English
In later times it is con- sidered a grievous sin to recite the hymns of the Yeda in places where a SMra might be able to hear them. In the Rig-veda we find hymns which the Brahmans themselves allow to be the compositions of the son of a slave. Eavasha Ailiisha is the author of several hymns in the tenth Book of the Kig-veda; yet this same Kavasha was expelled from the sacrifice as an impostor and as the son of a slave (dftsyfili putra), and he was readmitted only because the gods had shown him special favour. This is acknow* ledged by the Br&hmanas of the Aitareyins^ and BengaL See Yishnu-Pnr&na, p. 188. The word *' godharma," which occurs in the Btorj of DtrghatamaSy in the Mab&bh&rata, i. 4195., and which Ftof. Laseen transktes hj ** pastoral law/' must have an opprobrious sense, and Indian Pandits explain it bj '' open and indiscriminate concupiscence.** 3 Aitareya-Brahmana, 11. 19. : mt^l IT ^W'^VfSf: fiM14i^Nfl tld^M)^^- YEDIO AND FAUrInIC WORSHIP. 59 Kaiishitakins, and in the Mah&bh&rata also Eavasha is called a NisMda. The marked difference between the Yedic and epic poetry of India has been well pointed out by Fro* fessor Roth of Tubingen, who for many years has devoted much time and attention to the study oi the Yeda. According to him, the Mah&bhilrata, even in its first elements, is later than the time of Buddha.^ " In the epic poems," he says, ^^ the ^T^ TOT MR^iilHM ?^ ^ ^BW^ S^^ ^5^ Kaushitaki-Brahmana, XI. : ifp^im: 4i<i^<ni ^^wnmi ^rigr^ w^if k^ ^?N ^jft'T ?SCRI cf ^<l*i^fll*ll c!fT ^ ^ f%TT- ^ ^r^^rar if^ini firf%^:i n tw *<<q^4 ^H^rt > Znr Litteratur und Geschichte dea Veda. Drei Abhandlungen Ton B. Both, Doctor der Fhiloaopbie. Stuttgart, 1846. 60 VEDIC AND PAUBANIC WORSHIP, Veda is but imperfectly known ; the ceremonial is no longer developing, it is complete. The Vedic legends have been plucked from their native soil, and the religion of Agni, Indra, Mitra, and Varuna has been replaced by an altogether different worship. The last fact," he says, " ought to be the most con- vincing. There is a contradiction running through- out the religious life of India, from the time of the R&m&yana to the present day. The outer form of the worship is Vedic, and exclusively so ^ ; but the eye of religious adoration is turned upon quite different regions.^ The secondary formation, the reUgion of Vishnu and Brahma, began with the epic poetry, and remained afterwards as the only living ^ The worship of the Hindus at the present day cannot be called exclu8ivel3r Vedic, though Yedic remains may be traced in it. In the Introduction to the edition of the Rig-Tcda, by the Tattvabodhini-sabha, it is said, on the contrary, ^rt?/ TtftPF wIh^ tCTf? *il\>a ^kl^^H .sr^ftr^ kc^ ft- ** the difference between the present received law and ttfe early Vedic law, will clearly be perceived by this edition." And again. ^* It will be seen exactly what difference there is between the Pauranic worship of the gods, who, according to the Puranas, are exhibited with the different bodies of men^ animals, birds, serpents, and fishes ; the widely spread custom of t&ntric ceremonies, which are the most modem and famous on earth ; and the performance of sacrifices as prescribed in the Veda." . ^ Professor Bumouf has treated the same subject in his Review of Ptof. Wilson's Translation of the Vishnupur&na, Journal des Savants, 1840, May, p. 296. MANU'S CODE OF LAWS. 61 one, but without having the power to break through the walls of the Yedic ceremonial, and take the place of the old ritual." And if it be unsafe to use the epic poems as autho* rities for the Vedic age, it will readily be admitted that the same objection applies with still greater force to the Pur&nas. Although one only of the eighteen Puranas has as yet been completely pub- lished, enough is known of their character, partly by Professor Burnouf 's edition of the Bhagavat-pur&na, partly by extracts given from other Pur&nas by Pro- fessor Wilson, to justify our discarding their evidence with reference to the primitive period of Vedic lite- rature. Even the M&nava-dharmaMstra, the law* book of the M&navas, a sub-division of the sect of the Taittiriyas, or, as it is commonly called,'the Laws of Hanu, cannot be used as an independent authority* It cannot be said that the compilers of these laws were ignorant of the traditions of the Vedic age. Many of their verses contain a mere paraphrase of passages from the hymns, Br&hmanas, and Siitras ; but they likewise admitted the rules and customs of a later age, and their authority is therefore vali4 only where it has been checked by more original and genuine texts. The Code of Manu is almost the only work in San- skrit literature which, as yet, has not been assailed by those who doubt the antiquity of everything Indian. No historian has disputed its claim to that early date which had, from the first, been assigned to it by Sir William Jones. It must be confessed, how* ever, that Sir William Jones's proofs of the antiquity of this code cannot be considered as conclusive, and 62 AKTiQUnr of the veda. no sufficient arguments have been brought forward to substantiate any of the different dates ascribed to Manu, as the author of our Law-book, which vary, according to different writers, from 880 to 1280 b.c. If the age of Manu or of the epic poems could be fixed, so as to exclude all possible doubt, our task with regard to the age of the Veda would be an easy one. The Veda is demonstrably earlier than the epic poetry and the legal codes of India. We do not, however, advance one step by saying that the Yeda is older than the author of the M&nava- dharma-64stra, whose date is altogether unknown, or even than the Mah&bh&rata, if it can be doubted whether that poem in its first elements be anterior to the Buddhistic religion or not; while it is said, at the same time, that the last elements which have been incorporated into this huge work allude to historical events later than the Christian era.^ Here, then, we must adopt a new course of procedure. We must try to fix the age of the Veda, which forms the natural basis of Indian history ; and we must derive our knowledge of the Vedic age from none but Vedic works, discarding altogether such addi- tional evidence as might be obtained from the 1 That the principal part of the Mali&bh&rata belongs to a period previous to the political establishment of Baddhism, has been proved by Prof. Lassen, Ind. Ant i. 489 — 491. Much has been said since to controvert his views with regard to the age of the Maha- bharata, but nothing that is really valuable has been added to Prof. Lassen's facts or reasonings, '^t is not at all difficult," as Prof. Lassen remarks, ** to look at this question from one single point of view, and to start a confident assertion. But in doing this, many persons commit themselves to inconsiderate judgments, and show an ignorance of the very points which have to be considered." *^** as .a ^v-o^7 "'^'* *fto S^^^^*"-^ *^^ the ^vox-J 5*** Jit^^ ^^ 5story of" the wc: g"enei-a.^^,?^^*y^<^*e* and ^ but th=:^ ^^ ■^^r>n of* men, of* "vv ag'uest estirr^t:< the histoT-y :>iE Jil>x-ia.ries a.xicl the :reoox-^s o€" TTi^ foir e-v-e:ir to ti>xe VxlstoT-y o in fere n teres t :Sl coIJect :S ages, tlr:^ contain ^ ^^\tv%\. 64 ANTIQUITY OF TBJS ^^^A. philodophical vigour of EapilA, the Voluptuous mys tidsm of Jayadeva, and the epic simplicity of Vy&sa and V&lmlki, but as long as their w^orks float before our eyes like the mirage of a desert, as long as we are unable to tell what real life, what period in the history of a nation they reflect, there is something wanting to engage our sympathies in the same man- ner as they are engaged by the tragedies of M^ chylus, or the philosophical essays of Cicero. We yalue the most imperfect statues of Lycia and JSgina, because they throw light on the history of Greek art, but we should pass by unnoticed the most perfect mouldings of the human frame, if we could not tell whether they had been prepared in the studio of a Phidias, or in the dissecting-room of a London hos^ pital. In the following sketch of the history of Vedic literature, I cannot promise to give dates, such as we are accustomed to find in the literary histories of other nations.