Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c13.s1: Six Fundamental Formative Forces in Positivism

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c13.s1

Language
English

Six Fundamental Formative Forces in Positivism

c13.s1.1

By the commencement of the sixth century A.C. most of the sciences whose "unwritten" beginnings, so to say, are to be found in the sixth century B.C. were definitely established in chapter and verse. For the classification of arts and sciences, *vidyās* and *kalās*, from the standpoint of formal logic, such as may indicate the lines of evolution in positivism and secular endeavours during the next seven hundred years we may single out the following rubrics :

c13.s1.2

1. The *Dharmaśāstras*, with their commentaries and digests.
2. The *Nītiśāstras*.
3. The *Vārttāśāstras*.
4. The *Śilpaśāstras*.
5. The *Purāṇas* with their *Upapurāṇas*. Since Gupta times these encyclopædic treatises have gone on expanding in all the three dimensions, so to say. From the seventh to the end of the thirteenth century each one of the *Purāṇas* that has been mentioned in the previous epoch maintained its position as a library of world-culture in the intellectual *milieu* of India.

c13.s1.3

Each one of the eighteen *Purāṇas* can be drawn upon not only for the topics of *Dharmaśāstras* but for those of *Vārttāśāstras*. In the modern compilation on gems and precious stones entitled *Maṇimālā*, for instance, all the *Purāṇas* have been used as authorities.²

c13.s1.4

² By Saurindra Mohun Tagore, Calcutta, 1881, vol. II., p. 1034. For the *Dharmaśāstra* data of the *Purāṇas* see P. V. Kane : *History of Dharmaśāstra* (Poona 1930), pp. 164-167.

c13.s1.5

The tenacity of the Pauranic tradition in modern times, so far as political thought is concerned, may be seen to some extent in a recent work in Bengali. The *Agni Purāṇa* has been utilized by Madhusudan Bhattāchārya for his Ratnamāla, Vol. I. (*Hindu Rājanīti*, Calcutta 1904, 1909). It is a book of Bengali translations with original Sanskrit texts as footnotes. Incidentally be it observed that he has made use of the *Kāśī-Khaṇḍa*, the *Devī Bhāgavata*, the *Śrīmad Bhāgavata* and the *Gītā* as well. As containing very often whole treatises on *dharma*, *nīti* and *vārttā* these *Purāṇas* and *Upa-Purāṇas* are valuable documents of positivism for the seven hundred years in question.

c13.s1.6

6. The *Mahābhārata*. This great epic has been functioning as the fifth *Veda* or the *Veda* of the people since it acquired its more or less present form in Gupta times. From the seventh to the thirteenth century it may be taken to have maintained its influence and, like the *Purāṇas*, to have been growing all the time in bulk. If the *Purāṇas* are Encyclopædias, the *Mahābhārata* is the Encyclopædia of Encyclopædias. Naturally therefore in order to come into contact with the Hindu command over the realities of life as comprehended in *kāma*, *dharma*, *artha*, *nīti*, *vārttā* and *śilpa* one does not have to go out of the milieu of the *Mahābhārata*. While dealing with the humanism and secularism of Hindu India from Harṣa to Hemādri we can always safely trust ourselves to the contents of the *Mahābhārata*.

c13.s1.7

It is interesting to observe that in the extensive work on *Hindu Rājanīti*, a Bengali translation of Sanskrit originals referred to above, the following *Parvans* (Books) of the *Mahābhārata* have been used: 1. *Sabhā*, 2. *Vana*, 3. *Udyoga*, 4, *Bhīṣma*, 5. *Droṇa*, 6. *Śānti*, 7. *Anuśāsana*. We understand how the *Mahābhārata* tradition in politics has been ruling the thought of the orthodox scholars of today and continues to be a living force even in the twentieth century.

c13.s1.8

The same is to be said of the *Rāmāyaṇa* also. The following *Kāṇḍas* (Cantos) of the *Rāmāyaṇa* have been utilized by Bhaṭṭāchārya as documents of political thought: 1. *Ādi*, 2. *Ayodhyā*, 3. *Araṇya*, 4. *Kiṣkindhyā*, 5. *Sundara*, 6. *Laṅkā*, 7. *Uttarā*. Naturally, therefore, for the period from Harṣa to Hemādri the two epics are invaluable as sources of *nīti* philosophy.

c13.s1.9

In order to make the list of sources for Hindu positivism complete we should have to add to these six groups of literature, first, the *belles lettres*, stories, legends, etc., and secondly, denominational works like those of the Buddhists and Jainas. The literature contained in the Indian vernaculars, especially of the North can hardly demand recognition at this stage.³ For all practical purposes the provincial languages like Bengali, Hindi etc. grew into important dimensions after the thirteenth century. But so far as the South Indian Tamil is concerned, the literature was important enough to be discussed for the age of the Guptas. For the period from the Vardhanas to the Cholas Tamil inscriptions and books constitute of course a substantial guide to Hindu positivism.

c13.s1.10

³ See the chapter on Language in C. V. Vaidya: *History of Mediaeval Hindu India*, Vol. II. (Poona 1924), pp. 167-172, and Vol. III. (1926), pp. 471-474.

c13.s1.11

Broadly speaking, the most fundamental formative forces as well as evidences of energism in worldly speculations and secular enterprise during this period are to be seen in the six rubrics enumerated above.

Linked texts (6)