INDIA. PART I. age coeval with of the two Epics. of the Vedic period. of the Brah manic period. HISTORY OF that the Vedic age was the one in which the main traditions of the Mahá Bhárata and Rámáyana seem The Brahmanic to have taken place; whilst the Brahmanic age, the composition Which succeeded to the Vedic period, was the one in which the two poems were composed. The leading points of difference between the Vedic and Characteristics Brahmanic periods may be thus indicated. In the Vedic period the Brahmans were scarcely known as a separate community; the caste system had not been introduced, and gods were worshipped who were subsequently superseded by deities of other Characteristics names and other forms. In the Brahmanic period the Bráhmans had formed themselves into an exclusive ecclesiastical hierarchy, endowed with vast spiritual powers, to which even the haughtiest Rajas were compelled to bow. The caste system had been introduced in all its fulness, whilst the old Vedic gods were fast passing away from the memory of man, and giving place to the three leading BrahPatriarchal sim- manical deities-Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Again, die period want the Vedic period is characterized by a patriarchal ical ascendancy, simplicity, which is wanting in the Brahmanic age, when the luxury and splendour of the Hindú Rajas had reached a climax side by side with the increased power and influence exercised by the Brahmanical Necessity for hierarchy. It will thus be seen that before entering civilization and upon the story of the two Epics, it will be advisable Vedic age, before to glance more particularly at the civilization and religion of the Vedic age, and thereby establish a plicity of the Ve ing in the later age of Brahman glancing at the of the commencing the Mahá Bhárata and Rhámáyana. ceremonies, of an unmeaning or artificial character, although of course a mystic significance is ascribed to each. The Aitareya Brahmanam is however of some value, as it illustrates the Brahmanical sacrifices of animals which were practised in that early age of Brahmanical ascendancy which partly preceded and partly overlapped the age of Buddhism. The Sanskrit text of the Aitareya Brahmanan, together with an English translation, has recently been published by Dr Haug of Bombay. INDIA. standard by which to clear the events which belong HISTORY OF to that age from the Brahmanical husk which they subsequently seem to have received from the hands of the Brahmanical compilers of the Mahá Bhárata and Rámáyana. ple. plexioned Aryans of the Pun The Vedic people, whose wants and aspirations The Vedic peoare expressed in the hymns of the Rig-Veda, are The white-comdescribed as "fair-complexioned" Aryas, or Aryans, jab. who had migrated at a remote period from some colder climate in central Asia, and subsequently settled in the Punjab, or "Land of the Five Rivers," in the north-western quarter of India, from whence, in the course of ages, they gradually pushed towards the east and south. They seem to have been called The black com"fair-complexioned" in opposition to the darker tlers who precomplexioned tribes who had previously settled in India, and who are generally regarded as aborigines, and alluded to under a variety of names, such as Rakshasas, Asuras, Dánavas, Dasyus, and Daityas.3 * Whilst the term Aryan is applied to the Vedic invaders of India, the so-called aborigines are generally regarded as a Turanian race. These terms, Aryan and Turanian, are so frequently used that some explanation of their opposition seems necessary. In language the difference is one not only of roots but of grammars. In race the Aryan comprises the Greek, the Roman, and the modern European, whose tendencies have been to form themselves into national and political communities, to marry one wife, and to worship one supreme and spiritual deity. The Turanian, on the other hand, is represented by the modern Tartars, whose tendencies are apparently the reverse; they have little national or political cohesion, marry one or more wives without much sentiment, and worship gods and heroes without much idea of spiritual existence beyond that implied in the notion of ghosts and demons. So far the opposition is intelligible, and the application of the terms Aryan and Turanian is convenient for the purpose of distinguishing one class of tendencies from another. But when the terms are broadly applied to families of mankind, and regarded as characteristics by which to distinguish the members of one great family from those of another, they are apt to mislead. Both the Aryan and the Turanian elements spring from a common human nature, and do not arise from a difference of instinct but from a difference of training, or rather a difference in the past and present conditions of national existence. Men speaking Aryan languages may abandon themselves to polygamous aspirations and to a superstitious reverence for material existences; and in like manner the Turanian may be plexioned setceded the Aryans, and who are regarded as aborigines. INDIA. PART I. tween the patri cated in the Ve that indicated in rata. abundant har vests, prolific cattle, bodily numerous pro geny, etc. HISTORY OF The simple patriarchal life of the Aryans is indicated in the Vedic hymns precisely as it is depicted Similarity be in the main tradition of the Mahá Bhárata. They archal life indi- were a people partly pastoral and partly agriculdie hymns and tural; keeping cows for the sake of their milk, the Maha Bhá- butter, and curds, and sowing the land with grain. They also seem to have had some acquaintance with the manufacture of weapons and coats of mail, and to have sometimes undertaken sea-voyages for the Prayers for rain, sake of gain. These people prayed to their gods, as such a people might be expected to pray, for plenty vigour, long life, of rain, abundant harvests, and prolific cattle; for bodily vigour, long life, numerous progeny, and protection against all foes and robbers, such as the cattle-lifting aborigines. Their gods appear to have been mere abstractions; personifications of those powers of nature on whom they relied for good harvests. They wanted seasonable rain, warmth, and fresh breezes. Accordingly, they prayed to the god of rain, the god of fire and light, and the Confusion in the god of wind. But from the very first, there appears personifications. to have been some confusion in these personifications, which led both to a multiplicity of deities, and the confounding together of different deities. tween Indra, the Thus the conception of the god of rain was Indra, and he was identified with the firmament as well as Vedic deities mere personifications of the abstract powers of nature. Distinction be sovereign god who sent the rain, and Varu water, or the ocean. ua, the god of with the unseen power which smote the rain-cloud and brought down the waters; and so important was the acquisition of rain in due season, that Indra is regarded as the sovereign of the gods, and subsequently became a type of sovereignty. But rain led to feel that his highest bliss on earth is derived from his marriage to one wife, and that the most elevated form of worship is that of one God,-the omniscient, the unseen, and the supreme. INDIA. Conception of Agui, as the god of light as well as of re tion of the Sun and water are frequently different things, and thus HISTORY OF there was another, and perchance an older, deity, named Varuna, who was particularly worshipped as the god of the waters, and deity of the ocean. Again, the conception of the god of fire was Agni, and Agni was not only the flame which burns upon the hearth or altar, but also the lightning which manifests itself in the clouds, and even the light of the sun, moon, and stars. Yet both the sun and Separate deifica moon appear as separate and individual deities, the and Moon. former under the name of Surya, and the latter under the name of Soma or Chandra. Again, there seems to have been a striking difference as regards wind. The god of wind, or air, was Váyu; but the different breezes which bring on or accompany the rain, are called Maruts, and are represented as the attendants of Indra. Thus, whilst there is a Leading Vedic Pantheon of separate and individual deities, the conception of one deity frequently overlapped the conceptions of other deities; and whilst the more prominent powers of nature, such as water, fire, and wind, were separately individualized, a monotheistic tendency was always at work, ascribing the attributes of every deity to each one in turn. Of these deities, the following appear to be the most important: Rain. Indra, god of the firmament. Fire. Agni, god of fire. Súrya, the sun. Soma, or Chandra, the Moon. Distinction be tween Váyu, the god of art, and the Maruts, or breezes. deities. Indra. Varuna. Agni. Súrya. Soma, or Chan dra. Yama, the god of death, or judge of the dead. Fanciful personifications which Air. Váyu, the god of wind. Maruts, the breezes who attended upon Indra. To these must be added a god of death, or judge of the dead, who was known as Yama. The characteristics of Yama as a Vedic deity would open up a large field of inquiry; but the subject at present vague and speculative. In the Epics, Yama appears distinctly as a judge of the dead; and men who are about to die are frequently said to be about to go to the mansions of Yama. is The foregoing deities appear to have been the appear to have prominent gods in the Vedic Pantheon; but yet as minor deities. there are many fanciful personifications to whom been regarded hymns were addressed, such as Earth, Sky, Food, Wine, Months, Seasons, Day, Night, and Dawn. The religious ideas connected with these personifications are difficult of apprehension; and it can only be inferred that the abstractions were regarded as spiritual existences, and worshipped accordingly. Perchance a better acquaintance with Rig-Veda may serve to solve the problem, for at present philologists appear to be occasionally divided as regards the true meaning of passages; and, indeed, seem inclined to depend upon the interpretation of commentators who flourished thousands of years after the composition of the hymns, and when the national mind had been entirely recast in a Brahmanical mould." 4 In a later and more mystic age, Earth became personified as the cow; but the conception of Earth in the Rig-Veda is more simple and primitive. 5 The chronology of the Vedas is still a subject of discussion, but the data are vague and unsatisfactory. The Rig-Veda has been referred to about the twelfth or fifteenth century before Christ, and would thus synchronize with the Hebrew |