Curiosities of Superstition Part 8

"7. They believe that atonement is the only way to salvation. They do not recognise any other mode of reconcilement to the offended but loving Father.

"8. They pray for _spiritual_ welfare, and believe in the _efficacy_ of real prayers.

"9. They believe in the Providential care of the Divine Father.

"10. They avow that love towards Him, and performing the works He loveth, const.i.tute His wors.h.i.+p.

"11. They recognise the necessity of public wors.h.i.+p, but do not believe that they cannot hold communion with the Great Father without resorting to any fixed place at any fixed time. They maintain that we can adore Him at any time and at any place, provided that time and that place are calculated to compose and direct the mind towards Him.

"12. They do not believe in pilgrimages, but declare that holiness can be attained only by elevating and purifying the mind.

"13. They do not perform any rites and ceremonies, or believe in penances, as instrumental in obtaining the grace of G.o.d. They declare that moral righteousness, the gaining of wisdom, Divine contemplation, charity, and the cultivation of devotional feelings, are their rites and ceremonies.

They further say, Govern and regulate your feelings, discharge your duties to G.o.d and to man, and you will gain everlasting blessedness; purify your hearts, cultivate devotional feelings, and you will see Him who is Unseen.

"14. Theoretically, there is no distinction of caste among the Brahmas.

They declare that we are all the children of G.o.d, and, therefore, must consider ourselves as brothers and sisters."

Briefly speaking, the religious system herein set forth may be described as Christianity without CHRIST; and yet it was unwilling to acknowledge its obligations to Christianity. Its apostles sought to persuade themselves and others that they derived everything from the Vedas and nothing from the Bible; and when they were compelled to abandon the Vedas, they fell back upon Nature as a Divine Revelation. But, as an Anglo-Indian authority contends, it is certain that but for the new life which at this time flowed in with the tide of Western thought, and the study of a literature "saturated at every pore" with Christian sentiment and the high Gospel morality; and but for the strong and ceaseless opposition maintained by Christianity in the person of its missionaries against the Atheism, which was the first, though a short-lived result of the sudden intellectual quickening the young men of Calcutta experienced when Western science was subst.i.tuted for Oriental myths, neither would the study of the Vedas have been revived, nor would the great lessons of nature have appeared so intelligible as they then became.[25]

We have seen that Brahmanism made one advance under Rammohun Roy; it was led still further forward by Debendronath Tagore; and then he too suddenly halted, as his predecessor had done. The leaders.h.i.+p next devolved upon a man of higher courage, not less fitted to lead a great movement by his enthusiasm than by his ability, Babu Keshub Chunda Sen. Keshub was determined that the challenge should be thrown down to orthodox Hinduism: and persuaded Debendronath Tagore, when his daughter was married, to celebrate the occasion without the usual idolatrous ceremony. After this, he purified of their idolatrous element the rites observed at birth and death. Still, Debendronath Tagore supported him; but, at last, when an attempt was made to eliminate not only what was purely idolatrous, but also everything offensive to enlightened feeling and a purer taste, Debendronath and the conservative party opposed, and a schism was the result.

"The time had arrived," says the writer already quoted, "when Brahmism, if it was a power and not mere talk, must do battle with the system of caste distinctions. The first step in this direction taken by Keshub Chunda Sen, was the celebration of a marriage between persons belonging to different castes. That was an innovation such as might well startle the venerable pundits of Nuddea and Benares. There could henceforward be no doubt as to the more than heretical tendency of the theistic doctrine. An electric shock ran through society: all Hindudom was roused from its slumber, and began suspiciously to ponder what Brahmism meant by such daring. But the real test of principle was yet to come. It was comparatively safe to make a few modifications in domestic religious rites: the marriage of people of different castes compromised the princ.i.p.als chiefly: it was necessary that the entire Brahma community should by some act be universally committed to war against the evils and iniquities of caste. Keshub and his party accepted this necessity, threw off the sacred thread that distinguished them as Brahmans, and insisted that all who desired members.h.i.+p with their Samaj should consent to renounce caste. There could be no greater triumph than this, of principle over traditionalism: it stamped Brahmism as a power in the land, and not an idle theological speculation."

Thenceforward, Keshub Chunda Sen became the recognised leader of "the Brahma Samaj of India," and the new sect adopted an active proselytism.

Branch Samajes have been established all over the country; missionaries have been sent as far as Madras and Bombay and the Punjab. Tracts and lectures have been freely circulated. In Calcutta a so-called "church" has been built, and is well attended every Sunday evening, not only by men, but by women, for whom special accommodation is provided. The services are conducted in the vernacular, so as to be intelligible to all wors.h.i.+ppers.

Brahmist hymns are sung to the accompaniment of the harmonium, and the solemn _mridong_ (a kind of drum): pa.s.sages are read from a book of selections in which the extracts from the Bible greatly outnumber those from any other source; extemporaneous prayers are offered with an intensity of spiritual feeling that could do no disgrace to a Christian congregation; and discourses are delivered which breathe a pure and n.o.ble tone of sentiment and feeling. Two weekly periodicals, one Bengali and the other English, the "Dharma Tattwa" and the "Indian Mirror," are the recognised exponents of the views and teaching of the Samaj.

CHAPTER V.

_THE HINDU MYTHOLOGY: AND THE VISHNU PURANA._

The word _Purana_ means "old," and the original object of the Puranas would seem to have been the preservation of ancient mythological fictions and historical traditions. But in the form in which they have come down to us they do something more than this. They comprehend, more or less thoroughly, the five following subjects:--1, Primary creation, or cosmogony; 2, Secondary creation, or the destruction and renovation of worlds, including chronology; 3, Genealogy of G.o.ds and patriarchs; 4, Reigns of the Ma.n.u.s, or periods called Manwantaras; and 5, History, or such particulars as are extant of the princes of the solar and lunar races, and of their descendants to modern times. According to Professor Wilson, they are evidently derived from the same religious system as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, or from what he calls the mytho-heroic stage of Hindu belief. "They present, however, peculiarities which designate their belonging to a later period, and to an important modification in the progress of opinion. They repeat the theoretical cosmogony of the two great poems; they expound and systematise the chronological computations; and they give a more definite and connected representation of the mythological fictions and the historical traditions. But besides these and other particulars, which may be derivable from an old, if not from a primitive era, they offer characteristic peculiarities of a more modern description, in the paramount importance which they a.s.sign to individual divinities, in the variety and purport of the rites and observances addressed to them, and in the invention of new legends ill.u.s.trative of the power and graciousness of those deities, and of the efficacy of implicit devotion to them."

The form of composition adopted in the Puranas is that of a dialogue, in which its contents are related by one imaginary individual in reply to another. Several dialogues are eventually woven together; and they purport to have been held on different occasions between different individuals, in consequence of similar questions having been asked. Usually the immediate narrator is Lomaharshana or Romaharshana, the disciple of Vyasa, who, as Plato did for Socrates, communicates to the reader his great master's utterances. The Vyasa or compiler here meant was Krishna Dwaipayana, the son of Parasara; it is said of him that he taught the Vedas and Puranas to various pupils, but it seems more probable that he was at the head of a school or college, the members of which moulded the sacred literature of the Hindus into its present form.

There appear to have been eighteen Puranas: namely, 1, Brahma; 2, Padma; 3, Vaishnava; 4, Saiva; 5, Bhagavata; 6, Naradiya; 7, Markandeya; 8, Agneya; 9, Bhavishya; 10, Brahma Vaivarta; 11, Lainga; 12, Varaha; 13, Skanda; 14, Vamana; 15, Kaurma; 16, Matsya; 17, Garuda; 18, Brahmanda.

The Vishnu Purana is described as that in which Parasara, beginning with the events of the Varaha Kalpa, expounds man's moral and religious obligations in about seven thousand stanzas. It is divided into six books:--

The first deals chiefly with the details of creation, primary (Sarga) and secondary (Pratisarga); the first explaining how the universe proceeds from Prakriti or eternal crude matter; the second, in what way "the forms of things are developed from the elementary substances previously evolved, or how they reappear after their temporary destruction." Both these creations are periodical; the first does not end until the life of Brahma ends, when not only the G.o.ds and all other forms are annihilated, but the elements are resolved into the primary substance, besides which one only spiritual being exists. The latter occurs at the end of every Kalpa, aeon, or day of Brahma, and is wholly limited to the forms of inferior creatures and the lower worlds; leaving untouched sages and G.o.ds and the substance of the heavens. A description of the ages or periods of time on which these events depend is involved in the explanation; and it is given accordingly in wearisome detail. Their character has been a source of very unnecessary perplexity to European writers; for they belong to a wholly mythological scheme of chronology, which has no reference to any real or supposed history of the Hindus, but prefigures, according to their system, the infinite and eternal revolutions of the universe.

By a singular incongruity the existence of Pradhana, or crude matter, is identified with Vishnu, who is declared to be both spirit and crude matter, and not only crude matter, but all visible substance, and Time. He is Purusha, "spirit;" Pradhana, "crude matter;" Vyakta, "visible form;"

and Kala, "time." "This," says Professor Wilson, "cannot but be regarded as a departure from the primitive dogmas of the Hindus, in which the distinctness of the Deity and His works was enunciated; in which, upon His willing the world to be, it was; and in which His interposition in creation, held to be inconsistent with the quiescence of perfection, was explained away by the personification of attributes in action, which afterwards came to be considered as real divinities, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, charged severally, for a given season, with the creation, preservation, and temporary annihilation of material forms." In the Vishnu Purana, these divinities are declared to be no other than Vishnu.

The earth having been duly prepared for the reception of living creatures, it was peopled by the will-begotten sons of Brahma, the Praj.a.patis or patriarchs. But it was necessary to provide these "grey forefathers" of the early world with wives. For this purpose, the Manu Swayambhuva and his wife Satarupa, were invented; and their daughters supplied the patriarchs with female partners. Numerous legends were built up on this basis, and the whole story a.s.sumed an allegorical form. Swayhambhuva, the son of the self-born or uncreated, and his wife Satarupa, the hundred-formed or multiform, are themselves allegories; and their female descendants, who became the wives of the Ris.h.i.+s, are Faith, Devotion, Content, Intelligence, Tradition, and the like; whilst among their posterity are found the different phases of the moon and the sacrificial fires. There are other legends in explanation of the peopling of the earth. All seem to indicate that the Praj.a.patis and Ris.h.i.+s were "real personages, the authors of the Hindu system of social, moral, and religious obligations, and the first observers of the heavens, and teachers of astronomical science."

The genealogy is traced of the royal personages of this first race or dynasty, and is continued into the second book; after which comes a detail of the geographical system of the Puranas, with Mount Meru, the seven circular continents, and their surrounding oceans, to the limits of the world. This (except so far as India or Bharata is concerned) is purely mythological. In the early portion of the third book, the arrangement of the Vedas and other sacred writings of the Hindus is described. Then follows an account of the princ.i.p.al Hindu inst.i.tutions, the duties of castes, the obligations of different stages of life, and the celebration of funeral rites, in a brief but primitive strain, and in harmony with the laws of Manu. "It is a distinguis.h.i.+ng feature of the Vishnu Purana, and it is characteristic of its being the work of an earlier period than most of the Puranas, that it enjoins no sectarial or other acts of supererogation; no Vratas, occasional self-imposed observances; no holy days, no birthdays of Krishna, no nights dedicated to Lakshmi; no sacrifices or modes of wors.h.i.+p other than those conformable to the ritual of the Vedas. It contains no Mahalinyas or golden legends, even of the temples in which Vishnu is adored."

The fourth book contains a tolerably full list of royal dynasties and individuals, with a dull chronicle of events, the authenticity of which cannot always be accepted. In the fifth book we have the life of Krishna, one of the avatars or manifestations of Vishnu; and in the last an account of the dissolution of the world, "in both its major and minor cataclysms,"

which, "in the particulars of the end of all things by fire and water, as well as in the principle of their perpetual renovation, presents a faithful exhibition of opinions that were general in the ancient world."

We now proceed to give a few specimens of the contents of this remarkable work.

_Origin of Rudra_ (Bk. i. c. 8.)

In the beginning of the Kalpa, as Brahma proposed to create a son, who should be like himself, a youth of a purple complexion appeared; crying with a low cry, and running about. Brahma, when he beheld him thus afflicted, said to him: "Why dost thou weep?" "Give me a name," replied the boy. "Rudra be thy name," rejoined the great father of all creatures: "be composed; desist from tears." But, though thus addressed, the boy still wept seven times; and Brahma therefore gave to him seven other denominations: and to these eight persons regions and wives and posterity belong. The eight manifestations, then, are named Rudra, Bhava, Sarva, Isana, Pasaputi, Bhima, Ugra, and Mahadeva, which were given to them by their great progenitor. He also a.s.signed to them their respective stations, the sun, water, earth, air, fire, ether, the ministrant Brahman, and the moon; for these are their several forms. The wives of the sun and the other manifestations, termed Rudra and the east, were, respectively: Suvarchala, Usha, Vikesi, Siva, Swaha, Disas, Diksha, and Rohini. Now hear an account of their progeny, by whose successive generations this world has been peopled. Their sons were severally: Sawaischara (Saturn,) Sukra (Venus,) the fiery-bodied (Mars,) Mamjava, Skanda, Swarga, Santana, and Budha (Mercury.)

_Sacrifice of Daksha._

(This remarkable legend, according to Professor Wilson, is intended to allegorise a struggle between the wors.h.i.+ppers of Siva and of Vishnu, in which the former, after a temporary defeat, obtained the victory.)

There was formerly a peak of Meru, named Savitra, abounding with gems, radiant as the sun, and celebrated throughout the three worlds; of immense extent, difficult of access, and an object of universal adoration. Upon that glorious eminence, rich with mineral treasures, as upon a splendid couch, the deity Siva reclined, accompanied by the daughter of the sovereign of mountains, and attended by the mighty Adityas, the powerful Vasus, and by the heavenly physicians, the sons of Aswini; by Kubera, surrounded by his train of Guhyakas, the lord of the Yakshas, who dwells on Kailasa. There also was the great Muni Usanas: there were Ris.h.i.+s of the first order, with Sanatk.u.mara at their head, divine Ris.h.i.+s, preceded by Angiras; Viswavasu, with his bands of heavenly choristers; the sages Narada and Parvata; and innumerable troops of celestial nymphs.

The breeze blew upon the mountain, bland, pure, and fragrant; and the trees were decorated with flowers that blossomed in every season.

The Vidyadharas and Siddhas, affluent in devotion, waited upon Mahadeva, the lord of living creatures; and many other beings, of various forms, did him homage. Prakshasas of terrific semblance, and Pisachas of great strength, of different shapes and features, armed with various weapons, and blazing like fire, were delighted to be present, as the followers of the G.o.d. There stood the royal Naudin, high in the favour of his lord, armed with a fiery trident, s.h.i.+ning with inherent l.u.s.tre; and there the best of rivers, Ganga, the a.s.semblage of all holy waters, stood adoring the mighty deity. Thus wors.h.i.+pped by all the most excellent of sages and of G.o.ds, abode the omnipotent and all-glorious Mahadeva.

In former times Daksha commenced a holy sacrifice on the side of Himavat, at the sacred spot Gangadwara, frequented by the Ris.h.i.+s. The G.o.ds, desirous of a.s.sisting at this solemn rite, came, with Indra at their head, to Mahadeva, and intimated their purpose, and having received his permission, departed, in their splendid chariots, to Gangadwara, as tradition reports. They found Daksha, the best of the devout, surrounded by the singers and nymphs of heaven, and by numerous sages, beneath the shade of cl.u.s.tering trees and climbing plants; and all of them, whether dwellers on earth, in air, or in the regions above the skies, approached the patriarch with outward gestures of respect. The Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Maruts, all ent.i.tled to partake of the oblations, together with Jishnu, were present.

The (four cla.s.ses of Pitris) Ushmapas, Somapas, Ajyapas, and Dhumapas, (or those who feed upon the flame, the acid juice, the b.u.t.ter, or the smoke of offerings,) the Aswins, and the progenitors, came along with Brahma.

Creatures of every cla.s.s, born from the womb, the egg, from vapour, or vegetation, came upon their invocation; as did all the G.o.ds, with their brides, who, in their resplendent vehicles, blazed like so many fires.

Beholding them thus a.s.sembled, the sage Dadhicha was filled with indignation, and observed: "The man who wors.h.i.+ps what ought not to be wors.h.i.+pped, or pays not reverence where veneration is due, is guilty, most a.s.suredly, of heinous sin." Then, addressing Daksha, he said to him: "Why do you not offer homage to the G.o.d who is the lord of life (Pasubhartri?)"

Daksha spake: "I have already many Rudras present, armed with tridents, wearing braided hair, and existing in eleven forms. I recognise no other Mahadeva." Dadhicha spake: "The invocation that is not addressed to Isa is, for all, but a solitary (and imperfect) summons. Inasmuch as I behold no other divinity who is superior to Sankhara, this sacrifice of Daksha will not be completed." Daksha spake: "I offer in a golden cup, this entire oblation, which has been consecrated by many prayers, as an offering ever due to the unequalled Vishnu, the sovereign lord of all...."

(After a conversation between the mighty Maheswara and his spouse, whom he addresses in epithets which have quite an Homeric sound:)

The mighty Maheswara created, from his mouth, a being like the fire of fate; a divine being, with a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet; wielding a thousand clubs, a thousand shafts; holding the sh.e.l.l, the discus, the mace, and bearing a blazing bow and battle-axe; fierce and terrific, s.h.i.+ning with dreadful splendour, and decorated with the crescent moon; clothed in a tiger's skin dripping with blood, having a capacious stomach, and a vast mouth armed with formidable tusks. His ears were erect, his lips were pendulous; his tongue was lightning; his hand brandished the thunderbolt; flames streamed from his hair; a necklace of pearls wound round his neck; a garland of flame descended on his breast.

Radiant with l.u.s.tre, he looked like the final fire that consumes the world. Four tremendous tusks projected from a mouth which extended from ear to ear.

He was of vast bulk, vast strength, a mighty male and lord, the destroyer of the universe, and like a large fig tree in circ.u.mference; s.h.i.+ning like a hundred moons at once; fierce as the fire of love; having four heads, sharp white teeth, and of mighty fierceness, vigour, activity, and courage; glowing with the blaze of a thousand fiery suns at the end of the world; like a thousand undimmed moons; in bulk like Himadri, Kailasa, or Sumnu, or Mundara, with all its gleaming herbs; bright as the sun of destruction at end of ages; of irresistible prowess and beautiful aspect; irascible, with lowering eyes, and a countenance burning like fire; clothed in the hide of the elephant and lion, and girt round with snakes; wearing a turban on his head, a moon on his brow: sometimes savage, sometimes mild; having a chaplet of many flowers on his head, anointed with various unguents, adorned with different ornaments and many sorts of jewels, wearing a garland of heavenly Karnikara flowers, and rolling his eyes with rage. Sometimes he danced; sometimes he laughed aloud; sometimes he stood wrapt in meditation; sometimes he trampled upon the earth; sometimes he sang; sometimes he wept repeatedly. And he was endowed with the faculties of wisdom, dispa.s.sion, power, penance, truth, endurance, fort.i.tude, dominion, and self-knowledge.

This being then knelt down upon the ground, and raising his hands respectfully to his head, said to Mahadeva: "Sovereign of the G.o.ds, command what it is that I must do for thee;" to which Maheswara replied: "Spoil the sacrifice of Daksha." Then the mighty Virabhadra, having heard the pleasure of his lord, bowed down his head to the feet of Praj.a.pati, and starting like a lion loosed from bonds, despoiled the sacrifice of Daksha; knowing that he had been created by the displeasure of Devi. She, too, in her wrath, as the fearful G.o.ddess Rudrakali, accompanied him, with all her train, to witness his deeds. Virabhadra, the fierce, abiding in the region of ghosts, is the minister of the anger of Devi. And he then created, from the pores of his skin, powerful demiG.o.ds, the mighty attendants upon Rudra, of equal valour and strength, who started by hundreds and by thousands into existence. A loud and confused clamour straightway filled all the expanse of ether, and inspired the denizens of heaven with dread. The mountains tottered, and earth shook; the winds roared, and the depths of the sea were disturbed; the fires lost their radiance, and the sun grew pale; the planets of the firmament shone not, neither did the stars give light; the Ris.h.i.+s ceased their hymns, and G.o.ds and demons were mute; and thick darkness eclipsed the chariot of the skies.

Then from the gloom emerged fearful and numerous forms, shouting the cry of battle; who instantly broke or overturned the sacrificial columns, trampled upon the altars, and danced amidst the oblations. Running wildly hither and thither, with the speed of wind, they tossed about the implements and vessels of sacrifice, which looked like stars precipitated from the heavens. The piles of food and beverage for the G.o.ds, which had been heaped up like mountains;[26] the rivers of milk; the tanks of curds and b.u.t.ter; the ma.s.ses of honey, and b.u.t.ter-milk, and sugar; the mounds of condiments and spices of every flavour; the undulating knolls of flesh and other viands; the celestial liquors; pastes and confections which had been prepared; these the spirits of wrath devoured, or defiled, or scattered abroad. And, falling upon the host of the G.o.ds, these vast and resistless Rudras beat or terrified them, mocked and insulted the nymphs and G.o.ddesses, and quickly put an end to the rite, although defended by all the G.o.ds; being the ministers of Rudra's wrath, and similar to himself.

Some then made a hideous clamour, whilst others fearfully shouted, when Yajna was decapitated. For the divine Yajna, the lord of sacrifice, began to fly up to heaven, in the shape of a deer; and Virabhadra, of immeasurable spirit, apprehending his power, cut off his vast head, after he had mounted into the sky.

Daksha, the patriarch, his sacrifice being destroyed, overcome with terror, and utterly broken in spirit, fell p.r.o.ne upon the ground, where his head was spurned by the feet of the cruel Virabhadra. The thirty scores of sacred divinities were all presently bound, with a band of fire, by their lion-like foe; and they all addressed him, crying: "O Rudra, have mercy upon thy servants! O lord, dismiss thine anger!" This spake Brahma, and the other G.o.ds, and the patriarch Daksha; and, raising their hands, they said: "Declare, mighty being, who thou art."

Virabhadra said: "I am not a G.o.d, nor an Aditya, nor am I come hither for enjoyment, nor curious to behold the chiefs of the divinities. Know that I am come to destroy the sacrifice of Daksha, and that I am called Virabhadra, the issue of the wrath of Rudra. Bhadrakali, also, who has sprung from the anger of Devi, is sent here, by the G.o.d of G.o.ds, to destroy this rite. Take refuge, king of kings, with him who is the lord of Uma. For better is the anger of Rudra than the blessings of other G.o.ds."

Having heard the words of Virabhadra, the righteous Daksha propitiated the mighty G.o.d, the holder of the trident, Maheswara. The hearth of sacrifice, deserted by the Brahmans, had been consumed; Yajna had been metamorphosed to an antelope; the fires of Rudra's wrath had been kindled; the attendants, wounded by the tridents of the servants of the G.o.d, were groaning with pain; the pieces of the uprooted sacrificial posts were scattered here and there; and the fragments of the meat-offerings were carried off by flights of hungry vultures and herds of howling jackals.