English
But even if we accept the Aryan origin of Ajigarta, the seller and butcher of his own son, it is important to remark how great a difference there must have been between the various Aryan settlers in India. Whether we ascribe this difference to a difference in the time of immigration, or whatever other reason we may assign to it, yet there remains the fact, that, with all the vaunted civilisation of the higher Aryan classes, there were Aryan people in India to whom not only a young prince could make the offer of buying their children, but where the father offered himself to bind and kill the son, whom he had sold for a hundred cows. This was a case so stairtling to the later Brahmans, that the author of the Laws of Manu was obliged to allude to it, in order to defend the dignity of his caste.^ Manu says, that hunger is an excuse for many things, and that Ajigarta, although he went to kill his own son, was not guilty of a crime, because he did so to appease his hunger. Now the author of the Aitareya-brfth- mana certainly does not adopt this view, for Ajigarta is there, as we shall see, severely abused for his cruelty, so much so, that his son, whom he has sold, considers himself at liberty to leave the family of his parents, and to accept the offer made by Vi6vfi,mitra of being adopted into his family. So revolting, in- deed, is the description given of Ajigarta's behaviour 1 Mnnu, z. 105. ^ bbAhmahas. ^ i^he Br&hmana, that we should rather recognbe in ^ i^^ ^ spedmcn of the un- Aryan population of India. v^^^gb a supposition, however, would be in oontradic- ^^ 4:>n ^th several of the most essential points of the ^ ^cnd, particularly in what r^ards the adoption of ^i^^tiahfepha by Vi6v&mitra. Yi^v&mitra, though *^^^^ved at the dignity of a Brahman, clearly considers ^^e adoption of Sunahfepha Devarftta, of the famous .^^^^hmanic {Samily of the Angirasas, as an advantage ^^-r himself and for his descendants ; and the Deva- ^^^i^as are indeed mentioned as a famous branch of ^J,e VifevfiLmitras. (V.-P. p. 405, 23.). Sunahfiepha is ^^^e his eldest son, and the leader of his brothers, ^-vidently as the defender and voucher of their f3rahmahood, which must have been then of very ^-ecent date, because VifevUmitra himself is still ad- dressed by Sunahfepha as Rdja-putraj and Bharata- The Aitar^a-br&hmana goes on to state that the priests asked 8unah6epha to perform the sacrifice of the day. Sunahtepha then invented the ceremony called Anjahaava^ ad prepared the Soma, accompanied by four verses.^ He poured the Soma into the Drona-ka- la6a vessel with oneverae, and made the libations with the four first verses of the same hymn, accompanied by Swkhk ejcclamations, as the sacrifice had been begun by HariSchandra. Afterwards he carried out all the things belonging to the Avabritha ceremony, employing t\VO verses, and made Harifichandra go to the Ahavaniya fire with another hymn. " When the sacrifice had thus been performed Su- nahfiepha sat down on the lap of Vi6v|Lnxitra. Ajigarta, * These verses are to be found in the sixth Anuv&ka of the first Mnn4ila of the Big-veda. BBAHMANAS. 4 1 7 the son of Stlyavasa, said: ^^Rishi, give me back my son." Yi6y&mitra said, ** No ; for the gods have given him to me." He became Devar&ta (Theodotus) the son of Yi^vftmitra, and the members of the fami lies of Eapila and Babhru became his relations. Ajigarta the son of Siiyavasa said : " Come thou, 0 son, wCy both I and thy mother call thee away." Ajigarta* the son of Siiyavasa said : ** Thou art by birth an Angirasa, the son of Ajigarta, celebrated as a poet. 0 Rishi, go not away from the line of thy grandfather, come back to me." Sunah6epha replied : *^ They have seen thee with a knife in thy hand, a thing that men have never found even amongst Siidras ; thou hast taken three hundred cows for me, 0 Angiras." Ajigarta the son of S&yavasa said : ^^ My old son, it grieves me for the wrong that I have done ; I throw it away, may these hundred cows belong to thee." SunahSepha replied : ^' Who once commits a sin will commit also another sin ; thou wilt not abstain from the ways of l^&dras; what thou hast committed cannot be redressed." " Cannot be redressed," Vi6v&- mitra repeated. " Dreadful stood the son of Siiyavasa when he went to kill with his knife. Be not his son, come and be my son." 6unah6epha said : " Tell us thyself, 0 son of a king, thus as thou art known to us, how I, who am an Angirasa, shall become thy son." Vi6v&mitra replied : " Thou shall be the eldest of my sons, thy offspring shall be the first, thou shalt receive the heritage which the gods have given me, thus I address thee." Sunah6epha replied: **May the leader of the Bharatas say so, in the presence of his agreeing sons, for friendship's and happiness' sake, that I shall become thy son." Then ViSv&mitra ad- K £ 418 ^^^**^ANA8. t| to sons: "Heai.^ ^^rx^r .^ 5"eniorit. 7, ^^ brothers that ^'"^K believe -V^^^^^^tPahJ?- ^ ^** y are, "^^^t^**^*"/^' and fi?^^"'^'-ed sons, fiftvoM lifee *^^t^* they should Pronounced a cu,^ "^""^^ tHetn, ^^^ridhras, p^^^l^ he^^^ outcast r Y,a, n.^*^ts Of Vi6v|f^.<>tcast tribes, gl '^' ^<it'- descetx^^ But Madh^'5'^ became t!,; ^ *^' the ^^^ Ta.l'*^®' Replace *!. ^*t o"^ father * u *^ tbo.t^^'^.^v&mit Jht^fJ^^ee before usandln' ""' ^" ^.^^'^ .T-Srou sons wm"? t^i he pn^iJi /^^^^ *bee." ^^^ '• ^ ^o*^ bave acc^^ S*^ children! ^°^ '^^ ^^^^S in brave sons!'^^'-^ -^7 -li, anTCvt "'''^ ""^ to ^ bonoured bv ,,"' <Jecendant8 of gL?**^^ ?!1 be ^ give you^ ^""^^ow Devardta. T* • ^**"' ^S^'elpo-ss. ?o:^^/-bes,andwb;tet;iJ:r ll^itr. together; y,^ ^^- W.e, ail you sons of ^I^" Tk*.vaTftt and to make k- ^^^' ^^u stood to •,,.v- , • P^ '®*^ as a I **'"'> Kausiktt (Bhrigus) Jamadagni x Rei^^-. TLis last Terse. wlii,.k • Parasu-r&ma. ' '""'■>' w also ottributed to ViATfioiit^ bbAhmaxas* 419 Rishi of both families, in the chiefdom of the Jahnus, and in the divine Veda of the G&thins." The same chapter of the Aitareya-brfi^hmana, where this story of l^unahsepha is told, contains many cu- rious details on the mutual relation of the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas. The story of SunaMepha is said to form a part of the inauguration of a king, to whom it is related by the Hotri priests, the Adhvaryu priest acting the second part; perhaps an early attempt at dramatic representation. It does not necessarily follow from this legend that the Rishis, the authors of the Vedic hymns, offered human sacrifices. No one would conclude from the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his own son in obedience to a supposed command from Jehovah, that the Jews had been in the habit of offering their sons as victims. It is not, however, because human sacri- fices seem to belong only to the most savage races of men, that we doubt the prevalence of this custom among the ancient Hindus. Human sacrifices are not incompatible with a higher stage of civilization, particularly among people who never doubted the immortality of the soul, and at the same time felt a craving to offer whatever seemed most valuable on earth to the gods in whom they believed. There are few nations in the history of the world whose early traditions do not exhibit some traces of human sacri- fices. And though I doubt the continuance of that custom during the Chhandas period, I see no reason to be taken rather as a recapitulation of the whole storj. Jahnu is one of the ancestors of Yiilvamitra, belonging to the Lunar Dynasty ; G^thin is considered as YiiSy&niitra's father. The com- mentator gives Jahnu as a Rishi of the family of Ajigarta, which seems better to agree with the Vedic story. BB 2 420 BBAHMAJTAS. to do^^* ^*^ previous existence. A passage from the j^\f^g^^tr&yahiAhmHria offers a strifcin"^ confirmation of this opinion. It is said there (Ait.-br. 6. 8.) that the gods took noan for their victim. " As he was taken, medha, (the sacrifice or the spirit,) went out of him. It entered the borse. Therefore the horse became the sacrificial animal' Then the ^ods took the horse, but as it was t^^> the medha went out of him. It entered the ox. -^^nerefore the ox became the sacrifi- cial aninial* The same happened with the ox. Aflter- yrards the sheep, then the goat, and at last the earth became th* victim.