The History of Antiquity Volume Iv Part 7

At length he recognises the majesty of the Brahman, submits to Brahmanic ordinances, and distinguishes himself by sanct.i.ty to such a degree "that he became like a Brahman, and possessed all the qualifications of one."[186]

In the Vishnu-Purana Sudas is the fiftieth successor of Ikshvaku on the throne of the Kocalas. His priest was Vasishtha; and Vicvamitra, the son of a great Kshatriya, the king of Kanyakubja (Kanoja), wished to drive him out. One day, while hunting, Sudas met a Brahman, who would not move out of the way for him, and he struck him with his whip. The Brahman was cakti, the eldest of Vasishtha's hundred sons. cakti p.r.o.nounced on the king the curse that he should become a cannibal, and the curse was fulfilled. But by the help of an evil spirit Vicvamitra was able to bring the consequences of the curse on the sons of Vasishtha; cakti himself and all his brothers were eaten by the king. In despair at the death of his sons, Vasishtha sought to put an end to his own life, but in vain. When at length he returned to his settlement, he found that the widow of his eldest son was pregnant; and when she brought forth Paracara the hope of progeny revived in him. But Sudas desired to eat Paracara also. Then the holy Vasishtha blew on Sudas, sprinkled him with holy water, and took the curse from him, and in return the king promised never to despise Brahmans, to obey their commands, and show them all honour. And when Paracara grew up, and wished to avenge the death of his father, Vasishtha told him that under the rule of Kritavirya (he is said to have reigned over a tribe of the Yadavas) the Bhrigus, the priests of the king, had become rich in corn and gold by his liberality. Arjuna, the successor of Kritavirya, had fallen into distress, and sought aid from the Bhrigus. Then some of them buried their possessions out of fear of the Kshatriyas, and when by accident a Kshatriya discovered the treasure hidden in the house of a Bhrigu they slew all the Bhrigus. But their widows fled to the Himalayas, and there one of them brought forth Aurva, who desired to avenge the death of the Bhrigus by the slaughter of the Kshatriyas. But the spirits of the holy Bhrigus warned him to give up his pa.s.sion, and curb his anger; by concealment they had roused the anger of the Kshatriyas, in order to arrive the sooner in heaven. In like manner Paracara abandoned the idea of avenging his father.

No greater historical value is to be attached to a legend of the destruction of the Kshatriyas by a Brahman. Gadhi, the father of Vicvamitra, had given his daughter to wife to a saint, Richika, the son of Aurva, of the race of the Bhrigus. She bore Jamadagni to Richika, who lived as an eremite after the example of his father. One day Arjuna came to the abode of Jamadagni, and though he received the king with honour, Arjuna caused the calf of his cow to be carried away. Then Paracurama, _i.e._ Rama with the axe, the youngest son of Jamadagni, slew the king, and the king's sons slew Jamadagni. To avenge the death of his father, Paracurama swore to destroy all the Kshatriyas from the earth. Thrice seven times with his irresistible axe he cut down the Kshatriyas, and appeased the manes of Jamadagni and the Bhrigus with the blood of the slain. Then he offered a great sacrifice to Indra, and presented the earth to the saint Kacyapa. But Kacyapa gave it to the Brahmans, and went into the forest. Then the stronger oppressed the weaker, and the Vaicyas and cudras behaved themselves wickedly towards the wives of the Brahmans, and the earth besought Kacyapa for a protector and a king; a few Kshatriyas were still left among the women; and Paracara had brought up Sarvakarma, the son of Sudas. And Kacyapa did as the earth entreated him, and made the son of Sudas and the other Kshatriyas to be kings.

This was long before the great war.[187] In the Ramayana, Paracurama rebels when Rama has broken civa's great bow. All were in terror lest he should again destroy the Kshatriyas. But Rama also strings Paracurama's great bow, shoots the arrow to the sky, not towards Paracurama, "because he was a Brahman," and Paracurama returned to Mount Mahendra.

FOOTNOTES:

[151] Cunningham, "Survey," 1. 301 ff.

[152] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 168 _n._

[153] La.s.sen, "Ind. Alterth." 1^2, 168.

[154] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 671, 951.

[155] Manu, 1. 91.

[156] La.s.sen, _loc. cit._ 1^2, 966 _n._

[157] "Samaveda," 1, 6, 1, 4, 5, in Benfey's translation.

[158] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 5, 266 ff.

[159] "Rigveda," 1, 40, 5, in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 272 ff.

[160] "Rigveda," 10, 68, 8 ff. Roth, "Z. D. M. G." 1. 75.

[161] _Brahman_, from the root _barh_, connected with the root _vardh_ (to become, to grow), means to raise, to elevate. The masc. _brahman_ means "he who elevates, makes to increase;" the neuter _brahman_ means first, "growth," the "creative power," and then, "the elevating and elevated mood," the prayer and sacred form of words, the creative, reproducing power. A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 2, 303; 9, 305.

[162] Roth, _loc. cit._ 1. 73.

[163]Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 382.

[164] So in Manu, _e.g._ 6. 65. _Atman_ means "_breathing_;"

_paramatman_ "the highest breathing."

[165] "Rigveda," 10, 72, 1-3; 10, 129, 1-6, in Muir, _loc. cit._ 5, 48 ff. 356.

[166] Manu, 1, 28, 29.

[167] "Rigveda," 10, 90; Manu, 1, 31 and in the Puranas; Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 5, 371. A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 9, 7.

[168] Manu, 1, 88-91, and in many other places.

[169] In Manu, 4, 88-90 (cf. 12, 75, 76) eight h.e.l.ls are mentioned and described, in each of which the torments grow worse as the offences are more serious. The Buddhists retain these eight hot h.e.l.ls, and add eight cold; Burnouf, "Introduction a l'histoire du Bouddhisme," p. 320, 366, 367, 201. The Singhalese have increased the number to 136, the Siamese to 462. Koppen, "Relig. des Buddha," s. 244. Cf. A. Weber, in "Z. D. M.

G." 9, 237.

[170] _e.g._ Manu, 9, 335.

[171] Manu, 12, 43, 44.

[172] Manu, 12, 59.

[173] Manu, 12, 55.

[174] Manu, 12, 62, 64.

[175] Manu, 12, 67.

[176] Manu, 12, 58.

[177] Manu, 12, 59. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 274. Bohlen has already observed that many of these regenerations are merely fanciful, "Indien,"

24.

[178] Manu, 6, 61-63.

[179] In the sixth century B.C. the Brahmanic arrangement of the state was in full force in the cities on the Ganges, and carried out most strictly. Hence it must have obtained the upper hand about 800 B.C. at the latest. It was not only established by law about the year 600 B.C., but the doctrine of the Brahmans had already created scholastic and heterodox systems of philosophy. Before this system could become current, the idea of Brahman must have been discovered; the strong elements of resistance in the ancient life and faith must have been overcome. This would occupy a s.p.a.ce of about two centuries, and may therefore have filled the period from 1000 to 800 B.C., as a.s.sumed in the text. Buddhism required a s.p.a.ce of three centuries in order to become the recognised religion in the kingdom of Magadha. Before the idea of the world-soul could be discovered, the hymns of the Veda must have reached a certain point of combination and synopsis, and the confusing mult.i.tude of divine forms must have been sufficiently felt to call forth the opposite idea of unity. From the book of the law it is clear that the three Vedas were in existence before it was drawn up. It refers perpetually to the triple Veda. The evidence of the Sutras proves that four Vedas existed at the time of the appearance of Buddha. If these were in existence in the sixth century the three which are acknowledged to be older must have existed as early as the seventh century B.C.

[180] Manu, 2, 6, 12, 18, 20.

[181] Manu, 9, 67.

[182] Manu, 7, 38-42, 8, 110.

[183] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 1, 268, 305.

[184] Muir, _loc. cit._ 1, 297 ff.

[185] Muir, _loc. cit._ 1, 307 ff.

[186] Muir, _loc. cit._ 1, 157.

[187] Muir, _loc. cit._ 1, 151, 200.

CHAPTER V.

THE OLD AND THE NEW RELIGION.

In the land of the Ganges the Brahmans had gained a great victory and carried out a great reform. A new G.o.d had thrown the old G.o.ds into the background, and with the conception of this new G.o.d was connected a new view of the world, at once abstract and fantastic. From this in turn followed a new arrangement of the state, and of the orders, which were now of divine origin, as direct products of creation, and thus became irrevocably fixed. The monarchy itself was of humbler descent than the Brahmans, the first of the earth; to them the warlike n.o.bles were made inferior, while the doctrines of h.e.l.l and regeneration, which the Brahmans put in the place of the old ideas of life after death, must gradually have brought about the subjugation of the national mind and heart to the new religion.

When the Brahmans succeeded in establis.h.i.+ng their claims in the land of the Ganges about the year 800 B.C. (as we ventured to a.s.sume), the old sacrificial songs and invocations, which they had imported with them from the land of the Indus, were no doubt to a great extent already written down. When the various families of minstrels and priests had first exchanged with each other their special treasures of ancient prayers; when the Brahmans, pa.s.sing beyond the borders of the separate states, had become amalgamated into one order, and had thus consolidated the existing stock of traditional formulae and ritual--it must have been felt necessary to preserve this valuable treasure in its greatest possible extent, and, considering the belief of the Aryas in the magical power of these forms, as securely as possible from any change. Whatever might be the a.s.sistance which the compact form of these invocations lent to the memory, the body of songs which had now pa.s.sed from tradition and the possession of the separate families into the general possession of the orders, was too various and comprehensive,--minute and verbal accuracy was too important,--for the resources of even the most careful oral teaching, the strongest and most practised memory. But the process of writing them down was not accomplished at once. In the first case, no doubt, each family added to its own possessions the store of the family most closely connected with it.[188] Beginning from different points, after manifold delays, extensions, and enlargements from the invocations first composed in the land of the Ganges, which allow us to trace the change from the old views to the new system, the collection must at last have comprised all that was essential in the forms and prayers used at offerings and sacrifices.

We do not know how far back the use of writing extends with the Indians.

According to the account of Nearchus, they wrote on cotton, beaten hard; other Greeks speak of the bark of trees, while native evidence teaches us that the leaves of the umbrella palm were used for the purpose.