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Or who will hurl a javelin at him who carries off or woos such a female? 12. How many a woman is satisfied with the great wealth of him who seeks her! Happy is the female who is handsome: she herself loves [or chooses] her friend among the people." May we not infer from this passage that freedom of choice in the selection of their husbands was allowed, sometimes, at least, to women in those times? The Svayamvara, or selection of ther own husbands by kings' daughters, appears, from the Mahābhārata, to have been a common practice in later times. See the well-known story of Nala and Damayantī.

A passage has been quoted above (p. 82 note) from the Taitt. Br. ii. 4, 2, 7, the commencement of which, though not altogether clear, may be translated thus: "The divine and fortunate Indrāṇī, wife of an excellent husband, was victorious by a part, in the acquisition of a husband." Did young women at that time compete for husbands?

The following allusion to the relations of a widow with her deceased husband's brother occurs in a verse addressed to the Asvins, x. 40, 2 (=Nir. iii. 15): Kuha svid doshā kuha vastor Aśvinā kuhābhipitvam karataḥ kuhoshataḥ | ko vām śayutrā vidhaveva devaram maryam na yosha kṛinute sadasthe à "Where are you by night, Aśvins, and where by day? where do you alight? where have you dwelt? who draws you to his house, as a widow does her brother-in-law to the couch, or as a woman does a man?" In his Illustrations of the Nirukta, p. 32, Professor Roth refers, in elucidation of this comparison, to Manu, ix. 69, 70, where it is enjoined that in certain circumstances a widow shall be married to her deceased husband's brother. In verse 60 it is ruled that the union shall only subsist until one son has been procreated. It will thus be seen that the ancient law of India corresponded in this respect with that of the Jews, as expounded in Deuteronomy, xxv. 5: compare St. Matthew, xxii. 24 ff. This custom appears to be referred to in the somewhat obscure verse before us.

By the kindness of Professor Max Müller I am enabled to give Sayana's explanation of the verse:-Kincha vam yuvām ko yajamānaḥ "sadhasthe" sahasthāne vedy-ākhye "ākṛinute" | paricharaṇārtham ātmābhimukhīkaroti | tatra dṛishṭāntam darśayati | "śayutrā” śayane “vidhaveva” yathā mṛitabhartṛikā nārī “devaram" bhartṛibhrātaram abhimukhikaroti | "maryam na" yatha cha sarvam manushyam "yoshā" sarvā nāri sambhoga-kale 'bhimukhikaroti tadvad ity arthaḥ "what

worshipper places you in his own presence at the altar to serve you? He illustrates this. As a woman whose husband is dead places her husband's brother before her on the bed, or a woman at the time of sexual connection places a man before her." Then follows a quotation

from the Nirukta iii. 15, on the same verse.

On the occasion of the marriage ceremonial, a wish is expressed in the bride's favour that she may be a queen over her father-in-law, her mother-in-law, her husband's sister, and his brothers, x. 85, 46 (samrājni śvaśure bhava samrājnī śvaśrvām bhava | nanāndari samrājnī bhava samrajni adhi derṛishu). In viii. 2, 20 reference is made to an unamiable sonin-law (aśriraḥ iva jāmātā); but it is not very clear what he is intended to illustrate. In i. 109, 2, the poet says he has heard that Indra and Agni are more liberal than an inferior son-in-law, or a wife's brother (aśravam hi bhūridāvaṭṭarā vām̃ vijāmātur uta vā gha syālāt). Yāska (Nir. vi. 9) explains the word vijāmātṛi of a person who is not complete in all necessary requisites (asusamāptāj jāmātuḥ); and adds that the people of the south always speak of this word as denoting a man who has purchased his wife (vijāmātā iti saśvad dakshinājāḥ krītāpatim achakshate asusamäptaḥ iva varo 'bhipretaḥ).

Allusions to conjugal infidelity and sexual immorality are not wanting. In x. 34, 4, reference seems to be made to the gambler's wife being the object of other men's intrigues (anye jāyām pari mṛiśanti asya yasya agridhad vedane vāji akshaḥ | see above, p. 426). In x. 40, 6, mention is made of a woman resorting to her rendezvous (nishkṛitam na yoshanā) comp. x. 34, 5 (nishkṛitam jāriņī iva) 629 which, if a married woman is meant, implies an adulterous connection. In ii. 29, 1, Mitra and Varuna are prayed to remove the worshipper's sin, as a woman who bears a child secretly puts it away (āre mat karta rahasūr ivāgaḥ). In i. 167, 4, we find the words parā śubhrāḥ

630

629 These words (nishkṛitam na yoshana) prove either conjugal infidelity, if yoshanā or jāriņī mean a married woman, or if they refer to an unmarried female, it would shew that young lovers made assignations, and therefore that women had more liberty, and were not confined as in later times. In i. 167, 3, occur the words guhā charanti manusho na yoshā | "Like a man's wife moving or acting secretly." Sayana, however, refers them only to the privacy of the female apartments. See Wilson in loco.

630 See Professor Wilson's translation and note in loco, and Introduction to vol. ii. p. xvii.

ayāso yavyā sādhāranyeva Maruto mimikshuḥ | which Professor Wilson, following Sayana, renders "The radiant, ever-moving, Maruts have mingled with (their) associate (lightning), like (youths) with common women." The words are quoted by Professor M. Müller, translation of R.V. i. 176, but without any explanation on the point under consideration.

In ix. 67, 10 ff. the poet prays, and twice repeats the prayer, that Pūshan would protect him in all his goings, and provide him with a supply of damsels (avitā no ajāśvaḥ Pūshā yāmani yāmani ā bhakshat kanyāsu naḥ | 11. ayam somaḥ kapardine ghṛitam na pavate madhu | ā bhakshat kanyāsu naḥ | 12. ayam te aghṛine suto ghritam na pavate suchia bhakshat kanyāsu nah). The general opinion of the poet's contemporaries in regard to the female sex appears to be intimated in the following words put into the mouth of Indra, viii. 33, 17. Indras chid gha tad abravīt striyāḥ aśāsyam manaḥ | uto aha kratum raghum | "Indra declared that the mind of a woman was ungovernable and her temper fickle."

In Vālakhilya 8, 3, mention is made of a gift of one hundred slaves (śatam dāsān ati srajaḥ). In R.V. viii. 46, 32, Professor Roth conjectures (s.v. dasa) that the correct reading is satam dāsän | "I received a hundred slaves." (See my article on the priests in the Vedic age, Jour. R.A.S. for 1866, p. 275). Compare the word dāsapravarga in R.V. i. 92, 8, quoted above in p. 184, and translated in p. 186.

As regards the morals of the people, in other respects than those which relate to the relations of the sexes, it may be mentioned that untruth is condemned in a verse already quoted, iv. 5, 5, and the gods are said (1. 152, 1; vii. 49, 3; vii. 84, 2) to punish lying. Frequent mention is made of the friendship borne by the gods to their votaries, which seems to imply the existence of a similar special relation of affection between some of their worshippers. See also hymn 71, translated in the third volume of this work, p. 256. In x. 117 (as I have already noticed, p. 457) beneficence to the poor is commended.

X.

(7) Dress, ornaments, etc.

References are made in various places to well-dressed females, iv. 3, 2; x. 71, 4 (jāyeva patye uśatī suvāsāḥ); x. 107, 9, or to elegant,

well-made garments, v. 29, 15 (vastreva bhadrā sukṛitā). From these passages and others relating to jewels, as in viii. 46, 33, quoted above, p. 455, we may gather that considerable attention was already paid to personal decoration. We derive from them no information regarding the shape or materials of the clothing worn, further than may be learnt from the mention of sheep and of wool in certain texts (as i. 126, 7; vi. 15, 16; x. 75, 8). But it is difficult to conceive that cotton (which, as I learn from Professor J. H. Balfour, is supposed to have been indigenous in India), though not mentioned in the hymns, should have been unknown when they were composed, or not employed for weaving the light cloth which is necessary in so warm a climate. The form of the garments was probably much the same as among the modern Hindus, unless it be that some innovations may have been introduced by the Mohammedans. A turban or head-dress (ushnisha) is mentioned in the A.V. xv. 2, 1.

632

Two of the Vedic deities, Rudra and Pushan, are said to wear their hair wound or braided spirally upwards into the form of a shell, as the word "kapardin" in R.V. i. 114, 1, 5; vi. 55, 2; and ix. 67, 11, is explained in the dictionary of Professors Böhtlingk and Roth; and in vii. 83, 8, the same epithet is applied to the Tritsus (the tribe to which Vasishtha belonged) (śvity ancho yatra namasā kapardinaḥ tritsavaḥ). In x. 114, 3, a young female, handsome and brilliant (it does not clearly appear who she is, as the passage is obscure and enigmatical) is said to wear four of these braids (chatushkapardā yuvatiḥ supeśaḥ ghṛitapratīkā vayunāni vaste). And in vii. 33, 1, the priests of the family of Vasishtha are said to have their hair-knots on the right of their heads and to be robed in white (śvityancho mā dakshinatas-kapardāḥ ityādi; comp. vii. 83, 8 already quoted). In various passages already cited (pp. 149 f.) the Maruts are said to wear different sorts of ornaments, which were probably similar to what were worn by the poet's countrymen or country women.

631 In regard to the word s'ipra see above, p. 149.

633

632 See the rude picture of the god S'iva at the beginning of the Bombay edition of the Linga Purana. But Wilson s.v. kaparda, explains it merely as "braided hair." 633 See Roth Zur Litt. u. Geschichte des Weda, p. 120.

(8) Food and drink.

In the Rig-veda (see i. 23, 15; i. 66, 3; i. 117, 21, etc.) frequent mention is made of yava, which in later Sanskrit means barley; but according to the Lexicon of Messrs. Böhtlingk and Roth, s.v. appears to have, in early times, denoted corn in general. Rice (vrihi) according to the same authority is not referred to in the Rig-veda, but is named in the Artharva-veda, as well as barley, and masha (beans) and tila (sesamum orientale); see vi. 140, 2 (vrihim attam yavam attam atho māsham atho tilam). Parched corn (dhānā) is mentioned in several places of the R.V., as i. 16, 2; iii. 35, 3; iii. 52, 5; vi. 29, 4, as an offering to the gods; and in iii. 35, 7, is said to be provided as food for Indra's horses. Cakes (apūpa) and meal mixed with curds or butter (karambha) are said to be offered to the gods, iii. 52, 7; vi. 57, 2. Fruit (phala) is mentioned in iii. 45, 4 (see above, p. 107); i. 146, 5. Plants (oshadhi, virudh) are frequently alluded to, and are even invoked vi. 49, 14; vii. 34, 23; vii. 35, 5; x. 97, 1 ff., where some of them are spoken of as produced three ages before the gods; verse 1 [yāḥ oshadhih purvāḥ jātāḥ devebhyas triyugam pura]; and are said in verse 4 to be divine [deviḥ]; in verses 3 and 15 to be some of them flowering and productive and fruit-bearing, and others not [pushpavatiḥ prasuvariḥ | yāḥ phalinīr yāḥ aphalāḥ apushpāḥ yāś cha pushpiniḥ], and in verses 11 and 12 to drive away disease. Medicaments (bheshaja) are also frequently referred to. The cutting up of flesh, apparently for sacrificial purposes, is mentioned in one place, i. 161, 10 (māmsam ekaḥ pimśati sūnayā "bhṛitam). In i. 164, 43 reference is made to the cooking of a bull as being a primeval institution (ukshānam priśnim apachanta vīrās tāni dharmāņi prathamāni āsan | comp. x. 27, 2; x. 28, 3).633 In v. 29, 7; viii. 12, 8; viii, 66, 10, mention is made of the gods cooking or eating large numbers of buffaloes (see above, p. 90). From the fact of these animals being offered in sacrifice, it may perhaps be inferred that they also formed a portion of human food. Intoxicating liquors are mentioned in the hymns. As regards

631 See the "general note" appended to Sir W. Jones's translation of Manu; and Manu xi. 59, where gobadha is mentioned as an upapātaka, or minor sin. See also verse 108.

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