English
’’(Another : three decorticated grains, Indian drug which is for the eyes and is called ‘pepper’, the round grain—these three are to be pounded and moistened wdth •warmed old wine, it is to be pasted round a plum, and to be introduced thus ( as a pessary ). Gynaikeiion Iroton ■ ( Eemale Diseases, 81 ; Vol. VIII. p. 202 ). (b) "E echlepsas chochchous pentechaidecha,esto de chai indichoy poson” ( Or rather decorticate fifteen grains of Onide, and add to it, the Indian, preparation ; ibid 158 ; Vol. VIII. p, 336 ). (c) “Toyto to pharmacbon odontas chathairei chai euodeas .poieei chaleetai de indichon pharmachon.” ( This preparation cleanses the teeth, and imparts to them a fine aroma ; it is called Indian prepara¬ tion ; ibid 185 ; Vol^ VIIL p. 366 ). (d) “Eteron prostheton echlepsas chochchous triechonta, to indichom o'ohaleousinoi Persai peperi.” (Another pessary^.' thirty decorticated grains, and the Indian substance which the Persians call ‘pepper’; ibid 205 ; Vol. VIII. p. 394 ). (4) Indirect Inference : Urine of cow I ( X ) {go-niutra) is recommended as a therapeutic agent in fistula, in Vol. VI, p, 453 ; as a disinfectant wash for the female genitals and in ^^rility in Vol. VII. p. 365 ; in fumigation and lotion in female diseases in Vol. VIII. p. 211, Cow-dung ( go-maya ) is recommended with aromatic sub¬ stances as a fumigation in female diseases in Vol. VIII. p. 119. ; bovine desiccated bile {go roohana) as a vulnerary prepai'ation for wounds in Vol. VI. p, 415 ; in a purgative compound in Vol. VI. p. 419 ; in pessary with myrrh and honey in Vol. VIII, p. 59,157,203,395; as a laxative drink with wine in Vol. VII. p. 425. The cow being regarded as the sacred animal of the Hindus, it can be imagined that her excretory products may be used in India as therapeutic agents, but their use among the Greeks who had no such passions, indicates their foreign importation. It may be said that all the writings that are now included in the Hippocratic Collection were not the genuine works of Hippocrates (460—377 B. C.). That may be so. We are not concerned with that problem. It suffices for ©ur purpose to know that the Hindu thoughts influenced deeply the Greek medical literature in 4ie fifth and the fourth century B. C. We do not yet definitely know how the Medical science reached ( xi ) Hellas ; perhaps by the Persian intermediatories, or dir^tly by the Hindu settlers in the Persian Empire?\^We know that in 606 B. C. the Median king Cyasares conquered Assyria and annexed to it the territories up to the coasts in Asia Minor where there were many Hellenic settlers. Cyrus, ( 559—530 B. C. ) the great Persian nation-builder, defeats Astyages and conquers Media in 550 B, C.,defeats Croesus, the Lydian king, and captures Sardis in 547 B. 0., conquers Babylon and Greek cities of Asia Minor in 546—539 B. C. His son Cambyses ( 529— 522 B. 0. ) conquers Egypt in 527 B. 0., by defeating tbe Egyptian ruler Psammetichus III or better known as Amasis, under whom Avere numerous Ionian and Cartan mercenaries. The empire of Darius I ( 522—486 B. 0. ) extends from Macedonia to the Indus, and from the Danube and tbe Black Sea to Nubia; while in612 B. C. Darius invaded Scythia, to subdue the nomadic hordes, his general Megabazus reduced Thrace, and a few years later penetrated up to the river* _ Peneus in Thessaly ; the lonians revoltd^ against the Persian domination, and with the assistance of Athenians and Eretrians, burnt Sardis in 499 B. C., which led to the Persian invasion of Northern Greece in 492 B. C. under ( xii ) tbe generalship of Mardonius, and of Attica in 490 B. C., which ended with the defeat dt the Persians at the battle of Marathon on S/^t. 12— 490 B. C. ^ Siddhartha Gautama ( the Buddha 563—483 B. C. ) entered into ‘nircana’ in 483 B. C. after a strenuous life of may years’ preaching. In Mahavagga (1. 6; 1. 8) a very old Buddhist work of the fifth century B. C., we find descrip¬ tion of advanced medical treatment. But the Hindu influence over Greece even goes beyond that period. Tliere is every reason to believe that the Dionysos orgies were the import¬ ed Soma-Siva cult from India. Dionysos is a Moon-god like Soma. He introduced wine-culture ( and civilization ) into Hellas. The bull, the goat and the serpent are sacred to him. And he is represented like Siva, as accompanied hy a leopard, and in Alexandrian time,riding on' a tiger {J^ncyc. Brit. Vol. VIII. p. 287). The Orphic reli¬ gion seems to be no less indebted to the same source. Abstinence from meat, fish etc., from ani¬ mal sacrifices, the wearing of a special, garment, 4> the practice of austere asceticism, belief il^ the transmigration of soul, and the soul willV.ttain perfection, passing through various beings, and when it attains it, it will be free from rebirth — ( xiii ) '‘the circle of generation’ ( hyklos geneseos ), as the l>t)dy is the bondage of the soul ( Encj^ Brit. Vol. p. 328)—all these unmistakably indicate pre-Buddhistic Indian origin, whei^ these doc¬ trines have been indigenous, and are still believed by tlie multitude. Arthur Lille in his ^Jlama and Homer' argues that in the E,amay- ana, Homer found his theme for his great epics for the following I’easons : (1) Like the two inseparable brothers in the Ramayana, llama and Laksinana, in the story of Menelaus, tber(> are also two inseparable Greek brothers. (2) Rama and Laksmana have been banislied by the conspiracies of a stepmother while the Greek brothers are banished from Argos by their usurping uncle Tbyestes. (3) Sita is born of a swan’s egg ( Srahma's emblem ) in a furrow, Helen is also born from a swcin’s egg left by her mother, Leda, the swan, and Helen emerged from her egg in a ‘yperwon’ which means a furrow. (4) At the 'svaymvat'o’ Rama defeats all the competing princes, and Sita chooses him as her husband, and in Greece, Men6laus is made to defeat all the competing prir/ces, and wins Helen, though neither a competing tournament for winning a bride, nor the choosing of a husband (svayamoai'a) was ( xiv ) customary in Greece, and they were time- honored institutions in India. (5) Whilst B/^ma is away, Stta, is carried away to Lank^4cross the sea ; likewise Helen is carried away across the sea to Troy. (6) Vibhisana from a high hill points out to Hama the principal warriors of the forces of KiLvana ; Helen points out to Priam the chief Greek captains, after nine years of war and who came to rescue her. (7) The arrows of Havana and the arrows of Hector come back to their hand after their flight. (8) As Hanuman with a mighty shout daunts the whole of the array of Havana, so Achilles wdth a mighty shout daunts the whole of the Trojan army. (9) The heavens rain blood as an omen of the coming death of Havana, and when the favorite son of Zeus, Sarpedon, is about to die, Zeus and Hera see a shower of blood falling on the battle-field. (10) The Hindu besiegers fare badly in the early encounters and Rama proposes to bring the army back to India ; the Greek besiegers fare badly as well and Agamemnon proposes to cany the arm.y back to Greece. (11) In the Hamayana the RaksVsas are depicted to be as big as mountains ; Mvrs,„ when thrown down by angry Pallus who flings a rock at him, covers seven acres with his ( XV ) gigantic body, (12) In the Hindu epic, th& gods at\d the demons gather round to watch the crucial \battles between the paramount chiefs Kama and Havana ; in the Iliad, the opposing gods also crowd round to watch the course of the battle, though the chiefs are not paramount, nor the encounter crucial. (13) Kuvera, the god of wealth, and ^iva, the god of death, throw dice ; in the Iliad, Jove suspends golden scales. (14) When Sita makes her determination to starve to death, Indra comes down and gives her the ‘amrta ’—the immortal food ; when Achilles is of the same frame of mind, though he was not a wronged party, Jove sends down Minerva with the ambrosia for him. (15) Vibhisana is the wisest denizen in Laiika ; Antenor has the same reputation in Troy. When Ravana is about to kill Hanuman, the ambassador of Rama, Vibhisana remonsti’ates and saves his life ; when Menelaus and Odysseus came into Troy as ambassadors, they would have been killed, but for the intervention of Antenor. Vibhisana, advises Ravana to give up Sita ; Antenc^ advises Paris to give up Helen. Vibhis.ana conspires against his country with the enemy, shows the enemies how to pass the sea, reveals the secrets of the 'chaitya’ of ( xvi ) Nikumbliila ;.4nteQOV also plots secretly against his own country, and advises Ulysses t4 seize the Trojan Palladium, and make the wooden horse. Vibhisana, after the death of his brother and the capture of the city, becomes the crowned king of Lanka ; Autenor founded a new kingdom out of the ruins of the old. (l6) Kama is loaned by tlie supreme god, his chariot with the celestial charioteer— Matali, and the terrible missile ^Bralmiasiras’ which alone can kill tlie ravisher of Sita, and the fiend of the gods. Achilles, the avenging hero, not the wronged husband, is given the coat of arms from the anvils of Vulcan, the chariot with the deathless steeds of Jove, and the charioteer Automedon who alone can drive such steeds, but he lacks the terrible ‘arrow of Philoctetes' which alone can kill the ravisher of Helen, and instead of killing the foe, he is himself killed by that foe. (17) Inconsistency and the lack of unity of the Homeric plot, and the invulnerable logic and conclusion of Valmiki’s story : cattle¬ stealing and wife-stealing being ^ then the prevailing custom in Hellas, and Helen'^being carried olf by a fop, and not a fiend of the'^gods, it could not have precipitated a war between two peoples.