INDIA. PART II. Questionable beauty. HISTORY OF difficulty to the compiler, as she had vowed that it should never be tied up again until Bhíma's fingers were dripping with the blood of Duhsásana. After remaining dishevelled during an exile of twelve years in the jungle, it is now said to have been twisted into one string like a serpent; although it is difficult to perceive in what respect this twisting differed from tying. Again, the alleged beauty of Draupadi seems to be questionable. Supposing that she was only sixteen at the time of her marriage, the twelve years of Arjuna's exile, and the twelve years of exile in the jungle, added to the intervening period when Arjuna and his brethren were engaged in conquering the surrounding Rajas, would make her a woman of forty or forty-five years of age; a stage in life at which Oriental women generally have lost every vestige of beauty. The twelve years of Arjuna's exile, and eleven of the years of the exile of the Pándavas in the jungle, may perhaps be treated as mythical; but still it is difficult to believe that the wife of five husbands, who was also the mother of five sons, should have been endowed with such irresistible charms as those which are ascribed to the maid-servant who appears in the independent tradition of Kíchaka's amour. Alleged refine. Moreover, the manners of Draupadí appear to have been considerably refined by her long exile. Whilst in the jungle she had hospitably offered to wash the feet of Jayadratha; but when engaged as a waitingmaid in the palace, she expressly stipulated that she should not be called upon to wash the feet of any It will also be remembered that the waitingserved her from maid suffered the indignity of a kick; but the Brahmanical compilers appear to have considered ment of Draupadi's manners. Myth that the the indignity of a kick. one. INDIA. PART II. that such an affront would be derogatory to the HISTORY OF memory of Draupadí. Accordingly it is said that the Sun god, to whom she had prayed for succour, sent down two invisible spirits who preserved her from the intended insult." respecting the As regards the association of the Pándavas with Mythical details the story of the amour, there are many particulars Pandavas. introduced which serve to prove the mythical character of the connection. The statement that the teacher of dice and the head cook were sitting in Council with the Raja and his Chieftains, may be honourable to the Pándavas, but is incompatible with their position in the Raja's household. The remonstrances of Draupadi on account of the low pursuits of herself and husbands appear to be of a mythical character; and so is the reply of Bhíma in which he refers to the story of Ráma and Síta. The battle scenes are all mythical, especially Arjuna's successive combats with the different Kaurava Chieftains; but the declaration of Arjuna as he drove away from his and captives, in encounter, that he would not slay a man excepting on the field of battle, and that fugitives and captives were as women in his eyes, is evidently intended to convey a moral rule which was calculated to migitate the horrors of ancient warfare. The statement that Yudhishthira, the dice-player, was left in command of the army, whilst his brothers set off in pursuit of Susarman, is simply absurd. The crowning piece of Ridiculous dischildishness is the ridiculous quarrel between Yudhishthira and the Raja, as to whether Uttar or Arjuna had defeated the Kauravas; and it is diffi This incident is omitted in the traditionary account already given in the text, as it would only have distracted the attention of the reader; and indeed it is so elumsily introduced as to be really devoid of effect, for notwithstanding the divine interposition in her favour, Draupadí continued to complain of the kick. Declaration of Arjuna as regards fugitives tended as a moral rule. pute between Yudhishthira and Raja Viráta. INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF cult to choose between the foolish conceit of the Raja and the senseless obstinacy of Yudhishthira. The idea that the honour of Yudhishthira was saved because the blood from his nose did not fall upon the ground may have had some foundation in local sentiment; although the sentiment is in itself unmeaning, and no traces of it can be found in any other tradition. Marriage of Ab himanyu and as a myth. The marriage of the son of Arjuna with the Uttara treated daughter of Raja Viráta is the salient point in the story of the thirteenth year, for it is the principal connecting link between Viráta and the Pándavas. The whole of the legend, however, evidently belongs to the Krishna group, and is altogether independent of the history of the Pándavas. The voluptuous love of women and wine, which finds full expression in the story of Kíchaka, especially connects that story with the worship of Krishna, whilst it is altogether foreign to the sentiments which appear in the traditionary history of the Pándavas. Again, by accepting the tradition that the Raj of Viráta is to be fixed in Guzerat, and not in eastern Bengal, all geographical difficulties in the way of associating the tradition with the history of Krishna are at once removed, for Guzerat is the especial scene of the later adventures of Krishna. But the geographical difficulties in the way of associating the tradition with the history of the Pándavas would be as insurmountable as ever; for Viráta would still be at least six hundred miles from Hastinapur; and it is incredible that negotiations for peace, and preparations for war, should be conducted at so vast an interval. Then even the fact of the marriage of the son of INDIA. PART II. Arjuna with the daughter of Viráta has a mythical HISTORY OF aspect; for the story that Arjuna was married to Subhadrá, the sister of Krishna, who gave birth to Abhimanyu, has already been proved to be a myth; though still a myth which is peculiarly connected with the history of Krishna. Finally, from the After the mar moment of the marriage, Raja Viráta fades away and appears and Raja Drupada becomes the important personage. It riage Viráta dis Drupada takes the lead. is Raja Drupada who subsequently sent his family priest as envoy to Hastinapur; and it was his son Dhrishta-dyumna who was elected to be Commander-in-Chief of the allied armies of the Pandavas. Moreover it is probable that the city of Drupada was in the immediate neighbourhood of Hastinapur ; whilst it is certain that the city of Viráta was at least six hundred miles off. Accordingly it may be inferred that the negotiations and preparations were Subsequent necarried on from the city of Drupada; and that the whole story of the amour of Kíchaka, ending with of Raja the marriage of Abhimanyu with Uttará, is a myth connected with the history of Krishna, which has been forcibly grafted on to the history of the Pándavas. gotiations and preparations carried on in the Drupada. by the story upon the religious belief of the ab origines as re gards ghosts and demons. There is one other feature in the story which Ridicule thrown seems worthy of notice, and that is the ridicule which it appears to throw upon the popular belief in ghosts and demons, and which finds full expression in the universal alarm which prevailed after the death of Kichaka. This fear of ghosts is general amongst the Hindús, as indeed it is amongst most nations; but the manifestation of that fear in the form of propitiating the demons by offerings, is a peculiar characteristic of some of the aboriginal races. Accord |