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but was entitled to support and maintenance as long as she lived. Heirs in the direct line, 2¢. sons, grandsans, &c., inherited in prefe- rence to collateral heirs as brothers; and the debt _ of the deceased devolved on the heir. (Chap. LXXIT.) In matters of taxation Brahmans enjoyed the same indulgence as in punishment for offences, Onie-sixth: of the produce of the soil was the tax due to the ruler ;# ' and labourers, artisans and trading classes also paid " taxes calculated“on their incomes. Only Brahmans | were.exempt from all taxes. (Chap. LXVII.) With regard to Hindu literature, Alberuni begins his account with the Veda, which he says was transmitted by memory because it was recited according to certain modulations, and the use of the pen might cause some error. He repeats the story that Vy4sa divided the ' Veda into four parts, the Rik, Yajus, SAman and Atharvan, and- taught one part to each of his four pupils—-Paila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu. He gives us the names of the eighteen books into which the Mahabharata in its present shape is divided, and also makes mention of its continuation the Harivansa ; _and he also tells some legends from the Ramayana. e names eight grammarians, Panini and others, gives; us some account of Sanskrit metre; and - eA tells us something of the Sankhya and other schools af philosophy, although his information is not always. derived from the original works of these : Ed 492 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. ‘schools. Of Buddha and Buddhism his account is ‘meagre, vague and erroneous, shewing that Buddhism had practically died out in India by the eleventh century. He tells us of the twenty works on Smriti, Manu, YAajnavalkya and others. He gives us two different lists of the eighteen Purdnas and the second list corresponds exactly with the eighteen Puranas ‘as we havethem now. This is an important fact for the student of. Hindu literature, as it shews that all the eighteen Puranas were composed before the 11th century of the Christian Era, although they have been altered and added to in subsequent ages. On the other hand, we have no mention in Alberuni’s work of the Tantra literature. And lastly, Alberuni, being him- self a clever mathematician, gives us a long account of Hindu astronomers, Aryabhatta, Varadhamihira and Brahmagupta, and of the five astronomical Siddh4ntas (Siarya, Vasishtha, Pulisa, Romaka and Brahma) which were condensed by Varahamihira. Alberuni specially ‘praises Varahamihira as an honest man of science, and ‘states that the astronomer lived 526 years- before his own time, ze. about 505 A.D. It is not necessary for us to go into the long and learned account which Alberuni gives of Hindu astro- nomy. His criticisms are sometimes erroneous; but on the whole he tries honestly to comprehend and explain the system of which he speaks. He gives us the names of the twelve Adityas, ze. the names of the CHAP. XV.] LATER PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 493 Ansa of Asddha, Parjanya of Sraévana, Varuna of Bhadra, Indra of Asvayuja(Asvina), Dhatri of Kartika,. gun in the twelve months of the year, viz. Vishnu of . Chaitra, Aryaman of Vaisdkha, Vivasvat of Jyaistha, , _ Mitra of Margasirsha (Agrahd4yana), Pashan of Pausha, - Bhaga of Magha and Tvashtri of Falguna. He states correctly that the names of the Hindu months are derived from thc Hindu names of lunar constellations Asvina from Asvini, Kartika from Krittika, Margasirse from Mrigasira, Pausha from Pushyé, Magha from Magha, Falguna from Parva Falgunt, Chaitra from. Chitra, Vaisékha from Visakha; Jyaishtha from. Jyeshth4, Ashadha from Purvdshadha, Sravana from Sravana, and Bhadra from Parva Bhadrapad4. He gives us the names of the twelve signs of the zodiac adopted by the Hindus from the Greeks who had adopt-. ed them from the Assyrians. And he also gives us the Hindu names of the planets, Mangala for Mars, ®udha for Mercury, Vrihaspati for Jupiter, Sukra for - Venus and Sanichara for Saturn. (Chap. XIX) Alberuni further tells us, and it is a remarkable fact for Hindu students to know, that some idea of the law of . gravitation was known to Hindu astronomers. Brah- magupta, as quoted by Alberuni, says, “Ali heavy | things fall down to the earth by a law of nature, for z¢ zs the nature of the earth to atiract and to keep things, as it is the nature of water to flow, that of the fire to burn, and that of the wind to set in motion.” Vardhamihira — ™ 494 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK Vv. also says: “ The Earth attracts that which is upon her.” (Chap. XXVI.) Alberuni also alludes to Aryabhatta’s theory, of which we have spoken before, that the earth revolves, the heaven does not turn round as appears to our eyes, (Chap. XXVI.) That the earth is round was also known to Hindu astronomers, and the circumference of, the earth was stated to be 4,800 yojanas. (Chap. XX XI.) Alberuni also tells us of the precession of the equinoxes, and quotes Varahamihira, that whereas the summer solstice took place in the midst of Aslesha and the winter solstice in Dhanisht4 in olden times (in the Epic Age when the Vedas were finally compiled as we have seen before), the former now (in Varahamihira’s time) takes place in the Cancer and the latter in Capricornus. (Chap. LVI.) Alberuni further goes into the subject of the heliacal rising of the stars and tells us how the mythical story of Agastya (Canopus) ordering the Vindhya mountairs to wait until his return? arose out of astronomical observations on the heliacal rising of the Canopus. Into these and various other. interesting matters of which our author speaks, we cannot enter, . While explaining allthese interesting points of Hindu astronomy, Alberuni regrets with every impartial scholar that the minds of even the greatest Hindu intellects ” were warped by mythical legends which they could not break through. Side by side with the most advanced CHAP. XV.] LATER. PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 495 notions of astronomy, Hindu astronomers seriously reproduced silly conceptions and ancient myths which were wholly irreconejlable with their own advanced theories. The whole fabric of Hinduism, of the caste system, of the supremacy of priests, was built on such ancient legends, and the greatest Hindu © minds could not or did not break through them. These remarks strike us forcibly when. we turn to the geography of the Hindus, The geography of India at least was pretty well known to the Hindus both before and after the Christian ‘era, witness the Buddhist scriptures and the accounts or Kalidasa’s poetry and Vardhamihira’s astronomy. But whenever we meet with a connected account of the configuration of the earth, we find the same old story of seven concentric seas and seven concentric islands! The central island is Jambu Dvipa surrounded by the salt sea; round it is SAka Dvipa surrounded by the mik ‘sea; round it is Kusa Dvipa surrounded by the. butter sea; round it is Krauncha Dvipa surrounded by the curd sea; round it is Salmali Dvipa.surrounded by the wine sea ; round it is Gomeda Dvipa surrounded by the sugar sea; and last of all is Pushkara Dvipa sur- rounded by the sweet sea! (Chap. XXI, quoting from the Matsya Purana). A more intelligible account of the provinces of India. is quoted by Alberuni from the Vayu Purana. The Kurus, Panchalas, Kasis, Kosalas, &c., were the central people. The Andhras (in "496 PAURANIK PERIOD. . [BOOK Vv. Magadha) Vangiyas. TAmraliptikas, &e., were in the east. The Pandyas, Keralas, Cholas, Mahdrdashtras, Kalingas, Vaidharvas, Andhras, NAasikyas, Saurdshtras, &c., were to the south. The Bhojas, MAlavas, Hunas, (Huns then possessing a part of the Punjab),&c., were to the west. And the Pahlavas (Persians) Gandharas, Yavanas, Sindhus Sakas, &c., were to the north. (Chap. XKIX.) ; Alberuni gives us some account of Hindu arithmetic and numbers—a science in which the Hindus beat all nations on the face of the earth. “I have studied the names of the orders of the numbers in various langua- ges,” says Alberuni, “and. have found that no nation goes beyond the thousand,” 2 ¢, the fourth order of numbers, commencing from the unit. But the Hindus “extend the names of the orders of numbers until the 18th order,” and this is called the Parardha. (Chap. XVI.) Our author also speaks of the various kinds of alpha- bet in use in India, the Siddamdtrikd used in Kashmir - and in Benares, the Viégarz used in Malwa, the Ardha nagari, the Marwari, the Sindhava, the Karnata,, the Andhri, the Draviri, the Gauri, &c. The last named is no doubt the Bengali alphabet. Various materials. too were used in various parts of India for writing,, the Tal leaf in some places, the. Bhézvja in northern and central India, &c., (Chap. XVI). r A chapter is also devoted to Hindu medical scig , ice. The science seems to have always been the monopoly CHAP, XV.] LATER PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 497 of a few, and mucl¥ superstition was mixed up with it, Ignorant pretenders professed through Rasdyana to tum old age into youth and to work many other | wonders, and thus preyed.on the mofe ignorant public As in the middle ages in Europe, so in India, the greedi- ‘ness of kings to convert. metals into gold knew no bounds, and pretenders prescribed many dark and ; even inhuman rites to work this wonder. * Indeed, in many respects the tenth and éleventh ‘centuries in India resembled the middle ages in Europe, _ A noble religion had become the monopoly of priests, . ‘and had been all but smothered with monstrous ‘legends and image worship. War and sovereignty were ‘the monopoly of another caste, the Rajput Kshatriyas “of India, and the feudal barons of Europe, who had both .come to the fore front from the struggles of the pre- ceding dark ages.