INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF mediator in times of feud, and a consoler in times of affliction. Of course it is not altogether impossible for Krishna to have been present at the Swayamvara, or for him to have interposed to allay the wrath of the disappointed Kshatriyas; but the distance from Dwáraká to the scene of the tradition, and the rude character of Krishna as displayed in the earlier traditions, militate very strongly against the truth of the legend. No further allu sion to the ex racter of the marriage. the alliance, as promoting the fortunes of the Pandavas. The narrative of the Swayamvara of Draupadí ceptional cha having been brought to a legitimate conclusion by her marriage, no further allusion is made to the Significance of exceptional nature of the union. Henceforth the significance of the alliance wholly turns upon the happy effects which it produced upon the fortunes of the Pandavas. Indeed, there are indications in the Mahá Bhárata that the marriage was a planned thing. Raja Drupada must have been equally as desirous of the assistance of the Pándavas in revenging himself upon Drona, as the Pándavas had been desirous of an alliance with Drupada to enable them to recover possession of the Raj. It is accordingly said that Drupada purposely selected the huge bow with which the feat of shooting the golden fish was performed, in the hope that he might thus gain Arjuna for a son-in-law, inasmuch as no one but Arjuna would be strong enough to string the bow. But the question is scarcely worth the trouble of Alarm of the Weighing probabilities. It will be sufficient to say that the Kauravas were much alarmed at the alliance; and that the Maháraja summoned a Council to consider what steps should be taken to meet the crisis which had occurred. Kauravas at the alliance. The ancient Councils of the Kshatriyas present a strange interest, inasmuch as they formed the germ INDIA. PART II. Primitive character of the an cient Councils of the Kshatriyas. the speeches to and Thucydides. from which the European Parliaments of the Middle HISTORY OF Ages undoubtedly sprang, and they still linger in Hindú capitals under the name of Durbars. Unfortunately, the speeches which have been preserved in the Mahá Bhárata are rarely characterized by the Inferiority of fire and dignity which is breathed from the lips of those in Homer Homeric heroes; and are wholly wanting in that vigorous thought which finds expression in the orations which appear in Thucydides. Indeed, they have passed through a very different crucible, and are little better than childish conversations, not unfrequently lengthened out with Brahmanical details. But still the scene which transpired in the rude entrance Hall of the palace at Hastinápur is Scene in the very suggestive. All the Chieftains of the royal Hastinapur. house are said to have assembled on the occasion Council-hall at poses a division tween the Kau Pándavas. adorned with garlands. There were the grave elders desirous of peace, and the turbulent youths who were clamorous for war; whilst the weak and indulgent Maháraja sat in their midst, his viewless orbs hopelessly turned upon the assembly. Bhíshma, Bhishma prothe patriarch of the house, at length proposed that of the Raj be the Pandavas should be invited to return to Has- ravas and the tinápur, and that the Raj should then be divided between the sons of Dhritaráshtra and the sons of Pándu. This counsel is said to have prevailed. Vidura was sent to bring the Pándavas and their wife to Hastinapur; and Raja Drupada, in behalf of his sons-in-law, was induced to agree to the terms of reconciliation. Accordingly, the Pándavas set Return of the out for Hastinapur accompanied by their mother Hastinapur. and joint wife; and all the people of the Raj rejoiced greatly at the return of the sons of Raja Pándu, and went out in great multitudes to welcome them back to the house of their fathers. Pandavas to HISTORY OF the division of the Raj: not a division of territory, but a division of the family. CHAPTER V. REIGN OF THE PANDAVAS IN KHANDAVA-PRASTHA. THE division of the Raj of Bhárata indicates an PART II. important event in the history of the Aryan invasion True nature of of India. It was not so much a division of territory, as a division of the family, and perchance to some extent a division of the people; one branch remaining at Hastinapur, whilst the other went out to wrest a new country from the aborigines, and clear and cultivate the lands. It has already been seen that the Raj of Hastinapur was in reality nothing more than a certain area of cultivated lands and pastures, which furnished subsistence for a band of Aryan settlers under the rule of the Maháraja. It will now be seen that the so-called division was a migration; that the Pándavas, accompanied perhaps by servants or retainers, departed out of the country on the banks of the Ganges, and proceeded to a country on the banks of the Jumná, where they cleared the jungle, and established a Raj of their Before proceeding further, however, it will be necessary to reproduce the legend of the migra Tradition of the migration of the country of tion. After many days Maháraja Dhritaráshta sent for YudPandavas to the hishthira and his brethren, and said to them in the presence Khandava-pras- of Bhíshma:-"It is most proper for you to go to the country of Khandava-prastha, and I will make over to you the half of the Raj." And Bhishma said :-" The Maharaja tha. INDIA. PART II. the city of Indra has spoken well; so go now and dwell in the country of HISTORY OF Khándava-prastha, and take charge of your share of the Raj." So the Pandavas took their leave of the Maháraja, and of Bhíshma, and of Drona, and of all their kinsmen, and proceeded toward the south until they came to the country of Khandava-prastha on the banks of the river Jumná; and Pandavas found there they built a fort, and collected such a number of prastha on the inhabitants that the city resembled the city of Indra, and the city was named Indra-prastha. And the Raj of Yudhishthira and his brethren became famous throughout the world, Their famous for they punished all evil-doers, and subdued all the robbers round about them, and any one who suffered wrong went to them for succour, like children going to a father. Jumná. administration. confusion be sion of the Raj and the migra davas. The first difficulty that occurs in the foregoing Origin of the tradition is the confusion which exists between the tween the dividivision of the Raj and the migration of the Pánda- tion of the Panvas. This confusion probably originated in the application of the name of Bhárata, not to any particular Aryan settlement, but to the aggregate of settlements, and probably to an indefinite tract of unknown and unsubdued country beyond; and thus it was that the term Bhárata-varsha became gradually applied to the whole of India. Under such circumstances the Maháraja might have made over to Pándavas the forest of Khándava, as a portion of the assumed empire of Bhárata; but after the Pándavas had once cleared the land, and established themselves in the country, the new Raj would be emphatically their own. from Omission in the The tradition of all new A second difficulty in the tradition arises an omission which is not without significance. Pándavas had evidently migrated into a country, and yet nothing whatever is said about the clearing of the jungle. Now it is difficult to conceive that such an important event should have reference to the clearing of the jungle. INDIA. incident pre HISTORY OF found no place in the original tradition; and yet if PART II. it had been preserved in its integrity by the later compilers, it would have undoubtedly militated against two deeply-rooted ideas, namely, that the Raj of Bhárata extended over the whole of India, and that the Kshatriyas were warriors who never Memory of the stooped to the cultivation of the soil. In a later porserved in a later tion of the story, however, a myth has been preserved, which is entitled, "The Burning of the Forest of Khándava;" and notwithstanding the wild and absurd details of the story, it sufficiently indicates the true character of the Aryan invasion, and the occupations of the early Kshatriya settlers.' The essential portions of the myth may now be related as follows: myth. Now it came to pass that Krishna paid a visit to the Pandavas at Indra-prastha, and Arjuna invited him to go out hunting in the great forest of Khándava. So everything was made ready, and Arjuna went out with Krishna to hunt in the great forest; and when they came to a pleasant spot they sat down and drank wine, whilst the musicians played before them, and the singers and story-tellers amused them with songs and stories. At length on a certain day a Bráhman came to Krishna and Arjuna; and he was very large and fat, and his colour was yellow, and his form was frightful to behold; but when Krishna and Arjuna saw the Bráhman they received him with great respect, and seated him beside themselves. The Bráhman then said:-"I am Agni (fire), and a great Rishi has offered sacrifice and poured oil upon the altar for the space of twelve years, so that my strength is gone and my colour has become yellow from drinking up the oil: I therefore desired to consume the great forest of Khándava, so that my strength and colour 'The myth of "The Burning of the Forest of Khandava" is not related in the Maha Bhárata, until after the mythical exile of Arjuna, which will appear hereafter. |