INDIA. PART I.

ter of ancient

seats of a less rare and costly material; gorgeous HISTORY OF palaces for rude forts of mud or stone. Again, the humour of incidents is often heightened by the interpolation of telling words in the dialogue; or the interest of the plot is increased by the introduction of new but trivial details. Such additions, however, Simple characare both allowable and natural in a primitive age, Hindu historiwhen the historian is little more than a narrator of stories, and is appreciated, not for his critical powers, or his impartiality, or his rigid adherence to abstract truth, but for the interest he excites and the amusement he conveys. Such history should of course Ballad histories. be accepted, not as a sober narrative or unimpassioned disquisition, to be perused in silence and calmness in the study, but rather as a romantic ballad to be chaunted with modulated voice before a large and mixed audience of men and women of all ages, with uncultured minds probably, but with every passion of the human heart in full and healthy play. Under such circumstances the reader Excitement of or chaunter is rewarded, not by calm approval, but by tears and laughter, and by the excitement which is perceptible in lips and eyes. These conditions of Hindú historical literature will be fully indicated in the progress of the narrative; but if the European reader would really identify himself with a Hindú audience, he must enter the covered court-yard of a wealthy zemindar during a marriage-feast, or approach a shady tree on the evening of some village festival. Then when the gods have been worshipped, Circumstances and the dancing-girls are weary, he may watch the portions of the appearance of a Bráhman with his sacred palm-leaves, read. and soon perceive that the ears of young and old are all open to the ancient song.

the audience.

under which

are

chaunted or

PART II.

THE MAHÁ BHÁRATA.

HISTORY OF

INDIA. PART II.

Opening scene of the Maha Bh

Bhá

pur, near the

modern Delhi.

CHAPTER I.

FAMILY TRADITIONS OF THE HOUSE OF BHÁRATA.

THE opening scene of the Mahá Bhárata is laid at the city of Hastinapur, on the banks of the upper course of the river Ganges, and about sixty miles to the north-east of the modern city of Delhi. At the present day scarcely a vestige remains, for in the progress of ages the river has changed its course, and carried away nearly every trace of the ancient site; but local tradition has preserved the name, and still points to the spot which has been immortalized Significance of in the national Epic. This geographical position outpost of the is one which well deserves attention. Hastinapur was situated in the northern part of India, at a distance of more than a thousand miles from the eastern frontier on the Bengal side, but scarcely more than three hundred miles from the western frontier on the side of the Indus. Accordingly it may be regarded as an outpost of that great Aryan race, who are generally supposed to have made their appearance in the Punjab, or land of the five rivers,

the site as an

Aryaus.

INDIA. PART II.

at some period of remote antiquity, and to have HISTORY OF gradually pushed their way towards the east along the fertile valleys of the Jumná and Ganges.

de- Approximate de

scription of Hastinápur.

The city and palace at Hastinápur are not scribed with any exactitude of detail; and yet so many ancient remains still exist in India, bearing a general resemblance to each other, that it would be by no means difficult to depict Hastinápur as it probably appeared at the date when the events recorded in the Mahá Bhárata actually occurred. A The City. nondescript population, which may have comprised cultivators, herdsmen, mechanics, retainers, and petty shopkeepers, seem to have dwelt in an assemblage of huts, or houses, constructed of mats, bamboos, mud, or bricks, which was dignified by the name of the city. The palace was very likely built after a The Palace. similar fashion, though on a larger scale, and with some pretensions to strength. Probably it was a rude quadrangular building, having men's apartments on one side, and women's apartments on the other; whilst the third side was devoted to the kitchens and household servants. The fourth side, The Council the most important of all, formed the gateway or entrance Hall, so common in Hindú palaces; and in this Hall, which was open to all comers, the Raja sat in Council with his kinsmen and subordinate Chieftains, and administered rude patriarchal justice, or discussed affairs of State, such as wars, marriages, alliances, or other business connected with the Raj. In the neighbourhood of the city, lands were pro- The Raj. bably cleared and cultivated, and herds of cattle The Raj of Bháwere pastured; all of which either belonged to Rája, or to Chieftains subordinate to the Rája. This simple community was known as the

the

Raj

Hall.

rata, an Aryan

empire, estab

lished by the hero Bharata amidst an abo

riginal popula

INDIA.

of the Raj.

HISTORY OF Of Bharata, after the name of the great hero Bhárata, who is said to have first established an empire in India. It may be called Aryan, because its traditions have been preserved in the Sanskrit language; and because, as will be perceived hereafter, its institutions resembled those of other branches of the Aryan race; and the Raj itself had probably been wrested from an aboriginal population by the Aryan Doubtful extent invaders. The extent of the Raj is doubtful, and the frontiers probably advanced or receded according to the prowess or otherwise of the reigning Raja, either against the aboriginal tribes in the neighbourhood, or against an enemy or rival of the same race. Judging from the homely character of some of the details, the rule of the Raja could scarcely have extended many miles from the city of Hastinapur; but these details are mingled with references to far distant localities, and general allusions to conquest and empire. Such references, however, are probably only the exaggerations of bards and eulogists, intended to gratify the later Rajas; but, if true, they would carry the frontiers of the Raj of Bhárata over all or the greater portion of the Doab, or that fertile territory which lies between the Ganges and the Jumná, and extends from the foot of the Himalayas to the junction of the two rivers. At a later period the exploits of Bhárata and the greatness of his empire were celebrated with even a larger amount of laudation and extravagance. He was a Mahá Raja, or great Raja, or Raja of Rajas; and his Raj included all the kingdoms of the earth. Indeed, so famous became the name of times to Bhárata, that to this day the whole continent of

Name of Bha

rata applied in

all India.

INDIA. PART II.

India is known to the Hindús by the name of Bhá- HISTORY OF rata-varsha, or the country of Bhárata. How far these assertions are to be believed will be best gathered from the following history.

racter of the more ancient

royal house of

precede the

great war.

The ancient traditions of the royal house of Mythical chaBhárata might have been expected to throw some traditions of the light upon the early history of the Aryan conquest Bharata, which of India. Unfortunately, however, the attention main story of the of the Kshatriya bards was directed not so much to the Aryan conquest of the aborigines of the country, as to a desperate fratricidal struggle which took place between two rival branches of the family. Early legends have been preserved of the Rajas who reigned before the breaking out of this great war, but they have been reduced to such a mythical condition by Kshatriya bards and Brahmanical compilers as to be generally worthless for the purposes of history. Thus the Kshatriya bards declared that the Rajas of Bhárata were descended from the Moon, and that one of their number conquered Indra, the ruler of the gods; whilst the Brahmanical compilers, not to be behindhand in the work of supernatural laudation, admit both statements, but add that the Moon itself was begotten by one of their own Rishis or saints, and that the Raja only conquered Indra by the aid of Bráhmans. The authentic tradition which the groundwork of the Mahá Bhárata really commences with Raja Dhritarashtra, whose sons, known rashtra. as the Kauravas, engaged in a long and bitter rivalry with their cousins the Pándavas, who were the sons of Raja Pándu; and it was this rivalry between the Kauravas and Pándavas that ultimately

Kshatriya myth descended from

that the Rajas of Bharata were

the Moon.

Brahmanical begotten by an

myth that the Moon itself was

ancient Rishi.

the forms Commencement

of the main story of the Mahá

Bharata with

Raja Dhrita