"?K3&4\ :ttof .HI c| Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/greatepicofindia00hopk_0 gale 'Bicentennial publication# THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA gale 'Bicentennial publications With the approval of the President and Fellows of Tale University , a series of volumes has been prepared by a number of the Professors and In- structors, to be issued in connection with the Bicentennial Anniversary, as a partial indica- tion of the character of the studies in which the University teachers are engaged. This series of volumes is respectfully dedicated to 2Tt) t tfrauuatcs; of ttje SUmtocrsttp GREAT EPIC OF INDIA Its Character and Origin E. WASHBURN HOPKINS, M.A., Ph.D. Professor of Sanskrit at Yale University NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD Copyright , 1901, By Yale University Published , June, rqoi UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. PEEFACE. The sub-title of this book places analysis before specula- tion. In recent studies of the great epic this order has been reversed, for a method calling itself synthesis has devoted itself chiefly to dwelling on epic uniformity, and has either discarded analysis altogether or made it subject to the results of “ synthetic ” speculation. The best way, of course, to take up the historical investiga- tion of a literary product the origin of which is well known is to begin with the source and afterwards to study the character of the completed whole. But if the origin be unknown, and we wish to discover it, we must invert the process, and begin our study with an examination of the character of the work. When the results of our analysis become plain, we may group together those elements which appear to have existed from the first, and thus, on the basis of analysis, reconstruct the past. To begin with a synthesis (so called) of whatever is preserved in the product, and so to postulate for the beginning exactly what we find to be the completed whole, is a process that leads us only to the point from which we started. As vaguely incorrect as is the des- ignation synthesis for the method so called is the method itself, which thus does away with all analysis. Analysis is an examination of constituents. As a method it is, like any other, obnoxious to error, but it is not on that account an erroneous method. It is in fact, as turned upon history, nothing but inevitable critique ; and synthesis without such critique becomes merely the exploitation of individual opin- ion, which selects what pleases it and rejects, without visible cause, what is incompatible with the synthetic scheme. vin PREFACE. In the case of the great epic of India, the peremptory demand that we should reject the test of analysis is the more remarkable as the poem has never been completely analyzed. The literature mentioned in it has been ably collected in the well-known memoirs of Professor Holtzmann, who has also indicated what in his opinion may be supplied from allusions ; but the poem has not been thoroughly examined to see what literature it reflects from the age of the later Upanishads or Yedic schools; it has not received a careful investigation from the metrical side ; its philosophy has been reviewed only in the most haphazard fashion ; and its inner relation to other epic poetry has been almost ignored. Yet critic after critic has passed judgment on the question of the date and origin of this poem, of which we know as yet scarcely more than that, before a definitive answer can be given, the whole huge structure must be studied from many points of view. And last of all the synthesist comes also, with his ready-made answer to a problem the conditions of which have not yet been clearly stated. Thus far, indeed, the synthetic theory has not succeeded in winning over a single scholar to accept its chief con- clusions, either as regards the contention that the epic was composed 500 B. c., or in respect of the massed books of didactic material and their original coherence with the nar- rative. Though the results of the method have not proved to be entirely nugatory, yet they are in the main irrecon- cilable with a sober estimate of the date and origin of the epic; but the hypothesis is, in truth, only a caricature of Biihler’s idea, that the epic was older than it was thought to be. In its insistence upon the didactic element as the base of the whole epic tale it bears a curious resemblance to a mediaeval dogma, the epitaph of which was written long ago. For there were once certain ingenious alchemists who maintained that the Legend of the Golden Fleece was a PREFA CE. IX legend only to the multitude, whereas to the illuminati it was a didactic narrative teaching the permutation of other metals into gold; on the tomb of which brilliant but fal- lacious theory was finally inscribed: X070? 05 ecm tjj fiev roXfiT) jjieyas ttj S' airoSei^eL /cei'd?.1 But though this theory has failed as a whole, yet, owing to the brilliant manner in which it was first presented by its clever inventor, and perhaps also to its sharing in the charm which attaches to all works of the imagination, it has had a certain success with those who have not clearly distin- guished between what was essential and adventitious in the O hypothesis. The Rev. Mr. Dahlmann, to whom we owe the theory, has shown that epic legends and didactic motif are closely united in the epic as it is to-day ; but this is a veiy different proposition from that of his main thesis, which is that complete books of didactic content were parts of the original epic. One of these statements is an indubitable fact; the other, an historical absurdity. This historical absurdity, upheld by the Rev. Mr. Dahl- mann in a rapidly appearing series of somewhat tautological volumes, is of much wider application than has perhaps occurred to the author. For in the later additions, which the Rev. Mr. Dahlmann regards as primitive parts of the epic, are found those sections which reflect most clearly the influence of Buddhism. If these sections revert to 500 B. c., all that Buddha as a personality stands for in the history of Hindu religious thought and practice belongs not to him but to his antecedents, and therewith vanishes much of the glory of Buddha. Though the author has not publicly rec- ognized this obvious result of his theory, yet, since it is obvious, it may have appeared to some that such a darken- 1 Almost identical, in fact, is the verdict on the synthetic argument delivered by the veteran French critic, M. Barth: “conclusion audacieuse . . . the'orie absolument manque'e ” (Journal des Savants, 1897, pp. 337, 448). X PREFACE. ing of the Light of Asia added glory to the Light of the World, and this is possibly the reason why the synthetic theory has been received with most applause by the reviewers of religious journals, who are not blind to its bearings. But however important inferentially, this is a side-issue, and the historian’s first duty is to present the facts irrespective of their implication. On certain peculiarities (already adversely criticised by disinterested scholars) characteristic less of the method of investigation than of the method of dialectics which it has suited the Rev. Mr. Dahlmann to adopt, it is superfluous to animadvert in detail. Evidence suppressed by one seeker, in his zeal for truth as he sees it, is pretty sure to be turned up by another who has as much zeal and another method; nor has invective ever proved to be a satisfactory substitute for logic. As regards the claims of synthesis and analysis, each method has its place, but analysis will always have the first place. After it has done its work there will be time for honest synthesis. The material here offered is by way of beginning, not by way of completing, the long task of analyzing the great epic. It is too varied for one volume, and this volume lias suffered accordingly, especially in the chapters on philosophy and the interrelation of the epics. But the latter chapter was meant only as a sketch, and its worth, if it has any, lies in its appendix ; while the former could be handled adequately only by a philosopher. The object of these and other chap- ters was partly to see in how far the actual data rendered probable the claims of the synthetic method, hut more par- ticularly to give the data without concealment or misstate- ment. For this reason, while a great deal of the book is necessarily directed against what appeared to be errors of one sort or another, the controversial point of view has not seldom been ignored. Pending the preparation of a PllEFA CE. xi better text than is at present available, though Dr. Winter- nitz encourages the hope of its eventual appearance, the present studies are intended merely as signboards to aid the journey toward historical truth. But even if, as is hoped, they serve to direct thither, they will be rendered useless as they are passed by. Whether they are deficient in their primary object will be for travellers on the same road to say. January, 1901. CONTENTS, PREFACE vii CHAPTER ONE. Page LITERATURE KNOWN TO TIIE EPIC POETS .... 1 The Vedas 2 Divisions of Veda 7 Upanishads 9 Upavedas and Upangas 11 Sutras 15 Dharmafastras 17 Vedic citations in the Epic 23 Upanishads in the Epic 27 The Cveta^vatara Upanishad 28 The Kathaka or Katha Upanishad 29 The Maitri Upanishad in the Epic 33 The Atharvafiras Upanishad 46 Ajvalayana Grhya Sutra 47 Puranas and Itihasas 47 Drama 54 CHAPTER TWO. INTERRELATION OF THE TWO EPICS 58 CHAPTER THREE. EPIC PHILOSOPHY 85 Epic Systems 85 Heretics 86 Authority XIV CONTENTS. EPIC PHILOSOPHY — Continued. Page Vedanta 93 Nyaya 95 Vaiyesika 96 The Four Philosophies 96 Kapila and his System 97 Samkhya and Yoga 101 Fate and Free-Will 103 Samkhya is atheistic 104 Yoga as deistic and brahmaistic 106 Difference between Samkhya and Yoga Ill Sects 115 The different Schemata 116 The Gunas 119 Plurality of Spirits 122 The Twenty -fifth Principle 125 Samkhya is Samkhyana 126 The Samkhya Scheme 127 The Twenty-sixth Principle 133 Maya, Self-Delusion 138 Panca<;ikha’s System 142 The Thirty-one Elements (Pancafikha) 152 The Secret of the Vedanta 157 Details of philosophical speculation 162 The Sixty Constituents of Intellect 163 The Seventeen 165 The Sixteen (A) Particles 168 The Sixteen (B) or Eleven Modifications 169 The Eight Sources 170 The Vital Airs and Senses 171 The Five Subtile Elements. Gross and Subtile Bodies 173 The Colors of the Soul 179 The Five Faults of a Yogin 181 Discipline of the Yogin 181 The Destructible and Indestructible 182 The Gods and the Religious Life 183 Heaven and IIcll — Death 184 The Cosmic Egg and Creations 187 The Grace of God 188 CONTENTS. xv CHAPTER FOUR. Page EPIC VERSIFICATION 191 Epic Versification 191 £loka and Tristubh. The Padas 194 Rhyme 200 Alliteration 202 Similes and Metaphors. Pathetic Repetition 205 Cadence in ^loka and Tristubh 207 Tags 211 Common forms of Qloka and Tristubh 214 The Epic £loka. The Prior Pada of the £loka. The Pathya . . 219 The Vipulas 220 The Posterior Pada of the Qloka 239 The Diiambus 242 Poetic Licence 244 The Hypermetric £loka 252 Dialectic Sanskrit 261 Prose-Poetry Tales 266 The Epic Tristubh. i, The Regular Tristubh in the Mahabharata 273 Bird’s-eye View of Tristubh Padas 275 The Ramayana Tristubh 276 The Scolius 277 Catalectic and Hypermetric Tristubhs 281 ii-iii, The Catalectic Tristubh 282 iv-ix, The Hypermetric Tristubh. iv-vi, Simple Hypermeters . 286 vii-ix, Double Hypermeters or Tristubhs of Thirteen Syllables 298 Defective Tristubhs 299 v, b, and ix, Mora-Tristublis 301 The Tristubh-Stanza. Upajatis. Upendravajras and Indravajras 309 The Syllaba Anceps 314 Emergent Stanzas 317 The Fixed Syllabic Metres 321 Rathoddhata 322 Bhujamgaprayata 323 Drutavilambita 324 Vaijvadevi 325 Atijagatis. Rucira 326 XVI CONTENTS. EPIC VERSIFICATION — Continued. Page The Fixed Syllabic Metres (continued) — Praharsini 329 Mrgendramukha 331 Asambadha 332 Vasantatilaka 333 Malini 334 Cardulavikridita 336 Ardhasamavrtta (Matrachandas). A — Puspitagra and Aparavaktra 336 B — Anpacchandasika and Vaitaliya 341 Matrachandas in the Mahabharata 343 Matrasamakas 353 Ganacchandas 354 The Distribution of Fancy Metres in the Epic 356 CHAPTER FIVE. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EPIC .... 363 CHAPTER SIX. DATE OF THE EPIC 386 APPENDIX A. Parallel Phrases in the two Epics . . 403 “ B. Illustrations of Epic ^loka Forms . . 446 “ C. Illustrations of Epic Tristubh Forms . 459 FINAL NOTES 471 INDICES 477 ABBREVIATIONS. As most of the references in this volume are to the Mahabharata, all numbers without alphabetical prefix refer to this epic (Bombay edition, or with prefix C. to Calcutta edition); but when necessary to distinguish a reference to the Mahabharata from a reference to the Ramayana, I have prefixed M., which therefore does not refer to Manu, but to the great epic. To bring the two parallel editions of the epics into line, I have used R. or RB. for the Bombay edition of the Ramayana also (rather than for the Bengal text), and for clearness I employ G. for the Gorresio (Bengal) text thus : — M. or MB., Mahabharata, Bombay edition. R. or RB., Ramayana, Bombay edition. C., Mahabharata, Calcutta edition. G., Ramayana, Gorresio’s edition. Other abbreviations, such as those usually employed to indicate native texts, or, for example, ZDMG. and JAOS. for the Journals of the German and American Oriental Societies respectively, require no elucidation for those likely to use them. Those using the old edition of RB. must add one to all references to sargas after vi, 88, and two to all after vi, 107. Sanskrit words usually anglicized have so been written. THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. CHAPTER ONE. LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. Paradoxical as it may seem, the great epic mentions post- epical as well as prae-epical works. To solve the paradox it is necessary to assume that the text has been interpo- lated, a fact admitted as a last recourse even by him who holds that the epic was originally what it is to-day. But interpolations to be referred to when everything else fails will not suffice. A large part of the present epic is inter- polation, some of it self-interpolated, so to speak. For, not content with receiving accretions of all sorts, narrative and didactic, the Bharata, in default of other sources of inter- polation, copied itself. Thus the same story, hymn, and continuation are found in iii, 83, 116 ff. and ix, 38, 39 ff. The matter of xii, 223 is simply enlarged in 227, while xii, 248-9 repeats xii, 194 and then reappears again in xii, 286. An example of reproduction with variations is found in ix, 51, 50, as compared with iii, 133, 12 ff. In one case a youthful prodigy encounters venerable sages and teaches them the Veda; in the other a priest and king are instructed, but with the same setting of proverbial lore. So xii, 185 is a repro- duction of iii, 213, 1-19; xii, 277 (8), of xii, 175, etc. It is not strange, therefore, that a work thus mechanically inflated should have absorbed older literature. But to under- stand the relation between the epic and the older literature copied by the epic it is essential to know the whole literature referred to as well as cited. In this chapter, then, beginning with the Vedas, I shall follow the course of revealed and 1 2 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. profane literature as far as it is noticed in the epic itself, reserving, however, for the two following chapters the Iia- mayana and the philosophical systems. The Vedas. Allusions to Vedic literature, veda, chandas, mantra, gruti, are naturally common in every part of the Mahabharata, but except in the didactic or later epic these are usualty of a gen- eral character. It may be assumed that the bulk of Cruti or revealed works, if not all of it, was composed before the epic began. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see which portions of this hereditary literature are especially mentioned, and particularly important to observe how the epic cites from older works. Even the fact that it does cite verbatim the words of the holy texts is of historical moment when it is remembered that in other places even women and slaves are exhorted to hear the recital of the epic.1 We find indeed in the course of the epic narrative that a woman is taught Vedic mantras,2 but the mantras are from the Atharva Veda, which, without being particularly slighted, is less regarded than the older Vedas, as is shown by this incident; for no woman would have been taught Rig Veda verses, for example. The Vedas are all mentioned by name, though the Atharva Veda is not always recognized in the formal enumeration. The order of precedence is not fixed, though its peculiar holiness, vimala, is not the reason why the Sanaa Veda in the Gita and Anugasana heads the list.3 Usually the Rig Veda stands at the head and the Atharva, if mentioned, at the foot, though the order Rk, Yajus, Atharvan, Saman, and even Atharvan, Saman, Rk, Yajus is found; but the last order occurs only in the didactic or later epic. The four together comprise the vedag caturmurtih, or fourfold Veda, which, in 1 Compare i, 62, 22; 95, 87 ; iii, 85, 103; xii, 341, 116, etc. 2 Tatas tam grahayamasa sa dvijah Mantragramain . . . atharvayirasi ^rutam (v. 1. atharvangirasi), iii, 305, 20. 3 For in v, 44, 28, it has this epithet, yet stands last in the list : “ Not in R. V., nor in Y. V., nor in Atliarvas, nor in the spotless Samans.” LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 3 distinction from the threefold Veda, is often joined with the “Veda of the bow.” The epic even has caturveda as an epithet of a man, — “one that knows the four Vedas” (= caturvaidya), — as earlier triveda, traividya, is used in the same way of one learned in the three (caturvidyam is a pseudo-epic term for the Vedas).1 The tradition of “lost Vedas”2 and “divided Vedas ” is well known. There was at first but one Veda, but after the Krta age men became men of three, men of two, men of one, and men of no Vedas, triveda, dviveda, ekaveda, anrk, iii, 149, 14-29, and v, 43, 42, ^astresu bhinnesu being Vedas ; bhinnas tada vedah, xii, 350, 42 (by Apantaratamas). The last pas- sage is peculiar in the use (9I. 41—47) of ved alcliyane (jrutili karya, and in the name of Kali as krsna (as well as tisya).3 The Veda is either recited, declared, or made, srsta, krta. The latter word contradicts the dogma declared in the well- known words: na hi cchandansi kriyante nityani cchandansi, “ the Vedas are not made, they are eternal ; ” but the sense is 1 The word triveda remains the usual form (tritayam sevitam sarvam, ix, 64, 21). Besides caturveda as an epithet of a god (illustrated in PW.) we find in the late passage iii, 313, 110 if. : patliakah pathakag cai ’va ye ca ’nye $astracintakah sarve vyasasino murkha, yah kriyavan sa panditah; catur- vedo 'pi durvrttah sa fiidrad atiricyate, yo 'gnihotraparo dantah sa brahmana iti smrtah. On the order of names referred to above : the lead of the Atharva is found also in the Mahabhasya (IS. xiii, p. 432) ; the epic passage is xiii, 17, 91. The name is here atharvana or atharvana, xiii, 93, 136 ; 94, 44. Exam- ples of the usual order are rco yajunsi samani, i, 1, 66 ; ix, 36, 34 ; xii, 252, 2 (rco yajunsi samani yo veda na sa vai dvijah) ; rgvedah samavedaf ca yajur- veda? ca atharvaveda9 ca, ii, 11, 32 ; iii, 189, 14, atharvanah. In v, 18, 6-7, it is said that the name Atharvaiigiras will eventually belong to the Atharva Veda. The word samani is not restricted to this Veda. Thus Dliaumya, a Purohita and, therefore, as Weber has shown, presumably an Atharvan priest, sings incantations of destruction, samani raudrani yamyani (gayan), ii, 80, 8. On the expression atharvavede vede ca, see below. For the order of names, compare my Ruling Caste, p. 112 ; and see Holtzmann, Das Mahabha- rata, iv, p. 5; for further passages (for the AV. in particular), Bloomfield, SBE. xiii, p. liii. 2 On this aeonic occurrence (xii, 210, 16 if.), compare vedafrutih pranasta, xii, 346, 9, the story in 348, and the quotation in the text below. The modi- fied vrata, rules, vikriyante vedavadah, are referred to in xii, 233, 38. 3 The former as Ivali is still starred in pw. The latter is masculine in R. vi, 35, 14 (also starred as such in pw.). The word occurs also in xii, 341, 86. 4 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. not opposed, as the maker is God (vedakarta vedango veda- vakanah, iii, 3, 19), who only emits the Vedas as he does all else when the new aeon begins. The more decided “make” is found of seers, however, in the Harivaiiga, mantrabrahmana- kartarah, mantrakrtak,1 seers and descendants of seers, just as there is a Mahabharatakrt and Itiliasasya karta, or ivrcov, though he too is divine.2 The gods who are credited with the making of the Vedas3 are Fire and Sun, as All-God (above), or especially Brahman, and in the later epic Vishnu. It was Brahman who “ first recited the Vedas,” vedan jagau, v, 108, 10. With a natural inversion, “Brahman created brahman ” (whereas in reality brahman created Brahman), ac- cording to another passage, xii, 188, 1-2. Compare : ya ime brakmana prokta mantra vai proksane gavam ete pramanam bhavata uta ’ho na, v, 17, 9-10. The Self-existent, according to xii, 328, 50, created the Vedas to praise the gods, stutyar- tham iha devanaih vedah srstah svayambhuva. Krsna, who is krtagama, in xiii 149, 97, takes the place of the more general term. Compare xii, 340, 105 : yada vedacrutir nasta maya pratyalirta punah savedah sagrutlkag ca krtdh purvaih krte yuge (atikrantah puranesu grutas te yadi va, kvacit), and nirmita veda yajnag cau ’sadhibhih saha, ib. 341, 66, with xiii, 145, 61, agama lokadharmanam maryadah puivanii’- mitah.4 1 jayantv ’lia punah punah Mantrabrahmanakartarah dharrae pra^ithile tatha, H. 1, 7, 56. 2 Ivrsna Dvaipayana, also called Kuruvahfakara, xii, 347, 13; xiii, 18, 43-44. The recitation of the Vedas is a matter of scientific study. When they are “loudly recited in the proper way,” sayaiksya, they fill (other) winds with fear, and therefore should not be recited when a high wind is blowing, xii, 329, 23-56. 8 For the gods and especially for the part of Brahman in creating the Vedas and the transfer of his office to Vishnu in the epic, see lloltzinann, ZDMG. xxxviii, p. 188, and Das Mahiibharata, iv, p. 6. 4 The v. 1. sarva is wrong. The word iigama usually refers to Veda, but not always. Compare xiii, 104, 156, iigamanam hi sarvesam acarah grestha ucyate ; i, 2, 36, itihasah yresthah sarvagamesv ayam ; xii, 59, 139, agamah purana- nam. It means any received work, particularly the Vedas. LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 5 In late passages the two earliest forms of the text (the latest forms are unknown) together with the accents of the texts are especially mentioned.1 In the important numerical analysis of xii, 343, 07-98, the Rig Veda is said to “have twenty-one thousand”; while the Sama Veda has “one thousand branches”; and the adhva- ryava or Yajus has “fifty-six and eight and thirty-seven (one hundred and one) branches.” Probably “twenty-one branches” is the real meaning in the case of the Rig Veda. Here too are mentioned the gTtis, songs or verses (a rather unusual word) found in the branches in their numerous divi- sions, tjakhabhedah, (jakhasu gltayah.2 It is evident from this statement that, as Weber says of the passage in the Mahabhasya, we are dealing with a period when the number of Yajur Veda schools is greater than that recognized in the Caranavyuha, which gives only eighty-six. Another verse of this book recognizes ten thousand rcas : “ This ambrosia churned from the wealth of all the dharma- klryanas, the satyakhyana, and the ten thousand rcas,” xii, 1 rgvedah padakramavibhusitah, xiii, 85, 90; atliarvavedapravarah puga- yajniyasamagah sarhhitam irayanti sma padakramayutam tu te, i, 70, 40. Galava, Babhravyagotra, Pancala, the grammarian, through the especial grace of the deity and being instructed in the method of Vamadeva, became a shining light as a krama specialist, xii, 343, 100 ff. ; laksanani svarastobha niruktam surapaiiktayah, xiii, 85, 91 (together with nigraha and pragraha); svaraksaravyanjanahetuyuktaya (gira), iii, 297, 20. 2 The verse translated above is ekavih?atisahasram (rgvedam mam pra- caksate). Twenty-one thousand what! Not stanzas, for the Big Veda has only half so many (Miiller, ASL. p. 220). On the other hand, the passage agrees closely with one in the Mahabhasya (IS. xiii, p. 430), where the cor- responding words are “twenty-one fold,” after vartma (school): ekafatam adhvaryufakhah, sahasravartma samavedah, ekavin?atidha bahvrcyam (a word implied in Mbit, xv, 10, 11, “Samba the bahvrcah”), navadha atharvano vedah. The epic text, closely corresponding, is : ekavinfatisahasram rgvedam . . . sahasra^akham yat sama . . . satpanca5atam astau ca sapta trihfatam ity uta yasmin £akha yajurvede, so 'ham adhvaryave smrtah, pancakalpam atharvanam krtyabhih paribrmhitam kalpayanti hi mam vipra atliarvana- vidas tatha. There can scarcely be a doubt that for the text above we should read ekavinijat^akham yam, as the parallel suggests, for the text as it stands is unintelligible. I regret that Weber has not noticed the epic pas- sage, so that I cannot cite his opinion. 6 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. 247, 14, where the commentator says that this is a general number, implying a fraction over 10,5804 In the account of the later epic we have a parallel to that of the Vayu Purana, where the latter, lxi, 120 £f., is account- ing for the successive editions of the Vedas : avartamana rsayo yugakhyasu punah punah lcurvanti samhita hy ete jayamanah parasparam astagltisahasrani grutarsmaih smrtani vai ta eva samhita hy ete avartante punah punah grit a daksinam panthanam ye gmagandni bhejire2 yuge yuge tu tah gakha vyasyante taih punah punah dvaparesv iha sarvesu samhitag ca grutarsibhih tesarii gotresv irnah gakha bhavantl ’ha punah punah tah gakhas tatra kartaro bhavantl ’ha yugaksayat The eighty thousand Vedic seers here mentioned are those of the Harivahga (loc. cit.) : ye gruyante divam prapta rsayo hy urdhvaretasah mantrabrahmanakartaro jayante ha yuga- ksaye. They are mentioned elsewhere in the Vayu Purana, viii, 184, and in the epic itself, ii, 11, 54, in the same words : astagltisahasrani rslnam urdhvaretasam, a verse found also in the Mahabhasya (IS. xiii, p. 483). 1 Compare further the da?a pahea (ca) yajunsi, learned from Arka by the author of the Qatapatha Brahmana, in xii, 319, 21. The word carana, in the sense of school, occurs in xii, 171, 2, prsta? ca gotracaranarh svadhyayam bralimacarikam ; xiii, G3, 18, na preehed gotracaranam. The mantras of the special septs are referred to in the late hymn to the Sun (Mihira), iii, 3, 39: (tvam brahmanah) svagakhavihitiiir mantrair arcanti. The commentator cited above gives as his authority for the number of stanzas in the Big Veda a lame couplet of the Qakalaka : ream dafasahasrani ream pancafatani ca ream agitih padag cai-’tat parayanam ucyata, iti. 2 They are referred to, but not as Veda-makers, in Yaj. iii, 18G, and in Ap. Dh. S., ii, 9, 23, 3-5 (as being mentioned “in a Purana”). Yajnavalkya calls them the astagitisahasra munayah punaravartinah . . . dharmapravartakah. The Purana referred to by Apastamba may be the one cited above, though in another form, since the words have a different application. There is here a pragamsa of the urdhvaretasas : astagltisahasrani ye prajam isira rsayah < laksi- ifena’ryamijah panthanam te gmaganani bhejire, etc. Compare Pragna Up. i, 9, ta eva punaravartante tasrnad ete rsaya prnjakiiina daksinam pratipadyaute. LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 7 Divisions of Veda. Reference is seldom made to Samhita, Brahmana, or Ara- nyaka. The “ peruser of Samhita,” samhitadhyayin, is alluded to in i, 107, 8, and xiii, 143, 56. The word is used also of the epic, Vyasa’s Samhita, the fifth Veda. In xii, 201, 8, sangha may he used in the same sense of collection, but it probably means a quantity. I will give the passage, however, as it enumerates the usual (i, 170, 75, etc.) six Vedangas, though in an order constrained by the metre (they and the Upangas will he discussed below, under Upavedas) : rksamasanganq ca yajuhsi ca ’pi cchandansi naksatragatim niruktam adhltya ca vyakaranam sakalpaiii qiksaiii ca, bhutaprakrtiih na vedmi, “Although I have studied collections of hymns and chants and the sacrificial formulas, and also prosody, astrology, etymology, grammar, ritual, and phonetics, I do not know the First Cause of being.” Brahmanas are mentioned in xii, 269, 33-34, as the source of sacrifice, and in iii, 217, 21 , “ the different Agnis named in the Brahmanas, ” brahmanesu. In xiii, 104, 137, “rites declared in the Veda by Brahmanas,” the word means priests. Possibly Gita, 17, 23, brahmanah (and vedah) may be woiks, as the epic is not particular in regard to the gender of these words (purana, itihasa, and mahabhuta are both masculine and neuter). Yajnavalkya’s ^atapatha Brahmana alone is named, with all its latest additions (krtsnam saraliasyam sasamgra- harh saparicesam ca), xii, 319, 11, and 16. So ib. 24, 25, and 34 : “I resolve in mind the Upanishad (BA.) and the Pari- qesa (the last part), observing also logic, the best science, anvlksikl para, and declare the fourth transcendental science or science of salvation, samparayika, based on the twenty-fifth (Yoga) principle.” 1 Other Brahmanas may be implied in the 1 In the expression, loc. cit., fl. 10, vedah sakhilah so ’ttarah, uttara refers to the Upanishads (not to the philosophy). The Khila Supplement is men- tioned again in the Harivanja (Holtzmann). 8 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. list at xii, 337, 7 ff., Tandya, Katha, Kanva, Taittiri.1 As “prose works,” gadya, this class of works is perhaps recog- nized in iii, 26, 3, in the words: “The thrilling sound of yajuhsi, rcah, samani, and gadyani” (as they were recited). Whether pravacana, exposition, means Angas or Brahma- nas or perhaps Sutras, I do not know. The (Upanishad) word occurs in a verse found also in Manu, where the com- mentator explains it as Ahga, to which the objection may be made that the Angas have already been mentioned. But the passage is not without importance as showing how the didac- tic or later epic adds elements to the simpler statement of the earlier law-books. In xiii, 90, 36, the pankteyas, or men who may he invited to sit in the row at a funeral feast, are not only the agryah sarvesu vedesu sarvapravacanesu ca of Manu iii, 184, and the list of iii, 185, trinaciketah pancagnis trisuparnah sadangavid (v. 1. brahmadeyanusantanag chandogo jyestasamagah) in 90, 26, but, among others, the atharvagi- raso 'dliyeta, 29 (a rare word) ; “ those who cause the Itihasa to be read to the regenerate,” 33 ; those who are “acquainted with commentaries,” bhasyavidas (or know the Mahabhasya?),2 and are “ delighted with grammar,” vyakarane ratah, 34 ; those who “ study the Purana and the Dharmagastras ” ; those who “ bathe in holy pools,” ye ca punyesu tlrthesu abhise- kakrtagramah, 30 (a practice not extolled by Manu, whose view seems to be that of Agastya, asti me kagcit tlrthebhyo dharmasarhgayah ! xiii, 25, 5). The bharate vidvan, xiii, 76, 18, is naturally extolled in the epic, and yet even with this latitude we must see in the list above a distinct advance on the position held by the early law-makers, to whom it was not enough for a man to recite the epic (not to speak of grammar and bhasya-knowers as being ipso facto paiikteyas) to be deemed worthy of invitation. Even Vishnu’s Smrti is here exceeded, and Manu and the Sutras have nothing in any degree parallel. Even if we say that the list is on a par with 1 The Taittiri dispute is referred to in xii, 310, 17 ff. a But bhasya may mean any reasoned exposition, bhasyani tarkayuktiini, ii, 11, 35. LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 9 Vishnu alone, although it really exceeds it in liberality, we thereby put this epic passage on a par with a law-book later than any that can be referred to the Sutra period, later than Manu also and probably Yajflavalkya.1 Almost as rare as the mention of Brahmanas is that of Ara- nyakas. In the passage cited above, xii, 343, stanza 98 lias as elsewhere the singular, gayanty aranyake vipra madbha- ktah. So ib. 340, 8: “ Hari sings the four Vedas and the Aranyaka” (as forest, e. g., ib. 337, 11, aranyakapadodbhuta bhagah) ; and in xii, 349, 29-31, the Krishna religion has “ mysteries, abstracts, and Aranyaka.” Compare also v, 175, 38, Qastre ca ’ranyake guruh, “ a man of weight in code and esoteric wisdom ” ; xii, 344, 13, aranyakam ca vedebhyah (yatlia), where the kathamrtam or essence of story of the expanded Bharata, Bharatakhyanavistara of 100,000 glokas,2 is compared to the Aranyaka as the essence of the Vedas (a simile repeated at i, 1, 265). The word is in fact general- ized, like Upanishad. But as a literary class it is found in the plural in xii, 19, 17, vedavadan atikramya §astrany aranyakani ca . . . saram dadrgire na te, “ they ran over the words of the Vedas, the Cits tr as, and the Aranyakas, without discovering their inner truth.” Here Veda does not connote Aranyaka. Upanishads. The Upanishads are alluded to in the singular, collec- tively, or distributively in the plural. They are generally grouped with the Angas and are called Upanishads, rahasyas, mysteries, Brahma Veda, and Vedanta ; while like the Ara- nyakas they are logically excluded from the Veda of which they are supposed in ordinary parlance to form part.3 The 1 Vishnu, ch. 83; Manu, loc. eit. ; Yaj.i, 219; Ap. ii, 17; Gaut. xv; Vas. xi. I doubt whether the “ Atharvajiras-reader ” can imply the Qiras-vow, but even this is a comparatively late touch, Baudh. ii, 14, 2, in this regard. 2 Note that the number of verses show that the ITarivanfa already existed when this passage was written. Compare ib. 340, 28. 3 I mean that in the current phrase vedah sangah or sopanisadah the sa should differentiate as much as it does in the parallel phrase rgvedah saya- 10 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. word upanisad has two distinct but current meanings in the epic. It means on the one hand mystery, secret wisdom, essential truth, essence, as in xiii, 78, 4, gavam upanisadvid- van, “ wise in cow-mysteries,” and in iii, 207, 67 = xii, 252, 11, vedasyo ’panisat satyam, satyasyo ’panisad damah, “truth is the secret wisdom (essence) of the Veda, patience the essence of truth.” So in the common phrase, vedaQ ca sopa- nisadah, xiii, 85, 92, etc., the word may mean mysteries. This I think is the explanation of the employment of the word mahopanisad in vii, 143, 34-35, where Bhuri§ravas devotes himself to pray a before death in battle. He is a muni here and desires to ascend to the world of Brahman, so he sits down in Yoga contemplation and meditates the “ great Upa- nishad,'’ dhyayan mahopanisadam yogayukto 'bhavan munih. On comparing the scene where Drona is in the same situa- tion, vii, 192, 52, we find that he says om, and this mystery of om is probably the meaning of mahopanisad, which cannot be a work here, as is mahopanisadam in xii, 340, 111. But in other cases Upanishad is clearly a literary work, even stand- ing in antithesis to the mysteries with which it is sometimes identical, as it is in the form upanisa in the Pali scriptures.1 jurvedah, or in yad etad ucyate gastre se ’tiliase ca cliandasi, xiii, 111, 42. But it is very likely that the term was used to mean “including” (as part of the Yeda). On the use of singular and plural referred to above, compare sa raja rajadharmang ca brahmopanisadam tatha avaptavan, xv, 35, 2; saiigo- panisadan vedan viprag ca’ dhiyate, i, 64, 19, etc. For Vedanta and Vedantah, meaning Upanishads, compare iv. 51, 10, vedantag ca puranani itihasam (!) puratanam ; xiii, 16, 43, (Qiva) yarn ca vedavido vedyam vedante ca pratisthi- tam . . . yarn viganti japanti ca ; H. 3, 10, 67, puranesu vedante ca. I may mention here also the works called Nisads, which are referred to (or invented) only, if I mistake not, in xii, 47, 26, yam vakesv anuvakesu nisatsupanisatsu ca grnanti satyakarmanam satyam satyesu samasu. 1 Kern, SBE. xxi, p. 317. Compare for the use of the word, xii, 246, 15, where it is said that the Upanishads inculcate the four modes of life, caturthag cau ’panisado dharmah sadharanah smrtah ; and xiii, 84, 6, where it is said that Vedopanisadas inculcate that earth, cows, or gold must be the sacrificial fee. As we find vedah sarahasyah sasamgrahah and vedavedangabhasyavit, xii, 325, 22-23, so in viii, 87, 42, reference is made to “ all the Vedas, with Tales as the fifth Veda, together with Upavedas, Upanishads, mysteries, and abstracts” (samgraha). Karada is said to be vedopanisadam vettii itihasa- puranajfiah . . . sadangavit and smrtimiin, ii, 5, 2 fE. The use in iii, 251, 23, LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 11 Upavedas and Upaiigas. The Upavedas or subsidiary Vedas are three in number, AyurVeda, Dhanur Veda, and Gandharva Veda. To these is added in other works Sthapatya Veda, but this term is not recognized in the epic, and the commentator on vii, 202, 75, recognizes only three, those just given, or Medicine, Archery, and Music ; but the fourth, Architecture, is known (only in the epic introduction), as Vastuvidyil.1 Authors are as- signed to these and other works in xii, 210, 20, Brhaspati being the originator of all the Vediingas; Bhrgu’s son, of Nlti§astra, law ; Narada, of music ; Bharadvaja, of the sci- ence of arms (particularly archery) ; Gargya, of tales of the doings of seers (devarsicarita) ; and Krsnatreya, of med- icine (cikitsita). They are all contrasted with other Nyaya- tantrani, which like these were created at the beginning of the aeon as an aid in understanding Brahman (expounded by hetu, agama, and sadacara, or x-eason, faith, and common con- sent of good men, ib. 22). It is noteworthy that Narada, not Bharata, is found in this connection, and that Krsnatreya takes the place elsewhere given to Bharadvaja. Of the first of these subsidiary Vedas, the epic naturally gives little information, though burdened with much medici- nal knowledge which may be referred to some uncited work on medicine. Native scholars imagine that the correspond- ing Upanishad passages imply the circulation of the blood, also thought to be recorded in xii, 185, 15, prasthita hrdayat . . . vahanti annarasan nadyah : “ The veins convey (all over would suggest that Upanishad is a sort of Sutra, for here a spirit is summoned by means of “mantras declared by Brhaspati and Uganas ; by those declared in the Atharva Veda ; and by rites in the Upanishad,” yag eo ’panisadi krivah. I am not certain how to interpret pathyase stutibhig cai ’va vedopanisadam ganaih xii, 285, 126. 1 Thus the architect, sutradhara, sthapati, is vastuvidyavigarada, i, 51, 15 (the sutrakarmavigarada of G. ii, 87, 1). Architectural Castras are mentioned in i, 134, 10-11. As a fourth to the three is elsewhere set the Arthagastra. These as a group are added to the other vidyas (see note below on the sixty- four arts and fourteen sciences). But in the epic, Arthagastra is not grouped with the Upavedas. 12 THE GREAT EPIC OF IN Dr A. the body) the food-essences, starting from the hrdaya ” (heart or chest). But a direct citation is the allusion, under the cover of an “it is said,” to the constituents pitta, §lesman, vayu (also vata, pitta, kapha), which make the threefold body, tridhatu, according to the Aryurvedins.1 In the epic Kliila and in the Kaccit and eleventh chapters of Sabha, both late additions to the epic,2 the science of medicine is said to have eight branches (ii, 5, 90; 11, 25). Possibly in iii, 71, 27, (Mihotra may represent the veterinary science of iv, 12, 7. The Dhanur Veda, literally Veda of the bow, is often joined with the regular Vedas, as is to be expected in epic poetry, ix, 44, 21-22, etc. It is called also isvastra, weapons, and is said to be fourfold and to have ten divisions. In the Kaccit chapter just referred to it is said to have a Sutra like other Vedas, and at the time this was written it is very prob- able that such was the case, though, as I have shown else- where, the knight’s study of Dhanur Veda consists in prac- tice not in study of books. This Bow-Veda, archery, is opposed sometimes to the four Vedas alone, sometimes to the Upanishads and Brahma Veda, while on the other hand it is associated with various Sutras, arts, and Nltigastras. The priority of Dhanur Veda in the phrase dhanurvede ca vede ca, found in both epics, is due partly to metrical con- venience and partly to the greater importance of this Veda in the warrior’s education : 3 na tasya vediidhyayane tatha buddliir ajayata yatha ’sya buddhir abhavad dhanurvede, “ Plis intelligence was more developed in learning how to use a bow than in perusing holy texts,” i, 130, 3 ; dhanur- 1 xii, 343, 86-87: pittam Resina ca vayu? ca esa sarhghata ucyate, etaip ca dharyate jantur etaih ksinaif ca ksiyate, ayurvedavidas tasmat tridha- tum mam pracaksate. Compare vi, 84, 41, cited in PW., and also xiv, 12, 3, £itosne cai Va vayu? ca gunah . . . farirajah, whose equality is health (N. kaphapittc). Some notes on epic anatomy will be given later. 2 The lateness of the Kaccit chapter I have discussed elsewhere, Am. Journ. Phil., vol. xix, p. 147 ff. A noteworthy statement on disease is that of xii, 10, 9, which attributes all mental disease to the body and all bodily disease to the mind,manasaj jayate farirah (vyadhih), “bodily ailment arises from mental (ailment).” 8 The same is partially true of atharvavede vede ca, xiii, 10, 37, etc. LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 13 vedaparatvat, ib. 4.1 It is the Ksatra Veda or knightly science par excellence, R. i, 65, 23 (with Brahma Veda). The science of music, Gandharva Veda, consists according to iii, 91, 14, in the knowledge of singing, dancing, chanting, and playing on musical instruments, gTtaiii nrtyam ca sama ca vaditraih ca, not including apparently the Natasutra or manual for actors mentioned by Panini. The seven musical scales, vanl saptavidha, ii, 11, 34, are a branch of study. The three notes of the drum are spoken of 2 and the names of the notes of the regular scale, gamut, are given. Further citations in this regard will be made hereafter. These Upavedas are associated with the chief Vedas (vedah and upavedah, vii, 202, 75, etc.), much as are the Vedangas, Upanishads, and Tales, and are distinguished as well from the £astras and Sutras mentioned in the passage already noticed, ii, 1 1, 32-33, though (jjastra is a general term including Upa- veda. The Aiigas are the customary six mentioned above, and are generally referred to as in i, 104, 12, vedarii sadangam pratyadhlyata ; or without number, as in i, 156, 5, brahmam vedam adhlyana vedangani ca sarvacah, nitigastram ca sarva- jnah.3 These again have their subsidiary branches, Upangas, vedah sangopangah savistarah, iii, 64, 17 ; Uganas’ and Brha- spati’s gastra with Aiigas and Upangas, i, 100, 36-38. The similarity of phrase in iii, 99, 26 and elsewhere, vedah saiigo- panisadah, might suggest that Upiingas were Upanishads, but they are more probably a species of Upavedas. The term is 1 This Veda is constantly mentioned, e. g. i, 130, 21 ; 221, 72 ; iii, 37, 4; ix, 6, 14, dafangam ya£ catuspadam isvastram veda tattvatah, sangans tu caturo redan samyag akhyanapancaman. The phrase dhanurrede ca rede ca occurs, for example, in i, 109, 19. In It. v, 35, 14, Rama is described as “ trained in the Tajur Veda . . . and skilled in dhanurvede ca vede ca vedangesu ca (the Yajur Veda only, to which Valmlki belonged, is here mentioned). Elsewhere the science takes its proper place, as in M. iii, 277, 4, vedesu sarahasresu dlia- nurvedesu paragah, where the plural is noteworthy. 2 iii, 20, 10, trihsama hanyatam esa dundubhih. The vina madhuralapa, sweet-voiced lyre, is spoken of as gandharvarii sadliu murchatl (= murclia- yanti), iv, 17, 14. The gandliarvam is the third note of the seven, xii, 184, 39 = xiv, 50, 53. 8 Compare brahme vede ca paragah contrasted with astranam ca dha- nurvede, vii, 23, 39. So Brahma Veda, B. i, 65, 23 (above), not as AV. 14 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. one associated with Jain rather than early Brahmanic litera- ture, and is not explained by the commentator.1 Yedas, Puranas, Aiigas, and Upangas are sometimes grouped to- gether, as in xii, 335, 25 (vedesu sapuranesu sangopangesu glyase, the prior pada found again, e. g. in 342, 6). The Aiigas commonly mentioned in particular are the calendar- knowledge, Jyotisa, and etymology, Niruktam. The latter word, indeed, generally means only an explanation of the meaning of a word, hut it occurs also as the title of a specific literary work in xii, 343, 73, where we find mentioned not only “ Yaska’s Nirukta,” together with Naighantuka, but vocabularies and lexicographies.2 A curious contemplation of Krishna as the divine sound in xii, 47, 46 anatyzes him grammatically, “with joints of euphony and adorned with vowels and consonants.” 3 Astronomical similes are not infrequent. Thus Arjuna storms about “ like Mars in his orbit.” 4 An indication that one science as a specialty is not much regarded is seen in the 1 The later Upangas are the Puranas (and upa-) ; Logic, nyaya and vai- fesika; Philosophy (including Vedanta), mlmansa; and Law-books (including Samkhya-yoga and epics), dharmayastra. The epic use, as will be seen from the citation above, differentiates Puranas from Aiigas and Upangas. For the later meaning, see Weber IS. i, p. 13. 2 ib. 83, 88 : naighantukapadakhyane, niruktam vedaviduso veda^abdartha- cintakah. The common meaning, “ explanation,” may be surmised in xii, 340, 60, caturvaktro niruktagah (in both editions), where the avagraha is certainly required, “ inexplicable,” despite Taitt. Up. ii, 6. 8 In xiii, 17, 111 (where siddhartha, according to Nilakantha, is siddhanta), £iva is siddharthakari siddhartha9 cliandovyakaranottarah. Ivalpa and Jyotisa are united, kalpaprayoga and jyotisa, in xiii, 10, 37. In ii, 4, 18, Kalapa and Katha are mentioned; in It. (not G.) ii, 32, 18, the Kathakalapas (after the acaryas taittiriyanam in 15). M. and G. (only) have Qandilya and Kaufika (with Gargya in G.) in the same list, and M. has Tittiri (with Yajfia- valkya). In M. they are vedavedangapilragah ; in It., vedaparagiih. It. calls Trijata (Piiigala) a Gargya in 29 (Angirasa in G. ; cf. It. 33). 4 viii, 19, 1, vakrativakragamanad aiigaraka lva grahah. Compare budh- aiigarakayor iva (a battle-phrase). The Vedangas and Upavedas are often grouped together, as in i, 1, 07, where giksa, phonetics, is grouped with nyaya, rules, and cikitsa, medicine. In i, 70, 40-44, the same passage where pada and krama are mentioned (above), ?abda (samskara), ^iksa, chandas, nirukta and kalajiianaare found with philosophy. A priest who is fiksiiksaramantra- vit gets gold niskas, etc., iii, 23, 2 ; 30, 42. LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 15 fact that the cultivator of the Upaveda medicine and of the Aiiga astrology are both excluded from society, although it should be added that the man intended is one who “ lives by the stars,” naksatriiir yag ca jlvati. Such a fortune-teller is classed with rhapsodes and physicians, xiii, 90, 11. The diffi- culty of reconciling the data of astrology (fortune-telling) and the theory of Karma is alluded to in iii, 209, 21 : “ Many are seen to be born under the same lucky star, but there is a great difference in their fate.” The most surprising astro- nomical statement in the epic is to the effect that stars are really very large and only appear small on account of their distanced The kalajnana or “ knowledge of time,” already mentioned, is attributed especially to Garga, who, as Weber, Lectures, p. 237, has noticed, is associated with Ivfdayavana : “ Kiilayavana who is endued with Garga’s (brilliancy or) power,” xii, 340, 95. This same Garga is credited not only with having kalajnanagati and jyotisam vyatikrama, “thor- ough knowledge of times and mastery of science of stars,” ix, 37, 14-16, but also with kalajnana, or the fine arts. That the epic has a different order of planets from that of the third century A. D. has already been observed by Jacobi.2 The Upavedas, however, pass the Vedic stage. There re- mains a word to say on the older Sutras, to which may be added an account of those more frequently mentioned Sutras and other treatises which are quite beyond the Vedic pale. Sutras. A Vedasutra, apparently a Crautasutra, but perhaps only Veda in general,3 is mentioned once, in xii, 341, 63. Grhya- sutras are not mentioned by name, but may be implied in the word Veda, as will be seen in the quotation given below. The Dliarmasutras are apparently implied in one passage of 1 dipavad viprakrstatvat tanuni sumahanty api (tararupani), iii, 42, 34. 2 ZDMG. vol. xxx, p. 307 ; Holtzmann, Das Mbh. vol. iv, p. 114. 8 The Supreme Lord says that the god who gives him a share gets by the Lord’s grace a corresponding (Veda-arranged) sacrificial share in (i. e. accord- ing to) the Vedasutra. 16 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. the thirteenth hook, where a Sutrakara in one verse corre- sponds to Vedas in the next, in a passage cited from the Mait. Samhita and Law-books (see below) ; and in another, where agaknuvantag caritum kirhcid dharmesu sutritam, “ un- able to do what is sutrified in the laws,” xii, 270, 36, must refer to the general class of legal Sutras. The Gita, 13, 4, mentions the Brahmasutra, which is probably nothing but an equivalent of Vedasutra, that is, equivalent to Veda in general ; but it may be one of the late marks of this poem (the Brahmasutra being otherwise unknown before the Hari- vaftga) and mean the philosophical Sutra.1 Sutrakaras and Sutrakartars, “who will arise,” are mentioned prophetically a few times in the didactic epic.2 Profane Sutras are jumbled together in one of the latest stanzas of the Kaccit chapter, ii, 5, 120, to which I have alluded before > “ Dost thou understand the Sutras on elephants, horses, chariots, catapults, and the Dhanurveda Sutra? ” As early as Panini there were Sutras of all sorts and the mention of such works has only the special value of indicat- ing that the epic belongs to a time when Sutra meant works which were probably popular and not written in aphoristic style. They were doubtless the same as the various (JSstra and other treatises to which reference is often made. Some of these works are called Qiistras and are grouped with the fine arts mentioned above as known to Garga. Arthagastra and Kamagastra, by-names of the epic itself, are mentioned in the late introduction to the whole work. The fine arts, kalas, are mentioned or implied in three places. First the slave-girls of Yudhisthira are said, at ii, 61, 9-10, to be “ versed in dancing and songs,” samasu, and “ skilled in the 1 In xii, 327, 31, there is mentioned a Moksafivstra, inspired by gathah purii gitah, a treatise which is based on verses recited (by Yayati) in regard to proper behavior, and it is partly philosophical. 2 xiii, 14, 101-104, granthakara, sutrakarta (bhavisyati), granthakrt ; 1G, 70, sutrakartar. In xii, 245, 30, sva^astrasutrahutimantravikramah, sutra may be the thread (a brahma-sutra as elsewhere), but in the connection seems more likely to mean Sutra. LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 17 sixty-four,” which must imply the sixty-four kalas. Then Garga, who knows kalajnana and omens, utpiitas, is also acquainted with kalajBana catuhsastyanga, xiii, 18, 38, which shows that the fine arts were not exclusively for women and slaves ; as is also indicated by the passage xiii, 104, 149 ff., where, as befitting a king to know, are mentioned treatises on logic (or behavior?), on grammar, on music, and the fine arts ; and to hear, Legends, Tales, and adven- tures of the saints.1 It is interesting to see that these “sixty-four arts,” still tjqiical of culture, are proverbial in India to-day. A Marathi proverb says cauda vidya va cau- sasta kalii, “ fourteen sciences and sixty-four arts.” 2 DharmacSstras. But if Sutra literature, except in the few instances cited above, is practically ignored, all the more fully is Castra 3 and particularly Dharmagastra literature recognized ; which I may say at the outset shows that the later epic was composed under the influence of Dharmagastras rather than of Dharmasutras. The general term Nltigastra, code of polity, has already been noticed. A number of such codes is recognized, xii, 138, 196, and Dharma(gastras) are cited not infrequently ; 1 yuktiyastram ca te jneyam yabdayastram ca, Bharata, gandharvayas train ca kalah parijneya, naradhipa ; puranam itihasay ca tatha ’khyanani yani ca, mahatmanam ca caritam yrotavyam nityam eva te. The yuktiyastram is not explained. According to PW., it is a manual of etiquette, but perhaps logic ; possibly the unique system of logic and rhetoric developed by Sulabha in xii, 321, 78 ff. 2 Manwaring, Marathi Proverbs, No. 1175. This is late. Cf. Yajn. i, 3; and Vayu Purana, lxi, 78-79. In the latter passage, the four Vedas, six Afigas, Mimansa, Nyaya, Dharmayastra and Purana make the “ fourteen vidyas ” or "eighteen” including the three Upavedas and the Arthayastra. 8 Or Smrti, but this word seems of wide bearing. Just as agama (above) includes more than Veda, so Smrti includes all tradition. In xii, 200, 30, mahasmrti and anusmrti seem to be interpreted by the commentator as Samhi- tas and Vedangas (with Manu and others) respectively, but his first words may refer to the inferred Veda of the preceding japaka (the reciters of both go ipso facto to heaven). Besides Manu (above), Yama, Angiras, Brhaspati, Uyanas, and Parayara are specially cited as law-givers. 2 18 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. while a general rule is given as a Dharma-gasana, e. g., i, 72, 15: Three fathers have we, for e’en thus Law's statute says, ’t is meet To call our sire, and who saves life, And him whose food we eat. Manu’s Dharmagastra is referred to under that name only in one of the latest books of the pseudo-epic. In the early books his Rajadharmas are once mentioned, iii, 35, 21, which might imply a chapter of our present code, but otherwise only his Dharmas are referred to, though generally merely an ipse dixit of Manu is cited, which, however, is often a dic- tum opposed to the actual words of the extant Manu text. The epic poets do not always recognize Manu as in any wise supreme, often not even as prominent. A typical example is furnished by iii, 150, 29 : “ Gods are upheld by Vedic sacri- fices ; men are upheld by the laws (not of Manu but) of Uganas and Brhaspati.” 1 But in xii, 336, 39-45, a primeval code, anugasana, of 100,000 glokas, gives rise to the “laws which Manu the self-existent will declare and Uganas and Brhaspati,” where there is a clear reference to the code of Manu ; as in the next stanza, where are mentioned the “ laws of the Self-existent, the (Tistra made by Uganas and the opin- ions of Brhaspati” (a gastram sangopanisadam, 54).2 The mere order of names, however, is no more indicative of priority than in the case of the Vedas mentioned above. Another list of Rajagastra-pranetaras at xii, 58, 1-3, 13, begins with Brhaspati and Uganas (Kavya, cited with two gathas at xii, 139, 70), and then follows Pracetasa Manu, Bharadvaja, and Gauragiras, with the gods between. So in the next section, 59, 81 ff., Civa reduces Brahman’s work, 1 So in iv, 68,6, Bharadvaja was “equal to Uganas in intelligence, to Brha- spati in polity,” naya; ix, 61, 48: “Have you not heard the instructions, upadefa, of Brhaspati and Ufanasl”; xii, 122, 11: “You have perused the opinions, matam, of Brhaspati, and the Qastra of Uganas,” ns the authorities generally recognized. Bharadvaja has three r61cs in the epic, as archetypical jurist, physician, and teacher of arms, according to the passage. 2 Compare xii, 69, 80, £f. LITERATURE KNOWN TO TIIE EPIC TOETS. 19 which in turn is reduced by India, as the bahudantaka, and then by Kavya Yogacarya, a work which embraces Itihasas, Vedas, and Nyiiya (141) or laws. More important is the fact that references to Manu's laws in the early books are seldom verifiable in our present code, while references in the didactic epic more often than not cor- respond to passages of the extant text.1 lienee it may be inferred that that part of the epic which agrees most closely in its citations with our code is later than that portion which does not coincide, or, conversely, that the text of Manu was shaped into its present form between the time of the early epic and that of the didactic epic. In the first period, when Manu’s Dharmagastra was unknown, Manu was merely a name to conjure with. The verses thus ascribed to Manu were not all put into the code when it was formed and for this reason the earlier citations are not generally found in our text. Some of them were adopted, however, and the later epic writers therefore agree more closely with the £as- tra as it is to-day ; though no one who understands how works are enlarged in India will expect to find all the quota- tions verified, even in the later epic, for there is no reason to suppose that the code was exactly the same two thousand years ago as it is to-day. But in fact, out of eleven quota- tions from Manu in the thirteenth book, there is only one which does not correspond with our Manu text, and this is of a general character, to the effect that a graddha -with tila is undecaying, “ said Manu.” 1 So in the Ramayana there are two evidently interpolated chapters at iv, 17 and 18. Rama in the subsequent chapters is incidentally charged (with great truth) with having violated every knightly rule in slaying Vali. To offset this clear case of sin on the part of the divine hero, a formal charge and defence is inserted (just the procedure in the Mahabharata !) in chapters which metrically belong to the classical period, so close is the adherence to vipula rule. Just here it is that Manuna gllau glokau are cited, viz., Manu, viii, 318 and 316 (inverted order), almost verbatim. Elsewhere Manu is a sage merely, not a cited law-giver, as here, iv, 18, 30-31 (without reference to Manu in G.). These chapters need no further proof than the reading to show their true character. They are simply banal, especially Rama’s speech, as well as contradictory in substance to the preceding and following chapters. 20 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. In a previous discussion of this subject in the Journal Am. Or. Soc. xi, p. 239 if. (where will be found more data on the subject of legal literature in the epic),1 in order not to force my argument I included as unverified a quotation at xiii, 65, 3, “ Manu said that the highest gift is something to drink,” panlyam paramarii danam, because it was in connection with Tlrthas. In this I was certainly over-scrupulous, for the words could easily refer to the passage I there cited from Manu, iii, 202, vary api gradtlhaya dattam aksajrayo ’pakalpate, “even water given with faith fits for immortality.” I can now add to this another quotation, xiii, 67, 19, toyado . . . aksayan samavapnoti lokan ity abravln Manuh, “ a giver of water obtains imperishable worlds.” Further, I rejected as unverifiable the statement that Manu said the king gets a fourth part of the sin of the people (instead of the usual sixth), although, as I pointed out, this proportion actually occurs in Manu, only it is for a specific occasion. Neverthe- less as Manu, viii, 18, says pado rajanam arhati (or rcchati), it is clear that the quotation caturtham etc. in xiii, 61, 34 cannot be said to be “ unverifiable.” It is simply a free ren- dering verbally of a statement actually found in Manu.2 We have here the incontrovertible fact that, while the other books of the epic before the thirteenth in giving quo- 1 For example, the fabulous books of divine origin of xii, 59, 80 ff. (like the origin of Narada’s law-book), called Barhaspatya, etc., according to the dia- dochos ; the “ law and commentary,” savaiyakho dharmah, of xii, 37, 10, etc. (pp. 254 and 248), and other points to which I may refer the reader without further remark than the references already given. 2 Besides the quotation given above from the thirteenth book and verifiable in our present code, I may add iii, 92, 10 : “ By Manu and others (it is said that1?) going to Tirthas removes fear,” manvadibhir maharaja tirthnyatra bhayapaha, if this be the meaning, which is rather doubtful. In any case it only adds one more to the unverified citations from the early books, but it may mean only that Manu and others have journeyed to Tirthas. Compare also xii, 2G0, 6, sarvaknrmasv ahinsa hi dharmatma Manur abravlt, “ Manu the righteous proclaimed that one should not injure (animals) at any cere- mony." From the context, killing cattle at a sacrifice is here reprobated. This is a perversion for sectarian purposes of Manu’s rule v, 43, na ’vednvi- hitarh hinsam apady api samacarct, to which perversion some color might be given by the following verses, which speak harshly of all injury to living creatures. I think no other quotations from Manu will be found in the epic. LITERATURE KNOWN TO TIIE EPIC POETS. 21 tations from Manu agree with our present text of Manu only in one third to one half the instances, the thirteenth book has eleven citations, of which ten agree with the statements of our code. To this must be added the fact that only the thir- teenth book recognizes “ the £iistra declared by Manu.” I do not know any other literature where such facts would not be accepted as of historical importance, and they have been so regarded here by competent scholars. In the opinion which I first set forth in 1885, the late Professor Bidder in general concurred, though inclined to believe that the authors of the twelfth and thirteenth books did not know the identical Castra which we have to-day. As Professor Bidder's position has not always been cited with the reservations made by him, I will cite his own words: “It remains indisputable that the author or authors of the first, twelfth, and thirteenth Parvans of the Mahabhar&ta knew a Manava Dharmapastra which was closely connected but not identical with the ex- isting text,” Manu p. lxxix, and again : “ The answer which we are thus obliged to give to the question whence the author of our Manu-Smrti took his additional materials agrees very closely with Professor Hopkins’ hypothesis,” p. xci. Never- theless, despite this admission, Professor Bidder, bj- a line of argument which is based chiefly on the lack of absolute identity, assumes finally that the authors of the epic “ knew only the Dharmasutra,” ib. p. xcviii. The arguments other than the lack of total identity are, first, that Manu shows an acquaintance with the epic because he says that in a former kalpa the vice of gambling has been seen to cause great en- mity; in regard to which Professor Bidder says: “ This asser- tion can only point in the first instance to the match played between Yudhistliira and Duryodliana,” p. lxxx. But why not to the story of Nala, as Professor Bidder himself suggests, or any other story of dicing resulting in “ enmity ” which may have preceded our epic? Another argument is, that legends referred to in the Castra are found in the epic, ib. But it is of the very character of the epic that it contains many ancient legends, gathered from all sources. It does not follow in the 22 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. least that Manu took them from the epic. On the other hand it is important to observe that in no such passage does Manu refer a single one of them to an epic source. Thirdly, it is claimed that the passages parallel in epic and (^astra often have verses in a different order, with omissions, etc., that, in short, they are not actual copies one of the other. But Pro- fessor Bidder himself has shown that “the existing text of Manu has suffered many recasts,” p. xcii, so that we do not know the form of the Castra to which the epic explicitly refers and from which it cites as the Castra set forth by Manu. For my part, it still is impossible for me to believe that when the pseudo-epic, in particular the Anugasana, refers to (aistras,1 and cites correctly from “ Manu’s ^astra,” it really knows only Sutras. A Manava Dharmagastra, specifically, must from the evi- dence be regarded as older than the later epic but later than the early epic, which knew only a mass of royal and general rules, dharmas, generally ascribed to Father Manu but differ- ent from those in our extant yiistra. With this result too agrees the fact that the metrical form of the extant code is distinctly earlier than that of the later epic. Not unimpor- tant, finally, is the circumstance that the extant code only vaguely refers to epic Tales, but recognizes neither of the epics, only legends that are found in the epics. In all prob- ability the code known to the later epic was not quite our 1 In xii, 341, 74, are mentioned “ teachers in Dharmagastras,” acarya dharma- gastresu; in xiii, 01, 34, Manu’s anugasana ; in xiii, 47, 35, “ the £astra com- posed by Manu,” manuna ’bhihitam giistram ; in xiii, 45, 17, “those that know law in the law-books,” dharmagastresu dharmajnah, in reference to the sub- ject discussed in Manu iii, 52-53; iv, 88. Similarly, xiii, 19, 89. In most cases here Qastras are the authority, which in iii, 313, 105, are set beside the Vedas as two standard authorities. In the face of these citations it is difficult to understand Biihler’s words, “ the authors . . . knew only the Dharmasutras,” especially as the words contradict what he says in the same essay on a different page, “ the authors . . . knew a Manava Dharmagilstra ” (loe. cit. above). It has seemed to me that the great scholar was unduly influenced in his final word by his general desire to put back the epic as far as possi- ble. Professor Holtzmann, who has collected the material, loc. cit., p. 115 IT., is of the opinion that “ our Manavaadharmagastra is certainly much later than the older parts of the Mahabharata.” LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 23 present code, but it was a code much like ours and ascribed to Manu, a £astra which, with some additions and omissions, such as all popular texts in India suffer, was essentially our present text. Vedic Citations in the Epic. We have now reached and indeed already passed, in the notice of some of the works mentioned, the point where the epic impinges on the earlier literature. Before going further I will illustrate the statement made at the outset that the epic cites freely or parodies Vedic documents. The free rendition in Veda-like verse of the older hymnology is not uncommon. Thus in v, 16, the opening hymn is not strictly Vedic, but it is very like a collection of Vedic utterances put into popular form and these verses are called brahma man- trah, q1. 8. Apart, however, from such instances of more or less exact imitation of general Vedic verses,1 we find a num- ber of verses plainly imitative of extant Vedic passages or almost exactly reproducing them. This applies to reproduc- tions or imitations 2 of the chief Vedic literature from the Rig Veda to the Sutras, as will be seen from the following examples : Rig Veda x, 117, 6, mogham annam vindate apracetah 1 There are, of course, also a vast number of verses such as gaur me mata vrsabbah pita me, introduced, as here, with the fiat imam frutim udaharet, xiii, 76, 6-7 ; or with the more usual tag, iti crutih, as for example, agnayo mansakamaq (starred in pw.) ca ity api fruyate crutih, iii, 208, 11 ; or with smrta, as in acvinau tu smrtau cudrau, xii, 208, 24 ; as well as such phrases as that of xiv, 51, 26, yas tarn veda sa vedavit, all of which reflect the litera- ture of the earlier periods. 2 The Vedic work most frequently referred to is the Yajur Veda Hymn, trisauparnam brahma yajusam catarudriyam, xii, 285, 138 ; samavedac; ca ve- danam yajusam catarudriyam, xiii, 14, 323; tad brahma catarudriyam, vii, 81, 13 ; vede ca ’sya samamnatam gatarudriyam uttamam, vii, 202, 120 ; grnan brahma param (Jakrah catarudriyam uttamam, xiii, 14, 284. It is imitated over and over again, and some of the epic hymns call themselves by the same name, a fact alluded to in the words : vede ca ’sya vidur viprah cata- rudriyam uttamam, Vyaseno ’ktam ca yac ca ’pi upasthanam, xiii, 162, 23. 24 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. Mbh. y, 12, 20, mogham annam vindati ca ’py acetah Bohtlingk, Spruch 4980. Rig Veda vii, 89, 2, drtir na dhmato, adrivah Mbh. iii, 207, 47; xii, 95, 21, mahadrtir iva ’dhmatah (papo bliavati nityada, iii, 207, 47) Rig Veda i, 10, 1, gayanti tva gayatrino arcanti arkam arkinah brahmanas tva qatakrato ud vahqam iva yemire Mbh. xii, 285, 78, gayanti tva gayatrino arcanti arkam arkinah brahmanam tva 9atakratum urdkvaiii kham iva menire Holtzmann, Das Mahabharata, iv, p. 12; also for the following parallel, p. 13: Rig Veda x, 129, 1-3, na ’sad asm no sad asid tadanim . . . no ratria ahna aslt praketah . . . tama aslt tamasa gulham agre Mbh. xii, 343, 8, (nidarqanam api hy atra) nasld aho na ratrir asm na sad asm na ’sad aslt, tama eva purastad abhavad viqvarupam Compare also with Rig Veda, i, 13, 4, asi hota manurhitah, Mbh. ib. 10-11, tvam agne yajiranam hota viQvesam hito devanam manusanam ca jagata iti, nidarqanam ca ’tra bhavati, viqvesam agne yajnanam tvam bote ’ti, tvam hito dev&ir manusyair jagata iti Rig Veda x, 14, 1, vaivasvataiii samgamanam jananam Mbh. xiii, 102, 16, vaivasvatl samyamanl jananam LITERATURE KNOWN TO THE EPIC POETS. 25 Further, with Rig Veda i, 1G4, 46, ekaiii sad vipra bahu- dha vadanti, and x, 114, 5, viprah . . . ekam santam bahu- dha kalpayanti, may be compared Mbh. (v, 16, 2, and) i, 232, 13, manlsinas tvaiii jananti bahudha ciii kadha ’pica. In xv, 34, 11, devayana hi panthiinah ^rutas te yajflasamstare 1 is an allusion to Rig Veda x, 18, 1; while in xii, 312, 5, dyava- prthivyor iti esa . . . vedesu pathyate, the citation of a Vedic phrase is acknowledged; whereas in the epic phrases ma ririsah and bhuvanani vi§va, vii, 201, 77, no indication of Vedic origin is given. Taitt. Saiiihita i, 16, 11, 1 ; £at. Br. b 5, 2, 16, ye yajatnahe Mbh. iii, 180, 33, idarn arsam pramanam ca ye yajamaha ity api Compare iii, 31, 22, yasya na ’rsam pramanam syat, etc. Aufrecht, apud Muir, OST. i, 137. Also Taitt. S. ii, 5, 1, 1 is repeated verbatim Mbh. xii, 343, 28, as shown by Weber, Ind. Stud, i, p. 410. Mait. Saiiihita i, 10, 11, stry anrtam Mbh. xiii, 40, 12 and 19, 6-7, striyo 'nrtam iti qrutih ; anrtah striya ity evam vedesv api hi pathyate ; anrtah striya ity evam sutrakaro vyavasyati. Compare Baudk. Dh. S. ii, 3, 46, with Biililer’s note, and Manu ix, 18, striyo 'nrtam iti stliitih (v. 1. 9 rut ill). The double reference in the epic, Sutrakara and Vedah, may point to the same place, or the writer may have had in mind a Sutra passage parallel to Baudhayana, if not Baudhayana himself, whose text here is corrupt. 1 In the preceding verse is cited an a^vamedha^ruti, apropos of the a- being, the common tangle of metaphysics.2 In fact, religious philosophy is hopelessly at sea, not only in regard to the question of a conditioned God but also in regard to the gunas of the spirit. It is universally admitted that energy and inertia must be dispensed with in order to a full attainment of pure spirithood, xiv, 51, 25. But when spirit has sattva alone or is in sattva alone, sattvam asthaya kevalam, is it one with this being or not? Some say, “ and they are wise,” that spirit and sattva have unity, ksetrajiiasattvayor aikyam, but this is wrong. Still, they cannot exist apart. There is unity and diversity, as in the case of the lotus and water-drop, the fish in water, the fly in the Udumbara plant, ekatvananatvam, xiv, 48, 9-11. 3 * * * * 8 In xiii, 108, 7, sattva must be “washed out” 1 prakrtir gunan vikurute svacchandena ’tmakamyaya kridarthe tu, xii, 314, 15-16 (prakrtis tatlia vikurute purusasya gunan bahun). 2 God is nirguna and gunatman and nirguna alone and triguna, etc., xii, 339, 3 ff. ; xiii, 137, 3. Guna-made are all existences, Gita, 7, 13 ; God is not in them, they are in him, ib., 12. They do not affect God, xii, 340, 22 (in 20 it is said that those devoid of rajas and tamas attain to God, presumably retain- ing sattva ; but elsewhere sattva must also be lost, e. g., 335, 30) ; viddhi bhavan madajrayan, xiv, 54, 2 ; avyaktat utpanno mahan atma adir gunanam, 40, 1. 8 Here Telang is obliged to render sattva as goodness and as nature, ac- cording to the verse, e. g., unintelligent sattva, 49, 9, and 12, where the spirit enjoys sattva. Sattva, however, is always conditioned existence or a condi- tioned being, abstract or concrete. It is the highest, because it may be free 122 THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. of the soul of pure Yogins, along with rajas and tamas. In these cases we have simply an attempt on the part of theology to utilize the terms of atheistic philosophy, which naturally leads to confusion. For the terms (applicable to Prakrti) of Saiiikhya are incompatible with the philosophy which substi- tutes God for both Purusha and Prakrti. When the gunas are called atmagunas, as in xiv, 12, 4, it is to distinguish them as mental from the bodily constituents, gunah garirajah, with which they are compared. As the three constituents of the body, gitosne vayug ca (= kapha, pitta, vata) give a healthy condition when in equilibrium, so the three atmagunas, when equal, produce a healthy condition. Here the three are merely essential elements in a tridhatu or threefold entity. Thus elements are called, as the constit- uents or factors, dhatavah, inherent in the Source, dhatavah pancabhautikah, iii, 211, 9 ff., just as the essential constituents of a king’s concern are called gunas, xv, 6, 6. Plurality of Spirits. The passage just cited from the Anuglta on “ unity and diversity ” reflects an important section in