THE DASYUs AT SANCHI.
FEB. 2, 1872.]
this supposition. Mr. Fergusson himself half suspects the persons to be hermits, and attributes their rarity in the A m a r a v a ti sculptures, to the scarcity of D as y us at the time.* Some of these figures are repeated on the temples of B h u v a n e s h v a ra. They ap pear old and emaciated, having by their sides a pair of tongs, a gourd pot, and a chaffing dish. The scene is scrupulously true to life, and may be found to this day not only in every part of India, but even beyond it, and everywhere it represents an Aryan of the third order, i. e., a hermit or ascetic (V & n a p r a sth a) seated at his ease, reading his prayer book, or attending to his domestic occupations, and not a non-Aryan. Adverting to some of these houseless hermits on the shores of the Caspian Sea, M. de Pauly
37
and his hair grey, and sees the child of his child, let him seek refuge in a forest, abandoning all food eaten in towns and his household utensils, let him repair to the lonely wood, committing the care of his wife to her sons, or accompanied by her if she choose to attend him. Let him
take up his consecrated fire, and all his domestic implements for making oblations to it, and departing from the town to the forest, let him
dwell in it, with complete power over his organs of sense and of action.”
This state of hermit
age or Vá n a p r as th a was subsequently ex changed for that of the S a n n y ási, or houseless mendicant, but the distinction was rarely very rigidly observed ; and the transition, when it
adorateurs du feu, dont la personnalité est parti
did take place, was so gradual as to be imper ceptible. Hence it is that we find the ancient sages generally described as living in woods and retired places, but not without women and chil
culièrement intéressante.
dren about them.
observes—“Outrouve en outre à Bakou quelques L'aspect de ces feux
perpétuels, sortant spontanément de la terre offre un coup d'oeil wraiment magique, surtout pendant la nuit; dans le voisinage de ces feux se trouve une sorte de temple ou de couvent dans leguelles derniers débris des antique adorateurs du feu, représentés par quelques vieux Indous desséchés, presque nus, semblables à des fantômes ambu lants, pratiquent sureux-mêmes leurs macérations contre nature, et célèbrent leur culte idolâtre, triste et misérable parodie de la doctrine de Tserdoucht.”f
General Cunningham, from his thorough knowledge of Indian life, at once took the S 4 n ch i D as y us for ascetics, and no one who has once seen a group of S a n n y á s is at H a r d w a r, B an are s, or other sacred
places, could for a moment mistake them. The head gear, the style of sitting, the tongs, the gourd, and the blazing fire, are so peculiar and characteristic that I, as a Hindu—perfectly familiar with the scene—cannot possibly mistake
it, and I have no hesitation in asserting that the D as y us in such scenes are entirely imaginary. It might be said that the hermits of the present day are generally celibates, whereas the D as y us of the S 4 n ch i Top e have women and children about them. But the objec tion is of no moment, as we have ample evi
dence to show that the ancient Aryan hermits or sages were not altogether free from domestic ties. According to M an u, “when the father of a family perceives his muscles become flaccid,
- Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 208,
K # 1 i d 4 s a makes the sage
Kan v a live in a wood, with about half a dozen maidens—including S h a k unt a l 4, in his her mitage.
Ká shy a pa, in the same way, has
his retreat full of women of different ranks and
a boy. S it ā is said to have lived in the hermit
age of V as i s h th a, with her two sons who were borne there ; and almost every ancient story book has its tale of hermitages having feminine and juvenile residents. No doubt those works treat of avowed fictions, but it is not to be sup
posed that their authors outraged the sense of propriety of their readers by describing hermits having wife and children and female lodgers in their cells, if they had not found such things to be common in their times.
The Vedas, the
Upanishads, the great epics, and the Puránas, also describe sages, rishis, and munis, having females
about them; and the presence of such persons cannot, therefore, be taken as inconsistent with ancient Indian ascetic life.
The same practice also prevailed among the Buddhists, and priestesses or female mendi cants—the Caval of Clement of Alexandria—
are frequently named in the Avadānas the Játakas and other legendary writings. In Mr. James D'Alwis's translation of the Attanagula Vansa we have a remarkable instance of this.
As the story there given is of importance, in connexion with the question at issue, and can not readily be had for reference, I shall quote it entire. It forms a part of the Sáma Játaka, and runs as follows:—
- Pewples de la Russie, p. 148.
