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Hindu  Superiority: 

AN  ATTEMPT 

TO  DETERMINE  THE  POSITION  OF  THE  HINDU  EACE 

IN  THE  SCALE  OF  NATIONS. 


BY 

HAR  BILAS  SARDA,  B.A.,  F.R.S.L., 

Member  op  the   Royal  Asiatic   Society  op  Great   Britain  and 

Ireland;   Fellow  of  the  Royal   Statistical   Society   op 

London;  and  Member  op  the  Statistical  Association 

op  Boston,  United  States,  America. 


AJMER: 
RAJPUTANA  PRINTING  WORKS. 


All  Rights  Reserved. 


^5 


PREFACE. 


This  book  has  grown  out  of  a  pamphlet  written  years 
ago  and  put  aside  at  the  time.  The  object  of  the  book  is, 
liy  presenting  a  bird's  eye  view  of  the  achievements  of 
the  ancient  Hindus,  to  invite  the  attention  of  thou"-htful 
people  to  the  leading  features  of  the  civilization  which 
enabled  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  to  contribute  so 
much  to  the  material  and  moral^wcU- being  of  mankind. 
And  if  this  attempt  succeeds  in  any  way  in  stimulating 
interest  in  the  study  of  the  leading  institutions  of 
Hinduism  and  a  proper  appreciation  of  their  merits  I 
shall  be  amply  repaid  for  my  labour. 

I  must  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  my 
gratitude  to  ^Ir.  J.  Inglis,  Superintendent,  Scottish 
Mission  Industries,  Ajmer,  for  his  valuable  assistance  in 
seeing  the  book  through  the  Press. 


HAR  BILAS  SARDA. 


Ajmer : 
November  lOOG. 


CONTENTS. 


Paok. 
Tllustratioxs    ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  xxiii. 

IXTRODDCTION       '...  ...  ...  ...  ...      X\V-.\.\\ii, 

CONSTITUTION. 

The  leading  principle  of  Indian   Constitution. — Turning   point  of 
Indian  history. — Hindu  decay  beginning  with  the  Kaliyug        ...        1 


I.— ANTI(,)r[TY. 

Wonderful  antiquity  of  the  Hindu  civilization. — Opinions  of  Count 
Bjornstjerna,  Dr.  Stiles,  Hallied,  Pliny  and  Aljul  l''azal. — The 
Hindu  King  Dionysius  reigned  7,000  B.C.,  or  1,000  years 
before  the  oldest  king  on  Mauetho's  tables, — Dynasties,  not 
individuals,  as  units  of  calculation. — Rock  temples  as  proofs  of 
antiquity. — The  Bactrian  document  Dubistitn. — Hindu  civilization 
before  6,000  B.C. — Tlie  Sunkalp — Brahma  Din  an  I  Jiatri. — 
Age  of  the  earth  according  to  the  Hindus 


II.— GOVEIIXMEXT. 

Tests  of  good  government. — Populousness  of  ancient  India. — Views 
of  Greek  writers. — Hindus  as  numerous  as  all  tlie  olhcr  natituis 
put  together. — India  renowned  for  wealth. — No  thieves  in  ancient 
India. — P"'orm  of  Government  immaterial. — Spirit  dependent  on 
the  ethical  character  of  a  people, — Mistaken  identification  of 
democratic  institutions  with  freedom. — Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's 
views. — Over-Government.  —Republican  institutions  in  ancient 
India. — Law,  a  test  of  good  government. — Origin  of  the  Greek, 
Roman  and  English  laws. — Laws  of  ]\Ianu. — Hindu  code  will 
bear  comparison  with  the  systems  of  jurisprudence  in  nations  most 
highly  civilized. — Fallacies  in  Mill's  reasoning.  —  His  prejudice. — 
His  History  of  India  most  mischievous  according  to  .Max  MuUcr. — 
Sir  Thomas  Strartge  on  Hindu  Law  of  Evidence. —  Sir  W.  Jones  on 
Calluca's  Conin;t'ntary  on  Maiiu  ...  ...  ...      13 


VI.  CONTENTS. 

IIL— SOCIAL  SYSTEM.  page. 

Hindu  social  organization  based  on  scientific  principles  —  Varna- 
shrama. — Different  from  the  caste  system. — Brahmans  and 
Sudras  not  by  birth  but  by  actions  and  character. — Mahabharata 
on  the  Varnashra7na. — ^legasthencs  and  Col.  Tod  on  the  system. — 
Sir  H.  Cotton  and  Mr.  Sidney  Low  on  the  present  Caste  system    27 


lY.— CHARACTER. 

Love  of  truth — Arrian,  Strabo,  Hioventhsang  and  other   Chinese 

writers  ;  Marco  Polo,  Idrisi,  Sbamsuddin  and  other   Mohamednn 

writers  ;  Sir  J.  Malcolm,  Col.    Sleeman,   Professor  Max   Muller 

on  the  truthfulness  of  the  Hindus. — Absence  of  slavery. — Hindu 

valour. — The  most  tolerant  nation. — Character  of  Yudhishthra. — 

Views    of    Neibulir,    Monier    Williams,    Elphinstone,    Mercer, 

Sydenham,  Abbe  Dubois,  and  Sir  T.  Munro. — No  race  more  to  be 

trusted    than   the   Hindus. — If  civilization   to  be  an   article   of 

trade  between  England  and   India,   England    will  gain  by   the 

import    cargo. — Commercial    honour    stands    higher    in     India 

than  in  any  other  country. — Views  of   Warren  Hastings,  Heber 

and  Wilson. — Hindu  children  more  intelligent  than  European. — 

Hindu  cleanliness. — Diet  of  the  Hindus. — Physical  agility. — The 

Hindu  as  the  wisest  of  nations. — Hindu  origin  of  the  game   of 

Chess. — Wisdom  of  Solomon  inferior  to  that  of  the  Hindus. — 

Chivalrous  conduct   of   Humayun. — A  Mohamedan   saves  the 

Piahtore  dynasty  from  extinction 


Y.— CHIVALRY. 

Innate  chivalry  of  Hindu  character. — Chivalry  of  Sadoo. — Raja 
of  Duttea. — The  Rahhi. — Rawal  Chachick  of  Jaisalmer. — 
Chivalry  of  Pana  Raj  Singh. — Ill-judged  humanity  of  the 
Hindus. — Its  unfortunate  political  results. — Cases  of  Shahabud- 
dui  Ghori  and  Aurangzeb  ...  ...  ...     54 


CONTEXTS.  vii. 

Vr.— PATRIOTISM. 

Love  of  Counh-y. — Rana  Pratap  and  Thaknr  Diirg-a  Das. — Tliiir 
exploits. — Their  patriotism. — Pratap  and  Ilamilcar. — Durga  Das 
the  Amolac. — Auraiigzob's  dread  of  Durga  Das. — Gar-ka- 
Bundi. — The  heir  of  I\Iehtri. — Patriotism  of  Raj  Siiigii  of 
Jaisalmer. — Soortan  Singh  of  Sirolii. —  His  hortMc  conduct  at 
Delhi. — Col.  Tod  on  Rai|iut  chivalry  and  ]ior(jisni  ...  ...      (j.j 


VII.— VALOUR. 

The  Hindus  were  the  bravest  nation  the  Greeks  ever  came  in 
contact  with, — Their  character  shines  brightest  in  adversity. — 
They  know  not  what  it  is  to  flee  from  the  battle-field. — Kesrian 
K'isumctl. —  Rao  Soojii  of  Bundi. — The  mother  of  the  Rao. — 
Mukandas  faces  a  tiger  ;  the  tiger  retires. — Mohabat  Khan's 
exploit. — Rajput  charges  at  Tonga  and  Patun. — Soningdoo 
breaks  the  iron  bow  at  Delhi. — Homer's  heroes  compared  to 
Kurus. — Lakh  Talvar  Rahtoran. — Recourse  to  poison  by  Moghal 
kings. — Deaths  of  Jaswant  Singh,  Prithi  Singh  and  .Tai  Singh. 
Til  e  cause  of  Akbar's  death. — The  murder  of  Ajit  Singh  of 
Jodhpur. — Singularity  of  Rajput  character. — Its  tenacity  and 
strength. — Hercules  was  a  Hindu. —  Views  of  Prof.  Hceren, 
Diodorus,  Megasthenes,  Col.  Tod  and  Pococke. — Proofs  of  the 
identity  of  Balrani  and  Hercules         ...  ...  ...     70 


VIII.— POSITION   OF  WOMEN. 

Position  of  women  a  test  of  civilization. — Chivalrous  treatment 
of  women  by  the  Hindus. — Views  of  j\Ianu  and  other  sages. — 
Jai  Singh  and  his  queen,  Hariji. — Status  of  wife. — Her  e(|ii;d 
rights  with  her  husband  according  to  the  Sastras. — Woman, 
ardhangini ,  or  half  of  man. — Comparison  in  this  respect  of  the 
Hindu  and  the  European  women. — Ideals  of  Hindti  women. — 
Maitreye,  Gargya,  Savitri,  Damyanti,  Avvayar  and  Kokayi. — 
Purdah  system  unknown  in  ancient  India. — Th^'  rights  of 
women    to    property, — Peculiar     poRitiju    of    IJiudu  women. — 


Till.  CONTKXTS. 

Page. 

Influence   of    Hindu   women     on    societj. — Female    loj'-alty. — 

Dtnvalde  and  her  sons,  Ala  and  Udila. — Taiabai  of  Bednore. — 
Eaui  Dutgavati,  another  Boadccea. — The  lieroism  of  Korumdevi 
and  Javrahir  Bai. — The  matchless  valour  of  the  mother  of  Fattah 
of  Kailwa  during  Akbav"8  siege  of  Chitor. — Sanjogta. — Bernier's 
testimony  to  the  courage  of  Rajput  women. — Retreat  of  Jaswant 
Singh  ol'  Jodhpur  aftei-  his  defeat  at  Fatehabad. — The  Rani 
refuses  to  see  him  and  simts  tlie  gate  of  the  castle     ...  ...     92 


TX.— FOREIGN   RELATIONS. 

The  conquest  of  the  world  liy  the  Hindu  Emperor,  Sudas, — Opinions 
of  Air.  Townsend  and  General  Sir  Ian  Hamilton. — The  conquests 
of    Pui'urawa    and  of    King  Sagara. — Persia,  Afghanistan  and 
Turkistan  parts  of   the   Indian   Empire.  —  Greek   embassies  to 
India. — Alegasthenes,    Deimachus  and  Basilis. — Antiochus  the 
Great    becomes    an    ally   of  Sobhag    Sen. — Scleucus    gives    his 
daughter  in  marriage  to    Ciiandergupta  — The    Persian    king, 
Ivausherwan,   gives  his   daughter  to  the  Maharana  of   Chitor. — 
Indian  embassies  to  Greece. — 'rhe  Assyrian  Queen,  Semiramis, 
invades  India. — Her  defeat. — Gaj  Sing,  the  founder  of  Ghazni, 
defeats  Shah  Secunder  Roomi  and  Shah  Mamraiis  ...      120 


X. -CAUSE  OF  INDIA'S  FALL. 

Alexander's  invasion  of  India. — Hindu  disunion,  the  cause  of 
Alexander's  victory. — The  brilliancy  of  the  court  of  Vicrama- 
ditya. — The  treacherous  conduct  of  Alexander. —  Prithvi  Raj  of 
x\jnier. — His  victories  over  Shahabud-din  Ghori. — Disunion  be- 
tween Prithvi  Raj  and  Jai  Chand. — The  kings  of  Kanauj  and 
Annhalwara  Patun  and  Hamir  join  t]\e  enemy. —  Prithvi  Raj 
kills  Shahabud-din  witii  the  lielp  of  Chund, — Baber's  invasion. — 
Hindus  under  Rana  Sanga. — Treachery  in  his  camp. — Ray  seen, 
the  Tuar  leader,  goes  over  to  Baber. — India  not  conquered  by  a 
foreign  inva  lor  bnt  ])iHrayed  by  her  own  sons.       ...  ...   127 


COM'F.N'TS.  ix. 


HI^;DU  COLONIZATION. 


PAGE. 

Desh-iietion  nnJ  fmiu-|-ntinn  the  cliirf  foutures  of  (ho  )i(?ri(>(l  ulicu 
the  M:ili:il)iiainta.  took  i>hu;e.  —  Whole  races  ami  trilies  enii.i^rati'd 
from  India. — India's  loss  was  the  world's  gain. — Emigration  a 
necessary  feature  of  a  thickly-populated  country. — Scarcity  of 
historical  records. — Destruction  of  Hindu  lihraries. —  Dr.  Dow, 
Profs.  Wilson,  Heeren  and  Col.  Tod  on  Hindu  works  on  history. — 
The  date  of  tiie  Mahabharata.- Views  of  the  Hindu  astronomers. — 
Traditions. — The  Hindu  theory  of  emigration. — Tiie  Central 
Asian  theory  of  emigration. — Hindu  civilization  originated  and 
developed  in  India. — It  spread  to  Ethiojiia,  Egypt.  PhaMiicia, 
Persia.  Greece,  Rome,  to  the  abode  of  the  Hyperboreans,  to  Siam, 
China  and  Japan.  —  Col.  Olcott,  Sir  W".  Jones  and  ]\Ir.  Pococke...l35 


I.— EGYPT  AND  ETHIOPIA. 

Egypt  colonized  by  Hindus  about  8,000  years  ago. — Views  of 
Brugsch  Bey,  Profe.ssor  Heeren  and  Mr.Pococke. — Tlie  testimony 
of  Philostratus,  Eusebius  and  Julius  Africanus,  Cuvior  and 
Col.  Tod  to  the  Hindu  colonization  of  Ethiopia   ...  ...    149 


II.~PERSIA. 

The  ancient  Persians  were  colonists  from  India. — Prof.  !Max 
MuUer's  opinion, — Zind  derived  from  the  Sanskrit. — Prof. 
Heeren  and  Sir  W.  Jones  and  Prof.  Haug-Manu  on  the  origin 
of  the  Persians, — Testimony  of  Vendidad     ...   156 


IIL— ASIA  MIXOR. 

The  Chaldeans  and  the  Assyrians  were  originally  Hindus. — Views 
of  Mr.  Pococke  and  Piof,  Maurice    ...  ...  ...   IGl 


X.  CONTJ'NTS. 

IV.— GREECE. 

;  Pagk. 

The    Hindu    origin     of     the     nneient     Greeks. — Greek    society 

essentially  Hindu. — Origin  of  the  names  Greek,  Pelnsgi  and 
Macedonians. — Hellados.— TheHellas. — Achilles  sprung  from  a 
Kaj[)ut  stock  ...  ...  ...  ...   162 


v.- ROME. 

The  Romans  were  the  doscendsmts  of  colonists  from  India. — R(une 
derived  from  Rama. — The  Etruscans  were  settlers  from  India...    167 


YI.— TURKISTAN  AXD  NORTHERN^  ASIA. 

Turkistan  peopled  by  the  Hindus. — Turanians  were  Hindus. — 
Ottorocnra?  of  the  Greek  writers  were  Ootooru  Cooru,  or 
Northern  Coorus,  sous  of  ( A)oru. — -Kliata  iiduibited  by  Hindus, — 
Bajrapur  in  Siberia  founded  by  Hindus. — Succession  of  the  sons  of 
Sri  Krishna  to  the  throne. — Chaghtaes  were  Yadus. — Origin  of 
the  Afghans. — Seestan. — Origin  of  the  name  Asia. — Samoyedes 
and  Tchoudes  of  Siberia  and  Finland  were  the  Yadus  of  India..,   168 


TIT.— GERMAXY. 

German  Mensch  same  as  Sanskrit  3/rt?! ».*/;. — Morning  ablutions. — 
Origin  of  the  name  Germans. — The  Hungarians. —  Sculpture  of 
Saxon  cathedrals  ...  ...  ...  ..,    171 


YIIL— SCANDINAYIA. 

Scandinavians  descended  from  the  warrior  class  of  the  Hindus. — 
Asigard  or  fortress  of  the  Asi. — Colonized  about  500  B.C. — The 
Scandinavian  Edda  derived  from  the  Vedas. — Days  of  the 
week. — Origin  of  the  Scandinavian  mvths  ...  ...    173 


CONIKN  IS.  xi. 

TX.— HYPERBOREANS.  p.,,;^. 

Tlieir  lliinln  Origin. — Euiigrant.s  from  Kliyberpur. — Passaroii  ...    175 


X.— GREAT  BRITAIX. 

The  Uniids  were  Buddhistic  Brahuians. — Alcxaiulcr  and  Xapi^r 
conquer  the  de-;cenda,ii(s  of  tiieir  foret'atliei-s.— I  Nm  i\  at  ion  ui 
"Hurrah." — The  Stonehenge. — The  I:^h■  of  Saints  cir  '.M<ina". — 
The  Celtic  Druids  ...  ...  ...  ...    17G 


XL— EASTERN  ASIA. 

Transgangetic  Peninsula  a  iiart  of  India. — Influence  of  China  over 
it. — The  name  Barmah. — Caudioja  or  Cambodia  — The  Chinese 
assert  their  Hindu  oi-igin — They  were  emigrants  from  northern 
and  north-western  India. — Culture  and  religion  of  China. — 
Hindu  colonization  of  the  isles  of  the  Indian  archi|irlago  — 
Java.  — Views  of  Col.  Tod,  Mr.  Elphinstone,  Sir  Stamford  Raffles, 
and  Mi\  Sewell. — Testimony  of  Chinese  pilgrims. — .lava  peopled 
entirely  by  the  Hindus. — Borneo,  Celebes,  Sumatra  and  Australia   170 


XIL— AMERICA. 

High  civilization  of  the  ancient  Americans. — Hindu  remains  still 
found  there. — Testimony  of  Mr.  Pococke,  Mr.  Hardy,  Mr.  Square 
and  Dr.  Zurfu. — Hindu  mythology  the  parent  of  the  American 
mythology. — Proofs  of  the  Hindu  colonization  of  America. — 
Worship  of  Ramachandra  and  Sita.-A  rjuna's  conquest  of  America 
and  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  the  King. — Routes  to  America  If^C 


The  question  of  Hindus  visiting  foreign  lands. — The  Vcdas  enjoin 
it — Testimony  of  Sastras. — Manu  and  the  Mahabharata  -Travels 
of  Vyasji  and  Sukhdeoji. — The  expeditions  of  the  Pandavas. — 
Emperor  Sagarji. — The  god  of  the  sea.  —  Marriages  of  Hindu 
kings  with  foreign  princesses. —  Hindus  in  Turkistaii, Persia  and 


Xn.  CONTEXTS. 

rA(,'E. 
Riissia,— Ori'^hi  (if  ihc  dilToroiit  iiation.s  of   Asia  and  Europe. — 

Tostluiony  of  the   Puranas   ami    tlie   MahaMiariitu,— Tlie   seven 

Dwipas. — The  delnye. — Mou.  Delbos  uii  Hindu  civilization    ...     I'Jl 


LITERATURE. 


Literature  a  test  of  the  greatness  of  a  nation. — W.  C.  Tavlor  on 
Sanskrit  Hterature. — Bjornstjerna,  Brown,  General  C'unniiiyiiani, 
Prof.  Heer.Mi,  Sir  W.  Jones.  Max  Mnller  and  Ward.— The 
Hindu  liad  the  widest  range  of  mind  of  which  man  is  capable  ...   201 

Sanskuit  Language. 

Sanskrit  language  of  woiidci-ful  structure. — Compared  with  Gre(>k, 
Latin  and  Helu'ew. — More  perfect  and  refined  tlian  any.— Profs. 
Wilsi^n,  Max  MuUer  and  Sclilegel. — Modern  ])hil(jlogy  dates 
fronj  the  study  of  Sanskrit. — Alpliabets  of  Western  Asia 
derivedjroin  llie  Dconagri. — Sanskrit  is  tlie  basis  of  all  Indo- 
European  Uinguage.s. — Greeic  and  Zind  derived  from  the  Sans- 
krit.— Connection  of  Sanskrit  with  the  ancient  lamjfuages  of 
Europe. — High  antiquity  of  the  Sanskrit  literature  ...    204 

Art  of  Writing. 

Alphabetical  writing  known  in  India  from  tlie  earliest  times. — Its 
use  extended  to  every  purpose  of  common  life. — Views  of  Bjornst- 
jerna, Goldstucker,  Roth  and  Shyamji  Krishnavarma. — Sans- 
krit was  the  spoken  vernacular  of  the  ancient  Hindus  ...   213 


I.— VEDIC  LITERATURE. 

Max  Muller  on  Vedic  Literature. — The  Vedas  the  greatest  work 
in  all  literature. — Views  of  A^oltaire,  Guigault  and  Delbos  regard- 
ing the  Vedas.— Vedas  the  most  precious  gift  for  which  the  West 


COXTENTS.  xiii. 

TA(;e. 

is  iiulebtod  to  tlio  East. — The  study  of  VcJic  Tjitci-aiurc  iinlis- 
])ensable  to  all. — The  Vodas  tlie  oldest  books  in  the  world. — 
Vcdas  the  fountaiu  of  knowledge. — Vedio  teaching  regarding 
the  composition  of  air. — Bidlnnanas  not  a  part  of  the  Vedas. — 
Sutras. — Piatisakhyas. — "  Study  of  Language  "  by  the  Greeks 
and  the  Hindus.— Plato,  Aristotle, Zenodotus  and  others  eoniiiarcd 
with  the  ancient  Hindus  in  this  respect. — Consonantal  division 
of  th(!  Sanskrit  language  unique  in  tin'  history  of  literal nri'. — 
Inferiority  of  nioilern  Europeans  in  this  respect. — In  philology 
the  Hindus  excel  the  Ancients  and  tlie  Moderns, — Graniniatiral 
science  of  the  Hindus, — Grammar  of  Paiiini  stands  su[»i-enie 
amongst  the  grammars  of  the  world.  —  ( )ne  of  the  most  splendid 
achievements  of  human  invention  and  industry. — Hindu  acliii've- 
ments  still  uiisiir|iassed. — "  No  other  country  can  produci'  any 
grammatical  system  at  all  comparable  to  Paiuiu  "    ...  ...   210 


II.— POETRY. 

Treasures    of    poetiy    in    India    are    inexhaustible. — The    llinilns 
were  a  poetical  people      ...  ...  ...  ...    'I'oQ 


III.— EPIC   POETIIY. 

Ixamayaiia  and  Mahabharata  compared  to  Iliad  and  Odvssev. — 
Ramayana  the  noblest  of  epics  and  far  superior  to  the  work 
of  Nonnus.-One  of  the  most  beautiful  comjiositions  that  have  a})- 
peaicd  at  any  period  or  in  any  country. — llama  and  Sit  a  jier- 
fect  characters. — Mahabharata  is  the  grandest  of  the  epics. — 
Views  of  Mary  Scott,  Jeremiah  Curtin,  St.  Hilaire  Bartholemy, 
Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  Mr.  T.  M.  (,'oan  and  A.  Darth. —  Indian  epics 
compared  with  the  Greek  e[iics, — Hindu  and  Greek  mythologies 
compared.  Iliad  and  Odyssey  are  founded  on  the  l(aniayana 
and  the  Mahabharata       ...  ...  ...  ...   201 


XI  v.  CONTENTS. 

Page. 

IV.— DRAMA. 

Causes  of  the  excellence  of   Hindu  drama. — Hindu  theatre  will  fill 
as  many  volumes  as   that   of  anj'  nation  of  modern  Europe. — 
Hindu  comedy  no  way  inferior  to  the  ancient  Greek, — Superi- 
ority of  Hindu  drama  over  the  Greek  explained  and  illustrated. — 
The  higher  purpose  of  the  dramatic  art  never  lost  sight  of  in 
Hindu  dramatic   literature. — "  Xowhere  is   love   expressed  with 
greater  force  or  pathos   than  in  tlie  poetry  of  India." — Kalidas 
"one  of  the  greatest  dramatists  the  world  ever  produced." — 
"  He  has  done  honour  to  all  civili/.ed  mankind." — Sakuntala  an 
astonishing  Hterary  performance. — Views  of  Schlegel,  Humholdt 
and  Goethe. — Langunge  nowhere  else  so  beautifully  musical  or  so 
magnificently  grand  as  that  of  the  Hindu  drama. — Vicrama  and 
Urvasi. — Explanations    of    thft    scientific    myth. — Uttra    Ram 
Charitra. — May  be  compared  advantageously  willi  like  composi- 
tions of  Enrope. — MadhavaMalati. — MudraRaksliasa. — Mriclih- 
kati  compared  with  the  Merchant  of  Venice  and  the  Two  Noble 
Kinsmen. — Prabodh  Chandrodya. — There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the 
literature  of  other  countries  ...  ...  ...   247 


v.— LYRIC  POETRY. 

Gita  Govind. — Views  of  Schlegel  and  SirW.  Jones. — Tls  luxuriant 
imagery  and  voluptuous  softness. — Ritu  Sangrah. — Impossible  of 
translation. — Megh  Duta  "will  bear  advantageous  comparison  with 
best  specimens  of  uniform  verse  in  the  poetry  of  any  language, 
living  or  dead  "  ...  ...  ...  ...   258 


YL— ETHICO-DIDACTIC  POETRY. 

Hindu  achievements  in  this  branch  of  literature  establish  their 
intellectual  superiority. — Constitutes  practical  ethics. — Its  use  and 
cultivation  peculiar  to  the  Hindus. — Panclitantra  is  the  source  of 
the  whole  fabulous  literature  of  the  world. — "  Hindus  are  the 
instructors  ef  the  rest  of  mankind    in  the  composition    of  tales 


CONTEXT^:.  XIX 

TV\i;i;. 

liy  the  tallies  of  Cixssini  :\inl    Meyer. —  Aniniitl    variations   id'  th.' 

moon. — Proofs  of  tlio  great  antiquity  of  lliiuiu  astrononiv. — 
More  atlvaneed  than  the  Greek  or  thi'  Arah  astrononiv.  —  Views 
of  Sir  W.  Hunter,  Mr.  El[)liinstone,  Profs.  Weher  ami  Vv'ilMin. 
Originality  of  the  Hindus.  —  Xitl-.-Ji)iti-(t!<  ov  moon  stations  and 
the  Cliinese  *S>/e/j. — The  Arabs  were  the  disciples  of  tlie  Hindus. — 
The  nine  Siddhantas. — The  date  of  the  Surya  Siddhanta. — Age  of 
Parasar  Muni. — Aryahhatta  Baraniiliira  and  Bhashkeraeharja. — 
Roundness  of  the  earth. — The  annual  and  diurnal  motions  of 
the  earth. — The  stars  are  stationary. — The  Polar  days  and 
nights. — Circumference  of  the  earth. — AVhat  keeps  the  earth  in 
its  place. — The  moon  is  a  dark  body. — The  atmosphere. — 
Eclipses. — Tides. — .Tai  Singh  II. — Methods  of  the  Hindus. — 
A  ])eculiar  theory  of  planetaiy  motions. — To  find  the  longitude 
01  a  place  •••  •••  •••  •••  •••     oojj 


IV.— :\IIL1TAR.Y  SCIENCE. 

Hindu  traditions  all  warlike. — Naval  power  of  the  Hindus. —  Hindu 
science  of  war. —  Divisions  of  the  army. — Array  of  forces  or 
Vyiihas. — Use  of  elephants. — Soldierly  qualities  of  the  modern 
Indians. — Their  chivalrous  conduct. — Tiieir  bravery. — Archery  of 
the  Hindus.  —  Indian  swordmen. — Classification  of  wen]ion>. — 
Hindu  weapons  now  extinct. —  Firearms  of  the  Hindus  and  their 
extensive  employment. — Guns  and  cannons  in  media?val  Jndia. — 
Vajra. — Gunpowder. — Greek  writers  on  the  firearms  of  the  Hin- 
dus.— King  Hal  and  the  clay  elephaiit. — Views  of  Carey,  Marsh- 
man  and  Scholiast. — Firearms  used  by  King  Sagara. — The 
Brahmastra. — Ramayana  mentions  firearms. — The  Shatagni 
and  Agniaster. — Views  of  Halhed  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Elliot. — 
Rockets  a  Hindu  invention. — Other  machines  and  contrivances 
to  throw  pi-ojectiles  now  extinct. — The  Greek  fire. — The 
Ashtar  Vidya  of  the  Hindus 


XX.  CONTEXTS. 

Page. 

v.— MUSIC. 

The  Hindus  are  a  musical  race. —  Hindu  ujusic  formed  on  lietter 
principles  than  P]uropean  music. — Hindu  system  of  uuisic  tlie 
oldest  in  the  world. — Sub-division  of  tones  and  number  of  sonal 
modifications  too  intricate  to  be  appreciated  by  Europeans. — 
Europeans  cannot  imitate  Hindu  nmsic. — Hindu  airs  cannot  bo 
set  to  music. — Cultivated  on  scientific  principles. — European  igno- 
rance of  Hindu  music. — The  Ragas  and  Itagnees. — The  six  princi- 
pal Ragas. —  Hindu  notation  introduced  intu  Eurojiean  nnisic 
in  the  eleventh  century. —  Derivation  of  Greek  music  from 
India. — Tansen  and  Naik  Gojial         ...  ...  ...   .366 


VI.— OTHER  SCIENCES. 

Engineering. — Mechanics, — Microscopes. — Telescopes. — Fire-en- 
gines.— Botany. — Magnets. — Doctrine  of  Vacuum  in  Nature. — 
Yiman  Yidya. — A  comjilete  science. — 8ar]ia  Yidya. — Electricity 
and  ^lagnetism. — Philosnphy  of  slec'ii. — Aureole  I'dund  the  heads 
of  Hindu  gods  ...  ...  ...  ...   375 


ARTS. 


I.— ARCHITECTURE  AND  SCULPTURE. 

Hindu  architecture,  wonderful  and  beautiful. — Views  of  Mahmad 
Ghaznavi. — Unequalled  in  elegance. — Cave  temples. — Skill  shown 
surpasses  description. — Ornamenting  grottoes. — The  Saracen 
arch  of  Hindu  Origin. — "  Remains  of  the  Hindu  architectural 
art  might  still  furnish  architects  of  Europe  with  new  ideas  of 
beauty  and  sublimity." — English  decorative  art  indebted  to 
the  Hindus. — Restoration  of  taste  in  England  due  to  Hindus. — 
Alt  exhausted  itself  in  India  ...  ...  ...   389 


CONTENTS.        <  XXI. 

IL— WEAVINa. 

Unrivalled  delicacy  of  sense  of  the  Hindus. — Indian  cotton  finest 
in  tlie  world. —  fii  fineness  of  texture  the  Indian  cotton  t-loth  is 
yet  unapproached. — The  products  of  the  Indian  loom  yet  unrivalled 
in  beauty. — Europeans  must  not  attempt  to  teach   art  to  India —  o9 


III.— OTHER  ARTS. 

Art  of  dyeing. — Hindu  colours  the  most  brilliant  in  the  world. —  Hin- 
dus discovered  the  art  of  extracting  colours  from  plants. — Ivory 
works. — Casting  ii"on. — Hindu  steel. — Damascus  steel  of  Hindu 
origin, — The  wronglit-iron  pillar  near  Kutab  at  Delhi. — The 
gun  at  Xnrwar  and  the  girders  at  Puri  prove  the  marvellons 
skill  of  the  Hindus. — Export  of  iron  from  India. — System  of 
rotation  of  crops,  derived  from  India. — Use  of  glass  in  windows 
in  ancient  India. — Perfection  of  art  in  India        ...  ...    400 


COMMERCE  AND  WEALTH. 

I.— COMMERCE. 

Hindus  the  masters  of  the  sea-borne  trade  of  the  world. — India 
was  "once  the  seat  of  commerce". — Hindus  were  a  commercial 
people. — Trade  with  Phoenicia. — The  navy  of  Tarshish. — 
Peacocks. — The  name  of  Hindu  origin. — Trade  with  Syria. — 
Greeks  first  became  acquainted  with  sugar  in  India. — Trade 
with  Egypt.—  Myos  Hormos. — Trade  with  Greece  and  Rome. — 
Indian  silk  in  Rome. — Pliny  complains  of  the  drain  of  gold 
from  Rome  to  India. — Trade  with  Arabia  and  Africa. — Eastern 
Trade. — Ceylon. — Its  commercial  importance. — Ports  of  Ceylon. — 
Emporium  of  trade. — Ceylon  a  part  of  India. — Commercial 
ports  of  India. — Land  trade  with  China. — Desert  of  Gobi. — 
Trade  with  Palmyra. — Trade  routes  for  the  land  trade  with 
Europe. — Internal    trade    of  India. — Trade  roads. — M/lc-'^foncs 


xxil.  CONTENTS. 

Page. 
and  inns    for   travellers. — Indian    fairs  at  Hardwar,  Allahabad 

and  other  places  ...  ...  •••  •••   405 


IL— WEALTH. 

India  was  the  richest  country  in  the  world. — Views  of  Prof. 
Hoeren  and  Dr.  Wise. — Spoils  of  Somnath,  Mathura  and 
Kananj. — Gold  first  found  in  India. — An  Indian  port  the  only 
pearl  market  in  the  world. — The  most  famous  stones  and  pearls 
all  of  Indian  origin. — The  Pitt  and  the  Kohi-noor  ...  ...   427 


RELIGION. 


Pieligion  a  test  of  civilization. — What  is  the  Hindu  religion? — 
Knowledge  of  God. —  The  Shraddhas. — Hindu  religion  the  only 
scientific  religion  in  the  world. — "  Christianity  has  nothing  to  offer 
to  those  who  are  dissatisfied  with  Hinduism." — Buddhism  is  only 
reformed  Hinduism. — Majority  of  mankind  still  follow  religions 
that  emanated  from  India. — Origin  of  the  Greek  Church. — Origin 
of  Christianity. — Buddhism  and  Hinduism. — Propagation  of jiJud- 
dhism. — Buddhism  in  Arabia  and  in  Egypt, — The  Hermes 
Scriptures. — Hindu  origin  of  the  religion  of  the  Chaldeans,  the 
Babylonians  and  the  inhabitants  of  Colchis. — The  Samaritans 
were  Buddhists. — Buddhism  in  Britain. — The  religion  of  the 
Scandinavians. — Edda  derived  from  the  Veda. — Scandinavian 
Mythology. — Egyptian  and  Greek  religions  derived  from  India. — 
The  Mosaic  cosmogony. — Greek  mythology  derived  from  Hindu 
mythology. — Christian  mythology. — The  Hindu  is  the  parent  of 
the  literature  and  theology  of  the  world  ...  ...   481 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1.   Thakur  Dl'rgatias.  tlio  nulitoi-c  leader   ... 


Pauk. 

...  f.p  fare  ihe  Title 


L*.   ^Mahap.axa  Puatap 


C 


:5.   JMauaiiaja  rniTiivi  Raj,  the  la-<t  Iliiidn  Emiiernr  of  Pdlii    ...    liO 


cr 


-^v-  jjOjj* 


INTRODUCTION. 


IN  the  liistory  of  the  world  India  occupies  the  foremost 
place.  From  the  dawn  of  history  to  the  present  day 
India  has  been  connected  in  one  way  or  another  witli 
almost  every  event  of  world  importance.  By  endowing 
India  with  the  best  and  the  choicest  of  o-ifts  it  had  in 
store,  Nature  herself  ordained  that  this  maonificent 
country,  with  a  climate  varied  and  salubrious,  a  soil 
the  most  fertile  in  the  world,  animal  and  plant  life 
the  most  abundant,  useful  and  diversified  to  be  found 
anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  should  play  the 
leading  part  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

Mr.  Murray  says  :  "  It  (India)  has  always  Appear- 
ed to  the  imagination  of  the  Western  AVorld  adorned 
with  whatever  is  most  splendid  and  gorgeous  ;  glittering, 
as  it  were,  with  gold  and  gems,  and  redolent  of  fra- 
grant and  delicious  odours.  Though  there  be  in  these 
magnificent  conceptions  something  romantic  and  illu- 
BOTj,  still  India  forms  unquestionably  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  regions  that  exist  on  the  surface  of  the  glolie. 
The  varied  grandeur  of  its  scenery  and  the  rich 
productions  of  its  soil  are  scarcely  ecjualled  in  any  other 
country."^ 

'Murray'^  Tlistcry  nf  Imlia.  \k  1. 


XXVI.  INTRODUCTION. 

"India  is  an  epitome  of  the  whole  world,"'  and 
possesses  all  the  leading  features  of  other  lands — the 
most  bewitching  scenery,  the  most  fertile  soil,  the  most 
dense  forests,  the  highest  mountains,  some  of  the  big- 
gest rivers  and  intensely  cold  seasons,  may  be  found 
along  Avith  arid,  treeless  deserts,  sandy  waterless  plains, 
and  the  hottest  days.  To  a  student  of  humanity  or  of 
Nature,  India  even  now  is  most  picturesque,  and  is  the 
most  interesting  country  in  the  world.  Count  Bjornst- 
jerna  says  :  "  But  everj'thing  is  peculiar,  grand,  and 
romantic  in  India — from  the  steelclad  knight  of  Rajas- 
than  to  the  devoted  Brahman  in  the  temples  of  Benares  ; 
from  the  fierce  Mahratta  on  his  fleet  and  active  steed  to 
the  Nabob  moving  gently  on  his  elephant  ;  from  the 
Amazon  who  chases  the  tiger  in  the  jungle  to  the 
Bayadere  w4io  offers  in  volupte  to  her  gods.  Nature, 
too,  in  this  glorious  country  is  chequered  with  variety 
and  clad  in  glowing  colours  :  see  the  luxuriance  of  her 
tropical  vegetation  and  the  hurricane  of  her  monsoon  ; 
see  the  majesty  of  her  snow-covered  Himalayas  and  the 
dryness  of  her  deserts  ;  see  the  immense  plains  of  Hin- 
dustan and  the  scenery  of  her  lofty  mountains  ;  but, 
above  all,  see  the  immense  age  of  her  liistory  and  the 
poetry  of  her  recollections."^ 

Professor  Max  MuUer  says  :  "  If  I  were  to  look 
over  the  whole  world  to  find  out  the  country  most  richly 

1  Chambers's  Encyclopa?dia,  p.  337. 

^Theogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  126.  "The  scenery  of  the  Himalayas," 
says  Elphinstone.  "  is  a  sight  ■which  the  soberest  traveller  has  never  de- 
scribed wiiliuiit  kindling  into  enthusiasm,  and  which,  if  once  seen,  leaves 
an  impression  that  can  never  be  equalled  or  effaced." — History  of 
India,  p.   181. 


INTRODUCTION.  Xwn. 

eiicloweil  with  all  the  weiilth,  power,  ami  l)onnty  tliat 
nature  can  bestow — in  some  ])arts   a   very  paradise  on 
earth — I    should    ])oint    to     India.     If     I    were   asked 
under  what  sky  the  human   mind   has  most  fully   deve- 
loped some  of  its  choicest  gifts,  has  most  deeply  ponder- 
ed on  the  greatest  problems  o£  life,  and  has  found  solu- 
tions of  some  of  them  which  well  deserve  the  attention 
even   of   those    who   have   studied   Plato  and   Kant,    I 
should  point  to   India.     And   if   I  were   to  ask   myself 
from  what  literature  we  here  in  Europe — we  who  have 
been  nurtured  almost  exclusively  on  the  thoughts  of  the 
Greeks  and  the  Romans,  and   of   one    Semitic    race   tiie 
Jewish — may  draw  that  corrective  which  is  most  wanted 
in  order  to  make  our  inner  life  more  perfect,  more  com- 
prehensive, more  universal,  in  fact    more   truly  inunan, 
a  life,  not  for  this  life  only,  but  a  transfigured  and  eter- 
nal life,    again   I   should   point  to    India."      He   adds: 
"  Whatever  sphere  of  the  human  mind  you  may  select  for 
your  special  study,  whether  it  be  language,  or  religion, 
or  mytholog}',  or   philosophy,   wdiether   it    be  laws    or 
customs,  primitive  art  or  primitive  science,  everywhere 
you   have  to  go   to  India,  whether    you   like  it  or  not, 
because  some  of  the  most  valuable  and  most  instructive 
materials  in  the  history  of   man   are  treasured  up    in 
India  and  in  India  only."i 

Professor  Hceren  says  :  "  India  is  the  source  from 
which  not  only  the  rest  of  Asia  but  the  whole  Western 
World  derived  their  knowledsje  and  their  relinion."- 
A   writer  in   the  Calcutta  Review   for  December   hSGI, 

^Max  MuUer's  India:    Wliat  can  it  teach  us  ?  [>.  !."». 
2  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  :15, 


XXVlll.  INTRODUCTION. 

said  :  '"  Thoufrli  now  deomded  and  abased,  vet  we 
cannot  doubt  that  there  was  a  time  when  the  Hindu  race 
was  splendid  in  arts  and  arms,  happy  in  government, 
wise  in  leofislation  and  eminent  in  knowledgje."^ 

"  The  ancient  state  o£  India,"  says  Mr.  Thornton, 
"  must  have  been  one  of  extraordinary  magnificence."^ 

Colonel  Tod  asks  :  "  Where  can  we  look  for  sages 
like  those  whose  systems  of  philosophy  were  the  proto- 
types of  those  of  Greece  :  to  whose  works  Plato,  Thales, 
and  Pythagoras  were  disciples  ?  where  shall  we  find 
astronomers  whose  knowledge  of  the  planetary  system 
yet  excites  wonder  in  Europe,  as  well  as  the  architects 
and  sculptors  whose  works  claim  our  admiration,  and 
the  musicians  '  who  could  make  the  mind  oscillate  from 
joj'  to  sorrow,  from  tears  to  smiles,  with  the  change  of 
modes  and  varied  intonation  ?'"^ 


1  The  same  Review  says  :  "That  the  Hindus  were  in  former  times 
a  commercial  [)eople  we  have  every  reason  to  believe — the  labours  of 
the  Indian  loom  liave  been  universally  celebrated,  silk  has  been  fabri- 
cated inimemorisdiy  by  the  Hindus.  We  are  also  told  by  the  Grecian 
writers  tliat  the  Indians  were  the  wisest  of  nations,  and  in  metaphysical 
wisdom  they  wore  certainly  eminent :  in  astronomy  and  mathematics 
they  were  equally  well  versed  ;  this  is  the  race  who  Dionysius  records — • 
'  First  assayed  the  deep, 

'  And  wafted  meroiiandize  to  coasts  unknown, 
'Those  who  digested  first  the  starry  ehoir, 
'  Their  motions  marked,  and  called  them  by  their  names.'" 
"  Hindustan  has  from  the  earliest  ages   been  celebrated  as   one   of 
the  most  liighly-favoured  couiitries  on  the  globe,  and   as  abounding  in 
the   choicest    productions    both    of  Nature  and    Art." — Encydopcedia 
Brilannica,  p.  44(1, 

^Chapters  of  Jlie  British  History  of  India, 
•"Tod's  Rai.'Kthan,  jip.  0O8,  BOO. 


INTRODUCTION.  Xxix. 

A  writer  in  the  Ed/)tbim/h  Rerieiv  for  October 
1872,  says  :  "  The  Hindu  is  the  most  ancient  nation 
o£  which  we  have  valuable  remains,  and  has  been 
surpassed  by  none  in  refinement  and  civilization  ; 
though  the  utmost  pitch  of  refinement  to  which  it  ever 
arrived  preceded,  in  time,  the  dawn  of  civilization  in 
any  other  nation  of  which  we  have  even  the  name  in 
history.  The  further  our  literary  inquiries  are  extended 
here,  the  more  vast  and  stupendous  is  the  scene  which 
opens  to  us." 

An  attempt  has  been  made  in  the  following  pages, 
with  the  help  of  the  laudable  labours  of  philanthropists 
like  Sir  VV.  Jones,  Prof.  H.  ]].  Wilson,  Mr.  Colebrooke, 
Colonel  Tod,  Mr.  Pococke  and  other  European  scholars 
and  officers  to  whom  the  country  owes  a  great  debt 
of  gratitude,  to  get  a  glimpse  of  that  civilization  which, 
according  to  the  writer  quoted  above,  has  not  yet  been 
surpassed.  And  what  is  the  result  ?  AVhat  do  we  learn 
about  the  ancient  Hindus  ?  We  learn  that  they  were 
the  greatest  nation  that  has  yet  flourished  on  this  earth. 

''In  the  world  there  is  nothing  great  but  man, 
In  man  there  is  nothing  great  but  mind," 

was  the  favourite  aphorism  of  the  philosopher,  Sir 
William  Hamilton.^  And  Mrs.  Mannint^  savs  :  "The 
Hindus  had  the  widest  range  of  mind  of  which  man  is 
capable."' 

We  find  that  the  ancient  Hindus,  in  every  feature 
of  national  life,  were  in  the  first  rank.  Take  whatever 
department  of  human  activity  you  like,  you  find  the 
ancient    Hindus    eminent   in    it,  and    as    occupying    a 

See  Jevon's  Logic,  p.  'J. 

Ancient  and  Medi.-tval  India,  A''ol.  IF,  p.  148. 


XXX.  INTRODUCTION. 

foremost  place.  This  is  more  than  wliat  can  be  said 
of  any  other  nation.  You  may  find  a  nation  great, 
in  arms  or  commerce  ;.you  may  find  a  people  eminent 
in  philosophy,  in  poetry,  in  science  or  in  arts  ;  you  may 
find  a  race  gre.it  politically  but  not  equally  so  morally 
and  intellectually.  But  you  do  not  find  a  race  which 
was  or  is  pre-eminem  in  so  many  departments  of  human 
activity  as  the  ancient  Hindus. 

The  ancient  Hindus  were  "a  poetical  people,"  they 
were  essentially   "a   musical  race,"    and   they   were    ''a 
commercial  people."     They  were  "a   nation  of  philoso- 
phers ;"   "in  science  the}'  were  as  acute  and  diligent  as 
ever."     "  Art  seems  to  have  exhausted  itselt"  in  India." 
"  Tlie    Hinlu   is  the   parent  ot"    the  literature  and    the 
theoloo^y  of  the  world."      His  lan"'ua2:e  is  the  best  and 
the  most  beautiful  in  the  world.      The  national  character 
of  the  ancient  Hindus  as  regards  trutlifulness,  chivalry 
and  honour   was  unrivalled ;    their    colonies    filled    the 
world,  their  kings  ''are  still  worshipped  as   the  gods   of 
the    sea,"  "their    civilization    still    pervades    in    every 
corner  oE  the  civilized  world  and  is  around  and  about  us 
every  dav  of  our  lives." 

It  may  be  urged  that  in  the  picture  of  Hindu  civi- 
lization painted  in  the  book,  only  roseate  hues  have  been 
used,  that  while  lights  are  pur|)Osely  made  prominent  the 
shadows  are  conspicuous  b}'  their  absence,  and  that  most 
has  been  made  of  the  best  points  of  Hinduism,  Such 
critics  will  do  well  to  remember  that  the  mountains  are 
measured  by  their  highest  peaks  and  not  by  the  low 
heights  to  which  thej'  here  and  there  sink  ;  that  the  first 
rank  amon<>-  the  mountains  is  assis^ned  to  the  Himalayas 


INTHU  D  UCTl  ON.  X  X  \  i . 

by  Mounts  Everest,  Dhjivalgiri  and  Kanchnnjangn,  and 
not  by  the  lower  heiii^hls  of  Mussoorie  and  Daricelino-  and 
that  the  patches  of  level  ground  here  and  there  found 
enclosed  within  this  2:iirn.ntic  ranire  are  iustly  iunored. 

It  may  also  be  remarked  here  that  the  object  of  this 
book  being  to  enable  men  to  appreciate  the  excellencies 
of  Hindu  civilization — by  giving  them  an  idea  of  the 
character  and  achievements  of  the  ancient  Hindus,  who 
were  the  creatures  of  that  civilization,  which  has  admit- 
tedly seen  its  best  days — any  discussion  of  modern  India 
for  its  own  sake  is  without  the  scope  of  this  book. 
Wherever,  therefore,  any  fact  relating  to  the  society, 
religion,  literature  or  character  of  the  Hindus  of  the 
present  day,  or  their  capacities  and  capabilities  is  men- 
tioned it  has  reference  only  to  the  elucidation  of  some 
feature  of  that  civilization  as  illustrated  in  the  life,  work 
or  character  of  the  people  of  ancient  India. ^ 

It  is  the  inherent  truth  of  Hinduism,  the  vitality 
and  greatness  of  the    Hindu   civilization  that  have    en- 

1  It  is  no  part  ol:  tlie  plan  of  this  book  to  run  down  any  creed  or 
nationality.  Consequently,  whenever  any  other  religion  or  race  is  men- 
tioned, it  is  only  for  the  elucidation  of  some  point  of  Hinduism,  or  to 
show  the  comparative  excellence  of  some  feature  of  Hindu  civilization. 
Thus,  whenever  the  oppressive  nature  of  the  rule  of  some  of  the  Moiia- 
medan  Emperors  is  mentioned,  or  the  havoc  caused  by  some  of  the 
invaders  from  the  North- Western  frontier  of  India  is  described,  it  is  not 
to  emphasize  that  fact  itself,  but  to  illustrate,  explain,  or  elucidate  some 
feature  of  the  character  of  the  Hindus  or  their  literature  and  society. 
It  miiy  also  be  remarked  that  the  evils  of  the  rule  of  the  Afghans, 
Turks,  and  others  were  due  not  to  the  religion  tiiey  professed  but  to 
their  ignorance  and  backwardness  in  civilization.  The  Arabs,  though 
professing  the  same  religion  as  the  Afghans  and  the  Moghals,  kept  the 
lamp  of  knowledge  and  science  lit  in  Europe  and  "Western  Asia 
during  the  middle  ages.  The  work  of  Al-Beruni,  Abdul  Fazal,  Fai/.i 
and  others  in  India  pulls  to  pieces  the  theory  that  whatever  evils  there 
were  in  Mohamedan  rule  were  due  to  the  religion  of  the  rulers. 


XXXll.  INTKODUCTION. 

abled  the  Hindus  yet  to  preserve  their  existence  as  such, 
despite  all  the  political  cataclysms,  social  u])heavals,  and 
racial  eruptions  the  world  has  seen  since  the  ]\Iahabha- 
rata.  These  calamities  overwhelmed  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians and  the  Phoenicians  and  destroyed  the  empires 
of  ancient  Greece,  Persia  and  Rome. 

Compared  to  the  sun  o£  Hindu  civilization  giving 
a  constant  and  steady  stream  of  beneficent  light,  which 
penetrates  the  farthest  nooks  and  corners  of  the  world, 
carrying  comfort  and  contentment  to  mankind,  these 
civilizations  were  like  brilliant  meteors  that  appear  in  the 
skies  lighting  the  while,  with  their  shortlived  lustre, 
the  heavens  above  and  the  earth  below. 

Tlieu — let  me  dive  into  the  depths  of  time, 
And  bring  from  ont  the  ages  that  have  rolled, 

A  few  small  fragments  of  those  wrecks  sublime, 
Which  human  eye  may  never  more  behold  ; 

And  lot  the  guerdon  of  my  labour  be, 

My  b' loved  country  !  one  kind  wish  for  thee. 


CONSTITUTION. 


Clime  of  the  unfor<?otten  bravo  ! 
AVhere  land  froui  plain  to  mountain  cave 
Was  freedom's  home  or  glory's  grave  ; 
Shrine  of  the  mighty  !    Can  it  be 
That  this  is  all  remains  of  thee  ? 

— Byron^  :  Giaour, 

No    one   acqanlnted    witli    the   history    of    the   ancient 
Indians  can   reasonably  deny  the  great  merits  of  tlieir 
ancient    Constitution,    which   combined   happiness   -with 
activity,  tranquility  Tvith   progress — "one   lesson  which 
in  every  wind  is  blown" — and  conservation  with  advance- 
ment.     Their  astonishing  subjective  capacities  and  their 
extraordinary  powers  of  observation  and  generalization 
led  them  irresistibly  to  trace  l^ature  in  all  her  multi- 
farious solemn  workings.      They  followed  her  in  every 
thing  they  did,  and  hence  the  halo  of  realit}^  and  con- 
servation which  surrounds  their  work.     It  is  this  reality 
and  conservation,  the  happy  results  of  following  Nature — 
"  which  is  wisdom  without  reflection  and  above  it " — 
that  have  imparted  that  polish  to  Hindu  Laws  and  Insti- 
tutions which  makes  them  at  once  durable  and  brilliant. 
There  was,  anciently,  an  adjustment  of  forces  which 
enabled   each  institution   to  describe  its   peculiar  orbit 
and  work  in  its  own  sphere,  without  interfering  with  the 


2  HIXDU    SUPERIORITY. 

others;  but  now,  altis  !  owing  to  the  long-continued  nnd 
unabated  pressure  of  hostile  circumstances,  tliat  adjust- 
ment is  beinsj  broken,  and  the  forces  are  beino-  let  loose 
SO  as  to  brini>-  the  different  institutions  together.  Their 
foundations,  however,  are  still  intact,  owing  to  their 
exceeding  firmness. 

The  turning  point  in  the  history  of  Ancient  India  was 
the  Mahabharata,  the  Great  War  between  the  Pandavas 
and  thelCauravas.  This  momentous  event  decided  the  future 
of  Ancient  India,  as  it  closed  the  long  chapter  of  Hindu 
growth  and  Hindu  greatness.  The  sun  of  India's  glory 
was  at  its  meridian  about  the  end  of  Dwapar,  and,  follow- 
ing the.  universal  law  of  Xatnre,  Avith  the  beninnino-  of 
the  Kaliyuga,  it  turned  its  course  towards  the  horizon, 
where  it  set  on  the  ulains  of  Thaneshwar  amidst  the 
romantic  splendour  of  Saiijugta's  love  and  Pithora's 
cliivalrv.  As  the  ]\Iahabharata  marked  the  zenith  of 
Hindu  greatness,  Shahabud-din's  victory  at  Thaneshwar 
marked  the  sinking  of  the  great  luminary  below  the 
horizon.  The  nadir  was  reached  several  centuries  later, 
when  the  armies  luider  Bajai  liao  .were  routed  on  the 
same  sacred,  fateful  plains  bv  the  Durrani  host.  The 
o-reat  war  which,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  influenced  so 
powerfully  the  destiny  of  nations  was,  in  realitv,  the 
beixiunino-  of  the  end  of  Hindu  "Teatness,  and  it  was 
at  this  period  that  the  political  and  social  Constitu- 
tion of  India  began  to  3:ield  to.  those  innovations  which, 
by  their  very  contrast  to  the  fundamental  principles  of 
that  Constitution,  are  so  prominent  now. 


ANTIQUITY. 


I.— AXTIQIITY. 

Tiiiic  In  tlic  mot  ol'  all  rrcatvJ  ln/iiit^'s, 

.\iitl  muTcate  ;    ot'  pleasure  juid  of  jiaiii. 

'riiiu'  dutli  ci-i'atc  cxistoiicc.      Time  destroys, 

TiniL-  shatters  all,  and  all  again  renews. 

Time  Nvatchcs  while  all  sleep.      Uuvaiiijuished  Time  ! 

—  Maiiai;hai;ata  :  Adijxiira, 

The  antiquity  of  the  Hindu  civilization  is  wonderful, 
its  vitality  miraculous.  The  fabulous  age  of  the  Greeks, 
the  times  of  the  Egyptian  Soufi,  and  the  "  stone  age  " 
of  the  modern  European  thinkers  are  but  as  yesterday 
in  the  history  of  the  Hindu  civilization.  The  age  of 
this  earth  is  not  to  be  counted  by  a  few  thousand  years, 
but  by  millions  and  trillions.  And  Hindu  civilization  is 
the  earliest  civilization  in  this  world,  l^ations  have 
risen  and  fallen,  empires  founded  and  destroyed,  races 
have  appeared  and  disappeared,  but  the  Hindu  civilization 
that  saw  their  rise  and  fall,  tlieir  foundation  and  des- 
truction, their  appearance  and  disappearance,  still  remains. 

After  fully  discussing  the  claims  of  the  ancient 
nations  of  the  world  to  high  anti(piity.  Count  Bjornstjerna 
says: — ''  No  nation  on  earth  can  vie  with  the  Hindus 
in  respect  of  the  antiquity  of  their  civilization  and  the 
antiquity  of  their  religion."^ 

Dr.  Stiles,   President  of   Yale  College  in   America, 

'  formed     such    an    enthusiastic    expectation     from    the 

amazing  antiquity  of  ^the  Hindu  writings  that  he  actually 


iTheogony  of  the  lJiti.lu>,  p.  ')'i. 


4  HINDU    SUPERIOrJTY. 

wrote  to  Sir  W.  Jones  to  request  him  to  search  among 
the  Hindus  Tor  the  Adamic  books. ^ 

Mr,  Halbcd  exclaims  with  sacred  reverence,  after 
treating  of  the  four  yugs  of  the  Hindus:  '"To  such 
antiquity  the  Mosaic  creation  is  but  as  yesterday;  and  to 
such  ages  the  Hfe  of  Methuselah  is  no  more  than  a  span." 
In  concluding  his  remarks  on  the  antiquity  of 
Hindu  astronomy,  Count  Bjornstjerna  says:  "But  if  it 
be  true  that  the  Hindus  more  than  3,000  years  before 
Christ,  according  to  Bailly's  calculation,  had  attained 
so  high  a  degree  of  astronomical  and  geometrical  learning, 
how  many  centuries  earlier  must  the  commencement  of 
their  culture  have  baeu,  since  the  human  mind  advances 
only  step  by  step  in  the  path  of  scicuce  !  ""-^  And  yet, 
astronomy  is  not  the  science  that  is  cultivated  very  early 
in  the  national  literature  of  any  country. 

Pliny  states  that  from  the  days  of  Bacchus  to 
Alexander  of  Macedon,  15-1  kings  reigned  over  India, 
whose  reigns  extended  over  G,451  j-ears.  How  many 
rei<>;ned  before  Bacchus  historv  is  silent. 

Abul-Fazal,  in  his  translation  of  the  Raj  Tarangini^ 
quotes  the  names  of  the  kings  who  appear  in  these  an- 
nals, and  whose  successive  reiii'ns  are  said  to  have 
occupied  4,109  years  11  months  and  9  days.  Prof. 
Heeren  says:  "From  Dionysius  (an  Indian  king)  to 
Sandracottus  (Chandragupta)  the  space  of  6,042  years 
is  said  to  have  elapsed.  Megasthenes  says  6,042  years 
passed  between  Spatembas  and  Sandracottus.^ 


1  Ward's  Mythology,  Vol.  I.,  p.  \U. 

STkeogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  37. 

3 Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  218, 


ANTIQITTY.  ;, 

Professor  Max  Duiiker  i  says  "that  Spatcrnha.-,"" 
which  is  perhaps  another  name  of  Dioiiyisius,''  beiiaii  his 
reign  ill  6717  years  B.C."  "The  era  of  Yutldhishtliira 
indeed,"  he  again  asserts,  "is  said  to  hav('  preceded 
that  of  Vicramaditya  by  the  space  of  3,044  years,  and 
to  have  commenced  about  o,10U  years  B.C."  - 

Count  Bjornstjerna  says  :  "  Megasthenes,  the  euNoy 
of  xllexander  to  Kandragupso  (Chandragupta),  king  of 
the  Gangarides,  discovered  chronological  tables  at  Poly- 
bhottra,  the  residence  of  this  king,  which  contain  a  series 
of  no  less  than  loo  kings,  with  all  their  names  from 
Dionysius  to  Kandragupso,  and  specifying  the  duration 
of  the  reigns  of  every  one  of  those  kings,  together 
amounting  to  6,451  years,  which  would  place  the  reign 
of  Dionysius  ne^irly  7,000  years  B.C.,  and  consequently 
1,000  years  before  the  oldest  kin":  found  on  the  Eirvpti- 
an  tables  of  Manefho  (vie,  the  head  of  the  Tmi/e 
Thebaine  dynasty),  wiio  reigned  5,867  years  B.C.,  and 
2,000  years  before  Souji,  the  founder  of  the  Gizeh 
Pyramid."^ 

Accordinn:  to  Sir  AV.  Jones,  "*  ei2;lity-one  kinirs 
reimied  in  Man:adha.  "The  first  20  reiirns  are  unaccom- 
panied  with  any  chronological  determination,  but  the 
ensuing  are  divided  by  hiin  into  five  separate  dj-nasties, 
of  which  the  first  commenced  with  King  Pradista  about 
2,100  A.C.,  and  terminated  with  King  Nanda,  about  1,500 
A.C.,  embracing   a   period   of    16    reigns;   the    second 

1  History  of  Aiitiquit}'.  \u\.  IV.,  p.  74. 
2Historj  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  210, 
•"^Theogoiiy  of  the  Hindus,  p.  45. 
4 Sir  W,  Jones'  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  304. 


6  HINDU    sri'ERlORITY. 

only  comprises  10,  and  ends  with  tl>e  3ear  l,3Go  A.C.; 
the  third  (h'nastv.  that  of  Snnu'a,  contains  also  the  same 
number  of  kings,  and  terminates  1,253  B.C.;  the  fourth, 
that  of  Canna,only  consisted  of  four  king's,  and  lasted 
till  the  year  908  A.C.  ;  the  fifth,  that  of  Andrah,  forms  a 
series  of  2]  kini>s,  and  continued  down  to  the  year  456  be- 
fore  the  Christian  era  and  400  before  that  of  Vicrama." 

Now,  according  to  the  Puranas,  the  race  of  the 
Brahadrathas  had  ruled  over  ]\Iagadha  before  Pradyotas, 
(who  reigned  2,100  A.C,  according  to  Sir  W.  Jones), 
from  Somapi  to  Ripunja^'a^  for  a  thousand  3'ears.  And 
before  the  first  Brahadratlias,  Sahadeo,  Jarasandh  and 
Erih:>drath  are  said  to  have  reiiirned   over   Magadha."^' 

The  fact  that  dynasties  and  not  individuals  were 
units  of  calculation,  is  in  itself  a  proof  of  the  great  anti- 
quity of  the  ancient  Plindu  Empire. 

Count  Bjornstjerna,  after  discussing  the  anti(|uity 
of  Hindu  astronomy  says  :  "  Besides  the  proofs  adduced 
of  the  great  antiquity  of  the  civilization  of  the  Hindus, 
there  are  others  perhaps  still  stronger,  namely,  their 
gigantic  temples  hewn  out  of  lofty  rocks,  with  the  most 
incredible  labour,  at  Elephanta,  at  EUora  and  several 
other  places  wdiich,  with  regard  to  the  vastness  of  the 
undertaking,  may  be  compared  with  the  pyramids,  and 
in  an  architectural  respect  even  surpass  them.'  "" 

Professor  Heeren"^  says  :  "We  do  not  perhaps  assume 
too  much  when  w^e  venture  to  place  the  origin  of 
Avodhya  from  1,500  to  2,000  B.C." 

iMax  Diuiker's  History  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  7(). 
-Max  Dunker's  History  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  lY.,  p,  77. 
STheogonyof  the  Hindus,  p.  38. 
^Historical   Researches,  Vol.  II.,  p.  227. 


AXTKlllTV.  7 

C;ij)t:iin  Trover  snys  :  •'  I  cannot  rofiise  credence  to 
this  fact,  namely,  that  n'reat  States,  hiulily  aiKiinecd  in 
civilization,  (jxisted  at  least  three  thonsand  yc:n's  ht'Tore 
onr  era.  It  is  beyond  that  limit  that  I  look  for  Uamii, 
the  hero  of  the  llamayana."'^ 

Accorchni:;  to  the  ^lahabharata,  Avodhva  pr(-»?pprcd 
for  1,500  rears,  after  which  one  of  its  kin^s,  of  the  dvnastv 
of  Santas,  founded  Kanauj.  The  foundation  of  the 
city-of  Delhi  (Indraprastha^)  is  as  old  as  the  fabulous 
ao-e  (Pober,  Vol.  I,  ]).  2(53),  at  which  time  it  was  already 
celebrated  for  its  splendour  (Vol.  I.  p.  GUG). 

Eenell-  states  that  Kanauj  was  founded  more  than 
a  thousand  ye.'irs  before  Christ.  l>ut  apart  fr(jm  these 
haphazard  shots  of  European  writers — who,  as  Professor 
AVilson  savs:  "in  order  to  avoid  beino- thouo-|it  credulous 
run  into  the  opposite  vice  of  incredulity,''  and  wouhl 
never  concede  anvthinii'  for  which  there  is  not  a 
demonstrable  proof,  especially  as  the  history  of  ancient 
India  is  a  history  of  ages  so  remote  as  to  hopelesslv  put 
out  of  ioint  their  early-conceived  and  limited  notions  of 
chronolo<zy  and  antiquity — there  is  an  important  piece 
of  evidence  in  favour  of  the  great  antiquit}'  of  Indian 
civilization.  Says  Count  Bjornstjerna  :  "The  Pactrian 
document,  called  Dabistan''  (found  in  Kashmir  and 
brought  1o  Europe  by  SirAV.  Jones),  gives  an  entire 
register  of  kings,  namely,  of  the  Mah.abadernes,  whose 
first  link  rei^rned  in  Bactria  5,600  vears  before  Alexander's 
expedition  to  India,  and  consequently  several  hundred 
years  before  the  time  given  by  the  Alexandrine  text 
for  the  appearance  of  the  first  man  upon  tJie  earthy 


1  Asiatic  Journal,   1^511. 
-  Mcinuirs,  p.  .">  t,  (2n(l  (nlitimi). 
3Tllt'()goiiy  of  till'  lliiuliis.  |>.   104. 


S  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

That  these  Bactrian  kings  were  Hindus  is  now  uni- 
versally admittedj  Dabistan  thus  proves  that  India 
enjoN-ed  splendid  civilization  6,000  B.C.,  or  nearly  8,000 
years  before  the  Victorian  age. 

This  alone  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  ancient 
Indians  were  incontestably  the  earliest  civilized  nation 
on  earth.  Another  conclusive  proof  of  their  unrivalled 
antiquity  will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  all  the  great  na- 
tions of  the  old  world  derived  their  civilization  from 
India,  that  India  planted  colonies  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  that  these  colonies  afterwards  became  known 
as  Egypt,  Greece,  Persia,  China,  America,  etc.;  and  that 
Scandinavia,  Germany,  and  ancient  Britain  derived  their 
civilization  and  their  religion  from  the  Hindus.  In 
short,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  it  was  India  which 
supplied  the  rest  of  the  world  with  learning,  civilization 
and  religion. 

The  most  ancient  coinao;e  in  the  world  is  that  of 
the  Hindus  (Aryas),  and  the  modern  discoveries  of  the 
coins  of  ancient  India  are  conclusive  proofs  of  the  vast 
antiquity  of  Hindu  civilization.^ 

But  in  Indi^  evervthinu'  is  astounding  to  the  Euro- 
pean.  iSTotwithstanding  the  destructive  ravages  of  bar- 
barous fanaticism,  enough  material  remains  from  which  we 
can  hifer,  upon  scientific  data,  the  age  of  the  present  earth. 

Swami  Dayananda  Saraswati  has  treated  the  subject 
elaborately   in    his   "  Introduction   to   the   Vedas,"   and 

»See  Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol  II.,  pp.  237-238. 

2The  coiuace  of  the  Hindus,  ^^■hatever  mav  be  its  value  and 
character,  is  certauily  of  a  very  remote  antiquity — ElpMnstone's 
Indl'j,  p.  176. 


ANTIQUITY.  9 

also  discussed  it  with  tlie  Keverend  Mr,  Scott  of  Bureilly 
at  Cliandapur  (vide  Arya  Darpaa  for  March  1880, 
p.  67-G8.) 

The  Sanhalp^  which  every  educated  Hindu  in  India 
knows  well,  and  which  is  recited  at  c^'cry  ceremony, 
even  at  a  dip  in  the  sacred  Ganges,  is  the  key  to  unfold 
the  whole  mystery  that  enshrouds  the  view  of  the  time 
at  which  the  earth  assumed  its  present  form. 

^t^3T  cTcH^  ^  ^^Cft  f^??t^  Vi^Txi  ^^^^%3R«^ Jf^S^Tf^*- 

To  understand  what  follows,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  this  world  is  alternately  created  from  and  dissolved 
into  its  material  cause  (^Km) — the  parmdnu  or  atoms — 
after  a  fixed  period.  The  world  exists  in  one  form  for 
a  fixed  period,  and  then,  for  that  verj^  period,  it  exists 
only  in  its  material  cause.  The  former  is  called  "  Brahma 
Din,"  and  the  latter  "Brahma  Ratri." 

As  the  Atharva  Veda  says,  the  Brahma  Din  is  equal 
to  4,320,000,000  years. 

This  Brahma  Din  is  made  up  of  1,000  Chaturyugis 
(4  yugs)  or  Dibyayugs,  as  they  are  also  called.  ]Manu 
(Adhyaya  I)  says  : — 

A  Chaturyugi  or  Dibyayug  means  a  period  of  four 
yugs,  Satyug,  Treta,  Dwapar  and  Kaliyug,  and  consists 


10  HINDU    SUPEPtTORlTY. 

o£  12,000    Dibva    years— Satyug   consisting    of  4,800, 
Trete,    of    3,600,    Dwapar    of   2,400,     and  Kaliyng  of 
1,200  Dibya  years.     Manu  (Chapter  1,  SI.  71)  says  : — 

^TTTiT^^  II  ^^   II     And  again, 

=^c^pJt^:  ^^^ifcr  g^icitg  i\ciV?i?T  i  c{^■^  cTi^x^crt^H^T 

Now,  a  Dibva  year  is  equal  to   oGO  ordinary  years. 
Thus  Satyug  =4,800X360=1,728,000  years. 
Treta     =3,600x360  =  1,296,000       ,, 
.      Dwapur  =  2,400  X  360  =  864,000 
Kaliynir  =  1 ,200  X  360  =  432,000 


J? 

5? 


A  Chaturyu«i  =  4,320,000  years. 

Thus,  the  Brahma  Din  =  4,320,000,000  years.  Thi.s 
is  the  period  for  which  the  world  will  remain  hi  its 
j^resent  form. 

Again,  the  Brahma  Din  is  divided  into  14  Man- 
wan  tras  and  a  IManwantra  into  71  Chaturyugis.  j\Ianu 
says  : — • 

cT^fjT=rt=5J%  11  TT^o  W«   °i  1^°  ■©£.  II 

The  Surya  Siddhanta  also  says : — 


ANTIQUITr.  1  I 

According  to  the  Sanlalp  quoted  ;d)ove,  six  Man- 
wantras^  have  passed,  the  seventh  is  passinji",  and  the 
remaining  seven  have  still  to  come  Each  Chatnryngi 
=  4,320,000,  as  shown  before,  and  4,320,000x71  = 
306,720,000  =  one  Alanwantra.  Kow,  six  ]\Ian\vantras  = 
1,840,320,000  have  pnssed,  and  this  present  Kali3iig 
is  the  Kaliyugof  the  2<Sth  Chaturviiuri.  01"  this  Chatnr- 
yugi,  5,006  years  o£  the  Kaliyug  (the  present  Sanibat 
being-  1963  A^icrama)  have  passed,  ;ind  432,000  —  5^006  = 
426,994  years  of  the  Kaliyng  have  yet  to  pass.  Thus, 
of  the  sevenjth  .Manwantra,  116,640,000  (  27  Chatnr- 
yugis  4,320,000  x  27)  +  3,893,006  (the  period  of  the  28th 
Chaturyugi  alresldy  passed,  4,320,000-426,994)  total 
120,533,006  years  have  passed.  The  period  yet  to  pass 
before  the  day  of  Final  Dissolntion  comes  is  214,704,000 
(rcniainhig  7  Manwantras)  +  186, 186,99 l(of  die  present 
(sixth)  Manwantra.)  =2,333,226,994  years. 

The  Europeans,  "accustomed  as  they  are,"  to  use 
the  words  of  Professor  Sir  ^I.  AVillianis,  "  to  a  limited 
horizon",  will  find  this  vast  anti(|uity  bewildering, 
liillions  surely  are  incredible,  if  not  incomprehensible 
to  pious  ears  accustomed  to  a  scale,  the  highest  note  of 
Avhich  rises  no  higher  than  6,000  years,  lint  matters 
are  improving,  and  even  these  pious  souls  will  in  time 
break  the  shell  and  come  out  into  a  world  in  which  cen- 
turies will  be  replaced  by  milleiniiums. 

Air.  15aldwin  says:  "Doubtless  the  nntiipiitv  of  the 
human  race  is  much  greater  than  is  usually  assumed  by 

^Tlie  six  Miuiwantras  already  passed  arc  8\va\aniltliav,  Swarocliis, 
Autami,  Taiiifis,  Ilaivat,  Chakshus,  VaivaSTvat.  The  seven  ^lanwantras 
to  couie  are  named  Sa-ivaniit.  Daks'iasawaniili.  Dralinia,  Sawarnili, 
Dharra  Sawaniih,  Rudra[iUclio,  Roclij-aslieha  and  Cliotakali. 


12  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

those  whose  views  o£  the  past  are  still  regulated  by  mediae- 
val systems  of  chronology.  Archaeology  and  linguistic 
science,  not  to  speak  here  of  Geology,  make  it  certain 
that  the  period  between  the  beginning  of  the  human 
race  and  the  birth  of  Christ  would  be  more  accurately 
stated  if  the  centuries  counted  in  the  longest  estimate 
of  the  rabbinical  chronologies  should  be  changed  to  mil- 
lenniums. And  they  present  also  another  fact,  namely, 
that  the  antiquity  of  civilization  is  very  great,  and  suggest 
that  in  remote  ages  it  may  have  existed,  with  important 
developments,  in  regions  of  the  earth  now  described  as 
barbarous  *  *  '  The  representation  of  some  speculators 
that  the  condition  of  the  human  race  since  its  first 
appearance  on  earth  has  been  a  condition  of  universal  and 
hopeless  savagery  down  to  a  comparatively  modern  date, 
is  an  assumption  merely,  an  unwarranted  assumption 
used  in  support  of  an  unproved  and  unprovable  theory 
of  man's  origin." ^ 


iLWiklwiu's  Ancient  America,  p.  181, 


GOVERNMENT.  \l 


IL— GOVEKXMEXT. 

For  I'oiius  of  GovormiKMit  let  fools  contest; 
Whate'cr  is  best  mimiuister'd,  is  bo.st. 

—Pope,  E.  M. 

The  saying  o£  the  greatest  English  exponent  of 
Pohtical  Philosophy,  Ediiumd  Burke,  that  no  country 
in  which  population  flourishes  can  be  under  a  Ijad 
Government,  introduces  ns  to  the  subject  of  the  political 
constitution  of  Ancient  India.  Burke  lays  down  two 
important  standards  to  test  the  good  or  bad  govern- 
ment of  a  nation  :  (i)    Popnlation,  jmd  (ii)  AVcalth. 

All  the  Ancient  Greek  writers  and  travellers  arc 
agreed  that  the  Ancient  Aryas  were  the  largest  nation 
on  the  earth. 

Appollodorus  ^  states  that  "  there  were  between 
the  Hydaspes  and  Hypanis  (Hypasis)  1,500  cities,  none 
of  which  was  less  than  Cos." 

Megasthenes  says  that  "there  are  120  nations  in 
India."  Arrian  admits  that  the  Indians  were  the  most 
numerous  people-  and  that  it  was  impossible  to  know 
and  ennmerate  the  cities  in  Aryavarta.  Strabo  says 
that  Eukratides  was  the  master  of  1,000  cities  bet- 
ween Hydaspes  and  Hyphasis.  Professor  Max  Dunker" 
says   "the    Indians  were  the   largest  of    the    nations." 

]  Elphiustonc's  India,  p.  241.     See  Strabo,  Lib.  XV. 
^See  his  Chapter  ou  India,  C.  VII.  See  also  his  History  of  Nations, 
G, 22,23. 

^History  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  V.,  p.  18. 


14  HINDU    SUrERIORlTV. 

Ctesius  states  that  "they  (Hindus)  were  as  numerous  as 
all  the  other  nations  put  tot/ether.^^^ 

But  the  most  important  j^roof  of  the  over-abnnd;nit 
population  o£  Ancient  India  is  to  be  found  in  the  suc- 
cessive waves  of  emigration  from  India  to  the  different 
parts  of  the  worhl,  founding  colonies  and  planting 
settlements  in  what  are  now  called  the  Old  and  the 
^''ew  AVorlds. 

As  re^rards  wealth,  India  has  always  been  famous 
for  its  immense  riches.  "Golden  India"  is  a  hack- 
I'^eyed  phrase.-  Both  in  population  and  in  wealtli, 
India,  at  one  time  was  not  only  j^re-cminent  but  was 
■without  a  rival. 

What  higher  authorit}',  what  more  positive  proof 
of  the  good  government  of  Ancient  India  is  required 
than  the  fact  that  "Ancient  India  knew  no  thieves,"'" 
nor  knew  why  to  shut  the  doors  of  its  houses  even  at 
the  time  when,  according  to  Dr.  Johnson,  "  the  capital  of 
the  most  civilized  nation  of  modern  times  is  the  true 
Satan-at-home." 

'  Prepare  for  deatli.  if  here  at  i\ight  you  roam, 
And  sign  your  will  before  you  sleep  from  honie.' 

The  form  of  Government  depends  upon  the 
character  of  a  people,  the  conditions  of  life  obtaining 
among  them,  and  the  principles  of  their  social  system. 

iStrabo  states  that  "  Polibhothra  was  eight  miles  long  and 
had  a  rampart  Avhich  had  570  towers  and  64  gates."  As  late  even  as 
the  IGtli  century,  Kanauj  was  reported  to  have  contained  no  less 
than  30,000  shops  of  betelsellers  and  "  .sixty  thousand  sets  of  musicians." 
See  Historical  Reseai-ches,  Vol.  II.,  p.  220. 

-For  further  information  on  this  subject,  see  "Wealth." 

^'Sec  Strabo,  Lib.  XV.  p.  iSS  (1587  edition). 


GOvi:i;nmi:nt.  1 .  j 

Witli  clianiros  in  respect  of  these  mnttcr.-;,  the  form  <>[ 
Government  also  nndero-oes  a  change.  Ih-oadly  sj)e!ik- 
ing,  the  best  form  of  Government  is  that  Avhich  enaljles 
onlv  men  of  hiiih  character,  noble  minds,  wide  svm- 
pathies,  men  of  sterling  qualities  and  talents  to  rise  to 
the  top,  and  prevents  men  of  shallow  minds,  mean 
capacities,  narrow  sympathies,  and  nnscrnpnlons  cliarac- 
ters  from  coming  into  power,  it  being  always  understood 
that  the  proper  functions  of  Government  arc  onlv  (i) 
national  defence,  and  (it)  protection  of  one  individual 
or  of  one  class  from  another. 

The  form  of  Government  may  vary,  but  the  spirit 
depends  on  the  ethical  side  of  a  people's  character.  It 
is  well  said — 

Political  rights,  liowevor  liroadly  fiainod, 
Will  not  ehn'ate  a  people  iiuliviilually  depravod. 

If  high  moral  principles  guide  the  people  in  their 
dailv  conduct  as  a  nation,  the  Government  of  that 
nation  is  frea  from  those  pu-ty  strifes,  that  incessant 
"warfare  raged  by  one  individual  against  another  and  I)v 
one  class  against  another  for  power  or  for  protection, 
which  is  a  leading  feature  of  all  Euro})ean  and  Ameriean 
Governments  of  the  present  day.  It  is  this  law  that 
discovers  to  us  the  eternal  princi[)le,  that  sj)iritual  eleva- 
tion not  only  helps  material  ])rosperity  but  is  essential  to 
the  ]ia]>piness  of  a  people,  and  that  it  is  an  index  to  the 
realization  of  the  aim  and  object  of  jdl  government. 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  says:  "There  has  grown  up 
quite  naturally,  and  indeed  almost  inevitabl}'  among 
civilized  peoples,  an  identification  of  freedom  wiih 
the  political  appliance-?  established  to  maintain  free- 
dom. The  two  are  confused  together  in  thought  ; 
or,    to    express    the    fact    more     correctly,     they    have 


16  HINDU    SUrERIORlTY. 

not  yet  been  separated  in  thon^^ht.  In  most  coun- 
tries during'  ])ast  times,  and  in  many  countries  at 
the  present  time,  experience  has  associated  in  men's 
minds  the  unchecked  power  o£  a  ruler  with  extreme 
coercion  of  the  ruled.  Contrariwise,  in  countries  where 
the  people  have  acquired  some  power,  the  restraints  on 
the  liberties  of  individuals  have  been  relaxed  ;  and 
with  advance  towards  government  by  the  majority, 
there  has,  on  the  average,  been  a  progressing  abolition 
of  laws  and  removal  of  burdens  which  unduly  interfered 
with  suc]i  liberties.  Hence,  by  contrast,  popularly- 
governed  nations  have  come  to  lie  regarded  as  free 
nations  ;  and  possession  of  political  power  by  all  is 
supposed  to  be  the  same  thing  as  freedom.  But  the 
assumed  identity  of  the  two  is  a  delusion — delusion, 
which,  like  many  other  delusions,  results  from  confound- 
ing Dieans  with  ends.  Freedom  in  its  absolute  form 
is  the  absence  of  all  external  checks  to  whatever  actions 
the  will  prom])ts  ;  and  freedom  in  its  socially-restricted 
form  is  the  absence  of  anv  other  external  checks  than 
those  arising  from  the  presence  of  other  men  wdio  have 
like  claims  to  do  what  their  Avills  prompt.  The  mutual 
checks  hence  resulting  are  the  only  checks  which  free- 
dom, in  the  true  sense  of  the  w^ord,  permits.  The 
sphere  within  which  each  may  act  without  trespassing 
on  the  like  spheres  of  others,  cannot  be  intruded  upon 
by  any  agency,  private  or  public,  wdthout  an  equivalent 
loss  of  freedom  ;  and  it  matters  not  whether  the  pubhc 
agency  is  autocratic  or  democratic  :  the  intrusion  is 
essentially  the  same."i 

1  Herbert  Spencer's  Autobiography,  Vol   I.,  p.  139, 


GOVKIlXilKNT.  17 

It  is  (liio  to  fi  thorough  recog-nition  of  this  trutli 
that  the  Iiidiun  sages  laid  so  mucli  stress  on  the  necessity 
of  formation  of  Hindu  cliaracter  on  ethical  and  altruistic 
I^rinciples,  to  secure  political  as  well  as  social  prosijerity. 
The  higher  the  ethical  development  of  character,  the 
greater  the  freedom  enjo3'ed  by  a  people.  It  is  in  this 
sense  true  that  the  best-governed  people  is  the  least- 
governed  peoj)le.  Over-government  is  an  evil,  a  positive 
evil,  and  a  very  frequent  evil.  Over-government  defeats 
its  own  ends.  The  real  object  of  government  is  frustrat- 
ed :  its  proper  functions  are  neglected. 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  says  :  "Among  mechanicians 
it  is  a  recognized  truth  that  the  multiplication  of  levers, 
wheels,  cranks    &c.,   in    an   apparatus,   involves  loss  of 
power,  and  increases  the  chances    of    going   wrong.     Is 
it    not   so  with    Government    machinery,    as   compared 
witli  the  simpler  machinerj'  men  frame   in   its   absence  ? 
Moreover,    men's    desires   when   left  to   achieve    their 
own  satisfaction,  follow  the  order  of  decreasinir  inten- 
sity  and  importance  :    the  essential  ones   being   satisfied 
first.       But    when,    instead    of   airo-re2;ates   of   desires 
spontaneously  working  for  their  ends  we  get  the  judg- 
ments of  Governments,  there  is  no  guarantee  that  the 
order  of  relative  importance  will  be  followed,  and  there 
is  abundant  proof  that  it  is  not  followed.     Adaptation 
to   one   function    pre-supposes    more    or    less    unfitness 
for    other    functions  ;    and    pre-occupation    with    many 
functions  is  unfavourable  to  the  complete  discharge   of 
anyone.      Beyond  the  function  of  national  defence,  the 
essential    function  to   be   discharged  by   a   Government 
is  that  of  seeinu:  that  the  citizens  in  seeking  satisfaction 


18  -        HINDU    SUrEKIORITY. 

for  tbcir  own  desires,  individually  or  in  gTOups,  shull 
not  injure  one  another ;  and  its  failure  to  ])erform  thi>ri 
function  is  great  in  proportion  as  its  other  functions 
are  nameroos.  The  daily  scandals  of  oin-  judicial  system, 
which  often  brings  ruin  instead  of  restitution,  and 
frightens  away  multitudes  who  need  protection,  result 
in  large  measure  from  the  pre-occupation  of  statesmen 
and  politicians  with  non-essential  things,  Avhile  the  all- 
essential  thing  passes  almost  unheeded."^ 

In  ancient  India,  owing  to  the  high  ethical  and  spiri- 
tual development  of  the  people,  they  were  not  over- 
governed.  They  enjoyed  the  greatest  individual  freedom 
compatible  with  national  cohesion  and  national  security. 
It  is  owing  to  this  want  o£  ethical  and  altruistic  develop- 
ment of  character  of  the  Westerners  that  freedom, 
in  its  true  sense,  is  not  yet  enjoyed  in  Europe  and 
America. 

Mr,  Herbert  Spencer  says:  "Onlv  alono:  witli  tlie 
gradual  moulding  of  inen  to  tlie  social  state  has  it  be- 
come possible,  without  social  disruption  for  those  ideas 
and  feelings  which  cause  resistance  to  unlimited  autho- 
rity, to  assert  themselves  and  to  restrict  the  authority. 
At  pi-esent  the  need  for  the  authority,  and  for  the 
sentiment  which  causes  submission  to  it,  continues  to 
be  great.      While  the   most  advanced   nations   vie   with 

one  another  it  is  manifest  that  their  members  are  far 
too  aggressive  to  permit  much  weakening  of  restrainino- 
atrencies  by  which  order  is  maintained  araon<'-  them. 
The  unlimited   right  of  the  majority  to  rule   is  probablv 

^  Autobiogiapliy,  Vol,  1,  p,  4L'2. 


GoVEKNMKNT.  19 

as  advanced  a  conception  of  freedom  as  can  safely  ])e 
entertained  at  present,  if,  indeed,  even  that  can  safely 
be  entertained.' 

After  the  ^lahabharata,  the  Hindu  statesmen  tried 
to   preserve   a^    nnich   of  the   old  Constitution   as    tliey 
conld,    ^Yhile    providing    for    the    assimilation    of    new 
elements  consequent  on  the   sliohtlv-chanixed   conditions 
of  life,     Burke  truly  snys  that  tlie  true  stxatesman  is  he 
who    preserves   what   is  acquired   and  leaves   room   for 
future    improvement.     Thus,    though    the    comparative 
neglect  of  the  ethical  and  spiritual  culture  of  the  Hindus 
after  the  beginning  of  the  Kaliy  uga  affected  their  indi\idual 
freedom,  yet  the  ground \vork  of  the  Constitution   being 
sound,  it  was  able  to  adapt  itself  to   changing  circum- 
stances, and,  as  the  necessities  of  the   situation  plainly 
demanded,    more    heed    Avas    paid    to    the    conservative 
principles    than    the   progressive   ones.     But   the   spirit 
of  the  Constitution  was  never  affected  till  its  practical 
dissolution  with  the  advent  of  the  foreigners  in  India. 

"  Arrain  -  mentions  with  admiration  that  ever}' 
Indian  is  free."  Lieutenant-Colonel  Mark  Wilks,'  while 
discussing  the  political  system  in  its  provincial  work- 
in"',  says  :"  Each  Hindu  township  is,  and  indeed  al- 
ways was,  a  particular  counnunity  or  petty  republic 
by  itself."  ""  The  whole  of  India,  "  he  says  again, 
"  is  nothing  more  than  one  vast  congeries  of  such 
republics." 


1  Autobiography,  Vol   T,  p.  441. 

2 See  Indica,  Cli.  X.  See  also  Diodoras,  lib.  II,  p.  214  (edition  1G04). 

See  also  Elphiiisfcone's  India,  p.  239. 

SHistorical  Sketches  of  the  South  oi  India,  Vul.  J,  p.  119. 


20  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

These  facts  clo  not  seem  to  support  the  theory  that 
representative  government  does  not  suit  the  genius 
of  the  Hindus.  Even  Mr.  James  Mill  is  forced  to  admit 
that  "  in  examining  the  spirit  of  these  ancient  Constitu- 
tions and  laws,  we  discover  evident  traces  of  a  germ  of 
republicanism."^ 

As  regards  the  executive  system,  Professor  ^lax 
Dunker  says  :  "  The  king  placed  officers  over  every 
village  (called  pati),  and  again  over  ten  or  twenty 
villages  (gramh),  so  that  these  places  with  their  acreage 
formed  together  a  district.  Five  or  ten  such  districts 
formed  a  canton  which  contained  a  hundred  communities, 
and  over  this,  in  turn,  the  king  placed  a  higher 
maoistrate  :  ten  of  these  cantons  form  a  reo;ion  which 
thus  comprised  a  thousand  villages,  and  this  was  adminis- 
tered by  a  Governor.  The  overseers  of  districts  were 
to  have  soldiers  at  their  disposal  to  maintain  order 
(Polics.)  This  is  of  itself  evidence  of  an  advanced  stage 
of  administration."^ 

The  Police  of  India  was  excellent.  Megasthenes 
says,  that  in  the  camp  of  Sandrocottus,  which  he  esti- 
mates to  have  contained  400,000  men,  the  sums  stolen 
dailv  did  not  amount  to  more  than  Rs.  30.^ 

As  regards  the  strength  of  the  representative  institu- 
tions,   Sir   Charles   Metcalfe*    says  :  "  The  village  com- 

iThat  the  people  took  active  interest  in  polities  is  exhibited  by 
their  instigating  Samhas  to  fly  from  Alexander  and  Musicanus  to 
break  the  peace  made  with  Alexander. 

2History  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  IV,  p.  215. 

oElphinstone's  India,  p.  2il.  There  was  no  organized  Police 
Service  in  England  before  the  reign  of  Queen  Victoria, 

4  Report  of  the  S-elect  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commonss 
1832,  Vol.  Ill,  Appendices,  p.  3o, 


GOVEUXMEXT.  21 


muiiities  are  little  re])ublics  having  nearly  cvcrythin<>- 
they  can  want  within  themselves  and  almost  independent 
o£  any  foreign  nation.  They  seem  to  last  where 
nothing  else  lasts.  D3'nasty  after  dynasty  tumhles  down, 
revolution  succeeds  revolution,  and  Pathan,  ]\Ioghul, 
Mahratta,  Sikh,  English  are  all  masters  intnrn,  l)ut  the 
village  communities  remain  the  same.  This  union  nf 
village  communities,  each  one  forming  a  separate  little 
State  in  itself,  is  in  a  hio'h  deo:ree  conducive  to  their 
(Hindu)  happiness,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  a  great 
portion  of  freedom  and  inde])endence." 

The  benevolent  nature  of  the  Hindu  civilization  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  Hindu  Colonies  and  depen- 
dencies enjoyed  the  same  Constitution  as  the  mother 
country.  Sir  Stamford  RatHes^  says  about  Bali,  an 
island  east  of  Java:  "  Here,  together  with  the  Brahminioal 
religion  is  still  preserved  the  ancient  form  of  Hindu 
municipal  polity." 

Hindu  works  on  diplomacy,  polity  and  government 
(though  few  are  now  extant)  show  the  high  development 
that  political  thought  reached  in  those  days.  Some  of 
them  have  been  translated  into  Persian  and  thence  into 
European  languages.  Abu  Sabhhad  had  the  Eajnitl 
translated  into  Persian  in  1150  A.D.  Buzarchameher, 
the  renowned  minister  of  Nausherwan  the  Just,  received 
his  poUtical  education  and  training  in  India. 

1  Description  of  Java,  Vol.  II,  Appendix,  p.  2:37. 

After  quoting  some  passages  from  Manu,  Colonel  Briggs  says: 
"  These  extracts  afford  us  sufficient  proof  of  a  well-organised  system 
of  local  superiutondcnee  and  aduiiniiitration." — Brigg's  Land  Tax  of 
India,  p.  2i. 


22  HINDU    SUrEKIUlilTY. 

Law  is  a  test  of  o'ood  ii:overiiment.  The  ixreat 
Hindu  work  on  law  is  a  marvel  of  simplicity  and 
wisdom.  Without  beino-  complex,  it  satisfied  all  the 
diverse  wants  of  the  people.  Its  provisions  did  not 
chano;e  everv  week,  and  vet  thev  suited  the  varied 
circumstances  of  Hindu  societ}^  Sir  W.  Jones^  says  : — 
"  The  laws  of  Manu  very  probably  were  considerably 
older  than  those  of  Solon  or  even  of  Lycurgns,  although 
the  Dromulo-ation  of  them,  before  thev  were  reduced  to 
w^ritino-  miohthave  been  coeval  with  the  first  monarchies 
established  in  Egypt  and  India." 

The  Enii'lish  derived  their  laws  from  the  Romans, 
who,  in  their  turn,  derived  them  from  Greece.    Durini''  the 

7  7  O 

Decemvirate,  Greece  seems  to  have  been  indebted  to  India 
for  its  laws.  Sir  W.  Jones  says  :  -  "  Although  perhaps 
Manu  was  never  in  Crete,-'  yet,  some  of  his  institutions 
may  ^vell  have  been  adopted  in  that  island,  whence 
Lycurgns  a  century  or  two  after  may  have  imported 
them  into  Sparta." 

The  Bible  in  India  says  that  the  IManu  Smriti  was 
the  foundation  upon  which  the  Egyptian,  the  Persian, 
the  Grecian  and  the  Roman  Codes  of  law  were  built,  and 
that  the  influence  of  Manu  was  still  every  day  felt  in 
Europe. 

Professor  Wilson*  says,  the  Hindu  had  "  a  code  of 
Laws  adapted  to  a  great  variety  of  relations  which  coul  d 
not  have  existed  except  in  an  advanced  condition  of  social 


organization." 


1  Houghton's  Institutes  of  Hindu  Law,  Preface,  p.  x, 
2 Preface  to  Houghton's  Institutes  of  Hindu  Law,  p.  xii. 
^The  oneness  of  Minas  and  ]\Ianu  is  highly  probable. 
^Mill's  India,  Vol.  II,  p,  2^2. 


GOVKliXMKNT.  I'ii 

Colemani  s:ivs:"TIie  style  of  it  (^Innii^  has  a 
certain  austere  majesty  that  souiuls  like  the  Iniiiiiia^e 
ol:  legislation  and  extorts  a  respectL'ul  awe.  The  senti- 
ments of  inde])en(lence  on  all  beings  but  God,  aud  the 
harsh  administrations  even  to  kiujj's  are  trul\"  noble,  and 
the  many  panegyrics  on  the  Gayatri  prove  the  author 
to  have  adored  that  divine  and  incomparably-greater 
liii'ht  which  illiuuines  all,  delio'hts  all,  from  which  all 
proceed,  to  which  all  must  return,  and  which  can  alone 
irradiate  our  intellect." 

Dr.  Robertson   says:  '"  With  respect  to  the  number 
and  variety  of  points  the  Hiudu  code   considers  it  will 
bear  a  comparison  Y\'ith  the   celebrated  Digest  of  Justi- 
nian, or  with  the  systems  of  jurisprudence  in  nations  most 
highly  civilized.     The  articles  of  which  the  Hindu  code  is 
composed  are  arranged   in   natural  and  luminous  order. 
They  are  numerous  and  comprehensive,  and  investigated 
with   that  minute  attention  and  discernment  which  are 
natural  to  a  people  distinguished  for  acuteness  and  subtlety 
of  understanding,  rvdio  have  been  long  accustomed  to  the 
accuracy  of    judicird   proceedings,   and    acquainted   witli 
all  the  rehnements  of  legal  practice.      The  decisions  con- 
cerning every   point  are  founded   upon    the    great    and 
immutable  principles  of  justice  which  the   human    mind 
acknowledges  and  respects  in  every  age  and  in  all  parts  of 
the  earth.       Whoever  examines  the  whole  work  cannot 
entertain   a   doubt  of   its  containing   the   jurisprudence 
of    an   enlightened    and    commercial    people.     Whoever 
looks  into  any  particular  title  will  be  surprised  with  a 
minuteness  of  detail  and  nicety  of  distinction  which,  in 

iColeuiau's  Mythology  of  the  Ilindii^s,  p.  8, 


24  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

many  instances,  seem  to  go  beyond  the  attention  of 
European  legislation;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  some  o£ 
the  regulations  wL-ich  indicate  the  greatest  degree  o£ 
refinement  were  established  in  periods  of  the  most 
remote  antiquity."^ 

Mr,  Mill  says  that  "the  division  and  arrano'ement  of 
Hindu  law  is  rude  and  shows  the  barbarism  of  the 
nation";  upon  which  Professor  Wilson,  with  his  usual 
candour,  remarks  :  "  By  this  test,  tl'ie  attempt  to 
classify  would  place  the  Hindus  hiijiher  in  civilization 
than  the  Knglish."^ 

Mr.  Mill's  revievr  of  Hindu  religion  and  laws  is  a  ])iece 
of  stupendous  perversii}^  ignorance  and  stn])idity.     Pro- 
fessor Wilson   speaks   of  it  in  the  following  terms  : — 
"  The   whole   of  this  review  of   the  religion   as  well  as 
of   the    laws    of  the  Hindus  is   full   of   serious  defects 
arising  from  inveterate  prejudices  and  imperfect  know- 
ledge."'^     Of  Mill's  Historv  of  British  India,  Prof.  Max 
MuUer  says  : — "The  book  which  I  consider  most  mis- 
chievous, nay,  which  I  hold  responsible  tor   some  of  the 
greatest  misfortunes  that  have  happened  in  India,  is  Mills' 
History  of  India,  even  with  the  antidote  against  its  poison 
which  is  supplied  by  Professor  Wilson's  notes. "-^  Professor 
Max    Muller     deplores    that    "  the    candidates    for    the 
Civil  Service  of  India  are  recommended  to  read  it  and  are 
examined  in  it.  "''    What  wonder,  then,  that  there  is  often 

misunderstandin2:  between  the  rulers  and  the  ruled  in 
India  ! 

^  Disquisition  conceniing  India,  Appendix,  p.  217 

-'Mills'  India,  Vol.  I],  pp.  2iM-25. 

^Mills'  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  4o6  (Xote). 

"^Inella  :  what  can  it  teach  us,  p.  42. 

5Max  MuUer's  India:  What  can  it  teach  us?  p.  42, 


GOVERNMENT.  25 

While  discussing  Mill's  views,  Professor  Wilson 
again  says:  "According  to  tiiis  theory  (Mill's  theory  con- 
tained in  his  explaiijition  of  the  causes  of  comphix 
procedure  in  the  English  courts  of  law)  the  corruption 
of  the  juilgo  is  the  best  security  for  justice.  It  would 
be  dangerous  to  reduce  this  to  practice."^ 


1  Mill's  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  512. — Mill  say.s  tliat  ])ocanse  the  Hindus 
lend  money  on  pledges,  thercFore  they  are  barbaron.s.  On  this,  Pro- 
fessor "Wilsmi  savs  : — "  Lendintr  on  ])ledires  can  scarcely  he  roirarded  as 
pro>)f  of  a  snite  of  barliarism,  or  the  nuiltilude  of  ]'!i\vn-bi(ikers  in 
Lond(Mi  would  witness  our  being  very  low  in  the  scale  of  civilization." 
J\Iill  declares  the  Mohammedan  Code  to  be  superior  to  the  Hindu  Code. 
"  In  civil  branch,"  replies  Wilson,  "the  laws  of  Contract  and  Inheritance, 
it  is  not  so  exact  or  complete  as  the  latter  (Hindus'1.  Its  (jMohnmc- 
dan)  spirit  of  barbarous  retaliation  is  unknown  to  the  Hindu  Code." 
Mill  tlunks  that  perjui-y  is  a  virtue  according  to  the  Hindu  Code.  But 
Wilson  clearly  proves  that  this  is  a  creation  of  Mill's  diseased  imagination. 

It  is  further  objected  that  the  uncertainties  of  the  Hindu  law  are 
very  great.      Prof.   Wilson   (Essays,    A"ol.    Ill,  page  5tl))  remarks:  "  If 
the  unci'rtainties  of  the   I'^iiglish  law  are  less  perplexing  than  those  of 
the  Hindu  law,  we  doubt  if  its  delays  are  not  something  more  intermin- 
able.    A  long  time  elapses  before  a  cause  comes  for  decision  and  abun- 
dant   oppoitunity    is    therrfore    afforded    for     the    tral'lic    of    underhand 
negotiations,  intrigues  and  corru[iti(m.     It  is   needless  to  cite   mstances 
to  prove  the  conseqaence  or  to  make  any  individual  application  :   public 
events  have  reinlcred  tho  fact  notorious.     It  can  scarcely   be  otherwise.  ' 
Bathe   returns  to  the  charge  and  says  :-"  They  say  that  Pandits  don't 
agree  in   the  discharge  of   Hindu    law.      But  see    in    the    case    of  Vira- 
plrmah  PiUay  versus  Karain  I'illay.  the  opinion  of  the  two  English  judges. 
The  Chief   Justice  of    Bengal    declares  that  a  decision   pronounced   and 
argued  with  grc-at   pains  by  the  Chief  Justice  at  Madras,  will  mislead 
those  bv  ^^hom  it  may  be  followed,  and  that  the  doctrine  which  it  incul- 
cates is  contrary  to  law."      Professor    Wilson    again    says  :-The   Chi-'f 
Justice  of  Hengal  says  that    "  he  would  connive    at    immoral    acts    :f   he 
bought  they  led  to  useful  results." 


26  HINDU    SUPKRIORITY. 

An  eminent  anthoritv,  the  late  Chief  .Tn.stice  of 
Madras,  Sir  Thomas  Stranire,  says  of  tlie  Hindu  Law  of 
Evidence  :  "  It  will  be  read  by  every  English  lawyer  with 
a  mixture  of  admiration  and  delio'ht,  as  it  mav  be  studied 
bv  him  to  advantao'e." 

A  writer  in  the  Asiatic  Journal  (p.  14)  saA'.s  :  "  All 
the  requisite  shades  of  care  and  diligence,  the  corres- 
ponding shades  o£  negligence  and  default  are  carefully 
observed  in  the  Hindu  law  of  bailment,  and  neither  in 
the  jurisprudence  nor  in  the  legal  treatises  of  the  most 
civilised  States  o£  Europe  are  they  to  be  found  more 
logically  expressed  or  more  accurate!}'  defined.  In  the 
spirit  of  Pyrrhus'  observation  on  the  Roman  legionfi^,  one 
cannot  refrain  from  exclaimino-  "  I  see  nothing'  barbarous 
in  the   jurisprudence  of  the  Hindus." 

Of  the  Commentary  of  Calluca  on  ]\Ianu,  Sir 
AV.  Jones  says  :  "It  is  the  shortest  yet  the  most  luminous; 
the  least  ostentatious  yet  the  most  learned  ;  the  deepest 
yet  the  most  agreeable  commentary  ever  composed  on  ciny 
author  ancient  or  modern.,  European  or  Asiatic.''''^ 


1  Preface  to  Houghton's  Institutes  of  Hindu  Law,  p.  18. 


SOCIAL    SYSTEM.  27 


III.— SOCIAL  SYSTEM. 

Hail,  i^ocial  life  !  into  thy  pleasing  bonnds 
A^ujuin  I  come  to  piiv  the  conmiou  stock 
]My  siiare  ut'  service,  uiid,  in  glad  return 
To  taste  thy  comforts,  thy  protected  joys. 

— Thomson'  :  Agamemnon. 

The  Hindus  perfected  society.  The  social  organization 
of  the  people  was  based  on  scientific  ])rinciples,  and 
was  well  calculated  to  ensure  progress  without  party 
strife.  There  was  no  accumulation  of  wealth  in  one 
portion  of  the  communit^y,  leaving  the  other  portion 
in  destitute  poverty  ;  no  social  forces  stimulating  the 
increase  of  the  wealth  of  the  one  and  the  poverty  of 
the  other,  as  is  the  tendency  of  the  modern  ci\ilization. 
The  keynote  of  the  system,  however,  was  national 
service.  It  afforded  to  every  memljcr  of  the  social 
bod)-,  opportunities  and  means  to  develop  fully  his 
powers  and  capacities,  and  to  use  them  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  common  weal.  Everyone  was  to  serve  the 
nation  in  the  s])herc  in  which  he  was  best  fitted  to 
act,  which,  being  congenial  to  his  individual  genius,  was 
conducive  to  the  highest  development  of  his  faculties 
and  powers. 

There  was  thus  a  wise  and  statesmanlike  classifica- 
tion which  procured  a  general  distribution  of  wealth, 
expelled  misery  and  want  from  tlie  land,  promoted 
mental  and  moral  progress,  ensured  national  efficiency, 
and,  above  all,  made  tranquillity  compatible  witli  ad- 
vancement ;    in    one    word,   dropped   manna  all   round 


2S  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

and  made  life  doubly  sweet  by  securing  external  peace 
with  national  efficiency  and  social  happiness — a  condi- 
tion of  affairs  nowliere  else  so  fully  realized. 

This  classification — this  principle  of  social  organiza- 
tion— was  the  Varndshrama.  Mankind  were  divided 
into  two  classes,  (1)  the  Aryas  and  (2)  the  Dasyus,  or 
the  civilized  and  the  savage.  The  Aryas  were  sub- 
divided into  : — 

1.  Brahmanas,  who  devoted  themselves  to  learning 

and   acquiring  wisdom  and  following  the 
liberal  arts  and  sciences. 

2.  Kshatriyas,  who  devoted  themselves  to  the  theory 

and    practice    of    war,   and  to    whom  the 

executive   Government   of   the   people  was 
entrusted. 

3.  Yaishyas,  who  devoted  themselves  to  trade  and 

the  professions. 

4.  Sudras  (men  of  low  capacities),  who  served  and 

helped  the  other  three  classes. 
This  classification  is  a  necessary  one  in  all  civi- 
lized countries  iu  some  form  or  other.  It  was  the  glory 
of  ancient  Aryavarta  that  this  classification  existed 
there  in  its  perfect  form  and  was  based  on  scientific 
principles — on  the  principle  of  heredity  (which  has  not 
yet  been  fully  appreciated  by  European  thinkers),  the 
conservation  of  energy,  economy  of  labour,  facility 
of  development,  and  specialization  of  faculties.  Literary 
men,  soldiers,  doctors,  lawyers,  clergymen,  traders,  and 
servants  are  to  be  found  in  England,  France,  America, 
and  in  every  other  civilized  country  of  modern  times, 
as  they  were  in   Ancient  India.     The  only  difference 


SOCIAL    SYSTEM.  29 

is  that  in  one  case  the  division  was  perfect  and  tho 
■working  of  its  marvellous  mechanism  regular,  Avhilc 
in  the  other  the  classification  is  imperfect  and  its  working 
irregular  and  haphazard. 

The  Varndshrama  was  not  the  same  as  the  caste 
system  of  the  present  dav — a  travesty  of  its  ancient 
original.  Xo  one  was  a  Brahman  by  blood  nor  a  Siidra 
by  birth,  but  everyone  was  such  as  his  merits  fitted  him 
to  be.  "  The  peo})le,^'  says  Col.  Olcott,  "  were  not,  as 
no\v,  irrevocably  walled  in  by  castes,  but  they  were  free 
to  rise  to  the  hiiihest  social  diij-nities  or  sink  to  the  lowest 
positions,  according  to  the  inherent  qualities  they  might 
possess." 

The  son  of  a  Brahman  sometimes  became  a  Ksha- 
triya,  sometimes  a  Yaishya,  and  sometimes  a  Sudra. 
At  the  same  time,  a  Sudra  as  certainly  became  a  l>rali- 
man  or  a  Kshatriya.      Shanler  Dig  Vijya  says  : — 

%?  ^^^^[    ^%f^^:    ^%[  STllTfcT    ^T^?n:  || 
"  By  birth  all  are    Sudra,  by  actions  men  become 
Dicija  (twice-born).    By  reading  the  Vedas  one  becomes 
Vipra  and  becomes  Brahman   by  gaining  a   knowledge 
of  God." 

A  passage  in  the  Vanparva  of  the  ]Mahabharata 
runs  thus:  "He  in  whom  the  qualities  of  truth,  muni- 
ficence, forgiveness,  gentleness,  abstinence  from  cruel 
deeds,  contemplation,  benevolence  are  observed,  is  called 
a  Brahman  in  the  Smriti.  A  man  is  not  a  Sudra  Ijy 
being  a  Sudra  nor  a  Brahman  bv  being  a  Brahman." 
The  Mahabharata  (Santiparva)  says  : — 


30  HINDU    SUPERIOIUTY. 

"  There  are  no  distinctions  of  caste.  Thus,  a  world 
which,  as  created  by  Brahma,  was  at  first  entirely  Brah- 
manic  has  become  divided  into  classes,  in  consequence 
ot:  men's  actions. 

In  his  paper  on  "  Sanskrit  as  a  Liviiio-  LauLi'- 
uao"e  in  India,"  read  before  the  International  Coni^-ress 
of  Orientahsts  at  Berlin,  on  the  14th  September 
1881,  Mr.  Shyamji  Krishnavarina  said  : — "  We  read 
in  the  Aitareya  lU-fdimana  (,ii.  3.  ID),  for  example, 
that  Kavasha  Ailusha,  who  was  a  Sudra  and  son  of  a 
low^  woman,  was  greatly  respected  for  his  literary 
attainments,  and  admitted  into  the  class  of  Ivisbis. 
Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  his  life  is  that 
he,  Sndra  as  he  was,  distinguished  himself  as  the  Rishi 
of  some  of  the  hymns  of  the  Rig-Veda  (Rig.,  X.  30-34). 
It  is  distinctly  stated  in  the  Chandogyopanishad  that 
Jabala,  who  is  otherwise  called  Satya-Kama,  had  no 
gotra,  or  family  name  whatever  (Chan-Upa,  IV.  4)  ; 
all  that  we  know  about  his  parentage  is  that  he  Avas  the 
son  of  a  woman  named  Jabala,  and  that  he  is  called  after 
his  mother.  Though  born  of  unknown  parents,  Jilbala 
is  said  to  have  been  the  founder  of  a  school  of  the  Yajur- 
Yeda.  Even  in  the  Apastamba-Sutra  (ii.  5-10)  and  the 
Manusmriti  (x.  65),  we  find  that  a  Sudra  can  become  a 
Brahman  and  a  Bnlhman  can  become  a  Sudra,  accord- 
ing to  their  good  or  bad  deeds,  Piinini  mentions  the 
name  of  a  celebrated  grammarian  called  Cakravarmana  in 
the  sixth  chapter  of  his  Ashtadhyayi  (p.  vi.  1. 130);  now 
Cakravarmana  was  a  Kshatriya  by  birth,  since  he  has 
the  prescribed  Kshatriya  termination  at  the  end  of  his 
name,  which  is  a  patronymic  of  Cakravarmana," 


SOCIAL    SYSTE:\r.  31 

Who  were  ^  isvamitri  and  ^'allniki  but  S'.ulras. 
Even  so  late  as  tlic  time  ot"  the  Greek  invasion  of  India,  the 
caste  system  had  not  become  ])eti'ified  into  its  present 
state.  The  (Ire  ^ks  descril)e  four  castes.  ^[agesthenes 
says  that  a  Hindu  of  any  cast(^  may  becon)e  a  Sopliist 
(Brahman.)  Arrian  couiits  seven  classes:  Sopliists, 
Ro-ricalturists,  herdsmen,  handicrafts  and  artizens,  war- 
riors, in?;pectors  and  councillors.  (See  Strabo,  Lib 
XV.) 

Colonel  Tod  sa3-s  :  "  In  the  early  ages  of  these  Solar 
and  Lunar  dynasties,  the  priestly  office  was  not  here- 
ditary in  families  ;  it  was  a  profession,  and  tb.e  g-enealoii'ies 
exhibit  frequent  instances  of  branches  of  these  races 
terminatin<x  their  martial  career  in  the  commencement 
of  a  reliirious  sect  or  "potra"  and  of  their  decendants 
reassuming  their  warlike  occupations."^ 

There  was  no  hereditary  caste.  The  people 
enjoved  the  advantages  of  hereditary  ger.ius  without  the 
serious  drawl)acks  of  ;i  rigid  system  of  caste  based  on 
birth. 

''  The  one  great  object  which  the  promoters  of  the 
hereditary  system  seem  to  liave  had  in  view  was  to 
secure  to  each  class  a  high  degree  of  efficiency  in  its  own 
sphere."  "  Hereditary  genius "  is  now  a  subject  of 
serious  enrpiiry  amongst  the  enlightened  men  of  Europe 
and  America,  and  the  evolution  theory  as  api)lied  to 
sociology,  Avhen  fully  worked  out,  will  fully  show  the 

1    Mauusmrifi,  II,  l.'^H  s^iya:— "  As  lilMTality  tu  a  fool  is  IVuiUoss, 
so  is  a  Brahman  useless    if  lie   ivad  not  the  Holy  Texts  ;  or  again,  he 
is  no  better  than   an   eh'pliant   made  nf  wood  or   an  antelope  made   oi' 
leather." 


?)2  HIXDU    SUrElUOUITV. 

merits  of  the  system.  In  fact  the  India  o£  tlic  time  of 
^1:11111  will  :i])i)u;ir  to  hwvc  roiiclicd  a  stau'e  cf  civilizntic^n 
of  which  the  brilliant  "modern  Enro])ean  civilization" 
oidv  liives  ns  liTnnpse.s. 

Even  the  system  in  its  present  form  has  not  been 
an  ninnitigated  evil.  It  has  been  the  great  conserv^ative 
]ri-in('iple  of  the  constitution  of  Hindu  society,  though 
oriirinallv  it  was  a  conserv^ative  ,as  w^ell  as  a  proirressive 
one.  It  is  this  principle  of  the  Hindu  social  constitution 
which  h.as  enabled  the  nation  to  sustain,  without  being 
sliat:)ered  to  })leccs,  the  tremendous  shocks  given  bv  the 
numerous  political  convulsions  and  religious  upheavals 
thiit  have  occurred  during  the  last  thousand  yenrs.  "  Tin; 
svstem  of  caste,"  savs  Sir  Henrv  Coctc^n,  "  far  from  bein^- 
the  source  of  all  troubles  Avhicli  c^an  be  traced  in  Hindu 
society,  has  rendered  most  important  service  in  the  past, 
and  still  continues  to  sustain  order  and  solidarity." 

As  regards  its  importance  from  a  European  point 
of  view,  Mr.  Sidney  Low  in  his  recent  book,  A  Vision  of 
India,  savs  : — '*  Tiiere  is  no  <loubt  that  it  is  the  main 
cause  of  the  fun  lauKMital  stability  and  c;)utcntin(Mit  bv 
Avhich  Imlian  society  has  been  braced  for  cjnturie.s 
against  the  shocks  of  p;)litjcs  and  the  cataclysms  of 
Nature.  It  provides  every  man  ^vi(h  his  |>]ic(',  Jiis 
career,  his  occupation,  his  circle  of  friends.  Ft  makes 
him,  fit  the  outset,  a  member  of  a  corporate  bodv:  it 
])rotects  iiim  through  life  from  the  canker  of  social 
jealousy  and  unfullilled  aspirations;  it  ensures  liim 
Cf)mpanionship  ;nrl  a  sense  of  community  with  others 
in  like  ('as(!  with  liiiii-rlf.  The  caste  organi/ai  ion  is  to 
the,  Hindu  his  club,  his  trade-union,  his  beneiit  society, 
liis   philanthi-ojiic   society.     There  are   no  "work-houses 


SOCIAL    SYSTKM.  33 

in  Tndi;!,  ami  none  nro  as  yet  nccilod.  Tlic  ()i)liLr;iti()n 
to  providi!  tor  kinsfollc  imd  friends  in  distress  is  uni- 
versidiy  acknowledged;  nor  can  it  be  questioned  tliat  tliis 
is  due  to  the  recognition  oL'  the  strcn;;th  of  taniily  tics 
and  of  the  bonds  created  l»y  associations  and  connnon 
pursuits  which  is  fostered  l»y  the  caste  principle.  An 
India  without  caste,  as  tilings  stand  at  preseiit,  it  is  not 
quite  easy  to  ima<iine." 


''>i  niXDU    SUPKIIIOIUTV. 


IV.— CHARACTER. 


To  tlio.^o  who  know  IIhm'  ]iot.  no  wonls  can  j>aint. 
And  those  wlio  know  thee,  know  all  words  an-  faint. 

• — Han.  Mork:   Svn^ihiUfif. 

TiiR  liapin'  results  of  govern  men  t  (Igjx^ihI  chiefly  upon, 
tlie  cliaractci'  oF  the  p3  )ple.  And  whit  nation,  ancient 
or  modern,  can  show  such  high  cliaractcr  as  tliat 
of  tlie  ancient  Hindus?  Their  generosity,  simplicity, 
lionesty,  trutht'uluess,  courage,  refinement  and  gentleness 
are  proverbial.  In  fact,  the  elements  so  mixed  in  tlicin 
tiiat  nature  might  stand  up  and  say  to  all  the  world, 
"These  were  men." 

The  first  and  hio-hest  virtue  in  man  is  truthfulness. 
As  Chaucer  savs  : — 

Trutli  is  the  hi^Hicst  tiling'  tliat  man  may  keep. 

From  the  earliest  times,  the  Hindus  have  always  lieen 
praised  bv  men  of  all  countries  and  creeds  for  their 
truthfuhiess. 

Strabo  says:  "They  are  so  honest  as  neither  to 
require  lo(;ks  to  their  doors  ni)r  writings  to  bind  llieir 
agreements."' 

Ari-ian  (in  (lie  second  century),  the  pupil  of 
]'>picterus,  says  th;it  '"no  Indian  was  ever  known  to 
tt'll  an  im!i-ulh."-  This,  making  a  due  allowance  for 
exaggeration,   is  no  mean  praise. 

Hiovcn  li)s:ujg,  the  inost  famous  of  the  Chinese 
trav(!ilers,    says:    "The    Indians    are    distinguished  by 


'Slial.o.  Lib.  XV.  p.   IHS  (cd.  loS?). 

-Ill  li>-:»,  ('.tp.  xu,  (1.     Sec  also  Mcd'riiidle  In  '  Indian  .Vntipiaiy,' 
187(;.  p    '.•!'. 


I  llAKACTKn.  35 

the   stniiulitforwanliu'ss  mid  lioiu.'sly  of  lljcir  cliarnrier. 
\\  iili    regard     to     riclirs,     (lu'V     lU'Vi-r     t:ikc    anytliiiit^ 
unjustly  ;     with    rcuard    to    justici-,    tlu-y    uv.\\n-    rv.-n 
excessive    conoessioiis    ....    stniii^ditforwarducs^ 
tliu  Icadiuii'  feature  of  tin-ir  administration."' 

Kiiann'-thai,  the  ( 'hines(!  anil>as.sidor  to  Siani,  .-.t\.^ 
that  Sii-We,  a  relative  of  Fauehen,  kinir  of  Siani, 
Nvho  eanie  to  India  ahuul  I'.'ll  .\.I)..  on  his  return 
reported  to  tiie  kin^*  that  '*tlie  Indians  are  .straii^hl- 
i'orward  and  honest. "- 

"In  the  fourth  eentnrv,  Friar  Jordanus  tell>  us 
that  the  pcMjple  ot  India  ure  true  in  speech* and  eminent 
in  justice.'"-' 

Fei-tu,  the  anil)assador  of  the  Cliinc»,  Janperor 
Yangti  to  India  in  (](!.")  A.D.,  amonu"  other  thinLfs 
])oints  out  as  jjcculiar  to  the  Hindus  tiiat  '*  they  believe 
in  .solemn  oaths. "'^ 

Idrisi,  in  his  Gcoi>;ra])hy  (written  in  the  llili 
centur\),  savs :  *' Tiie  Indians  arc  naturallv  inclineii 
to  justice,  and  never  depart  from  it  in  their  actions. 
Their  irood  faith,  honesty  and  lidelitv  to  their  cnira«rc- 
ments  are  well  known,  and  tin  y  \\V(-  >o  f:nnous  for  these 
qualities  that  people  iiock  to  their  country  from  every 
side.   • 

111  tlie  thirteenth  century,  Siiams-ud-din  Ahu 
Abdullah  (piotes  the  Ibllowin;;-  judgment  of  Uedi-ezr 
Zeman  : —  

'Vol.  IT.  p.  .S:{. 

•■'Max  Mullt-r's  Iii<lia:  Wliat  can  it  tonrli  ns?  j..  55, 

nUiViio  l'..l..,  cl.  H.  Yy^l:  V.l  II.  \:  :5:»t. 

•Max  Mullor's  Iiiilia:  wliat  .-an  it   tf.uU  u.>.:  ji.  L'75. 

^Klliul':?  lIi*tuiT  of  Iniiia,  Vol.  I,  l>.  6^, 


/ 

V 


36  TITXDU    SlTElUORITr. 

*'  The  Indians  are  innumerable,  like  grains  of  sand, 
free  fron-i  deceit  and  violence.  They  fear  neither  death 
nor  life."^ 

■    .Marco  Polo  (thirteenth  century)  says  :   ''  You  must 
know    tiiat    these    Brahmins    are    the    best    merchants  f 
in  the  world  and  the  most  truthful,    for   they  would 
not  tell  a  lie  for  anythinii'  on  earth." '^ 

Kamal-ud-din  Ibd-errazak  Samarkand!  (1  1:10-1482), 
who  went  as  ambassador  of  the  Khakau  to  the  prince 
of  Calicut  and  to  the  king  of  A^idyanagar  (1440-1 11  o), 
bears  testimony  to  "the  perfect  security  which  mer- 
chants enjoy  in  that  country."^ 

Abul  Fazal  says:  "The  Hindus  are  admirers  of 
truth  and  of  unbounded  fidelity  in  all  their  dealings."-* 

Sir  John  Malcolm  says  :  "Their  truth  it;  as  re- 
markable as  their  courai^e.""^ 

Colonel  Sleeman,  who  had  better  and  more  nunicr- 
ous  opportunities  of  knowing  the  Hindu  character  than 
most  Europeans,  assures  us  "  tha-t  falsehood  or  lying 
between  members  of  the  same  villaGfe  is  almost  un- 
known."  He  adds,  "I  have  had  before  me  hundreds 
of  cases  in  wliich  a  man's  property,  liberty  and  life  has 
depended  upon  his  telling  a  lie  and  he  has  refused  to  tell 
it."  "Could  many  an  English  Judge,"  asks  Professor 
Max  MuUcr,  "sjiy  the  ?ame?"*' 

W'hiit  is  the  pivot  on  which  the  whole  story  of 
liama}ana,  the  book  which  even  now  exercises  the  greatest 

'  India  :  What  can  i(  tparli  us?  j».  275. 

•-'.Marcu  l'..lo,  (Mi.  H.  Ynlo,  Vol.  11,  p.  850. 

^Noticpfi  (It's  Alaimsnils  toTii.  xiv,  ji.  4o0. 

4T.«rs  Hajastlian,  Vol  1,  y.  (My. 

•''Mill's  Hiiicn-  <.|'  lu.lia.  V.-I  1,  p.  52.".. 

•^Ma.v  MiiUcr'.s  Jiulia  :  What  can  it  toach  u,>?  p.  50, 


CFIAUAl'TKi!.  31 


iiilliioiico  in  the  foriiiatioii  III'  Hindu  (  liar;iclcr  thr^uiiiidut 
India,  tnrns  ? — Td  n-main  true,  tliowulj  lite  may  <l«'j»art, 
and  all  that  is  near  and  dear  in  this  world  may  j)eri>h. 
What  is  the  lesson  tani^ht  hv  the  life  of  tlic  irreati'st 
character  nnfolded  to  view  hv  the  .Mahai)harata,  lihceshma 
Pitamah  ? — To  remain  true  and  sti'dfast,  come  what  mav. 

Professor  Max  MnlKr  says  r"Il  was  love  of  truth 
that  strnek  all  the  people  who  came  in  contact  with 
India,  as  the  prominent  feature  in  the  national  character 
of  its  inhahitants.  No  one  ever  accused  them  of  false- 
hood. There  must  surely  be  some  _<j;ronnd  for  this,  lor 
it  is  not  a  ren)ark  that  is  frequently  maile  l)y  travollers 
in  foreii;-n  countries,  even  in  our  time,  that  their  inhahi- 
tants invarial)Iy  speak  the  trutli,  Ucad  the  accounts  of 
En^hsli  travellers  in  France,  and  you  will  lind  very 
little  said  about  French  honesty  and  veracity,  while 
French  accounts  of  England  are  seldom  without  a  lling 
atPerfide  Alhion!"' 

P.ut  it  is  not  for  truthfulness  alone  that  the  Hindus 
have  been  famous.  Their  generosity,  tolerance,  frank- 
ness, intelligence,  courtesy,  loyalty,  gentleness,  sobriety, 
love  of  knowledge,  industry,  valour  and  a  strong  feeling 
of  honour  are  even  now  remarkal)le.  )( 

"Me^asthenes-^  observed  with  admiration  the  absence 
of  slavery  =*  in  Ii:<lia,  the  chastity  of  the  women,  and  the 
courage  of  the   men.     In  valour  they  excelled  all  other 

n\nx  M'lll.r's  India:  AVliat  cnn  it  toacli  us?  1'.  r»7. 

2Hniito)'s  Oa/.rtt.M-r,  "Imlia,"'  p.  2M.  ♦•,,.«,.  .• 

3IlovF    1).  Maurice  say.s  tl.at  "tl.o   Su.lras  an-  not  in  m.)  s- 1. 

slaves,  ami  never  can  l.ave  l.een  such  :  the  Greeks  --re  snrpr.M  to  UuA 

all  cla;<os  in  Lulia  free  citi/.ens;'-7A.    .  /^r;--  oj     A.  ^   -'  '  P;,f,J; 

Mr    Elnhinstone  sav.^  :   Mt  is    remarkable   tl.at    in   the  Hindu  drama. 

thereiVnot  a   trace  of  servility  in  the  behnviour  of  other  ch»raotcr>  to 

the  khv^r—IIistonj  of  Indio.  \k  I'lo, 


38  HINDI'  srr];i;i(>i;iTV. 

Atiiiitic't^,  sober  and  iiidiistrious,  good  ritrincrs  and  skill ul 
artizans,  they  scarcely  ever  had  recourse  to  a  law  suit, 
an<l  lived  peaceably  under  their  native  chiefs," 

That  acute  observer,  the  historian  Abul  Fazal,  says  : 
"  The  Hindus  are  relif^ious,  affable,  courteous  to  strangers, 
cheerful,  enamoured  of  knowledge,  lovers  of  justice,  able 
in  business,  grateful,  admirers  of  truth,  and  of  unbound- 
ed fidelity  in  all  their  dealings."  1/  Colonel  Dixon  dilates 
n])on  "their  fidelity,  truthfulness,  honesty,  their  deter- 
mined valour,  their  simple  loyally,  and  an  extreme  and 
almost  touching  devotion  when  put  upon  their  honour."-  X 

*'  The  Indians,"  says  K^eibuhr,  "are  really  the  most 
tolerant  nation  in  the  v>  orld."  He  also  says  that  "  they  are 
gentle,  virtuous,  laborious,  and  that,  perhaps  of  all  men, 
they  are  the  ones  who  seek  to  injure  their  feilow-bcings 
the  least." 

The  high  character,  the  noble  self-sacrifice,  the  un- 
b(^unded  love  of  a  Hindu  for  those  who  are  near  and 
dear  to  him  are  well  illustrated  by  the  refusal  of  Yudhis- 
thira  to  accept  salvation,  while  his  wife  and  brothers 
Avere  outside  Heaven.     The  Mahabharata  says  : — 

'•  Lo,  suddenly,  with  a  sound  that  ran  through 
heaven  and  earth,  Indra  came  riding  on  his  chariot  and 
cried  to  the  king,  '  Ascend.'  Then  indeed  did  Yudhis- 
thira  Icjok  back  to  his  fallen  brothers  and  >poke  thus 
unto  Indra  with  a  sorrowful  heart  :  '  Let  my  brothers, 
who  yonder  lie  fallen,  go  with  me.  Xot  even  into  thy 
heaven,  0  Indra,   would  I  enter,  if  they  are  not  to  be 


'  TudV  Jtajastlum,  Vol.  ],  p.  CJ:;. 
^'Coluiicl  Dixoii  was  Couijuisi^iuiiur  of  Ajnii.'r-.Mci\Tara  about  IbDU  A.D. 


fllAKAi  'IKK.  H9 

thoiT  ;  nnd  yon  fairla  i'  1  dn'iLC'itcr  of  a  k\ws.  I)iMMp:i<li, 
tlu'  :ill-(K'<,:r\iiin-,  let  li(»r  too  tMitoi'  with  u^I." 

Sir  ^loiiicr  William-^  says:'  "  Xativcn  iicvor 
Avilliiii;]y  destroy  lift;.  They  cannot  etiter  into  an 
Enii'lishmnn's  desire  for  vcnitinir  his  hii^h  spirits  on  u 
line  dav  hv  killin!^'  i^Mim*  of  s:jine  Iciii  1 — '  hvi' a'ld  let, 
live'  is  rlieir  ruK;  oCconchict  towards  tlie  inferior  ereation." 

"The  viliaii;ers,"  says   Mr.   Elpliinstone,-   "are  in- 
offensive,  aniiabk?   people,   aifirrionate    to    tlieir  family, 
kind  to  their  neighbours  and  towards  all  Ijut  (.iovcrnnient, 
h.oncst  and  sincere." 

In  1S1;»  A.IX,  when  evidence  was  given  before  tlie 
I'ririsli  Parliament, •'•  Mr.  fiercer  said  :  *' Thev  (Ilindns) 
are  mild  in  their  disposirion,  ])')lished  in  their  general 
manners:  in  their  domestic  relations,  kind  and  all'ection- 

ate." 

Captain  Svdeidiam  said  :  "  The  general  cjiaraeter 
of  the  Hindus  is  submissive,  docile,  so!)er,  Jn<'ITensive, 
capable  of  great  attachment  and  loyally,  (piick  in  apj>re- 
hension,  inrelligent,  active  ;  generally  honest  and  j)erform- 
ino-  the  <luties  of  eharitv,  i)enevolence  and  filial  alFt-ction 
with  as  much  sincerity  and  regularity  as  any  nation 
Avith  which  I  am  ac(juainte  I.  ' 

Abbe  Dubois  says  :  '•  The  Hindus  are  not  in  want  of 
improvement  in  the  disclrarge  of  social  duties  amongst 
themselves.  They  understand  this  point  a^  w.-ll  n< 
and  ]ierh((pfi  better  than  Kurnpean.'^.^' 

Sir  John  :\lalc()lm  said:  ''From  the  moment  }uu 
enter  Behar,  the  Hindu  iidial»itants  are  a   race  of  men, 

1  Mtulcni  India  and  tho  Indians,  p.  B:!. 
2FdpliiMsl(.n<*s  Hi«;t()ry  <'f  India,  p.  1'.»n. 
:* Mill's  lli-.liMv  of  India,  V'>1.  I.,  p.  •^'-■'- 


40  HINDU    SUPKRIORITY. 

geiicrjilly  spcakii\a',  not  mnro  distiiin-uislied  l)y  their  lofty 
stature  and  robust  frame,  than  they  are  for  some  of  the 
finest  (juahtie.s  of  tlie  uiind — tliey  are  brave,  generous, 
humane,  and  their  truth  is  ns  renia.dval)le  as  their 
courage."  At  a  subsequent  examination,  lie  said,  with 
respect  to  the  feeling  of  honour  :  "  I  have  known  in- 
numerable instance  of  its  b.iing  carried  to  a  pitch  that 
•would  be  considered  in  England  more  fit  for  the  ])ageof  a 
romance  than  a  history.  AVith  regard  to  their  fidelity, 
I  think,  as  far  as  my  knowdedge  extends,  there  is, 
generally  speaking,  7io  race  of  men  more  to  be  trusted.'''' 

Sir  Thomas  Munro  when  asked  if  he  thought  the 
civilization  of  the  Hindus  -would  be  promoted  by  trade 
Avith  England  being  thrown  open,  replied :  "  I  do  not 
exactlv  understand  what  is  meant  ])y  the  'civilization' 
of  the  Hindus.  In  the  knowledge  of  the  theorv  and 
practice  of  good  government,  and  in  an  education  which, 
by  banishing  prejudice  and  superstition,  opeus  tlie  mind 
to  receive  instruction  of  evcrv  kind,  thcvare  inferior  to 
Europeans.  But  if  a  good  system  of  agriculture,  unri- 
valled manufacturing  skill,  a  capacity  to  produce  wliat- 
ever  can  contribute  to  either  luxury  or  convenience, 
schools^  established  in  every  villaufe  for  teachinir 
reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  the  general  ])rac- 
tice    of    hospitality    and    charity    ainongst   eacli    other 

'  "In  Bengal  there  existed  80,000  native  sciicols,  though  doubtless 
i""»r  the  must  jiart  of  a  poor  (luality.  According  to  a  Government  Report 
r.f  ]8;>5  there  was  a  village  school  for  every  400  persons." — Misuonwij 
IntrlUfjeHcer,  ]X,  p.  18:J-r.):^. 

.Sir  Tliouias  Munro  estimated  liie  diililifii  cduciited  al  ]mMic  scliouls 
in  lli(!  Madras  Presifh'ncj  as  less  than  cuii.'  in  liircc" — KljiJdnstonc's 
Ilinlory  itf  I ndiii  p.  205. 


(•i:ai:.\(  ri:i{.  41 

and.  al)0\o  all,  a  tro.itmciit  <•!'  tlif  fi-imiK;  sex,  full  o\' 
coiitidciicc,  respect  aii'l  d.'licacv,  an;  aiiiniijx  t!u:  si'Mis 
uhicli  •leiKtte  a  civilized  jjooplc,  then  (he  Hiiidiis  are  not 
inferior  to  the  nations  of  Knrope,  and  //'  ririUzation  is  t>> 
her-wic  an  artirle  of  trade  hciircen  the  tiro  C(nuitrie.<^  I 
am  rnu'inccd  that  this  country  [F.inihni'l)  irllJ  .r'nn  Ay 
the  import  <vm/o.'' 

Professor  Max  MuIKt'  savs  : — "  I)urin«x  the  last 
twenty  years,  however,  I  have  had  some  excellent  opj)or- 
tunities  of  watchinii;  p.  nunii)cr  of  native  scholars  under 
circumstances  where  it  is  not  difficult  to  detect  a  man's 
true  character,  I  mean  in  literary  work,  and,  inore  parti- 
cularly, in  literary  controversy.  I  have  watched  them 
carrvinuf  on  such  controversies  both  amon<jf  themselves 
and  with  certain  European  scholars,  and  I  feel  hound  to 
say  that,  frith  hardly  one  exception  they  hare  displayed 
a  far  greater  re'^pect  for  truths  and  a  far  more  manly  and 
yenerous  spirit  than  ice  are  accistomel  to  even  in  f'Juropti 
and  America.  They  have  shown  strcni'th,  hut  no  rude- 
ness;  nay,  T  know  that  nothin;^  has  surprised  them  a.s 
much  as  the  coarse  invective  to  which  certain  Sanskrit 
scholars  have  condescended,  rudeness  of  speech  hein?, 
accordinir  to  their  view  of  human  nature,  a  sjifo  s:«rn  not 
onlvof  badhrccdin'j^hutof  want  of  knowlc  lL:;e.  When  thev 
were  wron;i'  they  have  readily  admittcl  their  mistake; 
when  they  were  ri^ht  they  have  never  sneered  at  their 
European  adversaries.  There  has  been,  with  few  excep- 
tions, no  quibblini!;,  no  special  pleadinif,  no  untruthful- 
ness on  their  part,  and  certainly  none  of  that  l(»w  cun- 
ning of  the  scholar  who  writes  down  and  publishes  what 

'imlia  :  Wlnf  oaii  it  t'H'It  n- '  \<   C". 


42  nixDr  sttrt^iotmty. 

he  knows  pcrfectl}'  well  to  he  false,  and  snaps  his 
fingers  at  those  who  still  value  truth  and  self-respect  more 
highly  than  victorj-  or  applause  at  any  price.  Here,  too, 
we  might  possibly  (jain  by  the  import  cargo. 

"  Let  me  add  that  I  have  Ix^en  repeatedly  told  by 
Eniilish  merchants  that  commercial  honour  stands  higher 
in  India  than  in  any  othar  country,  and  that  a  dis- 
honoured bill  is  hardly  known  there."  / 

f  The  first  Governor- General  of  India,  AVarren  Hast- 
ings, said:  "The  Hindus  are  gentle,  benevolent,  more 
.susceptil)le  of  gratitude  for  kindness  shown  to  them,  than 
})rompted  to  vengeance  for  wrongs  iniiicted,and  as  exem])t 
from  the  worst  propensities  of  human  passion  as  any 
people  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  The}"  arc  faithful, 
affectionate,*'  etc.  (Minutes  of  evidence  before  the  Com- 
mittee of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  March  and 
April  ISir,).  < 

liishop  Heber  said  :  "To .say  that   the   Hindus  are 
deficient  in  any  essential  feature  of  a  civilized    people   is 
an  assertion  which  I  can  scarcel}^  suppose  to  be  made  by 
any  M'ho   have   lived  with   them.''i      Again,    "they  are 
decidedly    by  nature   a  mild,  ])leasing,  intelligent   race, 
sul)er  and  parsimonious,  and,  where  an  object  is  held  out 
to  them,  most  indn-trious  and  ])erscvering-.     .    .     Thev 
are  men  of   high  and  gallant  courage,  courteous,  int(rlli- 
gent,ajid  most  eager  for  kiiowle<lge  and  impr(n-cment,Avith 
a  remarkable  aptitude  for  the  abstract  sciences,  gcometr}', 
astronomy,  etc.,  and  for  iniitativc  arts,  painting  and  scnlp- 
ture  ;  dutiful  Towai-ds  their  ])arents,  affectionate  to  children, 
^    more  casilv  alfectcd  by  kindness  and  attention  to  their 
wants  an<l  feelings  than  almost  any  men  I  Iiave  met  Avich."'' 
'.lonriial,  II,  p.  y»2.      -Ibid,  p.  32'J.      •''ibid,  \u  o(iih 


ClIAUACTEU.  4.') 

Auain,  "  I  have  Fomn]  in  Iii'Iia  a  race  of  •rciitK*  and 
tciHjx'rati'  liahits,  v/itli  a  natural  talent  and  acutcnc.>>s 
bevoi\d  the  ordinarv  level  of  mankind."  y 

Of  the  lahourersand  workmen  in  the  C'lileiittn  mint  in 
/^  India,  Professor  Wilson  says:  "There  was  consider ''>''• 
skill  and  ready  doeility.  So  Hir  From  there  heini^  any  >■  ■  >  i- 
lity  there  was  extreme  frankness,  and  I  should  i^xv^  that 
wiierc^  tiiere  is  confidence  without  fcar^frankncss  is  one  of 
the  most  universal  features  in  the  Indiiin  character.  In 
men  of  learning  I  found  similar  merits  of  industry, intelli- 
£!;ence,  cheerfulness,  frankness.  A  very  connnon  character- 
istic of  Hindus  especially  was  simplicity,  truly  childisji, 
and  a^otal  unacipiaintance.  with  l)u>iness  and  maiint-rs  of 
life  ;  where  this  feature  was  lost'  it  was  chietlv  hv  those 
■who  had  been  lonii"  familiar  with  Europeans.  .  .  Tlu're  ciui 
be  no  doubt  that  the  native;  mind  outstrij»s  in  early  years, 
the  intellect  of  the  Europeans  and.  ircjnerally  spe.nkinir, 
boys  are  much  more  rpiick  in  aj)prehension  and  earnest 
in  application  than  those  of  our  own  schools.  Men  of 
])roperty  and  respectability  afl'orded  me  many  oj)por- 
tunities  of  witnessing  jiolished  manners,  clearness  and 
com])rchensiveness  of  understiindinir,  liberality  of  feelinir, 
and  independence  of  principle  that  would  have  stamped 
them  (jentlemen  in  any  country  in  the  world."-    < 

Hin(bi  chihh'cn  are  more  <{uick  and  intelligent  than 
European.  "The  capacity  of  lads  of  1 1^  and  l.'i  arc 
often  surprising." 


'•'ITio  longer  wo  possess  a  province,  the  uiorc  eoniiiion  and   Rravc  I 
does  perjury  become." — Sir  (>.  Canipbell,  quoted  hy  S.  Joliiihon,  Orica-  j 

tal  Religions,  India,  p.  2H.S. 

-Mill's  liistory  of  India,  Vol.  I,  pp.  b6\)-'o2. 


44  TIIXDU    Sl'l'ERIORTTY. 

tSir  Thomas  I\Innro,  Mercer  and  others,  quoted  above, 
says  Professor  AVilsoii,  were  "  men,  equally  eminent 
in  wisdom  as  in  station,  remarkable  for  the  extent  of 
their  opportunities  of  observation  and  the  ability  and 
dilii:;ence  with  which  they  used  them,  distinguished  for 
possessing,  by  their  knowledge  of  the  language  and  the 
literat'ire  of  the  country,  and  by  their  habits  of  intimacy 
with  the  natives,  the  best,  the  only  means  of  judging  of 
the  native  character,  and  unequalled  for  the  soundness 
of  their  judgment  and  comprehensiveness  of  their  views,"  ^ 
Professor  Monier  Williams'-^  says:  "I  have  found  no 
peo})le  in  Europe  more  religious,  none  more  patiently 
I^ersevering  in  connnon  duties." 

Mr.  Elphinstone  says:''  "If  we  compare  them 
(Hindus)  with  our  own  (English  people),  the  absence 
of  drunkenness  and  of  immodesty  in  their  other  vices, 
will  leave  the  superiority  in  purity  of  manners  on  the 
side  least  flattering  to  our  self-esteem."  He  adds,  "  No 
set  of  people  among  the  Hindus  are  so  depraved  as  the 
dregs  of  our  own  great  towns.""^ 


1  Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol  I,  p.  523. 

-M<Mlern  India  and  the  Indians,  pp.  88  and  128. 

^History  of  India,  p.  202. 

•^Elphinstone's  History  of  India,  pp.  375-81.  The  pcrcontacrc  of 
criminals  in  India  is  lower  tlian  in  England.  "  Ty  a  series  of  reports 
laid  before  the  Ilonse  of  Connnons  in  1832  (Minntes  of  Evidence  'So.  i, 
ysi'^i^lOo)  it  appears  that  in  an  average  of  four  years  the  nmubcr  of  cai>i(al 
sentence's  carried  into  elTcct  annually  in  England  and  Wales  is  as  1  fur 
203.281  souls,  and  in  the  jtrovinces  under  the  Bengal  Presidency  1  for 
1,<I()1,1H2  ;  traiisi.(»rtati(>n  for  life,  in  England  1  for  07,173  and  in 
l'..'h'_':d,  1  for  402,010.  The  annual  )»uml»er  of  sentences  to  death  in 
KM-l.ind  was  1,232,  in  V.cngal  51).  The  popnlalion  of  England  is 
13,000,000;  the  population  of  Hmgal,  llO.OOO.dOU. 


"Tlio  clcanliiioss  cF  the  Iliiwhis,"  he  s;ivs  a^^n'iu 
''is  piovitrhinl,'  T)i(  \  ...  :i  cKanly  peojilo,  jiiul  m:iv 
be  coinpnivd  witli  d«'ciilo<l  ii<]v:intnLCt'  witli  tlic  iiutioiisof 
the  south  oF  Europe,  l)oth  :is  yei^^anls  th(;ir  h:\l)itations  ar.d 
their  persons.  Thi're  are  ni.iiiy  of  their  praftitxvs  which 
might  he  intnxhiced  even  int(»  the  North  with  henefit." 

^Ir.    Klj»hiiistone   .siy.>  :— "The    natives   arc    (jfleii 

accused  of  wanting-  in  irnititude.      Hut  it  does  not  appear 

that    those    wlio  make    tlie   cliaru'e  liave  dune   much   to 

inspire  sueii  a  .sentiment :  wiieu   juasters  are  nallv  kind 

and  considerate  tliey  find  as  warm  a  rL-unn  from  Indian 

servants  as  any  in  the  world  ;    and  there  are  few  who 

liave  tri(!d  them  in  .--ickncss  or  in  <litfieultic.s  and  danirers 

Avlio  do  not  l)ear  witness  to  their  svmpathv  and  attjich- 

ment.      Their  devotion  to  their  own  chief  is  provcr!>ial 

and  can  arise  from  no  other  caii.se  than  pjratitiide,  uidcss 

Avhere  caste  sn])pHes  the  i)lacc  of  clannish  feelinufs.  x  The 

fidelity  of  our  sepoys  to  tiieir  foreiun  masters  has  hwn 

shown  in  in.stances  which  it    woidd  be  dilUcidt  fo   nuitch 

even  amonij  the  national  troops  in  am/  other  conntrt/."^ 

lie  again  says  :  "It  is  conunon  to  see  persons  who  liave 

been  patronised  by  men   in  power  not  only  continuing 

their  attachment  to  them  when  in  disgrace,  but  even   to 

V  The  Hiiulii  convict  is  a  lu-ttcr  man  tlian  tlic  I']iir<'|M'aii.  Tin*  gr«^t 
T)anviii  was  struck  wiili  the  Hindu  convicts  at  Port  Louis  and  he 
wondered  that  they  were  such  noble-leokini;  fij»ures.  lie  snys  :  "  Tht'se 
men  arc  generally  quiet  and  wdl-conducted  :  from  their  outward  conduct, 
their  cleanliness,  and  faithful  observance  of  their  .strange  reliijious  rites  it 
is  impossible  to  look  at  them  with  the  .same  eyes  as  on  our  wrptelie<l  con- 
victs in  New  South  Wales." — ^1  NiituialiisCe  Voyage  Hound  the  World, 
p.   181. 

'Eliihinstones  lJi>t(iry  ol  India,  y   -'-'- 


46  nixDr  .smcuioiUTv. 

their  families   whvu  they  have  li'l't   tliem   in   a   helpless 
condition."'' 

To  tlie  diet-  and  the  so1)riety  of  living  is  due  the 
greater  liealthiness  of  the  Hindus.  There  are  o  insanes 
in  every  1U,OUO  persons  in  parts  of  India   ])eopled   by 


•     lllClltioiU'd     of      iili       / 

o  was  (li^iiiisscd  and 


l"'A  iK'ii'crtly  authentic  instance  niiglit  be  mentioned 
En,a;lisii  gentleman  in  a  liiijli  station  in  BeiiL^iil  wli 
afterwards  reduced  to  great  temporary  dillieulties  in  his  own  country:  a 
native  of  rank,  to  wliom  lie  had  been  kind,  supplied  him,  when  in  those 
cireumstanoes.  with  u|)war(ls  of  Rs.  100,000,  of  wliieh  he  would  not 
accept  rej)ayment  and  for  which  Ik;  could  exjiect  no  ])ossilile  return. 
This  generous  friend  was  a  IMnhralta  Brahman,  a  race  of  all  otliers  who 
have  least  sympathy  with  otlier  castes,  and  who  are  most  hardened  and 
corrujtted  hy  power." — Elphinslon('s  Ilistari/  of  Jmltd,  p.  201. 

-^Ir.  .).  II.  Bourdillon,  in  his  report  on  the  Census  of  f881. 
observes  tluit  the  superior  healthiness  of  middle-age  among  tlie  Hindus 
is  more  strikingly  shown,  for  out  of  each  KM)  living  persons  the  number 
of  tliosc  aged  40  years  and  over  i.v  among  the — 

Hindus       21-07 

Christians...  ...  ...  ...      14;^>I 

!Muhammadans       ...  ...  ...      HI- 81 

Ahorginals  ...  ...  ...      IT)- HO 

As  regaids  the  diet  of  the  Hindus,  ]\Ir.  Buckle  tells  us  : 
"  In  Imlia  the  great  heat  of  the  climate  brings  into  play  thai  law 
(of  nature)  already  pointed  out,  by  virtue  of  which  the  ordinary 
food  is  of  an  oxygenous  rather  than  of  a  carbonaceous  character.  This, 
according  to  another  law,  obliges  the  jici-'ple  to  derive  their  usual  diet 
not  from  the  animal  liut  fnnn  the  vegetaide  world  of  which  starch  is 
the  uio.st  important  constituent.  At  the  same  time,  iln'  higii  temper- 
ature, incapacitating  men  for  arduous  labour,  makes  necessary  a  food  of 
whicii  the  returns  will  be  abundant,  and  which  will  contain  much  nutri- 
ijient  in  a  compaiatively  small  space.  Here,  tiien,  we  liave  s(Unc  charac- 
teristics wliicli,  if  tiie  preceding  views  are  correct,  ought  to  be  found  in 
the  ordinary  food  of  the  Indian  nations.  So  they  all  are.  From  the 
earliest  period  the  nio.st  general  ftiod  in  India  has  been  rice,  whicli  is  the 
Hiokt  nutritive  of  all  ccrcalia,  which  contains  uu  enuriuous  proportion 


riiAi;A('ri:i:.  47 

tlic  Hiiidiis.  as  rompMnMl  to  .")()  iiisaiio  in  cxi  r\    10,000 
in    Mli^laiid  aiul   Wales.' 

Mr.  Wanl  says  :  — 

'•  In  their  tOi'ins  of  aildross  and  l)clijivi<Mir  in  com- 
pany  the  Hindus  iniist  hi!  runkid  aiuoiij^^st  tlur  politest 
nations." 

Sj)eakinu"  of  the  inl):d)itants  of  the  (IanLr«'tif  Iliii- 
(histaii,  Mr.  l']l|)hinstorK3  savs  :  "  It  is  there  \\v  are  nin.st 
likely  to  ii'ain  a  clear  coneojuion  of  their  hiirh  spirit  an<I 
o-caerous  scll'-devotmn  so  sinuidarlv  eoinhined  \vitii  ;,'eM- 
tlencss  of  nnnners  and  softness  of  heart  tou;etiier  with 
an  aluDst  infantine  simplicity." 

y  Even  h.oiuist  writers,  who  ji  ive  had  no  opporluni- 
tie.«5  of  studvinu"  the  Hindu  eliaraeter,  .sometimes  hastily 
ironvTalize  from  strav  instances  of  nntrutlifuiiMss  and 
dishonesty  they  happen  to  come  aero.ss  in  life,  in 
respect  of  such,  Professor  .Max  .Muller  says:  "\V«'  may,  to 
follow  an  Indian  ])roverl),  juduc  <>f  a  wiiole  tield  of  rice  l»y 
tasiinii'  oui'  or  tw  >  grains  only,  hut  if  we  .ij»ply  this  rule 
to  human  l)ein<:;s  we  are  sure  to  fall  into  the  same  mis- 
take as  the  P^n.i;lish  chaplain  who  liad  once  on  i)oard 
an    English    vessel  christened  a    I'rench  child,    and   who 


of  starrli.  iiiul  wliicli  \  idds   to  tin'  labonrrT  an  avi'rairo  n-tiirii  of  at  l«'A''t 

sixty   ti)l<l.'"— ///•-^"•.»/   ';/  Ciriliziiliini   lu  Euffhtwl,    Vohnm  1,  pup    (14. 

N<'il'iilir  savs:   "  !*<  rliapH  tlic   Iiuliau   lawifivrrs     tliMii^lit   it   na>* 

Un-  til.-  sak.'  <-f  hcallli  al.s..liit<-!y  luvi'ssary  to  pmliil-it  l!M•ontill^'  of  inrat, 

bocausc  tlic    inultitud.'  foIL.ws  mon-  easily  tli.>  prrjudic  of   n-liijion  than 

tlio  a.lvirc  of  a  physician .   It  is  also  vory  likdy  that  th.-  law  of  th.-  Ori.-ntal 

insists  so  stroni^ly  on  tlic  pnrifi.ation  of  th.-  bo.ly  for  hyi^ionir  ron.<.ons." 

»  See    the    compaiativ.'    tabular    statonicnt    <m    img«'    '201    «'f  ihe 

report  on  ihr  Censtis  of  lU'ii,L,'al,  Vul.  I  (IHsl). 


48  HINDU    SL'PEKIOKITV. 

rcinainod  iully  convinced  for  the  rest  of  his  life  tlmt  all 
French  liabies  liad  \ery  long  noses."    X 

The  })h3'sical  structure  of  the  Hindu  isjstill  as  ad- 
mirable as  that  of  any  other  people  on  the  globe. 

]\Ir.  Ornie  says  :  "  There  is  not  a  handsomer  race  in 
the  universe  than  the  l>anians  of  Gujrat."^  We  read 
in  Chamber's  Encyclopa'dia  that  "the  body  of  the 
Hindu  is  admirably  proportioned."- 

A  strong  opponent  of  the  Hindus  admires  their 
})hysical  agility.  Mv.  ^lill  says  :  "  The  body  of  the  Hindu 
is  agile  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  Not  onl}"  in  those 
surprising  contortions  and  feats  which  constitute  the  art 
of  the  tumV)lcr  do  thev  excel  almost  all  the  nations  in 
the  world,  but  even  in  running  and  marching  they  equal, 
if  not  surpass,  people  of  the  most  robust  constitutions."-' 

The  Hindus  were  renowned  for  wisdom  in  ancient 
times. 

"  Wisdom,  ray  father,  is  tlio  noblest  gift 
The  gods  bestow  on  man,  and  better  far 
Tlian  all  his  treasures," 

Soi'iioci-KS  :  Aniijjonr. 

"  We  are  told  by  Grecian  writers  that  the  Indians 
were  the  wisest  of  nations."  * 

]\lr.  Coleman'  says:  "  The  sages  and  ])oets  of  India 
have  inculcated  moral  precepts  and  disj)layed  poetic 
beauties  which  no  country  in  the  world  of  either  ancient 
or  modern  diite  need  be  ashamed  to  acknowledii'e." 


'On  the  clYoininai-y  of  llie  Inhabitants  of  Hindustan,  pp.  4t;i-t!;j. 

^Chamber's  Encyclopa'dia,  [).  539. 

•^MiU's  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  478. 

■'.Si'c  Introduction. 

■'•Mytii'-lx'^'y  of  the  llimliis.  p.  7. 


rilAUA(TKI{.  49 

Tlic  didactic  poctrv  ol'  the  lliiidii>  funiislK'.'*  sullicioiit 
proof  of  their  tnmsccMidciit  wisdom.      Mr.   lilj.liiiistoiK!' 
siivs    that   'Mlic  r^rcoks  had  a  «i;n'at   iiiijircssioii  of  their 
(Iliiuhis)  wisdom." 

^Ii'.  I')iirnoii{"  says  that  the '' rtifhaiis  an- a  iiatinn  ridi 
in  spiritual  i;il"ts,  and  eudowt'cl  with  prcidiar  sa«;acit  v  and 
penetration." 

It  is  the  wisdom  of  llic  Iliiuhis  that  inventecl  tho 
best  and  the  greatest  oF  indoor  ;:;anK's,  tlie  i^amo  of  Chess, 
wiiich  is  now  universally  acknowledi^^ed  to  be  of  Hindu 
origin,  the  Sanskrit  chaturaih/a  bccoinin<^^  shatnraiigd  in 
Persian. 

Sir  \V.  dones  says:'-  "The  Hindus  are  said  to  have 
l)oastod  ol"  three  inventions,  all  of  whieh  indrcrl  arc? 
admiral)le  ;  the  method  of  instructini:;  hv  apolo^nies;  the 
decimal  scale  and  the  ^ame  of  Chess,  on  which  they  have 
some  curious  treatises." 

Profe:»sor  Heeren'  says:  "Chess-board  is  mentione<l 
in  Ramavana,  where  an  account  of  A^odllia  is  Lriven." 

Chess  is  thus  proved  to  have  been  in  u>e  in  India  lourr 
before  !Moses  and  Hermes  made  their  apj)earance  in  the 
-world.  Mr.  J.  Mill,  however,  with  his  characteristic  prc- 
judico  ai^ainst  the  Hindus,  observes  that  "there  ii^  no 
evidence  that  Hindus  invented  the  ;rame,  except  their  own 
pretentions."  On  this,  Professor  Wilson  says :  "This  is  not 
true;  we  have  not  the  evidence  of  their  j>retentions.  T!ic 
evidence    is    that   of  Mohamcdan  writers  ;  the  kin*^  of 


'History  of  Tinlia,  [>.  L*4?. 

''As  quoted  liy  Mill  in  liis  Tliston-  of  British  India,  Vol.  H,  p.  43. 

^Historical  Rcsearclieis,  Vol.  II.  p.  101. 


00  HINDU    SUrEKIORITY. 

India  is  saiil,  bv  FirJausi  in  the  Shalniaina — ami  the  story 
is  therefore  of  the  tenth  century  at  latest — to  hare  sent  a 
(^/u'ds-boanl  and  a  teacher  to  Naiisherawan.  Sir  W .  Jones 
refers  to  Firdausi  as  his  authority,  and  this  reference  nnL^iit 
have  shown  by  whom  the  story  was  told.  Various  ?tIohani- 
edau  writers  are  quoted  by  Hyde,  in  his  Historia 
Shahiludii,  who  all  concur  in  attributing  the  invention  to 
the    Indians^-" 

'•The  wisdom  of  Solomon"  is  proverl)ial,  l)Ut 
the  story  most  frequently  (juoted  to  show  his  wisdom, 
itself  stamps  that  wisdom  as  inferior  to  that  of  the 
Hindus.  Says  Professor  Max  MuUer  :  "  Xow  you 
remember  the  judgment  of  Solomon,  which  has  always 
been  admired  as  a  iiroof  of  <»Teat  leu^al  Avisdom  amonir 
the  Jews  !  I  must  confess  that,  not  havino-  a  leii'al  mind, 

1  never  could  suppress  a  certain  shudder  when  reading 
tlic  decision  of  Solomon:  'Divide  the  livinu:  cliild  in 
two,  and  irive  half  to  the  one,  and  half  to  the  other.'  "- 

"  Let  me  now  tell  you  the  same  story  as  it  is  told  by 
the  Buddhists,  whose  sacred  Canon  is  full  of  such 
legends  and  parables.  In  the  Kanjur,  which  is  the; 
Tilietan  translation  of  the  Duddhist  Tripitakn,  we  read 
of  two  women  who  claimed  each  to  be  the  mother  of  the 
.same  child.  The  King,  after  listening  to  their  quarrels 
for  a  long  time,  gave  it  uj)  as  liopt'lcss  to  settle  who  was 
the  real  mother.  Upon  this,  Visakha  stepped  forwai-d 
and  sfii<i:  'What  is  the  use  of  examining  and  cross- 
examining  these  women.  Let  them  take  tlu'  l)o\-  and  settle 
it  among  themselves.'   Tliereu]>on,  both  women  fill  dii  the 

'Mill's  Iiilia,  Vnl.  II..  ji.  1 1,  foutnoti\     2]vings  iij_  25. 


<  HAKAC  TF.U.  51 

cliilcl,  iin<]  wlini  ilu-  W'j^hi  Ix'iinio  vioUnl,  (lie  diiUl  \va« 
hurt  and  hrgaii  to  cry.  Tlicn  (Hic  u\'  ilifiu  let  liiiu  *^iiy 
because  she  could  not  hear  to  luar  flic  child  crv.  That 
settled  the  (lucstion.  Tin;  KiiiiJ  iiiiw.  the  child  to  tlx"  tnif 
mother,  and  ha<l  the  other  heaten  with  a  rod. 

"  This  seems  to  m<',  if  not  the  mon;  prinniive,  yci  the 
more  natural  form  <»!  the  storv,  showini'"  a  deciMT  know- 
ledi:;e  ol"  hnma!i  nature  and  more  wisdom  then  even  the 
wisdom  ol"  Solomon."' 

Mr.  J'ilphinstone  s[)eaks  of  the  Hindu  character  in 
mislortune  in  ^lowiuL!;  terms.  *■*  When  late,"  he  says, 
'' is  inevitaole,  the  h^wcst  llinihi  encounters  it  with  a 
coohiess  that  would  excite  admiration  in  Europe,"* 

X  The  national  character  ol"  a  people  necessarily  sull'crs 
from  unsympathetic  domination  of  a  less  civilized  j»eople. 
Successful  falsehoQMl,  says  IJentham,  is  the  best  defence  of 
a  shive  ;  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  tin-  c]iaract<-r  of  the 
Hindus  deteriorated  under  the  Moslctn  ride.  The  wc.n- 
der  is  their  character  is  still  so  hiuh.  l^rofessor  Max  Mul- 
ler  says  : — "  I  can  onl  v  say  that  after  reading:  the  accounts 
of  the  terrors  ami  horrors  of  Mohame<lan  rule,  my 
wonder  is  that  so  much  of  native  virtue  and  truthful- 
ness should  have  survived."-'      He  also  sjiys  : 

"When     you  read  of   the  atrocities  committed    by 


'Imlia  :  What  i-aii  it  toadi  us  ?  p.  11. 

-'Kliiliiiist<iiii''s  Ilisloiv  of  Iii.lia,  i.au'.-s  r.lS-r.»;(.  Ol  tlio  great 
graiKlfadiiT  of  the  prosciit  Maliaiaja  of  .lodliimr,  Colonel  To«l  aavs* : 
"Thcbio-'rapliv  of  ManSincli  woiildafford  n  r»'iiiark»|.li'|.ictun>  of  limiiaii 
pationce,  fortitudo  and  con-tau-y  never  snrpa<-d  In  ni.v  aL'.-  or 
country." — liajni'thiiv.  Vol.  11.  p.  711. 

^Max  Mull.  r*>  TndiH  :  What  can  it  teach  us  ?  i'.  72. 


52  HINDU  SUPEIilORITY. 

the  ^loliainedan  conquerors  oE  India  after  that  time 
(1000  A.D.)  to  the  time  when  England  stepped  in  and, 
"whatever  maj"  be  said  by  her  envious  critics,  made,  at  all 
events,  the  broad  principles  of  our  common  humanity 
respected  once  more  in  India,  the  wonder,  to  my  mind, 
is  how  any  nation  could  have  survived  such  an  Inferno^ 
without  beins:  turned  into  devils  themselves."^ 


'Max  Mailer's  India  :  What  can  it  teaeli  us  ?  p.  54. 
It  must  not  be  supposed  fioui  tlie  condemnatory  language  used  in 
more  than  oae  place  in  this  book   with  regard  to   the  treatment  of  the 
Hindus  and  their  literature  by  some  of  the  Mussalman  invaders  and 
rulers  of  India,  tliat  the  history  of  those  reigns  is  one  continuous  re- 
cord of  cruelty  and  oppression,  unredeemed  by  any  hnuianitarian  consi- 
derations or  sympathetic  treatment.     As  Sir  Arther  Helps  observes,  no 
dark  cloud  is   without  its  silver  lining.     There  are  instances  on  record 
which  show  a  chivalrous  and  generous  regard  displayed  by  some  of  the 
Mohamedan    Kings    for  the  Hindus.     It  is  related  that  when,  during 
the  reign  of  Rana  Bikramajit,  son  of  Rana  Sanga  of   Chitor,  who    was 
at  the  time  in   Haravati,    Mewar  was   invaded   by   Bahadur,  King  of 
Gujrat,  and  Chitor  was  invested  by  the  combined  armies  of  Gujrat    and 
Malwa,    Maharani  Karnavati,  the  mother  of  the  infant   son    of   Rana 
Sanga,  who  was  in  the  fortress,  appealed  for  help  to  Hnmayun,  whom  she 
had  adopted  as  her  liakhiband  hhai  (bracelet-bound  brother).  Ilumayun, 
like  a  true  cavalier  that  he  was,  accepted  the  obligation   laid  on  him  by 
the  laws  of  chivalry  and  honour,  to  come  to    her   aid,  and   abandoning 
his  conquests  in  Bengal,   hastened  to  answer  the    call   of  her  adoptive 
sisttr,   the    dowager    Maharani  of   Chitor.     "  He    anijily   fuHilled   the 
pledge,  expelled  ihe  foe  from   Chitc-r,  took  ^landoo  by  assault  and,  as 
some  revenge  for  her  king's  aiding  the  King  of  Gujrat,  he   sent  for    the 
Rana  Bikram.ljit,  whom,  following  tliclr  own  notions  of  investiture,   he 
girt  with  a  sword  in  the  captured  citadel  of  his  foe." 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  it  was  a  Mussalman  who  preserved 
the  Kingdom  of  Marwar  at  the  most  critical  jieriod  of  its  history.  Not 
satisfied  with  tiic  blood  of  Jaswant  and  of  his  eldest  .son,  Pirthi  Sindi, 
the  unrelenting  tyrant   (Aurangzcb)  carrying  his  vengeance  towards  the 


ClIAUACTEU.  53 

When,  liowcvor,  ccMturics  of  forcii^ii  (  Moiilml  )  i 
(lomiiiMtioM  liMVt'k'ft  tlu'  in'oplc  as  virtuous,  trutlifnl  aii<l 
reliiUMl  ;is  any  Ircc  {k'<)j)1c  to  Ix'  foimd  anvwlicrc  in  tlur 
Avorld,  what.  I'urthcr  evidence  is  ncccssarN'  U)  jir<»v('  the 
high  national  character  of  the  ancient  IIin<his,  \vhoM!  livrs 
M'cre  regulated  hy  et'liical  princijilcs  of  the  highest  order! 


Milliaraja  of  Marwar  ovoii  beyond  tlic  gravo,  ci>iiiiiiaii<K'(l  that  his  infant 
son,  Ajit,  shonld  be  surrendond  to  h\<  custody.  ••  Anrani;  o(T<^re<l  to  «li- 
vido  Maron  (^lanvar)  amongst  hor  noblfs  if  th«'y  would  -^urrrndiT  their 
j)iince,  but  they  replied  'our  eonntry  is  willi  our  sinews,  anil  these  ean 
delend  botli  it  and  our  lord.'  Willi  eyes  red  with  rage  they  'n-ft  tin-  Am-f- 
/.7^(^^•.  TlitMr  abode  was  surroundi'd  by  tin-  host  of  th<!  Shah."  A  frarful 
battle  ensued.  The  first  care  of  the  Raiputs  was  to  save  tin-  infant  j»rinc«\ 
and  to  avoid  suspicion,  the  heir  i>f  Marwar,  concealed  in  a  ba^k^•t  of  KW«>et- 
nieats,  was  entrusted  to  a  Moslem,  who  rigorously  ex«i'ufe<l  his  trust  and 
conveyed  him  to  the  appointed  spot,  where  he  was  joine«l  by  the  gallant 

Durga  Das  and  his  Uaj[>tits,  who  had  cut  their  way  through  all  oi»posi- 

tiou. 


54  HINDU    SUrKlIIOKITV. 

v.— CHIVALRY. 


Lt't  laurels,  droncliM  in  pure  Parnassian  dews, 
Regard  the  memory,  dear  to  every  muse, 
WIio  witii  a  courage  of  unshaken  root, 
In  iiouour's  field  advanciniif  his  firm  foot, 
Plants  it  upon  the  line  tlint  justice  draws, 
And  will  prevail  or  ]'erish  in  ilic  cause. 

—  Cou'pcr. 

The  innate  cliivalry  of  Hindu  character  is  well- 
known  to  those  who  have  studied  their  history,  or 
lived  with  them  and  studied  their  manners  and  cus- 
toms. Their  treatment  of  the  female  sex,  their  un- 
willingness to  injure  or  take  away  life  unnecessarily, 
their  magnanimous  treatment  of  their  fallen  foes,  their 
unwillingness  to  take  advantage  of  their  own  superiority 
to  their  adversaries,  prove  the  chivalrous  character  of  the 
Hindu  race.  The  undaunted  heroism  and  the  unequalled 
valour  of  the  ancient  Hindus,  their  magnificent  self-confi- 
dence, their  righteousness  of  conduct,  and,  above  all,  the 
sublime  tcachinG;s  of  their  Shastras,  containino-  the  loftiest 
spiritual  ideals  j-et  conceived  by  humanity,  made  them 
the  most  chivalrous  and  humane  ])eople  on  tiie  face  of 
the  earth.  So  much  is  the  warrior  caste  of  the  Hindus 
even  now  identified  with  cliivalry  that  liajputi  and 
Chivalry  have  become  convertible  terms.'  Kajputana  is 
eminently  the  land  of  chivalry,  and  the  Rajputs,  the 
descendents  of  the  ancient  Kshatriyas,  have  preserved 
some  of  the  latter's  virtues,  prominent  among  whicii  is 
chivalry,      liaina,  Arjuiui,  Kama,  Krishna,  Uhima,   Rali, 

Jrtec  Tod's  Kajasthan,  Vol.  II,  p.  001. 


cmNAi.iiV.  55 

B:il(lo()(II('r(Milr>)S:\^'MrM,:iii<li>tlicrs  wore  i<l(':il  cliiirartrrs: 
but  cominn"  down  to  inodcrn  tiiius  we  liml  tliiit  Kaii:!  ' 
Pratiij)  of  Mt.'War,  niir^u  Das  of  Marwar  and  I'rillivi  |{aj 
of  Ajiiu'i*  were  characters  for  wliosc  ('(pials  in  cliivalry 
find  patriotiMii  wo  may  search  in  vain  the  annals  of 
other  natii)ns,  lOnrop^'an  oi-  Asiatic. 

Tin;  annals  of  no  nation  record  instances  to  out- 
shine the  romantic  chivalry  displayed  i»y  Sadoo,  heir  of 
the  lord  of  Pu.nal,  till  lati-ly  a  lief  of  .laisalmcr,  or  tln^ 
chivalrous  conduct  of  his  l»ri<le,  Kurraindcvi,  daULditer 
of  the.  Mohil  chief  Manik  Uao,  who  "was  at  on.-,  i 
virii'in,  a  \\'ife  ami  a  \sido\v.''' 

(Jolonel  Tod  sa^'s  :  "  Xor  is  there  anythini;  liner  in 
the  annals  of  the  chivalry  of  the  West  than  the  diLjnitied 
and  the  heroic  conduct  of  the  Ivaja  of  Duttea,"  who  met 
with  a  glorious  death  in  defence  of  the  laws  of  .-anctuary 
and  honour,  when  on  the  (leath  of  Madhaji  Scindliia,  tiie 
females  of  his  (Scindhia's)  family,  in  apprehension  of 
Ills  successor,  Daulat  Uao,  sought  refui^e  and  protectiiiii 
with  the  liaja.- 

The  author  of  the  Annals  and  Anti<|uities  of  Uajas- 
than  pays  the  hiujhcst  tribute  to  the  vajoiu'  atid  chivalry 
of  the  Raj[Mits  when  he  says:  "  Cu-ur  de  lion  (Kinir  of 
Knu;laiid)  wouhl  not  liave  remained  ho  loni;  in  the  dun- 
geons of  Austria  had  his  subjects  bci;n  liajputs."  ' 

Professor  II.  II.  WiUonsays:  **  Tin.*  Hindu  laws  of 
war  are  very  chivalrous  and  humane,  an<i  prohibit  the 
slaviiiu'  of  the  unarmed,  of  women,  of  the  old  and  of  the 
coufjuered." 

1S(V  Tod's  Haja-tlian.  V-.l.  il,  p.  {\-2',\ 
-'Tod's  Riiia>lli:.u.  Vol.    I.   y.  117. 
STod's  Hiij.isthaii.  Vul.  I.  1>.  101, 


56 


II  IN  DC    SUPERIOR  IT  r 


The  inii:itc  chivalry  of  the  Hindu  clinractcr  has 
f;"ivon  risu  to  a  ]n'cnh:ir  custom  observed  aitioiio-  all 
classes  of  people,  irrospcetive  of  caste,  nationality  oi-  aue. 
Tt  is  the  RdkJii  (Uakshabandan),  by  which  Hindu 
ladies  command  loval,  disinterested,  aiid  whole-souled 
service  of  men,  whom  tlic}'  deign  to  adopt  as  their 
brothers,  though  in  most  instances  they  never  behold 
Ihem.  "  There  is  a  delicacy  in  this  custom,"  says  Colonel 
Tod,  ''with  which  the  i)ond  unitino-  the  cavaliers  of 
Europe  to  the  service  of  the  fair  in  the  days  of  chivalry 
Avill  not  com])arc."^ 

The    following    incident    will    show    the   character 
of    the     Ivajputs    and    the    nature    of    their    warfare. 
During    the    reign    of    Kan:i    Rai    .Mai    of    Chitor,    his 
younger  brother,   Suraj  Mai,    whom   the   proplietess   of 
Charuni   Devi  at  Xahra  Mugra  had   promised  a  crown, 
made  several  attempts  to  gain  one.      With   the  help  of 
Muzaffar,    the    Sultan  of    ]\Ialwa,    he    took    Sadri    and 
Baturo  and  attempted  even  Chitor.      Rai  ^lal    met  the 
attack  on  the  River  Gumbeeree.      The  second  son  of  the 
Rana,   Pirthi   Raj,  "  the  Rolando  of  his  age,"  as  Colonel 
Tod  calls  him,  selected  his  uncle,  Suraj  Mai,   whom  he 
soon  covered  with  wounds,      ^[any  had   fallen   on   b(>rh 
sides  but  neither  i)arty  would  3-ield  :  when  worn  out  they 
retired  from  the  held,  bivouacked  in  sight  of  each  other. 

1  Tod's  Riijasthiiu,  Vol.  I,  p.  581.  "  It  is  one  (jf  the  few  (customs) 
when  an  intprcoursc  of  jcf.illantrv  "i  the  most  dclicato  nature  is  eslalilish- 
ed  hetweiMi  the  fair  sex  and  the  eavalii'rs  of  Ilajasthan.  .  . .  The  liai|iut 
dame  bestows  wi I h  \\\>-  Kakhi  (bracelet)  the  title  of  adojiled  lirothcr; 
and  while  its  acceptance  secures  to  hi-r  all  the  iiroteclion  of  a  'cavalif-re 
Kervenle',  scandal  itself  never  sug'^osts  any  other  tie  to  his  dt'vution."  — 

y.  ;;ii'. 


(  IlIVAMJV.  ;)7 

Colonel  Tod  coiitimics : — "Mr  will  .show  tlic  iiiHinuTrt 
and  fecliiiii-s  so  peculiar  to  iIh-  liajjxxjf,  to  (IcscHIm' 
tiU'  nu'i'tiiiL;  Itctwceu  the  rival  uncle  and  nephew  — 
uni(|U(!  in  the  details  of  slrifi;  pcrhajis  since  tho 
origin  of  inui.'  Ft  is  taken  from  a  maiuiscript  «)r 
the  rlhala  Chief  who  succeeded  Suraj  Mai  in  Sa«lri. 
Pirthi  Uaj  visited  his  uncle,  whom  he  found  in  a  small 
tent  reclinini;-  on  a  pallet,  haviiii,'  just  liad  'the  harln-r' 
(//<?(?)  to  sew  up  his  wonn<ls,  lie  rose;  and  met  his 
nei)hew  with  the  customary  respect,  as  if  nothini,^ 
unusual  had  occurred  :  l»ut  the  (^xertion  caused  some  of 
the  wounds  i(j  open  afresh,  when  the  followiiiLT  dialoi^ne 
ensued  : — 

'•  PiiiTiii  PiA.r. — *  Well,  uncle,  how  arc  your 
wounds  ?  ' 

"  Suraj  ^Ial. — '  Quite  healed,  my  child,  since  I 
have  the  ])lt^isure  of  seeinix  von.' 

"Pii:tiii  Ka.i. — '  Put,  uncle  (kaka),  I  have  not  yet 
seen  the  Dewanji.^  I  first  ran  to  see  you,  and  I  am  very 
hungr}-  ;  have  you  anythini::  t<j  eat  ?' 

"Dinner  was  soon  served,  and  the  extnionlinary  pair 
sat  down,  and  'ate  off  the  same  platter  ;' nor  did 
Pirthi  liaj  hesitate  to  cat  the  'y;///i '  presente<l  on  his 
takini^  leave. 

"Piiiriir  liA.r. — *  Vou  and  I  will  end  <»ur  hattle  in 
the  morniiiL;',  uncle.' 

"SuKA.i     Mai.. — '  \'ery  well,  chiM  :  cotne  early  !  ' 

"Thev  met,  and  the  rebels  were  defeated  and  lied  to 
Sadri.    Pirthi  Paj,  however,  gave  them  no  rest,  pursuing 

'Tod's  Raja.>thaii,  V.^l.  I,  p.  2*JG-'J7.  ^Tho  lUiia  is  callcl  Diwanji. 


58  HINDU    SrrERIOKlTY. 

them  from  place  to  plnce.  In  tlie  wilds  oC  Baturro 
they  forineil  a  stockaded  retreat  of  the  dho  tree,  which 
abounds  hi  the  forest  ;  and  Siijali  and  his  companion, 
Sarungdco,  were  communing  on  their  desperate  ])lip:ht 
Avhen  their  cogitations  were  checked  by  the  rush  and 
neigh  of  horses.  Scarcely  had  the  pretender  exclaimed, 
'this  must  I)e  my  nephew!'  when  Pirthi  Raj  dashed 
his  steed  throuo-h  the  barricade  and,  reachinu'  his  uncle, 
<lealt  him  a  1)I()W  which  would  have  levelled  him  but 
for  the  support  of  Sarungdeo,  who  upbraided  him, 
addinir,  '  a  buffet  now  was  more  than  a  score  of  w^ounds 
in  former  davs :  '  to  which  Surai  }.[al  added,  'onlv 
when  dealt  by  my  nephew's  hand.'  Suraj  Mai 
demanded  a  parley  ;  and  calling  on  the  jirince  to  stop 
the  combat,  he  continued  :  '  Tf  I  am  killed,  it  matters 
noi — my  children  are  Rajputs,  they  will  run  the  country 
to  find  support  ;  but  if  you  '.wo  slain  what  W'ill  become 
of  Chitor  ?  My  fa('e  will  be  blackened  and  my  name 
everlastingly  reprobated,' 

"The  swonl  was  sheathed,  and  as  the  uncle  and 
nephew  embraced,  the  lattt^r  asked  the  former,  '  wliat 
Avere  you  about  uncle,  when  d  came  ?  'Oidv  talking 
nonsense,  child,  after  dinner.'  M)Ut  with  me  over  yoin* 
head,  uncle,  as  a  foe,  how  could  you  be  so  negligent?' 
'  What  could  I  do  ?  You  had  left  m.e  no  resource,  and 
1  nui.vL  iiave  some  place  to  rest  my  h('a<L'' 

An  episode  from  the  annals  (jf  Jaisalmer  will 
illustrate  the  chivalrous  nature  of  the  Rajput  and  his 
desire  to  die  lighting,  as  becomes  a  Rajput. 


'Tod's  IJajasthau,  Vol.  I.  ]..  J'JS. 


Ciii\  Ai.i:r. 


TiD 


After  a  luiiii  course;  of  victorious  warfan',  iu  which 
he  sulHhK'((  various  tract.s  of  couutrv,  even  to  the  hi-art 
ol"  the  I'lnijal),  (H.soasc  s(M7am|  oh  ll.iwn]  Chachick.  In 
tliis  stale  he  (h'teriuiiied  to  die  as  lie  hail  lived,  with 
aruis  in  his  hand;  hut  iiavini^  no  foe  near  with  whom 
to  (:!>|H!  he  sent  an  eujliassy  to  the  Lanira  |>riuee  of 
Multaii.  lo  hei^  as  a  last  favour  the  jood-ii'in,  or  "icift  of 
battle,"  that  his  soul  uii^ht  escape  hv  tlu;  steel  of  his 
loeujaii,  and  not  fall  a  sacrilice  to  slow  disease.  TIjo 
prince,  suspectiuLr  treachery,  hesitated  ;  hut  the  niiatli 
luessuuger  pled^■ed  his  wctrd  that  his  master  only  wishctl 
an  honoiu-ahle  death,  and  that  he  woidd  hrini^oiily  five 
hundred  nien  to  the  conihat.  The  challi'Ui^e  Im-Iui^ 
accepted,  the  liawul  called  his  clansmen  arouiul  him,  and 
on  recoiuitinu^  w  hat  he  had  done,  seven  hundreil  select 
li a )[)()•. )t>:,  wdio  had  shared  in  all  his  victories,  volunteer- 
ed to  take  the  last  liehl  and  make  {snnLdlj))  oblation  of 
their  lives  witii  their  leader.' 

Ou  reachini:;  l)ht>(»niApur,  he  heard  that  tin;  prince 
of  Multan  was  within  twocoss.  His  soul  was  rejoiced, 
lie  perloruuMl  his  ablutions,  ■\V()r>hi|)j)ed  the  l'ixIs, 
bestowed  charity,  and  withdrew  his   thoui^hts  from   the 

world.  -^^^^-^ 

The  battle  lasted  two  lujurs,  and  the  Vadii  prince 
fell  with  all  his  kith  and  kin,  after  performing  prodi«]jios 
of  valour.  Two  thousand  Kb.ans'-  fell  beneath  their 
swords  and  the  Hhatti  irained  the  abode  of  Indra. 


»Tod's  Kaja^lhaii,  Vol.  II,  pp.  L'.'»S-'». 

-TIr'SC  woiv  Ilimltis  [Solaiiki  Kaji-uls]  as  wa-s  tjuir  jirimo.  Th** 
IJawal  Cliacliiok  lia<l  nianicd  8<'tialil<-vi.  tlio  L:iaii.!-<lau,irlit.T  "tf  Hvl.nt 
Kliati.  the  Cliii'f  I'f  tlic  Seta  tril'f.  or  the  S\val..i>.    6'.c  IWs  lUiju-Mhaii, 

Vol,  ibi..2ya. 


GO  HINDU    SUrERIOlUTY. 

Tlie  chivalry  oE  the  Chief  oE  ISimnj  (a  fief  of 
Marwar  in  Uajputana),  in  the  reign  o£  Raja  Maun  Sinuli, 
excites  tlie  admiration  of  Colonel  Tod,  to  Avhicli  he 
skives  expression  in  tlie  following  memorable  words: 
"  The  brave  Chief  of  Ximaj  has  sold  his  life  but  dearlv. 
In  vain  do  we  look  in  tlie  annals  of  Europe  for  such 
devotion  and  generous  despair  as  marked  his  end  and 
that  of  his  brave  clan.''^^ 

Of  Rana  Raj  Singh,  the  great  opponent  of 
AuranQ-zeb,  Colonel  Tod  savs  : — "  As  a  skilful  o-eneral 
and  gallant  soldier,  in  the  defence  of  his  conntrj, 
he  is  above  all  praise.  As  a  chivalrous  Rajput, 
his  braving  all  consequences  when  called  upon  to  save 
the  honour  of  a  noble  female  of  his  race,  he  is  without 
parallel."^  "  Tlie  son  of  Rana  Pertap,  Umra,  the  foe  of 
Jehangir,"  says  Colonel  Tod,  "was  a  character  of  whom 
the  proudest  nation  might  be  vain."'' 

Even  of  the  Indians  of  the  present  day, 
^Ir.  Elphinstone  says:*  "They  often  display  bravery 
unsurpassed  by  the  most  warlike  nations,  and  will 
always  throw  aw^ay  their  lives  for  an}'  consideration  of 
religion  or  honour." 

^To'd's  Rajastlian,  Vol.  I,  p.  107,  Morci-iiarv  liaiuls,  1o  the 
iiiiijihcr  of  8,000,  witli  i^an^,  attacked  Surtau  Siin,'li  in  liis  liaveli 
[dwelling]  at  Jodhpur,  imdor  the  orders  of  Raja  Maun  Siii,!i:li.  "With  180' 
of  his  clan  he  defended  himsc^lf  ayainst  great  guns  and  small  arms 
as  long  as  the  house  was  tcnahle,  and  then  sallied  forth,  sword  in  luind, 
and  with  his  brother  and  80  of  his  kin  fi'll  iinlily  in  the  midst  of  his 
foes. 

-Ann.ils  and  Anticpiities  of  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  389. 

•"» Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I.  p.  1:53. 

■^Elphinitonc's  Iliotory  of  India,  p.  I'J'J. 


CIllNAI.UV.  Ill 

The  cliivalroii^  clmractcr  nf  tlu'  Ilimln  li:»>  liainli- 
t';i|){)i'(l  him  in  liis  liulit.  :i'j;;iiii>t  liis  uiiscriipiiloiis  tors. 
To  the  advaiita^t;  derived  hy  the  opjioiients  of  lh«' 
TliiKlus  IVoiii  the  latter's  imitud  jealousies  and  (hsunion 
was  added  also  thatt)f  their  (lliiiilii)  iiii\viirmi:iiess  to  do 
.'inythiii!^  a*^ainst  the  dictates  oi"  huiuanitv  or  the  demands 
ot"  ehivah'v.  I  nliki;  other  nations  thev  do  not  iu-lieve  in 
the  maxim,  "every thinu^  is  fair  in  love  and  war,"  "To 
spare  a  j)rostrate  foe,"  says  Colonel  Tod,  '*  is  the  en^ed  of 
the  Hindu  cavalier,  and  he  curried  all  such  maxim> 
excess.    ' 

If  the  chivalrous  nature  of  tlu;  latter-ilay  llind.i 
had  oidy  been  tempered  with  ])oliti-al  discretion,  India 
Avould  not  have  suffered  tlu;  misrule  that  characterized 
some  of  the  subseipient  rei^iis.  Sultan  Shah-l)u«I-din 
Ohori,  when  captured  1>\-  Pirrhi  IJaj  on  the  field  of 
Tilaori,  wa-^  lil)eratetl  a)id  allowed  to  return  to  Ids 
country,  only  to  come  biick  with  a  fresh  armv,  and  with  the 
assistance  of  the  traitors  of  Kanauj  and  Patun  and  of  the 
Ilaoli  Uao  Hamir,  to  overturn  the  Hindu  throne  of  Delhi. 
Again,  when  Mahmud,  thetihil/.i  Kinu  of  Malwa,  was  de- 
feated antl  taken  prisoner  by  the  Maharana  of  Chitor,  not 
only  was  he  set  at  liberty  without  ransom,  but  was 
loaded   with  gifts  and   sent  l)ack  to  ^[alwa. 

AVheii  (bu'ing  the  invasion  of  Mewar  by  the  Imj)erial 
forces  of  the  Emperor  Aurangzeb — when  all  the  resources 
of  the  mighty  Moghal  Empire  were  placed  at  the  dispos:il 
of  the  Mussalman  generals,  and  the  Emperor  himself  re- 
paired to  the  scene  of  action  to  direct  the  oju'rations  in 
person — the  heir-a])parent  of  Delhi  and  iiis  army,  cut  off 
from  all  assistance,  were  at  the  absolute  mercy  of  the  lieir 
of  Mewar,  the  niagnaniinous  Rajputs,    in   pursuance   .f 

^  Tod's  Rajastbau,  Vol.  I,  i'.  l'><7. 


62  HINDU    SL'PEUIOKITV. 

mistaken  notions   of  chivalry   and   humanity   not    only 
spared  the  wliole  army,  but  gave  them  guides  to  conduct 
them  by  the  detile  of  Dihvara,  and  escorted  them  to  Chitor. 
Nav,  we  le.u-n  from  the  historian  Orme,  that  Auran-'zeb 
liimself  owed  his  life   to  the   clemency  of  the   Raji)uts. 
Jle  savs: — "The  division  wl:ich  moved  witli    Aiu'angzeb 
himself  was   unexpectedly  stopped   by  insuperable    de- 
fences and  precipices  in  front  ;  while  the  Rajputs  in  one 
night  closed  the  streights  in  his  rear,  by  felling  the  over- 
hanfimr  trees  :  and  from  their  stations  above  prevented 
all   endeavours  of   the  troops,  either  within  or  without, 
from  removing  the  obstacle.      Udeperri,  the  favourite  and 
Circassian  wife  of  Auranjizeb,  accompanied  him  in  this 
arduous  war,  and  with  her  retinue  and  escort  was  enclosed 
in  another  part  of  the  mountains;   her  conductors,  dread- 
ing to  expose  her  person  to  danger  or  public  view,  sur- 
rendered.     She  was  carried  to  the   Rana,   wdio   received 
her  with  homage  and  every  attention.     Meanwhile,  the 
Emperor   himself   might   have   perished  by   famine,    of 
which  the  Rana  let  him   see   the  risk,  l)y  a  confinement 
of  two  days,   when  he  ordered    his    Rujputsto  withdraw 
from  tlieir  stations,  and  suffer  the  way  to  be  cleared.    As 
soon   as  Auranj^zeb  was  out  of   danaer  tlu;   Rana   sent 
hack  his  wife,  accompanied  by  a  chosen  escort,  who  only 
re(piested  in  return  that  he  would  refrain  from   destroy- 
ini;  the  sacretl  animals  of  their  religion  which  might  still 
])e  left  in  the  jdains;  but  Aurangzeb,  who  believed  in  no 
virtue  imt  self -interest,  imputed  the    generosity  and  for- 
l)earanee  of  the  Rana  to  the  fear  of  future  venge:;nee,  and 
continued  the  war.     Soon  after,  he  was  again  weU-nigh 


('IIIVALKV.  (13 

encloscfl  in  tho  nioiintnins.  This  second  cxjK'ricnrc'  of 
diHicultics  Ix'vond  liis  jiltc  and  constitution,  and  tin? 
arrival  of  iiis  sons,  A/.im  and  AkKar,  drtcrmincd  liini 
not  to  I'xposc  liiniscir  anv  lonL*"*'!'  in  tlu*  li»Id,  Imt  to 
leave  its  ()|H!ralions  to  their  condnct,  snjierintcnded  l»y 
his  own  iiistnictions  from  Ajnicr,  to  whicii  city  l»e 
retired  with  ihi.'  Iionseholds  df  his  fainiiv,  tho  oflicers  of 
his  court,  and  his  hody^uar'l  of  rour  thonsjind  nK-n, 
dividini;'  the  army  between  his  two  sons,  wiio  each 
had  hrouu'ht  a  coiisiderahle  nnmher  of  troops  from  their 
respective  (rovernments.  "• 

Well  mav  Colonel  Tod  exclaim  :  "  Ihit  for  re|»'ated 
instances  ol"  an  illjud^HMl  humanity,  the  throne  of  tiie 
]\louhals  miL;ht  have  he'en  com|"letely  over!:ui-iie<l.'"- 

Twice  owiuLi"  to  ])olitieal  in<liscreti<>n  on  the  part  of 
the  lianas  of  Mewar,  in  the  reiirns  of  AIJ>ar  ai-.d 
flehanu'ir,  did  the  Hindus  lose;  their  chance  of  supremaey. 
Were  it  not  l"«>r  the  ill-fated  interview  iM-tween  Hana 
Prat^ip  and  Maun  Sinufh  of  daipnr  nn  the  I'daisaLrar 
lake,  on  the  hitter's  return  home  fn>m  the  con«pn*ht  of 
Sholapur,  Akhar  woiiM  never  have  succeeded  in  consoli- 
datinu"  his  ])OWer  and  founding;  the  Moi^dial  Empire  ' 
in  India,  which,  after  a  hrilliant  career  of  two  centuries. 
was  Hnallv  shattered  to  pieces  hy  the  Mahratta-. 

'IVxls  Uajastliaii,  Vol.  I.,  p.  tW.',, 
2T.:d's  Ilajastlian,  Vol.  I.,  p.  :)7'.\. 

••"  To  liiiii  Akliar  was  iiuldtti'il  for  lialf  l»i>  triiiin|>lis.  frrnn  tl»<« 
Know-clad  Caucasus  to  (In*  .shores  of  the 'f^oldcn  Cln'n»<>iHx>.*  Ij4>(  llii> 
t«vt' cinliracc  those cxtrt-iin's  oi  liis  o)in|iu'sls.  Kahulniid  the  Pnroiritmisaii 
of  Ah'xaiuh'r,  and  Arracaii  (now  w<ll-kiiowu)  on  tlic  Indian  Oi-^-an:  thf 
fornior  rpunit'-d,  the  latter  »ulijni;ated,  to  the  einiiin*  hy  u  Unjput  |triiuT 
nn<l  a  ftajjtut  army."  p.  :\:\n.  ••  rrinoe  Selini  (aft«'r\vnrd->  d.-hanyir') 
h'd  the  war  against  Hana  Pratap  guided  hy  the  eonneils  of  Uajn  Maun 
and  llie  distint;uislifd  apostate  son  of  Sagnrji,  Mohahnt  Klum  " — 
Vol.  1.  p:;/,7. 


64  HINDU    SUPERIOllITV. 

A^'nin.  wlion  (lurini!*  Jebano-ir's  reii>:n,  Mewar  con- 
reived  the  idea  ot"  ])uttiiii;-  u])  Prince  Kburrani  against 
the  Emperor  Jeliangir,  and,  in  the  Civil  ^^'a^,  to  wrest 
the  supremacy  for  the  Hindus,  JMicem's  indiscreet  taunt 
to  Kaja  Gaj  Singh  of  ]\Iar\var  at  tlie  critical  moment 
alienated  the  Rahtores,  and  tlie  de.'^ign  was  Frustrated. 


tyiCii  /li 


etlana     ■:!/'irt/^i 


'/'¥ 


YU 


fii. 


PAnaoTiSM.  G5 


vr.— i\vTi;ioTisM. 

nicatlics  there  the  mail,  with  soul  Hodead, 
Wlxi  ncvfr  til  himself  Imlh  saii!, 
This  is  my  own,  my  native  Ian. I  ! 

— Scott  :   J.'iy  of  IL-  Last  Afmnlrf!. 

Love  of  one's  own  counti-y  i-^  inlxnn  in  all  <-ivili/,o»l 
men.  M<'iir(i  llJuhni — Motherland — was  the  (-(.nstjint 
relVain  ol"  the  Hindus'  son^r.  The  intcnsitv  of  the  fc*-!- 
ini;-  may  be  i;ani;ed  ho\\\  the  faet  that  when  din-inLT  his 
fall,  |);)htieal  foresioht  Itcciine  a  wainiiLj  snhstanee  in  tin'. 
mental  liori/on  of  the  Hindu,  he  ruled  that  no  one  should 
j»-o  out  of  the  saci-ed  limit--  of  this  holvland,  that  life 
here  and  death  here  alone  !*hall  he  the  neeessirv  con- 
ditions  of  ^i^^ainin^^  Heaven  hereafter.  It  is  of  course 
universally  known  that  the  creed  of  the  Kajpnt  or  the 
warrior  easte  of  India  even  now  is,  that  dy inL!^  sword  in 
hand  in  the  cause  of  the  country  is  the  surest  and  the  nearest 
way  to  Indra's  abode.  Colonel  Tod  says:  "The  name  of 
'country'  carried  with  it  a  macrical  pow«'r  in  the  mind  of 
the  Itaj[)ut.  The  name  of  his  wife  or  his  mistress  must 
never  be  mentioned  at  all,  nor  that  f)f  his  coimtrv  but 
with  respect,  or   his  sword  is  instimly   imsheathe<l.''' 

Patriotism  !  In  vain  you  ransack  the  annals  of 
Greece  and  Iiomc,  of  Modern  or  ^Icdia-val  I!uro|)e  to 
find  such  noble  patriots  as  liana  Prataj>  and  Thakur 
])uru:a  Das.  Patriotism,  chivalry  and  honour  found  their 
ideal  embodiment  in  these  two  henx's.  Prata[)  fou;j:ht 
sinLrledianded,  with  a  handfid  of  his  Uaiputs,  airainst  th<; 

ITod's  Kninsthan,  Volume  II.  p.  ii'.». 


6G  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

iniglity  liosts  of  Akhar,  "the  aTontcst  monarcli  that  ever  sat 
on  an  Asiatic  throne,"  aided  by  the  arms  and  counsels  of 
his  own  countrymen,  the  Kiitchwahas,  Rahtores,  Haras, 
Dcoras  of  Abu  and  others,  -whose  kingdoms  lay  round 
Mewar.     He  fought  for  a  qu;u-ter  of  a  century  and  died, 
leaving  a  name,  unrivalled  in  the   history   of  patriotism 
and  chivalry.     Colonel  Tod  says  :   "  Pratap  succeeded  to 
the  title    and  renown  of  an  ancient  house,   but  without 
a  capital,  without  resources,  his   kindred   and  clans   dis- 
spirited  by  reverses;  yet  possessed  by  the  noble   spirit 
of  his  race,  he  meditated  the  rcco-\4ery  of  Chitor,  the  vin- 
dication of  the  honour  of  his  house  and  the   restoration 
of    its    power.        Tlie     wily    Moghal    (Akbar)    arrayed 
against  Pratap,  his  kin(h'ed   in   faith   as   well  as   blood. 
The  princes  of  Marwar,  Amber,  Bikaner  and  even  Boondi, 
late  his  firm  ally,  took  part  with  Akbar  and  upheld  des- 
potism.      Nay,  even  his  own  brother,   Sagarji,   deserted 
hiui.      But  the  magnitude  of  the  peril  confirmed  the  for- 
titude of  Pratap,  who  vowed  in  the  words  of  the  bard,  '  to 
make  his  mother's  milk    resplendent  ; '  and  he   am])]y 
redeemed  his  pledge.      Single-handed  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  did  In*  withstand   the  combine<l  eiforts  of  the 
em[)ire,  at  one  time  carrying  destruction  into  the  plains, 
at  another  flying  from  rock  to  rock,  feeding  his  family 
from   tlie   fruits   of   his   native   liil'.s,    and    rearing    the 
jiursling  hero,  Ann-a,   amidst   savage  beasts   and   scarce 
less  savage  men,  a  fit  heir  to  his  prowess  and   revenge. 
Tlic  bare   idea   that   'the  son   of    linppa    liawal    sliould 
l)ow    the  iiead  to  mortal  man'  was  insiij)portal)l(',    and 
he  s])Mrned  every  overture,  which  li:id  submission  ior  its 
bisis,  (jr  tiie  degradation  cf  uniting  his  lainily  by  marriage 
with  the  Tartar,  tliougli  lord  of  countless  nndtitudes." 


PATUIOTISM.  r,7 

Coloml  Tod  :ul(ls':  *'  It  i.>  \V(trtliy  tlic  utU'»jli<tti   of 
those   who    iiillucncu    the    <lrstiiiii's  of  States    in    ni'.n- 
favoured    cHmes    to    estimate    llw.    intensity   of    fcidin^ 
wliich  could  aim  the  jtrince  to  oi)|)ose  the  n'sourecs  of  u 
small  j»rincij»alit y  airainst  the  then  most  powerfid  ('m|tiri: 
in  the  world,  whose  armifs  wei"e  more  numerous  an<l  far 
more  eificient  than  any  (!ver  led  l>v  the  l*ersians  a«rain>t 
the    liherties  of   (Jreece.        Had    .Mewar    j)ossess<'(l    h<  r 
Thucydidcs  or  her    ZenoplnM',    neither    (he  war  of  the 
Pelejionnesus,  nor  the    Itetreat    of    the    Fen    Tlmusand 
would  have    yielded  more  diversified  incidents    for   tl>« 
historic  muse  than  the  deeds  of  this  hrilliant  rei_i;n  amid 
the  many  vicissitudes  of  Mewar.      Indaunted   heroism, 
iutlcxil/ic  fortitude,  that   which   '  keeps  honour   hrii^ht,' 
perseverance  with  /^V/t/////  .such  as   no   mithni  can  ln>ast 
were  the  materials  opposed  to  a  soaring"  ambition,   c<»m- 
mandinir  ttdents,  unlimited   means  and   t!ie   fervour   nf 
religious  zeal  ;  all,  however,  insufficient  to  contend   with 
one  unconrpierahlc  mind.      There  is  no:  a  j^rr^*;  in  the  al- 
pine Aravallithat  is  not  sanctified  by  some  deed  of  Pratap — 
some  brilliant  victory  or  often  more  glorious  defe;it.    Uul- 
di'jhat  /.<?  the   -  Thcnnopijhv  of  Meuai.,  the  field  of  Dcucir 
her  Marathony 

"  The  last  moments  of  Prataj),"  says  Colonel  Tod, 
"were  an  approjiriate  commentary  on  his  life,  wliich  he 
tern^inated,  like  the  Carthaginian,  swearing  his  successor 
to  eternal  confiict  airainst  the  foes  of  his  country's  inde- 
pendence,    liut  the    liajput   prince  liad   not    the  same 

»Tod's  Raja-tlian,  V"l.  T.  i>.  mO. 

^"  What  says  the  Tlicruio|.yl.x-  of  Iii.lia,  Cory^rauni  ?  Fivr  luuviml 
firelocks  against  20  thousaiul  m.n  !  Do  tlic  aimals  of  Nnpolcon  record 
a  more  brilliant  exploit."— /^yj^'^/'i'",  Vol.  I.  i'.  bU. 


68  HINDU    SLTKRIORITV. 

joyful  assurance  tliat  inspired  the  Numidian  Hamilcar  ^ 
for  his  end  was  clouded  with  the   presentiment  that   his 
son,  Aiara,  would  ab.mdon  his  fame  for  ini^lorious  repose. 
A  powerful  sympathy   is  excited  by  the   picture  wliich 
is  drawn  of  this  final   scene.     The  dying  hero   is   repre- 
sente  I  in  a  lowly  dwelling  ;  his  chiefs,  the  faithful  com- 
panions  of  many  a  glorious  day,   awaiting  round    his 
pallet  the  dissolution  of   their   prince,  when  a  groan   of 
mental  anguish  made  Saloombra   inquire  '  what   afHicted 
liis    soul    that    it    would    not    depart    in    peace  ? '      He 
railed :    '  it  lingered,'    he  said,    '  for  some     consolatory 
pledge  that    his    country    should    not    be   abandoned  to 
the  Toorks  ;'  and  with  the   death  pang  upon    him,    he 
related  an  incident  which  had  guided  his  estimate  of  his 
son's  disposition,  and  now  tortured  him  with  the    redec- 
tion,  that  for  personal  ease  he  would  forego  the  remem- 
brance of  his  oica  and  his  country  s  icrow/s. 

"On  the  banks  of  the  Peshola.,  Pratapand  his  chiefs 
h:id  constructed  a  few  huts  (the  site  of  the  future  palace  of 
Udaipur)  to  protect  them  during  the  inclemency  of  the 
r.uns  in  the  day  of  their  distress.  Prince  Amra,  for- 
getting the  lowliness  of  the  dwelling,  a  projecting  bam- 
boo of  the  roof  caught  the  folds  of  his  turban  and 
dragged  it  off  as  he  retired.  A  hasty  emotion,  which 
disclosed  a  varied  feeling,  was  observed  with  pain  by 
Pratup,  wiio  thence  adopted  tiie  opinion  that  his  son  Avould 
never  witiist;ind  the  hardships  necessary  to  be  endured 
in  sui-hacause:  'These  sheds'  said  the  <lying  prince, 
'  will  Lfivc  wav  to  sumptuous  dwelling's,  thus  ircneratinir 
the  love  of  ease,  and  luxury  Avith  its  concomitiuits  will 
ensue,  to  wliieh  the  independence  of  Mewar,  Avliich  we 
have  bled   to   maintain,    will  be  saerilied  ;  and  you,    my 


chiefs,  will  f(»Ilo\v  tho  piTiiicioiis  oxamplt'.'  Tlu-v  jilctlirod 
themselves,  uikI  l);'c;tiir!  LTuamiitees  for  the  jtriiicc,  *  hy 
the  throii;;  of  r>.u)|):i  K:i\v;i!,'  tliat  ili'v  woiiM  not  [n'rinit 
iniiiisioiis  lo  he  raisL'l  till  Mrwar  had  recovereil  her 
iuile|)L;ii(leiice.  The  s:)il  of  l'rata]»  was  siitislied,  and 
Avith  joy  he  expired."' 

As  regards  Durna  Das  and    (he  U ahtores,  the  iiolije 
historian  of  l{.aj|)utaiia  says  :   "  I.ct  us  ttikc   a   rctntsjiee- 
tive   olanee   of   tiie   traiisaetioiis  of    the    Itaiiton-s    from 
the  year  17.")7,    th;'   p.-riod   of   K  ij  i    daswiint's  death   at 
Cal)ul,   to   the    restoration   of    Ajit.    presentiiiL^  a    conti- 
nuous conflict   of     80    years'   duration.      In    vain    miiilit 
AVe    search    the    annals    of     an\-   other    nation    for   >neh 
inflexible    devotion    as    marked    the    Kaiitore    character 
throui^h   this    ])eriod    of     strife,    during;"     which,   to    use 
their    own     phrase,    '  hardly    a     Chieftain  «lied     on     hin 
])allet.'    L(.'t   those    who    deem    the    Hindu    warrior   V(.id 
of    i)atriotism    read    the    rude    chronicle  of    this    thirty 
years'  war;  let  them  compare  it  with   that  of  ar.y  other 
C(juntrv,  and  do    justice   to   the    mai^nanimons  Rajpoot. 
This     narrative,    the    simj»licity  of     which    is    the    hest 
voucher  for  its  aulhenticity,   presents   an  uninterruptecl 
record  of  patri<jtism  and   disinterested   loyalty.      It   was 
a    p;'riod    when    the   sacrifice^  of    tliese    principl<;s   was 
rewarded  bv  the  tyrant  kiitu^  with  the  hij^hest  honours  of 
the  State;   norare  we  without  instances  of  tlic  temptation 
being  too  strong  to   be   withstood:   but  they  are  rare, 
and  serve  only   to  exhibit   in    more  pleasing  colours  tlic 
virtues  of  the  tribe  which  spurned  the  attempts  at  sc<luc- 
tion.     What  a  splendid  example  is  the  heroic  Durga  Das 


1  Tud's  Kaju.lhaii,  Vul.  I,  {^[k  oi^,  VJ. 


70  HINDU    KUI'EinoiaTY. 

of  all  that  constitutes  the  glory    of    the   Rajput  !  valour, 
loyalt\',   integrity,   combined   with   prudence   in   all  the 
ditHeulties  which   surrounded  him,   are  qualities    which 
entitle  him  to  the  admiration   which   his  memory  conti- 
nues to  enjoy.     The  temptations   held  out  to  him  were 
almost  irresistible  :  not  merely   the  gold,   Avhich   he  and 
thousands  ot"  his  brethren  would  alike  have  spurned,  but 
the  splendid  offer  of  power  in  the   proffered  'munsub  of 
five  thousand,'  which  would  at  once  have  lifted  him  from 
his  vassal  condition  to  an  equality  with  the   princes  and 
chief    nobles  of  the  land.     Durga  had,    indeed,  but  to 
name  his  reward  ;  but,  as  the  bard  justly  says,   he  was 
^  A molac^  hey ond  iiW  price,   'Unoko' unique.     Not  even 
revenge,  so  dear  to  the  Rajput,  turned  him  aside  from 
the  dictates  of  true  honour.     The   foul  assassination  of 
his    brother,   the   brave    Soning,    effected    through    his 
enemies,  made  no  alteration  in  his  humanity  whenever  the 
chance  of  war  placed  his  foe  in  his  power;  and   in  this 
his  policy  seconded  his  virtue.       His  chivalrous  conduct 
in  the  extrication   of  prince   Akbar  from   inevitable  de- 
struction had  he  fallen  into  his  father's  hands,  was  only 
surpassed  by  his  generous  and  delicate  behaviour  towards 
the  prince's   fmnily  which  was  left  in  his   care,   forming 
a  markeil  contrast  to  that  of  the  enemies  of  his  faith  on 
similar  occasions.     The  virtue  of  the  grand- daughter  of 
Aurangzelj,  in    the  sanctuar}'    of   Droonara,   was   in  far 
better  keeping  than  in  the  trebly- walled  harem  of  Agra. 
Of  his  energetic  mind  and    the   control   he  exerted  over 
those  of  his  confiding  brethren  what  a  proof  is  given,  in 
his   preserving  the   secret  of  the  abode    of     his    jH'ince 
throughout  the  first  six   years  of  his  infancy  !     But,  to 


lV\TI!Tf>-l  ISM, 


coiK'liule  our  cMiloc^y  ill  tin.'  wonls  of  tlicir  hunl  :  he  hn« 
rcMpod  tlio  iimnortality  dfstiiUMl  li.r  trood  deeds  ;  iiin 
momory  is  chcrislicd,  his  acLioiis  arc  tlic  llifinc  ol'  con- 
stant ])niis(',  and  his  |mtiirc  on  Ills  wliitc  ljor.se,  old,  yet 
in  vigour,  is  rainiliar  anionirst  tiic  colleclions  f»f  the 
})<)rtraits  of  Uajpiitana."' 

"  In  the  liistory  of  mankind,  "  adds  Colonel  Tod, 
"  tlioro  is  nothin<T  to  he  found  prt'sontini,^  a  more  brilliant 
picture  of  fidelity  than  that  all'ordcd  hy  the  Kahtorc 
clans  in  tlicir  devotion  to  their  prince  from  liis  l)irth  until 
he  worked  out  hi-s  own  and  Iiis  coinitry's  deliverance. "- 

Colonel  Tod  says  :  ""Many  anecdotes  are  extuit  record- 
ing the  dread,  Aurangzeh  ha<l  of  this  leader  of  the  Uahton'.s, 
one  of  which  is  aunisinLf.  The  tyrant  had  commande*! 
pictures  to  be  drawn  of  two  of  the  most  mortal  f«K*.s 
to  his  repose,  Sevaji  and  Duri;a  :  Sevaji  was  drawn 
seated  on  a  couch  ;  Duri^a  in  his  ordinary  position,  on 
horseback,  toastini^  O/iturties  or  barley-aikes  with  the 
])oint  of  his  lance,  on  a  fire  of  maize-stalks.  Auranir/.eh 
at  the  first  2,-lance,  exclaimed,  '  I  may  entrap  that  fellow 
(meaning  Sevaji),  but  ihis  dog  is  born  to  be  my  bsme."^ 

Patriotism,  honour  of  his  race,  anxiety  to  maintain 
the  ""ood  name  of  his  country  arc  inherent  traits  in  the 
character  of  a  true  Hindu.  A  simi)le  incident  of  no 
great  political  importance  shows  the  living  faith  of  the 
Rajput  in  his  country  and  his  race,  for  whose  honour 
he  is  prepared  at  all  times  and  in  all  circumstances  to  lay 
down  his  life  unhesitatingly. 

1  Tod's  Kajrxsthan,  Vd    II,  pp.  81,  82. 
-'Tod's  Rajasthan,  V..1.  11.  p.  '.M. 
3Toa"s  Uajastlian,  Vol.  II,  p.  «G. 


72  HINDU    SUPERIORITi'. 

Ilumiliatod  l)v  a  iiiiiht  attack  on  his  forces  by  a 
liandfiil  of  men  under  Hamoo,  tlie  Chief  of  lUindi, 
M'hen  hi?s  army  was  ])nt  to  flii;ht,  in  the  course  of  a 
compaign  against  llaraoti,  the  Maharana  of  Chitor 
re-formed  his  troops  under  the  walls  of  his  celebrated 
fortress,  and  swore  that  he  would  not  eat  until  he  was 
master  of  linndi. 

The  rash  vow  went  round  ;  but  Bundi  was  sixty 
miles  distant,  and  defended  l>y  brave  hearts.  His  chiefs 
expostulated  with  the  Rana  on  ihe  absolute  impossi- 
bility of  redeeming  his  vow  ;  but  the  words  of  kings  are 
sacred  :  Boondi  nuist  fall  ere  the  King  of  the  Gehlotes 
could  (line.  In  this  exigeuijc  a  childish  expedient  Avas 
proposed  to  release  him  from  hunger  and  his  oath  ; 
'to  erect  a  mock  Boondi,  and  take  it  by  storm.'  Tn- 
stantlv  the  mimic  tOAvn  arose  under  the  walls  of  Chitor  ; 
and,  that  the  deception  might  be  complete,  the  local 
nomenclature  was  attended  to,  and  each  quarter  had  its 
appropriate  appellation.  A  band  of  Haras  of  the  Pathar 
were  in  the  service  of  Chitor,  whose  leader,  Koombo 
]);iirsi,  Avas  returning  with  his  kin  from  hunting  the 
deer,  Avhen  their  attention  Avas  attracted  by  this  strange 
bustle.  The  story  AA'as  soon  told,  that  IJoondi  must  fall 
ore  the  liana  could  dine.  Koombo  assembled  his  bri'tlinn 
of  the  Pathar,  dcclnring  that  even  the  mock  Poondi 
must  1)C  defended.  All  iVlt  the  in<lignity  to  the  clan, 
:nid  each  bosom  burning  Avith  indignation,  they  ])reparc<l 
to  ])rotecfc  the  nnul  Avails  of  the  psemlo  lioondi  from  in- 
sult. It  AA-as  reported  to  thePanath:it  i'oondi  waslinished. 
He  advanced  to  the  storm  ;  but  what  washis  surprise  whe^i, 
instead  of  the  blank  cartridge  he  heard  a  volley  of  balls  whiz 
amouiist  them  1      A  messenger  AVas   despatched  and  was 


r 


TATl!I<»TT'<\r.  73 

received  by  I'airsi  at  tlio  fj^atc,  who  oxplaiiiod  the  cause 
of  the  unexpected  salutation,  desirinL'"  hini  to  tell  the 
Kana  tliat  '  not  even  the  mock  caj)itai  <»r  a  llara  should 
be  dishonoured.'  Sj)rcadini:;  a  shc^ct  at  the  little  gato- 
way,  Bairsi  and  the  Kaawtnit-^  invited  the  assault,  and  at 
the  tliresliold  of  i Ti'(r-ca-JU>t>iuU  (^{.\\v.  I'oondi  of  clay)  they 
gave  u})  tiieir  lives  for  the  honour  of  tiic  race."' 

Wlicre  can  vmi  find  a  more  in^nirinir  and  cinioblini' 
example  of  a  ))atriotic  Hindu  doint;  his  duty  than  that 
of  the  eldest  son  of  the  Mehlri  Chief  durinif  the  Civil 
AVar  between  r>akht  Sini;li  and  Ham  Siniili  in  Marwar? 
Colonel  Tod  says  :  "  There  is  nothini:;  more  chivalrous 
in  the  days  of  Edward  and  Cressy  than  the  death  of  the 
heir  of  Mehtri,  who,  w  ith  his  father  and  brothers  scaled 
his  fealty  with  his  blood  on  this  fatal  iield.  He  hacHoD* 
engaoed  the  hand  of  a  daughter  of  a  chief  of  the  Xinn^kas, 
and  was  occupied  with  the  marriage  rites  when  tidings 
reached  him  of  the  approach  of  the  rebels  to  Mairta,  T^^e 
knot  had  just  been  tied,  their  hands  had  been  joined — 
but  he  was  a  Mairtea — he  unlocked  his  hand  from  that 
of  the  fair  Xirooki,  to  court  the  Apsara  in  the  fiehl  of 
battle.  In  the  bridal  vestments,  with  the  nuptial  coronet 
(Mor)  encircling  his  forehea<l,  he  took  his  station  with 
his  cian  in  the  second  day's  figlit,  and  '  obtiiined  a  briilc 
in  Inura's  abode.'  The  bards  of  ^laroo  dwell  with 
delight  on  the  romantic  glory  of  the  youthful  heir  of 
Mehtri,  as  they  repeat  in  their  Doric  verse, 

'  Kan  a  niooti  l)ull)ulla 
Otilla  soiii  n  iiialla 
Asi  Cos  Unrro  lio  ay  a 
Kiinwar  .Mflitri  walla.' 

The  paraphernalia  here  enumerated  are  very  foreign  to  the 

I'luJ'.s  liajaslliaii,  Vul  II.  \>\>.  I";:!.  <".4. 


HINDU    SUrERlORITY. 


cavalier  of  tliu  West  :  'AYitli  pearls  shining  in  his  ears, 
and  a  golden  chaplet  round  his  neck,  a  space  of  eighty 
coss  came  the  heir  of  Mehtri.' 

"  Tiie  virgin  bride  followed  her  lord  from  Jaipur,  but 
instead  of  being  met  with  the  tabor  and  lute,  and  other 
siijfns  of  festivitv,  wail  and  lamentation  awaited  her  within 
the  lands  of  Mehtri,  where  tidings  came  of  the  calamity 
which  at  once  depri\-ed  this  branch  of  the  Mairteas  of  all 
its  supporters.  Her  part  was  soon  taken  ;  she  com- 
manded the  pyre  to  be  erected  ;  and  \vith  the  turban 
andtoorah,  which  adorned  her  lord  on  this  fatal  day,  she 
followed  his  shade  to  the  mansions  of  the  sun."^ 

Owing  to  certain  reasons,  Rni  Singh,  the  heir-appa- 
rent of  Jaisalmer.  during    the    reiirn   of   ]\[ul  Rai    (who 
became    king   in    A.D.  1762),  was  persuaded  to  put  the 
minister  to  death.    This  was  effected  by  the  prince's  own 
hand,  in  his  father's  presence  ;  and  as  the  Mehta,  in  falling, 
clung  to  Mul  Raj  for  protection,  it  was  proposed  to  ttdvC  off 
^,lul  Raj  at  the  same  time.    The  prDposition,  however,  was 
rejected  with  horror  by  the  ]irincc,  whose  vengeance  was 
satisfied.    The  Rawal  wms  allowed  to  escape  to  tlie  female 
apartments  ;  but  the  chieftains,  well  knowing  they  could 
not  expect  pardon  from  the  Rawal,  insisted  on  investing 
Rai  Singh,  and  if  he    refused,  on    placing  his  brother  on 
the  (J ndi.    The    '.-hi'  of  liai  Singh  w:is  proclaimed;    but 
no  entreaty  or  threat  would  indiu-e    him  to  listen  to  the 
proposal  of  occupying   the  throne  ;  in    lieu  of  which  he 
used  a  })all(;t  (khatj.      Three  months  and  five  dnys    had 
passed  since  the  de[)osal  anti  bondage  of  Mul  Kaj,   when 
a  fcmiilc   resolved   to  emancipate  him  ;   this   fcmah;  was 
the  wife  of  th  •  c'lief  consj)irator,  :nid  conHdentiiil  a(l\  iscr 

IToi's  Itajasthaii,  Vol.  I,  iip.  74^,00. 


rATKlOTlS.M.  7;, 

oftlic  i-oiroiit  iM-iiKv.      This  „nl,I<.  .Imiuo,  a    KaliKm-    li.ij- 
|K)()tl)i,  of  the  M:lll('(ll:icl:i?i,  was  the  wife  of  Auop  Sillj^h 
<>i  'niijmiali,  iIk;    pieMiiicr    iiohlo  of    riaisaltncr,  am!  who, 
-svcaritMl  with  tlie  tyramiy  <.f  tlic  iiiiiiistfi-  and  tlic    wcak- 
iiL'ss  (»f  his  jiriiiLV,  liad  proposiul  tlic  (Icalh  of  the  one  and 
the  d('i)o.sal  of  tlic  other.      Wt-  aiv  liot   nia.lc  accjiiaintrd 
with  any   reason,  save  tliat  of    sinnChmna^  iw  'fealty,' 
"whieli  })ronij)ted  the  Uahtorni  to  rescue  her  prinee   even 
at  the  risk  of  \\vv  husband's   life  ;  hut  her  a|>j>pal   to  her 
son,  Zourawar,  to  perform  his  duty,  is  preserved,  and  wr 
i^ive    it    vcrhafim  :    'Should    your    father     oppose    you, 
saerifiee  hiui  to  your  duty,  and  I  will  mount  the  pyre  with 
his  corp>;e.'    The  son  yielded  ohedienee  to  the  injunction 
of  his   uiairnanimous  parent,  who  had  sutticient  influenee 
to  pi^ain  over  Arjoon,  the  brother  of  her  husband,  as  well 
as  ]\[egh    Sinir,   Chief   of    iJamo.     The  three   ehieftains 
force<!  an  entrance  into  the  prison  where  their  prince  was 
confined,    who  refused  to  l)e  released  from  his  manacles, 
until    he    was    told   that    the    Mahechi     had    promoted 
the  })lot  for  his  liberty.   The  sound  of  the  «:;ran  1  lutkarra^ 
prochuniiuu:  Mul  Raj's  re- possession  oi  the   <j<idi^   awoke 
his  son  from  sleep  ;   and  on  the  herald  depositinj:!;  at  the 
side  of  his  pallet  the  sable  siropava^  and  all  the  insi«!nia  of 
exile — the  black  steed   and  black  vestments — the   prince, 
obeyini^  the   command  nf  the  emancipated    Ilawal,   clad 
liimself  therein,  and,  accompanied  by  his  party,  bade  adieu 
to  Jaisalmer,  and  took  the  road  to   Kottoroh.       When  he 
arrived  at  this  town,  on  the  southern  frontier  of  the  State, 
the  chiefs  proposed  to  ''  run  the  country''  ;  but  he  replied 
that  the  country  was  his  mother  and  evert/  Rajpoot  his  foe 
loho  injured  it.  * 

•Tod'^  Kaja'^tli.ii),  Vol.  II,  pp.  2G4.   .j. 


76  HINDU    SUPKRIORITY. 

"  This  Rajputni,"  adds  Colonel  Tod,  "  with  an  ele- 
vation of  mind  equal  to  whatever  is  recorded  of  Greek 
find  Roman  heroines,  devoted  herself  and  a  husband  whom 
she  loved,  to  the  one  predominant  sentiment  of  the  Raj- 
put— swadharma  (duty). 

The  reply  of  the  Deorah  prince  of  Sirohi  when  in- 
structed to  perform  that  profound  obeisance  from  which 
none  were  exempt  at  Delhi,  where  he  had  been  carried 
by  Mokundas,  one  of   Jaswant  Singh's  generals  after 
having  been  secretl/ captured  whilst  asleep  in  his  palace, 
and  his  subsequent  conduct,  shows  the  high  spirit  and  the 
independence  of  character  of  a  true   Rajput  and  his  in- 
tense love  for  his  country.     He    said  that  "his  life  was 
in  the  king's  hands,  his  honour  in  his  own  ;  ho  had  never 
bowed  the  head  to  mortal  man,  and  never  would,"     As 
Jaswant  had  pledged  himself  for  his  honourable  treat- 
ment, the  officers  of  the  ceremonies  endeavoured  by  stra- 
taG:em  to  obtain  a  constrained  obeisance,  and  instead  of 
introducing  him  as  usual,   they  showed  him  a  wicket, 
knee  high,  and  very  low  overhead,  by  which   to  enter, 
but  putting  his  feet  foremost,  his  head  was  the  last  part 
to  appear.     This  stubborn  ingenuity,  his  noble  bearing, 
and  his  long- protracted  resistance,   added  to  Jaswant's 
pledge,  won  the  king's  favour  ;  and  lie  not  only  proffer- 
ed   him  pardon,  but  whatever  lands  he  might   desire. 
"Though  the  king  did  not  name  the  return,  Soortan  was 
well  aware  of  the  terms,  but  he  boldly  and  quickly  replied, 
'  what  can    your  Majesty  bestow   c(|ual  to  Achilgurh  ? 
let  me  return  to  it  is  all  I  ask.'    The  kina;  had  the  mao-na- 
nimity  to  comply  with  his  request;  Soortan  was  allowed 
to  retire   to   the  castle  of   Abu,   nor  did   he  or  any  of 
the  Deoras  ever  rank  themselves  amongst  the  vassals  of 


I'ATUInTlSM.  ,  , 

tlie  empire  ;  but  they  have  eoiitinueil  to  tlie  ])rcsent  hour 
a  life  of  ahiiost  savaij^e  in<U'j)cii(leuce."' 

Colonel  Tod  savs  :  "These  men  of  the  si>il^  as  tiu-y 
cmjihatically  dcsiirnate  themselves,  cliii*^  to  it  and  their 
aneient  and  wcll-deliiicd  |>rivile<res,  with  an  unconjjucr- 
able  pertinacity;  in  their  endeavours  to  j)reserve  them^ 
whole  generations  have  been  swept  away,  yet  has  tiieir 
strength  increased  in  the  very  ratio  of  oppressioFi.  Where 
are  now  the  oj)pressors  ?  the  dynasties  of  (ihazni,  of  (ihor, 
the  (ihiljis,  the  Lodis,  the  Pathans,  the  Timo<jrs,  and 
tlie  demoralising  Mahratta  ?  The  native  Uajpoot  hiw 
flourished  amidst  these  revolutions,  and  survive<l  tluir 
fall ;  and  but  for  tin-  vices  of  their  internal  sway,  chietly 
contracted  from  such  association,  woidd  have  ri<«'n  to 
power  upon  the  ruin  of  tluir  tyrants."- 

How  fur  will  this  high  character  of  the  Kajputs  Ik? 
influenced  bv  the  uvw  condition  of  things  remains  to  \m 
seen.  Colonel  Tod  says  :  "When  so  many  nations  arc  call-  ^ 
ed  u])on,  in  a  period  of  great  calamity  and  danger,  to  make 
over  to  a  foreigner,  their  opposite  in  everything,  their 
superior  in  most,  the  control  of  their  forces  in  time  of 
war,  the  adjudication  of  their  disput(?s  in  time  of  ]>eace, 
and  a  share  in  the  fruits  of  their  renovating  pros^xTity. 
what  must  be  the  residt,  when  each  Ilajixxit  may  hang 
up  his  lanoe  in  the  hall,  convert  his  sword  to  a  plough- 
share, and  make  a  basket  of  his  buckler  ?  What  but  the 
prostration  of  every  virtue  ?  To  Idc  great,  to  l)e  inde- 
pendent, its  martial  sj)irit  must  be  cherished  :  happy  if 
within  the  bounds  of  moderation."  "      It  is  to  be  hojx?d 


•Tod's  Raja-sthan,  Vol.  II,  pp.  56,07. 
aTod's  Kajasthan.  Vol.  II,  p.  IfiO. 
STo^l's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  127. 


/S  niNDU    SUPEUIOKITr. 

that  education,  travel  and  coiitacc  with  enlightened 
Europeans  Avill  succeed  in  counteracting  the  baneful  in- 
rtuences  dreaded  l)v  the  gallant  Colonel. 

"  The  llajput,  with  all  his  turbulence,  possesses 
in  an  eniinont  degree  both  loyalty  and  patriotism."^ 

^y\\[\t  can  be  a  more  eloquent  testimony  to  the  pat- 
riotic fervour  and  the  heroic  valour  of  the  Rajputs,  than 
the  following  extract  from  the  Annals  and  Antiquities 
of  Rajasthan  by  Colonel  Tod : — 

"  There  is  not  a  petty  State  in  Rajputana  that  has 
not  had  its  own  Thermopylae  and  scarcely  a  city  that  has 
not  produced  its  Leonidas.  But  the  mantle  of  ages  has 
shrouded  from  view  what  the  magic  pen  of  the  liistorian 
miirht  have  consecrated  to  endless  admiration  :  Sonniath 
might  have  rivalled  Dclphos  ;  the  spoils  of  Hind  might 
have  vied  with  the  w'calth  of  the  Lybian  King;  and, 
compared  with  the  army  of  the  Pandavas, 'the  army  of 
Zerxes  would  have  dwindled  into  insignificance."^ 


'Tod's  Itajasthau,  Vul.  L  p.  lOi.  ^Tod's  Uujastbaii,  lutrojuction,  p.  10. 


VAL( )(.]{.  7«j 


VII.— \  ALoi  K. 

No  thiiuLrlit  of  lliiflit. 
Xoii(>  of  rotrnit.  iiu  milnToniiiiK  dn-d 
Tlint  ari,'ii('(l  fcnr  ;  cncli  on  liiiiiM-lf  ri-lif<l. 
As  (ink  in  liis  ann  the  iiioiipiit  lav 
iM  victory. 

— Mii.ton:   I'lmulif   f.Dst. 


Tin-:  Hindus  won;  declared  hy  the  Greeks  to  i>e  the 
bravi'st  nation  tlicy  ever  came  in  contact  with.'  It  u:i.s 
the  Hindu  King  of  Mauadha  tliat  struck  terror  in  tlie 
ever-victorious  armies  of  Alexander  the  (ireat. 

Abul  Faznl,  the  mini.-ter  of  Akliar,  after  afhiiirin"" 
their  otlicr  noble  virtues,  speaks  of  the  valour  of  the 
Hindus  in  these  terms:  "Their  character  shines  i)rightest 
in  adversity.  Their  sc^ldiers  (Hajputs)  know  not  what 
it  is  to  fiee  from  the  field  of  battle,  but  when  the  surcesn 
of  the  combat  becomes  doubtful,  thev  dismount  from 
their  horses  and  throw  away  their  lives  in  payment  of 
the  debt  of  valour." 

"  The  traveller,  Bernier,  says  that  "  the  IJajputs  em- 
brace each  other  when  on  the  battK'-fie!d  as  if  resolved 
to  die."  The  Spnrtans,  as  is  v.ell  known,  dre>sed  their 
hair  on  such  occasions.  It  is  well  known  that  wjjen 
a  IJajput  becomes  desperate,  he  puts  on  garments  of 
saffron  colour,  which  act,  in  technical  lanixuaire,  is  called 
kesrian  kasumal  kdnui  (donning  saffron  robes). 

After  describing  how,  when  l)ara  disappeared  from 
the  field  of  Dholpur  where  the  Imperial  forces  had  made  a 

^Kl|i|iiii>ton'*>  lli-tniy  of  Iii'lia.  v.  111?. 


80  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

last  stand  asfainst  the  combined  armies  o£  Auran^zeb 
and  Mnrad  in  their  advance  to  Agra,1i,nd  the  Imperial 
forces  took  to  flii>-ht,  the  Bundi  chief,  like  Porus  ot  old, 
continued  fighting  heroically  till  he  was  killed,  saying 
"accursed  be  he  who  flies  !  Here,  true  to  my  salt,  my 
feet  are  rooted  to  this  field,  nor  will  I  quit  it  alive  but 
with  victory,"  and  how  Bharat  Singh,  his  youngest  son 
maintained  the  contest  nobly.  Colonel  Tod  says:  "Thus 
in  the  two  battles  cf  Ujjain  and  Dholpur,  no  less  than 
12  princes  of  the  blood,  toirether  with  the  heads  of  every 
Hara  ckm,  maintained  their  fealty  even  to  death.  Where 
are  we  to  look  for  such  examples  ?".^ 

During  a  visit  of  the  Boondi  chief,  Kao  Sooju,  to 
Chitor,  Rana  Ratna,  at  the  instigation  of  an  intriguing 
Poorbia,  determined  to  slay  the  Rao  in  an  hunt  when  the 
respective  chiefs  were  attended  only  by  a  couple  of  ser- 
vants. Finding  a  convenient  opportunity,  the  Rana  said 
to  his  companion,  "  now  is  the  moment  to  slay  the  boar, 
and  instantly  an  arrow  from  the  bow  of  the  Poorbia 
was  sped  at  the  Rao.  "  With  an  eagle's  eye  he  saw  it 
coming,  and  turned  it  off  with  his  bow."  This  might 
have  been  chance,  but  another  from  the  foster-l^rother 
of  the  Rana  convinced  him  there  was  ireachery.  Scarcely 
had  he  warded  off  the  second,  when  the  Rana  darted  at 
him  on  horseback,  and  cut  him  down  with  his  Lhanda. 
The  Rao  fell,  but  recovering,  took  his  shawl  and  lightly 
boimd  up  the  wound,  and  as  his  foe  was  making  oft',  he 
called  aloud,  "escape  you  may,  but  you  have  sunk  Mewar." 
The  Poorbia,  who  followed  his  prince,  when  he  saw  the 

iTod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  II,  p.  481.  "The  annals  of  no  nation  ou 
cartli  can  fnrnirih  such  an  (.'Xanii'lc  as  an  entire  family,  six  royal  brothers, 
stretched  on    the  field  and  all  but  one  in  death"  — \'ol.  II,  p.   1',). 


\Ai.(»ri:.  81 

Kaohiud  ii|)  his  wound,  saiil, ''  tlio  wr»rk  is  hut  li.ilf  dono;'* 
jiiidlikc  :i  cowfinl.  Kiitii:i  once  more  charLr'''!  tin' wnimtlnl 
Kao.  As  Ills  Mi'iii  was  raised  to  jiiii<li  tlifdciMl  of  sliamc, 
like  a  woiindi'd  tipT  tlic  Ilara  mad*-  a  dviiii;  i-IVurt, 
caught  ihv.  assassin  hy  the  roix*,  and  draiTiT^'d  liiiu  fr<»m 
his  stocMl.  Toi^c'LhcM'  t!ioy  <-ami'  to  ihc  <;rouiid,  llic  Kaiia 
underneath.  The  Rao  knelt  u|)<)n  his  hcnst,  whiU",  with  A'-cU' 
preternatural  strenu;th,  with  one  iiand  lie  ijrasped  his 
victim  by  the  throat,  with  the  otlii-r  lie  searchetl  for  hin 
dai^ger.  Wliat  a  nioniMit  for  rcv^eni^e  I  He  pluiii^t'd 
the  weapon  into  his  assassin's  lieart,  and  saw  him  expire 
at  his  feet.  The  Kao  was  satisfied  ;  there  was  no  more 
Hfe  left  him  than  suiliced  for  reveni^e,  and  lie  droppi-d  a 
corpse  upon  the  dead  body  of  iiis  foeinan. 

The  tidings  tlew  to  lioondi,  to  the  mother  of  the 
Rao  tliat  her  son  was  slain  in  tlie  Alharn.  ''Slain  I" 
exclaimed  this  noble  datne,  "but  did  he  fall  alone? 
Never  could  a  son  who  has  drunk  at  this  breast  d(?j)art 
unaccompanied;' and  as  she  s)K>ke,  "maternal  feeling 
caused  the  milk  to  issue  from  the  fount  with  such  force 
that  it  rent  the  slab  on  which  it  fell.''' 

Colonel  Tod  thus  relates  an  ineident  he  witnesscil  in 
Haravati  : — "There  was  one  specimen  of  tU'Volion  (to  the 
prince  of  Kotah)  which  we  dare  not  pass  over,  companibje 
with  whatever  is  recorded  of  the  fabled  traits  of  heroism  of 
Greece  or  Rome.  The  Regent's  (Zalim  Singh-  of  Kotah) 

1  Tod's  Rajastlmn,  Vol.  II  ,  pp.  468,  fiO. 

^Col.  Tod  savs  :  "  Zalim  Siiii^li  was  a  «'<)nsiiinniafo  jMiliiirjan, 
\vlio  can  scarcely  find  a  paralN-l  in  tliw  vari«il  patj«'s  of'hij.j^in.  Il-' 
was  \.\w  primHui  utohlh'  of  (In-  n'Lcinii  Iii-  inlialiitcd,  a  ^pliip'  far  too  ron- 
fiiu'.d  for  Iiis  i^cuins,  wlijcli  n'ijuiri-(l  a  wiilt-r  li'I'I  l".>i  it- ,|!-,i.I.i\  mul 
might  have  cuutrullod  the  destinies  of  uutions. 


82  nKS-pU    SLTEniORTTY. 

battalions  were  advancing  in  columns  along  the  precipi- 
tous bank  of  a  rivulet,  when  their  attention  was  arrested 
bv  several  shots  fired  from  an  isolated  hillock  risinir  out 
of  the  plain  across  the  stream.  Without  an}^  order,  but 
as  by  a  simultaneous  impulse,  the  whole  line  halted  to 
gaze  at  two  audacious  individuals,  who  appeared  deter- 
mined to  make  their  mound  a  fortress.  A  minute  or 
two  passed  in  mute  surprise,  Avhen  the  word  was  given 
to  move  on ;  but  scarcely  was  it  uttered  ere  several 
wounded  from  the  head  of  the  column  were  passing  to 
the  rear,  and  shots  began  to  be  exchanged  very  briskly, 
at  least  twenty  in  return  for  one.  But  the  long  match- 
locks of  the  two  heroes  told  every  time  in  our  lengthen- 
ed  line,  while  the}^  seemed  to  have  'a  charmed  life,' 
and  the  shot  fell  like  hail  around  them  innocuous,  one 
continuing!:  to  load  behind  the  mound,  while  the  other 
fired  with  deadly  aim.  At  length  two  t\yelve  pounders 
were  unlimbered  ;  and  as  the  shot  whistled  round  their 
ears,  both  rose  on  the  very  pinnacle  of  the  mound,  and 
made  a  profound  salaam  for  this  compliment  to  their 
valour ;  which  done,  they  continued  to  load  and  fire, 
whilst  entire  platoons  blazed  upon  them.  Altliough 
m  jre  men  had  suffere  1,  an  irresistible  impulse  was  felt  to 
save  these  iz'-dlant  men  ;  orders  were  given  to  cease  fir- 
ing,  and  tlie  force  was  directed  to  move  on,  unless  any 
two  individuals  chose  to  attack  them  manfully  hand-to- 
hand.     Tlie  words  were  scarcely  uttered  when  two  young 

'•  VVIit'ii  an  Eni^lish  division  in  their  pursuit  of  the  I'iiulari  loader, 
Kariiij  Kiiau,  insulted  his  town  of  Baran,  ho  hurst  forth:  '  If  twenty 
years  could  i>;  taken  from  hi-!  life,  Delhi  and  Deccau  should  be  one." — 
Tod's  liiij't)ft/i'iit,  Vol.  11,  1-1-.  517,  18. 


vAf.orn.  H.i 

RoIuHms  drew  (JK'ir  swords,  s|)nin2;  t\o\\n  t\w  i):ink,  aii<i 
soon  cleared  tiic  s|)acn  hctwccMi  tlicin  and  tlic  ffMMiK'ii. 
All  was  (k'(M)  anxictv  as  tiKV  inounfctl  (o  tljc  assaidl  ; 
but  wlu-rlier  tlicir  i)liy>i<al  Iimiiic  was  less  vijroron 
their  eiuML^ies  were  exhausted  hy  woumls  or  hy  lli«w 
peculiar  situation,  these  brave  dcieiiders  fell  on  tin-  nioinit. 
whence  they  disputed  (he  ujarch  of  tfn  battalions  of 
infantry  and  twenty  pieces  of  cannon."' 

]\Iukandas  was  the  head  of  the  Kuiipanwat  nahtorort 
of  Marwar.      He  incurre<l  the  displeasure  of  the  EmjK»ror 
Aurant^zeb,     by    a      reply     which      was     disres])eclful. 
The    tvrant    condemned     him     to   enter   a    tiLTer's    d<n. 
and  contend  for  his  life  unarnie<l.       Without    a   si";, 
fear  liv,'  entered   the   arena   where  the  savage  lx»aist  was 
pacing,    and   thus    contemptuously  accosted  him  :    "Oh 
ti<^er  of  the  Mian,  face  the  tiger  of  Jaswant ;"  exhibit- 
ing to  the  king  (.)f  the  forest  a  pair  of  eyes,  which  ani^cr 
and  opium  had  rendered  little  less  inflamed  than  his  own. 
The  animal,  startled   by   so   unaccustomed  a   salutation, 
for  a  moment  looked  at  his  visitor,  put  down    his  head, 
turned  round   and   stalked  from  him.      "  You  see,"  ex- 
claimed the  Rnhtore,  ''that   he  dare  not  face  me,  and  it 
is  contrary  to  the  creed  of  n  true    Itajpoot  to  attack   an 
enemy  who  dares  not  confront   him."     Kvcn  the  tyrant, 
who   beheld    th(3  scene   was  siu'prised    into  admiration, 
presented  him  with  gifts,  and  asked  if  he  had  any  child- 
ren to  inherit  his  j)rowcss.      His  reply,  'how  ran  wr  _  ., 
children  when  you  keep  us  from  our  wives   In'vond   the 
Attock  ?'  fully  shows  that  the   Kahtore  and  fear  were 
strangers  to  each  other.     From   this  singular  encounter 
lie  bore  the  name  of  Xaharkhan,  ''the  tiger  lord  "^ 

>T..,rs  UaiaMlianrV..!.  TI.  pp.  '^:9.  HO. 
^Tud's  Rajasthau,  Vol.  II.  pp.  55,  56. 


84  HINDU    SUrKKlOKlTY". 

"It  was  witli  the  Sesodia  Rajputs  and  the  Shekha- 
wnts  that  Mohahat  Khan  performed  the  most  daring 
exploit  in  ]\Ioghal  history,  making  Jehangir  prisoner  in 
his  own  camp  in  the  zenith  o£  his  power."  This 
Mohabat  Khan  was  an  apostate  son  of  Sagarji,  lialf- 
brother  of  Kana  Pratap.  "  He  was  beyond  doubt," 
says  Tod,  "  the  most  daring  Chief  in  Jehangir's  reign."  "^ 
"The  celebrated  heroic  chari>:es  of  the  Rahtore  horse 
at  the  battles  of  Tonsfa  and  Patun  in  1791  A.D.,  against 
the  disciplined  armies  of  the  French  General  DeBoigne, 
carrying  everything  before  them,  show  the  unequalled 
dash  and  clan  of  the  Rahtore  cavalry  when  inspired  by 
patriotism. 

There  is  no  end  to  the  recountino:  of  the  brave 
deeds  performed  by  the  Rajputs.  Name  a  few  heroes  like, 
Pratap,  Durga  Das,  Jaswant,  Hamir,  Raj  Singh,  Maun, 
Prithi  Raj,   Sivaji,   and   a  volume  is  said.       The  rest 

'  Were  long  to  tell  ;  liuw  many  battk-s  fonglit, 
How  many  kings  dostroyed  and  kingdoms  won.' 

But  as  the  Rajputs  were  men  of  valour,  so  were 
thev  men  of  herculean  build  and  streno'th.  It  was  a 
Bhatti  Rajput — Soningdeo,  a  man  of  gigantic  strength — 
who  not  only  Ijcnt  but  broke  the  iron  bow  sent  by  the 
king  of  Jvhorasan  to  the  Emperor  of  Delhi  to  string,  when 
no  one  in  Delhi  c(nild  do  so.^ 

"Homer's  heroes,"  says  Col,  Tod,  "  were  pigmies 
to  th(;  Ktinis,  whose  Ijracelet  we  may  doubt  if  Ajax 
couM  have  lifted."^ 

>  Tod's  Rajastlian,  Vol   T,  p.  355. 
■-'Tod's  Kajasthan,  Vol.  II.  j..  254. 
^Tod's  Kajasthan,  Vol,  11,  y.  Si. 


v\i..pn{.  So 


Colonel  T()<1  s;iys:  "  Li»r  us  take  the  H;ij|»iit 
character  fn)iii  llic  roval  historiaiis  tlieinsclvcs,  from 
AkUir,  Juliauuir,  AuraiiL;zcl).  The  most  l)rilliaiit  coii- 
questa  of  the.su  moiiarclis  were  \)\  tlicir  Rajjiut  allies; 
thouuli  the  little  reij^anl  ihe  latter  ha<l  for  opitiion 
alienated  the  sympathies  of  a  race,  who,  wh«-n  rJLrhtly 
nianaiied,  encountered  at  command  the  Afghan  amidst 
the  snows  of  Caucasus,  or  ma<le  the  furthest  Chersonese 
tributary  to  ihc  empire.  Assam,  where  the  Uriti.^h  arms 
■were  recently  eni:ai;ed,  ami  for  the  issue  of  which  such 
anxiety  was  manifested  in  the  metropolis  of  l)ritain,was 
ct^inijuered  1)\-  a  Itajj»ut  [)rince,  whose  descendant  i>  now 
an  ally  of  the  British  G(n-ernment."' 

"  The  Moiiiials  were  indebted  for  half  their  con- 
quests to  the  La/ih  Tubrar  Iv>ht(ir(in  "  (hundn-d  thous'uid 
swords  of  the  liahtores).  "  l>ut  the  lm|K'rial  |)rinres 
knew  not  how  to  a}>preciate  t)r  to  manaire  such  men 
who,  when  united  under  one  who  coulil  control  them, 
"Were  i r resistible. "- 

Ileliirious  biirotrv  and  Imiu'rial  vanity  eventually 
disfrusted  the  IJajputs,  who  were  the  bulwark  of  the 
]\I()<diul  throne,  with  the  result  that  the  emijire  came  to 
an  end  sooner  than  was  expected.  "  The  spirit  of  devo- 
tion in  this  brave  race,  by  whose  aid  the  Mo<,'hal  iH)wer 
Avas  made  and  maintained,  was  irretrievably  alienated,"' 
when  Delhi  was  invaded  by  Nadir  Shah.  Kven  in  the 
times  of  the. ijjreatMoghal  Emperor,  Aurangzib,  tin-  Hindu 
princes  of  rtaji)utana   though   disunited   and  jealous  of 

1  Tod's  Rajastlmn,  Vol.  1.  y.  195. 
•''Tod's  Kajast.l.aii.  V..1.  II.  y.  :>07. 
^Tod's  Waja^thaii,  Vul.  \.  y.  117. 


8G  HINDU    SUrERlOKITY. 

each  other,  were  some  of  them  iiidividiiiillj  too  stron*; 
to  be  openly  defied  by  the  Emperor.  Jaswant  Siiig'h  ot" 
Jodhpur  was  poisoned  at  Kabul, ^  and  his  heir,  Prithi 
Singh,  at  Delhi,  which  freed  the  heart  of  Ain-ani;'  from  a 
terrible  nii^'htmare.  It  Avas  only  after  these  murders 
that  the  tyrant  thought  of  imposing  the  hated  Jazia.  The 
great  Jai  Singh  of  Jaipur  was  also  poisoned  at  his  in- 
stigation by  the  Raja's  son,  Ivirat  Singh.  Having  recourse 
to  poison,  when  unable  to  openly  meet  a  strong  opponent, 
was  a  favourite  practice  of  the  Moghal  Emperors  of  India. 
Even  the  much-belauded  Ak])ar,  '  the  arch-enemy  of  the 
Hindus,'  was  not  above  it.  Colonel  Tod  savs  :  "  A  desire 
to  be  rid  of  the  great  Raja  Maun  of  Amber,  to  whom  he 
was  so  much  indebted,  made  the  emperor  to  act  the  part 
of  the  assassin.  He  prepared  a  majum,,  or  confection,  a 
part  of  which  contained  poison  ;  but,  caught  in  his  own 
snare,  he  presented  the  innoxious  portion  to  the  Rajput 
and  ate  that  dragged  with  death  himself."-  The  cause 
appears  to  have  been  a  design  on  the  part  of  Raja  ]\Iaun 
to  alter  the  succession,  and  that  Khusro,  his  nephew, 
should  succeed  instead  of  Selim. 

The  murder  of  Maharaja  A  jit  Singh  of  Mar  war  by 
his  own  sou,  l^,akht  Singh,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Say- 
yads — the  kingmakers  of  India — was  another  instance  of 
the  policy  of  "  covert  guile,"  which  became  a  stronger 
weapon  than  the  sword  in  the  hands  of  some  of  the 
^lohamedan  rulers  of  India,  who  seem  to  liave  accepted 
the  reconnnendation  l)estowed  on  this  policy  by  Belial 
in  the  assembly  of  the  Fallen  Angels. 

1  Tod's  lujiv-sthiiii,  Vui.  I, )..  ;■;::),  aihi  Vol.  ii,  i^.  D2. 

2Tod'.s  RujustliHii,  Vol.  1,  in..  ;j;jl,  52, 


vAi.oiK.  h: 


Th;^  inlionMit  stroni^tli  of  the  liajjiiit  cli:iru«'t«T,  liitt 
power  of  cloi^ncii  I'lisistciice,  his  iiiviiicihlti  attaclimuiit  to 
his  country,  aii«l,  al)ove  all,  the  spiritual  nature  of  tin* 
itlt'als  that  nurture  liis  soul,  are  fully  recoLrniscd  hy  the 
historian  of  K;i jputana,  when  he  says  :  **  What  nation  on 
earth  would  have  maintained  the  M-nihlaneeof  civilization, 
the  spirit  or  the  customs  of  their  forefatliors,  durinj:  so 
many  centuries  of  overwhelmini^  depre.-^si on,  imt  one 
of  sucli  singular  character  as  the  KajjMit  ?  Thouj^h 
ardent  and  reckless  he  can,  when  reijuired,  sul)side  into 
forbearance  and  apparent  apathy,  and  reserve  iiimself  for 
the  op|)ortunity  of  revenu'e.  Uajasthan  exhi!/jts  the  sole 
example  in  the  histiiry  of  mankind,  of  a  people  with- 
standini;  every  outraiic  l)arl>aritv  caii  inllict,  or  human 
nature  sustain,  from  a  foe  whose  religion  commands  anni- 
hilation, and  bent  to  the  earth,  yet  rising  buoyant  from 
the  pressure,  and  making  calamity  a  whetstone  to  cour- 
age. How  did  rh(!  liritons  atonce  sink  under  the  Uornans, 
and  in  vain  strive  to  save  their  groves,  their  druids,  or 
the  altars  of  lial  from  destruction  !  To  the  Saxons  they 
alike  succumbed  ;  they,  again,  to  the  Danes  ;  and  thi** 
lieteroaeneous  l)reed  to  the  Normans.  Kmpire  "was  lost 
and  gained  by  a  single  battle,  and  the  laws  and  religion 
of  the  conipiered  merged  in  those  of  the  con<|uerors.  ^ 
Contrast  with  these  the  llajpnts:  not  an  iota  of 
tlicir  religion  or  pustoms  have  they  lost,  though  many 
a  foot  of  land.  Some  of  their  States  have  been  expung- 
ed from  the  map  of  dominion  :  and,  as  a  ])unishment 
of  national  inh.lclity,  the  pri<lc  of  the  llahtore,  and  the 
glory  of  the  Chalook,  the  over-grown  Kanauj  and  gor- 
geou>  Anhulwarra,  are  forgotten  name>  I     Mcwar  alone, 


S8  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 

the  sacred  bulwurk  of  rcli^'ion,  never  compromi.sed  lier 
honour  for  her  safety,  jind  still  survives  her  ancient 
limits  ;  and  since  the  brave  Samnrsi  gave  up  his  life,  the 
blood  of  lier  princes  has  flowed  in  copious  streams  for 
tlu'  maintenance  of  this  honour,  religion  and  mdepen- 
dence."' 

As  the  ancient  Huidus  were  the  bra.vest  nation  in  the 
world,  so  difl  they  give  to  the  world  its  greatest  hero.  Her- 
cules has  been  universally  acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest 
warrior,  the  bravest  and  the  most  powerful  man  the  world 
has  ever  produced.  And  Hei-cules  was,  in  reality,  a  Hindu 
and  not  a  Greek.  Hercules  was  but  Balram.  This  may 
sound  paradoxical  to  those  who  have  not  studied  compara- 
tive mytholog}',  but  to  those  who  have  done  so  there  is 
nothinu;  stranii:e  in  this  statement.  The  word  Ilcrcnlcs  is 
derived  from  the  Sanskirt  word  Heri-cul-es  ('^'^Tfi^i^). 
Balram  emii^rated  to  Greece  after  the  ]\Iahabharata,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  display  of  his  wonderful  feats  of 
strength  and  valour  there,  the  people  of  Greece  began  lo 
worship  him  as  a  god. 

Professor  Heeren  says :  "  We  can  hardly  doubt  that 
Bacchus  and  Hercules  were  both  of  them  Hindu  deities, 
since  they  are  not  only  represented  as  objects  of  general 
worshi}),  but  the  ])articular  countries  and  places  are  also 
specified  where  both  the  one  and  the  other  had  temples 
erected  to  their  services  (see  Arrian,  ]).  171,  and  Strabo, 
Vol,  loth  p.  4S!)). 

Diodorus  says  that  Hercules  was  born  amongst  the 
Indians.     "  The  combats  to  which  Diodorns   alludes  are 

ilVl's  llaju^tlian,  Vul.  I,  p.  20'J. 


VAT.oi  i:.  .S9 

those   ill  the  lo|[r<'n<1arv   liaiuits  of  tin'   HtTriilas  dnrln.r 
tliL'ir  twelve   \(';irs   f\il<'  IV'-ii'    »!'.•    -.■■'    -T    i|n.ir 
fathers.'" 

Colonel  '10(1  Ni^s  :  "  ImmIi  Krislina  ami  l;ai»U:«) 
(Pialrnm)  or  A|»oII()  ami  Hercules  are  rs  (l(»r<ls)  of  th«' 
race  (ciil)  oC  lleri  (Heri-nil-cs),  of  which  the  (inn-ks 
minht  have  made  the  comMomjcl  Hercules.  Mji:lit  not  a 
colony  after  the  Great  W'-.iv  have  iniirrated  \\'est\vanl  ? 
The  periled  of  ihe  return  of  Hera<'li«lM',  the  desceiidantH 
of  Atreus  (Atri  the  proirenitor  of  the  Ili-rieula  (vrT^'?i) 
Avould  answer  :  It  was  ulrout  half  a  century  after  tiie 
Great  War." 

After  (h'scrihinc:  the  population  of  Hehar,  Mr. 
Poeocke  says:  "Here  then  tlie  historian  is  ])rt»Sfnt4'd 
Avitha  primitive  ])opulation  in  Hellas,  not  onlv  from  the 
Himalayas,  hut  from  Pelasa,  Mnirhada,  <>r  liahar,  with 
correspond iuLT  clans  to  enter  Greece,  and  the  cherished 
memory  of  their  Chiefs,  as  the  foun<lation  of  one  of  the 
jxodships  of  Ilellas,  Thouirh  Inildeva,  the  elder  l>r<»thcr 
of  Krishna,  who  was  supj)osed  to  have  perished  in  cross- 
ing the  Himalaya  mountains,  succeeded  ultimately  in 
reaching  Greece,  where  his  renown  heeame  great,  Krishna 
was  doomed  to  ])erish  in  a  lajid  far  distant  from  that 
country." - 

Colonel  Tod  cannot  resist  the  inference  that  the 
Herculasof  India  and  the  Heracli(he  of  (ireece  werec?)n- 
nected.  Arrian  notices  the  similarity  of  the  Hindu  and 
Theban  Hercules,  and  cites  as  his  authority  the  amhassii- 
dorof  Seleucus,  Mega'^^thenes.  wlio  siv-  :   ••  H^  u-ed  the 


^Tocl's  Tiajasthan,  Vol.  I,  y.  ;;it.       .\riuu  a  .-.If'iy  ul  Liiicul«.N  J>  \\w 
sanif  as  that  given  in  llic  ruraiias. 
'Iiulia  in  Greece,  p.  L'l^'.K 


90  niNDU    SUrERIOlUTY. 

siimc  hal>it  with  the  Theban,  and  is  practically  worshipp- 
ed by  the  Sureseni,  who  have  two  j^reat  cities  belonging 
to  them,  namely,  Mathura  and  Clisoboros." 

The  points  of  resemblance  between  the  Hindu  and 
the  Tlieban  Hercules  are  most  striking,  and  irresistibly 
lead  one  to  the  conclusion  that  here  at  least  similarity 
is  sj'nonymous  with  identity, 

( 1 )  The  Heraclidai  claimed  their  origin  from  Atreus, 
the  Hericulas  from  Atri. 

('2)  Euristhenes  w"as  the  first  s^reat  kinof  of  the  Hera- 
clidie  ;  Yudhistira  has  sufficient  affinity  in  his  name  to  the 
first  Spartiui  king  not  to  startle  the  etymologist — the  (/ 
and  r  being  always  permutable  in  Sanskrit. 

(3)  The  Greeks  or  lonians  are  descended  fi-om  Yavan 
or  Javan,  the  seventh  from  Japhet.  The  Hericulesare  also 
Yavans  claiming  from  Javan  of  Yavona,  the  thirteenth 
in  decent  from  Yayat,  the  third  son  of  the  primeval 
patriarch. 

(4)  The  ancient  Heraclida?  of  the  Greeks  asserted 

that  they  were  as  old  as  the  sun,  older  than  the  moon. 

May  not  this  boast  conceal  the  fact  that  the  Hericulida^  (or 

Sur\'avansa)  of  Greece  had  settled  there  anterior    to   the 

colony  of  the  Indu  (Lunar)  race  of  Hericulas  ?    Col.  Tod 

says:  "Amid^^t  the  snows   of  Caucasus,   Hindu  legends 

abandon  the  Hericulas  under  their  leaders,  Yudhistira  and 

Baldeo :  vet,  if  Alexander  established  his  altars  in   Pan- 

rhalica  amonijst   the  sons   of  Pooru   and   the  Hericulas, 

what  ])liysical  im})ossil/ilitv   exists  that  a  colony  of  them 

nnder  Yudhistira  and   lialdeo,  eight  centuries   anterior, 

should   have  penetrated  to  Greece  ?     Comparatively  far 

advanrcd  in  science  and   arms,  the  con(pifcsl  would  have 

bejii  easy." 


VAIOI-R.  91 

(.'>)  When  Alexander  a(tnrko<l  tlio  *' free  cijic.*"  «>f 
P:nKli:jlika,tlR'  Poonis  and  the  Ilfric-ulas  wliooppnsfd  iiim 
evinccil  tlio  recollcctiouf^  of  tlicir  ancestor,  in  (•:irr\  in"- tJic 
ligure  of  Hercules  as  tlicir  standard.' 

Coinparixin  proves  a  common  ori;;iri  to  Hin<lu  iini 
Greek  nivtliolo«rv  ;  and  IMato  savs  "  the  (jJrwks  «lerived 
theirs  from  KL'-y|)t  and  the  East.  May  not  this  colony 
of  tlie  lI(M'aclida'  wlio  penctrateil  int(.  I'elopontie.suH 
(accordinL,^  to  Vohiey)  l()7Sye;ir.s  before  Christ,  l)C  Hufli- 
ciently  near  our  calculated   |)eri(»d  of  tiie  <Jreut    War?"* 

"  Mow  refreshinL(,"  Coloncd  Tod  eonclu-.  the 

mind  yet  to  discover  amidst  tln^  ruins  of  tlje  Yannma, 
Hercules  (IJaldeo)  retaijiin^  his  cluh  an<l  lion's  hiile." 


'"Tho  innrtial  Rajjuits  hvo  not  Ktrangors  to  nrnu>riai  bfiiriii 
so  indiscriiuiuatoly  usfd  ill  Kiircfc  Tlio  pn-.it  banner  of  Mfwjir  i-\iii- 
bits  a  goldon  sun  nn  a  crimson  fit-Id,  those  of  tbo  chiefs  l)«'«r  a  <ln>:>f«'r. 
Amber  displays  the  I'unchrangn,  or  five-colon rixi  fla;;;.  The  linn  r:>'ii- 
pant  on  an  argent  field,  is  extinet  with  tli«»  State  of  Chan«I«'ri.  In  h'l- 
rope,  these  enstonis  were  not  intrfxluoed  till  the  pcri'Ki  of  th«'  (V-  ~  '  -. 
and  were  cojiied  fmiH  the  Saracens,  while  the  usr  of  them  nni  ...^  :.. 
Rajput  tribes  can  lit'  tracinl  t.i  n  i.friud  anf-  ri<r  t<«  fhr  war  <">f  Trr-y."— 
''  Iwliii  in  Greerc''  p.  1)2. 

-Tod's  Kajasthan,  Vol.1,  p    ">1. 


92  HINDU    SUrKKlOlilTY. 


YIIL— THE  POSITIOX  OF  WOMEX. 

Oh  fairest  of  creation  !    last  and  best 
Of  all  God's  works  I    Creature  in  whom  execU'd 
Whatever  can  to  sight  or  thonglit  be  formed 
Holy,  divine,  good,  amiable,  or  sweet. 

— Milton  :  Paradise  Lost. 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  the  great  a|X)stle  of  individaal 
freedom,  says  that  the  position  of  women  supplies  a 
good  test  of  the  civilization  of  a  }>eopIe. 

Colonel  Tod  also  says:  "It  is  universall}'  admitted 
that  there  is  no  better  criterion  of  the  refinement  of  a 
nation  than  the  condition  of  the  fair  sex  therein."^ 

The    high    position    Hindu    women    have    always 
occupied  in  India  would,  if  this  is  true,  argue  a  very 
advanced  state  of   civilization    in   that  country.     Even 
of   the    modern    Hindu    society,    Colonel    Tod    says  : 
"  If  devotion  to  the  fair  sex  be   admitted   as  a    crite- 
rion of   civilization,  the  Rajput  must  rank  very  high. 
His  susceptibility  is  extreme,  and  fires  at  the   slightest 
offence  to  female  delicacy,  which  he  never  forgives.     A 
satirical   impromtu,   offending  against   female    delicacv, 
dissolved  the  coalition  of  the  Rahtores  and  Cutchwahas, 
and    laid    eacli    prostrate   before    the   Mahrattas,   whoin 
wlien  united  they   liad  cruslied  ;   and  a    jest,  apparently 
triviid,  com])romised  the  right  of   promogcniture   to  the 
throne  of  Cliitor,  and  proved  more  disastrous  in  its  conse- 
quences than  the  arms  citlier  oi"  Mughuls  or  ]\[alirattas,"' 


1  Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  G09. 
2Tod's  Kaja.ithan,  Vol.  1.  \u  27G. 


tin;  position  of  womkn-.  I):; 

Professor  II.  11.  Wilson  says  :  "And  it  nmv  U- ron- 
fidontlv  asserted  that  in  no  nation  of  anti«|uitv  wvm 
■\vonien  lield  in  so  nnicli  esteem  as  anjon«^st  the  Ilindns,"' 

In  Ancient  Iiuha,  howevi  r,  th«'V  not  onlv  posHeswd 
equiditv  of  opportnnities  witlyincn,  hut  enjoyed  certain 
ri}i;hts  and  privilei^es  not  chiinicd  hv  the  male  sex.  1  he 
chivalrous  treatment  of  women  hy  Ilindiin  Ik  well 
known  to  all  who  know  anythiiiLfof  Hindu  siH'iety. 

''Strike  not  even  with  a  hlossom  a  wife  ;ruilty  of  a 
liunch'cd  faults,"  says  a  Hindu  saj^e,  *' a  sentiment  wi 
tlelieate,"  savs  Colonel  T<xl  *' that  Kiii;nald-de-Horn,  the 
prince  of  troubadours,  never  uttered  any  more  refined. "'•* 

^lanu  (C'hai)ter  \.  I'M))  savs:  •"  The  mouth  of  a 
woman  is  consUmtlv  pure."  and  he  ranks  it  with  the 
running"  waters  and  the  sunbeam."*  He  idso  hjivk 
(Chapter  II.  1^3),  "  wliere  the  females  are  honoured, 
there  the  deities  are  pleased  ;  but  where  di^honoureo, 
there  all  religious  rites  become  useless." 

The  Hindus  seem  to  have  laid  special  stres8on  honour- 
in<4  the  wife  and  trcatin^^  her  with  tvcr-incrensinij  ddicaiy. 
The  nearest  api)roach  to  these  ideas  are  the  views  of  .Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer,  who  in  a  letter  dated  the  l<Sth  March 
184"),  to  his  friend  Lott,  says  :  "  And  on  this  ground 
I  conceive  that  instead  of  tliere  being,  as  is  commonly 
the  case,  a  greater  familiarity  and  carelessness  with 
regard    to    appearances    Ixjtween     husband    and    wife, 


1  Mill's  History  of  Iiulin,  Vol.  II,  p.  ol. 

••iloa's  Rajastliaii.  V..1.  1.  \>.  i".!!. 

3TIiP  women  air  recouinu'iulca  "to  proscno  a  rlifH?rfnI  t«»nip.r  "  »n.l 
.t.>  ivmain  always  >>.lUlrcsscJ.  "  H  the  uitV  \k  not  olr^nntly  •Itiml 
she  will  not  exhilarate  her  hiKbaiul.  .V  wife  gaily  BdorueU.  the  whole 
house  is  ciiibellislK'd." 


94  HINDU  surtuioRiTY. 

there  ought  to  be  a  greater   delicacy   than  between  any 
other  parties."^ 

A  rather  forcible  illustration    of  this  view   is    the 
reply  of  tlie  Hariji,  cpieen  of  the  famous  Kaja  Jai  Singh 
of  Jaipur.     One  day  when  the  Eaja  was  alone  with  the 
queen,  he  began  playfully,  to  contrast  the  sweeping /i/y^e 
of  Kotah  with  the  more  scanty  robe  of  the  belles  of   his 
capital  ;  and  taking  up  a  pair  of  scissors,  said  he  would 
reduce  it  to  an  equality  with  the  latter.     Offended  at  his 
levitv,  she  seized  his  sword,  and  assuming  a  threatening 
attitude,  said,  "  that  in  the  house  to  which  she  had   the 
honour  to  belong,  they  were  not  habituated  to  jests   of 
this  nature  ;  that  mutual  respect  was  the   guardian   not 
only  of  ha])piness  but  of  virtue  ;"  and  she   assured  hin.i 
that  if  he  ever  again  so  insulted  her,  he  would  find   that 
the  daughter  of  Kotah  could  use  a  sword  more  effectively 
than  the  prince  of  Amber  the  scissors. - 

^lanu  commands  that  "  whoever  accosts  a  woman 
shall  do  so  by  the  title  of  sister,  and  that  way  must  be 
made  for  her  even  as  for  the  aged,  for  a  priest,  a  prince, 
or  a  bridegroom  ;"  and,  in  the  law  of  hospitality,  he 
ordains  that  pregnant  women,  brides,  and  damsels  shall 
have  food  before  all  the  other  guests."  (Education,  art. 
129). 

The  legal  status  of  a  wife  in  ancient  India  and  her 
equal  treatment  with  her  husband  is  thus  defined  by 
^lanu,  the  great  lawgiver  of  the  Hindus  : — 

1.  If  a  wife  dies,  her  husband  may  marry  another 
wife.     (Manu,  Chapter  V,  verse  1G8). 

nieibcrt  Spencer's  Autuhiogmphy,  Vul.  I.  p.  208. 
-Trid's  Hajastliaii,  A''ol.  I.  p.  Oi'G. 


THK  rr^sirioN  ok   \\imfn.  i)5 

If    ii    liusl>jm<l    «lii's,    a    wiff    may    inarrv    anotli.  r 

liushaii.l     (Maim,     .luutcd     hy     Maillmva     ant)     \. 

Hatha  Dikshita  ;  Parasara  ;  Xara«la  :  ^'a^navalkvn, 
quoted  bv  Krishnacharya  Smrili  ;  A<:iii  I'luana  :  Smriti, 
(juoted  by  Clietti  Koiu-ri  Acliarya  and  -lananlHim 
lihatta). 

"2.  It  a  wife  Imjcoidcs  fallt-n  by  drunkmucHH  or  im- 
moralitv,  Ikt  liusliand  mav  niairv  another  (Manu, 
C'haptcr  IX,  verse  80  ;  Yagnavalkva,  piL'e  416,  veruc 
73). 

It  a  husband  l)econic>  fallen,  a  wife  ii,.,  ^  re-inarrv 
another  husband  (Mann,  (|uoled  by  Madiiava  and 
several  other  authorities  above  mentioned). 

3.  If  a  wife  be  barren,  her  Inisband  jnay  marrv 
another  wife  (Manu,  ('ha})ter  IX,  verse  Si). 

If  a  husband  be  imjjotent  >he  n)av  marrv  another 
husband  (Mann,  and  several  other  authorities  (juotcd 
above) . 

4.  In  })articular  cireumstanees,  a  wife  may  ccflsc 
to  cohabit  with  her  husband  (Manu,  Chapter  IX, 
verse  79). 

■).  If  a  husband  deserts  his  wife,  she  may  marry 
another.  (Manu,  Chapter  IX,  verse  7li,  and  tjeveral 
others). 

(i.  If  a  wife  treats  her  husl)and  with  aversion,  he 
may  cease  to  cohabit  with  her.  (Manu,  Chapter  I\. 
verse  77). 

7.  A  husband  must  be  revered  (Manu,  Chapter 
V,  verse  154). 

A  wife  nuist  be  honoured  by  the  husband  (Manu, 
Chapter  III,  verse  55). 


06  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

S,  A  fTOod  wife  irradiates  the  house  and  i.s  a  i>od- 
des<  of  wealth  (Manu,  Chapter  IX,  verse  2(5). 

A  trood  husband  makes  his  wife  entitled  to  honour 
(Manu,  Chapter  X\,  verse  28). 

The  hiiih  ethical  teaching's  of  the  Hindu  Shastras 
prepared  the  men  to  assign  to  women  a  peculiarly  j^ri- 
vileged  position,  keeping  them  safe  from  the  rough  and 
degrading  work  that  now  often  falls  to  their  lot  in  the 
AVest,  in  consequence  of  the  severe  struggle  for  existence 
raging  there.  While  providing  the  freest  possible  scope 
for  the  exercise  of  their  peculiar  gifts,  which  cnal)led 
thooi  to  achieve  in  the  superlative  degree,  the  high  and 
noble  work  which  it  is  the  privilege  of  women  to  perform 
for  the  well-being  and  advancement  of  a  people,  the  ancient 
Hindu  constitution  not  only  accorded  to  them  the  position 
which  the  mothers,  the  sisters,  the  wives,  and  the  daughters 
of  the  highest  and  the  lowest  in  the  nation  are  justly 
entitled  to,  but  which  enabled  their  true  feminine 
nature  and  character  to  receive  full  development,  so  as  to 
fulfil  their  high  destiny  of  giving  to  the  world  a  race  of 
men  yet  unequalled  in  intellect,  character  and  energy. 

In  Europe,  as  well  as  in  India,  the  woman  is  stvled 
"  the  half  of  the  man  " — in  Europe,  as  "the  better  half," 
in  India,  siinpl)^  as  Ardhaju/iiii  (lit.  half-self).  In  Eu- 
rope, however,  it  is  a  meaningless  phrase,  rather  point- 
ing to  the  desirability  of  assigning  woman  a  position 
Avhich  is  hers  bv  nature  than  siunifvinii:  the  ijosition 
actually  occupied  l)y  her — showing  the  desirable  l)ut  vet- 
unattained  ideality  rather  than,  as  amongst  the  Hindus, 
an  actual  reality.  No  doubt  there  are  women  in  J^uro])e, 
wlio  as  wives,  are  treated  by  their  husbands  with  the 
same  res])ect  .uid  genorons  consideration  as  Iliiifhi 
ladies  command   in   all  trulv  Hindu  laniilics.      True,  in 


THK  I'o.sniu.N  OF  ui.\rF.v.  07 

every  iiradc  of  Murojx'Mii  soci«»tv  womkmi  arc  to  l><»  met 
Avitli,  whose  |)ositioii,  dnmcstic  :is  well  as  sofial,  is  not 
oiiK  pcrlrclU-  lia]t[)\-  aii<l  sat  i>ract(»r\',  l)Ut,  (o  all  oiit\var«l 
a|)|>('araiu'e,  looks  jiiuh<r  than  tliaf  on  j«)V('.l  liv  llicir  Iliii<lii 
^sisl(•^s  :  True  also,  that  I'airoj>c:iii  women  ctijov  in 
some  respects,  and  in  eertaiti  directions,  privilei^os  neither 
enjoyed  hy  any  Asiatic  women  nor  desireil  hy  them. 
They  onj(\v  a  freedotn  of  action  in  certain  matt<'rs  whii  h 
is  not  onl}'  one  of  the  distinniiishini^  featnres  of  the  I'ai- 
ropean  civilization,  l)ut  emj)hasi/es  the  neiration  of  all 
tliat  is  meant  hy  art/Iian;ini  or  the  half.  In  Mnrope, 
woman  has  a  distinct  individuality  of  her  own,  which 
flom'ishes  independently  of  man,  though  hy  his  side  an<l 
coimected  with  him.  l><^th  men  and  women  there  lead 
separate,  distinct,  indej»endent  lives,  alheit  Nature  and 
necessity  compcd  them  to  live  together.  Not  so  in 
India.  Woman  has  no  distinctive,  in<le|K'n<lent  indivi- 
duality in  Hindu  social  pf)lity.  Frum  her  hirth  to  her 
death  she  is  a  part  of  man,  and  cannot  he  separated  from 
him.  With  niarriai^e,  she  merires  her  individuality  into 
her  husbjuid's,  and  both  ton;ether  form  a  >inLde  entity  in 
society.  The  one  without  the  other  is  only  a  part  and 
not  a  whole. 

It  must  not,  however,  he  stijiposed  that  the  woman 
loses  herself  in  the  man,  and  is  therefore  inferior  to  liim. 
The  man,  too,  after  his  union  with  woman  is,  like  her, 
only  a  part  of  the  social  entity.  All  important  n-liirious, 
social,  and  domestic  concerns  of  life  recognise  the  entity 
only  when  it  is  complete,  /.^.,  formed  of  a  man  and  a 
woman. 

In  Euro})C,  the  power  ami  position  enjoyedhy  woman 
are  not  recognised  bv  the  authority  which  sanctions  all 


08  HINDU    SUPEKIOKITY. 

social  law,  and  on  Avliich  tlie  entire  fabric  of  society  is 
ultimately  based.  ^\'hat  position  and  privilege  she 
eniovs  she  evidently  cannot  claim  as  of  riuht — a  riiilit 
inherent  in  and  inseparable  from  womanhood.  In  some 
of  the  most  important  concerns  of  life  she  is  utterly 
ii^nored.  Xot  so  amcMigst  the  Hindus.  In  India  she  is 
in  possession  of  her  rights,  which  no  power  on  earth 
can  take  away  from  her.  The  Hindu  woman  is  not  in- 
debted, like  her  European  sister,  for  her  position  to  a 
man's  love  or  affectionate  reg-ard  or  to  the  exigencies  of 
social  life.  It  is  her  birthright,  inalienable,  and  recog- 
nised by  all ;  it  lives  with  her  and  dies  with  her.  Man 
is  as  much  subject  to  it  as  the  woman  is  to  a  man's. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  most  important  concern  of  life,  the 
warria'je.  In  Euro])e,  the  father  gives  away  the 
daughter  ;  in  his  absence,  the  bri^ther,  or  the  uncle  or  some 
near  male  relation,  as  the  case  may  be.  He  by  himself 
performs  this  sacred  and  most  important  function  in  life. 
Where  comes  in  the  heMer  lialf  oi  the  father,  the  brother, 
the'  uncle  or  the  other  relation  ?  She  has  no  place  in 
the  rite,  no  hn-as  standi^  no  indispensable,  inalienable 
position  in  the  function.  She  is  not  a  necessary  pnrty. 
She  may  be  hapjiy  in  the  event  and  join  the  festivities, 
l)Ut  she  is  an  utter  outsider  so  far  as  the  rite  itself — the 
right  of  giving  awa\ — is  concerned.  Ihit  what  do  we 
find  in  India?  Amongst  the  Hindus,  in  order  that  the 
ceremony  of  giving  away  (called  I\;Miyadan)  may  be  com- 
])lete,  the  (U'dhaiii/ 111,  or  (he  wife  of  the  father,  the  brother, 
tiu-  uneh;  or  the  (jtlier  male  relative  nuist  take  j);U'r  in  it. 
The  "giving  awav'  i>  not  complete  lill  the  husband  and 
the  wife  b'^th  <lo  it.  Xay,  there  is  scmething  more  to 
mark     the     unalterabh;     position    of    the    wife     as    the 


Tin:  I'lisirinN  or  womkx.  '"'" 

"otlierh:ilf  "of'tlicliushiiinl.  If,  owiiiLrtoaiiy.'ansc — ilcatli, 
illnoss  or  iinavoidiiMc  aliscm-c — tlii'  bottor  half  of  the; 
lather,  l)rothir  (»r  tiic  other  relative  cannot  be  prt'sent  at 
tile  Sacra inoMt,  a  piece  of  cloth  or  somethint;  else  is  j>lace<l 
by  his  side  as  a  substitute  for  her,  to  show  that  he, 
by  hiinseir,  is  «)nly  an  iiiconi|)lete  imliviibial,  and 
cannot  perform  the  most  iniportant  functions  of  life 
unless  and  until  joined  by  his  wife.  An<l  it  is  not 
so  with  niarriai^e  only.  From  the  marriaj^i?  down  to 
a  dip  in  the  sacred  (TaiiLTcs  ;  the  worship  of  the  sacred 
Ixir  tree  (tlie  Ficus  Indica)  in  the  /w/r  7V;y// ceremony  :' 
the  woi'shi])  of  the  household  ^oils,  and  other  simple, 
ordinary  duties,  ordained  by  reliirion  or  sanctioned  bv 
social  usau;(;,  no  ceremony  is  comi)lete  uidess  tlu'  wife  joins 
the  husband  in  its  perfoi-mance.  ^^'Ilat  a  difference  hert* 
between  the  respective  positions  of  the  Kuro|>ean  and 
the  Hinchi  woman  I  Ifou  inferior  is  the  j)osition  of  a 
European  W(jman  to  that  of  her  Hindu  sister  I  W  ith 
all  the  love  and  devotion  she  receives  and  the  fr(e<iom  of 
action  she  enjoys,  she  in  I'.uropc  is  even  now  as  far 
away  from  the  j)osition  of  the  other  half  of  a  man  as  she 
was  two  thousand  years  a«^o.  l>ut  society  in  Kurop  •  ■ 
still  in  its  making;.  Important  and  far-reachini^  chanu;e.-> 
will  yet  have  to  be  made  before  it  arrives  at  a  stage  of 
evolution,  when  it  will  come  into  line  with  its  sister  ori^a- 
nizatiou,  the  Hindu  society,  as  it  is  found  in  the  Ssistras.  \y 
In  the  West,  women's  sj)here  is  yet  limited  ;  N 
women's  position  yet  precarious,  owinir  to  the  selHsli 
and  hypocritical  conduct  of  man,  the  pro«luct  of  a 
material    civilization    divorced     from     spiritual     ideals. 


'  When  the  wifo  keops  a  fast  for  three  days. 


100  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

Their  principal  interest  in  pu))lic  nfFuirs,  however,  is 
directed  to  secure  for  themselves  riglits  which  they 
regard  as  essential  to  assure  their  position  in  the  cold, 
pitiless  struggle  for  existence,  which  respects  neither 
age  nor  sex.  In  ancient  India  people  never  thought 
oF  usurping  from  women  their  rights  and  privileges. 
They  were  safe  from  the  turmoil  of  life  ;  they  were 
secure  against  the  attacks  which  all  have  to  meet  who 
are  governed  by  the  complicated  machinery  of  a  civiliza- 
tion based  on  the  worship  of  Mammon,  with  its  horizon 
bounded  by  the  desires,  aspirations  and  capabilities  of 
the  physical  man. 

Sri  Madhavacharya  says  that  Draupadi's  part  in 
the  administration  of  the  empire  was  to  instruct  the 
subjects  as  to  the  duties  and  riglits  of  women,  super- 
intend the  management  of  the  Palace  and  its  treasuries, 
to  assist  in  the  manaij:ement  of  the  finances  of  the 
empire,  and  to  supervise  the  religious  institutions  of  the 
nation. 

The  character  and  ideals  of  Hindu  women  may  be 
inferred  from  the  conduct  of  Maitreye,  wife  of  Yagya- 
valka,  who  declined  to  accept  the  estate  offered  to  her 
by  her  husband,  on  his  entering  the  thiid  Ashram 
( Vanaprasta. )  She  told  him  that  she  also  would  like 
to  havi'  that  which  he  was  going  in  search  of,  and  that, 
if  I  lie  estate  had  been  worth  havinij:,  he  would  not 
have  given  it  away. 

Avvayar,  I)am3anti  and  Savitri  were  women 
whose  lives  would  have  purilied  the  national  life  of  any 
people.  The  learning  of  Gargya,  the  intellect  and 
character  <)f  I'ara,  \\\c  (idclitv  of  Anasuva  and  the 
devotion  and  love  of  Sita  would  do  honour  to  any  nation. 


Tin;  i'o.shiun  ..k  wkmkx.  U>1 

The  cdurauc  mikI  Nalniir  <li>jtlav('<l  l)V  KtkaNi  in  ilic 
hattle-ru'ltl  1)\  the  .side  of  Dasratlia  are  iu»  !«•»  rt-inark- 
ai)le  than  tlic  heroism  displavtMl  hv  SatvaMuuiia,  of 
v.huiii  .Madhavacharya  .-^ays  that,  when  she  saw  hi-r 
hii.sbanil  liri'd  and  liis  eiieinv  exulting  in  .stri:n;^lh,  hh« 
foni^ht  with  hint  and  d('|)riv('(|  him  <»f  his  arms.  Thesi? 
facts  show  tliat  in  ancient  times  llje  women  of  India 
were  not  unused  to  warfare,  and  that  they  aeeompanied 
tlieir  husl)ands  evervwliere.  I'liey  did  not  lead  sechided 
lives;  thi-v  were  not  kept  in  the  zenana.  The  pardah 
system,  wliieh  marks  the  a<lvent  into  In<lia  of  foreiiiuers 
of   a   much    lower  civilization,  was  unknown   in  aiieiiiit 

India. 

It  has  sometimes  hccii  urnctl  l>v  men    nnac(|uainted 

with  the  social  life  of  the  Hindus  that  the  fact  that 
dauu;hters  do  not  share  in  tiie  paternal  pro|M'rtv  in  tlie 
same  way  as  tlie  sons,  and  tliat  the  widow  doo  not  share 
eipially  witli  lier  sons  the  property  left  hy  tlie  husl»and, 
arnie  a  l(»w  state  of  civilization  amon«;st  tliein.  In 
the  first  place,  the  law  of  inheritjuice  in  this  resjH'ct 
is  no  proof  of  tlu'  iii.i;h  or  the  low  retinement  of  a  people  ; 
or  the  Aral)s  would  be  held  to  be  more  rt-fined  than  thtr 
Hindus.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  not  a  fact  that  womim 
do  not  iidierit  or  are  incompitent  to  hold  proj>erty. 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "  Tlu;ir  riirht  to  property  is 
fully  recognised  and  fully  secured/"  He  also  says:  "  In 
the  absence  of  direct  male  heirs,  widows  succeed  to  a 
life  interest  in  real,  and  absolute  interest  in  personal  |»ro- 
perty.  Next,  dauL^hters  inherit  absolutely.  Where  there 
are  sons,  mothers  and  daui^hters  are  entitled  to  .'♦hares, 
and  wives  hold  peculiar  j)roj)erty  from  a  variety  of 
'Mill'a  Uistory  vl  ludia,  p.  416.  foutnute. 


102  IIIXDU    SUl'EKIORITY. 

sourcos,  besides  those  specified  by  the  text,  over  wliich 
a  husband  has  no  power  duriiii^  their  lives,  and  which 
descends  to  their  own  heirs,  Avith  a  preference  in  some 
cases  to  females.  It  is  far  from  correct,  therefore,  to 
say  that  wc^iiien  amonii'st  the  fiiiuUis  are  excluded  from 
the  rights  of  property." 

Commenting'  on  Mr.  rJames  Mill's  opinion  tliat  ac- 
cording to  ^lanu  (Chapter  IV,  4o)  women  among  the; 
Hindus  are  excluded  from  sharing  in  the  paternal  pro- 
perty, Professor  Wilson  snys  :  "  Thc^  reference  is  incor- 
rect, so  is  the  law  ;  as  the  passage  in  the  first  volume 
adverted  to  mii^dit  have  shown  had  the  writer  remem- 
bered  it.  For,  after  stating  in  the  text,  in  the  same  un- 
fjualitied  manner,  that  daughters  are  altogether  debarred 
from  a  share,  it  is  mentioned  in  a  note  that  those 
M'ho  are  unmarried  are  to  receive  portions  out  of 
tlu'ir  brothers'  allotments.  It  is  mere  (piibbling,  there- 
foi'e,  to  say  they  have  no  shares.  But  the  more  important 
question,  as  affecting  the  position  of  Avomen  in  society, 
is  not  merely  the  shares  of  daughters,  although  this  is 
artfully  put  forward  as  if  it  was  decisive  of  the  rights 
of  the  wiiole  sex,  but  what  rights  women  have  in  regard 
to  property  ;  and  as  we  have  already  shown,  the  laws  do 
not  very  materially  differ  in  this  respect  from  those 
which  are  oKserved  in  the  civilized  countries  of  modern 
Europe."^ 

Forei<j:ners  iml)ibe  unfavourable  notions  regarding 
the  position  of  Hindu  women  from  their  ignorance  of 
the  working  of  Hindu  society  and  of  the  principles 
on  whicli  it  is  based.  T\w.  Hindu  law  of  inheritance  in 
this  respect  is  somewhat  different  from  that  obtaining  in 
Europe,  l)ut  in  no  way  bcliind  the  latter  in  safeguarding 
the  posiiicm  of  women. 


1  Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  401, 


Tiir,  rosiTioN  or  womiv.  ]i)'\ 

Whon  inoH  in  :ill  ixnulcs  <)f  sociotv  ro('ofnif»<'  tlic 
rights  and  privik-i^cs  of  women,  and  the  social  sv-'^N-ni  of 
the  nation  is  so  fraincil  a>.  to  provide  means  in  inlonc 
those  rii^hts,  the  aid  of  leu:islation  hecomes  nnnccewHiiry. 
Those  who  arc  acf)uaintod  with  the  workinufof  the  soeial 
system  of  the  Hindus  know  that  the  ri^dits  of  women  are 
recoi'nised  in  a  far  njore  sni)stantial  manner  than  hv  'dv- 
inijf  them  a  eertain  ])ortion  of  tlie  iidieritence  in  linal 
settlement  of  all  their  elaims  on  the  family. 

Kespect  for  feminine  natnre,  considerations  of 
honour  and  chivalry  towanls  the  sex,  and  the  in^rrained 
feelina;  of  reirard  and  esteem  for  womanhood,  nri:ed  the 
Hindus  to  take  measures  to  safei^nard  the  position  of 
woman  aii^ainst  all  possible  but  avoidable  contingencies. 
A  woman  aecordinu-lv  has  claims  on  her  father  and 
brothers  and  sons  for  a  suitable  maintenance  under  all 
circumstances.  A  father  may  leave  nothinir  to  his  sons, 
yet  they  are  bound  to  suitably  maintain  their  motlier  ho 
lonij  as  she  ia  alive. 

Sisters  claim  maintenance,  their  marria«je  «^xpenses, 
and  ])resGnts  on  all  ceremonial  occasions,  no  matter  wiu*- 
ther  their  brothers  have  inherited  any  paternal  esUite  or 
not.  And,  not  dauirhters  and  sister.^  alone  enjoy  such 
riiihts  in  Hincbi  society.  Their  children,  t(^),  have  ccrtniii 
"well-defined  claims,  and  Hindu  society  posses.ses  mesuis  to 
see  that  those  elaims  are  satisfied.  Tiie  ciTcnumial  insti- 
tutions of  the  Hindus  controlled  by  the  caste  origan i /at ion, 
reco«^nise  and  fulfil  these  obliijations.  Those  who  arc 
ac([uainted  with  the  inner  workini,^  of  Hindu  society 
know  that  the  sisters  and  the  dauL,diters  not  only  enjoy 
certain  rights  in  connection  with  every  festival  ami  every 
event  of  importance  in  their  father's  an<.l  brothers'  faini- 


I 


104  lllXDU    SITKRIORITY. 

lies — nt  ^ctmc  of  Avliich  functions  tlioy  play  the  lending 
])!irt.  hut  that  even  after  their  niai-riaaes  their  coiuieetion 
■with  the  families  in  whicli  they  were  born  is  one  of  a 
jierennial  flow  towards  them  of  presents  and  i^ifts,  to 
whieh  they  are  entitled  by  social  law,  irrespective  of  the 
relations  existinii"  between  them  bcini>'  cordial  or  strained. 

Thus,  while  their  rights  are  secured  a^-ainst  contin- 
frencies,  women  altog-ether  get  from  their  fathers  and 
brothers  far  more  than  is  generally  received  by  them 
anywhere  else  in  Europe  or  Asia.  Moreover,  the  joint 
Hindu  family  system  is  highly  conducive  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  inHriCncc — in  some  respects  predominent — in 
the  families  in  which  tiiej^  were  born. 

Even  at  the  present  day,  though  the  women  are  not 
so  prominent,  their  influence  is  supreme.  They  talk 
slander  and  tell  mischievous  falsehoods  who  say  that  the 
Hindu  women  are  prisoners  in  the  zenana,  that  their 
condition  is  a  pitiable  one,  that  they  claim  the  pliilan- 
tlu'opic  efforts  of  men  and  women  to  alleviate  their  hard 
lot,  and  that  they  deserve  all  the  sympathy  that  suffering 
humanity  may  receive.  Colonel  Tod  says  :  "  The  super- 
ficial observer,  who  applies  his  own  standard  to  the  cus- 
toms of  all  nations,  laments,  with  an  afliected  philan- 
thropy, the  degraded  condition  of  the  Hindu  female,  in 
which  sentiment  he  would  find  her  little  disposed  to 
join.  He  })articularly  laments  her  want  of  liberty  and 
calls  her  seclusion,  imprisoimient.  From  the  knowledge 
1  possess  of  the  freedom,  the  respect,  the  hapj)iness 
which  liajput  women  enjoy,  I  am  by  no  means  inclined 
to  (h'plore  their  state  as  one  of  captivity."  And,  who 
does  not  know  tiiat  amongst  no  ])eople  in  India  is  pardah 
observed  more  strictly  than  by  the  Kajputs? 


TIIK  InSITlON  <»I    WoMrv.  10.^ 

Ev(M'v  SiiMskrit  s(li(»l:ir  knows  in  what  rosfv»ct  nw\ 
vonoi'iition  Indies  liko  (JarirvM,  I  )r:iu|»:i«li,  Sakuiitala, 
Mandod.-iri,  :iii<l  Kiikiiiani'  wci-c  held.  \\'li<»  can  listen, 
■witlioiit  admiral  ion  and  >lroni^  rniotion,  t<»  llii;  cvlc;l»ratrd 
I'orcst  spccicli  ol'  Dranpadi,  after  tlie  Nanishrncnt  of  tlie 
Pan(]avas. 

'•  llindn  female  devotion  '  is  a  liaeknevtid  jdirnw. 
Colonel  Tod  says  :  "Nor  will  the  annals  of  any  nation 
atl'ord  more  numerous  or  more  suMiine  inst:nices  of 
female  devotion  than  those  of  the  Rajputs."-  Even  in 
media'val  ai^es,  India  produced  ^vonu•n  that  wouhl  mak(» 
the  darkest  page  of  history  resplendent.  *'  Tiie  annal>  of 
no  nation  on  earth,"  says  Colonel  Tod,  '' reccjrd  a  more 
eiuioblinii;  ov  more  nia;i'nanim()us  instance  "i"  !'.  to ''•• 
loyalty  than  exem])lilied  by  Dewalde,  nioii;.  i  oi  luc 
Binafur  brothers."' 

As  the  inciilent  allude<l  to  al)ove  thnnvs  a  tlood  of 
liiiht  on  the  high  character  of  the  Ka  jput  women,  and 
fully  illustrates  thecouunanding  inlluenee  tlicy  exercise 
in  society,  a  short  account  of  tliis  inspiring  cj)is<Mle  that 
occurred  Avhen  Hindu  indej»endencc  was  alnjut  to  be 
overthrown,  may  well   be  inserted. 

While  the  last  Hindu  empenjr  of  India,  the  chival- 
rous Prithviraj,  was  returning  to  Delhi  from  Sanieta, 
some  of  the  wounded,  wIk*  covered  his  retreat,  wen! 
assailed  and  put  tc  dc:ith  by  I'armal,  the  Chundail  prince 
of  Mahoba.     In  order  to  avenge  this  insult,  the  emperor 

'Within  the  last    100  years,    the  name  «»f    Maharani    Ahalrabai 

Ilnlkiir  was  prominently  before  the  world.  She  i-.  kuown  from  the 
Himalayas  to  Cape  Coniorin,  and  her  memory  is  n  .(n  illv  M..rvl,;,  : ,..? 
in  some  places. 

^Tod's  Rajablhau,  Vul.  J,  i'.  GIU.  ^lud's  Kajastbau,  Vul.  I,  p.  01 1. 


106  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

invaded  the  territory  of  the  Cliundail,  ^vhose  troops  were 
cut  to  pieces  at  Sirswah.  The  Chniidail  l)y  the  advice  o£ 
his  queen,  Mahnidevi,  demanded  a  truce  of  his  adver- 
sary, on  the  plea  of  the  absence  of  his  cliieftains,  Ala  and 
Udila.  The  envoy  found  the  Chohan  ready  to  cross  the 
Pahouj.  The  chivalrous  Prithviraj,  unused  to  rofusin^^ 
such  requests,  f^ranted  the  truce. 

The  two  brothers,  Ala  and  TTdila,  the  Sardars  of 
Mohaba,  had  been  made  to  abandon  their  home  because 
Ala  had  refused  to  part  with  one  of  his  mares  which 
Parmal  desired  to  possess.  They  went  away  to  Kanauj, 
where  they  were  received  with  open  arms  by  Jai  Chand.    . 

The  bard,  Yagnuk,  now  repaired  to  Ivanauj  to  beg 
the  two  heroes  on  behalf  of  Parmal  to  return  to  Ma- 
hoba,  as  their  fatherland  demanded  their  services.  He 
said,  "  the  Chohan  is  encamped  on  the  j)lains  of  Maho- 
ba,  Nursinf]^  and  BirsinG;'  have  fallen,  SirsAvah  is 
i»-iven  to  the  flames,  and  the  Kingdom  of  Parmal  laid 
waste  by  the  Chohan.  For  one  month  a  truce  has  been 
obtained,  while  to  you  I  am  sent  for  aid  in  his  griefs. 
Listen,  Oh  sons  of  Pinafur,  sad  have  been  the  days  of 
]\Ialundevi  since  you  left  ]\Iahoba  !  Oft  she  looks  to- 
wards Kanauj  ;  and,  while  she  recalls  you  to  mind, 
tears  f^ush  from  her  eyes  and  she  exclaims,  'the  fame  of 
the  Chundail  is  dopartinir,  but  when  gone,  Oh,  sons  of 
Jasraj,  great  will  be  your  self-accusing  sorrow  !  yet,  think 
f.f  Mahoba.'  "  '^ 

"  Destruction  to  ^Mahoba  ?  Annihilation  to  the 
Chundail,  who,  without  fault,  expelled  us  our  home  ;  in 
whose  service  fell  onr  father,  l)v  whom  his  kina:dom  was 
extended.  Send  the  slanderous  Purihara — let  him  lead 
your  armies  against   the   heroes   of   Delhi.     Our   heads 


TIIK  l'i»Mlli»N  m.    \V(.Mi:\.  I(i7 

were  tlio  ])ill:n's  of  M:ili<>lta  ;  l)y  us  \v<rc  tlic  (icimikIh 
I'XjX'lIcil.and  tlu'ir  strou^lioMx.  1  )c(.m;,i-|i  aurj  (;|i:iinll»:iri, 
uiltird  to  liis  s\va\.  W'c  iiiaiiilaiiu'(|  (In-  licl.l  a•^•lillst  tin- 
rlailoou,  sacked  1 1  iudow  n.  niid  plaiilcd  liis  standard  nu 
the  plains  of  Iviillair.  It  wa--  I  (cnntiimed  Ala)  wiio 
stopped  the  s\v»)i-.l  (.1'  the  conipierin^-  ( 'ntehwaha.  'I'he 
Amirs  of  th(!  Sidtaii  lied  hefori'  ii>.  At  <I\a  we  wen* 
vietorioiis,  and  added  Kewah  to  his  kini,'<loni.  'Antcrvi-d' 
I  u;ave  to  tiie  llanies  and  U'velled  to  the  "ground  the  towns 
ol  Mewat.  From  ten  jirinecs  did  .lasraj  i)rinix  sj>oil  to 
Mahoba.  This  liave  we  done;  and  tlii'  reward  is  exile 
from  oui'  home  !  Scxcn  times  lia\e  I  recei\i:d  W(imld■^ 
ill  his  ser\  ice,  and  since  my  I'atlier's  <leatli  ;it>iiied  f«irt\' 
l)attles  ;  and  iVmii  seven  has  Udila  ronveved  tiie  rec<ir<l 
(>r  \  ictory  to  Piirmal.  Thrice  my  death  sei'ined  im-vit- 
ahle.  The  lionoiir  ot"  his  house  1  liavi'  nplield — vet 
exile  is  mv  reward." 

The  hard  replies: — '•  The  father  of  I'armal  left  him 
Avlieu  a  child  to  the  care  of  Jasraj.  ^'<>nr  faiiier  was  in 
lieu  of  his  own  ;  the  son  should  not  ahandon  him  when 
inisforimie  makes  him  call  <»n  you.  Tlie  llajput  who 
ahaiKlons  his  sovereign  in  ili^tre.ss  will  he  j)lunged  into 
liell.  Then  ]»lace  on  your  lietid  the  loyalty  of  your 
father.  Can  you  desire  to  remain  at  Kanaui  while  he 
is  in  trouble  who  expended  thousands  in  rejoiein«is  for 
your  hirtli  ?  Malundevi  (the  «pieen),  who  loves  you  a.s 
her  own,  presses  your  return.  She  bids  me  demand  of 
Dewalde,  fullilmont  of  the  oft-repeated  vow  that  your 
life  and  Mahoba,  when  endangered,  were  inseivirable. 
The  breakers  of  vows,  despised  on  earth,  will  Iw 
plunged  into  hell,  there  to  remain  while  sun  and  moon 
endure." 


II 


108  HINDU  sunnuoKiTV. 

Dewalde  lieard  the  message  of  the  queen.  "Let  us 
ily  to  ]\I:ihoba,"  she  exclaimed.  Ala  was  silent,  while 
Udila  said  aloud,  "  May  evil  spirits  seize  upon  Mahoba. 
Can  you  forget  the  day  when,  in  distress,  he  drove  us 
forth  ?  Return  to  Mahoba — let  it  stand  or  fall,  it  is  the 
same  to  me  ;  Kanauj  is  henceforth  my  home.'' 

"  AVould  that  the  gods  had  made  me  barren,"  said 
Dewalde,  "  that  I  had  never  borne  sons  who  thus  aban- 
don the  paths  of  tlie  Rajput,  and  refuse  to   succour 
their  prince  in  danger."     Her  heart  bursting  with  grief, 
and  her  eves  raised   to  heaven,    she  continued  :     "  Was 
it   for  this,    0   universal    lord,   thou   mad'st   me   feel  a 
mother's  pangs  for  these  destroyers  of  Binafur's  fame  ? 
Un worth V   offspring  !     the    heart  of  the  true   Rajput 
dances  with  joy  at  the  mere  name  of  strife — but  ye,  de- 
generate, cannot  be  the  sons  of  Jasraj — some  carl  must 
have  stolen  to   my   eml)race,   and  from  such  ye    must 
be  sprung."     This  was  irresistible.     The  young  Chiefs 
arose,  their  faces  withered  in  sadness.     "  When  we  pe- 
rish in  defence  of   ^lahoba,  and,  covered  with  wounds, 
l)erform  deeds  that  will   leave  a  deathless  name,  when 
our  heads  roll  in  the  fields,  when  we  embrace  the  valiant 
in  fight,  and,  treading  in  the  foot-steps  of  the  brave,  make 
resplendent  the  blood  of  both  lines,  even  in  the  presence 
of  the  heroes  of  the  Chohan,  then  will   our   mother   re- 
j(-»ice." 

The  chieftains  took  leave  of  the  King  of  Kanauj 
and  returned  to  Mahoba.  On  their  return  a  grand 
Council  assembled  at  a  final  deliberation,  at  which  the 
ninther  of  the  Jiinafurs  and  the  ([ueen  ^ilalundevi  were 
present.  Tiie  latter  thus  opens  the  debate  :  "  Oh,  mother 
oi  Ala,  liuw    may    we   succeed   against  the   lord    of   tlie 


Tin:  vosirioN  ok  \vi>\i\:s.  Idl) 

world  ?  If  (IcftTitcd,  lost  is  Mahol):!  ;  if  wo  |>jiv  trilnitr, 
we  are  loacUnl  with  sliMine."  DrwiiMc  n'C(»inmrii(lK 
hearinu;  scridfim  tln'  oj)init)n.s  of  tlu-  ciiicfUniiH,  wIumi 
Ala  thus  .s|)eaks  :  "Listen,  ( )h  mnfhcr,  to  your  son  ! 
he  alone  is  of  pure  linea^-e,  who,  jilacin^^  loyalty  on  hin 
head,  abandons  all  thoughts  of  self,  and  lays  down  his 
life  for  his  j)rince  ;  my  thoii,i,d»ts  an;  only  for  Parnjal.  If 
she'  lives,  she  will  show  herself  a  woman  or  cmnnatiini 
of  Parvati.  The  warriors  of  Sanihhiir  shall  Ih'  cut  in 
pieees.  I  will  so  illustrate  tht*  blood  of  my  fathers  tiiat 
my  fame  shall  last  for  ever.  My  son,  Kendal,  Oh  prince! 
I  bequeath  to  yon,  and  the  fame  of  Di'walde  is  in  your 
keej)ing.''  Tiu' ([nccn  thus  replies:  ''  The  warriors  of 
the  Chohan  are  (ieree  as  tlu-y  are  numcnjus  ;  pay  tri- 
bute, and  saveMahoba."  The;  soul  of  Udila  was  inllamcil, 
and  turnin!4"  to  the  rpieon  s;ii(l  "  Why  thoui^ht  you  not 
thus  when  you  slew  the  defenceless  ?  but  then  I  was 
unheard.  Whence  now  your  wisdom  ?  thrice  I  beseech- 
ed  you  to  })ardon.  Nevertheless  ^lahoba  is  safe  while 
life  remains  in  me,  and  in  yoiu*  cause,  Oh  I'armal  !  we 
shall  espouse  celestial  brides." 

"Well  have  you  spoken,  my  son,"  said  Dewalde, 
"notiiinii'  now  remains  but  t<j  make  thv  parent's  milk 
resplendent  by  thy  dee<ls.  The  calls  of  the  j>e;is;int 
driven  from  his  home  meets  the  ear,  and  while  wc  <leli- 
berate,  our  villages  are  given  to  the  llames."  JJut  Parmal 
replied  :  "  Saturn  rules  the  day,  to-morrow  we  shall  meet 
the  foe,"  With  indignation,  Ala  turned  to  the  king: 
"  He  who  can  louk  tamcbj  on  ichile  the  smoke  ascends  jrum 
his  ruined  toicns^  his  fields  laid  waste,  can  be  no  Jiajput: 
he  who  succumbs  to  fear   when  his  countnj  is  invaded. 


^  lliiidus  do  uot  cull  tbcir  wives  now-a-day  l>y  thi-ir  uaiuo$>. 


IIU  HI^^DU    SUPERIORITY. 

his  body  will  he  plunu'ed  into  the  hell  o£  hells,  his  soul 
a  waiulerei-  in  the  world  of  spirits  for  sixty  thousand 
years  ;  hut  the  warrior  who  perforins  his  duty  will  Ix' 
received  into  the  mansion  of  the  sun,  and  his  deeds  will 
last  f(H'  ever." 

The  heroes  embraced  their  Avivcs  for  the  last  time, 
and  with  the  dawn,  performed  their  pious  rites.  Then 
Ala,  calling  his  son  Eendel  and  TJdila,  hit^  brother,  he 
once  more  poured  forth  his  vows  to  the  universal  mother, 
"  that  he  would  illustrate  the  name  of  Jasraj,  and  evince 
the  pure  blood  derived  from  Dewalde,  whenever  he  met 
the  foe."  "Nobly,  have  you  resolved,"  said  Udila,  "  and 
shall  not  my  kirhan^  also  dazzle  the  eyes  of  Sambhur's 
lord  ?  Shall  he  not  retire  from  before  me  ?  "  "  Fare- 
well, my  children,"  said  Dewalde,  "be  true  to  your  salt, 
and  should  you  lose  your  heads  for  your  prince,  doubt 
not  you  will  obtain  the  celestial  crown."  Having  ceased, 
the  wives  of  both  exclaimed,  "  wdiat  virtuous  wife  sur- 
vives her  lord  ?  For,  thus  says  Goriji,  "the  won)an  who 
survives  her  husband  wdio  falls  in  the  field  of  l)attle  will 
never  obtain  bliss,  but  wander  a  discontented  ghost  in 
the  region  of  unhallowed  spirits." 

The  fidelity  of  a  nurse  is  well  exemplified  by  the 
conduct  of  Pumia,  the  dhai  of  Udai  Singh,  son  of  lla.na 
Sanga,  who  was  a  Kheechee  I\aj])utani,  when  lhuil)ir, 
after  killing  the  Uana,  Bikramjit,  entered  the  Uaola-  to 
kill  the  luir-apparent,  Udai  Singh,  also.  Aware  that  one 
murder  was  the  precursor  of  another,  the  faithful  nurse 
put  her  charge  into  a  fruit  basket,  and  covering  it  with 
leaves,  she  delivered  it  to  the  bari^  enjoining  him  to  es- 
cape wiih   it  from  the  fort.     Scarcely  had  she  time  to 

^  A  sciuiitar.      "Queen's  quarters  in  the  [lalace, 


TIIF  rn<ITlf>\  nl    \vn\\r\\  1 1 1 

suhstitutc  lior  oavii  iiifaiil  in  tlio  room  «.r  tlio  princo,  wlirn 
r.mil)ir,  ciitLriiiL!",  t'ii(|uir('(l  for  liiiii,  Ilcr  li|).s  n-fiiT*! 
tluir  oliicf,  >\iv  jM>iiiti'il  to  the  crjKllr,  and  l)rli<l.l  tli<- 
niuiik'rons  steul  l)nri('«l  in  the  luan  of  in-r  IhiIk,'. ' 

Tlic  ('Xj)lnits  of  tile  lurnic  'V:\rn  \W\  i)(  l'u*(lii«'j<- ;iii.l 
t.boso  of  h(M-  i;;>li:inr  Iiiish  iicl,  I'ritlivira  j.  tlic  hrotlicr  of 
the  cclt'l)ratc(l  Raiia  Saii^a,  who  ojiposcd  IVihiT  at  Itiaiia, 
would  li^ivo  a.  ck'ar  idea  of  the  dominatiiiix  intliieiirc 
which  tlie  Uaj|»ut  fair  exercise  not  only  in  tin-  formation 
of  lia  ji)nr  character  l)nt  on  Ka  jputcondnct  throULfkiont  life 

Colonel  Tod  savs:  '' Tara  Hai  was  the  dau'diter  of 
liao  Snrtan,  the  chieftain  of  iiednore.  He  was  of  the 
Solunki  trihc,  the  lineal  de><ccndanc  of  the  famed  lialhara 
kings  of  Anhuhvara.  Thence  cx|>elled  l)y  the  urni.H 
of  Alia  in  the  thirteenth  century,  they  miijrato<l  to 
Central  India,  an<l  olitained  possession  of  Tonk-Thoda 
and  its  lands  on  the  IVinas,  which  from  remote  timoH 
had  been  occnpie«l  (perliaps  fo\mded)  hy  tlic  Taks,  and 
hence  hore  the  name  of  Taksilla-nagar,  faiuiliarly  Takit- 
].ur  and  Thoda.  Surtan  had  been  deprived  of  Thoda 
by  Lilla  the  Afghan,  an<l  nov»'  occuj>ied  I>ethK)rc  at  the 
loot  of  the  Aravalli,  witjiin  the  IkmukIs  of  Mewar. 
Stimnlate(l  by  tlie  reverses  of  her  family,  and  l»y  the 
incentives  of  its  ancient  glory,  Tara  l>ai,  scorning  tlio 
liabiliments  and  occujiations  of  her  sex,  learned  to  gsiide 
the  war-horse,  and  to  throw  with  unerring  aim  the  arrow 
from  his  back,  even  while  at  sp<>ed.  Armed  with  the 
bow  and  (piiver,  and  moimted  on  a  liery  Kathyawar, 
she  joined  the  cavalcade  in  their  unsuccessful  atte'npts 
to  wrest  Thoda  from  the  Afghan.  dai:nnl,  tiie  tliird 
son  of  Kana  Rai  Mul,  in  ])erson  nia<le  projxisds  for  her 


1  Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  315. 


112  HINDU  surEuioiUTV. 

liaiul.  'licdocni  Thodn,'  said  the  star  of  Bednorc,  'and 
my  liand  is  thine.'  He  assented  to  the  terms  ;  but 
cvincinij;  a  rnde  determination  to  be  possessed  of  the 
prize  ere  he  had  earned  it,  he  was  slain  by  the  indignant 
father.  Pirthiraj,  the  brother  of  the  deceased,  was 
then  an  exile  in  ]\Iar\var  ;  he  had  just  signalized  his 
valour  and  ensured  his  fother's  forgiveness,  by  the 
redemption  of  Godwar,  and  the  catastrophe  at  Bednore 
determined  him  to  accept  the  gage  thrown  down  to 
J:umul.  Fame  and  the  bard  had  carried  the  renown  of 
Pirthiraj  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  Me  war  ;  the  name 
alone  was  attractive  to  the  fair,  and  when  thereto  he 
^vho  bore  it  added  all  the  chivalrous  ardour  of  his  pro- 
totype, the  Chohan,  Tara  IJai,  with  the  sanction  of  her 
father,  consented  to  be  his,  on  the  simple  asseveration 
that  'he  would  restore  to  them  Thoda  or  he  was  no  true 
Kajput.'  The  anniversary  of  the  martyrdom  of  the 
sons  of  Alii  was  the  season  chosen  for  the  exploit. 
Pirthiraj  formed  a  -select  band  of  five  hundred  cavaliers 
and  accompanied  by  his  bride,  the  fair  Tara,  Avho  insisted 
on  partaking  of  his  glory  and  his  danger,  he  reached  TlKxla 
at  the  moment  the  tazzia  or  bier  containing  the  martyr- 
brothers,    was    placed    in    the    centre  of   the    chouk   or 

*  sfpiare.'       Tlie    prince,     Tara   Bai    and    the    faithful 

*  Senger  Chief,  the  inseparable  companion  of  Pirthiraj, 
left  their  cavalcade  and  joined  the  procession  as  it  jiassed 
inider  the  balcony  of  the  palace,  in  which  the  Afghan 
■was  putting  on  his  dress  ])reparatory  to  descending.  Just 
as  lie  had  asked  who  were  the  strange  horsemen  that 
had  joined  the,  throng,  the  lance  of  Pirthiraj  and  an 
arrow  from  the  bow  of  his  Amazonian  bride  stretched 
him  on  the  tluor.     Before  the  crowd  recovered  from   the 


Tiir  r«..siri,,x  ..f  wo\fEv.  ii;j 


\\  m:i"u 


panic,  the  thr.'c  had  n'aclicd  the  ^^nUi  of  the  l-.un. 
thi'ir  exit  was  ()l)striK'tefl  hy  an  ••Icphant.  Tarn  T.ai 
\vith  her  scimitar  divided  hi-  trunk,  and  tlie  animal  tlv- 
i"n»  l-^i^'  joined  tlicir  cavalcade,  which  was  close  at 
hand. 

''  The  Afiihans  were  encountered,  and  oidd  not  stand 
the  attick.  Tiiosc  who  <]id  not  llv  were  cut  to  pitx^es  ; 
an<l  the  «rallant  Prithiraj  inducted  th«'  father  of  hi;, 
bride  into  his  inheritance.  A  brother  of  the  Af-dians, 
in  his  attein])t  to  recov(T  it,  lost  his  life.  The  Xawab, 
Mulloo  Khan,  then  holdini;-  Ajmer,  determined  to  oi)jm)3c 
the  Sesodia  prince  in  person,  wIk^,  resolved  upon  beini:^ 
the  assailant,  advanced  to  Ajmer,  encountered  lii>  foe 
in  the  camp  at  day-l)rcak,  and  after  irreat  slauijhter 
entered  Gurh  lieetli,  the  citadel,  with  the  fui^itives. 
'P>v  these  acts'  savs  the  Chronicle,  'his  fame  increase«l  in 
Kajwarra  :  one  thousand  Ilajj)nts,  animated  by  the  same 
love  of  i^lory  and  devotion,  withered  round  the  tuUarras 
of  Prithiraj.  Their  swords  shone  in  the  heavens,  and 
were  dreaded  on  the  CiU'th  ;  but  thev  aided  the  defence- 
less." 

The  stron*^  affection  of  a  Hindu  wife  for  her  hus- 
band is  typified  in  the  con«luct  of  Chandandas's  wife,  so 
beautifully  described  in  the  political  dranui  of  Mmlra 
Rakhshas.' 

The  Rajput  mother  claims  full  share  in  the  irlory 
of  her  son,  who  imbibes  at  the  maternal  fount  his  first 
rudiments  of  chivalry  ;  the  importance  of  this  parental 
instruction  cannot  be  better  illustrated  than  in  the  ever- 
recurring  simile,  "make  thy  mother's  njilk  resplendent," 
the  full  force  of  which  we  have  in  the  powerful  thoui^h 

'Tovl's  Kaj:.sth:\u,  Vol.  I,  pp.  673,  74.     '-'See  Infra,  "Uindn  DraTi  a," 


11-1  TITXPr    SrPKKTOI^TTV. 

ovcrstrniiK'd  exprossion  o£  the  Bmidi  Queen's  joy  on  the 
announcement  of  the  heroic  death  of  her  son. 

Nor  lias  tlie  Rajput  mother  failed  to  defend  her 
sf-in's  ri<;hts  M'ith  exx3niplary  valour,  and  to  teach  her  son 
how  life  should  be  sacrificed  at  the  altar  of  the  country 
and  in  defence  of  the  country's  independence.  Look  at 
the  animated  picture  given  by  Ferishta  of  Durgavati,  (.^ucen 
of  Gurrah,  defendiniy  the  ri2;hts  of  her  infant  son  airainst 
Akbar's  ambition.  "  Like  another  Boadecea,  she  headed 
her  army  and  fought  a  desperate  battle  with  Asafkhan, 
in  which  she  was  defeated  and  wounded.  Scornhi<2:  fiiiiht 
or  to  survirx  the  loss  of  independence,  she,  like  the  an- 
tique Roman  in  such  a  predicament,  slew  herself  on  the 
field  of  battle."  1 

Durgavati  was  only  following  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  earlier  queens,  the  exploits  of  some  of  whom  are 
well  known  in  Ka  jputana.  For  instance,  after  the  death 
of  Rana  Samarsi,  on  the  field  of  Thaneshwar,  his  heir, 
Kurna,  being  a  minor,  Kurna's  mother,  Koruni  Devi,  a 
])rincess  of  Patun,  headed  her  Rajputs  and  gave  battle  in 
])erson  to  Kutbuddin  Aibak,  near  Amber,  when  the  \'ice- 
roy  (Kutbuddin)  was  defeated  and  wounded. "- 

"  In  the  second  Saka  of  Chitor,  when  l)ah;idur.  Sul- 
tan of  (iiijrat,  invaded  that  far-famed  fortress,  the  (jucen- 
uiother,  Jawahir  l^ii,  in  order  to  set  an  example  of 
courageous  devotion  to  their  country,  ai)peared  clad  in 
armour  and  headed  a  sallv,  in  which  she  was  slain.""' 

\)\\v'\\\\f  the  famous  assault  on  Chitor  by  Akbar, 
when  the  command  of  the   fortress  fell  on  Fattah,  who 

1  Toil's  Rajastliiiii.  V..1.  T.  )..  CI 2. 
^'Toil's  Hajastliaii.  \m|.  |.  p.  -IW.), 
•■^Tud's  IJiijustliaii.  Vol.  I,  [,.  ;jn. 


Tin;  i'()sni(.\  m.  \v<»mi:n.  1 1 ' 

was  (>nly  sixhxMi  years  ot  aero  at  tin-  doath  of  th.- 
riiandawat  Icadrr,  his  motlirr  (li's|)l:iv<'«l  lH'rni>rii  uii 
])arall('l('(l  in  history,  ('(.loud  T..<l  says:— "  Whni  ih.* 
Salooinra  fell  at  ilu'  natc  of  fhr  Sun,  th<'  romjnan.l 
(IcvoIvrJ  oil  I'litta  (Tafta)  of  Kaihva.  I|. 
()h1\-  sixteen:  his  fathci-  had  fallen  in  tlir  la>l  ,>hink, 
and  Iiis  mother  had  sursivcd  hut  to  rear  this  the 
sole  heir  of  their  house.  Like  the  Spartan  inotlirr 
of  old,  she  eonunan(K'<l  him  to  put  on  the  'sitVruii 
rol)e'  and  to  die  for  Chitor:  hut  sin-passin^r  the  (irrcian 
dame,  she  illustrat(!d  her  precept  l)V  cxamph';  and  h'st 
any  soft,  'compunetious  visitini^s '  for  one  dranr  than 
herself  miirlit  dim  the  lustre  of  Kaihva,  >li<'  armed  tin* 
}out:i;  bride  with  a  lanee,  with  her  tlescendcd  the  rock, 
and  the  defenders  of  Chitor  saw  her  fall,  liirlitinLT  '>y  tiie 
side  of  her  Amazonian  Tuothcr.  \\  hen  their  wive-  and 
dauuhters  performed  such  deeds,  the  Rajputs  l)ocame 
reckless  of  life.'" 

"Xi>r  ill)  I  ili'fjii  liiiii  worthy  who  prefer-^ 
.V  t'rii'iitl,  how  drar  so  cviT  to  his  country." 

— Soi'HOCi.Krt:  Antiijint' . 

An  inci<lent  taken  fr^m  the  annals  of  Mewar  will 
illustrate  the  stren!i:th,  the  courai;can<l  the  f^eneral  charac- 
ter of  Kajput  women.  Irsi,  the  elder  l)rother  of  the  Uanu 
Ajeysi,  "being  out  on  a  hunting  excursion  in  the  forest 
of  Ondwa,  with  some  young  chiefs  of  the  court,  in 
pursuit  of  the  boar  entered  a  fiehl  of  maize,  when  a  femaK* 
olfcred  to  dri\e  out  the  game  Pulling  one  of  the  >talks 
of  maize,  which  grows  to  the  height  of  ten  or  twelve  feet, 
she  pointed  it,  and  mounting  the  platform  nimle  to  watch 
the  corn,  impaled  the  hog,  dragged  him  l>efore  the  hunter-. 


'Tud's  Uaja?thau.  Vol.  I.  p.  .Jl'G. 


IIG  HINDU    SUrEUIORlTY. 

and  departed.     Thou<;h  accustomed  to  feats  of  strength^ 
and   heroism   from  the  nervous  arms   of  their   country- 
women, the  act  surprised  them.     They  descended  to  the 
stream  at  hand  and   prepared   the    repast,   as   is    usual, 
on  the   spot.     The   feast   was   held,  and  comments  were 
passing  on  the  fair  arm  which   had  transfixed  the  boar, 
when  a  ball  of  clay  from  a  sling  fractured   a  limb  of  the 
prince's  steed.   Looking  in  the  direction  whence  it  came, 
they  observed  the  same  damsel,  from  her  elevated  stand, 
preserving  her  fields  from  a.'rial  depredators  ;   but  seeing 
the  mischief  she  had  occasioned  she  descended  to  express 
regret,  and  then  returned  to  her  pursuit.     As  they  were 
proceeding  homewards  after  the  sports  of  the  day,  they 
again  encountered  the  damsel  with  a  vessel  of  milk  on 
her  head,  and  leading  in  either  hand  a  young  buffalo.   It 
was  proposed,  in  frolic,  to  overturn  her  milk,  and  one  of 
the  companions  of  the  prince  dashed  rudely  by  her  ;  but 
Avithout    bein<>:  disconcerted,  she  entangled  one  of  her 
charjj^es  with  the  horse's  limbs,  and  brou2:ht  the  rider  to 
the  ground.     On  inquiry  the  prince  discovered  that  she 
was  the  daughter  of  a  poor  Rajput  of  the  Chundano  tribe. 
He  returned  the  next  day  to  the  same  quarter  and  sent 
for  her  father,  wlio  came  and  took  his  seat  with  perfect 
independence  close  to  the  prince,  to  the  merriment  of  his 
C()m]ianions,    which    was    checked    by    Ursi,  askin*!;   hi:s 
daughter  to  wife.     They  were  yet  more  surprised  by  the 
demand  being  refused.  The  Rajput,  on  going  home,  told 
the  more  prudent  mother,  who  scolded  him  heartily,  made 
him  recall  the  refusal  and  seek  the  ])rincc.     They  were 
married,  and  Ilamir  was  the  son  of  the  Chundano  Raj- 
putni."' 

nVxl's  Rajastliiin,  Vol.  T,  pj).  207,  08.  It  was  fliis  Kaiia  Hainir 
who  attackod,  flctoatcfl  and  made  prisoner  ilie  Kliilji  Uiiiu;,  Malimud, 
tlie  successor  of  Alhdiiiddiii  Kliilji.  Tlic  kin-j:  si'lTcrt'd  a  coiiliiu'inciit 
of  llirco  nii.iitlis  in  (,"liiti>r.  "Nor  was  lie  lilicralcd  till  lie  had  surrendered 
A  jnii  T.  Haiithaiiilihor.  XaLTaiir  and  Soe  Sopur.  hesides  paying'  lit'ty 
lukh.b  (.rf  ruiiL'cs  and  one  hundred  elephauls,     See  Vol.  I,  p.  272. 


Tin;  Position  of  nvomkn.  n; 

"Tlio  roui.iMtic  history  of  tlu-  CIioIimh  Kni|MT..r 
of  Delhi  ahoiiiids  in  skrtclu's  of  friiialc  chanictrr  ;  :in«l  in 
the  story  of  l>is  carry iiiii^  otV  Saiijoirta,  tlu'  priii 
Kaiiaiij,  \vc  ha\('ii  faithful  picriirc  of  the  scx.  Wi.- 
her,  from  the  imoimcmL  when,  rcjccLiiijr  the  iwwMiiltl*  .1 
])rin(('s,  !?lu'  threw  the  'L^irlami  of  iiiarriajro'  rouml  thr 
neck  of  her  lh'r<»,  (lie  Ciioliaii,  aliamion  herself  to  ail  the 
intliieiices  of  passion,  mix  in  a  mmhat  of  fivt?  <lav«' 
contimiance  against  her  father's  arrav,  witness  his  over- 
throw and  the  carnau'e  of  hoth  armies,  an<l  snhM'cjnentlv, 
by  her  seductive  charms,  lullini^  her  lover  into  a  neglect 
of  every  princelv  duty.  ^  er  when  the  f(H's  of  his  «(lory 
and  power  iii\;idc  I  iidia,  we  si-e  the  enehantrc'ss  at  on<*<* 
st<U't  from  her  trance  of  plcasurr,  :ind  e\chan;^in;r  the 
softer  for  the  sterner  j)assions,  in  accents  not  less 
strong  because  minified  with  dei'p  affection,  she  conjures 
hini,  while  armiuLT  him  for  tiie  battle,  to  die  for  hib  fume, 
declarini:  that  she  will  join  him  in  tiie  'mansions  of 
the  sun.'  " 

What  Hindu  can  read  without  emotion  the  reply  of 
the  brave  and  beautifid  Sanjoi^rta,  then  in  the  hey<ley  of 
her  honeymoon  ?  On  Prithvi's  relatiiiLT  to  her  the  dream, 
he  saw  the  ])revious  ni,i(ht,  she  sjud :  "Victory  and 
fame  to  my  lord  !  Oh  Sun  of  the  Chohans,  in  irlory 
or  in  ])lensure,  who  has  tasted  so  dc^cply  ns  you  ?  Toilic 
is  the  destiny  not  only  of  man  but  of  the  j(<k1s,  all 
desire  to  throw  olf  the  old  garment  ;  but  to  die  w<'ll  is 
to  live  for  ever.  Think  not  of  self,  but  of  inunortality  ; 
let  your  sword  divide  your  foe,  and  I  will  Ix'  your 
ardh(ui;f(i  (the  other  half)  hereafter.'' 

The  army  having  assembled  and  all  being  prepare<l 
to  march  against  the  Islamite,  the  fair  ^anjogtu  armed 


118  HINDU    SUPERIOKITY. 

hor  lord  for  the  encounter.  "  In  vain  she  sous^ht  the  rini»:s 
of  his  corslet  ;  her  ej'es  were  fixed  on  the  face  of  the 
Chohan,  as  those  of  the  famished  wretch  who  finds  a  piece 
of  fjold.  Tlic  sound  of  the  drum  reached  the  ear  of  the 
Chohan  ;  it  was  as  a  death-kuell  on  that  of  Sannouta:  and 
as  he  left  her  to  head  Delhi's  heroes,  she  vowed  that 
henceforth  water  only  should  sustain  her,  I  shall  see 
him  ao:ain  in  the  rei2;ion  of  Surva,  but  never  more  in 
Yogini})ur." 

A  more  recent  instance  of  the  high  spirit,  undaunted 
courage  and  a  high  sense  of  duty  and  honour  displayed 
by  a  queen  of  Marwar,  has  been  recorded  by  a  Frenchman 
of  note.  In  the  Civil  AVar  for  empire  amongst  the  sons  of 
Shah  Jahan,  when  Aurangzeb  opened  his  career  by  the 
deposal  of  his  father  and  the  murder  of  his  brothers,  the 
Iiajputs,  faithful  to  the  Emperor  determined  to  oppose 
him.  Under  the  intrepid  Rahtore,  Jaswant  Singh,  thirty 
thousand  Rajputs  chiefly  of  that  clan,  advanced  to 
the  Narbada,  and  with  a  magnanimity  amounting  to 
imprudence,  they  permitted  the  junction  of  Munid 
with  Aurangzeb. 

Next  morning  the  action  commenced,  which  conti- 
nued throughout  the  day.  The  Rajputs  behaved  Avith 
their  usual  braver}',  but  were  surrounded  on  all  sides, 
and  by  sunset  left  ten  thousand  dead  on  the  field.  The 
]\Iaharaja  retreated  to  his  own  country,  but  his  wile,  a 
daughter  of  the  Rana  of  rdai])ur,  "  disdained  (says 
Ferishta)  to  receive  her  lord,  and  shut  the  gates  of  the 
castle." 

The  French  tniveller,  Bernier,  wlio  was  ])resent  in 
India  at  the  time,  says:   "I  cannot  forbear  to  relate  the 


Tiir  I'osi  ri'iv  > <]  wiiMi  \.  1  111 

fierco  rocoptinn  wliidi  die  (laiiirhrcr  of  the  K'aim  pivo 
to  hor  IuisIkiikI,  Jnswimr  Sini^'li,  uf'tcr  his  drfcat  uimI 
Hii;lit.  When  she  hcunl  he  \v;is  iiiLTh.  ;ii,,|  had  ..indcr- 
stood  what  ha<l  passed  in  th<;  hattlo — that  he  had 
I'ouniit  with  all  possihlc  coiiraLr*'  ;  that  lie  had  hut  four 
or  five  himdr('(l  men  left  ;  and  at  last,  no  lon'n-r 
ahle  to  resist  the  enemy,  had  heen  foreed  to  retre;»t  ; 
instead  nf  sendint;  some  one  to  condole  him  in  his  mis- 
iortunes,  she  commanded  in  a  <h*Y  mood  to  hhnt  the 
g^ates  of  tlie  castle,  and  not  to  let  this  infamous  man  enter  ; 
tiiat  he  was  not  her  hushand  ;  tliat  the  son-in-law 
of  the  _i;reat  Kana  could  not  have  so  mean  a  soul  ;  that 
he  wastcj  remember,  that  heinii:  Lrrafted  i'>to  so  iIlustriou?> 
a  house,  he  was  to  imitate  its  virtue  ;  in  a  word,  he  wa« 
to  vanquish,  or  to  die.  A  moment  after,  she  was  of  anotlier 
humour.  She  connnands  a  pile  of  wood  to  be  laid,  that 
she  mi,i;ht  burn  herself  ;  that  tliey  abused  her  ;  that  her 
husband  must  needs  be  dea<l  ;  that  it  could  not  l)e  other- 
wise. And  a  littl(!  while  after  she  was  seen  to  chanm* 
countenance,  to  fall  into  a  passion,  and  break  into  a 
thousand  re})roaches  against  him.  In  short,  she  retnained 
thus  trans))orte(l  ei^dit  or  nine  days,  without  Ikmui:  able 
to  resolve  to  see  hi-r  husband,  till  at  last  her  motlnT 
comin<^,  brouj^ht  her  in  time  to  herself,  comixised  by 
assurin£r  her  that  as  soon  as  the  Kaia  had  but  refrcshetl 
himself,  he  would  raise  another  nrmy  to  fight  Auranir/.eb, 
and  repair  his  honour.  \W  which  story  one  may  see 
a  pattern  of  the  courage  of  the  women  in  that  country."' 


J 


^  Tod's  l{aja-<tlian,  Vul.  1,  i>.  ii'2'2. 


li'O  HINDU  .surKiaoRiTr 


IX— FOREIGiV  RELATIONS. 

"In  tlio  tlioatro  of  the  world 

The  people  are  actors  all. 

One  (lotli  the  sovereign  nionarcli  play  ; 

And  liini  the  rest  obey." 

— Caldkron. 

When  such  brillianr  imtionfil  character  combines  with 
such  hap])y  social  organization  of  the  people  as  to  excite 
the  admiration  of  all  who  study  it,  one  can  easily 
conceive  what  noble  achievements  of  peace  and  war 
the  ancient  Hindus  must  have  accom])lished.  It  is  true, 
"peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  renowned  than  war  "  ; 
still  a  peculiar  halo  of  glory  attaches  to  military  achieve- 
ments. The  achievements  of  the  Hindus  in  philosophy, 
poetry,  sciences  and  arts  prove  their  peaceful  victories. 
JUit  their  military  achievements  were  equally  great,  as 
will  appear  from  their  mastery  of  the  science  of  war. 

Their  civilizing  missions  Covered  the  globe,  and 
Hindu  civilization  still  flows  like  an  under-current  in  the 
countless  social  institutions  of  the  world. 

In  the  Aiteriya  Brahman,  Emperor  Sudas  is  stated 
to  have  completely  conquered  the  whole  world,  with  its 
different  countries. 

That  the  Hindus  were  quite  capable  of  accom- 
plishing this  feat,  is  clear  from  the  remarkal)le  article 
tiiat  appeared  in  the  Contemporari/  Review  from  the  pei 
of  Mr.  Townsend.  He  says  :  "If  the  Prussian  conscrip- 
ti(jn  were  a])plied  in  India,  we  should,  without  counting 
reserv^es   or    land'wehr    or     any    force    not  summoned 

iSee  IIang'.<  A.  B.,  Vol.  II,  p.  5-M. 


I 


in  time  of  peace,  have  two-aml-a-liaH"  inillinn*;  of  soMicrn 
actually  in  barracks,  with  S(I(),(|(mi  recruits  fdiniui;  up 
every  year — a  force  with  whi'jji  nut  (tuly  Asia  hut  tin; 
AvorM  iniiiht  he  sulnhicih"' 

(Jeueral  Sir  l:iii  IlaTr.ilton,  in  his  Scrap  h<M»k  on 
the  first  part  of  the  II u>so-, Japanese  A\  :ir,  Miys  :  "  Whv 
there  is  material  in  the  North  of  India  an«l  in  Nepaul 
sufficient  and  fit,  mider  irood  hiuh'rsliip,  f<>  shak«'  the 
artificial  society  of  lOurope  to  its  foinulatioTis." 

The  territorial  streni^th  (»f  India  in  ancient  an<l 
ever,  in  mcdia-val  times,  was  i^reater  thau  it  has  ever 
been  durinu;  the  last  thousand  years.  Purm-awa  is 
said  to  have  possessed  1.1  islaiuls  of  the  ocean.  Sec  Ma- 
hahharata  Adi})nrva,  8141^,  ''''Trisdasa  Sdmuiira  Yd  /iuijui 
A^snan  I'liniraird/i,  etc." 

That  the  Hindus  were  a  ^p'at  naval  power  in  an- 
cient times  iB  clear  from  the  fact  that  one  of  tlnr  ancestor?* 
of  TJnma  was  *'  Sahara,. em])hatically  calle<l  the  S«i-kin«j, 
Avhose  sixty  thousand  sons  were  so  many  mariner-."' 

Plinv,  indeed,  strifes  that  "some  consider  t Ik-  four 
Satrapies  of  (iedeosia,  Arachosia,  Aria  and  I*aro|>ami>us 
to  helonu^  to  India.''  "  Tlii-  wctuld  include,"  says  Mr.  111- 
phinst<5ne,  "about  two  thirds  of  Persia,""* 

Strabo  mentions  a  lar-e  part  of  Persia  to  liave  Ihvm 
abandone<l  to  the  Hindus  by  the  .Macedonians.' 

Colonel  Tod  savs:  "The  aiuials  of  th<'  Yadus  of 
Jaisalmer  state  that  Ioul:"  anterior  to  Vicrama,  they  held 
dominion  from  Gha/ni  to  Samarkand,  that  they  establish- 
ed themselves  in   those  rei^ions  after  the  Ma!    ''    -   *•. 


'C<intcMiiporni  V  Kcvicw  for.liiiip  IHHS.   "Will  Kii^'IhihI  n-tain  iu<li.i.  " 
'■iJtMVs  R.iiastliaii.  Vol.  1.  \>.  fiOL'. 
:»IIistory  of  Iiuiia.  |)    2lV2. 
•*Si'c  Strabo.  Lib.  XV,  ji.  471. 


122  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

and  were  n  i:iin  impelled  on  the  rise  of  Islamif^m  -within 
the  Indus.'  He  adds  :  **  A  Tnultiplicity  of  scattered 
facts  and  g^of^.'uphical  distinctions  fully  warrants  our 
assent  to  the  j^i  v-ral  truth  of  these  records,  which  prove 
that  the  Yndu  i  '.e  had  dominion  in  Central  Asia."^  He 
a^so  says  :  "  One-  '^liing  is  now  proved  that  princes  of 
tiie  Hindu  faith  ri-'ed  over  all  these  reo-ions  in  tlie  first 
ages  of  Islamism,  u  id  made  frequent  attempts  for  cen- 
turies after  to  reconquer  them.  Of  these,  Haber  gives  us  a 
niosi:  striking  instance  in  his  description  of  Gazni,  or,  as 
he  writes,  Ghazni,  when  he  relates  how  when  the  Rai  of 
Hind  besieged  Subakhtagin  in  Ghazni,  Subakhtagin 
ordered  flesh  of  kine  to  be  thrown  into  the  fountain, 
which  made  the  Hindus  retire."^  The  celebrated  Balabhi 
was  reduced  by  the  «ame  stratagem. 

"  Bappa,  the  ancestor  of  the  Banas  of  i^Iewar,  aban- 
<loned  Central  India  after  establishing  his  line  in  Chitor, 
and  retired  to  Khorasan.    All  this  proves  that  Hinduism  j 

prevailed  in  those  distant  regions,  and  that  the  intercourse 
was  unrestricted  between  Central  Asia  and  India. "-^ 

"  The  Bhatti  Chronicle  calls  the  Langas*  in  one  page  \  \ 
Pathan  and  in  another  Raj])ut,  which  are  perfectly  recon- 
cileable,  and  by  no  means  indicative  that  the  Pathan  or 
Afghan  of  that  early  period  or  even  in  the  time  of  Rai 
Sehra  Avas  Mohamedan.  The  title  of  Rai  is  a  sufficient 
proof  that  they  were  even  then  Hindus,"  Colonel  Tod 
adds:  "  Klmn  is  by  no  means  indicative  of  the  Moham- 
edan faith.'"'' 


'T<mI"s  Knjastliuii,  Vol.  1 1,  p.  2;:(» 
^Toil's  h'aJMstlK.ii.  V..1.  11,  p.  ■22-2. 
•'T.d's  Kajastliaii,  \'<.l.  II,  p.  i>;il. 
■''Ilicy  were  Solaiiki  Hnipnts. 
•''Tod's  Kaja.stliau,  \'i>l.  IL  p.  '2i>S. 


FOKEioK  i{i;r,ATi  \'2?, 

KmiiuMit  riroolv  writers — cwe-witncssCHof  tijo  h|>U'ii- 
(lour  ol"  India — hear  testimony  to  th<*  jtroKpority  of  th.-* 
country,  which,  even  in  h^r  decline,  was  siitticieiitly  ;rreut 
to  dazzle  their  iniaj^ination.  The  Indian  Court  wa»  the 
liaj)|)y  seat  to  which  Greek  })<)liticians  repaired  an  un 
sadors,  and  they  all  speak  of  it  in  j^lowini;  terniH. 

Mr.  Weber  says :  "Thus   Mej^asthenes  was  nciit   hy 
SeleucustoChander^upta,'  I)eiinachusa«;ain  by  Anti(M-hu« 
autl  Dionysius,"  and  must  pr<>l)al>ly  ]>asilis  hy  Ptolemy  II 
to  AnH'it;if!;hat{i,  son  of  Ghandcrgiipta." 

Antiochus  the  Great  concluded  an  alliance '  with 
Sobhatrsen  about  210  B.C.,  but  was  (rventuallv  dcfcJitcd 
and  slain  bv  him.  Colonel  Tod  siys  :  ''  The  obsciire 
leirends  of  the  encounters  of  the  Yadus  with  the  aHic«l 
Syrian  and  Bactrian  kiuLTs  wouhl  have  seemed  altogether 
illusory  did  not  evidence  exist  that  AnticK-hus  tho  Gnnit 
was  slain  in  these  very  re<'ions  by  the  Hindu  kiiii,' 
Sobhui^sen.''* 

The  Greek  kini^,  SeUucus,  even  i^ave  ChamlcrLMinfa 
his  dauirhter  to  wife."  Professor  Weber  siv> :  *'  In 
the  retinue  of  this  Greek  princess  there  of  course 
ciime  to  Patlij)Utra,  Greek  damsels  as  her  waitinL'- 
maids,  and  these  must  have  found  j»articular  favour  in 
the    eyes    of  the    Imlians,    especially  of    their    princes. 

For  not   only  are mentioned  as  articles 

of    traffic    for    India,    but    in    Indian   inscriptions  also, 
we    find    Yavan    girls  specified    as    tribute  :    while    in 


MVtlier's  Indian  Lit<'raturo,  ]>.  2.'»1,  fixjtiiut*'. 
-Max  DunkiM-'s  History  of  AiiN<niity,  V<>1.  IV.  p.  I.'».'. 
nVilsoir.s  Vishnu  I'nrana.  Vol.  II.  p.  l.'jl. 
^Tod's  Rajasthan.  Vol.  II,  p.  'I'M. 

^La.sson,  I.  A.  K.  ii,  208  :   T.  Wliocler's  History  of  India  (HTI). 
p.  177. 


12-1  HINDU    SUIT.RIOinTT. 

Indiiin  literature,  and  especially  in  Kalidasa,  avc  are 
iiiForiiied  that  Indian  princes  were  waited  upon  by 
Yavanis  (Greek  damsels);  Lassen,  I.  A.  K.  ii,  551,957, 
and  my  Preface  to  Malavika,  p.  XL VII. ''^ 

The  Persian  Emperor,  Naiisherawan  the  Just,  gave 
his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  then  Maharana  of  Chitor. 

Even  the  Ramayana  says  that  in  Ayodhia,  ambas- 
sadors from  different  countries  resided.-  According  to 
Justin,  the  monarch  of  Ujjain  (Malwa)  held  a  corres- 
])ondence  with  Augustus.'^  Augustus  received  at  Samos 
an  embassy  from  India.  The  ambassadors  brought 
elephants,  pearls  and  precious  stones.  There  was  a 
second  embassy  from  India  sent  to  Emperor  Claudius, 
of  which  Pliny  gives  an  account.  He  received  from 
theamljassadors,  who  were  four  in  number,  the  informa- 
tion about  Ceylon  which  he  has  embodied  m  his  Natural 
History.  Two  other  embassies  from  Hindu  princes  to 
liome  were  sent  before  the  third  centur}'  A.C.,  one  to 
Trajan  (107  A.C)  and  another  to  Antonius  Pius. 
These  relations  continued  as  late  as  the  time  of  Justinian 
(530  A.C.) 

Strabo^  mentions  an  ambassador  from  King  Pandion 
to  Augustus,  who  met  him  in  Syria.  It  appears  from 
I'eriplus  and  Ptoleni}'  that  Pandion  was  the  hereditary 
title  of  the  descendants  of  Pandya,  who  founded  the 
kingdom  in  the  fifth  century  15. C."  A  brahmin  followed 
this  ambassador  to  Athens,  where  he  burnt  himself 
alive. 

Wcliur's  Indian   liitcradire,  ))]>.  2">1,  ^)'2,  foot  note. 
-.Mrs.  Mannin.Lc's  Aiiticnt  ami  Mcdia-val  India,  Vul.  II,  ]i.  27. 
•■'Sep  Tod\  Hajastlian,  Vol.  II,  p.  313. 
'I-ih.  XV,  p.  OC.'J. 
*Klpijin.>>tonc's  Hi-story  of  India,  ]).  218. 


KOKKKiX    UKLATIdNS.  125 

"Til  OHO  of  Asoka's  iMS('rij>ti()iis,  live  (irccjk  princes 
:ij>]>e:tr. —  (1)  Antioi'luis  of  Syria,  (l')  Ptolemy,  Phila- 
(K'lplioii  of  Kuyj)t,  (3)  Anti^jfoiios  (lonatosof  Macudon, 
(1)  MaL!;as  of  Ivorciic,  ("))  Alcixaiidcr  II  of  I']j»iriis." 
"Great  intercourse,"  says  a  writer,  "formerly  subsisted 
between  the  Hindus  and  llic  n;»tions  of  the  SVest."' 

Thus,  when  excn  in  tho>e  <lays,  Indi:i  was  so  i^ri^at 
as  to  exuet  the  homai;*'  of  all  who  saw  her,  though  lier 
«;;rand  political  and  social  institutions  had  lost  their 
})ristine  })urity  and  vigour,  and  those  mighty  forces 
Vvhich  worked  for  her  welfare  and  greatness  were  dis- 
appearing, when  even  in  her  fall  she  was  the  idol  of 
foreign  nations,  how  mighty  must  she  have  been  when 
she  was  at  the  height  of  her  power,  at  the  zenith  of  her 
i>lorv!  Her  constitution  still  stands  like  some  tall 
ancient  oak  in  a  forest  shorn  of  foliaL^',  but  still  defvinu: 
the  discordant  elements  that  raire  round  it,  still  lookintr 
down,  with  a  majesty  and  dignity  all  its  own,  upon  the 
new-sprung,  prosperous  young  trees  growing  round  it  in 
happy  ignorance  of  the  storms  and  gusts  in  store. 

It  is  curious  to  learn  that  even  in  her  decline,  India 
was  sufficiently  strong  to  defy  the  great  concpierors  of 
the  old  world.  It  was  threatened  by  the  ])rosperou8 
empire  of  Assyria,  then  at:  the  meridian  of  her  ]K)wer 
under  the  celebrated  queen  Semirami*;.  She  used  the 
entire  resources  of  the  empire  in  preparations  to  invade 
India,  and  collected  a  considerable  army.  "After  three 
years  spcn-t  in  these  extraordinary  preparations,  she  sent 
forward  her  armies,  which  some  writers  describe  as 
amountinsf  to  several  millions  of  combatants,  but  tlie 
narrative   of   Ctesias   estimates   them   at    three   hundred 

iSce  Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  HI,  pp.  L"J7-L'y». 


126  HINDU    SLTERIORITV. 

tliousiind  foot,  five  liundrcd  tiioasaiid  horse,  Avbilc  two 
tliousaiid  boats  and  agreat  immber  ot"  mock  elephants  were 
conveyed  on  the  backs  of  camels."  ]>ut  what  was  the 
result?  "The  army  was  utterly  routed  and  Semiramis 
brought  back  scarcely  a  third  of  h(3r  host  ;  some  authors 
even  maintain  that  she  herself  perished  in  the  expe- 
dition."^ ' 

Horrid  suggi'stiou  I  tliinkcst  thou  llicn  the  gods 
Take  oarc  of  niPii  who  caiiio  to  hnrii  thoh"  altars, 
Prol'anc  their  rilt's,  and  traiii[ile  on  their  hxws  ? 
Will  they  nward  the  bad  ?  It  cannot  be. 

— Sophocles  :  Antigone. 

In  later  times,  the  Yadu  king,  Gaj  Singh,  who 
founded  Gajni  (Ghazni),  single-handed  "defeated  the 
combined  armies  of  Shah  Secunder  Roomi  and  Shah 
Manu'aiz."" 


^Murray's  History  of  Imlia,  y.  ;i(l. 
-Tod'ri  Kajasthan,  Vol.  II,  p.  L':.'!'. 


CAisK  OF  India's   iall.  1l'7 


X— CAISK  OK   INDIA'S  FALL. 

"  Tin*  rnco  of  mortal  mnn  is  fnr  too  wcnk 
To  ijrow  not  dizzy  on  nmvontcd  licii^lits. 

— (JoKTiiK:    I]t)ii(jrniii. 

AhKXAXDKi!  the  rjront  could  not  have  won  liis  one  vic- 
tory over  tli<j  Hindus  li:id  it  not  Ijcun  for  tin-  <lisiinioii 
existing  nnionu;  tlicni.  Tlic  Goriimn  iiistorian, 
Max  Dunkcr,  savs  : — "  What  esscntiallv  tended  to  wxwVo. 
the  attack  easier  was  the  discord  anioni;  tlie  St:ites  and 
tribes  of  the  l;ni<l  of  Indus,"' 

Sir  William  Hunter  savs  that  "the  Hinilu  kin•^ 
Mophis  of  Taxila,  joineil  Alexander  with  ."),()UU  men 
against  Porus."" 

Professor  ]\Iax  Danker  says :  "The  Kshndraks  and 
thv^  Malavas  foro-ettinu'  their  aneiiMit  hostilit\-  now  eom- 
hined  ai^ainst  a  common  foe  (Alexander),  but  the  Kslnid- 
raks  turned  false  and  retire<l.  The  ^Lilavas  continued 
their  r(!sist{ince,  and  at  last  succeeded  in  lodoino-an  arrow 
into  the  heart  of  Alexander  and  his  commander,  Abre;>s."  ' 
The  Professor  then  relates  how  Mophis,  the  kino-  of 
Takshasila,  who  was  one  of  the  most  powerfid  kini,^<  in 
the  Punjab,  joined  Alexander,  and  n)any  other  j)etty 
kini^s  foUowino^  his  examjtlc,  brought  about  the  defeat  of 

Porus.  It  should  not  be  fori^otten  that  when  Alexander 
attacked  Porus  "his  arinv  was  twice  as  stronij  (in 
numbers)  and  had  been  yet  further  increased  by  o,00U 
Indian  from  Mophis  and  some  smaller  States."^ 


'Mux  J)imkiT'.s  History  of  Ami(piity,  Vol.  IV.  p.  ;{!tl. 
-Iluutcr's   luiin'riiil   (Jazottoor.    "  Itulia."  p.  2C.2.      .See    also   Cun- 
ningham's Ancient  Gcogrnpliy  of  India. 

^History  of  Antiij[nity,  \'ol..  I\'.  y.  404. 
41Ji.story  of  Antifiuity.  Vol.  IV.  y.  '.\\Yj. 


128  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

Were  it  not  for  tliis  unfortunate  di^^nnion  of  tlic 
Hindus  thcnipelves,  the  Great  Alexander^  would  ])rol):il)ly 
have  shared  the  fate  of  the  Assyrian  Seniiraniis. 

Like  the  melodious  song  of  a  dying  swan,  India 
again  shone  forth  for  a  moment  in  all  its  glory  under 
A'icramaditva.  But  this  was  the  last  faint  glimmering 
of  the  consumed  fire  covered  with  ashes,  the  last  symptoms 
of  vitality  that  break  upon  a  dying  man.  "  There  is 
good  reason  to  believe,"  says  Sir  W.  Jones,  in  his 
Preface  to  Sakuntala,  "  that  the  court  at  Avanti  was 
equal  in  brilliancy  in  the  reign  of  Vikramaditya  to  that 
of  any  monarch  in  any  age  or  country." 

The  emperors  lihoj  and  Akbar  alone  of  the  later 
rulers  of  India  made   attemj)ts  to  give  some  brilliancy  to 

1  Aloxaiider's  troacliorotis  :iiiil  cruel,  conduct  duiiui;'  lliis  cxpcdi- 
tinii  can  only  be  justified  on  the  ju'inciple  tliat  "all  is  fair  in 
love  and  war."  The  lliiidn  laws  of  war  do  not  sanction  an  attack  i>n  an 
unprepared  foe,  it  being  against  their  cliivalrous  instincts  to  do  so. 
Alexander,  however,  took  tlie  Aswakas  at  unawares  and  deCealcd  ihcni. 
Then  again  he  tried  iiy  stratagem  to  defeat  Cleophis  (the  niotlicr  oF  the 
deceased  Hindu  king,  who  had  assumed  the  conduct  of  affairs.  (See 
Curt  8,  ](l  :  dustin  12.  7.)  On  the  death  of  the  Hindu  ('<immander, 
the  Indian  auxiliaries  surrendered  ami  encaniiie(l  <in  a  hill  in  front  of 
the  Macedonian  camp,  peace  having  been  proclaimed  in  the  town.  T.nt 
tlif  >urrendered  Indians  were  killed  thr  next  day,  on  the  ju-elence  that 
they  meditated  treachery,  and  tin'  town  of  the  .Masaka  taken  by  assault. 
"Whatever  may  liave  liecn  the  case  with  the  sh/i/xiskI  inlenlion  of  the 
Indian  mercenaries,"  asks  Max  Hunker,  "and  the  iuielli^'ruee  which 
Alexander  is  said  to  have  received  of  this  inli'iitiou — flu'  city  had  fulhlled 
tlie  condition  imposrd  upon  it  and  had  given  up  the  mercenaries, — why 
then  W!i<  it  attacked  in  this  unexpected  and  uinneritcd  manner  against 
llir  terms  of  the  capitulation  .'  "" — J/i.ston/  aj  Aiitiijiiifij^  \\\    IV,  p.  yjl. 


.y'tfY/,./   ."^r,,.     /A,     ^„../      y^.nr/,.    o\n/,rici    r/  ^J. //.,'. 


CArSK  OF  I\T>Ta's  1"AM..  12!) 

tlK'ir  courts  li\   followini:;  the  example  of   tho  fri'^at,   \'i,.. 
rMnia'  in  Mclorn'mt:;  tlicni  willi  llie  famous  "  Nau  liatna." 

India  j)ossesse'(l  a  most  ('a]>al)le  and  licmic  leader 
when  it  was  first  threatened  with  a  permanent  comjuest 
b\-  the  ^loslcms.  The  world  has  iieror  sc'n  a  more 
cliivalvous  leader  of  men  tlian  the  mighty  I^ritlivi  Kaj 
of  Ajmer.  He  defe;\ted  the  Sultan  of  (ior  more  than 
once.  Colonel  Tod  says:,  "Even  the  Moslem  writers 
acknowledge  that  Shahabuddin  was  often  i^nioniinously 
defeated  before  he  finally  succeeded  in  making  a  con- 
quest of  Northern  India. "^  The  Ai/een  AUmri  says: 
'•  In  thi;  reign  of  Kaja  Pithowra,  Sultan  ^loo/eddin  Sam 
made  several  incursions  from  Ghazni  into  lliuflustan  but 
never  irained  anv  victorv.  .  .  .  It  is  said  that  the  R:ija 
liained  from  the  Sultan  se\en  i)itched  battles."'^ 

Were  it  not  for  the  fatal  disunion  between  Prithvi 
luaj  nnd  Jai  Chand,  and  the  traitorous  conduct  of  the 
latter  and  of  the  king  of  Anhuhvarra  Parun  an<l  the 
Haoli  Rao  Hamir,  India  might  never  have  fallen  under 
the  domination  of  the  invaders  from  Afghanistan  and 
Turkistan. 

The  Sicayamvar  of  Sanjogta,  daughter  of  the  King 
of  Kanauj,  is  an  event  of  world-wide  importuice — of 
nuich  greater  importance  to  the  world  than  the  rape  of 

ISonio  European  critics,  in  the  fulness  of  their  wisdom,  deny  that 
Vicraniivlitvft  ever  existed.  Tnis  irresistibly  reminds  one  of  .Vrohbisliop 
"NVhately's  famous  paniplilot,  "  Historic  doubts  relative  t<>  ^'a|>oleoll 
JJonaparte." 

-'Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  II.  ]'.  JTc*. 

^Ayeen  Akbari,  by  Gladwin,  p.  'JT.  The  popular  leuvnds  of  RaJ- 
putana  say  that.  w!ien  SliahalMiddin  was  captured  (see  loit'fl  Kaja>-ilian, 
Vol.  I,  p.  257  1  Prithvi  Raj  ordered  him  to  In.-  taken  round  tlic  city  in 
a  woman's  garb,  and  tlien  sot  him  free, 


180  HINDU    SLPEHIORITY. 

Helen  by  Paris.     Tlie  lovely  Sanjogta,  in  defiance  of  her 
father's  vain-glorious  wishes,  and,   in   contempt   of  the 
pretentions  of  the  assembled  nobility  of  Northern  India, 
determined  to  give  her  hand  only  to  the  "  flower  of  the 
far-famed     Rajput    chivalry,"    Prithvi  Raj  of   Ajmer, 
threw  the  varmala  (marriage  garland)  round  the  golden 
effigy  of  that  hero,  placed  by  Jai  Chand  at  the  portals  of 
the  palace,  unconsciously  as  an  emblem  of  the  protective 
might  of  "  the  Pride  of  Rajasthan,"  and  as  a  tribute  to 
his   glory  as   the  defender  of  his  race  against  foreign 
aggression.      The  chivalrous   Chohan  appeared   at   the 
riirht  moment,  at  the  imminent  risk  of  losing  his  life,  as 
well  as  of  defeating  the  object  of  the  daring  enterprise, 
to  answer  the  call  of  a  noble  female  of  a  royal   house, 
and  to  carry  away,  from  amidst  the  united  heroism  of 
Hindustan,  the  prize  which  had  attracted  all  the  impor- 
tant ])rinces  of  India  to  Kanauj — thus  fully  vindicating 
his  character  as  the    most    intrepid    and  heroic  of  the 
Hindu    princes.     This    magnificent    feat    cost    Prithvi 
Raj  his   throne   and    the-  Hindu   nation  their   indepen- 
dence.    The  Tricala  Chund   truly   said   that   "  he    pre- 
served his  prize  :   he  gained  immortal  renown,  but  he 
lost  the  sinews  of   Dehli."     In   the   desperate   running 
fight  of  five  days,  Prithvi  Kaj  Inst  his  Inindred  samrants 
(heroes)  tlu;  leaders  of  liis  :inii\ ,  the    mainstay  of   liis 
throne.      Himself  unal)le  to  overcome  Prithvi  Raj,  and 
burninir  Avitii  revenfi^e  for  i)is  humiliation,  Jai  Chund  now 
bo'i-an  to  intriirue  with    the  enemy  of   the   Hindus     the 
Sultan  of  (flK)r. 

"Tiie  brave. Irservc  the  fair."  The  bi-ave  Chohan 
not  onlv  secured  the  I'nir  of  Kaiiaiij,  but  di>co\ered  at 
Na<'ore  a  trea>urc   amouuiiug  to  be\eu  niilliuns    in  gold. 


CAUSE  OK  India's  fall.  l.'il 

This  nl:iniK'(l  liis  enemies  still  more.  Colonel  Tod  says: 
''  Tlic  prinees  of  KaiKiuj  :iii<l  Patuii,  dreadint;  the  iiilhi- 
enee  of  sueh  sinews  of  war,  invited  Shalialmddin  to  aid 
their  design  of  huniiliatini;  the  Cljohan.'"  Al)ul  Fazal 
says  :  "Shahabuddin  formed  an  alliance  with  Unja  Jai 
Chund,  and  havinjjj  raised  a  lariie  army,  came  to  attack 
the  dominions  of  Pithowra.  The  liaja  (Prithvi  U:ij), 
vain  with  the  rememhrance  of  his  former  victories,  col- 
lected together  only  a  small  number  "  troops,  and  with 
these  he  marched  out  to  attack  the  .-^ultan.  Ihit  the 
heroes  of  Hindustan  had  all  j)eiished  in  the  manner 
above  described  :  besides,  Jai  Chund,  who  had  been  his 
ally,  was  now  in  leauuc  with  his  enemv." 

Hamir  also  joined  the  traitors.  Colonel  Tod  says  : 
"  There  were  no  less  than  four  distinguished  leaders  of 
this  name  (Hamir)  amonc^  the  vassals  of  the  last  liajput 
Emperor  of  Dehli,  and  one  of  them  who  turned  traitor 
to  his  sovereign  and  joined  k^hahl)uddin  was  actually  a 
Scvthian  and  of  the  Ghikar  race.  The  Haoli  Kao, 
Hamir,  was  lord  of  Kanirra  and  the  Ghiknrs  of  I'amer."" 

The  result  of  the  encounter  is  well  known.  The 
treacherous  plan  of  operations  devised  by  Jai  Chund  and 
adopted  by  the  Sultan  against  Prithvi  Piaj,  resulted  in 
the  overthrow  of  the  Hindu  supremacy  in  India.  Prith- 
vi Raj  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  ajid  was  fiken 
to  Ghazni.  P)Ut  there  he  succeeded,  with  the  assistance 
of  the  ever-faithful  Chund,  in  administering  dciith  to 
the  conqueror  of  his  country.  The  following  couplet 
of  Chuud  confirms  the  poj)ular  tradition  on  the  subject — 


'Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  '200.  -Tod's  Kaja-vtlian,  Vol.  I,  p.  obU. 


132  HiXBU  srrKRiORiTr. 

xVbiil  Fazal,  in  bis  Ayeen  Albari,  also  says  :  "  The 
fiiithful  Cluuid  followed  his  pritce  to  Ghaziii  and  con- 
trived to  gairi  the  favour  of  the  Sultan.  Having  ob- 
tained an  interview  with  the  Rajah,  and  administered 
comfort  to  his  mind,  he  told  him  that  he  would  take  an 
0])portunity  of  praising  his  skill  with  the  bow,  Avhich 
would  raise  the  Sultan's  curiosity  to  see  him  perform  his 
feats,  when  he  might  make  a  proper  use  of  his  arrow. 
In  consequence  of  Chund's  representation,  the  Sultan 
wished  to  see  the  Raja  exercise  his  bow,  when  he  seized 
the  opportunity  and  shot  the  king  dead  upon  the  spot."^ 

The  same  fate  met  tJie  next  creat  leader  of  the 
Hindus  when  Baber  invaded  India.  Had  not  the  Tuar 
traitor  who  led  the  van  of  Sanga's  army  gone  over  to 
Baber,  Rana  San2;a-  would  have  settled  for  ever  the 
question  of  Hindu  supremacy  in  India.  Says  Colonel 
Tod  :  "  With  all  Baber 's  cpialities  as  a  soldier,  supported 
by  the  hardy  clans  of  the  'cloud  mountains  '  of  Karatagin, 
the  chances  were  many  that  he  and  the}' terminated  their 
career  on  the  'yellow  rivulet,  of  Biana.  Neither  skill 
nor  bravery  saved  him  (Baber)  from  this  fate,  which  be 
appears  to  have  expected  ....  To  ancient  jealousies 
he  was  indebted  for  not  losinsc  his  life  instead  of  o-ainino; 
a  crown,  and  for  being  extricated  from  a  condition  so 
desperate  that  even  the  frenzy  of  religion,  which  made 
death  martyrdom  in  this  holy  war,  scarcely  availed  to 
expel  the  despair   which   so  infected  his  followers  that 

1  See  also  Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  194. 

2"  Saii^a  organized  liis  forces,  A\ith  which  he  always  kept  the  field 
and  ere  called  to  contend  with  the  descendants  of  Tinioor,  lie  liad 
gained  eighteen  pitched  l)attles  against  the  kings  of  Delhi  and  Malwa.— 
TuiVti  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  yuO. 


CAUSK  OF  India's  iam..  \:,Z 

in  tlio  l)itterncss  of  heart  lie  says,  'not  a  siniili!  person 
who  uttered  a  manly  wonl,  nor  an  iiiiUvi(hial  wlio  deliv- 
ered a  eoura.i2;eous  opinion."  Colonel  Tod  deserii)es  tin; 
sad  pliiihtoniaher  and  the  negotiations  pendin^^  Uahcr's 
blockade  at  Kanua,  and  pves  the  name  of  the  traitor, 
"who  sold  the  cause  ol"  his  eountrv." 

'*  oil,  for  a  tonguo  to  cniirM'  tin-  slave 
WliuM-  iii-ason  Mko  a  dcailiy  Mii^lit 
Comes  over  the  counsels  of  tlie  brave 
And  blasts  them  in  tlitir  liour  of  niiglit." 

^loouE  :    Fiif  Worshippn-t. 

After  descrihinii'  the  hattle,  Tod  says  :  "  While  the 
battle  M-as  still  doubtful,  the  Tuar  traitor  who  lc<l  the 
^an  (herole)  went  over  to  Baber,  and  Sanga  was  obliiivd 
to  retreat  from  the  field,  which  in  the  onset  promised  a 
glorious  victory."^ 

India  has  fallen  a  victim  to  her  own  internal  dis- 
sensions and  disunion.  She  has  been  betrayed  by  her 
own  sons  and  not  conquered  by  the  foreign  invader. 
Porus,  Pirthvi  Uaj  and  Sanga  were  defeated  by  their 
own  countrymen,  not  by  their  enemies.  Thus  ended 
the  work  of  ruin  that  had  bcL^un  with  the  Mahabharata  ! 


n'hc  traitor  was  "  the  chief  of  Hayscen,  by  namo  Sillaide,  of  the 
Tnar  tribe."  "  Treason/'  say^  Tod,  effected  the  salvation  of  Baber  " — 
Rujftfth'jii,  Vol.  I,  p.  300, 


HINDU  COLONIZATION 
OF  THE  \\'ORLD. 


All  plaros,  tlint  tlir  eye  of  lionvon  visits 
Alt'  to  a  wise  innii  ports  aiid  liajipy  Iiavi-iis  ; 
Tcarli  thy  necessity  to  icnsnn  thus; 
ThiTc  is  no  viitiK'  like  inrt-ssity. 

— SllAKEHPEAf.K  :      liirhitnl  II. 

TriE  tuniinii:  point  in  tlic  liistorv  of  Iiulia,  ii:iv.  in 
tlio  history  of  tlie  world,  was  the  Mahabliurata — tli<' 
death-stroke  to  Indian  prosperity  and  ulory.  I'cforc  tliis 
catastrophe,  Hindu  civilization  Avas  in  full  vifrour.  It 
declined  gradually  after  the  Mahahhara'a  till  it  wasj'ttack- 
ed  first  by  the  Arab  senii-barbarisin,  and  then  bv  tlu;  Kiiro- 
pean  civilization.  Simplicity  with  refinement,  hone.-ty 
with  happiness,  and  glory  with  power  and  peace,  were  the 
splendid  results  of  the  Hindu  civilization  :  complexity 
with  outward  polisji,  selfishness  and  cunninLr  with  pr<v 
gress  and  prosperity,  success  ^itii  immoderate  vanity, 
Avealth  with  miserv  are  the  offsprinjis  of  the  latter.  The 
■\iah:iV)harata  was  a  war  not  only  between  man  aiul  man, 
but  between  the  two  aspects  of  the  heart,  the  two  phases  j 
of  the  mind. 

There  are  two  remarkable  features  of  that  period, 
differing  in  nature  but  coinciding  in  their  <  ff(»ct  on  India. 
Tliesf  were  destrurfion  and  cni/t/ran'on.  The  irood  and 
the  great  men  of  India  cither  emigratt-d  or  were  killed: 
the   elL'ect  upon    India    was   liie   same — inimical  to   her 


loG  iTTx^r  STTEinoniTV. 

])rospcrltv.  AVhole  tribe:s  were  Ivillinl  :  whole  races  emi- 
fjirated.  It  is  true  that,  in  addition  to  many  civilizing 
expeditions,  there  had  been  tribal  emigrations  before 
that  momentous  period.  But  these  later  emigrations 
sucked  out  the  life-blood  of  India.  These  emiirrations, 
as  also  the  settlements  and  colonies  of  ancient  Greece, 
differed  in  an  important  respect  from  the  modern 
settlements  of  the  Europeans.  The  Grecian  settlements 
attracted  the  best  men  of  Greece ;  and  the  Indian 
emigrations  helped  powerfuU)^  to  set  in  motion  those 
disintegrating  forces  that  have  undermined  onr  national 
superiority,  destroyed  our  independence  and  ruined  our 
societ}'  and  religion. 

But  there  is  no  evil  that  is  an  unmixed  evil :  to 
ever}'  cloud  there  is  a  silver  lining.  In  the  present  case, 
India's  loss  was  the  world's  irain.  Thouuh  India's 
♦xreatness  beQ:an  to  decline,  the  entire  Western  world 
from  Persia  to  Britain  received  in  the  colonists  the  seeds 
of  their  future  sfrcatness.  The  ^lahabharata  was  thus 
fraught  with  world-Avide  consequences. 

Says  Mr.  Pococke  :  "  But,  perhaps,  in  no  similar 
instance  have  events  occurred  fraught  with  consequences 
of  such  magnitude,  as  those  flowing  from  the  great  re- 
ligious war  which,  for  a  long  series  of  years,  raged 
throu;r]iout  the  lem^th  and  breadth  of  India.  That 
contest  ended  by  the  expulsion  of  vast  bodies  of  men, 
many  of  them  skilled  in  the  arts  of  early  civilization, 
and  still  greater  numbers  warriors  by  ])rofession. 
Driven  bevond  the  Himalavan  mountains  in  tlie  north, 
and  to  Ceylon,  their  last  stronghold  in  the  south, 
swept  across  the  valley  of  the  Indus  on  the  west,  this 
persecuted  ]ieo}»le  carried  with  tiiem   the   germs  of  the 


HINDU    CoI.DNI/A'riON".  l:'.7 

Eiiropoan  arts  and  sriencTs.  Tlic  miuhfy  liiiinan  t'ulc  that 
passed  the  harrier  of  the  I'liiij:!'),  rolhid  onward  towards 
its  dcstiiR'il  (lianni'l  in  KiU'ojx'  and  in  Asia,  to  Iniiil  its 
beneficent  office  in  the  moral  fertilization  of  tlie  world  "' 
It  is,  of  course,  triK^  that  oinii^ration  from  India 
had  been  ^oini]^  on  from  time  immemorial.  Xotwith- 
•standinii;  the  marvellous  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the 
wonderful  industries  that  llourislv'il  in  the  countrv, 
Iiulia  had  to  plant  colonics  to  provide  for  Ikt  super- 
abundant population.  Professor  Heercn  says: — "How 
could  such  a  thickly-peoplc'l,  and  in  some  ])arts  over- 
peopled country  as  India  have  disposed  of  her  super- 
abundant population  except  by  })lanting  colonies  ;  even 
though  intestine  broils  (witness  the  expulsion  of  the 
Buddhists)  had  not  obliged  her  t(»  have  recourse  to  such 
an  expedient  ?"- 

The  earliest  emigration  appears  to  date  sometiire 
after  Maim.  One  of  the  oldest  colonies  founded  by  the 
Hindus  was  in  Egypt;  America,  with  some  other  coun- 
tries, "was  also  colonised  before  the  last  great  ^ligration. 
The  principal  migration  t(j  Greece  took  place  soon 
after  the  Great  War.  The  word  kapi'^  for  ape  appears 
in  the  heirogly[)hic  writings  of  Greece  of  the  17th 
century  B.C.,  which  shows  that  the  colonization  ol 
Greece  must  be  dated  long  anterior  to  the  era  of  Closes. 

It  would  perhaps  be  interesting  to  know  the  exact 
time  when  the  Mahabharata  took  ])lace. 

In  fleterminini!"  dates  our  elforts  are  cloLTged  at 
every  step  by  the  dearth  of  historical  records,  liut  it 
is    not  ill  historical  literature  alone    that    we   have    to 

1  linliii  ill  Greece,  p.  2(5.   -Historical  Rosearclu's,  Vol.  II,  ji.  ;;iO. 
3 Weber's  IikUuii  Literature,  p.  i}. 


138  HINDU    SUrERIOR[TV. 

mourn  tliis  loss.  Every  1)raiicl)  of  literature,  every 
science  and  art  has  suffered  from  the  rava";es  of  iu'norant 
fanaticism.  Some  have  disappeared  completely;  others 
h.ive  come  down  to  us  in  a  more  or  less  mutilated  form. 
The  present  scarcity  of  historical  works,  however,  sliould 
not  be  rei^arded  as  a  proof  of  the  absence  of  the  Art  of 
History  any  more  than  tlie  present  poverty  of  the  coun- 
try be  accepted  as  a  proof  of  its  indigence  in  ancient  times. 
For  one  thinn,  the  enmity  of  Aurang/eb  towards 
all  historical  writings  is  well  known.  J»nt  it  is  the  Arab, 
Afghan  and  Tartar  semi-barbarism  that  is  responsible 
for  the  destruction  of  literature,  wliethia*  in  Egypt  or  in 
India,  in  Persia  or  in  Greece.  The  destruction  of  the 
Alexandrian  Liln'ary  Avas  one  af  those  notorious  foats 
by  which  the  progress  of  humanity  was  put  back  by  a 
thousand  years.  But  the  loss  to  humanity  by  the  -whole- 
sale destruction  of  the  libraries  of  India  is  beyond  cal- 
culation. That  eminent  anti(j[uarian  and  explorer,  Rai 
liahadur  Sarat  Chander  Dass,  says :  "  In  the  lofty  nine- 
storied  temple  at  Buddha Gaya,  which  was  formerly  called 
the  Mahagandhola  (Gandhalaya),  the  images  of  the  past 
Buddhas  were  enshrined.  The  nine-storied  temple  called 
Katandadhi  of  Dharamganja  (universitv)  of  Xalanda  was 
the  repository  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  ^lahayana  and 
Ilinayana  Buddhist  Schools.  The  temple  of  Odantapuri 
V'/hara,  wiiich  is  said  to  have  l)een  loftier  than  either  of 
the  two  (liiiddha  Gaya  and  Xalanda)  contained  a  vast 
collection  <'["  lUiddhist  and  BraJiminical  works,  which, 
after  the  maimer  of  the  lireat  Alexandrian  Library,  was 
burnt  under  the  orders  c»f  Moliamed  P>en  Sam,  general 
of  Jiakhtyar  Khilji,  in  liM2.  A.D.'" 


•  Tlic   Iliii-Jiistaii    lt(»vit.'\v    l'i;r    Marrli,  ILHiC    |).  187   (L'niversilit'S 
ill  AiK-iviit  India). 


IIINDr    COLONIZATION.  lOQ 

Sultini  Alla-U(l-<liii  Kliilji  Itunit  tlic  fMinous  li))r:irv 
;if  Atiliiilwani  Patau.  Tlio  TariLli  Flro:  S/irilil  Pays  that 
Firoz  Shah  TiiL;"lilak  l)un»t  a  larur  lil)rarv  of  Sanskrit 
books  at  Kohaiia.  Saye(l  (Jhulani  Hiisciii,  in  his  \\v\\- 
kiiown  hook,  Sair  MutdkJireni  (NOL  I,  i>.  )  10),  compiled 
ill  the  reiun  of  Auran^zch,  who  called  himself  Secunder 
S<hu\  savs  :  "  Sultiin  Sikandcr  (Auraiigzcb)  was  the  most 
bii^'oted  of  the  Sultans,  and  burnt  the  books  of  the 
Hindus  whenever  and  wherever  he  <^ot  them/' 

Instances  of  such  savagery  could  be  multi)>lied  easil  v. 
These  are  all  manifestations  of  that  mental  aberration  to 
which  humanity  is  evidently  subject  at  intervals,  the 
disease  beini]:  the  same,  the  occasion  mav  be  the  outraiies 
conniiitred  by  the  ^toths  an<l  \  aii<lals  of  earlier  times  or 
the  Arabs  and  the  Tartars  of  the  latter  dav. 

Mr.  Dow,  in  the  Preface  to  his  History  of  Hindustan 
observes  :  '*  We  must  not,  with  Ferishta,  consider  the 
Hindus  as  destitute  of  genuine  domestic  amials,  or  that 
those  voluminous  records  thev  i)ossess  are  mere  legends 
framed  i)y  lirahmans."  Mr  Wilson,  with  his  usual 
fairness,  remarks  that  "  it  is  incorrect  to  say  that  the 
Hindus  never  com})iled  history.  The  literature  of  the 
south  abounds  with  local  histories  of  Hindu  authors. 
^Ir.  Stirling  found  various  chronicles  in  ()i'issa,  and 
Colonel  Tod  has  met  with  eiiually  abundant  material  in 
liajputana."^ 

Professor  Hcer(Mi  savs :  "  Wilson's  translation  of 
Jinj  Tarani/ini\  a  history  of  Kashmir,  has  clearly  demons- 
trated that  regular  historical  composition  was  anartnot  un- 
known in  Hindustan, and  affords  satisfactory  grounds  for 


'Mill's  India,  Volucut'  11,  paije  67,  footnote. 


140  HINDU    SUrKKIORITY. 

concUidiiigthat  these  productions  wore  once  less  rare,  nnd 
that  further  exertions  mav  briiiiz:  more  reiics  to  li"-ht."^ 

Professor  Wilson's  assertion  that  "  ""enealofries-  and 
chronicles  are  found  in  varous  parts  of  India  recorded 
Avitli  some  perseverance,"  will  be  supported  by  all  who 
know  Hindu  society. 

The  critics  who  resolutely  deny  the  existence  of  the 
art  in  Ancient  India  on  the  plea  that  none  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  art  are  to  be  found,  will  do  well  to  con- 
sider the  fact  that  even  the  A'edas  would  have  been  lost 
had  the  Mohamedan  rule  continued  a  centurv  or  so  Ioniser 
without  giving  birth  to  a  Dayanand.  When  such  has 
been  the  lot  of  their  most  adored  possession,  what  better 
handling  could  the  poor  Art  of  History-  have  aspired  to 
obtain  ? 

The  illustrious  Colonel  Tod  says  :  "  If  we  con- 
sider the  political  changes  and  convulsions  which  have 
happened  in  Hindustan  since  Mahmud's  invasion,  and 
the  intolerant  bici'otrv  of  mauA'  of  his  successors,  we  shall 
be  able  to  account  for  the  paucity  of  its  national  works  on 
history,  without  being  driven  to  the  improbable  conclu- 
sion, that  the  Hindus  were  ignorant  of  an  art  which  was 
cultivated  in  other  countries  from  almost  the  earliest 
ages.     Is  it  to   be    imagined    that   a    nation    so    highly 

^  Heereu's  Historical  Researches,  Vul.  II,  p.  J43. 

2 The  genealogies  are  still  kept  and  arc  to  be  found  in  almost  every 
part  ol  Ilindustan  proper.  lu  Raji)iUaiia,  where  they  arc  regularly 
kept,  you  may  8ekct  any  man  of  tlie  Vaishya  Varna,  and,  after  a  little 
search,  you  can  generally  find  out  the  names  and  abodes  of  every 
uiember  of  his  ancestral  family  for  about  twenty  generations  back. 
There  is  a  clau  named  "Jagas"  who  have  made  this  their  hereditary 
prufub^ion. 


HINDI'    (•.>!, oNIZATION.  1  1  I 


civilizod  ns  the  Iliiidiis,  a]1lon_l,^«t  wliom  tlie  exact  sciiMU'cs 
fl(^iirislu'(l  in  pcrrection,  l)y  wlioiii  the  tiiu;  arts,  arclii- 
tectiiiv,  sciil[)tuiv,  poetry  and  music  wcTCMiot  only  culii- 
vati!<],  l)iit  tiUiL;ht  Ji!i(l  dofiiicd  hy  tiio  nicfst  and  most  ela- 
borate rules,  Wire  totally  uiia('(|uainted  uitli  the  simjile 
art  of  reeordinir  the  events  ni'  their  hi>torv,  the  charactcr.s 
ol"  lluir  I'rinces,  and  the  acts  ol'  their  reii^ns  ?"' 

He  then  asks,  whence  <lid  Ahid  I'a/.id  ohtain  the 
materials  of  his  ancient  History  of  luilia,  if  there  were 
no  historical  records  at  the  time  of  lia  j  Taraui^ini  ?  This, 
he  declares,  sut!iei(MUly  proves  the  existence  cf  the  art. 
Then,  ai;ain,  he  says  that  in  CluuKrs  heroic  history  of 
Prithvi  liaj,  we  find  notices  which  authorise  the  infer- 
ence that  works  siinilar  to  his  own  were  then  extant." 

It  must  not  he  supposed  that  the  authors  of  these 
"works  were  iuiiorant  l)ards.  We  find  that  riiinid's  his- 
tory  contiiins  chapters  on  laws  for  govern  in  l;  empires  ; 
lessons  on  diplomac}',  home  and  foreign.  See  also  the 
admirable  remarks  of  the  French  C)rientalist,  ^lonsieur 
Al)el  liemsat,  in  his  McUuhfes  A8iati)jue.s. 

J)Ut  to  return  to  the  point.  Swami  Dayanaiid 
Saraswati,  in  his  Bhuinika,  says  that  '),0U7  years  have 
passed  since  the  be^dnning  of  the  Kaliyug  eia.  The 
Siddhnnta  Stroniam\  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the 
Hindu  works  on  Astronomy,  says  that  the  Kaliyug  era, 


'  Ii)troduction  to  'IVtd's  Kiijasthan. 

-In  Rajinjtaim,  many  liistorical  works  are  to  bo  found,  such  as, 
(1)  Vijya  Vilas,  (2)  Surya  Prakash.  (3)  Klioat,  (t)  .lairat  Vilas.  (:►) 
Haj  Piaka>li,  (G)  .lai  Vilas,  (7)  Klioman  Kasa.  (S)  Maun  Charilra. 
The  last  two  arc  comitarativoly  of  rocent  date.  Sop  Rasaniala  or  Hin- 
du Aniuils  o\  the  Provinco  of  Gujar.it,  bj  the  Iloncurabic  A.V.Furbos; 
Gujarati  Edition,  1890,  (Buuibay). 


142  HINDU    SlTERTOniTV. 

at  the  time  of  the  cstablishnient    ot"  the    Salivahaii    orn, 
was  3.ir;>.  It  savs: — ^TcTt:  ^^JT^t  ^JTTf%  ^rf??rT50?q^3TT¥fsf 

The  Salivahaii  era  at  present  (190G  A.D.)  is  182S  : 
so  that  the  Kalij'uga  era  should  now  be  ol7'J+1828 
=  5007. 

The  author  of  the  book,  Ji/o/iri'/tlha  Bharan — a 
liistory  of  the  reiii;u  of  Vicramadit3-a,  composed  in  the 
Sambat  era  24  ( Vicrama  era)— says  that  that  year 
corresponded  with  tlie  year  3068  of  the  Kaliyng 
era.  Tiiis  also  makes  the  Kaliyug  era  now  3068 — • 
24+1063  =  5007. 

The  Vraha  Sanghita  of  Vrahamilir  (contemporary 
of  \  icramaditya)  says  that  the  constellation  Snptarishi 
Avas  in  Maghn  Nakhshatra  in  the  reign  of  Yudhishtira, 
and  that  the  date  of  his  reign  may  be  obtained  by  add- 
ing 2526  to  the  Salivahan  era.  According  to  this, 
Yudhishtira    reigned   2526  +  1828  =  435-1  years  ago. 

^ETRR-  iTWTS  ^5T^:  ^rafcT  ^^^  ^f^f^t  STlTcf^  I 

Kalhan  Bhatta,  in  his  famous  v;ork,  Baj  Taringini^ 
savs  that  Yudhishtira  was  born  when  653  years  of  the 
Kaliyuga  era  had  passed. 

^W¥  ^g  ^riV  ^^fy^¥  (<"i^)  ^  'Hc\^  I 

Tliis,  too,  shows  that  4351  +  ()53  =  5007  years  have 
passed  since  the  commencement  of  the  Kaliyug  era. 


iiiNDr  coroNizATioN.  1  1.*; 

The  ristrnnomors,  I*:!nis;ir  mihI  Arvn  lilmtta  n-spof't- 
iv('l\"  lioM  that  tlir  Mahal)liar:ita  took  placci  (JiJlJ  ;,',,  vcars 
aiiil  ()(»-"^  years  alter  tlie  comiiiem-enieiit  of  the  Kahvn;^.' 

I'radhuaruhnunii.  on  the  eontrarv,  Imlds  that:  the 
sapi'tris/ii  wcw  in  the  Miii;/itt  XnLlishatra  jit  thi;  juiicti<jn 
ol'  the  Dwaparand  the  Ivahvii^.      He  says:  — 

Aceoriliiii;- to  him,  therefort',  Viulhislit  ira  ili  »iiri^he<l 
at  the  beLfinniiiu^  ol"  the  KahviiLl. 

An  inseription  in  a  Jain  temple  on  a  hill  near  Vahola, 
Kahida^i,^gi  district,  Deccan,  says  that  tlic  temj)h',  huilt  l>y 
King-  Pulkeshi  II,  of  the  Chalukya  family,  was  erccte  I 
o7i^')  years  after  the  Mahahharata,  and  wlien  ').')()  vears 
of  tlie  SaLa  era  had  passed,  thus  proving  that  the  (jrcat 
War  rook  place  373';  — o")(!=  :-)171>  years  before  the  Saka 
era;  in  other  words,  31 7'.>  +  iSi^S  (Saka  era)  =oUU7 
years  ago.     The  inscription  runs  as  follow.-  :  — 

^=^T9i;^  ^'^t  ^T%  ^Z-g  lf"^ginTQ  =g  KVl'i)    I 

Followinii'  evidentlv  the  view  held  by  I>radhgari;h 
Muni,  tlie  author  of  the  Ai/ecii-i-A/i(jar/\  says  that  \'iera- 
niaditya  ascended  the  throne  in  the  3,044th  year  of  the 
Yudhishtira  era.  This  also  makes  the  Yiidhi.shtira  era 
begin  3044  +  11)03. (N'icrama  era)  =  5007  years  ago. 

Thus,  the  authorities  are  all  agreed  that  the  Kali- 
yuga  commenced  5,007  years  ago:  opinion,  however,  is 


^"  Iiidiaii  Eia<."  p.  ^. 

-Tlif  Imliaii  Auti-inarv,  V.l.  VIII.  [>.  I'l-'. 


Ill  IllXnU    SUPERIORITY. 

divided  as  to  "u-hcn  the  Great  AVar  took  place.  Tradition 
seems  tt)  say  tiiat  the  Mahabharata  took  jdIucc  at  the 
coniiuenceineiit  ot"  the  Kali^uu',  while  the  astronomers 
think  that  it  look  place  about  the  middle  o£  the  7th  cen- 
tury of  the  Kaliyuga  era.  Whichever  view  is  correct — 
the  former  or  the  latter — we  know,  on  a  comparison  of 
these  times  with  the  dates  of  Scriptural  histor}-,  that  the 
Kaliyug  era  commenced  before  the  birth  of  Noah,  and 
that  the  Great  War  took  place  either  before  his  time  or 
soon  after  it. 

The  mio'rations  from  India,  as  stated  before,  took 
place  Eastwards  as  well  as  ^Yestwards  and  Northwards. 
The  Eastern  migrations  were  to  the  Transgangetic  penin- 
sula, to  China,  to  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago, 
and  to  America.  The  Northern  and  the  North-western 
to  Turkistan,  Siberia,  Scandinavia,  Germany  and  lU'itain, 
as  well  as  to  Persia,  Greece,  Rome  and  Etruria.  The 
"Western,  to  the  eastern  parts  of  Africa  and  thence  to 
Egypt,  ^^^e  find  that  Egypt,  Persia,  Assyria,  and 
Greece  all  derived  their  learning  juid  civilization  from 
India  and  that  the  Egyptian,  the  Assyrian,  the  Grecian, 
the  German,  the  Scandinavian  and  the  Druidic  Mytho- 
logies Avere  all  derived  from  the  Hindu  Mythology. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  strongly  supports  the  Hindu 
hypothesis  regarding  the  locality  of  the  nursery  for 
rearing  mankin<l,  and  that  India  was  the  iirst  peopled 
couD.trv.' 

a 

The  Central  Asian  theory  of  emiration  is  unable  to 
meet    the    difficulty   proscMited   by   the  fact    that    "the 


1  History  of  tlie  World,  p.  !Mt.  H«  would  at  oiicc  have  found  the 
orijjin  of  Ararat  iiad  lie  known  dial  llio  llimlus  call  tlicir  country, 
'  Arvavarta." 


c 


inXDl*    rcn-dM/ATlON".  1  1.', 

Astronomy  of  the  Iliiulns  aii'l  oi'tlu!  (Jliincso  a])|)Oiir  to 
1)0  the  remains  ratlier  than  the  elements  of  a  Seienee." 
Tlie  advocates  of  tlie  theory  are  obhi^ed  to  assume  tliat 
ill  ancient  times  a  nation  existe<l  more  advanced  tlian 
cither,  the  remains  of  wliose  achievements  in  Science  still 
survive  in  tlie  literature  of  the  Hindus  and  the  Chinese. 

"That  the  Flindns,  the  Persians,  the  Kirvptians  and 
the  Chinese,  from  the  earliest  periods  of  their  history 
divided  the  time  alike,  namely,  the  ye:ir  into  li'  months 
and  o().'i}  days,  and  tlu^  day  into  1^1  hoin-s  :  that  thev 
livided  the  Zodaic  alike  into  ll'  sii^ns  ;  that  ih.-y  divided 
the  week  alike  into  seven  davs,  "whicli  heini:  an  arhitrarv 
division,  could  not  be  the  result  of  accident,  but  proves 
that  they  ol)tained  it  from  the  common  source  of  an  an- 
cient people  who  already  possessed  a  hiijh  degree  of 
civilization,"  But  what  nation  floin-ished  anterior  to  the 
Hindus,  the  Chinese  and  the  i'crsians,  no  out;  has  vet  theo- 
rised ;  much  less  has  it  been  proved  that  that  primitive 
nation  attained  to  a  hiiih  degree  of  civilization.  On  the 
concrary,  all  comi)etent  authorities  are  unanimous  in 
holding  that  ''Hinduism  (Hindu  Literature,  Science  and 
Arts)  developed  itself  on  the  shores  of  the  Ganges  and 
the  Jumna,"  and  that  "the  Hin<lu  civilization  originated 
and  attained  to  its  highest  pitch  only  in  Intlia." 

Tliere  is  thus  an  abruj)t  break  in  the  Central  Asian 
theory  of  emigration.  Tim  theory  sketched  out  in  the 
following  ])ages  alone  can  satisfactorily  exj)lain  all  such 
difficulties.  Count  P>jornstjerna'  says :  "  It  is  ihcF-e  (  Arya- 
wartii)  we  must  seek  not  only  for  the  cra<lle  of  the  I'rah- 
min  reli<!:ion,  but  for  the  cra<lle  of  the  ingh  civilization 

'  Theojjoay  of  the  Hindu?*,  p.  ICH. 


146  HINDU    SUPEHTORITY. 

of  the  Hindu?,  wliicli  gradually  extended  itself  in  the  West 
to  Ethiopia,  to  Egypt,  to  Pha'nicia  ;  in  the  East,  ro  Siani, 
to  China,  and  to  Japan  ;  in  the  South,  to  Ceylon,  to  Java 
and  to  Sumatra  ;  in  »he  North,  to  Persia  to  Cakheaand  to 
Colchis,  whence  it  come  t«>  Greece  and  to  Rome,  and  at 
length  to  the  remote  abode  of  the  Hyperboreans." 

Colonel  Olcott  savs :  '*  The  modern  school  of  com- 
/^  ])arative  Philology  traces  the  migration  of  Aryan  civili- 
zation into  Europe  by  a  study  of  modern  lanu'uai'es  in 
comparison  with  the  Sanskrit.  And  we  have  an  equally, 
if  not  a  still  more  striking  means  of  showing  the  out- 
flow  of  Aryan  thought  towards  the  West  in  the  philoso- 
phies and  religions  of  Babylonia,  Egj'pt,  Greece,  Rome 
and  Northern  Europe.  One  has  only  to  put  side  by  side 
the  teachings  of  Pythagoras,  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle, 
HonuT,  Zeno,  Hesiod,  Cicero,  Scoevola,  Varro  and  Vir- 
gil with  those  of  Veda-Vyasa,  Kapila,  Gautama,  Patan- 
jali,  Kanada,  Jaimini,  Narada,  Panini,  Marichi,  and 
many  others  we  might  mention,  to  be  astonished  at  their 
identity  of  conceptions — an  identity  that  upon  any  other 
theory  than  that  of  a  derivation  of  the  younger  philoso- 
phical schools  of  the  West  from  the  older  ones  of  the 
East  would  be  simply  miraculous.  The  human  mind  is 
certaiidy  capable  of  evolving  like  ideas  in  different  ages, 
just  as  humanity  ])ro<luces  for  itself  iii  each  generation 
the  teachers,  rulers,  warriors  and  artisans  it  needs.  F)Ut 
that  the  views  of  the  Aryan  sages  should  be  so  identical 
with  those  of  the  later  Greek  anil  Ron)an  pliilusophers 
as  to  seem  as  if  the  latter  were  to  the  former  like  the  re- 
jection of  an  (object  in  a  mirror  to  the  object  itself, 
Avithout  an  actual.  ])liysical  transmission  of  teachers  or 
books  ir<.iiii  the  Ea.'^L  Lu  the  West,  is  something  op^w^sed 


lIINDr    COLONlZATKtX.  117 

to  coiimioii  sense.  And  this  i\*siu\\  corrolKM'atcs  onrron- 
victicns  tlmt  (lie  did  I!i,^\  ])tians  wwr  cniiurants  from 
India  ;  nearly  all  tlie  famous  ancient  ])liil<»so]ili(  rs  Jni>/ 
heen  to  E;iy]if  fo  Ifarn  her  icisdom^  from  the  flewish 
Moses  to  tlie  Greek  Plato.'" 

Sir  \\  illlam  Jones  savs  :  "  Of  tlie  rnrsory  observa- 
tions on  the  Hindus,  wliieh  it  would  re(|uire  volumes  to 
expand  and  illustrate,  this  is  the  result,  that  they  had 
an  immeUK^rial  athnilv  with  the  ol<l  I'ersians,  Ktliiopians 
and  Ktiyptians,  the  PhdMiiciaus,  Greeks,  and  Tusf;;in<, 
the  Scythians,  or  Goths,  and  Celts,  the  Chinese,  Japanese, 
and  Peruvians.''-' 

The  author  of  "  India  in  Greece"  savs  :  "  Al though 
the  province  of  Pelasa  or  Ikdiarsent  fortl;  a  hody  of  emi- 
grants so  ]^o^verfnl  as  to  ^ive  a  ecneial  nr.nie  to  the 
great  Oriental  movement  which  helped  to  people  the 
niaiidand  ;uid  islands  of  Greece,  vet.  the  numbers  from 
this  province  alone  give  no  adequate  idea  of  the  popula- 
tion that  exchanged  the  sunny  land  of  India  for  the 
more  tem])crate  latitudes  of  Persia,  Asia  Elinor,  and 
Hellas.  The  mountains  of  Ghoorka  ;  Delhi,  (hide,  Agn», 
Lahore,  ^[ultan,  Kashmir,  the  Indus,  and  the  pro- 
vinces of  Uajputana,  i<cnt  forth  iheir  (ulititunuil  tJumsuiuls 
to  feed  the  Jlviiui  tide  tint  jhnrcd  toiiuirds  tJic  hinds  of 
Enrojie  (UiiJ  of  Asin.  \\"\\\\  thesi;  wiirlike  pilgrims  on 
their  journev  to  the  far  \\'e>t— l)ands  as  enterprising  as 
the  race  of  Anglo-Saxons,  the  descendants,  in  fact,  of 
some  of  those  very  Sa  as  of  Northern  India — like  them, 
too,  filling  the  solitudes,  or  facing  the  perils  of  the  West, 
there   marched    a   force  of   native    warriors,    sufficiently 

1  Si'o  the  TliPt.>t)i.liist  f.M   Manh  1««1,  \k  Vii. 
-Asiutiv  U»'soaivlitt>,  V>>1    1.  y   i2G. 


148  HINDU    SUPERIOniTY. 

powerful  to  take  possession  of  the  richest  o£  the  soil 
that  liiy  before  them. 

"  Though  unsuccessful  in  the  (j!;\'en.t  stru_£r.iilc  that 
terminated  in  the  expulsion  of  themselves  andtlieir  reli- 
gious teachers,  their  practised  hardihood  left  them 
nothing  to  fear  from  the  desultory  attacks  of  any  tribes 
who  miijht  be  bold  enough   to   obstruct  their  march."* 

He  a^ijain  savs  :  "  The  actual  extent  of  the  Pelas<nc 
race  (which  in  fact  became  a  synonym  for  the  general 
population  of  India,  when  transplanted  to  Europe  and 
Asia),  far  exceeded  the  idea  of  Neibuhr.  So  vast  were 
their  settlements,  and  so  firmly-rooted  were  the  very 
names  of  kingdoms,  the  nomenclature  of  tribes,  that  I 
do  not  scruple  to  assert  that  the  successive  maps  of  Spain, 
Italy,  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  Persia,  and  India,  may  be  read 
like  the  chart  of  an  emigrant."^ 


Uudiiv  in  Greece,  i<[<.  L'y  and  30.       -India  in  Greece,  p.  32. 


HINDU  rOLoNIZATinx.  1  I!) 


I.-KCVrT  AM)   KTIIIOPIA. 

In  flio  affornnoii  tlx'V  onnn'  iiiitn  a  land. 
In  wliicli  h  >otMiiod  always  aftrrnooii. 

Ecvi'T  was  oriuinally  a  colony  of  tlie  Hiii<l;is.  It 
appears  that  altoiit  seven  or  ci^lit  thousand  years  aiTo  ;i 
boiiy  ol"  colonists  from  Intlia  settleil  in  l\i;y[)L,  wlieie 
they  est'al)lished  one  of  the  niiiifhticst  empires  of  the 
old  ■world.  Colonel  Oleottsavs:  '' We  have  a  riiiht  t(»  more 
than  sus[)ect  that  India,  cii;ht  tlionsand  years  ago,  sent 
a  colony  of  cmi'^rants  who  carried  their  arts  ami  hi,i:h 
civilization  into  what  is  now  known  to  us  as  Kix\  pt. 
This  is  what  IJrugseh  Bev,  tiie  most  modern  as  well  as  the 
most  trusted  E<iyptologer  and  antifpiarian,  says  on  the 
ori<:;in  of  the  old  Eiryptians.  UeLTardinii^  these  as  a  hranch 
of  the  Caucasian  family  having  a  close  afHnity  with  the 
Indo-Germanic  races,  he  insists  that  tlicv  '  nii^ifrated  from 
India  long  before  historic  memory,  and  crossed  that 
bridge  of  nations,  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  to  find  a  new 
fatherland  on  the  banks  of  the  Xile.'  The  Kirv|)tians 
came,  according  to  their  own  records,  from  a  mysterious 
land  (now  shown  to  lie  on  the  shore  of  the  Indian  ocean), 
the  sacred  Punt;  the  original  home  of  tlieir  gods  who 
followed  thence  after  their  people  who  had  abandoned 
them  to  the  vallev  of  tlie  Xile,  led  by  Anion,  Hor 
and  Hathor.  This  region  was  tlic  Egyptian  'Land 
of  the  Gods,'  Pa-Nuter,  in  old  Egyptian,  or 
Holylandj  and  now  proved  beyond  any  doubt  to  ha\e 


l.'iO  iiiNDr  srrKiaoiiiTv. 

been  quite  a  (lifTcrent  place  from  the  Ilolylaud  of  Sinai. 
]>y  tlie  pictorial  hieroglj-pbic  inscription  fouiul  (ami 
interpreted)  on  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  the  Queen 
Haslitop  at  Der-el-bahri.  we  see  that  this  Punt  can  be  no 
other  than  India.  For  many  ages  the  Egyptians  traded 
■with  tlieir  old  homes,  and  the  reference  here  made  by 
them  to  the  names  of  the  Princes  of  Punt  and  its  fMuna 
and  flora,  especially  the  nomenclature  of  various  precious 
woods  to  be  found  but  in  India,  leave  us  scarcely  room 
for  the  smallest  douljt  that  the  (jld  civilization  of  Egvpt 
is  the  direct  outcome  of  that  of  the  older  India." 

Mr.  Pococke  says  :  "  At  the  mouths  of  the  Indus 
dwell  a  seafaring  people,  active,  ingenious,  and  enter- 
prising as  when,  ages  subsequent  to  this  great  move- 
ment, they  themselves,  with  the  warlike  denizens  of  the 
Punjab,  were  driven  from  their  native  land  to  seek 
the  far  distant  climes  of  Greev'e.  The  commercial  people 
dwellini'-  alon<>-  the  coast  that  stretches  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Indus  to  the  Coree,  are  embarking  on  that  emi- 
irration  whose  raao.Miii'icent  results  to  civilization,  and 
whose  m^antic  monuments  of  art,  fill  the  mind  with 
mingled  emotions  of  admiration  and  awe.  These  people 
coast  ah^ng  the  shores  of  Mekran,  traverse  the  month 
of  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  again  adhering  to  the  sea-board 
of  Oman,  Hadramant,  and  Yeman  (the  Eastern  Arabia), 
thev  sail  up  the  Red  Sea ;  and  again  ascending  the 
mighty  stream  that  fertilises  a  land  of  won<lers,  found 
the  kingdoms  of  Egypt,  Nubia,  and  Abyssinia.  These 
are  ihe  same  stock  that,  centuries  subsequently  to  this/' 
colonization,  spread  the  blessings  of  civilization  over 
ll;'llu>  and  licr  islands."- 
Jbee  the  Tbeosopliist  for  Murch  Ibtfl,  I'.l;:^.  -laUin  in  Uieoc*?,  p.  42. 


IlINDr    roi.nMZAlInN.  1  .',  I 

Mr.  Pocockc  thus  smiiiniiriscs  liis  rcscar  ln's  : 
**  I  would  now  hricllv  rccMpitiil  itc  the  IradinLr  rviilciiccH 
of  tlio  colonization  nl"  Africa  fro!ti  Xorth-wcstcrii  India 
and  Lh(3  Himalaya  proNinccs.  /V/>7,  fi-om  tin-  pi-ovinciss 
oi-  rivi*i'>  (ha'iviii;;-  tlu-ir  naiia-s  from  tlic  irr(,'at  rivers  of 
India  ;  Kecowlbj^  from  llic  towns  and  |)rovincL'.s  of  India 
or  its  northern  frontiers  ;  fJtiniii/,  from  the  Kulinir 
Chiefs  styled  liamas  (Kameses),  v.V:c.  ;  foitrt/i/i/,  simila- 
rity in  the  objects  of  sepnltnre  ;  fi//Iih/,  arehitectnral 
skill  and  its  urand  and  gigantic  character:  and  si.vthhj, 
the  [»ower  of  translating  words,  im:iuined  to  be  Egyptian, 
throui!:h  the  medinm  of  a  in(jdified  Sanskrit."' 

Mr.  Pococke  then  ])roceeds  to  subjoin  "the  opinions 
of  men  of  sound  judgment  in  comiection  with  the  In- 
tlian  colonization  of  Kgyjit.' 

The  name  "  Nile  '  was  given  to  tiie  great  river  of 
Egypt  by  the  Indian  settlers  there.  "Eoral)ont  10  miles 
below  the  Attock,"  says  a  critic,  ''the  Indus  has  a  dean, 
deep  and  rapid  current,  but  for  above  a  hundred  miles 
farther  down  to  Kalabagh  it  becomes  an  enormous 
torrent.  The  water  here  ha.sa  dark  lead  cr)lour,  and  hence 
the  name  Xilab  or  Blue  river  given  as  well  to  the  Indus 
as  to  a  town  on  its  banks,  about  1:^  miles  below  AttfK-k.'' 
As  Aboasin  (a  classical  name  for  the  Indus)  gave  its 
name  to  Abusinia  (Abys.sinia)  in  Africa,  so  here  "  we  now 
observe  the  Nilab  (the  blue  water)  bestowing  an  aj^pn- 
lation  on  the  farfamed  "Nile"  of  Egypt.  This  is  one  of 
those  facts  which  prove  the  colonization  of  Egypt  to 
have  taken  place  from  the  coast  of  Scinde." 


lliiJia  ill  (.tret"*'",  p.  -<>I , 


15:?  HINDU  surEuioiUTV. 

Apnrt  from  liistorical  evidence  there  are  ethnologi- 
cal grounds  to  support  the  fact  that  the  ancient  Egyptians 
■were  originally  an  Indian  people.  Professor  Heeren  is 
astonislied  at  tlie  "])liysical  similarity  in  colour  and  in 
the  conformation  of  the  heiid"  of  the  ancient  Egyptians 
and  the  Hindus.  As  regards  the  latter  point,  he  adds  : 
"  As  to  the  form  of  the  head,  I  have  now  before  me  the 
skulls  of  a  mummy  and  a  native  of  Bengal  from  the 
collections  of  M.  Blum  en  bach  ;  and  it  is  impossible  to 
conceive  anything  more  striking  than  the  resemblance 
between  the  two,  both  as  respects  the  general  form  and 
the  structure  of  the  lirm  portions.  Indeed  the  learned 
possessor  himself  considers  them  to  be  the  most  alike  of 
any  in  his  numerous  collections."^ 

After  showing  the  still  more  striking  similarity 
between  the  maimers  and  customs,  in  fact,  between  the 
whole,  social,  religious  and  political  institutions  of  the 
two  peoples.  Professor  Heeren  says :  "  It  is  perfectly 
agreeable  to  Himiu  manners  that  colonies  from  India,  /.<?., 
Banian  families  should  have  passed  over  into  Africa,  and 
carried  with  them  their  industry,  and  perhaps  also  their 
religious  worship."-  He  adds  :  "  It  is  hardl}' possible  to 
maintain  the  opposite  side  of  the  ipiestion,  f/j  ,  that  the 
Hindus  were  derived  from  the  Egyptians,  for  it  has  been 
already  ascertained  that  the  country  bordering  on  the 
Ganges  was  the  cradle  of  Hindu  civilization.  Now,  the 
Egyptians  could  not  have  established  themselves  in  that 
neighbourhood,  their  probable  settlement  would  rather 
have  taken  place  on  the  Coast  of  Malabar." 


iHoeren's  Asiatic  Nations,  A'ul.  II,  p.  'M)i\. 
^ILiTin's  lli.storieal  Kc.H'urclics  \v\.  II,  [i.  oO'J. 


iiiNnr  coLONizATrox.  I.'.J 

Tlic  learned  professor  ooiicludcs  :  "  W'liMtfvor  woi'dit 
may  be  nttaeheil  /->  [ii'lliin  Inulition  (tnd  f/ir,  r.r/)ress 
tcsthnomi  of  Ensehiu^  eontiriniii^'  tlie  report  of  inii^rutloiis 
from  tlie  hanks  of  the  Inihis  into  Eirypt,  then;  is  certain- 
ly nothini;-  improlnihle  in  the  event  itself,  as  a  (h^sire  of 
jjain  would  have  formed  a  sntlieicnt  indn<'eni(!nt." 
Decisive  evidence  of  the  fact,  however,  may  he  foinid  in 
Philostratus  and  Xonnus.  For  furtiicr  infornmfion  on 
the  subject,  viilc  Religion. 

After  tracinix  the  descent  of  Piiilippos  oi"  Maccdon 
and  his  son,  Alexander,  from  lihili-Pcs  or  lihil-Prince 
and  llamnion  in  Af^'haiiistan,  Mr.  Pococke  continues  : 
*'  And  these  same  Bhils,  i.e.^  the  Uhil  Uralnnans  planted 
this  same  Oracle  of  Hammon  in  the  deserts  of  Africa, 
■nhither  I  have  already  shown  that  they  had  sailed  ; 
"where  tlicv  founded  Philai,  i.e..  Dhailai,  the  citv  of  the 
Bhili,  in  lat.  24==  North,  lon.ir.  7^^  East.i 

Mr,  Pococke,  who  mude  the  sul)ject  his  lifo-lonij 
study,  says  :  "The  early  civilization,  then,  the  early  arts, 
the  indubitably  early  literature  of  India  are  erpially  the 
civilization,  the  arts  and  literature  of  Ku;ypt  and  <>f 
Greece — for  ideographical  evidences,  conjoined  to  hii^- 
torical  fact  and  relii^ious  practices,  now  prove  beyond  all 
dispute  that  the  two  Intter  countries  are  the  colonies 
of  the  former."^ 

Ethiopia,'  ns  is  universally  admitted  now,  avas 
colonised  by  the  Hindus.   Sir  W.  doncs  says  :   '*  I']thiopi» 

'India  in  Greece,  p.  fi').     ^Jmii^  Jn  Grooco,  j>.  71. 

3"TIio  ancient  geographers  called  by  the  name  of  Eihiopia  all  l^iat 
part  of  Africa  which  now  constitutes  Xiihia,  Ahvssinia,  Sauaor,  Darfur, 
and  ©ongola," — Thcogonij  ftf  the  Hindut,  p.  14, 


154  HINDU   SUPERIOrvTTV. 

and  ITiiidiistan  were  possessed  or  colonised  by  the   same 
extraonlinarv  race." ' 

Philostratus  introduces  the  Brahman  larchus  l)v  stat- 
in"; to  his  auditor  tliat  the  Etliioninns  were  orio'inallv  an 
Indian  race  compelled  to  leave  India  for  the  impurity 
contracted  by  slaying  a  certain  monarch  to  whom  they 
owed  ailej^iance."- 

Eusebius  states  that  the  Ethiopians  emigrating  from 
the  River  Indus  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Egypt/ 

In  Philostratus,  an  Egyptian  is  made  to  remark  tliat 
he  had  heard  from  liis  father  tiiat  the  Indians  were  the 
wisest  of  men,  and  that  the  Ethiopians,  a  colony  of  the 
Indians,  preserved  ihe  wisdom  and  usage  of  their  fore- 
fathers and  acknowledged  their  ancient  origin.  We  find 
the  same  assertion  made  at  a  later  period,  in  the  third 
century,  by  Julius' Africanus,  from  whom  it  has  Ixren 
preserved  by  Eusebius  and  Syncellus.* 

Cuvier,  quoting  Syncelhis,  even  assigns  the  reign  o£ 
Amenophis  as  the  epoch  of  the  colonization  of  Ethioj>ia 
from  India.'' 

The  ancient  Abyssinians  (Abusinians),  as  alrendy 
remarked,  Avere  oriainallv  miirrators  to  Africa  from  the 
banks  of  Abuisin,  a  classical  name  for  the  Indus.^ 

As  will  appear  from  the  accounts  of  the  commercial 
position  of  India  in  the  ancient  world,  commerce  on  an 
extensive  seale  existed  between  ancient  India  iuid  Abys- 
sinia, and  we  find  Hindus  in  large  numbers  settled  in  the 

'Asiatic  Roscaifhes.  Vdl.  J,  j).  12(1, 

^V.  A.  Til,  C.    S.''  '•  India  ill  Grewo,"  p.  200. 

•*L<Mi7i),  Barkers'  t-ilition  ;  "  Meroe." 

4S.'o  "  Fixlia  in  Groecc,"  p.  205.     •'■]'.  Is  ..f  ?)is  "  DLscours/'  ire. 

f'llvfrc'irs  Historical  Hoscaivlios,  Vol.  11.  y.  :'10. 


lirNDl'    COLONIZATION.  ]o5 

latter  country,  "  whence  also,"  says  Colonel  Tod,  "  the 
Hindu  names  of  towns  at  the  estuaries  of  the  Gambia  and 
Senegal  rivers,  the  Taml)a  Cundi  and  another  Cundas." 
He  continues  :  "A  wiitrr  in  the  Asiatic  Journal  (^'ul. 
IVj  p.  ol^.j)  irives  a  curious  list  of  tlu*  niunes  cf  places 
in  the  intcTior  uf  Africa,  mentioned  in  Park's  Second 
Journey,  which  are  shown  to  be  all  Sanskrit,  and 
most  of  them  actually  current  in  India  at  the  present 
day. 


'See  Tod's  Rajasthau,  Vol.  II,  p.  SOi),  footnote. 


1»G  ni^DU    SLTEIIIOIUTY. 


II— PERSIA. 

Not  vainly  did  llio  early  rcrsiiui  make 
His  altar  the  liigli  iilaccs,  and  the  peak 

Of  earth — o'ergazing  uionnlains,  and  tims  take 
A  fit  and  unr^alled  temple,  there  to  seek 

The  spirit,  in  Avlinse  honour  shrines  are  weak, 
Upreared  of  huuiau  hands. 

—  EvnoN  :  Childe  Harold. 

Mr,  Pococke  saj^s  :  "  I  have  glanced  at  the  Indian 
settlements  in  Egypt,  which  will  again  be  noticed,  and 
I  Avill  now  resume  my  observations  from  the  lofty  fron- 
tier, which  is  the  true  boundary  of  the  European  and 
Indian  races.  The  Parasoos,  the  people  of  Parasoo  Ram, 
those  warriors  of  the  Axe,  have  penetrated  into  and 
given  a  name  to  Persia  ;  they  are  the  people  of  Bharata  ; 
and  to  the  principal  stream  that  pours  its  waters  into  the 
Persian  Gulf  they  have  given  the  name  of  Eu-Bharat-es 
(Euphrat-es),  the  Bharat  Chief."i 

Professor  ^lax  MuUer's  testimony  is  decisive  on  the 
point.  Discussing  the  word  '  Arya,'  he  says  :  *'  But  it 
was  more  faithfully  preserved  by  the  Zoronstrians,  who 
migrated  from  India  to  the  North-west  and  whose  reli- 
gion has  been  preserved  to  us  in  the  Zind  Avesta, 
though  in  fragments  only."-  He  again  says  :  "  The 
Zorustrians  were  a  colony  from  Xorthern  India." ^ 

Professor  Heeren  says  :  "In  point  of  f:ict  the  Zind 
is  derived  from  the   Sanskrit,  and  a  passage   in    Manu 


'India  in  Greece,  p.  45.      Sgcicnee  of  Language,  p.  242. 
•*  Science  of  Language,  p.  2do. 


HINDI"    eor.ON'IZATlON.  1  .">7 

(('lin])t('r  X,  sloki's  -i;;-  I.'))  iiiiikcs  tlic  l'('r>inii>  to  \\■.\\^^ 
ilesfciuled  troin  tlu.'  Iliinliisnf  the  second  ur  Warriur 
Ciiste.'" 

The  old  name  oF  tlie  comitrx,  /?•///,  was  irivcn  I»v  iIk;  S^*^»^. 
first  settlers  there,  who  were  Airaii,  tiw;  dcHeeiidantn  P^' 
of  Aira,  tiic  son  of  Puniravas  the  son  ol"  iliidha  of  tlie 
T.iinir  race.  (Airan  is  plural  of  AiraK-  These  sett ler.s 
had  hee'ii  expelh^d  from  India  after  lonij  wars,  sj)oken 
ol'  hy  ancient  clironicles  of  IV'rsia  as  Avars  between  Iran 
and  Turan,  Tnran  bcini^  a  corrupt  form  of  Suran,  Surd 
the  Sun.  the  sun  tribe-i.  The  trii)e  of  "  Cossu'i"  seen 
near  the  banks  of  the  Tii^ris,  are  the  people  of  Kasi,  the 
classical  name  of  Henare.^. 

Sir  W.  Jones  says  :  ''  1  was  not  a  little  surprised 
to  find  that  out  of  ten  wonls  in  Dii  Perron's  Zind  Dic- 
tionary, six  or  seven  were  pure  Sanskrit."*^ 

Mr.    Haug,  in  an    interesting:!  essay  on   the  oriLjin  of 

Zoroastrian  religion,  compares  it  with    IJrahminism,  and 

points  out  the  originally-close  connection    between  the 

Brahminical  and  the   Zoroastrian  relitrions,  customs  and 

observances.      After   comj)aring    the   Jiames    of   divine 

beings,     names     and     legends     of      heroes,     sacrificial 

rites,  religious   observances,   domestic   rites,  and  cosmo- 

graphicalopinions  that  occur  both  in  the  Vedic  and  Avesta 

writings,  he  says  :   "  In  the  ^  edas  as  well  as  in  the  older 

'Historical  Il(.'SLar..hes,  Vol.  II.  p.  220. 

-  India  in  Greece,  p.  Itjl. 

^rtir  W,  JoucV  works,  Vul,  I,  pp.  ^2  an  J  «J, 


158  HINDC    SUPERIORITY. 

portions  of  the  Zind-Ave^^ta  (see  the  Catlias),  tlici'e 
are  sufficient  traces  to  be  discovered  that  the  Zoroastrian 
religion  arose  out  of  a  vital  struggle  against  a  form 
which  the  Brahminical  religion  had  assumed  at  a 
certain  early  period,"^  After  contrasting  the  names 
of  the  Hindu  Gods  and  the  Zoroastrian  deities,  Professor 
Hang  savs  :  "These  facts  throw  some  light  npon  the 
au'e  in  which  that  o;reat  reliirious  struo'o-le  took  place, 
the  consequence  of  which  was  the  entire  separation  of 
the  Ancient  Iranians  from  the  Brahmans  and  the 
foundation  of  the  Zoroastrian  religion.  It  must  have 
occurred  at  the  time  when  Indra  was  the  chief  god 
of  the  Brahmans. "^ 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  ascertain  the  exact  period 
at  which  the  Hindu  colonization  of  Persia  took  place.  It 
is  certain,  however,  that  it  took  place  long  before  the 
i\lahal)harata.  Colonel  Tod  says  :  "  Ujaraeda,  by  his  wife, 
Nila,  hud  five  sons,  who  spread  their  branches  on  Ijoth 
sides  of  the  Indus.  Regarding  three  the  Puranas  are 
silent,  which  implies  their  migration  to  distant  regions. 
Is  it  possible  they  might  be  the  origin  of  the  Medes  ? 
These  Medes  are  descendants  of  Yayat,  third  son  of  the 
patriarchy  Menu  :  and  Madai,  founder  of  the  Medes,  was 
of  Japhet's  line.  Aja  Meiie,  the  patronymic  of  the 
branch  of  Bnjaswa,  is  from  Aja  'a  goat.'  The  Assyrian 
Mede  in  Scripture  is  typified  by  the  goat."' 

'Hang's  Essays  on  the  Parsees,  p.  287. 

-Hang's  Essays  ou  the  Parsees,  p.  288, 

Of  great  importance  for  showing  tlie  originally-close  relationsliip 
between  tiie  Brahminical  and  Parsi  religions,  is  the  fact  that  several  of 
the  Indian  gods  are  actually  mentioned  by  name  in  the  Zind  Avesta,  some 
as  demons,  otiiers  as  angels. — Hmiff's  Essays,  p.  272. 

^Tod's  Kajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p,  11. 


iiTxnr  roLoxT'/ATiox.  '[',<) 

Apart  from  tho  pussai^o  in  ^Iniiu,'  doscriblng  the 
origin  ol'  lIk'  luicicnt  Persians,  there  is  another  argument 
to  support  it.  Zoroaster,  tlie  Pro])]iet  of  the  Ancient 
Persians,  was  born  after  the  emigrants  from  India  hud 
settled  in  Persia,  long  enough  to  haxc  become  a  se[>arate 
nation.  Yyasu  held  a  grand  religious  discussion  with 
Zoroaster  at  Balkh  in  Turkistan,  and  was  therefore  his 
contemporar}'.  Zanthus  of  Lydia  (B.C.  470),  the  earli- 
est Greek  writer,  who  mentions  Zoroaster,  says  that  he 
lived  about  six  hnndred  years  before  the  Trojan  War 
(which  took  place  about  1800  B.C.).  Aristotle  and 
Kndoxus  place  his  era  as  munh  as  six  thousand  years 
before  Plato,  others  five  thousand  years  l)efore  the 
Trojan  War  (see  Pliny  :  Historia  Naturalis,  XXX,  l-o), 
Berosos^  the  Bab3donian  historian  makes  him  a  king  of 
the  Babylonians  and  the  founder  of  a  dynasty  whicli 
reigned  over  Babylon  between  B.C.  2200  and  llC. 
2000.  It  is,  however,  clear  that  the  Hindu  coloniza- 
tion of  Persia  took  place  anterior  to  the  Great  War. 

In  the  first  chapter  (Fargard)  of  the  part  Avliich  bears 
the  name  Vendidad  of  their  sacred  book  (which  is  also 
their  most  ancient  book),  Hurmuzd  or  God  tells  Zapetman 
(Zoroaster):  "I  have  given  to  man  an  excellent  and 
fertile  country.  Nobody  is  able  to  give  such  a  one. 
This  land  lies  to  the  east  (of  Persia),  where  the  stars 
rise  every  evening."  "  When  Jamshed  (the  leader  of 
the  emi(i-rating  nation),  came  from  the  h/)jhland  in  the 
ea-<t  to  the  plain,  there  were  neither  domestic  animals 
nor  wild,  nor  men."  "The  country  alluded  to  above 
from  which  the  Persians  are   said  to  have  come  can  be 


i^Mannsmrili  is  aduiittedly  mwch  older  than  the  Mahabhaiata. 


160  HINDU    SUrERIOEITT. 

110  other  than  the  North-west  part  o£  ancient  TncHa — 
Afa'hanistan  and  Kashmir — beini:!;  to  the  east  of  Persia, 
as  well  as  highland  compared  to  the  Persian  plains."^ 

Mr.  Pococke  says  :  "The  ancient  map  of  Persia, 
Colchis,  and  Armenia  is  absolutely  full  of  the  irost 
distinct  and  startling  evidences  of  Indiau  colonization, 
and,  what  is  more  astonishing,  practically  evinces,  in  the 
most  powerful  manner,  the  truth  of  several  main  points 
in  the  two  great  Indian  poems,  the  Ramayana  and  the 
Mahabharata.  The  whole  map  is  positively  nothing  less 
than  a  journal  or  emigration  on  the  most  gigantic 
scale."^ 


ITlioogony  o[  tlio  Tl  nidus.   -Iiidlft  in  Oron'o,  p,  47. 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  IGI 


TIT.— ASIA  MIXOR. 

The  Cok'hian  virgin,  wlioso  bold  iuuid 
URdauntod  grasps  the  \Tarliko  spear. 

— >.EsciivLus  :  Prometheus. 

The  Chaldeans  wern  ori"inallv  mii2:rators  from  India. 
Chaldea  is  a  corruption  of  cid  (family  or  tribe)  and 
deva  (a  god  or  brahman.)  The  country,  colonized  by 
the  tribe  of  Devas  or  Brahmans,  was  called  Chaldea, 
whence  the  word  Chaldeans.  Couiit  ]^)jornstjerna  says  : 
"The  Chaldeans,  the  Babylonians  and  the  inhaljitants  of 
Colchis  derived  their  civilization  from    India." ^ 

Mr.  Pococke  says:  "  The  tribe  'Abanti'  who  fought 
most  valiantly  in  the  Trojan  War  were  no  other  than 
the  Rajputs  of  '  Avanti'  in  Malwa."- 

The  Assyrians,  too,  were  of  Hindu  origin.  Their 
first  king  was  Bali,  Boal  or  Bel.  This  Boal  or  Bali  was 
a  ffreat  kin^  of  India  in  ancient  times.  He  ruled  from 
Cambodia  to  Greece.  Professor  Maurice  says :  "  Bali 
.  .  .  was  the  puissant  sovereign  of  a  mighty  empire 
extendinii'  over  the  vast  continent  of  India." 

Mr.  Pococke  sa}'s:  "Thus,  then,  at  length,  are  dis- 
tinctly seen — firslli/,  the  identical  localities  in  the  Indian 
and  Tartarian  provinces  whence  Palestine  was  colonized; 
secondly^  the  identity  of  idolatry  is  proved  between 
India,  the  old  country,  and  Palestine  the  new  ;  fhinUi/, 
the  identity  of  the  Raj[)ut  of  India  and  of  Palestine  ; 
fourthly,  the  positive  notification  of  the  distinct  tribe 
Avhich  the  Israelites  encountered  and  overthrew."-^ 


iTheogouy  of  the  Hindus,  p.  IH-S.     -  India  in  Grcc'<;e,  p.  So. 
^ludia  in  Greoco,  p.  221). 


162  HINDU    SUPEIJIORITY. 

IV.— GREECE. 

TliP  nioniitain  lodks  on  ]\Iavathoii — 

And  Marathon  looks  on  tlic  sea; 

And  nmsing  there  an  hour  alone, 

I  dream'd  that  Greece  ruiyht  still  he  free. 

— Byrox  :  Don  Jnun.  ' 

The  Hindu  emic'rations  to  Greece  have  already  been 
mentioned.  The  subject,  is  of  such  fascinating  interest 
that  eminent  scholars  and  archaeologists  have  devoted 
their  time  and  learninor  to  unravel  the  mysterv  connected 
with  the  origin  of  the  race,  whose  splendid  achievements 
in  peace  and  war  yet  stand  unrivalled  in  Europe.  Colonel 
Tod  and  Colonel  Wilford  laid  the  foundations  of  a 
system  of  encpiiry  in  this  branch  of  historical  research, 
on  which  Mr,  Pococke  has  raised  the  marvellous  structure 
of  '*  India  in  Greece,"  which  stands  firm  and  solid,  defyino; 
the  violence  and  fnry  of  the  windv  criticism  of  ignorant 
critics  and  the  hail  and  sleet  of  certain  writers  on  Indian 
Archteology, blinded  by  inveterate  prejudices.  Mr.Pococke 
quotes  chapter  and  verse  in  proof  of  his  assertions,  and 
proves  beyond  all  shadow  of  doubt  the  Hindu  origin 
of  the  ancient  Greeks. 

After  describing^  the  Grecian  society  duriui!;  the 
Homeric  times,  Mr.  Pococke  says  :  "The  whole  of  this 
state  of  society,  civil  and  militarv,  must  strike  everyone 
as  beini!"  eminently  Asiatic,  nnich  of"  it  si)ecificallv  Indian. 
Such  it  undoubtedly  is.  And  I  shall  demonstrate  that 
these  evidences  were  but  the  attendant  tokens  of  an  Indian 
colonization  with  its  corresponding  religion  and  language. 
I  shall  exhil/it  dynasties  disappearing  from  Western  In- 
dia to  a})pear  again  in  Greece  :   clans,  whose  martial  fame 


HINDU  COLONIZATION.  103 

is  still  recorded  in  the  faithful  chronicles  of  North-west- 
(M-ii  India,  as  the  gallant  bands  who  fought  upon  the 
plains  of  Troy."' 

"  i>ut,  if  the  evidences  of  Saxon  colonization  in  this 
island  (Great  Britain) — I  speak  independently  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  history — are  strong  both  from  languageand  political 
institutions,  the  evidences  are  still  more  decisive  in  the 
parallel  case  of  an  Indian  colonization  of  Greece — not 
only  her  language,  but  her  philosophy,  her  religicjn, 
her  rivers,  her  mountains  and  her  tribes  ;  her  subtle 
turn  of  intellect,  her  political  institutes,  and  above  all  the 
mysteries  of  that  noble  land,  irresistibly  prove  her  co- 
lonization from  India."^  "  The  primitive  history  of 
Greece,"  adds  the  author,  "is  the  primitive  history  of 
India." 

There  are  critics  who  concede  the  derivation  of 
Greek  from  the  Sanskrit,  but  stop  short  of  the  necessary 
inference  that  the  people  who  spoke  the  former  language 
were  the  descendants  of  those  who  spoke  the  latter.  Of 
such,  Mr.  Pococke  asks  :  ''Is  it  not  astonishinij  that 
reason  should  so  halt  half-way  in  its  deduction  as  to  all(3w 
the  derivation  of  the  Greek  from  an  Indian  lan^uaire,  and 
yet  deny  the  personality  of  those  who  spoke  it  ,•  or,  in 
other  words,  deny  the  settlement  of  an  Indian  race  in 
Greece?""^ 

The  word  Greek  itself  signifies  the  Indian  origin 
of  the  ancient  Greeks.  The  royal  city  of  the  Magedh- 
anians  or  Kings  of  Magadha  was  called  "  Raja  Griha." 
"  The  people  or  clans  of  Griha  were,  according  to  the 
regular    patronymic    form    of    their    language,     st}'led 


I  India  in  Greece,  p.  12.     ^ India  in  Greece,  p.  10. 
i^ India  in  Greece,  p.  lio. 


1G4  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

Graihka,  whence  the  or<linary  derivative  Graihakos 
(Graikos)  Gra?cus  or  Greek," ^  This  shows  that  the 
Greeks  were  miuTators  from  Mag^hada  :  which  fact  is  still 
further  strengthened  when  we  consider  that  their  prede- 
cessors in  their  adopted  country  were  also  inhabitants 
of  Maghada.  These  people  were  Pelasgi.  They  were 
so-called  because  they  emigrated  from  Pelasa,  the  ancient 
name  for  the  province  of  Behar,  in  Aryawarta.  Pelasoo 
is  a  derivative  form  of  Pelasa,  whence  the  Greek  Pelasgo. 
The  theory  is  fiu'ther  strennthened  when  we  find  that 
Asius,  one  of  the  early  poets  of  Greece,  makes  King 
Pilasgus  spring  from  "  Gaia."  This  "  Gaia  "  is  no  other 
than  the  "  Gaya,"  the  capital  city  of  Pelaska  or  Behar. 

^Euba^a  was  colonized  by  "  Eu-babooyas,"  the 
Bahoojas  or  warriors  par  excellence.  The  Makedonians 
(Macedon  =  Magada)  were  the  inhabitants  of  Maghada, 
the  same  province.  The  people  of  Behar  or  JMaghada^ 
it  appears  migrated  in  several  tribal  groups  to  Greece;  and 
their  migrations  are  marked  by  the  different  names  they 
gave  to  the  part  or  parts  of  their  adopted  country.  Says 
Mr.  Pococke  :  "  The  Bud'has  have  brought  v,'ith  them 
into  Thessaly  the  far-famed  mythological  but  equally 
historical  name  of  '  Cilas,'  the  fabulous  residence  of 
Cuvera,  the  (Hindu)  god  of  wealth,  and  the  favourite 
haunt  of  Siva,  placed  by  the  Hindus  among  the  Hima- 
layan mountains,  and  applied  to  one  of  the  loftiest 
peaks  lying  on  the  north  of  the  Manasa  lake.  "- 

1  India  in  Greece,  p.  295. 

~  India  in  Greece,  p.  99.  The  Hindu  name  for  Heaven  was  carried 
by  the  migrators  with  them  to  Greece  and  tlience  adopted  by  the  Ro- 
mans, Kailas  became  Kailon  for  the  Greeks  and  Cochim  for  the 
Romans. 


HINDU    COLONIZATTON.  IG') 

Many  otlier  tribes  ol'  tlio  Khshntriyas  migrated  to 
Greece  and  the  isles  of  the  Archipelago.  The  l^teotiaiis 
were  the  "  Baihootian,"  llajput  dwellers  on  the  hanks  of 
Behoot  (Jehluni)  :  the  Cossopaei  were  the  Kashmiriaiis 
so-called  from  Casayapa,  the  founder  ol"  Kashmir.  'I'lu; 
Hellopes  were  the  Chiefs  of  the  Hela  trilx;  and  their 
country  "  Hellados,  Hella-desa."  The  names,  ]\Iount 
Korkedus  (  Ivertetcha  rangx;  in  Afghanistan),  Locman 
(Lughman  of  Afghanistan),  and  Mount  Titarus  (the 
Tatara  P;iss  of  Afghanistan),  Mount  Othrys  (Sanskrit 
name  of  Himalaya),  Matan  Astae  (Matan-Vasti  "  the 
dAvelling  place  of  the  Matans,a  tribe  of  Kashmir), Kestrine 
(Khashirii/a,  warrior  caste,  and  ina,  chief),  all  point  to 
the  fact  that  many  of  the  migrators  were  originally 
inhabitants  of  the  iSTorth-western  parts  of  India. 

Speaking;  of  the  Hindus  having  reared  a  Mytholo- 
2;ical  superstructure  on  physical  facts  in  making  ]\Iount 
Ivilas,  the  abode  of  the  gods,  Mr.  Pococke  says  :  "  Thus 
it  was  with  the  native  of  Indus  and  of  the  rockv 
heights  of  Hela,  when  he  became  a  settler  in  the 
Hellas  ;  and  thus  it  was  with  his  polished  descendant 
in  Athens,  who  though  called  a  Greek  was  yet  as 
thoroughly  Sindian  in  his  tastes,  religion,  and  literature 
as  any  of  his  forefathers."  • 

"  The  land  of  Hellas,  a  name  so  dear  to  civilization 
and  the  arts,"  says  Pococke,  "  was  so-called  from  the 
raao^nificent    ranjxe    of    heights    situated  in    liilochistan, 

styled  the  '  Hela'  mountains The  chiefs  of  this 

country  were  called  Helaines  or  the  chiefs  of  the  Hella. 
The  formation  of  the  term  Helenes   in  Sanskrit  would 


ijiulia  in  Greece,  p.  6'J. 
*Iiulia  in  Greece,  pp.  48-50. 


166  HINDU    SUrERInlUTY. 

be  identical  with  the  Greek.  Hel-eii  (tlie  Sun-king)  is 
.said  to  have  left  his  kingdom  to  Aiolas,  his  eldest  son, 
uhile  he  sent  for  Dorus  and  Zuthus  to  make  conquests 
in  foreign  lands.  Haya  is  the  title  of  a  renowned  tribe 
of  Rajput  warriors.  They  were  called  Asii  or  Aswa, 
and  their  chiefs,  '  Aswa-pas,'  and  to  use  the  words  of 
Conon,  as  quoted  by  Bishop  Thirlwall,  "  the  patrimony 
of  Aiolus  (the  Hai3'ulas)  is  described  as  bounded  by  the 
river  Asopus  (Aswa-pas)  and  the  Enipeus."  Such,  then, 
was  the  Asopus,  the  settlement  of  the  Haya  tribes,  the 
Aswa  chiefs,  the  sun  worshippers,  the  children  of  the 
Sun-king  or  Helen,  whose  land  was  called  in  Greek  Hella- 
dos,  in  Sanskrit,  Hela-des  {llela,  Hela;  des,  land).  Of 
Achilles,  sprung  from  a  splendid  Rajput  stock,  I  shall 
briefly  speak  when  developing  the  parent  geography  of 
Dolopes."^ 


1   Jiulia  in  Gieoce,  i>[>.  iS-50. 


jii.Njji   coi-itNizArmx.  Ui7 


\.— ROME. 

"OliTili.T!      Fatlior  Til.cr  : 
To  whom  tlir  Koiiiims  lu-iy. 
A  Roman's  lite,  a   limiian's  aims, 
Take  lliiiu  ill  cliaiyt-  lliis  day  I 

— Macaui.av  :  Ilorotius. 

]\Ir.  Pococke  savs  :  "  The  i'Teat  heroes  of  India  are  tlie 
oods  of  Greece.  Thev  are  in  fact — as  thev  have  been 
often  rationally  attirmed,  and  as  plaursibly  but  not  as 
rationally  denied — deified  chiefs  and  heroes  ;  and  this 
same  process  of  deification,  both  among  Greeks  and 
Romans — the  descendants  of  colonists  from  India,  con- 
tinued, specially  amongst  the  latter  people  down  to  and 
throughout  the  most  historical  periods."^ 

The  Romans  were  the  descendants  of  the  Trojans, 
the  inhabitants  of  that  part  of  Asia  Elinor  in  Avhich 
Hindu  settlements  had  long  been  estaljlished.  Niebuhr 
says  :  "  Home  is  not  a  Latin  name."      Mr.  Pococke  says 

it  is  "  Rama."     The  Sanskrit  lono-  "a"  is    rei)laced   bv 

i^  1 

"  o  "  or  "  w  "  of  the  Greeks,  as  Poseidon  and  Poseidan.- 
Their  neighbours,  the  Etruscans,  had  a  system 
of  religion  in  many  respects  similar  to  that  of  the 
Hindus.  It  is  remarkable  that  their  religion  was  as 
perfect  in  ceremonial  details  as  tlie  religion  of  the 
Hindus,  or  of  the  Egyptians  (which  was  a  direct 
outcome  of  Hinduism.)  But  the  early  Etruscans,  too, 
were  a  body  of  colonists  from  India  who  penetrated  into 
Italy  some  time  before  or  about  the  Hindu  colonization 
of  Greece.  Of  the  Asiatic  tribe  called  "  Asor," 
Count  Bjornstjerna  says  :  '*  It  seems  to  be  the  same 
tribe  which  came  by  sea  to  Etruria."^ 


1  India  in  Grewe,  p.  \\2.        -India  in  Greece,  \\  IGG, 
•^Theogony  of  the  Ilind'-.s    \>.  1U5. 


168  HINDU    SLTERIORlTr. 


YT._TURiaSTAN  AND  NORTHERX  ASIA. 

"At  length  tlien  to  the  ^vide  earth's  extreme  bounds, 
To  Scythia  are  we  come,  those  pathless  wilds 
Where  human  footstep  never  marked  the  ground." 

■ — jEschylus  :  Prometheus. 

The  Turanians  extending'  over  the  whole  of  TiU'kistan 
and  Central  Asia  were  originally  an  Indian  people. 
Colonel  Tod  says  :  "  x\bdul  Gazi  makes  Tamak,  the  son 
of  Tare,  the  Turishka  of  the  Puranas.  His  descendants 
gave  their  name  to  Tocharistan  or  Turkistan."^  Pro- 
fessor ]\Iax  Muller  says  :  "  Turvas  and  his  descendants 
who  represent  Turanians"  are  described  in  the  later  epic 
poems  of  India  as  cursed  and  deprived  of  their  inherit- 
ance," and  hence  their  miirration. 

Colonel  Tod  says  :  "  The  Jaisahner  annals  assert 
tliat  the  Yadu  and  the  Balica  branches  of  the  Indu  race 
ruled  Korassan  after  the  Great  War,  the  Indo-Scythic 
races  of  Grecian  authors."  Besides  the  Iklicas  and  the 
numerous  branches  of  the  Indo-Medes,  many  of  the  sons 
of  Cooru  dispersed  over  these  regions  :  amongst  whom 
we  may  place  Ootooru  Cooru  (Northern  Coorus)  of  the 
Puranas,  the  Ottorocm\T;  of  the  Greek  authors.  ])Oth 
the  Indu  and  the  Surya  races  were  eternally  sending 
their  superfluous  population  to  those  distant  regions."'' 

A  ]\tohamedan  historian^  says  that  the  conntry  of 
Khatha  was  first  inhabited  by  a  body  of  emigrants  from 
India. 

1  Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol,  T.  p.  U)3.      -'Science  of  Language,  p.  212. 
STod's  Kajastluin,  Vol,  1,  p.  16.   -illistury  of  China,  Vol.  IJ,  p.  10, 


niNDU  COLONIZATinx.  ](';0 

A  band  of  Hindu  settlers  left  India  for  Sil)eria, 
where  they  founded  a  kingdom,  with  Bajra[)ur  as  its 
capital.  It  is  related  that  on  tlie  death  of  the  kin<f  of 
that  country  in  a  battle,  Pardainun,  Gad  and  Sambhn, 
three  sons  of  Sri  Krishna  Chandra,  with  a  lar^-e  number 
of  Brahnians  and  Ivshatriyas,  went  there,  and  the  eldest 
brother  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  the  deceased  Raja. 
On  the  death  of  Sri  Krishna  Chandra  they  paid  a  con- 
dolence visit  to  Dvvarka.^ 

Colonel  Tod  savs :  "  The  annals  of  the  Yadus  of 
Jaisalmer  state  that  long  anterior  co  ^'ikrama,  they  held 
dominion  from  Ghazni  to  Samarkand  ;  that  they  estab- 
lished themseh'es  in  those  regions  after  the  Mahabharata 
or  the  Great  War,  and  were  again  impelled  on  the  rise  of 
Islamism  within  the  Indus."-  He  further  says  :  "  Tiie 
Yadus  of  Jaisalmer  ruled  Zabulistan  and  founded 
Ghazni."'^  They  claim  Chaghtaes  as  of  their  own  Indu 
stock,  "  a  claim  which,''  says  Colonel  Tod,  "  I  now 
deem  worthy  of  credit." 

The  Afghans  are  the  descendants  of  the  Aph(jana^ 
the  serpent  tribe  of  the  Apivansa  of  ancient  India.  "  Ac- 
cording to  Abu  Haukal,  the  city  of  Herat  is  also  called 
Heri.  This  adjoins  Maru  or  Murve.""*  The  country 
called  Scestan,  which  the  Middle  Eastern  (Question  may 
yet  bring  more  prominently  before  the  public,  Avas  a 
settlement  of  the  Hindus.  Colonel  Tod  says  :  "  Seestan 
(the  region   of  cold,   see-sthaii)    and  both   sides   of   tiie 

■'TTari  Vanslui,  Vishnu  I'iirva,  Adhyaya  97. 

ildd's  Hajastluui,  p.  b2\). 

^Tod's  Rajasthati,  Vol.  f,  p.  C,].  "Tlic  sons  of  Krishna  ovcntnally 
loft  Indus  behind  and  passed  into  Zabulistan,  and  peopled  these 
countries,  even  to  Saniarkand."'--p.  H,'>. 

*Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  II,  p.  231. 


170  HINDU    KUPERIORITV. 

valley  were  occnpiecl  in  the  earliest  periods  by  another 
branch  of  the  Yadus."^  Colonel  Tod  again  sa^'s  :  "  To 
the  Indn  race  of  Aswa  (the  descendants  o£  Deomida  and 
Ba.jaswa),  spread  over  the  countries  on  both  sides  of  the 
Indns,  do  we  owe  the  distinctive  appellation  of  Asia."- 
That  the  Bactrians  were  an  Indian  peo]:)le  has  already 
been  shown.     And  that  the  Indian  mig:rations  extended 

CD 

to  Siberia  and  the  northern-most  part  of  Asia  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  the  descendants  of  the  Aryan  raio-rators 
are  still  ftamd  there.  "The  Samovedes  and  Tchondes  of 
Siberia  and  Finland  are  really  Samayadus  and  Joudes  of 
India.  The  Ian2;ua2:es  of  the  two  former  races  are 
said  to  have  a  stronsj  affinity  and  are  classed  as  Hindu- 
Germanic  by  Klaproth,the  author  of  'Asia  Polyglotta.'  "s 
Mr.  Remusat  traces  these  tribes  to  Central  Asia,  where 
the  Yadus  long  held  sway.  Sama,  Syam  is  a  title  of 
Krishna.     Thev  were  Sama  Yadus. 


1  Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  1 1,  p.  230. 

2Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  T,  ik  G3.  "  Europn  derived  from  Sarupa, 
'of  the  beautiful  face,' the  iiiiiiul  syllable  .-■?(  and  en  having-  the  same 
signification  in  both  languages,  viz.,  good.  Rupa  is  countenance."'— 1>.  515. 

3Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  T,  p.  529."  The  race  of  Joude  is  described 
by  Baber  as  occupying  the  mountainous  range,  the  very  spot  mentioned 
in  ll..'  annals  of  the  Yadnn  as  iheir  ])liice  of  lialt  on  quitting  India 
twelve  centuries  before  Christ,  and  thence  called  Yadu-ki-dang,  or  bill 
of  Yadu. 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  171 


VII.—GEUMANY. 


The  [iross's  uvagii-  Irttors. 
That  blessing  ye  brought  forth, 
Behold  I    it  lies  in  fetters 
Oil  the  soil  that  gave  it  I'irlh. 


— CAMrBELL:   Ode  to  the  Germans. 


That  the  Ancient  Germans  were  nii<Trators  from  India 
is  proveil  by  the  following  passage  from  Muir :  "  It 
has  been  remarked  by  various  authors  (as  Jvuhn 
and  Zeitschrift,  IV .  9-11!:)  that  in  analogy  with 
Manu  or  Manus  as  the  father  of  mankind  or  of  the 
Aryas,  German  mythology  recognises  Planus  as  the 
ancestor  of  Teutons,"  The  English  'man'  and  the 
German  '  mann '  appear  also  to  be  akin  to  the  word  *  manu,' 
and  the  German  'mensch'  presents  a  close  resemblance  to 
'manush'  of  Sanskrit."^ 

The  first  habit  of  the  Germans,  says  Tacitus,  on 
risinir  was  abliition,  which  Colonel  Tod  thinks  must 
have  been  of  Eastern  orio;in  and  not  of  the  cold  climate 
of  Germany,-  as  also  "  the  loose  flowing  robe,  the  long 
and  braided  hair  tied  in  a  knot  at  the  top  of  the  head 
so  emblematic  of  the  Brahmins." 

The  Germans  are  the  Brahmans  or  Sharmas  of 
India.  Sharma  became  Jarma  and  Jarma  became  Jerman. 
For  in  Sanskrit  sh  and^'  and  a  are  convertible  into  one 
another,  as  Arya,  Arjya  and  Arshya  (see  l\Iax  ]\Iuller's 
liig  Veda.)     Csoma-De-Coras    in    the     Preface    to    his 

J  MiinniiiL,''s  Ancient  and  Mediioval  India.  Vol.  I,  p.  118. 
^Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol,  1,  pp.  63  and  yu. 


172  HINDU    SUl'ERIOP.ITY. 

Tibetan  Dictionary,  says  :  "The  Hungarians  will  find  a 
fund  of  information  from  the  study  of  Sanskrit  respect- 
ing their  origin,  manners,  customs  and  language." 

The  Saxons  are  no  other  than  the  sons  of  the  Sacas, 
who  lived  on  the  North-western  frontier  of  Arvawarta, 
wdience  they  migrated  to  Germany.  The  name  Saxon 
is  a  compound  of  "  Saca  "  (Sakas)  and  "  sanu  '*  (descen- 
dants). They  were  so-called  because  they  were  descen- 
dants of  the  Sakas.  Their  nanie  for  Heaven  is  the  same 
as  that  of  the  Indians.  A  critic  says  :  "It  is  from  the 
Himalaya  Mountains  of  the  Sacas  that  the  '  Sac-soons ' 
those  sons  of  the  Sacas  (Saxons  or  Sacsons,  for  the  words 
are  at  once  Sanskrit,  Saxon  and  English)  derived  their 
Himmel  or  Heaven." 

Colonel  Tod  sa3's  :  "I  have  often  been  struck  with 
a  characteristic  analogy  in  the  sculptures  of  the  most 
ancient  Saxon  cathedrals  in  England,  and  on  the  con- 
tinent to  Kanaya  and  the  Gopis.  Both  may  be  intended 
to  represent  divine  harmony.  J)id  the  Asi  and  Jits  of 
Scandinavia^  the  ancestors  of  the  Saxons,  bring  them 
from  Asia?"^ 


Tod's  Rajasthan,  Volume  I,  (People's  Edition),  p.  570, 


HINDI'   COLONIZATIOX.  173 


VIIL— SCANDlXAViA. 

Tlic  S'.vodi>li  sage  aduiircs  in  yoiulcr  bowons, 
liis  winged  insects  and  his  ru.'-y  lluwors. 

—  C.\:\iT'r,Ki.i.  :   Plmsurcs  of  Ilojir. 

The  Scandinavians  are  the  descendants  of  the  Hindu 
Kshatrijas.  The  term  Scandinavian  and  tlie  Hin(Ui 
"  Kshatriya"  or  the  Warrior  caste  are  identical,  "the 
former  beinir  a  Sanskrit  eiinivalent  for  tlie  latter:" 
"Scanda  Nabhi"  (Scanda  Navi)  sio-nifies  Scanda  Chiefs 
(Warrior  Chiefs). 

Colonel  Tod  says:  "The  Aswas  were  chiefly  of 
the  Indu  race,  yet  a  branch  of  the  Suryas  also  bore  this 
desio'nation."  In  the  Edda  we  are  informed  that  the 
Getes  or  Jits  who  entered  Scandinavia  were  termed  Asi, 
and  their  first  settlement  was  Asigard  {Asi  (jarlt^  for- 
tress of  t^ie  Asi)." 

Pinkerton  says  :  "Odin  came  into  Scandinavia  in  the 
time  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  oOU  years  before  Christ,  and 
that  his  successor  was  Gotama.  This  is  the  period  of 
the  last  Boodha,  or  Mahavira,  whose  era  is  477  before 
Vicrama,  or  533  before  Christ.  Gotama  was  the  successor 
of  Mahavira."^ 

"In  the  martial  mythology  and  warlike  poetry  of  the 
Scandinavians  a  wide  field  exists  for  assimilation." - 

"  We  can  scarcely  question,"  says  Count  Bjornst- 
jerna,  "the  derivation  of  the  Edda  (the  religious  books 
of  ancient  Scandinavia)  from  the  Vedas."^ 


1  Tod's  Rajiistlnin,  Yul.  I,  p,  U4.   -Tod's  llujasrlian,  Vol.  I,  p.  0«. 
^Iboogoiiy  of  the  liiudus,  p.  lOb. 


174  HINDU    SUPERIOKITV. 

The  principle  on  which  the  seven  days  oEthe  Aveek 
nre  named  in  India  is  the  same  on  which  it  has  been 
done  in  Scandinavia  : — 

(1)  Sundai;  is  called  by  the  Hindus  Aditwaram, 
after  xiddit,  the  sun,  after  which  also  the  Scandinavians 
call  the  day  Sondag. 

(2)  Monday  \i  cdWaA  by  the  Hindus  Somaicaram^ 
from  Soma,  the  moon.  Among  the  Scandinavians  it  is 
called  Mondari. 

(3)  Tuesday  is  called  Manyaliraram  in  India  after 
the  Hindu  hero,  Maugla.  It  bears  the  name  Tisdag 
amongst  the  Scandinavians,  after  their  hero,  This. 

(4)  Wednesday  is  termed  Botidhawayrwi  by  the 
Hindus,  after  Boudha  ;  by  the  Scandinavians,  it  is  deno- 
minated after  Oden  (\yodan,  Bodham,  Budha),    Onsdag. 

(5)  Thursday  is  called  Brahaspatiicaram  by  the 
Hindus,  after  Brahspati,  or  Brahma,  their  principal  god; 
it  bears  the  name  Thorsdag  amongst  the  Scandinavians, 
after  their  principal  god,  Thor. 

(6)  Friday  is  called  by  the  Hindus  Siicravaram^ 
after  Sucra,  the  ooddess  of  beaut}^ ;  it  is  named  by  the 
Scandinavians  after  Freja,  the  goddess  of  beaut}', 
Frejdag. 

(7)  Saturday  is  called  Saniicaram  by  the  Hindus 
after  Sanischar,  the  god  who  cleanses  spiritually  ;  it  is 
named  Lordag  by  the  Scandinavians  from  loger,  bathing. 

"  AVe  have  here,"  says  Count  Bjornstjerna,  himself 
a  Scandinavian  gentleman,  "another  proof  that  the 
I\Iyths  of  the  Scandinavians  are  derived  from  those  of 
the  Hindus,"^ 

'Xlicogouy  of  tht;  iiiudu-,  p.  1G9. 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  17o 


THE   IIYJ^EIIBOUEAXS. 

"Iliiil.  Mountain  n\  ih-Vv^Ui  ] 
Palooo  of  i^lorv,  I'lcsscd  \iy  (;l<>i_v":-  Kini,'  I 
AVilli  iirosperiiit;'  shade  embower  uie,  wliile  1  sing 
Thy  wonderf^.  yet  tinreaoh'd  by  mortal  Hight  ! 
Sky-})ierehig  tuoiintain  !   in  thy  bowers  of  love 
Ni>  tears  are  seen,  save  wliere  medioir.al  stalks 
AVeep  tlrops  balsamic  o'er  the  silvered  walks." 


— Hyjix  to  Im>ra  :  Sir  IT.  Jones'  iranshtti 


on. 


The  lij'pcrborefins  (who  formerly  occupied  the  Xorth- 
ern-most  parts  of  Europe  and  Asia)  were  the  Khyber, 
purians,  or  the  inhabitants  of  Khyberpur  and  its  district. 
Another  Khvber  settlement  will  be  seen  in  Thessaly 
on  the  Eastern  branch  of  Phd-nix  river.  Its  name 
is  tolcrablv  well-preserved  !is  Khyphara  and  Khyphera.^ 

j\[r.  Pococke  says:  "  AYliile  the  sacred  tribe  of 
Dodo,  or  the  Dadan,  fixed  their  oracle  towards  the  north- 
erly line  of  the  Hellopes,  in  Thessaly,  the  immediate 
neighbours  of  the  Hyperboreans  took  up  their  abode  to- 
wards the  south  of  the  holy  mountain  of  To-]\Iaros,  or 
Soo-Meroo.  These  were  the  Pashwaran,  or  the  emigrants 
from  Peshawar,  who  appear  in  the  Greek  guise  of  Pas- 
saroii.  We  now  readily  see  the  connection  between  the 
settlements  of  the  Dodan  (Dodonian  Oracle),  Passaron 
(Peshawar  people),  and  the  offerings  of  the  Hyperboreans, 
or  the  men  of  Khyber])ur,  who  retained  this  appella- 
tion wherever  they  stibsequently  settled."^ 


1  India  in  Greece,  [>.  120.      -India  in  Greece,  p.  127. 


176  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 


GREAT  BRITAIN". 

"  Whether  this  portion  of  tlie  world  were  rent 
By  the  rude  Oceau,  from  the  Continent, 
Or  thus  created  :  it  was  sure  designed 
To  be  the  sacred  refuge  of  mankind." 

"Waller  :    To  thf  Proifctor. 

The  Druids  in  ancient  Britain  were  Buddhistic  Brah- 
mans ;  they  adopted  the  metempsychosis,  the  pre- 
existence  of  the  soul,  and  its  return  to  the  reahns  oi 
universal  space.  They  had  a  divine  triad,  consisting  of 
a  Creator,  Preserver,  and  Destroyer,  as  with  the 
Buddhists.  The  Druids  constituted  a  Sacredotal  Order 
which  reserved  to  itself  aione  the  interpretation  of  tlie 
m3"steries  of  religion. 

"  The  ban  of  the  Druids  was  equally  terrible  with 
that  of  the  Brahmans ;  even  the  king  a^^ainst  whom  it 
was  fulminated  '  fell,'  to  use  the  expression  of  the 
Druids,  'like  grass  before  the  scythe.'  "^ 

]Mr.  Pococke  says:  'Tt  was  the  Macedonian  hero  who 
invaded  and  vjinquished  the  land  of  his  forefathers 
im wittingly.  It  was  a  Napier  who,  leading  on  the  small 
but  mighty  army  of  Britain,  drove  into  headlong  flight 
the  hosts  of  those  warlike  clans  from  u'hose  pareiit  stock 
hhnselt  and  not  a  few  of  his  troops  icere  the  direct  de- 
scend antsy '^ 

Mr.  Pococke  also  says:  "The  Scotch  clans,  their 
orioinal  localities  and  their  chiefs  in  Afghanistan  and 
Scotland,  are  subjects  of  the  deepest  interest.  How 
little  did  the  Scotch  officers  who  perished  in  the  Afghan 

iTheogony  of  tlie  Hindus,  p.  104.     -India  in  Greece,  p.  86. 


HINDU    COLONIZATION".  177 

campaign  tliiiik  that  thv.y  -were  opposed  l)}-  the  same 
tribes  from  whom  tJici/  tlunn^dces  sprann  !  A  work  on 
this  subject  is  in  progress."^ 

]\Ir.  Pococke  says  :  "  It  is  in  no  spirit  o£  etymologi- 
cal triflino'  that  I  assure  the  reader,  that  the  far-famed 
'  hurrah'  of  his  native  country  (England)  is  the  war- 
cry  of  his  forefather,  the  Rajput  of  Britain,  for  he  was 
long  the  denizen  of  this  island.-  Ilis  shout  was  '  haro! 
haro  I'  (hurrah!  hurrah  !)  Hark  to  the  spirit-stirring 
strains  of  Wordsworth,  so  descriptive  of  this  Oriental 
w^arrior.     It  is  the  Druid  v.ho  speaks : — 

Then  seize  the  spear,  and  mount  the  scytlicd  irheel. 

Lash  the  j)rniul  sU'od,  and  whirl  the  flaming  stci'l. 

Sweep  through  the  thickest  host  and  scorn  to  lly, 

Arise  !  arise  !  for  this  it  is  to  die. 

Tims,  neath  his  ranked  care  tlii'  I)niid  sire 

Lit  the  rnpt  sotd,  and  fed  the  martial  fire." 

"The  settlement  of  the  people  of  the  Draus  in  this 
island,  the  northern  part  of  which  was  essentially  that 
of  the  Hi-BUon-])Es  (E-budii-des,)  or  the  land  of  the 
Hiya  IJad'has  at  once  accounts  satisfactorily  for  the 
amazing  mechanical  skill  displayed  in  the  structure  of 
Stone  Henge,  and  harmonises  with  the  industrious  and 
enterprising  character  of  the  Budhists  throughout  the 
old  world ;  for  these  are  the  same  people  who  drained 
the  valley  of  Cashmir,  and  in  all  probability  the 
plains  of  Thessaly." 

The  history  of  the  Druids  is  thus  explained :  "The 
Druids  were  Drui-des.  They  were  in  fact  the  same 
as  the  Druopes.  The.se  venerated  sages,  chiefs  of  the 
tribes  of  the  Draus,  were  of  the  Imlii  Vansa  or  lunar 
race.     Henue   the    Symbol    of  the    crescent    "worn    by 

1  India  in  Ureeoe,  p.  77.         ^ludia  in  Greece,  p.  114, 


178  nixDu  surERioiUTT. 

these  Druids.  Their  last  refuge  in  Britain  from  tlie  op- 
pression cf  the  llomans  was  'the  Isle  of  Saints'  or  'Mona' 
(more  properly  '  Mooni,'  Sanskrit  for  a  holy  sage). 
The  Druids  were  the  bards  of  the  aocicnt  Rajputs." 

Hark!  'twas  tlie  voice  of  hai.'t)s  that  pouri'd  along 

The  hollow  vale  the  floating  tide  of  song; 

I  see  the  gliltering  train,  in  long  array, 

Gleam  through  the  shades,  and  snowy  splendours  play: 

I  see  them  now  with  measured  steps  and  slow, 

'Mid  arching  groves  the  white-rohed  s;iges  go. 

The  oaken  wreath  with  braided  fillet  drest — 

The  crescent  beaming  on  the  holy  breast — 

The  silver  hair  which  waves  above  the  lyre, 

And  shrouds  the  strings,  proclaim  the  Druid's  quire. 

They  halt  and  all  is  hushed. 

That  the  Hindus  lived  in  Britain  in  ancient  times 
is  clear  from  the  f.ict  that  a  chief  of  the  twiceborn  was 
once  brought  from  Saka-dvvipa  (Britain)  to  India  by 
Vishnu's  eao-le.^ 

For  further  information  re2;ardino'  the  Hindu  colo- 
nization  of  Great  Britain  see  Godfrey  Higgins'  "  Celtic 
Druids",  wherein  it  has  been  proved  that  tlie  Druids  were 
the  priests  of  the  Hindu  colonists  who  emigrated  from 
India  and  settled  in  Britain. 

iColebrooke's  Miscellaneous  Essays,  Vol.  II,  p.  179,  Ti-anslation 
of  Jatiniala.  The  learned  Pictet  says :  "I  here  terminate  ihis  parallel 
of  the  Celtic  idioms  with  the  Sa)isl<rit.  I  do  not  believe  that  after  this 
marked  series  of  analogies,  a  series  which  end)races  the  entir(>  (U'ganiza- 
tioii  of  thi'ir  tongues,  that  their  radical  alllnity  can  be  conleshHl. 

"The  Celtic  race  establisiied  in  Europe  from  tin'  most  ancient  times 
must  have  been  the  first  to  arrive  there.  The  decisive  analogies  which 
thi!Se  languages  still  present  to  the  Sanskrit  carry  us  back  (o  the  most 
ani,'ient  i)eriod  to  which  we  (;an  attain  by  Comparative  Philology,  .  .  " 
LeUre  a  M.  Uundioldt.  Jonrntd  Asiatiipie  (ISoG).  p.  155. 


IIINDLT    COLONIZATION.  179 


EASTERN   ASIA. 

r>nt,  (^li  I   vhat  jjcncil  of  a  living  star 

Could  paiul  (luit  gorgeous  car, 

In  whirli  as  in  an  ark  supremely  bright, 

Tiie  horil  m1'  boundless  light 

Ascending  calm  o'er  the  Empyreuni  sails. 

And  with  ten  thousand  beams  his  beauty  veils. 

— Hymn  to  Surya  :    'Translated  bij  S.  IT.  Jones. 

The  eastward  wave  of  Hindu  emii2:ratioii  covered 
the  whole  of  Eastern  Asia,  comprising  the  Transgan- 
getic  Peninsula,  China,  Japan,  the  isles  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  Australia,  and  broke  upon  the  sliores  of 
America. 

The  manners  and  institutions  of  the  inliabitants  of 
the  Transffiino;etic  Peninsula  bear  so  strono;  an  affinity 
to  those  of  the  Hindus  that  one  cannot  resist  the  idea 
of  their  havin";  been  a  Hindu  race  at  some  distant 
])eriod.  The  fundamental  principles  which  underlie 
their  polit3^  manners,  morality  and  religion  are  the  same 
as  those  of  the  Hindus.  In  fact,  it  ma}-  be  taken  for 
"granted  that  the  Transrranjxetic  Peninsula  was  bat  a  part 
and  parcel  of  India  so  far  as  society,  religion  and  polity 
were  concerned.  There  was  no  fj^eneral  chancre  in  India 
but  was  also  wrought  there.  The  propagation  of  Bud- 
dhism was  not  confined  to  India ;  the  people  of  the 
Transgangetic  Peninsula  took  their  share  in  it. 

Till  recently  the  Peninsula  was  swayed  wholly  by 
Indian  thought,  but  by  and  by  a  second  power  was  felt 
to  assert  itself.  Cirina  accepted  the  religion  of  the  Great 
Buddha.     Thenceforward  ic  became  a  ri^■al  power  with 


ISO  HINDU    SUPERIOrvITY. 

In<li:i  ill  the  eyes  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Peninsula. 
The  Aryas  soon  reverted  to  their  ancient  faith,  or  rather 
to  a  modified  form  of  the  ancient  faith,  but  on  the  people 
of  the  Peninsula  the  grasp  of  the  reformed  faith  was  too 
firm  to  be  so  easily  shaken  off,  and  hence  the  silver  card 
of  friendship  that  tied  the  two  together  Avas  snapped. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  Transgangetic  Peninsula  thence- 
forward began  to  look  up  to  the  Celestials  rather 
than  to  the  Hindus  for  enlightenment  and  instruction. 
But  as  their  political  and  social  institutions  had  a  Hindu 
cast,  a  total  overthrow  of  Hinduism  in  consequence  of 
this  cleavage  was  impossible.  Their  civilization  there- 
fore retained  its  Hindu  basis. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Pardah  system  was 
unknown  in  ancient  India  and  that  it  came  in  the  train 
of  the  Mohamedan  invaders.  The  present  position  of 
the  Burmese  women  in  the  social  and  domestic  life  of 
Burmah,  supports  the  theory  that  the  Celestial  iutluence 
over  the  countries  between  the  Brahmaputra  and  the 
Pacific  was  too  strong  and  deep  to  allow  the  people 
there  to  follow  the  Hindus  in  their  revolutionarv  social 
changes  that  were  unha{)pily  forced  upon  them  by  the 
wave  of  a  less  civilized  but  a  more  determined  foreian 
aggression. 

"  The  Burmans,  we  are  told  by  Symes,  call  their 
Code  generally,  Dharmasath  or  Sastra  ;  it  is  one  among 
the  many  commentaries  on  j\Ianu.  Mr.  Syme  speaks  in 
glowing  terms  of  the  Code."^ 

Mr.  Wilson  says  :  "  The  civilization  of  the  Burmese 
and  the  Tibetans  is  derived  from  India." 

^Sce  Syme's  Embass-y  tu  Ava,  [).  320. 


nixnr  roLONTZA'iinx,  1,S1 

The  nniiie  Ijiirmali  itself  is  oi"  E^iiidu  derivation  and 
proves  the  Hindu  oriuin  o(:  tlie  Iinrmnns.  'I'he  name 
Camboja  is  fre(|iientl3'  mentioned  in  Sanskrit  works,  and 
who  that  has  read  accounts  of  it  will  deny  its  identity 
with  Cambodia  ?'  In  l-SSi  a  Hindu  temple  was  exca- 
vated in  that  country  by  a  Frenchman,-  whose  writings 
prove  that  in  ancient  times,  if  not  a  part  of  the  Indian 
empire,  it  wfis  most  closel}^  connected  with  it. 

China,  too,  was  a  colony  of  tlie  ancient  Hindus. 
Accordinir  to  the  Hindu  theory  of  emiirration,  China 
was  first  inhabited  by  the  Kshatriyas  from  India.  Colonel 
Tod  says:  "The  genealogists  of  China  and  Tartary  de- 
clare themselves  to  be  the  descendants  (jf  "  Awar,"  son 
of  the  Hindu  King,  "  Pururawa."-^ 

"  Sir  \V.  Jones  says  the  Chinese  assert  their  Hindu 
ormin.   * 

AccordiufT  to  the  traditions  noted  in  the  Schidiiiq. 
the  ancestors  of  the  Chinese  conducted  by  Fohi  came  to 
the  plains  of  China  2900  years  before  Christ,  from  the 
hiiih  mountainland  which  lies  to  the  west  of  that 
country.  This  sIk^ws  that  the  settlers  into  China  were 
oriii'inally  inhabitants  of  Kashmir,  Ladakh,  Little  rhibet, 
and  Punjab,  wliich  were  parts  of  ancient  India.'' 

^Couipaiu  Oambistlioli  of  Arrian,  Cauiba-Srliala  (.Sllialii  =  j)laeL' or 
district).  The  word  denotes  the  dwellers  in  the  Kaud)a  tir  Kanihis 
couiitrj'.  So  Kamboja  may  be  explained  as  those  born  in  Kaniba  or 
Kauibos. —  Wil'^ona  Vishnu  Purana.  Vol.  II,  p.  1S2. 

2Tlie  Indian  Mirror  of  the  2nd  September  1882. 

^Annals  of  Rajasthaii,  Vol,  I,  p.  35. 

"^ Annals  of  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  j).  o7 . 

^It  may  be  reiterated  that  in  the  days  of  the  Mahaliharata  and  for 

lon'4"  after,  Ari^Uauishiii  wa>  a  part  of  Aryawarta.   Tlie  liaja  of  Kandaiiar 

was  a  Hindu,  and  his  daughter  Khandiiari  or  Gandiiari  was  the  mother 

of  iJuryodhau.     Even  at  the  time  of  Alexandet-  the  Great  it  was  a  part 

of  India. 


182  mxDU  SLTEiaoiuTv. 

The  religion  and  culture  of  China  are  undoubtedly 
o£  Hindu  origin.  Count  Bjornstjerna  says  :  ''What  may 
be  said  with  certainty  is  that  the  religion  of;  Cliina  came 
from  India." 

That  ancient  India  had  constmt  intercourse  with 
China  no  one  can  deny.  China^  and  Chinese  products 
are  constantly  mentioned  in  the  sacred  as  w^ell  as  the 
profane  literature  of  the  time.  Chinese  authors,  too, 
according  to  Elphinstone,  note  Indian  ambassadors 
to  the  court  of  China.  Professor  Heeren  says  that  "  the 
name  China  is  of  Hindu  origin  and  came  to  us  fi'om 
India."  See  also  Vincent,  ^'ol.  II,  pp.  574,  75."  The 
word  S/'nhn  occurs  in  the  Bible,  Isaiah  xlix.  12. 

The  wave  of  Indian  migration  before  breaking  on 
the  shores  of  America  submerged  the  islands  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago.  Colonel  Tod  sa3^s  :  "  The  isles  of 
the  Archipelago  were  colonized  by  the  Suryas  (Surya- 
Vansa,  Kshtri^yas)  whose  mythological  and  heroic  his- 
tory is  sculptured  in  their  edifices  and  maintained  in 
their  writing's."'' 

]\lr.  Elphinstone  says:  "The  histories  of  Java  give 
a  distinct  account  of  a  numerous  body  of  Hindus  from 
Kalinoa  who  landed  on  their  island,  civihzed  the  inhabi- 


iRauiayana  Bientions  Chinese  silks  and  other  raanitfactures. 

2M.  de  Guigues  says  that  Magadha  was  known  to  the  Chinese  by  the 
name  2Io-L-iato,  and  its  capital  was  recognised  by  hoih  its  Hindu  names, 
Kusuinpurii,  For  which  the  Chinese  wrote  Kia-so-mo-pon-lo  and  Patal/putra, 
out  of  which  they  made  Fatoli-tse  by  translating  y;<<</-a,  which  means  sou 
in  Sanskrit,  into  their  own  corresponding  word,  /.^r. — Journal  of  the  Itoi/al 
Asiatic  Society,  Vol.V.  [Such  translation  of  names  has  thrown  a  veil  of 
obscurity  over  many  a  name  of  Hindu  origin-  Hindu  geography  has 
thus  suffered  a  great  loss] . 

3 Tod's  Rajasthau,  Vol.  IL  p,  218,  footnote. 


HINDU    COLOXTZATTOX.  LSTi 

tants  and  c.stal)lishcd  an  era  still  subsi>tiii^i:",  the  first  year 
of  which  fell  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  before  Christ,"^ 

"The  colonization  of  the  eastern  coast  of  Jiiva" 
by  lirahnuins  is  "a  fact  %Yell  established  by  Sir  Stain- 
ford  Kaffles."^ 

.  Later  immigrants  from  India  were  evidently  I^ndd- 
liists.  Mr.  Sewell  says:  "^S^itivc  tradition  in  e[ava 
relates  that  about  the  bef»unning  oi  the  seventh  century 
((JOo  A.  D,  accordin'.;  to  Fergusson)  a  prince  of  Giijrat 
arrived  in  the  island  with  5,000  followers  and  settled  at 
!Matar:un.  A  little  later  2,000  more  inunigrants  arrived 
to  support  him.  He  and  his  followers  were  Buddhists, 
and  from  his  time  IJnddhism  was  firmly  established 
as  the  religion  of  Java."- 

"The  Chinese  pilgrims  who  visited  the  island  in  the 
fourth  century  found  it  entirely  peopled  by  the  Hindus. "■< 
Kespecting  the  inhabitants  of  Java,  Mr.  ikickle  says: 
"Of  all  the  xlsiatic  islanders  this  race  is  the  most 
attractive  to  the  imagination.  They  still  adhere  to  the 
Hindu  faith  and  worship.""* 

Dr.  Cust  says  :  "  In  the  third  group  we  come  once 
more  on  traces  of  the  great  Aryan  civilization  of  India  ; 
for  many  centuries  ago  some  adventurous  Brahmans  from 
the  Telegu  coast  (or  from  Cambodia)  conveyed  to  Java 
their  religion,  their  sacred  books  and  their  civilization, 
and  Java  became  the  seat  of  a  great  and  powerful  Hindu 
dynasty.'*     As  regards  Borneo,  the  largest  island  of  the 

^Elphiustone's  Hit^tory  of  India,  p.  1G8. 

2Heereii's  Historical  Researches,  Vul.  II,  p.  303,  footnote. 

3  Antiquarian  Notes  in  Java,  .Journal,  R.  A.  S.,  p.  402  (11)06). 

4See  R.  A.  S.  Journal,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  136,  38  on  the  History  of  Java. 

•"'Beauties,  Sublimities  and  Harmonies  of  J^ature,  Vol.  I. 

''Lino'uistie  and  Orlt'utal  Essays. 

1^  » 


181  HINDU    SUi'ElUOIUTr. 

Archipelago,  another  traveller ^  observes  that  "in  the 
very  inmost  recesses  of  the  mountains  as  well  as  over 
the  face  of  the  country,  the  remains  of  temples  and 
pagodas  are  to  be  seen  similar  to  those  found  on  the 
continent  of  India  bearing  all  the  traits  of  Hindu  my- 
thology;  and  that  in  the  country  of  AVahoo,  at  least  400 
miles  from  the  coast,  there  are  several  of  very  superior 
workmanship  with  all  the  emblematic  figures  so  com- 
mon in  Hindu  places  of  worship," 

Sir  Stamford  Raffles  Avhile  describing):  the  small 
island  of  Bali,  situated  towards  the  east  of  Java  savs  : 
"  Here,  together  with  the  Brahminical  religion,  is  still 
preserved  the  ancient  form  of  Hindu  municipal  polity."- 

The  13ugis  of  the  island  of  Celebes  trace  back  their 
history  to  the  Savira  Greding,  whom  they  represent  to 
have  proceeded  in  immediate  descent  from  their 
heavenl}"  mediator  Baitara  Garu  (which  is  distinctly 
a  Hindu  name),  and  to  have  been  the  first  chief  of  any 
celebrity  in  Celebes- 

As  regards  Sumatra, M.  Coleman  says  :  "Mr.  Ander- 
son in  his  account  of  his  mission  to  the  coast  of  that  island 
(Sumatra)  has,  however,  stated  that  he  discovered  at 
Jambi  the  remains  of  an  ancient  Hindu  temple  of  con- 
siderable dimensions,  and  near  the  spot  various  mutilated 
figures,  which  would  appear  to  clearly  indicate  the  former 
existence  of  the  worship  of  the  Vedantio  philosophy."-' 

Australia  was  probably  deserted  soon  after  its 
settlement.     But  that  the  wave  of  Hindu  civilization  and 

^Sie  Daltou's  account  of  the   Diuks  of  Boriiei'  in  llic   Journal   of 
the  Asiatic  Society,  Vol,  VII.  p.  lOo. 
2Doscriptioii  of  .lava,  Vol,  IT,  p.  2?.f;. 
•''ColevuiinV  Ilimlu  ^lythology,  p.  3G1. 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  1S5 

emii2:ration  did  at  one  time  Ijreak  on  tlu',  sliorcs  of 
Australia  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  many  extraordi- 
nary thing's  are  found  there.  Amono' other  thintrs,  the 
native  races  have  c'ot  a  kind  of  arrow,  which  clearlv  be- 
tra^-s  its  Hindu  origin.  This  arrow  called  homerang 
by  the  natives,  is  exactly  the  same  as  that  used  by 
Arjuna  and  Karan  in  the  Mahabharata.  Its  great  merit 
is  that  it  returns  to  the  archer  if  it  misses  the  aim.' 


i'ur  furtlicr  infuriiiatiou  on  the  puiut  sec  '' MiliUirj-  Science." 


186  HINDU  SLTERIORITY. 


AMERICA. 

Ameiica  !  hulf  brotlicr  of  the  world  ! 
With  something  good  and  bad  of  evoiy  land  ; 
Greater  than  thee  have  lost  their  seat, 
Greater  scarce  none  can  stand, 

— Bailey  :  Festus, 

The  fact  that  a  highly-civilized  race  inhabited  America 
long  before  the  modern  civilization  of  Em-ope  made  its 
appearance  there,  is  quite  clear  from  the  striking  remains 
of  ancient  and  high  refinement  existing  in  the  country. 
Extensive  remains  of  cities  which  must  have  been  once  in 
a  most  flourishing  condition,  of  strong  and  well-built  fort- 
resses, as  well  as  the  ruins  of  very  ancient  and  magnificent 
buildings,  tanks,  roads  and  canals  that  meet  the  eye  over 
a  very  wide  area  of  the  southern  continent  of  America, 
irresistibly  force  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  country 
must  have  been  inhabited  at  one  time  by  a  very  highly- 
civilized  nation.     But  whence  did  this  hi2,h  civilization 


snrmo-  9 


^prmg 

The  researches  of  European  antiquarians  trace  it  to 
India.  Mr.  Coleman  says  :  "  Baron  Humboldt,  the  great 
German  traveller  and  scientist,  describes  the  existence 
of  Hindu  remains  still  found  in  America."' 

Speaking  of  the  social  usages  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Peru,  Mr.  Pococke  says  :  "  The  Peruvians  and  their  an- 
cestors, the  Indians,  are  in  this  point  of  view  at  once  seen 
to  be  the  same  people."-'  The  architecture  of  ancient 
America  resembles   the    Hindu    style    of    architecture. 

Uliudu  >r.vtlinh>'j:y-  ]>.  ooO.       "India  in  Greece,  p.  17-1. 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  1X7 

Mr.  llard}^  says:  "The  aiiriciit  edifices  of  Chicheii  in 
Central  America  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  topes  oE 
India.'"  Mr.  Sqnire  also  says  :  "  The  Buddhist  temples 
of  Sonthern  Imlia,  and  of  the  islands  of  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  as  described  to  us  by  the  learned  members 
of  the  Asiatic  Society  and  the  numerous  Avriters  on  the 
religion  and  antiquities  of  the  Hindus,  correspand  with 
great  exactness  in  all  their  essential  a,nd  in  many  of  their 
minor  features  with  those  of  Central  America,"-  Dr. 
Zerfii  remarks:  "We  find  the  remarkable  temples,  for- 
tresses, viaducts,  acqueducts  of  the  Aryan  group."  "' 

A  still  more  significant  fact  proves  the  Hindu 
origin  of  the  civilization  of  ancient  America.  The 
mythology  of  ancient  America  furnishes  suificient  grounds 
for  the  inference  that  it  was  a  child  of  Hindu  mythology. 
The  following  facts  will  elucidate  the  matter  : — 

(1)  Americans  worshipped  Mother  Earth  as  a 
mvtholoa'ical  deitv,  as  the  Hindus  still  do — dharti  mata 
and  pri/hvi  mata  are  well-known  and  familiar  phrases 
in  Hindustan. 

(2)  Footprints  of  heroes  and  deities  on  rocks  and 
hills  were  worshipped  by  the  Americans  as  devoutly 
as  they  J^i'e  done  in  India  even  at  the  present  day. 
Mexicans  are  said  to  have  worshiped  the  footprints  of 
Quetzal  Coatle,  as  tlu^  Indians  worship  the  footprints  of 
Buddha  in  Ceylon,  and  (^f  Krishna  in  Gokal  near  Muttra.-* 

J  Eastern  Monachism. 
^Serpent  Symbol. 

3 A  Slannal  of  Historical  Development  of  Art. 
*The  Marwarees  of  Ajiiier  vrorslii])  tlic    footprints  of   Ajaipal,   llie 
founder  of  Ajnier,  on  a  rock  near  the  city. 


1S8  HINDU   SUrERIORITY. 

(3)  The  Solar  and  Lunar  eclipses  were  looked  upon 
in  ancient  America  in  the  same  light  as  in  modern 
India.  The  Hindus  beat  drums  and  make  noises  by 
beating  tin  pots  and  other  things.  The  Americans,  too, 
raise  a  friirhtf al  howl  and  sound  musical  instruments. 
The  Carecles  (Americans)  think  that  the  demon  Alaleoyo, 
the  hate7^  of  lifjht^  stcallows  the  moon  and  the  sn,n  in  the 
same  loay  as  the  Hindus  think  that  the  demons  Rahu  and 
Keti'i  devour  the  sun  and  the  moon. 

(4)  The  priests  were  represented  in  America  with 
serpents  round  their  heads,  as  Siva^  Kali  and  others  are 
represented  by  the  Hindus. 

(5)  The  Mexicans  worshipped  the  figure  made  o£ 
the  trunk  of  a  man  with  the  head  o£  an  elephant.  The 
Hindus,  as  is  too  well-known,  still  worship  this  deity 
under  the  name  of  Gane'^h.  Baron  Hum])oldt  thus 
remarks  on  the  Mexican  deity :  ''  It  presents  some 
remarkable  and  apparently  not  accidental  resemblance 
with  the  Hindu  Ganesh.'''' 

({))  The  legend  of  the  Deluge,^  os  believed  in  by 
the  Hindus,  was  also  prevalent  in  America. 

(7)  The  Americans  believed  that  the  sun  stood 
still  at  the  word  of  one  of  their  saints.  In  India,  it  is 
said  that  the  cries  of  Arjuna  at  the  death  of  Krishna 
caused  the  sun  to  stand  still. 

(8)  The  tortoise  myth  is  common  to  India  and 
America.  Mr.  Tylor  says  :  "  The  striking  analogy 
between  the  tortoise  myth  of  North  America  and  India 
is  by  no  means  a  matter  of  new  observation  ;   it  Avas  in- 


iBralima  caused  tlic  delu.i^e  when  only  one  pions  man  named 
Satyavrata.  and  \n<  I'lnnily  uud  iome  animals  were  saved. — Asiatic 
liesearches,  Vol,  I. 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  189 

decti  noticed  bj^  Fiitlier  Lafitan  nearly  a  century 
and  a  half  aii^o.  Three  "-reat  features  of  tlic  Asiatic 
stories  are  found  among  the  North  American  Indians  in 
their  fullest  and  clearest  development.  The  earth  is 
supported  on  the  back  of  a  hut>e  floatinij;  tortoise,  the 
tortoise  sinks  nnder  and  causes  a  deluge,  and  the  tortoise 
is  conceived  as  being  itself  the  earth  floating  upon  the 
face  of  tile  deep."^ 

(!))  The  serpent-worship  was  common  to  both  v 
countries.  In  India,  even  to  the  present  day,  the  ser- 
pent is  the  emblem  of  wisdom,  power,  duration,  life, 
eternity  and  a  symbolic  representation  of  the  sun.  The 
fact  that  serpent- worship  is  common  to  the  Hindu,  the 
Egyptian,  the  Syrian,  the  Grecian,  the  Chinese,  the 
Scandinavian  and  the  American  mythologies  has  been 
held  to  be  another  proof  of  the  Hindu  mythology  being 
the  parent  of  these  systems  of  mythology.  Their  philo- 
sophy was  also  derived  from  India.  Their  belief  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls  stamp  their  philo- 
sophy also  as  being  of  Hindu  origin. 

Apart  from  mythoh^gy,  the  manners,  customs  and 
habits  of  the  ancient  Americans  bore  a  very  close  resemb- 
lance to  those  of  the  Hindus.  Their  dress,  costume,  and 
sandals  prove  them  to  be  of  Indian  origin.  The  dress 
of  American  women  was  the  same  as  the  national  dress 
of  Hindu  women. 

All  that  can  be  safely  asserted  as  to  the  date  of  the 
Hindu  colonization  of  Atnerica  is,  that  it  took  place  after 
the  time  of  Sri  Ram  Chandra.  That  America  was 
frequently  visited  by  the    Hindus  till    long   after  the 

^  Early  History  of  Mankind. 


190  niNBU    SUPERIORTTY. 

Mahabharata  Is  amply  proved  by  historical  records  as 
well  as  the  fictitious  literature  of  the  Hindus. 

Sri  Ram  Chandra  and  Sita  are  still  \yorshipped  in 
America,  and,  remarkably  enouo'h,  under  their  original 
names.  In  America,  an  annual  fair  takes  place,  which 
closely  corresponds  with  the  Dashera  (Ram  Chandrajee- 
ka-Mela)  of  the  Hindus. ^  Sir  W.  Jones  says  :  "  Rama 
is  represented  as  a  descendant  from  the  sun,  as  the 
husband  of  Sita,  and  the  son  of  a  prhicess  named 
Causel3'a.  It  is  very  remarkable  that  Peruvians,  whose 
Inces  boasted  of:  the  same  descent,  st3ded  their 
greatest  festival  Raraa-Sitva  ;  whence  we  may  suppose 
that  South  America  was  peopled  by  the  same  race  who 
imported  into  the  farthest  parts  of  Asia  the  rites  and 
the  fabulous  history  of  Rama.- 

Mythology,  architecture,  philosophy,  traditions,  man- 
ners, and  legends  of  ancient  America  all  argue  the  Hindu 
origin  of  the  Americans.  This  is  supported  b}'  what  we 
find  in  the  Puranas,  the  Mahabharata  and  other  historical 
writings.  It  is  expressly  stated  in  the  Mahabharata  that 
Arjuna  conquered  Patal  Desa,  and  married  Alopi,  daughter 
of  the  king  of  that  country,  named  Kuroo,  and  that  the 
fruit  of  this  union  was  Arawan,'^  who  afterwards  distin- 
o'uished  himself  as  a   sfreat  warrior. 

A  word  regarding;'  the  route  to  America  used  bv  the 
Hindus.  They  seem  generally  to  have  taken  the  sea 
route  from  Ceylon  or  from  some  place  in  the  Bay  of 
Bengal  to  Java,  l>ali,  or  Ijornco  and  thence  to  America — 
to    Mexico,    Central    America    or     Peru.        But     more 

^  For  full  iiiirticulars  see  The  Tlieosopliist  for  lybG. 
^Asiatic  Kcsearches,  Yul.  T,  p.  42G. 
^Mahabharata,  Lheeshm  Parva,  Adhyaya  91, 


TTIXIHT    COLOXTZATIOX.  I'Jl 

ndventurous  spirits  n))pe:ir  soiiictiiiu's  to  have  clioscn  tlie 
land  passage  to  America  throiiLiii  China,  Moiigoira,  Silu;- 
ria,  Liehring  Straits  (which,  as  geology  has  proved,  Avas 
not  in  e>:isteiice  until  recent  times),  and  Xorth  America. 


It  has  been  urged  that  tlie  Hindus,  heing  {jrohihit- 
ed  from  crossino;  the  sea  or  even  the  river  Attock,  could 
not  have  o-one  to  foreiii^n  climes  in  considerable  numbers, 
either  as  traders  or  as  settlers.  Such  criticism,  however, 
only  betrays  ignorance  oE  Hindu  literature  and  Hindu 
liistor}^  Colonel  Tod  says  :  "  It  is  ridiculous  with  all 
the  knowledge  now  in  our  possession,  to  su])pose  that 
the  Hindus  ahvavs  confined  themselves  Avitiiin  their 
gigantic  barriers,  the  limits  of  modern  India." ^ 

The  most  ancient  as  well  as  the  most  authoritative 
work  in  Indian  literature,  the  Veda,  enjoins  mankind  to 
2:0  to  foreii^n  countries  in  steamers  and  balloons.  The 
Ytjur  A'eda  (Adhyaya  6,  Mantra  21),  says  : — 

"  Oh  men,  wdio  are  fit  to  do  administrative  work 
righteously,  go  to  the  seas  in  big,  fast-going  steamers, 
and  to  the  hiiih  heavens  in  balloons  built  on  scientific 
principles."  Also. — 

■»55^  ^T?:  ^IcfTcT  II  ^^o  ^o  ^^   I  TT°  ^8   II 


1  Tod's  rvaia>tban,  Vol,  II,  p.  218. 


192  HINDU    SUPEKIOlilTY. 

Man II  says  : — 

^^  =gfC^  faim^  Tjf^r^t  ^1  ^TT^Tt  II 

"  Let  mankind  from  the  different  countries  of  the 
world  acquire  knowledge  from  learned  men  born  in  this 
country  (India)." 

AVith  regard  to  the  adjudication  of  disputes  regard- 
ing the  amount  of  fares,  Manu  says  : — 

"  The  final  decision  as  to  what  is  the  suitable  fare 
w^ill  rest  with  traders,  who  are  fully  acquainted  with 
sea-routes  as  well  as  land-routes. 

Manu  ao;ain  savs  : — 

There  are  numerous  instances  on  record  of  political 
and  religious  leaders  of  India  having  gone  to  Europe 
and  America  on  political  and  religious  missions, 
Mahrishi  Yyasa  with  Sukhdeoji  went  to  America  and 
lived  there  for  some  time.  Sukhdeoji  eventually 
returned  to  India  via  Europe  (Heero  Desa),  Persia  and 
Turkistan.  The  journey  took  him  three  years  and  is 
succinctly  described  in  tlie  Mahabharata,  Santi  Parva, 
(Sookh  utpatti,  Adh.   32 G). 

Just  before  the  Great  War,  the  Pandavas  started 
on  a  conquering  expedition  to  foreign  countries.  The 
journey  was  twice  undertaken.  On  the  first  occasion 
they  went  to  Burmah,  Siam,  China,    Tibet,  Mongolia, 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  193 

Tartary,  Persia  ami  returned  to  India  i/'a  Ilirat,  Kiiluil, 
Kandahar  and  Baluchistan.  At  Kandahar  ((iandhar) 
they  were  the  guests  of  the  father-in-law  of  Dhritara- 
shtra.  The  second  ^lission  was  towards  tlie  West. 
Starting;'  from  Ceylon  (Sangal-dwipa)  they  went  to 
Arabia,  thence  to  Egypt,  to  Zanzibar  and  other  parts  of 
Africa.  See  Mahal)harata,  SabhaParva,  Adhyayas,  26-28. 

The  Great  Arjana,  in  the  course  of  a  voyage  visited 
the  following  islands  :  (1)  Agastha  Tinitlia,  (2)  Pooluni 
Tirath,  (3)  Subhadra  Tirath,  (4)  Karandliam  Tiratli, 
(5)   Bharadwaja  Tirath.     See  Mahabharata,  Adi  Parva. 

The  Emperor  Sagarji's  extensive  foreign  conquests 
are  also  well  known.  His  conquest  of  the  islands  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago  is  mentioned  in  the  ancient  traditions 
of  those  islands,  where  he  is  still  worshipped  as  the  "  God 
of  the  Sea."     See  also  Ramayana,  Balkanda,  V.  2. 

The  succession  of  the  sons  of  Sri  Krishna  to  the 
throne  of  Bajrapura*  in  Southern  Siberia  (to  tl)e  north 
of  the  Altai  ^lountains)  has  already  been  mentioned. 

It  is  also  well-known  that  the  emperors  and  kings 
of  India  often  married  foreign  princesses.  In  addition 
to  Dhritrashtra's  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  the 
kino-  of  Afirhanistan,  and  Arinna's  with  that  of  tlie 
American  King  Kuru,  we  find  that  Unardliaji,  grand- 
son of  Sri  Krishna,  married  the  princess  Ookha,  daugliter 
of  Ban,  King  of  Shoont,  which  belonged  to  Egypt.- 
Maharaja  Chandragupta  married  the  daugliter  of  Seleucus, 
King  of  Babylon;  and  the  then  ]\Iaharana  of  Udaipur' 
(Rajputana)  married  the  daughter  of  Xausherwan  tlie 
Just,  King  of  Persia. 


iSee  Hiiri  Vansa  Parana,  Vishnu  Parva,  Adliyaya,  97. 
-'See  Hari  Vausa,  Vishnu  Parva,  Adh.   11G-Ii^7. 


194  HINDU    SUPERIORITY, 

The  obnoxious  probi1)ition  to  cross   the   Attoclv   is 
of  recent  origin.     The  Hindu  possession  o£   the  Afghan 
and    Persian    territories    was    a    relic    of    their   ancient 
conquest.     So  late  even  as  the  first  few  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era,  the   Hindus  lived  in  thousands  in  Turkis- 
tan,  Persia  and  Russia.      For  an  account  of  the    Hindu 
commercial  colony  at  Astrakhan,  see  the  account  given 
by  Professor  Pallas,     ]\Ir.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  Even  at 
the    present    day,    individuals    of    a    Hindu   tribe  from 
Shikarpur  settle  as  merchants  and  bankers  in  the  towns 
of    Persia,    Turkistan   and  Russia."^      The    same    may 
be  said  of  a  large  number  of  the  natives  of  Jaisalmcr. 
A  few  passages  from  ancient  Sanskrit  works  of  his- 
torical importance  may    be    quoted    to    show    that    the 
original  founders  and  forefathers  of  many  of  the  different 
nations    of   the    world    before    they    migrated    to    their 
respective    countries,    were    inhabitants    oE    India,      As 
quoted  above,  Mann  (Chapter  X,  page  43)  says: — 

?I^  W  fff^TT^tqif^lTT:  ^f^¥  mciW-  I 
^■Ef^cq-  iTcnwt%   m^JHi^ii^^   "^  II 


"  The  following  tribes  of  Kshatriyas  have  gradually 
sunk  into  the  state  of  Vrishalas  (outcastes)  from  the 
extinction  of  sacred  rites,  and  from  having  no  commu- 
nication with  the  Brahmans,  viz.,  Paundrakas,  Oclras, 
Dravidas,  Kamhojos,  Yavanas,  Sakas,  Paradas,  Palilavas, 
Chinas,  Kiratas,  Daradas  and  Khasas,"  etc. 

lElphinstone's  Hietory  of  ludia,  p.  135, 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  105 

Sir  \y.  'Jones,  in  his  treatise  on  the  Chinese^  nii- 
(lei-!st:nKls  "by  Chinas,  tlie  Chinese,  who,  as  the  Brahmins 
report,  are  descended  from  the  Hindus."  The  other 
names,  which  are  apparently  those  of  otlier  nations, 
may  be  thus  explained :  The  Sacas  were  the  aticient 
Saca3.  The  Pahlavs  were  ^ledes  speaking  Pahlavi  or 
the  ancient  Persian.  The  Cambojas  were  the  inhabitants 
of  Kamboja  or  Cambodia  ;-  the  Yavans,  as  is  well  known, 
were  the  Greeks.  The  Dravids  may  be  the  Druids  of  Great 
Britain.  The  Kirats  were  the  inhabitants  of  Baluchis- 
tan, Daradas  of  Dardasthan  in  the  Chinese  territory.  The 
Khascs'^   were  probably  some  people  of  Eastern  Europe. 

The  Mahabharata  (Anusasana  Parra,  Verses  2103 
and  2104)  while  giving  us  a  further  view  of  the  origin 
of  the  various  nations  of  the  world,  says : — 

5tftf^^iTT  wPr^^^ren:  ^f^^  ^\^^''  II  =^<^«8  II 


iSif  W.  Jones'  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  99. 

2 That  Kamhojas  meant  the  inhabitants  of  Cambodia  is  supported 
liy  two  verses  from  the  Mahabharata,  where  they  are  said  to  be  living 
towards  the  north-east  : — 

"  The  son  of  Indra  conquered  the  Daradas  with  the  Kambojas 
and  the  Dasyus  who  dwelt  in  the  northeast  region." — Mahabharata, 
Book  IT,    10:U,32. 

^This  people  is  mentiouod  in  the  Ramayaua  also. 


196  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

These  tribes  of  Kshatriyas,  vlz.^  Sakas,  Yavanas, 
Kambojas,  Dravidas,  Kalinclas,  Pulindas,!.  Usinaras, 
Kolisarpas,  and  Mahishakas,  have  become  outcastes 
(and  exiled)  from  seeing  no  Brahmans. 

This  is  repeated  in  Verses  2158,  59,  where  the 
followino;  additional  tribes  are  named :  Mekalas,  Latas, 

O  7  3 

Ivoiivasiras,    Samdikas,  Dorvas,  Cham*as,   Savaras,   Bar- 
baras, Kh^atas." 

f^^TcTT  ^^iTT^^^  cTT^T:  Wf^^  ^TcT^:  I 

Tlie  Kambojas,  Sakas,  Sabaras,  Kiratas,  and  Var- 
varas  are  again  mentioned  in  the  Mahabharata,  Drona 
Parva,  Verse  4747  : — 

gi:^5;Ti!it  fssriciHr  ^^x\m  cr^q  "%  ii 


iThe  Andhras,  Puudras,  Sabaras,  Puliudas,  Mutibas,  are  also 
mentioned  in  tlie  Aitreya  Brahniana. 

^Vishnu  Parana  names  over  two  hundred  different  peoples  known 
to  the  Hindus,  including  Chinas,  Pahlvas,  Yavanas,  Barbaras,  Bahlikas, 
(people  of  Balkh)  and  Hujis. — Sec  Wilson's  Vishnu  Furana,  Vul.  II, 
p.  Iu6. 


HINDU    COLONIZATION.  107 

"  Sameya  (kstroying  the  host,  converted  the  beauti- 
ful earth  into  a  mass  ol:  mud  with  the  tlesh  and  bh)od 
of  tliousands  of  Kambojas,  Sakas,  Sabaras,  Kiratas  and 
Yarvaras.  The  <>ruund  was  covered  with  the  shorn 
and  hairless  bat  lon2:-bearded  heads i  of  the  Dasvus,  and 
their  helmets  as  if  with  birds  bereft  of  their  plumes." 

As  many  as  16  different  foreign  tribes  are  said  in 
Santi  Parva  (Section  65,  line  2429ff.)  to  have  descended 
from  the  Hindus,     King  Mandhatri  asks  Indra  : — 

Si 

'^W\''  "Sf^^T  X^ZV'  SRTS^t^i^^g  ^^^W:  I 

-1 

W^=^^  ^^cTT^  f  g;^T:  :^^T^  v^-^-%-\'-  1 1 
w^  H?Tl^ft^r^  ^'^'^  fsi^^rmf^ir:  I 

flf^"?^  Wii  m\'^\  '^i  t  ^^TT^'^fe:  II 

SJ 

^WT*iT?:cr  ^if^ql"  ^i^i^  <  a  1 1 
"  The  Yavanas,  Kiratas,  Gandharas,  Chinas,  Sava- 
ras,  Yar\'aras,  Sakas,  Tushoras,  Kantas,  Pahlavs,  Andh- 
ras,  Madras,  Paundras,  Pulindas,  Romathas,  Kambojas 
men  spring  from  Brahmans  and  from  Kshatriycif^^  per- 
sons of  the  Vaisya  and  Sudra  castes.  How  shall  all  these 
people  of  different  countries  practice  duty,  and  wdiat 
rules  shall  kings  like  me  prescribe  for  those  who  are 
living  as  Dasyus  ?  Instruct  me  on  these  points,  for  thou 
art  the  friend  of  our  Kshatriya  race." 

Manu's  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Y^avanas,  Sa- 
kas, etc.,    is  supported  by  the    Yishnu  Purana.     When 

1  Coaipare  the  hairless  but  loiig-bearded  heads  uf  the  Arabs, 


198  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

Saii'ara  learnt  from  his  mother  all  that  had  befallen  his 
father,  Bahu,  being  vexed  at  the  loss  of  his  paternal 
kingdom,  he  vo^ved  to  exterminate  the  Haihayas  and 
other  enemies  who  had  conquered  it. 

"  Accordingl}^  he  destro3^ed  near! 3^  all  the  Haihayas. 
AVhen  the  Sakas,  Yavanas,  Kamb(ijas,  Paradas  and  Pah- 
lavas  were  about  to  undergo  a  similar  fate,  they  had  re- 
course to  Yashishtha,  the  king's  family  priest,  who  inter- 
posed on  their  behalf  in  these  words  addressed  to  Sagara, 
representing  them  as  virtually  dead  :  '  You  have  done 
enough,  my  son,  in  the  way  of  parsning  these  men,  who 
are  as  2;ood  as  dead.  In  order  that  vour  vow  mio-ht  be 
fulfilled,  I  have  compelled  them  to  abandon  the  duties  of 
their  caste,  and  all  association  with  the  twiceborn.'  Aaree- 
ing  to  his  spiritual  guide's  proposal,  Sagara  compelled 
these  tribes  to  alter  their  costume.  He  made  the  Yavanas 
sli a ve  their _h ead s ,  the  Sakas  shave  half  their  heads,  the 
Paradas  wear  long  hair,  and  the  Pahlavas  beards.  These 
and  other  Kshatriyas  he  deprived  of  the  study  of  the 
Yedas  and  the  A^ishatkara.  In  consequence  of  their 
abandonment  of  their  proper  duties  and  of  their  deser- 
tion by  the  Brahmans,  they  became  Mlechhas." 

The  Harivansa  Purana  also  says: — ^^Sakali  Yavana 
Kambojah  Paradah  Pahlavas  tatha  \  Kolisarpah  Sama- 
hishah  Darvas  cliotah  Sa-Keralah  I  Sarve  te  Kshatriyas 
tata  tesham  dharmo  niralritah  I  Vasistha-vachanad 
rajan  Sagarena  ]\[ahatmana.  \  The  Sakas,  Yavanas, 
Kambojas,  Paradas,  Pahlavas,  Kolisarpas,  Mahishas, 
Darvas,  Cholas  and  Keralas  had  been  all  Kshatriyas, 
but  deprived  of  their  social  and  religious  position  by  the 
great  Sugara  (Hindu  king)  in  accordance  with  the  advice 


niXDU    rOLONIZATTON.  199 

of  Yaslilsht-lin,      S(iiiin  otlior  tribes  are  nl.'^o  mentioned 
in  the  next  verse  to  have  received  similar  treatment.' 

Priyavrata,  Swayambhva's  son,   divided  the  earth 
into  seven  dwipas  : — 

(1)  Jambn     D\vi[)a  (Asia). 

(2;  Plaksha  ,,  (South  America). 

(3)  Pushkara  ,,  (N'orth  America). 

(4)  Kraunch  „  (Africa). 

(5)  S'aka  ,,  (Europe). 

(6)  S'ahiiali  ,,  (Antarcta,  Austraha). 
(7j  Kusa  „  (Oceania). 

Col.  Wilford,  however,  thus  interprets  them,  which 
is  obviously  wrong  : — 

Plaksha  includes  Lesser  Asia  and  America. 

Kusa  answers  to  the  countries  between  the  Persian 

Gulf,  the    Caspian    Sea,  and    the   Western 

boundary  of  India. 
Krannchu  includes  Grermany, 
Shaka  means  the  British  isles. 
Pushkara  is  Ireland. 

Shalmali  are  countries  by  the  Adriatic  and  Baltic, 
Jambu  Dwlpa  is  India. 


iMr,  Colebrooke  (Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  V"ul.  I, 
p.  453)  quotes  an  ancient  Hindu  writer,  who  states  that  the  Barbaric 
tongues  are  called  the  Parasica,  the  Yavana,  the  Ronjaka  and  tlie  Bar- 
bara :  "the  first  three  oi"  which,"  says  he,  "would  be  tlie  Persian,  tlie 
Greek  and  the  Latin.  But  wliich  is  the  fourth  and  how  Latin  became 
known  in  India,  it  is  difficult  to  say."  And  yet  it  is  a  well-authenticated 
fact  that  in  the  time  of  Vicramaditya  there  \>a^  constant  intercourse 
between  India  and  Rome, 


200  niNBU    SUrERIORITY. 

Owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  greater  part  o£ 
Sanskrit  literature,  it  is  impossible  now  to  interpret 
correctly  these  geographical  facts,  not  only  because 
these  are  only  the  fragmentary  remains  of  the  Science  of 
Geography  inextricably  mixed  up  with  Puranic 
raytholoj}^  and  theology,  but  to  a  great  extent  because 
many  of  these  ancient  dwipas  and  countries  have  been 
so  materially  altered  in  consequence  of  the  Cataclysm 
called  the  Deluge,  as  to  have  become  impossible  of 
identification  now.  The  father  of  the  modern  o-eolouical 
science,  Cnvier,  expresses  the  following  opinion  regard- 
ing this  Deluge  in  his  Descours  Sur  la^  Revolutions 
de  la  Surface,  da  (rlohe^  p.  283  (5th  Edition)  :  — 
"  I  consider  with  Messrs.  Deluc  and  Dolomieu  that 
if  there  is  anything  established  in  geology,  it  is  the  fact 
that  the  surface  of  the  earth  has  been  the  subject  of  a 
ijreat  and  sudden  revolution,  the  date  of  which  cannot  U'o 
much  further  back  than  five  or  six  thousand  years  ;  that 
this  revolution  has  sunk  (^enforce)  or  caused  to  disappear 
{fait-d'isparadre)  some  of  those  lands  which  were  for- 
merly inhabited  by  men,  together  with  those  species  of 
animals  which  are  now  the  most  common." 

AYe  thus  find  that  the  HincUi  civilization  overran 
the  entire  universe,  and  that  its  landmarks  are  still  to 
be  seen  all  over  the  globe.  Nay,  it  still  lives  and 
breathes  around  us.  Says  Monsieur  Delbos :  "  The 
influence  of  that  civilization  worked  out  thousands 
of  years  a(jo  in  India  is  around  and  about  us  every 
day  of  our  lives.  It  pervades  every  corner  of  the 
civilized  world.  Go  to  America  and  you  find  there,  as  in 
Europe,  the  influence  of  that  civilization  which  came 
originally  from  the  banks  of  the  Ganges." 


LITERATURE. 

Wns  it  not  wisdom's  sovereign  power 
Tliat  beamed  her  brightest,  purest  llarae, 
T'illniiie  her  sages'  soul  the  thought  to  frame, 
And  clothe  with  words  his  lieaven-taught  lore  ? 

— ^seiiYLUs  :  Promethean  Chained. 

There  is  no  surer  test  of  the  real  o-reatness  of  a  nation 
than  its  literature.  Literatare  embodies  not  only  the  in- 
tellect of  a  nation  bat  also  its  spirit.  It  is  a  record  of 
the  learning,  the  wisdom,  the  refinement,  the  achieve- 
ments, the  civilization  of  a  nation — a  record  of  all  that 
a  nation  thinks,  says  and  does.  Literature  thus  holds  a 
mirror  to  the  state  of  a  nation,  and  serves  as  an  index  to 
mark  its  position  in  the  scale  of  civilization  and  greatness. 
Mr.  W.  C.  Taylor  thus  speaks  of  Sanskrit  litera- 
ture :  "  It  was  an  astounding  discovery  that  Hindustan 
possessed,  in  spite  of  the  changes  of  realms  and  chances 
of  time,  a  language  of  unrivalled  richness  and  variety  ; 
a  language,  the  parent  of  all  those  dialects  that  Europe 
has  fondly  called  classical — the  source  alike  of  Greek 
flexibility  and  Roman  strength.  A  philosophy,  com- 
pared with  which,  in  point  of  age,  the  lessons  of  P^tha- 
goras  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  in  point  of  daring  spe- 
culation Plato's  boldest  efforts  were  tame  and  common- 
place. A  poetr}'  more  purely  intellectual  than  any  of 
those  of  which  we  had  before  an}"  conception  ;  and  sys- 
tems of  science  whose  antiquity  bafHed  all  power  of 
astronomical  calculation.  This  literature,  with  all  its 
colossal  proj>ortions,   which   can   scarcely   be    described 


202  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 

without  tlie  semblance  of  bombast  and  exao:g'eratiou 
claimed  of  course  a  place  for  itself — it  stood  alone,  and 
it  was  al)le  to  -stand  alone. 

"  To  acquire  the  mastery  of  this  language  is  almost 
the  labour  of  a  life  ;  its  literature  seems  exhaustless. 
The  utmost  stretch  of  imagination  can  scared}^  compre- 
hend its  boundless  mythology.  Its  philosophy  has 
touched  upon  every  metaphysical  difficulty  ;  its  legis- 
lation is  as  varied  as  the  castes  for  which  it  was 
designed."^ 

Count  Bjornstjerna  says  :  "  The  literature  of  India 
makes  us  acquainted  with  a  great  nation  of  past  ages, 
which  grasped  every  branch  of  knowledge,  and  which 
will  always  occupy  a  distinguished  place  in  the  history 
of  the  civilization  of  mankind. "- 

"  The  Hindu,"  says  Mr.  W.  D.  Brown,  "  is  the 
parent  of  the  literature  and  the  theology  of  the  world. "^ 
Professor  Max  Midler  says  :  "  Although  there  is  hardly 
any  department  of  learning  which  has  not  received  new 
light  and  naw  life  from  the  ancient  literature  of  India, 
yet  nowhere  is  the  light  that  comes  to  us  from  India  so 
important,  novel,  and  so  rich  as  in  the  study  of  religion 
and  mythology."* 

General  Cunningham  savs  :  "  Mathematical  science 
was  so  perfect  and  astronomical  observations  so  complete 
that  the  paths  of  the  sun  and  the  moon  were  accurately 
measured.  The  philosophy  of  the  learned  few  was  per- 
ha])s  for  the  first  time,  firmly  allied  with  the  theology  of 


iJourual  (if  the  lioyal  Asiniic   Society,   Vol.   li    (Idllt).    W.C. 
Taylor's  paper  on  Sanskrit  Literature, 
-Tlioogony  of  tin;  Jliiuins,  p.  Sb. 

^'J'he  D,iili/  Trihniw  (Salt  Lake  City)  for  lu'lunary  20.  1884. 
4Max  Miilkn's  India  :  What  can  it  teaqli  us  .'  p.  110- 


LITKUATUHE.  203 

the  believing  many,  and  Rralmiiinism  laid  down  as  arti- 
cles of  faith  the  unity  of  God,  the  creatioQ  of  the  world, 
the  immortality  of  the  sonl,  and  the  responsibility  of 
man.  The  remcjte  dwellers  upon  the  Ganges  distinctly 
made  known  that  future  life  about  which  Moses  is  silent 
or  obscure,  and  that  unity  and  Omnipotence  of  the 
Creator  which  were  unknown  to  the  polytheism  of  the 
Greek  and  Koman  multitude,  and  to  the  dualism  of 
Mithraic  legislators,  while  Vyasa  perhaps  surpassed  Plato 
in  keeping  the  people  tremblingly  alive  to  the  punishment 
which  awaited  evil  deeds." ^ 

Professor  Heeren  .says  :  "  The  literature  of  the 
Sanskrit  language  incontestably  belongs  to  a  highly-cul- 
tivated people,  whom  we  may  with  great  reason  consider 
to  ha\e  been  the  most  informed  of  all  the  East.  It  is,  at 
the  same  time,  a  scientific  and  a  poetic  literature."-  He 
also  says  :  "  Hindu  literature  is  one  of  the  richest  in 
prose  and  poetry." 

Sir  W.Jones  says  that  "human  life  would  not 
be  sufficient  to  make  oneself  acquainted  with  any 
consulerahle  part  of  Hindu  literature." 

Professor  ^lax  Muller  says  :  *'The  number  of  Sans- 
krit  works  of  which  M:<s.  are  still  in  existence  amounts 
to  ten  thousand.  This  is  more,  I  believe,  than  the  whole 
classical  literature  of  Greece  and  Italy  put  together."^ 

The  Indian  Sanskritist,  Pandit  Shyamji  Ivrishna- 
varma,  in  his  paper  on  the  use  of  writing  in  Ancient  India, 
speaks    of    Sanskrit  literature  as  a  literature  more  ex- 


1  Cuuuin.<;ham's  History  of  the  Sikhs. 

^Heeren's  Historicnl  Rpse:u-ches,  Vol.  II,  p,  201. 

•'Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  I,  ji.  oOl. 

'^Max  MuUer's  India  :  What  can  it  teach  us  ?  p.  81, 


204  ni^DU    SUPERIORITY. 

tensive  than  the  ancient  literatures  of  Greece  and  Rome 
combined." 

Rev.  Mr.  AVard  says  :  "  No  reasonable  person  will 
deny  to  the  Hindus  of  former  times  the  praise  of  very 
extensive  learning.  The  variety  of  subjects  upon  which 
they  wrote  prove  that  almost  every  science  was  cultivated 
among  them.  The  manner  also  in  which  they  treated 
these  subjects  j)roves  that  the  Hindu  learned  men 
yielded  the  palm  of  learning  to  scarcely  any  other  of 
the  ancients.  The  more  their  philosophical  works  and 
lawbooks  are  studied,  the  more  will  the  enquirer  be 
convinced  of  the  depth  of  Avisdom  possessed  by  the 
authors."^  Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "The  Hindu  had  the 
widest  range  of  mind  of  which  man  is  capable."^ 

The  high  intellectual  and  emotional  powers  of  the 
ancient  Hindus  were  in  any  case  destined  to  produce  a 
literature,  remarkable  for  its  sublimity  and  extent;  but 
when  these  great  gifts  had  the  most  perfect,  melodious, 
and  the  richest  language  in  the  world  to  work  with,  the 
result  could  not  but  be  a  literature  not  only  the  most 
fertile  and  fascinating;  in  the  world  but  wonderful  in 
range  and  astonishing  in  depth. 


Sanskrit  Language. 

Sir  AV.  Jones,  the  most  intellectual  of  the  European 
critics  of  Sanskrit  literature,  pronounced  the  Sanskrit 
lano-uao"e  to  be  "  of  a  Avonderful  structure,  more  perfect 


1  "Ward's  Antiqnity  of  Hinduism,  Vol.  IV,  conclusion. 
^Ancient  and  Mt'diiCTul  India,  Vol.  11,  p.  ItS. 


LITERATKUE.  205 

tlinii  the  Greek,  more  copious  than  tlie  Latin,  and  more 
exquisitely  refined  than  either."' 

Professor  Bopp"  also  says  that  "  Sanskrit  is  more 
perfect  and  copious  than  the  Greek  and  the  Latin  and 
more  exquisite  and  eloquent  than  either," 

Professor  ]\Iax  Muller  calls  Sanskrit  the  "  lanr>uan;e 
of  languao'cs  ",  and  remarks  that  "  it  has  been  truly  said 
that  Sanskrit  is  to  the  Science  of  language  what  Mathe- 
matics  is    to  Astronomy."'^ 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "  The  Hindus  had  a  copious 
and  a  cultivated  language."  "The  Sanskrit,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Heeren,  "  we  can  safely  assert  to  be  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  refined  of  any.  It  has,  moreover, 
reached  a  hi^'h  dei>'ree  of  cultivation,  and  the  richness 
of  its  philosophy  is  no  way  inferior  to  its  poetic  beauties, 
as  it  presents  us  with  an  abundance  of  technical  terms  to 
express  the  most  abstract  ideas."* 

The  distin£>'uished  German  critic,  Schleojel,  savs  : 
"Justly  it  is  called  Sanskrit,  i.e.^  perfect,  finished.  In 
its  structure  and  grammar,  it  closely  resembles  the  Greek, 
but  is  infinitely  more  regular  and  therefore  more  simple, 
thouoh  not  less  rich.      It  combines  the  artistic  fuhiess 

1  Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  422.  "Sanskrit  has  the  most 
prodigious  conipoiinds,  some  of  them  extending  to  152  syllables" — Adatic 
Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  o()0. 

-Edinboroiigh  Review,  Vol.  XXXIII,  p.  43, 

•^Science  of  Language,  p.  203. 

^Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  pp.  109,  110. 
As  an  example  of  Mr.  .lames  Mill's  perverted  taste  and  invete- 
rate prejudice  against  everything  Hindu,  the  following  may  be  cited: 
Le  I'ere  Paolino  says  that  ".Sanskrit  is  more  copious  than  Latin.  It 
has  several  words  to  express  the  samething.  The  sun  has  more  than 
30  names,  the  moon  more  than  20 :  a  house  has  20,  a  stone  G  or  7,  a 
leaf  .5,  an  ape  10,  and  a  crow  9."  Mr.  James  Mill,  thereupon  says 
that  "  the  highest  nifrit  of  I.ingnage  would  consist  in  having  one  name 
for  everytiiing  wliicli  required  a  nanh- and  no  more  than  one''  On  this 
Prof.  Wilson  exclaims  :  "  What  would  become  of  poetry,  of  eloquence,  of 
literature,  of  iutelloct.  if  language  was  thus  shorn  of  all  that  gives  it  beauty, 
variety,  grace  and  vigour." — Mill'n  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  91, 


206  HINDU  surEuiokiTr. 

indicative  of  Greek  development,  the  b^e^'^ty  and  nice 
accuracy  of;  Latin  ;  whilst  havintj;-  a  near  affinity  to  the 
Persinn  and  German  roots,  it  is  distinguished  by  expres- 
sion as  enthusiastic  and  forcible  as  theirs."^  He  again 
says  :  "  The  Sanskrit  combines  these  various  qualities, 
possessed  separately  by  (Dther  tongues  :  Grecian  copious- 
ness, deep-toned  Roman  force,  the  divine  afflatus  charac- 
terising the  Hebrew  tongue."^  He  slso  says :  "Judged 
by  an  organic  standard  of  the  princip;d  elements  of  lang- 
uaiie,  the  Sanskrit  excels  in  o-rammatical  structure,  and 
is,  indeed,  the  most  pet'ectly-developed  of  all  idioms,  not 
excepting  Greek  and  Latin. "^ 

The  importance  of  this  "language  of  languages" 
is  clearly  recoLi'nised  when  we  consider,  with  Sir  W.  W. 
Hunter,  the  fact  that  "the  modern  philology  dates  from 
the  study  of  Sanskrit  by  the  Europeans."'* 

Sir  W.  Jones'  assertion  that  "  Deonaii'ri  is  the 
original  source  whence  the  'alphabets  of  Western  Asia 
were  derived,"''  not  only  proves  the  great  antiquity  of  the 
Sanskrit  literature  but  points  out  the  channel  through 
which  Sanskrit  philosophy  and  learning  flowed  towards 
the  West,  and,  working  in  the  new  and  fresh  materials 
•  available  there,  produced  Homer,  Hesiod,  Pythagoras, 
Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  Zeno,  Cicero,  Scarvola,  Varoo, 
Virgil    and    others    to  divide    the    laurels    of    literary 

'Scliolegel's  Histoiy  of  Literature,  p.  117. 

^'Ibid,  p.  105. 

^Ibid,   p.  100. 

'^Imperial  Gazetteer,  ''Tmlia,'"  p.  204.  The  foundation  of  the 
scicMice  of  comparative  philolo^'v  was  laid  hy  the  publication  of  Bopp's 
Comparative  Grammar  in  1818  A.D. 

•5 Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  423.  Professor  Heoien  (Hist. 
Researches,  Vol.  II,  pp.  20l  and  202)  says  that  Sanskrit  literature  is 
not  only  very  rich  but  also  extremely  ancient. 


LITERATURE.  207 

repntntion  witli  ^'yns^,  Knpila,  Oautnmn,  Pataiijali,  l\a- 
iiada,  -laiiiniiii,  Xarada,  Paiiiiii,  Mariclii  and  N'aliniki. 
The  study  of  coinpirative  ])liilol()ii'v,  in  so  far  as  it  lias 
advanced, tends  to  show  that  Sanskrit  is  the  mother  of  all 
Indo-Eiiropcan  languages.  From  the  Sanskrit  were 
derived  the  original  roots  and  those  essentially  necessary 
words  which  form  the  basis  of  all  tlu'sc;  lani!;na<j'es.  In 
other  words,  the  part  that  is  common  to  all  or  most  of 
the  languages  of  this  group  is  su[)plied  to  each  language 
by  the  Sanskrit. 

Mr.  Pococke  savs  :  "  The  Greek  lanfjuiioe  is  a  deri- 
vation  from  the  Sanskrit."^  The  learned  Dr.  Pritchard 
savs  :  "The  affinity  between  the  Greek  laniiuaiie,  and 
the  old  Parsi  and  Sanskrit  is  certain  and  essential.  The 
use  of  cognate  idioms  proves  the  nations  who  used  them 
to  have  descended  from  one  stock.  That  the  reliu'ion  of 
the  Greeks  emanated  from  an  Eastern  source  no  one  will 
deny.  We  must  therefore  suppose  the  religion  as  well 
as  the  lanii'uaire  of  Greece  to  h;ive  been  derived  in  u'reat 
part  immediately  from  the  East."^  Sir  W.  Jones  says  : 
"  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  that  out  of  ten 
words  in  Du  Perron's  Zind  Dictionary  six  or  seven  were 
pure  Sanskrit."-' 

Professor  Heeren  says  :  "  In  point  of  fact,  the  Zind 
is  derived  from  the  vSnnskrit."* 

As  the  Deonagri  is  the  source  from  which  the  alpha- 
bets of  AVestern  Asia  are  derived,  so  are  the  Sanskrit 
names  of  the  fiixures  1  to  lU  the  source  from  which  most 


n 


lano[ua<2;es  have  derived  their  names  of  the  said  fiii'ures. 

1  India  in  Greece,  p.  l-S, 

^Dr.  Pritcliard'.s  Pliysical  History  of  ^lau,  Vol.  I,  p.  502. 

^Sir  W.  Jones'  Works,  Val.  I,  pp.  82,  8:3. 

*Heereu's  Historical  licsearches.  Vol.  li,  p.  220. 


208 


HINDU    SUPERIOKTTY. 


Pi 
o 

a 


H 
K 


SS 


5r. 

C 


O 
O 

K 


PS 
>5 


o 

fc. 

B 

C 


o 


o 

o 


^ 
w 


Sm 


^   •  p^  ^ 


O    2    ci    CS 


3    01    tc   •;    cc    r:    ^■■ 

,x  K  W  'A  W  ^  S  CiH 


ceg 


c 
o  o  Jf 


c3 

"  !£  S 
o  o  cs 


s  « 

B    2  03    a) 

&  >  2  B  s 

W  O  .X  S  S 


.  c 


Cfl     U>     X 
O    (U     O    CJ 


cS    ?     3    O 


>.>H-^;>i;>^     SMa:^x 


=S    -  =*        .=*. 

etj    O  2  ;j  '^— '  s 

^    ^  "S  _2     "O       5       r- 

C  :_  -^  «;■  ,-1  W  X  ! 


o 
o 


, 

c« 

c 

,^ 

'^ 

•C^      t 

CS 

M 

g 

ID 

1-. 

n=:  d 

•      " 

SI 

2  •- 

c3 

|1     ' 

-■       %  0 

^  0 

a: 

-^< 

-^  K 

X 

<=, 

2;Q 

PmO 

!->x 

<q 

1^ 

^ 

,       ri-i 

0 

— 

01 

•- 

*        *        " 

•      ^ 

O-r 

, 

Litlu 

'e-;;; 

'-4^ 

:    :    : 

IB 

bc5 

N 

X 

0 

M 

3 

CO      M 

i«     X 

•/) 

0    CS 

y. 

W  iq 

K  Hia 

Oh 

< 

<i 

g 

<.<":>  i 


S  ==  ts  •;= 
"2  "?  J-'  =  ^  •'ti  'i:  -c  3 


03 


«  <^ 

S    Si 

>    > 


O 

c3 


3   e:   s 


fL,  C;  D  a;  <;  <»i  X  S  rJ?  S  > 


I' 
I— t     I 

u    h    ~ 


00         u  ^  ^'"   L 

—  -^  !rz  -*^  X  ^  '^ 


PP^S 


o 


JO    O 


a 

o 

—     .     -t-s 

c    >>  cS 


T5 
5J 
O 

5 

o 


o 


c3 


a: 

fi 

m 
® 

H 


LITEIJATrUE. 


201) 


NUMERALS. 


Sanskrit. 

Zi.ul. 

Greek  (Doric). 

Latin. 

Gothic. 

Prat'liaiiia 

Frat'hema. 

Trot  a 

Prima. 

Fiiniia. 

])\vitiva 

I'itva. 

i  'outora, 

Altera. 

Aiii"li;ira. 

Tritiva 

Thritva. 

Tiita. 

Teitia. 

Til  rid  vo. 

Cliaturtlia. 

Tmiva. 

Tetarta. 

Qnarta. 

Fidvordo. 

Panehauia. 

Pni,'dlia. 

Ponipta. 

Qiiiiita. 

Fiinfto. 

Shasta. 

Cstva. 

Hi-kta 

Soxla. 

Saislitt). 

Saptaina. 

Haptat'ha. 

Hcbdoma. 

Scptiina. 

Silmiido. 

Aslitaina. 

Asteuia, 

Ogdoa. 

Octava. 

Alitudo, 

iXavaina. 

Naiiiiia. 

Einidla. 

Nova. 

NiniuUi. 

Dasaina. 

Dasema. 

Dokata . 

Ueciuia, 

Tailmndo. 

Sanskrit. 

Liitin. 

Greek. 

Litlmnian. 

Welsh. 

Eka. 

Uu. 

Hen. 

Wein. 

Uii. 

1  )va. 

l)u. 

Dii. 

Dn. 

1  )an. 

Tri. 

r.i. 

Tri. 

Tri. 

Tri. 

C'liatnr. 

Qnatnr. 

Tessar. 

Kettnar, 

Pedwar. 

Pam-h. 

Quinqiic. 

Pente. 

Penki. 

SI  1  ash 

Sex. 

Ilex. 

Szestzi. 

Sa|ita. 

Septera. 

llepta. 

Septyni. 

Saith. 

Aslita. 

Octo. 

Okto. 

Asztuni. 

Nava. 

Movem. 

Ennea. 

Dewvni 

Naw. 

Dasa. 

Decern. 

Deka. 

Deszinit, 

Deg. 

To  these  luiinenils  we  subjoin  a  brief  conspectus  of  the 

Analogy  of  Verbs. 

Singular. 


Sanskrit. 

Ziiul. 

Greek. 

Latin. 

Dad-a-nii 

Dadha-uii 

Dido-mi 

Do 

Dada-si 

l)adha-si 

l)ido-s 

Da-s 

Dada-te 

Dadha-te 

Dido-ti 

Da-t 

Ph 

ral. 

Dad-Ill  as 

Dade-mahi 

Dido-mes 

Da-miis 

Dat-t"ha 

Dasta? 

Dido-te 

Da-t  is 

Dad-te 

Dade-nti 

Dido-i)li 

Da-nt 

210 


HINDU    SUPERIORITV. 


General  View  of  the  Persons  of  the  Verb. 


First  Person. 


Sanski-it;. 

Zind. 

Greek. 

Latin 

Tishtami 

Histaini 

Histemi 

...      Sto. 

Dadaiiii 

Dadhami 

Didouii 

...      ])... 

Asmi 

...      Ahmi     ... 

Emini 

Sum 

Balirami 

]>ammi 

...     riioi-o 

...      Fero. 

Vahami 

Vazami 

...     Ekho     ... 

...      Veho 

Second  Person. 


Asi 

..     Ahi       ... 

...      Essi 

...     Es. 

Tishtasi 

Ilisht'hahi 

...      Histes  ... 

...     Stas. 

Dadasi 

..     Dadhahi 

Didos    ... 

...      Das, 

]'>liarasi 

...      Bai-alii 

Pliereis 

...      Fers. 

Tisht'lu's 

Jlistois 

Histaios 

Stes. 

Dadliyas 

Daidhjao 

Didoies 

...      Des. 

B  hares 

Bharois 

Pherois 

...      Fera 

Second  Person  Plural. 


Tisht'hat'ha    .. 

Hist'hat'ha 

Histate 

...      Statis, 

Biiarat'iia 

Bara'ha 

..      Plierete 

...      Fertis 

Tisht'het'ha    .. 

HistaeLa 

Histaiete 

...      Stetis. 

Dadyata 

Daidhyata 

Didoiete 

...     Detis. 

Bhareta 

.      Baraeta 

Phcroite 

...     Fei-ati 

lliird  Person. 


Asti 

Ashti 

...     Esti       ... 

...     Est. 

Tishtati 

Hisiitoti 

Histate 

...     Stat. 

Dadati 

Dadhaite 

...      Didote  ... 

...      Dat. 

Barati 

Baraite 

...      Phere(t)i 

...        F<Tt. 

Bharet 

Baroit  ... 

Pheroi 

...      Ferat 

Dadyat 

.      Daidliyat 

Dedoic 

...     Det. 

TIdrd  I^erson  Plural. 


Santi  ... 

Hento    ... 

...      (S)  enti 

Sunt. 

Tishlanti 

Hislenti 

...      Jlistanti 

otiint. 

Dadati 

...       Dadenti 

...     Didoiiti 

...      haul. 

rdiaranti 

Pjai'dili 

IMu'i-iiiifi 

J''t'i-mit 

^'uhal»li 

Vazeiiti 

Ekhunli 

Wduiiit. 

IJTKKATIJIJE.  211 

Viiiw  OF  ■•DiDoMi"'  IN  tiil:  Future  Tense. 
Sinyular. 


Ziiul. 

Greek. 

Dii-.syauii 

•  •  • 

])()-S0. 

Da-S!iysi 

... 

l)o-seis. 

Da-syati 

... 

Do-sci. 

Dual. 

Da-S3'at'has 

•  •  • 

Do-seton. 

Da-syatas 

•  •  • 

Do-seton. 

Plural. 

Da-syanias                   ..„ 

•  •  • 

Do-so  men. 

Da-sy.-it'lia 

Do-sctc. 

Da-syanti 

•  .. 

Do-sonti 

Supines  and  Infinitives. 

Sanskrit. 

Latin. 

St'Iia-tuui,  to  stand   ... 

•  •  • 

S  latum. 

Da-tam,  to  j^ive 

•  •  • 

Datum. 

Jiia-tvim,  to  know 

*.. 

No-tmn. 

Patiiui,  to  drink 

•  •  • 

Pudiin. 

E-tum,  to  go 

«  a  ■ 

Ilinii. 

Stra-tnm,  to  strew      ... 

•  •  • 

Stratum. 

Auk-tuui,  to  anoint   ... 

•  •  • 

Unctinii. 

Svani-tnin,  to  sound  ... 

•  •  • 

Son-i-tuui. 

Sarji-tuni,  to  go 

•  •  • 

Ser[)tum. 

Vauii-tuni,  to  vomit  ... 

■  •  • 

Voniituni. 

Pesh-tuui,  to  bruise    ... 

•  •  • 

Pistum. 

Jani-tum,  to  beget     ... 

•  •  • 

Gon-i-tunu 

The  scale  of  calculation  is  common  to  all  nations, 
and  owes  its  origin  to  the  Hindus.  Dr.  Indlantyne  is 
inclined  to  support  the  theory  that  Sanskrit  is  the 
mother  of  all  Aryan  (Indo-European)  languages. 

J\Ir.  Ijopp^  says  that  at  one  time  Sanskrit  was  the 
one  language  spoken  all  over  the  world. 

1  Edinborough  Review,  Vol.  XXXIIl,  p.  io. 


212  HINDU    SLTEKIOlilTY. 

Mons.  Dubois^  says  that  Sanskrit  is  the  original 
source  of  all  the  Em^opean  languai^es  of  the  present  day. 

Miss  Carpenter-  says  that  though  the  original  home 
of  Sanskrit  is  Aryawarta,  yet  it  has  now  been  prov^ed  to 
have  been  the  language  of  most  of  the  countries  of 
modern  Europe  in  ancient  times. 

A  German  critic  says  that  "  Sanskrit  is  the  mother 
of  Greek,  Latin  and  German  lanouages,  and  that  it  has 
no  other  relation  to  them  :  this  is  the  reason  wiiy 
Max  Muller  calls  it  the  ancient  language  of  the  Aryas." 

The  great  antiquity  of  Indian  civilization  is  un- 
questionably beyond  comparison ;  and  the  antiquarians 
are  unanimous  as  to  the  incomparable  antiquity  of  the 
Sanskrit  literature  also.  The  oldest  writings  of  the 
oldest  nations  except  the  Hindus  are,  according  to  some 
Orientalists,  the  records  of  various  developments  of 
Buddhism  which  took  its  rise  in  India  after  the  decline 
of  the  V^edic  religion.  Count  Bjornstjerna'  says:  "The 
so-called  Hermes  Scriptures  (the  names  of  all  the  sacred 
writings  of  the  Egyptians)  contain  metaphysical  treatises 
in  theform  of  dialogue  between  Hermes  (Spiritual  wisdom) 
and  Todh,  Bodh,  Buddh  (earthly  wisdom),  which 
throuo-hout  exhibit  the  doctrines  of  Buddhism."  Again, 
"the  early  Egyptian  writing  which  in  the  translation  is 
called  Pimanders  Hermes  Trisjiiefjistus^  and  forms 
a  dialogue  between  Pimander  (the  highest  intelligence) 
and  Thodt,  (Bodh,  Buddha)  which  developes  the 
metaphysics  of  the    Buddhists   touching   the   trinity." 

1  Bible  ill  India. 

^Jiiunial  of  the  Indian  Association. 

STheugony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  100. 


litki;ati:i;k.  2lo 


]\Ir.  Weber  savs  :  "  Aii<l  wliilc  tlio  clainisof  (-Jic -written 
records  o('  Indian  literatnre  to  a  hii^li  anti(|nity  arc;  thus 
indisputably  proved  by  external  geographical  testimony, 
the  internal  evidence  in  the  same  direction,  which  miy 
be  gathered  from  their  contents,  is  no  less  conclusive."' 


AkT    of    WlUTING. 

This  introduces  ns  to  the  important  literary  ques- 
tion as  remu'ds  the  art  of  writino;  in  Ancient  India. 
Apart  from  Mr.  Weber's  acceptance  of  "  the  claims  of 
the  written  records  of  Indian  literature  to  a  high  anti- 
quity," Professor  Wilson  says:  "The  Hindus  have  been 
in  possession  of  that  (writing)  as  long  as  of  a  literature."^ 

Professor  Heeren  says:  "Everything  concurs  to 
establish  the  fact  that  alphabetical  writing  was  known  in 
India  from  the  earliest  times,  and  that  its  use  was  not 
confined  to  inscriptions  but  extended  also  to  every  pur- 
pose of  common  life."'  Count  lijornstjerna  says  that  the 
Hindus  possessed  "  written  books  of  religion"  before 
2800*B.C.,  or  800  years  before  Abraham.^  Professors 
Goldstucker,  Bohtlingk,  Whitney  and  Roth  hold  that  the 
authors  of  the  Prdtlsakhyas  must  have  had  written  texts 
before  them.^ 

^Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  5. 
2Mill's  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  40,  footnote, 
SHereen's  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  }).  202. 
Theogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  2G. 
5  Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  22,  footnote. 


214  HINDU    SUrEKlUUlTY. 

Consideriiiir  the  backwardness  o£  other  nations  in 
the  invention  of  the  art  oE  writing,  and  finding  it  im- 
jjossible  to  give  the  second  place  to  the  nation  to  whom 
they  owe  all  their  learning  and  wisdom,  the  advocates  o£ 
the  theory  of:  "Greek  Culture"  hesitate  to  assign  high 
antiquity  to  the  Hindu  art  of  writing. 

Professor  Max  Muller,  for  one  allows  no  written 
work  before  350  B.C.  This  strange  and  absurd  sup- 
position is  wholly  inexplicable.  Apart  from  the  internal 
and  direct  evidence,  one  fact  alone  is  sufficient  to 
refute  the  supposition.  When  geometry  and  astronomy 
flourished  so  highly  and  extensively  in  India  more  than 
3,000  years  before  Christ,  according  to  the  calculation  of 
the  celebrated  astronomer,  Bailly,  is  it  at  all  conceivable 
that  writimr  should  have  been  unknown  before  350  B.C.? 
Professor  Max  Dunkersays  that  according  to  Max  MuUer's 
theory  the  Brahmanas  must  have  been  retained  in  me- 
mory till  350  B.C.,  but  "  it  seems  to  me,"  he  says, 
"  quite  impossible,  considering  their  form."  He  adds : 
"  If  the  Brahmanas  which  cite  the  Vedas  accurately  in 
their  present  arrangement,  and  speak  not  only  of  sylla- 
bles but  of  letters  arose  between  800  and  600  B.C.,  it 
appears  to  me  an  inevitable  conclusion  that  the  Vedas 
must  have  been  existed  in  writing  about  800  B.C." 

Mr.  Shyamji  Krishnavarma,  Orienti\l  Lecturer  of 
Balliol  College,  Oxford,  in  the  paper  he  read  before  the 
International  Congress  of  Orientalists  at  Leyden  in  1883, 
which  he  attended  as  the  delegate  of  the  Government  of 
India,  has  dealt  with  the  subject  in  a  masterly  way,  and 
shown  that  the  art  of  writing  has  been  in  use  in  India 

1  For  furcher  partlculartj  see  his  History  of  Antiquity,   Vol.  IV, 
pp.  100,157. 


LlTr:RATUlJE.  21; 


.) 


since  the  Vcdic  (imos.  Ho  snvs  :  "  I  feci  no  hos^itntion 
in  saying  that  there  are  words  and  phrases  occurrini:;  in  the 
Sanhitas  of  the  Vedas,^  in  the  Braliinanas  and  in  tlie  Sutra 
■works,  ^vhi(•ll  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  use  of  the  written 
characters  in  ancient  India.  It  may  be  confidently  as- 
serted that  the  systematic  treatises  in  prose  which 
abounded  at  and  long  before  the  time  of  Panini  could 
never  have  been  composed  without  the  help  of  wi-iting. 
We  know  for  certain  that  with  the  exception  of  the 
hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda,  most  of  the  Vaidik  works  are 
in  prose,  and  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  they  could 
possibly  have  been  composed  without  having  recourse  to 
some  artificial  means." 

Katyayana  says  : — ^^q^c^fl-q^t  %<i-^:  ^f  ^if^f*?: 
"When  the  writer  and  the  witnesses  are  dead." 
Yagyavalka  mentions  written  documents ;  and  Njirada 
and  others  also  bear  testimony  to  their  existence.     Even 


1  To  the  objection  that  tho  word  Sniti,  as  a  synonym  of  Veda, 
conveyed  the  idea  of  what  was  learnt  and  taught  by  hearing,  tlius  prov- 
ing the  absence  of  written  books,  he  neatly  replies  that  the  word  Smrtti, 
derived  from  "  Sinri,'^  to  remember  (as  Sruti  comes  from  Sru  to  hear), 
wonld  eqnally  convey  the  same  idea  and  prove  the  same  thing,  though 
it  is  admitted  by  all  that  the  art  of  writing  was  known  to  the  authors 
of  the  Smritis.  After  quoting  a  part  of  a  hymn  in  the  10th  Mandala 
of  the  Rig  Veda,-  "  some  one  seeing  the  speech  does  not  see  it,  wliile 
another  hearing  does  not  hear  it,"  and  showing  that  one  could  not  sec 
the  speech  unless  it  assumed  some  tangible  shape  like  that  of  a  book  or 
manuscript;  also,  that  one  could  not  possibly  count  a  million  without  an 
acquaintance  witli  writing,  not  to  speak  of  having  technical  names 
for  a  million,  a  hundred  million,  nay,  for  a  hundred  thrnisand  million, 
as  we  find  them  given  in  the  seventh  Chapter  of  the  white  Yajur 
Veda — for  we  find  that  in  Greece  before  writing  became  known,  tho 
highest    number   of     what    could    be    technically    expressed    was   only 


216  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 

Max  Miillcr  himself  is  compelled  to  admit  that  "  writing 
Avas  known  to  the  authors  of  the  Sutras." 

The  supposition  that  writing  was  unknown  in 
India  before  ooO  B.C.  is  only  one  of  the  many  instances 
calculnted  to  show  the  strange  waywardness  of  human 
intellect.  If  anyone  of  lesser  authority  than  Max  MuUer 
had  advanced  such  a  supposition  he  might  .have  ''been 
pronounced  a  maniac.  It  was  left  to'  the  4^rned 
professor  to  conceive  the  possibilit}^  of  a  language  of 
the  structure  of  Sanskrit  beiniz:  cultivated  to  the  extent 
of  producing  compositions  like  the  Yedas,  the 
Brahamanasand  the  Upnishads,and  of  a  people  achieving 
wonderful  progress  in  mathematics  and  astronomy  without 
being  able  to  write  A,  B,  C,  or  one,  two  and  three! ! !' 

10,0UO  and  in  Rome  only  a  thonsand- — he  goes  on  to  show  that  tlio 
■nords  "  Kanda  and  Patahi"  which  occur  in  Vedio  literature  prove  the 
existence  of  written  books  in  ancient  times.  After  pointing  out  that 
tlie  Adhikarn,  or  heading  rule,  in  Panini's  grammar  was  denoted  by 
Svarita,  which  proved  conclusively  that  he  employed  writing  and  that 
the  sixth  chapter  of  Ashtadhyayi  says  that  people  in  Panini's  time  used 
to  mark  the  figures  eight  and  five  on  tlie  ears  of  their  cattle, 
he  concludes:  "The  fact  that  Panini  makes  allusion  to  coins,  for 
instance  f^fE^  '^"^  *^^5  ^ith  which  latter  perhaps  the  word  '"rupee" 
is  connected,  and  that  he  actually  mentions  the  two  word^  fWtfcf  and 
f^lf^,  hoth  meaning  writing,  affords  palpable  proof  of  his  acquaintance 
with  the  art  of  writing,  without  which,  as  I  have  said,  he  could  never 
have  produced  his  great  grammar." 

1  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  523.  The  Greeks  prais(?  the  beauty 
of  the  writing  of  the  Indians.     See  Strabo,  Lib,  XV,  p.  493. 

Megasthenes  says  that  "the  Hindus  used  letters  for  inscriptions  on 
mile-stones,  indicating  the  resting  places  and  distances."  Curtius  also 
says  that  "  the  Indians  wrote  on  soft  rind  of  trees."  Nearchus  men- 
tions that  "  the  Indians  wrote  letters  on  cotton  that  had  been  well  beaten 
together."  Fattier  Paufino  says  that  "cotton  paper  was  used  in  India 
before  tjie  Christian  era. — II/>-tor/cal  Ik'searches,  Vol.  II,  [).  1U7. 


LITER ATUKE.  217 

TIiG  cxtraordinnry  vocal  powers  oC  tlic  Hindus, 
combined  with  their  wonderi'nl  inventive  genius,  ])ro- 
dnced  a  lan_<>"nage  which,  when  fully  developed,  v;as 
connnensurate  with  their  niarvcllons  intellectual  faculties, 
and  which  contributed  materially  in  the  creation  of  a 
literature  unparalleled  for  richness,  sublimity  and  range. 
The  peculiar  beanties  inherent  in  the  offspring  of  such 
high  intellectual  powers  were  greatly  enhanced  by  its 
scientific  up-bringing  and  by  constant  and  assiduous 
exercise  it  has  developed  into  what  is  now  such  a  model 
of  perfection  as  to  well-deserve  the  name  of  deo-banl,  or 
"the  language  of  the  gods."  The  very  e.jvccllence  of  the 
languno'e  and  the  scientific  character  of  its  structure 
have  led  some  good  people  to  doubt  if  this  polished  and 
learned  language  could  ever  have  been  the  vernacular  of 
any  people.  Fully  realizing  the  significance  of  the  fact 
that,  with  all  their  boast  of  the  highest  civilization 
and  culture,  they  possess  a  language  highly  defective  and 
irregular  v>dien  compared  to  the  Sanskrit,  these  critics 
find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  the  Hindus  ever  spoke 
that  perfect  language. 

j\Ir,  Shyamji  Krishnavarma,  in  the  learned  paper  on 
the  subject  he  read  before  the  International  Congress  of 
Orientalists  at  Berlin,  on  14th  September  1881 ,  demolishes 
all  the  arguments  advanced  against  the  Sanskrit 
language  having  ever  been  a  spoken  vernacular  of  India, 
and  proves  that  not  only  was  "  Sanskrit,  as  we  find  settled 
in  the  Ashtadhyayi  of  Panini,  the  spoken  vernacular  at 
the  time  when  that  grammarian  flourished,"  but  that 
"  it  is  at  present  extensively  used  as  a  medium  of 
conversation  and  correspondence  among  learned  men 
in  all  parts  of  India,  from  Kashmir  to  Cape  Comorin." 


218  HINDU    SUPEKIORITY. 

Professor  Max  Muller  sa_ys:  "Yet  such  is  the  mar- 
vellous continuity  between  the  past  and  the  present 
in  India,  that  in  spite  of  repeated  social  convulsions, 
religious  reforms  and  foreigu  invasions,  Sanskrit  may 
be  said  to  be  still  the  only  language  that  is  spoken  over 
the  whole  extent  of  that  vast  country."  He  adds: 
"Even  at  the  present  moment,  after  a  century  of 
English  rule  and  Enc-lish  teachinsj,  I  believe  that 
Sanskrit  is  more  widely  understood  in  India  than 
Latin  was  in  Europe  at  the  time  of  Dante." ^ 

Who  after  this  can  say  that  Sanskrit  was  or  is  a 
dead  language  ? 


India  :  'What  can  it  teach  us  ?  pp.  78,  7U, 


TRK    VEDIC    LITr.RATL'KE.  219 


I.— THE  VEDIC  LITERATURE. 

Veil  after  veil  will  lift — but  there  must  be 
Veil  upon  veil  bcliiiid. 

— BuddhcCs  Sermon.'^ 

Professor  Max  Mullersays:  "The  Vedic  literature'* 
opens  to  us  a  chapter  in  wliat  has  been  cj'.Ued  tlie  edu- 
cation of  the  human  race,  to  ^hich  we  can  find  no 
parallel  anywhere  else."^ 

The  ^'edic  literature  consists  of  (1)  The  Yedas, 
(2)  The  Brahmanas,   (3)  The  Sutras. 

The  Yedas  are  four  in  numljer  and  are  called  the 
Rig  Vedti,  the  Yajur  Yeda,  the  Atharva  A'cda,  and  the 
Sama  A'eda.  The  Rig  A^eda  and  the  Yajur  Yeda  are  the 
most  important  of  the  Yedas,  as  they  respectively  deal 
with  the  knowledge  of  things  physical,  mental  and 
spiritual  and  the  application  of  that  knowledge. 

The  Yedas  are  universally  admitted  to  be  not  only 
by  far  the  most  important  work  in  the  Sanskrit  language 
but  the  greatest  work  in  all  literature. 

It  is  nothing  short  of  a  miracle  that  while  impor- 
tant works  in  almost  all  departments  of  human  learning 
that  were  cultivated  in  ancient  India  have  perished,  the 
most  important  of  them  all,  the  Yedas,  the  fountain-head 
of  allj  knowledge  and  the  parent  of  all  literature  and 
science,  have  come  down  to  us  secure  and  intact.  ^V'hile 
most  of  the  important  Sanskrit  works  from  Manu  Smriti, 
the    most    ancient    code    of    law   in    the  world,  to    the 

1  Light  uf  Asia,  y.  I'l.     2 India  :  What  can  it  icach  us  ?  p.  89. 


220  HINDU    SUPEEIORITY. 

RaraayanaandtheMahabharata  have  been  tampered  with, 
the  Vedas,  by  the  very  inimitable  grandeur  of  their 
language,  and  the  unequalled  sublimity  of  their 
contents  have  defied  all  attempts  at  interpolation. 

As,  however,  the  studv  of  the  Vedas  has  Ions:  been 
neglected,  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the' Sutras  and 
A'edangas  by  which  alone  the  Vedic  mantras  may  be 
interpreted  is  ,,^'^ery  rare,  the  Vedas  are  rarely  well 
understood  even  by  the  learned  amongst  the  Hindus. 

When  the  Yajur  A  eda  was  presented  to  A'oltaire,  he 
expressed  his  belief  that  it  was  the  most  precious  gift  for 
which  the  West  had  been  ever  indebted  to  the  East.^ 

Guiiiault  savs  :  "  The  Hio:  Veda  is  the  most  sub- 
lime  conception  of  the  great  highways  of  humanit3\" 

Mons.i  Leon  Delbos  speaks  enthusiastically  of  the 
grandeur  and  sublimity  of  the  Vedas.  "  There  is  no 
monument  of  Greece  or  Rome,"  he  asserts,  "  more  pre- 
cious than  the  Rig  Veda."^ 

Professor  Max  I\Iuller  says  :  "  In  the  history  of  the 
world,  the  Veda  fills  a  gap  which  no  literary  work  in 
any  other  language  could  fill."^  He  also  saj's:  "  I  main- 
tain that  to  everybody  who  cares  for  himself,  for  his 
ancestors,  for  his  histor}',  for  his  intellectual  develop- 
ment, a  study  of  Vedic  literature  is  indispensable.""*  The 
Hindus  hold  the  Vedas  to  be  the  Revelation,  and  its 
study  accordingly  is  indispensable  po  every  man. 

1  Wilson's  Essays,  yol.  Ill,  p.  r,04. 

^Mons.  Leon  Delbos'  paper  on  the  Vodas  read  before  the  Interna- 
tional Literary  Association  at  Paris,  on  14th  July  1884,  the  venerable 
Victor  Hugo  being  in  the  chair. 

3 Wilson's  Essays,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  339. 

^Max  MuUer's  India  :  What  can  it  teach  us  ?  p.  121. 


THE    VEDIC    LITEHATCUE.  2iM 

The  \'c(1as   nrc  admittedly  the  oldest  books  in  the 

world.    "  Thea^eot"  this  venerable  hymnal  (Iti<2:  \  eda),"' 

says   !Sir  AV.   A\'.   Hunter,   "  is  unknown."     '"  They  (the^ 

A'edas)  are  the   oldest  of   books  in   the  library  of  man- 

kind,"  says  Professor  Max  Aluller.      "  Thev  are  without 

doubt,"    says    Professor    Heeren,     "  the     oldest    works 

composed   in  the   Sanskrit."'   "Even  the  most  ancient 

Sanskrit  wriiini'-s  allow  the  Vedas  as  already  existing."- 

No  country  except  India  and  no  language   except  the 

Sanskrit  can  boast  of  a  possession  so  ancient  or  venerable. 

Xo   nation   except  the    Hindus   can    pretend   to    stand 

before    the  world  with   such  a    sacred    heirloom    in    its 

possession,  unapproachable  in    grandeur  and   infinitely 

abov'e   all  in    glory.      The  Yedas    stand  alone  in  their 

solitary  splendour,  serving  as  a  beacon  of   divine  light 

for  the  onward  march  of  humanity. 

The  Hindus  hold  that  the  Vedas  contain  the  irerms 
of  all  knowledge,  and  that  their  teachings  are  in  complete 
consonance  with  the  doctrines   of  true  science.^     The 

1  Historical  Uoseaiclics.  Vol.  II,  p.  1-10. 

-Heereu's  llistnm-al  Researches,  Vol.  II,  ]).  127. 

^See  P.  Guru  Datta's-  Yedic  Texts,  No.  2,  printeel  at  tlie  Virja- 
nand  Press,  Lahore,  Those  who  read  their  own  hisiorioal  theories  in 
tlie  Vedas  will  do  well  to  consider  the  words  of  Professor  Barth.  After 
pointing  out  some  of  the  metaphysical  theories  contained  in  the  Vedas 
he  proceeds:  "  These  alone  are  sufficient  to  prove,  if  necessary,  how  pro- 
foundly sacredotal  this  poetry  is,  and  they  ought  to  have  suggested 
reflections  to  thuse  who  have  (iffccted  to  see  in  it  only  the  work  of 
primitive  shepherds  celebrating  the  praises  of  their  gods  as  they  lead 
their  flocks  to  the  i)asture." — Barth's  Religions  of  India,  p.  :1P. 

Professor  Thielve  of  Leyden,  too,  expresses  the  same  opinion,  only 
more  strongly  in  Tlicologixche  Tijdochrift  lov  i\\\y  1880.  As  Professor 
Max  Mnller  admits,  the  Europeans  "  are  still  on  the  mere  surface 
of  Vedic  literature,"  and  must  not  reject  it  as  useless  if  they  do  not 
find  in  it  corroboration  of  their  preconceived  theories  of  anthropology 
and  sociology.    See  India  :  What  can  it  teach  us?  p.  llo. 


222  HINDU    SUrEHlORITY. 

late  lamented  P.  Guru  Datta  of  Lahore  attempted  to 
interpret  a  few  mantras  of  the  Rig  Veda  on  the  strength 
of  Swami  Dayanand  Saras wati's  commentary  on  the 
Vedas.  The  result  was  astonishing.  Interpreting  the 
7 til  mantra  of  the  second  sukta  of  Rig  Veda, — 

f*T^  ^  ^cf  ^^  ^^?!l  ^  frgiKHiT  1  f^4  ^cT]=qt  ^T^^T  II 

p.  Guru  Datta  says :  "  This  mantra  describes  the 
{(Ihiyam)  process,  or  steps  whereby  the  well-know^n  of 
liquids,  water,  can  be  formed  by  the  combination  of  tiro 
other  substances  {ijrltachim  sadhcnita).  The  word 
sndhanfa  is  in  the  dual  number  indicating  that  it  is 
two  elementary  bodies  which  combine  to  form  water. 
What  those  two  elementary  substances  according  to 
this  mantra  are,  is  not  a  matter  of  least  importance  to 
determine.  The  words  used  to  indicate  those  two 
substances  are  m.itra  and  rarana. 

"  The  first  literal  meanino-  of  mitra^  is  measurer.  The 
name  is  given  to  a  substance  that  stands,  as  it  were,  as  a 
measurf'r  or  as  a  standard  substance.  It  is  the  measurer 
of  density,  or  of  value,  otherwise  known  as  quantiva- 
lence.  The  other  meaninc;  of  mitra  is  'associate.'  Now 
in  this  mantra,  mitra  is  described  as  an  associate  of 
varima.'^       It    will    be    shown    how    varuna    indicates 

1  The  viord  mitra  is  foi-med  by  adding  the  nnadi  suffix;  kra  to  the 
root  mi,  according  to  the  sutni  ^ffff^fff^lf^*^'.  WV  II  ^101°  8  I  ^^8  II 
The  meaning  is  ffliftcfti^T'i^  =R^fclfvJ^:  I  or  one  tliat  measures  or 
stands  as  a  standard  of  rcl'crciRM'. 

-Varuna  is  fonucd  hy  ailding  unadi  suffix  unan  to  root  rri  to 
accept  ^^^tPc^^*^*?^  II  1,^  1 1  Hence  it  means  that  which  is  accept- 
able to  all  or  seeks  all. 


THE  VKDir  i.nr.nATrRK.  i>*i3 

oxvnjen  H'as.'  Now  it  is  well-known  tluit  hvdroucn  is 
not  only  the  lightest  element  known,  nor  is  it  only 
monovalent,  but  that  it  has  a  strong  afiinity  for  oxygen  ; 
hence  it  is  that  it  is  described  as  an  associate  of  varuna. 
Many  other  analogies  in  the  properties  of  mitra  and 
hi/dro(/en  go  on  to  suggest  that  what  is  in  Vedic  terms 
styled  as  mitra  is  in  fact  identical  with  hydrogen. 
Mitra  for  instance,  occurs  as  synonymous  with  itdaiia 
in  many  parts  of  the  Vedas,  and  udaiia  is  well 
characterized  by  its  lightness  or  b}*  its    power  to  lift  up. 

"Thesecond  element  with  which  we  are  concerned  is 
vartma.  Varuna  is  the  substance  that  is  acceptable  to 
all.  It  is  the  element  that  everv  living  being  needs  to 
live.  Its  well-known  property  is  rishadah,  i.e.,  it  eats 
aw^ay  or  rusts  all  the  base  metals,  it  burns  all  the  bones, 
etc.,  and  physiologically  purifies  the  blood  by  oxidizing 
it,  and  thereby  keeping  the  frame  alive.  It  is  by  these 
properties  that  varuna  is  in  general  distinguished  ;  but 
it  is  especially  characterized  here  as  rishadah.  No  one 
can  fail  to  perceive  that  the  substance  thus  distinctly 
characterized  is  oxvgen  gas. 

"  Another  word  used  in  the  mantra  is  puta  dakshavi. 
Piita  is  pure,  free  from  impurities.  Dalsha  means  energy. 
Pitta  daksham  is  a  substance  pure  possessed  of  kinetic 
energy.  Who  that  is  acquainted  with  the  kinetic  theory 
of  gases  cannot  see  in  jmta  daksha  the  properties  of  a 
gas  highly  heated  ? 

"  The  meaning  of  the  mantra  taken  as  a  whole  is  this. 
Let  one  who  is  desirous  to  form  water  by  the   combina- 

1  Again,  we  have  in  ISIigliantn.  the  Veclio  Dictionary,  Chapter  V, 
Section  4,  ffl^  ^fcT  l(^«imS?f2rT5R  ||  Hence  mitra  means  that 
\vhich  approaches  or  seeks  association  with  others. 


224  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

tion  of  two  substances,  take  pure  hydroo-en  gas  highly 
heated  and  oxygen  gas  possessed  of  the  properties 
rishadah,  and  let  him  combine  them  to  form  Avater." 

The  Brahnianas^  too^  are  sometimes  held  by  the 
ignorant  to  be  part  of  the  Yedas  :  but  as  Professor 
Weber  says,  "  strictly  speaking,  only  the  Sanghitas  are 
A'edas."  The  Brahmanas  are  either  commentaries  on 
the  Yedas  or  philosophical  disquisitions  based  on  them. 

Of  the  period  when  these  Brahmanas  were  compos- 
ed, Professor  Weber  says  :  "  AVe  have  here  a  copy  of 
the  period  when  Brahmans  with  lively  emulation  carry 
on  their  enquiries  into  the  highest  questions  the  human 
mind  can  propound  ;  women  Avith  enthusiastic  ardour 
plunge  into  mysteries  of  speculation,  impressing  and 
astonishing  men  by  the  depth  and  loftiness  of  their 
opinion,  and  who  solve  the  questions  proposed  to  them 
on  sacred  subjects."^ 

The  Brahmanas,  composed  by  some  of  the  wisest  sages 
of  the  ancient  world,  though  not  enjoying  the  authority 
of  the  Vedas  are  of  the  highest  value  to  the  student  of 
the  Yedic  literature. 

The  Sutras  are  divided  into — 

(1)  Sikhsha  (phonetic  directory). 

(2)  Chhandas  (metre). 

(3)  Yyakarana  (grammar). 

(4)  Xirukta  (explanation  of  words). 

(5)  Jyotish  (astronomy). 

(6)  Kalpa  (ceremonial). 

This  division  will  show  that  the  study  of  language 
was  cultivated  by  the  Hindus  from  the  earliest  times  on 
scientific  principles. 

1  Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p,  22. 


THE    VEDIC    LITERATURE.  225 

Speaking  of  the  Pi';itisakhya  (a  sub-division  of 
Siklisha)  of  the  white  Ynjush,  Professor  H.  H.  Wilson 
says  :  "  Such  laborious  minutiie  and  elaborate  subtleties 
reflating  to  the  enunciation  of  human  speech  are  not  to 
be  met  with  in  the  literature  of  any  other  nation."' 

Professor  Wilson  again  says:  "It  is  well  known  how 
long  it  took  before  the  Greeks  arrived  at  a  complete 
nomenclature  for  the  parts  of  speech.  Plato  only  knew 
of  noun  and  verb  as  the  two  component  parts  of  speech, 
and,  for  ])hilosophical  purposes,  Aristotle,  too,  did  not  go 
beyond  that  number.  It  is  only  in  discussing  the  rules 
of  rhetoric  that  he  is  led  to  the  admission  of  two  more 
parts  of  speech — conjunctions  and  articles.  The  pronoun 
does  not  come  in  before  Zenodotus,  and  the  preposition 
occurs  first  in  Aristarchos.  In  the  Pratis;ikhya,  on  the 
contrary,  we  meet  at  once  with  the  following  exhaustive 
classification  of  the  parts  of  speech."' 

Mr.  Alexander  Thomson,  the  late  talented  and 
able  Principal  of  the  Agra  College,  and  one  of  the  best 
philologists  in  India,  used  to  say  that  the  consonantal 
division  of  the  alphabet  of  the  Sanskrit  language  was 
a  more  wonderful  feat  of  human  genius  than  any  the 
world  has  yet  seen.  Even  now  the  Europeans  are  far 
behind  the  Hindus  in  this  respect.  Professor  ]\Iac- 
donell  says:  "We  Euro2>eans,  2,500  years  later, 
and  in  a  scientific  age,  still  employ  an  alphabet 
which  is  not  only  inadequate  to  represent  all  the 
sounds  of  our  language,  but  even  preserves  the 
random    order    in    which    vowels    and    consonants    arc 

^Wilson's  Essays  on  Sanskrit  Literature,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  ol7, 
-Wilson's  Essays  ou  Sanskrit  Literature,    Vul.  Ill;    \<.    321,  (;3rd 
edition). 


22G  HINDU    SUrERTOKITY. 

jinnhlecl  up  as  they  Avere  in  the  Greek  adaptation  of  the 
primitive  Semitic  arrangement  of  3,000  years  ago."' 

Rev.  ]\[r.  Ward  says:  "In  philology  the  Hindus 
liave,  perhaps,  excelled  both  the  ancients  (Greeks  and 
Romans)  and  the  moderns."^ 

Professor  ^lax  Muller  says:  "The  idea  of  reducing  a 
whole  lanouno-e  to  a  small  number  of  roots,  which  in 
Europe  was  not  attempted  before  the  sixteenth  century 
by  Henry  Estienne,  was  perfectly  familiar  to  the  Brah- 
mans  at  hast  500  years  before  Christ."^ 

"  The  science  of  language,  indeed,'.'  says  Sir  A^  .  A\  . 
Hunter,  "had  been  reduced  in  India  to  fundamental 
principles  at  a  time  when  the  grammarians  of  the  West 
still  treated  it  as  accidental  resemblances.""* 

Another  branch  of  the  science  of  language,  the 
JXrammatical  treatment  of  it,  was  cultivated  to  a  degree 
which  not  only  defies  comparison,  but  is  unique  in  the 
annals  of  literature.  The  most  eminent  Indian  gram- 
marian, Panini  Muni,  sits  on  the  hallowed  throne  of  un- 
rivalled literary  reputation,  having  achieved  the  most 
perfect  work  of  its  kind  of  which  the  hiunan  mind  is  cap- 
able. Professor  Weber  speaks  in  rapturous  terms  of  Pani- 
ni'sVichievement.  He  says  :  "We  pass  at  once  into  the 
magnificent  edifice  which  bears  the  name  of  Panini  as  its 
architect,  and  which  justly  conunands  the  wonder  and 
admiration  of  everyone  who  enters,  and  which,  by-  the 
very  fact  of  its  sufficing  for  all  the  phenomena  which 
language    presents,    bespeaks    at    once    the     marvellous 

J  History  of  lliiulu  Clicmistiy,  Vol.  1,  p.  25. 
^Mythology  of  the  Hiinlns. 

•"^iMax  Muller's  Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Language,  p.  .SO.     For 
IL  Estienne,  see  Sir  Jolin  Stoildart,  Glossology. 
■iJnii.irial  (Jazeltei-r,  "  India.  "  p.  2U. 


■I'liK  N'KDic  LrrKKA'rruic.  227 

iii<;'nniiity  of  its  inventor  and  liis  prolound  penetniLion  ol" 
tlie  entire  niateriul  of  tiie  language.'" 

Sir  W.  Hunter  says:  "The  grammar  of  Pauiiii 
stands  su])reme  among  the  grammars  of  the  world,  alike 
for  its  precision  of  statement  and  for  its  thorough  ana- 
lysis of  the  roots  of  the  language  and  of  the  formative 
principles  of  words.  V>y  applying  an  algebraical  termi- 
nology, it  attains  a  sharp  succinctness  nnrivalled  in 
brevity,  but  at  times  enigmatical.  It  arranires  in  loijicad 
harmony  the  whole  phenomena  Avhieh  the  Sanskrit  lang- 
nage  presents,  and  stands  forth  as  one  of  the  most  splen- 
did (ichlevements  of  human  invention  and  industry.  So 
elaborate  is  the  structure  that  doubts  have  arisen  whether 
its  iniiumeraljle  rules  of  formation  and  i)honetic  'change, 
its  polysyllabic  derivatives,  its  ten  conjugations  with  its 
multiform  aoriscs  and  long  array  of  tenses  could  ever 
have  been  the  spoken  language  of  a  people."- 

Planning  says:  ''The  celebrated  Panini  berpieathed 
to  posterity  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  renowned  books 
ever  written  m  any  lani>-ua<>'e."''  "  The  scientific  com- 
pleteness  of  Sanskrit  grannnar  appeared  to  Sir  \\\  Jones 
so  unaccountfibls  tliat  he  wrote  about  it  with  amazement 
and  admiration."^ 


lAVeber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  210.  "Those  niles  (of  «i;raniniar) 
are  formed  with  tlie  utinost  conciseness,  the  consequence  of  very  iiii^-enious 
methods." — Colehrooke  on  Sanskrit  and  Prakrit  hinguages,  Afiiutic 
Jietsearches,  Vol.  VII. 

-Imperial  Gazetteer  of  India,  Art,   "India,"  p.  211:. 

■^Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  oSl. 
Ancient  and  ]\Iedia'val  India,  A'ol.  I,  p.  ;;7I).    "  The  .grammatical 
works  1(1' th"   Hindus  are  so  reiiiarkalili'  tliat     in  their    own  department 
they  are  said  to  exceed  in  nicrii  nearly  all,  if  not   all,  ^ramuialical  pro- 
ductions of  other  nations. "-p.  O^o. 


228  ^I^'DU  surEuioKiTY. 

In  Europe,  generally  speaking  grammatical  science 
does  not  yet  treat  of  those  high  principles  which  nnderlie 
the  life  and  growth  of  knguage.  It  is  not  fair  to  Panini 
to  compare  with  his  Vya/carcma,  the  grammars  of  modern 
Europe,  wdiere  the  grammatical  science  has  not  yet 
grasped  those  princij)les  of  the  formation  and  develop- 
ment of  a  language,  which  it  is  the  unique  honour  of 
Sanskrit  grammars  to  classify  and  explain. 

Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "  Sanskrit  grammar  is  evi- 
dently far  superior  to  the  kind  of  grammar  which  for 
the  most  part  has  contented  grammarians  in  Europe."  ^ 

"Vyakarana,"  says  the  same  authoress,  "was  not 
merely  grammar  in  the  lower  acceptation  of  being  an 
explanation  of  declension,  conjugation  and  other 
prammatical  forms,  but  was  from  its  commencement  a 
scientific  grammar  or  grammatical  science  in  the  highest 
sense  which  can  be  attributed  to  this  term."^ 

j\Ir.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  His  works  (Panini's)  and 
those  of  his  successors  have  established  a  system  of 
grammar,  tlie  most  complete  that  ever  was  employed  in 
arranging  elements  of  human  speech."^ 

Professor  Max  Muller  says  :  "  Their  (  Hindus) 
achievements  in  grammatical  analysis  are  still  unsur- 
passed in  the  grammatical  literature  of  any  nation." 

"  Panini,  Katyayana,  and  Patau jali,  are  the  cano- 
nical triad  of  grammarians  of  India,"  and,  to  quote 
Mrs.  Manning  once  more,  "such  (grammatical)  works 
are  originated  as  are  unrivalled  in  the  literary  history  of 
other  nations."* 

'Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  o81. 

2See  Goldstiicker's  Panini.  p.  I'JC).  VYakar;ina  =  nndoing  or  analysis. 

^^Elphinstone's  History  of  India,  p.  14G. 

*  Ancient  and  Medianal  History  of  India.  Vol.  I,  p.  381.  "Hindu 
crrammarians  liavp  boon  pn^jja^-od  in  the  solution  of  interesting  prol)lems 
from  times  immemorial.'' — p.  oSl. 


TIIK    VKDIC    I.T'lKKATUltK.  220 

^[|-.  A\':ir(l  ^avs  :  "  Their  _uT:unin;n's  arc  very  nu- 
merous, and  reflect  the  hiiihest  credit  on  the  in!j,\'nnil\' 
o£  their  aiUhors."^ 

Profeissor  Sir  ^lonicr  AVilliams  remarks  :  "  Th(! 
grammar  o£  Paniiii  is  one  oF  tlie  most  remarkahh; 
literary  works  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  and  no 
other  countnj  can  produce  any  grammatical  .'^j/stem  at 
all  comparable  to  it,  either  for  orii/inal'iti/  of  plan  or 
analytical  suhtlety.^^  The  Pi-ofessor  again  says  : 
"His  Sastras  are  a  perfect  miracle  oi"  condensation." 

A  commentary  on  Panini's  grammar  was  writtini  l)y 
Katvavana,  author  of  Varttikas.  He  was  criticised  hy 
Patanjali,  who  wrote  the  Mahahliasliya,  Avhich  is,  accord- 
ing to  Professor  Sir  Monier  AVilliams,  "  one  of  the  most 
Avonderful  grammatical  works  that  the  genius  of  any 
country  has  ever  produced."^ 

The  following  grammarians  are  said  to  have  pre- 
ceded Panini  : — Apisali,  Kas3-pa,  GariiTa,  Galava,  Sak- 
ravarmana,  lUiaradwaja,  Sakatyana,  Sakalja,  Senaka,  and 
Sphotayana. 

As  regards  lexicons,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Ward  says  : 
"  Their  dictionaries  also  do  the  hiidiest  credit  to  tlie 
Hindu  learned  men,  and  prove  how  highly  the  Sanskrit 
was  cultivated  in  former  periods." 


MVavLi's  ^Mythology  of  tho  Hindus.     -Iiuliun  AVisdoiii.  ]».  172. 

•MMoniiT  Williaui.s'  Indian  Wisdom,  pp.  I7(j  and  177.  rataiijali  is 
said  to  have  liecn  born  al  (ionarda  in  llio  east  of  Fiidia  and  livi-d  for 
some  lime  in  Kaslimir.  His  mother's  name  (aecording  to  some)  was 
Ganika.  Panini  wns,  liowover,  a  native  of  Slatiiia,  to  tlie  noitli- 
west  of  Attock  .111  the  Tiidns.  Hi<  mother.  Dnkshi.  was  descended  from 
Haksliii.  Professor  Goklsliieker  thinks  he  has  groiiudb  to  decide  that 
Panini  Hved  before  Buddha. 


230  HINDU    SUrERIOKlTY. 

II.— POETRY. 

]MessinQ,'s  1)0  with  thoni  aiul  ctfriiiil  iiraiso, 
Tin'  |i(K'(s  who  oil  L'lirtli  have  iiiailc  us  lieirs 
Ot"  Truth  and  pure  delight  by  heavenly  lays. 

—  Wordsworth. 

Count  Bjornstjerna  says:  "Poetry  rales  over  till  in  India; 
it  has  lent  its  forms,  its  coloring,  and  its  charms  even  to 
the  most  abstract  sciences,  yea,  even  to  religion."^ 

Professor  Max  Danker  says  :  "  The  treasares  of  poetry 
in  India  are  inexhaastible."-  Among  sach  a  "  poetical 
people"  as  the  Hindas — as  Professor  Heeren''  aptly  terms 
them — poetry  tloarished  in  wonderfal  laxariance,  and  its 
varioas  branches  were  caltivated  with  marvellous  success. 
Professor  Heeren  says  :  "  The  varioas  branches  of  poetry, 
such  as  the  narrative  and  the  dramatic,  the  Ivric  as  well  as 
the  didactic  taid  the  apologue,  have  all  flourished  in  Sans- 
krit literature,  and  produced  the  most  excellent  results.""* 
Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  All  who  have  read  the 
heroic  poems  in  the  original  are  enthasiastic  in  their 
praise,  and  their  beauties  have  been  most  felt  by  those 
whose  own  productions  entitle  their  judgment  to  most 
respect.  Nor  is  this  admiration  confined  to  critics  who 
have  peculiarly  devoted  themselves  to  Oriental  literattu-e. 
Milmtm  and  Schlegel  vie  w^ith  Wilson  and  Jones  in  their 
applause  ;  and  from  one  or  other  of  these  writers  w^e  learn 
the  simplicity  and  originality  of  the  composition;  the  sub- 
limity, grace  and  pathos  of  particular  passages;  the  natural 
dignity  of  actors  ;  the  holy  parity  of  manners,  and  the 
inexhaustible  fertility  of  imagination  in  the  authors."'' 

"^Tiicogonv  of  tlio  Hindus,  v.  80.  -History  of  .\ntiquity,  Vol.  IV,  ]i,  27. 
^Ui^t.  liJsearehes,  Vol.  11,' p.  ISO.  "^llist.    ];,■.,  ar.'hes,  Vol.  11,  p.  117, 
■''J'llpliiii.-loiie"s  lli:>tury  of  India,  p.  155. 


KIMC    I'ol/l'iiV.  2:U 


II [.—EPIC  POKTRV. 

A  11(1  liiTc  llic  sinL;('r  i'nr  liis  iii'l, 

Xui  all  ill  vain  iii;i_v  plcail, 
Tlic  soul;'  thai  iHM'Vcs  a  iiali"ii"s  Iirai'l, 

Is  in  itsoll'  a  deed. 

—  Tennyson. 

PnoFEssou  TTkei;kn  s^,3^s :  "The  litcmturc  of  tlic  Iliiidus 
is  rich  in  ('[)Lc  pootry."'  The  U:iinay:in;i  and  the  Maha- 
hharata,  however,  are  the  ])rinci])al  epics,  tlie  e[)ics  par 
e.xcellence  o£  India.  Professor  Monier  W'ilHanis  tluis 
sneaks  of  them  :  "  Altiioui''h  the  Hindns,  hke  th(; 
Greeks,  have  only  two  great  epic  poems,  namely,  the 
llama vana  and  the  Mahabharata,  jQt  to  compare  these 
Avith  the  Iliad  or  the  Odyssey  is  to  compare  the  Indus  and 
the  Gixn<j-es  risini!;  in  the  snows  of  the  world's  most 
colossal  ranges,  swollen  Ijy  numerous  tril)utaries  s])read- 
ing  into  vast  shallows  or  bi'ancliing  into  deep  divergent 
cliannels,  with  the  streams  of  Attica  or  the  mountainous 
torrents  of  Thessally.  There  is,  in  fact,  an  immensity 
of  bulk  about  tb.is,  as  about  every  other  department 
of  Sanskrit  literature,  which  to  a  European,  accustomed 
to  a  more  limited  horizon,  is  absolutely  bewildering."- 
Of  these  remarkable  poems,  the  Ramayana  is  the 
older,  while  the  Mahabharata  is  the  larger  of  the  two. 
Apart  from  their  high  poetical  merits,  in  which  they 
defy  rivalry  and  discard  comparison,  their  enormous 
bulk  is  a  standing  puzzle  to  the  European  critics. 

^ Historical  Roscarclies,  Vol.  II,  p.  147.     -Indian  Epic  Poetry,  p.  1. 


232  HINDU    SUPERIORlXr. 

A  comparison  with  the  other  great  epics  of  the  old 
"World  will  give  an  idea  of  their  enormous  size. 
:\l:ihal)harata  has  2,20,000  lines. 

Kamayana  has  48,000       ,, 

Homer's  Iliad  has  15,693       „ 

Alrgil's  ^luiead  has  9,868       ,, 

The  Iliad  and  Odyssey   together  contain    30,000  lines. 
Schlegel  calls  Ramayana  "the  noblest  of  epics." 

"  Ramayana,"  says  Professor  Monier  Williams,  "is 
niidonbtedly  one  of  the  greatest  treasures  in  Sanskrit 
literature."  Sir  W.  Jones  says :  "  The  Ramayana  is  an 
epic  poem  on  the  story  of  Rama,  which,  in  unity  of  action, 
magnificence  of  imagery  and  elegance  of  style  far  sur- 
passes the  learned  and  elaborate  work  of  Xonnus."^ 

After  giving  the  argument  of  the  Ramayana,  Prof. 
Heeren,  with  his  usual  moderation,  says  :  "  Sucli,  in  few 
words,  is  the  chief  subject  of  Ramayana,  while  the  de- 
volopment  and  method  of  handling  this  simple  argument 
is  so  remarkably  rich  and  copious  as  to  suffer  little  from 
a  comparison  in  this  respect  with  the  most  admired  pro- 
ductions of  the  epic  muse."- 

Professor  Sir  M.  Monier  Williams  says  :  "  There 
is  not  in  the  whole  range  of  the  Sanskrit  literature  a 
more  charming  poem  than  the  Ramayana.  The  classical 
purity,  clearness  and  simplicity  of  its  st3de,  the  exquisite 

1  Asiatic  Roscarchos,  p.  255.  A  writer  in  the  Westminister  Jteriew 
for  April  18G8  oiTers  MaliaMiarata  such  a  remote  antiquity  as  to  leave 
behind  not  only  Mann  but  even  the  writings  of  Asvalyana,  etc.  Count 
Jijornstjerna  dates  it  at  2000  B.C.  Dr.  Mittra  points  out  that  "tlie 
Mahabharata,  in  tlie  course  of  ils  thousands  of  verses,  nowliere  alludes 
to  Ijuddhism  ;uid  Buddha,  and  must  therefore,  and  ou  other  grounds 
not  wortli  naming  here,  date  from  before  the  birth  ol'  Sal<ya." — 7Vu'  J i(</u 
Anjuvx,  Vol.  r,  p.  38. 

-Ileereu's  Uistorical  Researches.  Vol.  II,  p.  140. 


EPIC    roETlvV.  2?)?) 

touches  of  true  poetic  (eermg  with  which  it  uIjouikIs,  its 
gr;ij)hic  (lescrii>ti<)iis  of  heroic  incidents,  nature's  li'i'aiK  I - 
est  scenes,  the  deep  acquaintance  it  dis})lays  wilIi  (he. 
conflictino'  workings  and  most  refined  emotions  ol'  tlic 
human  heai't,  all  entitle  it  to  rank  among  the  most  beauli- 
ful  compositions  that  have  appeared  at  any  period  or  in 
any  country.  It  is  like  a  spacious  and  delightful  garden, 
here  and  there  allowed  to  run  wild,  but  teeming  witli 
fruits  and  flowers,  watered  by  perennial  streams,  and 
even  its  most  tangled  lungle  intersected  with  delii>htful 
pathways.  The  character  of  llama  is  nobly  portrayed. 
It  is  only  too  consistently  unselfish  to  be  lium;ui. 
We  must  in  tact  bear  in  mind  that  he  is  half  a  god,  yet 
though  occasionally  dazzled  by  flashes  from  his  su[)erior 
nature,  we  are  not  often  blinded  or  bewildered  by  it. 
At  least  in  the  earlier  portion  of  the  poem  he  is  not 
generally  represented  as  more  than  a  heroic,  noble- 
minded,  pious,  virtuous  man,  whose  bravery,  unselfisii 
generosity,  filial  obedience,  tender  attachment  to  his  wife, 
love  for  his  brothers  and  freedom  from  all  resentful  feel- 
ings, we  can  appreciate  and  admire.  When  he  falls  a 
victim  to  the  spite  of  his  father's  second  wife,  he 
cherishes  no  sense  of  wrong.  When  his  father  decides 
on  banishing  him,  not  a  nuuMuur  escapes  his  lips.  In 
noble  language  he  expresses  his  resolution  to  sacrifice 
himself  rather  than  allow  his  parent  to  break  his  pledged 
Avord.  As  to  Sita,  she  is  a  paragon  of  domestic  virtues. "- 

^  '•  When  iiU'Utiticil  with  tlio  ili'ity,  lie  scciiis  liiiii.<('ll'  uiK'nUM-inns  ol' 
his  tine  rliai:i(ii'r.  [t  is  even  pussililc  tiiat  the  [nissnuvs  whicli  iiuikc 
hiui  ill!  iii';iniati<iii  of  Vishnu  iii.iy  bt-  Idler  iuU'r^iulatiun.s." 

-ludiaii  Epic  I'uc'try,  p.  1-'. 


234  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

Sita  is  the  noblest  ideal  of  a  woman.  Her  nol3le 
and  calm  devotion  to  her  lord,  her  unbounded  love,  her 
exalted  conception  of  the  eternal,  nay,  divine  relation 
of  a  wife  to  her  husband  are  ideals  unparalleled  for  lofti- 
ness and  sublimity  in  any  language  or  literature.  AVhat 
can  be  more  noble  than  her  address  to  Rama  when  she 
pleads  for  permission  to  accompany  him  into  banishment  ? 

A  wife  must  shai'e  her  husband's  fate.     My  duty  is  to  follow  thee 
Where'er  thou  goest.  Apart  from  thee,  I  would  not  dwell  in  heaven  itself 
Deserted  by  her  lord,  a  wife  is  like  a  miserable  corpse. 
Close  as  thy  shadow  would  I  cleave  to  thee  in  this  life  and  hereafter. 
Thou  art  my  king,  my  guide,  my  only  refuge,  my  divinity. 
It  is  my  fixed  resolve  to  follow  thee.     If  thou  must  wander  forth. 
Through  tliorny  trackless  forests,  I  will  go  before  thee  treading  down 
The  prickly  brambles  to  make  smooth  thy  path.  Walking  before  thee 
Shall  feel  no  weariness :  the  forest-thorns  will  seem  like  silken  robes  ; 
The  bed  of  leaves  a  couch  of  down.  To  me  the  shelter  of  thy  presence 
Is  better  far  than  stately  palaces  and  paradise  itself. 
Protected  by  thy  arm,  gods,  demons,  men  shall  have  no  power  to  harm  me. 
With  thee  I'll  live  contentedly  on  roots  and  fruits.  Sweet  or  not  sweet, 
If  given  by  thy  hand,  they  will  to  me  be  like  the  food  of  life. 
Roaming  with  thee  in -desert  wastes,  a  thousand  years  will  be  a  day ; 
Dwelling  with  thee,  e'en  hell  itself  should  be  to  me  a  heaven  of  bliss, 

"Juliet,"  says  Prof.  Dowden,  "is  but  a  passionate 
girl  before  this  perfect  woman,"  meaning,  Brutus' 
Portia,  but  what  becomes  of  Portia  herself  before  this 
heavenly  woman,  this  ethereal  being,  this  celestial  Sita  ? 

As  for  Rama,  his  character  simply  stands  un- 
rivalled in  all  literature,  ancient  or  modern,  Asiatic  or 
European. 

Principal  Griffith  says:  "Well  may  the  Ramayana 
challenge  the  literattn*e  of  every  age  and  country  to 
protluce  a  poem  that  can  boast  of  such  perfect  characters 
as  a  Rama  and  a  Sita."       He  adds  :  "  Nowhere  else  are 


EPIC    POETUV.  235 

poetry  and  morality  so  churmingl}"  united,  each  clevatinii; 
the  other  as  in  this  really  holy  poem." 

Miss  Mary  Scott  says  :  "  The  Ramayana  is  full  of 
])oetr3%  and  Sita  one  of  the  sweetest  types  of  woman- 
hood that  I  have  ever  read."^ 

As  for  the  Mahabharata,  Professor  Hereen  says :  "  It 
Avill  scarcely  be  possible  to  deny  the  Mahabharata  to  be 
one  of  the  richest  compositions  in  Epic  poetry  that  was 
ever  produced."^ 

Dr.  F.  A.  Hassler  of  America  thus  waxes  eloquent 
in  praise  of  the  Mahabharata:  "In  all  my  experience 
in  life,  I  have  not  found  a  work  that  has  interested  me 
as  nuich  as  that  no))le  production  of  the  wise,  and  T  do 
not  hesitate  to  say,  inspired  men  of  ancient  India.  in 
fact  I  have  studied  it  more  than  any  other  work  for  a 
long  time  past,  and  have  made  at  least  1,000  notes  which 
I  have  arranged  in  alphabetical  order  for  the  purpose  of 
study.  The  Mahabharata  has  opened  to  me,  as  it  were,  a 
new  world,  and  I  have  been  surprised  beyond  measure  at 
the  wisdom,  truth,  knowledue,  and  love  of  the  riii'ht 
which  I  have  found  displayed  in  its  pages.  Not  only  so, 
but  I  have  found  many  of  the  truths  which  my  own 
heart  has  taught  me  in  regard  to  the  Supreme  Being 
and  His  creations  set  forth  in  beautiful,  clear  language.'* 

The  Hamilton,  Daily  Spectator  (May  31st,  188S) 
thus  speaks  of  the  Mahabharata  :  "  This  poem  is  really 
a  series  of  religious,  moral,  metaphysical,  philosophic  and 
political  disquisitions  strung  upon  a  thread  of  narrative. 
This  not  only  gives  to  the  modern  world  a  living  picture 

1  Letter  to  F.  C.  Koy,  dated  London,  the  8tli  December  1883. 

"Historical  Researclies,  Vol.  II,  p.  IG-L 

^LettertoP.  C.  Roy,dated21st  July,  1888.  See  Roy's  Malmbliarata, 


236  HINDU    SUPEIUORITY. 

of  Imliau  life,  morals,  manners,  politics,  religion  and 
philosophy  as  they  existed  more  than  2,000  years  ago, 
but  they  transmit  to  us  son:ie  of  the  most  sublime  poetry 
and  some  of  the  deepest  and  noblest  thoughts  that  have 
ever  been  given  to  the  world." 

Krishna,  the  greatest  politician  of  the  world,  says  : — 

"  The  wise  grieve  not  for  the  departed,  nor  for  those  who  yet  survive. 
Ne'er  was  the  time  when  I  was  not,  nor  thon,  nor  yonder  Chiefs,  and  ne'er 
Shall  be  the  time  when  all  of  us  shall  be  not  ;  as  the  unbodied  soul 
In  this  corporeal  frame  moves  swiftly  on  through  boyhood,  youth  &  age, 
So  will  it  pass  through  other  forms  hereafter — be  not  grieved  thereat. 
The  man  whom  pain  and  pleasure,  heat  and  cold  affect  not,  he  is  fit 
For  immortality  :  that  which  is  not  cannot  be — and  that  which  is 
Can  never  cease  to  be.  Know  this  : — the  being  that  spread  this  universe 
Is  indestructible  :  who  can  destroy  tlie  Indestructible  ? 
These  bodies  that  enclose  the  everlasting  soul,  inscrutable. 
Immortal,  have  an  end — but  he  who  thinks  the  soul  can  be  destroyed, 
And  he  who  deems  it  a  destroyer,  are  alike  mistaken  :  it 
Kills  not,  and  is  not  killed  ;  it  is  not  born,  nor  doth  it  ever  die  ; 
It  has  no  past  nor  future — unproduced,  unchanging,  infinite  :  he 
Who  knows  it  fixed,  unborn,  imjierisliable,  indissoluble. 
How  can  that  man  destroy  another,  or  extinguish  aught  below  ? 
As  men  abandon  old  and  threadbare  clothes  to  put  on  oihers  new. 
So  casts  the  embodied  soul  its  worn  out  frame  to  enter  other  forms. 
!No  dart  can  pierce  it  ;  flame  oannot  consume  it,  water  wet  it  not, 
Nor  scorching  breezes  dry  it  :  indestructible,  incapalile 
Of  heat  or  moisture  or  aridity — eternal,  all-pervading, 
Stedfast,  immovable  ;  perpetual,  yet  imperceptible. 
Incomprehensible,  unfading,  deathless.  uiiiu:aginable." 

Miss  Mary  Scott  says  :  "The  characters  are  splen- 
didly portrayed.  It  is  a  thoroughly  martial  poem,  and 
one  can  enter  into  the  battles  between  the  Pandus  and 
Klu'US."  Professor  Sylvian  Levi  of  Paris  says  :  "The 
Mahabharata  is  not  onlv  the  laro-est,  but  also  the  ""rand- 
est  of  all  epics,  as  it  contains  throughout  a  Hvelv  teach- 
ing of  morals  under  a  glorious  garment  of  poetry  .'.'i 


'Letter  to  P.  C.  Roy,  dated  the  17th  jMarch  1888, 


EPIC    rOKTRY.  2l\7 

The  Amci'ican  ethnologist,  JcrcmiiJ.h  Curtiii,  writ- 
ing to  liabu  P.  C.  Koy,  the  enterj)risiiig  pp.Mislier  of  an 
English  translation  ol'  the  ^lahabharata,  says  :  '•  1  h:i\(! 
ju-^t  finished  reading  cartifally  from  hcgliming  to  end, 
24  nnnihers  of  vonr  translation  of  tin;  Mahabharata,  and 
can  honestly  say  that  i  li;i\e  nerer  ohiaiiied  more  plea- 
,vtrc friwireadlnii  any  book  in  wy  life.^  The  Mahal )harata 
M'ill  open  the  eyes  of  the  world  to  the  true  character  and 
intellectual  rank  of  the  Aryans  of  India.  You  are  cer- 
tainly doing  a  great  work,  not  only  for  Hindustan,  Init 
for  the  Arvan  race  in  other  countries.  The  Alahabharata 
is  a  real  mine  of  w^ealth  not  entirely  known,  I  suppose, 
at  present  to  any  man  outside  your  countiy,  but  W'hich 
Avill  be  known  in  time  and  valued  in  all  civilized  lands 
for  the  reason  that  it  contains  information  of  the 
highest  import  to  all  men  who  seek  to  know  in 
singleness  of  heart,  the  history  of  our  race  upon  the 
earth,  and  the  relations  of  man  with  the  Infinite  Power 
above   us,  around  us  and  in  us." 

Saint  Hilaire  Bartholemy  thus  speaks  of  the  ]\Iaha- 
bharatain  the  Journal  Des  Savantes  o^  September  188G: 
"  When  a  century  ago  (1785)  Mr.  AVilkins  publish- 
ed in  Calcutta  an  extract  from  the  grand  poem  (  Maha- 
bharata),  and  made  it  known  through  the  episode  of  the 
Bhao-vadjnta,  the  world  was  dazzled  Avith  its  mao-nifi- 
cence.  Vyasa,  the  reputed  author  of  the  Mahabharata, 
appeared  greater  than  even  Homer,  and  it  required  a 
very  little  indeed  to  induce  people  to  place  India  above 

Greece It  has   not  the  less  been  admitted 

that  this  prodigious  Hindu  epic  is  one  of  the   grandest 
monuments  of  its  kind  of  human  intelligence  and  genius." 

1^500  lioy's  Truiifilatiou  of  Muluibliarata,  part  XXX. 


2o8  HINDU    SUPEUIORITY. 

The  IVatertofrn  post  (Tuesda^y,  June  22,  1886), 
calls  Mahiibharata,  "  one  o£  the  most  wonderful  poems 
of  which  we  have  any  record,"  and  says:  "  The  poem  is 
the  Mahabharata,  the  oldest,  the  most  voluminous,  and, 
according  to  AVheeler,  the  historian  of  India,  the  most 
valuable  epic  in  any  language.  It  consists  of  some 
2,20,000  lines,  is  fourteen  times  longer  than  the  Iliad." 

Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  in  his  "  Indian  Idylls,"  claims 
for  parts  of  it  "  an  origin  anterior  to  writing,  anterior 
to  Puranic  theology,  anterior  to  Homer,  perhaps  to 
Moses.''  He  fin-ther  says  :  "  What  truer  conception  of 
a  wife  than  this,  written  more  than  three  thousand  years 
ao-o  :  "  She  is  a  true  wife  who  is  skilful  in  household 
affairs  :  she  is  a  true  wife  whose  heart  is  devoted  to  her 
lord  ;  she  is  a  true  wife  who  knoweth  none  but  her  lord. 
The  wife  is  man's  half  :  the  wife  is  the  first  of  friends  : 
the  wife  is  the  root  of  salvation.  They  that  have  wives 
have  the  means  of  beino:  cheerful  :  thev  that  have  wives 
can  achieve  good  fortune.  Sweet-speeched  wives  are  as 
friends  on  occasions  of  joy  :  they  are  as  mothers  in 
hours  of  sickness  and  woe.  A  wife,  therefore,  is  one's 
most  valuable  possession.  No  man  even  in  anger 
should  ever  do  anvthino;  that  is  disao'reeable  to  his  wife, 
seeing  that  happiness,  joy  and  virtue,  everything  de- 
pended on  the  wife,"  and  concludes  by  saying:  "we 
may  well  accept  this  great  poem  as  one  o£  the  [)riceless 
possessions  of  the  East." 

]\lr.  Titus  Munson  Coan,  in  the  New  York  Times 
(4th  March,  1888),  says:  "The  Hindu  epics  have  a 
nearer  siirnificance  for  us  than  anvthino-  in  the  Norse 
mythology.  The  Mahabharata,  one  of  the  longest  of 
these  poemsj   has   wider   romantic   element    in  it    than 


Eric  roETiiv.  2o9 

King  Frithiof's  Scuja  ;  its  action  is  cast  upon  a  grander 
scale,  and  its  lierocs  belittle  all  others  in  mythology. 
The  Hindu  poems,  early  though  they  are,  contain  otliical 
and  human  elements  that  are  unknown  to  the  Norseman. 
It  is  in  this  that  their  endurinu",  their  "Towini''  interest 
remains  for  the  mind  of  Europe  and  of  America," 

The  Hamilton  Daily  Spectator  of  olst  May,  1888, 
after  speaking  of  the  Ramayana  and  the  Mahabharata  as 
*'  immortal  works,"  says  that  the  great  epic  of  India, 
"  ■\lahabharata,  is  the  longest  and  iu  some  respects,  the 
greatest  of  all  epic  poems." 

Mon.  A.  Barth  says :  "  Some  portions  of  the  Maha- 
bharata may  well  compare  with  the  purest  and  most 
beautiful  productions  of  human  genius.'  The  Ramayana 
is  three  times  as  large  as  Homer's  Iliad,  and  the  Maha- 
bharata four  times  as  large  as  the  Ramayana.  Homer's 
Iliad  and  Odyssey  have  thirty  thousand  lines,  the  Maha- 
bharata has  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  lines,  and, 
in  addition,  a  supplement  of  sixteen  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy-four  couplets.  But  it  is  not  in  size 
alone  that  the  sacred  epics  of  Valniiki  and  A'yasa  excel. 
They  enchant  by  the  wonderous  story  they  tell  of  ancient 
Aryan  life,  faith  and  valour.  There  is  also  a  lively  teach- 
ino-  of  morals  under  a  glorious  garment  of  poetry." 
"Matchless  vivacity,  unsurpassably  tender  and  touching 
episodes,  and  a  perfect  store  house  of  national  anticpnties, 
literature  and  ethics. "- 


^  Revue  De  L'Jli<to/rc  Dcs  Reli;/inn.-i.  Farh  188i»,  p.  38. 

2The  Montreal  JleraUl,  (Thursday,  Nov.  12tli,  1801).  Trubnor's 
American,  European  and  Oriental  Literary  Record,  new  Series,  Vol. 
VII,  No.  3,  speaks  of  the  Mahabharata  as  "the  wonderful  ejiie,"  and 
regrets  "how  little  has  up  to  the  present  been  done  to  unravel  tiie 
mysteries  it  contain-^,  or  even  to  smooth  a  path  leading  to  its  golden 
treasures  !  " 


240  HINDU    SLTERlOiaTY. 

Speaking  o£  a  certain  part  ot  the  Mahabliarata,  a  c^i^ic 
savs  :  "We  know  o£  no  episode,  even  in  Homeric  poem.s, 
which  can  snrpass  its  grandeur  or  raise  a  more  solemn 
diro'e  over  the  desolation  o£  the  fallen  heart  o£  men." ' 

The  characters  ol  the  five  Pandavas,  of  Krishna, 
Darvodhana,  Drona,  Bhishma  and  Karana,  are  drawn  with 
a  true  poetic  feeling  "and  with  nuich  artistic  delicacy  of 
touch."  Yndhishtra,  Arjuna,  Bhima,  are  portraits  worthy 
of  the  highest  poets,  and  can  only  be  drawn  by  men  of 
extraordinary  imagination,  and  I)y  soaring  intellects  as 
Vyasa. 

Perfection  is  a  merit  known  only  to  the  Hindus. 
"  A  European  poet  would  have  brought  the  storj^  to  an 
end"  after  the  termination  of  the  war  in  favour  of  the 
Pandavas,  but  "the  Sanskrit  poet  has  a  far  deeper  in- 
siiiht  into  man's  nature ''  and  would  not  end  there,  to 
the  dissatisfaction  of  the  reader,  but  would  wind  u]^  the 
story  and  end  with  the  translation  of  the  Pandavas  to 
Heaven. 

"The  Ramayana  and  the  Mahabliarata,"  says  Wil- 
son, "abound  with  poetical  beauties  of  the  first  order, 
and  particularly  in  delineations  of  picturesque  maimers 
and  situations,  and  in  the  expression  of  natural  and 
amiable  feeling."  - 

"There  are  many  graphical  passages,"  says  Professor 
M.  Williams,  "in  the  R.amaj^ana  and  ^lahabharata,  which 


I  The  Westminister  Review  for  October  1842.  "Many  of  its  (]\lali;x- 
bliarata's)  episodes  of  themselves  would  make  perfect  poems  of  the  lirst 
grade,  and  wouM  stand  comparison  witli  any  European  poems.  Tliere 
is  a  toucliing  episode,  fidl  of  true  poetic  feeling,  in  Adiparva  (ildt, 
called  Bakahadlia,  as  there  are  a  thousand  others." — Monicr  \Viiruuii>' 
Ej>ic  Poetiji  iij'  I itilia. 

-Mill's  India.  Vol,  II,  p.  52,  footnote. 


EPIC    rOETRY.  211 

for  honuty  oC  do^criptioii,  onmiot  bo  snrpn!?r>c(l  by  nny- 
thiiii!;  in  Homer,  .  .  .  th;it  the  diction  of  Ijulian  epios 
is  more  polished,  re_i»'nl:ir  :ind  cultiviited,  and  the  lan^'u- 
no^e  ixUoi^'cther  in  a  more  advanced  stage  of  devolopment 
than  that  of  Homer."  Then,  as  to  the  description  of 
scenery,^  in  wliich  Hindu  poets  are  certainly  more  f^ra- 
phic  and  picturesque  than  either  Greek  or  Latin  ...  he 
adds  :  "Yet  there  are  not  wantinii*  indications  in  the  In- 
dian  epics  of  a  higher  degree  of  cultivation  than  that 
represented  in  the  Homeric  poems.  The  battlefields  of 
the  Rama3'ana  and  the  Mahabharata  are  not  made  bar- 
barous by  wanton  cruelties,  and  the  description  of 
Ayodhya  and  Lanka  imply  far  greater  luxury  and 
refinement  than  those  of  Sparta  and  Troy."  Ramayana 
and  Mahabharata  rise  above  the  Homeric  poems  also  in 
the  fact  "that  a  deep  religious  meaning  appears  to  un- 
derlie all  the  narrative,  and  that  the  wildest  allegory  may- 
be intended  to  conceal  a  sublime  moral,  symbolizing  the 
conflict  between  good  and  evil,  teaching  the  hopelessness 
of  victory  in  so  terrible  a  contest  with  purity  of  soul, 
self-abnegation  and  th(i  subjugation  of  the  passions.""^ 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  the  greatest  of  the  modern  Euro- 
pean thinkers,  condemns  the  Hiad  among  other  things 
for  the  reason  "  that  the  subject  matter  appeals  continually 
to  brutal  passions  and  the  instincts  of  the  savage."^ 

Sir  Monier    Williams  says  : — "  And  in  exhibiting 
pictures    of  domestic  life    and  manners,    the    Sanskrit 

^"lu  Homer,  the  de^^c^iption  of  scenery  and  natural  objects  are  too 
short  and  general  to  be  really  picturesque.  Twining  says  that  the  (Treek 
poets  did  not  look  upon  Nature  with  a  painter's  eye." — Monier  Williams' 
InUan  Epic  Poetry. 

2 Indian  Epic  Poetry,  p.  4, 

3  Herbert  Spencer's  Autobiography,  Vol.  I,  p-  2G2. 


242  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

epics    are    even    more   valuable   than   the    Greek    and 

Roman.     In  the  delineation  o£  women,  the  Hindu  poet 

throws  aside  all  exaggerated  colouring,  and  draws  from 

Nature.     Kaikeyi,  Mandodari,  Kausalj^a,  and  even  Man- 

thra,  are  all  drawn  to   the  very  life.      Sita,  Draupadi, 

and    Damayanti   engage  our   affections   far   more   than 

Helen  or  even  than   Penelope.     Indeed,   Hindu  wives ^ 

are  generally  perfect  patterns  of  conjugal  fidelity  :  nor 

can  it  be  doubted  that  in  these  delightful  portraits  of  the 

p\atlvrata^  or  devoted  wife,  we  have  true  representations 

of  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  Hindu  domestic  manners 

in  early  times." 

"  jSTothing,"  says  the  author  further  on,"  can  be  more 
beautiful  and  touching  than  the  picture  of  domestic 
and  social  happiness  in  the  Ramayana  and  the  Malia- 
bharata.  It  is  indeed  in  depicting  scenes  of  domestic 
affection,  and  expressing  those  universal  feelings  and 
emotions  ^\hich  belong  to  human  nature  in  all  time  and 
in  all  places,  that  Sanskrit  epic  poetrj'  is  unrivalletL'''''^ 

In  addicion  to  these  two  most  celebrated  epics,  there 
are  a  large  number  of  'smaller  epics  which  would  Aveli 
stand   comparison  with  similar  poems  of  any  country. 

1  Count  Bjornstjeina  &ays  :  "Among  other  remarkable  particulars 
in  this  poeui  is  the  ]iure  light  in  which  it  sets  the  nohle  character  and  higii- 
minded  devotion  ul'  the  women  oi  India" — Tltfoijuini  of  the  Hind  H!<,  p.  82. 

^Indian  E[iic  Poetry,  pp.  57,  58.  "  Contrast  with  the  respectful 
tone  of  Hindu  children  towarils  their  parents  the  harsh  manner  in  which 
Telemachus  geneially  speaks  to  liis  niuther.  Filial  respect  and  affection 
is  ([uite  as  noteworthy  a  feature  in  tlic  Hiiulu  character  now  as  in  an- 
cient times.  1  have  heeu  assured  by  Indian  officers  that  it  is  cuniUKin 
for  unmarried  soldiers  to  stiui  themselves  almost  tostravation  pdint  that 
they  may  send  money  to  tiieir  aged  parents  In  this,  tlic  Hindus  might 
tjach  us  (I^nghslimcn)  a  lesson." — ;S//-  Monirr  W^UUiuuh. 


V.VIC  I'oKTin',  213 

]\Ir.  Colchroukc  speaks  of  Ii(i(/huraiisa  in  the  lii^licst 
terms,  and  says,  "  Sisiipnfhadh  is  another  celebrated 
epic  poeni."i  ''''  Klrat  Arjunya  is  remarkable,"  accord- 
ini;'  to  Colel)rooke  "for  the  variety  of  measnres  and 
the  alliteration,"  while  Maha  Kavyas  a))pears  to  the 
European  reader  very  remarkable  for  verbal  int^'eiuiity." 
^^Bhalil/iari/a,  by  Uhartari  Hari,  is  a  poem  of  considerable 
reputation."''  '^K/i.mar  Sambhaca  is  charming  and 
fanciful,"  and,  adds  Mr.  Griffith,  "the  author  nuist  have 
tried  all  the  fertility  of  resource,  the  artistic  skill,  and 
the  exquisite  ear  of  the  author  of  Lala  Rookh.''''^ 

Naloda>/a,  which  is  attributed  to  Kalidasa,  "is 
remarkable  for  showing  the  extraordinary  powers  of  the 
Sanskrit  language,  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  wonder  at 
the  ingenuity  of  the  workman."' 

The  Haiihava  Pandava  Vijaj/a,  b}^  Kaviraja,  "  is 
rather  a  curiosity  than  a  poem."  Mr.  Colebrooke  s[)eaks 
of  it  as  an  instance  of  a  complete  poem,  every  canto  of 
which  exhibits  variet}'  of  metre.  "This,"  says  Mrs. 
Manning  also,  "  is  an  extraordinary  poem." 

Of  Nala  Damayanti,  Professor  Hereen  says  :  "  Re 
markable  as  this  episode  appears  for  inventive  merit  it  is 
not  at  all  inferior  in  })oint  of   style,  and  some  passages 
would  do  credit  even  to  Homer  himsel/y^ 

The   imagination  of  the  ancient   Hindus  Avas   un- 
rivalled  in  fertility  and  range  ;  in  fact,  like  the  whole 

1  Ancient  iiud  jMcilia'Viil  Iiulia,  Vol  II,  i»,  lo4, 
-  ^Manning's  Ancient  and  Medianal  India,  Vul.  IT,  p.  135. 
•Hiiid,  [).  137.    •' VtMi)al  ingenuity  is  its  most  reinarkable  (|iiality.'' 
Colebrooke  regards  "Kirat  Arjunya,  Kumar  SamMiava,  lia^lm  N'aiisa, 
"Nalodaya,     Megliduta,    with    another,    as    G  excellent   compositions    in 
Sanskrit." — MiacelUincous  Essir//s,  p.  81. 

•iprerare  to  Griffith's  translation  o[  the  "IVirlli  of  the  War  tJoil." 
^Old  Indian  Poetry.   ,jHeereu's.  Uist.  Researches,  Vol,  II,  p.  1G7. 


2 4 4  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

face  of  nature,  like  those  stupendous  mountains,  majes- 
tic rivers,  and  boundless  expanse  o£  the  country  around 
them,  the  ancient  Hindu  standards  o£  strength  and 
splendour  are  bewildering  to  some  critics,  who  are 
"accustomed  to  a  more  limited  horizon."  Their  (Hindu) 
creations  are.  therefore,  not  oidy  unrivalled  but  un- 
approachable in  beauty,  richness  and  grandeur. 

To  the  European  everything  is  grand,  sublime  and 
magnificent  in  India,  whether  you  look  at    the  outward 
expression    of    nature,    or    at   the  physical  and  mental 
resources  of  the  country.     Look  at  the  creation  of    God 
or  the  creation  of  man,  you  are    absolutely   struck   with 
amazement  and  awe  !     The  snowy  peaks  of  her  sublime 
Himavat    seem  to   raise     their   heads   hio-her   than   the 
hifdiest  heaven,   while  before  their   Indra   and    Brahma 
the  European  Apollo  and  Jupiter  sink  into  insignificance. 
"If  we  compare,"  says  Professor  Heeren,  "the  mytho- 
logy of  the  Hindus  with  that  of  the  Greeks,  it  will  have 
nothingto  apprehend  on  the  score  of  intrinsic  copiousness. 
In  point  of    aesthetic    value,  it  is  sometimes  superior,  at 
others,  inferior  to  the  Greek  :  while  in   luxuriance   and 
splendour  it  has  the  decided  advantage.     Olympus,  with 
all  its    family    of    gods   and    goddesses,    must  yield  in 
])ompan(l  majesty  to  the  palaces  of  Vishnu  and  Indra."  i 
"The  Hindu  mythology,"   he  says,  "like  the   sublime 
compositions  of  Milton  and  Klopstock,  extends  its  poetic 
flight  far  into  the  regions  of  unlimited  space."    He  adds  : 
"The   Hindu   Epos   has  a   greater   resemblance  to  the 
religious  poetry  of  the  Germans  and  the  English  tlian 
Greeks,  with  this  difference,  that  the  poet  of  India  has  a 

"1  TluWfu'ri  llisl>»iiral  RrM'aivhes.  Vol.  11,  p.  1*85. 


Eric  roKTKY.  245 

•svidcr  rnnQ-e  afTorded  to  liis  iinai>;liiatiou  than  tlic  latter." 
Some  critics  hold  that  the  Ramayana  is  the  ori<;'inal 
o£  the  Iliad,'  tli.it  the  latter  is  only  an  adaptation  of  the 
former  to  the  local  circumstances  of  Greece,  that  Homer's 
description  of  the  Trojan  war  is  merely  a  mytholo<Tical 
account  of  the  invasion  of  Lnnka  by  Ram  Chandra. 
The  main  plot,  of  course,  is  the  same.  Troy  stands  for 
Lanka  (Tabrobane),  Sparta  for  Ajodliia,  Menelaus  for 
Rama,  Paris  for  Ravana,  Hector  for  Indrajit  and  Vibhi- 
shan  ;  Helen  for  Sita,  Agamemnon  for  Sugriva,  Patroclus 
for  Lakshmana,  Nestor  for  Jamvant.  Achilles  is  a 
mixture  of  Arjuna,  Bhima  and  Lakshmana. 

Indeed,  it  is  very  improbable,  if  not  impossible,  that 
the  Greeks  should  produce  all  at  once  poems  wliich  stand 
amongst  the  greatest  feats  of  humm  genius,  and  occupy  a 
place  in  literature  inferior  only  to  the  Lidian  epics  (in 
some  respects).  Anterior  to  Horasr,  Greek  literature  has 
no  existence,  even  no  name,  and  it  is  difficult  to  believe 
that,  without  any  previous  cultivation  whatever,  some  of 
the  hii^hest  and  the  noblest  work  in  the  whole  rani^e  of 
literature  should  come  into  existence.  The  English 
literature  did  not  begin  with  Milton,  or  the  Roman  with 
Virgil ;  nor  does  the  Sanskrit  with  Yalmiki  or  Vyasa,  as 
the  Greek  does  with  Homer. 

Apart  from  external  circumstances,  the  subject-matter 
lends  support  to  the  theory  in  a  remarkable  manner. 
The  plot,  the  characters  and  the  incidents  reseml)le  those 
of  the  Hindu  epic  poetry  so  strongly  that  it  is  difficult 
to  explain  this  phenomenon,  except  by  assuming  that  the 
one  has  drawn  extensively,  if  not  wholly,  from  the  other. 

i"Evcu  tlic   actiuu    ol"    the    Hindu    Epic   is    iiiacud    iii  an  a^v  far 
anterioi"  to  liistuiical  computation." —  llcercn's  Historical  licnearchcs. 


246  HINDU    SUrEKIOUITV. 

I 

And  if  we  consider  the  external  circumstances,  the  state 
of  civihzation  of  the  two  nations,  their  hterature,  wealth 
and  constitution,  the  learning'  and  character  of  their 
creators,  little  doubt  remains  as  to  who  were  the  real 
creators  and  who  the  adapters.  ]\I.  Hippolyte  Faache, 
in  the  Preface  to  his  French  translation  of  the  Ramayana, 
says  that  "  Ramayana  was  composed  before  the  Homeric 
poems,  and  that  Homer  took  his  ideas  from  it." 

Apart  from  the  fact  that  the  main  story  has  been  ado])t- 
ed,  and  that  the  underlying' plot  of  tlie  one  (Ramayana) 
and  the  principal  characters  (jf  the  other  (  Mahabharata) 
have  been  taken  and  fused  together  into  a  national  epic 
by  the  Greeks,  it  is  clear  that  episodes  and  separate  in- 
cidents from  the  Indian  eoics  have  been  taken  and  versi- 
fied in  the  Greek  tonf>;ue.  Colonel  AVilford  asserts  that 
"  the  subject  of  the  Dionysus  of  Xonnus  was  bor- 
rowed from  the  Mahabharata."'  About  Ravana's  inva- 
sion of  the  kingdom  of  Indra,  Count  Bjornstjerna  sa3's  : 
"  This  myth  is  probably  the  foundation  of  the  ancient 
Greek  tradition  of  the  attempt  of  the  Titans  to  storm 
Heaven."' 

Professor  Max  Dunker  says  :  "  AVhen  Dion  Chry- 
sostora  remarks  that  the  Homeric  poems  are  sun'>-  by 
the  Indians  in  their  own  lan<2;uat'e — the  sorrows  of 
Priam,  the  lamentations  of  Hecuba  and  Andromache,  the 
bravery  of  Achilles  and  Hector — Lassen  is  undoubtedly 
right  HI  referring  this  statement  to  the  Mahabharata  and 
putting  Dhritrashtra  in  the  place  of  Priam,  Gandhari 
and  Draupadi  in  the  places  of  Andromache  and  Hecuba, 
Arjuna  and  Kama  in  the  places  of  Achilles  and  Hector.";^ 

1  Asiatic  licsearclics,  Vol.  IX,  p.  "J;:5.        -  TliO()<,'oiiy  ut  Uio  Hiiidus,  p.  til. 
^History  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  IV,  p.  «.t. 


DRAMA.  ^^' 


DRAMA. 

To  \v;ikc  tlic  sDiil  liy  Iciulcr  strnK'i^s  of  art, 
To  raise  tlu'  LC<'iiins  ainl  to  nicinl  ilir  lirart, 
To  make  iiiaiikiipl  in  conscious  virtue  lioM, 
Live  o'er  each  scene,  and  he  what  they  heholJ. 

— Pope  :  Pro.  to  Addison's  Cofo. 

The    drrimatic     writings     of   the    Hindus   are   equally 
remarkable.     External  nature,  as  might  be  expected  in 
a  country  which  is  "  the   epitome  of  the  world,"'    is  the 
special   forte  of  the   Hindu  poets,  and,  in   no  country, 
aucient  or   modern,  has  j^ature  (in  contradistinction  to 
man)  been  treated  so  poetically  or  so  extensively  intro- 
duced in   poetry.      But,  though  outward  nature  must 
attract,  by  its  magnificence  and  its  beauties,  the  attention 
of  a  people  gifted  with  such  marvellous  powers  of  obser- 
vation   and    sense  for  beauty,  yet,  the    Hindus    being 
a  people  given  more  than  any  other  nation  to  analyzing 
thoughts  and  feelings  and  investigating  mental  pheno- 
mena,  have  made  explorations   in  the  realms  of  mind 
that  exact  the  homage  of  mankind  and  defy  emulation. 
To  this  reason,  therefore,  is  due  that  the  internal  nature 
of  man,  the  human  mind  with  all  its   thouo-hts,  feelin<'s 
volitions,  all  its  desires  and  affections,  its  tendencies  and 
susceptibilities,  its  virtues  and  failings  and  their  develop- 
ments are  all  drawn  with  a  pencil  at  once  poetic  and  na- 
tural.    Creation  in   perfect   harmony   with   nature   is  a 
feature  of   the  Hindu  drama.     The   characters  are  all 
creations,  perfect  in  themselves  and  in  their  fidelity  to 
nature.     Extravagance,  contradiction  and  unsuitability 

1  Murray's  ilistury  of  Imlia,  p.  1, 


248  iiixnu  surERiOKiTY. 

ill  the  development — either  of  the  plot  or  the  characters — 
is  never  permitted.  The  dramas  hold  the  mirror  to 
jSTatnre  and,  in  this  respect,  the  Shakespearean  dramas 
alone  can  be  compared  to  them  :  while,  as  regards  the 
language,  Sanskrit  must  o£  course  always  stand  alone 
in  beauty  and  sublimity. 

With  regard  to  the  extent  to  which  the  dramatic 
literature  has  been  cultivated  in  India,  Sir  W.  Jones 
says  that  the  Hindu  theatre  would  Jill  as  many  volumes 
as  that  of  any  nation  of  modern  Europe. 

The  Mohamedan  conquest  of  India  resulted  in  the 
effectual  repression  of  Hindu  dramatic  Avri tings.  Instead 
of  receiving  further  development,  the  Hindu  drama 
rapidly  declined,  and  a  considerable  part  of  this  fascinat- 
ing literature  was  for  ever  lost. 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "It  may  also  be  observed 
that  the  dramatic  pieces  which  have  come  down  to  us 
are  those  of  the  highest  order,  defended  by  their  intrinsic 
parity  from  the  corrosion  of  time."  Rupaka  is  the  Hindu 
term  for  "  Play,"  and  "  Dasa  Ru.paka,^^  or  description  of 
the  ten  kinds  of  theatrical  compositions,  is  one  of  the 
best  treatises  on  dramatic  literature  and  shows  tlie 
extent  to  which  dramatic  literature  was  cultivated  by 
the  Hindus. 

A  writer  says  :  "  We  might  also  conveniently 
transfer  to  them  (Hindu  dramas)  the  definitions  of 
the  European  stage,  and  class  them  under  the  head  of 
Tragedy,  Comedy,  Opera,  ]3allet,  P)urletta,  IMelodrama 
and  Farce."  Professor  Heeren  says  :  "There  are  speci- 
mens of  Hindu  comedy  still  extant  no  way  inferior  to 
the  ancient  Greek."' 


Ulii^lorioal  lU'soiirclK'.s,  Vol.  II,  p.  lUl. 


DRAMA.  249 

Hindu  drama,  however,  is  in  many  respects 
superior  to  the  Greek  drama. 

(1)  Among  the  Hindus  there  are  nine  rasa  or 
effects  to  be  produced  on  the  spectator.  They  are  love, 
mirth,  tenderness,  fury,  heroism,  terror,  disgust,  won<ler 
and  tranquilUty.  "  The  serious  part  of  this  Hst  is  much 
more  comprehensive  than  the  Greek  tragic  rasa  of  terror 
and  pity." 

(2)  "  The  love  of  the  Hindus  is  less  sensual  than 
that  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  comedy." — Wilson. 

(3)  Valour,  whenever  displayed  in  the  Hindu 
drama,  is  calm,  collected  and  dispassionate.  The  calm 
intrei)idity  of  the  hero  of  Vlr  Charltra  presents  a  very 
favourable  contrast  to  the  fury  of  Tidides  or  the 
arrof>;ance  of  a  Rinaldo.     The  Hindu  taste  is  much  finer. 

(4)  Females  were  represented  in  general  by  females. 
"  Boy  Cleopetra"  was  unknown  to  the  Hindu  stage. 

(5)  The  precise  division  of  the  Hindu  pla3"S  into 
acts  is  a  feature  unknown  to  the  Greeks.  The  division 
into  acts  proves  higher  development.^ 

(6)  There  was,  moreover,  no  want  of  instruction 
for  stage  business,  and  we  have  the  "asides" and  "aparts" 
as  regularly  indicated  as  in  the  modern  theatre  in 
Europe. '-^ 

i"In  respect  of  dress  and  decorations,  the  resources  of  the  Hindu 
theatre  are  sufficiently  ample." — Heeren's  Historical  Researches,  Vf)l.  II, 

2 On  Mill's  instituting  a  comparison  between  the  Chinese  and  the 
Hindu  drama,  Professor  Wilson  says  :  "The  action  of  the  Chinese  plays 
is  unskilfully  conducted,  and  they  are  wanting  in  the  high  poetic  tone 
which  distinguish  those  of  the  Hindus:  at  the  same  time  they  are  ingenious 
and  often  interesting.  They  represent  manners  and  feelings  with  truth. 
They  are  the  works  of  a  civilized  people." — MilVs  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  (iO 


250 


HINDU    SUPEUIOfilTY 


FolloAving  nature  more  closely,  the  Hindu  drama 
usuallj'  blended  "seriousness  and  sorrow  with  levity  and 
laughter."  In  this  respect,  the  Hindu  drama  may  be 
classed  with  much  of  the  Spanish  and  English  drama  to 
which,  as  Schlegel  observes,  "  the  terms  tragedy  and 
comedy  are  wholly  inapplicable,  in  the  sense  in  which 
they  are  employed  by  the  ancients." 

The  higher  purpose  of  the  dramatic  art  was  neyer 
lost  sight  of  by  the  Hindus.  This  is  a  distinguishing- 
feature  of  the  Hindu  drama.  Professor  Wilson  says  : 
*'  We  may,  however,  obserye  to  the  honour  of  the  Hindu 
drama,  that  Parakhja^  or  she  who  is  the  wife  of  another 
person,  is  never  to  be  made  the  object  of  a  dramatic 
intrigue :  a  prohibition  that  would  haye  sadly  cooled 
the  imagination  and  curbed  the  wit  of  Dryden  and 
Coni2;reve." 

Sir  W.  Jones  says  :  "The  dramatic  species  of  enter- 
tainment must  have  been  carried  to  great  perfection 
when  Vicramaditya,  who  reigned  in  the  first  century  be- 
fore Christ,  gave  encouragement  to  poets,  philologers, 
and  mathematicians."  "  But  what  a  course  of  prelimi- 
nary mental  improvement,"  says  Professor  Heeren, 
"  must  the  nation  have  gone  through  ere  they  could 
possess  a  writer  like  Kalidasa !  ere  they  could  understand 
and  appreciate  his  genius!" 

Greater  masters  of  drama,  however,  lived  and 
died  in  India  before  Kalidasa  ;  Dandi  was  one  of  them. 
Unhappily,  however,  to  the  eternal  misfortune  and  regret 
of  the  civilized  world,  his  works  have  met  the  same 
fate  as  productions  of  the  highest  class  in  many  other 
departments  of  Hindu  literature  and  science    have  done. 


1)1{AMA.  2.51 

Love  or  srui(/(h\  the  (iinotioii  wliieli  .'iftcr  liiiiiLicr 
is  the  most  powerful  emotion  in  the  world,  is  a  leading 
principle  in  tlie  dramatic  literature  of  the  world,  and 
Mrs.  Manning  says:  "Nowhere  is  love  expressed  with 
greater  force  and  pathos  than  in  the  poetry  of  India." ^ 

The  best  known  dramatists  of  the  Hindus  are  Kali- 
dasa  and  Bhavbhuti.  Kalidasa,  "one  of  the  greatest 
dramatists  the  world  has  ever  produced,"  flourished  in 
the  reign  of  Yicramaditya  in  the  first  century  E.G.,'*^ 
while   Bhavbhuti   lived   many  centuries  later. 

The  masterpiece  of  Kalidasa  is  the  play  of  Sakuntala. 
The  plot  of  this  "astonishing  literary  performance," 
as  a  great  German  critic  calls  it,  is  taken  from  the 
Maliabharata.  Professor  Heeren  speaks  in  rapturous 
terms  of  this  "far-famed  drama, "'^  Avhichis  incomparable 
for  its  beauty,  charm,  tenderness  and  fidelity  to  nature, 
and  which,  in  fact,  stands  at  the  head  of  the  dramatic 
literature  of  the  world.  He  says  :  "  And  we  must,  in 
truth,  allow  Kalidasa  to  be  one  of  those  poets  who  have 


1  Ancient  and  Madia}val  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  148. 

2  Some  critics  attVct  to  'think  that  the  author  f)f  Saknntala  was 
a  contemnorary  of  Raja  Dhoja  and  not  Vicraniaditya,  because  a  poet 
named  Kalidasa  is  also  found  to  have  flourished  in  the  court  of  Bhoja. 
Professor  Wilson  says:  "  There  having  been  two  Kalidasas  in  India, 
and  the  existence  of  a  Kalidasa  at  the  court  (if  Bhoja,  is  no  argument 
a-'ainst  Aniar's  being  conteniiiorary  with  another  bard  of  the  same  name, 
(U-  tlu'ir  both  having  flourished  long  anterior  to  the  reign  of  the  prince." 
rrofess.)r  Wilson  then  proceeds  to  explain  the  cause  of  such  wild 
criticism,  >\hich  he  says  is  twofold:  (l)The  disputants  runinto  the  opposite 
vice  of  incredulity  in  order  to  avnid  being  thMughl  credulous.  (2)  "  Their 
opiK.siii.m  to  the  many  claims  of  Hinduism  is  not  founded  so  much  in 
greater  leaniing  or  superior  tal.-nts  as  in  strong  prejudices  in  favur  of 
their  own  country  and  higii  conceit  of  their  own  abilities."  See  Mill's 
History  of  India,  Vol.  I,  !>.  174- 

^Mannings  Ancient  and  ^lediaival  India,  Vol.  II.  p.  171. 


252      *  HINDU    SUPERIORITr. 

done  honour   not  merely   to   their    nation    but   to   all 
civilized  mankind."^ 

Augustus  Schlegel,  the  foremost  German  Sanskritist, 
says  of  Sahinfala,  that  it  presents  "  through  its  Oriental 
brilliancy  of  colouring,  so  striking  a  resemblance  to  our 
(English)  romantic  drama  that  it  might  be  suspected  that 
the  love  of  Shakespeare  has  influenced  the  translator,  were 
it  not  that  other  Orientalists  bore  testimony  to  his 
fidelity.  "- 

Alexander  Von  Humboldt  also  notes  the  masterly 
mode  in  which  Kalidasa  describes  "the  influence  of  nature 
upon  the  minds  of  lovers,  his  tenderness  in  the  expression 
of  feelings,  and  above  all  the  richness  of  his  creative 
.^fancy"3  "Her  (Sakuntala's)  lo.ve  and  sorrow,"  saj's  Dr. 
Sir  W.  Hunter,  "have  furnished  a  theme  for  the  great 
European  poet  of  our  age."     Goethe  sings  : — 

Wouldst  thou  the  young  yejirs  blossom  and  the  fruit  of  its  decline. 

xVud  all  by  which  the  soul  is  charmed,  enraptured,  feasted,  fed. 
Wouldst  thou  the  Earth  and  Heaven  itself  in  one  sole  name  combine, 

I  name  thee,  0  Sakuntala  I  and  all  at  once  is  said. 

As  regards  the  diction  of  the  Hindu  drama,  Profes- 
sor Wilson  says  :  "  It  is  impossble  to  conceive  language 
so  beautifully  musical  or  so  magnificently  grand  as  that 
of  the  verses  of  Bhavbhuti  and  Kalidasa.""^  No  dramatic 


1  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  19t. 

^Monier  Williams'  Sakuntala,  Preface. 
Schlegel  (History  of  Literature,  p.  115)  says  :  "What  we  chiefly  admire 
in  their  poetry  is  that  tender  fondness  of  solitude  and  the  animated 
vegetable  kingdom  that  so  attract  us  hi  the  drama  of  Sakuntala,  the 
traits  of  female  grace  and  fidelity  and  the  exquisite  loveliness  of  childhood, 
of  such  prominent  interest  in  the  older  epics  of  India.  We  are  also 
struck   with  the  touching  pathos  accom[)anyiiig  deep  moral  feeling." 

■' Ancient  and  Mediteval  India,  A'ol.  II,  p.  142. 

^Wilson's  Theatre  of  the  Hindus,  Vol.  I,  p.  63.  As  an  instance 
of  the  great  diversity  of  composition,  I  may  mention  the  fact  that  the 
first  35  stanzas  of  Sakuntala  exhibit  eleven  kinds  of  metre. 


DHAMA.  253 

literature  dating  earlier  than  the  first  century  before 
Christ  is  extant  to  enable  one  to  judge  o£  its  ({uality. 
The  earliest  specimen  avaihible  shows  the  language  itself 
and  the  study  of  versification  to  have  reached  the  liighest 
point  of  refinement,  for  the  era  of  Mcramaditya,  says 
Professor  Heeren,  "  gave  birth  to  the  greatest  master- 
pieces in  the  art." 

Another  celebrated  play  of  Kalidasa  is  Vicrama  and 
Urvasl.  Comparing  this  play  with  Sakuntala,  Professor 
AYilson  says:  "  There  is  the  same  vivacity  of  description 
and  tenderness  of  feeling  in  both,  the  like  delicate  beauty  in 
the  thoughts  and  extreme  elegance  in  the  style.  It  may 
be  difficult  to  decide  to  which  the  palm  belongs,  but  the 
story  of  the  present  play  is  perhaps  more  skilfully  woven 
and  the  incidents  arise  out  of  each  other  more  naturallv 
than  in  Sakuntala,  wdiile,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
perhaps  no  one  personage  in  it  so  interesting  as  the 
heroine  of  that  drama."  He  adds  :  "The  chief  charm  of 
this  piece,  however,  is  its  poetry.  The  story,  the  situa- 
tion and  the  characters  are  all  highly  imaginative,  and 
nothing,  if  partiality  for  his  work  does  not  mislead  the 
translator,  can  surpass  the  beauty  and  justice  of  many 
of  the  thouo;hts." 

The  story  is  founded  on  a  legend  from  the  Satpath 
Brahmana.  Vicrama  (a  king)  loves  Urvasi  (a  nymph 
of  Heaven),  and  his  love  is  not  rejected  ;  but  he  is  warn- 
ed that  if  he  is  ever  seen  by  her  naked  or  unveiled,  she 
shall  be  banished.  This  is  a  myth,  and  the  high  dra- 
matic treatment  of  this  scientific  myth  does  the  highest 
credit  to  the  wisdom,  observation  and  learning  of  Kali- 
dasa. Explanations  of  this  myth  are  given  by  Max 
Muller  in  his  "Comparative  Mythology,"  as  well  as  by 


254  HINDU  surEitioRiTY. 

Dr.  Kuhn,  wherein  he  aUudes  also  to  the  ideas  of 
AVeber.  Max  Muller  makes  Urvasi  =  da.v,'n.  Another 
explanation  is  that  Pururavas  (or  Yicrama)  personifies 
the  sun,  whilst  Urvasi  is  the  morning  mist  (see  Cham- 
ber's Encyclopa?rlia,  S.  V.  Pururavas).  Urvasi  is  an  apsara, 
and  we  find  in  Goldstiicker's  dictionary  that  the  apsaras 
"  are  personifications  of  the  vapours  which  are  attached 
by  the  sun  and  formed  into  mists  or  clouds."  Apsaras  is 
derived  from  ap  =  water,  and  saras  =  who  moves.  ^  Profes- 
sor Goldstiicker  holds,  therefore,  that  the  legend  represents 
the  absorption  by  the  sun  of  the  vapour  floating  in 
the  air.  When  Pururavas  becomes  distinctly  visible, 
Z/r^ja^z  vanishes,  because  when  the  sun  shines  forth  ihe 
mist  is  absorbed.  Urvasi  afterwards  becomes  a  swan  in 
the  Satpafli,  but  Kalidasa  changes  the  nymph  into  a 
climbing  plant.  "  In  Greece,  Daphne  becomes  a  laurel, 
because  the  country  abounds  in  laurels,  which  are  mani- 
fest so  soon  as  the  sun  has  absorbed  the  mist." 

Bhavbhuti's  popularity  perhaps  rivalled  that  of 
Kalidasa.  Professor  Wilson  bears  testimony  to  the 
extraordinary  beauty  and  power  of  his  language,  and 
attributes  his  peculiar  talent  for  describing  nature  in  her 
magnificence  to  his  early  familiarity  with  the  eternal 
mountains  and  forests  of  Gondwana.  His  best-known 
plays  are  the  Uiira  Bam  Charifra  and  Madhava  Malati. 
As  regards  the  former,  Professor  Wilson  says  :  "  It  has 
more  pretentions  to  genuine  pathos  than  perhaps  any 
other  specimen  of  Hindu  theatre.  The  mutual  sorrows 
of  Rama  and  JSita  in  their  state  of  separation  are 
pleasingly  and  tenderly  expressed,  and  the  meeting  of 


iSec  Wilson's  Theatre  uf  the  Hindus,  Yul.  I,  p.  11)3. 


DRAMA.  255 


the  father  niul    sons    may  be    compared   arlvanfaj/eoiisli/ 

Avitli  similar  scenes  with  wliich  the     fictions  oi'  ]'.uro]i(', 

both     poetical     and    dramatic,    abonnd.       Besides     tlie 

felicitous   expression  of   softer   feelings,    this    play    lias 

some  curious  pictures  of  the  beau  ideal  o^  heroic  bearinj^ 

and  of  the  duties  of  a  warrior  and   a  prince.     .4  h/)/h(;r 

elevation  can.  scarcel//   be  selected  for  either.     The  true 

spirit  of  chivalry   pervades  the  encounter   of   the  two 

young  princes.   Some  brilliant  thoughts  occur,  the  justice 

and  beauty  of  which  are  not  surpassed  in  any  literature."^ 

As   regards  Jfadhava  Malafi,  Prof  :  ^^'ilson  says  : 

"  It  offers  nothing  to  offend  the  most  fastidious  delicacy, 

and  may  be  compared  in    this    respect   advantageously 

with  many  of  the  dramas   of  modern  Europe,    which 

treat  of  the   passion  that   constitutes   its   subject.     The 

manner  in  which   love    is    here    depicted   is    worthy  of 

observation,    as    correcting   a    mistaken   notion   of    the 

influence  which  the  passion  exercises  over  the  minds  of 

the  natives  of  at  least  one  portion   of   Asia.     However 

intense  the  feeling — and  it  is  represented  as   sufficiently 

powerful  to  endanger  existence — it  partakes  in  no  respect 

of  the   impetuosity  which   it  has   pleased   the   writers 

of  the  West  to  attribute  to  the  people  of  the  East. 

The  barbarous  nations  whose  inhuman  love 
Is  wild  desire,  fierce  as  the  sun  they  feel. 

The  heroine  of  this  drama  is  loved  as  a  woman. 
She  is  no  goddess  in  the  estimation  of  her  iover.  The 
passion  of  Malati  is  equally  intense  with  that  of  Juliet. 
The  fervour  of   attachment  which  unites  the   different 


1  Wilson's  Theatre  of  the  Hindus,  Vol.  I,  \>[>.  38-3,  84. 


256  HINDU    SUPERIOR ITY. 

personaf^es  of  the  drama  so  indissolubly  in  life  and  death 

is  creditable   to  the  i Hindu  national   character.     Unless 

instances  of   such   disinterested   union  had  existed,  the 

author  could  scarcely  have  conceived,  much  less  pictured, 

it." 

Altoo:ether,   Madkava  Malati  is  one  of  the   most 

charming,  powerful  and  refined  representations  of  the 
emotion  o£  love  to  be  found  in  the  literature  of  any  nation. 
The  political  life  and  manners  of  the  Hindus  are 
well  depicted  by  Yisakhadatta  in  |his  celebrated  play, 
Mudrd  Rakhshasa.  It  has  the  stir  and  action  of  city  life, 
the  endless  ingenuity  of  political  and  court  intrigue,  and 
the  ''staunch  fidelity  which  appears  as  the  uniform 
characteristic  of  servants,  emissaries  and  friends,  a 
singular  feature  in  the  Hindu  character,"  which,  Pro- 
fessor Wilson  remarks,  "  it  has  not  wholly  lost."  Professor 
Wilson  adds:  "It  is  a  political  or  historical  drama,  and 
unfolds  the  political  policy  of  Chanakya,  the  Machiavel 
of  India  in  a  most  ingenious  manner.  The  plot  of  the 
drama  singularly  conforms  to  one  of  the  unities,  and 
the  occurrences  are  all  subservient  to  one  action — the 
conciliation  of  Rakhshasa.  This  is  never  lost  sight  of  from 
first  to  last  without  being  made  unduly  prominent. 
It  may  be  difficult  in  the  ivhole  range  of  dramatic  litera- 
ture to  find  a  more  successful  illustration  of  the  rule^^ 

The  Mrichchhkati,  or  the  Toy  Cart,  by  Maharaja  Sud- 
raka,  possesses  considerable  dramatic  merit.  The  interest 
is  rarely  suspended,  and  in  every  case  the  apparent  inter- 
ruption is  with  great  ingenuity  made  subservient  to  the 
common  design.  The  connection  of  the  two  plots  is  much 
better  maintained  than  in  the  play  we  usually  refer  to  as 


1  Wilson's  Tlu'atre  of  the  Hindus,  Vol.  11,  p.  20i.     "TUe  author 


is  the  Massinger  of  the  Uiudus," — Wilson. 


DKAMA.  2.57 

a  liivi^py  specimen  of  such  ;i  comhinntion,  "Tlie  Sp:inisli 
Fri'.ir."  The  deposition  of  Puliilva  is  interwoven  w  ith  the 
main  story  so  intimately,  that  it  could  not  be  detached 
from  it  without  injury,  and  yet  it  never  becomes  so 
prominent  as  to  divert  attention  from  that  to  which  it  is 
only  an  appendage."^ 

The  hero  of  the  pliiy,  however,  is  Samsthanaka, 
the  llaja's  brother-in-law.  "A  character  so  utterly  con- 
temptible has  perhaps  been  scarcely  ever  delineated. 
It  would  be  very  interesting  to  compare  this  drama  for  its 
merit  of  unity  with  The  Merchant  of  Venice  or  The  Two 
Noble  Kinsmen^  two  of  the  best  English  dramas,  in 
both  of  which  ihe  underplot  is  so  loosely  connected  ivith 
the  mainploty 

One  more  play-  and  I  have  done.  The  celebrated 
drama,  Prabodha  Chandrodayahy  Krishna  Misra,  is  much 
admired  by  Professor  Lassen,'-  who  calls  it  peculiarly 
Indian,  and  ^''unlike  anything  in  the  literature  of  other 
countries.  The  allegorical  personifications  are  not  only 
Avell  sustained  but  are  wonderful,  and  the  whole  plot 
constructed  with  so  much  ability  as  to  excite  the 
admiration  of  all  readers." 

"Much  of  that  of  the  Hindus,"  says  Professor  Wil- 
son, "may  compete  successfully  with  the  great  number  of 
dramatic  productions  of  modern  Europe,  and  offers  no  affi- 
nity to  the  monstrous  and  crude  abortions  which  preceded 
the  introduction  of  the  legitimate  drnma  in  the  West." 

TsVilson's  Theatre  of  the  Hindus,  Vol.  1,  ]i.  LSI. 

-There  are  many  other  dramas  of  considerable  merit  and  hi,i,'h 
repute.  Mahnhir  Charitra  by  Bhav  Ijhnti.  lidtiKtraU  by  Sri  IJarish 
Deo,  Maharaja  of  Kashmir,  and  Veni  Snmhnra  are  amoui^  those 
uliich  can  be  advniita^vously  compared  with  simihir  <lramas  in  the 
literature  of  other  nations. 

ilndUchc  AUertliumkundc,  Vol.  Ill,  \\  700. 


258  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 


LYRIC  POETRY. 

And  fill  this  song  of  Jai  Deva  with  thcc, 

And  make  it  wise  to  teach,  strong  to  redeem 

And  sweet  to  Hving  souls.     Thou,  mystery 

Thou,  Light  of  Life  !  Thou,  Dawn  beyond  the  dream  ! 

— Hymn  to  Vii^hnu. 

The  Lyric  poetry  of  the  Hindus  is  the  finest  of  its  kind 
in  the  world,  for  the  reason  that  the  language  in  which 
it  is  written  is  the  most  melodious  and  musical  on  earth. 
As  Professor  Wilson  remarks,  the  poetry  of  the  Hindus 
can  never    be   properly  appreciated   by  those    who   are 
ignorant  of   Sanskrit.      To  judge  of  the  merits  of  Hindu 
poetry  from  translations  is  to  judge  it  at  its  worst.  More- 
over, owing  to  the  peculiarities  of  life  and   character 
of  the  Hindus,  Europeans  can  hardly  be  expected  to  fully 
appreciate  and  enjoy  their  poetry  ;    as  they  can  neither 
fully  understand  their  character,  nor  fully  enter  into  their 
feelings   and    s^^mpathise  with   them.     To  the  Hindus, 
liharata's  conduct  in   followino;   Rauia  into  the  iunole 
and  entreating  him  to  return  to  Ayodhia  is  as  natural  as 
anything  in   the  world,  while  to  Mr.   Talboys  Wheeler, 
the   historian  of  India,  it  appears,  "  contrary  to  human 
nature."    As  Mr.  Wheeler  re2:ards  the  venerable  Dasratlia 
as    shamming    when    he    gives    vent    to    sorrow    after 
having  sentenced  Rama   to  exile  to   keep  a   vow,  what 
should  he  have  thought  of  the  Hindu  ladies  of  the  pre- 
sent day  had  he  known  that  they  would  die  or  suffer  any- 
thing rather  than  open  their  lips  even  to  those  who  are 
dearer  to  them  than  life  itself,  when  they  think  modesty 


LYRIC    rOETKY.  259 

forbids  their  doing  so,  even  when  Ufe  itself  is  in  danger  ? 
Hindu  ideas  of  duty,  obedience  and  modesty  are  much 
more  complex  than  those  of  other  nations.  Still,  when 
Hindu  Lyric  poetry  has  been  properly  judged,  the 
praise  has  been  liberal,  and  approbation  emphatically 
expressed. 

Gita  Govind  is  the  finest  extant  specimen  of  Hin- 
du lyric  poetr}^,  and  it  is  difficult  to  find  in  any  language 
lyrics  that  can  vie  with  it  in  melody  and  grace.  Mr.  Griffith 
says  :  "  The  exquisite  melody  of  the  verse  can  only  be 
appreciated  by  those  who  can  enjoy  the  original."^ 

Schlegel  says  :  "  Tender  delicacy  of  feeling  and 
elegaic  love  cast  a  halo  over  Indian  poetry,"  and  "  the 
whole  is  recast  in  the  mould  of  harmonious  softness,  and 
is  redolent  of  elegaic  sweetness."^ 

Gita  Govind  has  been  analysed  by  Lassen  in  his  Latin 
translation,  beautifully  translated  in  German  by  Ruckert, 
and  has  been  dwelt  upon  with  admiration  by  Sir  W.  Jones 
in  his  essay  on  the  Mystical  Poetry  of  the  Hindus. 

Professor  Heeren  sa3^s :  "The  Hindu  lyric  surpassed 
that  of  the  Greeks  in  admitting  both  the  rhyme  and 
blank  verse."^  He  further  says:  "How  much  of  the 
beauty  of  a  lyric  must  inevitably  be  lost  in  a  prose  trans- 
lation it  would  be  superfluous  to  remark  ;  and  yet  it  is 
impossible    to    read    the    Gita  Govind   without    being 

charmed It  is  impossible,  however,  not  to  notice 

the  extreme  richness  of  the  poet's  fanc}',  the   strength 
and  vivacity  of  his  sentiment  particularly  observable  in 

^Ancient  and  Median-rtl  India,  Vol.  IT,  p.  269. 
^Sohlegel's  History  of  Literature,  p.  117. 
sUicstorical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  187. 


2 GO  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

his  delicate  taste  for  the  beauties  in  general,  and  which 

not  even  the  ardour  of  passion  was  able  to  extinguish."^ 
"  Giia    Govind    exhibits,"   says   Mr.    Elphinstone, 

*'  in  perfection  the  luxuriant  iinngerj^  and  the  voluptuous 

softness  of  the  Hindu  school."^ 

Another  Hindu  lyric  is  the  Ritu  SangraJi,  something 

like    "Thompson's    Seasons"  in  the  English  language. 

Mrs.   Manning  says  about  it :   "  Ritu  Sangrah,   a  lyric 

poem  by  Kalidasa,  is  much  admired  not  only  by  the 
natives  of  India,  but  by  almost  all  students  of  Sanskrit 
literature.""'^ 

Mr.  Griffith,  in  his  translation  of  "Ritu  Sangrah," 

saj^s  :  "  Sir  W.  Jones  speaks  in  rapturous  terms  of  the 
beautiful  and  natural  sketches  with  which  it  abounds," 
and,  after  expressing  his  own  admiration,  adds,  "it  is 
much  to  be  regretted  that  it  is  impossible  to  translate 
the  whole."* 

Lyric  poetry  was  extensively  cultivated  in  India. 
Sir  W.  Hunter  says  :  "  The  Mediaeval  Brahmans  dis- 
played a  marvellous  activity  in  theological  as  well  as 
lyric  poetry." 

Special  charm  must  attach  to  the  lyric  poetry  of 
the  Hindus,  for,  as  Mrs.  Manning  remarks,  "Kowhere 
is  love  expressed  with  greater  force  or  pathos  than  in 
the  poetry  of  the  Hindus."'' 

1  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  pp.  I^^l),  11)0.  .I.aideva,  its  author  was 
born,  as  li(j  himself  says,  at  Kondnli,  situated  eitlicr  in  Calinga  (n-  in 
Burdwan. 

^History  of  India,  p.  15(1. 

^Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II.  Professor  Von  Bohlon  translated 
it  into  German  and  Latin  in  1840  A,D. 

'^Manning's  Ancient  and  Modianal  India,  Vol,  II,  p.  205. 

■'J Manning's  Ancient  and  ^ledia'val  India,  Vol.  11,  p.  148, 


LYRIC    rOETRY.  201 

]\le(jh  Piifa  is  nn  excellent  oxnmple  of  purely 
de^^eriptive  poetry.  Mrs.  MnnninjTf  says  :  "  It  is  the  most 
important  of  its  kind,  and  is  a  favourite  Avitli  the 
Europeans  too,"i  Professor  H.  H.  Wilson  says:  ''The 
lano-uaii'e  (of  IMeu'li  Duta")  althouo'h  remarkable  for  the 
richness  of  its  compounds,  is  not  disfigured  by  their 
extravagance,  and  the  order  of  the  sentences  is  in 
general  the  natural  one.  The  metre  combines  melody 
and  dignity  in  a  very  extraordinary  manner,  and 
Avill  bear  an  advcnitaffeous  comparison  with  the  best 
specimens  of  uniform  verse  in  the  poetry  of  any 
language,  living  or  dead."" 


1  Manning's    Ancient  and  Modianal  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  257. 
^Wilson's  Essays,  Vol.  II,  p,  312. 


2G2  niNDU    SUPERIORITY. 


ETHICO-DIDACTIC  POETRY. 

Thy  power  the  breast  from  every  error  frees 
And  weeds  out  all  its  viees  by  degrees. 

— GiFFORD  :  Juvenal. 

The  Hindu  achievements  in  this  branch  of  literature 
estabhsh  once  for  all  their  intellectual  superiority.  It  is 
this  part  of  their  literature  that  has  made  its  way  to  ihe 
remotest  corners  of  Europe  and  America.  Its  sway  over 
the  mind  of  the  civilized  world  is  almost  despotic  and 
complete. 

Professor  Wilson  says :  "  Fable  constitutes  with 
them  (Hindus)  practical  ethics — the  science  of  Niti  or 
Polity — the  system  of  rules  necessary  for  the  good 
government  of  society  in  all  matters  not  of  a  religious 
nature — the  reciprocal  duties  of  the  members  of  an 
oro-anized  body  either  in  their  private  or  public  relations. 
Hence  it  is  specially  intended  for  the  education  of  princes, 
and  proposes  to  instruct  them  in  those  obligations  which 
are  common  to  them  and  their  subjects,  and  those  which 
are  appropriate  to  their  princely  office  ;  not  only  in 
regard  to  those  over  whom  they  rule,  but  in  respect  to 
other  princes,  under  the  contingencies  of  peace  and  war.  v 
Each  fable  is  designed  to  illustrate  and  exemplify  some 
reflection  on  Avorldly  vicissitudes  or  some  precept  for 
human  conduct;  and  the  illustration  is  as  frequently 
drawn  from  the  intercourse  of  human  beinos  as  from 
any  imaginary  adventure  of  animid  existence,   and  this 


ETIIICO-DIDACTIC    TOETRY.  2(')'.\ 

mixture  is  in  some  dep^ree  a   peculiarit}^  o£   the   Hindu 
plan  o£  fabling  or  storytelling."^ 

It  is  now  admitted  by  the  learned  everywhere  that  the 
fabulous  literature  of  the  world,  which  is  such  an  im])or- 
taut,  and,  in  some  respects,  so  necessary  a  p:irt  of  the 
education  of  3-oung  men  all  over  the  world,  apart  from  it 
being  one  of  the  most  amusing,  interesting  andinstructive 
diversions  from  labour  and  severe  study,  owes  its  origin 
solely  to  the  intelligence  and  wisdom  of  the  ancient  Hindus. 

Panchiantra  is  far  and  awa}^  the  best  masterpiece 
in  the  whole  fabulous  literature  of  the  world  ;  nay,  it  is 
the  source  from  which  the  entire  literature  of  fables, 
Asiatic  or  Eui-opean,  has  directly  or  indirectly  emanated. 
Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  In  the  composition  of  tales  and 
fables  they  (Hindus)  appear  to  have  been  the  instructors 
of  the  rest  of  mankind.'  The  most  ancient  known  fables 
(those  of  Bidpai)  have  been  found  almost  unchanged 
in  their  Sanskrit  dress  ;  and  to  them  almost  all  the 
fabulous  relations  of  other  countries  have  been  clearly 
traced  by  Mr.  Colebrooke,  the  Baron -de- sacy  and  Professor 
Wilson." 

Dr.  Sir  W.  W.  Hunter  says  :  "  The  fables  of 
animals,  familiar  to  the  Western  world  from  the  time  of 
uEsop  downwards,  had  their  original  home  in  India. 
The  relation  between  the  fox  and  the  lion  in  the  Greek 
versions  has  no  reality  in  nature,  but  it  was  based  upon 

^Wilson's  Essays  on  Sanskrit  Literature  Vol.  II,  p.  80. 
^History  of  India,  pp.  15G,  157.  For  a  guide  to  further  in([niry 
as  to  the  Hindu  origin  of  European  fables,  see  Transactions  of  the 
E.  A.  S.,  Vol.  I,  p.  156.  "  The  complicated  system  of  storytelling, 
tale  within  talc  like  the  Arabian  Nights,  seems  also  to  liavc  been  of 
their  invention,  as  ar(?  the  subjects  of  many  well-known  tales  and  roman- 
ces. Oriental  and  European." — Elphimtone's  Ilidory  of  India,  p.  157. 


264  HINDU    SUPEKIOKITY. 

the  actual  relation  between  the  lion  and  bis  follower, 
the  jackal,  in  the  Sanskrit  stories.  Pan.chtantra  was 
translated  into  the  ancient  Persian  in  the  sixth  century 
A.D.,  and  from  that  rendering  all  the  subsequent  versions 
in  Asia  Minor  and  Europe  have  been  derived.  The 
most  ancient  animal  fables  of  India  are  at  the  present 
day  the  nursery  stories  of  EnyJand  and  America.  The 
graceful  Hindu  invagination  delighted  also  in  fairy  tales, 
and  the  Sanskrit  compositions  of  this  class  are  the 
original  source  of  many  of  the  fairy  stories  of  Persia, 
Arabia  and  Christendom."^ 

Professor  Max  Muller  says  :  "  The  King  of  Persia, 
Khusro  Nausherawan  (531-579  A. D.)  sent  his  physician, 
Barzoi,  to  India  in  order  to  translate  the  fables  of  the 
Panchtantra  from  Sanskrit  into  Pahlavi."^  llitopdesa 
(hita=good  and  iipdesa=iid\ice)  as  Mrs.  Manning  says, 
is  the  form  in  which  the  old  Sanskrit  fables  became 
introduced  into  the  literature  of  nearly  every  known 
language. 

Fabel  maintains  the  Indian  origin  of  the  fables 
common  to  India  and  Greece,  which  proves  the  antiquity 
of  the  Hindu  fables.^ 

Professor  Weber  says  :  "  Allied  to  the  fables  are 
the   fairy  tales  and  romances,   in   which   the  luxuriant 

^Imperial  Gazetteer,  "  India,"  p.  238. 

-India:  Wliat  can  it  teach  us?  p.  93.  "The  Panchtantrn  was 
translated  iiito  Persian  in  the  sixtli  century  by  order  of  ^N'aushcrawan 
and  thence  into  Arabic  and  Turkish  and  Lastly  into  French." — 
liceren's  Hlstoricdl  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  200. 

•^Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  211.  "The  fable  reported  by  Arrian 
of  Ilei'culcs  having  scarchi'd  the  whole  Indian  ocean  and  found  (he  pearl 
with  wlucli  he  used  to  adorn  his  dauii-hler,  is  of  Hindu  oriuin," — 
Ileeren's  Jliitoi-ical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  271 


ETniCO-DIDACTIC    rOETRY.  205 

fancy  of  the  Hindus  has,  in  the  most  wonderful  degree, 
put  forth  all  its  peculiar  grace  and  cliarni."^ 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "  The  Fables  of  the  Hindus 
are  a  sort  of  machinery  to  which  there  is  no  parallel  in 
the  fabling  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome."-  He  also 
says  that  the  Hindu  literature  contained  collections 
of  domestic  narrative  to  an  extent  siirpasshyj  those  of 
any  other  people. 

Mrs.  Manning  thus  remarks  on  the  Panchtantra: 
"  Each  fable  will  be  found  to  illustrate  and  exemplify 
some  reflection  on  worldly  vicissitude  or  some  precept  for 
human  conduct ;  and  instead  of  being  aggregated  pro- 
miscuously or  without  method,  the  stories  are  all  strung 
together  upon  a  connected  thread  and  arranged  in  a 
framework  of  continuous  narrative,  out  of  which  they 
successively  spring."^ 

A  careful  study  of  the  subject  will  show  that  even 
the  books  which  appear  to  have  a  distinctive  Persian 
character  and  are  generally  regarded  to  be  of  Persian 
origin  are  in  reality  Hindu  to  the  core.  Count  Bjornst- 
jerna  remarks:  "The  thousand  and  one  Nights,  so 
universally  known  in  Europe,  is  a  Hindu  original 
translated  into  Persian  and  thence  into  other  lano-uages. 
In  Sanskrit  the  name  is  Vn'hat  katha.^^*  Professor 
Lassen  of  Paris  asserts  that  "the  Arabian  JSights 
Entertainments  are  of  Hindu  origin."' 

Despite  the  authority  of  so  many  learned  Orientalists 
in  favour  of  the  Hindu  origin  of  this  liternture,  and  tlie 

'Weber's  Indian  Literaturo,  p.  '2 I'd. 

-'Wilson's  Essays,  Vol.  II,  p.  85. 

^Anciont  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  11,  p.  274. 

"i'riieogouy  of  the  Hindus,  p.  85. 

5S?e  his  Ind.  Alt.  IV,  \k  002, 


2GG  .       niNDU    SUrERIORITY. 

express  historical  evidence  as  to  the  transmission  of  the 
Hindu  fables  to  Arabia  and  Persia,  there  is  overwhelminir 
internal  evidence  in  the  fables  themselves  to  support  the 
assertion  that  the  Hindus  have  been  the  teachers  of  the 
rest  of  mankind  in  this  important  branch  of  literature. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  a  particular  fable.  In  the 
Panchtantra  there  is  a  story  of  a  female  bird  who  wished 
to  make  her  nest  further  inland,  because  on  the  day  of 
full  moon  the  sea  would  be  sweeping  over  the  place  where 
she  then  was.  But  the  male  bird  objects,  believing  that  he 
was  as  strong  as  the  sea  and  that  it  could  not  encroach 
upon  his  nest.  (Benfey,  Yol.  It,  pp.  87-89).  Now  this 
story  is,  as  Professor  AVilson  remarks,  one  of  the  decisive 
proofs  of  the  Indian  origin  of  the  fables.  The  name  of 
the  bird  in  Arabic  is  Tita/ci,  a  word  which  cannot  be 
resolved  to  any  satisfactory  Arabic  root.  It  is  "  only  a 
transcript  of  the  Sanskrit  T/'ff/bha,  Bengali  T/'f/'b  and 
Hindu  Tltihrl. 

Wilson  remarks  that  in  the  translation  of  Panchtan- 
tra, Kalalawa  Damna,  the  name  of  the  ox  in  Sanskrit 
was  Sail] i wall' a ^  whence  the  Arabic  Shan:ebeh,  and  those 
of  the  jackals,  Karataka  and  Damnaka,  whence  the  Arabic 
Kalala  und  Damnay  The  tale  of  Ahmad  and  Pari  Banu 
betrays  palpably  its  Indian  origin.  Pari  Bhanu  is  decid- 
edly a  Hindu  name.  The  eldest  of  the  three  princes,  Prince 
Husein,  in  search  of  some  extraordinarv  raritv  which  may 
entitle  him  to  the  hand  of  the  Princess  Nuran  Nihar,  re- 
pairs to  the  Indian  city,  Bisnagar  (decidedly  an  Indian 
name)  a  metropolis  of  extraordinary  wealth  and  population. 
Mr.  Deslongchamps  says  :  "The  book  of  Sindebad 
is  of  Indian  origin,  and  adds  that  the  under-mentioned  three 
stories  were  in  a  special  degree  derived  from  the  original. 


ETJIICO-DIDACTIG    rOETllY  2^7 

(I)  The  Ar.ibic  story  of  a  King,  liis  Son,  liis 
favourites  and  seven  \'aziers.  (2)  The  Hebrew  romance 
ol:  the  Parables  o£  Sendebar,  and  (o)  the  Greek  romance 
of  Synti})as.  From  the  Hebrew  romance  above  de- 
scribed, Deslongchamps  derives,  "the  history  of  the 
seven  sages  of  Rome,"  Ifistoria  septem  sapiciitan  Romw^ 
a  very  populnr  work  in  Europe  for  three  centuries. 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "  In  a  manuscript  of  tlie 
Parable  of  Sendebar,  which  existed  in  the  IJritish 
Museum,  it  is  repeatedly  asserted  in  anonymous  Latin 
notes  that  the  work  was  translated  out  of  the  Indijin 
lano:ua£»'e  into  Persian  and  Arabic,  and  from  one  of  them 
into  Hebrew.  Sendebar  is  also  described  as  a  chief  of  the 
Indian  Brahmans,  and  Beibar,  the  King,  as  a  King  of 
India." — Ellis'  Metrical  Romances^  Yo\.  III. 

A  decisive  proof  of  Sindebad  being  an  Indian  is  the 
direct  evidence  on  the  subject,  of  the  eminent  Arabic 
writer,  ]\[asndi.  In  his  "Golden  Meadows"  (Mirajul- 
Zeheb),  in  a  chapter  on  the  ancient  kings  of  India,  he 
speaks  of  an  Indian  philosopher  named  Sindebad,  who 
Avas  contemporary  with  Kurush,  and  was  the  author  of  the 
work  entitled,  "  The  Story  of  Seven  Vaziers,  the  tutor, 
the  yoimg  man  and  the  wife  of  the  king."  "This  is  the 
work,"  he  adds,  "  which  is  called  the  book  of  Sendebad." 

By  his  interesting  analysis  of  the  Syntipas  and  the 
Parables  of  Sendebad^^  Professor  Wilson  clearly  shows 
that  the  stories  are  one  and  all  of  Hindu  origin.-  He  also 
shows  that  the  "  Seven  Sages  of  Rome  "  is  also  of  Hindu 
origin.  liesides  these  fables  and  stories,  says  Professor 
Wilson,  "  various  narratives  of  Indian  origin  forcc(i 
their  way  individually  and  unconnectedly  to  Europe."'^ 


nVilsou's  Sanskrit  Essays,  Vol.  IT,  pp.  00,  100.    -'Ibid,  p,  101. 
^Wilson's  Sanskrit  Essays,  Vol.  II,  p.  101. 


268  HINDU    SUPERIOKITY. 

Sir  John  Malcolm  says:  "Those  who  rank  the 
highest  among  Eastern  nations  for  genius  have  employed 
their  talents  in  works  of  fiction,  and  have  added  to  the 
moral  lessons  they  desired  to  convey  so  much  of  grace 
and  ornament  that  their  volumes  have  found  currency 
in  every  nation  of  the  world."' 

It  is  thus  clear  that  the  Hindus  have  produced  a 
branch  of  literature  the  kind  of  which,  in  any  consider- 
able degree,  has  never  been  produced  by  any  other  nation 
in  the  world,  Asiatic  or  European,  ancient  or  modern. 
This  wonderful  phenomenon  is  thus  explained  by  Pro- 
fessor Heeren.  "  The  poetry  of  no  other  nation  exhibits 
in  such  a  striking  manner  the  didactic  character  as  that 
of  the  Hindus  ;  for,  no  other  people  were  so  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  persuasion  that  to  give  and  receive  in- 
struction was  the  sole  and  ultimate  object  of  life."=^ 


llle  fixes  the  Crusades   as  the  tiaie  of  the  emigration  to  Europe 
of    some   of  the   well-known    works   of   this   kind,    such   as  : — (1)  The 
Katha    Saritasagar,    (2)   The   Veti'il   Panclivinsati,     (3)   The    Singha- 
sana  Dwatrinsati,  and  (4)  The  Sukasaptati.  The  first  of  these  works  was 
composed  for  the  amusement  and  instruction  of    Sii  Harish  of  Kashmir, 
by  the  order  of  his  grandmotlior,  Suryavati,  who  became  sati  in   1093 
A.D.     But  that  the  stories  of  which  it  is  made  up  were  of  great  anti- 
quity is  proved  from  the  fact  of  one  of  them  occurring  in  Odyssey.     In 
tlie  fifth  book  of  Katha  Saritasagar  there  is   a   story  of  a  man  who  be- 
ing shipwrecked  is  caught  in  a  whirlpool,  and  esca[M's  liy  jumping  up  and 
cliuibiii'.'  the  branch  of  a  fig  tree,  apparently  thp, inSiiyair' ('i'Vrws  Indiva) 
celebrated  for  its   pendulous  roots.     Professor  Wilson   here   refers  to 
■•0'^'^<j\^  ■^^'^^  ''!'■  101-104,  where  Ulysses  escapes  from  a  whirlpool  by 
jiim^rtig^  up  and  clinging   to  the  branches  of  a  fig  tree — probably  the 
Indian  fio,'  tree  or  bunvan,  the  -nendulous   branches  of   which  wonld  be 
more  within  reach  than  those  of  the  Sicilian  fig;  and  Homer,  he   thinks, 
may  have  borrowed  the  incident  from  some  old  Eastern  fiction. 
'Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  197. 


THE   rUUANAS.  2G9 


THE  PURANAS. 

"  We  are  the  voices  of  the  wauderincr  \\\m\ 
Which  moan  for  rest  and  rest  can  never  linJ, 
Lo  !  As  the  wind  is,  so  is  mortal  life, 
A  moan,  a  sigh,  a  sob,  a  storm,  a  strife." 

— Dei-els'  Song  to  Pn'nee  Siddharatlict. 

The  Puranas  are  looked  upon  as  semi-relif^ions  books. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  they  are,  as  it  were,  the  store- 
houses, the  vast  treasuries  of  universal  information,  like 
the  English  "Encyclopaedia  P>ritannica"  with  a  unity  of 
purpose  and  a  theological  bent.  They  contain  disserta- 
tions and  discussions  on  Theology,  Mytholog}',  History, 
War,  Polity,  Philosophy,  Sciences,  Arts  and  other  things. 
In  course  of  time,  with  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Hindu 
nation,  when  the  ideals  of  the  nation  were  lowe?-ed,  when 
plain  living  and  high  thinking  ceased  to  be  the  national 
characteristics  of  the  race,  when  the  pure  and  sublime 
teachings  of  the  Vedas  and  the  Upanishads  began  to  be 
neglected,  interpolations  inculcating  the  worship  of  dif- 
ferent gods  and  goddesses,  celebrating  the  praises  of  holy 
places  of  India  were  made  in  these  books  from  time  to 
time,  and  they  began  to  be  looked  upon  with  greater  and 
greater  reverence,  with  the  result  eventually  that  the  most 
spiritual  and  scientific  religion  in  the  world  was  replaced 
by  a  mixture  of  Theology,  Mythology  and  Sociology. 

When  the  Hindus  became  too  weak  to  defend  them- 
selves from  the  attacks  of  the  invaders  from  the  North- 
west, in  order  to  preserve  their  literature  from  destruc- 
tion they  assigned  it  to  the  care  of  a  class  of  men  whom 


270  niNDU  suPEKioniTr. 

they  invested  with  special  sanctity,  and  accorded  them  a 
privileged  position  in  society.  In  time  the  exchisive 
spirit  of  these  men  urged  them  to  look  upon  learning  as 
their  peculiar  prerogative,  and  induced  them,  with  the 
object  of  preserving  the  sacerdotal  character  of  their 
class,  to  gradually  put  a  bar  to  other  classes  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  the  Hindu  Shastras. 

A  glance  at  the  contents  of  tlie  Puranas,  how^ever, 
w^ould  reveal  their  real  character  ;  and  the  commonsense 
of  the  Hindus  can  be  relied  on  to  assio-n  these  books 
their  true  place  in  the  literature  of  the  nation. 

The  W'orld  is  moving  fast,  and  forces  over  which 
the  nation,  which  long  revelled  in  isolation  and  exclu- 
siveness  to  its  serious  detriment  and  undoing,  has  no 
control  are  now  working  so  as  to  demand  the  utmost 
circumspection  on  the  part  of  its  leaders  and  thinkers  in 
husbanding  its  resources,  and  preventing  its  energies  from 
beincj;  frittered  away  in  followins;  false  ideals.  If  the 
fate  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  the  Persians,  the  l^aby- 
lonians  and  the  Greeks  is  to  be  avoided,  it  behoves  all 
well-wishers  of  the  nation  not  only  to  hold  the  mirror 
to  its  Avretched  condition  for  the  edification  of  the 
masses,  but  by  making  proper  use  of  the  useful  and 
valuable  lessons  contained  in  parts  even  of  this 
heterogenous — half  sacerdojt-al,  half  profane — literature, 
direct  its  course  tow^ards  the  realization  of  aims  truly  and 
clearly  laid  down  in  the  sublime  and  pure  teaching  of 
the  Vedas  and  the  Upanishads. 

Professor  Heeren^  says  that  the  Puranas  are  not  the 
work  of  a  A^almiki  or  Yyasa,  but,  like  the  poems  of 
Tzetzes  and  other   iirammarians,  the  fruit  of  extraordi- 


1  Historical  Kcsearclios,  Vul,  II,  p.  177, 


THE    PURANAS.  271 

nary  (lilif2;cncc  combined  with  extensive  reacliiij^.  He  is, 
nevertheless,  far  from  considering-  tliem  akogether  as  an 
invention  of  modern  times,  that  is,  of  the  ^Middle  Ages. 

The  literal  meanini*:  of  the  word  Purana  is  "  old  " 
and  the  Puranas  profess  to  teach  what  is  old.  "  They 
are,"  says  Mrs.  Manning,  "  written  in  verse  with  a  view 
to  public  recitation  at  festivals,  as  vehicles  for  conveying 
such  instruction  as  the  people  might  be  presumed  to 
retpiire.  Philosophically,  they  blend  Sankhya  philosophy 
with  Vedanta,  and  practically  they  were  a  code  of  ritual 
as  well  as  a  summary  of  law."* 

The  Puranas  have  been  compiled  at  different  periods 
and  by  different  men.  They  seem  to  have  adopted  dif- 
ferent innovations  made  into  them  by  Shankaracharya, 
Ramanuja,  Madhavacharya,  and  Vallabhacharya.  "  The 
invariable  form  of  the  Puranas  is  that  of  a  dialogue,  in 
which  some  person  relates  its  contents  in  reply  to  the 
inquiries  of  another."  The  immediate  narrator  is  ccfm- 
moidy,  though  not  constantly,  Lomaharshana  or  Soma- 
harshana,  the  disciple  of  Vyasa,  vv^ho  is  supposed  to  com- 
municate what  was  imparted  to  him  by  his  prece})tor. 

The  Puranas  are  divided  into  three  classes  : — 

1.  Sattvika,  or  "  Pure,"  including  Vishnu,  Narada, 
Bha<''wat,  Garuda,  Padma  and  A'araha  Puranas. 

2.  Tamasa,  or  "  Puranas  of  Darkness,"  including 
Matsya,  Karma,  Linga,  Shiva,  Skanda  and  Agni  Puranas. 

8.  Rajasa  or  "  Passionate,"  including  l^rahmanda, 
A^aivarta,  Markandya,  Bhavishya,  Yamana  and  Brahma 
Puranas. 

The  first  six  Puranas  are  Vaishnava,  the  next  six  are 


1  Ancient  and  MedicTval  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  2i4. 


272  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 

Shaiva,  and  the  last  six    advocate  the  Gossain  and  Val- 
labhachari  religions. 

There  are  eii^hteen  Puranas,  and  it  is  said  that 
there  are  18  Up-Paranas.  "  The  eighteen  Puranas  are  said 
to  have  4,00,000  slokas  or  16,00,000  lines.  They  are 
fabled  to  be  but  an  abridoment  :  the  whole  amountincr 
to  a  crore  or  10  millions  of  stanzas,  even  a  1,000  millions." 
And  Professor  Wilson  adds  :  "  If  all  the  fragmentary 
portions  claiming  in  various  parts  of  India  to  belong  to 
the  Puranas  were  admitted,  their  extent  would  much 
exceed  the  lesser,  though  it  would  not  reach  the  larger 
enumeration."^ 

To  give  an  idea  of  their  contents,  a  brief  survey  of 
two  of  the  most  important  Puranas  is  subjoined. 
Shri  Bhar/wat  Parana,  "  that  in  which  ample 
details  of  duty  are  described  and  which  opens  with  the 
Gayairl :  that  in  which  the  death  of  the  Asura  Vrita  is 
told,  and  in  which  the  mortals  and  the  immortals  of  the 
Saraswata  Kal])a,  with  the  events  of  that  period  are 
related  is  called  the  Bhagwat  Purana,  and  consists  of 
eighteen  thousand  verses."  It  is  perhaps  the  most 
important  of  all  the  Puranas.  Its  philosojjhy  is  Yedantic, 
and  it  opens  with  a  cosmogony  mixed  with  mysticism  and 
allegory  ;  then  follow  an  account  of  the  creation  and 
of  the  Yarha  Avatara,  creation  of  Prajapatees,  Swayam 
Bhava,  and  then  Kapila  Avatara,  the  author  of  Sankhya 
Philosophy  ;  an  account  of  the  Manwantras,  different 
legends  of  Dhruva,  Yena,  Pritha  and  an  account  of  the 
universe  follow.  Other  legends  follow,  including  that 
of  Prahlada,  of  the  churning  of  the  ocean,  and  the  fish 

iTIieni    is    a    little    confusion    in  tlie    names   of    the    18  Puranas 
according  to  the  different  Puranas  tliemselvcs. 


THE  ruiiANAS.  273 

Avatars  and  others,  and  then  a  history  of  two  Hhidu 
dynasties.  The  tenth  book  which  gives  tlie  liistory  o£ 
Krishna,  is  the  most  popular  part  of  the  Parana.  The 
eleventh  book  describes  the  destruction  of  the  Yadavas 
and  the  death  of  Krishna,  and  his  teachino;  Yoffii  to  Ud- 
dhava.  The  twelfth  book  contains  the  lives  of  the  kiniis 
of  Kaliyug,  and  gives  an  account  of  the  deterioration  of 
all  thinofs  and  their  final  dissolution.  As  this  Purana  was 
recited  by  Sukhdeva  to  Parikshit,  who  was  awniting  the 
snake-bite,  the  king  was  actually  bitten  by  the  serpent 
and  expired.  It  terminates  with  an  account  of  Yyasa's 
arrangement  of  the  Vedas  and  the  Puranas,  and  with 
praises  of  its  own  sanctity. 

Agnl  Purana.  "  That  Purana  which  describes  the 
events  of  the  Isana  Kalpa  and  w^as  related  by  Agni  to 
Vashishta  is  the  Agni  Purana.  It  consists  of  16,000  slokas. 
It  commences  with  an  account  of  the  Avataras  of  Rama 
and  Krishna,  and  devotes  some  chapters  to  "mystical  forms 
of  Shiva  w^orship."  A  description  of  the  earth,  genealo- 
gies, etc.,  follow.  Then  comes  a  system  of  medicine,  and 
the  work  winds  up  with  treatises  on  rhetoric,  prosody, 
grammar,  archery  and  military  tactics,  etc.  It  also  contains 
several  systems  of  iiifi  (polity). 

The  18  Up-Puranas  are  enumerated  as  follows  : — 

1.  Sanakumara.       7.  Xarsingh.  13.  Durvasa. 

2.  Xaradiya.  8.  Parasar.  14.  Maheshwara. 

3.  Shiva.  9.   Kapila.  15.  Manawa. 

4.  Varuna.  10.   Samba.  16.  Nandi. 

5.  Ansanasa,  11.  Kalika.  17.  Saura. 

6.  Aditya.  12.  Bhagwat.  18.  Vashishtha. 
The  foregoing  brief  survey  of  the  contents  of   two  of 


274  HINDU    SLTEIIIOKITY. 

the  Piiranas  is  quite  inadequate  to  enable  the  reader  to 
form   an  idea  o£   their  importance,  as  lighthouses  to  a 
great   Past.       The  Agni  Purana,   for  instance,   contains 
particulars  of  the  military  organization  of  the  Hindus, 
which  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  the  Dhanur  Veda  are 
of  especial  importance.      The  Deva  Purana  mentions  the 
hralimasfra,  which  proves  the  use  of  fire-arms  by  the  Hin- 
dus in  those  days.  The  Padma  Purana  contains  a  treatise 
on  the  geography  of  India  in  particulnr  and  the  Universe 
ill  general,  which  is  of  very  great  importfvnce.      Matsya 
Purana  explains  the  source  from  which  the  Jewish,  the 
Christian  and  the  Mohamedan  story  of  the  Deluge  and 
their  cosmogony  are  derived.    Garuda  Purana  contains  a 
treatise  on  precious  stones,  astrology  and  palmistry  ;  a 
system  of  medicine  is  contained  in  the  Agni  Purana,  while 
theories  of  creation  are  to  be  found  in  almost  all  of  them. 
Some  Puranas  throw  important  light  on  the  industries 
and  arts  of  ancient  India,  and  may,  if  properly  understood 
and  followed,  yet  help  the  Indians  to  improve  their  position 
in  the  industrial  world.  It  must,  however,  be  admitted  that 
sometimes,  with  a  grain  of  useful  information,  there  Avill 
be  found  a  lot  of  useless  chaff.      On  the  whole,   the 
Puranas  have  as  much  claim  to  be  regarded  as  the  religious 
books  of  the  Hindus  as  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  has 
to  be   accepted   as   the  religious  books  of  Englishmen. 
As  to  the  antiquity  of  their  contents  there  is  no  doubt. 
Professor  H.  H.  Wilson  says  :  "And  the  testimony  that 
establishes     their     existence      three     centuries     before 
Christianity,    carries   it    back   to   a  much  more  remote 
antiquity — to  an  antiquity  that  is  probably  not  surpassed 
by  any  of  the  prevailing  fictitious  institutions  or  beliefs 
of  the  ancient  world." 


PHILOSOPHY. 

How  charming  is  divine  philosophy, 

Not  harsli  and  crabbed,  as  dull  fools  suppose 

]}ut  musical  as  Apollo's  flute, 

And  a  perpetual  feast  of  nectar'd  sweets 

Where  no  crude  surfeit  reigns. 

— ]\IiLTON  :  Comus. 

Philosophy  is  the  rea.1  ruler  of  the  arlobe  :  it  lays  down 
principles  which  guide  the  world.  Philosophy  shows  how 
a  transcendent  genius  exacts  homage  consciously  or 
unconsciously  from  lower  intellects.  It  is  phi]oso])hy  that 
blows  the  trumpet  blast,  and  it  is  philosophy  that  blunts 
the  edge  of  the  sword.  Philosophy  reigns  supreme, 
undisputed  and  absolute.  It  conquers  the  conqueror  and 
subdues  the  subduer. 

If  it  is  true  that  a  great  nation  alone  can  produce 
great  philosophers  or  com.plete  systems  of  philosophy, 
the  ancient  Indians  ma}^,  without  hesitation,  be  pronounced 
to  have  been  the  greatest  nation,  ancient  or  modern. 
"Philosophers,"  says  Professor  Max  Muller,  "arise  after 
the  security  of  a  State  has  been  established,  after  wealth 
has  been  acquired  and  accumulated  in  certain  families, 
after  schools  and  universities  have  been  founded  and  taste 
created  for  those  literary  pursuits  which  even  in  the  most 
advanced  state  of  civilization  must  necessarily  be  confined 
to  but  a  small  portion  of  an  ever- toiling  community."^ 

To  what  high  pinnacle  of  civilization,  then,  must  the 
ancient  Indians  have  reached,  for,  says  Professor  Max 
^Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  pp.  5G4,  G5. 


276  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

Muller  further  on  that  "  the  Hindas  were  a  nation  o£ 
philosophers."^ 

The  philosophy  of  the  Hindas  is  another  proof  of 
their  superiority  in  civilization  and  intellect  to  the 
moderns  as  well  as  the  ancients.  Manning  says  :  "  The 
Hindus  had  the  widest  range  of  mind  of  which  man 
is  capable."" 

Schlegel  speaks  of  the  noble,  clear  and  severely  grand 
accents  of  Indian  thought  and  says  ;  "  Even  the  loftiest 
philosophy  of  the  Europeans,  the  idealism  of  reason,  as 
is  set  forth  by  Greek  philosophers,  appears  in  comparison 
Avith  the  abundant  light  and  vigour  of  Oriental  idealism 
like  a  feeble  promethean  spark  in  the  full  flood  of  heavenly 
glory  of  the  noonday  sun — faltering  and  feeble  and  ever 
ready  to  be  extinguished."^ 

Professor  Weber,  speaking  of  Hindu  philosophy, 
says  :  "  It  is  in  this  field  and  that  of  grammar  that  the 
Indian  mind  attained  the  highest  pitch  of  its  marvellous 
fertility."*  "  The  Hindus,"  says  Max  Muller,  "  were  a 
people  remarkably  gifted  for  philosophical  abstraction."' 
Schlegel  says  :  "  India  is  preeminently  distinguished  for 
the  many  traits  of  original  grandeur  of  thought  and  of 
the  wonderful  remains  of  immediate  knowledo'e."*^ 

Like  all  other  things  in  India,  the  Hindu  philosophy, 
too,  is  on  a  gigantic  scale.  Every  shade  of  opinion,  every 
mode  of  thought,  every  school  of  philosophy  has  found  its 
expression  in  the  philosophical  writings  of  the  Hindus  and 
received  its  full  development.  Sir  W.  Hunter  says  :  "  The 

1  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  vJl.  -Ancient  and  Mediaeval 
India,  Vol.1,  p.l  14.  ■'History  of  Literature,  -i  Weber's  Indian  Literature, 
p.  27.  '^Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  5GC.  •^History  of  Literature, 
P.    l-'G. 


niiLosDriiY.  277 

problems  of  tlion£;iit  and  being  of  mind  and  mnttcr 
and  sonl  apart  from  both,  of  tlie  origin  of  evil,  of 
the  sommian  homim  of  life,  of  necessity  and  freewill, 
and  of  the  relations  of  the  creator  to  the  creatnre,  and  the 
intellectual  problems,  such  as  the  compatibility  of  evil 
with  the  goodness  of  God  and  the  unecpial  distribution 
of  happiness  and  misery  in  this  life,  are  endlessly  discussed. 
Brahmin  Pliilo.'iupliy  c.vhaastcd  the  iwssibh  solutions  of 
these  d/'jjiculties  and  of  most  of  the  other  great  problems 
which  have  since  perplexed  Greeks,  Romans,  Media-val 
schoolmen  and  modern  men  of  science." 

Speaking  of  the  comprehensiveness  of  Hindu 
philosophy,  Dr.  Alexander  Duff  is  reported  to  have  said, 
in  a  speech  delivered  in  Scotland,  that  "Hindu  philosophy 
was  so  comprehensive  that  counterparts  of  all  systems 
of  European  philosophy  were  to  be  found  in  it." 

Professor  Goldstiicker-  finds  in  the  Upanishads  "the 
germs  of  all  the  philosophies.  Count  Bjornstjerna  says  : 
"In  a  metaphysical  point  of  view  we  find  among  the 
Hindus  all  the  fundamental  ideas  of  those  vast  systems 
which,  regarded  merely  as  the  offspring  of  phantasy, 
nevertheless  inspire  admiration  on  account  of  the  bold- 
ness of  flight  and  of  the  faculty  of  human  mind  to  ele- 
vate itself  to  such  remote  ethereal  regions.  We  find 
among  them  all  the  principles  of  Pantheism,  Spinozism 
and  Hegelianism,  of  God  as  being  one  with  the  universe  ; 
of  the  eternal  spirit  descended  on  earth  in  the  whole 
spiritual  life  of  mankind  ;  of  the  return  of  the  emanative 
sparks  after  death  to  their  divine  origin  ;  of  the  nnin- 
terrupted  alternation  between  life  and  death,  which  is 

1  Indian  Gazetteer,  i)p.  213,  214. 

^Ancient  and  Media^al  India,  Vol,  I,  p.  149, 


278  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

nothing  else  but  a  transition  between  different  modes  of 
existence.  All  this  we  find  again  among  the  philosophers 
of  the  Hindus  exhibited  as  clearly  as  by  our  modern 
philosophers  more  than  three  thousand  years  since."  ^ 

Even  with  the  limited  knowledge  of  Hindu  philo- 
sophy and  science  that  could  be  obtained  at  the  time, 
Sir  William  Jones  could  say :  "I  can  venture  to  affirm 
■without  meaning  to  pluck  a  leaf  from  the  nev^er- 
fadino;  laurels  of  our  immortal  Newton,  that  the  whole 
of  his  theology,  and  part  of  his  philosophy,  may  be 
found  in  the  Vedas,  and  even  in  the  works  of  the  Sufis. 
The  most  subtle  spirit  which  he  suspected  to  pervade 
natural  bodies,  and  lying  concealed  in  them,  to  cause 
attraction  and  repulsion,  the  emission,  reflection  and 
refraction  of  light,  electricity,  califaction,  sensation  and 
muscular  motion,  is  described  by  the  Hindus  as  a  fifth 
element,  endued  with  those  very  powers." 

Mrs.  Besant  says  :  "  Indian  psychology  is  far  more 
perfect  a  science  than  European  psychology."^ 

1  Theogouy  of  the  Hindus,  pp.  20,  30.  As  an  instance  of  Mr. 
James  Mill's  stupiditj',  if  stupidity  is  compatible  Avitli  learning,  one  uiay 
cite  his  opinion  that  the  Hindus  were  extremely  barbarous,  for  they 
cultivated  metaphysics  so  largely.  Prof.  Wilson  takes  exception  to  it,  and 
says  :  "  With  regard  to  the  -writer's  theory  that  the  cultivation  of 
metaphysics  is  a  proof  rather  of  barbarism  than  of  civilization,  it  may  be 
asked,  if  Locke,  Descartes,  Leibnitz,  Kant,  Schelling  were  barbarous." — 
Mill's  Ilixtorij  of  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  74,  footnote.  Mr.  James  Mill  is  a 
conspicuous  instance  of  a  man  whose  mind  becomes  completely  warped 
by  prejudice.  Mill's  mind  could  conceive  most  absurd  impossibilities. 
"Mr.  Mill,"  says  Wilson,  "seems  inclined  to  think  that  it  was  not 
impossible  that  the  Pyramids  had  dropped  from  tjie  clouds  or  sprung 
out  of  the  soil."  How  this  perverted  intellect  could  educate  one  of  the 
greatest  English  thinkers  is  a  problem  of  some  psj'chological  interest. 
-Lecture  on  National  Universities  in  Lidia  (Calcutta),  .January,  1 90G. 


riiiLosoriiY.  279 

♦  As  Professor  Max  Miillcr  has  observed,  "  tlie  Iliiuliis 
talk  philosophy  in  the  streets,"  and  to  this  reason  is 
due  the  thoroughly  practical  character  of  their  ))hilosophy. 
"  In  this  respect,"  says  Bjornstjerna,  "the  Hindus  Avere 
far  in  advance  of  the  philosophers  of  Greece  iind  Rome, 
who  considered  tlie  immortality  of  the  soul  as  problema- 
tical."^ "  Socrates  and  Plato  with  all  their  loni^in^s  could 
only  feel  assured  that  the  soul  had  more  of  immortality 
than  aught  else."-  In  India,  however,  the  doctrine  has 
not  been  accepted  in  theory  only,  it  moulds  the  conduct 
of  the  "whole  nation.  This  is  true  of  philosophy.  And 
it  is  due  to  its  practical  character  that  Hindu  philosophy 
has  extended  its  sway  over  so  wide  an  area  of  the  globe. 
Hindu  philosophy  even  now  holds  undisputed  sway  over 
the  minds  of  nearly  half  the  inhabitants  of  the  world, 
whilst  its  partial  influence  is  no  doubt  universal. 

In  ancient  times  people  came  to  India  from  distant 
lands  to  acquire  learning  and  gain  wisdom,  and  Hindu 
philosophy  thus  worked  silently  for  centuries.  That  the 
Egyptians  derived  their  religion,  mythology  and  philo- 
sophy from  the  Hindus  has  been  clearly  established  by 
Count  Bjornstjerna  ;  and  that  the  Greek  philosophy,  too, 
was  indebted  almost  w^holly  to  the  Hindu  philosophy 
for  its  cardinal  doctrines  has  also  been  shown  by  eminent 
Orientalists.  The  resemblance  between  the  Hindu  and 
the  Greek  philosophy  is  too  close  to  be  accidental. 
The  Hindus,  being  far  more  advanced,  must  be  the 
teachers,  and  the  Greeks,  the  disciples.  Mr.  Colebrooke, 
the  eminent  antiquarian,  decides  in  favour  of  Hindu 
originality  and  says  :  "  The  Hindus  were,  in  this  respect, 
the  teachers  and  not  the  learners."^ 

iTlieogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  27. 
■^PJimlo,  Taylor's  translation.  IV,  p.  324. 
•"Transactions  of  the  R.A.S.,  Vol.  I,  p.  579. 


280  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

A  Frencbnian  observes  that  "the  traces  oE  Hindu 
philosophy  which  appear  at  each  step  in  the  doctrines 
professed  by  the  illustrious  men  of  Greece  abundantly 
prove  that  it  was  from  the  East  came  their  science,  and  that 
many  of  them  no  doubt  drank  deeply  at  the  principal 
fountain."  The  f^^reat  Greek  philosopher,  Pythagoras, 
came  to  India  to  learn  philosophy,  and  here  imbibed  the 
doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  soul  propounded  by  the 
Hindu  sages.  Dr.  Enfield  says:  "We  find  that  it  (India) 
was  visited  for  the  purpose  of  accpiiring  knowledge  by 
P3^thagoras,  Anaxarchus,  Pyrrho,  and  others  who  after- 
wards became  eminent  philosophers  in  Greece."' 

Discussing  the  question  as  to  what  constitutes  human 
nature  according  to  the  Hindus,  the  Swedish  Count  says  : 
"  Pythagoras  and  Plato  hold  the  same  doctrine,  that  of 
Pythagoras  being  probably  derived  from  India,  whither 
he  travelled  to  complete  his  philosophical  studies.""  ]\Ir. 
Pococke  says:  "Certain  it  is  that  Pythagoras  visited 
India,  which  I  trust  I  shall  make  self-evident."" 

Schlegel  says  :  "The  doctrine  of  the  transmigration 
of  souls  was  indigenous  to  India  and  was  brought 
into  Greece  by  Pythagoras." 

Mr.  Princep  says  :  "  The  fact,  however,  that  he 
(Pythagoras)  derived  his  doctrines  from  an  Indian 
source  is  very  generally  admitted,  C nder  the  name  of 
Mythraic,  the  faith  of   Buddha  had  also  a  wide  exten- 

1  History  of  Pliilosophy,  by  Dr.  Enfield,  Vol.  I,  p.  G5.  "Some 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Greeks  concerning  nature  are  said  to  have  been 
derived  from  (he  Indians." — p.  70. 

-Theogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  77. 

''Pocoeke's  India  in  (Jreeee,  p.  353. 

'^ History  of  Literature,  p.  109. 


I'liiLosonrY.  281 

tion."^  Sir  M.  ]\Ioiiier  Williams  says  that  Pythagoras 
and  Plato  both  believed  in  this  doctrine,  and  that  they 
were  indebted  for  it  to  Hindu  writers.^ 

Pyrrhon,  according  to  Alexander  Polyhister,  went 
with  Alexander  the  Great  to  India,  and  hence  the  scep- 
ticism of  Pyrrhon  is  connected  with  the  Buddhist  phi- 
losophy of  India. ^  Even  Ward  says  :  "  The  author  is 
persuaded  he  (the  reader)  will  not  consider  the  conjec- 
ture improbable  that  Pythagoras  and  others  did  really 
visit  India  and  that  Gautama  and  Pythagoras  were  con- 
temporaries."^ 

Professor  H.  H.  Wilson  says  :  "  We  know  that 
there  was  an  active  communication  between  India  and 
the  Red  Sea  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Christian  era,  and  that 
doctrines  as  well  as  articles  of  merchandise  were  brouo-ht 
to  Alexandria  from  the  former.  Epipharius  and  Eu- 
sebius  accuse  Scythianus  of  having  imported  from  India 
in  the  second  century,  books  on  magic  and  heretical 
notions  leading  to  Manicha^ism  ;  and  it  was  at  the  same 
period  that  Ammonius  Saccas  instituted  the  sect  of  the 
New  Platonists  at  Alexandria.  The  basis  of  the  heresy 
was  that  true  philosophy  derived  its  origin  from  the 
Eastern  nations."' 

1  India  in  Greece,  p.  3G1.     Pythagoras,  according  to  Mr.  Pococke, 
was  a  Buddhist  Missionary,     He  was 

Sanskrit^  Bud'ha-Guriis,  | 

Greek,       Putha-Goras,     v  Bud'has  Spiritual  Teacher. 
English,    Pytha-Goras,     J 
^Indian  "Wisdom,  p.  68. 
"^Max  Muller's  Science  of  Langiiago,  p.  80. 

■^Ward's    Mythology    of    tiie     Hindus,     p.    xxiii    (Entroduction). 
"  According  to  Greek  tradition,  Thales,  Empedocles,  Anaxagoras,  Demo- 
.critus  and  others  undertook  journeys   to  Oriental  countries  in  order  to 
study  philosophy." — Huston/  of  Hindu  Chemictn/,  Vol.  I,  p.  2. 
•'Wilson's  Vishnu  Purana,  Preface,  p.  xiv. 


282  HINDU    SUrERIORlTY. 

Mr.  Davies  says :  "  Scythianus  was  a  contemporary 
of  the  Apostles,  and  was  engaged  as  a  merchant  in  the 
Indian  trade.  In  the  course  o£  his  traffic  he  often  visit- 
ed India  and  made  himself  acquainted  with  Hindu  phi- 
losophy. According  to  Epiphanius  and  Cyril,  he  wrote 
a  book  in  four  parts,  which  they  affirm  to  be  the  source 
from  which  the  Manich^an  doctrines  were  derived."^ 

It  is  thus  clear  that  the  Hindu  philosophy  is  the 
fountain  head  of  the  Greek  philosophy  with  regard  to 
some  of  its  cardinal  points.  True  philosophy  in  fact 
originated  with  the  Hindus.  Man  first  distinguished  the 
Eternal  from  the  perishable,  and  next  he  perceived  within 
himself  the  germ  of  the  Eternal.  "  This  discovery," 
says  Professor  Max  Muller,  "  was  an  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  human  mind,  and  the  name  of  the  discoverer  has 
not  been  forgotten.  It  was  Sandilya  who  declared  that 
the  self  within  the  heart  was  Brahma."^ 

Excludins:  the  extensive  atheistic  and  ao;nostic 
systems  of  philosophy  propounded  by  Charvakj^a  and 
others,  and  those  by  the  Jain  and  Buddhistic  philoso- 
phers, the  principal  Hindu  schools  of  philosophy  are 
known  as  the  Darsanas.  But  much  of  the  philosophical 
literature  of  the  Hindus  is  lost.  Professor  Goldstiicker, 
too,  thinks  that  "probably  besides  the  Upanishads,  there 
were  philosophical  works  which  were  more  original  than 
those  now  preserved,  and  which  served  as  the  common 
source  of  the  works  which  have  come  down  to  us  as  the 
six  Darsanasy 

The  Darsanas  are  :  Nyaya  and  Yeisheshika  ; 
Sankhya  and  Yoga  ;  and  Purva  and  Uttara  Mimansas. 

1  Davies'  Bhagvvat  Gita,  p.  lOB. 
-Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  1*0. 


iMiiLosoriiY.  :283 


o 


Nyaya. 

The  Nyaya  S3'stem  was  founded  by  Gautama,  who 
says  that  the  way  to  salvation  is  the  true  knoAvled^e  of! 
^^T^,  substance  or  being,  which  he  classifies  as  under : — 


(1) 

Prainana. 

(10) 

Bad.i 

(2) 

Piamolia. 

(11) 

Jalp.'i 

(3) 

Saushaya. 

(12) 

Bitanda.3 

(4) 

Pray  0]  ana. 

(13) 

Haitwabliasya  (paralle- 

(;')) 

Drislitant, 

logism.) 

(6) 

Siddhant  (principle). 

(U) 

Chhal. 

(7J 

Avayav  (portion,) 

(15) 

Jati. 

(8) 

Taraic  logic). 

(IG) 

NigTalistan   (wlion  onf^ 

(9) 

Nirnaya, 

is  pusliod  toan  utteily 
nntonablo  position.) 

The  author  then  discusses  (1)  the  nature  of  the 
argument  and  the  proof,  and  their  different  kinds  (^^T 
^T  mTTJn),  (2)  the  nature  of  the  soul  as  apart  from 
senses,  body  and  the  mind.  The  relation  of  the  soul 
with  the  body  is  through  the  medium  of  the  mind  or 
man.  The  soul  and  the  body  cannot  affect  each  other 
directly  but  only  through  the  medium  of  the  mind.  He 
then  proceeds  to  prove  the  transmigration  of  souls,  the  om- 
nipresence and  omniscience  of  God,  and  declares  that 
He  is  separate  from  the  souls  who  are  countless  in  num- 
ber. The  author  believes  the  Yedas  to  be  the  Revelation, 
and  advises  all  mankind  to  follow  their  teachin2;s.  The 
material  cause  of  the  universe,  he  declares,  is  Pramanu 

"^Bad  =  a  discussion  with  a  sincere  desire  to  get  at  the  truth. 
2jalp  =  a  discussion  to  refute  the  opponent. 

'■^Bitanda  =  when  one  obstinately  clings  to  his   own   doctrine  and 
does  not  listen  to  the  other  side- 


284  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

(atoms).  The  Pramanu  are  eternal.  The  author  then 
proceeds  to  refute  Atheism,  and  ends  by  giving  reasons 
for  a  belief  in  God,  An  English  critic  says :  "  The 
great  prominence  given  to  the  method  by  means  of  which 
truth  mio-ht  be  ascertained  has  sometimes  misled  Euro- 
pean  writers  into  the  belief  that  it  is  merely  a  system 
of  logic.  Far  from  being  restricted  to  mere  logic,  the 
Nyaya  was  intended  to  be  a  complete  system  of  philo- 
sophical investigation,  and  dealt  with  some  questions — 
such  as  the  nature  of  the  intellect,  articulated  sound, 
genus,  variety,  and  individuality — in  a  manner  so  masterly 
as  well  to  deserve  the  notice  of  European  philosophers." i 
Mrs.  Manning,  after  giving  a  brief  outline  of  the  Naiya- 
yic  syllogistic  pi-oof,  says:  "Even  the  bare  outline  here 
given  shows  Gautama's  mental  powers  and  practical 
mode  of  dealing  with  the  deepest  questions  which  affect 
the  human  mind."" 

European  logic  employs  phraseology  founded  upon 
classification,  while  the  Nyaya  system  makes  use  of 
terms  upon  which  a  classification  would  be  founded. 
The  one  infers  that  "kings  are  mortal  because  they 
belong  to  the  class  of  mortal  beings."  The  other  arrives 
at  the  same  conclusion,  because  mortality  is  inherent 
in  humanity,  and  humanity  is  inherent  in  kings.  The 
proposition  given  above  would,  as  we  have  seen,  be  stated 
by  a  European  logician  as,  "All  men  are  mortal  ;"  by  a 
Hindu  as,  "  Where  there  is  humanity  there  is  mortality." 


1  Chamber's  Encyclopaedia,  "Nyaya." 

^Ancient  and  Medi;cval  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  173.  Mrs.  Manning  says: 
"His  clearness  of  aim  and  his  distinct  perception  of  right  means  towards 
its  attainment  continue  to  be  the  invaluable  guide  of  successive 
generations." 


rniLosoriiY.  285 

The  reasoning  is  the  same,  but  the  Hindu  method  appears 
to  be  simpler/ 

The  German  critic,  Sclileiii;el,  says:  "Tlie  Nyaya 
doctrine  attributed  to  Gautama,  from  all  that  we  can  learn, 
was  an  idealism  constructed  with  a  purity  and  lo^^ical 
consistency  of  which  there  are  few  other  instances  and  to 
which  the  Greeks  never  attained."^ 

As  regards  the  logical  system  of   the   Hindus,  Max 

Dunker  says:  "  The  logical  researches  of  the  Hindus  are 

scarcely   behind  the  similar    works  of  modern  times. "^ 

Mr.   Elphinstone  says:    "An  infinity  of  volumes    have 

■[i^  .^ .  J^een  produced  by  the  Brahmins  on  the  subject  (Logic).""* 


Veisheshik. 


The  Veisheshik  is  said  to  have  been  written  not  to 
oppose  but  to  complete  the  Nyaya  system :  with  slight 
modifications  it  is  only  a  fuller  development  of  the 
Nyaya.  In  Sanskrit,  these  two  schools  of  philosophy  are 
comprised  under  one  head,  "  Manan  IShastra."     Kanada, 

^The  European  is  assisted  by  the  abstract  idea  of  Class;  the  Hindu 
makes  use  of  what  in  Sanskrit  is  termed  Vyapti.  "  It  is  difficuU," 
remarks  Dr.  Roer,  "  to  find  an  adequate  word  in  Engh'sh  for  this  term." 
For  further  information  see  Translation  of  Bhasliapariohheda,  pp.  31 
and  32,  note. 

sSchlcgel's  History  of  Literature,  p.  126. 

^History  of  Antiquity,  p.  310. 

^Elphinstone's  India,  p.  122.  Mrs.  Manning  says:  "  To  the  abih'ty 
of  the  author  may  be  attributed  the  yet  continued  popularity  of  the  work 
Nyaya)." 


2S6  niNDU    SUPERIOR  [TY. 

the  founder   of   Veisheshik,   reduces  the  contents  of  the 
universe  under  six  categories  only.     They  are: — 

1.  Drabya  (substance). 

2.  Gnna  (quality), 

?>.  Karma  (action  or  motion). 

4.  Suiuanya  (generality  or  class). 

5.  Vishesha  (atomic  individuality  or  difference). 
G.  Samvaya  (intimate  relation). 

7.     Abhav  (non-existence)  was  added  afterwards. 

Kanada's  work  is  divided  into  ten  books,  of  which 
the  first  book,  after  reducing  the  sixteen  xt^t^  of  the 
Nyaya  to  six  only,  as  given  above,  discusses  the  nature 
of  Ahhar  or  non-existence.  The  second  book  discusses 
the  nature  of  Drahya.  In  the  third  are  discussed  Atma 
and  Antahkaran  and  their  relation  to  each  other.  The 
Atma  and  AntaliJcaran  correspond  with  the  Jeeva  and 
Man  (^t)  of  the  Nj-aya.  The  fourth  book  discusses  the 
nature  of  the  human  body  and  the  external  nature  as 
affecting  it,  while  the  Vedic  dharma  is  upheld  in  the  sixth 
book.  The  seventh  book  discusses  Guna  and  ISambaya^ 
their  natures,  kinds  and  effects.  The  eighth  book  shows 
the  way  to  what  the  Hindus  call  Gyana,  or  true  knowledge 
of  the  mysteries  of  existence,  non-existence  and  other 
metaphysical  topics.  The  intellect  and  the  Vishesha  are 
discussed  in  the  ninth  book.  The  tenth  book  contains  a 
detailed  discussion  on  Atma  and  its  gimas,  etc. 

The  points  of  difference  between  the  Nyaya  and  the 
Veisheshik  are  onl}^  two.  (1)  The  Nyaya  distributes  the 
contents  of  the  universe  into  sixteen  categories,  while  the 
Veisheshik  does  so  into  seven  only.  (2)  The  Nyaya  accepts 
four  kinds  of  Pramana  or  arguments.  The  Veisheshik 
accepts  only  two — Pratyakhsha  and  Anuman — and  rejects 
the  remaining  two,  Jpman  and  Shabda. 


PIIILOSOl'HY.  2S7 

111  the  iiiterestiiiii'  introduction  which  Dr.  liDcr 
appeiuls  to  the  translation  of  Bhashapai'ichheda  he 
compares  Kanada's  doctrine  of  atoms  to  that  of  Democri- 
tus,  the  Greek  philosopher,  and  pronounces  the  former  to 
be  vastly  superior. 

"  A'^eisheshik,"  says  Mrs.  Mannin<j^,'  "leans  towards 
physical  science  rather  than  metaphysical."  The  theory 
of  sound  ])ropounded  by  the  Hindus  seems  to  be  in  accor- 
dance with  the  latest  European  advancement  in  science. 
After  distinguishing  between  the  articulate  and  the  inarti- 
culate sounds,  Vishvanath,  the  author  of  Bhashaparichhe- 
da,  says:  "  Some  say  its  (sound)  production  takes  place 
like  a  succession  of  waves  ;  according  to  others,  like 
the  bud  of  Kadamba  plant"  (verses  165,  166).  The 
Tarak  Scuiifrali,  another  work  of  this  school,  says:  "It 
is  ether  in  which  there  resides  the  quality  of  sound.  It 
is  one,  all-pervading  and  eternal."^ 

The  author  of  the  History  of  Hindu  Chemistry 
says :  "  His  theory  of  the  propagation  of  sound  cannot 
fail  to  excite  our  wonder  and  admiration  even  at  this 
distant  date.  No  less  remarkable  is  his  statement  that 
light  and  heat  are  only  different  forms  of  the  same 
essential  substance.     But  Kanada  is  anticipated  in  many 

material  points  by  Kapila,  the  reputed  originator  of  the 
Sankhya  philosophy."-' 

According  to  the  Yeisheshik,  as  also  according  to 
Nyaya,  there  are  five  members  of  the  syllogism  instead 
of  three  as  in  the  English  syllogism. 

They  are — (1)  Proposition,  (2) Reason,  (o)  Example, 
(4)   Application,  (5)  Conclusion. 

^  Ancieut  and  Mediieval  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  181. 
2  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  I,  p,  189. 
•^History  uf  Hindu  Cheujibtry,  Vol,  I,  p.  1, 


288  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 

For  iustauce, — (1)  The  mountain  is  fiery. 

(2)  Because  it  smokes. 

(3)  Whatever  smokes  is  fiery,  as  a  culinary  hearth. 

(4)  This  does  smoke. 

(5)  Therefore  it  is  fiery  as  aforesaid. 

A  charge  of  deficiency,  "inacctiracy  of  definition," 
has  been  brought  against  the  five-menibered  syllogism. 
Dr.  Ballantyne  thus  meets  the  accusation  :  "The  five- 
membered  expression,  so  far  as  the  arrangement  of  its 
parts  is  concerned,  is  a  summary  of  the  NaiyayiFs  views 
in  resfard  to  rhetoric,  'an  offshoot  from  logic' 
(see  Whateley's  Rhetoric,  p.  6.),  and  one  to  which, 
after  'the  ascertainment  of  the  truth  by  investigation, 
belongs  the  establishment  of  it  to  the  satisfaction  of 
another."'  To  this  Mrs.  Manning  adds  the  following  : 
"  In  fact,  Gautama  appears  to  have  expressed  bare  logic 
in  two-membered  argument,  and  to  have  added  two  other 
members  when  he  sought  to  convince  rhetorically.  After 
the  declaration  and  the  reason,  he  inserts  an  '  example  ' 
confirmatory  and  also  suggestive,  and  an  '  application,' 
that  is,  he  shows  in  the  fourth  member  of  his  syllogism 
that  his  example  possesses  the  required  character  ;  and 
then  he  Avinds  up  with  the  conclusion  or  Q.  E.  D,, 
which  is  common  to  all  syllogisms." 

Evidently  the  difference  betweeen  the  Hindu  and  the 
Greek  syllogism  (for  the  Europeans  have  no  syllogism 
of   their   own)'-^  is   due   to  the   difference  of  aim  of  the 

*  BaHantyne  on  the  Nyaya  system. —  Tlie  Fandit,  Vol,  I,  p.  8'J. 
-"  There  are  only  two  nations  in  the  whole  history  of  the  world  who  have 
conceived  independently,  and  without  any  suggestion  from  others,  the 
two  sciences  of  Logic  and  Grammar,  the  Hindus  and  the  Greeks."  — 
Max  Muller's  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  158.  Considering  that 
the  Greek  philosophers  derived  tlieir  philosophy  from  India,  there  may 
be  a  doubt  regarding  the  Greek  originality. 


T'niLosorirv.  289 

reiisoninp^  of  the  two  nations.  The  Greek  wanted  to  prove 
his  contention,  but  the  Hindu,  beinn-  more  practical  and 
thorough,  wanted  to  convince  his  adversary. 


Sankttya. 

This  remarkable  system  of  philosophy  was  founded 
by  Kapila,  and  is  the  oldest  in  the  world.  It  teaches  that 
there  are  twenty-four  elements,  and  that  the  twenty- 
fifth,  if  it  can  be  so-called,  is  the  Furusha  or  Atma 
(soul).  The  primary  cause  of  the  world  is  Prakriti,  one 
of  the  twenty-four.  Of  itself,  Prakriti  is  non-active, 
is,  in  fact,  neither  produced  nor  productive,  but  it  be- 
comes active  by  coming  in  contact  with  the  Purusha. 

The  author  holds  that  there  are  innumerable  souls 
in  the  world,  which  fact  constitutes  one  of  its  chief  dif- 
ferences from  the  Vedanta.  Sankhya  says  nothing  of 
God,  and  on  this  account,  some  regard  it  as  a  system  of 
scientific  atheism  :  but  that  the  system  is  theistic  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  such  a  decided  theist  as  Patanjali 
vindicates  its  character,  and  indeed  supplements  it  by  his 
own  system,  Yoga.  Sankhya  differs  from  Nyaya  chiefly 
on  the  following  two  points  :  ( I )  According  to  Nyaya, 
Purusha  is  the  agent,  and  he  again  is  the  legitimate  party 
to  enjoy  the  result  of  action  (Karma)  :  Sankhya,  on  the 
other  hand,  teaches  that  in  its  own  nature  Purusha  has 
neither  happiness  nor  misery.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Karma  and  its  results,  but  by  coming  into  contact  with 
PraJcritl  it  takes  upon  itself  the  good  or  the  bad  results 
of  Karma.  This  is  our  ignorance.  Knowledge  would  make 


290  HINDU    SUPKRIORITY. 

US  shun  good  or  bad  results.  We  will  then  be  happy. 
The  second  point  is  this  :  Sankhya  teaches  that  there 
cannot  be  anything  which  has  not  existed  before.  AVe 
cannot  make  a  body  round  unless  roundness  already 
exists  in  it.  It  may  not  be  seen,  but  still  there  it  is. 
Nyaj^a  holds  the  opposite  theory. 

"  Sankhya  doctrine,"  says  Mrs.  Manning,  "is  a  very 
great  effort  at  enravelling  the  deep  mysteries  of  our 
existence.  On  the  one  side  it  exhibits  the  worthless- 
ness  of  the  perishable  universe,  including  man  with  all 
liis  powers  and  qualities.  On  the  other  side  it  places 
the  imperishable  soul.  The  perishable  portion  of  this 
division  is  fully  and  firmly  dealt  with,  and  has  excited 
the  admiration  and  interest  of  such  men  as  AVilson, 
Ballantyne  and  others.  But  concerning  the  soul  or  the 
imperishable  portion  of  his  subject,  one  feels  that  the 
author  is  reserved,  or  that  he  has  more  thoughts  than  he 
chooses  to  express."^ 

The  word  Sankhya  (sajn  =  together  and  -l-hi/a  = 
reasoning)  indicates  that  the  system  is  based  on  syn- 
thetic reasoning. 

Sir  W.  Hunter  says  :  "  The  various  theories  of 
creation,  arrangement  and  development  were  each  elabo- 
rated, and  the  views  of  the  modern  physiologists  at  the 
present  day  are  a  return  with  new  light  to  the  evolution 
theory  of  Kapiloj  whose  Sankhya  system  is  the  oldest  of 
the  Darsanas."- 


lManiii?ig's  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  153. 
^Indiiiu  Uazettoer,  "India,"  p.  '214. 


PHILOSOrUY. 


21)1 


Yoga, 


Without  :i  knowledge  ot:  Yixja^^  one  cannot  reach 
the  real  dei)ths  o£  human  nature,  and  can  never  fatlioni 
the  hidden  mysteries  and  the  realities  of  the  heart,  and 
know  the  nature  o£  the  soul  and  of  God.  True  metaphysics 
is  impossible  without  Yoija^  and  so  is  mental  philosophy. 
Patanjali  divides  his  work  into  four  chapters.  The  first 
chapter,  after  discussing  the  nature  of  the  soul  and  of 
Yo^/a,  enumerates  eight  means  or  stages  in  the  process  by 
which  Yoga  can  be  accomplished.  They  are  as  under : — 


fl. 


y  Universal 
duty. 


Yoga.  ■( 


•*, 


a. 
G. 

n 
I  . 
I 

18. 
After 


Yama  (forbearance). 

(1)  Not  doing  injury  to  living  beings. 

(2)  Veracity, 
(;:>)  Avoidance  of  theft. 

(4)  Chastity. 

(5)  Non-acceptance  of  gifts. 
Niyama  (Religious  observance). 

(1)  External  and  internal  purity. 

(2)  Cheerfulness  or  contentment, 

(3)  Austerity. 

(4)  Chanting  Vedic  hymns. 

(">)  Devoted  reliance  on  the  Lord. 
Asana  (Postures). 

There  are  lUO  different  postures  of  the  body. 
Pranayama  (Regulation  of  the  breath). 

(1)  Inhalation. 

(2)  Exhalation. 

(8)   Suspension  f  Kliiimbhalri). 
Pratyahara  (Restraint  of  tlie  senses^. 
r>harna  (Steadying  of  the  mind), 
Dhyana  (Contemplation). 
Samadhi  (Transportation  of  mind  or  uncon?cionsncss^. 


sivino;    the    above-mentioned    sub-divisions 


^  "  Al-L>aruni  translated  Sankliya  and  Yoga  into  Arabic  in  the  reign 
of  Khalifa  Al-Mammum." — Max  Mullcr's  /Scitncc  af  LaiujiuKje,  ]),  105. 


292  HINDU  SUPERIOEITY. 

the  author  describes  the  nature  of  Samadhi  and  its  two 
divisions.  The  second  chapter  describes  in  details  the  ways 
and  means  to  perform  Samadhi.  The  third  chapter 
describes  the  powers  developed  in  a  Yogi,  when  he  has 
reached  the  last  stage  of  Yoga.  Samadhi  on  different 
objects  imparts  different  powers  to  the  Yogi.  Samadhi 
on  the  Moon  gives  one  particular  power,  on  the  Jupiter 
another,  and  soon.  The  fourth  chapter  treats  of  Mokhsha. 
Patanjali  declares  that  when  a  man  becomes  an  adept  at 
Samadhi,  he  gains  a  knowledge  of  the  past  and  the  future, 
a  knowledo-e  of  the  sounds  of  animals,  of  the  thouo-hts  of 
others,  of  the  time  of  his  own  death,  etc. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  all  this  but 
for  the  unimpeachable  testimony  of  European  scholars 
and  officers.  In  an  instance  recorded  by  Pro.  Wilson^ 
a  Brahmin  appeared  to  sit  in  the  air  wholly  unsupported 
and  to  remain  so  sittins;  on  one  occasion  for  twelve  minu- 
tes  and  on  another  for  forty  minutes. 

Colonel  Olcott  records  an  account  of  a  yoc/i  described 
to  him  by  Dr.  Kajendralal  Mittra  :  "  It  is  not  known 
when  this  yogi  went  into  Samadhi,  but  his  body  was  found 
about  45  years  ago  quite  lifeless.  All  manner  of  tortures 
were  used  to  bring  him  back  to  consciousness,  but  all  to 
no  purpose.  He  was  then  touched  by  the  hand  of  a 
female  and  he  instantly  came  back  to  his  senses. "- 

Dr.  McGregor  says  in  his  History  of  the  Sikhs: 
"  A  novel  scene  occurred  at  one  of  these  garden  houses 

^Essays  on  the  Religion  of  the  Hindus,    Vol.    I,  p.    209.    See  the 

description  of  the  ijogis  given  by    Ouisicritus,  a    follower  of    xilexander. 

Also  the  account  of  Calanus. 

•■iCoI.  Olcott'ij  k'ctuio  on   "  Theosophy,  the    scientific  basis  of    reli- 
gion," p.  18. 


PHILOSOPHY.  293 

in  1837.    A  faleer  who  arrived  at   Lahore  engaged  to 
bury  himself  for  any  length  of  time  shut  up  in  a  box, 
without  either  food  or  drink  !    Runjeet  disbelieved   his 
assertions,  and    determined  to  put  them   to  proof ;    for 
this  purpose  the  man   v;as  shut  up  in  a  wooden  box, 
which  was  placed  in  a  small  apartment  below  the  level 
of  the   "round.     There  was  a  foldini^  door  to  the  box 
which  was  secured  by  a  lock  and  key.    Surrounding  this 
apartment    there   was  the  garden    house,  the    door    of 
which    was    likewise    locked  :     and   outside    of   this    a 
high  wall   having  the  door   built   up  with     bricks  and 
mud.     Outside  the  whole    there  was  placed  a  line  of 
sentries,    so    that    no    one    could    approach    the   build- 
ing.    The  strictest   watch   was   kept  for   the   space  of 
forty  days  and  forty   nights,  at  the  expiration  of  whicli 
period  the    Maharaja,  attended    by   his   grandson   and    .     _^ 
several  of  his  Sirdars,  as  well  as  General  Ventum,  Cap- 
tain   Wade,    and    myself,    proceeded     to    disinter     the 
fakeer."     After  describing  the  condition  of  the  fakeer 
after  disinterment,  in  a  few  words,   the  author  says : 
"  When  the  fakeer  was  able  to  converse,  the  completion 
of  the  feat  was  announced  by  the  discharge  of  guns  and 
other  demonstrations  of  joy  ;   while  a  rich  chain   of  gold 
was  placed  round  his  neck  by  Runjeet  himself. 
■        "Another  gentleman  of  unimpeachable  veracity  de- 
scribes the  wonderful  feat  of  a   Lama  who  became  his 
guest  in  September  1887  at  Darjeeling.  After  describing 
his  postures,  etc.,  the  eye-witness  proceeds  :   'Suddenly 
he,  still  retaining  his  sitting  posture,  rose  perpendicularly 
into  air  to  the  height  of,  I  should  say,  two  cubits  (one 
yard),  and  then  floated  without  a  tremor  or  motion  of  a 
single  muscle,  like  a  cork  in  still  water.'     The  above  are 


294  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

two  out  of  numberless  similar  cases.  In  India  not  only 
these  things  but  feats  of  a  far  more  extraordinary  nature 
are  so  common  that  they  fail  to  evoke  surprise  at  all."i 

Fryer  was  quite  astonished  to  see  yogis  "svho  fixed 
their  eyes  towards  the  sun  without  losing  their  sight. 

The  Yoga  philosophy  is  peculiar  to  the  Hindus,  and 
no  trace  of  it  is  found  in  any  other  nation,  ancient  or 
modern.  It  was  the  fruit  of  the  hio;hest  intellectual  and 
spiritual  development.  The  existence  of  this  system  is 
another  proof  of  the  intellectual  superiority  of  the  an- 
cient Hindus  over  all  other  peoples. 


MiMANSA. 

Mimansa  is  the  collective  name  of  two  of  the  six 
divisions  of  Hindu  Philosophy.  They  are  the  Purva 
and  the  Uttara  Mimansa.  The  terms  Litara  and  Purva, 
meaning  latter  and  former,  do  not  apply  to  the  relative 
ages  of  the  Mimansas  but  to  the  sacred  books  which  are 
indicated  by  them.  Purva  Mimansa  treats  of  the  Hindu 
ritual  and  Karmaka?id  an  promulo-ated  in  the  Bralimanas. 
whilst  the  Uttara  Mimansa  treats  of  the  nature  of  God 
and  of  the  soul  as  taught  in  the  Upanishads.  And  the 
two  Mimansas  are  so-called  because  the  Upanishads  were 
composed  later  than  the  Bralimanas. 

The  Purva  Mimansa  gives  in  full  detail  the  Karma 
we  have  to  perform.  The  Yagyas,  Aynihotras,  gifts,  etc. 
are  all  treated  elaborately  and  minutely.  The  author, 
the  venerable  Jaimini,  after  discussing  the  nature  of  the 
dharma   and   adharma,   says  that   dharma    consists    in 

^See  also  "The  Court  and  Camp  of  Raiijit  Singh." 


riiiLOsoi'iiY.  20.5 

followinn;    the    teachinu's    of    the    Vedas.    Dharma  is 
essentially  necessary  to  gain  liappiness. 

The  Uttara  Mimansa  is  the  work  of  the  celebrated 
Vyasa,  and  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  six 
Darsanas.  The  school  of  philosophy  of  which  the  Uttara 
.Mimansa  is  the  best  exposition  is  called  Ycdanta.  The 
word  A^'edanta  means  "the  end  or  the  nltimateaimof  the 
A^edas,"  and  the  Vedanta  system  discusses  the  nature  of 
the  Brahma  and  the  soul.  The  Uttara  Mimansa  is  one  of 
the  grandest  feats  of  the  grand  Hindu  genius.  The 
Brahmsutra  of  Vyasa  begins  with  a  refutation  of 
atheism  and  a  vindication  of  theism.  It  then  lays  down 
that  the  only  way  to  salvation  or  mtdtl  is  atmcu/yana, 
or  a  true  knowled2:e  of  the  soul. 

Professor  Max  Muller  says:  "  Much  that  was  most 
dear,  that  had  seemed  for  a  time  their  very  self,  had  to 
be  surrendered  before  they  could  find  the  self  of  selves, 
the  old  man,  the  looker-on,  a  subject  independent  of  all 
personality,  and  existence  independent  of  all  life.  When 
that  point  had  been  reached  then  the  highest  knowledge 
began  to  draw,  the  self  within  (the  Pratyagatman)  was 
drawn  towards  the  highest  self  (the  Paramatman),  it 
found  its  true  self  in  the  highest  self,  and  the  oneness 
of  the  subjective  with  the  objective  self  was  recognised 
as  underlying  all  reality,  as  the  dim  dream  of  religion — 
as  the  pure  light  of  philosophy." 

"  This  fundamental  idea  is  worked  out  with  systematic 
completeness  in  the  Vedanta  philosophy,  and  no  one 
who  can  appreciate  the  lessons  contained  in  Berkeley's 
Philosophy  will  read  the  Upanishads  and  the  Brahma 
Sutras  without  feeling  a  richer  and  a  wiser  man."' 
^  India  :  What  can  it  teach  us  ?  p.  203. 


296  HINDU  surEiaop.iTY. 

There  is  difference  of  opinion  as  regards  the  Vedantic 
A'iew  of  the  nature  of  the  soul  and  of  God.  Ramanuja 
Swami  held  that  the  relation  between  God  and  soul  was 
that  of  a  master  and  servant — that  they  were  separate  enti- 
ties, and  that  there  were  innumerable  souls.  The  great 
Shankeracharya  believed  that  the  Yedanta  taught  that 
there  was  only  one  Brahma  and  all  else  Avas  mdya 
or  illusion. 

Swami  Dayanand  Saraswati,  however,  has  again 
reverted  to  the  view  originally  held  of  Yedanta,  and  said 
that  the  Brahma  Sutras  or  the  real  Yedanta  Sutra  never 
taught  the  unity  of  God  and  soul.  Popular  belief,  how- 
ever, is  swayed  by  the  views  of  Shanker  Swami,  and  the 
system  is  held  to  be  an  all-absorbing  Pantheism.  An}^- 
way,  it  is  the  most  sublime  system  of  philosophy  ever 
propounded  by  man. 

Of  Sankara's  commentary  upon  the  Yedanta,  Sir  W. 
Jones  says  that  "it  is  not  possible  to  speak  with  too  much 
applause  of  so  excellent  a  work ;  and  I  am  confident  in 
asserting  that,  until  an  accurate  translation  of  it  shall  ap- 
pear in  some  European  language,  the  general  history  of 
philosophy  must  remain  incomplete. 

Sir  W.  Jones  says  of  Yediinta  :  "  The  fundamental 
tenet  of  the  Yedantic  school  consisted  not  in  denying  the 
existence  of  matter,  that  is,  of  solidity,  impenetrability, 
and  extended  figure  (to  deny  which  would  be  lunacy), 
but  in  correcting  the  popular  notion  of  it,  and  in  con- 
tending that  it  has  no  essence  independent  of  mental 
perception,  that  existence  and  perceptibility  are  con- 
vertible terms,  that  external  appearances  and  sensations 
are  illusorv  and  would  vanish  into  nothing  if  the  divine 


TiiiLosoi'iiv.  297 

eiiei'i^y,  which  iiloiie  sustains  them,  were  siiSipended  but 
for  11  moment :  an  opinion  which  Epicharmus  and  Plato 
seem  to  have  adopted,  and  whi(.'h  has  been  maintained 
in  the  present  century  with  great  elegance,  but  with 
little  applause,  partly  because  it  has  been  misunderstood, 
and  partly  because  it  has  been  misapplied  by  the  false 
reasoning  of  some  popular  writers,  who  are  said  to  have 
disbelieved  in  the  moral  attributes  of  God,  whose  omni- 
presence, wisdom  and  goodness  are  the  basis  of  the 
Indian  philosophy."  He  adds  :  "  The  system  is  built  on 
the  purest  devotion."  ^  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  an 
English  philosopher,  "  calls  the  theory  (propounded  by 
Vedruita)  refined,  abstruse,  ingenious  and  beautiful." 

The  Mimansa  method  of  Purva  Palsha  (reason 
contra),  Lttara  Pcdsha  (reason  pro),  and  Siddhnnf  (con- 
clusion) of  the  Shastras  excite  Professor  Max  MuUer's 
admiration,  who  says  :  "  It  is  indeed  one  of  the  most 
curious  kind>^  of  literary  composition  that  the  liiiman 
mind  ever  conceived.     It  is  wonderful  that  the  Indians 

iSir  W.  .lones'  Works,  Vol.  T,  p.  165.   "Wo  might  be  iiblc,"  says 
Count  Bjonistjoina,  "  to  resign  ourselves  witli  iiaticiit  subuiissior,  iodic 
comfortless  doctrine  of  Pantheism,   if  it  only  concerned  (jurselves,  hut 
together  with  the  hope  of  our  own  continued  existence,  to  lose  at  the 
same  time  that  of  seeing  again  those  whom  we  have  most  loved   upon 
earth,    to   break    them   for  ever  is  a  reflection   tliat  bruises  the  heart. 
What  I   shall  we  first  be  bereaved  of  these  beloved  ones,  retain   nothing 
of  them  but  memory's  faint  shadow,  and  tlien  when  we  are  called  to 
follow  them,  shall  even  this  shadow  tiy  away  from  us  ?     No  :   such  can 
never  be  the  intention  of  the  all-linmitifiij  Creator  :  He  lia^  imt  dejiosit- 
ed  in  our  hearts  the  tender  feelings  of  love  and  of  fiieiid>liip  in  order 
at  life's  goal  to  rend  asunder  for  ever  tiie  band  thai   lia-  been  tied  by 
lliemi    Tliey  are  of  a  spiritual  nature,  they  follow  the  •spirit   l)eyond  the 
I'oundary  of   life,  where  we  sliall  find  again  IIiom'  wli<nii  we  have  loved." — 
Thcogvii>j  of  the  Hindus,  p,  7'J.   What  a  misundoisliinding  of  ranthekm  I 


298  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

slioiild  have  invented  and  mastered  this  difficult  form  so  as 
to  have  made  it  tlie  vehicle  of  ex.pression  for  every  kind 
of  learning." • 

The  six  Darsanas  are  rarely  read  and  understood  by 
Europeans,  owing  partly  to  the  extreme  difficulty  of  the 
language  and  a  peculiar  and  difficult  philosophic  technicpie 
difficult  to  acquire,  and  partly  to  the  want  on  their  part 
of  that  mental  equipment  which  is  the  result  of  the  highest 
intellectual  training  and  great  spiritual  development. 

As  is  well  known,  the  Upanishads  are  the  fountain 
head  of  all  Hindu  philosophy.  They  are  said  to  be  52 
in  number.  The  Upanishads  are  disquisitions  on  philo- 
s(3phical  subjects,  and  breathe  an  air  of  sublimity  and 
spirituality  which  is  nowhere  else  to  be  found.  The 
profound  philosophy  they  teach,  the  deep  wisdom  they 
contain,  the  infallible  truths  they  establish,  and  the  true 
})rinciples  they  set  forth  are  the  standing  marvels  of 
Indian  intellect  and  moniunents  of  human  genius. 

In  his  Philosophy  of  the  Upanishads,  recently 
translated  by  Rev.  A.  S.  Geden,  M.A.,  Prof,  Deussen 
claims  for  its  fundamental  thouo^ht  "an  inestimable 
value  for  the  whole  race  of  mankind."  It  is  in  "mar- 
vellous agreement  with  the  philosophy  founded  by 
Kant,  and  adopted  and  perfected  by  his  great  successor, 
JSchopenhauer,"  differing  from  it,  where  it  does  differ, 
only  to  excel.  For,  whereas  the  philosophy  of  Scho- 
penhauer only  "  represents  Christianity  in  its  present 
form,"  we  must  have  recourse  to  the  Upanishads  "if  we 


'"In  this  metli(Hl,"  .says  Prof  !Max  .Muller,  "  the  coiiciiteiiatioti  of 
jirof  and  cons  is  often  so  coiniilirated  and  the  reason  on  h(jtli  sides  de- 
fended liy  the  same  author  with  such  seriousness  that  we  sometimes 
rf'iiiain  douliiiul  In  which  >idc  the  author  leans,  till  we  arrive  at  the  end 
of  the  whole  chaptei." 


PniLOSOT'TfY.  209 

arc  willing  to  put  tlie  finishing  touch  to  tlic  Cliristiaii 
consciousness,  and  to  make  it  on  all  sides  consistent  and 
complete."  "  Professor  Deussen,  it  is  true,  iskind  enough 
to  Christianity  to  bracket  the  New  Testament  and  the 
Upanishads  as  "the  two  noblest  pro(Uicts  of  the  religious 
consciousness  of  mankind,"  but  leaves  his  readers  in  no 
doubt  as  to  which  he  considers  the  nobler  of  the  two." 

The  great  German  philosopher,  Schopenhauer,  says  : 
*'0h!  how  thoroughly  is  the  mind  here  washed  clean 
of  all  early  engrafted  Jewish  superstitions  and  of  all 
philosophy  that  cringes  before  those  superstitions.  lu 
the  whole  world  there  is  no  study,  except  that  of  the 
originals,  so  beneficial  and  so  elevating  as  tliat  of  the 
Upanishads.  It  has  been  the  solace  of  my  life,  it  will  be 
the  solace  of  my  death.'''' 

Mr.  Elphinstone,  in  comparing  the  ancient  Greeks 
with  the  ancient  Hindus,  says  :  "  Their  (Hindus) 
general  learning  was  more  considerable  ;  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  being  and  nature  of  God,  they  were 
already  in  possession  of  a  light  which  was  but  faintly 
perceived  even  by  the  loftiest  intellects  in  the  best  days 
of  Athens."  1 


B  HAG  WAT    GiTA. 

Bhaffwat  Gita  has  for  centuries  moulded  the  thoua'hts 
and  the  conduct  of  a  large  section  of  the  Hindu  nation. 
BhagwatGita  is  essentially  a  work  on  the  Vedanta  philo- 
sophy, and  appears  to  have  been  composed  to  correct  a 
misconception  of  that  noble  system.  Owing  to  a  mis- 
understanding of  the  teachings  of  this  sublime  philoso- 


Elpliin^tone's  History  of  Iiuliii,  i>.  49, 


800  HINDU    SUPET^IORITY. 

ph}',  men  beo:an  to  neglect  their  duties  and  responsibi- 
lities, since  there  was  only  one  Brahma  and  all  else  was 
illusion.  This  alarmed  all  good  and  thoughtful  men,  and 
as  an  antidote  this  excellent  book,  BhcKjwat  Gita^  was 
written.  It  is  skilfully  introduced  as  an  episode  in  the 
Mahabharata,  but  it  is  clearly  out  of  place  there.  The 
battle-field  is  hardly  the  fittest  place  to  hold  protracted 
discussions  on  such  sublime  metaphysical  questions  as 
the  book  contains.  Whatever  may  be  the  raison  d'etre  of 
the  book,  it  has  not  only  fascinated  the  minds  of  Hindus 
but  has  charmed  Euroneans,  who  speak  in  rapturous 
terms  of  this  celebrated  poem. 

Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "Bhagwat  Gita  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  compositions  in  the  Sanskrit  language." 

Professor  Heeren  says :  "  The  poem  certainly 
abounds  in  sublime  passages,  which  remind  one  of  the 
Orphic  hymn  to  Jupiter  quoted    by  Stoboeus."^ 

Mr.  Elphinstone^  says :  "Bhagwat  Gita  deserves 
high  praise  for  the  skill  with  which  it  is  adapted  to  the 
general  Epic,  and  the  tenderness  and  elegance  of  the 
narative  by  means  of  which  it  is  introduced." 


J  Historical  Resoarchos,  Vol.  11,  [i.  l'J8. 
'History  of  lucliii,  p.  155. 


SCIENCE. 


I.— MEDICINE. 

A  wise  physician,  skill'd  our  wounds  to  hoal, 
Is  more  than  armies  to  the  pubHc  weal. 

— Pope. 

The  science  of  moflicine,  like  all  other  sciences,  was 
carried  to  a  very  high  degree  of  perfection  by  the 
ancient  Hindas.  Their  great  powers  of  observation, 
generalization  and  analysis,  combined  with  patient  labour 
in  a  country  of  boundless  resources,  whose  fertility  for 
herbs  and  plants  is  most  remarkable,  placed  them  in  an 
exceptionally  favourable  position  to  prosecute  their  study 
of  this  great  science.  Owing,  however,  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  a  great  part  of  Sanskrit  literature,  it  is  impossible 
to  form  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  high  proficiency 
attained  by  the  Hindus  in  this  important  science. 
Unlike  philosophy  and  grammar,  on  which  subjects 
ancient  works  still  extant  furnish  sufficient  material  to 
enable  one  to  form  a  correct  judgment  of  their  pre- 
eminence in  those  branches  of  learning,  medicine  is  a 
practical  science  which  has  long  been  neglected  owing  to 
a  variety  of  causes. 

Lord  Ampthill  recently  (February  1905)  said  at 
Madras  : — "  Xow  we  are  beginning  to  find  out  that  the 
Hindu  Shastras  also  contain  a  Sanitary  Code  no  less 
correct  in  principal,  and  that  the  great  law-giver,  Manu, 
was  one  of  the  greatest  sanitary  reformers  the  world 
has  ever  seen." 


802  niNDU    SUPEPJOETTY. 

Professor  Wilson  says:  "The  Ancient  Hindus  at- 
tained as  thorough  a  proficiency  in  medicine  and  sur- 
gery as  any  people  whose  acquisitions  are  recorded. 
This  might  be  expected,  because  their  patient  attention 
and  natural  shrewdness  would  render  them  excellent 
observers,  whilst  the  extent  and  fertility  of  their  native 
country  would  furnish  them  with  many  valuable  drugs 
and  medicaments.  Their  diagnosis  is  said,  in  conse- 
quence, to  define  and  distinguish  symptoms  with  great 
accuracy,  and  their  Materia  Medica  is  most  voluminous."^ 

Sir  AVilliam  Hunter  has  the  following  on  the  scope 
of  Indian  medicine  : — "Indian  medicine  dealt  with  the 
whole  area  of  the  science.  It  described  the  structure  of 
the  body,  its  organs,  ligaments,  muscles,  vessels  and 
tissues.  The  Materia  Medica  of  the  Hindus  embraces  a 
vast  collection  of  drugs  belonging  to  the  mineral,  vege- 
table and  animal  kingdoms,  many  of  which  have  now  been 
adopted  by  European  jjhysicians.  Their  pharmacy  con- 
tained ingenious  processes  of  preparation,  with  elaborate 
r directions  for  the  administration  and  classification  of 
medicines.  Much  attention  was  devoted  to  hygiene, 
regimen  of  the  body,  and  diet."^ 

Mr.  Weber  says  :  "  The  number  of  medical  works 
and  authors  is  extraordinarily  large."" 

The  Ayur  Veda  is  the  oldest  system  of  medicine, 
and  is  said  to   have  been  revealed   by  the  great  Hindu 


1  Wilson's  Works,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  269.  ,  "Materia  Medica,"  says 
Weher,  "generally  appears  to  have  been  handled  ^rith  groat  predilec- 
tion."— -Indian  Literature,  p.  270. 

r 

^Imperial  Indian  Gazetteer,  "India,"  p.  22(». 
^Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  2fi'J. 


MEUICINF-.  803 

physician,  Dhanwantari,^  to  his  pupil  Siisruta.  C'haraka 
states  that  "  orif^inally  the  contents  of  liis  own  works 
were  communicated  by  Atreya  ]\Iuni  to  Agnivesa,  and. 
by  him  to  Charaka,  who  condensed  where  it  was  too 
prolix  and  expanded  where  it  was  too  brief."  Su.sr//ta 
and  Charaka  are  now  the  two  most  important  and 
well-known  Avorks  on  Hindu  medicine. 

The  chief  distinction  of  the  modern  European 
science  of  medicine  is  surgery.  But  even  in  surgery, 
as  will  be  clear  from  the  following  (piotations,  the 
ancient  Hindus  attained  a  proficiency  yet  unsurpassed  by 
the  advanced  medical  science  of  the  present  day. 

Mr.  Weber  says  :  "  In  surgery,  too,  the  Indians 
seem  to  have  attained  a  special  proficiency,  and  in  this 
department,  European  surgeons  might,  perhaps,  even  at 
the  present  day  still  learn  something  from  them,  as  indeed 
they  have  already  borrowed  from  them  the  operation  of 
rhinoplasty."^ 

"Their  surger}^,"  says  Elphinstone,  "is  as  remark- 
able as  their  medicine."-^  Mrs.  Manning  says:  "The 
surgical  instruments  of  the  Hindus  were  sufficiently 
sharp,  indeed,  as  to  be  capable  of  dividing  a  hair 
longitudinally.""^ 

Dr.  Sir  W.  W.  Hunter  says:  "The  surgery  of 
the  ancient   Indian    physicians  was    bold   and    skilful. 


1  The  name  of  this  great  man,  Dhanwantari,  has  become  a  bye- word 
for  an  "  adept."  His  name  i.s  always  pronounced  before  taking  medicine 
in  Rajputana,  in  consequence  of  the  popular  belief  that  his  prescriptions 
are  infallible. 

^Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  270. 

3  History  of  India,  p.  145. 

^Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  346. 


304  HINDU    SUPERIOKITY. 

They  conducted  amputations,  arresting  the  bleeding  by 
pressure,  a  cup-shaped  bandage  and  boiHng  oil  ;  practis- 
ed lithotomy  ;    performed  operations    in  the  abdomen 
and  uterus  ;    cured    hernia,    fistula,    piles  ;    set  broken 
bones  and  dislocations  ;  and  were  dexterous  in  the  ex- 
traction of  foreign  substances  from  the  body.    A  special 
branch  of  surgery  was  devoted  to  rhinoplasty,  or  opera- 
tion for  improving  deformed  ears  and  noses  and  formuKj 
new  ones,  a  useful  operation  which  European  sun/eons 
have  now  borrowed.     The  ancient  Indian  surgeons  also 
mention  a  cure  for  neuralgia,  analogous  to  the  modern 
cutting  of  the   fifth  nerve  above   the  eyebrow.     They 
devoted  great  care  to  the  making  of  surgical  instruments, 
and  to  the  training  of  students    by  means  of  operations 
performed  on   wax  spread   on  a  board  or  on  the  tissues 
and   cells  of   the   vegetable    kingdom,    and    upon  dead 
animals.     They  were  expert  in  midwifery,  not  shrinking 
from  the  most  critical  operations,  and  in  the  diseases  of 
women  and  children.     Their  practice  of  physic  embraced 
the  classifications,  causes,   symptoms  and    treatment  of 
diseases,  diagnosis  and  prognosis.    Considerable  advances 
were  also   made   in  veterinary   science,  and  monographs 
exist  on  the  diseases  of  horses,  elephants,  etc." 

The  author  o£  the  History  of  Hindu  Chemistry 
says:  "According  to  Susruta,  the  dissection  of  dead 
bodies  is  a  sine  qua  mm  to  the  student  of  surgery,  and 
this  high  authority  lays"  particular  stress  on  knowledge 
gained  from  experiment  and  observation."" 

A  word  with  regard  to  the  Veterinary  Science. 
Mr.  H.  M.  Elliot  says  :  "There  is  in  the  Royal    library 


Uiidiaii   GazettetT,    •'India,"   p.  220.     Sec  also  Wcboi's  Indian 
Liloratnre,  \>.  270. 

-ilislury  i)i  iiindu  Cbcmistiy,  Vol.  1,  p.  iOD. 


MKDlClNEi 


30( 


lit  Liikhiiow  n  ^vul•k  on  the  veturinnry  art,  wliicli  Avas 
triiiisliited  h-om  the  Sunskril  l)y  order  ot  Ghayas-ud-diu 
;Mohiuned  Shah  Khilji. 

This  rare  book,  called  Knrmf-ul-mnJL,  was  trans- 
lated as  early  as  A.H.  783  =  1381  A.D.,  from  an  original, 
styled  Salotar,  which  is  the  name  of  an  Indian  who  is 
said  to  have  been  a  Brahman,  and  the  tutor  of  Susruta. 
The  Preface  says  that  the  translation  was  made  '^  from 
the  bar])arous  Hindi  into  the  refined  Persian,  in  order 
that  there  may  be  no  more  need  of  a  reference  to 
infidels."  The  book  is  divided  hito  eleven  chapters  and 
thirty  Sections. 

Ciuiptoi-  I.   Oil  the  breeds  and  names  of  liorses      ...  4  secLions. 

II.   On  their  odour,  on  riding,  and  breeding  4  „ 
111.   On   stable  uianageuient,  and    <'u    wasps 

building  nests  in  a  stable  ...  ...  2  ,, 

^^  IV.   On  colour  and  its  varieties     ...  ...  2  ,, 

V.   On  tlioir  blemishes..,  ...  ...  "i  ,, 

.,  Vr.   On  their  limbs         ...  ...  ..  2  ., 

,,  VII.   On  sickness  and  its  leuiedies...  ...  4  ,, 

„         VIII,   0:i  bleeding  ...  ...  ...  4  ,, 

IX.   On  food  a!id  did    ...  ...  ...  2 

,,  X.   Oil  feeding  lor  the  purpose  of  fattening...  2  „ 

,,  XI.   On  ascertaining  the  age  by  the  (eclli      ...  1  ,, 

The  j)recise  age  of  this  work  is  doubtftd,  because, 
although  it  is  plainly  stated  to  ha\'e  been  translated  in 
A.H.  7So,  yet  tlie  reigning  prince  is  called  Stdtan 
Ghaias-ud-din  Mohamed  Shah,  son  of  Mahmud  Shah, 
and  there  is  no  king  so  named  whose  reign  corresponds 
with  that  date.  1£  Sultan  Ghaias-ud-din  Toghlak  be 
meant,  it  should  date  sixty  years  earlier,  and  if  the  king 
of  Malvva,  avIio  bore  that  name,  be  meant,  it  should  ])e 
dated  one  hundred  years  later  ;  either  way,  it  ver}-  much 
precedes  the  reign  of  Akber. ' 


l"It  is  curious,  that  witliout  any  allusion  to  this  work,  another  on 
the  veteriuary  art,  styled  Salotari,  aud  said  to  comprise  in  the  Sanskrit 


306  HINDU    SUrEUIOKITY. 


The  translator  makes  no  mention  in  it  o£  the  work 
on  the  same  subject,  which  had  been  previously  trans- 
lated from  the  Sanskrit  into  Arabic  at  Baghdad,  under 
the  name  of  Kitab-ul-Baitarat.  ^ 

Professor  Weber  says  :  "In  the  Vedic  period,  animal 
anatomy  was  evidently  thoroughly  understood,  as  each 
part  had  its  own  distinctive  name."  He  also  says: 
"  The  chapter  of  Amarkosha  on  the  human  body  and 
its  tliseases  certainly  presupposes  an  advanced  cultiva- 
tion of  medical  science.  ""^ 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  *'  There  is  a  very  large 
body  of  medical  literature  in  Sanskrit,  and  some  of  the 
principal  works  are  named  by  Arabic  writers  as  having 
been  known  and  translated  at  Baghdad  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury. These  works  comprise  all  the  branches  of  medical 
science,  sur^erv  included,  and  contain  numerous  instances 
of  accurate  observation  and  judicious  treatment." 

The  Hindus  have,  through  this  branch  of  knowledge, 
as  through  many  others,  been  the  benefactors  of  huma- 
nity; for,  Hindu  medicine  is  the  foundation  upon  which 
the  building  of  the  European  medical  science  has  been 
constructed.  His  Excellency  Lord  Ampthill,  the  late 
Governor  of  Madras,  while  declaring  open  the  Madras 

original  16,000  slokas,  was  translated  in  the  reign  of  Shalijahan,  "wlien 
there  were  many  learned  men  who  knew  Sanskrit,"  by  Sayyid  Abdullah 
Khan  Bahadur  Firoz  .luug,  who  had  found  it  among  some  other  Sans- 
krit books,  which  during  his  expedition  against  Mewar,  in  the  reign  of 
Jehangir,  had  been  plundered  from  Amar  Singh,  Rana  of  Chitor.  It 
is  divided  into  twelve  chapters,  and  is  more  than  double  the  size  of  the 
other." 

1  Elliot's  Historians  of  India,  Part  I.  pp.  263,  64. 

2  Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  267. 


MKDICINE.  307 

Kino;  Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine, said  :  "The  people 
of  India  should  be  gratefnl  to  him  (Col.  King)  for  having 
pointed  out  to  them  that  they  can  lay  claim  to  have  been 
acquainted  with  the  main  principles  of  curative  and 
preventive  medicine  at  a  time  when  Europe  was  still 
immersed  in  ignorant  savagery.  I  am  not  sure  whether 
it  is  L'enerally  known  that  the  science  of  medicine  ori- 
ginated in  India,  but  this  is  the  case,  and  the  science  was 
first  exported  from  India  to  Arabia  and  thence  to  Europe. 
Down  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  European 
physicians  learnt  the  science  from  the  works  of  Arabic 
doctors  ;  while  the  Arabic  doctors  many  centuries  before 
had  obtained  their  knowledge  from  the  works  of  great 
Indian  physicians  such  as  Dhanwantri,  Charaka  and 
Susruta.  It  is  a  strange  circumstance  in  the  world's 
progress  that  the  centre  of  enlightenment  and  knowledge 
should  have  travelled  from  East  to  West,  leaving  but  little 
permanent  trace  of  its  former  existence  in  the  East." 

Sir  W.  Hunter  says:  "The  Hindu  medicine  is  an 
independent  development.  Arab  medicine  was  founded  on 
the  translations  from  the  Sanskrit'  treatises  made  by 
command  of  the  Khahf  of  Baghdad  (950-960  A.D.). 
European  medicine  down  to  the  17th  century  was  based 
upon  the  Arabic,  and  the  name  of  the  Indian  physician, 
Charaka,  rei:>eatedly  occurs  in  Latin  translations  of 
Avicenna  (Abu  Sina),  Rhazes  (Abu  Rasi),  and  Serapion 
(Abu  Sirabi). 

Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "  The  medical  works  of  India 
had   already    attained    worldwide   celebrity     when    the 

1  Csoma  de  Koros  was  the  first  to  announce  that  the  Thihetan 
Tanjur  contains  among  others  translations  o£  the  Charaka,  the  Susruta, 
and  the  Yagabhata. 


308  HINDU    SUPKRIOTlTTr. 

Khfilif  of  Baghdad  collected  the  greatest  M'orkp  and 
summoned  the  most  learned  scientific  men  of  their 
era  to  give  brilliancy  to  Baghdad  as  a  seat  of  learning. 
She  adds  :  "  It  is  impossible  to  exhibit  India's  ancient 
science  to  Euro[)eans  unacquainted  with  Sanskrit  or  not 
having  access  to  the  native  medical  libraries,  in  which 
we  understand  many  medical  works  are  strictly  withheld 
from  Europeans.*'^ 

In  support  of  the  fact  that  Hindu  medical  works 
were  largely  translated  by  the  Arabs,  and  that  these 
translations  formed  the  nucleus  of  their  science,  and  that 
after  being  translated  into  European  languages  they 
formed  the  backbone  of  the  European  science  of  medicine, 
the  followmg  facts  may  be  cited  : — 

Barzouhyeh,  a  contemporary  of  the  celebrated 
Sassanian  king,  Noshirevan  (A.D.  531-572),  visited 
India  to  acquire  proficiency  in  the  Indian  sciences.'-' 

According  to  Professor  Sachau,  the  learned  trans- 
lator of  Alberuni,  "  some  of  the  books  that  had  been 
translated  imder  the  first  Abbaside  Caliphs  were  extant 
in  the  library  of  Alberuni,  when  he   wrote   his   '  India,' 

the  Brahma  Siddhanta  or  Sind-hiud, the  Charaka 

in  the  edition  of  Ali  Ibn  Zain  and  the  Panchatantra,  or 
Kalila  Darana."'^ 

Almansur  or  Almanzar,  who  removed  his  seat  from 
Damascus  to  Baghdad  between  758  and  774  A.D.,  caused 
translations  to  be  made  from  the  Sanskrit  of  medical 
scientific  works,    among   which   we   find   particularised 


\  Ancient  and  Modianal  India,  Vol.  I,  pp.  353,  54, 
2History  of  Hindu  Chemistry,  Introdiiolion,  p.  76, 
•"^Alberaui's  India  by  Professor  Sacliau, 


MKDICINE.  :')(ll> 

a  tract  upon  poisons  hy  Shank  (meaning  Charaka)  and  a 
treatise  on  medicine  by  Shashriid'   ( meanin_i>- Susruta). 

^Irs.  Mannini'-  savs:  ''Later  Greeks  at  Bniiiidad  are 
found  to  have  been  accpiainted  with  the  medical  works 
of  the  Hindus,  and  to  liavc  availed  themselves  of  their 
medicaments."-  AVe  learn  with  interest  that  Serapion,  one 
of  the  earliest  of  the  Arab  writers,  mentions  the  Indian 
Charaka,  praising  him  as  an  authority  in  medicine,  and 
referring  to  the  myrabalans  as  forming  part  of  Charaka's 
descriptions."^ 

Rhazes  was  a  greater  ])hysician  than  Serapion.  He 
lived  at  Baghdad  with  Al  Mansur.  He  wrote  twelve 
books  on  chemistry.  On  two  occasions,  Rhazes  refers  to 
the  "Indian  Charaka"  as  an  authority  for  statements  on 
plants  or  drugs.  ^ 

Another  celebrated  medical  man  is  Avicinna  (Abu 
Ali  Sina),  called  Sheikh  Rais,  or  the  prince  of  pliy- 
sicians,  who  succeded  Rhazes.  He  Avas  the  most  famous 
physician  of  his  time.  He  translated  the  works  of 
Aristotle,  and  died  in  1036  A.D.  In  treating  of  leeches, 
Avicinna  begins  by  a  reference  to  what  "the  Indians 
say,"  and  then  gives  nearly  the  very  words  of  Susruta, 

1  Colebrooke's  Algebra  of  the  Hiiulus,  Vol,  II,  p.  512.  That 
Charaka  should  be  changed  by  Arabic  writers  into  Sarak,  Susruta  into 
Susrud,  Nidana  into  Badan,  Astanga  into  Asankar,  and  so  forth, 
need  not  at  all  surprise  us.  Such  transformations  can  well  be  explained 
on  phonetic  principles.  Moreover,  one  must  remember  that  the  Indian 
works  translated  into  Arabic  were  sometimes  derived  from  pre-existing 
Phclvi  versions,  and  in  the  migrations  through  successive  languages  the 
names  often  got  frightfully  disfigured. 

^Ancient  and  Median-al  India,  Vol.1,  p.  359. 

■^Royle's  Ancient  Hindu  iledicine,  p.  3G. 

4See  Uoyle,  p.  38. 


310  HINDU    SUPERIOIUTV. 

describing  the  six  poisonous  leeches,  amongst  which  are 
"those  called  krishna  or  black,  the  hairy  leech,  that 
which  is  variegated  like  a  rainbow,  etc/" 

Emperor  Firoz  Shah,  after  capturing  Nagarkot, 
had  the  -Sanskrit  medical  Avprks  translated  into  Arabic 
by  Ayazuddin  Khalid.^ 

In  the  reign  of  Harnn-ul-Rashed,  the  Hindu  me- 
dicine was  not  only  valued  by  the  Arabs,  but  Hindu 
physicians  were  actually  invite<l  to  Bagdad,  who  went 
and  reside<i  in  his  court.  For  this  information  we  are 
indebted  to  Ahu  Osa/'ba,  whose  biographies  are  quoted 
by  Prof.  Deitz  in  his  AnalecAa  Medica^^  Wustenfeld, 
Rev.  W.  Cureton,^  Flii  Miiller. 

Ahu  Osaiba  states  that  Mania  wa^  a  Hindu,  emin- 
ent in  the  art  of  medicine  and  learned  in  Sanskrit  litera- 
ture. He  made  a  journey  from  India  to  Iraq,  cured 
the  Khalif  Harun-ul-Hasheed  of  an  illness,  and  translated 
a  work  on  poison  b}'  Charaka  from  Sanskrit  into  Per- 
sian. Another  Hindu  doctor  named  Saleh  has  also  been 
eulogised  by  Ahu  Osaiba.  He  was,  it  is  said,  one  of 
the  most  learned  amongst  the  Hindus,  and  greatly  skilled 
in  curino;  diseases  according;  to  the  Indian  mode.  He  lived 
in  Iraq  during  Harun's  reign.  He  travelled  to  Egypt 
and  Palestine,  and  was  buried  when  he  died  in  Egypt. 

Gabriel  -Baciishna,^.  Syrian,  became  one  of  the  trans- 
lators of  works  on  medicine  from  Sanskrit  into  Arabic. '' 


'  Koyle's  Ancient  Hindu  Medicine,  p.  88. 

2Max  Mullor's  Science  of  Language,  p.  167. 

3Leipsic  Edition  of  1833,  p.  124. 

^Journal  of  the  R.  A.  Society,  VI,  pp.  10r)-ll.''v 

■'■'See  Deitz's  Analecta  Medica.  Dr.  Furnell,  Dy.  Surgeon-General 
and  Sanitary  Commissioner,  Madras,  in  his  lecture  delivered  on  the 
1st  jN.pril  1882,  most  vigorously  supported  the  claims  of  Hindu  medi- 
cine as  one  of  the  most  ancient   and  the   most   advanced  sciences  ever 


MKDICINK.  311 

Professor  Sanchau  says  :  '*  What  India  has  contri- 
buted reached  Baghdad  by  two  different  roads.  Part  has 
come  directly  in  translations  from  the  Sanskrit,  part  has 
travelled  through  Iran,  having  originally  been  translat- 
ed from  Sanskrit  (Pali?  Prakrit?)  into  Persian,  and 
farther  from  Persian  into  Arabic.  In  this  way,  <?.  7,, 
the  fables  of  KdUla  and  Dinina  have  been  comnuuiicated 
to  the  Arabs,  and  a  book  on  medicine,  probably  the 
famous  Charaka. — i>f  luhrisf^  p,  303. 

"In  this  connnunication  between  India  and  Bagdad 
Ave  must  not  only  distinguish  between  two  different  roads, 
but  also  between  two  different  periods. 

"  As  Sindh  was  under  the  actual  rule  of  the  Khalif 

Mansur   (A.  D.  753-774),   there  came  embassies  from 

that  part  of  India  to  Baghdad,  and  among  them  scholars, 

who  brought  along  with  them  two  books,   the  Jirahma- 

sidhanta   of   Brahmagupta   (Sindhind),    and   his  Khan- 

dakhadyaka  (Arkand).     With  the  help  of  these  pandits, 

Alfazari,  perhaps  also  Yakub  Ibn  Tarik,  translated  them. 

Both  works  have  been  largely  used,  and  have  exercised 

a  great  influence.     It  was  on   this  occassion  that  the 

Arabs  jimt  became  acquainted  with  a  scientific  system 

of  astronomy.     They  learned  from  Brahmagupta  earlier 

than  from  Ptolemy. 

cultivated  in  the  world.  Speaking  of  the  importance  of  drinking  un- 
polluted water,  he  said  that  -'as  the  ancient  Hindus  were  superior  to 
all  others  in  other  respects,  so  also  were  they  superior  to  the  others  in 
recognising  the  importance  and  value  of  water,  as  well  as  in  insisting 
upon  preserving  the  water  from  filth  of  any  kind  whatever."  He 
added  that  in  his  address  to  the  Convocation  in  ]879  he  had  said 
that  the  Hindu  physicians  were  unrivalled  in  all  branches  of  medicine 
at  the  time  when  the  Britons  were  savages  and  used  to  go  about  quite 
naked.  He  then  described  the  instructions  contained  m  the  Hindu 
medical  works  with  regard  to  the  use  of  water,  which  he  said  were  most 
remarkable, 


312  HINDU    SUI'EKIUKITV. 

"  Another  influx  of  Hindu  learning  took  place 
under  Harun,  A.D.  786-808.  The  ministerial  family 
Barmak,  then  at  the  zenith  of  their  power,  had  come 
with  the  ruling-  dynasty  from  Balkh,  where  an  ancestor 
of  theirs  had  been  an  ofhcial  in  the  Buddhistic  temple, 
Naubehar,  i.e.,  uavai-iliara,  the  new  temple(or  monastery). 
The  name  Barmak  is  said  to  be  of  Indian  descent,  mean- 
ing/>arama/;a,  i.e.,  the  superior  (abbot  of  the  vihara?). 
Of  course  the  Barmak  famil)^  had  been  converted,  but 
their  contemporaries  never  thought  much  of  their  pro- 
fession of  Islam,  nor  regarded  it  as  srenuine.  Induced 
probably  by  family  traditions,  they  sent  scholars  to  India, 
there  to  study  medicine  and  pharmacology.  Besides, 
thev  enoaii'ed  Hindu  scholars  to  come  to  Baghdad,  made 
them  the  cliief  physicians  of  their  hospitals  and  ordered 
them  to  translate  from  Sanskrit  into  Arabic,  books  on 
medicine,  pharmacology,  toxicology,  philosophy,  astro- 
logy and  other  subjects.  Still  in  later  centuries,  Muslim 
scholars  sometimes  travelled  for  the  same  purposes  as 
the  emissaries  of  the  Barmak,  e.g.,  Almuwaft'ak,  not  long 
before  Alberuni's  time,"^ 

Mrs.  Manning  says:  "Greek  physicians  have  done 
much  to  preserve  and  diffuse  the  medical  science  of 
India.  AVe  find,  for  instance,  that  the  Greek  physician 
Actuarius  celebrates  the  Hindu  medicine  called  triphala. 
He  mentions  the  peculiar  products  of  India,  of  which 
it  is  composed,  by  their  Sanskrit  name  Myrohalans."-^ 
iEtius,  who  was  a  native  of  Amida  in  Mesopotamia, 
and   studied   at  Alexandria   in  the  fifth  centurv,    not 


1  Sachau's  Translation  of  Alberuni's  India. 
^Ancient  and  Mediteval  India,  Vol,  I.,  p.  uDl, 


/ 


I'lll.  ^f.^'w.^'  ^»  ^'^^^ 


MKDICINE.  513 


only  speaks  of  tliu  Mi/robalans^  ])ut  mentions  them  as 
the  proj)ei'  cui'e  for  the  disease  called  elephantiasis." 
Among  the  ancient  Hindu  physicians  of  note  may 
be  mentioned  (I)  Atreya,  Agnivesa,  Charaka,  Dhan- 
wantri,  Sashrutn,  IJharadv^aja,  Kapishthala,  Bhela, 
Latukarna,  Panisara,  Harita,  Kashraparu,  Asaval- 
yana,  Badarayann,  Katyayana,  Baijv^api,  Krisa,  Sam- 
krityayana,  Babhravya  Krishnatreya,  Auddalaki,  Sveta- 
keta,  Panchala,  Gonardiya,  Gonikaputra,  Sabandhu^ 
t?amkara,  Kankayana.       V^/r^-^-^^,    /^^^U^\j.,  3^^ih<x)yu., 

The  EiKilishman  (a  Calcutta  daily),  in  a  leader 
in  1880,  said  :  "No  one  can  read  the  rules  contained 
in  great  Sanskrit  medical  works  Avithout  coming  to 
the  conclusion  that,  in  point  of  knowledge,  the 
ancient  Hindus  were  in  this  respect  very  far  in 
advance  not  only  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  but  of 
Mediaeval  Europe." 

Nearchas  relates  that  the  Greek  physicians  did  not 
know  how  to  cure  snakebite.  But  the  Hindu  physicians 
cured  it,  and  notified  their  abilitv  to  cui*e  all  who  were 
alHicted  with  it,  if  they  came  to  the  court  of 
Alexander  the  Great/ 

As  regards  their  knowledge  of  the  Science  of  Chem- 
istry, Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  Their  (Indian)  chemical 
skill  is  a  fact  more  striking  and  more  unexpected." 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  of  the  several  works  on 
chemistry^  quoted  by  Madhava,  Rasarnava  alone  seems 
to  have  survived  to  our  dav. 

'See  Wise's  History  uf  Mediciiu',  )i.  Ij. 

-A  famous  representative  of  this  art  (alchemy  j  was  Niigarjuna. 
a  native  of  Daihak,  near  Sounialh.  He  excelled  in  it,  and  (•oiuitused 
a  hook  which  contains  the  substance  of  the  whole  literature  on  this 
subject;- and  is  very  rare." — 11/^tor// of  Hindu  t'hcmid'ij,  Vol,  I,  p.  54. 


o 


14  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 


The  author  of  the  History  of  Hindu  Chemistry 
says :  "  While  Rasaratnakarna  and  Basarnava  are  Tant- 
ras  pure  and  simple  in  which  alchemy  is  incidentally 
dwelt  upon,  Rasaratana-samuchchaya  (a  modern  work 
based  on  old  Hindi  medical  works),  is  a  systematic  and 
comprehensive  treatise  on  materia  medica,  pharmacy  and 
medicine.  Its  methodical  and  scientific  arrangement 
of  the  subject-matter  would  do  credit  to  any  modern 
work,  and  altogether  it  should  be  pronounced  a  produc- 
tion unique  of  its  kind  in  Sanskrit  literature."^ 

Dr.  Ray  says  :  "  We  have  only  to  refer  our  readers  to 
tlie  chapter  on  the  preparation  of  caustic  alkali,  in  the 
Susruta,  with  the  direction  that  the  strong  lye  is  to  be  '  pre- 
served in  an  iron  vessel,'  as  a  proof  of  the  high  degree  of 
perfection  in  scientific  pharmacy  achieved  by  the  Hindus 
at  an  early  age.  It  is  absolutely  free  from  any 
trace  of  (piackery  or  charlatanism,  and  is  a  decided 
improvement  upon  the  process  prescribed  by  a  Greek 
Avriter  of  the  eleventh  century,  as  unearthed  by  M.  Berthelot. 
As  regards  dispensaries  and  hospitals,  everyone  knows 
that  Buddhistic  India  was  studded  with  them."^ 

In  the  European  histories  of  chemistry,  the  credit 
of  being  the  first  to  press  chemical  knowledge  into  the 
service  of  medicine  and  introduce  the  use  of  the  internal 
administration    of    mercurial    preparations,  is  given  to 


"Nagarjnna  Bodliisatva  was  well  practised  in  the  art  of  compounding 
niedicines  ;  by  taking  a  preparation  (pill  or  cake),  he  nourished  the 
years  of  life  for  many  hundreds  of  years,  so  that  neither  the  mind  nor 
appearance  decayed.  Satvaha-Kaja  had  partaken  of  this  mysterious 
medicine." — Beal's  Buddhist  Records  of  the  Western  World,  Vol.  II, 
p.  -Jl-J. 

1  Hi^tory  of  Hindu  Chemistry,  Vol.  I,  p.  L. 

211i5.iury  of  Hindu  Chemistry.  Vol.  J,  Introduction,  p,  viti. 


MEDICINK.  .''•15 

Paracelsus  (1493-lo-il).  But,  says  the  author  of  the  PTis- 
torv  of  Hiudu  Cheniistrv,  "  we  have,  iudecd,  reason  to 
suspect  that  Paracelsus  got  his  ideas  from  the  East."' 

Dr.  Ray  says :  "  From  the  evidences  we  have  adduced 
all  along  there  can  now  be  scarcely  any  question  as  regards 
the  priority  of  the  Hindus  in  making  mercurial  remedies 
a  speciality  ;  and  they  are  entitled  to  claim  originalit}-  in 
respect  of  the  internal  administration  of  metals  generally, 
seeing  that  the  Charaka  and  the  Susruta,  not  to  speak 
of  the  later  Tantras,  are  eloquent  over  their  virtues." "^ 

In  Europe,  however,  the  medicinal  virtues  of 
mercury  do  not  appear  to  have  been  at  all  ascertained 
even  in  the  days  of  Pliny  the  elder  ;  that  writer 
termed  quicksilver  the  bcme  and  poison  of  all  things,  and 
what  would  with  more  propriety  be  called  death->^i\\'er.-^ 

Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  They  knew  how  to  pre- 
pare sulphuric  acid,  nitric  acid  and  muratic  acid  ;  the 
oxide  of  copper,  iron,  lead  (of  which  the}^  had  both  tlie 
red  oxide  and  litharge),  tin  and  zinc ;  the  sulphurct  of 
iron,  copper,  mercury,  antimony,  and  arsenic  ;  the  sul- 
phate of  copper,  zink  and  iron  ;  and  carbonates  of  lead 
and  iron.  Their  modes  of  preparing  these  substances 
"were  sometimes  peculiar."^ 

"  Their  use  of  these  medicines  seems  to  have  been 
very  bold.  They  were  the  first  nation  who  employed 
minerals  internally,  and  they  not  only  gave  mercury  in 

^  History  of  Hindu  Chemistry,  Vol.  I,  p.  60. 
-History  of  Hindu  Chemistry,  Vol.  I,  Introduction,  p.  (Ixii,) 
=^Natural  History,  h'b.  33. 

*For  further  information,  see  Dr.  Royle(p.  44  and  on),  who  parti- 
cularly refers  to  the  processes  for  leaking  calomel  and  corrosive  sublimat«. 


ol6  HINDU    SUPERIOKITT. 

that  manner  but  arsenic  and  arsenious  acicl,  which  were 
remedies  in  intermittents.  They  have  long  used  cinnabar 
for  fumigations,  by  which  they  produced  a  speedy  and 
safe  sahvation.     They  have  long  practiced  inoculation. 

*'  They  cut  for  the  stone,  couched  for  the  cataract 
and  extracted  the  foetus  from  the  womb,  and  in  their 
early  works  enumerate  not  less  than  127  sorts  of 
surgical  instruments." ^ 

In  the  course  of  a  lecture  to  the  natives  of  Bengal 
on  national  universities  in  India,  delivered  at  Calcutta, 
in  January  1906,  Mrs.  Besant  said:  "In  physics  and 
chemistry  you  have  advanced  far  more.  In  medicine  vou 
are  still  more  advanced.  In  the  West  it  is  by  no  means 
a  science  but  largely  guess  work.  Indian  medicine  both 
of  the  Hindus  and  the  Mohamedans  is  superior  to  the 
medicine  of  the  West^ 

In  order  to  o-ive  an  idea  of  the  advanced  state  of 
the  Hindu  science  of  medicine  and  hygiene,  as  well  as 
of  what  we  may  3'et  expect  from  the  continued  researches 
of  the  learned  in  ancient  Indian  literature  in  the  way  of 
valuable  additions  to  the  modern  European  medical  science, 
I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  words  of  His  Excellency 
Lord  Ampthill,  Governor  of  Madras,  at  the  opening  of 
the  King  Institute  of  Preventive  ^[edicine,  in  February 
1905:  "The  Mohamedan  conquests  brought  back  to 
India  much  of  the  mediad  knowledge  which  had  been 
lost  for  centuries,  and  we  have  proofs  that  the  Mughal 
rulers  were  great  sanitary  reformers  in  the  magnificent 


lElphiiistone's  History  of  India,  p.  145.  The  author  also  says: 
"  Their  acquaintance  with  medicines  seems  to  have  been  very  exten- 
sive. We  are  not  surprised  at  their  knowledge  of  simples,  in  which 
tl)ey  gave  early  lessons  to  Europe  andmore  recently  taught  us  the  benefit 
of  swolung  dhatura  in  asthma  and  the  use  of  cowitcU   against  vcormss" 


MEDIClNi:.  ol7 

waterworks  which  still  exist  and  perform  their  func- 
tions at  various  places  in  the  north  of  India.  Now, 
the  British  rulers  of  India  have  been  bringing  back  yet 
more  of  the  knowledge  which  emanated  from  this  rountrj/ 
centuries  ago  ;  and  when  we  undertake  municipal  water 
supply  schemes,  with  filter  beds  and  h^-drauiic  pressure, 
when  we  build  hospitals  and  establish  medical  schools, 
when  we  promulgate  regulations  to  check  the  spread  of 
plague,  or  when  we  impose  on  local  bodies  the  duty  of 
Avatching  over  the  health  of  the  people,  we  are  not  in- 
troducing any  modern  innovations  or  European  fads, 
but  merely  doing  that  which  was  done  centuries  ago, 
and  again  centuries  before  that,  but  which  has  long 
since  been  forgotten  by  all  except  the  historian  and  the 
archaeologist.  The  study  of  these  questions  brings 
out  the  truth  of  the  old  saying  that  there  is  nothing  new 
in  the  world.  Now,  this  saying  is  even  true  as  regards 
preventive  medicine,  which  we  are  all  apt  to  regard  as 
one  of  the  most  recent  discoveries  of  modern  science. 
Colonel  King  gives  clear  proof  that  the  ancient  caste  in- 
junctions of  the  Hindus  were  based  on  a  belief  in  the 
existence  of  transmissible  agents  of  disease,  and  that  both 
Hindus  and  Mohamedans  used  inoculation  by  small-pox 
virus  as  a  protection  against  small-{X)x  ;  and  certain  it  is 
that  long  before  Jenner's  orreat  discoverv,  or  to  be  more 
correct,  re-discovery  of  vaccination,  this  art  of  inoculation 
was  used  for  a  while  in  Europe,  where  it  had  been 
imported  from  Constantinople ;  and  knowledge  of 
medicine  which  flourished  in  the  Near  East  at  the 
commencement  of  the  Christian  era  emanated^  as  I  hare 
already  shown  you,  from  Indian 


3 IS  niNDU    SUPERIOR ITY. 

His  Excellency  then  added :  "  It  is  also  very 
probable,  so  Colonel  King  assures  me,  that  the  ancient 
Hindus  used  animal  vaccination  secured  by  transmission 
of  the  small-pox  virus  through  the  cow,  and  he  bases 
this  interesting  theory  on  a  cj[UOtation  from  a  writing 
by  Dhanvantri,  the  greatest  of  the  ancient  Hindu 
physicians,  which  is  so  striking  and  so  appropriate  to  the 
present  occasion  that  I  must  take  the  liberty  of  reading 
it  to  you.  It  is  as  follows :  '  Take  the  fluid  of  the  pock  on 
the  udder  of  the  cow  or  on  the  arm  between  the  shoulder 
and  elbow  of  a  human  subject  on  the  point  of  a  lancet, 
and  lance  with  it  the  arms  between  the  shoulders  and 
elbows  until  the  blood  appears  :  then  mixing  the  fluid 
with  the  blood  the  fever  of  the  small-pox  will  be  produced.' 
This  is  vaccination  j^ure  and  simple.  It  would  seem 
from  it  that  Jenner^s  great  discovery  was  actually 
forestalled  by  the  ancient  Hindoos.''^ 

His  Excellency  further  said  :  '•  I  cannot  refrain  from 
mentioning  yet  another  of  Colonel  King's  interesting 
discoveries,  which  is  that  the  modern  plague  policy  of 
evacuation  and  disinfection  is  not  a  wit  different  from 
that  enjoined  in  ancient  Hindu  Shastras." 


MATHEMATICS.  olO 


II.— MATHEMATICS. 

Ill  Miithematies  lie  was  greater 
Thau  Tyclio  Brahe,  or  Erra  Pater. 

— BuTLEU  :  IluiUbras. 

In  mentsil  abstraction  and  concentration  of  thous^ht 
the  Hindus  are  proverbially  happy.  Apart  from  direct 
testimony  on  the  point,  the  literature  of  the  Hindus 
furnishes  unmistakable  evidence  to  prove  that  the 
ancient  Hindas  possessed  astonishing  powers  of  memory 
and  concentration  of  thou2:ht.  Hence  all  such  sciences 
and  branches  of  study  as  demand  concentration  of 
thought  and  a  highly-developed  power  of  abstraction  of 
the  mind  were  highly  cultivated  by  the  Hindus.  The 
science  of  mathematics,  the  most  abstract  of  all  sciences, 
must  have  had  an  irresistible  fascination  for  the  minds  of 
the  Hindus.  Xor  are  there  proofs  wanting  to  support 
this  statement.  The  most  extensive  cultivation  which 
astronomy  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Hindus  is  in  itself 
a  proof  of  their  high  proficiency  in  mathematics.  The  high 
antiquity  of  Hindu  astronomy  is  an  argument  in  support 
of  a  still  greater  antiquity  of  their  mathematics.  That 
the  Hindus  were  selected  by  natiu'e  to  excel  all  other 
nations  in  mathematics,  is  proved  by  her  revealing  to 
them  the  foundation  of  all  mathematics.  It  has  been 
admitted  by  all  competent  authorities  that  the  Hindus 
were  the  inventors  of  the  numerals.  The  great  German 
critic,  Schlegel,  says  that  the  Hindus  invented  "  the 
decimal  cyphers,  the  honour  of  which,  next  to  letters  the 
most  important  of  human  discoveries,  has,  with  the  com- 


320  HINDU    SUrEKlOUlTY. 

iiiou  consent   ot'   historical   authorities,  been  ascribed  to 
die  Hindus."! 

Prof.  Macdonell  says  :  "  In  science,  too,  the  debt 
of  Europe  to  India  has  been  considerable.  There  is,  in 
the  first  place,  the  great  fact  that  the  Indians  invented 
the  numerical  figures  used  all  over  the  world.  The 
influence  which  the  decimal  system  of  reckoning  depen- 
dent on  those  figures  has  had  not  only  on  mathematics 
but  on  the  progress  of  civilization  in  general,  can 
hardly  be  over-estimated.  During  the  eighth  and  ninth 
centuries  the  Indians  became  the  teachers  in  arith- 
metic and  aloebra  of  the  Arabs,  and  through  them  of  the 
nations  of  the  West.  Thus,  though  we  call  the  latter 
science  by  an  Arabic  name,  it  is  a  gift  we  ow^e  to  India."' 

Sir  M.  Monier  Williams  savs  :  "  From  them  (Hindus) 
the  Arabs  received  not  only  their  first  conceptions  of 
algebraic  analysis,  but  also  those  numerical  symbols 
and  decimal  notations  now  current  everywhere  in  Europe, 
and  which  have  rendered  untold  service  to  the  progress 
of  arithmetical  science."^  ^  Says  Manning  :  "  To  what- 
ever cyclopa3dia,  journal  or  essay  we  refer,  we  uniform- 
ly find  our  numerals  traced  to  India  and  the  Arabs 
recognised  as  the  medium  through  which  they  were 
introduced  into  Europe."'^\  Sir  AV.  W.  Hunter  also 
says  :  "  To  them  (the  Hindus)  we  owe  the  invention 
of  the  numerical  symbols  on  the  decimal  scale,  The 
Indian  figures  1  to  9  being  abbreviated  forms  of  initial 
letters  of  he  numerals  themselves,  and  the  zero,  or  0, 

1  Schlegel's  History  of  Literature,  p,  123, 
-History  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  424. 
^Indian  Wisdom,  p.  J-'l. 
■*Aiicieut  and  Meiiioval  Lidia,  Vol.  1,  p.  o76. 


:\rATIIEMATlCS.  ."21 

representing  the  first  letter  of  the  Sanskrit  word  for 
empty  {sunj/rt).  Tlie  Arabs  borrowed  them  from  the 
Hhidiis,  and  transmitted  them  toEuro})e."' 

Professor  Weber  says  :  "  It  is  to  them  (the  Hindns) 
also  that  we  owe  the  ini>;enions  invention  of  the  numerical 
symbols,  which  in  like  manner  passed  from  them  to  the 
Arabs,  and  from  these  again  to  European  scholars.  By 
these  latter,  who  were  the  disciples  of  the  Arabs,  frequent 
allusion  is  made  to  the  Indians  and  uniformly  in  terms 
of  high  esteem  ;  and  one  Sanskrit  word  even  {uchcha) 
has  passed  into  the  Latin  translations  of  Arabian 
astronomers."^ 

Professor  AYilson  says  :  "  Even  Delambre  concedes 
their  claim  to  the  invention  of  numerical  cyphers." 


AlilTHMETIC. 

Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "  Compared  with  other  ancient 
nations,  the  Hindns  were  peculiarly  strong  in  all  the 
branches  of  arithmetic."'  Professor  Weber,  after  declar- 
ing that  the  Arabs  were  disciples  of  the  Hindus,  says  : 
"  The  same  thing  (i.e..  tlie  Arabs  borrowed  from  the 
Hindus)  rook  place  also  in  regard  to  algebra  and 
arithmetic  in  ]3articular,  in  both  of  which  it  appears  the 
Hindus  attained,  quite  independently,  to  a  high  degree 
of  proficiency."  Sir  W.  W.  Hunter  also  says  that  the 
Hindus  attained  a  very  high  proficiency  in  arithmetic 
and  algebra  independently  of  any  foreign   influence."* 

llinpeiial  Gazetteor,  p.  219.  "India." 
^Weber's  Indian  Lileratniv.  p.  25(5. 
■^Ancient  and  Media'val  India,  Vol.  T,  p  ,374, 
^Imperial  Gazetteer,  "  India,'"  p.  21  y. 


322  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

The  English  mathematician,  Prof.  Wallace,  says  : 
"  The  LiJavati  treats  of  arithmetic,  and  contains 
not  only  the  common  rules  of  that  science,  but  the 
application  of  these  to  various  questions  of  interest,  barter, 
mixtures,  combinations,  permutations,  sums  of  pro- 
gression, indeterminate  problems,  and  mensuration  of 
surfaces  and  solids.  The  rules  are  found  to  be  exact  and 
nearly  as  simple  as  in  the  jjresent  state  of  analytical 
investigation.  The  numerical  results  are  readily  deduced, 
and  if  they  be  compared  with  the  earliest  specimens  of 
Greek  calculation,  the  advantages  of  the  decimal  notation 
are  placed  in  a  striking  light."  ^  It  may,  however,  be 
mentioned  that  Lilavati^  of  which  Professor  Wallace 
speaks,  is  a  comparatively  modern  manual  of  arithmetic  ; 
and  to  judge  of  the  merits  of  Hindu  arithmetic 
from  this  book  is  to  judge  of  the  merits  of  English 
arithmetic  from  Chambers'  manual  of  arithmetic. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  enormous  extent  to  which 
numerical  calculation  goes  in  India,  and  the  possession 
by  the  Hindus  of  by  far  the  largest  table  of  calculation, 
are  in  themselves  proofs  of  the  superior  cultivation  of 
the  science  of  arithmetic  by  the  Hindus. 


Geometry. 

The  ancient  Hindus  have  always  been  celebrated 
for  the  remarkable  j)rogress  they  made  in  geometry. 
Professor  Wallace  says  :   "  However  ancient  a  book  may 

1  Eaiiibui-yh  Kcvicw,  Vol.  20,  j).  147. 


MATHEMATICS  32o 

be  in  which  a  system  of  trigonometry  occurs,  we  mny  he 
assured  it  was  not  written  in  the  infancy  of  the  science. 
Geometry  must  have  been  known  in  India  loncj  before  the 
writing  of  the  Surya  Siddhanta,"^  which  is  supposed  by 
the  Europeans  to  have  been  written  before  2,000  B.C.- 

Profesor  Wallace  says  :  "  Surya  Siddhanta  contains 
a  rational  system  of  trigonometry,  which  differs  entirely 
from  that  first  known  in  Greece  or  Arabia.  In  fact  it 
is  founded  on  a  geometrical  theorem,  which  was  not 
known  to  the  geometricians  of  Europe  before  the  time 
of  Yieta,  about  two  hundred  years  ago.  And  it  employs 
the  sines  of  arcs,  a  thing  unknown  to  the  Greeks,  who 
used  the  chords  of  double  arcs.  The  invention  of  sines 
has  been  attributed  to  the  Arabs,  but  it  is  possible  that 
they  may  have  received  this  improvement  in  trigonome- 
try as  well  as  the  numerical  characters  from  India." ^ 

Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  In  the  Surya  Siddhanta  is 
contained  a  system  of  trigonometry  which  not  only 
goes  far  beyond  anything  known  to  the  Greeks,  but  in- 
volves theorems  which  were  not  discovered  in  Europe 
till  two  centuries  ago."^ 

Professor  Wallace  says  :  "  In  expressing  the  radius 
of  a  circle  in  parts  of  the  circumference,  the  Hindus  are 
quite  singular.  Ptolemy  and  the  Greek  mathematicians  in 
their  division  of  the  radius  preserved  no  reference  to  the 
circumference.  The  use  of  sines,  as  it  was  unknown  to 
the  Greeks,  forms  a  difference  between  theirs  and  the 
Indian  trigonometry.     Their  rule  for  the  computation 

1  Mill's  India,  Vol.11,  p.  150. 
2See  Mill's  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  3,  footnote. 
^Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia,  "Geometry,"  p.  191, 
'* History  of  India' p.  129. 


324  HINDU   SUrERIORITY. 

of  the  lines  is  a  considerable  refinement  in   science   first 
practiced  by  the  mathematician,  F)riggs."^ 

Count  Bjornstjerna  says  :  "  We  find  in  Ayeen  AUmri, 
a  journal  of  the  Emperor  x\kbar,  that  the  Hindus  of 
former  times  assumed  the  diameter  of  a  circle  to  be  to 
its  periphery  as  1,250  to  o,927,  ^The  ratio  of  1,250  to 
3,927  is  a  very  close  approximation  to  the  quadrature 
of  a  circle,  and  differs  very  little  from  that  oiven  bv 
Metius  of  113  to  355.  In  order  to  obtain  the  result 
thus  found  by  the  Brahmans,  even  in  the  most  elemen- 
tary and  simplest  way,  it  is  necessary  to  inscribe  in  a 
circle  a  polygon  of  768  sides,  an  operation,  which  can- 
not be  performed  arithmeticall}^  without  the  knowledge 
of  some  peculiar  properties  of  this  curved  line,  and  at 
least  an  extraction  of  the  square  root  of  the  ninth  power, 
each  to  ten  ])laces  of  decimals.  The  Greeks  and  Arabs 
have  not  given  anything  so  approximate."^ 

It  is  thus  clearly  seen  that  the  Greeks  and  the 
Arabs  apart,  even  the  Europeans  have  but  very  recently 
advanced  far  enough  to  come  into  line  with  the  Hindus 
in  their  knowledge  of  this  branch  of  mathematics. 

Professor  Wallace  says  :  "  The  researches  of  the 
learned  have  brought  to  light  astronomical  tables  in 
India  which  must  have  been  constructed  by  the 
principles  of  geometry,  but  the  period  at  which  they 
have  been  framed  has  by  no  means  been  completely 
ascertained.  Some  are  of  opinion  that  they  have 
been  framed  from  observation  made  at  a  very  remote 
period,  not  less  than  3,000  years  before  the  Christian  era 
(this    has  been    conclusively  proved  by  Mons.  Bailly); 


iMilPs  India,  Veil.  11,  i>.  1 .")(). 
'•*Th''(igf)iiy  (if  till'  lliiidus.  p.  ;j7. 


IIATHKMATICS.:   •  r)25 

and  if  this  opinion  l)e"\vell  foiincled,  tlie  science  of  ijeoine- 
try  must  hjive  been  cultivated  in  India  to  a  considerable 
extent  lonii^  before  the  ])eriod  assigned  to  its  origin  in  the 
West ;  so  that  many  elementary  propositions  may  have  been 
brought  from  India  to  (irF.ece."'  He  adds  :  "  In  geometry 
there  is  much  deserving  of  attention.  We  Imve  here  the 
celebrated  proposition  that  the  square  on  the  hypotenuse 
of  a  right-angled  triangle  is  equal  to  the  squares  on  the 
sides  containing  the  right  angle  and  other  j>ropositions, 
Avhicli  form  part  of  tlie  system  of  modern  geometry.  There 
is  one  remarkable  proposition,  name!}-,  that  which  dis- 
covers the  area  of  a  triangle  when  its  three  sides  are 
known.  This  does  not  seem  to  have  been  known  to  the 
ancient  Greek  geometers.'''' 

The  Sulva  Sutras,  however,  date  from  about  the 
eighth  century  B.C.,  and  Dr.  Thibaut  has  shown  that 
the  geometrical  theorem  of  the  47th  proposition,  Book  I, 
which  tradition  ascribes  to  Pythagoras,  was  solved  by 
the  Hindus  at  least  two  centuries  earlier,-  thus  con- 
firming the  conclusion  of  V.  Schroeder  tii;tt  the  Greek 
philosopher  owed  his  inspirktion  to  India. •' 

Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  Their  geometrical  skill 
is  shown  among  other  forms  by  their  demonstrations 
of  various  properties  of  triangles,  especially  one  which 
expresses  the  area  in  the  terms  of  the  three  sides,  and  was 
unknown  in  Europe  till  published  by  Clavius,  and  by 
their  knowledge  of  the  proportions  of  the  radius  to  the 
circumference  of  a  circle,  which  tiiey  express  in  a  mode 
peculiar  to   themselves,   by   applying   one  measure  and 

1  Edinburgh  Eiic}clopa?dia,   "Geometry,"  p.  191. 
^Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  1875,  p.  227. 
^See  History  of  Hindu  Chemistry,  Vol.  I,  p.  xxiv,  Intro. 


326  HINDU    SUPERIOIUTY. 

one  unit  to  the  radius  and  circumference.  This  proportion, 
which  is  confirmed  by  the  most  approved  labours  of  Euro- 
peans, was  not  known  out  of  India  until  modern  times."  ^ 


Algebra. 

The  Hindus  have  been  especially  successful  in  the 
cultivation  of  algebra.  Professor  Wallace  says  :  "  In 
algebra  the  Hindus  understood  well  the  arithmetic  of 
surd  roots,  and  the  general  resolution  of  equations  of 
the  second  degree,  which  it  is  not  clear  that  Diaphantus 
knew,  that  they  attained  a  general  solution  of 
indeterminate  problems  of  the  first  degree,  which  it  is 
certain  Diaphantus  had  not  attained,  and  a  method  of 
deriving  a  multitude  of  answers  to  problems  of  the 
second  degree,  when  one  solution  was  discovered  by 
trial,  which  is  as  near  an  approach  to  a  general  solution 
as  was  made  un^il  the  time  of  La  Grange."  Professor 
AVallace  concludes  by  adopting  the  opinion  of  Playfair 
on  this  subject,  "  that  before  an  author  could  think  of 
embodying  a  treatise  on  algebra  in  the  heart  of  a  system 
of  astronomy,  and  turning  the  researches  of  the  one 
science  to  the  purposes  of  the  other,  both  must  have  been 
in  such  a  state  of  advancement  as  the  lapse  of  several  ages 
and  many  repeated  efforts  of  inventors  were  required  to 
produce."  "This,"  says  Professor  Wilson,  "is  unanswer- 
able evidence  in  favour  of  the  antiquity,  originality,  and 
advance  of  the  Hindu  mathematical  science."^ 

lElphiiistone's  History  of  India,  p.  liiO. 
-'Mill's  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  lol,  Wilson's  note, 


MATHEMATICS.  ^27 

Mr.  Colebi'ooke  says:  "They  (the  Hindus)  uiulcr- 
stood  well  tlu^  arithmetic  of  surd  roots  ;  they  were 
aware  of  the  infinite  quotient  resultinij;  from  the  division 
of  finite  ([uantities  by  cipher ;  they  knew  the  general 
resolution  of  equations  of  the  second  degree,  and  had 
touched  upon  those  of  higher  denomination,  resolving 
them  in  the  sinq^lest  cases,  and  in  those  in  which  the 
solution  happens  to  be  practicable  by  the  method  which 
serves  for  quadratics  ;  they  had  attained  a  general 
solution  of  indeterminate  problems  of  the  first  degree  ; 
they  had  arrived  at  a  method  for  deriving  a  multitude 
of  solutions  of  answers  to  problems  of  the  second  degree 
from  a  single  answer  found  tentatively."^  "And  this," 
says  Colebrooke  i!i  conclasion  "  was  as  near  an  ap])roach 
to  a  general  solution  of  such  problems  as  was  made 
until  the  davs  of  La  Granij'e."' 

"  Equally  decided  is  the  evidence,"  says  Manning, 
"  that  this  excellence  in  algebraic  analysis  was  attained 
in  India  independent  of  foreign  aid." 

Mr.  Colebrooke  says  :  "  No  doubt  is  entertained  of 
the  source  from  which  it  was  received  immediately  by 
modern  Europeans.  The  Arabs  were  mediately  or  im- 
mediately our  instructors  in  this  study." 

Mrs.  Manning  says:  "The  Arabs  were  not  in  general 
inventors  hid  recipients.  Subsequent  observation  has 
confirmed  this  view  ;  for  not  only  did  algebra  in  an 
advanced  state  exist  in  India  prior  to  the  earliest 
disclosure  of  it  by  the  Arabians  to  modern  Europe,  but 

^Colebrooke's  Miscellaneous  Essays,  Vol.  II,  p.  419. 

2Colebrooke's  Miscellaneous  Essays,  Vol.  II,  pp.  416-418.  For 
the  points  in  which  Hindu  algebra  is  more  advanced  than  the  Greek, 
see  Colebrooke,  p.  IG. 


328  HINDU    SUI'EIMORITY. 

the  names  by  which  the  numerals  have  become  known 
to  ns  are  of  Sanskrit  origin."^ 

Professor  Monier  Wilhams  saj's :  "  To  the  Hindus 
is  due  the  inverdion  of  ahjebra  and  geometry  and  their 
application  to  (istronomyy- 

Comparing  the  Hindus  and  the  Greeks,  as  regards 
their  knowledge  of  algebra,  Mr.  Elphinstone  says : 
"There  is  no  question  of  the  superiority  of  the  Hindus 
over  their  rivals  in  the  perfection  to  which  they  brought 
the  science.  Not  only  is  Aryabhatta  superior  to  Dia- 
phantus  (as  is  shown  by  his  knowlege  of  the  resolution 
of  equations  involving  several  unknown  quantities,  and  in 
a  general  method  of  resolving  all  indeterminate  problems 
of  at  least  the  first  degree)  bat  he  and  his  successors 
press  hard  upon  the  discoveries  of  algebraists  who  lived 
almost  in  our  own  time."'^  "  It  is  with  a  feeling  of 
respectful  admiration  that  Mr.  Colebrooke  alludes  to 
ancient  Sanskrit  treatises  on  algebra,  arithmetic  and 
mensuration."* 

In  the  Edinburgh  Review  (Vol.  XXI,  p.  372)  is  a 
striking  history  of  a  probleui  (to  find  ,i',  so  that  ax-  +  b 
shall  be  a  square  number.)  The  first  step  towards  a 
solution  is  made  by  Diaphantus,  it  was  extended  by 
Fermat,  and  sent  as  a  detiance  to  the  English  algebraists 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  but  was  only  carried  to  its 
full    extent  by    the    celebrated     mathematician    Euler, 

1  Ancient  and  Media?val  India,  Vol.  II,  p,  ;575.  '-Mr.  Colebrooke 
lias  fnlly  shown  that  algebra  had  attained  the  highest  perfection  it  ever 
reached  in  India  before  it  was  ever  known  to  the  Arabians.  Whatever  the 
Arabs  possessed  in  conmion  with  the  Hindus,  there  are  good  grounds  to 
believe  that  they  derived  from  the  Hindus." — Elphinstone's  India,  p. 133. 

-Indian  Wisdom,  p.  185.     •^Elphinstone's  India,  p.  131. 

'^MuuuingN  Ancient  and  Medi;\jval  India.  Vol.  I,  p.  374 


MATHEMATICS  329 

who   arrives  exactly   at   the   pouit  before   attained  by 
Rhashkaracharya."  ^ 

Another  occurs  in  the  same  Review  (  VoUniie  XXIX, 
p.  153),  where  it  is  stated,  from  Mr.  Colcbrookc  that  a 
})articiilar  solution  given  by  Bhashkeracharya  is  exactly 
the  same  as  that  hit  on  by  Lord  l^rounker  in  1G57  ;  and 
that  the  general  solution  of  the  same  problem  was  unsuc- 
cessfully attempted  by  Euler  and  only  accom})lished  by 
De  la  Grange  in  1767  A.D. ;  although  it  had  been  as  com- 
pletely given  by  Brahmayapfa. 

"  But,"  says  Mr.  Elphinstone,  "  the  superiority  of 
the  Hindus  over  the  Greek  algebraists  is  scarcely  so 
conspicuous  in  their  discoveries  as  in  the  excellence  of 
their  method,  which  is  altogether  dissimilar  to  that  of 
Diaphantus  (Strachey's  Bija  Ganita  quoted  in  the 
"Edinburgh  Review,"  Vol.  XXI,  pp.  374,  375),  and. 
in  the  perfection  of  their  algorithm  (Colebrooke's  Hindu 
Algebra  quoted  in  the  E.  R.  Vol.  XXIX,  p.  162). 

One  of  their  most  favourite  processes  (that  called 
cattaca)  w^as  not  known  in  Europe  till  published  by 
Bachet  de  Mezeriac,  about  the  year  1624,  and  is  virtually 
the  same  as  that  explained  by  Euler  (Edinburgh  Review, 
Vol.  XXIX,  p.  151).  Their  application  of  algebra  to 
astronomical  investio:ations  and  o-eometrical  demonstra- 
tions  is  also  an  invention  of  their  own  ;  and  their  manner 
of   conducting  it  is  even   now   entitled    to  admiration  - 

lElphiustone's  l)idia,  p.  131.  Bliashkaracliaiya  wrote  the  cele- 
brated book  "Siddhaiita  Siromaui,"  containing  treatises  on  algebra  ami 
Arithmetic.  His  division  of  a  circle  is  remarkable  for  its  niiiuite 
analysis,  which  is  as  follows  :—  ^  n)^Ze%^oY^^o 

60  Vikala  (Seconds)       =     A  Tvala  (Minutes").  ^,     ,^r  .^,l 

bO   Kala  ...  =      A   Bhaga  (Degree).        -  -"*        -^  /' 

30  BhAga  ...  =     A   Rasi  (Sign). 

12  Rasi  ...  =     iV   Bhagana  (Revolution). 


380  ITIXDU    SUPKRIORTTY. 

(Colebrooke,  quoted  by  Professor  Wallace;  and  Edinburgh 
Review,  Vol.  XXIX,  p.  158). 

.Speaking  of  the  Hindu  treatises  on  algebra,  arith- 
metic, and  mensuration,  Mr.  Colebrooke  says  :  "  It  is 
not  hoped  that  in  the  actual  advanced  condition  of 
the  analytical  art  they  will  add  to  its  resources  and 
throw  new  light  on  the  mathematical  science  in  any 
other  respect  than  as  concerns  its  history,  but  had  an 
earlier  version  of  these  treatises  been  completed,  had 
they  been  translated  and  given  to  the  public  when  the 
notice  of  mathematicians  Avas  first  drawn  to  the  attain- 
ments of  the  Hindus  in  astronomy  and  in  sciences 
connected  with  it,  some  additions  would  have  been  then 
made  to  the  means  and  resources  of  algebra,  for  the 
general  solution  of  problems,  by  methods  which  have 
been  re-invented  or  have  been  perfected  in  the  last  age."^ 

It  is  thus  evident  from  what  Mr.  Colebrooke  shows 
that  the  Hindu  literature  even  in  its  degenerate  state, 
and  when  so  few  works  are  extant,  contains  mathematical 
■works  that  show  an  advance  in  the  science  in  no  way 
behind  the  latest    European   achievements. 

As  an  instance  of  the  remarkable  and  extensive 
practice  and  cultivation  of  mathematics  in  India,  may 
be  cited  the  case  of  a  problem  from  Lallta  Vistar.  Mons. 
Wa^pcke,'  indeed,  is  of  opinion  that,  the  account  in  the 


•  Colebrooke's  MiscoUaueoas  Essays.  Vol.  II,  p.  410. 

It  may,  however,  be  said  that  in  some  quarters  the  genuineness  of 
the  independent  sohition  of  the  problems  mentioned  above,  and  i\w 
discoverv  of  methods  siniihir  totiiose  of  tlie  Hindus  by  modern  Europeans 
liave  been  doubted,  and  such  doabts  may  well  be  excused,  considerint>' 
the  extensive  intercourse  that  has  existed  between  India  and  Knropo 
i'or  a  Ion,!?  tinie  past. 

-■iMem  Siirla  prnjHKjtdian  des  cJn'fres  Ind/ens,  Paris,  18(!.5,  pp.  7r»-91, 


MATIIKMATICS.  331 

Lal'ila  Vistara  of  the  problem  solved  by  Biuldha  on  tlie 
occasion  of  his  marriage  examination,  relative  to  the 
number  of  atoms  in  the  length  of  a  Yojana,  is  the  basis 
of  the  "  Arenariiis  "of  the  celebrated  scientist  Archimedes. 
The  credit  of  the  discovery  of  the  principle  of  dili'er- 
ential  calculus  is  generally  claimed  by  the  Europeans. 
But  it  is  remarkable  that  a  similar  method  existed  in 
India  asfes  ajro.  Bhashkeracharva,  one  of  the 
world's  greatest  mathematicians,  has  referred  to  it. 
Following,  however,  in  the  footsteps  of  his  Hindu 
})redecessors  he  does  not  expound  the  method  fully,  but 
only  gives  an  outline  of  it. 

Mr.  Spottiswoode  says :  "  It  must  be  admitted 
that  the  penetration  shown  by  Bhashkeracharya  in  his 
analysis  is  in  the  highest  degree  remarkable  that  the 
formula  which  he  establishes,  and  his  method,  bear 
more  than  a  mere  resemblance — they  bear  a  strong 
analogy — to  the  corresponding  process  in  modern 
mathematical  astronomy  ;  and  that  the  majority  of 
scientific  persons  will  learn  with  surprise  the  existence 
of  such  a  method  in  the  writings  of  so  distant  a 
period  and  so  remote  a  region."^ 

Mr.  Lethbridge  says  :  "  Bhashkeracharya  is  said  to 
have  discovered  a  mathematical  process  very  nearlj'- 
resembling  the  differential  calculus  of  modern  European 
mathematician? 


"2 

IS. 


'J.  R.  A.  S.,  Vol.  XV'll.  -Scbuol  liistory  v[  ludia,  A)>iiL'iidix  A,  p.  ii. 


332  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 


III.— ASTRONOMY. 

'*  Ye  multiplying  masses  of  increased 

And  still  increasing  lights  :  what  are  ye  ?  what 

Is  this  blue  ■wilderness  of  interminable 

Air  where  ye  roll  along,  as  I  have  seen 

The  leaves  along  the  limpid  stream  of  Eden  ? 

Is  your  course  measured  for  ye  ?  or  do  ye 

Sweep  on  in  your  unbounded  revelry 

Tlirough  an  aerial  universe  of  endless 

Expansion,  at  which  my  soul  aches  to  think, 

Intoxicated  with  eternity." 

Byron  :  Cain. 

A  European  critic  says  :  "  For  a  man,  the  most  sublime 
study  is  that  of  astronomy."  And,  indeed,  what  can 
be  more  sublime  than  the  study  of  Nature  in  its  broadest 
aspects,  of  the  movements  and  the  functions  of  those 
wonderful  and  splendid  bodies  with  which  the  boundless 
expanse  of  the  wide,  wide  space  is  thickly  studded,  where 
fancy  is  puzzled  and  imagination  itself  staggered  ? 

"  Heaven 
Is  as  the  book  of  God  befoie  thee  set 
Wherein  to  read  His  wondrous  words." 

Milton  :  Paradise  Lost, 

The  science  of  astronomy  flourishes  only  amongst  a 
civilized  people.  Hence,  considerable  advancement  in  it 
is  itself  a  proof  of  the  high  civilization  of  a  nation.  Hindu 
astronomy,  or  what  remains  of  it,  has  received  the  homage 
of  European  scholars.  Dr.  Sir  William  Hunter  says  : 
*'  The  Astronomy  of  the  Hindus  has  formed  the  subject 
of  excessive  admiration. "    "  Proofs  of  very  extraordinary 


ASTKONOMV.  So  3 

proficiency,"  says  Mr.  Elphinstonc,  "  in  their  nstronomi- 
cal  writings  iire  found.' 

The  Hindu  astronomy  not  only  establishes  the  higli 
proficiency  of  our  ancestors  in  tliis  department  of  know- 
ledge and  exact  admiration  and  applause  :  it  does  some- 
thing more.  It  proves  the  great  antiquity  of  the  Sanskrit 
literature  and  the  hi<j;h  literary  culture  of  the  Hindus. 
*'  Mons.  Bailly,  the  celebrated  author  of  the  History  of 
Astronomy,  inferred  from  certain  astronomical  tables  of 
the  Hindus,  not  only  advanced  progress  of  the  science  but 
a  date  so  ancient  as  to  be  entirely  inconsistent  with  the 
chronology  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  His  argument  was 
laboured  with  the  utmost  diligence,  and  was  received  with 
unbounded  applause.  All  concurred  at  the  time  with  the 
wonderful  learning,  wonderful  civilization  and  wonderful 
institutions  of  the  Hindus."-  It  must  not,  however,  be 
forgotten,  as  this  celebrated  astronomer  (Mons.  Bailly) 
holds,  that  Hindu  astronomy  is  "the  remains  rather  than 
the  elements  of  a  science."^ 

Mr.  Weber  says  :  "  Astronomy  was  practised  in 
India  as  early  as  2780  B.C."*  But  some  of  the  greatest 
modern  astronomers  have  decided  in  favour  of  a  much 
greater  antiquity.  Cassini,  Bailly,  Gentil  and  Playfair 
maintain  "  that  there  are  Hindu  observations  extant 
which  must  have  been  made  more  than  three  thousand 


1  History  of  India,  p.  129.  2Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol.  II,  pp.  07,98. 

"^See  Bailly 's  Histoire  de  V  Astronomie  Ancienne  (^Plutot  les  debria 
qii€  les  elemens  d'une  Science). 

**  Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  30.  "  Biot  regards  tlie  2357  B.C. 
as  the  earliest  point  when  the  course  of  the  njoon  was  first  watched 
for  astronomical  use." — Dunker's  History  ofAntiquiti/,  p.  2^4. 


•1  o 


1  ]IINDU    SUi'KKIOJaTV. 


years  before  Christ,  and  which  evince  even  then  a  very 
hiyh  det/ree  of  astronomical  science."^ 

Count  Bjornstjerna  proves  conclusively  that  Hindu 
astronomy  was  very  far  advanced  even  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Kaliyug,  or  the  iron   age  of  the  Hindus  (about 
5,000  years  ago).      He  says  :   "  According  to  the  astro- 
nomical calculations  of  the  Hindus,  the  present  period  of 
the  world,  Kaliyug,  commenced    3,102   years  before  the 
birth  of  Christ,  on  the  20th  of  February,  at  2  hours  27 
minutes  and  30  seconds,  the  time  being  thus  calculated  to 
minutes  and  seconds.     They  say  that  a  conjunction  of 
the  planets  then  took  place,  and  their  tables  show  this 
conjunction.     Bailly  states    that   Jupiter   and   Mercury 
were  then  in  the  same  degree  of  the  ecliptic,   Mars  at  a 
distance  of  only  eight,  and   Saturn  of  seven  degrees ; 
whence  it  follows,  that  at  the  point  of  time  given  by  the 
Brahmins   as  the  commencement  of  Kaliyug,  the  four 
planets   above-mentioned  must  have  been    successively 
concealed  by  the  rays  of  the  sun  (first  Saturn,  then  Mars, 
afterwards  Jupiter  and  lastl}'    Mercury).     They    thus 
showed  themselves  in  conjunction  ;  and  although  Venus 
could  not  then  be  seen,   it   was  natural    to    say,   that 
a   conjunction   of    the    jjlanets    then    took   place.      The 
calculation  of  the  Brahmins  is  so  exactly  confirmed  by 
our  own  astronomical  tables,  that  notliino;  but  an  actual 
observation  could  have  given  so  correspondent  a  result." 
The  learned   Count   continues:    "He  (Bailly)    further 
informs  us  that  Laubere,  Avho  was  sent  by  Louis  XIV  as 
ambassador  to  the  King  of  Siam,  brought  home,  in  the 
year  1687,  astronomical  tables  of  solar  eclipses,  and  that 
other  similar  tables  were  sent  to  Europe  by  Patouillet 

'  Tlioogoiiy  of  the  llindus,  p.  32. 


ASTRONO:\rY.  ^?)i') 

(a  missionary  in  the  Carnatic),  and  by  Gontil,  Avliidi  latter 
were  obtained  from  the  Brahmins  in  Tirvalore,  and  that 
they  all  perfecfli/  agree  in  their  calculations  aJtIioft(/h 
received  from  (/ifcrent  person.'^,  at  cdferenf  times,  an<l 
from  places  in  India  remote  from  each  other.  On  these 
tables,  Bailly  makes  the  following  observation.  The 
motion  calciilated  by  the  Brahmins  during  the  long 
space  of  4,383  years  (the  period  elapsed  between  these 
calculations  and  Baillj^'s),  varies  not  a  single  minute  from 
the  tables  of  Cassini  and  Meyer  ;  and  as  the  tables 
brought  to  Europe  by  Laubere  in  1687,  under  Louis 
XIV,  are  older  than  those  of  Cassini  and  Meyer,  the 
accordance  between  them  must  be  the  result  of  mvtu.al 
and  exact  astronomical  observations."  Then  again, 
*'  Indian  tables  give  the  same  annual  variation  of  the  m.oon 
as  that  discovered  by  Tycho  Brahe,  a  variation  unknown 
to  the  school  of  Alexandria,  and  also  to  the  Arabs,  who 
followed  the  calculations  of  this  school." 

"These  facts,"  says  the  erudite  Count,  "sufficiently 
show  the  great  antitjuity  and  distinguished  station  of 
astronomical  science  among  the  Hindus  of  past  ages." 
The  Count  then  asks  "if  it  be  true  that  the  Hindus  more 
than  3,000  B.C.,  according  to  Bailly's  calculation,  had 
attained  so  high  a  degree  of  astronomical  and  geometrical 
learning,  how  many  centuries  earlier  must  the  com- 
mencement of  their  culture  have  been,  since  the  human 
mind  advances  only  step  by  step  on  the  path  of  science!"' 

There  are,  however,  many  other  arguments  to  estab- 
lish  a   far  higher  antiquity  of   the   Hindu   astronomy 
than  what  is  assigned  by  Bentley.     The  equation  of  the 
sun's  centre,  according  to  the  Indian  tables,  is  2°  lOJ'; 
^  Theogony  of  tlie  Hindns.  p.  37. 


336  niXDU    SUPERIORITY. 

whereas  the  same  quantity  according  to  the  modern 
observations  is  only  1°  oo^' .  It  is  one  consequence  of 
the  mutual  disturbances  of  planets  that  the  eccentricity 
of  the  solar  orbit  on  which  the  equation  just  mentioned 
depends,  was  greater  in  former  ages  than  it  is  at  the 
present  time.  From  the  quantity  which  the  Hindus 
assign  to  this  astronomical  element,  ^I.  Bailly  has 
drawn  an  argument  in  favour  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
Indian  tables,  which  it  must  be  confessed  is  of  great 
weight  when  the  difference  of  the  Indian  and  European 
determinations  is  considered  as  arising  from  the 
gradual  alteration  of  the  planetary  orbits. 

2.  The  quantities  which  the  Indian  tables  assign  to 
other  astronomical  elements,  vu.,  the  mean  motions  of 
Jupiter  and  Saturn,  have  been  found  to  agree  almost 
exactly  not  with  what  is  observed  at  the  present  time, 
but  with  what  the  theory  of  gravity  shows  would  have 
been  observed  at  the  beginning  of  the  Kaliyug.  Laplace 
discovered  it  after  the  publication  of  the  Astronomie 
[ndien  and  inserted  it  in  the  Journal  des  Savans. 

3.  M.  Bailly  has  shown  that  the  place  of  the 
aphelion  of  Jupiter's  orbit,  determined  by  the  Indian 
tfibles  for  the  beginning  of  the  Kaliyug  agrees  with  the 
modern  tables  of  Lalande  when  corrected  by  the 
theoretical  equations  of  La  Grange.  The  same  thing  is 
true  of  the  quantity  which  the  Hindus  assign  to  the 
equation  of  Saturn's  centre. 

4.  Another  argument  to  vindicate  the  great  anti- 
quity of  Hindu  astronomy  is  derived  from  the  obliquity 
of  the  ecleptic  which  the  Indians  state  at  24°.  Both 
observation    and    theory    concur   in    showing   that  tlie 


ASTKOXO.MY.  337 

obliquity  of  the  ecliptic  has  been  diminishing  slowly  for 
many  ages  preceding  the  present. 

5.  The  length  of  the  Hindu  tropical  year  as  de- 
duced from  the  Hindu  tables  is  365  days,  5  hours,  50 
minutes,  35  seconds,  while  La  Callie's  observ^ation  gives 
365-5-48-49.  This  makes  the  year  at  the  time  of  the 
Hindu  observation  longer  than  at  present  by  1'46".  It 
is,  however,  an  established  fact  that  the  year  has  been 
decreasing  in  duration  from  time  immemorial  and  shall 
continue  to  decrease.  In  about  49  centuries  the  time 
of  the  year  decreases  about  40J".  This,  then,  is  an 
immistakahle  proof  of  the  very  Jdgh  antiqvitij  of  Indian 
ostronom.}/.  The  observation  by  the  Hindus  must  have 
been  made  in  the  Dwapar  (more  than  5,000  years  ago). 

It  should  now  be  quite  clear  that  in  India  astronomy 
was  cultivated  and  wonderful  progress  in  the  science 
made  at  a  period  when  the  rest  of  the  world,  including  the 
whole  of  Europe,  w^as  completely  enveloped  in  ignorance. 

Sir  W.  Hunter  says  :  "  In  some  points  the  Brahmans 
made  advances  beyond  Greek  astronomy.  Their  fame 
spread  throughout  the  West,  and  found  entrance  into  the 
Chronicon  Paschale  (commenced  about  330  A.D.  and 
revised  under  Heraclius  610-641).^ 

Mr.  Elphinstone  says:  "In  addition  to  the  points  al- 
ready mentioned  in  which  the  Hindus  have  gone  beyond 
the  other  nations,  Mr.  Colebrooke  mentions  two  in  astro- 
nomy. One  is  in  their  notions  regarding  the  processions 
of  the  Equinoxes,  in  which  they  w^ere  more  correct  than 
Ptolemy,  and  as  much  so  as  the  Arabs,  who  did  not  attain 
to  that  degree  of  improvement  till  a  later  period ;  the  other 


1  Indian  Gazetteer,  Vol.  IV,  p.  218. 


338  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

relates  to  the  diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis 
which  the  Brahmans  discussed  in  the  fifth  century  B.G."^ 
Sir  W.  Hunter  savs  :  "  The  Sanskrit  term  for  the 
apex  of  a  planet's  orbit  seems  to  have  passed  into  the 
Latin  translations  of  the  Arabic  astronomers.  The  Sans- 
krit ifccha  became  the  anx  (gen.  ait  1/ is)  of  the  later  trans- 
lators."    (Reinaud,  p.  325  and  AVeber,  p.  257). 

Professor  Weber  says  :  "  The  fame  of  Hindu  astrono- 
mers spread  to  the  West,  and  the  Andubarius  (or  probably, 
Ardubarius),  whom  the  Chronicon  Paschale  places  in 
primeval  times  as  the  earliest  Indian  stronomer,  is  doubt- 
less none  other  than  Aryabhatta,  the  rival  of  Pulisa,  and 
who  is  likewise  extolled  by  the  Arabs  under  the  name 
of  Arjabahar."- 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "The  science  of  astronomy 
at  present  exhibits  many  proofs  of  accurate  observation 
and  deduction,  highly  creditable  to  the  science  of  the 
Hindu  astronomers.  The  division  of  the  ecleptic  into 
lunar  mansions,  the  solar  zodiac,  the  mean  motions  of 
the  planets,  the  procession  of  the  equinox,  the  earth's 
self-support  in  space,  the  diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth 
on  its  axis,  the  revolution  of  the  moon  on  her  axis,  her 
distance  from  the  earth,  the  dimensions  of  the  orbits  of 
the  planet,  the  calculations  of  eclipses  are  parts  of  a 
svstem  which  could  not  have  been  found  amongst  an 
unenlightened  people,"'^ 

But    the    originality    of    the    Hindus    is    not    less 

striking  than  their  proficiency.       It   is  remarkable  that 

the    Hindu    methods    are    all    original    and     peculiar. 

Professor    Wilson  says:     "'The    originality    of  Hindu 

I  History  of  India,  p.  i32,  iootnote.   "AVchor's  Indian  Literature,  jj.  255. 
^Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol.  II,].).  100. 


A?;TKONnMr.  839 

nstronomv  is  i\{  once  cstablislicd,  I)Ut  it  is  also  proved 
by  intrinsic  evidence,  and  althougli  there  are  some  re- 
markable coincidences  between  the  Hindu  and  other 
systems,  their  methods  arc  their  own."'  Mr.  Elphin- 
stone  says  :  "  In  the  more  advanced  stai>*es,  where  they 
are  more  likely  to  have  borrowed,  notonlv  is  their  mode 
of  proceedings  peculiar  to  themselves  but  it  is  often 
founded  on  principles,  with  which  no  other  ancient 
people  were  acquainted,  and  showed  a  knowledge  of 
discoveries  not  made  even  in  Europe  till  within  the 
course  of  the  last  two  centuries, "- 

In  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Journal  of  the  Ameri- 
can Oriental  Society',  Professor  Whitney  published  an 
English  translation  of  Suri/a  Siddhdnt  by  the  Kev.  E. 
Burgess,  with  an  elaborate  commentary  by  himself.  This 
paper  excited  comments  froniM.  Biot,  the  late  venerable 
astronomer  of  Paris,  and  from  Professor  Weber  of  Berlin. 
Biot  believed  that  the  Hindus  derived  their  system  of 
Nakahntrnn^  or  moon  stations,  from  the  Chinese,  but  Pro- 
fessor Whitne}'  contributed  two  other  papers  to  the  said 
Journal,  in  which  he  clearly  shows  that  the  Hindu 
Nalisliatra  does  not  mean  the  same  thing  as  the  Chinese 
sleu.  Sien  means  a  single  star,  whereas  Nalshaira 
expresses  a  (jroup  of  stars ^  or  rather  a  certain  portion  of 
the  starry  heavens.  Again,  Professor  AVeber  shows  that 
the  Chinese  slea  is  not  traceable  further  than  two  or 
three  centuries  before  Christ,  while  NaksJuitras  are 
amongst  the  heavenly  objects  mentioned  in  the  Vedic 
hymns. "'^  The  great  antiquity  of  the  science,  however, 
is  the  best  proof  of  its  originality. 


1  Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol.  If,  p.  107. 
-Elphinstoue's  History  of  India,  p.  132. 

3W.    I).    Whitney,    "Views  of   Weber  and   Biut   re.-pcct  ing   U.e 
"Relations  of  the  Hindu  and  Chinese  Asterisks,  p.  25. 


340  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

The  Arabs  were  the  disciples  of  the  Hindus  in  this 
branch  of  knowledge  also.  Professor  Weber  says  that 
Hindu  astronomers  are  extolled  by  the  Arabs.  He  adds  : 
"  For,  during  the  eighth  and  nineth  centuries  the  Arabs 
were,  in  astronomy,  the  disciples  of  Hindus,  from  whom 
they  borrowed  the  lunar  mansions  in  their  new  order, 
and  whose  Siddhdnts  they  frequently  worked  up  and 
translated  in  part  under  the  supervision  of  Indian  astro- 
nomers themselves,  whom  the  Khalifs  of  Baghdad,  etc., 
invited  to  their  courts."^ 

Dr.  Robertson  says  :  "  It  is  highly  probable  that  the 
knowledge  of  the  twelve  signs  of  zodiacs  was  derived 
from  India."^ 

Sir  \Y.  W.  Hunter  says:  "The  Arabs  became  their 
(Hindus)  disciples  in  the  eighth  century,  and  translated 
Sanskrit  treatises,  Siddhdnts,  under  the  nsune  Smdhends.''^ ■^ 
Professor  Wilson  says  :  "  Indian  astronomers  were  greatly 
encouraged- by  the  early  Khalifs,  particularly  Harun-ul- 
Rashid,  and  Aimamun  ;  they  were  invited  to  Baghdad, 
and  their  works  were  translated  into  Arabic.  The 
Hindus  were,  fully  as  much  as  the  Greeks,  the  teachers 
of  the  Arabians."* 

There  are  nine  Siddhantas  :'  (1)  Hrahma  Siddhanta, 
(2)  Surya  Siddhanta,  (8)  Soma  Siddhanta,  (4)  Vrihaspati 
Siddhanta,  (5)  Gargya  Siddhfmta,  (6)  Nfirada  Siddhanta, 
(7)  Parasin-  Siddhanta,  (8)  Pulastya  Siddhanta,  and  (9) 
A^ashishta  Siddhanta.    Of  these,  the  work  best  known  to 

^Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  255.  2 Disquisition  concerning 
India,  p,  280. 

■Undiau  Gazetteer,  "India,"  p.  218.  -^Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol. 
II,  p.  107. 

■"The  Panch  Siddhantas,  or  the  five  principal  astronomical  works 
in  general  use  are  :  (1)  The  Paulisa  Siddhanta,  (2)  The  Romaka  Sid- 
dhanta, (^S)  The  Vashishta  Siddhanta,  (4)  The  Saura  Siddhanta, 
Brahma  Siddhanta,  (5)  The  Failawaha  Siddhaula. 


ASTRONOMY.  341 

Europeans  is  the  Sitri/a  Si/kiJurnfa  which  is  the  oldest 
o£  the  extant  SiddhantasJ  There  is  internal  evidence  to 
show  that  Surya  Siddhdnta  is  a  very  old  book.  The 
author  in  two  slokas  (Madhyan  Addhaya,  slokas  22,  23) 
gives  the  date  when  the  book  was  written.   He  says: 

"Six  Manwantras  have  passed  since  the  beginnin2^ 
of  this  kalp  (present  world)  :  and  of  the  seventh  i\Ian- 
wantra,  27  Chaturyugis  have  passed.  The  Satyug  of 
the  28th  Chaturyugi  has  also  passed.  From  this  the 
time  of  the  compilation  of  this  book  may  be  inferred." 
This  makes  the  book  nearly  2,165,000  years  old. 

Mr.  Davis  calculates  that  the  celebrated  Hindu  as- 
tronomer, Parasar,  judging  from  the  observations  made 
by  him,  must  have  lived  1391  years  before  Christ, ^ 
and  consequent!}",  says  Bjornstjerna,  *'  had  read  in  the 
divine  book  of  the  heavenlv  firmament  long  before  the 
Chaldees,  the  Arabs  and  the  Greeks."^ 

Mr.  Houghton  says  :  "  From  a  text  of  Parasar  it 
appears  that  the  equinox  had  gone  back  from  the  tenth 
deoree  of  Bharv'i  to  the  first  of  Aswini.  or  23  deurees  and 
20  minutes  between  the  days  of  that  Indian  philosopher 
and  the  year  of  our  Lord  499,  when  it  coincided  with 
the  orio-in  of  the  Hindu  ecliptic,  so  that  Parasar  probably 
flourished  near  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  before 
Christ." 

1  Indian  Wisdom,  pp.  184,  185- 

2  Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  288. 
siheogony  of  the  Hindus,  pp.  33)  34. 


342  HINDU    SUrElMOKITY. 

After  Parasar  Miuii  came  Aryabhatta,  Avho  was  a 
great  astrologer  too.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  not 
known,  though  it  is  certain  that  he  was  born  lono- anterior 
to  Vicramaditya.  He  Avas  the  man  who,  according  to  the 
Europeans,  first  brought  to  light  "diurnal  revolution  of 
the  earth  on  its  axis,  and  to  have  known  the  true  theorv 
of  the  causes  of  the  lunar  and  solar  eclipses,  and  notice 
the  motion  of  solstitial  and  equinoctial  points."^ 

His  principal  works  are:  (1)  Aryabatika,  (2)  Dasa 
Gitika,  (3)  Aryashta  Sata. 

The  best  known  astronomer  who  flourished  after 
Aryabhatta's  time  is  Varahmihira,  who  became  pre-emi- 
nent in  astrology.  Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "  Varahmihira 
may  be  cited  as  a  celebrated  astronomer  to  whom  astro- 
lo2'v  was  irresistibly  attractive  :"  and  as^ain,  "He  is  called 
an  astronomer,  but  it  is  for  astrology  that  we  find  him 
most  celebrated.  He  attained  excellence  in  each  branch  of 
the  Sanhita,  and  before  w^riting  his  celebrated  treatise 
called  the  Brihat- Sanhita  he  composed  a  work  on  pure 
astronomy."-  Virahmihir  lived  in  the  first  century  before 
Christ,  and  was  one  of  the  nine  gems  at  the  court  of 
Yikramaditya.     The  nine  gems,  or  7iaii  ratan,  were  : — 

%cn^  vf|w^  iirrn;  ^Tf^^i^i:  ii 

Varahmihir's  chief  works  are  :  (1)  Vrihaj  Jataka, 
(2)  Brihat  Sanhita,  (3)  A  Summary  of  the  Original 
Pancli  Siddhantas.  Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "  Richness  of 
detail  constitutes  the  chief  attraction  of  the  book  (Brihat 

iSee  Chamber's  Encyclopaedia. 

'-Ancient  and  Mediccval  India,  Vol.  I,  pp.,  308,309. 


ASTRONOMY.  1)4. S 

Sanhita),  a  merit  which  was  appreciated  by  tlie  Arab 
astrologer,  Albiriini  (^'^r^^^),  as  it  will  be  by  ourselves  ; 
for  altliough  professedly  astrological,  its  value  for 
geography,  architecture,  sculpture,  etc.,  is  uneqmdled 
by  any  Sanskrit  work  as  yet  published. "i 

The  last  Hindu  astronomer  of  eminence,  however, 
was  Bhashkeracharya,  who  is  said  by  Europeans  to  have 
flourished  so  late  as  the  twelfth  century.  He  ex- 
pounded the  law  of  gravity  with  peculiar  felicity,  while 
his  mathematical  works  place  him  in  the  forefront  of 
the  world's  great  mathematicians. 

The  roundness  of  the  earth  and  its  diurnal  rotation, 
however,  w^ere  known  to  the  Hindus  from  the  earliest 
times.  Says  a  Rishi  in  the  Aiteriya  Brahmana  :  "  Bv 
this  great  inauguration  similar  to  Indra's,  Tura,  son  of 
Kavasha,  consecrated  Janamjaya,  and  thereby  did  he 
subdue  the  earth  completely  round.'''''  In  Aryabhat- 
tiyam  we  read  : 

"  The  earth,  situated  in  the  middle  of  the  heavens 
and  composed  of  five  elements,  is  spherical  in  its  shape." 
Bhashkaracharya,  in  Goladhaya^  says  : 

"  A  hundredth  part  of  the  circumference  of  a  circle 
appears  to  be  a  straight  line.     Our  earth  is  a  big  sphere, 

^  Ancient  and  Mcdiasval  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  370.     See  also  Dr.  Kern's 
Bib.  Ind.,  Introduction,  p.  27. 

^Haug'sj  Aiteriya  Brahmana,  Vol,  II,  p.  242, 


o44  HINDU    SUPEKIOItlTT. 

and  the  portion  visible  to  man  being  exceedingly  small, 
the  earth  appears  to  be  flat." 

Dr.  H.  Kern,  in  his  paper  on  "  Some  fragments  of 
Aryabhatta,"  translates  a  passage  as  follows  :  "  The 
terrestrial  globe,  a  compound  of  earth,  fire,  water,  air,  en- 
tirely round,  and  compassed  by  a  girdle,  i.e.,  equator, 
stands  in  the  air,"  etc.,  etc. 

As  regards  the  annual  motion  of  the  earth,  the 
Rig  Veda  says  : 

■STT  Jl^l^^fsf  ^sffci  fspEficf  ^'^\  ^f  TIT  ^crsf^K^TTrf:  I 
^T  g^^TJDT  ^^m^  ^igw  %^»^1"  ^TSlsf^^lT  f^^^  II 
The  diurnal  motion  is  thus  described  in  the  Yajur  Veda  : 
WT^  31^5  ^r^^fifll^^ff'^TcT^*  XT?;:  I  f^c{^  =^  5f^'(^:  II 
The  Aiteriya  Brahmana  explains  that  the  sun  neither 
sets  nor  rises,  that  when  the  earth,  owing  to  the  rotation  on 
its  axis  is  lighted  up,  it  is  called  day,"  and  so  on.^ 

^^  ^\^  irTer^%<flfcT  Tijg%  ^t^^^  cr^^frfflc^  ^'gTcflTsf' 
f^ipr^%  SEj'^T^T^'^TTcf  ^^^  ^Tf^iT  5^^TcT  I  ^  t"  ■5:¥  sf '^^T=^T 

fij^'^^^fcT  I  if  =r  f  ^^T=^*r  f5TT^"t^fcr  ii 
As  regards  the  stars  being  stationery,  Aryabhatta^  says : 
HXT^s^C-  f^^t^T^^^T^WIJTfcTf^Tf^^^  I 
^?^?n^?T^^  ^'iTT^^^  371"*t^'^TJni  II 
"  The  starry  vault  is  fixed.  It  is  the  earth  which,  moving 
round  its  axis,  again  and  again  causes  the  rising  and  set- 
ting of  planets  and  stars."   He  starts  the  question.  "  Why 
do  the  stars  seems  to  move  ?  "  and  himself  replies  :   "As 
a  person  in  a  vessel,  while  moving  forwards,  sees  an  im- 
movable object   moving  backwards,  in  the  same  manner 
do  the  stars,  however  immovable,  seem  to  move  daily."^ 


iHaug'f?  Aiteriya  Brahamana,  Vol.  II,  p.  242. 
iJColebrooke's  Miscellaneous  Essays,  Vol.  II,  p.  392, 
3 Journal  of  ihe  K.A.«.,  Vol.  XX,  p.  372. 


ASTK(JNoMV.  '345 

The    Polar    davs  and   ni<:;lits   o£    six   months    arc    ulso 
described  by  him. 

It  has  been  remarked  : 

''  When  it  is  sunrise  at  Lanka  (the  E(juator)  it  is   mid- 
day at  Java,  sunset  in  America,  and  midnight  at  Rome." 
As  reo'ards  the  size  of  the  earth,  it  is  said : 

^ig^^^T^^g^:  ffT^^^tW%^Tf^^T:  II 
"  The  circumference  of  the  earth  is  4,967  yojanas, 
and  its  diameter  is  1,581— yojanas."  A  yojana  is  equal 
to  live  English  miles,  the  circumference  of  the  earth 
would  therefore  be  24,835  miles  and  its  diameter 
7,905-5/24  miles. 

The  Yajur  A^eda  sa3's  that  the  earth  is  kept  in  space 
owing  to  the  superior  attraction  of  the  sun. 

The  theory  of  gravity    is    thus    described    in    the 
Sldhdnta  Shlromani  centuries  before  Newton  was  born. 

^^  JJ^^^lf^fW  ^^TFTt^T  1 1 

^%  ^^^TcT  ^tfcrf^^  ^%:  1 1 
"  The  earth,  owing  to  its  force  of  gravity,  draws  all 
things  towards  itself,  and  so  they  seem  to  fall  towards 
'the  earth."  etc.  etc. 


346  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 


That  the  moon  and  the  stars  are  dark  bodies  is  thus 
described  :  — 

"  The  earth,  the  planets  and  the  comets  all  receive 
their  liirht  from  the  sun  :  that  half  towards  the  sun 
being  always  bright,  the  colour  varying  with  the  pecu- 
liarity of  the  substance  of  each." 

The    Atharva  Yeda  says  :  "  f^f^  ^I'hI"  ^fyf^rr:  |  " 
"  The  moon  is  dependent  on  the  sun  for  its  light." 

As  regards  the  atmosphere  it  is  stated  : 

"The  atmosphere  surrounds  the  earth,  and  its  height 
is  12  yojanas  (60  English  miles),  and  the  clouds,  light- 
ning etc.  are  phenomena  connected  with  it." 

Mr.  Colebrooke  says  :  "  Aryabhatta  affirmed  the 
diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis.  He  posses- 
sed the  true  theor}^  of  the  causes  of  solar  and  lunar  eclipses 
and  disregarded  the  imnginar}^  dark  planets  of  m^'tholog- 
ists  and  astrologers,  affirming  the  moon  and  primary 
j)]anets  (and  even  the  stars)  to  be  essentially  dark  and 
only  illuminated  by  the  sun."^ 

As  regards  the  solar  and  lunar  eclipses,  it  is  stated  : 

^K^^^fff^^f^H  ^iftqm:  II 

"  When  the  earth  in  its  rotation  comes  between 
the  sun  and  the  moon,  and  the  shadow  of  the  earth  falls 
on  the  moon,  tlie  phenomenon  is  called  lunar  eclipse, 
and  when  the  moon  comes  between  the  sun  and  the 
earth  the  sun  seems  as  if  it  was  being  cut  off — this  is 
solar  eclipse." 

1  Culcbrooke's  Essays,  .\[)pendix  Gr,  p.  i67. 


ARTnONOMY.  ?)47 

The  fuUowliio-  Ls  taken  from  Varai nil lir's  observations 
on  the  moon.  "  One  half  of  the  moon,  wliosc  orbit  lies 
between  the  sun  and  the  earth,  is  always  bright  by  the 
sun's  rays  ;  the  other  half  is  dark  by  its  own  shadows, 
like  the  two  sides  of  a  pot  standhig  in  the  sunshine."^ 

About  eclipses,  he  says  :  "  The  true  explanation  of 
the  phenomenon  is  this  :  in  an  eclipse  of  the  moon,  he 
enters  into  the  earth's  shadow  ;  in  a  solar  eclipse,  the 
same  thing-  happens  to  the  sun.  Hence  the  commence- 
ment of  a  lunar  eclipse  does  not  take  place  from  the  icest 
side,  nor  that  of  the  solar  eclipse  from  the  easty- 

Kali  Dasa  says  in  his  Ear/hif  Vansa: 

Jai  Deva  sings  in  the  Gita  Govind  :  "  His  heart  was 
agitated  by  her  sight,  as  the  waves  of  the  deep  are 
att'ected  by  the  lunar  orb."^ 

India  has  from  time  immemorial  been  the  land  of 
philosophers,  poets,  astronomers  and  mathematicians, 
and  every  now  and  then  it  produces  a  great  genius. 
Less  than  two  centuries  ago,  Rajputana  produced  an 
astronomer,  no  doubt  the  greatest  of  his  time.  This 
astronomer  was  no  other  than  the  famous  Jai  Singh  of 
Jaipur.  Sir  William  Hunter  says:  "Raja  Jai  Singh  II 
constructed  a  set  of  observatories  at  his  capital,  Jaipur, 
Muttra,  Banares,  Delhi  and  U  jjain,  and  was  able  to  correct  the 
astronomical  tables  of  De  La  Hire  ])ublished  in  1702  A.D. 
The  Raja  left  as  a  monument  of  his  skill,  a  list  of  stars 
collated  by  himself,  known  as  the  Zij  Mohammed  Shahi, 
or  Tables  of  Mohammed  Shah.  His  observatory  at  Benares 
survives  to  this  day." 


iBrihat  Sanghita,  Chapter  V,  v.  8.  ^Brihat  Sanghita,  Chapter  V,  v.  8. 
^Tod's  Rujasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  543. 


348  HINDU    SUPEKIOIIITY. 

The  celebrated  European  astronomer,  Mr.  Playfair, 
says :  "  The  Brahmin  obtains  his  result  wiih  wonderful 
certainty  and  expedition  in  astronomy,"^  This  speaks 
volumes  in  favour  of  the  original,  advanced  and  scientific 
methods  of  the  Hindus  and  their  marvellous  cultivation 
of  the  science.  Professor  Sir  ]\[.  Williams  says  :  "It  is 
their  science  of  astronomy  by  which  they  (Hindus)  heap 
billions  upon  millions,  trillions  upon  billions  of  years  and 
reckoning  up  ages  upon  ages,  teons  upon  a^ons  with  even 
more  audacity  than  modern  geologists  and  astronomers. 
It  short,  an  astronomical  Hindu  ventures  on  arithmetical 
conceptions  quite  beyond  the  mental  dimensions  of  any- 
one who  feels  himself  incompetent  to  attempt  a  task  of 
measuring  infinity."  A  strange  confession  of  inferiority ! 
Well  may  Mrs.  Manning  exclaim  :  "  The  Hindus  had 
the  widest  range  of  mind  of  which  man  is  capable."^ 

In  astronomy,  as  in  other  sciences,  what  scanty 
records  remain  not  only  show  the  astonishing  proficiency 
of  the  Hindus  in  the  science,  but  contain  theories  not  yet 
understood  by  others,  bir  M.  Mon.  Williams  says : 
"  A  very  strange  theory  of  the  planetary  motion  is 
expounded  at  the  commencement  of  the  Si/ri/a  Siddhanta, 
Chapter  II,"  which  is  unknown  outside  India.^ 


^  Playfiiir  on  the  astronomy  ol  the  Hindus.     Transactions  of  the 
li.  A.  S.  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Vol.  II,  pp.  I:J8,  139. 

-.Vucient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  I,  \k  U^^- 

sMonier  Williams'  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  189.  Mr.  C.  B.  Clarke, 
F.  G.  S.,  says  in  liis  Geographical  Header: — "Till  of  late  years  we 
did  not  know  with  extreme  exactness  the  longitndes  of  distant  places." 
The  ancient  Hindu  method  of  finding  the  longitude  by  first  finding  out. 
tlie  DesJutntra  Gatltika^  witli  the  aid  of  observations  made  at  the  time  of 
the  lunar  eclipse,  is  not  only  scientific  but  iufalliblo» 


MILITAUV    SCIKNCI-:.  341) 


IV.— MILITARY  SCIENCE. 

]\[y  voice  is  still  fui-  war, 

Gods  !  oan  a  Roman  senato  hjng  debate 

"Which  of  tlie  two  to  choose,  slavery  or  death  ? 

Ai)J)isoN  :  Cato. 

Captain  Troyer  says  :  *'  All  the  traditions  of  the 
Hindus  are  hlled  -with  wars,  in  which  religion  certainly- 
had  its  share.  I  have  shown  this  sufficiently  already, 
without  being-  obliged  to  go  back  so  far  as  the  contests 
between  the   Suras  and   the   A  suras."  ^ 

War  as  an  art  as  well  as  a  science  was  equally  well 
understood  in  ancient  India.  The  nation  which  overran 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  habitable  globe  and  produced 
Hercules,  Arjuna,  Sagarji,  Bali  could  scarcely  be  con- 
sidered inferior  to  any  other  people  in  their  proficiency 
in  military  science. 

Being  skilful  sailors  from  time  immemorial,  the 
Hindus  were  adepts  at  naval  warfare.  Colonel  Tod  says: 
"The   Hindus   of  remote  ages   possessed   great   naval 


": 


power. 

Being:  the  greatest  commercial  nation  in  the  ancient 


o 


world,  and  enjoying  sea  trade  with  nearly  every  part  of 
the  world  (see  "Commerce"),  they  were  compelled  to 
look  to  their  navy  to  guard  their  trade  and  to  make  it 
suffi.ciently  strong  to  ensure  their  position  as  the  "  mis- 
tress of  the  sea."  Their  position  in  the  ancient  world" 
being  similar  to  that  of  England  in  the  modern  world 

1  Troyer  on  the  Ramayana  in  the  Asiatic  Journal  for  October  1844,  p.  514. 
2  Tod's  RajasthaiK  Vol.  II,  p,  218, 


850  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

SO  far  as  maritime  affairs  are  concerned,  their  navy,  too, 
was  equally  eminent  and  powerful.  Manu  mentions 
navigation  to  have  existed  among  the  Hindus  from  time 
immemorial.  Strabo  mentions  a  naval  department  in 
addition  to  the  others  in  the  Indian  army. 

Dhanur  Veda,  the  standard  work  on  Hindu  military 
science  being  lost,  the  dissertations  on  the  science  found 
in  the  Mahabharata,  the  Agni  Purana,  and  other  works 
are  the  only  sources  of  information  on  the  subject  left  to 
us.  Dr.  Sir  AV.  Hunter  says  :  "  There  was  no  want  of  a 
theory  of  regular  movements  and  arrangements  for  the 
march,  array,  encampments,  and  supply  of  troops.  They 
are  all  repeatedly  described  in  the  Mahabharata."^ 

Mr.  Ward  says  :  "  The  Hindu  did  not  permit 
even  the  military  art  to  remain  unexamined.  It  is  very 
certain  that  the  Hindu  kings  led  their  own  armies  to 
the  combat,  and  that  the}''  were  prepared  for  this  impor- 
tant employment  by  a  military  education  ;  nor  is  it  less 
certain  that  many  of  these  monarchs  were  distinguished 
for  the  hisrhest  valour  and  militarv  skill."" 

The  ancient  Hindu  tactics  of  war  were  as  original 
as  valuable.  It  is  said  that  the  Hindus  divided  their  army 
in  the  following  manner  :  (1)  Uras  or  centre  (breast), 
(2)  Kakshas  or  the  flanks,  (3)  Pakshas  or  wings,  (4) 
Fraligraha  or  the  reserves,  (5)  Koti  or  vanguards,  (6) 
Madhya  or  centre  behind  the  breast,  (7)  Prishtha  or 
back — a  third  line  between  the  madhya  and  the  reserve.^ 

Array  of  forces  in  action  is  generally  termed  vyuha. 

^Indian  Gazetteer,  "India,"  p.  223. 
'-^Seethe  Theosophist  for  March  1881,  p.  12i. 
3The  sage  Brihaspati  was  a  great  teacher  of  military  scieuce,  but 
unfortunately  none  of  his  works  is  now  extant. 


MILITARY    SCIENCE.  351 

Some  viiiilias  are  named  from  their  object.     Thus  : 

(1)  McK/hi/abhedi  =  one  wliich  breaks  the  centre,  (2)  Antar 
blisdi  =  that  which  penetrates  between  its  division.  More 
commonly,  however,  they  are  named  from  their  resem- 
blance to  various  objects.  For  instance  (1)  Makararyi/ha, 
or  the  army  drawn  up  like  the  ■\Iakara,  a  mire  monster. 

(2)  Syenavyiiha,  or  the  army  in  the  form  of  a  hawk  or 
eagle  with  wings  spread  out.  (o)  Sakalavytiha^  or  the 
army  in  the  shape  of  a  waggon.  (4)  Aradha  chandra^  or 
half  moon.  (5)  Sarvatobhadra,  or  hollow  square.  (G) 
Gomutrika^  or  echelon.  (1)  Danda  or  staff,  (2)  Bhoja 
or  column,  (3)  Mandala  or  hollow  circle,  (4)  Asanhafa 
or  detached  arrangements  of  the  different  parts  of  the 
forces,  the  elephants,  cavalry,  infantry  severally  by 
themselves.  Each  of  these  vyuhas  has  subdivisions  ;  there 
are  seventeen  varieties  of  the  Danda,  five  of  the  Bhoga 
and  several  of  both  the  Mandala  and  Asanhafa.^ 

In  the  Mahabharata  (Vol.  VL,  pp.  699-729),  Yudhi- 
shtera  suggests  to  Arjuna  the  adoption  of  the  form  of 
Siichimukha,  or  the  needle  point  array  (similar  to  the 
phalanx  of  the  Macedonians),  while  Arjuna  recommends 
the  rajra  or  thunderbolt  array  for  the  same  reason. 
Duryodhana,  in  consequence,  suggests  Abhedya,  or  the 
unpenetrable. 

In  their  land  army,  the  Hindus  had,  besides  the 
infantry  and  the  cavalry,  elephants  and  chariots  also. 
The  elephants,  "  the  living  battering  rams,"  as  Macaulay 

'  See  Agiii  Parana.  "The  most  important  part  of  Hiiuiu  battles 
is  now  a  cannonade.  I)i  tin's  iheji  (jreutbj  excel,  and  have  occasioned  heavy- 
losses  to  us  in  all  our  battles  with  them.  Their  mode  is  to  charge  the  front 
and  the  flanks  at  once,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  perform  this  manoeuvre 
has  sometimes  called  forth  the  admiration  of  European  antagonists," — 
Elphiustonc's  Ili^torij  of  India,  p.  82. 


352  HINDU    SUPEKlORlTr. 

calls  them,  were  a  source  of  great  strength  when  properly 
managed  and  skilfully  supported  by  other  arms.  Of  the 
elephants  given  by  Chaudragupta  to  Seleucus,  Professor 
Max  Dunker  says  :  "  These  animals  a  few  years  later 
decided  the  day  of  Ipsus  in  Phrygia  against  Antogonus, 
a  victory  which  secured  to  Seleucus  the  territory  of 
Syria,  Asia  Minor,  etc."  According  to  Ctesias,  Cyrus 
was  defeated  and  killed  by  the  enemy,  only  because  of 
the  strong  support  the  latter  received  from  the  Indian 
elephants.  1 

As  regards  the  soldierly  qualities  of  the  Indians 
even  of  the  present  day.  Sir  Charles  Xapier,  one  of  the 
highest  authorities  on  the  subject,  says  :  "  Better  soldiers 
or  braver  men  I  never  saw,  superior  in  sobriety,  equal 
in  courage,  and  only  inferior  in  muscular  strength  to  our 
countrymen.  This  appears  to  me,  as  far  as  I  can  judge, 
the  true  character  of  the  Indian  army  in  the  three  Presi- 
dencies, and  I  have  had  men  of  each  under  my  command. "2 

The  chivalrous  conduct  of  the  Indian  sepoys  on  the 
occasion  of  the  defence  of  Arcot  by  Olive,  and  when,  to- 
wards the  close  of   the  Avar  with  Tippu  in   1782,    the 


i''The  proficiency  of  the  Indians  in  this  art  (management  of  ele- 
phants) early  attracted  tlie  attention  of  Alexander's  successors  ;  and 
natives  of  India  were  so  long  exclusively  employed  in  this  service,  that 
the  term  Indian  was  applied  to  every  elephant-driver,  to  whatever 
country  he  might  belong." — Wilson's  Theatre  oftJie  Ilindns^  Vol.  T,  p.  15. 

•'  In  war,  the  King  of  India  was  preceded  by  10,000  elephants  and 
3,000  of  (lie  strongest  and  the  bravest  followed  iiim.'' — Max  Dunker's 
llistury  of  Antiiiuitij . 

"  Sixty  years  after  the  death  of  the  Enlightened,  the  Indians 
assisted  the  Persian  King,  the  successor  of  Darius  in  the  invasion  of 
Greece,  when  they  trod  th(;  soil  of  Hellas  and  wintered  in  Thessaly. 
They  defeated  the  Greeks  aiul  saw  the  temple  of  Alliens  in  flames, — ■ 
]\lax  iJunker's  Iliston/  of  Aiif/(fiiili/,  Vol.  IV,  p.  ;>iSl, 

'■^The  Ijidian  Review  (Calcutta)  for  November,  lyyi),  p.  181. 


MlLITAIiV  sriENCE.  3o3 

whole  of  the  force  under  (Jeneral  Mathews  were  made 
prisoners  is  well  known.  The  sepoys  mao*nnniinously 
and  spontaneously  coritri\  ed  with  great  personal  risk  to 
send  every  pie  of  their  petty  savings  to  their  imprisoned 
officers,  saying  :  "  We  can  live  upon  anything,  but  you 
require  mutton  and  beef."  The  conduct  of  the  Indian 
sepoys  shown  on  such  occasions  sheds  lustre  on  the 
whole  profession.  General  Wolsley,  in  a  pnper  on 
"  courage,"  contributed  to  a  journal,  highly  eulogised  the 
bravery  of  the  Indian  sepo^-s.  "During  the  siege  of 
Lucknow,"  he  said,  *'  tiie  sepovs  performed  wonderful 
feats  of  valour." 

Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "TheHindns  display  bra- 
very not  surpassed  by  the  most  warlike  nations,  and  \n  ill 
throw  away  their  lives  for  nny  considerations  of  religion 
or  honour.  Hindu  sepoys,  in  our  pay  have  in  two  in- 
stances advanced  after  troops  of  the  king's  service  have 
been  beaten  off  ;  and  on  one  of  these  occasions  they 
Avere  opposed  to  French  soldiers.  The  sequel  of  this 
history  will  show  instances  of  whole  bodies  of  troops 
rushino"  forward  to  certain  death." ^ 

Clive,  Lawrence,  Smith,  Coote,  Haliburton  nnd  many 
others    speak  of  the  sepoys   in  the  highest  terms. 

Xow  as  regards  the  weapons  used  by  the  Hindus. 
Professor  Wilson  is  assured  that  the  Hindus  cultivated 
archery  most  assiduously,  and  were  masters  in  the  use  of 
the  bow  on  horseback.  Their  skill  in  archery  was  wonder- 
ful. "  Part  of  the  archery  practice  of  the  Hindus  consisted 
in  shooting  a  number  of  arrows  at  once,  from  four  to  nine 
at  one  time."     Arjuna's  feats  in  archery  at  the  tourna- 


li<lphiu.stone's  History  of  India,  ^i.  lUb. 


354  HINDU    SLTERIORITY. 

ment  before  Drauj^adi's  marriage,  and  again  on  the  death- 
bed of  Bhishma,  must  excite  universal  admiration. 

The  archery  of  the  Hindus  had  something  myste- 
rious about  it.  The  arrows  returned  to  -the  archer,  if 
they  missed  their  aim.  This  was  considered  absurd  until 
the  discovery  of  .the  "bomerang"  in  the  hands  of  the 
Australians.' 

AVarlike  weapons  and  splendid  daggers  were  pre- 
sented at  the  International  Exhibitions  of  1851  and  1862, 
and  a  critic  s}>eaking  of  them,  says  :  "  Beautiful  as  the 
jewelled  arms  of  India  are,  it  is  still  for  the  intrinsic 
merit  of  their  steel  that  they  are  most  highl}'  prized. "^ 

That  the  ancient  Hindus  were  celebrated  for  their 
sword-fight  is  evident  from  the  Persian  phrase,  "  to 
give  an  Indian  answer,'^  meaning  "  a  cut  with  an  Indian 
sword."  The  Indian  swordsmen  were  celebrated  all 
over  the  world.  In  an  Arabic  poem  of  great  celebrity, 
known  as  Sahart.  MoalcKja,  there  occurs  the  passage  :  "  The 
oppression  of  near  relations  is  more  severe  than  the 
wound  caused  by  a  Hindu  swordsman."^ 

Ctesias  mentions  that  the  Indian  swords  were  the 
best  in  the  world."* 

The  following  fivefold  classification  of  Hindu  wea- 
pons is  exhaustive  :  (Ij  Missiles  thrown  with  an  instru- 
ment or  engine  called  yantramukta  ;  (2)  Those  hurled  by 
h.?aidi  (yc  hastamakia 'y   (3)   Weapons  which  may   or   may 

'  Besides  bows,  other  missiles  as  the  discus,  short  iron  clubs,  and 
javelins,  swords,  masos,  battle  axes,  spears,  shields,  helmets,  armour  and 
coats  of  mail,  etc.  are  also  mentioned.  See  Wilson's  Essays,  Vol.  11, 
pp.  191,  92. 

^Manning's  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  365. 

3 The  Tafsif  Azizi?,».j?,  :Ji^^^llaiol  <sJoI  aJJo-     /e^  ^ii^  .    -. J.iib  jLo 

■*Max  Dunker's  History  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  IV,  p.  43G. 


MILITAIiV    SCIENCE.  355 

not  be  thrown,  or  m//^/a;jiM/(;/«, as  javelins, tridents  etc.;  (4) 
Wliich  are  not  thrown,  as  swords,  maces,  etc. ;  (5)  Natural 
weapons,  jis  fi«ts,  etc.  Bhin(hpala,  Tomara,  Naracha, 
Prasa,  Rishti,  Pattisa,  Kripana,  Kshepani,  Pasa,  etc., 
are  some  of  the  arms  o£  the  ancient  Hindus  now  extinct. 
The  cliief  distinction  of  the  modern  military 
science  is  the  extensive  employment  of  /ire-arms,  their 
invention  being  attributed  to  the  Europeans,  and  it  being 
supposed  that  firo-arms  were  unknown  in  ancient  India. 
Nothinii',  however,  is  farther  from  the  truth.  Though  the 
Hindu  masterpieces  on  the  science  of  war  are  all  lost, 
yet  there  is  sufficient  material  available  in  the  great  epics 
and  the  Puranas  to  prove  that  fire-arms  were  not  only 
known  and  used  on  all  occasions  by  the  Hindus,  but  that 
this  branch  of  their  armoury  had  received  extraordinary 
development.  In  mediaeval  India,  of  course,  guns  and 
cannons  were  commonly  used.  In  the  twelfth  century 
Ave  find  pieces  of  ordnance  being  taken  to  battle-fields  in 
the  armies  of  Prithviraj  In  the  25th  stanza  of  Frithvi- 
raja  Rasa  it  is  said  that  "The  calivers  and  cannons  made 
a  loud  report  when  they  were  fired  off,  and  the  noise  which 
issued  from  the  ball  was  heard  at  a  distance  of  ten  cos. 

f5T  ^T5T  irm  ifr^T  VT^f^  II 

An  Indian  historian,  Raja  Kundan  Lall,  who  lived  in 
the  court  of  the  king  of  Oudh,  says  that  there  was  a  big 
gun  named  Uchhma  in  the  possession  of  His  Majesty  the 


356  HINDU    SUPEKIOIUTY. 

Kill"'  (o£  OlkIIi)  which  had  been  orighially  in  the 
artillery  of:  ]\Ialiaraja  Prithviraj  of  Ajmer.  The  author 
speaks  of  a  regular  science  of  war,  of  the  postal  depart- 
ment, and  of  public  or  Roman  roads.  See  Muntakhab 
Tafsee-ul-Akhbar,  pp.  1^19,  50. 

"  Maffei  says  that  the  Indians  far  excelled  the 
Portu2;uese  in  their  skill   in  the  use  of  fire-arms." ^ 

Another  author  quoted  by  Bohlen  speaks  of  a 
certain  Indian  king  being  in  the  habit  of  placing  several 
pieces  of  brass  ordnance  in  front  of  his  army. 2 

"  Faria-e  Souza  speaks  of  a  Guzerat  vessel  in  A.D. 
1500  firing  several  guns  at  the  Portuguese,'  and  of 
the  Indians  at  Calicut  using  fire  vessels  in  1502,  and  of 
the  Zamorin's  fleet  carrying  in  the  next  year  380 
guns."* 

But  let  us  turn  to  ancient  India.  Professor  Wilson 
says:  "Amongst  ordinary  weapons  one  is  named  r«/Va, 
the  thunderbolt,  and  the  specification  seems  to  denote  the 
employment  of  some  explosive  projectile,  which  could  not 
have  been  in  use  except  b}^  the  agency  of  something 
like  gunpower  in  its  properties."'' 

As  regards  "gunpowder,"  the  learned  Professor 
says  :   "  The    Hindus,  as    we  find    from   their  medical 


iHist.   ludica.  p.  25.      2  Das  Alte  Indien,  Vol  IT,  p.  63. 

3  Asia  Portnguesa,  Toiu  I,  Part  I,  Chapter  5.      -^Ibid,  Chapter  7. 

5  Wilson's  Essays,  Vol.  II,  p.  ."02.  The  Indians  are  from  time 
immemorial  remarkable  for  their  skill  in  fireworks.  The  display  of  fire- 
works has  been  from  olden  days  a  feature  of  the  Dasehra  festival.  Mr, 
Elphinstone  says  :  "  In  the  Dasohra  ceremony  the  combat  ends  in  the 
destnictiou  of  Lanka  amidst  a  blaze  of  fireworks  which  would  excite  ad- 
miration in  any  part  of  the  world.  And  the  procession  of  the  native 
prince  on  this  occasion  presents  one  of  the  most  animating  and  gorgeous 
spectacles  ever  seen," — Illpliinstone's  Ili.itortf  of  India,  p,  17B, 


MILITARY    SCIENCE.  oo7 


writings,  were  perfectly  well  !ic(iu:iiiite(l  with  the 
constituents  of  <,''unpowrler — sulphur,  charcoal,  saltpetre 
— and  had  them  idl  at  liand  in  ureal  abundance. 
It  is  very  unlikely  that  they  should  not  have 
discovered  their  inHaniniability,  either  singly  or  in 
combination.  To  this  inference  a  priori  may  be 
added  that  drawn  from  positive  proofs,  that  the  use 
of  fire  as  a  weapon  of  combat  was  a  familiar  idea,  as  it 
is  constantly  described  in  the  heroic  poems."' 

The  testimony  of  ancient  Greek  writers,  who,  being 
themselves  ignorant  of  fire-arms  used  by  Indians,  give 
peculiar  descriptions  of  the  mode  of  Hindu  warfare  is 
significant.  "  Themistius  mentions  the  Brahman  fijjhtiiig 
at  a  distance  with  li(/Jitmng  and  thunder.''''''^ 

Alexander,  in  a  letter  to  Aristotle,  mentions  "  the 
terrific  flashes  of  flame  which  he  beheld  showered  on  his 
army  in  India."     See  also  Dante's  Inferno,  XIV,  31-7. 

Speaking  of  the  Hindus  who  opposed  Alexander 
the  Great,  Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  Their  arms,  with  the 
exception  of  fire-arms,  were  the  same  as  at  present. '•• 

Philostratus  thus  speaks  of  Alexander's  invasion  of 
the  Punjab  :  "  Had  Alexander  passed  the  Hyphasis  he 
never  could  have  made  himself  master  of  the  fortified 
habitations  of  these  sages.  Should  an  enemy  make  war 
upon  them,  they  drive  him  off  by  means  of  tempests 
and  thunders  as  if  sent  down  from  Heaven.  The 
Egyptian  Hercules'  and  Bacchus  made  a  joint  attack  on 
them,  and  by  means  of  various  military  engines  attempt- 

1  Essays,  Vol  II,  p.  303. 

2  0rat,  XX VII,    p.  337.     See   Ap,    Duten's  Origin  of    the   dis- 
coveries attributed  to  the  Moderns,  p.  196. 

"■^Elphinstone's  History  of  India,  p,  241. 


358  HINDU    SUPEKIURITT. 

ed  to  take  the  place.  The  sages  remained  luiconcenied 
sp-^ctators  until  the  assault  was  made,  when  it  was 
repulsed  by  fier}-  whirlwinds  and  thmiders  which,  being 
hmded  from  above,  dealt  destruction  on  the  invaders."^ 

Commenting  on  the  stratagem  adopted  by  King 
Hal  in  the  battle  ao-ainst  the  kin^^  of  Kashmir,  in  makinnf 
a  clay  elephant  which  exploded,  Mr.  Elliot  says  :  "  Here 
we  have  not  only  the  simple  act  of  explosion  but  some- 
thing very  much  like  a  fuze,  to  enable  the  explosion  to 
occur  at  a  particular  period."^ 

Viswamitra,  when  giving  different  kinds  of  wea- 
pons to  -Rama,  speaks  (in  the  Ramayana)  of  one  as 
agneyn.^  another  as  shikhara. 

"  Carey  and  Marshman  render  shikhara  as  a  com- 
bustible weapon."^ 

In  the  Mahabharata  we  read  of  "a  flving  ball 
emitting  the  sound  of  a  thundercloud  which  Scholiast  is 
express  in  referring  to  artillery."* 

The  Harivanaa  thus  speaks  of  the  fiery  weapon  : 
3Tm?TRW  ^^B^T  =^  VTT"T^TcHiTfr  fl\  | 

"King  Sagafa  having  received /ire-arms  from  Bhar- 
gava  conquered  the  world,  after  slaying  the  Taljanghas 

iPhilostrati  Vit :  Apollon,  Lib  II.  C.  33. 

^Elliot's  Historians  of  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  365. 

^  Various  kinds  of  weapons  are  mentioned,  some  of  which  are 
extraordinary.  As  it  is  not  known  how  they  were  made,  what  they 
were  like,  and  how  they  were  used,  people  think  they  are  only  poetic 
phantasies,  Mr.  Elliot  says  :  *'  Some  of  these  weapons  mentioned  above 
were  imaginary,  as  for  instance,  the  vayava  or  airy."  But  who  would 
not  have  called  the  gramaphone,  the  cinametograph  and  the  wireless 
telegraphy  imaginary  oidy  50  years  ago  ? 

•JBohlon,  Das  Alte  Indien,  II,  66, 


MILITAUY    science:.  ooi) 

and  the  HiiiliMvas,"  M,  Langlois  snys  that  "these 
fire-arms  appear  to  have  belonged  to  the  Bhargavas,  the 
family  of  Bhrigii."'  Again, 

srm^  iTfNT|  T^TTf^  %^^?.^i  ii 
ecT^T^  ^^^T^r  q^^=^  fttrf?^^:  i 

"  Aurva  having  performed  the  usual  ceremonies  on 
the  birth  of  the  great-minded  (prince),  and  having 
tauirht  him  the  A'edas,  instructed  him  in  the  use  of 
arms;  the  great -armed  (Aurva)  presented  him  the 
fiery  weapon,  which  even  the  immortals  could  not  stand." 

Brahmastra  is  repeatedly  mentioned  in  Sanskrit 
works.  Professor  Wilson,  in  his  Sanskrit  Dictionary, 
calls  J3rahmastra  "  a  fabulous  weapon,  originally  from 
Brahma."  For  its  use  see  Sri  Bhaa^wat  describinii;  the 
fight  between  the  son  of  Drona  and  Arjuna  with  the 
Brdhmnsfra.  The  Rev.  K.  ^I.  Bannerjea  in  his  work, 
*'  The  Encyclopiedia  Bengalensis,"  says  that  the  Brali- 
mastra  was  probably  a  piece  of  musketry  not  unlike  the 
modern  matchlocks.""  Madame  Blavatsky,  in  her  Fsis 
Unveiled^  also  shows  that  "fire-arms  were  used  by  the 
Hindus  in  ancient  times."'^ 

In  the  description  of  Ayodhia  is  mentioned  the  fact 
of  yaniras^  being  mounted  on  the  walls  of  the  fort,  which 
shows  that  cannons  or  machines  of  some  kind  or  other 
were  used  in  those  days  to  fortify  and  protect  citadels. 

The  Ramavana,  while  describinof  the  fortifications, 

iHaiivansa,  p.  68.     ^iEncyclo.    Bengal,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  21. 

3Isis  Unveiled,    Chap.  XIV. 

'^Y&.ntra  means  "that  thing  with  which  something  is  thrown.' 


360  HINDU    SUPEKIORITV. 

says  :  "  As  a  woman  is  richly  decorated  with  ornaments, 
so  are  the  towers  with  big  destructive  machines."' 
This  shoW'S  that  cannons  or  big  instruments  of  war 
like  cannons,  which  discharged  destructive  missiles  at  a 
great  distance,  were  in  use  at  that  time. 

In  descriptions  o£  fortresses  and  battles,  Shataghni.s 
are  often  mentioned.  ShntaqJini  literally  means  "  that 
which  kills  hundreds  at  once."  In  Sanskrit  dictionaries, 
i^hataghni  is  defined  as  a  machine  which  shoots  out 
pieces  of  iron  and  other  things  to  kill  numbers  of  men. 
Its  othsr  name  is  Brischi  Kali,  ^^^in'rft" 

Shatagnis  and  similar  other  machines  are  mentioned 
in  the  following  slokas  of  the  Ramayana  : 


uito 

n 

4 

21 

39 

60 

61 

76 

86 

Slokas 

12, 

13,  16 

and  17 

23. 

Last 

si  oka. 

36. 
54. 

32. 

68. 

Kamavana  says  that  the  Shatonhni  was  made  of  iron.  In 
the  Sunder  Kdnd  it  is  compared  in  size  with  big  broken 
trees  or  their  huge  oftshoots,  and  in  appearance  said  to 
"  resemble  trunks  of  trees."  "  They  were  not  only 
mounted  on  forts  but  were  carried  to  the  battle-fields, 
and  they  made  a  noise  like  thunder."  What  else  could 
they,  therefore,  be  but  cannons  ? 

P)esides  the  Ramayana,  the  Puranas  make  frequent 
mention  of  Shataghni  being  placed  on  forts  and  used  in 
times  of  emergency..      See  Matasya   Purana  (wc^^TJff), 

iRamanaya,  Sunder  Kund,  Third  Chapter,  18th  verse. 
5^ See  Raja  Sir  Radh  Kant  Dev's  Shubdkalpadrama. 


^fUJTAKY    .MCIKNCE.  361 

"  Art  of  Government."  The  name  used  in  tliis  Parana  is 
Sahastrdt/hati  (sjcT  and  ^'^W  mean  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands or  innumerable)' ii;uns  and  cannons  are  mentioned 
as  existing  in  Lanka,  under  Havana.  They  were  called 
Nhulat  Yantras. 

Commenting  on  the  passage  in  the  Code  of  Gentoo 
(Hindu)  Laws  that  "the  magistrate  shall  not  make  war 
with  any  deceitful  machine  or  with  poisoned  weapons,  or 
with  cannons  and  guns,  or  any  kind  of  fire-arms,"  Halhed 
says  :  "  The  reader  will  probably  from  hence  renew  the 
suspicion  which  has  long  been  deemed  absurd,  that 
Alexander  the  Great  did  absolutely  meet  with  some 
weapons  of  that  kind  in  India,  as  a  passage  in  Quintus 
Curtius  seems  to  ascertain.  Gunpowder  has  been  known 
in  China,  as  well  as  Hindustan,  far  beyond  all  periods 
of  investio-ation.  The  word  fire-arms  is  literally  the 
Sanskrit  Agniaster,  a  weapon  of  fire  ;  they  describe  the 
first  species  of  it  to  have  oeen  a  kind  of  dart  or  arrow 
tipt  with  fire,  and  discharged  upon  the  enemy  from  a 
bamboo.  Among  several  extraordinary  properties  of 
this  weapon,  one  was,  that  after  it  had  taken  its  flight, 
it  divided  into  several  separate  streams  of  flame,  each  of 
which  took  effect,  and- which,  when  once  kindled,  could 
not  be  extinguished  :  but  this  kind  of  Agniaster  is  now 
lost."-  He  adds :  "A  cannon  is  called  '  Shataghiee^  or  the 
weapon  that  kills  one  hundred  men  at  once,'  and,  that  the 


1  Shataghni  differed  widely  from  Matrala  in  tljat  the  Matvala  were 
rolled  down  from  mountains,  while  Shataghni  was  an  instninieiit  from 
which  stones  and  iron  ])alls  were  discharged,  Jamera  was  another 
machine  tliat  did  fatal  injury  to  the  enemy  by  means  of  stones.  See 
accounts  of  battles  with  Mohamed  Kasim. 

^Halhed's  Code  of  Gentoo  Laws,  Introduction,  p.. ')2  See  also 
Amar  Kosha  and  Sabda  Kalpaddrum,  Vol.  I,  p.  IG. 


362  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

Puraiiii  Sliasters  ascribe  the  invention  of  these  destructive 
engines  to  A'iswacarma,  the  Vulcan  of  the  Hindus." 

Mr.  H.  H.  Elhot,  Foreign  Secretary  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  (1845),  after  discussing  the  question  of 
the  use  of  fire-arms  in  ancient  India,  says  :  "  On  the 
■whole,  then,  v^e  may  conclude  that  fire-arms  of  some 
kind  were  used  in  early  stages  of  Indian  history,  that  the 
missiles  were  explosive,  and  that  the  time  and  mode  of 
ignition  was  dependent  on  pleasure  ;  that  projectiles 
were  used  which  were  made  to  adhere  to  "'ates  and 
buildinsfs,  and  machines  settino-  fire  to  them  from  a 
considerable  distance ;  that  it  is  probable  that  saltpetre, 
the  principal  ingredient  of  gunpowder,  and  the  cause 
of  its  detonation,  entered  into  the  composition,  because 
the  earth  of  Gangetic  India  is  richly  impregnated  with 
it  in  a  natural  state  of  preparation,  and  it  may  be 
extracted  from  it  by  lixiviation  and  crystallization  without 
the  aid  of  fire ;  and  that  sulphur  may  have  been  mixed 
with  it,  as  it  is  abundant  in  the  north-west  of  India."* 

"  Rockets,"  says  Professor  Wilson,  "  appear  to  be 
of  Indian  invention,  and  had  Ion"'  been  used  in  native 
armies  when  Europeans  came  first  in  contact  with  them." 

Col.  Tod  says  :  "  Jud  Bhan  (the  name  of  a  grand- 
son of  Bajra,  the  grandson  of  Krishna),  'the  rocket  of 
the  Yadus,'  woukl  imply  a  knowledge  of  gun-powder 
at  a  very  remote  period."^ 

Rockets  were  unknown  in  Euro]>e  till  recently. 
"  We  are  informed  by  the  best  authorities  that  rockets 
were  first  used  in  Avarfare  at  the  siege  of  Copenhagen  in 
1807."^  .  Mr.  Elliot  says  :    "  It  is   strange   that   they 

1  Riblio.L^raphical  Index  to  tlic  Historians  of  M.  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  973. 

2  Tod's  Uajasthan,  Vol.  II,  [>.  220.   3  Teuny  Encydoi-ardiu,  V.  "Kocket." 


MILITARY    sr'IF.XCE.  303 

(rockets)   slioiikl  now   be   roo-arded   in   Europe  as    the 
most  recent  invention  of  artillery."' 

There  were  in  ancient  India  machines  which,  besides 
throwing  balls  of  iron  and  other  solid  missiles,  also  threw 
jieculiar  kinds  of  destructive  li(|uids  at  great  distances. 
The  ingredients  of  these  liquids  are  unknown  ;  their 
effects,  however,  are  astonishing. 

Ctesias,-  Elian"  and  Philostratus*  all  speak  of  an 
oil  manufactured  by  Hindus  and  used  by  them  in  war- 
fare in  destroying  the  walls  and  battlements  of  towns 
that  no  "battering  rams  or  other  polioretic  machines  can 
resist  it,"  and  that  "  it  is  inextinguishable  and  insatiable, 
burning  both  arms  and  fighting  men." 

Lassen  savs  :  "  That  the  Hindus  had  somethino^ 
like  '  Greek  fire'  is  also  rendered  probable  by  Ctesias, 
who  describes  their  emplo3'ing  a  particular  kind  of  in- 
flammable oil  for  the  purpose  of  setting  hostile  toAvns 
and  forts  on  fire."^ 

Eusebe  Salverte,  in  his  Occult  Sciences,  says  :  "  The 
fire  which  burns  and  crackles  on  the  bosom  of  the 
waves  denotes  that  the  (Ireek  fire  was  anciently  known 
in  Hindustan  under  the  name  of  harrawa.''''^ 

But  what  establishes  the  superiority  of  the  ancient 
Hindus  over  the  modern  Europeans  in  the  noble  game 
of  war  is  the  Ashtur  Vidya  of  the  former.  *'The  Ash- 
tur  Vidya,  the  most  important  and  scientific  part  (of 


'Bibliographical   Index  to  the   Historians  of  Mohaniedau  India, 
Vol.  I,  p.  357. 

•-Ctesie,  Indica  E.rcnpta,  XXVII  (ed.  Baor),  p.  35G. 

^  l)e  Natura  Animal,  Lib.  V.,  cap,  3. 

•*  Philostrati  Vita  ApoUonu,  Lib.  Ill,  cap.  1, 

^■i Lassen's  Ind.  Alt,  II.  p.  641. 

fiRnglish  Translation,  Vol.  II.  p.  223. 


364  HINDU    SUPEHIOKITY. 

the  art  of  war)  is  not  known  to  the  soldiers  o£  our  age. 
It  consisted  in  annihilating  the  hostile  army  by  envoi v- 
ing  and  suffocating  it  in  different  layers  and  masses  of 
atmospheric  air,  charged  and  impregnated  with  different 
substances.  The  army  would  find  itself  plunged  in  a 
fiery,  electric  and  watery  element,  in  total  thick  darkness, 
or  surrounded  by  a  poisonous,  smoky,  pestilential  at- 
mosphere, full  sometimes  of  savage  and  terror^striking 
animal  forms  (snakes  and  tigers,  etc.)  and  frightful  noises. 
Thus  they  used  to  destroy  their  enemies.^  The  party 
thus  assailed  counteracted  those  effects  by  arts  and  means 
known  to  them,  and  in  their  turn  assaulted  the  enemy  by 
means  of  some  other  secrets  of  the  Ashtur  Vidya.  Col. 
Olcott  also  says:  *' Ashtur  Vidya,  a  science  of  which 
our  modern  professors  have  not  even  an  inkling,  enabled 
its  proficient  to  completely  destroy  an  invading  army, 
by  enveloping  it  in  an  atmostphere  of  poisonous 
gases,  filled  with  awe-striking  shadowy  shapes  and  with 
awful  sounds."  This  fact  is  proved  by  innumerable 
instances  in  which  it  was  practiced.  Ramayana  mentions 
it.  Jalindhar  had  recourse  to  it  when  he  was  attacked 
by  his  father,  Mahadeva  (Shiva),  as  related  in  the  Kartik 
Mahdtama. 

Another  remarkable  and  astonishing  feature  of  the 
Hindu  science  of  war  which  would  prove  that  the  ancient 
Hindus  cultivated  every  science  to  perfection,  was  that 
the  Hindus  could  fight  battles  in  the  air.  It  is  said  that 
the  ancient  Hindus  "could  navigate  the  air,  and  not 
only  navigate  it  but  fight  battles  in  it,  like  so  many 
war-eagles  combating  for  the  dominion  of  the  clouds. 
To  be  so  perfect  in  aeronautics,  they  must  have  known 


i  Theuisop/iist,  March  1881.  p.  i'Jl. 


MILITARY    SCIKNCK.  3<i5 

all  the  arts  and  sciences  relating  to  the  science,  inchiding 
the  strata  and  currents  of  the  atmospliere,  the  relative 
temperature,  humidity  and  density  and  the  specific  gra- 
vity o£  the  various  gases."  ^ 

Viman    Vldya  was  a  science  which   has  now  com- 
pletely disappeared.     A  few  years  a^o,  facts  concerning 
this  science  found  in  ancient  records  were  rejected  as 
absurd  and  impossible  of  belief.     But  wireless  telegraphy 
and  the  recent  developments  in  balooning  have  prepared 
the  Europeans  to  entertain  the  idea  of  the  possibility  of 
human  knowledge  advancing  so  far  as  to  make  it  prac- 
ticable for  men  to  navigate  the  air  as  they  navigate  the 
sea.     And  a  day  will  come  as  assuredly  as  that  the  day 
will  follow  the  night,  when   not  only  will   the  ancient 
Hindu  greatness  in  this  science   be  recognised,  but  the 
results  achieved  by  them  will  again  be  achieved  by  men 
to  mark  their  rise  to  the  level  of  the  ancient  Hindus. 


1  Colonel  Olcotfs  lecture   at  Allahabad  in  1881.     See  the  Theoso- 
phist  for  March  1881. 


366  HINDU    SUPERIORITY, 


v.— MUSIC. 

Music  exalts  each  joy,  allays  each  grief. 
Expels  diseases,  softens  every  pain. 
Subdues  the  rage  of  poison  and  the  plague. 
And  hence  the  wise  of  ancient  days  adored 
One  power  of  physic,  melody  and  song. 

Armstrong  :  A.  P.  H. 
Music  is  the  natural  expression  of  a  man's  feelings.  It 
comes  naturally  to  man,  woman  and  child  in  all  condi- 
tions, at  all  times  and  in  all  countries.  "  The  very  fact 
of  musical  utterance,"  says  Sir  Hubert  Parry,  "implies a 
genuine  expansion  of  the  nature  of  the  human  being, 
and  is  in  a  varying  degree  a  trustworthy  revelation  of 
the  particular  likings,  tastes  and  sensibilities  of  the  being 
that  gives  vent  to  it." 

"yC.  The  Chinese  emphasise  its  importance  by  calling  it 
*^  the  science  of  sciences." 

"  An  eminently  poetical  people,"  as  the  ancient  Hindus 
were,  could  not  but  have  been  eminently  musical  also. 
Anne  C.  Wilson,  in  what  is  perhaps  the  latest  attempt  on 
the  part  of  a  European  to  understand  Hindu  music,  says  : 
*'  The   people   of    India  are    essentially  a  musical  race 

To  such  an  extent  is  music  an  accompaniment  of 

existence  in  India,  that  every  hour  of  the  day  and  season 
of  the  year  has  its  own  melody."^ 

Mr.  Coleman  says  :  "  Of  the  Hindu  system  of  music 
the  excellent  writer  whom  I  have  before  mentioned 
(Sir  W.  Jones),  has  expressed  his  belief  that  it  has  been 
formed  on  better  principles  than  our  own."^ 

1  A  Sliort  Account  of  the  Hindu  System  of  Music,  by  Anne  C.   Wilson 
(1904),  p.  5.     '^Coleman's  Hindu  Mythology,  Preface,  p.  ix. 


MUSIC.  367 

Colonel  Tod  says  :  "An  account  oE  the  state  of 
musical  science  amongst  the  Hindus  of  early  ages  and  a 
comparison  between  it  and  that  of  Europe  is  yet  a 
desideratum  in  Oriental  literature.  From  what  we  already 
know  of  the  science,  it  appears  to  have  attained  a  theoretical 
precision  yet  unknown  to  Europe,  and  that  at  a  period 
when  even  Greece  was  little  removed  from  barbarism." 
The  antiquity  of  this  most  delightful  art  is  the  same  as 
the  antiquity  of  the  Sanskrit  literature  itself.  Anne  C. 
AVilson  says  :  "  It  must,  therefore,  be  a  secret  source 
of  pride  to  them  to  know  that  their  system  of  music,  as 
a  written  science,  is  the  oldest  in  the  world.  Its  principal 

features  were  given  long  ago  in  A'edic  writings 

Its  principles  were  accepted  by  the  Mohamedan  portion 
of  the  population  in  the  days  of  their  pre-eminence,  and 
are  still  in  use  in  their  original  construction  at  the 
present  day."' 

Music  has  been  a  great  favourite"^  with  the  Hindus 
from  the  earliest  times.  Even  the  Vedas  {e.g.,  Sam  Yeda) 
treat  of  this  divine  art.  The  enormous  extent*  to 
which  the  Hindus  have  cultivated  this  science  is  proved 
by  their  attainments  in  it.  But,  unhappily,  the  master- 
piece on  this  "  Science  and  Art  combined,"  the  Gandharva 
Veda,  is  lost,  and  references  to  it  in  Sanskrit  works  alone 
remain  to  point  to  the  high  principles  on  which  the 
Hindu  science  of  music  was  based. 


'  A  Short  Account  of  the  Hindu  System  of  Music  by  xV.  C,  Wilson,  p.9. 

2  Shakespeare  says  :  "The  man  that  hath  no  music  in  himself 

Nor  is  not  moved  with  concord  of  sweet  sounds 
Is  fit  for  treason,  stratagems  and  spoils  ; 
Let  no  such  man  be  trusted." 

•'"'The  Hindu  system  of  nnisic    is   minutely   explained    in  a  great 
number  of  Sanskrit  books." — Sir  W,  Juues. 


3G8  IIINDL-    SLTEiaoUITY. 

Even  at  the  present  day  the  Tiotis  and  Rdc/uis  oF 
the  Hindus  are  innumerable,  and  the  majority  of  them 
differ  so  minutely  from  each  other  that  even  the  "culti- 
vated ear  of  the  musical  Europeans"  cannot  fully 
understand  and  follow  them. 

Sir  W.  W.  Hunter  says:  "  Xot  content  with  the 
tones  and  semitones,  the  Indian  musicians  employed  a 
more  minute  subdivison,  together  with  a  number  of  sonal 
modifications  which  the  Western  ear  neither  recognises 
nor  enjoys.  Thus,  they  divide  the  octave  into  22  subtones 
instead  of  12  semitones  of  the  European  scale.  The  Indian 
musician  declines  altogether  to  be  judged  by  thefew  simple 
Hindu  airs  which  the  English  ear  can  appreciate."^ 

Anne  C.  Wilson  says  :  "  Every  village  player 
knows  about  time,  and  marks  it  by  beating  time  on  the 
ground,  while  the  audience  clap  their  hands  along  with 
him.  He  has  the  most  subtle  ear  for  time,  and  a  more 
delicate  perception  of  shades  of  difference  than  the 
Generality  of  English  people  can  acquire,  an  acuteness  of 
musical  hearing  which  also  makes  it  possible  for  him  to 
recognise  and  reproduce  quarter  and  half  tones,  when 
singing  or  playing"' 

<  Kor  are  Europeans  able  to  imitate  Hindu  music. 
Mr.  Arthur  Whitten  says  :  "But  I  have  yet  to  observe 
that  while  our  system  of  notation  admits  of  no  sound  of 
less  than  half  a  tone,  the  Hindus  have  quarter  tones,  thus 
rendering  it  most  difficult  of  imitation  by  Europeans.  The 
execution  of  their  music,  I  hold  to  be  impossible  to  all  except 
those  who  commence  its  practice  from  a  very  early  age."^ 

1  imperial  Gazetteer,  "  India,"  p.  224. 

2  Anne  C  Wilson's  Hindu  System  of  Music. 
^The  Music  of  the  Ancients,  p.  22, 


MUSIC.  369 

He  also  observes  :  "  Few  of  the  ancient  Hindu  airs 
are  known  to  Europeans,  and  it  has  been  found  impossible 
to  set  them  to  music  according  to  the  modern  S3^stem 
of  notation,  as  we  have  neither  staves  nor  musical  charac- 
ters whereby  the  sounds  may  be  accurately  expressed."^ 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "  That  music  was  cultivated 
on  scientific  principles  is  evident  from  the  accounts  given 
by  Sir  \V.  Jones  and  Mr.  Colebrooke,  from  which  it 
appears  that  the  Hindus  had  a  knowledge  of  the  garnet, 
of  the  mode  of  notation,  of  measurement,  of  time,  and  of 
a  division  of  the  notes  of  a  more  minute  description 
than  has  been  found  convenient  in  Europe."^  "  We 
understand,"  says  Mrs.  Manning,  "  that  the  Hindu 
musicians  have  not  only  the  Chromatic  but  also  the 
Enharmonic  genus. """^ 

The  Oriental  Quarterly  Review  says  :  "  We  may  add 
that  the  only  native  singers  and  players  whom  Euro- 
peans are  in  the  way  of  hearing  in  most  parts  of  India, 
are  reported  by  their  scientific  brethren  in  much  the  same 
light  as  a  ballad  singer  at  the  corner  of  the  street  by  the 
jjrime  soprans  of  the  Italian  opera. "+ 

Sir  W.  W.  Hun  ter  says  :  "  And  the  contempt  with 
which  the  Europeans  in  India  regard  it  merely  proves 
their  ignorance  of  the  system  on  which  Hindu  music  is 
built   up."'^     Professor    Wilson    says  :   "  Europeans    in 

*The  Music  of  the  Ancients,  p.  21. 

^Mill's  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  41. 

■* Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  IT,  p.  \h?). 

^Quarterly  Review  for  December  1825,  p.  11)7. 

^Imperial  Gazetteer,  "India,"  p.  224.  ilrs.  Anne  C.  Wilson 
says:  "  Not  many  Europeans,  I  fancy,  would  boast  of  being  even 
superficially  acquainted  with  the  Dhrupada  style  of  song,  the  popular 
Tappas,thc  Thiimri  soags  of  the  N.-W.  P.,  the  Kharkhae  or  war-songs 


370  HIXDU    SUPERIORITY. 

general  know  nothing  of  Indian  music.  They  hear  only 
the  accompaniments  to  public  processions,  in  which  noise 
is  the  chief  object  to  be  attained,  or  the  singing  of  the 
Mohamedans,  ichich  is  Persian  not  Indian.'"^ 

There  are  six  male  rags,  and  associated  with  them 
are  thirty-six  female  ragnees,  which  partake  of  the  pecu- 
liar measure  or  quality  of  their  males  but  in  a  softer 
and  more  feminine  degree.  From  each  of  these  36 
ra(piees  have  been  born  three  ragnees  reproducing 
the  special  peculiarity  of  their  original,  and  these 
have  in  their  turn  produced  offsprings  without 
number,  each  bearing  a  distinct  individuality  to  the  pri- 
mary raga,  or,  to  use  the  poetic  Hindu  expression,  "they 
are  as  numerous  and  alike  as  the  waves  of  the  sea." 
That  the  Hindus  cultivated  music  on  scientific  principles 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that,  as  Mr,  Whitten  says,  these 
ragas  were  designed  to  move  some  passion  or  affection 
of  the  mind,  and  to  each  was  assigned  some  particular  sea- 
son of  the  year,  time  of  the  day  and  night  or  special  locality 
or  district,  and  for  a  performer  to  sing  a  raga  out  of  its 

of  the  Rajputs,  the  Huttari  chants,  the  nurseiy  rhymes,  the  wedding 
and  cremation  songs  of  Gujrat,  the  Veniams,  Pallam.  lurtans  of 
Madras  ....  Who  amongst  us  know  the  lyric  poetry  of  Vidyapati,  of 
Chaiididas,  Jaideva  or  the  well-known  family  of  Ram  Bhagan  Dutt, 
Bouietimes  called  the  "nest  of  singing  birds?" — p.  41. 

1  Mill's  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  41.  Professor  Wilson  adds:  "The 
practice  of  art  among  them  (Hindus)  has  declined  in  consequence 
probably  of  its  suppression  by  the  Mohamedans."  Sir  W.  W.  Hunter 
says  :  "  Hindu  music  after  a  period  of  excessive  elaboration  sank  under 
Mussalmans." — Imperial  Gazetteer,  p.  223.  "However,  it  still  preserves) 
in  a  living  state,  some  of  the  earlier  forms,  which  puzde  the  student  of 
Greek  umsic,  side  by  side  with  the  most  complicated  development."— 
Sir  "\V.  W.  Hunter,  p.  224. 


MUSIC.  371 

appropriate  season  or  district  would  raake  him,  in  the 
eyes  of  all  Hindus,  an  ignorant  pretender  and  unworthy 
the  character  of  a  musician.'^ 

The  six  principal  ragaa  are  the  following  : — 

(1)  liindaul.  It  is  played  to  produce  on  the 
mind  of  the  bearers  all  the  sweetness  and  freshness  of 
spring  ;  sweet  as  the  honey  of  the  bee  and  fragrant  as 
the  perfume  of  a  thousand  blossoms. 

(2)  Sri  liaga.  The  quality  of  this  rag  is  to 
affect  the  mind  with  the  calmness  and  silence  of  declin- 
ing day,  to  tinge  the  thoughts  with  a  roseate  hue,  as 
clouds  are  gilded  by  the  setting  sun  before  the  approach 
of  darkness  and  night. 

()^)  Meg  MalJar.  This  is  descriptive  of  the  effects 
of  an  approaching  thunder-storm  and  rain,  having  the 
power  of  influencing  clouds  in  time-s  of  drought. 

(4)  Deepuck.  This  rag  is  extinct.  No  one  could 
sing  it  and  live  ;  it  has  consequently  fallen  into  disuse. 
Its  effect  is  to  light  the  lamps  and  to  cause  the  body  of 
the  singer  to  produce  flames  by  which  he  dies. 

(5)  Bhairava.  The  eft'ect  of  this  rag  is  to  in- 
spire the  mind  with  a  feeling  of  approaching  dawn,  the 
caroling  of  birds,  the  sweetne&s  of  the  perfume  and  air, 
the  sparkling  freshness  of  dew-dropping  morn. 

(6)  Malkos.  The  effects  of  this  rag  are  to  produce 
on  the  mind  a  feeling  of  gentle  stimulation. 

There  is  much  that  is  common  to  both  the  Hindu 
and  European  systems.  Mr.  Arthur  Whitten  says : 
"  Their  (Hindus)  scale  undoubtedly  resembles  our 
diatonic  mode,  and  consists  of  seven  sounds,  which  are 
extended  to  three  octaves,  that  being  the  compass  of  the 


372  HIXDU    SUPERIORITY. 

human  voice.  Their  voices  and  music,  like  ours,  are  divid- 
ed into  three  distinct  classes.  The  bass,  called  odarah^ 
or  lowest  notes  ;  the  tenor,  called  madm-rah,  or  middle 
notes  ;  the  soprano,  called  the  tarrah^  or  upper  notes. 
The  similarity  of  the  formation  of  the  ancient  Hindu 
scale  to  our  modern  system  is  noteworthy.  We  name 
the  sounds  of  our  scales :  Doh,  Ray,  Me,  Fah,  Sol,  La,  Te. 
That  common  in  India  is  :Sa,  Ray,  Ga,  Ma,  Pa,  DhaNe.^ 
The  reason  of  this  similarity  is  evident.  Sir  W. 
W.  Hunter  says:  "A  regular  system  of  notation  was 
worked  out  before  the  age  of  Panini,  and  seven  notes 
were  designated  by  their  initial  letters.  This  notation 
passed  from  the  Brahmans  through  the  Persians  to 
Arabia,  and  was  thence  introduced  into  European  music 
by  Guido  d'  Arezzo  at  the  beo-innincr  of  the  eleventh 
century."  ' 

Professor  Weber  says  :  "  According  to  Yon  Bohlen 
and  Benfey,  this  notation  passed  from  the  Hindus  to 
the  Persians,^  and  from  these  again  to  the  Arabs,  and 
was  introduced  into  European  music  by  Guido  d' 
Arezzo  at  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century."* 

But  the  principles  of  Hindu  music  were  imported 
into  Europe  mucli  earlier  than  this. 

A  The  Music  of  the  Ancients,  pp.  2J,  22. 

^ludiau  Gazetteer,  p.  223.  See  Benfey's  Indien  Ersch,  p.  299, 
and  Gruber's  Encyclopasdia,  Vol.  XVIIl.  "  Some  suppose  that  our 
modern  word  gamut  comes  from  the  Indian  gaina  =  a  musical  scale. 
Prakrit  is  gama,  while  its  Sanskrit  is  grama. 

^  Hindu  musicians  used  to  go  to  foreign  countries  to  grace  the 
courts  of  foreign  kings.  King  Behram  of  Persia  had  many  Hindu 
musicians  in  his  court. 

^Weber's  Indian  Literature- p.  272. 


MUSIC.  o73 

Strabo  says  :  "  Some  of  the  Greeks  attribute  to  that 
country  (India)  the  invention  o£   nearly  all   the   science 
o£  music.     We  perceive  them  sometimes  describing  the 
cittiara  of  the  Asiatics  and  sometimes  applying  to  flutes 
the  ephitliet  Phrygian.      The   names  of  certain  instru- 
ments,  such   as  nabla  and  others,   likewise  are    taken 
from   barbarous   tongues."     Colonel   Tod   says:  "This 
nabla  of  Strabo  is  possible    the   tahla,   the  small  tabor 
of  India.   If  Strabo  took  his  orthography  from  the  Persian 
or  Arabic,  a  single  point  would  constitute  the  difference 
between  the  N  (nila)  and  the  T  (te')-"^    ^^  ^^'^^^  '  "  ^^^ 
have  every  reason   to  believe — from  the  very  elaborate 
character  of  their   written   music,  which   is  painful   and 
discordant    to    the    ear,    and    from    its    minuteness  of 
subdivision  that  they  had  also  the  Chromatic  scale,  said 
to   have  been   invented   by    Timotheus  in  the  time  of 
Alexander,  who  miirht  have  carried  it  from  the  banks  of 
the  Indus."2 

Colonel  Tod  also  says:  "In  the  mystic  dance,  the 
Rds-Mandala,  yet  imitated  on  the  festival  sacred  to  the 
sun-god,  Hari,  he  is  represented  with  a  radiant  crown  in 
a  dancing  attitude,  playing  on  the  flute  to  the  nymphs 
encirclino-  him,  each  holding  a  musical  instrument  .  .  .  . 
These  nymphs  are  also  called  the  nava-ragni,  from  rdga, 
a  mode  of  song  over  which  each  presides,  and  nava-rasa,  or 
nine  passions  excited  by  the  powers  of  harmony.  May  we 
not  in  this  trace  the  origin  of  Apollo  and  the  sacred  Nine?  " 

Bharata,  Iswara,  Parana  and  Karada  were  among 
the  o-reat  Hindu  musicians  of  ancient  India.  "^     In   more 


5» 


or 


iTod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  569  (P.  Edition). 

sTod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  T,  p.  570.  -nVcber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  272. 


374  FIINDU    SCPKlilOKITr. 

recent  times,  however,  Naik  Gopal  and  T^nsen  have 
been  the  most  celebrated  ones.  About  Naik  Gopal,  Mr. 
Whitten  says  :  "  Of  the  magical  effect  produced  by  the 
singing  of  Gopal  Naik  and  of  the  romantic  termination 
to  the  career  of  this  sage,  it  is  said  that  he  was  command- 
ed by  Akbar  to  sing  the  raga  deepuck,  and  he,  obliged 
to  obey,  repaired  to  the  river  Jumna,  in  which  he  plung- 
ed up  to  his  neck.  As  he  warbled  the  wild  and  magical 
notes,  flames  burst  from  his  body  and  consumed  him  to 
ashes." ^  He  adds  :  "  It  is  recorded  of  Tansen  that 
he  was  also  commanded  by  the  Emperor  Akbar  to  sing 
the  sri.,  or  night  raga,  at  midday,  and  the  power  of  thr3 
music  was  such  that  it  instantly  became  night,  and  the 
darkness  extended  in  a  circle  round  the  palace  as  far  as 
his  voice  could  be  heard."  India,  it  seems,  produced 
Orpheuses  even  so  late  as  the  17th  century  A.  D. 

IMusic  of  the  Ancients,  p.  21.  Dr.  Tennet  says:  "If  we  are  to 
judge  merely  from  the  number  of  instruments  and  the  frequency  with 
which  they  apply  them,  the  Hindus  might  be  regardsd  as  considerable 
proficients  in  music." 

The  instrument  singa,  or  horn,  is  said  to  have  been  played  by 
Mahadeo,  who  alone  possessed  the  knowledge  and  power  to  make  it 
speak.  Singular  stories  are  related  of  the  wonders  performed  by  this 
instrument. 

The  Beena  is  the  principal  stringed  instrument  of  music  amongst 
the  Hindus  at  the  present  day. 

•'  Although  not  ocean  born,  the  tuneful  Beena 
Is  most  assuredly  a  gem  of  Heaven — 
Like  a  dear  friend  it  cheers  the  lonely  heart 
And  lends  new  lustre  to  the  social  meeting  ; 
It  lulls  the  pains  that  absent  lovers  feel. 
And  adds  fresh  impulse  to  the  glow  of  paasiou." 


OTHER    SCIKNCES.  375 


OTHER  SCIENCES. 

What  cannot  Art  and  Industry  perform. 
When  Science  plans  the  progress  of  their  toil  7 

Bbattie  :  Minstrel. 

That  in  addition  to  the  astronomical,  the  mathematical, 
the  medical  and  the  military  sciences,  many  other  equally- 
important  sciences  flourished  in  ancient  India  is  evident 
from  the  remains  of  some  of  the  most  important  achieve- 
ments of  the  Hindus.  Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  In  science 
we  find  the  Hindus  as  acute  and  diligent  as  ever."' 

Medical  science  in  a  flourishing  condition  presup- 
poses the  existence  in  an  advanced  state  of  s^-eral  other 
sciences,  such  as  Botany,  Chemistry,  Electricity,  etc.  The 
Ashtar  Vidi/a{see  Military  Science)  presupposes  the  exis- 
tence of  the  sciences  of  chemistry,  dynamics,  meteoro- 
logy, geology,  physics,  and  other  cognate  sciences  in  a 
much  more  advanced  state  than  what  we  find  them  in  at 
the  present  day  ;  while  the  Viman  Vidya  presupposes  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  an  equally  great  number  of 
such  sciences.  The  huge  buildings  of  ancient  India  and 
"  those  gigantic  temples  hewn  out  of  lofty  rocks  with 
the  most  incredible  labour  at  Elephanta,  Elora  and  at 
many  other  places,"  which  have  not  only  excited  admira- 
tion but  have  been  a  standing  puzzle  to  some  people,  could 
not  have  come  into  existence  if  the  ancient  Hindus  had 
not  been  masters  of  the  science  of  engineering.  The  engi- 
neering skill  of  the  ancients  was  truly  marvellous.  With 
all  its  advanced  civilization,  modern  Europe  has  yet  to 

^  Elphin&touc's  llifctory  uf  India,  p.  13o. 


376  HINDU    SUPKRIORITY. 

produce  engineers  able  to  build  the  Pyramids,  or  to  turn 
huge  rocks  into  temples.  Mons,  de  Lesseps  was  no  doubt 
an  admirable  representative  of  triumphant  engineering 
skill,  and  was  an  honour  to  France,  but  he  only  followed 
in  the  footsteps  of  his  predecessors,  who  were  equally 
great,  and  who,  too,  had  at  one  time  connected  the  Red 
Sea  with  the  Mediterranean.  Mr.  Swayne  says  :  "  A 
French  engineer  repeats  the  feat  of  the  old  native  kings 
and  the  Greek  Ptolemies  in  marrying  by  a  canal  the  Red 
Sea  to  the  Mediterranean,  an  achievement  which  will 
make  the  name  of  Lesseps  immortal,  if  the  canal  can  only 
be  kept  clear  of  sand,"^  The  sands  still  maintain  a 
threatening  aspect. 

As  regards  the  Pyramids,  the  early  fathers  of  the 
Church  (Christian  teachers  before  500  A.  D.),  believed 
them  to  have  fallen  from  Heaven,  while  others  in  Europe 
believed  them  to  have  sprung  out  of  earth  or  to  have  been 
built  by  Satan  and  his  devils. 

The  Mahabharata  shows  that  the  ancient  Hindus 
had  achieved  wonderful  advancement  in  mechanics. 
In  the  description  of  the  Mayasabha  (Exhibition), 
which  was  presented  by  Mayasar  to  the  Pandavas, 
mention  is  made  of  microscopes,  telescopes, 
clocks,  etc. 

An  American  critic  says  :  "  Such,  indeed,  was  the 
mechanism  of  the  Mayasabha,  which  accommodated 
thousands  of  men,  that  it  required  only  ten  men  to  turn 
and  take  it  in  whatever  direction  they  liked."  There 
was,  he  also  says,  "  the  steam  or  the  fire-engine 
called  the  agni  rath^ 

1  Swajne's  Herodotus  (Ancient  Classics),  p.  41, 


O'l'iiF.i;  sc'iF.NcivS.  877 


That  there  were  powerful  telescopes  hi  ancient  India 

is,   doubtless,    quite   true.     One    is    mentioned    in   the 

Mahabharata.     It  was  given   bv   Vyasa jeo   to   Sanjai  at 

Indraprasta,    in   order   to   witness   the   battle   i^oint^   on 

at  KurukshetraJ 

As  reijards  the  science  o[  botany,  Professor   AYilson 

says  :  "  They  (the  Hindus)  were  very  careful  observers 
both  of  the  internal  and  external  properties  of  plants, 
and  furnish  copious  lists  of  the  vegetable  world,  with 
sensible  notices  of  tlieir  uses,  and  names  significant  of 
their  peculiarities,"-  If  the  AkJibar- id- Sadeeq'^  is  to  be 
trusted,  a  Sanskrit  dictionary  of  botany  in  three  volumes 
was  discovered  in  Kashmir  in  1887. 

In  the  play  Malati  and  Madhava^^  it  is  stated  that 
the  damsel  drew  Madhava's  heart  "like  a  rod  of  the  iron- 
stone gem,"  which  clearly  shows  that  the  Hindus  were 
acquainted  with  artificial  magnets  as  well  as  with  tlie 
properties  of  the  loadstone.  Professor  Wilson,  too,  sup- 
ports this  view.  He  further  says  :  "  The  Hindus  early 
adopted  the  doctrine  that  there  is  no  vacuum  in  nature, 
but  observino;  that  air  was  excluded  under  various  circum- 
stances  from  space,  they  devised,  in  order  to  account  for 
the  separation  of  particles,  a  subtle  element,  or  ether,  by 
w^hich  all  interstices,  the  most  minute  and  inaccessible, 
were  pervaded,  a  notion  which  modern  Fhilosopln/ 
intimates  some  tendency  to  adopt,  as  regards  the  planetary 
movements,  and  it  was  to  this  subtle  element  that  they 
ascribed  the  property  of  conveying  sound  :  in  which  they 

iSee  Mahabharata,  Bhceshma  Parva,  Chapter  IT,  shjka  10. 
-Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  97,  footnote. 
3Akhbar-ul-Sadeeq,  dated  25th  November  1887,  p.  7. 
*Sce  also  Manning's  Ancient  and  Media'val  Indiii,  Vol.  II,  p.  200, 


o7(S  niXDU  RUPERIOniTY. 

were  so  far  right  tliat  in  vacuo  there  can  be  no  sound.  Air 
again  is  said  to  be  possessed  of  the  faculty  of  touch,  that  it 
is  the  medium  through  which  the  contact  of  bodies  is  effected 
— ether  keeps  them  apart — air  impels  them  together. 
Fire,  or  rather  light,  has  the  property  of  figure — Mr.  Cole- 
brooke  renders  it  of  colour.  In  either  case  the  theory  is 
true  ;  for  neither  colour  nor  form  is  discernible  except 
through  the  medium  of  light.  Water  has  the  property 
of  taste,  an  affirmation  perfectly  true  ;  for  nothing  is 
sensible  to  the  palate  until  it  is  dissolved  by  the  natural 
fluids,"'  This  shows  that  the  Hindus  were  in  no  way 
behind  the  scientists  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  influence  of  the  moon  in  causing  tides  seems  to 
have  been  known  to  the  Hindus  from  the  earliest  times. 
Ra</Inivansa  (V.  61)  says  : 

=^'^  l^%^mfT^■^^^J^J  ii 
That  the  Hindus  were  excellent  observers  and  became  great 
Naturalists  becomes  clear  from  Professor  ^Vilson's  note  on 
a  verse  of  the  drama  of  Mrichchhakati.   Charudatta  says  : 

"  The  elephants'  broad  front,  when  thick  congealed 
The  dried-up  dew,  they  visit  me  no  more." 

Wilson  says  :  "  At  certain  periods  a  thick  dew 
exhales  from  the  elephant's  temples.  This  peculiarity, 
thouo;h  known  to  Strabo,  seems  to  have  escaped 
Naturalists  till  lately,  when  it  was  noticed  by  Cuvier.*^ 

Facts  regarding  diamonds,  pearls,   sapphires,  etc.,- 
are  mentioned  with  care,   which  show  that  the  ancient 

'  Mill's  India,  Vol.  II,  pp.  05,  96. 

-Tiie  Theatre  of  the  Hindus,  Vol.  I,  p.  22,  footnote. 


OTJIKi;    SCIKNCKS.  o79 

Hindus  vvei'o  thoroutihlv  woll-vurseil  in  tlie  sciences  and 
the  arts  relating  to  lisherv  and  to  mining,  and  tiie  ])r()- 
cesses  of  separating  and  extracting  \arious  suljstances 
from  the  eartli. 

That  the  ancient  Hindus  were  masters  of  tlic 
sciences  of  chemistry,  mechanics,  meteorology  is  pr<.>ved 
by .  one  of  the  most  wonderful  of  liuman  achievements. 
This  was  the  Viman  Vkli/a.  The  baloons  of  the  Western 
world  give  us  an  idea  of  what  vlmans  may  have  been  like. 
Fifty  years  ago  a  viman  was  considered  an  impossibility. 
But  ha})pily  those  days  of  Western  scepticism  are  over, 
and  a  vlman^  for  its  practical  advantages,  is  looked  upon 
as  an  ideal  of  scientific  achievement.  A  European  critic 
says  :  "  Viman  Vidya.  was  a  complete  science  amongst 
the  ancient  Hindus.  They  were  its  masters  and  used  it 
for  all  practical  purposes." 

This  indicates  their  master}^  of  all  tlie  arts  and 
sciences  on  which  the  Viman  Vidya  is  based,  including 
.a  knowledge  of  the  different  strata  and  the  currents  of 
the  atmospheric  air,  the  temperature  and  density  of 
each,  and  various  other  minor  particulars.  Viman  Vidya 
is  thus  clearly  mentioned  in  the  Vedas.  The  Yajur- 
Yeda  (Vr,  21)  says: 

^^^1f^  ^T'f  T  ^'TlfCWi;=^  ^T^^T  \^^,  ^f^cTK^^  ^Tf  III 

Mann  also  says  : 

This  science  is  said  by  some  to  have  been  a  ])art 
of  the  more  comprehensive  science  called  "  the  A  ayu 
Yidhya"  mentioned  in  the  Sat  pat  Brahmana,  X I  and  X I V. 

Prof.  Weber  says:  ^^  Sarpa  Vidya  (serpent  science) 
is  mentioned  in  the  Satpat  Brahamana  XI 11,  as  a  separate 
-science   and     T/.^A    Vidya    (science    of    i}oisons)    in    die 


380  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 


Asviilayiina  Sutra." ^  "  Sivedasa,  in  his  Commentary 
ot*  Chakrapani,  quotes  Patanjali  as  an  authority  on 
Lohasastra^  or  'the  Science  of  Iron'."- 

The  Greeks  derived  their  knowledge  of  electricity 
from  India.  Thales,  one  of  the  Greek  sages,  learned 
during  his  tour  in  India  that  when  amber  was  rubbed  with 
silk  it  acquired  the  property  of  attracting  light  bodies. 

Not  only  were  the  sciences  of  electricity  and 
magnetism  extensively  cultivated  by  the  ancient  Hindus, 
but  they  received  their  highest  development  in  ancient 
India.  The  Yedantist  says  that  lightning  comes  from 
rain.  This  can  be  easily  demonstrated  by  the  well-known 
experiments  of  Touilet  and  others  :  all  these  prove  that 
Hindu  sages  perfectly  understood  all  the  electrical  mag- 
netic phenomena.  The  most  significant  proof  of  the 
high  development  of  these  sciences  is  to  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  thev  were  made  to  contribute  so  much  to 
theevery-day  comfort  and  convenience^  of  the  whole  com- 

^  Weber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  2G5. 

2History  of  Hindu  Chemistrj-,  Vol.  I,  p.  55. 

''As  an  instance  of  such  practical  adaptations  of  their  scientific 
discoveries,  the  following  may  be  useful  :  Visitors  to  Simla  are  familiar 
with  the  sight  of  young  native  children  placed  in  a  position  in  which 
they  are  exposed  to  the  constant  trickling  of  a  stream  of  water.  This 
custom  is  generally  considered  a  cruel  one,  although  it  has  not  been 
shown  that  it  promotes  a  high  rate  of  mortality.  The  object  is  to  put 
the  young  ones  to  sleep,  and  the  means  are  probably  not  more  injurious 
than  many  of  the  patent  foods  and  medicines  which  arc  the  civilized 
substitutes.  At  the  same  time  it  is  startling  to  find  that  Sir  Joseph 
Fayrer,  President  of  the  Medical  Society,  is  trying  to  introduce  the  hill 
custom  in  England.  He  says  that  the  flowing  of  water  on  the  vertex 
of  the  cranium  never  fails  to  induce  sleep  and  that  parents  who  are 
tormented  with  fretful  children  have  only  to  pop  them  under  an  impro- 
vised water-spout. 


OTIIKK    S(  IKNCES.  3S1 

munity,  and  that  their  teachings  were  embodied  in  the 
daily  practices  of  the  ancient  Hindus,  wliicli  does  the 
highest  credit  to  their  practical  wisdom  and  their  scientific 
temperament. 

Sleep  is  necessary  not  only  to  enjoy  sound  health 
but  to  keep  the  body  and  soul  together.  The  question 
now  is  in  what  way  to  sleep  to  derive  the  greatest  benefit 
from  this  necessary  operation  of  nature.  Its  solution  bv 
the  ancient  Hindus  not  only  proves  them  to  have  been 
masters  of  the  sciences  of  magnetism  and  electricity,  but 
shows  the  spirit  of  Hinduism,  which  cannot  be  commend- 
ed too  highly  for  its  readiness  at  all  times  and  in  all 
directions  to  adopt  and  assimilate  the  teachings  of 
science.  Every  Hindu  is  instructed  hy  his  or  her 
mother  and  grandmother  to  lie  down  to  sleep  with  the 
head  either  eastward  or  southward. 

Babu  Sita  Xath  Roy  cites  slokas  from  the  Shastras, 
which  enjoin  this  practice.  The  Anhika  Tuttiva,  a  part 
of  our  Smiriti  Shastras,  says  :  "1.  The  most  renowned 
Garga  rishi  says  that  man  should  lie  down  with  his 
head  placed  eastward  in  his  own  house,  but  if  he  long  for 
longevity  he  should  lie  down  with  his  head  placed 
southward.  In  foreign  places  he  may  lie  down  with 
his  head  placed  even  westward,  but  never  and  nowhere 
should  he  lie  down  with  his  head  placed  northward." 

"2.  Markandaya,  one  of  the  much  revered  Hindu 
sages  says  that  man  becomes  learned  by  lying  down  with 
his  head  placed  eastward,  acquires  strength  and  longevity 
by  lying  down  with  his  head  placed  southward,  and 
brings  upon  himself  disease  and  death  by  lying  down 
with  his  head  placed  northward." 


382  HINDU    SUPERIOIUTY. 

The  learned  writer  found  another  sloka  in  the 
Vishnu  Purana,  which  says  :  "Oh  king  !  It  is  beneficial  to 
lie  down  with  the  head  placed  eastward  or  southward. 
The  man  Avho  always  lies  down  with  his  head  placed  in 
contrary  directions  becomes  diseased." 

After  stating  certain  facts  regarding  magnetism  and 
electricity  necessary  to  enable  a  man  (unacquainted  with 
the  elements  of  these  sciences)  to  understand  his  expla- 
nation, Babu  Sitanat.h  Roy  says  :     "  According   to  what 
has    been    just  now  said,   it  is     not    very    difficult    to 
conceive    that    the    body  of    the    earth    on    which     we 
live  is  being  always  magnetised  by   a  current  of  thermal 
electricity    produced    by    the    sun.     The    earth    being 
a    round    body,    when    its    eastern  part    is     heated    by 
the  sun  its   western  part  remains  cold.     In  consequence 
a  current  of    thermal  electricity  generated  by  the  sun 
travels  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  from  east  to  west. 
By  this  current  of  thermal  electricity  the  earth  becomes 
magnetised,   and   its   geographical  north    pole  being  on 
the  right-hand  side  of  the  direction  of  the  current,  is  made 
the  magnetic  north  pole,  and  its  geographical  south  pole 
being  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the  same  current,  is  made 
the   magnetic  south   pole.     That   the  earth   is  a   great 
magnet  requires  no  proof  more  evident  than  that  by  the 
attractive  and  repulsive  powers  of  its  poles,  the  compass 
needle,   in   whatever   position   it  is  placed,  is  invariably 
turned  so  as  to  point  out  the  north  and  the  south  by  its 
two  ends  or  poles.     In  the  equatorial  region  of  the  earth 
the  compass  needle  stands  horizontally,  on  account  of  the 
equality  of  attraction  exerted  on  its  poles  by  those  of 
the  earth  ;  bat   in  the  polar   region  the   needle   stands 
obliquely,   that  is,   one  end  is  dcprcissedtuid  the  other 


OTHER  sciExrrs.  8S8 

end  is  elevated  on  account  o£  tlie  inequality  of  attraction 
exerted  on  its  poles  by  those  of  the  earth.  Such  a 
position  of  the  needle  in  polar  regions  is  technically 
termed  the  dip  of  the  needle. 

"It  has  been  found  by  experiments  that  the  human 
body  is  a  magnetisable  object,  though  far  inferior  to  iron 
or  steel.  That  it  is  a  magnetisable  object  is  a  fact  that 
cannot  be  denied,  for  in  addition  to  other  causes  there 
is  a  large  percentage  of  iron  in  tlie  blood  circulating 
throughout  all  the  parts  of  the  body. 

"NoAY,  as  our  feet  are  for  the  most  part  of  the  day 
kept  in  close  contact  with  the  surface  of  that  huge 
magnet — the  earth — the  whole  human  body,  therefore 
becomes  magnetised.  Further,  as  our  feet  are  magnetis- 
ed by  contact  with  the  northern  hemisphere  of  the  earth, 
where  exist  all  the  properties  of  north  polarity,  south 
polarity  is  induced  in  our  feet,  and  north  polarity,  as  a 
necessary  consquence,  is  induced  in  our  head.  In  infancy 
the  palms  of  our  hands  are  used  in  walking  as  much  as 
our  feet,  and  even  later  on  the  palms  generally  tend  more 
towards  the  earth  than  towards  the  sky.  Consequently 
south  polarity  is  induced  in  them  as  it  is  in  our  feet. 
The  above  arrangement  of  poles  in  the  human  body  is 
natural  to  it,  and  therefore  conducive  to  our  health  and 
happiness.  The  body  enjoys  perfect  health  if  the 
magnetic  polarity  natural  to  it  be  preserved  unaltered, 
and  it  becomes  subject  to  disease  if  that  polarity  be  in 
the  least  degree  altered  or  its  intensity  diminished. 

"  Although  the  earth  is  the  chief  source  whence  the 
magnetism  of  the  human  body  is  derived,  yet  it  is  no 
less  due  to  the  action  of  oxygen.  Oxygen  gas  being 
naturally  a  good  magnetic  substance,  and  being  largely 


oS4  mXDU    SUrERIORITV. 

distributed  within  and  without  the  human  body,  helps 
the  earth  a  f]^ood  deal  in  mao-netisins:  it. 

"Though  every  human  body  is  placed  under  the 
same  conditions  with  reo^ard  to  its  mao^etisation,  yet  the 
intensity  and  permanance  of  the  magnetic  polarity  of 
one  are  not  always  equal  to  those  of  another.  Those 
two  properties  of  the  human  body  are  generally  in  direct 
ratio  to  the  compactness  of  its  structure  and  the  amount 
of  iron  particles  entering  into  its  composition. 

"  Now  it  is  very  easy  to  conceive  that  if  you  lie  down 
with  your  head  placed  southward  and  feet  northward, 
the  south  pole  of  the  earth  and  your  head, — which  is  the 
north  pole  of  your  body,  and  the  north  pole  of  the  earth 
and  your  feet,  which  are  the  two  branches  of  the  south 
pole  of  your  body, — being  in  juxta-position,  will  attract 
each  other,  and  thus  the  polarity  of  the  body  natural  to  it 
will  be  preserved ;  while  for  the  same  reason,  if  you  lie 
with  your  head  placed  north w-ard  and  feet  southward, 
the  similar  poles  of  your  body  and  the  earth  being  in 
juxta-position  will  repel  each  other,  and  thereby  the 
natural  polarity  of  your  body  will  be  destroyed  or  its 
intensity  diminished.  In  the  former  position  the 
polarity  youp  body  acquires  during  the  day  by  standing, 
w^alking  and  sitting  on  the  ground,  is  preserved  intact 
at  night  during  sleep  ;  but  in  the  latter  position,  the 
polarity  which  your  body  acquires  during  the  day  by 
standing,  walking  and  sitting  on  the  ground  is  altered 
at  night  during  sleep. 

"  Now,  as  it  has  been  found  by  experiment  that  the 
preservation  of  natural  magnetic  polarity  is  the  cause  of 
health,  and  any  alteration  of  that  polarity  is  the  cause  of 
disease,  no  one  will  perhaps  deny  the  validity  of  the  slokas 


OTIIKK    SCIENCES.  385 

which  instruct  us  to  lie  clown  with  our  heads  })lacecl  south- 
ward, and  never  and  nowhere  to  lie  down  with  our  heads 
placed  northward. 

?^ow,  whv  in  those  two  slokas  the  eastern  direction  is 
preferred  to  the  western  for  placing  the  head  in  lying 
down,  is  explained  thus  :  "  It  has  been  established  by 
experiments  in  all  works  on  medical  electricity  that  it"  a 
current  of  electricity  pass  from  one  part  of  the  body  to 
another,  it  subdues  all  inflammations  in  that  part  of  the 
body,  where  it  enters  into  and  produces  some  inflammation 
in  the  part  of  the  body  whence  it  goes  out.  This  is  the  sum 
and  substance  of  the  two  great  principles  of  Anelectro- 
toNus  and  Cafchctrotoiufs,  as  they  are  technically  called 
by  the  authors  of  medical  electricities. 

"Now,  in  lying  down  with  the  head  placed  eastward, 
the  current  of  thermal  electricity  Avhich  is  constantly 
passing  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  from  east  to  west, 
passes  through  our  body  also  from  the  head  to  the  feet, 
and  therefore  subdues  all  inflammation  present  in  the 
head,  where  it  makes  its  entrance.  Again,  in  lying  down 
with  the  head  placed  westward,  the  same  current  of  elec- 
tricity passes  through  our  body  from  the  feet  to  the  head, 
and  therefore  produces  some  kind  of  inflammation  in  the 
head,  whence  it  goes  out.  Now,  because  a  clear  and 
healthy  head  can  easily  acquire  knowledge,  and  an 
inflamed,  or,  in  other  w'ords,  congested  head  is  always 
the  laboratory  of  vague  and  distressing  thoughts,  the 
venerable  sage  Markandaya  was  justifled  in  saying  that 
man  becomes  learned  by  lying  down  with  his  head  placed 
eastward,  and  is  troubled  with  distressing  thoughts  by 
lying  down  with  his  head  placed  westward."' 
'Arya  Magazine  for  Ueocmbci-  1883,  p.  -li. 


3S6  HINDU    SUrERIOKITY. 

There  are  other  time-honoured  practice^;,  which  are 
founded  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  cf  electri- 
city and  magnetism.  For  instance,  we  find  that  (1)  Iron 
or  copper  rods  are  inserted  at  the  tops  of  all  temples  ; 

(2)  Mindulies  (metallic  cells)  made  of  either  gold,  silver 
or  iron,  are  worn  on  the  diseased  parts  of  the  body  ; 

(3)  Seats  made  of  either  silk,  wool,  kusa  grass  or  hairy 
skins  of  the  deer  and  tiger  are  used  at  the  time  of  saying- 
prayers.     Those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  principles 
of  electricity  will  be  able  to  account  for  these  practices. 
They  know  that  the  function  of  the  rod  or  the  frisida 
{trifurcated  iron  rod)  placed  at  the  top  of  the  Hindu 
temples  is  analogous  to  a  lightning  conductor.    The  min- 
dulies perform  the  same  functions  as  electrical  belts  and 
other  appliances  prescribed  in  the  electrical  treatment 
of   diseases.       The  golden  temple  of  Vishweshwar   at 
Benares  is  really  a  thunderproof  shelter.      Professor  Max 
Muller  recommends  the  use  of  a  copper  envelope  to  a 
gunpower  magazine  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  being 
struck  by  lightning.     The  woollen  and  the  skin  asans 
(seats)   protect  our   lives  during  a  thunderstorm  from 
the  action  of  a  return  shock,  and  keeps  our  body  insulated 
from  the  earth. 

There  is  another  practice  among  the  Hindus  which 
is  explained  by  an  Austrian  scientist.  In  representa- 
tion, "around  the  head  of  each  of  the  Hindu  gods 
is  the  aureole."  But  why  they  should  be  so  repre- 
sented was  a  mystery  until  liow.  Baron  Von  Reich- 
enbach,  an  Austrian  chemist  of  eminence,  thus  explains 
it.  He  says:  "The  human  system,  in  common  with 
every  animate  and  inanimate  natural  object,  and  with 
the    whole  starry  heavens,    is   pervaded  with    a  subtle 


OTUEU    SriENCES.  387 

r\ura,  or,  if  3-011  please,  imj)onfIerable  fluid,  which  re- 
sembles magnetisim  and  electricity  in  certain  respects, 
and  vet  is  analo<^ous  with  neither.  This  aura,  while 
radiatino-  in  a  faint  mist  from  all  parts  of  our  bodies, 
is  peculiarly  bright  about  the  head,  and  hence  the 
aureole.  "In  fact,"  saj's  Col.  Olcott,  "we  see  that 
Keichenbach  was  anticipated  by  the  Aryans  (Hindus) 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  Odic  auray  And  yet  "we 
might  never  have  understood  what  the  nimbus  about 
Krishna  meant,  but  for  this  Vienna  chemist,  so  perfect 
is  tlie  sway  of  ignorance  over  this  once  glorious  people."' 
Another  practice  of  the  Hindus  which  is  ridiculed  by 
non-Hindus,  and  the  importance  of  which  is  only  dimly 
perceived  by  some  of  the  Euroj>ean  scientists,  is  that 
"when  they  sit  down  to  eat,  every  man  is  isolated  from 
his  neiirhbours  at  the  feast :  he  sits  in  the  centre  of  a 
square  traced  upon  the  floor,  grandsire,  father  and 
son,  brother  and  uncle,  avoiding  touching  each  other 
quite  as  scrupulously  as  though  they  were  of  different 
castes.  If  I  should  handle  a  Brahmin's  brass  platter,  his 
lotah  or  other  vessel  for  food  and  drink,,  neither  he  nor 
any  of  his  caste  v^ould  touch  it,  much  less  eat  or  drink 
from  it  until  it  had  been  passed  through  fire :  if  the 
utensil  were  of  clay  it  must  be  broken.  Why  all  these  ? 
That  no  affront  is  meant  by  avoidance  of  contact  is  shown 
in  the  careful  isolation  of  members  of  the  same  family 
from  each  other.  The  explanation,  I  submit,  is 
that  every  Brahmin  was  supposed  to  be  an  individual 
evolution  of  psychic  force,  apart  from  all  consideration 
of  family  relationship:   if  one  touched  the  other  at  his 


^Col.  Oloott's  lecture    ddivered  at  the  Town  Hull,  Calcutta,    ou 
5th  April,  1882. 


o88  HINDU    SUPERIOPJTY. 

particular  time  when  the  vital  force  was  actively  centred 
upon  the  process  oE    digestion,   the   psychic  force  was 
liable   to   be  drawn   off,   as   a   leaden   jar  charged   with 
electricity  is  discharged  by  touching  it  with  your  hand. 
The  Brahmin  of  old  was  an  initiate,  and  his  evolved 
psychic  power  was  emplo3'ed  in  the  atfuihotra  and  other 
ceremonies.     The  case  of  the  touching  of  the  eating  or 
drinkino-  vessel.  Or  the  mat  or  clothino-  of  a   Brahmin 
by  one  of  another  caste  of  inferior  psychic  development, 
or    the  stepping  of   such   a   person   upon   the  ground 
within  a  certain  prescribed  distance  from  the  sacrificial 
spot,  bear   upon   this  question.     In  this  same  plate  of 
Baron   Reichenbach's,   the  figure  F  represents  the  aura 
streaming  from   the  points  of  the  human  hand.     Every 
human  being  has  such  an  aura,  and  the  aura  is   peculiar 
to  himself  or  herself  as  to  quality  and  volume.     Now, 
the  aura  of  a  Brahmin  of  the  ancient  times  was  purified 
and  intensified  by  a  peculiar  course  of  religious  training — 
let  us  say  psychic  training — and  if  it  should  be  mixed 
with  the  aura  of  a  less  pure,  less  spiritualized  person, 
its  strength   would  of  necessity  be  lessened,  its  quality 
adulterated.      Reichenbach  tells  us  that  the  odic   emana- 
tion is  conductible  b}'  metals,  slower  than  electricity, 
but  more  rapidl}^  than  heat,  and  that  potter}^  and  other 
clay  vessels  absorb  and  retain  it  for  a  great  while.     Heat 
he  found  to  enormously  increase  quantitatively  the  flow 
of  odyle  through  a   metal  conductor.     The    Brahmin, 
then,  in  submitting  his  odylicaly-tainted  metallic  vessel 
to  the  tire,  is  but  experimentally  carrying  out  the  theory 
of  Von  Reichenbach. 


I 


ARTS. 


L— ARCHITECTURK  AND  SCULPTrRE. 

T  askrd  of  Time  for  wlioin   (hose  trmplcs  rose 

Tliiit  prostrate  bv  his  hands  in  silence  Ho; 

His  hps  disdained  the  mystery  to  disclose, 

And  borne  on  swil'li-r  wiir^s  he  hurried  by 

The  broken  cohimns  wliose  ?     I  asked  of  Fame 

(His  kindlincj  l^Tnth  giws  life  to  works  sublime)  ; 

With  downcast  looks  of  mingled  grief  and  shame 

She  heaved  the  nncertain  sigh  and  followcl  Tim-'. 

Wrapt  in  amazement  ov(M'  the  snionldi'ring  pile 

I  saw  oblivion  pass  witli  giant  strides, 

And  while  his  visage  wore  Pride's  scornful  smile, 

Haply  these  vast  domes  that  even  in  ruin  shine 

"  /  reck  not  whose"  he  said,  ''  they  now  are  miney 

—  livRON. 

TnEKE  is  another  immi?«takeablc  proof  of  the  wonrlerful 
civilization  of  the  ancient  Hindus — it  is  their  nrchitec- 
tiH'e  The  mngnificent  Hindu  temples,  the  splendid 
palaces,  the  formidable  forts  and  the  wonderful  caves  are 
truly  monuments  of  human  genius  and  marvels  of  humnn 
industry  and  skill.  They  have  excited  the  admiration  of 
all  European  critics,  and  hav^e  elicited  expression;?  of  won- 
der and  amazement  from  them.  Mrs.  Manning  says: 
"The  ancient  architecture  of  India  is  so  amazing  that 
the  first  European  observers  could  not  find  terms 
sufficientlyintensetoexpresstheirwonder  and  admiration, 
and  althouo:h  the  vividness  of  such  emotions  subsides 
on  more  intimate  acquaintance,  the  most  sober  critics 
still  allow  that  it  is  both  wonderful  and  beautiful."' 

l>AiKMent  and  Medianal  India,  Vol.  T.  p.  301. 


390  HINDU  SLPEHIOiaTV. 

Strength  and  durability,  beauty  and  majesty  are 
the  characteristics  of  the  Hindu  style  of  architecture. 
Mahmud  Ghaznavi  writing  to  the  Khalif  from  Mathura 
said  that  the  buildings  of  India  were  surely  not  less 
strong  than  the  Mohamedan  faith.  Such  expressions  of 
wonder  from  one  of  the  greatest  fanatics  that  ever  lived 
is  significant  evidence  of  the  highest  development  of  the 
art  of  architecture  in  India. 

Mr.  Thornton  savs  :  "The  ancient  Indian  erected 
buildings  the  solidity  of  which  has  not  been  overcome 
by  the  revolution  of  thousands  of  years."  ^ 

After  speaking  of  Hindu  sculpture,  Professor 
Weber  continues  :  "A  far  higher  degree  of  development 
was  attained  by  architecture,  of  which  some  most  ad- 
mirable monuments  still  remain."^  While  describing  the 
structure  of  a  building,  Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  ''The 
posts  and  lintels  of  the  doors,  the  panels  and  other  spaces 
are  enclosed  and  almost  covered  by  deep  borders  of  mould- 
ings and  a  profusion  of  arabesques  of  plants,  flowers, 
fruits,  men,  animals  and  imaginary  beings  ;  in  short,  of 
every  embellishment  that  the  most  fertile  fancy  could 
devise.  These  arabesques,  the  running  patterns  of  plants 
and  creepers  in  particular,  are  often  of  an  elegance  scarcely 
equalled  in  any  other  part  of  the  icorld.'''''^ 

Mr.  Fergusson  describes  a  remarkable  temple  at 
Rameshwaram,  of  which  the  outer  court  measures  the 
leno^th  of  the  river  face  of  Parliament  House  at  West- 
minster  by  twice  their  depth. 


1  Thornton's  Chapters  from  thfi  British  History  of  India. 

iJWeber's  Indian  Literature,  p.  21i. 

SElphinstone's  History  of  India,  p.  160.  Tlie  author  also  says  : 
"  Perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  the  Hindu  works  are  the  tanks.  The 
Hindu  wells  are  also  very  remarkable." 


AUCIUTKCTUliK  AND  MCMI.l'TLI.K.  .'^01 

Of  the  pagoda  at  Kainesliwarain,  Lord  Valeiitia  says: 
"The  whole  building  presents  a  niagniticent  appearance, 
which  we  might  in  vain  seek  adequate  language  to 
describe."' 

After  giving  a  description  of  the  pagoda  at  Chalam- 
bron,  27  miles  soutii  of  Pondicherry,  Professor  Heeren 
says  :  "  On  the  other  side  of  the  large  tank  is  the  most 
wonderful  structure  of  all.  This  is  a  sanctuary  or  chapel 
iti  the  middle  of  an  enormous  hall,  360  ft.  long  x  260  ft. 
in  breadth,  and  supported  by  upwards  of  one  thousand 
pillars  each  thirty  feet  high  and  disposed  in  regular 
order."=^  Dr.  Robertson  thus  speaks  of  the  Hindu 
architectural  elegance  :  "  Some  of  the  ornamental  parts 
are  finished  with  an  elegance  entitled  to  the  admiration 
of  the  most  ingenious  artists.""^ 

The  cave  temples  are  not  only  peculiar  to  this  coun- 
try but  show  the  highest  artistic  genius  of  the  people. 
Professor  Heeren*  thus  speaks  of  the  Elora  temples: 
"  All  that  is  great,  splendid  and  ornamental  in  architec- 
ture above  ground  is  here  seen,  also  beneath  the  earth — 
staircases,  bridges,  chapels  columns  and  porticos,  obelisks, 
colossal   statues  and   reliefs  sculptured  on  almost  all  the 

1  Travels.  Vol.  I,  pp.  810,  341.  A  description  of  the  temple  of 
Muhdkiil  at  Ujjain  and  of  the  fnmons  teraple  of  Gobind  Deoji  at  Brinda- 
ban  will  give  one  an  idea  of  the  luagnificence  of  Hindu  temples. 

=^Heeren's  Historical  Researclies.  Vol.  II,  pp.  95. 

3 Dr.  Robertson's  Works,  Vol,  XII,  "Disquisition  Concerning 
India."  p.  16. 

4 See  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  pp.  60-70.  "Magnitude,"  says 
Professor  Wilson,  "  is  not  the  only  element  of  beauty  in  the  cavern 
temples.  The  columns  are  carved  with  great  elegance  and  fitness  of 
design.  Notice  is  taken  of  the  numerous  remains  of  temples  in  various 
party's  of  India  in  which  extreme  architectural  beauty  is  to  be  found. 
^MilVs  History  of  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  15. 


392  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

walls,  representing  Hindu  deities."  An  English  critic  says : 
"  All  this  wonderful  structure,  the  variety,  richness  and 
skill  displayed  in  the  ornaments  sur23ass  all  description."^ 
Professor  Heeren  again  says  :  "  It  is  not  without  an 
involuntary  shudder  that  we  pass  the  threshold  of  these 
spacious  grottoes,  and  compare  the  weight  of  these 
ponderous  roofs  with  the  apparant  slenderness  and 
inadequacy  of  its  support,  an  admirable  and  ingenious 
effect  which  must  have  required  no  ordinary  share  of 
abiUties  in  the  architect  to  calculate  and  determine  !""  The 
learned  Professor  cone  hides:  '•  Such  are  the  seven  Pasfodas 
or  ancient  monuments  so-called,  at  Mavalipuram  on  the 
Corom:inde]  coast,  of  wliich  extraordinary  buildings 
it  will  be  hardly  too  much  to  assert  that  they  will  occupy 
a  most  distinguished  place  in  the  scale  of  human  skill 
and  ingenuity"^ 

Baron  Dalberg  was  greatly  struck  with  the  architec- 
ture of  Dwarka,  which  he  calls  "  the  wonderful  city," 
and  says  :  "  The  natives  of  that  country  (India)  have 
carried  the  art  of  constructino;  and  ornamentinjj  ex- 
cavated  grottoes  to  a  much  higher  degree  of  perfection 
than  any  other  people."^ 

Comparing  the  Hindu  with  the  Greek  and  the 
Egyptian  architecture,  Professor  Heeren  says  :  "  In 
the  richness  of  decoration  bestowed  on  their  pilasters, 
and,  amono'  other  thino-s,  in  the  execution  of  statues 
revsembling  caryatides  they  (the  Hindus)  far  surpass 
borh  those  nations  (the  Greeks  and  Egyptians)." 

Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "  The  caves  are  remarkable 
also  for  the  use  of  stucco  and  paint,  not  merely  on  the 

^Asiatic  Ht-searches,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  405. 

2 Historical   Researches,   Vol.  II,  p.  74.     Sakya  Padamrita   is  tli, 
name  of  the  sculptor  of  the  Grottoes  of  Ellora. 

^Heereu's  History  of  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  78. 
*  Geographical  Ephcineridcs,  Vol.  XXXII,  p.  12, 


AUCIllTECTLKK    AND    SC  IIJ'TUKE.  39o 

Avnlls  l)iit  oil  llu'  roof  tind  |>ill;irs.  And  the  frets  ;iii<l 
.scrolls  arc  of  such  beauty  and  eleirauce  as  to  rival  those 
at  Pouipeii  and  the  Haths  of  TitusJ — The  Kailas  and 
tlie  other  excavations  of  Western  India  excite  our  awe 
and  wonder."-'  She  adds  :  •'  India  is  most  famous 
for  ])illared  architecture."'  The  pillared  colonnades 
or  choultries  coiuiected  with  the  Soulheru  temples 
are  the  luost  extraordinary  buildings.""  Buddhism 
gave  a  great  stimulus  to  the  development  of  archi- 
tecture ill  ancient  India  :  and  with  the  spread  of 
lUiddhism  in  foreigu  countries,  the  l^uddhistic  style  of 
architecture  was  lari»elv  borrowed  bv  foreign  nations. 
Professor  Weber  hits  the  point  when  he  says  :  "  It  is, 
indeed,  not  improbable  diat  onr  Western  steeples  owe 
their  origin  to  the  imitation  of  the  Buddhistic  topes. "+ 
Col.  Tod  says  :     "  The  Saracen   arch'  is  of  Hindu 

^Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol,  I,  p.  404.  See  also  Feru;us- 
son's  History  of  ARliitoctiirc,  AHl.  11,  p]).  4!)l)-oUl.  Tlie  Karli  cave  is 
till'  most  pcrtVct  spcciiiM'ii  nftln'  cave  tt'ni])l('S. 

-Ancient  and  ModiaMul  India,  Vol.  H.  [i.  420. 

s Ancient  and  Modianal  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  418. 

-^^  Indian  Literature,  p.  1'74. 

•'Tod's  Rajastlian,  Vol.  I.  \i.  7Sl.  Colonel  Tod,  speakini;"  of  the 
Adh((/-(liii-l(i-Jlioii})ra  at  Ajnier,  says:  "I  may  fnrtlier,  with  this 
temple  and  screen  before  ns,  speculate  on  the  possibility  of  its  IiaviuLj 
furnished  some  hints  to  the  architects  of  Europe.  It  is  well-kiiown  iliaL 
the  Saracenic  ar(;h  has  crept  into  many  of  those  structures  called  (jiotliic 
erected  in  the  12th  and  DJlh  centuries,  when  a  more  Horid  stvle  succeed- 
ed to  the  severity  of  the  Saxon  or  Roman  :  but  I  believe  it  has  been 
doubted  whence  the  Saracens  obtained  their  modi-l  :  certainly  it  was 
neither  from  Egypt  nor  from  Persia."  He  then  goes  on  to  surmise 
that  the  influence  of  the  early  Caliphs  of  Baghdad  (who  were  as  en- 
lightened as  powerful),  on  European  society  was  great,  and  that  the 
victories  of  the  Caliph's  lieutenants  ])roduce  no  tritling  results  to  the 
arts,  that  '•  this  very  spot,  Ajmer  was  visited  iiy  the  first  hostile  force 
which  Islam  sent  across  the  Indus,"'  and  that  the  arches  of  the  ''temule'' 
at  Ajmer  may  thus  l)e  the  models  of  the  arches  that  Merc  subsequently 
introduced  amoiig>l  the  Saracens. 


394  HINDU    SUl'EhlOKlTV. 

origin,"  and  \^et  some  would  deny  the  existence  of  arches 
in  the  architectural  style  of  ancient  India.  ^ 

Sir  William  Hunter  says  :  "  Although  Mohamedans 
brought  their  new  forms  of  architecture,  nevertheless 
Hindu  art  powerfully  asserted  itself  in  the  Imperial 
works  of  the  Mughals,  and  has  left  behind  memorials 
which  extort  the  admiration  and  astonishment  of  our  ao-e. 
The  palace  architecture  of  Gwalior,  the  mosques  and 
the  mausoleums,  of  Agra  and  Delhi,  with  several  of  the 
older  temples  of  Southern  India,  stand  unrivalled  for 
grace  of  outline  and  elaborate  wealth  of  ornament." 

Mr.  Coleman  says  :  "  The  remains  of  their  archi- 
tectural art  might  furnish  the  architects  of  Europe  with 
new  ideas  of  beauty  and  sublimit}^"^ 

"  English  decorative  art,"  to  quote  Sir  W.  W. 
Hunter  once  more,  "  in  our  day  has  borrowed  largely 
from  Indian  forms  and  patterns.  The  exquisite  scrolls 
of  the  rock  temples  at  Karli  and  Ajanta,  the  delicate 
marble  tracery  and  flat- wood  carving  of  Western  India, 
the  harmonious  blending  of  forms  and  colours  in 
the  fabrics  of  Kashmir,  have  contributed  to  the  restoration 
of  tade  ill  England, ''"'" 

Mr.  Coleman  says  :  "The  ancient  Hindu  sculpture 
can  boast  of  an  almost  unrivalled  richness  and  beautiful 
minuteness  of  floral  ornaments  which  claim  and  excite 
our  warmest  admiration.""* 


1 "  The  tiiiest  example  of  the  triuuiphal  arches  is  at  Barnagar,  north 
uf  Guzerat,  which  is  the  richest  specimen  of  Hindu  art," — Elphinstone's 
History  of  India,  p.  163.    2 Hindu  Mythology,  Preface,  p.  ix. 

:^Impprial  Indian  Gazetteer,  Art  "India,"  p.  225.  "Indian  art 
work,  when  faithful  to  native  designs,  has  obtained  the  highest  honours 
at  the  various  International  Exhibitions  of  Europe."  Such  is  Indian  art 
even  in  these  degenerate  days  ! 

-t Hindu  Mythology.,  Preface,  p.  vii. 


ARCHITECTURE    I^CIT.PTL'RE.  .^05 

"  The  grand  temple  at  Barolli  (J^ajputana),"  says 
the  Englisli  translator  of  Heoren's  Historical  Researches, 
"contains  unrivalled  specimens  ot"  sculpture,  some  parts 
of  which,  especially  tlie  heads,  in  the  language  of  an  eye 
"witness,  would  be  no  disgrace  to  Canora  himself." 

Colonel  Tod,  after  carefully  examining  and  ex])lor- 
mg  the  temple,  exclaims  :  "  To  describe  its  stupendous 
and  diversified  architecture  is  impossible ;  it  is  the  oflice 
of   the  pen   alone,    but   the   labour    would  be  endless. 
Art  seems  to  have  exhausteti  itselt\   and   we  sire   perhaps 
now  for  the  first  time  fully  impressed  with  the  beauty  of 
Hindu  sculpture.     Thecolunnis,  the  ceilings,  the  external 
roofing  where  each  stone  presents  a  miniature  temple,  one 
risinsc  over  another  until  the  crown,  bv  the  urn-like  la/as. 
distract  oar  attention.     The   carving  on   the  capital  of 
each  column  would  require  pages   of  ex])lanation,  and 
the  whole,  inspite  of  its  high  antiquity,  is  in  wonderful 
preservation. 

"  The  doorway,  which  is  destroyed,  must  have  been 
curious,  and  the  remains  that  choke  up  the  interior  are 
highly  interesting.  One  of  these  specimens  was  entire 
and  unrivalled  in  taste  and  beautv.'"' 


iTod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  II,  p.  701.  Col.  Tod  says:  "In  short, 
it  would  require  the  labour  of  several  artists  for  six  months  to  do  any- 
thing like  justice  to  the  wonders  of  BuroUi-" 


396  HINDU    SUrKTllOUITY, 

n._WEAVING. 


Tlie  Tvhnle  world  without  art  mid  dross 
Would  1)('  but  ono  grrat  wilderness. 


-Butler. 


Indians,  even  of  the  present  day,  are  remarkable  for 
their  cleh'cacy  of  sense,  especially  their  nicety  of  touch. 
Not  onl}'  is  their  observation  very  accurate  and  minute, 
which  has  given  a  peculiar  charm  to  tlieir  poetry  and 
their  line  arts,  but  tlieir  delicate  and  tactile  sensibility, 
Avitli  their  general  delicacy  of  sense,  has  enabled  them  to 
achieve  a  peculiar  excellence  in  many  of  the  industrial 
arts  and  manufactures.  .Mr.  James  Mill  says  :  "  The 
delicate  frame  of  the  Hindu  is  accompanied  with  an 
acuteness  of  external  sense,  particularly  of  touch,  which 
is  altogether  unrivalled,  and  the  flexibility  of  his  fingers 
is  equally  remarkable." ' 

Mr.  Orme  says:  "The  hand  of  the  Indian  cook- 
wench  shall  be  more  delicate  than  that  of  an 
European  beauty.  The  skin  and  features  of  a  porter  shall 
be  softer  than  those  of  a  professed  petit  maitres.  The 
women  wind  off  the  raw  silk  from  the  pod  of  the  worm. 
A  single  pod  of  the  raw  silk  is  divided  into  20  different 
degrees  of  fineness,  and  so  ex(juisite  is  the  feeling  of 
these  women  that  whilst  the  thread  is  runninsc  throucrh 
their  fingers  so  swiftly  that  their  eye  can  be  of  no  assist- 
ance, they  will  break  it  off  exactly  as  the  assortments 
change  at  once  from  the  first  to  the  twentieth,  from 
the  nineteenth  to  the  second.'"- 


'  Mill's  Iiidin,  Vol.  II,  }..  17. 

-reopic  and  (nn-i'iuuuMii  of  Hindustan.   j>|i.   jOO  and  413. 


WKAVIXG.  807 

It  :i]iporirs  that  natiiro  herself  lias  bestowed  tlie 
ii'ift  of  excellence  in  arts  mid  mnnni'iictures  on  the 
}>:ttient,  skilful  Hindu.  The  other  nations  appear  to  be 
constitutionalh'  unfit  to  rival  the  Hindus  in  the  finer 
operations  of  the  loom,  as  well  as  in  other  arts  that 
depend  upon  the  delicacy  of  sense. 

Nature  gave  India  another  advantage  Mr.  ^lill 
says  :  "  His  (Hindu)  climate  and  soil  conspired  to  furnish 
him  with  the  most  exquisite  material  for  his  art  the  finest 
cotton  which  the  earth  producesy^ 

Mr.  Elphistone,  speaking  of  Indian  cotton  cloth,  says, 
"the  beauty  and  delicacy  of  which  was  so  long  admired, 
and  which,  in  fineness  of  texture,  has  never  yet  been  ap- 
proached in  any  country."^  ^Ir.  Murray  says  :  "  Its 
fabrics,  the  most  beautiful  that  human  art  has  anywhere 
produced,  were  sought  by  merchants  at  the  expense  of 
the  s^reatest  toils  and  dangers.""* 

Mr.  Thornton  says  that  the  Indian  muslins  are 
"  fabrics  of  unrivalled  delicacy  and  beauty  "* 


'  Mill's  History  of  India,  Vol.  11,  p.  17.  This  shows  that  India 
Is  capable  of  producing  and  in  ancient  times  did  produce  tiie  finest 
cotton  used  in  weaving.  In  those  days  India  had  not  to  look  to  Egypt 
and  America  for  cotton  of  a  superior  quality  to  enal^lc  her  to  manufac- 
ture finer  muslins  to  clothe  her  sons  and  daughters.  It  would  be  in- 
teresting to  many  to  learn  that  cotton  is  thought  to  have  "reached  Europe 
in  the  time  of  tlie  Crusade,  through  the  medium  of  the  Arabs,  the  Arab 
word  kuta  becoming  our  cotton." — Mrs.  Manning's  Ancient  and 
Median-al  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  350. 

-Elphinstone's.  History  of  India,  pp.  16.3,  101. 

•J Murray's  History  of  India,  p.  27. 

**  Thornton's  Chapters  of  the  British  History  of  India,  Buddha 
forbids  the  use  of  fine  muslin  by  religious  women,  because  he  once  saw 
Gang-Dgah-mo  (a  woman  having  upon  lier  a  very  fine  linen  which  was 
sent  to  Gsal-rgzal  by  the  king  of  Kalighana)  naked  while  she  was  wearing 
a  full  muslin  dress.  Togiveanidea  of  the  value  of  such  fine  muslins. 
Dr.  Watts  says  that  inl77(i  A.D.,  the  finest  muslin  reached  the  price 
of  £50  per  piece  (Taxtile  Manufactures.  p.70). 


398  niNDU    SLTERIORITY. 

Mr.  Both  in  his  work,  "  Cotton  Manufactures  of 
Dacca,"  says  that  Aurangzeb  once  reproved  his  daughter 
for  showing  her  skin  through  her  clothes.  The  daughter 
justified  herself  by  asserting  that  she  had  on  seven  suits, 
or  jamas. ^  After  comparing  the  finest  fabrics  of  India 
and  of  England,  Dr.  Watson  decides  in  favour  of  the 
Indian  fabrics.  He  finds  the  yarn  finer  than  any  yet 
produced  in  Europe^  while  the  twisting  given  to  it  by 
the  Hindu  hands  makes  it  more  durable  than  any 
machine-made  fabric. 

"  Shawls  made  in  Kashmere,"  sRys  Mrs.  Manning, 
are  still  unrivalled.''-  Even  James  Mill  says:  "Of  the 
exquisite  degree  of  perfection  to  which  the  Hindus 
have  carried  the  productions  of  the  loom  it  would  be 
idle  to  offer  any  description  ;  as  there  are  few  objects 
with  which  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  are  better  acquaint- 
ed, whatever  may  have  been  the  attainment  in  this  art 
of  other  nations  of  antiquity,  (the  Egyptians,  for  example, 
whose  fine  linen  was  so  eminently  prized), the  manufacture 
of  no  modern  nation  can,  in  delicacy  and  fineness  vie 
with  the  textures  of  Hindustan,"^ 

*Mr.  Elphinstoue  says:  "Gold  and  silver  hi'ocades  were  also 
favourites,  and  were,  perhaps,  original  manufactures  in  India."  See 
Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  V,  p,  61.  Rudra  Yamla 
7'antrn,  in  an  enumeration  of  Hindu  castes,  mentions  Pundraeas  or 
Pattasutracaras,  or  feeders  of  silkworms  and  silk  twisters :  this  autho- 
rity, therefore,  in  conjunction  with  the  frequent  allusion  to  silk  in  most 
ancient  Sanskrit  books,  may  be  considered  as  decisive  of  the  question, 
provided  the  antiquity  of  the  Tantra  be  allowed,  of  which  Mr.  Colebrooke 
seems  to  have  no  doubt.  Silk  is,  moreover,  mentioned  throughout  the 
Archipelago  by  its  Sanskrit  name,  Sutrn,  which  proves  its  Indian  origin. 

2"  The  presentation  of  Kashmir  shawls  to  Sita  supplies  an  additional 
proof  in  favour  of  the  high  antiquity  of  these  celebrated  fabrics." 

mWVs  History  of  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  16. 


WEAVING.  300 

T\Irs.  Manning  sa3's:  "Some  centuries  before  our  era 
they  produced  muslins  o£  that  exquisite  texture  Avhicli 
even  our  nineteenth  century  machinery  cannot  surpass."* 
The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  says  that  the  excjuisitely- 
fine  fabrics  of  cotton  have  attained  to  such  perfection 
that  the  modern  art  of  Europe,  Avith  all  the  aid  of  its 
M'onderful  machinery,  has  never  yet  rivalled  in  beauty 
the  product  of  the  Indian  loom."- 

A  critic  says  :  "  Carpets  are  made  at  Masulipatam 
with  unrivalled  Hindu  taste,"  to  which  Mrs.  Manning 
adds:  "Carpets  have  also  been  made  in  later  days  in 
Government  prisons,  under  British  superintendence  ;  the 
result  proves  that  ice  must  not  attempt  to  teach  art  to 
India.'' ^ 

Dr.  Forbes  Watson,  in  his  work  on  the  Textile 
Manufactures  of  India  ffives  an  interestino;  account  of  a 
series  of  experiments  made  on  both  the  European 
and  the  Indian  muslins,  to  determine  their  claims  to 
superiority.  The  result  was  altogether  in  favour  of  the 
Indian  fabrics.  He  concludes :  "  However  viewed, 
therefore,  our  manufacturers  have  something  still  to  do. 
With  all  our  machinery  and  Avondrous  a})pliances 
we  have  hitherto  been  unable  to  produce  a  fabric  which, 
for  fineness  or  utility,  can  equal  the  woven  air  of 
Dacca,  the  product  of  arrangements,  which  appear  rude 
and  primitive,  but  ^vhich  in  reality  are  admirably 
adapted  for  the  purpose." 


1  Ancient  and  MediaMal  India,  Vol.  I,  p.  359. 

2 Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  p.  440. (Weaving). 

•^ Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  363,  Professor  Heeren 
says  :  "  The  variety  of  cotton  fabrics  mentioned  even  by  the 
author  of  Periplns  as  articles  of  commerce  is  so  great  that  we  can 
hardly  suppose  the  number  to  have  increased  afterwards.'' 


riL-OTHER  ARTS. 

Art  is  loii"  and  time  is  tleetini?. 


-LONOFKLI.OW. 


Professor  Weber  says  :  "  The  skill  of  the  Indians 
in  the  production  o£  delicate  woven  fabrics,  in  the  mixing 
of  colours,  the  working  of  metals  and  precious  stones, 
the  preparation  of  essences  and  in  all  manner  of  technical 
arts,  has  from  early  times  enjoyed  a  world-wide  celebrit}^"  ^ 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "They  had  acquired  remark- 
able proficiency  in  many  of  the  ornamental  and  useful 
arts  of  life,"' 

As  regards  dyeing,  Mr.  Elphinstone"  says  :  "  The 
brilliancy  and  permanence  of  many  of  the  dyes,  have  not 
yet  been  equalled  in  Europe."  He  adds  :  "  The  brilliancy 
of  their  dyes  is  remarked  on  as  well  as  their  skill  in 
manufactures  and  imitations  of  foreign  objects. ""^ 

Dr.  Tennet  and  even  Mr.  James  Mill  admit  that 
the  Indian  colours  are  the  most  brilliant  on  earth.  The 
Hindus  were  the  earliest  nation  who  discovered  the  art 
of  extracting  colours  from  plants.  The  names  by  which 
several  plants  are  known  in  foreign  countries  bear 
testimon)^  to  this  fact.  Indigo  is  so  called  after  India. 
Pliny  used  to  write  iiuUco.^ 

^  Weber's  Indijvii  Literature,  p.  275. 

iJMill's  History  of  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  233. 

3 History  ot"  India,  p.] 64. 

4  History  of  India,  p.  243.     See  Strabo,  lib.  xv,  p.  493. 

■'^He  says  :  "  Cast  tbe  right  indico  upon  the  live  coals,  it  yieldcth 
a  flaiiif-  of  most  excellent  purple." — Manning's  Ancient  and  Mediieval 
India,  Vol,  FI,  p.  350. 


OTIIKK    ARTS.  401 

Bancroft  gives  inucli  praise  t(»  the  "natives  <»r 
India  for  having  so  man}' tiiuusand  years  ago  discovored 
means  by  which  the  colourable  matter  of  the  plant- 
might  be  extracted,  exygenated  and  precipitated  from 
all  other  matters  combined  with  it."  Even  Mill  is 
constrained  to  say  :  "  AiiK)ng  the  arts  of  the  Hindus,  that 
of  printing  and  dyeing  their  cloths  has  been  celebi-ated  • 
and  the  beauty  and  l)rilliancy,  as  well  as  dui-abilitv  of 
the  colours  they  produce,  are  worthy  of  particular 
praise.    ' 

]\Ir.  Elphinstone  says  :  '•  The  taste  for  juiinitc 
ornaments  fitted  them  to  excel  in  goldsmith's   work."- 

Professor  Heeren  says  :  "  The  art  of  working  in 
ivory  must  have  attained  a  high  degree  of  perfection." 

What  is  most  remarkable,  however,  is  the  sim])licitv 
of  their  processes  and  the  exceedingly  small  number  of 
the  instruments  with  Avhich  they  work.  Stavorinus 
writes  :  "  Their  artificers  work  with  so  little  apparatus 
and  so  few  instruments,  that  an  European  would  be 
astonished  at  their  neatness  and  expedition."'' 

As  regards  painting,  ^Ir.  ]\Iill  says  :   "  The  Hindus 

copy  with   great  exactness,   even   from   nature 

They  draw  portraits  both  of  individuals  and  of  groups 
Avith  a  minnte  likeness." 


1  Mill's  India,  Vol.  11,  p.  21.  "In  somo  of  tlie  more  delicate 
raanufactiiros,  however,"  says  Mill,  "particularly  iuAveaving,  spinning,  and 
dyeing,  tlie  Hindus  rival  all  nations  as  in  the  fabrication  of  trinkets  t<io." 
Professor  Heeren  says:  "The  dress  of  the  Hindus  seemed  extra- 
ordinarily white  to  the  Greeks." — Historical  Researchcf!,  Vol.  J  I,  p.  -21 2. 

2 1']lphinstone's  History  of  India  p.  104.  "The  Hindus  cut  the 
precious  stones,  polish  them  ir>  a  high  degree  of  brilliancy  and  set  them 
neatly  in  gold  and  silver."" — Mill's  Iliatory  of  India,  Vol,  II,  p.  :jO. 

SStavorinus'  Voyage,  p.  412.  Foster  was  astonislu^d  to  see 
their  instruments  and  their  simple  processes. —  Asiatic  Researches, 
Vol.  II,  p.  272. 


402  iiiNDr  sr?ERiOT7iTy. 

As  regnrt^s  iron  mnmifactaros,  Professor  Wilson 
says  :  "  Casting  iron  is  an  art  that  is  practised  in  this 
manufacturing  country  (England)  only  within  a  few 
Tears,  The  Hindus  have  the  art  of  smelting  iron,  of 
welding  it,  and  of  making  steel,  and  have  had  these  arts 
from  times  immemorial." 

Dr.   Ra}^    sa3^s  :     "  Coming   to    comparatively  later 

times,  we  find  that  the  Indians  were  noted  for  their  skill 

in  the  tempering  of  steel.    The  blades  of  Damascus  were 

held    in    hio'h  esteem,   but   it  was  from    India  that  the 

Persians,    and,    through   them,   the    Arabs    learnt   the 

secret  of  the  operation.     The  wrought-iron  pillar  close 

to  the  Kutub,  near  Delhi,  which  weighs  ten  tons  and  is 

some  1,500   years   old,    the   huge  iron  girders  at    Puri, 
the    ornamental   gates    of    Somnath,    and    the    24-feet 

wrought-iron  gun  at  Nurvar,  are  monuments  of  a 
bye-gone  art,  and  bear  silent  but  eloquent  testimon}' 
to  the  marvellous  metallurgical  skill  attained  by  the  Hin- 
dus." Regarding  the  Kutub  pillar,  Fergusson  says  : 
"  It  has  not,  however,  been  yet  correctly  ascertained  what 
its  age  really  is.  There  is  an  inscription  upon  it,  but 
without  a  date.  From  the  form  of  its  alphabet,  Prinsep 
ascribed  it  to  the  third  or  fourth  century."  Mr.  Fergus- 
son  continues  :  "  Taking  A.D.  400  as  a  mean  date — 
and  it  certainly  is  not  far  from  the  truth — it  opens 
our  eye  to  an  unsuspected  state  of  affairs,  to  find  the 
Hindus  at  that  age  capable  of  forging  a  bar  of  iron 
larger  than  any  that  have  been  forged  even  in  Europe 
up  to  a  very  late  date,  and  not  frequently  even  now. 
As  we  find  them,  however,  a  few  centuries  afterwards 
using  bars  as  long  as  this  lat  in  roofing  the  porch  of  the 

~  'Mill's   Ilisfr.rv  oflmlin,  Vol.  II.  p.  47. 


oTrir.n  atits.  403 

temple  at  Kuiiaruc,  avo  imi^t  now  bolicvc  that  tliey  wcirc 
iiiLich  more  familiar  witii  the  use  of  this  metal  than  they 
afterwards  becam(^  It  is  almost  equally  startling'  to 
find  that  after  an  exposure  to  wind  and  rain  for  fourteen 
centiu'ies  it  is  unrusted,  and  the  ca[»ital  and  inseriji- 
tiun  are  as  elear  and  as  sharp  now  as  when  jjul  up 
fourteen  eenturies  ago.  There  is  no  njistake  about  the 
pillar  beiugof  pure  iron.  General  Ciumingham  had  a  bit 
of  it  analysed  in  India  by  Dr.  Murray,  and  another  portion 
was  analysed  in  the  School  of  Mines  here  bv  l)r.  Percv. 
Both  found  it  pure  malleable  iron  without  any  alloy."' 

Mrs.  ]\[anning  says  :  "  The  superior  quality  of  Hindu 
steel  has  long  been  known,  and  it  is  worthy  of  record 
that  the  celebrated  Damascus  blades,  have  been  traced 
to  the  workshops  of  AVestern  India."  She  adds  :  "Steel 
manufactured  in  Cutch  enjovs  at  the  present  day  a  repu- 
tatiori  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  steel  made  at  Glasgow 
and  Sheffield."-  Mrs.  Mannino;  also  says :  "It  seems 
probable  that  ancient  India  possessed  iron  more  than 
suffcient  for  her  wants,  and  that  the  Ph(i;nicians 
fetched  iron  with  other  merchandise  from  India."' 

Dr.  Royle  is  of  opinion  that  the  system  of  rotation 
of  crops  has  been  derived  from  India.  The  Hindu  far- 
mer understands  extremely  well  how  to  maintain  the 
productive  power  of  his  land. ' 

Professor  Wilson  says  :  "The  use  of  glass  for  win- 
dows is  a  proof  of  civilization  that  neither  tiieek  nor 
Roman  relinement  presents."' 

niistory  of  Iiulijiii  and  Easlorii  Airhitt'Otiiro,  |t.  508:  od.  IHItH. 
-Ancient  and  3Iodia?vul  Iiulia,  ^'^lI.  II.  p.  o(i."». 
^Ancipntaiid  Mediiv.val  India,  Vtil.  II,  \<.  ^,)^'>^.  See   ''Coninierco." 
"♦Dr.  Roxburgh  t'uily  approves  of  the  Hindu  M>toui  of  jiSjMieulture. 
Sir  T.  Munro  calls  it  "  a  good  svstoni." 
•:>MillV  India,  Vol.  II.  p.  10. 


40-4  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 

Dr.  Forbes  Watson  says  :  "  The  study  o£  Indian 
art  might  in  numberless  ways  improve  the  character 
of  the  everyday  articles  around  us  (Englishmen)." 

Chamber's  Encyclopaedia  says  :  "In  manufacture, 
the  Hindoos  attained  to  a  marvellous  j)erfection  at 
a  very  early  period,  and  the  Courts  of  Imperial  Rome 
glittered  with  gold  and  silver  brocades  of  Delhi.  The 
muslins  of  Dacca  were  famous  aires  asfo  throusfhout  the 
civilized  world.  In  the  International  Exhibition  of  1852, 
splendid  specimens  of  gorgeous  manufactures  and  the 
patient  industry  of  the  Hindoos  w^ere  displayed.  Tex- 
tile fabrics  of  inimitable  fineness,  tapestry  glittering  with 
gems,  rich  embroideries  and  brocades,  carpets  wonder- 
ful for  the  exquisite  harmony  of  colour,  enamel  of 
the  most  brilliant  hue,  inlaid  wares  that  require  high 
magnifying  power  to  reveal  their  minuteness,  furniture 
most  elaborately  carved,  swords  of  curious  forms  and 
excellent  temper  are  amongst  the  ol)jecCs  that  prove  the 
jjerfectlon  of  art  in  India."" 


^  During  his  Viceroylty,  Lord  Dufi'erin  once  said  :  "  The  West  has 
still  much  to  learn  from  the  East  in  mntters  of  dress."  Of  the  much- 
despised  dhoti,  Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "  Any  dress  more  perfectly  conveni- 
ent to  walk,  to  sit,  to  lie  in,  it  would  be  impossible  to  invent." — 
Ancient  and  Medioival  India,  Vol.  11,  p   358. 

^Chanibcr's  Encyclopa-dia,  p.  bi'd. 


COiMMERCE  AND  WEALTH. 


I.— COMMERCE. 

But  cliief  I>y  iiiiinbers  of  iiKlustrioiis  hands 

A  nation's  wealth  is  counted  ;  numbers  raise 

Warm  emulation  ;  where  that  virtue  dwells, 

There  will  be  traffic's  seat  ;  there  will  she  build 

Her  rich  emporium. 

— DvEii  :  Flt'cce. 

Though  the  Indians  have  practically  no  hand  now  in  the 
commerce  oE  the  world,  yet  there  was  a  time  when  they 
were  the  masters  of  the  seaborne  trade  of  Europe,  Asia 
and  Africa.  They  built  ships,  navigated  the  sea,  and 
held  in  their  hands  all  the  threads  of  international  com- 
merce, whether  carried  on  overland  or  by  sea. 

As  their  innnense  wealth  was  in  part  the  result  of 
their  extensive  trade  with  other  countries,  so  were  the 
matchless  fertility  (jf  the  Indian  soil  and  the  numberless 
products  of  Hindu  arts  and  industries  the  cause  of  the 
enormous  development  of  the  commerce  of  ancient  India. 
As  Cowper  says  : 

"  And  if  a  bouiidle.s.s  |ilenty  bo  the  robe, 
Trade  is  a  golden  girdle  of  the  globe." 

India,  which,  according  to  the  writer  in  Chamber's 
Encyclopaedia,  "has  been  celebrated  during  many 
ages  for  its  valuable  natural  productions,  its  beautiful 
manufactures  and  costly  merchandise,"^  was,  says  the 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  "once  the  seat  of  commerce."^ 

1  Chamber's  Encyclopcfdia,  Vol.  V,  p.  536. 
-Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Vol.  XI,  p.  446. 


4UG 


HINDU    SLTEKloRITT. 


Mrs.  Maiming  says  :  "  The  indirect  evidence  afford- 
ed by  tlie  presence  of  Indian  products  in  other  countries 
coincides  with  the  direct  testimony  of  Sanskrit  litera- 
ture to  establish  the  fact  that  the  ancient  Hindus  were 
a  comraei'cial  people."^  Slie  concludes  :  "  Enough  has 
now  been  said  to  show  that  the  Hindus  have  ever  been 
a  commercial  people."^ 

Professor  Heeren  says  :  "The  Hindus  in  their  most 
ancient  works  of  poetry  are  represented  as  a  commercial 
people."^' 

In  Sanskrit  books  we  constantly  read  of  merchants, 
traders,  and  men  engrossed  in  commercial  pursuits. 
Manu  Smriti,  one  of  the  oldest  books  in  the  world,  lays 
down  laws  to  govern  all  commercial  disputes  having 
reference  to  seaborne  traffic  as  well  as  the  inland  and 
overland  commerce.  Traders  and  merchants  are  fre- 
quently introduced  in  the  Hindu  drama.  In  Sakuntcdd 
we  learn  of  the  importance  attached  to  commerce,  where 
it  is  stated  "  that  a  merchant  named  Dhanvriddhi,  Avho 
had  extensive  commerce  had  been  lost  at  sea  and  had 
left  a  fortune  of  many  millions."  In  Nala  and  Dam- 
yanti^  too,  we  meet  with  similar  incidents.  Sir  AV.  Jones 
is  of  opinion  that  the  Hindus  "  must  have  been  navigators 
in  the  age  of  Manu,  because  bottomry  is  mentioned  in 
it."*  In  the  Ramayana^  the  practice  of  bottomry  is 
distinctly  noticed^'   Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  The  Hindus 

1  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  353. 

2  Ancient  and  ^Media^val  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  354. 
oHeeren's  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  266. 

^Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  284.  Manu  speaks  of  "  mer- 
chants who  traffic  beyond  the  sea  and  bring  presents  to  the  king." — India 
in  Greece. 

<^See  Ramavana,  III,  237, 


roM.MKKC'E.  -lor 

navigated  the  ocean  as  early  as  the  age  o£  Manu's  code, 
because  we  read  in  it  of  men  well  uc(|uainted  Avitli  sea 
voyaoes."' 

According  to  Professor  ^liix  Dunker,  sirn)-l)uilding 
was  known  in  ancient  India  about  2000  ]>.('.  It  is 
thus  clear  that  the  Hindus  navigated  the  ocean  from  tlie 
earliest  times,  and  that  they  carried  on  trade  on 
an  extensive  scale  with  all  tlic  importnnt  nations  of 
the  Old  World. 

With  Phoenicia  the  Indians  enjoyed  trade  from  the 
earliest  times.  In  the  tenth  century  B.C.,  Solomon  of 
Israel  and  Hiram  of  Tyre  sent  ships'-  to  India,  whence 
they  carried  away  ivorj',  sandalwood,  apes,  peacocks, 
gold,  silver,  precious  stones,  etc.,  which  they  purchased 
frofn  the  tribe  of  Ophir.^  Now  Ptolemy  says  there  was 
a  country  called  Abhiria  at  the  mouth  of  the  River  Indus. 
This  shows  that  some  people  called  Abhir  must  have 
been  livino;  there  in  those  da  vs.  We  find  a  tribe  called 
"  Abhir  "  still  living  in  Kathyawar,  wliich  must,  therefore, 
be  the  Ophir  tribe  mentioned  above.  Professor  Lassen 
thinks  "  Ophir  ''  was  a  seaport  on  the  south-west  coast  of 
India.  Mrs.  ]\!annino;  savs  it  was  situated  on  the 
western  coast  of  India. 

As,  however,  the  authors  of  Smith's  Dictionary 
of  the  Bible  think  that  Ophir  was  situated  somewhere  in 
Africa,  let  us  go  a  little  more  closely  into  the  question 
of  this  tribe.     Let  us  first  see  if  the  articles  imported 


^  Elphinstone's  History  of  India,  p.  IGfi.  "  The  word  used  in  the 
original  for  sea  is  not  applicable  to  inland  waters." 

-Called  the  "Navy  of  Tarshish."  See  also  the  Book  of  Chronicles. 

3Max  Dnnkei's  History  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  IV,  and  Manning's 
Ancient  and  Modia-val  India.  Vol.  II,  p.  349. 


408  HIXDU    SUPERIOraTY. 

by  the  Xavy  of  Tarshish  were  procura])le  in  India,  and 
if  they  were,  whether  they  were  procurable  in  Africa  or 
^ny  other  country  also. 

Among  the  things  sent  by  the  Hindus  to  Solomon  and 

Hiram  were  peacocks.     Now,  these  birds  were  nowhere 

to  be  found   in   those   days   except   India,   where   they 

have  existed  from  the  earliest  times.      "  We  frequently 

meet  in  old   Sanskrit  poetry  with  sentences  like  these : 

'Peacocks   unfolding  in  glittering  glory  all  their  green 

and  gold;'  'peacocks  dancing  in  wild  glee  at  the  approach 

of  rain ;'  '  peacocks  around  palaces  glittering  on  the  garden 

walls.'  Ancient  sculpture,  too,  shows  the  same  delight  in 

peacocks,  as  may  be  seen,  for  instance,  in  graceful  bas-reliefs 

on  the  gates  of  Sanchi  or  in  the  panels  of  an  ancient  palace 

in  Central  India,  figured  in  Tod's  Rajasthan  (p.  405)." 

At  the  same  time  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  peacock 
was  not  generally  known  in  Greece,  Rome,  or  Egvpt 
before  the  time  of  Alexander  of  Macedon,  whose 
followers  were  astonished  to  see  such  a  beautiful  bird  in 
India.  It  was  after  Alexander's  time  that  peacocks  came 
to  be  imported  direct  from  India  or  through  Persia  into 
Greece.  It  was  the  Romans,  however,  who  most  delight- 
ed in  the  bird,  admired  it,  and  spent  immense  sums  of 
money  on  it.  It  was  the  height  of  luxury  for  the  high 
Roman  dames  and  the  old  Roman  epicures  to  have 
tongues  of  peacocks  served  to  them  at  their  tables. 

There  is,  however,  conclusive  evidence  to  prove 
that  Solomon  and  Hiram  got  their  peacocks  from  India. 
This  evidence  is  the  name  which  the  bird  received  in 
the  Holy  Land.  "The  word  for  peacock  in  Hebrew  is 
universally  admitted  to  be  foreign  ;  and  Gesenius,  Sir 
Emerson  Tennent,  and  Professor  Max  Muller  appear  to 


COMMERCE.  409 

agree  with  Profetsor  Lassen  in  holding  that  this  word 
as  written  in  Kings  and  Chronicles  is  derived  from  the 
Sanskrit  lano;uaixe."' 

Now,  with  regard  to  ivory.  It  was  largely  used  in 
India,  Assyria,  Egypt,  Greece  and  Rome.  Ele})hants 
are  indigenous  in  India  and  Africa,  and  the  ivory 
trade  must  be  either  of  Indian  origin  or  African.  But 
the  elephants  were  scarcely  known  to  the  ancient 
Egyptians, 2  and  Professor  Lassen  decides  that  elephants 
were  neither  used  nor  tamed  in  Ancient  Egypt. ^ 

In  ancient  India,  however,  as  is  well  known,  they 
were  largely  used  and  tamed.  No  description  of  a 
king's  procession  or  of  a  battle  is  to  be  met  with  but 
elephants  are  mentioned  in  it.  No  chieftain  was  with- 
out his  elephants.  The  elephant  is  an  emblem  of 
royalty  and  a  sign  of  rank  and  power.  The  god  Indra, 
too,  has  his  "  Airawat."  Then,  the  Sanskrit  name  for  a 
domestic  elephant  is  ibha,  and  in  the  bazars  of  India  ihha 
was  the  name  by  which  the  elephant's  tusks  were  sold. 
In  ancient  Egypt,  ivory  was  known  by  the  name  ehu. 
Professor  Lassen  thinks  "that  the  Sanskrit  name  ihha 
miirht  easilv  have  reached  Eo^vpt  throucjh  Tyre,  and 
become  the  Egyptian  eba.  It  is  thus  very  probable 
that  India  first  made  Egy})t  acquainted  with  ivory. 
Mrs.  Manning  says  :  "It  is  Vjelieved  that  by  this  name, 
or  by  words  derived  from  it,  ivory  must  have  been  intro- 
duced into  Egypt  and  Greece.  Although  by  what  process 
ibha  was  changed  into  the  Greek  elepkas,  is  not  satis- 
factorily explained." 

Though  ivory  was  known  in  Greece  before  the 
time  of  Homer,  who  speaks  of  it  as  largely  used,  but  tiie 

'Ancient  ami  Mcdiivval  India,  Vol.  N.  )..  .■).">1 . 
''^An('ient  and  MMiipval  [ndia.  N'ul.    II.  p.  ;;.',1, 
SAUcrlliiiMikuM.le,    \'.)1.  I,  [..  iWii. 


410  UINDU    SUrEllIORITT. 

elephant  itself  was  unknown  to  the  Greeks  until  the  day 
of  Arabella,  where  thej^  saw  Darius  aided  by  war- 
elephants  with  their  drivers  from  India.  It  was  here 
that  the  Greeks  for  the  first  time  saw  these  animals 
armed  with  tusks,  which  were  familiar  to  them  in  trade. 
They  gave  the  name  of  elephas  to  the  animal  itself, 
whose  tusks  were  known  to  them  by  that  name.  By 
this  name  also,  Aristotle  made  the  animal  famous  in 
Europe.  We  thus  see  that  from  India  were  first 
imported  ivory  and  peacocks  into  Egypt,  Greece, 
Palestine  and  Persia,  and  that  the  "ophir"  is  no  other 
than  the  ah/'r  tribe  of  India. 

It  would  be  interestinof  to  many  to  learn  that  "it  was  in 
India  that  the  Greeks  first  became  acquainted  with  sugar,"  ^ 
Sugfar  bears  a  name  derived  from  the  Sanskrit.  With 
the  article  the  name  travelled  into  Arabia  and  Persia,  and 
thence  became  established  in  the  languages  of  Euroj)e.2 

Mr.  Maunder  savs :  "  In  the  reiii'n  of  Seleucidai.  too, 
there  was  an  active  trade  between  India  and  Syria."* 
Indian  iron*  and  coloured  cloths  and  rich  apparels'*  were 
imported  into  Babylon  and  Tyre  in  ships  from  India. 
There  were  also  commercial  routes  to  Phoenicia,  through 
Persia,  which  will  be  mentioned  later  on.  We  have  already 
seen  that  India  exported  her  merchandise  to  Egypt. 
Mr.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  The  extent  of  the  Indian  trade 
under  the  first  Ptolemi'es  is  a  w'ell-known  fact  in  history." 

'Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  30 «. 
2  Sec  Li»ssen,  p.  318. 
■'>  Maunders  Treasnrv  of  Tlistorv.  p.  77i). 

•*Plia*nicians  fetctied  iron  with  otli^r  niorchandise  from  India," — ■ 
Anc/'rnt  <ivrj  l^hdiivral  India.  \'ol.  II,  p,  .304. 

•'■'St','  Hopren''*  Hi-^toricnl  Eosonrdio?,  Vol.  II.  p.  27'2. 
^■'Klpliin.-toiie's  Hi>t.orv  of  [i.dia,  "\"ol.  L  p.  141. 


COMMKKCE.  41i 

In  the  Book  of  Genesis^  vre  road  that  Joseph  was  sold 
by  his  brethren  to  tlie  "Isliniaclites  come  from  Gilead, 
with  their  camels  bearing  spicery,  balm  and  myrrh  going 
to  carry  it  down  to  Egypt."  Here,  Dr.  Vincent  observes, 
we  find  "a  caravan  of  camels  leaded  with  the  spices  of 
India  and  balm  and  myrrh  of  Hadramaut."  Some  suppose 
that  myrrh  used  to  be  imported  into  Egypt  by  the  A.byssi- 
nians,  in  whose  country  it  largely  grows.  But  the  most 
conclusive  proof  of  its  importation  from  India  is  the  name 
which  it  took  in  Egypt.  Dr.  Royle"-  observes  that 
myrrh  is  called  bal  by  the  Egyptians,  while  its  Sanskrit 
name  is  bola,  bearing  a  resemblance  v/hich  leaves  no 
doubt  as  to  its  Indian  manufacture.  Silk,  pearls,  diamonds, 
calicoes,  and  other  commodities  of  India  were  also 
imported  into  Alexandria  in  Egypt,  which  remained 
for  ages  the  chief  emporium  of  the  Eastern  commerce. 

This  trade  was  carried  on  from  Myos  Hormos,  the 
chief  port  on  the  Red  Sea,  where  the  Indian  fleets 
arrived.  It  is  said  that  the  articles  were  carried  from 
here  to  Coptos,  and  thence  to  Alexandria  on  the  Nile.'^  In 
the  middle  ages  also  trade  on  an  extensive  scale  was 
carried  on  between  India  and  Egypt,  whence  frankin- 
cense, an  article  of  perfumery,  is  said  to  have  been  mi- 
ported  from  Egypt  into  India.*  Periplus  clearly  says 
that  there  was  much  direct  intercourse  between  ancient 
India  and  Egypt. ^  Mr.  Davies  says:  '•  But  apart  from 
this  occasional  intercourse,  a  constant  trade  was  carried  on 


1  Gonesi.^:,  Chapter  xxvii,  p.  25. 

■-Royle's  Ancient  Hindu  Medicine,  '-Myrrh/'  p.  1J9. 

•^Encyolopfedia  Britannica,  Vol.  XI,  p.  409. 

4 Ibid,  p.  440. 

^jjce  Heereu's  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p,  300. 


412  HINDU    SUrERIOllITY. 

between  Alexandria  and  Western  India.     There  was  also 
an  overland  route  through  Palmyra."' 

There  was  also  an  active  trade  between  India  and 
Greece.  The  mention  of  ivory  by  Homer  and  of 
several  other  Indian  articles  assign  the  trade  a  very 
ancient  date.  In  addition  to  ivory,  India  also  supplied 
indigo  (as  mentioned  in  Periplus)  to  Greece.  The  writer 
in  Chamber's  Encyclopaedia  (Vol.  Y,  p.  557)  says 
that  indigo  was  imported  into  Greece  and  Rome  from 
India,  whence  also  the  inhabitants  of  the  former  countries 
derived  their  knowledge  of  its  use.  In  India  it  is  called 
nil^  whence  is  derived  the  anil  of  the  Portuguese  and  the 
neel  of  the  Arabs.  Homer  knew  f'ni  by  its  Sanskrit  name. 
Professor  Max  Dunker  says  that  the  Greeks  used  to  wear 
silken  garments  which  were  imported  from  India,  and 
which  were  called  "  Sindones,"  or  "Tyrian  robes." 

Rome  appears  to  be  the  westernmost  city  in  Europe 
with  which  ancient  India  had  anv  considerable  trade. 
The  chief  articles  exported  from  India,  in  addition  to 
those  already  mentioned,  are,  according  to  Periplus,^ 
cotton  cloth,  muslin,  chintz  of  various  kinds,  cinnamon 
and  other  spicery ;  diamonds,  pearls,  onyx  stone,  eme- 
ralds, and  manv  other  inferior  stones.  Ctesias^  adds 
steel,  drugs,  aromatics,  calicoes*  and  lac. '  Spicery  appears 
to  have  been  exported  from  India  from  the  earliest 
times.  Professor  Heerensays:  "India  is  the  mother- 
countrv  of  spices,  and  from  the  most  ancient  times 
she     supplied     the     whole    Western     world     with    that' 


1  Davie's  BhaQ:wat  Gita,  p.  195. 

ijPonplus,  p.  28. 

■ilndica,  Cliapter  iv. 

■*EiicyolopJPcUa  BritaTiiiica,  Vol.  XT,  p.  459. 

^Ctcsius.  ludu'i,  Cliai'for.'xxi, 


COMMKllCL.  113 

article.  1  Peppor  was  very  largely  exported  from  India  in 
the  time  of  Theophrastos,-  who  disting-uishes  several 
varieties  of  it.  With  pepper,  its  name  also  migrated 
through  Persia  to  the  West."  M  rs.  Manning  says  :  "  Xard 
or  spikenard,  cassia,  calamus,  and  what  appears  to  be  the 
bdellium  of  Scripture  may  be  traced  to  India,  where  scents 
were  early  valued  and  carefully  preparefl."^ 

Of  the  products  of  the  loom,  silk  was  more  largcl}^ 
imported  from  India  into  ancient  Rome  than  either  in 
I^gypt or  in  Greece.  ''It  so  allured  the  Uoman  ladies,"' 
says  a  writer,  "that  it  sold  for  its  weight  in  gold."^  It 
is  evident  that  "there  was  a  very  large  consumption  of 
Indian  manufactures  in  Rome.  This  is  confirmed  by  the 
elder  Plinj^,  who  complained  that  vast  sums  of  money 
were  annually  absorbed  by  commerce  with  India.'"' 
The  annual  drainage  of  gold  from  Rome  and  its  provin- 
ces to  India  was  estimated  by  him  at  500  steria,  equal 
to  about  8^  4,000,000.'  "  We  are  assured  on  un- 
disputed authority  that  the  Romans  remitted  annually 
to  India  a  sum  equivalent  to  £4,000,000  to  pay  for 
their  investments,  and  that  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemies 
125  sails  of  Indian  shipping  were  at  one  time  lying  in 
the  ports  whence  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Rome  itself  were 
supplied  with  the  products  of  Indian's 


'Heeren's  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  274. 

54 Theophrastos:  Historical  Plant.  IX.  22. 

y  Sanskrit /^/y>/vrt//,  whence  the  \j?d\x\  piper  and  pipper- 

*Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  II.,  p.  Soil, 

5Encyclopa?dia  Britannica,  Vol.  XI.,  p.  4.')!). 

« Pliny  :  Historical  Nation,  XII.,  p.  18. 

'Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Vol.  XI.  p.  4<;0. 

^Life  in  Western  India  (Gathrie),  from  Tod's  Western  India,  p.  221 , 


414  niNDl^    SUrKRIOKITY. 

Arabia,  being  the  nearest  of  the  countries  situated  in 
the  west  of  India,  was  the  first  to  which  the  Indian 
comraercial  enterprises  by  sea  were  directed.  The  long- 
continued  trade  with  Arabia  dates  from  a  remote  anti- 
quity. iVgarthachides,'  who  lived  upwards  of  300  years 
before  the  time  of  Periplus,  noticed  the  active  commer- 
cial intercourse  kept  up  between  Yemen  and  Pattala — a 
seaport  in  western  India,  which  Mr.  Pottinger  indentifies 
with  the  modern  Hyderabad  in  Sindh.  Pattala  in  Sans- 
krit means  a  "commercial  town,"  "which  circumstance, 
if  it  is  true,"  says  Professor  Heeren,  "  would  prove  the 
extreme  antiquity  of  the  navigation  carried  on  by 
the  Indus."-  Professor  Max  Dunker  says  :  "  Trade 
existed  betAveen  the  Indians  and  Sabii3ns  on  the  coast  of 
south  Arabia  before  the  tenth  century  B.C.""' — the  time 
when,  according  to  the  Europeans,  Manu  lived.  In 
the  days  of  Alexander,  when  the  Macedonian  general, 
Nearchus,  was  entering  the  Persian  Gulf,  Muscat  was 
pointed  out  to  him  as  the  principal  mart  for  Indian 
products  which  were  transmitted  thence  to  Assyria. 

That  this  trade  was  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians 
up  to  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  is  proved  by  what 
Mr.  Cloupet,  a  not  very  ancient  writer,  says:  "The  com- 
merce of  Arabia  Felix,"  he  says  "is  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  the  banian^i  of  fiujrat,  who  from  father  to  son  have 
cstablisned  rhemselves  in  the  country,  and  are  protected 
by  the  Government  in  consideration  of  a  certain  import 
levied  upon  their  estimated   propertv."^ 

'  (.ieogr.  Mill.   I.  ]<.  (Wi. 
2 Historical  Resparclies,  Vol.  II,  p.  209. 
•^Dnnker's  Histnrv  of  Antiquity,  Vol.  IV,  p,  l^fi. 
*Froin  tlie  accounts  of  Mr.  Cloupet  in  Allgeni.  Geogr.  Epheui,  for 
Novttuibcr  J  810,  p.  22b. 


COMMIiUCE.  41.5 

Egypt  was  not  the  only  j>Mrt  of  Africa  witli  wliicli 
the  Hindus  traded  in  olden  days.  The  eastern  coast  of 
Africa  called  Zanzibar  and  the  provinces  situated  on  the 
Red  Sea  carried  on  an  extensive  trade  with  ancient 
India.  Myos  Hornios,  as  has  been  stated  before,  was 
the  chief  emporium  of  Indian  commerce  on  the  iJed 
Sea.  Of  the  trade  with  Zanzibar,  Periplus  gives  us 
pretty  full  information.  After  enumerating  the  com- 
mercial stations  on  the  coast  as  far  as  the  promontory 
of  Rhapta,  now  called  Delgado,  which  was  the  most 
southerly  point  of  his  geographical  knowledge,  and 
after  describing"  their  mercantile  relations  witlr  E<xvi)t, 
he  continues:  "Moreover,  indigenous  products  such  aa 
corn,  rice,  butter,  oil  of  seasamum,  coarse  and  fine  cotton 
goods,  and  cane-honey  (sugar)  are  regularly  exported 
from  the  interior  of  Ariaka  (Conkan),  and  from  Barygaza 
(Baroucha)  to  the  opposite  coast." ^ 

This  trade  is  also  noticed  bv  Arrian,  who  adds  that 
"  this  navigation  was  reiiularlv  manaofed."  Professor 
Heeren  thinks  that  the  trade  with  the  gold  countries 
of  Africa  will  serve  to  explain  the  great  abundance  of 
this  metal  in  India. 

The  African  trade,  too,  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Hindus.  Periplus2  calls  our  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  banians,  of  India  as  well  as  merchants  of  Greece  and 
Arabia,  established  themselves  at  Socotra,'^  near  the  Gulf 
of  Aden,  beside  the  Cape  of  Guardafui.  Professor 
Heeren*  says  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  banians  or 

1  Periplus.  p.  8.     -Periplns,  p.  17. 

•''It  wa?  forrnorlj'  called  the  island  of  Dioscoridi. 

•* Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II. 


416  UINDU    SUPEHKnilTY'. 

Hindu  merchants  were  in  the  habit  of  traversing  the 
ocean  and  settling  in  foreign  countries.  The  fact  that 
thousands  of  Hindus  from  Gujarat  and  its  neighbouring 
provinces  are  even  now  found  settled  in  the  eastern 
districts  of  Africa,  proves  that  in  ancient  times  Indians 
in  large  numbers  had  settled  in  Africa  for  purposes  of 
commerce. 

The  Eastern  countries  with  which  ancient  India 
traded  were  chiefly  China,  Transgangetic  Peninsula  and 
Australia.  Professor  Heeren  says  that  "  the  second 
direction  which  the  trade  of  India  took  was  towards  the 
East,  that  is,  to  the  Ultra- Gangetic  Peninsula,  comprising 
Ava^  Mallaca,^  etc.,  etc.  The  traffic  with  these  countries 
would,  of  course,  be  carried  on  by  sea  onl}^,  though  the 
transmission  of  goods  across  the  Bay  of  Bengal  could 
not  be  attended  with  much  difficulty."^ 

This  commerce  was  actively  carried  on  in  the  days  of 
Periplus,  as  it  actually  mentions  a  place  situated  on  the* 
Coromandel  coast,  from  which  the  passage  was  usually 
made  to  Chrysa,  which  appellation,  according  to  Ptolemy,* 
denoted  Malacca,  but  according  to  the  author  of  Periplus, 
the  whole  of  the  Transgangetic  Peninsula.'^ 

Professor  Heeren  says  :  "  The  Hindus  themselves 
were  in  the  habit  of  constructing  the  vessels  in  which 
they  navigated  the  coast  of  Coromandel,  and  also  made 
voyages  to  the  Ganges  and  the  peninsula  beyond  it. 
These   vessels  bore  different  names  according  to  their 

'lis  Sanskrit  iiiirne  is  Anga^  which  is  noticed  in  the  Ramayana. 
2 Col.  Wilford  interprets  the  Sanskrit    Yumala   by    Mallaca.     See 
Asiatic  Researches,  Vol,  VIII,  p.  o02. 

•■3 Historical  Researches,  Vol,  TI.,  p.  29G. 
4 See  Mannert,  Vol.  V,  p.  242, 
•^Periplus  p.  34. 


riiNJ\lKK(  E.  -WT 

size.'  Kotliincif,  inrleed,  could  furnish  better  proof  that 
this  commerce  did  not  originate  from  ;in  intercourse 
with  the  Greeks,  but  was  the  sole  product  of  ancient 
native  industry-,  a  fact  which  receives  additional  confir- 
mation from  the  existence  of  comrnercial  towns  and 
ports  on  the  Coromtindel  coast  from  time  immemorial. 
Masulipatam,  witli  its  cloth  manufactures,  as  well  as 
the  mercantile  towns  situated  on  the  mouth  of  the 
Ganges,  have  already  been  noticed  as  existing  in  the 
time  of  Peri  plus  ;  and  if  we  allow  these  places  to  have 
been  even  then  very  ancient,  of  whicli  there  is  scarcely 
any  doubt,  have  Ave  not  equal  reason  for  believing  their 
commerce  and  navigation  to  be  so  also  ?"^ 


Ceylox. 

A  few  words  regarding  the  commercial  importance 
of  Ceylon  will  not  be  out  of  place.  According  to  Cosmos, 
Ceylon  was  at  one  time  the  centre  of  Hindu  commerce, 
for  which  purpose,  indeed,  its  natural  situation  and 
commodious  havens   afforded  singular  opportunities."* 

Cevlon  has  been  known  by  a  variety  of  names  in 
the  East  as  well  as  in  Europe.  It  was  called  Taprobane, 
a  name  first  used  by  "  Onesicritus"*  and  ingeniously 
derived  from  Tap,  an  Island,  and  Rahan  or  Ravan,  an 
ancient  king  conquered  by  Maharaja  Ram  Chandra.* 
Ptolemy  remarks  that  it  was  formerly  called  Pahe^/niu/i'/i 

'Some  were  called  Sangara,  dtliers  Colaudiaplionta,  uiul  .so  on. 
J^Historical  Rosearches,  Vol.  II,  p.  290. 

3 Professor  Heereri  says  :    "  Commercial  history  of  India  in  mainly 
dependent  on  that  of  Ceylon." — Historical  Researches,  Vol  U,  p.  440. 
'^Historical  Researches.  Vol.  II,  p.  417. 
•"'Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  V,  p.  39. 


418  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

(which  Pliny  confirms),  but  that  in  his  own  time  it  was 
called  Salice,  and  the  natives  Saloe  (whence  Selan  and 
Ceylon).   It  was  called  ^Scuihal  Dvipa  by  the  Hindus. 

In  Ptolemy's  accounts  of  Ceylon  we  find  its  coasts 
well  furnished  with  commercial  ports. ^  Talacori,  Modutti, 
Amurogramum,  Moagramum  (Mahagram,  a  great  city) 
are  among  the  principal  commercial  cities  described  by 
him.  Professor  Heeren  says  :  "It  (Ceylon)  was  noted 
for  commercial  navii^ation  before  500  B.C."" 

From  Arriau  we  know  that  the  northern  part  of 
Ceylon  was  in  a  very  highly-civilized  state,  and  that  it  was 
a  seat  of  extensive  commerce  with  the  countries  from  the 
farthest  China  in  the  East  to  Italv  in  the  West."^ 

Pliny  says  :  "  Taprobane  was  for  a  long  time 
considered  to  be  a  second  world  and  went  by  the  appel- 
lation of  Antichthones,"  which  proves  its  reputation  as 
a  seat  of  commerce  and  civ^ilization. 

Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  ancient  commerce 
of  Ceylon  can  be  gathered  from  the  accounts  which  Cos- 
mos gives  of  it,  though  at  a  comparatively  later  date. 
After  describing  the  situation  of  the  island  and  the  name 
by  which  the  Hindus  called  it,  he  says  :  "  From  all 
India,  Persia,  Ethiopia,  between  which  countries  it  is 
situated  in  the  middle,  an  infinite  number  of  vessels 
arrive  at,  as  v,'ell  as  go  from,  Ceylon.  From  the  interior 
of  the  continent,  as  for  instance  from  China  and  other 
commercial  countries,  it  receives  silk,  aloes,  cloves,  and 
other  productions,  which  it  exports  to  Malabar,  Avhere 
the  pepper  grows,  and  to  Calliene  (near  Bomba}^),  whence 


^  Ptolemy,    Chapter  XII. 

^Historioal  Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  437. 

'Historical  Researches,  Vol.  11,  p,  -J^):^. 


CUM.MKKCE.  41 'J 

is  brought  steel  and  cloth,  for  this  latter  is  also  a  great 
conimerciiil  port.  It  likewise  makes  consignments  to 
Sindli  on  the  borders  of  India,  whence  com(!  musk  'and 
castoreum  ;  and  also  to  Persia,  Yemen,  and  Adule.  From 
all  these  countries  it  receives  articles  of  produce,  which 
again  it  transmits  into  the  interior,  together  with  its  own 
productions.  Selandiv  (Sinhal  Dirl.pa)  is  consequently 
a  great  emporium,  and  being  situated  in  the  middlf  of 
the  Indian  Ocean,  it  receives  merchandise  from,  as  well  as 
sends  it  to',  all  parts  of  the  world."' 

Professor  Heeren  adds  :  "  From  Pliny,  who  quotes 
the  testimony  of  ancient  historians,  namely,  those  of 
Alexander's  age,  who  first  discovered  1'nprobane  to  be 
an  island,  we  learn  that  Ceylon  enjoyed  this  commercial 
reputation  in  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies,  and  even  in 
that  of  Alexander.  If  we  extend  this  period  but 
a  century  and  a  iialf  furtlier  back,  which  no  one  surely 
will  consider  unreasonable,  we  come  at  once  to  the 
interesting  hinturlcal  fact  that  during  a  space  of  a 
thousand  years,  that  is  from  500  B.C.  to  500  A. I),, 
the  island  of  Ceylon,  so  conveniently  situated  for  such 
a  purpose,  continued  to  be  the  great  emporium  of  the 
Hindu-carrviniJ:  trade,  from  Adule  on  the  cost  of  Africa, 
Yemen  and  Malabar  and  the  Ultra  Gangetic  Peninsula, 
even  to  China."  He  also  says  :  "Ceylon  was  the  com- 
mon mart  of  Australian  commerce."^ 

That    a    considerable    portion    of    ancient    India  is 

closely  connected  with  that  of  Ceylon  is  clear,   not  only 

from  the  remains  of   Hindu  civilization  still  every uh»'ro 

visible  in  the  island,  but  also  from  the  ex])ress  testimony 

1  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  ]|,  p.  298. 
2Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II.  p.  12G. 


420  HINDU    SUPKRIORITT. 

of  the  writers  on  the  subject.  The  island  o£  Ceylon  has 
been  celebrated  in  the  historical  and  fabulous  writings 
of  India  as  being  very  prosperous  and  wealthy.  "  Golden 
Lanka "  is  a  trite  phrase  in  India.  The  island  was 
politically,  sociall}-,  in  religion,  and,  till  very  recently, 
even  physically — after  iiam  Chandra's  celebrated  stone 
brido'e — a  part  of  India.  It  was  inhabited  by  Hindus, 
who,  so  far  as  nationality,  language,  religion  and  civili- 
zation are  concerned,  belonged  to  the  same  stock  as  their 
brethren  of  India.  It  enjoyed,  therefore,  an  equally- 
considerable  refinement  and  civilization.  When  the  British 
first  went  to  Ceylon,  "  they  beheld  with  astonishment 
tlie  stupendous  remains  of  ancient  civilization,  not  mere- 
ly temples  and  other  edifices,  but  what  is  still  more  extra- 
ordinarv,  tanks  of  such  amazins^  extent  as  to  deserve 
the  name  of  lakes."  Her  ancient  prosperity,  her  material 
streno'th,  her  moral  and  social  achievements  have  all  been 
testified  to  by  many  EuropcRU  writers.  Arrian,  Cosmos,^ 
and  a  host  of  other  o-i-eat  writers,  travellers  and  aimalists 
of  the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  unanimously 
declare  that  Ceylon  occupied  the  foremost  position 
in  the  commercial  transactions  of  the  ancient  world. 

It  has  alreadv  been  remarked  that  the  Alexandrian 
historians  were  the  first  to  discover  that  Ceylon  was  an 
island.  Professor  Heeren  says  :  "It  is,  however,  quite 
evident  from  the  testimony  of  Arrian  that  much  of  what 
is  advanced  respecting  the  trade  of  Ceylon  may,  with  equal 
justice,  be  applied  to  the  opposite  coast  of  Malabar." 

The  sea-coast  of  India  was  naturally  well  furnished 

with   harbours  and  havens  to  cope  with  commerce  on 

I  A  inerclmiit  wlio  travelled  about  500  A.D.  in  the  reign  of  Em- 
peror Justinian  TI  as  far  as  Adule,  at  that  time  a  oelol)ratcd  port  bej 
ljiii,'in^'  to  thi;  King  of  Axuino.  in  E(liii>]iia,  npar  Arkoeko. 


a  gigantic  scale.  Professor  Heereri  says  :  "Commercial 
towns  and  ports  existed  on  the  Coromandcl  coast  from 
time  immemorial.  The  coast  of  Coromandel,  and 
specially  the  sonthern  part,  is  represented  by  Ptolemy 
to  iiave  been  thickly-studded  with  a  series  of  commercial 
towns."' 

Extensive  commerce  bespeaks  advanced  civihza- 
tion.  ^Ir.  Elphinstone  says  :  "  The  numerous  commer- 
cial cities  and  ports  for  foreign  trade  which  are  men- 
tioned in  Periplus,  attest  the  progress  of  the  Indians  in 
a  department  which,  more  than  any  other,  shows  an 
advanced  condition  of  the  nation."- 


Land  Trade. 

The  land  trade  of  India  extended  to  China,  Turkis- 
tan,  Persia,  Babylon,  and  sometimes  also  to  Egypt, 
Greece  and  Rome.  Mr.  Vincent  savs  :  "  The  country 
in  the  north  with  which  India  traded  was  China. "'^ 
The  author  of  Periplus,  after  describing  the  geographi- 
cal position  of  China,  says  :  "  Silk  was  imported  from 
that  country,  but  the  persons  engaged  in  this  trade  were 

1  Historical  Researches,  Vol.11,  p.  297.  The  chief  ports  men- 
tioned in  Periplus,  p.  30,  are:  (1)  Barygaza  (Bliaroucli)  ;  (2)  Miziris 
(Mangalore)  ;  (3)  Nelkvnda  (Neliceram)  ;  (4)  Patala  (Hyderabad  in 
Sindh)  ;  (5)  Calliene,  (Gallian.  situated  over  against  Bombay)  ;  and 
the  islands  of  Elephanta  and  Salsette.  In  addition  to  these  Cosmos 
names  Sindus  (Sindh);  Orrbota  (Surat) ;  Calliene;  Sibor ;  Parti; 
Mangaruth  ;    Salopatana  ;    Nelopatana  ;  Pudapatana. 

'^ History  of  India,  p.  241. 

•"^Vincent,  Vol.  II,  pp.  574,  575.  The  author  says  "  the  name 
Ghiua  is  of  Hindu  origin  and  comes  to  us  from  India." 


422  HINDU    SUI'EKIORITY. 

the  Indians  themselves."  It  may,  ho\A'ever,  be  added,  in 
the  words  of  an  English  critic  :'  "It  is  not  improbable 
that  silli  was  also  indio:enous  in  India  even  at  a   remote 

epoch.  "^ 

As  resfards  the  trade  with  central  and  northern  Asia, 
we  are  told  that  ''  the  Indians  make  expeditions  for 
commercial  pnrposes  into  the  golden  desert  Ideste^ 
desert  o£  Gobi,  in  armed  companies  of  a  thousand  or  two 
thousand  men.  But,  according  to  report,  they  do  not 
return  home  for  three  or  four  years."  The  Talhtl 
Sulemcui^  or  the  stone  tower  mentioned  by  Ptolemy  and 
Ctesias,  was  the  starting  point  for  Hindu  merchants  who 
v/ent  to  China. 

Professor  Heeren  says  :  "  By  means  of  this  build- 
ing it  is  easy  to  determine  the  piu-ticular  route  as  well 
as  the  length  of  time  employed  by  the  Hindu  merchants 
in  their  journev  to  China.  If  we  assume  Cabal,  or  rather 
Bactria,  as  their  place  of  departure,  the  expedition  would 
take  a  north-easterly  direction  as  far  as  the  forty-first 
degree  of  north  latitude.  It  would  then  have  ro 
ascend  the  mountains,  and  so  arrive  at  the  stone  tower 
through  the  defile  of  Hoshan,  or  Owsh.  From  thence 
the  route  led  by  Cashgar,  beyond  the  mountains,  to  the 
borders  of  the  i::reat  desert  of  Cobi,  which  it  traversed 
probably  through  Khoten  and  Aksu  (the  Casia  and 
Auxazia  of  Ptolemy).  From  these  ancient  towns  the 
road  lay  through  Koshotei  to  Se-chow,  on  the  frontiers  of 
China,  and  thence  to  Pekin,  a  place  of  great  antiquity, 
if  we  are  to  understand  it  as  the  metropolis  of  Serica, 

^Asiatic    Rosearohes,   Vol.  II,  p.  286.     See  also  Sclilegel,  Berlin, 
Calender,  p.  '.),  (Edition  1829).  ^Sca  also  "  Art  of  Weaving," 


rOMMKJJCE.  ■l'2'A 

which,  indeed,  the  accounts  of  Ptolemy  would  hni-dly 
leave  any  room  to  doubt.  The  whole  distance  amounts 
to  upwards  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  miles." ^ 

As  regards  Western  Asia,  Professor  Heeren  snys 
that  "  the  Palmyrians,  in  addition  to  their  commerce  by 
land,  exercised  also  a  sea-trade  with  India."" 

"  After  the  decline  of  Rome,''  says  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  "  Bassora  became  the  chief  commercial  mart, 
and  to  Ormus  merchandise  from  India  was  brouoht."'^ 

India  traded  with  Europe  by  sea  as  well  as  by 
land.  The  writer  quoted  above  says  :  "  The  produce  of 
India  was  also  brought  to  Europe  by  other  routes, 
namely  (1)  by  the  way  of  Palmyra,  then  a  flourishing 
city,  and  thence  to  Rome  and  other  Western  cities, 
through  the  ports  of  Syria  ;  (2)  across  the  Himalaya 
mountains  to  the  Oxus,  thence  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  and 
finally  to  its  ultimate  markets  of  Europe.""* 

Foreign  trade  of  a  nation  presupposes  development 
of  its  internal  trade.  Specially  is  this  true  of  a  large 
country  like  India,  with  its  varied  products,  vast  popu- 
lation and  hi"'h  civilization.  Professor  Lassen  of  Paris 
considers  it  remarkable  that  the  Hindus  themselves  dis- 
covered the  rich,  luxurious  character  of  India's  products; 
many  of  them  are  produced  in  other  countries,  but  re- 
mained unnoticed  until  sought  for  by  foreigners,  where- 
as the  most  ancient  Hindus  had  a  keen  enjoyment  in 
articles  of  taste  and  luxury.  Rajas  and  other  ricli  people 
delighted  in  sagacious  elephants,  swift  horses,  splendid 

^Historical  rlesearchos,  Vol.  11,  p.  290. 
-Historical  Ilcsoarches,  Vol.  IT.  ji.  409  ( Ap[)Piul!X  IX). 
•^Encyclopaedia  BritaTinica,  Vol.  XI,  p.  4Go. 
*Eiicyclo{)aHlia  Britannica.  Vol.  XI,  p.  4.J9. 


424  HINDI'    S^UFERIORITY. 

peacocks,  frolden  decorations,  exquisite  perfumes, 
pungent  peppers,  ivory,  pearls,  gems,  etc.,  and  conse- 
quently caravans  were  in  continued  requisition  to  carry 
down  these  and  innumerable  other  matters  between  the 
north  and  the  south,  and  the  west  and  the  east  of  their 
vast  and  varied  country.  These  caravans,  it  is  conjec- 
tured, were  met  at  border  stations  and  about  ports  by 
western  caravans  or  ships  bound  to  or  from  Tyre  and 
Egypt,  or  to  or  from  the  Persian  Gulf  and  Red  Sea."^ 

Professor  Heeren  remarks :  "  The  internal  trade 
of  India  could  not  have  been  inconsiderable,  as  it  was  in 
a  certain  deoree  prescribed  bv  nature  herself.""  Roval 
roads  were  constructed  all  over  the  country  from  east  to 
west  and  from  north  to  south,  in  addition  to  the  num- 
berless rivers,  along  the  banks  of  which  considerable 
commerce  was  carried  on. 

Strabo,  Plutarch,  and  Apollodoras  agree  in  their 
statements  that  India  had  considerable  trade  roads  in 
all  directions,  with  mile  stones,  and  was  provided  with 
inns  for  travellers.  (See  Strabo,  Chap.  XV,  pp.  474 
and  487).  And  these  'Toads,"  says  Heeren,  "were 
planted  with  trees  and  flowers. "^^ 

Active  internal  commerce  was  carried  on  in  north- 
ern India  alon"'  the  course  of  the  Gano:es.  Here  was 
the  royal  highway  extending  from  Taxila  on  the 
Indus  through  Lahore  to  Palibhotra  (in  Behar),  and 
which  was  10.000  stadia  in  length.'* 

Kamayana,  too,  mentions  another  road  leading  from 
Ayodhya  (Oudh)  b}-  Hastinapur  on  the  Jamna,  through 
Lahore,  to  the  city  of  Giniheraja,  in  the  Punjab. 

Periplus,  too,  after  saying  that  "the  Ganges  and 
its  tributary  streams  were  the  grand   commercial  routes 

1  See  Ancient  and  Medispval  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  848. 
•^Historinal  Researche.s,  Vol.  II,  p.  2fi7. 
•"^Historical  Researches.  Vol.  II,  p.  279. 

■iStraho,  p.  1010.      Pliny  also  speaks  of  it  in  his  Xatnral  History 
Vol.  VI,  p.  21. 


of  iiortluMMi  Iiiditi,"  adds  tlint  tlie  "  rivers  of  tlie 
Southern  Peninsula  :d.s<»  wen;  ii:niii:ite<]/'' 

Accordino-  u>  Arrinn,  the  conimoreiid  interronrso 
between  the  enstcni  and  western  roitsts  was  earried  on 
in  coLintrv-hnilt  ships. 

Periphis  iignin  suys  tliat  "  in  Daeldmnah.'ides  {Ihil- 
shina  Pafhd  of  Snuskrit.  or  the  Deccan)  there  are  two 
very  distinguished  and  eelehrated  marts,  nninod  Taiiara. 
and  Pluthama,-  whence  merchandise  was  brougiit  down 
to  Barygaza  (Barauncli). 

0/ene '  (Ujjainj  was  one  of  tlic  cliief  marts  for 
internal  traffic,  and  supplied  the  neighboiu-ing  country 
with  all  kinds  of  merchandise.  It  also  became  th(»  em- 
porium of  foreign  commerce.  It  transported  Indian 
products  to  P)arygaza,  and  was  a  celebrated  depot  of  the 
produce  of  more  distant  and  northern  countries. 

Fairs  were  an  important  \'ehicle  of  trade,  and  were 
introduced  in  every  part  of  the  country.  A  large  con- 
course of  people  assemble  at  these  fairs  in  different 
seasons  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  merchandise  as 
well  as  discussing  religious  and  national  tonics.  Even 
now  lakhs  of  people  assemble  at  Hardwar,  ]>enares, 
Allahabad,  on  the  banks  of  Xerbudda  and  other  places.* 

'  Teriplus,  j).  i'y\) .  ~~ 

-For  the  indent iHc.-if inn  of  these  two  pl.'iee<;,  see  Klphinsionc's 
"India,"  p.  223,  footnote.  "Tau:ara  roinained  for  2,000  years  the  great 
emporinin  of  the  Mediterranean  oonimeree." — Heeren. 
sHistorical  Researches,  Vol.  If,  p.  2H0. 
''The  ahnost  innnnierable  crowds  tliat  yearly  flock  to  Benares, 
.Tagan  Nath  and  elsewhere,  amounting  to  many  hundred  thousands  of 
souls,  would  obviously  give  rise  to  a  species  of  comnvivc." — II/.'<tonc,/l 
Researches,  Vol.  II,  p.  279.  [For  an  account  of  fairs  at  Hardwar, 
see  Hardwicke's  accounts  of  it  in  the  Asiatic  Researches,  Vol.  ]], 
p.  312  ;  wliere  he  says  that  two-and-a-half  lakhs  of  souls  as.semble  every 
year,  while  on  the  occasion  of  Kuml>/>  the  iinmhcr  i<  mnny  time  laro-f.i-.  T 


426  nixDU  surERiouiTY. 

Re^'ardinof  tliese  Hindu  fairs,  Mr.  Elphinstone  says  : 
"Indian  fairs  have  strong  resemblance  to  those  of  England. 
But  no  assemblage  in  England  can  give  a  notion  of  the 
lively  effect  produced  by  the  prodigious  concourse  of 
people  in  white  dresses  and  bright -coloured  scarfs  and 
turbans,  so  unlike  the  black  head-dresses  and  dusky  habits 
of  the  North."  ^ 

Mrs.  Manning  says  thas  the  Hindus  traded  even  in 
the  Yedic  period,  "and  the  activity  in  trade  thus  early 
noted  has  continued  to  be  the  characteristic  of  the 
countr}'.''- 

The  Enc3'clopa3dia  Britannica  says  :  "  It  (India) 
exported  its  most  valuable  produce,  its  diamonds,  its 
aromatics,  its  silks,  and  its  costly  manufactures.  The 
coinitry,  which  abounded  in  those  expensive  luxuries, 
was  naturally  reputed  to  be  the  seat  of  immense  riches, 
and  every  romantic  tale  of  its  felicity  and  glory#  was 
readily  believed.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  an  extensive 
commerce  w^ith  India  w^as  still  maintained  throush  the 
ports  of  Egypt  and  the  Red  Sea  ;  and  its  precious 
produce,  imported  into  Europe  by  the  merchants  of 
Venice,  confirmed  the  po]>ular  opinion  of  its  high  re- 
finement and  its  vast  wealth."^ 

i Elphinstone's  History  of  India,  p.  179.  He  also  remarks  that 
"many  such  places  are  also  amongst  the  celebrated  marts  for  the 
transfer  of  merchandise." 

-Ancient  and  Mediaeval  India,  Vol.  II.  p.   347. 

^^Encyclopa-dia  Britannica,  Vol.  XI,  p.  446.  Foreign  commerce 
on  such  a  gigantic  scale  as  described  above  was  one  of  the  principal 
causes  of  the  immense  ri(?hes  of  ancient  India, 


An 


TI.— WKALTH. 

Ruli  in  tlif  gciM^  oi  liidiM'>  ^aiuly  /.imk;. 

Cammucli,  :  rica^iircs  nf  Hnp'-, 

If  history  proves  anything',  it  proves  that  in  ancient 
times,  India  was  the  richest  country  in  the  world.  The 
tact  that  she  has  always  been  the  cynosure  o£  all 
eyes,  Asiatic  or  European,  that  people  of  less  favoured 
climes  have  alwavs  cast  lonsfins^  looks  on  her  fflitterintr 
treasures,  and  that  the  ambition  of  all  conquerors  has 
been  to  possess  India,  prove  that  she  has  been  reputed  to 
be  the  richest  country  in  the  world. 

Her  sunny  climate,  unrivalled  fertility,  matchless 
mineral  resources  and  world-wide-exports  in  ancient  times 
helped  to  accumulate  in  her  bosom  the  wealth  which 
made  her  the  happy  hunting  gi'ound  of  adventurers 
and  conquerors.  Professor  Heeren  says :  "  India  has 
been  celebrated  even  in  the  earliest  times  for  its 
riches."^  Dr.  Wise  says  that  the  wealth,  splendour  and 
prosperity  of  India  had  made  a  strong  impression  on 
the  mind  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  that  when  he 
left  Persia  for  India,  he  told  his  army  that  they  were 
starting  for  that  "  Golden  India  "  where  there  was  end- 
less wealth,  and  that  what  they  had  seen  in  Persia 
was  as  nothing  compared  to  the  riches  of  India. 
Chamber's  Encyclopa'dia  says  :  "  India  has  been  cele- 
brated during  many  ages  for  its  Avealth,"-'  The 
Avriter  of  the  article  "Hindustiin"  in  the  Encyclopaedia 


^Hi'oi-cu's  llistorioal  Rcsoaivhes,  Vol.  II,  p.  268. 
2Cliambi,'r'^  Eticyoloptcdia,  W'l.  Vi  Ail.  "Iii-.liii,"  p.  jclG. 


428  HINDU  .surEKKjiUTY. 

Britaimica  remarks  that  India  "  was  naturally  reputed  to 
be  the  seat  of  immense  riches."^  Milton  voiced  the 
popular  belief  when  he  sang  of  the  wealth  of  India  : 

'•  High  on  a  throne  of  royal  stiitc  whicli  far 
OtUshone  the  weahh  of  Orniuz  and  of  Ind, 
Or  where  tlie  gorgeous  East  willi  richest  hand 
Showers  on  her  kings  barbaric;,  pearl  and  gold." 

An  idea  of  the  immense  wealth  of  India  could  be 
irathered  from  the  fact  that  Avhen  Sultan  Mahmiid  Ghaz- 
navi  destroyed  the  far-famed  temple  of  Somnath  he  found 
such  immense  riches  and  astonishing  diamonds  cooped 
up  in  the  single  "  Idol  of  Siva  "  that  it  was  found  quite 
impossible  to  calculate  the  value  of  .that  booty."  After 
a  stay  at  Mathura  for  26  days,  in  which  he  collected 
large  idols  of  gold  and  silver  in  thousands,  many  set  in 
with  priceless  jewels,  Mahmud  went  to  Kanauj,  which  so 
astonished  the  tyrant  and  his  followers,  though  long 
familiar  with  wealthy  cities  like  Mathura,  that  they 
declared  that  Kanauj  was  only  rivalle»l  in  splendour  and 
magnificence  by  the  high  heavens. 

Gold,  the  emblem  of  wealth,  was  iirst  found  in  India. 
India  was  the  home  of  diamonds  and  other  precious  stones 
in  ancient  times.  Perinlus  savs  that  "  the  Greeks  used 
to  purchase  pieces  of  gold  from  the  Indians."  Nelkynda 
or  Nelicerara,  a  port  near  Calicut  on  the  Malabar  Coast, 
is  said  to  have  been  the  only  market  for  pearls  in  the 
world  in  ancient  times. 

Chamber's  Kncyclopa'dia  snys  that  the  minerals 
of  India  are  rich  and  varied.  Diamonds,  emeralds, 
plumbago,  beryle,  topazes,  are  among  its  products.     Gold 

'  EuoyclopBcdia  Britannica,  Vol.  XI,  {).  i46- 
'See  Lethbridgc'o  "  Ili^turj-  of  India." 


WKALTir.  121) 

has  been  found  in  Indiu  irom  time  imnieniorial.  The 
Deccau  and  the  ^lalabar  Coast  are  believed  to  be  the 
gold-bearing  districts/  and  at  Dharwar,  quartz  reefs  of 
the  richest  description  have  been  found. 

India  has  been  famous  for  pearls,  topazes,  saphires, 
rubies,  emeralds,  lazuli,  corals  and  other  jewels.  The 
most  famous  pearls  and  stones  are  all  of  Indian 
origin.  The  pearl  presented  by  Julius  C;esar  to 
Servilia,  the  mother  of  Brutus,  as  well  as  the  famous 
pearl  ear-ring  of  Cleo|)atra,  were  obtained  from  India. 
The  most  famous  diamonds  in  the  world  are  natives  of 
India.  Though  the  Pitt  (or  the  Regent  as  it  is  now  called) 
weighs  lo6f  carats  and  is  larger  in  size,  yet  the  Koh-i-noor^ 
Aveiffhinij^  only  lOG^  carats,-  hallowed  bv  aj^es  of  roman- 
tic  history,  is  the  most  famous  diamond  in  the  world. 
Both  were  taken  from  India  to  England.  The  Pitt,  how- 
ever, after  being  reduced  in  cutting  from  410  to  I3G^ 
carats  was  sold  in  1717  to  the  Regent  of  France,  the  Duke 
of  Orleans.  It  may  still  be  seen  at  the  Louvre,  Paris.  It 
is  valued  at  £480,000,  the  Koh-i-noor  at  onlv  £140,000. 
But  the  mythological  and  historical  value  of  the  Koh-i-noor 
is  untold. 

It  was  the  wealth  of  India  that  impelled  the  rude 
Arabs  to  invade  this  country,  and  led  the  half-ci\ilized 
Tartars  to  overrun  it.  It  was  the  wealth  of  India  that 
attracted  Nadir  Shah  to  India,  from  whence  he  returned 
laden  with  immense  booty,  and  caused  the  Abdali  chief 
to  renew  his  attacks  on  it. 

1  Periplus  (p.  B6)  speaks  of  c^old  mines  situated  in  the  lower  Gangc- 
tic  Plain.  Pliny  speaks  of  gold  and  silver  mines  in  the  mountains 
of  Capitalia,  which  arc  represented  by  him  as  the  highest  of  the  Ghat 
Range. — Heeren's  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  II. 

-When  the  Koh-i-noor  first  reached  England  it  weighed  186^  carats. 


430  HINDI'    SUl'EKIUKlTr. 

May  be,  us  Sophocles  sings ^  that, 

"Gold  is  tlie  worst  of  ills 

That  ever  plaj^ued  mankind  :  this  wastes  our  cities, 

Drives  forth  their  natives  to  a  foreign  soil, 

Taints  the  pure  heart,  and  turns  the  virtuous  mind 

To  basest  deeds." 

Yet  gold  has  its  virtues.  It  was  gold  which  not  only 
enabled  England  to  save  herselE  and  Europe  in  the  last 
century  but  decided  the  fate  of  Napolean  Bonaparte.- 


1  Antigone,  Act  1. 
^  The  representatives  of  the  Allied  Powers,  assembled  at  Vienna, 
declared  him  an  outlaw  after  his  return  from  Elba,  but  declined  to 
oppose  liim  for  want  of  funds.  On  this,  England  granted  them  large 
subsidies.  Thus  began  the  war  that  ended  in  the  crowning  mercy  of 
Waterloo. 


Rp]LIGION. 


True  Rpligion 
Is  always  mild,  propitious  and  humble, 
Plays  not  the  tyrant,  plants  no  i'aitli  in  blood, 
Nor  bears  destruction  on  hor  chariot  wheels, 
But  stops  to  polish,  succour  and  redress, 
And  builds  her  grandeur  on  the  public  good. 

J.  Miller. 

Rkligiok,  the  balm  for  afflicted  minds,  is,  as  Bacon  ob- 
serves, "the  chief  bond  of  human  society."  It  is  the 
most  powerful  factor  in  the  regulation  of  human  affairs. 
As  a  man's  company  gives  us  a  key  to  the  general 
})rinciples  which  guide  his  conduct,  so  does  a  nation's 
religion  give  us  a  clue  to  those  general  principles 
and  natural  forces  which  are  at  work  in  it  for  good  or 
for  evil,  and  which  will  lead  it  either  towards  civili- 
zation and  enlightenment  or  towards  degeneration  and 
darkness.  As  the  habitual  actions  and  trifling  acts  of 
a  man  are  clearly  stamped  with  the  characteristics  of 
his  personality,  so  is  the  religion  of  a  nation  an  index 
to  mark  its  position  in  the  scale  of  civilization. 

Religion,  then,  is  one  of  the  tests  of  civilization. 
And  true  religion,  which  is  only  another  name  for  Gyana 
or  true  knowledge,  is  a  necessary  result  of  pre-eminence 
in  morals,  philosophy,  literature,  science  and  general 
culture. 

The  present  religion  of  the  masses  in  India  should 
not  be  liternllv  taken  to  be  the  relijrion  of  their  nnees- 


432  inXIU'    SUPERIORITY. 

tors,  and  the  nature  of  their  religion  should  not  be 
judged  from  the  religious  system  of  the  modern  Hindus. 
The  once  highly-spiritual  religion  of  the  Hindus  has,  so 
far  as  the  masses  are  concerned,  now  become  thoroughly 
materialised  to  mark  their  degradation,  and  things  earthly 
are  now  installed  in  the  place  wdiich  was  once  occupied 
by  the  eternal  principle  of  all  things. 

The  Yedic  religion  is  the  knowledge,  the  recognition 
of  the  eternal  principles  of  being,  of  God,  of  spirit  and 
matter,  and  their  relation  to  one  another  as  revealed  to 
them  in  the  Vedas. 

Unbounded  sympathy  with  humanity  and  infinite 
love  for  all  God's  creatures,  which  are  the  results  of 
the  noblest  influences  of  true  religion,  found  their 
supreme  expression  in  India.  No  nobler  sacrifice  can  be 
imao:ined  than  that  involved  in  the  resolution  of  the 
Indian  who  said  :  "  Nev^er  will  I  seek  nor  receive  private 
individual  salvation — never  enter  into  final  peace  alone  ; 
but  for  ever  and  everywhere  will  I  live  and  strive  for 
the  universal  redemption  of  every  creature  throughout 
the  world.  Until  all  are  delivered,  never  will  I  leave  the 
world  of  sin,  sorrow,  and  struggle,  but  will  remain  where 
Iam."i 

The  Hindu  religion  is  the  knowledge  and  the  com- 
prehension of  those  eternal  principles  which  govern  na- 
ture and  man,  those  immutable  laws  which  in  one  sphere 
are  called  "  science,"  in  another  "  true  philosophy." 
It  concerns  itself  not  with  things  true  under  certain  con- 
ditions or  at  certain  times  :  its  precepts  are  ever  true, 
true  in  the  past,  true  in  the  present,  true  in  the  future. 

'  Buddhist  Catena. 


UKLlLilOX.  433 

True  knowledge  being  one,  it  takes,  without  any  distinc- 
tion, into  its  fold,  Indians,  Arabs,  Europeans,  Americans, 
Africans  and  Chinese.  Its  principles  circumscribe  the 
globe  and  govern  all  humanity. 

The  Hindu  religion  is  not,  like  other  religions, 
a  confession  of  weakness,  an  humble  admission  of  the 
helplessness  of  humanity,  and  an  absolute  reliance  on 
an  external  power  for  the  salvation  of  mankind. 
The  Hindu  relisrion  is  a  confident  assertion  of 
supreme  manhood — an  assertion  full  of  dignity  and 
independence. 

Schlegel  says :  "  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  early 
Indians  possessed  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God.  All 
their  writings  are  replete  with  sentiments  and  expres- 
sions, noble,  clear,  severely  grand,  as  deeply  conceived 
as  in  any  human  language  in  which  men  have  spoken 
of  their  God.  "^ 

The  Rev.  J.  Bryce  admits  that  "  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  there  existed  a  period  in  the  Hindu 
history  when  the  Brahma  was  the  sole  object  of  reli- 
gious adoration. "=^  Rev.  Mr.  AVard  says  :  "It  is  true, 
indeed,  that  the  Hindus  believe  in  the  unity  of  God. 
'  One  Brahma  without  a  second,'  is  a  phrase  verv  com- 
monly used  by  them  when  conversing  on  subjects  which 
relate  to  the  nature  of  God.  They  believe  al^o  that  God 
is  Almighty,  All-wise,  Omnipotent,  Ominiscient." 

Mr.  Charles  Coleman  says  :  '*  The  Almighty,  Infi- 
nite, Eternal,  Incomprehensible,  Self-existent  Being  ;  He 
who  sees  everything  though  never  seen ;    He  who  is  not 

^Wisdom  of  the  Ancient  Indians. 
^Sketch  of  the  State  of  British  India. 


434  HIXDU    SUrEKlUIllTY. 

to  be  compassed  by  description,  and  who  is  beyond  the 
limits  of  human  conception  is  Brahma,  the  one  unknown 
true  Being,  the  Creator,  the  Preserver  and  Destroyer  of 
the  universe.  Under  such  and  innumerable  other  defi- 
nitions is  the  Deity  acknowledged  in  the  Vedas,  or  the 
sacred  writino-s  of  the  Hindus."' 

Col.  Kennedy  says  :  "  Every  Hindu  who  is  in  the 
least  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  his  religion  must 
in  reality  acknowledge  and  worship  God  in  unity." 

Count  Bjornstjerna,  after  giving  a  quotation  from 
the  Vedas,  says  :  "  These  truly  sublime  ideas  cannot 
fail  to  convince  us  that  the  Vedas  recognise  only  one 
God,  who  is  Almighty,  Infinite,  Eternal,  Self-existent, 
the  Light  and  the  Lord  of  the  Universe."^ 

Maurice  is  assured  "  that  the  Brahmin  is  seeking 
after  one  Divine  unseen  object,  nay,  that  his  aim  in  his 
Avliole  life  and  discipline  is  to  purify  himself  from  out- 
Avard,  sensible  things,  that  he  may  approach  nearer  to 
this  one  source  of  Illumination."'  Mr.  Colebrooke  says 
that  **  the  ancient  Hindu  religion,  as  founded  on  the 
Hindu  Scriptures,  recognised  but  one  God."* 

"  It  is  very  doubtful,"  says  Prof  Monier  AVilliams, 
"  whether  idolatry  existed  in  the  time  of  Manu's 
compilation  of  the  Smriti."''' 

Of  the  much-abused  institution  of  Shraddhas,  Prof. 
Max  Muller  says  :  "  The  worship  of  the  ancestors  and 
the  offerins^  of  Shraddhas  have  maintained  much  of  their 


1  Mythology  of  the  Hindus.     =^Thcogony  of  the  Hindus,  |..  53, 
3  Religions  of  the  World,  p.  44. 

4 Asiatic  Researclies,  Vol.  VIII,  p.   ,385,     See   also  PatersonV 
Origin  of  Hindu  religion  in  the  Asiatic  Researches. 
^Indian  Wisdom,  p.  226. 


UFLTGION.  -loo 

old  sacrod  character.  They  have  sometimes  beeu  com- 
pared to  the  communion  in  the  Christian  Church,  and  it 
is  cerrainly  true  that  many  natives  speak  of  their  funeral 
and  ancestral  ceremonies  with  a  hushed  voice  and  with 
real  reverence.  They  alone  eeem  still  to  impart  to  their 
life  on  earth  a  deeper  significance  and  a  higher  prospect. 
I  could  go  even  a  step  further  and  express  my  belief 
that  the  absence  of  such  services  for  the  dead  and  of 
ancestral  commemorations  is  a  real  loss  in  our  own  reli- 
gion. Almost  every  religion  recognises  them  as  tokens 
of  a  loving  memory  offered  to  a  father,  to  a  mother,  or 
even  to  a  child,  and  tliough  in  many  countries  thev  mav 
have  proved  a  source  of  superstition,  there  runs  through 
them  all  a  deep  well  of  living  human  faith  that  ought 
never  to  be  allowed  to  perish.'" 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  Hinduism,  however, 
is,  that  it  is  a  thoroughly  scientitic  religion.  Religion  and 
science  went  hand-in-hand  in  ancient  India.  The  reli- 
gious tenets  of  other  nations  have  been  proved,  and  are 
admitted  bv  men  of  culture  and  thouo-ht  to  be  in  conflict 
with  the  teachings  of  modern  science.  In  India,  how- 
ever, theology  is  founded  upon  philosophy  and  science. 
The  Vedic  religion  is,  therefore,  thoroughly  scientific. 
Major  Cunningham  says:  "In  the  East,  however,  philo- 
sophy has  always  been  more  closely  allied  to  theology 
than  in  civilized  Greece  or  modern  Europe. "2 

An  eminent  Frenchman  says  that  the  Hindu 
Revelation  is  "of  all  Revelations  the  only  one  whose  ideas 
are  in  complete  harmony  with  modern  science." 


1  India:  What  can  it  teach  ns?  p.  242. 
^Cunningliam".s  History  of  tho  Sikhs,  p.  2.3. 


436  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

That  gifted  lady,  Mrs.  Begaiit,  said  at  Calcutta: 
"  India  is  the  mother  of  religion.  In  her  are  combined 
science  and  religion  in  perfect  harmony  and  that  is  the 
Hhidu  religion,  and  it  is  India  that  shall  be  again  the 
spiritual  mother  of  the  world."  ^ 

The  Yedas  do  not  certainly  teach  such  unscientific 
absurdities  as  that  out  of  nothintr  came  somethinE^,  or 
that  the  sun  was  created  after  the  creation  of  the  earth 

1  Mrs.  Besant's  lecture  at  the  Grand  Tlieatre,  Calcutta  on  Joth 
JaT'.uary  ItlOG.  In  the  course  of  the  lectuie,  Mrs.  Besant  said  :  "In 
the  nineteenth  century  one  of  the  postulates  of  science  was  that  life,  thought 
and  consciousness  were  all  results  of  certain  molecular  arrangements  of 
matter.  Brain,  the  speaker  added,  secreted  thought  as  the  liver  sec- 
reted bile.  The  whole  materialistic  science  tended  to  show  that  life  was 
the  result  of  an  arrangement  of  matter.  "Where  tiie  mechanical  arrange- 
ment of  matter  failed,  there  thought  failed.  Intelligence  and  conscious- 
ness were  simply  the  results  of  matter.  That  was  the  idea  repeated  in 
Tyndal's  famous  treatise — 'we  must  see  in  matter  a  permanent  poteticy 
of  every  form  of  life.'  But  Hinduism  proclaimed  exactly  the  opposite. 
It  taught  that  life  was  primary  and  matter  secondary.  Matter  was 
simply  a  tool,  instrument,  vehicle.  This  was  clearly  explained  in  the 
ITpanishads,  in  the  problem  of  cdmo.  It  was  shown  how  the  unem- 
bodied  atma  was  in  the  body.  The  body  was  the  dwelling-house  of  the 
embodied  atwa.  It  is  written  that  the  atma  desired  to  see  and  the  eye 
was  there.  The  atma  desired  to  hear  and  the  ear  was  there.  Tho  atma. 
desired  to  think  and  the  mind  was  there.  Con.sciousness  was  primary, 
atma  was  primary,  while  the  senses,  organs,  the  body  were  secondary. 
This  was  the  Hindu  teaching.  The  later  discoveries  of  science  also 
taught  that  consciousness  is  the  creator  and  the  matter  is  the  form." 
The  speaker  then  stated,  by  way  of  illustration,  that  "  man  had  legs,  as 
was  plain  to  her  audience,  and  they  were  able  to  walk ;  and  such  was 
the  case  with  other  senses.  But  niodern  science  taught  exactly  the 
opposite.  It  declared  that  ci-eatares  with  legs  desired  to  walk  and  legs 
were  gradually  formed  by  slow  degrees  after  repeated  efforts.  The 
desire  was  an  aspect  of  consciousness  and  not  an  arrangement  of  matter. 
The  creatures  wanted  to  move,  so  the  organs  of  locomotion  were  gra- 
dually and  duly  bailt.  The  function  of  sight  did  not  come  from  the 
vja  :  il  \\u>  ih«  result  of  perception  in  coiisciousness." 


RKLIGION.  437 

Miss  F.  P.  Cobbo  very  justly  observes:  "  For  nges  back, 
and  markedly  since  the  days  of  Spinoza,  facts  iiave-been 
known  to  learne<i  men  utterly  at  variance  with  the  re- 
ceived doctrines  of  the  infallibility  of  Scripture,  or  even 
of  its  hit^torical  accuracy.'"' 

Mr.  Froude  says  :  "The  truth  of  the  Gospel  his- 
tory is  now  more  widely  doubted  in  Europe  than  at  any 
time  since  the  conversion  of  Constantine."- 

l)ishop  Colenso  says  :  "  I  a^^sert  without  fear  of  con- 
tradiction that  vhere  are  multitudes  now  of  tiie  more 
intelligent  clergy  who  do  not  believe  in  the  reality  of  tiie 
Noachian  deluge  as  de:«cribed  in  the  Book  of  Genesis"'' 

^Ir.  J.  A.  Laugland  says  :  "  The  philosophy 
and  the  religion  of  to-day  (Christianity)  are  opposed. 
The  teachings  of  our  divines  and  the  teachings  of  our 
thinkers  are  antao-onistic."* 

The  Vedic  dharma,  however,  never  feared  scientific 
advancement,  nor  was  it  ever  guilty  of  the  terrors  of 
the  Inqinsition.  It  never  shed  the  blood  of  a  Galilio 
a  Copernicus  or  a  Bruno.^ 

1  Broken  Lights. 

2 Short  Studies  on  Great  Subjects,  Vol.  J,  ]>.  278. 

^Pentateuch  and  Book  uf  .loshiia.  Part  II,  Preface. 

■*  Religious  Sc^'pticisni  and  Infidelity. 

T)'- Although  steadfast  in  his  faith,  the  Hindu  is  not  fanatical;  he 
never  seeks  to  make  proselytes.  If  the  Creator  of  the  world,  he  says, 
had  given  the  preference  to  a  certain  religion,  this  alone  would  have 
prevailed   upon    the  earth  ;   but  as  there  are  many  religions,  this  proves 

the  approbation  of  them   by  the   Most  High They  (the  Hindus) 

regard  God  as  present  in  the  mosques,  with  those  who  kneel  before  the 
cross,  and  in  the  temple  whore  Brahma  is  worshipped.  And  is  not  this 
faith  more  in  accordance  with  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ  than  that 
which  lighted  the  Anto  rln  fp  for  the  infallibility  of  the  Popes,  for  the 
divinity  of  Mary,  and  for  the  miracles  of  the  samtsr'—Theogonyofthe 
Hindus,  pp.  67,  08. 


438  HINDU    SUPERIORITY. 

The  Co^intess  06  Jersey  says  in  the  Nmcfeenth 
Cenf'inj  :  "  But  to  the  higher  caste  Hindu  (provided 
he  knew  anything  about  Hinduism)  Christianity  offers 
no  solution  to  his  doubts  and  to  his  fears.  The  doctrines 
of  the  Upanishads  (the  philosophical  speculations  of  the 
Yedas)  satisfy  the  utmost  longings  of  the  mind.  The 
acute  logic  of  the  ancient  Rishis  has  raised  a  bulwork 
of  arguments  to  support  the  huge  fabric  of  Hindu 
thought.  The  doctrine  of  Karma  offers  the  simplest 
and  most  reasonable  answer  to  the  obvious  inequalities 
and  striking  contrasts  in  this  visible  world,  of  happiness 
and  suffering.  The  ferment  and  unrest  of  the  soul  in 
the  search  of  knowledge  is  soothed  and  laid  at  rest  when 
the  object  of  contemplation  is  reduced  to  a  figure-head 
and  finally  a  point  in  space.  This  contemplation  of 
point  in  space  results  in  a  self-absorbing  delight  which 
knows  no  end,  and  which  places  the  soul  high  above  all 
carnal  wants  and  aspirations.  This  is  the  goal  of  Hindu 
philosophy.  Christianity  has  nothing  to  offer  to  those 
who  are  r/issatisfied  with  Hinduism."^ 

1  Times  of  India  (Weekly  editimi)  for  25th  May  186d.  Cliaplaiii 
Delia  Valle;  author  of  "  A  Voyage  to  Ea^t  India,"  thus  concludes 
the  chapter  "  On  the  ^Moralities  of  the  Hindu:"  "0!  what  a  sad 
thing  it  is  for  Christians  to  come  short  of  Indians  even  in  moralities, 
come  short  of  those,  who  themselves  believe  to  come  short  of  heaven  I  " 
The  chai)lain  thus  closes  his  interestinjj:  work  on  the  subject  of  conver- 
sion, whidi  is  as  remote  from  accomplishment  at  this  day  as  it  was  at 
that  distant  period  :  "  Well  known  it  is  that  the  Jesuits  there,  who, 
like  the  Pharisees  '  that  would  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one 
proselyte'  (Matt.  23-25),  have  sent  into  Christendom  many  large  re- 
ports of  their  great  conversions  of  infidels  in  East  India.  But  all 
these  boastings  are  but  reports  ;  the  truth  is,  that  they  have  there  spilt 
the  precious  water  of  baptism  upon  some  few  faces,  working  upon  the 
necessity  of  some  poor  men,  who  for  want  of  means,  which  they  give 
them,  are  contented  to  wear  crucifixes,  but  for  want  of  knowledge  ia 
the  doctrine  of  Christianitv  are  only  in  name  Christians." — A  Voyage 
to  East  Indict,  pp.  402,  i*17,  418  and  480. 


KKLKilON.  4:)[t 

No  religion  in  tlie  world  claims  to  he.  in  coni];ler.e 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  modern  science  cxciiit  the 
Vedic  religion.  Buddhism,  being  only  a  iiiodified  form 
of  Hinduism,  does  not  differ  materially  from  the  Vedic 
religion  in  its  scientific  aspects. 

It  has  been  shov^•n  that  almost  every  part  of  the 
world  was,  at  some  remote  period,  conquered  and  colo- 
nised by  the  ancient  Hindus.  Siir)ilarly,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  different  nations  of  the  ancient  world 
derived  their  reliuion  from  ancient  Aryavarta. 

Even  at  the  present  moment  more  than  Imlf  of  the 
human  race  are  the  express  followers  of  the  religions 
that  emanated  from  India.  If  the  population  of  the 
world  be  taken  in  round  nund)ers  at  1,000,000,000  we 
shall  find  from  authentic  lecords,  that  oo,000. 000  men 
profess  Hinduism  and  Buddhism  (the  religions  that 
originated  in  India),  while  only  470,000,000  men  follow 
religions  which  are  of  non- Indian  origin.  Rev.  Mr. 
Ward  says  :  "Their  (Hindus)  ])hilo.sO[)hy  and  religion 
still  prevail  over  the  greater  portion  of  the  globe,  and 
that  it  is  Hinduism  which  regulates  the  forms  of  wor- 
ship and  modes  of  thinking  and  feeling  and  acting 
throughout    Japan,    China,     Tartary,     Hindustan,     the 

Burman  Empire,  Siam,  Ceylon,  etc." 

It  is  equally  clear  that  the  religions  that  did  not 
originate  in  India  have  been  strongly  influenced  by 
Hindu  religious  thought.  Bjornstjerna  says  :  "  Bud- 
dhism has  al?o  extended  its  doctrines  among  most  of 
the  other  religious  systems."  The  Mosaic  cosmogony, 
still  believed  in  by  the  Jews  and  others,  is  derived  from 
the  Hindu  system  of  cosmogony. 


^Mythology  of  the  Uiuclus:,  Pi"*tace,  p.  iviii. 


440  HINDU    SUrERIORITY. 

The  origin  oE  the  Greek  Church  of  Christianity  is 
thus  explained  by  Mr.  Princep  :  "  The  Buddhists  of  the 
West,  accepting  Christianity  on  its  first  announcement,  at 
once  introduced  the  rites  and  observances  which  for  cen- 
turies had  already  existed  in  India.  From  that  country 
Christianity  derived  its  monarchical  institutions,  its  forms 
of  ritual  and  church  service,  its  councils  or  conv^ocations 
to  settle  schisms  on  points  of  faith,  its  worship  of  relics 
and  working  of  miracles  through  them,  and  much  of  the 
discipline  and  of  the  dress  of  the  clergy,  even  to  the 
shaven  heads  of  the  monks  and  friars."^ 

Some  of  the  most  important  of  the  Christian  ethical 
teachings  may  be  found  word  for  word  in  the  writings 
of  the  Hindu  philosophers,  who  flourished  centuries  before 
the  birth  of  the  Saviour.  The  corner-stone  of  Christian 
ethics,  "Do  unto  others  as  thou  wouldst  thev  should  do 
unto  thee,"  is  nothing  more  than  the  teaching  of  Yagy- 
valka,  who  says :  "  It  is  not  our  hermitage,  still  less  the 
colour  of  our  skin  that  produces  virtue,  virtue  must  be 
practiced.  Therefore,  let  no  one  do  to  others  what  he 
would  not  have  done  to  himself."^ 

Mons.  Delbos  says  that  "  the  religious  aspirations 
of  that  (Hindu)  civilization  are  found  grandly  expressed 
in  the  Rig  Veda.  That  civilization  pervades  in  every 
corner  of  the  civilized  world,  and  is  around  and  about  us 
every  day  of  our  lives."^ 

It  is  an  observation  of  Hume  that  one  i^eneration 
does  not  go  off  the  stage  at  once  and  another  succeed,  as 

1  Piincep's  Moiigdlia  :iiul  Taitary. 

2See  Max  Muller's  India:  AVhat  can  it  teach  n?  ?   p.  74. 
■''Mons.  Delbos'  pajier  on  the  Yedas  read  before  the   International 
Literary  Association  at  Paris  on  14tli  Jnly  18<iJ4. 


i^KLiniON.  441 

is  the  case  Avilli  silkworms  and  l)iittL'rnies.  There  is  a 
varying  margin,  says  Mr.  Payne,  into  whirh  the  men  of 
one  age  and  those  of  the  succe(Mlinf»:  are  ])lende(h 

In  tlie  same  way,  one  religion  never  completely  dies 
out  to  be  succeeded  by  another  altogether  new  and  in- 
dependently developed.  As  a  rule,  new  religions  are 
evolved  out  of  the  old  ones,  and  the  old  ones  are  in  a 
way  the  parents  of  the  new  religions.  Christianity  is 
evolved  out  of  the  Mosaic  Scripture,  which  again  is  derived 
from  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  which  was 
derived  from  India.  Mohamed{>nism,  some  writers  hold, 
is  a  mixture  of  the  Mosaic  Scriptures,  Christianity  and  the 
Parsee  religion  (which  was  derived  from  Hinduism), 
strongly  tinged  with  the  native  spirit  and  singieminded- 
ness  of  the  Arabs  and  the  democratic  principles  of  their 
social  system. 

Buddhism,  as  is  well  known,  was  only  a  revolt 
against  Brahmanical  tyranny,  and  was  founded  by  Sakya 
Siuirh  or  Sakva  Muni,'  the  son  of  Sudhodhana,  kins;  of 
Kapilavastu,  situated  to  the  north  of  Behar.  According 
to  Buddhistic  writers,  however,  he  was  the  third  Buddha, 
not  the  first,  there  being  twenty-two  Buddhas  in  all. 
There  have  been  several  Buddhas"  wdio  ditt'er  among 
themselves  as  they  differ  from  the  Hindus.  But  they 
all  agree  in  the  following  points  : — (1)  They  ac- 
knowledii-e  the  Vedic  dharma  as  the  foundation  of  their 
own.  (2)  They  admit,  in  conjuction  with  this  doctrine,  a 
divine  triad^  which  combines  the  principle  of  the  Trinity 


^Buddha,  as  a  child,  was  also  called  Siddhartlia. 
^Theogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  89. 


442  HINDU    SUrEllIOKITY. 

"with  th.at  of  the  unit}',  although  frequent!}'  under  other 
names  than  those  of  tlie  Trimurtee  of  the  Brahnians. 
(3)  In  acknowledging  the  doctrine  of  the  transmigration 
of  the  soul.  (4)  Regarding  the  soul  as  an  emanation  of 
the  Divine  Being,  which,  after  having  accomplished  its 
transmiu'ration,  returns  to  its  hio'h  orio;in.^  Buddhism 
differs  from  popular  Hinduism  in  the  following  parti- 
culars : — (1)  It  does  not  acknowledge  the  Yedas  as  a 
revelation  from  God,  but  only  regards  them  as  a  highly- 
deserving  human  composition,  containing  great  but  not 
revealed  truths.  (2)  It  does  not  recognise  the  division 
of  castes,  as  Hinduism  does.  (3)  It  considers  the  inferior 
gods  and  demi-gods  of  the  Brahmin  religion  merely  as 
holy  men  sent  by  the  Almighty  for  the  benefit  of  the 
human  race.  "These  Buddhas,  therefore,  were,  like  Luther 
Calvin  and  Huss,  reformers  of  religion."  (4)  Their  idea 
of  God  is  different  from  the  Hmdu  idea. 

Sir  E.  Arnold  says  :  "  Buddhism  has  in  it  the  eter- 
nity of  a  universal  hope,  the  immortality  of  a  boundless 
love,  an  indestructible  element  of  faith  in  final  good  and 
the  proudest  assertion  ever  made  of  human  freedom."^ 

As  regards  the  propagation  of  Buddhist  doctrines, 
it  is  probable  that  at  one  time  they  spread  over  the  whole 
world.  In  Burma,  Siam,  in  most  of  the  islands  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago  and  Ceylon,  in  Thibet,  Mongolia, 
Japan,  Xepal,  Bhutan  and  the  Lesser  Thibet  it  is  still 
the  prevailing  religion;    but  that  at  one  time  it  spread  to 

IThis  shows  the  origin  of  Buddhism  to  have  taken  place  after  the 
^Mahabhavnta.  when  the  Yedanta  came  to  be  received  as  an  Advaita 
system.  Its  rejection  of  the  caste  system  a\^o  points  to  the  same  period, 
as  it  was  after  the   Maliabharata  that  the  system  began  to  be  abused. 

■^Liijht  of  Asia,  Preface,  p.  xiii. 


Turki.'^tan,  Persia,  E^ypt,  uiitl  Koine,  and  cwn  to  S<'iUi(li- 
luiviii  and  the  British  LsLinds,  is  most  probable' 

Count  15jornstjerna  says  :  "  It  is  cuIIcmI  Goddmas 
(Gautama's)  doctrine  in  Assam,  Pegu,  Ava  and  Ceylon  ; 
Samaria's  doctrine  in  8iam  ;  Amidha  Buddha^ s  in  Japan, 
/''/'.s'or  Frt///Vs-in  Chinaand  Cochin-Cliina,  Salya  S/'ni/Ji's 
in  Eastern  Bengal  and  Ne|)al,  Dhenna  Raj/'s  in  Bootan  ; 
uidi  Buddha''s  in  Great  Thibet  ;  Mahamiinis  in  Lesser 
Thibet, and Sak'ui  Muni's  inMongoliaand  Mants-Chouri."'' 

"The  Buddhist  Monks,  Bharana  and  Matanga,  who 
first  carried  Buddhism  lo  China,  durinu;  the  reiiJfn  of  the 
Han  Emperor  Mingti  in  A.D.  Go  were  natives  of  Gan- 
dhara  (Punjab),  of  which  the  capital  was  Taksliila.  "Some 
authors  conjecture  the  Gceti  of  the  Chinese  to  be  the 
same  as  the  Greek  Scythi,  who  were  no  other  than 
the  parent  stock  of  the  Hindu  Sakya  race."'^ 

^  "  That  the  true  seat  of  Buddhism,"  says  Bjornstjeiua,  "  in  ancient 
times  was  Hindustan  is  attested  by  the  temples  of  EUoia,  Eh'phanfa 
and  Ajunta,  uf  which  the  greater  part  were  dedicated  to  Tniddha,  and 
also  by  the  most  authentic  Hindu  records.  In  a  convcrsatinn  with 
Bogle  (the  British  envoy  at  Thibet)  the  Dalai  Lama  stated  that  Bralima, 
Yishnu  and  Siva  were  worshipped  by  the  inhabitants  of  Thibet,  but  the 
lesser  gods  of  India  were  not  otherwise  regarded  by  them  than  as  holv 
men  (Buddhism):  that  the  people  of  Thibet,  from  700  to  800  years 
back  possessed  many  temples  in  India,  but  that  the  Brahmins  had 
destroyed  them,  and  that  India  was  the  real  native  seat  of  their  gods 
and  doctrines;  he  therefore  begged  the  English  envoy  to  obtain  permis- 
sion from  the  Governor- General  that  they  might  again  erect  temples  on 
the  shores  of  the  Ganges." — Thcogonij  of  the  Hindus,  p.  98. 

2Theogony  of  the  Hindus,  i».  80,  A.  H.  Bitchourin,  a  l{ii»i;in 
translator  of  Chinese  religious  books,  says  tiiat  Buddhism  universally 
prevails  in  the  highland  of  Cential  .Vsia. 

^See  Sarat  Chaiuler  Das.  "Univer-ities  in  India,"  in  the  Hindustan 
Review  lur  Murcli  I'JUtJ, 


444  HINDU    SUPERIOEITY. 

"The  foot-prints  of  Buddha  were  worshipped  by  his 
followers  and  were  called  Phrabat.  They  were  engraved 
on  rocks  and  hills,  where  people  flocked  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  to  worship  them.  They  have  now  been  found 
to  be  existing  in  most  countries.  These  foot-prints  are 
regarded  by  the  Buddhists  in  the  same  light  as  the  rain- 
bow in  the  religions  founded  on  the  Mosaic  records, 
namely,  as  an  assurance  that  the  delage  shall  not  return. 
Six  such  Phrabats  are  found  in  the  East,  one  of 
them  singularly  enough  in  Mecca,  whither  the 
Buddhists  made  pilgrimages  long  before  the  rise 
of  Islamism."^  This  proves  the  prevalence  of 
Buddhism   in    Arabia  in  ancient   times. 

Bjornstjerna  continues  :  "  But  Buddhism  has 
also  penetrated  to  the  banks  of  the  ISTile,  of  which  we 
have  many  proofs.  The  so-called  Hermes  Scriptures 
(the  name  of  the  sacred  writings  of  the  Egyptians)  con- 
tain a  metaphysical  treatise  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue 
between  Hermes  and  Thodh,  Bodh,  Buddh,  which 
throughout  exhibits  the  doctrines  of  Buddhism;  they 
speak  of  the  pre-existence  of  the  soul,  of  its  transmigra- 
tions upon  earth  (Metempsychosis),  of  its  emanation 
from  the  Divine  Being,  and  of  \t^  final  return  to  its  high 
original.'""'  There  is  another  early  Egyptian  writing, 
Pimander's  Hermes   Trismegistus,  in   a  dialogue  form, 

1  Tlioogony  of  the  Hindus,  pp.  92,  03.  After  discoursing  on  Socrates, 
Epicun^s,  Zoroaster  and  Confucius,  Schlegel  says:  "  But  they  were  not 
so  generally  revered  as  benefactors  of  their  country  :  whilst  for  numeri- 
cal influence  Gautama  Buddha  swayed  the  destinies  of  more  millions  of 
human  beings  than  the  four  togetlier." — Hiatory  of  Literature,  p,  124. 

^Tlieogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  100, 


iJKLIGloX.  4  1 .') 

bet\Yeen    Pimnnder    and    Thodh,    ^vllR•ll    develops    tlie 
jjiuldhi.st  doctrine  ot"  TriniLy. 

Count  Bjornstjerna  {ignin  says:  "  The  Cljaldcans, 
the  Babylonians  and  the  inhabitants  of  Colchis  derived 
their  religion  nnd  culture  from  India. "^  "Tl.at  a  s\-.s- 
tern  of  Hinduism,"  says  Colonel  Tod,  "  pervaded  tlie* 
Avhole  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  empires,  Scripture  fur- 
nishes abundant  proofs  in  the  medium  of  the  various 
types  of  the  Snno-od,  Bal  Nath,  whose  pillar  adorned 
every  mount  and  every  grove." - 

"  The  Samaritans  in  Aram  were  Buddhists,  as 
also  the  Essenes  in  Palestine,  at  least  as  to  their 
private  doctrine,  for  outwardly  they  followed  the  ^Mosaic 
law."  The  Gnostics  were  divided  into  two  classes:  (1) 
The  Egyptians  and  (2)  The  Asiatics;  and  "the  adherents 
of  the  latter,"  says  the  Swedish  Count,  "  were  in  fact 
Buddhists  who  in  a  great  measure  adopted  the  external 
forms  of  Christianity,  because  they  regarded  Jesus  as  a 
Buddha  who  had  appeared  on  earth  in  accordance  Avith 
their  own  tenets." '"^ 

Count  Bjornstjerna  continues  :  "  Even  the  Druids 
in  ancient  Britain  were  Buddhists  ;  they  adopted  the 
metempsychosis,  the  pre-existence  of  the  soul  and  its 
return  to  the  realms  of  universal  space.  They  had  a 
divine  Triad  consisting  of  a  creator,  preserver  and  des- 
troyer as  with  the  Buddhists  (and  Hindus).  The  Druids 
constituted  a  sacerdotal  order  which  reserved  to  itself 
alone  the  interpretation  of  the  mysteries  of  religion." 

The  Druids  propagated  their  doctrines  in  Gaul  during 
the  time  of  Caesar,  whence  they  penetrated  in  the   West 

iThcogony  of  the  Hiiulns,  p.  38.     ^Tod's  Rajasthan,  Vol.  I,  p.  605, 
•^Theogony  of  the  Hindu?,  p.  101.     *Thcogony  of  tlio  iliudus,  p.  lOi. 


446  HINDU  surEKiouiTY. 

to  the  Celtic  tribes  in  Spoin,  and  in  the  East  to  Germany 
and  the  Cimbrian  peninsula. 

The  spread  o£  Buddhism  to  the  above-mentioned 
parts  of  the  world  was  for  the  most  part  anterior  to 
Christianity  ;  simultaneously  with  the  establishment  of 
this  creed,  Buddhism  penetrated  so  far  as  the  Altai 
mountains  in  Asia  and  the  Scandinavian  peninsula  in 
Europe.  Into  the  last-named  peninsula  it  was  introduced 
by  Sigye-Frldalfson^  surnamed  Odin  (in  the  ancient 
Scandinavian  dialect  Whodin;  in  is  the  article  which 
added  to  Whod,  Bhodd,  Baddh,  makes  Whodin — Odin), 
chief  of  an  Asiatic  tribe  called  Asar."^ 

Buddhism  being  only  a  particular  form  cf  Hindu- 
ism, not  only  is  Hinduism  the  groundwork  of  Buddhism, 
but  the  mythology  and  the  traditions  of  both  are  neces- 
sarilv  one  and  the  same.  Hence,  wherever  Buddhism 
has  spread  throui^h  the  exertions  of  the  Indians  or  wherever 
the  Buddhist  Hindus  migrated,  there  is  found  between 
the  religion,  mythology,  and  scientific  and  philosophical 
writings  of  India  and  of  those  countries,  an  affinity  too 
close  to  be  only  accidental.  In  the  case  of  Scandinavia, 
however,  the  resemblance  is  so  close  that  without  assum- 
ing^ the  mio-ration  of  the  Hindus  into  the  country,  it 
cannot  otherwise  be  explained  satisfactorily.  All  the 
Indo-Sythian  invaders  of  India,  says  Colonel  Tod,  held 
the  religion  of  Buddha,  and  hence  the  conformity  of 
manners  and  mythology  between  the  Scandinavians  or 
German  tribes  and  the  Rajputs. 

^Theogony  of  the  Hindus,   p,  105.     The  author  says:   "It  seems 
to  be  the  same  tribe  which  came  by  sea  to  Etruria. 
'Tod'fc  Rajasthiin,  Vol.  I,  \k  Gj. 


KKLIcloX.  -117 

(1)  After  giving  a  few  (jiiestions  witli  tlicir  answers 
from  the  Eddu  of  the  Scaiidiiiaviaus  and  a  f(;\v  similar 
ones  from  the  Vedas,  the  Swedish  Count,  ]^)jornstjerna, 
concludes  :  "  All  these  questions  are  so  exceedingly 
similar  to  those  which  the  angels  make  to  iJrahma  and 
the  answers  similar  to  those  of  Brahma  in  the  Vedas,  that 
loe  can  scarcely  qyestio?i  the  derivation  of  the  Edda  from 

the  Veda:'' 

(2)  "  A  common  symbol  of  the  Creator  among  the 

Hindus  (from  whom  it  past  into  Egypt)  was  the  scaral)- 
aeus  or  beetle.  In  Scandinavia,  likewise,  this  insignificant 
insect  was  secred,  and  bore  the  name  of  the  god  Thor." 

(3)  "  The  resemblance  between  the  serpent  of 
Midyard,  in  the  Edda  and  the  serpent  of  Vishnu  in  tlie 
Veda  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  both  being  described  as 
having  encircled  the  world." 

(4)  "But  what  is  most  deserving  of  observation 
is  the  accordance  between  the  gates  of  WaJhall  and  the 
Indian  ages  of  the  world,  or  yugs.  According  to  the 
Edda,  Walhall  has  540  gates  ;  if  this  number  be  multiplied 
by  800,  the  number  of  Einheriers  who  can  march-  out  ab- 
reast from  each  gate,  the  product  will  be  432,000,  which 
forms  the  very  elementary  number  for  the  so-frequently- 
named  ages  of  the  world  or  ynris,  adopted  both  in  the 
doctrine  of  Brahma  and  Buddha,  of  which  the  one  now 
in  course  wall  extend  to  432,000  years,  the  three  pre- 


^Thc'ogony  of  the  Hindus,  pp.  107,108. 

2"  Five  hiandred  and  forty  doors,  I  believe  lo  be  in  Wallitvll. 
Eight  hundred  Einheriers  can  go  out  abreast  when  they  are  to  fight 
against  the  Ulfven  (the  wolf  V  Here  is  meant  the  fatal  encounter  with 
Fenris  Ulfven  at  the  end  of  the  world,  when  Odin,  at  the  head  of 
4i  2,000  armed  Einheriers  takes  the  field  against  them. — (Sec  the  Edda), 


448  HINDU  SUPERIORITY. 

ceding   ones   corresponding  to  this   number   multiplied 
by  2,  3,  and  4." 

Between  the  nomenclatures  of  the  Scandinavian  and 
Hindu  rnvthoWies  there  is  a  remarkable  resemblance. 
Love  is  in  Swedish,  Mrlek:  Bengali,  Karlekeya;  while 
Swero-a  is  the  Swedish  name  of  Sweden  and  is  situated 
near  the  North  Pole.  Skand,  the  God  of  war,  reigns 
there  (Scandinavia),  and  seven  steps  (zones)  lead 
thither,  of  which  the  most  northern  is  named  77mle,  the 
ancient  name  of  Sweden."^ 

It  appears  that  the  Hindu  settlers  migrated  to 
Scandinavia  before  the  Mahabharata,  taking  their  philo- 
sophy and  religion  with  them,  but  were  soon  absorbed 
by  the  natives  owing  to  their  inferiority  in  numbers. 

Count  Bjornstjerna  says :  "  We  have  seen  how  Bud- 
dhism has  spread  first  over  the  two  peninsulas  of  India 
and  afterwards  proceeded  to  Ethiopia,  Egypt,  China, 
Corea,  Thibet :  it  penetrated  to  Chnldea,  Phoenicia, 
Palestine,  Colchis,  Greece,  Rome,  Gaul,  and  Britain.""  It 
is  thus  clear  that  Buddhism,  or  rather  Reformed  Hinduism, 
at  one  time  spread  over  almost  every  country  of  the 
ancient  w^orld.  We  haye  already  seen  (see  Colonization) 
that  Egypt  and  Greece  were  colonized  by  the  Hindus  in 
ancient  times :  those  settlers  must  have  taken  with  them 
their  religion  from  ancient  India.  Direct  and  conclusive 
proofs,  however,  are  available  to  prove  that  the  religion  of 
the  ancient  Egyptians  and  ancient  Greeks  was  derived 
from  India.  On  comparing,  the  religious  systems  of  the 
Egyptians  and  theHindus  we  are  struck  by  their  resem- 
blance to  each  other.     "Both  proceed  from  monotheistic 

iTheogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  109.       -Tlieogony  of  the  Hindus,  p,  101. 


T^FJ.ir.Toy.  .Mil 

pruicii)les  and  degenerate  into  a  polyLhei.stic  heathenism 
though  rather  of  a  symbolic  than  of  a  positive  rliaracttr. 
The  principle  of  Trinity  Avitli  tliatofthe  I'nitv,  the  pre- 
existence  of  the  soul,  its  transmigration,  the  dixisionof 
castes  into  priests,  warriors,  traders  and  agriculturists  are 
the  cardinal  points  of  both  systems.  Even  the  symbols  are 
the  same  on  the  shores  of  the  (ranges  and  the  Nile.  Thus 
■\ve  find  the  Liuijam  of  the  Siva  temples  of  India  in  the 
J*h(illusoi  the  Amnion  temples  of  Egypt — a  symbol  also 
met  with  on  the  head  dress  of  the  Egyptian  gods.  A\'e  find 
the  lotus  jJoivera^s  the  symbol  of  the  sun  both  in  India  and 
in  Egypt,  and  we  find  symbols  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  in  both  countries.  The  power  of  rendering  l)arren 
■women  fruitful,  ascribed  to  the  temples  of  Siva  in  India, 
■was  also  ascrii)ed  to  the  temples  oiAmmoii  in  Egypt ;  a 
belief  retained  to  our  days,  for  the  Bedouin  women  may 
still  be  seen  wandering  around  the  temple  of  Ammnn^ 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  this  blessing."^ 

Several  names  of  Hindu  mythology  are  recognised 
in  Egypt :  "  Thus,  Amnion^  the  supreme  god  of  the 
Egyptians  corresponds  to  Aum  of  the  Hindus;  and  the 
Erahminical  Siva  is  found  in  the  temple  to  which 
Alexander  the  Great  made  his  pilgrimage  from  Egypt, 
and  which  3'et  bears  this  name."  These  resemblances 
between  the  two  systems  of  religion  prove  that  the 
one  is  derived  from  the  other.  The  following  arguments 
advanced  by  Count  Bjornstjerna  prove  conclusively  that 
the  Hindu  religion  is  the  source  of  the  Egyptian  religion. 

(1)  "It  is  testified  to  by  Herodotus,  Plato,  Solon, 
Pythagoras  and  Philostratus  that  the  religion  of  Egypt 

proceeded  from  India^ 

^Tlit'ogony  of  the  Uiiulus,  jip,  iU,  41. 


450  inxDU  surERioRiTY. 

(2)  "It  is  testifiGfl  by  Niobiibr,  Yalentia,  Champol- 
lian,  and  Waddington,  tbat  tbe  temples  of  Upper  Egypt 
are  of  greater  antiquity  than  those  of  Lower  Egypt  ; 
that  the  temples  in  Meroe  are  more  ancient  than  those 
of  Elephantine  and  Tliebes  ;  these  more  ancient  than 
the  temples  of  Tentyra  and  Abydos  ;  and  these  again 
more  ancient  than  those  of  Memphis,  Heliopolis  and 
Sais  ;  that  consquently  the  religion  of  Egypt,  accord - 
ino"  to  the  testimony  of  those  monnments,  proceeded 
from  the  South,  which  cannot  be  from  any  other  land 
than  from  Ethiopia  and  Meroe,  to  wdiich  conntry  it 
came  from  India,  as  testified  by  the  above-named  Greek 
authorities. 

(3)  "  The  chronicles  found  in  the  temples  of  Ab3Tlos 
and  Sais,  and  which  have  been  transmitted  to  us  by 
Josephus,  Julius  Africanus  and  Eusebius  aU  testify  that 
the  religious  system  of  the  Egyptians  proceeded  from  India. 

(4)  "  We  have  Hindu  clironologies  (besides  those 
of  Puranas  concerning  the  Yugs,  which  are  nothing  but 
astronomical  allegories)  which  go  still  further  back  in 
time  than  the  tables  of  the  Egyptian  kings,  according 
to  Manetho. 

(5)  "There  is  a  tradition  among  the  Abyssinians 
which  they  say  they  have  possessed  from  time  imme- 
morial, and  which  is  still  efjually  received  among  the 
Jews  and  the  Christians  of  that  country,  that  the  first 
inhabitants  (they  say  Cush,  grandson  of  Noah,  wdth  his 
family)  came  over  the  chain  of  mountains,  which 
separates  the  highlands  of  Abyssinia  from  the  Red  Sea 
and  the  Straits  of  Babel  Mandeb  from  a  remote  Southern 
country.      The   tradition  further  says  that  they   built 


the  citv  (>[  A,i'uni  ciirlv  in  ihe  diivs  oC  Al)r:iliaiu.  and 
that  from  thence  they  spread  themselves,  followinf^  tlic 
Kiver  Nile  downwards  until  they  became  (as  dcjsephus 
Kays)  the  Meroetes  ;  namely,  the  inhabitants  of  tliat  part 
of  Aiibia,  which  bcinii;  situated  between  the  Nile  and 
its  confiux  the  Atbara.  forms  what  is  commonlv  called 
the  island  of  Meroe,  from  which  they  spread  farther  down 
the  river  to  Egypt."  Count  l)jornstjerna  thus  concludes  : 
"  It  appears  from  the  above-mentioned  grounds  that 
the  Hindus  have  a  greater  claim  to  the  primogeniture 
of  religion,  and  consequently  to  the  primogeniture  of 
civilization  than  the  people  of  Ancient  Egypt,"' 

That  the  religion  of  ancient  Greece  was  partly  de- 
rived from  Egypt  and  partly  from  India,  as  shown  by 
^Ir.  Pococke,  is  sutHciently  well  known.  Indeed,  the 
cosmoii'onv  of  the  whole  world  has  been  derived  from 
India.  That  the  Greeks  derived  theirs  from  the  Hin- 
dus may  be  seen  in  the  accounts  Avhicli  Damascius  has 
(I'lven  of  the  doctrine  of  (JrjtlicAia.  It  is  as  follows:  "In 
the  besfininu'  was  Kronos,  who  out  of  chaos  created  (/'(her 
(day)  and  erehos  (night)  ;  therein  he  laid  an  egg 
(Hindu)  from  which  came  Phanea^  furnished  with  three 
heads  (the  l^)rahmin  Trimurti).  P//rt?2e5  created  the  man 
and  the  woman  from  whom  the  human  race  is  derived. 
The  cosmogony  of  the  Egyptians  also  adopts  the  Hindu 
euii"  which,  divided  into  two.  formed  heaven  and  earth 
(^cide  Diodorus  and  Plutarch )."- 

The  Mosaic  system  of  cosmogony  was  derived  from 
India.  Count  Hjornstjerna  savs  :  "  If  we  relleet  iipnii 
all  these  testimonies  res))ecting  Moses,  and  consider  the 

^Theogoiiy  of  tin'  Hiiiduis,  pp.  43-10. 
^Tlicugouy  ol"  Uic  llindus.  I'p.  I;)",*,  l;'.l. 


ik 


452  HINDU  SUrERlOIUTV. 

place  (Heliopolis)  where  he  studied,  and  if  we  also  re- 
collect that  the  religion  of  the  Egyptians  was  derived  from 
India,  we  thus  find  a  clue  from  whence  Moses  must  partly 
ha\e  obtained  his  cosmogony^  and  also  his  religious 
system,  which,  like  the  Vedas,  was  constructed  upon 
monotheistic  principles." ^ 

The  present  cosmogony  prevalent  in  the  Christian 
and  Mohamedan  countries  is  also  of  Indian  orio-in.  The 
Buddhistic  cosmogony  is  as  follows :  "  In  the  beginning 
the  earth  was  uninhabited,  at  which  time  the  inhabitants 
of  Heaven  or  of  Bhurana  (angels)  used  to  visit  the  earth. 
These  glorious  beings  consisting  of  men  and  women, 
through  the  purity  of  their  spirit,  had  never  yet  cherish- 
ed any  sensual  desires,  when  Adi  Buddha  (the  supreme 
God)  infused  into  them  the  desire  to  taste  the  fruit  of  a 
tree  resembling  the  almond,  which  excited  the  sensual 
appetite  in  them,  and  they  afterwards  disdained  to  return 
to  Bhurana,  and  thus  became  the  parents  of  the  human 
rnce."-  That  this  is  the  source  from  which  the  Bible  and 
the  Quran  derived  their  common  system  of  cosmogony 
there  can  scarcely  be  any  doubt.  It  is  thus  perfectly 
clear  that  every  system  of  cosmogony,  whether  ancient 
or  modern,  owes  its  origin  to  the  Hindus. 

The  mythology  of  the  Greeks,  the  Egyptians  and  the 
Assyrians  is  wholly  founded  on  the  Hindu  mythology. 
Professor  Max  ]\luller  says :  "  The  poetry  of  Homer  is 
founded  on  the  mythology  of  the  Vedas," '  and  without 
the  Veda,  he  says  a  little  further,  "  the  science  of  my- 
thology  would  have  remained  a  mere   guesswork   and 

1  Thcogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  144.     2Xheogony  of  the  Hindus,  p.  131. 
•'Chip^^  from  a  German  Workshop,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  79. 


.dM 


HKLU.loN.  4.')3 

without  a  safe  basis."  i    The  i^ods  and  godesses  of  Greece 
are  but  copies  of  tlic.ir  lliinhi  originals. 
Jupiter  ...       stuiiJs  for     liidra. 


Juno 

... 

n 

Diirga  or  Parvat 

Apollo 

1  •  • 

)) 

Krishna. 

Venus 

. . . 

M 

IJati. 

Ceres 

•  • . 

J> 

Sri, 

Cybele 

•  •  • 

>« 

Prithvi, 

Neptune 

and  Uranus 

11 

Varuna. 

Minerva 

)» 

Sarasvati. 

Mars 

)' 

Skand. 

Pluto 

11 

Yania. 

Plutus 

'» 

Kuvera. 

Vulcan 

11 

Visiivakarina. 

Cupid 

11 

Kama. 

Mercury 

11 

Xarada. 

Aurora 

11 

Uslias. 

^']o1hs 

11 

vayu. 

Janus 

»1 

Ganesa. 

Dioscuri 

(Castor 

and  Pollux) 

11 

Aswini  Kumars. 

Styx 

•  • . 

1) 

Vaitarni. 

Ida 

•  •  • 

11 

Kailas. 

Olympus 

*  •  • 

11 

Mc'ru. 

The  Ramayana  and  the  Mahabharata  are  the  sources 
of  the  Homeric  poems,  and  the  mythology  of  the  Greeks 
is,  to  a  great  extent,  only  an  adaptation  of  the  Hindu 
mythology  to  local  life  and  traditions  of  Greece. 

The  Christian  mythology,  too,  is  derived  from  that 
of  the  Hindus.  Both  ^Ir.  Maurice"-  and  Sir  W.  Jones* 
believe  Kama  to  be  Raamah  of  Scripture,  son  of  Cusli 
(Genesis,   Chapter   x.   verse  7.)      It  is  thus  clear  to  a 

I'jhips  from  a  German  Workshop,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  i)6. 

2 Maurice's  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  104. 

•^Sir  W.  Jones,  iu  the  Asiatic  Researches,  VuK  II,  p.  40. 


454  HINDU  SUI'EKIOKITV. 

student  of  comparative  mj'thology  that  the  Hindu 
deities  are  the  objects  of  worship  in  some  form  or  other 
throuirhout  the  world. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Brown  says  :  "  By  careful  examination 
the  unprejudiced  mind  cannot  but  admit  that  Plindu  is 
the  parent  of  the  literature  and  theology  of  the 
world.  The  researches  and  investigations  made  in  Sans- 
krit language,  which  was  once  spoken  in  that  country, 
by  scholars  like  Max  Muller,  Jaccolliot,  Sir  AVilliam 
Jones  and  others,  have  found  in  the  ancient  records  of 
India  the  strongest  proofs  that  thence  were  drawn  many 
or  nearly  all  the  favourite  dogmas  which  latter  theologians 
have  adopted,  and  the  strongest  proofs  show  to  the 
thoughtful  student  that  the  ancient  Hindus  were  neither 
the  practisers  of  idolatry  nor  the  unlearned,  uncivilized, 
barbaric  race  they  have  usually  been  thought,  but  a 
people  enjoying  a  measure  of  inspiration  that  might  be 
envied  by  more  pretentious  nations.  And  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  that  these  translations  of  ancient 
Hindu  literature  will  confound  the  so-called  modern 
civilizations,  that  they  will  look  upon  India  as 
a  century  flower  once  more  coming  into  full  bloom 
wafting  forth  its  delicious  fragi-ance,  and  will  be""  for 
a  slip  from  its  branches."' 


1  'I'lie    Dailji  Tribune,    Salt   Lake  City,   United   States,   America, 
►Suuda)'  Morning,  2Uth  February  iy^4. '