passed in Europe without a dreadful war, that period is marked in history as a period of exceptional bliss. And even in our own times, with the exception of a few countries advantageously situated, all the nations of Europe are armed to the teeth; all the individuals, by millions, of great kingdoms and empires, are eternally prepared for war, ready on a week's notice to leave their homes and occupations and march to the frontier! Civilization has done much for the cause of humanity; but civilization has not yet converted the sword into the scythe, or enabled man to reap the results of his peaceful industry without a struggle to the death against his neighbour.

CHAPTER V.

SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE-THE POSITION OF

WOMEN.

It was by such continuous wars against the aborigines of the soil that the Aryans at last conquered the whole of the Punjab from the Indus to the Sarasvatî, and from the mountains probably to the sea.

As might be expected, we have frequent allusions to the Indus and its five tributaries. Hymn 75 of the tenth Mandala is a remarkable instance, and we will give our readers a translation of the entire hymn :—

"I. O ye streams! The bard celebrates your excellent prowess in the house of the worshipper. They flow in three systems, seven streams in each system. The prowess of the Indus is superior to that of all

others.

"2. O Indus! when you ran towards lands rich in food, Varuna opened out the way for you. You flow over a spacious path on the land. You shine above all flowing rivers.

"3. The mighty sound of the Indus ascends above the earth to the sky! She flows with mighty force and in radiant form. Her mighty sound is heard as if

rains are descending from the clouds with great noise. The Indus comes roaring like a bull.

4. As cows bring milk to their calves, even thus, O Indus, the other streams come sounding to you with their waters! As a king marches with his forces to battle, even thus you march in front with two systems of rivers flowing by your side!

*

"5. O Gangâ! O Yamunâ and Sarasvatî and Sutadru (Sutlej) and Parushnî (Ravi)! share this my praise among you! O river combined with Asiknî (Chinab)! O Vitastâ (Jhilam)! O Ârjîkîyâ (Beya), combined with Susomâ (Indus)! hear my words.

"6. O Indus! first thou flowest united Trishtâmâ with Susartu and Rasâ and the Svetî. You unite Krumu (Kurum river) and Gomatî (Gomal river) with Kubhâ (Cabul river) and Mehatnu. You proceed together with these rivers.

"7. The irresistible Indus proceeds straight, white and dazzling in splendour! She is great, and her waters fill all sides with mighty force. Of all the flowing rivers, none is flowing like her! She is wild like a mare, beautiful like a well developed woman!

"8. The Indus is ever young and beautiful. She is rich in horses, in chariots, and in garments; she is rich

* i.e., the tributaries coming from Cabul in the west, and the tributaries flowing through the Punjab in the east, as named in the two following

verses.

in gold and is beauteously clad! She is rich in corn and in wool and in straw, and has covered herself with sweet flowers.

"9. The Indus has fastened horses to her easy The great

chariot, and has brought food therein to us. ness of the chariot isextolled as mighty; it is irresistible and great and rich in its fame!"

The hymn is remarkable for its power and its beauty, and remarkable also for the extensive vision of the poet who, as Professor Max Müller says, takes in at one swoop three great river-systems, those flowing from the north-west into the Indus, those joining it from the north-east, and in the distance the Ganges and the Jumna with their tributaries. "It shows the widest geographical horizon of the Vedic poets, confined by the snowy mountains in the north, the Indus and the range of the Suleiman mountains in the west, the Indus or the sea in the south, and the valley of the Jumna and Ganges in the east. Beyond that the world, though open, was unknown to the Vedic poets."

The rivers of the Punjab are sometimes spoken of together as the " seven rivers," and it is explained in one place (VII, 36, 6), that the seven rivers have the Indus for their mother and the Sarasvatî as the seventh. The Indus and its five branches still water the primeval home of the early Hindus, but the Sarasvatî which was the most sacred of ancient rivers and was worshipped even in that remote time as a goddess, has since

ceased to flow. Antiquarians state that it has been lost in the deserts of Rajputana.

There is one somewhat curious passage in which the Rishi Visvamitra, encumbered with the chariots and horses and other rewards bestowed on him by king Sudâs, finds a difficulty in crossing the confluence of the Beya and the Sutlej, and pours out an entire hymn (III, 33) to appease the anger of the roaring flood! We have seen that this Sudâs was a mighty conqueror and subjugated ten surrounding kings, and was the victor of numerous battles which form the theme of some spirited hymns. This mighty conqueror seems also to have been a patron of learning and religion, and liberally rewarded the sages of the houses of Visvâmitra and of Vasistha alike. As a consequence, there was jealousy between these two priestly houses to which we will allude further on.

While references to the rivers of the Punjab are thus frequent, allusions to the Ganges and the Jumna are rare. We have already translated a hymn in which both those rivers are named.

The only other passage in the Rig Veda where the Ganges is alluded to, is VI, 45, 31, where the high banks of the Ganges are the subject of a simile. The famed cattle in the pasture-fields along the banks of the Jumna are alluded to in V, 52, 17.

Thus the land of the five rivers was the earliest home of the Aryan settlers in India; and it would seem that