INDIA.

reatest Chieftain present at the HISTORY OF being a respectful gift, such as PART II. r milk and honey, which the Nature of the -tomed to offer to an idol, or to Argha. ridegroom on his wedding day. ariance with the mythic account

Discrepancy be

tween the legend

n which the Rajas are said to of the Argha
rifice; but this contradiction can- pavilions.

e anything, as it is derived from
A stronger suspicion arises from

ry

and the mythic account of the

Conformity of

the story to the

ring to Krishna, is perfectly in accordance with traditions refercounts of the assemblies of the traditions refer

but not to the

ring to the de

Bharata.

parallel in the traditionary ac-cendants of ils of the Kshatriyas of the royal which indeed are generally chaservance of order and law. Then uch custom, as that of presenting the ancient ri

Presentation of

the Argha not to be found in

tual of the Ra

st distinguished Chieftain at such jasúya.
cars in the ancient ritual of the
rved in the Aitareya Brahmanam.
the Rajasúya was a ceremony ex-
priority of the Raja who performed
it the custom of offering the Argha
bect or act of worship belonged to
od, and was essentially a form of
istic to that of sacrifice.

That

The Argha at

tributed to the Buddhist

period.

Reason why the

Yadava tradition of the death

led at some festival of the Yádavas of Sisupála is

grafted on to the

dition.

unlikely, and more than one such Kshatriya tranoticed hereafter in the traditionary

religious myth,

Shna; and the only question that re- The legend, a son why the Brahmanical compilers

barbarous incident upon the traditions

yas.

representing the
to Siva,

opposition of
Vishnu
and enforcing
the worship of
Krishna as an
incarnation of

le legend, however, as it appears in the Vishnu.

INDIA.

PART II.

HISTORY OF Mahá Bhárata, is leavened with references to the divine nature of Krishna, as an incarnation of Vishnu; whilst Sisupála is said to have been born with three eyes, a fable which at once converts him into a representative or incarnation of Siva. For a long period the opposition of the worship of Vishnu to the worship of Siva desolated India with persecutions and civil wars; and the ancient legend has been converted into a myth to indicate both the opposition of the two deities, and the superior might of Vishnu. The Argha was a token of worship. By denouncing the presentation of the Argha to Krishna, Sisupála The chakra of virtually denounced the worship of Vishnu; and his extraordinary death is thus treated as a manifestation of the divine wrath of Krishna, as an incarnation of Vishnu, of whom the chakra is a distinguished symbol.8

Krishna an em

blem of the

wrath of

Vishnu.

(4.) Jealous wrath of Duryodhana.

Duryodhana's

The jealous wrath of Duryodhana forms the conclusion of the story of the Rajasúya; but whilst the envy of the Kaurava Chieftain at beholding the success of his rival kinsmen is perfectly intelligible, his anger is said to have been excited by circumstances which can only be regarded as fictions of a later age. This conclusion will at once be obvious from the story, which is as follows:

When the sacrifice had been fully accomplished, Duryodsurprise at the hana entered the place where it had been performed, and saw very many beautiful things that he had never beheld in his own Raj at Hastinápur. Amongst other wonders was a

marvels at Indra-prastha.

Mistakes a

square of crystal for real water.

• The chakra, or sharp-edged quoit, was the peculiar weapon of Vishnu, and is invariably placed in one of his four hands. At a subsequent period the chakra was converted into the prayer-wheel of the Buddhists. The subject however belongs more directly to the history of the religion of the Hindús, under which head it will be considered in a future volume.

INDIA. PART II.

of clear water

crystal.

square made of black crystal, which appeared to the eye of HISTORY OF Duryodhana to be clear water; and as he stood on the margin he began to draw up his garments lest they should be wetted, and then throwing them off he plunged in to bathe, and was struck violently on the head against the crystal. Then he was very much ashamed and left that place immediately; and coming to a lake of clear water, he thought it Mistakes a lake was black crystal and boldly walked into it, and would have for one of been drowned had he not been dragged out by the servants of Raja Yudhishthira. Then the servants brought him new Excites the clothes, and he walked very warily; and the four brethren Pandavas. of Yudhishthira saw him, and began to laugh at his walking. Duryodhana was then very wroth, but he would not look at them, and he said nothing to them, and he sought to come away from that place; and it so happened that he tried to Strikes his head go out at a false door, and struck his head very violently in door. trying to pass quickly through it. After this he found his way out of the palace and returned to the city of Hastinápur, and told his father, the Maháraja, all that had occurred.

mirth of the

against a false

fiction borrowed

of the Mussul

It is somewhat singular that the foregoing story The foregoing is not only a fiction of a later age, but seems to have from the Koran been borrowed from the Mussulmans. A legend is mans. preserved in the Koran that when the Queen of Sheba paid a visit to Solomon, she was conducted by the Hebrew King into a room floored with glass, upon which she thought that the glass was water and lifted up her robe. That the early colonists at Indra-prastha should have arrived at such a high pitch of art as the story would seem to imply ap

• Koran, chap. xxvii. Sale's translation. According to Arab commentators the legs of the Queen of Sheba were covered with hair like those of an ass; and Solomon was anxious to prove the fact by ocular demonstration. Subsequently the Queen is said to have renounced idolatry, and to have professed Islam; and Solomon thought of marrying her, but would not do so until the hair had been removed. See Sale's notes on the passage.

INDIA.

Possibility of

the legend originating from

HISTORY OF pears wholly incredible; but that the unscrupulous PART II. compilers should have borrowed the idea from the early Mussulmans is by no means unlikely; although it is possible that the fable might naturally arise in the mind of any imaginative people on first beholding a commodity like glass, which bears so strong a resemblance to solid water.

an independent

source.

CHAPTER VII.

THE GAMBLING MATCH AT HASTINÁPUR.

INDIA.

Nemesis.

jealous of the

Rajasuya, plots
Pandavas of

to dispossess the

THE celebration of the Rajasúya had raised the HISTORY OF fortunes of the Pándavas to the height of human PART II. prosperity; and at this point the universal concep- The avenging tion of an avenging Nemesis, that humbles the proud and casts down the mighty, finds full expression in the Hindú Epic. The grandeur of the Rajasúya, Duryodhana, and the sovereignty which it involved, excited the jealousy of Duryodhana, and revived the old feud between the Kauravas and Pándavas. Duryodhana plotted with his brother Duhsásana and his uncle Sákuni, how they might dispossess the Pándavas of their newly acquired territory; and at length they Proposal to indetermined to invite their kinsmen to a gambling ing match. match, and seek by underhand means to deprive Yudhishthira of his Raj.

their new Raj.

vite the Pándavas to a gamb

special vice of

The specialities of Hindú gambling are worthy Gambling the of some attention. The passion for play, which has the Kshatriyas. ever been the vice of warriors in times of peace, becomes a madness amidst the lassitude of a tropical clime; and more than one Hindú legend has been Hindú tradipreserved of Rajas playing together for days, until astrous results. the wretched loser has been deprived of everything he possessed and reduced to the condition of an exile or a slave. But gambling amongst the Hindús does chance brought

tions of its dis

Specialities of

Hindú dice:

skill as well as

into play.