Chapter XI: The Popular Brahmanic Faith (2)

In order to give a completed exposition of Brahmanism we have passed beyond the period of the great heresies, to which we must soon revert. But, before leaving the present division of the subject, we select from the mass of Brahmanic domestic rites, the details of which offer in general little that is worth noting, two or three ceremonies which possess a more human interest, the marriage rite, the funeral rite, and those strange trials, known among so many other peoples, the ordeals. We sketch these briefly, wishing merely to illustrate the religious side of each ceremony, as it appears in one or more of its features.

THE MARRIAGE RITE.

Traces of exogamy may be suspected in the bridegroom's driving off with his bride, but no such custom, of course, is recognized in the law. On the contrary, the groom is supposed to belong to the same village, and special rites are enjoined 'if he be from another village.' But again, in the early rule there is no trace of that taint of family which the totem-scholars of to-day cite so loosely from Hindu law. The girl is not precluded because she belongs to the same family within certain degrees. The only restriction in the House-rituals is that she shall have had "on the mother's and father's side" wise, pious, and honorable ancestors for ten generations ([=A]çvl. I. 5). Then comes the legal restriction, which some scholars call 'primitive,' that the wife must not be too nearly related. The girl has her own ordeal (not generally mentioned among ordeals!): The wooer that thus selects his bride (this he does if one has not been found already either by his parents or by his own inclination) makes eight balls of earth and calls on the girl to choose one ('may she get that to which she is born'). If she select a ball made from the earth of a field that bears two crops, she (or her child) will be rich in grain; if from the cow-stall, rich in cattle; if from the place of sacrifice, godly; if from a pool that does not dry, gifted; if from the gambler's court, devoted to gambling; if from cross-roads, unfaithful; if from a barren field, poor in grain; if from the burying-ground, destructful of her husband. There are several forms of making a choice, but we confine ourselves to the marriage.[32] In village-life the bridegroom is escorted to the girl's house by young women who tease him. The bridegroom presents presents to the bride, and receives a cow. The bridegroom takes the bride's hand, saying 'I take thy hand for weal' (Rig Veda, X. 85. 36), and leads her to a certain stone, on which she steps first with the right foot (toe). Then three times they circumambulate the fire, keeping it to the right, an old Aryan custom for many rites, as in the _deisel_ of the Kelts; the bride herself offering grain in the fire, and the groom repeating more Vedic verses. They then take together the seven solemn steps (with verses),[33] and so they are married. The groom, if of another village, now drives away with the bride, and has ready Vedic verses for every stage of the journey. After sun-down the groom points out the north star, and admonishes the bride to be no less constant and faithful. Three or twelve days they remain chaste, some say one night; others say, only if he be from another village. The new husband must now see to the house-fire, which he keeps ever burning, the sign of his being a householder.

THE FUNERAL CEREMONY.

Roth has an article in the Journal of the German Oriental Society (VIII. 467) which is at once a description of one of the funeral hymns o£ the Rig Veda (X. 18) with the later ritual, and a criticism of the bearing of the latter on the former.[34] He shows here that the ritual, so far from having induced the hymn, totally changes it. The hymn was written for a burial ceremony. The later ritual knows only cremation. The ritual, therefore, forces the hymn into its service, and makes it a cremation-hymn. This is a very good (though very extreme) example of the difference in age between the early hymns of the Rig Veda and the more modern ritual. Müller, _ib_. IX. p. I (_sic_), has given a thorough account of the later ritual and ritualistic paraphernalia. We confine ourselves here to the older ceremony.

The scene of the Vedic hymn is as follows: The friends and relatives stand about the corpse of a married man. By the side of the corpse sits the widow. The hymn begins: "Depart, O Death, upon some other pathway, upon thy path, which differs from the path of gods ... harm not our children, nor our heroes.... These living ones are separated from the dead; successful today was our call to the gods. (This man is dead, but) _we_ go back to dancing and to laughter, extending further our still lengthened lives." Then the priest puts a stone between the dead and living: "I set up a wall for the living, may no one of these come to this goal; may they live an hundred full harvests, and hide death with this stone...."

The matrons assembled are now bid to advance without tears, and make their offerings to the fire, while the widow is separated from the corpse of her husband and told to enter again into the world of the living. The priest removes the dead warrior's bow from his hand: "Let the women, not widows, advance with the ointment and holy butter; and without tears, happy, adorned, let them, to begin with, mount to the altar (verse 7, p. 274, below). Raise thyself, woman, to the world of the living; his breath is gone by whom thou liest; come hither; of the taker of thy hand (in marriage), of thy wooer thou art become the wife[35] (verse 8). I take the bow from the hand of the dead for our (own) lordship, glory, and strength." Then he addresses the dead: "Thou art there, and we are here; we will slay every foe and every attacker (with the power got from thee). Go thou now to Mother Earth, who is wide opened, favorable, a wool-soft maiden to the good man; may she guard thee from the lap of destruction. Open, O earth, be not oppressive to him; let him enter easily; may he fasten close to thee. Cover him like a mother, who wraps her child in her garment. Roomy and firm be the earth, supported by a thousand pillars; from this time on thou (man) hast thy home and happiness yonder; may a sure place remain to him forever. I make firm the earth about thee; may I not be harmed in laying the clod here; may the fathers hold this pillar for thee, and Yama make thee a home yonder."

In the Atharva Veda mention is made of a coffin, but none is noticed here.

Hillebrandt (_loc. cit_. xl. 711) has made it probable that the eighth verse belongs to a still older ritual, according to which this verse is one for human sacrifice, which is here ignored, though the text is kept.[36] 'Just so the later ritual keeps all this text, but twists it into a crematory rite. For in the later period only young children are buried. Of burial there was nothing for adults but the collection of bones and ashes. At this time too the ritual consists of three parts, cremation, collection of ashes, expiation. How are these to be reconciled with this hymn? Very simply. The rite is described and verses from the hymn are injected into it without the slightest logical connection. That is the essence of all the Brahmanic ritualism. The later rite is as follows: Three altars are erected, northwest, southwest, and southeast of a mound of earth. In the fourth corner is the corpse; at whose feet, the widow. The brother of the dead man, or an old servant, takes the widow's hand and causes her to rise while the priest says "Raise thyself, woman, to the world of the living." Then follows the removal of the bow; or the breaking of it, in the case of a slave. The body is now burned, while the priest says "These living ones are separated from the dead"; and the mourners depart without looking around, and must at once perform their ablutions of lustration. After a time the collection of bones is made with the verse "Go thou now to Mother Earth" and "Open, O earth." Dust is flung on the bones with the words "Roomy and firm be the earth"; and the skull is laid on top with the verse "I make firm the earth about thee." In other words the original hymn is fitted to the ritual only by displacement of verses from their proper order and by a forced application of the words. After all this comes the ceremony of expiation with the use of the verse "I set up a wall" without application of any sort. Further ceremonies, with further senseless use of other verses, follow in course of time. These are all explained minutely in the essay of Roth, whose clear demonstration of the modernness of the ritual, as compared with the antiquity of the hymn should be read complete.

The seventh verse (above) has a special literature of its own, since the words "let them, to begin with, mount the altar," have been changed by the advocates of _suttee_, widow-burning, to mean 'to the place of fire'; which change, however, is quite recent. The burning of widows begins rather late in India, and probably was confined at first to the pet wife of royal persons. It was then claimed as an honor by the first wife, and eventually without real authority, and in fact against early law, became the rule and sign of a devoted wife. The practice was abolished by the English in 1829; but, considering the widow's present horrible existence, it is questionable whether it would not be a mercy to her and to her family to restore the right of dying and the hope of heaven, in the place of the living death and actual hell on earth in which she is entombed to-day.

ORDEALS.[37]

Fire and water are the means employed in India to test guilt in the earlier period. Then comes the oath with judgment indicated by subsequent misfortune. All other forms of ordeals are first recognized in late law-books. We speak first of the ordeals that have been thought to be primitive Aryan. The Fire-ordeal: (1) Seven fig-leaves are tied seven times upon the hands after rice has been rubbed upon the palms; and the judge then lays a red-hot ball upon them; the accused, or the judge himself, invoking the god (Fire) to indicate the innocence or the guilt of the accused. The latter then walks a certain distance, 'slowly through seven circles, each circle sixteen fingers broad, and the space between the circles being of the same extent,' according to some jurists; but other dimensions, and eight or nine circles are given by other authorities. If the accused drop the ball he must repeat the test. The burning of the hands indicates guilt. The Teutonic laws give a different measurement, and state that the hand is to be sealed for three days (manus sub sigillo triduum tegatur) before inspection. This sealing for three days is paralleled by modern Indic practice, but not by ancient law. In Greece there is the simple [Greek: _mudrous airein cheroin_] (Ant. 264) to be compared. The German sealing of the hand is not reported till the ninth century.[38]

(2) Walking on Fire: There is no ordeal in India to correspond to the Teutonic walking over six, nine, or twelve hot ploughshares. To lick a hot ploughshare, to sit on or handle hot iron, and to take a short walk over coals is _late_ Indic. The German practice also according to Schlagintweit "war erst in späterer Zeit aufgekommen."[39]

(3) Walking through Fire: This is a Teutonic ordeal, and (like the conflict-ordeal) an Indic custom not formally legalized. The accused walks directly into the fire. So [Greek: _pur dierpein] (loc. cit_.).

Water-ordeals: (1) May better be reckoned to fire-ordeals. The innocent plunges his hand into boiling water and fetches out a stone (Anglo-Saxon law) or a coin (Indic law) without injury to his hand. Sometimes (in both practices) the plunge alone is demanded. The depth to which the hand must be inserted is defined by Hindu jurists.

(2) The Floating-ordeal. The victim is cast into water. If he floats he is guilty; if he drowns he is innocent. According to some Indic authorities an arrow is shot off at the moment the accused is dropped into the water, and a 'swift runner' goes after and fetches it back. "If at his return he find the body of the accused still under water, the latter shall be declared to be innocent."[40] According to Kaegi this ordeal would appear to be unknown in Europe before the ninth century. In both countries Water (in India, Varuna) is invoked not to keep the body of a guilty man but to reject it (make it float).

Food-ordeal: Some Hindu law-books prescribe that in the case of suspected theft the accused shall eat consecrated rice. If the gums be not hurt, no blood appear on spitting, and the man do not tremble, he will be innocent. This is also a Teutonic test, but it is to be observed that the older laws in India do not mention it.

On the basis of these examples (not chosen in historical sequence) Kaegi has concluded, while admitting that ordeals with a general similarity to these have arisen quite apart from Aryan influence, that there is here a bit of primitive Aryan law; and that even the minutiae of the various trials described above are _un_-Aryan. This we do not believe. But before stating our objections we must mention another ordeal.

The Oath: While fire and water are the usual means of testing crime in India, a simple oath is also permitted, which may involve either the accused alone or his whole family. If misfortune, within a certain time (at once, in seven days, in a fortnight, or even half a year) happen to the one that has sworn, he will be guilty. This oath-test is also employed in the case of witnesses at court, perjury being indicated by the subsequent misfortune (Manu, viii. 108).[41]

Our objections to seeing primitive Aryan law in the minutiae of ordeals is based on the gradual evolution of these ordeals and of their minutiae in India itself. The earlier law of the S[=u]tras barely mentions ordeals; the first 'tradition law' of Manu has only fire, water, and the oath. All others, and all special descriptions and restrictions, are mentioned in later books alone. Moreover, the earliest (pre-legal) notice of ordeals in India describes the carrying of hot iron (in the test of theft) as simply "bearing a hot axe," while still earlier there is only walking through fire.[42]

To the tests by oath, fire, and water of the code of Manu are soon added in later law those of consecrated water, poison, and the balance. Restrictions increase and new trials are described as one descends the series of law-books (the consecrated food, the hot-water test, the licking of the ploughshare, and the lot), Some of these later forms have already been described. The further later tests we will now sketch briefly.

Poison: The earliest poison-test, in the code of Y[=a]jñavalkya (the next after Manu), is an application of aconite-root, and as the poison is very deadly, the accused is pretty sure to die. Other laws give other poisons and very minute restrictions, tending to ease the severity of the trial.

The Balance-test: This is the opposite of the floating-test. The man[43] stands in one scale and is placed in equilibrium with a weight of stone in the other scale. He then gets out and prays, and gets in again. If the balance sinks, he is guilty; if it rises, he is innocent.

The Lot-ordeal: This consists in drawing out of a vessel one of two lots, equivalent respectively to _dharma_ and _adharma_, right and wrong. Although Tacitus mentions the same ordeal among the Germans, it is not early Indic law, not being known to any of the ancient legal codes.

One may claim without proof or disproof that these are all 'primitive Aryan'; but to us it appears most probable that only the idea of the ordeal, or at most its application in the simplest forms of water and fire (and perhaps oath) is primitive Aryan, and that all else (including ordeal by conflict) is of secondary growth among the different nations.

As an offset to the later Indic tendency to lighten the severity of the ordeal may be mentioned the description of the floating-test as seen by a Chinese traveller in India in the seventh century A.D.:[44] "The accused is put into a sack and a stone is put into another sack. The two sacks are connected by a cord and flung into deep water. If the sack with the man sinks and the sack with the stone floats the accused is declared to be innocent."

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FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Literally, transmigration, the doctrine of
metempsychosis, successive births; first, as in Plato:
[Greek: _metabolê tis tugchanei ousa kai metoikêois tê
psuchê ton topon tou enthende eis allon tochon_], then
_metabole_, from 'the other place,' back to earth; then,
with advancing speculation, fresh _metabole_ again, and so
on; a theory more or less clumsily united with the
bell-doctrine.]

[Footnote 2: Weber has lately published two monographs on
the sacrifices, the R[=a]jas[=u]ya and the V[=a]japeya
rites, both full of interesting details and popular
features.]

[Footnote 3: The traditional sacrifices are twenty-one in
number, divided into three classes of seven each. The formal
divisions are (1) oblations of butter, milk, corn, etc.; (2)
_soma_ sacrifices; (3) animal sacrifices, regarded as part
of the first two. The sacrifice of the new and full moon is
to be repeated on each occasion for thirty years. A
_sattra_, session, is a long sacrifice which may last a year
or more.]

[Footnote 4: The latter are the metrical codes, a part of
Smriti (sm[r.]ti).]

[Footnote 5: The Five Paramount Sacrifices (Observances)
are, according to Manu III. 70, study of the Veda (or
teaching it); sacrifice to the Manes and to the gods;
offerings of foods to ghosts (or spirits); and hospitality.]

[Footnote 6: In the report of the Or. Congress for 1880, p.
158 ff., Williams has a very interesting account of the
daily rites of the modern orthodox Hindu ('_Rig Veda in
Religious Service_').]

[Footnote 7: We ignore here the later distinction between
the Ved[=a]nta and S[=a]nkhya systems. Properly speaking,
the latter is dualistic.]

[Footnote 8: At a later date Buddha himself is admitted into
the Brahmanic pantheon as an _avatar_ of the All-god!]

[Footnote 9: Sometimes regarded as one with Praj[=a]pati,
and sometimes treated as distinct from him.]

[Footnote 10: Thus (for the priestly ascetic alone) in M.
vi. 79: 'Leaving his good deeds to his loved ones and his
evil deeds to his enemies, by force of meditation he goes to
the eternal _brahma_.' Here _brahma_; but in Gautama perhaps
Brahm[=a].]

[Footnote 11: That is, when the latter are grouped as in the
following list. Our point is that, despite new faith and new
gods, Vedic polytheism is taught not as a form but as a
reality, and that in this period the people still believe as
of old in the old gods, though they also acknowledge new
ones (below).]

[Footnote 12: Compare Manu, ix. 245: "Varuna is the lord of
punishment and holdeth a sceptre (punishment) even over
kings."]

[Footnote 13: In new rites, for instance. Thus in P[=a]rask.
_Grih. S_. 3. 7 a silly and dirty rite 'prevents a slave
from running away'; and there is an ordeal for girls before
becoming engaged (below).]

[Footnote 14: Blood is poured out to the demons in order
that they may take this and no other part of the sacrifice,
_[=A]it. Br_. ii. 7. 1.]

[Footnote 15: Here. 4. 8. 19, Çiva's names are Hara, Mrida,
Çarva, Çiva, Bhava, Mah[=a]deva, Ugra, Bhima, Paçupati,
Rudra, Çankara, Içana.]

[Footnote 16: These rites are described in 6. 4. 24 of the
_Brihad [=A]ranyaka Upanishad_ which consists both of
metaphysics and of ceremonial rules.]

[Footnote 17: Especially mentioned in the later Vasistha
(see below); on _m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]_ a branch of the
Ved[=a]nta system see below.]

[Footnote 18: The commentator here (19. 12, cited by Bühler)
defines Ved[=a]nta as the part of the [=A]ranyakas which are
not Upanishads, that is, apparently as a local 'Veda-end'
(_veda-anta_), though this meaning is not admitted by some
scholars, who will see in _anta_ only the meaning 'goal,
aim.']

[Footnote 19: The Rudra (Çiva) invocation at 26. 12 ff. is
interpolated, according to Bühler.]

[Footnote 20: Here there is plainly an allusion to the two
states of felicity of the Upanishads. Whether the law-giver
believes that the spirit will be united with Brahm[=a] or
simply live in his heaven he does not say.]

[Footnote 21: Gautama, too, is probably a Northerner. The
S[=u]tra, it should be observed, are not so individual as
would be implied by the name of the teachers to whom they
are credited. They were each texts of a school, _carana_,
but they are attributed uniformly to a special teacher, who
represents the _cara[n.]a_, as has been shown by Müller. For
what is known in regard to the early 'S[=u]tra-makers' see
Bühler's introductions to volumes ii. and xiv. of the Sacred
Books.]

[Footnote 22: Compare Bühler's Introduction, p. XXXV, SBE.
vol. XIV.]

[Footnote 23: B[=a]udh. II. 18. 2-3. Compare Jacobi's
Introduction, p. XXIII ff. of SBE. vol. XXII.]

[Footnote 24: Bühler (Introduction, p. XXXI) gives as the
district of the [=A]pastamb[=i]ya school parts of the Bombay
Presidency, the greater parts of the Niz[=a]m's possessions,
and parts of the Madras Presidency. Apastamba himself refers
to Northerners as if they were foreigners (_loc. cit.)_.]

[Footnote 25: In India the latter question is: does the soul
immediately at death unite with the _[=a]tm[=a]_ or does it
travel to it. In Europe: does the soul wait for the Last
Day, or get to heaven immediately? Compare Maine, _Early Law
and Custom_, p. 71.]

[Footnote 26: Thought by some scholars to have been
developed out of the code of The M[=a]navas; but ascribed by
the Hindus to Father Manu, as are many other verses of legal
character contained in the epic and elsewhere.]

[Footnote 27: Although S[=u]tras may be metrical too in
part, yet is the complete metrical form, as in the case of
still later Ç[=a]stra, evidence that the work is intended
for the general public.]

[Footnote 28: The priest alone, in the post-Vedic age, has
the right to teach the sacred texts; he has immunity from
bodily punishment; the right to receive gifts, and other
special privileges. The three upper castes have each the
right and duty of studying the sacred texts for a number of
years.]

[Footnote 29: Weber has shown, _loc. cit_., that the
Ç[=u]dras did attend some of the more popular ceremonies,
and at first apparently even took a part in them.]

[Footnote 30: The 'four orders' or stadia of a priest's
life, student, householder, hermit, ascetic, must not be
confused with the 'four (political) orders' (castes),
priest, warrior, farmer, slave--to which, from time to time,
were added many 'mixed castes,' as well as 'outcasts,' and
natural pariahs. At the time of Manu's code there were
already many of these half-assimilated groups.]

[Footnote 31: Theoretically, twenty-one; but an extra one
has slipped in by mistake.]

[Footnote 32: The girl is given or bought, or may make her
own choice among different suitors. Buying a wife is
reprehended by the early law-givers (therefore, customary).
The rite of marriage presupposes a grown girl, but
child-marriages also were known to the early law.]

[Footnote 33: The groom 'releases her from Varuna's fetter,'
by symbolically loosening the hair. They step northeast, and
he says: 'One step for sap; two for strength; three for
riches; four for luck; five for children; six for the
seasons; seven for friendship. Be true to me--may we have
many long-lived sons.']

[Footnote 34: There is another funeral hymn, X. 16, in which
the Fire is invoked to burn the dead, and bear him to the
fathers; his corporeal parts being distributed 'eye to the
sun, breath to the wind,' etc.]

[Footnote 35: See below.]

[Footnote 36: Compare Weber, _Streifen_, I. 66; The king's
first wife lies with a dead victim, and is bid to come back
again to life. Levirate marriage is known to all the codes,
but it is reprehended by the same code that enjoins it. (M.
ix. 65.)]

[Footnote 37: The ordeal is called _divyam_
(_pram[=a][n.]am_) 'Gottesurtheil.' This means of
information is employed especially in a disputed debt and
deposit, and according to the formal code is to be applied
only in the absence of witnesses. The code also restricts
the use of fire, water, and poison to the slaves (Y[=a]j.
ii. 98).]

[Footnote 38: Kaegi. _Alter und Herkunft des Germanischen
Gottesurtheils_, p. 50. We call especial attention to the
fact that the most striking coincidences in details of
practice are not early either in India or Germany.]

[Footnote 39: Schlagintweit, _Die Gattesurtheile der
Indier_, p. 24.]

[Footnote 40: This is the earliest formula. Later law-books
describe the length and strength of the bow, and some even
give the measure of distance to which the arrow must be
shot. Two runners, one to go and one to return, are
sometimes allowed. There is another water-ordeal "for
religious men." The accused is to drink consecrated water.
If in fourteen (or more or less) days no calamity happen to
him he will be innocent. The same test is made in the case
of the oath and of poison (below).]

[Footnote 41: In the case of witnesses Manu gives seven days
as the limit. When one adopts the oath as an ordeal the
misfortune of the guilty is supposed to come 'quickly.' As
an ordeal this is not found in the later law. It is one of
the Greek tests (_loc. cit_.). When swearing the Hindu holds
water or holy-grass.]

[Footnote 42: AV. ii. 12 is not a certain case of this, but
it is at least Brahmanic. The carrying of the axe is alluded
to in the Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad (Schlagintweit, _Die
Gattesurtheile der Indier_, p. 6).]

[Footnote 43: Y[=a]jñavalkya (_loc. cit_.) restricts this
test to women, children, priests, the old, blind, lame, and
sick. On _ph[=a]la_ for _agni, ib._ ii. 99, see ZDMG. ix.
677.]

[Footnote 44: Schlagintweit, _loc. cit_. p. 26 (Hiouen
Thsang).]

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