Page:The Cyclopedia of India (Specimen Issue).pdf/152

 THE CYCIDI’BDIA OF INDIA.

rules ol social lite were more highly developed. yet the caste system had barely taken root. The science l war washetter organised. but the descendants of the ﬁerce Aryan on ol the Punjab still retained the velour and stern determination at their ancestors. The also illustrates all lnta‘esting point about the daily life and customs at those earl days. The position at women had not yet become ded to the subjection 0! later times; chivalrons instincts were to the lore. but such vices as

gambling in to excess. Thus. although

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no accurate narrative can be deduced from the poem. the light it throws upon the character ol the tnnesisbynomeans tohedespised. In due course a series of wcrlul kingdoms were a m establis further to the East. “‘11:... Chtel of these were the kingdom of the Kosalas in Oudb. that ol the Kasis round Benares. and that ol the Videhas in North Behar. Ol the struggles which led to the establishment of these kiogdo we ltnow little. but a few tacts about their internal conditions may he leaned [rem dtﬂerent sources. The kingdom ol the ass achieved lane at a later time. but the sister kingdoms blossomed into giantess before the conclusion oltheEpicAge. The country of the Kosalas with its  ol Ayodhya. is brought into mmenoe h the second great Hindu Epic. the yana w ' h celebrates the doings of a certain Kim ol Koala. that Rama. who alterwards came to be worshipped as an incarnation of the God Vishnu. m m The Ramayana makes no mention of Aryan civilization south of the Vindhyas. therefore it must have taken its original shape at a nod anterior to the Agents conquest of the pe a proper. s'.c.. before ‘nning oi the nutter Ranonalist period. In all pro bility it was ongznally composed about soon 8. C.. a riod later than that to which we should assign the Eleahao in its earliest lonn. But such countless

hharata

changes and interpolations were made in a later It‘ll? the Ramayana is almlrt unsht'glhtlclcss lor dir'ec‘: is orical as t a a arata. Though. howeyer. tm are myths. and many events are described which never tool: place. or which tool: place at a later time (eg. the Conquest of Ceylon). t this also ws a certain amount 0! interest ng si ghtypon the people and civilisation oi the Brahmmnc. particularly the later Brahmanic age. The mph had become more polished and lawoabiding. but ’ sturdy and heroic. Priestly assumption was growing a .and a ‘ tent rivalry between the claimsol pnestsan waniorswasproceedi. The m.bginglesaﬁguous‘. thanthosepainteyinthe _ themselves morecom eter to‘pries ydonunation: simEIicity oi the o Vedic latth was being buried behest a mass at rites and ceremonies.‘aod religion was slowly becoming the

mono y o. third at the grou 0! Id mentioned above. t oi the Videhas. in its "em"

3:1! came to the trout. and became most [nominent kingdom— Northernlndia. Janakaiumtlamuﬁnghas

a high claim to the respect and the admiration ol the historian. The lather-incline ol Raina. his tame does not rest upon the somewhat shadowy allusions of the Ramayana. but he is a well authenticated character. who. according to the unimpeachable evidenco at other records. became the tron of speculation and philosophic tho lit. The Vi ditya at his time. he gathered round him the most learned men of contem- porary Hindu dvﬂisation. encouraged those theological studies which resulted in the White Yaiur Veda and the Satapatha Brahman. the most important at all the Brnhmanas. and himsell ’ 'nated those earnest s nlations oi the Upanishads w ich mark the close at t Epic Age. A reaction seems to have been already arising against religious pedantry and dogmatism. Healt y speculations about the nature at the soul and the Supreme Being were beginning to take the place _ol those arid and verbose commentaries on the minutes: at religious rites. which had characterised the period now coming to an end. and King janaka must receivu all credit tor being one at the originators ol the eman- cipatory movement. It was in its essence an attempt to destroy the monopoly of priestly learning. and to loosen thereby the bonds of priestly domination.

Any other kingdoms that were founded in the Epic Period are little more than names. North Behar seems to have been the limit of Hindu civilization in the East. and the thdya Mountains were throughout this period the southern limit. The rest of India was. if not absolutely unex lured. at least unc0uqnered by the growing Indo- ryan people. The literature of the time signiﬁed”: pm:me the liailts we huKe assigned. an expanston area a to t e ensuing or Rationalist us:

I I V—Lr‘teralure o] the Period.

As the civilization of the [limitive or Vedic Age is known to us solely through the early Vedic hymns. so is the civilization 0! our second riod revealed solely by contemporary literature. wit out the works whose ori ‘nal compilation can be credibly assigned to the Epic or Brnhmanic Age the historian would be in total “ignorance as to even the main leaturcs ol

the peri First of the litera ' productions ol the time come t Vedas. The Rig Lﬁﬁﬂ‘ﬂ: Veda Sanhita. the collection at

hymns composed mostly in the previous age. was only compiled. as we have already seen. about the beginning of the period (circ. x400 B. C.). and even then was not put into writing. but handed down b' oral tradition or another thousand 'ears or so. Follow: upon the ‘ Veda three other 'edas were compiled. he Santa V. the Yaiur Veda (White and Black). and the Atharva Veda. As tour different classes of priests combined to perform the sacriﬁcial ceremonies, the simple h of the Rig Veda were soon lound to be insufﬁcient. and separate manuals had to begrupiledrtor mmhtan‘cedtil the . eats. us Santa e is a ""m"“ collection at sacriﬁcial chants ex- tracted item the Ri Veda and set to music lor that class ol [tic-st! call Udptris. whose main duty it was to sccompan the sacriﬁces by singing. compiler ol the work s unkan to history.