CHAPTER II.

WARS WITH THE ABORIGINES.

THE history of the first Epoch, which we have called the Vedic Age, is the history of the conquest of the Punjab from the aborigines. And although we have no connected account left to us of the main incidents of this war of centuries, yet the Rig Veda—the collection of hymns composed in this early age-is full of stirring passages and martial songs, which enable us to realize the warlike ardour of the Hindu colonists and conquerors of the Punjab. They cleared the primeval forests, beat back or exterminated the dark-skinned children of the soil, widened the limits of cultivation and of civilization, and spread Hindu dominion and Hindu religion from generation to generation, and from century to century. The story of the extermination of barbarians by civilized races is much the same in ancient and in modern times; and the banks of the Indus and its tributaries were cleared of their aborigines eighteen hundred years before Christ, much in the same way in which the banks of the great Mississippi have been cleared, eighteen hundred years after Christ, of the many brave and warlike Indian tribes, who lived, and ruled, and hunted in the primeval woods of America. The white man came with a higher civilization, with a purer religion but also with a greed of conquest; he cleared trackless and impenetrable forests, built fair villages and towns on the sites of fastnesses and swamps, and turned a dark and unexplored continent

into haunts of civilized men, and the seat of purer forms of religion, society, and government. The dark man had no place in this new world; he perished, struggling bravely but vainly in his last fastness, or he left the land and fled to wilder and remoter regions, as yet untrod by the white conquerors.

Indra, the rain-giving sky, is also the martial deity of the conquering Hindus, and in the hymns addressed to this deity we find numerous invocations for help against the dark aborigines called the Dasyu or the Dasa, who fought with all the obstinacy and skill of barbarians. A few such passages will give us a true and realistic idea of this obstinately contested war of centuries.

“Indra, invoked by many, and accompanied by his fleet companions, has destroyed by his thunderbolt the Dasyus and Simyus who dwelt on earth, and distributed the fields to his white worshippers. The thunderer makes the sun shine, and the rain descend.”—Rig Veda, I 100, 18.

“Indra with his thunderbolt, and full of vigour, has destroyed the towns of the Dasyus and wandered freely. O holder of the thunderbolt! be thou cognizant of our hymns, and cast thy weapon against the Dasyu, and increase the vigour and the fame of the A'rya.”—Rig Veda, I. 103, 3.

“Indra protects his A'rya worshipper in wars. He who protects him on countless occasions protects him in all wars. He subdues for the benefit of (Aryan) men, the races who do not perform sacrifices. He flays the enemy of his dark skin, kills him, and reduces him to ashes. He burns those who are harmful and cruel." -Rig Veda, I. 130, 8.

"O Destroyer of foes! collect together the heads of these marauding troops, and crush them with thy wide foot! thy foot is wide.

"O Indra! destroy the power of these marauding troops. Throw them into the vile pit, the vast and vile pit !

"O Indra! thou hast destroyed three times fifty such troops! People extol thus thy deed; but it is nothing to thy prowess!"-Rig Veda, I. 133, 2-4.

"O Indra! Rishis still extol thy ancient deed of prowess. Thou hast destroyed many marauders to put an end to the war; thou hast stormed the towns of enemies who worship no gods; thou hast bent the weapons of enemies who worship no gods."-Rig Veda, I. 174, 7, 8.

It will be seen from hymns like these that the natural feeling of hostility between the A'rya or Aryan conquerors and the Dasyu aborigines was further embittered by difference in religion and religious rites. The Aryan believed in the "bright gods" of Nature, in the sky, the sun, the fire, and the storms; he sacrificed to them daily, and wherever he conquered, he carried with him his worship of Nature's deities and his cherished sacrificial rites. The dark-skinned Dasyu of the Punjab believed in no such gods, and performed no sacrifices, and this impiety and irreligion brought death and destruction on him, according to the belief of the sacrificing Hindu. Again and again the Hindu appealed to his martial deity, and confidently invoked his aid against men who were without faith and without rites.

Here and there we come across the names of wily barbarians, who continued the unequal combat with obstinacy, concealed themselves in fastnesses or in swamps, and harassed and plundered the Hindu settlers when they could.

"Kuyava gets scent of the wealth of others and plunders it. He lives in water and pollutes it. His wives bathe in the stream; may they be drowned in the depths of the Sifá river.

“Ayu lives in water in a secret fastness. He flourishes amidst the rise of waters. The rivers Anjasí, Kulisí, and Vírapatní protect him with their waters.”—Rig Veda, I. 104, 3, 4.

"The fleet Krishna lived on the banks of the Ansumatí river with ten thousand troops. Indra of his own wisdom became cognizant of this loud-yelling chief. He destroyed the marauding host for the benefit of (Aryan) men.

“Indra said, “I have seen the fleet Krishna. He is lurking in the hidden region near the Ansumatí, like the sun in a cloud. O Maruts! I desire you to engage in the fight and destroy him.'

"The fleet Krishna then appeared shining on the banks of the Ansumatí. Indra took Brihaspati as his ally, and destroyed the fleet and godless army."-Rig Veda, VIII. 96, 13-15.

How clearly these brief but realistic passages describe the running fight which was kept up by the retreating barbarians with the invincible conquerors. Renowned black warriors with their families and tribes concealed themselves in pathless woods, and in swamps and morasses made impregnable by the rise of rivers. From these unexplored wilds, they obtained information of the property and wealth and cattle of the white men living in fair villages; suddenly they proclaimed their presence by their uncouth yells, and in a moment the work of destruction was done, and the fleet plunderers disappeared as suddenly as they came. The colonists would not tamely bear such attacks; and often a raid by the aborigines was followed by a more determined and destructive expedition by the white settlers. Forests were explored and cleared; swamps and rivers were crossed; strong fastnesses were taken ; and the offending chief and his “fleet and godless army" were at last hunted down and exterminated. It was by such reprisals that new forests were explored and

brought under cultivation, river after river was crossed, settlement after settlement arose on the sites of swamps and woods, and the great Aryan nation marched eastward until they fairly colonized the whole of the Punjab.

We know that the Spaniards owed their successes in America to a great extent to their horses, animals previously unknown to the American Indians, and regarded by them with a strange terror. It would seem that the war-horses of the Hindus inspired the black aborigines of India with equal terror. The following passage from a hymn to Dadhikrá, or the deified war-horse, will be read with interest :

"As people shout and raise a cry after a thief who has purloined a garment, even so the enemies yell and shout at the sight of Dadhikrá! As birds make a noise at the sight of the hungry hawk in his descent, even so the enemies yell and shout at the sight of Dadhikrá, careering in quest of plunder, of food and cattle."

"Enemies fear Dadhikrá, who is radiant and destructive as a thunderbolt. When he beats back a thousand men, he becomes excited and uncontrollable in his strength."-Rig Veda, IV. 38, 5, 8.

Equally terrible to the aboriginal warriors was the wardrum of the Hindus, of which we find an account in hymn VI. 47. “The drum sounds loud to proclaim to all men (the hour of battle). Our leaders have mounted their steeds and have formed in order. O Indra! let our warriors who fight in chariots win victory."

In another remarkable hymn many of the weapons of war then used by the Hindus have been described, and the composition therefore has a historical value.

I. "When the battle is nigh, and the warrior marches in his armour, he appears like the cloud! Warrior, let not thy person be pierced; be victorious; let thy armour protect thee.