INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF Sixth rule provided that no man should take up arms against another without giving him previous warning. The seventh rule provided that when two warriors were fighting together, a third warrior Non-observance should not interfere. But even these three latter rules, which were fully recognized as a standard of morality by the compilers of both the Mahá Bhárata and Rámáyana, were by no means rigidly observed, either by the warriors who fought in the war of Bhárata, or by the great hero of the Rámáyana. of the law by the ancient heroes. CHAPTER XII. THE EIGHTEEN DAYS OF THE GREAT WAR. INDIA. war of Bharata. THE great war of Bhárata was now on the eve HISTORY OF of breaking out. Every preliminary had been ar. PART II. ranged for the commencement of hostilities, and the Eve of the great rival parties were apparently thirsting for the battle. Nothing, save perhaps religious animosity, appears to have been wanting to render the war a ferocious and deadly struggle. They were near kinsmen fighting for an inheritance. The jealousy and hatred of years was rankling in their hearts. The Kauravas were in possession of the Raj, and had succeeded for a long period in excluding their kinsmen from any share in the possession. The Pandavas, with the exception of their timid elder brother, were like starving men fighting for the means of subsistence; and to some extent they may have been actuated by a desire to revenge the affront inflicted upon Draupadí. At the same time it must be remarked, that throughout the narrative there is not a single reference to nationality or patriotism, religion or senti ment. of the war. The war was neither a contest against a Mean character foreign invader, nor an internal struggle against a tyrant, nor a loyal rising in favour of a deposed ruler, nor a crusade in behalf of religion, nor even an aggression for the sake of conquest. It was a INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF Sixth rule provided that no man should t against another without giving him pre ing. The seventh rule provided that warriors were fighting together, a thi Non-observance should not interfere. But even these t rules, which were fully recognized as a s morality by the compilers of both the Mal and Rámáyana, were by no means rigidly either by the warriors who fought in th Bhárata, or by the great hero of the Rámá of the law by the ancient heroes. The INDIA. PART II. Diffuse dialogues. scriptions of charges all resembling each dealing with this portion of the Mahá Bhárata, it HISTORY OF has been deemed expedient to eliminate a considerable mass of details from the story of the war. dialogues have been cut away, excepting where they really possessed a dramatic value and illustrated the individual character of the speakers. The descrip- Wearisome detions of combats and charges, which in many cases combats and are mere repetitions, have been omitted to a very other. considerable extent; and only those incidents and scenes have been selected which seemed likely to convey an approximate idea of the real nature and extent of the contest. In a like manner the didactic Brahmanical discourses, which are evidently the product of a Brahmanical age, have been excluded from the text and reserved for future discussion. discourses. tion of the ex Before, however, proceeding with the task of General descripselection, it may be convenient to specify more cluded matter. particularly the character and scope of the matter which has been laid aside; especially as such a description will serve to indicate more clearly the heterogeneous elements which compose the national Epic. In the first place, it may be remarked that the war is said to have lasted eighteen days; and though it was probably included within a much more restricted period, yet still for the present the term of eighteen days may be accepted. The armies, how- Mythical referever, which were engaged on either side, are said to armies engaged have included such vast numbers of forces that the account may be safely rejected as altogether incredible. Princes from the remotest quarters of India, the mythical ancestors of the Rajas who reigned during the period when the modern version of the Mahá Bhárata appears to have been composed, are said to have ranged themselves either on the side of the Kaura ences to the vast on either side. INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF mere war to the knife between near kinsmen for the sake of land; and it was but little redeemed by those ideas of right and justice which occasionally elevate warriors into heroes, and convert the bloody conflict of armies into a final and solemn appeal to the God of battles. Form in which the history of the war has extent to which Kshatriya tra dition has been enlarged and interpolated by the Brahman ical compilers. The form, however, in which the history of this been preserved. War has been preserved is most extraordinary. In Extraordinary, the original Kshatriya tradition the story was probably told in a series of war-ballads, narrating at some length the combats between the more celebrated warriors, and the many turns in the progress of the struggle. But in the more modern Brahmanical version of the Mahá Bhárata these simple incidents have been spun out to a tedious and bewildering length. Puerile dialogues have been introduced at every fluctuation of the fortunes of the war, apparently not so much to add to the stock of facts as to impress the leading events more deeply upon the memories of an uncultured audience. Then, again, this portion of the narrative has been interpolated in all directions with miraculous feats of arms, and other supernatural details, as well as with prolix discourses upon moral and religious subjects, which are utterly at variance with the spirit of the ancient Necessity for tradition. The result has been that whilst the childeliminating a large portion of ish conversations and weird-like scenes and inciorder to render dents have even to the present day a strange the matter in the narrative available for his torical purposes. fascination for the dreamy and credulous intellect of the Hindú, the wearisome string of senseless talk, extravagant fables, and irrelevant disquisitions, is so foreign to European tastes and ideas, and so wanting in historical significance, as to be positively nauseous to enlightened readers. Accordingly, in |