In scented silken robes bedight,
They know no pride, no vain delight.
If wrapped in skins, or coarsely clad,
And smeared with mud, they are not sad.
Nor plenteous fare, nor lack of food,
Affects their calm, unchanging mood.
And thus a sinless life they lead,
From worldly ties and passions freed.
What forms their wealth? this life austere.
Their power? that potent word we hear.
Of other mortals they are guides;
In them all sacred lore resides.
They know the nicest points of right;
No jot eludes their piercing sight.
A heavy yoke sustaining, strong,
They draw the social car along.
Like oxen staunch, though rough their road,
They never sink beneath their load.
With fullest knowledge blest, and free
From doubt, the final goal they see.
The highest good they seek to gain,
And lead on others in their train.
The Brahman deem a lamp whose light
Can guide athwart the gloom of night;
An eye, through which what else were sealed,
To even the sagest lies revealed.
Of other causes he the cause,
The proof of proofs, the law of laws.*
*The last four words of this line are not in the original; but have been added for the sake of the rhyme they afford, as they harmonize with the two preceding characteristics ascribed to the Brahmans. The words "proof of proofs," (pramānasya pramāņam cha,) could perhaps be better rendered "authority of authorities."
The next verses are different in their tendency.
LXXVII. Diversities among Brahmans.
Mahabharata xiii. 2092 ff.
After declaring, in verses 2084 ff. that Brahmans should be honoured, and asserting their great powers, Bhishma refers to their varieties:
Deem not in character the same
All those who bear the Brahman's name.
Among them every sort you find,
In work, in character, in mind.
Some dangerous, dark, resemble wells,
Whose mouth luxuriant grass conceals;
While others are as clear as day,
When shines the sun's unclouded ray.
Some cattle tend, some till the ground;
Some, begging, roam the country round.
Some fierce, and wild, obey no rule,
While some are soft as cotton-wool.
Some harmless lives ascetic lead,
From earthly hopes and longings freed;
While some, to sordid passions slaves,
Are liars, thieves, and arrant knaves;
And others in the mimic's art *
Adepts, in plays enact their part.
By lives so low, by acts so base,
Some men this highest caste disgrace,
*This might have been otherwise rendered :
And others, leagued with dancers, stoop
To join a dancing, acting, troop.
See, however, the quotation given below from Prof. Wilson's "Theatre of the Hindus," in which he intimates his opinion, that the profession of an actor was not considered disreputable in ancient India; as well as the remarks which precede.
Which other some, not better born,
By virtue, learning, fame, adorn.
But he who virtue's laws obeys,
Howe'er subsisting, merits praise.
LXXVIII. Knowledge to be sought from all castes, which all spring from Brahma.
Mahabharata xii. 11811.
From knowledge springs redemption: seek
That lore in faith, with spirit meek,
From Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas learn,
Nor even the Sudra's teaching spurn.
This lowest order none should scorn;
For though from different members born,
All castes from Brahma sprang; the name
Of Brahman all may fitly claim :
And all by reverent impulse stirred,
Recite aloud the sacred Word.
To thee I tell the inmost core
And sense of this most holy lore:
This world is Brahma: all we see
Around is nothing else than He.
The following is a somewhat different and completer rendering of the same lines.
Through knowledge men redemption earn,
And never more to earth return.
Such knowledge seek,-make this thy task,-
From Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas ask,
Yea, even from lowly Sūdras learn,
And so shalt thou the truth discern.
Be full of faith: whoe'er believes
The fruit of holy lore receives.
The humble Sūdra none should scorn;
For though from different members born,
All castes alike from Brahma spring,
And so are Brahmans all, O king.
From lips of all the sacred word,
Recited, too, is ever heard.
Of that blest word now learn the core,
And live in error sunk no more.
This word that deepest truth makes known,
That Brahma and the world are one.
The lack of knowledge know to be
The source of mortals' misery;
This brings them back again to earth
In ever varying forms of birth.
Seek, therefore, knowledge: wheresoe'er
Thou seekest, thou shalt find it there.
To no one class is truth confined;
It lightens even the Śūdra's mind.
Whoever gains it, high or low,
Redeemed, no change shall ever know.
The following remarkable words of the sage Bhrigu are more decided. They are quoted and translated in my "Original Sanskrit Texts," i. 138 ff.
LXXIX. No distinction of Castes.
Mahabharata xii. 6939.
When Brahma framed the world of men,
He made it all Brahmanic then.
By no distinction marked of class,
They formed one homogeneous mass.
But when in time they showed diverse
And widely varying characters,
Those men whose natures were the same,
Conjoined, received a separate name.
The following passage is written in a similar spirit.
Mahabharata xiii. 6612.
The Śūdra pure in all his ways,
Who all his passions sternly sways,
The same respect can rightly claim
As he who bears the Brahman's name.
So Brahma ruled, and he well knew
To mete to every class its due.
When worthy acts, a nature sound,
Are both in any Sudra found,
He surely merits more esteem
Than worthless Brahmans-so I deem.
Nor birth, nor hallowing rites, nor store,
However vast, of sacred lore
Can make a Brahman; nought avails
For this, if virtuous conduct fails.
Good conduct constitutes a man
A Brahman; nought else ever can.
And Śūdras too, whose lives are pure,
The rank of Brahmanhood secure.
Brahmanic nature shows no change,
Wherever found, in all its range.
That man a Brahman deem in whom,
Exempt from goodness, passion, gloom,
The stainless Brahma dwells, serene :—
None else deserves the name, I ween.
LXXX. Final beatitude attainable even by low caste men and by women.
Know this, the highest good, the final rest,
To gain with Brahma union;-this the goal:
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