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Kashmir was independent and was guatded by its mountains; Mahmud of Ghazni had tried to conquer it but had failed; and the braye Anangapdla, who had. vainly tried to oppose the march of Mahmud, had once fled to that secluded region. Sindh was cut up into petty principalities ruled by Moslem, chiefs. In Gujrat Mahmud’s invasion of Somanatha or Pattan had left no lasting result; the Rajput dynasty, <x 478 ' PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK Vv. which had wrested the ruling powerin the land from the Chalukyas before the time of Mahmud (about 980 A.D.), continued to rule there after Mahmud’s invasion of Somandtha, Malwa was ruled by another Rajput race, and Bhojadeva, who ruled for half acentury, from 997 to 1053 A.D., was an enlightened patron of letters, and revived in his capital at Dhara the memories of the reign of Vikramaditya the Great. Alberuni tells us a story (Chap. XVII) about a man being transformed into silver, and the piece of silver being still visible at the palace gate of Dhara. Kanouj is said to have then been subject tothe Pala. ‘Kings of Bengal who generally resided at Monghyr. Rajyapala of Kanouj had been plundered by Mahmud in 1017 A. D,, and in consequence of this, a new capital had been founded at Bari where Mahipala lived and ruled about 1026 A.D. Both these rulers, like all the Palas of Bengal, are said to have been of the Buddhist persuasion. But Buddhism as a national religion had died out in India in Alberuni’s time. The country round Kanouj was called the Madhya- desa by the people, because it formed the centre of India, a centre, as Alberuni states, “from a geographical point of view,” and “it is a political centre too, because in former times it was the residence of their most famous heroes ‘and kings.” (Chap. XVIII.) ' Alberuni gives distances from Kanouj to several important places which continue to be important towns CHAP, XV.| LATER PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 479 to the present day, He speaks of Mathura, which “has become famous by Vasudeva ” ; of Pray4ga or Allahabad _where the Hindus torment themselves with various kinds of torture which are described in the books about religious sects” ; of “ the famous Banarasi ”.or Benares ; of Pataliputra, Monghyr and Gangasagara or the mouths ‘of the Ganges. In. the south he. speaks of - Dhara and Ujjayini; in the north-west of Kashmir and Multan and Lahor ; and away from the centre of - India he speaks of the fabled causeway of Rama, and ’ of the pearl banks of Ceylon, as also of the Maldive and Laccadive islands. (Chap. XVIII.) _From an account of the country we turn to an account of the people. Alberuni makes some. brief remarks on the caste system, from which we are able to ‘see that the Vaisyas—the great body of the Aryan ‘ people—were fast degenerating to the rank of Siidras. : In one place we are told that between the Vaisyas and the Sfidras “there is no very great distance.”"{ Chap. IX.) : Elsewhere we learn that the. Vaisyas had already been deprived of their ancient heritage of religious learning ; | that the Brahmans taught the Veda to the Kshatriyas, but “the Vaisya and Sddra are not allowed to hear it, much less to pronounce or recite it.” (Chap. XI} Again we are told that “ every action which is considered as the privilege of a Brahman, such as saying prayers, the recitation of the Veda, and offering sacrifices to the fire, is forbidden to him, to such a degree that when . 480 PAURANIK PERIOD. . [BOOK v, —e. g.a Sidra or a Vaisyais proved to have recited the Veda,—he is accused by the Brahmans before the ruler, and the latter will order his tongue to be cut off.” (Chap. LXIV.) v Let the reader compare this account of the Vaisya’s status with that given by Manu, and he: will have before him the history of the gradual degeneracy of the people, and of the growing power of priests. The descendants of the Vaisyas who had an equal right with Brahmans to learn and recite the Veda and to sacrifice to the fire, came, after the religious and political revolu- tions of the ninth and tenth centuries A.D., to be class- ed with Siadras, and considered unworthy of religious , knowledge! Kshatriyas still held their own as long as India was a free country, but lost their glory and independence after the eleventh century. And then the bold myth was proclaimed that Kshatriyas too as a caste had, like the Vaisyas, ceased to exist, that all who - were not Brahmans were Sadras—all equally incapable of reciting the Veda and sacrificing to the fire! Does the modern reader wish to go beyond this specious myth of the extinction of the Kshatriyas and Vaisyas,. and desire to know what has really become of them and their descendants? He will find them classed under new names, {(K4yastha,. Vaidya, Vanik, Svarna- kara, Karmakara, &c.) as new castes unknown to Manu _and YAjnavalkya. And room has been kindly provid- ed for these new castes, formed out of Kshatriyas and. CHAP. XV.] LATER PAURANIK CIVILIZATION, 48% Vaisyas, in the growing list of “ mixed castes” which Manu had reserved for abovigines like Nishddas and - Chandélas! It is an old stery, at least in Indian his- tory—the ascendancy of priests has kept pace with the steady degeneracy of the people. And the people we repeat once more, are more responsible for their degra- dation and submission to priestly authority than the priests for assuming such authority. The people have to thank themselves for their ‘social degradation and : dishonour in the past; and they alone, by their own _ exertions, can secure an equality in status, in honour - and in rights, in the future. - . Below the Sadra, eight Axtyaza castes are recounted by Alberuni, viz., the fuller, the shoémaker, the juggler, the basket and shield maker, the sailor, the fisherman, the hunter of wild animals and the weaver.* The Hari, 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 “Hindus marry at a vety young age,” and that “if a wife loses her husband by death, she cannot marry another man, She has only to chaose 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. L—IIl. 31 iT 482 PAURANIK PERIOD. {BOOK Vv. 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 (stridhana) 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. But this practice had fallen into disuse ; caste hhad become more rigid and unmeaning; and “in our ‘time, however, the Brahmans, 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 CHAP, X¥.] LATER PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. | 483 the eleventh day of the moon was the Hindal: Chaitra (thé modern Do/a) when the image of Krishna was swung to and froin a cradle. On the full-meon day was tlie spring festival (the modern fo/z), a festival specially for women. We have found some account of this festival in the dramatic literature of the early Pauranik age. Both the Ratndval# and the Mélatt- _médhava 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 Holi represents the festival of that ancient god. The third day of the moon in Vaisdkha was the Gaur Trittyé, 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 favour able prog- nostic. On the full-moon day there was a festival for women called Ripa Pancha. ' The month of AsAédha was devoted to ‘fps, and households were provided with hew vessels. "On the full-moon day in Srévana banquets were again given to Brahmans. 484 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. In the month of Asvayuja sugarcane was cut® and at a festival called the Mahdnavami, 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.