English
" Such has been the opinion of all civilized and candid travellers who have visited India from the time of Megasthenes downwards, who have seen Hindus in their homes and villages, mixed with them in their every- day life, entered into their daily transactions, and ex- amined their dealings and ordinary relations with their co-villagers and acquaintances. Villagers, says Colonel Sleeman, adhere habitually to the truth in their Panch- yets, and u 1 have had before me hundreds of cases in which a man's property, liberty and life has depended upon his telling a lie, and he has refused to tell it." Digitized by Google I4 2 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. Our readers will pardon us for this reference to the testimony of a modern traveller and an Englishman ; but judgments on a people's character are so often formed from the falsehood and chicanery exhibited in law courts, that it is refreshing to turn to the opinion of an Englishman who passed his official life in seeing and knowing the people in their own homes and villages, and in the midst of their everyday dealings and trans- actions. With regard to the people's clothing, Houen Tsang says, that the clothing was not cut or fashioned. " The men wind their garments round their middle, then gather them under the armpits, and let them fall down across the body, hanging to the right" It would appear from this account that one piece of cloth served much the same purpose and was worn much in the same way as the dJioti and chudder are worn in the present day. The women dressed themselves as they do now—" The robes of the women fall to the ground ; they completely cover their shoulders. They wear a little knot of hair on their crowns, and let the rest of their hair fall loose." " On their heads the people wear caps with flower wreaths and jewelled necklets. Their garments are made of Kauseya. Kauseya is the product of the wild silk worm. They have garments also of KsJiauma which is a sort of hemp ; garments also made of Kam- bala which is woven from fine goat hair ; garments also made from Holalu This stuff is made from the fine Digitized by Google CHAP. IX.] SOCIAL MANNERS, &C. I43 hair of wild animals : it is seldom that this can be woven, and therefore the stuff is very valuable, and it is regarded as fine clothing." The above brief account gives us some idea of the silken, cotton, and woollen fabrics in use in India in the 7th century. Holali, from the description given, would seem to be sliawl made of the hair of Kashmir goats. Further on Houen Tsang says that in North India, where the wind was cold, the people wore close-fitting garments ; that Kshatriyas and Br&hmanas were cleanly and wholesome in their dress ; that all the people were very particular in their personal cleanliness, and allow- ed no remissness in this particular. All washed them- selves before eating. Wooden and stone vessels when used were destroyed ; vessels of gold, silver, copper, and iron, after each meal, were rubbed and polished. After eating they cleansed their teeth with a willow stick and washed their hands and mouth. Cleanliness, however, was more observable in the personal habits of the people than in their towns. Towns were generally walled and had gates, but the streets and lanes were tortuous, and the thoroughfares were dirty. Stalls were arranged on both sides of the road with appropriate signs ; but butchers, fishers, dancers, executioners, and scavengers had their abodes outside the city. The town walls were mostly built of bricks and tiles, and the towers of wood and bamboo, architecture in stone being extremely rare Digitized 144 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. except for religious edifices and excavations. The houses of the ordinary people were covered, as in the present day, with " rushes or dry branches or tiles or boards", and the walls of such houses were covered with lime and mud, "mixed with cow's dung for purity." Houen Tsang gives an account of education in India which is interesting. He speaks of five Vidyas or branches of learning, viz., Sabdavidyd or the science of words, Silpasthdnavidyd treating of the arts, ChtkiiscL- vidyd or medicine, Hetuvidyd or philosophy, and Adhydt- mavidyd of the mysteries of religion. Houen Tsang also speaks of four Vedas recognized in his time ; but Manu recognizes only three and not the Atharva Veda (III, 145; IV, 123; XI, 260 to 265; XII, 112, &c). Houen Tsang further informs us that men completed their education at 30, rewarded and thanked their teach- er, and returned to their worldly duties. Houen Tsang mentions a great variety of fruits which were produced in India. Among the food- grains, rice and corn were the most plentiful. The most usual food, beside the grains, was milk, butter, cream, soft sugar, sugarcandy, mustard oil, and various kinds of cakes made of corn. Fish, mutton, gazelle, and deer were generally eaten fresh, but sometimes salted, but it was forbidden to eat the flesh of the ox, the ass, the elephant, the horse, the pig, the dog, the fox, the wolf, the lion, the monkey, and all the Digitized by Google CHAP. IX.] SOCIAL MANNERS, &C. 145 hairy kind. With regard to wines, Kshatriyas were fond of the juice of grape and sugarcane. Vaisyas used strong fermented drinks, and the Sramans and Brahmans used a sort of syrup from the grape or sugarcane, but not fermented. We know however from various accounts that drinking was rare among the higher classes and almost unknown among the common people, except among the aboriginal castes. Gold, silver, native copper, white jade, and pearls were the products of the country, and there was also an abundance of rare gems and various kinds of pre- cious stones. Commercial transactions were carried on by barter, goods being exchanged for other goods. Houen Tsang even says that no gold or silver coins were known. It is probable that none were generally used for ordinary transactions. If from the accounts of the Chinese traveller we turn to the Institutes of the Hindu writer known under the mythical name of Manu, we find lists of various castes and professions into which Hindu society was divided subsequent to the Christian Era. And it is with regret and pain that the historian notes the little respect that was accorded in Hindu society to those who followed different professions and honest, though humble, means of living, — to all who were not priests and soldiers. In III, 152, we are told that physicians and temple priests and sellers of meat and shop-keepers should be avoided at sacrifices. And R. G D., A. I.— III. 10 Digitized by Google 146 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [l?OOK IV. in the same category are placed singers and actors (III, 155), makers of bows and arrows (III, 160), trainers of elephants, oxen, horses, and camels, astro- logers, bird fanciers and instructors in arms (III, 162), architects and messengers (III, 163), as well as shep- herds and keepers of buffaloes (III, 166). A Brahman is prohibited from accepting gifts from butchers, oil-manufacturers, publicans and brothel- keepers, who are classed together ! (IV, 84). Similarly he is prohibited from taking food given by a thief, a musician, a carpenter or an userer, by a physician, a hunter, a blacksmith, a stage player, a goldsmith, a basket maker or a dealer in weapons, by a washer- man or an artisan, (IV, 210, 212, 215, 216, 219). In another place a Brahman and a Kshatriya are directed by all means to avoid agriculture, " for the wooden implement with iron point injures the earth, and the beings living in the earth " ! (X, 84). This is a pretty comprehensive list ! If we exclude physicians, shop-keepers, singers, actors, trainers of animals, bird fanciers, instructors in arms, architects, oil- manufacturers, carpenters, washermen, hunters, gold- smiths, blacksmiths, manufacturers of baskets and arms, all artisans, all shepherds, all agriculturists, who then are left in the nation to receive honor? Priests and Kings ! The results were disastrous, so far as arts were concerned. Genius was impossible, except among priests and kings. Men held in a perpetual moral bondage m Digitized by Google CHAP. IX.] SOCIAL MANNERS, &C. 147 and servitude never learnt to aspire after greatness and glory. Men to whom honor was impossible never learnt to deserve honor and distinction. In other countries a Cincinatus might leave his plough and wield the destinies of his nation, or a Robert Burns might give expression to a nation's sentiments in thoughts that breathe and words that burn ; but in India the cultivator's fate was sealed, he could never break through the adamant wall of social rules. Among other people a sculptor, a painter or an architect, like Phcedias or Praxiteles, like Raphael or Michael Angelo, might by the force of his genius win the highest honor in his country. But in India that highest honor was the exclusive privilege of the Brahman and the Kshatriya, honor to an architect or to a sculptor was simply out of the question. Under healthier in- fluences the humblest artisan or engineer might rise to be a Watt or a Stevenson, but in India the artisan and the engineer were chained by shackles of steel, which it was impossible for them to break. Held in comparative degradation and contempt, the artisan and the mechanic never learnt to soar beyond the fixed rules of their art, and gave no indications of a great idea, a bold conception, a new invention or an original genius. Hindu architects covered India from Orissa and Ellora to Tanjore and Rameswaram with temples and edifices of which we shall speak in a future chapter. The patience, the industry, the*attention to minute de- Digitized 148 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV.