History of Sanskrit Literature -9 (BY ARTHUR A. MACDONELL

History of Sanskrit Literature

(BY

ARTHUR A. MACDONELL, M. A., Ph.D.

BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT)

A third edition, printed in Telugu characters, was

published in four volumes at Madras in 1855-60. It

includes the Harivamga and extracts from Nllakantha' s

commentary. This edition represents a distinct South

Indian recension, which seems to differ from that of

the North about as much as the three recensions of the

Rdmayana do from one another. Both recensions are

of about equal length, omissions in the first being compensated

by others in the second. Sometimes one has

the better text, sometimes the other.

The epic kernel of the Mahdbhdrata, or the "Great

Battle of the descendants of Bharata," consisting of

about 20,000 qlokasy describes the eighteen days' fight

between Duryodhana, leader of the Kurus, and Yudhishthira,

chief of the Pandus, who were cousins, both

descended from King Bharata, son of (^akuntala. Within

this narrative frame has come to be included a vast

number of old legends about gods, kings, and sages ;

accounts of cosmogony and theogony ; disquisitions on

philosophy, law, religion, and the duties of the military

caste. These lengthy and heterogeneous interpolations

render it very difficult to follow the thread of the

narrative. Entire works are sometimes inserted to

illustrate a particular statement. Thus, while the two

armies are drawn up prepared for battle, a whole

philosophical poem, in eighteen cantos, the Bhagavad284

SANSKRIT LITERATURE

gitd, is recited to the hero Arjuna, who hesitates to

advance and fight against his kinT) Hence the Mahabhdrata

claims to be not only a heroic poem {kdvya\

but a compendium teaching, in accordance with the

Veda, the fourfold end of human existence (spiritual

merit, wealth, pleasure, and salvation), a smriti or work

of sacred tradition, which expounds the whole duty of

man, and is intended for the religious instruction of all

Hindus. Thus, in one (I. lxii. 35) of many similar passages,

it makes the statement about itself that "this

collection of all sacred texts, in which the greatness of

cows and Brahmans is exalted, must be listened to by

virtuous-minded men." Its title, Kdrshna Veda, or

" Veda of Krishna "

(a form of Vishnu), the occurrence

of a famous invocation of Narayana and Nara (names

of Vishnu) and SarasvatI (Vishnu's wife) at the beginning

of each of its larger sections, and the prevalence of

Vishnuite doctrines throughout the work, prove it to

have been a smriti of the ancient Vishnuite sect of the

Bhagavatas.

Thus it is clear that the Mahdbhdrata in its present

shape contains an epic nucleus, that it favours the

worship of Vishnu, and that it has become a comprehensive

didactic work. We further find in Book I. the

direct statements that the poem at one time contained

24,000 qlokas before the episodes {itpdkhydnd) were added,

that it originally consisted of only 8800 g/okas, and that

it has three beginnings. These data render it probable

that the epic underwent three stages of development

from the time it first assumed definite shape ; and this

conclusion is corroborated by various internal and

external arguments.

There can be little doubt that the original kernel of

ORIGIN OF THE MAHABHARATA 285

the epic has as a historical background an ancient conflict

between the two neighbouring tribes of the Kurus

and Panchalas, who finally coalesced into a single

people. In the Yajurvedas these two tribes already

appear united, and in the Kdthaka King Dhritarashtra

Vaichitravlrya, one of the chief figures of the Mahdbhdratdj

is mentioned as a well-known person. Hence

the historical germ of the great epic is to be traced to

a very early period, which cannot well be later than the

tenth century B.C. Old songs about the ancient feud

and the heroes who played a part in it, must have been

handed down by word of mouth and recited in popular

assemblies or at great public sacrifices.

These disconnected battle - songs were, we must

assume, worked up by some poetic genius into a comparatively

short epic, describing the tragic fate of the

Kuru race, who, with justice and virtue on their side,

perished through the treachery of the victorious sons

of Pandu, with Krishna at their head. To the period

of this original epic doubtless belong the traces the

Mahdbhdrata has preserved unchanged of the heroic

spirit and the customs of ancient times, so different

from the later state of things which the Mahdbhdrata

as a whole reflects. To this period also belongs the

figure of Brahma as the highest god. The evidence of

Pali literature shows that Brahma already occupied that

position in Buddha's time. | We may, then, perhaps

assume that the original form of our epic came into

being about the fifth century B.C. /The oldest evidence

we have for the existence of tYTe^Mahdbhdrata in some

shape or other is to be found in Acvalayana's Grihya

Sutra, where a Bhdrata and Mahdbhdrata are mentioned.

This would also point to about the fifth century B.C.

286 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

To the next stage, in which the epic, handed down

by rhapsodists, swelled to a length of about 20,000 qlokas,

belongs the representation of the victorious Pandus

in a favourable light, and the introduction on a level

with Brahma of the two other great gods, (Jiva, and

especially Vishnu, of whom Krishna appears as an incarnation.

We gather from the account of Megasthenes that

about 300 B.C., these two gods were already prominent,

and the people were divided into (Jivaites and Vishnuites.

Moreover, the Yavanas or Greeks are mentioned

in the Mahabharata as allies of the Kurus, and

even the (Jakas (Scythians) and Pahlavas (Parthians)

are named along with them ; Hindu temples are also

referred to as well as Buddhist relic mounds. Thus

an extension of the original epic must have taken place

after 300 B.C. and by the beginning of our era.

The Brahmans knew how to utilise the great influence

of the old epic tradition by gradually incorporating didactic

matter calculated to impress upon the people, and

especially on kings, the doctrines of the priestly caste.

It thus at last assumed the character of a vast treatise

on duty (dhartnd), in which the divine origin and immutability

of Brahman institutions, the eternity of the

caste system, and the subordination of all to the priests,

are laid down. When the Mahabharata attributes its

origin to Vyasa, it implies a belief in a final redaction,,

for the name simply means "Arranger." Dahlmann

has recently put forward the theory that the great epic

was a didactic work from the very outset ; this view,

however, appears to be quite irreconcilable with the data

of the poem, and is not likely to find any support

among scholars.

DATE OF THE MAHABHARATA 287

What evidence have we as to when the Mahdbharata

attained to the form in which we possess it ? There is

an inscription in a land grant dating from 462 A.D. or'

at the latest 532 A.D., which proves incontrovertibly that

the epic about 500 A.D. was practically of exactly the same

length as it is stated to have in the survey of contents

(anukramanika) given in Book I., and as it actually has

now ; for it contains the following words :

"

It has been

declared in the Mahdbharata, the compilation embracing

100,000 verses, by the highest sage, Vyasa, the Vyasa of

the Vedas, the son of Paracara." This quotation at the

same time proves that the epic at that date included

the very long 12th and 13th, as well as the extensive

supplementary book, the Harivamqa, without any one

of which it would have been impossible to speak even

approximately of 100,000 verses. There are also several

land grants, dated between 450 and 500 A.D., and found

in various parts of India, which quote the Mahdbharata

as an authority teaching the rewards of pious donors

and the punishments of impious despoilers. This shows

that in the middle of the fifth century it already possessed

the same character as at present, that of a Smriti

or Dharmacastra. It is only reasonable to suppose that

it had acquired this character at least a century earlier,

or by about 350 A.D. Further research in the writings

of the Northern Buddhists and their dated Chinese

translations will probably enable us to put this date

back by some centuries. We are already justified in

considering it likely that the great epic had become

a didactic compendium before the beginning of our

era. In any case, the present state of our knowledge

entirely disproves the suggestions put forward by Prof.

Holtzmann in his work on the Mahdbharata, that the

288 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

epic was turned into a Dharmacastra by the Brahmans

after 900 A.D., and that whole books were added at this

late period.

The literary evidence of Sanskrit authors from about

600 to 1 100 A.D. supplies us with a considerable amount

of information as to the state of the great epic during

those five centuries. An examination of the works of

Bana, and of his predecessor Subandhu, shows that these

authors, who belong to the beginning of the seventh

century, not only studied and made use of legends from

every one of the eighteen books of the Mahdbhdrata for

the poetical embellishment of their works, but were even

acquainted with the Harivamqa. We also know that in

Bana's time the Bhagavadgltd was included in the great

epic. The same writer mentions that the Mahdbhdrata

was recited in the temple of Mahakala at Ujjain. That

such recitation was already a widespread practice at

that time is corroborated by an inscription of about

600 A.D. from the remote Indian colony of Kamboja,

which states that copies of the Mahdbhdrataf as well

as of the Rdmdyana and of an unnamed Purana, were

presented to a temple there, and that the donor had

made arrangements to ensure their daily recitation in

perpetuity. This evidence shows that the Mahdbhdrata

cannot have been a mere heroic poem, but must have

borne the character of a Smriti work of long-established

authority. Even at the present day both public and

private recitations of the Epics and Puranas are common

in India, and are always instituted for the edification and

religious instruction of worshippers in temples or of

members of the family. As a rule, the Sanskrit texts are

not only declaimed, but also explained in the vernacular

tongue for the benefit both of women, and of such males

KUMARILA ON THE MAHABHARATA 289

as belong to classes unacquainted with the learned

language of the Brahmans.

We next come to the eminent Mlmamsa philosopher

Kumarila, who has been proved to have flourished in the

first half of the eighth century A.D. In the small portion

of his great commentary, entitled Tantra-vdrttikaf which

has been examined, no fewer than ten of the eighteen

books of the Mahdbhdrata are named, quoted, or referred

to. It is clear that the epic as known to him not only

included the first book (adiparvan), but that that book in

his time closely resembled the form of its text which we

possess. It even appears to have contained the first

section, called anukramanikd or "

Survey of contents," and

the second, entitled parva-samgraha or "Synopsis of sections."

Kumarila also knew Books XII. and XIII., which

have frequently been pronounced to be of late origin, as

well as XIX. It is evident from his treatment of the

epic that he regarded it as a work of sacred tradition

and of great antiquity, intended from the beginning for

the instruction of all the four castes. To him it is not

an account of the great war between the Kauravas and

Pandus ; the descriptions of battles were only used for

the purpose of rousing the martial instincts of the warrior

caste.

The great Vedantist philosopher (Jankaracharya, who

wrote his commentary in 804 A.D., often quotes the

Mahdbhdrata as a Smriti, and in discussing a verse from

Book XII. expressly states that the Mahdbhdrata was

intended for the religious instruction of those classes

who by their position are debarred from studying the

Vedas and the Vedanta.

From the middle of the eleventh century A.D. we

have the oldest known abstract of the Mahdbhdratay

290 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

the work of the Kashmirian poet Kshemendra, entitled

Bhdrata-Manjari. This condensation is specially important,

because it enables the scholar to determine the state

of the text in detail at that time. Professor Biihler's careful

comparison of the MSS. of this work with the great

epic has led him to the conclusion that Kshemendra's

original did not differ from the Mahdbhdrata as we have

it at present in any other way than two classes of MSS.

differ from each other. This poetical epitome shows

several omissions, but these are on the whole of such a

nature as is to be expected in any similar abridgment.

It is, however, likely that twelve chapters (342-353) of

Book XII., treating of Narayana, which the abbreviator

passes over, did not exist in the original known to him.

There can, moreover, be no doubt that the forms of

several proper names found in the Manjarl are better and

older than those given by the editions of the Mahdbhdrata,

Though the division of the original into eighteen

books is found in the abridgment also, it is made up

by turning the third section (gadd-parvan) of Book IX.

^alya-parvan) into a separate book, while combining

Books XII. and XIII. into a single one. This variation

probably represents an old division, as it occurs in many

MSS. of the Mahdbhdrata.

Another work of importance in determining the state

of the Mahdbhdrata is a Javanese translation of the epic,

also dating from the eleventh century.

The best-known commentator of the Mahdbhdrata is

NIlakantha, who lived at Kurpara, to the west of the

Godavarl, in Maharashtra, and, according to Burnell,

belongs to the sixteenth century. Older than NIlakantha,

who quotes him, is Arjuna Ml^RA, whose commentary,

along with that of NIlakantha, appears in an edition of

MAIN STORY OF THE MAHABHARATA <^aD>

the Mahdbharata begun at Calcutta in 1875. The earliest

extant commentator of the great epic is Sarvajna Nara-

YANA, large fragments of whose notes have been preserved,

and who cannot have written later than in the

second half of the fourteenth century, but may be

somewhat older. (^^

The main story of the Mahdbharata in the briefest

possible outline is as follows: In the country of the

Bharatas, which, from the name of the ruling race, had

come to be called Kurukshetra, or " Land of the Kurus,"

there lived at Hastinapura, fifty-seven miles north-east

of the modern Delhi, two princes named Dhritarashtra

and Pandu. The elder of these brothers being blind,

Pandu succeeded to the throne and reigned gloriously.

He had five sons called Pandavas, the chief of whom were

Yudhishthira, Bhlma, and Arjuna. Dhritarashtra had a

hundred sons, usually called Kauravas, or Kuru princes,

the most prominent of whom was Duryodhana. On the

premature death of Pandu, Dhritarashtra took over the

reins of government, and receiving his five nephews into

his palace, had them brought up with his own sons. As

the Pandus distinguished themselves greatly in feats of

arms and helped him to victory, the king appointed his

eldest nephew, Yudhishthira, to be heir-apparent. The_

Pandu princes, however, soon found it necessary to

escape from the plots their cousins now began to set on

foot against them. They made their way to the king of

Panchala, whose daughter Draupadl was won, in a contest

between many kings and heroes, by Arjuna, who

alone was able to bend the king's great bow and to hit a

certain mark. In order to avoid strife, Draupadl consented

to become the common wife of the five princes.

At Draupadl's svayamvara (public choice of a husband)

292 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

the Pandus made acquaintance with Krishna, the hero

of the Yadavas, who from this time onward became

their fast friend and adviser. Dhritarashtra, thinking

it best to conciliate the Pandavas in view of their double

alliance with the Panchalas and Yadavas, now divided

his kingdom, giving Hastinapura to his sons, and to his

nephews a district where they built the city of Indraprastha,

the modern Delhi (L).

Here the Pandavas ruled wisely and prospered

greatly. Duryodhana's jealousy being aroused, he resolved

to ruin his cousins, with the aid of his uncle

(Jakuni, a skilful gamester. Dhritarashtra was accordingly

induced to invite the Pandus to Hastinapura.

Here Yudhishthira, accepting the challenge to play at

dice with Duryodhana, lost everything, his kingdom, his

wealth, his army, his brothers, and finally Draupadl. In

the end a compromise was made by which the Pandavas

agreed to go into banishment for twelve years, and to

remain incognito for a thirteenth, after which they might

return and regain their kingdom (ii.).

With Draupadl they accordingly departed to the

Kamyaka forest on the Sarasvatl. The account of their

twelve years' life here, and the many legends told to

console them in their exile, constitute the vana-parvan

or " Forest book," one of the longest in the poem (iii.).

The thirteenth year they spent in disguise as servants

of Virata, king of the Matsyas. At this time the Kurus,

in alliance with another king, invaded the country of the

Matsyas, causing much distress. Then the Pandus arose,

put the enemy to flight, and restored the king. They now

made themselves known, and entered into an alliance

with the king (iv.).

Their message demanding back their possessions

MAIN STORY OF THE MAHABHARATA 293

receiving no answer, they prepared for war. The rival

armies met in the sacred region of Kurukshetra, with

numerous allies on both sides. Joined with the Kurus

were, among others, the people of Kosala, Videha, Anga,

Banga (Bengal), Kalinga on the east, and those of Sindhu,

Gandhara, Bahllka (Balk), together with the (Jakas

and Yavanas on the west. The Pandus, on the other

hand, were aided by the Panchalas, the Matsyas, part

of the Yadavas under Krishna, besides the kings of Kaci

(Benares), Chedi, Magadha, and others (v.).

The battle raged for eighteen days, till all the Kurus

were destroyed, and only the Pandavas and Krishna with

his charioteer escaped alive. The account of it extends

over five books (vi.-x.). Then follows a description of

the obsequies of the dead (xi.). In the next two books,

Bhlma, the leader of the Kurus, on his deathbed,

instructs Yudhishthira for about 20,000 qlokas on the

duties of kings and other topics.

The Pandus having been reconciled to the old king

Dhritarashtra, Yudhishthira was crownecl king in Hastinapura,

and instituted a great horse - sacrifice (xiv.).

Dhritarashtra having remained at Hastinapura for fifteen

years, at length retired, with his wife Gandharl, to the

jungle, where they perished in a forest conflagration

(xv.). Among the Yadavas, who had taken different

sides in the great war, an internecine conflict broke out,

which resulted in the annihilation of this people.

Krishna sadly withdrew to the wilderness, where he

was accidentally shot dead by a hunter (xvi.).

i The Pandus themselves, at last weary of life, leaving

the young prince Parlkshit, grandson of Arjuna, to rule

over Hastiniipura, retired to the forest, and dying as

they wandered towards Meru, the mountain of the

294 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

gods (xvii.) ; ascended to heaven with their faithful spouse

(xviii.).

Here the framework of the great epic, which begins

at the commencement of the first book, comes to an end.

King Parlkshit having died of snake-bite, his son Janamejaya

instituted a great sacrifice to the serpents. At that

sacrifice the epic was recited by Vaicampayana, who had

learnt it from Vyasa. The latter, we are told, after

arranging the four Vedas, composed the Mahdbhdrata,

which treats of the excellence of the Pandus, the greatness

of Krishna, and the wickedness of the sons of

Dhritarashtra.

The supplementary book, the Harivamga, or "

Family

of Vishnu," is concerned only with Krishna. It contains

more than 16,000 glokas, and is divided into three sections.

The first of these describes the history of Krishna's

ancestors down to the time of Vishnu's incarnation in

him ; the second gives an account of Krishna's exploits ;

the third treats of the future corruptions of the Kali, or

fourth age of trie world.

The episodes of the Mahdbhdrata are numerous and

often very extensive, constituting, as we have seen, about

four-fifths of the whole poem. Many of them are interesting

for various reasons, and some are distinguished

by considerable poetic beauty. One of them, the story

of Qakuntala (occurring in Book I.), supplied Kalidasa

with the subject of his famous play. Episodes are

specially plentiful in Book III., being related to while

away the time of the exiled Pandus. Here is found the

Matsyopakhydna, or "

Episode of the fish," being the story

of the flood, narrated with more diffuseness than the

simple story told in the Qatapatha Brdhmana. The

fish here declares itself to be Brahma, Lord of creatures.,

EPISODES OF THE MAHABHARATA 295

and not yet Vishnu, as in the Bhdgavata Purdna.

Manu no longer appears as the progenitor of mankind,

but as a creator who produces all beings and worlds

anew by means of his ascetic power.

Another episode is the history of Rama, interesting

in its relation to Valmlki's Rdmdyana, which deals with

the same subject at much greater length. The myth of

the descent of the Ganges from heaven to earth, here

narrated, is told in the Rdmdyana also.

Another legend is that of the sage Ricya-cringa, who

having produced rain in the country of Lomapada, king

of the Angas, was rewarded with the hand of the princess

(Janta, and performed that sacrifice for King Dacaratha

which brought about the birth of Rama. This episode

is peculiarly important from a critical point of view, as

the legend recurs not only in the Rdmdyana, but also in

the Padma Purdna, the Skanda Purdna, and a number of

other sources.

Of special interest is the story of King Uclnara, son

of Cibi, who sacrificed his life to save a pigeon from a

hawk. It is told again in another part of Book III.

about Cibi himself, as well as in Book XIII. about

Vrishadarbha, son of (Jibi. Distinctly Buddhistic in

origin and character, the story is famous in Pali as

well as Sanskrit literature, and spread beyond the limits

of India.

The story of the abduction of Draupadl forms an

episode of her life while she dwelt with the Pandus in

the Kamyaka forest. Accidentally seen when alone by

King Jayadratha of Sindhu, who was passing with a

great army, and fell in love with her at first sight, she

was forcibly carried off, and only rescued after a terrible

fight, in which the Pandus annihilated Jayadratha's host.

20

296 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Interesting as an illustration of the mythological

ideas of the age is the episode which describes the

journey of Arjuna to Indra's heaven. Here we see

the mighty warrior-god of the Vedas transformed into

a glorified king of later times, living a life of ease amid

the splendours of his celestial court, where the ear is

lulled by strains of music, while the eye is ravished by

the graceful dancing and exquisite beauty of heavenly

nymphs.

In the story of Savitrl we have one of the finest of the

many ideal female characters which the older epic poetry

of India has created. Savitrl, daughter of A$vapati, king

of Madra, chooses as her husband Satyavat, the handsome

and noble son of a blind and exiled king, who

dwells in a forest hermitage. Though warned by the

sage Narada that the prince is fated to live but a single

year, she persists in her choice, and after the wedding

departs with her husband to his father's forest retreat.

Here she lives happily till she begins to be tortured with

anxiety on the approach of the fatal day. When it

arrives, she follows her husband on his way to cut wood

in the forest. After a time he lies down exhausted.

Yama, the god of death, appears, and taking his soul,

departs. As Savitrl persistently follows him, Yama grants

her various boons, always excepting the life of her

husband ; but yielding at last to her importunities, he

restores the soul to the lifeless body.

"

Satyavat recovers,

and lives happily for many years with his faithful Savitrl.

One of the oldest and most beautiful stories inserted

in the MahdbJiarata is the Nalopdkhyana, or il Episode of

Nala." It is one of the least corrupted of the episodes,

its great popularity having prevented the transforming

hand of an editor from introducing (^iva and Vishnu, or

THE STORY OF NALA 297

from effacing the simplicity of the manners it depicts

the prince, for instance, cooks his own food or from

changing the character of Indra, and other old traits.

The poem is pervaded by a high tone of morality,

manifested above all in the heroic devotion and fidelity

of DamayantI, its leading character. It also contains

many passages distinguished by tender pathos.

The story is told by the wise Brihadacva to the exiled

Yudhishthira, in order to console him for the loss of

the kingdom he has forfeited at play. Nala, prince of

Nishada, chosen from among many competitors for her

hand by DamayantI, princess of Vidarbha, passes several

years of happy married life with her. Then, possessed

by the demon Kali, and indulging in gambling, he loses

his kingdom and all his possessions. Wandering half

naked in the forest with DamayantI, he abandons her in

his frenzy. Very pathetic is the scene describing how

he repeatedly returns to the spot where his wife lies

asleep on the ground before he finally deserts her.

Equally touching are the accounts of her terror on

awaking to find herself alone in the forest, and of her

lamentations as she roams in search of her husband, and

calls out to him

Hero, valiant, knowing duty,

To honourfaithful, lord ofearth,

If thou art within this forest,

Then show thee in thy properform.

Shall I hear the voice of Nala,

Sweet as the draught ofAmrita,

With its deep andgentle accent,

Like rumble ofthe thunder-cloud,

Saying

"

Daughter of Vidarbha !

"

To me with clear and blessed sound,

Rich, like Vedas murmuredflowing.

At once destroying all my grief?

298 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

There are graphic descriptions of the beauties and

terrors of the tropical forest in which Damayanti wanders.

At last she finds her way back to her father's court at

Kundina.J} Many and striking are the similes with which

the poet dwells on the grief and wasted form of the

princess in her separation from her husband. She is

Like the young moon's slender crescent

Obscured by black clouds in the sky;

Like the lotus-flower uprooted,

Allparched and withered by the sun;

Like the pallid night, when Rahu

Has swallowed up the darkened moon.

Nala, meanwhile, transformed into a dwarf, has become

charioteer to the king of Oudh. Damayanti at

last hears news leading her to suspect her husband's

whereabouts. She accordingly holds out hopes of her

hand to the king of Oudh, on condition of his driving

the distance of 500 miles to Kundina in a single day.

Nala, acting as his charioteer, accomplishes the feat, and

is rewarded by the king with the secret of the highest

skill in dicing. Recognised by his wife in spite of his

disguise, he regains his true form. He plays again, and

wins back his lost kingdom. Thus after years of adventure,

sorrow, and humiliation he is at last reunited with

Damayanti, with whom he spends the rest of his days in

happiness.

Though several supernatural and miraculous features

like those which occur in fairy tales are found in the

episode of Nala, they are not sufficient to mar the spirit

of true poetry which pervades the story as a whole.

THE PURANAS 299

The Puranas.

^Closely connected with the Mahdonarata is a distinct

class of eighteen epic works, didactic in character and

sectarian in purpose, going by the name of Purana.

The term purana is already found in the Brahinanas

designating cosmogonic inquiries generally. It is also

used in the Mahdbharata somewhat vaguely to express

"ancient legendary lore/' implying didactic as well as

narrative matter, and pointing to an old collection of

epic stories. One passage of the epic (I. v. 1) describes

purana as containing stories of the gods and genealogies

of the sages. In Book XVIII., as well as in the Harivamga,

mention is even made of eighteen Puranas, which,

however, have not been preserved ; for those known

to us are all, on the whole, later than the Mahdbharata,

and for the most part derive their legends of ancient

days from the great epic itself. Nevertheless they

contain much that is old ; and it is not always possible

to assume that the passages they have in common with

the Mahdbharata and Manu have been borrowed from

those works. They are connected by many threads

with the old law-books {smritis) and the Vedas, representing

probably a development of older works of the

same class. In that part of their contents which is

peculiar to them, the Puranas agree so closely, being

often verbally identical for pages, that they must be

{derived from some older collection as a common source.

\Most of them are introduced in exactly the same way

as the Mahdbharata, Ugracravas, the son of Lomaharshana,

being represented as relating their contents to

(Jaunaka on the occasion of a sacrifice in the Naimisha

forest. The object of most of these legendary compila300

SANSKRIT LITERATURE

tions is to recommend the sectarian cult of Vishnu,

though some of them favour the worship of (Jiva.

Besides cosmogony, they deal with mythical descriptions

of the earth, the doctrine of the cosmic ages, the

exploits of ancient gods, saints, and heroes, accounts

of the Avatars of Vishnu, the genealogies of the Solar

and Lunar race of kings, and enumerations of the

thousand names of Vishnu or of (^iva. They also contain

rules about the worship of the gods by means of

prayers, fastings, votive offerings, festivals, and pilgrimages.

The Garuddy as well as the late and unimportant

Agni Purdiiay practically constitute abstracts of the

Mahdbhdrata and the Harivamqa.

The VdyUy which appears to be one of the oldest,

coincides in part of its matter with the Mahdbhdrata,

but is more closely connected with the Harivamqa, the

passage which deals with the creation of the world

often agreeing verbatim with the corresponding part

of the latter poem.

The relationship of the Matsya Purdna to the great

epic and its supplementary book as sources is similarly

intimate. It is introduced with the story of Manu and

the Fish {Matsya). The Kurmay besides giving an

account of the various Avatars of Vishnu (of which

the tortoise or kurrna is one), of the genealogies of gods

and kings, as well as other matters, contains an extensive

account of the world in accordance with the accepted

cosmological notions of the Mahdbhdrata and of the

Puranas in general. The world is here represented

as consisting of seven concentric islands separated by

different oceans. The central island, with Mount Meru

in the middle, is Jambu-dvipa, of which Bhdrata-varsha,

THE PURANAS 301

the "kingdom of the Bharatas," or India, is the main

division.

The Mdrkaiideyay which expressly recognises the

priority of the Mahdbhdrata, is so called because it is

related by the sage Markandeya to explain difficulties

suggested by the epic, such as, How could Krishna

become a man ? Its leading feature is narrative and

it is the least sectarian of the Puranas.

The extensive Padma Purdna, which contains a great

many stories agreeing with those of the Mahdbhdrata, is,

on the other hand, strongly Vishnuite in tone. Yet this,

as well as the Mdrka7tdeya, expressly states the doctrine

of the Tri-murti or Trinity, that Brahma, Vishnu, and

Civa are only one being. This doctrine, already to be

found in the Harivamqa, is not so prominent in post-

Vedic literature as is commonly supposed. It is interesting

to note that the story of Rama, as told in

the Padma Purdna, follows not only the Rdmdyana but

also Kalidasa's account in the Raghuvamga, with which

it often agrees literally. Again, the story of (Jakuntala

is related, not in accordance with the Mahdbhdrata, but

with Kalidasa's drama.

The Brahma-vaivarta Purdna is also strongly sectarian

in favour of Vishnu in the form of Krishna. It is to

be noted that both here and in the Padma Purdna an

important part is played by Krishna's mistress Radha,

who is unknown to the Harivamqa, the Vishnu, and even

the Bhdgavata Purdna.

The Vishnu Purdna, which very often agrees with the

Mahdbhdrata in its subject-matter, corresponds most

closely to the Indian definition of a Purana, as treating

of the five topics of primary creation, secondary

creation, genealogies of gods and patriarchs, reigns of

3 02 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

various Manus, and the history of the old dynasties

of kings.

The Bhdgavata Purana, which consists of about

18,000 qlokas, derives its name from being dedicated to

the glorification of Bhagavata or Vishnu. It is later than

the' Vishnu, which it presupposes, probably dating from

the thirteenth century. It exercises a more powerful

influence in India than any other Purana. The most

popular part is the tenth book, which narrates in detail

the history of Krishna, and has been translated into perhaps

every one of the vernacular languages of India.

Other Vishnuite Puranas of a late date are the

Brahma, the Ndradlya, the Vdmana, and the Vardha,

the latter two called after the Dwarf and the Boar

incarnations of Vishnu.

Those which specially favour the cult of (Jiva are

the Skanda, the Qiva, the Linga, and the Bhavishya or

Bhavishyat Puranas. The latter two contain little narrative

matter, being rather ritual in character. A Bhavishyat

Purana is already mentioned in the Apastamba Dharma

Sutra.

Besides these eighteen Puranas there is also an

equal number of secondary works of the same class

called Upa-purdnas, in which the epic matter has become

entirely subordinate to the ritual element.

The Ramayana.

Though there is, as we shall see, good reason for

supposing that the original part of the Ramayana assumed

shape at a time when the Mahdbhdrata was still in a state

of flux, we have deferred describing it on account of its

connection with the subsequent development of epic

poetry in Sanskrit literature.

*>**

W

/ Recensions of the ramAyana 303

In its present form the Rdmdyana consists of about /

24,000 qlokas, and is divided into seven books. It has /

been preserved in three distinct recensions, the West

Indian (A), the Bengal (B), and the Bombay (C). About

one-third of the glokas in each recension occurs in neither

of the other two. The Bombay recension has in most

cases preserved the oldest form of the text ; for, as the

other two arose in the centres of classical Sanskrit literature,

where the Gauda and the Vaidarbha styles of composition

respectively flourished, the irregularities of the

epic language have been removed in them. The Rdmdyana

was here treated as a regular kdvya or artificial epic,

a fate which the Mahdbhdrata escaped because it early

lost its original character, and came to be regarded as

a didactic work. These two later recensions must not,

however, be looked upon as mere revisions of the

Bombay text. The variations of all three are of such a

kind that they can for the most part be accounted for

only by the fluctuations of oral tradition among the professional

reciters of the epic, at the time when the three

recensions assumed definite shape in different parts

of the country by being committed to writing. After

having been thus fixed, the fate of each of these recensions

was of course similar to that of any other text.

They appear to go back to comparatively early times.

For quotations from the Rdmdyana occurring in works

that belong to the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. show

that a recension allied to the present C, and probably

another allied to the present A, existed at that period.

Moreover, Kshemendra's poetical abstract of the epic, the

Rdmdyana-kathdsdra-manjari, which follows the contents

of the original step by step, proves that its author used A,

and perhaps B also, in the middle of the eleventh century.

3o4 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Bhoja, the composer of another epitome, the Rdmdyanachampu,

probably used C in the same century.

The careful investigations of Professor Jacobi have

shown that the Rdmdyana originally consisted of five books

only (ii.-vi.). The seventh is undoubtedly a later addition,

for the conclusion of the sixth was evidently at one time

the end of the whole poem. Again, the first book has

several passages which conflict with statements in the

later books. It further contains two tables of contents

(in cantos i. and iii.) which were clearly made at different

times ; for one of them takes no notice of the first and

last books, and must, therefore, have been made before

these were added. What was obviously a part of the

commencement of the original poem has been separated

from its continuation at the opening of Book II., and

now forms the beginning of the fifth canto of Book I.

Some cantos have also been interpolated in the genuine

books. As Professor Jacobi shows, all these additions to

the original body of the epic have been for the most

part so loosely attached that the junctures are easy to

recognise. They are, however, pervaded by the same

spirit as the older part. There is, therefore, no reason

for the supposition that they are due to a Brahman

revision intended to transform a poem originally meant

for the warrior caste. They seem rather to owe their

origin simply to the desire of professional rhapsodists to

meet the demands of the popular taste. We are told in

the Rdmdyana itself that the poem was either recited by

professional minstrels or sung to the accompaniment of

a stringed instrument, being handed down orally, in the

first place by Rama's two sons Kuca and Lava. These

names are nothing more than the inventions of popular

etymology meant to explain the Sanskrit word ku$ilavay

ORIGIN OF THE RAMAYANA 305

"bard" or "actor." The new parts were incorporated

before the three recensions which have come down to us

arose, but a considerable time must have elapsed between

the composition of the original poem and that of the

additions. For the tribal hero of the former has in the

latter been transformed into a national hero, the moral

ideal of the people ; and the human hero (like Krishna

in the Mahdbhdratd) of the five genuine books (excepting

a few interpolations) has in the first and last become

deified and identified with the god Vishnu, his divine

nature in these additions being always present to the

minds of their authors. Here, too, Valmiki, the composer

of the Rdmdyanay appears as a contemporary of Rama,

and is already regarded as a seer. A long interval of

time must have been necessary for such transformations

as these.

As to the place of its origin, there is good reason for

believing that the Rdmdyana arose in Kosala, the country

ruled by the race of Ikshvaku in Ayodhya (Oudh). For

we are told in the seventh book (canto 45) that the

hermitage of Valmiki lay on the south bank of the Ganges;

the poet must further have been connected with the royal

house of Ayodhya, as the banished Slta took refuge in his

hermitage, where her twin sons were born, brought up,

and later learnt the epic from his lips ; and lastly, the

statement is made in the first book (canto 5) that the

Rdmdyana arose in the family of the Ikshvakus. In

Ayodhya, then, there must have been current among the

court bards {siltd) a number of epic tales narrating the

fortunes of the Ikshvaku hero Rama. Such legends, we

may assume, Valmiki worked up into a single homogeneous

production, which, as the earliest epic of importance

conforming to the rules of poetics, justly received

3 o6 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

the name of ddi-kdvya, or " first artificial poem," from its

author's successors. This work was then learnt by professional

rhapsodists (kugilava) and recited by them in

public as they -wandered about the country.

The original part of the Rdmdyana appears to have

been completed at a time when the epic kernel of the

Mahdbhdrata had not as yet assumed definite shape. For

while the heroes of the latter are not mentioned in the

Rdmdyana, the story of Rama is often referred to in the

longer epic. Again, in a passage of Book VII. of the

Mahdbhdrata, which cannot be regarded as a later

addition, two lines are quoted as Valmlki's that occur

unaltered in Book VI. of the Rdmdyana. The poem of

Valmiki must, therefore, have been generally known as

an old work before the Mahdbhdrata assumed a coherent

form. In Book III. (cantos 277-291) of the latter epic,

moreover, there is a Rdmopdkhydna or "Episode of

Rama," which seems to be based on the Rdmdyana, as

it contains several verses agreeing more or less with

Valmlki's lines, and its author presupposes on the part

of his audience a knowledge of the Rdmdyana as represented

by the Bombay recension.

A further question of importance in determining

the age of the Rdmdyana is its relation to Buddhistic

literature. Now, the story of Rama is found in a somewhat

altered form in one of the Pali Birth-Stories, the

Daqaratha Jdtaka. As this version confines itself to the

first part of Rama's adventures, his sojourn in the forest,

it might at first sight seem to be the older of the two.

There is, however, at least an indication that the second

part of the story, the expedition to Lanka, was also

known to the author of the Jdtaka ; for while Valmlki's

poem concludes with the reunion of Rama and Slta, the

DATE OF THE RAMAYANA 307

Jdtaka is made to end with the marriage of the couple

after the manner of fairy tales, there being at the same

time traces that they were wedded all along in the

original source of the legend. Moreover, a verse from

the old part of the Rdmdyana (vi. 128) actually occurs

in a Pali form embedded in the prose of this Jdtaka.

It might, indeed, be inferred from the greater freedom

with which they handle the cloka metre that the canonical

Buddhistic writings are older than the Rdmdyana, in

which the cloka is of the classical Sanskrit type. But,

as a matter of fact, these Pali works on the whole

observe the laws of the classical gloka, their metrical

irregularities being most probably caused by the recent

application of Pali to literary purposes as well as by the

inferior preservation of Pali works. On the other hand,

Buddhistic literature early made use of the Aryd metre,

which, though so popular in classical Sanskrit poetry,

is not yet to be found in the Sanskrit epics.

The only mention of Buddha in the Rdmdyana occurs

in a passage which is evidently interpolated. Hence the

balance of the evidence in relation to Buddhism seems

to favour the pre-Buddhistic origin of the genuine

Rdmdyana.

The question whether the Greeks were known to the

author of our epic is, of course, also of chronological

moment. An examination of the poem shows that the

Yavanas (Greeks) are only mentioned twice, once in

Book I. and once in a canto of Book IV., which Professor

Jacobi shows to be an interpolation. The only conclusion

to be drawn from this is that the additions to the

original poem were made some time after 300 B.C.

Professor Weber's assumption of Greek influence in

the story of the Rdmdyana seems to lack foundation.

3 o8 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

For the tale of the abduction of Slta and the expedition

to Lanka for her recovery has no real correspondence

with that of the rape of Helen and the Trojan war.

Nor is there any sufficient reason to suppose that the

account of Rama bending a powerful bow in order to

win Slta was borrowed from the adventures of Ulysses.

Stories of similar feats of strength for a like object are

to be found in the poetry of other nations besides the

Greeks, and could easily have arisen independently.

The political aspect of Eastern India as revealed by

the Rdmdyana sheds some additional light on the age of

the epic. In the first place, no mention is made of the

city of Pataliputra (Patna), which was founded by King

Kalacoka (under whom the second Buddhist council

was held at Vaicall about 380 B.C.), and which by the

time of Megasthenes (300 B.C.) had become the capital

of India. Yet Rama is in Book I. (canto 35) described

as passing the very spot where that city stood, and the

poet makes a point (in cantos 32-33) of referring to the

foundation of a number of cities in Eastern Hindustan,

such as KaucambI, Kanyakubja, and Kampilya, in order

to show how far the fame of the Rdmdyana spread beyond

the confines of Kosala, the land of its origin. Had

Pataliputra existed at the time, it could not have failed

to be mentioned.

It is further a noteworthy fact that the capital of

Kosala is in the original Rdmdyana regularly called

Ayodhya, while the Buddhists, Jains, Greeks, and Patanjali

always give it the name of Saketa. Now in the last

book of the Rdmdyana we are told that Rama's son,

Lava, fixed the seat of his government at (^ravasti, a city

not mentioned at all in the old part of the epic ; and in

Buddha's time King Prasenajit of Kosala is known to have

DATE OF THE RAMAYANA 309

reigned at (^ravastT. All this points to the conclusion

that the original Rdmdyana was composed when the

ancient Ayodhya had not yet been deserted, but was

still the chief city of Kosala, when its new name of

Saketa was still unknown, and before the seat of government

was transferred to (Jravastl.

Again, in the old part of Book I., Mithila and Vicala

are spoken of as twin cities under separate rulers, while

we know that by Buddha's time they had coalesced to

the famous city of Vaicall, which was then ruled by an

oligarchy.

The political conditions described in the Rdmdyana

indicate the patriarchal rule of kings possessing only a

small territory, and never point to the existence of more

complex states ; while the references of the poets of the

Mahdbhdrata to the dominions in Eastern India ruled by

a powerful king, Jarasandha, and embracing many lands

besides Magadha, reflect the political conditions of the

fourth century B.C. The cumulative evidence of the

above arguments makes it difficult to avoid the conclusion

that the kernel of the Rdmdyana was composed i

before 500 B.C., while the more recent portions were

probably not added till the second century B.C. and

later.

This conclusion does not at first sight seem to be

borne out by the linguistic evidence of the Rdmdyana.

For the epic (drsha) dialect of the Bombay recension,

which is practically the same as that of the Mahdbhdrata,

both betrays a stage of development decidedly later

than that of Panini, and is taken no notice of by that

grammarian. But it is, for all that, not necessarily later

in date. For Panini deals only with the refined Sanskrit

of the cultured ($ishta)f that is to say, of the Brahmans,

310 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

which would be more archaic than the popular dialect of

wandering rhapsodists; and he would naturally have

ignored the latter. Now at the time of the Acoka inscriptions,

or hardly more than half a century later

than Panini, Prakrit was the language of the people

in the part of India where the Rdmdyana was composed.

It is, therefore, not at all likely that the

Rdmdyana, which aimed at popularity, should have

been composed as late as the time of Panini, when

it could not have been generally understood. If the

language of the epic is later than Panini, it is difficult

to see how it escaped the dominating influence of his

grammar. It is more likely that the popular Sanskrit

of the epics received general currency at a much earlier

date by the composition of a poem like that of Valmlki.

A searching comparative investigation of the classical

Kavyas will probably show that they are linguistically

more closely connected with the old epic poetry, and

that they deviate more from the Paninean standard than

is usually supposed.

In style the Rdmdyana is already far removed from

the naive popular epic, in which the story is the chief

thing, and not its form. Valmlki is rich in similes,

which he often cumulates ; he not infrequently uses the

cognate figure called rupaka or "identification" (e.g.

" footlotus

") with much skill, and also occasionally employs

other ornaments familiar to the classical poets, besides

approximating to them in the style of his descriptions.

The Rdmdyana, in fact, represents the dawn of the later

artificial poetry (kdvya), which was in all probability the

direct continuation and development of the art handed

down by the rhapsodists who recited Valmiki's work.

Such a relationship is distinctly recognised by the authors

THE TWO PARTS OF THE RAMAYANA 311

of the great classical epics (inahdkavis) when they refer

to him as the ddi-kavi or " first poet."

/The story of the Rdmdyana, as narrated in the five

genuine books, consists of two distinct parts. The first

describes the events at the court of King Dacaratha at

Ayodhya and their consequences. Here we have a

purely human and natural account of the intrigues of a

queen to set her son upon the throne. There is nothing

fantastic in the narrative, nor has it any mythological

background. If the epic ended with the return of

Rama's brother, Bharata, to the capital, after the old

king's death, it might pass for a historical saga. For

Ikshvaku, Dacaratha, and Rama are the names of celebrated

and mighty kings, mentioned even in the Rigveda,

though not there connected with one another in any way.

The character of the second part is entirely different.

Based on a foundation of myths, it is full of the marvellous

and fantastic. The oldest theory as to the significance

of the story was that of Lassen, who held that

it was intended to represent allegorically the first attempt

of the Aryans to conquer the South. But Rama is nowhere

described as founding an Aryan realm in the

Dekhan, nor is any such intention on his part indicated

anywhere in the epic. Weber subsequently expressed

the same view in a somewhat modified form. According

to him, the Rdmdyaria was meant to account for the

spread of Aryan culture to the South and to Ceylon.

But this form of the allegorical theory also lacks any

confirmation from the statements of the epic itself ; for

Rama's expedition is nowhere represented as producing

any change or improvement in the civilisation of the

South. The poet knows nothing about the Dekhan

beyond the fact that Brahman hermitages are to be

3 i2 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

found there. Otherwise it is a region haunted by the

monsters and fabulous beings with which an Indian

imagination would people an unknown land.

There is much more probability in the opinion of

Jacobi, that the Rdmdyana contains no allegory at all, but

is based on Indian mythology. The foundation of the

second part would thus be a celestial myth of the Veda

transformed into a narrative of earthly adventures according

to a not uncommon development. Slta can be

traced to the Rigveda, where she appears as the Furrow

personified and invoked as a goddess. In some of the

Grihya Sutras she again appears as a genius of the

ploughed field, is praised as a being of great beauty,

and is accounted the wife of Indra or Parjanya, the raingod.

There are traces of this origin in the Rdmdyana

itself. For Slta is represented (i. 66) as having emerged

from the earth when her father Janaka was once ploughing,

and at last she disappears underground in the arms

of the goddess Earth (vii. 97). Her husband, Rama,

would be no other than Indra, and his conflict with

Ravana, chief of the demons, would represent the Indra-

Vritra myth of the Rigveda. This identification is confirmed

by the name of Ravana's son being Indrajit,

"Conqueror of Indra," or Indracatru,

" Foe of Indra,"

the latter being actually an epithet of Vritra in the Rigveda.

Ravana's most notable feat, the rape of Slta, has

its prototype in the stealing of the cows recovered by

Indra. Hanumat, the chief of the monkeys and Rama's

ally in the recovery of Slta, is the son of the wind-god,

with the patronymic Maruti, and is described as flying

hundreds of leagues through the air to find Slta. Hence

in his figure perhaps survives a reminiscence of Indra's

alliance with the Maruts in his conflict with Vritra, and

MAIN STORY OF THE RAMAYANA

of the dog Sarama, who, as Indra's messenger, crosses

the waters of the Rasa and tracks the cows. Sarama

recurs as the name of a demoness who consoles Slta in

her captivity. The name of Hanumat being Sanskrit, the

character is probably not borrowed from the aborigines.

As Hanumat is at the present day the tutelary deity of

village settlements all over India, Prof. Jacobi's surmise

that he must have been connected with agriculture,

and may have been a genius of the monsoon, has some

probability.

The main story of theRdmayana begins with an account

"

of the city of Ayodhya under the rule of the mighty

King Dacaratha, the sons of whose three wives, Kaucalya,

Kaikeyl, and Sumitra, are Rama, Bharata, and Lakshmana

respectively. Rama is married to Slta, daughter

of Janaka, king of Videha. Dacaratha, feeling the

approach of old age, one day announces in a great

assembly that he desires to make Rama heir-apparent,

an announcement received with general rejoicing because

of Rama's great popularity. Kaikeyl, meanwhile,

wishing her son Bharata to succeed, reminds the king

that he had once offered her the choice of two boons,

of which she had as yet not availed herself. When

Dacaratha at last promises to fulfil whatever she may

desire, Kaikeyl requests him to appoint Bharata his

successor, and to banish Rama for fourteen years. The

king, having in vain implored her to retract, passes a

sleepless night. Next day, when the solemn consecration

of Rama is to take place, Dacaratha sends for his

son and informs him of his fate. Rama receives the

news calmly and prepares to obey his father's command

as his highest duty. Slta and Lakshmana resolve

on sharing his fortunes, and accompany him in his exile.

314 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

The aged king, overcome with grief at parting from his

son, withdraws from Kaikeyl, and passing the remainder

of his days with Rama's mother, Kaucalya, finally dies

lamenting for his banished son. Rama has meanwhile

lived peacefully and happily with Sita and his brother in

the wild forest of Dandaka. On the death of the- old

king, Bharata, who in the interval has lived with the

parents of his mother, is summoned to the throne. Refusing

the succession with noble indignation, he sets out

for the forest in order to bring Rama back to Ayodhya.

Rama, though much moved by his brother's request,

declines to return because he must fulfil his vow of exile.

Taking off his gold-embroidered shoes, he gives them to

Bharata as a sign that he hands over his inheritance to

him. Bharata returning to Ayodhya, places Rama's shoes

on the throne, and keeping the royal umbrella over them,

holds council and dispenses justice by their side.

Rama now sets about the task of combating the

formidable giants that infest the Dandaka forest and

are a terror to the pious hermits settled there. Having,

by the advice of the sage Agastya, procured the weapons

of India, he begins a successful conflict, in which he

slays many thousands of demons. Their chief, Ravana,

enraged and determined on revenge, turns one of his

followers into a golden deer, which appears to Sita.

While Rama and Lakshmana are engaged, at her request,

in pursuit of it, Ravana in the guise of an ascetic

approaches Sita, carries her off by force, and wounds

the vulture Jatayu, which guards her abode. Rama on

his return is seized with grief and despair; but, as he

is burning the remains of the vulture, a voice from

the pyre proclaims to him how he can conquer his

foes and recover his wife. He now proceeds to con#

LATER ADDITIONS TO THE RAMAYANA 315

elude a solemn alliance with the chiefs of the monkeys,

Hanumat and Sugrlva. With the help of the latter,

Rama slays the terrible giant Bali. Hanumat meanwhile

crosses from the mainland to the island of Lanka,

the abode of Ravana, in search of Slta. Here he finds

her wandering sadly in a grove and announces to her

that deliverance is at hand. After slaying a number of

demons, he returns and reports his discovery to Rama.

A plan of campaign is now arranged. The monkeys

having miraculously built a bridge from the continent

to Lanka with the aid of the god of the sea, Rama

leads his army across, slays Ravana, and wins back Slta.

After she has purified herself from the suspicion of infidelity

by the ordeal of fire, Rama joyfully returns with

her to Ayodhya, where he reigns gloriously in association

with his faithful brother Bharata, and gladdens his

subjects with a new golden age.

Such in bare outline is the main story of the Rdmayana.

By the addition of the first and last books Valmiki's

epic has in the following way been transformed

into a poem meant to glorify the god Vishnu. Ravana,

having obtained from Brahma the boon of being invulnerable

to gods, demigods, and demons, abuses his

immunity in so terrible a manner that the gods are reduced

to despair. Bethinking themselves at last that

Ravana had in his arrogance forgotten to ask that he

should not be wounded by men, they implore Vishnu

to allow himself to be born as a man for the destruction

of the demon. Vishnu, consenting, is born as Rama,

and accomplishes the task. At the end of the seventh

book Brahma and the other gods come to Rama, pay

homage to him, and proclaim that he is really Vishnu,

"the glorious lord of the discus." The belief here ex3

i6 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

pressed that Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu, the

highest god, has secured to the hero of our epic the

worship of the Hindus down to the present day. That

belief, forming the fundamental doctrine of the religious

system of Ramanuja in the twelfth and of Ramananda

in the fourteenth century, has done much to counteract

the spread of the degrading superstitions and impurities

of ^ivaism both in the South and in the North of India.

The Rdmdyana contains several interesting episodes,

though, of course, far fewer than the Mahdbhdrata. One

of them, a thoroughly Indian story, full of exaggerations

and impossibilities, is the legend, told in Book I.,

of the descent of the Ganges. It relates how the sacred

river was brought down from heaven to earth in order

to purify the remains of the 60,000 sons of King Sagara,

who were reduced to ashes by the sage Kapila when

his devotions were disturbed by them.

Another episode (i. 52-65) is that of Vicvamitra, a

powerful king, who comes into conflict with the great sage

Vasishtha by endeavouring to take away his miraculous

cow by force. Vicvamitra then engages in mighty penances,

in which he resists the seductions of beautiful

nymphs, and which extend over thousands of years,

till he finally attains Brahmanhood, and is reconciled

with his rival, Vasishtha.

The short episode which relates the origin of the

qloka metre is one of the most attractive and poetical.

Valmlki in his forest hermitage is preparing to describe

worthily the fortunes of Rama. While he is watching

a fond pair of birds on the bank of the river, the male

is suddenly shot by a hunter, and falls dead on the

ground, weltering in his blood. Valmlki, deeply touched

by the grief of the bereaved female, involuntarily utters

POPULARITY OF THE RAMAYANA 317

words lamenting the death of her mate and threatening

vengeance on the wicked murderer. But, strange to

tell, his utterance is no ordinary speech and flows in

a melodious stream. As he wanders, lost in thought,

towards his hut, Brahma appears and announces to the

poet that he has unconsciously created the rhythm of

the qloka metre. The deity then bids him compose in

this measure the divine poem on the life and deeds of

Rama. This story may have a historical significance,

for it indicates with some probability that the classical

form of the gloka was first fixed by Valmlki, the author

of the original part of the Rdmdyana.

The epic contains the following verse foretelling its

everlasting fame :

As long as mountain ranges stand

And riversflow upon the earth :

So long will this Rdmdyana

Survive upon the lips of men.

This prophecy has been perhaps even more abundantly

fulfilled than the well-known prediction of

Horace. No product of Sanskrit literature has enjoyed

a greater popularity in India down to the present day

than the Rdmdyana. Its story furnishes the subject of

many other Sanskrit poems as well as plays, and still

delights, from the lips of reciters, the hearts of myriads

of the Indian people, as at the great annual Rama

festival held at Benares. It has been translated into

many Indian vernaculars. Above all, it inspired the

greatest poet of mediaeval Hindustan, Tulsl Das, to compose

in Hindi his version of the epic entitled Ram

Charit Manas, which, with its ideal standard of virtue

and purity, is a kind of bible to a hundred millions of

the people of Northern India.

CHAPTER XI

KAVYA OR COURT EPIC

{Circa 200 B.C.-noo A.D.)

The real history of the Kavya, or artificial epic poetry of

India, does not begin till the first half of the seventh century

A.D., with the reign of King Harsha-vardhana of Thanecar

and Kanauj (606-648), who ruled over the whole of

Northern India, and under whose patronage Bana wrote

his historical romance, Harsha-charita, and other works.

The date of no Kavya before this landmark has as yet

been fixed with certainty. One work, however, which

is dominated by the Kavya style, the Brihatsamhitd of

the astronomer Varahamihira, can without hesitation be

assigned to the middle of the sixth century. But as to

the date of the most famous classical poets, Kalidasa,

Subandhu, Bharavi, Gunadhya, and others, we have no

historical authority. The most definite statement that

can be made about them is that their fame was widely

diffused by about 600 A.D., as is attested by the way in

which their names are mentioned in Bana and in an

inscription of 634 A.D. Some of them, moreover, like

Gunadhya, to whose work Subandhu repeatedly alludes,

must certainly belong to a much earlier time. The

scanty materials supplied by the poets themselves, which

might help to determine their dates, are difficult to utilise,

because the history of India, both political and social,

318

AGE OF KAVYA POETRY 319

during the first five centuries of our era, is still involved

in obscurity.

With regard to the age of court poetry in general,

we have the important literary evidence of the quotations

in Patanjali's Mahdbhdshya, which show that Kavya

flourished in his day, and must have been developed

before the beginning of our era. Several of these quoted

verses are composed in the artificial metres of the

classical poetry, while the heroic anushtubh qlokas agree

in matter as well as form, not with the popular, but with

the court epics.

We further know that Acvaghosha's Buddha-charita,

or "

Doings of Buddha," was translated into Chinese

between 414 and 421 A.D. This work not only calls

itself a mahdkdvya, or "

great court epic," but is actually

written in the Kavya style. Acvaghosha was, according

to the Buddhist tradition, a contemporary of King

Kanishka, and would thus belong to the first century

A.D. In any case, it is evident that his poem could not

have been composed later than between 350 and 400

A.D. The mere fact, too, that a Buddhist monk thus

early conceived the plan of writing the legend of Buddha

according to the rules of the classical Sanskrit epic

shows how popular the Brahmanical artificial poetry

must have become, at any rate by the fourth century

A.D., and probably long before.

The progress of epigraphic research during the last

quarter of a century has begun to shed considerable light

on the history of court poetry during the dark age embracing

the first five centuries of our era. Mr. Fleet's

third volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum contains

no fewer than eighteen inscriptions of importance

in this respect. These are written mostly in verse, but

3 20 SANSKRIT LITERATURE "

partly also in elevated prose. They cover a period of

two centuries, from about 350 to 550 A.D. Most of them

employ the Gupta era, beginning A.D. 319, and first used

by Chandragupta II., named Vikramaditya, whose inscriptions

and coins range from A.D. 400 to 413. A few

of them employ the Malava era, the earlier name of the

Vikrama era, which dates from 57 B.C. Several of these

inscriptions are praqastis or panegyrics on kings. An

examination of them proves that the poetical style prevailing

in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries did not

differ from that of the classical Kavyas which have been

preserved. Samudragupta, the second of the Gupta line,

who belongs to the second half of the fourth century,

was, we learn, himself a poet, as well as a supporter of

poets. Among the latter was at least one, by name

Harishena, who in his panegyric on his royal patron,

which consists of some thirty lines (nine stanzas) of

poetry and about an equal number of lines of prose,

shows a mastery of style rivalling that of Kalidasa and

Dandin. In agreement with the rule of all the Sanskrit

treatises on poetics, his prose is full of inordinately long

compounds, one of them containing more than 120

syllables. In his poetry he, like Kalidasa and others,

follows the Vidarbha style, in which the avoidance of

long compounds is a leading characteristic. In this

style, which must have been fully developed by a.d. 300,

is also written an inscription by Virasena, the minister

of Chandragupta II., Samudragupta's successor.

A very important inscription dates from the year 529

of the Malava (Vikrama) era, or A.D. 473. It consists of

a poem of no fewer than forty-four stanzas (containing

150 metrical lines), composed by a poet named Vatsabhatti,

to commemorate the consecration of a temple

KAVYA INSCRIPTIONS 321

of the sun at Dacapura (now Mandasor). A detailed

examination of this inscription not only leads to the conclusion

that in the fifth century a rich Kavya literature

must have existed, but in particular shows that the poem

has several affinities with Kalidasa's writings. The latter

fact renders it probable that Vatsabhatti, a man of

inferior poetic talent, who professes to have produced

his work with effort, knew and utilised the poems of

Kalidasa. The reign of Chandragupta Vikramaditya II.,

at the beginning of the fifth century A.D., therefore

seems in the meantime the most probable approximate

date for India's greatest poet.

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

(My humble salutations to  Brahmsree Sreeman  Arthur A. Macdonell  and also my humble greatulness to  great Devotees , Philosophic Scholars  for the collection)