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Aristophanes is not a whit behind Euripides, although he ridicules the tragedian for his ungallant propensities." Wilson, Theatre 0f /At Hindus (London 1871) vol. i, p. 77. Note. Digitized by 462 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. Domestic life, however, is not all poetry, and we get a truer idea of domestic sorrows and troubles from the tales in the Katha Sarit S£gara than from the poetry of Bhavabhuti or Kdlidisa. Poverty, bereavement, the contempt or hatred of relations and neighbours, the cruelty of husbands or the uncontrolled temper of * wives often poisoned the peace of home and made life a burden. Not the least galling of all evils were the differences and disputes amongst members of joint families, or the heartless cruelty of mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law towards a submissive wife. The gentle and virtuous Kirti Send, suffering from such domestic tyranny, exclaimed in sorrow, — " this is why relations lament the birth of a daughter, exposed to the terrors of the mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law." (K. S. S. Chap. 29.) We have quoted passages in a previous chapter to shew that widows were not prohibited from marrying again in the Pauranik age. A droll story is told of the daughter of a householder of Malava who married eleven husbands successively. And on the death of the eleventh husband the plucky widow would pro- bably have welcomed a twelfth, but " even the stones could not help laughing at her," so she took to the life of an ascetic. (K, S. S. Chap. 66.) We have spoken before of the love and devotion of Hindu wives. With the decline of the national spirit and of a due respect for women, this female devo- Digitized by Google CHAP. XIV.] EARLY PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 463 tion degenerated into a barbarous custom in the Pauranik age. There is no allusion to the rite of Suttee in the literature of India previous to the Pauranik Period ; there is no mention of it in the Code of Manu or even of Yajnavalkya. It is in Pauranik literature that we first trace the rise of this custom. Suicide by entering the fire was known in India from the time of Alexander the Great, and even earlier When in the Pauranik age the devotion of wives to their husbands was insisted upon to a greater extent than the regard of husbands for their wives, the form of suicide spoken of above was recommended as a meri- torious act more to widows than to others. Thus Varahamihira praises women in his astronomy, because they enter the fire on losing their husbands, while men go and marry again on losing their wives. Neverthe- less, the custom was not restricted to women or to widows, even in the Pauranik age. In Malati Madhava, Malati's father makes preparations for mounting the funeral pyre for the grief of his child ; in Mrichchhakati Charudatta's wife similarly prepares to mount the pyre when her husband was disgraced, and about to be executed ; and in Nagdnanda, Jimutavahana's father, mother and wife resolve to perish on the pyre for the loss of the prince. In the Katha Sarit S£gara we find a maiden disap- pointed in love preparing to enter the funeral pyre (Chapters 118 and 122). And turning from fiction to Digitized by 4 6 4 PAURANIK PEKIOD. [BOOK V. history, we know that a king of Kanouj perished on the pyre, because he was disgraced in the eyes of his countrymen for his friendship for Mahmud of Guzni. It was in fact an ostentatious form of suicide when grief or disgrace became unsupportable, and life was cheer- less and void. Reprehensible as such suicide always was, it became a cowardice and a crime when men ceased to perform the rite, and imposed it as an honorable act for women alone, to be performed on the death of their husbands. Such practice became a settled cus- tom when the Hindus ceased to be living nation. Courtesans of great beauty and accomplishments received in ancient India, as in ancient Greece, a higher regard, and lived, in spite of their immoral profession, a more intellectual and elevated life than their degraded sisters of modern times. Ambapali who vied with Lichchavi lords in pomp and pride, and who invited the holy Gautama Buddha to her house, reminds one of Aspasia receiving Socrates in her house. Similarly, Va*antasen&, the heroine of the Mrichchhakati, lived in great pomp and splendour; she received the gay young men of Ujjayini in a public court furnished with a gaming table, books, pictures and other means of recreation; she employed skilled artisans and jellewers in her house ; she relieved the needy and the unfortu- nate ; and in spite of her trade was u Of courteous manners and unrivalled beauty, The pride of all Ujjain I " Wilson. uiginzeo by Google CHAP. XIV.] EARLY PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 465 In the same way we learn from the Kathd Sarit SSgara (Chap. 38), that the courtesan Madanam&l£ of Pratishthdna, the capital of Southern India, lived in a mansion " that resembled the palace of a king," and had guards and soldiers, horses and elephants ; and she honoured king Vikram&ditya (who had come in disguise) with baths, flowers, perfumes, garments, ornaments and rich viands. And again from Chap. 124 of the same work we learn that Devadatt&, a courtesan of Ujjayini lived in her " palace worthy of a king." Ujjayini, we need hardly say, was the proudest town in India in the days of which we are speaking. Genius, and beauty, wealth and royal power combined to shed a rare lustre on this ancient city in the sixth century A. D. Good reasons had the Yaksha in the Meghaduta to ask the cloud not to pass by without a visit to Ujjayini ; or else, " Dark are thy days, and thou in vain hast been." Not daring to disobey such high injunction, we paid a visit to the classic town five years ago. Its ancient glory is gone, the very memories of the past dwell not in its precincts. But nevertheless as we strolled through its rough paved stony streets, looked at the quaint old houses darkening the lanes, saw the crowd of simple hearted people in their native joyousness, and visited the ancient temple of MahAk&la, probably the very temple alluded to by Kilidasa in Meghaduta, we felt that it was possible, feebly and faintly, to revive the past R. C. D., A. L— III. 30 Digitized by Google 466 PAURAN1K PERIOD. [BOOK V. in one's imagination, and to form some conception of what this town was in olden days. And certainly the exceptionally realastic account of the town given in the Mrichchhakati helps one's imagination not a little. That play will be our guide in our attempt to delineate the past. Under the shadow of the royal power dwelt the peaceful merchants and bankers in the Exchange or Merchants' quarters, Sreshthi-chatvara as the poet calls it Quiet and unostentatious as Hindu merchants always are, these banker merchants probably had their branch firms in the great towns all over Northern India, carried on extensive operations in silks, jewels and valuable goods, and concealed in their dark vaults in crowded and narrow lanes, enormous treasures and money which kings and emperors did not disdain to borrow in times of need. Ostentatious only in their charity and religious works, they no doubt beautified the town with many a graceful temple, fed and supported priests and Brdhmans, and earned a name among their fellow citizens by their good works. To the present day the Setts and merchants of Northern India are respected for their wealth and their pious acts, and build many a holy temple where Jaina and Hindu worship is performed day by day. Jewellers and artists flocked in the vicinity of mer- chants. In the words of the poet, " skilful artists ex- amine pearls, topazes, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, the Digitized by Google CHAP. XIV.] EARLY PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 467 1 lapis lazuli, coral and other jewels ; some set rubies in gold, some work gold ornaments on colored threads, some string pearls, some grind the lapis lazuli, some pierce shells, and some cut coral. Perfumers dry the saffron bags, shake the musk bags, express the sandal juice, and compound essences." These artists found a market all through the known world, and the products of their skill were appreciated in the court of Harun-ar- Rashid in Bagdad, and astonished the great Charlemagne and his rude barons, who as an English poet has put it, raised their visors and looked with wonder on the silks and brocades and jewellery which had come from the far East to the infant trading marts of Europe. Humbler traders filled other streets and displayed their cloths and garments and sweetmeats and various other commodities. A stream of joyous and simple hearted people filled the busy streets all through the live long day. But the markets and bazars were not the only places of public resort ; there were others of a more question- able character. Gambling houses were established under the king's orders, — as is still the case in the con- tinent of Europe, — the master of the table was appoint- ed by the king to maintain order, and was entitled according to the Agni Purina to one-fifth or one-tenth of the winnings, as the king's dues. The money which a gambler loses at a gambling table in the Mrich- chhakati is reckoned as ten Suvarnas ; and a Suvarna Digitized by Google 4 68 PAURANIK PERIOD [BOOK V. was undoubtedly a golden coin which Wilson estimates at Rs. 8-14. We know from Sakuntala that there were grog shops which were frequented by the very lowest castes ; while among the courtiers of a luxurious court, and among the profligate and the gay, drinking was not unknown. Bharavi has a canto on the joys of drinking, and Kalidasa too often speaks of ladies whose mouths were scented with the perfumes of liquor !