India's Past A.A.Macdonell 1927
India's Past A.A.Macdonell 1927
India's Past A.A.Macdonell 1927
in
2009
witii
funding from
University of Toronto
littp://www.arcliive.org/details/indiaspastsurveyOOmacd
INDIA'S PAST
Glasgow
Copenhagen
New York
Melbourne Capetown
>SA-v
INDIA'S PAST
A SURVEY
cf her
LITERATURE^
RELIGIONS,
and
LANGUAGES
ANTIQUITIES
.<
.<
By
A^.
Ar
MACDONELL
OXFORD
PRESS
1927
AT THE CLARENDON
Printed in England
At
the
PREFACE
This work summarizes
in its
which
for
It sets
my studies
slightly
more than
Aryan civilization since it entered India came in contact by sea with the most westerly branch of the same civilization after a separation
easterly branch of
by land
till
it
The
elapsed (1498 to 1926) are here touched upon only as showing the most recent distribution of the Indian vernaculars and
the rise of their literatures, as well as the process
by which
became known to the new-comers from the west. This process was so slow that three centuries passed before the
alien
arrivals recognized
that
inheritors of a civilization
An
account of
modern
India,
have
for
left
it
would
inclusion in this
in
volume.
The Oxford
History of India by the late Dr. Vincent Smith. actual ground covered by the present volume is
The
this.
The next
Then
chapter
tells
of the language^
Aryans
in
India.
follows an account
of the later
vi
Preface
The
fourth
chapter describes the early post-Vedic age, including the Jainism and Buddhism as well as their art. The next chapter deals with the epic and classical literature of The sixth chapter is concerned with Indian stories, India.
fairy tales,
in
and
fables,
world literature.
treats of the
grammar,
medicine,
lexicography,
philosophy,
arts,
astronomy, and mathematics. The next chapter embraces the vernacular languages of India and their literatures.
The
final
chapter shows
gives
by whom
India's
selected
For the
now
so extensive
the
information
supplied
by
this
graphy being
intended to serve
as
an
reader and
the
tract of time
the epoch
from the beginning of the Vedic age down to when the modern European became acquainted
with the
Indo-Aryan.
again
These two
civilizations,
starting
from a
3,000
common
years
last
four
Preface
centuries, representing together a quarter of the total
vii
of
During these four centuries the new-comers from the west have gained acquaintance with and recovered the history of India's past mental developthe earth's inhabitants.
ment.
I trust,
All
this,
ing
by two
which
in
their origin
the same.
A. A.
20
MACDONELL.
Bardwell Road,
Oxford,
Jan.
I,
1927.
CONTENTS
I.
Introduction
.1
Litera-
II.
The Ancient
ture
or Vedic Period
.
.
Hymn
. .
.12
III.
Period:
.
.44
.
Sanskrit
Prakrit
:
^6
59
-57
.
First to Eleventh
. .
Century
.
a. D.
78
^7
Epic Poetry
Lyrical Poetry
Drama
-94 -97
Grammar
Lexicography
Philosophy
.... ....
.
,
ii5
134
-136 -141
145
d.
e.
Legal Literature
.160
.
167
f. g.
h.
i.
Kdmasdstra
Medicine
Astrology
.
-173
-
'^IS
Astronomy
Mathematics
j.
Contents
194
The Recovery
a.
b.
of India's Past
.
Epigraphy
249
263
Numismatics
Index
.....
^15
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1.
Frontispiece
2.
facing page 6
,,
3. 4.
5. 6.
7.
Vasco da Gama Vedic Paper MS. from the Bodleian Library Vedic Birchbark MS. from Kashmir
.
,,
52
,,
8. 9.
:o. Li. [2.
Top Top
54 64 66
67 68
West Gateway, Great Stupa at Sanchi Rock-cut Buddhist Temple at Karli Early rock-cut Buddhist Monastery at Ajanta Votive Stupas from Bodh-Gaya Buddha in teaching attitude, Peshawar Jain Tower of Victory at Chitor, Rajputana White Marble Ceiling of Jain Temple, Mount Abu Hindu Gateway at Vadnagar, Gujarat Monolith Vihara at Mamallapuram (' Seven Pagodas '), Madras Presidency Seven Pagodas Monolith Temples, Madras
.
. .
.
,,
,,
69
70 72
76
77
,,
.,
,,
,,
78
,,
80
81
'
'
Presidency
Raft Tank,
,,
,,82
,,
83 84
85 86
District
,,
,,
at
.
Bhuvanesvar,
.
87 87 88
Indo-Aryan
Hindu Temple
at
Khajuraho,
.
,,
,,
89
xii
27.
List of Illustrations
Devanagari Sanskrit MS. of
'
Bana's
.
.
Harm-
28.
facing page 132 1463 Sir William Jones, Fellow of University College, 240 Oxford
carita, a. d.
.
29.
30. F.
Max
......
.
.
242 242
Miiller,
.
Oxford
,,
248 250
252
34.
Brahml writing Copperplate Inscription in Brahmi Script Slab Memorial Inscribed Engraved and
.
,,
(Virgal)
256
35. Great Stone Wheel on the Temple of Sun at Konarak, near Purl, Orissa
.
the
.
264
MAPS
Orographical Features of India
Rivers of Early Vedic India
.
page
>>
38
i95
213
INTRODUCTION
Physical characteristics of India
Hindtcstdti, continental, shut off by
tijne,
Two
mountain
Early trade of Hindustan Arabian coastifig of Deccan Discovery of maritime route from Europe to India in I4g8 trade Its results Recent archaeological discoveries in the Indus valley
west only
between Mesopotamia
GLANCE
at the physical
map
show that no country forming part of the old continents, in which the civilization of mankind has been evolved, is Rhomboidal in outline so isolated by nature as India.
or roughly diamond-shaped,
it
extends from
^
its
northern
as
its
southernmost
and from the mouths of the Indus in the west to somewhat beyond the estuary of the Brahmaputra in the east, its utmost length, some 1,900 miles, being about equal Its total area, which, excluding to its greatest breadth.
extremity
;
Burma, covers a surface of rather more than one million and a half square miles, is somewhat larger than fifteen
times that of Great Britain.
of Cancer (23 N.
lat.)
It is
and a southern These are separated from west to east across the greater width of the peninsula by the Vindhya and other
into a northern
triangle.
' This is a name of great antiquity, being a corruption of the Sanskrit kuuidr'i, maiden', an epithet of the goddess Durga, to whom a temple was dedicated at the extreme point of the peninsula. It is mentioned in the Periplus, c. 70 A. D., and by Ptolemy, c. 150 A. D.
'
21140
15
Introduction
lie
Abu
The northern
triangle consists
though
still
prehistoric, times
It is
became
raised
above the
level
of the sea.
by mountain ranges on all sides. On the west it is shut off from the neighbouring countries of Asia by high mountains. On the east it is separated from Burma by a series of high
hills
On
the north
it is
bounded
its
by
in
height,
this
peaks
ft.
In
great barrier
some mountain tracks by which men have found Such are the passes from the Pamirs their way to India. by Gilgit, as well as those from Tibet by Leh, by the gorge of the Sutlej, and by Sikkim. But these are not highways by
which migrations or invasions from the north have reached or could reach southwards to India. Nor has the eastern frontier, protected by hills and jungles, ever been exposed to hostile attack. It is only on the western side, though even this is guarded by almost continuous ranges of lofty hills, that from time immemorial immigration, conquest, and commerce made their way before 1500 A. D. by narrow roads into India. Access can here be gained either from southern Balochistan by the rocky track leading to the Indus delta, or from Afghanistan by the Bolan, the Tochi, and the Khaibar passes, as well as by the river valleys of the Gomalj the Kurram, and the Kabul, to the banks of the Indus farther north. Only through the western gateways have passed the two
great invasions that have vitally affected the fortunes of
India.
By
this
way came
in prehistoric
civilization
was perhaps two thousand years or more afterwards that the Semitic conquest by Islam began on the western frontier, about 700 A. D. A considerable part of India was held under this alien despotic sway for more than seven hundred years, down to the middle of the eighteenth century. This dominion, though unifying India politically, did not essentially modify its
It
With the
0^26
B.C.
till
in
by
land.
is
moun-
by
rivers
on every
Two
of the three
Kailasa group of peaks and the Manasarowar lake at the back and about the middle of the Himalayan barrier. The
Indus
in
the
first
half of
its
Himais
layan chain,
it
flows southward
till it
falls into
the Arabian
Sea
Its
whole course
(r.
length.
The Brahmaputra,
rising
Lake Manasarowar
82 E.), after
many hundreds
Himalayan range
Bay
of Bengal somewhat to the south of the tropic of Cancer, almost opposite the mouths of the Indus on the other side of India. Its whole length is about 1,800
miles.
The
Ganges
(in
about
4
{c.
Introduction
80 E.) somewhat to the south-west of the sources of the Indus and the Brahmaputra. Breaking through the southern range of the central Himalaya, it flows in a south-easterly
direction through the eastern half of the alluvial plain of
Hindustan. At Goalanda it joins the Meghna, the largest and most easterly estuary of the Brahmaputra. Between this and the Hugli, the most westerly and main branch of the Ganges, lies the combined delta of the two mighty
rivers.
Parallel to
which shuts
river
the northern
plain,
flows
from
its
source at
Amarkantak
its
Broach^
(thirty miles
from
The
called
country of the Indus', the river on the western side of the country, with which foreigners first became acquainted.
of Hindustan,^ the
The
shut off
area
is
by the Vindhya
of
name
the
whole
which
lies
within
south
of
the
Narbada river. It is a rocky plateau, bounded on both sides by high ridges of hills called Ghats/ which are separated by narrow strips of lowland on the west from the
^
still
'
original Sanskrit
which
is
Bhrgukaccha,
20 B.
C.) as
Bargoze, and in
the Persian equivalent of the Sanskrit si?idhu, the ', and stdn, corresponding to sthdna, 'land'. ' The anglicized form of the vernacular Dakkin or Dakkhan, from the Sanskrit daksina, right hand (country) ', so called because the ancient Indians faced the rising sun in naming the points of the
hi'iidu,
From
river', 'the
Indus
'
compass.
*
From
the vernacular
'
mountain pass
',
then
'
mountain range
'.
Introduction
east from the
Bay
of Bengal.
The
plateau slopes gradually from the western Ghats, which average about 3,000 ft. in height, to the eastern Ghats, which are 1,500 ft. high. Owing to this fact many of the rivers of the Deccan rise near its western edge and all fall
into the eastern sea.
Though
rest of
less exposed to migration and conquest from the Asia than Hindustan, the Deccan did not oppose a
difficult barrier to
Aryan
itself,
as
is
B. C.
But
at a later period
Muhammadan
it
Deccan as
did of Hindustan.
restricted
Contact with the outer world by land has always been More than 500 years before to Hindustan.
its
capital Taxila,
twenty miles
became (from 530 B. c.) and remained part of the neighbouring Persian Empire till the destruction of that empire by Alexander the Great in 331 B. c.
After that conqueror's brief invasion of the Panjab in
326
till
B.
at
Babylon
in
There followed some minor was the foundation of the Muhammadan Empire,
really
about 1200 A. D.
more completely
isolated from
its
mountain barriers, till little more than four centuries ago. While every cape and bay of the Mediterranean and East
I
Africa were
Contact by Sea
known
have remained unknown to them. But the evidence available warrants the belief that maritime commerce between India and Babylon by the Persian Gulf flourished
seem
to
from about 700 to 480 B. C. Specially Indian products were known in the west by rice, peacocks, and sandalwood That they must have been imtheir Tamil designations.
ported from the west coast of India into Babylon by sea is an inference to be drawn from an early Buddhist book,
dating from perhaps 400
B. C.
first
imported not
B.
between Babyloirind India practically ceased after 480 B.C., and because rice and peacocks must have reached Greece
b. C, so as to become familiar Sophocles (495-406 B. C). Corroat Athens in the time of boration of the date of the early trade between Mesopo-
at the latest
by about 460
is
supplied
which was introduced into India and must have similar been in use there not later than about 700 B. C. conclusion is indicated by numismatic evidence the oblong silver coins bearing no legend and known ^s piirdnas, which are the oldest coinage of India and are represented on Buddhist bas-reliefs of the second century B.C., resemble the coins of Babylon of about 500 B. C. and are not im-
When Babylon and Egypt declined, the mercliants of Yemen in South Arabia entered into the commercial inheritance of those two countries, and the greater part of the
among
tribes
of the
h2ast.
Their
Introduction
in
every direction,
was by land and not by sea. With the establishment of Islam, in 622 A. D., the trade of the Arabs spread not only on land over a great part of Asia Minor, the Black Sea region, northern Africa and southwestern Europe, but also acquired control of the harbours of the Arabian Sea and the African coasts, as well as of the maritime route from the Persian Gulf to India and
but their
traffic
China.
Then for known to the nations of Europe by maritime intercourse. The discovery of the ocean route to India by Vasco da Gama, in 149H, brought India not only
to the
down
end of the
fifteenth century A. D.
the
first
within
of
tlie
range^oTvvorTd"
civilization.
Western
Rome
in
being
gradually being
and the attainment of autonomous been more westernized on the surface than any other Asiatic country. This European influence, superficial though it still may be, is bound, in the inevitable march of progress, to modify with
progress
powers.
The
increasing
rapidity
its
indigenous
civilization
in
all
its
and moral.
era the European settlers, whose chief interest was commercial, became acquainted, though in a very im-
In the
new
But
aspects
archaeois
The
result of their
aggregate researches
in
that
modern world.
can
now be
come.
picture of the past, but as a guide for the days that are to
in
326
B.C.,
we have from
man's
about 300
B. c. fairly
activities in
India.
But
B.
what happened on Indian soil. We have had nothing more than prehistoric graves in the south and some Cyclopean walls at Rajagriha in the north to throw uncertain Suddenly there has been light on the remoter past. revealed by the operations of the archaeological survey of India, quite recently, a new class of objects which may
illuminate
much
At
and
origin.
These
finds lie at
two Harappa in
and Larkhana
there are
sixty feet
the
Lahore
district
mounds
rising as
plain,
found
least
2940
in
second century A. D.
Below
two other
strata
containing
the
lo
Introduction
The remains
and
plain,
;
at these
two
sites consist
of pottery painted
;
terracottas
some hand-made, some turned on the wheel new types of coins dice and chessmen a
;
number
the
figures
art
;
different
from anything
Indian
The
may
known being
Iron
is
found only
must have extended over many seems to have come to an end not long before the rise of the Maurya dynasty {320 B.C.). Nothing very definite can yet be said about this newly It may have developed discovered forgotten civilization.
The
centuries, but
in the
on the civilization of India proper. Similarity has already been discovered between plaques found here and tablets found at Susa. This similarity may point to intercourse between Susa and north-western India. It is possible that the people who made these seals were in close contact with Sumerian civilization, and borrowed their artistic style and the elements of their wTiting from the Sumerians at some We must, however, await period about 30C0-2800 E. C.
the results of careful research before being able to decide
what
light,
if
Though
the excavations
began to be made some four years ago, nothing about them was known in England till the appearance of some articles and letters regarding them by Sir John Marshall and others in the last quarter of 1924.
Selected Bibliography
77/1?
:
vol. i, ch. i, Cambridge History of India, Cambridge, 1922 Holdich, India, ch. ii, pp. 37-62; ch. xiv, pp. 319-41. London, 1904 map facing title page. Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. x.xvi, p. 66, map. iv, Oxford, 1909. Bartholomew, Oxford Advanced Atlas, maps Iviii-lxiv. J. Kennedy, The Early Commerce of Babylon with India', fournal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1898, pp. 241-88. Harappa and Mohen-jo-daro Excavations Sir J. Marshall, ////^i'/r(?/^(/
pp. 1-34;
'
London News,
C. J.
Sept. 20,
1924.
Prof.
ibid.,
Sayce,
ibid.,
Sept.
27,
J.
1924.
Discovery,
No.
60,
Dec. 1924.
S.
C.
Dec. 1924.
II
hidians Iniportance of Vedic latiguage aiid literature The four Vedic period Arratigement of the Vedas Three literary strata other Vedas High authenticity of the Rigveda Its relation Rigvedic text Textual safeguards Vedic accent, metre, interpretation Religion of the Rigveda Gods of the Rigveda Hymns Parjanya Itidra Verses to the Maruts and Dawn and Terrestrial deities Abstract gods Prajdpati Deified objects Demons Magical, funeral and didactic hymns Secular data in the Literary merit of the Rigveda The Atharvaveda Some spells translated Hymn Varuna Selected bibliography. of We are able to infer safely from the evidence of the
ifi
Vedic
to
to
to
hyi?i7is
its
to
earliest
in
remote prehistoric
times certain warlike tribes invaded India from the northwest, and, gradually spreading
to the east
and then to
The approximate
century
B. c. as
the
hymns
they had
little
more
closely allied to
illustrated
by such words
as San-
Greek
/j.t]T7]p,
13
mother
Skt.
sfiui'i,
German
than any of the others, the ancient Indian branch has been
of prime importance in the history of philology.
The
found
in
From
the
names of the
rivers
there mentioned
may
bounded on the north by the Himalaya, with a fringe This of settlements to the east and west of these limits. evidence is corroborated by that of the fauna and flora The lion, to whose referred to in the earliest period.
Sutlej,
is
well adapted,
is
familiar,
but the
never mentioned.
in the south-east, is
which
unknown.
The
ancient
and the
tracted.
The
result
have taken an important place both in the history of Indian civilization and in the foundation and development of four branches of Western study. For they are respectively the basis not only of nearly all the vernaculars and of the
indigenous religions of modern India, but have also origi-
of scholarship
several
new
Comparative Philology, Comparative Mythology, Comparative Religion, and Comparative Literature, which between them have made a large contribution to the culture and enlightenment of the world.
book of the ancient period is, for various reasons, the most important work of Indian literature. It
oldest
is
The
European
14
The Ancient or
Ved'ic
Period
on prehistoric phases of language (such as inflexion, accent, and metre), of religion, and of Many of these problems would be civilization in general.
without
its
insoluble
evidence.
The
investigation of
its
Comparative Mythology and Comreligion of Buddhism could by one not knowing this Veda, for is like that of the New Testament
parative Religion.
The Indian
to the Old.
Finally,
it
prayers book, for over 3,000 years, of myriads of Hindus derived from it are uttered by them even at the present day.
',
primarily meaning
and expresses the whole character of the ancient literature, which bears an exclusively even the latest productions of that age, religious stamp though not directly religious, were ancillary to Vedic religion. In the Vedic period three literary strata can be clearly distinguished the first is that of the four Vedas,
scripture
',
period
of Indian
:
which consist of hymns, prayers, and spells addressed to the gods the second, that of the Brahmanas or ritual treatises the third, that of the Upanishads or theosophical works,
;
;
much of the later Indian philosophy. The most ancient of the four Vedas is the Rigveda, 'the Veda of verses (ric), which consists chiefly of lyrics in
the basis of
'
It
may
be called the
'
book
of
psalms
'
most
characteristically.
From
this
Veda
it
the
other three
largely
borrow
their
subject-matter.
portance, for
Soma
sacrifice.
The
verses of the YaJ2irveda are for the most part also derived
Arrangement of
from the Rigvcda
arranged
spells
in the
;
the Oldest
its
Veda
15
contents, consisting
subject-matter being
order in which
it is
is
employed
'
in various
sacrificial rites,
'
characteristically the
Veda
of sacrificial
{yaJNs).
threefold
knowledge to be
it
is
which
of
its
many
of
its
hymns
its
are taken
language and of
differs entirely
was formed
In spirit
from that Veda. For it does not deal with the higher gods, but for the most part with the demon world, being concerned with primitive ideas of
also
it
witchcraft.
It
magical spells
'.
may appropriately be called the 'book of As these two, the AtJiarvaveda and the
than any other sacred
Rigvcda^
literature,
they are of very high value to the student of the of religious ideas. The arrangement of the Rigevolution
veda, unlike that of the Sdvia- and the
Yajur-veda, was
its
simply to preserve
destruction.
in ten
The
1,028
hymns contained
in
The hymns
differing
books
all
rest.
the
It
seems
family
'
books
The Ancient or
Ved'ic
i
Period
it
sembles the
(51-191), because
its
re-
'
internal
its
arrangement.
first
it
The
part of
Book
is
(1-50) resembles
it
in
some ways
is
Book
ix
Soma
hymns, though these were evidently composed by authors of the same families as the hymns of Books ii-vii, as appears It from their having the same characteristic refrains.
evidently did not
the
first
come
till
after
eight books
For it whole. group of hymns addressed to the same deity by extracting all the Soma hymns from the eight books (which retain altogether only three) and then placing this uniform combination at the end of Book viii. Though the Soma hymns in a collected form are thus comparatively late, there is
had already been combined into a was clearly formed into a homogeneous
good reason
Soma hymns as a whole belongs to an early part of the Vedic period, because it deals with a ritual going back
to
Indo-Iranian
times.
The hymns
of the tenth
first
book
nine,
indicated
That by
it is
a collection of
supplementary hymns
to the
is
their being
first
made up
It
those in the
lateness, of
book.
is
which there
The
show
in the
They
more
original
Safeguarding
texts
of the R'lgveda
down, with a remarkably high standard of integrity, from a time hardly later than 1000 B. C. There is good reason to believe that in the period lapsing between the composition of the hymns of the Rigveda and the constitution, by grammatical editors, of the extant phonetic text called Samhitd, a very high level of verbal authenticity was maintained, though some unmistakable corruptions in detail can
be detected.
with the
irregularities in the
way
of
Hence
it
utmost ease, have been retained unmodified. may be said that in the Samhita text the actual
:
words used by the ancient seers remain the same thus siimna would not be substituted for dynimna the changes would only apply to the phonetic forms required by the rules prevailing in the later phase of the Sanskrit language at the time when the sacred text was edited. Thus the old form of the words tuam hi ague would appear as tvam hy But such modernization is only ague, for thou, O Agni partial and not consistently applied. These modern phonetic changes are often in conflict with the metre if read in with the metre the actual words in the form accordance used by the ancient seers would be restored except when there are corruptions due to mistakes of tradition in the earlier period, or to errors arising from grammatical theories
;
'
'.
in the later.
The statements
treatises
was not constituted till after those were completed, but the somewhat later manuals called Aranyakas and Upanishads contain evidence that the Samhita text of the Rigveda came into being before the
post-Vedic
ancillary
literature
concerned
with
is,
arose, that
Vedic about
The Ancient or
Ved'ic
Period
Soon after the constitution of the Samhita text various means were devised to preserve that text intact. These
devices have secured a faithfulness of tradition unparalleled The first, measure of this in any other ancient literature.
new
analysed
in
such a
way
word
and
to
its
form,
to
separate
compounds
Thus tvam hy
and the compound ague here appears as tvam hi ague nsahbJmt. This text, which is of a gramrisarbndh as
;
\
'word-text'.
Though
it
called the
yet contains some analyses Another measure for guarding the text of the Rigvcda with still greater safety was here every word of the the Krmna-pdtJia or step-text PadapdtJia occurs twice, being pronounced both after the preceding and before the following one. Thus a b c d, s^s representing the first four words, would be read as ab, be, cd. There are some still more complex texts of this type, the sole purpose of which was to preserve the sacred book from
it
'
'
loss or
change.
The phonetic
treatises called
Prdtisdkhyas
were also of the nature of safeguards, as they set forth, with examples, the euphonic modifications necessary for turning
the Pada into the Sarnhita text.
Anukrawas compiled for the purpose of safeguarding the Rigveda, by stating the number of the hymns, verses, words, and even syllables contained in the sacred
Lastly, a class of supplementary works called
'
manls, or,
Indexes
',
text.
The
four
of the
an accented form.
Character of
ness, the
V^ed'ic
19
marking of the accent was of great importance. accent was a musical one, dependent on the and it pitch of the voice, hke the ancient Greek accent retained this character till long after the time of the grammarian Panini. But as the Greek, so the Vedic accent was, some time after the beginning of our era, transformed into While, however, in Greek the new stress a stress accent. accent remained on the same syllable as bore the old musical accent, the modern Sanskrit accent has no connexion with the ancient Vedic one, but depends on the quantity of Thus the last the last two or three syllables, as in Latin. or the syllable but one, if long, is stressed, e. g. Kdliddsa third from the end, if long, and followed by a short syllable, This change e. g. brdhmana or Jiinmlaya ('abode of snow '). was brought about by the influence of Prakrit, or vernacular language, in which the stress can be traced to a time long
The Vedic
accent
is
the iid-dtta
of
('
raised
')
The evidence
compara-
Vedic language the same word bears it as that syllable For it is in the same place as did in proto-Aryan. in cognate Greek words, except where a new restrictive law of accentuation interferes, as in heptd, which is idenseven but phcrSmenos, Skt. tical with the Vedic saptd,
tive philology proves that in the
syllable
of a
particular
'
'
bhdj-aindnah.
The hymns
about
ten.
of the Rigveda
are
composed
in
stanzas,
hymn on
The number
composed
in
of metres
is fifteen,
by
number of
is
stanzas are
them.
The
metrical unit
syllables),
not,
two or three
is
but the
'
also called
foot
20
The Ancient or
The rhythm
Ved'ic
Period
is
{pdda)}
more
elastic
than
rhythm of
only the
whole line is metrically regulated, except in one metre. The main metrical principle in the Veda is the number of In Indo-Iranian prosody this must syllables in the line. been the sole principle for the Aves/a, which forms have
;
stanzas containing lines of eight or eleven syllables, ignores In Sanskrit, on the other hand, the quantity altogether.
Thus the
its
appeared in the Vedic period, and extended in Classical Sanskrit to every syllable. The rhythmical end of the Vedic line is called vrtta, turn which corresponds etymologically to the Latin vei'siis.
with
last syllables first
'
',
The metre
of the
line,
is
metrical
but one
in
it
two iambics,
e.g.:
all
To
us,
^ Metaphorically 'quarter', stanzas having, on the analogy of quadrupeds, four feet or lines.
Vedic Interpretation
21
The
tristuhh stanza
is
metre.
It consists of four
ending trochaically ( w
:
v^).
The
following
is
an example
Visitor
yah
nu kavi vTridni prd vocani pdrtJiivdni viniamd rdjdvjsi yd dskabJidyad nttarain sadJidstJiain, vicakra viands tray 'adJiSnigdydh
'11 now proclaim the heroic powers of Vishnu, Of him who measured out the earthly spaces, Who has made firm the upper gathering station
Who
final
The jagatl
rhythm
stanza consists
of the iristiibh
is
of
increased
:
by one
syllable.
Vi vrkscui Jianti titd Jianti raksdso visvam bibJidya bJiuvanain mahavadhdt. ntandgd isate I'fsnidvaio, ydt Parjdjiyah stattdyan Jidnti diiskHah.
The trees he shatters and he strikes the demons down The whole world quakes in terror of his mighty strokes. The very sinless man before the strong one flees,
When
civilization,
posed
them.
in
known
to
commentary to the Rigveda which explains every word of its hymns and which was written in the fourteenth century
22
Tlie
Ancient or
scholar
Ved'ic
Period
by a learned Vedic
named Sayana.
all
As
that
the latter
was con-
But Roth, the founder Sajana often gives several inconsistent explanations of a word in his comment on a single passage, as well as of the same word occurring
according to his interpretations.
of Vedic philology, pointed out that
Even the interpretations of the in different passages. numerous predecessors whom Yaska, the earliest Vedic commentator {c. 500 P.. C), mentions are often conflicting. One of them even asserted that the science of Vedic exposisition was useless, the Vedic hymns being obscure, unmeaning, or mutually contradictory.
that there
Roth,
in fact,
declared
The commentators, he
difficulties,
only preserved
and indeed betrayed a tendency to misinterpret both the language and ideas of a bygone age by the scholastic notions prevailing in their own. Roth consequently rejected the commentators as our chief guides in the interpretation of the Veda, holding that in its more obscure passages it must be self-interpreting. He accordingly proceeded to subject the Rigveda
attempts at solving
by carefully comparing all passages parallel in form and matter, and by paying special regard to context, grammar, and etymology, as well as consulting, though perhaps
to an historical treatment within the range of Sanskrit,
insufficiently, traditional interpretations.
He
also availed
affinities
by comparative
unknown
The
23
down
in
follow Roth's
more
ship.
by native
traditional scholar-
By
method and by
admitting
available evidence,
many
of the obscurities
and difficulties still confronting the interpreter will, there is good reason to hope, ultimately vanish. In the generation that has passed since Roth's labours came to an end, many works and investigations have been published, such as books on anthropology and comparative religion, articles on grammar, metre, textual criticism, ritual, which when worked up as a whole, will contribute to decide numerous
points of detail that are at present
like Prof. VAoovi\'^\.(^'?>
still
obscure.
Rig-veda Repetitions,
\\\\\c\i
ates
will
tion,
something
There are
other
work of interpretation. Considering the accumulation of exegetical material during the last thirty years, the time seems to have arrived for summing up these results in
1
new
ilready
begun
to
be published
in
English
may be said that the religion embodied in the Rigveda more important subject of study for the investigator of the history of religion than the religion of any other ancient sacred book for here we see the development of mythology ind religion from the most primitive to an advanced stage.
a
;
24
and gods coming into being before our very eyes a transition being evolved from the animistic to the polytheistic stage, from that in which natural phenomena are thought to be possessed of a soul like living beings to one in which they are personified, deified, and anthropomorphized as a polytheistic group, which is finally unified in a pantheistic sense.
We
all its
to be touched
by
personification.
is
begun more
advanced, as
in the case
who
are
hands or tongues, though the poet can hardly imagine them apart from the actual phenomena of the solar orb or the actual element whose names they bear. Others, like Indra, as an inheritance from a pre- Vedic period, are completely anthropomorphized, and can only conjecturally be identified with the phenomena that formed
their starting-point.
In later
hymns we
'
find
some
quite
Lord of Creatures
',
Sraddha,
Faith
in
Rigveda embracing
fully
is,
a single
developed
till
The
a polytheistic one,
meant
to
of
Soma
juice
melted butter in the sacrificial fire. Many of the doubt originally arose indepcndentl}^ of the sacrificial
hymns no
ritual
TJie
gods of
tlie
Rigvcda
25
and some of them came only secondarily to be applied to The number of the gods is stated in the Rigvcda to be thirty-three, though there are a few groups that obviously
it.
cannot be included
the following
in this total.
The
Surya,
the Asvins
two horsemen) and Ushas (Dawn), deities of the morning; Indra, Aparn napat, Rudra, Maruts (Storm-gods), Vayu (Wind), Parjanya (Rain), Apas (Waters), gods of the air;
Prithivl (Earth),
terrestrial
Agni
(Fire),
Soma
(draught of immortality),
(Indus),
deities;
and
Sindhu
Vipas
(Beas),
When
form
terms
;
:
in
his rays
Sun are nothing more than and the tongue and limbs of Agni are simply his
of the gods, especially Indra and the Maruts,
;
flames.
Some
appear as warriors
Agni
and Brihaspati.
as a rule
by two
Their food
is
the
same
as the
favourite food of
men
is
god of
Fire,
This food is offered to them in conveyed to them in heaven by the or which they come down in their cars to
sacrificial
enjoy on
they live a
the
ground.
Their
drink
is
the
exhilarating
Soma
juice,
life
of bliss in heaven.
characteristic of the gods
is
power
all
creatures
fulfil
desires.
Another
26
They
are also true and not deceitful, protecting the righteous and punishing the guilty. As the gods are nearly always conceived in connexion with the natural phenomena which they represent, their anthropomorphism is hardly ever complete, and each deity has few distinctive attributes, while
many
common
and
to
them
all.
They
identi-
may
easily
be
Thus a poet addressing the Firegod exclaims: 'Thou at thy birth, O Agni, art Varuna when kindled thou becomest Mitra in thee, O son of
one with another.
;
;
might,
all
shipper.'
hymns
' :
the idea
speak of
(i.
in
it
64)
and poets make into many the bird This idea, however, (i.e. the sun) which is but one' (x. 114). In other late hymns the never ended in monotheism. deities Aditi and Prajapati are identified not only with all the gods, but with nature as well. This germ of pantheism developed in the later Vedic literature of the Upanishads till it reached its final form in the Vedanta philosophy, which has remained the most popular system of the Hindus
and another
'
Priests
present day.
are regarded as immortal, but not as originally
so.
is
human,
for face,
But
is
shadowy.
is
Thus
Vayu, Wind,
it
'.
said
His sound
Hence it is easy to understand that form is never seen the Rigveda contains no mention of images of the gods,
still less
No
reference to
27
to
be found
in
the literature
till
second century
onwards.
:
Goddesses play an insignificant role in the Rigveda the whom more than one or two hymns are addressed is Ushas, Dawn. She is, in fact, the only imonly one to
portant
twenty is celebrated in about most beautiful in the Rigveda. Though Ushas, unlike most other divinities, receives no share of the Soma offering, the thoughts of the Vedic poets love to dwell on the beauties of the dawn, sometimes with
goddess,
for
she
hymns,
which
are
the
by
phenomena
nature of
the
human
The
of
irispibli
reflect
metre
the
imitated,
may
in
perhaps
some of the
beautiful
imagery occurring
This light has come, of all the lights the fairest This brilliant brightness has been born, far-shining
god Savitar's uprising, Night now has yielded up her place to morning.
for
Urged onward
The sisters' pathway is the same, unending Taught by the gods, alternately they tread
it.
Fair-shaped, of form diverse, yet single-minded, Morning and night clash not, nor do they tarry.
Now
us,
In the sky's framework she has gleamed with brightness cast off" the robe of darkness. Rousing the world from sleep, with ruddy horses, Dawn in her well-yoked chariot is arriving.
28
Tlie
Bringing upon it many bounteous blessings, Brightly she shines and spreads her brilliant lustre. Last of innumerable morns departed, First of bright morns to come has Dawn arisen.
Again and again newly born though ancient, Decking her beauty with the self-same colours,
The goddess wastes away the life of mortals, Like wealth diminished by the skilful player.
Gone
Beheld the flushing of the
former ages morning. We living men now look upon her shining Those will be born who shall hereafter see her.
are the mortals
in
who
earlier
The
are
celestial
most frequently invoked among the deities of light. They are the sons of Heaven, eternally young and handsome, at the yoking of whose car Ushas
the
born.
is
The importance
indicated
by
demon
',
of drought
and darkness
called Vritra,
the Obstructor
light.
This
is
mythology of which he
is
the centre.
The
the dragon.
proclaim the manly deeds of Indra, that he performed, the lightning-wielder. He smote the dragon, then discharged the waters, And cleft the caverns of the lofty mountains.
I
will
The
first
Him
Nor
lightning then availed not, nor thunder, mist, nor hailstorm that he spread around him.
When
in battle.
Indra,
Plunged
in the
Vishnu,
Rudra
29
midst of never-ceasing torrents, still, but ever hasten onward, The waters bore ofif Vritra's hidden body: Indra's fierce foe sank down to lasting darkness.
who aided
the invading
Aryans
in
in their conflicts
His combats
'),
desire of cows
equivalent
meaning
to
'
cattle-raid
is
'.
The
following
Both Heaven and Earth themselves bow down before him Before his might the very mountains tremble. Who, known as Soma-drinker, armed with lightning, Is wielder of the bolt he, men, is Indra.
:
deities,
most important of the solar development he became one of the two chief gods of modern Hinduism, Vishnu occupies He is invoked a very subordinate position in the Rigveda. in few hymns, and little is said about him except that he
historically
Though
the
because
in his later
This action
is
which doubtless represents the course of the sun through the three divisions of the universe. Later, in the Brahmanas,
can be traced the development of the
trait
of benevolence,
('
which culminates
to earth
')
in
descents
humanity.
in
For while he
Rigveda^ he later
becomes the other chief god in Hinduism. But while the goodwill of Vishnu is conspicuous, Rudra is the only god whose malevolence is already characteristic, and later becomes even more prominent. The hymns addressed to him
30
mainly express
of his anger.
the regular
'
and deprecation
meaning
Rigveda.
name
',
auspicious
is,
him
in the
of course, not purely malevolent like a demon. besought not only to preserve from calamity, but This is, to bestow welfare and healing on man and beast. euphemistic way of alluding to the injurious no doubt, only a
Rudra For he
is
twenty-one or
brilliant with
lightnings
They gleam
stars
;
terrible
to
quake
the mist abroad the mountains rock and reel, the winds they speed along
:
The Earth
'
Before you, fierce ones, even woods bow down in herself, the very mountains tremble.
fear.
Parjanya, whose
rain-cloud',
name in several passages simply means and whose rudimentary personification is closely
is
charac-
shedder of rain
Like charioteer,
with a whip,
The god makes manifest his messengers of rain. From far away the roaring of the lion sounds.
What
time Parjanya
veils the
firmament with
rain.
31
forth
The
For
plants shoot up
light.
all
When by
the world abundant nourishment is born, Parjanya Earth is fertilized with seed.
The Waters
fice
(Apas),
who
They
are
regarded as
aerial,
not
young
wives,
They
cleanse not only from defilement, but even from moral guilt,
life,
and immortality.
Agni is by far the most important of the terrestrial deities. Next to Indra, he is the most frequently invoked of the
Vedic gods, for about one-fifth of the hymns of the Rigveda are addressed to him. Since the priestly singers were in such close touch with him in his elemental form as the centre of the Vedic ritual, his anthropomorphism is still somewhat undeveloped. His name, too, Agni (Lat. ignis), being the ordinary designation of the element, would naturally retard that process. His bodily parts are clearly connected with the various aspects of fire thus, he is flamehaired and his teeth, jaws, and tongues evidently allude to the action of burning. He rides on a brilliant car, for he
; '
' ;
is
The
by means of
friction.
They
;
who generate him as anew-born From the dry wood the god is born
is
infant hard
living
the
Reference
origin
ning),
often
made
on earth (terrestrial fire), in the atmosphere (lightand in heaven (the sun). This Vedic triad may be
32
the historical
Hindu Trinity of
have suggested
Siva.
may
fire
also
into the three which form an essential feature of the cult of the Brahmanas. As perpetually concerned with the sacrifice, Agni is
priest, just as
Indra
is
the great
feature
more
is
characteristic of
Vedic deity
magic.
As
plant
the
Soma
Soma
next
is
naturally one of
of
its
leading deities.
to
Judged
by the number
in
hymns addressed
him
(120),
importance to Agni.
Since the
Soma
undeveloped, as
the case
of Agni.
He
is
as his original and true home and the myth of his having been brought down from thence by an eagle is frequently
mentioned.
of incantations chanted
while the stalks of the plant are being pounded with stones,
passes through woollen strainers, flows
which it is offered to the gods on the These processes are described with endless variety in obscure and mystical imagery. In a few of the latest hymns of the Rigveda Soma begins to be mystically identified with the moon. In several passages of the AtJiarvavcda Soma actually means the moon. This identification is a commonplace of the Brahmanas, which explain the waning of the moon as the result of the ambrosia of which it consists being consumed by the gods and fathers. In
vats, in
wooden
sacred grass.
33
Soma
is
a regular
name
of the
The
moon. mean-
ing is doubtless to be found in the exaggerated terms with which the poets of the Rigveda describe the celestial nature
Because
beverage,
life
of the
is
mental
exaltation
produced by the
Soma
and
is
is
The
god
The
I
That
The
stirs good thoughts, best banisher of trouble, food round which all deities and mortals, Calling it honey-mead, collect together.
We We
Of
have drunk Soma and become immortal have attained the light the gods discovered. What can hostility now do against us ? And what, immortal god, the spite of mortals?
this
thy
juice, pressed
We
As Soma was
plant and
its
and mythology of the Indo-Iranian period, as there are many points of agreement in these respects between the Rigveda and the Avesta,
The
home
it
240
34
in
the creation of
some seven
the Rigveda.
*
Wrath
'
'.
book of Such are Sraddha, 'Faith', and Manyu, These become commoner in the later Vedas.
the AtJiarvaveda appears
',
Thus,
in
the
personification
Kama, Desire
who
in
to have which were applicable to older deities, but which acquired an independent value as the want of a god exercising the particular activity in question made itself felt. Such is Prajapati, 'Lord of Creatures', originally an epithet of gods like Savitar and Soma, who appears, in a later verse of the last book of the Rigveda, as
Hindu Cupid, the flower-arrowed god of love. Another and more numerous class seems
in
originated
epithets
a distinct deity
in
He
is,
in
the
Atharvaveda and In the manas regularly, recognized as the chief god. Sutras he is identified with Brahma, who becomes his
successor in the post-Vedic age.
A peculiarity
pairs of deities
is
the invocation of
whose names are associated in the form of dual compounds. There are about twenty-four of these pairs in the Rigveda^ as Mitrd- Varnnd, that is, Mitra and Varuna The prototype of this class was probably Dydvdthe universal parents. Priihivl, or ' Heaven and Earth The most numerous Sonie deities appear in groups.
'
'.
',
who have
Another group
are besides
Varuna.
There
some other
Lesser Gods
In addition
divinities
DemonsSpells
gods, a
35
to
the higher
in
appear
the Rigvcda,
these
are
the Ribhus, a
Not only do we
phenomena of nature
Ritual implements,
Weapons
also are
Rigveda.
Among
these,
The higher and more powerful kind fight against the gods in aerial combat. The typical conflict is that between Indra and the demon of drought Vritra, the encompasser of the waters, who is often described as a serpent {ahi). The
'
lower class
men.
They
usually
called
as
About
thirty
hymns
of the
Some
twelve
One of them
Here
are two of
is
addressed to
stanzas
:
its
Resting
Like Brahmins practising a vow, The Frogs have lifted up their voice, Excited by Parjanya's call.
36
TJie
at the mighty Soma offering round the large and brimming vessel talking So throng ye all around the pool to hallow This annual day that, Frogs, begins the rain-time.
As Brahmins
Sit
Hardly a score
matters.
of the
They
are of
from the religious hymns, the earliest thought and social life of India. One of the most important is a long wedding
hymn.
The
following
is
one of
its
stanzas
Free from the evil eye, thy husband hurting not, Kind to our beasts, be friendly, full of energy Bear heroes, love the gods, and live in happiness Bring welfare to our bipeds and our quadrupeds.
;
One
hymns
is
though a few of
good deal of information about the funeral customs of early Vedic India. Here are two of its stanzas
three of the gods.
supplies a
:
Which
Death, along the furthest pathway. thine own, not that by mortals trodden. I speak to thee that hast both sight and hearing Do not our offspring injure nor our heroes.
Depart,
is
:
From the dead hand I take the bow he wielded, To win for us dominion, might and glory.
Thou
there,
we
Will vanquish
all
Four hymns are didactic in character. One of them is a striking poem, in which a gambler laments the ruin brought on him by the irresistible lure of the dice. The following
are three of
its
stanzas
Downward they roll, then swiftly springing upward, They overcome the man with hands, though handless
Gamblers Lament
Riddles
37
Cast on the board like magic bits of charcoal. Though cold themselves, they burn the heart to ashes.
It pains the gambler when he sees a woman, Another's wife, and their well-ordered household. He yokes those brown steeds early in the morning, And when the fire is low sinks down a beggar.
'
Enjoy thy riches, deeming them There are thy cows, there is thy
Gambler
The
hymns
noted.
in
The
hymns
is
expressed
the
form of
One
in couples,
720 sons.
The
its
twelve months
comprising 360 days and 360 nights. Besides what we learn from the comparatively few secular
and thought of those ancient times, give us, as we have seen, a detailed account of the religious beliefs and practices of the But there are also many data inearliest Indo-Aryans. cidentally scattered throughout these hymns, from which other information can be collected about their country and Thus, we can infer with certainty what their manner of life.
life
hymns
was the geographical area inhabited by the Indo-Aryans when the hymns of the Rigveda were composed. Of the twenty-five streams mentioned, only two or three did not belong to the Indus river-system. Their western boundary
if
some
of
its
western tributaries,
Kubha
(Kabul) with
its
affluent the
Suvastu
38
(Swat) and the Gomati (Gomal) are included. On the east they extended to the Yamuna (Jumna), fhe most westerly-
itself
branch of the Gangetic system, though the Gafiga (Ganges) was hardly known. On the north they were bounded by the mountains of the Himalaya, but on the south they
Rivers
of
had not yet spread to the Vindhya hills and the river Narmada (Narbada), which separate Hindustan from the
southern triangle of the Deccan.
The
is
corroborated by
Thus the
lotus,
is
and
rice,
so characteristic of eastern
39
Rtgveda.
The Hon
'
is
The
elephant, as
its
name, the animal with the hand {mrga hastin), indicates, was still a novelty. The Indo- Aryans were still moving eastwards, as conquering invaders, calling the aborigines unbelievers and
'
black-skins
'.
As
of,
they cannot have been nomads. The main occupation of the Aryans was warfare, in which they used chariots, bows and arrows, spears and axes. Their chief source of livelihood was cattle-breeding, but they practised agriculture also. For the eastern Panjab, where they chiefly dwelt, abounds in pastoral and agrarian land. Their food was mainly vegetarian. They ate meat, chiefly
latter are
spoken
beef,
we may pause
:
for a
moment
work,
Is this
by any literary
that regarded
The answer
value
is
is,
from
considerable.
its
As
is
is
to
be expected from
great antiquity,
diction
simpler
hymns
and more natural than that of post-Vedic Sanskrit. Its as a whole are composed with a surprising degree
and command of language. As they were class, and were in general intended to accompany a ritual no longer primitive, their poetry is often impaired by conceits and mysticism, particularly where the two specifically ritual deities Agni and Soma are concerned. Yet the hymns contain much genuine poetry often expressed in beautiful and even noble imagery, as may perhaps be gathered from the few specimens
of metrical skill
produced by a sacerdotal
translated above.
the
Yajur-veda
may
be passed over.
40
The Ancient or
and the
latter as to
Ved'ic
Period
is
more than one-fourth of its contents, derived from the Rigveda, and because both are concerned with the great sacrificial ceremonial. But the Atharvaveda calls for some attention. Its most salient
feature
is
agencies,
sorcery, which is directed mainly against hostile though a good many of its spells are also of an
life,
and luck
at gambling.
and pantheistic matter representing a later stage of thought than the Rigveda does. With its 730 hymns and about 6,coo stanzas, its bulk amounts to not much more than
one-half that of the Rigveda.
A
is,
It seems probable hymns, though some of them must be very old in matter, were not edited till after the Brahmanas of the Rigveda were composed. The hostile charms of the Atharvaveda are largely directed against different diseases, or the demons supposed to cause them. These charms are accompanied by the employment of suitable herbs. Hence the Atharvaveda is the oldest source of Indian medicine. The following is a charm against cough:
Just as the arrow sharpened well Swift to a distance flies away, So even thou, O cough, fly forth Along the broad expanse of earth.
Magical Spells
Another
is
41
meant
to cure leprosy
by the use
of a dark-
coloured plant
Born
Rich-tinted, tinge this leprosy, And stain away its spots of grey
Avoid and pass us by, O curse. Even as a burning fire a pond. Here strike him down that curses
us.
tree.
As
Of
of
life
many aim
at the prolongation
Rise up, O man, from here, and straightway casting Death's fetters from thy feet, depart not downward From life upon this earth be not yet severed, Nor from the sight of Agni and the sunlight.
;
Here
is
As
at all times the lightning-stroke Smites irresistibly the tree So gamesters with the dice would I Beat irresistibly to-day.
The
battle
:
meant
to
secure victory
in
Arise and arm, ye spectral forms, Followed by meteoric flames Ye serpents, spirits of the deep. Demons of night, pursue our foes
;
As birds start back affrighted at the falcon's cry, As, day and night, they tremble at the lion's roar So thou, O drum, resound against our enemies. Scare them away in terror, and confound their aims.
42
a stanza
from a
hymn meant
of
to
command
of desire
:
woman's
affection
by the agency
Kama, god
With longing
Its shaft is
With
Shall
this
Kama
There
is
one
hymn
in
two
spells of
t3'pe,
preceding stanzas
in
an exalted
strain,
emphasize
the
impossibility
of any foe's
This earth
is
all
And
The
Yet
that broad sky whose boundaries are distant. loins of Varuna are these two oceans in this drop of water he is hidden.
He
that would flee afar beyond the heavens, Could not escape King Varuna's attention: His spies come hither, from the sky descending, With all their thousand eyes the earth surveying.
King Varuna discerns all things existent Between the earth and sky, and all beyond them. The winkings of men's eyes by him are counted.
As gamesters
dice, so
Selected Bibliography
43
History of Sanskrit Studies: Benfey, Geschichte der SprachwissenWiudisch, Geschichte der Sanskrii-Philolo^ie, scliafl, Munich, 1869. General in Biihler's E7icyclopaedia of Ifido-A)-yan Research, 1917-20. History of Indian Literature
ture,
Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Litera1900 (especially pp. 438-41). Winternitz, Geschichte der indischen
:
Litteratiir,
Text
i, pp. 47-163. Pischel, Indische Literattir, 1925, pp. 170-223. Aufrecht, Die Hymnen des Rigveda (in Roman characters),
Bonn, 1877.
Macdonell,
H.O.S.,
.(4
l<^\7.
Bloomfield,
A A
Vedic Concordance,
Vedic
Harvard
vols,
Repetitions,
xx
and
xxiv.
Grammar
Vedic
:
Macdonell,
G?-ammar for
Grammar,
in
Biihler's Encyclopaedia,
910.
Dictionary
:
zum
in Biihler's
Breslau, 1902.
1894.
Bergaigne,
La
Philosophy
Deussen, Die Philosophie des Veda, Leipzig, 1894. Subject-matter: Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index, London, 1912. Interpretation
Macdonell, in Bhandarkar
Commemorative
Volujne,
Poona, 191 7.
Oldenberg, Rgveda-Noten, Berlin, 1909-12. Translation: Grassmann, Leipzig, 1876-7. Ludwig, Prag, 1876-88. Griffith, Benares, 1S96-7.
Geldner, Books
1848.
Griffith,
:
i-iv,
Gottingen, 1923.
Sdmaveda
Benfey, Leipzig,
Griffith,
Benares, 1893.
Yajurveda: VS.,
Benares,
:
TS. Keith, Harvard Oriental Series, xviii, xix. Atharvaveda Bloomfield, SBE., Whitney, in Harvard Orietttal Series, vii, viii. xlii. Subject-matter: Bloomfield, The Atharva-veda, in Biihler's
1899.
Encyclopaedia, 1899.
Ill
Cosvitcal The Absolute {brahrna) opposed to sacrificial ceremonial /fundamental doctrine of the Upanishads : tat illusion (mdyd) tva))i asi Rise of the theory of transmigration {samsdra) The
new
religion
Probable date of the Brdhmaitas Rise of vernaculars hitroduction of writiftg Earliest Itidian alphabet Its source Its arj-angeme^tt Vedic texts handed down by
memory Late use of writing explained Age of hidian manuscripts Palm-leaves old Indian writing material Use ofpaper after looo Rise of libraries Three linguistic pej'iods of Indian Selected bibliography.
literattire
and creative period of the Vedas was several of which are attached to the Vedas, but in both form and matter constitute an entirely different type of literature. Written throughout in prose of a clumsy kind, they are notable as representing the earliest Indo-European prosewriting, which is specially valuable in tracing the history
poetical
The
followed
of syntax. the
They are theological treatises analogous to Hebrew Talmud as compared with the Old TestaBeing
expositions
it
ment.
of the
sacrificial
ceremonial,
they explain
minute detail, illustrating its value with numerous myths and speculations on its origin. As the most ancient literature on ritual, they contain
in
much
tion.
interesting
material
Satapatha BrahnianaAranyakas
4-,
system of the four castes which form the basis of the almost
divided.
They
thus shed
much
light
One or more Brahmanas are attached to each Veda. They vary in age, as is shown by their internal linguistic evidence. The most important of them all is that which is attached to the White Yajurveda the Satapatha Brdhmana, or Brahmana of the Hundred Paths It is,next to the Rigveda and \.\xz AtJiarvaveda, the most valuable product of the Vedic age. A later development of the Brahmanas are the Aranyakas
: '
'.
or
'
Forest Treatises
',
which constitute
They form
final
These Upanishads, or esoteric treatises, mark the last stage in the development of the Brahmana literature, being entirely concerned with theosophical speculations on the nature of things. The subject-matter of all the old Upanishads
is
Supreme soul {Atmd or Brahvid). That the Upanishads represent the latest phase of Vedic literature is corroborated by the fact that their language
very closely approximates to the Classical Sanskrit of the
post-Vedic age, which
may
its
per-
of manent form about 500 B. C. the Upanishads are the CJidndogya of the Sdviaveda and the BrJiaddranyaka of the White Yajurveda. About a dozen Upanishads stand out as the best, but there are many others
of less value.
46
Brahmanas on their speculative as contrasted with their ritual side. But they really expound a new religion which to the sacrificial ceremonial and has virtually is opposed represented the philosophic aspect of Hinduism for 2,500 years. They do not aim at securing earthly and afterwards heavenly bliss in the abode of Yama by sacrificing correctly to the gods, but at obtaining deliverance from mundane existence by the absorption of the individual soul in the
world-soul through correct knowledge. Here, therefore, ritual
'
'
'
'.
'
tion',
it
already
universal holiness
'
in the
Upanishads,
nature.
is
signifies the
holy
principle
animating
this
term
a very
Atma
epitome of the evolution of religious thought in India. and Brahma usually appear as synonyms in the Upanishads but strictly speaking Brahma is the cosmical
;
principle
pervading
the
universe,
while
Atma
is
the
Brahma negatively
in
an exhaustive manner, as
is
which space
for the first
is
interwoven
in
it.
Here
time
human thought
expressed.
the
Absolute
47
The
following
:
is
an account of the
Atman from
a metrical
Upanishad
Its
By
form can never be to sight apparent, his eye behold it heart and mind and soul alone they grasp
those
it,
And
who know
it
thus,
become immortal.
Since not by speech and not by thought, Not by the eye can it be reached
:
How
may
The
first
is
an one
in
illusion {vidya),
familiar
the
later
Vedanta
philosophical
of
system,
the
is
later
the oldest.
This
is
phenomena
of
of the thing in
The fundamental
identity
It is
doctrine
the
Upanishads
is
the
expressed
This
that
is
is
the soul,
Svetakctu.'
Upanishads are summed up in that famous formula, That art thou {tat tvam asi). Many metaphors are used to make clear the nature of the pantheistic self. As a lump of salt, Here is one thrown into the water, would dissolve and could not be taken out again, while the water, wherever tasted, would be salt, so is this great being endless, unlimited, simply
' '
:
compacted of cognition.
ness.'
it
no conscious-
This
is
further explained
to
mean
that
when the
48
depending on the
identical with the
knowledge
that
is
world soul was developed the theory of transmigration. In its earliest form it appears in the Satapatha Brdhmana,
is
inflicted in the
It
in
developed
it
in
is
given of
The
knowledge
path of the gods which Brahma. But the householder who has performed sacrifice and good works goes by the path to the moon, where he remains till the of the fathers Then he returns to results of his actions are exhausted. earth, where he is first born as a plant and afterwards as
enters, after death, the
',
leads to absorption in
'
man
This
is
a double
in
retribution
first in
by transmigration
The former
is
Vedic belief regarding the future life, but it continues throughout later Hinduism along with terrestrial transmigration.
must have been firmly established by the time when Buddhism arose {c. 500 B.C.),
of transmigration
for
The theory
Buddha accepted
is
',
'
it
without question.
curious thing,
however,
or
action
karma
new
birth as dependent
on a man's own previous deeds, although he denied the he thus assumed that karma
;
to
another, though
There are indications of a chronological nature that the latest Brahmanas were produced not long before the rise
End
of Buddhism.
49
The
data contained in
the
having grown up
Ganges.
in the
Jumna and the But the Satapatha Brahmana indicates that the Brahmanical system by the time this book was composed had spread to the east of Madhyadesa, the Midland, to Kosala with its capital Ayodhya (Oudh), and to Videha There is some proba(Tirhut) with its capital Mithila. Yajjirveda was edited in this bility that the White
region around the upper courses of the
eastern region.
the
it
of the
Sanskrit
it
Epics arose.
belongs to a late
style
period of the
its
is more lucid, more methodical, and the idea of the unity of the universe is more developed than in any other Brahmana, while its Upanishad, the BrhaddraJiyaka, is the finest outcome of Vedic philosophy. The Vedic period had now reached its final stage, the
Brahmana
age.
For
its
treatment of the
sacrificial ritual
is
Upanishad
theosophic
literature
of
doctrines
into
that
the
post-Vedic
period
developed
of India.
their
the
pantheistic
To the hymn collections of the four Vedas and Brahmanas the expression Veda is alone applicable. These two literary phases combined correspond to what They were the Old Testament was among the Jews. regarded as authoritative, as the ultimate appeal, by all Hindu sects and systems of philosophy. They were after
the close of the Vedic period thought to be revealed, and
'
hearing
'
because the
They
50
Tlie
were believed to have been emitted by the god Brahma and seen (not composed) by the seers of old. During the whole of the Vedic period there was^ apart from the non-Aryan tongues that must have prevailed in the area of India, only one Aryan, the Vedic language, at
'
'
least
as
preserved
in
literary
records.
This
language
is
far as its
phonetic aspect
But
in
grammar
and vocabulary considerable change may be traced between The wealth and variety of nominal and verbal forms tended to diminish and to approach the greater uniformity and regularity of Classical Sanskrit. Not only, however, do the Vedic texts furnish traces of the existence of contemporary vernacular words cognate to the literary language, but the knowledge that Buddha by the end of the Vedic period already used a vernacular dialect in order to be understood by the people, besides the evidence of the Asoka inscriptions from c. 250 B.C., show that popular Aryan dialects must have been developing long before 500 B. C. The hymns of the Vedas composed in the earliest form of Sanskrit were handed down orally for many centuries by families of priestly singers. It was not till towards the end of the Vedic period that writing became known in India. There is no proof of its existence there till the third century B. C. in the reign of the Buddhist king Asoka, who caused religious edicts to be inscribed on rocks and pillars all over the country. Many of these have been discovered, deciphered, and published. Minute palaeographical investigations made towards the end of last century have shown that the script here used is derived from the oldest form of
northern Semitic writing that appears in Phoenician inscriptions
Introduction of Wv'ithig
51
This may have been introduced by traders 890 B. C. perhaps as early as 800 B. C, but its use was doubtless
long limited to commercial requirements such as accounts, and was then employed in the chancelleries for documents of various kinds. But the writing of the third century shows that it must have undergone a long-continued elaboration by grammarians who adapted an alphabet of twentytwo letters to the phonetic needs of Sanskrit which already had forty-four sounds. The right-to-left direction of the Semitic script had been reversed in the Asoka inscriptions.
By
B. C. at
we know from the great Sanskrit grammar of whose work cannot be dated later than the fourth century. Here the vowels come first {a^ i, ?/, &c.), then the
cally, as
Panini,
consonants
palatal, &c.)
in
(guttural,
The same
still
Semitic writing
and which
retains
bctnin,
The Latin name of the list of letters, alphawhich we have adopted, represents the first two
first
two Semitic
beth
letters ateph
ox
a)
and
(hieroglyphic
for
house
b).
more of
all
in
the language.
From
much they may differ at the present day. We do not know when the alphabet first began to be used in India to write down texts. In the wiiole of ancient
(Vedic) literature no evidence can be produced that writing
was known.
b.
C, and
its
sacred
52
The Later
Ved'ic
Period
canon was probably completed by 400 B. C. But though we here find a good deal to prove a knowledge of writing and of its extensive use at that time, there is no mention of manuscripts nor of the reading or copying of
sacred texts.
literature
The explanation
of this
is
that
all
the early
was produced orally and handed down orally. This had been an established custom for centuries from the earliest times. Thus the memories of learned priests were,
instead of libraries, the repositories of literature.
Even
in the
works on grammar and phonetics make no reference to written letters, but only to spoken sounds, and the whole grammatical terminology is concerned with the spoken word only, never with written texts. On the
last centuries E. c.
Hence
it is
Yet
it
seems strange
at first
known
for centuries
The
itself as
necessary.
It
the
who were
writing
them from unauthorized persons by not them down. We are, moreover, continually told in the early literature that whoever wished to learn any
branch of knowledge had to betake himself to a teacher and to acquire it by listening to him and not to do so in any other way. Indeed oral tradition offered a better guarantee for the preservation of the original text than the
repeated copying of manuscripts.
tirely
unchanged
for
3,000 years,
works.
m
ffl^"-'^
f^ TT tr Er
tar
ft-
H5.,S tjv t^ te R^
y/fe
H ^f t^"?^ fe
frc
^ <^
IP
tor is^
ff P^
tg
t5r
&/1f
Age
dating from
a
literary purposes,
in
of Indian Manuscripts
53
many
The
when writing was widely used for have been so much changed that it has cases been critically impossible to restore such
period
Manuscripts of the thirteenth century A. D. are very extremely few have been discovered in India dating from the twelfth and only one from the eleventh century. Outside India older specimens have been found in Nepal, some going back to the tenth century in Japan, others
tion.
rare
sixth and in Central Asia a few have turned up belonging to the fifth century. In Chinese Turkistan wooden tablets with Sanskrit writing, which must be as old as 300 A. D., have been dug out of the sands of the desert. The earliest material used for writing in India was palmleaves and although paper, which is much more convenient, was introduced with the Muhammadan conquest
to the
; ;
A. D.,
on birch-bark
are
still
till
often
employed
first
on
in different parts of
the country, and their use for this purpose can be traced as
far
back as the
century
A. D. in India.
though
rarely,
in early
Copper-plates were occasionally used for this purpose, perhaps from about 100 A. D. Sanskrit dramas have
been found engraved even on rocks. But Sanskrit texts have mostly been written on paper since the Muhammadan
conquest.
The
oldest
in
200 A.
D.
Some
54
The Later
Ved'ic
Period
and the houses
of the wealthy.
skrit poet
The evidence
who
must have possessed a large library. In the eleventh century a famous library was owned by a king named Bhoja of Dhar in the west of India. In the course of centuries large libraries were formed, so that each of the collections at Tanjore, Madras, Poona, Benares, and Calcutta consists at the present time of more than 12,000 manuscripts. In the
Bodleian Library at Oxford, Sanskrit manuscripts have
in
There are also several other 10,000. though considerable collections of Sanskrit manuscripts in the libraries of European capitals. Practically the whole of this vast mass of manuscripts representing Sanskrit literature has been made accessible through catalogues compiled by the directions of librarians in Europe or by the order of the Indian Government, which since 1868 has
smaller,
number of nearly
made
for,
Sanskrit manuscripts.
for the
it
Indian literature
in Sanskrit,
widest sense
many
Indo-Aryan and some Dravidian languages. It may as (i) Ancient Indian, a whole be divided into three periods composed or written in an early form of Sanskrit (2) Medieval Indian, written in Classical Sanskrit and in daughter languages derived from Sanskrit and called
: ;
Prakrit
(3)
Modern
Indian,
written
in
the
languages
era in the
spoken
in India at
At
rise
new
new forms
y ijs;i*^^*<ji^I uv "^''^qg^^y^-^'g^^'^'^jiafir^^'y**^*
"^^ #H~S.v,^'^-?^
'^;
5.
\'EDIC
BIRCHBARK
MS.
FROM KASHMIR
In Sarada script
Selected BibliograpJiy
Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Literature^ pp. 442-3, supplies down to 1S99. Winternitz, Geschichte, i. 163-228;
Keith,
55
full
iii.
bibliography
613-18.
the
Rigveda, H.O.S., xxv, 1920; Eggeling, SB., in SBE. Keith, The Aitareya Aranyaka, ed. and tr., Oxford, 1909. Deussen, Sechzig
Ufianishads,
Leipzig, 1899.
1
tr.,
Leipzig,
1897
Hume, The
Oxford,
Keith,
2 vols.,
the
IV
^.500
B.C.
A. D.
New
sidiary
linguistic
vehicle of the
Classical Sanskrit the litera\ and religious period Six kinds of sutHindus Three classes of Sutras
Vedic treatises
:
{veddiigas)
Yaskd's
Nirukta
grammar
Sanskrit
Contend, {Buddhism and Jainisfn) Pali vehicle of Buddhist canon The Hinaydna docThe Jdtakas The Dha7nmapada of Tipitaka Mahdydna doctrine NdgdrSanskrit Hinaydna works trine
juna
Jainism
founder
Its five vows Jainism emphasizes asceticistn and non-injury to life Non-ca7ionical literature Hemachandra 1 Jain sacred canon Use of Sanskrit in later The Pdrsvdbhyudaya, a biographical poem Selected bibliography. Jain architecture Jaitiism
The new
aspect.
It
in its linguistic and its religious was now that the ancient Indo-Aryan language
reached its final stage, assuming, by the elaboration of grammarians, the form known as Sanskrit, which has remained for more than 2, coo years the unchanging literary
vehicle of the religion of the Hindus.
In
this
earliest
period
of Sanskrit
were composed
the
Sutras,
concise
treatises in which the religion of the Brahmanas, on its ritual side, was systematically condensed with a view to preThey were never serving the ancient sacerdotal literature. regarded as sacred, but were felt to be treatises compiled with the help of oral priestly tradition from the contents of
57
)f
he Brahmanas solely to meet practical needs. The oldest the Sutras seem to go back to about the time when
buddhism arose.
f
f
It
is,
in fact,
the
new
religion
gave the
its
first
This
litera-
ire
has a style of
'
igether {sutra
thread
The
Sutras
may be
divided into
the Srauta
ree classes.
utras,
The
first
of these comprises
sacrificial
aspect of a which are concerned with the They articular school attached to any one of the Vedas. There e, in fact, technical guides to the Vedic sacrifice.
e
ritual treatises.
Another
the
many
More than
One of the most a dozen of this type of Sutra are extant. is the Kausika Sutra which, besides treating of important
the domestic ritual, deals with the magical and medicinal
practices belonging specially to the sphere of the Atliarva-
veda.
An
by these works
is
that of
initiation
(?//>;? <7j'^;/rt),
boys when
Vedic study.
primitive
It is a modification of the very ancient and ceremony of initiation on the attainment of manhood. Other ceremonies of much interest are the wedding and the funeral rites, many elements of which survive in
India
down to the present day. The third and last class of Sutras
and
They
deal fully
with the religious, but only briefly and partially with the
58
Among
The
marriage.
oldest, the
in
law-book of Gautama,
is
com-
posed entirely
treatises
prose aphorisms.
Among
these legal
forming the basis of the famous later and metrical law-book, the Code of Mann.
extant
According
limbs
of the
Veda
',
grammar, etymology, metre, and astronomy. They all aim at explaining, preserving, or practically applying the sacred texts. Of the greatest interest in these groups are the linguistic works which deal with phonetics, derivation, and grammar for in these subjects the Indians arrived at more important results than any other nation of antiquity. One of the most important books produced in this period is the Niriikta of Yaska, which besides being of great value from the point of view of exegesis and grammar, is highly interesting as the earliest specimen of Sanskrit prose of the classical type, which is somewhat anterior to the date of It should undoubtedly be attributed to the Panini himself.
phonetics,
;
The
great
grammar
of
than the
fifth
century
B. c.
but
it
must be regarded
it
Regarded
an
infallible
authority, Panini
cessors, all of
whom
is
To
the Sutras
Sanskrit
and Prakrit
59
which give
of the
hymns quoted by
and of their authors, metres, and deities, in the order in which these hymns occur in the various Sarnhitas. One of these indexes supplies the number of stanzas, words, and
syllables contained in the Rigveda.
By
language reached
negative character,
final
development.
This was of a
of the
by
loss
of grammatical forms.
periphrastic forms, of
Any
indications
ment of
compound and
adverbial, in
But a fixed grammatical standard was not attained till the appearance of Panini's work, which completely arrested the
Henceforward
it
remained
Brahmin
religion.
this period,
of Buddhism and While Sanskrit remained the language of orthodoxy, Prakrit became that of heterodoxy in the two new religions of Jainism and Buddhism, which arose much about the same time and at The relation of the beginning of this period {c. 500 B. C).
Sanskrit, as
the vehicle
of Prakrit.
this
conjunct consonants
consonants,
as
in
sutta,
sfiira,
The
oldest
form of Prakrit
is
Pali.
6o
canon of Buddhism, in its oldest form, has been handed down. This Pali canon, though composed in the north of India, has been preserved only in Ceylon, Burma, and Siam. It contains the doctrine of the older school, called Hinaydna, the lesser vehicle the chief aim of which is to obtain Nirvana (' extinction ') or release of the individual from suffering. No work of Buddhist literature goes back to Buddha's time, but much contained in the canon, such as the famous sermon of Benares, may preserve the actual words spoken by Buddha. Almost the whole of the earliest Buddhist literature consists of short collections in the form of speeches, poems, tales, rules of conduct, gathered
'
',
baskets
',
This canon,
first
C.
during
Asoka in India, was fixed in the first century B. c. in Ceylon. The Tipitaka has, on the whole, since then been handed down with great care but it must have undergone some modifications, for several
the reign of the Buddhist king
;
contradictions which
it
accounted
for.
The main
baskets
'
The The
first is
life
2.
second,
of five
collections
his
of lecearliest
tures,
describes the
of
Buddha and
disciples.
One of its topics deals with a large number of Brahmin occupations from which the Buddhist monk should refrain. It also treats of the relations of Brahmanism and Buddhism, contrasting the cult of the followers of the three Vedas with Buddhist ideals. It, moreover, describes the
'complete nirvana' {parinibbdJta), which
is
a continuous
6i
Buddha
to the Jains.
The
',
fifth
is
section in this
Pitaka,
'
contains
the most
One
of the
works
all
in
it
is
creatures
in this
',
is
Another
of reis
work
ligion
Pitaka, the
Dhamma-pada,
or
'
Words
most famous product of Buddhist literature. The Itivuttaka (the book of Thus he hath spoken '), which is composed in prose and verse, is a collection of the sayings of Buddha. The TJiei-a-gathd and the TJierl-gdtJid^ or Songs of monks and nuns are fine poems exalting mental calm as the religious ideal of Buddhism. One of the most interesting books here is the jfdtaka^
the
' '
',
a collection of about 550 stories of former existences of Buddha in the character of a future saviour.
3.
'
The
third Pitaka
',
is
higher
religion
dealing
in a
more
composed mostly
in the
resembles a catechism.
was entirely comBut the non-canonical literature was produced by Buddhist monks in Ceylon the only important
Pali canon, apart from additions,
The
posed
in India.
'
Questions of
in
Menander
western
'.
north-
India.
dialogue
represented
the
as
taking
Greek
king
Menander who
in
the
first
over the
62
The
Indus territory, Gujarat, and the valley of the Ganges. original part of this work was probably written about
Pali
Buddhism
'
Hlna-
ydna, or
Little Vehicle
There was
also
Sanskrit
canon which followed this doctrine, but only fragmentary parts of three books, one of which is the DJiarma-pada, have
as yet been discovered.
is
work representing
of Great Events
this doctrine
'.
the Mahavastii or
is
'
Book
Its chief
content
a miraculous biography of
It is
Buddha
written in
'mixed Sanskrit'.
many
old
versions of texts
'
and a section of Dhainma-pada. Many of the Jatakas are also found in it. the Some traces appear in this work of its having been influenced by the MaJidydna doctrines. The nucleus of the book probably dates from the second century B. C, though it contains some much later additions. There are several other Buddhist Hinayana works in Sanskrit, which, though not coming within the limits of this period, may most conveniently be mentioned here. The Lalita-vistara, a biography of Buddha, is a concanon, such as the
of Benares
Sermon
what is called mixed Sanskrit As its original part was extended in a Mahdydna sense, it contains both old and new elements. It is thus of interest as presenting the development of the Buddha legend from
metrical pieces in
'
'.
its earliest
Buddha
is
as a
god above
gods.
or 'Life of Buddha',
The Buddha-carita,
IOC A. D.
doctrine.
It
an epic
in
Later Buddhist
the Jdtaka-mdld.
Works
It
in Sanskrit
63
nearly
all
Jdtaka book.
it
Written
in a
conforms
in
Cognate with these works are several collections called Avaddnas, stories of great deeds ', which are practically One of these is the Avaddna-sataka, or Jatakas. 'Century of great deeds' which probably dates from the second century A. D. and contains pieces from the Sanskrit canon. Another is the Divydvaddna^ or Heavenly stories
' '
of great deeds
'.
common
with the
The
to the
new
school of the
Mahdydna
who
race.
or
'
Great Vehicle
',
the condition of a
brings
Nirvana within
human
is
'.
the
It
'
Saddliarma-pundarika,
is
written in Sanskrit
'.
form
it
no longer a man, who in the Pali but a god above all gods, who has lived for countless ages and will live for ever in the future as well. His doctrine is
that every
torious
man
is
Hindu
Puranas,
looks
Avalokitesvara,
infinite
'
the Bodhisattva
all
who
down Buddhahood
with
till
pity
on
beings,
refusing
all
are saved.
The yearning
for salvation
64
His cult
is
known
to
The Mahayana doctrine was systematized by Nagarjuna, once a Brahmin, who flourished about 200 A. D. Mahayana
texts were translated into Chinese in the third century A.
D.,
art,
which
illustrates the
into being about the beginning of Asanga, the son of a Brahmin from Peshawar, who flourished about 300 to 350 A. D., introduced the
Mahayana
doctrine,
came
our era.
practice of
Yoga into the Mahayana doctrine. From about 600 A. D. Buddhism began to decay
is
in India,
shown by the approximation of its later literature to that of the Hindu Puranas. Not only are Hindu deities such as Vishnu and Siva, SarasvatI and MahadevI introas
spells,
which
at
first
containing
The
last
Buddhism composed
is
in
knowledge of nothingness yoga are a mixture of mysticism, sorcery, and erotics, accompanied by disgusting orgies. These Tantras have no longer any connexion with Buddhism beyond being described as promulgated They do not differ from the Saivite Tantras, by Buddha for they inculcate the worship of the li/iga and of Saivite
which aims
at the
highest
'
'.
practice of this
'
'.
many
cult.
Buddhism,
period of
In the
first
Buddhism, when the Hlnaydna doctrine prevailed, the earliest architectural and plastic religious art of India arose.
<
i H O
z
o
'S
o
CO
'<
H < H
C/3
H <3 W
65
The
reign of
Asoka (272-231
south,
is
Stone then
ments.
began
to
be used
in
structural
monu-
The earliest of these were stupas or hemispherical burialmounds, commemorative of Buddha, and enclosing relics of The best preserved and one of the the founder of the faith.
oldest surviving stupas
is
The
hemisphere
is
consist
of stone,
imitations of
wooden
On
the
top of the
surmounted by an umbrella, the Indian emblem of sovereignty and symbolical This crowning feature, of Buddha's princely descent. usually called a 'tee', has disappeared from all the structural Indian stupas^ but its form can be seen in the sculptural representations of it in the interior or on the facade of rockcut temples or on the surrounding rail of structural stupas. The stupa has had an interesting development in later Indian and Chinese architecture; and its gateway {torana) was introduced with Buddhism into other Asiatic countries from India. Another class of Buddhist architecture was the cJiaitya or assembly hall, the exact counterpart of the Christian
Church, not only
in
dome was
known
in India.
The
typical
The
pillars
Under the
It
latter
and
is
object
of
adoration
by
circumambulation.
occupies
nearly the
2940
same
66
church.
The
excavation
rock-cut
to
assembly
halls
250
B. C.
600 A. D.
the form of vihdras or
for
Buddhist monks.
Ajanta,
hall,
Nearly
Nasik, and
of a
surrounding
sleeping cubicles.
The
About
forty
Down
which there was no worship of Buddha, and no figure of him appeared in sculptural art. Reverence at that time was paid to relics, stupas, bo-trees,^ footprints of Buddha,
and sacred symbols such as the trident {trisul) and the wheel of the law {cakrd). These are constantly represented as adored by men and even animals in the sculptures of the period at Bharhut, SanchI, Bodh Gaya, and in the assembly But no figure of Buddha halls and monasteries of the West.
sculptured in India can be dated earlier than about 100 A. D.
It
was, then,
in
second period of
Buddhist religious
that statues of
Buddha appeared in the ancient province of Gandhara,the modern Yusufzai country and the neighbouring Here was created the valleys of the Kabul and the Swat. conventional type of Buddha, a seated cross-legged figure
adorned with a halo.
^
From
this centre
it
spread to other
ir-
J-".'-.
u
i<
H < <
1^
H
C/5
H w a
o H
30
Rise of Jainism
world.
67
parts of India, and was finally diffused all over the Buddhist
(the sixth) as Buddhism, but somewas established the religious system of Equally an offshoot of Brahmanism, it was, as Jainism. denying the authority of the Veda, similarly regarded by the Brahmins as heretical. It is, like Buddhism, a monastic and pessimistic religion. It looks upon life in the world, perpetuated by the transmigration of the soul, as an evil and it aims at gaining liberation that puts an end to the cycle Like of births, by the attainment of right knowledge. Buddhism and the Hindu Sahkhya system, Jainism is atheistic, denying the existence of an absolute supreme
In the
same century
what
earlier,
god.
As both
one time held by scholars that the latter. But the erroneousness of this theory has since been proved for the canonical Buddhist books often mention the Jains as a rival sect,
resemblances,
it
was
at
naming the same where Mahavira, the founder of It has been shown that Mahavira was a Jainism, died. He may have slightly older contemporary of Buddha.
besides agreeing with Jain tradition in
as
place
the
locality
been only the reformer of a sect originated by a predecessor named Parsva. But there is no documentary evidence
proving that the latter was an historical person.
The account
the Jains
It
is this.
of Mahavlra's
life in
may be
regarded as having an historical foundation. Belonging to the military clan called Jiiata, he
was born near the town of Vaisall, 27 miles north of Patna. His parents having died when he was thirty, he became a monk, and entered upon a course of self-mortification lasting twelve years, when he reached the state of omniscience
68
{kaivalya,
equivalent to the
Buddhist bodhi or
'enlightenment').
{c.
At
the
age of seventy-two
he died
480 B. C.) Both Mahavira and the preceding twenty-three mythical patriarchs {tlrtJia-karas) of Jainism came to be adored as gods {dcvas) and to have erected to them temples in which Mention is already made in their idols were worshipped. some of the canonical books of this worship, which was fully
at Pava.
developed
Jainism
in in
the
the
first
first
('
two sects called and the Digambaras (' skyclad ') who went about stark naked till the Muhammadans compelled them to wear a minimum of clothing. The texts of the Jain religion are composed in a dry didactic style. As they contain little of general human interest, they
century A.
D., split into
the Svetambaras
white-robed
'),
need only be briefly described here. The Jains designate their complete sacred books by the terms SiddJidnta or Agavia. They call the first and most important part of
(' members of their religion). by Devarddhigani in 454 A.D., having till then been handed down by oral tradition. The language in which it is composed the Jains call and is that in which Ardha-mdgadhl (' half-magadhi Mahavira is said to have preached. But as the texts show
their
'
')
transmission,
it is
language
best
is
that of
be called
Jain Maharastrl.
The
its
Mahavira, while
later
69
eternal, but
those
duced by combinations of atoms. Souls are of two kinds which are subject to mundane transmigration {sainsdriii) and those which are liberated {imikta). The
latter will
be embodied no more
affairs,
they dwell
;
in a state of
perfection at the
being no more
are
The
eternal.
whole world
is filled
different
from matter but being substances they are also Subtle matter coming into contact with a soul
:
embodiment being then transformed into eight karma and thus forming as it were a subtle body, it clings to the soul in all its migrations. The theory of karma is the keystone of the Jain system. The highest goal consists in getting rid of all karma derived from past existences, and acquiring no new karma. One of the chief means to this end is the performance of asceticism [tapas). The Jain system differs from Buddhism in emphasizing asceticism to a much greater extent, even to the point of religious
causes
its
kinds of
suicide
and
in
life
of
any
in
He
is
Buddhists.
(2)
These
five consist
of abstention from
and (5) all attachment to worldly things, especially the owning of any possessions. Laymen were also to observe these vows, but
lying, (3) stealing, (4) sexual intercourse,
lives.
animate beings,
for otherwise
70
gone about
in
Laymen
thus
were, in
fact,
more
early
Buddhism.
Jainism
avoided fundamental
than 2,000 years, while Buddhism underwent great transformations and disappeared from the land of
last
its origin, its
1200 A.D.
Asceticism
Jainism, for
is
in
new
are of two
is
It
One
of
its
forms
is
form of external
with
or
common
Buddhism
secluded
spiritual
and Brahmanism
exercises the
is
the
practice
of Yoga,
Of all
most important is contemplation {dhydna), or the concentration of the mind on a single object. Here there are four stages, in the last of which karma is annihilated. The soul then leaves the body and becomes liberated for ever. Nirvana^ however, cannot be attained
unless
it is
At the present day (1926) the Jain population of India The smallness of this number is amounts to 1,178,000. to be accounted for by the fact that Jainism is a religion of the upper classes, being no doubt too rigorous for the illiterate masses. But it is important in India owing to the wealth and education of its adherents. Their distinctive peculiarity of abstention from hurting any living thing excludes them from some professions, such as agriculture, and has forced them into commerce, especially money-
< o a Q o
o
ininrfiiiip
The Canon of
lending.
the
Jains
71
This explains both their wealth and their unof their sacred books, or their canon, the
popularity.
The aggregate
Agama
is
as yet
known
to us.
works, a dozen of which are called Sutras. The parts of the canon composed in verse are more archaic than the prose
portions.
fifth
in
century (454 A.D.) there was held Gujarat for the purpose of collecting
texts.
Though
the age of
comparatively
late,
and
A. D.,
much
earlier
date,
ment with
tradition.
it,
in
many remarkable
Buddhist
very well
The
may
go back to the time of the first disciples of Mahavira, or at any rate to the council of Pataliputra, which was held according to tradition under the Maurya king Chandragupta at the end of the fourth century B. C, while the latest elements may be nearly as recent as the Council of
Vallabhi.
much greater stress is laid on the and on rigorous asceticism, in the practice of which even religious suicide is recommended.
principle
of ahiinsd
One
is
the chief
nuns.
work supplying
monks and
72
The
is
the
a
Uttarajjhayana
religious
Sanskrit
is
Uttaradhydyana)
sutra,
one of the most valuable constituents Its oldest parts consist of a series of maxims, of the canon. parables, dialogues, and ballads of an ascetic type, which have parallels in Buddhist literature. It contains some fine epic dialogues and ballads, in which the ascetic ideal of the Jains is contrasted with that of the two highest castes (the Brahmin and the warrior) of Hinduism,
poem, which
The
immense number of commentaries, and partly ethics, and monastic of extensive body of poetical narradiscipline, besides a very Between these two groups are didactic poems, legends tive.
partly of an
of saints,
in
and works on
ecclesiastical history.
is
The language
Prakrit
which
this literature
written
is
partly the
and partly Sanskrit. The chief value of the commentaries is that they preserve
old historical or semi-historical traditions, besides a
many
This
Buddhist Jdtakas
reappearing
in
and
contains
common
is
commentary, con600 verses, attributed to Bhadrabahu. The most important, however, of the commentaries are those of SantisiJri and Devendragani, the former of whom died in 1040 A. D. The Jains adopted a good deal of
Particularly rich in stories
sisting
the oldest
of nearly
literature,
such as the
12.
BUDDHA
IN TP:ACHING ATTITUDE,
(see p. 66)
PESHAWAR
Stories
and Biographies
made
73
collections of stories, in
were inserted one within the other and set in a general narrative framework, after the favourite Indian rich fund of tales is the Kathd-kosa^ or Treasury fashion. written in bad Sanskrit, with verses in Prakrit. of Stories
which the
tales
A
',
'
The well-known Mahdbhdrata episode of Nala and Damayantl is one of the tales here introduced in a modified form.
caritras
poems meant for edification are the and prabandJias. The former are biographies of ancient rulers and saints, while the latter are tales of monks and laymen of historical times. The monk Hemachandra was one of the most many-sided and prolific authors among the Jains, noted both as scholar and poet. He also composed works on such secular subjects as grammar, lexicography, poetics, and prosody. Born in 1089, he made Gujarat the chief seat of Jainism. His largest work was enspecial type of
titled Trisasti-saldkd-purnsa-carita, 'Life of the sixty-three
best
men
'.
Much more
is
'
of literary history
Parisista-parvan, or
in
Supplementary Section the stories which are evidently derived from a popular source. Hemachandra translated them from Prakrit into Sanskrit. A work of considerable importance for the textual criticism of one of the most famous poems of Sanskrit
literature
is
poem
Megha-
by
way
as to
each stanza,
which he completes in his own words. The Jains also competed with the poets of other sects in There are many such, the composition of religious lyrics.
74
called
stotras^
'hymns of
praise',
written
in
either
The
oldest
known poem
kind
is
the
Uvasagga-harastotra, a
hymn
A very old
didactic
540 Prakrit stanzas, intended to supply moral instruction for monks and laymen, is the Uvaesa-mdld by Dharmadasa. The number of commentaries written on it, two of them dating from as early as the ninth century,
in
poem
One
Jainas
poems of the
It consists
the Yoga-sdstra of
Hemachandra.
of
of the Kavyas.
The
sketch
of
the
Jaina
doctrine,
while
the
commentary
is
The
as
is
doctrine of ahiinsd
strongly emphasized.
Women,
'
They
are,
example, described as
hell,
of
the root of
'.
all
miseries,
discord
Many
human
for instance: 'Fortune is fluctuating like the waves of the sea the meeting of friends is like a dream youth is like a blade of grass, whirled up by every gust of
;
;
wind.'
The number
is
very great.
One
is
on philosophy
half of the
known
as an important
in
the second
ninth
He
wrote the
Saddarsana-
13-
JAIX
roWI^K
()|.-
\-I(T()KV
AT (TIITOK,
K.\
ITIAN.
14-
:\IOUNT
ABU
75
Among
these he includes
doctrine
of
Charvaka
(p. 158).
At
Digambara
to
first,
and
began
it
make
use of
own
thus
They
also applied
in
dealing with
They
Sanskrit
which gained the approbation of their religious opponents. They also exercised an influence on the development of
the languages of the south, in the literary cultivation of
The
the history
and
The
its
own, which was, however, evolved from the latter as its main source. Though Jainism as a religion was somewhat
older than Buddhism,
its
art as a
later.
examples of it have, indeed, survived, but it in its main features till about 900 A. D. Its two leading types are simply modifications of the Dravidian and the Indo- Aryan styles of Hindu temple
{q.v^
earlier
architecture.
It is therefore
out
its
most
in
distinctive features.
One
of these, especially
developed
lineal
They
are the
ing emblems or animal figures. These Jain pillars are nowhere so frequent or so elaborately carved as in the south. A variation of the free-standinij columns are the
76
commemorative towers
found
in the north.
be
One
of these
is
a 'tower of fame' at
Chitor in Rajputana, dating from about 900 A.D. Another tower of this kind at the same place was finished in the
It is
122
feet
Like the column of Trajan at Rome it is a pillar of victory but in the words of Fergusson, the leading authority on Indian architecture, it is of infinitely better taste as an
',
'
architectural object'.
The most
north
is
temple of the
cell
containing
Buddha. This porch consists of a circular dome group of eight pillars, every adjacent pair of which forms an arch by means of a connecting strut rising from a lower capital constructed some way below the top
figure of
resting on a
of the pillar.
The
is
closed
The
slabs
But the
came
to be cut as segments of
circle,
masonry
great
is
till
The
arch
advantage
the horizontally
constructed
the
absence of a lateral thrust from which classical and Gothic buildings using the radiating arch suffer. Hence more
slender and elegant pillars are possible in Indian architecture.
Another
result
in
much
is
found
The ornaments
of the
dome
Jam
^j^
This allows
good
taste,
Roman and Gothic more variety without any lack of and has rendered some of the Jain domes more
far
anywhere
else.
The appearance of the Jain arch can be seen in the illustration of the dome on the opposite page. The next illustration (facing p. 78) shows a free-standing
archway
arches
is
at
Vadnagar constructed
in this style.
It is
to be
a feature
common
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Macdonell, History, ch. ix (Sutras), pp. 244-76 and 443-5 (bibliography down to 1899). Winternitz, 6^^j-f/V///^, i. 229-46; ill. 618-22
(bibliography
Winternitz,
down
ibid.,
to 1922).
ii.
1-228
iii.
635-9.
Burgess, Buddhist
Art
itt
India
(tr.
of
Griinwedel,
Handbuch),
London, 1901. Biihler, Uber die indische Secteder Jainas, tr. by J. Burgess, London, 1903. ]^zo\n, Jainism,\n Hastings's Eticyclopaedia, 1914. Margaret Stevenson, The Heart of Jainism, Oxford, 1915. Winternitz, Die heiiigen Texte der Jainas, in his Geschiclite, ii. 289-356. Translations of some of the principal Jain texts, Jacobi in SBE., xxii and xlv. Cp. Vincent Smith, A History of Fine A7t i}i India and Ceylon (Index, S.V.Jain), Oxford, 1911 2nd ed., 1926.
;
V
THE LATER SANSKRIT PERIOD: EPIC AND CLASSICAL LITERATURE
FIRST TO ELEVENTH
burning and child-marriage
art
CENTURY
now
a.d.
stereotyped
Widow-
Sanskrit
language
and Kdvya Mahdbhdrata and Rdmdyana KdliThe Lyrical poetry ddsds two court epics Bhdravi Mdgha MeghadUta The Drama: its origin and characteristics Probably an established institution by 200 A.D. The lost plays of Bhdsa Thirteen plays recently published in Malabar attributed to him The evidence Relation ofSudraka^ for this ifisufficient Kdliddsa's three dramas Mrcchakatikd to the Cdrudatta Sr'iharsa^s three plays BhavabhutPx plays Bhatta-Jidrdyatia^s Venisatnhdra Visdkhadattd's Mudrdrdksasa Rdjasekharcc's mastery of both Sanskrit and Prakrit Hanuman-ndtaka The allegorical play Prabodha-candrodaya Modern dramas Selected bibliography.
Rise of religions Two types of architecture : Indo-Aryan Their origin The innovation in sculpture of manyEpic poetry artned images ofgods Explanation ofthis abnormity
Dravidian and
Two types
Jtihdsa
pre-
in
form that has held the Hindus in its grip down to the present day. There are also two other social institutions which developed during this period in India. The first, a custom dating from prehistoric times, which having hardly survived in the Vedic Age except in a symbolic funeral rite,
15.
79
such an have become universal, and would still be prevailing in India had it not been suppressed by the British Government in 1829. This
clear, to
extent that
to
virtuous
woman
')
in
effects of
growth
which was undoubtedly due to the increasing difficulty of securing suitable husbands belonging to the same caste
as the daughter,
is
down
to this
day a
characteristic of
Hindu
in
civiHzation.
Bengal was about twelve and a half under twenty for men.
and rather
remained had been stereotyped by the grammar of Panini, as we have seen, But though at least as early as the fourth century B.C. the growth of grammatical forms was thus arrested, the
literary
The
language of
the
the
same
as
in
be prevented from
being modified.
appHes to
prose
style.
relatively
Brahmanas, Sanskrit literature, in which prose is rare, shows no progress in this later period, for it is still crude and clumsy. Its style, however, betrays some change. For it is much more artificial in consequence of the frequent use of long compounds and of the elaborate rules of poetics to which it is subjected. The bulk of Sanskrit literature, which is now poetry, especially the epics, is written in the Sloka metre, consisting of iambicaliy-ending couplets of two lines of sixteen syllables. The other metres used, though mostly based on Vedic prototypes, are much more rigid in their construction.
of the
8o
literature
is
Though
secular,
it
is
almost
entirely-
We
The
deities of the
Veda
though Indra
is still
prominent
come
into being
Ganesa and Karttikeya, sons of Siva, respectively god of Lakshml, goddess of beauty and learning and of war besides of fortune Durga, the terrible spouse of Siva various serpent deities. While the outlook of the Vedas is joyous and optimistic, that of Sanskrit literature is tinged with melancholy and pessimism, which no doubt resulted from the now universally accepted doctrine of transmigration and karma. To this is most probably due the elaboration of Vishnu's Avatars, which in several cases appear in an animal form to save mankind from calamity. This main phase of Indian religion, usually called Hin;
itself in
signs of decay.
were the
faith.
first
their religion
It is
we
find the
earliest representations of
Hindu deities, such as Indra and Lakshml, from the second century B.C. onwards. The most
ancient remains of independent
tectural or sculptural, date only
Hindu
l().
.\l(J.\()I.riH
\I11.\K.\
('
SEVEN PACiODAS
'),
Rise of
Hindu
Religious
Art
8i
These considerations
justify the
presumption that Hindu religious art is derived from that Such a presumption is borne out by the of the Buddhists.
fact that the earhest
extant Hindu temples are practically form with the latest Buddhist specimens, differing from them only in having the image of a Hindu deity, instead of one of Buddha, placed in the shrine. Again,
identical in
in
Ellora are
Buddhist specimens at that place. Though the whole is covered with Hindu temples, the vast are modern or comparatively modern. The oldest majority
latest
surface of India
examples of Hindu architecture date from the sixth century A. D., and the best of them belong to the period between then and the thirteenth A.D. An historical study
of
these
monuments
styles,
enables
us
to
distinguish
clearly
between two
The geographical
for
distribution of these
two types
style
is
or Dravidian found only within the tropics, or south of the twenty-third degree of northern latitude. The northern or
is
interesting,
the southern
on the other hand, appears practically Historical study, moreover, shows only north of that line. that the Hindu temples of both styles are developments of Buddhist prototypes. But the remarkable thing is that they are respectively the descendants of two entirely distinct classes of Buddhist building. For it can be shown that the Hindu Dravidian temple has been evolved from the Buddhist monastery {vihdra), while the Indo-Aryan type has been derived from the Buddhist stupa.
Indo-Aryan
style,
82
Tlie
a.
The
earliest
representative
a monolith
temple at Mahabalipur, one of the seven Pagodas situated near the seashore, '3^^ miles south of Madras.
It is
hewn out
It is clearly
Brahmanic
its
in origin, as
is
shown
a
by
is
its
sculptures as well as
inscriptions.
stories.
It is also
The
the
short
plan
representing
upper
monks.
way
off
is
The design
the
cell
a square
rises
the
The
tower
is
circular or
octagonal in shape.
An
is
A monolith
The
in
later
a large
by an enclosing
is
wall.
A
has
it
gateway
is
in
but
it is
The
is
the temple
^D.
The body
consists of
two
TJie
stories
in
Indo-Aryan Style
feet.
is
83
about 80
feet high,
To
attached a
in
Such sacred tanks not within the temple area are frequent southern India. These are called teppa kulam or raft tanks, across which at certain festivals the image of the god
taken on a
raft to
is
Halebid,
left
unfinished
in
1270 A. D., is one of the most remarkable monuments in India, being unmatched for the variety of detail and the
in its ornamentation. There is perhaps no other temple in the world on the external carving of which such a marvellous amount of labour has been spent.
exuberance of fancy
frieze
surrounding
it
contains a
The
rectangular
surmounted.
and a curvilinear steeple with vertical ribs by which it is porch is generally added in front of the
doorway
is
not essential.
page 84 is well adapted to throw light on the origin of the Indo-Aryan style. Among the earliest of the northern type are some of the temples in the large group at Bhuvanesvara in Orissa, about 250 miles south of Calcutta. The older specimens
temple
represented
opposite
The
seem
coming down
is
to about 1300 A. D.
The
best
called
by
Fcrgusson
'
'.
84
Indo-Aryan
spire has
always been a
:
Thus Fergusson remarks Neither the pyramid nor the tumulus affords any sug;
square or circular
architecture.
these.'
It
civil or
domestic
My
own view
many
would be required to substantiate this theory. comparison of the few illustrations here given must
suffice in corroboration.
ordinary
human form
Buddhist sculpture.
the
appearance.
Now
also.
The
This
in
early
divine
characteristic
ever afterwards.
is most conspicuous in the three leading gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. All three are represented with It is four arms, which hold the symbols distinctive of each. characteristic of Brahma to have four heads as well, for in
'.
It
is
we have The
evidence of coins
is
20.
21.
N r*
f^ fw'i
Mi
(^
85
this
innovation arose.
II,
On
;
Siva
but
in
gods become
the latter
still
common
about 200 A. D.
We
four-armed gods
appear on coins from about 100 A. D. onwards, and that they had become an established type by 300 A.D. The first step
in this innovation was the addition of two extra arms rising from the back of the shoulders. The four-armed type having
From
also
some of
and, as
deities
his
has
eight
Though Hindu
appear
Gandhara in normal human form only, the influence of the many-headed Hindu type made itself felt in the latest
centuries of
Mahayana Buddhist
sculpture in India,
The
and even eleven heads. This feature Mahayanist Buddhism from India to other countries. Thus in Chinese Buddhist temples there appears a goddess with sixteen arms. This abnormality, however, does not seem ever to have extended to the figure of Buddha himself anywhere, probably because his image had early
four or six arms,
followed
As
early artist
sculpture.
employed two means of differentiating them in One was the addition of the vdhana^ or animal
rides.
86
It is
Tlie
noteworthy that in all such cases the deity has o for the vdJiana serves one head and only two arms indicate both the divine nature and the identity of The second means of identification was the pos5 deity. sion of many arms and heads, besides the holding
;
characteristic symbols.
When
the
how was he
meet
some kind
any sym
th
of identity
The
obviously
purpose
over, be
in
Indian iconography.
idea, but
The
addition would,
mo
no new
in
Though
regarded
Thus Agni
is
said
bu and Visvakarma is four-armed {visva on The further div bdhu with an arm on every side '). characteristic of having four heads was added in the case Brahma because his Vedic prototype Visvakarma is in Rigveda described as 'facing in all directions' {visva inukhd), and in post-Vedic literature as four-faced {cat. miikha). Hence Brahma always appears in sculpture withfc heads as well as four arms. The above considerations sh that what is usually thought a monstrous feature of Hin iconography is the natural outcome of an inherent necess
sacrificial fire
i
'
'
in particular
when the
gc
were represented
^
in concrete form.^
Cp.
Rupain
Hindu Iconography,
in
Gango
22. IN DO-ARYAN
23-
Group
of Indo- Aryan
Hindu temples
at
Bhuvanesvar, Orissa
24.
87
of Sanskrit
literature,
:
may
The
begin-
nings of
all
to the preceding
after the
commencement
fact the rich
of our era.
We
Pali literature of
Buddhism
The
tales
in
most ancient type of Sanskrit poetry in the shape of epic must have grown up in the preceding age also. Even
the Rigveda there are
some hymns of a
narrative
character.
some of them partly metrical, as the story of Sunahsepa in the Aitareya Brdhmana. The etymological work of Yaska, the Niriikta, written in Classical Sanskrit about 500 B. C, contains many prose tales and the earliest extant collection of Vedic legends, the metrical BrJiaddevaid, must be nearly as old.
appear,
;
a.
Epic Poetry
form
in
But the
epics, in the
to us, date
from
Two
The
of
which
'
is
freer
',
called
itihdsa,
story
ancient legend
style,
is
'.
The
second,
more regular
strictly
in
language and
termed
kdvya^
the
work of an individual
more artificial class, grammar and poetics, and By far the most important
is
as well as the oldest representative of the former class vast epic called MaJidbhdrata,
'
the
'.
88
The group
much
The
earliest
representative
of
the
artificial
'
the
other great
the adventures of
Rama
'.
its
fifth
century A.D.
The
of the
it
MaJidbJidrata
is
vast
poem
containing
about
Homeric poems. There is inscriptional evidence that had attained that aggregate bulk by about 400 A. D. Its epic kernel, amounting to about one-fifth of the whole work, became so much overgrown with didactic matter that it could hardly be regarded as an epic at all, and has rather taken the place of a moral encyclopaedia in Indian literature. It consists of eighteen books called parvan, to which is added as a supplement a nineteenth named the Harivamsa. For this immense congeries of epic and didactic matter
tradition invented as the
name
of
its
Vyasa
('
arranger
').
Though
tively,
respec-
no
critical edition
Much
uncer-
it
and omissions.
The
many
differences appear.
In the
five
been distinguished, and in the southern group the divergences may prove to be still greater. The need of a critical edition
is
therefore
evidently
a pressing
one.
considerable
amount
of preliminary
26.
(StV p. 86)
Epic
Niiclctis
of the MahabJiarata
A. D. can
89
is
be produced
very-
the
epic
(i.
e.
was
')
regarded as a dJiarvm-sdstra or
in that
compendium
of ethics
century as
it
has now.
Mahdbhdrata, comprising about the dynasty of the Kurus was overthrown by the Pandus. The king of the Kurus in a gambling match cheats the Pandus, robs them of their kingdom, and banishes them for nineteen years. Finally a
epic nucleus of the
The
how
when
the
Kurus are annihilated. The main story is constantly interrupted by lengthy disquisitions, philosophical, religious, and moral, one of them extending to no fewer than 20,000 couplets. There are also several narrative episodes. One of the oldest and most beautiful of these is the story of Nala and DamayantI, two lovers who after enjoying several years of happy married life become separated by misfortune, but after many trying
adventures are reunited in the end.
The
story contains
numerous
in
fine
grief-stricken
and pathetic passages. The emaciation and plight of DamayantI, as she wanders alone
described as follows.
the forest,
is
She appears
Like the young moon's slender crescent Obscured by black clouds in the sky Like the lotus-flower uprooted. All parched and withered by the sun Like the pallid night when Rahu ^ Has swallowed up the darkened moon.'^
;
is
the Bhagavad-gitd,
in T/te
the
'
Song
of the
The demon
i(;oo.
of eclipse.
History of Sanskrit
Literatit?-e,
London,
Jsf
90
Tlie
'.
Adorable One
of Sanskrit literature.
the rival armies confront each other, ready to begin the great
battle.
showing that
world,
action, as the
in the
is necessary, though in the end concentration on the supreme spirit is the only way to secure salvation. There is no evidence showing when this episode was incorporated in the epic, and who was its author. The stages by which the epic developed from its original germ till it reached its final encyclopaedic form are matter It is, however, not improbable that it had of conjecture. assumed the character of a didactic compendium before the
Mahdbhdrata
is
a group of
A. D.
They
the
are
sectarian
manuals
inculcating
worship
chiefly
of
of
them
They
In that
part
of their
matter which
is
them they agree so closely that they must go back to some older work as a common source. The Bhdgavata Piirdna^ which contains about 18,000 ^lokas and
peculiar to
derives
its
a glorification of Bhagavata or
in
India
Beside the Mahdbhdrata arose a second epic cycle, the Rdmdyana, which is not popular in character, but artificial,
contrasted
in
91
the style of
It
is
its
descriptions
and
the use of
poetical figures.
The Rdnidyana
relates the
It consists of about 24,000 couplets and is divided into seven books. It has been shown to have originally consisted of five books (ii-vi), in which some interpolated passages occur as well. Apart from
is
the
Valmlki.
first
The
plot consists of
historical
The
is
foundation
of
second
is
mythological
incidents,
literature.
for
it
full
marvellous and
are
fantastic
The
original epic, as
and
books, into a
poem
glorifying Vishnu, of
whom Rama
represented as an incarnation.
the Hindus, and
among
has secured
India
the Rdmdyatta
a greater
popularity in
many
other Sanskrit
poems
many
Indian vernaculars.
Tulasi
The most important adaptation is the Hindi version of Das (1532-1633), the greatest poet of medieval
Hindustan; for
it
is
Mahdbhdrata was the chief source of the Puranas, Rdnidyana became the model of a number of Court epics almost all of which belong to the period between 400 and 1 100 A.D. From the direct evidence of a dated inscription and of the poet Bana, who lived under King
the
so the
As
92
TJie
Harshavardhana, the ruler of the whole of northern India from 606 to 648 A.D., we know that Kalidasa and other famous classical poets flourished before 600 A.D. There is,
moreover, some valuable literary and epigraphical evidence
that this type of poetry originated not later than about
The
earliest
preserved
of the
post-
Kavyas
is
Buddhist works
in
most famous poet of India, we have good reason to believe that he flourished in the first half of His knowledge of Greek astronomy in the fifth century. any case indicates that he cannot have lived earlier than 300 A.D. His two Court epics are the Rag/m-vainsa, the Race of Raghu and the Kjitndra-sambhava, the Birth of
to Kalidasa, the
'
As
',
'
the
War-god
'.
giving an account
contains
much genuine
is
The
style,
though
still
comthe
paratively simple,
in
many
passages too
artificial for
western taste.
is
As
prevailing characteristic.
Both
The
subjects of
poems
are
derived
from
Intermingled with
lyric, erotic,
and
become more
Bharavi,
artificial
the further
The Kirdtdrjitniya by
sixth century A.D.,
is
who
poem
Siva, disguised as a
93
One
of
its
cantos includes a
the end.
Another artificial epic, the Bhatti-kdvya, ascribed to the poet and grammarian Bhartrihari, who died in 651 A. D., relates the story of Rama, with the sole object of illustrating the forms of Sanskrit grammar. The Sisiipdla-vadha, or Death of Sisupala', by the poet Magha, dates from the second half of the seventh century. One of its cantos teems with metrical puzzles, some of a highly complex character. Thus one stanza read backwards is identical with the preceding one read in the
'
ordinary way.
not
lack
The Nalodaya, or Rise of Nala dealing with a wellknown episode (p. 89) of the Mahdbhdrata, describes the restoration to power of King Nala. The chief aim of the
'
',
author is to display his skill in manipulating artificial metres and elaborate tricks of style. The exiguous narrative running through the poem is interrupted by long descriptions and
lyrical
effusions.
is
feature
is
of this
work
is
employed not
This
an innovation
in Sanskrit
is
for
in Prakrit, as
is
the
Rdghava-
named
Kaviraja.
By
Rdmdyana and
same
time.
94
Lyrical Poetry
in
its
fully
fifth
'.
Cloud Messenger It consists of some 112 stanzas of four lines and is composed in a metre of seventeen syllables to the line called inanddkrdntd (' advancing slowly '). The theme is a message which an exile in central India sends by a cloud to his wife in the Himalayas. The sight of a dark cloud moving northward at the approach of the rainy season fills him with yearning and suggests the thought of entrusting to this aerial envoy a message of hope to his wife in his mountain home. In the first half of the poem the exile
delineates with
to be traversed
much power and charm the various scenes by the cloud on its northward course. In
home on
mount
The
;
following
is
a stanza of his
in eyes of startled hinds In creepers I discern thy form thy glances And in the moon thy lovely face in peacock's plumes thy shining tresses The sportive frown upon thy brow in flowing waters' tiny
;
;
ripples
But never
in
I,
alas
behold thy
likeness.
their reunion he
adds
And
then we will our heart's desire, grown more intense by separation. Enjoy in nights all glorious and bright with full-orbed autumn moonlight.^
^
Quoted
in
p. 335.
95
There is another beautiful lyrical poem entitled Rtiisamhdra, or 'Cycle of the Seasons', consisting of 153 stanzas divided into six cantos and composed in various
metres.
It
is
highly poetical
description
is
of the
six
divided
the
by Sanskrit
By
introducing
love-scenes
human emotions
Perhaps no other
poem
sympathy
This
merits,
poem
also
by
its
The poem
But the
the Sanskrit
seems
to
never quoted
in
its
attribution to
lyrics,
the Canra-pahcdsikd
and
this
type of literature
part
found
in
the dramas.
in
The
the
greater
of Sanskrit
in
lyrical
poetry appears
drawn with
by a master hand.
Several poets
composed
feeling.
of
this
type
is
of the
'
seventh
century a.d.
His Srhgdra-sataka, or Hundred Stanzas of Love', shows him, in graceful and meditative verse, to be fully susceptible to the charms of women and
96).
hearts of men.
of love-
96
lyrics
is
Tlie
the Amarii-sataka, or
is
'.
bliss and dejection, anger and devotion. His main strength perhaps lies in depicting the various stages The love that Amaru, of estrangement and reconciliation. like other Indian lyrists, delineates is undoubtedly of the sensual type, not the romantic and ideal. Delicacy of feeling and refinement of thought are, however, not lacking in this poetry. The plant and animal world, which here plays an important part, is treated with much charm. The following stanza from Bhartrihari may serve as an example of Indian lyric poetry.
all
Beside the lamp, the flaming hearth, In light of sun or moon and stars, Without my loved one's lustrous eyes This world is wholly dark to me.^
The
transition
from pure
lyric to
pure drama
is
it
repre-
dates
A.D.),
by the
earliest
Glta-goviiida, or
literary
'Cowherd
in
Song'.
It is the
specimen no
still
There
is
merely engages in a kind of lyrical monologue, to which one of the other two is generally supposed to listen. The subject is the love of Krishna for the beautiful Radha, their
estrangement, and
ficial
final
reconciliation.
It is
a highly
arti-
which its author Jayadeva shows great perfection of form by combining grace of diction with ease in handling the most intricate metres. He makes much use of alliteration and very complex rimes, adapting, with unsurpassable skill, the most varied and melodious measures
in
^
poem
Quoted
in
Origin of the
to the expression of
Drama
is
97
c.
The
Drama
of India
is
The
drama
wrapped
is
in
obscurity.
But between these and the come to us, to none of which can an earlier date than 200 a.d. be assigned, the gap is enormous. Nor is there any direct evidence of any connexion between the two. The indirect testimony of
form of
its
Even some of
the
hymns.
Sanskrit drama.
The
'
actor and
'
'
play
to dance',
',
the guise of
nautch
in India.
words and because of drama was popular and that some rude form of pantomime was its
These names,
starting-point.
natas, or
'
dancers
'.
for dancers
in
The
',
Principles of
which
may
all
200 B.C.
so on.
treatise.
It
deals with
drama
singing,
or
'
the
2940
The most important of these is the Dasa-riipa, Ten kinds (of drama) which deals with drama in O
',
98
As
in several
hymns
ritual,
of
are
a dialogue.
and sometimes appear in the form of is a priori possible, but there is no evidence to prove that such a development actually took place. Other scholars trace the origin of the Indian
This inference
drama
(326
tion,
They argue
that
at the time of
B. c.)
Alexander the Great's invasion of India numerous Greek artists accompanied his expedi-
and that subsequently the frontier countries of India were ruled by Greek kings, who must have supported Greek theatres. But there are no ascertained facts to substantiate
this
theory; nor
is it
the Indian
drama
in this
way.
For
its
whole development
in
weak, being concerned rather with types than with human beings of real flesh and blood. The development of the story often depends on an external accident such as a curse, and the plot itself is often nothing more than a loosely connected series of pictures or epic
delineation of character
is
The
scenes.
The
;
Greek
theory
is
chiefly
based
on
the
Mrcchakatikd
It
is
names Greek
*
*
of
the
curtain
;
'
{yavanikd^
it
e.
'
Ionian
')
is
the
(appliance)
but
itself
is
more
whole
stage or the
drama
Greek
',
if
country.
the
Drama
no similarity
is
99
The most
its
likely explanation
that the
from scenes of an histrionic and a popular character which are imitated in the Vedic as when a Brahmin buys Soma from a Sudra, who ritual
origin
;
is
would be accompanied by dance, song, and music, which are designated as the most important elements of the dramatic art (itdtya). It is also noteworthy that the ordinary words for actor ', play and dramatic art are, as has already been
' '
',
'
'
from the vernacular root nat to dance '. The mimic dance becomes drama as soon as words are added. We know from the ritual Vedic texts that dance, music, and
said, derived
*
song were employed at sacrifices and religious festivals. We are informed that on such occasions the natas celebrated
the performance in
composed and sometimes produced much This points to the existence of actual mimes.
song
;
The
art
is
use in this
way
Some light in handbooks. development of the drama by a number of modern plays and by the so-called ydtrds, which represent a mythological subject and especially the Krishna
being systematically treated
further shed on the
legend.
a popular
drama
at the
employment of
;
different
dialects tion of
the combina;
and
The
great antiquity
was
at
phenomena excludes a Greek origin. It one time believed by Sanskrit scholars that Pataiijali
loo
TJie
B. C.) in his Mahdbhdsya^ a commentary on grammar, mentions the existence of an actual Indian drama, but as the passage in which this was supposed to be stated has been proved to be mistranslated, it has no
(second century
Panini's
The
to
rise of
the Indian
drama
is
the
coalescence
art.
of recited
epic
legend
with ancient
pantomimic
actual
drama till we come across it fully developed about 200 A. D. It probably arose in the land of the Surasenas at Mathura, their capital. We have no reason to suppose
it
that
came
into being
of A^vaghosha.
The main
drama
are these.
European dramas. A further peculiarity is that they employ different dialects according to the social position
of the speakers.
Sanskrit
of rank.
is
used
by
mins, and
men
is
Prakrit
{Satiraseni,
Mdhdrdspi,
Mdgadhl)
spoken not only by women, but by men of the lower orders. Tragedy is unknown on the Indian stage. No deeply tragical incident, such as death, may take place on it, nor is there ever a sad ending. Hence terror, pity, and grief are always assuaged by the happy conclusion of the story. The plot is commonly derived from history or epic legend. The main theme of most Indian plays is love. The hero, who is usually a king and already married to one
or
more
first
sight with
some
beautiful
Characteristics of the
girl.
Drama
loi
The
passion.
The
depressing effect
and especially of the jester {vidfisaka), who usually plays a prominent part as Finally all ends the constant companion of the hero.
activity of the heroine's confidantes
happily.
The
is
this.
It is
divided
into acts
which vary
is
in
The
act
divided into
character.
off
by the
The
same
is
never
left
the end
of
the
The play
usually
opens with
a
or
follow.
two of the actors converse about the piece that is to Goethe adopted this feature from Kalidasa's
in his
bakwitald
Faust.
A necessary
curtain
stage.
from the stage, but formed its background. Behind the was the tiring room, whence the actors entered the
The scenery and decorations being very simple, much was left to the imagination of the spectator, as in the Shakespearian drama. Owing to intercourse between
heaven and earth being frequently represented, there was, however, probably some kind of contrivance suggesting an
car, in which the impression of motion and speed would be produced by the gestures of the actors. We do not know when the first actual play was written in India. But the earliest dramatic author of whose work anything has survived is A^vaghosha, the famous Buddhist
aerial
teacher of the
Mahayana
school.
He
I02
of Buddha,
Manuscript
ICO
A. D.),
in
have been edited. Certain features, such as the figure of the vidusaka or jester, indicate that the author had predecesIt does not, however, seem likely that the drama had sors.
a long history before A^vaghosha.
tradition, a teacher of
As he
was, according to
Asvaghosha has been assigned to the second century A. D. Fragments of two other Buddhist dramas have been found in the same
(125),
King Kanishka
grounds to belong to the same period but there is no evidence showing who wrote them. Sanskrit Buddhist v^oxV^ih^ Avaddna-sataka (p. 6'^, which was translated into Chinese in the third century A. D., mentions a Buddhist
;
drama
by 200
tion.
acted
Sobhavatl.
A. D,
by South Indian players before the king of There thus seems good reason to believe that the Sanskrit drama was an established institudrama
pro-
The
The
duced between
was Kalidasa, who cannot have 400 A.D. He had a famous predecessor named Bhasa, whose works were, however, till
greatest playwright
lived earlier than about
The evidence
for the
is
the following.
Kalidasa
400
A.D.) in his
as a poet
(c. 620 A.D.), Bhasa obtained fame by plays (ndtaka) in the beginning of which the slitrad/idra, or stage manager,
103
(c. 1000 a.d.) mentions Dream-Vasavadatta', as Bhasa's work, which, being thrown into the fire as a test of its
verse of Rajasekhara
'
a svapna-vdsavadatta, or
merit, stood
the test
',
successfully.
In
the
Gaiidava/io,
or
(c.
Death of Garuda by the Prakrit poet Vakpatiraja A. D.), Bhasa receives the dQs\gr\?i\.\ox\ jalana-mitta, 750
' '
or
friend
of conflagration
',
perhaps
in
allusion
to
the
same incident. We have thus four references in Sanskrit and Prakrit literature up to 1000 A.D. proving the existence of Bhasa as an eminent dramatic poet. There also occur in his commentary, on a rhetorical work entitled Dhvanydloka, by Abhinavagupta {c. 1000 A.D.) and in the Sanskrit anthologies of later centuries about a dozen
quotations there attributed to Bhasa.
Some
by
by most Sanskrit
is
scholars,
identified with
The
sole
all
although
them, svapna-ndtaka
vdsavadatta),
(in
may be
by ancient authorities work of Bhasa. The uncertainty as to the same play being meant by the divergent titles is increased by the fact that a verse quoted by Abhinavagupta on the Dhvanydloka as occurring in the svapna-vdsavadatta is not
to be found in the svapna-7idtaka.
The supposed
identity
of these
two
titles
is
authorship
not
of the
svapna-ndtaka.
name
its
author.
Thus even
recently
this
support
for the
identification
of
the
edited
Trivandrum play
I04
The very dubious identification of the Trivandrum svapnandtaka with the svapna-vdsavadatta of the ancient poet
Bhasa, on the strength of the possible identity of their
titles,
is
made
much more
tain
many
passages in
prois
duction of one and the same poet, but that that poet
Not only are all these plays anonymous, but we do not even know any of the titles of the plays of the ancient Bhasa except only svapna-vdsavadatta. Now the similarity
Bhasa.
may very well be due to the and exigencies of the stage in Malabar, where No attempt at alone these plays are known and acted. investigation in this direction has yet been made, at least by any of the western supporters of this hypothesis. Again,
in style of these thirteen plays
peculiarities
many
cogency
in regard to facts.
is to be derived from the quotations attributed to Bhasa in rhetorical works and anthologies. For none of the fourteen quotations there ascribed to Bhasa occur either in the svapna-ndtaka or in any of the other twelve plays nor have any of the verses occurring in the Trivandrum plays been found in rhetorical works and anthologies even ascribed to some other author than Bhasa. The diction of these plays shows familiarity with the style of the Puranas, and contains far more grammatical irregularities than the classical Sanskrit dramas do.
;
No
Weakness of
On
the Chronological
Arguments
105
made
to fix their
approximate date, chiefly on the evidence of the Prakrit appearing in the prose passages. By a comparison of this
Asvaghosha and Kalidasa, one of the is that Bhasa comes chronologically midway between these two, and therefore belongs to the
Prakrit with that of
conclusions arrived at
Though
this,
when
and that consequently he might have But here it seems necessary to investigate the position of Prakrit in Malabar very carefully before it can be made the basis of decisive chronological conclusions. For here it was an exotic, the natural development of which, on its transplantation to the entirely
lived,
Bhasa probably
home in northern India it would be change as the literary form of a spoken vernacular. Estimates of the age of these plays on the evidence of their Prakrit should thus be undertaken with great caution. As it is, the calculation of their age, whether based on the character of their Prakrit or on other considerations, varies very greatly that of Western scholars between the second and seventh century A.D., that of Indian scholars between the fifth century B.C. and the
arrested, while in its
liable to regular
:
tenth A.D.
criticisms
probably
suffice to
show
Bhasa is subject to much doubt at every point. Far more cogent evidence than is yet available is necessary to prove that any one of the lost plays of Bhasa has
io6
survived to the
The
'
verdict, in
'.
my
view,
certain cannot as yet be any other than not proven conclusion based on data no one of which is more than a
possibih'ty
is
inadmissible.
The
difficulties of this
problem
perhaps be successfully grappled with by minutely investigating the history of the Sanskrit drama in Malabar.
may
The two greatest Sanskrit playwrights were Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti. The former of these is the more eminent, famous as an epic and a lyric poet as well. He wrote three alavikagniviitra. dramas, Sakujitald, Vikrainorvasi, and The first two are the best specimens of the romantic drama of India. They represent the love adventures of two famous kings of ancient days, dealing with matters heroic and divine, far removed from the realities of everyday life.
The
third
is
drama of contemporary
celestial
nymph. Engaged
he
falls in
is
whom
love
sent
by her
to
however,
fails
recognize
till
finally
having been formerly given by the king to his wife and having later been swallowed by a fish, has been recovered
by
But
fishermen.
all
almost
it
as
stage
play.
has
many
beauties.
in
The
sympathy with
among
The
may
They
are uttered
by the
old sage
Sakuntala
Kanva when
his
107
ward Sakuntala
is
My heart is touched with sadness when I think 'Sakuntala must leave to-day'; my throat Is choked with flow of tears repressed mine eyes Grow dim with pensiveness but if the grief Of this old forest hermit is so great, How keen must be the pang a father feels When freshly parted from a cherished child
;
The
trees, the
Now
home,
They with
Then
melodious cry
good wishes as
she departs
journey be auspicious may the breeze, Gentle and soothing, fan thy cheek may lakes All bright with lily cups delight thine eye The sunbeams' heat be cooled by shady trees; The dust beneath thy feet the pollen be
; ;
Thy
Of
lotuses.^
somewhat
fections of
rare
qualities in Indian literature. The perSakuntala earned the highest praise from so
eminent a
in
critic as
Goethe.
To
its
widespread popularity
India
is
drama
exists in
none of which can be said to represent the original text more closely than any of the others. Vikrafour recensions,
^
'^
with
slight
my
io8
or UrvasI (won) by Valour', deals with the romance of King Pururavas and the nymph Urvasi, the earliest form of which occurs in the Rigvcda, far more than
morvasl,
Urvasi
is
but, after
by
birth
and there
is
therefore no
all
ends
A
Cart
it
drama
',
entitled
Mrcchakatikd, or
The
Little
Clay
attributed to a king named Sudraka, whose date seems impossible to determine, but is probably not far removed from that of Kalidasa. An incomplete form of it, consisting of its first four acts, but without introductory and concluding verses, has been preserved under the title oiCdrudatta, as one of the thirteen plays published in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, and regarded by the adherents of the Bhasa hypothesis as the work of Bhasa. It looks like another recension of the Mrcchakatikd adapted for performance on the Malabar stage. The Mrcchakatikd is pre-eminent
is
among
of vigour,
and
of character.
The
scene
is
and
Sriharsha
is
Three Plays
109
crowded with characters. The hero is Charudatta, Brahmin merchant reduced to poverty by excessive hberaHty, and the heroine Vasantasena, a rich courtezan, who loves and ultimately marries Charudatta. The play
a
diversified with
many
serious
Two
whom we
what resembles the Mdlavikdgniviitra of Kalidasa. It represents the love-story of Udayana, king of Vatsa, and
of Sagarika, an attendant of his queen Vasavadatta.
The
after
Ceylon,
who
way
to
Udayana's court
suffering
shipwreck.
love-story of
Of the
night
latter,
may
serve as an illustration
Our minds
We
intent upon the festival. saw not that the twilight passed away:
Behold, the east proclaims the lord of night Still hidden by the hill where he will rise, Even as a maiden by her pallid face Reveals that in her heart a lover dwells.^
Similar
is
who was
By
sees
name
of Aranyika, in the
harem of the
king,
who
in
my
ture, p. 312.
no
and
she
falls
with her.
a princess of
Ahga
and arranges to have her married to Udayana. Sriharsha's third play is the Ndgdnanda, the plot of which from the legendary store of the Brhatkathd is derived
releases her,
(p. 125).
It
is
The second
whose plays
is
in
the
first
half
He was
a Brahmin of Vidarbha,
now
Hyderabad
state.
He
part of his
of Kanauj.
under the patronage of King Yasovarman Three of his plays, all abounding in poetical beauties, have come down to us. They differ from the works of the earlier dramatists in various points. Owing to Bhavabhuti's deeply serious temperament, the comic element is almost entirely lacking, and the jester does not appear in his plays. He prefers to depict the grand and sublime rather than the delicate and mild aspects of nature. He also displays skill in expressing depth and force of passion, as well as tender and noble sentiment. The most popular of his plays is the Mdlatl-mddhava. Ujjain is the scene, and the plot is concerned with the love-story of MalatI, daughter of a minister of the country, and Madhava, a young scholar studying in the city. They fall in love, and in spite of the king's determination that the heroine shall marry his favourite, whom she detests, the lovers
succeed in being finally united.
The other two plays deal with the fortunes of Rama, but, owing to lack of action, they have the character of dramatic poems rather than of dramas. The earlier part of Rama's
1 1
is
'
Advenor
of the
Great Hero
'.
The Uttara-rdmacarita^
Later Adventures of Rama ', contains some passages of more genuine pathos than perhaps any other Indian drama.
his date cannot be fixed with certainty, the Bhatta-Narayana must have lived before 800 A.D., dramatist as he is quoted by Vamana, the writer on poetics, in the A well-known play by him is the Venleighth century. samhdra, or 'Binding of the Braid of Hair', the main incident of which is derived from the MahdbJidrata. Its popularity in India is chiefly due to its partiality for the Probably not later than 800 A.D. was cult of Krishna.
Though
composed a play of a unique type, Visakhadatta's Mtidrdrdksasa, or Rakshasa and the Seal Love does not enter
'
'.
it is
life,
and sustained interest. The plot is concerned with endeavour of the Brahmin Chanakj'a, the minister of the Chandragupta, to win over to his master's cause the noble Rakshasa, formerly minister of a king deposed by Chandragupta in 315 B.C. About 900 A.D. lived, during the reigns of the rulers of Kanauj, Mahendrapala and his successor Mahlpala, the
dramatist Rajasekhara, noted for his
command
of Sanskrit
and Prakrit, as well as his knowledge of the spoken vernaculars. He uses many rare words and provincialisms.
shows great skill in the employment of artificial Now and then he avails himself of rime, which he borrowed from popular poetry. He is particularly fond
also
He
metres.
Two of his dramas deal with epic subjects. One is the Bdlardmdyana, or Ramayana for Boys which treats at
'
',
Ramayana
for
in ten
',
The Bdlabhdrata,
or
'
Mahabharata
Boys
has
112
left uncompleted or, with the exception of the first two acts, has been lost. These deal with the marriage of DraupadI and with the gambling scene of the epic in which she is dragged by her hair before the assembly by one of
been
the Kauravas.
Another of Rajasekhara's
or
'
the Statue
',
is
a girl disguised as a
boy
affords
is
in
drama
entirely composed in Prakrit. Rajasekhara apparently wanted to show that, after making his name as a Sanskrit poet, he was able to deal with the most difficult metres in
Rajasekhara's plays
their verses
both
in
Sanskrit and
which they abound and the allusions which they contain to the customs prevailing in his day. He is, however, not a great
Prakrit, as well as for the proverbial sayings with
and
or
originality.
'
The Hamimaii-ndtaka,
piece of
little
Play of Hanumat
',
a rambling
Rama
in
monkey
'
king.
also
known by the
title
Mahdndtaka,
the Great
Drama'. It must have been written before 850 A.D., as it is quoted by Anandavardhana, the writer on poetics, in his Dhvanydloka (c. 850 A.D.). It is known in two rather widely divergent recensions, one of which, the western, ascribed to Damodara-misra, contains 581 stanzas in fourteen
acts, while the other, that of Bengal, attributed to
Madhu-
in interpolations.
sudana, contains 730 stanzas in nine acts. The text abounds It can hardly be regarded as a drama,
113
it
speeches.
One of the most remarkable products of Indian literature, which dates from c. iioo A.D., is the Prabodha-candrodaya,
Knowledge by Krishna misra. which practically all the characters are abstract notions and symbolical figures. Its main strength lies in the effectiveness of its moral and philosophical
or
'
Rise of the
Moon
of
',
It is
an allegorical play
in
The dialogue is somewithout humour, and the author handles his favourite metres with skill he also uses rimed verses in
said to
times not
Prakrit.
is
Vishnu as a form of orthodox Brahmanism, much as the allegorical plays of the Spanish poet Calderon exalt the
Catholic faith.
Krishnamisra had
in later
many
all of them are without merit. Other kinds of drama, which belong to modern times and have been preserv^ed in great numbers, may be passed over
centuries
but nearly
here.
India,
tioned.
But two types, which have been very popular in though they have little literary value, may be mento
in
One of these, the Bhanas, all of which seem come from southern India, deal with low life presented
the form of monologue.
sent everyday
life,
The
in
114
Selected Bibliography
x-xii,
i,
Macdonell; History,
Winternitz, Geschichte,
pp. 277-345,
;
445-8 (down
to
1899).
pp. 257-483
iii.
Sylvain L^vi, Le Tk^dlre Indien, Paris, 1890. Wilson, Select SpeciSten Konow, mens ofthe Theatre ofthe Hitidus, 2 vols. London, 1 87 Das iiidische Drama, Berlin and Leipzig, 1920. Keith, The Sanskrit
,
Drama,
chichte,
Oxford, 1924.
iii.
13.
Winternitz, Ges-
210-17.
The literature on the authorship of the thirteen plays attributed to Bhasa and published in the Trivandrum Sanskrit series is already considerable
:
V. S. Sukthankar's Studies in Bhdsa, 1923 (reprinted from Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, xxvi,
full
to 1923.
Later appeared C.
Kunhan
ii,
Raja, Bhdsa,
;
another
und
;
Irati,
1924
J.
Ghatak,
The Dramas of Bhdsa, Calcutta, 1925 A. K. Pisharoti, Bhdsa's Works, Trivandrum, 1925 L. Sariip, The Vision of Vdsavadattd, Lahore, 1925 Festgabe Jacob/, pp. 1 14-134, Bonn, 1926 Hlrananda Sastrl, Bhdsa and the authorship of the Thirteen Trivandrutn Plays, No. 28. Calcutta, 1926.
;
VI
This the most original bra7ich of Indian literatii?-e itijiicence than any other Its general literary characteristic
is intercalation
recensions
The Pancatantra Its world No other secular many languages Sir Thomas A'orth's
rendering from
Italian version
ifi
i_jo
Pancatantra'' s influettce on
in
European story-books
Indian
Some of
its stories
Other story-books Tale of Sindbad derived from India Sukasapiati Its Persian and Turkish translations Indian inArabiafi Nights Prose romances Dasakumdra-carita, Vdsavadattd^ Kddanibari, Harsa-carita The campu type of storybook Selected bibliography.
fluetice Oft
*
'
or Greek origin of some of its fables conjectural The Brhathatha collection of stories Somadeva's Kathdsaritsdgara
77;!^
narrative matter which we find treated in the court and the dramas based on ancient legends brings us to the most valuable product of Indian literature, its folklore, which in India was earlier and to a wider extent raised to the rank of actual literature than among other nations of antiquity. Such matter takes a prominent place, not only among the sacred books of the Buddhists and
The
epics
For us
find
it
is
in
of Sanskrit literature.
valuable than
all
the
When we
same old
how
in
legendary material
we are almost
show
ii6
Stories,
Fairy
Tales,
and Fables
But the folklore
litera-
human
traits,
not
peasants, mer-
vagabonds,
vellous
selfish
and procuresses. It is an imaginary world, full of marand complicated fairy tales, of wit in the invention of serious and comic scenes, of wealth of fancy in the
creation of ever
is in
new material
in story
and romance.
This
most original department of Indian literature. It is also the one that has exercised a greater influence on foreign literatures than any other branch of Indian The history of how Indian fairy tales and fables writing. migrated from one country to another, to nearly all the peoples of Europe and Asia, and even to African tribes, from their original home in India, borders on the marvellous. It is not a case of single stories finding their way by word of mouth through the agency of merchants and travellers from India to other countries, but of whole Indian books becoming through the medium of translations the common property of the world. After this had been demonstrated, it was at one time even believed that India was the source of all fairy
fact the
tales,
many
be traced to their
ture, all
among
means
by
religious
117
stories,
of edification.
Fairy
tales,
and
anecdotes long
in
in various parts of
all
and
is
elsewhere,
supplied
place of what in
is
our times
entertaining literature.
tale
This
fairy
ph3'sical
from the myth, which endeavours to explain some problem or satisfy some religious doubt, while the
is
fable
always intended to instruct and to point a moral. among the people before they
in
Prakrit books.
in
The
fable
probably
beginning.
in
The
beast-fable, however,
tale,
most
a didactic
is
maxim
being combined
ele-
For
edification
always an essential
is
ment
The
earliest
a mixture of
literature, like that of Pururavas and UrvasI, but these belong to the sphere of myth and legend rather than to
It
was only
in the
days of the post- Vedic period that works of literary narrative were composed entirely in verse. Works written
entirely in prose are rare
;
in
The
found
MaJidbJidrata.
That
is
the stiipa
proved by the reliefs on of Bharhut, which dates from that time and on
titles
which the
of certain
of
many
Again, the
like
as kdka-tdllya-vat,
'
ii8
Stories,
Fairy
Tales,
and Fables
The works comprising the narrative literature that have come down to us may be grouped in two main classes, each of which includes two subdivisions. The first class is
didactic in character.
It consists {a)
of collections of stories
:
such were
(p. 6i)
(p. 72)
written in Prakrit;
[b)
story-books
and worldly wisdom such was ihePaiicaclass embraces works written for the purpose of amusing. These were either {a) story-books, which were first composed in Prakrit, like \\\Q.Brhatkathd,hvX
political doctrine
:
tantra.
The second
or
{b)
novels
and romances written in classical Sanskrit prose, Dasakiimara-carita and the Vdsavadattd (p. 131).
All but the
first
like the
individual authors,
who
other collections.
The
calation, that
Within a sub-
This style of narration was borrowed from India by the Arabs, who employed it in composing works of their own. The most notable example is the Arabian Nights^ into which several stories originally Indian have found their way. The main book belonging to this department is the Pancatatitra, which has had a longer and more eventful history than any other work of Indian literature. Two
the process further repeated.
The Pahcatantra
German
tion of that history.
to translate
it
its
History
119
Theodor Benfey was the first both from Sanskrit and to trace its migrations,
innumerable
is
by
countries.
has,
The second
who
by means of critical editions of its most important recensions and by numerous researches, laid bare its
fortunes in India
itself.
It is
and maxims, should have undergone frequent alteramany centuries. But its original character was never quite effaced. It always remained a work intended to teach political science and worldly wisdom In its earliest in the form of fables, stories, and maxims. form it was a work for the instruction of princes, but later it became more a book for the education of youth generally. Purely moral stories were to a certain extent introduced only in later recensions. Although the original form of the Pancatantra has not been preserved, we are able to draw well-founded conclusions regarding it from its earliest surviving recensions. There are five such.
stories
The Tantrdkkydyika,
is
or
Two
recensions of
is
in
Kashmir,
Another
in 570 A.D. and the Pehlevi translation have been lost, the Syriac and Arabic versions from the Pehlevi and the European translations from the Arabic enable us to infer what the original Sanskrit text was like. Thirdly, there was an abstract of the Pahcatantra contained in the lost Kashmirian work called the Brhatkathd, of which two metrical recensions have been preserved in Kshemendra's Brhatkat/id-mahjarl diVid in Somadeva's Kathdsaritsdgara;
Though both
I20
Stories,
the latter of these throws the more valuable light on the old
text of the Pahcatantra.
is
South Indian Pancatantra^ which is closely related to the Tantrakhydyika and has been shown to go back to an abstract made in northtailed abstract generally called the
Finally, there
is
a Nepalese abstract of the stanzas contained in the Pancatantra, preserved in a single manuscript, nearly related to the
This, too,
is
of considerable
critical
importance.
common
original text of
Though
the latter
is
a product
artificial
its artificiality
moderate and
originality.
romances
like
those of Bana.
and
that by was so famous that by order of the Sassanian king Chosru Anushirvan (531-79 A.D.) it was translated into Pehlevi and from But research has Pehlevi into Syriac as early as 570. original first came hitherto been unable to prove when the Nothing more definite can be said than that into being. There it most probably arose between 300 and 500 A.D. can be no doubt that in the form of the Tantrakhydyika it
to the age of the Pancatantra,
As
we know
it
one of the earliest products of the artificial literature of But as that recension contains undoubted interpolations, the date of the original Pancatantra must be still
is
India.
earlier.
No
the religious
and
social conditions
is
that
it
reflects.
The
general atmosphere
to
the book.
121
was of Buddhist must therefore be rejected. The most popular and most widespread in India of the old texts of the Pancatantra is designated the textus simplicior which has also been the longest and best known in Europe. Before the discovery of the Tantrdkhydyika it was regarded
'
',
It
is,
however, a completely
new
for
new book
in
it,
The
clear
and at
'
The
textus
was the
the
'
and of
'
On
textus simplicior
'
is
textus
which was produced in 199 by a Jain monk named Purnabhadra. It is the best preserved of the later revisions of the Pancatantra. As compared with the older texts it contains many new stories and maxims. The most important of all the modern adaptations of the Pancatantra is the Hitopadesa, or Salutary Advice ', which is widely diffused in Bengal and is best known in India and Europe. Though in fact a totally new work, its chief source is the Pancatantra in its north-western recension, which is also the source of the southern Pancatantra. About its date nothing more certain can be said than that it was composed between 1000 and 1300 A.D. Its place of origin was probably Bengal. The author is very independent in the way in which he has altered and rearranged the
ornatior',
'
subject-matter.
The Hitopadesa
in
122
Stories,
in
any other adaptation of the Paiicatantra. It adds a large number of maxims of this type. The Hitopadesa is one of the works of Indian literature that has been known longest and best in Europe.
more apparent
the Hitopadcsa than in
it
has
European languages.
The
Paiicatantra
itself
Hindi version of it was known to the Arabic scholar Alberunl about 1030 A.D. It was also translated into Gujarat!, Marathi, and the Dravidian languages of the south. The diffusion of translations outside India was much wider still. During
translated into the Indian vernaculars.
many
way
the
literatures
of three
continents, and
exercised
an extrain the
ordinary influence
Middle Ages.
He
He
comparative history of
literature.
and fairy tales. For here we which effaces the difference between the human and the animal worlds, and which thus renders it quite natural for animals to be the heroes of Consequently no other country has produced so stories.
tion of fables, animal stories,
find the belief in transmigration,
We
actual routes
their
by which
fables
and
fairy tales
have made
way from
By
far the
123
The
translation
into
Pehlevi,
language of
Syriac
indeed
been
but the
made from that in 570 A.D. under the title of Kalilag and Damnng, though somewhat imperfectly preserved,
tion
is still
into
extant. Another was the complete translaArabic (750 A.D.) entitled Kalila and Diuina.
Both titles are distortions of the names of the two jackals, Karataka and Damanaka, that appear in the first book of the Pahcatantra. This Arabic translation is the source to which the numerous versions, direct or indirect, found in European and Asiatic languages are to be traced. To be more precise, translations of the Kalila and Dimna have been made into forty languages, besides those from Sanskrit into fifteen Indian vernacular tongues. Probably no book
except the Bible has been translated into so
guages, certainly no secular book.
It
many
lan-
West
is
more
many
most famous of the versions of Ages was the German one of Anton von Pforr entitled 'Das Buch der Beispiele der alten Weisen which first appeared in 1483, soon after the invention of printing, and was reprinted afterwards. For a long time it contributed most to a knowledge of the original in the whole of Europe. It not only influenced German literature in many ways, but was also itself translated into Danish, Icelandic, and Dutch. This German version was four times removed from the Arabic one which started the Pahcatantra on its westward wanderings. On the Latin translation of John of Capua (1263) was based a Spanish one (1493), ^lom which was derived an
best and
',
The
124
Stories,
Italian one in two parts (1552). The first of these parts was rendered into English by Sir Thomas North in 1570. This appeared exactly 1,000 years after the Syriac transla-
Pehlevi in 570 A.D. No fewer than six renderings intervened between it and the original Sanskrit
tion
made from
of
text
the Pahcatantra.
The geographical
this goal
title
separation
The Morall
Philosophic of Doni
It is
the
nineteenth
Some
in their
from
literature
with his
his
Llewellyn rushes
child's
traces of blood
cradle he finds
This
is
the
Welsh transformation
is greeted by the mongoose who rolls But the Brahmin, seeing his mouth covered with blood, assumes he has bitten the child and kills him on the spot. Afterwards, finding the child uninjured and a dead serpent near him, he is overwhelmed with remorse. When, however, stories are identical in East and West, while there is no evidence, from translations passing westward, of their Indian origin, we can only conjecture which
at his feet.
125
the recipient.
The same
is
the case
when a
fable
identical in
On
among
scholars
all
some holding
;
others again
from Greece.
fact that the
The
criteria
A weighty consideration is the Greek fable flourished as early as 500 B.C. in the time of Aesop, whom Herodotus (484-425 B.C.) knew as a writer of fables. The oldest Indian fables go back only conjecturally to the fourth and fifth century B.C., and only a {t\w with certainty to the third century B. C. But it by no means necessarily follows that those fables which the Indians have in common with the Greeks are certainly derived from the oldest period (sixth and fifth centuries B.C.) of Greek fables. The great majority both of the Aesopian and Indian fables may date from the time when there was an active intellectual interchange between Greece and India. Greek fables might then have easily come to India and Indian fables to Greece. This was the
justify definite conclusions.
Babrius (^.200 A.
D.)
came
between the two countries arose. According to the evidence of the romance writers, Dandin, Subandhu, and Bana, there existed in the sixth century A. D. a work of entertaining literature, which consisted of a collection of stories, the
in
Sanskrit, but in
126
Stories,
probably of the north-west, and not otherwise used in Though this work has not been preserved, two literature.
Sanskrit translations,
made from
it
probably centuries
later,
have come down to us. These have been preserved in two The former recensions, the Kasmlrian and the Nepalese. is known to us in two metrical forms, both of which date from the eleventh century. The earlier, Kshemendra's BrhatkatJid-viahjari composed about 1037 A.D., is meant to be an abridgement of the Brhatkathd. The later form of the Kasmlrian recension, the Kathdsarit-sdgara^ or 'Ocean of Narrative Streams', was composed between 1063 and 108 1 a.d. Though Somadeva
,
writes in the
Kavya
style,
he does not
make an exaggerated
There can be no doubt that he is one of the most pleasing and skilful poets of India. It is likely that the defects of this work are due to the original Brhatkathd. The chief one is the faulty arrangement of the matter. Very often stories appear that do not suit the context, and the
to the matter.
same story
forms.
is
found
in
The main
story
it
moreover,
much
less interesting
is
the framework.
Somadeva
like the
evi-
He
incorporated in
it
whole books,
Panca-
The
It
is
Kathdsarit-sdgai'a throws
social
much
light
on the con-
temporary
several of
and
also important in
its stories
reappear
the West.
The Nepalese
svamin, which
is
is
by Buddhaand
entitled Brhatkathd-sloka-samgraha,
incomplete, seems
more
original
Vetala-pancavimsatikd
recension.
and V ikrama-carita
some
'
127
subject-matter differ so
places
it
much from
that in
seems quite
(tales)
another work.
The
in
Vetdla-pahcavimsatikd, or
',
Twenty-five
of
the Vetala
is
was contained
for
it
the
Kasmirian
in
recension
of
the Brhatkathd,
Kshemendra's and Somadeva's poems. Its oldest form was lost, but Kshemendra and Somadeva preserve it in probably an older shape than that in which
appears both
it
As
such
it
exists in
The
the
form
of
verse.
The framework
This work,
like the
Pancatantra, has
contributed
many
stories to world-literature.
A
is
later,
Throne which is also entitled Vikraina-carila, or Career of Vikrama It is found in three recensions, one in prose, another in verse, and a third in a mixture of both. Of these, the South Indian prose recension probably comes nearest to the original form of the work. These thirty-two tales are very fantastic and fall far below the intellectual level of the Vetdla-pancavimsatikd. As King Bhoja of Dhara is mentioned in the main story forming the framework in every recension, the book cannot be earlier than 1000 A.D. It may, however, possibly have been composed in the reign of that ruler. It was translated into Persian in 1574 A. D., and there are many versions in Indian vernaculars, as well as in Siamese and Mongolian.
',
'.
128
Stories,
One
is
the Snka-saptati,
'.
As
is
it
in
many widely
in
The form
which
it is
Many
maxims
are to be found
Nothing is known about the author or the time was composed, A fact of great importance in connexion with world-literature is that the Siika-saptati was translated into Persian early in the fourteenth century under the title of Tutindmeh. The rough and uncouth quality of this rendering induced Nachshabi, a contemporary of Hafiz and Sadi, to mould its matter into an Based on the latter was another Persian artistic poem.
work.
when
it
version
made
in
the seventeenth
century, as well as a
Through the
Tiitiiidmeh
Gott-
von Strassburg's
'
'.
There were
in Sanskrit
many
both
is
the story
famous tale of world-literature. It was probably based on an Indian original for the Arabian writer Masudi (who died in 956 A.D.) said of the Kitdb el Sindbad, Book of Sindbad ', that it was derived from India. This work is essentially identical with the Persian
a
;
'
129
Hebrew Sandabar, Greek Syntipas, and a number of other books in European languages. The introduction is Indian, quite similar to that of the Pahcatantra^ as well as the idea that the stories are told to save somebody's life. Most of the
the
tales recur in
of the innocent
some Indian story-book, as that of the death mongoose in the Pancatantra. There can
All the main elements of
its
Indian influence.
framework
its
is
The
not
from Sanskrit.
We
work
as well as a
number of the
tales,
originals, of the
'Arabian Nights'.
artificial epics,
on
descriptions
filled
with
and
figures of speech,
subordinate place, being chiefly employed as the thread connecting a series of lengthy descriptions
full
immense compounds,
their style
is
Owing to makes
them
difficult reading.
not derived
The
earliest
ventures
of the
Ten
Princes
',
I30
Stories,
from Gunastyle
elaborate
it
Kavya
rather
fairy
than by
its
matter.
For
consists of stories
and
is
tales enclosed in a
framework.
The
narrative
so
com-
plicated that
It is often
its thread can only be followed with difficulty. dependent on arbitrary occurrences, such as a curse or dream, and not on inner necessity. The caprice of the fairy tale everywhere prevails. The erotic element is always prominent, the author being fond of dwelling on Dandin descriptions of female beauty or of love-scenes.
shows himself to be a master of the most ornate Kavya style, which, however, he varies with simple unadorned narrative. The whole of the seventh chapter represents a trick of style, which excludes every labial sound from its diction. It is difficult to judge of the extent of Dandin's inventive power, because we do not know how much he His work is particularly borrowed from predecessors. owing to the light it sheds on social life, interesting
especially the
activity of the
dishonest
classes,
such as
daily
The
of a king
in
is
related with
viii.
Virabhadra
in a
chapter
Subandhu, as the author of the romance Vdsavadattd do with the plot of the play attributed to Bhasa), was famous as one of the best of poets. Of his life nothing is known, nor is any other work of his mentioned anywhere. The plan of the tale, which was probably not invented by him, contains features com(the story of which has nothing to
monly occurring
in fairy tales,
in a
is
not to
skill
131
Kavya
The author
we have
certain knowledge.
A.D.)
his
He
of Thanesar
Sanskrit
He
wrote
Kadambari, which relates the fortunes of a princess so named, early in the seventh century. The story is borrowed from a fairly tale in the Brhatkathd of Gunadhya. The narrative consists of a series of
stories
The
is
style
less
is
similar to that of
interesting.
Though
generally tried
it
by the almost
occasionally
is
by short sentences
same extent
much
light
especially
on the
of the adherents
Sivaite sects.
to
the
finished
by
the Harsacarita,
the
Life
and
Doings of Harsha
',
work contains many data that are of importance for literary and political chronology. Thus Bana mentions a number of his predecessors, including Subandhu, Satavahana (Hala), Bhasa, Kalidasa, Gunadhya, and some others. Though he scarcely equals Subandhu in the matter of puns and other
132
and Fables
literary devices,
endowment.
he is far superior to him in true poetical His work is a mixture of truth and fiction,
is
of
some chronological
value, being of
and
still
more
he mentions
ant.
many
sects,
towards
all
criticizing the failings of But he does Thus he remarks A Brahmin who is not religious men. avaricious, a wandering ascetic who is not voracious, are
not refrain
from
:
'
hard to
find.'
first
two chapters of the Harsacarita contain an autobiography supplying valuable information regarding
the poet's
it life.
The
is
often of interest,
is
much impeded by
with similes
phenomena,
panegyric of
teeming
and puns.
first
Thus time by
the
The end
Some idea of the style of these romances may be gained from the following quotation from the Harsacarita describing a disconsolate princess lying prostrate in a
'
wood
and in thought, bent upon death and the root of a tree, fallen upon calamity and her nurse's bosom, parted from her husband and happiness, burnt with the
lost in the forest
fierce
by her companions
and her graces
all
as well
mouth by her hand, she was held fast as by grief I saw her kindred
left bare,
her
ornaments and her aims abandoned, her bracelets and her hopes broken, her companions and needle-like grass-spears clinging round her feet, her eye and her beloved fixed within her bosom, her sighs and her hair long, her limbs
5^ ro>^ Kr p^ ir * Sr
^
^^w sc i
e S
"^
<--)
7^*<5< Rrt:
k, te up ic
15^
It
(*/
Up nr r?
t:^
Ft ^iL
B*
B'
.wi2<2 ^'
^ Hv ^ ^,
r>'=?'
.^t
\m
Story-books
133
and her merits exhausted, her aged attendants and her streaming tears falling at her feet ', and so forth. There is no probability that the least influence was exercised on these romances by the Greek novel, or vice But individual short stories or versa, as a literary type. fairy tales may very well have been incorporated from the
other on each side, especially as the result of oral inter-
change rather than of immediate literary borrowing. There is a special kind of story-book called campTi, in which verse in elaborate metres alternates with artificial
prose, but without either predominating.
The
verse serves
as, for
the
same purpose
in
as the prose
it is
instance,
the
Pahcatantra, to
introduce
sententious
The best known of these works is the Nala-campu or Damayantl-kathd, by Trivikrama-bhatta, whose date is known by an inscription of 915 a. D. Here the famous story of Nala and DamayantI is treated over
portant points.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Benfey, Pancatantra,
German
tr.,
Leipzig, 1859.
Hertel, Tatitrd-
khydyika,
German
Vmcott,
tr.,
Leipzig, 1909.
Harvard Oriental
iiesa, 1848.
Series, xi
Hi topadesa,\.r.
Dimnah,
tr.,
Cambridge, 1885.
6'^jrt//rt:/z,
tr.,
Tavvney, Katliasaritsdgara,
2 vols.,
Calcutta, 1880-4.
German
tr.,
Stuttgart, 1899.
Meyer,
tr.,
Dasakumdra-carita,
Leipzig, 1902.
Gray, Vdsavadatta,
New
York, 19 1 3. Covvell and Thomas, Harshacartia, tr., London, 1897. Ridding, Kddambarl, tr., London, 1896. Winternitz, Ceschichte, iii.
265-376, 647-9.
VII
a.
TECHNICAL LITERATURE Theological origin ea7-Uest ivorks composed in sfiha style Grammar Sanskrit^ Prakrit, Pali Lexicography Aniarakosa
:
b.
Hemachandra^s dictionaries ; Pali lexicon c. Philosophy : six orthothe Veddntadox systems Veddnta : The Commentator Sahkara
hatlia-yoga and rdja-yoga Nydya system of logic the Kusumdnjali Digndga the Tarka-satngraha the Vaisesika or atomic school: the Bhdsd-pariccheda Materialistic school of Chdrvdka Possible connexion be/ween Greek and Indian philosophy metrical law-books the code of Legal literature cotnmentaries Manu age relation to the Mahdbhdrata Artha-sdstra or Ydjna^ialkya Ndrada the dhartna-fiibandhas
system
: :
Sdhkhya
sdra
Rdtndnuja^ s
doctrine of bhakti
:
Madhvds dualistic
a?td
Veddnta
system
Sdhkhya-kdrikd
Sdhkhya-sutra
Yoga
Yoga-sutra
d.
its
its
e.
practical arts
sdstra
'
Katitilya
'
Niti-sdra
Medicine
:
'
art of love
g.
h.
essence of conduct
'
/ Kdma
influ-
later medical
works
Astronomy
two periods
Greek
ence
/.
Muhurtas
Sulva-sutras
Astrology :
j.
Mathematics
arithmetic
algebra geometry
its rise in
All
theology.
The study
matical,
hymns
nings
of
lexicography.
Philosophy,
developed
in
the
Upanishads, was never completely dissociated from theology. Vedic ritual, requiring observation of the heavenly bodies, gave rise to the beginnings of astronomy. The construction of the sacrificial altar entailed measurements and led Many of the spells of the Atharvaveda to geometry.
135
The
regulation of
sacrificial worship ended in religious science, which of course With this was necessarily remained a branch of theology.
and secular custom, which, gradually leaving the area of reThese ligion, developed into an extensive legal literature. were forms of technical knowledge which in their early stage were first studied in Vedic schools, but the development of departmental schools finally relegated the Vedic schools to the background. Only a few branches of secular science developed independently of theology
practical
life,
:
poetics
especially that of
government {artha-sdstra),
and the art of love {kdma-sdstra). The earliest form in which all science appeared in writing was the aphoristic
prose style called sutra.
The
which substantives were almost exclusively used, and verbs practically disappeared. Another was fondness for abstract nouns and compounds. In connexion with the sutras was developed an expository style, first probably in grammar and philosophy, of learned prose. Being based on the disputations, at assemblies of scholars, for the purpose of
establishing a
particular doctrine, the technical literature
of India has a scholastic
throughout.
often enlivened by illustrative Thus an argument serving two purposes is stated to be used on the analogy of the lamp on the threshold which shines in both directions, inwards and outwards. The oldest works in the department of technical
This style
is
analogies {^lydya).
'
',
generally
pendia.
superseded
by
later
commentaries
or
com-
136
Technical Literature
a.
Grammar
'
Grammar, called in Sanskrit vydkarana^ or analysis is by the Indians regarded as the first and most important of
',
it
is
the foundation of
all
of them.
greatest achievement of Indian science, it has rendered eminent services to Western philology. The Sanskrit grammarians of India were the first to analyse word-forms,
The
and suffix, to determine the functions of suffixes, and on the whole to elaborate a grammatical sj'Stem so accurate and complete as to be unparalleled in any other country. Grammatical study began with the linguistic investigation of the Vedic hymns. Sakalya's Pada text of the Rigveda^ in which not only the words of the sentence but the parts of compounds and even of certain inflected word-forms are separated, presupposes grammatical analysis. The following line of the Rigveda as it appears in the Samhita \.Qx^t,g6nidtaro ydc chiibhdyafite anjibhis, becomes go-mdtarah. ydt, siibhdyante, anjl-bhih, in the Pada text. The phonetic works called Pratisakhyas and Sikshas may be regarded as grammatical treatises. Technical grammatical terms occur in the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads, and Yaska's Nirukta shows that a considerable grammatical development had taken place by his time but no actual grammar has come down to us from the Vedic period. The oldest grammatical work in Santo recognize the difference between root
;
skrit
is
the celebrated
grammar
{sabddnjisdsaiia, or
It deals
'
doctrine
with Vedic
grammar in the form of exceptions to Classical Sanskrit. The basis of his grammar is the usage of the Brahmanas,
skrit.
Upanishads, and Sutras rather than that of Classical SanThe date of Panini is usually assumed to be about
137
350 B.C., but the evidence for this is very doubtful: it is perhaps safer to say that he lived after, probably soon after, 500 B.C. His birthplace was Salatura in the north-west of
India, near the present Attock.
work was of such pre-eminent merit that it superseded all of them. His grammar has always been highly esteemed by the Indians, and has filled all Western scholars who have studied it with admiration. His rules are expressed with algebraic brevity. For This means that 'short a instance, his last rule is: a d\
decessors
his
^
by name, but
is in
this
a,
grammar
it
treated as
really
long
(as
though
71
is
the
in
English but).
is
characteristic
feature
of
Panini's system
roots.
It
from verbal
was formerly held by various Western scholars that many roots and forms as existent that did not actually occur in the language, and that he had an inadequate knowledge of the Veda but this view has been refuted. The language that Panini's successors, Katyayana and Patanjali, had in view was essentially Classical Sanskrit.
Panini's system treated
;
author of the MaJidbhdsya, 'the Great which does not discuss Panini's rules, but Katyayana's vdrttikas, which are short criticisms on about
Pataiijali
is
the
',
Commentary
In these vdrttikas
Katyayana
in
a hostile
was once thought, but with a view to correct or supplement them quite impartially, and he seldom rejects them. Patafijali is mainly concerned with explaining and criticizing the vdrttikas but he also continues Katyayana's work in examining Panini's sutras in his JMaJidbhdsya. The latter is the oldest extant work in the expository or Bhashya style, which here takes the form of an actual conas
;
138
Technical Literature
and often very
lively dialogue.
The
language
is
The date of Patafijali has been much is now generally accepted that he
century B.C.
It is certain
the
second
must have elapsed between Katyayana and Pataiijali, and a still greater one between Panini and Katyayana. It is therefore a good working theory to assign Panini to 450 B. c,
that a considerable interval
to 250 B.C., and Pataiijali to 150 B.C. These three names bring the development of the science of Sanskrit grammar to a conclusion. We have no knowledge of their predecessors, while the later Indian grammarians have added nothing new. For they did not write about Sanskrit grammar directly, but only about the gram-
Katyayana
The
is
best
sutras of Panini
the Kdsikd
the
Commentary
of Benares
',
by
Jayaditya and Vamana, the former of whom died not later than 662 A.D. This work is distinguished by both brevity
and
clearness.
the SiddhdntaMoonlight of Settled Conclusions in which the sutras of Panini are arranged according to subjects, such as phonetics and declension, and commented on concisely and clearly. It is easy to understand and well adapted as an introduction to the Indian system of kauimidi, or
'
',
grammar.
An
abridgement of
this
work
is
the Laghi-kanmiidl of
Varadaraja.
A philosophic
651 A.D.
grammarian was
Bhartrihari,
who
died in
He
wrote the
treatises
good many
139
is
Such
Nagoji-
The
versified Ganaj'atna-mahodadJii,
',
'
Word -groups
treats the
list
beginning with
this
is
iin,
that
is,
?i.
The
best
com-
mentary on
1250 A.D.
are
by Ujjvaladatta, who
flourished about
The
These rules by Santanava, who lived after Panini and was probably unknown to Pataiijali. The earliest of grammatical works which, though unable
emancipate themselves from Panini, aimed at forming systems, is the Kdtantra of Sarvavarman. It is an elementary work, well suited for beginners, dating probably
to
new
tioned
A commentary written on it is menby Alberunl. The Cdndra-vydkarana, the grammar of Chandragomin, is the Sanskrit grammar best known in
from about 300 A.D.
the
Ceylon.
Buddhist countries of Kashmir, Nepal, Tibet, and The author utilized both the sutras of Panini
and the commentary of Pataiijali. His grammar was composed about 600 A.D. Sakatayana's grammar, the Sdkatdyaiia-vydkarana, which makes use of Panini and the MaJidbhdsya as well as the grammar of Chandragomin, and em[)loys the technical terms partly of Panini and partly of Chandragomin, was composed by the grammarian Sakatayana, a namesake of
one of Panini's predecessors,
in the
The grammar
of
Hemachandra, which
really an im-
I40
Technical Literature
proved edition of Sakatayana, is more practical in arrangement and terminology than the works of Panini, Chandragomin, and Sakatayana. Being meant for Jains it does not
of course deal with the Vedic language and the rules of
accent.
local popularity.
There are various other grammars that have only a The most widely known one in Bengal is the Mngdhabodha of Vopadeva, which differs from Panini both in arrangement and in technical terminology. The
author lived
in
of Panini was transferred to Prakrit, which was regarded simply as a literat'y language derived from
Sanskrit.
The system
The
oldest
Prakrit
grammar extant
is
the
Prdkrta-prakdsa of Vararuchi. That it was a comparatively old work appears from the fact that Bhamaha [c. 650 A.D.), the earliest writer of a treatise on poetics {alamkdra), composed a commentary on it. Vararuchi treats of only four Prakrit dialects, Maharashtrl, Paisachl, Magadhi, and Saurasenl. He and all later grammarians start from the
assumption that Maharashtrl
because
is
it is
is
nearest to Sanskrit.
One
of the older
works
is
of
uncertain date, and the text of which has been very badly
preserved.
Hemachandra
also
wrote a
Prakrit
grammar
which,
though largely based on the work of predecessors, is the most important because of its comprehensiveness and the abundance of its linguistic material. He deals with three
other dialects in addition to the four of Vararuchi, besides
including the Jain form of Maharashtrl.
It is
interesting to
The
value
of
the
Prakrit
Pall
Grammars.
Dictionaries
141
At
least
the
The
Pali
The
oldest Pali
grammar
ppakarana.
He
difters
from others
in
treating Pali as an
;
yet
he uses the terminology of Sanskrit grammar, and frames his sutras on that model. He has utilized Panini and his
successors (including
the Kdsikd
Vriii)
as
well
as the
His work seems to date from between 500 and After 1000 A.D., when it began to be studied
Pali
Burma,
became the
gram-
b.
Lexicography
is
The
to be traced to the
Vedic Nighantus
transition is formed by the DJidtiiRoots and the Gana-pdthas, or Lists of Word-groups The Nighantus contain verbs as well as nouns, but the Kosas only nouns and indeclinables. The Nighantus, again, relate to individual Vedic texts only, while the Ko^as have no specific reference. The dictionaries are collections of rare and important words and meanings for the use of poets. Themselves written in verse (chiefly in the sloka metre), they arc, like the treatises on poetics
Lists of
'.
'
',
{alamkdra),
indispensable
aids
to
poetical
composition.
142
Technical Literature
are
They
of a
general
of other
character,
literary
for
technical
terms
departments,
as
There are two kinds of dictionaries the synonymous and the homonymous. The synonymous class embraces groups of words systematically arranged according to subjects that have the same meaning for instance, all words expressive of earth The homonymous class comprises words with more than one meaning, which, as
astronomy.
; '
'.
is
'
often indicated
in (the
sense of)
'
(genders)
is
'
'adjective'.
The
is
arrangement
due to the dictionaries being intended to be learnt by heart and not to be looked up. The older dictionaries, which are known to us only in a fragmentary way, are quite unsystematic and prolix in their definitions, the explanation often occupying a whole
not generally alphabetical
couplet {sloka).
mentaries only.
kosa, superseded
Many
are
Amara
',
or
Amara-
nearly
all
the
predecessors of Amara.
Nothing certain
is
is
known
His work
is
a dictionary of
synonyms
commentaries on this lexicon, few are known, the best being that of Bhatta Kshlrasvamin, who probably lived c. 1050 A. D. A supplement to the Ainarakosa is the Trikdnda-sesa of Purushottama-deva. It is one of the most important and
the
fifty
Of
interesting extant
it
does
many words
inscriptional
peculiar
143
String of Pearls which contains words than the former work. Nothing is known more of his date, but it cannot well have been far removed from
',
important
lexicon
is
the
AnekdrtJia-sanuiccaya^
a
its
homonymous
antiquity
is
by Sasvata.
;
An
indication of
its
arrangement
for
it
then follow
a section on
those that need a half, and lastly those that take up one;
then
is approximately datable is Halayudha, who wrote about 950 A.D. It is short, consisting of only 900 couplets. One of the most extensive lexicons is the Vaijayantl of Yadavaprakasa, another South Indian, who lived about a century The words are arranged according to the number of later. their syllables, then by the gender, and in every subdivision according to the initial. It is of great importance because it contains many words not to be found in other
The
the Abhidhdna-ratna-mdld of
dictionaries.
Between 11 23 and 1140 A.D. a Digambara Jain named Dhanarnjaya wrote a lexicon entitled Ndma-mdld or Garland of Nouns The poet Mahesvara compiled the homonymous Visvaprakdsa in the year 11 11 A.D. as he himself states. Another poet named Mahkha composed his Anekdrthakosa, accompanied by a commentary, about 11 50 A.D. Of the greatest importance are Hemachandra's dictionaries, which, according to his own statement, he compiled as supplements to his grammar. His lexicon of synonyms is the AbJiidhdna-cintdviani^ which consists of an introduction dealing with the different classes of words, and of six sections enumerating the Jain gods, the Brahmin gods,
'
'.
144
Technical Literature
regions, while the last
As
supplement to this lexicon he compiled the Nighantu-sesa, which is a botanical glossary in 396 slokas. He also wrote
the AnekartJia-saingraJia, a
dictionary of
homonyms
in
first
Of
only two
homonymous
A.D. Kesavasvamin compiled the andrtha-samkalpa, in which the words are well arranged according to the number of syllables, the alphabet, and the gender. The much-quoted dndrthasabda-kosa of Medinikara probably dates from the
dictionaries need be mentioned.
About 1300
fourteenth century.
It is
simply Medini.
the Visvaprakdsa.
associated
It
There are also several special glossaries. Some are with particular Buddhist Sanskrit works, resembling the Vedic Nighantus as being intended for individual texts and not having a metrical form. The oldest
extant Prakrit dictionary
is
the
Pdiya-lacchi-^ndma-mdld
of
Dhanapala written in 279 dryd stanzas and dated 972 A.D. The words are here not arranged on any particular system, except that they begin with the names of gods and of sacred objects. This work was used by Hemachandra in his
Desi-ndma-mdld, or
tinct
Glossary of Provincial Words as disfrom tat-sanias or pure Sanskrit words and from tadIt is very imporbhavas, or words derived from Sanskrit. tant for the study of Prakrit, because the dictionaries on which Hemachandra's work is founded have not been
'
',
preserved.
*
In Sanskrit Prdkrfa-laksmt
'.
145
the AbJiidJidiia-
ppadlpikd, or
'Lamp
of Words', of Moggallana.
it
Dating
follows
from about 1200 A.D., and composed in verse, completely the model of the Amara-kosa.
i.
p.
Zachariae, Die indischen Worterbiicher, in Biihler's Encyclopaedia, Macdonell, History, 1897 (full bibliography down to 1897) 3, Winternitz, Geschiclite, ill. 408-17. 451 f
;
c.
Philosophy
'
science of
of
independent of religion
dai'sanas
('views')
The systems
called
are
not
The
Indians generally
more closely associated pairs. These are regarded orthodox because they hold the Veda to be the principal means of knowledge. They are the Purva- and Uttaramlnidnisd
;
Yoga
the
Nydya and
first
Vai-
sesika.
The
and
as
fourth
These eight
as well
the Sarva-darsana-saingraha,
',
Compendium
of
all
Philo-
by the great Vedanta scholar Madhava sophical Systems (fourteenth century), brother of the famous Vedic comis not regarded as a sdstra or branch of knowledge, like grammar and others, but each individual system or darsana is one in itself. The literature
146
certainty, nor
is
Technical Literature
anything known about their authors, who
to be actually
mythical.
The
They
are
if
Even
we
prove nothing regarding the time when the philosophical systems and schools came into being. Thus, though the
SdnkJiya-sutra
is
the latest of
all
Sankhya philosophy
the oldest.
as reduced to a system
regarded as
I.
Most closely connected with the Vedic religion are the two systems called the Pnrva-mimdmsd and the Uttaramiindinsd,
the
latter
better
known under
is
the
name
of
Veddnta.
They
'
the Veda.
The
',
'
first
(practical) part
of
There must have been such rules but it by no means follows that
laid
down but
of sacrifices
and ceremonies, and no higher authority for religious duties {dharma) than the Veda. These sutras contain little of what we would consider philosophy. Their importance
The Vedanta-sutra
consists in their representing the
147
discussion which
method of
in
extant commentary
a predecessor
fifth
is
belonging to the
century A.D.
He
Two
schools of in-
commentary grew up. The more famous scholar representing one of them was Kumarila, who wrote a very extensive commentary in three parts on
Sabara-svamin's work.
It
is
full
of hair-splitting learning
His polemics are directed chiefly against the Buddhists, who denied the authority of the Veda. Written about 700 A.D., it is of great importance owing to
it contains to contemporary literature Kumarila was a south Indian, and had A later manual a knowledge of the Dravidian languages. the famous Vedanta scholar was the Nydya-mdld-vistara of Madhava. There was an original opposition between the Purva- and the Uttara-mlmdmsd, because the former regarded works, the latter knowledge, as the only means of salvation but finally their antagonism became merged in their common Brahmanic orthodoxy.
and acuteness.
the
many
references
life.
and
social
The
Uttara-minidvisd
is
the Veddnta-
sutra ascribed to Badarayan^jrf^ It must have been constituted contemporaneously with that attributed to Jaimini,
The
only
catchwords,
unintelligible
and as there is no uninterrupted tradition between Badarayana and Sahkara, whose commentary is the oldest extant, it is not always certain what Badarayana's doctrine was. It appears, however, to be undoubted that one of the main doctrines of the later Vedanta,
without a commentary
148
that of mdya^
illusion,
Technical Literature
which holds the phenomenal world to be an
has not yet been developed in the Veddjita-sutra. It is first met with in the Kdrikds of Gaudapada, which, excepting the sutras, are among the earliest products of
Vedanta
principal
literature.
exponent of the a-dvaita (' non-dualistic ') doctrine, He distinguished a lower kind of knowor strict monism. ledge suited to the comprehension of the many, and a higher kind which met the requirements of strict philosophic thought. His chief works were commentaries on the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgttd, and the
Vedanta- sutr a.
Many
We know nothing about his life, but in all probahe flourished from about 800 A.D. onwards. Every word of the Upanishads is irrefutable truth to both Badarayana and to Sankara, but they differ in their interpretation. The style of Sahkara is no longer that of a living dispuHis sentences tation, but rather that of a scientific treatise. are long and involved. But his exposition is clear and transparent compared with that of the later philosophic commentaries. His Gitdbhdsya, or Commentary on the Bhagavadgitd is rather an independent religio-philosophic
to him.
bility
'
',
treatise
than a commentary
tries to
in
From
the
Gttd he
its
adduce proofs
for his
own
doctrine, especially
Of his other works may be mentioned the Atmabodha, a compendium of the Vedanta doctrine in sixty-seven stanzas, with an appended commentary. The subsequent literature
of Sahkara's monistic doctrine
is
very extensive.
The Vedanta-sara
The
is
Ramaniija s
Theism
149
best
known and
'
favourite short
handbook of the
Vedanta
',
by
after
of the system.
As
sects.
so the other
religious
importance to the adherents of Sankara were those of Ramanuja, who, in propounding the doctrine of
in one Ramanuja's activity ranges between 11 75 and 1250 a.d. He was a south Indian, a native of Conjeeveram. The names of his father, mother, and teachers are known. Originally a monist, he became the founder of the theistic Vaishnava sect of south India. His chief work is the Srlbkdsya, or
'
The next
qualified
monism
',
God
{bJiakti).
'
Glorious
Commentary
'.
Though
a convinced believer in
of Saiikara on the relation of action and knowledge, on true knowledge, on the mutual connexion between Brahman and the world, on salvation, and so on. His chief aim, the reconciliation of the doctrines of the
Upanishads, the Bhagavadgltd, the Mahdbhdrata, and the Puranas, with his own religion and philosophy, was theological rather than philosophical. To Ramanuja the legendary Vyasa was the seer and arranger not only of
the
Veda and
as well.
He assumes
God
as the
Supreme
Soul.
His
Sankhya
I50
Technical Literature
His doctrine of devotion combine with his
Rama-
Bhagavad-gitd.
A
(i
1971376),
well-known founder of a religious sect was Madhva who wandered about the country preaching
his doctrine.
He
Bhdgavata Purdna, as
works.
number
of independent
very forced interpretations of the texts he endeavoured to reconcile his dualistic conception of the
By
world by combining the Vedanta with the Sarikhya system and the Bhagavata religion. He summarized the doctrines
of his dualistic Vedanta
as a strenuous
in his
Tattva-sahkJiydna.
He
wrote
opponent of Sankara. The founder of another sect was Vallabha (147 8-1530), who was devoted to the cult of Krishna. He wrote a commentary on the Veddnta-sutra entitled Amibhdsya, The Vedanta philosophy allied itself not only with VishHere, too, we find that the
in
original monistic
doctrine
branches off
dualistic
and
Bhakti directions.
{a).
The
Veda^ and
later
the
doctrines
regarding
Brahman and
'
Atman
in the
enumera-
tive philosophy', so called because classification of prinIt is the philosophy ciples is characteristic of the system.
151
The
For
it
was not based, like the Vedanta, on the interof Vedic writings. It was only later that it attached itself to Brahmanism. For the founder rejects conception of Brahman and the world-soul. the He distinguishes matter, which is real, and an infinite plurality of individual souls, which are not regarded as emanations of
pretation
a single world-soul.
The
is
primeval matter
{prakrti),
which
in spite
of
its
oneness
Suffer;
but
knowledge causes deliverance from suffering. The Sankh}^a is thus not only a system explaining the world, but also a method of salvation. But of all these doctrines there is nothing in Vedic literature they thus form a direct contrast with those of the Veda. The teaching of the Sankhya, however, already exercised some influence on the second chronological stratum of the Upanishads the Kat/ia, the ^vetdsvatara, the Prasna,
;
:
There
in
is
a mixture of
the
philosophical
sections
Mahdbhdrata,
the
The Sahkhya
is
might more correctly be styled Puranic philosophy cannot be doubted that It Buddha grew up in the atmosphere of Sahkhya thought, for it is the essential basis of his world-view. There seems, in fact, good reason to believe that the Sahkhya doctrine came into being as a system between 800 and 550 B.C.
'
Epic philosophy
'.
'
152
Technical Literature
it
That
is
spread
indicated
the blind
in early times beyond the confines of India by the Saiikhya parable of the co-operation of and the lame man being known in China in the
The
oldest
and
completely
is
preserved
work
of
the
Sdhkhya-kdrikd of IsvaraThis work, with a commentary, was translated krishna. It seems not uninto Chinese between 557 and 569 A.D. likely that both text and commentary were anterior to the Buddhist teacher Vasubandhu, and came into existence about 300 A.D. It is written in the drya metre, and prephilosophy
the
sents a clear exposition of the
Sahkhya
Sahkhya
doctrine.
very
late
French
Sanskritist
Auguste
scholastic
as
of India.
The account
doctrine
by
The most
and
at the
valuable commentary on the Sdiikhya-kdrikd, same time the best methodical account of the
in general, is
Sahkhya doctrine
the Sdhkhya-iattva-kmimiidl
of Vachaspati-misra.
The
Sdhkhya-sfitra,
dates, in the
form
in
sTitra that
is in all likelihood based on an older SdhkJiyawas known many centuries earlier. Its oldest commentary, the Sdhkhya-sntra-vrtti, was written about J 500 A.D. by Aniruddha. About 1550 A.D. was composed the Sdhkhya-pravacanabhdsya by Vijiiana-bhikshu, who as a strict Vedanta theist
century, but
own
views.
He
by the four
153
be ultimately derived
its
from
Indian
medical science,
which separates
disease,
and
cure,
as
Vijnana-
bhikshu himself
{b).
belief,
While the Sahkhya arose independently of the Yoga was the immediate result of
Its origin
needs.
may
the
primary meaning
is
'
aim
senses for
the
Such
there
when
was no essential difference between a saint and a magician. That they were pre-Buddhistic in India appears from the As great part these exercises play in ancient Buddhism.
restraint of the senses
include morality.
In this aspect.
Yoga
is
to be found
differs
only
in its
and
in
in its
adoption of theism.
is
But
its
con-
god
somewhat
loose one.
The
god {isvara) of the Yoga system does not create, reward, or punish. He is only a separate soul which is eternally combined with the most subtile constituent of matter, thus possessing the attributes of power, goodness, and wisdom. Devotion to God is only one element in Yoga morality
21M0
154
{kriydyogd).
Its
Technical Literature
philosophical basis
is
otherwise entirely
is
the
Sarikhya system.
title
Hence Sdhkliya-pravacana
the
Yoga
philosophy,
who, however, is probably not identical with the grammarian, the author of the Mahdbhdsya. It consists of four sections, which deal with the
ascribed
to
Patanjali,
means
of
concentration, the
which consists in the isolation {kaivalya) of the soul. The philosophy of the system is contained in the commentaries.
The
oldest of these
is
the
legendary Vyasa, and probably dating from about 500 A.D. This work was further commented on by Vachaspati-misra,
Vijnana-bhikshu, and King Bhoja (eleventh century).
a later period belong the treatises on hatka-yoga or
'
To
strict
Yoga
',
ternal aspects of
which are practical manuals giving rules on the exYoga, such as postures, breathing, diet,
'
and so on, as opposed to the raja-yoga, royal Yoga Patanjali, which is chiefly concerned with meditation.
'
of
3.
More closely complementary than the Sankhya and Yoga were the two systems called Nyaya and Vaiseshika, which finally coalesced to a single principle. Being essentially independent of religious belief, they may be described as strictly scientific systems of logic and the theory of knowledge.
',
of argumentation.
such a part
arguing,
in ancient
called nydya-sdstra, a
body of
was
rules
and
inferring
naturally
developed.
The
155
Nyaya system and author of the Nydya-sutra by tradition unanimously reputed to have been Akshapada Gotama. It cannot, however, be doubted that the Sutra attributed to him is the work of a school, not of an individual man. Its original form must also have undergone modifications and interpolations. It consists of five books, of which the first two deal with logic and the theory of knowledge and dialectics; the third with psychology; the fourth with rebirth and salvation while the fifth is a supplement. It may date from about 300 A.D. in its latest shape, but its original form must be much older. There is a very old commentary, the Nydya-sutra-blidsya, which bears a certain likeness to Pataiijali's Mahdbhdsya, by Pakshila-svamin Vatsyayana, who lived not improbably about 350 A.D. The whole orthodox Nyaya-sastra consists of five works the Sutra, its commentary, and three super-commentaries. The Nydyasutra-bhdsya was commented on by Uddyotakara, who is quoted by the poet Subandhu, and who himself
;
:
The
latter lived
about 635 A. D. and on his part refers to Uddyotakara. Hence it is highly probable that these three writers weie
contemporaries about 6-3^^ to 650 A.D. Udayana, a highly esteemed writer on Nyaya and Vaiseshika, lived in the tenth century, one of his works being dated 984 A.D. He was the author of the Kusuindnjali, or Handful of Blos'
soms
'
the existence of
God from
the
Nyaya
point of view.
The
doctrine
of the
Mimamsakas
in the Saiikhya,
and
in
Buddhism.
He
The
school
'
five
works mentioned above constitute the old of logic. The great Buddhist logician Dignaga
'
156
Technical Literature
This
is
chiefly
repre-
Tibetan translations.
pupil of
Dharmapala, who before 6^^ A.D. had been head of the school at Nalanda, was Dharmakirti. He wrote the Nydyabindii, to which Dharmottara, who lived about 800 A.D. in Kashmir, composed a commentary. The famous Jain scholar Hemachandra wrote a work on
logic entitled
'
Pramdna-mlmdnisd
in
The
new school
'
Nyaya
An
is
of religious
endeavoured to explain the origin of the world from atoms, seems to have been akin to the lokdyata materialistic philosophy. The Nyaya and Vaiseshika were the philosophy
of non-theological scholars and
'
heretics
'.
It is significant
development.
There
is
the Jain philosophy. The former may have arisen before the Jain and the Buddhist canon, about the second century but the Vaisesika-sfitra, which is the basis of the system, and the authorship of which is attri-
Vaiseshika and
is
its
it is
was
superficial
manner.
No
old
commentary
of the Vaisesika-
Handbooks on
suira has
entitled
the Nyaya-Vaiseshtka
157
The bhdsya of Prasastapada Paddrtha-dharma-saingra/ia probably dates from about 700 A.D., and is really an independent manual in which the subject-matter is systematically arranged. It is
been
preserved.
at
adherents of both
Nyaya and
Vaiseshika.
by The commentary
with which in 991 A. D. Sridhara supplied this work was the first Vaiseshika text to set forth theism formally. The first
commentary,
for, as
it
in
value,
about 1600 A.D., the tradition of the original interpretation had long died out.
late as
is a great mass of commentaries and other works on the Nyaya and Vaiseshika which, in the later period,
was written as
There
are
indistinguishable.
This
literature
tends
rather
to
this
later
time
exist.
adapted to serve as introductions not only to the Nyaya- Vaiseshika, but to Indian scientific literature in
general.
The
oldest
of these handbooks
is
the Sapta-
paddrtJil of Sivaditya,
twelfth century.
is
treatise
over India,
whose author
in
commentary on \\iQ Nydya-sntra known in Europe of these handbooks is the Tarka-saingraha by the south Indian Annam Bhatta. It is a short and clear summary of the most important tenets of logic and dialectic. The date of
the year 1634.
The
best
the author
is
uncertain, though
it
sixteenth century.
Sivaite sects attached themselves closely to the
Nyaya
seen,
as
we have
158
Technical Literature
systems was
'
the
doctrine
',
of
lokayata,
the
That
in
it
was an
Vinaya-
indicated
the
to
occupy them-
Of the
known
We
are
a sutra
by
the Mahdbhdsya.
It is
by
all
Veda, but as
gence.
They
regarded
intelli-
body
is
They regarded it as coming into being when the formed by the combination of elements, just as the
arises
power of intoxication
ingredients.
When
therefore the
duced
things.
by
transmigration,
is
body is destroyed, the Thus results cannot be probut by the true nature of
nothing but earthly pain pro-
and salvation is simply the disThey do not admit the existence of anything supernatural. The Vedas they describe as the incoherent rhapsodies of knaves, and as tainted with the three blemishes of falsehood, self-contradiction, and tautology Vedic teachers as impostors, whose doctrines are mutually destructive and the ritual of the Brahmins as of no value except as a means of livelihood. If an animal that is sacrificed reaches heaven, why, they ask, does the sacrificer not rather offer his own father ? The only end of man they regard as sensual pleasure to be enjoyed by ignoring
solution of the body.
; ;
159
any pains
'
it
may
involve.
let
;
remains
the
to
',
they say,
let a
man
live
happily,
when once
ever return
in
to ashes,
how can
it
life ?
It is
which such views are set forth should not have survived in an environment so uncongenial to them as the general trend
of Indian thought.
The
in
question whether Greek and Indian philosophy were any way connected has often engaged the attention of
scholars.
The
sophical literature
are such that the possibility of the Greeks ever having directly studied Indian philosophical
is
texts
extremely remote.
Any
influence exercised
by
between the Eleatic school of Xenophanes and Parmenides and the Vedanta is probably due to parallel development rather than borrowing. The influence of the Saiikhya on Greek philosophy is possible and perhaps even probable. In the case of Pythagoras, Indian influence is by some scholars thought to be undoubted. On the other hand, Greek influence on the Nyaya and Vaiseshika has been suggested though not
similarity
The
proved.
Thus
may have
and the atomic theory of Empedocles the parallel atomic doctrine in India.
Cowell
may have
affected
of all Philosophical
and Gough, Sarvadarsana-samgraha^ *A Compendium Systems tr., 2nd ed., London, 1894. Max Miiller, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, new ed., London, 1903.
',
Macdonell, Hisiory, ch. xv, pp. 451-2 (bibliography). Geschichfe, iii. 417-78.
Winternitz,
i6o
Technical Literature
d.
Legal Literature
is
Dharina-sastra
Sanskrit.
comes within the sphere of right. The oldest treatises on this subject are the dharmasutras, which grew up in close connexion with the works on They are not compendia of law, but deal ritual {kalpa). with the religious duties of man. They proceeded from the Vedic schools and were used by Brahmins for the purpose
conduct, duty, in fact
all
that
They form
rights of householders,
sections
and
They
but in
all
in
The
is
original form.
Gautama
Dharma-sdstra.
V'lsnu-smrti
i6i
Most probably the oldest of this class of treatises is the Dharma-sdstra of Gautama, which belongs to a school of Though quoted by some of the earliest the Sdmaveda. Dharma-sutras, it seems to contain some interpolations. Later than Gautama is the Vdsistha-dharma-sutra, which
probably belonged to a north Indian school of the Rigveda.
good many interpolations. It quotes Manu, which was probably the basis of a DJiarma-sutra of The latter work once the famous Mdnava-dharma-sdstra.
This, too, contains a
quotes the
Vdsistha-dharma-sutra, which probably dates from some centuries before our era. more extensive legal work than any of those mentioned is the Vaisnava-
It is
founded
The Vishnuite redaction, in to the Black Yajurveda. which form it has come down to us, cannot date from earlier
than about 200 A.D., as
is
days of the week, including the term jaiva, for Thursday, which is based on the Greek name Z^v^. The passages in which widow-burning is recomof the seven
names
the
mended belong to the same time. But the oldest parts of work must go back to a very early period, for the texts of the Kathaka school, with which the Visnu-smrti is connected, are
among
A
As
that
of Harlta, quoted
is
by both Apastamba and Baudhayana. the case both in the BaudJidyana-sutra and in the
with
and with tristubh stanzas. Although the chronology of the legal literature is uncertain, it can be assumed with probability that the older Dharmasutras belonging to the Vedic schools date from between
2910
i62
Technical Literature
At any
literature,
rate,
Thus the
Apas-
Vedic schools early gave all classes. It was in these legal schools that the metrical Dharma-sastras and Smritis arose. These were no longer handbooks for the narrow circle of a particular Vedic school, but for the teaching of the religious and secular rights and duties of all the three twice-born classes. These manuals naturally became
of
in
The teaching
dharma
in
much
for
The sntra
style
was adopted.
The
teachers of
as
its
The
two
authorities were
many
in
Much
old
thus preserved
Numerous
in the epics,
is
and
legal
maxims
in
especially the
Mahdbhdrata.
fifth
Hence the
epic {itihdsa)
stated to be a
source o{ dJiarma.
as authori-
down
castes,
Though claiming
validity for
all
TJie
Mdnava-dharma-sastra
163
much
ity
No work
the Mdnava-dharnnaMami-smrti, or Code of Manu Not only in India, but among early European Sanskrit scholars, fantastic views were held regarding the age of this work. Thus Sir William Jones attributed it to the thirteenth century B.C., and A. W. v. Schlegel to not later than 1000 B.C. It has been shown to be based on an It is antecedent Dhanna-sutra^ which was later versified. in fact probably one of the earlier examples of the trans-
throughout India
'
'.
which
it
must
have come into being have not been narrowed down to a shorter period than about four centuries between 200 B.C.
:
Mahdbhdrata is some importance in investigating its date. In the latest sections of the Mahdbhdrata, especially Book XIII, passages of a Dharvia-sdstra of Manu are quoted and actually occur On the other hand, a large number of in our Mami-smrti. identical verses occur in both works without being designated as quotations. As the varieties of reading are somerelation of the to the
of
The
Mann-smrti
in
both
texts
been
we have
and of which
priority in the
it would be vain to attempt to assign the one text or the other. We seem to be justi-
Manu-smrii
that
its
latest parts
quote
\
i64
Technical Literature
and that both texts borrowed a considerable amount of identical material from the sententious poetry that was the common property of the educated. No more definite
chronological conclusions are justified in the present state
of our knowledge.
The
contents of the
it
interval
and the oldest Dharma-sutras, which, like Apastamba's, have remained unmodified by interpolation, must be considerable. The purely legal parts of the Manu-smrti amount to rather more than one-fourth of the whole work. Owing to the sources from which a considerable portion of the book is derived, it produces on the whole the impression of a didactic poem, in which imagery, similes, and The author evidently aimed at elevated diction abound. producing a literary work rather than a dry manual of
between
jurisprudence.
Manu
is
the
in
every part of
in
Medhatithi,
who
lived in
Kashmir, probably
the
mentary
whom
he speaks of as ancient.
distinguished
Another commentator,
is
Govindaraja,
by accuracy, and is valuable The best known, for its explanations of difficult passages. because most frequently printed, commentary is that of
is
whose work
It is
The
Manu
the islands of Java and Bali, whose law has been greatly
influenced
by
this code.
Next
in
age to
Mann
is
the
Yajhavalkya-smrti^
the
TJie
Yajnavalkya-snirti
and
the
Mitaksara
165
Dharma-sastra of Yajnavalkya. It is probably based on a no longer extant DJiarma-sutra belonging to eastern India and attached to the White Yajurveda for it has been shown It is to have affinities with the Grhya-sutra of that Veda. evident that Yajnavalkya represents a more advanced stage
;
more concise, more clearly arranged, While Mann confines the sphere of evidence to the statements of witnesses, and in the matter of ordeals treats only of those by fire and water, Yajnavalkya deals exhaustively with written documents as evidence, and knows five kinds of ordeals. This law-book also
than
for
it
Mami,
is
Many indications appear in it that it dates from no earlier than 300 A.D. The most famous of the many commentaries on Yajnavalkya is the Mitaksara of Vijnanesvara. This is, however, more than a commentary, being really a juristic work based on Yajnavalkya. The author was a south Indian who lived between 1050 and iioo A.D. His work early acquired a great reputation in Benares as well as the Deccan, and as late as the beginning of last century acquired a new importance within the jurisdiction of British India through Colebrooke's translation (1810) of its section on the law of inheritance. Quite a number of commentaries were written on this authoritative work. The date of the Ndrada-smrti seems to be somewhat later still, as would appear from internal evidence. It is much more advanced in its treatment of law than Mann. Thus it emphasizes written procedure and documentary evidence. It has much more elaborate subdivisions under various heads. Thus Mannas eighteen titles of the law have in Ndrada 132 subordinate divisions. The occurrence of the word dlndra (the Latin denarius), as the name of a gold coin, shows that the Ndrada-smrti could not have
Mann.
66
Technical Literature
into being before the second century B.C., and that was probably not composed before the fourth century A.D., because though Roman gold coins were already in abundant use in India in the first century A.D., the word dinar a is not met with till 400 A. D. in inscriptions. The BrhaspaH-smrti, of which only fragments have been preserved in medieval quotations, is still more closely connected with Mami than Ndrada for it resembles a comit
;
come
It
in
it
known only
collections,
in
a fragmentary
way from
quotations.
Many
in
with parts.
One
of the
is
mented on by Madhava
is identical with the one mentioned by Medhatithi in the ninth century. Of greater importance than the later law-books are the Dharma-iiibandhas^ which are systematic and sometimes very extensive works on dharma. This type of legal literature began to be produced from about iioo A. D., and continues to appear even at the present day. Many of these works are important on account of the numerous quotations they contain from older works that have since been lost. One of the earliest books of this class is the Smrti-kalpataru by Lakshmldhara, the minister of a king who is identical with Govindachandra of Kanauj (1105-43 A.D.).
Hemddris Catw^varga-ctntdmani
167
Between 1260 and 1309 A.D. Hemadri wrote a bulkywork entitled Caturvarga-cintdmani^ which in five chapters
deals with vows, almsgiving, places of pilgrimage, salvation,
and the sacrificial calendar. It also teems with quotations from the Puranas and the Smritis. Other compendia treat of law in the strict sense {vyavahdra).
funeral rites {srdddha),
One
the
of these
is
probably
Ddyabhdga, on the law of inheritance, is the chief authority of the Bengal school of law, and was translated
into English
by Colebrooke.
Dhanna-nibandhas were
for the pur-
und
Sitfe, in Biihler's
Encyclopaedia,
ii,
part
iii.
8,
1896.
Macdonell, History,
(bibliography
428-30.
Winternitz,
Geschichte,
479-504
down
to 1922).
e.
mentioned
human
{trivarga)
economics, administration,
latter as
'
was developed a branch of comprehending practical arts, and especially politics. The
is
an independent branch
Since the king was government regarded as requiring a knowledge of the other aspects of arthasdstra, the term nitisdstra is sometimes used as a synonym. Because to the Indian mind government meant
science of conduct or
is
also
called rdjaniti,
68
Technical Literature
metrical
The extant
Mahdbhdrata
duties
ultimately based
on revelation
that conduce to gaining material results apart from considerations of religion or morality.
(p.
93)
speaks
of
self-aggrandizement
entirely
the
sub-
jugation of the
{lilti).
enemy
opposed to
methods,
rejecting the
give
way
to
By
is
far
the
K autillya-arihasdstra,
Chanakya
of
on
the
the
to
art
of
government and
(otherwise
administration
the
attributed
Kautilya
of
or Vishnugupta),
minister
Chandragupta
tical
Maurya
dynasty.
No work
of
full information on the poliand economic conditions of ancient India. Though its existence was long known, it was not edited till 1906. It is written in prose consisting in a mixture of sfitra and commentary which it is hardly possible to separate. A few verses are interspersed in it, and every chapter ends with one or more stanzas generally well adapted in sense to the
preceding prose.
As
regards
its
Arthasdstra
is
sinriis.
One
of
its
chapters
is
getting rid
nothing,
it is
of traitors
indicated,
and
is
enemies
state
and
an end.
work
of ancient India,
if
it
it
would have a
For then
169
evi-
dence regarding Indian literature and civilization for such an early period as the fourth century B. C. But unfortunately
activity of Kautilya
Chandragupta ascended B. c, and in 302 B.C. the Greek Megasthe throne about 322 thenes came to his court as the ambassador of Seleukos
either as a teacher or an author.
Nikator.
written
We
possess
fragmentary account
of
India
by him during his long stay in the country. But neither he nor any other ancient author knows anything of A careful comthe celebrated minister of Chandragupta.
parison of Megasthenes'
sastra does not
confirm
No
appreciable agreement
to
MaJidbhdsya mentions the Mauryas and the court Chandragupta, but not a word about Kautilya. All our information about Kautilya belongs to the region of legend and poetry and even here there is nothing about
;
and author. In the Artliasdstra no trace of any reference to the Nandas, the Mauryas, or King Chandragupta and the conditions prethere
is
the
first
Arthasdstra
is
to
probability
that
chapters
were added
itself
work.
In the book
the author
is
by
name
2S40
The name of
as in Sutras,
Kautilya, too,
mentioned
in
the
same way
lyo
Technical Literature
The
sastra
ascribed
of
to
Kautilya because
the
legendary
minister
way all
political
maxims
Surveying the work as a whole, we find that, in addition to politics in the narrow sense, it contains a mass of material, requiring expert knowledge, on subjects like architecture, mining, military science, and so on, all of which no individual man, even The works of in ancient India, could have mastered.
came
to be traced to
Chanakya.
specialists
much
alteration.
in
the theory
presupposed before
a single work.
literature
all
in
From
it
a consideration of
which
the conclusion
seems
for
that
it
is
earliest.
It is
Some
book
500 years
earlier.
is
The
to
But Machiavelli bases his an aspect entirely absent in Kautilya, who founds his methods solely on theory, as to what means are best adapted to safeguarding the ruler, though his theory probably often corresponds to
a monarchical
state only.
later
and somewhat
different
kind
of
work
is
the
Entirely written
Nitisara
in verse,
it
Nitivdkyamrfa
Like a Kavya
it
l'jt
poem than
of a
manual of
divided into
cantos.
author eulogizes
Vishnugupta as having by the efficacy of his intrigues secured the earth for Chandragupta. Elsewhere he speaks of Kautilya as his giirii^ that is to say, as the master on whom he draws as his chief source. Probably several centuries lie between Kautilya and Kamandaki, the literary evidence regarding whom points to his dating from between 700 and
750 A.D.
entirely.
Though
Hence
tenth
in
its
as well.
In
the
composed
Political
Kashmir
'.
Doctrines
It
It fre-
may
commentary.
;
It
is
is,
different kind
for
it
and economics, but rather an educational work intended for the guidance of kings. The author includes in nlti not only political wisdom, but also moral conduct. Although a Jain, he assumes the outlook of a Brahmin and is a strict adherent
of the caste system.
It
is
in short,
terse sentences, but not at all in the sutra style, the lan-
guage being clear and simple. The author is fond of introducing sentences of a proverbial type. Such are man
:
'
who has
is
of eyes'; 'Better
One should
not indulge
'.
living beings
172
Jechiiical Literature
short
is
chandra
Politics for
work by the well-known Jaina monk HemaBrief Manual on It is composed in slokas interspersed Jainas'.
the Laghv-arJian-nltisdstra,
'
in prose.
By
its
far
the greater
to
in
name seems
but with
civil
Manu-
There are several other works on niti, some of them attributed by their writers to mythical sages of old. The editor of two of these endeavoured to show that the ancient Indians were acquainted with fire-arms and gunpowder Belonging to the sphere of artJiasastra are all kinds of manuals dealing with special branches of practical knowledge, such as the treatment of horses and elephants, the art of war {dhaniirveda), architecture, the science of gems, and so on. The term silpa-sdstra, though strictly speaking
the lore of plastic
art, is
which
'
is
science of building
'.
One
works on architecture is the Mdna-sdra, or Quintessence of Measurements as connected with the foundations and building of houses and temples, townplanning, construction of images, and so forth. There are also works on the art of music {saviglta-sdstrd) both vocal and instrumental. At a later stage were produced special handbooks covering the whole ground of
of the chief
'
musical art
musical
organization of musical
details.
An
old
work of the kind is the Sanigita-ratndkara by Sarhgadeva of Kashmir. Nothing more is known about its date than A that its commentator Kallinatha lived about 1450 A.D. later work is the Sajngita-darpana of Damodara, who not
173
word
for
word
when he
differs
probably borrowed from older sources and is to this extent important. There are also monographs on melodies, as the
Ragavibodha of Somanatha written in 1609 A.D. An old science is that of gems, with which Varahamihira shows familiarity in his Brhat-sajuJiita. Several works on this subject are extant, but their date is unknown.
Even the
and
in
art of thieving
is
mentioned
in
the MahdbJidrata
treatise,
and one such work has actually been preserved. It is entitled Saiinmkha-kalpa, or Rules of the six-headed One ', that is, of the god of war, Karttikeya, who is regarded as the guardian deity of thieves. Magic is an art in which the chief of a robber gang is required to be well-versed.
'
This subject
508-35-
is
by Winternitz, Geschichte,
ill.
/
The
literature
life,
KamasAstra
object of
which is connected with kdina, the third and which goes under the designation of
'
KdmasasirUy or
Doctrine of Love
',
cannot be altogether
The
who
of
The
most
it must be borne in mind that the Indian is always much more outspoken on sexual matters than we are. Like other Sanskrit manuals, it contains many pedantic
divisions, classifications,
'
and definitions. It cannot in any way Ars amatoria of Ovid. The greater
'
work should be
174
Technical Literature
its
but
it
some importance
in
the history of
and civilization. The third section contains some valuable supplementary information on the marriage customs described in the Grhya- and Dharma-sutras, and the
literature
Though this is the earliest extant work on the subject, Vatsyayana himself mentions that he had many predecessors. The Kdmasdstra has a close connexion with the writers of Kavya, for its study is enjoined on these poets, and the manuals of poetics {alavikdra) contain many sections that touch upon the subjects contained in the Kdmasdstra. Both Subandhu and Bhavabhuti are thoroughly familiar with the Kdmasntra, the latter even quoting it. This shows that Vatsyayana's work must have been written before 600 A.D. On the other hand, it is undoubtedly later
than Kautilya's Arthasdstra.
ture that
it
We may
therefore conjec-
There
entitled
who
A
'
rather extensive
literature
on erotics flourished
A. D.,
in
may
Secret of
Of this Love
',
to
Another
',
well-known work
is
the Anaiiga-ranga,
'
by a
royal author
lived
bibliography.
175
g.
Medicine
The beginnings
Vedic times. In the magical hymns of the AtJiarvaveda and the magical ceremonies of the ritual literature, especially
the
to this
Here
for-
the
first
'
medicine
man
'.
gotten
India
for
even
in
scientific
medical works
ginnings of anatomy, embryology, and hygiene. Thus the Atharvaveda and the Satapatha Brdlimana contain an exact enumeration of the bones of the human skeleton.
The
old
name
of medical science
is
Ayiirveda, or
'
Veda
of
longevity',
AtJiarvaveda.
The age
of medical science in
India
is
attested
by
its
literature.
study of medicine.
This
is
indicated
by
by the Chinese
traveller I-tsing
The
texts
Buddhist.
buried
An ancient
in
was found
in
leSyo at
Kucha
that
in
Chinese Turkistan
Buddhist relic-mound
indicates
{stnpa).
it
The
from
palaeo-
graphical
evidence
dates
about
350
A.
I).
One
of
176
Technical Literature
garlic,
which is said to heal many diseases and to prolong life to one hundred years. Another, entitled Ndvaniiaka (' Cream'); is an abstract of the best of earlier treatises. The contents include prescriptions of an archaic type, and many medical authorities are mentioned, but none now known except Susruta. All these manuscripts, which are fragmentary, are in verse, partly even in artificial metres. The language in which they are written is Sanskrit
mixed with
Prakritisms.
authorities on
The
three ancient
no longer extant, of
is,
different branches of
medicine.
The
Caraka-sainhitd
according to
its
own
statement,
The Chinese translation (472 A. D.) of the Pali Tipitaka states that Charaka was the court physician of
If this
King Kanishka.
certain.
It is,
statement
is
correct,
Charaka
is
un-
down to us in its original form. Both the manuscripts and the editions show very divergent readings. Moreover, a Kashmlrian named Dridhabala, who lived about 800 A.D., supplied about one-third of the text, besides revising and adding to the whole work. But the original part of the
book, which,
like
the
K autillya-arthasdstra,
is
written
doubtedly old,
treatises
on medicine.
of medical science.
The
whole
One
of
its
statements
is
Charaka and
and abstemiousness.
Siisriita
177
Charaka
is
as well as a physician.
and with the doctrine that sin is one of the causes of disease, he also gives many religious and moral precepts. In his discussions about the soul he shows himself familiar
with the Saiikhya philosophy, as well as with the theory
of the syllogism in the Nyaya, and with the categories of
The
oldest
commentary on Charaka
is
that of Chakra-
Long
Charaka had been translated into Persian, and thence into Arabic about 800 a.D. The best known Indian treatise on medicine is the Susruta-sainJiita, which is composed in prose intermixed with verse but, both in language and matter, it appears
before that time
;
The
name
of Susruta
was known
in
Cambodia
famous physician. Though it cannot be doubted that Susruta belongs to one of the early centuries of our era and cannot be much later than Charaka, the authenticity of the text of his work in its extant form is guaranteed by the safeguard of commentaries only from the Before that time it was proeleventh century onwards. bably subjected to considerable changes. Thus it is said to have undergone a revision at the hands of Nagarjuna. Susruta, as contrasted with Charaka, was particularly partial to surgery, which is hardly touched upon by the Susruta requires a high moral standard in earlier author.
as to the Arabs, as that of a
1'hus he says
among
other
Aa
lys
if
Technical Literature
and sinners no medical aid at all should be extended. oldest commentaries on Susruta no longer survive; the earliest one extant is the Bhdmmiati of Chakrapanidatta, the commentator of the eleventh century already
casts,
The
mentioned.
With the name of Vagbhata, the last of the medical trio, are associated two famous works, the Astaiigasanigra/ia,
'
Compendium
'
',
hrdaya-saniliitd,
Branches
in a
of medicine.
Even
in
older than
entirely metrical.
The
difference
also.
between
apparent
in their
matter
When
quoted by later medical writers the former appears as Vriddha-Vagbhata, the old Vagbhata while the latter is
'
',
On
these grounds
we
are justified
assuming that there were really two writers of the name, and that the elder probably lived about 600 A.D., the younger some two centuries later. The elder was probably the man of whom, without mentioning his name, the Chinese traveller I-tsing says that he had recently written
a
compendium of
The
was undoubtedly a Buddhist, and probably the younger also. Both of them quote Susruta as well as
elder
Charaka.
Much about
that
is, c.
the same time as the younger Vagbhata, 800 A.D., was written the Rttg-viniscaya, Investi'
gation of Diseases',
This work
referred to
is
generally called
still
by the
shorter
of Niddna.
This
179
on the subject. Its celebrity is attested by the number of commentaries to which it gave rise. It is presupposed by Vrinda's Siddhiyoga or Vrndainddhava, which gives prescriptions for all diseases ranging from fever to the results of poisoning. The two works are so intimately connected that they have even been supposed to be by the same author. Chakrapanidatta, a native of Bengal, already mentioned as a commentator on Charaka and Susruta, was also an independent medical author. He wrote in 1060 A.D. the Cikitsd-sdra-saingraJia, a large compendium of therapeutics, based chiefly on the
Siddhiyoga.
Another medical work is the SdrhgadJiara-sainJiitd^ which cannot have been written later than 1200 A.D., as there is a commentary on it by Vopadeva dating from about
13C0 A.D.
tioned
in
it
and the
diagnosis
is
in earlier treatises.
Many
down
to
to
modern
is
would be superfluous
mention here.
There
is
quicksilver,
means of rejuvenation, and a remedy for all kinds of diseases. As quicksilver was also regarded as a means of transmuting baser metals into gold, works dealing with rasa belong to the sphere of alchemy also. Such works were already {c. 1030 A.D.) known to Alberunl, who speaks of them with great contempt.
a
i8o
Technical Literature
Medico-botanical glossaries called nighantii were probably known even in ancient times but the extant diction;
aries of this
Bengal physician
or Surapala composed in the year 1075 A.D. a vocabulary of medical botany entitled Sabdapradlpa. All these medical glossaries are written in
named Suresvara
verse.
Even
in
number
of works on the
composed
in Sanskrit.
can be no doubt as to the indigenous origin of Indian medicine, it has many resemblances to the Greek science, some of which can hardly be explained
Though
there
latter.
Several remedies,
such as opium and quicksilver, and in diagnosis the feeling of the pulse, Indian medicine owes to the Persians and
On the other hand, Indian works on medicine (Charaka and Su^ruta) were translated into (Persian and) In the Middle Ages Arabic Arabic about 800 A.D.
Arabs.
medicine became the chief authority of European physicians and remained so down to the seventeenth century. In this
writers became known in Europe, Charaka being repeatedly mentioned in the Latin trans-
Arab medical
writers.
In
modern times
of rhinoplasty,
India,
noses, from
art in the
The medicine
India
is
Geschichte,
Medicin, in Biihler's Encyclopaedia, iii, part Macdonell, History, 435-6. iii. 541-54.
10.
Winternitz,
AstrouoJiiy
and Astrology
i8i
li.
Astronomy
its
The
The same
works on
The beginnings
cosmological
fancies of
the Vedic
hymns and
the Brahmanas.
The
celestial
phenomena of
[rta) are con-
light as subject to
stantly dwelt on
traces of a
by
Occasionally
we
find
more
scientific
Thus one
that the sun does not really rise or set, but produces
and night on the earth by revolving. The Vedic sacrificers had to make careful chronological calculations with regard
to their ritual,
having for
this
the phases of the moon, the course of the sun, the seasons,
its
The
among
an open question.
The attempts
to
constitute
exist in
Vedic times, but actual works on astronomy do not Vedic literature. Of the supplementary literature attached to the Vedas under the general name of Veddngas only one short work
into
survives
from among probably many that dealt with astronomy. It is the Jyotisa-veddhga^ a brief treatise
composed
in
slokas
(forty-three in the
in
recension of the
chronological
Only
i82
Technical Literature
on account both of
it
partially intelligible
its
sutra-X\\s.& style
at the solstices
and
at
To the earlier post-Vedic period of Indian astronomy belong the following works the Vrddha-garga-samJiitd^
:
which, however,
is
chiefly astrological
an extensive astro'
nomical Updhga of the Jains, the Suriyapannati^ or Instruction regarding the Sun also some supplementary treatises
' ;
There
among the Weber MSS. which were purchased at Leh in Ladakh by the missionary F. Weber. Two other works are known from quotations only. The astronomical-cosmological sections of the Makdbkdrata, the Puranas, and the Mdnavaalso
dharniasdstra belong to the same age none of these works show any trace of the influence of Greek astronomy. Here we first come across the doctrine of the four ages called
:
and
kali,
of
one surpasses
in
The
stage,
later
entirely post-Christian.
it is
As
astronomy here developed, in fact, presupposes knowledge of Greek astronomy. The works belonging to this period may be divided into four classes I. SiddJidntas or handbooks giving a detailed account of a complete system of astronomy; 2. Karanas or works
Indian.
of
:
The system
rapid
3.
4.
The Pancas'iddhantika
often
183
treatises
from
that
have been
I.
The
is
oldest and
is
of this period
slokas,
The
its
present form of
the text
but
source
where the book is stated to have been revealed in the city of Romaka, which must refer to Rome or Alexandria. The peculiarly Indian impression made by this work is due to the enormous duration of the cosmic ages that it lays down, to conceptions such as that of Mount Meru being situated at the North Pole, by the acceptance of the traditional views
as to the conjunctions of the planets with the lunar mansions,
The aim
in fact to
many
new
3.
The
in
Sfirya-siddhdnta
is
one of the
five old
Siddhantas
mihira
his
work was composed in the year 505 A.D. The account that Varahamihira here gives of the four Siddhantas other than the Surya-siddJidnta is all the more important as these
four (the Pitdinaha-, the Vdsistha-, the Paidisa-, and the
Judged by the
siddlidnta.
Greek influence appear to have been found in the RomahaThe length of the year was here calculated in exactly the same way as it was by Hipparchos (second
84
B.C.),
Technical Literature
and
after
century
A.D.).
The author
old Ro7naka-siddhdnta
is
same
title
that
to
Varahamihira. Of this work Brahmagupta says it had borrowed so much from Lata, Aryabhata, and others that it had the appearance of a much-patched garment. But though the doctrines of the older Romaka-siddJidnta are
Greek,
it
nevertheless
diverges
in
essential
points
from
Greek astronomy. It further differs quite considerably from the Surya-siddhdnta^ which also shows Greek influence. These two Siddhantas must therefore go back to different But since the Surya-sidd/idnta, though agreeing sources. generally with the astronomy of Ptolemy (140 A.D.), yet also differs from him, it is impossible to answer with certainty the question when and through what works Greek
astronomy influenced that of India. The uncertainty is all the greater since we know no more of the date of the five Siddhantas than that they were regarded by Varahamihira about 500 A.D. as authoritative works. All therefore we can say is that they must have come into existence in the
early centuries after Christ, perhaps in the fourth.
Among some
mihira
is
of
of
astronomy.
parts.
Written
first
in
it
consists of four
The
summary
time
185
celestial
sphere.
probably the
developed
as
in
who
concisely
many improvements.
however, one point
in
much
he maintained the daily rotation of the earth round its axis, explaining the daily rotation of the celestial sphere
as only apparent.
It
which was rejected by the later Indian astronomers, was adopted by him from the Greeks. Both Varahamihira and
Brahmagupta
assailed
this
doctrine,
just
according to his
his
own
statement, born in
work
in
499 A.D.
An extensive astronomical work entitled Arya-siddhdnta, by another but later Aryabhata, was known to Bhaskara and has been preserved. The most famous of the Indian astronomers who lived after Varahamihira were Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya.
The
former, according to
in
his
own
statement, wrote
his
Brdhmasphiita-siddhdnta
matter
He generally
The
eleventh
gupta
is
chiefly
chapters
arc
Aryabhata. Though Brahmaeminent as a mathematician, some of his devoted to the solution of astronomical
problems.
The
in II
in
last
14 A.D. and produced the Sidd/idnta-siromani^\sr\i\.ei\ the d?yd metre in 1150 A.D. He enjoys a great repu-
tation, especially as a
2'J40
mathematician, and
15
in
astronomy
his
86
Technical Literature
work is regarded as second only to the Surya-siddhdnta. But the high value attached to his work is due solely to the fact that it represents the old system more completely and clearly than earlier works do, and that Bhaskara himself has added a commentary in which the usually concise rules are explained and proved in detail. But Bhaskara teaches nothing new, and is in fact completely dependent on Brahmagupta. His work consists of four parts, of which the first two, entitled Llldvatl and Bljaganita, form the mathematical introduction, while the other two, the Grahaganitddhydya and the Golddkydya, deal with astronomy
proper.
K arana-ktituhala^ was
written in
178.
From
work of any importance on Indian astronomy was the siddhdnta-tattva-viveka of Kamalakara, Though borrowing from Persowritten in 1658 a.d. Arabic astronomy, it is essentially based on the SuryasiddJidnta and attacks Bhaskara. The old Indian astronomical works have never altogether lost their authority, even since European science has become known.
In later centuries the last
i.
Astrology
human
life,
nomy
in India.
The
belief in the
importance of
in
celestial
phenomena
as
the possibility of
Vardhamihb'a
inferring the fortunes of
187
men and
of prognosticating future
is
extremely
ancient civilization.
stars that
Even
'
in the
Brahmanas we hear of
'
were
is
'
favourable
or
'
unfavourable
domestic chaplain).
On
the
is
have
The
lost,
older works
almost entirely
who
subject.
The only one of the earlier treatises that has come down to us is the Vrddha-garga-samhitd but it is
;
very doubtful
here
if
in
an
note that
to
be found a verse
is
is
well established
like seers,
among them therefore even they are honoured how much more a Brahmin who is an astrologer.'
of Stars
',
According to Varahamihira, i\\Q jyotih-sastra, or 'Science which embraces astronomy and astrology, is divided into three branches tantra, which deals with calculating astronomy horci^ which is concerned with the horoscope and sdkJid or samhitd^ which teaches natural
:
astrology, that
is
omens derivable
from occurrences
celestial
phenomena. work of Varahamihira, who dealt with all departments of astrology, is the BrhatsainJntd, which is at
The
chief
88
Technical Literature
same time the most important work on natural astroIt may even be called one of the most important works of Indian literature in general. For as natural
the
logy.
is concerned with all departments of existence, most diverse aspects of public and private life come to the be touched upon in this work, which thus assumes quite an encyclopaedic character. It is of great importance even for the history of religion, in which respect it has not been exploited nearly sufficiently. This astrological work is of appreciable value even as a specimen of artificial poetry,
astrology
for
many
passages
rise to
merit.
writes
is
As
man he wanders on
new house,
the digging of
for
many
chap-
jewels,
Some are concerned with have affinity with the Kamasdstra. Eleven chapters again form a treatise called 'augury' Although two chapters of the Brhatsamhiid are {sdkuna). concerned with weddings, Varahamihira also wrote a separate astrological treatise on the auspicious times for
with those subjects.
while others
marriage.
He
Stars
'.
While that
is
chiefly
genuine product of
and called by the Sanskrit term Jdtaka, nativity or the Greek name hord, is entirely under the influence of Greek
',
Influence of Greek
astronomy.
Astronomy
these
1S9
The
contents
of
horoscopic
works,
Greek technical terms, correspond entirely to the Greek books dealing with this subject. Varahamihira also devoted to this branch of astronomy a large work entitled BrhaJJdtaka, also called Hord-sdstra, and a shorter one, the Laghii-jdtaka, the former of which is the best known and most studied. These works are concerned with foretelling the fortunes of a human being from the
which also
contain
positions of heavenly bodies at the time of his birth.
its origin among the Babyconveyed by the Greeks to other was peoples. It is, however, not quite certain when it reached the Indians from the Greeks the evidence seems on the whole to point to the third century A. D. About 600 A.D.,
This
'
science
'
probably had
it
lonians,
from
whom
work
all
entitled
Hordsatpancdsikd.
The commentaries
of
He
is
five verses.
As
made
of the Jyotir',
vid-dbharana.
'
the
Ornament of Astrologers
probably
about the nine gems at the court of King Vikramaditya, on which the theory of contemporaneousness of various authors and the date of Kalidasa was at one time based. But the value of this evidence is practically none,
*
'
is
late, as it
till
refers to
Arabic astrology
quoted
in
and
is
not mentioned
1661,
when
it is
com-
mentary.
I90
Technical Literature
works came into being under the name of Mtihurta (primarily meaning an hour of forty-eight minutes), the object of which is to fix the moment of time {imihurta) favourable
not only for religious ceremonies, family festivals, such as
of works called
'),
which are derived from Arabic sources. Works on omens and portents, soothsaying, interpretation The only of dreams, and so forth are infinitely numerous. one that need be mentioned here is the Svapua-cintdviani, Thought-gem on Dreams which is of interest both for
Arabic
'
',
religious
and
interpretation of dreams,
made, as he himself states, much use of medical literature. The dreams mentioned by him often show a striking agree-
ment with
fairy-tale motives.
j.
Mathematics
Mathematical science, as well as astrology, was in India in the closest connexion with astronomy. Thus arithmetic and algebra form parts of the astronomical works of Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara. The theory
pursued
is derived from India still holds though the objections raised against this view appear to require a new examination of the question. The most important mathematical texts are the first two sections of the AryabJiatiya, the GanitddJiydya and the
the
field,
Mathematics
KnttakddJiydya
191
in the Brdhma-sphuta-siddJidnta of Brahmagupta, and the Lildvatl on arithmetic, and the Bijaganita on algebra in the Siddhdnta-siromani of Bhaskara. The latter remarks at the end of his section on algebra that he had compiled his work from the too diffuse treatises of
Brahmagupta and others. In the works of Brahmagupta and of Bhaskara we have the mathematical achievements of
the Indians in their
Simple
'
arithmetic
is
'
eight
operations
The methods employed are on the whole similar to our own. Then follow rules about fractions, about the zero, and about the
extraction of the square and the cube root.
practical applications of arithmetic, comprising the rule of
and so on. Algebra was also highly developed. Both Brahmagupta and Bhaskara handle a number of simple equations. The
three, the calculation of interest,
following
is
sum
'
kara's Lildvatl.
Of
swarm
Kadamba
the
air,
attracted at the
same time by the charming perfume of a jasmine and of a paiidanus. Tell me, charming one, the number of the bees.' These treatises also solve equations with more than one unknown quantity, as well as equations of a higher
degree.
In
all
250
A.D.).
maticians had
by
in analysis, and,
attainments in
a
this time arrived at very advanced results what represents the highest level of their the mathematical field, they had discovered
192
degree.
Technical Literature
This method
is
by
French
astronomer
Lagrange (eighteenth
century).
The beginnings
antiquity
in
India,
a considerable
amount
of
geo-
metrical knowledge
*
String Rules
ritual
which form a part of the general Vedic These give the rules for the {kalpa) sutra works.
',
performance of the single great sacrifices. The design of the sacrificial ground with its most important constituent
parts
made
circles, as
To
sacrificial
experts
it
that the
measurement
{sulva) stretched
between stakes should be carried out accurately according These practical requirements resulted in a conto rule. siderable aggregate of geometrical knowledge, including the Pythagorean proposition (worked out in Euclid i. 47). Thus
the ritual experts understood
how
to transform rectangles
It
knowledge based on
time of the
in
practical
Vedic hymns.
The
times,
Indians
of the
later
however,
fell
far
short
of those
Greeks.
Though
able
prob-
geometrical
Trigonometry
knowledge found
in
93
the Stilva-sutras.
In the eighteenth
writer
Trigonometry was known to the Indians in its application to astronomical calculations, and it is to be assumed that they obtained their knowledge of it from the Greeks
in
und Mathematik,
in
Biihler's
Encyclopaedia,
Geschichte
:
Macdonell, History, 434-5. Winternitz, Astronomic, Astrologie und Mathematik, iii. 555-77.
iii,
part 9.
c c
VIII
vidian group ; the Muncld ; the intermediate group ; the Indo-Chinese a. Dravidian : Tamil: group. B. Modern vernacular literature Vishnuite religious poetry Jain Kurralf Ndladiydr, Tiruvdsagafn
epics
Translations of Rdmdyana and Mahdbhdrata Tamil Panjdbi and Hindi: Kabir, b. Indo-Aryan vernacular literature Ndnak Adigranth of the Sikhs Mardthi: paraphrase of the Bhagavadgitd ; sho7-t poems called Abhang ; Tukdrdm, most famous Mtra Bat, Mardtha poet Vidydpati Thdkur's Maithill allegory Bihdri Ldl TulsJ Dds, the greatest poet oj the Braj Bhdshd poetess The northern India : the Rdm-charit-mdnas, a Hindi Rdmdyana
in
Kdsmiriati Utterances of Lalld Rich Jain literature in Gujardti Bejigali versions of Rdmdyana, Mahdbhdrata, and some Purdnas Mukundrdm Kavikankan, great Bengali poet Chaitanya : his
'
'
religious influetice
Michael Influence of English literature on Bengali prose Sudan, famous Bengali poet Rablndrandth Tagore's works.
A.
have their homes as verOf these by far the most important, both from the number of its speakers and from being the
Five main
naculars in India.
is the Indo-Aryan speech. Representing the language of the people who migrated into
its
descendants are
now spoken by
Indian Vernaculars
of the total population of India.
195
233 of the 320 million inhabitants, or about three-fourths The Indo- Aryan lanin its oldest
guage
its
form
is
vernaculars,
time, place,
modern particles for the purpose of indicating and relation. These tongues are spread over
in
the
196
north
Bombay
have
The
speakers of the
Aryan languages
lost
ethnical
predominant aborigines, but the languages themselves have preserved their identity by superseding the indigenous non-Aryan forms of speech. This is to be accounted for by the fact that when an Aryan tongue
numerically
comes
it
was only
in
the south of
number
of their speakers
the immigrants, that the indigenous speech held its own. The original home of the Aryan-speaking people, who
later
overspread
Europe
is
besides
parts
of western and
The
in
area
some knowledge of agriculture, and whence they wandered east and west. Linguistically they first split into the two groups of the centum and the sateni languages, the
speakers of the former travelling westward, those of the
latter,
including the
to the east.
Aryans (in the narrow sense), mostly The Aryans then migrated, probably by a
most likely been one of their ancient seats. They then worked their way to the highlands of Khokand and Badakshan. There they divided into two sections. One, the Indian, moved southward over the Hindu Kush and through the valley of the Kabul into the plains of India. The other, the Iranian, separated into two branches. The Persic, which was employed by Darius I (523-486 B.C.) in
Earliest Habitat of
the Behistun
Indo-Avyan Language
passing
197
rock
inscription,
through Pahlavi
became
of
modern
of the
Persian,
which
under
Musalman
rule
some
The Medic
branch became the language of the Avesta and the parent of the two modern Iranian languages, Pashto and Baloch, which belong to India and extend almost to the Indus
as their eastern
its
mouths
to a
good way north of Peshawar. There are several border languages which are neither entirely Iranian nor entirely Indo-Aryan, but have something of both. The tribes that spoke them were in the earlv' centuries of our era nicknamed Pisachas, or flesheaters, by the Aryans of India Proper, who had entered the Panjab by the valley of the Kabul. These dialects have a very archaic character, ordinary words still in use showing forms almost the same as in Vedic hymns, while in India itself they survive only in a corrupt form. These languages are without literatures and have only recently been reduced to writing by European scholars. Yet it is handed
down by
which no longer
exists,
was composed
in the
At
the Panjab
evidently
come
spoke the oldest form of the Indo-Aryan language. Later the Madhyndcsa or Midland that is, the Gangetic Doab,
'
',
it,
came
people.
The
dialect
of
this
more recent phase than that of the Vedic hymns, became fixed as Sanskrit by the labours of grammarians,
guistically
198
which culminated in about the fourth century B.C. with the famous work of Panini. It is a polished form of the language developed from the much older Vedic dialects by a process of decay rather than of growth. As an arrested vernacular it became the vehicle of literature, used by the educated as a second and cultivated language, beside their vernacular which was really a later development of itself,
much
contemporaneously with the spoken dialect derived from its own earlier phase. In this capacity it has remained the literary language of the Hindus, like Latin throughout the Middle Ages in Europe. Beside Sanskrit the vernaculars, derived from the Vedic stage, developed. They are termed Prakrits, as being their earlier phase. They were still synthetic languages with fairly complex grammars, but phonetically differing considerably from Sanskrit owing to their avoidance of harsh combinations of consonants and to their preference for final vowels. Thus the Sanskrit sutra^ thread and dharma, duty appear in Prakrit as sntta and dJianima while Prakrit was in full use lightning', becomes vijju. J///, ^'/<f
'
',
',
'
we know
in
that
Buddha employed
century
Sanskrit.
B.C.,
it
the sixth
in Prakrit,
not
After centuries of decay the Prakrits arrived at a condition of almost complete fluidity, each language
becoming by a
consonant.
in a
new stage about 1000 A. D., that of the Tertiary Prakrits The hiatus produced or modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars. by contiguous vowels was removed by contraction into
199
Nominal and verbal worn-down vowels, disappeared. The old synthetic type of Prakrit has been displaced by one that is now analytic, Hke English compared with Anglo-Saxon.
forms that existed 3,000 j^ears ago.
endings, consisting of
form of Prakrit preserved is called Pali. Two hundred and fifty years B.C. the edicts of King Asoka were inscribed on stone in a form of this language.
earliest
The
One
was stereotyped as
Buddhist Pali
a sacred
in
writing the
books.
The term
Prakrit
'
is,
modern Indo-Aryan
all
vernaculars.
We
have
in-
formation about
of the Panjab.
name
to
the
great
power.
Ardha-magadhl was the Prakrit spoken in what is now Further east was MagadhI, the vernacular spoken in what is the modern Bihar. To the
of Vidarbha
(now
Berar),
literary culture
and
Its
it
in its native
lyrics
composed
in
an
popularity carried
Hindustan, where
was employed
in
for epic
But
is
best
known
200
vernacular prose
composed
in Maharashtrl.
The
as
'
last stage
Literary Apabhrarnsa
When
the Prakrits
known came to be
',
decayed
',
'
corrupt
to
While the earlier by literary pruning, this was much less the case with the Apabhramsas, the rather scanty literary remains of which therefore give valuable evidence regarding the actual spoken language when it began to be written down.
successors of those
who
despised them.
The modern
these Apabhrarnsas.
From
which
is
spoken to the east of the Sutlej, and Western home of which is the Doab of the Jumna and To the south of these lay AvantI, spoken round Ganges. UjjayinI (now Ujjain), from which is descended Rajasthanl. To the south-west of this dialect was spoken Gaurjarl, the mother of Gujaratl. From the Apabhrarnsa of Ardha-magadhI is descended Eastern Hindi. From the Apabhrarnsa to the east of the Indus are derived Kasmlrl in the north and Lahnda in the south. From a Vrachada Apabhrarnsa, spoken on the lower course of the united stream of the Indus, is derived Sindhl. From the Apabhrarnsa of Maharashtrl, spoken south of the Vindhya in Berar, is descended Marathl. On the eastern side, four dialects are derived from the
Hindi, the
201
;
MagadhI
Biharl, north of
east,
Patna
Oriya
and on the
the
BengaH of northern
and of Central Bengal. Sanskrit, owing to its prestige as the language of religion and learning, continued to exercise great influence during the development of the Prakrits. Its influence was
in earlier
times greatest
in its special
home, the
Prakrit,
if
'
Midland
'.
we make
same
as
',
'
practically the
The
farther
we move from
the
Midland
more numerous grow the strange words technically known as 'local' {desya). These, though also Indo-Aryan,
the
are not derived from the particular ancient dialect which
is
the source of Sanskrit, but from contemporary dialects prevailing in far-off parts of India.
At
Aryan
the
same
time, literary
its
vernaculars.
As
it
is
words from its vocabulary have been freely borrowed by them. This tendency was stimulated by the revival, at the beginning of the nineteenth
It
in
words
we were to substitute the AngloSaxon hldford for 'lord' in modern English. Such words are by Hindu grammarians called tatsamas, ihe same as
from Prakrit, just as
if
'
that'
(i.e.
in Sanskrit).
Thus
lan-
Aryan elements
:
in
three kinds
tatsanias,
and dcsyas.
The
guages especially overloaded with tatsamas are Marathi, Hindi, and Bengali. This pedantry has made the literary
2010
Dd
202
language unintelligible to the vast mass of the population not educated in Government schools. But besides their
contain a good
predominant Indo-Aryan elements, these languages also number of foreign words in their vocabulary. The Dravidian tongues, which prevailed in India before the
of the
arrival
some of them
since the
in the
words,
contri-
made during
Persian.
Muhammadan
through
contains
by Arabic
In
northern
India every
Lucknow
also been
so
many
that
only
inconsiderable
sometimes
is,
The number
333,000,000,
tion of India.
The
following
is
summary
of the
main Indo-Aryan
in
round numbers
I.
The languages
:
them
{a)
{b)
{c)
{d) Gujarat!
{e)
10,000000
16,230,000
103,230,000
2.
The
{a)
{b)
{c)
West
. .
Kasmni Lahnda
SindhI
....
.
10,122,000
H^estern Hindi
3.
and Hindustani
.
203
The language
Marathi
.
of the South
.
.
19,000,000
19,000,000
4.
The languages
{a)
{b)
{c)
Bihari
Oriya
Bengali
.... ....
of the East
.
34,^'-oo,ooo
[d)
Assamese
95,800,000
228,152,000
I.
but
it
is
Midland (Western Hindi) and of Oudh (Eastern Hindi), which really represent two distinct languages. This is the vernacular of the region {a) Westci'u Hindi.
between the Jumna and the Ganges, besides the country As spoken in Madhyadesa, the special home to its north. of Sanskrit in old times, it is by far the most important of
all
the
modern languages of
India.
Hindustani.
Hindustani, the
dialect of
is
Western Hindi
is
Hindustani
is
is,
however, not
spoken over the whole of the north and west of India as a second language, a lingna franca used in court and market-place by every
only a local vernacular, but one that
From
Delhi, where
all
it
was
first
in
over India by
as a literary dialect
Mughal Empire. It has been cultivated by both Musalmans and Hindus. The
204
words into
its
When
this process
is
pushed
to an extreme, as in
Lucknow, the language can only be understood by Musalmans or by Hindus educated like Musalmans.
Urdu. This Persianized form of Hindustani is called Urdu, or the language of 'the military bazaar' near the Delhi Palace where it arose. Though Urdu literature is Musalman in origin, the excessive Persian element was first introduced into the language by Hindu scribes who were employed in the Mughal administration. It was not due to Persians or Persianized Mughals, who for many centuries Even in the used only Persian for literary purposes. Dravidian parts of the Deccan Urdu is used by the Muhammadans, for it was in fact here that Urdu literature arose. But the Urdu of the Deccan differs somewhat from that of
Delhi and Lucknow, as
it
retains
some
archaic features
centuries
For several
Prose
Urdu
literature
was
entirely poetical.
Urdu was
at Calcutta.
Being intended was purified of all Persian and Arabic words, for which were substituted words borrowed or derived from Sanskrit. Since it could be used by Hindus without offending any of their religious prejudices, it was soon widely adopted, and is now accepted as the medium for writing prose in Upper India by all who do not use Urdu. Although the sole difference between the two was one of vocabulary, the Sanskritic Hindustani has in the course of a century created some idioms of its own. Hence an Indian can seldom be found who is able to write
staff of that College.
Relation of
Urdu
to
Hindustani
205
form of Hindustani.
Thus
Muhammadan and
is
yet considered
by
strict
Urdu
as
As
is
to be expected from
its
origin,
Urdu
Persian
script,
(as
for
Hindi)
is
the
for Sanskrit,
com-
Urdu is used for writing both poetry and prose, Hindustani for prose only. For poetry a Hindu employs a naturally-developed dialect of Western Hindi
monly employed.
(generally Braj Bhasha) or Eastern Hindi (usually Awadhi).
When
of
'
Hindustani'
a
is
meant
to designate a particular
form
nor
only
speech,
language
neither
excessively
is
Persian
intended.
it
Of
is
nearest to
and
in the
considerable,
for
spoken round Muttra which is the most part poetical. It was the form
Its literature,
capable of expressing
abstract ideas of
all
kinds.
The
contain
high flights of
Eastern Hindi.
is
Here the
language
influence of the
Midland
the
ver-
language
Panjab.
far
less
Being
the
is
Rama.
An
earlier
form
2o6
of
called
Ardha-Magadhi, was
and thus became the sacred language of the Jains. The modern vernacular, Eastern Hindi, on the other hand, came to be the vehicle for celebrating the deeds of Rama and subsequently the dialect in which nearly all the epic poetry of Northern India has been written. Eastern Hindi has, indeed, probably a greater literature than any other modern Indo-Aryan vernacular. This literature, being founded on the genuine language of the people and free from the
obscuring influence of Sanskrit
additions,
is
familiar to
meets MarathI
through mixed
in
dialects.
dialects
is
This
an
between the Ardha-MagadhI and the Maharastrl Prakrits. Eastern Hindi has three main dialects. The standard
one, which
{c)
is
spoken
in
RdjastJidni. the
has
main groups of dialects. The westernmost of these is Marvvarl, which is by far the most important. One of the places in which it is spoken is Bikaner. Its speakers are enterprising merchants and bankers, who have carried it
four
all
over India.
It
in
Landa
an
centuries ago by bands of Rajputs who invaded and conquered their hills.
{d) Gujardti.
This dialect
lies
to .the
south-west
of
207
Kajasthanl, and is the most western of the vernaculars over which the influence of the Midland language extends. Its
basis
is
modelled on
all
over India.
As
several of
its
old
grammars
its
beginning as a vernacular
The
literature. goes
Panjdbi.
language of the Midland, is spoken in is the dialect used by the Sikhs and Hindus.
script
'
proper
is
Marwar.
Called Laudd, or
improved form was invented about three centuries ago for writing the Sikh scriptures. The standard PanjabI is spoken around Amritsar. Of all the Midland group of languages, PanjabI is the purest, being freest from both Persian and Sanskrit borrowings.
clipped
is
it is
noted
An
of it
of GuriumikJil, which
Nevertheless
it is
capable of expressing
all
kinds of ideas.
2.
(a)
Kdsmlrl
the most northern, being the language of Owing to the peculiarity of its vowels,
somewhat
;
difficult to
pronounce.
It
has an extensive
old literature
It
seems to be a Dardic
language very heavily impregnated with borrowings from the Apabhramsa of the north-west of India. The bulk of
the population being
Muhammadans, only
of the old language.
a few Pandits
preserve the
memory
2o8
{b) Kohistdm. This is the name of the old language spoken on the Indus and in the valley of its tributary, and is another belonging to the Western group. At the present
day, however, it is spoken by only a few tribes, having been nearly superseded by Pashto, the Iranian dialect of
Afghanistan.
Lahndd. This is a third language belonging to the Western group. Its name means the West It is spoken as far east as Panjabi (and thus touches the Midland group), but there is no dividing line between these two languages. Lahnda is spoken west of the Indus up to the Afghan frontier by Hindus, while the Pathan Musalmans speak Pashto. Lahnda has two dialects, the one extending to It the north, the other to the south, of the Salt Range. has no literature. This, the language of Sindh and its neigh{d) Sindhl. bourhood, is the fourth and last of the Western group. It is nearly related to Lahnda. As it occupies an isolated area, it has retained many archaic phonetic and flexional As the peculiarities. It has no literature of any account. population speaking it is largely Musalman, it has borrowed much from Persian. An adaptation of the Persian character has been employed for writing it by Moslems since about Hindus use and have used the the seventeenth century.
{c)
'
'.
Landa alphabet
in
the Panjab.
3.
Marathi
South of Gujarat! and spoken along the coast of the Arabian Sea from near Daman to some way beyond Goa, lies the home of the southernmost Indo-Aryan vernacular,
Marathi, the descendant of Maharashtrl Prakrit.
by a language belonging
to the
Ma rathi
;
Literature
209
Midland group but traces of it seem to be found in the Marathi area. The home of Marathi comprises the north of the Deccan plateau, the strip of country between the Ghats and the Arabian Sea, and the territory of Berar
within the
Bombay
the north-west of
Hyderabad
bounded on the
a true ver-
phase of the language has indeed been a considerable extent Sanskritized, but has not been to exposed to this process in the same degree as the literary speech of Bengal. As the Maratha country was not invaded
later
till
The
were also ultimately expelled, the number of words the language borrowed direct from and through Persian is
inconsiderable.
Marathi
language
is
twisted
',
is
current hand.
Of
is
its
spoken
4.
Indo-Aryan linguistic group consists of four languages derived from the old MagadhI dialect. {a) BiJidrl. This language occupies the original home, Magadha, of the parent speech in which Buddha preached. Here lay the capital of King Asoka, Pataliputra (the modern
eastern Patna).
The
Magadha corresponds
To
the
the
To
the west
2IO
Vertiaailar Languages
and
L'lteratnre
ancient
and the east of the United Provinces. To the south of the Magadha lie the two plateaux of Chota Nagpur.
dialects: Maithill;
Magadhi, and
century.
its
When
written
by Brahmins
it
has a character of
own resembling
its
The language
is
full
of archaic expressions.
of Nepal, before
Maithill.
The
Magadhi, the language of the ancient Magadha, or South Bihar, resembles Maithill in its general character. Although directly derived from the tongue in which Buddha preached, it has no literature and no traditions. Bhojpurl differs considerably from the other two dialects it is a flexible speech, free from grammatical complexity.
All the dialects of Bihari, except that of the Tirhut Brahmins, are written in
'
KaithI
',
used
{b)
all
over India.
Oriyd.
This
is
Occupying an
in inscriptions.
it
when
first
appears
It is written in
replaced
it
by
if
short
curves, because
the stylus
with
which
was
grammar
is
simple, but
The vocabulary of
being-
its
from
Dialects of Bengali
[c)
211
This language is spoken by a larger populaany other Indian vernacular, the number being, according to the census of 1921, 49,000,000. The main
Bengali.
tion than
dialectical division of the
difference
language is to be found in the between the literary and the spoken speech.
dialect
is
The
written
the
same
in
of which
are
in
Muhammadans.
The
is
literary
language
carried
is
never used
conversation, which
always
on
in
educated Bengalis.
both
its
in its
vocabulary, which
is
grammar, which keeps the obsolete forms ago artificially alive. The origin of this of Bengali goes back to the beginning of the
turies
form
century,
when
lish influence.
vernacular.
want which was easily supplied by pedants who have been Anything more monstyled Sanskrit-ridden Pandits
'
'.
'
as
it
existed in the
difficult to conceive.
Books were
but in a language from which something like ninety per cent, of the genuine Bengali vocabulary was excluded, and its place supplied by words borrowed from Sanskrit which the writers themselves could
subjects, eloquent in their thoughts,
not pronounce.'
reduce the enormous Sanskritization of literary Bengali. This is the official language of Government and of mis-
212
English students.
the Western,
the Eastern, and the Northern. The first, which is the standard dialect, is spoken in the area occupying both sides
of the Hugli and extending farther west.
eastern Bengali
is
The
centre of
Assam
valley.
In
derivation
it
same
script,
which
is
Tirhut.
Though
of the
been an independent script since about looo A. D. This is the language of the middle and {d) Assamese.
upper parts of the Assam valley.
colloquial Bengali
;
It
is
nearly related to
but
its
a dialect of Bengali, but as an independent language, rests mainly on the fact that it possesses an important literature,
besides having several characteristic features of pronunciation.
The
literature goes
back
varied
in
character, and
especially
said to
I
Assamese cannot be
of northern India,
non-Aryan
languages
spoken by about
Lin-
eighty-six millions.
is
the Dravidian.
213
have in the north of India been for the most part completely Aryanized, adopting the Indo-Aryan language of their conquerors, though they have retained their ethnic characteristics. They have also
For the
latter
adopted the speech of another race of the same physical type, who spoke a language which was different from their
own, being unrelated
vocabulary
in
in
The Dravidian group was spoken in 1921 by about Its home is the south and the hills of central India. One small branch, Brahul, with
14
found
in the north-west, in
The Dravidian languages have various pecudistinguishing them from the Indo-Aryan. Among
:
Nouns are inflected not by means of case-terminations but by means of prepositions and separable particles suffixed. The verbal system, while lacking a passive voice,
Instead
thus
'
the
'
in
Dravidian be
in
the who-came
literally.
Munda
Tibeto-Burman.
{a) Tamil. By far the most important is Tamil, which spoken by nineteen millions and the area of which covers the whole of the country south of a line drawn from Mysore on the west to Madras on the east, including the northern half of Ceylon. It is the Dravidian language which has undergone a literary cultivation from a very early period and has assimilated many Sanskrit words along with Brahis
min civilization. Its copious literature is written in a somewhat artificial dialect, distinguished by the term perfect {shell) from the colloquial, called 'rude', much in the same way as in Aryan India Sanskrit the purified ') is con'
('
trasted with
'
Prakrit
'
("the vulgar').
and Dravida are both derived from the same original word Dramida The Tamil language has a script of its own. AndJira-bhdsd by Sanskrit {b) The language called writers is Telugu, which is spoken by twenty-four millions
'
'.
215
and is the chief language in eastern India, extending from Madras northwards to near Orissa. It is also spoken in the east of the state of Hyderabad and in the extreme south of It the Central Provinces, reaching southwards into Berar. has an extensive literature written in a script of its own, which is allied to Devanagarl, but, being written on palmleaves, it is, like Oriya, characterized by numerous curves. This language is spoken by seven {c) Malayalam. millions along the west coast from Mangalore southwards. CharacIt separated from Tamil in the ninth century A.D.
teristic features
of
it
are, generally
speaking, that
it
has
dropped all its personal verbal endings, and that it has borrowed a conspicuous number of Sanskrit words. It has an extensive literature, which is written in the old script, called grantha, used in southern Malabar for Sanskrit
writings.
{d) Kanarese. This language is spoken in the Mysore State and some neighbouring British territory by nearly ten and It has an ancient literature written a half million people. script closely allied to that used for Telugu. in a A quite small Dravidian language is Tulu, {e) Tulu.
speakers
Balochistan and
Sindh seem to
2.
T/te
Mundd
is
languages
Sanskrit writers.
known under
'
name
',
to
Kolarian
it
21 6
of
an agglutinative type.
Munda and
The most important branch of the Munda language is Kherwari, which has three and a half million speakers who
form a collection of tribes inhabiting a compact area of country on the Chota Nagpur plateau. One of the dialects Another dialect is Santali, spoken to the east of Calcutta. Savaras, which is spoken by over 150,000 is that of the
people.
Vedic times, mentioned in one of the Brahmanas, and spoken of by Pliny and Ptolemy. None of these Munda languages have
are an ancient tribe
in
They
known
any
script of their
literature.
3.
An
intermediate group
main groups of non-Aryan speech, an intermediate group in central India north of the Telugu area spoken by about 3,000,000. The three chief languages are the speech of the Gonds, spoken by a million
Besides these two
is
there
and a half
Kurukh or in the hill country of central India Oraon, the tongue of nearly a million and Khandl or Kui, This group has that of half a million in the Orissa hills.
;
;
had no
literary cultivation.
4.
The languages
India
are
usually grouped
by about under the general name have been Their original home seems to 13,000,000. Hence they spread down river valleys north-western China. into Burma and down the Brahmaputra into India proper
of Indo-Chinese, spoken
in
the
hill
Here Khasi
country south of the central Assam valley. 200,000 speakers. is spoken by fewer than
Modern Vernacular
Literature
217
A
it
century ago
it
by
the missionaries
among them.
is
written in the
Roman
character,
and
one of the Indian vernaculars that are a subject of examination in the University of Calcutta.
recognized
as
Grierson, The Imj)erial Gazetteer of India, vol. i, ch. 7, pp. 349-401, Oxford, 1907; Linguistic Survey of htdia, il vols., Calcutta, 19001926.
B.
that of the
modern vernaculars.
appears
Hindustan written in the latest descendants of the ancient Aryan tongue that entered the north-west of India some and in the Deccan in the unallied languages 3,500 years ago
;
of the south.
The
its
Neither the ancient influence of Greece, nor the outline. medieval rule of Islam, nor the modern dominion of
Christian Britain have essentially altered the civilization and mentality of the Hindus. Persian models are followed entirely by the Urdu literature resulting from the Muhammadan conquest, and largely by SindhI writings. The
literature of all the other
in
modern vernaculars has, moreover, by Arabic-Persian But the literary influence of and by English writings.
recent times been variously affected
much
deeper.
The
great
epics, Mahdbhdrata and Rdmdyana, have by become the common property of all Indians.
translations
So too the
in
various versions
in
among
the people.
As
Sanskrit litera-
2i8
so the poetry of
modern India is uniformly fertilized by the teachings of Brahmanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and
Jainism.
The
may
in
the
Though
permeated by Sanskrit linguistic and phases can be traced back to an than the modern Indo-Aryan literatures. For, earlier time owing to the fundamentally different character of the Dravidian languages, an independent literature was here able to develop sooner than in the north, where Sanskrit dominated intellectual life to such an extent that there was no room The view for a separate vernacular literature to grow up.
vidian literature
literary elements.
Its older
now
generally accepted
is
Tamil literature lay between about loo and 300 a. D. The most famous Tamil work supposed to go back to this ancient period is the Kurral of the weaver Tiruvalluvar, which is a collection of 1,330 aphorisms on the three aims TiruvaUuvar is of life (in Sanskrit dkarma, artha, kdma). not a personal name, but a title by which the religious teachers of the Pariahs of southern India were known,
Kurral designates a short aphoristic stanza. Hence know neither the title of this celebrated anthology The contents of the work nor the name of its author. general aphoristic wisdom of India, and do represent the not belong to any particular sect. This is indicated by the fact that Buddhists, Jains^ Vaishnavas, and Saivas, who
while
we
really
own
The
poet, in
stands above
all
races, castes,
and
sects, inculcating
Tamil Literature
a general
219
human
Not only
with which
in
skill
the
setting
is
difficult
This
one of his
sayings
'
Note that all men are equals born For works alone cause grades of rank.'
:
Another famous
Ndladiyar.
on rebirth,
Tamil is the embraces teachings retribution, and salvation, on dharma, artJia, and
collection of aphorisms in
it
manner of Indian aphoristic poetry. The author was probably a Jain, as may be gathered from
are not Jainistic, nor even religious in
Tamil classic, the Tirtivdsagavi, 'the Sacred Utterance', of Manikka-Vasagar, who was an enthusiastic votary of Siva and a bitter opponent of the Jains and Buddhists. His father was a Brahmin at the court of the Pandya king Arimartana, and became the minister of the king who reigned at Madura about 800 A.D. Songs from the Tiruvdsagam are sung in every Siva temple in the Tamil country at the present day. The Tamils say He whose heart is not melted by the Tiriivdsagam must have a heart of stone.' An eminent authority on Tamil, the late Dr. G. U. Pope, who was long a missionary in southern India, admired the deeply religious spirit of these songs, comparing the poet to St. Paul and to St. Francis of Assisi. ManikkaVasagar regards Siva as a personal deity but, with the curious mixture of theistic and pantheistic ideas so often found in medieval and modern India, he nevertheless identifies the god with the universe.
:
'
20
Another famous Sivaite poet is Tiru-nana-sambandhu, whose image is still daily worshipped in south Indian
temples.
A sacred
same time
this sect
the Vaisnava-prabandha
in
4,000 verses,
book of by the
singers
who were
at the
The author
who
is
the a
first
The Alvars
included
woman, the Saint Andal, to whom 107 of these songs are She sang of Krishna and dreamt of being wedded to the god, like the female saints of medieval Christianity. Prominent among the successors of Ramanuja was Pillai Lokacharya (born in 1213 A. D.) who, in a popular form of Tamil largely admixed with Sanskrit, wrote eighteen
attributed.
Rahasyas or
Sanskrit.
'
secret texts
',
Sinddmani
(Skt.
cintdmani) and
its
which Jain legends were presented in a poetical garb. The old Sanskrit epics were of course translated into Tamil. Famous is the version of the Rdnidyana by the poet Kamban, who is said to have lived in the eleventh century. Tamil versions of the Mahdbhdrata belong to a later date. There are also Tamil historical poems and
a considerable philosophical
literature,
especially on
is
'.
the
Vedanta system.
navanita^ or
*
the
Kaivalyathat of the
Cream
of Spiritual Isolation
is
non-Aryan languages of the south Telugu^ Malayalam, and Kanarese. In all the modern Indian vernaculars, Dravldian as well
221
Indo-Aryan, there
tales.
is
and
Among
the beautiful
Dravidian
folk-songs,
there are
and
stories there
is
much
literature.
The
northern India
represented
Rajputana,
the
in
Rajputs with
Muhammadan
by contemthat
are
porary bards.
extant date
The
of these
chronicles
These, however,
made use
merit.
of earlier sources,
A. D.
many
is
of which
may go back
Raj Rdso
to
perhaps 800
They
of
Chand
extolled
fights of Prthl
Raj are
in
by
Panjdbi.
Panjab
much
very
the
These
much
Hindi. Far more extensive is the religious literature in Hindi beginning in the fourteenth century. The great founders of Indian sects were for the most part poets as well as religious leaders. All of them were inspired by
bhakti, or mystical devotion to the deity.
About 1500
A. D.
Ramananda,
a follower of Ranianuja
222
(p.
founded a new sect teaching that the way to was to be found in bhakti. He was the first to teach with great emphasis that for the votaries of Vishnu A disciple of Ramathere existed no differences of caste. nanda was the famous Benares weaver Kablr, who wished to abolish not only caste, but religious and sectarian barriers. In praising God he made no difference between Allah and Rama, calling himself the child of Allah and Rama
salvation
'
'.
By
birth a
Muhammadan,
Rama.
The
for-
and ceremonies of both Hindus and Muhammadans were equally hateful to him. Here are some of his words
:
and
nothing but water in the sacred bathing-places; that they are useless, for I have bathed in them. Lifeless are all the images of the gods they cannot speak I know it, for I have called aloud to them.'
'
There
I
is
know
He seems to have died about 151 8. At his funeral, Hindus and Moslems, according to legend, vied for the honour of disposing of his body, as that of one who belonged to themselves. Kablr's adherents at the present day number only about 8,000 to 9,000 in Northern and Central India. But his influence can be traced in other sects, especially in the religion of the Sikhs, which was founded by Nanak He sought (1469-1538), the most famous disciple of Kabir. to blend Hindu and Moslem theology into a unit to an even greater degree than his teacher Kabir. His poems and those of his successors, the later saints and teachers, were collected in the time of the Guru Arjuna (i 581-1604) in Songs of the Adi-granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs. Kabir have also been incorporated in this work, which for the Sikhs is a hymn-book, a prayer-book, and a manual of theology, all in one. The hymns are chiefly composed in
old Hindi, with a certain
number in
Panjabl.
Ma rathi
military organization.
Poetry
223
Govind Singh (1675-1708), turned the Sikhs into a great After his death his hymns were added to the Adi-granth in 1734. The Moslem Fakir Malik Muhamad came under the influence of Kablr, and about 1540 composed a famous romantic and half-historical epic entitled Padiimavati. At the end the poet himself gives an allegorical religio-philosophic interpretation of the poem. Famous poets inculcating the doctrine of Marathi. Here at Pandharpur bhakti arose in the Maratha country. there was a temple of Vishnu under the name of Vithoba or Vitthal, in whose cult the singing of short songs called Ahhaiig played a great part. The oldest of the Marathi singers is Jiianesvar, whose chief work entitled Jnaiiesvari was completed in 1290. It is a free paraphrase of the Bliagavadgitd (p. 90) in Marathi verse. His friend Namdev (1270-1350), who is said to have been a tailor, devoted himself entirely to the service of Vithoba as a singer of A bhangs. The following version of one of his songs may serve as a specimen
all things,
spell, by scarce one is comprehended. Govinda is the All, without him nothing is, he is the One, For he is like the cord on which one hundred thousand
gems are strung. sea and wave, bubble and foam, are naught but shapes of water, so The Universe is nothing else but varied forms of Brahma's
As
sport.
It is
in
order to
more
224
Veniaciilar Languages
and
Literature
There was a Sudra female slave named Janabai, a devotee and handmaiden of Namdev and the god Vithoba, who was able to express a real mystic divine love and the experience of complete union with God in her hymns. T7ikdrdm. But by far the most famous of all MarathI He was born in a village near Poona poets was Tukaram. about 1608, and died in 1649, being according to the legend translated to the heaven of Vishnu. He had early learnt the poems of Namdev by heart, and felt himself called upon
to continue his work.
No
Abhahgs
are
handed down by attributed to the tradition. He had grown so accustomed to celebrate his god in metre that he almost spoke in verse. His songs are in the mouth of all MarathI speakers, educated and uneducated alike. People of all castes and sects sing his verses in the fields and by lamplight in their homes.
in
him
Maithill.
The
A. D.
Vidyapati Thakur
of
Braj BhdsJid.
{c.
tender expression
1420),
in
hymns
of the poetess
who wrote
Mewar
Western Hindustan. She composed a commentary on the Gltagovinda and on songs that were widely diffused in her native land. She was a princess and married a king. But according to the legend her devotion to Krishna was so great that one day as she stood before his image praying for his love, the idol opened and closed around her, so that she was no longer seen on earth.
At
Emperor Akbar
225
of Agra, Sur Das (born in 1483), who translated the Bhdgavata Ptirdna into the vernacular, and whose collection of
Sur Sdgar, is said to embrace 60,000 verses. About these and many other poets and saints of Krishna worship much information is furnished in the Bhakt Mala, a collection of legends of the saints by Nabhadas, who lived
h}'mns, the
about 1600 A.
D.
is
The
of
the neighbourhood
Western Hindi, Bihari Lai {c. 1603-63) wrote his Sat sat (Skt. sapta sati), a collection of 700 verses, most of which describe the love of Krishna and Radha, but at the same time serve as illustrations of the figures used in
dialect of
poetics.
translation of
in
the tenth
Ptirdna
Lallu Jl Lai
'
Ocean
in
of
Love
'.
This
work, begun
in
John
to a
Gilchrist
new
literary language.
The greatest poet of Northern India Eastern Hindi. was without doubt Tulsl Das (1532-1624), the writer of the This Rdni-carit-vidnas, the Lake of the deeds of Rama poem, which is the Hindi Rdmdyana, is not a translation of Valmlki's epic, but an independent poem, of which the
'
'.
latter
several sources.
Tulsl
Das was
dwelt
Rama
brothers.
The
religious
is
and moral influence of The Eastern Hindi dialect, written, is understood throughout an
It therefore constitutes a
kind
Gg
26
inhabit the
Hima-
remarks Sir George Grierson, may speak of the Vedas and the Upanishads, and a few may even study them, others may say that their beliefs are represented by the Puranas but for the great majority of the people of Hindustan, learned and
ranges.
'
laya and
the Vindhya
'
Pandits
unlearned, the
Udmdyana
of Tulsl
Das
its
is
of moral conduct.'
It
is,
that this
work
is
so greatly esteemed.
differs, to its
a perfect
by containing
own
personal observation.
of
Kdsmiria7i.
The Saivism
Kashmir
in
also
had
its
poets.
The
female
ascetic,
the
oldest
Kasmlrian
popu-
of this poetess
still
survives in
Kashmir
Gujardtl.
is
as yet
known of the
Quite recently (1922) a work belonging to the Pahcataiitra c)'cle, the Paiicdkhydnavaj'ttika, written in Old Gujarat!, has been published.
ture written in the Gujarat! dialect.
Gujarat!
is
adherents of Zoroastrianism,
journal in Gujarat!
who have exercised a special Thus the first monthly was founded by a Parsi. As a poet and
still
author
in
more
as
M. Malabari
in India.
made
a good
name
for himself
Bengali.
Bengali.
Chaitanya
227
much sung in the tenth century. For hundreds of years, epic and Puranic tales had through Bengali
Pala dynasty were
versions
become the common property of the people. Such Ramdyana, the MaJidbhdrata, the BhdgavataPurdtta, and episodes of the MdrkandeyaPiirdna, were partly read aloud and partly produced in semidramatic recitations by professional bards. Such performances are still to be met with in Bengal villages.
versions, especially of the
The
oldest Bengali
by Sanjaya is said to date from about the same time. But the best-known translation of the epic is that of Kaslram {c. 1645), Between 1473 ^"^ 1480 the Bhdgavata Piirdna was translated into Bengali by Maladhar Vasu. From about 1400 A.D. religious poetry was also cultivated in Bengal. A contemporary of Vidyapati Thakur was the Bengal poet Chandl Das, who composed nearly a thousand love-songs in which celestial and human love are combined in celebrating the divine love of Radha and Krishna. Mukundaram Kavikankan is accounted
one of the greatest poets of Bengal.
of the goddess
He wrote
his
panegyric
Chandi (that is, Durga) in his Chandl-mangal which was completed in 1589. Although the scene of this poem is chiefly laid in the heaven of Siva, the author describes the actual life of Bengal in accordance with
reality.
Chaitanya.
This sage, who was an ecstatic and ardent is more closely associated with
life
of Bengal.
His
real
(Skt. Visvam-bhara)
Misra (i486-
228
1534).
He became
an ascetic {Saiuiyasin)
in
1509, and as
In the course of
he was regarded by the people as an incarnation of the god Krishna, and his image is even at the present day worshipped by the Vishnuites of Bengal
his lifetime
Even during
and Orissa.
He
in a state of
'.
am He
life
Biogra-
The
first
records of his
were taken
the master
down by
on
'
who accompanied
his wanderings.
lover of
He describes Chaitanya as an ecstatic God, who lapsed into tears on hearing any one cry
'.
Krishna, Krishna
The Caitanya-bhdgavata
of Vrinda-
van Das (1507-89) and the Caitanya-caritdmrta of Krishna Das (born 15 17) and other works are partly poems and
partly biographical sketches.
The saint and poet Ram Prasad (1718-75), who wrote hymns addressed to Durga and other religious
songs, has been greatly revered in Bengal.
historian of Bengali literature, says there
is
Ram Prasad.
D. C. Sen, the
old
and edification from the songs of this writer. From about 1800 a.D. dramatic literature, which had long carried on a feeble existence in the modern vernacular, began to revive. Certain poets, like Krishna Kamala in his Svapna-vildsa, endeavoured to refine the (181088) old popular Ydtrds, while other poets composed dramas with a political tendency. The first Bengali drama, performed in 1856, the Kidlna-kida-sarvasva, of Rama Narayana Tarkaratna, was directed against the Kulin Brahmins, who make a business out of marriages. In i860 Dina
Rammohan Roy
Bandhu Mitra wrote
the Nil Darpan, which severely
cizes the exploitation of the indigo industry
229
criti-
by the
British.
This author (1774-1833), famous alike as a social and religious reformer as well as a scholar and writer, bore the greatest share in the development of Bengali prose. He was a man who made himself widely acquainted
Roy. with religious systems other than his own.
in
Rammohan
a distinguished
upwards familiar books. Having in his early years learnt Persian and Arabic, he used this knowledge for the study of the Our'an, and made himself acquainted not only with the monotheism of
Islam, but with the mystical doctrines of the Persian Sufis.
Born and bred Brahmin family, he was from youth with the Brahmin religion and its sacred
Later he became acquainted with Buddhism in Tibet, and In order in India itself.
original
text,
he
even devoted
the religions
in all of
them and
to
combine
He
Upanishads to be the sum of all wisdom. As a result of his study of the sacred books of foreign religions on the one hand, and of the Upanishads on the other, he desired He thus became the to reform the old Brahmanic religion. founder of the Brahmo Samaj, the Society of the believers
'
in
God'.
He
was false. He included in what was system and the custom of widow-burning,
in
He came
to
Europe
1H30,
when he was
hailed
by Jeremy
230
Bentham
merit.
no inconsiderable
In 18 15
work written
in
Bengali prose.
he wrote an account of the Vedanta philosophy. He was also the author of essays on widow-burning and other social
questions both
\\\
Besides being
who composed
still
sung
in
Bengal.
was followed by two prose-writers and essayists who These were Akkhay dealt with subjects of social reform. Kum.ar Datta (1820-86) and Is vara Chandra Vidyasagara
(1820-91).
He
Bankim Chandra
(1838-94),
came
so
One
of
many
modern
times,
Christianity.
TJie Tagores.
An attached
han Roy and promoter of his Tagore (the anglicized form of his Bengali name Thakur). His son, Devendranath Tagore (1818-1905), joined the Brahmo Samaj and became its first organizer. In 1848 he compiled a collection of texts from the Upanishads, Manu's Law-book, the Mahdbhdi-aia, and some other books, in
231
Brahmo Samaj. This creed represents the belief in Brahma as the only eternal and perfect God and creator of the world, by whose worship alone salvation can be obtained
world and the next.
in this
Such worship
consists in the
love of
God and
God
loves,
Upanishads and the theism of the Bhagavadgitd. It The branch of the Brahmo Samaj that arose under the guidance of Keshub Chunder Sen was more radical. Though Devendranath Tagore did not, like the orthodox Brahmins, regard the Upanishads as revealed, he yet revered them as sacred books that are receptacles of profound wisdom. Rabindrandth Tagore. son of Devendranath Tagore is the poet Rablndranath Tagore, born in 1861. He had long been famous in India, when in the year 1912 a small volume of his poems entitled Gitdnjali, 'a Handful of Songs', in an English translation, drew attention to him in Europe
of the
is
also, so that
only a year
later, in
the
Nobel prize for literature was awarded to him. Since then his poems, dramas, tales, romances, and prose writings have become known all over the world in English and German translations. At the present day Rablndranath Tagore occupies the position of a world-poet in whose works the
purely
of our
human elements appeal to us with all the vividness own experience. But his appeal is by no means that
He
is
thoroughly Indian,
and the spirit of India breathes throughout all his poetry. His tales represent true Indian life, and ancient Indian wisdom reappears in his religio-mystical poems and in his
religio-philosophical addresses.
and the
spirit of
the
232
complete expression
in his
poems.
bJiakti concep-
some
doctrines of the
all
the
by
God.
With
this ideal
Tagore has
Neither by renunciation of the world, nor by asceticism {yoga), nor by ceremonies, does he
decidedly nothing to do.
wish to reach God, but in his home and at his work. That he lives in the world and takes a lively interest in all human and terrestrial affairs is proved by his songs for children and his love songs, in which he shows that he is one of the few
world-poets able to identify himself with the soul of the
and of woman. This is proved by his novels and which he depicts true to nature the Indian life of to-day, draws men and women to the life, and lays bare their mental struggles in a way that only a poet can do who loves this world of the great and the small. He shows a deep understanding of the problems of female life in his drama of CJiitra. On the basis of a rather rough legend of the Mahdbhdrata he has here produced a dramatic poem, that in its high conception of wedlock as a true community of life rises far above the marriage ideal of most of the poets of Hindustan. He shows no trace of that contempt of woman and of family life which appears
child
stories, in
in the old
in the
songs of
His Attitude
sive spirit,
to the
West
233
war he handles
in
the
drama
religion
the
of nationalism
is
The
and
Home and
of Nationalism (1917).
ideals the
:
He
It is
great and
good that we can effectively guard ourselves from the Europe that is base and greedy.' He acknowledges that Europe has introduced to the East, through the smoke of cannon and the dust of markets the idea of freedom in all directions the ideal of moral freedom, freedom of conscience, freedom of thought and action, freedom from bondage in literature and art. But he stigmatizes as a deadly poison, from which he wishes to preserve the East, boundless greed that the worship of power and the characterize the West. He is in full sympathy with national but feeling and the preservation of national peculiarities he condemns national conceit, boastfulness, and all national hatred for he places humanity above the nation. Tagore would be no Indian if his poetry did not rise to heights of mysticism, to which ordinary mortals are incapable But those whom mysticism does not of following him. attract can hardly fail to admire the moral elevation that is
'
',
'
'
here revealed.
\\\\
34
Grierson, The
Selected Bibliography
Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, Cal' The Popular Literature of Northern Ittdia,\n Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, i, part 3, London Institution, Macauliffe, The Sikh 1920. Winternitz, Geschichte, iii. 578-604. Temple, The Legetids of the Panjab, Religion, s'lwoh., Oxford, 1909. Keay, A History of Hindi 3 vols., Bombay, London, 1 893-1 901. RabTndranath Tagore, One Hundred Literature, London, 1920. Poems of Kablr, London, 1915. Macnichol, Psalms of Mardthi Saints, London, 1919. Pincott, tr. of the Hindi version of the Pre?n Sdgar
cutta, 1889;
Growse,
tr.
of the
Rdm-
Temple, tr. of Lalla-vdkydni, London, 1 924. Dinesh Chundra Sen, History of Bengal Language and Literature, Calcutta, 191 1. RabTndranath Tagore, The Home and the World, 1919 Gitafijali, Eng. tr., London, 1912
carit-7ndHas
o{Tuhi Das
The
Sacrifice, 191 7
Nationalism, 19 1 7.
IX
THE RECOVERY OF
* '
INDIA'S PAST
Dawn of European knowledge of early India Abra/iajn Roger's First European Sanskrit grammar {1790) Open Door (/^j/) Foundation of First English book based on Sanskrit original {lyjS)
First Sanskrit textprinted {1792) Jonesfirst European languages Colebrooke' asserted relation of Sanskrit Sanskrit learning Alexander Hamilto?i F. Schlegreat services
scholars
The three first English Sanskrit Asiatic Society of Bengal {17S4) Bhagavadgiid first Safiskrit Wilkins, Jones, Colebrooke :
book translated (ijSj)
to
to
gelA. W.
Rosett publishes part of Rigz'eda {1838) Eughie Burnouf founds Vedic scholarship in Europe Rudolf Roth Max M Th. Atif-echt Foundation of Pali and Buddhist scholarship James Prinsep emitient decipherer of inscriptiofis Great advance in
tiller
of Sanskrit in Europe Anquetil Duperron makes F. Bopp founder of comparative philology Rdmmohan Roy founds the Brahmo Samdj known the Upanishads
V. Schlegel first professor
Bdhtlingk
Atffrecht's
published {i8<)i-igof)
(1882)
Pali
MSS.
text society
essay
{i8p6-ip2j).
Paucity of ifidigenous historical mation Rdjatarahgini {1148) Historical chapters of the Puranas Harsacarita and Vikramdhkacarita Untrustworthiness of chronicles Importance of archaeology in historical reconstruction hidia particularly rich in inscriptional material Languages in which inscriptiotts recorded Predominajice of inscriptions on stone Published of Indian inscriptions Nuinber of known inscriptions very large Forged i7iscriptions - Best method of titilizing inPersian visitors to India
itiforlists
Early chronological
i7ifor)nation derived
from
Greek, Chinese,
and
scriptions
archaeological research
history
coitiage
Great advance of historical knowledge likely by improved Importatice of studying Indian coinage Its
Date
of Kaniska
Rise of Gupta
236
Characie7'istics of its coinage dynasty {320 a. D.) Disappearance of Greek alphabet Ne7u type of HiJidic coinage after goo a.d. MuJtai/iniadatt coinage Dravidiati coinage Historical value of South
Indian coinage Modern nniforni curreticy established throiigJiout British India in i8jj.
The
It
now remains
show how,
covery of the sea route to India four centuries ago, not only
this aspect of India's past has gradually
become known
to
the West, but also another phase that could only have been
reconstructed in a fragmentary
way from
literary sources
in
far
greater detail
by the
labours,
during
little
workers
in
The
from
process
became
I
to
know
the oldest period last of all. From about 1600 A.D. Europeans began to learn some of the Indian vernaculars spoken at the time, such as GujaratI and Bengali. Then
of Classical Sanskrit
Last of all, the oldest and most important phase, the Vedic language, became accessible to European research not more than eighty-five years
scholars about 150 years ago.
ago.
the
religious
ideas
embedded
in
begun to be acquired from the seventeenth century onwards by a few stray travellers and by some missionaries, but without exercising any influence on European thought. The first who published any account of
them, had
Abraham Roger,
lived in the
Abraham Roger,
Dutchman who
'
neighbourhood of Madras, and who in 1651 brought out at Amsterdam in Dutch a book entitled Open
Door to Hidden Heathendom it not only describes the customs and religion of the Brahmins, but was also the first
' ;
European work
to
make known an
actual specimen of
some
of the sen-
The
first
and social customs, but also of the religious beliefs and practices of the country in the second half of the seventeenth century. more advanced knowledge of the religion and literature of the Brahmins is shown in an important record, left in 1740 by a missionary named Pere Pons, about the ancient literary records of the Indians.
He must have possessed some knowledge of Sanskrit. He seems to have been the first to describe correctly the
native system of
dictionaries,
*
grammar he also mentions the Sanskrit among them the famous Amara-kosa, or
;
Thesaurus of
Amara
',
as well
He
further de-
orthodox systems of Hindu philosophy, besides mentioning the heterodox systems of the Jains and the Buddhists. In 1778 was published a work representing the knowledge of Sanskrit literature prevalent among the
missionaries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
under the
in
title
of
UEzoiir Vedam.
it
It
created a sensation
produced a deep impression on Voltaire. He believed it to date from before the time of Alexander the Great. But
238
it
Past
was later shown to be the work of a European compiled for the purpose of converting the Hindus, its whole tendency being to criticize the worship then preThe doctrines and legends described by vailing in India.
it
are post-Vedic,
its
incorrect.
The
original,
composed about
Nobilibus,
named Roberlus de
who
Mylapore near Madras in 1656. Some time before 1750 a Danish missionary produced a book purdied at
porting to
Yadziir
Vedam
but the
it
Yajnrveda, for
But
its
Somewhat
(i
earlier a
German
in
Jesuit
first
named Hanxleden
Sanskrit grammar. was never published, it was utilized by the Austrian missionary Fra Paolo Bartolomeo, who worked in Malabar from 1776 to T7H9 and published two Sanskrit grammars at Rome (1790), the first place in Europe where such works were printed. Their author approaches the standard of a scholar more nearly than any of his
Latin the
Though
predecessors.
Though the Sanskrit language had not become known in Europe before this date, specimens of the Sanskrit alphabet had appeared in a i^v^^ books printed in the latter half of the
j
previous century.
dam,
single words engraved in the Sanskrit character had been reproduced in the Hortns Indiais Malabaricns
printed
239
and
in
SJiahihidii (Oxford,
1694), the names of several chessmen had appeared in Sanskrit letters with their anglicized phonetic equivalents,
as
awry
(i.
e.
karl),
'
elephant
'.
Though
these works
India,
on the development of Sanskrit philology. But the dawn of Sanskrit scholarship in the English world
was heralded by the publication in 1776 of the earliest English work on Indian law. The desire of the GovernorGeneral,
Warren Hastings,
to rule Indians in
accordance
with their
commission certain Pandits to compile the original form of this book from the This Sanskrit original Sanskrit sources known to them.
laws, induced to
own
him
was
first
made
Law
(London, 1776). study of Sanskrit philology by an association of Englishmen, who founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784.
The new
by the works
of three
W.
Jones, and H. T.
Wilkins is described by his contemporaries as the first His earliest European who really understood Sanskrit. work was his translation of the famous religious philosophic poem Bhagavadgltd, 'Song of the Adorable One' (1785), published in London, which was thus the first place in Europe where a translation from Sanskrit was printed.
first
translation
of the well-
known
collection of fables
and
first
later (1808)
Sanskrit grammar.
He was
also the
who took up the study of Indian inscriptions, some of which he translated into English.
^
of
Hindu.
2 40
a
in
Fellow of
1783 as a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court at Fort William in In the following year he founded the Asiatic Bengal.
Society at Calcutta and was
life
its
President
till
translator of the
famous
'
play Sakuntald (Calcutta, 1789) by Kalidasa, India's greatest the poet, as well as of the lyrical drama Gltagovmda,
Song', and of the Lawbook of Manu at Calcutta in 1792 the lyrical Sanskrit This was poem Ritnsanjhdra, the Cycle of the Seasons Sir W. Jones was, the first Sanskrit text ever printed.
Cowherd
in
(i794)'
He
also edited
'
'.
moreover,
the
first
scholar
who
definitely
asserted
the
and its probable afiinity with Persian, German, and Celtic. H, T. Colebrooke, the founder of Indian philology and
archaeology, continued Jones's work.
He
arrived at Cal-
cutta in 1782, but did not trouble about Sanskrit for the By the time of first eleven years of his stay in India.
Jones's death (1794) he had only just learned Sanskrit for the purpose of translating a compilation made by Pandits,
at
Jones's
instigation,
1797 and 1798 under the title of 'A digest of Hindu Law on Contracts and Succession ', in four volumes. From this time onward Colebrooke devoted himself with indefatigable zeal to the study of Sanskrit literature, though rather to its Thus he produced not technical than its poetical side. only further works on Indian law, but epoch-making essays on the philosophy, religion, grammar, astronomy, and arithmetic of the Indians. He was the first to give an accurate and trustworthy account of the Vedas, in 1 805. He also
edited
some
grammar
of
Colchrooke,
A. Hamilton, and
'.
F. Schlegel
'
241
Panini, the Hitopadesa, and the epic Kirdtdrjiinlya, the combat of the Mountaineer and Arjuna He further wrote a Sanskrit grammar, besides working at and translating
number of Sanskrit
inscriptions.
Finally, he
made an
now
real
in the
India Office.
One
who, on
his return
from India, was travelling about France hostilities with England, he was
By a coinci-
dence which turned out to be highly fortunate for the advancement of Sanskrit studies in Europe, the German
poet Friedrich Schlegel, one of the leaders of the Romantic
same year. The Romantic School was particularly attracted by the literature of India, which was, however, at that time known only
School, happened to arrive at Paris in the
through translations of the works of Sir William Jones. Schlegel became acquainted with Hamilton, who taught
him
to read Sanskrit,
in
and
whom
man
A
Fr.
result
work
',
entitled
'On
the
Language
His brother, August of Indian philology in Germany. Wilhelm von Schlegel, became, at the University of Bonn
in 1818, the first professor of Sanskrit in the
West.
Sanskrit
and success than in any other European country, contemporary of A. W. v. Schlegel was Franz Bopp Paris and (i 791-1867), who, having studied Sanskrit in
2'.M0
242
Past
London, published in 1816 his work On the Conjugational System of the Sanskrit language in comparison with that of the Greek, Latin, Persian, and Germanic languages By this work he became the founder of a new Science, Comparative Philology, which long remained combined with the study of Sanskrit, and in a few universities is still officially taught by the holder of the Sanskrit
'.
Chair.
Till
'
Classical
1830 European scholars had paid attention only to Sanskrit. The works that had been specially
'
the
Code of
no trustworthy information
was available
all
was contained
in
Colebrooke's Essay.
works of that period, had become to These had in the seventeenth century been translated into Persian, from which they were rendered into Latin at the beginning of the nineteenth century by the French Orientalist Anquetil Duperron under
forming the
latest
some extent
directly accessible.
the
title
of Oupnek'hat (Paris,
801-2).
Though
full
of
work exercised considerable influence on the German philosophers Schelling and especially Schopeninaccuracies, this
hauer.
same time the Indian Rammohan Roy, new sect called the Brahmo Samaj, in which his purpose was to combine what was best in European and Hindu religion, had been studying the Upanishads
About
the
In
816-19 ^^ pub-
was
not, however,
till
Early
Ved'ic
243
in-
augurated by the publication of the first eighth part of the Rigveda by F, Rosen in 1838. But it was the great French Orientalist Eugene Burnouf who, by his lectures in the
early forties of the nineteenth century, laid the foundations
He
who
'
later
became great
One
of
Roth (1821-95), who by his short but epoch-making work On the Literature and History of the Veda' (1846) became the founder of Vedic philology in Germany. Another pupil was F. Max Miiller (i 823-1 900),
these was Rudolf
who produced
the
first
edition,
in
six
volumes, of the
in
While this edition was in course of publication, Theodor Aufrecht (i 822-1 907), who was Professor of Sanskrit at Edinburgh
from 1862 to 1875, published an edition of the complete
Roman
and
his
Burnouf, by the
'
publication, with
'
Essay on
Pali' (1826)
of Indian
Buddhism'
literature
religion,
Indian philology
had completed
its
nineteenth century.
by Englishmen who
archaeo-
were resident
in the
country and
who accumulated
by describing the
coins
and
in inscriptions.
244
The
in this brief
most in deciphering coins and inwas James Prinsep (1799-1840)^ a genius whose early death was a grievous blow to the advance of archaeospace accomplished
scriptions
logical study in India.
development
among Western
all
scholars
in
all
and many
in
had been critically edited all the achievements in the sphere of Indian archaeology had been summed up in Christian
classical Sanskrit texts
;
trustworthy editions
Lassen's 'Indian Antiquities' (1843-63); a very detailed History of Indian Literature had been published (1852) by
Albrecht Weber (second edition, 1876) and a very large Sanskrit Dictionary in seven volumes, which itself contributed
;
very considerably to the rapid advance of Indian philology, had been brought out (1852-75) by the two great German
An essay written by and Roth. A. W. V. Schlegel in 1819 enumerated hardly more than a dozen Sanskrit books known either in editions or translaSanskritists Bohtlingk
tions.
Only
Weber
describes in
1852 nearly 500 works of Indian literature. In the years 1 89 1 to 1903 Theodor Aufrecht published his Catalogus
Catalogoriim^ which contains an alphabetical
list
of
all
the
Sanskrit
manuscripts existing
in
the
larger Indian
and
European libraries. The number of Sanskrit books represented by these manuscripts already amounts to many thousands, though the whole of Buddhist literature and all
works written in other Indian languages are excluded. Meanwhile, the foundation of the Pali Text Society in 1882 by the late Prof. T. W. Rhys Davids had immensely
stimulated the investigation of the extensive
Buddhistic
West
245
Very soon after, in 1883 and 1885, Prof. Weber another branch of Indian literature accessible to made scholars by his great essay on the sacred writings of the Jains, a sect which, as we have seen, very nearly contemporary
tury
in origin
in
B. C.
By
became
impossible for any single scholar to master the whole field. The necessity therefore began to be felt for an encyclo-
paedia of Indo-Aryan research giving a comprehensive survey of all that had been done in the various branches of
the subject.
late
Prof.
Georg Buhler,
its
Vienna.
Some
come out in 1897, and twenty-two of them have appeared till now (1925). It is still in progress,
parts began to
for
about
fifteen
This
work shows
enormous advance
made
in this
'Indian Antiquities'.
By the researches of the above and many other scholars, the whole of India's intellectual past has been very fully
opened up in the various stages of its literature, and can be read from its very beginnings by the modern world. The literature, the languages, the religions, and the social institutions of the country can here be followed without a break throughout a period of some 3,000 years. The civilization thus revealed well deserves study both in itself and for the light it throws on the present. Its history has been
gradually and laboriously pieced together, at
first
only by
246
and to some extent by scholars of other nationalities, French, Dutch, American, Danish, Italian, and Indian. But as far as described in the preceding chapters it is largely a history of mental development extracted from literature, which supplies hardly any of the chronological framework of Indian civilization. Nearly all such literary information as we have is derived from the records of a few foreigners down to somewhat later than icoo A. D. These authorities are the Greek Megasthenes {c. 300 B. C); the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims Fa Hian (399-415 A. D.) and Hiouen Tsiang (629-45 A. D.), and the Persian writer Alberunl (1031 A. D.). Without their aid the periods illustrated by their records would still be obscure. If we had to rely on literature alone, our knowledge of the early history of India would be very imperfect. For rich though Indian literature is in other respects, the Hindus did not compose any historical works till the Middle Ages. They appear never to have produced works setting forth genuine history on broad critical lines as Thucydides did for Greece in the fifth century B. c. The historical chapters of the Puranas, though sketchy and meagre, are clearly based on ancient archives, but they are quite untrustworthy. They can be shown to omit some dynasties altogether, and to be sometimes inaccurate even
in the names of the kings recorded by them. They also commit the fault of treating contemporaneous dynasties as
successive.
historical without a
The only
is
the Rdjatarahginl
148-9 A.
D.).
The author
says he
and manuscripts.
His work seems to be fairly own time and perhaps for a century or so
247
itself to
initial
it
soon shows
(the real
be
imaginative.
Thus he
places
E. C.)
A^oka
date
704-630
whose actual period was about 530 A. D., he assigns to B. c. he was therefore obliged to allot to one of his
;
make his dates come right. With these two exceptions, the Rdjatarahgiiil and the historical chapters of the Puranas, the Hindus never made any real attempt to deal with history on general lines. The
kings a reign of 300 years to
historical
matter found
in their
is
The names
of his-
poems, and collections of stories, supply us with very little knowledge, and naturally enough give no dates. The geographical
tion.
names thus occurring afford little more informaThus when Kalidasa (who we know from other
which
evidence flourished before 634 A. D.) mentions Gokarna, lies in north Kanara, his statement at least indirectly
Siva at any rate as early as
248
and Bilhana does not even was born, but not the year mention the month or the day of Vikramaditya's birth, but only tells us that flowers fell from the sky, Indra's drum Thus if we resounded, and the gods rejoiced in heaven did not know from other sources the date of these two kings, we should not be able to tell from these would-be
'
'.
biographies
when they
is
lived.
undoubtedly of great importance for the investigation of manners and customs, details of domestic, social, public, and religious life, trade and commerce, allusions to geography and methods of travel, but the informaliterature
The
tion
it
furnishes
is
of
little
own
date.
We
sometimes
and not to
is
their
usually
much
works is extremely imperfect. the date of Asoka would be at least 1,000 years too early, if we had to depend solely on the statements of literature. The royal pedigree {vamsdvali) of Nepal, which purports to give an unbroken list of the rulers of that country from 1768 a.d. back to six or seven
tion to be gleaned from literary
Even
would even place him at least 1,500 years before his real date. Such pedigrees are exposed to the further risk of the inventions of quite modern bards having been worked Had it not been for the into genuinely historical material. discovery of Chandragupta by Sir William Jones as early as 1793, the chronology of ancient India might have been
placed on an utterly fictitious basis, varying 1,000 to 2,000
years from the truth.
31.
249
own
As
of historical matter in
literature, India
happily supplies
more
in
a.
Epigraphy
still far
India
is
They
because they
control chrono-
logically
art.
all
that
we can
purpose
we
;
seek, but
On
are,
for their
evidence
free
from
bias.
Much
material
must
combined
at
in
Vikrama-
the history of
Sanskrit literature.
The theory
was
proved to be untenable.
2940
Kk
2,5o
'
which locates the birthplace of Buddha, or that which settles the epoch of the Gupta dynasty. Inscriptions became known and began to be studied by English scholars in India soon after some of the earliest Sanskrit books with which they became acquainted engaged their attention. The most important epigraphical
event was the
inscriptions of
decipherment by James
Prinsep
of the
A^oka
been erected.
The
in
j
is
preferable to treat of
them separately
'
The
meant
to be
permanent
and public character. They are almost sometimes on monolith pillars, as the always engraved moral and religious edicts of Asoka, or Ya^odharman's
records of an
in
Malwa
but usually
on the walls and columns of caves and temples, and stone tablets, on metal plates, on images and statues, and on relic They also sometimes appear painted, written in caskets.
ink, or
stamped on clay or
bricks.
They embrace
all sorts
The languages
Prakrits,
some
mixed
Sanskrit,
Telugu.
It
They
and verse. must be evident that on a minute examination of the inscriptions, begun more than a century ago, the ancient Nearly political history of India is almost entirely based.
or in a mixture of prose
"IS
Sda-o,,
^
ri
r^
S
Jr.
-*
^li
f-
r -
Inscriptions on Metal
251
to this source.
uhimately owe much of their chronological framework Hence it is of the utmost importance that
in
work must be
on India's past.
Among
a short
poem forming an
epitaph
on the Gupta king Chandragupta II, composed c. 415 A.D. and incised on an iron column at Meharaull near Delhi. An ancient record on brass engraved on a relic vase comes from a stupa at Vardak in Afghanistan dating from 6 B.C. An old inscription on bronze has been found which is of
great palaeographical value, because
its
legend appears
in
Most metal
on copper.
commemorative, having been found in rehc mounds, but most of them are grants or title-deeds. A few inscriptions were written with ink on earthenware, the earliest coming from Central India, and probably
of these are
Some
Even painted
have been discovered accompanying frescoes in the Buddhist caves of Ajanta. Copper-plates have often been found in localities other than those to which they originally belonged. This is
but two columns with inscriptions of A^oka, now at Delhi, are known to have been removed there, the one from Meerut, the other from the Ambfda District, in the fourteenth
naturally seldom the case with records on stone
lithic
;
century.
252
Many
turned
up
in
different
The best-known
with the
A
in
was
The
inscriptions
corporations, temples,
and private individuals. Bricks were never in general use for inscriptions in India, but several such have been discovered referring to one of the Gupta kings of the fifth century A.D. There have also been unearthed in the Gorakhpur District some brick tablets with Buddhist sfiiras, one of which is a version, in Sanskrit, of
a short sermon preached
By
far
the greatest
of stone.
some form
India.
by Buddha at Sravastl. number of inscriptions appear on The most famous of these are the of Asoka scattered over all parts of
and morality
in con-
They
for the
meant
spicuous localities.
surfaces
The
idea of inscribing
was
in
all
probability suggested
The most
noteworthy is on the rock at Girnar, which, besides the edicts of Asoka, contains dated inscriptions of the Mahaksatrapa Rudradaman (150 A.D.) and the Gupta king
Skandagupta (455-^
tions of
A.D.).
Among
the
many
rock inscrip-
when
(Suvarnagiri) in
Another, written
is
in duplicate
characters,
found
in
the
Kangra
of the Panjab.
Hills,
third
is
Chandragiri
candra, which
Digam-
"*
'^'
-"
*^
^^
^ '
:.,f
CO
/''.I
^^
'".
\
<^^
..
^c
<i
5^;-
^;^
r^
ti;
'i
h
s^
'^
% C
r>
P,
^c^^^
^-^
-h
en
PL, CL,
^^i
u
ro
Pillar Inscriptions
and
Relic Caskets
253
There
are,
'
pillar edicts
'
of
Asoka
and other places. One of the most interesting is the column at Rummindel within the Nepal frontier, in which the king identifies the Lumbini grove as the birthplace of Buddha. Another is the column at Allahabad, which in addition to two pillar edicts has two short Asoka edicts known as the Queen's
situated at Allahabad, Delhi,
historically
edict
SamuA. D.
At
Eran,
in
the Central
the
Budhagupta of 484
it
which
is
helps to
in
fix
At Mandasor
Malwa
there
Yasodharman, who defeated the great foreign invader Mihirakula and swept away the last remnant of the Gupta dynasty.
are two columns recording the victory of
Of
the
interior of
Buddhist
known Indian inscription, which locates Kapilavastu as the home of Buddha. In one of the stupas at SanchI were
found two soapstone caskets recording in ink that they contained the relics of Sariputta and Moggallana, the two
Buddha. Other soapstone vases from the same locality corroborate statements in Buddhist books about missionaries sent out An inscription on to border countries in Asoka's time. a pillar of one of the gateways of the stupa of Bharhut is
chief disciples of
noteworthy as containing the only known epigraphical reference to the dynasty of the Sungas, which by the Puranas is placed immediately after that of the Mauryas. An inscription on the southern gateway of the SanchI
stupa mentions Siri-Satakarni, one of the early kings of the
254
The Recovery
India.
oj India s
Past
i
On
names
still
and towns
Some
of the donative
first
I
inscriptions also
show that
century B. C. the Buddhist canon already had divisions known by the titles of Pitaka, Sfttrdnta, and the Five
Nikdyas.
\
Other inscriptions describe the sculptures to which they are attached, such as representations of the Jatakas or Three of them mention previous existences of Buddha. ancient kings Janaka, Pasenaji of Kosala, and Ajatasatru One of them indicates depicted as worshipping Buddha. the bodhi tree under which Buddha was seated when he Others refer to the bodJii trees attained enlightenment. One of previous Buddhas whose names they mention. explains a sculpture as Mahadeva rescuing Vasugutta and two companions from a sea monster that is disgorging
:
rail
of the SanchI
II,
in
whose
reign Kalidasa probably lived. On the walls and other parts of caves there are important inscriptions in some six localities in eastern and western
India.
in
i-n
the
Gaya
of Kalinga (Orissa) apparently dating from 156-5 B. C. and in the cave-temples of Nasik, Junnar, and Karli are
noteworthy inscriptions throwing much light on the history of Western India in the first and second centuries A. D. There are also inscriptions on pedestals and other parts
255
One
is
of a king or prince
named
on the base of a colossal statue Another, dated 22 A. D., is of Buddha at Bodh Gaya. inscribed on the base of a Jain image at Muttra a third,
7 or 8 A. D.,
;
Turamala, dated
dated 328 A.
D.,
is
Buddha
tion,
at
Hastnagar
Peshawar
District
an inscrip-
in
dated 448 A. D.^ on an image of Buddha at Mankuwar the Allahabad District, from the time of Kumaragupta I
one of the Maharaja Bhimavarman, dated 458-9 A. D., on the base of a group of Siva and ParvatI at Kosam near
Allahabad and one, dated 672 A.D., of the time of Adityasena, on the pedestal of an image of the Sun at Shahpur in A colossal statue near Kasia in the the Patna District. Gorakhpur District, United Provinces, of the dying Buddha,
;
in
Gummata
or
Gomatesvara dates
The
Two
unknown Sanskrit plays found at Ajmir one represents the first two acts of a play as yet untraced elsewhere, on other stones at the same a stone at Dhar in central India place are inscribed with two Prakrit poems in honour of
;
Vishnu.
Some
Hathigumpha cave
One, inscribed
describes
first
short
poem
in
duplicate
on two
Two
rock inscriptions at
Junagarh record the repairing of the embankment of a great lake. Of a similar type are epitaphs, as that on the
256
iron
Past
pillars
gupta
of this
class are
and
tablets in
memory
'
who
',
died in battle.
These,
are those
called virgals or
India,
hero stones
More miscellaneous
that
boundary marks, or specifying the spot where a man was killed by a tiger, an ascetic had immolated himself in the fire, or a wife had burned herself with her dead husband.
The
taste of the
Hindus
for constantly
is
making endowments.
The
inscriptions of
commemoration of saints monumental pillars like those by A similar reason explains of Piprahwa and Rummindel. the inscriptions commemorating the building of the gateways
for the
of
stfipas,
the
erection
sacrifices,
sacred
sites,
institutions,
endowments made to gods, temples, religious and communities. There are, however, also
inscriptions relating to secular grants, chiefly
good many
of land.
far
the
most numerous.
They
tificates of rights or
number.
India used to perform for the purpose of acquiring religious merit or obtaining other objects.
34-
KXORA\'];n
Mi;.M()KIAI,
and
iNscKip.ia)
(XIlvCAI.)
Sl^Al;
257
case.
pieced together.
These
inscriptions
come from
all
parts of India.
its
But
Thus
dialect
mixed
;
others
in Sanskrit are
mixed
dialect
in
the
KharosthI
parts
characters
chiefly limited
the
north-western
of
Brahml
script.
Singhalese
and palaeographically. Farther India furnishes from Cambodia, in Indo-China, Sanskrit inscriptions from soon after 600 A. D., and Java from 732 A. D. downwards. Valuable inscriptional records have also been found in Burma. Some sixteen years ago the list of inscriptions, large and small, before 400 A.D., already numbered between i.ioo and For Northern India (i.e. the country north of the 1,200. Narmada and the Mahanadi), the late Prof. Kielhorn had given a list of 700 with names and dates from 400 A. D. onwards and for South India another list of nearly i.ioo after New records arc coming to light every year, and 500 A.D the mass of material awaiting discovery is incalculable. To show how much may be expected, the statement suffices that, a good many years ago, 9,000 had already been 2940 L
inscriptions that are useful both historically
;
2 58
77?^
and ink impressions of nearly collected from not even the I, coo inscriptions had been whole of the Belgaum and Dharwar districts in the Bombay
reported from Presidency.
Mysore
From
dated
are
the
first
century
B. c.
in various
ways.
As
the
years of
all
the eras
known, there is not much difficulty in stating the equivalent European dates. Explanations of the various
now
well
Research has to guard against epigraphical as well as numismatic and literary forgeries, by which erroneous matter has been introduced into Indian history, and which
it is
An
account of
how
is
to be found in the
Indian Antiquary} very fair knowledge has already been gained of the ancient history of India from 58 B. C. to 320 A.D., and a comparatively extensive knowledge of it
from the
latter date
onwards.
Almost
all this
is
derived
from inscriptions.
Much more
Taxila, for
sites
is
to be
results
of such
sites like
as those of Sarnath, Kasia, and Basarh have already yielded to the labours of Sir John Marshall, the Director-General of Archaeology in India. Considerable advance in historical knowledge of ancient India is, moreover, bound to result from the systematic
inscriptional evidence,
by
and
arranging
it
in
have to be revised
ff.
Method
to be
pursued
;
in
Indian Epigraphy
259
brought up to date
for the
removed and
historical points to be
The
trol to a
Hand
in
revision of palaeography,
hand with the revision of inscriptions must go the which owes so great a debt to the
More
already handled must be produced and real facsimiles furnished instead of the touched-up and sometimes misleading
lithographs that were occasionally issued in earlier days.
is
in
any case
insufficient
undated
name
of a well-known
test.
Thus on
D.,
the strength of the characters, a certain coin was at one time not unjustifiably asserted to date from about 900 A.
the
but
name
proved that the coin could not date from earlier than 1150.
It
script of
workmen
varies
according to their
record
inscribed.
Hence undated
be really about contemporary. Again, the imitation of a previous model may produce the effect of identical age, whereas the dates really lie far apart. -Thus the importance
of decisive inscriptions
facts
is
to
regulate the
chronology of undated
apply
in
evident.
Similar considerations
We
2 6o
past.
and mentioned by Greek, Chinese, and Arabic writers. Many errors here have been committed by ignoring the fact that towns disappear, coast-lines shift, rivers alter their courses or dry up, place-names change in an arbitrary manner even though the places themselves still exist, and distances
tribes
Thus few
of the
names mentioned by
those
who
Many
of the places
named by the author of the Peripliis, who wrote about 70 a. D., and who had personal knowledge of the Indian coast, cannot be identified. The position of inland places is rendered
doubtful by the vagueness of the information supplied. Ptolemy, who wrote about 150 A. D., and whose
in-
formation
general
is
in
a very
way for the reconstruction of early Indian geography. Though he knew the importance of observing latitude and longitude, the positions laid down by him were nearly
always the results of computations from His longitudes were travellers' statements.
utterly erroneous.
itineraries
less
and
than they
The
so as to frame a
is
thus obvious.
map of India at all accurate in its details Much still remains to be done with the
all
amount
of geographical
261
but
much
investigation
is still
necessary before
can
all
be
utilized.
them can be
will
filled in.
have to be indexed and an atlas of Ancient India compiled from this material, with a series of maps to illustrate Only then will it be possible to utilize successive periods. properly the information derived from early foreign sources.
wrong identification will then be eliminated, and new ones added as a result of the very preparation Only in the present century has it been of such a work. shown by the late Dr. Fleet that the ancient and famous town of Tagara still exists under its old name in the form of Ter in the State of Hyderabad, and that the ancient city of Sakala or Sakala, the She-ka-lo of Hiouen Tsiang, is the
a
correct
Many
One
will
is
the ascertainment
modern place-names.
in a
Compilations
critical
have to be prepared
manner
in native
modern names
of
all
the principal
revisional
work
still
remains to be done.
It
can only be
carried out comprehensively by co-operation in other lines of study, resulting in a more accurate understanding of the
This means a compilation of the historical, geographical, and cognate matter to be extracted from the epics,
records.
poems, collections of stories, and historical this purpose editors and translators should alwaj's make a point of collecting such matter in an introplays, classical
romances.
For
62
Past
Geographical indexes to some of the Puranas, Uke the lists extracted from the Brhatsamhitd ^ and
Many of Mdhdtmya
Thus
the
Mahdkuta-indhdhnya
names
of the
Mahdbhdrata
be required, as well as
Indexes are
prose
wanted
for
the
Rdmdyana^
the
dramas, the
romances, the Rdjatarahginl\ for the Jatakas, the Lalitavisiara, the Divydvaddna^ the Dipavamsa, the Mahdvamsa and the writings of Buddhaghosa for the Jain and other Prakrit works a certain knowledge of Sanskrit is advisable for the purposes of such research. For though most of the records are not in Sanskrit, it is more or less the key to the languages in which they are written, and a general knowledge of Sanskrit literature and mythology is essential to an
;
adequate understanding of
in the inscriptions.
b.
many
Numismatics
in
Indian coins
have been
for
use
for
some 2,600
years.
nearly a century by
many scholars,
p. 169.
263
For some periods coins are Their employment seems to have been introduced with foreign maritime trade and alphabetical writing, probably about 700 B. C. The earliest kind of currency seems to have taken the form of punch-marked coinage, which in accordance with its origin was struck not by governments, but by traders as private persons. Coins of this type are in the Code of Maim called purdnas or ancient pieces They were probably copied from Baby'
'.
The
numerous and varied, consisting men, animals, trees, the sun, and many other objects but legends are always absent. These coins are usually rectangular, but roughly circular examples occur, being probably a later development. The best specimens of the silver coins have a weight of about ^^ grains, equal to 32 rati seeds. The whole system of the ancient Hindu coinage of Northern India is founded on the weight
are very
of rude outlines of
;
The punch-marks
A few specimens are inscribed with characters dating from about 300 B. C. Sometimes these cast coins, while still in a half-fused state, were stamped with a die that
type.
produced a square or circular hollow. Such coins were often struck in the second century B.C. Many of these found at Taxila in the Panjab show how from them were developed the single-die, and finally the double-die stages
The adoption of the double-die type was undoubtedly due to Greek and Roman examples. Alexander's
of coining.
invasion (326-325
B. c.)
264
for
immediately
was reconquered
by Chandragupta and administered according to Indian methods. But after the Bactrian Kingdom had become
independent of Syria, several Bactrian
Eucratides and Menander,
in
rulers, especially
B.
c, made
found.
now
largely
They
issued
an
abundant coinage of a Greek type, which down to about 150 B.C. showed great artistic merit. They bear bilingual legends owing to the mixture of population at the time, as
well as devices representing familiar Indian objects.
later
The
Indo-Greek coins are degenerate in style. The populations of the interior of India remained unaffected by the
coinage of these countries
in
This
is
indicated
by
name
of the Maur3'a
But
it
may
names of
other dynasties appear. The coins of the Andhrabhritya dynasty (90-220 A. D.) often bear the name of the reigning But the old system of private coinage remained in king. many localities and still prevailed in Central India at the
The subjugation of Afghanistan and the Panjab by the Kushan clan of the Yueh-chi horde, about the middle of
the
the
brought India into contact with Augustus and his successors, as it extended eastwards. Kadphises I {c. 45-H5 A. D.), who annexed the Kabul valley to the Kushan Empire, issued copper coins which, on the obverse, show a king's head obviously
first
century A.
D.,
Roman Empire
of
Influence of Greek
265
Rome
His son Kadphises II, went further in imitating for he struck an abundance
Roman
mirei
weight.
Pliny's statement
that in his
is
Roman
coins
that
The Kushan
coins,
both though
most part Indian in style. is on the reverse constantly the god Siva accompanied by his humped bull Nandl. The legends giving the name and titles are biThe obverse is in Greek, lingual as on the Bactrian coins. both language and script, while the reverse legend is in Prakrit, and the characters in KharosthI, read from right to left. The copper coins of Kadphises are found in great numbers as far east as Benares. The Indo-Roman coinage of the Kushan dynasty, usually called Indo-Scythian, marks an epoch in India's numismatics. Though many Oriental features in device were retained, the European type of coin was in essentials adopted. Henceforward the main coinages of Northern India were double-die pieces, issued by the authority of the sovereign, and usually bearing his efifigy or his name on both sides. Kanishkaseemstohave succeeded Kadphises II in I25A.D.^ He conquered Kashmir and regarded Kabul and Peshawar He was the convener of the last as his capital cities. Buddhist council, and was a zealous patron of the Mahayanist He issued vast quantities of or newer form of Buddhism.
in weight, are for the
Roman
The
'
he
The exact date of Kaniska's accession is siill somewhat uncertain may possibly have preceded the, two Kadphises kings; in that case
Saka
era) would be A.D. 78.
2J40
266
His aurei agree with those of Kadphises II in weight and purity, but differ greatly |n design and legend. The obverse, as in the coins of Kadgold and copper coins.
phises
II,
fire-altar.
The
some being
i
Buddha, and the Greek sun and moon. This seems to indicate that he was a fire-worshipper first and became a Buddhist afterwards. The legends on both sides are in Greek characters only, but the title King of Kings is generally translated into a form
clearly
'
'
of Old Persian.
His successor Huvishka, who succeeded in 153 A. D., is represented on his bronze coins as riding an elephant, sitting
cross-legged, or perched on the edge of a throne, with one
leg hanging
down and
On
the reverses
The legends
are in the
Greek character.
Vasudeva, the coinage began tc deteriorate, the gold of the a7irei being much less pure.; The obverse, as is usually the case on Kanishka's coins,
Under
his successor
at
an altar
sacrificing,
and the
Kadphises
Vasudeva
died in 225 A. D.
new
imperial dynasty
its
capital.
The
second of the
line,
Samudragupta, extended
his conquests,
about 330
A. D.,
up to the Arabian Sea. But under its fifth ruler the dynasty was destroyed about 480 A. D. by the White Huns. India was then thrown back to the normal condition of a seething
Revival of Sanskrit in
mass of states engaged
in
^tli
Century a.d.
267
than anything seen since the time of Graeco-Bactrian kings. The variety of the earlier gold devices was gradually
narrowed down to the single type, the standing king on the obverse, and a goddess seated on a lotus on the reverse. These two designs prevail in the coinage of Northern India
for
hundreds of years.
They
late
coinage of Kashmir as
merit of the best
1339 A.D.
The
artistic
Gupta
A. D.. cul-
minating
in
The
position that
Sanskrit then held is illustrated by the legends on the coins. These are no longer expressed in either Greek or Prakrit, but in strictly grammatical Sanskrit. The White Hun invasion, however, eclipsed the artistic and literary glory of
this period.
The
last trace of
but
'
drahma
till
'
in the
form of drannna
at least
100 A. D.
as
innumerable native
states'
as
well
of
;
the
Hun
nor does
partial restoration of the paramount power under Harshavardhana (606-48 A. D.) improve matters much. The type prevailing from about 600 to 900 A.D. was a barbarous
268
istic
IntroI
is
often unrecognizable
About 900 A. D. several Hindu dynasties arose the Chandels of Mahoba, the Tomars of Delhi, the Rathors of
:
Muhammadan
influence.
The
king's
name and
1
the reverse.
The
latest
specimen of
this
type known
is
;,
A
man
'
'
of Ohind
Bull and Horsehorseman is the device on the obverse and a bull on the reverse. It was copied by the Chauhan kings of Delhi and Ajmir and by the early Muhammadan Sultans of Delhi till 1265, and by the Rajas of Kangra till
'
type, because a
The
earliest
Muhammadan
The
India
son of Kasim.
712 A.D., of Sindh, by Muhammad the influence, however, of this first Muslim
valley.
The
first
sovereign
Muhammadan who may be accounted an Indian is Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030 A.D.), who was
engaged during the greater part of his reign in making His coins are noteworthy as plundering raids into India. having a marginal legend in Sanskrit which explains the Arabic inscription. His son and grandson struck coins Bull and Horseman copying the type, and thereby breaking the strict rule of the Our'an that forbids the making These appear to be the earliest Muhammadan of images.
'
'
The Muhammadan
kings
Muhammadan
practice
till
Coinage
Indian
269
1265 A. D.
of the
'
Their
Bull and
coins
'
are
very
Horseman
type.
The
was a concession to Hindu prejudices. On some of the gold coins the image of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi actually appears, Efifigies on Muhammadan Indian coinage then disappeared till they were to some extent revived by Akbar (1556-1605) and his son Jahangir.
Altamsh (1210-35), the most noteworthy ruler of the Turkish Slave dynasty of Delhi, the creator of the Kutb Minar near that capital, was the issuer of an abundant coinage. His daughter Razia (1236-9), the only queen who
ever ruled at Delhi, also issued
87)
some
coins.
was the
'
last sovereign of
Horseman device, though he also issued many coins of the orthodox type. Ala-ud-din Muhammad Shah (i 295-1315), the conqueror
numerous coins chiefly of and copper, besides not a few gold ones. His son, Kutb-ud-din Mubarak Shah (1310-20). introduced an innovation into Muhammadan coinage by reverting to the old Hindu square form, w-hich continued to be occasionally used till the reign of Shah Jahan (1627-58). Muhammad, son of Tughlak (1324-51), who gained the throne by parricide, was a learned and religious, but merciless and mad, despot. He issued coins of great variety and
of Southern India, issued very
silver
all
in
the
He
perpetrated the
successfully)
(un-
70
Past
The
'
Great Mughals
by the
son
Afghan
rival of his
Humayun
who
throughout the Mughal period and was adopted and maintained by the East India Company down to 1835, and is He the basis of the present British currency in India.
caused well-executed pieces to be struck
in gold, silver,
and
His
pure
silver rupees
silver, practically
They have
name
in
Nagari characters
closely
in
The
great
Akbar
(i55<^-i6o5)
in
followed
the
his
coinage.
Like
his
son
garded the prohibition of Moses and Muhammad against making the likeness of anything that is in heaven or on
earth, for he freely used pictorial art in the decoration of
his palaces
;
on
his coins.
Nur Jahan is attested by the coins of his later name as well as his own. His disregard of
his addiction to intoxicants are indicated by which represent his effigy seated cross-legged
orthodoxy and
his gold coins,
on
his throne,
with a goblet
ruler of India
in his
hand.
He was
the only
Muhammadan
coins.
who
Shah Jahan did not repeat his father's eccentricities in but some of his his very numerous silver and gold coins
;
The
is
of
Miihammadan Coinage
course free from
in character.
all
271
is
monotonous
the empire under his successors, the weight and purity of the imperial coinage were maintained.
,
It
gradually passed
an Anglo-Indian coinage. The East India Company, which had long been copying the imperial currency, formally
into
Bombay, and,
in
copy the rupees of Arcot near Madras. In 1757 the Company's mint was legally established at Calcutta. Other mints were later set up at Benares and elsewhere. The coins issued by all these mints were copies of Mughal currency, differentiated merely by the introduction of certain emblems.
This system disappeared
coinage
replacing the
issues
in 1835-6, when an English was established with the head of William IV
name
of the
Mughal emperor.
All other
were suppressed.
affected
by foreign
Hindustan.
is
and
little
light
shed on
;
by the coinage.
their
and indistinct and dates, except on some late Muhammadan coins, are always wanting. The dearth of old coins is perhaps due to plundering invasions from the north. The earliest known raid was that
rare
besides,
devices
crude
;
almost
spoil.
made about 330 A. D. by Samudragupta, who penetrated to Cape Comorin, and returned north with vast
Nearly a thousand years later the south was raided Malik Kafur, who returned to Delhi with gold estimated by
at three millions sterling.
Later,
Muhammadan
invaders, in
1565 A.
D.,
sacked
the vast
Hindu
city of Vijayanagar
272
on
Tungabhadra
and
carried
off
untold hoarded
treasure.
In ancient times rectangular punch-marked coins circulated in the south as well as the north.
who
died
in
When
unknown, but
it
was
'
which may have been introduced from the north with Buddhism, are very rare and of little importance at anything like an early date. The principal coinage in historical times has been gold, not silver. The earliest known gold coins of the south are supposed to date from the first two
centuries of the Christian era.
They
consist of slightly
punch-mark.
of the southern coinage was, like the northern,
The weight
the same.
It
f
!
Molucca bean weighing grains. silver punch-marked coin, about 50 The piirdna, or was equal in weight to one of these seeds. The standard coins, later known to European settlers as pagodas ', usually weighed about 52 grains. This type lasted practically unchanged till 1833. The boar device characteristic of the Chalukyan coinage is the origin of the vernacular designation vardha or vardgan (' boar ') universally applied to the peculiar gold coins of Southern India, the pagodas of Europeans in later times. The Chalukyan boar, as well as the fish of the Pandyas of the extreme south, continued to appear during the eleventh century on the coins of the Chola dynasty of Tanjore after it had absorbed those two The famous King Rajaraja, who ascended the throne lines. in 985, was the first to adopt on the obverse the device of
was the kalanju or
'
',
'
'
'
273
turn was imitated by the Ceylonese king Parakrama Bahu, who succeeded in 1153 A. D. The powerful dynasty of Vijayanagar (1340-1565) issued a coinage, chiefly in gold, which weighed about 52 grains,
1
was imitated by innumerable native chieftains, in particular by Haidar All, Tipii Sultan, Krishna Raja of Mysore, as well as by the European factories. The Travancore State still issues the Southern style of coinage, but Mysore has adopted the imperial British
Vijayanagar, this
coinage
currency.
The
various
Muhammadan
Delhi coinage,
English
officials
found
made
in value.
introduced
in
Biihler's
Encyclopaedia,
1898.
Museum,
Calcutta,
'Oxford,
C. J.
Imperial Gazetteer of hidia, vol. ii, pp. 135-154. 1906; Brown, The Coins of India, Oxford University Press, 1922.
Nn
INDEX
Abhahg, short
224.
MarathI
song,
223,
Tamil
saints, 220.
Abhidhamma, higher
religion, 61.
Ahhidhana-cintdmani, 143. Abhidhdna-ppadipika, 145. Abhidhdna-rat7ia-mdld, 1 43. Abhinavagupta, 103. Absolute, the, in Upanishads, 46,
abstract deities in the Rv., 34. dcdra, customary law, 162.
*,
174.
anatomy
in
Vedic
texts, 175.
Greek and Vedic, 19. Adi-granlh, Sikh scripture, 222, 223. Adityas, group of deities, 34. advaita doctrine, 148. Aesop's fables, 125. Afghanistan, 2 Bactrians in, 264.
accent,
;
Andal, female saint, 220. Andlira-bhasd = Telugu, 214. Andhrabhritya dynasty, 264. Anekdrtha-kosa, 143. Atiekdrtha-santgraha, 144. Anekdrika-sainticcaya, 143. Anga, king of, 109, no. Ahgas, parts of Jain canon, 68, 71
animistic religion, 24.
;
Agama,
Agni, god of fire, 24, 25, 31, 32 three-headed, 86 and Soma hymns,
32.
Aniruddha,
152.
Sahkhya
commentator,
Annam
Chauhan kings
of, 268.
Anukramanis,
18, 59.
Akbar, Sultan, 224, 269, 270. Akkhay Kumar Datta, prose writer,
230.
founder
140,
of 141,
Anviksiki, philosophy, 145. apabhrania, corrupt (dialect), 200. Apabhraiiisa Prakrit, 200. Apas, Waters, deified in Rv., 31. Apastamba, school of, 160, 161, 164.
135,
266;
in,
Ala-ud-din Muhammad Shah, 269. Alberuni, 122, 139, 152, 179, 246,
260. alcliemy, literature of, 179. Alexander the Great, 6, 9, 238, 260, 263. .'il.<:ebra, texts on, 190, 191.
Arabian Nights
129.
',
Indian influence
;
Arabic, borrowed words, 202 legend loans from India, on coins, 268 118; Paticalantra, 119, 123. Arabic-Persian influence on India,
;
Allah = Rama, according to Ramananda, 222. Allahabad, inscription at, 255. alphabet, historical significance of, 51.
217.
Aranyaka,
4.^,
136.
276
archaeology,
Index
Augustus, denarius empire of, 264.
Aurangzib," coinage
aurei,
of,
Koman,
Ardha-magadhi
206.
dialect,
199,
200,
works,
190, 191.
Arjuna and
93-
Siva,
combat between,
Ayurveda, medical
science, 175.
Ars a!?iatoria, of Ovid, 173. Artha-sdstra, 135, 167, 168, 171, 172,
'73, 174-
Habar, Emperor, 269. Babrius, Aesopian fables of, 125. Babylon, 6, 7, 189, 263. Bactrian kingdom, 264.
185.
text, 184,
Aryabhatlya, mathematical
Aryan,
vernaculars,
Badakhshan, A'ghan Province, 196. Badarayana, 147, 148. Bdlahhdra/a, of Kajasekhara, ill. Bdlardnidyana, of Rajasekhara, iii. Balban, Emperor, 269.
Bali, island of, 164. ballads, Panjab, 221. Baloch, Iranian language, 197. Balochistan, 2, 264. Bana, romance writer, 102, 120, 125, 131, 132, 247. Bankim Chandra Chatterji, 230. Barabar Hill, A^oka inscription at,
work,
2?4-
Astdhga-hrdaya-satnhitd,
78.
Barth, Auguste, Orientalist, 152. Basarh in Bengal, 252, 258. Baudhayana, 161 sutra, 160, i6r.
;
Astdhga-sam^raha,
astrologer,
187.
178.
Behistun, inscriptions
at,
197, 252.
astronomical
tables, 1S2.
commentaries,
183;
astronomy, associated with astrology, 181 beginnings of Indian, 181 Greek, 182; Indian, dependent on Greek, 182, 1S7 Indian and Arabic, 186 post-Vedic, 182.
; ;
; ;
Behramji M. Malabari, 226. Belgaum, inscriptions at, 25,8. Benares, 165; coins found at, 265; sermon at, 60. Benfey, Theodor, 122; his 119, translation of the Pancatanlra,
122.
AS\aghosha, 100, 102. ASvins. Vedic deities, 28. Atharvaveda, 15, 39, 40, 41, 42, 57,
134,
17-;,
Bengal, 140, 201 literature of, 21 school of law in, 167. Bengali, 122, 201, 211, 212, 227.
;
182.
Atvuibodka, 148. Atman, 150 atoms in Jain philosophy, 69. Attock, on the Indus, 137. Aufrecht, Prof., his Kigveda, 243; his Catalogus Catalogortvn, 244.
Bentham, Jeremy, 230. Berar, South of the Vindhya, 2CO, 209, 2'5Bernier, French traveller, 237.
Bhadrabahu. commentator, 72. Bhagavadgitd, 148, 149, 150,
231, 232, 239, 242. 223, 227,
Bhdgavata Pura>ia,
262.
150,
225,
Index
Bhagavata religion, 150. Bhdgurl, philosophical work, 15S. Bhakt Mala, legends of saints, 225. bkakti, love of God, 149, 150, 220,
221, 222, 223, 224, 232.
277
Brahmaputra
Brd/iml
river, i, 3, 4, 216.
Bhamaha, writer on poetics, 140. bhdna, monologue drama, 113. BhdnumatJ, commentary, 178.
Bharata, writer on drama, 97. Bharhut, archaeological site, stupa at, 1 17, 253. Bhaioch = Broach, 4n.
Bhartrihaii,
poet,
74,
257.
66
Brahmins, 160; Kulin, 228. Brahino Samaj, 229, 230, 242. Brahui, Dravidian dialect, 213, 215.
Braj Biiasha, 205, 224, 225. biicks, inscribed Buddhist, 252.
93,
138,
237,
Brhaddranyaka Upanisad,
45, 46.
242.
Brihaspati's
j'??/ra,
1
158.
66.
Brhaspati-smrti.
I27>
Brhat-kathd-manjari
19,
26; kathd-
lihattoji DIkshita, grammarian, 138. Bhnttutpala, commentator, 189. Bhavabhiiti, dramatist, 106, 110,
Brhatsatnhitd, 173. 187, 188, 262; its encyclopaedic character, 188. British currency in India, 271.
Buddha, 48, 50
174.
his birthplace. 66, 209, 210, 250, 253; and Jainism, 61 ; and Sarikhya, 151 ; his time, in Pali sttttas, 63 conven60 tional image of, 66, 85. Buddhaghosha, 262.
; ;
Buddhagupta, 253. Buddha-svamin, recension of Brkatkathd by, 126. Buddhism, 14, 49, 51, 59, 64, 67,
145. 272.
I47.-
152,
153, 155.
15^, 229
Buddhist, canon, 254; Council, 265; dramas, 102 and Jain scholars, 156; literature, 60, 115; logician, monks, 158, 232 ; stupa, 9, 155 S4 ; stltras, 252 yoga, 64. Buddhist, early book, 7 ; monastery, philosophical system, 147 ; 82 view of nlti, 168; Sanskrit, 142,
; ;
Bodn Gay a,
66, 255. Bodhisattva, future Buddha, 63. Bodleian Library, 54. Bolan Pass, Western frontier, 2. Bopp, Franz, 242.
144.
expelled
from
India, 70. Biihler, Prof., 156, 245,259. 'Bull and Horseman' coins,
268,
Brahma
269.
Brahma, always four-armed, 84. Brahmagupta, 184, 185, 186, 190, 191.
278
Caitanya-hhagavata, 228. Caiianya-caritdmrta, 228.
Calcutta, 211.
Index
Chitra, Tagore's drama, 232. Chola dynasty of Tanjore, 272. Chosru Anushirvan, 120. Chola Nagpur plateau, 210, 216.
Christianity,
Rammohan Roy
and,
Cambay, Bay
of, 4.
229.
Cambodia, in Farther India, 177, 257. campH, story-book, 133. Cdndra-vydkarana, 139. Capua, John of, 123.
car, aerial, loi.
chronological research, method in, 258. chronology of India from foreigners, 246. cikitsd-sdra-santgraha, 179.
Classical
Sanskrit,
first
known
to
Caraka-samhitd, 176.
carih-as, biographies, 73. Cdrudatta, 108, 109. Caspian Sea, 196. caste system, 45, 78, 79, I7f, 229. catalogues, Sanskrit, 54.
cattle breeding, 39.
Europeans, 21.
coinage in India, 250, 263, 264, 265, 267, 271 ; Babylonian, 7. Colebrooke, 165, 167, 239, 240, 241.
Comorin, Cape, i, 271. comparative literature, 13, 14, 122; philology, 13, mythology, 13, 14
;
Cattcrvarga-cintdmani, 167.
causality,
celestial,
intoxicant,
33-
India, 254.
Bombay,
Madras,
Chand
Chanda, Piakrit grammarian, 140. Chandels of Mahoba, 268. ChandT = Durga, 227. Chandi Das, 227. Chandt-mahgai, 227. Chdndogya Upanisad, 45, 47. Chandra-gomin, giammarian,i39,l40.
Chandra-gupta,
170, 171, 264.
Damodara, musician,
172.
71,
iii,
168,
169,
Chandragupta II, 251. Charaka, 176, 177, 180. Charvaka, materialist system
.58.
75,
Dawn, hymn
Deccan,
2734, 6,
Ddyabhdga, law
demonology demons, 35
in
Ayurveda, 175.
1
as cause of disease,
75.
Index
(
279
201.
Devanagari, cursive, 207. Devarddhigani, 68. Devendragani, Jain commentator, 72. Devendranath Tagore, 230.
Dridhabala, medical writer, 176. Durga, goddess, 80, 228. Dushyanta, King, 106. Dutch, borrowed words, 202 trans;
dhamma = dharma,
Dhammapada,
I
Dhnnarnjaya, 98, 143. Dhanapala, lexicographer, 144. dhamtrveda, art of war, 172.
dharma, aj-tha, kdma, 218, 219. dharma, religious duty, 146, 160,
162, 166.
East India Company, 270, 271. Eastern Hindi, 206. Eastern Indo-Aryp.n linguistic group,
209. Eleatic School and Vedanta, 159.
Dharmadasa,
156.
74.
Dharmapala, logician, 156. Dharma-ratna, legal treatise, dhnnuas, religious texts, 63.
Dharma-sdstra, 160, 162,
172.
elephant in Rigveda, 38. EUora, cave temples at, 66, 81. Embryology, beginnings of, 175. Empedocles, atomic doctrine of, 159. Encyclopaedia of Indo-Aryan Research, 245. conEnglish, borrowed words, 202 quest, 264; translation of Pancaliterary influence, 217, iantra, 124 230. epic poetry, two classes of, 87. Epics, Sanskrit, 49. epitaphs on pillars and gravestones,
;
167.
163, 161,
166,
162,
dharma-mtras
57,
160,
Dharwar
district, 258.
dhaht-patha, list of roots, 141. Dhvan)'dloka,v, or'k on poetics, 1 03, 112. dictionaries, not generally alphabetical, 142 two kinds of, 142. didactic hymns of the Rv., 36. Digambara, Jain sect, 68, 75, 143, 252.
;
256.
Eran, inscription
eras, Indian, 258.
at,
253.
Dignaga, 156.
DTiia
Bandhu Mitra,
dinara
Euclid in India, 192, 193. Eucratides, Bactrian ruler, 264. Europe, Indian contact with, 8; Indian stories in tradition of, 124.
fables, oldest Indian, 117 ; migration routes of, I 22 ; identical Indian and
Greek, 125.
Fa Hian, Chinese
traveller, 246,
drama, 96, 97, 98, 100, loi. dramas, I'engal, 228. dramatic element in ritual, 99. DraupadI in Bdlabhdrala, 112.
Dravidian, country, 105 languages, 147,202,212, 214; literature, 54, 21S; songs, 220; temples, 81, 82;
;
fire-arms in India, 172. vows of Jains, 69. Fleet, identifications by Dr., 261.
five
flora
food
Rigveda, 39.
vernaculars, 214.
8o
Index
= Gomatl, 37. river, 2 Gonds, language of the, 216.
Gomal
;
four-armed images, 84, 85. four-headed images, 84. freedom, Tagore on, 233. frogs, as bringers of rain, 35, 36.
funeral
Gorakhpur District, 252. Govind Singh, Sikh Guru, 223. Govinda, world st)ul, 223 companion
;
of Chaitanya, 228.
hymns, 36.
86.
136.
art
= Ganga,
mathematical
Greek, in India, 3 language, 195, 229; type of coin, 263; alphabet, 51 astronomy, 92, 84 ; legend on novel, 133 rulers on coins, 266 Indian frontier, 98; technical terms, 189; and Indian faliles, 125; influenceonN\aya-Vaiscsika, 159; philosophy, 159 sun and moon on coins,
; ;
1
266.
GzMiMw^,
geographical, data in literature, 37, 2^1, 262; research, 260. geometrical knowledge of Greeks and Indians, 192. geometry in ancient India, 192. German scholars on Fancatanira, 119. Gesla Romaiiorum, 1 24.
Grimm's Tales, 124. Gujarat, 71, 73, 266: archway in, 77. (.ujarati, 122, 200, 206, 208, 226. Gunadhya, author, 125, 131, 140. ^/i/a5, three constituent elements, fsi.
gunpowder, supposed medieval knowledge of in India, 172.
dynasty,
Ghata-karpara, 95.
ghats, ridges bounding Deccan, 4, 6. Gilchrist, Orienialist, 225.
Gilgit,
2.
gum,
207.
Gurumukhi,
Git a = Bhavadgitd, 148. Gttdb/idsya, commentary, 148, 150. Gitagovinda,^6 rime used in, 93, 224. Gilanjali, poems by Tagore, 231.
;
Goalanda,
4.
goddesses in Rv. 27. their number, gods of the Rv., 25 identified with one another, 25 26 in sculpture, 85. Goethe, 10 1. Gokarna, locality in Kanara, 247, gopiiram, gateway, 82.
,
;
Index
'
of,
i6i.
World, 233.
lexicons, 142
'
'
Hortus Indirus
Buddha
at,
hathayoga,
(Hoogly), 4, 212. HumayOn, Emperor, 270. Huns, invasion of, 266, 267, 268. Huvishka, his coins, 266; his reien,
85.
Hugh
Alalabarictis, 239.
librarian,
Hemachandia,
156, 172.
Hemadri,
167.
author
of
compendium,
Icelandic Pancatantra, 123.
in
Rv.,
Himalaya,
226.
2,
3, 4,
Ilinaydna,
66.
Pali
Hindi, enstern, 200, 201, 205, 225 Pancat antra in, 122; religious
history of, 221
;
incantations as remedies, 175. indexes, literary, importance of, 262. India, area of, i ; atlas of ancient, 261 great rivers of, 3; northern triangle of, 2 ; orogra phi cal features
;
Hindu,
architecture,
of,
two
types of, 81 ; civilization, 79; deities ill Buddhistic monuments, 64, 80,
trinity, 32.
recovery of its past, 245-6 sea route to, 236 study of its past, 8-9. Indian, antiquities, 244 ; civilization, new era of, 54; chronology, 250
population
195
dramas, 98
116, 123,
of
Hindi,
general meaning of, 205, Hiouen Tsiang, 246, 260, 261. Hipparchos, Greek astronomer, 183.
;
204 204
difference between
Urdu and,
124, 125; literature, 13, 54, 248; most original department of, 116; plays, main theme of,
Iliranyakesin, sutra
historical,
of,
160.
Ilistoria Shahiliidii by
Hyde, 239.
;
archaeology, 249 lack of early historical works, 246 romances, 247. History of Indian Buddhism, 243. IJitopadcia, 121, 122, 242; uncertain dale of, 121; translations of, J22,
data
in
Indo-Aryan, habitat, 197, 200; language, 56, 197; literature, 54, speech, 221-233; spire, 194; origin of, 84 style, S3 temples,
;
vernaculars, 198. Indo-Ar)aiis, original home of, 196. Indo-China, Sanskrit inscriptions in,
81
;
258.
Anglo-Saxon form of
'
lord
',
00
Index
Indra, 24, 28, 29, 32; his elephant,
86.
Buddhist systems, 237 canon, prose and verse mixed in, 71 commentaries, 72 doctrine, 74 dome, free-standing pillars, 75 in76
;
; ;
4,
13,
;
sites on,
;
mouths
of,
i,
6.
endowments, 256 ; plays, study, 240, 250 words, 142. inscriptions, abundance of Indian,
255
; ;
Mdhdrdstrl, 68 philosophy, 68 poet, 219 population, 70 Prakrit, 68; stories, collections of, 73; temple architecture, 76 writings on Sanskrit, 75; writers in Tamil,
;
;
tive,
249; commemorative, 257; donaIndo-Aryan, 6; 256, 257; languages of, 250; literary, 255; locality of, 257 only sure basis of Indian history, represent 249 Jatakas, mention ancient 254;
; ;
220. Jainism, 67, 70, 145; atheistic, 67; fasting in, 70; learned books on, 74; religion of upper classes, 70;
kings,
scribe
sculptures, 254 254; indicate bodhi tree, 254; deMaya's dream, ^54; state
;
;
identify
date of Chandragupta II, 254 lists referring to, before and after 400 A. D., already published, 257 in cave temples, 250, 251 in ink or paint, 251 on monolith pillars, oil various objects and 250
; ;
;
unchanged, 70 and 59 money-lending, 70. grammar for, 140. Jains, 2i8, 219 jaiva, Thursday, 161. jalana-mitta, epithet of Bhasa, 103. Jambhaladatta, his Brhatkathd, 127, Janabai, devotee of Vithoba, 224. yd/aka, Buddhist stories, 61, 62, 63, liS nativity, iS8. ydtakamdld, Buddhist story-book, 63. Java, island of, 164; Sanskrit inrise of,
;
six
for,
localities
specially
important
254.
Jinasena, Jain author, 73. Jhanesvar, Maiatlii singer, 223. yhdncsvaj-I, MaiathI poem, 223.
W., 163, 239, 240, 248. inscription near, 49. Junagarh, rock inscriptions at, 255.
Jones.
.Sir
Jumna,
source
',
of
at,
1
254.
89.
Itivultaka,
1-tsing,
'
sayings of
allusion
Buddha
to
61.
his
Vagbhata,
jyotisa-veddhga, 181.
Kablr, Sikh teacher, 222, 223, 232; his adherents. 222.
178.
Jabalpur, 4. Jagaddeva, writer on dreams, 190. jagati, Vedic metre, 21. Jahan, Shah, 269, 270. Jahangir, Emperor, 269, 270. Jaimini, philosopher, 146, 147.
art, Jain, arch, 77 asceticism, 67, 71,
;
Kabul
264.
river, 2, 196,
197
valley, 66,
Kaccdyana-ppakarana,
oldest
Pali
religious,
72,
75
>
153;
and
Kadphises Kadphises
Index
Kailasa, 3, 82, 94. Kaithl script, 207, 210. kaivalya, omniscience, 68, 154. kaivaiya-iiavanita, 220. kdkatdliyavat, 1 1 7. kalanjti, Molucca bean, 272, kali age, 182, 248. Kalidasa, (i) 88, 94, 95, 102, ic6, 108, 109, 247, 267; (2) astrologer, 189. Kalilag and Danniag, Syriac Paticatantra, 123, Kallinatha, commentator, 172. kalpa, ritual, 160. kalpa-sutra, ritual sutra works, 192
;
283
Kashmir,
Kasikd
Vrtti, grammatical
commen-
Ka^iram, Bengali poet, 227. Kasmiii di&lect, 176, 200, 207. Kasyapa Kanada, philosopher, 156. Kdtantra. 139, 141.
Katha
Upatiisad, 151.
;
in,
Kathdsaritsdgara,
126.
story-book,
n9,
Jain, 71.
137,
138,
KaUana-malla, author,
Kalyani, 247.
174.
KaiiHka
cupid, 34. astronomical
171. 175writer,
Si'tira,
of
the
Av.,
57,
Kama, Hindu
Kamalakara,
1S6.
Kamandaki, 170,
Kdma-sdstra,
treatise
on
erotics, 135,
Ram a- sutra,
215, 247.
Kanara, south-western
.
;
district,
196,
Kautilya, political author, 168, 169, 17^^.173. 174Kaviraja, epic poet, 93. Kdvya, epic, 74, 87, 91, 129, 130. 131, 171. 174, 226. Kesava-svamin, lexicographer, 144.
Kanarese, 215 its script, 215. Kanauj, no, in, 131, 166, 199. Kangra, Rajas of, 268. Kanishka, King, 102, 176; his date, 265 his coinage, 266 his reign, his aurei, 266. 85 Kant and Vedanta, 47.
;
karana,
183-
Karanas, 1 82. Karana-kutuhala, of Bhaskara, 186. Karajida-vyitha, Purana-like Hud'Uiistic work, 63. Karataka. name of a jackal, 123.
K'lrikdi, of Gaudupada, I48. Karli, cave temple at, 254.
,174
Kolarian
= Munda
language, 215.
KosamM
comedy,
edict, 253.
karma, doctrine
Krama-pdtha,
text of Rv.,
8.
Karpura-fnahjarl,
Prakrit
n2.
Karltikeya,
226.
god of war,
80,
173,
Krishna, 72, 90, 96, 99, 150, 220, 221, 224, 225, 227, 228. Krishna Das, 228. Kri.<hna Kamala, dramatist, 228.
m,
284
Krishnamisra, dramatist, 113. Krittivasa, Bengali translator Ram ayana, 227. kriya-yoga, 154. krta age, 182. Kshemenrlra, 119, 126, 127.
Index
of
Latin, 195, 198 PaJicatantra, 123. law-books, metrical, 162.
;
Kubera, god of
riches, 80.
river, 37,
Kubha = Kabul
Kucha, town
in
U Ezoiir
Vedam, 237.
MSS.,
54.
Chinese Turkistan,
libraries of Sanskrit
Kui language,
228.
216.
164.
n.
Literature and History of the Veda', 243Llewellyn's dog Gelert, Indian original of, 124. Lokdyata, materialistic philosophy ',
'
'
156.
2 [6.
lotus,
goddess on
a,
268.
dynasty, 267 KusHianJali, Nyaya work, 155. Kutb Minar, near Delhi, 269. Kutb-ud-dln Mubarak Shah, 269. Kuttakddhyaya, mathematical text,
190.
265;
Machiavelli, the Indian, 170, 173. Madhava, 110, 145, 147, 148, 166.
Laghu-kaumudi, 138.
Laghv-arhan-nltisastrd, 172. Lagrange, French astronomer, 192. Lahnda language, 200, 208. Lahore, I'anjab, 9. LakshmT, goddess, 80 on Muhamma;
199,
201,
Magha, poet,
dan coins, 26c). Lakshmldhara, legal author, 166. Lalita-vistara, biography of Buddha,
62, 262.
magical hymns, 35 spells, 64. Mahdblidrata, 73, 87, 88, 89, 90, 93,
;
Lalld-vdkydni, 226.
Lallu
ji
Lai, 225.
script, 206, 207.
;
Landa,
149, 151, 162, 163, 168, 183, 217, 220, 227, 232. Mahdbhdsya, 137, 154, 155, 158, 169.
III,
Andhra,
2 16.
Mahdvastu,
62.
Mahayana
sculpture, 85.
Index
Mahdvira-carita, iii.
28:
Mahdyana,
Mahipala, King, iii. Maitiayanlya school, 161. Mahmud of Gha7ni, 268. Alaitri Upanisad, 151.
\
Medhatithi, 164, i66. Medic, language, 197. medical, glossaries, iSo; Sanihitas, 76 science, 1 75 treatises in verse, 176 works, tr. into Arabic, iSo. medicine in India, 175; becomes known to Europe, 180; in Tibet, Ceylon, Farther India, 180.
I ; ; ;
Maithill dialect, 210, 224. Malabar, 103, 104, 106, loS, 215, 238. Maladhar Vasu, 227. Malaii, daughter of a minister, no. Mdlati-mddhava, play, no. Malavika, 108, 143. Mdlavikdgiiimitra, play, 102, 106, 108, 109. Malayalam, 215. Malik Kafur, 271. Malik Muhamad, 223. Mdimi, play, 233. Mdnava-dharma-sdstra, 16 r, 163, 182.
Meghaduta,
73, 94.
Meghna,
4.
Meharaull, 251, 256. Menander, King, 61, 264. Meru, Mt., 183.
metallic preparations, 179. metres, Vedic, 19. metrical skill in Veda, 20, 39. Metta-siitta, 61. Mewar, in W. Hindustan, 224. Midland, 201 language, 205, 206, 207. Mihirakula, 247, 253. J\Jilinda-panha, 61. Mira Bai. poetess, 224.
;
Mdnava-dharma-sutra, 58. Mana-sdra, 172. Manasarowar, 3. Mandasor, 253, 255. manddkrdntd, metre, 94. Manikka-Vasagar, 219. Mankuwar, 255,
Mitdksara, 165.
165,
Manu, code
58, 163, 164, 166, 172, 240, 242, 263. many-armed figures, 85, 86.
of,
Manyu, wrath,
34.
;
Moggallana,
2.=i3-
disciple
93.
9.
of
Buddha,
Moha-mudgara,
Mohen-jo-daro,
sciipt for
Urdu, 205.
108.
mountains
tieitied, 35.
Marwar, 207. MarwarT, Rajastliani dialect, 206. Masildi, Arabian writer, 128.
materialistic doctrine, 158.
Mruhakatikd, 98,
AIud)-drdk^asa, 117. AJiigdhahodha, a grammar, 140. Mughals, Great, 270. Muliammad, son ut Tughlak, 269.
Muhamniadan,
233,
222;
;
coins,
Maudgalyayana, 102.
Maurya dynasty,
264.
10,
168,
169,
intluence
on
268; Indian
Muhammadans,
Max
mdyd,
286
Muktesvara temple,
83.
Index
Nepalese Pancatantra, 120.
227.
A^iddtta, 178. AHghantu, 180.
Mukundaram Kavikahkan,
Miila-sutra of Jains, 72. Multan, in Panjab, 9. Munda languages, 213, 214, 216 and Diavidian, 215.
;
Musalman
Muttra
rule, 197.
AT/ Darpan,
229.
70.
168, 171, 172. Nitivdkydnirta, 171. nitisastra, 167. A^iii-sdra, 170, 171,
non-canonical
Buddhist
literatur
composed in Ceylon, 61. North Pole, 183. North, Sir Thomas, 124. novels and romances, 118.
Numismatics, 262-73.
Nur Jahan,
270.
145, 146, 154.
NaloJaya, 93.
Ndrna-lingdmiiasatia, 142.
155, 157.
c,
Ndnarthasabda-koa, 144. Ndn drtha-sa mkalpa ,144. Nandas, i()9. Nandi, diva's bull, 265. JVdrada-smrti, 165, 166.
Aydya-mdla-vistara, 147.
nydya-idstra,
1.-4,
155.
Nydya-sutra, 155, 157. Nydya-sTdt a-bhdsya, 155. Nyaya- Vaisesika compendia, 156.
old Persian and Indian coins, 266.
4.
7.
narrative 118.
literature,
two
classes,
Old Testament, 49. omens, works on, 190. Open Door to Hidden Heathendom
'
',
237-
7iatya-dstra, 97.
osteology in Av., 175. Oudh, 205, 206. Ou|inek'hat = Upanishad, 242. Ovid, Ars amatoria, 173.
Oxus,
river, 196.
Index
^rlhatis, 59. inavati, 223.
lias, seven, 82. :oda', standard coin, 272. > of deities in Rv., 34.
287
isachi Prakrit, 125, 140. y a- lac cht -no ma- mala, 144.
:
99, 117, 137, 138, 154, 155, 158, 169. path of the gods, 48 of the fathers, 48. pathology, chief works on, 1 78. Patna, 201 209. Paiilisa-siddhdnta, 183.
;
,
Patanjali,
..-iaeography, 259.
^'ali,
199
; ;
87
literature,
grammars,
inscriptions, 199 text society, 141 244. aim leaves as writing material, 53.
;
.'amirs, 2.
Pancadasi, 148. Paiicdkhydna-vdrttika, 226. Pancasiddhanlika, 183. pahcatanlra, iiS, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 133, 217, 226; Arabic, 123; Danish, 123; IDravidian, 122; German, 123; English,
124.
Jain domes, 76. 4n., 260. Persian, borrowed words, 202 empire, 6 models, 217 modern, 197 ; and Arabic, 207, 229; Persianized Hindustani, 204, 205; Sufis, 229. Persic language, 196. Perso-Arabic, astrology, 190. personification in Rv. gods, 25. Peshavvnr, 197.
in
I,
; ;
;
PfoiT,
Anton
v., 123.
Pktt-sntras, 139.
Pandharpur, 223.
Pandits, Sanskrit-ridden, 211.
of, 272. Panini, 19, 51, 58, 79, 97, 137. 138, I39> '98Panipat, victory of, 270.
Phoenician
Pandyas, coinage
100, 136,
Piprahwa,
relic vase,
253
monumen-
Pitdmaha-siddhdnta,
place-names, 260. plants, deified, 35. pla}s, Trivandrum Sanskrit, 103. Pliny, 216, 265.
king,
polytheism, 24, 229. Pondicherry, 238. Pons, Pere, 237. Poona, 209, 224.
Parasnath Hill,
Pariahs, 218.
2.
paribhdms, 139.
Paribhdsendti-sckhara, parinibbdna, 60. PartsistapaJ~van, 73iParjanya, rain-god, "5.
'
works on,
190.
39.
prabandhas
73.
Parmenides, I5p
Parsis, 226.
'
Parsva, 67, ti, 74, parvan, epic canto, 88. Pashto language, 197, 208. Patallputra, 209, 266.
Index
Prakrits, 198, 199.
rdja-yoga <:){VzX2i\\\?\\, 154. Rajputana, 205, 221. Rajputs, 2c6, 210, 221.
raksas,
demon,
35.
Rama,
91,
no,
Prasna Upanisad,
Prayogas, 58. Sdgar, 225.
151.
Rama Narayana
Tarkaratna, Bengali
Prem
dramatist, 228. Ramananda Vishnuite reformer, 22 r, 222. Ramanuja, 149, 150, 220, 221. Rdmdyana, 88, 91, ill, 217, 227,
Ptolemy,
Roy, reformer, 229, 242. rasa, 179. Rathors of Kanauj, 268. rati seeds, 263. Rati)-akasya, erotic work, 174.
Ratndvali, drama, 109.
Rammohan
230,
purdna
Rawal
Pindi, 6.
Razia, Queen, 269. Recovery of India's past, 23573. rejuvenation, 179. relic vase, engraved, 251.
retribution, 48, rhinoplasty, 180.
Pui-va-mJmdnnd, 145, 146, 147. Pu>ua-7mmdmsd-siitra, 1 46. pyramidal towers, Dra vidian, 83.
Pythagoras, 159.
Rhys Davids, Prof., 244. rhythm, Vedic, 20. Ribhus, divine artificers, 35.
rice, 7, 13.
ri
Idles as
hymns,
37.
17,
97, 98, 161, 181. Rigveda Repetitions, 23. rime in later Indian
1
1
poetry,
93,
1.
Rablndranath Tagore, 231. Radha, 224, 225, 227. Rdgavibodha, 173. Rdghava-pdijdaviya 93. Ragkuvanisa, 92.
,
rivers,
rahasyas, secret texts, 220. Rahu, demon of eclipse, 89. Rajagriha, cyclopean walls at,
Romaka = Rome,
183.
Roman
Rosen, F., 243. Roth, R. v., 22, 243. Rudra, a deity, 29.
Index
Rndradaman, 252.
Kngvinilraya medical work, 178. Ruinmindei, 253, 256. rupees of Madras, Bombay, and Upper
India, 273.
Sanskrit, 13, 50, 56, 62, 63, 103, 176, 197, 198, 201, 211, 217, 218, 221, 237. 238, 239, 242, 257, 262, 267; allied to European languages, 12 alphabet, 51 ; Classical, becomes
;
known
Sahara, 147. Sabara-svamin, 147.
Sabdanitsasciiia,
1
36.
S sbda-pradlpa, iSo. sabhd, court, 169. sacerdotalism, 45. Sacrifice, a drama, 233.
sacrificial post, 35.
Sadananda, 149.
Saddharma-piiridarika, 63. Sagarika, 109.
Saivas, 218. Saivism, 226. Sakala = Slalkot, 261. Sakalya, author of Pada text, 136. J^akatayana, 139, 140.
Europeans, 236 DicBohtlingk and Roth, 244; drama, rise of, 102 final development of, 59 epics in Tamil, 220; literature, six groups in, 87; literature tinged with pessimism, 80 manuscripts, 54 prose, earliest specimen of, 58 ; religion of classical period, 80 rise of new gods in classical period, 80; style, growing artificiality of, 79 study in England, dawn of, 239 legend on Arabic coins, 268 Sanskrilization
to
;
tionary
of
of Bengali, 211.
SantalT, dialect, 216.
Sdkatdyana-vydkaratia, 139. idkhd, branch of astronomy, 187. sdkiina, augury, 188. Sakitntald, tr., ic6, 107, 240, 242.
^alatura, Panini's birthplace, 137. Salt Range, 208.
Sarada
script, 206. Sariputra, 102, -prakarana, 253 102. Sarnath, 258. Sarhgadeva, writer on music, 172. Sdriigadhara-sajnltitd, 1 79.
;
san'a-darsatta-samgraha,
45.
Sarvavarman, 139.
Sassanian, coinage, 267
sdstra, 145.
;
king, 120.
Samrad Jagannatha,
193.
Sasvata, lexicographer, 143. Sat sai, collection of devotional verses, 225. Satakarni, king, 253.
75
age, 49.
Sankhya, 145,
'
146,
149,
150,
?9>
77,
SaurasenI, 140, 199, 200, 201, 205. Saurashtri, 207, 208. Savaras, dialect of, 216. Sayana, 22, 145, 243.
Sclielling, 242, Schlegel, F., 241 A. W. v., 241, 242. Schopenhauer, 242. Scott, Walter, 230. Seleukos Nikator, 169. Sen, D. C, 228; K. Ch., 231, 232. serpent deities, 80.
;
2
,
Shahpur, 255.
Pp
290
Sher Shah, Emperor, 270. Siam, 164. Siddhanta, 185 Jain, 68, 71. Siddhdntas, 182, 183. Siddhanta- kaunmdi, 138.
;
Index
Sraiita Sutras, sacrificial manuals,
Sribhdsya, 149, Sridhara's commentary, 157. Sriharsha, King, 109, no. 6/Ishena, 184.
Sruti
= Veda,
49.
story-books, intercalary, 118. Strabo, 4. Strassburg, Gottfried von, 128. St. Petersburg Snnskrit Dictiona.
Siinhasana-dvdtrimsikd,
27.
Sindamani =
cintdviani, 220.
Sindbad, 129. Sindbad, Arabian version of, i 29. Sindban, Syriacversion oiShidbad, 129.
Sindh, 6, 215. Sindhi, 200, 208, 217. Sindibdd-ndmeh Persian Sindbad, 129. sistdh, the cuhured, 162.
,
Book
of
Sthanesvara, 131. stapa, 65, 117, 175. stylus, 210. Subandhu, 125, 130, 131, 155, 17 Siidan, Michael Madhu, 230. ^ndraka, King, 108. suicide, religious, 69, 70Suldmani = a'lddviani, 220.
hilva, cord, 192. Sulva-siitras, 192, 193.
Sisupdla-vadha, 93.
6iva, 85, 92, 219, 227, 247, 266.
i^iva,
post-Vedic
= Vedic Rudra,
30.
Sumerian civilization, 10. Sunahsepa, story of, 87. Sungas, dynasty of, 253.
sunrise and sunset, nation of, 181.
Brahmana exp
Buddhism, 64
sects,
131, 157-
Sivaites
Skandha-gupta, 252.
sloka, 20, 79, 141, 142, 143, 160, 162. slokas, 162, 172, 181. Smritis, 162, 167, 168.
smrti, 162.
Smrtikalpa-iaru, 166.
SobhavatT, 102.
solstices, sun's
at,
182.
supernatural powers, 153. Sur Das, blind poet of Agra, 225. Sur Sugar, collection of hymns, 225 Surapala, 180. 6urasena, land of, 100. Surashtra, 207. SureSvara, Bengal physician, 180 Snriyapammti, Jain, 182. Surya, sun-god, 24. Surya-sidiihdnta, 183, 184, 185, 186 Susruta, 176, 177, 180. Susruia-sanihitdy 177. Sutlej, 13, 200.
sut}-a,
Soma,
oblation, 24. ; of Rv,, 16, 33. Somadeva, 119, 126, 127. Somadevasuri, 171.
32, 33
Soma hymns
56, 57, 145, 146, 168; style. 135, 160, 162, 171, 182. Sutras, 56, 71, 136 ; age of, 57. sutra-dhdra, stage-manager, 102.
Somanatha, 173.
Songlr
Suvarnagiri, 252. soothsaying, 190.
Sophocles, 7. Sorensen's Index, 262. sonl in Jainism, 69. Spanish tr. oi Pancotanira, 123. Sraddha, Faith, 24, 34. srdddha, funeral rite, 167.
Index
'i.t,
291
toxicology, 175.
ymous
"fas,
Trajan, column of, 76. transmigration, theory of, 48, 78, So,
1
29.
122.
Travancore
state, 273.
= Thakur,
230
-
.il
= Dravida = Dramida,
219;
country,
'(.horisms,
;a,
so;
'
214;
literature,
at, 82.
Trivikrama-bhatta, 133.
Tukaram,
224.
"..ore,
'
of temples, 83. calculating astronomy, 187. Jrakhyayika, 119, 120. i;tras, Buddhist, 64.
'a,
'
Tuhgabhadra,
river, 272.
,j,-kasar?ig}-aka, 157.
Turfan, in Central Asia, 102. Turkistan, Chinese, 102. Tntind?neh, 128; Turkish tr.
of, ib,
Udayana Udayana
(i),
Kingof Vatsa,
109,
10.
(2), writer
on Nyaya, 155.
Uddyotakara, 155.
Ujjain, 108,
ppa kulam, raft tank, 83. estament. Old and New, 229. "vijja, threefold knowledge, 15.
'hanesar, 131, 247. and pantheistic ideas, 219. "heragathd, songs of monks, 61.
leistic
"herigdthd, songs of nuns, 61. 'hucydides, 246. fibet, 2, 3, 139, iSo. .'ibetan translations, 156.
Uttarajjhayana, 72, Uttara-viividmsd, 145, 146, 147. Uttara-rdma-carita, in. Uvaesamald, 74. Uvasagga-harastotra, 74.
X'achaspatimisra, 152, 154.
Mysore, 273.
Vaisesika system,
14,;,
2M0
p2
292
Vakpatiraja, poet, 103.
Index
verses intermixed with prose, 168.
Vetdla-pancavimsatikd, 127.
Vidarbha
Berar,
no.
Viddhasdlabkanjikd, 112. Videha, 49. Vidi^a = Bhilsa, 108. vidusaka, jester, 99, loi, 102, no,
Vidyapati Thakur, 224, 227. vihdras, monasteries, 66. Vijayanagar, 271, 273. Vijnana-bhiksu, 152, 153, 154. Vijnanesvara, 165. Vikrama-carita 127. Vikramaditya, King, 189 his era,
,
vardha or vardgan
Varahamihira,
187, 189.
'pagoda', 272.
183,
173,
184,
185,
Vararuchi, 140.
Vardhamana,
139.
Vasco da Gama,
8.
Vinayapjtaka, 158.
Vindhya range,
4, 38.
266
his
Vasugutta, 254. Vasus, group of deities, 34. Vatapi = Badami, 262. Vatsyayana, Mallanaga, 173, 174.
Veda,
14, 145, 146. Vedaiigas, 58, 181. Vedanta, 47, 49, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151. 159) 230. Veddnta-sdra, 149. Veddnta-sutra, 147, 148, 149, 150. Vedic, accent, 19, 139; dialects, 198 gramgods, characteristics of, 25 mar as exception to classical San;
;
Virabhadra, 130. Visakhadatta, in. Vishnu, 29, 85, 113, 224. Vishnugupta, 168, 169, 171. Vishnuites, 228; and ^ivaites, 150. Visnu-smrti, 161. Vi^vakarma, Creator, 86. Visvaprakdsa, dictionary, 143, 144. Vithoba = Vishnu, 223, 224. Vitthal = Vithoba, 223. vocabulary of Sanskrit, liable to change, 79.
Voltaire, 238.
Vriddha-Vagbhata, 178. Vrindavan Das, 228. Vrnda's Siddhiyoga, 179. Vrnda-viddhava, 1 79. Vritra, demon, 28, 35.
vrtta, metre, 20.
13; religion, its importance, 23; and Sanskrit, 80; schools, 160, 161, 162; study, betexts, late comginning of, 243 mitment to writing, 51 triad, 31.
significance,
; ;
Vent-satfihdra, play,
in.
194;
;
Vernaculars,
Indian,
become
known, 236; literature of, 217-34; Vedic dialects, 50 foreign words Midland groups of, 203 in, 202
;
;
weapons, early Indian, 39. Weber, A., Essay on Jain literature, 245 Histoty of Indian Literatuie
;
244.
two
201
Index
Western
'
293
culture, 233.
',
66.
Yajurveda, 14, 40, 49, 160, 161, 181. Yajurveda, White, 165.
Yamuna = Jumna,
166,
37.
161,
229,
253.
women,
wood,
Yaxartes
river, 196.
material, 53.
at Karli, 66 ture imitated in stone, 65. world-soul, 24, 46, 151. writing, introduction of, 50. written texts not referred to B.
Yoga,
;
wooden, umbrella
Yoga-bhasya, 154.
Yoga-sdsira, 74. Yoga-siitra = Sdhkhya-sutra, 154. Yoga-ydtrdf 1S8.
probably non-existent
B. c.
52-
Yueh-chi horde, 264. yiiga, cosmic age, 182, 184. Yuzufzai country, 66.
Z(vs, 161.
Xenophanes, 159.
Yadavaprakasa, 143. Yadzur Vedam = Yajitrveda, 238.
Yajnavalkya, 164, 165.
Zodiac, I Si. Zoroastrian gods, 266. Zoroastrianism, 226.
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