The Kalpa-sūtras belonging to this Veda comprise both a manual
of śrauta rites, the Vaitāna-sūtra,[1] and a manual of domestic rites,
Atharva-veda-sūtras.
the Kauśika-sūtra.[2] The latter treatise is not only the
more interesting of the two, but also the more ancient,
being actually quoted in the other. The teacher Kauśika
is repeatedly referred to in the work on points of ceremonial
doctrine. Connected with this Sūtra are upwards of seventy Pariśishtas,[3]
or supplementary treatises, mostly in metrical form, on various
subjects bearing on the performance of grihya rites. The last sūtra-work
to be noticed in connexion with this Veda is the Śaunakīyā
Chaturādhyāyikā,[4] being a Prātiśākhya of the Atharva-saṃhitā, so
called from its consisting of four lectures (adhyāya). Although
Śaunaka can hardly be credited with being the actual author of the
work, considering that his opinion is rejected in the only rule where
his name appears, there is no reason to doubt that it chiefly embodies
the phonetic theories of that teacher, which were afterwards
perfected by members of his school. Whether this Śaunaka is
identical with the writer of that name to whom the final redaction
of the Sākalaprātiśākhya of the Ṛik is ascribed is not known; but
it is worthy of note that on at least two points where Śākalya is
quoted by Pāṇini, the Chaturādhyāyikā seems to be referred to
rather than the Ṛik-prātiśākhya. Śaunaka is quoted once in the
Vājasaneyi-prātiśākhya; and it is possible that Kātyāyana had the
Chaturādhyāyikā in view, though is reference does not quite tally
with the respective rule of that work.
Another class of writings already alluded to as traditionally connected with the Atharvaveda are the numerous Upanishads[5] Upanishads. which do not specially attach themselves to one or other of the Saṃhitās or Brāhmaṇas of the other Vedas. The Ātharvaṇa-upanishads, mostly composed in ślokas, may be roughly divided into two classes, viz. those of a purely speculative or general pantheistic character, treating chiefly of the nature of the supreme spirit, and the means of attaining to union therewith, and those of a sectarian tendency. Of the former category, a limited number—such as the Praśna, Muṇḍaka, and Māṇḍūkya-upanishads—have probably to be assigned to the later period of Vedic literature; whilst the others presuppose more or less distinctly the existence of some fully developed system of philosophy, especially the Vedānta or the Yoga. The sectarian Upanishads, on the other hand identifying the supreme spirit either with one of the forms of Vishṇu (such as the Nārāyaṇa, Nṛisiṃha-tāpanīya, Rāma-tāpanīya, Gopāla-tāpanīya Upanishads), or with Śiva (e.g. the Rudropanishad), or with some other deity—belong to post-Vedic times.
2. The Classical Period
The Classical Literature of India is almost entirely a product of artificial growth, in the sense that its vehicle was not the language of the general body of the people, but of a small and educated class. It would scarcely be possible, even approximately, to fix the time when the literary idiom ceased to be understood by the common people. We only know that in the 3rd century B.C. there existed several dialects in different parts of northern India which differed considerably from the Sanskrit; and Buddhist tradition states that Gautama Śākyamuni himself, in the 6th century B.C., used the local dialect of Magadha (Behar) for preaching his new doctrine. Not unlikely, indeed, popular dialects, differing perhaps but slightly from one another, may have existed as early as the time of the Vedic hymns, when the Indo-Aryans, divided into clans and tribes, occupied the Land of the Seven Rivers; but such dialects must have sprung up after the extension of the Aryan sway and language over the whole breadth of northern India. But there is no reason why, even with the existence of local dialects, the literary language should not have kept in touch with the people in India, as elsewhere, save for the fact that from a certain time that language remained altogether stationary, allowing the vernacular dialects more and more to diverge from it. Although linguistic research had been successfully carried on in India for centuries, the actual grammatical fixation of Sanskrit seems to have taken place about contemporaneously with the first spread of Buddhism; and indeed that popular religious movement undoubtedly exercised a. powerful influence on the linguistic development of India.
A. Poetical Literature.
1. Epic Poems.—The Hindus, like the Greeks, possess two great national epics, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. The national epics. The Mahābhārata,[6] i.e. “the great (poem or tale) of the Bhāratas,” is not so much a uniform epic poem as a miscellaneous collection of poetry, consisting of a heterogeneous mass of legendary and didactic matter, worked into and round a central heroic narrative. The authorship of this work is aptly attributed to Vyāsa, “the arranger,” the personification of Indian diaskeuasis. Only the bare outline of the leading story can here be given.
In the royal line of Hastināpura (the ancient Delhi)—claiming descent from the moon, and hence called the Lunar race (somavaṃśa), and counting among its ancestors King Bharata, after whom India is called Bhārata-varsha (land of the Bhāratas)—the succession lay between two brothers, when Dhṛitarāshṭra, the elder, being blind, had to make way for his brother Pāṇḍu. After a time the latter retired to the forest to pass the remainder of his life in hunting; and Dhṛitarāshṭra assumed the government, assisted by his uncle Bhīshma, the Nestor of the poem. After some years Pāṇḍu died, leaving five sons, viz. Yudhishṭhira, Bhīma and Arjuna by his chief wife Kuntī, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva by Mādrī. The latter having burnt herself along with her dead husband, Kuntī returned with the five princes to Hastināpura, and was well received by the king, who offered to have his nephews brought up together with his own sons, of whom he had a hundred, Duryodhana being the eldest. From their great-grandfather Kuru both families are called Kauravas; but for distinction that name is more usually applied to the sons of Dhṛitarāshṭra, while their cousins, as the younger line, are named, after their father, Pāṇḍavas. The rivalry and varying fortunes of these two houses form the main plot of the great epopee. The Pāṇḍu princes soon proved themselves greatly superior to their cousins; and Yudhishṭhira, the eldest of them all, was to be appointed heir-apparent. But, by his son's advice, the king, good-natured but weak, induced his nephews for a time to retire from court and reside at a house where the unscrupulous Duryodhana meant to destroy them. They escaped, however, and passed some time in the forest with their mother. Here Draupadī, daughter of King Drupada of Panchāla, won by Arjuna in open contest, became the wife of the five brothers. On that occasion they also met their cousin, Kuntī's nephew, the famous Yādava prince Kṛishṇa of Dvārakā, who ever afterwards remained their faithful friend and confidential adviser. Dhṛitarāshṭra now resolved to divide the kingdom between the two houses; whereupon the Pāṇḍavas built for themselves the city of Indraprastha (on the site of the modern Delhi). After a time of great prosperity, Yudhishṭhira, in a game of dice, lost everything to Duryodhana, when it was settled that the Pāṇḍavas should retire to the forest for twelve years, but should afterwards be restored to their kingdom if they succeeded in passing an additional year in disguise, without being recognized by any one. During their forest-life they met with many adventures, among which may be mentioned their encounter with King Jayadratha of Chedi, who had carried off Draupadī from their hermitage. After the twelfth year had expired they leave the forest, and, assuming various disguises, take service at the court of King Virata of Matsya. Here all goes well for a time till the queen's brother Kīchaka, a great warrior and commander of the royal forces, falls in love with Draupadī, and is slain by Bhīma. The Kauravas, profiting by Kīchaka's death, now invade the Matsyan kingdom, when the Pāṇḍavas side with King Virāṭa, and there ensues, on the field of Kurukshetra, during eighteen days, a series of fierce battles, ending in the annihilation of the Kauravas. Yudhishṭhira now at last becomes yuva-rāja, and eventually king-Dhṛitarāshṭra having resigned and retired with his wife and Kuntī to the forest, where they soon after perish in a conflagration. Learning also the death of Kṛishṇa, Yudhishṭhira himself at last becomes tired of life and resigns his crown; and the five princes, with their faithful wife, and a dog that joins them, set out for Mount Meru, to seek admission to Indra's heaven. On the way one by one drops off, till Yudhishṭhira alone, with the dog, reaches the gate of heaven; but, the dog being refused admittance, the king declines entering
- ↑ Text and a German translation published by R. Garbe (1878); German trans. by W. Caland (1910).
- ↑ This difficult treatise has been published with extracts from commentaries by Professor Bloomfield. Two sections of it had been printed and translated by A. Weber, “Omina et Portenta” (1859).
- ↑ These tracts have been edited by G. M. Bolling and J. v. Negelein, part i. (1909).
- ↑ Edited and translated by W. D. Whitney.
- ↑ For a full list of existing translations of and essays on the Upanishads, see Introd. to Max Müller's “Upanishads,” S.B.E. i. Cf also P. Deussen, Sechzig Upanishads (1897).
- ↑ Three complete Indian editions, the handiest in 4 vols., including the Harivaṃśa (Calcutta, 1834-1839); a Bombay edition, with Nīlakaṇṭha's commentary (1863); and a third, in Telugu characters, containing the Southern recension (Madras, 1855-1860). Another Southern edition, in Nāgarī, is now appearing at Bombay, edited by Krishnacharya and Vyasacharya of Kumbakonam. An English translation has been brought out at Calcutta by Pratap Chundra Roy (1883-1894); and another by M. N. Dutt (5 vols., Calcutta, 1896); whilst numerous episodes have been printed and translated by European scholars. For critical analysis of this epic consult A. Holtzmann, Das Mahābhārata (4 vols., Kiel, 1892-1895); W. Hopkins, The Great Epic of India (New York, 1902).
