Page:The Cyclopedia of India (Specimen Issue).pdf/148

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THE CYCLOPKI‘IA OI" KRDIA.

PART I. ANCIEXT HIXDU CIVILIZATION. (name I. The Venn: Aux. About 2000-1400 B. C.

1. The Aryans and the Aborigines.

Our earliest glint 0! India retuls two races 50%“ the ' The one was a lair-skinned wattle, hadrecently entered India from the North-

'est. and who were a branch of the t Aryan race. that undo-Euroan tarnily from w ich the majority ol the European peoples claim descent. The other

race was of inferior type. intligemms

M2”th and dark-skinned. held in the great- est coutqnpt by the conquering Still. no sooner had the invaders extende their conquests OverNot’theru India than they began to mix with the primitive holders of the soil. From this fusion the t mass of the modern Hindu po- pulation is derived. Pure Aryans on the one side are now few in number. while the pure non-Aryan por- tion of the population is also comparatively small.

Aiewuordsarehereneceasarybywayot reference to the Aborigines oi ludia. Some belong to the Dra-

vidian race. others to the Mango.

MW...” liau. while the remainder are

3’ ranked together under

the name of ’an. The Dravidians who now

chieﬂy inhabit the South of India. were at the time

of the Aryan immigration not only more numerous

than the other aboriginal; but considerably in ad- vance of them in point of civilisation.

They were not yet conﬁned to the southern portion of the peninsula. but I ly inhabited the plains and valleys oi the north, w re they lived in organised communities under ﬁxed law: and government. The Kolarian and liongolisn elements inhabited rather the jungles and forests. and lived in a state of savagcdoln or sentinvagcdom. The primitive state of the latter peoples at the time oi the Aryan invasions can be imagined front a glim oi the present condition at their dacendants. of the existing hill-tribes. such as the Santals of and the Kandhs oi Orin. have only recently aban ned human sacriﬁces. while their system oi rule is still essentially patriarchal. The Vedic hymns contain many refer- ences to the dark-skinned population which was in occupation of the soil. They are named Dasyus or "enemies" and Dam or “slaves.” and are reviled " "°‘"“"' “its: '32?” "mm" 'l'hemostsavageot peo werepro y ‘en backtothemountains.anditmnsthavebeenthe more advanced on of the Aborigines. that is, chieﬂy the Dravtdian element. which settled down underthenewrégimeandat hheeameincor— porated into the social organism of eir rats.

The early history of India is concern with the advance of the conquering Aryan, their gradual extensiontothesouthern mostpointoithe Peninsula.

and the foundation by them of a

“mu” numberot separate kingdoms. But the exact movements and their chronology are hard to trace, and we lcnow more

about the social and religions character of thisearly peoﬂe than of their p0 ' 'cal history. The earliest pad of Hindu history is called the Vedic period. use it deals with the condition of the tpeople as described in the Rig Veda, themostancicn religious book of the Aryan races. The Rig Veda is a collection of 1.017 shortpoems. chiedyaddresscd to the gads. The whole is divided into ten Mandala: or Books, each of which. except the ﬁrst and last. were composed by a particular Rishi or a rticular school of Rishis.‘ in all probability the Rig eda was ﬁnally compiled in the fourteenth century B. C.. but the teat majorit 'ol the hymns must have been cornpoc earlier. an it is germally agreed that the period 0! history to which they belong cannot have begun later than 2000 B. C. In this. the ﬁrst period of Indian history. the Aryans are revealed as new comers. descendi from Central Asia. the earliett home of the [min uropenn raco. marching through the passes of the north West. and then gradually spreading themselves over the Punjab. Five or six centuries at least are necessary for thecxpansion ol the Aryansalong the lrtdnsand its tributaries. so that the Vedic Age may roughly be dated from 2000 to 1400 B.C. Some few lacts or ' be ﬂthered about tit: [3:0ng 0 t ise ycouquest. e

T” °""“‘“°‘“ were divided into a number of trtbes. mostly organised on a mmmhical basis and ruled by. hereditary ehiettains in conformity with the will at t people as expressed in the tribal assembly. These tribes were without cohesion. and were often arrayed in war against each other. Sometimes, however

temporary conlederation was formed for the speci of subduing the black-skinncd-holders oi the soil. The Aborigines did not vield without a smiglc. m om. but when beaten in the open eld mm.“ by the more disciplined velour oi the invaders. they clung to hill tort- reases and torests whence they issued forth to wage a harassing guerilla wariare against the Ar us. But in s 'te at every reﬁnance. the more civ liaed races tell their war horses and chariots, their armour and the greater variety 0! their wea us. pushed back the hated foe. cultivated the inn c tracts and extended their kingdoms over the whole nn'ab. The barbarians. like the Britons at the time of t e Anglo. Saxon invasions. were either extemtinated or retreated into those hills and fastnesses which their descendants still inhabit. The wi fusion ol race which we have already mentioned. tool: place. not in the Vodic Age. but in subsequent stages ol the Aryan conquests. genuriwng what arecalled the Epic and the Rationalist

H. Social Life in the Valic Age.

The ‘cture of early Hindu civilization, as painted by the \edit: hymns, islull 0! interest. Agriculture. which philoth moves to have been known to the early fathers oi the Indem-opean race in Central .hia. was the main of the ancient Hindus. The hymns contain numerous allusions to agriculture. and one remarkable hymn is directly dedicated to the God of Agriculture. But agriculture in the Punjab was not practicable without irrigation: hence we

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