A SHORT HISTORY OF
INDIAN LITERATURE
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LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.
A SHORT HISTORY
OF
INDIAN LITERATURE
By
E/HORRWITZ
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
Prof. T. W. RHYS DAVIDS
^
w
LONDON
T, FISHER UNWIN
ADELPHI TERRACE
1907
V
[All rights reserved.']
TO
The Rev. J. P. MAHAFFY, D.D.,
SENIOR FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN,
THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED IN
SINCERE ADMIRATION FOR HIS WIDE CULTURE
AND BROAD SYMPATHIES
b
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
Introduction by Professor Rhys Davids . xi
Preface xxv
Notes on Pronunciation xxix
i. The Aryan Migration 1
ii. The Aryas in the Punjab .... 6
m. The Vedas 7
^* iv. The Story of the Maha-Bharata ... 11
v. The Origin of the Maha-Bharata . . 27
N vi. The Ramayana Poem 31
vii. Brahmanas and Upanishads .... 39
viii. Sutra Literature 46
ix. Vedanta 53
x. Buddhism 60
xi. The Institutes of Manu 74
xn. Later Phases of Buddhism .... 85
xitt. The Huns and the Rise of Ujain . . 95
xiv. Puranas and Tantras 99
xv. Hindu Legends and Festivals . . .107
xvi. More Poetry 122
ix
x Contents
CHAP. PAGE
xvii. History and Fiction 135
xviii. Fables and Proverbs 139
xix. Languages and Nations 145
Index
Subject . 163
Proper Names 174
Accented Sanskrit Words .... 179
Etymologies
English Dictionary Words . . . 180
Names and Places 181
Sanskrit 182
Latin 183
Sundries 184
Aryan Roots 185
List of Dates 187
INTRODUCTION
We may be allowed to congratulate ourselves
that we live at a time when the long-drawn
conflict of man to win a mastery over Nature
seems to be on the turning-point towards
victory. The time may, in a sense, be still
called the age of steam, though it is passing
into the age of the forces that will conquer
steam. But the crash of machinery, even
the clang of the tram-car or the whiz of
the on-coming motor, need not deaden our
perception of other sounds, that make
perhaps less noise in the world, but are
none the less a token of the presence of
forces more potent and more enduring than
even the conquerors of steam.
In silence, unnoticed by the daily press,
a revolution is being brought about; has
been, indeed, so far accomplished that its
xi
xii Introduction
final victory is quite assured. The litera-
tures of the East have been discovered ; are
being edited, elucidated, translated, under-
stood. The Western mind is very naturally
disposed, at first sight, to think this a matter
of small importance. What can be the real
value of literatures that have contributed
little or nothing to the mental equipment
of the races that rule the world with so
much practical success ? The argument, in
spite of its obvious fallacies, is often deemed
conclusive. But it is not necessary to discuss
it. Arguments cannot change accomplished
facts. Besides which, simultaneously with
the discovery of the documents, and in great
measure as a result of that discovery, there
has arisen a new method both of using and
of estimating ancient writings a method
that has changed the whole aspect of the
question.
That method is the comparative study of
historical data; the method of looking at
a literature, not at all with the object of
finding in it the absolute truth, or of pick-
ing out in it telling phrases and poetical
Introduction xiii
subtleties, but of finding out, by a com-
parison of the course of human thought in
different ages and in different countries, the
sequence of ideas which has developed from
the earliest beginnings of thought into what
we are apt to call the civilisation of to-day.
It is not too much to say that this new
method applied not only to the data already
known, but also to the new discoveries in
Egypt and Mesopotamia, in India, China,
and Japan, is fast tending to revolutionise
our ideas of history. When we were boys,
history meant the study of a century or
two of Greece and Eome, oblivious of the
centuries that lay behind. Then with a
jump we came to the Eeformation and the
French Kevolution ; and an epitome of the
battles and politics of our native country
was held to complete the picture. These
disjointed fragments of the history of Greece
and Eome were called " ancient history."
And in ancient and in modern history alike,
the stress was laid upon romantic incidents
and personal adventures, upon fights and
dynastic intrigues, rather than upon the
xiv Introduction
evolution of social institutions and the
growth of human ideas. There was no
trace of what, for want of a better word,
we must call weltgeschichte. Each event
recorded was regarded as isolated, uncon-
nected, either as cause or as effect, with
what followed or with what had gone before.
In the new method all this has been
changed. The personal details, the stories
of battles, the perfidies of courts, have
faded into insignificance. To the eye of
the scholar, who is learning year by year
to have a clearer vision of the great
panorama of the history of mankind, the
matters that loom largest are the social
institutions, the religious beliefs, the scien-
tific attainments, aDd the philosophical ideas,
which continue steady in their growth and
influence, while dynasties rise and fall.
Documents, studied, so long from the
purely linguistic, or literary, or artistic points
of view, are eagerly searched afresh for the
evidence, so long neglected, that they throw
upon these newer problems. Each new
document, as it comes to light, and yields
Introduction xv
up its secrets to the patient explorers in the
newer fields, is judged, not only from the
literary, but chiefly from the historical, stand-
point, by the new evidence it affords to
confirm, to modify, or to throw light upon
that of other older documents already known.
Each new fact is regarded no longer as an
isolated occurrence. It is compared with
evidence as to similar facts noticed else-
where under similar conditions ; it is con-
sidered in its relations as cause and effect ;
it is fitted into the general scheme, as a lost
and rediscovered piece fits into an imperfect
puzzle.
In this way it gains a new importance.
Few, for instance, of the old Vedic poets,
may show what would now be called literary
skill. But the interpretation of their uncouth
hymns, imperfect though it still remains, has
shed a flood of light upon the methods of
the beginnings of philosophy, and upon the
evolution, in an important stage, of religious
conceptions throughout the world. The law-
books of the Brahmins have no literary
beauty, and are conspicuously devoid of
xvi Introduction
historical sense, they are full of bigotry
and class-prejudice, and teem with misstate-
ments and omissions in support of the special
privileges claimed for their authors ; and
they tell us nothing about what laws men
should enact or carry out. But they throw
the most valuable light on the growth of
institutions ; and they have given us a solid
basis for our investigations into the history
of law.
Such instances might easily be multiplied.
And of all the newly-acquired documents,
those belonging to the literature of India
have proved themselves, in this respect, of
the highest value. It is to them we owe
the new sciences of Comparative Philology
and Comparative Mythology; and they bid
fair to give us some of the most important
results which historical research has yet
gathered for the rising science of Compara-
tive Keligion.
The reason of this is not far to seek. The
Indian intellect is remarkably keen. In
philosophy and religion it achieved, very
early, results of great importance and value,
Introduction xvii
and its first attempts at the investigation of
medicine, astronomy, philology, geometry,
and law, were all of a high degree of
excellence. Shut in by the impassable
barrier of its giant mountains, India was
able, for many centuries, to pursue in peace
a line of natural development. From the
time of the establishment of the kingdom
of Kosala in the eighth century, B.C., down
to the break up of the great Buddhist
Empire at the end of the third century,
B.C., the internal wars were few and far
between. That was the time of the golden
age of intellectual life in India. And when
the Tartar and Scythian hordes came in
afterwards to ravage the highly - cultured
districts of the North- West, we have a
whole series of events that resemble, in the
most suggestive manner, the invasion by
the Goths and Vandals of the highly-
cultured Koman Empire. "T
In each case, the vigorous but unlettered
conquerors were intellectually conquered by
their more cultured, if less warlike, foes.
In each case, the invading hordes adopted
xviii Introduction
the faith and the fashions of the more
developed civilisation. And in each case,
as a result, the level of intelligence was,
temporarily at least, so reduced, that the
standard of culture was entirely changed.
Koom had to be made for the more
primitive ideas, the animistic views of the
newcomers. As time went on, the old and
new amalgamated. A number of kingdoms
took the place of the old empire. New
languages or dialects, understood in limited
areas, became the living speech of the
people. And what learning survived or
grew up afresh, was expressed in a dead
language, the language of the Church
Latin in Europe, Sanskrit in India the
literary form of what had been a living
language centuries before.
In both cases this new mediaeval litera-
ture, the expression of the new culture, was
based upon the old. But it was the old
transformed, weakened, overlaid by super-
stitions of all kinds that appealed to the
taste of the new environment. Eeligion
and philosophy, law and medicine, astrology
Introduction xix
and alchemy, tales and lyrics formed the
main subject of these works. But there
was little or no originality. It was a long
age of commentators and interpreters (in
India of the retelling of twice - told tales,
recasting and rearranging, in the interests
of the ever- varying beliefs, of old material).
In India, in the sixth and seventh centuries,
a.d., there was much greater literary skill,
especially in epic poetry and the drama,
than there was, at the same period, in
Europe. Later on the skill almost killed
the ability ; and with the greatest ingenuity
authors put together the wretched rubbish
of the artificial poetry. But in the time
of its glory the mediaeval literature of India
reached a level of excellence never elsewhere
attained when a dead language was the
medium of expression.
During the whole of this long period
from Vedic times down to the Moslem
invasions we have a continuous series of
documents. There are gaps whole litera-
tures have been lost. But some of the gaps
are still being filled up as new discoveries
xx Introduction
are made, and new texts are edited. Even
as they stand these documents give us
sufficient evidence to enable us to trace, at
least in outline, the developments (or rather
changes, for they are sometimes degrada-
tions) of thought in India. Nowhere else
is the chain of evidence so long and so
complete. And it runs on lines parallel to
those followed also, under somewhat similar
conditions, in the West. We cannot be
satisfied with our study of the evolution of
institutions and ideas among the Aryan
nations of Europe until we have drawn the
assistance it is possible to draw from the
similar evolution that took place among the
Aryans in India.
It is true, no doubt, that there is not
now there probably never has been a
pure Aryan race. But the authors of the
Indian writings are just as much, or just as
little, Aryan as the European writers whose
culture is the basis of our own. The
Indians were rightly proud of their descent.
The Buddha called his way the Aryan path.
And however distant may be the relation-
Introduction xxi
ship in blood, we are studying, when we
study the ancient literature of India, the
work of men who were intellectually akin
to ourselves.
Such are some of the reasons which consti-
tute the unique importance and value, for
the historian and the philosopher, of Indian
Literature. Some of the most influential
leaders of Western thought, both in Europe
and America, have considered that Indian
thinkers, with a speculative vigour and origin-
ality following a natural line of development
in isolation from the rest of the world, have
succeeded in their views of life in grasping
and emphasising certain phases of truth,
religious and philosophical, that have been
slurred over or not noticed at all in the
West. If we consider all the circumstances
we shall probably be forced to the conclusion
that that is probably so, that it would be
strange indeed if it were not. Our reason-
able antipathy to the vagaries of inconsistent
nonsense, to the superficial inanities often
put forward by certain popular Western
writers as Eastern thought, need not prevent
xxii Introduction
us from giving serious attention to what the
Indian writers themselves, and especially in
their best periods, have said.
Now there are not a few who, either from
a laudable curiosity or from one or other of
the reasons above suggested, desire to look
into these things. The original documents
are a closed book to them. Unabridged
translations are not only too long, but are
at times well-nigh as dark as the originals,
and, in spite of the English used, require
almost a special education to use them
aright. The histories of Indian Literature
written for scholars are so largely occupied
with discussions of the difficult and obscure
questions of date and authorship that they
do not adequately provide for this reasonable
desire of the average general reader. What
is wanted is a selection of suitable passages
made with this special aim in view ; made
both with sympathy and with historical
insight and sense of value ; and accompanied
with just the short amount of explanation
that is necessary for the purpose sought.
The following pages seem to me to satisfy
Introduction xxiii
very admirably on the whole these require-
ments. No two scholars would choose exactly
the same texts. Personally, I should have
included more from the golden age of the
Upanishads and the Nikayas. But it is
not so easy to say what could have been
omitted to make room for this new matter.
There is nothing in the volume that is not
useful. And with these few words of
preface I have the honour of introducing
this book to the general reader with the
conviction that it fills a gap that wanted
filling, and in the hope that it will meet
with the success it certainly deserves.
T. W. RHYS DAVIDS.
PKEFACE
There is no want of excellent manuals on
Indian Literature, but, as a rule, they are not
elementary enough to appeal to the popular
taste. The following pages address them-
selves to the general reader who knows
nothing or little of Eastern thought. The
subject is far too much ignored outside the
ranks of Oriental scholars. And yet, no
educated Englishman who feels the respon-
sibility of Empire, and wants to think
imperially, can afford to disregard the voice
of India any longer. Her ancient ideals
throw a flood of light on the present needs
of her teeming millions. But the intellectual
achievements of the Hindus well deserve to
be studied on their own merits. The casket
of Sanskrit literature is old-fashioned, but
precious, and of exquisite workmanship, like
XXV
xxvi Preface
handsome old family plate. The Sanskrit
language has, at all times, been the recog-
nised medium of the Indian mind, and
numbers of poems and philosophical treatises
x^are still composed in that venerable tongue.
The royal psalms of Israel are no more
sublime than the sacred poetry of Hindu-
stan, and the battle music of the Maha-
Bharata is as stirring as the heroic lays of
Greece. Even a slight acquaintance with
the lofty tenets of the Vedanta teachers will
amply repay the student, since the mission
of Vedanta seems to be twofold in the West
first to spiritualise the narrow materialism
into which Physical Science, despite the
marvellous discoveries of this busy age of
research, has allowed itself to drift, and
secondly, to rationalise religious thought,
even as the revival of Greek learning, four
hundred years ago, was destined to breathe
new life into the dead bones of mediaeval
theology.
This little book is complete in itself, and
the text can be easily understood even
without consulting the footnotes. Most of
Preface xxvii
them as well as the last chapter are meant
for readers who are interested in the kinship
of tongues and migration of words, but have
neither the leisure nor inclination to plunge
into learned discussions on philology and
questions of race.
A second part which is in preparation will
deal with the Hindu Theatre. The plays of
Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti, though surpassed
by Shakespeare in humour and dramatic
force, have a brilliancy and glow of passion
by no means inferior to stars of such magni-
tude as Calderon and Schiller.
NOTES ON PRONUNCIATION
Sanskrit. English.
Example.
a
_
mamma
mantra
a
=
market
raja
i
_
fit
shiva
final i
=
an#
swami
i
=
feet
sita
u
_
pull
buddha
final u
=
cuckoo
manu
u
=
pool
sutra
e
=
&mj
veda
ai
=
die
shaiva
=
no
gotama
au
=
now
gautama
g = #ale
th m swee^eart
y = yet
glta
vanaprastha
himalaya
xxx Notes on Pronunciation
In order to simplify the spelling, all accents
have been omitted over the final a and i.
Thus, Sita and Kali are spelt Sita and Kali. 1
Nor have accents been provided for words
A
sufficiently known in Europe, e.g., Aryan
and Brahmin, Rajput and Kashmir. Sikh,
likewise derived from the Sanskrit, sounds
like seek. An English pronunciation should
be given to Punjab and Ganges, also to
Anglicised terms such as pundit (scholar)
and suttee (burning of widows).
There is a slight difference of sound
between sh in the word nutshell, and ch in
kitcAen. The latter is pitched a key higher,
being uttered from the palate or roof of the
mouth, while sh is formed in the hollowed
tongue. Both sounds are represented in
the Sanskrit alphabet, but since Kashmir,
notwithstanding the palatal sibilant in the
Indian script, is the accepted orthography
in England, we have used sh in transcribing
either sound. The reader will, therefore,
1 Latin, too, sacrifices, for the sake of brevity, the
vowel length shown in the final a and 1 of Indian
feminines. Nova (new) is equal to Sanskrit nava,
and decs (goddess) to deve.
Notes on Pronunciation xxxi
find Shiva by the side of Vis/mu, although
the god of the Shivaists really bears a
palatal initial, and the name of the rival
deity an ordinary sh.
D, n, and t are Unguals or tongue sounds
in English, but dentals in Italian. The
countrymen of Dante pronounce the poet's
name by pressing the tip of their tongue
against the teeth. Sanskrit has two letters
for each of the three consonants, but the
phonetic distinction is hardly noticeable to
an Englishman, and has grammatical rather
than literary value. For this reason, we
transliterate Indian Unguals (Vishnu) and
dentals (Mami) alike.
A SHORT HISTORY OF
INDIAN LITERATURE,
I
THE ARYAN MIGRATION
Several thousand years ago, when the
Caspian Waters still flowed in the same bed
as the Black and Aral Seas, the Scythian
flats and prairies which bordered on the
north of that vast inland lake were inhabited
by pastoral tribes of kindred blood and
speech. At length, as the floods subsided,
and the Caucasus emerged between the
shrunken waters, and further east salt
marshes and desert land appeared, the
unsettled shepherd clans descended from the
barren Kirghiz Steppe, and entered the fair
valleys of the Oxus and Jaxartes. They
called each other aryas or friends. But the
A
2 Short History of Indian Literature
broad pastures could not bear them all, foi
their flocks were considerable, and strife
and bloodshed broke out among the unruly
herdsmen. The unhappy division was the
cause of further wanderings. Conjointly or
separately the large families trekked on
with their cattle, tents, and ox-carts ; the
dusky uplands of the Pamirs and the snow-
clad summits of the Hindu Kush towering
before them in the distance. The track of
the emigrants imperceptibly led them into
tangled woodland. With rude stone axes
they cleared the primeval forest, and with
crooked branches torn off the aged trees
they turned the virgin soil into arable land,
thus changing from graziers and drovers to
agriculturists. But for a long time tillage
was looked upon as an ignoble labour fit
only for domesticated slaves, and unworthy
of a free-born rover. It was only gradually
that the Aryas settled down as husband-
men, and that their name denoted a peasant
aristocracy proud rulers of native races.
The Asiatic word leaped into still wider bounds
since the re-discovery of Sanskrit, more than
a hundred years ago. The principal languages
of Europe are now known to be related to
Sanskrit; they constitute, together with
Short History of Indian Literature 3
their Eastern sister- tongues, the Aryan or
Indo-European family of speech. 1
The Aryan kinsfolk who had been left
behind in Scythia moved westward, and
were likewise compelled by new geographical
conditions to become settlers on the land.
As they approached the dense forests of
Volhynia, and the Carpathian Mountains, they
too learned how to sow the wild -growing
corn, and cultivate the fertile ground which
yielded sustenance to their kin and kine.
The produce of the farm was replenished by
fishing and hunting. The spirit of enter-
prise has ever been with the Aryan race.
It drove the English over sea, and led to
the foundation of the British Empire. It
shed the lustre of Imperial Eome over the
uttermost parts of the then known world.
The same love of adventure impelled the
dreaded Vikings to undertake their piratical
voyages, and to roam and sack the rich
lowlands along the Northern Sea. No less
1 There is no linguistic connection between the
Aryas and the arable land, despite the similarity of
sound and the association of thoughts. The root ar
in the sense of ploughing (arare in Latin) is confined
to the languages of Europe. Arya never meant plough-
man ; the idea embedded in the Sanskrit word is that
of friendship and loyalty to the clan.
4 Short History of Indian Literature
did it animate the restless Asiatics of old,
who broke up their pristine homesteads and
set out in search of fresh settlements far
away in the highlands of Iran and the
plains of the Punjab. Neither documentary
nor traditional record of that remote age has
come down to us, and the pleasing picture
of ancient Aryan life which has been drawn
by scholars, though highly suggestive and
not wanting in colour, is, of necessity, incom-
plete and conjectural, not unlike one of the
noble torsos which are occasionally excavated
amidst classical ruins, and touched up by
the skill and fancy of the antiquarian.
The vast tribal commotion, at the very
dawn of civilisation, will, in its details, for
ever remain in darkness. The wanderings
of those who first called themselves Aryas
probably occupied many generations. There
is no reason to assume a simultaneous exodus
of the patriarchal settlers. It seems more
likely that groups of them left the old
country, one at a time, just as a family or
clan might feel disposed to move on owing
to over - population, famine, or plague, or,
may be, to better land prospects held out
in a happier clime. Literary evidence is
not forthcoming until the period of the
Short History of Indian Literature 5
Aryan migration is definitely closed. Even
compositions as old as the Vedic hymns or
Homeric poems reveal a much later state of
society. When Sanskrit and Greek were
spoken, the Aryan race was no longer one,
but split up into many nations, each destined
to take a leading part in the history of the
world. The mild Hindu and mystic Persian,
the beauty-loving Greek and practical Eoman,
the imaginative Celt and profound Teuton,
have all left deep traces in the path of
religion and poetry, law and science. Slav
genius though yet asleep in its cradle is
likewise maturing into future distinction and
greatness. Every one of the Aryan off-shoots
has sprung from the humble parent-stem in
the Scythian wilds that has grown and
expanded until fruitful branches overspread
and sheltered nearly the whole of the terri-
torial range which extends from England to
India, and is swept by the snowdrifts of
the Scandinavian moorlands and, at the
same time, fanned by the fragrant breezes
of the Mediterranean Sea. 1
1 After parting with their Indo-Iranian kinsmen, the
Aryan main stock passed through a common period of
agriculture, probably in the south-west of Russia.
Hence the Teutonic tribes proceeded through Galicia
and Poland, and entered the lowlands of Germany,
6 Short History of Indian Literature
II
THE ARYAS IN THE PUNJAB
We cannot tell in what direction the first
A
move of the Eastern Aryas was made. The
fine grass-land of North- Western India prob-
ably attracted their early attention. They
were by no means peaceably received by
the Dasyus or natives of the Punjab. The
Dasyu people appear to have fought bravely ;
but their long resistance was in vain. The
vanquished Britons were chased before the
pursuing Saxon into the fastnesses of Wales
and Cornwall, where their national life grew
feeble and, at last, faded away. Even so
were the conquered Dasyus driven into the
whilst the classical and Celtic clans journeyed together
along the Danube. Subsequently the Celts, left to
themselves, occupied the Central Rhinelands. About
B.C. 2000 or 1500, when bronze came to be used by the
side of polished stone, the European Aryans were seated
in their oldest historic settlements. Full particulars
on the question of the Urheimat (original home) will
be found in the Reallexikon der Indogermanischen
Altertumskunde (Strasburg, 1901) by O. Schrader,
the veteran leader in the field of Indo-European
antiquities.
Short History of Indian Literature 7
Dekhan swamps and jungles where, under
various names, they still linger on in a rude
state of political independence.
Those who submitted were made to serve
on the Punjab estates of their new masters.
The Hindus a name that has been given
to the Aryan population of India 1 naturally
held the aborigines in contempt. The
Shudras or lowest class in the later caste
system are supposed to be the descendants
of the ancient Dasyus.
Ill
THE VEDAS 2
The Dasyu War in the Punjab is the historical
background of the Vedas, a miscellany of
mantras, i.e., psalms, hymns, and prayers.
The orthodox Hindu looks upon the Vedas
as shruti or revelation. They are held no
1 In agreement with ancient usage. In England,
however, it is customary to restrict the name to the
modern Hindus.
2 The Vedas are a large literature in themselves, and
will be treated more fully in the next volume. Our
present purpose is to interest, rather than instruct, the
general reader in Vedic mythology which, even in India,
is more revered than understood.
8 Short History of Indian Literature
less sacred in India than the Bible is in
Christian lands. The Vedas are believed to
be the eternal breath of the Almighty the
divine voice heard by the rishis, the seers
and prophets of old. The inspired rishis
communicated the mantras to the Brahmins
or priestly caste, by whom Vedic knowledge
has been as jealously guarded from profane
contact, as Holy Writ was withheld from
vulgar sight by the mediaeval church of
Europe. The Vedic hymns are addressed to
the powers which are seen at work in
Nature, and on which agricultural prospects
and personal temperament, even with us,
depend so much. The roseate dawn (ushas)
that seems to dispel the powers of darkness
when her blushes spread over the cool
morning sky, and the glitter of the star-
bespangled heavens (varuna) so welcome after
the heat and fatigue of a tropical day, almost
invited to songs of praise and thanks- offering.
The need of soft showers (indra), so that the
swelling grain might ripen into a bounteous
harvest, easily suggested prayer and oblation.
And what could more fitly propitiate the
angry flash of lightning (agni), and the crop-
destroying maruts or hail-storms, than holy
hymn and sacrifice?
Short History of Indian Literature 9
After a time, the divine personality with
which the powers of Nature had been invested
was alone remembered, whilst the physical
element passed into oblivion. The Vedas
have prayers for corn and cattle, long life
and offspring. In some passages, the god is
invoked to prosper the Aryas, and smite their
enemies. One mantra calls upon Varuna to
pardon committed sin, another prays the sun-
god to remove the tempter and evil-doer out
of the way. There are hymns expressive of a
yearning after righteousness, and of a child-
like trust in life everlasting. Faith in a future
life, indeed, pervades and sweetens Indian
song. Greek bard and Eoman poet have but
rarely touched on the immortality of the soul,
yet, a similar tendency of religious growth can
be traced on classical ground.
The Homeric Greeks, too, worshipped the
personifications of Nature. Zeus signifies the
bright sky, the land-girding ocean became
Poseidon, the celestial fire they named Heph-
aistos, and the all - nourishing earth was
transformed into the goddess Demeter. The
Hellenic husbandman of the heroic age, in
offering prayer and first-fruit to Demeter,
intended no more than to do homage to the
benignant earth, to whose productive power
10 Short History of Indian Literature
he had entrusted the hidden seed. But social
conditions rapidly changed in Greece, and a
town-bred Athenian, at the time of Sophocles
or Plato, could hardly be expected to identify
the great goddess with the tutelary guardian
of the spade and plough. Divine worship in
Demeter's temple meant, to him, trust in a
kindly and beneficent deity. But the Indian
mind dug deeper, and did not rest content
until it had immortalised the human soul, and
merged the fleeting hues of Nature and the
host of gods and goddesses into one divine
essence. The Vedas declare that God is one,
though he be named Indra, Agni, Varuna. 1
1 The word Veda is derived from the Aryan root vid,
which means (1) seeing, (2) seeing with the mind's eye.
Veda is what we should call intuitive knowledge. The
Hindus tried to express by Veda much the same as we
do by vision (short for vid-sion) and ideas (short for
vid-eas). They meant to convey that he, who is not
blinded by the fumes of passion and desire, is the true
seer and ideal sage.
English wit and wisdom have sprung from the same
root vid ; promfing is "seeing" to things beforehand.
Idol stands for vid-ol, and signifies a thing " seen " ;
a visible sign representing something real. Idolatry
does little harm to the few who can "see" what is real
and lasting beneath religious rites and symbols, but
idolaters who blindly worship forms, whether in or out
of church, are in danger of losing God's most precious
gift to man independence of thought.
Short History of Indian Literature 11
IV
THE STOEY OF THE MAHA-
BHARATA 1
Having established their rule in the Punjab,
the Hindus pushed further east, and founded
kingdoms all along the River Ganges as
far down as Patna. Two tribes became
prominent, the Bharatas near Delhi, and the
Panchalas beyond the city of Agra. They
once waged a fierce war, perhaps in the
same remote age when the city of Troy was
besieged by the Greek armies. The great war
of the Bharatas, in which all principalities
throughout the Gangetic valley were in-
volved, is the subject of the Maha-Bharata.
The poem is a rich storehouse of mythological
lore. Legends are grouped around history,
similar to the Nibelung Lay which is also a
1 The epics of India reflect the heroic age which
followed close on the Mantra period. On these
grounds, the Maha-Bharata has been dealt with
immediately after the Vedic poetry, although the
extant texts do not represent the original epic. None
of the epical or legal literature of the Hindus was
composed before Buddha.
12 Short History of Indian Literature
poetic, yet true representation of the battles
fought between the Huns and the allied forces
of the Franks and Burgundians.
We subjoin the story of the Maha-Bharata :
Ninth in descent from the first Bharata
ruler came Kuru, the ancestor of Pandu and
other car-borne chiefs. After King Pandu's
decease, his blind brother, Dhritarashtra,
succeeded to the throne of the Bharatas or
Kurus. The Pandava brothers (that is the
name given to the five sons of Pandu) were
brought up at their uncle's Court together
with their cousins, the Kaurava Princes.
Kaurava really means * relating to the
Kurus,' but in the Maha-Bharata the word
is applied to Dhritarashtra's sons only, and
never to the Pandavas. 1
At that time, Drupada was reigning over
the Panchala people. He had slighted the
noble Drona, who retaliated by taking service
with the rival power. The Kuru Court then
stayed at Hastinapur, half-way between Simla
and Delhi. There the foreign courtier offered
to train the young Princes in all knightly
1 Like the names of other ancient heroes, Kuru is a
title rather than a proper name. As a duke is the head
of a duchy, so the Kuru was chief of the Kula or Hindu
clan.
Short History of Indian Literature 13
accomplishments. He was accepted as their
tutor, and after a few years the blind
monarch, gratified with the result, gave
Drona means to march against Drupada, and
punish the royal offender. A Kuru army
invaded Panchala Land, and conquered half
the kingdom.
In deference to his late brother's wishes,
Dhritarashtra had appointed the eldest Pan-
dava as heir to the crown ; but so violently
were the jealous Kauravas opposed to what
they considered an act of injustice that the
feeble old King, at last, yielded to their
grievances. Prince Duryodhan, the eldest
Kaurava, was now made heir-apparent, and
it was owing to his spite and intrigues that
the five PaDdavas were sent into exile.
Duryodhan, in his iniquity, even gave secret
orders to set fire to the house where his
banished cousins were sleeping. But they
were warned of the evil design, and escaped
into the forest.
Among noble Hindu maidens it was a
time-honoured custom to have their suitors
invited to a military tournament, and bestow
heart and hand on the gallant knight who
proved himself first champion in a passage-
of-arms and the ensuing games of chivalry.
14 Short History 01 Indian Literature
This ceremony of choosing a husband was
known by the name of swayamvara.
While the Pandavas lived concealed in the
woods, a proclamation was issued that the
daughter of King Drupada was going to hold
a swayamvara, and that the Princess had
fixed her mind on a husband who excelled
in archery. Arjun, one of the five brothers,
heard the royal message, and being a master
in the craft of handling the bow, betook him-
self to the Panchala capital. The ancient
city looked gay on that happy occasion ;
festoons of flowers hung across the streets,
and the houses were decorated with tapestry
and bunting. The Prince, disguised as a
Brahmin, mingled with the joyful crowd
that thronged outside the palace court. A
flourish of martial instruments announced
the arrival of the suitors. As the noble
combatants entered the lists, every eye was
fixed on them, and the shouts and acclama-
tions of the spectators sufficiently attested
the popularity of the entertainment. And
again all eyes turned and gazed eagerly when
the palanquin of Princess Draupadi appeared
on the scene of combat. She was in bridal
dress, and had a garland on her arm. The
bow on which the youthful rivals were to
Short History of Indian Literature 15
try their skill was so heavy that it had to be
carried by several stout yeomen of the King's
Household. None but a young Brahmin could
shoot the arrow through a revolving ring into
the target set up on high. The high-born
damsel, with a deep blush, slipped the
fragrant wreath over the victor's neck, thus
indicating her royal pleasure to marry him.
The rejected suitors all belonged to the
Kshatriya or military caste. Their merry
laughter suddenly died away, and their
quivering lips showed clearly the general re-
sentment that was felt because a priest had
been preferred to a noble. Prince Arjun then
threw off the Brahmin's surplice, and made
himself known as a true-born Kshatriya.
We have spun out the tale in order to lay
stress on the animosity which existed between
the Indian clergy and nobility at the time of
the Bharata War. The Aryan in the Punjab
had been ploughman, soldier, and family priest,
all in one person, but when his descendants
settled in the valley of the Ganges, sacrificial
ritual, warfare, and agriculture developed so
rapidly that a division of labour became
necessary. Social sets arose which were
exclusively engaged in clerical or military
work, or in farming. When the crops were
16 Short History of Indian Literature
plentiful and exceeded home consumption,
the surplus was exchanged for cattle, slaves,
and useful implements ; this was the origin
of trade and banking in India. While the
two higher castes comprised the lords spiritual
and temporal, the rest of the people, mostly
farmers and salesmen, were collectively known
as villagers or vaishyas. 1 Both kshatriyas and
vaishyas began to feel uneasy at the growing
influence of the cultured Brahmins, who
not only claimed the monoply of sacrificial
1 "Settling down" as a householder is expressed in
the Aryan languages by the root vish. The Romans
changed vish to vie, the Greeks to vec, the people of
England and Germany to wich or wick.
Village is derived from Latin, and stands for w'elage,
i.e., settlement. Economy is a Greek word. It signifies
housekeeping, and was pronounced ^economy by the
early Hellenes. The Aryan love of home life is also
shown in Teutonic names such as Greenwich, originally
no more than a "village-green" with a few straggling
huts, and Sieswiclc, the cradle of the English race.
Sleswick is short for Slei's wick, the Slei being a river
which flows between Kiel and Flensburg. The first
arrival of Englishmen on British soil took place at
Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate, fifteen hundred years ago,
and one of the earliest English settlements on the sandy
coast, some five miles south of the Bay, was Sandwich,
the "village on the sands." In Ancient India, a settle-
ment was called vish, and vaishya, means settler or
villager.
Short History of Indian Literature 17
direction and Vedic exposition, but, in a later
age, made it a divine law to be consulted in
every question of conscience and religion.
The Pandavas, having gained a powerful
ally in King Drupada, now demanded their
rightful share of Kuruland. Dhritarashtra
agreed to assign them the barren waste west
of the River Jumna where Yudhishthir, the
eldest brother, built the city of Delhi. The
Kauravas, on the other hand, held sway over
the fertile plains between the Jumna and
Ganges. The gradual territorial expansion
and national prosperity of the Pandava state
aroused Duryodhan's jealousy, and he re-
volved a dark scheme in his mind when he
invited his cousins to some Court festivities
to be held at Hastinapur. Yudhishthir,
accepting a friendly challenge to a game of
dice, staked gold and silver, chariots and
elephants, but always lost ; and the heavy
losses only added to his gambling spirit.
Duryodhan, by unfair means, won all his
opponent's wealth, cheating him out of
palaces and cities, land and people, and his
royal crown. The unfortunate Pandavas
were homeless again. The stipulation was
that they should be wanderers for twelve
years, and if the Kauravas failed to espy
B
18 Short History of Indian Literature
them during an additional twelvemonth of
settled life, that then Yudhishthir should
receive his country back. And, again, the
five brothers set out on their pitiful journey,
seeking the wild jungle and lonesome river
banks where none would mock them in their
sore affliction. Draupadi went with them, no
longer in rich garments, but a barefooted
beggar-maid.
"And they killed the forest red-deer, hewed the gnarled
forest wood,
From the stream she fetched the water, cooked the
humble daily food."
"Rishis came to good Yudhishthir, sat beside his
evening fires,
Many olden tales recited, legends of our ancient sires." '
The forest life of the brothers, full of hard-
ship and adventures, is told in the Vana Parva
or Jungle Book which, with its beautiful
stories and sage instructions, is one of the
most attractive portions of the Maha-Bharata.
In the thirteenth year of banishment, the
Pandava Princes came to Matsyaland in menial
disguise. One was clad as a cowherd, another
found employment in the royal kitchen, a
1 The passages quoted from the Maha-Bharata are
translated by Mr Romesh Dutt ; those from the
Ramayana by Mr Ralph Griffith.
Short History of Indian Literature 19
third in King Virata's stables, and fair
Draupadi was accepted into the Queen's
Household as a waiting- woman. Ten un-
eventful months passed by, and the exiles
rejoiced that their days of adversity would
soon be over. But as the year was drawing
to its close, the commander of the Matsya
forces caught sight of Draupadi and made
love to the Princess. When she would not
listen to his gallant addresses, he was rude
enough to insult her, and Bhima, the second
brother, not suffering the affront, killed the
nobleman in a frenzy of passion.
In the meantime, Duryodhan's emissaries
were searching every city of Hindustan with-
out being able to trace the banished Princes. 1
But the spies brought intelligence of the
Matsya disturbances, and also reported that
Virata and the pick of his soldiers had left for
the south of Matsyaland to repel a hostile
tribe from the borders. The wily Kauravas,
profiting by this state of affairs, planned an
1 Hindustan is the land between the Himalaya and
Vindhya Mountains, while the rest of India, south of the
Vindhyas, is known as the Dekhan. During morning
prayers, the ancient dwellers by the Ganges shores
would turn eastward to the rising sun, so that the south
of India was dekh&iij i.e., on their right hand (carter in
Latin).
20 Short History of Indian Literature
immediate raid into the King's northern
provinces famous for their fine breed of sheep
and horses. Young Uttara, the son of Virata,
was too inexperienced to make adequate
preparations for the pursuit of the Kaurava
marauders and the recovery of the captured
cattle. Arjun was ordered to drive the
Prince's chariot, but the unaccustomed sight
of the enemy disheartened the youth, and his
courage failed him. In this emergency, the
charioteer called out : "I am Arjun ! " and
begged Uttara not to be despondent, but to
trust in him. And Arjun, defying all danger,
like fierce Patroclus,
" rushed along the plains
With foaming coursers and with loosened reins,"
and blew his deafening conch-shell on en-
countering the Kauravas. His colossal
strength and fearlessness struck terror into
their lines, and they fled in wild confusion
like crowded kine before the lion's roar. 1
1 Ancient warfare often commenced with cattle raids,
transformed by the saga-teller to heroic deeds of
chivalry. The Cuchulain epic, which sparkles with all
the brilliant fancy of Irish romance, is founded on the
creaghs of the Connaught and Ulster men, just as the
forays of the Kuru clans were worked into the Maha-
Bharata.
Short History of Indian Literature 21
When King Virata returned and was told
who his five retainers really were, he welcomed
them cordially, and being under a special
obligation to Arjun, readily offered his friend-
ship and alliance. And now the time had
come for Yudhishthir to reclaim his forfeited
realm, but Duryodhan evaded a direct answer,
merely observing that Arjun had been seen
within the appointed time.
The Pandavas then summoned a council of
war at Virata's capital. Their cousin Krishna
came over from Gujarat, and many con-
federates were present. King Drupada, who
had not forgotten the humiliation he had
received at Dhritarashtra's hands, made a
warlike speech, and recommended that the
allied troops should be mobilised at once.
After him the wise Krishna rose and
addressed the council : " First sue for honour-
able peace," said he. " Should the Kauravas
decline to give up the land which my noble
cousins claim, there will be time enough to
declare war." The force and directness of
the appeal had the desired effect, and the
assembled Eajas decided to negotiate for
peace, but if no concessions were made, to
prepare for war.
The Kauravas were no less anxious than
22 Short History of Indian Literature
the Pandavas to have Krishna on their side.
Duryodhan, as well as Arjun, endeavoured to
gain the support of their powerful relative.
The poem narrates that both arrived in his
palace at the same hour. It was very early
in the morning, and Krishna was still asleep.
Duryodhan rudely pushed his way into the
bedchamber and took a seat at the head of
Krishna's couch ; but Arjun followed meekly,
and remained standing at the foot of the bed.
When the Prince awoke, his eye fell first on
Arjun. After listening to the request of his
cousins, Krishna declared that he personally
would not fight against his kinsfolk ; he
would join neither side, but was willing to
lend his soldiers to one party, and his advice
to the other. As he had noticed Arjun first,
he called on him to take his choice. Full of
reverence for Krishna, the young Pandava
begged to be favoured with his cousin's ripe
counsel, and Duryodhan was exceedingly glad
to secure a strong reinforcement of troops on
such easy terms.
At Arjun' s special wish, Krishna went to
Hastina Town to try once more to avert the
impious war, and bring about a friendly
understanding.
Short History of Indian Literature 23
" Unto thee, Dhritarashtra ! Pandu's sons in homage
bend,
And a loving, peaceful message through my willing
lips they send.
" Take their love, gracious monarch ! Let thy closing
days be fair,
Let Duryodhan keep his kingdom, let the Pandavs
have their share.
" Call to mind their noble suffering, for the tale is dark
and long
Of the outrage they have suffered, of the insult and
the wrong."
The Kauravas were stirred by the eloquent
appeal, except Duryodhan, who flatly refused
to restore the confiscated land. The good
old king had tears in his sightless orbs as
he said :
" Listen, dearest son Duryodhan ! shun this dark and
fatal strife,
Cast not grief and death's black shadow on thy
parent's closing life ! "
but Duryodhan blazed up angrily :
" Town nor village, mart nor hamlet, help us righteous
gods in heaven,
Spot that needle's point can cover shall not unto
them be given ! "
Not baffled by the failure of his diplomatic
mission, Krishna tried to win Kama, one of
24 Short History of Indian Literature
the chieftains, by expatiating on the justice
of the Pandava cause. But all his persuasion
was in vain. Kama disdained to be faithless
to the Kaurava standard to which he had
pledged his honour.
And now war was imminent. Bhishma, the
venerable uncle of Pandu and Dhritarashtra,
marched at the head of the Kauravas, while
Draupadi's brother was made commander-in-
chief of the Pandava forces. The armies met
not far from Delhi, and gave each other battle
on the memorable plains of Kurukshetra. 1
" Like foemen stood on either side
Kinsmen and friends by dearest ties allied,
There fathers, sons, and holy teachers stood,
Uncles and brothers, near in love and blood."
1 Kurukshetra = Kurufield. The literal sense of
kshatriya is kshetra- owner, i.e., landed proprietor, lord
of the land.
A spread eagle wrought in gold adorned the sceptre
of Imperial Cyrus, whose name has been interpreted as
Kuru or "Lord of Clans." However, the regal title
borne by the sovereign - kuru or overlord of Iran's
ancient clans seems to be related to kr/rie (lord) and
church (the Lord's house) rather than to kuru. At all
events, the royal warrior who now graces the throne of
Persia is no longer styled kuru, but shah, which is a
clipping of kshatriy&. The Greek equivalent of kshetra
denotes " possessions " more particularly fields and
flocks.
Short History of Indian Literature 25
The carnage was fearful, and fortune
favoured Duryodhan's side. The Pandava
host was routed wherever Bhishma fought.
The aged warrior-priest stood tranquil on his
chariot, which bore a lofty palm stem with
the Kuru flag five pale silver stars sewn on
to a golden ground. Arjun, unwilling to
slaughter his kith and kin and the old
friends of his boyhood, held aloof from the
deadly fray until Krishna gently rebuked
the Prince, and admonished him to serve
his country like a good kshatriya. " You
must learn to sacrifice lower to higher duties.
Fight, cousin ! grieve neither for the living
nor the dead. Life cannot slay nor is life
ever slain.' , 1 And Arjun's ape-bannered car
drawn by a team of milk-white steeds, flashed
in the brunt of battle, and, like a forest fire,
the mighty archer consumed his foes. And
as the surge of victory rose and fell, the
various camps resounded with shouts of joy
or wailing. Such havoc had been wrought
in the Pandava ranks that, on the evening
1 The meaning is that death only affects the body,
while life itself is eternal. The dialogues which
Krishna held with Arjun on the battlefield are the
subject of the Bhagavad Gita, the holiest song of
India.
26 Short History of Indian Literature
of the ninth day, Yudhishthir was in blank
despair, and looked on the struggle as hope-
less. Bhlshma was all - triumphant ; none
could resist the onslaught of the tiger-hero,
who, vying with the purple sunset, crimsoned
the blood-stained earth. But, on the follow-
ing day, Arjun, urged on by Krishna, drew
Gandiva, bow of celestial make, and the
never -erring shaft transfixed the illustrious
grandsire.
When Bhlshma had fallen, Drona took his
place. By him the hated Drupada was slain,
but the Panchala Prince, frantic with filial
grief, hurled his weapon at the proud pre-
ceptor, who sank lifeless in the sand.
" Drona slept and gallant Drupad, for their earthly task
was done,
Vengeance fired the son of Drona 'gainst the royal
Drupad's son,"
and the clash of arms raged with unabated
vigour around the noble dead.
The next Kaurava leader was haughty
Kama, a half-brother of the Pandavas. His
cruel lance pierced Bhima's valiant son, but
the boy found an avenger in his uncle
Arjun, who laid Kama low. On the
eighteenth day of battle Duryodhan fell,
Short History of Indian Literature 27
mortally wounded by his cousin Bhima, and
Pandu's sons were left unchallenged victors
on the field. 1
V
THE OEIGIN OF THE MAHA-BHAKATA
Old popular songs are afloat in every country
long before critic or scholar fix their literary
form. Has the Maha-Bharata sprung from
the genius of a single poet, or was it common
national property a careless bunch of flowers
that grew wild in the country ? The question
appeals to personal taste rather than learned
argument.
Love of poetry and music is universal.
1 Final a and n are occasionally omitted in the
modern use of Greek and Latin names, Helen taking
the place of Helena, Plato of Platon, and so on. "We
have followed the classical precedent with regard to
several Sanskrit words.
Thus Arjun and Duryodhan stand for Arjuna and
Duryodhana, raja (king) for rajan, karma (character)
for karman. Brahma (God) and dtma (soul) are short
for Brahman and atman ; yogi (saint), swdmi (religious
teacher), and gndni (philosopher) for yogin, swamin, and
gnanin.
!
28 Short History of Indian Literature
The whole of Nature, in spite of discordant
notes, vibrates in sweet harmony, and strikes
a sympathetic chord in the human breast.
From time immemorial, the Aryan nations
have cultivated sympathy with all created
life, and that is why the gift of the seer and
poet has been so abundantly bestowed upon
the race. The forefathers of the Hindus were
aglow with a joyous sense of the boundless
soul in Nature, and their own soul thrilled
in response, and burst out in Vedic song.
They felt the divine (deva) element in the
twinkling star and foaming torrent, in the
moaning winds and whispering leaves. And
the devas became the strength and defence
of their simple fervent hearts. And after
smiting and putting to confusion the loud-
yelling barbarians who knew of no sacrifice
to the bright gods, the victorious warrior-
poets of Ancient India gave praise and thanks
to the Devas, and sang the mighty deeds
which the gods, through them, had wrought. 1
1 As veda has sprung from the root vid ( = seer, sage),
so deva from div ( = shining, bright). Latin "dies,"
short for dives, is the "bright" side of time, the day-
time, and the luminaries "shining" in the firmament
were named Devas in Sanskrit But behind the
brilliant galaxy of the Asiatic skies and the gay
imagery of a profuse nature, the old Aryan thinkers
Short History of Indian Literature 29
Itihasas or national legends narrating the
heroic feats of the Dasyu War must have
been current in the Punjab during the Vedic
Age, and similar poetry was cultivated at the
refined Gangetic courts where minstrels held
an honoured place. Koyal feast and sacred
rite were graced by their presence. They
knew the ancient ballads by heart, and were
familiar with the genealogy of noble families.
The rhapsodist preluded and accompanied
his recital on the vina or lute. The spell-
bound audience would fondly repeat the
remembered verses until hill and valley were
ringing with the beauty of the song. At a
later time, the scattered lays of the itinerant
felt a divine power the everlasting source of earthly
grandeur and splendour. The rishi6 of India knew long
before Plato that even the fairest landscape and the
saintliest life are but imperfect images of what is true
and perfect. They had fully realised what St John
realised ages after them, that the radiance of an
illumined soul, like the sunshine which dances on the
gold-tinged ripples of the mountain-girt lake, is at best
a broken light reflecting the brighter light of Heaven
which shines on the darkness of created life. What
wonder, then, that the Aryans called eternal things
bright and shining deva, in Sanskrit, and divine in
English ? The French word for God Dieu is derived
from Latin deus or dius, originally divus } i.e., the
shining one.
30 Short History of Indian Literature
gleemen were picked up by learned pundits,
and skilfully woven into a running series of
poetic narrative. Such a collection of poetry
relating to the Bharata War appears to be the
Maha-Bharata, and it was probably arranged
in its present form by various vyasas or
compilers. Popular fancy soon ascribed the
cluster of national songs to an individual
poet Vyasa, just as Bishop Percy's name is
associated with his collection of old English
ballads. The Maha - Bharata could hardly
have been the outcome of one mind. Even
external evidence points to a group of poets.
If the Paradise Lost and the Nibelung
Lied were placed by the side of the iEneid
and Iliad, their combined length would fall
short of the Maha-Bharata.
It was only natural that, after the Great War,
the Kurus or Bharatas should have patronised
the joyous troubadours who perpetuated the
glorious memory of their ancestors represented
in the epic as the Pandava brothers. Poetry
seems to have enjoyed a high reputation
among the Kuru clans, for Hindu minstrels
and actors are called bharatas or bhats unto
this day.
Short History of Indian Literature 31
VI
THE RAMAYANA POEM
But it was not only the stirring episodes of
the Maha-Bharata which the bards recited;
the Ramayana has gained even greater popu-
larity among the masses of India. The
name means Rama's Adventures, and the
author is Valmiki. The geographical range
of the poem extends as far south as the
Dekhan and the isle of Ceylon ; hero and
heroine are natives of coud tries which were
colonised by the eastward-pressing Hindus
long after Kuru and Panchala Land. On
these grounds, the romantic Ramayana is
generally referred to a later date than the
martial Maha-Bharata. The Ramayana has
been the inexhaustible source of the Hindu
theatre for more than a thousand years.
We again summarise the contents.
The Videhas of Tirhut and the Koshalas
of Oudh were friendly neighbours. Sita, a
Videha Princess, married Rama, the eldest
Koshala Prince. The joys and sorrows of
32 Short History of Indian Literature
their wedded life are the centre round which
the story of the Kamayana gathers. In an
unguarded moment, Kama's father promised
one of his Queens to banish the youth for
fourteen years, and secure to her own son,
Bharata, the royal succession.
Kama was a dutiful son, and left Koshala
Land
"Farewell then, my country, farewell for the present !
In forests of south shall my footsteps now roam,
On Nilgiri Mountains where yogis omniscient
Have taken their ashram, their heavenly home."
His brother Lakshman and young Stta shared
his exile in Dandaka Forest situated between
the Vindhya Woods and the Kiver Godavery.
Kama, devout by nature and chastened by
misfortune, frequently paid visits to the
vanaprasthas or forest sages. They were
old men as a rule, ever ready to help and
advise, and led a contemplative life in a
quiet ashrama (hermitage) near some village
where they could cultivate their flower beds
and remain undisturbed in prayer and
meditation. St Agastya was so favourably
impressed with Kama's earnestness that the
sage gave him a magic arrow as a help in
danger to come. All the elements had con-
tributed to the never-failing weapon. The
Short History of Indian Literature 33
wind had given swiftness of motion, the sun
red heat to its point, and ether made it all-
pervasive.
Soon after Rama's departure the old King
died of grief and shame, and young Bharata
succeeded to the Crown. Being conscien-
tious and nobler-minded than his scheming
mother, the new ruler's first act was to set
out with a cavalcade and recall the rightful
King.
Chitrakuta, Rama's forest abode before he
crossed the Vindhyas, is a lonely mountain
peak in Bundelkhund. The wild beauty of
the spot has long been consecrated into a
city of temples and shrines. The picturesque
heights were then swarming with monkeys,
as the legend narrates, and covered with a
profusion of tropical growth. Now they are
adorned with architecture and sculpture
representing favourite scenes from the
Ramayana.
Rama's answer to Bharata was that his
lamented father's death did not cancel the
given promise. He meant to stand by his
parent's word and abide the allotted time
of banishment. When Bharata reluctantly
departed, the saintly Prince gently admon-
ished him not to feel angry with his royal
c
34 Short History of Indian Literature
mother, but ever treat her with filial respect
and tenderness.
" True is Rama, great of soul,
Bountiful is he and modest, every sense does he control,
Gentle, brave, all creatures love him j keeping in the
righteous way,
Numbered with the holy hermits, pure and virtuous as
they."
The aboriginal tribes of Lanka or Ceylon
are the Rakshasas of the poem. Their King
was Havana, who represents all that is evil
and self-indulgent in man, while gentle Rama
embodies the spirit of self-sacrifice. Havana
was a monster in shape, and a brute in senti-
ment. He and his friend Maricha had been
ascetics in their youth, and attained to psychic
powers. They could change their bodies at
will and mimic human voices. Ravana's sister
had met Rama in his solitary wanderings, and
become love-smitten with the handsome Prince.
When Rama rejected her advances, the honey
on her lips turned to poison in her heart, and
all her thoughts were bent on revenge. She
went back to her brother and dwelt on Sita's
charms so artfully that Ravana became in-
flamed with carnal passion, and swore that he
would tear the young wife from Rama's loving
arms into his foul embraces. He ordered
Short History of Indian Literature 35
his aerial car, and drove with Maricha to
Dandaka Forest.
Very poetical is Valmiki's description of
the enchanted car which, like the famous
shield of Achilles, was of divine workmanship.
" Thereon with wondrous art designed
Were blue-green birds of varied kind,
And many a sculptured serpent rolled
His twisted coil in burnished gold.
And steeds were there of noblest form,
With flying feet as fleet as storm.
And elephants with deftest skill
Stood sculptured by a silver rill,
Each bearing on his trunk a wreath
Of lilies from the flood beneath.
There Lakshmi, Beauty's heavenly Queen,
Wrought by the artist's skill, was seen
Beside a flower-clad pool to stand,
Holding a lotus in her hand."
Rama, his brother, and Sita were enjoying
the cool of the evening when they saw a
graceful fawn lightly skipping by. Its sun-lit
coat shone like liquid gold, and Sita expressed
a wish to have the pretty creature. Kama,
not slow where his wife's wishes were con-
cerned, ran after the deer to catch it. The
cunning Maricha who had transformed himself
into a deer did not allow himself to be caught,
but kept close enough to his pursuer to tempt
36 Short History of Indian Literature
him ever farther away from Sita. At last,
Rama felt impatient and sent an arrow after
the wily fawn. Maricha uttered a loud cry in
Rama's voice, and Stta, startled by the well-
known sound, hurried Lakshman off to her
husband's assistance. And now she was left
alone in her anguish, and all Nature looked
terrified to her alarmed mind. A mist, of a
sudden, veiled the sun, and the merry birds
had stopped their song. The flowers began
to tremble, and drooped their perfumed heads.
A heavy depression lay on Sita's limbs. She
uplifted her eyes and beheld a holy friar clad
like the forest trees in sombre dress of bast
and bark as Hindu ascetics used to wear.
Her whole frame shook with fear. Ravana
for he was under the friar's cloak had no
time to lose as Rama might be back at any
moment. With the brute force of a tiger he
seized his prey and speedily returned to his
palace at Lanka.
Rama, in his distress, wandered about the
woods to find his Sita. When he learned that
she was imprisoned in the Rakshasa city, he
hastened down to the south coast. One of
the rude forest tribes whom the poet has
caricatured as monkeys would not let him
pass, but Rama forced his way and, by some
Short History of Indian Literature 37
brave and generous act, even gained the
friendship of the uncouth foresters. An
army of monkeys volunteered to march
against the ravisher. The Hindus of the
Epic Age do not seem to have known the
art of shipbuilding and navigation. The
Ramayana has no catalogue of ships like the
Iliad, but relates how troops of monkeys,
after reaching the seashore, flew northward,
and brought back huge pieces of rock which
they had torn off the Himalayas. Crags and
trees were dropped in the Ceylonese Channel
and the hoary ocean god himself joined them
to a commodious bridge. The celestial host
looked on in astonishment, and raised the
anthem on high " As long as heaven and
earth endure, this bridge shall endure and
speak of Rama's fame ! " 1 And now the army
crossed and besieged the city of Lanka. The
Rakshasa forces poured out of the city gates,
one stout detachment after the other, but the
brave monkeys held their own. Seven days
they fought with varying success. At last,
Ravana made a sally and, with raised battle
axe, rushed against Rama. But before the
1 The rocky islets scattered between Ceylon and the
Indian continent are still known as Rama's Bridge
among the natives. The English call it Adam's Bridge.
38 Short History of Indian Literature
deadly blow could fall, Agastya's magic arrow
flashed from Kama's bow and killed the
demon- king.
Sita was free, but her trials were not yet
ended. Rama thought her purity must be
sullied by Havana's contact. The test of
guilt or innocence by ordeal is not unknown
in the history of Europe. The glow of
Walter Scott's genius revives the disused
custom in our fancy when once more we
delight in the eternal youth of the Fair
Maid of Perth. But the usage was not
restricted to Old England; it also prevailed
in Ancient India. Saddened and offended
with Rama's misgivings, Sita had a funeral
pyre erected, and leaped into the greedy
flame ; but Agni, the god of fire, restored
the stainless wife unhurt to the overjoyed
husband.
" In his tears the contrite Rama clasped her in a soft
embrace,
And the fond forgiving Sita in his bosom hid her
face."
The happy pair, and Lakshman, quitted
Ceylon and, after an absence of fourteen
years, returned to Ayodhya, the Koshala
capital, where Bharata handed the royal
Short History of Indian Literature 39
insignia to Rama, and paid him all honours
due to a king. 1
Rama is the ideal knight of India. Millions
of hero - worshippers feel inspired by the
records of his saintliness and chivalry the
very qualities which make King Arthur the
idol of romantic hearts. Rama receives
divine honours from the Hindus. They
pray to his spirit, and believe that he dwells
with the blessed gods in Heaven.
11 The knight's bones are dust,
His good sword is rust,
His spirit is with the saints I trust ! "
VII
BRAHMANAS AND UPANISHADS
A new age had grown up that knew nothing
of the old life in the Punjab. Many Vedic
passages were no longer understood, the
1 The district of Agodhya, is now called Oudh.
Bharata, whose mother came from the Punjab, and
was perhaps a Bharata Princess, must not be confused
with his namesake, the tribal father of the Kuru
clans.
40 Short History of Indian Literature
very language of the hymns was antiquated.
Interpretations became necessary, and were,
together with the text, handed down from
generation to generation. The versions
rapidly increased in number, and varied in
different families. The Brahmins, intent on
the dignity of their time -hallowed institution,
brought harmony into the discrepancies, and
thus a large literature sprung up called the
Brahmanas. They are books dealing with
sacrificial details, and supporting the estab-
lished dogma on the authority of the Vedas.
The form of worship was rigidly fixed. Great
care was taken to preserve the purity of the
Vedic text. Minute attention was paid to
phonetics and accidence. The officiating
priest had it in his power to pronounce an
elaborate sacrifice null and void if, during
prayers, a single accent was put on the wrong
syllable. Travelling scholars gathered round
reputed teachers whose schools became the
centres of intellectual life. Not only questions
of grammar and ritual were discussed, but
speculation took a bolder flight and enquired
into the relationship between God and the
soul. There must have been a stirring
activity in the universities and at the royal
courts of ancient Hindustan. The King of
Short History of Indian Literature 41
Benares, and Janaka of Videha, the father of
Princess Sita, are frequently mentioned in the
literature of the time as prominent leaders of
thought. Janaka, in his old age, renounced
the glories of the throne, and became a
vanaprastha. Thus he anticipated another
royal sage, even greater than himself Prince
Gotama, the founder of Buddhism.
The theological speculation of the age is
embedded in the Upanishads, which are really
appendices to the Brahmanas. As the New
Testament dispenses with the Jewish ritual,
yet is part of the same Bible which contains
the Mosaic law books, even so are the
Upanishads reckoned among the canonical
books of the Veda, although they reject the
Brahminic rites as useless. Upanishad means
a forest gathering disciples "sitting near"
their teacher engaged in religious converse.
The Upanishads are not a coherent system of
philosophy like that of Spinoza, or Berkeley,
or Kant, but may be more appropriately
compared to the Gospel of St John and
other scriptural theosophy. 1 They are full
1 The ancients meant by theosophy, intuitive wisdom
which shines in pure and selfless hearts. But the
modern teachings which are labelled theosophical,
though they have appropriated the venerable name and
42 Short History of Indian Literature
of poetry and fanciful narrative, loose in
thought and, every now and again, sparkling
with flashes of philosophic light. The Vedic
gods are ignored, and the idea of Divine
Immanence takes their place.
" He who dwelling on earth is other than
the earth, whom the earth knoweth not,
whose body is the earth, who is unattached
and, therefore, has power over the earth,
that is God, Uddalaka ! that is thy
soul." 1
In the age of the Brahmanas, it was
customary for Aryan boys to live with a
tutor, generally a priest, for a number of
years, in order to study the Veda under his
direction. The relation between teacher and
pupil was a sacred bond ; tuition meant
tutelage and adoption in those days. The
preceptor loved and fostered his nursling-
boy who, in his turn, might become a beacon-
the occult phraseology which has gathered round it,
have caught little of the hidden spirit, the soul's truest
and best. Far sounder is the teaching supplied by
Master Eckhart (a.d. 1300), and Jacob Bcehme (1600),
two German theosophists ; but what is the pale light of
their veiled utterances compared to the vivid realisation
and fearless language of the golden Upanishads ?
1 Brihad Aranyaka, i.e., Great Jungle Upanishad III.,
7. 3.
Short History of Indian Literature 43
light of knowledge, and transmit the science
of the age to his own foster-children. 1
Satyakama was the child of a poor servant-
girl, and when the guru (teacher) who was
to instruct him enquired for his family name,
the truthful boy answered : " I do not know,
sir, of what gotra (family) I am. I asked
mother, and she said : ' In my youth when
I moved about much as a servant I con-
ceived thee. I cannot tell of what gotra
thou art.'"
" Surely, you must be of noble birth ! "
exclaimed the guru. " Only a noble soul can
be so open and frank of speech. Stay with
me, I will teach you the Veda, for you
have not turned aside from the truth."
And the young student was told to bring
fuel to the sacrificial hearth ; this was an
old Indian rite symbolical of the performer's
1 The foster-parent had a life-long claim on the
affection as well as worldly possessions of his adopted
pupils and sometimes future heirs. "In default of
kindred," says an old Indian law tract, " the preceptor
inherits, and failing him the disciple." Literary foster-
age was well known in Pagan Ireland where the
Druids acted as the guardians of national education.
Miss Hull, in a charming volume entitled Pagan
Ireland (David Nutt, London, 1904), dwells on the
Gaelic custom, pp. 128-131.
44 Short History of Indian Literature
fitness for brahmacharya (religious instruc-
tion). 1 He had to tend his guru's herds,
even as Moses when he was young tended
the flock of Jethro, the priest of Midian.
Satyakama was faithful to his duty, and
grew in wisdom. All creatures loved and
trusted him, he was so gentle and tender-
hearted. Not even the shy gazelles and
timid deer fled when he passed. Wild swans,
the raja-hansas, with milk-white bodies and
purple beaks, fluttered tamely about him in
the gloaming. At nightfall, after penning
the cows, he would muse and meditate by
the flitting shadows of a blazing fire, or
break the stillness of the lonely hours with
sweet Vedic chants. And in the splendour
of the falling stars he saw so many devas
descending the sparkling ladder between sky
and earth, and out of the burning logs
angelic voices spoke, and revealed unto him
the infinite nature of Brahma. When
Satyakama returned to the village, the light
of heaven shone in his honest face, and the
guru said : " My gentle friend, you shine
1 Brahmacharya literary means a course of brahma
or divinity. BrahmacMrins are religious students
whose delight is the Vedic law. Subsequently, the
idea of celibacy was associated with the term.
Short History of Indian Literature 45
like one who knows Brahma (God). Who
has taught you the truth ? " " Not man,"
was the brief reply. And God's truth
which Satyakama had learned in loving
converse with Nature was that the whole
earth, the ocean below, and the skies above,
sun and fire, the rushing winds and the
breath of man, planets and moons, and the
voice of the heart, aye, all is divine. 1
l^Iantras, Brahmanas, and Upanishads com-
plete the Veda, and are the Hindu books
of revelation. The idea is that creation is
eternal : the universe proceeds from God
and, after a time, is withdrawn into Him.
Between each dissolution and the subsequent
renewal of the world, the Veda lies coiled
up in the Creators mind ; all things shall
1 From the Chhandogya, one of the oldest and finest
Upanishads. The simple story is composed in homely
Sanskrit, and is so thoroughly Aryan in spirit that
some passages awaken classical reminiscences in an
occidental mind, while others almost read as if they
were written in some old English or German dialect.
Says the poor mdtar (mater) to her boy :
na aham veda tdla yad gotras twam asi
not I wit (know), sonnie, of what gotra thou art.
"No" is na in Anglo-Saxon, "I" is ik in Old
German ; na ik wit sounds like a clipping of na aham
veda. T4ta, in colloquial Sanskrit, is an endearing
term as dadda is in English.
46 Short History of Indian Literature
pass away, but the Veda is everlasting. The
sacred words are the eternal type of things,
and the infinite display of created forms is
but a reflection of Divine Thought become
manifest in the Veda. 1
VIII
SUTRA LITERATURE
The Brahmanas increased so much in volume
that their contents were in danger of being
lost. We must bear in mind that no handy
text-books circulated in that early age, but
all learning was imparted by word of mouth,
and had to be committed to memory, line by
line, and chapter by chapter. Abridgments
of the diffuse Brahmanas were much needed,
and the want was supplied in the form of
sutras or manuals prepared for the use of
students. The sutras gradually replaced the
1 The Vedic Hymns are often spoken of as Vedas or
Mantras, but Veda, in the singular, is a more general
term, and includes the Brahmanas and Upanishads.
Short History of Indian Literature 47
Brahmanas in the religious education of
the country. They are called Smriti or
Remembrance, because tradition preserved
them in the memory of man. 1
The shrauta sutras are condensed treatises
on sacrificial observances. Shruti is Revela-
tion, and shrauta means "relating to shruti." 2
1 When Buddhism first arose in India, the Sutras in
their present form were yet in the making. But in this
book they are placed before the chapter on Buddha,
after the Brahmanas, because the Sutras have grown out
of Brahminic rites and precepts.
2 As Kaur&va, is derived from Kuru, so shrauta, from
shruti. The Veda (hymns, ritual and Upanishads) is
accepted by orthodox Hindus as shruti, while the two
epics and the sutras, even the shrauta sutras, are looked
upon as smriti. The Aryan root shru means "hearing,"
and shruti is the whole body of Vedic knowledge
expounded by the gurus, and " heard " by their disciples.
Subsequently, the Brahmins interpreted the word as
the inner monitor the divine voice which the rishis
"heard" in an exalted state of illumination.
Shru has not only taken root in the mental soil of
India, but also among the Western Aryans who clipped
the old root as usual. The Teutonic nations shortened
shru to hru, the Slavs to sru or sr, and the Romans to
cru or cr. But none of them could pronounce the letter
r distinctly, and they helped themselves out of the
difficulty by changing r to /. Parallel cases are not
wanting in other languages. The Chinese, for instance,
have no r in their alphabet, and invariably give it an
1-sound whenever they come across the objectionable
48 Short History of Indian Literature
One shrauta rite was observed after the
marriage ceremony in the new home. Two
sticks of sandalwood were smartly rubbed
one against the other, and the fire in the
letter in foreign words imported from Eu/ope and
America.
Thus, shru underwent a second change in Europe, and
became klu in England, si in Russia, and cl in Italy,
all three expressing the idea of "hearing."
Hlust was the name given by the Anglo-Saxons to
the organ of hearing, the ear ; hlitst&n or, in its modern
form, .listen literally means to "give ear." The old
spelling of loud was hlud, i.e., "heard" all over the
place, noisy. C/amorous has different initials because
it is of Latin descent.
A client is a man who comes to " hear " what his legal
adviser has to say, and when we speak of the "glorious "
reign of a " celebrated " king, we use two words which,
in old Latin, were c/oriosus and c/ebratus, and both
meant "much heard of." The Sanskrit for "glory"
is s/w*avas, and its Russian and Polish equivalent, as we
might expect, is s/ava, while sIoyo signifies speech,
i.e., the spoken word which is " heard." /Slavonic is the
national "speech" of the >S7avs or "speakers." Their
German neighbours who could not speak Slavonic,
were nicknamed dummies (niemiez in Polish). Some
scholars interpret Slav as "glorious." But the Slavs
are little given to national vainglory, and it ie not
likely that they should ever have styled themselves la
nation glorieuse. Slava came to mean "glory" in
Russian, just as arya came to mean "noble" in
Sanskrit, long after the two names Slav and Aryan
were fixed.
Short History of Indian Literature 49
hearth was lighted with the spark produced.
Bride and bridegroom would sit up together
part of the night, say their prayers by the
fireside, and endeavour to realise the divine
spark in the earthly flame. The rite was
called Agni-adhana. 1
Most private ceremonies such as marriage,
child-birth, or the burial of the dead, are
briefly commemorated in the grihya sutras.
Grihya is the adjective "domestic." A
special Day of the Dead, like the Fete des
Morts in France, was set apart and held
sacred. As we lay floral wreaths on the
graves of our beloved, so the ancient Hindus
offered shraddha or oblations to their dear
ones who had passed away. 2 Some grihya
sutras are short family prayers, others have
reference to the celebrations of the new
moon, harvest festival, and different holidays
throughout the year.
1 Literally "keeping up the fire." Sanskrit agni
(the agile flame) is the same word as Latin ignis ; to
ignite means to set on "fire."
2 We have seen in a previous note that the Sanskrit
letters shr correspond to cr in Latin. The Apostles'
Creed begins with Credo, i.e., I believe, and shraddha
is a "believer in the Veda." Offerings to the dead
being in accordance with the Vedic creed were also
called sh?*dddha..
D
50 Short History of Indian Literature
Shrauta and grihya rites constituted the
holy sacraments. Being the same all over
India they helped to strengthen the bond of
fellow-feeling, and to unite the Hindu people
from the Punjab to Cape Comorin, and from
Bombay to Calcutta.
A nation is made up of families, and a code
of civic duties is the natural outcome of the
daily round of home duties. Law in India
as in every other country has grown out of
domestic customs. Grihya sutras gave rise
to dharma sutras or law compendiums. It
may interest the reader to know that marriage
within at least four degrees of descent was
prohibited in Ancient India, so that even the
line of cousins' children had no legal title
to be joined in holy matrimony. But no
objection was raised to a Hindu marrying his
wife's sister, even as the Jewish patriarch did
not offend the Mosaic law because he wedded
Leah and Eachel, the two daughters of Laban.
Child-marriages and the burning of widows
(suttee) were not sanctioned by the dharma
sutras, but are a graft of later growth. 1
1 Compulsory suttee was unknown in the Vedic age,
although there may have been devoted Hindu wives
who scorned to survive their wedded lord, and chose
voluntary death, which they believed would give them
inseparable union with the beloved.
Short History of Indian Literature 51
The Upanishads were likewise arranged in
a systematic form. Such theological manuals
were called Brahma sutras because they
enquire into the nature of Brahma or God.
Little intelligible by themselves, on account
of their brevity, they proved useful as
summaries indicating the thread of the
teacher's arguments. 1 Many were the Brahma
sutras composed by the learned, but none save
Badarayan's are extant. They are abrupt and
enigmatical like a table of contents, or a
1 Sutra, literally, thread of an argument, bears the
same etymological relation to suture (sewing) as text to
texture (weaving). The German word for text-book is
leit-faden, i.e., the "leading thread" or first principles
woven into a fabric of connected thought. The loom
and the spinning-wheel, without which no primitive
household was complete, are fossilised both in extinct
and living metaphor. In Merry Old England, the glee-
men or "weavers of song" wove a charm of poetry
round tribal feuds and cattle raids, and professional
story-tellers in highly-coloured language spun never-
ending yarns in the ale-house or on the village-green.
The young yellows at home had the care of the family
fee or cattle, whilst their unmarried sisters were busy in
the house as spinsters and sempstresses. In those days
when matrimony and motherhood were looked upon as
woman's most sacred duty to the race, the spinster was
but rarely an old maid. But the age in which the
Anglo-Saxon sempstress lived is comparatively modern
52 Short History of Indian Literature
syllabus to a course of lectures on the
Upanishads. Although the oral teaching of
B&darayan probably did not survive the
generation of those he taught, yet he must
have been a reputed theologian, since some
of the greatest intellects of India, centuries
after him, devoted a lifetime to the com-
position of bhashyas or commentaries to his
celebrated epitome, just as an English divine
might write a running commentary on the
Thirty-nine Articles of a.d. 1562. The best
bhashya to Badarayan's sutras was penned by
Shankara who lived in the ninth century of
our era. In depth of thought and soundness
of argument, the commentary ranks by the
side of Kant's famous critiques. Shankara
has become the classical authority of the
Vedanta school of philosophy. Vedanta is
and advanced. In the ruder Age of Stone, deerskins
were stitched together with fibre threads and bone
needles. Plaited bast was also worn by neolithic man,
and this kind of garment has survived amongst Indian
ascetics into historic times. The Indo-European tongues
are eloquent in their testimony of early Aryan customs.
Sewing-machines and the textile industry have grown
out of the same rudimentary arts on which the loftier
concepts of Brahma "sutras" and philosophic "texts"
were raised.
Short History of Indian Literature 53
still the creed of educated Hindus, and
Indian literature is steeped in Vedantic
thought. 1
IX
VEDANTA
The central teaching of Vedanta is that
God and the soul are one. If they appear
different, it is because human consciousness
is too narrow to recognise their unity, until
< gnana (self-knowledge) has conquered ahan-
kara, the limitations of the ego. 2 Vedanta
1 Between Shankara's birth (788) and that of
Schopenhauer, the originator of Christian Vedanta,
intervene exactly a thousand years. The object of the
Christian Vedanta movement is to bring the unhappy
conflict between science and religion to an end by
harmonising both with the ancient wisdom embedded
in the Upanishads. Schopenhauer was born in the same
year as Lord Byron, the poet of pessimism.
2 The Platonists of Alexandria looked upon Christ
as an emanation of the Godhead superior in degree, but
equal in essence to the rest of mankind. This doctrine
they called gnosis or spiritual cognition, and themselves
gmostics, i.e., knowexa of the True. In order to call
attention to the spiritual kinship which exists between
Platonism and Vedanta, the spelling #wana has been
adopted in preference to the customary jnana.
54 Short History of Indian Literature
abounds in homely similes to illustrate the
meaning of ahankara whence all egoism
springs, and of gnana, without which there
can be no salvation. The air in an inverted
cup is shut off from the surrounding atmo-
sphere, but once remove the cup, and all
distinction ceases. One element remains,
boundless and undivided. Ahankara is like
the cup, and those who make a constant
effort to deny themselves, to break the shell
of their hardened nature, succeed in the end
in getting rid of the illusory self. No sooner
is the mainspring of selfishness destroyed than
atma (the individual soul) is set free, and once
more mingles with Brahma (the universal
soul) who is all in all.
As rays issuing from the sun are not
different from the sun, as billows rising on
the sea are the same as the sea, as sparks
flying from the fire are nothing but fire, so
the soul coming from God is God. God is
Love, and love alone is the true nature of
the soul.
Vedanta means End of the Veda, its final
lesson. What is taught in that last lesson is
discrimination between soul and personality,
which is like a veil over the soul. This veil
of Nature which conceals the True is called
Short History of Indian Literature 55
maya in the language of Vedanta. An
exuberance of poetry has grown round the
word maya which is feminine gender in
Sanskrit, w T hile atma is masculine. Maya
is a charm -weaver, the arch-mage of the
cosmos ; her fairy wand conjures up the
transient glories of this earth the play-
ground of our senses. She is the World-
Mother who gives birth and individuality to
the whole creation. Individual life, with its
April tears and laughter, travels over an
uncertain sea from the dawn of childhood
to the last long sleep, but the soul is
unbegotten and immortal. Maya displays
her seductive charms in order to captivate
atma, whose native air is freedom. If he
yields to her witchery and becomes a slave
to nature, a world of delusions and vanities
emerges from Maya's womb. The Indian
notion of maya comes very near the Christian
conception of original sin. We are all born
in maya, and the shadows of inbred evil
hover around us until the light of gnana
scatters them, and points the way from
nature unto grace. 1
1 Maya, = matter. The mother provides a body for
her babes; she cuts out their physical material, so to
speak ; hence she is called mater in Latin. Material
56 Short History of Indian Literature
Atheism is defined by the Vedantic doctors
as unbelief in the divinity of the soul, but
knowledge has saving power : when God is
known, the heart is at rest, and the weary
round of sansara (transmigration) ends in
eternal peace. Shankara declares that a
righteous life and meritorious acts, though
promoting godliness and preparing the heart
for moksha (freedom), cannot directly save ;
the soul has yet to learn that it always has
been, is now, and ever shall be divine, and
nothing but divine.
However strange the doctrine that the soul
is one with God may appear to us, there can
be no doubt that Vedanta has been a blessing
and a source of strength to untold numbers of
Hindus who, without that guiding star, might
have suffered moral shipwreck, tossed about
as they have been in the contending waves of
religious strife which has agitated India for
several thousand years. Vedanta seems to us
a practical creed which, if taken in earnest,
cannot but enrich and ennoble life, in the
means literally "measurable." The idea of ?7ieasurmg
is at the root of matter as well as 7nmd (man&s in
Sanskrit). Mind is the faculty of measuring, weighing,
judging things. The Vedic hymns are called Mantra
poetry because they are composed in a sacred metre or
measure.
Short History of Indian Literature 57
most exalted station as well as in the
humblest position. Yet we cannot altogether
agree with the band of enthusiasts who, at
present, make propaganda for Vedanta in
the West. We have a strong feeling that
Vedanta will never take the place of Christian
principle. Such endeavours are creditable
because they mean well, but must of necessity
fail, for the simple reason that they entirely
ignore religious evolution. They can have
no more success than a possible attempt to
replace the English by the Italian language
because of its softer sound to some ears ;
the tongue of Dante could never be natural,
but at best artificial growth in the drawing-
rooms of New York and London.
Again, the intrinsic merits of Vedanta are all
to be found in Christianity if people will only
take the trouble to search the Scriptures and
their own hearts. The star of Bethlehem is
but a humble flower in the garden of the soul,
but like the shamefaced violet, is rich in
hidden beauty. The weight of religion lies
not altogether in philosophic depth, but even
more in a pure and simple faith which can
be made a practical standard in the manifold
relations of every-day life. Such a faith, we
believe, is Christianity. Yet these reflections
58 Short History of Indian Literature
cannot blind us to the moral excellence and
religious truth of Vedanta, and we sympathise
with the Hindu people who look upon all
missionary efforts to make them converts
to Christianity as a national insult. 1
The Kussian Church does not interfere much
with the belief of the Czar's Asiatic subject
races, and the result is that there is far less
disaffection among them than in British India.
Moreover, the Hindus need no foreign preach-
ing, they have religion to the fullest in their
own Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. 2 But
what they do need is better scientific training,
to the end that they may not be pushed out
of their own markets. India may yet enjoy
economic prosperity if technical village schools
subsidised by the Government could be opened
in every district of importance. At present,
her industries are fallen into decay, and to
make matters worse, her people are heavily
1 We are far from underrating the excellent work
done by Christian missions in India, inasmuch as they
provide instruction for the young, relieve the poor, and
endeavour to raise the social status, especially of Hindu
women.
2 The Gospels are held no more sacred in Europe than
the Bhagavad Gita in India, where it is far more popular
than the profound but often abstruse Upanishads. An
oath taken on the Gita is valid in Indian law courts.
Short History of Indian Literature 59
taxed without being politically represented.
The Koman Empire was held together by
coercive laws and military force, and for
this very reason tottered and fell fifteen
hundred years ago. But the English ideal
of Empire, far loftier and truer, is extension
of local self-government and Imperial Federa-
tion. Great Britain has no desire to rule a
crowd of slaves in her vast dominions beyond
the seas, but rather looks forward to that
" diviner day " when all her sons, independent
of race and colour, shall be free members of
the Empire, taking an adequate share of its
responsibilities and, at the same time, helping
to make their own national laws.
A larger proportion of native gentlemen
in the Indian Army as well as Civil Service,
and a good secular education provided for
the masses, together with a living faith in
Vedanta, are the best means we can think
of for securing the future welfare of the
people of India.
60 Short History of Indian Literature
X
BUDDHISM
Hindu rule spread from the Ganges across
the Vindhyas ; what the sword could not
conquer was aryanised by the power of
the mind. Malva, in Central India, and
Magadha, in the district of modern Patna,
became flourishing kingdoms, although they
did not rise to prominence for a long time
to come. The priestly caste predominated
until the bracing air of free religious enquiry
threatened its very existence. The rational-
istic age of India, as it has been called, is
characterised by the rise of two great
reform movements Vedanta and Buddhism.
Vedanta is orthodox and accepts the Vedic
Word, but no longer in a literal sense. The
interpretation of Scripture by the Vedantic
theologians is extremely bold and inde-
pendent. 1 Buddhism, on the other hand, is
1 St Paul interpreted the rites and precepts of the
Old Testament as freely as Shankara would have done
if he had been a Christian. In the Epistle to the
Romans (ii. 29), the Apostle defines circumcision not as
a mere surgical operation on the skin, but as a divine
operation in the heart. Again, in the First Epistle to
Short History of Indian Literature 61
heterodox, and rejects the authority of the
Vedas altogether. Buddha first preached the
People's Gospel in B.C. 522, when Bimbisara
was King of Magadha. The conflict between
the old-established faith and the Buddhist
dissenters raged for two hundred years, and,
when the Greek battalions of King Alexander
invaded the Punjab (b.c. 327), the sun of
Brahminism was setting, and the new star
was shining in the East. At that time,
Nanda sat on the throne of Magadha. His
dynasty was overthrown by the rebel
Chandragupta, who was the first to unite the
North of India from Magadha to the Punjab
under one Imperial Government. By birth a
Shudra, the Emperor was not likely to be
hostile to a religion which swept away all
social distinctions, and put Brahmin and
Pariah on the same level. Buddhism reigned
supreme in the land of its birth until the
fifth century after Christ, when Brahminic
influence once more became powerful.
the Corinthians (v. 8), leavened bread the use of which
during the Passover feast was forbidden by the Mosaic
law, Exodus xii. 15 is symbolically explained as the
leaven of malice and wickedness which should be
rejected for the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The Upanishads abound with allegories of a similar
kind.
62 Short History of Indian Literature
Gotama Buddha was born in Kapilavastu,
a few days' caravan journey from Benares.
His father governed one of the aristocratic
republics in the ancient land of Oudh. The
Prince if that title may be applied to a
Rajput or son of a ruling noble showed
early signs of an introspective mind. For
hours he would muse alone, while his play-
fellows enjoyed the healthy exercise of out-
door games. And the boy's heart was heavy
when he contemplated the beauty of Nature
budding out in all these lovely shapes, but
only meant to sink into an early grave.
Whatever comes to life, he would reason, is
doomed to change and decay. The bloom of
youth will bleach into the snow of old age.
Life lasts but a while, and is full of care and
sorrow. Child-bed and death-bed are attended
by suffering. Gratification of personal desires
is bound up with pain, and each struggle of
the individual to assert himself is but a cup
of bitterness. The keenest joys are tinged
with sadness. Ah, to be rid of life which
is the cause of all this grief and anguish !
Suicide is of no avail, it does not touch the
root of the evil. Cut the full-blown roses,
the bush is not dead, a mass of blossoms will
burst forth again. Craving for life is the
Short History of Indian Literature 63
root of life. To harbour no more delight in
created things, to renounce all attachment to
form and sense that, indeed, might destroy
the material out of which the individual is
built up, and bring everlasting rest.
Moving on similar lines of thought, young
Gotama easily persuaded himself to turn a
recluse. One night, he parted from his
beloved wife and new-born babe. He was
under thirty years of age when he left his
father's palace secretly. Not a ruler of men
he wished to be, but their teacher, lover, friend.
"Full of hindrances is the household life,
a path denied by passion. Free as the air
is the life of him who has renounced all
worldly desires. How difficult it is for a
man who dwells at home to live the higher
life in all its fulness, purity, and bright
perfection ! Let me then cut off my hair
and beard, let me wear orange - coloured
robes, and go forth from the household life
to the homeless state." '
The Prince first went to study theology
under the Brahmins. But the rigid dogma
1 The quotations in this chapter are selected from a
translation by Professor Rhys Davids, but his words
have, now and again, been altered so as to fit into the
frame of our narrative.
64 Short History of Indian Literature
which they taught impeded his soaring spirit.
He scorned Vedic or any other authority.
Personal experience was his only court of
appeal in matters of religion. And the
sacrificial rites repelled his gentle heart.
He felt keenly for the suffering animals that
were slaughtered for use on the altar. How
can good come out of evil? Gotama asked
himself. When the schools of theology failed
to clear up his difficulties he looked out for
other means of knowledge. It so happened
that he saw five anchorites engaged in
yoga, i.e., methodical restraint of the mind
and senses. The Prince gladly joined their
company, and only after six years of earnest
application he abandoned all ascetic practices
as ultimately ineffectual. He found out that
neither bodily torture nor mental abstraction
can give freedom to the soul.
One day, we read, the Prince was sitting
under a bo-tree, " in that devout meditation
of the heart which springs from within,"
when suddenly a flood of light rushed into
his soul, and the truth was revealed to the
Buddha. 1 His doubts melted away like
1 The founders both of Buddhism and Christianity
are best known by Aryan names. Buddha means
"illumined" in Sanskrit, and Christ "anointed" or
Short History of Indian Literature 65
fleeting clouds in the summer sun, and
Gotama realised that pity for all created
life, love for love's sake, is true salvation
from misery and sin.
" A man who is kind, full of love, and
pure in heart, master of himself he
Vasettha, is near the blessed Nirvana."
Nirvana is regarded as a spiritual state
where all thought of personality is ex-
tinguished. Everything in the way of self-
denial tends towards it, while selfishness
leads farther away from Nirvana. As the
countless ages of the past have contributed
to what we are now, so the destinies of the
future lie in the hands of the living. 1 A
consecrated in Greek. The word Buddha expresses a
spiritual state rather than the historical personage who
attained unto it, just as the Christ represents the
spirit of consecration to the service of humanity. The
Buddha is an eternal principle which was exemplified
in Gotama to perfection.
1 The same thought holds good collectively and
individually. A man's "character" is shaped by the
sum-total of his "doings" in the past; hence both
words are rendered in Sanskrit by Karma, from kar
(to do).
" Our deeds still travel with us from afar,
And what we have been makes us what we are."
Personal habits and conduct, both good and evil
fortune, and the fate in store for us all these ideas
are expressed by the word Karma.
E
66 Short History of Indian Literature
Buddhist does not look forward to the joys
of a local heaven where he shall meet his
friends in person. The meeting, in his
opinion, takes place even now, and he
accounts for the strong likes and dislikes
which total strangers are often seen to take
to one another by personal association in
previous bodies. The ideal of Buddhists is
the Impersonal, and their hope rests on the
belief that self-sacrifice and sympathy with
the rational as well as the dumb creation
cannot die, that every loving thought and
act of kindness will live on as an ennobling
and cleansing impulse in the generations to
come.
11 We can make our love sublime,
And departing leave behind us
Footprints in the sands of time.
" Footprints that perhaps another
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother
Seeing shall take heart again."
On his way to Benares, the Buddha met
the five yogis or ascetics with whom he had
lived so long.
" When they saw him from a distance, one
said to another : ' Friend, here comes Gotama.
He has turned aside again from the sparing
Short History of Indian Literature 67
use of the necessaries of life, and has re-
covered roundness of form, acuteoess of
sense, and beauty of complexion. Let us pay
him no reverence, but as he is, after all, of a
good family, he deserves the honour of a seat.
Let us simply prepare a seat for him.'
" Then the Buddha, by the power that he
had of knowing what was passing in the
minds of all men, knew their thoughts. And
concentrating that feeling of his love which
was able to pervade the four quarters of the
earth, he directed it specially towards them.
And as he came nearer and nearer, they
were unable to adhere to their resolve, and
rising from their seats, they bowed low and
paid reverence to the Buddha."
For nearly fifty years, the saint wandered
through the valley of the Ganges, staff and
almsbowl in hand, begging his bread from
village to village. He comforted, and helped,
and preached to the people, no respecter of
caste, and the people loved him for his sweet-
ness and humility. A small band of earnest
followers were the first members of the
Sangha or Buddhist Order which is now
the leading church in Burma, Siam, and the
Far East.
The new doctrine did not only appeal to
68 Short History of Indian Literature
the easily- aroused masses, but also to the
higher castes. Kshatriyas and Kings were
among the Buddha's converts. Venerable
Brahmins embraced and enthusiastically
defended the reformed faith. Says the old
priest Pingiya :
"Well, I praise that beautiful voice, the
voice of him who is without stain and
folly, who has left self-righteousness far
behind.
" The darkness-dispelling Buddha, the all-
seeing who knows all hearts : he has come
nigh even unto me.
"And as a bird would pass by the dense
jungle and take up his abode in the fruitful
forest, even so I, leaving the men of narrow
views, am like a swan that has gained the
broad waters.
" Those who before explained to me the
teaching of Gotama, only added to my doubts.
There is but one, Gotama of great under-
standing, Gotama of great wisdom who has
taught me the truth."
His friend rejoins, " Canst thou then stay
away from him even for a moment,
Pingiya ? " and the old man answers :
" Not even for a moment do I stay away
from him, Brahmin. I see him with my
Short History of Indian Literature 69
mind's eye all day long. In reverencing him
do I spend the night ; therefore, methinks,
he cannot be far from me.
"Belief and joy incline me to Gotama's
doctrine ; whichsoever way the saint goeth,
that selfsame way my heart will turn.
" I am worn out and old and feeble. It is
true my body cannot go. But in thought I
always go there, for my heart, Brahmin, is
joined to him."
And lo ! a golden light played round
Pingiya's silver hair, and the Buddha
appeared to him in a vision and said :
" As the faith of Vakkhali became set free
from doubt, even so shall thy faith grow clear,
Pingiya thou shalt reach the haven of
rest."
Buddhism has gained a hold over a third
of mankind because of its moral beauty.
Over and over again, a clean heart and good
conduct are enjoined, and when Vasettha
asks wherein a man's goodness consists, the
Buddha replies :
"Herein, Vasettha, that putting away
the murder of that which lives, he abstains
from destroying life. Cudgel and sword he
lays aside, and full of modesty and pity he
is compassionate and kind to all creatures
70 Short History of Indian Literature
that have life. This is the kind of goodness
which he has.
"Putting away the theft of that which is
not his, he abstains from anything not his
due. He takes only what is his due, there-
with is he content, and he passes his life
in honesty. This is the kind of goodness
which he has.
" Putting away slander and lying, he
abstains from calumny. What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere, to raise a quarrel
against the people here ; what he hears else-
where he repeats not here to raise a quarrel
against the people there. Thus he lives, a
binder-together of those who are divided, an
encourager of those who are friends, a peace-
maker, a lover of peace, a speaker of words
that make for peace.
" Putting away bitterness of speech, he ab-
stains from harsh language. Whatever word
is kindly, pleasant to the ear, loving, reaching
the heart such are the words he speaks.
"Putting away foolish talk, he abstains
from vain conversation. In season does he
speak, he speaks fact, he utters good doctrine.
He speaks that which redounds to profit,
which is well-grounded, and full of wisdom.
This is the kind of goodness which he has."
Short History of Indian Literature 71
Such was the teaching that "gladdened
and aroused the heart of Ambapali, the
courtesan. And when she heard that Buddha
had arrived at her village, and was staying
in her mango grove, she ordered magnificent
carriages to be made ready, and drove with
her waiting-women to the grove. And she
paid homage to the Buddha, and respectfully
invited him and the brethren to partake of
some refreshment at her house on the follow-
ing day. And Buddha, by silence, gave his
consent.
" And he robed himself early in the morn-
ing, and went with the brethren to her
dwelling-house. And she set sweet rice and
cakes before her guests, and waited on them
in person.
" When the meal was over, Ambapali, the
courtesan, had a stool brought, and sat down
by Buddha's side, and addressed him in these
words :
" ' Lord, I present this building to the
order of mendicants of which the Buddha
is the head/
" The gift was accepted, and after instruct-
ing and gladdening her heart with religious
discourse, Buddha rose from his seat and
departed thence,"
72 Short History of Indian Literature
Viharas or Buddhist monasteries were, as a
rule, not buildings, but caves dug into the
rock. Mr Fergusson tells us that one of
the Ajanta caves in Central India contains
" sixteen cells for the accommodation of
monks ; there is a large assembly hall in the
centre, a veranda in front, and a sanctuary
in the back. Roof and pillars are ornamented
with arabesque designs, and fresco paintings
cover the walls entirely." Large numbers of
viharas have been found east of Benares, in
modern Behar, i.e., the vihdr or monastic
country. The toranas or archways leading
into the caves were frequently embellished
with fine sculpture. Sacred history provided
the artist with ample material. But the
humour and pathos of life were too precious
and real to be neglected by Buddhist genius.
Dying soldiers amidst the rage of battle ;
triumphal entries with captured elephants
and prisoners of war; pompous musicians in
a scene of frolic, and light-stepped dancing-
girls, their loose hair intertwined with lotuses
and roses ; drinking and gambling groups in
city taverns ; rustic swains making love to
coy shepherdesses, and the hundred touches
of humanity that never grow old as long
as the heart is young, have found faithful
Short History of Indian Literature 73
expression in the chiselled stone. But the
wild fancies of Hindu art cannot compare with
the perfect proportions of Greek sculpture,
because decorative art, according to the same
writer, was at all times restricted to the lower
castes, while the intellectual classes of India,
even to-day, look down upon manual labour
with disdain.
When Buddha felt that his end was near,
he called his disciples, and exhorted them to
keep the dhamma or good law.
" Be earnest, brethren, holy, full of thought.
Be steadfast in resolve, keep watch over your
hearts ; he that wearies not, but holds fast to
truth and law, shall cross the river of life,
shall make an end of grief."
And Ananda went aside and wept.
If the criterion of religion is faith in a
personal god, a Buddhist must be pronounced
an atheist. But we believe that a righteous
life is lived, not merely because of hope for
heaven and fear of hell, but chiefly because
goodness and truth lie deep in every human
breast. Can we do better than think of God
as infinite love and goodness? Buddhism
inculcates moral earnestness on the ground
that eternal love and wisdom cannot be
clearly seen beneath the troubled waters, but
74 Short History of Indian Literature
are pellucid when the lake of the mind is
ruffled and agitated no longer by the storms
of passion and vanity.
" When the sage, by earnestness, has driven
vanity far away, the terraced heights of
wisdom doth he climb, and free from care,
looks down upon the care-worn crowd, as he
who stands upon a mountain top looks down
serene on toilers in the plain."
\
XI
THE INSTITUTES OF MANU
In the literature of Germany, heroic poetry
was followed by Catholic theology, but no
sooner did Luther restore Christian worship
to purer and simpler forms, than the fine
systems of the Dominican monks were for-
gotten, and popular sentiment was carried
away by the smoother current of poetical
teaching. The homely morality of Hans
Sachs, the cobbler of Nuremberg, whose
songs are sweet and fresh as the flowers in
!
Short History of Indian Literature 75
the field after a spring shower, was greeted
with enthusiasm in every German home. 1
Similarly, the Hindus got tired of the
compact sutras which were so hard to under-
stand, and the rules and precepts, that are
known as the Institutes of Manu, found a
cordial welcome in India after Buddha's
reformation. They are not a guide for
lawyers such as may be seen in a solicitor's
office, but moral and legal obligations happily
blended and written in easy verse. In the
original texts, Manu depicted life as he saw
it, or wished to see it, on the shores of the
Ganges, some hundred years before Christ.
The revised version, in which his code has
been preserved, is of a much later date, and
belongs to the time when the Buddhist
supremacy was passing away. But the
ordinances themselves are based on ancient
usages which prevailed in the earliest Hindu
settlements.
The Vedic household did not consist of
parents and children only, but was a large
family gathering, governed by patriarchal
laws. Uncles and nephews, cousins and
other kin, lodged under the same hospitable
1 Sachs (pronounce zax) was quite a young man
when Luther began to translate the Bible into German.
76 Short History of Indian Literature
roof. They had a joint - interest in the
heritage, and worshipped the same tutelary
gods, the trusted guardians of the hearth
and plough. Implicit obedience to the
dampati or domestic chief drew the bonds
of blood still closer. In the wars of pagan
England, the boar-crested helmet of the
dampati glittered amidst the ashen shafts
and linden shields of his loving kinsmen.
The Saxon as well as the Vedic host marched
into battle, drawn up in families and clans. 1
Within the shelter of the clan all men were
freemen because they shared all things in
common. But the spirit of clannish inde-
pendence was narrow and full of jealousy.
Freedom could not burst into wider bounds,
and rest securely on the nation's will, under
the paternal government of the Hindu dam-
pati. At his death, the eldest son succeeded
to the management of the estate, and the
supreme control of the joint-household. If
the younger brothers chose to separate, and
set up house for themselves, they were
welcome to do so, and Manu gives full
1 The suffix "ing" is characteristic of English clan
names, e.g., the Readings who settled in Berkshire, or
the Farings who planted their freeholds on the downs of
Faxnngdon.
Short History of Indian Literature 77
directions as to the fair partition of the
patrimony. 1
A cluster of Indian homesteads in the same
vicinity was called a vish or village ; the head
of the village community being the vishpati
(district elder). Again, a group of villages
was under the jurisdiction of a raja or
chieftain who directed the public affairs. 5
1 The first-born heir, however, took the lion's share;
he was lord of the manor. The old English aristocracy
entailed the broad lands which they owned by right of
conquest. It was a precautionary measure lest the
family property, at any time, by bequest or sale, might
pass into other hands. The co-heirs had to content
themselves with the tenure of a farm held of their eldest
brother. Some became so impoverished that they could
not even afford to keep a servant, but grazed and
milked their few cows themselves. The people, half
in scorn and half in pity, called such ill-provided
gentlemen bachelors, i.e., cowmen, from the French
word vache (cow). The name was then transferred
to poor fellows who cannot afford to marry. But the
national household of old had small accommodation for
celibates. Husbandmen were expected to be husbands,
and raise a son and heir. In Ancient India, no un-
married man, unless he was a yogi who had renounced
the world, was much thought of either in society or in
the Senate. Of course, it was quite out of the question
that a bachelor could be a dampati the patron and
protector of a home. T)a.mpai\ = pater of a family.
2 Raja Latin rex, i.e., director.
78 Short History of Indian Literature
The revenue of the raja was derived from
a substantial tithe which the vaishyas or
villagers allowed him on the produce of
their land, and the sales of merchandise
and cattle. The law book lays down
minutely the various regal functions. On
a whole, they coincide with those of the
housefather, but on a larger scale. The
chieftain and dampati were both absolute
rulers in their respective domains. The
parent's authority at home expanded into
the autocracy of the throne. The argument
could easily be pushed further, since in
every constitutional monarchy despots and
autocrats have been the forerunners of re-
presentative forms of government. There
is not a single aspect of national life without
a domestic subsoil. Townships have grown
out of homesteads, and kingship is but an
extension of kinship. 1
1 The very words king and queen once meant father
and mother. The idea embedded in the word pater
is potent, paternity or fatherhood being the expression
of manly vigour and sexual strength. Potentate is
another derivative of potent, i.e., pati in Sanskrit.
Pati has become quite an international term. In
Hindustan, landed proprietors are called kshetrapatis.
In Iran, JcshetrapdXi was shortened to satrap, and came
to mean Governor of a province. The kshetrapatis of
Short History of Indian Literature 79
On the modern family tree, the sapling-
branches no sooner ripen into manhood and
womanhood than, as a rule, they are cut
off and transplanted to a new home. But
affinity of blood had a firmer grip on the
primitive household, although hatred and
revenge often bred civil strife if a division
did occur. 1 In the Indo-European homeland,
India organised themselves into a Land Defence or
Kshatriya League, and the ruling kshatiiya, of Persia
is the Shah. The Ottoman Provinces are governed by-
Turkish Pashas, i.e., Pati-Shahs ; the Sultan himself is
styled Padishah or Lord- Governor. Again, despot is
connected with d&mpati, the parent-ruler of the Hindu
home. The dampati of the Capulet household, indeed,
dealt more like a despot than a father with Lady Juliet.
Each Saxon settlement was fenced with a ton or
hedge ; the word is still used in Germany where zaun
denotes a fence. The neatly-tonned domiciles of the
Harlings and Watlings grew into the townships of
H&vlmgton and Watlingfcw. The homestead of the
Billings became the hamlet of Billmgham, and the cities
of Nottingham and Birmingham, no doubt, are similar
developments of joint-family estates.
1 In the days gone by, kinship embraced the father's
side only, and a clansman looked on his wife's relations
as outsiders rather than kinsfolk. The Aryan bride,
after leaving her parents and the old home, did not
reside with her husband in a house of their own, but
they dwelled together with his people in the family
establishment where he was bred and born.
80 Short History of Indian Literature
it was quite a common occurrence that strife
between two herdsmen plunged a whole clan
in bloodshed and vendetta. The Kauravas
and Pandavas, two mighty scions of one
lofty stem, did not scruple to shed each
other's blood at Kurukshetra. Their for-
bears came from the Punjab where a con-
federacy with nine other patrician houses
gave them a leading position. But the ten
allies were defeated in a decisive battle by
King Rama's gallant sires who won immortal
fame in Vedic warfare and sacred minstrelsy.
In the Epic Age, the heroic Kurus, then
resident in the Gangetic Valley, had long
recovered their national prestige. The
Panchalas, five noble off-shoots of an ancient
seed, were their rivals and neighbours on
the south-eastern border. 1 The Kurus, after
gaining a victory over them, fraternised,
and even formed a new league with the
vanquished foe. The united warbands of
the Kuru-Panchalas swept the once-victorious
Koshalas down the great river into the land
of Oudh where fresh laurels awaited the
glorious race of Rama. The friendship of
the Kurus and Panchalas was strengthened
1 Panchalas means the Five Boroughs if the name is
correctly derived from pancha, the Sanskrit word for five.
Short History of Indian Literature 81
by intermarriage between their royal houses.
Prince Arjun wedded Lady Draupadi, who
kept house for the five brothers in the
Jungle. Pandu's and Dhritarashtra's hostile
sons represent powerful tribal families,
organised like the vast pastoral households
of early Israel, but more stationary, less
nomadic. 1
Manu enumerates, at great length, how
the daily life of the Sovereign is to be
spent, and what principles should govern his
actions. Never to recede from combat, to
protect his subjects, and pay due honour
to the priestly caste, is the highest duty
of a king. He should act as a father to
his people, and they should love and cherish
him, and never treat him lightly. For a
king is not an ordinary mortal, proceeds the
code, but a powerful divinity who appears
in a human shape. 2 In his valour dwells
1 Joint-households of lesser dimensions, and without
a common ancestry, were the Montagues and Capulets
of mediaeval Verona. The fatal loins of these two
hereditary foes gave life to a pair of star-crossed lovers
who, with their tragic death, buried the unhappy
family feud.
2 The same idea prevailed among the Anglo-Saxons.
Their early kings claimed divine descent from Wodan,
chief god of the Teutons.
F
82 Short History of Indian Literature
conquest, and death in his wrath. It is by
royal favour that abundance spreads her
wings. Knowing that law is grounded on
immemorial custom, let the raja preserve
every good usage which is well established.
In the administration of justice, he is to be
assisted by a court of learned Brahmins, who
must have a thorough knowledge of the
civil and penal statutes, and loyally uphold
the national institutions which the gods
ordained. 1
The whole body of unwritten tradition
was codified, in divers places and sundry
digests, by the Brahmin-jurists who made
the new enactments subservient, in the first
place, to sacerdotal interests. Thus, various
schools of law sprung up, all propounding
their own principles of jurisprudence. The
priest-judges who wove the texture of their
learning round Manu's venerable name were
final winners in the legal contest, and left
all rival teachers far behind. Unto the
present day, Hindu lawyers acknowledge
Manu as their foremost authority. This rare
success was largely due to the excellence
1 The Gaelic conception of the duties of a righ or
chieftain, and the Indian notion of an ideal raj were
equally lofty. See Pagan Ireland, pp. 46-50.
Short History of Indian Literature 83
of the code, but no less to its staunch con-
servatism. The ordinances of Manu embody
the customary laws which had been handed
down from Vedic antiquity, and at the same
time reflect the social life of later days
which too have long passed into history. 1
The conditions of society are often
measured by the position that woman holds
in it. Hindu matrons seem to have enjoyed
much respect and domestic influence at
Manu's time. 2 The seclusion of women in
zenanas is no Hindu custom at all, but was
introduced in India after the Mohammedan
Conquest, about the time when the Planta-
genets rose to power in England. Slave
trade was known among the ancient Hindus
quite as much as among the classical nations
of Europe. Manu states that money-lenders
were entitled to charge fifteen per cent.
1 Manu was not an individual lawgiver like Moses,
but the name is symbolical and signifies mini (man&s
in Sanskrit, mens in Latin). Rational creatures are
called men and wome?i because of their mental capaci-
ties ; the dumb brutes cannot reason. Law and order
are the offspring of the human mind, hence Manu
is regarded by the Hindus as the father of Indian
law, and the progenitor of mankind.
2 " Where woman is honoured there is joy in heaven,
where she is despised religious acts become fruitless,"
84 Short History of Indian Literature
annual interest on secured loans, and that
slave-girls passed as security. 1
But we are not so much concerned with
actual law as with national ideals, and it will
be more apposite to say something about
Manu's ethical code.
Manu praises humility as the great teacher
in life
"From poison thou may'st take the food of life,
The purest gold from lumps of impure earth,
Examples of good conduct from a child,
Something from all from men of low degree
Lessons of wisdom if thou humble be."
It is better for the heart to be reviled than
exalted
"Shrink thou from worldly honour as from poison,
Seek rather scorn ; the scorned may sleep in peace,
In peace awake ; the scorner perishes."
Faith in God is an efficient talisman against
sin
"He who with faith unshaken sees himself
And all things in the Universal Soul
Cannot apply his mind to wickedness."
1 The price of a slave-woman was fixed by law at
so many cows or head of horned cattle. Similar con-
ditions existed in Ancient Ireland; the Gaelic word
"cumal" denoting either a female slave or three
milch-cows.
Short History of Indian Literature 85
Future suffering for vice and folly is held up
by the lawgiver as an incentive to a virtuous
life
" Those who repeat their vicious acts are doomed
To misery increasing more and more
In forms becoming more and more debased.
"Just in proportion as immortal soul
Addicts itself to sensuality,
In that degree the senses shall become
Intensely keen in future wanderings." 1
XII
LATER PHASES OF BUDDHISM
The Emperor Ashoka, who was a grandson of
Chandragupta, had edicts engraven on rocks
and pillars all over India. Numerous inscrip-
tions have been discovered which form a
valuable chronicle of the time. They give
an account of Ashoka's conquest of Bengal ;
of Buddhist mission stations established in
Egypt, Syria, and Greece ; of hospitals and
medical aid provided for man and beast.
1 The above translations are by Sir Monier- Williams.
86 Short History of Indian Literature
One stone has a sermon on the beauty of
holiness, another declares that religion is
not dogma, but mercy, charity, and truth.
Tolerance to all sects, kindness to animals,
and other moral precepts are enjoined on
these venerable monuments of more than two
thousand years' standing. But Ashoka was a
powerful ruler as well as an earnest Buddhist.
He consolidated and enlarged his grandfather's
empire until it reached from the Bay of Bengal
to the Hindu Kush Mountains ; even some of
the Dekhan tribes acknowledged his over-
lordship.
India was then, as it is now, a conglomera-
tion of races, and counted far more foreigners
than Hindus. Ashoka's religious zeal and
ripe statesmanship helped to establish a creed
which, at no time, made the slightest distinc-
tion between Aryan and barbarian. The
tendency of Buddhism to fall in with popular
notions did the rest. But it was a fatal
policy to court the illiterate masses and adapt
the ceremonial to their craving for outward
show. The politic condescension was dearly
paid for in the end when the indulged
populace dragged religion down into idle
pomp and image worship.
We have a graphic description of a Buddhist
Short History of Indian Literature 87
festival from the pen of a Chinese pilgrim
who visited India in the seventh century of
our era. The downfall of Magadha had long
been followed by the ascendency of Kanouj,
once the classical ground of the Kurus and
Panchalas. When Hiouen Thsang that is
the name of the distinguished traveller
arrived at the Court of Kanouj, King Harsha
was celebrating the consecration of an image
of Buddha. The Raja had with him his friend
and ally of Assam, and twenty feudal Princes
of Hindustan were also present to take part
in the ceremony. The ever-increasing number
of sightseers found accommodation on huge
stands and under spreading trees which lined
the processional route. Striped canvas
marquees were gaily decked with waving
flags and silken banners, and coloured lamps
were disposed about the music kiosks to be lit
up at nightfall. Kashmir carpets into which
fantastic designs of birds and plants had been
skilfully worked, were spread all the way from
the royal palace to a shrine where relics of
the Buddha and of canonised saints were de-
posited. Blowers of bugle-horns and beaters
of cymbals opened the cortege. Next came
the state coaches, old-fashioned and quaintly
ornamented with gilt figures of Hindu gods.
88 Short History of Indian Literature
The Court officials who occupied them were
attired in finest Benares muslin and shimmer-
ing brocade, their turbans and sword handles
being studded with jewels. A train of youth-
ful pages clad in silver-stitched garments bore
dainty cups and lavers for holy use. Caged
lions and panthers excited wild cries of admira-
tion from the gazing crowd. Singing-birds
of bright plumage were perched on flower-
woven chains, and outlandish slaves in dazzling
white and flaming purple carried the grace-
ful curves at equal distances. Tender-aged
bayaderes, with jingling tambourines and
chiming anklets, moved their supple limbs to
a soft, light tune. A detachment of the
Royal Bodyguard escorted a richly- caparisoned
elephant ; its saddle-cloth was fringed with
silver bells, and embroidered with mystic
signs. On the animal's back reposed, on a
lovely lotus throne, a golden image of Buddha,
the object of the celebration. The posture of
the figure was cross-legged, in yogi fashion,
and the sacred head was crowned with a
diadem of flashing sapphires and chaste
emeralds emblem of a celestial aureole. Four
acolytes held over it a canopy of roses and
long-stalked water-lilies, and four others
sprinkled fragrant essences, and scattered
Short History of Indian Literature 89
fresh-cut blossoms. Close behind followed the
royal chariot drawn by six fiery steeds, the
postillions wearing scarlet livery.
King Harsha and the Eaja of Assam were
covered with a blaze of diamonds, and as
they passed, the people cheered lustily. Five
hundred picked elephants arrayed in gaudy
trappings were led by grooms, and a squadron
formed of the noblest kshatriyas closed the
procession.
When all came to a standstill, the music
ceased playing, and a hush ran through the
expectant multitude. A youth holding a
golden salver in his hand approached the
Maha-Eaja, and, on bended knee, presented a
costly vessel filled with water from the sacred
Eiver Ganges. A dais erected for the Emperor-
King had been decorated with beautiful palms
and tasteful draperies, and darbha (sacrificial
grass) was strewn on the carpeted floor. The
Priest-Cardinal, making a low obeisance, then
handed His Majesty the effigy of Buddha.
The monarch reverentially kissed the image of
his Lord, bathed it in the holy water, and
placed choice flowers and luscious fruit before
it, while the Court chaplains, in their flowing
yellow robes, moved round in measured step,
swinging sweet incense and chanting holy
90 Short History of Indian Literature
mantras. And the vast assemblage joined in
worship according to Buddhist rites.
When divine service was over, the populace
dispersed to spend the rest of the day in
mirth and revelry. King Harsha gave a
splendid banquet to which he invited all
ecclesiastical dignitaries of Kanouj both
Buddhists and Brahmins. Learned discus-
sions closed the day. 1
Such gorgeous pageants as the one we have
described, are sure to appeal to every sense
and emotion, and have probably made more
converts to Buddhism than all its ethics and
metaphysics. We are not without a parallel
in Europe. An Italian inn - keeper, or a
Spanish peasant-girl will, as a rule, feel more
attracted to Christianity by the jests and
carousals of the carnival, choral processions,
1 To make our point clear we have taken the liberty
to paraphrase and intermingle the interesting accounts
of Indian life given by Megasthenes and Hiouen Thsang,
although the two distinguished writers are separated by
the interval of a thousand years. It was in the days of
the early Sangha that Megasthenes was Greek Ambas-
sador at Chandragupta's Court in Patna, then the very
centre of Buddhist activity, while Hiouen Thsang, a
learned friar from the Far East, paid a visit to the Holy
Land of Buddhism at the time of its decadence on native
soil.
Short History of Indian Literature 91
and miracle - working relics, than by the
Sermon on the Mount or the Epistles of
St Paul. Buddha repudiated all spectacular
scenes in the service of religion. His reforma-
tion was a bold attempt to disentangle the
spirit of self-sacrifice from complicated rites
and sacrificial offerings made to imaginary
gods. But the church which was raised in
his holy name counts many followers who
almost make a god of the great reformer
himself, and the Buddhist ritual prescribed
by the ecclesiastical government of the
Lamas for the faithful observance of the
Tibetans, eclipses even the dictatorial tone of
the Brahminic hierarchy. Confession of sins,
though not practised by the laity, was known
to the brethren of the early Sangha. But the
Buddhist monks do not now go to confession.
A contrite heart, they reason, is the best con-
fessional, and the small voice of the conscience
is a never- failing monitor if repentance be
sincere. The argument seems sound enough.
Self-abasement is a wholesome corrective, and
father- confessors, no doubt, are honourable
and saintly men, but implicit reliance on their
counsel and directions means dependence on
human authority, which is but shifting sand,
and in many cases implies fear of disregarding
92 Short History of Indian Literature
it. Dependence and fear, however, unless
God be their object, are incompatible with
liberty of conscience, sweetest of gifts divine.
Is it not the innate spirit of fearlessness, and
the long national struggle for free institutions
that have raised the Anglo-Saxon race to
the first civilising power on earth, mother of
prosperous commonwealths ? and is it not
the same love of independent search after
truth which has made Germany a nursery
of philosophy and science, the educational
centre of the world? For similar reasons,
the Vedanta school of religion has matured
deeper thinkers and riper thoughts than
Buddhism. 1
Orthodox Hindus, living in the midst of
the elaborate ceremonial and the never-ending
holidays of the Buddhists, imperceptibly
1 The members of the Sangha look upon the estab-
lished Order as their refuge and strength, but the
teachings of Vedanta advocate universal brotherhood
rather than an organised fellowship. The fruits of the
spirit, such is the Vedantic point of view, cannot be
forced by rules and regulations, but grow out of gnana
(self-realisation). The atma-knower who knows himself
in all things, and all things in himself, has no need of
a communal life or common forms of worship in order
to commune with brother-souls, and help them on to
moksha (salvation).
Short History of Indian Literature 93
adopted these popular features, one after
the other ; they could not help doing so,
no more than an Englishman who resides in
Paris can help falling in with French ways
and manners. Five hundred years after
Christ, the religion of the Brahmins or
Hinduism, as it came to be called, was a
strange mixture of the old Vedic faith and
Buddhist forms of worship. The Vedic clans-
men had never sacrificed in public, but only
privately, when the heart prompted them, on
their domestic altars.
As Hinduism developed and became pre-
dominant at last, magnificent places of public
worship sprung up everywhere, and quite
equalled those of the Buddhists in splendour.
Numbers of Hindu pagodas were built in
the eastern counties, especially in Orissa,
between a.d. 500 and 700, and the gigantic
caves of Ellora, north-east of Bombay, were
transformed into temples during the two
subsequent centuries. But Vedic India knew
neither temples nor idolatry. The old Aryas
hymned the pure elements, earth and sun
and water, the ever-lasting works which
proclaim the might of the Creator. What
the earth produced and the sun made grow,
more particularly wheat and barley, was
94 Short History of Indian Literature
eagerly cultivated ; tillage and irrigation
were believed to please the Devas, while
it was thought an act of desecration to
pollute the rivers, or the produce of the
garden and the field. But modern Hindu-
ism dethroned the Vedic pantheon, put
new deities in its place, and made images
of them. Pilgrimages to shrines and relic
worship came in vogue among orthodox
Hindus even more than among the Buddhists.
Statuettes of gods were carried at gorgeous
processions, which very soon outshone the
pageantry of the rival faith.
At last, Buddhism was superseded by
Hinduism, and had to go. In the fifth
century, a.d., popular sentiment began to
turn the scale in favour of Hinduism, and in
the eleventh, the Kajputs were masters of
India. They crushed Buddhism and spread
Hinduism wherever they went. Viharas were
pulled down, rare manuscripts ruthlessly
burned, monks were driven out of the land,
and Buddhist chapels converted into Hindu
sanctuaries. The brave but cruel Eajputs
were vanquished in their turn by Moham-
medan invaders, though only after a long and
fierce struggle. The Moslems, hating every
religion which was not Islam, demolished all
Short History of Indian Literature 95
temples and idols that lay in their way.
Hinduism tottered to its very foundations,
and Buddhism in India received its death
blow. Some hundred years after the migra-
tion of Christianity from Syria to the various
countries of Europe, Buddhism too left India,
and struck root in other lands, north and
south and east, and became the light of Asia,
even as Christianity has become the light of
the world. 1
XIII
THE HUNS AND THE RISE OF UJAIN
When modern Europe first formed itself into
nations, the extensive prairies in the south of
Russia, once the seats of Scythian tribes, were
overrun by the Huns. They were migratory
hordes living chiefly on rapine and plunder.
About the fourth century, a.d., the Huns
crossed the River Volga and proceeded further
west. They laid populous country districts
waste, looted the farms, and set prosperous
1 When the first crusaders set out for the reconquest
of the Holy Land, Buddhism was almost extinct in
India, Kashmir being one of its last strongholds.
96 Short History of Indian Literature
cities ablaze. Their destructive course lay-
through the orchard groves along the Black
Sea, and across the rose gardens of Eoumania.
They journeyed up the Danube to the south
of Hungary, and it was in one of their
nomadic stations on the banks of the River
Theiss that Attila was born, or Etzel as he
is named in the Nibelung Song. He led the
Huns to glorious victories, and was dreaded
in Europe no less than the first Napoleon
a kindred spirit. Blood and fire marked
Attila's course through Bavaria and the fair
Rhinelands, but when the Huns came to the
vineyards of Champagne, the Teutonic tribes
roused themselves and united their forces
near Paris. In the valley of the Marne, the
barbarians were defied and defeated. The
plains of Chalons were a battlefield of
nations, a.d. 451, and shaped the destinies of
Europe as much as the heights of Waterloo
did in 1815.
But long before the Huns swept over
Europe, vast numbers of them had been
wandering over the bleak flats of Turkestan,
and had entered Persia. They brought
terror and ruin to the peaceful villages of
Khorassan, and many native families fled
before the violent intruder across the Afghan
Short History of Indian Literature 97
Highlands to India. The hospitable in-
habitants of the Punjab, Rajputana, and Oudh
offered shelter and protection to the needy-
refugees. One noble emigrant family, the
Guptas, 1 settled in Kanouj, and gained such
wealth and influence that it was not long
before they became the ruling family of the
town. In the fifth century, when Magadha
declined, the Guptas raised Kanouj to the
first city in Hindustan. But, after a few
generations of lordship, they were unable
to resist the Hunnish wave any longer ;
it broke over Kanouj and made a sudden
end of the Gupta dynasty.
The spirited Vallabhis, a Hindu tribe in
Gujarat, then became powerful, and their
blood flowed in the veins of Vikrama the
Great, the most distinguished name of the
Vikrama dynasty. His capital was Ujain, in
Malva, where he reigned in the first half of
the sixth century. Like General Aetius at
Chalons, Vikrama stemmed the tide of the
advancing Huns, and routed their hordes.
But, more appropriately, we may place the
Raja by the side of the genial Karl August,
Duke of Weimar. Both Princes were en-
lightened patrons of science and art, and
their respective Courts were graced by the
1 Gupta means "protected, concealed," in Sanskrit.
G
98 Short History of Indian Literature
presence of India's and Germany's most
illustrious poets. Vikrama's friend was
Kalidasa, the famous author of Shakuntala.
His genius much resembles that of Goethe,
the protege of Karl August, although the
mental range of Kalidasa is less comprehen-
sive a deficit for which not the poet but the
time in which he lived should be debited.
Vikrama's age was rich in thought, but
knowledge was far advanced in the age of
Frederick and Goethe.
Under the Guptas and Vikramas, Hinduism
and Buddhism kept good friends. Buddhists
frequented the universities of the Brahmins,
and young Hindus of orthodox families gladly
pursued their studies in the vihara- colleges
of India. Vikrama the Great inclined to
Hinduism, and we have seen that Harsha,
one of his successors, was a devout Buddhist.
King Harsha, who died about a.d. 650, re-
moved the capital to Kanouj again, and Ujain
decayed. Parks and gardens look deserted,
temples and palaces lie in ruins
" Her lofty towers are fallen ; creepers grow
O'er marble dome and shattered portico."
(Kalidasa). 1
1 The two lines which we apply to Ujain were really
intended for Oudh by the Indian poet who did not live
to see Ujain decay.
Short History of Indian Literature 99
In a later age, the Vallabhis were subjugated
by the Rajputs who annexed Malva. King
Bhoja, a contemporary of William the
Conqueror, tried to revive the literary glory
of Ujain. Dhara, on the north-western slopes
of the Vindhyas, became the new capital of
Central India.
XIV
PURANAS AND TANTRAS
The Scriptures of modern Hinduism are the
Puranas which were first committed to writing
about the sixth century of our era. The
Hindus have always been lovers of stories
about the gods. The ancient myths were
handed down from father to son, and poets
largely added to the stock from the stores
of their own imagination. Antiquaries and
divines took great pains to preserve this ocean
of folklore. They set to work very much in
the same fashion as Jacob and Wilhelm
Grimm. The two brothers went about the
country, and collected ancient legends among
the German peasantry. Many an aged
grandam was asked to repeat over the
spinning-wheel some of the elf- and fairy-
100 Short History of Indian Literature
tales which she had heard in the nursery
sixty years ago.
Generations of Brahmins must have been
busy compiling and arranging, curtailing and
enlarging the Puranas which were recast time
after time until they came out in that encyclo-
pedic form in which we possess them now.
The Puranas have interesting information
on almost every topic. There are lengthy
accounts of the lives of gods and patriarchs,
stories of the creation, sacred as well as
profane history. Psalms and prophecies stand
peacefully by the side of geological teaching ;
anatomy is taught together with music,
theories about the movement of the stars
are strangely intermixed with lessons on
grammar. But long-winded as the Puranas
are they are grand old books, comparable to
a fine old man who is excellent company
when he fondly rambles over the various
events and experiences of his chequered life. 1
1 However different the character of the Puranas and
Eddas may be, their mythological features bear a strong
family likeness which, no doubt, can be traced back to a
common Aryan parentage. Both names imply the idea
of antiquity. Puranas are traditions of former times,
and edda signifies "grannie" in the Norse tongue.
The venerable legends of Norway are still known as
" Grandmother's Tales " among the people of Iceland.
Short History of Indian Literature 101
The Puranic gods are Brahma, Vishnu, and
Shiva. At first Brahma meant no more than
prayer which " breaks forth " from the abund-
ance of the heart. In the Vedic hymns,
Brahma is the God who inclines the heart
to prayer. Priests were called Brahmins
because it was their duty to regulate the
Common Prayer and fix the words. In a
more advanced age, when thought grew subtle,
Brahma came to mean the infinite Godhead
from whom Nature proceeds, in whom all
things have their being, and to whom life
returns in the end. Brahma sutras were not
mere prayer-books, but philosophical enquiries
about God. 1 Hinduism has retained all these
Edda is an old Aryan pet name, generally applied by
children to their elders. The corresponding term in
English is dadda, and in Sanskrit tdta, which, however,
means daddie as well as sonnie.
1 Brahma is derived from the root brik, i.e., to break
forth. Kindred words are Irish bricht (magic), and Old
Norse bragr (poetry). The lips inspired by genius break
forth in prophecy and song. In the imagination of the
Aryan sires, prayers and incantations were an outburst
of holy rapture an overflow of the spirit's rushing
waves.
Not only the Hindus, but also the Gaels and Vikings
have deified the ancient root. St Brigit is the Irish
goddess of wisdom, her Norwegian namesake being
Bragr, the god of saga-lore and minstrelsy.
102 Short History of Indian Literature
ideas. Creation, preservation, and dissolution
are believed to be the eternal functions of the
Godhead. God the Creator is called Brahma
in the Puranas.
Vishnu, once a name of the invigorating
sun, is the second person of the Hindu Trinity,
the sustainer and protector of the universe.
He represents the life force incarnate in ten
avatars or saviours of whom Rama, the
destroyer of evil (Havana), and Krishna, the
wise counsellor of Arjun, are the two most
revered. 1 Last of all, Shiva, an old Vedic
appellation of the dreaded thundercloud which
works destruction, but at the same time
purifies the air and revives Nature, has
become the presiding deity of death and
resurrection.
The creation of the world is a thing of the
past, and accomplished facts do not particularly
arouse the interest of the masses. That is
the reason why the worship of Brahma has
fallen into disuse in India. Few Brahma
temples survive ; the best - known is near
Ajmere in Rajputana. The cult of Shiva, on
the other hand, enjoys great popularity, the
1 Latin ab (from) corresponds to Sanskrit ava, and
trans (beyond) to tar. Avatar means "from beyond"
the skies, heaven-descended.
Short History of Indian Literature 103
fear of death and hope of resurrection lying
nearer to the human heart than the origin of
species. Shiva is mated to the benignant
goddess Sati who typifies the renewal of
Nature in spring. In a beautiful myth, Sati
sacrifices herself in a blazing fire (the summer
sun), but in Uma's lovely shape the goddess
is reborn
" where sloping to the skies
Himalaya in sullen grandeur lies."
Uma, the maid of the mountains, is symbo-
lical of Shiva's reproductive power, while the
destructive aspect of the God is personified in
the terrible goddess Kali, described in the
Puranas as " armed with noose and scimitar,
and wearing a garland of skeletons. Her face
looks old and withered, with lolling tongue
and bloodshot eyes." The worshippers of
Kali are the Tantrists who acknowledge the
Tantras as their scriptural authority.
The Tantras exhibit a much later and more
effete stage of religious thought than the
Puranas, and are largely concerned with
investigations into spiritualism. They are
written in the form of dialogues, Shiva in-
structing Kali by what practices psychic powers
may be attained. Clairvoyance and telepathy,
104 Short History of Indian Literature
hypnotic suggestion and spirit communication,
and other feats of magic form the subject-
matter of the Tantras. 1 But although the
Tantrists seem to hanker after spirits rather
than spirit, many a noble soul may be found
among them worshipping the Impersonal under
the personality of Kali. Such a one was Rama-
krishna Paramahansa, a fervent Hindu saint
1 Magic has been defined as conscious control over
Nature's finer forces. St Paul held that " natural man "
if he be gifted that way will search the hidden mysteries
of Nature, but that by magic alone he cannot receive the
deep things of the spirit. At all times, the forbidden
arts have been eagerly practised. Ages before Moses,
the priesthood in the valley of the Nile fortified their
initiate kings by the use of magic, and the ancient
wisdom of Israel was derived from Egyptian magicians.
But in spite of incantations and necromancy, the heart
of Pharaoh was hardened by the Lord, and the Hebrews
degenerated to a carnally - minded people. Christ's
supreme contempt of name and fame and money angered
the Jews, because their leading motives were lust of
gold and worldly honours, and his defiance of the
Mosaic law exasperated the Scribes and Pharisees who
knew no higher law. If his followers had believed in
him without being shown signs and wonders, Jesus
would not have taken the trouble to rebuke the wind
and waters, or curse a fig-tree so that it presently
withered away. His godlike soul must have rebelled
against an evil and adulterous generation which sought
after petty signs.
Short History of Indian Literature 105
and Tantrist. To him the goddess was a
mere suggestion of the Divine Substance, and
he knew full well that images of stone are, at
best, feeble representations compared to the
soul's majesty, image of God. Kamakrishna
looked on Kali as his Divine Mother, and the
charm which he found in holy communion
with her proved more potent than all the
spells of mysterymongers.
"When you cannot avoid entering places
where there may be temptations, always
carry with you the thought of your Divine
Mother. She is sure to protect you from
the many evils that may be lurking even
in your heart. Cannot the presence of your
own mother shame you away from evil
thoughts and evil deeds ? " x
The saint died near Calcutta in 1886, and
so broad and universal were his religious
views that they have been largely accepted,
not only in India, but also in England and
America. Eamakrishnaists hold "that the
precepts of Jesus and Buddha, Vedanta and
Avesta, do not disagree, but are identical in
spirit because they have all sprung from
realisation of Divine Sonship, eternal fountain
1 Quoted from Max Mtiller who has edited some of
the splendid Sayings of Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
106 Short History of Indian Literature
of life and light. God sends his teachers
into every age and clime. Eeligious differ-
ences touch only the dry husk of ritual and
dogma, but the sweet kernel of religion is
far beyond the* reach of vain disputes." The
Paramahansa himself worshipped promiscu-
ously in Christian Church and Mosque,
Kali pagoda and Buddhist temple and, best
of all, in the sanctuary of his loving heart-
Ramakrishna has much in common with
Schopenhauer, but his genius moves, so to
speak, on a higher plane, for he was a born
spiritual leader of men, while the great
German was but an intellectual giant. 1
Parama is the same word as supreme,
and parama-hansa refers to the king of the
hansas or feathered tribes. The eagle's
majestic flight is an appropriate symbol for
keen vision and lofty aspiration pursuing
its heavenward course on the strong wings
of faith. St John, too, has been called
the soaring eagle, the Paramahansa of the
Christian Church. The original meaning of
hansa, was bird, but became specialised to
"swan" in Sanskrit, and to "goose" in Latin
1 Ramakrishna's most gifted follower was the brilliant
Vivekananda, who lectured before appreciative audiences
in London and New York.
Short History of Indian Literature 107
(hansei or anser). The homeless and
migratory life of the " swans of holiness " is
sketched in the short, but interesting
Paramahansa Upanishad.
The healthful Veda has been superseded
by the senile Puranas and Tantras ; but signs
are not wanting that the number of those
who cling to the pure and simple faith of
Vedanta is increasing and slowly raising the
social and national level of India, which has
undergone so many violent fluctuations in
the past.
XV
HINDU LEGENDS AND FESTIVALS
Shiva's exterior as poets have drawn it is
almost as repellent as that of his consort
Kali. His hair is plaited after the style of
Hindu ascetics, but on nearer sight it is a
braid of wriggling snakes. A chaplet of
skulls hangs round his neck, and in the
centre of his forehead flames a single eye
arched by the silver crescent of the moon.
108 Short History of Indian Literature
" He stands with arms outstretched on high,
Between five fires which blaze all day,
Four toward the quarters of the sky,
O'erhead the sun's meridian ray.
" In fiercest frost on snow he sleeps,
Dry leaves and herbs his only food,
Mid pouring rain Shiva his vigil keeps,
His soul serene, his senses all subdued."
Wrapt in deep meditation the stern god
is fabled to reside on a lonely peak of the
snow-capped Himalayas, the mountain home
of Ganga. The sacred stream, in her
descent from heaven, first fell on Shiva's
head according to a Sanskrit .legend which
has been beautifully rendered in English
verse l
" On Shiva's head descending first
A rest the torrents found,
Then down in all their might they burst
And roared along the ground.
" On thousand glittering scales the beam
Of rosy morn was flashing,
Turtles and dolphins down the stream
And swarms of fish came dashing.
11 Then bards who chant celestial lays
And nymphs of heavenly birth
Flocked round upon that flood to gaze
That streamed from sky to earth.
1 By Ralph Griffith. The translation of the pre-
ceding verses is by Dean Milman.
Short History of Indian Literature 109
" The gods themselves, from every sphere,
Incomparably bright,
Borne in their golden cars drew near
To see the wondrous sight.
" The cloudless azure was aflame
With the light of a hundred suns,
Where'er the shining chariots came
That bore those holy ones.
" And white foam clouds and silver spray
Were wildly tossed on high,
Like swans that urge their homeward way
Across the autumn sky."
Sati's father was the patriarch Daksha, who
could not bear the sight of his ungainly
son-in-law. Once he performed a solemn
sacrifice to which all the gods except Shiva
were invited. So keenly did Sati feel the
affront that, in her shame, she threw herself
into the sacrificial fire. Then anger rose in
Shiva's breast, and he created giants of super-
human strength, who struck Daksha's head
off and ill-treated the invited guests. When
his wrath was appeased, he restored the
patriarch to life again, but gave him a ram's
head as a lifelong remembrance. The scuffle
at Daksha's sacrifice is sculptured on the walls
of the excavated temples at Ellora.
Sati or " True" is quite a favourite name
110 Short History of Indian Literature
with Hindu women, who look on Daksha's
daughter as the perfect type of a matron true
to her husband even unto death. A wife's
self-sacrifice came to be called sati, or, in
English spelling, suttee. The cruel custom
of suttee (burning of widows) prevailed
amongst all primitive Aryan tribes, and was
not abolished in India until the British era. 1
While the cult of Shiva predominates in
the priestly caste, Krishna is more popular
among the lower classes, especially in the
Bengal Presidency. His life is told fully in
the Bhagavata Purana, the holiest book of
the Krishnaists. The Bhagavata was com-
posed in the Middle Ages when the Moslems
were rulers of India, long after the downfall
of the Guptas and Eajputs. 8
1 Derived from sati (true) is satya, (truth). Satya-
kama is the name given to the young student in the
Chhandogya Upanishad because of his " love of truth."
When the youth was asked about his parentage, he
spoke the plain truth, although his heart bled as he had
to acknowledge that he was a child of lawless love.
2 Baga =" apportioning " good and ill; bakht = the
" portion " dealt out to mortals in life's lottery. Destiny
was called bakht, and the Deity Baga by the ancient
Persians, whose religion survives among the Parsis.
Their priesthood, the magi, were fatalists, and taught
the doctrine of bagabakht (fate pre-ordained by Baga) or,
as we should say, the dispensation of Divine Providence.
Short History of Indian Literature 111
Krishna's father was Vasudeva who lived
in Agra, and was married to Princess Devaki,
a cousin of King Kansa. A prophecy that
the Eaja was to be slain by one of her
children alarmed Kansa, and he gave orders
to imprison the Princess, and to put her six
sons to death. Krishna was born in prison,
but Vasudeva contrived to conceal his birth
before the King, and escape unnoticed with
the new-born babe. He entered Vrindavana
Forest, somewhere in the North - Western
Provinces, and favoured by the gods found
the herdsman Nanda who promised to take
care of the young child. Krishna grew up
in the woods, joining in the games of his
foster-brothers, and sporting with the gopis
or shepherd - damsels. His favourite was
Bog, the Russian word for God, has sprung from the
same hidden source of Aryan spirituality as Baga.
Lovers of Bog are known as bhaktas in India. If the
devotee has become self-oblivious forgetting all else
save the Beloved, that state of internal recollection is
termed bhakti in Sanskrit. Bhagavat means baga-like
or god-like, divine. The Bhagavata Purana is a bio-
graphy of the "divine" Krishna, and the Bhagavad
Glta is the " Divine " Lay which the Avatar recited
on the battlefield of Kurukshetra for the benefit of
Prince Arjun. Krishnaists must not be confounded
with Ramakrishnaists or followers of Ramakrishna
Paramahansa.
112 Short History of Indian Literature
Kadha, the "jasmine-bosomed" maid. God
Indra being jealous of the love she bore to
Krishna, inundated the forest so that Kadha
should perish. But the divinity of Vishnu
became manifest in Krishna, and the divine
shepherd-boy uplifted Govardhana Hill and
the gopis on it, and thus saved his love
from the violence of Indra. Krishna's next
adventure was to slay Kansa, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.
After the tyrant's death, the Agra people
were led by Krishna to Gujarat, where he
built the city of Dwarka, and began a long
and prosperous reign.
Janmashtami or Krishna's nativity is
annually kept as a general holiday among
the Krishnaists. A large field tent is
erected, and fairy lamps in ruby, green, and
blue peep out of verdant boughs with which
the inside walls are decorated. A bed of
hay and moss is prepared on a raised plat-
form ; the image of the mother rests therein,
the divine child at her bosom. Gods and
genii are suspended above their heads.
Vasudeva, sword in hand, stands erect by
the side of the round-faced Nanda. Wood-
land fairies are dancing, choristers sing carols,
and shepherds celebrate the happy delivery of
Short History of Indian Literature 113
Devaki. Sweet sandal dust is strewn, incense
is burned, and adoration paid to the holy
family.
Krishna's natal day, which has possibly
borrowed some of its joyous features from
our Christmas festivities, is not only kept
up with tableaux vivants, but mystery plays
are performed suitable to the occasion.
Theatrical companies make regular tours
through Bengal and other provinces at
Janmashtami time. In one of these religious
dramas Krishna appears as a hungry beggar,
and a poor Brahmin generously offers him
his own dinner, consisting of a plain dish of
boiled rice. The little act of kindness is
rewarded with abundant gifts on the god's
part. Incidents of a similar nature taken
from the life of Christ occur in the Passion
Plays which are staged at Oberammergau.
One of Goethe's dramatic poems narrates how
Christ and St Peter once, on a very hot day,
walked through the streets of Jerusalem.
Peter saw a broken horseshoe lying on the
ground and carelessly pushed it aside, but
the Saviour stooped and took it up. A
blacksmith whose door they passed offered
a farthing for the piece of iron, and Jesus
bought a handful of cherries for the money.
H
114 Short History of Indian Literature
He dropped them, one by one, on the way,
and each juicy berry was eagerly picked up
by the thirsty disciple. Moral object lessons
of the same kind are a well-known feature
at the religious festivals of the Hindus.
The celebration of spring, in March, is
likewise in honour of Krishna. Peasant-girls
representing the gopis tread a gay measure
on the village-green. Field sports are in-
dulged in by the young men, and prizes
distributed. The love passages between
Krishna and Radha are recited or sung to
musical accompaniment, while the image of
the lovers reposes amid flowers in a gently-
moving swing.
The Ram-Lila festival in the month of
September is the great day for Rama
worshippers. The nuptials of Rama and
Stta, the siege of Lanka, and the hero's
safe return to Oudh, are the chief items
of a pantomime which is performed in the
open air. Dancing and fireworks add to the
general effect of the spectacle. Dumbshows
and ballet may be occasionally witnessed in
the grounds of the Crystal Palace on an
August Bank Holiday, and although they are
more of a secular than a religious character,
the thought naturally suggests itself that
Short History of Indian Literature 115
human nature, however much its outward
form and expression may vary, is every-
where the same.
We append some rambling thoughts on
the origin of a few words, and myths, and
customs which would have been inserted, in
their proper place, as a footnote to Janmash-
tami if they had not accumulated to undue
proportions.
Genesis (creation) is a Greek word, and
genius, the " creative" power of the mind,
is Latin. The classical root gen and its
English equivalent kin express the idea of
production and origin. Progeny and Hndred
is issue of a common " origin." Moss- and
tea-roses are two different kinds (produc-
tions) of roses, but belong to the same
genus (origin). Each descent from our first
parents marks a new generation, i.e., creation.
Gentle and kind signifies "like a Hnsman";
generous and genuine belong to the same
genus of words, (rentes, in old Latin, meant
kinsmen or clansmen, and Eoman citizens,
sons of the Empire, applied the word to
the clans beyond the Alps and sea, Teutons
and Greeks, and other foreigners. The Latin-
speaking Jews who drew a sharp distinction
116 Short History of Indian Literature
between the chosen people and strangers to
their faith, adopted the term, and looked on
everybody that was not a Hebrew as a gentile. 1
An East- Aryan reflection of kin and gen
is the Sanskrit root Jan. The philosopher
on the throne of Videha was called JWiaka,
i.e., TpiogenitoY, because he was like a father
to his people, genial and kindly, an ideal
king. Janaka's daughter was Sita, the
heroine of the Kamayana. Jana signifies
the same as gentes (people), and jaiima,
means parentage or birth.
Ashta in Sanskrit is identical with eahta in
Anglo-Saxon, and eight in English. Ashtami
is the eighth day of the month, and Jan-
mashtami (a contraction of janma-ashtami)
bears reference to Krishna's birthday on the
eighth of the Indian midsummer month,
some time in August or September. The
Latin for ashtami is October, the eighth
month in the old Roman calendar. The
French still write 8bre. What fitter season
could a pre-Christian people have chosen for
1 The Israelites like the old Romans kept aloof as
much as possible from the goyim or nations round
about them. The word goyim frequently occurs in
the Old Testament, and "gentile" is really a transla-
tion of the Hebrew term through a Greek intermediary.
Short History of Indian Literature 117
celebrating the anniversary of the New Year
than the return of the first violet in March ?
Moreover, spring was the time when the
ancient shepherd clans, more particularly
the surplus population, used to leave the
overcrowded pastures. Wise pontiffs, i.e.,
bridge-builders and path-finders guided them
safely across the broad streams of the
prairie into fresh meadow tracts, each annual
migration being the opening of a new chapter
in the unchronicled history of the Aryan
herdsmen.
Pontiff, the Latin pontifex, literally means
a maker (-fex) of " roads and bridges." 1 The
word pont carries us back to the dawn of
Eoman civilisation when Italy was still what
her name implies, a land of vituli or calves.
It was in the lambing season when the
herbage is luxuriant that colonies of youthful
swains went forth from the congested clan-
land like swarms of bees that leave their
native hives under the bee-queen's trusted
leadership. Kude hurdle-ponts were spanned
from bank to bank if the rivers could not
1 The English word path has retained the primitive
sense which the Roman wayfarers changed to "bridge,"
and the Greek voyagers to pontus, the highroad of the
seas.
118 Short History of Indian Literature
be forded, and roads were cut through a
primeval wilderness, the pontifex directing
and supervising the building operations.
The virile wanderers dispersed over the
Apennine Peninsula, and seized on the
grassy plots like hungry wolves that fall
upon their prey. The vernal season has
ever been sacred to pastoral bands. The
legendary history of the Hirpini or Wolfings,
and other ancient tribes, commenced with
the Ver Sacrum that blessed springtime
when, according to tradition, the forbears
first set foot on the cherished tribal soil. 1
The Celtic septs parted company with their
classical kin in the verdant Danube vales, and
became formidable rivals in the ensuing strife
for supreme power. In the same century as
the Greeks invaded India, the Eternal City
was sacked by a Gallic host. The champions
of the Gaelic branch, after many adventures
by land and sea, reached Ireland. Dense
forests of oak alternated with emerald meads
intersected by many a silver stream. The
1 The Ver Sacrum is discussed at length by R. v.
Ihering in his Evolution of the Aryan (Swan
Sonnenschein, London, 1897). The book is a brilliant
contribution to the elucidation of Indo-European
origins.
Short History of Indian Literature 119
Druids had charge of the forest trees which
the Greek deva - worshippers personified as
dryads just as they transformed the fruitful
earth to Demeter or Mother Earth. The
poetry of Nature appealed no less to the fancy
of the Celts who looked on woods and lakes
as instinct with life and feeling. Giant-oaks
were felled, yet not wantonly, but in order
that the Druids who were masters of their
craft might join the mighty trunks to pontoon-
bridges. If the dwellers on the other shore
did not let the Gaels pass, exciting frays
took place on the holms or in the shallows.
The Druids were skilled leeches as well as
expert builders. They worshipped Brigit, the
patroness of learning, who revealed to her
votaries the lore of healing herbs and starry
skies. Originally, the cult of the goddess
was symbolic of Nature's awakening from her
long winter sleep. When the young blossoms
burst into fairy bloom, and the hedges ring
with music, and the glad heart of man breaks
out in holier song, the Irish peasantry offered
the first ovine milk for a thanksoffering.
Oimelc or St Brigit's Day was the Spring
Festival of Erin.
The Pontiffs who appointed the hours for
halting and wandering, rose to the dignity of
120 Short History of Indian Literature
astronomer-priests in Italy, where they fixed
March as the first month, i.e., revolution of
the moon, October as the eighth, and so on.
In the early history of Rome, January and
February were consecrated to solar deities, but
the rest of the year to various aspects of the
moon. The following is an extract from a
letter written by an American friend, with
whom the author frequently conversed on
solar and lunar legends :
" In the ancient myths which appear to be
based on close observation of Nature, the
royal dynasties which derive their origin from
the sun are represented as kindly and benevo-
lent, but lunar kings as selfish and cold.
Sunshine, indeed, is genial and healthy, and
promotes Nature's growth. No food is more
vitalising than sun-dried fruit, and sunbaths
are most invigorating, the golden rays acting
as electric currents. But the moon exhausts,
and draws all magnetism away from earth.
Exposure of the body to moonlight for any
length of time lowers the vitality. Again,
looking into the sun strengthens the eyesight,
many Orientals make a regular practice of it
during morning and evening hours, while
moongazers are subject to somnambulism and
lunacy. Let poets praise the magic beams of
Short History of Indian Literature 121
the ' sweet regent in the star-lit skies,' but
Nature hymns the sun ! The whole earth
proclaims his glory, feels attracted by his
pure light, and eternally moves round the
heavenly fire."
It is quite possible that similar reflections
were interwoven with the venerable cult of the
Persian fire- worshippers, and with the brilliant
Greek mythology. The ideas to which our
correspondent has given such eloquent expres-
sion may also lie at the root of the genealogies
in the epical poetry of India. At any rate,
the Kurus who were always fighting or
gambling are counted as a lunar race, whereas
Janaka and Kama, selfless and unattached to
earthly pleasures and possessions, were solar
kings.
"Valmiki sings
The ancient glories of the sun-born kings,"
says Kalidasa. 1
1 Another illustrious house that claimed solar descent
was the family of Buddha. Koshala was the native
land of Rama as well as Gotama Buddha.
122 Short History of Indian Literature
XVI
MOKE POETRY
One of the most touching episodes in the Maha-
Bharata is the story of Nala and Damayanti.
Its stanzas flow as gracefully as the polished
hexameters of Virgil's eclogues, but the author
of the Sanskrit pastoral was happier in the
choice and treatment of his subject than the
great Latin poet. An evil spell had been cast
on King Nala, and in a dark hour he staked
and lost his kingdom. The royal gambler's
sufferings and redemption were narrated
in the jungle, as a solace in affliction, to
King Yudhishthir, whom a similar fate had
befallen. 1
Eeduced to utter poverty, Nala and his
1 From the earliest times, playing at dice seems to
have been a favourite pastime and, in its worse aspects,
a national vice of the Hindus. The Vedic Hymnal
contains a touching elegy known as Gambler's Lament.
Many a passionate gamester ruined himself and his
family in the sabha or club-house. Manu denounces
betting and gambling as "open theft" which ought
to be suppressed by law.
Short History of Indian Literature 123
devoted consort roamed through the forest,
and by some further mishap were separated
from each other. Queen Damayanti fell in
with a caravan of traders whose camels were
laden with bales of merchandise, huge bags of
rice and musk, and fragrant sandalwood.
The men took compassion on the lady's
forlorn state, and invited her to travel with
with them to the nearest market town. 1
" A caravan of merchants, elephants, and steeds, and
cars,
And beyond, a pleasant river with its waters cool and
clear,
Quiet was the stream and waveless, girt about with
spreading canes,
There the cuckoo and the osprey, and the red-geese
clamouring stood,
Swarmed the turtle, fish, and serpents, there rose
many a stately isle."
They moved on in the direction of the
silver- glinting current
"Flowers and trees bedecked its borders, where the
birds melodious sang."
While the party rested near the delicious
waters, a herd of wild tuskers suddenly
1 The few lines quoted from Nala and Damayanti are
translated by Dean Milman, and the other poetry by
Ralph Griffith.
124 Short History of Indian Literature
attacked them. Damayanti fainted, and
when she recovered from her swoon, all
danger was past, but alas ! the caravan, too,
had departed. The poor woman dragged
herself along, with bleeding feet and dis-
hevelled hair, and more than once lost her
way in the dense jungle, which seemed to
have no end. Her mind was distracted
and her body weary, and she would have
welcomed death as a great relief. A feeling
of drowsiness came over her at last, and as
she awoke from her stupor and walked on,
joy ! she heard a chattering brook, and
the forest began to open. Damayanti beheld
green fields in the mellow light of the western
sun and, right across the horizon, the curling
smoke of a fair city that gently rose upon the
velvet hills. The terrace gardens of Chedi,
with stately lawns and spreading trees, lay
between the town and the woods, and the
Queen- Mother was taking a drive in the
shaded avenues, when her observant eye
caught sight of Damayanti in the distance.
The ragged appearance and noble bearing of
the dark-eyed stranger arrested her atten-
tion; she sent for her, and being pleased with
Damayanti' s speech and person, allowed her
to stay in the palace.
Short History of Indian Literature 125
The King of Berar had hitherto found no
clue as to the whereabouts of his daughter
Damayanti, until one of the royal emissaries
detected her in the palace of her cousin, the
Kaja of Chedi. The Dowager - Queen, on
being informed of Damayanti's name and
station, greeted her favourite sister's child
with many tears and kisses, and sent her
noble kinswoman back to the King her
father, with a becoming escort, and rich
presents, and many prayers to return soon.
Meanwhile, the adverse influence had left
Nala, and being entirely without means of
subsistence, he was glad to be taken as a
charioteer into the service of the Hereditary
Prince of Oudh. Nala was very unhappy, for
he felt impressed that his faithful lady could
not have survived the dangers and hardships
of forest life, and her imagined death lay
heavy on his conscience. Damayanti, no less
anxious to be restored to her dear lord of
whom she had heard nothing all the time,
had a fictitious report spread that she was
going to hold a swayamvara. She cherished
some faint hope that the rumour might reach
her Nala and bring him back to her.
Among the suitors who came to the Court
of Berar, was the youthful Prince of Oudh ;
126 Short History of Indian Literature
but how great was his surprise when he saw
no festive preparations ! Damayanti sat at
the open casement and, with expectant eyes,
watched the arrival of her father's guests.
No sooner did she espy the Prince's charioteer
than the loving wife rushed into Nala's arms,
and there was great rejoicing. 1
As bright a jewel of her sex as Damayanti
was Savitri, another heroine of the Maha-
Bharata. " Savitri freed her husband's soul
by the simple courage of a woman's heart,
and the sweetness of a woman's tongue."
Conjugal fidelity takes a prominent place
amongst Hindu virtues, and gems many a
page of Sanskrit literature. Sita, the queen
of all wives, is reverenced in every zenana.
The death and rebirth of Sati is a theme of
which Indian poets never tire. Her undying
love of Shiva lived on beyond the grave and
became the seed of a new life implanted in
Uma, the lovely highland maid. Uma's
unflinching devotion to the weird god
suggested to Kalidasa one of his sweetest
1 " Nala and Damayanti " is evidently a free copy, in
miniature, of the earlier portions of the Maha-BMrata.
The idyllic poem was so popular among the Hindus,
that the learned vyasas included it in the great national
epic which was a kind of Encyclopedia Indica in those
ancient times.
Short History of Indian Literature 127
songs. Even as a child, Uma could dimly
recollect her pre-natal love and self-sacrifice.
"As swans in bands
Fly back to Ganga's well-remembered sands,
So dawned upon the maiden's waking mind
The far-off mem'ry of her life resigned."
Shiva is besmeared with ashes like a yogi,
and his favourite haunts are burial grounds ;
but Uma has no fear, and lovingly waits on
him, gathering wild roots and herbs for his
food, and bringing fresh water and flowers
every day. When her affection remains un-
requited, the mortified maiden retires to a
wilderness, being determined to lead an
ascetic life, and thus render herself more
acceptable in Shiva's sight. Her unshaken
faith touches the god at last, and he appears
before the fair penitent in an altered shape,
so that she may not recognise him. To test
her sincerity, he speaks slightingly of Shiva,
but Uma is indignant at the stranger's
irreverence.
" Her quivering lip, her darkly-flashing eye
Told that the tempest of her wrath was nigh,"
and she says disdainfully
" 'Tis ever thus, the mighty and the just
Are scorned by souls that grovel in the dust."
128 Short History of Indian Literature
Shiva is satisfied and reveals himself to the
startled maiden
" And Uma trembled like a river's course
Checked for a moment in its onward force
By some huge rock amid the torrents hurled,"
but tender words fall on her ears and calm
her troubled breast.
11 The silver moon on Shiva's forehead shone,
While softly spake the god in gracious tone
gentle maiden, wise and true of soul,
Lo ! now I bend beneath thy sweet control."
The marriage ceremony is solemnised, and
the priest as he stands before the sacred
fire pronounces a blessing over the young
couple :
" This flame be witness of your wedded life
Be just, thou husband, and be true, thou wife ! "
The divine bridegroom then turns to his
beloved
" Look, gentle Uma, cried her lord, afar
Seest thou the brightness of yon polar star ?
Like that unchanging ray thy faith must shine !
Sobbing she whispered : Yes, for ever thine ! "
RAma's Race is another poem by Kalidasa.
Kusha, one of Rama's sons, removed the royal
Short History of Indian Literature 129
residence, and the poet graphically describes
the forsaken city of Ayodhya
" Once there was music in the splashing wave
Of lakes where maidens loved their limbs to lave ;
But now the waters echo with the blows
Struck with the horns of savage buffaloes.
" Once the tame peacock showed his glittering crest
'Mid waving branches where he loved to rest,
Once in the garden lovely girls at play-
Culled the bright flowers and gently touched the
spray ;
But now wild monkeys in their savage joy
Tread down the blossoms, and the plants destroy."
The poem is Vedantic in its tone, but
philosophic reflection is happily mingled with
descriptive verse, in the fashion of Words-
worth. Two other lyrical pieces by Kalidasa
are extant. The Cloud-Messenger, "a reverie
full of love's richest music," has nearly as
often been translated as the Odes of Horace,
but The Seasons are not so well known to
English readers. Here is a specimen of the
simple rhyme :
" Now the burning summer sun
Hath unchallenged empire won,
And the scorching winds blow free,"
Blighting every herb and tree.
I
130 Short History of Indian Literature
"Lo ! the Hon, forest king,
Through the wood is wandering,
By the maddening thirst oppressed,
Ceaseless heaves his panting chest.
"From their mountain caverns see
Buffaloes rush furiously,
With hanging tongue and foam-flecked hide,
Tossing high their nostrils wide."
The blue-necked peacocks scorched by the
heat are too languid to display their jewelled
trains, and the frogs, in their agony, leave the
shrunken pool, unheeded by the venomous
cobra
"Who lifts up his head on high
If some breeze may wander by."
At last, soft showers of rain revive the
parched earth, and the refreshed atmosphere
is laden with fragrance. Pearly sprays of
jasmine and the ruby blossoms of the ashoka
plant vie in beauty with the golden gorse.
" Lakes are sweet with opening flowers,
Gardens gay with jasmine bowers,
And the woods to charm the sight
Show their bloom of purest white." 1
1 The Seasons were the first Sanskrit text which
ever appeared in print. Sir William Jones, the pioneer
of Oriental culture in Europe, had the poem published
anno 1792.
Short History of Indian Literature 131
Krishna's amours have found a poetical
interpreter in Jayadeva, who lived in Bengal
in the twelfth century a.d. His GiTA
Govinda or Shepherd's Song has been set to
choral music, and bears resemblance to some
of our oratorios. Krishna amuses himself
with the shepherdesses, but Eadha, his first
love, weeps bitterly at being forsaken by
the fickle youth. Comes a milkmaid and
sings
" In this love tide of spring when the amorous breeze
Has kissed itself sweet on the beautiful trees,
And the humming of numberless bees, as they
throng
To the blossoming shrubs, swells the kokila's song,
" In this love tide of spring when the spirit is glad,
And the parted (yes, only the parted) are sad,
Thy lover, thy Krishna, is dancing in glee
With troops of young maidens, forgetful of thee ! "
Nanda, good-natured and plain-spoken,
comforts Eadha and bids her seek his foster-
child and make up the love quarrel.
" Go, gentle Radha, seek thy love,
Dark are the woodlands, black the sky above;
Bring thy dear wanderer home and let him rest
His weary head upon thy faithful breast."
132 Short History of Indian Literature
The damsel with the milk pail sings in
response
11 Saffron robes his body grace,
Flowery wreaths his limbs entwine,
There's a smile upon his face,
And his ears with jewels shine.
In that youthful company
Amorous felon ! revels he
False to all, most false to thee ! "
Radha is bewildered and makes anxious
search for Krishna in the dusky copses and
tangled bushes of Vrindavana Forest. But
she is too agitated to enjoy the beauty of the
woods and the picturesque streams,
" Which are white with silver wings
Of the swans that autumn brings."
The annual rain is over, and it is the time
of the year when the busy wife expects the
goodman home, and makes a clean fireside,
and spreads the table with good things.
Radha finds Krishna frolicking and dancing
with the gopis ; she feels miserable and sinks
down exhausted with fatigue. A shepherdess
gently touches and consoles her. In a recita-
tive, she dwells on the sorrows of Krishna,
who yearns for Radha's forgiveness. And
that is quite true, Radha's image is still
Short History of Indian Literature 133
lingering in Krishna's breast, and presently
he parts with the bright- eyed gopis and
ruefully seeks his dear Kadha in the shaded
groves. But she fancies herself deserted, and
grudges her imaginary rival the caresses of
Krishna. Her painful reverie is interrupted
by the approach of the repentant lover, who
murmurs gentle words and meekly craves her
pardon, but Eadha, stung with jealousy, bids
him go and leave her. Krishna hums in an
undertone
" Even in wrath thy eyes, love,
Will shine away my fear ! "
and when Kadha scornfully turns away, he
goes on singing
" She is fled, she is gone ! how angry was she
When she saw the gay shepherd-girls dancing with me.
Krishna, vile Krishna, lament thee and mourn,
Thy lady has left thee, has left thee in scorn.
" How bright in her anger she seems to me now,
With her scorn-flashing glance, and her passion -
arched brow.
And her proud trembling eye in my fancy I see,
Like a lotus that throbs 'neath the wing of a bee.
Krishna, vile Krishna, lament thee and mourn,
Thy lady has left thee, has left thee in scorn."
Kadha blames herself for having been too
134 Short History of Indian Literature
harsh, but her remorse comes too late, Krishna
is gone. She longs for his presence, and is
restless ; she is in love like the sweet birds
around her that twitter love songs to their
mates. Evening comes, and Radha cannot
keep quiet any longer. She feels like a lost
sheep, aye, like a shepherd who has lost a
sheep ; she must go and find her Krishna.
"Even the reeds are bending low with pointed
fingers to show her the way." The lovers
meet and are re-united.
The Gtta Govinda, like Solomon's Song, is
an allegorical poem. Krishna stands for the
soul which, again and again, is attracted by
the objects of the senses, the gopis, until
Divine Love (Radha) reclaims the dear wan-
derer. His heart is bruised and weary, and
he longs for rest.
" Return,
Sweet messenger of rest,
I hate the sins that made thee mourn,
And drove thee from my breast."
Jayadeva has been severely criticised for
painting Divine Pity in the gross colours of
earthly affection, but, for all that, the Shep-
herd's Song is a magnificent work of art.
The poet himself was as conscious of the magic
Short History of Indian Literature 135
of his brush as he was free from that false
modesty which is so often courted by ephe-
meral genius, but despised by every true artist.
In melodious Sanskrit verse, he thus addresses
his readers (in Arnold's version)
" Mark this song of Jayadev !
Deep as pearl in ocean's wave,
Lurketh in its lines a wonder,
Which the wise alone will ponder."
XVII
HISTOKY AND FICTION
When the old King of Kanouj died, the
Crown Prince was abroad fighting the Huns.
He came home at once, and his grief was
doubled and trebled when he learned that
his sister was a prisoner with the King of
Malva, who had defeated and slain her
husband, the Kaja of an adjacent state. The
young ruler of Kanouj appointed his brother
Harsha as deputy-regent, and then marched
to the Queen's rescue, at the head of a large
army, his cousin Bhandi being one of the
136 Short History of Indian Literature
generals. When Harsha received the news
that the King, his brother, had been assas-
sinated by a treacherous ally, the fresh
calamity almost broke his affectionate heart.
All this happened soon after a.d. 600. Prince
Bhandi returned victorious from the Malva
campaign, with the intelligence that Harsha's
widowed sister had escaped from captivity,
and was believed to be concealed in the
Vindhya Mountains. King Harsha left
Bhandi in charge of the army, and, attended
by a small suite, set out in search of her. By
the help of a Buddhist recluse he succeeded in
finding his sister, but alas ! she was engaged
in the melancholy task of preparing her own
funeral pyre. King Harsha, however, dis-
suaded her from the cruel act of suttee, and
took her back to Kanouj, where both changed
their religion and became devout Buddhists.
These are the chief incidents which Bana
relates in his memoirs of King Harsha's
reign. The Harsha Charita has literary
merit as well as historical value, a rare
combination in Indian books. Sanskrit
literature abounds in poets and philosophers,
but is sadly deficient in historians. The
Puranic genealogies and the Kashmir
Chronicle will hardly be called history by
Short History of Indian Literature 137
readers of Gibbon and Ranke. The Hindu
mind, at all times, paid such keen attention
to eternal life that it neglected to record
mere temporary events. Even the Harsha
Charita is not based on state documents or
debates of the Kanouj Senate, but on
personal observation of contemporary history.
The author was a man of the world, shrewd
and polished ; he had spent many years in
foreign travel, and felt quite at home both
in the camp and court of King Harsha,
whose chronicler he was to become. Bana
had a quick eye for all that is good and
noble in man, and kept in close touch with
the people and their true interests. His
genial nature and practical bent, his com-
prehensive knowledge and wide sympathies,
made him everybody's favourite and friend.
The royal favour which he enjoyed so long,
and the breadth of his genius gave him
ample opportunity to become familiar with
all phases of life. That is the secret charm
which makes his books so readable ; one feels
that the writer has not acquired his culture
by laborious study, but pours out the fulness
of a rich and chequered experience. Bana
has written the best Sanskrit novel, and
the Pearl Necklace, which is also ascribed
138 Short History of Indian Literature
to his pen, takes a high rank in the dramatic
literature of the Hindus. 1
Dandin is another novelist who lived in
King Harsha's reign, and depicted Kanouj
life in the seventh century. He has cleverly
mixed the colours of the Arabian Nights
and the Italian Decamerone without, how-
ever, attaining the perfection of either. The
romancers of India revel in the marvellous
and supernatural, and are as inventive and
versatile as the ingenious author of Gil
Bias. Subandhu's love stories are also con-
sidered standard works of Sanskrit fiction.
1 The novel is full of weird romance, and written
in a powerful, but overloaded, style. Life after life,
the same pair of lovers meet, being attracted by an
irresistible passion, but time after time a cruel fate
tears them from each other. At last all obstacles are
overcome, Karma has spent its force and can react
no longer; doubt ends in joy, and gloom in the bliss
of union.
Short History of Indian Literature 139
XVIII
FABLES AND PROVERBS
By far the most popular account of life in
Ancient India is to he found in the Jatakas
or Birth Stories of the Buddha. They are
biographies of Gotama's various incarnations,
brimful with fun, practical wisdom, and
incidents taken from the life of the people.
If we want to know something of Mesopo-
tamian civilisation, about a.d. 800 when
Harun - al - Rashid was Commander of the
Faithful, the Arabian Nights inform us ever
so much better about the doings of the
multitudes that were buzzing in the streets
and swarming in the warehouses of Bagdad
than learned volumes of Oriental history.
Similarly, the Jataka stories are like vivid
flashes throwing light on the old Indian
panorama of bazaar and caravan, farmyard
and barracks, the busy workshop and quiet
cloister. The Jatakas are the oldest fairy
tales of the Aryan race, but not so generally
known in Europe as another collection called
Pancha - Tantra or the Five Books of
140 Short History of Indian Literature
Fables. 1 Many a practical joke and good
yarn over which iEsop has made us chuckle
recurs in the Pancha-Tantra. The Greek
fabulist is supposed to have lived in Asia
as a guest of Croesus the millionaire, and
was possibly fishing in the same river of
folklore from which the Pancha-Tantra is
derived. Indian fables are known to have
passed into Persian channels at an early
time, and King Croesus kept up intimate
relations with Persia, both of a hostile and
amicable nature. The Pancha - Tantra is
composed in easy Sanskrit, but the Jataka
Tales in one of the Hindu dialects. Books
written in a dialect are slow to travel
beyond the pale of the province where it is
spoken, but a classical tongue like Sanskrit
spreads quickly over a wide geographical
1 In the Epic Age, the Panchal&s or "Five" Boroughs
were settled south - east of the Kurus ; both tribes
had trekked eastward from the Panchsib or Punjab, i.e.,
Five-River-Land. Punch is an Indian beverage con-
sisting of "five" ingredients. The first five books of
the Bible are called Pentateuch in Greek, and Pancha-
Tantra, in Sanskrit, also signifies "Five Books."
Tantra, means tendency or drift of an argument ; the
outlines of a subject ; a book ; the Book or Bible of
the Tantrists.
Jataka (natal) belongs to the same cluster of words
as janaka, (father) and janma, (birth.)
Short History of Indian Literature 141
area. This explains why the Jatakas have
found but few and only modern translators,
while the Pancha-Tantra, although it is of
a younger date, has been rendered, in
numerous versions, into the chief languages
of Asia and Europe during the last thousand
years. Here is a sample of its style.
A donkey was employed in pulling a
washerman's cart, and after the day's labour,
at nightfall, he liked to have a good feed
off the neighbour's cucumber field. A jackal
once joined him, and when the two had
feasted on the cool and delicious fruit, the
donkey exclaimed : " Isn't it a glorious night,
old fellow? I feel so jolly, I must sing a
song." The wise jackal drily observed that
trespassers had better keep quiet, but the
silly ass brayed merrily, until the gardener
woke up and gave him a sound thrashing.
Another tale is about a banker who had
lost heavily in speculation. A Buddhist
monk appeared to him in his sleep, and said :
"Don't be distressed, my friend. In your
previous life you have done me a good turn,
so I am going to help you out of your
difficulty. To - morrow morning you shall
see me again ; then strike me on my head,
and you will have plenty of money." The
142 Short History of Indian Literature
dream was verified ; the merchant did as he
was bidden, and the monk's body immedi-
ately changed into pure gold. The family
hairdresser happened to be present at these
strange proceedings, and felt tempted to
repeat the profitable experiment. So he
hurried off to the nearest monastery, and
asked a plump and sleek-faced Buddhist if
he would mind coming home with him, and
tell him the value of some old manuscript,
scratched in the Deva script on birchen bark,
which he said had come into his possession.
The good-natured priest, who was of a
bookish turn, readily consented. When they
had entered the house, the villain bolted the
door, and gave the unsuspecting monk a
tremendous thump on his bald pate. The
piteous cries of the victim aroused the neigh-
bours ; the barber was arrested, and duly
punished.
The floating wisdom of India is embedded
in the Hitopadesha or Book of Good Counsel.
Current proverbs and moral lessons are
presented in graceful verse, and form an
excellent class-book, which is used all over
India to teach Hindu boys the elegancies
of Sanskrit composition, just as iEsop's
Fables are parsed and studied in our
Short History of Indian Literature 143
grammar schools. We have picked a dozen
sayings from the Hitopadesha, the first and
second being Englished by Sir Monier-
Williams, and the rest by Sir Edwin Arnold.
(1) " Friendship's true touchstone is adversity."
(2) "A piece of glass may like a jewel glow
If but a lump of gold be placed below ;
So even fools to eminence may rise
By close association with the wise."
(3) " Sickness, anguish, bonds, and woe
Spring from wrongs wrought long ago."
(4) "In good fortune not elated, in misfortune not
dismayed,
Ever eloquent in counsel, never in the field afraid,
Proudly emulous of honour, steadfastly on wisdom
set :
These six virtues in the nature of a noble soul
are met."
(5) "Small things wax exceeding mighty, being
cunningly combined,
Furious elephants are fastened with a rope of
grass-blades twined."
(6) " Pity them that crave thy pity ! who art thou to
stint thy hoard,
When the holy moon shines equal on the leper
and the lord ? "
(7) "Sentences of studied wisdom nought avail if
unapplied ;
Though the blind man hold a lantern, yet his
footsteps stray aside."
144 Short History of Indian Literature
(8) " True religion, 'tis not blindly prating what thy
teachers prate,
But to love as God is loving, all things be they
small or great ;
And true bliss is when a sane mind does a healthy
body fill,
And true knowledge is the knowing what is good
and what is ill."
(9) " Be not haughty being wealthy, droop not having
lost thy all ;
Fate does play with mortal fortune as a girl does
toss her ball."
(10) " Homely features lack not favour when true
wisdom they reveal,
And a wife is fair and honoured while her heart
is firm and leal."
(11) "Fellow be with kindly foemen rather than with
friends unkind ;
Friend and foeman are distinguished not by title
but by mind."
(12) " Brahmins for their lore have honour, Kshatriyas
for bravery,
Vaishyas for their hard-earned treasure, Shudras
for humility." 1
1 The first English version of the Hitopadesha was
prepared by Ch. Wilkins in 1787. The same scholar
rendered the Bhagavad Gita into English, at a time
when no other European translation of any Sanskrit
work existed.
Short History of Indian Literature 145
XIX
LANGUAGES AND NATIONS
Reader, have you ever gone for your holiday
on a cycling tour across England, from London
to Windermere, or from Yorkshire to Devon ?
If so, your ear must have been struck by the
variety of dialect as forcibly as your eye by
the change of scenery. People do not talk
alike on an Essex farm and in a Lancashire
mill, nor has a Cornish miner the same turn
of the tongue as a bargeman on the Eiver
Tyne. The singsong of Leipzig sounds quite
foreign in the streets of Hanover, and the
Provence patois may be taken, even by a
Parisian, for Italian rather than French.
There is plenty of provincialism in every
country, and when a fervent patriot like
Dante or Luther is born, we can quite
understand that his native dialect, in which
he delivers the stirring message, should be
stamped with the impress of his genius,
K
146 Short History of Indian Literature
and obtain national currency. 1 Sanskrit
was originally one out of many dialects
spoken by a set of farmers who had settled
in the Punjab. But when great poets arose
in their midst, and composed the Veda in
Sanskrit, the Vedic hymns took every heart
by storm, and the sacred tongue spread like
wildfire among the sister-tribes, from the
Afghan frontier to the banks of the Ganges
and Jumna, until the brogue of the cowshed
and stackyard was recognised as the literary
language of Hindustan. Kindred dialects,
by the side of Sanskrit, had taken root in
India, but, owing to the spread and influence
of Brahminic culture, were so much over-
grown with Vedic words that they came to
be looked upon as derived from Sanskrit.
The same has happened in Europe. When
the Koman legions crossed the Alps, and
were stationed in Gaul, the vulgar idioms
of the Italian soldiers developed into French
which, in reality, is an abundant crop of
Eoman slang and provincial Latin raised on
Celtic soil. The new vocabulary diverged
locally exactly as in India, especially since
1 The dialect of Luther-land (Saxony) has become the
basis of modern German, and Florence, the birthplace of
Dante, is the seminary of classical Italian.
Short History of Indian Literature 147
the Franks occupied France. In the ensuing
struggle for literary supremacy, the patois of
Paris came out victorious from the clash of
tongues which were parisianised more or less,
just as in the East they were sanskritised.
Nor does our comparison end here. Latin
was ultimately transplanted from the Koman
forum to the Christian church, and Sanskrit
likewise became an ecclesiastical language
little understood by the people. Buddha
did not preach to them in Sanskrit, but in
the popular and widely-diffused dialect of
Koshala, where he was bred and born. After
the reformer's death, Koshala was conquered
and annexed by Magadha. History records
that the Emperor Charlemagne, at public
functions, spoke Latin, but the famous
declaration by his grandsons, dated a.d. 842,
was made in French. Similarly, the Sanskrit
of the Veda was still in official use at the
Court of the Emperor Chandragupta, but the
celebrated edicts of his grandson Ashoka were
issued in Magadhi as Koshali was styled in
deference to the new ruling power. 1 The two
1 The letter i being added to the name of an Indian
province signifies its dialect. Thus, Bengali is spoken in
Bengal, and Gujarati in Gujarat. Koshali was current
in Koshala, the ancient land of Oudh, and Magadhi, a
148 Short History of Indian Literature
documents referred to are the earliest relics
of French and Magadhi. Poets and orators,
like Corneille and Bossuet, have shaped
French into literary form ; Buddha's sermons
and Ashoka's proclamations have done the
same for Magadhi. As a vehicle of Buddhist
thought, Magadhi came to be called Pali, the
pale and pillar of the Keformation, whilst
Sanskrit was the stay and support of ortho-
dox Brahminism. The people of Ceylon and
Burma two most active centres of Buddhism
at the present day prefer to use the old
name Magadhi instead of Pali. 1
The relation of Pali to Sanskrit closely
resembles that of the Eomance tongues to
sister-patois, in Magadha or Behar. Koshali itself was
called Magadhi when it became the government language
of Imperial Magadha. Professor Rhys Davids, in a
private communication to the author, points out that
the official tongue of Magadha differed from local
Magadhi in many little ways because it was based on
the dialect of Koshala, the previous great power.
Koshali had been the royal speech of R&ma and his
race.
1 The literary form of Koshali was known as
Pali, i.e., canonical, because the pali or canon of the
Buddhists was composed in the ancient dialect of
Oudh. The use of the term Magadhi for Pali dates
from the time when the Guptas rose in Kanouj, and
Magadha declined.
Short History of Indian Literature 149
Latin. Spanish and Italian often change two
Latin consonants to a double. Septem and
octo (seven and eight) have become sette and
otto in Italian. The Latin pianos, meaning
"plains" covered with long grass, have been
transferred from the Eoman campagna to the
prairies of Argentine, and are called ZZanos
in Spanish, which, like French, is based on
corrupt Latin. Under the same phonetic law,
Pali changed the Sanskrit word dharraa to
dharama, i.e., the good "law" of Buddha,
sutra, to su^a, and so on. 1 The Buddhist
suttas, however, are no longer brief texts
like the Sanskrit sutras, but short sermons
and homilies on such texts ; the Sermon on
the Mount may be called a Christian sutta.
The Vedic lore which had been preserved in
memory until the hallowed traditions were
fixed in the shape of sutras was looked upon
1 English
Latin
Italian
Sanskrit
Pali
seven
eight
septem
octo
sette
otto
saptfa
ashta,
s&tta,
attka,
Assimilation of consonants is quite as common in
provincial English as it is in Pali or Italian. Girls
and horses, on many a vulgar lip, are changed to ge//s
and hosses, London to Lunnon, and a favourite phrase
with the rustics of Warwickshire is : it donna, sinnify,
i.e., it doeswa signify, it does not matter.
150 Short History of Indian Literature
by Kshatriyas and Brahmins, in the very
best society, as good form or dharma,. 1 The
psychology of Buddhism is Abhidhamma,
literally, founded on precedent, " on the
dhamma." The Dhammapada or "Pathway
of the Good Law" is a beautiful selection
of Indian ethics, while the Abhidhamma,
amongst other subject-matter, deals with the
inner workings of the mind. 2
Again, awrum, the Latin word for gold,
has been shortened to or in French, and
Gcmtama (as common a name in India as
Jack or John in England) to Gotama in
1 From the verb dhar, i.e., to " conform" to established
custom. Dissent from established forms is adharma or
nonconformity. The word " form " is of Latin origin.
The old Romans could not well pronounce the dh, so
they changed the dental aspirate to an f, just as our
little ones will say no/ing rather than noting.
2 The Sutta doctrines (dhamma) which are worked
out more fully in the Abhidhamma or Further Dhamma
must not be confounded with the Dharma Sutras or
Brahminic law compendiums. The psychology of the
Brahmins is called s&nkhya or synthetic, enumerating
a diversity of co-existing principles, whereas Vedanta
affirms the unity of law and life. The relationship
between Sankhya and Vedanta will be discussed in the
next volume.
Short History of Indian Literature 151
Magadhi. Buddha's family name was Gotama,
because he was a Magadha man. 1
Many Sanskrit patronymics are formed by
modifying the first vowel in the word from
which they are derived. The Bharatas and
Kawravas of epic fame have sprung from
Bharata and Kuiu. King Dmpada's daughter
was Princess Dra^padi, and the most illus-
trious of Gotama's lineage was Gautama
Buddha. But Magadhi changed au to o,
and brought confusion into the names. 2
The Gautamas belonged to the oldest
aristocracy of Hindustan, and claimed descent
from Gotama Kishi, a priest and warrior in
the Vedic Age. Singh, or the Lion-hearted,
1 Magadha, again, in an imperial sense, that is to say,
including Koshala or Oudh. Pronounce aur-um like
"our," and Gaut-ama like "gout."
2 Subjoined are a few more examples of derivatives
formed on the same principle. The followers of Buddha
are known in India as Bawddhas (Buddhists) ; the
worshippers of Shiva and Vishnu as Shaivas and
Vaishnavas; and believers in Bhagavat Krishna as
Bhagavatas (Krishnaists). Magadhi is the old dialect
of Magadha, and vanaprasthas are the sages of antiquity
who, in a spirit of self-sacrifice, went forth, (pro) from
their native villages, henceforth to stay (stha) in the
solitude of the "forest" (vana).
"Wales and Welshman, Christ and Christian, nation
and nationalist, show a similar transition of sound.
152 Short History of Indian Literature
was a favourite surname of the lordly
Gautamas and cognate clans, as it is still of
the martial Sikhs and Rajputs. From the
Punjab, the Lionhearts proceeded east and
south on their conquering and civilising
mission. Territorial expansion went hand
in hand with ecclesiastical activity and com-
mercial enterprise. Oudh, Magadha, and
Ujain developed into busy inland marts and
seminaries of Pali learning. The tiger-
heroes, who fought at Kurukshetra, crossed
the River Krishna, and colonised Kuruman-
dala or the Coromandel coast. 1 Even distant
Malay and the adjoining isles came under
Aryan influence. The kavis or poet-priests
brahminised the heathen lands which the
Kshatriyas had conquered. In Java, they
composed a thoroughly national epic, after
the pattern of the Maha-Bharata, in Kavi,
which was a Kuru dialect mixed with Malay.
The Vaishyas worked the foreign tin mines
from Bangkok to Bangka, east of Sumatra,
and shipped large cargoes, chiefly from
1 The Vedic hymnal consists of ten mandalas or
cycles of song, each sacred round containing, on an
average, a hundred hymns. In a political sense,
mandalas are arrondissements or shires. Coromandel =
Kurushire.
Short History of Indian Literature 153
Singapore, the chief emporium of the
Singhs. 1 The tin trade must have been
considerable, since Bengal derives its name
from the imported banga (tin). One of the
corner stones of the old Indian Empire was
the Bombay littoral with its direct water-
ways to Babylon and Egypt. The gallant
Singhs established military stations and
mercantile depots in the Mahratta country,
and reached Singhala (Ceylon) long before
the Christian era.
As English merchants transact business
with the natives of Hongkong and Shanghai
in a mixed jargon called Pidjin, i.e.,
Business English, so Magadha and Ujain
firms closed all deals in their Ceylonese
warehouses in Pidjin Magadhi, or some other
Singh patois which both buyers and sellers
1 Metropolis m mother-town. Greek pol or Sanskrit
pur signifies "town." Like a typical Aryan, the
monosyllable has travelled extensively. It can be
traced from Singapore to Seh&stopol, and from Con-
stantino^ to Naples, and Grenoble in the Alps. Cities
of hunters and elephants are implied in the names of
Shikarpwr on the Indus, and B.a.stina.pur near Delhi.
India, north of the River Krishna, teems with purs or
ancient boroughs. Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaipur are
all in Rajputana. The pur was a subdivision of the
mandala.
154 Short History of Indian Literature
could understand. Thus originated Sing-
halese, the language of the Lions' Isle.
Ashoka, who had been Governor-General
of Ujain before he ascended the throne of
Magadha, was an earnest Buddhist, and
the Emperor's successor sent missionaries to
Ceylon where they preached to the natives
in Pali. To any one knowing Singhalese,
Pali must have been intelligible enough. In
the first century, B.C., the Buddhist Canon
was committed to writing in the island, and
the propagation of the Pali Scriptures made
rapid strides both in Singhala and across
the sea in Siam and Burma. The new
teaching was deeply religious, but Buddhism
has always made ample concessions to mirth-
fulness and diversion. The sage dialogues
of the Buddha and other sacred texts provide
food for the soul ; the heart takes delight
in the dainty gems of the Dhammapada,
and the merry Jataka Tales, which are also
composed in Pali, appeal to the imagination.
About a.d. 500, when the Magadha Empire
declined, its language too was slowly break-
ing up. Sanskrit had been superseded by
Magadhi as the national speech of India, and
Magadhi, in its turn, was displaced by other
prakrits or dialects, just as Latin, after the
Short History of Indian Literature 155
downfall of the Koman Empire, had to make
room for the Komance tongues, viz. : Italian,
Spanish, and French. What really happened
was this. The political rise of Magadha had
helped Magadhi to a corresponding ascendency
over the sister-prakrits, but, when the greatness
of Magadha passed away, these came to the
front again. Prakrit means " natural" or native
speech unaided by the art of the grammarian,
in opposition to Sanskrit, the creation of the
learned. 1 People, by their own fireside, used
to converse in the Prakrits, although Sanskrit
was by no means a dead language in the
1 According to the theology of the Brahmins, im-
mortal soul is uncreate, but Nature is begotten. Their
very word for " Nature " is prakriti, i.e., procreation ;
hence prakrit = natural.
What a man " makes " of himself is called his karma
or character. Both karma, and pra^Wti are derived
from the root har or kri, i.e., to make, to create. Kar
is merely a fuller form than kri, just as our word star
is but an extension of its Sanskrit equivalent stri, i.e.,
the glitter which is strewn or scattered over the night
sky.
In order to generalise the meaning of a word, the
Greeks use the prefix syn, the Hindus san which is
occasionally lengthened to sans. >%ftopsis means a
"general" view or summary, and Sanskrit is, so to
speak, the perfect creation or full expression of the
Indian mind.
156 Short History of Indian Literature
age of Vikrama and Harsha. Villagers and
servant-girls, indeed, could not speak it, but
city men and courtiers knew it well, and
gentlemen's sons learned it in the nursery
almost in their cradle. The dramas of
Kalidasa and Bana's novels kept Sanskrit
conversation going, on the stage and in the
drawing-room. The world of fashion ex-
changed love letters and issued invitation cards
in Sanskrit, and many an official report of
the sixth and seventh century was still drawn
up in the classical tongue of India. Again
we can find a parallel in Europe. After the
year 1066, the homely Anglo-Saxon speech
was ousted by the courtly dialect of the
Norman conquerers. Anglo - Norman was
spoken in castle and manor, barristers
pleaded through its medium in the law
courts, and hon. members attacked each
other in Norman in the legislative chamber.
Three hundred years after the Battle of
Hastings, Saxon burr and Norman click
blended in one common music the English
tongue. Even so, by the year 1000, Sanskrit
and Prakrit had been fused into melodious
Hindi, the mediaeval speech of the Hindus.
At that time, Mahmud was Amir of Ghazni
in Afghanistan. He was a brave and true-
Short History of Indian Literature 157
hearted man, but a religious fanatic. Sword
in one hand, and Koran in the other, his
armies invaded the Punjab, and occupied the
city of Lahore. Hindu idols were trampled
in the dust, temples converted into mosques,
Sanskrit and Pali manuscripts were destroyed,
and declared to be works of the devil. But
the Moslem conquest of Hindustan was not
complete until two hundred years later.
Hindi, far from being crushed, flourished
in the vanquished provinces where once
Magadhi was spoken. At present, it com-
mands a wider linguistic area than any other
Hindu vernacular, just as Magadhi did in
olden times. Languages have their rise and
fall like individuals and nations. When
Magadhi shrunk to a local patois, her
daughter Pali had risen to high distinction
in the Buddhist Church, and Hindi was yet
in the making. Pali and Hindi are sisters,
the former being a priestly tongue without
offspring, while the latter has given birth
to Hindustani.
In the thirteenth century, when Moham-
medan Emperors sat on the throne of Delhi,
the Tartars, a second plague of Huns, swept
over Asia and Europe. Chenghiz Khan,
their indomitable chief, had led them from
158 Short History of Indian Literature
the Altai Mountains over the Kirghiz Steppe.
Their movements were rapid, but unplanned.
They crossed the Volga and Dniepr, sacked
Kiev and burned Cracow, defeated the
Germans in Silesia and, on their return,
overthrew the caliphate of Bagdad. But
the Tartars were unable to follow up their
victories, and dropped the fruit as soon as
they had plucked it. 1
A kindred tribe were the Mongolians.
Since time immemorial they had been
wandering like troops of gipsies over the
mountain- encircled deserts between China
and Siberia, and now immense numbers
followed in the track of the Tartars. About
a.d. 1400, the Tartars and Mongolians were
united in Samarkand into one huge army
by Timur, who called himself Chieftain of
the Moguls. The wild Mogul host burst like
a hurricane over Persia, then pressed east-
ward, and pitched their tents in the valleys
of Hindustan. Timur captured Delhi, which
1 The Afghan Highlanders and other islamised tribes
call their ruling princes Amirs or Emirs, but north and
south of Afghanistan, the Amirs are generally styled
Khans by their Mohammedan subjects. Amir (com-
mander) and admiral (naval commander) are Arabic
terms. Khan is a Tartar word, and was originally a title
of respect given by the Altaic clansmen to their elders.
Short History of Indian Literature 159
was made the capital of the Great Moguls
as the Mongolian Emperors of India were
styled. The Persian language, at that time
the most important in the East, was adopted
at the Mogul Court, and Persian literature,
just then in its zenith, was eagerly cultivated
by the Hindi - speaking Hindus. Firdusi
(a.d. 1000), the national bard of Persia,
and the wise Saadi (1250), were much
admired and often quoted by educated
Indians. Sweet Hafiz was yet unborn, but
the "red rose of Shiraz" was soon to mingle
its intoxicating scent with the rich perfumes
which filled the gay flower-garden of Persian
poetry. So it is no great matter for surprise
that Hindi was more and more persianised.
The Moguls had conquered the Hindus, but
Hindi gained a victory, greater still, over
the rude conquerors. After another genera-
tion, the Hindu tongue was firmly established
in the camp of Timur's followers. They
modernised Hindi according to their needs,
and called it urdu, i.e., camp language, but
we say Hindustani, because Urdu is still
current all over Hindustan.
INDEX
INDEX 1
SUBJECT
Abhidhamma, 150
Accent, 179
Adversity, 18, 36, 123, 143
iEneid, 30
Afghan, 146
Age of stone, 2, 6, 52
Agni-adhana, 49
Agriculture, 2, 3, 8, 94
Ahankara, 53, 54
Alliance and friendship, 17,
24, 31, 37, 80, 143
Altaic, 158
American, 120
Amir, 156, 158
Anglo-Norman, 156
Anglo-Saxon, 45, 48, 51, 81,
92, 116, 156 ; see also Saxon
Animals, attitude towards, 3,
18, 36, 64, 66, 69, 85, 86
Arabian Nights, 138, 139
Arabic, 158
Archery, 14, 15, 25, 26, 32,
36,38
Architecture, 33, 72
Aristocracy, 2, 15, 62, 80, 97,
151
Army, 24, 37, 59, 61, 76, 136,
146, 157
Art, 33, 35, 72, 73, 97, 109
Arya, 1, 2, etc.
Aryan, xxx., 3, etc., 185, 186
Asceticism, 34, 36, 64, 67,
107, 108, 127
Ashoka plant, 130
Ashrama, 32
Astronomy, 119, 120
Atheism, 56, 73
Athenian, 10
Atma, 27, 54, 55, 92
Avatar, 102, 111
Avesta, 105
Bachelor and spinster, 51,
77
Banga, 153
Banker and money-lender,
16, 83, 141
Bank holiday, 114
Bast dress, 36, 52
Bauddha, 151
Bees, 117, 131, 133
Bengali, 147
Bhagavad Gita, 25, 58, 111,
144
Bhagavat, 2 lll,151
1 Including the names of books, families and nations.
2 Sanskrit t is softened before an initial g ; hence Bhagavat and
Bhagavata, but Bhagavad Gita.
163
164
Index
Bhagavata, 151
Bhagavata Purana, 110, 111
Bhakta and Bhakti, 111
BMrata, 11, 12, 15, 30, 39,
151
Bhashya, 52
Bhat, 30
Bible, 8, 41, 58, 60, 75, 116,
140
Billing, 79
Bird and fish, 35, 36, 44, 68,
87, 106-109, 123, 127, 129,
130, 132, 134
Bliss, 38, 126, 128, 134, 138,
144
Borough and village, 16, 51,
58, 77, 79, 80, 114, 140,
152, 153
Bo-Tree, 64
Brahma, 27, 44, 45, 51, 54,
101, 102, 186
Brahmacharin and Brahma-
charya, 44
Brahmana, 39-42, 45-47
Brahma Sutra, 51, 52, 101
Brahmins and Brahminism,
xxx., 8, 16, 40, 41, 47, 61,
63, 68, 81, 82, 90, 91, 93,
98, 100, 101, 110, 113, 144,
146, 148, 150, 152, 155,
186
Bride and bridegroom, 14,
49, 79, 128
Bridges, see Koads
Brigit's Day, St, 119
Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad,
42
British, 3, etc.
Briton, 6
Buddhism, 41, 47, 60, 61, 64-
67, 69, 72, 73, 75, 85, 86,
90-95, 98, 136, 141, 142,
147-150, 154, 157
Burgundian, 12
Burial ground, 49, 127
Calendar, 116
Caliphate, 158
Capulet, 79, 81
Car and chariot, 20, 25, 35,
89, 109
Caravan, 62, 123, 124, 139
Caste, 7, 15, 16, 61, 68, 73,
86, 110
Catholicism, 74
Cattle and horses, 2, 9, 20,
24, 25, 35, 44, 51, 77, 84,
117, 119, 123, 167, 182-183
Cattle raids, 20, 51
Causality, 65, 66, 85, 138,
143, 186
Cave temples, 72, 93, 109
Celibacy, 44, 51, 77
Celt, 5, 6, 118, 119, 146, 173,
185
Chant and spell, 7, 44, 89,
101, 104, 122
Character, 24, 33, 65, 186
Chariot and charioteer, 20,
25, 89, 109, 125
Chhandogya Upanishad, 45,
110
Child-marriage, 50
Chinese, 47, 87
Choosing a husband, 13-15,
125
Christianity, 8, 55, 57, 58, 60,
64, 74, 90, 95, 106, 147,
149
Christian Vedanta, 53
Christmas, 113
Chronology, 11, 75, 137, 187-
189
Circumcision, 60
Clairvoyance, 103
Index
165
Clan, 2, 4, 12, 20, 24, 75, 76,
80,81,93,115,117,152,158
Clan names, 76, 118, 151
Classes and masses, 15, 16,
73, 152
Cloud-messenger, 129
Club-house, 122
Coercion, 59
Communal life, 92
Compassion, 28, 65, 66, 69,
123, 134, 137, 143
Compromise, 86, 154
Concentration, 64, 67, 111
Confession of sins, 91
Conservative and Imperialist,
xiv., 59, 83, 86, 115
Conversion, 58, 68, 90, 136
Cornish, 145
Corinthian, 61
Courtesan, 71
Creation, 45, 46, 100, 102,
155, 186
Cuchulain Saga, 20
Cuckoo, 123, 131
Custom, 13, 38, 43, 48-50, 75,
83, 110, 117, 119
Czar, 58
Dadda, 45, 101 ; see also
Father
Dampati, 76-79
Dancing-girls, 72, 88
Darbha, 89
Dasyu, 6, 7, 29
Dawn, 8, 183
Day of the dead, 49
Decamerone, 138
Deer, 18, 35, 36, 44
Dental sounds, xxxi., 150
Deva, 28, 29, 44, 94, 119
Deva script, 142
Devotion, 111, 123, 126
Dhamma, 73, 149, 150
Dhammapada, 150, 154
Dharma, 50, 149, 150, 186
Dharma Sutra, 50, 150
Dialect, 140, 145-147, 152-155
Dialogue, 103, 154
Differentiation of sound and
meaning, 47, 48, 106, 145,
149, 150, 183
Disaffection, 58
Divine Love and Thought,
46, 134
Divine Mother, 105
Divine Sonship, 105
Divine Substance, 10, 45, 46,
101, 105
Divinity in Nature, 28, 45
Divinity of man, 45, 53, 54,
56
Dogma, 40, 49, 63, 86, 106
Dominican, 74
Drama, actors, theatre, and
pantomime, xxvii., 30, 31,
113, 114, 138
Dress, 36, 52, 63, 88, 89, 132
Druidism, 43, 119
Dryad, 119
Dutch, 185, 186
Duty, 25, 32, 44, 51, 186
Earth, 9, 42, 45, 93, 119, 121
East-Aryan, 1, 2, 5, 6, 116,
186 ; see also Indo-Iranian
Edda, 100
Education, 13, 40-44, 46, 47,
51, 52, 58, 59, 92, 137
Egyptian, 104
Elements, 8, 9, 32, 33, 93,
102, 121, 187; see also
Nature
Elephants, 35, 72, 88, 123,
143, 153
166
Index
Emanation and reflection,
29, 45, 46, 53, 101, 185-187
Emir, 158
Emissaries, 19, 125
Encyclopedia Indica, 100, 126
Entailed property, 77
Environment, 186 ; see also
Karma
Epic Age, 11, 31, 37, 80
Epistles of St Paul, 60, 91
Erse, 186
Ethics, 25, 56, 58, 61, 65, 69,
70, 73, 84, 86, 90, 142-144,
150, 186
Ethnology, xxvii., 5, 6, 117,
118, 157-159, 185, 186
Exodus, 4, 61
Fair Maid op Perth, 38
Fairy Tales, 99, 139
Faith, 9, 10, 57, 59, 69, 73,
84, 106, 107, 127, 128
Faithfulness, 24, 33, 44, 76,
110, 123, 125-127, 131, 144
Family, 2, 4, 43, 63, 75, 76,
77, 79, 97
Family Prayers, 49, 93
Famine, 4
Fanaticism and tolerance,
57, 58, 61, 86, 90, 94, 95,
98, 157
Far East, 67, 90
Faring, 76
Fate and fatalism, 65, 81,
110, 112, 138, 144, 186
Father and mother, 33, 43,
45, 51, 55, 77, 78, 105,
119
Fearlessness, 20, 25, 92, 143
Fellow-feeling, 50, 92, 144
Fete des Morts, 49
Feuds and cattle raids, 11,
20, 51, 76, 79-81, 119
Fiction, 138, 139
Figurative language, 51, 54,
55, 60, 61, 119, 134, 185,
187
Finite and infinite, 44, 46,
53, 73, 101, 186
Fire, fireside, and fire wor-
ship, 8, 18, 38, 43-45, 48,
49, 54, 96, 108, 109, 121,
128, 132, 155
Fish and bird, 35, 36, 44, 68,
87, 106-109, 123, 127, 129-
132, 134
Folksongs and folklore, 29,
99, 100, 140
Food, 18, 71, 108, 113, 120, 127
Forest sages, 32, 41, 136, 151
Forest tribes, 6, 7, 36
Fosterage, 42, 43, 111, 131
Franks, 12, 147
Freedom, 56, 59, 64, 76, 92
French, 29, 93, 116, 145-150,
155, 179
Friendship and alliance, 17,
24, 31, 37, 80, 143
Funeral pyre, 38, 136
Gaelic, 43, 82, 84, 101, 119
Gallic, 118
Gambling, 17, 72, 121, 122
Games and sport, 13-15, 17,
62, 111, 114, 122, 144
Gautama, 150-152
Genius, 42, 106, 135, 137, 145
Gentile, 116
German, 45, 48, 51, 75, 106,
146, 158, 185-187
Giants and fairies, 109, 112
Gil Bias, 138
Gita Govinda, 131, 134
Gnana and Gnani, 27, 53-55,
92
Gnosis and Gnostic, 53
Index
167
Go (cow) in gotra, gopi,
govardhana, govinda, and
gotama, 43, 111, 112, 131,
151
God and gods, 8-10, 28, 29,
42, 45, 51, 53, 54, 56, 76,
84, 87, 92-94, 101-106, 109-
113, 119, 121, 144, 186
Good form, 150
Gopi and Govinda (shepherd-
ess and shepherd), 111, 112,
114, 131-134 ; see Go
Gospel, 58, 61
Gotra (the primitive family
whose wealth consisted in
cows), 43, 45 ; see Go
Government, 7, 59, 60, 62, 77,
78, 82, 86, 152
Goyim, 116
Grace, 55
Greek, xxvi., 5, 9, 11, 16, 24,
61, 73, 90, 115-119, 121,
140, 153, 173, 185, 186
Grihya Sutra, 49, 50
Gujarati, 147
Gupta, 97, 98, 110, 148
Guru, 43, 44, 47
Hailstorm and thunder-
cloud, 8, 102
Harling, 79
Harsha Charita, 136
Harvest festival, 8, 49
Heaven, 66, 73
Hebrews, 104, 116
Hellenic, 9, 16
Heroic poetry, xxvi., 11, 20,
29-31, 47, 74, 121, 126, 152
Higher pantheism, 10, 42,
45, 54, 92, 187
Hindi, 156, 157, 159
Hindu, xxvii., 7, etc.
Hinduism, 93-95, 98, 99, 101
Hindustani, 157, 159
Hirpini, 118
History, 11, 31, 60, 61, 85,
86, 94-100, 117, 135-137,
147, 151-154, 156-159
Hitopadesha, 142-144
Hollandish, 186
Holy Family, 113
Holy Land, 90, 95
Holy Water, 89
Homelessness, 63, 107
Home life, 16, 51, 63,75-77, 79
Homeric, 5, 9
Horses and cattle, 2, 9, 20,
24, 25, 35, 44, 51, 77, 84,
117, 119, 123, 167, 182, 183
Human nature, 72, 90, 115,
137, 139
Humiliation and scorn, 21,23,
64, 77, 84, 91, 127, 133, 144
Humility and modesty, 34,
67, 84, 135, 144
Humour, xxvii., 72, 139, 141,
154
Huns, 12, 95-97, 135, 157
Hypnotism, 104
Idolatry, 10, 86, 93-95, 105,
157
Iliad, 30, 37
Illegitimate birth, 43, 110
Illumination, 29, 41, 44, 45,
47, 53, 64, 65, 106
Immanence, 42
Immortalitv, 9, 10, 25, 55, 85,
155
Imperialism and Conserva-
tism, xxv., 59, 83, 86, 115
Impersonal and personal, 9,
46, 53, 54, 65, 66, 73, 84,
101, 104
Incarnation, 65, 81, 102, 111
Incense, 89, 113
Independence of thought, 10,
92
168
Index
Indian Civil Service, 59
Indian Literature, xxv.
Individuality, 54, 55, 62, 63,
65, 186
Indo-European, 3, 6, 52, 79,
118, 186, 188
Indo-German, 6, 185, 186
Indo-Iranian, 5, 185
Industry and trade, 16, 58,
123, 152, 153
Inheritance, 43, 77
Irish, 20, 101, 119
Islam, 94, 158
Israelites, 116
Italian, xxxi., 57, 90, 138,
145, 146, 149, 155
Itihasa, 29
Janmashtami, 112, 113, 115,
116
Jataka, 139-141, 154
Jew and Gentile, 41, 50, 104,
115, 116
Joint-family, 24, 76, 79, 81,
167
Jungle, 7, 18, 32, 42, 68, 81,
Karma, 27, 65, 138, 155, 186
Kashmir Chronicle, 136
Kaurava, 12, 13, 17, 20, 21,
23, 24, 26, 47, 80, 151
Kavi, 152
Khan, 157, 158
Kokila (the Indian cuckoo),
123, 131
Koran, 157
Koshala, 31, 38, 80
Koshali, 147, 148
Krishnaism, 110-112, 151
Kshatriya, 15, 16, 24, 25, 68,
89, 144, 150, 152
Kula, 12
Kuru-Panchala, 80
Kurus, 12, 13, 17, 20, 24, 30,
31, 39, 80, 87, 121, 140, 152
Lamas, 91
Language, 140, 145, etc., 185-
187
Latin, xxx., 3, 16, 28, 29, 48,
49, 55, 102, 106, 115, 117,
122, 146, 147, 149, 150,
154, 186
Law, 11, 43, 50, 59, 75, 77,
82, 83, 122, 186
Legends, 29, 33, 99, 107-109,
111-113, 120
Lingual sounds, xxxi.
Lionheart, 151, 152
Lions, 20, 77, 88, 130, 151, 154
Lions' Isle, 154
Llanos, 149
Lotus, 35, 72, 88
Love, 38, 54, 65, 66, 73, 81,
125-128, 131, 134, 138, 144
Lunacy, 120
Lunar Race, 120, 121
Magadhi, 147, 148, 151, 153-
155, 157
Magic, 32, 34, 35, 104, 134,
185
Maha-Bharata, xxvi., 11, 12,
18, 20, 27, 30, 31, 122, 126,
152
Mahratta, 153
Malay, 152
Mandala, 152, 153
Manifestation, 46, 101, 112,
185-187
Manual labour, 2, 7, 73
Mantra, 7, 11, 45, 46, 56, 90
Marriage, 14, 15, 31, 48-51,
77,81, 111, 128
Matsya, 18, 19
Index
169
Matter and mind, 56, 150, 186
Maya, 55
Medical art, 85, 119
Meditation, 32, 44, 62, 64, 108
Metaphysics, 10, 45, 46, 54,
73, 90, 92, 101, 137, 150,
155, 186
Migration, 1-5, 95, 96, 117,
118, 157, 158
Military force, 59
Minstrel and story-teller, 20,
28-30,51,100,108,114,185
Miracles, 104
Missions, 58, 85, 154
Modesty, 34, 69, 135, 143, 144
Mogul, 158, 159
Mohammedan, Moslem, 83,
94, 110, 157, 158
Moksha, 56, 92
Monarchy and Republic, 62, 78
Money-lender and banker,
16, 83, 141
Mongolian, 158, 159
Monkeys, 25, 33, 36, 37, 129
Monk and monastery, 67, 68,
72, 74, 89, 91, 92, 141, 142
Montague, 81
Moon, 45, 49, 107, 120, 128, 143
Mortification, 34, 36, 67, 108,
127
Mosaic, 41, 50, 61, 104
Mother and father, 33, 43,
45, 51, 55, 77, 78, 105, 119
Mountain, wood, and stream,
1-3, 6, 7, 11, 14-19, 29, 32,
33, 35, 37, 41, 60, 75, 80,
86, 89, 94-96, 99, 103, 108,
111, 112, 117-119, 122-125,
128-132, 136, 146, 151-153,
186, 187
Music and musical instru-
ments, 20, 27, 29, 72, 87-
89, 100, 114, 131
Mystery plays, 113
Mythology, 7-11, 35, 99, 100,
102, 103, 107-109, 111, 112,
115, 119, 121
Names, 76, 109, 150-152
National Institutions, 15, 16,
77
Natives, 2, 6, 7, 37,59,153, 154
Natural man, 55, 104
Nature, 8, 9, 19, 28, 42, 54,
55, 62, 93, 103, 104, 118-
121, 155, 185-187
Necromancy, 104
Neolithic, 6, 52
New Year, 117
Nibelung Lay, 11, 30, 96, 188
Nirvana, 65
Nomadic life, 1-3, 95, 96, 117,
118, 157, 158
Nonconformist, 150
Norman, 156
Norse, 100, 101, 185
Norwegian, 101
Nymphs and fairies, 108, 112,
119
Oath, 58
Oimelc, 119
Oral instruction, 40-43, 46,
51
Ordeal, 38
Organisation, 77, 78, 92, 143
Oriental, xxv., 120, 130, 139
Original sin, 55
Ottoman 79
Over-population, 4, 117
Pageantry, 14, 87, 88, 94
Pagoda, 93, 106
Painting, 72
Palace intrigues, 13, 32
170
Index
Palatal sounds, xxx.
Pali, 148, 149, 152, 154, 157
PancMla, 11-14, 26, 31, 80,
87, 140
Pancha-Tantra, 139-141
Pandava, 12-14, 17, 18, 21-26,
30,80
Paradise Lost, 30
Paramahansa, 104-107
Paramahansa Upanishad, 107
Pariah, 61
Parisian, 145, 147
Parsi, 110
Pasha, Padishah, 79
Passion plays, 113
Passover, 61
Pastoral life and thought,
1, 2, 6, 111, 117, 118, 122,
131-134, 167, 183
Patriarch, 4, 75, 109
Patronymic, 76, 151
Peace, 21, 56, 59, 69, 74, 84,
108, 134
Pearl necklace, 137
Penance and repentance, 91,
127
Pentateuch, 140
Persian, 5, 110, 121, 140, 159,
185
Personal and impersonal, 9,
10, 45, 54, 65, 66, 73, 84,
101, 102, 104
Personality, 9, 54, 55, 63, 65,
104, 186
Pessimist, 53
Pharisee, 104
Philology, xxvii., 145, etc.,
185-187 ; see also Phonetics
and Roots
Philosophy, xxvi., 10, 41, 42,
45, 46, 53-57, 92, 101, 105,
106, 136, 150, 155, 186
Phonetics and accentuation,
xxx., xxxi., 40, 47, 149-
151, 163, 179, 183
Pidjin, 153
Plague, 4
Plaiting and joining, 37, 52,
107, 117, 119
Plantagenet, 83
Platonist, 53
Poetical quotations, 18, 20,
23, 24, 26, 32, 34, 35, 38,
39, 65, 66, 84, 85, 98, 103,
108, 109, 121, 123, 127-135,
143, 144
Poetry, xxvi., 27, 28, 55, 99,
101, 119-121, 136, 152, 159,
185, 187 ; see also Heroic
poetry
Pole, 48
Pontiff, Pontifex, 117, 119
Power of thought, 67, 69
Prakrit and Prakriti, 154-156,
186
Prayer, 7-9, 19, 101, 186
Predestination and Provid-
ence, 65, 110, 138, 144, 186
Prehistoric, 1, 5, 6, 52, 117-
119, 186
Priesthood, 16, 40, 91, 104,
110, 152
Priestly rule, 15-17, 40, 81,
82, 91, 104, 152
Primeval forest, 2, 3, 118
Primitive culture, 1-4, 51, 75-
77, 79, 117-119, 186
Prophet and prophecy, 8,
100, 101, 111, 112
Proverbial wisdom, 143, 144,
186
Psalms and anthems, xxvi.,
7, 37, 100
Psychic power, 34, 103, 104
Psychology, 150
Pundit, xxx., 30
Index
171
Pur, 153
Purana, 99-103, 107, 136
Purity, 34, 38, 41, 65
Eain, 8, 108, 130, 132
Raja, 27, 77, 82, etc.
Rajput, xxx., 62, 94, 99, 110,
152
Rakshasa, 34, 36
Ramakrishnaist, 105, 111
Ramayana, 18, 31-33, 37, 116
Ram-lila, 114
Rationalistic age, 60
Reading, 76
Rebirth and pre-existence, 66,
85, 103, 126, 127, 138, 139,
141, 186
Reformation, 60, 68, 74, 75,
91, 92, 148
Relics, 87, 91
Religion, xxvi., 53, 57, 58, 60,
64, 86, 91-93, 101, 103,
105, 110, 144, 185, 186
Renunciation, 41, 63, 121
Repentance and penance, 91,
127
Representative Government,
59,78
Republic and Monarchy, 62,78
Re-union, 38, 50, 66, 126, 134,
138
Revelation, 7, 44, 45, 47, 64
Revenge, 19, 26, 34, 79, 80,
109
Reverence, 22, 68, 89, 101
Revival of learning, xxvi.
Rishi, 8, 18, 29, 47, 151, 185
Rites and ritual, 29, 40, 41, 43,
48-50, 60, 64, 90, 91, 128
Rivers, see Mountain, wood,
and stream
Roads and bridges, 37, 117,
119
Roman, 5, 16, 47, 59, 60, 115-
117, 146, 147, 149, 150, 155,
173, 185
Romance, 20, 138
Romance tongues, 148, 155,186
Roots, 3, 10, 16, 28, 47, 65,
101, 115, 116, 155, 185-187
Russian, 48, 58, 111, 186
Sabha, 122
Sacrament, 50
Sacrifice and oblation, 8, 49,
64, 91, 93, 109, 110, 119
Sage and saint, 32, 34, 39, 41,
67, 69, 74, 87, 91, 104, 105,
119, 151
Sandalwood and incense, 89,
113, 123
Sangha, 67, 91, 92
Sankhya, 150
Sansara, 56
Sanskrit, xxv., 2, 3, 45, 146-
149, 153-156, etc.
Saviour and salvation, 54, 56,
65, 92, 102, 113
Saxon, 6, 76, 79, 156 ; see also
Anglo-Saxon
Scandinavian, 5, 185
Science and religion, xxvi.,
53, 92, 186, 187
Scribe, 104
Sculpture, 33, 35, 72, 73, 109
Scythian, 1, 5, 95
Sea, water, and rain, 8, 9,
45, 54, 89, 93, 132, 135
Seasons, 116, 117, 129, 130
Self-government, 34, 59
Selfishness, 34, 54, 65, 120
Self-righteousness, 68
Self-sacrifice and self-forget-
f ulness, 34, 41, 50, 54, 65,
66, 91, 109-111, 121, 127,
136, 151
172
Index
Senate, 77, 137
Sense allurement and sensu-
ality, 34, 55, 62, 63, 85,
104, 134
Sermons, 67, 86, 91, 147-149
Shah, Sultan, and Pasha, 24,
79
Shaiva, Shivaist, xxxi., 151
Shraddha, 49
Shruti and Shrauta, 7, 47,
48,50
Shudra, 7, 61, 144
Sibilants, xxx.
Sikh and Singh, xxx., 151-153
Sin, 9, 55, 91, 134
Singhalese, 154
Sky, 8, 9, 28, 45, 109, 121,
131
Slander, 70
Slav, 5, 47, 48, 173, 185, 186
Slave, 7, 16, 59, 83, 84
Smriti, 47
Snakes, 35, 107, 123, 130
Society, 15, 16, 58, 59, 77, 78,
83, 107, 150, 186
Solar and Lunar Kaces, 120,
121
Solomon's Song, 134
Somnambulist, 120
Soul, 9, 10, 34, 40, 42, 53-57,
64, 84, 85, 105, 108, 134,
143, 154, 155
Spanish, 90, 149, 155
Spinning and weaving, 51,
99
Spinster and bachelor, 51, 77
Spirit and spiritualist, 39,
101, 103, 104, 186
Sport, tournament, and
games, 13-15, 62, 111, 114,
144 ; see also Gambling
Spring festival, 114, 117-119
Story-teller and minstrel, 20,
28-30, 51, 100, 108, 114,
185
Suicide, 62
Sun and Suncult, 8, 9, 19, 33,
36, 45, 54, 93, 102, 103,
108, 109, 120, 121, 124, 129
Sunbath, 120
Sutra and sutta, 46, 47, 49-
52, 75, 149, 150
Suttee, xxx., 50, 110, 136
Swanii, 27
Swans, 44, 68, 109, 127, 132
Sway am vara, 14, 125
Symbolism, 10, 25, 60, 61,
101-103, 105, 106, 119, 134
Tableaux Vivants, 113
Tantra and Tantrist, 99, 103,
104, 107, 140
Tartar, 157, 158
Taxation, 59
Technical education, 58
Telepathy, 103
Test, 38, 127
Teuton, 5, 16, 47, 81, 96, 115,
173, 185, 186
Theatre, actors, drama, and
pantomime, xxvii., 30, 31,
113, 114, 138
Theology, xxvi., 41, 51, 52,
60, 63, 74, 155, 186
Theosophy, 41, 42
Thirty-nine Articles, 52
Tibetan, 91
Tiger, lion, eagle, wolf,
sheep, and bee (figura-
tively), 26, 36, 77, 106, 117,
118, 134, 151, 152
Tin trade, 152, 153
Tithes, 78
Tolerance and bigotry, 57,
58, 61, 86, 90, 94, 95, 98,
157
Index
173
Trade and industry, 16, 58,
123, 152, 153
Tradition, 4, 40, 47, 82, 99,
100, 118, 149
Transmigration, 56, 66, 85,
103, 126, 127, 138, 139, 141
Trinity, 102
Truth and truthfulness, 34,
43, 53, 54, 61, 70, 86, 110,
128
Turkish, 79
Tutelary gods, 10, 76
Uncertainties of life, 55,
144
Union, re-union, and unity,
10, 38, 50, 53, 66, 92, 126,
128, 134, 138, 143, 150
Universal religion, 92, 105,
106
Universal soul, 54, 84
University, 40, 52, 98
Upanishad, 39, 41, 42, 45-
47, 51-53, 58, 61, 107
Urdu, 159
Vaishnava, 151
Vaishya, 16, 78, 144, 152
Vallabhi, 97, 99
Vana, 18, 151 ; as a suffix,
111, 132
Vana Parva, 18
Vanaprastha, 32, 41, 151
Vanity, 55, 74
Veda, xxvi., 5, 7, 8, 10, 17,
39-43, 45-47, 49, 50, 54, 56,
60, 61, 64, 75, 76, 80, 83,
93, 94, 101, 102, 146, 147,
149, 151, 152, 185
Vedanta, xxvi., 53-60, 92, 105,
107, 129, 150
Vedic Age, 11, 29, 50, 76, 80,
83, 93, 151
Vendetta, 80; see also Re-
venge
Ver Sacrum, 118
Videha, 31, 41
Vihara, 72, 94, 98
Viking, 3, 101
Vikrama dynasty, 97, 98
Village and borough, 16, 51,
58, 77, 79, 80, 114, 140, 152,
153
Vina, 29
Virtue and goodness, 34, 69,
70, 73, 85, 126, 143, 144
Vish and vishpati, 16, 77
Visions and voices, 8, 44, 47,
69, 185
Vitality, 120
Vyasa (= compiler), 30, 126
Warfare, 20, 25, 26, 76, 119
Watling, 79
Wealth, 77, 144, 167
Weaving and spinning, 51, 99
Welsh, 151, 186
Western Aryans, i.e., Greeks,
Romans, Teutons, Celts, and
Slavs, 3, 5, 6, 47, 185-187
Widow, xxx., 50, 110, 136
Wife, 35, 38, 50, 51, 63, 79,
110, 123, 126, 128, 132, 144
Wind and air, 8, 33, 45, 54,
63, 129, 130
Wisdom, 10, 41, 53, 68, 74, 84,
104, 135, 139, 142-144
Woman, 13, 18, 32, 34, 38, 43,
49-51, 55, 58, 71, 72, 79, 81,
83, 84, 88, 103, 105, 109-
111, 123-129, 131-134, 136,
144
Yoga and Yogi, 27, 32, 64, 66,
77, 88, 127
Zenana, 83, 126
174
Index
PROPER NAMES
(Personal and Geographical)
Achilles, 35
Adam's Bridge, 37
Aetius, 97
iEsop, 140, 142
Afghanistan, 96, 146, 156, 158
Agastya, St, 32, 38
Agni, 8, 10, 38, 49
Agra, 11, 111, 112
Ajanta, 72
Ajmere, 102
Alexander, 61
Alexandria, 53
Alps, 115, 146, 153
Altai Mountains, 158
America, 48, 105
Ambapali, 71
Ananda, 73
Apennines, 118
Aral Sea, 1
Argentine, 149
Arjun, 14, 20-22, 25-27, 81,
102, 111
Arnold, E., 135, 143
Arthur, King, 39
Ashoka, 85, 86, 147, 148, 154
Asia, Asiatic, 2, etc.
Assam, 87, 89
Attila, 96
Ayodhya, 38, 39, 129
Babylon, 153
Badarayan, 51, 52
Bagdad, 139, 158
Balkan, 186
Bana, 136, 137, 156
Bangka, 152
Bangkok, 152
Bavaria, 96
Behar, 72, 148
Benares, 41, 62, 66, 72, 88
Bengal, 85, 86, 110, 113, 131,
147, 153
Berar, 125 (different from
Behar)
Berkeley, 41
Berkshire, 76
Bethlehem, 57
Bhagavat, 111, 151
Bhandi, 135, 136
Bharata 32, 33, 38, 39, 151
Bhavabhuti, xxvii.
Bhima, 19, 26, 27
Bhishma, 24-26
Bhoja, 99
Billingham, 79
Bimbisara, 61
Birmingham, 79
Black Sea, 1, 96
Boehme, J., 42
Bombay, 50, 93, 153
Bossuet, 148
Bragr, 101
Brahma, 27, 44, 45, 51, 54,
101, 102, 186
Brigit, 101, 119
Britain, Great ; British, 3, etc.
Buddha, 11, 47, 61, 62, 64-
69, 71, 73, 75, 87-89, 91,
105, 121, 139, 147-149, 151,
154
Bundelkhund, 33
Burma, 67, 148, 154
Byron, 53
Calcutta, 50, 105
Calderon, xxvii.
Carpathians, 3
Caspian Sea, 1
Index
175
Caucasus, 1
Central India, 60, 72, 99
Ceylon, 31, 34, 37, 38, 148,
153, 154
Chalons, 96, 97
Champagne, 96
Chandragupta, 61, 85, 90, 147
Charlemagne, 147
Chedi, 124
Chenghiz Khan, 157
China, 158
Chitrakuta, 33
Christ, 53, 64, 65, 104, 113, 151
Cape Comorin, 50
Connaught, 20
Constantinople 153
Comeille, 148
Cornwall, 6
Coromandel 152
Cracow, 158
Croesus, 140
Crystal Palace, 114
Cuchulain, 20
Cyrus, 24
Daksha, 109, 110
Damayanti, 122-126
Dandaka Forest, 32, 35
Dandin, 138
Dante, xxxi., 57, 145
Danube, 6, 96, 118
Dekhan, 7, 19, 31, 86
Delhi, 11, 12, 17, 24, 153,
157, 158
Demeter, 9, 119
Devaki, 111, 113
Devonshire, 145
Dhara, 99
Dhritarashtra, 12, 13, 17, 21,
23, 24, 81
Dniepr, 158
Draupadi, 14, 18, 19, 24, 81,
151
Drona, 12, 13, 26
Drupada, 12, 14, 17, 21, 26,
151
Duryodhan, 13, 17, 19, 21-23,
25-27
Dutt, R, 18
Dwarka, 112
Eckhart, 42
Egypt, 85, 153
Ellora, 93, 109
England, English, xxv., etc.,
16, 156
Erin, 119, 186
Essex, 145
Etzel, 96
Europe, European, xxx., etc.
Farringdon, 76
Fergusson, 72
Firdusi, 159
Flensburg, 16
Florence, 146
France, 147
Frederick the Great, 98
Galicia, 5
Gandiva, 26
Ganga, i.e., Ganges, 108, 127
Ganges, xxx., 11, 15, 17, 19,
29, 60, 67, 75, 80, 89, 146
Gaul, 146
Gautama, 150, 151
Germany, 5, 16, 74, 92, 98,
186
Ghazni, 156
Gibbon, 137
Godavery, 32
Goethe, 98, 113
Gotama, 41, 62, 63, 65, 66,
68, 69, 121, 139, 150, 151
Govardhana, 112
176
Index
Greece, xxvi., 10, 85
Greenwich, 16
Grenoble, 153
Griffith, R, 18, 108, 123
Grimm, Brothers, 99
Gujarat, 21, 97, 112, 147
Hafiz, 159
Hanover, 145
Harlington, 79
Harsha, 87, 89, 90, 98, 136-
138, 156
Harun-al-Kashid, 139
Hastinapur, 12, 17, 22, 153
Hastings, 156
Helen, 27
Hephaistos, 9
Himalaya, 19, 37, 103, 108
Hindu Kush, 2, 86
Hindustan, xxvi., 19, 40, 78,
87, 97, 146, 151, 157-159
Hiouen Thsang, 87, 90
Hongkong, 153
Horace, 129
Hull, Miss, 43
Hungary, 96
Iceland, 100
Ihering, R v., 118
India, Indian, xxv., etc.
Indra, 8, 10, 112
Indus, 153
Iran, 4, 24, 78, 186
Ireland, 43, 82, 84, 118
Israel, xxvi., 81, 104, 187
Italy, 48, 117
Jaipur, 153
Janaka, 41, 116, 121, 140
Java, 152
Jaxartes, 1
Jayadeva, 131, 134, 135
Jerusalem, 113
Jesus, 105, 113 ; see also
Christ
Jethro, 44
Jodhpur, 153
John, St, 29, 41, 106
Jones, Sir W., 130
Juliet, Lady, 79
Jumna, 17, 146
Kali, xxx., 103-107
Kalidasa, xxvii., 98, 121, 126,
128, 129, 156
Kanouj, 87, 90, 97, 98, 135-
138, 148
Kansa, 111, 112
Kant and Schopenhauer, 41,
52, 53, 106
Kapilavastu, 62
Karl August, 97
Kama, 23, 24, 26
Kashmir, xxx., 87, 95, 136
Khorassan, 96
Kiel, 16
Kiev, 158
Kirghiz Steppe, 1, 158
Koshala, 32, 147, 148, 151
Krishna, 21-23, 25, 26, 102,
110-114, 116, 131-134, 151
Krishna (River), 152, 153
Kuru, 12, 24, 47, 151
Kurukshetra, 24, 80, 111, 152
Kurumandala, 152
Kusha, 128
Laban, 50
Lahore, 157
Lakshman, 32, 36, 38
Lakshmi, 35
Lancashire, 145
Lanka, 34, 36, 37, 114
Leah, 50
Leipzig, 145
London, 57, 106, 145, 149
Index
177
Luther, 74, 75, 145
Magadha, 60, 61, 87, 97, 147,
148, 151-155
Mahnmd of Ghazni, 156
Malay, 152
Malva, 60, 97, 99, 135
Manu, xxxi., 74-76, 81-84,
122
Maricha, 34-36
Marne, 96
Marut, 8
Mediterranean, 5
Megasthenes, 90
Mesopotamia, 139
Milman, Dean, 108, 123
Monier- Williams, 85, 143
Moses, 44, 83, 104
Miiller, Max, 105
Nala, 122, 123, 125, 126
Nanda (king), 61
Nanda (shepherd), 111, 112,
131
Naples, 153
Napoleon, 96
New York, 57, 106
Nile, 104
Nilgiri Mountains, 32
North of India, 11, 61, 80
North Sea, 3
North- Western India, 6
North - Western Provinces,
111
Norway, 100
Nottingham, 79
Nuremberg, 74
Oberammeegau, 113
Orissa 93
Oudh,' 31, 39, 62, 80, 97, 98,
114, 125, 147, 148, 151, 152
Oxus, 1
Pamir, 2
Pandu, 12, 81
Paris, 93, 96, 147
Patna, 11, 60, 90
Patroclus, 20
Paul, St, 60, 91, 104
Pegwell Bay, 16
Percy, Bishop, 30
Persia, 96, 140, 159
Perth, 38
Peter, St, 113
Pharaoh, 104
Pingiya, 68, 69
Plato, 10, 27, 29
Poland, 5
Poseidon, 9
Provence, 145
Punjab, xxx., 4, 6, 7, 11, 15,
29, 39, 50, 61, 80, 97, 140,
146, 152, 157
Kachel, 50
Radha, 112, 114, 131-134
Rajputana, 97, 102, 153
Rama, 31-39, 80, 102, 114,
121, 128, 148
Ramakrishna, 104-106, 111
Rama's Bridge, 37
Ramsgate, 16
Ranke, 137
Ravana, 34, 36-38, 102
Rhinelands, 6, 96
Rhys Davids, 63, 148
Rome, 3, 120
Roumania, 96
Russia, 5, 48, 95
Saadi, 159
Sachs, Hans, 74, 75
Samarkand, 158
Sandwich, 16
Sati, 103, 109, 126
Satyakama, 43-45, 110
If
178
Index
S&vitri, 126
Saxony, 146
Schiller and Goethe, xxvii.,
98, 113
Schopenhauer, 53, 106
Schrader,0., 6
Scott, Walter, 38
Scythia, 1, 3, 5
Sebastopol, 153
Shakespeare, xxvii.
Shakuntala, 98
Shanghai, 153
Shankara, 52, 56, 60
Shikarpur, 153
Shiraz, 159
Shiva, xxxi., 101-103, 107-
110, 126-128, 151
Siam, 67, 154
Siberia, 158
Silesia, 158
Simla, 12
Singapore, 153
Singhala, 153, 154
Sita, xxx., 31, 32, 34-36, 38,
41, 114, 116, 126
Slei, 16
Sleswick, 16
Solomon, 134
Sophocles, 10
South of India, 19, 31
Spinoza, 41
Subandhu, 138
Sumatra, 152
Syria, 85, 95
Timur, 158, 159
Tirhut, 31
Troy, 11
Turkestan, 96
Tyne, 145
Udaipur, 153
Uddalaka, 42
Ujain, 95, 97-99, 152, 154
Ulster, 20
Uma, 103, 126-128
Ushas, 8, 183
Uttara, 20
Vakkhali, 69
Valmiki, 31, 35, 121
Varuna, 8-10
Vasettha, 65, 69
Vasudeva, 111, 112
Verona, 81
Videha, 116
Vikrama, 97, 98, 156
Vindhya, 19, 32, 33, 60, 99,
136
Virata, 19-21
Virgil, 122
Vishnu, xxxi., 101, 102, 112,
151
Vivekananda, 106
Volga, 95, 158
Volhynia, 3
Vrindavana, 111, 132
Vyasa, 30
Wales, 6, 151
Warwickshire, 149
Waterloo, 96
Watlington, 79
Weimar, 97
Wilkins, Ch., 144
William the Conqueror, 99
Windermere, 145
Wodan, 81
Wordsworth, 129
Yorkshire, 145
Yudhishthir, 17, 18, 21, 26,
122
Zeus, 9
Index
179
ACCENTED SANSKRIT WORDS. 1
Agni-Adhana, 49
Ahankara, 53
Ambapali, 71
Ananda, 73
Aranyaka, 42
Arya, 1
Ashrama, 32
Atma, 27
Avatar, 102
Badarayan, 51
Bana, 136
Bhagavata, 110
derived from Bhagavat, 111
Bharata (tribal name), 11
from Bharata (proper
name), 39
Bhashya, 52
Bhavabhuti, xxvii.
Bbima, 19
Bhishma, 24
Bimbisara, 61
Brahmacharin, 44
from brabmacharya, 44
Brahmana, 39
from Brahma (God), 27
Chhandogya, 45
Chitrakuta, 33
Dhara, 99
Dhritarashtra, 12
GAndiva, 26
Gita, 25
Gnana, 27
Gnani, 27
Himalaya, 19
Itihasa, 29
Janmashtami, 112
Jataka, 139
Kali, xxx.
Kalidasa, xxvii.
Magadhi, 147
from Magadha, 60
Maha-bMrata, xxvi.
Maba-raja, 89
Maricba, 34
Matar, 45
Maya, 55
Nirvana, 65
Pali, 148
Pancbala, 11
Panda va, 12
Pandu, 12
Prakrit, 155
from prakriti (nature), 155
Purana, 99
1 One syllable only is intoned in English words (intelli-
gent), whereas, in French and Sanskrit, the accent is evenly
distributed (intelligent bhagavat). The mark A i n the
following list of words does not refer to the intonation, but
indicates the length of the marked vowels (bhagavata), after
the manner of French accents (protege).
180
Index
Radha, 112
Raja, 27
Raja-hansa, 44
Rakshasa, 34
Rama, 31
Ramakrishna, 104
Ramayana, 18
Rdm-lila, 114
Ravana, 34
Sankhya, 150
Sansara, 56
Satyakama, 43
Savitri, 126
Shraddha, 49
Shudra, 7
Sita, xxx.
Slitra, 46
Admiral, 158
Aryan, 1, 3, 48
Agile, 49
Arable, 3
Bachelor, 77
Celebrated, 48
Church, 24
Clamorous, 48
Client, 48
Cognition, 53
Conform, 150
Course, 44
Create, 155
Creed, 49
Dad, 45, 101
Despot, 79
Direct, 77
Divine, 29
Swami, 27
Tata, 45
Uddalaka, 42
Valmiki, 31
Vanaprastha, 32
from vana (wood), 18
Vasettha (a Pali name), 65
Vedanta, xxvi.
Vihara, 72
Vina, 29
Virata, 19
Vivekananda, 106
Vrindavana, 111
Vyasa, 30
ETYMOLOGIES
English Dictionary Words
Domestic, 76
Druid, 119
Dryad, 119
Economy, 16
Eight, 116, 149; set also
Octo, 183
Fee, 51
Fellow, 51
Form, 150
Former, 100
Forth, 151
Generation, 115
Generous, 115
Genesis, 115
Genial and genius, 115
Gentile and gentle, 115, 116
Genuine, 115
Glorious, 48
Index
181
Gnosis and Gnostic, 53
Idea, 10
Idol, 10
Ignite, 49
Km, 115
Kind, 115
King, 78, 116
Know, 53
Kyrie, 24
Listen, 48
Loud, 48
Man, 55, 56, 83
Material and matter, 55
Measure and metre, 56
Mental and mind, 55, 56, 83
Metropolis, 55, 153
Month and moon, 120
Mother, 55
Oblige, 186
October, 116
Padishah and Pasha, 79
Path, 117
Pentateuch, 140
Pidjin, 153
Pontiff, 117
Potent and potentate, 78
Procreate, 155
Progenitor and progeny, 115,
116
Provide, 10
Punch, 140
Queen, 78
Eeligion, 186
Satrap and Shah, 24, 78, 79
Sewing, 51
Slav, 48
Spinster, 51
Star, 155
Stay, 151
Strew, 155
Supreme, 106
Suture, 51
Syn in synopsis, 155
Tendency, 140
Text and texture, 51
Tree, 119
Village, 16
Vision, 10
Wisdom, 10
Wit, 10, 45
Woman, 55, 56, 83
Bangka and Bangkok, 152
Behar, 72 (Berar is a different
place)
Bengal, 153
Billingham, 79
Birmingham, 79
Bragr, 101
Brigit, 101, 119
NAMES AND PLACES
Buddha, 64
Ceylon, 153
Christ, 64
Constantinople, 153
Cyrus, 24
Dekhan, 19
182
Index
Demeter, 55, 119
Farringdon, 76
Greenwich, 16
Grenoble, 153
Gupta, 97
Harlington, 79
Hastinapur, 22, 153
Italy, 117
Janaka, 116, 140
Jaipur and Jodhpur, 153
KURUKSHETRA, 12, 24
Manu, 55, 56, 83
Naples, 153
Nottingham, 79
Panchala, 80, 140
Pontus, 117
Punjab, 140
Reading, 76
Sandwich, 16
Satyakama, 110
Sebastopol, 153
Shikarpur, 153
Singapore, 153
Singh and Singhala, 151, 153
Sleswick, 16
Udaipur, 153
Watlington, 79
SANSKRIT
Agni, 49
Arya, 1, 3, 48
Ashta and Ashtami, 116, 149 ;
see also Octo, 183
Avatar 102
Bhagavat and Bhagavata,
111
Bhakta and Bhakti, 111
Brahma, 101, 186, 187
Brahmacharya, 44, 101
Buddha, 64
Dampati, 76, 77-79
Deva, 28, 29
Dharma, 150, 186
Gnana, 53
Go (cow) in Gotra, Gopi,
Govardhana, Govinda, and
Gotama, 43, 111, 112, 131,
151
Gopi and Govinda, 167
Gotama (rich in cows), 151,
from go (cow)
Gotra, 167
Govardhana (cow pasture),
112, from go (cow)
Gupta, 97
Hansa, 106
J an a and Janaka, 116, 140
Janma and J anmashtami, 116,
140
Jataka, 140
Karma, 65, 155, 186
Kshatriya and Kshetra, 24,
78, 79
Kula and Kuru, 12, 24
Index
183
Manas, 56, 83
Mantra, 56
Matar, 45, 55
Maya, 55
Pali, 148
Pancha, 80, 140
Parama, 106
Pati, 78
Pra (prefix), prakrit, and pra-
kriti, 151, 155, 186
Pur, 153
Purana, 100
Raja, 77, 82
San (prefix) and Sanskrit, 155
Sati and Satya, 1 10
Shraddha, 49
Shravas, 48
Shruti, 47
Stri, 155
Tantra, 140
Tata, 45, 101
UPANISHAD, 41
Ushas (the golden dawn), 8,
recurs with an r in Latin
auram (gold), aurora,
(dawn), and uro (burn)
Vaishya, 16
Vanaprastha, 151
Veda, 10, 28, 45
Vedanta, 54
Vish, 16
LATIN
Ab, 102
Anser, 107
Arare, 3
Aurora, see Ushas, 183
Aurum, 150 ; see also Ushas,
183
Credo, 49
Deus, 29
Dexter, 19
Dies, 28
Gentes, 115
Ignis, 49
Mater, 45, 55
Mens, 55, 56, 83
Octo, 116, 149. The word is
a dual, and means "two
lots" ; the four feet of the
quadruped suggested a
standard number to the
pastoral Aryans
Pater, 77, 78
Pont- and Pontifex, 117
Rex, 77
Uro, see Ushas, 183
Vetus (old), see the next
word
Vituli, 117, literally "year-
lings," connected with
Vetus (full of years)
184
Index
SUNDRIES
(1) Anglo-Saxon
Eahta, 116, 149 ; see also I Hlud and Hlust, 48
Octo, 183
Gebirge, 187
(2) German
j Leitfaden, 51
Zaun, 79
Bricht, 101
Bragr, 101
Baga, 110
(3) Greek
Pol-is, 153
(4) Irish
| Oimelc, 119
High, 77, 82
(5) Norse
| Edda, 100
(6) Old Persian
| Bakht, 110
Attha, 116, 149; see also
Octo, 183
(7) Pdli
Dhamma, 149, 150
Sutta, 51, 149
Dieu, 29
Llano, 149
Index 185
(8) Romance
Or, 150 ; see also Ushas, 183
Otto, 116, 149 ; see also Octo,
183
(9) Slavonic
Bog, 111 | Slava and Slovo, 48
ARYAN ROOTS
Brih, break forth, 101
Dhar, hold, 150
Div, shine, 28
Jan, beget, 115, 116
Kri, act, 65, 155
Shru, hear, 47
Stri, strew, 155
Vid, see, 10, 28
Vish, move in, get settled, 16 ;
and the West- Aryan root
Ar, plough, 3
Throughout the realm of nature, light, sound, and motion
are conjoint forces. Where one is manifest, the others are
also present. The Aryas, gifted children of nature as they
were, reflected, even in their first attempts of speech, the
bright image of their mother. Word never passed the lips of
Vedic rishi or Persian mage, Greek rhapsodist or Northern
saga-teller, Roman or British orator, which cannot be reduced
to a root expressive of the tripartite sense of light (div)
or vision (via), sound or hearing (shru) and movement (vish)
or activity (kri). At first, the roots were few, each having
threefold force, but as the mind branched out, they multi-
plied, and retained one sense only, which became a feeder
of profoundest thought the source of Aryan religion and
1 The Germans call themselves Dutch (deutsch), and give to
both nations as well as to their English and Scandinavian
cousins the common title German (germanisch) which, there-
fore, means the same as Teutonic does in England. The
Teutons, together with the Celts whom they have more or
less absorbed, form the westernmost branch of the Aryan
family of speech. German scholars prefer the name Indo-
German to Aryan which suggests to them Indo-Iranian
only. Persian, they say, is a West-Aryan tongue, and the
186 Index
philosophy. Karma and dharma, character and the sense of
duty, really the fruits of " action " and the moral " hold,"
are evolved from kri and dhar. The germ-idea of dharma
is form, literally that which holds (dhar) and binds. Limita-
tion inherent in finite matter is a more scientific phrase, but
conveys no more than dharma. The vocable displays a
wealth of ethical meaning. " Form " and custom have a firm
hold on society ; all " law " is binding ; " re%ion," too,
enjoins many an oblation ; " environment " and " idio-
syncrasy" hold the individual with an iron grip all this
and more is involved in dharma. There is an Indian
saying that this life's karma shapes dharma in the next, that
is to say, the use which a man makes of his present oppor-
tunities determines his future circumstance.
Brahma and Pra&nti God and Nature have sprung from
the same cluster of roots (brih and kri). It is noteworthy
that the supreme god of the Brahmins was originally not
conceived as motionless and passive, but as creative (kri), i.e. y
active. The definition of Brahma as expansion (brih) of the
prayerful heart is a priestly afterthought, far too subtle and
scholastic to have a place in primitive culture. The simpler
notion of a nature spirit or, as we should say, of cosmic
energy " breaking forth " (brih) as star and flower, wood and
Hindu vernaculars are East- Aryan. Indo-European seems
a happier expression than Indo-German, because Sanskrit,
Greek, and Latin, the languages of Iran and Erin, Teutonic
and Slavonic, were distributed from India to Europe since
Erehistoric times. The word Aryan recommends itself by its
revity, and, by long- continued usage, is more familiar to
Englishmen than Indo-European or Indo-German. We
subjoin a table of the various terms with their German
equivalents.
England Germany
Teutonic = German
German = Dutch
Dutch = Hollandish
East-Aryan = Aryan
Aryan = Indo-German
West-Aryan speech comprises Teutonic and Romance, Erse
and Welsh, the Balkan tongues and Russian.
Index 187
stream, and as the cloud-hid " mountains " (gebirge in German)
is more in harmony with the naive sentiments of a vigorous
and youthful race. Only the trained linguist or the poet's
finer fancy can discern in the clipped coinage of our polished
tongues the flash and rush and roar of the wild elements, and
the native charm of meadowland and forest, distilled into
triple essence.
LIST OF DATES 1
B.C.
2000-1500 The European Aryans in their oldest historic
settlements
11th century King David of Israel
6th century Cyrus I. Croesus iEsop
522 Buddha enters his ministry
405 fSophocles
389 Eome sacked by the Gauls
347 tPlato
327 Alexander invades the Punjab
*300 Chandragupta Megasthenes
3rd century Ashoka
1st century Pali Canon committed to writing
19 fVirgil
8 tHorace
A.D.
4th century The Huns cross the Volga
5th century Fall of Rome Anglo-Saxons settle in England
451 Battle of Chalons
453 tAttila
5th and 6th centuries Puranas committed to writing
Kalidasa Decline of Magadha and of Indian Buddhism
Rise of the Gupta dynasty and of Hinduism
6th and 7th centuries Sanskrit still in official use Many
Hindu temples built in Orissa
7th century Harsha Bana Dandin Hiouen Thsang visits
India
*700 Bhavabhuti
788 Shankara born
*800 Harun-al-Rashid
i Dates marked * are approximate ; f refers to the death of a
person.
188 Index
814 tCharlemagne
842 Date of the oldest French document
*1000 Mahmud of Ghazni invades India Firdusi
11th century Rajputs rulers of India
1066 Norman Conquest
1096 Crusades commence
1154 Rise of the Plantagenets
*1200 Nibelungen Lied composed
12th century Jayadeva
13th century Chenghiz Khan Moslems rulers of India
1291 tSaadi
1327 tMeister Eckhart
14th century Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman fused into
English Hafiz
*1400 Timur
15th century Revival of Greek learning
1546 tLuther
1562 Thirty-nine Articles agreed upon
1576 t Hans Sachs
1616 tShakespeare
1624 t Jacob Boehme
1674 tMilton
1677 tSpinoza
1681 tCalderon
1684-tCorneille
1704 tBossuet
1753 tBerkeley
1786 t Frederick the Great
1788 Byron and Schopenhauer born
1792 First Sanskrit text printed
1794 fGibbon and Sir W. Jones
1804 +Kant
1805 tSchiller
1811 tBishop Percy
1815 Battle of Waterloo
1821 tNapoleon
1824 tByron
1832 t Goethe and Scott
1850 t Wordsworth
1 860 f Schopenhauer
1863 t Jacob Grimm
1886 tRanke and Ramakrishna
20th century Indo-European antiquities firmly established.
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