Chapter XIV: Early Hinduism (2)

The religion of the epic is multiform. But it stands, in a certain sense, as one religion, and from two points of view it is worthy of special regard. One may look upon it either as the summing up of Brahmanism in the new Hinduism, as the final expression of a religion which forgets nothing and absorbs everything; or one may study it as a belief composed of historical strata, endeavoring to divide it into its different layers, as they have been super-imposed one upon another in the course of ages. From the latter point of view the Vedic divinities claim the attention first. There are still traces of the original power of Agni and S[=u]rya, as we have shown, and Wind still makes with these two a notable triad,[63] whereas Indra, impotent as he is, hymnless as he is,--save in the oldest portions of the work,--still leads the gods, now godkins, of the ancient pantheon, and still, in theory, at least, off a paradise to the knight that dies nobly on the field.[64] But one sees at once that the preservation of the dignity of these deities is due to different causes. Indra cannot even save a snake that grasps his hand for safety; he wages war against the demons' 'triple town,' and signally fails of his purpose, for the demons are as strong as the gods, and there are D[=a]navendras as well as D[=a]navarshis.[65] But Indra is the figure-head of the whole ancient pantheon, and for this reason he plays so constant, if so weak, a rôle, in the epic. The only important thing in connection with him is his heaven. As an individual deity Indra lives, on the whole, only in the tales of old, for example, in that of his cheating Namuci (ix. 43. 32 ff.). Nothing new and clever is told of him which would indicate power, only a new trick or two, as when he steals from Karna. It is quite otherwise with Agni and S[=u]rya. They are not so vaguely identified with the one god as is 'Indra and the other Vasus.' It is merely because these gods are prominently forms of Vishnu that they are honored with hymns in the epic. This is seen from the nature of the hymns, and also from the fact that it is either as fire or as sun that Vishnu destroys at the end of the aeons. For it is, perhaps, somewhat daring to say, and yet it seems to be the fact, that the solar origin of Vishnu is not lost sight of.

The pantheistic Vishnu is the _[=a]tm[=a]_, and Vishnu, after all, is but a form of fire. Therefore is it that the epic Vishnu is perpetually lapsing into fire; while fire and sun are doubly honored as special forms of the highest. It is, then, not so much on account of a survival of ancient dignity[66] that sun and fire stand so high, but rather because they are the nearest approach to the effulgence of the Supreme. Thus while in one place one is told that after seven suns have appeared the supreme gods become the fire of destruction and complete the ruin, in another he reads that it is the sun alone which, becoming twelvefold, does all the work of the Supreme.[67]

Indra has hymns and sacrifices, but although he has no so exalted hymn as comes to his 'friend Agni,' yet (in an isolated passage) he has a new feast and celebration, the account of which apparently belongs to the first period of the epic, when the worship of Indra still had significance. In i. 63, an _Indramaha_, or 'glorification of Indra,' is described a festivity extending over two days, and marked by the erection of a pole in honor of the god--a ceremony which 'even to-day,' it is said, is practiced.[68] The old tales of the fire-cult are retold, and new rites are known.[69] Thus in iii. 251. 20 ff., Prince Duryodhana resolves to starve to death (oblivious of the rule that 'a suicide goes to hell'), and since this is a religious ceremony, he clothes himself in old clothes and holy-grass, 'touches water,' and devotes himself with intense application to heaven. Then the devils of Rudra called D[=a]iteyas and D[=a]navas, who live underground ever since they were conquered by the gods, aided by priests, make a fire-rite, and with _mantras_ "declared by Brihaspati and Uçanas, and proclaimed in the Atharva-Veda," raise a ghost or spirit, who is ordered to fetch Duryodhana to hell, which she immediately does.[70] The frequent connection of Brihaspati with the Atharva-Veda is of interest (above, p. 159). He is quite a venerable, if not wholly orthodox, author in the epic, and his 'rules' are often cited.[71]

That Vedic deity who, alone of pre-Vedic powers, still holds his proud place, Yama, the king of departed spirits, varies in the epic according to the period represented. In old tales he is still quite Vedic in character; he takes the dead man's soul off to his own realm. But, of course, as pantheism prevails, and eschatology becomes confused, Yama passes into a shadow, and at most is a bugbear for the wicked. Even his companions are stolen from another realm, and one hears now of "King Yama with his Rudras" (III. 237. 11),[72] while it is only the bad[73] that go to Yama (III. 200. 24), in popular belief, although this view, itself old, relapses occasionally into one still older, in accordance with which (_ib_. 49) all the world is hounded on by Yama's messengers, and comes to his abode. His home[74] in the south is now located as being at a distance of 86,000 leagues over a terrible road, on which passes a procession of wretched or happy mortals, even as they have behaved during life; for example, if one has generously given an umbrella during life he will have an umbrella on this journey, etc. The river in Yama's abode is called Pushpodaka, and what each drinks out of it is according to what he deserves to drink, cool water or filth (_ib._ 46, 58).[75] In the various descriptions it is not strange to find discordant views even in portions belonging approximately to the same period. Thus in contradistinction to the prevailing view one reads of Indra himself that he is _Yamasya net[=a] Namuceçca hant[=a]_ 'Yama's leader, Namuci's slayer' (iii. 25. 10.), _i.e._, those that die in battle go to Yama.

On the other hand, in the later speculative portions, Yama is not death. "Yama is not death, as some think; he is one that gives bliss to the good, and woe to the bad."[76] Death and life are foolishness and lack of folly, respectively (literally, 'non-folly is non-mortality'), while folly and mortality are counter opposites. In pantheistic teaching there is, of course, no real death, only change. But death is a female power, personified, and sharply distinguished from Yama. Death as a means of change thus remains, while Yama is relegated to the guardianship of hell. The difference in regard to the latter subject, between earlier and later views, has been noted above. One comparatively early passage attempts to arrange the incongruous beliefs in regard to _sams[=a]ra_ (re-birth) and hell on a sort of sliding scale, thus: "One that does good gets in the next life a good birth; one that does ill gets an ill birth"; more particularly: "By good acts one attains to the state of gods; by 'mixed' acts, to the state of man; by acts due to confusion of mind, to the state of animals and plants (_viyon[=i][s.]u_); by sinful acts one goes to hell" (_adhog[=a]mi_, iii. 209. 29-32).[77] Virtue must have been, as the epic often declares it to be, a 'subtile matter,' for often a tale is told to illustrate the fact that one goes to hell for doing what he thinks (mistakenly) to be right. Thus K[=a]uçika is sent to hell for speaking the truth, whereas he ought to have lied to save life (viii. 69. 53), for he was "ignorant of virtue's subtilty."[78] A passage (i. 74. 27 ff.) that is reflected in Manu (viii. 85-86) says that Yama V[=a]ivasvata takes away the sin of him with whom is satisfied "the one that witnesses the act, that stands in the heart, that knows the ground"; but Yama tortures him with whom this one (personified conscience) is dissatisfied. For "truth is equal to a thousand horse-sacrifices; truth is highest _brahma_" (_ib._ 103, 106).

Following downward the course of religious development, as reflected in the epic, one next finds traces of Brahmanic theology not only in the few passages where (Brahm[=a]) Praj[=a]pati remains untouched by sectarianism, but also in the harking back to old formulae. Thus the insistence on the Brahmanical sacredness of the number seventeen is preserved (xii. 269. 26; iii. 210. 20, etc); and Upanishadic is the "food is Praj[=a]pati" of iii. 200. 38 (Yama in 40). There is an interesting rehabilitation of the primitive idea of the Açvins in the new ascription of formal divinity to the (personified) Twilights (Sandhy[=a]) in iii. 200. 83, although this whole passage is more Puranic than epic. From the same source is the doctrine that the fruit of action expires at the end of one hundred thousand _kalpas_ (_ib._ vs. 121). One of the oddest religious freaks in the epic is the sudden exaltation of the Ribhus, the Vedic (season-gods) artisans, to the position of highest gods. In that heaven of Brahm[=a], which is above the Vedic gods' heaven, there are the holy seers and the Ribhus, 'the divinities of the gods'; who do not change with the change of _kalpas_ (as do other Vedic gods), III. 261. 19-23. One might almost imagine that their threefoldness was causative of a trinitarian identification with a supreme triad; but no, for still higher is the 'heaven of Vishnu' (vs. 37). The contrast is marked between this and _[=A]it. Br._ III. 30, where the Ribhus with some difficulty obtain the right to drink _soma_.

There is an aspect of the epic religion upon which it is necessary to touch before treating of the sectarian development. In the early philosophical period wise priests meet together to discuss theological and philosophical questions, often aided, and often brought to grief, by the wit of women disputants, who are freely admitted to hear and share in the discussion. When, however, pantheism, nay, even Vishnuism, or still more, Krishnaism, was an accepted fact upon what, then, was the wisdom of the priest expended? Apart from the epic, the best intellects of the day were occupied in researches, codifying laws, and solving, in rather dogmatic fashion, philosophical (theological) problems. The epic presents pictures of scenes which seem to be a reflection from an earlier day. But one sees often that the wisdom is commonplace, or even silly. In dialectics a sophistical subtlety is shown; in codifying moral rules, a tedious triteness; in amoebic passes of wit there are astounding exhibitions, in which the good scholiast sees treasures of wisdom, where a modern is obliged to take them in their literal dulness. Thus in III. 132. 18, a boy of twelve or ten (133. 16), who is divinely precocious, defeats the wise men in disputation at a sacrifice, and in the following section (134. 7 ff.) silences a disputant who is regarded as one of the cleverest priests. The conversation is recorded in full. In what does it consist? The opponent mentions a number of things which are one; the boy replies with a verse that gives pairs of things; the other mentions triads; the child cites groups of fours, etc., until the opponent, having cited only one half-verse of thirteens, can remember no more and stops, on which the child completes the verse, and is declared winner. The conundrums which precede must have been considered very witty, for they are repeated elsewhere: What is that wheel which has twelve parts and three hundred and sixty spokes, etc.? Year. What does not close its eye when asleep, what does not move when it is born, what has no heart, what increases by moving? These questions form one-half verse. The next half-verse gives the answers in order: fish, egg, stone, river. This wisdom in the form of puzzles and answers, _brahmodya_, is very old, and goes back to the Vedic period. Another good case in the epic is the demon Yaksha and the captured king, who is not freed till he answers certain questions correctly.[79] But although a certain amount of theologic lore may be gleaned from these questions, yet is it of greater interest to see how the priests discussed when left quietly to their own devices. And a very natural description of such a scene is extant. The priests "having some leisure"[80] or vacation from their labors in the king's house, sit down to argue, and the poet calls their discussion _vita[n.][d.][=a], i.e_., tricky sophistical argumentation, the description bearing out the justness of the phrase: "One cried, 'that is so,' and the other, 'it is not so'; one cried, 'and that is so,' and the other, 'it must be so'; and some by arguments made weak arguments strong, and strong weak; while some wise ones were always swooping down on their opponent's arguments, like hawks on meat."[81] In III. 2. 15, the type of clever priest is 'skilled in Yoga and S[=a][.n]khya,' who inculcates renunciation. This sage teaches that mental diseases are cured by Yoga; bodily, by medicine; and that desire is the root of ill.

But by far the most interesting theological discussion in the epic, if one except the Divine Song, is the conversation of the hero and heroine in regard to the cause of earthly happiness. This discussion is an old passage of the epic. The very fact that a woman is the disputant gives an archaic effect to the narration, and reminds one of the scenes in the Upanishads, where learned women cope successfully with men in displays of theological acumen. Furthermore, the theological position taken, the absence of Vishnuism, the appeal to the 'Creator' as the highest Power, take one back to a former age. The doctrine of special grace, which crops out in the Upanishads,[82] here receives its exposure by a sudden claim that the converse of the theory must also be true, viz., that to those not saved by grace and election God is as cruel as He is kind to the elect. The situation is as follows: The king and queen have been basely robbed of their kingdom, and are in exile. The queen urges the king to break the vow of exile that has been forced from him, and to take vengeance on their oppressors. The king, in reply, sings a song of forgiveness: "Forgiveness is virtue, sacrifice, Veda; forgiveness is holiness and truth; in the world of Brahm[=a] are the mansions of them that forgive." This song (III. 29. 36 ff.) only irritates the queen, who at once launches into the following interesting tirade (30. 1 ff.): "Reverence to the Creator and Disposer[83] who have confused thy mind! Hast thou not worshipped with salutation and honored the priests, gods, and manes? Hast thou not made horse-sacrifices, the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_-sacrifice, sacrifices of every sort (_pu[n.][d.]arika,[84] gosava_)? Yet art thou in this miserable plight! Verily is it an old story (_itih[=a]sa_) that 'the worlds stand under the Lord's will.' Following the seed God gives good or ill in the case of all beings. Men are all moved by the divinity. Like a wooden doll, moving its limbs in the hands of a man, so do all creatures move in the Creator's hands. Man is like a bird on a string, like a bead on a cord. As a bull is led by the nose, so man follows the will of the Creator; he never is a creature of free will (_[=a]tm[=a]dhina_). Every man goes to heaven or to hell, as he is sent by the Lord's will. God himself, occupied with noble or with wicked acts, moves about among all created things, an unknown power (not known as 'this one'). The blessed God, who is self-created, the great forefather (_prapit[=a]maha_), plays with his creatures just as a boy plays with toys, putting them together and destroying them as he chooses. Not like a father is God to His creatures; He acts in anger. When I see the good distressed, the ignoble happy, I blame the Creator who permits this inequality. What reward does God get that he sends happiness to this sinful man (thy oppressor)? If it be true that only the individual that does the act is pursued by the fruit of that act (_karma_ doctrine) then the Lord who has done this act is defiled by this base act of His. If, on the other hand, the act that one has done does not pursue and overtake the one that has done it, then the only agency on earth is brute force (this is the only power to be respected)--and I grieve for them that are without it!"

To this plea, which in its acknowledgment of the Creator as the highest god, no less than in its doubtful admission of the _karma_ doctrine, is of peculiar interest, the king replies with a refutation no less worthy of regard: "Thy argument is good, clear and smooth, but it is heterodox (_n[=a]stikyam_). I have sacrificed and practiced virtue not for the sake of reward, but because it was right. I give what I ought to give, and sacrifice as I should. That is my only idea in connection with religious observances. There is no virtue in trying to milk virtue. Do not doubt. Do not be suspicious of virtue. He that doubts God or duty goes to hell (confusion), but he that does his duty and is free from doubt goes to heaven (becomes immortal). Doubt not scriptural authority. Duty is the saving ship. No other gets to heaven. Blame not the Lord Creator, who is the highest god. Through His grace the faithful gets immortality. If religious observances were without fruit the universe would go to destruction. People would not have been good for so many ages if there had been no reward for it. This is a mystery of the gods. The gods are full of mystery and illusion."

The queen, for all the world like that wise woman in the Upanishads, whose argument, as we showed in a preceding chapter, is cut short not by counter-argument, but by the threat that if she ask too much her head will fall off, recants her errors at this rebuke, and in the following section, which evidently is a later addition, takes back what she has said. Her new expression of belief she cites as the opinion of Brihaspati (32. 61, 62); but this is applicable rather to her first creed of doubt. Perhaps in the original version this authority was cited at the end of the first speech, and with the interpolation the reference is made to apply to this seer. Something like the queen's remarks is the doubtful saying of the king himself, as quoted elsewhere (III. 273. 6): "Time and fate, and what will be, this is the only Lord. How else could this distress have come upon my wife? For she has been virtuous always."

We turn now to the great sectarian gods, who eventually unite with Brahm[=a] to form a pantheistic trinity, a conception which, as we shall show, is not older than the fifth or sixth century after Christ.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The rival heresies seem also to belong to the
East. There were thus more than half a dozen heretical
bodies of importance agitating the region about Benares at
the same time. Subsequently the Jains, who, as we have
shown, were less estranged from Brahmanism, drifted
westward, while the Buddhist stronghold remained in the East
(both, of course, being represented in the South as well),
and so, whereas Buddhism eventually retreated to Nep[=a]l
and Tibet, the Jains are found in the very centres of old
and new (sectarian) Brahmanism, Delhi, Mathur[=a], Jeypur,
[=A]jm[=i]r.]

[Footnote 2: 'The wandering of R[=a]ma,' who is the
sectarian representative of Vishnu.]

[Footnote 3: The 'Bh[=a]rata (tale)', sometimes called
Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata, or Great Bh[=a]rata. The Vishnuite
sectarianism here advocated is that of Krishna. But there is
as much Çivaism in the poem as there is Vishnuism.]

[Footnote 4: Dramatic and lyric poetry is artificial even in
language.]

[Footnote 5: Schroeder, p. 453, compares the mutual relation
of the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata and R[=a]m[=a]yana to that of the
Nibelungenlied and the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach.
Jacobi, in his 'R[=a]m[=a]yana,' has lately claimed a
considerable antiquity for the foundation legends of the
R[=a]m[=a]yana, but he does not disprove the late completed
form.]

[Footnote 6: i. 78. 10; see Bühler's Introduction.]

[Footnote 7: Jacobi seeks to put the completed nucleus at
the time of the Christian era, but it must have been quite a
large nucleus in view of the allusions to it in precedent
literature. Holtztmann puts the completion at about 1000
A.D.; but in 700 A.D., it was complete, and most scholars
will agree with Bühler that the present Mah[=a]-Bh[=a]rata
was completed by the sixth or seventh century. In 533 A.D.
it contained 100,000 distichs, that is, it was about the
size it is now.]

[Footnote 8: By the time the drama began the epic was become
a religious storehouse, and the actual epic story
represented not a fifth of the whole work, so that, with its
simple language, it must have seemed, as a literary
production, very wearisome to the minds that delighted in
the artificial compounds and romantic episodes of the drama
and lyric. But even to-day it is recited at great fêtes, and
listened to with rapt attention, as the rhapsodes with more
or less dramatic power recite its holy verses.]

[Footnote 9: The later law-books say expressly that women
and slaves have a right to use _mantra,
mantr[=a]dhik[=a]ri[n.]as._ But the later legal Smritis are
no more than disguised sectarian Pur[=a]nas.]

[Footnote 10: Compare the visit of the old Muni on the
prince in iii. 262. 8. He is _paramakopana_, 'extremely
irritable'; calls for food only to reject it; growls at the
service, etc. Everything must be done 'quickly' for him. "I
am hungry, give me food, _quick_," is his way of speaking,
etc. (12). The adjective is one applied to the All-gods,
_paramakrodhinas._]

[Footnote 11: Each spiritual teacher instructed high-caste
boys, in classes of four or five at most. In xii. 328. 41
the four students of a priest go on a strike because the
latter wants to take another pupil besides themselves and
his own son.]

[Footnote 12: The saints in the sky praise the combatants
(vii. 188. 41; viii. 15. 27); and the gods roar approval of
prowess "with roars like a lion's" (viii. 15. 33). Indra and
S[=u]rya and the Apsarasas cool off the heroes with heavenly
fans (_ib_. 90. 18). For the last divinities, see
Holtzmann's essays, ZDMG. xxxii. 290; xxxiii. 631.]

[Footnote 13: The original author of the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata
is reputed to be of low caste, but the writers of the text
as it is to-day were sectarian priests. It was written down,
it is said, by Ganeça, 'lord of the troops' of Çiva, i. 1.
79, and some historic truth lies in the tale. The priests of
Çiva were the last to retouch the poem, as we think.]

[Footnote 14: Agni-worship is partly affected by the
doctrine that the Samvartaka fire (which destroys the world
at the cycle's end) is a form of Vishnu. In Stambamitra's
hymn it is said: "Thou, O Agni, art the all, in thee rests
the universe ... Sages know thee as single yet manifold. At
the expiration of time thou burnest up the three worlds,
after having created them. Thou art the originator and
support of all beings" (i. 232. 12). Elsewhere more Vedic
epithets are given, such as 'mouth of the gods' (ii. 31.
42), though here 'the Vedas are produced for Agni's sake.'
In this same prayer one reads, 'may Agni give me energy;
wind, give me breath; earth, give me strength; and water,
give me health' (45). Agni, as well as Çiva, is the father
of Kum[=a]ra K[=a]rtikeya, _i.e_., Skanda (_ib_. 44).]

[Footnote 15: But the Açvins are Ç[=u]dras In the 'cast-hood
of gods' (the caste-order being Angirasas, [=A]dityas,
Maruts and AÇvins), xii. 208. 23-25; and Indra in one
passage refuses to associate with them, xiii. 157. 17 (cited
by Holtzmann, ZDMG. xxxii. 321).]

[Footnote 16: Manibhadra, in iii. 64, is king of Yaksash; he
is the same with Kubera, _ib_. ch. 41 (V[=a]içinavana).]

[Footnote 17: In the Cosmogony the gods are the sons of the
Manes, xii. 312. 9.]

[Footnote 18: When the gods churn the ocean to get ambrosia,
an ancient tale of the epic, Mandara is the twirling-stick.
It is situated in modern Beh[=a]r, near Bhagalpur.]

[Footnote 19: III. 42; 139. 14, where the Ganges and Jumna
are invoked together with the Vedic gods. So in III. 104
(Vindhya); and Damayanti prays to mountains. Mt. Meru is
described in III. 163. 14 (compare I. 17. 5 ff.). In I. 18.
1 ff., is related the churning of the ocean, where Indra
(vs. 12) places Mt. Mandara on Vishnu, the tortoise.]

[Footnote 20: Mbh. I. 30. 37, _mamlur m[=a]ly[=a]ni
dev[=a]n[=a]m_, etc. The older belief was that the gods'
garlands never withered; for the gods show no mortal signs,
cast no shadows, etc.]

[Footnote 21: Compare the four hymnlets to Agni in i. 232. 7
ff.]

[Footnote 22: After the mention of the thirty-three gods,
and Vishnu 'born after them,' it is said that the Açvins,
plants, and animals, are Guhyakas (vs. 40), though in vs.
35: "Tvashtar's daughter, the wife of Savitar, as a mare
(_va[d.]av[=a]_) bore in air the two Açvins" (see above), in
Vedic style. For Çruti compare iii. 207. 47; 208. 6, 11.]

[Footnote 23: i. 23. 15 ff. His name is explained fancifully
in 30. 7.]

[Footnote 24: It is at the funeral feasts to the Manes that
the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata is to be recited (i. 62. 37).]

[Footnote 25: Arjuna is an old name of Indra, and in the
epic Arjuna is Indra's son.]

[Footnote 26: The legal _dharma_ or sitting at a debtor's
door, which still obtains in India, is, so far as we know,
not a very ancient practice. But its application in the case
of heralds (who become responsible) is epic.]

[Footnote 27: This is the covenant (with friends) of
revenge; the covenant of mutual protection in the sacrifice
is indicated by the 'protection covenant' of the gods (see
the chapter on Brahmanism above, p. 192).]

[Footnote 28: See an essay on the Ruling Caste in the epic,
in JAOS. xiii. 232 ff.]

[Footnote 29: Reverend Doctor H.C. Trumbull has kindly
called our attention to Robert's _Oriental Illustrations_,
p. 148 ff., where it is said that in India today the
threshold is sacred. In reference to threshold offerings,
common in the law, Dr. Trumbull's own forthcoming book on
Covenants may be compared.]

[Footnote 30: But these are by no means the last examples of
human sacrifices. Several of the modern Hindu sects have
caused to be performed such sacrifices, even in this
century.]

[Footnote 31: This can hardly mean 'put out on the river' as
has been suggested as an explanation of the corpse 'thrown
aside' in accordance with the earlier text, AV. xviii. 2. 34
(_paropta_), where the dead are 'buried, thrown aside,
burned, or set out.']

[Footnote 32: It is assumed in XII. 364. 2 that "leaves and
air" are food enough for a great saint. Compare below the
actual asceticism of modern devotees.]

[Footnote 33: III. 25. 14: _saptar[s.]ayas ... divi
viprabh[=a]nti_. Compare _ib._ 261. 13, and the apocalypse
in VII. 192. 52 ff., where Drona's soul ascends to heaven, a
burning fire like a sun; In sharp contrast to the older
'thumbkin' soul which Yama receives and carries off in the
tale of Satyavant. Compare also Arundhati in I. 233. 29.]

[Footnote 34: Described, as above, as a place of singers and
dancers, where are the Vedic gods and sages, but no sinners
or cowards (III. 42. 34 ff.).]

[Footnote 35: From another point of view the stars are of
interest. They are favorable or unfavorable, sentient, kind,
or cruel; influential in man's fate. Compare III. 200. 84,
85, where the sun is included with the _grahas_ (planets)
which influence men, and ib. 209. 21,
_tulyanak[.s]atrama[.n]gala_.]

[Footnote 36: Other of Indra's spirits are the singers,
Gandharvas and Apsarasas; also the horse-headed Kinnaras and
C[=a]ranas, who, too, are singers; while later the
Vidy[=a]dharas belong both to Indra and to Çiva. In modern
times the South Indian Sittars, 'saints,' take their name
from the Siddhas.]

[Footnote 37: In _d[=a]nnavar[s.]i_ there is apparently the
same sort of compound as in _devar[s.]i_ and _brahmar[s.]i_,
all associated with the _siddhas_ in III. 169. 23. But
possibly 'demons and seers' may be meant.]

[Footnote 38: III. 37. 32-35 (_prapadye viçvedev[=a]n!_).]

[Footnote 39: Weber finds in the Asuras' artisan, Asura
Maya, a reminiscence of Ptolemaios. He is celebrated in I.
228. 39, and II. 1, and is the generai leader of the
_d[=a]navas_, demons, perhaps originally a folk-name of
enemies.]

[Footnote 40: See below. The formal division is, _d[=a]iva,
hatha, karma, i.e._, man's fate depends on gods, Fate, and
his own acts; although _hatha_, Fate, is often implied in
_d[=a]iva_, 'the divine power.' But they are separated, for
example, in iii. 183. 86.]

[Footnote 41: Compare the tales and xii. 148. 9, _sat[=i]_
(suttee). In regard to the horse-sacrifice, compare Yama's
law as expounded to Gautama: "The acts by which one gains
bliss hereafter are austerities, purity, truth, worship of
parents, and the horse-sacrifice." xii 129. 9, 10.]

[Footnote 42: Compare III. 200. 88, even _pr[=a]k[r.]ta_
priests are divine and terrible (much more in later books).
Here _pr[=a]k[r.]ta_, vulgar, is opposed to _samsk[r.]ta_,
refined, priests.]

[Footnote 43: III. 185. 26-31.]

[Footnote 44: "My father and mother are my highest idol; I
do for them what I do for Idols. As the three and thirty
gods, with Indra foremost, are revered of all the world, so
are my parents revered by me" (III. 214. 19, 20). The
speaker further calls them _paramam brahma_, absolute
godhead, and explains his first remark by saying that he
offers fruits and flowers to his parents as if they were
idols. In IV. 68. 57 a man salutes (_abhivadya_) his
father's feet on entering into his presence. For the worship
of parents compare XII. 108. 3; 128. 9, 10; 267. 31, XIII.
75. 26: "heroes in obedience to the mother."]

[Footnote 45: The marked Brahm[=a] Creator-worship is a bit
of feminine religious conservatism (see below).]

[Footnote 46: Weber has shown that men of low caste took a
subordinate part even in the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ sacrifice.]

[Footnote 47: In II. 18. there is a brand-new festival
appointed in honor of a female fiend, etc.]

[Footnote 48: III. 84. 83 (87. 11). We see the first idea in
the injunction of Indra to 'wander,' as told in the tale of
Dogstail in the Brahmana (see above).]

[Footnote 49: The usual formula (also Avestan) is 'pure in
thought, speech, and act.' The comparison of the six senses
to unrestrained wild horses is familiar (III. 211. 24).]

[Footnote 50: There is, further, no unanimity in regard to
the comparative value of holy places. In XII. 152. 11,
Sarasvat[=i] is holier than Kurukshetra, etc.]

[Footnote 51: At Pushkara is Brahm[=a]'s only (?)
shrine--the account is legendary, but half historical. The
modern shrine at Ajm[=i]r seems to be meant.]

[Footnote 52: Ganges, according to epic legend, was a
goddess who sacrificed herself for men when the earth was
parched and men perished. Then Ganges alone of immortals
took pity on men, and flinging herself from heaven became
the stream divine. Her name among the gods is Alakanand[=a],
the 'Blessed Damosel.']

[Footnote 53: In iii. 87.10, "ten descendants and ten
ancestors." The epic, i. 170. 19, regards the Sarasvat[=i]
and Jumna as parts of the sevenfold Ganges, which descends
from the heavens as these three, and also as the Vitasth[=a]
(Rathasth[=a]), Saray[=u], Gomat[=i], and Gan[d.]ak[=i];
being itself 'V[=a]itara[n.][=i] among the Manes.' So xii.
322. 32.]

[Footnote 54: According to the commentator the "(northern
altar of the Father-god) Kurukshetra-Samantapañcakam,
between Tarantuka, Arantuka, R[=a]mahrada, and Macakruka,"
mentioned in iii. 83. 208, lies in Benares; but this must be
a late addition, as Kurukshetra's position is without doubt.
Compare i. 2. i ff.; ix. 53. i, 23-25.]

[Footnote 55:
In _ib_. 47, _mah[=a] d[r.]tiriv[=a]dhm[=a]ta[h.]
p[=a]pas_, there is an interesting
reminiscence of Rig Veda, vii. 89. 2. The rules of virtue
are contained in Vedas and law-books, and the practice of
instructed men, _ib_. 83 (the 'threefold sign of
righteousness'). A Çruti cited from _dharmas_ is not
uncommon, but the latter word is not properly used in so
wide a sense. See note below, p. 378.]

[Footnote 56: Some scholars see in the use of the verb,
_piç_, a Vedic picturing of gods; but in all instances where
this occurs it may be only the poet's mind-picture of the
god 'adorned' with various glories.]

[Footnote 57: In VII. 201. 69, Çiva wears an
_aksham[=a]l[=a]._ In XII. 38. 23, the C[=a]rv[=a]ka wears
an _aksha_, for he is disguised as a _bhikshu_, beggar.]

[Footnote 58: It must be remembered that the person using
the _mantra_ probably did not understand what the words
meant. The epic says, in fact, that the Vedas are
unintelligible: _brahma pracuracchalam_, XII. 329. 6. But an
older generation thought the same. In Nirukta, I. 15,
K[=a]utsa is cited as saying that the _mantras_ are
meaningless.]

[Footnote 59: Compare xii. 174. 46: "The joy of earth and
heaven obtained by the satisfaction of desire is not worth
one-sixteenth of the bliss of dead desire."]

[Footnote 60: By generosity the Hindu poet means 'to
priests.' In III. 200, where this is elaborated, sixteen
persons are mentioned (vs. 4) to whom to give is not
meritorious.]

[Footnote 61: Little is known in regard to the play. The
dice are thrown on a board, 'odd and even' determine the
contest here (III. 34. 5) _ayuja and yuja_. At times speed
in counting is the way to win (Nala). Dicing is a regular
part of the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ sacrifice (Weber, p. 67), but
not, apparently, an ancient trait.]

[Footnote 62: The snakes belong to Varuna and his region, as
described in v. 98. It is on the head of the earth-upholding
snake Çesha that Vishnu muses, III. 203.12. The reverence
paid to serpents begins to be ritual in the Atharva Veda.
Even in the Rig Veda there is the deification of the
cloud-snake. In later times they answered to the Nymphs,
being tutelary guardians of streams and rivers (Buhler). In
i. 36, Çesha Ananta supports earth, and it is told why he
does so.]

[Footnote 63: These three are the witnesses for the soul at
the judgment, xii. 322. 55. V[=a]yu, Wind, is said to be
even mightier than Indra, Yama, Indra and Varuna, _ib._ 155.
9, 10.]

[Footnote 64: But (in a later account) not if he dies
ignobly; for if one is slain by a man of low caste he goes
to hell, xii. 298. 7.]

[Footnote 65: Demoniac Indras (_i.e._, demon-leaders) and
seers, xii. 166. 26.]

[Footnote 66: 'The god of gods,' who rains blood in i. 30.
36, is declared by the commentator to be--Parjanya! The gods
are here defending Soma from the heavenly bird, Garuda, and
nearly die of fright.]

[Footnote 67: xii. 313. 1-7, with the same watery finale as
is usual.]

[Footnote 68: The morning prayer, etc, to the sun is, of
course, still observed, _e.g._, vii. 186. 4. Indra is
thanked for victory and invoked for rain (iii. 117. 11; i.
25. 7; Holtzmann, _loc. cit._ p. 326) in an hymn that is
less fulsome than those to Agni and S[=u]rya.]

[Footnote 69: 111. 222, Atharvan's rediscovery of fire. As
to Çrutis they are probably no more valuable than Smritis.
The one given in iii. 208. 11, _agnayo
in[=a]i[.n]sak[=a]m[=a]s_, seems to be adapted (_cf._
[=A]çv. Gs. iv. 1; the adjective, by the way, is still
starred in Pw.). So [=A]çv. Gs. i. 15. 9, is repeated
Mbh[=a]; i. 74. 63, as a "Vedic _mantragr[=a]ma_ "
_(ang[=a]d ang[=a]t sambhavasi_, etc.).]

[Footnote 70: The devils are on the Prince's side, and wish
to keep him from death. The proverb is found _ib_. 252. 2;
_[=a]tmaty[=a]g[=i] hy adho y[=a]ti_. The holy-grass is used
in much the same way when R[=a]ma lies down by Ocean,
resolved to die or persuade Ocean to aid him. The rites (vs.
24) are "in the Upanishad."]

[Footnote 71: According to XII. 59. 80-84, the 'treatise of
Brihaspati' comes from Çiva through Brahm[=a] and Indra.]

[Footnote 72: In Buddhism Yama's messengers are Yakkhas.
Scherman, _loc. cit_. p. 57.]

[Footnote 73: Compare II. 22. 26: _gaccha yamak[s.]ayam_,
'go to Yama's destruction'; whereas of a good man it is
said, 'I will send Indra a guest' (VII, 27.8).]

[Footnote 74: _Yamasya sadana_. III. 11. 66. He now has
hells, and he it is who will destroy the world. He is called
'the beautiful' (III. 41. 9), so that he must, if one take
this Rudrian epithet with the citation above, be loosely
(popularly) identified with Çiva, as god of death. See the
second note below.]

[Footnote 75: The old story of a mortal's visit to Yama to
learn about life hereafter (_Çat. Br._ xi. 6.1; Katha Up.,
of N[=a]ciketas) is repeated in xiii. 71.]

[Footnote 76: v. 42. 6: _Çiva[h.] çiv[=a]n[=a]m açivo
'çiv[=a]n[=a]m_ (compare xii 187. 27: 'only fools say that
the man is dead'). Dharma (Justice) seems at times to be the
same with Yama. M[=a]ndavya goes to Dharma's _sadana_, home
(compare Yama's _sadana_), just as one goes to Yama's, and
interviews him on the justice of his judgments. As result of
the angry interview the god is reborn on earth as a man of
low caste, and the law is established that a child is not
morally responsible for his acts till the twelfth year of
his age (i.108. 8 ff.). When Kuru agrees to give half his
life in order to the restoration of Pramadvar[=a], his wife,
they go not to Yama but to Dharma to see if the exchange may
be made, and he agrees (i. 9. 11 ff., a masculine
S[=a]vitr[=i]i).]

[Footnote 77: The hells are described in xii. 322. 29 ff.
The sight of 'golden trees' presages death (_ib._ 44).]

[Footnote 78: The ordinary rule is that "no sin is greater
than untruth," xii. 162. 24, modified by "save in love and
danger of life" (Laws, _passim_).]

[Footnote 79: The same scenes occur in Buddhistic writings,
where Yakkhas ask conundrums. For example, in the
_Hemavatasutta_ and _[=A]tavakasutta_ the Yakkha asks what
is the best possession, what brings bliss, and what is
swettest, to which the answer is: faith, law, and truth,
respectively.]

[Footnote 80: _Karm[=a]ntaram up[=a]santas, i.e.,
vir[=a]mak[=a]lam upagacchantas_.]

[Footnote 81: II. 36. 3 ff. The phraseology of vs. 5 is
exactly that of [Greek: _ton êttô ldgon kreittô poithnsi_],
but the Pundit's arguments are 'based on the law.']

[Footnote 82: See above. In a later period (see below) the
question arises in regard to the part played by Creator and
individual in the workings of grace, some claiming that man
was passive; some, that he had to strive for grace.]

[Footnote 83: Perhaps ironical. In V. 175. 32, a woman cries
out: "Fie on the Creator for this bad luck," conservative in
belief, and outspoken in word.]

[Footnote 84: III. 30. 17. The _gosava_ is a
'cow-sacrifice.' The _pu[n.][d.]ar[=i]ka_ is not explained
(perhaps 'elephant-sacrifice').]

* * * * *