It is interesting to see the remains of the older belief still flourishing in midst of epic pantheism. Although Indra has no such hymn as has S[=u]rya, yet is he still lauded, and he is a very real person to the knight who seeks his heaven.[14] In fact, so long as natural phenomena were regarded as divine, so long as thunder was G.o.dly, it was but a secondary question which name the G.o.d bore; whether he was the "chief and king of G.o.ds," or Vishnu manifesting himself in a special form. This form, at any rate, was to endure as such till the end of the cycle. There are other Indras. Each cycle has its own (i. 197. 29). But sufficient unto the age is the G.o.d thereof.
If, relinquishing the higher bliss of absorption, the knight sought only Indra"s heaven, and believed he was to find it, then his belief practically does not differ much from that of his ancestor, who accepts Indra as an ultimate, natural power. The question arises whether, after all, the Indra-worship of the epic is not rather popular than merely old and preserved. Certainly the reality of the belief seems quite as strong as that of the ever-newly converted sectary. It may be doubted whether the distribution of theological belief is very different in the epic and Vedic ages. Philosophical pantheism is very old in India. The priest believes one thing; the vulgar, another. The priest of the Vedic age, like the philosopher of the next age, and like the later sectarian, has a belief which runs ahead of the popular religion. But the popular religion in its salient features still remains about the same. Arjuna, the epic hero, the pet of Krishna, visits Indra"s heaven and stays there five years. It is the old Vedic G.o.ds to whom he turns for weapons, till the civaite makes Indra send the knight further, to civa himself. The old name, king of the Vasus, is still retained for Indra; and though the "divine weapons," which are winged with sacred formulae, are said to be more than a match for the G.o.ds; though in many a pa.s.sage the knight and the saint make Indra tremble, yet still appear, through the mists of ascetic and sectarian novelties, Indra"s heaven and his grandeur, shining with something of their old glory. Vishnu still shows his solar origin. Of him and of the sun is it said in identical words: "The sun protects and devours all," and " Vishnu protects and devours " (of Vishnu, pa.s.sim; of the sun, iii. 33. 71). A good deal of old stuff is left in the Forest Book amongst the absurd tales of holy watering places. One finds repeated several times the Vedic account of Indra"s fight with Vritra, the former"s thunderbolt, however, being now made of a saint"s bones (ii. ch. 100-105). Agni is lauded (_ib_.
ch. 123). To the Acvins[15] there is one old hymn which contains Vedic forms (i. 3). Varuna is still lord of the West, and goes accompanied with the rivers, "male and female," with snakes, and demons, and half-G.o.ds _(d[=a]ityas, s[=a]dhyas, d[=a]ivatas_). Later, but earlier than the pseudo-epic, there stands with these G.o.ds Kubera, the G.o.d of wealth, the "jewel-giver," who is the guardian of travellers, the king of those demons called Yakshas, which the later sect makes servants of civa. He is variously named;[16] he is a dwarf; he dwells in the North, in Mt. K[=a]il[=a]sa, and has a demoniac gate-keeper, Macakruka. Another newer G.o.d is the one already referred to, Dharma V[=a]ivasvata, or Justice (Virtue, Right), the son of the sun, a t.i.tle of Yama older than the Vedas. He is also the father of the new love-G.o.d, K[=a]ma. It is necessary to indicate the names of the G.o.ds and their functions, lest one imagine that with pantheism the Vedic religion expired. Even that old, impious Brahmanic fable crops out again: "The devils were the older brothers of the G.o.ds, and were conquered by the G.o.ds only with trickery" (in. 33. 60), an interesting reminiscence of the fact that the later name for evil spirit was originally the one applied to the great and good spirit (Asura the same with Ahura).[17] According to a rather late chapter in the second book each of the great Vedic G.o.ds has a special paradise of his own, the most remarkable feature of the account being that Indra"s heaven is filled with saints, having only one king in it--a view quite foreign to the teaching that is current elsewhere in the epic. Where the sectarian doctrine would oppose the old belief it set above Indra"s heaven another, of Brahm[=a], and above that a third, of Vishnu (i. 89. 16 ff.). According to one pa.s.sage Mt. Mandara[18] is a sort of Indian Olympus. Another account speaks of the Him[=a]layas, Himavat, as "the divine mountain, beloved of the G.o.ds," though the knight goes thence to Gandham[=a]dana, and thence to Indrak[=i]la, to find the G.o.ds" habitat (III. 37. 41). Personified powers lie all around the religious Hindu. And this is especially true of the epic character. He prays to Mt. Mandara, and to rivers, above all to the Ganges. Mt. Kol[=a]hala is divine, and begets divine offspring on a river (I. 63). The Vindhya range of mountains rivals the fabled Meru (around which course the sun and all the heavenly bodies), and this, too, is the object of devotion and prayer.[19] In one pa.s.sage it is said that in Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha) there was a peak which was continuously "worshipped with offerings of flowers and perfumes,"
exactly as if it were a G.o.d. The reason why flowers are given and worn is that they bring good luck, it is said in the same chapter (II. 21.
15, 20, 51).
What is, perhaps, the most striking feature of Hindu religious thought, as a whole, is the steadfastness with which survive, even in the epic and in Buddhism, the forms and formulae of the older faith.
At a time when pantheism or nihilism is the avowed creed the ancient G.o.ds still exist, weak, indeed, yet infused with a true immortality.
This is noticeable even more in unnoticeable ways, in the turns of speech, in little comparisons, in the hymns, in short, in the by-play of the epic. "Withered are the garlands of the G.o.ds, and their glory is departed,"[20] but they still receive homage in time of need. And in that homage is to be seen, and from the same cause, the revived or surviving worship of the Veda. Each G.o.d in turn is mighty, though Agni is the mightiest of the old divinities. In an epic hymn to him it is said: "Thou art the mouth of the worlds; the poets declare thee to be one and three-fold; as carrier of the sacrifice they arrange thee eight-fold. By thee was all created, say the highest seers. Priests that have made reverence to thee attain the eternal course their acts have won, together with their wives and sons. They call thee the water-giver in the air, together with lightning. On thee first depends water. Thou art the creator and Brihaspati, thou art the two Hors.e.m.e.n, the two Yamas, Mitra, Soma, Wind" (i. 229. 23 ff.).[21] And yet this is in a pantheistic environment! The Rig Veda is directly invoked, though, of course, not directly cited, in the old hymn to the Hors.e.m.e.n, who are, however, elsewhere put with low animals and Guhyakas, demons (i. 66).[22] They are the "physicians of the G.o.ds,"
the "first-born" the golden birds which weave the white and black of time, create the wheel of time with all its seasons, and make the sun and sky (i. 3. 55 ff., "_v[=a]gbhir [r.]gbhis_"). Indra himself is extolled in Kadr[=u]"s hymn; he is the slayer of Namuci, the lord of cac[=i]; he is the great cloud, cloud and its thunder, creator and destroyer; he is Vishnu, "Soma, greatly praised," as well as fire, air, time in all its divisions, earth and ocean; when lauded he drinks the _soma_, and he is sung in the Ved[=a]ngas (i. 25. 7 ff.). Praised with this hymn in time of need of rain, Indra "commanded the clouds, saying, "rain down the ambrosia"" (26. 2); where there is still the rain as synonymous with ambrosia, and Indra not very differently conceived from his Vedic self. Thus in comparisons: "As Indra standing in heaven brings bliss to the world of the living, so Vidura ever brought bliss to the Pandus" (i. 61. 15). But at the same time what changes! The G.o.ds a.s.semble and sing a hymn to Garuda, the epic form of Garutman, the heavenly bird, who here steals the _soma_ vainly guarded by the G.o.ds. Garuda, too, is Praj[=a]pati, Indra, and so forth.[23]
The G.o.ds are no longer divinities distinct from the dead Fathers, for they are "identical in being." So Agni says when the latter is cursed by Bhrigu: "The divinities and the Manes are satisfied by the oblation in fire. The hosts of G.o.ds are waters, so, too, are the Manes. The feasts of the new and full moon belong to the G.o.ds with the Manes; hence the Manes are divinities and the divinities are Manes. They are of one being (_ek[i]bh[=u]t[=a]s_). I (Fire) am the mouth of both, for both eat the oblation poured upon me. The Manes at the new moon, the G.o.ds at the full, are fed by my mouth" (i. 7. 7 ff.).[24] Such G.o.ds the epic hero fears not (i. 227. 38 ff.). Hymns to them are paralleled by hymns to snakes, as in i. 3. 134 ff., against whom is made the "_sarpasattram_ (snake sacrifice) of the Pur[=a]nas" (i. 51. 6).
Divinity is universal. Knights are as divine as the divinest G.o.d, the All-G.o.d. Arjuna, the G.o.d-born man, to whom Krishna reveals the Divine Song, is himself G.o.d.[25] In this case whether G.o.d becomes human, or _vice versa_, no one knows.
Under the all embracing cloak of pantheism the heart of the epic conceals many an ancient rite and superst.i.tion. Here is the covenant of blood, the covenant of death (represented by the modern "sitting"[26]), and the covenant of water, which symbolizes both friendship and the solemnity of the curse. The former are ill.u.s.trated by Bhima"s drinking blood as a sign that he will fulfil his vow,[27]
and by R[=a]ma lying by Ocean to die unless Ocean grants his wish. Of the water-rite that of offering water in hospitality and as a form in reception of gifts is general; that of cursing by "touching water"
(_v[=a]ry upasp[r.]cya_), occurs in iii. 10. 32. For this purpose holy-gra.s.s and other symbols are known also,[28] and formulae yield only in potency to love-philters and magic drugs. Another covenant besides those just noticed seems to lie concealed in the avoidance of the door when injury is intended. If one goes in by the door he is a guest who has antic.i.p.ated hospitality, and then he dares not refuse the respect and offering of water, etc, which makes the formal pact of friendship. If, on the contrary, he does not go in by the door he is not obliged to receive the offering, and may remain as a foe in the house (or in the city) of his enemy, with intent to kill, but without moral wrong. This may be implied in the end of the epic, where Acvatth[=a]man, intent on secret murder of his foe, is prevented by G.o.d civa from entering in at the gate, but going in by stealth, and "not by the door" of the camp, gets to his foe, who lies asleep, and kills him (x. 8. 10). This might be thought, indeed, to be merely strategic, but it is in accordance with the strict law of all the law-books that one, in ordinary circ.u.mstances, shall avoid to enter a town or a house in any other way than through the door (Manu, iv. 73; Gaut. 9. 32, etc.), and we think it has a moral significance, for this _a-dv[=a]ra_ (non-door) rule occurs again in the epic in just the circ.u.mstances we have described. The heroes in this case are not afraid of their foe, who is in his town. They insult every one as they approach, but they find some other way of getting in than by pa.s.sing through the gate, for the express purpose of being morally able to make the king fight with them after they have entered his city. And they cite the rule "according to law," which is that one may enter his foe"s house by _a-dv[=a]ra,_ "not by door," but his friend"s house only "by door." As they have not entered "by door" they say they may refuse the hospitality which the king urges them to accept, and so they kill him (ii. 21. 14, 53). Stepping in through the door seems, therefore, to be a tacit agreement that one will not injure the resident.[29]
In the epic, again, fetishism is found. The student of the "science of war," in order to obtain his teacher"s knowledge when the latter is away, makes a clay image of the preceptor and worships this clay idol, practicing arms before it (i. 132. 33). Here too is embalmed the belief that man"s life may be bound up with that of some inanimate thing, and the man perishes with the destruction of his psychic prototype (iii. 135). The old ordeals of fire and water are recognized. "Fire does not burn the house of good men." "If (as this man a.s.serts) he is Varuna"s son, then let him enter water and let us see if he will drown" (iii. 134. 27 ff.). A human sacrifice is performed (iii. 127); although the priest who performs it is cast into h.e.l.l (_ib_. 128).[30] The teaching in regard to h.e.l.ls is about the same with that already explained in connection with the law-books, but the more definite physical interpretation of h.e.l.l as a hole in the ground (_garta_, just as in the Rig Veda) is retained. Agastya sees his ancestors "in a hole," which they call "a h.e.l.l" (_n[=i]ray[=a]_).
This is evidently the h.e.l.l known to the law-punsters and epic (i. 74.
39) as _puttra_, "the _put_ h.e.l.l" from which the son (_putra_) delivers (_tra_). For these ancestors are in the "hole" because Agastya, their descendant, has not done his duty and begotten sons (i.
45. 13; iii. 96. 15); one son being "no son" according to law and epic (i. 100. 68), and all the merit of sacrifice being equal to only one-sixteenth of that obtained by having a son. The teaching, again, in regard to the Fathers themselves (the Manes), while not differing materially from the older view, offers novelties which show how little the absorption-theory had taken hold of the religious consciousness.
The very fact that the son is still considered to be as necessary as ever (that he may offer food to his ancestors) shows that the believer, whatever his professed faith, expects to depend for bliss hereafter upon his _post mortem_ meals, as much as did his fathers upon theirs. In the matter of the burial of the dead, one finds, what is antique, that although according to the formal law only infants are buried, and adults are burned, yet was burial known, as in the Vedic age. And the still older exposure of the body, after the Iranian fashion, is not only hinted at as occurring here and there even before the epic, but in the epic these forms are all recognized as equally approved: "When a man dies he is burned or buried or exposed"
(_nik[r.][s.]yate_)[31] it is said in i. 90. 17; and the narrator goes on to explain that the "h.e.l.l on earth," of which the auditor "has never heard" (vs. 6) is re-birth in low bodies, speaking of it as a new doctrine. "As if in a dream remaining conscious the spirit enters another form"; the bad becoming insects and worms; the good going to heaven by means of the "seven gates," viz., penance, liberality, quietism, self-control, modesty, rect.i.tude, and mercy. This is a union of two views, and it is evidently the popular view, that, namely, the good go to heaven while the bad go to new existence in a low form, as opposed to the more logical conception that both alike enter new forms, one good, the other bad. Then the established stadia, the pupil, the old teaching (_upanishad_) of the householders, and the wood-dwellers are described, with the remark that there is no uniformity of opinion in regard to them; but the ancient view crops out again in the statement that one who dies as a forest-hermit "establishes in bliss" ten ancestors and ten descendants. In this part of the epic the Punj[=a]b is still near the theatre of events, the "centre region" being between the Ganges and Jumna (I. 87. 5); although the later additions to the poems show acquaintance with all countries, known and unknown, and with peoples from all the world.
Significant in xii. 61. 1, 2 is the name of the third order _bh[=a]ikshyacaryam_ "beggarhood" (before the forest-hermit and after the householder).
It was said above that the departed Fathers could a.s.sume a mortal form. In the formal cla.s.sification of these demiG.o.ds seven kinds of Manes are enumerated, the t.i.tle of one subdivision being "those embodied." Brahm[=a] is identified with the Father-G.o.d in connection with the Manes: "All the Manes worship Praj[=a]pati Brahm[=a]," in the paradise of Praj[=a]pati, where, by the way, are civa and Vishnu (II.
11. 45, 50, 52; 8. 30). According to this description "kings and sinners," together with the Manes, are found in Yama"s home, as well as "those that die at the solstice" (II. 7 ff.; 8. 31). Constantly the reader is impressed with the fact that the characters of the epic are acting and thinking in a way not conformable to the idea one might form of the Hindu from the law. We have animadverted upon this point elsewhere in connection with another matter. It is this factor that makes the study of the epic so invaluable as an offset to the verisimilitude of belief, even as belief is taught (not practiced) in the law. There is a very old rule, for instance, against slaughtering animals and eating meat; while to eat beef is a monstrous crime. Yet is it plain from the epic that meat-eating was customary, and Vedic texts are cited (_ iti crutis_) to prove that this is permissible; while a king is extolled for slaughtering cattle (III. 208. 6-11). It is said out and out in iii. 313. 86 that "beef is food," _g[=a]ur annam_. Deer are constantly eaten. There is an amusing protest against this practice, which was felt to be irreconcilable with the _ahims[=a]_ (non-injury) doctrine, in III. 258, where the remnant of deer left in the forest come in a vision and beg to be spared. A dispute between G.o.ds and seers over vegetable sacrifices is recorded, XII. 338. Again, asceticism is not the duty of a warrior, but the epic hero practices asceticism exactly as if he were a priest, or a Jain, although the warning is given that a warrior "obtains a better lot"
(_loka_) by dying in battle than by asceticism. The asceticism is, of course, exaggerated, but an instance or two of what the Hindu expects in this regard may not be without interest. The warrior who becomes an ascetic eats leaves, and is clothed in gra.s.s. For one month he eats fruits every third day (night); for another month every sixth day; for another month every fortnight; and for the fourth month he lives on air, standing on tiptoe with arms stretched up. Another account says that the knight eats fruit for one month; water for one month; and for the third month, nothing (III. 33. 73; 38. 22-26; 167). One may compare with these ascetic practices, which are not so exaggerated, in fact, as might be supposed,[32] the "one-leg" practice of virtue, consisting in standing on one leg, _ekap[=a]dena_, for six months or longer, as one is able (I. 170. 46; III. 12. 13-16). Since learning the Vedas is a tiresome task, and ascetic practice makes it possible to acquire anything, one is not surprised to find that a devotee undertakes penance with this in view, and is only surprised when Indra, who, to be sure has a personal interest in the Vedas, breaks in on the scene and rebukes the ascetic with the words: "Asceticism cannot teach the Vedas; go and be tutored by a teacher" (III. 135.
22).
One finds in the epic the old belief that the stars are the souls of the departed,[33] and this occurs so often that it is another sign of the comparative newness of the pantheistic doctrine. When the hero, Arjuna, goes to heaven he approaches the stars, "which seen from earth look small on account of their distance," and finds them to be self-luminous refulgent saints, royal seers, and heroes slain in battle, some of them also being nymphs and celestial singers. All of this is in contradiction both to the older and to the newer systems of eschatology; but it is an ancient belief, and therefore it is preserved. Indra"s heaven,[34] Amar[=a]vati, lies above these stars[35]] No less than five distinct beliefs are thus enunciated in regard to the fate of "good men after death. If they believe in the All-G.o.d they unite with him at once. Or they have a higher course, becoming gradually more elevated, as G.o.ds, etc, and ultimately "enter"
the All-G.o.d. Again they go to the world of Brahm[=a]. Again they go to Indra"s heaven. Again they become stars. The two last beliefs are the oldest, the _brahmaloka_ belief is the next in order of time, and the first-mentioned are the latest to be adopted. The hero of the epic just walks up to heaven, but his case is exceptional.
While angels and spirits swarm about the world in every shape from mischievous or helpful fairies to R[=a]hu, whose head still swallows the sun, causing eclipses (I. 19. 9), there are a few that are especially conspicuous. Chief of the good spirits, attendants of Indra, are the Siddhas[36] "saints," who occasionally appear to bless a hero in conjunction with "beings invisible" (III. 37. 21). Their name means literally "blessed" or "successful," and probably, like the seers, Rishis, they are the departed fathers in spiritual form. These latter form various cla.s.ses. There are not only the "great seers," and the still greater "_brahma_-seers," and the "G.o.d-seers," but there are even "devil-seers," and "king-seers," these being spirits of priests of royal lineages.[37] The evil spirits, like the G.o.ds, are sometimes grouped in threes. In a blessing one cries out: "Farewell (_svasti gacchahy an[=a]mayam_); I entreat the Vasus, Rudras, [=A]dityas, Marut-hosts and the All-G.o.ds to protect thee, together with the S[=a]dhyas; safety be to thee from all the evil beings that live in air, earth, and heaven, and from all others that dog thy path."[38] In XII. 166. 61 ff. the devils fall to earth, mountains, water, and other places. According to I. 19. 29. it is not long since the Asuras were driven to take refuge in earth and salt water.[39]
These creatures have every kind of miraculous power, whether they be good or bad. Hanuman, famed in both epics, the divine monkey, with whom is a.s.sociated the divine "king of bears" J[=a]mbavan (III. 280.
23), can grow greater than mortal eye can see (III. 150. 9). He is still worshipped as a great G.o.d in South India. As an ill.u.s.tration of epic spiritism the case of Ilvala may be taken. This devil, _d[=a]iteya_, had a trick of cooking his embodied younger brother, and giving him to saints to eat. One saint, supposing the flesh to be mutton (here is saintly meat-eating!), devours the dainty viand; upon which the devil "calls" his brother, who is obliged to come, whether eaten or not, and in coming bursts the saint that has eaten him (iii.
96). This is folk-lore; but what religion does not folk-lore contain!
So, personified Fate holds its own as an inscrutable power, mightier than others.[40] There is another touch of primitive religious feeling which reminds one of the usage in Iceland, where, if a stranger knocks at the door and the one within asks "who is there?" the guest answers, "G.o.d." So in the epic it is said that "every guest is G.o.d Indra"
(_Parjanyo nn[=a]nusa[.m]caran_, iii. 200. 123. In the epic Parjanya, the rain-G.o.d, and Indra are the same). Of popular old tales of religious bearing may be mentioned the retention and elaboration of the Brahmanic deluge-story, with Manu as Noah (iii. 187); the Acvins"
feats in rejuvenating (iii. 123); the combats of the G.o.ds with the demons (Namuci, cambara, Vala, Vritra, Prahl[=a]da, Naraka), etc.
(iii. 168).
Turning now to some of the newer traits in the epic, one notices first that, while the old sacrifices still obtain, especially the horse-sacrifice, the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_ and the less meritorious _v[=a]j.a.peya,_ together with the monthly and seasonal sacrifices, there is in practice a leaning rather to new sacrifices, and a new cult. The _soma_ is scarce, and the _p[=u]tika_ plant is accepted as its subst.i.tute (iii. 35. 33) in a matter-of-course way, as if this subst.i.tution, permitted of old by law, were now common. The sacrifice of the widow is recognized, in the case of the wives of kings, as a means of obtaining bliss for a woman,[41] for the religion of the epic is not entirely careless of woman. Somewhat new, however, is the self-immolation of a man upon the pyre of his son. Such a case is recorded in iii. 137. 19. where a father burns his son"s body, and then himself enters the fire. New also, of course, are the sectarian festivals and sacrifices; and p.r.o.nounced is the gain in the G.o.dhead of priests, king, parents, elder brother, and husband. The priest has long been regarded as a G.o.d, but in the epic he is G.o.d of G.o.ds, although one can trace even here a growth in adulation.[42] The king, too, has been identified before this period with the G.o.ds. But in the epic he is to his people an absolute divinity,[43] and so are the parents to the son;[44] while, since the elder brother is the same with a father, when the father is dead the younger brother worships the elder. So also the wife"s G.o.d is her husband; for higher even than that of the priest is the husband"s divinity (III. 206). The wife"s religious service is not concerned with feasts to the Manes, with sacrifice to the G.o.ds, nor with studying the Veda. In all these she has no part. Her religion is to serve her husband (III. 205. 23), and to die, if worthy of the honor, on his funeral pyre. Otherwise the epic woman has religious practices only in visiting the holy watering-places, which now abound, and in reading the epic itself. For it is said of both practices: "Whether man or woman read this book (or "visit this holy pool") he or she is freed from sin" (so in III. 82.
33: "Every sin committed since birth by man or woman is absolved by bathing in "holy Pushkara"). It may be remarked that as a general thing the deities invoked by women are, by predilection, female divinities, some of them being mere abstractions, while "the Creator"
is often the only G.o.d in the woman"s list, except, of course, the priests: "Reverence to priests, and to the Creator ... May Hr[=i], cr[=i] (Modesty and Beauty), Fame, Glory, Prosperity, Um[=a] (civa"s wife), Lakshmi (Vishnu"s wife), and also Sarasvat[=i], (may all these female divinities) guard thy path, because thou reverest thy elder brother," is a woman"s prayer (III. 37. 26-33).[45]
Of the sectarian cults just mentioned the _brahmamaha_, I. 164. 20, elsewhere referred to, is the all-caste[46] feast in honor of Brahm[=a] (or of the Brahmans); as _ib_. 143. 3 one finds a _sam[=a]ja_ in honor of civa; and distinctly in honor of the same G.o.d of horror is the sacrifice, _i.e._, immolation, of one hundred kings, who are collected "in the temple of civa," to be slaughtered like cattle in M[=a]gadha (II. 15. 23); an act which the heroes of the epic prevent, and look upon with scorn.[47] As a subst.i.tute for the _r[=a]jas[=u]ya_, which may be connected with the human sacrifice (_Ind. Streifen_, I. 61), but is the best sacrifice because it has the best largesse (III. 255. 12), the Vaishnava is suggested to Duryodhana. It is a great _sattram_ or long sacrifice to Vishnu (_ib_.
15 and 19); longer than a Vishnuprabodha (26 Oct.). There is a Smriti rite described in III. 198. 13 as a _svastiv[=a]canam_, a ceremony to obtain a heavenly chariot which brings prosperity, the priests being invoked for blessings (_svasti_). Quite modern, comparatively speaking, is the cult of holy pools; but it is to be observed that the blessings expected are rarely more than the acquirement of _brahma_-worlds, so that the inst.i.tution seems to be at least older than the sectarian religions, although naturally among the holy pools is intruded a Vishnu-pool. This religious rite cannot be pa.s.sed over in silence. The custom is late Brahmanic (as above), and still survives. It has been an aspect of Hindu religion for centuries, not only in the view taken of the pools, but even occasionally in the place itself. Thus the Ganges, Gay[=a], Pray[=a]ga, and Kuru-Plain are to-day most holy, and they are mentioned as among the holiest in the epic catalogue.[48] Soma is now revamped by a bath in a holy pool (IX.
35. 75). As in every ant.i.thesis of act and thought there are not lacking pa.s.sages in the epic which decry the pools in comparison with holy life as a means of salvation. Thus in III. 82. 9 ff., the poet says: "The fruit of pilgrimage (to holy pools)--he whose hands, feet, and mind are controlled;[49] he who has knowledge, asceticism, and fame, he gets all the fruit that holy pools can give. If one is averse from receiving gifts, content, freed from egoism, if one injures not, and acts disinterestedly, if one is not gluttonous, or carnal-minded, he is freed from sin. Let one (not bathe in pools but) be without wrath, truthful, firm in his vows, seeing his self in all beings."
This is, however, a protest little heeded.[50] Pilgrimage is made to pool and plain, to mountain, tree, and river. Even then, as now, of all pilgrimages that to Ganges was most esteemed: "Originally all were holy; in the second age Pushkara[51] was holy; in the third age the Plain of the Kurus was holy; and in this age Ganges is holy" (III. 85.
90).[52] Besides Ganges, the Plain of the Kurus and Pray[=a]ga, the junction of Ganges and Jumna, get the highest laudation. Other rivers, such as the Gomal and Sarasvat[=i], are also extolled, and the list is very long of places which to see or to bathe in releases from sin. "He who bathes in Ganges purifies seven descendants.[53] As long as the bones of a man touch Ganges-water so long that man is magnified in heaven." Again: "No place of pilgrimage is better than Ganges; no G.o.d is better than Vishnu; nothing is better than _brahma_--so said the sire of the G.o.ds" (iii. 85. 94-96). The very dust of Kuru-Plain makes one holy, the sight of it purifies; he that lives south of the Sarasvat[=i], north of the Drishadvat[=i] (_i.e_., in Kuru-Plain), he lives in the third heaven (iii. 83. 1-3=203-205[54]). This sort of expiation for sin is implied in a more general way by the remark that there are three kinds of purity, one of speech, one of act, and one of water (iii. 200. 82). But in the epic there is still another means of expiating sin, one that is indicated in the Brahmanic rule that if a woman is an adulteress she destroys half her sin by confessing it (as above), where, however, repentance is rather implied than commanded.
But in the epic Pur[=a]na it is distinctly stated as a cruti, or trite saying, that if one repents he is freed from his sin; _na tat kury[=a]m punar_ is the formula he must use, "I will not do so again,"
and then he is released from even the sin that he is going to commit a second time, as if by a ceremony--so is the cruti in the laws, _dharmas_ (iii. 207. 51, 52).[55] Confession to the family priest is enjoined, in xii. 268. 14, to escape punishment.
Two other religious practices in the epic are noteworthy. The first is the extension of idolatry in pictures. The amiable "G.o.ddess of the house" is represented, to be sure, as a R[=a]kshas[=i], or demoniac power, whose name is Jar[=a]. But she was created by the Self-existent, and is really very friendly, under certain conditions: "Whoever delineates me with faith in his house, he increases in children; otherwise he would be destroyed." She is worshipped, _i.e_., her painted image is worshipped, with perfumes, flowers, incense, food, and other enjoyable things (II. 18).[56] Another practice that is very common is the worship of holy trees. One may compare the banyan at Bodhi Gay[=a] with the "worshipful" village-tree of II. 24.
23. Seldom and late is the use of a rosary mentioned (_e.g_., III.
112. 5, _aksham[=a]l[=a]_, elsewhere _aksha_), although the word is employed to make an epithet of civa, Aksham[=a]lin.[57]
As has been said already, an extraordinary power is ascribed to the mere repet.i.tion of a holy text, _mantra_. These are applied on all occasions without the slightest reference to the subject. By means of _mantra_ one exorcises; recovers weapons; calls G.o.ds and demons, etc.[58] When misfortune or disease arrives it is invariably ascribed to the malignant action of a devil, although the _karma_ teaching should suggest that it was the result of a former misdeed on the victim"s part. But the very iteration, the insistence on new explanations of this doctrine, show that the popular mind still clung to the old idea of demoniac interference. Occasionally the navete with which the effect of a _mantra_ is narrated is somewhat amusing, as, for instance, when the heroine Krishn[=a] faints, and the by-standers "slowly" revive her "by the use of demon-dispelling _mantras_, rubbing, water, and fanning" (iii. 144. 17). All the weapons of the heroes are inspired with and impelled by _mantras_.
Sufficient insight into the formal rules of morality has been given in the extracts above, nor does the epic in this regard differ much from the law-books. Every man"s first duty is to act; inactivity is sinful.
The man that fails to win a good reputation by his acts, a warrior, for example, that is devoid of fame, a "man of no account," is a _bh[=u]mivardhana, [Greek: achthos aroures]_ a c.u.mberer of earth (iii.
35. 7). A proverb says that man should seek virtue, gain, and pleasure; "virtue in the morning; gain at noon; pleasure at night,"
or, according to another version, "pleasure when young, gain in middle-age, and virtue in the end of life" (iii. 33. 40, 41). "Virtue is better than immortality and life. Kingdom, sons, glory, wealth, all this does not equal one-sixteenth part of the value of truth" (_ib_.
34. 22).[59] One very strong summing up of a discourse on virtuous behavior ends thus: "Truth, self-control, asceticism, generosity, non-injury, constancy in virtue--these are the means of success, not caste nor family" (_j[=a]ti, kula_, iii. 181. 42).
A doctrine practiced, if not preached, is that of blood-revenge. "The unavenged shed tears, which are wiped away by the avenger" (iii. 11.
66); and in accordance with this feeling is the statement: "I shall satiate my brother with his murderer"s blood, and thus, becoming free of debt in respect of my brother, I shall win the highest place in heaven" (_ib_. 34, 35).
As of old, despite the new faith, as a matter of priestly, formal belief, all depends on the sacrifice: "Law comes from usage; in law are the Vedas established; by means of the Vedas arise sacrifices; by sacrifice are the G.o.ds established; according to the rule of Vedas, and usage, sacrifices being performed support the divinities, just as the rules of Brihaspati and Ucanas support men" (iii. 150. 28, 29).
The pernicious doctrine of atonement for sin follows as a matter of course: "Whatever sin a king commits in conquering the earth is atoned for by sacrifices, if they are accompanied with large gifts to priests, such as cows and villages." Even gifts to a sacred bull have the same effect (iii. 33. 78, 79; _ib_. 35. 34; iii. 2. 57), the occasion in hand being a king"s violation of his oath.[60] Of these sacrifices a great snake-sacrifice forms the occasion for narrating the whole epic, the plot of which turns on the national vice of gambling.[61] For divine snakes are now even grouped with other celestial powers, disputing the victory of earthly combatants as do Indra and S[=u]rya: "The great snakes were on Arjuna"s side; the little snakes were for Karna" (viii. 87. 44, 45).[62] They were (perhaps) the local G.o.ds of the Nagas (Snakes), a tribe living between the Ganges and Jumna.
The religion of the epic is multiform. But it stands, in a certain sense, as one religion, and from two points of view it is worthy of special regard. One may look upon it either as the summing up of Brahmanism in the new Hinduism, as the final expression of a religion which forgets nothing and absorbs everything; or one may study it as a belief composed of historical strata, endeavoring to divide it into its different layers, as they have been super-imposed one upon another in the course of ages. From the latter point of view the Vedic divinities claim the attention first. There are still traces of the original power of Agni and S[=u]rya, as we have shown, and Wind still makes with these two a notable triad,[63] whereas Indra, impotent as he is, hymnless as he is,--save in the oldest portions of the work,--still leads the G.o.ds, now G.o.dkins, of the ancient pantheon, and still, in theory, at least, off a paradise to the knight that dies n.o.bly on the field.[64] But one sees at once that the preservation of the dignity of these deities is due to different causes. Indra cannot even save a snake that grasps his hand for safety; he wages war against the demons" "triple town," and signally fails of his purpose, for the demons are as strong as the G.o.ds, and there are D[=a]navendras as well as D[=a]navarshis.[65] But Indra is the figure-head of the whole ancient pantheon, and for this reason he plays so constant, if so weak, a role, in the epic. The only important thing in connection with him is his heaven. As an individual deity Indra lives, on the whole, only in the tales of old, for example, in that of his cheating Namuci (ix. 43. 32 ff.). Nothing new and clever is told of him which would indicate power, only a new trick or two, as when he steals from Karna. It is quite otherwise with Agni and S[=u]rya. They are not so vaguely identified with the one G.o.d as is "Indra and the other Vasus."
It is merely because these G.o.ds are prominently forms of Vishnu that they are honored with hymns in the epic. This is seen from the nature of the hymns, and also from the fact that it is either as fire or as sun that Vishnu destroys at the end of the aeons. For it is, perhaps, somewhat daring to say, and yet it seems to be the fact, that the solar origin of Vishnu is not lost sight of.
The pantheistic Vishnu is the _[=a]tm[=a]_, and Vishnu, after all, is but a form of fire. Therefore is it that the epic Vishnu is perpetually lapsing into fire; while fire and sun are doubly honored as special forms of the highest. It is, then, not so much on account of a survival of ancient dignity[66] that sun and fire stand so high, but rather because they are the nearest approach to the effulgence of the Supreme. Thus while in one place one is told that after seven suns have appeared the supreme G.o.ds become the fire of destruction and complete the ruin, in another he reads that it is the sun alone which, becoming twelvefold, does all the work of the Supreme.[67]
Indra has hymns and sacrifices, but although he has no so exalted hymn as comes to his "friend Agni," yet (in an isolated pa.s.sage) he has a new feast and celebration, the account of which apparently belongs to the first period of the epic, when the worship of Indra still had significance. In i. 63, an _Indramaha_, or "glorification of Indra,"
is described a festivity extending over two days, and marked by the erection of a pole in honor of the G.o.d--a ceremony which "even to-day," it is said, is practiced.[68] The old tales of the fire-cult are retold, and new rites are known.[69] Thus in iii. 251. 20 ff., Prince Duryodhana resolves to starve to death (oblivious of the rule that "a suicide goes to h.e.l.l"), and since this is a religious ceremony, he clothes himself in old clothes and holy-gra.s.s, "touches water," and devotes himself with intense application to heaven. Then the devils of Rudra called D[=a]iteyas and D[=a]navas, who live underground ever since they were conquered by the G.o.ds, aided by priests, make a fire-rite, and with _mantras_ "declared by Brihaspati and Ucanas, and proclaimed in the Atharva-Veda," raise a ghost or spirit, who is ordered to fetch Duryodhana to h.e.l.l, which she immediately does.[70] The frequent connection of Brihaspati with the Atharva-Veda is of interest (above, p. 159). He is quite a venerable, if not wholly orthodox, author in the epic, and his "rules" are often cited.[71]
That Vedic deity who, alone of pre-Vedic powers, still holds his proud place, Yama, the king of departed spirits, varies in the epic according to the period represented. In old tales he is still quite Vedic in character; he takes the dead man"s soul off to his own realm.
But, of course, as pantheism prevails, and eschatology becomes confused, Yama pa.s.ses into a shadow, and at most is a bugbear for the wicked. Even his companions are stolen from another realm, and one hears now of "King Yama with his Rudras" (III. 237. 11),[72] while it is only the bad[73] that go to Yama (III. 200. 24), in popular belief, although this view, itself old, relapses occasionally into one still older, in accordance with which (_ib_. 49) all the world is hounded on by Yama"s messengers, and comes to his abode. His home[74] in the south is now located as being at a distance of 86,000 leagues over a terrible road, on which pa.s.ses a procession of wretched or happy mortals, even as they have behaved during life; for example, if one has generously given an umbrella during life he will have an umbrella on this journey, etc. The river in Yama"s abode is called Pushpodaka, and what each drinks out of it is according to what he deserves to drink, cool water or filth (_ib._ 46, 58).[75] In the various descriptions it is not strange to find discordant views even in portions belonging approximately to the same period. Thus in contradistinction to the prevailing view one reads of Indra himself that he is _Yamasya net[=a] Namucecca hant[=a]_ "Yama"s leader, Namuci"s slayer" (iii. 25. 10.), _i.e._, those that die in battle go to Yama.
On the other hand, in the later speculative portions, Yama is not death. "Yama is not death, as some think; he is one that gives bliss to the good, and woe to the bad."[76] Death and life are foolishness and lack of folly, respectively (literally, "non-folly is non-mortality"), while folly and mortality are counter opposites. In pantheistic teaching there is, of course, no real death, only change.
But death is a female power, personified, and sharply distinguished from Yama. Death as a means of change thus remains, while Yama is relegated to the guardianship of h.e.l.l. The difference in regard to the latter subject, between earlier and later views, has been noted above.
One comparatively early pa.s.sage attempts to arrange the incongruous beliefs in regard to _sams[=a]ra_ (re-birth) and h.e.l.l on a sort of sliding scale, thus: "One that does good gets in the next life a good birth; one that does ill gets an ill birth"; more particularly: "By good acts one attains to the state of G.o.ds; by "mixed" acts, to the state of man; by acts due to confusion of mind, to the state of animals and plants (_viyon[=i][s.]u_); by sinful acts one goes to h.e.l.l" (_adhog[=a]mi_, iii. 209. 29-32).[77] Virtue must have been, as the epic often declares it to be, a "subtile matter," for often a tale is told to ill.u.s.trate the fact that one goes to h.e.l.l for doing what he thinks (mistakenly) to be right. Thus K[=a]ucika is sent to h.e.l.l for speaking the truth, whereas he ought to have lied to save life (viii.
69. 53), for he was "ignorant of virtue"s subtilty."[78] A pa.s.sage (i.
74. 27 ff.) that is reflected in Manu (viii. 85-86) says that Yama V[=a]ivasvata takes away the sin of him with whom is satisfied "the one that witnesses the act, that stands in the heart, that knows the ground"; but Yama tortures him with whom this one (personified conscience) is dissatisfied. For "truth is equal to a thousand horse-sacrifices; truth is highest _brahma_" (_ib._ 103, 106).
Following downward the course of religious development, as reflected in the epic, one next finds traces of Brahmanic theology not only in the few pa.s.sages where (Brahm[=a]) Praj[=a]pati remains untouched by sectarianism, but also in the harking back to old formulae. Thus the insistence on the Brahmanical sacredness of the number seventeen is preserved (xii. 269. 26; iii. 210. 20, etc); and Upanishadic is the "food is Praj[=a]pati" of iii. 200. 38 (Yama in 40). There is an interesting rehabilitation of the primitive idea of the Acvins in the new ascription of formal divinity to the (personified) Twilights (Sandhy[=a]) in iii. 200. 83, although this whole pa.s.sage is more Puranic than epic. From the same source is the doctrine that the fruit of action expires at the end of one hundred thousand _kalpas_ (_ib._ vs. 121). One of the oddest religious freaks in the epic is the sudden exaltation of the Ribhus, the Vedic (season-G.o.ds) artisans, to the position of highest G.o.ds. In that heaven of Brahm[=a], which is above the Vedic G.o.ds" heaven, there are the holy seers and the Ribhus, "the divinities of the G.o.ds"; who do not change with the change of _kalpas_ (as do other Vedic G.o.ds), III. 261. 19-23. One might almost imagine that their threefoldness was causative of a trinitarian identification with a supreme triad; but no, for still higher is the "heaven of Vishnu" (vs. 37). The contrast is marked between this and _[=A]it.
Br._ III. 30, where the Ribhus with some difficulty obtain the right to drink _soma_.
There is an aspect of the epic religion upon which it is necessary to touch before treating of the sectarian development. In the early philosophical period wise priests meet together to discuss theological and philosophical questions, often aided, and often brought to grief, by the wit of women disputants, who are freely admitted to hear and share in the discussion. When, however, pantheism, nay, even Vishnuism, or still more, Krishnaism, was an accepted fact upon what, then, was the wisdom of the priest expended? Apart from the epic, the best intellects of the day were occupied in researches, codifying laws, and solving, in rather dogmatic fashion, philosophical (theological) problems. The epic presents pictures of scenes which seem to be a reflection from an earlier day. But one sees often that the wisdom is commonplace, or even silly. In dialectics a sophistical subtlety is shown; in codifying moral rules, a tedious triteness; in amoebic pa.s.ses of wit there are astounding exhibitions, in which the good scholiast sees treasures of wisdom, where a modern is obliged to take them in their literal dulness. Thus in III. 132. 18, a boy of twelve or ten (133. 16), who is divinely precocious, defeats the wise men in disputation at a sacrifice, and in the following section (134.
7 ff.) silences a disputant who is regarded as one of the cleverest priests. The conversation is recorded in full. In what does it consist? The opponent mentions a number of things which are one; the boy replies with a verse that gives pairs of things; the other mentions triads; the child cites groups of fours, etc., until the opponent, having cited only one half-verse of thirteens, can remember no more and stops, on which the child completes the verse, and is declared winner. The conundrums which precede must have been considered very witty, for they are repeated elsewhere: What is that wheel which has twelve parts and three hundred and sixty spokes, etc.?
Year. What does not close its eye when asleep, what does not move when it is born, what has no heart, what increases by moving? These questions form one-half verse. The next half-verse gives the answers in order: fish, egg, stone, river. This wisdom in the form of puzzles and answers, _brahmodya_, is very old, and goes back to the Vedic period. Another good case in the epic is the demon Yaksha and the captured king, who is not freed till he answers certain questions correctly.[79] But although a certain amount of theologic lore may be gleaned from these questions, yet is it of greater interest to see how the priests discussed when left quietly to their own devices. And a very natural description of such a scene is extant. The priests "having some leisure"[80] or vacation from their labors in the king"s house, sit down to argue, and the poet calls their discussion _vita[n.][d.][=a], i.e_., tricky sophistical argumentation, the description bearing out the justness of the phrase: "One cried, "that is so," and the other, "it is not so"; one cried, "and that is so,"
and the other, "it must be so"; and some by arguments made weak arguments strong, and strong weak; while some wise ones were always swooping down on their opponent"s arguments, like hawks on meat."[81]
In III. 2. 15, the type of clever priest is "skilled in Yoga and S[=a][.n]khya," who inculcates renunciation. This sage teaches that mental diseases are cured by Yoga; bodily, by medicine; and that desire is the root of ill.
But by far the most interesting theological discussion in the epic, if one except the Divine Song, is the conversation of the hero and heroine in regard to the cause of earthly happiness. This discussion is an old pa.s.sage of the epic. The very fact that a woman is the disputant gives an archaic effect to the narration, and reminds one of the scenes in the Upanishads, where learned women cope successfully with men in displays of theological ac.u.men. Furthermore, the theological position taken, the absence of Vishnuism, the appeal to the "Creator" as the highest Power, take one back to a former age. The doctrine of special grace, which crops out in the Upanishads,[82] here receives its exposure by a sudden claim that the converse of the theory must also be true, viz., that to those not saved by grace and election G.o.d is as cruel as He is kind to the elect. The situation is as follows: The king and queen have been basely robbed of their kingdom, and are in exile. The queen urges the king to break the vow of exile that has been forced from him, and to take vengeance on their oppressors. The king, in reply, sings a song of forgiveness: "Forgiveness is virtue, sacrifice, Veda; forgiveness is holiness and truth; in the world of Brahm[=a] are the mansions of them that forgive." This song (III. 29. 36 ff.) only irritates the queen, who at once launches into the following interesting tirade (30. 1 ff.): "Reverence to the Creator and Disposer[83] who have confused thy mind!