The History of Indian Literature c8.76

Language: English

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Thirdly, the songs of the Ṛik unfold to us particulars as to the time, place, and conditions of their origin and growth. In the more ancient of them the Indian people appear to us settled on the banks of the Indus, divided into a number of small tribes, in a state of mutual hostility, leading a patriarchal life as husbandmen and nomads; living separately or in small communities, and represented by their kings, in the eyes of each other by the wars they wage, and in presence of the gods by the common sacrifices they perform. Each father of a family acts as priest in his own house, himself kindling the sacred fire, performing the domestic ceremonies, and offering up praise and prayer to the gods. Only for the great common sacrifices—a sort of tribe-festivals, celebrated by the king—are special priests appointed, who distinguish themselves by their comprehensive knowledge of the requisite rites and by their learning, and amongst whom a sort of rivalry is gradually developed, according as one tribe or another is considered to have more or less prospered by its sacrifices. Especially prominent here is the enmity between the families of Vaśishṭha and Viśvámitra, which runs through all Vedic antiquity, continues to play an important part in the epic, and is kept up even to the latest times; so that, for example, a commentator of the Veda who claims to be descended from Vaśishṭha leaves passages unexpounded in which the latter is stated to have had a curse imprecated upon him.

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This implacable hatred owes its origin to the trifling circumstance of Vaśishṭha having once been appointed chief sacrificial priest instead of Viśvámitra by one of the petty kings of these early times.—The influence of these royal priests does not, however, at this early period, extend beyond the sacrifice; there are no castes as yet; the people is still one united whole, and bears but one name, that of *viśas*, settlers. The prince, who was probably elected, is called Viśpati, a title still preserved in Lithuanian. The free position held by women at this time is remarkable. We find songs of the most exquisite kind attributed to poetesses and queens, among whom the daughter of Atri appears in the foremost rank. As regards love, its tender, ideal element is not very conspicuous; it rather bears throughout the stamp of an undisguised natural sensuality. Marriage is, however, held sacred; husband and wife are both rulers of the house (*dampatí*), and approach the gods in united prayer. The religious sense expresses itself in the recognition of man’s dependence on natural phenomena, and the beings supposed to rule over them; but it is at the same time claimed that these latter are, in their turn, dependent upon human aid, and thus a sort of equilibrium is established. The religious notion of sin is consequently wanting altogether, and submissive gratitude to the gods is as yet quite foreign²⁶ to the Indian.

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‘Give me, and I will render to thee,’ he says,²⁷ claiming therewith a right on his part to divine help, which is an exchange, no grace. In this free strength, this vigorous self-consciousness, a very different, and a far more manly and noble, picture of the Indian is presented to us than that to which we are accustomed from later times. I have already endeavoured above to show how this state of things became gradually altered, how the fresh energy was broken, and by degrees disappeared, through the dispersion over Hindustán, and the enervating influence of the new climate. But what it was that led to the emigration of the people in such masses from the Indus across the Sarasvatí towards the Ganges, what was its principal cause, is still uncertain. Was it the pressure brought about by the arrival of new settlers? Was it excess of population? Or was it only the longing for the beautiful tracts of Hindustán? Or perhaps all these causes combined? According to a legend preserved in the Bráhmaṇa of the White Yajus, the priests were in a great measure the cause of this movement, by urging it upon the kings, even against their will [*I. St.*, i. 178]. The connection with the ancestral home on the Indus remained, of course, at first a very close one;

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later on, however, when the new Brahmanical organisation was completely consolidated in Hindustán, a strong element of bitterness was infused into it, since the Brahmans looked upon their old kinsmen who had remained true to the customs of their forefathers as apostates and unbelievers.