INDIA. PART I. Characteristics of the Kshatriyas. HISTORY OF cordingly in a later age he readily falsified those traditions for the purpose of promulgating Brahmanical ideas and exalting the pretensions of his own caste; and it was doubtless by this process that the Bráhmans ultimately succeeded in forming themselves into a sacerdotal community, who sought to bring all classes and ranks, Turanians as well as Aryans, under the yoke of ecclesiastical or caste supremacy. The Kshatriyas, on the other hand, were eaters of flesh meat, and delighted in war and the chase, and especially gloried in the exploits of their forefathers. The consequence was that they possessed a rich stock of traditions which appear to have been handed down from generation to generation in the form of ballads. Thus the Kshatriyas appear as a fighting and conquering class, and originally exercised such influence over the masses as to be known as Kings or Rajas, whilst their god Indra was worshipped as the emblem of sovereignty. Ultimately, however, they appear to have degenerated into effeminate priest-ridden sovereigns and mercenary soldiers; and whilst such sovereigns served the Bráhmans out of superstitious fear, the soldiers entered the service of the Vaisyas for the sake of pay. Extent of the separation be mans and Kshatriyas in the Vedic age. The question of how far the two classes of Bráhtween the Brah-mans and Kshatriyas were really separated from each other in Vedic times does not appear to be indicated in the Rig-Veda; but it may be inferred from the data which will appear hereafter. Originally they probably grew up side by side, and their cause was identical, namely, the subjugation of the country. Indeed it is by no means improbable that the duties of priest and warrior were originally fulfilled by one and the same individual, the father, INDIA. manical ascend the Chieftain, or the Raja. Gradually, however, HISTORY OF the Chieftains or Rajas may have found it convenient PART I. to engage priests specially for the performance of Rise of Brahsacrifices and other rites and ceremonies; and at ancy. such a stage, a stage to which the original story of the Mahá Bhárata appears to belong, the haughty Kshatriyas would look down with some disdain upon the mercenary or mendicant priest. But in due course the priests, as already indicated, formed themselves into a class, and exercised a vast and mysterious influence upon the masses; and in later times of peace and luxury, they established a spiritual and caste ascendancy, which overshadowed and overawed the mightiest Raja of the Kshatriyas. Indeed whilst the more ancient Kshatriyas seem to have regarded the Bráhmans with much the same disdain as might have been exhibited by the halfconverted warriors of the Dark Ages towards the wandering Friars, no priest or confessor ever possessed a more powerful sway over King or Baron, than was exercised by the later Bráhmans over the Hindú Rajas. institutions in gin. The original traditions and institutions which Traditions and appear in the Mahá Bhárata and Rámáyana are rata and Rámáundoubtedly of Kshatriya origin, and in their Kshatriya orichiefly of earliest form were probably little more than ballads, which were sung or chaunted by bards and eulogists at the feasts and festivals of the Kshatriyas. Under such circumstances the details may have been Exaggerations exaggerated by the old Kshatriya bards in order to ments of the glorify the ancient Rajas, and gratify the Chieftains present by extravagant praises of their ancestors. Occasionally too the bards seem to have introduced poetical embellishments, and artificial turns of a and embellish Kshatriya bards. PART I. ical compilers of rata. Their fal sifications and HISTORY OF plot, which were more in accordance with a later INDIA. and luxurious stage of civilization, and also better calculated to awaken and keep alive the interest of Later Brahman- large and mixed audiences. But the latest comthe Maha Bhá- pilers of the Mahá Bhárata were unquestionably interpolations. Bráhmans; and they appear to have resolutely and consistently falsified the Kshatriya traditions, for the purpose of promulgating their own tenets of religion and morality; and especially for asserting their own supremacy as an hereditary sacerdotal caste, invested with supernatural powers, and superior not only to the Rajas but to the very gods of the Kshatriyas. Ancient Bráhman sages, under the name of Rishis, are abruptly and absurdly introduced in order to work miracles of the wildest and most senseless character, and to compel the reverence and obedience of such deities as Indra to Brahmanical authority. Moreover acts which are contrary to morality and common decency, are occasionally introduced for the depraved purpose of representing the more famous Bráhmans as the direct progenitors of the more famous Rajas. Again, Rajas are described as paying a reverence to Bráhmans amounting to worship, and as rewarding them with extravagant profusion, probably as examples for Data by which later Rajas to follow. Fortunately however for the be established. purposes of history, these interpolations can generally be detected by the supernatural character of the details, and may therefore be largely eliminated; excepting in those cases where the later fable has been so intertwined with the more authentic narrative, that it is impossible to separate the one from the other without danger of mutilating the original Kshatriya tradition. the fact of an interpolation can INDIA. PART I. ment in the Besides these exaggerations of Kshatriya bards HISTORY OF and Brahmanical compilers, an element of Buddhism is frequently perceptible in these ancient legends. Buddhistic eleBut inasmuch as it is often difficult to decide upon Maha Bharata. the exact line of separation between Brahmanism and Buddhism, much in the same way as it is often difficult to draw the precise line between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, it will be sufficient for the present to indicate very briefly such traces of Buddhism as they arise, and reserve the general question for separate discussion hereafter. the two Epics the present his Neither a trans analysis, but a condensed para spersed with ex mentary, and ences. The form in which the contents of these poems Form in which will be hereafter exhibited in the present volumes are exhibited in requires perhaps some explanation. A mere trans- tory. lation would be unreadable to any but the practised lation nor an critic; a bare analysis without sufficient detail, phrase interwould be a skeleton without life and blood, and con- planation, comsequently would be comparatively useless for the historical inferpurposes of history. Accordingly a middle course has been adopted. Large masses of supernatural matter have been either briefly indicated, or cut away altogether. Brahmanical discourses and religious myths have been generally eliminated, to be reconsidered subsequently in connection with the religious ideas and belief of the people. Many episodes have been excluded, especially from the Mahá Bhárata where they mostly abound, but a sufficient number have been exhibited in outline; whilst three favourite stories, which are apparently types of three different epochs of Hindú history, have been preserved by themselves under a separate head. Finally, the residue has been recast in English prose in such a condensed form as would preserve the life and spirit of the ancient traditions INDIA. PART I. HISTORY OF Without oppressing the reader with needless repetition and unmeaning dialogue; and has been interspersed with such explanations and commentary, and such indications of the inferences to be derived from different phases in the traditions, as might serve to render the whole acceptable to the general reader.47 Degree of credibility to be attached to the subject matter thus exhibited. But when the main stories of the "Great War of Bhárata," and the "Adventures of Ráma" have been reproduced from the ancient poems, and cleared of most of the non-essential and non-historical matter, a question arises as to the degree of credibility to be given to the residue. Upon this point it may be remarked that where there is no motive for deception, and no departure from nature, a general belief may be accorded to the incidents; and even when the incidents themselves are doubtful, there is no occasion for withholding a general belief in the pictures of life and manners which the descriptions convey. It has already been admitted that the treated with le- ancient bards did occasionally indulge in Oriental exaggeration and embellishment, which a critical age refuses to accept as abstract truth. Deeds of heroism and feats of skill or strength are frequently described in the language of hyperbole; and so too are the goodness of men and the beauty of women, or the wickedness and deformity of those aboriginal tribes with whom the ancient Hindús were occasionally at war. Garlands of jewels are substituted for garlands of flowers; thrones of gold and silver for Exaggerations and embellish ments to be niency. 47 Some idea of the enormous bulk of the Mahá Bhárata and Rámáyana may be formed from the estimate that a literal translation of the former would occupy about fifteen volumes octavo, whilst a similar version of the latter poem would fill about six volumes octavo. |