The Religions of India Part 56

[Footnote 34: Weber, _loc. cit._]

[Footnote 35: The existence of a soul (spirit) in man is always a.s.sumed in the Upanishads. In the pantheistic system (the completed Ved[=a]nta) the verity of traditional belief is also a.s.sumed. The latter a.s.sumption is made, too, though not in so p.r.o.nounced a manner, in the Upanishads.]

[Footnote 36: The Upanishad philosopher sought only to save his life, but the Buddhist, to lose it.]

[Footnote 37: This is not a negative 'non-injury' kindness.

It is a love 'far-reaching, all*pervading' (above, p. 333).

The Buddhist is no Stoic save in the stoicism with which he looks forward to his own end. Rhys Davids has suggested that the popularity of Tibet Buddhism in distinction from Southern Buddhism may have been due to the greater weight laid by the former on altruism. For, while the earlier Buddhist strives chiefly for his own perfection, the spiritualist of the North affects greater love for his kind, and becomes wise to save others. The former is content to be an Arhat; the latter desires to be a Bodhisat, 'teacher of the law' (_Hibbert Lectures_, p. 254). We think, however, that the latter's success with the vulgar was the result rather of his own greater mental vulgarity and animism.]

[Footnote 38: Hurst's _Indika_, chap. XLIX, referring to _India Christiana_ of 1721, and the correspondence between Mather and Ziegenbalg, who was then a missionary in India.

The wealthy 'young men' who contributed were, in Hurst's opinion, Harvard students.]

[Footnote 39: The Portuguese landed in Calcutta in 1498.

They were driven out by the Dutch, to whom they ceded their mercantile monopoly, in 1640-1644. The Dutch had arrived in 1596, and held their ground till their supremacy was wrested from them by Clive in 1758, The British had followed the Dutch closely (arriving in 1600), and were themselves followed soon after by the Germans and Danes (whose activity soon subsided), and by the French. The German company, under whose protection stood Ziegenbalg, was one of the last to enter India, and first to leave it (1717-1726). The most grotesquely hideous era in India's history is that which was inaugurated by the supremacy of the Christian British. Major Munroe's barbaric punishment of the Sepoys took place, however, in Clive's absence (1760-1765). Marshman, I, p.

305, says of this Munroe only that he was "an officer of undaunted resolution"! Clive himself was acquitted by his own countrymen of theft, robbery, and extortion; but the Hindus have not acquitted him or Hastings; nor will Christianity ever do so.]

[Footnote 40: For specimens of the sacred Kural of Tiruvalluvar N[=a]r[=a]yana*N[=a]yan[=]r, see the examples given by Pope, _Indian Antiquary_, seventh and following volumes. The Sittars, to whom we have referred above, are a more modern sect. Their precept that love is the essential of religion is not, as in the case of the Hindu idolators, of erotic nature. They seem to be the modern representatives of that Buddhistic division (see above) called S[=a]ugatas, whose religion consists in 'kindness to all.' In these sects there is found quietism, a kind of quakerism, pure morality, high teaching, sternest (almost bigoted) monotheism, and the doctrine of positive altruism, strange to the Hindu idolator as to the Brahman. The Prem S[=a]gar, or 'Ocean of Love,' is a modern Hindu work, which ill.u.s.trates the religious love opposed to that of the Sittars, namely, the mystic love of the Krishnaite for his savior, whose grace is given only to him that has faith. It is the mystic rapt adoration that in expression becomes erotic and sensual.]

[Footnote 41: Hinduism itself is unconsciously doing a reforming work among the wild tribes that are not touched by the Christian missionary. These tribes, becoming Hinduized, become civilized, and, in so far as they are thus made approachable, they are put in the way of improvement; though civilization often has a bad effect upon their morals for a season.]

[Footnote 42: The subst.i.tution of the doctrine of redemption for that of _karma_ is intellectually impossible for an educated Hindu. He may renounce the latter, but he cannot accept the former. The nearest approach to such a conception is that of the Buddhistic 'Redeemer' heresy referred to above. In all other regards Samaj and pantheism are too catholic to be affected; In this regard they are both unyielding.]

[Footnote 43: We question, for instance, the advisability of such means to "fill up the church" as is described in a missionary report delivered at the last meeting of the Missionary Union of the Cla.s.sis of New York for the current year: "A man is sent to ride on a bicycle as fast as he can through the different streets. This invariably attracts attention. Boys and men follow him to the church, where it is easy to persuade them to enter." But this is an admission of our position in regard to the cla.s.ses affected. The rabble may be Christianized by this means, but the intelligent will not be attracted.]

[Footnote 44: After the greater part of our work had pa.s.sed the final revision, and several months after the whole was gone to press, appeared Oldenberg's _Die Religion des Veda_, which, as the last new book on the subject, deserves a special note. The author here takes a liberal view, and does not hesitate to ill.u.s.trate Vedic religion with the light cast by other forms of superst.i.tion. But this method has its dangers, and there is perhaps a little too much straining after original types, giant-G.o.ds as prototypes and totemism in proper names, where Vedic data should be separated from what may have preceded Vedic belief. Oldenberg, as a ritualist, finds in Varuna, Dawn, and the Burial Service the inevitable stumbling-blocks of such scholars as confuse Brahmanism with early Vedism. To remove these obstacles he suggests that Varuna, as the moon, was borrowed from the Semites or Akkadians (though be frankly admits that not even the shadow of this moon lingers in Vedic belief); explains Dawn's non-partic.i.p.ation in _soma_ by stating that she never partic.i.p.ates in it (which explains nothing); and jumps over the Burial Hymn with the inquiry whether, after all, it could not be interpreted as a cremation-hymn (the obvious answer being that the service does imply burial, and does not even hint at cremation). On the other hand, when theoretical barbarism and ritualism are foregone, Oldenberg has a true eye for the estimation of facts, and hence takes an unimpeachable position in several important particulars, notably in rejecting Jacobi's date of the Rig Veda; in rejecting also Hillebrandt's moon-_soma_; in denying an originally supreme Dy[=a]us; in his explanation of henotheism (substantially one with the explanation we gave a year ago); and in his account of the relation of the Rig Veda to the (later) Atharvan. Despite an occasional brilliant suggestion, which makes the work more exciting than reliable, this book will prove of great value to them that are particularly interested in the ritual; though the reader must be on his guard against the subst.i.tution of deduction for induction, as manifested in the confusion of epochs, and in the tendency to interpret by a.n.a.logy rather than in accordance with historical data. The worth of the latter part of the book is impaired by an unsubstantiated theory of sacrifice, but as a whole it presents a clear and valuable view of the cult.]

ADDENDA.

Page 154, note 3: Add to (RV.) x. 173, AV. vi. 88.

Page 327, third line from the top: Read Buddhaghosha. According to Chalmers, as quoted by T.W. Rhys Davids in his recent lectures, traces of mysticism are found in some of the early texts (as yet unpublished). The fact that the canonical P[=a]li books know nothing of the controversy (involving the modification of traditional rules) of the second council gives a terminus to the canon. Senart, on the other hand, thinks that the vague language of the Ac.o.ka inscriptions precludes the fixing of the canon at so early a date.

Page 340, note 4: The G.o.ds here are priests. The real meaning seems to be that the Brahman priests, who were regarded as G.o.ds, have been put to naught in being reduced to their true estate. Compare Senart, (revised) _Inscriptions de Piyadasi_, third chapter. Ac.o.ka dismissed the Brahman priests that his father had maintained, and subst.i.tuted Buddhist monks.

Page 436, note 2: From B[=e]r[=u]n[=i] it would appear that the Gupta and Valabh[=i] eras were identical (319-20 A.D). See Fleet, Indian Antiquary, xvii. 245. Many scholars now a.s.sign k.u.m[=a]rila to the eighth century rather than to the end of the seventh.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.[1]

GENERAL WORKS.

#Journals#: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soctety (JRAS.);[2] Journal of the German Oriental Society (Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, ZDMG.); Journal Asiatique (JA.); Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS.); Branch-Journals of the JRAS.; Calcutta Review; Madras Journal; Indian Antiquary (IA.).

Some of the articles in the defunct Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes (ZKM.), and in the old Asiatick Researches (AR.) are still worth reading. Besides these, the most important modern journals are the transactions of the royal Austrian, Bavarian, Prussian, and Saxon Academies, the Museon and the Revue de l'histoire des religions.

Occasional articles bearing on India's religions or mythology will be found in the American Journal of Philology (AJP.); the Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes (WZKM.); the Babylonian and Oriental Record (BOR.); Kuhn's Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprachforschuhg (KZ.); Bezzenberger's Beitrage (BB.); and the Indogermanische Forschungen (IF.).

#Histories, studies, etc.#: Prinsep, Essays (Indian Antiquities); La.s.sen, Indische Alterthumskunde. Histories of India by Elphinstone (religious material, chapters iv book i, and iv book ii), by Elliot, by Marshman (complements Elphinstone), and by Wheeler (unreliable); The Rulers of India; Hunter's Indian Empire and Brief History. Mill's excellent History of India is somewhat prejudiced.

Dutt's History of Civilization in Ancient India is praise-worthy (1890). Invaluable are the great descriptive Archaeological Surveys by Cunningham, Burgess, and Buhler, and Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal. Literary History:[3] Colebrooke, Essays, reedited by Cowell, with notes by Whitney; Wilson, Essays; Weber, Indische Studien (IS.); Benfey, Orient and Occident (OO.); Muller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature (ASL.), Science of Religion; Weber, Vorlesungen uber Indische Literaturgeschichte (also translated), Indische Streifen, Indische Skizzen; L. von Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur; Whitney, Oriental and Linguistic Studies, Language and the Study of Language; Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums (third volume, may be bought separately); Williams, Indian Wisdom (inaccurate but readable).

VEDIC RELIGION.

#Literature#: Roth, Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Weda;[4] Benfey, Vedica und Verwandtes; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben (AIL.); R[=a]jendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans(unreliable); Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique (also JA. ix, xiii); De Gubernatis, Letture sopra la Mitologia Vedica; Pischel and Geldner, Vedische Studien;[5] Regnaud, Le Rig Veda et les origines de la mythologie indo-europeenne, and Les hymnes du Rig Veda, sont-ils prieres? (Ann. d. Mus. Guimet, Bibl. d'etudes, t.

i, and special studies). Regnaud's point of view renders nugatory most of what he writes on the Veda.[6] The most useful collection of Vedic and Brahmanic Texts that ill.u.s.trate Hindu Mythology and Religion is to be found in Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts (OST.), especially the fourth and fifth volumes.[7] For the Sacred Books of the East (SBE.) see Hems below.

#Translations of the rig veda#: Complete, by Gra.s.smann and by Ludwig; partial, by Roth, Benfey, Langlois, Bergaigne; in English chiefly by Wilson, Muller, Muir, Peterson, Griffith. Of these the German translation of Gra.s.smann is often inaccurate;[8] that of Ludwig, often unintelligible. Benfey has translated a number of specimens, OO., BB., i, vii, and in Kleinere Schriften. The incomplete translation of Wilson has been carried on by Cowell; those of Peterson and Griffith are publis.h.i.+ng in India; Langlois' is useless. Muller's partial translations will be found in various volumes, Ancient Sanskrit Literature, India: What Can it Teach Us, Chips, Hibbert Lectures, JRAS. ii. 448, iii. 199, etc.; and all the Hymns to the Maruts, SBE.

x.x.xii. Whitney has translated the cosmogonic hymn, PAOS., May, 1882; and Deussen has just published the philosophical hymns, Geschichte der Philosophie, i, 1. A group of Vedic hymns in English dress will be found in Muir, OST. v.; extracts (without connection) are given by Bergaigne, in La Religion Vedique, and special essays in JA. (above).

In German a capital little collection is the Siebzig Lieder of Geldner and Kaegi. The best general introductory manual for the study of the Rig Veda, accompanied with frequent translations, is Kaegi's Der Rig Veda (translated into English by Arrowsmith).

#Translations of the atharva veda# are all partial. The handiest collection is Grill's Hundert Lieder des Atharva Veda. Specimens will be found translated by Aufrecht, IS. i. 121 (book xv); (Roth) Bruce, JRAS. 1862, p. 321 (book xii. 1); Kuhn, Indische und Germanische Segensspriiche, KZ. xiii. 49, 113; Weber, IS. iv. 393, v. 195, 218, xiii. 129, xvii. 178 (books i-iii, xiv); Grohmann, _ib._ ix. 381; Ludwig, vol. iii, of his translation of the Rig Veda; Zimmer, AIL.: Victor Henry, books vii and xiii (Les hymnes Rohitas);[9] Bloomfield, Seven Hymns, and Contributions AJP. vii. 466, xi. 319, xii. 414, JAOS.

xv. 143, xvi. 1; ZDMG. xlviii. 541; Florenz, BB. xii. 249 (book vi.).

Of The S[=a]ma V[=e]da: Stevenson (1842) in English (inaccurate) and Benfey (1848) in Gcrman have made translations. On the Yajur Veda see Schroeder, Literatur und Cultur, and below.

#Vedic mythology#: Windischmann, Ursagen der Arischen Volker, Bay.

Ak., 1858; Kuhn, KZ. iv. 88, Herabkunft des Feuers (Prometheus);[10]

Roth, Die hochsten Gotter der Arischen Volker, ZDMG. vi. 67 (_ib._ vii. 607); Wilson, Preface of Langlois: c.o.x, Aryan Mythology; Whitney, Oriental and Linguistic Studies, ii. p. 149, JAOS. iii. 291, 331; Muller, Second Series of Science of Language, Biographies of Words.[11] General interpretation of divinities, Muller, Muir, Bergaigne, Kaegi, Pischel-Geldner, _loc. cit._ The last books on the subject are Oldenberg's scholarly volume, Die Religlon des Veda (note, p. 571, above), and Phillip's The Teaching of the Vedas (1895), the work of a charlatan.

SPECIAL STUDIES OF VEDIC DIVINITIES:

#Aditi#: Roth, IS. xiv. 392; Hillebrandt, Ueber die Gottin Aditi; Muller, SBE. x.x.xii. 241; Colinet, etude sur le mot Aditi, Museon, xii.

81. [=A]dityas, Roth, ZDMG. vi. 67 (above); Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman.

#Agni#: L. von Schroeder, Apollon-Agni, KZ. xxix. 193[12] (see epic, below).

#Apsaras# (see Gandhanas).

#Aryaman# (Acvins, Mitra, etc.): Bollensen, ZDMG. xli. 494.

#Asura# as Asen, Schrader, p. 599; P. von Bradke, Dy[=a]us Asura. See Dy[=a]us.

#Acvins#: Myriantheus, Die Acvins oder Arischen Dioskuren; _not_ Dioskuroi, Pischel, Vedische Studien, Preface, p. xxvii; as constellation, etc., Benfey, OO. ii. 245, iii. 159; Gemini, Weber, last in R[=a]jas[=u]ya, p. 100; as Venus, 'span-G.o.d,' Bollensen, ZDMG.

xli. 496; other literature, Muir, OST. v. 234; Colinet, Vedic Chips, BOR. iii. 193 (n[=a]satya, Avestan n[=a]onhaithya, n[=a] as 'very').[13]

#Brihaspati#: Roth, ZDMG. i. 66; Muir, v. 272; Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, i. 404.

#Dawn# (see Ushas).

#Dy[=a]us#: P. von Bradke, Dy[=a]us Asura, also Beitrage, ZDMG. xl.

347; not the same with Teutonic Tiu, Bremer, IF. iii. 301; as 'all-father' of primitive Aryans, Muller, Origin of Religion, p. 209; followed by Tiele, Outlines of History of Ancient religions, p. 106; see Hopkins, PAOS. Dec. 1894; form of Word, Collitz. KZ. xxvii. 187; BB. xv. 17.