Page:The Cyclopedia of India (Specimen Issue).pdf/157

 THE CYCLOPEDIA OI" INDIA.

which the priests oi the E in: Age composed to explain the old. and to harmonige the old With the new. Though the Kshatri deserve commendation tor their share in the hol s culations oi the L’paitishads. it must have been the rahman s tions on the nature oi the deity which made these studie ible. In the case oi the two great epiu also. just as g were completed in alter cars by Brahman intellect: so their orig u may probab y be attributed to Brahman art in the Epic e. Respect ior Brahmans is. tor instance. inculcatcd n the Mahabharata. and instances can be quoted train the poem oi warriors being punished tor not showing proper respectto priests n this age also belongs the beginning at astronomy as a regular study- The Rig Veda contains traces at only the most elementary astronomical ations. but the literature oi the Epic Period indicatrs a consider- able pr use in this science. The Lunar Zodiac was arrang about this time. and must have been the work oi the Brahmana. inasmuch as astronomy was studied. not ior its own sake. but ior its in: tance in regulatingEsacriﬁcea and religious rites. e sch-aces oi Logic. tymology. bombers, and Prosody. amon t others. are mentioned by a writer oi the period. outﬁt is not too much to believe that a beginning was already being made in all those branches oi learning which Were destined to reach such a hi h level in the civilia- tion oi ensuing centuries. 0 all this learning the Brahman: were the bead and soul: and whether they wrote and taught at the courts oi kings. at the regular Brahmanic settlements tor higher education. the Parishads. or in the sylvan retreats when: leamed iricsts gathered eager students round them. equally la all cases they tInstiiied by results the high position they had obtaine in the social system. The value at classes. and oi institutions. must not be judged by their leebleness when in decline. and just as the medieval [:iesthood periormed invaluable services in Earl-ogr-

lore other classes became enlightened: so the B « mans senred ancient Hindu civilization well by perv locating inaction: which no other class was yet ca- pable oi pcriorming. Above all they must be credited wi it having lit the lamp oi learning in India at a time when the West was still in barbaer and darkness. s beiore the birth at Greek civilization or the ioundat n oi Imperial Rome.

Cmma lll. Tn: Sum or karmausr Ace, Boo-327 B.C.

That epoch oi Hindu History which succeeded the Epic or Brahmanie Period imenerally known as the Suite I’eriod or the Ratio 5st. While there can be little doubt that imamth which mark it oﬂ from its became pro. minent about 800 B.C. there is lessconsensus oi opio uion about the later limit ot the 'od. Buddhism arose in the 6th centurv B.(‘.. but not become the supreme religion in India until the reign oi Asoka in the 3rd century. The Buddhist puiod groper may then with reason be dated lrum the 3rd century lit. and not belore. ButRwhile 3:: clAa‘cractc-rismhoi the

ation ' t no t sur- Lm‘" d d" mkd' rived until the great 3rd centtn-y expansion oi Buddhism. another important cons:-

deration intervenes to demand a local: in the 4th century B.(. The. consideration is the tact that what may be called the historical period proper begins with the owth oi Magadha and the invasion ol Alexander in tie 4th century. Isolated dates may no doubt be ascribed with certainty to an earlier pe- riod. but it is only [turn about the timc ol Alcaatuler that a historical narrative ol any community becomes Wilde Hence it will he most convenient to con. clude our account at the Sutra Petiod on the cw ot Alexander’s invasion. and alterwartls to pretace the history oi the Buddhist Age by :- briel narrative ol Alexander's meteoric descent on India.

I. Chmmrim'a a] [h Sum Period.

The most striking characteristics oi the period are expamion and enterprise. together With the aut- duous cultivation ol reason and utility. The Aryan colonists now aetrated into the remotcst parts ol India. and carried Hindu civilization to the very south ol the inaula. The enterprise which prompted this expansion show-d itsell also in the more enduring con- quest oi literature The \‘ct’llose and pedantic works oi the last epoch Were now condensed into serviceable manuals. and the Sutras thus composed testin to the

ctical sense. the utilitarian bias. oi the age. A num.

icr oi sciences. old and new. were eagerly studied and

Works written to elucidate them. Grammar was raised to the position oi an independent science. Systettts‘ ul philosophy Were elaborated which had the greatest ino iluence upon Indian religion and thought. Finally there arose on the soil oi India that noble [aith oi Gan. tama Buddha. which. though at slow and insigniﬁ- cant th at ﬁrst. was yet destined a iew centuries later to be e rly welcomed throughout the East. unc til it became t religion oi a third at the human race. Colonization and conquest. the extension at Aryan civilization in India. together with great literary enter~ wire and far-reaching religious changes ; these are the

eynotes oi the period. and they mark it out as one

oi the most brilliant in the long roll oi Hindu history.

ll. Puff/I'm! Reform d the Arid. Iliad» Exfolmim.

Belore the end oi the Epic Period the Hindus had, as we have seen. conquered and settled the ca name at country. stretching from about Delhi to Sort Be- har. While there can be lound in the Brahmanas and other literature ol the time stnmotices oi more re- mote lands Southern Behar. lwa and Gujarat. yet the number ot Hindu adventurers and colonists who [onetmted to these nonoAryan districts can have been but small. and Hindu civilization in the Epic Age was practically conﬁned to the great A 'avarta oi the North. that tract extending from the b to Behar. coagcuered. and in the main pen ed by the Aryan lava rs. But in the Sl'l’ler: Peri d. the

cotqttests ro on at s a t clﬂle at 'an civilisatlz: wider

and wider. until by the beginning ol the Buddhist period the greater part at India proper had come under Aryan rule or inﬂuence. A cornpme and connected account oi these events ii. at course. impossible. owing to dehciency oi records. but contemporary literature and the observation oi