indicate the honor and regard in which they were held. It would be scarcely fair to compare ancient customs with the institutions of modern civilization; but the historian of India, who has studied the literature of the ancient Hindus, will have no hesitation in asserting that never in the most polished days of Greece or Rome were women held in higher regard in those countries than they were in India three thousand years ago.

As we have said before, early marriage and child marriage were still unknown in the Epic Period, and we have numerous allusions to the marriage of girls at a proper age. Widow marriage was not only not prohibited, but there is distinct sanction for it; and the rites which the widow had to perform before she entered into the married state again are distinctly laid down. As caste was still a pliable institution, men belonging to one caste not unoften married widows of another, and Brâhmans married widows of other castes without any scruple. "And when a woman has had ten former husbands, not Brâhmans, if a Brâhman then marries her, it is he alone who is her husband." Atharva Veda, V, 17, 8.

Polygamy was allowed among the Hindus as among many other ancient nations, but was confined in India to kings and wealthy lords as a rule. Modern readers, who would judge harshly of ancient Hindu civilization from the prevalence of this custom, should remember that polygamy was nearly universal among the weal

thy people of all nations in ancient times, and that, to take some instances, Alexander the Great and his successors Lysimachus, Selucus, Ptolemy, Demetrius, Pyrhus and others were all polygamists! Polyandry, we need hardly say, was unknown in Aryan India : "For one man has many wives, but one wife has not many husbands at the same time. "-Aitareya Brâhmana, III, 23.

There is in the Satapatha Brâhmana (I, 8, 3, 6) a curious passage prohibiting marriages among blood relations to the third or fourth generation: "Hence from one and the same man spring both the enjoyer (the husband) and the one to be enjoyed (the wife)"; "for now kingsfolk live sporting and rejoicing together saying, in the fourth (or) third man (generation) we unite." The rule of prohibition became more strict in later times.

rare.

Women in India have ever been remarkable for their faithfulness and their duteous affection towards their husbands, and female unfaithfulness is comparatively It would appear that Hindu priests like Roman Catholic priests found a way to discover the most hidden secrets of frail women, and the following rule reads like a rule of Roman Catholic confessional:

"Thereupon the Pratiprasthâtri returns (to the place where the sacrificer's wife is seated). When he is about to lead the wife away, he asks her? With whom holdest thou intercourse'? Now when a woman who belongs to

one (man) carries an intercourse with another, she undoubtedly commits (a sin) against Varuna. He therefore asks her, lest she should sacrifice with a secret pang in her mind; for when confessed, the sin becomes less, since it becomes truth: this is why he thus asks her. And whatever (connexion) she confesses not, that indeed will turn out injurious to the relatives." (Satapatha Brâhmana, II, 5, 2, 20).

CHAPTER VII.

LAW, ASTRONOMY, AND THE PROGRESS OF LEARNING. THE punishment of criminals and a proper administration of the law are the foundations on which all civilized societies are built, and we find a warm appreciation of law in some passages in the Brâhmana literature: Law is the kshatra (power) of the Kshatra, therefore there is nothing higher than the law. Thenceforth even a weak man rules a stronger with the help of the law as with the help of a king. Thus the law is what is called the true. And if a man declares what is true, they say he declares the law; and if he declares the law, they say he declares what is true. Thus both are the same." (Brihadâranyaka I, 4, 14.) No nobler definition of law. has been discovered by all the jurists in the world.

The judicial procedure was still however crude, and as among other ancient nations, criminals were often tried by the ordeal of fire.

"They bring a man hither whom they have taken by the hand, and they say: 'He has taken something, he has committed theft.' (When he denies, they say): 'Heat the hatchet for him.' If he committed the theft, then he. .. grasps the heated hatchet, he is burnt and he is

killed. But if he did not commit the theft, then he

.

grasps the heated hatchet, he is not burnt, and he is delivered." (Chhândogya, VI, 16.) Murder, theft, drunkenness and adultery are generally the offences alluded to.

The first elementary knowledge of the astronomical science is discernable in the Rig Veda itself. The year was divided into twelve lunar months, and a thirteenth or intercalary month was added to adjust the lunar with the solar year (I, 25, 8.) The six seasons of the year were named Madhu, Mâdhava, Sukra, Suchi, Nabha and Nabhasya, and were connected with different gods (II, 36.) The different phases of the moon were observed and were personified as deities. Râkâ is the full moon, Sinîvâli is the last day before the new moon, and Gungu is the new moon (II, 32). The position of the moon with regard to the Nakshatras or the lunar mansions is also alluded to (VIII, 3, 20), and some of the constellations of the lunar mansions are also named in X, 85, 13; but these hymns were probably composed at the time of the compilation of the Rig Veda which falls within the Epic Period, when the lunar zodiac was finally settled.

As might be expected, there was a considerable progress made in the Epic Period. Astronomy had now come to be regarded as a distinct science, and astronomers by profession were called Nakshatra Darsa and Ganaka. (Taittirîya Brahmana IV, 5, and White