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Indra is said to have attained his proud position by his austere penances, and is in constant fear lest any mortals on earth attain the same rank by the same means. Not unoften therefore are the heavenly nymphs sent down by Indra to earth to disturb severe penances, and Digitized by Google CHAP. V.] RELIGION, &C. 279 beguile the heart of anchorites by their irresistible charms. The Asuras are another source of his apprehen- sion, and though expelled from heaven, they often return in force and reconquer it by sheer fighting. On such occasions Indra and his followers have to ask the succour of some of the superior deities, Brahma, Vishnu or Siva. These deities never condescend to directly help the minor gods against the Asuras ; but they console the beaten gods, and suggest to them plans for recovering their position. On one such occasion the gods devised a marriage between Siva and the mountain maid Umi, and Kurnara, Skanda or Kirtikeya, the issue of the union, led back the expelled gods to victory and to heaven. Both Kumira and his brother Gancsa, with his elephant head, are unknown to ancient Hindu religion, and are Pauranik creations. While the popular mind is thus engaged with the endless legends connected with these Pauranik gods,— whose number, we are told, is 330 millions, (an ob- vious exaggeration of the 33 Vedic gods),— the wise and the learned are constantly reminded of the cardinal principle of the Upanishads, that there is but One Deity, and that gods and Asuras and men, yea the whole universe, are but emanations from that Universal S:>ul, and will return to that Universal Soul. * Virtuous deeds lead to residence in heaven for long or short periods, and evil deeds lead to tortures in hell, also for stated periods ; and then the soul returns Digitized by Google 280 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. again to animate new bodies in succeeding births. The doctrine of transmigration is as firmly ingrained in the Hindu mind as the doctrine of resurrection is in the Christian mind, and the lowest Hindu sees a possible relation or kinsman in a new born babe or even in a bird or animal. It is only by pious contem- plation and learning, by sinlessness and freedom from all earthly feelings and passions, that the soul can at last shake off earthly trammels, and mingles with the Universal Soul, which is the Hindu's final salvation. We see how this idea, started in the Upanishads, was modified into the Buddhist doctrine of Nirvana, and was then accepted back again as the cardinal principle of Vedantism and modern or Pauranik Hinduism. The truly learned and wise therefore are recommended not to win a place in Indras heaven by meritorious acts, but to seek final absorption into the Universal Soul by effecting freedom in this world from worldly feelings and passions. Later developments of Hinduism have proceeded on the same recognition of One Deity, and some name from the modern Hindu pantheon has been selected for the purpose. Dr. Wilson in his work on the reli- gious sects of the Hindus, enumerates and describes 19 classes of Vaishnavas or followers of Vishnu, 1 1 classes of Saivas or followers of Siva, and 4 classes of Siktas or followers of Sakti the consort of Siva, besides other miscellaneous sects. Digitized by Google CHAP. V.] RELIGION, &C. 281 The Vashnava religion in many of its forms seems only a survival of the Buddhist religion. There is the same theoretical equality of all men and of all castes, and the same prohibition against the destruction of animal life ; and these principles are coupled with faith in one personal deity, Vishnu, who is often how- ever adored by the common people as Krishna, the amorous cowherd of Gokula and Vrindavana. The followers of Siva, and his consort Saktt have often adopted still more corrupt doctrines and practices. Such are the doctrines and tenets of modern Hin- duism in its various phases, but the character of a nation is shaped and influenced more by rites and observances than by tenets. And as we have stated before, there has been a wide departure from the old Vedic days, in religious rites and observances. The worship of images in temples was unknown to the Hindus before the Buddhist revolution, but seems to have come into fashion when Buddhism was the prevailing religion. We have seen before that Manu, who was a strong conservative in matters of religious rites, upheld the ancient system of offering sacrifices in the domestic or sacrificial fire, and indignantly classed temple priests with vendors of liquor and sellers of meat. Temples and images, however, had their attrac- tion for the popular mind, and by the sixth century A.D., they were regarded with veneration, and had to a great extent supplanted the ancient form of worship. Digitized by Google 282 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V In the literature of the 6th to 8th century A.D., we seldom read of sacrifices, except those performed by kings ; while Kalidasa and other poets often speak of temples and the images worshipped there.* The change was undoubtedly one in the wrong direc- tion. The worship of images has never an ennobling influence on a people's mind ; but in India the practice was accompanied by other evils. Down to the time of Manu, the Vaisyas or the mass of the people could worship their gods in their own way, and could offer libations in their domestic hearths without the intervention of priests. When, however, the worship was transferred from the fireside to the temple, priests as custodians of such temples had an additional in- fluence on the popular mind, and forged an additional link round the necks of the people. The opportunity was eagerly improved, and with the rise of the Rajput power in India, new temples multiplied in every capital town and busy mart. Pompous celebrations and gorgeous decorations arrested the imagination and fostered the superstition of the populace ; poetry, arts, architecture, sculpture, and music lent their aid ; and within a few centuries the nation's wealth was lavished on those * See his description of the temple of Siva and his consort in Ujjayini in the Meghad&ta. The present writer has visited the famous temple of this place, said to be the identical temple described by the poet nearly fourteen centuries ago ; but on this point one may be permitted to be sceptical ! Digitized by Google CHAP. V.] RELIGION, &C. 283 gorgeous edifices and ceremonials which were the outward manifestations of the people's unlimited devo- tion and faith. Pilgrimages, which were rare or un- known in very ancient times, were organized on a stupendous scale ; gifts in lands and money poured in from such devotees for the support of temples ; and religion itself gradually transformed itself to a blind veneration of images and their lucky custodians. The great towns of India were crowded with temples ; new gods and new images, some of them of a revolting character, found sanctuaries in stone edifices and in the hearts of ignorant worshippers ; and a crowd of priests who swarmed round such temples trampled on the necks of millions, who had forgotten their ances- tral worship, and mistook blind obedience and gifts to priests for religion ! We will illustrate the foregoing remarks on Pauranik Hinduism by a brief examination of the Pauranik religious literature. Dharma SaSTRAS. The Dharma Stitras of Gautama, Vasishtha, Baudh&- yana, and Apastamba furnished us with the best avail- able materials for an account of the manners and laws of the Rationalistic period. The Dharma S&stra of Manu supplied us with equally valuable materials for an account of Hindu life in the Buddhist period. Fortunately, the series of Dharma S^stras was con- Digitized 284 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. tinued in the Pauranik times, and they will be our guide in the following chapters in depicting the manners and laws of the Pauranik period. In the present chapter we will make a few remarks about the works themselves. There can be no doubt that a very large number of Dharma Sistras were compiled in the Pauranik times- References to, or quotations from, upwards of a hundred such works are met with in modern commentaries and digests. The Padma Purina enumerates 36 works, while Yajnavalkya gives us a shorter list of 20 works. They are — 1. Manu II. K at y ay an a 2. Atri 12. Brihaspati 3. Vishnu 13. Par&sara 4. Harlta 14. Vy&sa 5. Yajnavalkya 15. Sankha 6. Usanas 16. Likhita 7. Angiras 17, Daksha 8. Yaroa 18. Gautama 9. Apastaraba 19. Satatapa 10. Samvarta 20. Vasishtha Parlsara gives us a list of the same 20 works, only substituting Kasyapa for Vishnu, Garga for Vyasa, and Prachetas for Yama. Of these 20 works, Gautama and Vasishtha belong, as we have seen before, to the Rationalistic period, and Manu belongs to the Buddhist period. The remaining 17 works are pro- bably also based on ancient Sdtra works, but belong in their present form to the Pauranik period. Digitized by Google CHAP. V.] RELIGION, &C. 285 1. Atri* is a short work of less than four hundred couplets written in continuous sloka metre like all works of the Pauranik Period. It insists on the necessity of perusing modern S&stras as well as the ancient Vedas (11) ; recommends bathing in Falgu river and visiting Gadcidhara Deva (57) ; recommends the drinking of the water with which the feet of Siva and Vishnu (images) have been washed ; despises all Mlechchhas (180, 183) ; refers to the rite of the burning of widows (209) ; and has all the marks of a work composed or recast about the close of the Pauranik Age. 2. Vishnu.