The History of Antiquity, Vol. 4 (of 6)

180

Manu, 2, 6, 12, 18, 20.

181

Manu, 9, 67.

182

Manu, 7, 38-42, 8, 110.

183

Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 1, 268, 305.

184

Muir, loc. cit. 1, 297 ff.

185

Muir, loc. cit. 1, 307 ff.

186

Muir, loc. cit. 1, 157.

187

Muir, loc. cit. 1, 151, 200.

188

The participation of all the Gotras of the Brahmans, who claim to be derived from the Rishis, in the composition of the Rigveda, has been acutely and convincingly proved by M. Müller. "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. 461 ff.

189

A. Weber, "Z. D. M. G." 10, 389 ff.

190

Strabo, p. 717. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 840; 2, 215-223. M. Müller considers that the use of writing was known to the Indians before 600 B.C., but nevertheless is of opinion that the Veda was written down later, and allows no written work to the Indians before 350 B.C., the date at which he fixes Panini: "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. 311, p. 477 ff. Since, however, the Brahmanas date from between 800 and 600 B.C., which is M. Müller's opinion, it is hardly credible that controversies, and discussions, and examples, such as we find largely in the Brahmanas, could have received a fixed form if they merely referred to groups of poems retained in the memory only, though of considerable extent. That the Brahmanas existed in memory only seems to me to be quite impossible, considering their form. How could Çaunaka, about the year 400 B.C. as M. Müller supposes, write sutras to facilitate the understanding of the Brahmanas, if the latter were not in existence in writing? A. Weber has observed that in Panini the 60 pathas of the first nine books of the Çatapatha-Brahmana are quoted, and the 30 and 40 Adhyayas of the Aitareya and Kaushitaki-Brahmanas. In my opinion, the fact so acutely and convincingly proved by M. Müller – that the Rigveda is allotted to all the Gotras of the Brahmans, is strongly in favour of the composition of the Vedas in a written form; the tradition of the Gotras and the schools would never have given equal attention to all. If the Brahmanas, which cite the Vedas accurately in their present arrangement, and speak not only of syllables but of letters, arose between 800 and 600 B.C., it appears to me an inevitable conclusion that the Vedas must have existed in writing about the year 800 B.C.

191

Kaegi, "Rigveda," s. 3.

192

Madhusudana, in M. Müller, "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. 122; cf. p. 173, 467.

193

Roth, "Zur Literatur des Veda," s. 11. A. Weber, "Vorlesungen," s. 83, 84. Westergaard, "Aeltester Zeitraum der Ind. Gesch." s. 11. For the legends of the Puranas on the origin of the black and white Yajus, which allow the superior antiquity of the first, see M. Müller, loc. cit. p. 174, 349 ff.

194

Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 776.

195

A. Weber, "Vajasaneya-Sanhitæ specimen," p. 33.

196

"Rigveda," 1, 33, "Ye Açvins, come with the three and thirty gods."

197

Burnouf, "Commentaire sur le Yaçna," p. 34 ff., and below.

198

"Rigveda," 3, 9, 9; A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 9, 265. Yajnavalkya gives 33,000 gods; later we find 330 millions.

199

Manu, 3, 69-74, 141-148, 158, 187-238, 266-274, 282, 283. 4, 25, 26. 11, 7. Of. Roth in "Z. D. M. G." 8, 471 ff.

200

Manu, 5, 26-28; 54-56.

201

Manu, 3, 94-118.

202

Manu, 2, 101-103.

203

Manu, 11, 216.

204

Manu, 11, 212.

205

Manu, 11, 211.

206

Manu, 11, 108-116. Even to this day it is a custom in Bengal for a man whose cow has died to wander from house to house with a rope round his neck, to imitate the lowing of a cow, and without uttering a word go on begging until he has collected enough to buy a substitute.

207

Oder sich selbst entmannen, und seine Scham in der Hand südostwärts (d. h. dem Reiche Jama's zu) wandern, bis er todt hinstürzt. [Cf. Manu, 11, 104, 105.]

208

"Rigveda," 3, 62.

209

Manu, 3, 84 ff.

210

Manu, 2, 76-78; A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 2, 188, 305.

211

Der, welcher im Angesicht des Feuers, der Sonne, des Mondes, einer Cisterne, einer Kuh, eines Dvidscha, oder gegen den Wind urinirt, wird seiner ganzen Schriftgelehrsamkeit beraubt werden. Der Brahmane darf seinen Urin nicht lassen, und seine Excremente nicht niederlegen, weder auf den Weg noch auf Asche, noch auf eine Kuhweide, noch auf einen Ameisenhügel, noch auf den Gipfel eines Berges, noch in ein Loch, welches lebende Wesen bewohnen können, weder gehend noch stehend. Nachdem er die Erde mit Holz und Blättern und trockenen Kraütern bedeckt hat, kann er seine Bedürfnisse schweigend, in sein Gewand gehüllt und verhüllten Hauptes, verrichten. Bei Tage muss er dabei sein Gesicht nach Norden wenden, bei Nacht gegen Süden. Lassen sich die Himmelsgegenden in der Dunkelheit gar nicht unterscheiden, oder hat der Brahmane einen Ueberfall durch Räuber oder wilde Thiere zu befürchten, so kann er sein Angesicht dahin richten, wohin es ihm beliebt. Niemals aber darf er Excremente ansehen, weder seine eigenen noch fremde. [Manu, 4, 45 ff.]

212

The daily duties which the Brahmans have now to perform, are given in Belnos, "Daily Prayers of the Brahmins."

213

Manu, 1. 87-91; 2, 31, 32.

214

Muir, "Sanskrit Texts," 3, 149, 150.

215

Manu, 2, 69-76; 164-168; 173-181. On the reading of the Veda in the schools cf. Roth, "Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Veda," s. 36.

216

Manu, 2, 66, 67; 3, 1.

217

Manu, 6, 1-8, 22, 23, 76, 77.

218

Manu, 6, 69, 79-85, 96.

219

Manu, 6, 38.

220

Talboys Wheeler, "Hist. of India," 2, 247.

221

Müller, "Hist. of anc. Sansk. Lit." 133 ff; 200 ff. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2, 80; Johaentgen, "Gesetzbuch des Manu," s. 108, 163.

222

Manu, 2, 17, 18, 21-23, 24.

223

Manu, 3, 16; 8, 140. If Vasishtha and Çaunaka, as lawgivers, did not mean the old Rishis and, apparently, some traditional statements of theirs, but the first name referred to the Vasishtha-dharma-çastra, and thus to the teacher of Açvalayana, these quotations like many passages would be interpolations; and those of Çaunaka would not be very late, for M. Müller places this Çaunaka about 400 B.C. "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. 242 ff.

224

Manu, 8, 41, 46.

225

Manu, 1, 119; 12, 126.

226

There was a school of Brahmans, the Manavas, belonging to the Madhyandinas, whose text-book was the black Yajus. From the name Manava, Johaentgen concludes that it is the redaction of the Manava-school in which we have these laws, and that Manu's book is really the book of the Manavas. According to the tradition of the Indians, there ought to be three redactions of Manu, of which one numbers 4000 verses. The copies known as yet, and accessible to us, have only 2285 verses.

227

Jolly, "Z. Vgl. Richtsw., Die Systematik des indischen Rechts."

228

Cf. Stenzler, "Indische Studien," 1, 236, 246. Lassen, loc. cit. 12, 999.

229

Buddha's active life falls, as we shall see, in the period from 585 to 543 B.C. According to the sutras of the Buddhists, the Brahmanic law was then in full force; in fact in the districts mentioned in the text stricter rules were in force than those of the laws of Manu. The law is cited in the legends of the Buddhists, e. g. Burnouf, "Introduct. à l'histoire du Boud." p. 133; cf. Manu, 2, 233. It is true we possess the old sutras of the Buddhists in the form which they received in the third century B.C.; but Buddha's appearance presupposes the prevalence of the Brahmanic system, the supremacy of the doctrine and practice of it. In opposition to Buddhism the system of castes has not been softened by the Brahmans, but demonstrably strengthened. Moreover, the description of the legal and social conditions given in the sutras cannot be suspected to be mere inventions. The book of the law knows three Vedas only (cf. Manu, 4, 124); the sutras always quote four. In Manu the sentence of the Atharvan is mentioned once only (11, 33); hence the Atharva-veda seems to be later than Manu's law. In the Buddhist sutras the worship of Çiva is mentioned very frequently as in common use (Burnouf, loc. cit. p. 131); but the book of the law knows neither the name nor the god. From the accounts of the Greeks it is further clear that the worship of Vishnu was widely spread towards the end of the fourth century. This name the book contains only once, in the concluding part (12, 107-126), which has very little connection with the body of the book; and even here the word is used in the same sense as in the Rigveda (12, 121). While Ceylon was occupied by the Aryas about the year 500 B.C. and the southern Mathura was founded even earlier, the knowledge of places in Manu's law does not really go beyond the Vindhyas towards the south: the Odras and Dravidas are merely mentioned in a general enumeration of nations (10, 44), and the Andhras as an impure caste (10, 36, 49). The kingdoms of Mathura and Kerala would certainly have been mentioned if they had been in existence. The book of the law mentions the Nyaya (logic), the system of Mimansa, though only in the suspected conclusion (12, 109, 111), but not the Buddhists. It is true expressions occur, like liars (Nastika, 2, 11), revilers of the Veda (Vedanindaka), but we know that before Buddha the Sankhya doctrine denied both the gods and the Veda. I can, therefore, concede to Johaentgen (who places the book between 500 and 350 B.C.) that germs and analogies from the Sankhya doctrine occur in it, especially in the doctrine given in the introduction of the elements and properties (1, 74-78); this requires no alteration in the date. It ought to be observed that in the book of the law the kings and heroes of the Epos are not mentioned at all, but names of kings are found which occur in the Vedas: Vena, Nahusha, Pijavana, Sumukha, Nimi, Prithu (Manu, 7, 41, 42; 9, 44, 66); hence we may conclude that the book was brought to a close before the revision of the Epos from a priestly point of view was accomplished, or at any rate became a common possession of all. M. Müller's position, that the anushtubh çlòka was first used in the last centuries B.C., would affect only the form of the book, not the rules themselves; and Goldstücker is of opinion that this metre is of a far older date. However this may be, the metrical redaction of the Manava-dharma-çastra is not its original form: it is based upon a non-metrical Dharma-sutram. That the oldest Grihya-sutras and Çrauta-sutras are older than the first Dharma-sutra is allowed; but this does not prove the modern origin of the latter. A complete civilisation like that exhibited to us in the philosophy and grammar of the Indians before Buddha, by the sutras of the Buddhists and the accounts of the Greek, was certainly not without a systematic canon to answer the questions in life for the Brahmans. They required the power of the state, and could not leave it without a guide. It would be inconceivable how the condition of India, which Buddha finds, could have grown up without such a guide for princes and judges. Müller himself maintains that the distinction of Çruti and Smriti existed before Buddha; that it was the Çruti already containing Mantras and Brahmanas, which gave the impulse to his reforms. "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. 78 ff,; p. 86, 107, 135. If Çaunaka wrote, as Müller concludes, about the year 400 b. c., his sutras for the elucidation of the understanding of the Brahmanas, and Açvalayana wrote the sutras of ritual about the year 350, and Panini his grammar, far more important Dharma-sutras must have been written for the Brahmans before this time, and thus the grounds given above and taken for the contents of the book are in my judgment supported. From these contents, and these essential precepts, two or three prohibitions might be made to count for a later origin (Manu, 4, 102, 114; 8, 363), precepts aimed at Buddhism, but which may also have had other heterodoxy in view. There is also the mention of the name of Yavana. The Yavanas are mentioned among the nations who have sunk owing to omission of the sacred customs, along with the Odras, Dravidas, Kambojas, Duradas, Çakas and Pahlavas (10, 44). Supposing that this list came from an older time, the Yavanas Çakas and Pahlavas may easily have been interpolated at a later period for the sake of completeness. In any case it is clear that the laws of Manu are the oldest book of law in India in their contents and theory of law, and that the material in it is in part older than the material in the Dharma-sutras which have come down to us; Jolly, loc. cit. It is only in regard to the law of debt that Jolly seems to find older regulations in the book of Gautama than in that of Manu. "Abh. M. A." 1877, s. 322.

230

Manu, 1, 35.

231

Manu, 1, 1-78, 119; 12, 126. The four periods of the world are mentioned in Kaushitaki-Brahmana, in M. Müller, "Hist. of Sansk. Lit." p. 412.

232

Manu, 7, 4-11.

233

Manu, 5, 96.

234

Manu, 9, 304-309.

235

Manu, 7, 8.

236

Manu, 9, 301, 302.

237

e. g. Manu, 7, 2.

238

Manu, 7, 82-86.

239

Manu, 7, 26, 27, 31; 8, 175; 9, 251.

240

Manu, 8, 1-3, 23-26; 61-70.

241

Manu, 8, 88.

242

Manu, 8, 75, 82, 89-99.

243

Manu, 8, 113.

244

Manu, 8, 110, 114-116. A. Weber, "Ind. Stud." 9, 44, 45.

245

In Yajnavalka, 2, 95, we find: "The balance, fire, water, poison, and lustral water are the judgment of the gods for purification; these are applied in great charges, if the accuser is prepared for a fine." The later law knows nine divine judgments; it adds the corns of rice, the hot piece of gold, the ploughshare, and the lot. Brahmans, women, children, old men, sick persons, and the weak are to be tested by the balance; the Kshatriya by the fire, the Vaiçya by water, the Çudra by poison. In the test of the balance (Yama weighed the souls on scales, supr. p. 137), the point was that the person to be tested should be found lighter on the second weighing than on the first; in the test of fire, a piece of red-hot iron, covered with leaves, must be carried seven paces forward; each burn was a mark of guilt. The red-hot ploughshare must be licked by the accused person; if his tongue was not burnt he was acquitted; a piece of gold must be picked out of boiling oil and the hand must show no marks. The taking of a particular poison which ought to have no evil effects on the accused, and the drinking of lustral water poured over the images of the gods, which was not to be followed by any evil effects, and the piece of gold in the boiling oil are later additions. According to an Upanishad to the Samaveda, guilt or innocence is proved by the grasping a red-hot axe; a burn is a proof of guilt. Stenzler, in "Z. D. M. G." 9, 662 ff. A. Weber, "Vorles." s. 792.

246

Manu, 8, 11, 21.

247

Manu, 9, 276. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 413.

248

Burnouf, loc. cit. p. 408. Yet Aryas are found also, Burnouf, loc. cit. p. 365.

249

Manu, 9, 237, 239-242.

250

Manu, 9, 275.

251

Manu, 9, 232.

252

Manu, 9, 279.

253

Manu, 8, 344-347.

254

Manu, 9, 261-268, 278.

255

Manu, 9, 276.

256

Manu, 9, 277.

257

Manu, 8, 341, 342.

258

Manu, 7, 130.

259

Manu, 8, 398; 7, 131.

260

Manu, 7, 118, 138.

261

Manu, 7, 62.

262

Manu, 7, 129.

263

Manu, 7, 133.

264

Bohlen, "Indien," 2, 46.

265

Megasthenes, in Strabo, p. 708 and below.

266

Manu, 7, 54.

267

Manu, 7, 58, 59.

268

Ramayana, ed. Schlegel, 1, 7.

269

Manu, 7, 114.

270

Manu, 7, 116-118.

271

Manu, 7, 123.

272

Manu, 7, 118-120.

273

Manu, 7, 124.

274

Manu, 6, 69-75.

275

Manu, 7, 126. The Indians learned to coin money from the Greeks after the year 300 B.C.; till that time their coinage consisted of weighed pieces of copper, silver, and gold, with the mark of the weight as a stamp. The pana is a copper weight of this kind; to this day the name denotes copper money in India. The drona is a weight of about 30 pounds. Cf. Lassen, 2, 574.

276

Manu, 7, 37.

277

Manu, 7, 218.

278

Manu, 7, 222.

279

Manu, 7, 224-226.

280

Manu, 7, 101-103.

281

Manu, 7, 154-158.

282

Manu, 7, 63-68.

283

Manu, 7, 107, 158-163, 198.

284

Manu, 7, 205, 210.

285

Manu, 7, 90-93.

286

Ramayana, 2, 52.

287

Ramayana, 2, 1-17.

288

Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 166, 416, 417. The ritual for the consecration of kings, according to the Aitareya-Brahmana, is given in Colebrooke, "Asiatic Researches," 8, 408 ff. Cf. Schlegel, "Ind. Bibliothek," 1, 431, and Lassen, "Alterth." 2, 246, 427.

289

Grimm, "Rechtsalterthümer," s. 156 ff.

290

Manu, 3, 150 ff.

291

Manu, 8, 229-260.

292

Mill, "History of British India," 2, 66. Montgom. Martin, "Political Constitution of the Anglo-Eastern Empire," p. 271.

293

Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 242, 245, 247.

294

e. g. "Ramayana," 1, 13, 72, ed. Schlegel.

295

Manu, 8, 380, 381.

296

Manu, 2, 127.

297

Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2, 80.

298

Manu, 9, 322.

299

Manu, 10, 80-117.

300

Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 139.

301

Manu, 3, 12-15, 44; 9, 22-24, 85-87.

302

Manu, 3, 16-19; 10, 5, 6.

303

Manu, 10, 15.

304

Manu, 10, 46.

305

Manu, 10, 48.

306

Manu, 10, 8.

307

Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 820, n. 2.

308

Manu, 10, 49.

309

Manu, 10, 48.

310

Manu, 10, 15; (above, p. 15).

311

Manu, 10, 51-56; (above, p. 168).

312

Manu, 10, 67.

313

Manu, 10, 43-45.

314

Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 1, 396, 439, 534.

315

Sherring, "Hindu Castes and Tribes," 7-9; 120, 247.

316

"Açvalayana Çrauta-Sutra," book 12, in M. Müller, "Hist. of Sanskrit Lit." p. 381.

317

Manu, 3, 27-38, 160, 171; 9, 100, 127 ff. The analogous series in the Açvalayana in A. Weber, "Indische Studien," 5, 284.

318

Açvalayana, Yajnavalkya, Apastamba in M. Müller, loc. cit. p. 378 ff.

319

A. Weber, "Indische Studien," 5, 343, 400, 407.

320

Strabo, p. 709. Arrian, "Ind." 17.

321

"Açvalayana," 1, 63, in A. Weber, loc. cit.

322

Manu, 9, 88-96.

323

Açvalayana says: "There are many different customs in different districts and towns; we only give what is common." Haas and A. Weber in the "Indische Studien," 5, 281.

324

Weber, loc. cit. 5, 219, 236.

325

A. Weber, loc. cit. 5, 201.

326

Haas, loc. cit. 5, 322, cp. however, p. 358.

327

A. Weber, loc. cit. 5, 214.

328

The first part of the sentence is from the latest part of the Rigveda (10, 184), the second from the Atharvaveda, 2, 30; 5, 25. in A. Weber, "Ind. Studien," 5, 218, 227, 234.

329

Manu, 9, 147-149; 3, 6-11; 55-62; 9, 2-7, 77-83.

330

Manu, 8, 371-376.

331

Manu, 7, 77, 78.

332

Rigveda, 10, 40 in Aurel Mayr, "Indisches Erbrecht," s. 79.

333

Manu, 9, 59-69, 144-146. Aurel Mayr, loc. cit. 3, 104.

334

Manu, 5, 157-162.

335

Manu, 5, 167-169.

336

e. g. "Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 2, 3, 31.

337

Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 238.

338

Aurel Mayr, "Indisches Erbrecht," s. 160 ff.

339

Aurel Mayr, loc. cit. s. 56.

340

Manu, 9, 104-220. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 239. In the sutras we are told of a division in a merchant's family, after the brothers have united; in this the oldest retains the house and lands, the other the shops, the third the stock, beside land. Burnouf, loc. cit. p. 242.

341

Aurel Mayr, loc. cit. 3, 167, ff.

342

Manu, 2, 29-34.

343

Above, p. 252. M. Müller, "Hist. of Anc. Sanskrit Lit." p. 380, ff.

344

Sherring, loc. cit. p. 122.

345

Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 2, 80.

346

M. Müller, "Hist. Anc. Skt. Lit." p. 469 ff.

347

"Rigveda," 1, 162, according to M. Müller's translation, loc. cit. p. 553 ff.

348

"Çatapatha-Brahmana," 13, 3, 1, 1, in M. Müller, loc. cit. p. 37 ff.

349

"Ramayana," ed. Schlegel, 1, 11 ff. A. Weber, "Vorles." s. 1262.

350

"Vishnu-Purana," ed. Wilson, p. 470, 471. Lassen, "Ind. Alterth." 22, 319, 346, 963, 1001.

351

M. Müller has placed the period of the origin of the Brahmanas in the period from 800 to 600 B.C. – very successfully, so far as I can see. The collection of the Atharvan will belong to the end of this period, but not merely on the internal ground of the increase in the ceremonial brought about with and through the Brahmanas. The book of the law consistently cites the triple Veda; the sutras of the Buddhists and the Epos as consistently cite four. That the magic formulas of Atharvan and Angiras are quoted in Manu 11, 33, and not those of the Atharvaveda, seems also to prove that the latter collection was not made when the citations were written. Cp. A. Weber, "Vorl." s. 1652.