The
Mahabharata
Michelet,
the French historian, writing in 1864, with special reference to the Ramayana,
says: 'Whoever has done or willed too much let him drink from this deep cup a
long draught of life and youth.... Everything is narrow in the west—Greece is
small and I stifle; Judea is dry and I pant. Let me look towards lofty Asia and
the profound East for a little while. There lies my great poem, as vast as the
Indian Ocean, blessed, gilded with the sun, the book of divine harmony wherein
is no dissonance. A serene peace reigns there, and in the midst of conflict an
infinite sweetness, a boundless fraternity, which spreads over all living
things, an ocean (without bottom or bound) of love, of pity, of clemency.'
Great
as the Ramayana is as an epic poem, and loved by the people, it is really the
Mahabharata that is one of the outstand-ing books of the world. It is a
colossal work, an encyclopaedia of tradition and legend, and political and
social institutions of ancient India. For a decade or more a host of competent
Indian scholars have been engaged in critically examining and collating the
various available texts, with a view to publishing an autho-rized edition. Some
parts have been issued by them but the work is still incomplete and is
proceeding. It is interesting to note that even in these days of total and
horrible war, Russian oriental scholars have produced a Russian translation of
the Mahabharata.
Probably
this was I he period when foreign elements were coming into India and bringing
their customs with them. Many of these customs were unlike those of the Aryans,
and so a curious mixture of opposing ideas and customs is observable. There was
no polyandry among the Aryans, and yet one of the leading heroines of the
Mahabharata story is the common wife of five brothers. Gradually the absorption
of the earlier indigenous elements as well as of newcomers was taking place,
and the Vedic religion was
being modified accordingly. It was beginning to take that all-inclusive form
which led to modern Hinduism. This
was possible, as the basic approach seems to have been that there could be no
monoply in truth, and there were many ways of seeing it and approaching it. So
all kinds of different and even contradictory beliefs were tolerated. In
the Mahabharata a very definite attempt has been made to emphasize the
fundamental unity of India, or Bharatvarsha as it was called, from Bharat, the
legendary founder of the race. An earlier name was Aryavarta, the land of the
Aryas, but this was confined to Northern India up to the Vindhya mountains in
Central India. The Aryans had probably not spread beyond that mountain range at
that period. The Ramayana story is one of Aryan expansion to the south. The
great civil war, which occurred later, described in the Mahabharata, is vaguely
sup-posed to hwe taken place about the fourteenth century B.C. That war
was for the ovcrlordship of India (or possibly of nor-thern fndia), and it
marks the beginning of the conception of India as a whole, of Bharatvarsha. In
this conception a large part of modern Afghanistan, then called Gandhara (from
which the name of the present city of Kandahar), which was considered an
integral part of the country was included. Indeed the queen of the principal
ruler was named Gandhari, the lady from Gandhara. Dilli or Delhi, not the
modern city but ancient cities situated near the modern site, named Hastinapur
and Indra-prastha, becomes the metropolis of India. Sister
Nivedita (Margaret Noble), writing about the Maha-bharata, has pointed out:
'The foreign reader... is at once struck by two features: in the first place
its unity in complexity; and, in the second, its constant efforts to impress on
its hearers the idea of a single centralized India, with a heroic tradition of
her own as formative and uniting impulse.'(have taken this quotation from Sir S. Radhakrishnan's 'Indian Philosophy'. I am in-debted to Radhakrishnan for other quotations and much else in this and other chapters).
The Mahabharata contains the Krishna
legends and the famous poem, the Bhagavad Gita. Even apart from the philo-sophy
of the Gita, it lays stress on ethical and moral principles in statecraft and
in life generally. Without this foundation of dharma there is no true
happiness and society cannot hold together. The aim is social welfare, not the
welfare of a particular group only but of the whole world, for 'the entire
world of mortals is a self-dependent organism.' Yet dharma itself is
relative and depends on the times and the conditions prevailing, apart from
some basic principles, such as adherence to truth, non-violence, etc. These
principles endure and do not change, but othewise dharma, that amalgam of duties and responsibilities, changes with the
changing age. The emphasis on non-violence, here and elsewhere, is
inter-esting, for no obvious contradiction appears to be noticed between this
and fighting for a righteous cause. The whole epic centres round a great war.
Evidently the conception of ahimsa, non-violence, had a great deal to do
with the motive, the absence of the violent mental approach, self-discipline
and control of anger and hatred, rather than the physical abstention from
violent action, when this became necessary and inevitable.
The Mahabharata is a
rich storehouse in which we can dis-cover all manner of precious things. It is
full of a varied, abun-dant and bubbling life, something far removed from that
other aspect of Indian thought which emphasized asceticism and negation. It is
not merely a book of moral precepts though there is plenty of ethics and
morality in it. The teaching of the Maha-bharata has been summed up in the
phrase: 'Thou shalt not do to others what is disagreeable to thyself.' There is
an emphasis on social welfare and this is noteworthy, for the tendency of the
Indian mind is supposed to be in favour of individual per-fection rather than
social welfare. It says: 'Whatever is not con-ducive to social welfare, or what
ye are likely to be ashamed of, never do.' Again: 'Truth, self-control,
asceticism, generosity, non-violence, constancy in virtue—these are the means
of success, not caste or family.' 'Virtue is better than immortality and life.'
'True joy entails suffering.' There is a dig at the seeker after wealth: 'The
silkworm dies of its wealth.' And, finally, the injunction so typical of a
living and advancing people; 'Discontent is the spur of progress.'
There is in the Mahabharata the polytheism of the Vedas, the
monism of the Upanishads, and deisms, and dualisms, and monotheism. The outlook
is still creative and more or less rationalistic, and the feeling of
exclusiveness is yet limited. Caste is not rigid. There was still a feeling of
confidence, but as external forces invaded and challenged the security of the
old order, that confidence lessened somewhat and a demand for greater
uniformity arose in order to produce internal unity and strength. New taboos
grew up. The eating of beef, previously countenanced, is later absolutely
prohibited. In the Mahabharata there are references to beef or veal being
offered to honoured guests.
The Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata, an episode in
the vast drama. But it stands apart and is complete in itself. It is a
relatively small poem of 700 verses—'the most beautiful, perhaps the only true
philosophical song existing in any known tongue,' so William von Humboldt
described it. Its popularity and influ-ence have not waned ever since it was
composed and written in the pre-Buddhistic age, and to-day its appeal is as
strong as ever in India. Every school of thought and philosophy looks up to it
and interprets it in its own way. In times of crisis, when the mind of man is
tortured by doubt and is torn by the conflict of duties, it has turned all the
more to the Gita for light and guidance. For it is a poem of crisis, of
political and social crisis and, even more so, of crisis in the spirit of man.
Innumerable commentaries on the Gita have appeared in the past and they
continue to come out with unfailing regularity. Even the leaders of thought and
action of the present day—Tilak, Aurobindo Ghose, Gandhi—have written on it,
each giving his own interpretation. Gandhiji bases his firm belief in
non-violence on it, others justify violence and warfare for a righteous cause.The poem begins with
a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna on the very field of battle before
the great war begins. Arjuna is troubled, his conscience revolts at the thought
of the war and the mass murder that it involves, the killing of friends and
relatives—for what purpose? What conceivable gain can outweigh this loss, this
sin? All his old standards fail him, his values collapse. Arjuna becomes the
symbol of the tortured spirit of man, which, from age to age, has been torn by
conflicting obligations and mora-lities. From this personal conversation we are
taken step by step to higher and more impersonal regions of individual duty and
social behaviour, of the application of ethics to human life, of the spiritual
outlook that should govern all. There is much that is metaphysical in it, and
an attempt to reconcile and harmonize the three ways for human advancement: the
path of the intellect or knowledge, the path of action, and the path of faith.
Probably more emphasis is laid on faith than on the others, and even a personal
god emerges, though he is considered as a manifestation of the abso-lute. The
Gita deals essentially with the spiritual background of human existence and it
is in this context that the practical prob-lems of everyday life appear. It is
a call to action to meet the obligations and duties of life, but always keeping
in view that spiritual background and the larger purpose of the universe.
Inac-tion is condemned, and action and life have to be in accordance with the
highest ideals of the age, for these ideals themselves may vary from age to
age.
The jugadharma, the ideal of the particular age, has always to be
kept in view. Because modern India
is full of frustration and has suffered from too much quietism, this call to
action makes a special appeal. It is also possible to interpret that action in
modern terms as action for social betterment and social service, practical, altruistic,
patriotic and humanitarian. Such action is desirable, according to the Gita,
but behind it must lie the spiritual ideal. And action must be in a spirit of
detachment, not much con-cerned with its results. The law of cause and effect
holds good under all circumstanccs; right action must therefore necessarily
yield right results, though these might not be immediately apparent. The
message of the Gita is not sectarian or addressed to any particular school of
thought. It is universal in its approach for everyone, Brahmin or outcaste:
"All paths lead to Me,' it says. It is because of this universality that
it has found favour with all classes and schools. There is something in it which
seems to be capable of being constantly renewed, which does not become out of
date with the passing of time—an inner quality of earnest inquiry and search,
of contemplation and action, of balance and equilibrium in spite of conflict
and contradiction. There is a poise in it and a unity in the midst of
disparity, and its temper is one of supremacy over the changing environment,
not by seeking escapc from it but fitting in with it. During the 2,500 years
since it was written, Indian humanity has gone repeatedly through the processes
of change and development and decay; experience has succeeded experience,
thought has followed thought, but it has always found something living in the
Gita, something that fitted into the developing thought and had a freshness and
applicability to the spiritual problems that afflict the mind.
Life and Work in Ancient India. A great deal has been done by scholars and philosophers to
trace the development of philosophic and metaphysical thought in the India of
the past; much has also been done to fix the chro-nology of historic events and
draw in broad outline political maps of those periods. But not much has so far
been done to investigate the social and economic conditions of those days, how
people lived, carried on their work, what they produced and how, and the way
trade functioned. Greater attention is being paid to these vital questions how
and some works by Indian scho-lars, and one by an American, have appeared. But
a great deal remains to be done. The Mahabharata itself is a storehouse of
sociological and other data and many more books will no doubt yield useful
information. But they have to be critically examined from this particular point
of view. One book of inestimable value is Kautilya's 'Arthashastra' of the
fourth century B.C., which gives details of the political, social,
economic, and mili-tary organization of the Maurya Empire.An earlier account, which definitely takes us back to the
pre-Buddhist
period in India, is contained in the collection of the Jataka
tales. These Jatakas were given their present shape some-time after the
Buddha. They are supposed to deal with the pre-vious incarnations of the
Buddha and have become an impor-tant part of Buddhist literature. But
the stories are evidently much older and they deal with the pre-Buddhistic
period and give us much valuable information about life in India in those days.
Professor Rhys Davids has described them as the oldest, most complete and most
important collection of folklore extant. Many of the subsequent collection of
animal and other stories which were written in India and found their way to
western Asia and Europe can be traced to the Jatakas.
The Jatakas deal with the period when the final amalgamation
of the two principal races of India, the Dravidians and the Aryans, was taking
place. They reveal 'a multiform and chaotic society which resists more or less
every attempt at classification and about which there can be no talk of an
organization accord-ing to caste in that age.'( Richard Fkk. 'The Social
Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time' (Calcutta, 1920), p. 286. A
more recent book, chiefly based on the Jataka stories, is Ratilal Mehta's '
Pre-Buddhist India' (Bombay, 1939). I am indebted to this latter book for most
of my facts).The Jatakas may be said to represent the popular tradition as
contrasted with the priestly or Brahminic tradition and the Kshatriya or ruling
class tradition. There are chronologies and genealogies of various kingdoms
and their rulers. Kingship, originally elective, becomes heredi-tary according
to the rule of primogeniture. Women are excluded from this succession, but
there are exceptions. As in China, the ruler is held responsible for all
misfortunes; if any-thing goes wrong the fault must lie with the king. There
was a council of ministers and there are also references to some kind of State
assembly. Nevertheless the king was an autocratic monarch though he had to
function within established conven-tions. The high priest had an important
position in court as an adviser and person in charge of religious ceremonies.
There are references to popular revolts against unjust and tyrannical kings,
who are sometimes put to death for their crimes.Village assemblies enjoyed a measure of autonomy. The chief
source of revenue was the land. The land-tax was supposed to represent the
king's share of the produce, and it was usually, but not always, paid in kind.
Probably this tax was about one-sixth of the produce. It was predominantly an
agricultural civilization and the basic unit was the self-governing village.
The political and economic structure was built up from these village
com-munities which were grouped in tens and hundreds. Horticulture, rearing of
livestock, and dairy farming were practised on an extensive scale. Gardens and
parks were common, and fruits and flowers were valued. The list of flowers
mentioned is a long one; among the favourite fruits were the mango, fig, grape,
plantain and the date. There were evidently many shops of vegetable and fruit
sellers in the cities, as well as of florists. The flower-garland was then, as
now, a favourite of the Indian people. Hunting was a regular occupation chiefly for the food it provided.
Flesh-eating was common and included poultry and fish; venison was highly
esteemed. There were fisheries and slaughter-houses. The principal articles of
diet were, however, rice, wheat, millet and corn. Sugar was extracted from
sugar-cane. Milk and its varioys products were then, as they are now, highly
prized. There were liquor shops, and liquor was apparently made from rice,
fruits and sugar-cane. There
was mining for metals and precious stones. Among the metals mentioned are gold,
silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, and brass. Among the precious stones were
diamonds, rubies, corals, also pearls. Gold, silver and copper coins are
referred to. There were partnerships for trade, and loans were advanced on
interest. Among the manufactured goods are silks, woollens and cotton textiles,
rugs, blankets and carpets. Spinning, weaving and dye-ing are flourishing and
widespread industries. The metallurgical industry produces weapons of war. The
building industry uses stone, wood, and bricks. Carpenters make a variety of
furniture, etc., including carts, chariots, ships, bedsteads, chairs, benches,
chests, toys, etc. Cane-workers make mattresses, baskets, fans, and sunshades.
Potters function in every village. From flowers and sandalwood a number of
perfumes, oils and 'beauty' products are made, including sandalwood powder.
Various medicines and drugs are manufactured and dead bodies are sometimes embalmed.Apart from the many kinds of artisans and craftsmen who are mentioned,
various other professions are referred to: teachers, physicians and surgeons,
merchants and traders, musicians, astrologers, greengrocers, actors, dancers,
itinerant jugglers, acrobats, puppet-players, pedlars.Domestic slavery appears to have been fairly common, but agricultural
and other work was done with the help of hired labour. There were even then
some untouchables—the chandalas as they were called, whose chief
business was the disposal of dead bodies.Trade
associations and craftguilds had already assumed importance. 'The existence of
trade associations,' says Fick, 'which grew partly for economical reasons,
better employment of capital, facilities of intercourse, partly for protecting
the legal interest of their class, is surely to be traced to an early period of
Indian culture.' The Jatakas say that there were eighteeen craft-unions but
they actually mention only four: the wood-workers and the masons, the smiths,
the leather workers, and the painters. Even in the Epics there are references
to trade and craft organizations. The Mahabharata says: 'the safeguard of
corpora-tions (guilds) is union.' It is said that 'the merchant-guilds were of
such authority that the king was not allowed to establish any laws repugnant to
these trade unions. The heads of guilds are mentioned next after priests as objects
of a king's anxious concern (Prof. E. Washburn Hopkins in 'Cambridge History
of India', Vol I, p. 269). The chief of the merchants, the shreshthi (modern
seth), was a man of very considerable importance. One
rather extraordinary development emerges from the Jataka accounts. This is the
establishment of special settlements or villages of people belonging to
particular crafts. Thus there was a carpenters' village, consisting, it is
said, of 1,000 families; a smiths' village, and so on. These specialized
villages were usually situated near a city, which absorbed their special
products and which provided them with the other necessaries of life. The whole
village apparently worked on co-operative lines and undertook large orders.
Probably out of this separate living and organization the caste system
developed and spread out. The example set by the Brahmins and the nobility was
gradually followed by the manufacturers' corporations and trade guilds. Great
roads, with travellers' rest houses and occasional hospitals, covered north
India and connected distant parts of the country. Trade flourished not only in
the country itself but between India and foreign countries. There was a colony
of Indian merchants living at Memphis in Egypt about the fifth century B.C. as
the discovery of modelled heads of Indians there has shown. Probably there was
trade also between India and the islands of South-East Asia. Overseas trade
involved shipping and it is clear that ships were built in India both for the
inland waterways and for ocean traffic. There are references in the Epics to
shipping duties being paid by 'merchants coming from afar.' The
Jatakas are full of references to merchants' voyages. There were overland
caravans across deserts going westward to the seaport of Broach and north
towards Gandhara and Central Asia. From Broach ships went to the Persian Gulf
for Babylon (Baveru). There was a great deal of river traffic and, according to
the Jatakas, ships travelled from Benares, Patna, Champa (Bhagalpur) and other
places to the sea and thence to southern ports and Ceylon and Malaya. Old Tamil
poems tell us of the flourishing port of Kaveripattinam on the Kaveri river in
the South, which was a centre of international trade. These ships must have
been fairly large as it is said in the Jatakas that 'hundreds' of merchants and
emigrants embarked on a shipIn
the 'Milinda' (this is of the first century A.C. Milinda is the Greek
Bactrian king of North India who became an ardent Buddhist) it is said: 'As a
shipowner who has become wealthy by constantly levying freight in some seaport
town will be able to traverse the high seas, and go to Vanga (Bengal) or
Takkola, or China or Sovira, or Surat or Alexandria, or the Koromandel coast, or
Further India, or any other place where ships do congregate 'Mrs. C. A. F.
Rhys Davids in 'Cambridge History of India', Vol. I, p. 212. \Rhys Davids.
'Buddhist India', p. 98). Among
the exports from India were: 'Silks, muslins, the finer sorts of cloth, cutlery
and armour, brocades, embroideries and rugs, perfumes and drugs, ivory and
ivory work, jewellery and gold (seldom silver); these were the main articles in
which the merchant dealt. from India, or rather North India, was famous for her
weapons of war, especially for the quality of her steel, her swords and daggers.
In the fifth century B.C. a large body of Indian troops, cavalry and
infantry, accompanied the Persian army to Greece. When Alexander invaded
Persia, it is stated in the famous Persian epic poem, Firdusi's 'Shahnamah',
that swords and other weapons were hurriedly sent for by the Persians from
India. The old (pre-Islamic) Arabic word for sword is 'muhannad,' which means
'from Hind' or Indian. This word is in common use still. Ancient
India appears to have made considerable progress in the treatment of iron.
There is an enormous iron pillar near Delhi which has baffled modern scientists
who have been unable to discover by what process it was made, which has enabled
it to withstand oxidation and other atmospheric changes. The inscription on it
is in the Gupta script which was in use from the fourth to the seventh century A.C.
Some scholars are, however, of opinion that the pillar itself is much older
than this inscription, which was added later. Alexander's
invasion of India in the fourth century B.C. was, from a military point
of view, a minor affair. It was more of a raid across the border, and not a
very successful raid for him. He met with such stout resistance from a border
chieftain that the contemplated advance into the heart of India had to be reconsidered.
If a small ruler on the frontier could fight thus, what of the larger and more
powerful kingdoms further south? Probably this was the main reason why his army
refused to march further and insisted on returning.
The quality of India's military strength was seen
very soon after Alexander's return and death, when Seleucus attempted
another invasion. He was defeated by Chandragupta and driven back.
Indian armies then had an advantage which others lacked; this was the
possession of trained war-elephants, which might be compared to the
tanks of to-day. Seleucus Nikator obtained 500 of these war-elephants from
India for his campaign against Antigonus in Asia Minor in 302 B.C., and
military historians say that these elephants were the decisive factor in the battle
which ended in the death of Antigonus and the flight of his son Demetrius.There are books on the training of elephants, the breeding of
horses, etc.; each one of these called a shastra. This word has come to
mean scripture or holy writ, but it was applied indiscriminately to every kind
of knowledge and science, varying from mathematics to dancing. In fact the line
between religious and secular knowledge was not strictly drawn. They overlapped
and everything that seemed useful to life was the object of inquiry. Writing in India goes back to the most ancient times. Old
pottery belonging to the Neolithic period is inscribed with writing in the
Brahmi characters. Mohenjo-daro has inscriptions which have not so far been
wholly deciphered. The Brahmi inscriptions found all over India are undoubtedly
the basic script from which devanagari and others have arisen in India. Some of
Ashoka's inscriptions are in the Brahmi script; others, in the north-west, are
in the Kharoshti script.As early as the sixth or seventh century B.C., Panini
wrote his great grammar of the Sanskrit language ( Keith and some others
place Panini at c. 300 B.C., but the balance of authority seems to be
clear that Panini lived and wrote before the commencement of the Buddhist
period). He mentions previous grammars and already in his time Sanskrit had
crystallized and become the language of an ever-growing literature. Panini's
book is something more than a mere grammar. It has been described by the Soviet
professor Th. Stcherbatsky, of Lenin-grad, as 'one of the greatest productions
of the human mind.' Panini is still the standard authority on Sanskrit grammar,
though subsequent grammarians have added to it and interpret-ed it. It is
interesting to note that Panini mentions the Greek script. This indicates that
there were some kind of contacts between India and the Greeks long before
Alexander came to the East. The study of astronomy was especially pursued and it often
merged into astrology. Medicine had its textbooks and there were hospitals.
Dhanwantari is the legendary founder of the Indian science of medicine. The
best known old textbooks,however, date from the early centuries of the
Christian era. These are by Charak on medicine and Sushruta on surgery. Charak
is supposed to have been the royal court physician of Kanishka who had his
capital in the north-west. These textbooks enumerate a large number of diseases
and give methods of diagnosis and treatment. They deal with surgery,
obstetrics, baths, diet, hygiene, infant-feeding, and medical education. The
approach was experimental, and dissection of dead bodies was being practised in
the course of surgical training. Various surgical instruments are mentioned by
Sushruta, as well as operations, including amputation of limbs, abdominal,
caesarean section, cataract, etc. Wounds were sterilized by fumigation. In the
third or fourth century B.C. there were also hospitals for animals. This
was probably due to the influence of Jainism and Buddhism with their emphasis
on non-violence. In mathematics the ancient Indians made some epoch-making
discoveries, notably that of the zero sign, of the decimal place-value system,
of the use of the minus sign, and the use in algebra of letters of the alphabet
to denote unknown quantities. It is difficult to date these, as there was
always a big time-lag bet-ween the discovery and its practical application. But
it is clear that the beginnings of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry were laid
in the earliest period. Ten formed the basis of enumeration ip India even at
the time of the Rig Veda. The time and number sense of the ancient Indians was
extraordinary. They had a long series of number names for very high numerals.
The Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Arabs had apparently no terminology for
denominations above the thousand or at most the myriad (10 4 = 10,000). In India
there were eighteen specific denominations (10 18), and there are even longer lists. In the story
of Buddha's early education he is reported to have named denominations up to 10
5 0. At
the other end of the scale there was a minute division of time of which the smallest
unit was approximately one-seventeenth of a second, and the smallest lineal
measure is given as something which approximates to 1 37 X 7- 10
inches. All these big and small figures were no doubt entirely theoretical and
used for philosophical purposes. Nevertheless, the old Indians, unlike other
ancient nations, had vast conceptions of time and space. They thought in a big
way. Even their mythology deals with ages of hundreds of millions of years. To
them the vast periods of modern geology or the astronomical distances of the
stars would not have come as a surprise. Because of this back-ground, Darwin's
and other similar theories'' could not create in India the turmoil and inner
conflict which they produced in Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century.
The popular mind in Europe was used to a time scale which did not go beyond a
few thousand years. In the 'Arthashastra' we are given the weights and measures
which were in use in North India in the fourth century B.C. There used
to be careful supervision of the weights in the market places.In the epic period we have frequent mention of some kind of
forest universities, situated not far from a town or city, where students
gathered round well-known scholars for training and education, which comprised
a variety of subjects, including military training. These forest abodes were
preferred so as to avoid the distractions of city life and enable the students
to lead a disciplined and continent life. After some years of this training
they were supposed to go back and live as householders and citizens. Probably
these forest schools consisted of small groups, though there are indications
that a popular teacher would attract large numbers.
Benares has always been a centre of learning, and even in
Buddha's day it was old and known as such. It was in the Deer Park near Benares
that Buddha preached his first sermon; but Benares does not appear to have been
at any time anything like a university, such as existed then and later in other
parts of India. There were numerous groups there, consisting of a teacher and
his disciples, and often between rival groups there was fierce debate and
argument.But in the north-west, near modern Peshawar, there was an
ancient and famous university at Takshashila or Taxila. This was particularly
noted for science, especially medicine, and the arts, and people went to it
from distant parts of India. The Jataka stories are full of instances of sons
of nobles and Brahmins travelling, unattended and unarmed, to Taxila to be
educated. Probably students came also from Central Asia and Afghanistan, as it
was conveniently situated.It was considered an honour and a distinction to be a
graduate of Taxila. Physicians who had studied in the school of medicine there
were highly thought of, and it is related that whenever Buddha felt unwell his
admirers brought to him a famous physician who had graduated from Taxila.
Panini, the great grammarian of the sixth-seventh century B.C., is said
to have studied there. Taxila was thus a pre-Buddhist university and a seat of
Brahminical learning. During the Buddhist period it became also a centre of
Buddhist scholarship and attracted Buddhist students from all over India and
across the border. It was the headquarters of the north-western province of the
Maurya Empire. The legal position of women, according to Manu, the earliest exponent
of the law, was definitely bad. They were always dependent on
somebody—on the father, the husband, or the son. Almost they were treated, in
law, as chattels. And yet from the numerous stories in the Epics this law was
not applied very rigidly and they held an honoured place in the home and in
society. The old law-giver, Manu, himself says: 'Where women are honoured the
gods dwell.' There is no mention of women students at Taxila or any of the old
universities; but some of them did function as students somewhere, for there is
repeated mention of learned and scholarly women. In later ages also there were a
number of eminent women scholars. Bad as the legal position of women was in
ancient India, judged by modern standards, it was far better than in ancient
Greece and Rome, in early Christianity, in the Canon Law of mediaeval Europe,
and indeed right up to comparatively modern times at the beginning of the
nineteenth century. The exponents of the law from Manu onwards refer to forms of
partnership in business. Manu refers chiefly to priests; Yag-navalkya includes
trade and agriculture. A later writer, Narada, says: 'Loss, expense, profit of
each partner are equal to, more than, or less than those of other partners
according as his share (invested) is equal, greater, or less. Storage, food,
charges (tolls), loss, freightage, expense of keeping, must be paid by each
partner in accordance with the terms of agreement.'Manu's conception of a state was evidently that of a small
kingdom. This conception was, however, growing and changing, leading to the
vast Maurya Empire of the fourth century B.C. and to international
contacts with the Greek world. Megasthenes, the Greek Ambassador in India in the fourth
century B.C., totally denies the existence of slavery in India. But in
this he was wrong as there were certainly domestic slaves, and there are
references in Indian books of the period to im-proving the lot of the slaves. L
is clear, however, that there was no large-scale slavery and no slave gangs for
labour purposes, as were common in many countries then, and this may have led
Megasthenes to believe that slavery was completely absent. It was laid down
that 'Never shall an Arya be subjected to slavery.' Who exactly was an Arya,
and who was not, it is difficult to say, but the Aryan fold at that time had
come to mean rather vaguely all the four basic castes, including the
shudras, but not the untouchables. In China also, in the days of the early Han Dynasty, slaves
were used primarily in domestic service. They were unimpor-tant in agriculture
or in large-scale labour works. Both in India and China these domestic slaves
formed a very small proportion of the
population, and in this important respect there was thus a vast
difference between Indian and Chinese society and contemporary Greek and
Roman society. What were the Indians like in those distant days? It is
difficult for us to conceive of a period so far and so different from ours, and
yet some vague picture emerges from the miscellaneous data that we have. They
were a light-hearted race, confident and proud of their traditions, dabbling in
the search for the mysterious, full of questions addressed to nature and human
'life, attaching importance to the standards and values they had created, but
taking life easily and joyously, and facing death without much concern. Arrian,
the Greek historian of Alexander's campaign in North India, was struck by this
lighthartedness of the race. 'No nation,' he writes, 'is fonder of singing and
dancing than the Indian.'
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