POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE INDIANS IN THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C.
The Arians on the Indus and in the Panjab had remained more true to the
old tendencies of life than their tribesmen who had turned towards the
east. In the variety of the forms of their political life and their
stimulating influence on each other, in healthy simple feeling, in
warlike energy and martial spirit they were in advance of the land of
the Ganges. Great as was the number of the tribes and states which
filled the region of the Indus, and thickly as the land was populated,
wide and many-sided as was the civilisation, in the development of
religious and intellectual life, in industrial and mercantile activity,
in civilisation of external life, in comfort and wealth, the land of the
Ganges was undoubtedly in advance of the Indus.
After Alexander's army trod the soil of the Panjab, the eastern district
also became better known to the Greeks. Megasthenes tells us that India
was inhabited by 118 nations; the cities were so numerous that it was
impossible to know and enumerate them.[569] Beyond the desert which
extends from the Vipaça and Çatadru to the lands of the east,--the
breadth is put by the Greeks at twelve days' journey--on the navigable
Yamuna (Yomanes) dwelt the Çurasenas, whose cities were Mathura and
Krishnapura;[570] further to the east were the Panchalas. At the head of
this tribe, as we have seen, the Pandus once deposed the Kurus, the
dominant family of the Bharatas, and took their place. Hence the name
Panchalas was used instead of the name Bharatas for the tribes governed
by the Pandus, first from Hastinapura and then from Kauçambi, as we
assumed from native accounts (p. 96).[571] It has been remarked above
(p. 366) that the dynasty of the Pandus came to an end about the middle
of the fifth century, and the Çurasenas and Panchalas became subject to
the kings of Magadha. In the south-west, on the hill and mountain
territory, which gradually rises to the spurs of the Vindhyas, lay the
Mavellas, according to the account of the Greeks, whose prince possessed
five hundred elephants;[572] on the gulf of Cambay reigned kings, who
resided in the city of Automela, which must have been a considerable
place of trade. Lastly, in the peninsula of Surashtra (Guzerat) was a
kingdom where the ruling family according to the Greeks bore the name of
Pandus, and who therefore were connected by their lineage with Pandu,
the father of Yudhishthira and Arjuna. The Pandus of Surashtra are said
to have reigned over 300 cities and to have possessed 500 elephants of
war.[573] If a branch of the house of Pandu, which ruled over the
Panchalas and Bharatas, had founded the second Mathura on the south side
of the Deccan, it was colonists from Surashtra who made Ceylon subject
to the Brahmanic law (p. 369, 370). We have already stated what was
known to Alexander and his companions of the inhabitants of the Ganges,
the kingdom of the Gangarides, the Prasians (Prachyas), _i.e._ the men
of the east, as they call themselves, obviously after the name common in
the land of the Indus. The ample resources and powerful army which were
ascribed in the land of the Indus to the ruler of this kingdom, the
well-known Magadha, may have contributed in no small measure to the fact
that Alexander's campaign came to an end on the Vipaça. In any case the
accounts which the Greeks received in the land of the Indus about
Magadha, confirm the predominant position which our inferences from
native authorities compel us to ascribe to this kingdom after the time
of king Kalaçoka, in the land of the Ganges. However exaggerated the
statement of the Greeks about the power of the king of the Prasians may
be, they give us the further proof that the consequence and power of
Magadha under the Nandas in the first half of the fourth century B.C.
had rather increased than diminished; they show us, finally, that even
the usurper who overthrew the Nandas, and the Dhanapala who sat on the
throne of Magadha at the time when Alexander marched through the
Indus--the Greeks call him Xandrames--maintained the ruling position of
Magadha on the Ganges.
Of the nations which lay to the west of the Gangarides, _i.e._ to the
east of Magadha, the Greeks can mention few. First come the Kalingas who
dwelt on "the other sea," below the mouths of the Ganges. The kings of
this nation were masters of 60,000 foot soldiers and 700 elephants. Next
to them dwelt the Andhras in numerous villages and thirty cities with
walls and towers; these were followed by the most southern realm in
India, the land of Pandæa[574]--the kingdom of the southern Mathura, the
southern Pandus (p. 369) is meant--and the great island of Taprobane,
which lay off the southern shore of India. The mention of the Kalingas
and Andhras shows that the Arian colonisation must have made
considerable advances in the course of the fourth century in the region
between Orissa (p. 368) and the southern Mathura.
To grasp clearly the picture which the contemporaries of Alexander
received of the life and pursuits of the Indians in its essential lines,
in order to compare it with the native traditions and to supplement
them, is of great importance owing to the peculiar nature of the latter.
The splendour of the Indian princes is described by the Greeks in
glowing colours. Gold and silver, elephants, herds of cattle and flocks
of sheep were possessed by them in abundance. Their robes were adorned
with gold and purple, even the soles of their shoes glittered with
precious stones.[575] In their ears they carried precious stones of
peculiar size and brilliance; the upper and lower arm no less than the
neck were surrounded by pearls, and a golden staff was the symbol of
their rank.[576] Every one showed them the greatest reverence; men not
only prostrated themselves before them but even prayed to them.[577]
Nevertheless conspiracies against them were common. For this reason the
kings were waited upon by women only, who had been purchased from their
parents. These had to prepare the food, bring the wine, and accompany
them to the bed-chamber, which for the sake of security was frequently
changed. In the daytime the kings of the Indians did not venture to
sleep.[578] Even when hunting the king was accompanied by his wives, who
were in turn surrounded by his bodyguards. Any one who ventured to
advance as far as the women lost his life. If the king hunted in a park,
he shot from a framework, on which stood also two or three women,
equipped for hunting; if in the open, he was still followed by the
women, partly in chariots, partly like the king himself on elephants. In
the same way women accompanied the Indian kings to war.[579] Except for
hunting and war the kings only left the palace to offer sacrifice. Then
they appeared in a beautifully-flowered robe.[580] Drum-beaters and
bell-players preceded them; then came elephants adorned with gold and
silver, four-yoked chariots, and others yoked with pairs of oxen. The
soldiers marched out in the best armour; gold utensils, great kettles
and dishes quite a fathom in diameter--tables, seats, and water-basins
of Indian copper, set with precious stones, emeralds, beryls, and
carbuncles, and gay robes adorned with gold were carried in procession.
After these wild animals were brought out--buffaloes, panthers, and
bound lions and tigers.[581] On waggons of four wheels stood trees with
large leaves, on which were various kinds of tame birds, some
distinguished by their gorgeous plumage, others by their fine
voices.[582]
The splendour of the princes, the hundreds of "lotus-eyed" women who
surrounded and waited on them, no less than their anxious cares for
their own safety are well-known to us from the native authorities; and
the change in the succession, which we have so frequently met with,
proves that these precautions were not superfluous.[583] The sutras
describe how the kings at festivals march out on elephants to the sound
of all kinds of instruments, amid the scent of perfumes and clouds of
frankincense, accompanied by their ministers and multitudes of people.
An inscription of Açoka of Magadha ordains processions of elephants and
festal chariots, "announced by trumpets;"[584] and the Epos goes to
great length in the description of the processions of the princes for
the consecration of the king (p. 225), and on other occasions of a
similar kind.
According to the Greeks the kings of the Indians gave great attention to
justice; they occupied themselves with it almost the whole day. The
other judges were also conscientious, and the guilty were severely
punished.[585] We remember how urgently the book of the law impressed on
the princes the duty of dispensing justice, the protection of persons
and property, the awarding of punishment (p. 203). The Indians were, the
Greeks assure us, honest in trade, and had few lawsuits. Personal
assaults were forbidden; no one might offer or receive them; and so the
Indians were accustomed to bring charges merely for wounding and murder.
Theft was rare, though little was locked up in the houses. Any one who
mutilated another was mutilated in the same manner and lost a hand in
addition; but any one who deprived an artisan of a hand or an eye must
be put to death. False witness was punished with loss of the hand or
foot; the worst criminals were punished at the king's order by
flaying.[586]
The Indian nation was divided, we are told, into seven tribes. The
first was formed by the sages; in numbers it was the weakest, but in
importance and honour the most considerable. The second by the
magistrates, who "distinguished themselves by wisdom and justice." Out
of this order the kings, no less than the free nations of India, took
their supreme council; from them the kings also selected the overseers
of the cantons, the judges and leaders in war. The third was the order
of spies, whose business it was to find out everything that took place
in the cities and in the country; the kings maintained them for their
own safety, and the spies were assisted by the public women, both those
in the cities and those who in time of war went out in the camps. The
fourth order, that of the warriors, was numerous. It enjoyed great
liberty, and was the most prosperous, inasmuch as it had no other duty
but to practise the use of arms. The warriors were paid out of the
treasury of the king, and so liberally that they could even support
others on their pay. The armour, horses and elephants which they
required they received from the king, together with the necessary
servants, so that others forged their weapons for them, tended and led
their horses, adorned and drove their chariots and guided their
elephants. In time of war the soldiers fought; in time of peace they
lived in idleness and enjoyment, in pleasure and festivity. Those also
who practised arts and handicraft, or carried on trade, formed in India
a separate order (the fifth). Of these some made what the husbandmen
required, others were makers of armour and builders of ships. Most of
them were subject to taxes and had to give service beside; only the
artisans who manufactured implements of war, and the carpenters who
built ships were free not only from service and taxes but even received
maintenance from the king, for whom alone they were permitted to
work.[587] The most numerous order by far was that of the husbandmen
(the sixth). These never went to war, nor possessed weapons, nor were
employed in other public services; they even withdrew from dealings with
the cities. The Indian peasant lived undisturbed with his wife and
children on his farm, occupied only with the tillage of the field. Even
the outbreak of a war did not disturb his employment; under the
protection of the kings he carried on his labours quietly.[588] Some
accounts of the Greeks go so far as to assure us that the farms were
sacred and inviolable; that even the soldiers of the enemy were not
permitted to lay them waste, to burn trees and houses and lay hand on
the people, so that the peasants fearlessly followed the plough amid the
arrangements of battle and warfare, got in their harvest, and gathered
the fruits of the field.[589] The seventh and last class of the Indians
consisted of the hunters and herdmen. The herdmen led a wandering life
in the mountain regions and lived on their cattle, from which they had
to pay tribute to the king; the hunters were bound to cleanse the land
of wild animals, and protect the crops of the husbandmen against
them.[590] These seven orders of the Indians might not contract marriage
with each other, nor was it permitted to pass from one order into
another, or to carry on the occupation of two orders at once. Only those
who belonged to the first order could carry on the occupation of any
other, just as any one in any order could enter the order of the sages.
This conception of the Indian castes is idealized in some points, and in
others falls into errors, of which the causes are easily detected and
pardonable. The happy, careless, and free life of the Kshatriyas is
obviously exaggerated for all the states in which they had not
maintained the position of a landed warlike nobility, as they did in the
free nations,[591] unless indeed among the monarchies a king sat on the
throne who especially favoured the Kshatriyas, and was in a position to
treat handsomely the soldiers in service, or registered for service. It
has already been mentioned that all Kshatriyas did not serve (p. 244);
and it would not occur to any prince to pay men who were not in service.
Still less do the idyllic descriptions of the honoured and inviolable
life of the husbandmen agree with the taxes and exactions and miserable
position of the villagers, to which we find such frequent references in
the native authorities. It is true that the Brahmanic law laid emphasis
on settled life, and gave the preference to agriculture over trade and
handicraft (p. 244), but of such a respect for husbandry as the Greeks
describe we often find the opposite. These and similar traits in the
Greek accounts owe in part their origin to the exaggerated picture of
this distant land, which the fame of Indian marvels, of the wisdom and
justice of the Indian nation, had produced among the Greeks. Yet we must
not overlook the fact that agriculture _was_ carried on with industry
and care, that these accounts are essentially based on the impression
which Megasthenes received of the condition of India circumstances in
the period soon after Alexander, when a great prince on the throne of
Magadha maintained peace and order in his wide dominions with a powerful
hand. Even the sutras of the Buddhists dwell on the flourishing
condition of agriculture at this period.
If the Greeks give seven orders instead of four, if they speak of the
magistrates, spies, handicraftsmen, and finally of the hunters and
herdmen, as separate tribes beside the priests, warriors, and
husbandmen, the error is founded in the fact that they had a tendency to
find the distinction of castes everywhere. Beside the chief castes were
the castes of mixed origin, and it has been observed above how strong
was the tendency of persons engaged in similar occupations to form into
separate bodies within the castes. It was natural for an observant
foreigner to think that the retired life of the sages was separated from
the busy occupation of the magistrates by a sharper line, and to make
the special calling of the magistrates into a caste, though on the other
hand it did not escape the Greeks that the sages also were counsellors
of the kings. Manu's law had wisely prescribed that kings should
diligently avail themselves of the help of spies, whom they must select
out of all the orders; these spies were more especially to watch the
courtesans,[592] and the Ramayana extols the ministers of king Daçaratha
of Ayodhya for their skill in giving information of everything that went
on in the land.[593] If the Greeks could regard these spies as a special
caste, many persons must have been employed by the system of secret
police in the fourth century B.C. in India. That the unity of the caste,
which comprised agriculturists, merchants, and handicraftsmen, and on
the other hand the distinction between the Vaiçyas and the Çudras, was
overlooked, is easily to be explained, for even Manu's law permitted the
Çudras to be handicraftsmen, and the Brahmans and Kshatriyas to descend
to the occupation of the other castes (p. 243), a permission which, in
the case of the Brahmans, did not escape the Greeks. That the
handicraftsmen and others had to perform tax-labour for the king, is an
arrangement fixed by the book of the law (p. 212). Lastly, the Greeks
apparently included among the hunters and the herdmen the impure and
despised castes; the book of the law had also fixed what castes, _i.e._
what tribes of the pre-Arian or Arian population, were to occupy
themselves with hunting and the capture of wild animals.[594]
Of the order of the sages the Greeks tell us that it assisted the king
in the conduct of sacred worship, as the Magians assisted the Persians.
Nor was it kings only, but communities and individuals who employed the
services of these sages at sacrifices, because they stood nearest the
gods, to whom a sacrifice offered by others could not be acceptable.
Together with the sacrifice the sages conducted the burial and worship
of the dead, as they were acquainted with the under world. They even
occupied themselves with prediction, and soothsaying was in their hands.
They rarely told individual persons their fate, for this was too
insignificant and beneath the dignity of prophecy, but they foretold the
fortunes of the state. At the new year the kings annually summoned the
sages and a great assembly, when they announced whether the year would
be good or bad, dry or wet; whether there would be sickness or not. At
this assembly any sage also stated what he had observed that was of use
in the affairs of the community, to promote the prosperity of the fruits
and animals, etc. If any one prophesied falsely, no punishment awaited
him; but any one who for the third time announced what did not take
place was bound to keep silence for ever, a penalty so strictly observed
by those on whom it was imposed, that nothing in the world could move
them to utter another word.[595]
The life of these sages was no easy one; on the contrary, it was the
most burdensome of all. From their earliest childhood they were brought
up to wisdom; nay, even before their birth guardians from among the
sages were allotted to them, who visited the mothers in order to ensure
them a happy delivery by magic arts; so at least it was believed; as a
fact they gave them wise exhortations. After birth other sages undertook
the education of the children, and with advancing years the boys ever
received better instructors. When grown up they lived for the most part
in groves, in solitary isolation from the cities, lay on the earth,
clothed themselves with the skins of animals, ate nothing that had life,
refrained from sexual intercourse, and exercised great firmness both in
bearing pain and in endurance, inasmuch as they sometimes remained in
one position for the whole day, or stood for a long time on one leg, and
carried on conversations on important matters. These could be listened
to even by the common people; but such listeners must sit in profound
silence; they must neither speak nor cough nor spit. Any sage who had
lived in this manner for thirty-six or forty years, which they call the
years of practice (p. 398), departs to his possessions and henceforth
lives a less severe life. He wears garments of cotton, and rings of gold
of moderate size on his hands and in his ears; he may eat the flesh of
animals which are useless, but he may not eat acid food. The sages then
take several wives, because it is important to have many children, in
order to propagate wisdom the better. Others, clad in cotton garments,
wander through the cities and teach, and are accompanied by pupils. The
greater part of the time they spend in the market-place, where they are
visited by many persons for advice. Others again live in the forest
under the huge trees and eat nothing but bark and ripe herbs. In summer
they endured without clothing the burning heat of the midday sun, and
the winter also they passed in the open air, amid torrents of rain. The
sages who live in the forest do not go to the kings, even though
requested to do so; but the kings from time to time ask questions of
them by messengers, and entreat them to call upon and worship the gods
on their behalf. Others of the sages, however, manage the business of
the state, and accompany the kings as counsellors; others are
physicians, who live simply on rice and barley, and heal sickness by
diet more than by any other means;[596] others again are soothsayers and
magicians, and acquainted with the sacrifices to the dead and the
ritual, and go about begging among the villages and cities. These were
the least cultivated of the sages, but even the others did not
contradict the fables of the under-world, "because they advanced piety
and sanctity."[597]
The sages were one and all highly honoured by the kings and the nation.
They paid no taxes, they had no duties and services to perform, but on
the contrary received valuable presents. Those who lived in the cities
and gave advice in the market-place could take whatever and as much as
they pleased of the food exposed for sale there, especially of oil and
sesame; any one who is carrying figs or grapes gives to them of his
store without payment. All whom they visit feel themselves honoured, and
every house is open to them, except the apartments of the women; they
enter when they choose, and take part in the conversation and the meal.
Even the physicians among the sages are hospitably entertained in all
the houses, and receive rice and barley wherever they lodge.[598]
Megasthenes tells us that the sages were divided into two sects, of
which the one was called Brahmans, the other Sarmans. There was also a
third sect, wrangling and quarrelsome men, whom the Brahmans regarded as
vain boasters and fools.[599] The Brahmans were held in higher
estimation than the Sarmans, because there was more agreement in their
doctrines. They occupied themselves with researches into nature, and the
knowledge of the stars, and taught everything like the Hellenes;
maintaining that the world was created, and globular, and perishable,
permeated by the Deity who created and governed it. The earth was the
centre of the universe. In addition to the four elements of the Hellenes
the sages of the Indians assumed a fifth, out of which arose the sky and
the stars. About the nature of the soul, also, the Indians had the same
notions as the Hellenes; but like Plato they interspersed many fables on
the imperishable nature of the soul, on the judgment which will be held
in the under-world on the souls, and other things of the kind. As a rule
their acts were better than their words; their proofs were generally
supported by the narration of extraordinary stories. They maintained
that in itself there was nothing good or bad; otherwise it would be
impossible that some persons should be in trouble about an event while
others felt delighted at it; that even the same persons should be
distressed and then in turn delighted at the selfsame occurrence.[600]
According to the account of Onesicritus quoted above (p. 398), the
Brahmans of Takshaçila considered that doctrine the best which removed
joy and sadness utterly from the soul. In order to attain this the body
must be accustomed to pain that the power of the soul may thus be
strengthened. That man is the best who has the fewest needs; he is the
most free who needs neither presents nor anything else from another; who
has to fear no threats; he who equally disregarded pleasure and toil and
life and death will be second to no other. The Brahmans spoke a good
deal of death, which they regarded as a deliverance from the flesh when
rendered useless by age. Life on earth they regarded merely as the
completion of birth in the flesh, death as the birth to true life, and
to happiness for the wise. Diseases of the body appeared to them
dishonourable; and if a man fell into sickness, he anointed himself,
caused a pyre to be erected, placed himself on it, gave orders that it
should be kindled, and was burnt, without moving. Others put an end to
their lives by throwing themselves into water, or over precipices;
others by hanging or by the sword. Yet Megasthenes maintains that
suicide was no article in the Indian creed.[601]
In all essential points these accounts agree with the native
authorities, though the view taken is here and there too favourable, in
some points too advanced, in others not sufficiently discriminating. It
is true that the Brahmans and the initiated of the Enlightened, the
Çramanas, are confounded in the order of the sages; this is shown by the
statement that any one could enter into this order.[602] It would have
required peculiar acuteness on the part of a stranger to distinguish
matters so closely resembling each other in their external appearances;
and the one were mendicants no less than the others. It is evidence of
clear observation that the Brahmans like the Bhikshus were regarded by
the Greeks as philosophers rather than priests; they give prominence to
their position as advisers of the king and soothsayers as well as their
philosophical inquiries and conduct of sacrifices. The custom of
advising the princes agrees with the rules which are known to us from
the book of the law, the statements of the sutras, the Epos, the
Puranas, and the incidents in the land of the Indus which have been
mentioned above (p. 405); and with regard to soothsaying we have already
seen from the sutras how much the Brahmans were given to astrology after
the year 600 B.C.; how they suggested fortunate names to parents for
their children, and favourable times for investiture with the sacred
girdle, for cutting the hair, and for marriage. The assemblies at the
new year, of which the Greeks tell us, have reference no doubt to the
establishment of the calendar, _i.e._ to the fixing of the proper and
fortunate days for sacrifice and festivity, for seedtime, etc., as is
done at this day in every village by the Brahmans, and for the court and
kingdom by the Brahmans of the king. Even now nothing of importance is
undertaken in the state or in the house, before the Brahmans have
declared the signs of heaven to be favourable. As to the sacrifices to
the departed, we are acquainted with the meals for the dead, and their
importance, which the Brahmans retained, while the Bhikshus, as we shall
see, had meanwhile gone so far as to worship the manes of Buddha and his
chief disciples. The sutras have already informed us of the frequent use
of physicians; they were Brahmans who carried on the art of healing on
the basis of the Atharvaveda. The care of the young Brahmans and their
instruction is correctly stated; the time of teaching which the book of
the law fixes at thirty-six years (p. 179) is not forgotten; even among
the Bhikshus a noviciate was customary. In the description of the life
of the ascetics and wandering sages, the Brahmans and Bhikshus are again
confounded, and if the Greeks tell us that the severe sages of the
forest were too proud to go to the court at the request of the king, the
statement holds good according to the evidence of the Epos of the
Brahmanic saints, and the sutras of the great teachers among the
Buddhists.[603]
In the examination of the doctrines of the Indian sages Megasthenes
distinguished the Brahmans and the Buddhists, inasmuch as he opposes the
less honoured sects to the first, and declares the Brahmans to be the
most important. From his whole account it is clear that at his date,
_i.e._ about the year 300 B.C., the Brahmans had distinctly the upper
hand. But, according to him, the Çramanas took the next place to the
Brahmans, among the less honoured sects. Among the Buddhists Çramana is
the ordinary name for their clergy (p. 377). The doctrines of the
Brahmans of the world-soul and the five elements (by the fifth, with
which the Greeks were not acquainted, the æther or Akaça of the Brahmans
is meant), the dogmas of liberation from sensuality and the body, are
rightly stated by Megasthenes in all essentials, and his assertion that
the Brahmans for the most part narrated fabulous stories in support of
their doctrines is based very correctly on the numerous Brahman legends
about the great saints. Megasthenes takes too favourable a view of the
object of Brahmanic asceticism, but he brings out with sufficient
prominence the mortification of the flesh, and remarks the diversity of
the views on voluntary death or suicide, which, as we have seen, the
book of the law, in case of incapacity, regards as a meritorious end to
the later years of life, while the Buddhists condemned it altogether.
Of the religion of the Indians the Greeks ascertained that they
worshipped Zeus, who brought the rain, and other native, _i.e._
peculiar, deities, and the Ganges. Of the gods of the Greeks Dionysus
was the first to come to India; he instructed the Indians in the culture
of the field and the vine, founded the monarchy, and taught them how to
wear the mitra and to dance the cordax (a Bacchic dance).[604] Heracles
also had been in India, but fifteen generations later than Dionysus. The
Indians called Heracles one of the earth-born, who had attained divine
honours after his death, because he surpassed all men in power and
boldness. This Indian Heracles had cleared land and sea from wild and
hurtful animals, and, like the Theban Heracles, had carried the lion's
skin and club. He had many sons, among whom India was equally divided,
and these had bequeathed their dominions to many descendants, from
generation to generation; some of these kingdoms existed even when
Alexander came to India. Beside these sons Heracles had one daughter,
Pandæa, whom he had also made a queen, and had given her for a kingdom
the land in which she was born, the most southern part of India;[605]
and when on one of his voyages Heracles had discovered pearls he
gathered together all that could be found in the Indian sea in order to
adorn his daughter with them. As he had never seen a man worthy of her,
when in old age he made her though but seven years old of full age for
marriage in order that he might beget with her a successor for her land.
After this time, all the women in the land named after her were of
marriageable age in their seventh year.[606] The Indians on the
mountains worshipped Dionysus, those in the plains Heracles;[607] the
latter was chiefly worshipped among the Çurasenas on the Yamuna,[608]
and the Çibis (p. 403), who wore the skins of animals and carried clubs
like Heracles, and branded their oxen and mules with the mark of a
club.[609] The Indians did not slaughter the animals for sacrifice, but
strangled them.[610]
The rain-bringing Zeus is the ancient sky-god of the Indians, Indra, who
cleaves the clouds with the lightning, and sends down the fructifying
water, even as he causes the springs imprisoned in the rocks to bubble
forth in freedom. Concerning the sacredness of the Ganges we are
sufficiently instructed in Indian authorities. With regard to Dionysus,
the Greeks tell us that when Alexander was in the land of the Açvakas,
an embassy came from the Nysæans with the message that Dionysus had
founded their city, had given it the name of Nysa, and had called the
neighbouring hill Meron. In the valleys and on the hills of the Açvakas
the Greeks saw the vine growing wild, the thick creepers of a plant not
unlike ivy, myrtles, bay, box-trees, and other evergreens, along with
luxuriant orchards,[611] a vegetation which reminded them of their own
homes and the sacred places of Dionysus. When in the Hindu Kush they
heard the name of the tribe of the Nishadas and of the divine mountain
Meru, which with the Indians lay beyond the Himalayas (the highest
ranges were with them the southern slopes of the divine mountain), there
was no longer any doubt that the god of Nysa, who had grown up in the
Nysæan cave, and on the Nysæan mountain, had marched to India, just as
he had reduced the nations of Asia Minor as far as the Euphrates.[612]
In this way the Nysæan mountain, which the Greeks first placed in
Boeotia and Thrace, was then removed to the borders of Egypt,
afterwards to Arabia and Ethiopia,[613] and even to India. To the Greeks
the Nishadas were Nysæans and their city Nysa; they were at once
convinced that Meru received the name from Dionysus or in honour
of Dionysus, whom his divine father had once carried in his thigh
([Greek: mêros]).[614] Diodorus, after his manner, gives this pragmatic
explanation of the story: Dionysus was compelled to refresh his wearied
army on a mountain, which was then called Meros after him. Further, the
processions of the Indian princes to sacrifices and the chase reminded
the Greeks of the Dionysiac processions at home. They caught the sound
of cymbals and drums; they saw the number of the royal women with their
female servants in these trains; the king and his company in their long
gay and flowered robes, with turbans on their heads,[615] which reminded
them of the fillet of Dionysus; they saw great cups and goblets, the
treasures of the king's palace, and finally, lions and panthers, the
animals of Dionysus, brought forth in these processions; coloured masks
and beards, just as the Greeks were accustomed to paint the face at the
festival of Dionysus.[616]
Among the Indians, as we saw, in the course of the sixth century, the
worship of Rudra-Çiva grew up first and chiefly in the high mountains
and valleys, where the storms were the most violent. He was a wild deity
like Dionysus; like him he was invoked as "lord of the hills" (p. 330),
a god of increase and fertility, of nature creating through moisture, of
reproduction. And if ecstasy and frenzy were peculiar to the worship of
Dionysus, there was also a certain wildness in the nature of Çiva-Rudra,
a trait which gradually became more strongly marked among the Indians in
contrast to the form of Vishnu.
The culture of the vine on the Indus, the green mountain valleys, the
sound of the names Nishada and Meru, the procession of the Indian kings,
and the worship of Çiva, convinced the Greeks that they had found the
worship of their god. That they restricted this to the inhabitants of
the mountains is due, no doubt, to the fact that they were more closely
acquainted with the mountain land of the west, that the vine-clad
valleys and the names Nysa and Meru belonged to the region of the high
mountains, that even in the land of the Ganges the Himalayas passed as
the abode of Çiva (p. 330). Moreover, the plains of India did not
produce the vine, which indeed does not nourish in India, with the
exception of some districts on the Indus, and the inhabitants of the
Ganges valley did not drink wine.
As the Indians of the mountains, according to the account of the Greeks,
worshipped Dionysus, so were the Indians of the plains worshippers of
Heracles. According to the statement of Megasthenes, he was worshipped
especially among the Çurasenas on the Yamuna and in the cities of
Mathura and Krishnapura, and therefore Krishna must be meant (p. 105).
Among the Indians Vishnu-Krishna carries the club, which Varuna once
gave to him, and is called the club-bearer (_gadadhara_); with the club
Krishna smote the wild tribes, the heroes, and the monsters. The weapon
carried by Krishna's nation, the extinct Yadavas, was the club. The
Greeks tell us that the Indian Heracles begot many sons; in the
Mahabharata Krishna entreats Mahadeva, _i.e._ Çiva, the god of
fertility, for hundreds of sons; the Vishnu-Purana ascribes to Krishna
16,100 wives and 180,000 sons.[617] According to the Greeks, Krishna was
first placed among the gods after his death; in the ancient conception
of the Indians, Krishna, as we know, was a strong herdman, who overcame
bulls, kings, and giants, gave crafty counsel in the great wars, and at
length died, wounded by the arrows of a hunter (p. 95); he becomes a
deity by amalgamation with Vishnu. That the Greeks overlook the peaceful
side of the deity in the incarnations of Vishnu as Paraçurama, Rama, and
Krishna, and their heroic achievements, is easily explained from their
tendency to find their native gods in India. The derivation of the royal
races of India from Heracles has reference only to the dynasties which
claimed to be derived from the Pandus, the extinct royal houses of the
Bharatas and Panchalas, the Pandus in Guzerat and southern Mathura,
whose ancestors the Epos places in such close connection with
Vishnu-Krishna. This derivation might easily be extended to the families
which carried their lineage beyond the Pandus to Kuru, Puru, and
Pururavas, like the Pauravas on the Panjab (p. 399), and the oldest
dynasty of the kings of Magadha (p. 74). The most southern part of India
is said to have fallen to Pandæa, the daughter of Heracles, and to have
received its name from her; the pearls were procured from the sea for
her adornment. We know that a Pandu family ruled there; among the heroic
achievements of Krishna, the Mahabharata mentions the conquest of the
giant Panchajana;[618] Vishnu is the bearer of the mussel, the lord of
the jewel, and the pearl fishery can only be carried on in the gulf
between Mathura and Ceylon. That a daughter and not a son of Heracles
founded the kingdom here, is perhaps due to an Indian legend, woven into
the history of this kingdom of Mathura. Sampanna-Pandya, the king
mentioned above, worshipped the protecting goddess of the city so
zealously that in order to reward him she caused herself to be born as
his daughter. She succeeds her father on the throne, marches through
India performing great deeds as far as the lake of Kailasa, the lofty
Himalayas, where she overcomes even Çiva by her beauty, so that he
follows her to Mathura, and there reigns at Sundara-Pandya (_i.e._ the
beautiful Pandya), and gives prosperity to the land.[619] Hence it is
possible that the protecting deity of Mathura and her warlike
achievements are the basis underlying the story of the daughter of
Heracles. If Heracles begets a son with this daughter in her seventh
year, and all the women of the land became henceforth marriageable at
that age, the latter part of the statement is correct; the fact is due
to the position of the country under the equator. Even the law of Manu,
which is adapted to the land on the central Ganges, permits marriage in
the twelfth and even in the eighth year (p. 254).
Whatever may be the case with regard to the several items of the
statements of the Greeks about the worship of Dionysus and Heracles,
they make it certain that in the fourth century B.C. the worship of
Indra was indeed in existence, but not prominent, while the worship of
Rudra-Çiva and Vishnu was in the foremost position. The worship of
Vishnu was the chief worship of the Indians of the plains, _i.e._ of the
land of the Ganges, and Krishna and Rama, the figures in the Epos, were
already transformed into incarnations of Vishnu.
Of the justice of the Indians, their contempt of death, and reverence
towards the kings, Ctesias has much to tell.[620] The companions of
Alexander extol their love of truth; no Indian was ever accused of a
lie. Megasthenes adds that the Indians lent money without witnesses or
seals; a man ought to know whom he could trust; if he made a mistake he
must bear the loss with equanimity. Wives were generally bought of their
parents for a yoke of oxen; but Megasthenes assures us that in Magadha
marriages were made without giving or receiving.[621] In that case the
rule of the book of the law (p. 255), had become current here. The
Indian wives were faithful and chaste, though it was the custom to have
more than one. The Greeks also extol the moderation of the Indians in
eating and drinking. The majority ate nothing but a little rice and
fruits of the field; the mountaineers alone lived on the flesh of the
wild animals which they caught in the chase. So little importance did
they ascribe to eating that they had no fixed hour for meals. Nor did
the inhabitants of the plains drink wine except at sacrifices, and this
was not prepared from the grape but from rice.[622] At the banquets of
the rich a separate table was set apart for each guest, with a golden
cup; in this first rice and then other vegetables were brought, which
the Indians were very skilful in cooking.[623] They were partial to
singing and dancing, and paid great attention to beauty and the care of
the body. They anointed themselves and had their bodies frequently
rubbed; even when the king was dispensing justice four men frequently
rubbed him with strigils. The hair of the Indians was plaited, and a
band worn like the Persian mitre. They preferred white garments, which
among them seemed brighter than with other nations, either because
cotton was whiter than linen or because they appeared brighter owing to
the dark colour of the Indians.[624] Over the cotton shirt, reaching
half way down the thigh, many threw a mantle, which was fastened under
the right shoulder. Many also wore linen clothes instead of cotton, and
gay garments embroidered with flowers. Their shoes were of white
leather, delicate in workmanship, and provided with high parti-coloured
heels, that the figure might appear taller. They allowed the beard to
grow, and tended it carefully; some tribes even stained the beard with
various lively hues--white, green, dark-blue, and purple-red--and the
country provided excellent colours for this purpose. The richer men had
rings of gold and ivory in their ears and on their hands; they had
beautiful parasols held over them, and did everything that could enhance
the beauty of their appearance.[625] Persons of importance rode only in
chariots with four horses; it was thought mean to make a journey on
horseback without a retinue.[626]
We remember with what emphasis the hymns of the Veda inculcated honour,
fidelity, truth, and the eschewal of lying; and without doubt in the
ancient period the Aryas on the Indus laid as much weight on
truthfulness as the Airyas of Iran. But some observations in the book of
the law showed us that this virtue no longer entirely prevailed in the
land of the Ganges. Buddhism earnestly reiterates the precept not to
lie, and in spite of the conduct of the king of Cashmere and other
princes on the Indus towards Alexander, as related to us by the Greeks,
we can believe their assertions that at that time these virtues
prevailed through far larger circles than at present. The moderation of
the Indians in eating and drinking is due primarily, no doubt, to the
climate of the Ganges; in a less degree the laws of the Brahmans
respecting food, and the moderation preached by Buddha, must have
operated to the same end, and above all must have tended to remove the
old love of drinking among the Aryas. The love of the Aryas for dress
and adornment we know from the sutras; they showed us that the richer
men wore costly ear-rings of diamonds, and the poorer wore ornaments of
wood or lead.[627] Of Ayodhya the Ramayana boasts that no one was seen
there without ear-rings and a necklace, without a chaplet on the head
and perfumes.[628] The dress of the women was naturally still more
costly and stately. The Epos is acquainted with the custom of colouring
the hands and feet with sandal or lac;[629] in the later poems of the
Indians we have endless praises of the jingling of the anklets, the
shrill-sounding girdles, glittering with precious stones; the adornments
of the neck, the eye-brows and forehead coloured with musk, antimony,
and lac, the locks of hair and crowns of flowers. In all these matters
the Hindus have not changed. Even now they love to wear snow-white
garments, and next to these such as are of a brilliant colour; they
carry gracefully the ample garment in which they wrap themselves; they
dress their hair, and anoint it with palm oil, and though they no longer
stain their beards blue and red, they paint on the forehead the symbol
of the deity which each person specially worships. The turban, for which
in some districts material interwoven with gold is preferred, is still
picturesquely coiled round the head; by the different modes of wrapping
may be distinguished the inhabitants of different districts. A poor man
would rather give up anything than the silver ornaments of his girdle,
and the poorest porter is rarely without a gold ear-ring. Weavers of
garlands and silversmiths are still to be found in the most wretched
villages, and any one would rather go without a dinner than without
perfumes.
According to the Greeks the rites of burial were plain and simple. It
was the custom of the Indians to burn the dead on pyres. As we have
seen, cremation was for a long time the universal practice. It took
place before the gates of the cities, where there were special places
for the purpose; the corpses were wrapped in linen, and carried out on
cushions amid hymns and prayers, some of the oldest of which we know (p.
62).[630] The bones and anything else which remained unburnt were thrown
into the water. Aristobulus says that he had heard that among some
Indians the widows burned themselves voluntarily with the corpses of
their husbands, and those who refused to do so were held in less
estimation.[631] The Greeks also observe, quite correctly, that it was
not the custom among the Indians to erect mounds. In the fourth century,
it is true, the followers of Buddha had erected stupas for his relics
(p. 365), and possibly for those of his greatest disciples; but in any
case these were so rare and so unimportant that they would hardly strike
the eye; one Greek authority nevertheless asserts that there were small
tumuli in India. The reason given for this omission which seemed so
strange to the Greeks, is that the Indians were of opinion that the
remembrance of the virtues of a man together with the hymns sung in his
honour (by which can only be meant the ritual of the burial and the
funeral feast) were sufficient to preserve his memory.[632]
The industrial skill of the Indians was not unknown to the Greeks. As
early as the fifth century fine Indian clothes, silken garments called
_sindones_ or Tyrian robes, were brought by the trade of the Phenicians
to Hellas. Ctesias praises the swords of Indian steel of special
excellence and rare quality, which were worn at the Persian court. Other
evidence also shows that the Indians at an early time understood the
preparation and working of steel.[633] Mining, on the other hand,
according to the Greeks, they understood but ill, and their copper
vessels, which were cast, not beaten, were fragile and brittle. At the
sources of a river which flowed through lofty mountains into the Indus
there grew, as Ctesias tells us, a kind of tree, called Siptachora, on
the leaves of which lived small creatures like beetles, with long legs,
and soft like caterpillars. They spoiled the fruit of the trees just as
the woodlice spoiled the vines in Hellas, but from the insects when
pounded came a purple colour, which gave a more beautiful and brilliant
dye than the purple of the Hellenes.[634] These insects of Ctesias are
the beetles of the lac-tree, which suck the juice of the bark and
leaves, and so provide the lac-dye. The home of this tree is the north,
more especially the mountain-range on the upper Indus above Cashmere.
Ctesias' statement proves that the Indians knew how to prepare the
lac-dye in the fifth century B.C. The same authority mentions an
ointment of the Indians, which gave the most excellent perfume; it might
be perceived at a distance of four stades. This ointment, which they
prepared from the resin of a kind of cedar with leaves like a palm, the
Indians called Karpion. Possibly cinnamon-oil is meant, which is
obtained from the outer-bark of the cinnamon tree.[635]
Of the military affairs of the Indians, besides what has been already
quoted about the order of soldiers, the Greeks tell us that the bow was
their favourite weapon. In the Veda and the Epos we found this to be the
chief arm (p. 35, 89), and the good management of it was the first
qualification of a hero. The Greeks tell us that the Indian bow, made of
reed, was as tall as the man who carried it. In stringing it the Indians
placed the lower end of the bow against the earth, and drew the string
back while pressing with the left foot against the bow; their arrows
were almost three cubits long. Nothing withstood these arrows; they
penetrated shield and cuirass.[636] Others were armed with javelins
instead of the bow, and with shields of untanned ox-hide, somewhat
narrower than a man but not less tall. When it came to a hand-to-hand
contest, which was rarely the case among the Indians, they drew the
broad-sword three cubits in length, which every one carried, and which
must have been wielded with both hands. The Indians rode without a
saddle; the horses were held in with bits, which took the form of a
lance. To these the reins were fastened, but along with them a curb of
leather, in which occasionally iron, and among the wealthier people
ivory points, were placed, so as to pierce the lips of the horse when
the rein was drawn.[637] The Indian horsemen carried two lances and a
shield smaller than that of the foot soldier. In every chariot of war
besides the driver were two combatants, and on the elephants three
besides the driver. On the march the chariots were drawn by oxen, and
the horses led in halters, so that they came into the battle-field with
vigour undiminished.[638] The beating of drums and the sound of cymbals
and shells, which were blown, gave the signal of attack to the
army.[639] The Epos exhibits to us the kings for the most part in their
chariots, and in these and on the elephants it places but one combatant
beside the driver. The oldest trace of the use of elephants in war is
not to be found in the battle-pieces of the Epos, into which the
elephants were introduced at a later time. We hear nothing of elephants
in the single contests of the heroes, but it is said that in the year
529 B.C. an Indian nation put elephants in the field against Cyrus (p.
16). At a later time Ctesias is our first authority for this practice;
he describes it, about the year 400 B.C., as the fixed custom of the
Indians.
FOOTNOTES:
[569] Arrian, "Ind." 7. Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 22, 23.
[570] [Greek: Methora te kai Kleisobora.] Arrian, "Ind." 8, 5.
[571] [Greek: Pazalai] in Arrian, "Ind." 4, 5. Ptolem. 7, 1. Passalæ in
Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 22.
[572] Plin. "Hist. Nat." 6, 22, "gentes montanæ inter oppidum Potala et
Jomanem." Lassen, "Alterthum." 1, 657, _n._ 2.
[573] Lassen, _loc cit._ Pliny, _loc. cit._
[574] Megasthenes in Pliny, "Hist. Nat." 6, 22, 23. Arrian, "Ind." 8.
Lassen, _loc. cit._ 1, 156, 618; 2, 111.
[575] Strabo, p. 710, 718.
[576] Curtius, 8, 9; 9, 1.
[577] Strabo, p. 717.
[578] Strabo, p. 710. Curtius, 8, 9.
[579] Strabo, p. 710. Cf. Curt. 8, 9.
[580] Strabo, p. 688.
[581] Megasthenes in Strabo, p. 703.
[582] Strabo, p. 710, 718.
[583] _Supra_, p. 216, etc. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 417.
[584] Lassen, "Alterth." 2, 227.
[585] Strabo, p. 710. Diod. 2, 42.
[586] Megasthenes, fragm. 37, ed. Schwanbeck.
[587] Arrian, "Ind." 12, 1-5. Strabo, p. 707-709. Diod. 2, 41.
[588] Strabo, p. 704.
[589] Diod. 2, 36, 40. Arrian, "Ind." 11, 10.
[590] Arrian, "Ind." 11, 11. Diod. 2, 40. Strabo, p. 704.
[591] Like the warriors among the Vrijis, Glaukas, Khattias, Malavas
Kshudrakas, etc. cf. _supra_, p. 401 ff.
[592] Manu, 7, 154; _supra_, p. 210.
[593] _Supra_, p. 219, 228. "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 1, 7.
[594] The following are the castes who ought to hunt wild animals
according to the book of the law: the Medas, Andhras, Chunchus,
Kshattars, Ugras, and Pukkasas. Manu, 10, 48-50; cf. _supra_, p. 247.
[595] Strabo, p. 703. Arrian, "Ind." 11. Diod. 2, 40.
[596] Strabo, p. 712-716. Arrian, "Ind." 11, 7, 8; 15, 11, 12.
[597] Strabo, p. 714.
[598] Strabo, p. 716. Diod. 2, 40.
[599] In Strabo, p. 712 (cf. 718, 719), as in Clem. Alex. "Strom." p.
305, we must obviously read [Greek: Sarmanai] for [Greek: Garmanai]. The
third sect is called by Strabo [Greek: Pramnai]; perhaps with Lassen we
ought to explain it by _pramana_, _i.e._ logicians.
[600] Megasthenis fragm. ed. Schwanbeck, p. 46; cf. Manu, 1, 75. Strabo,
p. 713.
[601] Strabo, p. 712, 713, 716, 718. Arrian, "Anab." 7, 23.
[602] Strabo, p. 707. Arrian, "Ind." 12, 8, 9. Curt. 8, 9.
[603] _E.g._ Burnouf, "Introd." p. 379.
[604] Arrian, "Ind." 7; Diod. 2, 38, 39; Polyæn. "Strateg." 1, 1;
_supra_, p. 73.
[605] Arrian, "Ind." 8, 4, 7, 8; 9, 1-9.
[606] Arrian, "Ind." _loc. cit._ The remark in Pliny that among the
Pandas (in Guzerat) women ruled, owing to the daughter of Heracles,
obviously refers to this story: "Hist. Nat." 6, 22.
[607] Megasthenes in Strabo, p. 712. But others derived even the
Oxydrakes from Dionysus, simply for the reason that wine was produced in
this district; Strabo, p. 687, 688.
[608] Arrian, "Ind." 8, 5.
[609] Strabo, p. 688. Curtius, 9, 4. Arrian, "Ind." 5, 12. Diod. 17, 96.
[610] Strabo, p. 718.
[611] Strabo, p. 687, 711. Plin, "H. N." 6, 23. If Strabo observes that
wine is never brought to maturity in this district (_i.e._ North
Cabulistan) the observation only holds good for the more elevated
valleys.
[612] Arrian, "Anab." 5, 1; Curt. 8, 10; Plut. "Alex." c. 58; Diod. 3,
62, 64. Here Diodorus also mentions the names of the Indian kings whom
Dionysus has conquered, Myrrhanus and Desiades, while in 2, 38 he has
stated that the Indians before Dionysus had no kings at all.
[613] "Il." 2, 508; 6, 133. Homeric hymn in Diod. 1, 15; 4, 2. Cf.
Strabo, p. 405; Herod. 5, 7; Diod. 3, 63, 64; Herod. 2, 146; 3, 97, and
Steph. Byz. [Greek: Nysa]. Euripides is the first to speak of Dionysus'
march to Persia and Bactria. Strabo, p. 687.
[614] Lassen, as already remarked, opposes Nishada and Parapanishada as
the upper and lower mountain range. Nearly in the same region, but
apparently in the range between Cashmere and the kingdom of Paurava
(_supra_, p. 391), _i.e._ to the east of the Indus, legend speaks of the
Utsavasanketa, who, as their name implies, passed their lives in
feasting and conviviality (_utsava_, festival; _sanketa_, meeting).
Lassen, 2, 135; Wilson, Vishnu-Purana, p. 167 ff.; and the places in the
Mahabharata, in Lassen, _loc. cit._ Modern travellers maintain that some
tribes in the Hindu Kush are very partial to the wine which is produced
abundantly in the mountains, and lead a life of joviality. Ritter,
"Asien," Th. 4. Bd. 1, 450, 451.
[615] Strabo, p. 689. Arrian, "Ind." 5, 9.
[616] Strabo, p. 688, 699, 710.
[617] Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 4, 195. "Vishnu-Purana," ed. Wilson, p.
591.
[618] _Infra_, chap. viii.
[619] Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2, 110.
[620] Ctesias, "Ind. ecl." 8.
[621] Strabo, p. 709. Arrian, "Ind." 17, 4.
[622] Strabo, p. 709.
[623] Megasthenes in Athen. p. 153, ed. Schweigh.
[624] Arrian, "Ind." 16, 1-5.
[625] Strabo, p. 688, 699, 709, 710, 712. Arrian, "Ind." 7, 9.
[626] Arrian, _loc. cit._ 17, 1, 2.
[627] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 238.
[628] "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 1, 6.
[629] "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 2, 47.
[630] Burnouf, "Introd." p. 240.
[631] It is clear that this statement cannot refer to the inhabitants of
Takshaçila, for Aristobulus rather ascribes to them the custom of the
Iranians, who exposed corpses for vultures to eat them. Aristobulus in
Strabo, p. 714.
[632] Strabo, p. 709. Arrian, "Ind." 10. Manu, 3, 232.
[633] Ctes. "Ind. ecl." 4. Ritter, "Erdkunde," 3, 2, 1187. Humboldt,
"Kosmos," 2, 417.
[634] Ctesias, _loc. cit._ "ecl." 19-21. Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 4, 46.
[635] Ctesias, _loc. cit._ "ecl." 28. Lassen, _loc. cit._ 2, 560.
[636] Strabo. p. 717. Arrian, "Ind." 16, 6; _supra_, p. 404.
[637] Arrian, "Ind." 16, 11. Strabo, p. 717. Aelian, "Hist. Anim." 3,
16.
[638] Strabo, p. 709.
[639] Strabo, p. 714, 708. Arrian, "Ind." 7, 9. Curtius, 8, 14, _supra_,
p. 89.