INDIA. PART IL Region south and west of Has of fable in the Vedic period. HISTORY OF found an uncleared jungle. Indeed, the whole region south and west of Hastinápur appears, as far as the descendants of Bhárata are concerned, to be a tinapur, a land land of fable, which was peopled by a wild and cannibal race known as Asuras and Rakshasas, who were a pre-Aryan race, and the natural enemies of the Aryans. Accordingly, the legend may be regarded as an instance, of which there are many in the Mahá Bhárata, of the extent to which the later manipulators of the traditions set geography at defiance for the sake of associating later Hindú dynasties with the famous heroes of the house of Bhárata. It is, Probability that however, difficult to say whether the Brahmanical Brahmansinter. Compilers invented the story or merely borrowed it from the Buddhists; for though Benares is regarded by the Brahmans as a holy city, it is still more famous in Buddhist tradition. Either way it is easy either the Buddhists or the polated the name. General credibility of the tradition. to conceive that the name of Kási has been substituted for that of a city very much nearer to Hastinápur; and by adopting this simple hypothesis, not only does the whole story become credible, but actually throws further light upon the condition of the ancient Kshatriyas in India. The story that Bhishma carried away the three daughters of a neighbouring Raja to become wives to his young half-brother is, however, in accordance with the rude manners of the Kshatriyas, although the statement that he conquered every Raja in the city borders on the miraculous, and is indeed an interpolation for which it is not difficult to assign a reason. The Kshatriyas were foreign settlers, surrounded on all sides by an aboriginal population; law, as Rakshasa and they had probably brought with them but few women from their native homes beyond the Indus. Abduction of women by the Kshatriyas, sanctioned by Brahmanical marriages. INDIA. PART II. Under such circumstances the abduction of women HISTORY OF was to be expected, and indeed appears to have been very common. Even the Brahmanical lawmakers were compelled to recognize such irregular proceedings, inserting, however, a clause that no one but a Kshatriya should be permitted to commit such an act, and that even a Kshatriya would not be justified unless he had first overcome all the friends and kinsmen of the damsel.10 Accordingly, such being the law, the Brahmanical compilers were naturally anxious that Bhishma should appear to comply with it, even at the expense of a miracle. racter of the legend respecting The next point worthy of attention is the story Mythical chaof Ambá, who pleaded that she could not marry Amba Raja Vichitra-vírya because she had already been betrothed to the Raja of Salwa. In all probability this incident is a later myth, and may have been inserted at the same time that the name of Kási was apparently substituted for that of some city less distant from Hastinápur. It is scarcely compatible with the primitive manners of the patriarchal age, to which the story of the great war evidently belongs; and it is altogether foreign to the idea of a 10 The Brahmanical law is thus stated by Manu :-"The seizure of a maiden by force from her house, while she weeps and calls for assistance, after her kinsmen and friends have been slain in battle, or wounded, and their houses broken open, is the marriage styled Rakshasa." Manu, III. 33. The name Rakshasa was indiscriminately applied to the aboriginal races, and consequently the origin of the custom thus sanctioned by Manu is to be found in the wars between the Aryans and aborigines. In another place it is said to be allowable only to the Kshaariyas. Comp. Manu, III. 24, 41. The distinction between a Rakshasa and a Gandharva marriage will be readily perceived. In the former the woman was carried away by force; in the latter the connection was the result of mutual inclination. The scarcity of women at Hastinapur, and the difficulty of forming suitable alliances, will be noticed hereafter, as this condition of society may have led to the institution of polyandry, and judging from one half-mythical legend seems to have led indirectly to the migration of a colony of Amazons to the Raj of Hastinapur. INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF Swayamvara, or privilege of free choice on the part of a daughter of a Raja. Indeed, the father of Ambá could scarcely have undertaken to celebrate her Swayamvara after he had betrothed her to another Raja. The legend, however, is worth preserving, as illustrating those later ideas of chastity and purity which still prevail amongst the Hindús." Ancient custom of begetting sons a deceased kinsman. But the most remarkable incident in connection on the widow of with Raja Vichitra-vírya is the alleged intercourse between Vyása, the Bráhman sage, and the Raja's widows. The barbarous custom of raising up sons to a deceased kinsman certainly prevailed amongst the ancient Aryans. It is frequently enjoined in Brahmanical law, but is prohibited in the present age, and is especially prohibited to the three twiceborn castes of Bráhmans, Kshatriyas, and Súdras.12 A similar custom was also recognized by the Mosaic law, and indeed is common to many nations in which an undue stress has been laid upon the necessity for the birth of progeny who should perpetuate the Story that Vya- family name. But the story that Vyása was the came the pro- kinsman selected on the present occasion, and that he thus became the direct ancestor of the Kauravas and Pandavas who fought in the great war, is open to the gravest suspicion; and a brief consideration of the traditionary life of the sage, and the quarter of India in which he flourished, will suffice to prove that the story is a mythical interpolation of a later sa, the sage, be genitor of the Kauravas and Pandavas, proved to be a later myth. age. 11 The country of Salwa has been identified with a part of Rajasthan, or Rajputana, at a considerable distance to the south-west of Hastinapur. (See Wilson's note, Vishnu Purana, p. 177.) The identification of the locality of the present myth can however be of little value. 12 See Colebroke's Hindú law, Vol. II. p. 466, et seq. Traces of the ancient custom may still be found amongst the lower orders of Hindús. INDIA. PART II. Traditionary history of Vyása, girl, named Mat sya, in Eastern Bengal. In the first place, it may be remarked that HISTORY OF amongst all the Bráhman sages of antiquity who are famous for their learning, their austerities, and their miracles, few can be compared with the Rishi Vyása. the "arranger." The real history of this Rishi is, however, lost in a jungle of legend. He is said to have been the ille- Born of a fishgitimate son of a fish-girl, named Matsya, who was employed as a ferry-woman on one of the many small rivers which intersect eastern Bengal, and flow into the Brahmaputra. The native country of Vyása would thus correspond to the modern districts of Dinajpur and Rangpur, on the western bank of the Brahmaputra, and situated about a thousand miles from Hastinapur. His original name was Krishna- Identified with Dwaipayana, but having become famous as the com- compiled the piler of the Mahá Bhárata and the Vedas, he is widely known by the name of Vyása, or "the arranger." Other Bráhmans probably assisted in this gigantic undertaking, and went by the name of Vyása, and these Vyásas are the men who have falsified the Kshatriya traditions for the purpose of promulgating the tenets and exalting the pretensions of their tribe.13 the Vyása, who Maha Bhárata. Brahmanical present the he One of the principal objects of these Brahmanical Efforts of the compilers has been to persuade the Hindús that the compilers to refamous heroes of the Mahá Bhárata were descended roes of the Mahá from the Brahmans. It has already been seen that Brahmans." 13 In the Vishnu Purána there is a list of twenty-eight Vyasas, ending with the great Muni Krishna-Dwaipayana, who is popularly regarded as the author of the Maha Bhárata, although, in fact, he is only the compiler or editor. The list, how. ever, like all lists of names, genealogical or otherwise, which have been preserved in the sacred books of the Hindús, has been so garbled by the Brahmans as to be useless for the purposes of history. The mythical character of the Puranic list of Vyasas is abundantly proved by the insertion of such names as Bráhma, Manu, Yama, and Indra! It should be added that these names are not merely patrony. mics which might possibly have been applied to different sages, but evidently refer to the gods themselves. Bharata as descendants of INDIA. PART II. myth that Vyása Dhritarashtra, dura. The myth proved to be an the supernatural charac HISTORY OF as the Kshatriyas boasted that they had descended from the Moon, the Bráhmans added to the myth by declaring that the Moon itself was begotten by Brahmanical a Bráhman Rishi. In the present instance they was the father of state that Matsya, the fish-girl of eastern Bengal, was identical with Satyavatí, the damsel who married Raja Sántanu at Hastinapur; that Satyavatí was the mother of Vyása by an illicit amour prior to her marriage; and that Vyása was the kinsman who was invited to raise up sons to the deceased Raja. The reason for this myth is obvious. Two of the sons who were subsequently born, namely, Dhritarashtra and Pándu, ultimately became great Rajas, and the fathers of the men who fought in the great war. The supernatural details which the interpolation by compilers have introduced for the purpose of renter of its details, dering this myth acceptable to the Hindús, sufficiently betray the whole design. A fish is said to have carried away in its stomach the germ of a boy and girl, of whom a Raja was the father. Subsequently, the fish was caught by a fisherman, who found the boy and girl alive in its stomach, and sent the boy to the Raja, and brought up the girl as his own daughter. The girl grew up and was employed to ferry passengers across a river. She was very handsome, but had a very fishy smell; and a famous Rishi, named Parásara, fell in love with her, and induced her to yield to his desires by promising to remove the fishy smell, and to restore her virginity. The intercourse took place beneath a cloud of thick darkness, which the pious Rishi produced by a miracle in order to escape observation, and immediately afterwards the ferry-girl gave birth to a son, who, in a few moments, became a |