INDIA. PART II. full-grown man. This son was Vyása, and he told HISTORY OF his mother that he was going off to the jungle to spend his whole life in devotion; but that if ever she required his services, she had only to wish for his presence, upon which he would instantly appear before her. Accordingly, he went away, whilst his mother found that her fishy smell was changed to a delicious perfume, and that she was a virgin as before. Subsequently, she became the wife of Raja Sántanu under the circumstances described; and when Raja Vichitra-vírya died childless, she thought of Vyása, who immediately appeared and did her bidding. diffi dú belief in Brahmanical fa bles, when represented as re ligious mystebeen not be doubted has piety. ries, which can without im This preposterous myth is not only a manifest Tenacity of Hinfalsehood, but its whole tone is so widely different from that of the Kshatriya tradition, that it is cult to understand how the two could have possibly amalgamated. In the present place it been shorn of many details still more extravagant and repulsive, but it may yet serve as a fair specimen of the Brahmanical fables which abound in the Mahá Bhárata. At the same time this fable, like every other which has found its way into the sacred books, is implicitly believed by the Hindús. The ignorance of the masses as regards the actual geography of India has enabled the Brahmanical compilers to ignore the vast tract of land, at least a thousand miles, which intervenes between the native country of Vyása and the city of Hastinapur; whilst the gross superstition of the people has induced them to give the most entire and unquestioning credence to any fable or miracle however monstrous, provided Frequent aponly that it be represented as a religious mystery, mythical Vyása, or as an article of faith which cannot be doubted supernatural without heinous sin. It must, however, be remarked Maha Bharata. pearances of the in an abrupt or manner, throughout the INDIA. HISTORY OF that having once foisted Vyása upon the royal house PART II. of Bhárata, the sage becomes ever afterwards an Kshatriya tradi tion of the cus heirs to a de ceased Raja, compared with the story of Ruth. important personage in the Epic. He is introduced upon all occasions, and generally in a supernatural manner, for the purpose of giving wearisome advice of a Brahmanical character, or relating some tedious and unmeaning legend. Practically, however, his presence is never necessary to the story, and the Brahmanical interpolations respecting this sage can be generally eliminated from the Kshatriya tradition without any mutilation of the more authentic legend.14 By rejecting the myth that Vyása was the son tom of raising up of the dowager Rání, and accepting the hypothesis that some other kinsman performed the duty of raising up sons to the deceased Raja, the original Kshatriya tradition is at once perceptible, and moreover displays a truthfulness to human nature which throws a new light upon the barbarous custom with which it is connected. In the beautiful story of Ruth this barbarity does not appear, for her husband had been 14 One circumstance may seem to militate against the hypothesis which refers Vyása to eastern Bengal, namely, that there are apparently two countries entitled Matsya, one being in the neighbourhood of Jeypur in Rajputana. The word Matsya, however, signifies "fish," and not only is eastern Bengal eminently a fish country, but local tradition is very strong in favour of its being the birth-place of Vyása. These conditions are not to be found in the neighbourhood of Jeypur. It may, however, be remarked that the difficulty of approximating to truth in geographical identification is somewhat appalling. Local tradition will sometimes settle the question, but even that is frequently untrustworthy, for the local traditions of widely distant countries will often refer to one and the same event. Thus it will appear hereafter that in the case of a country named Viráta, local tradition is equally strong in Guzerat and Bengal; and the capital of this perplexing country is still called Matsya. As for the Pundits, I have found men who may be almost said to have the whole of the Mahá Bharata and Rámáyana by heart, and yet with the exception of a few prominent places they are utterly ignorant of the geography. I once put a few questions of the kind to a very learned Pundit through a third party, and his reply was most significant. "I am sixty-five years of age," he said, "and I was never asked for such information before." INDIA. PART II. dead a long time, and the poor widow was anxious HISTORY OF to find favour in the eyes of Boaz. But for a widow to be compelled to receive a strange man whilst her grief is still fresh, is foreign to the womanly instinct; and this disinclination is exquisitely illustrated in the case of the two widows of the deceased Raja. The aspect of the kinsman is said to have excited Significant tertheir alarm,15 and thus has given rise to the curious widows. tradition of the birth of the blind Dhritarashtra, the pale Pándu, and the slave-born Vidura. ror of the Pándu, and The fourth legend, which refers to Pándu and 4th, Legend of Dhritarashtra, is chiefly of importance as bringing their respective sons upon the stage, who were known as the Pándavas and Kauravas, and who ultimately engaged in the famous war which forms the leading subject in the Mahá Bhárata. The narrative is as follows: three sons chitra-vírya. When Dhritarashtra, the blind, and Pándu, the pale, Education of the and Vidura, the slave-born, were yet boys, they were care- raised up to Vifully educated by their uncle Bhíshma; and they were taught the rules of good conduct and polite manners, and practised in the use of arms. And Bhishma ruled the Raj Pandu installed until they should be grown; but when they were of sufficient age, Dhritarashtra was set aside because of his blindness, and Vidura because his mother was a slave. So the Raj fell to Pándu, and he was installed by Bhishma as Raja of Bhárata. Raja of Bharata. two wives, Kunti After this Raja Pándu married two wives, and their Pándu marries names were Kuntí and Mádrí. Now Kuntí was the and Mádrí. adopted daughter of Kunti-bhoja, a Raja who dwelt in the Vindhya mountains, but her real father was Sura, the grandfather of Krishna, and she became the wife of Pándu 15 In the Maha Bhárata the terror of the women is said to have been excited at the gaunt aspect of the sage, who was wasted away with religious austerities. The details are related at great length and with much simplicity in the poem, but are not suited to the tastes of European readers. INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF because she had chosen him at her Swayamvara. But Mádrí was a lady of the Madra country, whom Bhishma had bought with money and jewels from her brother Salya, who was the Raja of Madra. Reign of Pándu. Pándu devotes himself to hunt layas. Five sons of This Raja Pándu was a mighty warrior, and he carried on many wars, and conquered many countries, so that in his time the Raj was as great and glorious as it was in the old time of Raja Bhárata.1 But Raja Pándu was much ing in the Hima- given to hunting, and when some years had passed away, he went away with his two wives to the Himalaya mountains, and spent his time in hunting deer. And five sons were as the Pandavas. born to Pándu, namely, three sons by Kuntí, and two sons by Mádrí, and their names were Yudhishthira, Bhíma, Pandu cursed by Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. And it so happened that one day Pándu shot his arrows at two deer; and the two deer were a Bráhman sage and his wife, who were accompanying together in that form; and the Bráhman assumed his proper shape and cursed Pándu that he should die in Takes the vow of the embrace of one of his wives. Then Pándu took the celibacy. vow of a Brahmachari, and gave all his wealth and goods to the Brahmans, and lived apart from his wives; but one day he sought the company of his wife Mádrí, and he perished in her arms according to the curse of the sage. a sage. His death. Mádri, younger wife of Pandu, burns herself alive with her When Raja Pándu had thus died, his sons built up a funeral pile on which to burn his dead body, and his wives dead husband. disputed together as to which of them should burn herself alive upon the pile with the dead body of the Raja. And Kuntí said: "I must burn myself with the Raja, for I was his first wife and his chief Rání." But Mádrí said :-" Not so, for I was his favourite wife, and he died out of love for me." And the Bráhmans who were there listened to all that the two women had to say, and they decided in 16 Raja Pándu is said to have undertaken a great campaign, which would have extended his empire over all Hindustan, from the Punjab to Bengal, and from the slopes of the Himalayas to the Vindhya mountains. The Dasarnas, or people of the Ten Forts, cannot be identified, though Professor H. H. Wilson thinks that they may be found in the neighbourhood of Chattisgurh in the Central Provinces (see Wilson's note, Vishnu Purána, p. 186). Magadha corresponds to the modern Bahar. Mithila is the modern Tirhút, famous as the birth-place of Sítá, the wife of Ráma. favour of Mádrí. So Mádrí laid herself upon the pile by HISTORY OF the side of her dead husband, and perished in the fire. INDIA. PART II. Reign of the áshtra. hári. hári blindfold Meantime the blind Dhritarashtra had reigned over the Raj of Bhárata, and he sent messengers to the Raja of blind DhritarGándhára, to ask for his daughter Gándhári in marriage. And the Raja of Gándhára betrothed his daughter to Marries GándDhritarashtra ; and when the damsel heard that she was story of Gandbetrothed to a blind husband, she tied a handkerchief ing herself. round her eyes, so that she might be like unto her lord. And Gándhári was conducted to the city of Hastinapur by her brother Sakuni, and married to Raja Dhritarashtra, according to the ordinance; and thenceforward she ever remained blindfold in the presence of her husband Dhritaráshtra. And Gándhári gave birth to a family of sons, who Sons of Dhritar were named Kauravas after their ancestor Kuru, to distin- Gandhári, guish them from the Pándavas or sons of Pándu. And the Kauravas. eldest of her sons was named Duryodhana, and the chief among his brethren was Duhsásana. áshtra and known as the Hastinapurwith Pándu. Now when Mádrí had burnt herself with the dead body Kunti arrives at of Raja Pándu, Kuntí, the first wife, set out to return to the the five sons of city of Hastinápur, accompanied by the five sons of the deceased Raja. And Kuntí and the five Pándavas arrived at the palace, and told the blind Raja Dhritarashtra how his brother Pándu had perished in the jungle. And Raja Dhritaráshtra wept much at hearing of the death of his brother, and duly performed the funeral rites of bathing and offering oblations of water to the soul of the deceased Pándu. And he received his sister-in-law Kuntí and the five Pándavas The Pandavas with much affection, and they took up their abode in his palace with the palace along with Gándhári and the Kauravas. dwelt in the Kauravas. foregoing legend Dhritarashtra. The foregoing legend demands some considera- Review of the tion. Pándu is said to have obtained the Raj, be- of Pandu and cause his elder brother was blind, and his younger brother was the son of a slave girl, a Súdra. But it seems difficult to understand why the younger brother should have been taken into consideration. The white complexion of Pándu was however re- Pandu, probably a leper. |