Literary remains of

LITERARY REMAINS

OF

THE LATE PROFESSOR

THEODORE GOLDSTUCKER.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

W. H. ALLEN

LONDON:

CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE,

PALL MALL, S.W.

PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE.

1879.

PK-
103

V2-

LONDON :
PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

PAGE

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA . . .1

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM . . 50

HINDU EPIC POETRY: THE MAHABHARATA . . .86

ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION

OF HINDU LAW . , 145

OPINIONS ON PRIVY COUNCIL LAW CASES . . . 216

ON THE QUESTION WHETHER THE LAW OF BENGAL FAVOURS

OR DISCOUNTENANCES THE PRINCIPLE OF PERPETUITY

AS APPLICABLE TO THE RIGHT OF INHERITANCE . 227

ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, STERCUS, &c. . . 234

ARTICLE III.

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

1. Dialogues on the Hindu Philosophy : comprising the Nydya, Sdnkhya,
the Veddnt ; to which is added a discussion of the authority of the
Vedds. By Rev. K. M. BANEEJEA, Second Professor of Bishop's
College, Calcutta, London, 1861.

2. A Rational Refutation of the Hindu Philosophical Systems. By
NEHEMIAH NILAKANTHA SASTRI GORE. Translated from the original
Hindi, printed and manuscript, by Fitz-Edward Hall, D.C.L., Oxon.,
H.M.'s Inspector of Public Instruction for the Central Provinces.
Calcutta. 1862.

3. The Chhdndoyya Upanishad of the Sdma Veda, with extracts from
the Commentary of Sankara Achdrya. Translated from the original
Sanskrits,, by RAJENDRALALA MITRA. Calcutta. 1862.

OURS is an age of unbelief. Meteors do not warn us ; eclipses of sun
and moon have lost for us their power of prognostication. We have
fowls, like the ancient Romans, but they do not, as Pliny says, " daily
govern the minds of our rulers "(hi magistratus nostros quotidie regunt).
"\Ve kill and roast oxen and sheep, but there is no haruspex or thyoskoos
to enlighten us on the mystical properties of their entrails, or on those
of the smoke ascending from their flesh. Ants, spiders, and bees,
VOL. II. / 1

2 ' THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

which had so much to tell in olden times, are silent now about future
events ; and though the aged portion of our fair sex seems still to
adhere to the mysterious rules on omens and portents laid down in the
learned works of Atreya, Charaka, Susruta, and other fathers of Hindu
medicine, we have still a doubt whether it is powerful enough to arrest
the sceptical bias of this age. Nevertheless there are signs which we
should do well to dwell upon with the same awe as our forefathers did
when a comet made its sudden appearance on their horizon.

Five years have passed since we quelled that untoward rebellion "of
India. Then, we said, it was the inferior race which dared to feel
dissatisfied with the governing wisdom of its superiors. Men, deficient
in religious notions, with a literature not worth considering, with
institutions not heard of in civilized Europe, with laws of inheritance
and adoption so inconvenient to the Indian Exchequer, had the pre-
sumption to give vent to a feeling of treasonable uneasiness, utterly
unjustified, and therefore deserving the severest punishment. We
' have grown wiser since. We now remember that vast and wonderful
literature of ancient India, which still fertilizes the native mind ; we
no longer close our ears to the numerous witnesses, dead and living,
wliich testify to the superior intelligence and capacities of the Hindu
race ; wo begin to admit that the institutions and laws dating from im-
memorial times and outlasting all the vicissitudes of Indian history
must be congenial to the nation that reverses and upholds them so
tenaciously ; nay, humbly mindful of our own religious perplexities, we
have thought it the wiser course to allow the Hindus themselves to
settle their own mode of attaining eternal bliss.

" We desire," says Her Majesty, in that memorable Proclamation of
the 1st November, 1858, which will ever be quoted to the glory of her
reign, and to the honour of the Minister who then presided in her
Councils of India —

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 3

" We desire," says Her Majesty to the Princes, Chiefs, and People
of India, " no extension of our present territorial possessions ; and
while we permit no aggression on our dominions or our rights to be
attempted with impunity, we shall sanction no encroachment on those
of others. We shall respect the rights, dignity, and honour of our
native princes as our own ; and we desire that they, as well as our
own subjects, should enjoy that prosperity and social advancement
which can only be secured by internal peace and good government. . . .

" Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknow-
ledging with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right
and the desire to impose our convictions on any of our subjects. We
declare it to be our Royal will and pleasure that none be anywise
favoured, none molested or disquieted, by reason of their religious faith
or observances, but all shall alike enjoy the equal or impartial pro-
tection of the law ; and we do strictly charge and enjoin all those who
may be in authority under us, that they abstain from all interference
with the religious belief or worship of our subjects, on pain of our
highest displeasure.

" And it is our further will that, so far as may be, our subjects, of
whatever race or creed, be freely and partially admitted to offices in
our service, the duties of which they may be qualified by their educa-
tion, ability and integrity duly to discharge. . . .

"We know and respect the feelings of attachment with which the
natives of India regard the lands inherited by them from their ances-
tors, and we desire to protect them in all rights connected therewith,
subject to the equitable demands of the State ; and we will that gene-
rally in framing and administering the law, due regard be paid to the
ancient rights, usages, and customs of India."

It would be in vain to deny that these words have become the Magna

i THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

Charta of India ; and it would be dangerous to misunderstand the signs
which have risen on the political horizon of that country since they
struck root in the native mind. The Hindus have ceased to look upon
themselves as inferior in rights to their fellow-subjects in Europe.
Their'princes, undeterred by adverse decisions of former governments,
firmly renew their claims, and plead them before the people of England ;
their native associations hold meetings, discuss and issue reports of the
acts of Government, which, rival in their form and contents the pro-
ceedings of the British Parliament ; their press, though loyal, has
grown manly, and their political agents in this country offer us the
novel and instructive spectacle of convening meetings of Englishmen
and of enlightening them on the actual position, the wishes, the rights,
and the claims of their countrymen. But whereas those who were in
the habit of looking down upon native talent and native acquirements
may feel surprised when hearing Hindu politicians descant on inter-
national law, with quotations from Grotius, Puffenderf, Vattel, Donat,
and Wheaton, others will probably find not less ground for reflection
when they discover that religious questions also are dealt with now by
native writers in a spirit and with an amount of European erudition
winch hitherto seemed to have been the exclusive privilege of western
scholarship.

W hile contenting ourselves for the present with these general
remarks on the important political changes which are shadowed forth
by the actual movements in India, we intend in this article to draw
the attention of our readers to that remarkable religious feature of
Hindu development just alluded to.

Of all problems concerning the future of India the most pro-
blematical at all times has been the religious one. No government,
uh.-tlicr Mohammedan or Christian, ever approached it without the
strongest misgivings ; and no government has hitherto been able to

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 5

offer any solution of it. We are neither surprised at the attempt nor
at the failure. We comprehend that every one who, either through his
personal intercourse or through his studies, has become acquainted with
the actual religious condition of India, must consider it unsatisfactory
in the highest degree ; but we understand, too, that neither a foreign
government nor foreign zeal apparently possesses the means of im-
proving it. A creed, however objectionable to those who do not share
in it, is always congenial to the mental condition of its professor.
Beyond all things it is his property ; and that property, too, which no
oppressor can seize or annihilate. It must be valuable, since it can
resist al] might ; and its value increases in proportion to the strength
which oppression gains. No foreign law, no dictatorial force has ever
modified the essential aspect of Hindu religion, beyond trifling changes
illusory in themselves. Nor need we speak of the result which per-
suasion has obtained when laws have been ineffectual. Of the various
causes which have produced its failure we need mention only one, which,
in most instances, has been all-powerful — we mean ignorance. With-
out inquiring into that which it was intended to substitute for the creed
to be removed, we may fairly assert that scarcely any one of those
zealous men who have set out on their missionary tasks had ever under-
taken to study the rise, the progress, and the decline of Hindu religion.
Appearances alone have captivated their minds, and in appearances
only have their successes resulted. " Our religion is that of the East
India Company," was the satisfactory answer given to one of these
successful missionaries when examining his converted flock before the
bishop of his diocese ; and experience shows that this answer holds
practically good in nearly all other cases in which the worshipper of
Brahma, Vishnu, or Siva, has learned to adore the Christian Trinity.
To show a pious Hindu that he might abandon his rites without
forfeiting salvation, required more than a superficial discourse on their

6 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

futility ; to persuade an orthodox Brahmin that neither Vishnu nor Siva
is the creator of the world, necessitated at least a knowledge of what
Vibhnu and Siva are ; and such a knowledge would have compelled the
missionary to ascend the height of Hindu antiquity, to study the Vedas
and the numerous writings connected with it, to descend from it to the
mediaeval period of Hindu civilization, and to follow its meandering
course through all the intricacies of Sanskrit literature. It is needless
to say that the acquirement of such a knowledge was hardly ever
dreamt of by any of those who meant to convince the Hindus of the
errors of their various creeds.

We consider it therefore a new and remarkable phase in the develop-
ment of India, not only that researches of the most arduous kind have
been commenced in order to pave the way to that knowledge, but that
native scholars of position and learning take upon themselves the task
which has hitherto engaged the activity of European missionaries. It
is a first-fruit we reap from the wisdom of the Royal proclamation.
Conversion having ceased to be the means of obtaining or granting
favours, the native mind will listen to its indigenous teachers without
passion or mistrust, and in their turn English statesmen will have
better opportunities for studying the minds of the Hindus by listening
to their own scholars, than by learning the views — too often tainted by
partiality — of European philanthropists.

We have placed at the head of this article the titles of two works,
which illustrate what we have just called the new phase of the religious
condition of India. Both works are written by native scholars of great
accomplishment, and, though differing in their intrinsic value, tend
towards the same goal. The " Dialogues on the Hindu Philosophy,"
by Mr. Banerjea, it is true, is the more learned and the more com-
prehensive of the two ; it is more attractive in its form, and it has the
advantage also of having been written in the masterly English in

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 7

which it is presented to the public by the author himself, who gives
ample proof that he combines in a high degree the erudition of a Hindu
Pandit with that of an English Professor. On the other hand, the
" Rational Refutation of the Hindu Philosophical Systems," by Mr.
Nehemiah Nilakantha Sastri Gore, originally composed in Hindi, and
translated by Dr. Hall, not only enjoyed the benefit of the numerous
and valuable remarks of this accomplished scholar, but, as it seems to
us, addresses itself more to the understanding and the training of the
Hindus, than its more refined rival, which, on account of its superior
merits, will necessarily be less appreciated in its own country than with
us. When we mention, moreover, that both authors — the one tracing
his pedigree to the oldest Brahmanic families of ancient India — have
embraced the Christian religion in preference to that of their ancestors,
we need not add that their conclusions are in favour of the creed they
now profess.

It is essential, however, for a proper and due appreciation of their
elaborate works, that no misunderstanding should exist in our reader's
mind as to what we mean by the creed of their ancestors. As we shall
enter more fully on this question in the course of these pages, it will
suffice for the present to observe that the ancient religion of India has
become gradually changed into the double form of an exoteric and
esoteric creed. The worshippers of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva in a
great variety of forms in which these deities represent themselves to
the native imagination, the adorers of the Saktis or female energies of
these gods, of the Sun, Ganesa, and a number of other beings — all
pretend that their mode of worship is founded on, and countenanced
by, their revealed sacred writings, the Vedas, though its immediate
source is to be found in the Puranas. These represent what we may
call the creed of the masses, inasmuch as it appeals to the grosser
capacities of human understanding. The esoteric creed of the Hindus

8 THi; RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

likewise appealing to the Vedas, is essentially philosophical. It pro-
fesses to express the real meaning of these sacred works, by reducing
their myths to allegories, and by proving that their essence is the
rine of one God, the creator of the universe and the source of
eternal bliss. Like Sankariicharya one of the greatest Hindu divines,
the professors of this creed admit the utility, and, as the case may be»
: the necessity, of a sensual description of worship, as suited to the
intellect of those who are not fitted for the unalloyed reception of
eternal truth ; but their object is gradually to elevate the mind of the
masses, to wean it from rites based, as they argue, on the misinterpre-
tation of their holy scriptures, and to prepare it for a pure conception
of the deity. Amongst these, the followers of the Vedanta philosophy
occupy the foremost rank, and exercise the greatest influence, so much
so that this esoteric creed may be identified to a certain degree with
the tenets of the Vedanta philosophy.

It is to this philosophical form of Hindu religion that the " Dialogues "
and the "Refutations" are addressed. They do not condescend to
deal with the worshippers of Vishnu, Siva, and their kin. For as
their object is to penetrate to the root of Hindu thought, it becomes
superfluous for them to lop branches without a stem. Or, to speak in
plainer terms : since they endeavour to prove not only that the doctrine
of all Hindu philosophies, the Vedanta included, is erroneous, but that
the very source whence they profess to flow, the Veda, is devoid of
authority and unworthy of belief, the whole Hindu Pantheon according
to them loses its prop and tumbles to the ground.

It is the unenviable fate of those who, while dealing with matters of

Hindu religion or Hindu literature, claim attention beyond the narrow

of professional students of Indian antiquity, to have always to

fciu-c their statements with precautions which, in kindred and familiar

matters, would be tedious and superfluous. Thus we believe that, in

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.. 9

spite of all the encouragement which the study of Sanskrit and Sanskrit
literature lias of late years received at the hands of the Indian Govern-
ment, such precaution cannot yet safely be altogether dispensed with
when it is necessary to deal freely with such terms as Veda and Hindu
philosophies. Veda will no doubt represent to the popular mind some
book like the Bible or the Koran, and with an expression like Hindu
philosophies, it probably combines ideas like those suggested by the
philosophy of Pythagoras, Aristotle, Plato, or to speak in homelier
language, of Bacon, Locke, or Hume. Above all things, it will readily
imagine some safe or at least some probable date by which we may not
only assign a fixed position to these works in Hindu literature, but
also determine the relation which they hold to one another, and the
influence which the earlier writer exercised on the minds of his suc-
cessors. We must at the outset, therefore, destroy such illusions
wherever they may exist. We shall have to mention that the Veda is
no wise comparable to the sacred writings of Jews, Mohammedans, or
Christians ; and we will at once confess that no one has as yet been
able to connect any personage — in the historical sense of the word —
with any of these writings, or the text books of modern philosophy, or
to prove at which period of Hindu antiquity they were composed. Nor
do the materials known to us justify more than theories on the relative
position occupied by the three great branches of Hindu philosophy.
So antagonistic is this utter mysteriousness of historical data in Indian
literature with the matter-of-fact predilections of the European mind,
that even conscientious writers on Sanskrit literature thought it indis-
pensable to their task to lay before their readers at least some con.
jectural date of the antiquarian subject they were treating of; and so
easily do personal opinions skilfully expressed become invested with
the authority of proof, that authors drawing their information from
these writers have transformed their imaginary dates into historical

10 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

definitions of time. It is necessary, therefore, for the formation of a
proper judgment, to reduce these speculations, however interesting in
many respects, to their real value, and to free our notions from the
fetters they may impose.

We notice on these grounds with peculiar pleasure the soher and
cautious manner in which the reverend professor has dealt with ques-
tions like these, and though we differ in various respects from the views
he has expressed and the judgment he has passed, we cannot do better
than attach our own remarks to the summary and ingenious sketch he
has given in the commencement of his " Dialogues " of the rise and
progress of Hindu theology and philosophy.

" The division of our Vedas," Mr. Banerjea writes (p. 41), "it is
well known, is twofold, into Mantras and Brahmanas. The former may
generally be considered devotional, the latter ceremonial and dogmatic.
As for the short treatises called Upanishads, they are, with a few
exceptions, appendices to the dogmatic parts, and, like codicils of wills,
are held to be the most recent, and therefore the most matured,
expositions of the authors' minds. They profess to be repositories
of para mdya or superior knowledge, and look down on the great
bulk of the Vedas as apard, or inferior. They contain some rude
indications of philosophic thought, and, like the twinklings of stars in
a dark night, may occasionally serve as guides in a history of Hiudu
philosophy. They 'do not, however, exhibit any great attempt at
method, arrangement, classification, or argument. Even there the
poetry predominates over the logic. Bold ideas abruptly strike your
fancy, but you find no clue to the associations which called them forth
in the author's mind, and search in vain for the reasons on which they
were based. Sublime thoughts are not wanting, but they resemble
sudden flashes, at which you may gaze for a moment, but are imme-

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 11

diately after left in deeper darkness than ever. Nor are they free from
those irregular nights of the imagination in which poets,, with vitiated
tastes, delight to indulge, setting at defiance all rules of decency and
morality.

"The Upanishads appear from their language and style to have
been the latest, and the Mantras the earliest, of Vedic compositions.
It may be a delicate question, but it is one which ought not to be un-
fairly suppressed, whether the authors of the earliest compositions, the
Mantras, profess to have written them down as inspired records. You
are fond of saying that they were breathed out by Brahma at the
time of the Creation, and yet you speak of the Rishi of each Mantra.
The Mantra itself is such that its Eishi may well be supposed to have
composed and chanted it, and there is nothing as to matter and style
which could possibly require divine illumination. That our ancestors
looked on the Vedas with such reverence is no marvel. The Vedas
were the first national efforts in the department of literature. In the
infancy of literature, the ignorant, who did not know how to read or
write, would naturally look upon those mysterious talents as divine
endowments, as especial instances of Saraswati's grace. They would
accordingly feel a sort of religious veneration for such gifted and
highly favoured persons, and consider their writings as divine inspi-
rations

(P. 46) : *' Between that period and the age of the Darsanas,
however, a tremendous revolution had taken place in the opinion of
men. From extreme credulity to extreme infidelity the transition is
easy. Those who were called upon to render implicit obedience to the
Brahminical college, began to question the very foundations of sacer-
dotal authority. The Brahminical hierarchy had become so powerful
as to set the sovereignty of kings and princes at defiance. The fear
of incurring their malediction — an anathema the effects of which

J x THE RELIGIOUS DIFHCULTIBS OF Iff DDL

hatmi the priest-ridden
byjrfg^lf ever tfc*y set themselves
to ofpesitioo to Brahmins/ , , , , At length, however, a prince
•wse to the wyal Itoe of Ikshwaku, determined to dissolve the charm
by^eh the mtods eT men were held in servitude to the Brahmins,
SAkys Mtrai imposed en himself the task of reforming

to te I4l« fprto, «n4 the «*cto«T« priiril^f arrogated Vjr
tU Brabwirw to W ^wi/t/ ixeton&nm. He MMtled the authority of

>.'.': ' •;, f, '.•,•:: '.:. .'.,.<.:. -.',:', :/'/':. .-,,: . :'.!>-. '.' . -'. • 'J . iJ '>'' . .' '\

that th^ divwkw of out** wa» * mere hurnaw iofeiition, and iovitod
«U nmto to iMMnble »»4er hw tome** on a footittg of equality. The
Brahmin* add that he atoo denied the immortality of the «wl, and
pwootmeed the expectation of a future world to he a rain reverie,
Whether Bu4%*m WM really liable to the charge of materialiim pre-
ferred again** it by the BrahmitM or not, it certainly had no divine
n to plead for it» «t»pportf nor could it appeal to any tradition
in it* fa /old onlyttand on it* //,,/-/ pretentione, The

/ ami metaphy*icf wa* therefore atoolutdy needed

j/.WJiMli'

tty fife foeycotjl'i n,,,,.:,i iy,,i, i,-. i, \,lt ih- -j.n.'.n r«mtro?e»iei
<»"< thj wlutioB «j deuhi i But ri* n rereltiion ITM ignored, 'ii^.ut^
could only be settled by the rerdict of r«uwi. The nece*iitief of
• rendered the cultiration of logic and metophy«ic« dw>l
•••W«, and thuf were the tot attempt! at philosophy called
forth ifl Mb . . ."

are qtM§tionf as to the chronological position of the

'''"" 1!""'" I-'- .-ud on their eont<:<

THK UKLIGIOCIS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 13

(P. 'f our six Ditrsantis or schools of philosophy, two, those

of .laimini and Vyasa, are generally considered orthodox; while the
other lour are looked upon with great suspicion by the Brahmins them-
selves. I think that the Darsanas of Jaimini and Vyasa .called the
Former and Latter Mimansas. or dividers'' were written with a view to
correct the errors of their predecessors, and were of more recent date
than the rest. The Nyaya and the Sankhya are in fact a sort of
compromise between Brahminism and Buddhism. They contain as
much of the Buddhist clement as could be held without danger to
Brahminieal supremacy. The authors profess to uphold the ^
because experience had taught them that the dignity of their order could
not be maintained without the Veda; and they inculcate the reality of
future states of life against the Buddhists. But the spirit of their
teaching is quite as hostile to the ritual of the Veda as that of Buddhism.
we. therefore, that the Nyaya and Sankhya were amongst the
fruits of the Brahminical intellect when it sought to enlist the aid
of rationalism in the service of the Brahininical order. As to the
question of priority between the two systems themselves, the fact of one
of the Sankhya Sutras making plain reference to the Nyaya, and
speaking of its ^i.rtt't'n topi. red as decisive proof ill

favor of the Nyaya. Such evidence, it is true, is far from being con-
clusive, because there hate been many interpolations ; but tlu
the least controversial among the systems, and there is no reason of
any cogency tor rejecting the authenticity of the Sankhya Sutra in
ion. The Nyaya may therefore be considered the first production
of Brahininical philosophy after the overthrow of Buddhism in India,
ce of Buddhism had convinced the Brahmins of the use
of metaphysics in conducting controversies, and e\

.lions; and of the risks they ran of winning the contempt of the
community by confining their attention to the simple ritual of the

14 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

Vedas. The Nyaya, with its orderly array of scientific terms, its
physics, logic, and metaphysics, was manifestly fitted to train and
quicken the intellectual powers. While heresy had been rampant, the
vast majority of the Brahminical order were unable to think for them-
selves, or unlearn prejudices already instilled into their minds. The
reasons for which Sudras were relieved from the task of intellectual
exercises, were becoming more and more applicable to the twice-horn
classes. Traditional teaching, and the prescribed ritual, received with
implicit submission, were fast incapacitating them for vigorous mental
labour. If the servile tribes had a routine of duties made ready for
them, the higher grades had also their routine, not indeed of servile
attendance on human superiors, but of endless rites and ceremonies no
less enslaving to the mind. As far as intellectual activity is concerned,
the distinction between Brahmins and Sudras had become almost
nominal.

" The author of the Nyaya would no doubt have the satisfaction of
believing that his new system would arrest the progress of heresy, and
prevent the gradual decline of the orthodox intellect. If the Brahmin's
mind continued to be stinted by the discipline of the Vedas, in the
same manner as the Sudra's was by the authority of the twice-born,
what real difference would here remain between the highest and the
lowest tribes ? Implicit submission of intellect was exacted from both.
Was it at all wonderful, then, that heresy stalked abroad, and that
many Brahmins had themselves fallen into the snare ? Could minds of
any activity acquiesce in the above restrictions? Must they not
meditate on the wonders of the creation, except as the antiquated
Vedas directed them ? And must they always interpret the Vedas in
the monotonous way taught by the old Rishis ? Orthodox philosophers
accordingly came forward to supply the craving of the Brahminical
mind, without endangering the stability of the Brahminical order.

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 15

They did not seem to think very highly of the Vedas, but were unwill-
ing to renounce those time-honoured compositions

(P. 55) : " The same desire of humouring the prejudices of the times,
led them to promise supreme felicity as the reward of philosophical
speculation. Nothing short of the summum bonum was considered as
sufficient recompense for the trouble it imposed. That the sentiment
of religion predominated in the minds of our ancestors, is evident from
the spirit of our ancient literature. It indicates a feeling of dependence
on supernatural powers, which is equalled only by the contempt the
authors expressed for the perishable objects of the world. Philosophers
perhaps imagined that whether they treated on the highest truths
which could concern human nature, or merely speculated on the
quality of earth and water, they could never find an audience, unless
they held out hopes of everlasting welfare as the end of their
investigations. In the estimation of their contemporaries, no inferior
boon was worth the trouble. The offer of such spiritual rewards on
the part of philosophers, for investigations chiefly physical, at best
metaphysical, though it must be accepted as a pleasing testimony to
the religious feelings of our predecessors, was productive of conse-
quences very much to be regretted. Physics, metaphysics, and
theology were confounded in one mass. While the most trifling points
of inquiry .... were prosecuted with some feeling of religious awe,
questions of really vital importance, which regarded the existence and
attributes of God, and the permanent interests of the soul, were
necessarily robbed of their due solemnity. Theology and physics being
placed on the same level, the former could challenge no greater degree
of attention than was accorded to the latter. The degradation of the
one, and the undue exaltation of the other, were the natural conse-
quences." . . .

(P. 58): " Gotama directed the attention of the Brahmins to the

10 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

several branches of human knowledge which he thought were calculated
to strengthen the intellect, and enable it to conduct polemical discus-
sions with advantage. He classified them under sixteen topics, which
he enumerates in his first aphorism." . . .

" Kanada's system (the Vaiseshika] is considered a branch of the
Nvfiya. His theory is what we call the Atomic — a theory which was
simply hinted at by Gotama (the founder of the Nyaya). ... His
categories and his classification of causes bear a similar resemblance to
those of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, while his mode of accounting
for the origin of the world, by the combination of atoms, is almost
identical with that of a sect of ancient European philosophers, the
Epicureans, as represented by Lucretius. . . . He does not seem to
have entertained the idea of a self-existent Supreme Intelligence exist-
ing in the world.

(P. 64) : " . . . Kapila came forward next with his remedy for the
three/old evils of life, which neither the Vedas nor the common sense
of mankind had been able to remove. Who this Kapila was, and
when he lived, is equally uncertain with the age and personality of
Gotama. . . . Kapila went the length of denying outright the exist-
ence of the Deity. The wonder is that he is still ranked among orthodox
philosophers, and not denounced as a teacher of heresy, like the Budd-
hists. With Kapila there could be no real freedom if a person were
subject to a desire or motive. The soul being essentially free, is,
according to his theory, incapable of volition. It is uddsin, or perfectly
unmindful of the external. It is a simple witness. He accordingly
argues that since no thinking agent performs an action without a
motive, the soul could not be supposed to be the CREATOR without
being subject to a motive or desire. Such subjection, however, would
imply a bondage, and detract from its freedom, and, by necessary con-
sequence, from its power. If it had the desire, it would be wanting in

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 17

the power — and if it had the power, that is to say perfect freedom, it
would not have the will. Hence a thinking agent would not if he
could, and could not if he would, create the universe. The acuteness
displayed in this argument is indisputable, but subtlety and profundity
are not synonymous." . . .

(P. 68) : " The objects of knowledge are, according to Kapila's
arrangement, twenty-five. Prakriti, or nature, defined to be the
equipoise of the three qualities of excellence, foulness, and darkness, is
the first, as Purusha, or soul, is the last. The intervening twenty-
three are mahat, or intelligence ; ahankdra, or self-consciousness ; the
five tanmdtra or subtle elements, eleven organs inclusive of the mind,
and the five gross elements. Of these, Prakriti, the rootless root, is the
first cause of all things ; while Purusha, or soul, is a simple witness.
Both are eternal: but the former, inanimate and non-sentient, is
prolific and active ; the latter, intelligent and sentient, is non-productive,
because free and indifferent. Prakriti, however, creates for the soul
and in its vicinity.

" The atheistic part of Kapila's system was rectified by a mystic
Rishi of the name of Patanjala, who unmistakeably inculcated the
existence of Iswara or God, and whose system has consequently been
called Seswara or theistical. It must, however, be confessed, injustice
to Kapila, that Patanjala does not attribute the creation to his Iswara.
His definition of Iswara corresponds exactly to Kapila's idea of the
soul, viz., ' untouched by troubles, works, fruits, or deserts.' The only
difference is that Patanjala considers him to be the Guru, or master,
of * even the elder beings,' merely acknowledging one spirit as supreme
over the rest. The non-acknowledgment of some such Supreme Being
was a glaring inconsistency in Kapila, when nevertheless he contended
for the authority of the Vedas. Who could have inspired the Vedas if
there were no Supreme Being ? Patanjala's is thoroughly a mystical
VOL. IL 2

18 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

system. It consists mainly of some vague rules of yoga, or a sort of
mental aud corporeal discipline, which cannot be considered as other

than chimerical."

(P. 75) : " When Jaimini came forward with his Mimdnsd, or decider,
he was probably desirous of mediating between the controversalists that
preceded him, and hoped to determine questions which had so long
agitated the Brahminical mind. He could not fail to see that neither
the Vedas, nor the institutions they supported, could stand long if the
Nyaya and Sankhya were to direct the Indian intellect. Barren specu-
lations, he thought, had been abundantly indulged. Topics, categories,
and principles had been sufficiently discussed. What was the result ?
They had introduced some technical terms, and taught some contro-
versial tactics ; but they gave little or no assistance in the discovery
of the truth which those terms and tactics were intended to

guard He commenced his Mimdnsd with the enunciation of

Duty, the only topic he had to propound If Jaimini had carried

out his proposal of considering the nature of duty in a truly philo-
sophical spirit, he might have greatly contributed to the improvement

of the Indian mind Had Jaimini laboured in a similar way to

strengthen those moral principles which the Almighty had implanted
in the human mind, he might have met with a success honourable to
himself and beneficial to the nation ; but a servile adherence to the
Vedic ritual had unfitted his mind for such speculations. Jaimini had
no other idea of duty than as an injunction of the Sruti ; and that
apart from any notion of its Inspirer, or his Will. We have seen pre-
viously how Kapila could admit the Vedas as an authority, without a
Supreme Intelligence to inspire it. We observe a similar anomaly in
Jaimini. He urges the consideration of DUTY, without caring for any
to whom it may be due. He contends for the authorized Veda without
an authorize)-, for a law without a lawgiver, a revelation without a

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 19

GOD To say that Dharma (duty) signifies an injunction of the

Veda, can only be intelligible in the sense of its involving the will of
the AUTHOE of the Veda. Jaimini, however, has said nothing as to its
AUTHOE, nor while talking of its eternity, as Sabda, or the word, has
he made mention of any co-eternal Intelligence uttering or revealing it.
His Sutras are so vague on this point, and on the existence and
providence of God, that, for anything which may be adduced to the
contrary, he may be called a second Kapila, maintaining the authority
of the Veda without admitting His existence, without whom no com-
position can be produced to be inspired That the Mimansa

of Jaimini met with no success in settling the questions so long

controverted is no marvel (p. 80.) Vydsa, the well-known

compiler of the Vedas, accordingly put forth a second decider, the
Uttara Mimansa, or Vedanta, in which the old pantheistic doctrine of
the Upanishads was reproduced. Not to give an uncertain sound like
Jaimini on such a cardinal point in theology as the existence of a
Supreme Intelligence, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, he
propounded that as the most prominent, and the only great, idea per-
vading his system. But if there can be no mistake as to the idea of a
GOD in his doctrine, it is neutralized, if not nullified, by the identity of
that God with everything else — with the whole visible world. He
inculcates the existence of one sole essence, manifesting or producing
itself in the form of the universe before our eyes. If Brahma is the
efficient cause or creator of the world, he is also its substance, as the
gold is of the bracelet. This identity of the universe with God pre-
cludes the idea of duty on the part of the creation towards the Creator

quite as effectually as does Jaimini's theory The doctrine

which Vyasa brought to light from the depths of the Veda, is no other
than the teaching of the Upanishad, that this universe is God — that
the things made and their Maker are identical — that the human soul is

20 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

one and the same with the Divine spirit. The doctrine is held in two
different ways. One way is the Parinama Vdda, which, acknowledging
the reality of the visible universe while it identifies it with God, pro-
nounces it to be a formation or development of Himself. The other is
the Vivarta Vdda, which, maintaining that the one eternal essence,
Brahma, manifests himself in various illusory forms, denies the real
existence of any substance which is not God, and holds the visible
world to be a mere shadow or Maya, such as the reflections of the sun

and moon in water All ideas of duty and responsibility are

openly repudiated in the Vedantism of Vyasa. The human soul and
the Divine Spirit being identical, how can there be an obligation on
the part of the one to the other? How or whom can one mind or
despise ? ' Here,' says Sankara, ' there is no admission of even a smell
of works.' Good manners and good works are, however, declared to be
useful for the attainment of true knowledge."

We have made this long quotation from the interesting work of Mr.
Banerjea, not only because it contains the nucleus of the ideas developed,
explained, and illustrated in his " Dialogues," but because we are not
aware that any writer before him has ever attempted to give so con-
tinuous and graphic a sketch of the origin and sequence of the various
portions of Hindu philosophy as is presented here in the foregoing
extracts. But we should fail in doing justice to him did we not add to
them at once the views he takes of the authority of the Veda. After
having refuted the arguments of several writers who contend for the
omniscience and the eternity of the Veda, he asks (p. 485) :

" What can the Vedas possibly be in the conception of Brahminical
philosophers ? Not the word of God, not a revelation of His will —
such as is needed for our guidance under bewildering circumstances,
but something which, certain of them affirm, mechanically issued from

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 21

Brahma, like smoke from burning fuel; something which, others
declare, was educed from the elements ; something which, others again
tell us, is eternal and independent of a cause. But what that thing is
it is impossible to gather from them, unless it be a charm or talisman.
They talk of it as articulate sound ; but what is articulate sound with-
out a sounder or utterer ? and they all identify it with Rich, Yaj us,
Saman, and Atharvan. Singularly enough they know nothing about

the date or circumstances of these compositions Again I ask,

what are the Vedas ? In the -Satapatha Brahmana it is said : "He
(Prajapati) brooded, &c. over i.e. [infused warmth into] these three
worlds. From them, thus brooded over, three lights were produced —
fire, this which purifies (i.e. pavana, or the air), and the sun. He
brooded over these three lights. From them so brooded over, the three
seeds were produced." .... What were these productions? Mere
sounds, or writings on paper or palm-leaf ? In either case how could
they be generated by brooding over fire and the sun? .... The
Chhandogya and Manu speak in a similar way of the origin of the
Vedas. Kulluka Bhatta, in explanation of the difficulty we have stated,
says : " The sanre Vedas which existed in the previous mundane era
(Kalpa) were preserved in the memory of the omniscient Brahma, who
was one with the Supreme Spirit. It was those same Vedas that, in
the beginning of the present Kalpa, he drew forth from fire, air, and
the sun ; and this dogma, which is founded upon the Veda, is not to be
questioned ; for the Veda says : " The Rigveda comes from fire, the
Yajurveda from the sun." .... Manu adds : " Prajapati also milked
out of the three Vedas the letters a, u, m, together with the words
bhur, bhuvar, and svar.' .... What in the name of common sense
is the meaning of all this ?"

And after having quoted and criticised some other theories of the

22 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

origin of the Vedas, Mr. Banerjea winds up with the following words
(p. 497) :

"The assertion of Jaimini that the Rich, Yajus, Saman, and
Atharvan contain the primitive revelation, is not proved. No one knows
when, where, or by whom, these four works were written, and conse-
quently no one can pretend that they are a record of the primeval
sound. On the contrary, a critical examination of their contents dis-
proves their authority. As to the argument that the Vedas must have
proceeded from the divinity, because no human author can be shown to
have produced it, it is not of much validity. If a stranger, or a man
brought up as a foundling, came to you, and no one was able to give
you an account of his paternity, you would not surely conclude that
he was coeval with the creation. And there is nothing in the general
scope of the Vedas to justify the conclusion that they were revealed in
the beginning. It is impossible to fancy what edification our first
parents could derive from mere praises of the Sun, Moon, and Fire.
If historical narrative were entirely excluded, the residuum would be
mere invocations of the elements, and a few ceremonial injunctions."

That the reverend Hindu professor has not failed to support the
views we have here adduced with his own arguments, and that he
availed himself of his knowledge of the mind of his countrymen to
impart to them a far greater power of persuasion than they might have
obtained at the hands of a European theologian, it is but justice to
state. In omitting, therefore, to quote kindred views and sentiments
from the " Rational Refutation " of Mr. Nilakaiitha Sastri, we do not
mean to withhold our acknowledgment of the able and clever manner
in which this author also endeavoured to lay bare the weakness of
Hindu philosophy and the errors of the actual Hindu creed. The

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 23

remarks we intend to offer apply to both of them, indeed to the whole
class of those zealous men who expect to solve the religious difficulties
of India by refuting the conclusions of Hindu philosophy, and by
denouncing the assumed sacredness of the Vedic writings.

We must begin, then, with asking them how it happens that some
notions they entertain of those philosophies differ so materially from
those expressed by so many other Hindus of ancient and modern times.
According to the sketch we have quoted, Kapila, the originator of the
Sankhya philosophy, " went the length of denying outright the existence
of the Deity." Kanada, who started the Vaiseshika, " does not seem
to have entertained the idea of a self-existent Supreme Intelligence
creating the world." Jaimini, the author of the Mimansa, " may be
called a second Kapila, maintaining the authority of the Veda, without
the existence of Him, without whom no composition can be pronounced
to be inspired." Yet Mr. Banerjea himself, as we have seen, tells us
that Patanjali, the author of the Yoga philosophy, " rectified " the
system 0f Kapila " by inculcating the existence of Iswara, or God."
It would perhaps have been more correct had he said that Patanjali, by
way of completing, added some chapters of his own to the Sankhya-
Sutras of Kapila, and that both works were intended by him to form in
reality only one ; so much so, that in our best existing manuscripts —
and if we are not mistaken in the very commentary itself which
Patanjali wrote on his own doctrine — each of the four chapters of his
treatise calls itself part of the Sankhya Pravachana, which is the title
of Kapila's work. Here we must ask, then, those who speak of the
" godless " doctrine of Kapila, how it was possible, at any time, and
under any circumstances, to look upon the theistic Patanjali as the
completer, or even, as Mr. Banerjea calls him, the rectifier of Kapila?
Was theism ever a cap which by being put upon atheism completed or
even " rectified " it into theistic respectability ? Did it not strike Mr.

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

Banerjea, when passing his judgment on the Sankhya doctrine, that
had it been what he believes it to be, no theistic philosopher or theo-
logian would ever have thought of attaching his tenets to it ? and had
he done so, that no one, however unskilled in philosophical speculation,
would ever have looked upon him as the maintainer of a Deity ? Yet
the fact is undeniable, that all India calls Patanjali— and rightly so —
" seswara," or the believer in a God. Mr. Banerjea, it is true, con-
fesses to find an exact correspondence between Patanjali's definition
of God and Kapila's definition of soul ; but when he met with this con-
cordance, did it never occur to him that there must have been some-
thing in the Sutras of Kapila to justify a theistic writer to complete
and rectify it in his own way ? So much is certain, at any rate, that
the mode in which Mr. Banerjea and Mr, Nilakantha Sastri view the
doctrine of Kapila would never explain the fact of a system acknow-
ledged by all Hindu writers to be a theistical one, having become the
appendix, nay, part and parcel of the Sankhya Pravachana.

Before we explain the reasons which seem to us to have misled the
judgment of the learned Hindus who descanted on the atheism of
Kapila, it will not be superfluous to advert to the inconsistencies implied
by the other charges preferred against Kanada and Jaimini. Both of
them are likewise declared not to have entertained the idea of a creator.
But Kanada's system, as Mr. Banerjea, and indeed all authors engaged
in matters of Hindu philosophy admit, "is considered a branch of the
Nyaya," and that this system is essentially theistical, is a fact which,
we believe, requires no proof, since it has never been controverted
before. But we confess that of all assertions the strangest appears to
us to be that which turns Jaimini into an atheist. His work, the
Purva-Mimansa, is chiefly engaged in solving doubtful questions con-
cerning the ritual service of ancient India. These services mainly
consist in a series of prayers addressed to, and oblations or ceremonies

THE EELTGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 25

performed in honour of, fire, sun, Indra, the Aswins, and other beings,
real or imaginary, which engrossed the pious imagination of the ancient
Hindus, and were looked upon by them either as gods or as personifi-
cations of the supreme soul. Should we then not be fairly surprised
when we are told that an author who regulated these ritual acts, denied
the existence of a God ? Might we not sooner expect to find him
saddled with a superfluity of that in which he is represented to us to
be utterly deficient ? That the Puranas and writers hostile to the
Purva-Mimansa, indulged in accusations of this kind, cannot concern
those who have no other object than that of ascertaining the real
character of these philosophies.

The truth is, that the ingenious theory which Mr. Banerjea con-
ceived of the rise and progress of Hindu philosophy, and his desire of
filling up the historical blank by a plausible and interesting narrative
betrayed him into overlooking the facts as they will present themselves
to the mind of every one not biassed in favour of conclusions foreign
to the subject-matter itself. We quite admit that neither Kapila, nor
Kauada, nor Jaimini, nay, we will in fairness add, Gotama, satisfy us
on the nature of God — we quite admit that they leave us as much in
darkness respecting Him as any philosophy, but for the simple reason
that they meant to be systems of philosophy and not of theology.
Even Mr. Banerjea allows one of the dramatis persona of his Dialogues
to say that an author has the right of choosing his own subject. And
should not the Hindu framers of philosophy have been allowed to
confine their research to the investigation of things which they thought
were within the domain of human understanding — without soaring too
high into regions probably deemed too lofty by them for human
thought ? In stating at once that the Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Sankhya,
and in some measure the Purva-Mimansa are intended to be philo-
sophies, that the Vedanta is theology, and the mysticism of the Yoga

20 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

a dreamy speculation, partly theological and partly physical— we have
explained the antagonism which existed between these Darsanas
severally, for it existed at all periods when philosophy and theology
contested each other's rights to the human mind. The theologian who
does not care for disquisitions on the atomic theory, or for speculations
on matter, syllogism, and language, will spurn the Nyaya, Vaiseshika,
and Sankhya, and ridicule the researches into the eternity of sound ;
he will find his consolation in the mystical definitions given of God by
the Vedanta, and in the prospect held out to him by the asceticism of
the Yoga, to free himself from all fetters of thought and common sense.
The philosopher, on the other hand, will have more earthly longings
and interests ; he will study with more satisfaction the state of physical
and linguistic science at the time of Gotama, Kanada, and Kapila —
whose system, we may, in passing, remark, became the scientific
foundation of Hindu medicine — than the exalted doctrine of Vyasa and
Patanjali — so edifying because so incomprehensible.

This is, in the shortest compass, the history of the ancient philosophy
and theology of India. To confound both is to do injury to both, and
injustice too. Whether Kapila's, Gotama's, and Kanada's interest in
mundane matters were stronger than that of Vyasa and Patanjali,
because they stood nearer than these to the time of the oldest Upani-
shads which satisfied theological curiosity ; again, whether Vyasa and
Patanjali were more eager to inculcate their notions of God, than to
inquire into the nature of matter and the human mind, because the
researches of the Nyaya and Sankhya were diverting too much the national
mind from the mysterious doctrine of the Upanishads, we have of course
no means of deciding. It may be that the sequence of the system8
took place in the order in which Mr. Banerjea so graphically describes
it ; though we hold that the Jaimini Sutras, in their oldest form, were
the oldest of all, because, strictly speaking, they are neitker philo-

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 27

sophical nor theological, and though we hold that Patanj all's Yoga
marks the transition from the oldest Vedanta to its more modern type.
But whichever of these views be right, there is obviously a vast
difference between understanding that a philosopher does not choose to
enter into a discussion on the nature of God, and asserting that he
denies His existence outright. That philosophy may jump from the
premise of not knowing to the conclusion of denying, there is evidence
enough in the history of philosophy, both in ancient and modern times ;
but we maintain that the charge of atheism, levelled against these
Hindu systems, is not justified ; and we quite conceive therefore that, in
spite of the little satisfaction they may afford to the theologian, Hindu
antiquity could rank them amongst those Darsanas which are not
antagonistic to the Vedic creed.

This is as little the place to enter into the merits or demerits of the
philosophical theories of ancient or medieval India, as it was the object
of the learned Hindus whose works we are speaking of, to solve the
many problems suggested by the writings of their ancestors. We have
followed them thus far, because a charge of atheism against some of the
most valued productions of their literature involved a similar charge
against the numerous class of those of their countrymen who, we
understand, are still adherents of the tenets of the Nyaya and Sankhya
philosophies. But though we regret that space and opportunity do not
permit us to say more here on a question so vital for a proper under-
standing of the Hindu mind, we must draw closer to the practical end
for which the Dialogues as well as the Rational Refutation have made
their contribution to modern researches on Hindu religion and philo-
sophy.

We observed before that the creed of the learned and enlightened
portion of the Hindus is essentially founded on the doctrine of the
Vedanta philosophy, which they hold to be the truest exponent of the

28 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

spirit of the Vedas, more especially in the sense which Sankara, their
greatest "Vedanta theologian, elicited from the Sutras of Vyasa
Dwaipayana. The Vedanta is not concerned in the logical laws of the
human mind, nor do its theories on the development of the world
possess any -'scientific interest after the discussions of the Sankhya and
Nyaya, with which "t they agree to a certain" extent. Its chief object is
to explain the nature of God, His mode of creating the world, and the
relation between both. It teaches the existence of one Supreme Being,
that this Being is the efficient and substantial cause of all things, and
" that the universe, therefore, is necessarily co-substantial with Him "
(or rather with It). For a scientific appreciation of the gradual
development of this doctrine, *it is necessary to distinguish between the
Sutras^ of Vyasa, the*" commentary of Sankara, and the more recent
treatises which may be called the modern Vedanta. But though
Mr. Banerjea, with much learning and accuracy, points out the
difference which exists between these various periods of the Vedanta,
we nevertheless coincide with the view implied by Dr. Ballantyne's
observations in his_translation of the Vedantasara, that this difference
does not amount to a schism^between the modern and the old doctrine,
but that the tenet, for instance, of the illusory existence of the world,
taught by the modern Vedanta, is merely an evolution of the tenet of
the older doctrine, which maintains that the world is real, but a
product of ignorance. For the popular understanding of this doctrine,
it is sufficient to adduce the words of Mr. Nilakantha Sastri, which,
supported by original texts, summarize it in this way : —

" ' Brahma is true, the world is false ; the soul is Brahma himself,
and nothing other.' As expanded and expounded by the advocates of
the Vedanta, this quotation imports as follows: — Brahma alone — a
spirit ; essentially existent, intelligence, jind joy_; void of all qualities
and of all acts, in whom there is no consciousness, such as is denoted

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 29

by * I," ' thou,' and ' it,' who apprehends no person, or thing, nor is
apprehended of any : who is neither parviscient nor omniscient, neither
parvipotent nor omnipotent; who has neither beginning nor end;
immutable and" indefectible — is the true entity. All besides himself,
the entire universe, is false, that is to say, is nothing whatsoever.
Neither has it ever existed, nor does it now exist, nor will it exist at
any time future; and the soul is one with Brahma. Such is the
doctrine of the Vedanta regarding the true state of existence ; and it
is denominated non-dualistic, as rejecting the notion of any second true
entity." (p. 176.)

It may seem surprising, at a first glance, that the professors of a
creed so sublime and so meek, should not only have carried on hotter
discussions on its merits than the adherents of the other schools of
philosophy did on the truth of their theories, but also that they should
now be denounced by their own countrymen in terms far stronger than
those bestowed by them on the other Darsanas.

But on reflection we shall find the one and the other perfectly
obvious. No discussion is more likely to grow warm and passionate
than one in which both disputants know nothing, and can know nothing,
of the subject of the debate, but are trying hard to persuade each other
of the correctness of their views. We humbly submit that a definition
of the Creator of the World, and an explanation of the mode in which
he created it, is a subject of this kind. It is an innate desire of the
human mind to know everything, and as long as human nature remains
the same, it is certain that man will not desist from the attempt to
penetrate mysteries for ever closed to him. We shall always have,
therefore, some kind of Vedanta philosophy, and we shall always also
enjoy the satisfaction of meeting with clever men who will explain to us
that we know no more by it than we did before. But Mr. Nilakantha
Sastri and Professor Banerjea want to prove far more. They infer from

30 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

the doctrine of the Vedanta, not only that its Brahma is a " non-
entity" or "no-thing," and Vedantism therefore atheism in disguise,
but that it is " a libel on God," and " a source of immorality."

Now, in spite of the most careful attention we have paid to the
arguments of the two learned Hindu Professors, we must entirely
demur to the conclusion they have arrived at. Neither the Sutras, nor
Sankara's commentary, nor the Vedanta treatises which a western
barbarian may have the good luck of understanding, would suggest to
him the views or the accusations contained in the foregoing words.

All we find is that the Vedanta is the sublimest machinery set into
motion by oriental thought, with the result of proving once more that
the human mind is incapable of understanding God. All the epithets
lavished by the Vedanta on Brahma simply show, that one may exhaust
the whole vocabulary of human speech without finding a single word
which will enlighten us on what He is. But it is likewise clear that
the Vedantists felt the most ardent desire to describe the greatness of
God — a greatness so great that it overwhelmed their intellect, and ulti-
mately left it destitute of all thought. There is not the slightest cause
to find fault with the confession at which they arrive. That " Brahma
is incomprehensible," "beyond thought," is the burden of all their
songs — after they have displayed the minutest description of what He
is. That He is nirguna, or void of qualities, is another of their
admissions, apparently strange, after the endless enumeration they give
of his attributes. But just as after its unsuccessful attempt of
"thinking'* of Brahma, the Vedanta owns that "Brahma cannot be
thought of," it arrives at the result that whatever qualities it may
predicate of Him, He has no qualities, be they material or spiritual, in
the sense suggested by this word. In short, we neither believe that
the Vedanta in calling Brahma " void of qualities," means to declare
God a nonentity, nor can we agree with a distinguished European

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 81

scholar who presses nirguna so hard that it yields the sense of an
" immaterial " God. The Brahma of the Vedanta presents itself as the
God whom the pious are certain to understand at the outset, and whom
they end in finding " incomprehensible." Hence, He is " pure entity,"
" pure thought," " pure felicity," which words in reality do not explain
anything ; hence, He has the qualities of " omniscience, freedom, self-
existence," and so forth, which description in reality merely reveals an
utter vagueness of thought, without conveying any idea of quality at all.
It is neither our fault nor that of the Vedanta, when we say that it has
not accomplished an impossibility ; but it is fair to admit that it has
brought on itself the obloquy of the philosopher, by saying so much
while telling nothing, and that of the theologian, by confessing to
nothing, after having said so much.

A charge of immorality, however, is a far different thing from a
charge of ignorance. If the deduction advanced by Professor Banerjea,
that the Vedanta doctrine strikes at the root of duty, were founded on
fact, the controversy he entered upon with the most enlightened portion
of his countrymen would indeed cease to be one of literary consequence
only.

" If you say the universe is of the same substance with God," he
makes Satyakama argue, towards the end of the Dialogues (p. 396),
«' and that the soul is identical with the Supreme Being in the strict
sense of the term (excluding the figurative senses of sampat, &c.) then
you must either unduly exalt the world or grossly degrade the divinity.
In either case you strike at the root of D/iarma, or duty. You cannot,
with any fairness or consistency, impose upon persons duties which on
your own theory are impossibilities. Whether you acknowledge the
universe to be God, or deny the existence of everything that is not
Brahma, you can have no law, no ethics, no discipline." The reply
given to this syllogism by the second interlocutor is as follows : " We

32 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

allow that a man in a state of ignorance is bound by laws, rules, and
duties." Whereupon the first returns to the charge : " You allow that
which your better sense contradicts ; you hold that in truth there can
be neither law nor lawgiver. The bolder spirits among you glory in
denying injunctions or prohibitions."

We do not know who these bolder spirits are, whom Mr. Banerjea
is alluding to, but we do know that they are not to be found
amongst the authorities of the Vedanta writers. We have, then, his
own confession, that experience does not bear out the conclusion which,
he says, must result from a belief in the Vedanta tenets, or we are
almost afraid to conclude, ought to result from it, if the working of the
Vedanta were left at his discretion and will. For, according to him,
it is the better sense of the Vedantists which contradicts their moral
practice, the latter being an inconsistency. That a doctrine, possibly
good, may, through perversion or misunderstanding, become the source
of evil, is sufficiently shown by the political and religious history of
mankind ; but that a doctrine essentially wrong and practised in its
wrongness, should, out of sheer inconsistency, bear good and moral
results, is a novelty we had yet to learn.

But though fully aware of the weak parts of the Vedanta, we are
spared the necessity of elucidating the moral and ethical greatness of
this system, for this task has been fulfilled by a western system of
philosophy which occupies a foremost rank amongst the philosophies of
all nations and ages, and which is so exact a representation of the ideas
of the Vedanta, that we might have suspected its founder to have
borrowed the fundamental principles of his system from the Hindus,
did his biography not satisfy us that he was wholly unacquainted with
ttair doctrines. From this philosophy the Vedantists might learn
what their philosophy really is, Swajnei, as Aristotle would have said,
and what it might nave become, had it been stripped of all its cos-

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 33

mogonic vagaries, which, however, do not affect its vital part. We mean
the philosophy of Spinoza, a man whose very life is a picture of that
moral purity and intellectual indifference to the transitory charms of
this world, which is the constant longing of the true Vedauta
philosopher.

That the philosophy of a scholar who lived two hundred years ago
must possess a value different from that of a philosophy of ancient
India requires no remark ; but comparing the fundamental ideas of
both we should have no difficulty in proving that, had Spinoza been a
Hindu, his system would in all probability mark a last phase of the
Vedanta philosophy.

Without .showing that the charges preferred by Mr. Banerjea and
Mr. Nilakantha Sastri against the Vedanta have been repeatedly
levelled against the philosophy of Spinoza, we content ourselves with
quoting a few critical observations on his system which will perhaps
best dispose of the cry of atheism, pantheism, and immorality raised
against the system of Vyasa. They are taken from the works of one
of the greatest philosophers of our time, of one who was by no means
an adherent of Spinoza's philosophy. In his history of philosophy,
Hegel says : —

" Spinozism is reproached with being atheism ; for God and the
world being one, and undivided, Spinoza makes nature God, or God
nature, so that God disappears and nature alone remains. Yet Spinoza
on the contrary does not oppose God to nature, but thinking to
existence ; and God is the unity, the absolute substance, in which the
world disappears. The adversaries of Spinoza assume the air of being
very much concerned about God, but in reality they are much concerned

about what is perishable, about their own selves Atheism

is declaring arbitrariness, vanity, the transitoriness of the world to be

3

34 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

the highest principle. Such is not Spinoza's principle. According to
him God is the only substance ; nature is merely modality. Spinozism

is therefore akomiim Those who charge him with atheism

maintain the reverse of that which is true ; there is too much of God
in his system. ' If God (they may say) is the identity of spirit and
nature, nature— the human individual, is God.' Quite right ; but they
forget that in God they have ceased to exist independently. They can
never forget that they are nothing. It follows, therefore, that those
who traduce Spinoza in this way, do not mean to preserve God, but
that which is perishable, the world. They are offended at the world
not being allowed to be a substance. They are offended at their own

annihilation

" Spinoza says : ' Our happiness and freedom consist in constant and
eternal love of God ;'....' the more man comprehends the nature
of God and loves God, the less he is under the influence of evil passions
and the less he fears death." Spinoza demands to this end that man
should acquire the true mode of comprehension ; he wants him to view
everything sub specie aterni, in absolutely adequate notions; viz., in
God. Man should refer everything to God, God being one in all.
Thus Spinozism is akosmism. There are no morals more pure and
more elevated than those enjoined by Spinoza ; for he wants human

action to be regulated merely by divine truth ' All ideas

are true, inasmuch as they are referred to God.'"

We have quoted enough to convince the learned Hindus that every
one of Spinoza's sentences might be supposed to have been literally
borrowed from the system they charge with degrading God and
elevating the world. They will perceive that one of the greatest
thinkers of our age judged differently from them on the morality of
a system which compels man to view everything in the light of God.

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 35

Since the philosophical systems which called forth the foregoing
remarks, appeal for the soundness of their doctrine to the theological
treatises called Upanishads, which are looked upon by many ancient
writers as part of the Vedas, and since these, in their turn, are believed
to be inspired by the deity, Mr. Banerjea reviews the arguments
brought forward by Jaimini, Vyasa, Gotama, Sankara, and other Hindu
divines, for the purpose of establishing the authority of the Veda on
the ground of its divine authorship, and shows that they cannot bear
the test of logical reasoning. As the Vedas have not been revealed
to us, and as we could have no hope of becoming Brahmins even if we
" surrendered our private judgment " in favour of them, we might have
fully enjoyed that mental pleasure which is always derived from sound-
ness of logic and readiness of wit, had we not found that the whole
controversial journey of the learned Hindu was merely undertaken to
end in the haven of another revelation. We must confess, therefore,
the disappointment we have felt. It is a political maxim of consti-
tutional bodies, a maxim acquired by dint of long experience and pre-
served with the utmost care, not to allow the name of the sovereign to
be drawn into political debate. For nations have learnt that it is
unwise to saddle the sovereign whom they want to make inriolable,
with errors and shortcomings that may belong to the acts of his
ministers. But though the political animal seems to be capable of an
increase in wisdom, the religious man evidently remains stationary.
Thousands of years have engraved their religious experience in the
annals of history, religion has succeeded religion, the followers of each
have invariably maintained theirs to have come from above, and con-
troversialists have mutually picked the most damaging holes in their
respective revelations. Prudence alone, one might have supposed,
would at last have taught theologians not to expose the God whom they
adore to the chance of being held responsible for those errors which our

36 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

neighbours are always so much keener than ourselves in discovering.
Kings whom nations might if they pleased make answerable, are raised
beyond the reach of responsibility ; but God, whom no one can make
responsible, is constantly dragged down by the theologian into his
little debate. If Jaimini and his ancient co-religionists set up an
elaborate defence of the divine authorship of their Veda, we may excuse
them at least for want of that experience which we now possess ; we
may allege in their favour also that they maintained the inspiration of
their sacred books, not against other inspirations, but against unbelief.
But Mr. Banerjea is not satisfied with merely enlightening his country-
men on the fact that Brahma did not write or dictate, or brood the
Veda, he must on his part step forward, not only with a superior
religious work, but with one inspired by God. Were we not deeply
convinced that he is in earnest, we should have really thought that he
was hitting hard at the pretence of the Vedic inspiration, merely in
order to arm his countrymen with the most logical weapons against all
the arguments which may be adduced for the inspiration of the Bible.
For his attack on the Hindu theories is so wonderfully strong, and his
defence of the Biblical revelation so wonderfully weak, that a Hindu
by comparing both sides will probably feel farther off than ever from
embracing the particular revelation which he recommends. Or does he
seriously mean that he can grind the intellect of his nation, blade-like,
sharp on the Vedic and obtuse on the Biblical side? Did he not
become aware, were it only by criticising the religion of his ancestors,
that, just as fire and water require an intervening substance to become
harmless to one another, reason and faith can coexist only on the con-
dition that a proper consciousness of the limits of the human intellect
is powerful enough to bind them over to keep the peace? Did his
method of destroying the Brahminical faith in the divine inspiration
of Vedas not prove to his satisfaction that this intervening power

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 37

being withdrawn, either reason evaporates faith, or faith extinguishes
reason ?

We are far from being disposed to enter here into a discussion of
that portion of Mr. Banerjea's Dialogues in which he attempts to prove
to his countrymen the divine inspiration of the Old and New Testament,
and, on this score, to recommend it to them as the source of their
future creed. But we cannot refrain from a remark which he has
forced upon us. Whoever reads for a first time the evidence he brings
forward in favour of the inspiration of the Scriptures will necessarily
think that his statements concerning the creation of the world, the
prophecies, miracles, and so on, are incontrovertible and micontro verted
facts. It would never occur to such a reader that there existed a very
voluminous, very learned, and also a very pious description of works
amongst them, in which not a single argument of Mr. Banerjea's has
been left unobjected to. He would never dream that the subject which
the learned Hindu lays before his countrymen with an air, and no
doubt with a conviction, of utter finality, is to the minds of a large
class of Christians, to say the least, as doubtful as possible, and as
unsettled^as any question can be. We cannot approve, therefore, of
the silence he has kept on this momentous point ; for any one who is
asked to exchange his creed for another has a right to know all the
particulars of the bargain he is desired to make ; and his acquisition
will most likely prove a very undesirable one if he should find hereafter
that the knowledge afforded him was exceedingly incomplete. Mr.
Banerjea might have refuted, of course, if he could, all the charges
preferred against the inspiration of the Bible, and shown that their
extreme similarity to the charges he preferred against the inspiration of
the Vedas is purely apparent or accidental ; but it is certain that in
dealing with this part of his subject as he has done, he has failed both
in justice to his countrymen and in prudence as regards the cause he
defends.

38 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

We will give an instance or two of the method which Mr. Banerjea
adopted in persuading the Hindus of the inspiration of the Scriptures,
after he had exerted all his energy, and availed himself of all his scholar-
ship, to sharpen their logical powers for the dissection of their philo-
sophical theories and their notions of God.

One of the most delicate points in the Old Testament, it is well
known amongst western theologians, is the account given there of the
act and process of creation. Science has proved that the latter is
contrary to facts ; and theological writers who perceive the inexpediency
of allegorizing, or the danger of equivocating, have generally the dis-
cretion to say as little about the matter as possible, especially in con-
nexion with the topic of inspiration. For as the production of the
universe out of nothing is, to say the least, incomprehensible by human
reason, while its creation out of pre-existing matter is a position not
countenanced by the Bible, the ablest writers generally agree to be
silent on the subject, and to avow that they do not understand how the
world was called into existence. But Satyakama, who had triumphantly
disposed of the Saukhya and Vedanta doctrine, expresses himself to
Agamika on this subject as follows (p. 11) : —

" As regards the external universe, the Bible tells us ' In the begin-
ning God created the heavens and the earth,' thus showing that the
Nyaya, Sankhya, and Vedant were all right and all wrong. They
rightly apprehended the truth, as regarded their opposition to each
other's systems. The Vedant was right in its protest against the
eternal atoms of the one, and the unintelligent creative prakriti of the
other ; and the Nyaya and Sankhya were equally right on their part in
inveighing against the doctrine of the world's identity with God. But
they were all wrong in regard to their positive doctrines— the Nyaya
in its theory of eternal atoms, the Sankhya in that of creative Prakriti,

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 39

and the Vedant in its denial of a duality of substance. The universe
is neither an illusion nor self-formed, but was called into being out of
nothing by the one only, Eternal, and Supreme Intelligence, the author
of all things in heaven and in earth."

And Agamika, who has nothing to say on the " nothing," may well
become speechless when he is further told that " all perplexing diffi-
culties are thus cleared."

Another weak point which, in the interest of their faith, is generally
surrendered by the most learned, and, we repeat it, by the most pious,
writers of Biblical disquisitions, as evidence for the inspiration of the
Bible, is the question of prophecies and miracles. It is one of the
strongest weapons in the armory of Mr. Banerjea. And after he has
ridiculed the idea of the Upanishads — a supposed portion of the Vedas
— being invoked by the Brahminical believer in testimony for the
authority of the Vedas — since, as Sayana says, " not even a dexterous
man can ride on his own shoulders " — he makes Satyakama explain
to Agamika the mystery of the Trinity in the following manner
(p. 529):-

"(The Christian religion speaks) not of three Gods nor a plurality
of Gods, but a plurality of persons in the unity of the Godhead. This
doctrine you can find no great difficulty in acknowledging, (1) because
it is inculcated in the Bible which, as we have seen before, is attested
by miracles and prophecies : and (2) because the Brahminical sastras
themselves bear some confirmatory testimony to its truth. (Agamika
asks, * how,' and is told), the Brahminical sastras speak of a triad of
divinities, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. They speak of it, as one form
and three gods. They tell us that they are mystically united in One
Supreme Being. But the doctrine appears incongruous, and quite out

40 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

of place in their system. The gods are frequently represented, not as
different personal manifestations of the same Godhead ought to be, but
as impure characters and antagonistic gods, wrangling and fighting with
one another. Siva fights and punishes Brahma, and Vishnu humbles
Siva. The votaries of Vishnu anathematize those of Siva, and the
votaries of Siva anathematize those of Vishnu. And all three are,
again, pronounced to be transient and perishable. The doctrine
represents an idea which is quite foreign to the Brahminical system,
and we can only unravel the mystery by supposing it to be a relic of
some primitive revelation, of which a distorted tradition had probably
reached our ancestors."

Here Mr. Banerjea himself allows Agamika, in reply, to exclaim,
" These appear to be strange and novel views of things." And we
cannot but join with Agamika most heartily in his astonishment,
though we might have wished he had known a little more of the triad
Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, to be spared the confession which he sub-
joins, that he " certainly cannot gainsay them."

There is another serious perplexity into which our learned authors
must be aware that they will throw even those Hindus who may be
clever enough to overcome all these difficulties, but it has as little been
removed by them as indeed any difficulty which besets the solution of
the religious problem in India. Their object, as we have seen, is to
persuade their countrymen to embrace the Christian religion ; but they
have neither explained to them what the Christian religion is, nor
where it may be found. Any Hindu who follows the deductions of
Mr. Banerjea would simply infer that there is but one Christian
religion, which a devout student of the Bible might easily acquire from
a perusal of this sacred book. Let him descend, however, from the
region of abstraction into that of reality, and he will soon discover the

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 41

endless variety of opinions which may be founded on the apparently so
intelligible scriptural text, and he will soon learn that so far from this
being a mere possibility, hundreds of creeds have sprung up from this
same scriptural soil, every one of which claims to be in exclusive
possession of true Christianity. And if he be disposed to investigate
historically the mutual relation of all these creeds, he will find that
their difference is so essential that it was strong enough to perpetuate
the most inveterate animosities, and to result in wars the like of which
cannot be traced in the history of any other creed.

We have no desire to enlarge upon this theme, for we have said
enough to explain why we hold the solution proposed by Mr. Baneijea
to be an impossibility. When the Royal proclamation combined with a
profession of its reliance in the truth of Christianity, a solemn injunc-
tion of toleration for the religions of India, its wisdom, by expressing
the result of matured experience and profound thought, showed itself
far superior to the zeal, however well intentioned, which believes that
human happiness can be fashioned according to one mould. Attempts
of conversion are too frequently made without examining the limits
within which they are possible, and the result in which their momentary
success may end. If a man derives his religious views from his own
individual information, or from sources which are void of authoritative
influence, he may yield them to the views which are of a higher range
without causing injury to the nobler part of himself. But if the creed
of an individual is founded on texts held sacred and authoritative, it is
a national creed ; and no individual can abandon it without severing
himself from the national stem ; no nation can surrender it without
laying the axe to its own root. For a religion based on texts believed
sacred, embodies the whole history of the nation which professes it ; it
is the shortest abbreviation of all that ennobles the nation's mind, is
most dear to its memory, and most essential to its life. No religion

42 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

has better illustrated this truth than the religion founded on the Bible.
It could be, and was, successfully introduced amongst all nations which
possessed no texts supposed to be divinely inspired, and therefore of
general authority, and whenever a nation possessing merely the
semblance of such a text, adopted it, it thereby decreed its own end.
The Romans and Greeks when becoming Christians, ceased to be the
continuation of the classical Romans and Greeks, in history, in litera-
ture, in character. Their political importance, based on the conditions
of their past, was brought to a close, and they had to grow into another
nationality. Christianity itself is not one single form of religion, for
the character of the nations which adopted it compelled it to become
English, or German, or Russian, or Italian, or any other Christianity
as the case may be; each so different from the other, that only con-
ventional politeness can comprise these various and historical forms
under one common name. But the condition under which this religion
introduced itself into the countries of Europe, was always the absence
of a book ascribed to divine authorship. When Mr. Banerjea speaks
of the Jews, he has chosen an exact counter instance which goes far to
prove that even a people without land, without any history which, since
they are scattered over the world, can be called their own, — that a
people exposed to all the horrors of persecution and all the allurements
of seduction, did not, and does not, espouse that very religion which
exercises the most powerful influence on its actual destinies, and which
it even supports and favours amongst those who profess it. The Jews
do not become Christians simply because they believe that their Testa-
ment is a sacred book.

But the charm which apparently inheres in that word is by no means
a mysterious one. There was and there is no book considered sacred,
unless it contains a stock of that which the nobler part of human nature,
everywhere and at all times, acknowledges to be good. It is quite im-

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 43

material whether this stock is more developed or less, as long as it is
capable of development; for at different periods new branches will
proceed from the same stem, and they will enjoy the same reputation of
divine origin as the old stock. When Mr. Banerjea discovers that the
Hindu Triad resembles the Christian Trinity, his trover may cause the
hair of some good Christians to stand on end, but it nevertheless shows
that whoever requires a belief in the Trinity, may even as a Brahminical
believer gather it from his own sacred texts. And that the Vedas con-
tain sentiments and injunctions as elevated and conducive to the moral
excellence of man as the Bible itself, we might learn from the testimony
of Mr. Banerjea's Dialogues themselves. He alleges, it is true, that
Vedic passages of this kind are sometimes not unalloyed with state-
ments and descriptions which may impair their exalted quality. But
he would have been less hard on the Vedas, had he known that there
have been many writers who from a feeling of hostility as great towards
the Bible, as his is for the Vedic inspiration, have culled from the
scriptural texts, narratives and injunctions which Mr. Banerjea would
be the last to recommend as typical for that which in our age we define
as good, moral, or sublime. The Hansa bird is described by the Hindu
poets as possessing the faculty of separating milk from water. A
sacred text, whatever it be, requires a just man to be such a Hansa ;
but it requires him also to be the Hansa of the Upanishads, which
being the sun, would be able to discover that all those objectionable
passages in the Vedas or in the Bible were never meant, when they
were written, to imply those conclusions which now the Christian may
turn against the one and the Brahmin against the other.

We have been carried, however, with these remarks to the point
where we cannot shrink from, expressing the views which we entertain
of the duties of the Brahminical Hindus of our days. We need not
emphasize more than we have already done, that we reject as unwise

44 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

and unpractical any attempt to persuade them to become Christians or
to adopt the Biblical Scriptures as their spiritual code. We want them
to become a nation worthy of their ancestors and worthy of the great
role, which in ancient times they have acted in the history of the
human race, and we are satisfied that they cannot regain that position
by breaking the springs of their life, and by exchanging their own
religious uncertainty for that of any other creed. It is necessary,
however, to this end, that they should realise the condition in which
they are. We need not prove to them that the minds of the enlightened
portion of their nation are wholly estranged from the sectarian worship
as it is practised now, but we could satisfy them that they are utterly
remiss in examining where the root of the evil lies. Every Brah-
niinical believer, if asked, will tell us that the mode of his worship is
founded on the Vedas. He refers us, it is true, occasionally to the
Purauas and Tantras, but he himself admits that these works have no
authoritative power unless they can prove that the tenets they contain
are drawn from the Vedic source. This proof is never offered. On
the other hand, a recent work, which, from the impartial spirit in which
it is composed, and from the vast learning on which it rests, cannot too
strongly be recommended to the Brahmin, we mean the Original
Sanskrit Texts of Mr. Muir, enables us to say that its contents may
enlighten the Hindu worshipper on the real relation between the
principal gods of his Pantheon and the Vedic belief.

The pivot, then, on which all religious questions of India turn, is
and remains — the Veda. Philosophers and lion-philosophers, Vishnuits
and Sivaits, all echo the word Veda ; and we must once more therefore
raise the question, What is the Veda ? sinee the answer we have to give
to it — though here necessarily unsatisfactory and incomplete — may
induce the learned Hindus to consider whether it may contribute to a
solution of their religious difficulties or not. We have quoted above

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 45

the short definition which Mr. Banerjea gives in his Dialogues of what
is usually meant by Veda. It is, as he says, a collection of " Mantras
and Brahmanas. The former may generally be considered devotional,
the latter ceremonial and dogmatic." It is likewise understood now to
embrace four distinct works, each called Veda, and each possessing its
own Mantras and Brahmanas, viz., the Rig- Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the
Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda : and the term Veda is ultimately
applied to the Upanishads which are appendices, as it were, to each of
these Vedas respectively, and contain explanations of the nature of
God, the creation of the world, and other matter, which for brevity sake
may be called theological or theosophical. Thus the Brahmin who
speaks of his Vedic religion, means the religion founded on Mantras,
Brahmanas, and Upanishads of these Vedas. This creed, however, is
binding on his conscience only because the Veda was inspired by the
deity, and existed from eternity ; and that such was the case he holds
on the statements and arguments of his oldest divines. No Brahmin
will dispute therefore the conclusion which follows from these premises,
that no tenet or worship would be obligatory on him, which is founded
on other works than the Veda, or on passages which cannot be referred
to it. Thus, we may adduce, for argument's sake, that though the
standard works on medicine, music, and archery are also styled Vedas
(Ayur-Veda, Gandharva-Veda, and Dhanur-Veda), no Hindu would
dream of looking upon them as sacred records, although they bear this
venerable name.

Yet here we have to advert to important inconsistencies. One of
the four Vedas, now called canonical, the Atharva-Veda, was wholly
unknown to the oldest Hindu divines, probably even to Manu ; they
merely speak of the •' threefold knowledge," viz., the Rig-, Yajur-, and
Sama-Veda. It is obvious therefore, that the Atharva-Veda need not
be binding on any Hindu, for it cannot have existed from eternity, in

46 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

the sense of their own writers. And the fate of this Veda is, as a con-
sequence, necessarily shared in by the Upanishads attached to it. But
there is no necessity, indeed, to single out so prominently the Upani-
shads of this Veda, for, to the best of our knowledge, there is no ancient
authority which ever ascribes any Upanishad to divine authorship.
These treatises doubtless are looked upon with the greatest reverence
and awe : they are held to be the truest exponents of Vedic thought ;
they are, in short, the standard works of Hindu theology ; but just as
little as any of the six philosophies is invested by the native mind with
superhuman authority, as little are the Upanishads ever placed on the
same level with the Mantras and Erahmauas. Nor can we stop here.

The Yajur- or Ceremonial Veda, emphatically so called, survives now
in two different recensions, the one called Black and the other White.
There is an ugly legend concerning the origin of this division ; but
whatever be its worth, it clearly proves that the Black Veda is older
than the White, and the researches of a recent work — which might
have added other evidence to that given by it — have shown that the
White recension of this Veda did not yet exist at the time of the
grammarian Panini. Certain it is that the oldest writers on the
Mimansa — the system of philosophy which, as we have seen, is con-
sidered so eminently orthodox — take no notice of it. No impartial
Brahmin can therefore deny that also the White Yajur-Veda need not,
unless he pleases, be binding on him. But is there no evidence at all
that, even in the remaining portions of these Vedas, some portions
cannot have existed from eternity? In the excellent work we have
already mentioned, Mr. Muir has quoted several instances which show
that the Rishis or " seers" of the Mantras now and then confess not to
have received their hymns from above, but to have " made " or, as the
text says, to have "fabricated" them; moreover, that other Rishis
speak of "old" and "new" Rig- Veda hymns, thus pointing to a

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES IN INDIA. 47

succession in time which, at any rate, does not bespeak the eternity of
the "new" hymns. In short, however orthodox a Hindu may be, he
must bow to the fact that the sacred canon of his Veda was not at all
times the same. Assuming portions of it to be older than eternity,
the evidence tendered by some of his greatest authorities tells him in
the plainest manner that some portions at least have a beginning in
time, and worse than that, have been written by mortal men. Which
of these portions belong to the former and which to the latter category,
it is not for us to decide, even if the day of Vedic chronology had
already dawned on Sanskrit philology. For not only do we hold that,
for their own religious purposes, the Hindus themselves must settle this
point, but also that this very chronological uncertainty is providential
for their own good. Jews and Christians had not a little to suffer from
the inconvenient fact that the canon of their Scriptures was settled at
so early a date as to preclude the possibility of adapting them at later
periods by a process of elimination to the progress of more enlightened
ages. The Brahminical Hindus are better off in this respect than our-
selves. That which is deplorable from a scientific point of view, may
become a boon to them if viewed in a religious light. Let them decide
therefore, according to their own knowledge and requirements, and with
the assistance of the results already obtained by western researches,
which portion of their Veda dates from eternity, or, to speak in our own
language, may be held by them to be canonical and binding on their
conscience, and which not. But let them not try to settle so
momentous a question privately and individually, for such a course
would likely end in no more than a literary controversy. The history of
other religious communities points out the mode which they may advan-
tageously adopt. Buddhists and Christians settled their difficulties in
synods or councils, composed of their most learned and influential men,
and such councils met as often as religious problems had become so

48 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA.

serious or troublesome as to require a solution by common consent. If
the Hindus followed their example, they would not only remove interior
disorders which exist in their religious body, but by forming a canon of
sacred texts, essentially Vedic, prove to the world at large that they may
possess one containing doctrines and sentiments as good, moral, and
elevated as that of any existing creed.

We do not anticipate that such a result can be obtained at once. The
question of representation in such a council might, for instance, be a
preliminary problem fraught with much difficulty, which they would
have to solve first. But we hold that it may be taken up with much
probability of success, seeing that the analogous problem within the
sphere of the political representation of India seems to progress towards
a solution by means of the energy displayed by their native associations.

But, whatever these difficulties for the moment be, let the end be
kept constantly in their mind, and let it be gradually approached by the
formation, for this purpose, of learned societies in the different Presi-
dencies, with the view of communicating with one another on their
religious views, and gradually extending their spiritual influence over
the whole nation. By doing so they would also pay a debt to their
ancestors, which they have been sadly remiss in discharging for centuries
back. As orthodox Hindus they are aware that the sons inherit the
property of their fathers only on the condition of their fulfilling the
ancestral rites. The modern Hindus claim the spiritual inheritance of
their ancestral lore ; but with a few honourable exceptions they have
discontinued that sacrifice, the performance of which alone would entitle
them to this inheritance, the sacrifice which they call themselves " the
sacrifice in honour of Brahma," that is to say, the study of their own
ancient literature— (" adhyayanam brahmayajnah")— a study which not
only their oldest lawgiver, but also the Chhandogya-Upanishad, calls one
of the three chief duties of man. So slender indeed is the thread by

THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES OF INDIA. 49

which the remembrance and the knowledge of their own sacred works is
suspended in the minds of the present generation, that they may well
compare it to the blades of grass by which, in one of the legends of
their Mahabharata, the manes of the poor Rishis Yayavaras were
suspended in a cave, trembling for fear of falling into eternal perdition,
through the remissness of Jaratkaru, their undutiful son. But this
legend may teach them also that it is never too late to avert even an
imminent danger by a proper consciousness of what every individual
of a nation owes to his forefathers and to himself. We need not
describe to them the deplorable condition into which — if we except a
few principal colleges — the study of Sanskrit, their sacred language,
and of Sanskrit literature, has been allowed to fall through their own
fault. It is impossible to calculate the immense loss which their
literature has suffered through the indifference with which it has been
treated by them for centuries. A vast number of their most celebrated
works are probably lost beyond recovery ; and had it not been for the
exertions of English scholars this loss would be greater still than it is
now. The sense of their religious duty, to which they have become
roused by the enlightened portion of their own community and the
judgment pronounced on them by the professors of other creeds, we
hope will now be strong enough to convince them that it is time to
remove this stain from their national dignity. They should take
energetic steps to save from destruction all that bears testimony to their
intellectual greatness ; they should collect all over India the remnants
of their ancient, and the products of their modern, literature ; they
should found libraries, seats of learning, and museums, to show to the
world at large that by respecting themselves they have a claim to the
respect of others. Synods are the means by which their religious
difficulties may be settled ; but synods themselves cannot properly do
their work unless they are supported by that culture of the mind which
bespeaks the vitality of a nation.

VOL. II. 4

ARTICLE IV.

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

1. Rig-Veda- S ankitd ; the Sacred Hymns of the Brahmans, together
with the Commentary of Sdyandchdrya. Edited by MAX MULLER,
M.A. Volume IV. London: 1862.

2. Taittiriya Brdhmana of the Black Yajur Veda, with the Commentary
of Sdyandchdrya. Edited by RAJENDEALALA MITEA, with the Assist-
ance of several learned Panditas. Vol. II. (In the " Bibliotheca
Indica," published under the Superintendence of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal.) Calcutta: 1862.

3. Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of
India, their Religion and Institutions. Collected, translated into
English, and illustrated by Remarks, by J. MUIE, D.C.L., LL.D.
Part IV. London: 1863.

4. A Contribution towards an Index to the Bibliography of the Indian
Philosophical Systems. By FITZGEEALD HALL, M.A. Calcutta :
1859.

5. Report of the Mahdrdj Libel Case. Bombay : 1862.

6. The Maharajas. By KAESANDASS MOOLJEE. Bombay: 1861.

THE beginning of the year 1862 was marked by an occurrence of great
importance in the social and religious history of India. Little notice
was taken of it by the European press, and, to superficial observation,
it has floated away on the current of contemporary events. We will

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 51

briefly recall it to the memory of our readers. In a native newspaper,
The Satya Prakdsa, that is, " the Light of Truth," published at
Bombay, there appeared, on the 21st October, I860, an editorial
article headed " The Primitive Religion of the Hindus, and the present
Heterodox Opinions." It began with stating that the Puranas and other
sacred works of the Hindus predict the rise of false religions and
heresies in the Kaliyuga, or the present mundane age, which according
to Hindu theory dates from 3101 B.C.; it then went on to relate that
the religion of the Vallabhacharyas is one of these heresies, and wound
up by emphatically calling on the Maharajas or high priests of that sect
to desist from the propagation of their faith until they had renounced
the gross immoralities countenanced or directly inculcated by it.

The sect in question, we may remark, was founded by a Brahmin,
Vishnu-Swamin, but derives its name from its principal teacher and
saint, Vallabhacaarya (or the spiritual teacher Vallabha), who was
supposed to be an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and lived towards the
end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century of our era. Its
doctrinal tenets are a fantastical mixture of pantheism and mysticism,
and its worship is that of Krishna, one of the incarnations of the god
Vishnu, particularly in his juvenile forms, and commemorating his
amorous sports with the cowherdesses amongst whom he passed the
earlier stage of his earthly career. There is this remarkable feature,
however, about this sect, as compared with other Hindu sects based on
Brahminical tradition — that its teachers, rejecting abstemiousness as
not conducive to sanctity, enjoin the worship of the Deity, not by
means of mortification, or an austere ritual, but by indulging in the
pleasures of society and the enjoyment of the world.

The members of this sect are very numerous and opulent, the
merchants and bankers, especially those from Gujarat and Malva,
belonging to it. Their temples and establishments are scattered all

52 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

over India, and their spiritual chiefs are the supposed descendants of
Vallabha, veneration being paid to them, not on account of their
learning or piety, but for their family connexion with that arch-saint of
the sect.*

One of their actual chiefs— now styled Maharajas — the Maharajas
Jadunathjee Brizrattanjee of Bombay, felt highly incensed at the article
we have alluded to. The respectable jeurnal in which it was contained
had imparted to it more than the ordinary weight of a controversial
production of the native press, and the name and position of its author,
Karsandass Mooljee, renowned amongst his countrymen for his un-
daunted zeal in the cause of their social and religious reform, had
impressed on it the stamp of purity of motive and a strong presump-
tion of trustworthiness. Had the Maharaja vented his indignation by
assembling the members of the caste to which the writer of the article
belonged, and had he made them excommunicate the obnoxious reformer
— as with his social and spiritual influence he could doubtless have
done — it is more than probable that the world at large would have heard
nothing of the actual state of this Vallabhacharya creed, and that native
apathy — in this case, as in others — would have little heeded the appeal
made to their better selves. But the Maharaja acted otherwise, and
India, we hope, will have to thank him for the course he took. He sued
the writer of the article in the Supreme Court of Bombay for having
"caused to be printed and published a false, scandalous, malicious,
infamous, and defamatory libel " on the religion of his sect in general,
and on the conduct and character of the Maharajas in particular.

Hence ensued a spectacle which is unique in the history of India. An
English tribunal had to decide whether the charges made by the editor of
the Satya Prakdsa were founded in fact and justifiable on public grounds.
It was nominally a question whether Mr. Karsandass Mooljee was a
libeller and hould be mulcted in the amount of 5000Z., the damages
* See H. H. Wilson's Works, vol. i., p. 119, ff.

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 59

laid, but in reality, whether the actual religion of the Vallabhacharya
sect ordained those immoral practices which the defendant had imputed
to it, and whether it was, or was not, in keeping with the spirit of the
ancient Hindu faith, "one of the different ways," as was alleged in
favour of it, "into which the courses of the Vedas and Puranas have
diverged, just as some one goes from the gates of the fort to proceed to
Walkeshwar and some one to Byculla."

The Spirit of History seems to have had one of his turbulent fits of
impatience and weariness. He must have grown tired at the slow
pace of reforming benevolence and antiquarian research ; for, as we see,
he suddenly called upon Justice to engrave with her sword on the
skull of a religious community that wbich science with her pen had not
yet been able to write into its intelligence.

The task of Justice was, we must acknowledge, well performed by
her substantially acquitting the defendant in the suit : her verdict is
recorded in the elaborate and lucid judgment of Sir Matthew Sausse
and Sir Joseph Arnould, and it henceforward belongs to the annals of
the judicial history of India. But though twenty-four days of a rigidly
scrutinizing trial is no mean amount of time to be allotted to the settle-
ment of a legal point, though the light thrown by it on the social and
moral condition of a large and interesting portion of the Hindu com-
munity will advance our knowledge of modern India, we cannot share
in the sanguine hope of those who entertain the belief that this trial
has materially advanced the solution of the problem of the religious
future of India. That the facts disclosed by it may become a stimulus
to rouse the activity of the indolent, and to impress every thinking
Hindu with a sense of his personal duty towards his nation at large,
we are willing to admit ; but we do not believe that it will bring us
nearer the desired end, unless the real question at issue in the trial
and its true importance be fully understood by the followers of the
Sastras.

54 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM/

That importance does not lie in the startling disclosures which the
world has received concerning the doctrinal immoralities of the present
Vallabhacharya sect and its leading priests. Disclosures like these
need as little surprise us as attract our attention on behalf of their
novelty. Every one, however slightly acquainted with the history of
religions in general, knows that there is no religious stem without its
parasitical priesthood sucking its sap, if allowed to cling to its bark.
Who will denounce Christianity because Mormonism has sprung from
its soil ? or who will question the morality of its tenets, because, so
recently as twenty-seven years ago there existed, at Konigsberg, in
Prussia, the sect of the Muckers, which held its conventicles for the
procreation of a new Messiah, and, though yielding nothing in mysticism
and lewdness to the sect of the Vallabhacharyas, was so highly respect-
able as to count amongst its members some of the first families of the
land ?

To lay stress on aberrations of this kind would be unjust as well as
unwise. But the very comparisons we have alleged involve the point
on which we must lay stress. Mormonism must hide its profligacy in
the deserts of America, and a few Prussian police constables proved
strong enough, with the applause of the good people of Konigsberg, to
check the new Messiah in his career of incarnations.

The Vallabhacharya creed, however, continues to flourish all over
India, and to feed, we believe, its fourscore of saints ; no professor of
it is looked upon by a Hindu as a heretic, with whom it is not per-
missible to associate ; no Brahmin ceases to be one, though he eat the
dust of the feet of the Maharaja. Do, then, the Hindus really believe
that this creed is a true Hindu creed ? Or — since there is no neces-
sity for singling out this special sect from among numerous others, the
practices of which would startle us as much as those of the followers of
Vallabha— do the Hindus really assume that all these sects are healthy

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 55

branches of their original religious stock ? and, as to all appearance,
their reply is in the affirmative, — on what grounds does the assump-
tion rest ?

Some answers to those questions have been given by " The Maharaja
Libel Case ;" and because this case, if stripped of its specialities and
personalities, is in reality no other than the case of Hinduism itself as
it now stands, we will once more cast our eyes on it.

The defendant in that trial had charged the sect of the Maharajas
and their chiefs — to use his own words — with " perpetrating such
shamelessness, subtilty, immodesty, rascality, and deceit," as have
never been perpetrated by other sectaries ; and, convinced that the
committal of such acts could not be countenanced by the true Hindu
faith, he accordingly stigmatised the persuasion of the Vallabhacharyas
as a "sham, a delusion, and a heresy." The plaintiff, on the other
hand, stoutly denied ever having been " guilty of heterodox opinions in
matters connected with his religion, or of the offences or improper
conduct imputed to him."

The denial, we may see at once, does not meet the charge. For,
supposing the life of the Maharaja had been as spotless as one could
desire, it does not follow from his words that he had abstained from
licentious acts, because his religion declared them to be sinful ; nor, if
his religion enjoined or encouraged such acts, does it necessarily follow
that it must be a heterodox faith ; since, for aught we know, it might
derive its tenets from the old and authoritative Brahmanic source. It
is true that by his evidence the defendant fully proved that acts of the
grossest immorality were not only committed by the Maharajas, but
committed by them with the full knowledge and connivance of their
followers ; it is likewise true that he proved that " the Maharajas are
considered by their followers as incarnations of the god Krishna," that
" their managers give the sectaries water to drink in which the

56 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

Maharaja had bathed ;" and that " drinking the nectar of the feet,
swinging, rubbing, and bathing the body with oils, or eating the dust
on which they have walked, are not practised towards the Gurus of
other sects." But evidence like this obviously does no more than
establish the fact, that such customs are the actual practices of a parti-
cular sect and of certain individuals professing to be their high priests
and chiefs. It will induce no one to charge the faith of these people
with inculcating these practices, or to say whether they are or are not
in harmony with the ancient religion of the Hindus, the supposed
foundation of all present creeds, unless further evidence be produced to
that effect from the sacred works of both.

What means, then, did the defendant and the plaintiff possess, the
one to denounce the heresy of the Maharaja sect, the other to vindicate
its orthodoxy ?

The text-books of the sect are the works of its principal teacher,
Vallabha ; they are all written in Sanskrit ; and a leading commentary
on one of these works, by Gokulnath, a grandson of Vallabha, is like-
wise written in Sanskrit. Some of these works are translated in the
Brij-Bhasha language ; but, as the Maharaja very properly observed,
these versions have authority so far only as they exactly render the
original ; and, for himself, he seemed to scorn the idea of reading his
sacred books in such versions at all. That the groundworks of the
ancient Hindu faith are likewise written in the sacred language of
India, and some in that archaic form of Sanskrit, which differs in many
respects from the Sanskrit of the classical literature, it is almost need-
less to say ; but it may perhaps not be superfluous to add that several of
those works— the Vedas, for instance— and the principal Puranas, are
not accessible to a Hindu except in that language, since no translation
of them exists in any of the vernacular tongues.

Now, as to Mr. Kursandass, the spirited editor of the Bombay

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 57

journal, who in this noteworthy case courageously staked his property,
and probably his personal liberty, who had to brave not only the
obloquy of his countrymen, but an organised conspiracy — what does he
say as to his trustiest weapon, this Sanskrit tongue, when he enters the
arena to struggle for the restoration of the pure ancient religion of
India ? He frankly and honestly confesses that he has no knowledge
whatever of it. He does his best to supply that defect by resorting to
a young native who seems to have a smattering of it, and provides him
with the translation of a passage of the commentary of Gokulnath ;
but beyond the result of this trifling assistance, given only for the
purposes of his defence, his ascertaining the authoritative sense of a
Sanskrit work does not go. He had taken up the cause of religious
reform, because he had heard, and felt convinced, that the ancient
Hindu creed must be pure, and different therefore, from the unclean
shape in which it is paraded before his eyes ; but it had never occurred
to him, when appealing to the Vedas, that the Vedas could not talk to
him unless he mastered the language in which they were composed.

And the Maharaja ? When we quote the words of one of the judges,
who said — ** That the plaintiff has allowed his personal interests to
overcome his respect for truth while on his oath in the court," and
those of the other judge, who declared " the oath of the plaintiff as
utterly valueless," and " the whole framework of his evidence as con-
ceived in a spirit of hypocrisy and falsehood," — we may be spared the
necessity of scrutinizing the knowledge of which he makes profession
in regard to the original works of his own and the ancient Hindu faith.
Yet some of his own statements are, nevertheless, too curious not to
deserve a passing notice. Sanskrit, he says, on one occasion, he
knows " for the most part ;" and on another, he owns that he " knows
more of Sanskrit now than he did before the libel." In his plea he
classes the " sacred books of the Hindus" as, first the Puranas, then

58 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

the Vedas and Shastras ; but, when cross-examined, he can neither give
the names of the four Vedas, nor had he any idea whatever as to the
number of that part of them called the Brahmanas. He has heard the
name of the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, but he has not read it. His opinion
was that if the Shastras allowed it, remarriages of widows might take
place, but not otherwise. He had seen no authority in the Shastras for
remarriages, but personally he had no objection thereto ; in his sect,
indeed, remarriages took place, and he did not prohibit them. He
likewise informed the court of a fact which as yet rests on no other
authority than his own — viz., that the name of the god Krishna occurs
in a portion of the Vedas. Of the other Maharajas he cannot say
whether a few only can read Sanskrit ; but the witness most friendly
to him did not hesitate to say that " the plaintiff was an exception
amongst them, the rest being ignorant persons."

We have shown enough, we think, of the scholarship of these high
priests and preceptors of the Vallabhacharya sect. Yet, though the
specimen of saints introduced to us by this trial is perhaps merely an
illustration of the adage that there is but one step from the sublime to
the ridiculous, we cannot conceal from ourselves the reality that that
step may be an extremely unpleasant one.

In the worst days of Roman Catholicism, when the multitude pro-
fessing that religion was steeped in ignorance and its worship was no
better than idolatry, there was still a considerable portion of its priest-
hood fully acquainted with the text-book of Christianity. It was, no
doubt, with its priests a question of policy whether their flock should
be admitted to the knowledge which they possessed, and restored to a
purer faith ; but that they had the power to work that change is borne
out by the history of Protestantism. Yet, without fear of contradiction,
we may assert that the vast majority of all Hindu priests are as igno-
rant of the ancient faith of their nation as the Maharaja of Bombay ;

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 59

nay, this Maharaja himself is not merely a fair average specimen of a
Hindu priest, but his knowledge, however miserable, exceeds that of
most priests of other Hindu sects. Amongst the hundred million and
more who profess Brahrnanisin, there are perhaps a few thousands who
may be able to read an easy Sanskrit book ; but those who can master
a philosophical or grammatical work are scarcely to be found except at
the high seats of learning, such as Benares, Calcutta, and Poona, while
as to those who can understand a Vedic text, like the venerable author
of the great Cyclopedia, Raja Radhakant Deb, or the learned editor of
one of the Vedas, Babu Rajendralala Mitra, or like the accomplished
Dr. Bhau Dajee, a gentleman whom Sir Joseph Arnould describes as
" one who in learning, freedom from prejudice, and general superiority
of mind, is among the foremost, if not the foremost of the native citizens
of Bombay," — their number is indeed so infinitely small that it dis-
appears in the mass of their co-religionists.

And yet every Hindu, high or low, is eager to persuade himself, that
his actual worship is founded on inspired texts : for he knows that it
would be worthless unless it could trace its tenets to the "inspired"
words of the Vedic hymns ; he clings to it because he is penetrated
with an instinctive feeling, that if he abandoned a religion based on the
Vedas, he would abandon that which is dearest to a man, his nationality.
It is this instinctive feeling alone that arms him against any attempt
at conversion ; for, even though the intelligent native may recognise
the superiority of Christianity as taught by the New Testament over
the sectarian worship practised by himself, yet, rather than profess a
religion foreign to his instincts, habits, and nationality, he will console
himself with the hope that he may one day possess in his old faith,
when restored, one as good and as pure as any other faith.

Whether that hope be justifiable or not is a question that admits of
different answers, according to the mental and social condition of the

60 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

inquirer. But Hindu and European must alike agree that a nation
which cannot examine and understand the foundation of its own exist-
ence, is on the high road to the loss of that existence altogether. And
because we are well aware that the intelligent portion of the present
generation of India has raised its political aspirations, and has the proud
ambition of conquering for its country the same position which is occupied
by the other parts of the British Empire, we must remind them that
the first and most efficacious means for attaining that end is boldly to
attack the deplorable religious condition of their countrymen, and that
this is to be done only by imparting to them a knowledge of their own
literature, and more especially of those sacred works which mark the
brightest epoch of their national life. There are some amongst them,
we know, who consider the religious question as insignificant compared
to the great political questions of the day, and who judge of the different
forms of their present worship by the standard which a celebrated his-
torian applied to the various forms of Paganism in ancient Rome : that
they are all alike sublime to the vulgar, all alike useful to the politician,
and all alike ridiculous to the philosopher. But these modern Hindu
statesmen seem to forget the downfall of ancient Rome, and that masses
sunk in religious degradation can never become the political equals of
those to whom their sublime is the ridiculous. Nor must they imagine
that their favourite appeal to the argument of Sankaracharya can avail
in these days. When that great reformer and philosopher — probably
about a thousand years ago — made his crusade against the heresies then
rampant all over India, he is said to have himself established several
sects, and to have sanctioned the worship of any acknowledged deity,
" for the sake of those whose limited understandings rendered them
incapable of comprehending and adoring the invisible Supreme Being."
Hence they conclude, that if so staunch a defender of " a sole Cause
and Supreme Ruler of the universe " considered the worship of Vishn u

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 6t

and Siva in its various forms compatible with the monotheistic doctrine
he was preaching to his countrymen, no objection need be taken to the
present creed as answering the same ends.

An appeal to authorities, instead of an argument, is in itself a con-
fession of defeat ; but those who are in the habit of using this appeal as
their argument do not seem to apprehend that it could be turned against
them as one of the strongest condemnations of the practices which they
palliate. Sankara, one of the most renowned and influential scholars
of medieval India, was himself one of the most zealous denouncers of all
worships if repugnant to the Vedas. His aim was the propagation of a
belief in one immaterial Cause. In his chief work, the Commentary on
the text-book of the Vedanta philosophy, he endeavours to prove that
the celestial beings named in the Vedic writings are but allegorical
personifications of that Supreme Being, and in his Commentary on the
Upanisbads he compares such gods even to demons, or foes of the human
race. If tradition therefore be correct, that he tolerated the modern
worship of the sectarian gods, — for, let it be remembered, that it is only
a vague tradition which ascribes that toleration to him — it is obvious that
this admission on his part was, if not an act of weakness and inconsist-
ency, at the best an educational experiment, supposed by him to lead to
the end which engrossed his mind. A thousand years, one would think,
are a sufficient space of time to prove the error of Sankaracharya. The
experiment has had its test, and it has lamentably failed. Another
thousand years of a similar experiment, and we feel convinced that no
Brahmanical Hindu will then be found to whom it could be denounced
as fallacious and mischievous.

But, let us ask what those writings are which the orthodox Hindu is
called upon by his creed to consider as inspired, and what are those other
works which in the course of time his priests have foisted as such on
his credulity?

62 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

The oldest tradition is very precise in the answer it gives to the first
of these questions. So far from leaving it to the option of a believer to
declare at will any book inspired, and so far from recognising any gifted
individual who might at some future period pretend to receive inspirations
from divine apparitions or intuitions, it has carefully defined the person-
ages who alone had been favoured by the Deity, and the revelations they
had obtained. The former, it says, are the old Vedic Rishis or saints ;
and the latter are the hymns of the Rigveda, which, dating from eternity,
were "seen" by them, and the number of which is one thousand and
twenty-eight. Passing, then, over the doubts as to the genuine antiquity
of some of these hymns — and we could show that even the most orthodox
authorities of India looked upon some as spurious — it is certain that
the inspired writings of the Hindus do not exceed the limits of those
one thousand and twenty-eight hymns.

The Hindu priesthood, however, has managed to demonstrate that
one thousand and twenty-eight hymns mean in reality a very ponderous
mass of divinely revealed works. " These hymns," it says to the people,
" you must be aware, speak of ritual acts which are unintelligible to you,
and they make allusion also to events, human and divine, which are
shrouded in obscurity ; hence you must admit that those works called
Brdhmanas, which explain the origin and the proper performance of
rites — which give illustrations of those events and legendary narratives,
and which contain philosophical speculations to boot — are a necessary
complement of the inspired Rigveda hymns. And," say the priests,
"there are three other Vedas besides the Rigveda, viz., the Yajur-, Sama-
and Atharva-Veda; but, as the contents of these Vedas," they continue,
" are bodily taken from the Rigveda, their inspiration can as little be
gainsayed as that of these hymns themselves ; " and as the Brahmana
portion of these Vedas stands in the same relation to their hymnic part
as the corresponding portion of the Rigveda stands to the hymns of the

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 63

latter, the Brahmins conclude that the inspired works of the Hindu
religion are the hymns of the four Vedas and the Brahmana works
attached to each of them. The theologian, moreover, adds : — " And
because in the hymns, as well as in the Brahmanas, there are many
hints of extreme mysteriousness — allusions to the production of the
world, to the qualities of a supreme God, and to the nature of the human
soul — those works which contain the authoritative explanation of these
mysteries, the Upanishads, cannot be disconnected from the inspiration
of the hymns and Brahmanas.

Those who have followed the course of the religious development of
mankind in general will not feel surprised at this luxuriance of inspired
texts : the instincts and the history of a priesthood are alike everywhere.
One thousand and twenty-eight hymns, of a few verses each, are but a
poor livelihood for a fast-increasing number of holy and idle men : but
expand these hymns into a host of works which even the most diligent
student could not master in less than several years; apply to their
teaching the rule that the pupil must never study them from a manu-
script, but receive them orally from his spiritual guide ; make them the
basis of a complicated ritual, which no one is allowed to perform without
a host of priests, and handsome presents to each of them — aud what a
bright perspective opens itself to a member of the Brahminical caste,
and to those who follow in his track !

That the Brahmana portion of the Vedas, which is entirely ritual and
legendary, has no claim whatever to be considered by an orthodox Hindu
as dating from eternity, like the hymns of the Rigveda, and as super-
naturally composed, results from the tradition to which we have referred ;
for, though the doctrine of their divine origin has been current in India
for more than two thousand years, no Rishi has ever been mentioned
into whom they were divinely inspired, except, perhaps, in the case of
one, the Satapatha-Brahmana. But the sanctity of this very Brahmana

64 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

was so little acknowledged by common consent when it was composed,
that it marks, on the contrary, a great schism in the 'ancient religion of
India ; in fact, when compared with the hymns of the Rigveda, it is so
late that there is strong reason to surmise that it did not exist in Panini's
time. This grammarian himself, when teaching the names of some
Brahmanas, gives us rules for distinguishing between ancient and modern
Brahmanas ; and even if, contrary to the evidence supplied by him, a
single one of those ancient Brahmanas had come down to us, his rules
would bear testimony to the fact that in his time the authors of those
works were not yet looked upon as inspired. A very learned writer on
Sanskrit literature, indeed, has asserted, on the authority of those rules,
that the affix in which terminates the name of such ancient Brahmanas
as the Sailalin, Karmandin, &c., is "a mark that the name to which it
is added is that of an author considered as a Rishi, or inspired writer."
But such is not the case ; for, Panini, who distinguishes between works
that were "seen" or are inspired, between works that were "made" or
composed, and works that were " promulgated " or taught, states in the
clearest possible manner that those "ancient" Brahmanas were not
" seen," but only " promulgated " by the personages after whom they
are named.

Of the inspired character of the Upanishads still less need be said.
It is, in India itself, upheld only either by those theologians who — like
their commentator, the celebrated Sankaracharya, or the translator of
some of these theosophical works, the late Ram Mohun Roy — endea-
voured to give a stamp of sacredness to the Vedanta philosophy founded
on them, or by those adherents of other philosophical schools, which
appeal for the truth of their axioms to passages from these works. At
the time when the priests had succeeded in laying down the law that
instruction in sacred works could be imparted only by them, and was to
be "heard," or orally received by the pupil from the teacher, they gave

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 65

currency to a term, " Sruti" — "hearing" — implying by it that the
texts which the pupil heard from their mouth were inspired works ;
but in the early literature even this term comprises merely hymns and
Brahmanas. It is only at a late period of Hinduism that we meet with
" Sruti" as applied also to the Upanishad literature.

The inspired network of the hymnic portion of the three Vedas, called
the Yajur-, Sama-, and Atharva-Veda, is apparently closer drawn than
that of the other writings just named ; but now that it is laid open before
the investigating mind of modern Europe and India; now that the spell
is broken which made the study of the Veda consist of intonating its
verses to the melody of the Guru, and mechanically committing them
to memory ; now that native and European industry has given us in
print not merely the obscure words of the hymns, but also the commen-
taries which lead us into their inner meaning, no Hindu can shrink from
the duty of examining the grounds on which the inspiration of these
three Vedas rests.

He will probably not offer much resistance when he is asked to reject
that of the Atharvaveda. He possesses abundant evidence that no
Atharvaveda was known at an early period of Hindu life. The old and
orthodox authorities of India speak of three Vedas only — the Rig-,
Yajur-, and Sama- Veda; even late commentators, though the Atharva-
veda existed at their time, pay little attention to it ; it is ignored by the
ritual-philosophers, the Mimansists, whose influence is felt wherever a
sacrificial fire receives pious offerings. Trayi vidyd, " the threefold,"
not the fourfold, "wisdom" is in the mouth of every learned Hindu.
Will he then contend for the inspired origin and the eternal existence of
those incantations and charms which aim at " the attainment of wealth,
the destruction of evil influences, the downfall of enemies, success in
love or play, the removal of petty pests, recovery from sickness, and
even the growth of hair on a bald pate ?" Yet, though the character of
VOL. II. 5

66 THE INSPIKED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

the hymns of this Veda differs from that of the Yajur- and Sama-Veda,
the causes whence all these three Vedas arose, are similar; and the test
by which a Hindu may judge of the claims to inspiration of one of them,
is the test which he may apply to the claims of the remaining two.

The hymns of the Rigveda are essentially poetical : they make frequent
allusion, it is true, to pious and sacrificial acts ; but so far only as the
latter are the concomitants of the pious and poetical feelings of the
poet, or as they are connected with events in his personal life. We
meet, therefore, with many hymns which have nothing to do with reli-
gious performances: thus, some describe the grandeur of natural
phenomena ; here a gambler " laments: over the passion that beguiles
him into sin," and there a Rishi even ridicules the worship performed by
the priests. In short, these hymns, if taken as a whole, are the genuine
product of the poets' minds : they reflect the gradual growth of a nation's
life ; they were not composed for any ritual purposes. On the other
hand, there is nothing genuine in the Yajur- and Sama-Vedas. These
Vedas are arranged and written merely to serve as prayer-books at various
sacrificial acts. The collection of the Rigveda hymns, as one may
a priori conclude from their very character, did not admit of any arrange-
ment answering systematically the order of an elaborate ceremonial;
the arrangement of the two other Vedas, on the contrary, is entirely
adapted to it, and therefore throughout artificial. Thus, the verses of
the Samaveda were intoned at the sacrifices performed with the juice of
the Soma plant, and the order in which these verses occur is that of the
sacrificial acts of which the Soma sacrifices consist. Again, those of the
Yajurveda are arranged according to the rites of a great variety of
sacrifices, at which the officiating priests had to mutter them inaudibly.

Now, so firmly rooted is the belief in the divine origin of these
Vedas, that it seems almost to have overshadowed the belief in the
sanctity of the Rigveda itself ; not indeed in spite of their unpoetical

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 67

character, but on account of it. For, judging from the opinions met
with in the most orthodox writers, the Brahmins seem to have
concluded that the Rigveda, however beautiful from an aesthetical point
of view, was, after all, more an ornamental than a useful book ; that its
real destiny is fulfilled in those two other Vedas, taken from it, which a
contingent of sixteen officiating priests, supported by butchers, ladle-
holders, and choristers, could turn to practical account at ceremonies
regulated in their minutest detail, and some of them lasting as many as
a hundred days. And, as the sacrifices requiring the muttering of the
Yajurveda were even more imposing and more elaborate than those
which fall within the range of the Samaveda rites, we find that the
sanctity of the Yajurveda ultimately outstripped that of the rival Veda
too. " The Yajurveda," says Sayaua, the great commentator on the
Vedas, "is like a wall, the two other Vedas like paintings [on it]."
Yet, as we before observed, the inspired character of these later Vedas
rests on the assumption that their verses are borrowed from the
Rigveda; that they are, in fact, portions of it. So far as the Samaveda
is concerned, this assumption is justified; for, though in the present
edition of this Veda there are some verses which do riot occur in the
present text of the Rigveda, we must remember that this text is but
one of the recensions of the principal Veda, and that the missing verses
may have existed, and probably did exist, in some other recension of it.
But a comparison of the Yajurveda with the Rigveda does not allow us
to stretch probabilities to this extent. There are portions of the Yajur-
veda which can at no time have belonged to any recension of the Rich,
— we mean those passages in prose, called Yaj us, whence the Yajurveda
derives its name ; for, there is no hymn in the Rigveda that is not
composed in verse. Here then this question obtrudes itself — Who are
the Rishis who " saw " these passages in prose ? Tradition, so far as
we know it, is just as silent respecting them as it is respecting the

68

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

authors of the Brahmanas. But as little as these latter works can
become inspired because they are tacked to the hymnic collection which
was " seen " by the Rishis of old, so little can inspiration pass like the
electric fluid from the Rigveda verses, found in the Yajus, to those
passages in prose which, from ritual reasons, had been joined to them.
Yet, setting aside these pseudo-revealed passages, and those verses of
the Yajurveda, too, which do not occur in the actual recension of the
Rigveda, we shall be at once enabled to judge, by even a superficial
glance, at how the inspired poetry of the Rigveda found its way into
the Sama- and Yajurveda, on what grounds the Brahmins invite the
nation to recognise the last two Vedas as inspired texts.

We open at random two hymns which form part of the first book of
the Samaveda and three chapters of one recension of the Yajurveda.
The first hymn of the Samaveda which meets our eyes consists of
eleven verses (370 — 380) ; and with the exception of its third verse
(372), every one occurs amongst the verses of the Rigveda ; but what is
the mutual relation of the verses in both Vedas ?

Samav., verse

370 is Rigveda

Book.

... 8

Hymn.

86

Verse.

10

»» »»

371

10

147

1

» »

373

1

57

4

» »»

374

3

51

1

»»

375

10

43

1

»

376

1

51

1

» »»

377

1

52

1

>» »

378

6

70

1

»

379

10

134

1

.»

380

1

101

1

The second hymn we happen to choose is the opening one of the
Samaveda. It consists of ten verses, nine of which are likewise con-

Sook.

6

Hymn.

16

Verse.
10

6

16

11

1

12

1

6

16

34

8

73

1

8

60

1

6

16

16

8

11

7

6

16

13

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 69

tained in the present recension of the Rigveda, but those nine verses
correspond respectively with the following Rigveda verses : —

Bee

Samav., verse 1 with Kigveda... 6

»» >» <* n

»» »» 3 ,,

A
>• »> * »»

„ 5
„ » 6 „

7
>» »» »»

»> »» O ,,

»>

We turn to any chapters of the Yajurveda, say the 22nd to the 25th.
They contain verses and passages in prose, which were muttered at the
horse sacrifice. Of chapter 22, which has 34 divisions, only four verses
occur in the Rigveda, viz. ; —

Book. Hymn. Verse.

Yajurveda, verse 10 in Rigveda ... 1 22 2

„ 15 „ 5 14 1

„ 16 3 11 2

„ 18 „ 9 110 8

Of chapter 23, which consists of 65 divisions, there correspond : —

Boob. Hymn. Verse.

Yajurveda, verse 3 with Rigveda... 10 121 4

,, 5 161

» 6 169

„ 16 „ 1 162 21

„ 32 „ 4 39 6

Chapter 24, being entirely in prose, is foreign to the Rigveda ; and
of chapter 25, with 47 divisions —

70 THE INSPIRED WHITINGS OF HINDUISM.

Boot. Hymn. Verse.

Yajurveda, verse 12 is Rigveda ... 10 121 4
„ 13 „ 10 121 2

verses 14—23 are 1 89 1—10

„ 24—45 „ 1 162 1—22

and „ verse 46 is the first half of the Rigveda verse

10, 157, 1, the first half of 10, 157 2, and the latter half of 10,
157, 1.

There is unhappily nothing so irreverent as statistical prose. A
Brahmin will tell his nation that the verses of the Sama- and Yajurveda
are the same as those of the Rigveda, and, if need be, he may perhaps
show that a good number of them do really occur in the original Veda.
We, however, are impertinent enough to test that sameness by book,
chapter, and verse ; we marshal side by side the figures which mark
the position of these verses in their respective Vedas — and what do
these figures reveal ? A Rigveda piecemeal : verses of the same hymn
transposed, verses of different hymns shuffled about, and even verses of
different authors strung together, as if they had proceeded from the
same mind. We expected to find in the later Vedas, the feelings and
thoughts of the ancient poets, but we hear only the sounds of their
words ; we were promised possession, in these Vedas, of a living portion
of the Rigveda, but we discover there only its scattered remains. In
short, the Brahmin juggles before our eyes what he calls an identity of
these Vedas with the Rigveda, yet what we really obtain is but a
miserable counterfeit of it.

Well may the disciples of Loyala feel humiliated when they look at
the consummate skill with which this Brahminical legerdemain was
performed, long before their master had taught them how to govern the
world by obfuscating its intellect; for there is no priesthood in the
universe which, by a stratagem like that we have described, can boast

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 7l

of so splendid a success in metamorphosing its most sacred book into a
dull attendant on artificial rites, and in diverting the stream of the
national life from its original course.

While acknowledging, however, the intellectual capacity of those
Brahmins who fashioned the hymns of the Rigveda in a series of
" inspired " texts, we ought not to forget that they were powerfully
assisted in their task by an invention which, though some may imagine
to be of recent date, those Hiudu priests are fully entitled to claim as
theirs — we mean the invention of writings without a writer — anony-
mousness. Pride in his personality is the natural feeling of a man
whose work proceeds from the promptings of his own genius and will ;
and nations likewise have the instinctive feeling that they uphold their
own individuality by guarding from oblivion the memory of their de-
serving men. Unless, therefore, this innate feeling be intentionally
subdued, it is merely an accident — political or literary — when works that
merit to be remembered go down to posterity without the names of their
authors, since so many names of authors survive without their works.
We do not know, it is true, the authors of the Nibelungen and of the
Kutrun ; we can speak only of the compiler of the Edda ; but it is
exceptions like these that prove the rule ; for even a name like Homer
— probably devoid of a personal reality — shows that the nation which
put it forward was eager to. possess an individuality in the poet of the
Iliad and Odyssey.

But, when man is not the agent of his own acts, or if, for good or
evil purposes, he wishes or is forced to personate more than his own
self, he sinks his individuality into a brotherhood, he becomes anony-
mous. To assume it to be a pure accident that the authors of the
Yajus and of the Brahmanas have remained unknown, would be
assuming that all those artificial and elaborate works were of uninten-
tional origin, and that the Hindu mind is an exception to the general

72 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

law. But that the proud feeling of individuality was as strong in India
as it is everywhere else, and at all times too, is evidenced by the long
list of proper names which represent the authors of her greatest poetical,
philosophical, grammatical, and other works ; and it is borne out by
the fact that the Hindus remember the names of their oldest Rishis,
the " inspired seers " of the Rigveda hymns : for, whether these per-
sonages existed or not, whether they were the authors of the works
or hymns ascribed to them, matters not. To the Hindu mind they
are realities : and since, on the other hand, Hindu tradition supplies us
with a full account of the names of those who " collected " or arranged
the Vedas, [and who " promulgated " or taught the Brahmanas, and
Upanishads, the very jealousy it betrays in perpetuating the memory of
merits inferior certainly to those of authorship, proves that the names
of their " inspired " authors cannot have remained unknown through
chance or carelessness.

The anonymousness of these Vedic writings is, however, up to this
day the staple argument in proof of their sanctity. In a spirited drama,
•written probably six hundred years ago, a Jaina mendicant apostrophizes
a follower of Buddha who intends to persuade him of the superiority of
his creed over that of the Jaina sect, in the following terms : — " But
who has laid down these laws ? " " The omniscient, sacred Buddha/7 is
the reply. "And whence know ye that Buddha is all-wise ?" " Why,"
says the Buddhist, " because it is written so in his sacred books." The
Brahminical author of this satire is obviously alive to the more solid
basis on which the sanctity of his own revelations rest. The belief in
their genuineness does not depend on the testimony of those by whom
they were composed. Public opinion has never heard of any author of
them : hence they must be of superhuman workmanship.

In surveying the origin of the three later Vedas and that of their
liturgic and theosophioal appendages, we stand, as it were, on the

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM 73

heights of Hinduism ; but the descent from them to the region of its
actual condition is easy, and scarcely requires a guide. For, once
acquainted with the spirit that engendered these Vedas and Brahmanas,
with its method of fabricating inspired texts, and the conclusion wrought
by its powerful engine, anonymousness, we may feel curiosity as to the
turnings and byways of the road ; but the journey itself is monotonous.
There is one reflection, however, which may arrest our steps.

It must seem a matter of course that so fertile a soil as the sacrificial
Vedas, and the ritual, legendary, and mystical Brahmanas could not
remain without an abundant crop of works ; — human works, to be sure,
with their authors' name duly recorded and recognised, but works as
indispensable to a proper use of those " inspired " texts, as they were
indispensable to turn the ornamental Rigveda into a book of practical
utility. They are the Kalpa works. But even these writings could
not do justice to the store of services that might be rendered by a
Brahmin to his countrymen. The Kalpa works merely treat of those
great and public ceremonies which, for a time, may handsomely stock
the budget of the officiating priests, but which are too sporadic and too
select to be a permanent and solid livelihood. A number of daily and
household ceremonies was evidently needed to bring the whole life of a
believer under the control and into the grasp of his spiritual master,
the priest. These ceremonies, then, were regulated by the Grihya
books ; but as the life of even the most pious society cannot be entirely
filled up with rites that take place at conception and birth, tonsure and
investiture, marriage and the like, it was prudent to impart a religious
stamp also to habits and customs — in one word, to the whole organism
of society. A special class of works — the Samayacharika rules — was
therefore devoted to the ordinary practices ; and from these resulted
ultimately the so-called legal works, amongst which Manu's law-book is
known as the most prominent. Everything now was as complete as it

74 THE INSPIRED WHITINGS OF HINDUISM.

could be. Social and religious duties are henceforward synonymous ;
dharma is the word which designates both. All the institutions of
society have now become of Vedic origin ; for the laws of Manu and
others are founded on the habits and customs laid down in the works
complimentary to the Grihya works ; these complete the Kalpa works ;
and without the Kalpa works the practical Vedas would be unpractical.
The chain which links religion and politics together is, on several occa-
sions, brought home to the Hindu mind by a reasoning like this : —
Society cannot perform the duties prescribed in these sacred books
unless it possesses a king, who watches over the safety of the people ;
but a king cannot exist without the produce of the land ; land, however,
yields no produce without rain ; rain is sent down by the favour of the
gods ; such favour is obtained by means of sacrificial acts ; but where
there is no Brahmin there is no sacrificial act : king and Brahmin thus
close the circle within which the people has to obey the behests of
both.

There is, then, that difference between the Vedic works and those
which are the present foundation of the Brahmanic belief — that the
former were inspired for the exclusive interests of priests, whereas
the latter were inspired for the combined benefit of the priests and
kings. But the latter, the Purdnas, have this in common with the
three " practical" Vedas and the Brahmanas — that they are likewise
" inspired," because they are anonymous; for tradition, which knows all
about Vyasa, their wonderful compiler, has concealed the names of the
holy personages who received them direct from the Deity. If com-
parison wants to go beyond this, it must hold the Vedic texts before a
mirror which reflects a caricature. There is no trace of Vedic poetry
or of Vedic thought in all those Purana works composed in glorification
of the epical Pantheon of India, and more especially in that of the
Hindu triad — Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. There is scarcely a legend

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 75

or myth narrated by them which can claim the remotest connexion
with a Vedic myth. There is no ceremony they teach which, put
even against the ceremonial of the Brahmana and Kalpa works, does
not appear devoid of all that may please the imagination or elevate the
mind ; and with the exception of a few of them, their style even is
tedious, slovenly, and to some extent ungrammatical. Considered as a
whole, these Puranas contain cosmogonies, which are a superstructure of
epical and modern legends on the creative theories propounded in some
of the systems of philosophy ; theogonies, which expand the myths of
the great epos, the Mahabharata, in favour of the particular god whom
it was the intention of the writer to place at the top of the Pantheon ;
they profess to know the genealogies of patriarchs and the chief
dynasties of kings ; they are bits of law-books in imitation of Manu and
Yajnavalkya ; they pretend to explain ancient ceremonies, and abound
in the description of rites which vie with one another in the absurdest
detail ; tbey prophesy. And as it is plain, from this summary of their
contents, that they aimed at being the books that teach everything, and
with the weight of religious authority, we cannot feel surprised that
some of them considered it necessary also to expatiate on sacred
geography or the description of places where there is a special chance
of attaining to eternal bliss, on medicine and astronomy, on archery,
rhetoric, prosody, and grammar. But the low position which these
works occupy in the household of Sanskrit literature, is nowhere more
manifest than when they attempt to meddle with those scientific
branches of human knowledge, where every student can test the kind
of omniscience by which they were inspired.

The modern date of the existing Puranas has long ceased to be
matter of doubt to any one who reads them without prejudice ; but even
an orthodox Hindu must shut his eyes to all evidence, literary, histo-
rical, and grammatical, if he attempt to assert their antiquity. From

76 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

the abundance of disproof which is open to him, we need, for curiosity's
sake, only point to one. That works called Puranas— i.e., " old," —
may have existed at ancient times, and that they may have combined
some portion of the matter embodied in the actual works bearing this
name, is not improbable; for, the word itself, as designating a
class of writings, occurs as early as in the law-book of Manu, though
this book itself, as we have seen, may be called recent when compared
with the Vedic texts. A definition, however, of what such Puranas
are, does not occur before the beginning of the Christian era, when the
lexicographer Amarasinha says, that a Purana is a work which has
" five characteristic marks." This definition is again explained by
the commentators on the glossary of Amarasinha ; and the oldest of
them did not live earlier than about four hundred years ago. He
says that these five characteristic portions of a Purana are — primary
creation ; secondary creation, or the destruction and renovation of the
world; genealogy — viz., of gods and patriarchs; reigns of the Manus ;
and history — viz., of the princes supposed to derive their pedigree from
the sun or moon. Now, in applying this definition to the actual
Puranas, Professor Wilson, the distinguished Sanskrit scholar, who
translated the whole Vishnu Purana, and was thoroughly conversant
with these works, observes, " that not in any one instance do they
exactly conform to it ; that to some of them it is wholly inapplicable ;
whereas to others it only partially applies."* Whatever, therefore,
may have been the nature of the original Puranas, and whatever scope

* A translation into English of the most interesting portion of these works was
made in India many years ago, under the personal direction of this celebrated and
learned scholar. With the consent of his widow, and by the liberality of Govern-
ment, this important MS. collection — the only one which enables the English
student, not conversant with Sanskrit, to examine the principal contents of the
— forms now part of the library of the India Office.

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 77

one may give to the assumption that the actual Puranas have borrowed
part of their contents from some older works of the same name, it is
obvious that, in their present shape, they cannot reckon their age by
many centuries.

When, by priestcraft and ignorance, a nation has lost itself so far as
to look upon writings like these as divinely inspired, there is but one
conclusion to be drawn : it has arrived at the turning-point of its
destinies. Hinduism stands at this point, and we anxiously pause to
see which way it will direct its steps. For several centuries, it is true,
its position has seemed stationary ; but the power of present circum-
stances, social and political, is such that it can no longer continue so.
All barriers to religious imposition having broken down since the
modern Puranas were received by the masses as the source of their
faith, sects have sprung up which not merely endanger religion, but
society itself ; tenets have been propounded, which are an insult to the
human mind ; practices have been introduced, which must fill every
true Hindu with confusion and shame. There is no necessity for
examining tbem in detail, by unveiling, for instance, the secrets of the
Tantra literature ; nor need we be at the pains of convincing the
intelligent portion of the Hindu community ; for, the excellent works
which it sent forth from Calcutta, Benares, and Bombay, and the
enlightened views which it propagates through its periodical press,
fully prove that, equal in mental accomplishments to the advanced
European mind, it requires no evidence of the gulf which separates the
present state of the nation from its remote past.

But what we do hold is, that all the activity of that learned portion
will not avert the danger which threatens the future destiny of
Hinduism, unless it boldly grapples with the very root of the disease.
The causes of the gradual degeneracy of Hinduism, are, indeed,
not different from those to which other religions are subject, when

78 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

allowed to grow in the dark, In Europe, religious depravity received
its check when the art of printing allowed the light of publicity to enter
into the book whence her nations derive their faith; and no other
means will check it in India than the admission of the masses to that
original book which is always on their lips, but which now is the
monopoly of that infinitesimal fraction of the Brahminical caste able to
understand its sense ; and admission, also, to that other and important
literature which has at all periods of Hinduism striven to prove to the
people that their real faith is neither founded on the Brahmana portion
of the Vedas, nor on the Puranas, but on the Rigveda hymns.

If those intelligent Hindus of whom we are speaking have the will
and the energy to throw open that book, and the literature connected
with it, to the people at large, without caring for the trammels imposed
on caste by the politicians of late ages, we have no misgivings as to the
new vitality which they will impart to its decaying life, The result is
foreshadowed, indeed, by what their forefathers attempted to do, but
did not succeed in accomplishing, because they had not the courage to
break through the artificial bonds which had already in their day
enslaved Hindu society. We will briefly advert therefore to their views
and to the light in which they must have read their most ancient
text.

The hymns of the Rigveda, as we observed before, are of an entirely
poetical stamp. " They almost invariably combine," as Professor
Wilson writes, " the attributes of prayer and praise. The power, the
vastness, the generosity, the goodness, and even the personal beauty of
the deity addressed, are described in highly laudatory strains ; and his
past bounties or exploits rehearsed or glorified ; in requital of which
commendations, and of the libations or oblations which he is solicited
to accept, and in approval of the rite in his honour, at which his
presence is invoked, he is implored to bestow blessings on the person

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 79

who has instituted the ceremony, and sometimes, but not so commonly,
also on the author or writer of the prayer. The blessings prayed for
are, for the most part, of a temporal and personal description, — wealth,
food, life, posterity, cattle, cows, and horses. . . . There are a few
indications of a hope of immortality and of future happiness, but they
are neither frequent nor, in general, distinctly announced, although the
immortality of the gods is recognised." The following verses taken
from the second Octade of the Rigveda — in the literal translation of it
by Professor Wilson — may afford an idea of the general tenor of these
hymns. They are addressed, the first four to Pushan, the nourishing
Sun ; the five latter to Heaven and Earth : —

" 1. The greatness of the strength of the many-worshipped Pushan
is universally lauded ; no one detracts (from his praise) : his praise
displeases no one. Desirous of happiness I adore him, whose protec-
tion is ever nigh : who is the source of felicity ; who, when devoutly
worshipped, blends with the thought of all (his worshippers); who,
though a Deity, is united with the sacrifice.

" 2. I exalt thee, Pushan, with praises, that thou mayest hasten (to
the sacrifice), like a rapid (courser) to the battle ; that thou mayest
bear us across the combat, like a camel ; therefore do I, a mortal,
invoke thee, the divine bestower of happiness, for thy friendship ; and
do thou render our invocations productive (of benefit) ; render them
productive (of success) in battles.

"3. Through thy friendship, Pushan, they who are diligent in thy
praise and assiduous in thy worship, enjoy (abundance), through thy
protection ; by (assiduous) worship they enjoy (abundance) : as con-
sequent upon the recent favour, we solicit infinite riches ; free from
anger, and entitled to ample praise, be ever accessible to us ; be our
leader in every encounter.

"4. Free from anger, and liberal of gifts, be nigh to us, for the

80 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

acceptance of this our (offering) ; be nigh to those who solicit food : we
have recourse to thee, destroyer of enemies, with pious hymns. I never
cease, Pushan, acceptor of offerings, to think of thee ; I never disregard
thy friendship."

" 1. Those two, the divine Heaven and Earth, are the diffusers of
happiness on all, encouragers of truth, able to sustain the water (of
the rains), auspicious of birth, and energetic (in action); in the
interval between whom proceeds the pure and divine Sun for (the dis-
charge of his) duties.

" 2. Wide-spreading, vast, unconnected, the father and mother (of
all beings), they two preserve the worlds. Resolute, as if (for good) of
embodied (beings), are Heaven and Earth, and the father has invested
everything with (visible) forms.

" 3. The pure and the resolute son of (these) parents, the bearer (of
rewards) [the sun], sanctifies the world by his intelligence ; as well as
the milch cow (the earth), and the vigorous bull (the heaven), and
daily milks the pellucid milk (of the sky).

" 4. He it is, amongst gods (the most divine), amongst (pious) works
the most pious, who gave birth to the all-delighting heaven and earth :
who measured them both, and, for the sake of holy rites, propped them
up with undecaying pillars.

" 5. Glorified by us, grant to us, Heaven and Earth, abundant food
and great strength, whereby we may daily multiply mankind ; bestow
upon us commendable vigour."

As with the exception of a few hymns which have no reference to
the praise or worship of the elementary gods, the scope and tenor of all
the lays of the Rigveda are similar to those we have quoted, the first
question suggested by them is whether they contain any laws or in-
junctions concerning sacrificial rites. The answer is in the negative.
They allude to such rites, some with less, and others with more detail ;

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 81

but these allusions are no more than a record or a narrative of the
practices of the poets of the hymns. We are told, it is true, that the
practices of those holy men are tantamount to a law ordaining them ;
but it is clear that such an inference is purely arbitrary. That it was
strenuously opposed, moreover, by the highest authorities of ancient
and medieval India is borne out by the works and efforts of that
influential school which professes the Vedanta tenets, and which counts
Sankaracharya amongst its teachers and divines. No Hindu doubts of
the thoroughly orthodoxy of that school, and yet all its writings reject
•' work," that is, the observance of the sacrificial rites, as a means con-
ducive to eternal bliss. It rejects, therefore, implicitly, the sanctity or
authority of those " sacrificial " Vedas, the only object of which is the
institution of such rites ; and with them, as a matter of consequence,
the binding power of the Brahmanas and the worship founded on
them.

The next important question relates to the doctrine professed by
those poets who are supposed to have received the Rigveda hymns
from a deity. The answer to it is complicated from a European, but
simple from a Hindu, point of view. To the European inquirer the
hymns of the Rigveda represent the product of various epochs of Hindu,
antiquity : in some he will recognise a simple, in others a complex,
ritual ; some will reflect to his mind a pastoral and, as it were, primi-
tive life, others a people skilled in several arts and engaged in mercan-
tile and maritime pursuits. And, in investigating the religious views
expressed by these hymns, he will find accordingly, in some, the
worship of the physical powers, whereas he will discover in others the
idea of a Supreme Creator of the universe. He will perceive in them,
in short, a progressive religious thought, beginning, as everywhere
religion began, with the adoration of the elements, proceeding to an
attempt at understanding their origin, and ending with the idea, more
VOL. II. 6

82 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

or less clear, of one creative cause. The last stage of this development
is indicated, for instance, by a hymn which has already acquired some
celebrity, as attention was drawn to it by so early a Sauskritist as the
illustrious Colebrooke, and as it has found its way into several European
•works. It runs as follows : —

" Then was there no entity nor nonentity ; no world, nor sky, nor
aught above it ; nothing anywhere in the happiness of any one, in-
volving or involved ; nor water, deep or dangerous. Death was not ;
nor then was immortality : nor distinction of day or night. But THAT
breathed without afflation, single with (Swadha) her who is sustained
within him. Other than him, nothing existed (which) since (has been).
Darkness there was ; (for) this universe was enveloped with darkness,
and was undistinguishable (like fluids mixed in) waters ; but that mass,
which was covered by the husk, was (at length) produced by the power
of contemplation. First, desire was formed in his mind, and that
became the original productive seed ; which the wise, recognising it by
the intellect in their hearts, distinguish, in nonentity, as the bond of
entity. Did the luminous ray of these (creative acts) expand in the
middle ? or above ? or below ? That productive seed at once became
providence (or sentient souls) and matter (01 the elements) : she, who
is sustained within himself, was inferior; and he, who heeds, was
superior. Who knows exactly, and who shall in this world declare,
whence and why this creation took place ? The gods are subsequent
to the production of this world ; then who can know whence it pro-
ceeded ; or whence this varied world arose ? or whether it upheld itself
or not ? He who in the highest heaven is the Ruler of this universe
does indeed know ; but not another can possess that knowledge."

The orthodox Hindu mind does not admit in these hymns of a
successive development, like that which we must assert. It considers,
as mentioned before, all the hymns of the Rigveda as being of the

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 83

same age ; as dating from eternity. The Upanishads, and still more
explicitly the Vedanta writers, cannot therefore allow any real discord
to exist between the adoration of the phenomena of nature and the
belief in one Supreme God. They solve the difficulty by concluding
that the elementary gods are but allegorical personifications of the
great soul, the primitive cause of the universe. And even Upanishads
and Vedantists were already preceded in this view by Yaska, the oldest
exegete of the Vedic hymns, who, on one occasion, says ; — " There are
three deities (Devatas) : Agni (Fire), who resides on earth ; Vayu
(Wind), or Indra (Firmament) who resides in the intermediate region
(between heaven and earth) ; and Surya (Sun), who resides in heaven.
.... Of the Devata there is but one soul ; but the Devata having
a variety of attributes, it is praised in many ways : other gods are
merely portions of the one Soul."

Upanishads, therefore, and Vedanta, the type of Hindu orthodoxy,
will by no means allow that Hinduism, represented by the Rigveda,
was at any period idolatry ; they maintain that all the Rishis intended
to inculcate the standard tenet of Monotheism. Whether they are
justified in this theory does not affect the practical conclusion at which
we aim. For, this much is certain, that they interpret the Vedic
hymns so as to derive from them the belief in one God, and that they
quote numerous passages by which they intend to invalidate all doubts
to the contrary.

But, what is remarkable, too : during the long period of Hindu
theology which is comprised by the Upanishad and Vedanta literature,
there is no attempt on its part at expanding this tenet of Monotheism into
any doctrinal mysticism. They abound in the most pious phraseology :
they show that the Vedic text inculcates the idea of the immateriality,
the infiniteness, and the eternity of the Supreme Spirit ; they expatiate
on its qualities of goodness, thought, and beatitude ; but they are

84 THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM.

entirely free from any tendency to justify the notion of a mystical in-
carnation of that Spirit such as is taught, for instance, by the votaries
of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. From the words of the Veda, it must
be granted, they endeavour to prove that the human soul having been
created by that One Spirit, it is bound to maintain its original purity,
and if it lose it by its acts in the world, it must renew its earthly
existence until it is capable of commingling with the divine source
whence it sprang. But beyond this doctrine of transmigration — which
is incidental to all the Monotheistic religions of mankind — it does not
even try to found any religious dogma on the Rigveda hymns. In
one word, the pre-eminently orthodox schools demonstrate that the
Veda imposes no observance of a superstitious ritual ; that it enjoins
no law regulating for all eternity social or political life, no dogma
except the belief in One God, no duty except that of living in con-
formity with the nature of that God from whom the human soul has
emanated.

The bane of the social edifice within which these schools had to live
and to teach Vedanta, that is, the " purport (anta) of the Veda,"
thwarted their full success, which would have stopped the degeneracy
of Hinduism they foresaw ; but, however powerful, it could never
entirely crush their existence, or completely stifle the influence which
they exercised on the nation. The adherents of these schools always
fostered a spirit of investigation, and by it threw doubts, at least, into
the mind of the masses as to the authority of those law-books which
profess to regulate society for all eternity. To their influence, in our
days, we must ascribe the quiet disappearance of the practice of Sati
after they were shown that the injunction of burning the surviving
widow on the funeral pile of her husband had arisen from a misreading
of a Rigveda verse. Their learning is active in convincing the masses
that the remarriage of widows is not prohibited by the Vedic text ; and

THE INSPIRED WRITINGS OF HINDUISM. 85

to them are due the progressive changes which mark, for instance, the
laws of inheritance, propounded by the existing legal authorities, as
compared with those presented by Manu.|

We may, therefore, still entertain the hope that the regeneration of
Hinduism will proceed from these schools, provided that they possess
tlie energy to refuse any compromise with the sectarian worship, which
has brought Hinduism into contempt and ridicule. The means which
they possess for combating that enemy is as simple as it is irresistible ;
a proper instruction of the growing generation in its ancient literature,
an instruction, however wholly different from that now constituting the
education of a Hindu youth ; to whom reading the Veda is jabbering
thoughtlessly the words of the verse, or intoning it to the melody of a
teacher as ignorant as himself of its sense ; who, by studying grammar,
understands cramming his memory with some grammatical forms,
without any notion as to the linguistic laws that regulate them ; who
believes that he can master philosophy or science by sticking to the
textbook of one school and disregarding its connexion with all the rest
of the literature. That such a method and such a division of labour
do not benefit the mind is amply evidenced by the crippled results they
have brought to light. The instruction which India requires, though
adapted to her peculiar wants — religious, scientific, and political —
must be based on the system which has invigorate'd the European
mind ; which, free from the restrictions of rank or caste, tends to
impart to it independence of thought and solidity of character.

ARTICLE V.

HINDU EPIC POETRY: THE MAHlBHlRATA.

1. — Indische Alterthumskunde . Vols. I. — IV. By CHR. LASSEN. Bonn
and Leipzig : 1847—1861. (Vol. I., 2nd edition, 1867.)

%.—The History of India from the Earliest Ages. By J. TALBOYS
WHEELER. Vol. I. London. 1867.

3. — Original Sanskrit Texts ; on the Origin and History of the People
of India, their Religion and Institutions. By JOHN MUIR.
Vol. I.— IV. London: 1858— 186S; (Vol. I., 2nd edition,
1868.)

4. — Le Mahdbhdrata. . . . Traduit en Frangais. Par HIPPOLYTE

FAUCHE. Vols. 1.— VII. Paris : 1863—1867.

(

WHEN the late Professor H. H. Wilson had completed the first volume
of his — now celebrated — translation of the Rigveda he felt sure that his
long and laborious work was about to satisfy an eager desire of every
literary man, and relieve the anxiety which, he supposed, was generally
evinced to get at the remotest source of the religious creed of India.
Proud, therefore, of the service he was about to render to the world at
large, and to this country in particular, and free from all vanity or

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 87

selfishness — as none ever entered the heart of this truly scientific and
noble-minded man — he felt especially happy when at last he was able
to offer his work for publication to one of the most renowned publishers
of England. The offer was unconditional ; the importance of the work
beyond the possibility of a doubt, and the interest it would create, as
he at least thought, so universal, that the greatest reward for the
moment, as he pictured it to himself, was the delight with which the
publisher of his choice would receive his proposal to open to the public
the Hindu book of seven seals — the oldest Veda.

He had finished his little speech to the publisher, and the reply he
received was not a refusal. It was only a question; but a question
compared to which a hundred refusals would have been nectar and
ambrosia to the feelings of the venerable translator of the Veda: it was
the question, '* What in the world, sir, is the Veda ?"

Hindu mythology sometimes tells us of gods who have dropped from
their heavens. This great event was then generally caused by the
severe austerities of some powerful saint, by his stern insensibility to
worldly demands. Here it was insensibility too, though of another
kind, that sent the enthusiastic professor down from his heaven to the
realities of this world. He folded up his precious parcel, and to the
question, "What, sir, is the Veda?" the Royal Asiatic Society was
indebted for one of the most interesting lectures, which towards the
close of his long and meritorious career he delivered within its walls,
and in which he narrated the incident of which we are reminded in
proposing to approach another chapter of the theme of so many
mysteries still unsolved — ancient India.

The Veda, indeed — or, as we should say, the Vedas — have since been
especially fortunate. For the last eighteen years and more they have
almost exclusively engaged the attention and energy of the best Sanskrit
scholars in India, Europe, and America, not to speak of the precursor

88 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

of all modern Sanskrit scholarship, the great H. T. Colebrooke, whose
essays on the Vedas, though written in the beginning of this century,
still shine in their brightest lustre. Thanks to the efforts of such
eminent men as H. H. Wilson, Max Muller, Benfey, Haug, John
Muir, Cowell, Whitney, Rajendralal Mitra. and others, no question will
be further raised as to what are the Vedas. The contents, it is true,
of these oldest records of Hindu civilization, and still more those of the
vast literature connected with them, are as yet far from being fathomed
to their full depth ; but their surface, at least, has been extensively
explored, and, though it cannot be said that every explorer has proved
a reliable guide, the busy life which for many years has marked these
Vedic expeditions bears witness to the interest with which they were
followed by scientific research and amateur curiosity. Nor would it be
just to regard even their aberrations as the result of mere conceit, and
as altogether devoid of utility ; for if by the side of such an under-
standing of the Vedas as is handed down to us by native scholarship and
native tradition, and as is considered authoritative by the Hindus
themselves, as well as by many scholars in Europe, we shall in some
years hence, as we are given to hope, also possess an interpretation of
these works such as was never heard of before in India, or elsewhere, the
opportunity of comparing the results attained by the more serious of
these various explorations can only tend to further the ends of truth,
just as the mere prospect of these adventurous enterprises has already
called new forces into the field, roused new combatants to the fight, and
even produced the hornblowers and the clown to afford recreation and
amusement on a long and perhaps tedious march.

The more, however, Vedic studies have of late engrossed the best
energies of the present staff of Sanskrit scholars, the more, necessarily,
have other fields of Sanskrit philology remained, comparatively speaking,
fallow. It is especially the gigantic epos of ancient India, the Maha-

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 89

bharata, which has suffered under this flux and reflux of Sanskrit
studies in Europe. When, in 1819, by one of his happy hits,
the late illustrious founder of comparative philology made known
Nala and Damayanti, one of the most charming episodes of the
Mahabharata, and a few years later followed it up by his edition of
some other portions of the same epos, less poetical, but still of consider-
able merit, the hope was justified that we might get hold of a knowledge
of the whole wonderful fabric from which these fragments had come to
light. Translations of these episodes which also made their appearance
rather increased than satisfied the curiosity that had been roused.
Nor was it appeased by other and larger extracts from the great poem
which subsequently followed, both in the original Sanskrit and in
various European versions. Native industry and scholarship, it is
true, were in the meantime hard at work. Under the patronage of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, which, while now doing its best work,
through the efforts of such scholars as Rajendralal Mitra, Narayana
Vidyaratna, K. M. Banerjea, and other eminent natives, was at that
time guided by the counsel of men like H. H. Wilson and James Prinsep,
the whole text of the Mahabharata was prepared for the press and
afterwards printed at Calcutta in four portly quartos ; and we may here
add, it has been followed of late years by another edition of great value,
which, together with a paraphrase in Bengali, owes its existence to the
munificence of the enlightened Maharaja of Burdwan. And even so
recently as five years ago a third splendid edition of the great poem,
together with an important commentary on it, was sent forth from a
Bombay press, its appearance being chiefly indebted to the advice and
liberality of a distinguished native scholar, whose name has for many
years been in the foremost rank wherever literary, scientific, and
philanthropic work required the assistance of sound knowledge, a clear
intellect, and a generous heart — we need not say, Dr. Bhau Daji.

90 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

Ever since 1839, therefore — when the last volume of the first
edition of the Mahabharata was completed in print — there has been no
lack of material for studying even in Europe this wonderful book ;
nevertheless, the public at large, and probably many a Sanskritist,
would still pause in having to answer the question, " What is the
Mahabharata?" Judging from printed evidence, there is only one
scholar in Europe who seems to have mastered the great epos in all its
varied details. True, it is no less a scholar than Lassen, one of those
rare minds who combine critical judgment with a vast and profound
scholarship. Yet a monography of the Mahabharata did not enter into
the plan of Lassen's works, and more especially into that of the
greatest monument he has raised to his fame — his " Indische Alter-
thumskunde." That he explored every corner of the great epos is
borne out by the use he has made of it in the last-named work for his
special purposes ; but these purposes themselves were chiefly limited
to showing the importance which the Hindu poem has for an inves-
tigation of the history and geography of ancient India, and the
numerous other problems raised by it did not therefore receive in his
masterly work that minute attention which no one was so well qualified
as himself to give to it. A consideration of a few of these problems
fortunately belonged more especially to the province of Dr. John Muir's
'• Original Sanskrit Texts," a work which, under the most modest
title, has contributed more trustworthy materials to the elucidation of
some of the obscurest points of Hindu antiquity than many a pretentious
book professing the same aim ; and, in spite of its extreme cautiousness
in arriving at settled conclusions, by its thorough impartiality, and
judicious treatment of the subject-matter, it will have done more to
establish correct ideas than the bold assertions and solemn affirmations
with which some other writers on Sanskrit matters are wont to repre-
sent the unreliable result of their speculations. But the " Original

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 01

Sanskrit Texts," like the work just referred to, merely touches upon
some of the religious and antiquarian questions connected with the
Mahabharata, upon such questions as lay within the scope of Dr.
Muir's own plan. They neither profess nor intend to supply a know-
ledge of the whole of the Mahabharata. A little and very useful book,
published by Professor Monier Williams, in 1863, would seem to be
more directly concerned with this task, for it bears the title of
" Indian Epic Poetry," and, besides a popular and interesting introduc-
tion, gives what it calls an analysis of the Ramayana, — the second
great Hindu epos — and of the Mahabharata. Unfortunately, however,
it omits to speak at all of the episodical matter treasured up in this
poem, and filling not less than three-fourths of the whole work : and
the " summary " itself of the rest — as he probably meant to convey by
the word " summary " — has so completely assumed the character of a
skeleton that it would be in vain to seek in it any of the life of the
Mahabharata. Still, though the living Mahabharata does not seem to
have been the subject of Professor Williams's inquiry, even his
diligent gathering of its bones and his earnest attempt to give a correct
outline of its external features, is a good service, for which the
humbler class of Sanskrit students must be thoroughly grateful to him .

Two other works mark the last visible phase which may be assigned
to Mahabharata studies as ventured upon by European scholars. The
one is — in course of publication — the translation of the Mahabharata
in French, by M. Hippolyte Fauche ; the other the first volume of
" the History of India from the Earliest Ages," by Mr. Talboys Wheeler,
which, from its page 42 to 521, is exclusively devoted to the great
poem.

A literal translation of the Mahabharata in any of the generally
known languages of Europe would be, of course, a first desideratum to
any one who, though unacquainted with Sanskrit, yet would wish to

92 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

form for himself an opinion of the nature and contents of the great
•works. He would certainly be well-informed enough not to expect that,
however excellent such a translation might be, it could replace the worth
of the original, or that from it he could collect the strain of ideas which
only the words of the poet himself are able to rouse, or the thoughts
which lie hidden in the very sounds in which they came first to light.
Nevertheless, a good and literal translation of the Mahabharata would
be a great literary boon, and its importance may be well realized if one
remembers the effects which, in Germany, for instance, the translation
of Homer's poetry by Voss produced on the education of the people.
The difficulties, however, which beset a good translation of the Maha-
bharata in our days are not to be compared to those which Voss had to
encounter when he increased German literature with another national
work. We do not speak of difficulties essentially sesthetical, we merely
refer to those purely philological ; for, in spite of the excellent work
done in the three editions of the Mahabharata already mentioned, we
venture to say that a comparison of the existing manuscripts of the
epos — and we can here only speak of those to be found in Europe —
would show that a good deal of additional critical labour must be
performed before we can hope to possess a thoroughly genuine text of
the poem. It does not seem that M. Fauche was troubled by any
anxiety of this kind. To him the first and naturally least critical edition
was the genuine text ; but we fear that even to this he did not always
conform, and that his imagination had too often a more powerful sway
over him than a submissive adherence to grammar would allow. His
translation is often neither literal nor correct, and when we add that it
is in prose, without the pretension of affording an sesthetical equivalent
for the poetry of the original, we must necessarily conclude that it does
not reach the beau ideal of a version of the Mahabharata. Still, though
justice has to be severe, it must be equitable. Had M. Fauche laboured

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 93

under the full weight of the difficulties to which we have already
alluded, his present translation would probably not have come to the
world so soon, if indeed it had ever come, and those whom Sanskrit
philology does not count amongst its working men, but wishes to enlist
as its patrons and friends, would have lost the considerable advantages
which, in spite of its imperfections, they may derive from his very
laborious work ; for as it follows the original verse for verse, and as its
failings do not affect the general tenor of the contents it renders, it is,
for the present at least, the best guide we could recommend to those
who, without the aid of the original, may wish to obtain an insight into
this wonderful product of the Hindu mind. And the objections here
raised, we will hope, may even be lessened the more M. Fauche's
translation progresses on its road ; for though it has already reached its
seventh volume, the ground passed over is not more than about a third
of the entire journey to be accomplished; and doubtless every succeeding
step towards its goal will enable its meritorious author, whose enthusiasm
and industry cannot be sufficiently praised, to travel with greater safety
than before, and thus will still more ensure to him the gratitude of the
literary world.

Mr. Talboys Wheeler's investigation of the Mahabharata is, in one
sense, perhaps the most curious that as yet has seen the light of
publicity. For, when we say that Mr. Wheeler is no Sanskritist, and
that he has not availed himself either of Lassen's researches or M.
Fauche's translation — even so far as it goes — it might well be wondered
out of what materials he built his comprehensive sketch of the leading
story of the Mahabharata and the inferences he drew from it. And
the wonder might seem the greater when we add that with some restric-
tions his sketch is the best we know of in print, and his reasoning very
often to the point. The mystery is lessened, however, by the account
which he himself gives of the foundation on which his structure was

94 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

raised. In the library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal there was lodged,
he relates, " many years ago, a manuscript translation of the more
important portions of the Mahabharata, which there is reason to believe
was drawn up by the late Professor H. H. Wilson. The manuscript was
very illegibly written upon paper much embrowned by age, and seems
to have been at least fifty years in existence. The whole has now been
copied and indexed, and forms nine volumes folio. The original was
by some mistake put away in the Calcutta library under the head of
Bhagavadgita, and was not discovered by Mr. Wheeler until four years
ago, when he accidentally sent for the Bhagavadgita, and to his surprise
and gratification found that the manuscript contained the bulk of the
Mahabharata." Unless we are much mistaken, some additional infor-
mation might be added to that given us by Mr. Wheeler regarding his
lucky discovery. When living in India, the late Professor H. H. Wilson
had under his superintendence translations prepared — and some of them
he probably himself made — of nearly all the chief contents of the
Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana ; and these were, after
his death, found to have been preserved for the most part in a rough
and by him revised draught, and at the same time in a fair copy; some,
however, were only in the former condition. A complete set of these
translations was hereafter, with the consent of his widow, acquired by
the library of the India Office, and the remaining incomplete portion
representing the original draughts of which fair copies had been taken,
by the Bodleian library at Oxford. A third set, then, of these same
translations seems, therefore, to be that of which Mr. Wheeler speaks,
and to him certainly the great merit is due of being the first who turned
them to good account. In the first volume of his " History of India "
he only utilised that part of these translations which bears upon the
political history of ancient India. But, according to the comprehensive
plan on which his work is laid out, there is a strong hope that we shall

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 95

at last possess a full account of what the Mahabharata is, and an
account too, rendered not only in a clear and attractive, but in some
respects also in an original manner. For the method of Mr. Wheeler
consists in premising his own remarks on the story of the epos under
review with a narrative of the story itself, but told in his own fashion
and words. The original itself thus appears before us, not in the form
of a translation, but in that garb which it would assume if, irrespectively
of poetical considerations, a modern European had to convey, to a
European audience of average education, the general impression pro-
duced by the Sanskrit story on the Hindu mind. To effect this end
he would have to sacrifice all such details as without much comment
would probably remain unintelligible, and he would otherwise, also, have
to curtail the original narrative so as not to overtax the patience of an
European public.

" Large masses of supernatural matter," Mr. Wheeler says, in
reference to the plan of his work (p 39), " have been either briefly
indicated or cut away altogether. Brahmanical discourses and religious
myths have been generally eliminated, to be reconsidered subsequently
in connection with the religious ideas and belief of the people. Many
episodes have been excluded . . . but a sufficient number have
been exhibited in outline ; whilst three favourite stories, which are
apparently types of three different epochs of Hindu history, have been
preserved by themselves under a separate head. Finally, the residue
has been re-cast in English prose in such a condensed form as would
preserve the life and spirit of the ancient traditions without oppressing
the reader with needless repetitions and unmeaning dialogue ; and
has been interspersed with such explanations and commentary, and
such indications of the inferences to be derived from different phases
in the traditions, as might serve to render the whole acceptable to the
general reader."

96 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

All this Mr. Wheeler has done with considerable tact and skill, and
the result of his labour is an English account of the leading story of
the great epos, tastefully drawn and attractive from the beginning to
the end, but above all very accurate, too, in the main. For when
(p. 84) he gives us a little bit of a legend which is to explain why the
Bhils " shoot the bow with their middle finger until this day," or when
(p. 88) he appends in a foot-note a description of " weapons of a super-
natural character;" or when (p. 351) he has a pretty story about
Duryodhana's squeezing what he first imagined to be the heads of the
five Pandu Princes, — all of which incidents are not to be found in the
printed text of the Mahabharata, there is, after all, not much harm
done by these and a few similar embellishments, which must have
somehow crept into the translations he used. A mishap of perhaps
more — yet by no means vital — consequence is that which occurred to
him in his description of the horse sacrifice of Raja Yudhishthira
(p. 377 — 433) ; since his whole description does not form part of the
Mahabharata. It is a very condensed extract from a more recent work,
the Jaiminiya-Asvamedha, or " The Horse Sacrifice," ascribed to the
authorship of Jaimini. And to the same work likewise belongs, as an
episode, the beautiful little romance of Chandralidsa and Vishayd,
which is one of "the three favourite stories " (p. 522 — 534) referred to
by him before. These materials too, therefore, must by accident have
been mixed up with the translation of the real Mahabharata at his
command.

We will now proceed to give a brief outline of the character and the
contents of the Mahabharata— so far as it has hitherto come within the
scope of Professor Lassen's and Mr. Wheeler's works — with an indica-
tion, also, of what a future account of it would have to tell were it to
do full justice to the gigantic work.

Bhdrata it is called because its leading story is devoted to the history

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 97

of some descendants of an ancient king of India, called Bharata, and
more especially to a fratricidal war which was waged between two
branches of his family, the Kauravas or sons of Dhritarashtra, and the
Pandavas, or sons of Pandti ; Ma/m-Bharata. or the great Bharata, is its
name, because it comprises not less than about 100,000 verses, each
verse consisting of thirty-two syllables, or, to speak in more homely
phrase, above seven times the bulk of Homer's poems combined, or
more than twenty times the extent of the Nibelungenlied. There is
recorded indeed, in the beginning of the work, a tradition that there are
three other versions of the poem, which had a still higher claim to the
title of " great," for one of them, it is said, was fourteen, another fifteen,
and a third even thirty times as large as the present Mahabharata ; but
as these versions are happily only to be found among the heavenly
bards, the manes of the deceased ancestors, and the gods, and as the
passage, moreover, containing this tradition is not even contained in all
the MSS. of the poem, there is no occasion to mourn the loss of a poem
of still more Himalayan dimensions than the actual Mahabharata »
though, as will presently be seen, there is no reason why on the plan
on which the latter, the Mahabharata intended for the human race,
grew into its present size, it might not have assumed even the bulk
which courtesy would consider only fitted for the use of the gods.

This plan may be easily understood. The groundwork of the poem,
as mentioned before, is the great war between two rival families of the
same kin; it occupies the contents of about 24,000 verses. This,
however, was overlaid with episodical matter of the most heterogeneous
kind ; and the latter became so exuberant that it ultimately exceeded
in extent three times over the edifice to which it was attached. Nor
was this merely matter of accident in the sense in which such a term
might vaguely be used. A record* of the greatest martial event of
ancient India would have emphatically been claimed as the property of
VOL II. 7

98 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

the second or military caste, the Kshattriyas* It was recited, as tra-
dition tells us, by men of a special caste, the Sutras, or bards, at great
public festivals instituted by powerful kings. The heroism of ancient
warriors, who were the ancestors of these kings, their wonderful deeds,
their royal virtues, their connexion with the gods — all these and kin-
dred themes would naturally tend, in the people's mind, to strengthen
their power, and increase the lustre of their dignity. But such an
exaltation of the kingly splendour and of the importance of the military
caste, would as naturally threaten to depress that of the first or Brah-
manical caste. Brahmans, therefore, would endeavour to become the
arrangers of the national epos ; and as the keepers of the ancestral lore,
as the spiritual teachers and guides, as priestly diplomatists, too, they
would easily succeed in subjecting it to their censorship. The
personage to which this task is by tradition assigned is called Vyasa, a
word which literally means " distributor, arranger," and is kindred to the
Greek word Homeros, which, from d/x and dp, conveys a similar sense,
that of "joining together." But Hindu tradition also takes care to say
that Vyasa belonged to the Brahmanical caste. It became thus the
aim of the Brahmanas to transform the original legend of the great
war into a testimony to the superiority of their caste over that of the
Kshattriyas. And this aim was effected not only by the manner in
which the chief story was told, but also by adding to the narrative all
such matter as would show that the position and might of a Kshattriya
depends on the divine nature and the favour of the Brahmana caste.
Legends relating to the actions of gods and men, to the origin, develop-
ment, and destruction of the worlds, exposition of matters concerning
the moral and religious duties of men, especially the duties of kings,
political discourses, essays on philosophy and theosophy, even fables —
every subject in fact that could serve this end, was worked into the
leading story by priestly skill. Here and there an old legend or myth

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 99

might be found in the epos, apparently not betraying such a set
purpose. Whether it found its way into it at the time when its
general object was already fulfilled, or whether it was a stroke of policy
on the part of the oldest compilers, to veil their intentions by also
incorporating into their work matters of, politically speaking, an
indifferent nature, is of course difficult, if at all possible, now to decide.
That their object, however, was to make the Mahabharata a Brahman-
ical encyclopaedia for the military caste, and a powerful means in the
hands of the Brahmans of swaying the Kshattriya mind, is unquestion-
able. One of several passages taken from the first book of the great
poem may afford an insight into the importance which they themselves
attached to their work. It runs as follows : —

" This hundred thousand of Slokas, relating holy acts, told in this

world by Vyasa of unbounded splendour — whoever the wise man be

who recites it, or whoever those men be who hear it, they will reach

the abode of Brahman and obtain the rank of a deity. For this poem

is equal to the Vedas ; it is pure and excellent, it is the best of all

things to be heard, it is the Purana praised by the saints. In

it whatever is conducive to worldly interest and pleasure is fully

taught, and the mind that reposes on this holy epos fits itself for final

liberation. The wise man who recites this Veda of Krishna to others,

provided they are liberal, truthful, not low and not unbelievers, obtains

the accomplishment of his worldly interests ; and even a wicked man

when hearing this epos would get rid of his sin, be it even incurred by

the destruction of an unborn child. He becomes liberated from all

sins, like as moon is liberated from the (grasp of the) dragon. This

poem is victory indeed, and should be heard by every one desirous of

conquest. (By its aid) a king conquers the earth and vanquishes his

enemies. . . . This poem related by Vyasa of unbounded intellect, is

a sacred code of religious and civil duties ; it is an eminent code of all

100 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

that relates to worldly interest, and it is a sacred code of final liberation.
Some recite it to-day and others will hear it ; sons who do so will
become obedient (to their parents), and servants will please (their
masters). Whosoever hears it, becomes at once free from all sin,
whether committed by his body, or his speech, or his mind. ... He
who reads the Bharata, it must be known, understands fully the
Vedas ; for there the gods and the kingly saints and the holy Brah-
manical saints — all of them free from sin — are extolled, and there
Krishna is extolled, and also the holy Siva and his consort, and the
birth of the war-god, effected by several mothers, and there is praised
the eminence of the Brahmans and the cows. It is a collection of all
sacred traditions, and should be heard by those whose mind is given to
the law. . . . Whatever there is stated in this Bharata in regard to
religious and civil duties, to worldly interests, to what is conducive to
pleasure and leads to final liberation (the Commentary adds : or the
reverse of these) that is; on the other hand, whatever there is not
stated in this poem (in regard to these topics) that can be found
nowhere."

The Mahabharata may thus be regarded under a threefold aspect ; as
a work relating events of an historical character ; as a record of mytho-
logical and legendary lore ; and as the source whence especially the
military caste was to obtain its instruction in all matters concerning
their welfare in this, and their bliss in a future life. Some such aim
as the great epos has was also taken by a kindred and later class of
works, the Puranas. They are in a great measure modelled on the
Mahabharata, which is their prototype. But they have remained far
inferior to it both as regards the quantity and the quality of their
contents. They are moreover works of a sectarian stamp, each of them
composed to establish the superiority of a particular god over the rest
of the Pantheon ; whereas such a purpose, though it may seem to loom

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 101

in the distance, cannot yet be ascribed to the framers of the Mahabha-
rata. In this poem there is certainly a special predilection for Krishna
whom the present Hindu canon looks upon as an incarnation of the
god Vishnu ; it is called, as we have seen before, ' the Veda of Krishna.'
but in those portions of the great epos which in all probability are its
oldest, Krishna is only the hero who by his exploits engrossed the
national mind ; he is treated there as a personage above the ordinary
mortal stamp, and as such we may say he is the chrysalis of the future
god, but he is not yet there the real unquestionable god of the later
period of Hindu worship. Again, though there are passages in the
Mahabharata, probably of a later date than the former, where Krishna
or Vishnu is spoken of as the most powerful and even supreme god,
there are others too where the same honour is allotted to Siva and his
consort, and others where Krishna pays adoration even to the Sun and
Fire, or where Agni, the god of fire, is distinctly praised as the
universal deity. It is clear therefore that the compilers of the Maha-
bharata were by no means the narrow-minded sectarians of later ages.
Impressed, we should conclude, with the philosophical creed of the
Vedas, they could, at the behests of policy, bestow their compliments
on any god and any form of worship capable of receiving the Brah-
mamcal stamp ; but in the pursuit of their policy they must have been
aided also, on the part of the people, by a spirit of toleration which
could allow each worshipper to look upon his neighbour's god as a
god who, too, had its vested rights and some claims to a supremacy
which he might not be able to gainsay with certainty. It must have
been in their time as it was in the age of the Antonines, which
Gibbon describes when saying, " The various modes of worship which
prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as
equally true ; by the philosopher as equally false ; and by the magistrate
as equally useful."

102 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

The Mahabharata is therefore the source of all the Puranas, the
Purana emphatically so called, and as a document for antiquity unrivalled
for religious statesmanship.

There, however, the momentous problem interposes : how far did
this Brahmanical diplomacy affect its worth as an historical work, as a
source of mythology, and a code of moral, religious, and political law ?
It is the first of these questions which chiefly engaged the investigations
of Professor Lassen and Mr. Wheeler ; and we will pause to see how
they answered it.

But to appreciate their reasoning we must first take a passing glance
at the leading story of the Mahabharata.

Atri, a great saint of the Vedic period, who afterwards became one
of the lords of creation, produced by a flash of light from his eye the
moon, and the moon again (in Sanskrit, a male being) became the
ancestor of a line of kings, who therefore are called the kings of the
lunar dynasty. One of these was Puriiravas, whose love for the heavenly
nymph Urvasi has become familiar to us through one of the finest
productions of the genius of Kalidasa, his drama Vikramorvasi. His
descendants were in a direct line successively Ayus, Nahusha, and
Yayati, the latter becoming the father of Puru and Yadu. The line of
Yadu acquired celebrity through Vdsudeva, whose sister was Kunti or
Prithd, but especially through his sons Krishna and Balarama, the
reputed incarnations of the god Vishnu. Puru's son was Dushyanta, the
husband of Sakuntala, and their son, Bharata. From Bharata descended
successively Hastin, Kuru, and Santanu. The latter married Satyavati,
who, by a previous informal marriage with an impetuous saint, had
already borne a son, the celebrated Vytisa, whose specific name was
Krishna Dvaipayana. Santanu's sons by Satyavati were Chitrangada
and Vichitravirya ; and his son by another wife, the river Ganges, was
Bhishma. He adopted moreover a son whose name was Kripa. The

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 103

two former died childless ; but as according to Hindu law the eternal
happiness of a man is jeopardised unless the funeral ceremonies are
performed for his soul, and at that period children begot by a brother-
in-law and the widow of a man who died childless became the lawful
children of the deceased, and thus could perform those ceremonies,
Satyavati asked her son Vyasa to provide a male progeny for the manes
of Vichitravirya. By one of his widows he therefore begot a son,
Dhritardshtra, and by another a second son, Pdndu. But as the former
was born blind, and the latter with a pale complexion, which was objec-
tionable, Vydsa was induced to become the father of a third son, who
should be blemishless. Ambikd, however, the second widow of Vichi-
travirya, who was intended for the mother of this child, did not fancy
the powerful saint, for his aspect was horrifying ; she therefore substi-
tuted for herself a slave girl, and the latter became the mother of
Vidura, surnamed Kshattri. Now the progeny of Dhritardshtra, who
married Gandhari, consisted, besides a daughter, in a hundred and one
sons, the most prominent of whom were Diiryodhana, " the one with
whom it is difficult to fight," also called Suyodhana, or " the upright
fighter," and Duhsdsana. Pdndu, again, had two wives, Prithd, the
sister of Vasudeva and aunt of Krishna, and Madri. By the former
he had three sons, Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna; by the latter,
twins, Nakula and Sahadeva. Pritha, it should be added, had previously
to her marriage with Pandu borne a son, Kama ; but as his birth had
been miraculous, and could have been misrepresented as objectionable,
it was concealed by her both from her husband and her sons, who thus
remained for- a long time unacquainted with their relationship to Kama.
It will have been seen from this pedigree that Diiryodhana and his
brother on the one side, as well as Yudhisthira, Bhtma, Arjuna, Nakula,
and Sahadeva, on the other, were descendants of Kuru ; in tradition,
however, the name of Kauravcis, the Sanskrit word for these descendants,

]04 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

is exclusively reserved for the former, the sons of Dhritarashtra; whereas
the name of Pandavas, or descendants of Pandu, there always designates
only the five princes, the eldest of whom is Yudhishthira. Both lines,
as will have been likewise seen, were on their father's side remotely
related to Krishna ; but a near relationship between this great hero and
the Pandavas was established through Pandu's marrying their mother,
Pritha, who was the paternal aunt of Krishna. It will have been
noticed, too, that Vyasa, the compiler of the Mahabharata, is at the
same time the reputed grandfather of both the Kauravas and the
Pandavas ; and as he is constantly represented as taking some part or
other in the events recorded by him, tradition must have considered
him as especially fitted to preserve a reliable account of the great
war.

The events, then, which happened in the life of the Kauravas and
Pandavas are the historical groundwork of the great epos. They may
be briefly adverted to as follows : —

After the demise of Santanu, who resided in Hastinapur, the ancient
Delhi, Dhritarashtra was by seniority entitled to succeed. But as he
was blind he resigned the throne in favour of his brother Pdndu. The
latter became a powerful monarch, but after a time, feeling tired of his
regal duties, preferred to retire to the forests of the Himalaya, and to
indulge in his favourite sport, the chase. Dhritarashtra had thus to
resume the reins of government, but on account of his affliction it was
his uncle Bhishma who governed for him, and also conducted the
education of his sons, who had been born in the meantime, and attained
to boyhood. -After a while Pandu died in his mountainous retreat, and
his widow Pritha was in consequence invited by the old king to take up
her residence at his court, with her five sons, so that they might be
brought up together with his own. The two families thus became
united, but as the education of the boys progressed, and it became

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 10.5

manifest that the Pandavas were superior in qualities and attainments
to their cousins, the jealousy of Duryodhana was roused, and his wicked-
ness assumed a first tangible shape in an attempt he made to poison
and then to drown Bhima. This attempt failed, like several others
which succeeded it, to destroy the whole of the Pandu princes, but his
jealousy soon found even a stronger inducement than before to urge on
his sinister designs against the cousins. A Brahmana of miraculous
origin, Drona, who had obtained from a still more wonderful saint a
knowledge of the most mysterious and powerful weapons, and was skilled
in the art of war, had on one occasion been slighted by Drupada, the
king of Panchala, and resolved to take his revenge on him. To effect
his purpose he repaired to Hastinapur, and offered the king to instruct
the princes in the martial arts in which he excelled. This offer was
gladly accepted, and when he had completed their military education it
was arranged that the princes should exhibit their skill at a public
tournament, where every one was allowed to enter the arena against
them. It came off, but entirely to the advantage of the Pandaras,
whose valour and dexterity by far surpassed those of Duryodhana. Here
it was that Kama made his first public appearance, for after the defeat
of Duryodhana he offered to challenge Arjuna ; and the hopes of the
Kaurava princes were set on him. Yet as Kama, who was believed to
be the son of a charioteer, and whom his mother Pritha alone knew to
be the son of the Sun, could not comply with the rules of the tourna-
ment, in showing that his was a noble pedigree, he himself being ignorant
of his illustrious descent, he was excluded from the lists of the sham
combatants. And from that time dated his enmity against the Panda-
vas, as he considered them to be the cause of his public disgrace. The
interposition of Drona, on that occasion, prevented the outbreak of
serious hostilities between the rival princes ; and he even united them
for a time in the acceptance of his proposal to wage war against Drupada,

106 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

•who had offended him, since as the fee for his instruction he now
claimed the kingdom of Panchala, which they would have first to wrest
from king Drupada. The princes accordingly went to attack Drupada,
but he defeated the Kauravas, and only yielded to the superior strength
of the Pandavas. The Brahman Drona, having attained his object,
then graciously made over half of the kingdom to Drupada, and merely
kept the remaining half to himself. In consequence of these events,
however, the renown of the Kaurava princes having become entirely
eclipsed by that of the Pandavas, and their father Dhritarashtra even
intending to install as heir-apparent to his kingdom Yudhishthira, his
cousin Duryodhana planned another scheme to get rid of the obnoxious
rivals. He prevailed upon his father to send the Pandu princes, with
their mother, on an excursion to a town, Varan avata, the ancient
Allahabad, the pretext being a festival which was to be held there ; and
before them he despatched a confidant with the instruction to have a
house constructed for them out of highly inflammable materials, and
when they were installed in it, to set it on fire, so that they might perish
in the conflagration. But this scheme also failed. Having had an inti-
mation of it, they contrived to lodge in the doomed house a woman of
low caste, with her five sons, and while these were burned they succeeded
in saving their lives through a subterranean passage which previously
had been made for them.

Nevertheless, to be safe from further machinations they considered
it prudent to conceal their escape, and it was given out that they had
been destroyed in the flames. They now assumed the garb of mendicant
Brahmans, and went to the forests, where they performed a number of
miraculous feats. Bhima had there an encounter with a giant demonj
Hidimba, killed him, but married his sister Hidimba, by whom he had
a son. They then went to a town, Ekachakra, where Bhima freed
the country from a cannibal, Vaka, who was the terror of the pious

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 107

anchorites. When staying there Vyasa paid them a visit, and through
him the princes were informed that Drupada would shortly institute a
solemn festival, at which his daughter Draupadi from amongst the
princes assembled would choose for her husband the prince who would
perform the most wonderful feats. From the west and east, from the
north and south, the royal suitors flocked in ; and, at the advice of
Vyasa, the Pandavas, also, in their guise as Brahmans, joined the
multitude. None of the kings, however, could perform the task that
had been set them as a condition of the prize, the hand of Draupadi.
Kama, too, wanted to try his fortune, but he was prevented from
entering the lists on account of his being, or appearing to be, the son
of a charioteer. To the astonishment of the assembly, then Arjuna
came fonvard, and by his deeds won Draupadi. An uproar ensued,
since the royal suitors did not acknowledge the right of a Brahman —
as whom they took Arjuna — to compete with them, and in the fight
which was the consequence Drupada would have lost his life had not
Arjuna saved him, and Krishna, who had come from Dvaraka, and
seen through the disguise of the Pandavas, declared that Draupadi was
his legitimate prize. Arjuna now repaired with his bride and his
brothers to their mother; and the epos tells us that Draupadi was
hereafter solemnly wedded first to the eldest, Yudhishthira, and,
according to seniority, successively also to his other four brothers.
She became, in short, at the same time the wife of all the five
Pandavas, who, in order to obviate domestic conflicts, laid down
certain rules, stipulating that their violation should be visited on
the offender by banishment into the forests for a period of twelve
years.

The Pandavas now dissembled no longer their existence and real
character, and when it had become known at Hastinapur that they
were not only alive, but had for their ally the powerful Drupada, the

108 HINDU EPIC POETBY.

Kauravas resolved to make peace with them. The terms agreed upon
were, that the former should continue to reign at Hastinapur, while the
latter should have the sovereignty over Khandavaprastha, the modern
Delhi. At that period it so happened, unfortunately, that Arjuna
entered the house of Yudhishthira when Draupadi was staying with
him ; and, as this was a breach of the compact they had concluded, he
banished himself to the forest for twelve years, though Yudhishthira
readily condoned the offence of his brother. During the period of his
exile a great many events are recorded to glorify the power of this
prince. The most important, however, seem to have been various love
adventures, in the course of which he married Ulupi, a serpent princess ;
Chitrangada, a daughter of the king of Manipur ; and Subhadra,
Krishna's sister, whom he carried off forcibly against the will of
Krishna's brother, Balarama, and by whom he afterwards had a son,
Abhimanyu.

The reign of his brother Yudhishthira at Khandavaprastha in the
meantime prospered so wonderfully, and after the return of Arjuna from
his exile became so much more strengthened by a series of successful
conquests which he accomplished, that he resolved upon celebrating
the Rajasuya sacrifice, a ceremony which only a king could perform who
had conquered all his enemies, and the attendance at which involved on
the part of those who joined in it an acknowledgment of the sovereign
power of the king who instituted this sacrifice. After the defeat of a
last enemy, king Jarasandha of Magadha, Yudhishthira had the
satisfaction of gratifying his wish. The most powerful monarchs
assembled from all parts of India to be witnesses of his greatness and
splendour ; and the festival would have come off without any jarring
incident had not the Argha, or respectful offering, which had to be
made to the worthiest of those present, provoked the jealousy of
Sixupala, the king of Chedi ; for when by common consent this offering

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 109

was voted to Krishna, the king of Chedi disputed his claim to it, and
by his unmeasured abuse of Krishna at last provoked the latter into a
combat, in which he was slain. The very power and splendour, how-
ever, displayed on this occasion by king Yudhishthira soon became
disastrous to him, for when Duryodhana, who, together with his
brothers, was also among the invited guests, had become aware of the
greatness which his rival had obtained, he could no longer suppress his
envy, and the desire he felt to deprive him of his possessions and his
wealth. As soon, therefore, as he had returned to Hastinapur, he
planned a new scheme for attaining this object. As he could not
hope to be a match for the forces of the Pandavas in open warfare, and as
they had already proved equal to him in cunning, he resolved to try what
could be done by means of a game at hazard. Playing at dice was in
the oldest time part of several sacrificial ceremonies ; it had afterwards
become a favourite sport of royal personages, and even special officers
were attached to their courts for the arrangement and superintendence
of such games. That Yudhishthira, though described as a pattern of
piety and virtue, was especially fond of playing at dice was known to
Duryodhana, and the latter conspired, therefore, with his uncle Sakuni
to defeat him in such a game. The Pandavas and their wife Draupadi
were accordingly invited by their relatives to be present at a banquet
to be given by the old king at Hastinapur, and when they had come a
game was proposed by Sakuni to Yudhishthira. The greater skill of
the former, and foul play besides, soon accomplished the evil purposes
of Duryodhana. Yudhishthira lost everything he staked, — his wealth,
his kingdom, at last Draupadi too. He had even to witness the
indignity which was inflicted npon his wife when Duhsdsana, the
brother of Duryodhana, seized her by her hair and dragged her as a
slave into the presence of all the assembled guests. Ultimately, how-
ever, Duryodhana consented to liberate her, and even to restore to his

110 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

cousins their territory, on the condition that they became exiles for
thirteen years, and, during the thirteenth year, kept so strict an
incognito that no one should be able to recognise them, or even
ascertain the place of their retreat.

The Pandavas accepted these terms, and accordingly entered upon
their exile, twelve years of which they spent in the forests of India.
The events which happened during this long period are full of stirring
incidents, and form the subject of many episodes. It must here suffice
to advert only to one of them. When one day they were out hunting,
and their wife was left at home alone with their domestic priest, a king
of Sindhu, Jayadratha, passed through the forest with a large retinue
on his way to the south, whither he went to obtain in marriage a
princess of Chedi. But seeing Draupadi, he was so much struck with
her beauty that he at once entertained the desire of possessing her.
He sent, in consequence, a messenger to her hermitage to ascertain her
name and lineage, and to get himself introduced to her as a guest,
Draupadi, unaware of the danger which threatened her, received him
hospitably according to the laws of her religion, and the more so as she
recognised in him a distant kinsman. Jayadratha, however, soon dis-
closed his disloyal intentions, and when Draupadi indignantly repelled
them, he carried her off forcibly. Soon afterwards the Pandu princes
returned home from their hunting excursion, and learned the outrage
that had been committed on them. Off they started in pursuit of
Jayadratha, He was soon overtaken and his army routed. Draupadi
was released, and, after an unsuccessful flight, Jayadratha himself made
a prisoner. In the end, however, Draupadi, out of regard for their
relationship, interposed in his favour with her husbands, and he was
allowed to depart to his own country.

The thirteenth year had now come, during which the Pandavas were
pledged to assume an incognito beyond discovery. To carry out this

HINDU EPIC POETRY. Ill

last part of their agreement, they resolved to assume different disguises,
and to enter the service of a king Virata of Matsya. When they'came
near his city they went accordingly to a burial-ground, concealed
there their weapons and garments, and took garbs suitable to the
characters in which they meant to offer their services to the king.
This being done they presented themselves, together with Draupadi, at
the court of Virata, under fictitious names, and giving out that they
were a party of travellers who had met with great vicissitudes in life,
and now were anxious to get a livelihood in various menial capacities.
Yudhishthira said he was a Brahman, and especially versed in the art
of playing at dice ; his word was taken, and he was] engaged as
teacher and superintendent of the game. Bhima was dressed like a
cook, and held a wooden ladled and a long knife in his hands. He
professed to be versed in all culinary arts, and was made the head of
the royal kitchen. Arjuria appeared in the garb of a eunuch, with
earrings, bracelets, and the other attire of a person of that kind, and
stated that he could give instruction in singing, playing, and dancing ;
he was, consequently, appointed companion and teacher of the royal
ladies. Again, on the faith of their professions, Nakula was made
master of the horse, and Sahadeva superintendent of the cattle.
Lastly, Draupadi, who, from her beauty and gait, could least dissemble
her real nature, but also gave a plausible account of her assumed
character, was engaged as servant to the queen of king Virata. The
five brothers soon became the favourites of the royal household, for they
excelled in their respective occupations. The giant Bhima especially,
who, in his power of eating and fighting, was not surpassed by any one,
had an opportunity ofs showing himself off in a wrestling match, in
which he conquered a powerful wrestler of the day who had put every
one else to shame. Draupadi's beauty, however, was fated to be the
cause of disturbing for a while their happiness. At the court of Virata

112 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

there lived a mighty warrior, Kichaka, who was the brother of the
queen, and the commander of the king's forces. His passions were
roused towards Draupadi, and he resorted to various stratagems to
become possessed of her. The! virtuous Draupadi resisted, of course,
his advances, and after an indignity she had suffered in open court,
resolved to accomplish his destruction. She simulated, therefore, com-
pliance with the wishes which Kichaka soon again repeated to her, and
made an appointment with him during the darkness of midnight in the
dancing room. Her husbands were apprised of the scheme she had
planned, and which consisted in Bhima' s putting on female attire, and
while personating her, dealing with Kichaka as he deserved. When
the appointed hour had arrived Kichaka came; but Bhima meeting
him, a fight between them ensued, in which Bhima put his adversary
to death. As in the morning his dead body was discovered, and in a
fearful condition, too, every one thought that no human power could
have effected the destruction of so powerful a man as Kichaka, and it
was generally assumed that some Gandharvas, under whose divine
protection Draupadi professed to be, had avenged her on Kichaka for
his illicit desires. Nevertheless, the followers of Kichaka made an
attempt to burn Draupadi with his body, as if she had been his
legitimate wife, and it required another effort on the part of Bhima
to avert this danger from the Panda vas. Virata and his court now
held Draupadi in especial awe ; but the death of Kichaka proved
of consequence also in other respects. While he lived the renown of
his prowess was so great that it held in check all the enemies of his
brother-in-law, the king. As soon, therefore, as spies from the city of
Virata had spread the tidings of his death, their former designs and
hopes revived. Among these enemies were especially Susarman, a
king of Trigarta, and Duryodhana. As the former happened to be on
a visit at the court of H&stmapur when the news of Kichaka's death

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 113

arrived, he at once planned with Duryodhana a campaign against his
old rival and foe. Accordingly Susarman hroke into the territory of
Virata, and so successful was his inroad that he even made Virata his
prisoner. But when Yudhishthira and his brother learned the mis-
fortune that had befallen their protector, he, together with Bhima and
the younger brothers, at once set out in pursuit of Susarman, who had
gone to the north, and they not only liberated Virata, but completely
defeated his enemy. While these events, however, passed in the north
of Matsya, Duryodhana invaded from the south the territory of Virata.
The forces of this king having gone out to meet Susarman, the country
was deprived of all its defenders, Uttara alone, the son of Virata, and
Arjuna, the supposed eunuch, with some servants, being left to offer
resistance to the hostile force. Uttara was merely a boy, and Arjuna
therefore undertook the defence of the country, first in acting as
charioteer to the young prince, and afterwards, when the latter
despaired, as principal in a combat with Duryodhana. In spite of
their greater numbers, the Kauravas were completely defeated, but
allowed to depart to Hastinapur.

At the time when these events occurred, the thirteenth year of the
exile of the Pandavas had expired. Soon after the return of Arjuna to
the capital of Virata they disclosed, therefore, as they were now free to
do, their real character to the king, and made an alliance with him,
which was still more strengthened by Virata giving his daughter
Uttara in marriage to Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna by Subhadra.

By virtue of their compact with the Kauravas, the Pandavas had now
regained their title to the kingdom, which they had been temporarily
obliged to quit. But they well foresaw that their cousins would not of
their own accord reinstate them into their territories. They convened
therefore a council to deliberate on the steps they should take. It was
attended by all the allies of the Pandavas, especially by king Drupada,

VOL. II. 8

114 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

their father-in-law, king Virata, and the two mighty brothers Krishna
and Balarama, who had come from Dvaraka ; and there it was resolved
that the Pandavas and their allies should fully prepare themselves for
battle, but, before declaring war, try the effect of peaceable negotiations
first. For this purpose, then, the family priest of king Drupada was
despatched to the Kauravas, but without result ; and in return an
embassy was sent by Dhritarashtra to the Pandavas. This also proved
of no avail, for though the Pandavas were willing to declare themselves
satisfied even with the cession, on the part of the Kauravas, of five
small towns, the latter remained obstinate in not yielding up any
portion of the territory claimed by their cousins. A last attempt at
reconciliation, made by Krishna himself at Hastinapur, was also un-
successful, and the great war between the two rival families became
henceforth unavoidable.

The two parties, with their respective allies, now chose for the battle-
field the large plain of Kurukshetra, which seems to have been situated
to the north-west of the modern city of Delhi, and there entrenched their
camps. The Kauravas then appointed for their commander-in-chief
their uncle, the veteran Bliislima. Challenges preceded the outbreak
of the regular hostilities, and both the Kauravas and the Pandavas
agreed on certain rules which they promised to keep, that on both sides
the war should remain an honest war. Thus they stipulated to fight
each other without treachery, not to slay any one who would run away
or throw down his arms, not to take up arms against any one without
giving him warning ; no third man should interfere when two com-
batants were engaged with each other, horsemen should only fight with
horsemen, footmen with footmen, warriors in chariots with warriors in
chariots, and riders on elephants with riders on elephants. By these
and similar rules it was thus intended to conduct this war according to
the notions which the military caste at that period entertained of
military honour.

HINDU EPIC POETRY. ]15

There now ensued a series of battles — chiefly consisting of single
fights — which lasted for eighteen days. For the first ten days the
command-in-chief belonged to the aged and wise Bhishma ; yet how-
ever great his valour, he at last succumbed. Pierced by arrows he fell
from his chariot upon the ground, and Arjuna and the other chiefs of
the Pandavas comforted their dying relative. But Bhishma did not
yet give up the ghost ; he lingered on for fifty-eight days, when his
soul went to heaven. The generalissimo of the Kaurava army who
succeeded him was Drona. He fell five days after he had assumed
the command ; and this interval was especially marked by the death of
Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, who, contrary to the rules agreed upon,
was attacked and slain by Duhsasana and four other warriors, while
the wicked Jayadratha, known already for his attempt at ravishing
Draupadi, prevented the Pandavas from rescuing the luckless youth.
Duhsasana escaped this time the consequences of his ill deed, but
Jayadratha was killed by Arjuna. Drona, too, however, was the victim
of a stratagem on the part of the Pandavas, who thus likewise violated
the rules of the war. For when Bhima fought without avail against
the warrior Brahman, the Pandavas spread the rumour that Asvatthd-
man was dead ; and Drona, not knowing that the Pandavas had on
purpose called an elephant Asvatthaman and allowed him to be slain,
but believing that his own son bearing this name had fallen in battle, —
Drona, disheartened by this news, laid clown his arms, and suffered his
head to be cut off by Dhrishtadyumna, a brother of Draupadi. Drona's
successor was Kama ; but his command only lasted two days, for at the
end of this short period he was slain by Arjuna. His successor was
Salya, who commanded but one, the eighteenth day of these battles,
which terminated in the complete defeat of the Kaurava forces. This
last day, however, was marked by an act which again proved that the
Pandavas also could depart from the rules of honourable warfare.

H6 HINDU EPIC POETEY.

When Duryodhana had fled and hid himself in a safe retreat, he was
discovered by the Pandavas, and, after a time, prevailed upon to fight
again. His condition, however, was that he should be allowed to fight
with his mace, and according to the received rules of such a duel. The
challenge was accepted by Bhima, who was a great adept in the use of
the mace ; but when he found that even his great skill failed against
the superiority of Duryodhana, he struck the latter such a violent blow
on his right thigh, that it smashed the bone and felled him to the
ground. Yet in fighting with the mace it was contrary to all rule to
strike below the waist, and the victory of Bhima over Duryodhana was
thus merely due to foul play. Bhima was called, therefore, the " foul-
fighter," while Duryodhana on that occasion earned the epithet of the
" fair-fighter."

The Kaurava army was now completely destroyed, and only three
warriors of it survived, Asvatthdman, the son of Drona, Kripa, the
adopted son of Santanu, and Kritavarman. When they found Duryo-
dhana on the point of death, and heard of the treachery of Bhima, they
vowed to take their revenge on the Pandavas. These had meanwhile
after the defeat of the hostile forces, taken possession of the Kaurava
camp, and installed themselves there, while Draupadi and her sons,
together with the remnant of their army, had been ordered to occupy
their own camp. Now, when- the night had come, and all were sleeping
in apparently the most perfect security, the three surviving warriors of
the Kauravas entered the camp of the Pandavas, and there murdered
the five sons of the Pandavas, the whole family of Drupada, and every
male belonging to the army of the Pandavas. After this they hurried
off to Duryodhana, who was still alive, to bring him the news of the
manner in which they had fulfilled their horrible vow, and then fled
for their lives to their respective countries. Duryodhana now died,
and the Pandu princes, after the fate that had befallen them, wished

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 117

to effect a reconciliation with Dhritarashtra and his wife Gandhart, to
whom they were now left as the nearest relatives. The old blind king
came to the battle field, and apparently forgave them ; but he could
not forget the foul play of Bhima towards his son Duryodhana, and by
a ruse would have killed him had riot the foresight of Krishna saved
Bhima's life.

The next care of Yudhishthira and his brothers was the performance
of the funeral ceremonies in honour of the fallen dead, arid when this
duty on their part was fulfilled he entered the city of Hastinapur,
where, under the nominal sovereignty of Dhritarashtra, he was installed
junior king. His heart remained, nevertheless, filled with sorrow, and
he felt a strong wish to pay a parting visit to his uncle Bhishma, who
lay still alive on his bed of arrows, as he hoped to obtain from him con-
solation in his grief. He repaired to him, and Bhishma, agreeably to
his wishes, instructed him in all his duties. This was the last, and by
no means least wonderful performance of Bhishma's; for the instruc-
tion in all matters relating to this and the future world which he con-
veyed to Yudhishthira, while transfixed with arrows, and his head
resting on a pillow of arrows, does not occupy less than above 20,000
verses in the Mahabharata.

The reign of Yudhishthira now having been securely established, his
next desire was to obtain its acknowledgment by the other kings of
India, and to effect this he performed the great sacrificial ceremony
known as the Asvamedha, or horse sacrifice. Hitherto that portion of
the family which had survived the great war lived together, and in
apparent happiness. Dhritarashtra alone could never forget the
treacherous conduct of Bhima in his club fight with Duryodhana, and
Bhima, too, lost no opportunity of slighting the old king. The latter,
therefore, resolved upon renouncing the throne and retiring to the
forest, where he intended to pass the remainder of his life as an

118 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

anchorite. He therefore left Hastinapur, together with his wife Gan-

dhari, with Pritha, the mother of the Pandavas, and their uncle Vidura,

and proceeded to the woods. There first Vidura died, and later the

rest of the royal exiles perished in a forest conflagration. When the

news of their death reached the Pandavas they were deeply afflicted by

it ; but when some time later they also received the tidings of Krishna's

death, and the destruction of his town, Dvaraka, their heart was so

much overcome with grief that they, too, became determined upon

renouncing their royal position and the world. Accordingly they set

out on a long journey towards mount Meru, where they hoped to obtain

admission into Indra's heaven. Through many countries they

wandered, Yudhishthira walking on foot, followed by Bhima ; then

came Arjuna; then, in order, the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, and last

of all came Draupadi. Behind them walked a faithful dog. By

degrees they reached the shore of the sea, and here Arjuna cast into

the waves his bow and quivers. Gradually, however, the strength of

the royal pilgrims failed. Draupadi sank first, and the others

successively, until Yudhishthira alone and the faithful dog remained.

At last Yudhishthira reached the heaven of Indra, but the dog was

refused admittance to it by the god. The king insisted, nevertheless, on

remaining with his faithful companion, and it then turned out that Indra,

by his resistance, had merely tried Yudhishthira's constancy, since the

dog was no other than the god of justice himself, and the real father of

king Yudhishthira. To his surprise, however, Yudhishthira found in

Indra's heaven Duryodhana and his other cousins, but not his own

brothers or Draupadi. And when he was told that these were confined

in one of the hells to expiate their sins, Yudhishthira resolved to share

in their fate, instead of remaining alone in heaven. He proceeded,

therefore, to the fearful hell where they were, and was about to

undergo the miseries to which his brothers were doomed, when it

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 119

became manifest that all had been an illusion, and this his last trial.
For Indra, to test his attachment for his relatives, had created a vision,
which now vanished away, and after Yudhishthira had bathed in the
heavenly Ganges he found himself re-united with his whole family in
the heaven of Indra. And thus ends the story of the great war and
the reign of the most virtuous of the Pandavas.

In giving this bare outline of what may be called the historical
portion of the Mahabharata, we have had to be ruled by considerations
of space, and an estimate of what we thought might be the amount of
forbearance possibly granted by an indulgent reader who, in a weak
moment, professing an interest in Hindu epic poetry, had suddenly
found himself taken at his word. We therefore at once confess some
remorse at the havoc which such a rapid °ketch has had to make of the
contents of the great poem. But lest, by dint of condensing and
curtailing, it might even cause a doubt as to how such a simple narra-
tive could have been worked into a bulk of verses like that described,
and into one though of unequal yet great poetical worth, we must come
to the aid of the reader's imagination with at least a few additional
remarks.

We need not dwell on the chance which was given to the poet when
he had to describe the battles of eighteen days, each of which was a
series of single combats, nor on the eloquence he could display when
giving a picture of the great councils held both at the court of Dhrita-
rashtra and that of Virata previously to the first battle, or of the
messages exchanged between the Pandavas and Kauravas. We need
likewise not point to the wide scope for poetical embellishment where
the amours of Arjuna during his exile, or kindred subjects, are told, or
where the scene is described when the mothers and wives of the fallen
warriors visit the battle-field, and give themselves up to the expression
of their grief. Themes like these will always be a fertile source for the

120 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

poet's muse, whether he be Vyasa or Homer, Valmiki or the author of
the Niebelungenlied. But another field, and a large one too, in which
the Hindu poet could travel at his ease, might not so readily appear
from the meagre narrative just offered. The personages that have been
named in it, their pedigrees and their lives, have been represented
there as if we were writing history. But in the Mahabharata all the
leading characters are raised beyond the sphere of ordinary human
life. Their birth is miraculous, and their acts defy the standard of
human acts. They constantly associate with gods : their palaces are
of divine grandeur ; their armies count by millions ; their wealth is
inexhaustible; time and distance vanish before their deeds. In epic
poetry there must always be fictions of a kindred character, or else it
would no longer be epic poetry. But in Homer, for instance, such
fictions are rather hinted at than dwelt upon at length ; as a rule, where
dealing with mortal heroes he allows us to feel at home in the sphere
of human possibilities. In Hindu epic poetry, on the contrary, the
supernatural halo which surrounds every personage of consequence
becomes a heavy reality, which forcibly, and for a considerable time,
arrests our attention, and withdraws it from the main story, which it
originally was intended merely to brighten up. Thus the miraculous
births of Vyasa, Pandu, Drona, of Pritha, and Draupadi, not to speak
of Krishna, and of many more leading characters, become centres of
interest for themselves, though this interest is foreign to the main
story of the great war. All, in short, that lies on its bye-roads assumes
an importance of its own, and these bye-roads themselves multiply the
farther we advance. Nor by adverting to* this difference which
distinguishes the character of the epic poetry of the Mahabharata from
that of ancient Greece do we as yet allude to what is purely episodical
in the Hindu epos. By the latter we here understand all that could
be easily cut out from the main story without in the least affecting its

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 121

mechanism or even its poetical worth — all, in short, that, at first sight
as it were, proves to be an extraneous addition, whatever the motive
be for which it was made. Thus, when the divine sage Narada pays a
visit to the Pandu princes after their marriage with Draupadi, and in
order to warn them against the conflicts that might arise from their
polyandric arrangement, relates to them a story of two giant brothers,
who from love to a beautiful woman became deadly enemies, and
ultimately perished by their own hands — the whole incident, visit, and
story, merely intrude into the midst of the main narrative, and may
readily be eliminated from it. Or when the same sage pays another
visit to Yudhishthira before he performed the Rajasuya sacrifice, and
gives him an account of the divine palaces of the different gods, which
in his roamings through the heavens he had seen, the account itself is
interesting, and even poetical, but to the main story entirely super-
fluous. In a similar manner, after Yudhishthira had lost everything
in the game at dice, and when he was living in his forest exile, his
grief is soothed by a Saint Yrihadasva, who arrives £ propos, and tells
him the story of Nala and Damayanti, which in several respects was
similar to his own. Again, another great saint, who likewise turns up
as a deus ex machina, when Jayadratha had been frustrated in his
attempt at ravishing Draupadi, consoles Yudhishthira by reminding
him that in times of yore another hero, Rama, had met with a similar
fate to his ; and as the king becomes curious, he gratifies him with the
whole story of the Ram ay an a in the condensed shape of about 750
verses. Or to give an instance or two of episodes of another character,
which are readily recognized as such. When Arjuna went into exile,
and lived the life of a penitent addicted to meditation and practising
severe austerities, his brothers became saddened by the loss of his
company, and Yudhishthira especially felt deeply aggrieved by it.
Happily for them, Narada arrived again, and delivered to them a long

122 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

discourse on the results of piety, and the hoons that accrue to a man
who visits holy places of pilgrimage. The description of these, together
with numerous legends connected with them, occupies about 7400
verses. On the first day of the great war, when both armies were
drawn up and ready for battle, Arjuna felt troubled in his mind at the
prospect of causing the destruction of so many human lives, and com-
municated his scruples to Krishna, who promised to act for him as
charioteer. Krishna at once allayed his conscience with the celebrated
discourse on the Yoga philosophy, the Bhagavadgita, in about 1000
verses ; and, as allusion has already been made to the more than
20,000 verses in which Bhishma, wounded to death, conveyed consolation
and instruction to Yudhishthira when he paid him a parting visit, they,
too, may be recalled as a last instance of that episodical matter which,
as already mentioned, fills about three-fourths of the Mahabharata, and
may readily be separated from the leading story, that of the great war.

The task, however, of separating the main story from all that matter,
which though now closely interwoven with it, may not originally have
belonged to it, is one beset with far greater difficulty than that of
' distinguishing between the story itself and its episodical exuberance.
Whether every personage whose name is recorded in the eighteen days'
war performed the acts with which he was credited: whether the
speeches were delivered as they are reported : whether the women were
as beautiful as they are described, and the kings as wealthy and
powerful as they are represented to be — all these and similar subjects
might seem of comparative indifference, if poetical and antiquarian
interests are set aside, for which even such material has a significance.
But by disallowing the historical reliability of such material, the
question is not yet settled whether it may not have belonged to the
oldest account of the great war, and whether, therefore, it may not
represent the oldest portions of the Mahabharata. Again, supposing

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 123

this question had been satisfactorily solved, there remains the further
problem of determining what portion of the story may lay a claim to
historical authenticity, for in the shape in which it is handed down to
us, no portion of it is without its mythical and legendary alloy.

The position taken by Professor Lassen in dealing with the latter of
these problems is that of considering the leading characters of the
story, not as persons, but symbolical representations of conditions and
events. Names and facts thus assume to his mind a different value to
what they would seem to have. Pdndu, for instance, the father of the
Pandavas, he interprets as the first appearance in history of the Pan-
davas, and Dhritardshtra — " by whom the kingdom is upheld " — as
he survived the great war, is to him the continuance of the power of
the Kauravas till the return of the Pandavas. Arjuna, again, a word
which literally means "light," and Krishna " the black," as well as
Draupadi, who is also surnamed Krishna, " the black," would, accord-
ing to him, designate the second and third periods of the history of the
Pandavas. Their marrying Draupadi, the daughter of Drupada, would
be a symbolical indication of their political alliance with this king of
Paiichala, when their " unnatural " relation to Draupadi would lose its
offensiveness. And that there were five Pandu princes would follow
from there also being five tribes of the people of Panchala. Moreover,
their connexion with Krishna — originally a hero of the Yadu race, and
identified by Professor Lassen with the Herakles of Megasthenes, who
gives him a daughter, Pandaia, — would symbolically indicate the
extension of the dominion of the Pandavas to the south ; and this view
he finds also confirmed in a tradition which connects Arjuna by
marriage with Subhadra, the sister of Krishna, — Subhadra meaning
" the woman who brings much prosperity." Bhima, who in the epos
is the brother of Arjuna, and is represented as the special enemy of
Duryodhana, Professor Lasseii looks upon as a successor of Yudhish-

124 HINDU EPIC POETKY.

thira, and as having been made, at a later period, a contemporary of
Arjuna ; and as for the twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, the sons of Madri,
he assigns to them a still more remote period in the history of this
•family, in considering them as the founders of an empire in the
Eastern Punjab. The Pandavas would thus, according to Professor
Lassen, be properly speaking a symbolical personification of the Aryan
conquests, pushing on from the northwest to the east, and gradually
extending all over India, and the individuals bearing this name would
therefore symbolically represent the various periods which might be
assigned to these conquests. The final battles, too, would then likewise
not be so much the combats between two rival families, as the end of a
great national struggle, in which the fate of the principal peoples of
India was concerned.

We cannot, of course, here follow in detail the results of this most
ingenious method, by which Professor Lassen endeavours to reconcile
discrepancies in the narrative of the great epos, and to transform the
improbable stories recorded in it into plausible and real events. It may
be inferred, however, even from this meagre statement, that there are
very few facts indeed which, as related by the epos, he would accept as
real. For, according to his reasoning, the legendary element would
have so strongly and so constantly vitiated the historical basis of the
story, that without a special process of interpretation this basis could
never be reached.

Mr. Wheeler is also inclined to view the history of the Pandavas as
embodying events belonging to different epochs of the ancient history
of India.

" If the Pandavas," he says (p. 104) " may be accepted as the repre-
sentatives of the Aryan race, it would appear from the story that they
had advanced far away to the eastward of the Aryan outpost at Hasti-
napur, and had almost reached the centre of the land of the aborigines.

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 125

This direction was undoubtedly the very one which was eventually
taken by the Aryan invaders ; that is, they pushed their way from the
Punjab towards the south-east, along the fertile valleys of the Ganges
and Jumna, until they arrived at the junction of the two rivers at
Allahabad. Probably, as already indicated, this migration occupied a
vast period of unrecorded time, and the Aryans may not have reached
Allahabad until ages after the Kauravas and Pandavas had fought their
famous battle for the little Raj at Hastinapur. But when the story of
the war of the Mahabharata had been converted into a national
tradition, it seems not unlikely that the legends of the later wars waged
by the Aryans against the aborigines, during their progress towards the
south-east, would be tacked on to the original narrative. This process
appears to have been carried out by the compilers of the Mahabharata,
and although .... the adventures of the Pandavas in the jungle, and
their encounters with Asuras and Rakshasas are all palpable fictions,
still they are valuable as traces which have been left in the minds of
the people of the primitive wars of the Aryans against the aborigines."
In spite, however, of the coincidence of these general views of Mr.
Wheeler with those of Professor Lassen, the former recognises in the
story of the great epos far more solid historical ground than the latter.
Not only does he accept the tradition of the five Pandava brothers as
being contemporaries ; but he also accepts as historical their polyandric
marriage with Draupadi, who thus to him is a real personage. And
the great war he takes, what it purports to be, for a contest between
two rival families, ending in the destruction of the one and the victory
of the other ; not for a national war, embodying in its events different
epochs of ancient India. Mr. Wheeler's process of separating fiction
from truth is, therefore, wholly different from that of Professor Lassen.
While the latter accepts the grand dimensions which the epos assigns
to the events narrated in it, and adapts its principal personages to these

126 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

dimensions, in raising men beyond what they would be as simple
individuals, Mr. Wheeler, on the contrary, accepts the leading person-
ages as real, and lessens the dimensions so as to fit the reality of these
characters. Thus, while Professor Lassen lays stress on the names of
the peoples which are recorded as having been arrayed against each
other in the eighteen days' battle, and endeavours to show that the
battle-field could not have been merely the limited plain of Kuru-
kshetra, but must have extended over an area which had for its
boundaries in the west the Indus, in the east the Ganges, in the north
the Himalaya, and in the south the sea — to Mr. Wheeler's mind all
these innumerable armies are merely exaggerations, and all that is told
of their deeds is past credibility. According to him, no such war in
all probability took place.

" The contest," he says (p. 292), " did not depend upon the engage-
ments of armies, but upon the combats of individual warriors ; and
indeed, so much stress is laid upon these single combats, that the
innumerable hosts, which are said to have been led upon the field,
dwindle down into mere companies of friends and retainers. Again, it
will be seen that whilst the Brahmanical compilers love to dwell upon
combats with magical darts and arrows, which could only have been
carried on when the enemy was at a certain distance ; yet the decisive
combats were those in which the rude warriors on either side came to
close quarters. Then they fought each other with clubs, knives, and
clenched fists; and cut, and hacked, and hewed, and wrestled, and
kicked, until the conqueror threw down his adversary and severed his
head from his body, and carried away the bleeding trophy in savage
triumph."

From the same point of view, Mr. Wheeler disenchants us in regard
to the extent of the royal power ascribed to the Kauravas and Pandavas.
While their kingdoms are described as extending over a vast country, he

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 127

reduces the Raj of Hastinapur to a certain area of cultivated lands and
pastures, which furnished subsistence for a band of Aryan settlers ; and
the Pandavas founding a glorious kingdom at Khandavaprastha and
conquering the earth, would mean, according to him, their proceeding
from the banks of the Ganges to those of the Jumna ; thus clearing
the jungle, founding a new Raj, and establishing a supremacy over every
bordering enemy. In perfect consistency with his line of argumenta-
tion, Mr. Wheeler therefore also discards as historical those traditional
connexions between the Pandava family and other princes which would
seem to be opposed by geographical difficulties ; or he assigns to those
princes localities different from those which the epos would allow them
to occupy. He disbelieves, for instance, the tradition which marries
king Vichitravirya, the son of Santanu, to two daughters of the king of
Kasi or Benares ; for this tradition allows Bhishma to drive to Benares
in his chariot and back again with these young damsels; but as
Benares, he says, is five hundred miles from Hastinapur, as the crow
flies, the whole story is improbable and the result of a later manipu-
lation. Or since Panchala, if identified with Kanouj, as it generally is,
would be at least two hundred miles from Hastinapur, Mr. Wheeler
concludes that the country of that name governed by Drupada— against
whom Drona and the Pandavas waged war — cannot have been Kanouj,
but probably was " a little territory in the more immediate neighbour-
hood of Hastinapur'' (p. 97). Again, the frequent and easy intercourse
between Krishna and the Pandavas, as described in the Mahabharata,
becomes, for a similar reason, also a matter of doubt.

"At the time," Mr. Wheeler argues (p. 459), " when Krishna is said
to have first come into contact with the Pandavas, he and his tribe had
already migrated to Dvaraka, on the western coast of the peninsula of
Guzerat, which is at least seven hundred miles from Hastinapur, as the
crow flies. Accordingly, it seems impossible that such relations as

128 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

those said to have subsisted between Krishna and the Pandavas could
really have existed ; and this suspicion is confirmed by the mythical
character of every event which apparently connects the Yadava
chieftains of Dvaraka with the royal house of Hastinapur."

It is with regret that we must here arrest our desire to afford more
illustrations of the critical method which Mr. Wheeler pursues in
scanning the leading story of the Mahabharata; for the more
consistently he applies it to every event of special consequence as
narrated in the epos, and the more attractive the manner in which he
puts forward his arguments, the less are we able, within these limits, to
do justice to his criticisms ; but, however valuable they are, and how-
ever much we agree with many conclusions at which he has arrived, we
nevertheless believe that the time is as yet distant when a final verdict
can be pronounced on what is really historical in the great epos, or when
it will even be safe to decide on the critical method by which such a
verdict is to be obtained.

We would, for instance, be as little inclined to submit the events of
the great war to Mr. Wheeler's geographical test, as to look with
Professor Lassen upon Draupadi as a mere allegorical expression of the
link which connected the Pandavas with king Drupada. It is quite
true that, considering the political and social condition of ancient
India, visits at a distance could not be paid, nor armies transferred, or
expeditions made, without much loss of time. When in the epos,
therefore, the most distant places are reached as it were instantaneously,
such occurrences might be declared impossible. But that which is
really impossible in the account of them is merely the disregard of
time, not the fact itself. Time, however, as will be conceded by every-
one familiar with Sanskrit literature, is a category apparently foreign to
the ancient Hindu mind. In Sanskrit poetry, therefore, a test of time
ceases to be a test. Hindu epic poetry is, for this very reason, not

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 129

amenable to the Aristotelian canon of epic poetry, because the Hindu
mind, unlike the European, did not obey the laws of time. An episode
of twenty thousand verses, as that of BhishrnVs instructing Yudhishthira
when lying on his bed of arrows, would in European literature be an
impossibility, not on sesthetical grounds alone, but because no European
mind could realize the possibility of a narrative being stayed for such
an amount of time as the delivery of so many incidental verses would
occupy. In Hindu epic poetry, however, such an interruption is
regarded as none ; it is received as the legitimate fate of a narrative,
and no Hindu critic ever objected to it as antagonistic to probabilities
based on considerations of time. So little, indeed, has any native critic
ever objected to the massing up of all the other episodical matter of the
great epos, though it entirely destroys that unity which we would
require in it, and a demand for which is based on a due conformance to
the law of time. Such, however, being the characteristic feature of the
Hindu mind, as shown by its national poetry, it would follow that no
credence whatever can attach to any statement in regard to time
recorded in it, unless supported by interior or collateral evidence. We
should on this ground, therefore, see no objection to the theory of
Professor Lassen, which assumes that various periods of ancient Hindu
life are in the history of the Pandavas blended into one, did not the
tradition of their polyandric marriage with Draupadi, as we hold, throw
a considerable doubt on it ; for this marriage, which implies the coeval-
ness of the Pandavas, we believe to be a historical reality, and one
which might also become a guide in the search for a critical standard
to test other facts related in the Mahabharata ; but as such a standard
may afford some light, however dim, in the dark chronology of the
ancient epos, we will briefly explain what we understand by it.

We take it for granted that the Mahabharata is a traditional record
of an early period of Hindu history, compiled, however, by eminent
VOL. II. 9

130 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

men of the Brahmanical caste, and modelled by them to suit a special
purpose of their own, that of imposing their own law on the Kshat-
triya, or military caste. The fabric of the great epos was not built up
at once. Different times supplied different materials for it, and with
the importance of the object the greatness of the task increased. These
materials, as Professor Lassen himself has in several instances shown,
sometimes underwent the treatment of various editors ; but the chief
object of all these editors, arrangers, and modellers, always remained
the same — to demonstrate the necessity and sanctity of the Brahmanical
law. In dealing, then, with the traditional lore of the military caste,
the Brahmanas would have to meet three categories of facts. One
category would comprise those facts which were more or less in accord-
ance with the religious and political system to be established or consoli-
dated by them; another would comprise facts, if not in harmony
with, yet not antagonistic to it ; a third category, however, would be
absolutely opposed to it, since not all the ancestors of the Kshattriyas,
who had to be represented as belonging to the common stock, were of
Aryan origin, or professed the orthodox faith. The most, of course, would
be made of the Brahmanical compilers of the first of these categories of
facts ; it would naturally become the basis on which they would proceed.
The second category might appear inconvenient, but it could be tolerated
by them ; or since, in the work of different ages and different minds,
even inattention is not impossible, we could imagine that it might escape
a close scrutiny. But the third category could admit of no compromise ;
it had to be suppressed or to be explained away. And we should con-
clude that if parts of this category were explained away, this was merely
done because they could not be suppressed, as being too deeply rooted
in tradition, and consequently, as having the strongest presumption in
favour of their authenticity. Now, of all traditions related in the
Mahabharata, there is, on the face of them, none more opposed to the

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 1:H

spirit of the Brahmanical religion than this " five-maled " marriage of
Draupadi. Polyandry, it is unnecessary to say, never found any place
in the Brahmanical code, or in the habits of the Hindus, as we know
them from their literature; and if, in spite of its thorough offensiveness,
it nevertheless was imputed to the very heroes of the ancient epos, there
seems to have been no alternative but to admit it as a real piece of
history. Professor Lassen, as we have seen, assumes that this tradition
involves an allegory. But either polyandry existed as an institution
when this allegory was made — in that case there is no ground for
considering a polyandric marriage as an improbable event in the history
of the Pandavas themselves — or it as little existed in their time as in
the later history of India. In that case, however, it would have
offended the national sentiment, and no allegory of this kind could
have entered a poet's mind, or obtained currency. The Brahmanical
compilers not being able to suppress this fact, endeavoured therefore to
explain it away ; but the very manner in which they strove to make it
acceptable, shows the difficulty they experienced, and the stubbornness
of the fact. When Drupada is apprised by Yudhishthira that he and
his four brothers have resolved to make his daughter their common
wife, he is represented by the Brahmanical compiler as shocked at the
idea of such a proposal, and says to him, " It is lawful for one man to
take unto him many wives, but it is unheard of that many men should
become the husbands of one wife. You who know the law, and are
pure, must not commit an unlawful act, Which is contrary to usage and
theVedas. How can you conceive such a thought?" When Yudhishthira
replies, " The law, O king, is subtle ; we do not know its way. We
follow the path ivhich has been trodden by our ancestors in succession."
But the king not being satisfied with this answer, Yudhishthira pleads
precedents ; — " In an old tradition it is recorded that Jatila, of the
family of Gotama, that most excellent of moral women, dwelt with

13a HINDU EPIC POETRY.

seven saints; and that Varkshi, the daughter of a Muni, cohabited
with ten brothers, all of them called Prachetas, whose souls had been
purified by penance." Then Vyasa interferes ; and in order to explain
to the king the lawfulness of polyandry, relates a legend, which consists
of two parts. From its first part, however, we merely learn that the
gods, at a sacrifice celebrated by them, expressed to Brahma their fear
at seeing mankind multiplying excessively, and not dying ; when Brahma
assures them that Death, being much engaged just now, would soon
resume his office, and put an end to men. In the second portion of
this legend, Vyasa shows that the five Pandavas are incarnations of
Indra, that Draupadi is an incarnation of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi,
and consequently, that though apparently married to five men, she
would in reality become the wife of one husband only.

The last of these explanations is a Brahmanical one ; that which
one would expect to receive from a Hindu priest. The third may be
thought suggestive, but the first two are full of significance. The story
of the god of death being busy sacrificing, and therefore neglectful of
his duties, and of Brahma's consoling the other gods in their perplexity,
is so loosely tacked on to the legend of the incarnation of Indra and
Lakshmi, that as a justification of polyandry it would seem meaning-
less. But the fear of an excessive increase of mankind, as expressed
by the gods, is suggestive, perhaps, of the real cause of polyandry. The
two arguments, however, brought forward by Yudhishthira, can leave no
doubt that polyandry was an institution in India, though in pre-Brah-
manical^ times, and that instances of it were still in the memory of
men.

But if this marriage of Draupadi is a real event, it throws at once
the life of the Pandavas into such a remote period of Hindu antiquity
as to leave behind not only Manu, the oldest representative of Hindu

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 133

law, but even those Vedic writings of Asvalayana and others, on which
the ancient law of India is based.

It remains to be seen, however, whether there are not other facts
recorded in the history of the war which likewise are at variance with
this law, but were not, or could not, be suppressed by the compilers
of the Mahabharata. For if there are, they would still more strongly
corroborate the conclusion we have drawn, and indicate a standard
by which to test the age and the historical reliability of the record
itself.

We will point to a few such facts whicn would seem to belong to this
category.

The institution of caste, as Mr. Muir, in his excellent work, has
proved, did not exist at the earliest Vedic period. It was fully estab-
lished, however, and circumscribed with stringent rules at the time
when the code of Manu was composed. At the Vedic period a warrior,
like Visvamitra, for instance, could aspire to the occupation of a Brah-
mana, and a Brahmana, like Vasishtha, or the son of Jamadagni, could
be engaged in military pursuits. At the time of Manu such a confusion
of occupations, as an orthodox Hindu would say, was no longer allowed ;
it recurs only at the latest period of Hinduism. Yet in the history of the
great war we find the Brahmana Drona not only as the military instructor
of the Kauravas and Pandavas, but actively engaged in a war against
Drupada; we find him, too, as king over half the kingdom of Panch£la,
and finally, as one of the commanders-in-chief of the Kauravas. Nor
do the compilers of the Mahabharata even try to explain this anomaly ;
for when in the third book of the epos it is said that Drona and some
others joined Duryodhana " because their mind was possessed by the
demons," such a remark might seem to imply that Droua, having
become impious, would also be capable of violating the rules of his
caste ; but even if it did, it could, at the utmost, only refer to the part

184 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

he took in the hostilities of the Kauravas against the Paudavas ; it
would not palliate the facts of his previous history, as told in the first
book of the Mahabharata, where he is described as a Brahmana. The
case of his son, Asvatthaman, is even worse : he is not only an active
combatant in the great war, but it is he who conceives and carries out
the terrible revenge which ends in the treacherous slaughter at midnight
of the Pandava forces. In the tenth book, which describes the wicked
proceedings of this Brahmana, he is made to descant on the duties of
the castes, which he then describes in perfect conformity with the law
of Manu, and to express a regret that his " ill-luck " caused him to
follow the pursuits of a Kshattriya. But the only attempt at an excuse
for his conduct which the compilers put into his mouth, is contained in
the words, " As I have now at will taken upon myself the duties of a
soldier, I shall enter upon the path of a king, and that of my high-
minded father."

Another fact which, after the establishment of caste, must have been
highly objectionable, but could not be eliminated from the epos, is the
disguise of the Pandavas. " False boasting of a higher caste," is an
offence which Manu considers so grave that he ranks it together with
the killing of a Brahmana; and there could certainly be no greater
danger to the preservation of caste than the possible success of false
pretenders. We have seen, however, that the chief personages of the
great epos, the Pandavas, though Kshattriyas, assume the character of
Brahmanas, and even retain it at the tournament of Drupada : that
Yudhishthira, too, resorts to the same " false boasting of a higher caste"
a second time when he offers his services to King Virata. Had it
been possible to suppress such a dangerous precedent, there is little
doubt that the Brahmanical arrangers of the national tradition would
not have held up their military heroes as snccessful violators of the law
which they were bent on inculcating to the Kshattriyas.

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 135

We will allude to another class of passages in the Mahabharata,
which, perhaps, still more forcibly prove that the events to which they
relate must have been historical, and anterior to the classical state of
Hindu society. We mean those events which bear on the law of
marriage and inheritance. There are portions of the great epos where
the statements made in regard to these important laws are in perfect
harmony with the ruling of Manu or later lawgivers ; but there are
other passages, too, where the discrepancy between their contents and
the law books is palpable. Nor is it possible to assume that the
occurrences mentioned in those passages are innovations on Manu and
the lawgivers : the contrary is the case. It is Manu who criticises
them, and rejects their authoritativeness. A few instances will indicate
the direction in which the reader of the epos might trace the facts of
which we speak.

In the brief outline given above of the contents of the epos, mention
has been already made of the circumstance, that king Vichitravirya
died childless, and to provide for the salvation of his soul his half-
brother, Vyasa, begot for him two sons by his two widows, and at the
time, believed that he was begetting for him even a third son when he
approached the slave girl, who personated Ambika. Now, in regard to
this practice to raise children for a deceased relative who died childless,
Manu expresses himself in these terms :

" On failure of issue by the husband the desired offspring may be
procreated either by his brother or some other near relative, called
Sapinda, on the wife who had been duly authorised. Anointed with
clarified butter, silent, in the night, let the (kinsman thus) authorized
beget one son on the widow, but a second by no means. Some who
understand this (law), and hold that the object of their authorization
might remain unaccomplished, are of opinion that it might be lawful

136 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

to beget a second offspring on women. ... By twice bora
men (i.e., Brahmanas, Kshattriyas, and Vaisyas) no widow must be
authorized (to conceive) by any other (than her own lord) ; for they
who authorize her (to conceive) by any other violate the primeval law.
(Such) an authority (given to her) is nowhere mentioned in the nuptial
hymns of the Veda, nor is the remarriage of a widow named in the laws
concerning marriage. The practice, fit only for cattle, is reprehended
by the learned twice-born men. Amongst men it is mentioned while
Vena had sovereign power ; (but this king) of yore possessing the whole
earth, and therefore (not on account of his piety) called the best of royal
saints, gave rise to a confusion of castes, his intellect having been im-
paired through lust."

Thus Manu admits that the practice in question existed ; he con-
demns it, however, as strongly as possible, in the case of the first three
castes, allowing, though not recommending it, as might be inferred
from his words — and has been inferred by the commentators — in the
case of the fourth or servile caste. But even in regard to this caste he
lays down the law that the authorized kinsmen should by no means
procreate more than one son, though he states that lawgivers anterior
to him thought the procreation of a second son was lawful. Both these
stipulations must have been unknown to Vyasa in the narrative to
which we referred ; for Vichitravirya was a Kshattriya, and Vyasa —
himself a Brahmana, though of a doubtful origin — procreated not only
more than one child for the benefit of his relative, but, so far as his
own belief went, three. And Pandu, too, when lamenting his child-
lessness, says to Pritha: "In distress men desire a son from their
oldest brother-in-law." It is certainly curious that Manu, in illustrating
the historical occurrence of this practice, should allude to a lustful
King Vena, and pass over in silence the example of Vyasa. But whilst

HINDU EriC POETRY. 137

on the one hand it is intelligible that Manu could not associate the
name of the holy compiler of the Vedas with a practice " fit only for
cattle," it would seem incredible that Vyasa could have been guilty of
it had there existed in his time a code of law invested, like that of
Manu, with undisputed authority, and strongly condemning it.

A comparison between the marriage law as mentioned by Manu,
and alluded to in some passages of the Mahabharata, leads to an
analogous inference. Regarding the manner in which a husband is
chosen Manu says : — •

"To an excellent and handsome suitor of the same let every mail
give his daughter in marriage according to law. . . . Three years
let a damsel wait, though she be marriageable, but after that term let
her choose for herself a husband of equal rank. If not being given in
marriage she obtain a husband, neither she nor the husband whom she
obtains commits any offence."

Hence Manu limits the right of a girl to choose herself a husband to
the condition that her father did not give her away in marriage at the
proper time. In those portions of the Mahabharata, however, to which
we allude, a girl often chooses her husband before her father gives her
away, and while she thus has a perfect freedom of choice, the right of
the father is merely that of assent. This mode of a girl's choosing her
husband was called the Svayamvara, or " self-choice." We see it
observed in the marriage of Pandu with Pritha, of Yudhishthira with
Devika, of Sahadeva with Vijaya, of Sini with Devaki, Nala with
Damayanti, &c. ; and we have a full description of it when Draupadi
chose Arjuna. This greater freedom of women is consonant with the
position which, to judge from some Vedic hymns, they must have held
in society during the Vedic time, but it is foreign to the period of

138 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

Manu. In the narrative of Draupadi's " self-choice " we are even
distinctly told that this mode of electing a husband was a peculiar
privilege of the Kshattrija caste, to which a Brahmana had no claim.
But no such privilege is mentioned in the code of Manu, who in regard
to the subject of marriage gives the following rules ; —

" Now learn compendiously the eight modes of marriage (for the
acquisition) of wives by the four castes (some of which modes are
productive of) good and some of evil in this world and the next, They
are the modes called Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prdjdpatya, Asura,
Gandharva, Rdkshasa, and the eighth and worst, the Paisacha. . . . Let
mankind know that the six first in direct order are valid in the case of
a Brahmana : the four last in that of a warrior : and the same (four)
except the Rakshasa mode in the cases of a man of the third
and fourth castes. The wise consider the four first forms as most
approved in the case of a Brahmana, and only the Rakshasa mode in
that of a Kshattriya, and the Asura in that of a man of the third and
fourth castes. But among these, three of the five last, viz., the
Prajapatya, Gandharva, and Rakshasa, are held legal, and two illegal ;
the Paisacha and Asura marriages must never be contracted by any
caste. Whether separate or mixed, the before-mentioned Gandharva
and Rakshasa modes are declared legal for a man of the military caste.
The mode of marriage is called Brahma (1) when, having voluntarily
invited a man versed in the Vedas, and of good character, a daughter is
given away to him, after clothing both of them, and honouring them
with ornaments, &c. The mode called Daiva (2) is the giving away of
a daughter, after having decked her with ornaments, to the priest
officiating at a properly conducted sacrifice. When, after receiving
from the bridegroom one pair of kine (a bull and a cow), or two pairs,
for religious purposes a daughter is given away in due form, that mode

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 139

of marriage is called Arsha (3), It is called Prdjdpatya (4) when a
daughter is given away with due honour after having uttered this
injunction : * May both of you perform your duty.' When the bride-
groom, having given as much wealth as he can afford to the damsel and
her kinsmen, takes her according to his own pleasure, that mode is
called Asura (5). The reciprocal connexion of a damsel and her lover,
from mutual desire, is called the Gandliarva mode (6) ; it proceeds from
sensual desire, and is intended for amorous embraces. The seizure of
a maiden by force from her home, after slaying or wounding her kins-
men, and breaking into their houses, while she weeps and calls for
assistance, is the mode called Rdkshasa (7). When the lover secretly
embraces the damsel while she sleeps or is intoxicated, or disordered in
her mind, such a mode — the eighth — is called Paisdcha (8) ; it is the
most wicked and the basest."

No " self-choice " mode, as we see, occurs in this detailed description
by Manu of the eight marriage modes, six of which he declares legal.
But Svayamvara is not only mentioned in the description of Draupadi's
marriage, as a privilege of the Kshattriyas, it is asserted also by the
patriarch Bhishma to be the best of all modes of marriage for a man
of his caste, besides a still better one, that of forcibly carrying off a
bride. The occasion on which Bhishma makes mention of the marriage
notions of his time is that of his choosing in the last-mentioned fashion
as intended wives for his brother Vichitravirya, the beautiful daughters
of a king of Benares ; and since his words are remarkable, inasmuch as
they afford the means of comparing these notions with those expressed
in the code of Manu, we will quote the passage in which they occur.
It runs as follows : —

" When Bhishma, the best of combatants, had put the damsels on

UO HINDU EPIC POETRY.

his chariot, he said, with a voice like thunder, to the assembled kings :
(1) Giving away a damsel to men of distinguished qualities, after
having invited them, and after having decked her with ornaments, and
given her as much property as possible, is one mode of marriage men-
tioned by the wise. (2) Some give a damsel away for a pair of kine.
(3) Others again acquire her for a named amount of wealth ; (4) some
by force, and (5) others having made her consent; (6) some again
approach a damsel when she is disordered in her mind ; (7) others
marry her of their own accord ; (8) and some marry wives in doing
honour to the Arsha mode. This you should know is the eighth mode
chosen by the wise. But men of the military caste exalt and practice
the ' self-choice ' mode, and those who declare the law call the choicest
of all wives the wife who has been carried off by force."

It may be conceded — as Nilakantha, the only commentator who
appends any remarks to these words, suggests — that Bhishma's first
mode is Manu's Brahma mode, his second that which Mauu first calls
Arsha, his third Manu's Asura mode, his fourth that which in Maim is
the Rakshasa, his fifth the Gandharva, and his sixth the Paisacha mode.
But when the same commentator identifies Bhishma's seventh mode
with Manu's Prajapatya, and says that his eighth is Manu's Daiva
mode, his interpretation is plainly arbitrary, as there is nothing in
Manu's explanation of these two modes to warrant an inference of this
kind. We must, on the contrary, conclude that Bhishma alludes to
two other modes unknown to Manu, just as he extols two special
Kshattriya kinds of nuptials, one of which is not mentioned by Manu
at all — the Svayamvara — whereas the other is merely declared by him
to be a legal mode, but nothing else. It is interesting, moreover,
to notice that in the long instruction which Bhishma imparts to
Yudhishthira when on his death-bed of arrows — in the thirteenth book

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 141

of the Mahabharata — he gives another account of the marriage law.
There he does not enumerate all the modes of marriage ; hut so far as
it goes his account is in perfect harmony with the statement of the old
law-giver, and to a certain extent delivered in the very words of Manu
himself. But the thirteenth book, there is sufficient evidence to prove,
does not belong to the oldest portions of the great epos ; it is a later
addition to it, and was modelled on the received and standard law. A
discrepancy of a similar character is that between the law of inheri-
tance as stated in some portion of the great epos and the code of Manu,
and later codes of law. In speaking of the twelve descriptions of sons
which a man may have, Manu says : —

" Of the twelve sons of men whom Manu the son of Brahma has
named six are kinsmen and heirs, six not heirs, but kinsmen. The son
begotten by a man (in lawful wedlock), the son of his wife (by a kins-
man authorised to procreate a son for her husband), one given to him
(by his parents), one adopted, one of concealed birth, one abandoned
(by his natural parents), are the six kinsmen and heirs. The son of a
damsel (who is unmarried), the son of a pregnant bride, a son bought,
a son by a twice-married woman (or by a woman betrothed to one man
and given in marriage to another), one who offers himself up as a son,
and a son by a woman of the servile caste — are the six kinsmen, but not
heirs."

Pandu, however, gives to his wife Pritha the following account of
these different kinds of sons ; —

" In the code of law six sons are mentioned who are kinsmen and
heirs, and (after these) six sons who are neither kinsmen, nor heirs — the
son begotten by a man himself, the son of his wife (by a kinsman
authorised to procreate a child for her husband), the son bought (accord-

142 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

ing to one version ; according to another, the son begotten for money),
the son by a twice-married woman (or by a woman betrothed to one and
given in marriage to another), the son of a damsel (who is unmarried),
and the son of an adulterous woman, the son given (by his parents), the
son bartered away, the son adopted, one who offers himself up as a son,
the son of a pregnant bride, the son of a relative, and the son by a
woman of the servile caste."

Enough has been adduced to indicate that there are portions in the
Mahabharata — and we may add that they occupy a considerable part of
it — in which a state of Hindu society is pictured that is anterior to the
code of Manu ; and an investigation of those portions would show that
this society differs from the society mirrored by this ancient code not
only in regard to positive laws, but also in customs and morality.
Whether the account of that state of society, too, as we possess it in the
actual Mahabharata, is anterior to Manu is another problem, and one
perhaps more difficult to solve. Yet, after the observations made before,
we would venture to say that such a solution is not impossible. Where
the Brahmanical arrangers of the great epos endeavour to palliate or
to explain away obnoxious facts or doctrines which they could not
suppress, it is probable that their account of these facts or doctrines
belongs to a later of the several recensions, which, as Professor Lassen
has proved, the epos had to undergo. But where such facts are related,
without any attempt at harmonizing them with the object the compilers
had in view, there is a strong presumption that they have been preserved
in the oldest recension of the epos,[and that this recension was likewise
anterior to the standard codes of law. Later recensions may have, and
in some cases unquestionably have, obscured the antiquity of this oldest
recension by mixing up with it legends and other matter foreign to it —
such legends, for instance, as relate to Siva, whom, like the god, not

HINDU EPIC POETRY. 143

the hero, Krishna, we consider as an intruder into the oldest portions
of the Mahabharata. But in many cases it is easy even now to distin-
guish these interpolations from the original story into which they were
forced. We cannot agree, therefore, with Mr. Wheeler when he is
inclined to assign, even to those oldest portions of the Mahabharata, a
period at which Buddhism had already made its appearance in India ;
we on the contrary fully concur with Professor Lassen, who considers
Buddhism posterior to them. That there are portions of the epos
which are post-Buddhistic cannot be matter of doubt, but even these
we see no reason to ascribe to a date subsequent to the rise of Chris-
tianity. Some years ago an opinion of this kind was volunteered on
the ground that there was a similarity between some legends relating
to Krishna, and some connected with the life of Christ. But apart
from the circumstance that it would be begging the question to con-
sider those Hindu legends as borrowed from the legends of the Bible ;
coincidences of this nature are so frequent in history that an attempt at
basing on them inferences of a chronological bearing seems almost
ludicrous. It is probably a similarity between certain scenes described
in the poems of Homer and the Mahabharata which gave rise to the
rumour, told by Dio Chrysostomus, that the Hindus had translated and
sang the poetry of Homer; but it would be just as critical to base
chronological conclusions on this rumour and on that similarity, as it
would be to base them on the faint resemblance which the mythological
history of Krishna bears to some Christian legends.

Before, however, Sanskrit philology has established with as much
probability as its critical means will permit at least the relative
chronological position of the immense material which constitutes the
actual Mahabharata, it must remain hazardous to decide which portion
of it has preserved intact the historical lore of Hindu antiquity, and
which has not ; but legends and myths, customs and laws, religious

144 HINDU EPIC POETRY.

doctrines and philosophical speculations — in short, the vast episodical
vegetation which has overgrown the stem of the great epos — they
likewise, and as much as the main story of the epos itself, are concerned
in this critical labour; for they have, too, their problems and their
history. We therefore sincerely wish that the learned works which
called forth these cursory remarks may speed on this labour, and lead
it to a satisfactory result.

ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE PRESENT ADMINIS-
TRATION OF HIND Q LAW.

The attention of the East India Association having lately been drawn
by Mr. W.Tayler to some urgent wants in the administration of justice,
in so far as Indian litigants in general are concerned, it may not be
inexpedient to bring under your notice the difficulties which beset the
course of justice in reference to a particular class of cases which it did
not enter into the scope of Mr. Tayler's able paper to deal with, viz. of
those cases which are governed by Hindu law.

This law, I need not explain, concerns two topics of litigation only
— that of inheritance and that of adoption — topics intimately connected
with Hindu religious belief, and therefore allowed to remain free from
the touch of foreign legislation.

The Hindu law, it is likewise unnecessary for me to add, is laid
down in the ancient and mediaeval works of the Hindus, all of which
are written in Sanskrit. It is contained in the code of Manu, in that
of Yajnavalkya, in the codes of numerous legislators, which are inter-
mediate between, or posterior to, both these great authorities, and in a
number of subsequent, but very important commentaries and digests,
which have developed the ancient law, and ultimately, because latest in
time, have become first in authority.* Amongst these, one of the most

* See < Yajnavalkya-Dharmasastra,' I., 4, 5 ; H. T. Colebrooke's Preface to
' Two Treatises on the Hindu Law of Inheritance ;' A. F. Stenzler, c Zur Literatur
der Indischen Gresetzbiicher,' in A, Weber's c Indische Studien,' vol. i., pp. 232 ff. ;
Standish Grove G-rady , ' A Treatise on the Hindoo Law of Inheritance,' pp. lix. —
Ixxiv.

VOL. II. ]0

146 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

important in all matters relating to the law of inheritance is the
Mitdkshard of Vijndnes'vara, which, as Colebrooke says, is, with the
exception of Bengal, "received in all the schools of Hindu law, from
Benares to the southern extremity of the peninsula of India, as the
chief groundwork of the doctrines which they follow, and as an authority
from which they rarely dissent."* The Mitakshara was expanded in
subsequent digests, and, in consequence, the Vivadachintamani, the
Ratnakara, and Vivadachandra, became the first legal authorities, on
matters of inheritance, in Mithila (Tirhut); the Viramitrodaya and
the works of Kamalakara became so at Benares ; the Vyavaharataa-
yukha amongst the Mahrattas, and the Smr'itichandrika and Vyavahara-
Madhaviya at Madras.

In Bengal the paramount authority on the law of inheritance is
Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga, which in several important respects differs
from the ruling of the Mitakshara ; and in agreement with it are
Raghunandana's Dayatattva, S'rikrishna-Tarkalankara's Dayakrama-
sangraha, besides various other works, which it is not necessary here to
enumerate.!

The best authorities on the law of adoption are the Dattakamimansa,
by Nanda Pand'ita ; the Dattakachandrika, by Devand'a Bhat't'a ; and
after them, the Dattakanirnaya, Dattakatilaka, Dattakadarpana, Datta-
kakaumudi, Dattakadidhiti, and Dattakasiddhantamanjari. All these
commentaries and digests derive their authority from, and profess to be
based on, the codes of Manu and Yajnavalkya and the other lawgivers
already alluded to. They do not admit that there is any real difference
between the laws laid down in the ancient works ; and wherever any
such differences seem to exist, they either endeavour to reconcile them
by the interpretations they put on their texts, or explain them away by

* « Two Treatises,' Pref., p. iv.

f Compare the works mentioned in the note of the preceding page.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 147

the assumption of accidental omissions which they supply. And it is
in consequence of such interpretations or additions that different con-
clusions have obtained in the Mitakshara- and the Bengal-schools,
though both profess to derive their opinions from a correct and authori-
tative understanding of the same ancient texts.

That all these commentaries and digests, whenever it suits their
line of argument, occasionally also refer to other non-legal works of
Sanskrit literature, such as the vedic Gr'ihyasutras, the Mahabharata,
Ramayaria, the Puranas, and even the grammar of Panini, need not
surprise us, for their object is to convey the impression that a har-
monious spirit pervades the whole antiquity of India, and that their
ruling, therefore, is in accordance with all that is sacred to the Hindu
mind.

Now, from the facts I have been able to gather, it would appear that,
with scarcely any exception, the English judges who are entrusted with
the administration of the Hindu law of inheritance arid adoption, are
not acquainted with the Sanskrit language, and are unable therefore
to found their decisions on a direct and immediate knowledge and
examination of the original law sources just mentioned.* They must
resort, therefore, to second-hand information which they derive from
translations, and the assistance afforded them by the pleadings of
counsel and otherwise But as I am probably not very wrong in
assuming that for the most part the counsel, too, are indebted for their
knowledge of the Hindu law, not to the original texts, but to transla-
tions of them, these translations are the real basis on which the admi-
nistration of the Hindu law at present rests, and it will, therefore, be
necessary to give a brief account of them.

* ' The Law of Partition and Succession, from the Vyavaharanirn'aya,' by A.
C. Burnell. Mangalore, 1872. Preface, p. x. ' Dayadas'as'loki,' by the same.
Ibid., 1875, p. 5.

148 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

Of the code of Manu there exists the well-known complete translation
of Sir W. Jones, first published in 1794, then in 1796, and reprinted
by Haughton in 1825. It was translated into German by Hiittner in
1797. A French translation of the original by Loiseleur Deslong-
champs, mainly agreeing with that of his predecessor, appeared in
1133.* A complete translation in German of the code of Yajnavalkya
was published by Professor Stenzler in 1849 ; and some portions of the
same code, translated into English by Dr. Roer and Mr. Montriou,
appeared in 1859.

The Mitakshara of Vijnanes'rara is a running commentary on each
Terse of Yajnavalkya's Institutes. The latter consists of three parts.
The first treats of dchdra, or established rules of conduct, comprising
such subjects as education and marriage, funeral rites, &c. The second

* About thirty years ago, I believe, there appeared at Calcutta a few parts of a
new edition and translation of Manu, which seem to have remained almost
unknown in Europe. The quarto volume in question, when opened, contains on
the left side in one column the text of Manu in Devanagari, and in Bengal
characters ; and in another, a Bengali translation of the corresponding verses, a
few notes in Bengali being generally added to the page ; on the right side it con-
tains in one column Sir W. Jones's translation, and parallel to it, in another
column, a new English translation, which may be looked upon as a running
criticism on the former. For though it repeats as much as it approves of Sir W.
Jones's translation, in the very words of the latter, this is apparently done in
order to make ita divergence from it still more prominent ; and this divergence is
not inconsiderable, and very often marks a decided improvement on the rendering
of Sir W. Jones. Foot-notes in English, moreover, are frequently added to justify
the discrepancies. Unfortunately — for there is no doubt that the author of the
new translation was a very competent scholar— in the two copies of it known to
me, the text breaks off at verse 40, and the translation at verse 33, of Book 3,
while these two copies do not contain the name of the author or a date ; and
since all my endeavours to learn more about the progress of the work have been
unsuccessful, I apprehend that no, more of it, than the portions I have seen, has
appeared in print. The name of the editor and translator, as I learn from a friend,
is Tarachund Chuckerbutt.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 149

part treats of vyavahdra, or the business of life, including amongst
many other topics judicature and inheritance ; the third part treats of
prdyas'chitta, and comprises penance, purification, transmigration, and
kindred subjects. Of the Vyavahara part of the Mitakshara eight
chapters translated by W. H. Macnaghten first appeared in 1829 ; and
that portion of it which strictly relates to inheritance, about the four-
teenth part of the whole work, exists in the well-known translation by
Colebrooke, first published in 1810, and then edited in his Hindu law
books by Mr. Whitley Stokes in 1865. Of the Vyavaharamayukha,
Harry Borradaile published a [translation in 1827, which likewise re-
appeared in Mr. Stokes's Hindu law books in 1865.

The Vivadachintamani, translated into Engli'sh by Prosonno Coomar
Tagore, was published in 1863; the Vyavahara-Madhaviya, by Mr. A.
C. Burnell, in 1868, and — through the medium of Tamul sources, as I
am informed — the Smritichandrika, by Mr. T. Kristnasawmy Iyer, in
1867. Of Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga we possess the translation of
Colebrooke, first published in 1810, and in his law books by Mr.
Stokes in 1865 ; and of the Dayakramasangraha — also edited in the
same collection by the same distinguished scholar — the translation of
Wynch, first published in 1818.

Lastly, the Dattakamimansa and Dattakachandrika exist in a
translation by Sutherland, first published in 1821, then in 1825, and
also embodied in Mr. Stokes's Hindu law books.

Besides these few translations, nothing whatever worth mentioning,
out of the large bulk of Hindu law literature, is accessible to the
English judge, if unacquainted with Sanskrit, except a few disconnected
verses of the ancient lawgivers, put together, without any reference to
the context in which they stand, in the Digest of Hindu law prepared
by Jagannatha under the directions of Sir W. Jones.*

* Colebrooke's opinion of this Digest is contained in the following passage

150 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

The question, then, which I have to raise is this : Do these trans-
lations—a mere fraction, I need not say, of the large mass of Hindu
law literature — suffice both in quality and quantity for ensuring to
litigants a proper and satisfactory administration of the Hindu law of
inheritance and adoption ?

Before giving ray opinion on this point, I will place myself in the
position of a judge who has no means of examining for himself the
original text of a statute, and I should then have to assume that the
question asked must be answered by him in the affirmative. For on
what grounds could he decide that the translations enumerated above
were insufficient in quantity, and how could he undertake to say that
any objection mooted against their reliability was valid or not? It
would be a dangerous and, I hold, an arbitrary proceeding on his part
were he to overrule, for instance, the translation of a passage by Tagore
or Burnell, merely because the translation of the same passage by Cole-
brooke did not agree with it, and because the authority of Colebrooke
stands higher than that of the scholars differing from him. For how-
ever high the authority of anyone, a doubt of this kind cannot be finally
settled by it ; and a mere consideration of the immense progress made

from his preface to the ' Two Treatises,' &c., p. ii. : — " In the preface to the trans-
lation of the Digest, I hinted an opinion unfavourable to the arrangement of it, as
it has been executed by the native compiler. I have been confirmed in that
opinion of the compilation, since its publication ; and indeed the author's method
of discussing together the discordant opinions maintained by the lawyers of the
several schools, without distinguishing in an intelligible manner which of them is
the received doctrine of each school, but on the contrary leaving it uncertain
whether any of the opinions stated by him do actually prevail, or which doctrine
must now be considered to be in force and which obsolete, renders his work of
little utility to persons conversant with the law, and of still less service to those
who are not versed in Indian jurisprudence ; especially to the English reader, for
whose use, through the medium of translation, the work was particularly
intended."

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 151

by Sanskrit studies since the time when the great Colebrooke wrote,
of the large quantity of new materials that have since come to light, of
all the advantages in short, which, in consequence of the very labours of
Colebrooke, later workers in the same field must have over him, would
naturally make a judge hesitate in disposing of such doubts simply on
the ground of tradition and authority.

Yet instances of such conflicting translations are by no means rare ;
and where therefore for his final opinion the judge would have to rely
on third parties, his position would at any rate not be safe.

To illustrate this uncertainty I will choose at random a few examples
as they occur to me.

The Mitakshara and the digests, as I have already observed, con-
stantly support their statements by quotations from Manu, Yajnavalkya,
and the other lawgivers ; but as every disputed case has not been fore-
seen by them, these very quotations sometimes become the principal
basis on which the judgment in a particular case has to rest.

In dealing with the rights of brothers, a verse of Yajnavalkya is
quoted by the Dayabhaga of Jimutavahana, which Colebrooke translates
as follows : —

"A half-brother, being again associated, may take the succession;
not a half -brother* though not re-united : but one united [by blood,
though not by coparcenary] may obtain the property ; and not [exclu-
sively] the son of a different mother."!

In the Vivadachintamani, Tagore translates this verse thus : —
" Re-united step-brothers, but not brothers who live separated, shall
take each other's property. A uterine brother even when he is separated,
shall have the property. But a separated step-brother cannot get it."J

* The italics in this and the following quotations are intended to facilitate a
comparison of the discrepancies.

f XL, 5, 13. J P. 306.

152 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

Again, in the Vyavaharamayukha we find Borradaile translating this
verse : —

" One of a different womb, being again associated, may take the suc-
cession ; not one of a different womb, if not re-united : but [a whole
brother if] re-united, obtains the property ; and not [exclusively] the son
of a different mother."*

Hence, according to Colebrooke, a brother united by blood; accord-
ing to Tagore, a uterine brother, even when he is separated, may obtain
the property ; while according to Borradaile a whole brother may obtain
it, but only on the condition of being re-united. Again, Colebrooke and
Borradaile say that the son of a different mother cannot get the suc-
cession exclusively, while Tagore says, that a step-brother cannot get it,
if separated.

Or, under the heading of effects not liable to partition, the Mitak-
shara cites a verse from Narada, which Colebrooke translates : —

" He who maintains the family of a brother studying science, shall
take, be he ever so ignorant, a share of the wealth gained by science."!

Jn the Vyavahara-Madhaviya, Mr. Burnell renders the same
verse : —

" A member of a family though he be ignorant, who supports his
brother while learning science, shall get a share of the wealth acquired
by that brother by learning. "J

And Tagore, in the Vivadachintamani : —

" Wealth, acquired by a learned man, whose family was supported,
during his absence from home to acquire learning, by a brother, shall be
shared with the latter, even if he be ignorant."§

Hence, according to Tagore's version a brother acquires this right
only when he supports his brother's family during his absence from

* IV., 9, 10. I,, 4, 8. J P. 49. § P. 253.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 153

home — a restriction not contained in Colebrooke's and Burnell's trans-
lation of the same passage.*

Again, when, treating of the succession to a woman's peculiar pro-
perty, Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga quotes a verse of Devala, which ac-
cording to Colebrooke says : —

" Her subsistence, her ornaments, her perquisites, and Tier gains t are
the separate property of a woman. She herself exclusively enjoys it;
and her husband has no right to use it, unless in distress."}

But in the 'Vivadachintamani, Tagore renders the same verse
thus : —

" Food and vesture, ornaments, perquisites, and wealth received by a
woman from a kinsman, are her own property;" &c.J

Hence in Colebrooke's^ translation the stridhana applies to all the
gains of a woman ; while in that of Tagore — and he italicizes the words
" from a kinsman " — it applies solely to the wealth which a woman
receives from a kinsman.

The word perquisite (sometimes also called " fee ") in the foregoing
quotations is the Sanskrit s'ulka, and as an item of stridhana it is denned
in Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga by a reference to Katyayana, which
Colebrooke translates as follows : —

"Whatever has been received, as a price, of workmen on houses,
furniture, and carriages, milking vessels and ornaments, is denominated
afee"(S'ulkaU

In the Vyavahara-Madhaviya Mr. Burnell renders this verse as
follows : —

" What is received as the price of utensils for the house, or cattle, or
milch cows, for personal ornaments or for work, that is called Sulka."\\

* Jolly's translation of * Mrada's Institutes," xiii., 10. Mayr, * Das Indische
Erbrecht,' p. 26. Burnell, '^yavaliaranira'aya,' p. 29.
t IV., 1. 15. $ P. 263 § IV., 3, 19. || P. 41.

154 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

And Tagore, in the Vivadachintamarii : —

" The small sums which are received by a woman as the price or
rewards of household duties, using household utensils, tending beasts of
burden, looking after milch cattle, taking care of ornaments of dress, or
superintending servants, are called her perquisites."*

The claims of a woman on the ground of S'ulka would therefore be
greatly different according to the rendering of Colebrooke, Burnell, or
Tagore, of the same authoritative passage.!

An outcast, it is well known, is subject to legal disabilities ; he is not
allowed to testify, and he is excluded from inheritance. Now Sir W.
Jones, and after him Tagore, J render the verse of Manu, IX., 202, in
the following way : —

" But it is just that the heir who knows his duty should give all of
them [viz. relatives who are excluded from inheritance] food and raiment
for life without stint, according to the best of his power : he who gives
them nothing sinks assuredly to a region of punishment."

But in the Mitdkshardt§ where this passage from Manu is quoted,
Colebrooke renders it : —

" But it is fit, that a wise man should give all of them food and
raiment without stint to the best of his power : for he, who gives it not,
shall be deemed an outcast."

According to Sir W. Jones and Tagore, such a dereliction of duty
would therefore entail a spiritual consequence only, but according to
Colebrooke serious legal penalties too.||

Without multiplying instances like these, I may now ask how could
a judge, without a knowledge of Sanskrit, decide which of these scholars

* P. 258.

t Jolly, « Die rechtliche Stellung der Frauen bei den alien Indern,' p. 23 ff.
Mayr, 1.1., p. 167. Burnell, 1.1., p. 45 ff.

I ' Vivadach.' p. 243. § II., 10, 5. || Burnell, 1.1., p. 13.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 155

is right, or whether their difference of translation is based on a different
reading of the same text, and if so, which of these different readings
has a claim to greater authority than the rest? And if he cannot
decide this question, what is to become of justice in all those cases that
are governed by the law contained in these conflicting versions ?

But as a Hindu has clearly a right to have justice done to him
according to what are his real authorities, it is impossible to forego the
question whether the present English translation of the law books can
be implicitly relied upon as an equivalent for the originals.

On the whole, I have no doubt they may; and of all translations
from Sanskrit into a European language I know of none to which, in
my opinion, greater admiration is due than to the translation of Jimu-
tavahana's and Vijnanes'vara's law of inheritance by Colebrooke. So
great, indeed, was the conscientiousness of that scholar, so thorough
his understanding of the Hindu mind, and so vast and accurate his
Sanskrit learning, that there is always the strongest reason for hesita-
tion whenever one might feel disposed to question a rendering of his.
And as Colebrooke's authority is still paramount in all law courts which
have to deal with Hindu law, the aid afforded by his works to English
judges cannot be too highly valued.

But, in the first place, the same high opinion cannot be entertained
of all the translations already mentioned, for, with the exception of the
version of the Vyavahara-Madhaviya by Mr. Burnell, most of them are
often too free and vague to be thoroughly reliable ; and even the trans-
lation of the Vivadachintamani by the late Prosonno C. Tagore, is
often more paraphrastic than is compatible with an accurate rendering
of the text.

And in the second place, it should also be remembered that, apart
from Burnell's, Tagore's, and Kristnasawmy's translations which ap-
peared a few years ago, and those of Loiseleur Deslongchamps, Stenzler,

156 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

and Roer, which may likewise be looked upon as relating to our own
period, the remaining important works date from the end of the last
and the earlier part of the present century, when there was not a single
critical edition of any of their originals. Hence, with the MS.
materials which have since come to light, with the numerous good
editions of law texts to which it is now easy to refer,— I may here only
name the admirable edition, by Bharatachandras'iromani, of Jimutava-
hana's Dayabhaga, with seven commentaries, published under the
patronage of P. C. Tagore, the various editions of Yajnavalkya, with
the whole Mitakshara, published at Calcutta, Benares, and Bombay,
and several editions of Manu, with the commentary of Kullukabhat't'a,
— in a word, with the immense progress which Sanskrit studies have
made for the last thirty years, both in India and Europe, it would be
much more surprising if these translations were still found to stand the
test of modern scholarship, than if they were found to fail.

And from this point of view alone must we judge of imperfections
which occur, not only in Borradaile, Wynch, and Sutherland, but also
in Sir W. Jones's translation of Manu, and even in Colebrooke's trans-
lations of the two treatises of Vijnanes'vara and Jimutavahana. Yet
that such imperfections exist, whatever the cause may. be, is undeni-
able ; and as even the accomplished work of Colebrooke is not entirely
exempt from them, it may easily be inferred that they call for the atten-
tion of those who are answerable for the administration of the Hindu law.

To illustrate the nature of the imperfections of which I here speak,
and which have a material bearing on the law of succession, I will
choose some instances from Colebrooke's ' Two Treatises.'

In Jimutavahana,* the right to the female line of succession is laid
down in an important text from Vr'ihaspati. According to Colebrooke
this text runs thus : —

* IV., 3, 31.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 157

"The mother's sister, the maternal uncle, the father's sister, the
mother-in-law, and the wife of an elder brother, are pronounced similar
to mothers. If they leave no issue of their bodies, nor son [of a rival
wife], nor daughter's son, nor son of those persons, the sister's son and
the rest shall take their property."

That in a series of female relatives the " maternal uncle " should
occur, and be declared to be similar to a mother, would in itself be im-
probable ; nor is he really mentioned there ; and the mistake seems to
have been caused by an omission in the MS. used by Colebrooke ; for
according to the correct text the passage reads : —

" The mother's sister, the ivife of a maternal uncle, the paternal
uncles wife, the father's sister, the mother-in-law, and the wife of an
elder brother are pronounced similar to mothers. If they leave no
issue of their body, nor son, nor daughter's son, nor son of those persons,
the sister's son and the rest shall take their property/'*

Hence the maternal uncle cannot claim on the ground of this passage,
but in his stead the wife of a maternal uncle and the paternal uncle's
wife can so claim. f

In the same chapter, where the son's prior right to inheritance is
mentioned,! a quotation from Vr'iddha-S'atatapa is made at the same
time to show in what order the succession of other persons is regulated
in accordance with the benefits which, through the S'raddha rites, they
may confer on the soul of the deceased. Colebrooke renders the passage
as follows : —

" The son's preferable right too appears to rest on his presenting the
greatest number of beneficial oblations, and on his rescuing his parent

* Calc. 8vo. ed., 1829 (p. 154) ; Bharatach.'s ed. (p. 172) : matuh7 svasa matu-
lani, pitr'ivyastrt pitr'isvasa, sVas'rftli' pftrvajapatni cha matr'itulyah' prakirtitali' ;
yad asam auraso na syat suto dauhitra eva va, tatsuto va dhanam' tasam' svasrt-
yadyak' samapnuyuh'.

t Burnell, 1.1., p. 51. J IV., 3, 36.

158 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

from hell. And a passage of Vr'iddha-S'atatapa expressly provides for
the funeral oblations of these women: ( For the wife of a maternal uncle
or of a sister's son, of a father-in-law and of a spiritual-parent, of a
friend and of a maternal grandfather, as well as for the sister of the
mother or of the father, the oblation of food at obsequies must be per-
formed. Such is the settled rule among those who are conversant
with the Vedas.' "

The drift of the quotation from Vr'iddha-S'atatapa as it stands would
not be intelligible, for Jimutavahana alleges his words, not in order to
state for whom the S'raddha should be performed, but by whom the
benefits are conferred, and thus the title to inheritance in succession is
acquired. But according to the words of the correct text, and the in-
terpretation of them in the Dayanirnaya, the passage from Vr'iddha-
S'atatapa would have to be rendered thus : —

" . . . . And a passage of Vr'iddha-S'atatapa expressly provides for
the funeral oblations of the following persons (masc.): the maternal
uncle (performs the S'raddha) for a sister's son, and a sister's son for his
maternal uncle, (a son-in-law) for a father-in-law; a (pupil) for a
spiritual teacher, (a friend) for a friend, and (a daughter's son) for a
maternal grandfather. And also for the wives of these persons, and
the sister of a mother and father, the oblation of food at obsequies must
be performed. Such, &c."*

* The original passage, according to the text published in Calc. 1829 (p. 157),
and Bharatach.'s edition (p. 175), is as follows : — Matulo bhagineyasya svasriyo
matulasya cha, s'yas'urasya guros' chaiva sakhyur matamahasya cha, etesham'
chaiva bharyabhyah' svasur matuh' pitus tatha, s'raddhadanam' tu kartavyam iti
vedavidam' stbitir iti Vr'iddha-S'atatapa-vachanat. Amlsham pin'd'adatva-prati-
padanad ayam pin'd'adanavis'eshad adhikarakramah'.

In the Ddyakaumudi, where this passage from S'atatapa is quoted (ed. Calc.,
p. 155), the following comment from the Ddyan'irnaya is appended to it : Matulo
bhagineyasya pin'd'adah' ; evam' svasriyo matulasya pin'd'adah' ; s'vas'urasya

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 159

The importance of this passage had a recent illustration in the case
of Grihadi Lall Roy v. the Government of Bengal. Gridhari was the
maternal uncle of the father of a deceased Zemindar, whose inheritance
he claimed, no other heirs claiming ; but as the Bengal Government
maintained that there was no law-text under which a maternal uncle
could succeed to the property of a sister's son, it held that this was a
case of escheat, and the High Court at Calcutta actually delivered a
judgment in favour of the Crown. Now, since it has never been
denied that a clear duty to perform the S'raddha implies a right to
succeed, there can be no doubt that the judgment of the High Court
must have been different, had it been able to avail itself of the correct
translation of the passage quoted, proving as that does, the maternal
uncle's duty to perform the S'raddha for a sister's son.

In Jimutavahana,* according to Colebrooke, a grandmother and great
grandmother would seem to have no right to succeed, inasmuch as they
take no part in the Sraddha. It is true that the passage alluded to
would stand in direct contradiction with others in the same work,
where the grandmother's and great-grandmother's right is distinctly
admitted, but the fact is that no such contradiction results from the
original text. Colebrooke's words are : —

*' Nor can it be pretended that the stepmother, grandmother and
great-grandmother take their places at the funeral repast, in conse-
quence of [ancestors being deified] with their wives."

Whereas the correct original text would in the translation run : —

" Nor can it be pretended that a stepmother, a stepmother of a
father, and a stepmother of a paternal grandfather, take their places at

jamata pin'd'adah' ; guroh' pin'd'adata s'ishyab/; matamahasya pin'd'adata
dauhitrah. Etesham matuladiuam bharyabhyah' stribhyah s'raddhadanain' karta-
vyam iti vedartb.opanibandb.r'in'am' nishtlia ; iti Dayan'irn'ayah'.
* XL, 6, 3.

160 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

the funeral repast, in consequence of [ancestors being deified] with their
wives."*

In the translation of the Mitaksharaf — for I will also add an instance
or two from this treatise — a curious mistake has been caused by Cole-
brooke's adopting part of the translation by Sir W. Jones of a passage
of Manu, quoted by Yijnanes'vara in support of his rule regarding effects
not liable to partition.

" If the hprses or the like," Vijnanes'vara says, "be numerous, they
must be distributed among coheirs who live by the sale of them. If
they cannot be divided, the number being unequal, they belong to the
eldest brother, as ordained by Manu." And now follows the quotation
from the latter, J which Colebrooke has rendered thus : —

" Let them never divide a single goat or sheep, or a single beast with
uncloven hoofs : a single goat or sheep belongs to the first-born."

How, on the ground of such a text from Manu, the Mitakshara could
forbid the division of an unequal number of cattle, would be unintelli-
gible. But what Manu really says is : —

" If goats and sheep, together with beasts that have uncloven feet,
are of an unequal number, let no division be made of them ; but let such
an unequal number of goats and sheep (v.L let such goats and sheep,
with beasts that have uncloven feet), go to the first-born."

The error arose from the translators mistaking the import of the
singular number which is required by Sanskrit compounds to express
collectiveness, and which in the case of the Dvandva compound ajdvikam

* Gale. ed. 1829 (p. 323), Bharatach.'s ed. (p. 332) : Na cha sapatnikatvena
sapatnimatuh.' sapatnipitamahyah' sapatnlprapitamahyas' cha s'raddhe 'nupra-
ves'ah'. Compare the analogous passage in the Viramitrodaya, f. 208, 5, 11. 1 ff.

In this instance a printer's mistake perhaps caused the inaccuracy in Cole-
brooke's rendering ; for if we read in it " the step- mother, -grand- mother." &c.,
the chief discrepany would be removed.

t I., 4, 18. f IX., 119. [Mayr, 1.1 1., p. 34.]

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 161

" goats and sheep " is also interpreted in this sense by the commentator
Kullukabhat't'a, with a reference to the grammar of Panini.*

In the chapter which treats of the right of a widow to inherit the
estate of one who leaves no male issue, the Mitaksharaf says : —

" In the first place, the wife shares the estate. * Wife ' (patni)
signifies a woman espoused in lawful wedlock ; conformably with the
etymology of the term as implying a connexion with religious rites.
The singular number ' wife' (in the text of Ydjnavalhya) signifies the
kind ; hence if there are several wives belonging to the same or different
castes, they divide the property according to the shares (prescribed to
them), and take it"

The italicized words are entirely omitted in Colebrooke's translation,
and as there is no other passage in the Mitakshara which relates to the
emergency of several wives surviving a man who leaves no male issue,
it is needless to point out how important they are in a disputed case of
this nature. The omission, I may add, has already been noticed by
Mr. Stokes in a note to page 53 of his ' Hindu Law Books,' where he
comments on a passage of Borradaile's Vyavaharamayukha.

I need not enlarge any further on mistakes of this nature, which, as
I have already observed, may chiefly have arisen from the imperfect
condition of MSS. which were used for the translations ; but it is clear
that they may become a serious impediment to rightful claims, and
obstruct the course of justice.

Apart however from the question, whether a judge could entirely
rely on these translations of Sanskrit law texts, it remains to be seen

* Hit. (I., 4, 18) : Ajavikara' saikas'apham' na jatu vishamam bliajet, ajavikam'
tu vishamam (a. I. saikas'apham') jyesht'hasyaiva vidhiyate, iti Manu-smaran'at. —
Kullukabhat't'a to Marnt, IX., 119 : ajavikam iti pas'udvandvad vibhashayaika-
vadbhavah' (comp. Pan. II., 4, 11).

f II., 1, 5.

VOL II. 11

16-2 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

whether, even in their most perfect condition, the existing translations
of the Hindu law hooks could he held to suffice for the settlement of the
numerous cases that arise from disputes in matters of Hindu inheri-
tance and adoption.

No one, I think, acquainted with the works enumerated at the com-
mencement of this paper, and with works of Sanskrit literature
quoted by them, would affirm that they do suffice. He would, on
the contrary, have to own that many law-books, as yet untranslated are
sometimes a material aid, and sometimes even indispensable, for a correct
understanding of the Mitakshara and the digest of Jimutavahana.

The Viramitrodaya, for instance, is to a large extent a full commen-
tary on the Mitakshara, which it copiously quotes ; and the same may
be said of the Smr'itichandriM, of which a few years ago not a line had
appeared in print, and of which even now a trustworthy translation
cannot be said to exist. Again, the seven commentaries on Jimutava-
hana's Dayabhaga, Raghunandana's Smr'ititattva, the treatises of Kama-
lakara, the Dayakaumudi, and kindred works, are in numerous instances
the best, if not the only, means for arriving at the precise meaning of
its text. And so long as all these works remain untranslated, justice
to the Hindus in matters of inheritance must remain uncertain, because
it would often have to depend on the reasoning of the European mind,
•which failing to appreciate the historical facts and the religious ground
on which Hindu reasoning proceeds, must necessarily often become
fallacious. In a recent case tried in the High Court at Fort William,
the Chief Justice gave the advice, not to introduce English notions
into cases governed by Hindu law. " The Hindu law of inheritance ,"
he very justly observed, " is based upon the Hindu religion, and we
must be cautious that in administering Hindu law we do not, by acting
upon our notions derived from English law, inadvertently wound or
offend the religious feelings of those who may be affected by our deci-

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 1G3

sions ; or lay down principles at variance with the religions of those
whose law we are administering." — (In the High Court of Judicature at
Fort William. Ordinary original civil jurisdiction, 1st September, 1869,
Gannendro Mohun Tagore v. Opendro Mohun Tagore, &c., p. 23.)

Yet how much even judges of the highest standing are liable to err,
if, for a knowledge of the positive Hindu law, they substitute that which
from an English point of view may appear to be the most logical and
faultless reasoning, will be seen by the instance of a Privy Council
judgment which, if relied upon as a precedent, would materially alter
the whole Hindu law of inheritance in one of its vital points.

The judgment I am here alluding to is that delivered on the 30th of
November, 1863, by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upon
the appeal of Kattama Nauchear v. the Raja of Sivaganga, from the
Sudder Devanny Adawlut at Madras.

The object of the litigation was the Zemindary of Sivaganga, situated
in the Madras Presidency. Its last owner, who was in undisputed
possession of it, had died in 1829, leaving no male issue, but several
wives by whom he had daughters ; and the daughter of one of those
wives was the appellant in the case ; for the Sudder Court at Madras
had decided against her claims, and pronounced in favour of the res-
pondent, a nephew of the deceased, who at the time of the appeal was
in possession of the Zemindary.

The issues of the case, as stated in the judgment of the Judicial Com-
mittee of the Privy Council, were these : —

1. Were Gaurivallabha (the deceased Raja) and his brother (for the
grandson of the latter was the respondent, the Raja in possession) un-
divided in estate, or had a partition taken place between them ?

2. If they were undivided, was the Zemindary the self-acquired and
separate property of Gaurivallabha (the deceased Raja) ? And if so —

3. What is the course of succession according to the Hindu law of

164 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

the south of India of such an acquisition, where the family is in other
respects an undivided family ?

The first of these questions, the judgment of the Judicial Committee
of the Privy Council answered in the sense that the deceased Raja and
his brother were undivided in estate ; and this being a question of fact,
we have simply to accept their Lordships' finding.

In regard to the second question, the judgment held that the Zemin-
dary was not the ancestral, but the self-acquired and separate property
of the late Raja ; and this, too, being a question of fact, no remark has
to be added to it.

Concerning the third, however, which is a question of law, the judg-
ment went on to say, that according to the law in the south of India, as
affecting members of an undivided family, the Zemindary would have
passed to the nephew had it been ancestral property, but being self-
acquired property, the daughter of one of the widows — the appellant in
the case — was entitled to it.

Now, in the first place, I must here observe that this judgment is
exclusively based on what their Lordships consider to be the law of the
Mitakshara. That the Mitakshara is one of the law authorities in the
south of India is unquestionable ; but it is likewise an undisputed fact
that it is not the primary authority in that part of India. As before
stated, the Mitakshara, which is merely a running commentary on the
text of Yajnavalkya, is incomplete in many respects ; and amongst the
later works which enlarged on it and supplied its defects, the digests
called Smr'itichandrikd and Vyavahdra Mddhaviya became the chief
authorities in the south. At the time when the Sivaganga case was
pending, Mr. Burnett's translation of the Madhaviya did not exist f
nor even the imperfect version of the Smr'itichandrika by Mr. Kristna-
sawmy Iyer. These works were then accessible only in Sanskrit MSS.
Hence not so much as an allusion to them occurs in the judgment of the

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. ir.o

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ; and while it is not denied
that the respondent had a right to have his claims dealt with according
to the recognised primary law of his country, we here meet with the
anomalous circumstance that they were decided upon according to what
in the south of India is only considered as a secondary source of law.

And that this distinction is not merely a fortuitous one is proved by
the case itself. For there is no text in the Mitakshara which clearly
provides for it, whereas there are passages in the Smr'itichandrikd and
the Mddhaviya which, I have no doubt, would have proved to their
Lordships' minds that the second question they had raised was irre-
levant to the case, and that their final decision was even contrary to the
very spirit of the law of the Mitakshara.

But as they were not acquainted with the two Digests which, while
in perfect accordance with the Mitakshara, elucidate its obscurities,
their Lordships supplied the apparent defect of the Mitakshara with
arguments which, from a European point of reasoning, might bear out
the conclusion at which they arrived, but from a Hindu point of view
do not.

I have already mentioned that the family of the appellant and the
respondent were admittedly undivided in estate. Yet in a family of
this description the judgment of the Judicial Committee raised the
question as to what was in it ancestral, and what was self -acquired,
property. Such a question, however, cannot judicially occur in an
undivided family, so long as it remains undivided, which was here the
case. The translated text of the Mitakshara itself is silent on the law
of succession in reference to an undivided family, for the text of Yajiia-
valkya, which this commentary follows verse by verse, does not deal
with it ; and in the first section of its second chapter, which treats of
the right of widows to inherit in default of male issue, and on which
the judgment in this case is exclusively based, nothing is stated affect-

166 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

ing the rights of any member of an undivided family. On the other
hand, the Vyavahdra-Mddhaviya, and especially the Smr'itichandrikd,
very distinctly regulate the succession rights in an undivided family :
it results from them that only a male member of such a family can be
heir, and that so long as the family remains undivided, the whole of the
property, whether ancestral or self-acquired, is vested in him.* The
reasons of such a law are likewise clear. In an undivided family the
principal religious duties are undivided, and the benefits, therefore, to
be bestowed on the soul of the deceased ancestor — benefits on which
the right of succession rests — can be conferred only by one single
member of the family, its actual head.f

Not having before them this distinct law, which is quite in harmony
with the law of Manu and all other legislators, and being left in doubt
by a section of the Mitakshara, which having nothing whatever to do
with the case in question could of course not enlighten them, the Lords
of the Judicial Committee laid down a perfectly novel proposition which,
if adopted, would alter the basis of the whole Hindu law.

" There are two principles," the judgment says.J " on which the rule
of succession, according to the Hindu law, appears to depend : the first
is that which determines the right to offer the funeral oblation, and the
degree in which the person making the offering is supposed to minister
to the spiritual benefit of the deceased ; the other is an assumed right
of survivorship."

But the fact is, that there is only one principle, that stated by the
Report in the first proposition, and that the second does not exist at all.
Of the first, Sir W. Jones had already said that it contains the key to
the whole Hindu law of inheritance ; and even the single text which

* The question, therefore, what is ancestral and what is self -acquired property
can judicially only occur at the time when division takes place,
t See Appendix. J Page 18.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 107

the judgment adduces in support of its theory of a right of survivorship,
had it been quoted in full, and with the remarks attached to it by the
Smr'itichandrika, would have shown that no such right can be inferred
from it.*

* After the words above quoted ("there are two principles .... right of
survivorship ") the Eeport continues : — " Most of the authorities rest the uncon-
tested right of widows to inherit the estates of their husbands, dying separated
from their kindred, on the first of these principles (1 Strange, 135). But some
ancient authorities also invoke the other principle (viz. that of survivorship).
"vYihaspati (3 Dig. 458, tit. cccxcix ; see also Sir W. Jones' paper cited 2 Strange,
250) says : — ' Of him whose wife is not deceased half the body survives ; how
should another take the property, while half the body of the owner lives ? ' " The
text here quoted by the judgment reads, however, in full, as quoted by the Smr'iti-
chandrika, thus : — " In Scripture, in the traditional code, and in popular practice,
a wife (patni) is declared by the wise to be half the body (of her husband), equally
sharing the fruit of (his) pure and impure acts (i.e. of virtue and vice). Of him
whose wife is not deceased, half the body lives ; how then should another take his
property while half the body of the owner lives ? Although Sakulyas (distant
kinsmen), although his father, his mother, and uterine brothers be present, the wife
of him who died, leaving no male issue, shall take his share." (The same passage
also occurs in Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga, XL, 1, 2, and in Sir W. Jones' paper,
2 Strange, 250, mentioned by the Eeport). The Smr'itichandrika (Calc. ed., p. 58)
introduces this passage with the following words : — " Accordingly, after having
pronounced that compared to other (relatives) a wife has a nearer claim on account
of the circumstance that she has the property of conferring visible and spiritual
benefits (on the deceased), Vr'ihaspati has shown that the wife has the share of her
husband's property, if there are no secondary (or adopted) sons, though father
and other heirs as far downwards as the Sakulyas may be alive." Again, after
having explained the import of the word " wife (patnfy " in the passage quoted,
the same law authority says: — " Accordingly, the term patni gives us to under-
stand that her fitness to perform sack religious acts, as the rites in honour of the
manes, is the reason that she is entitled to take the share of her husband" It is
clear, therefore, that though " acting upon our notions derived from English law,"
we might feel induced to infer from the word " lives," in the alleged passage, a
right of survivorship, the Hindu mind, and especially the very law authority on
which the judgment should have been based, was far from following such a course
of reasoning. It looked, on the contrary, upon this passage as confirming the
spiritual principle, and this principle alone.

168 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

The judgment further asks : — " If the first of these principles (the
spiritual principle) were the only one involved, it would not be easy to
see why the widow's right of inheritance should not extend to her
husband's share in an undivided estate."

This question is perfectly pertinent, but it is one of the great points
of difference between the Dayabhaga- and the Mitakshara schools. The
former assuming that under any conditions the widow would confer the
greatest spiritual benefits on the soul of a deceased husband, provided
he leaves no male issue, in consequence rules that, in such an emer-
gency, she is always entitled to succeed to the property of the husband
whether the latter be divided or not. The Mitakshara school, on the
contrary, not admitting this superior spiritual power of a widow in an
undivided family, excludes her from the position she holds in the
Dayabhaga school. But the Sivaganga case fell under the law of the
Mitakshara school, and it is not for us to decide whether the view of
the latter regarding the spiritual power of a wife is, or is not, more
correct than that of the Dayabhaga school.

In short, " there being no positive text governing the case before the
Judicial Committee "* — simply because their Lordships could not refer
to the very law authorities conformably to which alone the case should
have been decided — they relied on an irrelevant text of the Mitakshara,
and in applying the law of succession which is applicable only to a
divided family, to an undivided one, even mistook this text itself.

That this judgment, if accepted as an authoritative interpretation of
the Hindu law, would introduce a second principle, hitherto unknown,
into the Hindu right of inheritance, and would entirely alter this law so
far as undivided Hindu families are concerned, requires no further re-
mark. But it seems equally clear that such a result could never have

* Page 16.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 169

occurred if the Lords of the Judicial Committee had been in possession
of more law texts than at the time were accessible to them.*

Another instance of the insufficiency of the law texts as hitherto
translated, is afforded by the judgment of the High Court of Calcutta in
the matter Gridhari Lall Roy v. the Government of Bengal, to which
I have already had occasion to refer. And as it implies a large class
of cases which may equally suffer from the same cause, it will not be
deemed superfluous to draw attention to it.

I have just pointed out the great principle on which the Hindu law
of inheritance is based. A kind of spiritual bargain is at the root of it.
For the direct or indirect benefit of his future life, a person requires
after his death certain religious ceremonies — the S'raddha — to be per-
formed for him ; and since these ceremonies entail expense, his property
is supposed to be the equivalent for such expense. A direct benefit
from the S'raddha is derived, for instance, by a father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather, to whom the funeral cakes are offered by a son, grand-
son, or great-grandson ; and an indirect benefit, by a deceased whose
relatives present the funeral cakes to his maternal, grandfather, great-
grandfather, and great-great-grandfather; for by doing so, they perform
for him that duty which, when alive, he would have been bound to per-
form .f Since, however, the nearer a person is related to the deceased,
the greater is the direct or indirect benefit which he is able to confer on
the latter's soul, the nearer, too, are his claims to the inheritance-
But in the same degree as a person owes the S'raddha to a relative, the
purity of his body is also affected by the death of that relative ; and
the time within which the impurity he suffers in consequence can be
removed by certain religious acts, depends therefore on the degree of
relationship in which he stood to the deceased. Again, the right of

* Burnell, 1.1., p. vii.

f See e. g. Jtmdtavdhana , XL, 1, 34 ; XI., 6, 13.

170 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

marriage is affected by the degree of relationship, for within certain
degrees marriage is strictly forbidden by the Hindu law.

To obtain, therefore, an authoritative explanation of what, to a Hindu,
are the degrees of relationship — and on these degrees, again, depends
the order of succession — we have especially to look to those portions of
the codes of law, and those separate treatises, which relate to the per-
formance of the S'raddha, to the laws concerning impurity and the
removal of it, and to the laws of marriage. All that occurs in regard
to these important topics under the head of inheritance is but inciden-
tally stated there, as serving the argument in point, but not with a
view of being an exhaustive treatment of the matter. On the whole,
there is but little to be gathered from the chapter of inheritance regard-
ing the relative rights of heirs ; and if the number of such heirs is large,
and the degrees of their affinity are intricate, there would be a consider-
able difficulty in deducing, from the general argument merely, the
precise right of a particular heir.

Now, in a complete code of law like that of Manu or Yajnavalkya,
the subject of S'raddha, impurity and marriage, is dealt with in the
dchdra and prdyas'chitta (the first and third) portions of the work, not
in the second, a portion of which is devoted to inheritance. But as of
the cominentatorial works on Manu, of the whole Mitakshara on the
first and third books of Yajnavalkya, of the great work of Raghunan-
dana, and of the numerous important works and treatises dealing with
these topics, such as the Nirnayasindhu, Dharmasindhusara, S'raddha-
viveka, S'raddhanirnaya, Acharadars'a, and many others, nothing what-
ever as yet exists in translation, it may easily be surmised that judges
unable to read these works in the original language are deprived of a
very important means of deciding on the relative rights of claimants to
successions, and that in many instances their decisions may be at fault ;
for I do not think that, without a positive knowledge of the Hindu

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 171

religion in its greatest detail, any European could undertake to say
whether, for instance, a brother confers more or less benefit on the soul
of a brother than his daughter's son; or whether a maternal grand-
mother on the father's side enjoys that privilege in a higher or lower
degree than a paternal grandmother on the mother's side. In the
judgment of the High Court at Calcutta, on the case to which I am
about to attach some remarks, the learned judges indeed say ; " It
would be difficult for a person at the present day to give a clear and in-
telligible reason for many of the eccentricities and anomalies which
characterize Hindu law of all schools, and this notwithstanding the
encomium of the Pleader on its stern logic and uncompromising
adherence to principles once laid down."* But what in this passage is
called " eccentricities and anomalies," is nothing but the consequence
of the religious views on which the S'raddha ceremonies rest. It is
certainly difficult — nay, impossible — to understand this consequence
without a knowledge of its cause, but the latter once mastered in its
detail, I believe that " the encomium of the Pleader " would not be
found an exaggerated one.

The case in question is the one already alluded to, and the judg-
ment which the High Court at Calcutta passed on it is highly instruc-
tive in several respects, for it tells us that a maternal uncle is to a
Hindu no heir at all, even if no other relatives of the deceased dispute
his claim. To understand this extraordinary finding, it is necessary to
see from what premises it was deduced.

According to the degrees of relationship, the old lawgivers divided
heirs into three categories, the first being that of the Sapin'd'as, or
kindred connected by the Pin'd'a or the funeral cake offered at the
S'raddha, and extending to the seventh degree (including the survivor)

* Gridhari Lall Eoy v. the Bengal Government. ' Becord,' p. 98.

173 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

in the ascending and descending male line ; the second, consisting of
the SamdnodaJcas, or kindred connected by the libation of (udaka) water
only offered at the S'raddha, who extend to the fourteenth degree ; and
the third comprising the so-called Bandhus or Bdndhavas, who, in the
chapter of the Mitakshara and the Dayabhaga treating of them, Cole-
brooke generally renders cognates. It was as one of the last category that
Gridhari claimed as the maternal uncle of the father of a deceased
Zemindar. But the judges of the High Court of Bengal did not allow
the claim, on the ground that he was excluded from the right of inherit-
ance by the definition given of the term bandhu, in the sixth section of
the second chapter of the Mitakshara. The passage on which the
judgment relied runs thus : —

" Bandhus (cognates) are of three kinds ; related to the person him-
self, to his father, or to his mother : as is declared by the following text.
' The sons of his own father's sister, the sons of his own mother's sister,
and the sons of his own maternal uncle, must be considered as his own
Bandhus. The sons of his father's paternal aunt, the sons of his
father's maternal aunt, and the sons of his father's maternal uncle,
must be deemed his father's Bandhus. The sons of his mother's
paternal aunt, the sons of his mother's maternal aunt, and the sons of
his mother's maternal uncle, must be reckoned his mother's Bandhus.' "*

Now, as in this list the sons of a father's maternal uncle are called
Bandhu, bat not the father's maternal uncle himself, and as Gridhari
did not pretend that he was either a Sapin'aa or a Samdnodaka, he was
nowhere.

His plea was, that the enumeration contained in the quoted text was
not an exhaustive one, but merely an illustration of the line in which
relatives called Bandhu must be sought for ; that a father's maternal

* Two Treatises, &c., p. 352. Burnell, 1.1., p. 37. Mayr, 1.1., p. 140.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 173

uncle stood in the same position to Ms son (named in that list) as a
maternal uncle to his (also named there) : and since a maternal uncle,
he argued, was clearly intended to be included in the list, a father's
maternal uncle belonged to the relatives of the Bandhu category. The
correctness of the analogy was admitted by the judgment,* but it still
denied that a maternal uncle was intended to be included in the list.
The Lords of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, admitting
the appellant's plea, reinstated him in his right, and there can be no
question that they did justice to his claim ; but as the arguments on
which their judgment was based would have been stronger, and would
have been less hypothetical, than they now are, had their Lordships
been able to avail themselves" of more and of safer texts than were at
their disposal, and as neither the Bengal Government could ever have
claimed the inheritance of Woopendro, n©r the High Court of Calcutta
pronounced against the Bandhu quality of a " maternal uncle," had
they possessed the same advantage, it falls within the scope of this
paper to illustrate by this case the serious deficiencies which in the
present administration of the Hindu law must be unavoidable.

There were several ways of ascertaining whether the list of Bandhus
relied upon by the Bengal Government, was an exhaustive one or not ;
or in other words, whether a father's maternal uncle and a maternal
uncle were included in, or excluded from, it.

The first was to consult any of the works authoritatively treating of
the duty of persons to perform the S'raddha, or of impurity which would
affect relatives in consequence of a death, for as all such persons 'are
eventually heirs, it would have been seen at once whether the few indi-
viduals named in the quoted text could possibly have been intended for
an exhaustive definition of the Bandhu category. Now, in all such
works, e. g. the Dharmasindhusara, the Nirnayasindhu, Raghunandana's
* Record, p. 96, line 62.

174 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

S'uddhitattva, &c,, this category comprises all the connections on the
mother's side up to the seventh degree in the ascending and descending
line ; and I may almost say, as a matter of course, the maternal uncle
is distinctly mentioned by them. Even the passage from Jimutava-
hana's Dayabhaga, adduced above, might of itself have proved that in the
absence of nearer relatives the " maternal uncle " has the right of per-
forming the funeral rites for a sister's son, and it would have confirmed
a similar conclusion resulting from the same Digest,* for in regard to a
question like this there is no difference between the various schools.
The judgment of the Judicial Committee says :f — " Mr. Forsyth, indeed,
argued strongly against the right of the appellant to inherit, on the
assumption that he was not entitled to offer the funeral oblations.
But is this assumption well founded ? There is evidence, the uncon-
tradicted evidence of the family priest and others, that the appellant
did, in point of fact, perform the shradh of Woopendro ; and he seems,
in the judgment of the priest, properly to have performed that function
in the absence of any nearer kinsman." But the judgment adds : —
" It is, however, unnecessary to determine whether this act of the
appellant was regular or not. The issue in this case is not between
two competing kinsmen, but between a kinsman of the deceased and
the Crown." Yet on the regularity of this act all really depends, since
the right of performing the S'raddha and that of succeeding are con-
vertible terms, and, in the extreme case of an escheat to the Crown,
even the king inherits on the condition that he provides for the
funeral rites of the person to whom he succeeds, and the king is
debarred from succession to a Brahman's property, because a man of
the second or an inferior caste cannot minister to the soul of one of the
first. That the family priest allowed the appellant to perform the

* XI., 6, 12 and 13. f P. 3.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 175

S'raddha for his nephew, certainly raised a strong presumption in favour
of the maternal uncle's right to do so ; but the certainty whether he
really possessed this right could be established only on the ground of
authoritative texts,

The second mode of settling the doubt consisted in referring to the
decision of other authorities of the Mitakshara school ; and of these, it
would have been found that, for instance, the Vivddachintdmani, after
quoting the same passage describing the three categories of Bandhus,
as the Mitakshara, sums up its discussion by giving a list of heirs,
amongst whom " the maternal uncle and the rest " correspond with the
Bandhus of the Mitakshara.* The Lords of the Judicial Committee
had the advantage of being able to resort to this method, since an im-
portant passage from the Viramitrodaya — a digest which, as already
observed, is often a full commentary on the Mitakshara — was accessible
to them in a translation given at p. 15 of the Record ; and they very
justly referred to it in order to show that this authority included " the
maternal uncle " in the Bandhu list alleged by the Mitakshara. But
it so happened that they had ground to suspect the correctness of the
translation of this passage in one particular, and in consequence
amended it hypothetically where it appeared to them to be at fault.
Their conjecture was perfectly right ; but as this was the only passage
of the kind from works of the Mitakshara school, on which they had to
rely for this argument, it would doubtless have been much more satis-
factory had they been in possession of an authoritative translation of the
work to which the passage belongs.!

* SeeTagore, pp. 298, 299; Sanskrit text, Calc. 1837, pp. 155, 156 : ...
vyavahitasakulyas tadabhave matuladih'.

f The judgment says (p. 7) : — " After stating that the term ' Sakulya ' or
distant kinsman found in the text of Manu, comprehends the three kinds of cog-
nates, the commentator goes on to say,—' The term cognates (Bandhus) in the
text of Jogishwara must comprehend also the maternal uncles and the rest, other-

176 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

The third and most accurate course of all was to ascertain whether
the author of the Mitakshara himself, by whose law the case was
governed, elsewhere gave a definition of the term used by him, since,
according to the first principle of interpretation, such a definition
would necessarily remove all deubts. That the Lords of the Judicial
Committee and the learned judges below endeavoured to adopt this
course also, it is needless to say : but for the reasons already explained,
the materials at their disposal did not enable them to arrive at any-
thing like a safe conclusion.

One obstacle that lay in their way arose from the fact, that Cole-
brooke in his ' Two Treatises ' had accidentally varied the translation of
the term Bandhu, and therefore made its identification in several places
impossible. Thus in the Mitakshara, II., 1, 2 ; 5, 3 ; 6, 1 and 2, and
in Jimutavdhana, XL, 1,4; and 6, 12, he had rendered bandhu
4 cognate," or 'cognate kindred ': but in Mitakshara, II., 7, J, 'T3la-
tions'; and in Jimutavdhana, XI., 1, 5, ' kinsmen.' Had he not done
so, the learned judges at Calcutta and the Lords of the Judicial Corn-
wise the maternal uncles and the rest would be omitted, and their sons would be
entitled to inherit, and not tbey themselves, though nearer in the degree of affinity,
a doctrine highly objectionable.' The passage as translated at p. 15 of the Kecord
has 'then they themselves,' in place of c not they themselves.' If this be the correct
reading, it would follow that even if the exclusion of the maternal unele and others
not mentioned in the text relied upon by the respondents from the list of
Bandhua were established, they would still, as relations, be heirs, whose title
would be preferable to that of a king." But oddly enough, at p. 24 of the Record
where a translation of the same passage from the Viramitrodaya occurs, the last
words read : " and then they themselves, though never in the degree of affinity.
A doctrine highly objectionable. Quoted from the Beermithodoya." According
to the Sanskrit text of the Viramitrodaya (C'alc, 1815, 209, b. 1. 8) there can be no
doubt that "not they themselves" is the correct rendering; and that "never"
is probably a misprint for " nearer" ; yet as it is a common occurrence in the
Indian courts that Pan'd'its consulted by the litigants differ in their rendering of
the same text (compare also the note to p. 178) how is a judge, not knowing
Sanskrit, to decide which rendering is legitimate ?

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 177

mittee would have fouud that in its commentary on the verse where
Yajnavalkya says that " in a case of disputed partition the truth should
be ascertained by the evidence of relatives called jndti, relatives called
bandhu, by (other) witnesses, written proof or separate possession of
house or field," the Mitakshara* explains relatives called jnati,
" bandhus on the father's side " ; relatives called bandhu, " bandhus on
the mother's side, viz. the maternal uncle and the rest."f And this

* II., 12, 2.

f Ydjn., II., 150: vibhaganihnave jnatibandhusakshyabhilekhitaih', vibhaga-
bhavana jneya gr'ihakshetrais' cha yautukaih'; whereupon the Mit. in both Calcutta
editions (1815 and 1829) remarks : vibhagasya nihnave 'palape, jnatibhih' pitr'i-
bandhubh.ih' sakshibhir matuladibhir matr'ibandhubhih' purvoktalakshan'aih', &c. ;
in the Benares ed. (1853), vibhagasya nihnave 'palape, jnatibhih' pitr'ibandlmbhir
matuladibhih' sakshibhih' purvoktalakshan'aih', &c. ; in the Bombay ed. (1863),
vibhagasya nihnave 'palape jnatibhih' pitr'ibandhubhir matr'ibandhubhir matula-
dibhih' sakshibhih' purvoktalakshan'aih', &c. In the Benares edition the word
mdtr'ibandhubhih' is evidently by mistake omitted before matuladibhih'j and in the
Bombay edition the order of the text-words of Y&jnav., ./»<&*, bandhu, sdlcshin, ia
more closely followed than in the Calcutta editions, where the order is jndti,
sdkshin, bandhu. But unless in the latter editions this inversion is the printer's
mistake only — which is very possible on account of the severing of sakshibhih' and
purvoktalakshan'aih' — it may have been intended to show that pitr'ibandhubMh' is
the explanation of jndtibhiti, and mdtulddibhih', mdtr'ibandhubhih'y that of ban-
dhuWiih', whereas otherwise it might be supposed (as Colebrooke did), th&t jndtibhih'
had been left unexplained, and pitr'ibandhubhir matuladibhir matr'ibandhubhih'
were the words explaining bandJiubhiJi' '. That the former view, however, is the
correct one, results from the following parallel passages in which the text of Yajn.
is commented upon : Viramitrodaya (p. 223 a, 1. 4, 5), vibh&gaaya nihnave
'pal&pe vibhaktamadhye kenachit kr'ite jnatibhih7 pitr'ibandhubhih' bandhubhir,
matuladibhih', sakshibhih', &c. , VyavaMra-Mddhaviya (MSS), jnatayah' pitr'i-
bandhavah', bandhavas tu matuladayab/ (v. I. matr'ibandhaTas cha ; or without
cha) ; Jimiitavdhana(p.359), prathamam' jnatayah' sapin'd'ah' sakshin'ah', tada-
bhave bandbupadopanitah' sambandhinah', tadabhava udasind api sakshin'ah' (comp.
'Two Treatises,' p. 237; ch. xiv., § 3). Hence Colebrooke's rendering of Mit. II.,
12 § 2, " if partition be denied or disputed, the fact may be known and certainty
be obtained by the testimony of kinsmen, relatives of the father or of the mother
such as maternal uncles and the rest, being competent witnesses as before

VOL. II. 12

178 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

definition of bandhu is substantially therefore the same as that given
by the Mitakshara,* where it defines bandhu as " a Sapin'd'a of a
different family,! that is a Sapin'd'a on the mother's side. Nor does
Jimutavahana differ on this point from the Mitakshara school, for when
speaking of the sense in which Yajnavalkya understood the word
bandhu, he says.J " to intimate that the maternal uncle shall inherit in
consequence of the proximity of oblations, as presenting offerings to the
maternal grandfather and the rest, which the deceased was bound to
offer, Yajnavalkya employs the term bandhu."

But there are other passages, also, in the Mitakshara which clearly
show that its author did not intend to quote the list of the three cate-
gories of Bandhus as an exhaustire one. They are contained, however,
in that portion of the Mitakshara not translated by Colebrooke. One
of these had been supplied to the High Court at Calcutta for the
purposes of the suit, but was singularly misunderstood by it. In
Book II., v. 264, Yajnavalkya where speaking of co-traders lays down
this rule ; " if one (of them) having gone to a foreign country, dies,
let the heirs, the bdndhavas, jndtis, or those who have come, take the
property ; and in their default the king." Whereupon the Mitakshara
comments : " When of partners ' one who has gone to a foreign country
dies,' then let ' the heirs,' that is, his son or other lineal descendants ;
' the bdndhavas,' that is, the relatives on the motJier's side, viz. the
maternal uncle and the rest ; ' the jndtis,' that is Sapiu'd'as, except the

described " — has to be altered into : " if partition be denied or disputed, the fact
may be known and certainty be obtained by (the testimony of) relatives called
jndti, viz. the bmidhus on the father's side j or (that of) relatives called bandhu,
viz. the bandhus on the mother's side, such as maternal uncles and the rest, or
(other) witnesses, as before described."

* IT., 5, 3.

t Bhinnagotran4m' sapin'd'anam bandhus abdena grahan'at.

ADMINISTKATION OF HINDU LAW. 170

lineal descendants ; * or those who have come,' that is, the partners in
business who have come from the foreign country, take his share ; and
' in their default,' that is in default of ' the heirs,' &c , let the king
take it."*

* The translation of this passage as given by me above differs from that which
the Bengal Government had laid before the High. Court, and it also differs from
that tendered by the Appellant to the Court. The Record (p. 97) says :

" The words are, as translated by the Defendant, Eespondent [i.e. the Bengal
Government] : —

" Text. — ' When one dies in a foreign country, let the descendants (Bundhoos),
cognates, gentiles, or his companions, take the goods, or, in their default, the
king.'

" Commentary. — ' When he who is gone to a foreign country, of those who are
associated in trade, dies, then his share should be inherited by his heirs, i. e. the
son and other descendants, viz. (Bundhoos) cognates, i.e., those on the mother's
side, the maternal uncle, and others, viz., the gentiles, i.e. the Sapindahs, besides
the son and other descendants, and those who are come, i.e., those among them
associated in trade, from a foreign country, or in their default, the king shall
take.' "

No wonder that the Appellant objected to this jumble of words, where in the
' Text,' ' Bundhoos ' would be an explanation of ' descendants,' instead of
'cognates' ; and in the Commentary, too, 'Bundhoos' and 'gentiles' are made to
explain the same word ' descendants ' ; and the word ' besides ' is intended for
* except.' But neither is the Appellant's version unobjectionable. It is given
after the foregoing quotation, by the Record, in these words :

" Text. — A perron having gone to a foreign country, his goods would be taken
by his heir, and those related through a Bundhoo, or to a Bundhoo or agnatic
relation, or person returning from that country. In default of heirs, the king will
take." And his translation of the Commentary of the Mituhshara is as follows :

" When a person from amongst the persons trading in fellowship, or common
stock, goes to a foreign country and dies there, his share will be taken by his heir,
i. e. offspring, i. e. son and other offspring, Bundhoos, relations on the mother's
side, maternal uncles, and the rest, or others, agnatic relations, that is to say,
Sapindas, other than offspring, or by those coming back. Those who amongst the
co-traders return from a foreign country, shall take ; in default of them, the
king."

If this version were correct (I am not here alluding to the last sentence which
is perhaps misprinted for " .... coming back ; viz. those who . . . ."), the

180 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

In this passage the High Court at Calcutta declared " The words,
maternal uncle and the rest," to be " an insertion over and above what
is contained in the principal text as to Bundhoos "; and added :
" Under these circumstances, as the translated passage refers to an ex-
ceptional state of things, it may be that the ordinary succession has
been interfered with in a particular other than that above suggested,
though the succession professes to follow the ordinary course in all
particulars save one."*

It need scarcely be observed that there is not the slightest ground
for such a theory ; and the judgment of the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council very justly remarks (p. 7) : " Their Lordships cannot
admit the reasonableness of this hypothesis, and think that even on
the Mitakshara the question under consideration is at least uncertain."
Yet instead of affording absolute proof that the definition here given by
the Mitakshara of the term bdndhava or-bandhu is in accordance with
the definition which the same work everywhere gives when it thinks
proper to paraphrase the word bandhu, and that consequently no new
definition was here intended for an " exceptional state of things," the

text of Yajaavalkya would treat of persons who are " related through a Bandhuy or
to a Bandhu" while the commentary of the Mitakshara would speak of Bandhus
only ; and as the words "related through a Bandhu, or to a Bandhu" are meant
for Yajnavalkya's word bdndhava, it would follow that relatives called bdndhava
are more distant heirs than those called bandhu. Nor should I feel surprised if
possibly a doubt of this kind had some influence on the High Court, when, as we
shall see, it founded a very strange theory on this passage. But bdndhava,
though a derivative of bandhu, has absolutely the same sense as the latter, as
results, not only from all the law-commentaries, but also from the grammatical
Gan'a prajnadi to Pdn'ini V. 4, 38.— Here then are two litigants, both differently
rendering the same important text to which they appeal ; and a Law Court, unable
to examine this text in the original, is to decide which of them is right, or whether
both are wrong !

* Record, p. 98.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 181

judgment of the Judicial Committee proceeds to fortify its position l>y
the passage, above alleged, from the Viramitrodaya, and therefore does
not remove the doubt whether the Mitakshara itself countenanced the
theory objected to or not.

Yet one such definition of bandhu, literally agreeing with that in the
passage just quoted, might have been found in the passage mentioned
before ;* and another, occurring in another, untranslated portion of the
Mitakshara, is still more explicit : for it distinctly refers to the very
passage in question, which contains the Bandhu list, and settles there-
fore even the last remnant of uncertainty.

In Book III., v. 24, Yajnavalkya, treating of the season of impurity
caused by the death of friends, says : " Purification lasts a day when a
guru dies, or a boarder, a vedic teacher, a maternal uncle or a Brahman
versed in one vedic school." On which words the Mitakshara remarks :
" ' Guru' means a spiritual teacher ; * boarder/ a pupil ; « vedic teacher,'
him who explains the Vedangas. By the word ' maternal uncle,' the
relatives on the female side, viz. the bandhus of one's self, the mother's
bandhus, and the father's bandhus are implied ; and who these are has
been shown in (the commentary on) the verse of Yajnavalkya, which
begins with the words, ' the wife and the daughters,' "f that is, on the
very same verse, II., 135 (Coleb., p. 324), to which the whole com-
mentary of Sects. 1-7 of ch. ii. of the Mitakshara, and consequently
also that of Sect. 6 (Coleb., p. 352) belongs.

In short, the maternal uncle, so far from being excluded from the
Bandhus, is almost invariably named as the very type of the whole
category ; and what relative indeed on the mother's side could have a
nearer claim to that title than he ?

* P. 27, 1. 7.

t Matulagrahan'enatmabandhavo matr'ibandhavab.' pitr'ibandhavas' elm yoni-
sambaddha upalakshyante, te cha patni duliitara ity atra dars'itah'.

183 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

Now that in spite of such overwhelming evidence, even in one of
the clearest cases possible, any law-court could nonsuit a claimant
simply because the mass of proof which could have supported his right,
•was not accessible in English to the judge, appears to involve BO
anomalous a state of things that its continuance must be thought to be
very undesirable.

The best and most efficient means of remedying it would of course
be a thorough acquaintance of the Indian judges with the original text
of the Hindu law literature, and their ability to examine for them-
selves in- the original language all the texts which may have a bearing
on a case before them. Nor need such a remedy be looked upon as
chimerical ; for the study of Sanskrit required for a legal training to
this end would not imply more than the labour of a few years.

But as some time might have to elapse before this object could be
attained, it is at least to be hoped that the most immediate wants
pointed out in this paper will be provided for by the competent
authorities.

A thorough revision of all the translations of Hindu law texts hitherto
used in the Indian Courts should be undertaken at once, not in order
to set them completely aside, but with a view of correcting their
mistakes while preserving all that is good in them, and of harmonising
their quotation of the same texts so as to render the identification of
the latter possible.

And, besides, the most important works, as yet accessible only in
Sanskrit, should be translated into English, so that at least the whole
of Yajnavalkya's Code, with the Mitakshara, the Viramitrodaya, some
commentaries of Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga, some of Raghunandana's
Tattvas, the Nirnayasindhu, the Dharmasindhusara, the principal
treatises on S'raddha, impurity, and marriage, and those on adoption,
should soon be within the reach of an English judge.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 183

The study of Sanskrit is now so successfully pursued in India, and
native scholarship has already given such excellent proof of its mastery
both of Sanskrit and English, that with united efforts in India itself,
there would be no difficulty, within a few years' time, in accomplishing
this greatly needed work.

APPENDIX TO PAGE 166.

The oldest Hindu lawgivers lay do\vn the rule that members of a
united family have a joint community of worldly and spiritual interests.
Hence, according to them, their income and expenditure is conjoint ;
they cannot individually accept or bestow gifts, or make loans ; nor can
they reciprocally beaf testimony, or become sureties for one another ;
moreover, certain of their religious duties being undivided, one member
of the family only is entitled and obliged to perform them for the rest.
Accordingly, in doubtful cases it was held that partition of a family
was proved, if it could be shown that all or any of these criteria of
union were wanting. The requirements of an advancing civilization,
however, led to a more definite explanation of this general rule. Trade,
commerce, or similar causes, often compelling co-parceners to live away
from home, or in different houses, the whole of their affairs could not
be managed conjointly, nor could all their religious duties be performed
in common. The difficulties, therefore, of determining from the criteria
already alluded to whether a family was a divided or a united one,
multiplied in time, and the works of Colebrooke, Strange, Macnaghten,
and Grady very justly dwell on them.* A more recent work, however,

* See Mr. Standish Grove Grady's * Treatise on the Hindu Law of Inheritance '
(1869), where, in Sec. ix., pp. 415 ff., on ' Evidence of Partition,' all that relates
to this subject is very carefully collected. See also the ' Manual of Hindu Law,'
by the same learned author (1871), Sec. ix., pp, 273 ff.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 185

that by Mr. R. West and Dr. J. G. Buhler,* is not satisfied with
admitting, as its predecessors had done, that there are difficulties
which must be dealt with according to their merits and as they arise ; it
summarily rejects all the criteria or ' signs of separation,' mentioned by
the native authorities, as inconclusive, and consequently as devoid of
value in a legal sense.

" The will of the united co-parceners to effect a separation," the
Editors of this Digest say,f "may be(l) stated explicitly ; (2) or im-
plied. As to express will it may be evidenced by documents or by
declarations before witnesses . . . ." And " as to implied will," they
continue,]; " the Hindu authors are prolix in their discussions of the
circumstances, from which separation or union may be inferred.
According to them the ' signs' of separation are: — (a) the possession of
separate shares ; (b) living and dining apart; (c) commission of acts in-
compatible with a state of union, such as trading with or lending money
to each other, or separately to third parties, mutual gifts or suretyship,
They add also giving evidence for each other, but from this in the
present day no inference can be deduced, (d) The separate performance
of religious ceremonies, i. e. of the daily Vais'vadeva, or food-oblation in
the fire preceding the morning meal ; of the Naivedya, or food-oblation
placed before the tutelary deity ; of the two daily morning and
evening burnt-offerings ; of the S'raddhas, or funeral oblations to the
parent's manes, &c." The Editors then add : " None of these signs of

* A Digest of Hindu Law j from the replies of the Shastris in the several
Courts of the Bombay Presidency. Book II. Partition, Bombay, 1869. As
this work reached me after the foregoing paper had been read to the East India
Association, the translation of the chapter of the Viramitrodaya " On a woman's
separate property," contained in its Appendix (pp. 67 ff.), was then unknown to
me, and has to be added to the translations of Hindu Law Texts enumerated at
pp. 5 and 6.

t Introduction, p. xii. J P. xiii.

186 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

separation can be regarded as, by itself, conclusive " ; and again they
say :* " As no one of the marks of partition above enumerated can be
considered conclusive, so nether can it be said that any particular
assemblage of these alone will prove partition. It is in every case a
question of fact to be determined like other questions of fact, upon the
•whole of the evidence adduced, circumstantial evidence being
sufficient."

But here it must first be asked what the Editors of this Digest call
" evidence " in addition to that admitted by them as such under the head
of " express will "? For, if none of the evidence afforded by the " signs
of separation," — whether this evidence be taken by itself or combined, —
can, as they assert, establish a proof of partition, what evidence is
there left but " documents " or " declarations before witnesses "?f Yet
as denial of separation, and litigation ensuing on it, will rarely occur
when the party interested in the denial knows that his opponent is in
possession of a partition deed, or can produce witnesses before whom
the intention to separate has been formally declared, and as under such
circumstances it will offer no difficulty to a judge, while, on the other
hand, the cases presenting a real difficulty will just be those in which no
documentary or other evidence of a similar nature exists, — it is hard to
appreciate the value of the advice which the Editors afford in their last
quoted words. But as the most striking part of their statement con-
sists in the summary rejection, as legal proof, of all and each of the
" signs of separation," — whereas some of these are so strongly relied
upon by the native authorities, and have been so cautiously spoken of
by Colebrooke, Strange, Grady, and other European writers of
eminence, — it will not be inexpedient to inquire whether in this
matter a judge may henceforth feel entitled to dispense with a know-
ledge of all that is stated on^this point in Hindu works, and simply

* Introduction, p. xv. f P. xii.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 187

content himself with endorsing the opinion of the Editors of the
Bombay Digest.

One of the most prominent " signs of separation," as we havy seen,
is based on religious grounds. It concerns the joint or separate per-
formance of certain religious rites, some of which are mentioned in the
quotation just given from the Eombay Digest. In regard to the legal
irrelevance of these, the Editors of this Digest even grow emphatic.
" The separate performance of the Vais'vadeva sacrifice, of S'raddhas
and other religious rites," they say,* " is still less conclusive," viz. than
the "living and dining apart" previously spoken of and declared by them
to be "not conclusive of the fact " of separation. They seem to arrive
at this inference from the interrogatory connected with a case to which
they refer, and from a passage of a native authority to which they point,
as forming part of their remarks on this case.

The case is that reported by them at p. 58. It gave rise, on the
part of the Court, to the following amongst other questions : "He [viz.
the son of an elder wife] was in the habit of performing the sacrifice
called Vais'vadeva on his own account. Should he be considered a
separated member of the family ? and can any man whose food is cooked
separately perform the ceremony, or is it a sign of separation ?" Upon
which the Pan'd'it so questioned replied : "Those members of a family
who individually perform the ceremonies of Vais'vadeva and Kuladharma,
and have signed a Farikhat, may be considered separated. It does not
appear from the Shastras that the elder son of a person is obliged to
perform the Vais'vadeva on his own account, although his father and
step-brother are united in interests and he himself lives and cooks his
food separately in the same town without receiving the share of his
ancestral property. A person may, however, perform the ceremony by
the permision of his father."

* P. xiv. t P. 59.

188 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

On this reply of the Pan'd'it the Editors again observe : * " The
Shastri is right in not considering the separate performance of the
Vais'vadeva as a certain sign of ' partition,' though it is enumerated in
the Smr'itis among these signs. The general custom is, in the present
day, that even undivided coparceners, who take their meals separately,
perform this ceremony, at least once every day, each for himself,
because it is considered to purify the food." But here it may be
observed that all the Pan'd'it really said was, that when a man lives
and cooks his food apart from his father and stepbrother who are united,
it does not appear from the Shastras that he is obliged to perform the
Vais'vadeva on his own account ; and what follows therefore from his
words is, that if, living apart from his relatives, he were obliged to
perform the Vais'vadeva, such an obligation would prove that there was
no union between him and the relatives named. The real drift of his
answer, therefore, was not to show, as the Editors suppose, that the
separate performance of the Vais'vadeva was in no case a " certain sign
of partition," but to recommend to the Court the investigation of the
fact whether the person in question was or was not " obliged " to perform
this ceremony separately from his relatives.

In a note on the word Vais'vadeva the Editors had previously saidf
that " this ceremony is performed for the sanctification of food before
dinner," and after the words above quoted (".... because it is con-
sidered to purify the food "), they continue : " We subjoin a passage on
this point from the Dharmasindhuil (Dharm. f. 90, p. 2, 1. 3 and 6
Bombay lith. ed.) : juhuydt sarpishdbhyaktair gr'ihye 'gnau laukike 'pi
vd, yasminn agnaupached annam' tasmin homo vidMyate. Avibhaktdndm
pdkabhede pr'ithag vais'vadevah' kr'itdkr'ita iti bhat't'ojiye ; * Rice mixed

* P. 60. f P. 59.

J An abbreviation, by tha Editors, of Dliarmasindhusdrat which is the full
name of the work meant, by Kdt'indtha.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 189

with clarified butter should be offered in the sacred domestic fire, or in
a common fire. The oblations (at the Vais'vadeva) should be made in

that fire with which the food is cooked Bhat't'ojidikshita

declares that, if members of an undivided family prepare their food
separately, the Vais'vadeva-offering may be performed separately (in
each household) or not."

Their remark, however, regarding the purpose of the Vais'vadeva, as
well as their quotation from the Dharmasindhusara and their transla-
tion of it, are very inaccurate. For, as will presently be seen, the Dhar-
masindhusara states that the object of the Vais'vadeva is the consecra-
tion of one's self and of the food ; whereas the Mitakshara, in com-
menting on Yajnavalkya, I., v. 103, altogether contests the doctrine
that the V. is intended for the consecration of the food, and after some
discussion on this theory, arrives at the conclusion that it solely con-
cerns the (spiritual) benefit of the person performing it. And as in
quoting from the Dharmasindhusara the Editors in the beginning of
the passage alleged have left out half a verse which essentially belongs
to it, while before the words ascribed to Bhat't'oji they have omitted
another material portion of the text, their translation is not only in.
correct, but the very ground on which the author of the Dharma-
sindhusara adduced Bhat't'oji, has been misunderstood by them.* But
even supposing that all the remarks of the Editors on the Vais'vadeva
were correct, they would still not prove anything in respect of the legal
inconclusiveness of " S'raddhas and other religious rites," all of which

* The essential words omitted before 'juhuydt ' are : gr'ihapakvahavishyannaiB
tailaksharadivarjitaih', (juhuydt, &c.) ; and those which should have preceded
and are absolutely required at the quotation ' avibhaktdndmy &c,,' from Bhat't'oji,
read : sa chayam' vais'vadeva atmasam'skarartho 'nnasam'skararthas' cha ; tena-
vibhaktanam pakaikye pr'ithag vais'vadevo na, vibhaktanam' tu pakaikye' pi
havishyantaren'a pr'ithag eva, (avibhaktdndm. &c.) For the translation of the
whole passage, see p. 191, 11. 7 ff.

190 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

are included in their sweeping assertion which sets these rights aside
for the purpose of legal evidence.

As the object of this paper, however, is not to correet the mistakes
of an individual writer, but to show how necessary it is that a judge
should examine for himself all that the native authorities teach in
regard to questions that may come before him, and how the very
replies of even the most learned Pand'its may be conducive to fallacies
— since the correctness of a reply mainly depends on the correctness
arid pertinence of the question put, — I will, as an illustration of the
difficulties which beset this subject, add a translation of a few passages
from three works only, since even these will clearly prove that the
bearing of the performance of certain religious ceremonies on the
question of union or division cannot be dispatched in the offhand
manner implied in the ruling of the Bombay Digest.

In treating of the daily religious duties of a Hindu the Dharmasin-
dhusdra under the heading ' on the duty of the fifth division ' (of a day
divided into eight parts) contains the following passage : *

" The Vais'vadeva is to be performed for the removal of (sins com-
mitted in) the five Siinds. The five Sunds are the five places where
injury may be done (to living beings) ; viz. the wooden mortar in which
grain is threshed; the stone slab on which condiments, &c., are ground
with a muljer; a fire-place ; a water-jar, and a broom.f The com-
mencement of the Vais'vadeva is early (i. e. in the morning), not like
that of the Agnihotra, late (i.e. in the evening) ; accordingly they resolve
to perform it, as expressed in the words : " early and late, the Vais'va-

* Dharmas., ed. Bombay (1861), III., A., fol. 95 I, 11. 7ff.

f The object of the Vais'vadeva is similarly defined in a passage of S'atatapa
quoted in Kaghunandana's Ahnikatattva (ed. Calc. 1834, vol. i., 251) ; and the
five Sunas are frequently alluded to, e. g. in Manu, III., 61, S'ankaracharya's
comm. on the Bhagavadgita, III., 13, and they are also defined in Anandagiri's
and S'ridharasvamin's gloss on the latter.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 191

deva (should be performed ").* The five great sacraments are to be
performed day by day ; and these are the sacrament of the Veda, that
of the gods, that of created beings, that of the manes, and that of men.f
The sacrament of the Veda has been already explained. | Those who
follow the ritual of the Rigveda consider that the Vais'vadeva consists
of the three sacraments of the gods, created beings, and manes. The
sacrament of men is the giving food to men. An oblation of food
cooked in the house and fit for sacrificial purposes,§ free from sesamum-

* From Raghunandana (vol. i. p. 250) and similar works it results that the
proper time for the performance of the V. is always during the day, and that the
evening performance of this ceremony is permitted only under special conditions,
as for instance when ' cooking ' takes place for the entertainment of a guest.
Some authorities, moreover, absolutely forbid the repetition of the ceremony on
the same day, whether by day time or in the evening. But compare p. 193.

f These five mahdyajnds, ' great sacrifices ' or ' great sacraments,' are mentioned
in the oldest works, e.g. in the S'atapatha-Brahman'a (XI., 5, 6, 1) — also quoted
from this Brahman'ain S'ridatta's Acharadars'a — ; in Manu, I., 112, &c., Yajna-
valkya, I., 102, &c. — Manu (III., 70) defines them as follows : " teaching (which,
according to Kulluka, includes reading, viz. the Yedas) is the sacrament of the
Veda ; offering rice, &c., or water is the sacrament of the manes ; an oblation (of
food) in fire is the sacrament of the gods j presentation of food (viz. throwing
ghee or rice, or the like, in the open air) to created beings, is the sacrament of
created beings ; hospitality is the sacrament of men."

J Viz. in the preceding portion of the text, here not translated.

§ Substances, called Tiamsliya, or fit for sacrificial purposes, are frequently
mentioned in ritual works, as in the Katyayana S'rauta Sutras (VII., 2, 2), or in
works dealing with ritual matters, as in Manu, Yajnavalkya, &c. The Mitah shard
in its comment on Ydjn., L, 239, names as such : rice of different varirties,
barley, wheat, kidney-beans of two varieties (phaseolus mungo and phaseolus
radiatus), wild grain (wild roots, or in general such food as forms the uiot •>! an
ascetic), a black potherb kdlas'dka, mahds'alka [explained as a kind offish; Wil.-».;
a prawn or shrimp], cardamons, ginger, black pepper, asafoetida, molasses, candied
sugar, camphor, rock-salt, sea-salt, bread fruit, cocoanut, the plants called kadali
and badara, the produce of a cow, — viz. milk, curds, butter, or other preparations
made of her milk, — honey, flesh, &c. On the other hand, as substances uufit for,
sacrificial oblations the Mitukshard names : kodrava (paspalum kora), masura

192 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

oil, factitious salt, and such like (unsacrificial substances), and dressed
with ghee, one should make in the (sacred) domestic fire, or the
ordinary fire , (for) the law ordains that such an oblation (should be
made) in the fire with which a man cooks his food.* Since the S'raddha
occurring at fixed periods, is performed by (performing) the sacrament
of the manes included in the Vais'vadeva ceremony, no entertainment
of Brahmans takes place (as it would) on behalf of the S'raddha
occurring at fixed periods. And since aW the S'raddha, (due) on the
day of new-moon, is performed by (performing) it (viz. the sacrament
of the manes), Bhattoji says, that those who are unable to perform the
Sraddha, due on the day of new-moon (regularly), should do so once
(at least) in the course of a year. In the case of (impurity arising
from) childbirth, the rule is that the five great sacraments are dropped.
And this Vais'vadeva is performed for the sake of one's own consecra-
tion and that of the food.f Therefore amongst members of a united
family when they cook (their food) in common, a separate performance
of the Vais'vadeva (by each member) is not (allowed); but amongst
members of a divided family, even when they cook (their food in com-

(ervum hirsutum), chick-pea, Jculattha (dolichos biflorus), pulaka, a legume called
nishpdva. a kind of bean called rdjamdsJia (dolichos catjang), the white pumpkin
gourd, two kinds of the egg-plan i\(vdrttdJcu and vr'ihati), upodiM (basella rubra),
the shoot of a bamboo, longpepper, orris root, 8'atapushpa (anethum sowa), saline
earth, ordure, factitious salt, a buffalo's-chounri, her milk, — curds, — butter, or
other produce of buffalo's milk j &c.— Compare also on the same subject Manu,
III., vv. 226 ff., the Vishn'u-Puran'a, Book III., ch. 16 ; the Nirn'ayasindhu, I.,
fol. 13 ; Raghunaridana, vol. i., pp. 70, 142 and 250 ; S'ridatta's AcMrddars'a
(Benares, 1864), fol. 56 a; &c.

* The Acharadars'a (fol. 56 a) which quotes a passage to the same effect from
Angiras, regarding the sacred and ordinary fire, adds : " the sense of this passage
is : a man who maintains a sacred fire should cook his food and make the oblation,
in this (sacred) domestic fire ; one who does not maintain such a fire, in the
ordinary fire."

t See p. 189, 11. 15 ff.

ADMINISTEATION OF HINDU LAW. 193

mon, the Vais'vadeva (must be performed) separately (by each of them)
with some sort of substance fit for sacrificial purposes. According to
Bhat't'oji, amongst members of a united family, when the cooking (of
their food) does not take place in common, the Vais'vadeva may be per-
formed separately or not.* When no cooking (of food) takes place on
the eleventh and similar days (of abstinence), the Vais'vadeva should be
performed with grain (esp. of rice), milk, curds, ghee, fruits, water, and
the like substances. Let a man perform it with rice and so on,
(throwing such substances) with his hand, — or with water, (throwing
the latter) with his hollowed palms, into water ; but let him at the
performance of the Vais'vadeva avoid kodrava (paspalum kora), chick-
pea, the kidney-bean (phaseolus radiatus), masura (ervum hirsutum),
kulattha (dolichos biflorus), and all factitious salt called kshdra and
lavana. When a man lives abroad, the Vais'vadeva [should be per-
formed at his house by the instrumentality of his son, priest, or other
(proper substitute) ; and should there not be at his house such other
(proper) agent he himself must perform it abroad. Those who conform
to the ritual of the R'ig- and Black- Yajur-Vedas should perform it

* The words " an oblation of food cooked in the house, &c." (p. 191, 11. 7 ff.)
to "performed separately or not? are the complete passage, represented in the
Bombay Digest by the words " rice mixed " to " performed separately (in each
household} or not" (see above, p. 188, last 1. ff). The correctness of the last
words "performed separately or not" might at first sight seem doubtful, since
their value in Sanskrit is the compound kr'itdkr'ita, and this word (according to
Pan'., II., 1, 60, not a Dvandva, but a Karmadharaya) would literally mean ' done

not done,' i.e. ' imperfectly done,' or ' done as if not done,' i.e. ' done in vain.'

That in the quotation from Bhat't'oji, however, the word has not this sense, but
the one given it in the translation of the Bombay Digest, and in that above,
follows not only from the sense in which the word kr'itdkr'lta is unmistakably
used in other passages of the Dharmasindhusdra and Nirn'ayasindhu, (since its
meaning there becomes clear from the interpretations following it), but also from
the injunction of As'valdyana, which is analogous to that of Bhat't'oji (see p. 196,
U. 24 ff.).

VOL. II. 13

194 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

twice (a-day), according to the text which says : ' it should be performed
by day and by night.' But if unable to do so, they may, at the same
time, repeat it or perform (the day and night Vais'vadeva) together.*
The usual practice of followers of these two Vedas is to cook their food
and perform the Vais'vadeva, in the ordinary fire. "I

In the chapter treating of the religious duties of the sons whose
father is alive, the same work contains the following statement : |

" Sons not separated from their father should not perform the Vais'va-
deva separately ; for it is stated that * one who lives upon the cooking
of (i. e. the food cooked by) his brother, is (like) one who lives upon the
cooking of (i.e. the food cooked by) his father.' Hence, if the father
maintains a sacred fire, even when the cooking and the Vais'vadeva are
effected with the sacred fire, his unseparated sons, although they, too,
maintain a sacred fire, should not perform the Vais'vadeva separately.
Those who think that, in the absence of cooking, a fire becomes an
ordinary one, may cook merely in order to consecrate their fire. But
by members of a divided family the Vais'vadeva should be performed
separately (by each of them). And since (according to the followers of
the R/igveda-ritual)§ the Vais'vadeva consists of the three daily sacra-
ments, viz, those of the gods, created beings and manes, those (who
entertain this doctrine regarding the Vais'vadeva), even if their father is
alive, will perform the (daily) sacrament of the manes, forming part of
the five great (daily) sacraments. To the followers of the Black-
Yajurveda, however, the five great (daily) sacraments are distinct from
the Vais'vadeva : they (consequently) perform the (daily) sacrament of

* See note * of page 191.

f There follows a description of the manner in which the V. is performed by
members of the Yaishn'ava and other sects, of the rules relating to the Naivedya
ceremony, and other detail which it is not requisite here to enter into.

J Bombay ed. (1801) III. B., fol. 3 a, 11. 8 ff.

§ See p. 194, U. 4 ff.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 195

the manes, if their father is alive, (only) when they are members of a
divided family."

In the chapter treating of those entitled to perform the S'rdddha, the
same work says ; *

" The son of one's own body has the preferential duty (and right) to
perform the annual and other S'racldhas and the funeral ceremonies
which take place immediately after death. If there are several such
sons, the eldest has this duty (and right); on failure of him, or if he is
not present, or if his right has lapsed through having become an outcast
or similar (disqualifications), the eldest after him. The statement, how-
ever, (made elsewhere) that in the absence of the eldest the youngest
has always this right, not the sons between them, is without authority.
Hence, if sons live in a state of division, the eldest, after having received
from the younger (brother) the (necessary) property, should perform all
the funeral rites up to that called Sapin'd'ana.f But the annual and
other S'raddhas each of them must perform separately. If, however,
sons live in a state of union, even the annual and other S'raddhas must
be performed by one of them only. (Still) since what is done by one
(member of a united family) accrues to the benefit of the rest, all the
sons should keep such rules as the observance of chastity, the not
touching another person's food,J and similar ones. If sons do not live
in the same place, whether they stay in different countries or in
different houses, each of them should perform the annual and other

* III. B.,fol. 4, a, 11. 10 ff.

f That is, inclusive of the first sixteen S'r&ddhas which end with the Sapin'd'ana,
also called Sapirid'ikaran'a.

J TdjnavalJcya, III., 241, classes * feeding on others ' amongst the crimes, called
wpapdtdkA, which are only a degree less than the mahdpdtaka, or most heinous
offences. Manu, III, 104, foretells parasites that, after death, they will become
the cattle of their hosts.

196 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

S'raddhas separately, even if they are members of an undivided
family."*

In the important chapter on the S'raddha itself, under the head of
"settled rides relating to members of a divided and an undivided family,"
the same work, after a general reference to previous statements, has the
following : f

" Of brothers and other members of a family, divided in property, all
the (religious) duties are separate. But that the funeral ceremonies
and the sixteen S'raddhas up to the Sapin'd'ana (which are performed
during the first year after a death) should be performed by one of them
only, has been already stated. J Yet if members of a family are undivided,
all such acts as may be done without (spending any) property, e. g.
bathing, the Sandhya-devotion, the sacrament (i.e. reading) of the
Vedas, muttering of prayers, fasting, reading the Puran'as, are done (by
each of them) separately ; whether such acts recur at regular periods,
or are occasional, or (purely) voluntary ; separately, also, such ceremonies
of regular recurrence, enjoined by vedic or traditional works, as are
performed with fire. Another view founded on the teaching of
Katyayana and others is, that ' one who lives on the cooking of a brother
is (like) one who lives on that of a father.' Of the five great (daily)
sacraments those of the gods, created beings, manes, and men§ should be
performed by the eldest (brother) only. If the cooking is done separately
(by members of a united family) those who conform to the rules of
As'valayana, say that the separate performance of the Vais'vadeva (by

* The rest of this chapter regulates the rights of younger sons in the absence
of the eldest, and in their absence those of other members of a family successively
to perform the S'raddhas. Its importance regarding the rights of inheritance,
requires no remark ; but as these rights do not concern the present paper, no
further extract on this point is here given.

t III. B., fol. 37 ft, 11. 5 ff. J See p. 195, 11. 13 ff.

§ See p. 191, 11. 1 ff.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 197

each member of such a family) is optional.* Since, if the eldest
(brother) does not perform the Vais'vadeva, it is (the duty) of a younger
(brother) to perfect the cooking (of the food by means of this ceremony),
some enjoin that before eating, some of the food should be thrown by him
into the fire, and some given to a Brahman. The worship of the
(tutelary) gods may be performed (by each of them) separately, or (by
all of them) conjointly. The annual S'raddhas, those performed on the
day of new-moon, at the sun's entrance into a new sign, eclipses and
similar S'raddhas should be performed by the eldest only. The
S'raddhas, also, performed in holy places (e. g. of the Ganges) and those
of the same category should be performed by one member only of an
undivided family, if all the members happen to be together (in the
place), but separately, (by each member) if they happen to be in different
places. The same rule applies to the S'raddha, which is performed at
(the holy city of) Gay a (in Behar). As regards sacrificial ceremonies,
at which voluntary gifts are made, and which can be effected only by
means of (spending some of the family) property, the right of perform-
ing them depends on the assent of the brothers and other (members of
the united family). The S'raddha on the 13th day of the dark fortnight
of the month Bhadra, which is under the asterism Magha, it is stated,
should be performed separately by each member (of an undivided
family)."f

* Compare p. 193, 11. 3 ff.

f Compare for the S'raddhas to be performed at holy places and on the 13th of
the dark fortnight of the month Bhadra, also the following passages from Wilson's
translation of the Fishnu-Pitrdna (III., 14, vv. 17-19). "He who, after having
offered food and libations to the Pitrts, [manes] bathes in the Ganges, Satlaj,
Yipas'a (Beas), Sarasvati, or the Gomati at Naimisha, expiates all his Bins. The
Pitr'is also say: 'after having received satisfaction for a twelvemonth, we shall
further derive gratification by libations offered, by our descendants, at some place
of pilgrimage, at the end of the dark fortnight of Magha' " ; and (ibid., III., 16,
vv. 17 ff ) : "In former times, O king of the earth, this song of the Pitr'is was

198 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

The work from which these passages are taken is a compilation from
other works, among which it prominently names the Nirn'ayasindhu,
composed by Kamaldkara, in the year 1611, A. D.* As the latter is
held in especial esteem by the Mahrattas for whose benefit, it seems,
the Bombay Digest was chiefly intended, I will add a translation of its
chapter : " On the settled rules relating to members of a divided and
undivided family," which likewise forms part of its section on the
S'raddha.f It runs thus :

heard by Ikshwaku, the son of Maim, in the groves of Kalapa : { Those of our
descendants shall follow a righteous path, who shall reverently present us with
cakes at Q-aya. May he be born in our race who shall give us, on the thirteenth
of Bhadrapada and Maglia, milk, honey, and clarified butter." (Wilson's Works
vol. viii., pp. 170 and 197.) As pointed out by the editor, the phrase " for a
twelvemonth " is in the Sanskrit text represented by varshdmaghd ; and the

phrase "on the thirteenth of Bhadrapada and Maglia " by trayodas'im

varsMsu cha maghdsu cha. But the former being rendered by S'riratnagarbha :
aparapalcshamaglidtrayodas'i, and the latter : varshdsu^ bliddrapade^magJidnaJcsTiatre
trayodas'im, it would be better to substitute for them : "on the 13th day of the
dark fortnight of the month Bhadra, which is under the asterism Magha." —
The sanctity of this day and its appropriateness for the performance of the
S'raddha already result from Manu, III., 273 and 274, where the same expression —

trayodas'im varsMsu cha maglidsu cha' occurs, and is interpreted by Kulluka

to v. 273 : varshdkdle maghdtrayodas'ydm. and to v. 274 bhddrabr'ishn'atrayodas'i;
also from YdjnavalJcya, I., v. 260 : where the words varsMtrayodas'ydm magMsu
are explained in the same manner by Vijnanes'vara : bhddrapadalcr'ishn'atrayo-
das'ydm magfidyuktdydm. — Compare also Sir W. Jones, on the lunar year of the
Hindus, As. Res., vol. iii. p. 292. Besides these verses, other quotations relating
to the same subject, from S'anJcha, 8'dtdtapat and others, occur in Jimut., III.,
1, 18, in Eaghunandana's Tithitattva (Calc. ed. 1834, vol. i. pp. 75, 160), in the
Nirnayasindhu (II., fol. 42 a, J), Dharmas. (II., fol- 31 £.), &c., which also show
that each member of a family, whether divided or undivided, must for himself
perform this particular S'raddha.

* This date is given by the author himself at the end of his work, in the words :
vasu (= 8) ritu (= 6) ritu (= 6) bhu (1) i.e. 1668 of the era of Yikramaditya.

t Ed. Bombay (1857) III. B., fol. 65 «, 11. 4 ff.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 199

:< The Pr'ithvichandrodaya quotes these words ofMartchi: ' If there
are many sons of a father who live together, all that is done with the
undivided (family-) property, by the eldest, the rest consenting, must be
(considered as) done by all of them.' These words mean that, though
the eldest is the agent, all of them share in the result (of his acts).
Therefore such religious rules, as the observance of chastity, &c., must
be kept by every one of them, since they consecrate the persons who
obtain the result. And this applies also to re-united members of a
family, on account of the analogy (that exists between them and members
of a united family).*

The Mitd'tshard quotes these words of Ndrada : 'The religious
duty of unseparated brethren is single; when partition has been made,
even the religious duties become separate for each of them. 'f Vr'ihaspati
also says : ' Of members of a family who live (together and) cook (their
food) in common, the sacraments of the manes, gods and twice-born
should be single ; of those who are divided, they should be performed
in each house separately,']: Though in this last text, no exception being
mentioned, the prohibition of a separate performance (of religious acts)
in an undivided family would also (seem to) obtain for such acts as the
reading of the Vedas, the Sandhya devotion and the like, it (neverthe-
less) merely relates to the performance of the S'raddha, Vais'vadeva and
the ceremonies which can be effected only by (spending some of the

* This passage also occurs in the same chapter, fol. 8 b, 11. 11 ff.

t Mit. ch. ii., sec. xii., § 3. — The same quotation also occurs in the Viramit-
rodaya, Calc. ed., p. 169 b, 223 a ; the Vivadachintdmarii (ed. Calc. 1837), p. 162
(Colebrooke's translation of this passage in the Mit., and of Tagore p. 311 in the
Viv. materially differ from one another) ; in the Smfitichandrilca (Calc. 1107) p.
8, VyavaMramayuJchat ch. iv., sec. vii., § 28 (Borradaile's translation being the
same as Colebrooke's), and in other Digests.

J This quotation also occurs in the VivddacTi,, p. 125 (Tagore, p. 227) ;
Viramitrodaya, f. 172 a, 222 b ; KulliiJca to Mawi, IX, 111 ; DAyalcav
(Calc. 1827), ff. 28 ; Smr'itichandrikd, p. 8 ; &c.

200 ON THE DEFICIENCIES^ THE

family) property ; for such property having more'thau one owner, one
(member of the family alone) would not be entitled to spend it. All
such acts, however, as may be done without (spending any) property,
e. g. muttering prayers, fasting, the Sandhya devotion, reading the
Vedas and Puran'as, whether such acts recur at regular periods, or are
occasional, or (purely) voluntary, each member is competent to perform
separately (for himself). For there being no expenditure of property,
no consent (of the rest) is required ; and consequently the words (before
quoted) ' with the undivided (family-) property' cannot apply to such
acts. And this conclusion also results from the following text of
As'valdyana as quoted in the Prayogapdrijdta : ' Amongst twice-born
men who cook (their food) in common there should always be separate
the sacrament (or reading) of the Vedas, the Agnihotra, the worship of
the gods, and the Sandhya devotion.' (In this passage) Agnihotra
signifies such ceremonies of regular recurrence, enjoined by vedic or
traditional works, as are performed with fire. For (the right of each
member of a family to fulfil) these duties (separately) is logically
analogous to the right acquired by the consent of the rest. The
S'raddha of the father, and other acts of regular recurrence which have
the same consequence (for all the members of a family) a single (member)
is entitled to perform even without the consent of the rest ; for it is
said : * l Even a single (member) of a family may conclude a donation,
mortgage, or sale, of immovable property, during a season of distress
for the sake of the family, and especially for pious purposes/ « For
pious purposes,' means, according to Vijnanes'vara,f for the performance
of indispensable duties, viz. the S'raddha of the father, or the like.
" But some maintain that even of members of an undivided family, if

* By Vr'ihaspati, according to the Katnakara (as quoted by Colebrooke) on the
Mit., ch. i., sec. i., § 28. Comp. also the Viram., f. 181 a ; Vivddach., p. 161.
t Mit, ch. L, sec. i., § 29.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 201

they cook (their food) separately, and if they stay in different countries,
each has to perform separately (for himself) the S'raddhas on the day of
new-moon and the annual S'raddhas; for Hdrita has said: 'If
undivided brethren cook their food separately, each of them should also
perform separately the Vais'vadeva and the other S'raddhas'; and
Yama : ' If a son who is not separated (from the family) stays in a
foreign country, he should perform (for himself) separately the S'raddha
of the father on the anniversary of his death, and the S'raddha on the
day of new-moon.'

" If (the drift of) these texts is properly considered, their sense (will
be found to be) this : Of the five great (daily) sacraments, the eldest
should with the consent of the other (members) of the family perform
the sacraments of the gods, created beings, manes and men; for also
Vydsa has said : ' Food should never be eaten without previously
making a sacrificial offering, and presenting a first (portion) of it (to a
Brahman) ; amongst members of an undivided or re-united family what
is done even by a single (member) is done (by all).' But if one's food
has been prepared without the eldest (member) having performed the
Vais'vadeva, he may eat it after having silently thrown some of it into
the fire. For, where treating of the rights of members of an undivided
family the Pr'ithvichandrodaya quotes this passage from Gobhila:
1 Whose food in the family is first ready, he may eat it after having put
a certain portion of it into the fire, and given a first (portion) of it to a
Brahman.' Again, As'valdyana mentions the ceremonies which (members
of a divided family) should perform separately when they cook their
food separately ; and also separately when they cook it in common ; (his
words are) :* * Of members even of a divided family, if they live
(together and) cook (their food) in common, one, the master (of the

* Compare the same passage in the subsequent extract from tho Vyavahara-
mayuklia ; p. 205, 11. 6 if.

202 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

household), should perform the four (daily) sacraments which (in the
order of the five*) are preceded by the sacrament of speech. But men
of the twice-born classes, whether members of an undivided or a divided
family, if they cook (their food) separately, should, previous to taking
it, each separately perform these sacraments day by day.' The sacra-
ment of the Veda, the Sandhya devotion, bathing, the sacrament of the
manes, and the like ceremonies are for the reason stated, performed
separately (by each member); but on account of the two texts quoted,
the worship of the gods either in common (by one) or separately (by
each member) ; the S'raddhas on the day of new moon, at eclipses, &c.,
by one member only ; the S'raddha at hcly places, and similar S'raddhas
by one only, if all the members of the undivided family happen to be
together (in the place), but separately (by each member), if they happen
to be in different places. And so likewise the S'raddha which is
performed at Gaya. For Hemddri quotes this passage from the Kimna-
Purdn'a : ' Many well conducted and excellent sons must be wished for ;
(for) if one of their number goes to Gaya, we are saved by him, and he
enters upon the highest path.'f

" As regards voluntary acts, such as sacrificial offerings connected
with the making of gifts, and the like, the right of performing them
depends on the assent of the other (members of the family); that of
muttering prayers and performing similar acts which entail no expen-
diture of property exists without (such) assent. Apardrka quotes these
words of Pait'hinasi , ' The annual and similar S'raddhas should be
performed separately by each member of a divided family; but if
performed by one member of an undivided family, it is as good as if

* See p. 191, 11. 1 ff.

t The first portion of this quotation ({ many ' to ' Gaya ') occurs with some
variation in theRamayan'a (ed. Bombay, 1861), II. 107, v. 13 ; and is quoted also by
several treatises on adoption, the Dattakakaumudi, Dattakasiddhantamanjarl, &c.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 303

they were performed by all of them.' That the monthly S'raddhas,
which precede the annual S'raddha, must be performed conjointly (by
the whole family), Laghu-Harita has declared in these words ; ' The
sixteen S'raddhas, which end with the Sapin'd'ana, sonsshouldnot perform
(each of them) separately ; nor ever, even when divided in property.'
The Sapin'd'ana here implies a monthly S'raddha; for this results from
the words of Vydsa : ' After the year (following the death of the father)
the eldest (son) should perform the S'raddha before the assembled family ;
but after the Sapin'd'ana (has been accomplished) each son should perform
it separately.' And Us' anas says : 'The 'new' S'raddha* the Sapin'd'ana,
aud the sixteen S'raddhas should be performed by one member of the
family only, even if the latter is divided in property ; but the S'raddha
on the 1 3th day of the dark fortnight of Bhadra, which is under the
asterism Maghaf should be performed separately by each member even
of an undivided family' ; as has been already mentioned. \ But when
V'riddha-Vasisht'ha says, 'the monthly S'raddha, the ceremony of setting
a bull free, and the Sapin'd'ana should be performed by the eldest, as
well as the first annual S'raddha', — his injunction is without authority.
In the Paris'isht'ha of the R'igveda ritual (it is said that members of a
family) should perform the ' new ' S'raddha conjointly."

With these extracts from the Dharmasindhusara and its predecessor,
the Nirn'ayasindhu, it will now be expedient to compare the law on this
matter as laid down by the principal authority of the Mahrattas, the
Vyavaliaramayukha. It is contained in the following passage. §

* The ' new ' S'raddha (navas'raddha) is the collective name of the ceremonies
which begin on the first day after a death, and end on the tenth (comp. Dharrnas.
III. B., fol. 7 5, 1, 9).

f MagJidtrayodas'i ; see f of page 197.

J Viz. III. B., f. 8 b, and f. 9 a, where the same quotations from Laghu-Harita
and Us' anas occurs.

§ Ch. iv., sec. vii., § 28-§ 33. Consistently with the opinion expressed at p. 182,

204 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

" Ndrada says : * ' The religious duty of unseparated brethren is
single ; when partition has been made, even the religious duties become
separated for each of them/ Here the term ' unseparated ' is intended
to denote the chief topic (treated of), whilst ' brethren,' on account of its
(merely) qualifying the former, is not to be taken in its literal sense.
Therefore in an unseparated family, even if it consists of a father, grand-
father, son, son's son, paternal uncle, brother, brother's son or other
(relatives), their religious duty is single.

" Here again, though conjointness of an act, in regard to its various
stages, follows as a logical consequence if there is sameness of place,
time, agency, and so on, an express text would cause such conjointness
to cease, if the agency is not the same, though (it is) that of members of
an undivided family. Hence all those religious duties, enjoined by vedic
and traditional works, which are fulfilled by means of fire, even of
unseparated (brethren) are separate for each (of them), since they are
different according as different kinds of fire would be connected (with the
ceremony). Even so the S'raddha of the paternal uncle, brother's son,
&c., at the day of new moon and other (seasons) is separate by reason
of the separation of the deified person (from the pdrvan'a rite) ; but the
S'raddha of brothers (dying) without (maintenance of) a sacred fire
is performed by one and the same act, because all the deified persons
are conjoint. Again, by residence abroad and the like (causes), there
being a difference in the places (where members of a family live, the
S'raddhas are to be performed) separately (by each member) ; the
ceremonies also performed with fire are separate for those who maintain
a sacred fire. But the worship of the household deities, the Vais'vadeva
and similar ceremonies are performed (conjointly) by one and the same

in the translation that follows, as much as possible has been retained of
Borradaile's version ; several portions of the latter, however, had necessarily to be
altered, as not correctly rendering the sense of the original.
* See p. 199, 11. 11 ff.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. ' 205

act. Hence S'dkala says : ' Of those who live (together and) cook
(their food) in common, there is but one worshipping of the deity in the
house, and but one Vais'vadeva ; in a family of divided brethren these
acts are performed in each house separately.'

" As for the text, however, of As'valayana, as quoted in the Parijata,
which says : ' Of members even of a divided family, if they live
(together and) cook (their food) in common, one, the master (of the
household), should perform the four (daily) sacraments, which (in the
order of the five) are preceded by the sacrament of speech ; but men of
the twice-born classes whether members of an undivided or a divided
family, if they cook (their food) separately, should, previous to taking it,
each separately perform these sacraments day by day' ;* — this text has
reference to members of a re-united family ; for that such is its import,
follows from the words ' of members even of a divided family, if they li ve
(together and) cook (their food) in common,' and from the words
* whether members of an undivided or a divided family.'

" Therefore if there be a separate cooking of food, as is sometimes
the case, amongst members of a re-united family, their great (daily)
sacraments are separate. ' Sacrament of speech ' is ' the sacrament
(i.e. the reading) of the Veda.' The phrase ' those (sacraments) which
are preceded by the sacrament of speech ' is represented (in Sanskrit)
by (one word which is) a Bahuvrihi (or possessive) compound of the
class where the quality expressed by it (as the predicate of something
else) is not intended for the (i.e. the essential) quality (of the latter) ;
for were this compound meant to convey such an (essential) quality, the
words * preceded by the sacrament of speech ' would yield no sense,
since there would then be no cause for excluding the first (sacra-
ment) ; whereas it logically follows that the four (sacraments only) are

* See p. 201, U. 27 ff.

206 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

here meant.* Hence the sacrament of the Veda should be performed
separately (by each member of the family). But (after all) these two
texts are not much respected by the learned.

"As regards, however, the following sentences in the Dharma-
pravr'itti :

* Sons unseparated must (conjointly) celebrate one anniversary
S'raddha for both parents ; if they be in different countries they must

* The grammatical observation in this passage, relating to Bahuvrihi com-
pounds, is an allusion to a paribhdshd or interpretation-rule which occurs in
PatanjaWs MahdbMsJiya on Pdn'ini, I., 1, 27 (viz. the par. bahuvrihau tadguria-
sam'vijndnam api; on which Nagojibhat't'a in the ParilMsJiendus'elcTiara observes
that, on account of the word api, it also implies atadgun'asam'mjndnam). The
drift of this paribMsM, as Patanjali explains it, is to show that Bahuvrihi com-
pounds (in English comparable to adjective compounds like lightfoot — i. e. one
who possesses light feet, — or blue eye-d, &c.) are of two kinds, the one expressing
a quality or an attribute which is essential, and the other expressing a quality or
an attribute which is not essential, to the subject so predicated by the compound.
Thus, as Patanjali illustrates, if you say : * there march the priests having red
turbans on, the Bahuvrihi lohitoshnishati { having red turbans on ' implies here
an essential quality of the priests, since this quality cannot be disconnected from
their appearance as they march. But if you say : ( bring hither the man who
possesses brindled cows (chitragu)] you want the man to be brought, but not his
cows ; hence the quality of ' possessing brindled cows ' would in this case be dis-
connected from the appearance of the man, and therefore would not be essential
to it. In the first instance the quality expressed by the compound was the charac-
teristic feature, in the second it is merely the descriptive mark, of the subject
predicated by it ; and this, as Ndgoji in his commentary observes, depends on the
sense. The application, then, regarding the compound vdgyajnaptirvaka, ' pre-
ceded by the sacrament of speech,' which our text makes of this paribhash&
is that if this predicate of the c four sacraments ' spoken of had been considered
by the writer as essential to them, the four sacraments would have been represented
by him as accompanied and headed by c the sacrament of speech ' — which would
be nonsense. If, however, this predicate was understood by him as being merely
a descriptive one, the sense would be, as it should be, that the four sacraments are
those which in their usual order come after the sacrament of speech, but are not
accompanied by it.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 207

(each of them) separately perform the S'raddha on the day of new moon
and the monthly S'raddhas. If they go to (reside in) different villages,
unseparated brethren should always (each of them) separately perform
the S'raddha on the day of new moon and the monthly S'raddhas of both
parents. When uuseparated, but residing in different villages, each
living upon the wealth acquired by himself, these brothers should
celebrate the Parvan'a-S'raddha separately ; '

" And as regards the following passage in the Smr'itisamuchchaya ;

1 The Vais'vadeva, the anniversary S'raddha, as well as the Mahalaya
rite, in case the members of a family reside in different countries, are
to be celebrated separately (by each of them), and in like manner the
S'raddha on the day of new moon,' —

"These (two) texts, some say, have reference to members of a
re-united family residing in different countries. But the fact is that
they have no authority.

" Or, to sum up : if there be sameness of place, time, agency and so
on, conjointness (in the performance of the act) follows as a matter of
logical reasoning. If the agency is not the same, such conjointness
(only exists if it) is established by an express text. If the place is not
the same, some base (the rule concerning) the separate performance of
S'raddhas and other ceremonies on circumstantial reasoning, since in
such a case there is neither a logical necessity nor an express text
(which would establish conjointness)."

Even from these few extracts it will be seen that commensality or
the reverse of it has not been regarded as a proof of either union or
division of a family ; for without any restriction whatever, as we find,
members of a united family are spoken of as residing and ' cooking '
apart from one another, and members of a divided family as living and
messing together.

And I may add at once that I know of no Hindu law-authority which

208 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

distinctly declares that ' living or dining apart ' is a legal test of partition.
Manu, Vydsa, and other lawgivers, it is true, sometimes say that sons
and parents should ' live together,' but, in the first place, the words they
use to this effect, do not imply an obligation ; they merely convey a
recommendation or permission ; and secondly, their expression ' living
together ' does not intimate a particular mode of life which would be a
test of union, but is used synonymously with ' union' in general.

Hence, when Manu says : * " Either let them thus live together, or
let them live apart (Kulluka: i.e. let them separate), if they have a
desire of performing religious duties, &c."— his words merely express
the lawfulness of both union and separation, but not a criterion of
either. Or, when Vydsa writes, " It is lawful that brothers and their
parents, if the latter are alive, should live together," the Smriti.
chandrikd, after quoting these words, adds : " even after the demise of
the father brothers live together for the sake of increasing mutually their
property; for S'ankha and Likhita have said, 'Let them willingly live
together, for being in harmony and united they will become
prosperous.' "f Here again, therefore, * living together ' does not
imply a particular mode of domestic life, without which union could
not exist, but simply a state of union in general as contrasted with
a state of separation in general. And consequently, passages of
this kind are not alleged by the Digests under the head of
"evidence of partition," but in the chapter treating of the periods of
partition ; — a distinction which, from a Hindu point of view, is very
material.

There is indeed one text which might seem to imply that " cooking
apart " (not living apart) was considered by a native authority as a sign

* IX., Ill; in the VyavaMra-Madhaviya quoted as a verse of Prajdpati.
Compare also Jimutav. Day abb., I., 37.
t Ed. Calc,, p. 8.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 209

of partition, viz., a passage in Narada's Dharmas'astra,* for it occurs
there under the head of " ascertainment of a contested partition," and
being quoted in Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga under the same head, has
been translated by Colebrooke thus :

" Gift and acceptance of gift, cattle, grain, house, land and attendants
must be considered as distinct among separated brethren, as also diet,
religious duties, income and expenditure."!

But, in consulting the explanation given by the best commentators of
this passage, and in comparing it with the sense put upon it in other
Digests, it will be found that instead of "as also diet, religious duties,
income and expenditure," the translation should most probably run :
" as also the religious duties connected with the cooking (of food), income
and expenditure " — when the very omission of ' cooking apart * in this
passage would strongly confirm the opinion just expressed. \

* I. (India) O. MS. No. 1300, fol. 38, 1: danagrahan'apas'vannagr'ihakshetra-
parigrahah' vibhaktanam pr'ithag jneyah' pakadharmaganiavyayah'. [xiii., 38.

t XIV., § 7.— The italics of diet are mine.— In Colebrooke's " Digest of Hindu
Law," vol. iii., p. 407 and p. 417, this passage is translated thus : " When co-heirs
have made a partition (distribution) the acts of giving and receiving cattle, grain,
houses, land, household establishments, dressing victuals, religious duties, income
and expenses are to be considered as separate, and (conversely) as proofs of a
partition ;" whereupon Jagannatha observes (p. 407) : " c dressing victuals ' [here
means] for the service of guests and the like, and for the food of the family ;
* religious duties' the aggregate of constant and occasional acts of religion." It
will be seen, however, from the next note, that his interpretation of pdkadharma
is not borne out by the principal commentators of Jim. Dayabh. and the other
Digests.

J On the first part of the compound paTcadJia/rmagamavyayah'^ Achyutananda,
in Bharatachandras'iroman'i's edition of Jimutav. Dayabh. (p. 357) comments :
pdJcadharmd vais'vadevadharmddayah', when pakadharma, therefore, would not be
a Dvandva, but a Tatpurusha compound ; and similarly S'rikr'ishn'at. : (as also in
the previous Calc. editions) pdJcadharmo vais'vadevddiJcarma^ i.e., " religious duties
connected with cooking, that is, the Vais'vadeva duties (or ceremonies), and similar
ones;" Rdmdbhadra in the edition named merely comments on dharma (not on

VOL. II. 14

210 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

It is to be presumed that on the strength of this passage, — as trans-
lated by Colebrooke, — Strange, Macnaghten, and other modern authors,
even though rejecting non-commensality as a 'sign' of separation,
allowed it a place amongst the different kinds of ' evidence of partition ; ' *

pdJcadharma), viz., dharmo daivapitrddikarma ; but daiva is as frequently used
synonymously with vais'vadeva, the meaning of his words would be : " the Vai-
s'vadeva, the sacrament of the manes, and similar ceremonies ;" when it becomes
probable that the proper reading should be pdkadharmo daiva0, or that dharma is
abbreviated by the commentator for pakadharma ; in the Viramitrodaya also,
(p. 223, a, 1. 12) where the same passage of Narada is quoted, Mitramis'ra explains
(1. 14) dharmo vais'vadevddih' , ekapdkena vasatdm iti prdguktavachandt, i.e.t
" religious duty means the Vais'vadeva, and so on, on account of the previous
quotation (from Narada) which says : ' of those who live (together and) cook (in
common*) (the worship of the manes, gods and twice-born should be single, &c.) ;'"
where dharma is therefore used in the sense of pdJcadharma, and the ' sign ' in
qtiestion is not the ' cooking,' but the religious rites connected with the cooking.
— Again, in the Vivddachintdman'i, where the same passage occurs (p. 162)
Vdchaspatimis' ra likewise takes pakadharma for a Tatpurusha ; ^f\z.,pdkadharmahf
pdrvan'ddih', " the religious duties connected with cooking, i.e., the Parvan'a and
other ceremonies." In the Ddyakaumudi, too (p. 278) S'rikr'ishn'a? s commentary
on this passage, as already mentioned, is quoted and adopted by Ramajayatarka-
lankara. On the other hand, in the Vyavahdramddhaviya and Vyavahdramayukha
(IY.. 7, § 34), instead of pdkadharmdgama° the text reads ddnadharmdgama°
when Nilakan't'ha explains ddnadharmo lekhyddih' , " the duties connected with
gifts, i.e. written deeds, and the like." — The word grain, which occurs in Cole-
brooke's translation, represents the Sanskrit anna ; and lest any inference be drawn
from it regarding ' diet/ or lest it be doubted that this is the proper sense of the
word as here used, I may mention that the DdyaJcaumudi, on the authority of the
Vivddabhangdrn'ava, says : " anna here means ' the getting of grain,' " and adds :
" but some say anna here means ' buying corn, grain, &c., for the sake of food
(anndrtham*)? " But even for anna, the Yivadach. has the v. 1. artha and explains
it with arthotpddana, ' producing wealth.' — Whatever view, therefore, we may take
of this passage, it is clear that the balance of probability is in favour of S'rikr'ish-
n'atarkalankara's, Achyutananda's, and Vachaspatimis'ra's gloss, and that Narada
if he really wrote pakadharma0 and not ddnadharma, did not make * cooking,' but
the religious duties connected with it, ' a sign of partition.'

* Macnaghten, for instance, in his ' Principles of Hindu Law ' (Madras, 1865,
53, says : " It (viz. partition) cannot always be inferred from the manner iu

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 211

but, with the aid of the printed texts and commentaries we now possess,
there can be no doubt that we should not be justified in stating for
certain, as the Bombay Digest does, that according to Hindu authors,
living and dining apart is a sign of separation.*

But, though the extracts already adduced merely confirm the negative
inference derivable from the ancient law authorities, that commensality,
taken by itself, affords no legal evidence regarding the state of a family,
they show us that a different view must be entertained of the value
which some ceremonies at least possess for testing doubtful cases of this
kind.

Some religious -acts, as we see, must, according to all authorities,
be performed separately by each member of a family, and others in
common, whether the members of such a family live in a state of union
or separation. Thus, the reading of the Vedas, muttering prayers, and
in general all religious acts which entail no expenditure, must be
performed separately by each member even of a united family ; on the
other hand, the sixteen S'raddhas which occur during the first year after
a father's death, must be performed in common, — that is, as a rule, by
the eldest son on behalf of the whole family — even if the latter is a
divided one. Hence the performance of acts or ceremonies like these
is no criterion either way, whether of union or separation. Yet we find
that if members of a united family ' cook ' their food in common, they are
bound to perform, conjointly, the four daily sacraments of the gods,

which the brethren live, as they may reside apparently in a state of union, and yet,
in matters of property, each may be separate ; while, on the other hand, they may
reside apart, and yet may be in a state of union with respect to property : though
it undoubtedly is one among the presumptive proofs to which recourse may be had,
in a case of uncertainty, to determine whether a family be united or separate in
regard to acquisitions and property." — Similarly, 'Strange, Hindu Law,' vol. i.,
p. 229.

* See p 187, 11. 13 f.

ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

manes, created beings and men, the anniversary S'raddha, the S'raddha
on the day of new moon, and the S'ra'ddhas of this category, the Tirtha-,
Gaya-, and S'raddhas of this nature, whilst, if messing apart or if
separated, they would be bound to perform these rites separately, eacli
for himself. The Vais'vadeva also, members of a separated family must,
and members of a united family, if not messing together, may perform
separately ; but members of a united family, if messing together, must
perform it conjointly. Hence, if it can be shown that relatives mess
together, and yet perform all or any of these ceremonies separately, each
for himself, it is clear that, on the ground of all authoritative texts, a
case of division is made out.

Again, it is expressly enjoined that a voluntary religious ceremony
entailing expenditure can be performed by a single member of a united
family only on the condition that the rest of the family allow him to do
BO ; and to this clause no restriction is attached regarding commensality
or living apart. Hence if it can be shown that a person performed
such a ceremony without any protest on the part of his relatives, yet
without having obtained their consent, such evidence wonld prove that
he was divided from them ; or, conversely, if it can be shown that he
asked and obtained the consent of his family to perform such a
ceremony, proof is afforded that at that time he was a member of a
united family.*

Some statements, therefore, of Sir T. Strange on this subject are
liable to objection. For, though he was right in dividing the religious
duties of a Hindu into such as are " indispensable," and others which

* How great the amount of evidence available on this purely religious ground
is, can be fully ascertained only from the ritual works ; but an inference to this
end may be obtained from Colebrooke's Essays * On the Eeligious Ceremonies of
the Hindus,' and particularly from that relating to the S'raddha (Miscellaneous
Essays, vol. i. pp. 123 ff.) ; also from H. H. Wilson's c Eeligious Practices and
Opinions of the Hindus' (Works, vol. ii.. pp. 40 ff.; edited by Dr. B. Eost).

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 213

" in their nature are voluntary,"* he was mistaken in assigning to the
latter class "consecrations, the stated oblations at noon or evening
with whatever else there may be of a similar kind, the performance or
non-performance of which respects the individual merely." And he
was likewise mistaken when he said that " the proof in question [viz. of
partition] results from the separate solemnization of such [rites], the
acquittal or neglect of which is attended with consequences beneficial,
or otherwise, to the individual, in his capacity as housekeeper (gr'ihastha),
or master of a family, the third and most important order among the
Hindoos ; of this kind are among others, the five great sacraments, in
favour of " the divine sages, the manes, the gods, the spirits, and
guests. "f For we have seen that each member even of a united
family must for himself perform several such ceremonies if the members
of that family ' cook ' apart from one another. And when he added,
" Still such separate performance is not conclusive ; it is a circumstance
merely," — we must point to the cases above mentioned, in which it is
conclusive, provided the members of a family mess together. Again,
exception must also be taken to the remark which the same learned
author appended to a Pandit's answer touching the same question. J
"Had the division been doubtful," he said, "then certainly the joint
performance of the ceremonies would be a conclusion against it; a
conclusion merely, however; or, as it has been appositely called in
another case, ' a token ' (adyuharana, I suppose, in the original) not a
proof." For, one of the ceremonies here alluded to is " the annual
ceremony for a father," and the joint performance of such a ceremony,
as we have seen, can only take place in a united family. The usual
words for ' token,' moreover, from which he inferred that it implied

* Hindu Law (1830), vol. i., pp. 227 ff.

f Those explained in note * of p. 191 are here meant.

J Hindu Law, vol. ii., p. 392.

214 ON THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE

a conclusion only, are in Sanskrit chihna and laksharia, and each is often
used in the sense of "characteristic or essential mark," when it is
tantamount to proof.

The Editors of the Digest, however, not merely repeat, as we have
seen, the general and, on account of its generality, objectionable state-
ment of Strange, but after the words above quoted* add: "In the
present condition of Hindu society, the performance of all religious
rites has become so lax and irregular as to afford no safe ground for
inference." I do not know on what authority this sweeping assertion
is made, for the Editors do not at all indicate the source whence it has been
derived. Hitherto the most reliable accounts of the present religious
condition of India seem to lead to the conclusion, supported also by the
writings of Colebrooke, Wilson, Haug, and others, that there is still
in the country a very large proportion of the community which very
tenaciously clings to what it considers its orthodox faith, and that this
community is extremely jealous of allowing any European to pry into
its devotions and to become acquainted with the detail of them. Nor
is it clear what the Editors call * lax and irregular;' for compared to
the vedic ritual, for instance, that taught by the Puran'as may be so
qualified, and judged by the standard of the latter, doubtless more re-
cent ceremonies may likewise be thus termed. A statement so vague and
general is in reality therefore meaningless, for it neither specifies the
ceremonies to which it relates, nor the period or the standard by which
to obtain a medium of comparison between the present and past. Yet
even if the Editors had afforded us the information required, and if their
statement concerning the quality of the actual worship of the Hindus

* P. xiv. " The separate performance of the Yais'vadeva sacrifice, of S'raddhas
and other religious rites, is still less conclusive. At Dig. chapter iv., Q. 4, infra,
a passage of Bhat't' ojtdikshita is quoted, according to which coparceners, living
apart, may or may not perform the Vais'vadeva each for himself, and, in the present
condition of Hindu society, &c." See p. 187, 1L 8 ff.

ADMINISTRATION OF HINDU LAW. 215

were in some sense correct, it still appears that the conclusion
would not be borne out by it. For in so far as the Hindu law of in-
heritance appeals to evidence based on religious grounds, it is quite
immaterial whether the detail in the performance of this or any other
ceremony concerned by it, agrees with the teaching of the ancient or
mediaeval, or even modern ritual — provided such a performance is held,
rightly or wrongly, to be in the spirit of the orthodox faith. Whether,
therefore, the S'raddhas or Vais'vadeva, for instance, are now per-
formed in strict accordance with the ritual relied upon by Colebrooke in
his ' Essay on the Eeligious Ceremonies of the Hindus,' or not, is for
legal purposes absolutely irrelevant, so long as the popular mind still
believes that the S'raddha benefits the soul of the deceased relative, or
that the Vais'vadeva removes the sins which a man may have committed
in preparing his daily meals. And that this belief no longer exists, the
Editors would still have to prove. It is certain, moreover, that the
Law Courts of the Bombay Presidency and the Pandits can entertain
no doubts in this respect, for otherwise it would be unintelligible why
in suits relating to inheritance, the judges should address questions to
the Pandits about the performance of S'raddha and other rites, and that
the Pandits should strengthen their replies by a reference to their
doctrinal works ; and even the Bombay Digest reports three instances,
at least, of such interrogatories, at pp. 48, 57, and 58. It would be a
mistake, therefore, on the part of an Indian judge were he to adopt the
inference suggested to him by the Bombay Digest that no performance
of any religious ceremony whatever can afford conclusive evidence
regarding the union or division of a Hindu family, and in con-
sequence, that henceforth he may dispense with a study of the native
authoritative works concerned in this matter. Even the few data here
collected, by way of illustration, will sufficiently show that in doubtful
cases these works will still be his safest guide.

AETICLE VI.

OPINIONS ON PKIVY COUNCIL LAW CASES.

A.

ON THE CASE BETWEEN NEELKISTO DEB BURMONO
AND BEERCHUNDER THAKOOR.

1. It is a maxim of Hindu law, admitted by all the schools, that
there are four sources of Hindu law, viz., 'Sruti (i.e. the Vedas), Smr'iti
(i.e. the Dharma-'Sastras, or the codes of law by Manu, Yajnavalkya,
and other ancient law-givers), custom, and (in all indifferent cases)
"self-satisfaction" (i.e. one's own pleasure); but where these are at
variance with one another, that weight and authority attaches to them
according to their precedence ; i.e. that where they clash, 'Sruti would
supersede Smr'iti, either of these custom, and either of the former
"self-satisfaction."*

* Manu II., 6. — " The roots of law are the whole Veda, the Smr'iti and moral
practices of such as perfectly understand it, the (immemorial) customs of good
men, and (in cases quite indifferent) self-satisfaction."

Manu II., 12.— "The scripture (i.e. S'ruti or Yedas), the codes of law (Smr'iti),
approved usage, and (in all indifferent cases) self-satisfaction, the wise have openly
declared to be the quadruple description of the juridical system."

Yajnavalkya^ I., 7. — " The S'ruti, the Smr'iti, the practice of good men, what
seems good to one's self, and a desire maturely considered, these are declared to
be the root of law." [The Sanskrit words for the first three sources in Yajna-
valkya are the same as in Manu. The difference in translation is therefore merely

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES. 217

2. Hence if the kuldchitr or custom which prevailed or prevails in
the family of the Maharajas of Tipperah regarding the succession of
an heir to the throne and possessions of Tipperah, is at variance with
the Hindu law as current in Bengal, either this custom is devoid of
authority, or the law as current in Bengal is not the law by which the
succession in the royal family of Tipperah has to be regulated. And
that the latter contingency is possible, again results from the fact that
the law regarding succession as current in Bengal, is not in itself Smr'tii,
but only a commentary on Smr'iti (viz. the Dayabhaga of Jimutavuhana),
and that there are other commentaries on the same Smr'iti, which in
essential points differ from that commentary, and actually are the law
prevailing in other parts of India (e.g* the Milakshara, the Vyavahara-
Mayukha, the Smr'iiicbandrika, <fcc.)

3. That the Tipperah Kulachar or custom is materially at variance-
with the Hindu law of succession as current in Bengal, follows from the
fact that the former excludes from succession the widow, and that it can
give preference to a brother or other member of the family before the
son of a deceased king.*

4. Since, however, the exclusion of the widow from the Tipperah
succession, and the precedence of a brother or other relative before a

accidental, that of Manu belonging to Sir W. Jones, and [that of Yajnavalkya to
Roer.]

The Mitakshara on this passage from Yajnavalkya explains that, where^they
clash* they .have a right and authority according to the order in which thej are
enumerated.

* Exclusion of the widow : Record, p. 406, line 22 ; p. 139, line 48.
of sons in favour of brothers : Kecord, p. 407, line 47.
of sons in favour of a nephew : Kecord, p. 135, line 30.
of a son in favour of the eldest member of the family: Kecord,.

p. 134, lines 54, 55.

of a son in favour of a brother : Kecord, p. 290, line 36.
of a son in favour>f a nephew ; Record, p. 31, line 13.

318 OPINIONS ON LAW CASES.

son, have been declared legal and valid by former decisions of the
Courts,* it results that the law of Bengal cannot be invoked in the
present case to settle the respective claims of the Respondent and
Appellant.

5. It remains, therefore, to be seen whether the Tipperah Kulachar,
and if so to what extent, is in conformity with a higher authority than
the law of Bengal, and what that authority is.

6. The highest law authority of India, that from which no other law-
code is supposed to differ, is the code of Manu. That portion of this
code which relates to inheritance, treats of inheritance under a twofold
aspect, viz , inheritance as succession to an undivided estate, and
inheritance as succession to family property when division had taken
place. The law relating to the former category of inheritance is
extremely simple, and scarcely admitting of litigation : that relating to
the latter is complex.

Hence other law-codes, all of which admit the supreme authority of
Manu, e.g. Ydjnavalkya, who is the primary source of the present law
of succession in India, passes entirely over in silence the first category
of succession,! and merely deals with the second category, which is a
fruitful ground for litigation.

And it is only the digests or commentaries, as that of Jimutavahana
or the Mitakshara of Vijnanes'wara, which here and there endeavour to
bring in the question of non-division,f though they properly only have to

* The same as above ; especially in the case of the widow ; Record, p. 406,
line 22.

f See the beginning of Co] v>rooke's translation of the Mitakshara., p. 241
(2nd ed., p. 364) : — " The partition of heritage is now propounded by the sage of
holiness," &c. (which words belong to the author ot the Mitakshara), and the
beginning of Ydjnavalkycts chapter on inheritance : ib.t p. 258, last line but one
(2nd ed., p. 377) :— " When the father makes a partition," &c.

J Thus the quotations from Manu given in the next notes occur in Jttnuta-

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES. 210

deal with questions of division. And on that ground, too, they in
consequence arrive at sometimes opposite conclusions. Thus, since the
chapter of Yajnavalkya— as translated by Colebrooke — strictly speaking,
only relates to division (" Daya-vibhaga," or "Daya-Bhaga," meaning
division of inheritance), the Mitakshara concludes, that the widow
where mentioned by Yajnavalkya, can only mean the widow of a divided
husband, whereas the Daya-Bhaga of Jimutavahana obviously striving
to fill up what may appear as a defect in Yajnavalkya, concludes that
widow also means the widow of an undivided husband. But the very
possibility of such a fundamental difference in the interpretation of the
same text, proves that Yajnavalkya's text did not deal with the
succession to an undivided estate as a separate topic, and that those —
like the Maharajas of Tipperah — who do not consider the widow as
entitled to succeed, resort for the law regulating the succession to an
undivided estate, not to Yajnavalkya and the Daya Bhaga of Jimuta-
vahana, as current in Bengal, but to the code of Manu.

7. Regarding the succession to an undivided estate (and it is admitted
on all hands that the throne and the possessions of a Maharaja of
Tipperah are in the nature of an undivided and indivisible property),
the code of Manu* rules that after the death of a father " the eldest

vahana (Colebrooke's "Two Treatises," pp, 16, 17, 2nd ed., p. 193), and the
"Mitakshara" (Colebrooke, p. 263, 2nd ed., p, 381), not to explain the law of
succession to undivided property, but merely to prove the period at which,
according to Manu, division could take place.

* Manu IX., 104 (quoted in Colebrooke, p. 8, 2nd ed., p. 186 :)—

" After the death of the father and mother, the brethren being assembled

" must divide equally the paternal estate, for they have not power over it while

"their parents live."
IX., 105 (quoted in Colebrooke, p. 16, 2nd ed., p. 193 :)—

"But the eldest ['brother' is not in the text] may take the patrimony

" entire, and the rest may live under him as under their father."
IX., 185 (quoted in Colebrooke, pp. 199 and 346, 2nd ed., pp. 334 and 443 does
not apply here : —

220 OPINIONS ON LAW CASES.

[brother] takes the entire patrimony," and that the " rest of the family
depend on him for their maintenance, as on a father."

8. The word for "eldest" in Manu isjyesht'ha; hut as "jyesht'ha" has a
double meaning, viz., that of " eldest" and " best," all the commentators
— also borne out by another passage of Manu — agree in deciding, that
the "eldest" must also imply the "best;" hence, if the "eldest" is an
unworthy person, or otherwise unfit to manage the family property,
even the "youngest" maybe declared " jyesht'ha," that is, any other
member of the family, if considered worthier than the eldest. But in
such a case they also stipulate that the consent of all the members of the
family is required to exclude the eldest, and to invest another member
of the family with the right of succession and the privileges pertaining
to it.*

" Of him who leaves no son, the father shall take the inheritance, or the
"brothers."

For this last paragraph can only refer to a divided family where each member has
property of his own, as brothers occur in the plural, and as the son could never be
in possession of the ancestral estate if the father were still alive.

* Jimutavahana, where showing that non-division can only take place if ALL the
members of the family consent, quotes Manu, IX., 105, and comments on it as
follows (Colebrooke, p. 16 ; 2nd ed., p. 193 :) —

"Is not the eldest son alone entitled to the estate on the demise of the
" co-heirs, and not the rest of the brethren ? for Manu says : — ' The eldest
" ' brother may take the patrimony entire, and the rest may live under him, as
" 'under their father.' And here c eldest' intends him who rescues his father
" from the hell called Put, and not the senior survivor. * By the eldest, as soon
" ' as born, a man becomes father of male issue, and is exonerated from debt to
" * his ancestors ; such a son, therefore, is entitled to take the heritage. That
" c son alone on whom he devolves his debt, and through whom he tasted
" c immortality, was begotten from a sense of duty ; others are considered as
" ' begotten from love or pleasure.' "

" Not so ; for the right of the eldest [to take charge of the whole] is pronounced
" dependent on the will of the rest. Thus Narada says : — ' Let the eldest brother,
"like a father, support all the others who are willing to live together without

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES. 221

They also rule — likewise on the authority of another passage from
Manu — that if there are sons by different mothers, seniority belongs to
birth, if the mothers are of the same caste; but that it belongs not to
birth, but to rank, if the mothers are of different castes. Thus, if al,
the mothers are of the Kshattriya caste, the first-born son would be the
eldest, even if he were the son of the youngest wife ; but if there are
three wives of the Vais'ya, or third caste, and one wife of the Kshattriya,
or second caste, the son of the latter would be the " eldest (best),"
though he may be younger than the sons by the Vais'ya mothers.

9. It follows, therefore, that the right of succession to an undivided
estate is in the first place a right by seniority — seniority also implying
rank ; that this right is forfeited only in consequence of uuworthiness

" partition ; or even the youngest brother, if all assent, and if he be capable of
" business : capacity for business is the best rule in a family.' [Colebrooke, p. 17,
2nd ed., p. 194, translates this passage from Narada thus : — ' Let the eldest brother
* by consent support the rest, like a father, or let a younger brother who is capable
'do so ; the prosperity of the family depends on ability.' This translation,
however, is not so correct as that in Prasannakumar Tagore's Yivadachintaman'i,
p. 227, from which the former is taken.] "By consent of all" (Jimutavahana
continues) "even the youngest brother being capable, may support the rest.
Primogeniture is 'not a positive rule' [i.e. is not absolutely meant in the quoted
passage from Manu]".
Manu, IX., 213 (quoted in Colebrooke, p. 294, 2nd ed., p. 404) :—

" An eldest brother who from avarice shall defraud his younger brother, shall

forfeit the honour of his primogeniture, be deprived of his additional share, and

be chastised by the king."

This passage, though relating to division, shows that an "eldest" son can forfeit
his primogeniture through unworthy conduct.

Kulluka^ the celebrated commentator of Manu, also, where explaining Manu
IX., 105 (quoted before) says : — " If the eldest is virtuous, then he is the eldest,"
and where commenting on Manu, IX., 109 — " : The eldest exalts the family or
destroys it ; the eldest is in this world the most respected, and the good never treat
him with disdain," gays :"The eldest in an undivided family, if he is virtuous,
then he is the eldest, for on account of his virtuous conduct the younger brothers
follow him 5 he exalts then the family, but if he is vicious he destroys it," &c.

222 OPINIONS ON LAW CASES.

or unfitness on the part of the person entitled to succeed ; but that this
forfeit must be the result of a unanimous decision taken by all the
members of the family interested in the preservation of the estate.

10. The so-called custom of the royal family of Tipperah, as results
from the Record, consisted in the following particulars : —

(a) The reigning Maharaja designated, while alive, or could designate,

his successor to the throne and the estates.

(b) The person so designated was called Yuvaraja, and his instal-

lation was performed with great solemnity.

(c) The person so installed was always a male, never a female or an

infant, these being excluded on account of their " unfitness,"
and as is contended by the appellant, always the eldest member
of the family; but the Respondent asserts that he was not
always the eldest member, though he admits that such a person
was never a female or an infant.

1 1 . This custom agrees in all its particulars with the law of Maim as
explained before. For, though Manu does not speak of the installation
of a Yuvaraja, such a " custom" — the third source of Hindu law — would
not be at variance with Manu or any other " Smr'iti or S'ruti" It is
on the contrary borne out by precedents recorded in the Mahdbhdrata,
the Ramayatia and the Purdfias, and therefore legal.* And even if
the assertion of the Respondent were correct, the inference to be drawn
from it would only be that the predecessors of the deceased Maharaja
chose a junior member of their family as their successor in preference
to the eldest member, because the latter was deemed by them unworthy
or unfit to succeed, and because their decision met with the unanimous
consent of the rest of the family.

12. But the unanimous consent of the whole family is implied by
the fact that the installation of a Yuvaraja is not a private, but a public

* See Goldstucker's "Sanskrit Dictionary" (vol. I.) pp. 275—285.

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES. 223

act ; that it must take place in the presence of the whole family ; and
that its validity is subject to the performance of a number of cerenn
•which are laid down with great detail by the Puran'as — the funda-
mental source of the present religion of the Hindus — and by works on
astrology. The Record, moreover, shows that the installation of former
Yuvarajas of Tipperah conformed to this public and solemn character
of the ceremony.

13. It has been asserted by the late Maharaja, and the Respondent
asserts, that the Maharajas of Tipperah chose, at their own pleasure
and without any restriction, the Yuvaraja from amongst the members of
their family. But, in the first place, their assertion is unproved ;
secondly, it could be proved only if they showed that the choice made
by a previous Maharaja did not meet with the unanimous consent of
the rest of the family, but nevertheless was upheld ; thirdly, even if
they proved that such consent was wanting, the conclusion could only
be, that such a choice was then illegal, since custom cannot supersede
Sm^iti.

14. But it results, on the contrary, from the Record, that the late
Maharaja Essauchunder himself must not have looked upon his right
of choosing a Yuvaraja as absolutely vested in his pleasure. For, when
it appears that the Appellant was charged by the witnesses with having
made a hostile and criminal attack on the possessions of the Tipperah
family, it would seem that this charge, otherwise utterly irrelevant to
the question of succession, was merely raised in order to establish his
unworthiness to succeed. Had the witnesses been able to substantiate
it, it would doubtless have gone far to show that the Maharaja had
grounds for declaring the "seniority" of the Appellant as forfeited.
But the charge entirely failed ; and it has not been shown that the
Maharaja, with the consent of his whole family, proclaimed the
Appellant's unworthiness or uiifitness to succeed.

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES.

15. It is not denied by the Respondent that the installation of a
Yuvaraja required for its validity the performance in public of certain
ceremonies, as laid down by the sacred books of the Hindus. But the
evidence afforded by his witnesses shows, in the first place, that there
is the strongest probability of his pretended Yuvarajaship never having
been solemnly celebrated at all ; and, secondly, even if the late Maha-
raja performed some ceremony in order to install him as Yuvaraja, that
such a ceremony was devoid of the essential characteristics by which
alone the title and rights of a Yuvaraja could be conferred on a non-
senior member of the royal family.

16. This results from the following facts, as proved by the deposi-
tions of the Respondent's witnesses : —

(a) This pretended installation, as is stated by all his witnesses, took

place on the same day when the late Maharaja consecrated a
new building. It is extremely unlikely, however, that two such
ceremonies, so utterly different in their character, should be
performed by any Hindu simultaneously, and the much more
important ceremony actually as a mere appendage to the far
inferior one.

(b) It is stated by all the witnesses of the Respondent that the late

Maharaja consecrated the new building which he was going to
inhabit, on the 16th S'rdvana, this being a lucky day for the
performance of such a ceremony. And unquestionably the late
Maharaja, as every Hindu would, took care that, according to
the astrological works, the day for the performance of such a
ceremony should be a lucky one. These works also bear out the
fact that the month of S'ravana would be a lucky time for the
consecration of a new house. But the same works likewise say
that the month of S'ravana is not one of those in which a
Yuvaraja-ceremony should be performed. It becomes, therefore,

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES. 225

extremely improbable that a king so particular in conforming to
the astrological rules, where the consecration of a new building
was concerned, should have been quite indifferent to these rules
when the proper time for the performance of a much more
important ceremony, that of the installation of a Yuvariija, nad
to be chosen.

(c) It is stated by all the witnesses of the Respondent that the

Yuvaraja-ceremony, which, as they assert, had been performed,
did not come to the cognizance of all the members of the Maha-
raja's family, and much less to that of the public at large. It
was consequently deficient in that very characteristic which is its
essential feature, in that publicity, which is also to imply the
consent of the whole family to the choice made by the king.

(d) It is further stated by all the witnesses of the Respondent that

the late Maharaja for the first time designated the name of his
successor on the very day when the installation of the latter, as
is asserted, took place. But, according to all authorities, it is
an essential feature of this ceremony that the person whose
appointment as Yuvaraja was intended, should on the day pre-
ceding the public ceremony, hold a fast and undergo purification
so as to make himself fit for the solemnity of the succeeding day.
According to Hindu notions, it is therefore impossible that a
proceeding as that described by the witnesses should be a valid
ceremony of the installation of a Yuvaraja.

17. Hence: Since the law of the Dayabhaga as current in Bengal
does not apply to the Tipperah succession ;

Since the latter is regulated by the highest law authority of the
Hindus, the Code of Manu ;

Since the custom of the Maharajas of Tipperah is in conformity
with the law of Mauu ;
VOL II. 16

826 OPINIONS ON LAW CASES.

Since the Appellant is acknowledged by all the parties as the eldest
claiming member of the present Tipperah family ;

Since it has not been shown that by the late Maharaja and the rest
of his family he has been unanimously declared to be unworthy
or unfit to succeed ;

Since it is highly improbable that the Respondent ever was installed
Juvaraja by the late Maharaja ;

And since the ceremony of his installation, if it ever took place, was,
according to the deposition of the Respondent's witnesses,
devoid of the essential characteristics which are required to
make the Yuvaraja ceremony a legally valid ceremony,
my opinion is that the Appellant has a valid claim to succeed to the
possessions of the late Maharaja of Tipperah.

B.

ON THE QUESTION WHETHER THE LAW OF BENGAL
FAVOURS OR DISCOUNTENANCES THE PRINCIPLE
OF PERPETUITY AS APPLICABLE TO THE RIGHT
OF INHERITANCE.

IN the law of Bengal there occurs no distinct statement relating to the
theory of perpetuity as applicable to the right of inheritance. But
from the philosophical basis on which the law of Bengal rests, it must
be inferred that it discountenances such a theory.

For, this basis is the Nyaya, and more especially that division of it
called the Vais'eshika philosophy, and some discussions raised by the
chief authorities of the Bengal school must therefore be understood in
the light of that system of philosophy. This also results from the
sameness of the philosophical terms used by both.*

• " The written law, whether it be s'ruti or smr'iti, direct revelation or tradition,
is subject to the same rules of interpretation. Those rules are collected in the
Mimansa, which is a disquisition on proof and authority of precepts. It ifl
considered as a branch of philosophy ; and is properly the logic of the law."

" In the eastern part of India, viz. Bengal and Bahar, where the Vedas are less
read, and the Mimarisa less studied than in the south, the dialectic philosophy, or
Nyaya, is more consulted, and is there relied on for rules of reasoning and inter-
pretation upon questions of law, as well as upon metaphysical topics." — Account
by H. T. Colebrooke of the Hindu Schools of Law, in Strange's Hindu Law,
vol. i., p. 316.

228 OPINIONS ON LAW CASES.

Now the Vais'eshika lays down the proposition that there are seven
paddrthas, or categories, under which all material objects (such as earth,
water, &c.,) and all ideal existences (such as cause, effect, &c.) are
comprised. Beside these, it maintains, there are none ; and it rejects
therefore any explanation, for instance, of cause and effect, which,
instead of being evolved from any of these seven categories, would
resort to the assumption of another principle not contained in them.

The following passage from the Bhdshd-Parichchheda, one of the
fundamental works of the Vais'eshika, together with its commentary as
given in the Siddhdnta-Muktdvali, will corroborate this statement.*

TEXT. — " Substance, Quality, and in like manner Action, Genus, with
Difference, and Concretion, and in like manner Non-existence, these
seven are called the categories (paddrtha.)"

COMMENTARY. — " Thereupon [i.e. on its being laid down that the
Categories are seven] the author of the Upamdna-Chintdman'i raises the
doubt whether a right to be treated as separate categories does not
belong to Power and Resemblance, seeing that these differ from all the
seven Categories. ' How is it [he asks] that these [seven] alone are
Categories when there is a separate categoric nature in Power,
Resemblance, &c. ?' — To explain: — A burn is not produced by fire
when attended by a gem [of the kind which is regarded as possessing
the power to neutralize the operation of fire] or the like ; but, by that
devoid thereof, it is produced. In this case I infer that a cauterizing
Power in the fire is destroyed by the gem or the like, and is reproduced
by the removal of the gem, or the like, which acted as a neutralizer.
So, too, Resemblance is a separate Category — for it is not included
under any one of the [first] six Categories, seeing that [unlike any of
these] it exists even in Genus — for we recognise Resemblance in the

* The translation is that by Dr. Ballantyne, in " the Bhasha-Parichchheda,
and its commentary the Siddhanta-Muktavali," Calcutta, 1851, page 8, flf.

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES. 229

instance that, as the generic nature of cows is eternal, so in like manner
is that of horses also. Further, it cannot fall within the Category of
Non-existence : — because, that such a thing [as Resemblance] exists, is
believed [by everyone.]

" But, if all this be asserted, it is not so — for, as regards the burning
effect of the fire, &c., in the absence of the gem, &c., it is improper to
postulate an endless (ananta) set of Powers, together with the previous
Non-existence (prdgabhdva) and also the Annihilation thereof, when the
result may be properly accounted for, either by the independent action
[of the fire], or by assuming as the cause the absence of the [neutral-
izing] gem, &c. And you need not say, ' How then does burning take
place when both the neutralizer is present and also a neutralizer of the
[fire-neutralizing] gem?' — for, what I regard as the cause is the
absence of the genus gem [or of all gems whatsoever] , which implies
the absence of [those gems that are] neutralizers. — Resemblance also is
not another Category, but it consists in the possession of rarious
characters belonging to any given thing, whilst being at the same time
something other than the thing ; as, for example, there is a resemblance
to the Moon in a face, which being something not the Moon, yet
possesses the pleasing character, &c., which the Moon possesses."

In other words, as regards the rejection of a category (paddriha)
Power : since the independent action of fire is sufficient to account for
the producing of a burn — according to the Vais'eshika, it would not be
allowed in a special case to resort to an assumption of the non-existence
of the action of fire and the subsequent annihilation of that non-exist-
ence, since this would be assuming causes which are remote, and
arbitrarily creating "endless" (ananta} categories.

This reasoning, and in the very terms of the Vais'eshika, is applied
by S'rikr'ishn'a Tarkalankara, the great authority of the Bengal school,
to the following passage of Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga (ch. 1, § 7)
which says : —

230 OPINIONS ON LAW CASES.

"Nor can it be affirmed, that partition is the distribution to
particular chattels, of a right vested in all the coheirs, through the
sameness of their relation, over all the goods. For, relation, opposed
by the co-existent claim of another relative, produces a right,
figuratively implied by [the term] 'partition' (vibhdgavyangya),*
to portions only of the estate : since it would be burdensome to infer
the vestings and divestingsf of rights to the whole of the paternal
estate ; and it would be useless, as there would not result a power of
aliening at pleasure."

For, in regard to this passage, S'rikr'ishn'a Tarkdlankdra argues as
follows : —

" Now, if [you say] — • the co-existence of one relative, on account of
the sameness [of the rights of all the relatives] being a bar to the
proprietary right of another relative, none of them has a right to any
portion [of the inheritance], since this bar exists — my answer is :

" Since property depending on relation and [the fact of] the right to
such property having a previous Non-existence (prdgabhava) are
[notions] closely connected, the proprietary right of one relative bara
the right to property depending on relation, when belonging to another
relative. [For,] since you must admit that after division there is a
proprietary right in a special portion [of the property], and since [from
your admission it would follow that] this right had a previous Non-
existence prdgabhava), there is no incongruity [in my reply].

* Colebrooke's rendering of vibTiagavyangyat " detenninable by partition," ia
loss literal than that given above : " figuratively implied by [the term] partition."

f Vestings and divestings is in Sanskrit : utpdda-vinds' a ; lit., producings and
anuihilatings. In the Sanskrit text these words are part of the compound utpdda*
vinds' 'a-Jcalpand-gauravdtt when it may be doubtful whether they are to be under-
etood in the singular or plural number. Colebrooke rendered them in the singular,
c< vesting and divesting , " but it results from the context, the discussion of the
commentator, and his express statement that they must be understood in the
plural ; on account of the objection to " endlessness."

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES 931

11 He [viz. Jimutavahana] shows that the coexistence of one relative
sufficiently accounts for opposing [the claim of another relative] in the
words ' Since it would be burdensome to infer the vestings, &c.' Their
sense is this : — The collective sum of the proprietary rights is equal to
the number of all the relatives concerned in the property left by a
father, or other [relative]. [There would be] vestings and di vestings
of these [rights]. [But such an assumption would be burdensome,
for considering that it would then be necessary to assume such " end-
less " (ananta) categories, [as a series of vestings and divestings] the
assumption of opposition [of one right by another co-existent right] is
more easy [i. e. less remote, and therefore the only one consistent with
the notions of the Vais'eshika.]."

On the theory of perpetuity the right of an heir would not be derived
from his relationship to the owner of the property who immediately
predeceased him, but from the title conferred on him by the testamen-
tary or other disposition of a remote ancestor. In such a case, then,
the effect of inheritance, instead of being accounted for from an im-
mediate cause, would depend on a remote cause, or a series of remote
causes, and these the Vais'eshika would reject as belonging to the
category of " endless powers."

In my opinion, therefore, it results from the alleged words of Jimu-
tavahana and S'rikr'ishn'a-Tarkalankara that these authorities not only
do not admit a mode of inheritance which would prevent the alienation
on the part of the inheritor of the property inherited ; but also do not
recognise a title to inheritance which would be derived from a remote
cause— such as the principle of perpetuity—the latter being contrary
to the spirit and a proper construction of the Bengal law.

283 OPINIONS ON LAW CASES.

NOTE.

The Heritable right of Bundhoos, according to the Western School,
by the late Honourable P. C. Tagore. See Preface, pages ii , in., iv.,
and v.

" Hence these institutes of the sages, such as Menu, Yagnyavalkya,
Ushana, Gautama, and others, confirmed as they are by the revealed
authority, are held in high veneration by the general consent of the
Hindu community of all ages. Ancient and modern commentators,
compilers and other writers, could never presume to alter or amend
them. But to provide for the wants and necessities of society in its
progressive state, and to suit the constitution of the provinces, where
their works were intended to be in operation, the commentators have
recorded constructions, made logical inferences, and attempted explana-
tions to make passages more intelligible, and reconcile the differences
of opinion among the sages, preserving in essence the object and intent
of the original texts.

Such are the restricted functions of the commentators and compilers
from ancient times down to the present day, unlike the nations of
Europe, governed by Parliaments and other national Assemblies,
These alter, amend, or add to their ancient canons of inheritance. By
the 22nd and 23rd Vic., Ch. 35, Sec. 90, the English Parliament
made further alterations in the enactment of the 3rd and 4th William
IV., Ch. 106, Sec. 20. As long as such a remedy exists, the nation
can never suffer any inconvenience from omissions and obscurities of
the old canons of inheritance. In the absence of this privilege, the
compilers, commentators, and other writers of modern days, meet the
wants and necessities of society, which is always progressive, by supply-
ing omissions by logical inference, or by explaining the inconsistency of

OPINIONS ON LAW CASES, 233

any part of the law, but not without preserving the spirit and reason
of the old law. The propriety of adopting so rational a method, after
the examples of the commentators, &c., cannot be questioned. The
wants and necessities of society are daily increasing, undergoing altera-
tions, and developing new points for solution. If the privilege of
supplying omissions, by the reason of the law, be not allowed, while the
restriction on the enactment of new laws for altering, amending, or
adding to the old law, remains in full force, society will remain unpro-
vided with adequate rules."

ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, STERCUS, ETC.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY FOB 1854.

There are few words the affinity of which is less doubtful, while the
etymology is more obscure, than the words jecur, ^-irap, Sanskrit qgyif
(yakr'it), and the words stercus, CTKW/>, Sanskrit -s^gnr (s'akr'it.} The
peculiar interest they convey, as an instance of the different products,
borne by the same linguistic stem in its various branches, and the light
they throw on some other words of a kindred formation, induce me to
offer the following remarks as to their etymological meaning, and the
apparent irregularity of their declension.

I do not dwell upon the linguistic identity which exists between the
first letters of jecur and qgycf (yakr'ify on the one side, and rj-n-ap on
the otherv since the mutual correspondence of the Sanskrit ^ (y) with
the Greek spiritus asper in the beginning of words, (for instance in ^j^
(t/as), and os), and that of the Sanskrit or Latin gutturals with the
Greek labials, and vice versa, (for instance in ^qpu (as'wa}, equus, ITTTTOS;
(panchan), quinque, ircVre), is so well established, that I need

ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, ETC. 23B

merely remind you of the fact, and of the instances given by Dopp,
Pott, Kuhn, and others, to be relieved from the necessity of further
proof.

The phonetic diversities, however, between stercus, tr/cwp, and fj^ri
(s'akr'it), are of a more complicated kind, as the t in stercus cannot be
explained as the result of any inter-linguistic law, nor the s in the same
word and the <r in crKwp, be held to be the regular representatives of
the palatial "^ (s') in TTOTT (s'akr'it), JOT the latter in Sanskrit almost
invariably corresponds with a guttural sound in Latin and Greek ; as,
for instance, in -^f-sf (s'wan), can (-is), KV (-<ov) ; -^if (s'ata), cent (-um),
(c)KaT(-oV) ; fzrf^frT (vins'ati), viginti, CIKOCTI, &c.

But even supposing that there were no phonetic difficulty in establish-
ing the original identity of both sets of words, we should still be at a
loss how to account for the diversity they show when their thematic
form becomes a real word, in assuming the declension-suffixes of the
genitive, dative, and other cases. Jecur, for instance, appears in the
genitive, as jecor-is or jecin-or-is, rj-rrap and o-Kwp, as rJTrai-os, o-Kar-os,
while q$^ (ydkr'it), and ngyq (s'akr'it) become *rgr?T^ (yakr1 it-as), or
iHT«iq (yak(a)n-as) and TOnt^f (s'akr'it-as), or ^-if^ (s'tik(a}n-as).
Or, in other words, jecur conceals the crude forms jecor- and jecin- (or,
as a variety, joan-); y-rrap, the crude form of rjTrapr- ; 11^^ (yakr'it)
the crude forms -qw<( (yakr'it-) and q«a«r (yakan-) ; while those of
stercus, <TKup and y^ad (s'akr'it) are stercor-, wapr-, j^Wf[ (s'akr'it-)
and vj,^H (s'akan-).

If I attempt to give a solution of these irregularities, which, as we
have seen, concern — 1. the terminating letters of these words, or, in,
apr, r'it and an; 2. the appearance of the t in stercus, and the s of that
and <r/co>/>, as compared with the s' of -s^r[ (s'akr'it); and 3. the
diversity of crude forms represented by jecur, *rcn{ (yakrit) and -jr^r^
(s'akr'it) — 1 may consider it as conceded that the only way of dealing

936 ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, ETC.

with them is that of examining the etymological meaning of these
words ; and further, that the means we possess in Latin or Greek will
not allow us to ascertain this meaning satisfactorily. I begin, there-
fore, with the Sanskrit words. And first, with ?$&-*[ (s'akr'it), the
general meaning of which is "faces, excrements."

The native authorities derive it from the radical ^5 (s'ak) " to be
able," with the suffix ^j-ff (*''^)» or technically ^?frr«r (r'itin), of the
un'ddi class. As this affix, however, occurs, so far as I know, only in
this single instance, and as the meaning of the radical countenances
neither literally nor metaphorically, the sense of its would be derivative,
I do not hesitate to reject this explanation, as has been done already
by Kuhn, and, after him, by Benfey. The former proposes to derive
vi ^ ^ (s'akr'it) from the radical •& (kr'i) " to scatter about, "and believes
that the palatal initial stands in the place of a dental s (^)» the vowel
a being inserted for convenience' sake, as the combination -^ (sk)
would be one not particularly agreeable in Sanskrit pronunciation.
The dental s, again, which would be the original one in this word,
according to Kuhn, is explained by him as the letter originally inherent
in eff (kr'i), and reappearing in its derivatives, as ^q^^ (apaskara\
and ^TT^PC (uvaskara), so that the radical -^ (kr'i) itself would have
originally sounded -^ (skr'i).

I apprehend that Kuhn, whose usual cautiousness and accuracy in
etymological researches entitle his assertions to the fullest credit, has
been betrayed, in this case, into a wrong theory. For, the change of
the Sanskrit palatal s' to the dental s is, in general, of such infrequent
occurrence, and in almost all instances where it is met with, so clearly
traceable to some mistake, that I cannot accede to such an assumption,
unless it be confirmed by other and indisputable cases ; of which none,
I confess, have as yet come under my own observation. Nor is the
" insertion" of an a between this supposititious s and the k following it,

ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, ETC. 237

proved, in my opinion ; since I cannot admit that the combination sk
(which is not unusual in the middle of words, and though not frequent,
yet not unheard-of in the beginning of them), is so unpalatable to the
Hindu tongue as to cause in this word a disruption in sak, which does
not occur in other words of a similar kind. Another exception must
be taken to what Kuhn considers as the original form of the radical
•qf (kr'i) ; because the ^ (s) in 4|m$hT (apaskara) and ^cn^ (avasltcira)
is more likely to belong to apa and ava, as undoubtedly it does not
belong to -gj- (kr'i) " to do," in ^-^ (sans-kr'i), sgq^ (upas-kr'i), and as
it does not appear in cer-n-o, Kpt-v-to, Kcp-av-vvfju, the kindred forms of
the Sanskrit radical ^ (kr'i). But last, not least, a theme like via d
(s'akr'it) could not be derived from a radical terminating in the long
vowel ^f (r'i), as no grammatical rule allows a similar formation, and
the only word so derived by the native authorities, namely, ^7?
(dadr'it), is better referred to another origin.

Before I offer my own explanation of this word, may I be allowed to
state a principle, the application of which I have found useful in many
instances ? This is, whenever the etymon of a word cannot be laid
open by a clear grammatical process, and the different modes of
analysis which may suggest themselves rather enhance than remove
the doubts as to what may be the true etymology,— then consult the
synonyms of the word, and, if I may say so, the imaginative idea which
is expressed by them. Applying this principle to the words meaning
'•excrements," in Sanskrit, you will find that some of them proceed
from the idea of filling, others from that of evacuating, and others from
the aspect of the matter to be extruded, while one word, namely -jj^r^r
(s'amala) distinctly involves the meaning of " calming, (jivimj ease"
whether we derive it, with the native authorities, from -^ (s'am) " to
calm," with the suffix ala ; or whether we consider it as a compound
of ^ (s'a), and ^ (»"*&*) "dirt;"— the former from the same radical

238 ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR ETC.

•jEfir (s'am), meaning " happy " or " happiness," and occurring usually
in compounds, such as "yfa (s'ambhu), •jj.TfrT (s'am^ara^ "8OTT (sampa),
but probably being also the thematic form of fspsr (s'ivd), the euphe-
mistic name of the Terrific God.

If then there existed the intention of combining this notion with
words meaning " excrements," — and I refer to those also the word
mentioned before, viz. ^q^^ (avaskara), which I derive from vqqu
(avas) and qnc (kara), — I am led to suppose that -^IHT (s'akr'it) is a
compound, the former part of which is the word -jj; (s'«), which we have
seen in gi^^ (s'amala), and the latter -^-^ (kr'it) " doing," " pro-
ducing," from sr (&»•'*) " ^ do."

For those, however, who are not conversant with Sanskrit, a few
remarks with respect to ^nj (kr'it), and formations of a similar kind,
will be required on behalf of the conclusions I have to draw. Every
Sanskrit radical is allowed, in general, to appear in its crude shape at
the end of certain compounds, without assuming any visible suffix,
•jnr (vr'itra), " a demon," for instance, and ^^ (han) " to kill," may
form a word gvq^«r (vr'itrahan) " the killer of Vr'itra." But if the
radical terminates in a short vowel, a ^ (t) is added to it, as it were to
protect the radical vowel against such changes as would arise from its
meeting with other vowels, according to the phonetic laws of Sanskrit.
Vr'itra, for instance, and ji "to conquer," would form vr'itra-jit " the
conqueror of Vr'itra." This precaution belongs particularly to Sanskrit,
and (as I conclude from other instances in which this language has
proceeded in a different way) is one which must have originated in a
time comparatively recent, as is generally the case with all additional
elements, which are to prevent the collision of letters, and produce
what we call regular conjugations, declensions, &c., though, from a
logical point of view, they are the most irregular phenomena of
language, because they introduce into its living organism dead

ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, ETC. 239

mechanical matter. Whether such additional elements, which agree
with the predilections of one people, and which, though constituting
the individuality of a language, are productions extraneous to the
common stem, appear, or do not appear, in its kindred branches, is
therefore merely a matter of chance, not one of necessity. The form
•jr^nr (s'akr'it), a compound of -5^ (s'a) and •& (kr'i), may therefore
reappear with its extraneous t peculiar to Sanskrit, in Latin, in
Greek, or in other kindred languages, but the organic elements of
which this word is composed are complete in the form -gr^f (s'akr'i), or,
— according to the change to which the- r'i vowel is subject in Sanskrit
as soon as the thematic form becomes a real one, — in the form vm<
(s'akar).

If we return to the Greek and Latin forms of this word, it will now
be seen why, in the declension of stercus, which represents a theme
stercor-, the disappearance of the final t of s'akr'it has nothing irregular
in itself ; and why in <r/«op, which supposes a theme o-Kapr-, the T has
been retained in or/car-os, &c., while the presence of the radical p is still
manifest in the nominative ovaop. A real difficulty would seem to exist
in the Greek and Latin forms beginning with a dental s, as a guttural
sound would have been the legitimate representative of the palatal
Sanskrit s'. Be it, however, that the beginning of two successive
syllables with a guttural sound has been distasteful to these languages ;
be it that the elision of the vowel of s'a in the Greek word <TKO>P, and
the transposition of the t in the Latin stercus originates in another
motive than that of avoiding the repetition of the gutturals ; then,
the latter expedient once adopted, it is clear that before t or K, the
palatal sibilant could not have a nearer representative than the dental *.
With respect to the vowels of these words, it is obvious that in tterciu,
where the final t never existed in the thematic form, the terminating
vowel has remained short, while the long vowel of the nominative

240 ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, ETC.

must be considered as a compensation for the loss of the T, which was
preserved in the theme of the Greek word.

It remains for us to inquire into one point, which concerns at first
only the Sanskrit forms v^d (s'akr'it), and y&r( (yakr'it), but is
essential also for the Latin jecur. I mean the fact, that -y^sr^ (s'akr'it)
shows in some of its cases another theme TC^nr (s'akan), and •qiffiT
(yakr'it) another theme q<»«< (yakan). The locative and genitive, in
the singular of these words, for instance, are of the following kind :
^grfri (s'akr'iti) or ^^sf (s'akani), ^irrHJ (s'akr'itas) or -^^^
(s'aknas) ; ij^jfif (yakr'iti) or ^jcjffsr (yakani), qacj^ (yakr'itas) or
q<ft«f^ (yaknas). The interchange of these forms may be explained in
a different way. Benfey supposes that there existed an original form
s'akarnt and yakarnt ; an hypothesis warranted neither by etymology
nor by the laws of grammar ; and Kuhn, that in words of a similar
formation there was an original form in ant, the offspring of which are
the thematic forms in an and ar. Adjectives in -3^ (tvan), for
instance, and several words in -q-»r (van), with a feminine in ^fj- (ri), as
^TpN^T (atitvan), fern. ^?ft<«nft (atitvari), -^^ (yajvau), fern. -^^^
(yajvari), Tftr«[ (pivan, TrtW), fern, ift^ft (pwari, TrUupa), &c., would;
according to him, originate in themes, such as atitvant yajvant,
pivant, &c. A natural consequence, in our case, would be, to suppose
original themes, s'akant and yakant, to explain the forms s'akan and
s'akar, yakan, and yakar. The derivation I have given above precludes
this assumption. For, as the form ^nc (Jcar) of -s^r^ (s'akar), repre-
sents the organic elements of the radical ^ (kr'i), itself, s'akan could,
if my view is correct, only result from s'akar, in consequence of a
change which, in Sanskrit, must be considered irregular, but may be
accounted for, if we suppose that TR^nc (s'akar) became yi^i-i (s'akas),
and then -jr^r: (sakah'), and that between this and vi4>*i (s'akan), there
was a form -j^' (sakarn1), forming a transitory passage from

ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, ETC. 241

(sakah'), leading to ^r^rsT (s'akan). Though this process is a hypo-
thetical one, and not capahle of strict proof, and may therefore be con-
sidered objectionable, it seems to me more congenial with the lan^i'
itself to suppose in this case, as well as in those alleged from Kuhn, a
change from r (or s) to n, than to imagine the existence of a theme in
ant, no direct trace of which is left in either of these formations. ThU
view seems confirmed by the existence of thematic forms, which Kuhn
has himself pointed out, as ^rgr1^ (yajus), and •^rsf^ (udhas), together
with ^T5T (yajvan), fern, ij^nft (yajvari), and ^nT5[ (udhna), ^rsn
(udhar) ; but still more by the themes ^^^ (asr'ij ) and •^^•r (asan),
the latter of which can only be explained by the elision of «f (j) in a
transitory form nqqaf (asarj], the corresponding intermediate form
being safely preserved in the Latin 'sang-uis. The theme i^r-T (s'akan j,
is not represented in the declension of stercus or O-KW/D, but it exists in
two words, the close etymological affinity of which with stercus and cr/cwp
might scarcely be guessed without recourse being had to the kindred
Sanskrit word.

ITO^ (s'akan) admits, in Sanskrit, a regular denominative i{<*\y
(s'akdy), stercus facere, which is conjugated according to the tenth class
of verbs, a class corresponding in its formation with the Greek
contracted verbs in aw, ew, ow, and in Latin with those of the first,
second and fourth conjugations. The Sanskrit palatal s' being
regularly represented in Latin and Greek by k, gicf>l*j (s'akdy), has its
Latin and Greek representatives in cac-are KCLK-<UO, which, therefore, are
denominatives of stercus and ovcw/>, though referable to the Sanskrit
form s'akr'it.

In the words jecur, rjirap and •spgnr (yakr'it), we perceive the same
phenomena as in those we have been considering, and I have merely to
refer to the preceding remarks to account for their apparent diversity.
(yakr'it) has been already correctly understood by the Hindu
VOL. II. ] 6

242 ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, ETC.

grammarians as being a compound of •% (ya) and -gpa (kr'it), though,
strange to say, they have mistaken the original bearing of the form
"3T?Tfr (s'akr'it). The theme ^T^T (yakan), of which I have spoken
before, is preserved in jecin-or of jecur, which has affirmed the suffix or
(not to be confounded with the radical or in jecor-) ; fjimp shows its
radical p only in the nominative of the singular, like <TKW/>, while it has
the -t of yakr'it in the other cases. But less clear is the etymological
meaning of these words, for which we must again have recourse to the
Sanskrit form y& ri (yakr'it), as composed of -3 (ya), — which, amongst
other things, means " union," — and ^j-ff (krit), " doing, producing," and
which is explained in native dictionaries as " that which makes the
union (sc. of the parts of the body.)" To understand what they may
mean by this, it would be necessary to know the function ascribed to
the liver by the old Hindu medical works. As yet, however, I have
not been able to ascertain their theory on this point, as neither
Sus'ruta, nor Charaka and A'treya, their most renowned authors on
Medicine, contain any hint as to their notions on it. Nor do the other
four synonymes of this word in Sanskrit afford any aid, as they merely
refer to the black and fleshy substance of the liver. It may be
considered, however, as a curious coincidence, that the German word
Leber (which, like the whole Germanic branch of this word, presents
the only instance perhaps in which the semi-vowel y of the Sanskrit
idiom corresponds with the semi-vowel I) does originally mean, not the
part of the body we call "liver," but every substance which is
" prominent and firmly united in its parts," as opposed to substances
which are low and soft. The notion of joining or uniting is still
prevalent in the word Leber or Leberstein (liver or liver-stone), which
in an Austrian dialect means a boundary stone, i.e. a stone put where
two fields join. It would seem, therefore, that this meaning of
"joining or making union," as expressed by the component parts of

ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUR, ETC. 243

(yakr'it), was also the primitive meaning of this word in Sanskrit,
but became lost, and has only been preserved in some German dialects.
Before I conclude I may be allowed to point out two other words,
which, from what I have said above, will derive a more correct expla-
nation than they have hitherto obtained. 1 mean the Latin word
secus, and the Greek word e/cas. These I connect with the Sanskrit
word q$d (sakr'it), (written with a dental s in the beginning, and
therefore not to be mistaken for the word s'akr'it, stercus). ^gfTf
(sakr'it), is composed of sa, an abbreviated form of ^ (sam), which
in composition with verbs either means " with," " together," or
"thoroughly," and kr'it "doing;'* the original meaning of sakr'it is,
therefore, " doing thoroughly," " doing so as not to require doing
again:" this got lost, however, and was superseded by the meaning
" once," " always." The meanings of secus and e/cas do not correspond
with those of 4j$H (sakr'it), but the notion of exclusiveness which is
implied by " once," and " always " is logically connected with the notion
of " distance " and "separation," expressed by secus and 4/cas; and if
we consider that in the Sanskrit word, the etymon of which has
remained clear, the literal meaning had already made room for the
figurative one, a further step in this direction will much less appear
strange in languages where the consciousness of the original value of
the word was entirely lost. Having shown how -gr?! (kr'it), which is
originally ^ (kr'i), or ^3 (kar), becomes cor and Kwp or Kar, I have
only to observe that, in my opinion, secus and ocas represent the nomi-
natives of the themes secor- and CKCM--, and that these, nominatives have
become indeclinable. Se in secus and e in e/«xs are interesting forms,
moreover, in as far as they exactly represent the Sanskrit ^ (sa), which
in its full form ^ (sam), is the Greek ow, but appears more changed
in the Latin cum. Whether a7ra£ may be safely referred to ^fri
(sakr'it), with which it corresponds in meaning "once," I do not

244 ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF JECUE, ETC.

attempt to say ; though I do not consider it unlikely that the form
sakar (the organic form of sakr'ii), changed to sakdh\ might appear
with IT instead of K, and with a full guttural sound in the Greek era-cue ;
a7ra£ representing, if this assumption be correct, the nominative of this
theme, which then became indeclinable, just as the themes secor and
£K<XT have become indeclinable nominatives, secus and

Win. H. Allen & Co., Printers, 13, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, S.W.

INDEX.

Abhidhanaratiiamala, 187.

Abhimanyu, ii. 115.

Abhisheka, 35, 38 f .

Achara, ii. 148.

Achit, 239.

Achchhavaka, 6.

Adhikaran'amala, 289.

Adhwaryu, 5 ff., 10, 31, 38, 265.

Adhyatman, 15.

Adhyaya, 11, 32, 34, 45, 271.

Aditi, 17.

Adityas, 17, 255, 290.

Adwaitanand, 251.

Aghorins, 162.

Agni, 12, 14, 16, 23, 70, 259, 272.

Agnibhuti, 106.

Agnidhra, 6.

Agni-puran'a, 146, 149.

Agnisht'oma, 26, 275.

Ahankara, 170; ii. 17.

AMsmukhins, 162.

Aitareya-aran'yaka, 49 ff.

Aitareya-brahman'a, 2, 34 f., 49,

84, 273.
Ajigarta, 43 f .
Amarakosha, 187.
Amara-Sinha, 143.
Amaru- sataka, 181.
Amr'ita, 79, 151, 196, 293.
Anandagiri, 160, 237.
Ananda-Tirtha, 248.
Angiras, 12, 200.

j Ansumat, 64 f.
Anukraman'i, 14 f., 62,281.
Anupada-sutra, 60.
Anuvaka, 11,32,272.
Apavarga, 112.
Apri, 16.
Apsarasas, 84.
Aptoryama, 26.
Aran'yaka, 3, 49 ff., 55, 225.
Aran'ya/gana, 27.
Archika, 27.
Ardhaprapat'haka, 27.
Arhat, 88.
Arhatas, 85 ff .
Arjuna, ii. 103, 123.
Arsheya-brahinan'a, 46.
Artha, 116.
Arthasastra, 281.
Aryabhat't'a, 189.
Aryaman, 18.
Asana, 322.
Asanaiid, 240.
AsLit'aka, 11, 271.
Aswalayana, 6 ; ii. 200.
Aswamedha, 31, 278 ; ii. 117.
Aswatthaman, ii. 134.
Aswins, 19,317.
Atharvangiras, 1, 270.
Atharvan'araliasya, 263.
Atharvaveda, 1, 3ff., 32 ff., 50,

260, 279 ; ii. 45, 65.
Atiratra, 26.

INDEX.

Atman, 116.
Atreya, 191.
Atri, 12, 23, 272.
Atyagnisht'oma, 26.
Avatara, 19, 291.
Ayatayama, 30.
Ayurveda, 191, 281.

Badarayan'a, 288.

Bahwr'ichas, 34.

Balarama, 305 ; ii. 102.

Bali, 20, 296.

Bandhus, ii. 172.

Banerjea, ii. 6.

Bhaga, 232.

Bhagavadgita, 79, 326 ; ii. 122.

Bhagavata-puran'a, 4, 81, 245.

Bhagiratha, 65 f .

Bhaktas, 160.

Bhakti, 252.

Bhaminivilasa, 181.

Bharadwaja, 12, 272.

Bharata, 102, 167, 301 ; ii. 97.

Bhartr'ihari, 182.

Bhat't'ikavya, 180.

Bhashaparichchheda, 236; ii.

288.

Bhavananda, 241.
Bhishma, ii. 102 ff.7 114.
Bhr'igu-Angiras, 270.
Bhujyu, 20.
Bodhisattwa, 95, 136.
Brahman (the priest), 6, 7, 10,

265.
Brahman (>.), 77, 112, 225,

283 f.; ii. 30.
Brahman or Brahma (god), 4, 77,

80, 194, 204, 225.
Brahmagupta, 189.
Brahman'a (m.), 6, 38, 212 ; ii.

98.
Brahman'a (%.), 2 f., 30 ff., 45 ft.,

60, 75 ft2., 139, 238, 260 f.,
^ 276 ; ii. 10, 62, 64.
Brahman'achchhansin, 6, 265.
Brahma- purar 'a, 200.

Brahma- sutra, 288.
Brahma-veda, 280.
Br'ihadaran'yaka, 49, 51, 261.
Br'ihadaran'yaka - upanishad,

229

Buddha,' 95 ff., 136.
Buddhi, 116, 170, 235, 286.
Buddhism, 94 if.

Chaitanya, 250.
Chan'akya, 182.
Chan'd'ika, 92 f.
Chandrika, ii. 208.
Charan'a, 3, 4.
Charan'avyiiha, 3, 263.
Charaka, 46, 191.
Charakadhwaryu, 30.
Chhala, 118.
Chhandas, 57.
Chhandogas, 263.
Chhandograntha, 27, 275.
Chhandogya-upanishad, 46, 49,

227, 229, 276 ; ii. 21, 48.
Chit, 239.
Chitrangada, ii. 108.

Daityas, 151.
Daivata, 111.
Daksha, 91, 194.
Dakshm'acharins, ] 64.
Damodaradas, 244.
Dan'd'ins, 160.
Darsanas, ii. 11, 13.
Darsapurn'amasa, 278.
Dasakumaracharitra, 186.
Dasra, 19.
Dasaratha, 300.
Dattakachandrika, ii. 146.
Dattakadarpan'a, ii. 146.
Dattakadidhiti, ii. 146.
Dattakakaumudi, ii. 146.
Dattakamimansa, ii. 146.
Dattakanirn'aya, ii. 146, 158.
Dattakasiddhantamanjari, ii.

146.
Dattakatilaka, ii. 146.

INDEX.

3

Dayabhaga, ii. 146, 219.
Dayakramasangraha, ii. 146.
Dayakaumudi, ii. 158.
Dayatattwa, ii. 146.
Devata, 2.

Devatadhyaya-brahman'a, 46.
Devimahatmya, 220.
Dhanurveda, 281.
Dharan'a, 324.
Dharma, 91 ; ii. 31.
Dharmasastra, 179.
Dharrnasmdhusara, ii. 188.
Dhavana, 241.
Dhyana, 324.
Dhyam-Buddhas, 95.
Dhr'itarasht'ra, ii. 103, 123.
Digambaras, 88.
Dosha, 117.
Draupadi, ii. 105.
Dr'isht'anta, 117.
Dron'a, ii. 105, 115.
Dron'a-kalasa, 25.
Durga, 194, 219.
Durgapuja, 221.
Duryodhana, ii. 103.

Gana, 276.
G-andharvas, 84.
Gandharvaveda, 281.
Gan'esa, 221.
Ganga, 63 ff.
Garud'a, 64.
Gautama, 89.
Gitagovinda, 182.
Gobhila, ii. 201.
Gokunath, ii. 56.
Gopatha-brahman'a, 46 f ., 280.
Gorakhnath, 161.
Gotama, 120 ; ii. 15, 25.
Gravastut, 6.
Gr'ihya-sutra, 62.
Gr'itsamada, 12, 23, 272.
Gun'a, 173.

Haimakosha, 187.
Harischandra, 42 ff .

Harivan^a, 102.
Havishya, ii. 191.
Hetu, 119.
Hetwabhasa, 118.
Hiran'yakasipu, 296.
Hitopadesa, 185.
Hotr'i, 6 f., 31,35,265.

Indra, 12 ff.f 70 ff., 82 ff., 232,

259, 272, 290.
Indrabhuti, 106.
Indriya, 116.
Isa-upanishad, 53.
Iswara, 174, 239, 320 ; ii. 17.

Jaimini, 3, 29, 109 ; ii. 13.
Jaiminiya-aswamedha, ii. 96.
Jaiminiyanyayamalavistara, 2,

7,110.

Jainas, 85 fit.
Jalpa, 118.
Janaka, 51.
Jangamas, 160, 162.
Janmasht'ami, 247.
Jatavedas, 23.
Jati, 119.
Jayadeva, 241.
Jayadratha, ii. 110.
Jimutavahana, ii. 156.
Jina, 88.
Jivatman, 249.
Jnana, 116.
Jnati, ii. 177.
Jyotisha, 59 f .
Jyotisht'oma, 26, 275.

Kabir, 240.
Kabir-panthis, 241.
Kadambari, 186.
Kailasa, 194.
Kaivalya, 326.
Kaiyyat'a, 132.
Kala, 193.
Kali, 219.
Kalidasa, 91 f .

4

INDEX.

Kalipuja, 222.
Kalpasiitra, 3, 60, 105.
Kalpa works, 7, 60 ; ii. 73 ff .
Kama, 91 f .
Kama-sutra, 189.
Kan'ada, 233, 235 ; ii. 16.
Kan'd'a, 32, 34, 45.
Kan'd'ika, 32, 45.
Kan'wa, 12, 45.
Kapila, 175; ii. 16.
Kama, ii. 103, 115.
Karta-bhajas, 254.
Karttikeya, 221.
Kasikavr'itti, 128.
Kat'ha-upanishad, 123.
Kat'haka-upanishad, 227.
Kauravas, 103 ; ii. 97.
Kaushitaki-brahman'a, 4, 35,

273.

Kauthuma, 275.
Kena-upanishad, 229.
Ketu, 151.
Kichaka, ii. 112.
Kiratarjuniya, 181.
Kr'ipa, ii. 102.
Kr'ishn'a, 84, 91, 221, 251, 305 ;

ii. 102, 123.
Kr'ishn'a, ii. 123.
Kr'ishn'a - Dwaipayana, 3 ; ii.

102.

Kshatriya, 30 ; ii. 98, 130.
Kulachara, ii. 217.
Kumarasambhava, 181.
Kunti, ii. 102.
Kuru, ii. 102.
Kusa, 12.
Kutsa, 12.
Kuvera, 154.

Lakshan'a, 143.
Lakshmi, 92 ff., 309.
Lamaism, 94 ft'.
Linga, 193.

Madhavacharya, 2, 6, 7, 100
261.

Madhusudana, 7.
Madhwacharyas, 248.
Madhyandina, 32, 45, 278.
Mahabharata, 78, 102 ff.; ii.89ff.
Mahabhashya, 129, 132 ; ii. 206.
Mahakavya, 181.
^lahanand, 241.
Maharajas, ii. 52.
Mahat, 204; ii. 17.
Mahavira, 89, 105 ff.
Mahavira-charitra, 105.
Mahayana, 136.
Mahayajnas, ii. 191.
Maitravamn'a, 6.
Makara, 92.

Manas, 116, 171, 233, 286.
Manasara, 192.
Man'd'ala, life., 272.
Man'd'ukya-upanishad, 124.
Mantra, 2, 11, 33, 47, 202, 260 ;

ii. 10.
Mami, 1, 4, 23, 107, 122, 210 ; ii.

21, 145, 148, 218.
Manobhadra, 67 f.
Manwantara, 22.
Markan'd'eya-puran'a, 200.
Marriage, ii. 138.
Maruts, 16 ft., 70 f., 158.
Matsya-puran'a, 144, 204, 293.
Maya, 174, 288.
Meghaduta, 181.
Metempsychosis, 80.
Mimansa, 1, 2, 29, 108 ; ii. 13.
Mitakshara, ii. 110, 146, 160,

218.

Mitra, 18.
Moksha, 86, 112.
Mun'd'aka-upanishad, 228, 230.

Nabhaji, 241.
Nachiketas, 227.
Nagojibhat't'a, 132.
Naigama, 111.
Naighan't'uka, 111.
Naivedya, ii. 185.
Nakula, ii. 103.
Nalodaya, 181.

INDEX.

Nandi, 194.

Mrada, 42 ff. ; ii. 199, 204, 209.

Nasatya, 19.

Nesht'r'i, 6.

Nigamana, 119.

Nighan't'u, 59.

Nigraha-sthana, 119.

Nilakan't'ha S'astri, ii. 7.

Nirn'aya, 118.

Nirn'ayasin'dhu, ii. 198.

Nirukta, 58 f., 111.

Nirvan'a, 112, 213.

Nityanand, 251.

Niyama, 322.

Nyaya, 77, 115, 284; ii. 13, 25.

Om, 14.

Padarthas, 233.

Paila, 3.

Pali, 138, 176.

Pancharatra, 239.

Panchatantra, 185.

Panchavinsa-brahman'a, 46.

Pan'd'avas, 103 ; ii. 97.

Pan'd'u, ii. 103, 123.

Pan'i, 16.

Pan'ini, 49, 56 ff., 126, 224 ; ii.

64.

Panchika, 34.
Paramahansas, 162.
Paramanand, 241.
Paramatman, 249, 284.
Parasara, 3, 129.
Parswanatra, 89.
Parwati, 202, 219.
Paryaya, 52.
Pasupatas, 160.
Patala, 130.
Patanjali, 58, 128, 131, 320 ; ii.

17.

Pavamanya, 34.
Phala, 117.
Pingalanaga, 57.
Pipa, 241.
Pitr'i, 133.

Pitr'imedha, 32.
Pitr'is, 197.
Polyandry, ii. 131.
Potr'i, 6.

Prabodhachandrodaya, 185.
Pradyumna, 91.
Prajapati, 14, 135, 265.
Prajna-paramita, 136.
Prakr'it, 137, 176.
Prakr'iti, 170, 325; ii. 17.
Pralaya, 22.
Praman'a, 166, 235.
Prameya, 116.
Pran'ava, 124.
Pran'ayama, 322.
Prapat'haka, 27, 32, 45.
Prasna-upanishad, 123.
Prastotr'i, (5.
Pratihartr'i, 6.
Pratijna, 119.
Pratiprasthatr'i, 6.
Pratisakhya, 58.
Pratyahara, 323.
Pratyeka-Buddhas, 95.
Praud'ha-brahman'a, 46.
Pravr'itti, 116.
Prayaschitta, 179; ii. 149.
Prayojana, 117.
Pr'itha, ii. 102.
Pr'ithu, 141.
Puran'as, 19, 21, 130, 142 ; ii.

7, 74 ff., 100.
Purohita, 41.
Pururavas, ii. 102.
Purusha, 6, 171, 228, 320; ii.

17.

Purushamedha, 31, 278, 278A.
Purushasukta, 1, 4.
Purva-mimansca, 108, 283 ; ii. 24.

Eadha, 307.

Eaghava-pan'd'aviya, 181.
Kaghuvansa, 181.
Ejthu, 151.
Raidas, 241.
Efijasuya, 35.
Efijatarangin'!, 152.

INDEX.

Eakshasas, 13, 33, 154.

Kama, 156, 300.

Bamanandas, 239.

Bamanujas, 237,288.

Eamayan'a, 63 ff., 77, 155, 220.

Earn Mohun Boy, ii. 64.

Ban'ayaniya, 275.

Bas-yatra, 247.

Batnakara, ii. 146.

Eath-yatra, 247.

Eati, 91.

Eaudras, 160.

Bavan'a, 299.

E'ibhu, 13.

E'ich, 11 ff., 272.

E'igveda, Iff., 70 £E., 212, 260;

ii. 46, 66 fE., 78 fE.
B'ishabha, 89.
E'ishi, 2,12, 22 fE., 157, 261; ii.

11, 46, 67.
B'itusanhara, 181.
E'itwij, 6, 7, 264.
Eohita, 43 fE.
Eudra, 17, 158.
Budra-sampradaya, 244.
Eupa, 251.
Biipaka, 183.

Sacrifices, 26.
Sadasya, 6.
Sagara, 63 fE.
Sahadeva, ii. 103.
Sahujas, 254.
S'aivas, 159.
S'akala School, 11, 271.
S'akat'ayana, 128.
S'akha, 3 ff., 263.
S'akra, 84.
S'aktas, 163.
S'akti, 147.
S'akuntala, 166.
S'akyanmni, ii. 12.
S'alya, ii. 115.
Saman, 261.
Samadhi, 324.
Samanodakas, ii. 172.

i Samaveda, 1 ff., 27 ff., 46, 260 f .,

275; ii. 66 ff.
Samavidhi-brahman'a, 46.
Samayacliarika-sutra, 61.
Sam'saya, 117.
Sam'yama, 325.
Sanatana, 251.
Sanhita, 2, 4, 5, 10 ff., 24 ff.,

30 ff.

Saiihitopanishad, 46.
S'ankara, 47, 79, 169, 289, 159,

161.

S'ankaracMrya, 248, 288 ; ii. 8.
S'ankara- dig vi jay a, 160, 237.
S'ankhayana-brahman'a, 34 £.,

273
Sankhya, 77, 170, 226, 284; ii.

13, 25.

Sansara, 113.
Sanskara, 86,175.
Sanskr'it, 176.
Saran'yu, 317.
S'ariraka-mimansa, 284.
S'arirakamimansa-bhashya, 288.
S'arngadharapaddhati, 180.
Sarvamedha, 32.
Sarvanukraman'i, 62, 281.
S'atapatha-brahman'a, 4, 45, 49,

78 f., 196, 261,279; ii. 21,63.
Sati, 199.
Sattwa, 172, 211.
S'aunaka, 60 ff ., 263, 280.
S'aunaka-brahman'a, 265, 280.
Savitr'i, 18.

Sayan'a, 4, 5, 28, 46, 59, 145, 267.
Sena, 241.
Seswara, ii. 17.
Siddhanta, 117,189.
Siddhanta-kaumudi, 128.
Siddhantamuktavali, 236 ; ii.

228.

S'iksha, 56.
S'ilpasastra, 191, 281.
Sinhasanadwatrin^ati, 186.
S'isupalabadha, 181.
S'iva, 19, 32, 80, 159, 192, 204,
219, 226.

FNDEX.

S'iva-puran'a, 193.
Smarta-sutra, 61.
Smr'iti, 61 ; ii. 216, 227.
Smr'itichandrika, ii. 146, 162,

164.

Smr'itisanruchchaya, ii. 207.
Soma, 10, 12, 16, 19, 24 ff., 46,

72 f., 195, 265, 273; ii.66.
Spasht'a-dayakas, 254.
Spinoza, ii. 33 ff.
S'raddha, 197 ; ii. 197.
S'raddha, 91 ; ii. 185.
S'rauta-siitra, 62.
S'ravaka, 86 f .
S'ri, 36, 92, 309.
S'ri-Anand, 241.
S'ruti, 47, 61, 229, 262 ; ii. 18,

65,216,227.
Staubhika,27, 275.
Subrahman'ya, 6.
S'ukasaptati, 186.
Sukkanand, 241.
Sukta, 11 ff., 272.
Sumantu, 3.

S'unah'sepha, 42 ft., 314.
Sunas, ii. 190.
Surdas, 241.
Sursuranand, 241.
Surya, 14,17,259.
Suryasiddhanta, 190.
Susruta, 191.
Suta, ii. 98.
Sutra, 198.
Suttee, 199.
Swarga, 84.
Swayamvara, ii. 137.
S'wetambaras, 88.

Taittiriya, 5, 46 f .
Taittiriya-aran'yaka, 219.
Taittiriya-brahman'a, 279, 46.
Taittiriya-sanhita, 28 ff.
Talavakara-upanishad, 229.
Tanias, 172, 211.
Tan'd'ya-brahman'a, 46.
Tanmatra, 170, 277 ; ii. 17.
Tantra, 164, 202.

Tarka, 118.
Tarkasangraha, 236.
Tattwa, 86, 170.
Tirthakara, 88 f.
Tittiri, 31.

Transmigration, 117, 205.
Trimurti, 204.
Trivikrama, 19.
Tugra, 20.
Tulasidas, 241.

Udaharan'a, 119.

Udgatr'i, 6, 7, 31, 265.

Ugras, 160.

tThagana, 27.

Uhyag.aua, 27.

Ukthya, 26.

Uma, 194, 219.

Unnetr'i, 6.

Upalabdhi, 116.

Upanishad, 3, 47 ff., 76 f., 224 ;

ii. 10, 63, 83.
Upapuran'as, 149.
Uparupaka, 183.
Upavedas, 281.
tTrdhabahus, 162.
Urvasi, 258 ; ii. 102.
Ushas, 18, 70, 230.
Uttaragrantha, 27.
Uttara-mimansa, 108, 284.

Vach, 273.
Vada, 118.
Vaidic sacrifice, 6 ff.
Vaisampayana, 3, 276.
Vaiseshika, 233 ; ii. 16, 228.
Vaishn'avas, 237.
Vaishn'avas of Bengal, 250.
Vaisvadeva, ii. 185.
Vajapeya, 27.
Vajasaneyi-sanhita, 32, 46.
Vajasaneyin, 46.
Vajin, 30.
Vala, 16.

Vallabhacharyas, 243, 253; ii.
51.

8

INDEX.

Vamacliarins, 164.
Vamadeva, 12, 272.
Vanaprastha, 212.
Vansa-braliinan'a, 46.
Varahamihira, 189.
Vararuchi, 139.
Vardharnana, 105.
Varga, 11, 271.
Varttikas, 132.
Varun'a, 18, 43 f ., 232, 255.
Vasavadatta, 186.
Vasisht'ha, 12, 129, 257, 263,

272, 311.

Vasudeva, ii. 102.
Vayu, 14, 23, 259.
Vayubhuti, 106.
Vayu-puran'a, 29.
Veda, 1, 62, 109, 260, 283 ; ii.

7ff., 44ff.,87.
Vedanga, 47, 56 ff .
Vedanta, 3, 47 f., 77, 81, 161,

226, 239 ; ii. 8, 19, 25, 64,

83.

Vedantasara, 288 ; ii. 28.
Vedanta-sutras, 239, 283.
Vedi, 36.

Vetalapanchavinsati, 186.
Veyagana, 27.
Vichitravirya, ii. 139,
Vidushaka, 184.
Vidyaran'ya, 101.
Vijnaneswara, 110 ; ii. 160.
Vira, 105.
Virat'a, ii. 111.
Yiramitrodaya, ii. 146, 162.
Vishn'-u, 18, 77, 80, 83, 92 ff.,

193, 204, 226, 289 ; ii. 102.
Vishn'u-naradiya, 239.
Vishn'u-puran'a, 4, 29, 144.
Vishn'u-Swamin, ii. 51.

Viswamitra, 12, 258, 272, 311.
Viswe devas, 12, 272.
Vit'a, 184.
Vitan'd'a, 118.
Vivadacliandra, ii. 146.
Vivadachintaman'i, ii. 146.
Vivas wat, 317.
Vr'iddha-S'atatapa, ii. 157.
Vr'ihaspati, 196 ; ii. 156, 199.
Vr'itra, 16 ff., 82.
Vr'ihatkatM, 186.
Vyasa,3, 103, 130, 142, 200, 315;

ii. 13, 98.
Vyakaran'a, 57.
Vyavahara, 179 ; ii. 149.
Vyavahara-Madhaviya, ii. 146,

164.
Vyavaharamayukha, ii. 146,

203.

Yadu, ii. 102.

Yajamana, 6, 25.

Yajurveda, 1 ff ., 28 ff., 260, 276 ;

ii. 46, 66 ff.
Yajnavalkya, 29 f., 45, 110, 277 ;

ii. 218, 145, 148.
Yajnavedi, 25.
Yaksha, 154, 211.
Yama, 13, 227, 317, 322.
Yami, 317.
Yaska, 2, 14 f., 17 f., 58 f., Ill,

289 ; ii. 83.
Yati, 86 f.

Yoga, 79, 161, 320 ; ii. 25.
Yoni, 25, 27.
Yogins, 161.
Yudhisht'hira, ii. 103.
Yuga, 328.

April, 1879.

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Robertson's Hindustani Vocabulary. 3s. 6d.
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ALLEN'S INDIAN MAIL,

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