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LeHo-Slax>onie -Zerzd Oseau Labiu UmbrLan. Old Gaulish Welsh Coruish Brelou M&T2X Irish. 5colch GaeU.c Golhic Lethie CHAPTER II CREATIVE PERIOD THE THREE VEDAS Dates Unknown II. History. Our first historical knowledge of the Aryan tribes which produced the great civilization of India shows them settled in the Western Punjab and beyond the Indus. They were a tall, fair people. They gradually spread further east, as far as the district of Karnal, later known as the holy land of the Kurus, Kurukshetra. They were then soldier-farmers, equally used to the plough and the sword. They were constantly at war with the aborigines around them ; and they looked eagerly for sunshine and rain to mature their crops and give them fodder for their cattle and herds. They were still a primitive people, living in simple villages, with but few of the arts of civilization, and un trammelled by the bonds of caste. They had no writing and no coinage. They ate beef and drank intoxicating drink. The tribes lived each under its own chieftain, and NOTK. — The text at the top of the page is THE GAYATRI, the most famous of Hindu prayers : ' That excellent glory of the Quickening Sun, the god, may we attain ; may he stimulate our devotions.' Rigveda, III. Ixii. lo. 22 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY now and then quarrels led to war among them. The family was still in a healthy condition. Their women had a great deal of freedom throughout their lives. There was no child- marriage among them, no seclusion in the zenana, no widow- burning, and no law against the remarriage of widows. Like most primitive peoples, they practised the exposure of girl children and old people. 12. Religion. Like their early Aryan ancestors, they worshipped the heavenly powers, calling them devas ; and they were very conscious of the great advantage which their knowledge of these gods gave them over the aborigines. They arranged their gods in three groups, according as they belonged to the upper region of light, the atmosphere, or the earth. These three groups were designated Upper. Middle, and Lower. The chief divinities were — Upper : Varuna, Si/rya, Sctvitri, Vishnu, Ushas, Aditi, Mitra, Aryaman, the Asvins; Middle : Vata, Indra, Rudra, Parjanya, the Maruts ; Lower : Agni, Soma, Yama. Their worship was largely sacrificial. Animals were often killed in sacrifice ; but their most elaborate rites were connected with the offering of the Soma, of which we have already heard, and of clarified butter, called ghi. They were accustomed to have hymns recited at all sacrifices. But, although they laid so much stress on sacrifice, they had no temples and no images. Sacrifices were offered in the open air, and the arrangements were very simple. The gods were so closely connected with natural phenomena that no visible symbol was required. Already the people seem to have been roughly divided into three groups — warriors, priests, and agriculturists ; but they were classes rather than castes. The priest, Brahman, was already very influential ; for he was believed to have great power over the gods. Every chieftain had his own Brahman chaplain, purohita, whose help he sought before entering on any undertaking. The priests tended to become THE THREE VEDAS 23 a caste ; for they already made great pretensions and claimed exclusive powers. They were sub-divided into three orders,1 each of which had its own special duties to perform at the sacrifices. Already schools were in existence for the educa tion of priests. In this fact lies one of the chief reasons for the extraordinary predominance which the Brahmans finally attained. 13. Austerity, called tapas in Sanskrit, was practised in those days. Various forms of self-torture were endured, with a view to securing warlike prowess, invincibility, miraculous powers, or heaven. The muni, who practised tapas, ', wore yellow robes. 14. The worship of ancestors was kept up with great care by the Indo-Aryans. They were called pitaras, 'fathers,' were regularly worshipped, and were invited to come to the sacrifice along with the gods. After death it was believed that the souls of the good were conducted by Yama to the place prepared for them, where they enjoyed an immortality of peace and happiness along with the 'fathers' and the gods. There was no doctrine of transmigration in those days. 15. Literature. By the end of this period the centre of Hindu culture had moved enst with the moving tribes to the holy field of Kurukshetra. The hymns, which had been composed during the previous centuries, and which were carefully preserved in the great families and believed to be inspired, were now gradually gathered in some priestly school into the great collection which is called the Rigveda. Young Brahmans committed these hymns to memory at school, in order to be able to use them at the sacrifices. The collection was universally accepted by the people as their sacred book, every hymn being recognized as a divine utterance revealed to the rishi, ' seer,' whose name it bears. 1 See p. 28. 24 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY Just ere the collection was closed, a hymn was added which declares that the three great divisions of the people and the aboriginal Madras had each a distinct origin in God. Thus a religious basis was found for that old-world form of fixed social organization which soon developed into caste. 16. These hymns which form the Rigveda are one of the most interesting groups of literature in all the world. No other people ever produced a body of religious poetry of such striking originality and beauty at such an early stage of their history. The nearest parallel is formed by the Zoroastrian Gdthas or hymns of the Avesta, the earliest literature of the sister people, the Iranians or early Persians ; but they have not nearly the interest and power of the Rigveda. The people in their daily life, their war, toil and worship, stand out clear and distinct in these hymns ; and there is something most fascinating in the way the gods are conceived and addressed. A few of the latest hymns are philosophical. They ask questions rather than answer them ; yet already the con ception of the One behind all the gods finds expression, and a number of the ideas which afterwards helped to create the Hindu systems are tentatively put forward. 17. At a later date a large number of verses were gathered together, nearly all of them from the Rigveda, and so arranged as to form a special manual for the second order : of priests. This collection was called the Samaveda. Its verses were chanted at the Soma sacrifice. Another manual, consisting partly of verses, partly of sacrificial formulae in prose, was put together for the use of the third order,1, and was called the Yajurveda. At a later date a new school separated the sacrificial formulae from the verses. The old Yajurveda was thereafter called Black, while the unmixed text was known as the \Yhite. These new collections were 1 See p. 28. THE THREE VEDAS 25 held to be divinely inspired, just like the Rigreda. They were Revelation in the fullest sense. The word for revela tion is srufi, 'hearing.' When the second and third orders had each formed its own Veda, the Rigveda tended to become the manual of the first order1 only. 1 See p. 28. NOTE. — The text below is THE CHARTER OF CASTE : — ' The Brahman was his (Purnsha's) mouth ; the Rajanya was made from his arms ; his thighs became the Yaisya ; from his feet the SQdra was produced.' Rigveda, X. xc. 12. 26 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY ILLUSTRATIVE READINGS i. A Hymn to Agni, the Priest among the Gods NOTE. — Fire is one of the early Aryan gods. When it became customary to send the sacrifice to the gods by fire, Agni, the fire-god, became recognized by the Indo-Aryans as the Messenger of the sacrifice, the great Priest. O worthy of oblation, Lord of prospering powers, assume thy robes, and offer this our sacrifice. Sit, ever to be chosen, as our Priest, most youthful, through our hymns, O Agni, through our heavenly word. For here a Father for his son, Kinsman for kinsman wor- shippeth, and Friend, choice-worthy, for his friend. Here let the foe-destroyers sit, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, like men, upon our sacred grass. O ancient Herald, be thou glad in this our rite and fellow ship ; hearken thou well to these our songs.