attaining to anything like a real understanding of the
sacrificial art from all the numerous books I had collected,
I made the greatest efforts to obtain oral information from
some of those few Brahmans who are known by the name of
_S_rotriyas or _S_rautis, and who alone are the possessors
of the sacrificial mysteries as they descended from the
remotest times. The task was no easy one, and no European
scholar in this country before me ever succeeded in it. This
is not to be wondered at; for the proper knowledge of the
ritual is everywhere in India now rapidly dying out, and in
many parts, chiefly in those under British rule, it has
already died out.'
[Footnote 40: 'The Aitareya-brahma_n_am of the Rig-veda,' edited and
translated by Martin Haug, Ph.D., Superintendent of Sanskrit Studies
in the Poona College. Bombay, 1863. London: Truebner & Co.]
Dr. Haug succeeded, however, at last in procuring the assistance of a
real Doctor of Divinity, who had not only performed the minor Vedic
sacrifices, such as the full and new-moon offerings, but had
officiated at some of the great Soma sacrifices, now very rarely to be
seen in any part of India. He was induced, we are sorry to say by very
mercenary considerations, to perform the principal ceremonies in a
secluded part of Dr. Haug's premises. This lasted five days, and the
same assistance was afterwards rendered by the same worthy and some of
his brethren whenever Dr. Haug was in any doubt as to the proper
meaning of the ceremonial treatises which give the outlines of the
Vedic sacrifices. Dr. Haug was actually allowed to taste that sacred
beverage, the Soma, which gives health, wealth, wisdom, inspiration,
nay immortality, to those who receive it from the hands of a
twice-born priest. Yet, after describing its preparation, all that Dr.
Haug has to say of it is:
'The sap of the plant now used at Poona appears whitish, has
a very stringent taste, is bitter, but not sour; it is a
very nasty drink, and has some intoxicating effect. I tasted
it several times, but it was impossible for me to drink more
than some teaspoonfuls.'
After having gone through all these ordeals, Dr. Haug may well say
that his explanations of sacrificial terms, as given in the notes, can
be relied upon as certain; that they proceed from what he himself
witnessed, and what he was able to learn from men who had inherited
the knowledge from the most ancient times. He speaks with some
severity of those scholars in Europe who have attempted to explain the
technical terms of the Vedic sacrifices without the assistance of
native priests, and without even availing themselves carefully of the
information they might have gained from native commentaries.
In the preface to his edition of the Aitareya-brahma_n_a, Dr. Haug has
thrown out some new ideas on the chronology of Vedic literature which
deserve careful consideration. Beginning with the hymns of the
Rig-veda, he admits, indeed, that there are in that collection ancient
and modern hymns, but he doubts whether it will be possible to draw a
sharp line between what has been called the _K_handas period,
representing the free growth of sacred poetry, and the Mantra period,
during which the ancient hymns were supposed to have been collected
and new ones added, chiefly intended for sacrificial purposes. Dr.
Haug maintains that some hymns of a decidedly sacrificial character
should be ascribed to the earliest period of Vedic poetry. He takes,
for instance, the hymn describing the horse sacrifice, and he
concludes from the fact that seven priests only are mentioned in it by
name, and that none of them belongs to the class of the Udgatars
(singers) and Brahmans (superintendents), that this hymn was written
before the establishment of these two classes of priests. As these
priests are mentioned in other Vedic hymns, he concludes that the hymn
describing the horse sacrifice is of a very early date. Dr. Haug
strengthens his case by a reference to the Zoroastrian ceremonial, in
which, as he says, the chanters and superintendents are entirely
unknown, whereas the other two classes, the Hotars (reciters) and
Adhvaryus (assistants) are mentioned by the same names as Zaotar and
Rathwiskare. The establishment of the two new classes of priests
would, therefore, seem to have taken place in India after the
Zoroastrians had separated from the Brahmans; and Dr. Haug would
ascribe the Vedic hymns in which no more than two classes of priests
are mentioned to a period preceding, others in which the other two
classes of priests are mentioned to a period succeeding, that ancient
schism. We must confess, though doing full justice to Dr. Haug's
argument, that he seems to us to stretch what is merely negative
evidence beyond its proper limits. Surely a poet, though acquainted
with all the details of a sacrifice and the titles of all the priests
employed in it, might speak of it in a more general manner than the
author of a manual, and it would be most dangerous to conclude that
whatever was passed over by him in silence did not exist at the time
when he wrote. Secondly, if there were more ancient titles of priests,
the poet would most likely use them in preference to others that had
been but lately introduced. Thirdly, even the ancient priestly titles
had originally a more general meaning before they were restricted to
their technical significance, just as in Europe bishop meant
originally an overseer, priest an elder, deacon a minister. In several
hymns, some of these titles--for instance, that of hotar, invoker--are
clearly used as appellatives, and not as titles. Lastly, one of the
priests mentioned in the hymn on the horse sacrifice, the Agnimindha,
is admitted by Dr. Haug himself to be the same as the Agnidhra; and if
we take this name, like all the others, in its technical sense, we
have to recognise in him one of the four Brahman priests.[41] We
should thus lose the ground on which Dr. Haug's argument is chiefly
based, and should have to admit the existence of Brahman priests as
early at least as the time in which the hymn on the horse sacrifice
was composed. But, even admitting that allusions to a more or less
complete ceremonial[42] could be pointed out in certain hymns, this
might help us no doubt in subdividing and arranging the poetry of the
second or Mantra period, but it would leave the question, whether
allusions to ceremonial technicalities are to be considered as
characteristics of later hymns, entirely unaffected. Dr. Haug, who
holds that, in the development of the human race, sacrifice comes
earlier than religious poetry, formulas earlier than prayers,
Leviticus earlier than the Psalms, applies this view to the
chronological arrangement of Vedic literature; and he is, therefore,
naturally inclined to look upon hymns composed for sacrificial
purposes, more particularly upon the invocations and formulas of the
Ya_g_ur-veda, and upon the Nivids preserved in the Brahma_n_as and
Sutras, as relics of greater antiquity than the free poetical
effusions of the Rishis, which defy ceremonial rules, ignore the
settled rank of priests and deities, and occasionally allude to
subjects more appropriate for profane than for sacred poetry:
'The first sacrifices [he writes] were no doubt simple
offerings performed without much ceremonial. A few
appropriate solemn words, indicating the giver, the nature
of the offering, the deity to which, as well as the purpose
for which it was offered, were sufficient. All this would be
embodied in the sacrificial formulas known in later times
principally by the name of Ya_g_ush, whilst the older one
appears to have been Ya_g_ya. The invocation of the deity by
different names, and its invitation to enjoy the meal
prepared, may be equally old. It was justly regarded as a
kind of Ya_g_ush, and called Nigada or Nivid.'
[Footnote 41: By an accident two lines containing the names of the
sixteen priests in my 'History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature' (p.
469) have been misplaced. Agnidhra and Pot_r_i ought to range with the
Brahmans, Pratihart_r_i and Subrahma_n_ya with the Udgat_r_is. See
A_s_val. Sutras IV. 1 (p. 286, 'Bibliotheca Indica'); and M. M.,
Todtenbestattung, p. xlvi. It might be said, however, that the
Agnimindha was meant as one of the Hotra_s_a_m_sins, or one of the
Seven Priests, the Sapta Hotars. See Haug, Aitareya-brahma_n_a, vol.
i. p. 58.]
[Footnote 42: Many such allusions were collected in my 'History of
Ancient Sanskrit Literature,' p. 486 seq.; some of them have lately
been independently discovered by others.]
In comparing these sacrificial formulas with the bulk of the Rig-veda
hymns, Dr. Haug comes to the conclusion that the former are more
ancient. He shows that certain of these formulas and Nivids were known
to the poets of the hymns, as they undoubtedly were; but this would
only prove that these poets were acquainted with these as well as with
other portions of the ceremonial. It would only confirm the view
advocated by others, that certain hymns were clearly written for
ceremonial purposes, though the ceremonial presupposed by these hymns
may in many cases prove more simple and primitive than the ceremonial
laid down in the Brahma_n_as and Sutras. But if Dr. Haug tells us that
the Rishis tried their poetical talent first in the composition of
Ya_g_yas, or verses to be recited while an offering was thrown into
the fire, and that the Ya_g_yas were afterwards extended into little
songs, we must ask, is this fact or theory? And if we are told that
'there can be hardly any doubt that the hymns which we possess are
purely sacrificial, and made only for sacrificial purposes, and that
those which express more general ideas, or philosophical thoughts, or
confessions of sins, are comparatively late,' we can only repeat our
former question. Dr. Haug, when proceeding to give his proofs, that
the purely sacrificial poetry is more ancient than either profane
songs or hymns of a more general religious character, only produces
such collateral evidence as may be found in the literary history of
the Jews and the Chinese--evidence which is curious, but not
convincing. Among the Aryan nations, it has hitherto been considered
as a general rule that poetry precedes prose. Now the Ya_g_yas and
Nivids are prose, and though Dr. Haug calls it rhythmical prose, yet,
as compared with the hymns, they are prose; and though such an
argument by itself could by no means be considered as sufficient to
upset any solid evidence to the contrary, yet it is stronger than the
argument derived from the literature of nations who are neither of
them Aryan in language or thought.
But though we have tried to show the insufficiency of the arguments
advanced by Dr. Haug in support of his theory, we are by no means
prepared to deny the great antiquity of some of the sacrificial
formulas and invocations, and more particularly of the Nivids to which
he for the first time has called attention. There probably existed
very ancient Nivids or invocations, but are the Nivids which we
possess the identical Nivids alluded to in the hymns? If so, why have
they no accents, why do they not form part of the Sanhitas, why were
they not preserved, discussed, and analysed with the same religious
care as the metrical hymns? The Nivids which we now possess may, as
Dr. Haug supposes, have inspired the Rishis with the burden of their
hymns; but they may equally well have been put together by later
compilers from the very hymns of the Rishis. There is many a hymn in
the Sanhita of the Rig-veda which may be called a Nivid, i. e. an
invitation addressed to the gods to come to the sacrifices, and an
enumeration of the principal names of each deity. Those who believe,
on more general grounds, that all religion began with sacrifice and
sacrificial formulas will naturally look on such hymns and on the
Nivids as relics of a more primitive age; while others who look upon
prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and the unfettered expression of
devotion and wonderment as the first germs of a religious worship,
will treat the same Nivids as productions of a later age. We doubt
whether this problem can be argued on general grounds. Admitting that
the Jews began with sacrifice and ended with psalms, it would by no
means follow that the Aryan nations did the same, nor would the
chronological arrangement of the ancient literature of China help us
much in forming an opinion of the growth of the Indian mind. We must
take each nation by itself, and try to find out what they themselves
hold as to the relative antiquity of their literary documents. On
general grounds, the problem whether sacrifice or prayer comes first,
may be argued ad infinitum, just like the problem whether the hen
comes first or the egg. In the special case of the sacred literature
of the Brahmans, we must be guided by their own tradition, which
invariably places the poetical hymns of the Rig-veda before the
ceremonial hymns and formulas of the Ya_g_ur-veda and Sama-veda. The
strongest argument that has as yet been brought forward against this
view is, that the formulas of the Ya_g_ur-veda and the sacrificial
texts of the Sama-veda contain occasionally more archaic forms of
language than the hymns of the Rig-veda. It was supposed, therefore,
that, although the hymns of the Rig-veda might have been composed at
an earlier time, the sacrificial hymns and formulas were the first to
be collected and to be preserved in the schools by means of a strict
mnemonic discipline. The hymns of the Rig-veda, some of which have no
reference whatever to the Vedic ceremonial, being collected at a later
time, might have been stripped, while being handed down by oral
tradition, of those grammatical forms which in the course of time had
become obsolete, but which, if once recognised and sanctioned in
theological seminaries, would have been preserved there with the most
religious care.
According to Dr. Haug, the period during which the Vedic hymns were
composed extends from 1400 to 2000 B.C. The oldest hymns, however, and
the sacrificial formulas he would place between 2000 and 2400 B.C.
This period, corresponding to what has been called the _K_handas and
Mantra periods, would be succeeded by the Brahma_n_a period, and Dr.
Haug would place the bulk of the Brahma_n_as, all written in prose,
between 1400 and 1200 B.C. He does not attribute much weight to the
distinction made by the Brahmans themselves between revealed and
profane literature, and would place the Sutras almost contemporaneous
with the Brahma_n_as. The only fixed point from which he starts in his
chronological arrangement is the date implied by the position of the
solstitial points mentioned in a little treatise, the _G_yotisha, a
date which has been accurately fixed by the Rev. E. Main at 1186
B.C.[43] Dr. Haug fully admits that such an observation was an
absolute necessity for the Brahmans in regulating their calendar:
'The proper time [he writes] of commencing and ending their
sacrifices, principally the so-called Sattras or sacrificial
sessions, could not be known without an accurate knowledge
of the time of the sun's northern and southern progress. The
knowledge of the calendar forms such an essential part of
the ritual, that many important conditions of the latter
cannot be carried out without the former. The sacrifices are
allowed to commence only at certain lucky constellations,
and in certain months. So, for instance, as a rule, no great
sacrifice can commence during the sun's southern progress;
for this is regarded up to the present day as an unlucky
period by the Brahmans, in which even to die is believed to
be a misfortune. The great sacrifices generally take place
in spring in the months of _K_aitra and Vai_s_akha (April
and May). The Sattras, which lasted for one year, were, as
one may learn from a careful perusal of the fourth book of
the Aitareya-brahma_n_a, nothing but an imitation of the
sun's yearly course. They were divided into two distinct
parts, each consisting of six months of thirty days each; in
the midst of both was the Vishuvat, i. e. equator or central
day, cutting the whole Sattra into two halves. The
ceremonies were in both halves exactly the same, but they
were in the latter half performed in an inverted order.'
[Footnote 43: See preface to the fourth volume of my edition of the
Rig-veda.]
This argument of Dr. Haug's seems correct as far as the date of the
establishment of the ceremonial is concerned, and it is curious that
several scholars who have lately written on the origin of the Vedic
calendar, and the possibility of its foreign origin, should not have
perceived the intimate relation between that calendar and the whole
ceremonial system of the Brahmans. Dr. Haug is, no doubt, perfectly
right when he claims the invention of the Nakshatras, or the Lunar
Zodiac of the Brahmans, if we may so call it, for India; he may be
right also when he assigns the twelfth century as the earliest date
for the origin of that simple astronomical system on which the
calendar of the Vedic festivals is founded. He calls the theories of
others, who have lately tried to claim the first discovery of the
Nakshatras for China, Babylon, or some other Asiatic country, absurd,
and takes no notice of the sanguine expectations of certain scholars,
who imagine they will soon have discovered the very names of the
Indian Nakshatras in Babylonian inscriptions. But does it follow that,
because the ceremonial presupposes an observation of the solstitial
points in about the twelfth century, therefore the theological works
in which that ceremonial is explained, commented upon, and furnished
with all kinds of mysterious meanings, were composed at that early
date? We see no stringency whatever in this argument of Dr. Haug's,
and we think it will be necessary to look for other anchors by which
to fix the drifting wrecks of Vedic literature.
Dr. Haug's two volumes, containing the text of the
Aitareya-brahma_n_a, translation, and notes, would probably never have
been published, if they had not received the patronage of the Bombay
Government. However interesting the Brahma_n_as may be to students of
Indian literature, they are of small interest to the general reader.
The greater portion of them is simply twaddle, and what is worse,
theological twaddle. No person who is not acquainted beforehand with
the place which the Brahma_n_as fill in the history of the Indian
mind, could read more than ten pages without being disgusted. To the
historian, however, and to the philosopher they are of infinite
importance--to the former as a real link between the ancient and
modern literature of India; to the latter as a most important phase
in the growth of the human mind, in its passage from health to
disease. Such books, which no circulating library would touch, are
just the books which Governments, if possible, or Universities and
learned societies, should patronise; and if we congratulate Dr. Haug
on having secured the enlightened patronage of the Bombay Government,
we may congratulate Mr. Howard and the Bombay Government on having, in
this instance, secured the services of a bona fide scholar like Dr.
Haug.[44]
_March, 1864._
[Footnote 44: A few paragraphs in this review, in which allusion was
made to certain charges of what might be called 'literary rattening,'
brought by Dr. Haug against some Sanskrit scholars, and more
particularly against the editor of the 'Indische Studien' at Berlin,
have here been omitted, as no longer of any interest. They may be
seen, however, in the ninth volume of that periodical, where my review
has been reprinted, though, as usual, very incorrectly. It was not I
who first brought these accusations, nor should I have felt justified
in alluding to them, if the evidence placed before me had not
convinced me that there was some foundation for them. I am willing to
admit that the language of Dr. Haug and others may have been too
severe, but few will think that a very loud and boisterous denial is
the best way to show that the strictures were quite undeserved. If, by
alluding to these matters and frankly expressing my disapproval of
them, I have given unnecessary pain, I sincerely regret it. So much
for the past. As to the future, care, I trust, will be taken,--for the
sake of the good fame of German scholarship, which, though living in
England, I have quite as much at heart as if living in Germany,--not
to give even the faintest countenance to similar suspicions. If my
remarks should help in producing that result, I shall be glad to bow
my head in silence under the vials of wrath that have been poured upon
it.]
V.
ON THE STUDY
OF THE
ZEND-AVESTA IN INDIA.[45]
Sanskrit scholars resident in India enjoy considerable advantages over
those who devote themselves to the study of the ancient literature of
the Brahmans in this country, or in France and Germany. Although
Sanskrit is no longer spoken by the great mass of the people, there
are few large towns in which we do not meet with some more or less
learned natives--the pandits, or, as they used to be called,
pundits--men who have passed through a regular apprenticeship in
Sanskrit grammar, and who generally devote themselves to the study of
some special branch of Sanskrit literature, whether law, or logic, or
rhetoric, or astronomy, or anything else. These men, who formerly
lived on the liberality of the Rajahs and on the superstition of the
people, find it more and more difficult to make a living among their
own countrymen, and are glad to be employed by any civilian or
officer who takes an interest in their ancient lore. Though not
scholars in our sense of the word, and therefore of little use as
teachers of the language, they are extremely useful to more advanced
students, who are able to set them to do that kind of work for which
they are fit, and to check their labours by judicious supervision. All
our great Sanskrit scholars, from Sir William Jones to H.H. Wilson,
have fully acknowledged their obligations to their native assistants.
They used to work in Calcutta, Benares, and Bombay with a pandit at
each elbow, instead of the grammar and the dictionary which European
scholars have to consult at every difficult passage. Whenever an
English Sahib undertook to edit or translate a Sanskrit text, these
pandits had to copy and to collate MSS., to make a verbal index, to
produce parallel passages from other writers, and, in many cases, to
supply a translation into Hindustani, Bengali, or into their own
peculiar English. In fact, if it had not been for the assistance thus
fully and freely rendered by native scholars, Sanskrit scholarship
would never have made the rapid progress which, during less than a
century, it has made, not only in India, but in almost every country
of Europe.
[Footnote 45: 'Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion
of the Parsees.' By Martin Haug, Dr. Phil. Bombay, 1862.]
With this example to follow, it is curious that hardly any attempt
should have been made by English residents, particularly in the Bombay
Presidency, to avail themselves of the assistance of the Parsis for
the purpose of mastering the ancient language and literature of the
worshippers of Ormuzd. If it is remembered that, next to Sanskrit,
there is no more ancient language than Zend--and that, next to the
Veda, there is, among the Aryan nations, no more primitive religious
code than the Zend-Avesta, it is surprising that so little should have
been done by the members of the Indian Civil Service in this important
branch of study. It is well known that such was the enthusiasm kindled
in the heart of Anquetil Duperron by the sight of a facsimile of a
page of the Zend-Avesta, that in order to secure a passage to India,
he enlisted as a private soldier, and spent six years (1754-1761) in
different parts of Western India, trying to collect MSS. of the sacred
writings of Zoroaster, and to acquire from the Dustoors a knowledge of
their contents. His example was followed, though in a less adventurous
spirit, by Rask, a learned Dane, who after collecting at Bombay many
valuable MSS. for the Danish Government, wrote in 1826 his essay 'On
the Age and Genuineness of the Zend Language.' Another Dane, at
present one of the most learned Zend scholars in Europe, Westergaard,
likewise proceeded to India (1841-1843), before he undertook to
publish his edition of the religious books of the Zoroastrians.
(Copenhagen, 1852.) During all this time, while French and German
scholars, such as Burnouf, Bopp, and Spiegel, were hard at work in
deciphering the curious remains of the Magian religion, hardly
anything was contributed by English students living in the very heart
of Parsiism at Bombay and Poona.