Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

A History of Sanskrit Literature c17.s1: Ethical Poetry

A History of Sanskrit Literature c17.s1

Language
English

Ethical Poetry

c17.s1.1

The proneness of the Indian mind to reflection not only produced important results in religion, philosophy, and science; it also found a more abundant expression in poetry than the literature of any other nation can boast. Scattered throughout the most various departments of Sanskrit literature are innumerable apophthegms in which wise and noble, striking and original thoughts often appear in a highly finished and poetical garb.

c17.s1.2

These are plentiful in the law-books; in the epic and the drama they are frequently on the lips of heroes, sages, and gods; and in fables are constantly uttered by tigers, jackals, cats, and other animals. Above all, the *Mahābhārata*, which, to the pious Hindu, constitutes a moral encyclopædia, is an inexhaustible mine of proverbial philosophy. It is, however, natural that ethical maxims should be introduced in greatest abundance into works which, like the *Panchatantra* and *Hitopadeça*, were intended to be handbooks of practical moral philosophy.

c17.s1.3

Owing to the universality of this mode of expression in Sanskrit literature, there are but few works consisting exclusively of poetical aphorisms. The most important are the two collections by the highly-gifted Bhartṛihari, entitled respectively *Nītiçataka*, or "Century of Conduct," and *Vairāgya-çataka*, or "Century of Renunciation." Others are the *Çānti-çataka*, or "Century of Tranquillity," by a Kashmirian poet named Çilhaṇa; the *Moha-mudgara*, or "Hammer of Folly," a short poem commending the relinquishment of worldly desires, and wrongly attributed to Çaṅkarāchārya; and the *Chāṇakya-çataka*, the "Centuries of Chāṇakya," the reputed author of which was famous in India as a master of diplomacy, and is the leading character in the political drama *Mudrārākshasa*. The *Nīti-manjarī*, or "Cluster of Blossoms of Conduct," which has not yet been published, is a collection of a peculiar kind. The moral maxims which it contains are illustrated by stories, and these are taken exclusively from the *Rigveda*. It consists of about 200 *çlokas*, and was composed by an author named Dyā Dviveda who accompanied his work with a commentary. In the latter he quotes largely from the *Bṛihaddevatā*, Sāyaṇa on the *Rigveda*, and other authors.

c17.s1.4

There are also some modern anthologies of Sanskrit gnomic poetry. One of these is Çrīdharadāsa's *Saduktikarṇāmṛita*, or "Ear-nectar of Good Maxims," containing quotations from 446 poets, mostly of Bengal, and compiled in 1205 A.D. The *Çārṅgadhara-paddhati*, or "Anthology of Çārṅgadhara," dating from the fourteenth century, comprises about 6000 stanzas culled from 264 authors. The *Subhāshitāvalī*, or "Series of Fine Sayings," compiled by Vallabhadeva, contains some 3500 stanzas taken from about 350 poets. All that is best in Sanskrit sententious poetry has been collected by Dr. Böhtlingk, the Nestor of Indianists, in his *Indische Sprüche*. This work contains the text, critically edited and accompanied by a prose German translation, of nearly 8000 stanzas, which are culled from the whole field of classical Sanskrit literature and arranged according to the alphabetical order of the initial word.

c17.s1.5

Though composed in Pāli, the *Dhammapada* may perhaps be mentioned here. It is a collection of aphorisms representing the most beautiful, profound, and poetical thoughts in Buddhist literature.

c17.s1.6

The keynote prevailing in all this poetry is the doctrine of the vanity of human life, which was developed before the rise of Buddhism in the sixth century B.C., and has dominated Indian thought ever since. There is no true happiness, we are here taught, but in the abandonment of desire and retirement from the world. The poet sees the luxuriant beauties of nature spread before his eyes, and feels their charm; but he turns from them sad and disappointed to seek mental calm and lasting happiness in the solitude of the forest. Hence the picture of a pious anchorite living in contemplation is often painted with enthusiasm. Free from all desires, he is as happy as a king, when the earth is his couch, his arms his pillow, the sky his tent, the moon his lamp, when renunciation is his spouse, and the cardinal points are the maidens that fan him with winds. No Indian poet inculcates renunciation more forcibly than Bhartṛihari; the humorous and ironical touches which he occasionally introduces are doubtless due to the character of this remarkable man, who wavered between the spiritual and the worldly life throughout his career.

c17.s1.7

Renunciation is not, however, the only goal to which the transitoriness of worldly goods leads the gnomic poets of India. The necessity of pursuing virtue is the practical lesson which they also draw from the vanity of mundane existence, and which finds expression in many noble admonitions:—

c17.s1.8

*Transient indeed is human life,*
*Like the moon's disc in waters seen:*
*Knowing how true this is, a man*
*Should ever practise what is good* (*Hit.* iv. 133).

c17.s1.9

It is often said that when a man dies and leaves all his loved ones behind, his good works alone can accompany him on his journey to his next life. Nor should sin ever be committed in this life when there is none to see, for it is always witnessed by the "old hermit dwelling in the heart," as the conscience is picturesquely called.

c17.s1.10

That spirit of universal tolerance and love of mankind which enabled Buddhism to overstep the bounds not only of caste but of nationality, and thus to become the earliest world-religion, breathes throughout this poetry. Even the *Mahābhārata*, though a work of the Brahmans, contains such liberal sentiments as this:—

c17.s1.11

*Men of high rank win no esteem*
*If lacking in good qualities;*
*A Çūdra even deserves respect*
*Who knows and does his duty well* (xiii. 2610).

c17.s1.12

The following stanza shows how cosmopolitan Bhartṛihari was in his views:—

c17.s1.13

“*This man’s our own, a stranger that*”:
*Thus narrow-minded people think.*
*However, noble-minded men*
*Regard the whole world as their kin.*

c17.s1.14

But these poets go even beyond the limits of humanity and inculcate sympathy with the joys and sorrows of all creatures:—

c17.s1.15

*To harm no living thing in deed,*
*In thought or word, to exercise*
*Benevolence and charity:*
*Virtue’s eternal law is this* (*Mahābh.* xii. 5997).

c17.s1.16

Gentleness and forbearance towards good and bad alike are thus recommended in the *Hitopadeça*:—

c17.s1.17

*Even to beings destitute*
*Of virtue good men pity show:*
*The moon does not her light withdraw*
*Even from the pariah’s abode* (i. 63).

c17.s1.18

The *Panchatantra*, again, dissuades thus from thoughts of revenge:—

c17.s1.19

*Devise no ill at any time*
*To injure those that do thee harm:*
*They of themselves will some day fall,*
*Like trees that grow on river banks.*

c17.s1.20

The good qualities of the virtuous are often described and contrasted with the characteristics of evil-doers.

c17.s1.21

This, for instance, is how Bhartṛihari illustrates the humility of the benevolent:—

c17.s1.22

*The trees bend downward with the burden of their fruit,*
*The clouds bow low, heavy with waters they will shed:*
*The noble hold not high their heads through pride of wealth;*
*Thus those behave who are on others' good intent* (i. 71).

c17.s1.23

Many fine thoughts about true friendship and the value of intercourse with good men are found here, often exemplified in a truly poetical spirit. This, for instance, is from the *Panchatantra*:—

c17.s1.24

*Who is not made a better man*
*By contact with a noble friend?*
*A water-drop on lotus-leaves*
*Assumes the splendour of a pearl* (iii. 61).

c17.s1.25

It is perhaps natural that poetry with a strong pessimistic colouring should contain many bitter sayings about women and their character. Here is an example of how they are often described:—

c17.s1.26

*The love of women but a moment lasts,*
*Like colours of the dawn or evening red;*
*Their aims are crooked like a river's course;*
*Inconstant are they as the lightning flash;*
*Like serpents, they deserve no confidence* (*Kathās.* xxxvii. 143).

c17.s1.27

At the same time there are several passages in which female character is represented in a more favourable light, and others sing the praise of faithful wives.

c17.s1.28

Here, too, we meet with many pithy sayings about the misery of poverty and the degradation of servitude; while the power of money to invest the worthless man with the appearance of every talent and virtue is described with bitter irony and scathing sarcasm.

c17.s1.29

As might be expected, true knowledge receives frequent and high appreciation in Sanskrit ethical poetry. It is compared with a rich treasure which cannot be divided among relations, which no thief can steal, and which is never diminished by being imparted to others. Contempt, on the other hand, is poured on pedantry and spurious learning. Those who have read many books, without understanding their sense, are likened to an ass laden with sandal wood, who feels only the weight, but knows nothing of the value of his burden.

c17.s1.30

As the belief in transmigration has cast its shadow over Indian thought from pre-Buddhistic times, it is only natural that the conception of fate should be prominent in Sanskrit moral poetry. Here, indeed, we often read that no one can escape from the operation of destiny, but at the same time we find constant admonitions not to let this fact paralyse human effort. For, as is shown in the *Hitopadeça* and elsewhere, fate is nothing else than the result of action done in a former birth. Hence every man can by right conduct shape his future fate, just as a potter can mould a lump of clay into whatever form he desires. Human action is thus a necessary complement to fate; the latter cannot proceed without the former any more than a cart, as the *Hitopadeça* expresses it, can move with only one wheel. This doctrine is inculcated with many apt illustrations. Thus in one stanza of the *Hitopadeça* it is pointed out that "antelopes do not enter into the mouth of the sleeping lion"; in another the question is asked, "Who without work could obtain oil from sesamum seeds?" Or, as the *Mahābhārata* once puts it, fate without human action cannot be fulfilled, just as seed sown outside the field bears no fruit.

c17.s1.31

For those who are suffering from the assaults of adverse fate there are many exhortations to firmness and constancy. The following is a stanza of this kind from the *Panchatantra*:—

c17.s1.32

*In fortune and calamity*
*The great ever remain the same:*
*The sun is at its rising red,*
*Red also when about to set.*

c17.s1.33

Collected in the ethico-didactic works which have been described in this chapter, and scattered throughout the rest of the literature, the notions held by the Brahmans in the sphere of moral philosophy have never received a methodical treatment, as in the Pāli literature of Buddhism. In the orthodox systems of Hindu philosophy, to which we now turn, they find no place.

Linked texts (15)