Sagas from the Far East Part 34

3. Apes enter frequently not only into the fables but into the epic poetry of India. The Ramajana, narrating the spreading of the Aryan Indians over the south and far-east, speaks of the country as inhabited by apes, and of Rama taking apes for his allies; also, on one occasion, of his re-establishing an ape-king in possession of his previous dominions. Consult La.s.sen, Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 534, 535. Megasthenes mentions various kinds of apes and monkeys, with, however, scarcely recognizable descriptions, in his enumeration of the wild animals of India (Fragm. x. p. 410). Kleitarchos tells that when Alexander had reached a hill in the neighbourhood of the Hydaspes, he came upon a tribe of apes arranged in battle array, looking so formidable that he was about to give the signal for attacking them, but was withheld by the representations of Taxiles, king of the neighbouring country of Taxila, who accompanied him (Fragm. xvi. p. 80). The Pantcha-Tantra contains a fable in which the King of Kamanapura establishes an ape for his bodyguard as more faithful and efficient than man; a thief, however, brings a serpent into the apartment, and at sight of the mortal enemy of his kind, the ape runs away. Another fable of the same collection tells of a Brahman who, having succeeded in rearing a flourishing garden of melons, found them all devoured as soon as ripe by a party of apes, nor was he able by any means to get rid of them. One day he laid himself down hid amid the leaf.a.ge as if he had been dead, but with a stick in his hand ready to attack them when they approached. At first they indeed took him for dead and were venturing close up to him, when one of them espied the stick and cried to the others, "Dead men do not carry arms," and with that they all escaped; and it was the same with every trap he laid for them, by their wariness they evaded them all.

4. The Indian world of story abounds in tales in which the low notion of expecting some advantage to accrue in this life is proposed as the object and reward of good actions. Instances will doubtless occur to the reader. The Pantcha-Tantra Collection contains one in which an elephant is caught by a Khan out hunting, by being driven into a deep d.y.k.e. He asks advice of a Brahman who pa.s.ses that way, as to how he is to extricate himself. "Now is the time," answers the Brahman, "to recall if you have ever done good to any one, and if so to call him to your aid." The elephant thereupon recalls that he once delivered a number of rats whom a Khan had hunted and caught and shut up in earthen jars by lifting the earthen jars with his trunk and gently breaking them. He accordingly invokes the aid of these rats, who come and gnaw away at the earth surrounding the d.y.k.e, till they have made so easy a slope of it that the elephant can walk out.

Christianity fortunately proposes a higher motive for our good actions, and the experience of life would make that derived from results to be expected from grat.i.tude a very poor one.

5. A story, with a precisely similar episode of the recovery of a jewel by ancillary beasts, comes into the legend of another ruin of the Italian Tirol.

6. See note 4 to "Vikramaditja's Throne discovered."

TALE XIV.

1. I know not whether this placing together of lions and tigers is to be ascribed to unacquaintance with their habits, or to idealism. Though both natives of parts of India they have not even the same districts a.s.signed them by nature. So inimical are they also to each other, and so unlikely to herd together, that it has been supposed the tiger has exterminated the lion wherever they have met. (Ritter, Asien, vol. iv. zweite Halfte, 689, 703, 723.) Indian fable established the lion as the king of beasts--Mrigaraga. Amara, the Indian Lexicographer, places him at the head of all beasts. The ordinary Sanskrit name is Sinha, which some translate "the killer," from sibh, to kill. The same word (sinhanada) stands for the roaring of the lion and for a war cry. Sinhasana, literally a lion-seat, stands for a throne; for the lion was the typical ruler. The fables always make him out as powerful, just, temperate, and willing to take the advice of others, but often deceived by his counsellors. The lion also gave its name to the island of Ceylon, which to the Greeks was known as Taprobane, from Tambapanni or Tamrapani, the capital built by Vigaja, its first historical settler (said by the natives to come from tamra, red, and pani, hand, because he and his companions being worn out with fatigue on their arrival lay down upon the ground and found it made their hands red; but tamra (neut.) means also red sandalwood, and parna is a leaf, which makes a more probable interpretation, but there is also another deriving from "a red swamp"). But this name pa.s.sed quite out of use both among native and Greek writers in the early part of the first century. Ptolemy calls it Salik'h, the Indian word being Sinhala, the Pali, Sihala = "resting-place of the lion" (i.e. the courageous warriors, the companions of Vigaja). Kosmas has S'ieled'iba = Sinhaladvipa, "the island Sinhala." In the writings of the Chinese pilgrims it is called Sengkiolo, which they render "lion's kingdom." In the southern dialects of India l is often changed into r, and thus in Marcellinus Ammia.n.u.s we find the name has become Serendivus. Out of this came zeilau and our Ceylon. In our word "Singhalese" we have a plainer trace of the lion's share in the appellation.

The writers of the time of Alexander do not appear to have come across any authentic account of the tiger, and his people seem to have known it only from its skin bought as merchandize. Nearchos and Megasthenes both quite overstate its size, as "twice as big as a lion," and "as big as a horse." Augustus exhibited a tiger in Rome in the year 11 B.C., and that seems the first seen there. Claudius imported four. Pliny remarks on the extreme swiftness and wariness of the tiger and the difficulty of capturing him. His place in the fable world is generally as representative of unmitigated cruelty. The Pantcha-Tantra contains a tale, however, in which a Brahman, wearied of his existence by many reverses, goes to a tiger who has a reputation for great ferocity and begs him to rid him of his life. The tiger in this instance is so moved by the recital of the man's afflictions that he not only spares his life, but nurtures him in his den, enriching him also with the jewelled spoil of the many travellers who fall victims to his voracity. In the end, however, the inevitable fox comes in as a bad counsellor, and persuades him the Brahman is intending to poison him, and thus overcoming his leniency, induces him to break faith with the Brahman and devour him.

2. Dakinis were female evil genii, who committed all sorts of horrible pranks, chiefly among the graves and at night. In this place it is more probably Raginis that are intended, beautiful beings who filled the air with melody. (Schmidt, trans, of sSanang sSetsen, p. 438, quoted by Julg.)

3. Nupuras, gold rings set with jewels, worn by women of rank, and also by dancing girls.

4. The custom of wearing quant.i.ties of jewelled ornaments seems to have pa.s.sed into Rome, along with the jewels themselves, and to such an extent that Pliny tells us (book ix.), that Roman women would have their feet covered with pearls, and a woman of rank would not go out without having so many pearls dangling from her feet as to make a noise as she walked along. The long-shaped pearls of India, too, were specially prized for ear-rings; he particularly mentions their being made to bear the form of an alabaster vase, just as lately revived in Rome. They particularly delighted in the noise of two or more of these pendants together as a token of wealth, and gave it the name of crotalia, which, however, they borrowed from the Greeks. They also wore them pendant from their rings. The Singhalese pearls are the most esteemed. The dangerous fishery of these forms the occupation of a special division of the Parawa or Fisher-Caste of the Southern Indians. The pearl-oysters were said to swim in swarms, led by a king-oyster, distinguished by his superiority in size and colouring. Fishers aimed at capturing the "king," as then the whole swarm was dispersed and easily caught; as long as the king was free, he knew how to guide the major part of his swarm of subjects out of danger (Pliny, ix. 55, 1). They thought the pearl was more directly under the influence of the heavens than of the sea, so that if it was cloudy at the time of their birth, they grew dull and tinted; but if born under a bright sky, then they were l.u.s.trous and well-tinted; if it thundered at the time, they were startled and grew small and stunted. Concerning the actualities of pearl-fishery, see Colebrook's "Account" of the same in Trans. of R. As. Soc. ii. 452, et seq.

Megasthenes, Diodorus, Arria.n.u.s, and others (quoted by La.s.sen, 1, 649, n. 2), tell a curious legend by which Hercules as he parted from earth gave to his young daughter Pandaia the whole of Southern India for her portion, and that from her sprang the celebrated hero dynasty of the Pandava; Hercules found a beautiful female ornament called pearls on his travels, and he collected them all and endowed his daughter's kingdom with them.

5. It is impossible not to be struck by the similarity of construction between this tale and that of the Spanish colonial one I have given in "Patranas" with the t.i.tle of "Matanzas," thus bringing the sagas of the East and West Indies curiously together.

6. Lama, Buddhist priest: the tale-repeater again grafts a word of his own language on to the Indian tale.

7. Tirtha, from tri, to cross a river. It denoted originally a ford; then, a bathing-place on the borders of sacred streams; later its use became extended to all manner of pilgrimage-places, but more frequently those situated at the water's edge. They were the hermitages of Brahmans who gave themselves to the contemplative life before the rise of Buddhism, while to many of them also were attached legends of having been the dwellings of the mysterious Rishi, similarly before the rise of Brahmanism. The fruits of the earth and beasts brought to them as offerings at these holy places, as also the mere visiting such spots, was taught to be among the most meritorious of acts. "From the poor can the sacrifice, O king, not be offered, for it needs to have great possessions, and to make great preparations. By kings and rich men can it be offered. But not by the mean and needy and possessing nothing. But hear, and I will tell thee what is the pious dealing which is equal in its fruits to the holy sacrifice, and can be carried out even by the poorest. This is the deepest secret of the Rishi. Visits paid to the tirtha are more meritorious than even offerings" (made elsewhere). "He who has never fasted for three nights, has never visited a tirtha, and never made offerings of gold and cows, he will live in poor estate" (at his next re-birth). "But so great advantage is not gained by the Agnishtoma or other most costly sacrifice as by visiting tirthas." (Tirthagatra, iii. 82, v. 4055 et seq.) In other places it is prescribed that visits paid to some one particular tirtha are equal to an offering of one hundred cows; to another, a thousand. To visiting another, is attached the reward of being beautiful at the next rebirth; a visit to another, cleansed from the stain of murder, even the murder of a Brahman; that to the source of the Ganges, brings good luck to a whole generation. Whoso pa.s.ses a month at that on the Kanshiki, where Vishvamitra attained the highest perfection, does equivalent to the offering of a horse-offering and obtains the same advantage (phala = fruit). Several spots on the Indus or Sindhu, reckon among the holiest of tirthas pointing to the course of the immigration of the Aryan race into India. Uggana on its west bank is named as the dwelling-place of the earliest Rishis and the scene of acts of the G.o.ds. A visit to Gandharba at its source, or Sindhuttama the northern-most tirtha on its banks, was equivalent to a horse-offering.

The Puranas are full of stories and legends concerning tirthas noteworthy for the deeds of ancient kings and G.o.ds. They tell us of one on the Jumna, where Brahma himself offered sacrifice. At the Varaha-tirtha Vishnu had once appeared in the form of a wild boar. The Maha Bharata and other epic poems speak of these visits being made by princes as a matter of constant occurrence, as well as of numbers of Brahmans making the occasion of their visits answer the purpose of an armed escort, to pay their devotions at the same time without incurring unnecessary danger by the way. The Manu also contains prescriptions concerning these visits. In consequence of the amount of travelling they entailed the tirtha.n.u.sartri or tirtha-visitor was quoted as a geographical authority.

The Horse-sacrifice mentioned above was part of the early Vedic religion. In the songs of Dirghatamas, Rig-Veda i. 22, 6 and 7, it is described with great particularity. And instances are mentioned of horse-sacrifices being performed, in the Ramajana, i. 13, 34, and Maha Bharata, xiv. 89 v. 2644. There is also a medal existing struck by a king of the Gupta dynasty, in the 3rd century of our era, commemorative of one at that date. There do not appear altogether to be many instances named however. The Zendavesta (quoted by Burnouf, Yacna, i. p. 444) mentions that it was common among the Turanian people, on the other hand, to sacrifices horses to propitiate victory.

TALE XV.

1. "Diamond kingdom." It is probably Magadha (now Behar) that is here thus designated (Julg.); though it might stand for any part of Central India: "Diamonds were only found in India of all the kingdoms of antiquity" (La.s.sen, iii. 18), and (La.s.sen i. 240), "in India between 14 and 25;" a wide range, but the fields are limited in extent and spa.r.s.ely scattered. The old world only knew the diamond through the medium of India. In India itself they were the choicest ornaments of the kings and of the statues of the G.o.ds. They thus became stored up in great ma.s.ses in royal and ecclesiastical treasuries; and became the highest standard of value. The vast quant.i.ties of diamonds made booty of during the Muhammedan invasion borders on the incredible. It was thus that they first found their way in any quant.i.ty to the West of Europe. Since the discovery of the diamond-fields of Brazil, they have been little sought for in India. In Sanskrit, they were called vag'ra, "lightning;" also abhedja, "infrangible." It would appear, however, that the Muhammedans were not the first to despoil the Eastern treasuries, for Pliny (book ix.) tells us that Lollia, wife of Claudius, was wont to show herself, on all public occasions, literally covered from head to foot with jewels, which her father, Marcus Lollius, had taken from the kings of the East, and which were valued at forty million sesterces. He adds, however, this noteworthy instance of retribution of rapacity, that he ended by taking his own life to appease the Emperor's animosity, which he had thereby incurred.

Hiuen Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim who visited India about A.D. 640, particularly mentions that in Malava and Magadha were chief seats of learned studies.

2. Abaraschika; magic word of no meaning. (Julg.)

3. Astrologers. Colebrooke ("Miscellaneous Essays," ii. 440) is of opinion that astrology was a late introduction into India. Divination by the relative position of the planets seems to have been in part at least of foreign growth and comparatively recent introduction among the Hindus; (he explains this to refer to the Alexandrian Greeks). "The belief in the influence of the planets and stars upon human affairs is with them indeed remotely ancient, and was a natural consequence of their early creed making the sun and planets G.o.ds. But the notion that the tendency of that supposed influence and the manner in which it is to be exerted, may be foreseen by man, and the effect to be produced by it foretold through a knowledge of the position of the planets at a given moment, is no necessary result of that belief; for it takes from beings believed divine their free agency." See also Weber, "Geschichte der Indischen Astrologie," in his Indische Studien, ii. 236 et seq.

TALE XVI.

1. Tabun Minggan = "containing five thousand." (Julg.) The tale-repeater again gives a name of his own language to a town which he places in India.

2. Cows and oxen were always held in high estimation by the ancient Indians. The same word that stood for "cow" expressed also "the earth,"

and both stand equally in the Veda for symbols of fruitfulness and patient labouring for the benefit of others. The ox stands in the Manu for "uprightness" and "obedience to the laws." In the Ramajana (ii. 74, 12) Surabhi, the cow-divinity (see the curious accounts of her origin in La.s.sen, i. 792 and note), is represented as lamenting that over the whole world her children are made to labour from morning to night at the plough under the burning sun. Cows were frequently devoted to the G.o.ds and left to go whithersoever they would, even in the midst of towns, their lives being held sacred (La.s.sen, i. 298). Kuhn (Jahrbuch f. w. K. 1844, p. 102) quotes two or three instances of sacrifices of cows but they were very rare; either as sacrifices to the G.o.ds or as rigagna ("sacrifices to the living") i. e. the offerings of hospitality to the living. The ox was reckoned peculiarly sacred to Shiva, and images were set up to him in the temples (see La.s.sen, i. 299). b.u.t.ter was the most frequent object of sacrifice (ib. 298). The Manu (iii. 70) orders the Homa or b.u.t.ter-sacrifice to be offered daily to the G.o.ds, and the custom still subsists (see La.s.sen, iii. 325). Other names for the cow were Gharmadhug = "giver of warm milk;" and Aghnja = "the not to be slain;" also Kamadhenu or Kamaduh = "the fulfiller of wishes," and (in the Maha Bharata) Nanduni = "the making to rejoice"

(La.s.sen, i. 721). See also the story of Sabala, the heavenly cow of the Ramajana, in note 8 to "Vikramaditja's Youth." Oxen were not only used for ploughing, but also for charioteering and riding, and were trained to great swiftness. aelia.n.u.s (De Nat Anim. xv. 24) mentions that kings and great men did not think it beneath them to strive together in the oxen-races, and that the oxen were better racers than the horses, for the latter needed the spur while the former did not. An ox and a horse, and two oxen with a horse between them were often harnessed together in a chariot. He also mentions that there was a great deal of betting both by those whose animals were engaged in the race and by the spectators. The Manu, however (d. p. c. ix. 221--225), forbids every kind of betting under severe penalties. aelia.n.u.s mentions further the Kamara, the long-haired ox or yak, which the Indians received from Tibet.

3. The "Three Precious Treasures" or "jewels" of Buddhism are Adi-buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, which in later Buddhism became a sort of triad, called triratna, of supreme divinities; but, at the first, were only honoured according to the actual meaning of the words (Schmidt, Grundlehre der Buddhaismus, in Mem. de l'Ac. des Sciences de S. Petersbourg, i. 114), viz. Sangha, sacred a.s.sembly or synod; Dharma, laws (or more correctly perhaps, necessity, fate, La.s.sen, iii. 397), and Buddha, the expounder of the same. (Burnouf, Introd. a l'Hist. du Budd. i. 221.)

Consult Schott, Buddhaismus, pp. 39, 127, and C. F. Koppen, Die Religion des Buddha, i. 373, 550-553, and ii. 292-294.

4. See note 2, Tale IV.

5. Abbe Huc describes the huts of the Tibetian herdsmen as thus constructed with a hole in the roof for the smoke. The Mongolians live entirely in tents which, if more primitive, seem cleaner and altogether preferable.

TALE XVII.

1. Probably it was some version of this story that had travelled to Spain, which suggested to Yriarte the following one of his many fables directed against ignorant writers and bad critics.

1. 1.

Esta fabulilla, This fablette I know it Salga bien o mal, Is not erudite; Me he occorrida ahora It occurr'd to my mind now Por casualidad. By accident quite.

2. 2.

Cerca de unos prados Through a meadow whose verdure Que hay en mi lugar, Fresh, seem'd to invite, Pa.s.saba un borrico A donkey pa.s.s'd browsing Por casualidad. By accident quite.

3. 3.

Una flauta en ellos A flute lay in the gra.s.s, which Hallo que un zagal, A swain over night Se dexo olvidado Had left there forgotten Por casualidad. By accident quite.

4. 4.

Acercose a olerla, Approaching to smell it El dicho animal This quadruped wight Y dio un resoplido Just happen'd to bray then Por casualidad. By accident quite.

5. 5.

En la flauta el ayre The air ent'ring the mouthpiece Se hubo de colar Pa.s.s'd through as of right, Y sono la flauta And gave forth a cadence Por casualidad. By accident quite.

6. 6.

"O!" dixo el borrico "Only hear my fine playing!"

"Que bien se tocar! Cries Moke in delight, Y diran que es mala "That dull folks vote my braying La musica asnal." A nuisance, despite."

7. 7.