they beheld +the garden in which Buddha had seen the light, the pool in which he was +washed, the ground on which he had contended in exercises with his +fellows, the places where he had seen the old man, the sick man, and the +corpse. In the neighbourhood of Uruvilva on the Nairanjana pilgrims +visited the dwellings where Buddha had lived for six years as an +ascetic, at Gaya the sacred fig-tree under which in the night truth was +revealed to him. Not far from thence was the place where the maiden of +Uruvilva had given food to the son of Çakya, where he had first +announced his doctrine to the two merchants. At Rajagriha the stone was +pointed out which Devadatta had hurled from the height of the vulture +mountain on Buddha. Even the bamboo garden at this city, which Buddha +was said to have taken pleasure in frequenting, and the place at +Çravasti where he had held his disputations with the Brahmanic +penitents, were shrines of pilgrimage.[694] + +From the same need of representing and realising the religious example, +and of elevating the heart and spirit to that pattern, which gave rise +to the worship of relics and shrines, there sprang, in addition, the +worship of the pictures of Buddha. He who had placed the body of man so +low was now thought to have had a body of the greatest beauty; his +perfect wisdom and virtue had found expression in the most perfect body. +The sutras compare Buddha's gentle eye with the lotus; they even tell us +of the thirty-two signs of complete beauty, and the eighty-four marks of +physical perfection in his body.[695] + +Buddha's doctrine was definitely based on the fact that man must +liberate himself by his own power and wisdom, and to himself and his +disciples Buddha was a man and no more, but in a nation so eager for +miracles and inclined to believe in them, Buddha's life and actions +inevitably became surrounded with the supernatural. He could not remain +behind the Brahman penitents and saints, who had done great miracles. +Could anything so great as Buddha's life and doctrine have occurred +without a miracle; was a mission possible without miracles; could the +greatest mission, the liberation of the world from misery, have taken +place without being accredited by miracles? Could he who had reached the +summit of wisdom and virtue have been without supernatural powers? That +sanctification and meditation were and must be followed by such powers, +was a matter of course among the Indians. Even in the third century B.C. +miraculous powers were ascribed to the Bhikshus who had attained the +fourth stage in the path, and therefore the same must have been done +even earlier for Buddha himself. The same legends which represent Buddha +as saying to king Prasenajit of Ayodhya: "I do not bid my disciples +perform miracles; I tell them; Live so that your good deeds may remain +concealed, your errors confessed,"[696] surround his birth and his +penances at Gaya (p. 337 ff. 356) with miraculous signs; and in the +disputations with the Brahmans they represent him as contending in +miracles also, and gaining the victory. But these and other miracles of +Buddha, though he travels with his disciples through the air, are +nevertheless not to be compared with the achievements of the Brahmanic +penitents, narrated in the Brahmanas and the Epos. They are for the most +part the healing of disease and restoration to life, intended to bring +out his compassion for living creatures,[697] and beside these the +exercise of the miraculous powers which the Buddhists ascribe to all +who have attained the fourth stage in the path (p. 472). + +It was not only the miraculous acts of the saints which forced their way +from Brahmanism into Buddhism; even the gods and spirits, the heaven and +hell of the Brahmans, had a place in the new religion. The old +divinities of the Indian nation, as we have seen, could only maintain a +very subordinate position in the system of the world-soul, inferior to +that soul and to the great power of the rishis. They also had become +emanations of the world-soul; though ranked among the earliest of these, +they came immediately after the great saints of old time. But every +penitent who by his asceticism concentrated a larger part of the power +of the world-soul in himself, became superior to Indra and to the +personal Brahman. The same position in respect to the ancient deities +and the personal Brahman was allotted to Buddha. From the beginning of +the third century B.C. he appears to have been worshipped by his +followers as a god.[698] This was due not merely to the desire to place +the power of the penitent, of meditation and knowledge, higher than the +power of the gods, but also to the deep necessity on the part of the new +religion and the believers in Buddha to possess a God. Later legends put +the deities far below Buddha. He converts the spirits of the earth, of +the air, of the serpents to his doctrine, and in return these spirits +serve and obey him. Even the great gods come and listen to his words, +and Buddha declares the new law to Brahman and to Indra.[699] In the +relic-cell of a stupa of the second century B.C. Brahman is holding a +parasol over Buddha, and Indra anoints him out of a large shell to be +king of gods and men.[700] + +Thus to his believers Buddha is not only the lion, the bull, and the +elephant, stronger than the strongest, mightier than the mightiest, +surpassing all men in compassion and good works, beautiful beyond the +most beautiful of mankind; not only is he the king of doctrine, the +ocean of grace, the founder of the eternal pilgrimages, he is also the +father of the world, redeemer and ruler of all creatures, god of gods, +Indra of Indras, Brahman of Brahmans. Nothing, of course, is now said of +independent action, or power on the part of these Indras and Brahmans. +To later Buddhism they are a higher but completely human class of +beings; in the retinue of Buddha they are only a troop of supernumerary +figures whose essential importance consists merely in bowing themselves +before Buddha, serving him, and placing in the fullest light his power +and greatness. Like men, these deities have to seek the light of higher +wisdom, the salvation of liberation by effort and labour. To Indra, for +instance, the Buddhists assign no higher dignity than that of the first +stage of illumination; he stands on the level of the Çrotaapanna.[701] + +In this transformation, which we find in the later writings of the +Buddhists, the entire Indian and Brahmanic view of the world reappears +in its widest extent. The divine mountain Meru forms the centre of the +earth. Beneath it, in the deepest abyss, is hell. The Buddhists are even +more minute than the Brahmans in describing the torments and +subdivisions of hell, and with them also Yama is the god of death and +the under world.[702] On the summit of Meru Indra is enthroned, who +with the Buddhists also is the special protector of kings, and with him +are the thirty-three gods of light (p. 161). In the Buddhist mythology +the evil spirits, the Asuras, attack Indra and the bright spirits, as in +the Vedic conception; but the Asuras could not advance further than the +third of the four stages which the Buddhists ascribed to Meru, after the +analogy of the four truths and the four stages of sanctification. The +Gandharvas have to defend the eastern side of Meru against the Asuras; +the Yakshas (the spirits of the god Kuvera, p. 161), the northern; the +Kumbhandas (the dwarfs), the southern; and the Nagas or serpent spirits, +the western side. In the Buddhist view the earth, the divine mountain, +and the heaven of Indra above it make up the world of desire and sin. +Indra and his deities are supreme over certain supernatural powers, but +they are powerless against the man who has controlled himself;[703] they +propagate themselves like men, are subject to the doom of regeneration, +and can decline into lower existences. In this sense, with the +Buddhists, the evil spirit of desire and sensual pleasure is enthroned +over the heaven of Indra; his name is Kama or Mara; he is the cause of +all generation, and hence of the restless revolution of the world, and +of all misery. Above this heaven of the god of sin, which is filled with +innumerable troops of the spirits of desires, begin the four upper +heavens, the heaven of the liberated, into which those pass who have +delivered themselves from sensual appetite, desire, and existence.[704] + +Among the Buddhists there could be no question of the worship of these +unreal deities, without power to bless or destroy. Their cultus was +limited to the person of the founder, the symbols and memorials of his +life, the relics of his body, the places sanctified by his presence. But +they could not slay animals in sacrifice to the relics or the Manes of +Buddha, nor invite the extinguished etherealized dead to the enjoyment +of the soma. Of what value was the blood or flesh of victims to one who +would never wake again; and how could they offer bloody sacrifices to +one with whom it was the first commandment not to slay any living thing? +Agni could carry no gift up to him who was perfected; and moreover +Buddha had himself expressly forbidden sacrifice by fire; the Buddhists +were to tend the law as the Brahmans tended the fire.[705] They could +only place offerings of flowers, fruits, and perfumes at the sacred +shrines, before the relics of the Enlightened, as signs of thankfulness +and reverence, as symbols of worship (_puja_). Prayer was in reality +unknown to a cultus which was directed to a deceased man, and not to a +deity. Believers must be content with the symbols of reverence, with +singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving to the Enlightened, for having +discovered truth, proclaimed liberation, shown pity, and brought help to +all creatures; they must limit themselves to the confessions which these +doctrines comprised, to hearing moral exhortations, to pronouncing and +wishing blessings: "that all creatures may be free from sickness and +wicked pleasure, that every man may become an Arhat in the future +regeneration."[706] The gradual elevation of the position of Buddha, and +the more complete apotheosis which was granted to him, led to direct +invocations of the Enlightened. As the benefactor of all creatures he +was besought for his blessing; as the liberator he was entreated to +confer the power of liberation, and liberation. When after the end of +the third century B.C. statues of Buddha stood in the halls of the +Viharas, it became usual to invoke Buddha to be present in these +statues. By the consecration which they underwent at the hands of the +priests they received a ray of the spirit of Buddha, and thus acquired a +beneficent miraculous power. + +At morning, midday, and evening, _i.e._ at the times when it was +customary among the Aryas to offer prayers, or gifts, or strew grains of +corn, the monks of the Enlightened were summoned to prayers. At the new +and full moon, when the Bhikshus fasted, and met for confession, the +laity also discontinued their occupations, assembled to read the law, or +hear preachers, or utter prayers. In no religious community was prayer +so frequent and so mechanical as among the Buddhists, and this is still +the case. Greater festivals were celebrated at the beginning of the +spring, in the later spring, and at the end of the rainy season. The +festival held at the new moon in the first month of spring, is said to +have been a festival in commemoration of the victory which Buddha won in +the disputation and contest of miracles with the Brahmanic penitents (p. +356). Buddha himself is said to have indulged in secular enjoyment for +eight days after this success. As a fact, it was, no doubt, the +customary spring festival--a remnant of the old Arian custom, to +celebrate in the spring the victory gained by the spirits of light and +the clear air over the gloom of the winter--which the Buddhists now +celebrated in honour of their great teacher. At the full moon of the +month Vaiçakha in the later spring, the day was celebrated on which the +Enlightened saw the light for the salvation of the world. With the +Buddhists the rainy season was the sacred season, the time for +reflection and retirement. At the end of the rains Buddha had always +revisited the world, in order to announce to it salvation; and like him, +his followers, the Bhikshus, who could not leave the Vihara in the rainy +season, returned on this day to the world, in order to recommence their +wanderings and preaching for the salvation of living creatures. This +return of the teachers to the world was marked by a great festival, at +which the Bhikshus received presents from the laity; sermons were +preached, and processions held in which the lamps, no doubt, represented +the light returning after the gloom of the rains, or the light of +salvation which Buddha had kindled for the world. + +The combination of the clergy and laity in the Buddhist church was even +less close than the connection of the Brahmanic priesthood with the +other orders. In their traditional position at the funeral feasts of the +families the Brahmans retained the guidance of certain corporations. +With the Buddhists the care of souls lay entirely in the hands of the +wandering Bhikshus, the mendicant monks, unless indeed in a few cases +laymen attached themselves of their own free will to some not too +distant monastery. But the separation of the Bhikshus from the family +and house, their exclusive devotion to teaching and religion, the +constant mission and preaching which occupied them for two-thirds of the +year, throughout the spring and the hot season, quickly showed itself +more efficacious than the sacrificial service of the Brahmans, which was +linked with house and home. These travelling monks, who could enter into +closer relations with the people because they had no impurities to +avoid, such as in many cases entirely excluded the Brahmans from the +lower castes, caused their exhortations and counsel to be heard in every +house; they were asked about the names to be given to new-born +children; they assisted at the ceremony of the cutting of the hair of +boys when they reached the age of puberty, at marriages and burials, and +undertook prayers for the happy regeneration of the dead. And not only +were the Bhikshus nearer the people, and more easily brought into +relations with them, but they obtained far greater hold on their +conscience than the Brahmans. This was not merely due to the precepts of +their practical morality, which included the whole life and activity of +the believers, and of the application and observance of which they took +account in the confessional--a duty devolving on the laity as well as +the clergy--the doctrine of regeneration was developed more fully in +Buddhism, and formed more distinctly the centre of the system than among +the Brahmans. + +We saw that it was the active force of merit or guilt in earlier +existences which fixed the fate of the individual in the kind of +regeneration, in the happiness or misfortune of his life. In the same +way the good and evil of this life had its effects. "He who goes out of +the world, him his deeds await"[707]--such is the formula of the +Buddhists. The various divisions of hell, the distinctions of the +castes, which with the Buddhists counted as gradations of rank among men +(p. 362), the heavenly spirits and the ancient gods, which had been +received into the Buddhist heaven, served to increase the graduated +series of regenerations to a considerable degree. "He who has lived +foolishly goes into hell after the dissolution of the body;"[708] he is +born again as a creature of hell in a department of greater or less +torment according to his guilt. The less guilty are born again as evil +spirits. Higher in the scale stood regeneration as an animal; among +animal regenerations the Buddhists counted birth as an ant, louse, bug, +or worm the worst. Among mankind men were born again in a bad or good +way, in a lower or higher caste, under easier or harder circumstances, +according to their guilt or merit. Birth as a heavenly spirit counted +higher than any human regeneration; higher still was birth as a god. But +even when born again as a god, man was still under the dominion of +desire; as we have seen, Indra only held the rank of a Çrotaapanna. From +this stage it was possible to decline; it was by further conquest and +liberation that a man must work his way upwards. Above the heaven of +Indra and Mara, in the four high heavens, dwelt the spirits which had +liberated themselves from desire and existence; in the lowest of these +were the spirits who, though free from desire, are fettered by +plurality, _i.e._ by ignorance; in the next, the heaven of clearer +light, are those who, though free from desire and ignorance, are not so +free that they cannot again sink under their dominion; the highest +heaven but one receives the spirits who have no relapse to fear; and in +the highest of all are the Arhats who have exhausted existence. As we +see, the Buddhists avail themselves of the Brahmanic heaven and hell, +and the intervals which the Brahmans place between regenerations in hell +or in Indra's heaven, in order to construct out of them a more complete +system. In this the process of the purification of the soul ascends from +the lowest place in hell through the evil spirits, the creeping, flying, +and four-footed animals, through men of all positions in life, and then +through the heavenly spirits and deities to the highest heaven, till the +point is reached at which all earlier guilt is exhausted, and the total +of merit so extended that the original sin of the soul, desire and its +possibility, is removed; and thus liberation from existence takes +place, the _Ego_ is extinguished. It is an inconsistency, no doubt, that +those who have annihilated themselves and the roots of their existence +by attaining Nirvana, shall still have a kind of existence in the +highest heaven; but by this means the system was made more complete and +realistic. + +And not merely this wide development of the system of regenerations, but +the practical application of it must have given the Bhikshus greater +power over the consciences and heart of the nation than that exercised +by the Brahmans. Buddha had known his own earlier existences. The +tradition of the Singhalese ascribes to him 550 earlier lives before he +saw the light as the son of Çuddhodana. He had lived as a rat and a +crow, as a frog and a hare, as a dog and a pig, twice as a fish, six +times as a snipe, four times as a golden eagle, four times as a peacock +and as a serpent, ten times as a goose, as a deer, and as a lion, six +times as an elephant, four times as a horse and as a bull, eighteen +times as an ape, four times as a slave, three times as a potter, +thirteen times as a merchant, twenty-four times as a Brahman and as a +prince, fifty-eight times as a king, twenty times as the god Indra, and +four times as Mahabrahman. Buddha had not only known his own earlier +existences (p. 345), but those of all other living creatures; and this +supernatural knowledge, this divine omniscience was, as we have seen, +ascribed to those who after him attained the rank of Arhats. Though it +did not reside in the full extent in Anagamins, Sakridagamins, +Çrotaapannas, and still less in all the Bhikshus, it was nevertheless +found in an imperfect degree in all "who advanced on the way." The +people believed that the Çramanas could not only foretell from the +present conduct of a man his future lot, and his regenerations in hell, +among animals or men, but that they could also declare his future in +this life from his previous existences. Hence the Bhikshus were masters +not of the future only but also of the past of every man; and as they +had his fate completely in view, the rules which they laid down from +this point received an importance calculated to ensure their +observance.[709] + +It was no hindrance to morality that in this doctrine every man had his +fate in his own hands at least so far that he could alleviate it for the +future, and the practical results which the ethics of the Buddhists +achieved on the basis of this imaginary background of regeneration are +far from contemptible. The essential points in the Buddhist ethics, the +moderate, passionless life, and patience and sympathy, have been dwelt +upon (p. 355). It was not without value that the Buddhists taught, that +no fire was like hatred and passion, and no stream like desire;[710] +that the desires bring little pleasure and much pain; only he who +controlled himself lived in happiness, and contentment is the best +treasure.[711] He who merely saw the deficiencies of others, his +offences would increase; and he who was always thinking: Such a man +injured me, annoyed me, will never attain repose. Hard words were +answered with hard words; therefore a man should bear slighting speeches +patiently, as an elephant endures arrows in the battle, and lives +without enmity among his enemies.[712] To tend fire for a hundred years, +or offer sacrifice for a thousand,[713] was of no avail; neither the +penance of the moon nor sacrifice changes anything in the evil act, even +though it were offered for a year.[714] Those who lie and deny the acts +they have done will go into hell.[715] The evil act pursues the doer; +there is no place in the world in which to escape it; it destroys the +doer unless it is conquered and covered by good deeds.[716] Duties come +from the heart; if the act is good it leaves no remorse in the heart. A +man should give alms though he has but little; the covetous will not +come into the world of the gods. These earnest exhortations to acquire +before all things the feeling which gives rise to good works, to +extinguish offences by confession and good actions, to moderate greed +and covetousness, to live contentedly and peaceably, to be gentle in our +deeds, could not be without effect. This peaceableness the Buddhists +showed in the tolerance they extended to those who were of a different +faith than their own; and for the family the rules of affection +impressed on children towards their parents, of chastity and forbearance +impressed on husbands and wives, were wholesome and advantageous in +their results.[717] The limitations set up by the arrangement of the +castes, worship, and custom of the Brahmans began to waver; man was +guided from the fortune of birth, the sanctification of works, to his +inward effort, and led to the moral education of self. Disposition and +personal merit obtained the first place in the community, and fixed a +man's fortune in a future life. Thus the pride of higher birth as +against the lower born has to give way; and hence slaves were treated +with greater kindness. Fantastic as was the heaven and hell +reconstructed by the Buddhists, marvellous as was the elevation of a man +to be god, superstitious as was the worship of relics, exaggerated as +was the conception of the way, the increasing supernatural power of him +who was attaining liberation, and indubitable as was the tendency of +Nirvana to end in the last instance in mere stolid indifference--the +individual and morality were again restored by this doctrine and placed +in their rights; society could again acquire free movement in personal +intercourse and free choice of a vocation; all men were in reality +equal, and could help each other as brothers. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[663] "Dhammapadam," translated by A. Weber, v. 394. + +[664] Köppen, "Religion des Buddha," s. 294. + +[665] "Dhammapadam," v. 277. + +[666] _Supra_, p. 348. "Dhammapadam," v. 418. Köppen, _loc. cit._ 289 +ff. + +[667] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 170. + +[668] Köppen, "Religion des Buddha," s. 131. + +[669] "Dhammapadam," v. 395. + +[670] Köppen, "Rel. des Buddha," s. 336. + +[671] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 338. + +[672] "Dhammapadam," v. 211. + +[673] "Dhammapadam," v. 373. + +[674] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 343. + +[675] "Dhammapadam," v. 284. + +[676] "Dhammapadam," v. 315. + +[677] "Dhammapadam," v. 327. + +[678] "Dhammapadam," v. 149, 154. + +[679] "Dhammapadam," v. 343. + +[680] "Dhammapadam," v. 103, 274, 334. + +[681] "Dhammapadam," v. 15. + +[682] "Dhammapadam," v. 308, 312. + +[683] "Dhammapadam," v. 141. + +[684] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 274. + +[685] There are 227 commands and prohibitions among the Singhalese at +the present day, and 253 among the Tibetans. + +[686] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 367 ff. + +[687] "Dhammapadam," v. 260. + +[688] "Dhammapadam," v. 270. + +[689] Schlagintweit, "Buddhism in Tibet," p. 191 ff. + +[690] "Dhammapadam," v. 20, 94, 181, 412. Cf. v. 267. + +[691] Köppen, "Relig. des Buddha," s. 411. The supernatural powers of +the Arhats are mentioned in the inscriptions of Açoka, and the +ordination service of the Çramanas forbade them to boast falsely of +supernatural powers. Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 413. + +[692] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 358 ff. + +[693] "Dhammapadam," v. 300. + +[694] _Supra_, p. 339, 357. Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 63-118. + +[695] Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 381. Köppen is undoubtedly right in +regarding the worship of relics as older than the worship of images. The +worship of relics and pilgrimages was in vogue when Açoka became a +convert to Buddhism, but nothing is there said of the worship of images. +I do not think it a certain fact that there were no images in the +grottoes of Buddhagaya which date from Açoka and his grandson Daçaratha; +sockets and niches for images are found there (Cunningham, "Survey," 1, +46), and the images may have been removed later; it is more decisive +that in the transference of Buddhism to Ceylon, nothing is said of the +transportation of images, though we do hear of relics. Rajendralala +Mitra ("Antiq. of Orissa," p. 152), concludes from Panini, who as we +have seen lived, according to M. Müller and Lassen, in the second half +of the fourth century B.C., that at that time there were little idols of +Vasadeva, Vishnu, Çiva, and the Adityas. We may assume that the worship +of images came into vogue towards the end of the third century, and +afterwards rose rapidly. + +[696] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 170. + +[697] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 180, 195, 262. + +[698] This date would be fixed if the passage in Clement of Alexandria: +"The Indians who follow the doctrines of Butta, whom they regard with +the greatest reverence as a god," certainly came from Megasthenes. +Megasth. fragm. 44, ed. Müller. + +[699] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 132, 139. + +[700] This is the Mahastupa of king Dushatagamani of Ceylon. Lassen, +_loc. cit._ 2, 426, 454. + +[701] Köppen, "Relig. des Buddha," s. 402, 430. + +[702] "Dhammapadam," v. 44, 235, 237. + +[703] "Dhammapadam," v. 105. + +[704] Köppen, _loc. cit._ 235 ff. + +[705] "Dhammapadam," v. 392. + +[706] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 554 ff. + +[707] "Dhammapadam," v. 230. + +[708] "Dhammapadam," v. 141. + +[709] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 320, 489 ff. + +[710] "Dhammapadam," v. 251, 202. + +[711] "Dhammapadam," v. 186, 199. + +[712] "Dhammapadam," v. 134, 320, 197. + +[713] "Dhammapadam," v. 106, and at the beginning. + +[714] "Dhammapadam," v. 70; _supra_, p. 170 f. + +[715] "Dhammapadam," v. 177, 306, 224. + +[716] "Dhammapadam," v. 161, 173, 223. + +[717] "Dhammapadam," v. 332. Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 472. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE REFORMS OF THE BRAHMANS. + + +A doctrine coming forward with so much self-confidence and force as +Buddhism, touching such essential sides of the Indian national spirit, +and meeting such distinct needs of the heart and of society, could not +but react on the system which opposed it, which it fought against and +strove to remove, _i.e._ on Brahmanism. We cannot suppose that the +Brahmans looked supinely on at the advances of Buddhism. The accounts +which we received from the Greeks about the various forms of worship +dominant about the year 300 B.C. among the Indians (p. 424) show us that +the Brahmanic heaven and the order of the world did not remain +untouched; that there had crept in considerable variations from the +ideas which the ancient sutras mention as current among the Brahmans at +the time of the appearance of the Enlightened. We can confidently +conclude that this change in the Brahmanic idea of God--important as we +shall find it to be, and accomplished in part unconsciously and in part +with a definite purpose--was brought about through Buddhism, by the +inward value of the new doctrine, the struggle it entered into with +Brahmanism, the necessity of opposing and checking its advances. + +We have shown above how the subordination of the gods to Brahman and +the great saints, the degradation of the ancient deities, must have +aroused especially in the people the need of living divine powers. Thus +forms hitherto little noticed in the series of the ancient deities +became prominent, in which the people, conforming to the change in their +instincts and the new demands of the heart, recognised the ruling and +protecting powers of their life, and which they invoked especially as +helpers and benefactors. These forms were Vishnu, the god of light, who +even in the Veda is extolled for his friendly feeling to man, and Çiva, +the mighty god of the storm-wind. In Vishnu the people found the spirit +of the beneficent and uniform nature of the district of the Ganges; in +Çiva, the lord of the storm-swept summits of the Himalayas, the ruler of +mountains. Each was equally in their eyes the life-giving, sovereign +power of nature. The system of the world-soul had left the gods a place +little to be envied in the series of the emanations of Brahman, and had +thrust back nature to a distance; the favour which Vishnu and Çiva found +among the people showed the Brahmans that the worship of real and living +deities was indispensable, that the life of nature could not be entirely +excluded from the forms of the deities. To overcome the tide of popular +feeling in the direction of Vishnu and Çiva, and the doctrine of Buddha +at one and the same time, was a victory which the Brahmans could the +less hope for, as the tendency towards a more personal supreme Being +than Brahman was not unknown in their own schools, so far as these were +not devoted to strict meditation and philosophy. Thus the Brahmans +followed the movement excited within the circle of the ancient religion; +they aimed at satisfying both the nation and themselves by the worship +of more personal living gods. In one place Vishnu, in another Çiva, was +adopted into the system of the Brahmans (p. 326, 330), which in this way +underwent a very essential change and assumed an entirely novel point of +view. + +If the adoption of Vishnu into the Brahmanic system in the form given to +him by the people on the Ganges, who reproduced in the epithets ascribed +to the god their own quiet sensuous nature, was to be efficacious, he +could not be allowed to play the unimportant part to which the Brahmans +had condemned the ancient gods; they must make him the centre of heaven +in the place of the feeble personal or impersonal Brahman; he must +become the living lord of nature and the world. From the indications of +the Brahmans quoted above, we may draw, though in wavering lines, a +sketch of the gradations through which by a gradual elevation Vishnu +obtained the precedence even over Brahman. Brahman finally became the +quiescent, Vishnu the active, substance of the world. The latter +contains the former, and is therefore the higher power. Vishnu +personifies the world-soul; but he also comprises the whole life of +nature; he takes the place of the sun-gods Surya, Savitar, Pushan, and +even the place of Indra, who has to offer sacrifice to him, and purify +himself before him,[718] until at length in the revisions of the Epos he +is regarded no longer as the quiescent cause but as the active lord of +nature, and of the whole life of the spirits, and is elevated to be the +creator and governor of the universe. In him, the lord of all beings, so +we are told in the Mahabharata, all beings are contained as his +attributes, like precious stones on a string; on him rests the universe +existent and non-existent. Hari (Vishnu) with a thousand heads, a +thousand feet, a thousand eyes, gleams with a thousand faces; the god, +pre-eminent above all, the smallest of the small, the widest of the +wide, the greatest of the great, supreme among the supreme, is the soul +of all; he, the all-knowing, all-observing, is the author of all; in him +the world swims like birds in water.[719] Vishnu is without beginning +and without end, the source of the existence of all beings. From the +thousand-armed Vishnu, the head and the lord of the world, all creatures +sprang in the beginning of time, and to him all return at the end of +time. Hari is the eternal spirit, glittering as gold, as the sun in a +cloudless sky. Brahman sprung from his body, and dwells in it with the +rest of the gods; the lights of the sky are the hairs of his head. He, +the lotus-eyed god, is extolled by the eternal Brahman; to him the gods +pray.[720] + +When Vishnu unveils himself to Arjuna at his prayer, and shows himself +in his real form, in which no man had yet seen him, he is seen reaching +up to the sky without beginning, middle, or end, with many heads, eyes, +and arms, uniting in himself thousands of faces; all gods, animals, and +serpents are to be seen in him; Brahman shows himself in the lotus-cup +of the navel of Vishnu.[721] + +Thus did the Brahmans place Vishnu on the throne of Brahman; Brahman, +impersonal and personal, passed into him. These pictures are attempts to +represent the creative power, the supreme God, the world-soul, the cause +which sustains and comprises all, as a sensuous union of all divine +shapes, of all the forms of the world into one frame. The worship +offered to this supreme deity consisted in definite prayers, which had +to be spoken at morning, midday, and evening; in offerings of flowers, +and fruits, and libations of water.[722] + +What attracted the people to the doctrine of Buddha was obviously, to no +inconsiderable extent, the fact that the highest wisdom and goodness +were personified in Buddha; that there was again mercy and grace, on +earth, if not in heaven; that the king's son had become a mendicant in +order to alleviate the sorrows of the world. The Brahmans, therefore, +had to prove that love and pity existed in their heaven; it was of +importance for them to show the people that the gods, whom the adherents +of the old religion worshipped, had compassion for men, and knew how to +help them, that even among them the divine wisdom and perfection had +assumed a human shape out of love to mankind. If the Brahmans had so +long taught that man could make himself into god by meditation, penance, +and sanctity, why should not the gods have made themselves into men? The +new god of the land of the Ganges was a gentle and helpful deity; his +government of the world and beneficent acts were not only shown in the +life of nature, and in the light which he sent daily, or the purifying +water which he sent yearly in the rainy season, and the inundation of +the Ganges, but also in the fortunes of men. The Brahmans obtained +historical points of connection for the new god, and re-established a +personal and living relation, which had been entirely lost in the +Brahmanic system, between man and the gods, by representing Vishnu as +gracious even in past days, as descending from heaven from time to time, +and walking on earth for the help of men. From motives of this kind or +because the conception of the beneficent acts of Vishnu came into the +foreground, because they wished to see and believed that they saw his +influence operating everywhere, there came the result that the +achievements of the heroes which in the Epos are the centres of the +action, Krishna and Rama, were transferred to the god Vishnu, and these +heroic figures were supposed to be appearances of the god, so that by +degrees a number of incarnations (_avatara_) are ascribed to Vishnu, in +which he visited earth and did great deeds for men. According to this +new system it was Vishnu who assisted the Brahmans to their supremacy, +and therefore consecrated it, who taking the bodily form of Paraçurama +annihilated the proud races of the Kshatriyas (p. 152). Thus the +Brahmans transformed the god of beneficent nature, when they adopted him +into their system, into the founder of the Brahmanic order of the world, +a pattern of Brahmanic sanctity and virtue, and thus they sought to +close the path against any counter-movement. In this way Vishnu appeared +in the light of a perpetual benefactor, constantly assuming the human +form anew, whenever mischief, evil, and sin had got the upper hand, in +order to remove them, and then to reascend into heaven. "Whenever +justice falls asleep and injustice arises, I create myself," are the +words of Vishnu in the Bhagavad-gita; "for the liberation of the good +and the annihilation of the evil I was born in each age of the +world."[723] + +In the Epos, as has been observed, Vishnu took the form of a dwarf in +order to rescue the world from the Asura, Bali. According to the +Vishnu-Purana, he had, even before the creation of the world, taken the +form of a boar in order to raise the earth out of the waters. In the +Matsya-Purana, beside three heavenly incarnations as Dharma, a dwarf, +and a man-lion, he underwent seven earthly incarnations in consequence +of a curse, as is strangely asserted, which an Asura had pronounced +upon him, when Vishnu had slain the Asura's mother in order to aid Indra +against him.[724] The Bhagavata-Purana ascribes twenty incarnations to +Vishnu; as creator, a boar, tortoise, fish, man-lion; as a sacrifice, a +dwarf; as Paraçurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna, etc.--twice more would he +appear on the earth--and then it is added: "But the incarnations of +Vishnu are innumerable as the streams which flow down from an +inexhaustible lake; all saints and gods are parts of him."[725] + +In order to transform the heroes of the Ramayana into incarnations of +Vishnu, vigorous interpolations were required in the body of the poem. +According to the old poem, king Daçaratha offered a horse-sacrifice in +order to procure posterity (p. 278). When this sacrifice has been +accurately described in all its parts, and we have been informed that +the gods appeared and received each his portion, a second sacrifice is +inserted because Daçaratha wished to have a famous son born to him.[726] +While Rishyaçringa is advising the king to make this new sacrifice and +beginning it, the gods complain to Brahman that the Rakshasa Ravana of +Lanka has subjugated them and made them his slaves; he oppressed the +gods, the Brahmans, and the cows. Ravana's son, Indrashit, had conquered +Indra himself, a victory which Brahman explains to be the consequence of +the seduction of a rishi's wife by Indra.[727] Brahman then announces to +the helpless deities that Ravana had besought him that he might be +invulnerable to Gandharvas, Yakshas, gods, Danavas, and Rakshasas, and +had obtained his request; as he despised men he had not asked to be +invulnerable to men, and this favour had not been granted to him. When +the gods with Indra at their head heard this they were delighted. At +that moment came the famous Vishnu, with the shell, the discus, the +sun's disk, and the club in his hand, in a yellow robe, on the Garuda +(his bird), like the sun sitting on the clouds, with a bracelet of fine +gold, invoked by the head of the gods. The gods fell down before him and +said: "Thou art he who removest the sorrows of the distressed worlds. We +entreat thee, be our refuge, O unconquerable one." Then they besought +him to take upon himself the son-ship of Daçaratha. When changed into a +man, he might slay Ravana, the powerful enemy of the worlds, whom the +gods could not overcome. He alone in the hosts of heaven can slay the +wicked one. Then Vishnu, the "lord of the gods, the greatest of the +immortals, entreated of all worlds," soothes the gods, and promises them +to slay Ravana, and reign on earth for eleven thousand years.[728] +Meanwhile Rishyaçringa at Ayodhya is ready with the sacrifice, and out +of the fire there appears a being of a brightness incomparable, clear as +a burning flame, strong as a tiger, and his shoulders were as the +shoulders of a lion; his garment was red, and his teeth like the stars +in heaven; in both hands he held a golden cup, and spake to king +Daçaratha: "Receive this draught, Maharaja, which the gods have +prepared; it is the fruit of the sacrifice, let thy fair wives enjoy it; +then wilt thou receive the sons for whom thou hast offered the +sacrifice."[729] Then Kauçalya bore Rama, the lord of the world, +entreated of all worlds, and gained glory by this son of unlimited +power, even as Aditi did by the birth of the chief of the gods, who +brandishes the club; and Kaikeyi bore Bharata, who was the fourth part +of Vishnu, and Sumitra bore Lakshmana and Çatrughna, each of whom was +the eighth part of Vishnu. This division of Vishnu according to the +valour of the sons, and the more or less prominent parts which they play +in the poem, is entirely forgotten in the course of it; even Rama +himself is entirely uninfluenced by this new introduction; when fighting +with magic weapons and arts he feels as a virtuous man and an obedient +son.[730] Towards the end of the poem Brahman and the gods come in order +to tell Rama who he is; the original creator of the universe and the +worlds, the head of the divine host, whose eyes are the sun and the +moon, whose ears are the Açvins. Brahman himself then declares to him: +"Thou, O Being of primal force, thou art the famous lord armed with the +discus, thou art the boar with one horn, the conqueror of present and +future enemies, the true and imperishable Brahman in the middle and at +the end. Thou art the supreme order of the world, the bearer of the bow, +the supreme spirit, the unconquered, the brandisher of the sword. Thou +art wisdom, patience, self-control. Thou art the source of birth, the +cause of decay. Thou art Mahendra, the greater Indra; thou performest +the functions of Indra. Thou hast formed the Vedas; they are thy +thoughts, thou first-born, thou self-dependent lord. Thou art in all +creatures, in the Brahmans and the cows; thou sustainest creatures and +the earth with its hills; thou art at the end of the earth, in the +waters, a mighty serpent which supports the three worlds. The whole +world is thy body, Agni is thy anger, Soma thy joy, and I (Brahman) am +thy heart."[731] Rama is here identified with Vishnu, and the latter is +at the same time set forth as including Brahman and all nature, as the +world-soul and a personal god. + +The form of Krishna goes through the same change in the Mahabharata, +though the position, acts and counsels which the old poem ascribed to +this hero of the tribe of the Yadavas were often, as we saw, neither +honourable nor praiseworthy. Besides his relation to the sons of Pandu, +the Mahabharata ascribed to him a long series of earlier achievements. +While yet among the herdmen, he had slain Haya among the forests on the +Yamuna, and overcome the mischievous bull which slew the oxen. Then he +slew Pralambha, Naraka, Jambha, and Pitha, the great Asura, and +conquered Kansa, king of Mathura, in battle. Supported by his brother +Balarama, he overcame Kansa's brother, the bold prince of the Çurasenas. +Jarasandha also, the king of Magadha and of the Chedis, was defeated by +Krishna, and the victory over Panchajana who lived in Patala brought him +into the possession of his divine shell. This assisted Krishna in his +suit for the daughter of the king of the Gandharas, for no prince was +his equal in weapons; he yoked the conquered princes to his bridal +car.[732] In the ancient form of the poem, Krishna was the son of the +cowherd Nanda, and his wife Yaçoda. It is already an alteration of his +original position when he is described as a son of Vasudeva and Devaki, +who was changed with the child of the herdman's wife. In the +Chandogya-Upanishad Krishna is still no more than the son of +Devaki.[733] Afterwards, the prayers of the gods to Vishnu that he would +allow himself to be born upon earth, were inserted into the Mahabharata. +Vishnu plucks out two hairs from himself, one white, the other black; +these two hairs pass into two women of the tribe of Yadavas, the two +wives of Vasudeva, Devaki and Rohini. From the white hair Rohini brought +forth Balarama, and from the black Devaki brought forth Krishna.[734] +Hence Krishna is merely one part of Vishnu, and Balarama another; but of +this no further notice is taken; wherever Krishna is treated as a god in +the poem, he is the whole god. In the other parts of the poem he is no +more than a mortal; in the earliest revision he fights his fight with +the arms and the blessing of the gods, of which he would have no need if +he were himself the supreme god; in the last revision he is the supreme +god. Then it is imparted to him that in the beginning of days Brahman, +who is the whole world, sprang from the lotus of his navel; that the +lords of the gods proceeded from his body and carry out his +commands.[735] Brahman says to the gods: "Ye must worship this Vasudeva, +whose son I, Brahman, the lord of the worlds, am. Never, ye great gods, +can the mighty bearer of the shell, the discus, and the club be regarded +as merely a mortal." This being is the supreme mystery, the supreme +existence, the supreme Brahman, the supreme power, the supreme joy, the +supreme truth. It is the Imperishable, the Indivisible, the Eternal. +Vasudeva (Krishna) of unlimited power cannot therefore be despised by +the gods, nor by Indra, nor by the Asuras, as merely a man. "He who says +that he is only a man, his understanding is perverted; he who despises +Krishna will be called the lowest of mankind. He who despises Vasudeva +is full of darkness; as also is the man who knows not the glorious god +whose self is the world. The man who despises this great being, who +bears crowns and jewels, and liberates his worshippers from fear, is +plunged into deep darkness."[736] Assertions and statements of this kind +show clearly that at the time of their insertion into the Mahabharata +the deification of Krishna was by no means universally recognised.[737] + +While a tendency at work within the circle of the Brahmans put Vishnu in +the place of Brahman, another impulse was not less eagerly occupied in +elevating the old storm-god Rudra-Çiva to be the highest deity. In the +poem of the Veda the storm-god wears the plaited hair. He is called +Kapardin, _i.e._ the bearer of the locks, an idea no doubt borrowed from +the collected clouds driven by the storm. As the old priestly families +plaited their hair in different ways (p. 29), and all penitents wore +their hair in knots, the storm-god also became a penitent with the +Brahman, and as the divine power resided pre-eminently in penance, and +Çiva was so strong and mighty a god, he became the greatest of all +penitents. The old conception of Rudra assisted to retain for this +mighty deity an angry and destructive aspect; but as rain and +fructification also came from the storm Çiva was placed in relation to +procreation. If Vishnu is celebrated in the passages quoted from the +Ramayana and Mahabharata, the same honour is allotted in other parts of +the same poems to Çiva, who is now called Mahadeva, _i.e._ the great +god. He also is the source, the unborn cause of the world, the framer of +the all, the beginning of all beings, the shaper of the gods, the +uncreated, imperishable lord, the origin of the past, the present, and +the future. He is the highest spirit, the home of the lights, the sky, +the wind, the creator of the ocean, the substance of the earth, Brahman +itself. But he is also the supreme anger, the creator of the world and +its destroyer.[738] He, the all-penetrating god, is the creator and lord +of Brahman, Vishnu, and Indra; they serve him, who extends beyond matter +and spirit, who at once is and is not. When by his power he set matter +and spirit in motion, Çiva, the god of the gods, the creator +(Prajapati),[739] created Brahman from his right side and Vishnu from +his left. His attributes could not be set forth in a hundred years. He +is Indra, he is Agni, he is the Açvins, he is Surya, he is Varuna. +Nothing is above him, and nothing can withstand his divinity; the heart +of the gods is terrified in the battle when they hear his awful voice; +none can endure the sight of the angry bearer of the bow. He has two +bodies, and these assume marvellous shapes. One of the bodies is full of +sorrow, the other is gracious. If angry and passionate, he is an eater +of flesh, blood, and marrow, and then he is called Rudra. When he is +angry, all worlds are confounded at the sound of his bow-string, gods +and Asuras are defeated and helpless, the waters are in tumult, and the +earth quakes, the mountains sink, the light of the sun is quenched, +heaven is torn asunder and veiled in thick darkness.[740] There were +three cities of the mighty Asuras which Indra could not overcome. At the +entreaty of the gods that he would liberate the world Çiva made Vishnu +his arrow, Agni the barbs, Yama the feathers, all the Vedas his bow, and +the Gayatris (p. 172) his bow-string; Brahman was the leader of his +chariot, and he burnt the three cities and the Asuras with the arrow of +triple barbs, of the colour of the sun, and glowing like fire, which +consumes the world.[741] Çiva is the soul of all worlds; he dwells in +the heart of all creatures, he knows all desires, he is visible and +invisible; serpents are his girdle and the skins of serpents his robe; +he carries the discus, the club, sword, and axe. He assumes the form of +Brahman and Vishnu, of all gods, spirits, and demons, of all kinds of +men. He laughs, and weeps, and hops, and dances, and sings, and speaks +softly, and then again with the voice of a drunkard. Naked, with excited +glances, he plays with the maidens.[742] + +Thus does the Epos describe the forms of Vishnu and Çiva. The Brahmans +had allowed the pure world-soul to drop out, in order to return again to +living deities; nature, which was nothing but deception as opposed to +Brahman, they had again assumed in the being of the new gods; the two +new supreme deities absorbed Brahman, each into himself; each was also +Brahman; each had given forth from himself all living and lifeless +beings, the whole of nature; each governs and rules the life of nature, +and is the cause of growth and decay. These were attempts made in +combination with the national faith to personify once more the Pantheism +of the Brahmanic system, without excluding the life of nature, to +represent the divine power to the religious consciousness in an active, +direct, living, impressive, helpful way. This process and change of the +Brahmanic system took place about the same time that the Buddhists began +to pay divine honour to the founder of their doctrine, and exalt him to +the highest deity, or perhaps a little earlier. As compared with +Buddhism the new conception of the Brahmanic idea of god had the +disadvantage that there were two supreme deities which contended side by +side with Brahman for the first place. The worshippers of the one and +the other equally inserted into the Epos their great deity and his +praises. The exaltation of Vishnu and of Çiva, the repression of the +idea of Brahman, cannot have begun later than the beginning of the +fourth century B.C., since, as the Greeks have already told us, it was +towards the end of the fourth century, about the year 300 B.C., that +Çiva and Vishnu were worshipped by the Indians as their chief deities, +the first by the inhabitants of the mountains, the second by the +dwellers in the plains. At the same time it is clear, from the accounts +of the Greeks, that the incarnations of Vishnu, assumed in order to +benefit the world, in Paraçurama, Rama, and Krishna had already obtained +recognition at the time mentioned, and received expression in the Epos +and the worship. In any other case it would have been impossible for the +Greeks to have regarded Vishnu as their own Heracles. From certain +quotations in Panini, who lived about the middle or the last third of +the fourth century,[743] it follows that Krishna and Vishnu were +identified about this time, and Vishnu was described by the name +Vasudeva, the family name of Krishna.[744] + +Buddhism appears to have had a two-fold influence on the ethical demands +of the Brahmans; on the one hand, it challenged and therefore +intensified them; on the other, it softened and diminished their force. +According to the book of the law the Dvija satisfied the highest +requirements of religion, when, after founding his house and seeing the +children of his children, he renounced the world, retired into the +forest, and there, occupied only with divine things, with salvation for +the future, sought his return to Brahman by penances and meditation. It +was the duty of the king when he became old and weak and was no longer +in a position to protect his subjects and inflict punishment, as he +ought, to seek death in battle, or if no war was being waged at the +time, to put an end to his life by starvation. In a few cases the book +allows suicide as a punishment for grievous offences. In the Epos we +find an advance in this direction. Traits are introduced into it which +represent voluntary death as the greatest act of merit, as the summit +and perfection of asceticism. While yet in full vigour and equal to +their duties, Yudhishthira and his brothers abandon their throne and +kingdom, in order to seek and find death on a pilgrimage to the holy +mountain, and by such penances and such an end to be rid of the earthly +grossness still clinging to them. When Rama, even after his father +Daçaratha is dead, refuses to ascend the throne, because he must keep +the promise made to his dead father that he would live fourteen years in +exile, the younger brother Bharata, conscientiously respecting the right +of the elder, will not assume the government; for these fourteen years +he lives in the garment of a penitent with a penitent's knot of hair, +and five days after Rama's return from banishment, he "goes into the +fire." The anchorite Çarabhanga, who by severe penances has obtained the +highest reward, erects a pyre for himself, kindles it with his own +hands, and burns himself in the presence of Rama in order to pass into +the heaven of Brahman, for which in other revisions of the poem is +substituted the heaven of Vishnu. The Greeks have already told us that +the sages among the Indians regarded disease and weakness as +disgraceful; if one of them fell ill he burned himself on a pyre (p. +422). The companions of Alexander of Macedon tell us that Calanus, one +of the Brahmans of Takshaçila, whom Alexander had induced to join him +(p. 398), fell sick in Persia and became weak. Alexander in vain +attempted to move him from his resolution to burn himself. Too feeble to +walk, Calanus was carried to the pyre, crowned after the Indian manner, +and singing hymns in the Indian language. When the funeral pyre was +kindled, he lay down without shrinking in the midst of the flames.[745] + +According to the statement of Megasthenes the Indian sages put an end to +their lives not by fire only but also by throwing themselves from a +precipice or into water.[746] By this kind of sacrifice can only be +meant suicide or pilgrimage to the sacred places in the Himalayas, near +the pools, to which a peculiar power of purification was ascribed. +Pilgrimages to the sacred waters are mentioned even in Manu's laws. +Bathing in the Ganges, in the lakes of the Himalayas, which lay near the +holy mountain, in the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges, was supposed +to have the power of washing away many sins, and thus relieving men from +the torturing penances imposed by the Brahmans. "If," we are told in the +book of the law, "thou art not at variance with Vivasvati's son Yama, +who dwells in thy heart (_i.e._ with thy conscience), go not to the +Ganges nor the Kurus." In the lands formerly governed by the Kurus, lay +the places of sacrifice of the ancient kings; there, at this or that +place, the great rishis of the ancient time were said to have +sacrificed; on the lakes Ravanahrada and Manasa, in the high Himalayas, +under Kailasa, the old sutras of the Buddhists showed us the settlements +of penitent Brahmans. We cannot doubt that the pilgrimage of the +Buddhists to the places where Buddha lived, preached, and died, +increased the pilgrimages of the Brahmans, and that, to match the +blessing which the Buddhists attached to their journeys, they estimated +and commended more highly than before the expiating and redeeming power +of their holy shrines. In the Mahabharata a considerable number of +shrines of pilgrimage are mentioned together with their legends; the +visitation of these seems to be quite common; the especial effects of +the various places are stated;[747] in fact, the pilgrimages to the +sacred pools and places of purification must have been so common and so +zealously undertaken among the Brahmans that about the middle of the +third century _B.C._ the Buddhists denote their Brahmanic opponents by +the names Tirthyas and Tirthikas, _i.e._ men who live at the pools of +purification or hold them in especial estimation.[748] Not merely to +bathe in the waters at the sacred places, which take away sins, but to +end life there, could not but have a most efficacious and meritorious +influence on the future of the soul in the next world, and the +regenerations. Hence sinners would seek death in the sacred waters as +the best and most perfect expiation; and even those who did not think +themselves under the burden of special offences could find in a +voluntary death in the sacred flood the highest expiation for the +impurity entailed upon them, according to the Brahmanic system, by +their life in the body. Thus even then, as now, many died by a voluntary +death at these places. The strict consequences of the Brahmanic system +pointed to suicide. Did not the ethical aim of the Brahmans consist in +the elevation of the _Ego_ by meditation, in the annihilation of the +body by asceticism? It was a step farther to end and escape the torments +of long penances at a single bound. The more prominence the Buddhists +gave to the fact that their doctrine ensured liberation from +regenerations, the keener must be the attention paid by the Brahmans to +this object. According to their view of the world, and the basis of +their system--that the body was the adulteration of Brahman in men, the +hindrance in the way of his return to Brahman--the end of the bodily +life, which they had constantly sought to subdue, at a consecrated +place, by a holy act in the midst of purification in the sacred bath, +could not but bring salvation; the man who offered his body and himself +for sacrifice was at once purified for his return into the world-soul. +If the Buddhists avoided regenerations by taming desire, and +annihilating the soul, the Brahmans could now prevent them by the +sacrifice of the body at a holy place. That all Brahmans were not of +this opinion we may conclude from the assertion of Megasthenes that +death by suicide was not a dogma of the Indian sages; those who put +themselves to death were looked on as rash and perverse. There was, +therefore, an opposite view. Nor was it the Buddhists only, who, in +accordance with the whole conception of their faith, represented this +opposition; even among the Brahmanic castes, as we shall see, there was +a variety of opinions. + +The companions of Alexander tell us that among some Indians widows +voluntarily burnt themselves with the corpses of their husbands, and +those who did not do this were in no esteem.[749] Among the Indians, +says Nicolaus of Damascus, the favourite wife was burnt with the dead +husband. The wives contended for this mark of honour with the greatest +eagerness, and each was supported by her friends.[750] The captain of +the Indians who with Eudemus attacked the army of Eumenes (p. 442)--the +Greeks call him Ceteus--fell in the battle, which took place between +Eumenes and Antigonus in Parætacene in the year 316 B.C. The two wives +of Ceteus had accompanied him to the field and now contended for the +honour of being burnt with him, since the law of the Indians, as +Diodorus observes, allowed one wife only to be so burnt. The younger of +the two maintained that the elder was pregnant; the elder declared that +precedence in years carried precedence in honour. When the pregnancy of +the elder had been established, the captains of the army decided that +the younger was to ascend the pyre. "Then the elder took the diadem from +her head, tore her hair and cried aloud, as though she had met with a +great misfortune, while the younger, rejoicing in her victory, went to +the funeral pile, crowned and adorned as if for marriage, accompanied by +her women, who sang a hymn. When she approached the pyre, she divided +her ornaments among her relations, servants, and friends, as memorials +of herself: a number of rings set with precious stones of various +colours, gold stars with brilliant stones from her head-dress, and a +great quantity of necklaces, large and small. When she had bidden +farewell to her relations and servants, her brother conducted her to the +pyre; she bowed herself before the corpse of her husband, and when the +flames blazed up she uttered no sound of lamentation. In such a heroic +manner did she end her life, and moved all who saw her death to sympathy +or admiration."[751] Western accounts from the first century B.C. and +later times represent the burning of widows as an established +custom.[752] + +We are acquainted with the hymns of the Rigveda in which the widow, when +she has led her husband to the place of burial, is exhorted to "elevate +herself to the world of life," for her marriage is at an end; we know +the rule in the law that a widow should not marry again after the death +of her husband; if she did so, she would fall into disrepute in this +world, and in the next be excluded from the abode of her husband. She +must live alone, avoid all sensual pleasure, starve herself, and do acts +of piety, then after her death she would ascend to heaven. Neither the +sutras of the Buddhists nor the Brahmanas mention the burning of widows. +On the other hand, in the Mahabharata the two wives of Pandu, Kunti and +Madri, contend after his death precisely as the two wives of Ceteus, +which is to ascend the pyre. Kunti founds her claims on the fact that +she had been the wife of Pandu before Madri, and his first queen; Madri +asserts that Pandu had loved her more than Kunti, that she had been his +favourite wife. The Brahmans decide that Madri is to go. In the Ramayana +the burial of king Daçaratha is described in great detail, but none of +his wives, neither Kauçalya, nor Kaikeyi, nor Sumitra is burnt with him. +In other passages also the Epos speaks of widowed queens with all +honour. If, then, the Epos of the Indians, even in the form in which we +have it, wavers about the custom of the cremation of widows, and on the +other hand the Greeks assert and prove the existence of the custom in +the last thirty years of the fourth century B.C., we may assume that the +sacrifice of widows came into practice in the course of the fourth +century B.C. in connection with the increase in the requirements of +self-annihilation, of which we have just read. It was, no doubt, the +consequence derived from the unconditional dependence of the wife on the +husband, required by the Indians, and the command to bear any fortune +joyfully together with the husband, of that extreme wifely love and +devotion, of which we have found touching examples in the Epos. From the +idea of self-annihilation, which was the summit of all good actions, the +Brahmans might arrive at the demand that women also ought in certain +cases to practise such annihilation; that a widow must sacrifice herself +on the pyre of her husband as an offering for his sins. This is never +stated as a law, but at a subsequent time the demand of the Brahmans +obtained general observance and recognition, supported as it was by the +doctrine that only the widow, who burnt herself with the corpse of her +husband, found an entrance into the better world. According to the +rules, which have come down to us from a later time, the widow of the +Dvija, when she had bathed and anointed herself, coloured herself with +sandal wood, and put on her ornaments, more especially her jewels, with +butter, kuça-grass, and sesame in her hands, offered a prayer to all the +gods, with the reflection that her life was nothing, that her lord was +her all. Then she walks round the pyre, gives her jewels to the +Brahmans, comforts her relatives, and bids farewell to her friends. +Afterwards she says: "That I may enjoy the happiness of heaven with my +husband and purify my ancestors and his I ascend the pyre in expiation +of the sins of my husband, even though he has murdered a Brahman, torn +asunder the bonds of gratitude, or slain a friend. On you I call, ye +eight protectors of the world (p. 160), as witnesses of this action, ye +sun and moon, air, fire, earth, æther, and water. Be witnesses, my own +soul and conscience, and thou, Yama, Day and Night, and Ushas, be ye +witnesses, be witnesses! I follow the corpse of my husband to the +burning pyre." Then the widow ascends the pile of wood, which must be +kindled by her son or her nearest relation, embraces the corpse of her +husband, with the words, I pray, adoration, and commits herself to the +flames, crying Satya, Satya, Satya.[753] + +In opposition to Buddhism, the chief point was not only to keep the +hearts of the people true to the Brahmanic arrangement of life by the +adoption and exaltation of the deities to which their religious feeling +was directed; at the same time a counterpoise must be provided to the +speculation and scepticism of the Buddhists; they must be met by an +orthodox system of philosophy. The question was, whether the existence +of the individual soul beside nature, on which the Sankhya doctrine no +less than Buddha laid such stress, was incompatible with the idea of +Brahman; whether death without regeneration, the highest good and +supreme object of the Buddhists, could not be shown to be attainable by +the fulfilment of the duties prescribed by the Brahmans, by Brahmanic +speculation and meditation. These were the questions which a new system, +the Yoga, sought to solve. The author of this is said by the Indians to +be Yajnavalkya, whose life is placed in the fourth century B.C. The +oldest form in which the principles of this new system are known to us +does not go back beyond the year 300 B.C.[754] He attempts to fix the +idea of the world-soul or Brahman more clearly than had been done in +earlier theories. This soul is now regarded as present everywhere in the +world, but also as existing for itself. In opposition to the Sankhya and +the Buddhists the separate existences and souls of men could be now +explained as something more than parts of Brahman; their individual +existence must be conceded, and proof given that they were still parts +of Brahman. This system therefore teaches us: whatever gives to each +thing its leading characteristic or quality, that is the world-soul in +it. But though this living world-soul is divided into all creatures and +exists in all, it must nevertheless be one and therefore indivisible. In +opposition to heterodox systems Brahmanic speculation was no longer bold +enough to deny entirely the existence of matter, and to explain it as +appearance or deception; on the contrary, it now borrows from the Sankya +doctrine the dogma of the eternity of matter. Matter is no less eternal +than the world-soul. It is true that it changes, but it is not +destroyed; the destruction of matter is only a change, in which a new +birth follows on apparent decay. It is allowed that the souls of men +which proceed out of Brahman, "as sparks out of a piece of hot iron," +exist independently; when one is worn out they perpetually provide +themselves with a new body, a new garment, for the souls and the +elements, _i.e._ nature, are real;[755] but since these souls proceed +from the divinity they can go back to the world-soul. + +In this we find an unmistakable attempt to harmonise the old Brahmanic +system with the axioms of the Buddhist theory, the Buddhist principles +of the permanent existence of the soul with the theory of the +world-soul. The essential question was a practical one; how this new +theory of the Brahmans would bring about the liberation from +regeneration, which Buddha realised in the last instance by the +extinction of the ground of existence in the soul, of desire. Like the +Buddhists it assumed the eternal change, the restless revolution of +birth and decay; it naturally maintained the old Brahmanic position that +the soul is followed by its actions into another world; that by these +the new births were fixed; what means did it provide for an escape from +this revolution? Like the Buddhists it taught that only the knowledge of +the true connection of things can lead to liberation. But the spirit +furnished with immature instruments is as incapable of knowledge as an +unclean mirror is incapable of reflecting forms. By subduing the senses, +removing passions, avoiding love or hate, by purifying the mind, the +instruments of knowledge must be sharpened. As the soul is infected with +matter, the requirements of nature must be satisfied with moderation; as +man is in the world, he must fulfil the duties which fall to every man +in the order of the world. He must act, but in such a manner as if he +were not acting; he must be indifferent to the results of the action, +and acquire freedom from doubleness, _i.e._ from the prosperous or +unfortunate result. Filled with darkness and passion man is driven round +like a wheel. Truth, which consists in "casting aside the net of folly," +liberates men, and the net is cast aside by distinguishing between the +cognitive faculty and nature or change.[756] As the æther, though +isolated in various jars, is still one, so is the spirit at the same +time one and many, just as the sun is reflected in various masses of +water.[757] The being who dwells like a lamp in the heart has beams +innumerable; from this one darts upward, piercing the sun's disk, to the +world of Brahman. With eyes closed in repose, with veiled face avoiding +every charm of the senses, holding in check his appetites, on a scale +neither too high nor too low, let him who has brought to perfection the +instruments of knowledge, and purified his spirit, who will find truth, +hold his breath twice or thrice. Then let him think on the lord who is +the lamp in his heart, and with all his heart keep his mind fixed on +this. Meditation is brought about by the realisation of true being. The +symbol of the perfection of meditation is the power to create and +disappear, to leave one's own body and enter another. He whose spirit at +the dissolution of his body is firmly fixed in the truth in regard to +the lord, whose conviction remains unshaken, attains to the remembrance +of his births, and he who leaves the body in complete meditation +(_yoga_) becomes an inhabitant of Brahman's world; there is no return +for him; he is never born again.[758] + +Thus in the place of the annihilation of the body and consciousness +required by the old system, in the place of the extinction of the _Ego_ +by the annihilation of its basis taught by the Buddhists, the new +speculation of the Brahmans puts the mystical union of the _Ego_ with +the Supreme by meditation, by elevation and concentration of the spirit, +when the path has been prepared for such union by retirement from the +world, by the removal of the passions, and conquest over the appetites. +The fruits of this act of union with the god-head are in the first +instance the same supernatural powers which the Buddhists ascribed to +the Arhat, the man "advanced in the path" (p. 472), and finally the +freedom from regeneration, the highest object of all. + +More important than the speculation which founded this new way to +liberation were the practical consequences, the ethical rules which +resulted from this theory of the Brahmans. It was now possible to +identify Vishnu or Çiva with Brahman. If a certain attitude of the soul, +an inward deed, an act of the spirit, meditation, was the highest aim, +the first place could no longer be ascribed to sacrifice, penance, and +asceticism. The order of the world ascribed to the creator, the rights +and duties of the castes, could not be altered in any way; the castes +were still special emanations and forms of the Supreme. Even sacrifice +is still to be offered, expiations and penances are to be observed. But +their effects must not be over-estimated. The exclusive value ascribed +to them, so the new theory maintains, is exaggerated, as is the reward +which men promise themselves from such works.[759] In reality, the wise +man ought only to perform them in order not to deceive the people. He +must do the works by which the ancient sages attained perfection, and +fulfil all ceremonies for the edification of men. The people would +become corrupt if they performed no pious works, the castes would be +mixed, creatures thrown into confusion.[760] Thus in reality the new +system maintains works simply because the position of the Brahmans, the +order of the castes, cannot be tampered with or overthrown. But at the +same time asceticism is essentially softened, and an approach made to +the milder Buddhist form of it. It is a proof of incomplete knowledge to +starve oneself, pass into fire, or plunge into water.[761] No doubt the +Dvija in his later years ought to go into the forest accompanied by his +wife, or when he has left her in the charge of his sons, and there +practise the prescribed exercises.[762] But the anchorite's life is not +the cause of virtue, and those who seek salvation by gifts, sacrifice, +and penances do indeed attain to the heaven of the fathers, but they +return to this world.[763] If the Yoga, by ascribing this position to +penance, approaches the doctrine of Buddha, the same is done in a still +higher degree in the rules of its ethics. Here the new Brahmanic +teaching is wholly in harmony with the Buddhists; it requires gentleness +and kindness to all creatures, truthfulness, control of the appetites; +it forbids theft and hatred: that is the sum of virtue. Nevertheless, +the greatest concession made to Buddhism lies in the removal of the +boundary which had been set up in regard to religion between the Dvija +and the Çudra. It is true that neither all the castes nor all men are +permitted in the Yoga, as they are in Buddhism, to find salvation and +liberation. But the Çudras are no longer excluded as hitherto from the +Veda and the worship; they too may learn the Veda,[764] and in the +Bhagavad-gita it is openly stated that even the Çudra may attain the +highest point.[765] + +The principles of the new doctrine appeared so important to the circles +of the Brahmans, to which they owed their origin and observance, that +they attempted to obtain recognition for them among princes and people +by a new book of the law. This book originated in Mithala (Tirhat), and +like the Yoga bears the name of Yajnavalkya. Setting aside the worship +of the deities of the planets--star-worship came into vogue after the +sixth century B.C.--and the rules for asceticism, ethics, and the way of +salvation, the new book is distinguished from the old by its compressed +compendious form, and by the clearer composition of the separate rules. +Its regulations for trade and conduct are more detailed than in the book +of Manu. If the latter mentions written stipulations, the new speaks of +the preparation of documents on metal plates. The modes of the divine +judgments are increased,[766] and gambling-houses are permitted. All the +rules for purity, expiations, and penance given in the older book are +repeated with the restrictions given above, that they have beneficial +results, but do not exclude regenerations, and that penance must not be +carried to the point of self-annihilation. The duties of the monarchy +are given accurately according to the old law; the arrangement of the +castes and the ancient law of marriage are retained, with the +advantages, privileges, and exemptions of the Brahmans. Some new +subordinate and mixed castes are added. The opposition to the Buddhists +is vigorously expressed, and mention is made of men with shorn heads and +yellow garments.[767] The kings are required to erect buildings in the +cities and put Brahmans in them to form societies for the study of the +Veda; these the king is to support with the exhortation that they must +fulfil their duties.[768] Hence it appears that the Brahmans considered +it advisable to erect Brahmanic monasteries in opposition to the viharas +of the Buddhists, and to support them at the cost of the state. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[718] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 4, 495 ff. + +[719] "Mahabharata Çantiparvan," in Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 263 ff. + +[720] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 271 ff. + +[721] W. von Humboldt, "Bhagavad-gita," s. 41, 57. + +[722] Rajendralala Mitra, "Antiq. of Orissa," p. 153. + +[723] Bhagavad-gita, 4, 7, 8. + +[724] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 151 ff. + +[725] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 156. + +[726] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 172 ff. + +[727] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 495 ff. + +[728] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 165 ff. + +[729] "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 1, 27. + +[730] On the variations in the different recensions of the Ramayana in +this narrative; see Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 444 ff. + +[731] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 178 ff. + +[732] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 243 ff. + +[733] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 182. + +[734] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 259. + +[735] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 229. + +[736] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 216. + +[737] Lassen's view inclines also to the supposition that Krishna's +deification belongs to the time after Buddha, "Ind. Alterth." 2^2, 822. + +[738] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 184 ff. + +[739] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 188 ff. + +[740] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 205. + +[741] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 203. + +[742] Muir, _loc. cit._ 4, 191. + +[743] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 474. + +[744] Rajendralala Mitra, "Antiq. of Orissa," p. 152. M. Müller, "Hist, +of Anc. Sanskrit Lit." p. 46. The name of the Sinha princes, who ruled +in Guzerat between 200 B.C. and 25 A.D. (Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 929); +Rudrasinha, Rudrathaman, Içvaradatta, prove that the worship of Çiva was +in vogue in this region at the time mentioned. The coins of the Turushas +exhibit Çiva and his bull, while others bear Buddha's name; Lassen, +_loc. cit._ 2^2, 842, 843. The coins of the older Guptas exhibit +Vishnu's bird Garuda, the goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu's female side, who is +churned out of the sea of milk, Rama, and Sita, and Çiva's bull; Lassen, +_loc. cit._ 2^2, 1111. + +[745] Arrian, "Anab." 7, 3. Onesicr. fragm. 33, ed. Müller. Plut. +"Alex." c. 69. + +[746] Cf. _infra_, p. 518. Curt. 8, 9. Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 19. + +[747] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 467. + +[748] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 158. Lassen, _loc, cit._ 2^2, 467. + +[749] Aristobulus in Strabo, p. 714. _Supra_, p. 435. + +[750] Nicol. Dam. Fragm. 143, ed. Müller. + +[751] Diod. 19, 33, 34. The narrative is apparently taken from Duris of +Samos, who wrote soon after the year 300 _B.C._ + +[752] Cic. "Tuscul." 5, 27. Plut. "Vitios." c. 4. Aelian, "Var. Hist." +7, 13. + +[753] Colebrooke, "Asiatic Researches," 4, 205-215. + +[754] Lassen puts Yajnavalkya about the year 360 B.C., and Patanjali, +the author of the Yogaçastra, between 144 and 124 B.C., _loc. cit._ 1^2, +875, 999, and 2^2, 516. We must also agree with Lassen, that in the +theory which Mandanis developes from Onesicritus (frag. 10, ed. Müller), +the principles of the Yoga can be traced. The opposition also in which +this Mandanis places himself to Calanus, the adherent to strict +asceticism, is in favour of the view. As Panini also mentions the Yoga +(Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 878), it was in existence towards the end of +the fourth century. In the same way I can only agree with Lassen that +the book which bears Yajnavalkya's name, and according to the +commentators was composed by a pupil of his, cannot be put earlier than +300 B.C. It is the next oldest to Manu (Stenzler, "Yajnavalkya," s. x.). +In it the opposition to the Buddhists is vigorous, the Yoga is presented +in a simpler form than in the Bhagavad-gita and Patanjalis, and it is +free from the mysticism afterwards adopted into the system. The reign of +Açoka and his immediate successors could not give any room for the +Brahmans to hope for assistance from the state. + +[755] Yajnavalkya, 3, 148, 149. + +[756] Yajnavalkya, 3, 182, 157. + +[757] Yajnavalkya, 3, 145. + +[758] Yajnavalkya, 3, 160, 161, 198, 203, 194. + +[759] "Bhagavad-gita," in Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 3, 30. + +[760] "Bhagavad-gita," in Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 3, 30. + +[761] Yajnavalkya, 3, 155. + +[762] Yajnavalkya, 3, 63-66, 155. + +[763] Yajnavalkya, 3, 195, 196. + +[764] Yajnavalkya, 3, 191. + +[765] Muir, _loc. cit._ 6, 300. + +[766] _Supra_, p. 207, _n._ + +[767] Yajnavalkya, 1, 271, 272. + +[768] Yajnavalkya, 2, 185. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AÇOKA OF MAGADHA. + + +The Brahmans had reason to expect favourable effects from the changes +they had made in their doctrine and ethics. They had taken account of +the desire for the worship of more real and living deities, and in order +to satisfy this they had pushed Brahman into the background; they were +zealous in giving tangible shape to the benefits which their deities had +bestowed upon men; they ascribed the best results to pilgrimages, and if +on the one hand they intensified the merits and efficacy of penance, +they allowed on the other hand the merit of works to fall into the +background, and moderated asceticism. They sought to reconcile the +elements of Buddhist speculation with their ancient system, and +increased the circle of the men admitted to salvation. In the Yoga they +had as a fact found a deeper solution of the problem of the liberation +of the Individual than Buddha had pointed out in his doctrine. Then it +happened that so far from obtaining the assistance and support from the +state which the new law claimed, the power of the throne which ruled all +India ranged itself on the opposite side. + +As we have seen, Chandragupta's great kingdom was maintained in its full +extent by his son Vindusara, and the relations to the West became more +extensive under his reign. When Vindusara was in his last sickness, his +son Açoka, the viceroy of Ujjayini, hastened to Palibothra, as the +Buddhists inform us, possessed himself of the throne, and caused his +brothers to be put to death, with the exception of one born from the +same mother as himself.[769] Like his father Vindusara, he daily fed +60,000 Brahmans, ruled with a severe and cruel hand, and himself carried +out the execution of those who had incurred his anger. After three years +of this savage conduct he was converted, according to the account of the +Singhalese, by Nigrodha the son of Sumana, one of the brothers murdered +by him, to whom the Sthaviras had granted the initiation of the novice +(p. 465). According to the account of the northern Buddhists, a Buddhist +Samudra, a merchant of Çravasti, who had come to Palibothra, was thrown +at Açoka's order into a vessel full of boiling fat and water. Samudra +felt no pain, and when the fire under the kettle could not be kindled by +any means, the king was summoned to see the marvel. This sight and +Samudra's exhortation converted the king to Buddhism. Açoka entreated +the holy man to forgive him his sinful acts, took his refuge in the law +of the Enlightened, and promised to fill the earth with Chaityas +(monuments) in honour of Buddha. He caused a large monastery, the +Açokarama-Vihara, to be built for the Bhikshus at Palibothra,[770] and +instructed his viceroys to erect viharas in all his cities. The relics +of Buddha, which had been divided after his death and placed in eight +monuments (p. 365), Açoka caused to be taken away; only the part which +the Koçalas had received from Ramagrama and concealed there, remained +untouched. The other relics of the Enlightened were divided into 84,000 +parts, and placed in cases of gold, silver, crystal, and lapis-lazuli, +so that each of the great, middle-sized, and small cities in the kingdom +of Açoka might receive a relic of Buddha. In order to preserve these, +84,000 stupas, _i.e._ domes with coverings over them, together with as +many viharas, were built at Açoka's command.[771] Thus the king adorned +the surface of the earth with beautiful stupas, which were like the +summits of the mountains, and furnished them with precious stones, +parasols, and standards,[772] and travelled to every place where Buddha +had stayed and preached, and announced his determination to honour these +places also by monuments. In all the cities of the kingdom the law of +the Enlightened was proclaimed in the name of the king;[773] the son of +the king, Mahendra, and his daughter Sanghamitra, who was born to him +before his accession to the throne, renounced the world and received the +consecration of the mendicant, the son in the twentieth, the daughter in +the eighteenth year of her age; even Tishya, the brother of Açoka, who +alone had been spared, became a Bhikshu, and entered the Açokarama.[774] + +As errors had crept in and the true law was not observed everywhere +in the viharas, the king took the advice of the Sthavira +Maudgaliputra,[775] sat on the same seat with him, and assembled in +council the orthodox and heterodox Bhikshus. When the purity of the +sacred law had again been established by the assembly, Maudgaliputra +perceived that the time had come to spread abroad the doctrine of the +Enlightened. He sent the Sthavira Mahadeva into the land of Mahisha (a +region on the Narmada);[776] Mahadharmarakshita into the land of +Maharashtra (the upper Godavari); Dharmarakshita into the land of +Aparantaka,[777] Çona and Uttara into the gold-district of Suvarnabhumi; +Madhyama and Kaçyapa into the Himavat; and Madhyantika into the land of +Cashmere and the Gandharas. Mahendra, the king's son, set out in person +to preach the good law in Lanka, when Açoka had explained to the envoys, +whom Devanampriya-Tishya, the king of Lanka, had sent to him at +Palibothra, that the king might enlighten his spirit and seek refuge +with the best means of salvation, even as he (Açoka) had sought refuge +with Buddha and the Dharma (law) and the Sangha (community). When +Mahendra arrived at Ceylon, Devanampriya-Tishya received him hospitably, +gave him the garden of Mahamegha near the metropolis Anuradhapura for a +habitation, and there built him a vihara.[778] He converted the +inhabitants of Lanka by thousands. At his request Açoka sent him the +alms-jar of Buddha, and his right shoulder bone, which the king of Lanka +deposited in a stupa, built on Mount Missaka, near Anuradhapura, and +Mahendra's sister Sanghamitra followed her brother to Lanka with eleven +other initiated women, in order to convey there a branch of the sacred +fig-tree of Gaya, under which enlightenment was vouchsafed to Buddha (p. +339). Mahendra received five hundred Kshatriyas of the island into the +sacred order; Sanghamitra initiated five hundred maidens and as many +women of the royal palace as mendicants; and when the branch was +planted in the soil of the garden of Mahamegha, it grew up into a great +tree. Açoka daily supported 60,000 Bhikshus by alms,[779] and during the +rainy season, 300,000 religious persons and novices; and gave all his +treasures, his ministers, his kingdom, his wives, and finally himself to +the assembly of the Aryas.[780] + +Such is the account of Açoka given in the tradition of the Buddhists. We +can establish the fact that he succeeded his father on the throne of +Magadha in the year 263 B.C. and retained it till 226 B.C.[781] His +inscriptions, the oldest which have come down to us, enable us to test +more closely the narration of the Buddhists, who had every reason to +honour the memory of the great king, who became a convert to their +religion, and gave it a pre-eminent position throughout his vast empire. +Both in the neighbourhood of the modern Peshawur, at Kapur-i-Giri, to +the north of Cabul, and near Girnar (Girinagara) on the peninsula of +Guzerat, and on the rocks of Dhauli in the neighbourhood of +Bhuvaneçvara, the metropolis of Orissa, near Khalsi on the right bank of +the Yamuna, at Delhi (the ancient Indraprastha), at Allahabad, Bakhra, +and Bhabra in the neighbourhood of the ancient Palibothra, the modern +Patna, and finally at Mathiah and Radhya,[782] in the valley of the +upper Gandaki on the borders of Nepal, we find inscriptions of this +king. Some are hewn in the rocks, others engraved on separate monolithic +pillars, about forty feet in height; pillars of the law they are called +by him who erected them. Carefully rounded and smoothed they carry above +the capital of beautiful pendent lotus leaves, on a square slab, lions +of excellent execution, without doubt the symbol of the lion of the +tribe of the Çakyas, of Çakyasinha, Buddha. Two pillars of this kind, +the one entire the other broken, are at Delhi; the other four are at +Allahabad, Bakhra, Mathiah, and Radhya. If Açoka caused inscriptions to +be engraved at Peshawur, beyond the Indus, the regions which Seleucus +had given up to Chandragupta must have been retained by Vindusara and +Açoka. The inscriptions on the peninsula of Guzerat (they speak of +buildings at Çirinagara which Açoka had caused to be erected there by +his viceroy Tuhuspa),[783] and those at Bhuvaneçvara, on the mouths of +the Mahanadi, as well as those on the borders of Nepal, prove that +Açoka's dominion reached from the Himalayas to the mouths of the Narmada +and Mahanadi. According to the tradition of Cashmere Açoka reigned over +that land also, extended the metropolis, Çirinagara, built two palaces +there, caused a lofty Chaitya to be erected, and covered Mount Çushkala +near Çirinagara with stupas.[784] The inscriptions of Açoka himself +inform us that he carried on war against the land of Kalinga in the +south of Orissa, on the lower course of the Godavari (p. 410), and +subjugated the inhabitants to his power;[785] and that he ruled over +the Gandharas, Cambojas and Yamunas, the Rashtrikas and the Petenikas. +Under the name of Cambojas are comprised the Aryas on the right bank of +the Indus. To the south as far down as the Cabul, the Yavanas are +evidently the Greeks, with whom Alexander had peopled the three cities +called after him, which he founded in Arachosia (on the Arghandab and +the Turnuk, where the modern Kandahar and Ghazna stand), and on the +southern slope of the Hindu Kush at the entrance of the path leading to +the north into Bactria.[786] The Rashtrikas are the inhabitants of the +coast of Guzerat, the Petenikas are the inhabitants of the city and land +of Paithana on the upper Godavari.[787] Hence the dominion of Açoka +extended from Kandahar, Ghazna, and the Hindu Kush, as far as the mouth +of the Ganges, from Cashmere down to the upper and lower course of the +Godavari. + +According to his inscriptions the influence of Açoka extended even +beyond these wide limits. At the boundaries of the earth, so we are +told, were to be found the two cures established by him, the cure for +men and the cure for animals. Wherever healing herbs, roots, and fruit +trees were not in existence, they were brought and planted by his order, +and wells were dug by the wayside. This was done among the Cholas and +Pidas, in the kingdom of Keralaputra, and on Tamraparni (Ceylon). Even +Antiyaka, the king of the Yavanas, and four other kings, Turamaya, +Antigona, Maga, and Alissanda, "had followed the precept of the king +beloved of heaven," _i.e._ of Açoka.[788] The Cholas and Pidas lay to +the south of the Deccan, the former on the upper Krishna, the latter on +the Palaru. Keralaputra, _i.e._ son of Kerala,[789] is the ruler of the +state founded by Brahmans on the southern half of the Malabar coast (p. +368). It is clear from this, no less than from the conquest of Kalinga +by Açoka, how successful in the times of the earliest rulers of the +house of the Mauryas, was the power of Arian India collected in that +kingdom in forcing its way to the south, both on the coasts and in the +interior of the Deccan; and at the same time these inscriptions confirm +the statements of Singhalese tradition about the connection in which +Açoka stood with this island. They also show us that Açoka not only +maintained but extended the relations into which his grandfather had +entered with the kingdom of the Seleucidæ, and his father with the +kingdom of the Ptolemies. Açoka is not only in connection with Antiyaka, +_i.e._ with his neighbour Antiochus, who sat on the throne from 262 to +247 B.C., and with Turamaya, _i.e._ with Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt +(285-246 B.C.), but also with Antigonus Gonnatas of Macedonia (278-258 +B.C.), with Alissanda, _i.e._ Alexander of Epirus (272-258 B.C.), and +even with Magas, king of Cyrene. The Seleucidæ, it is true, had reason +to keep on a good footing with the powerful king of India; and the +Ptolemies took a lively interest in the trade of India and Egypt. But +the kings of Macedonia, Epirus, and Cyrene were unconcerned with such +matters. It is mere oriental extravagance that Açoka causes these +princes to obey his commands, though the fact that Açoka is acquainted +with Epirus and Cyrene shows how greatly the horizon of the Indians had +extended since the time that Alexander trod the Panjab. Not merely were +these lands of the distant west known, Açoka was in connection with +them. Ambassadors were sent to their princes and are said to have +received the assurance that no hindrance would be placed in the way of +the preaching of the doctrine of Buddha.[790] + +The inscriptions of Açoka contradict the tradition which represents him +as becoming a convert to the doctrine of Buddha in the third year of his +reign. It is possible that he may have shown himself favourable to the +Buddhists a few years after his accession; but it is clear from the +inscriptions at Delhi that he did not openly profess their doctrine till +after long consideration, and the inscriptions at Girnar inform us that +he took this step in the tenth year after his consecration, _i.e._ no +doubt, after his accession, consequently in the year 254 B.C., and that +he did not take it without special regard to the ancient religion and +the Brahmans. The king, we are told in that inscription, was no longer +given up to the chase of animals, but to the chase of the law, to making +presents to Brahmans and Çramanas, to searching out and proclaiming the +law. This conversion is said to have been announced by sound of drum, +with trains of festal cars, elephants, and fires; many divine forms were +also displayed to the people.[791] In an edict published two years later +Açoka gives command that in the kingdom which he has conquered and the +territories in union with him assemblies shall be held in every fifth +year, at which the laws are to be read and explained: obedience to +father and mother, liberality to the nearest relations and friends, to +Brahmans and Çramanas, economy, avoidance of calumny and the slaying of +any living creature; after this confessions were to be made.[792] These +are, as we have seen, the fundamental ethical rules of the Enlightened. +In Buddha's doctrine good actions come from the feelings and heart; the +right feeling of the heart is to show sympathy and pity to all living +creatures, and to alleviate their lot. This precept also Açoka was at +pains to fulfil; in all his inscriptions he calls himself not Açoka but +Devanampraiya Priyadarçin, _i.e._ the man of loving spirit beloved by +the gods. + +Though the doctrine of Buddha had received a firm basis immediately +after the death of the master by the collection of his sayings, and the +rules of ethics and discipline had been gathered together at greater +length and in an authentic form at the synod of Vaiçali in 433 B.C., +different tendencies and views inevitably arose among the believers as +time went on. Some kept strictly to the sayings of the master, the +principles of the synod; others commented on the traditions, and deduced +consequences from the principles given. The speculative basis of the +doctrine gave sufficient occasion to further research and meditation, +and hence to the formation of different schools, which as they rose +became rivals. The school of the Sautrantikas acknowledged only the +authority of the sutras, the sayings of the master collected at the +first synod, and abandoned any independent speculation. The school of +the Vaibhashikas, _i.e._ the school of dilemma, drew speculative +consequences from tradition, and ascribed canonical value to +philosophical treatises (_abhidarma_), which were thought to come from +the immediate disciples of Buddha, more especially from his son Rahula +and from Çariputra. To these were added serious disputes on the +discipline. The Bhikshus of Vaiçali who had been excluded from the +community of the faithful by the second synod, are said to have adhered +to their explanation of the discipline, and to have supported it by +corresponding principles. This teaching of theirs, and the more lax +observance of duties, they naturally explained to be the true doctrine +of Buddha, and found adherents. At any rate we may easily see, that in +the first half of the third century two hostile parties stood opposed in +the Buddhist Church, the orthodox party, the party of the Sthaviras, and +their opponents, who were denoted by the name Maha-Sanghikas, _i.e._ +adherents to the great assembly. The more lax discipline which they +preached, the more convenient mode of life which they permitted, are +said to have brought numerous followers to this party. Brahmans are said +to have taken the yellow robe without seeking for consecration, to have +settled themselves in the monasteries, and filled everything with +confusion and heresy.[793] It is, no doubt, credible that when Açoka +had openly gone over to the doctrine of Buddha, when he caused it to be +preached with the authority of the state, and gave valuable gifts to the +clergy, Brahmans would enter the viharas for other than spiritual +reasons. We may further concede to tradition that it was Maudgaliputra, +the head of the Açokarama, the monastery founded by Açoka at Palibothra, +who caused a new synod to be assembled in order to establish the +discipline and put an end to disputes. That such a synod did meet in the +year 247 B.C. is proved by a letter which Açoka sent to this meeting in +the seventeenth year of his reign at Palibothra; it has been preserved +for us in the inscription of Bhabra (p. 525). "King Priyadarçin"--so the +letter runs--"greets the assembly of Magadha, and wishes it light labour +and prosperity. It is well known how great is my faith and reverence for +Buddha, for the law and the community (_sangha_). All that the blessed +Buddha has said, and this alone, is well said. It is for you, my +masters, to say what authority there is for this; then will the good law +be more lasting. The objects which the law comprises are the limits +prescribed by the discipline, the supernatural qualities of the Aryas, +the dangers of the future (_i.e._ of regenerations in their various +stages), the sayings of Buddha, and the sutras of Buddha, the +investigation of Çariputra and the instructions of Rahula with +refutation of false doctrine: this is what the blessed Buddha taught. +These subjects comprised by the law it is my wish that the initiated men +and women hear, and ponder continually, and also the faithful of both +sexes. This is the fame on which I lay the greatest weight. Hence I +have caused this letter to be written to you which is my will and my +declaration."[794] + +Tradition tells us that at this synod the question was put to every +Bhikshu: "What is the doctrine of Buddha?" and all who did not answer it +satisfactorily or answered it in a sectarian sense, to the number of +60,000, were expelled from the community of the faithful. Then +Maudgaliputra selected a thousand out of the number of the orthodox +Bhikshus, men distinguished by virtue and true knowledge of the holy +scriptures, that he might with them re-establish the purity of the +sutras and the Vinaya, _i.e._ the rules of discipline. We cannot doubt +that the synod at the Açokarama had revised the collection of sayings +and rules of discipline established by the first two councils in order +to excise interpolations and cut off false requirements; but this +revision did not exclude extensions and additions which had been made in +order to fill up in something more than a negative manner the ground +occupied by the errors and heresies that had crept in. By this council, +no doubt, the speculative part of the doctrine of Buddha received its +first canonical basis. This may be inferred both from the mention of the +investigation of Çariputra and the instructions of Rahula in the letter +of Açoka to the assembly, and from the statement that the president of +this council, Maudgaliputra, had founded a new school in order to unite +the doctrines of the Sthaviras and the Mahasanghikas.[795] What we +possess of the canonical writings of the Buddhists does not go back in +form or condition beyond this synod; yet it has been already remarked +that in the sutras we can distinguish the older nucleus from the +additions made to it, and retained or first added in the redaction of +the third council. The assembly is said by the Singhalese to have +occupied nine months in this new settlement of the canonical writings of +the 'triple basket' (_sutras_, _vinaya_, _abhidarma_). + +Açoka was in earnest with the doctrine of Buddha. "The man of loving +spirit, beloved of the gods," we are told in the inscriptions at Girnar, +"causes the observance of the law to increase, and the king's grandson, +great-grandson, and great-great-grandson will cause the law to increase, +and continuing stedfast down to the end of the Kalpa in law and virtue +will observe the law."[796] "In past days the transaction of business +and the announcement of it did not take place at all times. Therefore I +did as follows. At any hour, even when recreating myself with my wives +in their chamber, or with my children, when conversing, riding, or in +the garden, Pratidevakas (men who announce) were appointed with orders +to announce to me the affairs of the people, and at all times I pay +attention to their affairs."[797] "I find no satisfaction in the effort +to accomplish business; the salvation of the world is the thing most +worth doing. The cause of this is the effort to accomplish business. +There is no higher duty than the salvation of the whole world. My whole +care is directed to the discharge of my debt to all creatures, that I +may make them happy on earth, and that hereafter they may gain heaven. +For this object I have caused this inscription of the law to be written. +May they continue long, and may my grandson and great-grandson also +strive after the salvation of the whole world. This it is difficult to +do without the most resolute effort."[798] In other inscriptions Açoka +declares it to be his glory that he has administered justice properly, +and inflicted punishment with gentleness; as we have seen, the book of +the law required that it should be administered with severity. The +growth of the law, king Açoka says, is brought about by submission to +it, and the removal of burdens. "My Rajakas (overseers) are placed over +many hundreds of thousands of my people, and their corrections and +punishments are inflicted without pain. More especially I would have the +Rajakas transact business in the neighbourhood of the Açvatthas +(fig-trees), and bring happiness and prosperity to the people. I would +have them be friendly, ascertain misfortune and prosperity, and speak to +the people, as the law directs, saying: Receive with favour the law that +has been given and established. In such a way are my Rajakas established +for the good of the people, that they may transact their business in the +neighbourhood of the Açvatthas quietly and without disinclination; for +this reason painless corrections and punishments are prescribed for +them."[799] Açoka further informs us that in the war against the +Kalingas he neither carried away the prisoners nor put them to death. +For many offences he had abolished capital punishment. In the +thirty-first year of his reign he appears to have abolished it +altogether. The criminals condemned to death, he tells us in an +inscription, must to the day of their death give the gifts that relate +to a future life, and fast.[800] According to the teaching of Buddha no +animal is to be put to death. In earlier times, we are told in Buddha's +inscriptions, for many centuries the killing of living things and the +injuring of creatures had increased, as well as contempt for relations, +and disregard for Brahmans and Çramanas; at one time even in his, +Priyadarçin's, kitchen a hundred thousand animals were daily slaughtered +for food. Now this was abolished. He absolutely forbade the slaying of +certain animals, and everywhere introduced the two cures for sick men +and animals, caused shelters to be erected for men and animals, +fig-trees and groves of mangoes to be planted, wells to be dug on the +highways, and resting-places for the night to be built.[801] Himself +anxious to follow the law of Buddha, he wished it also to be spread +abroad and practised in his kingdom among his subjects. We have already +mentioned the assemblies held at his command every fifth year, at which +the chief rules of morals were taught to the people. In addition he +nominated Dharmamahamatras, _i.e._ masters of the law, for the cities of +his kingdom, the lands of the Vratyas (p. 388), and the territories +dependent on him, whose duty it was to forward the reception and +observance of the law. According to the inscriptions there were +magistrates of this kind even at the court, to "divide gifts to the sons +and other princes for the purpose of the observance of the law," and +these magistrates had to perform the same duties in the chambers of the +queens.[802] + +What the tradition of the Buddhists tells us of the inexhaustible +liberality of Açoka is exaggerated beyond all measure. The strangest +statement of all, that he presented his kingdom to the Bhikshus, seems +to find some sort of confirmation in the assertion of the Chinese +pilgrim Fa-Hian, who was on the Ganges towards the year 400 A.D. He +tells us that he had seen a pillar at Palibothra on which the +inscription related that Açoka had presented all India, his wives and +his servants, thrice to the Bhikshus, and had only retained his +treasures, in order to purchase again these gifts. If this was really +stated in the inscription, the matter can only have had a symbolical +meaning; the king in this expressed figuratively his submission to the +law of Buddha, and recognised it as his duty to allow the initiated, the +representatives and preachers of this law, to suffer no want. Açoka's +extant inscriptions prove that he not only exhorted his subjects to give +(p. 530), but made presents to the Sthaviras, and commanded his masters +of the law to divide gifts.[803] How eagerly he strove to realise +Buddha's precept to be helpful to every one, is proved by a sentence in +the inscriptions of Dhauli in which the king says: "Every good man is my +descendant."[804] + +However foolish may be the tradition that Açoka built 84,000 stupas and +as many viharas, it is true that he did erect numerous buildings which +were mainly intended to glorify the Enlightened. Mention has already +been made of the Açokarama at Palibothra, and tradition is not wrong in +saying that the king honoured the places at which Buddha stayed by the +erection of monuments. Of his buildings at Gaya we have, it is true, +only the remains of pillars and other ruins.[805] Some miles to the +north of Gaya, on the bank of the Phalgu, in the rocks of the heights +now called Barabar and Nagarjuni, are artificial grottoes. They are hewn +in the granite, simple in plan and moderate in dimensions, but of very +careful execution. The inscription on one tells us that it was +consecrated by Açoka in the twelfth year of his reign, and on the other +that Açoka caused it to be excavated in the nineteenth year of his +reign.[806] At Kuçinagara, on the place where the Enlightened slept +never to wake again, the Chinese traveller Hiuan-Thsang found a pillar +of Açoka's with inscriptions.[807] The number of the monasteries or +viharas in the territory of Magadha was so great that the old name of +the country was changed for a name derived from them; it was called the +land of monasteries: Vihara (Behar). The inscriptions already mentioned +at Bhuvaneçvara refer to a stupa which Açoka built at Tosali in Orissa. +According to the account of Hiuan-Thsang stupas of Açoka existed at his +time in the Deccan among the Andhras and Cholas, the Kanchis and +Konkanas; in Nagara he saw a stupa, and in Udyana a vihara of +Açoka.[808] The inscriptions of Açoka at Girinagara show that he erected +a large bridge there and other buildings. Hence there is no reason to +doubt the construction of considerable buildings in Cashmere, ascribed +to him by the tradition of the land. On the northern slope of the +Vindhyas, to the east of Ujjayini, at Sanchi, in the neighbourhood of +the ancient Bidiça (now Bhilsa), there are nearly thirty stupas of very +various sizes, standing in five groups. The longest of them rises on a +substructure of more than one hundred feet in diameter to an elevation +of sixty feet. The simplicity and unadorned dignity of the building mark +this, the largest of the stupas, as also the oldest, and we may the more +certainly regard it as a work of Açoka because relics are found in the +neighbouring stupas which the inscriptions state to be those of +Çariputra and Maudgalyayana, the eminent disciples of Buddha; others +again which are said to be the relics of Gotriputra the teacher of +Maudgaliputra, who presided over the third synod.[809] The wall +surrounding the great stupa presents an entrance through four noble +portals of slender pilasters, united by cross-beams of singular +workmanship. On the eastern gate there is found an inscription from the +second century A.D. It is therefore possible that the outer wall dates +from that time, though the inscription merely speaks of the presentation +of a vihara situated there.[810] + +However great Açoka's zeal for Buddha's doctrine might be, however +numerous and splendid the buildings erected in honour of the +Enlightened, he allowed complete toleration to prevail, partly from +obedience to the gentleness which pervades Buddha's doctrine, but not +less from motives of political sagacity. There was no oppression, no +persecution of the Brahmans or their religion. It can hardly be called a +proof of this feeling and attitude, that a ruined temple of Indra was +restored at his command, for we have seen that Buddhism adopted the +ancient gods of the Brahmans as subordinate spirits, yet as beings of a +higher order, into its system. But in a part of his edicts Açoka +mentions the Brahmans even before the Çramanas (in others the Çramanas +have the first place); like the Çramanas the Brahmans are to be honoured +and to receive presents. The inscription of Delhi declares that even +those who are of another religion than the Brahmans and Buddhists are to +live undisturbed; that all possessed sacred books and saving +revelations. In one of the inscriptions at Girnar we are told: +"Priyadarçin, the king beloved by the gods, honours all religions, as +well as the mendicants and householders, by alms and other tokens of +respect. Every one should honour his own religion, without reviling that +religion of others. Only reverence makes pious. May the professors of +every religion be rich in wisdom and happy through virtue."[811] + +With all this toleration and gentleness there is no doubt that the reign +of Açoka did the greatest service in promoting the spread of Buddhism +through his wide kingdom. Whether and to what extent political motives +could and did operate on his conversion we cannot even guess. In any +case Buddha's doctrine released the ruler of the mighty kingdom from a +very burdensome ceremonial; it put an end to the contrast in which the +free life of the Indus stood to the restricted life of the Ganges; it +counteracted the pride with which the Brahmans looked down on the not +unimportant tribes on the Indus, placed the Arians on the Indus with +equal rights at the side of the twice-born of Aryavarta, allowed the +king to deal equally with all Aryas, all castes, and even with the +non-Arian tribes of his kingdom; and not only permitted but commanded +him to interest himself specially in the oppressed classes. The care, +which his grandfather had already bestowed on husbandmen, Açoka could +exercise over a wider territory and with greater earnestness; and that +he did this, as well as how he did it, has been shown by his +inscriptions (p. 535). + +Tradition tells us that after the council of Palibothra, the Sthavira +Madhyantika was sent into Cashmere and the land of the Gandharas to +convert them, and the Buddhists could boast that the inhabitants of +these districts received the law which Madhyantika preached to them; +"that the Gandharas and Kaçmiras henceforth shone in yellow garments +(the colour of the Bhikshus), and remained true to the three branches of +the law."[812] As a fact Cashmere became and remained a prominent seat +of Buddhism. At the same time, according to tradition, Madhyama and +Kaçyapa were sent to convert the Himalayas. In one of the smaller stupas +at Sanchi chests of relics were found, the inscriptions on which +describe one as containing the remains "of the excellent man of the race +of Kaçyapa, the teacher of the whole of Haimavata;" the other as +containing the remains of Madhyama.[813] The conversion of the island of +Ceylon at the time of Açoka, which was supported and advanced by Açoka's +power and his relation to the king of the island, Devanampriya-Tishya, +the successor of Vijaya, Panduvançadeva, and Pandukabhaya--who reigned +from 245 B.C.[814] to 205 B.C.--is a fact. Like Cashmere in the north, +Ceylon became in the south a centre of the Buddhist faith, the +mother-church of lower India and the lands of the East. It has been +shown in detail above how the worship of relics arose among the +Buddhists. Açoka's stupas exhibit it in the fullest bloom, and this form +of worship is prominent in the tradition of the conversion of Ceylon. +Beside the branch of the sacred tree of Buddha, which took root in the +Mahamegha-garden at Anuradhapura, Ceylon boasts since that time the +possession of the alms-jar of Buddha and his right shoulder-bone, to +which his water-jug was added, and five hundred years later his left +eye-tooth. This had previously been among the Kalingas, then in +Palibothra, whence it was taken back to the Kalingas, from whence it +was carried to Ceylon, after escaping the attempts made by the Brahman +king of Magadha to destroy it. Saved at a later time from the arms of +the Portuguese, it is preserved at the present day as the most sacred +relic of the Buddhist church, and carried yearly in solemn +procession.[815] + +Buddhism had removed the privilege of birth. As it summoned the men of +all castes equally to liberation, so it did not confine its gospel to +the nation of the Aryas. When it had broken through the limits of caste +it broke for the first time in history through the limits of +nationality. All men, of whatever order, language, and nation, are in +equal distress and misery; they are brothers, and intended to assist +each other as such. To all, therefore, must be preached the message of +renunciation and pity, of liberation from pain and regeneration. The +tradition of the Buddhists has already told us that after the third +synod messengers of the new religion were sent into the western land to +the Yavanas, and into the gold land; and Açoka's inscriptions showed us +that he had entered into connections not only with his neighbour, +Antiochus Theos, but also with the kings of Macedonia and Epirus, of +Egypt and Cyrene, concerning the good law. It is not likely that +Buddhism was preached in the West beyond the eastern half of Iran and +Bactria; but it found adherents there. Tradition tells us that a century +after the council in the Açokarama at Palibothra belief in the +Enlightened flourished in "Alassadda,"[816] by which is obviously meant +one of the three Alexandrias founded by Alexander in the East, +apparently the Alexandria on the southern slope of the Hindu Kush +nearest to Cashmere. When in the seventh century of our era the Chinese +Hiuan-Thsang climbed the heights of the Hindu Kush on his pilgrimage to +Cabul and India, he found the inhabitants of the city of Bamyan high up +in the mountains zealously devoted to the religion of the Enlightened; +he found ten viharas and a large stone image of Buddha in the city, +covered with gold and other ornaments.[817] On an isolated mountain wall +in the midst of the mountain valley of Bamyan we find in a deep niche +excavated in the wall a statue, now mutilated, 120 feet in height, and +at a distance of two hundred paces, a second somewhat smaller statue of +the same kind. In the broad lips and drooping ears of these statues our +travellers seem to find portraits of Buddha. If this religion penetrated +west of Cabul, in the Hindu Kush and to Bactria, it also extended from +Cashmere to Nepal and Tibet, and from Ceylon struck root in lower +India. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[769] "Mahavança," p. 21. Burnouf, _loc. cit._ 1, 364. + +[770] "Mahavança," p. 34. + +[771] "Mahavança," p. 26. Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 370, 515. + +[772] Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 381, 382. + +[773] "Mahavança," p. 26, 34. + +[774] "Mahavança," p. 22, 23, 35, 39. + +[775] Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2^2, 241, _n._4, 245. + +[776] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 246. + +[777] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^2,649 and 2^2, 248 regards Aparantaka as the +western border land of India. + +[778] "Mahavança," p. 78 ff. + +[779] "Mahavança," p. 26. + +[780] "Açoka-avadana," in Burnouf, _loc. cit._ p. 415, 426; for these +Aryas see above, p. 471. + +[781] In opposition to Westergaard, who thinks it necessary to put +Açoka's accession back to the year 272 B.C., I can only agree with Von +Gutschmid that the statements of the Buddhists on the subject require at +the most the year 265 B.C. "Zeitschrift D. M. G." 18, 373. On the other +hand, from the reasons given above (p. 443), I cannot put Chandragupta's +accession at Magadha before 315 B.C. If, therefore, the 52 years which +the Buddhists give to Chandragupta and Vindusara are to be maintained, +Açoka ascended the throne in 263 B.C. On the other hand, the Brahmans +only allow 25 years to Varisara, as they call Vindusara; and according +to this the accession of Açoka must have taken place in the year 266 +B.C. + +[782] Cunningham, "Survey," 1, 68 ff; 244 ff. + +[783] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 281. + +[784] "Raja Tarang." ed. Troyer, 1, 101 ff. + +[785] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 272. + +[786] Droysen, "Hellenismus," 2, 611. + +[787] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 251. + +[788] Inscriptions of Girnar, and Kapur-i-Giri, in Lassen, _loc. cit._ +2^2, 253. + +[789] In Ptolemy [Greek: Kêrobothrês], Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1^1, 188. + +[790] The inscriptions of Açoka date from various years, or at any rate +mention regulations from various years; they speak of the tenth, +twelfth, thirteenth, nineteenth, twenty-third, twenty-sixth, and +thirty-first years after the coronation. According to the Singhalese the +coronation did not take place till the fourth year after Vindusara's +death. The inscriptions in which the Greek kings are mentioned date from +the thirteenth year after the coronation, _i.e._ from the sixteenth or +seventeenth year of the reign. The festival of the complete adoption of +the law of Buddha by Açoka would thus have taken place in the thirteenth +year of the reign, _i.e._ 251 B.C. If the statement of the Singhalese +("Mahavança," p. 22) were correct, that Açoka's consecration did not +take place till the fourth year of his reign, which is quite contrary to +Indian custom, and seems to have arisen from the desire to make the +coronation synchronise with the conversion to Buddhism (according to the +"Açoka-avadana," Açoka put on the royal head-dress at the moment when +Vindusara died, Burnouf, _loc. cit._ 364), there would be a +chronological difficulty. Alexander of Epirus died about the year 258 +B.C.; Magas of Cyrene in that year; consequently both were dead in the +thirteenth year after the coronation, the seventeenth year of Açoka, if +he ascended the throne in the year 263. The Buddhists have already told +us that Açoka showed himself favourable to their religion in the third +year after his accession, though it was not till the year 254 or 251 +that he formally went over. Hence, arrangements may have been made even +earlier with the kings of the West in favour of the spread of Buddhism, +and they may have been first mentioned in 251 or 247 B.C. Von Gutschmid, +"Z. D. M. G." 18, 373. He might also mention kings of the distant West +with whom he had had dealings, though they were dead, especially if he +was without intelligence of their death. + +[791] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 238. + +[792] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 239. + +[793] "Mahavança," p. 38. Köppen, "Rel. des Buddha," s. 154 ff. + +[794] Burnouf, "Lotus de la bonne loi," p. 725, 727. Cf. "Mahavança," +ed. Turnour, p. 251. A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 3, 172. + +[795] Köppen, _loc. cit._ s. 182. + +[796] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 238. + +[797] Girnar, 6: in Lassen, 2^2, 267, _n._1. + +[798] Girnar, 6: in Lassen, 2^2, 267, _n._1. + +[799] Delhi, 2: in Lassen, 2^2, 268, _n._2. + +[800] Delhi, 2: in Lassen, 2^2, 272, _n._5. + +[801] Inscription at Delhi, Lassen, 2^2, 272. + +[802] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 250. + +[803] Inscriptions at Girnar, 6 and 8. + +[804] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 270. + +[805] Now Buddhagaya to the north-east of the modern Gaya; Cunningham, +"Survey," 1, 6, 10 ff. + +[806] Cunningham, _loc. cit._ 1, 40 ff. + +[807] On the elephant pillars at Sankisa, Cunningham, _loc. cit._ 1, +271. + +[808] Hiuan-Thsang, in Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 280. + +[809] Cunningham, "J. R. As. Soc." 13, 108 ff. + +[810] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, 965. + +[811] Burnouf, "Lotus de la bonne loi," p. 762. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2^2, +276, 277. + +[812] "Mahavança," ed. Turnour, p. 72.^1 + +[813] Cunningham, "J. R. As. Soc." 13, 112 ff. + +[814] _Supra_, p. 370, 371. In consequence of the difference explained +above (p. 320, _n._) the Singhalese place his reign 62 years too early, +from 307 to 267 B.C. + +[815] Mutu Coomara Dathavança. Köppen, "Rel. des Buddha," s. 517 ff. + +[816] "Mahavança," p. 171. + +[817] Stan. Julien, "Hiuen-Thsang," p. 373. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +RETROSPECT. + + +The Arians in India at an early time developed important spheres of +human nature into peculiar forms. In that tribal life, by no means +feeble of its kind, which they lived in the land of the Panjab, they +worshipped the spirits of fire, of light, of water; with deep religious +feeling they invoked these helpers, protectors, and judges, with +earnestness, zeal, and lively imagination. The movements of the +emigration and conquest of the Ganges, the acquisition of extensive +regions, led them forward on new paths. The emigrant tribes grew into +nations; greater monarchies grew up in the conquered territories. The +achievements of the forefathers were sung in heroic minstrelsy before +the princes and their companions, the wealthy warriors, the priests, and +the minstrels separated themselves from the peasants. The contrast +between the new masters of the valley of the Ganges and the ancient +population assisted in intensifying the distinction of orders among the +Arians. The fear of the spirits of night and drought, the conception of +the struggle of good and evil spirits, gave way before the abundance and +fertility of these new possessions. In the land of the Ganges the +sensuous perception of nature passed into fantastic ideas; the climate +inflamed the susceptible senses of the nation, while at the same time +it checked bodily activity and invited to contemplativeness. In +opposition to the multitude of the ancient divine forms and the gorgeous +variety of the new impressions of nature, rose the impulse to find the +unity of the divine essence, the need of combination. Abstraction +reacted on imagination, the spirit on the senses. The spirit in prayer, +the holy spirit, and the world-soul, that mighty breath which the +Brahmans seemed to find behind the changing phenomena of nature, were +amalgamated by the priesthood, and elevated to be the highest deity: +Indra, Varuna, Mitra must give way to Brahman as the nobles gave way to +the priests. Together with the new deity, who was at the same time the +order of the world, the Brahmans won for themselves the first position +in the state. + +The theory of the emanation of the world from Brahman established for +ever the arrangement of the castes by the different participation of the +various orders in Brahman--an arrangement which otherwise, being the +result of natural changes, would in turn have been removed in the course +of development. The law and the state were arranged on the plan of the +divine order of the world which had assigned to every being his duties. +With the emanation of beings from Brahman came the demand for their +return thither, and the doctrine of regenerations, which were to cleanse +the creatures rendered impure by their nature and their sins till they +attained the purity of the world-soul. As Brahman was essentially +conceived as not-matter, not-nature, a severance of nature and spirit, a +contrast of the natural and the intellectual man was set up, which +subsequently became the turning-point in the religious and moral +development of the Indians. Ethics passed into asceticism, the courage +of battle into the heroism of penance. But man could not rest content +with the avoidance of sensuality or the mortification of the flesh. It +was not enough to torment and crush the body, the _Ego_, the +consciousness, must pass into Brahman. But, inasmuch as Brahman was all +things and again nothing definite, it possessed no quality to be +apprehended by thought; and along with the annihilation of individual +being absorption in this impersonal deity required the surrender of the +consciousness and perception of self, of the _Ego_ in order to obtain a +passage into this substance. Thus the crushing of the body by a pitiless +asceticism, the destruction of the soul by meditation without any +object, became the highest command, the ethical ideal of the Indians; +the devotion natural to their disposition became a self-annihilating +absorption into a soul-less world-soul. The energy of the Indians began +to consume itself in this contest; it was applied to the conquest of the +appetites, the crushing of the body, the annihilation of the soul. Under +the most smiling sky, in the midst of a luxuriant vegetation, was +enthroned a melancholy, gloomy, monastic view of the absolute corruption +of the flesh, the misery of life on earth. + +The theory that every creature must fulfil the vocation imposed upon it +at birth, the commands of submissive observance of duties and patient +obedience placed absolute and despotic power in the hands of the kings +the more firmly because they also undermined activity and independence +of feeling; and owing to the extent of the ceremonial, the usages of +purification and penance, and the awful consequences of their neglect, +the people became accustomed to think more of the next world than of +this. As heaven alone was their home, the Indians had scarcely a real +world, or practical objects which it was worth while to strive after. +Without purpose or activity they were perpetually changing, they obeyed +an oppressive and exhausting despotism, which the theory of the Brahmans +justified as divine, and provided with the most acute regulations for +the maintenance and extension of its power. Thus the most beautiful and +luxuriant land on earth seemed really to become a vale of misery. + +The scholasticism of the Indians concentrated their efforts on framing +ever new conceptions of the categories of spirit and nature, of matter +and the _Ego_, which perpetually changed without ever breaking loose +from them. Their philosophy gained no object beyond establishing more +firmly their hypothesis, separating ever more widely nature and spirit, +body and soul, the fleshly and the supernatural, and rooting more deeply +a perverse view of nature. No doubt the appetites compensated themselves +for the pain and privation of penances, for the torments of asceticism, +in luxurious enjoyment; the imagination sought relief from the necessity +of thinking of Brahman and nothing but Brahman in painting a motley +world of spirits beside and below Brahman, by confounding heaven and +earth, by the restless invention of grotesque charms and miracles, by +brilliant pictures on a measureless scale. In the same way the reason +compensated itself for its exclusion from philosophy and the compulsion +exercised upon it by the most acute distinctions; yet no healthy advance +could be made by the alternation of asceticism and enjoyment, by +oscillation between hollow abstractions and unbridled imagination, the +most irrational view of the world and the most subtle reflections. + +Full of compassion for the sorrows of the multitude, distressed at the +sight of the oppression under which the people lay, repelled by the +cruel asceticism, the pride and exclusive scholasticism of the Brahmans, +Buddha undertook to provide the people with alleviation and bring help +to their pains. With him the world is Evil, and regeneration is the +eternity of evil. In order to escape this, as he was himself confined to +the current view of the world and philosophical systems, he could only +overthrow Brahman along with the gods; he could merely recommend the +restraint of the appetites and desires, patient suffering and +renunciation, flight from the world and the _Ego_, and in the last +instance a more complete annihilation of the _Ego_. It was nevertheless +a great gain that the body need no longer be tormented and destroyed, +that the difference of the castes was thrown into the background, that +the contempt of the higher born for the lower was laid aside. In the +place of an exclusive sense of caste came equality and brotherly love; +tolerance and gentleness in the place of ceremonial; expiations and +penances were superseded by a rational morality, and beneficial sympathy +with all creatures. To counteract the new doctrine which threatened the +entire position obtained after long struggles by the Brahmans, the +latter allowed the idea of Brahman to fall into the background, in order +to restore to the people the worship of living personal deities; they +were at pains to show that their deities also had the weal and woe of +mankind at heart; and if on the one hand they increased the merit of +asceticism and its requirements, they reduced on the other the value of +good works; they attempted to amalgamate Brahman and the theory of the +Buddhists by new speculations, and by means of a simple asceticism and a +mystical act of the spirit, to obtain readmission into the highest +being, and reunion with the world-soul. But even Buddhism provided its +doctrine, and its scepticism which denied everything beside matter and +the _Ego_, with a form of worship, not in the pilgrimages only, and the +worship of the relics of the Enlightened, but also in the apotheosis of +the teacher, and his elevation above the gods of the Brahmans. + +While the doctrines of the Brahmans and Buddhism strove with each other, +the extension of the Aryas in the south and the occupation of the coasts +of the Deccan went steadily on, and the first shock which an external +enemy brought upon India, the attack upon and reduction of the land of +the Indus by Alexander the Great, after the most vigorous resistance, +exercised the most beneficial influence on the states of India. +Chandragupta succeeded not only in breaking down the rule of the +foreigner over the Indus, but in uniting the territory of India from the +Indus to the Gulf of Bengal, from the Himalayas to the Vindhyas, into +one mighty kingdom. His grandson extended his kingdom over Surashtra, +Orissa, Kalinga; in the south his influence extended beyond the +Godavari. From this throne, three hundred years after the death of the +Enlightened, he announced his conversion to his faith, and proclaimed +his rules as laws of the state. This seemed to be the dawn of a happy +day for India. The combination of all the tribes could not but secure +the independence of the country; the oppression of the hereditary +despotism seemed to be softened by the prescripts of a rational +morality; a brisk trade with the West appeared to give the last blow to +the exclusiveness and rigidity of Brahmanism, and the religion of +equality and brotherly love seemed to assure the rise of a new social +order and a free movement of the intellectual powers of the people. + +A sterner fate overtook the Indians. It is true that even at the time of +Açoka the powerful neighbouring kingdom of the Seleucidæ had begun to +fall to pieces; Parthia and Bactria had already attempted to assert +their independence, and though Antiochus the Great once more succeeded +in subjugating Bactria, and in the year 206 B.C. appeared with a +powerful army in the region of the Indus, Açoka's son and successor +Subhagasena (Polybius calls him Sophagasenus) was able at the price of a +number of elephants and some treasure to renew the league which his +grandfather Chandragupta had concluded with the first Seleucus, the +great-grandfather of Antiochus.[818] The re-established authority of the +Seleucidæ over Bactria was of very brief continuance. It was not attacks +from without, but the dissensions of the grandsons of Açoka that rent +asunder the great Indian empire; the dynasty of the Mauryas fell. A new +race, that of the Çungas, ascended the throne of Magadha in the year 178 +B.C. with the kings Pushpamitra and Agnimitra, which thirty years after +had in turn to give place to the Guptas. Neither the power of the Çungas +nor that of the Guptas was sufficient to maintain the national unity, +and protect the regions of the West from the foreigner. The Greek +princes who ruled in Bactria conquered the lands of the Indus--native +Indian tradition presents us with armies of Yavanas on the right bank of +the Indus at this time[819]--and established a Græco-Indian empire, +which in the course of the second century B. C. carried its arms to the +Yamuna, and subjugated Cashmere as well as Surashtra to its rule.[820] +From the supremacy of Greek princes and the Greek character India +received various impulses of the most lively kind, especially in +architecture and plastic art; the influence of the Greek models extends +not only over the Panjab but even to Cashmere. This dominion of the +Greeks over the west of India was succeeded by other foreign empires, +that of the Sacæ from Arachosia (Sejestan), that of the Tibetan nomads, +the Yuechis, the Indo-scyths from Bactria. If Buddhism had advanced to +Bactria under the Mauryas, elements of the religious views of Iran now +forced their way from Sejestan, the worship of the god Mithra, on which +they laid especial stress, by means of the Maga-Brahmans, _i.e._ the +Magian Brahmans, into the Panjab and Cashmere.[821] But the land of the +Ganges maintained its independence, the civilisation of the Deccan was +not interrupted, and the national forces still sufficed to remove at +length the power of the foreigner even in the West. + +For centuries after this date Buddhists and Brahmans stood side by side +in the Indian states of the West and East. Only the Guptas of Magadha +had worshipped Vishnu and Çiva;[822] the Sacan and Indo-Scythian princes +of the West were devoted to Buddhism. Yet Buddhism was unable finally to +triumph over the reformed doctrine of the Brahmans, supported as this +was by the worship of Vishnu or Çiva and the speculation and mysticism +of the Yoga. It had become divided into sects, of which the bases were +almost wholly of a dogmatic character; they rested on the different +philosophic foundations of the system. But the adherents of these sects +hated each other more than they hated the Brahmans, and the ethics of +the Buddhists preached only obedience, patience, submission, and +retirement from the world. It was no more adapted than the ethics of the +Brahmans to supply new impulses to the volition and activity of the +Indians, and in the end the bright world of gods and spirits of +Brahmanism, the magic powers and miracles of their ancient saints, +exercised a greater power of attraction on the hearts of the Indians +than the simpler doctrine of the Buddhists. The Veda, the Epos, and all +tradition was on the side of the Brahmans. The genuine Kshatriya could +not be satisfied with Buddha's peaceful doctrine; the Brahmans +maintained their position as presidents at the funeral feasts of the +tribes, and common interests of a very practical nature kept the sects +and even the schools of the Brahmans more closely together than was +possible among the various divisions of the Buddhists. When it had been +shown that Buddhism was not strong enough to overpower the old system, +the Brahmans succeeded in entirely overthrowing and expelling that +religion. The faith of the Enlightened maintained its ground in Cashmere +and Ceylon alone. Before its expulsion from its native home it had taken +such firm root in Nepal and Tibet, in further India and China, that it +was able from thence to humanise the manners of the nomads of Upper +Asia, and in the East to gain the most numerous adherents for the +religion of patience. + +In the extent of their territory and the numbers of the population the +Indians possessed an adequate natural basis for periodical +regenerations. The despotic power which the princes had attained not +without the assistance of the Brahmans, and which had the more injurious +consequences, the more completely the will of the subjects was absorbed +in the governing caprice rather than elevated to any moral communion, +found on the one hand a certain counterpoise in the close communities +and families, and on the other was far from being strong enough, from +having sufficient activity and development, to repress and dominate all +spheres of life. It had not kept the rich gifts of the Indians at the +point which they reached at the time of the conquest of Buddhism; it +had not been able to prevent new attempts, a new rise, and the elevation +of the depressed powers of will and body. The strongest check was the +establishment of the system of castes in full power, the restriction of +the circulation of the blood in the body of the nation, the severe +repression of free activity and purpose by the supposed divine +arrangement of the vocations and orders, the exclusive direction of the +heart and will to objects beyond this world. In this way a lasting +prohibition was imposed on the free play of the powers, and a false aim +was set up; while the physical health of the national body, the moral +health of the national spirit, which can only be maintained by the +counterpoise and reciprocal action of moral and intellectual impulses, +and the exertion of the will for attainable objects, was destroyed and +undermined to such a degree that stagnation prevailed and the soil +became sterile. + +Thus it happened that the state of the Aryans in the divided condition +in which they found themselves, and the limitations to which the +Brahmans had condemned their powers of will, in spite of the protected +position of their country and the numbers of the population, had not the +power to resist the attacks of Islam, and to prevent the erection of a +lasting alien empire on their soil, which finally subjugated the lands +of the Indus and the Ganges, and even the Deccan to a large extent, +almost indeed the whole of India, while it transplanted to the soil +numerous hordes of a foreign population. Precisely these districts which +had given the impulse to the development of the Indian nature, became in +the end the centre of this foreign dominion, while regions of the Deccan +peopled mainly by non-Arian races, who had been won over at a +comparatively late period by colonisation, made the most stubborn +resistance. The empire of the Great Mogul in the Deccan was able only +for a brief period to pass the Krishna to the south. + +Though the Indians were not powerful enough to resist the arms of Islam +they did resist its mania for conversion. Heavily as this pressed upon +them from time to time, the habit of asceticism, the hope of escaping +from the fetters of the soul with the death of the body, enabled them to +withstand the fiercest tyranny. Even now the most cowardly Bengalee can +die with the most dauntless courage. Thus the Indians were able to +maintain their religion, the results of their history and civilisation, +their whole intellectual possessions, against their Moslem masters. It +is true that all advance was at an end, that the limits were fixed +irrevocably, and could not be overstepped; but the mobility of the +Indian spirit within these was not suppressed. Indian poetry could +develop into artistic lyrics, into the drama, and didactic works; the +formal subtlety of the nation laboured with effect in grammar, algebra, +and logic. Even if the services of philosophy were mainly extensions, +developments, and variations of the old ideas, though theology +maintained her supremacy, and put and discussed anew the old questions, +by such activity and such labours, the intellectual life of the Indians +was preserved from sterility; they have placed the Indians in possession +of a considerable literature of the second growth, and maintained +unbroken their peculiar civilisation. + +The Pharaohs engraved the memorials of their reigns on artificial +mountains of stone, in order to preserve their deeds to the most remote +future; their subjects chiselled, painted, and wrote the remembrance of +their lives in their tombs, in order that no incident that had befallen +the dead might be forgotten. The Indians have not written their +history, because at a very early period they began to dedicate their +lives to the future world, and convinced themselves that the state was +nothing and religion everything. If among the Egyptians the name of a +man was to live for ever, and his body was to rest to all eternity in +its rocky grave, the Indians were tormented with exactly the opposite +desire: they wished to attain the end of the individual as quickly as +possible, to blot out existence without any return, and destroy the +remains of it as completely and rapidly as possible. The Egyptians +became painters, builders, masons, and sculptors; the Indians were +philosophers, ascetics, interpreters of dreams, mendicants, and poets. +The history of the Indians has passed into the acts of gods and saints; +it is lost in the chaos in which heaven and earth are confounded. Only +at home in heaven, in poetry, in philosophy, and imaginary systems, the +Indians had no ethical world on this side the grave, and therefore no +achievements of their princes, statesmen, or nations were worth the +trouble of recording. + +Religion has dominated the life of the Indians more thoroughly than that +of almost any other nation. This result would not have been attained by +the Brahmans, who never rose to an organised hierarchy, and were always +limited to the advantages of their order, the influence of worship and +doctrine, had not the feeling and heart of the people met them half way. +The victory of Brahman over Indra decided the fate of the Indians. All +attempts, even the most vigorous, to abandon Brahman merely led to +modifications of the leading idea; they did not remove it. This +pantheistic theory weakened the resolution of the Indians in the region +of politics and action; the consequences so severely and zealously drawn +from it have checked the ethical productiveness of the Indian spirit +and prevented its advance. + +The foundations of the Brahmanic system remain unmoved to this day. In +worship the Brahmans are tolerant. Every one is free to choose his +protecting deity; he may invoke Vishnu or Çiva, or any other god; he may +or may not go a pilgrimage to the Ganges, to Hurdwar, Jagannatha, and +other holy places; he may practise asceticism or omit it. In their +philosophy and schools they are also tolerant; one man may follow this +system, another that, provided that the world-soul is still retained. +But in the question of purification and the social question of caste +they are intolerant. The fixed scheme of the chief castes, to which the +Dvija is linked by investiture with the holy girdle, together with the +lower castes, the close castes of occupation within the main and +subordinate castes, and their numberless gradations, still remains. Even +now the castes which Manu's law destined to be servants observe this +command both towards natives of higher caste and foreigners. This +unnatural system is retained because in the eyes of the Indians it is +neither unrighteous nor unjust, but is rather the expression of divine +justice; birth in a higher or lower caste is the recompense for merit or +sin in earlier existences. Moreover, with the exception of the lowest +classes, the Pariahs and Chandalas, every man has an advantage over some +other class, and would lose by expulsion from his birthright as well as +by the suppression of the whole system. In India expulsion from the +caste means the surrender of all the relations of life; the loss of +social existence, of family, of the nearest connections; it implies a +fall to the lowest level, that of the expelled casteless man. No man has +any dealings with the expelled person; even his nearest relatives would +be denied if they gave him a draught of water. So careful are the +Indians of purity. The lowest Bengalee at the present day does not +hesitate, courteously but decidedly, to request the officer of the +ruling nation who visits his hut to leave it, that it may not be +defiled. + +In their national life the Indians have exhibited down to our days their +long-practised and often-tried courage of patience. As the old system of +religion and morals has bidden defiance to centuries, so do we find in +the Indians that tenacity which long and severe oppression is wont to +create in originally vigorous natures, that power of resistance which +bends but does not break, united with a cunning and love of intrigue by +which the oppressed revenges himself on the oppressor, against whom +force avails nothing. With this they have retained a costly possession, +that inclination towards the highest intellectual attainments which runs +through their whole history. This treasure is still vigorous in the +hearts of the best Indians, and appears the more certainly to promise a +brighter future, as the government which now controls the nation has +come to an earnest though late resolution to rule with the help of the +Indians for the good of the people, while the intellectual force and +cultivation of their western tribesmen are disclosing themselves ever +more clearly to the eager activity of eminent Hindus. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[818] Polyb. 11, 34. _Supra_, 452. + +[819] Wilson, "Vishnu-Purana," p. 470, 471. + +[820] Strabo, p. 516. + +[821] Communication from Prof. Albrecht Weber. + +[822] _Supra_, p. 331, _n._ + + + +END OF VOL. IV. + + + +BUNGAY: CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. + +_J. D. & Co._ + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +1. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the chapters + in this text version. + +2. Certain words use oe ligature in the original. + +3. Obvious errors in punctuation have been silently corrected. + +4. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in + spelling, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been retained. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40960 *** |