Part 4 (1/2)

[15] A Persian song enumerates 300 different uses of the palm.

[16] Or perhaps from the east (Arabia).--ED.

[17] Recent discoveries confirm the view of a very ancient civilization--ED.

[18] Somewhat exaggerated. See Perrot and Chipiez, ”History of Art in a.s.syria and Chaldea,” ii., 60; and Maspero, ”Pa.s.sing of the Empires,” p.

468.--ED.

[19] Lenormant, ”Ancient History.”

[20] For example, hilka, hilka, bescha, bescha (begone! begone! bad!

bad!)

[21] The temples were pyramidal, of stones or terraces similar to the tower of Borsippa.

CHAPTER V

THE ARYANS OF INDIA

THE ARYANS

=Aryan Languages.=--The races which in our day inhabit Europe--Greeks and Italians to the south, Slavs in Russia, Teutons in Germany, Celts in Ireland--speak very different languages. When, however, one studies these languages closely, it is perceived that all possess a stock of common words, or at least certain roots. The same roots occur in Sanscrit, the ancient language of the Hindoos, and also in Zend, the ancient tongue of the Persians. Thus,

Father--pere (French), pitar (Sanscrit), pater (Greek and Latin). It is the same word p.r.o.nounced in various ways. From this (and other such examples) it has been concluded that all--Hindoos, Persians, Greeks, Latins, Celts, Germans, Slavs--once spoke the same language, and consequently were one people.

=The Aryan People.=--These peoples then called themselves Aryans and lived to the north-west of India, either in the mountains of Pamir, or in the steppes of Turkestan or Russia; from this centre they dispersed in all directions. The majority of the people--Greeks, Latins, Germans, Slavs--forgot their origin; but the sacred books of the Hindoos and the Persians preserve the tradition. Effort has been made[22] to reconstruct the life of our Aryan ancestors in their mountain home before the dispersion. It was a race of shepherds; they did not till the soil, but subsisted from their herds of cattle and sheep, though they already had houses and even villages.

It was a fighting race; they knew the lance, the javelin, and s.h.i.+eld.

Government was patriarchal; a man had but one wife; as head of the family he was for his wife, his children, and his servants at once priest, judge, and king. In all the countries settled by the Aryans they have followed this type of life--patriarchal, martial, and pastoral.

PRIMITIVE RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS

=The Aryans on the Indus.=--About 2,000 years before our era some Aryan tribes traversed the pa.s.ses of the Hindu-Kush and swarmed into India. They found the fertile plains of the Indus inhabited by a people of dark skin, with flat heads, industrious and wealthy; they called these aborigines Dasyous (the enemy). They made war on them for centuries and ended by exterminating or subjecting them; they then gradually took possession of all the Indus valley (the region of the five rivers).[23] They then called themselves Hindoos.

=The Vedas.=--These people were accustomed in their ceremonies to chant hymns (vedas) in honor of their G.o.ds. These chants const.i.tuted a vast compilation which has been preserved to the present time. They were collected, perhaps, about the fourteenth century B.C. when the Aryans had not yet pa.s.sed the Indus. The hymns present to us the oldest religion of the Hindoos.

=The G.o.ds.=--The Hindoo calls his G.o.ds devas (the resplendent).

Everything that s.h.i.+nes is a divinity--the heavens, the dawn, the clouds, the stars--but especially the sun (Indra) and fire (Agni).

=Indra.=--The sun, Indra, the mighty one, ”king of the world and master of creatures,” bright and warm, traverses the heavens on a car drawn by azure steeds; he it is who hurls the thunderbolt, sends the rain, and banishes the clouds. India is a country of violent tempests; the Hindoo struck with this phenomenon explained it in his own fas.h.i.+on. He conceived the black cloud as an envelope in which were contained the waters of heaven; these beneficent waters he called the gleaming cows of Indra. When the storm is gathering, an evil genius, Vritra, a three-headed serpent, has driven away the cows and enclosed them in the black cavern whence their bellowings are heard (the far-away rumblings of thunder). Indra applies himself to the task of finding them; he strikes the cavern with his club, the strokes of which are heard (the thunderbolt), and the forked tongue of the serpent (the lightning) darts forth. At last the serpent is vanquished, the cave is opened, the waters released fall on the earth, Indra the victor appears in glory.

=Agni.=--Fire (Agni, the tireless) is regarded as another form of the sun. The Hindoo, who produces it by rapidly rubbing two pieces of wood together, imagines that the fire comes from the wood and that the rain has placed it there. He conceives it then as the fire of heaven descended to earth; in fact, when one places it on the hearth, it springs up as if it would ascend toward heaven. Agni dissipates darkness, warms mankind, and cooks his food; it is the benefactor and the protector of the house. It is also ”the internal fire,” the soul of the world; even the ancestor of the human race is the ”son of lightning.” Thus, heat and light, sources of all life, are the deities of the Hindoo.

=Wors.h.i.+p.=--To adore his G.o.ds he strives to reproduce what he sees in heaven. He ignites a terrestrial fire by rubbing sticks, he nourishes it by depositing on the hearth, b.u.t.ter, milk, and soma, a fermented drink. To delight the G.o.ds he makes offerings to them of fruits and cakes; he even sacrifices to them cattle, rams and horses; he then invokes them, chanting hymns to their praise. ”When thou art bidden by us to quaff the soma, come with thy sombre steeds, thou deity whose darts are stones. Our celebrant is seated according to prescription, the sacred green is spread, in the morning stones have been gathered together. Take thy seat on the holy sward; taste, O hero, our offering to thee. Delight thyself in our libations and our chants, vanquisher of Vritra, thou who art honored in these ceremonies of ours, O Indra.”

The Hindoo thinks that the G.o.ds, felicitated by his offerings and homage, will in their turn make him happy. He says navely, ”Give sacrifice to the G.o.ds for their profit, and they will requite you.

Just as men traffic by the discussion of prices, let us exchange force and vigor, O Indra. Give to me and I will give to you; bring to me and I will bring to you.”