English
, the fuller, the shoemaker, the juggler, the basket and shield maker, the sailor, the fisherman, the hunter of wild animals and the weaver* The Han, Doma and Chandala were considered as outside all castes (Chap. IX). It is a relief to turn from the subject of caste to that of the manners and customs of the people ; but even here we find Hinduism in its last stage of degeneracy. We are told that 11 Hindus marry at a very young age," and that " if a wife loses her husband by death, she cannot marry another man. She has only to choose between two things, either to remain a widow as long as she lives or to burn herself ; and the latter • See ante, p. 320. R. C. D., A. I.— III. 31 Digitized by Google 482 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. eventually is considered the preferable, because as a widow she is ill-treated as long as she lives." (Chap. LXIX.) Thus perpetual widowhood and the burning of widows were customs of the land in the last days of Hindu independence. Nations, it is said, shape their own destinies ; and the Hindus of the eleventh century who thus forgot their glorious past, degraded their women, and defranchised the people of all culture and religious knowledge, certainly seemed to court the sad destiny which overwhelmed them at the close of the next century. About marriage customs we are told that parents arranged marriages for their children, that no gifts were settled, but the husband made a gift in advance which was the wife's property (strtdhana) ever after. Marriage was forbidden among parties who were related to each other within five generations. Every man of a particular caste could, under the ancient law, marry a woman of his own caste, or one of the castes below his. Hut this practice had fallen into disuse ; caste had become more rigid and unmeaning ; and " in our time, however, the Br^hmans, although it is allowed to them, never marry any woman except one of their own caste." (Chap. LXIX.) The account of the festivals given by Alberuni of the Hindus of the eleventh century reads not unlike an account of Hindu festivals in the present day. The year commenced with the month of Chaitra, and on Digitized by Googl CHAP. XV.] LATER PAURAN1K CIVILIZATION. 483 the eleventh day of the moon was the Hindoli Chaitra (the modern Do/a) when the image of Krishna was swung to and fro in a cradle. On the full-moon day was the spring festival (the modern Ho/i\ a festival specially for women. We have found some account of this festival in the dramatic literature of the early Pauranik age. Both the Ratndva/i and the Mdlati- mddhava open with an account of this festival which was sacred to the god of love. But Krishna in modern times has supplanted the ancient god of love, and the modern Ho/i represents the festival of that ancient god. The third day of the moon in VaisAkha was the Gauri Trittyd, when women performed ablutions, wor- shipped the image of Gauri, and lighted lamps before it, offered perfumes, and fasted. From the tenth day of the moon to the full-moon sacrifices were performed before ploughing fields, and commencing the annual cultivation. Then came the vernal equinox, when a festival was held and Brahmans were fed. Jaistha is the month for fruits in India, and on the first day of the moon the first-fruits of the year were thrown into the water for obtaining a favourable prog- nostic. On the full-moon day there was a festival for women called Rftpa Pancha. The month of Asadha was devoted to alms-giving, and households were provided with new vessels.* On the full-moon day in Sr&vana banquets were again given to Drahmans. Digitized by 484 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. In the month of Asvayuja sugarcane was cut, and at a festival called the Mahanavami, the first-fruits of sugar and other things were presented to the image of Bhagavati. On the fifteenth, sixteenth, and twenty-third day of the moon there were other festivals, accompanied by much merriment and wrangling. The month of Bhadrapada* was full of celebrations. On the first day of the moon alms were given in the names of the fathers. On the third day there was a festi- val for women. On the sixth day food was distributed to prisoners. On the eighth day there was a festival called Dhruvagriha, and pregnant women celebrated it to obtain healthy children. On the eleventh day there was a festival called Pdrvatt, in which a thread was offered to the priest. And after the full-moon day the whole half-month was devoted to festivals. These festivals of the eleventh century have now been replaced by more pompous Pujas — that of DurgS and other god- desses and gods. On the. first day of the moon in Kdrtika was a festival called Dewali. A great number of lamps were lighted, and it was believed that the goddess Lakshmi liberated Bali the son of Virochana in that one day in the year. This was the ancient form of the Dewali festival with which the worship of KAli is now connect- ed, just as the worship of Krishna is now connected with the ancient spring festival. In Europe, as general knowledge and popular education are spreading, days Digitized by Google CHAP. XV.] LATER PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 485 formerly dedicated to saints and various rites, are now merely observed as holidays, for rest and recreation. In India, on the contrary, ancient season festivals are now connected with the worship of gods who were unknown or little known to the ancient Hindus. On the third day of the moon in M&rgasirsha (Agra- hiyana) there was a feast for women in honour of Gauri. And there was another feast for women on the full-moon day. Pausha was celebrated in those days, as it is now, with a variety of sweet dishes. We have seen that this very sensible way of celebrating the winter was known even in the centuries previous to the Christian era. On the third day of the moon in Mdgha, there was a feast for women in honour of Gauri. Other festivals followed in this month. On the eighth day of the moon in F&lguna, Brdhmans were fed, and on the full-moon day was the Do/a. The following night was the Sivar&trt dedicated to Mah£- deva. (Chap. LXXVI.) The account of festivals given above will convey some idea of popular religion and religious practices. There were idols and temples too scattered broadcast all over India which attracted numerous pilgrims and devotees. Alberuni speaks of an idol of Aditya or the sun in Multan, of one of Chakrasv&min or Vishnu in Thanes- vara, of a wooden idol called Sdrada in Kashmir, and of Digitized by Google 486 PAUBANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. the famous idol of Soman&tha— a Sivalinga— which was destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni, (Chap. XI). About the linga of Somanatha our author tells us that Mahmud, after destroying the upper part, transported the remainder to Ghazni with all its coverings and trapp- ings of gold, jewels and embroidered garments. Part of it was thrown into the hippodrome of the town, and part of it was kept at the door of the Ghazni mosque so that people might rub and clean their feet on it. Such was the fate assigned to the idol which was daily washed by water brought from the Ganges and worshipped by flowers from Kashmir ! The great importance of the Soman&tha linga was due to the fact that the town itself was a centre of maritime trade and a harbour for seafaring people. (Chap. LVIII.) Benares had already become the most sacred place in India, and men repaired there in their old age to end their lives in the holy city. The holy lakes of Pushkara, Thanesvara, Mathur£, Kashmir and Multan are also alluded to and no doubt attracted vast crowds of pil- grims (Chap. LXVI). The Hindu custom of excavating great tanks with specious flights of stairs in holy places is much praised by our author. "In every place to which some particular holiness is ascribed the Hindus construct ponds intended for ablutions. In this they have attained to a very high degree of art, so that our people (the Muslims), when they see them, wonder at them and are unable to describe them, much less to I Digitized by Google CHAP. XV.] LATER PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 487 construct anything like them. They build them of great stones of an enormous bulk, joined to each other by sharp and strong cramp irons, in the form of steps (or terraces) like so many ledges ; and these terraces run all round the pond, reaching to a height of more than a man's stature." (Chap. LXVI). Among the multitude of gods and goddesses whom the Hindus worshipped, Alberuni had no difficulty in marking out the three principal gods — the deities of the Hindu Trinity— Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Mahadeva the Destroyer. Alberuni further tells us that these three deities form a Unity, and herein " there is an analogy between Hindus and Christians, as the latter distinguish between the three persons, and give them separate names, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but unite them into one substance'* (Chap. VIII.) That Alberuni carefully studied Hindu religion and institutions, will appear from the fact that beyond the multitude of Hindu gods worshipped by the common people — beyond even the Trinity spoken of above — our author grasped the true nature of pure and philoso- phical Hinduism — the Monotheism of the Upanishads. He repeatedly tells us that the multitude of gods is for vulgar belief ; the educated Hindus believe God to be u one, eternal, without beginning and end, acting by free will, almighty, all-wise, living, giving life, ruling, preserving." Digitized by Google 488 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. " The existence of God they consider as real exist- ence, because everything that exists, exists through him." (Chap. II.