The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.707

c2.s5.707

the Hindu had descended, except in tales acknowledged to be of the marvelous. In the war the gods come and look on as mere spectators in vi. 43. 10; joined by all other supernatural beings, in vii. 188. 37; while they are worked up to active life simply through their wonder and astonishment at men's ability in vi. 95. 67 and vii. 124. We find that the Fire-god assists his friend, but not in the war, only in a tale related of one of the heroes (Sahadeva against Nīla), ii. 31. 23. Of like sort are the Arjuna-tales, the ascent to Indra, the burning of Khandava, etc. In the war these gods are openly despised. ‘All these warriors protect thee, therefore all the gods can not harm thee,’ vii. 87. 15. Karna says that ‘the gods cannot conquer the Pāndus,’ vii. 158. 50; 185. 25. The knight is not afraid to cry out ‘the gods cannot overcome me,’ vii. 195. 23-24. But the abstract of the personal gods remains; the devas are weak, but the daivam is strong. The godly-power, that is the impersonal Fate. Forever we find repeated the formula daivam eva param manye dhik pauruṣam anarthakam, ‘Fate I deem the highest; fie on useless human (effort),’ vii. 135. 1; viii. 9. 3, etc. For ‘Fate is the norm of good and bad action,’ vii. 152. 32. And ‘in Fate is victory,’ vii. 158. 70. As a side of Fate only is Death, or Yama, who remains real with his realm of horrors (yamarāṣṭravivardhanaḥ, of a single man, vi. 89. 28; or of battle, vi. 95. 25). And Duty remains as a god, though often merely the law acknowledged by gods, vii. 156. 2. Such gods are abstractions merely, and convey no more than Krishna's words, which say ‘his is the victory who fights in a (legal) manner according to the code’ (vi. 43. 24). Most interesting in the light of the removal of the gods from human sympathy is the creation of the ancestral ghost to supply this need. No god gives any word of comfort. But the ancestor of Yudhishthira comes down as a spirit to speak words of sympathy to him, vii. 52. Only in stories and echoes of the past do we find the old gods active and armed, where, while Yama has the rod of death, Varuṇa has the noose and the thunderbolt, and the god of wealth bears the club (i. 227. 32 : compare iii. 168. 29, arms of all the gods). It is the ghost of Vyāsa that proclaims yato dharmas tato jayas, ‘victory is on the side of right,’ vii. 183. 67; and he gives the essence of Duty as ‘compassion, penance, generosity, mercy, truth,’ ib. 64-66. What consolation there is is merely the statement that one should bow to fate and die like a hero, vii. 78; 80. 7 ff.; for, as the proverb says, ‘man is the slave of things, not things of man,’ vi. 43, 41, 56, 71.