5 i\.. O akçin àm ûrti (Siva as Teacher).

South side o f East G op u ra,

 A Cultural
History of India
Edited by

A. L. BASHAM

OXFORD
U N I V E R S I T Y P R E SS
 OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS

YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, N ew Delhi 1 10 001

Oxford University Press is a departm ent o f the U niversity o f Oxford.

It furthers the U niversity's objective o f excellen ce In research, scholarship,
and educationby publishing w orldw ide in

Oxford N ew York
A th en s. A uckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Catcutta
Cape Town C hennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul
Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid M elbourne M exico C ity Mum bai
Nairobi Paris Sao Paolo Singapore Taipei T okyo Toronto W arsaw
w ith associated com panies in
Berlin Ibadan

© Oxford University Press 1975

First published 1975

First Indian impression 1983
reprinted by arrangem ent w ith Oxford University Press, Oxford
Oxford India Paperbacks 1997
Third impression 1999

A ll rights reserved. No part o f this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transm itted, in any form o r by any m eans,
electronic, m echanical, photocopying, recording or otherw ise,
w ithout the prior permission in w ritin g o f Oxford U niversity Press

ISBN 0 19.563921 9

Printed in India at Saurabh Print-O-Pack, Noida, UP

and published by M anzar Khan, Oxford University Press
YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, N ew D elhi 110 001
 P REF ACE

T h e Legacy o f India, edited by G . T . G arratt, appeared in 1937. Its., contri­

butors included some o f the ablest specialists o f the time and several o f its
fifteen chapters are as valid today as they were at the time o f writing. N ever­
theless, the Second W orld W ar, the independence o fln d ia , and the-chang^ o f
attitudes since those tw o m om entous events, have rendered som e o f îh è
chapters quite out o f date. Others have becom e obsolete as the result o f the
m any discoveries made and new theories put forw ard since the war.
The need fo r a new edition was clear and D r. R aghavan Iyer first, drafted
out a plan and approached a num ber o f contributors som e fifteen years ago.
In 1968 the Clarendon Press asked me to assume responsibility fo r bringing
the w ork to a conclusion, on the basis o f the m aterial collected by D r. Iyer. I
agreed to do so, and was given authority to commission authors and recast
the plan o f the volume in whatever w ay I might think fit. A s is alm ost inevit­
ably the case with large collaborative w orks, com posed b y contributors
scattered across the world, the task took longer and proved m ore arduous
than I had expected. B ut it is completed at last, andvthe result is offered to the
reader, not w ithout some misgiving, in the hope that he will accept it as a
sincere attempt on the part o f the contributors and the editor to explain
India’s heritage from the past, and the w orld’s heritage from India. T he
original Legacy, fo r all its merits, contained several lacunae. In the attem pt to
fill these and to produce an even m ore com prehensive survey, it becam e in­
creasingly clear that what was em erging could not be contained under the
original title. It was no longer a ‘ L e g a c y ’ , and so, not too im m odestly I hope,
it was decided to call the b ook A Cultural History o f India'.
W hile many o f the chapters are the w ork o f senior scholars w ith w ell-
established international reputations I have not hesitated to enlist the help o f
younger and less well-ljnown specialists, where this has seemed advisable. The
very fact that contributions have been received from fou r o f the five con­
tinents (and one contributor now w orks in the fifth, A frica) is surely evidence
in itself o f the im portance o fln d ia in the world today.
Four o f the contributions to G arratt’s original Legacy nave been retained.
The venerable Professof R adhakrishoan’s sincere and well-written chapter on
Hinduism survives,, with some editorial additions. Similarly, with editorial
changes, I have retained the chapter by the late Professor S. N . D as G upta,
whose monumental survey o fln d ia n Philosophy is still the m ost authoritative
and comprehensive study o f the subject. T h e late Professor H . G . R aw linson’s
sympathetic chapter on India’ s cultural influence on the western w orld re­
mains, but it is now divided into two and is brought up to date b y a G erm an

1 Even as it stands, this book contains lacunae. I should have liked to include a.chapter on
the Gypsies, who are also part o f the history o f India; and, the much-debated question o f
trans-Pacific contacts, o f which there were certainly some in Pre-Columbian times, though
very slight and indirect, might also have been considered. More serious is the absence o f a
chapter on the Indian dance, on e o f her greatest contributions to the world’s culture.
vi Preface

scholar who has made a special study o f the' subject. The contribution o f
M artin Briggs on Indian Islam ic Architecture is also kept, purged o f several
pages o f discussion o f matters which were once controversial, but are now no
longer so. Other than these chapters, all the material is new.
In my editorial capacity I have made no attempt to force my numerous
helpers to fit their contributions to a particular pattern, beyond explaining to
them at the outset that I hoped that the book would emphasize the inheritance
o f modern India from the past, and her many bequests to the world o f the
present. M y m ain task, except in respect o f the chapters inherited from the
G arratt Legacy, has been in trying to impose a uniform system o f translitera­
tion, orthography, and typographical conventions, in occasionally adding
brief explanatory remarks, and in abridging a few contributions which were
definitely over length.
It was part o f my original plan to include chapters on ‘ India since Inde­
pendence’ and ‘ Pakistan since Independence’ , w hich would survey the main
trends in the tw o countries over the last twenty-five years. But I finally de­
cided against this in view o f the size o f the volume, and o f the fact that many
aspects o f the contem porary situation were covered in other chapters. In the
place o f these two un written chapters a brief conclusion tries to draw the m any
and diverse threads o f this hook together. I f in this I have allowed m yself to
make value judgem ents, s o m e o f which may be in disagreement, with the state­
ments o f certain contributors, I put rqy vjews forward w ith all deference, as
those o f one w ho has had close contacts with the region o f'S ou th Asia- for
m any years, and has deep-affection'for the people o f that region and jo r tbeip
culture.
Som e readers m ay be irritated by^he numerous diacritic marks tq be found
over the letters even o f well-known Indian names. I take full responsibility for
any annoyance this m aycau se. It has long been-one o f m y minor tasks in life
to encourage the English-speaking public to pronounce Indian names^and
terms with at least an approxim ation to accuracy, and the attention o f readers
is drawn to the notes on pronunciation which immediately follow this preface,
One o f the m ost difficult problems facing the editor o f a w ork such as this,
in the present-day context, rests in its title. When, the original Legacy was pub­
lished the w hole o f the region o f South A sia, with the exception o f N epal, the
foreign affairs o f which w ere controlled by India, and o f Ceylon (now officially
ârt L an k a ),'which like India was part o f the British Empire,-was. clearly .and
unequivocally India. T h e region now consists o f five .completely independent
states, o f which the R epublic o fln d ia is unquestionably the largest in size and
population. This fact,.perhaps understandably, sometimes leads to expres­
sions o f protest when the word ‘ In d ia ’ is used, jn certain.contexts/ to cover
regions beyond India’s present-day frontiers. A s an extremé example I remem­
ber a student from Kâthm andü indignantly declaring that his country had
not received, the credit that was. its due because G autam a Buddha was invari­
ably referred to as an Indian when jn fact he had been a Nepalese. T he en­
dem ic tension between India and Pakistan leads to similar protests, on grounds
too numerous to mention. I recognize the force o f national feeling, and I do not
wish to give offencq.to citizens o f the oilier oountries’ o f fTouth A sia ’- but here
inevitably ‘ In d ia ’ must be understood at times in its broadest historical sense.
 Preface vii
Let It be remembered in any case that the word India itself owes its deriva­
tion, not to India, but to Greece. Until the Muslims came to South A sia none
o f the inhabitants o f that region ever thought o f calling their country by such
a name. The river Indus is known in Sanskrit as Sindhu. T h e Indus region,
most o f it now Pakistan, became a satrapy o f the Achaemertian Empire of
Iran under the name Hindush, the Indian s becoming Persian h by a regular
sound-shift between the two languages. The Greeks, borrowing the word from
the Iranians, called thé river Indos and the country through which it flowed
India. It would appear that for Herodotus the Indus basin was the w hole of
India.
A t least from the time o f Alexander o f Macedon, and probably before him,
the Greeks realized that beyond the Indus valley lay the valley o f another eveh
greater river which they called Ganges, from the Sanskrit Ganga. This latter
name, incidentally,'is now officially used in India, not only in Indian languages
but also in English. Since it is the name by which those who dwell on its banks
have known the sacred river for some 3,000 years, there seems no pòint in re­
taining the classical modification o f the Indian word, and wc have therefore
adopted Ganga regularly in this book.
Later classical writers, though their geographical knowledge was very in­
accurate, regularly applied the term India to the large land mass which ex­
tended from the Himalayas to the sea. The Arabic Hind and the Persian
Hindustan had the same connotation at a later date. Thus Europe and western
Asia have applied the word India to the whole o f mainland South A sia, irre­
spective o f political boundaries, for over 2,000 years. In contexts such as this
one, circumlocutions like ‘ the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent’ are quite im pos­
sible. W e are compelled to retain ‘ In d ia’, even if we go beyond the bounds o f
the present Indian Republic.
It remains for me to express my acknowledgements for much help and ad­
vice received in the course o f my task. First I must thank D r. Râghavan Iyer,
for collecting the first drafts o f several chapters before he relinquished his
editorship. 1 am very grateful to Professor J. Duncan M.. D errctt for first
suggesting that I take up the task, as well as for acting as my contact in
London and for contributing an excellent chapter to (he volume. I have to
thank all the contributors for their generous co-operation and (in many cases)
for their patience; I am especially grateful to a few o f them w ho cam e to my
help at the last minute, and produced chapters at very short notice. A number
o f colleagues gave me very helpful advice on the selection o f contributors and
other matters o f importance— I think specially o f M r. W . G . Archer, Professor
J. -W. de Jong, D r. H. H . E. Loofs, and D r. S. A . A .R iz v i. T o bring this com ­
plex editorial task to a successful conclusion I have been greatly helped by the
very competent professional assistance o f Mrs. Jocelyn Bergin, Secretary o f
the Department o f Asian Civilizations, o f Miss M ary Hutchinson, Depart­
mental Research Assistant, and o f the ladies o f the typing pool o f the Faculty
o f Asian Studies o f (he Australian N ational University. D r J. C . Harle, o f the
Ashmolean Museum, O xford, has given invaluable help with the illustrations.
I must also thank the staff o f the Clarendon Press for exem plary patience
and for trusting my judgement.
Canberra, 1972 A . L. Basham
viìi Preface
W h i le t h is book h a s b e e n i n t h e p r e s s , s e v e r a l i m p o r t a n t p o l i t i c a l
p o s t s c r ip t .
changes have taken place. The secession o f E ast Pakistan, to become the
independent state o f Bangladesh, occurred shortly before the final typescript
was submitted, and note o f this has been taken in the text. T he change o.f the
fam iliar name Ceylon to Srl Lanka came later, and I have not attempted to
alter the text o f this b ook accordingly. M ore recently the Indian state o f
M ysore has become Karnataka, and several small hiil-states have been de­
tached from the form er Assam . It would delay the appearance o f the book
still further i f I attempted to bring every reference to these regions o f South
Asia up to date, and I crave the reader’s indulgence for inconsistencies in this
respect.
A . L . B. (1974).
 C O N TE N T S

List o f Plates and Maps xi

Chronological Tables xiii

Notes on the Pronunciation o f Indian Words xvi

List o f Contributors xix

i. Introduction A . L. B a sh a m i

p a r t one: t h e a n c ie n t h e r ita g e

it. The Indus Civilization B . B. L a l ii

hi T h e E arly A ryans T . B u r ro w 20
lv. T h e Early D ravidians Joh n P. M a r k 30
v. A sokan India and the G upta A g e R omila T h a pa r 38

vi. M edieval Hindu India A . L . B a sh a m 51

v ii . Hinduism S. R a d h a k r is h Na n 60

vin. Buddhism B h ik sh u S a n g h a r a k s h it a 83

1X1 Jainism A . N . U pa d h yb 100

X. Philosophy S. N . D as G u p ta iii

x i. Social and Political T hought and Institutions.

J. DUNCAN'M,:D eRRETT 124

xii. Science H . J. J. W inter 141

XHi. Ancient and M odem Languages T. B u rro w 162

X IV . Classical Literature A . K . W ard er 170

x v. E arly A rt and Architecture P. S. R a w s o n 197

x v i. M usic N , Ja ir a z b h o y 212

P A R T T W O : THE AGE OF MUSLIM DOMINANCE

xvii. T h e Muslim R uling Dynasties S. A . A . R iz v i 245

XVJJL M edieval Hindu Devotionalism J, T , P . J o r d e n s 266

x ix, Islam in M edieval India S, A . A . R iz v i 281

xx Sikhism H ew M c L e o d 294
XXI. M edieval Indian Literature K r is h n a K r t p a l a n i 303
 Contents

xxii. M uslim Architecture in India M a r t in S. B r ig g s 310

xxiii. M edieval Indian M iniature Painting P ra m o d C h a n d r a 326

P A R T T H R E E : C H A L L E N G E A N D RESPONSE— TH E C O M IN G OF TH E W EST

x x iv . T h e Portuguese J. B. H a r r iso n 337

XXV. T h e M ughals and the British P e r c iv a l S pe ar 348

x xvi. H indu Religious and Social Reform in British India
J. T . F. J ord en s 365
xxvii. Islam ic Reform Movements A z iz A h m a d 383
x x v iii. T h e N a tio n a list M o vem en t H u g h O w en 391
xxix. M o dem Literature K r ish n a K r ip a l a n i 406

PART fo u r : tN D IA A N D TH E W O R L D O U TSID E

x x x . E arly .Contacts between India and Europe H . G . R a w l in s o n 425

XXXI. Indian Influence in Ancient South-East A sia A l a s t a ir L am b 442

Appendix H, H. E. L oofs 452

xxxii. Indian Influences on China J. L e R o y D a v id s o n 455

xxxm . India and the Medieval Islam ic W orld S. A . A . R izv i 461 ■

x x x iv . India and the Modern W est F r ie d r ic h W ilh elm and

H. G . R a w l in s o n 470
x x x v . Conclusion A . L . B a sh a m 487
Books fo r Further Reading 501
Index 519
 LIS T OF PLATES

Siva Dakçinâm ùrti (Siva as Teacher). South side o f East G opura,

Cidambaram , Tam ilnâdu. c. a . d . 1200. J. C. Harle frontispiece
A T EN D

1. Kalibangan : steatite seals (two upper rows) and clay sealings (bot­
tom row). Archaeological Survey o f India
2. Lothal : cast o f obverse and reverse o f a seal o f ‘Persian-G ulf’ style.
Archaeological Survey o f India
3. Surkotâdâ: general view o f the citadel, with entrance-ramp in the
middle distance on the right. Archaeological Survey o f India
4. Surkotâdâ: entrance to the citadel, with ramp, staircase, and
guardroom s( 7). Archaeological Survey o f India
5. Indo-Greek and Persian coins. From H. G . Rawlinson, Inter­
course between India and the West, Cam bridge University Press
6a. Bronze statuette o f Harpocrates from Taxila. From the Cambridge
History o f India, vol. 1
6b. Greek intaglio gems from North-W est India, ibid.
7. N orth Indian Astrolabe, brass. ? 18th century. Obverse. Museum
o f History o f Science, O xford
8. N orth Indian Astrolabe, brass. ? 18th century. Reverse. Museum
o f History o f Science, O xford
9. Samrât yantra. Delhi. Winter
10. M other Goddess, moulded terracotta plaque. Tam luk (near C al­
cutta). c. 1st century b . c . Aslimolèan Museum, Oxford
11. Y ak ça, stone. Besnagar, now in VidiSâ Museum, c. 1st century b .c .
J. C. Harle
12. Seated Buddha, sandstone. Sarnâth. Late 5th century a .d . J. C.
Harle
13. Viçnu in his Boar incarnation, sandstone. U dayagiri (M adhya
Pradesh). Early 5th century a . d . J. C^ Harle
14. Sivalaya-M alegitti (a Siva temple). Badami (M ysore State). First
h alf o f 7th century a .d . J. C . Harle
15. Head o f Siva from an Ekam ukhalingam , spotted red sandstone.
M athura. 4th—5th century a . d . Ashmolean Museum, O xford
16. S iva N atarâja (S iv a as L ord o f the Dance), bronze. From Tam il-
nàdu, probably Pudukottai, Thanjâvür region. Chola Dynasty. 10th
century a .d . Victoria and Albert Museum, London
17. Bodhisattva. Gandhâra (Graeco-Buddhist). 2nd-5th century a .d .
' Archaeological Survey o f India
 List o f Plates and Maps

18. K ârli: interior o f chaitya cave. c. 150 b.c. India Office

19. N âsik: sun-w indow and horseshoe-arch. c. 150 B .c.
20. Bow-harps and flutes. Am arâvatï. c. a .d . 200. British Museum
21. Vinâ in the hands o f Sarasvati. c. a .d . 900 British Museum
22. Ajm er: G reat M osque, c. 1200. Indian Museum, Calcutta
23. D elhi: Qutb M inar, a .d . 1232. Indian Museum, Calcutta
24. D elhi: Tom b o f Humâyün, C.P. Bureau, Indian State Railways
25. Fatèhpur-Sîkri: the Buland D arw aza. a .d . 1575. From S. M .
Edwardes and H. L . O. Garrett. Mughal Rule in India (O xford
University Press)
26. A g ra : the T âj M ahal, a .d . 1632. India Office
27. The D yin g Inayat K han, miniature painting. E arly 17th century.
Bodleian Library Oxford
28 Asvârï Râgint (a musical mode personified), from the Laud
Ràgamâla. Early 17th century. Bodleian Library, Oxford
29. Plaque with Siva and Pârvatî, carved ivory. F rom South India c.
a .d . 1700,-Victoria and Albert Museum, London

30. G ird le(patkâ), stencilled and painted cotton, Râjasthân. Late 17th
or early 18th century. Victoria and Albert Museum, Lóndon
31. Seated Buddha, gilt bronze. China. Form er C hao D ynasty. D ated
338. Avery Brmdage Collection
a .d .

32. Standing K uan-Y in , gilt bronze, China. M id -T a n g Dynasty. Late

7th century a . d . Avery Brundage. Collection ‘

L I S T OF M APS
AT end

i. Physical Features o f India

11. A so k a ’s Empire (250 b .c .)
hi. The G upta Empire at the C lose o f the Fourth Century
IV , India at the Close o f the N inth Century
v. India in 1236
vi. The M ughal Empire at the D eath o f A k b ar (1605)
vu. T h e M ughal Empire at the end o f the Seventeenth Century
vin. T h e Portuguese Possessions in the E ast and the R oute to India
IX. India at the Close o f D alhousie’s Adm inistration
X. India in 1939
>3. Trade Routes from India to T he Levant
 CHRONOLOGY
P O L IT IC A L - E C O N O M lC CU LTU RAL AND
EVENTS A 8R O A D
R E L IG IO U S
n.c. NORTH SOUTH Ô.C
Stone A t e — Soan Stone A f e — M adras
Industries In d u itm s

ijoo
e. 2400-1700 Indus V alley
Civilization r , 2300 Sargonid period o f
5 u m er*Akksd Civilization

c. 2000-1500 Developm ent A ryans (Indo-Jranlani)

o f |ndo»Aryan i s distinct detached from other
language Indo-Europeans

r* 1730 H am m urabi

r. Jioo Aryans Invade A ryans in M tiannt-

Inaii H urrian state
C em etery H H arappi
people

1*. ijo o - to o a Com position

o f /tin Veda

Aryan» In G a n g ! V a lle y - c . 1000-800 Com position A ryans (Iranians) occupy tooo

ilatcs o f Rosala* KJH , o f BrâfimanOS Iran
900 V ideha- 975 Phoenician trade 900
M a h S b M riU W ar m Indian goods
Beginning o f composition
too c. 800-330 T h ird stage— or MahâbhSrata goo
A rya n Colonization
700 /cache» Bengal c. 700 P i r l i a A ru nl 7th-6th cent. Com position 700
G autam a o f iHad
e. 700-500 development
600 o f doctrine o f trans* e, 600 Pythagoras and to o
migration Orphlsm
r . 563/6-483/6 G autam a
Buddha
joo 5th cent, Aryan» in South r , 500 M a h iv irt 310 D ariua o f Persia sends
A rya n colonization o r Com position o f Scytax dow n Indus
C eylo n . L'poiifhadt
Irrigation in Ceylon Herodotus

Com position o f Vripilnka

es8/7-3<8/7 Plato

316 Alexander In P a n jib r. 350 Pinini

3>t Chandragupta found» 323 D eath o f Alexander
M aunran D ynaaiy K a u iily i's Jn h a iJ ttfa in o r M ie e d o n
305 defeat» Seleucus original form
N lt it o r G & n g l V alley terracotta»

S a rn lth Jlàpa in original

c. AJoka K in g T issa. Ceylon
M au ryant in Deccan
T am il kingdom s:
C ho las, P ln d y a j.
K e r^ llp U tro ,
Satiyaptitras
form
e. 3rd cent. a.C. First
A ja n tl caves
Earliest T am il (B rlhm l)
Inscriptions
bhaktt in ea rly form
E gyp t. G reek B actrfin -
kingdom s and South-East
Aala In co n tact with India
* *$ -M 7 P tolem y »
PnH idelphui

e. 183 End o f M auryan

D ynasty
r . 183 Found ation o f
Sunga kingdom Patanjalt
c. l i o M enander rule»
)ndo»Oreek Bactrian
kingdom in P a n jib

K in v a kingdom come» to c. t»t cent. i . e . Final

end com position o f R&mayana
K h irav cta. K in g o f Slm uka founds S lta v ih a n a
Ralinga (A ndhra) kingdom in
D eccan D isco very o f m onsoon
winds
B .C . B .C .
A .D . c. a’. d , to K S rll cave A .D .
temple
Asvaghocha In d ia n iu tio n o f South*
r. 20-50 Arikam edu— S t. T hom as brini» Syrian East A sia under w ay
S o u th Indian site o f Christianity to so u th
trade with Rom e India a .P.68 B u dd hlim reaches
is t - j r d cents. T am il. C hina
Etiuttùgoi '
78 a . d . F o u n d a tio n ‘o f
 3 |
5\>
■
l a '

«ÎO ° n
c e*^ 2 S i 'S
S « 3
S-Sl* ix *3
r l2
y ©
ÏÉ £ *£
"•5 î - ï
S1? " ! S 3"
?m
iC lc Î - T 'î î2 *
«âïiî
n n*4 M
.< *Ç P ^S £S lo-sSl

5<=>
* N6
’S1*
y
2 Ix fr s* ii i ; « î * i? * - *x «eoo ;
o ÿjtxi*- "ôÜ T -r
o®o*- c;n
t --cn"£*='
-io .£ " *?«i
^ -â ? é £ — --e
!K —E5 I i 2 **Ì 5 | ox r f 4' e . s ê Ê s c S °
3 j
HuJ
ÏM
3 «X a j
5 * * ® 2 i c Si* £,2 *<3ir J* ^C rvc<
g. _e jjw 3 c 2 e
o«•c
-J«r
■5 = | = | Z
£ « o e •■
B
CS î | >• v) £ (•whi-fs-; 33 üüs f s « I lf= S 53s
23
y 2 » ^ “ 2 3 .« « • 2 2 •ïj*"° oti».©*'*<o'“ o>o.»ê 0 i *
Ûœ« %
mov g £o,
*° S,”
M .’.Î'SmiS ^ A oJ, âï . ;/>•= “ U .Î7 Ç - S « * S 7 - u - io i
e î 25 a
2 flr -p |p # |H |â .
Ì
r r ^ frlrS * 0* £?.

-S g
c
s J
J
*1?
ï - x n
•o c
ï — o«o ?2<
£ o s x «3 ?!
O ^ - K ü '* ’
> c £ t“
5 -S
^>*5 5v» m £ 7
A ?x Isï
. * 2 ^ \o 5 5 *3ibS
• ^ vi

H O Y S A L A S o f C. A S. D te a n
C H A L U K Y A S r P Â N D V a S o f M flU um l IB A H M A N I K IN G D O M IA H M A
CHO LAS OF T H A N JÂ V O R 1 V | J A Y A N A G A R A E M I‘ t K E
M E D I A E V A L D Y N A S T IE S O F S O U T H Ì N D I A
TALAS
S EN AS. Bengal o
E
.5 i £ o *2 « c
E° m
=■5 £0 c .5 *- s J ^ v
0 K o E «c ïU * E < *=
2 ° -I
- -
M --°e
.SE -
"
le xv
2* c ■5.5! 2*» s i
S£ - * 5
20 2*«2*; 3 *>w* g u -iïi^
"•S -ç E ^ £ 2*0 é g
!U < Z «“ Oo
■5 x T S 5 ‘S f Ü«
2 s o l* 4 £p E*
5•-V v$ t-oto*5
k swO -rA* | Ï ë 31
*5
s
5?~ Jo £
_
• ~P I 5£ÜJ
” : 311 s S i sJ
•I £■£
V*- = ï 5 ?
a l s i 'i
iS = ;3 &
5 *3 S %©
* î “ ls a * I S "J S I l s i S £ « r. ° —•£. o*3*o
5 rV ljg^ : | ! 2 | f | i ï | ; ? £•Pi*
ïïn | « a T ^ r
.Su. U .2Z Z - sS o £ £
O «, —0 .0 «IO r*
j h £ e^ s Î k SwÎSÎI °~£*'8Si•£> $ ÌA 2 m î- X
- ?
M E D IA E V A L D V N A S T IÇ S l D E L H I S U l T - A N A T K P E R IO D . f B R IT IS H IN O IA
?. S 3 3 g 8
 NOTES ON THE P R O N U N C I A T I O N OF
I N D I A N WORDS

E v e r y Indian language has a com plex phonetic system and contains phonemes
which to the average speaker o f English seem almost exactly the same, but to
the Indian ear are completely different. O nly after long practice can the hearing
be trained to recognize fhese differences, or the Yocal organs to pronounce
them accurately. The scripts o f Indian languages reproduce these sounds, but
they can only be expressed in rom an script by means o f numerous diacritic
marks below or above the letters. It is assumed that m ost o f the readers o f this
b ook will not be students o f Indian languages, and therefore a simplified
system o f transliteration has been used, which w ill.give some idea o f the
approximate sound.
W ords in classical languages are transliterated according to the simplified
system mentioned above. Place-names in general follow th e . present-day
official spellings o f the governments o f the countries o f South A sia, as given
in Bartholom ew’s W ord Travel M ap, India, Pakistan and Ceylon, 1970.
Proper names o f nineteenth- and twentieth-century Indians are given in the
spelling which they themselves favoured, including the thoroughly inaccurate
‘ T a go re’, which should be Thâkur, with the stress on the first syllable. D ia ­
critic marks have been placed over the long vowels in such names, in order to
give some idea o f the correct pronunciation, Exceptions are made only in the
case o f a very few Anglicized words, like Calcutta and Bombay. In quotations
from Sanskrit the full system o f diacritics has been used, for the benefit o f
those who know something o f the language.
O nly four letters with diacritic marks, are norm ally used— â, i, û and s. The
first three distinguish long from .short vowels. In most Indian languages e and
o are always long, and therefore do not need diacritics.

VOWELS
a short is pronounced like u in ‘ h u t’, never like a in ‘ hat1. Bengali speakers
usually pronounce it like a short 0 as in ‘ h o t’.
a lo n g, as in ‘ c a lm ’ .
e approximately as the yowel in ‘ same’ , but closer to the long e in French or
German.
i as in ‘ p in ’ . T h e word Sikh, incidentally, should sound approxim ately like
English ‘ sic k ’ . The pronunciation like ‘ seek’ seems to have been adopted by
some Englishmen in India for this very reason, in order to avoid depressing
overtones in the name o f a tôugh, vigorous people.
f as in ‘ m achine’.
o, approximately as in ‘ s o ’. Closer to long 0 in French or German.
u as in ‘ b u ll’, néver as in ‘ b u t’ . (‘ P u n jab ’, however, is an Anglicized spell­
ing, and is m ore accurately written 1P an jâb ’ . In the case o f this word we have
deviated from our rule about rising the accepted spelling, in order to avoid the
 Notes on the Pronunciation o f Indian Words xvii

pronunciation ‘ P oon jab’, which one sometimes hears from speakers w ho are
doing their best to be correct. The first syllable is like the English ‘ p u n ’.)
û as in 'ru le '.
ai as y in ‘ m y ’ .
' au as ow in ‘ h o w ’.
CON SON AN TS

M ost o f the consonants are pronounced roughly as in English, but special

care should be taken o f the aspirated consonants kh, gh, chh,jh, th, dh,ph, and
bh. These are exactly like their unaspirated counterparts, k, g, c h ,j, t, d, p, and
b, but with a stronger emission o f breath. English speakers often aspirate
these letters when they begin a word or syllable. Thus the English ‘ ca k e ’,
according to Indian phonetics, might appear as kheik. The distinction between
the two sounds is immediately obvious to the Indian (except perhaps if his
m other tongue is Tamil), but to the English speaker they are virtually alike.
In a native Indian word, th is never pronounced as in 1 thing’, ph never as in
‘ p h ia l’ (except by some Bengali speakers). T h e letter j is pronounced as in the
English ‘jo k e ’, never as in French or German.
The letter i is pronounced approxim ately as sh in ‘ sheet’ . T he reader will
find both i and sit used in spelling Indian words in this book ; this is not due to
carelessness. The two represent two separate letters in Indian scripts, which
are nowadays pronounced alike, or alm ost alike, by m ost Indians; though
once the distinction was much more definite.
The letter i>varies from region to region between the sounds o f English ' v ’
and ‘ w ’ . Bengalis and some other Indians regularly pronounce it as ‘ b ’ . The
biggest difficulty o f the Indian phonetic system— the distinction between the
retroflex consonants, /, (h, d, <//i, and 11, and the dentals, t, th, d, dh, and n— is
too specialized for the ordinary reader who does not intend to learn an Indian
language, and is not indicated in the system used here.
Urdu has imported several sounds from A rabic and Persian. M any speakers
are inclined to pronounce words in these languages according to die Indian
phonetic system, but educated Muslims attempt to pronounce them correctly.
F o r example q is a very deep k sound pronounced with the throat in the posi­
tion o f swallowing. The ‘ rough breathing’ indicated \>y “ ’ is a similar deep
swallow associated with a vowel, rather like the ‘ glottal sto p ’ which replaces t
in thé broad C ockney pronunciation o f ‘ bottle’. In Persian and A ra b ic loan­
words kh is pronounced as ch in Scots or German ‘ lo ch ’ ; gh is the same, but
voiced, like the French r. The English sounds o f th in ‘ w orth ’ and ‘ w orthy’
occur in A rabic, and some speakers attempt them, but in India and Pakistan
they are usually pronounced as English s and z, even by the educated.

STRESS

The am ount o f stress placed on any one syllable o f a word varies with
different speakers. W ith some, especially in the south, every syllable o f a
word has alm ost the same value, while others m ake à definite stress.
In classical Indian languages (Sanskrit, Pah, and the Prakrits) the stress is
on the last prosodically long syllable o f a w ord, other than the final syllable.
A prosodically long syllable is one containing a long vowel or diphthong (a, e,
 LIST OF CONTR IB U TOR S

Ahm ad, A ziz, D .Lit.(Lond.). Professor o f Islamic Studies, University o f

Toronto, Canada.
Basham, A . L ., D .Lit,(Lond.), Hon.D.Lit.(ICurukshetra), F .S .A ., F .A .H .A .
Professor o f Asian Civilizations, Australian National University, C an ­
berra, Australia.
Briggs, M artin S. (1882- ), F .R .I.B . A. Form erly Lecturer, London Uni­
versity School o f Architecture.
Burrow, T ., M . A ., Ph.D .(Cantab.), F .B .A . Boden Professor o f Sanskrit and
Fellow o f Balliol College, Oxford, U .K .
Chandra, Pramod, Ph.D . Professor in the Departments o f A rt and o f South
Asian Languages and Civilization, University o f Chicago, U .S .A .
Das G upta, S. N . (1885-1952), M .A ., D.Litt.(Cantab.), H on.D .Litt.(R om e).
Form erly Lecturer in Philosophy, University o f Cambridge, and Profes­
sor o f M ental and M oral Science, University o f Calcutta, India.
Davidson, J. L eR oy, Ph.D .(Yale). Professor (and Chairman) o f the Depart­
ment o f Art, University o f California, Los Angeles, U .S .A . ,
Derrett, J. Duncan M ., D .C .L.(O xon.), L L .D ., Ph.D .(Lond.). Professor o f
Oriental Law s in the University o f London, Lecturer in Hindu L aw in the
Inns o f Court School o f Law , London.
Harrison, J. B., M .A.(Cantab.). Reader in the History o f South Asia in the
University o f London.
Jairazbhoy, N ., B.A.(W ash.). Associate Professor o f Asian Studies, Univer­
sity o f Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Jordens, J. T. F ., Lic.Philos., Ph.D .(Louvain). Reader in South Asian C ivili­
zation, Australian N ational University, Canberra, Australia.
Kripalani, Krishna, B.A.(Bom bay), Bar-at-Law (Lincoln’s Inn, London).
Form erly Secretary, Sâhitya Akadem i (National Academ y o f Letters),
New Delhi, India.
Lai, B. B., M .A . Professor o f Ancient Indian History, Culture aud A rchaeo­
logy, Jlvaji University, Gwalior, M .P., India. Form erly D irector-General,
Archaeological Department, Government o f India, N ew Delhi, India.
Lam b, Alastair, Ph.D.(Cantab-). Form erly Professor o f History, University
o f Ghana.
M cLeod, Hew, M .A .(N .Z .), Ph.D .(Lond.). Associate Professor o f History,
University o f Otago, Dunedin, N ew Zealand.
Marr, John, Ph.D .(Lond.). Lecturer in Tam il and Indian Music, School o f
Oriental and African Studies, University o f London.
Owen, Hugh, P h.D .(A N U ). Lecturer in History, University o f Western A u s­
tralia, Perth, Australia.
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli (1888- ), O .M ., F .B .A ., D .L itt., L L .D .,
D .C .L . Numerous honours and honorary degrees. Form erly Professor o f
XX List o f Contributors

Philosophy, University o f Calcutta, •Professor o f Eastern Religions,

University o f Oxford, Vice-Chancellor, Banares Hindu University. 1962­
1967, President o f the Republic o f India.
Rawlinson, H. G . (1880-1957), C .I.E ., M .A .(Cantab.). Form erly Principal,
D eccan College, Poona.
Rawson, Philip, M ;A.(Lond.). Curator, Gulbenkian Museum o f Oriental Art,
University o f Durham , U .K .
Rizvi, S. A . A ., M .A ., P h.D ., D .Litt.(A gra), F .A .H .A . Reader in South Asian
Civilization, Australian N ational University, Canberra, Australia.
Sangharakshita, Bhikshu
Spear, T . G . Percival, O .B.E., M . A ., P h.D .(Cantab.). Fellow o f Selwyn C ol­
lege, Cambridge. Form erly Hon. Reader in History, Delhi University,
. and University Lecturer in History, University o f Cam bridge, U .K .
Thapar, Rom ila, Ph.D .(Lond.). Professor o f Historical Studies and Chairman
o f the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New
D elhi, India.
Upadbye, A . N ., M .A ., D .L itt. Professor o f Jainology and Prakrit, Univer­
sity o f M ysore, India.
Warder, A . K ., Ph.D .(Lond.), Professor o f Sanskrit and Indian Studies,
University o f T oronto, Canada.
Wilhelm, Friedrich, D r.Phil. Professor ó f ìn d ology and T ibetology at the
University o f M unich, West Germany.
Winter, H . J. J., P h.D ., D.Sc.(Lond.). Senior Lecturer in Education at the
University o f Exeter, U .K .
CH APTER I

Introduction
by A . L . B ash am

T h ere are four main cradles o f civilization, from which elements o f culture
have spread to other parts o f the world. These are, m oving from east to west,
China, the Indian subcontinent, the ‘ Fertile Crescent’, and the M editer­
ranean, especially Greece and Italy. O f these four areas India deserves a
larger share o f the credit than she is usually given, because, on a m inimal
assessment, she has deeply affected the religious life o f m ost o f A sia and has
provided very im portant elements in the culture o f the w hole o f South-East
A sia, as well as extending her influence, directly and indirectly, to other parts
o f the world.
It has been com m only believed in the W est that before the im pact o f
European learning, science, and technology ‘ the E a st’ changed little i f at all
over many centuries. T h e 'w isdom o f the E a s t’, unchanging over the m illen­
nia, it was thought, preserved eternal verities w hich W estern civilization had
almost forgotten. O n the other hand ‘ the E a st’ was not ready to enter into the
rough and tumble o f the modern w orld without theguidance fo r an indefinite
period o f more developed Western countries.
These ideas were no doubt held in good faith by m any well-inform ed
people o f earlier generations, and there m ay have been a grain o f truth in
them from the point o f view o f the nineteenth century. B ut there is no reason
to believe that the rate o f change in India in earlier times was any slow er than
that o f other parts o f the world. It was only from the sixteenth century on ­
wards, when a com bination o f m any factors led to increasingly rapid techno­
logical and scientific advances in Europe, that the m yth o f the changelesSness
o f A sia began to appear.
In fact India has always been steadily changing. T he civilization o f the
G uptas was different from that o f the M auryas, and that o f m edieval times
was different again. The Muslims altered conditions considerably, and the high
flowering o f Indian M uslim civilization under the fou r great M ughals brought
yet more changes. The religious life o fln d ia , fo r all her ‘ ancient w isdom ’ , has
changed greatly over the centuries. Between the time o f the early G reek
philosophers and that o f St. Thom as Aquinas, Buddhism developed into a
great religious m ovement in India, changed its outlook alm ost com pletely,
declined, and finally sank back into the Hinduism from which it had emerged,
but only after Buddhist missionaries had spread their message throughout
h a lf o f A sia. T h e Athenian A cropolis was at least 560 years old before the
first surviving stone Hindu temple was built. Som e o f the m ost popular gods
o f Hinduism, fo r instance, GaneSa and H an u m in , ate not attested until w ell
after the time o f Christ. Certain other features o f H idduism also, for instance
the cult o f the divine Ram a and thé com plex and difficult system o f physical
training know n as hatha yoga, are centuries later than Christianity.
2 Introduction

Y et the older strata o f India’s cultural life gO back far beyond anything we
have in the W est. The whole o f the Rig Veda had been composed long before
the Iliad, and there is hardly anything in the O ld Testam ent in its present form
which is as old even as the latest R ig V edic hymns. Some practices and beliefs
o f popular Hinduism, for instance the cults o f the sacred bull and the pipai
tree, are as old as the prehistoric H arappà culture, and probably even older.
In fact every generation in India, for over 4,000 years, has bequeathed some­
thing, if only a very little, to posterity.
N o land on earth has such a long cultural continuity as India, since, though
there were more ancient civilizations, notably in Egypt and Iraq, these were
virtually forgotten by the inhabitants o f those lands, and were overlaid by new
intrusive cultures, until nobody remembered the Book o f the Dead or the Epic
o f Gilgamesh, and great kings such as Ramesses II or Ham m urabi were not
recorded in any living tradition. O nly nineteenth-century scholarship resur­
rected them from oblivion, and if they are now national heroes, remembered
by every school-child in their respective lands, this is not thanks either to
the historical genius or to the retentive folk-m em ory o f the countries con­
cerned.
On the other hand in India the brahm an still repeats in his daily worship
V ed ic hymns com posed over 3,000 years ago, and tradition recalls heroic
chieftains and the great battles fought by them at about the same time. In re­
spect o f the length o f continuous tradition China comes second to India and
G reece makes a poor third.
T h e pre-Vedic Harappà culture bequeathed to later times sacred animals
and trees, the M other Goddess, the preoccupation with personal cleanliness,
and, less certainly, other aspects o f Indian culture. From the V edic Aryans
cam e many o f the gods, the Vedic hymns, some o f the most im portant per­
sonal rituals o f Hinduism, the patriarchal and patrilineal fam ily system, and the
horse. Later Vedic times (0 1000-600 B.C.) brought the passion for specula­
tion on ultimate causes, the quest, for the A bsolute, the doctrine o f trans­
migration, the search for release from the round o f rebirth, and mystical
gnosis. In social life and material culture the same period saw the crystalliza­
tion o f the four classes (varnas) o f Hindu society, the introduction o f iron
from western A sia, the dom estication o f the elephant, the developm ent o f
kingdom s out o f tribal chieftainships.
In the 300 follow ing years coined m oney becam e com m on, and writing,
know n in the time o f the Harappà culture and lateFapparently forgotten, be­
came widespread. Heterodox teachers, ch ief o f whom was the Buddha, spread
new doctrines which bypassed the gods, the Vedas, and the brahmans, and the
area o f civilization steadily expanded into the remoter parts o f the subcon­
tinent.
P olitical developments over the preceding period led to the first great
empire o f India, that o f the M auryas, when for the first time most o f the sub­
continent was united under a single governm ent. This period (c. 320-185 B.c.)
produced the M achiavellian system o f statecraft associated with the name o f
the minister K autilya, the reputed author o f the fam ous Arlhasâstra. From
the M auryas also come the earliest surviving stone sculpture o f India, the
oldest artificial c a v e s a n d /he m ns/ a n rù»n* Rtiddhr«t rf«*»n/ip
 Introduction 3
(c. 272-232 d .c .) Buddhism increased its influence, and was taken to Ceylon.
The 500 years between the M auryas and the G uptas (c. 184 b .c .- a .d . 320)
saw tremendous developments in Indian civilization, partly due to fresh in­
fluences brought in by various invaders and traders, and partly the result o f
internal developments. N ew forms o f devotional religion emerged, centring
round the gods Vishnu and Siva, and these led to the com position o f the
Bhagavad Gita, now the m ost influential text o f Hinduism. Buddhism de­
veloped a theology, the M ahâyàna, which was carried to China. Schools o f
law appeared, codifying in written form earlier traditions. The two great epics
o f India, the Mahâbhârata and the Râmâyana, were edited in something like
their present form. C ourtly literature began developing out o f vanished proto­
types : drama, ranging from the heroic to the sentimental, and verse, wonderful
in its polish and ingenuity yet often filled with deep and sincere feeling.
Logically reasoned philosophical schools emerged, as distinct from the older
religious teachers, m ost o f whose arguments were analogical. C ontact with
South-East Asia became closer with the spread o f trade, and that region began
to adopt m any features o f the religion and culture o f India. These are only a
few o f the many innovations o f this, perhaps the most form ative period o f
Indian history before the nineteenth century.
The period from the rise o f the Guptas to the death o f Harshavardhana
(320-647) can truly be called the classical period o f Indian civilization. In this
age the greatest sculpture o f ancient India was produced, and the finest
literature written, in the poems and plays o f Kàlidàsa. This was the time o f
the best surviving ancient Indian mural painting, typified by Ajantâ. K n o w ­
ledge grew also in this period. India’s most important practical contribution
to the world, the system o f place notation o f numerals, with nine digits and a
zero, was known by a .d . 500, and led to the great development o f Indian
mathematics and astronom y. T he recording o f ancient legends and traditions
in the Purânas began. The M other Goddess, after centuries o f neglect, became-
an important object o f worship again. Stone-built temples appeared through­
out the land.
Between the death o f Harshavardhana and the com ing o f Islam (647-
c. 1200) the ecstatic devotional religion (bhakti), associated with the singing
o f hymns in the common tongue, appeared in Tam ilnadu,-later to spread all
over the subcontinent. Temples became larger and grander, w ith spiring
towers. The system o f hatha yoga was developed, and tantrism, with its
sacramentalization o f sex, spread in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In
Sankara and Ram anuja Hindu religious philosophy saw its greatest teachers.
Some o f the finest schools o f bronze-casting in the world appeared in Bengal
and Tam ilnadu. The form er region also developed a fine school o f miniature
painting.
W ith the coming o f Islam fresh cultural influences made themselves felt.
T he sultanate period (1192-1526) saw the introduction o f new styles o f archi­
tecture, bringing the dom e and arch. N ew schools o f miniature painting, both
Muslim and Hindu, emerged. S u fi teachers disseminated the doctrines o f
Islam and helped to m ake the religious climate o f northern India favourable
to the spread o f popular devotional Hinduism from the south. Paper was in­
troduced, slowly replacing the traditional Indian writing materials— palm -leaf
4 Introduction

and birch-bark. The Urdu language began to appear as the lingua franca
o f northern India, and poets began to compose in the everydayNlanguages
instead o f classical Sanskrit,
The great days o f the M ughal Empire (1526-1707) witnessed the perfection
o f the schools o f Muslim architecture and miniature painting, with the pro­
duction o f such splendid buildings as the T àj M ahal at  grâ. Cannon and
smaller fire-arms began to be used in warfare, Europeans established trading
stations at various ports, and through them, especially the Portuguese, new
crops were introduced into India, among them the potato, tobacco, the pine­
apple, and, surprisingly, the spice which nowadays is commonly thought
typical o f India, the chilli pepper. The Sikh religion was bom just as this
period began, as a small devotional sect, and at about the time when the
period concluded it was reborn as a martial brotherhood, to play an important
part in the confused political life o f the following century.
The eighteenth century saw the break-up o f the Mughal Empire and the
steady expansion o f the power o f the British East India Com pany. It was a
time o f general cultural decline in India, but the genius o f the land was still at
work. The Urdù language, little used hitherto as a medium o f literary expres­
sion, became the vehicle o f great poetry at the decadent courts o f D elhi and
Lucknow ; while in the Him alayan foot-hills, at the end o f the century at the
petty courts o f local maharajas, by some unexplainable miracle, there worked
painters who produced works o f unprecedented beauty and sensitivity. With
the nineteenth century the subcontinent was exposed to the full force o f
W estern influence, and innovations are too numerous to list.
This cursory survey o f the history o f cultural change in India is sufficient in
itself to show that, as long as civilization has existed there, the country has
never been stagnant, but has steadily developed through the ages. India has
enjoyed over 4,000 years o f civilization, and every period o f her history has
left something to the present day.
A s well as this great legacy o f the human past, the people o f the subcon­
tinent have another inheritance from N ature itself— the land and its climate.
W e cannot understand South A sia without knowing something about what
its people have received from the primeval forces which shaped the surface o f
the earth millions o f years before man existed. In this sense perhaps India’s
m ost im portant inheritance is the great chain o f the Himalayas, without which
the land would be little mòre than a desert.
A s the plateau o f Central A sia grows wanner in the spring, the warm air
rises and winds bearing heavy masses o f cloud are attracted towards the high
tableland from the Indian, bcean . The movement o f the clouds is interrupted
by the mountains, and they shed their burden o f rain upon the parched, over­
heated land. The monsoob, beginning in June, lasts for about three months,
and brings water for the whole year. Except along the coast and in a few other
specially favoured areas, there is little or no rain in other seasons, and thus the
life o f almost the whole subcontinent depends on the monsoon.
The conservation and just sharing out o f the available water am ong the
cultivators is a very im portant factor in the life o fln d ia . It has been one o f the
main concerns o f Indian governments for over 2,500 years and indeed the
high civilization which is discussed in the pages o f this book has depended,
 Introduction 5
and still largely depends, on irrigation, prom oted and supervised by govern­
ment, for its very existence. In the past, whenever the rains have been inade­
quate, there has been fam ine; whenever a local governm ent has lost grip and
become ineffective, irrigation has been neglected, dams have broken, canals
iiave been choked with mud and weed, and great hardship has resulted. T hus
villagers have learnt to co-operate independently o f their rulers, by form ing
their own village government, under a committee o f locally respected leaders,
the panchàyat, to care fo r matters o f com m on concern such as irrigation, and
to settle disputes as far as possible outside the royal courts. O n a large scale
the climate has perhaps encouraged autocracy, but at the local level it has
necessitated government by discussion.
Let it not be thought that the South Asian clim ate is one w hich encourages
idleness or quietism. There are certainly periods in the agricultural year when
little w ork can be done in the fields, but in a different way, in m ost parts o f the
subcontinent, the challenge o f nature is ju st as serious as it is in northern
Europe or Am erica. The driest part o f the year is also the hottest, in A p ril and
M ay, and it is perhaps just as difficult to sustain life in such conditions as it is
in the cold northern winter. The rainy season brings problem s o f another
kind— alm ost constant heavy rain, floods destroying thousands o f lives, rivers
changing their courses, epidemics, and stinging insects, som e o f which carry
the germs o f such diseases as m alaria and elephantiasis. In the winter season,
m oreover, though the days are mild and sunny, the nights m ay be very cold,
especially in Pakistan and the western part o f the G anga basin. In such times,
when the midnight temperature m ay be below freezing-point or only a little
above it, deaths from exposure still occur. O nly in the tropical coastal areas o f
the peninsula would clim atic conditions permit the survival o f a considerable
population w ithout much hard w ork and foresight, sustained by coconuts,
bananas, and the abundant fish o f the Indian Ocean; and in these favoured
areas the population passed the limit at which such a w ay o f life was possible
over 2,000 years ago.
The abundant bounty o f tropical and sub-tropical nature has been qualified
by extreme heat, extreme rainfall, and extreme dryness in different parts o f the
year. In fact the climate o f thè subcontinent tends to extremes, and possibly
this too has influenced the Indian character and attitude to life, because,
though one o f the greatest o f India’s teachers counselled ‘ the M iddle
W a y ’, succeeding generations have not alw ays taken this course, and the
extremes o f rigorous asceticism and abandoned luxury have often gone hand
in hand.
South o f the Him alayas lie the great plains o f the subcontinent, the centres
from which civilization expanded in ancient times; Com posed o f deep silt
carried down by the rivers Indus (Sind, Sindhu) and G anga (Ganges) these
plains are naturally very fertile, but fo r centuries they have supported a dense
population, whose peasants used the most easily available form o f m anure,
cow-dung, as fuel. Hence the fertility o f the plains declined, until by the end o f
the last century m any areas had reached a rock bottom o f productivity, from
which they have begun to emerge only recently, w ith the introduction o f arti­
ficial fertilizers and the spread o f knowledge o f better agricultural m ethods. In
ancient days, however, the fertility and the healthy well-fed peasantry o fln d ia
6 Introduction

were noticed b y Foreign travellers from the Greek Megasthenes (c. 300 b .c .)
onwards.
South o f the G anga are thé Vindhya M ountains and the long and beautiful
River N arm ada, dividing the north from the plateau region o f M aharashtra,
generally called the D eccan (from Sanskrit dakshina, ' south’)- The region, less
naturally fertile than the great plains, has been fo r at least 2,000 years the home
o f tough m artial peasants who, whenever energetic leadership appeared to
consolidate their clans, would take advantage o f the political weakness o f their
neighbours to raid the wealthier lands to the north, south-east, and south.
The D eccan plateau become? steadily less rugged and more fertile as one
proceeds south and south-east. A lo n g the eastern littoral o f the peninsula are
fertile riverine plains, the most im portant historically being that o f Tam ilnadu,
reaching from M adras to Cape Com orin (Kanyâkum àrl, the extreme southern
tip o fln d ia ). Here, over 2,000 years ago, the Tam il people developed a fairly
advanced civilization independently o f the A ryan north; this region has
throughout its history' maintained a consciousness o f its differences from the
north, and has cherished its own language, while remaining part o f the whole
Indian cultural area; there m ay be an analogy between the Tam il attitude to
the northern A ryans and that o f the W elsh to the English, with the difference
that, while m any Welshmen have English as their mother tongue, few if any
Tam ils have a mother tongue other than Tam il.
Y e t another inheritance o f India from the distant past is her people. D e­
spite the difficult mountain passes and the wide seas barring access to India,
people have been finding their w ay there from the days o f the Old Stone A ge,
when sm all hordes o f primitive men drifted into the subcontinent. These are
probably the ancestors o f one o f India’s three main racial types— the Proto-
Australoid, so called because o f the resemblance to the Australian Aborigines.
In India the m ost pure Proto-Australoid type is to be found am ong the tribal
peoples o f the wilder parts o f the peninsula, but Proto-Australoid features can
be traced almost everywhere in the subcontinent, especially among people o f
low caste. T h e ideal type is short, dark-skinned, broad-nosed, and large­
mouthed.
Th e next m ain stratum .in the population o f India is the Palaeo-Mediter-
ranean, often loosely called D ravidian, a word not now favoured by anthro­
pologists. These people seem to have còm e to south Asia from the west, not
very long before the dawn o f civilization in the Indus valley, and they m ay
have contributed to the foundation o f the H arappà culture. G raceful and
slender, with well-chiselled features and aquiline noses, the ideal type is parti­
cularly to be found am ong the better-class speakers o f D ravidian languages,
but it also occurs everywhere in the subcontinent.
Then, in the second millennium B .C ., came the Aryans, speakers o f an Indo-
E uropean language’w hich was the cousin o f those o f classical Europe. Some
have suggested that these people cam e in two or m ore waves, the earlier in­
vaders being round-headed (brachycephalic) people o f the type called A lpine
or Arm enoid, and the later long-headed folk, typical Caucasoids, similar in
build to northern Europeans. L on g before they entered India the people who
called themselves A ryans had intermixed with other peoples, and their advent
meant a severe cultural decline, which lasted for many centuries. Only when
 Introduction 7
À ry a a culture was fertilized by the indigenous culture did it begin to advance,
to form the classical civilization o fln d ia . There are good arguments for the
view that in the finished product non-Àryan elements are more numerous
than Aryan. N ow adays the Caucasoid type is chiefly to be found in Pakistan,
Kashm ir, and the Panjâb, but even here one rarely meets pure or nearly pure
specimens. A s one proceeds east and south the' typé becomes progressively
rarer.
These three, the Proto-Australoid, the Palaeo-Mediterranean, and the
Caucasoid or Indo-European, are the most strongly represented racial types
among the inhabitants o f India; but they are by no means the only ones.
Alm ost every race o f Central Asia found its way to India. Turks provided the
ruling families in much o f what is now Pakistan long before the com ing o f the
Muslims, who were also Turks. Mongolians o f various races have been enter­
ing India over the Him alayan and north-eastern passes since long before
history. The M uslim ruling classes imported numerous African slaves, w ho
have long since merged with the general population. Persian and A rab
traders settled along the west coast from before the Christian era. Some
married Indian women, and the descendants have become indistinguishable
from the rest o f the population. Others, such as the small but vigorous Parsi
community, have kept their stock pure. T he various European traders and
conquerors have left their mark also. A lon g the west coast o f India and
Ceylon an appreciable quantity o f Portuguese blood circulates in the veins o f
the general population, while elsewhere in India the so-called Anglo-Indian
comm unity is the result o f many marriages and liaisons between European
(not only British) soldiers and traders and Indian women.
Thus, in reading these chapters, we must remember also India’s enduring
inheritance ó f climate, land, and people, the basis on which her high civiliza­
tion has been built, and which will remain, more or less unchanging, to condi­
tion the lives o f her people in all their triumphs and vicissitudes in future
centuries.
 PAR T ONE

T H E A N C IE N T H E R IT A G E
C H A P T E R II

The Indus Civilization

by B . B . L a l

M o re than 4,000 years ago there flourished in the north-western parts o f the
Indo-Pakistan subcontinent a civilization which, deriving its name from the
main river o f the region, is known as the Indus civilization. In fact,/however,
it extended far beyond the limits o f that valley— from Sutkagen-dor, on the
sea-board o f south Balüchistàn, in the west to Alam glrpur, in the upper
Gangâ-Yam unà doâb in U ttar Pradesh, in the east; and from R opar, alm ost
impinging upon the sub-Him àlayan foot-hills, in the north to Bhagatràv, on
the estuarj' o f the K im , a small river between the Narm ada and T âptï, in the
south. In other words from west to east the Indus civilization covered an area
o f 1,600 kilometres, and from north to south o f 1,100 kilometres, and it w ill
not be surprising if future discoveries widen the horizons still further. This is
an area much greater than that occupied jointly by the contemporary civiliza­
tions o f Egypt and M esopotam ia. A n d throughout the region a notably high
standard o f living was reached w hich is reflected in almost every w alk o f life.
The first thing that strikes a visitor to an Indus site— be it H arappà or
M ohenjo-dàro in Pakistan or K âlibangan, Lothal, or Surkotâdâ in India— is
the town-planning. One finds the streets and lanes laid out according to a set
plan: the main streets running from north to south and the cross-streets and
lanes running at right angles to them. A t Kâlibangan, am ong the n orth-
south streets there was a principal one, q-zo metres wide, while the other
north-south streets were three-quarters o f its width. The cross-streets and
lanes were, once again, h a lf or a quarter o f the width o f the narrower streets
from north to south. Such typical and minutely planned residential areas,
often called the .'low er tow n s’ , were themselves only a part o f the entire
settlement com plex. F o r at H arappà, M ohenjo-dàro, Kâlibangan, and
Surkotâdâ, there was a ‘ citadel’ , smaller in area than the ‘ lo w e r to w n ’ and
invariably located to the west o f it. A t Lothal, although no ‘ citadel’ as such
has been found, a similar conception seems to have existed, fo r the m ore im ­
portant structures rested in a group on a high mud-brick platform . In marked
contrast might be cited the contemporary example o f U r in M esopotam ia,
where there was no rigorous planning o f this kind, the main, street wandering
and curving as it wished.
B oth at H arappà-and M ohenjo-dàro the houses were made o f kiln-burnt
bricks. A t K âlibangan and Lothal too, although mud bricks were used for
m ost o f the residential houses, kiln-burnt bricks in large quantities were used
for drains, wells, and bathing-platforms, and in particular for thé dockyard
at the latter site (below, p. 14). Such bricks were rare in contem porary
Mesopotamia or Egypt. A t M ohenjo-dàro and K âlibangan, where large
areas have been excavated, an average house consisted o f a courtyard around
 12 The Indus Civilization

which were situated four to six living-rooms, besides a bathroom and a

kitchen. Larger houses/ however, might have up to thirty room s, and the
presence o f staircases in many o f them indicates a second storey. F o r the supply
o f fresh water, most o f the houses had their own wells, and in addition, there
were public wells. Sullage-water was discharged through well-covered street-
drains made o f kiln-burnt bricks. A t intervals they were provided with man­
holes for clearance.
The citadel at M ohenjo-dàro contained many imposing buildings, all made ;
o f kiln-burnt bricks: for example, the great bath, the college, the granary, and i
the assembly hall. In the bath the actual tank measured 12 metres in
length (north to south), 7 metres in width, and 2-5 metres in depth. It was
approached by two staircases, one each on the northern and southern sides.
T he floor and side-walls o f the tan k were rendered watertight b y the use o f
gypsum in the mortar, while the side-walls were further backed by a damp-
p ro o f course o f bitumen. Around the tank ran a pillared veranda from which
there was access to a series o f w hat m ight be called ‘ dressing-room s’ . T h e
tahk was fed with water from a large well situated in the com plex, while, for
the discharge o f used water, there was a corbelled drain in the south-west
corner.
W hether the bath had a purely secular use or had a religious function as
w ell is very difficult to say. However, it has been surmised that beneath the
stüpa o f the Kushâna period, situated hardly fifty metres to the east o f the
1bath, there m ay be the remains o f a temple. And this is not im probable, fo r a
. kind o f worship-place has indeed been identified within the citadel at K â li­
bangan, closely associated with a well and bathing-platforms (below, p. 14).
Between the bath and the stupa lie the remains o f a building 83 metres long
and 24 metres wide, with a large number o f rooms on three sides o f a 10-metre
square courtyard. T h e presence o f staircases suggests the possibility o f there
. having been some m ore room s, besides terraces, on the first floor. F rom the
general disposition o f the building, the excavator was inclined to regard it as
the residence o f ‘ the high priest’ o r o f a ‘ college o f priests’ .
Juxtaposed to the south-western wall o f the bath was a granary covering an
over-all area o f 55 by 37 metres. It consisted o f a podium form ed by 27 blocks |
o f solid brickwork, arranged in three rows o f m'ne each, and separated one
from the o th erb y passages about a metre wide. The latter were evidently pro­
vided fo r the circulation o f air underneath the timbered floor o f the storage
hall that stood above the podium . Built on to the northern side o f the podium
was a platform , with a ramp going down to ground level outside. T o this, one
can imagine, were brought wagons full o f wheat and barley (below, p. 13)
fo r unloading.
There are many other buildings within the citadel, but one is particularly
striking. T hough not completely excavated, it covers an area o f over 750 square
metres. It has twenty massive piers o f kiln-burnt bricks arranged in four rows
o f five each, w ith traces o f corresponding pilasters at the ends. T hus there are
six aisles from north to south and at least five from west to east, the further
plan on the east being incomplete. The building was very probably an assembly
hall, which would fit the general context o f other specialized buildings in the
citadel.
 The Indus Civilization 13
Harappà was-iegarded as another ‘ capital’ o f the ‘ Indus E m pire’. 1 Here
hardly any excavation has been done in the ‘ lower c ity ’ to the east o f the
‘ citadel’. In fact, even within the citadel, the sporadic diggings have not helped
very much to produce a coherent picture. O f the enclosing wall, however,
many details are available. A section cut across it at about the middle o f the
western side showed that it was built o f mud bricks, externally revetted with
kiln-burnt bricks. T he mud-brick wall measured over 13 metres in width at the
base and tapered inwards on both the exterior and interior. A t places it was
found to rise to a height o f about 15 metres above the surrounding plain. B e ­
hind it was a 7-metre-high mud-brick platform upon which stood the build­
ings inside the citadel. Externally, the citadel wall was punctuated at places
by rectangular towers, and the one at the north-west com er shows that it
was substantially rebuilt on three occasions.
The lack o f data regarding the buildings inside the citadel j' s m ore than
compensated for by what has been excavated to the north. In its shadow, there
lay the workm en’s quarters, their working-platform s, and a granary, the en­
tire complex suggesting a high degree o f regimentation o f the w orking popula­
tion. Enclosed by a boundary wall, o f which only odd bits are now to be seen,
the workmen’s .quarters stood in two rows running from east to west. E ach
dwelling, covering an area o f about 17 by 7 metres, com prised two room s and
was entered through an oblique passage, evidently so arranged for privacy.
Th e remarkable uniform ity o f these quarters reminds one o f modern barracks
and all that they imply.
Immediately to the north o f these quarters have been identified five ea st-
west rows o f working-platform s, and, although six is the maximum num ber
excavated in any row , there were doubtless many m ore. M ade o f kiln-burnt
bricks set on edge in circular rings, each platform measured about 3-5 metres
in diameter. Excavation has revealed a central hole about 60 centimetres in
diameter into which, it is surmised, was inserted a wooden m ortar for pound­
ing grain. Such a guess is supported, on the one hand, by the presence o f
straw or husk and wheat and barley in the hole and on the platform and, on
the other, by the location o f a granary barely 100 metres to the north.
W hy the granary at Harappà, unlike that at M ohenjo-dàro, was located
outside the citadel is a matter for debate. The proxim ity o f the river R â vï m ay
be the answer, enabling the harvest from the neighbouring countryside to be
transported by water direct to the granary. A s to its safe control, which its
location within the fortified citadel would have otherwise guaranteed, it m ay
be assumed that an ever-vigilant eye was kept over the entire area, right from
the coolie quarters through the workshops up to the granary. Com prising two
blocks, the granary com plex occupied an over-all area o f 55 by 43 metres.
Each o f the blocks contained six storage halls, each hall measuring
15 by 6 metres externally. A s in the case o f the M ohenjo-dàro example, here
also air-ducts were provided underneath the floor. x
Situated on the left bank o f the now-dry rived G haggar in RàjasthâD,
Kâlibangan reveals the same pattern o f planning as do M ohenjo-dàro and
' This expression is rather loosely used, for there is no concrete evidence to prove that the
system o f government was that o f an empire. The possibility o f there having been city states,
as in Mesopotamia, should not be overlooked.
14 The Indus Civilization

H arappà, with a ‘ citad el’ on the west side and a ‘ lower tow n’ on the east, and
also it tells us rather more. T hus the citadel complex, fortified with a 7-metre-
thick m ud-brick wall with tosvers at intervals, consisted o f two equal
and well-defined parts, one to the south containing several large mud-brick
platform s meant fo r specific purposes and the other to the north containing
residential houses, perhaps o f those concerned with the affairs in the southern
part. T he platform s were separate one from the other as also from the forti­
fication wall, there thus being regular passages around them. Access to the top
o f the platforms was by steps leading from the passages. On top o f one o f the
platform s were located a well, lined with kiln-burnt bricks, several bathing-
pavements o f the same material, and a series o f juxtaposed clay-lined pits
running in a north-south alignment, o f which at least eight have been identi­
fied. Each pit measured about 60 by 45 centimetres and contained, be­
sides ash and charcoal, a prominent stump o f burnt clay in the middle,
measuring about 25 centimetres in height and 10 centimetres in diameter. In
other similar pits, usually found singly in the houses in the lower city, have
been discovered biconvex terracotta ‘ cakes’ , placed around the clay stump.
Thus it would appear that the entire complex 011 this platform— the well, the
bathing-pavements, and the clay-lined ‘fire-altars’— had a ritualistic purpose.
A similar indication is given by another platform on the top o f which were
located a well, a ‘ fire-altar’, and a rectangular pit (t x 1-25 metres) lined with
kiln-burnt bricks and containing antlers and bones o f cattle, which seem to
suggest a sacrifice.
The lower town at Kâlibangan, while showing the usual grid pattern o f main
thoroughfares, subsidiary streets, cross-streets, and lanes, revealed that it too
was fortified. Piercing the fortification wall, which was made o f mud bricks,
were at least two gateways, one 011 the northern side leading to the river and
another on the west providing access to the citadel. (It would not be surprising
if further excavations on the periphery o f the lower town at M ohenjo-dàro
brought to light the remains o f a similar town wall. A t any rate, an attempt is
w orth making.) In width the Kâlibangan lanès and streets followed a set
ratio: thus, while the lanes were p 8 metres wide, the streets, in multiples o f
the form er, were 3-6, 5-4, and 7-2 metres wide.
Lothal, situated not far from the G u lf o f Cam bay, an inlet o f the Arabian
Sea, is the only site with a d ockyard; this is 216 metres in length (north
to south) and 37 metres in width, situated immediately to the east o f the town­
ship. It is lined with a wall f 2 metres thick o f kiln-burnt bricks, now rising to
a maximum height o f 4-3 metres. In the southern part o f the eastern wall is a
7-metre-wide gap, and excavation further to the east, in continuation o f this
opening, has revealed the bed o f a channel o f identical width. It is surmised
that it was through this channel that the dockyard was connected with the
Bhogavo river, svhich, though now located about 2 kilometres aw ay, flowed
much nearer in ancient times. It is thought that boats entered the dockyard
through this channel at high tide, when the water swelled up and.pushed up­
stream. F or the discharge o f excess water a sizeable spill-channel was pro­
vided in the southern wall. T h e boats, it would appear, returned to the river
when the tide was falling. .
In this context, reference m ay’ also be made to a structure located not far
 The Indus Civilization 15
from the dockyard to the south-west. It consisted o f twelve rectangular blocks
made o f mud bricks, arranged in fou r rows o f three each and covering an
over-all area o f 17 by 14 metres. Between the blocks ran criss-cross channels,
evidently air-ducts; over a metre in width. It is surmised that overlying these
blocks was a spacious hall o f timber, some slight evidence o f the latter being
the debris o f charcoal and fragments o f charred wood found in (he air-ducts.
In these ducts were also found over too lumps o f clay, now partly or wholly
baked, bearing impressions o f typical Harappau seals (below, p. 16) on one
side and o f reeds on the other. These were evidently sealings on packages made
o f reed. W hat the packages contained we can only guess. In the context o f the
dockyard, however, it seems likely, though not proved, that this building was
a warehouse where commodities ready for export or received from abroad
were temporarily stored.
About 270 kilometres north-west o f Ahm adàbâd in G ujarat is Surkotâdâ.
The settlement pattern o f Harappà, Mohenjo-dàro, and K âlibangan is re­
peated here, but with a difference. T he citadel and the lower town were joined,
although their relative directional position remained the same, the form er to
the west and the latter to the east. A s at K âlibangan, both the citadel and the
lower town were fortified. Each had its independent entrance, located on the
southern side; there was also an intercommunicating gate between the two. In
addition to mud bricks, stone rubble which is easily available in the neigh­
bourhood was liberally used for construction. The massive wall o f the citadel
can still be seen to a height o f 4^5 metres (PI. 3). N o less impressive is the
gateway complex o f the citadel, with its ramps and staircases (PI. 4).
So much for the structural remains which, apart from revealing the archi­
tecture and town-planning o f the time, have also thrown valuable light on
organizational, religious, and commercial aspects o f the life o f the people.
N ow we shall consider the finds— the pottery, terracottas, sculptures, seals,
weights, etc.
Pottery is found in very large quantities at all ancient sites and may well be
regarded as the index to the econom ic and artistic standards o f the popula­
tion— standards which m ay also be reflected jn the few sculptural or other
artistic pieces that survive. T h e Indus people used a very characteristic sturdy
red ware, made o f well-levigated and very well-fired clay. Often it had a red
slip and was painted over in black pigment with a variety o f pleasing designs,
floral as well as geometric.- Sometimes birds, animals, and human figures
were depicted. In one case there is a she-goat suckling her kid, while a hen
loiters nearby. In another, a man carries across his left shoulder an equipoise
with two large nets. Judging from the portrayal o f the fish and tortoise in the
scene, the person may well have been a fisherman. On a painted pot from
Lothal there occurs a scene in which are depicted a bird perched on a tree
holding a fish, and a fox-like animal below. T he scene is very reminiscent o f
the story o f ‘ the clever fo x ’ narrated in the Pancltaianlra, wherein the fox
praised the crow seated on the tree-top for its sweet voice and thus made it
open its mouth and drop the morsel which the fox ran off with.
The terracotta figurines, human as well as animal, show vigour, variety, and
ingenuity. The often illustrated short-horned bull from M ohenjo-dâro and a
similar one from Kâlibangan are am ong the most powerful portrayals
i6 The Indus Civilization

o fth e animal from any ancient civilization. The human head from K âlibangan,
though only an inch in height, is a keen competitor, from the point o f
view o f expression and art, with the head o f the famous steatite figure from
Mohenjo-dâro (below). The female figurines, with their pannier head-dresses
and bedecked bodies, though hand-modelled, are indeed pleasinglittle things.
A nd then there are the terracotta toys, some o f which are to be noted for their
ingenuity: for example, a bull with a mobile head or a m onkey going up and
down a string.
The Indus people had a highly developed art o f making stone sculptures in
the round. There is.a striking steatite figure o f a bearded man, supposed to be
a priest, from M ohenjo-dâro. The inward-looking eyes and the serene expres­
sion induce a reflective, meditative m ood. Likewise the two sandstone statu­
ettes from Harappà, one representing a youth with muscular body and
another a dancer with one leg entwined round the other, are o f a really high
order. These could well have been the envy even o f Greek sculptors some
2,000 years later.
In the art o f metal sculpture too, great heights were achieved. T he famous
bronze female figure from M ohenjo-dàro, supposed to represent a dancing
girl, with her right hand poised on the hip, her bracelet-covered left arm swung
to rest on a bent left leg, a necklace dangling between her breasts, and, above
all, her well-braided head haughtily thrown back, is a perfect piece o f art. In
this case the feet are missing, but one is tempted to imagine that she wore
anklets as shown in another fragmentary bronze sculpture, o f which only the
lower portion is preserved. A s well as the human figures there are fine speci­
mens o f bronze animals, the buffalo from M ohenjo-dâro with its massive
head upraised, for example, or the dog attacking a deer depicted on the top
o f a pin from Harappà.
But the Indus artist was at his best when he dealt with his seals (PI. 1).
C u t out o f steatite, the seals are usually 20 to 30 millimetres square. On the
obverse is an inscription, generally accompanied by an animal figure; on the
reverse, a perforated knob, evidently for suspension. It is in the engraving o f
these seals that the great gifts o f the Indus valley artists are especially reflec­
ted. Indeed, there can be no two opinions about the superb depiction on the
seals o f the brâhmant bull, with its swinging dewlap, pronounced hump,
and muscular body.
That the Indus people were literate is fully borne out by the inscriptions on
the seals. The occurrence o f inscriptions even on pottery and other household
objects further shows that literacy was not confined to a select few. T h e script,
seemingly pictographic ând having nearly 400 signs, has not yet been de­
ciphered. The various attempts so far have not been based on the strictest
scientific principles and little agreement has been reached. However, overlaps
o f the signs inscribed on some potsherds discovered at K âlibangan clearly
show that the direction o f writing was from right to left. W herever the
inscription ran into a second line, the style seems to have been boustrophedon.
W hile reading and writing are duly attested to by these inscriptions, pro-
ficency in the third R , arithmetic, is clearly shown by the cleverly organized
system o f weights and measures. M ade usqally o f chert and cubical in shape,
the weights fall in the progression o f r, 2, 8/3, 8, 16, 32, etc. up to 12,800. The
 The Indus Civilization 17
scales, o f ivory or shell, indicate a ‘fo o t’ o f about 13-0 to 13-2 in. and a ‘cu b it’
o f 20-3 to 20-8 in. M ention in this context m ay also be made o f plum b-bobs
and ‘angle-measures’ o f shell.
The Indus civilization represented a perfect Bronze A ge, though chert
blades continued to be used for certain specific purposes. Bronze objects for
domestic use included knife-biadcs, saws, sickles, chisels, celts, razors, pins,
tweezers, fish-hooks, and the like. Those for defence or offence comprised
spears, arrow-heads, and short swords. T h a t bronze was used in plenty is
shown by its employment for non-essential items like vessels.
H owever, as in m ost other contem porary civilizations o f the world, agri­
culture was the backbone o f the Indus econom y. The extensive use o f kiln-
burnt bricks, for the firing o f which plenty o f w ood was needed, and the fre­
quent depiction o f jungle fauna such as the tiger, bison, and rhinoceros on the
seals, suggest the possibility o f there having been more rainfall during the
Indus period than there is now. T o d a y it is news if M ohenjo-dâro gets even
10 centimetres o f rain during the w hole year. M oreqver, dry channels occur­
ring close to the sites show that in ancient times the Indus, R âvî, G haggar,
Satluj, and B hogavo flowed respectively on the outskirts o f M ohenjo-dâro,
H arappà, Kâlibangan, R opar, and Lothal. Thus there was an adequate water-
supply which, coupled with a rich alluvial soil, produced crops o f wheat and
barley, besides bananas, melons, and peas. H owever, perhaps the most re­
markable agricultural achievement was the cultivation o f cotton. Even E gypt
did not produce it until several centuries after it was grow n in the Indus
valley.
There is evidence to show that the people ate, besides cereals, vegetables
and fruits, fish, fowl, mutton, beef, and pork. T h e relevant animals were
evidently domesticated. There is also evidence o f the domestication o f the cat,
the dog, and perhaps the elephant. T h e data about the cam el and horse are
less conclusive.
N o t much evidence is available regarding the dress o f the Indus people. T h e
portrayal o f a man on a potsherd from H arappà shows the use o f the dhoti,
while the shawl as an upper garment is indicated by the fam ous fig u re 'o f a
priest from M ohenjo-dàro (above, p. 16). T he two— the dhoti and shaw l—
bring to mind the picture o f an average Hindu o f the modern Indian village.
The occurrence o f needles and buttons shows that at least some o f the clothes
were stitched.
The variety o f ways in which the wom en-folk did their hair and bedecked
their persons suggests that life was not all toil. T h e ornaments,included, from
head to foot, the bija, ear-rings, necklaces, bracelets, girdles, and anklets. T h e
bija, a hollow conical object, is typical even today o f the maids o f Ràjàsthân.
There were pastimes too, like the playing o f dice or, for the m ore daring, the
hunting o f wild animals. The youngsters played hopscotch and marbles, while
the small children played with rattles and toys, some being noteworthy fo r
their clever methods o f m anipulation (above, p. 16).
The Indus population, particularly o f the cities, was a cosm opolitan one. It
included Mediterraneans, Proto-Australoids, Alpines, and M ongoloids. In
keeping with such a mixed population, there was i wide variety o f religious
practices. T h e portrayal on, several seals o f a-horned, three-faced figure,
 The Indus Civilization

surrounded by various auimals, wild and domesticated, brings to mind the con­
ception o f Siva in the form o f Pasupati, the Lord o f Anim als. The presence of
a prototype o f the later Saivitc cult is also suggested by the occurrence o f what
may have been lingas and yonis. A kind of ritual associated with fire-places
has already been referred to. There was also the worship o f the M other G o d ­
dess. The adoration o f trees and streams, or perhaps o f the spirits supposed
to be residing in them, is also suggested by the relevant data. A belief in life
hereafter is evident from the burial practice according to which along with the
dead person were placed objects like mirrors, antimony rods, mother-of-pearl
shells, and a large number o f pots, some o f which in life seem to have been
used for eating and drinking. In one case a fowl was also placed in the grave-
pit. For some reason now unknown, the body is invariably to be found lying
from north to south, the head being towards the north. A m ong the graves
excavated at H arappà, o f unusual interest was one in which the body was
placed in a wooden coffin. Coffin burials were common in Sargonid Iraq and
it is not unlikely that a westerner was buried here.
This probable presence o f a westerner at H arappà need not surprise us.
Contacts with western A sia are suggested on the one hand by the occurrence
at the Indus sites o f articles o f known western origin, for example spiral- and
auimal-Ueaded pins, mace-heads, socketed adze-axes o f copper or bronze, and
vases o f chlorite schist with typical ‘ hut-and-window’ decoration; and, on the
other, by the find o f seals and sealings o f the Indus style at west Asian sites
such as U r, Susa, U m m a, Lagash, and Tell Asm ar. Incidentally, a sealing at
Umma is reported to have been associated with a bale o f cloth— evidently an
export from India. In m ore recent years, a seal (PI. 2) has been found at
Lothal, which is more or less o f the same .type as tho.se found at contem porary
sites on the Persian G u lf such as Barbar, Ras-al-Qala, and Failaka. This dis­
covery, com bined w ith that o f the dockyard at the same site (above, p. 14),
proves beyond doubt that the trade with western A sia was, at least in part,
maritime. Overland trade, perhaps in the fashion o f the caravan trade o f his­
torical times, also seems to have taken place. For the presence in the Indus
sites o f articles o f lapis lazuli, jade, turquoise, etc., not indigenous to the
soil, cannot be explained except by trade with Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and
Ceutral A sia, the last two o f which are connected with the Indus valley by
land alone.
Until recently, the main evidence for fixing the chronological horizon o f the
Indus civilization was the aforesaid seals o f Indian origin found in western
Asia. O f these, a dozen were found in a datable context, seven in the Sargonid
period (c. 2300 B.C.), one in pre-Sargonid, three in Larsa (c. 1S00 B.c.), and
one in K assite (c. 1500 b.c.). T o add to this was the evidence o f segmented
beads o f faience from late Indus levels, the com position o f which has spectro-
graphically been found to be similar to that o f beads o f the same material from
K nossos, ascribable to c, 1600 b.c. On these bases, a rough millennium,
2500-1500 B.C., was regarded as the period o f this great civilization. D uring
the past decade, however, Carbon-14 measurements have been carried out on
materials from K âlibangan, Lothal, Surkotâdâ, and M ohenjo-dàro. While
broadly upholding the above dating, the Carbon-14 determinations indicate a
som ew hat shorter duration o f the civilization, frpm c. 2400 to 1700 B.C. A t the
 The ìnilus Civilization 19
same time it must be added that scientists w orking on the subject have ob­
served that C arb on -14 activity has not been constant in the past and that there
is a likelihood o f the C-14 dates between 200 d . c . and 4000 b . c . being pushed
back slightly. Again, at M ohenjo-dâro there still remain the unfathomed lower
levels. Thus, it may well be that the beginning o f this civilization was earlier
than that indicated at present by the Carbon-14 dales.
W hat brought the Indus cities to an end has for long been a matter o f de­
bate. The occurrence in the habitation area at M ohenjo-dàro o f some human
skeletons, including one o f which the skull bears the mark o f a cut, has been
interpreted as evidence o f a massacre at the hands o f the invading Aryans.
This view, however, now seems untenable. In the first place, the skeletons do
not all belong to one and the same occupation-level, which should also be the
latest, marking the end o f the Indus settlement. Secondly at the site there is no
evidence o f an alien culture immediately overlying the Indus one. T o save the
situation, the post-Indus Cemetery H at Harappà has been brought into the
picture. It has, however, been demonstrated elsewhere by the present writer
that there was an appreciable time-lag between the end o f the Indus civiliza­
tion and the beginning o f Cemetery H. Thus the Cemetery H people can
hardly be regarded as the invaders if those invaded had ceased to exist at the
time. And to regard the Cemetery H people as Aryans is fraught with still
greater difficulties. In the present state o f our knowledge, such people are con­
spicuously absent from the Ghaggar (ancient Sarasvatl), Salluj, and upper
Ganga valleys— regions where the early Aryans are known from their own
literature to have resided.
Another theory ascribes the end o f the Indus civilization to heavy flooding.
This may, however, be only partly true. For, while some evidence o f devasta­
tion by floods is to be found at M ohenjo-dàro and Lothal, there is no such
evidence in respect o f other sites, for example K âlibangan. A t this site, neither
the invader nor the flood can be invoked. Here perhaps the drying up o f the
Ghaggar— gradual or sudden, owing either to climatic changes or to the
diversion o f the waters resulting from factors at or near their source— may
have been the cause o f the desertion o f the site. Pestilence and the erosion o f
the surrounding landscape owing to over-exploitation may also be reasons for
the end o f certain settlements.
Be that as it may, there is enough evidence to show that the great Indus
civilization did not come to a sudden dead end. For example, at Lothal, from
its Period A (Indus) to B (post-Indus), there is a gradual change in the pottery
and the disappearance or replacement by others o f certain kinds o f antiquities.
This devolution is further continued at the neighbouring site o f Rangpur.
Likewise a change o f face is also indicated by the evidence from sites in eastern
Panjâb and north-western Uttar Pradesh, The Indus civilization no doubt fell ;
all the same it left many indelible imprints on the latter-day cultures o f the
subcontinent.
 C H A P T E R III

The Early Aryans’

by T . B u r r o w

T h e classical civilization o fln d ia developed from the earlier Vedic civilization,

and the Vedic civilization was the creation o f the Aryans, an invading people,
whose first arrival in the subcontinent is probably to be dated about 1500 b .c .
Perhaps some 200 years after this estimated date there began to come into
being a collection o f religious hymns which were eventually organized as the
R g v ed a , the final redaction o f which probably antedates 1000 B.C. Our know ­
ledge o f the Aryans in India during this earliest period is based primarily on
this work. From the R g v ed a emerges n fairly clear picture o f the situation at
that time. A series o f related tribes, settled mainly in the Panjâb and adjacent
regions, speaking a common language, sharing a common religion, and de­
signating themselves by the name ârya-, are represented as being in a state o f
permanent conflict with a hostile group o f peoples known variously as Dâsa
or D asyu. From the frequent references to these conflicts it emerges that their
result was the complete victory o f the Aryans. During the-period represented
b y the later S a m h itâ s and the B râh m aija texts the Aryans are seen to have ex­
tended their territory, principally in the direction o f the east, down the Ganga
valley, and references to conflicts with the Dâsa are rare. Other terms, e.g.
rrdeccha- and n ifâ d a - are used as designations o f non-Aryan tribes, while the
word d âsa becomes the usual word fo r ‘ slave’. On the other hand the term
ârya- is opposed not only to the external barbarian, but also to the lowest o f
the fou r castes, the iiid ra . In the latter context the word ârya - naturally ac­
quires the meaning ‘ noble, honourable and the word continues in use in both
senses down to the classical period. N orth India is referred to as Àryâvarta,
‘ the country where the Aryans live’, or, in Pâli, as ariyani âyatanat\i. The
Jaina texts have frequent references to the distinction- between  rya and
M leccha. In Tamil literature the/kings o f north India are referred to as Aryan
kings. O n the other hand the ethical use o f the word is illustrated by the
Buddhist ‘ N oble Eightfold P ath ’ (ariyani a ltha n gikam m aggam ) where the
word has no ethnic significance.
The Aryans, whose presence in north-western India is documented by the
R g v e d a , had reached the territory they then occupied through a migration, or
rather, a succession o f migrations, from outside the Indian subcontinent. The
final stage o f this migration cannot have been very far removed from the be­
ginning o f the composition o f the R g v ed a , but, at the same time, a sufficient
period o f time must have elapsed for any clear recollection of.it to have dis-
1 This chapter, in view o f the many Sanskrit terms and quotations which it contains, em­
ploys the full apparatus of,diacritic signs used in the scholarly transliteration o f Indian
languages. The reader shouljl remember that r is elsewhere transliterated as ri and j as sh.
C is here sounded as English ch. The Iranian / is also pronounced as sh', Iranian 8 sounds like
English dt in ‘ thing*. Iraniad x is like ch in Scottish or German Loch.
 The Early Aryans 21

appeared, since the hymns contain no certain references to such an event.

Th e Aryan invasion o fln d ia is recorded in no written docum ent, and it can­
not yet be traced archaeologically, but it is nevertheless firmly-established as a
historical fact on the basis o f com parative philology. T h e Indo-European
languages, o f which Sanskrit in its V edic form is one o f the oldest members,
originated in Europe, and the only possible w ay by which a language belong­
ing to this fam ily could be carried all the w ay to India was a m igration o f the
people speaking it. The general outline o f this process can be elucidated to
some extent on the basis o f thé mutual relationship o f the languages concerned.
A p art from its belonging to the Indo-European fam ily in general, Sanskrit,
or Old Indo-Aryan, is more closely and specifically related to the Iranian
group o f languages, o f which the oldest representatives are O ld Persian and
Avestan. The relationship is in fact so close that these two peoples, w ho both
designated themselves as Aryans, must, at some earlier time, have constituted
a single nation or people, speaking, with due allowance fo r dialectal diver­
gence, the same language. This earlier A ryan language, com m only referred to
as Primitive Indo-Iranian, is the source from which the later Iranian and Indo-
A ryan languages are derived. In the period preceding the A ryan invasion o f
India, they were settled, in all probability, in the Central Asian regions border­
ing the Oxus and the Jaxartes, and the A ral and Caspian seas. F rom this base,
sections o f them m ay be presumed to have' pushed up into the highlands o f
Afghanistan, and then to have descended from this base into-the plains o f the
Panjàb. In the opposite direction other A ryan tribes from the same region
moved westwards into Iran, where they first appear in Assyrian records in the „
middle o f the ninth century B.C. T h e beginning o f their occupation o f Iran is
com m only put not earlier than 1000 B.c., which is considerably later than the
A ryan migrations into India i f the above-mentioned estimated dates are
correct. The Iranians retained a m em ory o f their original hom e, uuder the
name o f airyanam vaëjô (Ërân Vëj), and the region continued to be occupied by
them down to the time o f the Turkish invasions.
T he common culture and religion developed by the A ryans in their earlier
home is still reflected in the earliest texts o f the Iranians and Indo-Aryans
respectively. In the case o f the latter the religious reforms o f ZarathuStra led
to some remarkable alterations, which resulted, for instance, in the old w ord
for ‘ g o d ’ (Skt. deva-) acquiring the meaning o f ‘ dem on’ (A v. daëva-), while
certain prominent gods in the Veda (e.g. Indra) have been reduced to the
latter status in the Avesta. In spite o f this, a considerable am ount o f the
common heritage remained. Although the name Indra cam e to be applied to
a demon, his title Vfirahan-, in its Iranian form VfOragna-, designates an im ­
portant deity. The Iranian M ithra, corresponding to the V ed ic M itra, re­
mained one o f their most im portant gods, later to have a rem arkable career in
the Rom an Empire. Fire-worship and the cult o f Soma are a com m on in­
heritance in both India and Iran. A com m on m ythology is illustrated by such
figures as V edic Y a m a the son o f Vivasvant and Avestan Y im a the son o f
Vivabvant, A basic religious term inology is shared, e.g. V edic hotar- ‘ p riest’,
yajita ‘ sacrifice’, rta- ‘ truth, divine order’ : A v . zaotar-, yasna-, aia- (O. Pers.
aria-). Com m on terms occur likewise in the political (Skt. kfatra- ‘ sove­
reignty’ : A v. xsaOra), military (Skt. sena ‘ a rm y ’ : Av.Jiaênâ, -O. Pers. haina),
22 The Early Aryans

and econom ic spheres (Skt. kfetra- 'fie ld ’, urvarâ ‘ arable land’ : A v. sôidra-
' hom estead’, urvarâ ‘ cro p ’). A division o f society into classes which in India
crystallized into the four-caste system is closely paralleled in Iran,
The evolution o f this com m on inherited culture may be held to have taken
place, in its later stages, in the Central Asian homeland o f the Aryans, and
their residence there, prior to the Indian migration, may have lasted for a
considerable period. A t a still earlier period the evidence points to a local­
ization o f the Aryans much further to the west. In the first place the Indo-
European connections o f the A ryan languages, which indicate that they
originated in Europe, make it necessary to assume a still earlier migration
which took them front Europe to Central Asia. In the second place interesting
confirmation o f an earlier Aryan homeland further to the west is provided by
the evidence o f Aryan loan-words in the Finno-Ugrian languages. A n ex­
ample is the Finnish word sata ‘ hundred’, which can be shown to represent
phonetically sala- (i.e. the Indo-Aryan and Primitive Indo-Iranian form o f the
word, and not the later Iranian sala-). There is a considerable body o f loans
like this which cannot be derived from Iranian, and which must therefore have
been taken over in the Primitive Indo-Iranian period. A t the time o f these
borrowings, therefore, the A ryans and the ancestors o f the Finno-Ugrians
must have been in close contact. In view o f the present distribution o f the
Finno-U grian languages, and o f their probable ancient situation, it is con­
cluded that, when these words were borrowed, the primitive Aryans from
whose language they were taken must have been situated not further east than
the V olga and .the Urals. It was only after the period o f their influence on
Finno-Ugrian that the main centre o f the Aryans shifted towards Central
Asia.
A t this stage, which may be provisionally fixed towards the beginning o f the
second millennium b . c ., we are already dealing with the Aryans as a separate
community, already detached from the other branches o f the lndo-Europeans.
A t a still earlier stage, say the middle o f the third millennium B.C., a situation
must be assumed in which the speakers o f the language from which the later
A ryan tongues were derived were still members o f the original Indo-
European com m unity, and their language was a dialect o f Indo-European,
not having developed into a separate language o f the group, as it had done
during the stage previously referred to (2000-1500 B.C.). This assumption im­
plies an original location still further to the west, and for this also linguistic
evidence can be produced. Out o f all the languages o f the Indo-European
fam ily, the Balto-Slavonic group shows signs o f having had the closest rela­
tionship with Indo-Iranian. Since these languages are not likely to have
moved far from the region where they are first historically attested, this con­
nection is a useful pointer to the earliest place o f origin o f the Indo-Iranian
fam ily.
In addition to many other special similarities the two groups are charac­
terized by an early palatalization (illustrated by Skt. satani, A v . satani ‘ hun­
d red ’ , as opposed to L at. centum), which is also found in Albanian and
Arm enian. On the strength o f this common innovation, these languages are
usually considered to form a special group am ong the Indo-European lan­
guages, and are termed the satani languages, after the Avestan word for
 The Early Aryans 23

‘ hundred’. It does in fact seem likely that this change took place at such an
early period that the ancestors o f all these languages were still in contact. In
addition to these special relationships Indo-Iranian also shows evidence o f a
special relationship with G reek, w hich is particularly noticeable in the m or­
phology o f the verb.
W ith other Indo-European languages Indo-Iranian shows no sign o f
special connection. This is not to be expected in the case o f the western Indo-
European languages (Italic, Celtic, Germ anic) in view o f their geographical
situation. Hittite and the kindred languages o f A sia M inor are in a special
position, since they show such profound differences from the more fam iliar
type o f Indo-European that it is necessary to assume their very early separa­
tion. These peoples must have passed over from the Balkans into A sia M in or
at a period long preceding their earliest appearances in the written historical
record. M ore problematical is the case o f the two closely related languages,
conventionally styled Tochârian A and B, o f which manuscript remains were
discovered in Chinese Turkestan at the beginning o f the present century. In
view o f their situation it might have been expected that they would have
shown some signs o f closer contact with Indo-Iranian, but o f this there is no
indication whatever. T hey further show no sign o f any particular connection
w ith any other section o f Indo-European, and these facts are best explained by
the assumption o f an early separation o f this group (though not as early as
the separation o f Hittite, etc.). T h e later eastward expansion o f the A ryan
tribes outlined above must have been responsible fo r pushing them further
and further to the east, until they finally settled in Chinese Turkestan. There
are no linguistic traces o f early contacts between the two groups, and it is
only much later that the influence o f Iranian on Tochârian can be noted.
.So far we have bad to rely entirely on linguistic relationships to account fo r
the origin and early movements o f the Aryans. A fter about 1500 B.C. docu­
mentary evidence becomes available, not from India and Iran, the countries
o f their permanent settlement, but from the N ear East, where a section o f
Aryans established a temporary domination which was to have no lasting
effects. The documentary evidence from this quarter consists o f a number o f
proper names, some names o f gods, and some words, from which the pre­
sence o f Aryans in this region during the period 1500-1300 B.C. can be de­
duced. They appear always in connection with the Hurrians, a non-Indo-
European people o f local origin, w ho were also engaged in considerable ex­
pansion at the time. In particular the Hurrian state o f M itanni, to ju d ge by
the names o f its kings, was, during its most influential period, under the
domination o f A ryan kings backed up by an Aryan aristocracy. Other m inor
states in Syria had rulers with similar A ryan names.
These A ryans did not come in sufficient numbers to impose their own
language and civilization on the country in which they had settled ; they seem
always to have used Hurrian as their official language, and after the end o f
this period they were absorbed into the native population without leaving
any further trace. The most im portant document is a treaty between the
Hittite and M itanui kings, in which appear fou r divine names fam iliar from
the Veda, namely, Indra, Varuna, M itra, and N âsatya. In addition Surias,
meaning the sun-god, appears in a document o f the Kassites (who other-
26 The Early Aryans

th eY ed ic period in India remained archaeologically almost a complete blank.

Even now the position has not advanced far beyond this. It was only towards
the end o f the Vedic period that the development o f cities was resumed.
Whereas for the Indus civilization archaeology is the only source o f our
knowledge, information concerning the Vedic Aryans depends entirely on
literary texts which were handed down by oral tradition. These do not provide
any proper historical account, since that is not their concern, but a good deal
o f incidental information o f a historical or semi-historical character emerges,
and also a fairly clear and consistent picture o f the life and civilization o f the
•period.
It is a much-discussed question to what extent the Indus civilization in­
fluenced that o f the Aryans, and opinions on this matter have considerably
diverged. On the whole the V edic texts themselves give the impression that
such influence, if it existed, was not o f great importance. In the first place, the
attitude o f the Vedic poets towards the D àsas and their civilization was one of
uncompromising hostility, and was distinctly unreceptive to any influences in
the religious field, which might otherwise have had some effect. Furthermore
the physical destruction and depopulation o f most o f the Indus cities, which
is attested by archaeology, must have effectively removed most o f the bases
from which such influence could spread. Later, o f course, as Aryan civiliza­
tion developed into Hindu civilization, many non-Aryan influences appeared,
but they are not prominent in the Vedic period, and they do not seem to have
had any direct connection with the prehistoric civilization ó f the Indus cities.
The territory occupied by the Aryans at the time o f the Itgveda can be de­
fined with reference to the river names mentioned in the text. These are, in the
first place the Indus (Sindhu) and its main tributaries, the five rivers o f the
Panjab. T o the west o f this there is mention o f the K rum u, G om atï, and
K ubhà (the K urram , Gom al, and K abu l rivers) and ofSu vâstu (Swàt), show­
ing that the Aryans extended to within the boundaries o f present Afghanistan.
T o the east the Sarasvati, D fsadvati, and Yam unà are in Aryan territory, and
the G anga is mentioned in one late hymn. M ost o f this territory had lain with­
in the sphere o f the Indus civilization. On the other hand little is heard o f the
re g io n so f th clo w er Indus where that civilization had equally flourished.
The Aryans were divided into a large number o f independent tribes, norm ­
ally ruled by kings, who, when not fighting the Dâsas or Dasyus, were fre­
quently engaged in fighting each other. Nevertheless, the Aryans were highly
conscious o f their ethnic unity, based on a common language, a common re­
ligion, and a common w ay o flife , and o f the contrast between themselves and
earlier inhabitants. The latter were partly absorbed into the A ryan com ­
munity in the capacity o f sùdras, and partly they withdrew to regions tem­
porarily out o f the reach o f the Aryans. The fact that the Aryans were able to
retain their identity and maintain their culture so completely, in a country
which had previously been both well populated and highly civilized, implies
that they must have come in great numbers, not in one campaign o f conquest,
but in a series o f waves lasting over a long period, sufficient to provide a
numerous population which in turn could form the basis o f further expansion.
The situation was just the opposite o f that which prevailed.in the N ear East,
where conquests effected by small bands o f warriors resulted in temporary
 The Early Aryans 27

domination, but where their numbers were too small to prevent their absorp­
tion after a few generations into the native population.
The area occupied by the Aryans continued to expand in the period repre­
sented by the later V edic texts, and there was a shift eastwards in the centre o f
gravity. By the time o f the Brâhmanas the centre o f Aryan civilization had be­
come the country o f the Kurus and Pancâlas, corresponding roughly to
m odern U ttar Pradesh, while the western settlements in the Panjâb were less
important. Further expansion to the east had taken place and the m ost im ­
portant states in this region were K osala, K âéî, and Videha. T he m ain A ryan
advance a t this period was down the Ganga valley, keeping prim arily to the
north o f the river. It is likely that the main route o f m igration follow ed the
foot-hills o f the Him alaya, avoiding in the first instance the densely forested
country surrounding the river itself. B y far the greater num ber o f tribes and
kingdoms mentioned in the texts o f this period lay to the north o f the G anga.
Those lying to the south, e.g. the Cedis, the Satvants, and the kingdom o f
Vidarbha, were much fewer, and more rarely mentioned. T he A ryans were at
this time surrounded by a variety o f non-Aryan tribes, o f which a list is p ro­
vided by the Aitareya Brahmano: Andhras, Pundras, M ütibas, Pulindas, and
Sabaras. The countries o f Anga and M agadha appear from the sources to
have been only partially Aryanized.
In the jR.goeda the conflict between  rya and D asyu figured prom inently,
reflecting, as we have seen, a prolonged armed struggle in which the A ryans
finally emerged as the undisputed victors. Such references cease in the later
Vedic literature, and the term D asyu, as applied to non-A ryan peoples, is
com paratively rare. On the other hand the term Nifâda, applied to primitive
forest-dwellers, is com paratively frequent. The explanation is that the nature
o f the A ryan advance and settlement had changed. Once the Indus civiliza­
tion had been overthrown, and the greater part o f its territory occupied, there
remained no advanced civilized states to contend with. T h e G angâ valley
seems at this time to have been thinly populated by forest tribes, possessing
no advanced civilization and unable to offer any coherent resistance to the
Aryans. T h e colonization that'took place down the valley, at first principally
to the north o f the river, was mainly a matter o f clearing forests and founding
agricultural settlements, a continuous and prolonged process extending over
centuries. In the uncleared forest regions the primitive tribes o f Nifâdas con ­
tinued to reside in the midst o f A ryan territory, and relations between the two
seem to have been established on a basis o f mutual toleration. N aturally as the
activity o f forest-clearing proceeded the scope for the independent existence o f
the forest-tribes became more limited, and sections o f them, under such
names as Pukkasa and C àpdàla, attached themselves to the fringe o f A ryan
society, form ing the nucleus o f w hat were to becom e eventually the depressed
classes.
The third stage in the Aryan occupation o f India falls within the period
800-550 B.C. It has been observed that at the beginning o f this period, accord­
ing to the evidence o f the Brâhmanas, the portion o f India occupied by the
Aryans was still com paratively limited, and that they were surrounded by a
ring o f non-Aryan peoples, some o f whose names are mentioned. A very
much wider extension o f A ryan language and culture can be observed at the
28 The Early Aryans

time o f the rise o f Buddhism and Jainism, towards the end o f the sixth century
B.C. O bviously the intervening period had been one o f extensive migration and
colonization. The result was that the boundaries o f Âryâvarta, the country o f
the A ryans, were defined as the H im àlaya and Vindhya mountains to the
north and south, and the eastern and western oceans. One o f the main lines o f
expansion at this time lay to the south-west, embracing A vanti and adjacent
regions, and extending as far as Asm aka and M ülaka in the region o f the upper
G odavari. T h e advance to the east continued with the occupation o f the
greater part o f Bengal (Pundra, Suhma, Vanga, etc.) and Orissâ (Ralinga).
T h e areas to the south o f the G anga connecting these tw o lines o f advance
were also progressively brought within the Aryan fold. References to these
events can be found scattered throughout the epics and Purânas, ,of which it
will be sufficient to mention the foundation o f D vàrakâ on the west coast
ascribed to K rspa, and the activities o f the Haihayas and allied tribes in
A van ti. T h e over-all result was that by the end o f the sixth century B.C. the
portion o fln d ia occupied by A ryans was vastly increased, and the currency
o f the Indo-Aryan language was correspondingly extended. A map repre­
senting the extent o f the A ryan occupation-at the end o f this period would
probably show a general correspondence w ith the boundaries o f Indo-Aryan
in a m odern linguistic m ap. A fter this, A ryan influence further south, in
D ravidian India, was a matter o f cultural penetration, not, as previously, o f
conquest and settlement.
D u rin g the Brâhmana period the Aryans maintained in essentials their
ethnic identity and their V edic culture. There was considerable internal de­
velopment, and, in particular, the brahmans increased their status and
strengthened their organization'. The ritual was enormously developed, and
the texts on which w e depend for a picture o f the period are mainly concerned
with this. This state organization was stabilized and developed, and a variety
o f oflices are recorded, even though their precise functions are not always
clear. T h e political units becam e larger and the stale began to replace the
tribe. There were considerable advances in material culture, as attested by
both literature.and archaeology. C ity life began again in a small way, since a
number o f places mentioned, e.g. K âm pilya, Paricakrà, Asandivant, appear
to (lave been towns rather than villages.
T h e rapid expansion during the period 800-550 b.c. had the result that in
the new territories the Aryans were much more thinly spread than in the old,
and they were to a greater extent mixed with the pre-existing population. This
fact is noted in some ancient texts. F o r instance the Baudhâyana Dharmasütra
says that the peoples o f A van ti, A n ga, M agadha, Suràçtra, Dakçinâpatha,
U p à vft, Sindhu, and Sauvlra are o f mixed origin (sankinja-yoni-), and further
lays down an offering o f atonem ent for those who visit the countries o f the
A rattas, the K âraskaras, the Pundras, the Sauviras, the Vangas, the K alingas,
and the Prânünas. These lists cover a large part o f the territories colonized
during the period S00-550 B.C., and attest to the fact that these territories
were only imperfectly Aryanized in contrast to what had happened in the
earlier periods. The lists also contain the names o f a number o f non-Aryan
tribes, m any o f which still no doubt retained their identity and language.
The influence o f the pre-Aryans on Aryan culture should probably be re­
 The Early Aryans 29

garded as having begun to take effect during this period, and it is associated
with the transition from the Vedic civilization to the later Hindu civilization.
This was probably also the time when the epic traditions, later to culminate in
the Mahàbhârata and the Ràtnâyana, began to take shape. N ew developments
in religion which eventually evolved into the later Hinduism, which contrasts
in many ways with the Vedic religion, also had their first beginnings in this
period. The great increase in the complexity o f the caste system which charac­
terizes later Hindu civilization was also stimulated at this time by the neces­
sity of somehow fitting into the framework o f A ryan society a large variety o f
previously independent tribes, who in many parts o f the newly conquered
area must have formed the majority o f the population. The Aryan culture,
based on the V edic culture, remained the centralizing factor, but from now on
it was more subject to non-Aryan influences. T he influence o f Aryan civiliza­
tion was felt latest in the D ravidian south. T h e first Aryan colonization o f
Ceylon is supposed to have taken place about the time o f Buddha, and the
earliest Aryan penetration in south India is likely to have occurred about the
same time. Later the M aurya Empire was in control o f most o f the D eccan,
only the Tam il princes o f the extreme south remaining independent. The
Sâtavàhana Empire which followed also represented Aryan domination and
penetration in this, region, as can be seen from the fact that the official lang­
uage o f this dynasty and o f some o f its immediate successors was M iddle
Indo-Aryan. This political influence was associated with the spread o f reli­
gions from north India, both Brahmanical and Buddhist or Jaina. In contrast,
however, to the previous stages o f expansion, the Aryan language was not
permanently imposed on this region, and after about a .d . 500 Kannada, and
later Telugu, began to be used in inscriptions. Gradually the native D ravidian
element gained the upper hand, and the boundaries between A ryan and
Dravidian India were restored to a line representing the limit o f A ryan con­
quests about 500 b.c. A t the same time the whole subcontinent was united by
a common culture, o f which the Aryans were the original founders, but to
which Dravidians and others also made their contributions.
 C H A P T E R IV

The Early Dravidians'

by J o h n R . M a r r

T h e word that has come down to us as ‘ D ravidian’ has had à very long
history as a referential term for the southern portion o fln d ia . Greek geo­
graphers knew the area as Damirica or Limyrikê: ‘ Then come N aura and
Tyndis, the first marts o f D am irica.’ * ‘ 8. Lim yrikê: Tyndis, a city . . ,’ 3
T h e latter reference reminds one o f course o f the legendary Atlantis o f the
Indian Ocean, Lemuria, supposedly inhabited by lemurs. It will be noticed
that both Greek forms, Damirica and Limyrikê, have an r at the beginning o f
the third syllable. T hey too had difficulty with a D ravidian sound.in the source-
w ord, as will be seen shortly.
Sanskrit sources have Dravidi and Damili, and later Dramida and Dràvida,
the immediate sources o f our ‘ D ravidian ’ . It seems likely that all these words
are to be connected ultimately with a non-Indo-Âryan word, possibly in the
form in which we have it today, namely, Tamil. The last sound o f this word, a
retroflex affricate, is one peculiar to one or two languages in the south o f
India, and has been dispensed with in two o f the main ones, Telugu and
K annada. Clearly, G reek and Sanskrit had difficulties with it, and did their
best, as shown above. There is, however, no justification for assuming that, at
the period o f the classical geographers, the word meant the Tam il language as
at present differentiated from other south Indian tongues. It seems more
likely that there was at that time a relatively undifferentiated non-Indo-Âryan
speech in the south to which the term Proto-Dravidian is usually applied. Such
a situation must have obtained long before the earliest surviving literary or
other records in what is now the Tamil-speaking area o f south-east India.
Such records can be with some assurance assigned to a period around the
third century b . c . for inscriptions, and to one about the commencement o f the
Christian era for literature. Both are recognizable as Tam il, and we have no
evidence o f any sort for any other distinct Dravidian speech from so early a
date. Indeed there is some evidence that points the other w ay; at the level o f
court-poetry at least, Tam il was still used in the area where M alayâlam is now
spoken at the time o f the earliest extant Tam il literature. This region was
known in Tam il as èeranSdu, and in Sanskrit as Kerala.*
■The author’s originat.transliteration o f Tarait words, following the system o f the Madras
University Tamil Lexicon, which is standard nowadays among specialists, has been simpli­
fied and adapted for the benefit o f the general reader, except in the case o f a few words dis­
cussed in their linguistic context. The letter transliterated here as i will be found in other
chapters expressed as ch, according to its usual pronunciation in Indo-Aryan languages.
[Ed.] 1 Periplits 53 ; See K . A . Nilakanta Sastri, Foreign Notices o f South India, p. 57.
’ Ptolemy, Geography, vii. I, See J. W. McCrindle, Ancient India, pp. 48^9.
4 Kerala probably preserves a Proto-Dravidian velarized Keral. See T. Burrow in BSOAS,
i t (1943). 126. In the Tamil anthology-poems the icings o f this region were called Serai,
pl. Éeraiar.
 The Early Draoidians 31
Proto-D ravidian, then, was a non-Indo-Âryan speech, and it follows from
this that the languages we know as D ravidian languages are distinct too. It
lies beyond the scope o f this essay to enter into a detailed linguistic discussion
as to the differences. One o f the characteristics o f the D ravidian, as o f the
Turkic languages, is w hat is known as agglutination, whereby suffixes, them ­
selves often recognizable as connected with meaningful roots, are added to
nouns and verbs to inflect their meaning, providing case-endirigs, for ex­
ample. For instance, the locative casc-suffix in Tam il, -il, w ould seem to be
connected with the word for ‘ house’ in various D ravidian languages; T am il
has il, Telugu illu, etc. N um ber and case are indicated by two distinct suffixes,
in that order, e.g. Tam . nun ‘ fish’, minai ‘ fish’ (accusative), mfngal ‘ fishes’ ,
nungajai ‘ fishes’ (acc.). N otice that the case-suffix in the plural is the same as
in the singular. It will be recalled that quite a different situation obtains in
Indo-European or Indo-Aryan languages, where one set o f single suffixes is
used in the singular and a different set in the plural, wherein such suffixes de­
note both case and number.
Follow ing from the readily analysable nature o f agglutinative languages, a t
least in a primitive or theoretical stage, it can be seen that to write such lang­
uages in a pictographic or ideographic script is an attractive possibility. O f
recent years, D ravidian has been the strongest contender for the-language o f
the as yet undeciphered M ohenjo-dâro seal characters. These appear on about
2,000 seals as short inscriptions accom panying rather conventionalized
pictures o f animals, the bull figuring prom inently am ong them .4
It will at once be clear that we are speaking o f an area very distinct geo­
graphically from that o f present-day D ravidian languages w hich is that o f
peninsular India south o f a line from, say, G o a on the west coast to G anjâm
on the east. The area o f the M ohenjo-dâro and Harappà city-cultures is that
o f the Indus valley, in Sind and the Panjâb. But, just as in Britain and western
Europe the Celtic languages, once widely prevalent, were pushed westwards
to the A tlantic coast, extending from north-west Spain to the Hebrides, by
intrusive languages from the east, it has been argued that D ravidian languages
were once prevalent throughout India, being pushed southwards by the in­
vasions o f Indo-Âryan speakers from the north-west, a m ovem ent that, it is
pretty clear, took place between about 2500 and 1500 b .c . T hat there were
D ravidian languages in the north would be mere speculation were it not for the
fact that, to this day, .there remains a pocket o f D ravidian speech, the
language Bràhüï, spoken by about 250,000 people in the highlands o f
Baluchistan, on the Pakistan-Afghanistari border. N otw ithstanding the
meagre nature o f the historical evidence,6 it seems more reasonable to assume
a relict status for Bràhüï, rather than an improbable migration from the plains
o f D ravidian speakers some 800 miles aw ay, and the exchange o f a settled
agricultural regime for a harsh, nom adic, and pastoral one.
On the assumption then that D ravidian languages were once widely pre­
valent in the subcontinent and that they were displaced by Indo-Aryan in the
north, the attractiveness o f them as the language o f the city-cultures o f
Pakistan becomes clear. T he .most im portant and recent statement o f this
1 For a recent account o f these cultures see S. Piggott, Prehistoric India, pp. 132-289;
e See M . B. Emeneau, Brahui and Dravidian Comparative Grammar, p. I.
 32 The Early Draoidians

position is that o f A sk o Parpola and others, in three special publications o f

the Scandinavian Institute o f Asian Studies.7 While the authors have indeed
amassed much evidence in support o f their view, it is the case that the second
and third publications contain some corrections o f their original position, to­
gether with speculative matter connected with Indus valley culture, religion,
and iconography, all o f which detracts from the acceptability o f the purely
linguistic argument out o f which their theories originated. The authors do not,
for instance, advance really convincing reasons fo r reading the ideographs
from right to left.8 M oreover, w e are o f course still none the wiser about the
sound o f the words or syllables ‘ depicted’ and the best the authors can do is
to read them as reconstructed Proto-Dravidian. It should be added that
similar conclusions have been reached by Russian scholars, led by Y u .
K u orozov, also using computers.
I f w e accept the view o f Parpola, Knorozov, and others that speakers o f
D ravidian languages were productive o f cultures as far back as the third
millennium B.C., a central date for the Indus valley culture, w e are still faced
with a gap o f 1,500 years during which no certain records o f Dravidian were
produced, a period when, we may assume, the Dravidians were overthrown
from their culture-centres in north India and pushed into the centre and south
o f the peninsula by the Indo-Âryans. Such a gap takes us up to the earliest
know n Tam il inscriptions, which are in the Brâhm l script and belong to the
third century B.C. These will be discussed shortly.
W hether Dravidian languages or the.speakers thereof existed in India from
the beginning o f man in the subcontinent, or were themselves incursors like the
lnd o-Â ryans and their languages later, is likely to remain unresolved in the
present state o f knowledge. Because o f their agglutinative structure, these
languages have been associated with Caucasian languages, and even with
Basque.9 Better established is the longest-held view as to the external affilia­
tions o f D ravidian. It is that o f Caldwell19.and R ask, that D ravidian is
affiliated to what they termed Scythian languages, now usually called Turkic
and Finno-U grian.
Sim ilarly there remains ignorance o f what languages were spoken by the
various Stone A ge cultures in India, there being the added difficulty o f the co­
existence o f a number o f these with cultures o f an altogether higher order
synchronically. W e know nothing, for instance, o f the languages o f the Soan
Industry in the H im àiaya foot-hills or o f the Madras Industry in south-east
India. T h e most promising archaeological link with the admittedly tenuous
theory o f the Mediterranean affinities o f the D ravidians is provided by the
south Indian megalitbic culture. This, however, may not itself be older than
about 200 B.C.” G ord on Childe has seen possible links with M editerranean

7 Publications Nos. 1 and 2, Copenhagen, 1969, N o . 3, Copenhagen, 1970. The theory was
previously advanced, somewhat romantically perhaps, by such writers as H . Heras, Studies
in Proto-Jndo-Mediterranean Culture, Vol. 1, Bombay, 1933.
‘ See Parpola et ai. in Publication No. r, pp. 18-19.
9 See N . Lahovary, Dravidian Origins and the West, Bombay, 1964.
10 See R . Caldwell, A Comparative Grammar o f the Dravidian or South-Indian Family o f
Languages, 3rd edn., pp. 61 R. The original edition o f this work, in 1856, effectively marked
the commencement o f the study o f Dravidian linguistics, and a good deal o f Bishop
Caldwell’s work has yet to be surpassed. 11 Piggott, op. cit., p. 38
 The Early Dravidians 33
and Caucasian megaliths o f sites such as Brahmagiri via the Sialk B graves in
Iran; the'connection m ay have been by sea.’ 2 It may be speculative to assign
Dravidian speech to any one particular racial type but it has been suggested
that brachycephalic Arm enoid types in India, having affinities in Arm enia,
Anatolia, and Iran, brought D ravidian into India. W hile there are, then,
reasonable hypotheses on linguistic, cultural, and anthropological grounds for
suggesting that D ravidian languages originated outside India, specifically
in western A sia, there is as yet no direct evidence for the existence o f
D ravidian outside the subcontinent,12 nor for its currency in the north other
than that afforded by Bràhüï. T he M ohenjo-dâro seals are not yet read, nor is
their language or its structures identified for certain.
However, we can look back a little further than 200 B.C ., a possible date for
south Indian megalithic culture, for definite record o f D ravidian; this is pro­
vided by the south Indian Bràhroï inscriptions mentioned earlier, and these
date from the third century B.C. T he first o f the seventy-six known inscriptions
was discovered by V en koba R a o in 1903 some 23 miles north-east o f M adurai.
There are in addition twenty short graffiti in the same script on pottery from
Arikkam edu, an im portant site on the east coast o f Tam ilnadu, excavated by
Wheeler in 1943 and by others since. The first certain identification o f their
language as being O ld Tam il was made by K . V . Subrahm anya A y y ar and
presented by him at the Third All-India Oriental Conference, held in M adras
in 1924.'* T h e most im portant and recent work on these inscriptions is that o f
I. M ahadevan and R . Panneerselvam .” They shòw that the inscriptions con ­
firm certain kings and place-names mentioned in the earliest extant Tam il
literature, o f roughly the same date.
M ahadevan’s brilliant w ork demonstrates that, as early as the third to
second centuries b . c ., the main m odifications to the ‘ A ll-In d ia’ syllabary o f
36 consonants and to vowels plus diphthongs had been m ade to equip the
script suitably for writing T am il: the consonants had been reduced to 18, by
the rem oval o f letters for the voiced plosives, aspirated plosives, and sibilants,
and by the addition o f characters to represent T am il retroflex / and / and
alveolar r and //. A s for vowels, these were reduced to 9 by the omission o f
the diphthong au, the-existence in Tam il o f separate short ë and Ô not being
recognized in this script (or until the time o f Beschi in the eighteenth century).
M ahadevan established an important phenomenon in these inscriptions, the
use o f the character for medial à to represent medial a also, the vow el con­
sidered inherent in all consonants in all other Indian scripts and in those in
South-East A sia developed from them. Thus there was no need for a ‘ killer’
sym bol to remove this inherent vowel, such as the viratila in Sanskrit, and

11 V. Gordon Childe, ' M egaliths’ in Ancient India, 4 (1947-8). T he antiquity and im­
portance o f the sea link between southern peninsular India and the Middle Hast (and later,
via the Middle East, with the Roman Empire) cannot be exaggerated.
” Comparable, for example, with the close affinities with Vedic Sanskrit o f Old Iranian,
both linguistically and in subject-matter o f hymns.
14 See Proceedings thereof, pp. 275-300.
15 Sec R . Pannccrsclvam, ' A n Important Brahmi Tamil Inscription’ in Proceedings o f the
First International Conference-Scntinar o f Tamil Studies, Kuala Lumpur, IIA T R 1968, and
I. Mahadevan, ‘ Tam il Brahmi Inscriptions o f the Sangant Age ' in Proceedings o f the Second
International Conference-Seniinar o f Tantii Studies, Madras, IIA T R 1971.
34 The Early Dravidians

M ahadevan is able in consequence to read the hitherto-baffling kala (inscr. 29),

mâkàna (inscr. 13), and ma/iiya (inscr. 72) as correct Tam il kal, niakan, and
niaitiy. In effect, the early T am il Brahm i inscriptions show a letter system
comparable to our own alphabet, rather than a syllabary; thus the other ‘ A ll-
In d ia ’ development o f conjunct consonants for such sounds as ksa, Ira, or
ktva was rendered unnecessary. M ahadevan convincingly suggests that the
absence o f the (available) voiced plosive characters from this script means
that Tam il at this stage did n ot have the voiced intervocalic plosive phonemes
that are one o f its principal modern features (though one still uncatered fo r in
the script).16
In addition to their linguistic interest, these inscriptions have helped corro­
borate some o f the royal names occurring in early Tam il praise-poetry, as
ju st noted. One king mentioned is Ko Àtan Ce(ra)l Irmnpôrai (inscr. 56 and
57), and from one o f the earliest collections o f Tam il poems, Padirruppatlu, an
anthology o f praise-poems on the Serai kings, we know o f two w ith the title
o f ‘ He o f the great m ountain’, Jnanpdpai.'7 M ore important perhaps is the
fact that Pugalür, where these two inscriptions were found, is about ten miles
from the modern Kârür, mentioned in the form Karuur in the same cavern
(inscr. 66). W e know from Ptolem y that K aroura was ‘ the royal seat o f
K ero b o th ro s’ 18and several references in the colophons to early Tam il poems
indicate that K aruvûr was a Serai royal tow n.1»
Consideration o f these inscriptions has led us, then, to a discussion o f the
earliest Tam il literature/with which much o f the remainder o f this essay will
be concerned, as it represents probably the most important single contribu­
tion o f Dravidian language and culture to the Indian heritage. The b u lk o f it
is contained in Eight Anthologies (Ettnttogai) two being o f bardic poetry, and
six o f courtly love-poems (though one, Paripâdal, includes religious praise-
poetry and descriptive verse also). On the basis o f internal evidence most o f
these anthology-poems have been assigned to the first three centuries o f our
era, and it looks as i f the epigraphical evidence now to hand confirms this.
W hile it is clear that a good deal o f synthesis with Indo-Aryan, especially
Brâhmanical, cultural and linguistic elements from the north had already
taken place, these poem s yet present a distinct culture, one in w hich attitudes
and values come across to us in a very vivid'and fresh manner. F o r its part,
the literature is simple add direct in appeal, and relatively free o f the obscurity
and sophistication o f much later Indian literature, including that o f Tam il
itself. U nlike the near-totality o f m edieval literatures in the south, these
poems are secular. T h e praise-poetry is quite unlike anything else extant in the
south. A t the same time, a ‘ gram m ar’ , Tolkappiyam, parts o f which are
probably contemporaneous, sets out an elaborate rhetoric for bardic and
love-poetry that is quite unlike other Indian literary theories which have their
origins in Sanskrit rhetoric, in which the needs o f drama played a large part.
W hile it is true that, id Tam il courtly love-poetry, there are ‘ dram atis per­
son ae’, stock characters1such as the hero, heroine, foster-mother, and so on

16 The contrast is comparable to that between Spanish intervocalic s (always unvoiced) on

the one hand and that o f Portuguese or Italian on the other.
17 See Panneerselvam, op. cit., pq. 412-4. ** McCrindle, Ancien! India, V ol. 4, p. 180.
n See further, Mahadevan, op. cit., pp. 9 4 -j.
 The Early Dravidians 35
(it being a convention that personal names are never mentioned),10 the rhe­
toric o f this poetry, and even more that o f the heroic, arises in the context o f
‘ Natural T a m il’ (iyarramil), the name given to poetry, as opposed to ‘ D ram a
T am il’ and ‘ M usical T a m il’ {Nâtakaitam iland Icaittamil). F o r this purpose,
love is considered as interior or subjective, Again, and the heroic as exterior,
Puram. Both topics are classified under seven heads, five plus two in-each case,
the sets o f five being the kernel, as it were, o f both Again and Puram. For
Again, five aspects o f love are involved : union, separation, aw aiting (the re­
turn o f the lover), anguish, and love-quarrel. F o r Puram, five stages o f war­
fare are envisaged : the cattle-raid, the fight o f two kings over disputed terri­
tory, the attack on the fort, open warfare, and praise o f the king. T h e five
aspects o f love are suggested by associations with regions o f the T am il
country by means o f the names o f five plants that grew therein; the literature
is, then, one o f allusion. F or example, union is suggested by Kurinji, the
Strobilanthes that grew in the mountains, which were considered suitable for
elopement, it sufficed to mention the Strobilanthes to set the tone o f the whole
poem : 'M y love for the lord o f this land, where delicious honey is won from
the black-stemmed Strobilanthes on the mountain-slopes, is greater than the
earth, vaster than the sky, and deeper than the ocean.’ 11
The two other aspects o f love were unrequited and forced love; they were
considered to lie outside the realm o f usual love-poetry | indeed some o f these
poems are not in the Again anthologies at all, but in Puram collections. A n
example o f unrequited love is: ‘ M y bangles are slipping off, fo r I waste aw ay
with love for the young stalwart with the dark beard and closely fitting anklets.
I have my mother to fear; I have to fear the assembly because I caressed bis
death-dealing shoulders. M ay this city o f confusion be stricken with great
distress like me, ever smitten not from one side but from tw o.’11
In the same anthology, the poet Paranar addresses the chieftain Pegan on
behalf o f Kannagi, whom he had deserted :
Not to have pity is cruel. While in the evening I sang o f your rain-drenched forest
to the strains of the râga Sewali, she whose kohl-bedecked eyes resemble blue water-
lilies was so distraught that the tear-drops were as dew upon her breast. Piteous was
she. ‘ Young lady, tell me whether you are related to him who desires my friendship’,
said I as I greeted her. She wiped away the tears with fingers slender as the flame-
lily’s petals as she replied: ‘ I am nothing to him! Listen. Even now he is savouring
the beauty of another girl like me. Every day they gossip about how the famous
Pegan goes in his noisy chariot to that fair piace surrounded with wild jasmine’.11
A good description o f a very human situation appears in poem 7 o f
Paripadal. This is a rather later anthology ; its poetry is hi ore sophisticated and
much o f it is religious verse in praise o f Tirum âl (Vishnu) and âevvel (Skanda).
However, there are some fine poems describing the fiver V aiyai that flows
through M adurai, the capital o f the Pandiyar, another T am il ‘ dynasty’ .
Poem 7 is one o f these, and, after a description o f the bathing o f girls in the
river, the follow ing incident occurs:
Wet from the river she had sought, and wishing to avoid a chill, she whose eyes
resembled water-lilies took some strong toddy around which hummed bees. A s she
10 Compare the medieval practice in Europe of alluding to the beloved merely as S.A.,
Son Allesse. 21 Kuruntogai 3 (by Tevakulattâr). 11 Puram 83 (Nakkapnaiyâr),
36 The Early Dravidians
d ran k a great d rau gh t o f the liq u o r that bestows jo y , her eyes shon e like honey-sw eet
flow ers. S eein g the loveliness o f h er eyes, he praised them ; he sang her praises as if
he w ere a bard. N o t realizin g the direction in which his interest lay, anoth er girl
th ou gh t he w as singing abou t her, and was rather surprised. H e w hose chest was
b ro a d grew n ervous at this and, so rrow fu lly w ondering w hat w ould happen to him,
went up to his beloved. B ecau se o f the ridiculous m isunderstanding, her eyes, al­
rea d y inflam ed through d rinkin g the toddy, grew still redder. T h e p retty girls w ho
had g o n e bathing began sq u a b b lin g am ong them selves; she becam e very cross and
snatched the chap lets from their heads. H er lover, w h o had seen how beautiful she
w as w h ile she bathed, prostrated on the ground his b o d y sm eared w ith san d alw oo d -
pastc. B ut she w o u ld n ot stop sco ld in g him, and even trod on his head! M ean w hile,
the others went on b ath in g in the bright river.14
One example o f the bardic poetry must suffice.25 The five stages o f warfare
were likewise suggested by flowers; garlands o f them were worn by warriors
to indicate what stage o f warfare they were engaged upon, recalling Am erican
Indian war-paint. Tumbai, the white Indian dead-nettle,24 was w orn in open
com bat, and we have a poem upon this tbemc in Puram; ‘ W hoever you are, do
not tatk about collecting your scouts and flanking-troops before you have
seen m y lord o f the drum-like shoulders. His warfare is good, and is celebrated
with festivals. On bis beautiful and mighty chest he wears finely wrought orna­
ments that flash in the sun. H e is a renowned scion o f the vigorous M alavar
clan whose glittering, scintillating spears are long.’ 27
A ll the literature so far considered, and another extensive collection called
the Ten Songs, Pattuppâtiu, consists o f discontinuous poetry. Until the epic
Silappadigâram, composed som e time between the second and the fifth
centuries a .d ., we do not find in Tam il a continuous narrative o f the type
present in other early literatures, such as heroic poetry from outside India.
Space forbids a detailed examination o f Silappadigâram, but it must be men­
tioned as being a distinctly Tam il story contributed to Indian literature. The
portion o f it relating to the Seralar kings clearly shares the traditions em-.
bodied in the early anthology o f praise-poetry about them, Padirruppâttu.
T he story is the popular theme extolling the virtuous wife. K ovalan, the chief
male character, hardly a hero, is a merchant in the Sola city o f Pugàr. He
neglects his wife K annagi, throwing away his fortune upon a courtesan well
versed in music and dancing called M àdavi. After quarrelling with h er, how­
ever, K ovalan returns to his faithful wife Kannagi and they both migrate to
the Pàndiya city o f M adurai. T hey attempt to start life afresh, and raise
capital by selling K an n agi’s anklets (si lambii).28 But an evil-minded goldsmith
brings a false charge o f theft o f the queen’s anklet, that had been reported lost;
K o vala n is apprehended, accused, and killed. K annagi goes to the king and
proves that the charge was baseless; the king dies o f grief, but the enraged
w idow curses the city to destruction by fire, plucking o ff her breast and hurl-
it over the town.24 She then goes to Vanji, another Serai city, and is received
into heaven as the L ady, Pattini, together with her husband.70
17 Puram 144 (Paranar). 14 Pari. 7, lines 61-76 (M aiyota Kkovanâr).
25 T h e subject o f Puram has been thoroughly surveyed by K . Kailasapathy in Tamil
Heroic Poelry,-Oxford, 1968. 26 Leucas aspera Spreng. 11 Puram 88 (Aw aiyar).
24 T he title Silappadigâram means ‘ Tale o f the A n klet’.
14 One is left wondering if ihereis any connection between this stor>/and the androgynous
Siva-Pàrvatî image Ardhaoàrisvara. ' 20 A recent translation is by Alain D aniilou.
 The Early Dravidians 37
The sequel to this story, Manimegalai, need not detain us. It is largely a
Buddhist w ork, inspired by the logical system p f the philosopher D innàga,
and demonstrates the extent to which, by the time o f its com position, Tam il
had become influenced by external factors. M uch o f its later literature, and
all o f the extant literatures o f K annada, Telugu, and M alayâlam , the other
three main Dravidian languages, consists o f the reworking o f themes origin­
ally presented in Sanskrit. They are none the less important for this, but it be­
comes less easy to quantify the purely Dravidian element in them.
By reason o f the fact that these four were, and are, spoken as well as written
languages, there is an clement o f the popular and spontaneous in their liter­
atures that may seem to be absent from some Sanskrit writing. B ut this
feature they o f course share with Indo-Âryan vernaculars such as M arâthl and
Hindi. Thus the Tam il version o f the epic Ràmâyana presents the hero Ràm a
as a god, and to that extent is a religious poem, unlike its Sanskrit prototype.
But this feature is comm on to all the vernacular Ram a stories, in India and in
South-East Asia.
One must in conclusion note that the great medieval bhakti movement, ex­
pressing itself in hymns and mystical utterances in all the spoken languages o f
India, had its real beginnings in the Tamil Sai vi te hymns composed from the
sixth century onwards, and collectively known as the Tirumurai. T h e m ost
famous portion is the Garland o f G od , Tevâram, but the mystical poem s by
Manikkavâsagar, Tiruvasagam and Tirukkooaiydr, should be mentioned. T h e
figure o f the divine lover and his beloved, the soul, becomes common enough
in medieval India, especially in the worship o f Krishna. But M ànikkavà-
sagar’s Tirtikkovaiyàr antedates this to a considerable extent. The Virasaiva
Vacanakâvyas o f Basava were, in Kannada, an extension o f this genre.
Similarly, the medieval philosophical texts o f the Éaiva Siddhânta were
popularized through Tam il and, with the digest o f m oralistic treatises known
as Tirukktiral, were hailed by early European missiouary-scholars as the finest
literary w ork produced in the south. But it is difficult to avoid the conclusion
that, in this roseate view, they were influenced by the apparent closeness o f
many o f the concepts in Tirukkural and in, say, Sivanânabodam51 to those o f
Christianity. The Tam ils brought to these subjects an original and fresh
approach, but in their anthology-poems they were themselves the originators.
By Meykandadcvar. The principal Saiva Siddhânta work in Tamil.
CH APTER V '

Asokan India and the Gupta Age

by R o m ila . T h a p a r

A s o k a n India and the G upta age are the terminal points o f a span o f one
thousand years, from the fourth century b .c . to the sixth century a .d . The
span extends over a period o f considerable historical change; yet it is possible
to perceive an underlying continuity. T he origin o f institutions which were to
mould Indian culture is frequently traceable to this period. The A sokan age
^aw the establishment o f a centralized imperial structure which embraced
almost the entire subcontinent and rested on a methodically organized and
efficient bureaucracy. This was the first time that the imperial idea found ex­
pression in India. In the subsequent period the personality o fln d ia acquired
new contours and delineations which were both the result o f an imperial
system and the foreshadowing o f other patterns. T h e G upta age, for a brief
period, cam e close in spirit to the government o f the M auryas, but it carried
the seeds o f a new political system— the early stages o f a feudal-type organiza­
tion— which was pot conducive to empire building. T h e G upta age is better
remembered as the age which saw the triumph o f Sanskritic culture in many
parts o f the subcontinent.
Chandragupta M aurya conquered M agadha (south Bihar) and in 321 b .c .
founded the M auryan D ynasty with his capital at Pà{aliputra (in the vicinity
o f modern Patnâ). He proceeded to annex Various parts o f northern India and
campaigned against the Greek, Seleucus N icator, the form er general o f
Alexander. T h e successful outcome o f this campaign brought him the trans­
Indus region and areas o f Afghanistan. His son, Bindusâra, continued the
campaign into peninsular India. But-it Was his grandson ASoka who, inherit­
ing the subcontinent, established an all-India empire and discovered both the
advantages and problems inherent in'such a political structure.
T he mechanics o f a centralized empire cam e into existence after a lengthy
germination involving the life and d eath of numerous kingdoms and republics
in northern India from the sixth century b .c . onwards. Perhaps the earliest
glimmerings o f empire were visible to the Nandas, the dynasty which immedi­
ately preceded the M auryas, though the actual birth o f empire had to wait until
the arrival o f the latter. AÌEoka inherited an efficiently running machine domin­
ated by a central administration. The imperial structure was provided with a
base through the spread and establishment o f an agrarian econom y. In later
centuries, in spite o f the contribution o f other types o f economic activity such
as internal and overseas trade, agriculture remained the dominant factor in the
economy, with these other activities providing substantial but subsidiary in­
comes.
Land revenue had bee„n recognized as a m ajor sou rceof state income before
the M auryas. The proverbial wealth o f the N andas was doubtless due to their
efficient collection o f revenue from the fertile middle Ganga plain. T h at the
 Asokan India and the Gupta Age 39
legitimacy o f taxation had been established b y the time o f the M auryas and
its potentiality in terms o f income recognized, is evident from the references
to land revenue and taxes in K a u faly a ’s Arthalâstra and a significant reference
in the inscriptions o f A so k a .1 A ccord in g to the Arthaiâstra every activity,
from agriculture to gam bling and prostitution, might be subjected to taxation
by the state. N o waste land should be occupied nor a single tree cut down in
the forest without permission from the state, since these were all ultim ately
sources o f revenue. It was conceded that the main item o f incom e was land
revenue and this was dependent on correct assessment and proper collection.
But other activities had also to be controlled and supervised by the state so
that they would yield the maximum revenue.
A ll this necessitated a carefully w orked out bureaucratic system, and from
descriptions o f administration in M auryan sources this seems to have been
achieved. Practically every professional and skilled person was registered and
was under the ultimate control o f a superintendent. The officers were very
well paid, in the b elief that a well-paid bureaucracy was likely to be more
efficient. High salaries could be maintained only i f taxes were rigorously
collected. Thus the two factors o f taxation and administration were inter­
linked.
These two factors had a bearing on yet another factor: the arm y and its role
in the politics and econom y o f the M auryan period. A large arm y was not
only essential to vast conquests, it was equally important as a means o f h old ­
ing the empire together. M auryan rulers were aware o f this. The estimated
strength o f Chandrag'upta’s arm y, according to near-contem porary classical
sources, was 9,000 elephants, 30,000 cavalry, and 600,000 infantry. Even
allowing for a margin o f exaggeration in these figures the M auryan arm y was
a large one by any standards. T o maintain such an army would require a large
state income, and this in turn w ould depend on taxation and the size o f the
kingdom. Thus it was the interdependence o f taxation, adm inistration, and
armed strength which went into the m aking o f a centralized empire.
Control over these factors lay w ith the king, w ho was regarded as the
supreme source o f pow er and authority. T his enabled the king to adopt a
paternalistic attitude towards his subjects, as is evident from A noka’s edicts,
where he says, ‘ A ll men are m y children and just as I desire fo r m y children
that they should obtain welfare and happiness both in this world and the next,
the same do I desire for all men . . . ’ 1 O r as, when referring to his officers in
the rural areas, he writes, ‘ Just as one èntrusts one’s child to an experienced
nurse, and is confident that the experienced nurse is able to care for the child
satisfactorily, so my rajukas have been appointed fo r the w elfare and happi­
ness o f the country people . . .’ J '
Paternalism demands a continued contact between king and subjects. The
' Kau(alya, alternatively known as Kaufilya and Cltanakya, was the chief minister o f
Chandragupta Manrya and a work on politicai economy, the Arthaiâslra, is attributed to
him. In its present form the work has been dated by scholars to the second and third cen­
turies a.d . But parts o f it appear to reflect notions which were current in the administrative
system o f the Mauryas, W ith regard to land revenue, it is .significant that, on visiting
Lumbinl, A io k a ordered a reduction in land revenue as a favour to the birth-place o f the
Buddha. This is a clear indication o f the importance o f sdch revenue to the M auryan
political and economicsystem. 1 Second Separate R ock Edict. 1 Fourth Pillar Edict.
40 Asokan India and the Gupta Age

M auryan kings, we arc told, were always available for consultation. Megas-
tlicnes, w ho visited India as the am bassador o f Seleucus N icator and stayed
at the M auryan Court during the reign o f Chandragupta, describes the king
receiving complaints and discussing matters o f state even when being mas­
saged. A so ka em phatically declares in one o f his edicts that, no m atter where
he m ay be, no member o f the ministerial council should be debarred from
seeing him.
But the availability o f the king was not sufficient. In a system as centralized
as that o f the M auryas it was essential that communication be maintained
with all parts o f the subcontinent and with every level o f society. T his was
done in part by building a network o f roads linking the entire empire with
Pàtaliputra. A so k a ’s justified pride in the excellence o f the roads w hich he had
constructed is corroborated by Pliny the Elder’s enthusiasm in describing the
R oyal H ighw ay which ran from T axila to Pàtaliputra, a distance o f over a
thousand miles.
A t another level, contact with the populace was maintained through the use
o f agents and informants. These were used both to propagate the ideas o f the
king and to bring him reports on public opinion.-1 Frequent tours and the
appointment o f specially trusted inspectors were other means o f com m unica­
tion with the people.
A lthough agriculture provided the most substantial part o f the state income
it was n ot the sole source o f revenue. A n indirect source o f income fo r the
M auryan state was the use o f the sfidras, the lowest o f the fou r orders o f
Hindu society, as free labour when so required. The settlement o f new areas,
the opening o f waste land to agriculture, the working o f the state-owned mines
such as the salt mines o f the Panjâb and the iron ore deposits in M agadha,
were som e o f the activities for \yhich Südras, in addition to prisoners o f war
and crim inals, provided labour power.
A m on g the more significant changes which had taken place by the middle
o f the first millennium b . c . was the development o f towns and urban culture.
T he com ing o f A ryan culture, based on pastoralism and agrarian village com ­
munities, resulted in the entire process o f development from village cultures to
urban cultures being re-experienced in northern India. Towns evolved from
trade centres and craft villages, and consequently the dom inant institution o f
urban life was the guild. B y the end o f the fourth century b . c . artisan and
merchant guilds were an established part o f the urban pattern.
The m anufacture o f goods and trade form ed additional sources o f income
in a tax-oriented system. N o t surprisingly the Ârthasâstra lists a number o f
taxes on goods at various stages o f production and distribution. T h e existence
o f an all-India empire under a single political authority and the excellent
com m unications developed within the subcontinent led to an expansion in
internal trade which added to the growing profits o f the guilds. Ventures in
overseas trade were doubtless encouraged by the protection o f diplom atic
missions sent'by the M auryan emperors. The exchange o f envoys between the
G reek kings o f western A sia and Egypt and the M auryas is on record, as also

♦A similar system was adopted by the Achaemenid kings of Persia, where the inspectors
were called ‘ the king’s eye’ and ‘ the king's e ar’, and also by Charlemagne, i d whose king­
dom they were known as the mirri.
 Asokan India and the Gupta Age 41
the carious request for gifts such as sophists, singing boys, and wine. T h e close
and friendly ties between ASoka and Tissa, the king o f C eylon, must have re­
sulted in greater com munication between the t\Vo countries.
The improved econom ic status o f the guilds introduced complications in
the existing social pattern. G uild leaders became powerful citizens controlling
large econom ic assets. But, in the caste-based society o f this period, the trader
or the artisan was not included am ong the m ost socially privileged citizens.
T h e challenge which the mercantile community presented to the m ore estab­
lished sections o f society was yet to com e, but the germinal tensions cam e into
being at this stage. T hat there was an element o f fear on the part o f the
authorities o f the growing power o f the guilds seems evident from the
Arihasâstra, which favours a rigid control o f guild activities. For instance
every guild had to be registered with the local administration and no guild was
allowed to m ove from its location without prior permission.
There was yet another factor which possibly aggravated social tensions. The
two new religions, Buddhism and Jainism, had won the sympathy o f the
artisans and the merchants ; and these religions were heterodox sects 'which
challenged the established order. T h e association o f the emergent urban
groups with dissident thinking and practice would make them suspect in the
eyes o f the orthodox.
These new religions sprang from a considerable intellectual ferment which
had begun earlier in the period, around 600 B . C . A healthy rivalry was apparent
am ong a number o f sects, such as the Chàrvâkas, Jainas, and À jivikas, whose
doctrines ranged from pure materialism to determinism. Th is intellectual
liveliness was reflected in the eclectic interests o f the M auryan rulers, since it
was claimed by the Jainas that Chandragupta was a supporter and there is
evidence that Bindusâra favoured the A jivikas. Close contacts with western
A sia must have provided yet another stream o f unorthodox ideas.
This then was the empire which A so k a inherited. In area a subcontinent,
inhabited by peoples o f many cultures and at many levels o f developm ent; a
society with a wide range o f customs, beliefs, affinities, antagonisms, tensions,
and harmonies. M agadha and the western G anga valley were culturally
Âryanized but the fringes o f this area were less so. T h e north was in close con­
tact with the Hellenized culture o f Afghanistan and Iran; the far south was on
the threshold o f the creative efflorescence o f Tam il culture. T o rule such an
empire successfully would have required the perception and the imagination
o f an exceptionally gifted man. This was the challenge which A 3oka attempted
to meet.
For many centuries A soka remained almost unknown to the Indian histori­
cal tradition. He was mentioned in the genealogies o f the M auryan kings but
nothing more than the length o f his reign was stated 'about him. A vast
amount o f semi-historical, largely legendary, material 011 his life had been
collected in Buddhist sources but this material practically disappeared from
the Indian tradition with the decline o f Buddhism in India by the end o f the
thirteenth century. It was preserved in Buddhist centres outside India— in
Ceylon, Central A sia, and China. The proclam ations issued by A 3oka were
engraved on rocks and pillars throughout the subcontinent and these, re­
mained visible, but unfortunately the Bràhm î script in which they had been
42 Aiokan India and the Gupta Age

engraved had become archaic and the inscriptions could not be read.* H ow ­
ever, in 1837 the Orientalist James Prinsep deciphered the script. A lthough the
text was now known, the author o f the inscriptions could not be identified,
since he was generally referred to only by his titles— Devânampiya Piyadassi—
The Beloved o f the G ods, o f Gracious Mien— and these were unknown to the
Indian king-Iists. A tentative identification with Aéoka was made in the late
nineteenth century on the evidence from the Buddhist chronicles o f Ceylon.
It was not until 1915 that this identification was confirmed, however, with the
discovery o f an inscription which referred to the author as Devânampiya
Asoka,6
The association o f this name with Buddhist sources led to his edicts being
interpreted almost as Buddhist documents. Undoubtedly Aéoka was a
Buddhist and much o f the ideology o f Dhamma'7 which he enunciated was in­
spired by Buddhism. But to equate it.totally with Buddhism and to suggest
that A éoka was propagating Buddhism as the state religion is to read more
into the edicts than was intended by the monarch. A careful analysis o f the in­
scriptions reveals that they were o f two categories. Some were addressed
specifically to the Buddhist Church or Sangha and were concerned entirely
with matters relating to the Sangha. T he m ajority o f the inscriptions are. how­
ever, addressed to the public at large and deal with questions o f wider inverest.
It is significant that it is in this second category o f inscriptions that the king
expounds his ideas on Dhamma.
It would appear that Aéoka aimed at creating an attitude o f mind am ong his
subjects in which social behaviour had the highest relevance. In the context o f
conditions during the M auryan period, this ideology o f Dhamma may have
been viewed as a focus o f loyalty and as a point o f convergence for the existing
diversities o f people and activities. Dhamma stressed toleration, non-violence,
(where the emperor himself forswore violence and force as means to an end),
respect fo r those in positions o f authority, including both the brahmans and
the Buddhist monks, consideration and kindness towards inferiors, and the
general acceptance o f ideals conducive to human dignity. T he king instituted
a special class o f officers— the officers o f Dhamma— w ho were responsible for
the propagation o f this ideology and w ho worked for the general welfare o f
the people.
Y e t the ideology o f Dhamma died with the death o f the emperor. A s an
attempt to solve the problems o f the time it was perhaps too idealistic. A t the
same time it can hardly be described as a revolutionary doctrine, since it was
largely an emphatic reiteration o f certain existing principles o f ethics. But
credit must be given to the man w ho had the vision to seek such a solution and
the courage to attempt it.
F ifty years after the death o f Aéoka the M auryan Empire had declined.

» One o f the sultans o f Delhi in the fourteenth century, Fîroz Shâh Tughluq, was both
intrigued and impressed by ,nn A io k a n pillar which he found near Delhi, and he had it
removed to his capital. Sut no one could read the inscription on'the pillar or explain its
purpose. 4 Minor Rock Edict at M aski: devtlnampiyassa Asoknssa.
7 The word dhamma is the Pàli form o f the Sanskrit dharma and is almost impossible to
translate adequately into English. Generally accepted renderings are ‘ morality, piety, virtue,
the social order’ .
 Asokan India and the Gupta Age 43
Some historians have traced this decline to the policies o f A soka, claim ing
that his pro-Buddhist sympathies led to a brâhm anical revolt against the
M auryan rulers; others have suggested that his adherence to non-violence led
to a weakening o f the military strength o f the empire and laid it open to
attacks, particularly from the north-west. B u t evidence in support o f these
theories is far too slight. Other possibilities m ust also be considered, not least
among them being that the later M auryan kings m ay well have been w eak and
ineffectual rulers, unable to hold together such a vast empire. Furtherm ore
the pressure o f a highly paid bureaucracy and a large arm y could not have
been sustained over a period o f almost 150 years w ithout a strain on an agri­
cultural economy. Either these two money-consuming items would have had
to be whittled down and readjusted or in periods o f depression fresh sources
o f income would have had to be found. Finally, the strongest bond in uniting
people into a political entity— the desire on the part o f the people to becom e
a nation— was lacking. T he divergencies in the various parts o f the subcon­
tinent were too great to allow the form ation o f a national unit. The doctrine
o f Dhamma, which might have created a common factor o f loyalty, failed to
do so.
The subsequent fragmentation o f the subcontinent was not entirely arbi­
trary, for it led to the identification o f geographical areas as political entities.
These (with some modification) were to remain the nuclei o f political units in
the Indian subcontinent for many centuries.
In 185 b .c . the M auryan Empire ceased to exist. The immediate inheritors
o f the M auryas in the G anga heart-land, M agadha, were the Sungas, a brah­
man fam ily which had usurped the throne at Pàtaliputra. T h e 3 ungas were to
give way to the K aiivas, to be followed by a series o f minor dynasties until the
rise o f the Guptas in the fourth century a .d . D uring these centuries M agadha
tended to remain somewhat isolated, and few attempts were made by its
rulers to participate in events elsewhere.
Kalinga (a part o f modern Orissa) came to the forefront with the meteoric
rise o f K in g Khâravela, and then subsided into quietude. A biographical
sketch o f K hâravela is available from an inscription, where he asserts his
dominion over the entire M ahânadï delta and claims m any victories over
south Indian kings. Such maritime kingdoms rose sporadically, their pros­
perity being due to sea trade and the fertility o f their hinterland, generally a
delta region.
Meanwhile the north-western part o f the subcontinent— the Panjâb and the
Indus valley— was once again being sucked into the vortex o f Iranian and
Central Asian politics. Alexander, after his rapid cam paign through Persia
and north-western India, left behind a number o f governors, w ho on his death
in 323 B.C. declared themselves kings o f the respective provinces w hich they
governed. T h e house o f Seleucus in western A sia and its erstwhile satraps,
the Greek rulers o f Bactria, came into conflict, and gradually the conflict
spilled over into north-western India, involving the stnall and politically isol­
ated Indian kingdom s which were unable to h old b ack the Bactrian Greeks.
The latter established themselves in the north-west during the second century
b .c . Fortunately fo r us, these kings were enthusiastic minters o f coins and
their history has been partially reconstructed, largely on numismatic evidence.
44 Asokan India and die Gtipta Age

Further south the Parthians m ade a brief thrust in the region o f Sind, but
could not maintain their power there for long. Events in Central A sia were
now to influence north Indian politics. A nomadic movement originating on
the borders o f China made the Yüeh-chih tribe migrate westwards to the
neighbourhood o f the Caspian Sea, dislodging the existing inhabitants o f this
region, the Sakas (Scythians). Further migrations brought both the Sakas and
the Yüeh-chih to India. T h e early decades o f the first century a . d . saw the
Yüeh-chih settled in northern India and the Sakas concentrated in the region
o f K u tch and K athiaw ar in western India. The Sakas were now neighbours o f
the Sàtavàhana or A ndhra kings, who had established a kingdom centred
around the north-western area o f the Deccan plateau. In time the Sakas found
themselves sandwiched between two important powers, for in the north the
Yüeh-chih or K ushàna kingdom had been consolidated by K anishka, who
not only extended its southern and eastern boundaries as far as M athura and
Varanasi, but also participated in campaigns in Central A sia.8 T o the south
o f the Sakas, the Sàtavàhanas drew their strength from the fact that they were
a bridge between the northern and southern parts o f the subcontinent. This
characteristic o f the D eccan kingdoms, deriving their power from their loca­
tion, was to remain an im portant geo-political factor in Indian bistory for
many centuries.
The history o f south India emerges in clearer perspective during the period
between 200 b . c . and A . D . 300, the evidence being that o f archaeology, epi­
graphy, and the Sangam literature o f the early Tamils. The extreme south o f
the peninsula, M ysore and beyond, had not been under actual M auryan con­
trol, though the relationship between tbe imperial power and the southern
kingdoms was a close and friendly one. This is revealed by A so k a ’s references
to his neighbours in the south, the kingdoms o f the Cholas, Pàndyas, Kerala-
putras, and Satiyaputras, some o f which are also mentioned in the Sangam
literature. A rchaeology provides evidence o f a well-organized megalithic
culture in this region during the M auryan period. Possibly it was in contact
with a similar culture in western A sia, a contact which had its antecedents and
which continued in later centuries.
The anthologies o f Tam il poetry contain am ong other things descriptive
narrations o f events, both actual and imagined, in the context o f early tribal
society in south India. Conflicts am ong the kingdoms were perpetual, because
each had two objectives— to control the fertile deltas, the only regions where
agriculture was possible on a large scale, and to have access to the im portant
trading stations along the coasts which were lucrative sources o f revenue,
since m any o f them traded with the Yavanas, the peoples o f western A sia .'
The fragm entation o f the subcontinent which took place during this period
m ay have been politically emasculating, but it was at this time that a new and
vital interest cam e to be introduced into econom ic development. It was the
age when India discovered the potential wealth inherent in trade. Despite the
* In fact the prestige o f Kanishka is such that the inauguration o f the much-used éaka era
o f a . d . 78 is frequently attributed to him. His date is very uncertain, however, and recent
estimates vary between this date and the third century a . d .
• Yavana, a back formation from the Prakrit word Yona, is believed to refer originally to
Ionian Greeks and came to be used for any o f the trading peoples o f western Asia— the
Greeks, the Romans, and in later centuries the Arabs.
 Asokan India and the Gupta Age 45
many political frontiers, internal trade increased very considerably. The
woollen blankets o f Gandbàra and tbc linen o f Bengal were fam iliar to all parts
o f the country, as were the precious stones from south India. But even more
relevant to the economic prosperity o f India was the overseas trade. Indian
traders ventured out in all directions: to Central Asia and China, to'western
Asia, and in South-East A sia as far as the kingdom o f Funan in modern
Vietnam. Indian merchants became the middlemen in the commerce between
South-East Asia and the Mediterranean-. They were the entrepreneurs in the
trade supplying the needs and luxuries o f the Graeco-Rom an world, a topic
which is dealt with elsewhere (ch. xxx) in this book.
This increase in trade resulted quite naturally in the greater prosperity o f
the guilds. Guilds became not only the basis for the production and distribu­
tion o f merchandise but also the financial centres o f trade. The Sâtavâhana
rulers, for instance, often gave to religious charities donations which came
from money invested with guilds.-The intensification o f the guild system in­
fluenced sub-caste relations within caste society, for each guild tended to be­
come a sub-caste drawing on its own resources for manpower. Thus even in
urban areas the economic hasis o f the organization o f caste society became
firmer. W ith the accumulation o f wealth in the hands o f guiLds and merchants,
patronage o f learning and the arts was no longer limited toToyalty. N o t sur­
prisingly, some o f the most magnificent Buddhist mcjnuments are o f this
period and many o f them owe their existence to the donations o f wealthy
guilds and merchants. T he stupas at SânchI, Bhârhut, and Am aravatl stand
witness to this.
Together with Indian traders went the brâhmans and the Buddhist mis­
sionaries. Western Asia came into contact with them in the centuries before
Christ. China received its first Buddhist mission in a . d . 68 at Loyang. In the
early centuries after Christ, Buddhists were active in Funan and Cham pa.
Meanwhile Buddhism itself had undergone a considerable change, with
doctrinal differences creating a split which was form ally recognized at the
Fourth Buddhist Council, held according to tradition during the reign o f
Kanishka; and two groups o f Buddhists were established, the Mahâyâna and
the Hlnayma. Missionaries o f M ahâyâna sects established themselves in
Central A sia, China, and Japan. Hînayâna Buddhism was more popular in
Ceylon, and later it ousted the M ahâyâna in South-East Asia.
W ith increasing contact through commerce between the various parts o f the
known world, the communication o f ideas between these regions improved.
For instance, Indian astronomers discovered thé existence o f G raeco-R om an
astronomy: Graeco-Rom an art, particularly o f the Alexandrian variety, not
only found admirers in north-western India and Afghanistan but became the
model for a hybrid local school which ârt-historians have subsequently
called Gandhâra art. Y e t another result was the arrival o f Christian teaching
in India, which according to the legends came in the mid-first century a . d . ,
brought by St. Thom as.
The political fragmentation o f the subcontinent did not put an end to the
dream o f an empire as vast as that o f the Mauryas. A n attempt was made by
kings o f the Gupta family to establish such an empire in the early part o f the
fourth century a . d .
46 Asokan India and the Gupta Age

The Guptàs were in origin probably a fam ily o f wealthy landowners who
gradually attained both econom ic power and political status. U nlike the
founder o f the Mauryan D ynasty, who is described as an adventurous young
man with no significant antecedents, the founder o f the Gupta Dynasty, also
called Chandra G upta, belonged to a fam ily which had established its power
at a local level 'in M agadha. A judicious marriage with a Licchavi princess
gave him additional prestige, the Licchavis claiming a long-established re­
spectability. Following his coronation as king o f M agadha in a . d . 319-20
Chandra Gupta too k the title o f nmhârâjâdhirâja— Great King o f Kings.
In about a . d . 335 his son, Samudra G upta, inherited the kingdom o f
M agadha. He issued a series o f beautifully executed gold coins in which he is
depicted both as a conqueror and as a musician, a strange combination o f
interests. Fortunately for later historians a lengthy panegyric on him was
composed by oue o f his high officials and engraved on an A io k a n pillar which
has since been brought to Allahabad. T h e inscription refers among other
things to the martial exploits o f Samudra G upta; to the kings uprooted and
the territory annexed in the northern part o f the subcontinent. It mentions
also the long march which Samudra G upta undertook in the south, reaching as
far as Kânchïpuram. N or are the tributes from foreign kingdoms omit­
ted. Mention is made o f the Ssakas, Ceylon, various Iranian rulers o f the
north-west and the inhabitants o f all the islands. The latter m ay refer to
Indian trading stations 011 the islands o f South-East Asia and in the Indian
ocean. .
The nucleus o f the G upta kingdom , as o f the Mauryan Empire, was the
Ganga heartland. This and the adjoining territory to the west were the only
regions over which Samudra G upta had absolute and unchallenged control.
Gupta control o f the Deccan was uncertain and had to be propped up with a
matrimonial alliance, a G upta princess marrying a prince o f the Yâkàtaka
Dynasty o f the D eccan, the successors to the Sâtavàhana power. This secured
a friendly southern frontier for the Guptas, which was necessary to Samudra
G upta’s successor, Chandra G upta II, when he led a campaign against the
Sakas in western India.
It was during the reign o f Chandra G upta II that G upta ascendancy was at
its peak. His successful cam paign against the §akas, resulting in the annexa­
tion o f western India, was, however, not his only achievement. Like his pre­
decessor, he was a patron o f poets, philosophers, scientists, musicians, and
sculptors. This period saw the crystallization o f what came to be the classical
norm in ancient India on both the political and the cultural levels.
The Gupta kings took exalted titles such as mahârâjâdhirâja paramabhat-
târaka— Great K in g o f K ings, the Supreme Lord. This was in striking contrast
to the M auryas who, though politically far more powerful, never used such
exalted titles. Superficially G upta administration was similar to that o f the
M auryas. The king was the highest authority and the kingdom was divided
into a hierarchy o f administrative units— provinces, districts, and groups o f
villages— each with its own range o f officers responsible to the most senior
officer in the unit. Y e t there was a significant différence between G upta and
M auryan administration: during the G upta period there was far greater stress
011 local administration and far less direct control from the centre. Even in
 Asokan India and the Gupta Age 47
urban administration, the C ity Boards consisted o f representatives o f local
opinion and interest (such as the heads o f guilds and artisan and m erchant
bodies) rather than officers o f state.
A parallel tendency was developing in the agrarian system, particularly in
the sphere o f land revenue. T he revenue was still collected by the king’s
officers, but they retained a certain predetermined percentage in lieu o f a
regular cash salary. This procedure o f payment to officers cam e to be adopted
with increasing frequency. On occasion the king would even grant the revenue
from an area o f land or a village to non-officials, such as brahmans renowned
for their learning. Inscriptions recording such grants are known from the
early centuries a .d . onwards. Since a m ajor part o f the state revenue came
from the land, grants o f revenue were gradually to cause a radical change in
the agrarian system. Although it was the revenue alone which was granted, it
became custom ary to treat the land itself as part o f the grant. Technically the
■king could resume the grant, but in fact he seldom did so. T h e lessening o f
central control in any case weakened the authority o f the king and em pha­
sized local independence, an emphasis which increased in times o f political
trouble. T h e recipient o f the grant came to-be regarded as the lord o f the land
and the local patron, and he attracted local loyalty towards himself. T h e more
obvious shift in emphasis from central to local power took place later, but its
origin can be traced to the G upta period. However, the more forceful o f the
;Gupta kings still kept authority in their hands and continued to be regarded
as the lords o f the land par excellence.
Patronage requires the easy availability o f money, and the G upta kings had
the financial wherewithal to be patrons on a lavish scale. T he steady stream
o f revenue from the land was augmented by incom e from commercial activity.
Indian trading stations were dotted throughout the islands o f South-East
A sia, M alaysia, Cam bodia, and Thailand, T h e gradual acceptance o f many
features o f Indian culture in these areas must doubtless have been facilitated
by activities such as commerce. Indian merchants carried spices from Java to
Socotra or were busy participating in the trade between China and the
Mediterranean lands via the Central Asian ‘ Silk R o u te’ , n ot to mention the
increasing trade within the suboontinent itself. G oods were transported by
pack animals and ox-drawn carts, and by water when rivers were navigable.
The literature o f the period is replete with descriptions o f the m arvels and
wonders witnessed by sailors and merchants in distant lands. There are
frequent references to rich financiers and wealthy guilds. T h e textile guilds
had a vast market, both domestic and foreign. Ivory-workers, stone-workers,
metal-workers, and jewellers all prospered in the econom ic boom . Spices,
pepper, sandalwood, pearls, precious stones, perfutne, indigo, herbs, and
textiles were exported in large quantities. Am ongst ,the m ore lucrative im­
ports were silk from China and horses from Central A sia and A rabia.
Some o f the wealth o f merchants and princes was donated to religious
causes\ Large endowments had made the Buddhist Church extremely pow er­
ful, anil provided com fortable if not luxurious living for m any Buddhist
monks in the more important monasteries. These endowments enabled the
monasteries to own land and to em ploy labour to w ork it. T h e surplus income,
from such sources was invested in commercial enterprises which at times were
48 Alokan India and the Gupta Age

so successful that monasteries could even act as bankers. M onastic establish­

ments built in splendid isolation, like the one at Ajantà, were embellished with
some o f the most magnificent murals known to the ancient world. T he growth
o f centres o f Buddhist teaching led to devoted scholars spending m any hours
on theology and philosophical speculation, thus sharpening the intellectual
challenge which the Buddhists presented to the brâhmans,
Hindu institutions and personalities were also the recipients o f enviably
lavish patronage. There are references to donations o f land or revenue from
villages to learned brâhmans and renowned priests, enabling them and their
families to live in com fort fo r m any generations. This was the age which saw
attempts at building small stone temples to Hindu deities, temples which
within h alf a millennium were to become the dominant focuses o f society in
m any parts o f the subcontinent. Together with the temples came the carving
o f images and the depiction o f popular legends in stone.
Hinduism had b y this time evolved from the beliefs o f the Vedic period into
a hum ane and sophisticated religion. Perhaps the m ost fundamental changes
were the two features which arose partially out o f the heterodox challenge to
early Hinduism. T h e first o f these was the tendency towards monotheism,
which was stressed by the increasing worship o f either o f the two deities
Vishnu and 3 iva. In addition the ritual o f worship was also changing in
favour o f personal devotion (bhakti) rather than sacrifice. Thus Hinduism re­
vitalized itself and was able slowly to supplant the heterodox religions. T he
brahmans, w ho regarded themselves as the interpreters o f Hinduism, were able
to rewrite the older texts to conform to their own vision o f society, as is evident
from Purànic literature, and were able to convert popular secular material,
such as the two epics, the Mahübhâr.ata and the Râmâyana, into sacred
literature.
It was from these cultural roots that the classical norm evolved. T he
language o f bràhmanism, Sanskrit, became the language o f erudition and
court literature. T h e works o f K alidasa exemplify the inspired literary
craftsmanship o f the period. T he brahman genius for classification was given
full vent, as is apparent from the careful categorizing o f the divergent philo­
sophical schools. Compendia o f scientific writings were produced and the
classification o f scientific knowledge led to many exciting results. Medical
know ledge began to travel west and aroused the interest o f west Asian physi­
cians. Experienced metallurgists displayed their skill in minting beautiful
coins, in the use o f iron o f such excellence that it defies reproduction (as in the
famous Iron Pillar o f M ehraull), in metal sculpture, and in copper-plate
charters. Indian mathematical knowledge was probably the most advanced o f
its time, with the use o f place notation o f numerals and fam iliarity with the
concept o f the cipher. Astronom y saw even more spectacular progress. In
a .d . 499 A ryabhata calculated u as 3-1416 and the length o f the solar year as
365-358 days. H e also postulated that the earth was a sphere rotating on its
own axis and revolving round the sun, and that the shadow o f the earth falling
on the m oon caused eclipses. T he w orks on astronom y written b y Varâ-
hamihira show knowledge o f Greek and Rom an systems.
T h e advancement o f know ledge lay in the hands o f the brâhmans. This had
the advantage o f intensifying the intellectual tradition within a small group o f
 Asokan India and (he Gupta Age 49
society. Unfortunately however, owing to the evolution o f the social pattern
in ancient India, this also led to intellectual constriction. Brahm an superiority
was in part sustained by the maintenance o f caste in Indian society. W ith the
rewriting o f early literature, especially legal literature, the division o f society
into castes was reiterated and the pre-eminent status o f the brahman was
emphasized. The result was a fairly rigid ordering o f society, in theory at least.
In addition, the educational function was appropriated by the brahmans, who,
with the decline o f the Buddhist monasteries in the post-Gupta period, be­
came the m ajor purveyors o f formal education in mauy parts o f the subcon­
tinent. Technical knowledge was gradually relegated to the position o f a craft
tradition practised in the guilds. Formal education was to becom e entirely
scholastic, resulting in intellectual in-growing.
Despite the theoretical rigidity o f the caste system, the südras now had a
somewhat more advantageous position than in the M auryan period, doubt­
less due to the decreasing need for establishing new settlements and clearing
waste land. But the position o f the untouchables— those beyond the pale o f
caste society— had declined considerably. Even accidental contact with an
untouchable by a high-caste person was a source o f great pollution and re­
quired ritual ablutions, a custom which mystified the Chinese Buddhist pil­
grim Hsiian Tsang when he visited India in the early seventh century. The
untouchables lived on the outskirts o f towns and villages and theirs were the
lowlier and unclean occupations such as scavenging, keeping the cremation
grounds clean, and making leather goods. The village or the town itself, gener­
ally enclosed by a wall, was divided into sectors, each occupational group
living and working iu a particular area. Undoubtedly the finest parts o f the
town were those in which the main temple or the royal palace was situated
and the residential area o f the wealthy merchants, landowners, and courtiers.
Fa-hsien, who was in India between a . d . 400 and 411, was favourably im­
pressed by the prosperity o f the people, more particularly the town-dwellers,
an impression which is borne out by archaeological evidence.
One o f the most interesting o f the documents throwing light on the social
mores o f the well-to-do citizens is the Kâmasùtra. Better known as a manual
011 the art o f love, it incidentally also depicts the young dilettante in his daily
routine: a life given over to a certain relaxed com fort; devoted to poetry,
music, painting, and sculpture; and embellished with flowers, delicate per­
fumes, well-seasoned food, and other refinements o f gracious living. A n even
more graphic documentation o f life in the Gupta age is available from the vast
number o f terracotta figurines and models o f this period, ranging from toys
and representations o f ladies and gentlemen o f fashion, to cult images relat­
ing to the more popular manifestations o f religion.
The supremacy o f G upta power in northern India did not remain un­
challenged. The challenge came from the unexpected invasion o f north­
western India by a distinctly barbaric people, the Hftnas. T he name is etymo-
logicalfy related to the late classical Hunni or Huns, but they were probably
only remotely connected, if at all, with the barbarian hordes o f A ttila. The
threat was felt during the reign o f Chandra G upta’s son aud successor
Kum âra G upta ( a . d . 415-54) when a tribe o f Hünas, branching aw ay from the
main Central Asian hordes, had settled in Bactria, and gradually moved over
50 Aiokan India and the Gupta Age

the mountains into north-western India. Slow ly the trickles became streams
as the Hünas thrust further into India. The successor o f Kuraâra Gupta,
Skanda Gupta ( a .d . 454-67) had to bear the brunt o f the Hüna attacks, which
were by now regular invasions. G upta power weakened rapidly. By the early
sixth century the Hüna rulers Toram âna and M ihirakula claimed the Panjâb
and Kashm ir as part o f their kingdom.
Once again northern India experienced migrations o f people from Central
Asia and Iran, and a pattern o f readjustment followed. The com ing o f the
Hünas not only created political disorder but also put into motion new
currents whose momentum was felt for centuries to come. The migration o f
the Hünas and other Central Asian tribes accompanying them and their
settling in northern India resulted in displacements o f population. This dis­
turbance led in turn to changes in the caste structure, with the emergence o f
new sub-castes. The rise o f many small kingdoms was also due to the general
confusion prevalent during this period.
W ith the decline <jf the G uptas the northern half o f the subcontinent
splintered into warring kingdoms, each seeking to establish itself as a sove­
reign power. But, unlike the picture at the end o f the M auryan period,this
sovereignty was to be based on a distinct regionalism which, though blurred
and confused at first, achieved clarity in later centuries. The successors o f the
Guptas attempted to recreate an empire, but the political fabric was such that
an empire was no longer feasible, a possible exception being the Pratihara
kingdom in limited periods. T h e ability to.create large kingdoms and empires
moved south to the powers o f the peninsula— the kingdoms o f the Deccan and
the Tam il country. In the centuries that followed the G upta period it was in
the kingdoms o f the Châlukyas, Râshtrakütas, Pallavas, and Cholas that
Indian civilization showed its greatest vitality.
CH A PTE R VI

Medieval Hindu India

by A . L . B a s h a m

T he Gupta Empire broke up and disappeared. By the middle o f the sixth

century a line o f rulers with the same surname, but not connected in their
official genealogy with the imperial line, ruled in Bihâr and parts o f U ttar
Pradesh. The great emperors o f the fourth and fifth centuries were soon fo r­
gotten, with the exception o f Chandra G upta II, who was remembered by his
title Yikram àditya (in colloquial H indi R àjà Bikram ) and the palm y days o f
whose reign passed into folk tradition.
In the second h alf o f the sixth century a city on the U pper G anga, before its
confluence with the Jamunà, K ànyakubja (later known as K anauj), rose to
prominence as the capital o f the M aukhari kings. The city o f Sthànvîévara,
now Thânesar, in the watershed between the G anga and the Indus, became
the capital o f a rising fam ily of rulers descended from a certain Pushyabhüti.
Gujarat and M àlwâ were in the power o f the M aitraka D ynasty, founded by a
general o f the Guptas. In the D eccan the C hâlukya D ynasty was gaining in
strength, while in Tam ilnâdu the D ynasty o f the Pallavas was also enlarging
its boundaries.
This is the pattern o f Indian politics until the M uslim invasion. There were
generally five or six main focuses o f power throughout the subcontinent, with
numerous lesser kingdoms, sometimes independent, sometimes tributary to
one o f the greater rulers. Those corners o f the subcontinent with well-defined
natural frontiers, such as Kashm ir, N epal, Assam , Orissa, and K erala, were
less involved in the constant struggles for power, and their political life,
though also often marked by local conflict, was rarely m uch affected by the
constant strife in the great plains.
The usual system o f government bore some resemblance to the feudal system
o f medieval western Europe. As the previous chapter has shown, the M auryas
established a bureaucracy, and the Guptas revived some features o f M auryan
administration, though they allowed greater devolution o f power. A s the
Guptas declined, provincial governors, whose posts Were already often here­
ditary, took to calling themselves maharajas, and increasingly assumed the
status o f kings. The typical larger kingdom o f medieval times consisted o f an
area controlled directly from the capital city, and a number o f provinces under
hereditary sâmantas, a term loosely translated as ' vassal’ . T h e m ore powerful
sâmantas too k regal titles and had subordinate chiefs who paid them hom age
and tribute.
These quasi-feudal conditions were encouraged by the political values o f
the times and given religious sanction in the epics and law books. F rom the
days o f the later Vedas, when the tradition o f the horse-sacrifice (asvamedita)
began, warfare had been looked on as good in itself, the natural occupation o f
52 Medieval Hindu India

the kshatriya. A so k a ’s voice, raised in favour o f peace, had few echoes in

succeeding centuries. Y e t the traditional warfare o f the Hindu king was
mitigated by a chivalrous and humane ethical code, which discouraged such
ruthless aspects o f war as the sacking o f cities and the slaughter o f prisoners
and non-combatants. M oreover the kshatriya ethic was averse to the complete
annexation o f a conquered kingdom. T he righteous conqueror accepted the
homage o f the vanquished king, received tribuie, and replaced him on his
throne as a vassal. I f the conqueror ‘ violently uprooted’ his enemies, as
Samudra G upta had done, it was believed that he might suffer for his ruthless­
ness in future lives, or even in the present one. Thus Hindu political ideology
encouraged the ruler in his efforts at empire building, but did not make for
stable, long-lasting imperial systems.
Th e political history o f India between the end o f the G upta Empire and the
com ing o f the Muslim? can be traced in some detail from thousands o fin -
scriptions which contain the genealogies and brief accounts o f the reigns o f
kings, and in the panegyrics which form the preambles to records o f land-
grants, m ostly to religious bodies— temples, monasteries, or groups o f learned
brahmans. The piecing together o f history from such sources is a fascinating
intellectual exercise, and the specialist takes up his task with enthusiasm; but
the general reader m ay find the dynastic history o f early medieval India dull
in the extreme, and there is no need to do m ore than summarize it here.
A temporarily successful effort at empire building was made by Harsha or
Harshavardhana (606-47), o f the Pushyabhuti line o f Sthânvîsvara, who
gained control o f K ànyakubja and made it bis capital. H is reign is com par­
atively well documented, thanks to his court poet Bàna and the Chinese
pilgrim Hsiian Tsang. T he form er composed an account o f his rise to power,
The Career o f Harsha (Harshacharita), in ornate poetic prose, while the latter
left a lengthy account o f his travels, Records o f Western Countries (Hsi-yu chi),
which tells us much about Harsha and the general condition o f India at the
time. Harsha appears to have governed his empire according to the system
which was by now traditional, through vassal kings and henchmen, resem­
bling the barons o f medieval Europe, who might hold high offices at court or
act as district or provincial governors, but who were also great landowners,
and were virtually kings in their own domains, Harsha succeeded in maintain­
ing their loyalty and holding his loose empire together through the strength o f
his personality and his untiring energy. When he died, apparently without
heirs, his empire died with him.
T he succeeding period is very obscure and badly documented, but it marks
the culm ination o f a process which had begun with the invasion o f the Hunas
iu the last years o f the G upta Empire. The sixth and seventh centuries saw the
rise o f many new dynasties, small and great, in the northern part o f the sub­
continent. F ew o f these ruling families are to be found mentioned in sources
from periods befdre the G uptas, and many o f their genealogies begin with
names w hich do not seem Sanskritic. These people appear to have been new­
comers. Som e o f them m ay have been related to the Hünas. A new people,
w ho began to make their presence felt towqrds the end o f the sixth century,
the G urjaras, gave their name to the present G ujarat and founded several im ­
portant ruling dynasties. Since place-names containing a similar element can
 Medieval Hindu India 53
be found as far to the north-west as Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is com m only
suggested that the Gurjaras entered India in the’ wake o f the Hünas. Their
name has been linked with that o f the ancient people o f the south Russian
steppes called K hazars, and with the Georgians (Gruz) o f the Caucasus. Other
obscure tribes o f Central Asians m ay also havq followed the Hünas, and
wilder peoples from outlying areas m ay have profited from the unsettled con­
ditions to gain political control o f im portant regions. In any case, new ruling
houses arose in the post-Gupta period and m any o f their names survive to the
present day as those o f the Ràjput clans.
• Tow ards the end o f the eighth century three o f the recently arisen dynasties
contended for K ânyakubja, by how the acknowledged metropolis o f northern
India. These were the Pâlas o f Bihâr and Bengal, the Râshtrakütas o f the
Deccan, and the Gurjara-Pratihàras, who controlled parts o f M àlw â and
Râjasthàn. The great city was for a time occupied by the Pàlas, whose
Buddhist king D harm apàla drove up the G anga valley and exacted tribute
from many kings o f the area. The Ràshtraküta G ovinda III, whose policy o f
raiding the north, continued by his successors, was tó have m any repercus­
sions, drove D harm apàla out, but was forced to return to his base owing to
trouble at home. The vacuum was filled, very early in the ninth century, by
N âgabhata II o f the Gurjara-Pratihàras,
For about a, hundred years the Gurjara-Pratihàras o f K ânyakubja restored
a.little o f the glory o f the earlier empires. U nder their greatest kings, M ihira
Bhoja (c. 836-90) and M ahendrapâla (c. 890-910), they received tribute from
rulers from G ujaràt to the borders o f Bengal, and Muslim travellers were
much impressed by the peacefulness and prosperity o f their quasi-feudal em­
pire. But their old enemies, the fierce Râshtrakütas from the D eccan, were
constantly worrying them, and in about 916 Kânyakubja was again tem por­
arily occupied by Indra III o f the Râshtrakütas, whose lightning raids provided
a foretaste o f the similar attacks o f the M arâthâs 800 years later.
Indra III soon returned to the south; but his effects were longer-lasting than
those o f previous Ràshtraküta raiders. Though the Pratihàras returned to their
capital, they were humiliated and weakened, and their vassals ceased to re­
spect them. W ithin a generation or two the greater Yassals had thrown aside
their allegiance, and were fighting with their form er masters and am ong them­
selves. It was in these circumstances that M ahm üd o f G hazni, in the early
years o f the eleventh century, carried out his seventeen raids on India; but
though tbe Turkish raiders ransacked and destroyed palaces and temples, and
returned to their headquarters in Afghanistan with immense caravans o f
riches and slaves, India resumed her traditional political ways as if nothing
had happened.
The Turks overwhelmed the Sâhl kingdom, which had controlled a large
area o f the north-west, from K âbu l to Lahore. The rulers o f this realm had
also been Turks, but T urks w ho had adopted Hindu traditions, and w ho
offered no serious threat to their neighbours to the east. The G haznavids also
conquered the Muslim kingdoms o f Sind, occupied by the Arabs early in the
eighth century, whose chiefs had long ceased to trouble the Hindu kingdoms
on their frontiers. Thus the Hindu states o f the G angetic basin and Râjasthàn
now had on their borders a young aggressive kingdom with new methods o f
54 Medieval Hindu India

warfare and with a religious ideology which might be expected to encourage

aggression.
The most remarkable feature o f the situation was that, as far as surviving
records show, nobody whatever in Hindu India recognized the menace o f the
Turks. T h e Ghaznavids made a few further raids, but these were far less im­
pressive than those o f M ahm ud. T h e T urks were soon torn by internal strife
and, though they continued to hold the Panjâb, it must have seemed to the
Hindu politicians o f the time that, like the Arabs before them, they w ould be
contained indefinitely. H aving no real historical tradition, the Indian memory
o f earlier conquerors coming from the north-west— Greeks, £>akas, Kushânas,
and Hünas— was so, vague that it was quite ineffectual as a warning to the
rulers o f the time.
In the involved situation arising from M ahm ud’s raids, five larger kingdoms
shared m ost o f northern India between them, the Chàham ânas (Chauhàns) o f
Râjasthân, the Gâhadavâlas (Gàhrwàls) o f K ànyakubja (Kanauj) and
VàrânasI (Banâras), the Chaulukyas or Solànkis o f G ujarat, the Paramâras
I (Parmârs) o f M àlw â, and the Chandellas (Chandels) o f Bundelkhand, to the
south o f the G anga. These dynasties bore names which are am ong the best-
known o f the thirty-six Rajput clans. Their kings had already acquired some­
thing o f the traditional R àjput character— gallant, extremely sensitive to
points o f honour, glorifying war, but war o f a gentlemanly kind, intensely de­
voted to tradition, and quite incapable o f serious co-operation one with an­
other. The Pâlas, w ho governed Bihar and Bengal, had been quite untouched
by M ahm ud’s invasions. Early in the twelfth century they were replaced by
the Sena D ynasty, which reversed the Pâlas’ traditional support o f Buddhism
and encouraged Hindu orthodoxy. They seem to have played little or no
part in the politics o f the western part o f India, where the five m ajor king­
doms and numerous lesser tributary realms fought honourably am ong the
themselves, basing their strategy and tactics on principles inherited from
epics.
In 1 173 G hazni was captured by Gbiyâs-ud-dîn, whose headquarters were
G hür in Afghanistan. From his new.capital Ghiyâs-ud-dln turned his atten­
tion to India. His brother, Muham m ad bin Sâm, occupied the Panjàb and de­
posed the last ruler o f the line ofM ah m ü d . Then in 1191 M uhammad bin Sâm
attacked Prithviràja, king o f the Chàhamânas, the Hindu ruler on his eastern
frontier. Prithviràja, fighting on his own ground with a larger army, defeated
M uham m ad atT aràin, and he retreated. In the following year, 1 192, M uham ­
mad came again with, stronger forces, and on the same field o f Taràin
Prithviràja lost the day,'and the G angâ valley was open to the invaders. Before
the century was over Turkish control was established along the whole length
o f the sacred river.
It is easy to suggest reasons w hy the Hindus were unable to resist the Turks,
and m any such suggestions have been put forward. In dealing with the ques­
tion it must be remembered that the invasion o f the T u rks was only one o f
numerous attacks through the north-western passes which took place in his­
torical times. The Aryans, by a process not fully known to us, gained control
o f the Panjâb from the decadent Harappans. The Acbaem enians o f Iran
occupied part at least o f the Indus valley ; Alexander’s troops reached the Beâs,
 Medieval Hindu India 55
biat were compelled to retreat; in the second century b .c , the G reeks from
Bactria occupied the Panjâb; they were followed in the next century by the
Sàkas or Scythians; in the first century a .d . cam e the Kushânas, and in the
fifth the Hünas. M ahraüd’s raids in the early eleventh century were precursors
o f the even stronger Turkish attacks o f M uham m ad bin Sâm , which led to the
protracted domination o f most o f India by M uslim rulers.
These were not by any means the last attacks from the north-west, however.
Soon after the Turkish occupation, M ongol hordes swept into India and
obcitpied much o f the territory west o f the Indus.- In 1398 Tim ür, the great
M ongol conqueror, sacked D elhi and raged through western India, causing
tremendous carnage and destruction. In 1526 Bâbur the M ughal defeated the
Afghan rulers o f Delhi and occupied the country. In 1555 his son, H um âyün,
reconquered it from his base in Afghanistan. D uring the eighteenth century
Persians and Afghans raided India in turn, both sacking D elhi before return­
ing'to their homelands.
' I f we examine all these conquests together it becomes clear that m any fre­
quently heard explanations o f the failure o f the defenders o f India to resist
invasion are facile generalizations, based on too few instances. Indian M uslim s
were hardly m ore successful at defending themselves against invasion than
Hindus, and the weakness o f Indian armies in these circumstances cannot
therefore be due to the fact that the pacific Hindu is essentially a less com petent
soldier than the M uslim . I f the hillmen o f Afghanistan and Iran and the n o­
mads o f Central A sia were tougher and stronger than the inhabitants o f the
sub-tropical riverine plains o f northern India, in all the battles the hillmen
Were greatly outnumbered b y the plainsmen and the latter should have made
up in numbers for what they lacked in individual stamina. M oreover there is
no evidence to show that the Hindu troops were essentially less courageous
than- the Muslims, though the form er were perhaps more prone to -take to
'flight when their leader was killed.
‘\r. Some modern Indian historians are inclined to blame the caste system for
% e Hindu débâcle, which, they suggest, was brought about by the fact that
.m ost Hindus were non-combatants, who felt no real sense o f national
patriotism but only loyalty to their caste brotherhoods. But Hindu armies
nev.er consisted only o f kshatriyas, and all classes, including brahmans, could
'take part in war. M oreover to deplore the fact that the Hindus did not adopt
à scorched-earth policy against their attackers is tantam ount to regretting
that they did not share the nationalist values o f the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. The same is probably true o f nearly every people o f the period
which we are considering.
In all the invasions which we have listed there seems to be at least one
c o m m on factor. The Indian armies were less mobile and m ore cum brous,
A rch aic in their equipment and outmoded in their strhtegy, when compared
' with those o f their attackers. The invaders generally had better horses and
better-trained cavalry. T hey were not burdened by enotraous bodies o f camp-
followers and supernumeraries, nor did they make use o f the fighting ele-
’ phant, the courage o f which in the face o f the enemy Was unpredictable, but
which Indian commanders, whether Hindu or M uslim , seem to have found
fatally fascinating. Often the invaders had new weapons which added greatly
56 Medieval Hindu India

to their effectiveness. The A ryans had the horse-drawn chariot, the Achae-
menians siege engines, Alexander ballislae. T he Central Asian nomads were
equipped with small composite bows, carried by mounted archers, w ho could
hit their m ark while they were in full gallop. Babur made effective use o f a
small park o f field guns. In fact one o f the main reasons for the repeated in­
eptitude o f Indian armies in the defence o f the natural frontiers o fln d ia was
their outdated aud ineffective m ilitary technique.
A n other im portant factor in the weak defence o fln d ia was the failure o f her
rulers to recognize the very existence o f the threat from the north-west. Where
this threat was recognized, the defence was more successful. T he three great
empires o f the M auryas, the Guptas, and the Mughals were able to maintain
their frontiers because they were united. Even the Hünas, who invaded India
towards the end o f the period o f the G upta Empire, were expelled in the end,
though the empire disintegrated in the process. T he great M ughals were well
aware o f the potential danger from the north-west and tried to maintain their
hold on K a b u l and K andahar, beyond the natural frontiers o fln d ia , in order
to keep out invaders. O nly when their empire was already disintegrating after
the death o f A urangzeb did the Iranians and Afghans mount their great raids
into M ughal territory. T h e early Turkish sultans managed to hold o ff the
M ongols because, though their henchmen were far from united and not
always loyal to their leaders, they were well aware o f the common danger and
too k w hat steps they could to ward it off.
T h e Hindu kings at the time o f the Turkish invasions were hopelessly
divided. W e have seen that, when Mahmud o f G hazni defeated the Sâhls o f the
north-west and occupied the Panjâb, no Hindu king seems to have been aware
o f the danger to the rest o fln d ia . When, nearly 200 years later, Muhammad
bin Sam threatened a further attack, the main kingdoms o f northern India
were in a state o f constant friction, frequently erupting into warfare, but
w arfare o f the inconclusive type traditional to Hinduism, which never pushed
a victory home and thus inhibited both the building up o f stable empires and
the establishment o f firm alliances. I f Prithvîrâja had some help from his
neighbours to the east, as certain M uslim accounts assert, it was half-hearted
and ineffectual. T h e same factors assisted the establishment o f the power o f
the E ast India C om pany in the eighteenth century, for as soon as the C om ­
pany began to take a part in Indian politics it learnt to profit from the dissen­
sions o f the Indian powers, playing one off' against another by a combination
o f bribes, promises, and threats.
Thus the Turkish conquest o f m ost o f India, like other conquests both
earlier and later, must chiefly be ascribed to the Indian political system and to
the intense conservatism o f the rulers o fln d ia , especially in m ilitary matters.
These factors were cancelled out in the internal warfare o f the subcontinent,
when foreign invasion was not involved, for in any such conflict both sides
were equally affected by them. When an army o f vigorous marauders appeared
on the north-west frontier, though outnumbered, it stood a very good chance
o f overrunning the plains, for the rulers o f India were generally at loggerheads
one with another, and their m ilitary methods were technically outdated in
com parison w ith those o f the attackers.
 Medieval Hindu India 57
T h e period from a .d . 550 to 1200 saw the rapid development o f Âryanized
culture in the peninsula. T w o main focuses o f power emerged, one in the
Deccan and the other in the Tam il plain, and their rulers contended constantly
and indecisively for mastery for more than 600 years. T he events o f this region
throw an interesting light on the w orkings o f the Hindu political system. For
instance in the D eccan the Châlukya D ynasty held power from the middle o f
the sixth to the middle o f the eighth century. A sudden revolt by an important
vassal, D antidurga o f the line o f the Râshtrakûtas, brought about the over­
throw o f the Châlukyas. T hey were not completely eradicated, however, but
were allowed to continue as the Râshtrakûtas’ vassals. Thus the Châlukyas
persisted for 200 years, until in the tenth century the Râshtrakûtas grew weak.
Then the Châlukyas seized their chance and regained supremacy, only for
their empire to be partitioned am ong three o f their own vassals after a further
200 years.
T h e first great dynasty to contol the Tam il plain was that o f the Pallavas,
whose rulers introduced many features o f northern civilization into the south.
Between the Pallavas and the Châlukyas were several minor kingdom s, usually
tributary to one o f the greater powers, but always ready to becom e indepen­
dent whenever they found an opportunity. Am ong these the K adam bas are
worth mentioning because o f their origin. The line was founded in the fourth
century by a young brâhm an, M ayûraéarman, who gave up his studies and
became leader o f a troop o f bandits, and levied protection money from villages
in the hilly western part o f the Pallava kingdom . In tbe end the Pallava'king
recognized M ayûraéarm an as a vassal; he established his capital at Vanavàsï
in M ysore and his descendants were classed as kshatriyas, though they re­
membered their brâhman ancestry with pride.
In the ninth century the Pallavas gave way to the Cholas, w ho claimed de­
scent from the early Tam il kings o f the same surname who had disappeared
from history over 500 years earlier. T h e Cholas are noteworthy fo r their
patronage o f art and architecture— splendid temples with majestic towers and
fine sculpture, especially in bronze, were produced during their rule. T o some
extent they revived the tradition o f bureaucracy, and developed a more
centralized form o f government than that o f most other Indian kingdoms,
finding a place in the system for village councils, usually chosen by lot, the
records o f whose deliberations are still to be seen engraved on the walls o f
village temples in various parts o f Tamilnâdu.
T h e Cholas are also noteworthy as the one dynasty o f India which, i f only
for a while, adopted a maritime policy, expanding their power by sea. Under
the great C hola emperors Râjarâja I (985-1014) and Ràjendra I (1012-44),
first Ceylon was conquered and then the whole eastern seaboard o f India as
far as the G angâ. Finally, under Ràjendra, a great naval expedition sailed
across the B ay o f Bengal and occupied strategic points in Sum atra, M alaya,
and Burma. This C hola maritime empire, the only certain instance o f Indian
overseas expansion by force o f arms, was not an enduring one. Later Chola
rulers became once more involved in the endemic wars with the Châlukyas
and lost interest in their overseas possessions. W ithin fifty years o f the ex­
pedition all the C hola troops had been withdrawn to the mainland. Later the
Cholas weakened, and were replaced as the dominant power in Tam ilnâdu by
 58 Medieval Hindu India

the Pândyas, whose capital was the sacred city o f Madurai, in the extreme
south.
T h e whole o f the peninsula was shaken to its foundations by the invasions
o f the troops o f Sultan ‘A la V d - D m K h alji o f D elhi (1296-1316), led by his
general M alik K âfu r. A s a result the D eccan came under Muslim domination
fo r 400 years, but the south remained under Hindu control, after a brief inter­
lude when a short-lived Muslim sultanate ruled from M adurai. The hegemony
o f the D ravidian south fell to the Empire o f Vijayanagara, founded in 1336
and surviving until 1565, when its forces were defeated by a coalition o f
D eccan sultans. This Was the last o f the great empires on the old Hindu model,
and by the time o f its fall the Portuguese were already controlling the seas
around India.
The long period whose history we have outlined above is sometimes thought
1 o f as one o f decline, when compared with the stable and urbane days o f the
Guptas. This judgement is true in som e particulars. The literature o f the
period, though it includes many im portant works, has nothing as near per­
fection as the main works o f Kâlidâsa. There is much excellent sculpture from
this period, but nothing as fine as the best G upta productions. Y e t in archi­
tecture there was an immense advance over G upta times, and, only a century
or two before the Muslims occupied northern India, there arose such splendid
temples as those at Khajurâho, Bhubaneswar, Kânchïpuram , and Thanjavflr,
am ong m any others.
In the religious life o f ìndia, after the G upta period, the greatest vitality
seems to have been found in the peninsula. Here certain south Indian brah­
mans developed Hindu philosophy and theology as never before, and, basing
their work on the Upanishads, the Bhagaoad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras, pro­
duced commentaries o f great length and subtlety, to defend their own syste­
m atic interpretations o f the texts. C h ief o f these was Sankaràchârya, a
K eralan brahman o f the ninth century, w ho has with some justification been
called the St. Thom as Aquinas o f Hinduism. Sankaràchârya was only one o f
many teachers nearly as great as he, such as Râm ânuja (died 1x37) and
M adhva w ho founded sub-sects o f the Vedanta philosophical
school. '
Perhaps even more important was the grow th o f simple popular devotional-
ism (bhakti), which began am ong the Tam ils near the beginning o f this period
with the production o f the beautiful Tam il hymns o f the Nâyanârs and Àlvârs.
Other products o f the same m ovem ent were the Sanskrit Bhâgavata Purâna,
which, composed in the Tam il country, soon spread all over India and was
later translated into thè everyday languages, to diffuse the cult o f Krishna as
the divine Ióver. B efofe the M uslim conquest o f the D eccan this movement
had begun to spread northwards, and left its traces in the earliest im portant
M arathi literature, subh as the Jnâneivart o f Jnâneivar,
M eanwhile Buddhisfn steadily lost ground, though it was still very much
alive in Bengal and Bihàr when the Muslims occupied these regions. Both
Buddhism and Hinduism had becom e affected by w hat is generally known as
Tantricism or Tantrism, emphasizing the worship o f goddesses, especially the
M other Goddess, the Spouse o f Siva, know n by many names. W ith this came
sexual mysticism, and the sacramentalization o f the sexual act, which was
 Medieval Hindu India 59

performed ritually by circles o f initiates. Other socio-religious practices,

looked on as reprehensible by most modern Hindus, became more com m on in
this period. A m ong these were the burning o f widows on their husbands’
funeral pyres, wrongly called sa li (suttee), child marriage, animal sacrifice,
female infanticide, and the religious prostitution o f the deoadâsi. One feels
that there was a definite lowering in the value o f human life in. comparison
w ith the days o f the Guptas, when, according to Chinese accounts, even the
death penalty was not inflicted.
When the Turkish horsemen swept through the G anga plain, Hindu cul­
ture was tending to lo o k inwards and backwards— inwards to the private life
o f the spirit and backwards to the hallowed norms o f the distant past. In
many respects the legacy o f this period to later times was a negative one. Yet,
in the spiring temples built during this period all over India, the age endowed
posterity with monuments o f enduring splendour and beauty. The parallel
w ith the medieval period in western Christendom is a close one. Here too
there was in some respects a cultural decline, in com parison with the days o f
the great empire destroyed by the barbarians. But in this time new forms o f
religious literature and art appeared^ as well as glorious monuments to faith
such as the older empire could never have built.
C H A P T E R V II

Hinduism
by S. R a d h a k r j s h n a n

PRBFACE BY THE EDITOR

Thb eloquent and m oving contribution which follows is the w ork o f one o f
the great minds o f modern India, who has been President o f the Indian Re­
public and w ho now (1972) lives in honourable retirement, as one o f the
most venerated o f India’s grand old men. It was written for the original edi­
tion o f The Legacy o f India when its author was a professor o f Calcutta
University, and had already made a name for himself as an expositor o f Indian
thought to the W est, a task which he was to continue as Spalding Professor o f
Eastern Religions at the University o f Oxford.
The character o f this chapter is more personal than that o f m ost o f the
other contributions to our volume, but it is no less valuable fo r that. A s the
record o f the faith o f a sensitive, highly intelligent Hindu o f the early twentieth
century, it introduces the reader to those aspects o f India’s ancient religion
which have moulded his life and thougbt*£There are, however, a number o f
aspects o f the subject which are still very important in the life o f India, but are
little touched on by the author, w ho would him self agree that Hinduism has
something for everyone, on all levels o f culture. For this reason we have added
a b rief postscript to the chapter.

THE S P IR IT OF H IN D U ISM

I f w e lo o k at the various and sometimes conflicting creeds which it

contains, w e m ay wonder whether Hinduism is not just a name which covers
a multitude o f different faiths, but when we turn our attention to the spiritual
life, devotion, and endeavour which lie behind the creeds, we realize the unity,
the indefinable self-identity, which, however, is by no means static or absolute.
Throughout the history o f Hindu civilization there has been a certain inspir­
ing ideal, a certain m otive power, a certain way o f looking at life, which can­
not be identified with any stage or cross-section o f the process. The whole
movement and life o f the institution, its entire history, is necessary in order to
disclose to us this idea, and it cannot therefore be expressed in a simple
form ula. It requires centuries for ideas to utter themselves, and at any stage
the institution has always an element that is yet to be expressed. N o idea is
fully expressed at any one point o f its historical unfolding.
W hat is this Idea o f Hinduism, this continuous element that runs through
all its stages from the earliest to the latest, from the lowest to the highest, this
fundamental spirit which is m ore fully and richly expressed in .the highest
though it is present in the very lowest 7 L ife is present in ever)' stage o f a plant’s
growth and it is always the same life, though it is more fully expressed in the
developed tree than in the first push o f the tender blade. In the Hindu religion
 Hinduism 6i

there must be a com m on element that makes every stage and every movement
an expression o f the religion. T h e different phases and stages have proper
content and meaning only in so far as this common element exists. W ith the
perception o f the unity which runs through error and failure up the long
ascent towards the ideal, the whole achievement o f Hinduism falls into co­
herent perspective. It is this essential spirit that any account o f Hinduism
would seek to express, the spirit that its institutions imperfectly set forth, the
spirit that we need to develop more adequately and richly before a better age
and civilization can be achieved.

H ISTORICAL OUTLINB

The spirit is not a dead abstraction but a living force. Because it is active
and dynamic the Hindu civilization has endured so long and proved so cap­
able o f adaptation to the growing com plexity o f life. The great river o f Hindu
life, usually serene but not without its rapids, reaches back so Far that only a
long view can do justice to its nature. From prehistoric times influences have
been at work m oulding the faith. A s a result o f the excavations in H arappa
and M ohenjo-dàro we have evidence o f the presence in India o f a highly de­
veloped culture that ‘ must have had a long antecedent history on the soil o f
India, taking us back to an age that can only be dimly surm ised’ .1 In age and
achievement the Indus valley civilization is com parable to that o f E gypt or
Sumeria. The noteworthy feature o f this civilization is its continuity, not as a
political power but as a cultural influence. T he religion o f the Indus people is
hardly distinguishable, according to Sir John M arshall, from ‘ that aspect o f
Hinduism which is bound up with animism and the cults o f Si va and the M other
G oddess’.2 These latter do not seem to be indigenous to the V ed ic religion.
Though the 3 akti cult was later accepted by the Vedic people, their original
opposition to it is not altogether suppressed. T o the sacrifice o f D aksha, all
the Vedic deities are said to have been invited except Siva, who soon gained
authority as the successor o f the Vedic Rudra. Even so late as the Bhâgavata
Parana the opposition to Siva-worship is present. ‘ Those who worship Siva
and those w ho follow them are the opponents o f holy scriptures and m ay be
ranked with pâshandins. Let the feeble-minded who, with matted locks, ashes,
and bones, have lost their purity, be initiated into the worship o f Siva in which
wine and brewage are regarded as gods.’ 3
It is a matter for conjecture whether the Indus people had any relation to
the Dravidians. N or can we say whether the Dravidians were natives o f the
soil or came from outside. Besides the A ryans and the Dravidians there was
also a flat-nosed, black-skinned people w ho were com m only known as dâsas.
The religion, in the first literary records that have come down to us, is that o f
the Aryans, though it was much influenced by the Indus people, the D ravid ­
ians, and the aborigines. T h e simple hymns o f the Rig-Veda reveal to us an

1 Sir John Marshall, Mohenjo-Dâro and the Indus Civilization, 1931, V ol. I, p. 106.
1 Ibid. Vol. I, p. viii.
1 BhâgavataPuràna, iv. 2. In the Padma Parana, pâshandins are said to be 'those who wear
skulls, ashes, and bones, the symbols contrary to the Vedas, put on matted locks and the
barks o f trees, even without entering into the third order o f life and engage ip rites which are
not sanctioned by the Vcdas’. Uttara-khanda, Ch. 235.
 62 Hinduism

age when Pan was still alive, when the trees in the forest could speak and the
waters o f the river could sing and man could listen and understand. The spells
and the cLarms to be found in part o f the tenth book o f the Rig-Veda and in
m ost o f the Atharva- Veda suggest a type o f religious practice based on fear and
associated with the spirits o f the dark. A religious synthesis o f the different
views and practices on the basis o f m onistic idealism is set forth in the early
Upanishads. Soon after, a com posite culture, springing from a union o f Greek
w ith Persian and Bactrian influences, dominated north-western India. Success­
ive descents o f M uslim conquerors from about a .d . io o o affected Hindu life
and thought. The Pars! fugitives who were expelled from Persia by Muslim
invaders found a welcome shelter in India. St. Thom as brought the Christian
faith from Syria to south India and for over a thousand years this remained the
only Christian centre o f influence. In the sixteenth century St. Francis Xavier
introduced Latin Christianity. The modern Christian missionary movement
started over a centuty ago. Tire cultural invasion o f the West has been vigor­
ous, thanks to its political superiority and industrial efficiency.
Jainism, Buddhisni, and Sikhism are creations o f the Indian mind and may
be interpreted as réform movements from within the fold o f Hinduism put
forth to meet the special demands o f the various stages o f the Hindu faith.
Zoroastrianism , Islam, and Christianity have been so long in the country that
they have become native to the soil and are deeply influenced by the atm o­
sphere o f Hinduism.
India was a thorough ‘ m elting-pot’ long before the term was invented for
Am erica. In spite o f attacks, Hellenic, Muslim, and European am ong others,
Hindu culture has maintained its tradition unbroken to the present day. The
spiritual life o f the Hindus at the present time has not precisely the same pro­
portion or orientation as that o f either the Indus people or the V ed ic Aryans
or even the great teachers, Sankara and Ràm ânuja. Its changes in emphasis
reflect individual temperaments, social conditions, and the changing intel­
lectual environment, but the same persistent idea reappears in different forms.
Hinduism grows in the proper sense o f the word, not by accretion, but like
an organism, undergoing from time to time transformation as a whole. It
has carried within it much o f its early possessions. It has cast aside a good deal
and often it has found treasures which it has made its own. T h e history o f
Hinduism is chequered by tragic failures and wonderful victories, by oppor­
tunities missed and taken. N ew truth has been denied and persecuted occa­
sionally. T h e unity of'its body, realized at the cost o f centuries o f effort and
labour, now and then came near being shattered by self-seeking and ignorance.
Y e t the religion itself Is not destroyed. It is alive and vigorous and has with­
stood attacks from within and without. It seems to be possessed o f unlimited
powers o f renewal. Its historic vitality, the abounding energy which it reveals,
would alone be evidence o f its spiritual genius.

U N IV E R S A L IT Y

In its great days Hinduism was inspired to carry its idea across the frontiers
o fln d ia and impose it on the civilized world. Its memory has becom e a part o f
the A siatic consciousness, tinging its outlook on life. T oday it is a vital eie-
 Hinduism 63

ment in world thought and offers the necessary corrective to the predomin-
qnlly.rationalistic pragmatism o f the W est. It has therefore universal value.
. £ T h e vision o f India, like that o f G reece, is Indian only in the sense that it
was formulated by minds belonging to the Indian soil. T he value o f that vision
:does not reside in any tribal or provincial characteristics, but in those ele­
m ents o f universality which appeal to the w hole world. W hat can be re­
cognized as peculiarly Indian is not the universal truth which is present in it,
but;the elements o f weakness and prejudice, w hich even some o f the greatest
p fjn d ia n s have in com m on with their weaker brethren,

WE
R.BLÌGION AS E X P B R I E N C B

•§plinduism represents a development from the beliefs and practices o f the

Indus; valley civilization to the com plex o f changing aspirations and habits,
speculations and forms w hich are in vogue today. There are, however, certain
governing conceptions, controlling ideas, deep dynam ic links which bind to­
gether the different stages and movements. The unity o f Hinduism is not one
o f an unchanging creed or a fixed deposit o f doctrine, but is the unity o f a
continuously changing life. In this essay we can only deal w ith the general
drifbof the current o f Hindu religion as a whole, not with the many confusing
cross-currents and sects.
Religion for the Hindu is experience or attitude o f mind. It is not an idea
but a power, not an intellectual proposition but a life conviction. Religion is
consciousness o f ultimate reality, not a theory about G od. T he religious
genius is n ot a pedant or a pandit, not a sophist or a dialectician, but a p ro­
phet, sage, or a rishi w ho embodies in him self the spiritual vision. W hen the
soul goes inward into itself it draws near its own divine root and becomes
pervaded by the radiance o f another nature. T h e aim o f all religion is the
practical realization o f the highest truth. It is intuition o f reality (brahmânu-
bhdva), insight into truth (brahmadarsana), contact with the supreme (brahma-
sqmsparsa), direct apprehension o f reality (brahmasâkshâtkâra).
•sflln emphasizing the experiential as distinct from the dogm atic or credal
character o f religion, Hinduism seems to be m ore adequate than other reli­
gions to the history o f religion as well as to the contem porary religious situa­
tion. Buddhism in its original form did not avow any theistic belief. Confucius,
like Buddha, discouraged his disciples from occupying their minds w ith
speculations about the D ivine Being or the Unseen W orld. There are systems
o f Hindu thought, like the Sânkhya and the Pürva, M im âm sâ, which, in
some o f their characteristic phases, cultivate a spirit and attitude to w hich
it would be difficult to deny the name o f religion, eveh though they m ay not
accept any b elief in G od or gods superior to oneself. They adopt other
methods for achieving salvation from sin and sorrow and do not look to G od
as the source o f their saving. W e cannot deny to Spinoza the religious spirit
simply because he did not admit any reciprocal com m union between the
divine and the human spirits. W e have instances o f religious fervour and
seriousness without a corresponding b elief in any being describable as G o d .
Again, it is possible for us to believe in G od and yet be w ithout any religious
sense. W e may regard the proofs for the existence o f G od as irrefutable and
64 Hinduism

yet m ay not possess the feelings and attitude associated with religion. Reli­
gion is not so much a matter o f theoretical knowledge as o f life and practice.
When K a n t attacked the traditional proofs o f G o d ’s existence, and asserted
at the same time his faith in G o d as a postulate o f m oral consciousness, he
brought out the essentially non-theoretical character o f life in G od. It follows
that the reality o f G od is not based on abstract arguments or scholastic proofs,
but is derived from the specifically religious experience which alone gives
peculiar significance to the word ‘ G od M an becomes aware o f G od through
experience. R ational arguments establish religious faith only when they are
interpreted in the light o f that religious experience. T he arguments do not
reveal G od to us but are helpful in rem oving obstacles to the acceptance by
our minds o f a revelation mediated by that capacity for the apprehension o f
the D ivin e which is a normal feature o f our humanity.'' Those who have de­
veloped this centre through which all the threads o f the universe are drawn
are the religious geniuses. T he high vision o f those who have penetrated into
the depths o f being, their sense o f the D ivine in all their exaltation o f feeling
and enrichment o f personality, have been the'sourcc o f all the noblest w ork in
the w orld. From Moses to Isaiah, from Jesus and Paul on to Augustine,
Luther, and W esley, from Socrates and Plato to Plotinus and Philo, from
Zoroaster to Buddha, from Confucius to M ahom et, the men w ho initiated
new currents o f life, the creative personalities, are those w ho have known G od
by acquaintance and not by hearsay.

THE VEDAS

W hat is final is the religious experience itself, though its expressions change
if they are to be relevant to the growing conteht o f knowledge. T h e experience
is what is felt by the individual in his deepest being, w hat is seen by him
(drishli) or heard (sruti) and this is valid fo r all time. T he Veda is seen or
heard, not made by its human authors. It is spiritual discovery, not creation.
T h e w ay to wjsdom is not through intellectual activity. From the beginning,
India believed in the superiority o f intuition or the method o f direct percep­
tion o f the super-sensible to intellectual reasoning. T h e V edic rishis were the
first who ever burst into that silent sea o f ultimate being and their utterances
about what they saw and heard there are found registered in the Vedas.
N aturally they attribute the authorship o f the Vedas to a superior spirit.
M odern psychology admits that the higher achievements o f men depend in
the last analysis on processes that are beyond and deeper than the limits o f the
norm al consciousness. Socrates speaks o f the ‘ d aim ôn ’ which a cts'a s the
censor on and speaks through him. Plato regards inspiration as an act o f a
goddess. Ideas are showered on Philo from above, though he is oblivious o f
everything around him. G eorge Eliot tells us that she wrote her best w ork in a
kind o f frenzy almost w ithout know ing w hat she was writing. A ccording to
Em erson, all poetry is first written in the heavens. It is conceived by a self
deeper than appears in normal life. The prophet, when he begins his message
‘ Thus saith the L o rd ’, is giving utterance to his consciousness that the
message is not his own, that it comes from a wider and deeper level o f life and
from a source outside his'lim ited self. Since we cannot compel these excep-
4 See Clement W ebb, Religion and Theism ', 1934, p. 36.
 Hinduism 65
tional moments to occur, all inspiration bas something o f revelation in it. In­
stead o f considering creative work to be due to processes which take place
unwittingly, as some psychologists imagine, the Hindu thinkers affirm that the
creative deeds, the inspiration o f the poets, the vision o f the artist, and the
genius o f the man o f science are in reality the utterance o f the Eternal through
man. In those rare moments man is in touch with a wider world and is swayed
by an oversoul that is above his own. T h e seers feel that their experiences are
unmediated direct disclosures from the wholly other and regard them as
supernatural, as not discovered by man’s own activity (akartrika, apauru-
slieya). T hey feel that they come to them from God,* though even G od is said
to be not their author but their form ulator. In the last analysis the Vedas are
without any personal author.6 Since they are not due to personal activity they
are not subject to unlimited revision and restatement but possess in a sense
the character o f finality (nityatva).
W hile scientific knowledge soon becomes obsolete, intuitive wisdom has a
permanent value. Inspired poetry and religious scriptures have a certain time­
lessness or universality which intellectual works do not share. W hile Aristotle’s
biology is no longer true, the drama o f Euripides is still beautiful. W hile
Vaiseshika atomism is obsolete, K àlid âsa’s êakuntalâ is unsurpassed in its
own line.
There is a com m unity and continuity o f life between man in bis deepest self
and G od. In ethical creativity and religious experience man draws on this
source, or rather the source o f power is expressing itself through him. In
Tennyson's fine figure the sluices are opened and the great ocean o f pow er
flows in. It is the spirit in man that is responding to the spirit in the universe,
the deep calling unto the deep.
i The Vedas are more a record than an interpretation o f religious experience.
While their authority is final, that o f the expression and the interpretations o f
the religious experience is by no means final. T h e latter a iesa id to be sturiti or
the remembered testimonies o f great souls. These interpretations are bound to
change if they are to be relevant to the growing content o f knowledge. Facts
alone stand firm, judgements waver and change. Facts can be expressed in the
dialect o f the age. The relation between the vision and its expression, the fact
and its interpretation, is very close. It is more like the body and the skin than
the body and its clothes. W hen the vision is to be reinterpreted, what is needed
is not a mere verbal change but a réadaptation to new habits o f mind. W e have
evidence to show that the Vedas meant slightly different things to successive
generations o f believers. On the fundamental, metaphysical, and religious
issues the different commentators, Sankara, Ràm ânuja, and M adhva, offer
different interpretations. T o ascribe finality to a spiritual movement is to
bring it to a standstill. T o stand still is to fall back. There is not and there
cannot be any finality in interpretation.

AUTHORITY, LOGIC, AND LIFE

Insight into reality, which is the goal o f the religious quest, is earned by in­
tellectual and m oral discipline. Three stages are generally distinguished, a
* Rig-Veda, x. 90.9; Brihadâranyaka Upanishad, ii. 4. 10.
4 P u r u s h â b h â v â t . . . ni s ht hâ, Mlmâmsâ-nyâya-prakSia, 6.
 66 Hinduism

tradition which we have to learn (iravana), an intellectual training through

which we have to pass (manana), and an ethical discipline we have to undergo
(nîdidhyàsana).1
T o begin with, wc arc all learners. W e take our views on the authority o f a
tradition which we have done nothing to create but which we have only to
accept in the first instance. In every department, art or m orality, science or
social life, we are taught the first principles and are not encouraged to exercise
our private judgement. Religion is not an exception to this rule. Religious
scriptures are said to have a right to our acceptance.
The second step is logical reflection or manana. T o understand the sacred
tradition we should use our intelligence. ‘ Verily, when the sages or rishis were
passing away, men inquired o f the gods, “ w ho shall be our rish il” T hey gave
them the science o f reasoning for constructing the sense o f the hym ns.’ 8
Criticism helps the discovery o f truth and, i f it destroys anything, it is only
illusions that are bred by piety that are destroyed by it. Sruti and Smriti, ex­
perience and interpretation, scripture and logic, are the two wings given to the
human soul to reach the truth. W hile the Hindu view permits us to criticize
the tradition, we should do so only from within. It can be remoulded and im ­
proved only by those who accept it and use it in their lives. O ur great re­
formers, our eminently original thinkers like Sankara and Râm ânuja, are
rebels against tradition; but their convictions, as they themselves admit, are
also revivals o f tradition. W hile the Hindus are hostile to those w ho revile
their tradition and repudiate it altogether, and condemn them as avaidilca or
nâstika, they are hospitable to all those who accept the tradition, however
critical they may be o f it.
The authoritativeness o f the Veda does not preclude critical examination o f
matters dealt with in it. T he Hindus believe that the truths o f revelation are
justifiable to reason. Our convictions are valuable only when they are the re­
sults o f our personal efforts to understand. The accepted’ tradition becomes
reasoned truth. I f the truths ascertained by inquiry conflict with the state-
l ments found in the scriptures, the latter must be explained in a w ay agreeable
to truth. N o scriptures can compel us to believe falsehoods. ‘ A thousand
scriptures verily cannot convert a jar into a cloth.’ W e have much in the Vedas
which is a product not o f m an’s highest wisdom but o f his wayward fancy( I f
we remember that revelation precedes its record, we will realize that the Veda
m ay not be an accurate embodiment o f the former. It has in it a good deal o f
inference and interpretation mixed up with intuition and experience. Insistence
on. Vedic authority is not an encouragement o f credulity or an enslaving sub­
jection to scriptural texts. It does not justify the conditions under which de­
grading religious despotisms grew up later.
T h e Vedic testimony, the logical truth, must become for us the present fact.
W e must recapture something o f that energy o f soul o f which the Vedas are
the creation by letting the thoughts and emotions o f that still living past
vibrate in our spirits. B y nididhyâsana or contemplative meditation, ethical
discipline, the truth is built into the substance o f our life. W hat we accept on
authority and test by logic is now proved by its power to sustain a definite and

7 Vivarana-prameya-samgraha, p. i. * Nirukta-pariilshta, xaJ. ii.

 Hinduism

unique type o f life o f supreme value. Thought completes itself in life and we
thrill again with the creative experience o f the first days o f the founders o f the
religion.

GOD
I f religion is experience, what is it that we experience? W hat is the nature o f
reality? In our knowledge o f G od, contact with the ultimate reality through
religious experience plays the'same part which contact with nature through
sense perception plays in our knowledge o f nature. In both we have a sense o f
the other, the trans-subjective, which controls our apprehension. It- is so
utterly given to us and not made by us. W e build the concept o f reality from
the data o f religious experience, even as we build the order o f nature from the
immediate data o f sense.
In the long and diversified history o f man's quest for reality represented by
Hinduism, the object which haunts the human soul as a presence at once all­
embracing and infinite is envisaged in many different ways. T he Hindus are
said to adopt polytheism, monotheism, and pantheism as well as b elief in
demons, heroes, and ancestors. It is easy to find texts in support o f'ea ch o f
these views. The cults o f Siva and Sakti may have come down from the Indus
people. W orship o f trees, animals and rivers, and other cults associated with
fertility ritual, m ay have had the same origin, while the d ark powers o f the
underworld, who are dreaded and propitiated, m ay be due to aboriginal
sources. T h e V ed ic A ryans contributed the higher gods com parable to the
Olympians o f the Greeks, like the Sky and the Earth, the Sun and the Fire.
The Hindu religion deals with these different lines o f thought and fuses them
into a whole by means o f its philosophical synthesis. A religion is judged by
what it tends towards. Those who note the facts and miss the truth are unfair
to the Hindu attempt.
T h e reality we experience cannot be fully expressed in terms o f logic and
language. It defies all description. The seer is as certain o f the objective reality
he apprehends as he is o f the inadequacy o f thought to express it. A G o d com ­
prehended ismo G od , but an artificial construction o f our minds. Individuality,
whether human er divfne,. can only be accepted as given fact and not de­
scribed. It is not wholly transparent to logic. It is inexhaustible by analysis."
Its inexhaustibility is the p ro o f o f objectivity. H ow ever far we m ay carry our
logical analysis, the given object in all its uniqueness is there, constituting a
limit to our analysis. O ur thinking is controlled by something beyond itself
which is perception in physical science and the intuition o f G o d in the science
o f religion. The eternal being o f G od cannot be described by categories. A n
attitude o f reticence is adopted regarding the question o f the nature o f the
Supreme. Those who know it tell it not; those whd tell it know it not. T he
Kena Upanishadsays: ‘ The eye does not go thither, nor speech nor mind. W e
do not know , we do not understand how one can teach it. It is different from
the known, it is also above the unknow n.’ 10 Sankard quotes a V edic passage
where the teacher, tells the pupil the secret o f the self by keeping silent abou t it.
‘ Verily, I tell you, but you understand not, the self is silence.’ ” T h e deeper
* C f. Augustine’s statement that if one knows the object o f one’s belief, it cannot be G od
one knows. 10 i. 2-4. " Bhâshya on Brahma SSlra, iii. 2. 17.
68 Hinduism

experience is a ‘ w ordless’ doctrine. The sages declare that ‘ wonderful is the

man that can speak o f him, and wonderful is also the man that can under­
stand him .’ 11 Buddha maintained silence about the nature o f ultimate reality.
‘ Silent are the Tathâgatas. O, Blessed one.’ *-1 The Mâdhyamikas declare that
the truth is free from such descriptions as ‘ it is ’, ‘ it is not’ , ‘ b o th ’, and
‘ neither’ . N âgârjüna says that Buddha did not give any definition o f the ulti­
mate reality. ‘ N ow here and to nobody has ever anything been preached by
the B uddha.’ 14 A verse attributed to Sankara reads: ‘ It is wonderful that there
under the banyan tree the pupil is old while the teacher is young. T he ex­
planation o f the teacher is silence but the doubts o f the pupil are dispersed.’
This attitude is truer and nobler than that o f the theologians, w ho construct
elaborate mansions and show us round with the air o f G o d ’s own estate
agents.
W hen, however, attempts are made, to give expression to the ineffable
reality, negative descriptions are employed. T he real is the wholly other, the
utterly transcendent, the mysterious being which awakens in us a sense o f
awe and wonder, dread and desire. It not only fascinates us but produces a
sense o f abasement in us. W hatever is true o f empirical being is denied o f the
Real. 'T h e Âtm an can only be described by “ no, n o ” . It is incomprehensible
fo r 'it cannot be comprehended.’ *5 It is not in space or time; it is free from
causal necessity. It is above all conceptions and conceptional differentiations.
B ut on this account it is not to be confused with non-being.*6 It is being in a
m ore satisfying sense than empirical being. T he inadequacy o f intellectual
analysis is the outcom e o f the incom parable wealth o f intrinsic reality in the
supreme being. The eternal being is utterly beyond all personal limitation, is
beyond all forms though the sustainer o f all form s. A ll religious systems in
which m ankind has sought to confine the reality o f G od are inadequate. They
m ake o f G od an ‘ id o l’.
W hile the negative characteristics indicate the transcendent character o f the
real, there is a sense in which the real is also immanent. T h e very fact that we
are able to apprehend the real means that there is som ething in us capable o f
apprehending it. The deepest part o f our nature responds to the call o f the
reality. In spiritual life the law holds that only like can know like. W e can only
know w hat is akin to ourselves. A b ove and beyond our rational being lies
bidden the ultimate and highest part o f our nature. W hat the mystics call the
'b a s is ’ or ‘ grou n d ’ o f the soul is not satisfied by the transitory or the tem­
poral, b y the sensuous or the intellectual.17 N aturally, the power by which we
acquire the knowledge o f G od is not logical thought, but spirit, for spirit can
only be spiritually discerned. W hile the real is utterly transcendent to the
empirical individual, it is immanent in the ultimate part o f our nature. G od 's
revelation and m an’s contemplation are two aspects o f one and the same cx-
11 See Katha Up, i. 2. 7; also Dhagavad Gila, ii. 29. » Laiikâvalâra-sûlra,~î6,
Mâdhyamika-kârikâ, xv. 24. 15 Drihad-ùranyoka Up. Hi. 9, 26.
15 See Sankara's commentary on Chhândogya Upanishad, viii.
17 ‘ In us too, all that we call person and personal, indeed all that we can know or name in
ourselves at all is but one clement in the whole. Beneath it lies even in us, that wholly other
whose profundity impenetrable to any concept can yet be grasped in the numinous self­
feeling by one who has experience o f the deeper life.’ R udolf Otto, The Idea o f the Holy,
E.T., p. 36.
 Hinduism 69
perience. T h e Beyond is the Within. Brahman is Âtraan. He is the antarymnin,
the inner controller. H e is not only the incommunicable mystery standing for
ever in his own perfect light, bliss, and peace, but also is here in us, upholding,
sustaining us: ‘ W hoever worships G od as other than the self, thinking he is
one and I am another, knows not.’ 18 Religion arises out o f the experience o f
the human spirit which feels its kinship and continuity with the D ivine other.
A purely immanent deity cannot be an object o f worship and adoration; a
purely transcendent one does not allow o f any worship or adoration.
Hindu thinkers are not content with postulating a being unrelated to
humanity, who is merely the Beyond, so far as the empirical world is con­
cerned. F rom the beginnings o f H indu history, attempts are made to bring
G od closer to the needs o f man. T hough it is impossible to describe the ultim ­
ate reality, it is quite possible to indicate by means o f symbols aspects o f it,
though the sym bolic description is not a substitute for the experience o f G od.
W e are helpless in this m atter and therefore are obliged to substitute symbols
for substances, pictures for realities. W e adopt a sym bolic account when we
regard the ultimate reality as the highest person, as the supreme personality,
as the Father o f us all, ready to respond to the needs o f humanity. T he Rig-
Veda has it: ‘ A ll this is the person, that which is past and that w hich is
future.’ 1’ It is the matrix o f the entire being. The Vaishnava thinkers and the
Saiva Siddhântins make o f the Supreme, the fulfilment o f our nature. H e is
knowledge that will enlighten the ignorant, strength for the weak, m ercy for
the guilty, patience for the sufferer, com fort fo r the comfortless. Strictly
speaking, however, the Supreme is not this or that personal form but is the
being that is responsible for all that was, is, and shall be. His temple is every
world, every star that spins in the firmament. N o element can contain him for
he is all elements. Y o u r life and mine are enveloped by him . W orship is the
acknowledgement o f the magnificence o f this supreme reality.
W e have accounts o f the ultimate Reality as both Absolute and G od,
Brahman, and Isvara. Only those who accept the view o f the Supreme as
personality admit that the unsearchableness o f G od cannot be measured by
our feeble conceptions. They, confess that there is an overplus o f reality be­
yond the personal concept. T o the worshipper, the personal G od is the highest.
N o one can worship w hat is known as imperfect. Even the idol o f the idolater
stands for perfection, though he may toss it aside the moment he detects its
imperfection.
It is w rong to assume that the Supreme is cither the Absolute or G od. It is
both the Absolute and G od. The impersonal and the personal conceptions
are not to be regarded as rival claimants to the exclusive truth. T h ey are the
different ways in which the single comprehensive pattern reveals itself to the
spirit o f man. One and the same Being is conceived now as the object o f philo­
sophical inquiry or jnâna, now as an object o f devotion or upâsana. The
conception o f ultimate reality aud that o f a personal G od are reconciled in
religious experience, though the reconciliation cannot be easily effected in the
region o f thought. W e cannot help thinking o f the Supreme under the analogy
11 Brihad-uranyaka Upanishad, i. 4, to.
■’ The Supreme is 'a ll that which ever is, on all the world’ (Saream itfom yatkinca
jagatyâm Jogat. ISa Up. 1).
 70 Hinduism

o f self-consciousness and yet the Supreme is the absolutely simple, unchang­

ing, free, spiritual reality in which the soul finds its home, its rest, and its
completion.

HOSPITALITY OF THE H IN D U MIND

A religion that is based on the central truth o f a comprehensive universal

spirit cannot support an inflexible dogmatism. I t adopts an attitude o f tolera­
tion not as a matter o f policy or expediency but as a principle o f spiritual life.
Toleration is a duty, not a mere concession. In pursuance o f this duty Hindu­
ism has accepted within its fold alm ost all varieties o f belief and doctrine and
treated them as authentic expressions o f the spiritual endeavour, however
antithetic they may appear to be. Hinduism warns us that each o f us should be
modest enough to realize that we may perhaps be mistaken in our views and
what others hold with equal sincerity is not a matter for ridicule. I f we
believe that we have the whole mind o f G od we are tempted to assume that
any one who disagrees with us is wrong and ought to be silenced. The Hindu
shared Aristotle’s conviction that a view held strongly by many is not usually
a pure delusion. I f any view has ennobled and purified human life over a wide
range o f space, time, and circumstance, and is still doing the same for those
who assimilate its concept, it must em body a real apprehension o f the Supreme
Being. F o r Hinduism, though G od is formless, he yet informs and sustains
countless forms. He is1not small and partial, or remote and ineffable. H e is not
merely the G od o f Israel or o f Christendom but the crown and fulfilment o f
you and me, o f all men and all women, o f life and death, o f jo y and sorrow.
N o outward form can wholly contain the inward reality, though every form
1 brings out an aspect o f it.
In all religions, from the lowest to the highest, man is in contact with an in­
visible environment and attempts to express his view o f the D ivine by means
o f images. The animist o f the Atharoa- Veda, who believes that nature is full o f
spirits, is religious to the extent that he is convinced o f the D ivine presence
and interpenetration in the world and nature. The polytheist is right to the
extent that the Divine is to be treated on the analogy o f human consciousness
rather than any other empirical thing. T h e gods o f the Vedas resemble the
Supreme no more than shadows resemble the sun, but, even as the shadows
indicate where the sun is, the V edic deities point to the direction in which the
Supreme reality lies. A ll forms are directing their steps towards the one G od,
though along different paths. T h e real is one, though it is expressed in
different names, which are determined by climate, history, and temperament.
I f each one follows his. own path with sincerity and devotion he will surely
reach G od . Even inadequate views help their adherents to adapt themselves
more successfully to their environment, to order their experiences more satis­
factorily, and to act on. their environment more creatively. In the great crises
o f life, our differences lbok petty and unworthy. A ll o f us have the same urge
towards something o f .permanent worth, the same sense o f awe and fascina­
tion before the mystery that lies beyond and within the cosmos, the same pas­
sion for love and jo y , peace and fortitude. I f we judge the saving power o f
truth from its empirical effects we see that'every form o f worship and belief
 Hinduism 71
has a strange power which enables us to escape from our littleness and becom e
radiant with a happiness that is not o f this w orld, which transforms unhappy
dens into beautiful homes and converts men and women o f easy virtue and
little knowledge into suffering servants o f G od. A ll truth is G o d ’s truth and
even a little o f it can save us from great troubles.
Besides, the truth o f religion is, as Troeltsch declared, ‘ polym orphic’ . T he
light is scattered in many broken lights and there is not anywhere any full
white ray o f divine revelation. Truth is found in all religions, though in
different measures. The different revelations do not contradict but on m any
points confirm one another. F or the Hindu, religions differ not in their object
but in their renderings o f its nature.
The Hindu attitude to religious reform is based on an understanding o f the
place o f religion in human life. A man’s religion is something integral in his
nature. It is like a limb, which grows from him, grows on him, and grows out
o f him. I f we take it away from him we mutilate his humanity and force it into
an unnatural shape. W e are all prejudiced in favour o f what is our own. In
spite o f all logic we are inclined to believe that the home into which we are
born is the best o f all possible homes, that our parents are not as others are,
and we ourselves are perhaps the most reasonable excuse for the existence o f
the human race on earth. I f strangers are sceptical, it is because they do not
know. These prejudices serve a useful purpose within limits. M ankind would
never have progressed to this high estate i f it had not been fo r this partiality
for our homes and parents, our art and culture, our religion arid civilization.
I f each pushes this prejudice to the extreme point, com petition and warfare
will result, but the principle that each one should accept his own tradition as
the best for him requires to be adopted with due care that it is not exagger­
ated into contempt and hatred for other traditions. Hinduism admits this
principle o f historical continuity, recognizes its importance for man’s ad­
vancement, and at the same time insists on equal treatment fo r others’ views.
Trying to impose one’s opinions on others is neither so exciting nor so fruitful
as joining hands in an endeavour to attain a result much larger than we know.
Besides, truth will prevail and does not require our propaganda. The func­
tion o f a religious rcacher is only to assist the soul's natural movement to­
wards life. T h e longing for an ideal life may be hidden deep, overlaid, dis­
torted, misunderstood, ill expressed, but it is there and is never w holly lacking.
It is man’ s birthright which he cannot barter aw ay or squander. W e have to
reckon with it and build on its basis. It does not matter what conception o f
G od we adopt so long as we keep up a perpetual search after truth. T h e great
Hindu prayers are addressed to G od as eternal truth to enlighten us, to enable
us to grasp the secret o f the universe better and better. There is no finality in
.this process o f understanding. Toleration in Hinduism is not equivalent to
indifference to truth. Hinduism does not say that truth does not matter. It
affirms that all truths are shadows except the last, though all shadows are cast
by the light o f truth. It is one’s duty to press forward uhtil the highest truth is
reached. The Hindu method o f religious reform or conversion has this fo r its
aim.
Conversion is not’ always by means o f argument. B y the witness o f personal
example, vital changes are produced in thought and life. Religious conviction
72 Hinduism

is the result, not the cause o f religious life. Hinduism deepens the life o f
spirit am ong the adherents w ho belong to it, without affecting its form. A ll
the gods included in the Hindu pantheon stand for some aspect o f the
Supreme. Brahm a, Vishnu, and éiva bring out the creative will, saving love
and fearful judgem ent o f the Supreme. Each o f them to its worshippers be­
comes a name o f the Supreme G od . T h e Harivamsa, for example, tells us that
Vishnu is the Supreme G od, taught in the whole range o f the Scriptures, the
Vedas, the Râmâyaua, the Purdnas, and the epics. The same description is
given o f Siva, who has Rudra for his Vedic counterpart.” He becomes the
highest G od . Sakti, the M other Goddess, in her different forms represents the
dynam ic side o f Godhead. W hatever form o f worship is taken up by the
Hindu faith it is exalted into the highest.
T h e m ultiplicity o f divinities is traceable historically to the acceptance o f
pre-existing faiths in a great religious synthesis where the different forms are
interpreted as modes, emanations, or aspects o f the one Supreme. In the act o f
worship, however, every deity is given the same metaphysical and moral per­
fections. The labels on the bottles may vary, but the contents are exactly the
same. T hat is why, from the Rig-Veda onwards, Hindu thought has been
characterized by a distinctive hospitality. A s the Bhagavad Gita has it: ‘ H ow ­
soever men approach me, so do I welcome them, for the path men take from
every side is mine.’ Hinduism did not shrink from the acceptance o f every
aspect o f G od conceived by the mind o f man, and, as we shall see, o f every
form o f devotion devised by his heart. F or what counts is the attitude o f sin­
cerity and devotion and not the conception, which is more or less intellectual.
K ierkegaard says: ‘ I f o f two men one prays to the true G od without sincerity
o f heart, and the other prays to an idol with all the passion o f an infinite
yearning, it is the first w ho really prays to an idol, while the second really
prays to G o d .’ 11 D om inated by such an ideal, Hinduism did not believe in
either spiritual mass-production or a standardized religion for all.
The great wrong, that which w e can call the sin o f idolatry, is to acquiesce
in anything less than the highest open to us. Religion is not so much faith in
the highest as faith in the highest one can reach. A t whatever level our under­
standing may be, we must strive to transcend it. W e must perpetually strive to
lift up our eyes to the highest conception o f G od possible for us and our
generation. The greatest gift o f life is the dream o f a higher life. T o continue
to grow is the m ark o f a religious soul. Hinduism is bound not by a creed but
by a quest, not by a common belief but by a common search for truth. Every
one is a Hindu who strives for truth by study and reflection, by purity o f life
and conduct, by devotion and consecration to high ideals, who believes that
religion rests not on authority but on experience.

PERFECTION

W hatever view o f God the Hindu may adopt, he believes that the D ivine is
in man. E very human being, irrespective o f caste or colour, can attain to the
knowledge o f this truth and make his whole life an expression o f it. The
** Alharvadiras Up. v. 3.
*' Quoted in The Tragic Sense o f Life by Unamuno (3rd imp.), p. 178.
 Hinduism 73
Divinity in us is to be realized in mind and spirit and made a power in life.
The intellectual apprehension must becom e embqdied in a regenerated being.
The Divine must subdue us to its purpose, subject the rebellious flesh to a new
rhythm, and use the body to give voice to its own speech. Life eternal or
liberation or the kingdom o f heaven is nothing more than making the ego
with all its thought and desires get back to its source in spirit. T h e self still
exists, but it is no more the individual self but a radiant divine self, deeper
than thé individual being, a self which embraces all creation in a profound
sympathy. The Upanishadsays: ‘ T he liberated soul enters into the A ll.’ 12 T he
heart is released from its burden o f care. The sorrows and errors o f the past,
the anxiety o f unsatisfied desire, and the sullenness o f resentment are no more.
It is the destiny o f man where there is a perfect flowering o f the human being.
T o embody this eternal greatness in temporal fact is the aim o f the world. T he
peace o f perfection, the jo y o f heaven, is realizable cm earth. Perfection is open
to all. W e are all members o f the heavenly household, o f the fam ily o f G od .
However low w e may fall, we are not lost. There is no such thing as spiritual
death. A s Jong as there is a spark o f spiritual life, we have hope. Even when
we are on the brink o f the abyss, the everlasting arms will sustain us, for there
is nothing, not even an atom o f reality, where G od does not abide, M en o f
spiritual insight take upon themselves the cross o f mankind. They crown
themselves with thorns in order that others m ay be crowned with life im ­
mortal. They go about the world as vagrants despising the riches o f the world
to induce us to believe in the riches o f their world. W hen they gaze into men’s
eyes, whatever their condition o f life, they see something more than man.
They see our faces not merely by the ordinary light o f the world but by the
transfiguring light o f our divine possibilities. T hey thèrefore share our joys
arid sorrows.

YOGA

T o gain this enlightenment, this living first-hand experience o f spiritual

illumination, the aspirants submit themselves to long years o f protracted
search, to periods o f painful self-denial. T o be made luminous within we have
to pay a heavy price. W e must reduce the vast complex o f actions and reac­
tions we call human nature to some order and harmony. T he appetites which
call for satisfaction, the zest for life and the animal propensities, our un­
reasoned likes and dislikes, pull us in different directions. This raw material
requires to be subdued into the pattern o f self. W e must attain an integrated
vision, a whole life, health and strength o f body, alertness o f mind, and
spiritual serenity. A complete synthesis o f spirit, soul, flesh, and affections re­
quires a radical change-over, so that we think and live differently. W e have to
endure a violent inward convulsion. A s a first step we are called upon to with­
draw from all outward things, to retreat into the ground o f our own soul and
find in the inmost depth o f the self the divine reality. The world o f things in its
multiplicity is revealed as a unity. The vision o f the true self is at the same time
vision o f unity (ekotvam anupasyati). H e beholds all beings in himself and him ­
self in all beings.23 ‘ There one perceives no other, hears no other, recognizes

“ Mundqka Up, Hi. 2. 15. 11 lia Up. 6.

 74 Hinduism

no other, there is fullness.’ 2* A life that is divided becomes a life that is unified.
Y o g a is the pathway to this rebirth or realization o f the divine in us.
There are not only many mansions in G o d ’s house but many roads to the
heavenly city. They are roughly distinguished into three-^ÿwï/in, bhakti, and
karma. G od is wisdom, holiness, and love. He is the answer for the intel­
lectual demands for unity and coherence, the source and sustainer o f values,
and the object o f worship and prayer. Religion is m orality, doctrine as well as
a feeling o f dependence. It includes the development o f reason, conscience,
and emotion. Knowledge, love, and action, clear thinking, ardent feeling,
and conscientious life, all lead us to G od and are necessary for spiritual
growth. À relatively greater absorption in one or the other depends on the
point we have reached in our inner development. When the goal is reached
there is an advance in the whole being o f man. Religion then ceases to be a
rite or a refuge and becomes the attainment o f reality.

JNÂNA
When jnâna is said to lead to mokslta or liberation, it is not intellectual
knowledge that is meant but spiritual wisdom. It is that which enables'us .to
know that the spirit is the knower and not the known. By philosophical ana­
lysis (iallva-viclwra) we realize that there is in us a principle o f awareness by
which we perceive all things, though it is itself not perceived as an object in the
ordinary way. N o t to know that by which we know is to cast away a treasure
that is ours. Y o g a in the sense o f the stilling o f outward activities and em o­
tions and concentration on pure consciousness is adopted to help the process
o f development. W hen we attain this jnâna there is a feeling o f exaltation and
ecstasy and a burning rage to suffer for mankind.

BH AKTI
W hile Hinduism is one o f the most metaphysical o f religions, it is also one
that can be felt and lived by the poor and the ignorant. By the pursuit o f
bhakti or devotion we reach the same goal that is'attained by jnâna. T h e de­
votees require a concrete support to their worship and so believe in a personal
G od. Bhakti is not the love which expects to be reciprocated. Such a love is a
human affection and no more. Prayer becomes meditation, the worshipful
loyalty o f will which identifies itself with the good o f the world. I f yoù are a
true devotee o f G od you become a know ing and a virtuous soul as well. The
■bhakta knows how to identify him self completely with the object o f devotion,
by a process o f self-surrender.
M y self I’ve rendered up to thee;
I’ve cast it from me utterly.
Now here before thee, Lord, I stand,
Attentive to thy least command.
The self within me now is dead,
And thou enthroned in its stead.
Yea, this, I, Tuka, testify,
No longer now is ‘m e’ or ‘ m y’.1J
11 Chhàndogya Up. vii. 24. " Nicol Macnicol, Psatms o f AtarMhS Sainis, p. 79.
 Hinduism 75
The distinction between G od and worshipper is only relative. L ove and
knowledge-have one and the same end. T hey can only be conceived as per­
fected when there is an identity between lover and beloved, knower and
known.

KARMA

Ethical obedience is also a pathway to salvation. Hinduism desires that

one’s life should be regulated by the conception o f duties or debts which one
has to discharge. The debts are. fourfold: (i) T o the Supreme Being. O ne’s
whole life is to be regarded as a sacrifice to G o d . (ii) T o the seers. B y their
austerities and meditations the sages discovered truth. W e becom e members
o f a cultured group only by absorbing the chief elements o f the cultural tradi­
tion. (iii) T o our ancestors. W e repay these debts by having good progeny.
The Hindu social code does not ask us to impose an unnatural order on the
world. W e discover the intentions o f nature in the constitution o f men and
women and it is our duty to act agreeably to them. M arriage is not merely o f
bodies but o f minds. It makes us richer, more human, more truly living, and
becomes the cause o f greater love, deeper tenderness, more perfect under­
standing. It is an achievement which requires discipline. I f it is not the expres­
sion o f spirit, it is mere lust. There are innumerable shades between love, the
spiritual unity expressed in physical unity, and lust which is mere physical
attraction w ithout any spiritual basis, and which has created prostitution both
within and without marriage. The great love stories o f the world, even when
they involve a breaking o f human laws, are centred, lifted up, and glorified by
their fidelity, by the fact that they do not pass, (iv) T o hum anity. W e ow e a
duty to hum anity which we discharge by means o f hospitality and goodw ill.
Those w ho adopt this view are not content with merely earning their bread òr
seeking their com fort, but believe that they are born not fo r themselves but
for others.
Hinduism does not believe that the' use o f force is im m oral in all circum ­
stances. The Bhagavad Gita, for example, lays stress on the duties o f the
warrior and the claims o f the nation. There is a place for politics and heroism,
but wisdom and love are more than politics and war. In'order to remain w ith­
in the bonds o f a class or a nation w e need not free ourselves from the bonds
o f humanity. Real dem ocracy is that which gives to each man the fullness o f
personal life. Anim als are also included under objects to be treated with com ­
passion. AH life is sacred, whether o f animals or o f fellow men. W e shudder at
cannibalism and condemn the savage w ho wishes to indulge in this habit o f
our ancestors, though the slaughtering o f animals and birds for human con­
sumption continues to be regarded as right. T he Hindu custom allows meat-
eating but prefers vegetarianism. On days dedicated to religious functions
meat-eating is disallowed. O ur right to take animal life is strictly limited by
our right to self-preservation and defence..The true man is he in whom the
mere pleasure o f killing is killed. So long as it is there, man has no claim to
call himself civilized. W hile Hinduism has within its fold barbarians inheriting
the habits o f wild ancestors w ho slew each other w ith stone axes for a piece o f
raw flesh, it aims at converting them into men whose hearts are charged with
.an eager and unconquerable love for all that lives.
 76 Hinduism

In the priestly codes there is a tendency to confuse virtue with ceremonial

purity. T o kill a man is bad, but to touch his corpse is worse. T h e great
scriptures, however, disregard technical m orality and insist on the spirit o f
self-control and love o f humanity. T o be able to fulfil the obligations expected
of. man he must exercise self-control. N ot only w hat we accept but what we
renounce contributes to our m aking. Threefold is the gate o f hell that destroys
the self: lust, anger, and greed. W e must make war upon them with the
weapons o f spirit, opposing chastity to lust, love to anger, and generosity to
greed. T h e Veda says: ‘ Cross the bridges hard to cross. Overcome anger by
love, untruth by truth.’ T he Mahâbhârala says: ‘ T h e rules o f dharnta or
virtuous conduct taught by the great seers, each o f whom relied on his own
illum ination, are m anifold. T h e highest am ong them all is self-control.’ 26 U n­
fortunately, in our times, the m an o f self-control is regarded as a weak man.27
It is for developing self-control that austerities and asceticism are practised,
but when self-control is attained these rigorous practices are unnecessary. In­
sistence on discipline or self-control avoids the two extremes o f self-indulgence
and asceticism. Discipline does not mean either the starving o f the senses or
the indulgence o f them.28
There is enough scope for repentance also. 'I f he repents after he commits
the sin, the sin is destroyed. I f he resolves that he will never com m it the sin
again, he will be purified.’
T he sannydsi is not one who abstains from work. M editation and action
both express the same spirit. There is no conflict between wisdom and work.
‘ It is the children o f this world and not the men o f léarning who think o f wis­
dom and w ork as different. T h e peace that is won by the knower is likewise
w on by the worker. H e sees in truth who sees that wisdom and w ork are one.’ 29

KARMA AND REBIRTH

T h e world is not only spiritual but also moral. Life is an education.. In the
m oral sphere no less than the physical, whatsoever a man soweth that shall he
also reap. Every act produces its natural result in future character. T h e result
o f the act is not something external to it imposed from without on the actor by
an external jud ge but is in very truth a part o f tbe act itself. W e cannot confuse
belief in karma with an easy-going fatalism . It is the very opposite o f fatalism.
It deletes chance, for it says that even the smallest happening has its cause in
the past and its result in the future. It does not accept the theory o f predeter­
m ination or the idea o f an overruling providence. I f we find ourselves helpless
and unhappy we are not condemned to it by a deity outside o f ourselves. The
Garuda Parana says: ‘ N o one gives jo y or sorrow. That others give us these is
an erroneous conception. Our own deeds bring to us their fruits. B ody o f mine,
repay by suffering.’ G od does not bestow his favours capriciously. T h e law o f
m orality is fundamental to the whole cosmic drama. Salvation is not a gift o f
capricious gods but is to be w on by earnest seeking and self-discipline. The law
■
o f karma holds that man can control his future by creating in the present what
will produce the desired effect. Man is the sole and absolute master o f his fate.
24 Süntiparvo, cliv. 6. 22 Ibid. 34. 2®Sec Bhagavad Gild, vi. 16-1 S.
19 Ibid. v. 4-5.
 Hinduism 77
Bui so iong as he is a victim o f his desires and allows his activities to be
governed by automatic attractions and repulsions he is not exercising his free­
dom. I f chains fetter us, they are o f our own forging and we ourselves m ay
rend them asunder. G od works by persuasion rather than by force. R ight and
w rong are not the same thing and the choice we make is a real one.
A bout future life there are three alternatives possible: (i) T h e soul dies with
the body, since it is nothing more than a function o f physical life. Hindu re­
ligion does not accept this mechanical view, (ii) T h e soul goes either to heaven
and eternal bliss, or to hell and eternal torment, aud remains there. F o r the
Hindu, the doctrine that the soul has only one life, a few brief years, in the
course o f which it determines for itself an eternal heaven or an eternal hell,
seems unreasonable and unethical, (iii) The soul may not be fit for eternal
life and yet m ay not deserve eternal torment, and so goes from life to life. T h is .
life is not the end o f everything. W e shall be provided with other chances. T he
soul does not begin with the body nor does it end with it. It pursue^ its long.'
pilgrimage through dying bodies and decaying worlds. The great purpose o f
redemption is carried over without break from one life to another. AU systems
o f Hindu thought accept the idea o f the continuous existence o f the individual
human being as axiomatic. Our mental and emotional make-up is reborn with
us in the next birth, form ing what is called character. Our strivings and en­
deavours give us the start. W e need not fear that the spiritual gains o f a long
and strenuous life go for nothing. This continuity will go on until all souls
attain their destiny o f freedom, which is the goal o f human evolution. I f there
j s not a shred o f empirical evidence for it, the same is true o f other theories o f
future life also.

CONCLUSION

From the beginnings o f Hindu history the culture has been formed by new
‘ forces which it had to accept and overcom e, in the light o f its-own solid and
:•enduring ideas. In every stage there is an attempt to reach a harmony. Only the
.harmony is a dynamic one. When this dynam ic harm ony or organic rhythm o f
. life is missing it means that the religion stands in need o f reform. W e are now
in a period o f social upheaval and religious unsettlement the world over, in
•one o f those great incalculable moments in which history takes its m ajor
.turns. The traditional forms are unable to express the growing sense o f the
divine,.the more sensitive insight into the right w ay o f life. It is wrong to con­
fuse the technique o f a religion with its central principles. W e must reform the
technique so as to make it embody the fertile seeds o f truth. In m y travels both
in India and abroad I have learnt that there are thousands o f men and women
today who are hungry to hear the good news o f the birth o f a new order, eager
:to do and dare, ready to make sacrifices that a new society m ay be born, men
and women w ho dimly understand that the principles o f a true religion, o f a
ju st social order, o f a great movement o f generosity in human relations,
domestic and industrial, economic and political, national and international,
are to be found in the basic principles o f the Hindu religion. Their presence in
•growing numbers is the pledge for the victory o f the powers o f light, life, and
love over those o f darkness, death, and discord.
78 Hinduism

PO S T SC R IP T DY THE EDITOR

The most important religious heritage o f India from her ancient past is no
doubt the doctrine o f transmigration (samsara) which is characteristic o f all
Indian religions and sharply distinguishes them from those with a Semitic
ancestry, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A few ambiguous and in­
conclusive references in Vedic literature suggest that vague ideas o f metem­
psychosis were known even am ong the early Aryans, but thoughts o f the after­
life seem then to have been mainly centred on a heaven whither the souls o f
the righteous went on death, to feast for ever with their ancestors. A m ong the
first fruits o f the pessimism o f the later Vedic period was the gnawing doubt
whether even the soul o f the dead might not be liable to further death. Thus
the idea emerged that Death would hound the soul from world to world (ioke-
loka enam mrityur vindet, Éat. Brh. xiii. 3. 5). T he quest for permanence,
finality, and complete psychological security is very evident throughout the
later Vedic literature, where the Vedic heaven begins to seem inadequate and
limited, in the light o f the contemporary dissatisfaction.
A definite doctrine o f transmigration appears for the first time in the
Brihadàranyaka Upanishad (vi. 2, repeated with some amplification in
Chhândogya Up. v. 3-10). The teaching here enunciated, which has certain
primitive features such as do not occur in the developed doctrine o f samsara,
is ascribed to the kshatriya, Jaivali Pravâhana, a chief o f the tribe o f Panchàlas,
who taught it to the brahman Àruni Gautama, also known as Uddâlaka
A runi, apparently one o f the most vigorous thinkers o f the period (perhaps
c. 700 n.c.). Another passage in the Brihadàranyaka (iii. 2) tells how the great’
sage Yâjnavalkya secretly taught to a questioner as a new and secret theory
the doctrine o f karma, that the good and evil deeds o f a man autom atically in­
fluence his state in future lives.
T h e first o f these passages suggests that the doctrine originally appeared in
non-bràhmanic circles. The second indicates that it circulated secretly for
some time before it became public knowledge. From the later Katha Upanishad
(i. 20-9) it appears that there; was widespread doubt at one time about
whether the personality survivfedat all after death, and the doctrine o f trans­
migration is again here put forward as a new one, revealed by the god o f death
to the boy Nachiketas only after much importuning. In the latest o f the prin­
cipal Upanishads, however, it seems to have become widely accepted, while in
the Buddhist tradition transmigration is axiomatic. There is no discussion on
whether or not the. personality transmigrates, but only on the mechanics by
which it does so. '
The evidence for the origin o f this doctrine is very faint. It may have been
borrowed from nòn-bràhman and originally non-Aryan elements in the
G anga valley, and have gained currency only against considerable opposition
from conservative elements among the priesthood. T he names o f historical
sages— Yâjnavalkya and U ddâlaka Aruni Gautama— are connected with it in
the traditions. H ow this new and secret doctrine spread in a comparatively
short period o f time to become universally accepted is also quite unknown.
W e can only suggest that it was disseminated by wandering ascetics, outside
the fraternities o f sacrificial priests.
 Hinduism 79
Once it was universally adopted, the idea o f samsara, the unending, or
almost unending, passage from death to rebirth and redeath, conditioned the
attitudes o f nearly all Indians and encouraged certain tendencies in the social
life o f India, The prospect o f endless rebirth in a vale o f tears, even when
punctuated by long periods o f residence in the heavens, was extremely dis­
tasteful to many o f the more sensitive people o f the times, as it still is, and the
quest for psychological security in one changeless entity where there would no
longer be fear o f death and rebirth was redoubled. T h e proliferating religious
thought o f the Upanishads, Buddhism, Jainism, and other less-known hetero­
dox movements owes much o f its existence to the growth o f this doctrine,
which appears to have become universal by the time o f the Buddha.
Transm igration must also have encouraged the doctrine o f ahimsâ (non­
injury), which was specially supported by Buddhism and Jainism in their cam ­
paign against animal sacrifice, for this doctrine linked all living things to­
gether in a single complex system— gods, demigods, human beings, demons,
ghosts, souls in torment, warm-blooded animals, even hum ble insects and
worms, all possessed souls essentially the same. T he man w ho tried to infringe
the rights o f brahmans to whom land had been granted by the king was
threatened in the title-deed with rebirth for eighty thousand years as a worm
in dung.30 On such premisses it is understandable that the w anton killing o f
animals should be looked on as little better than murder, and meat-eating as
little better than cannibalism, for the ant which a man carelessly treads on as
he walks down the road m ay contain the soul o f his grandfather.
The great majority o f Indians still believe in this doctrine, and the con-
coraitant doctrine o f karma, that man is reborn in happy or unhappy condi­
tions according to his works, and these doctrines, in their Buddhist form ,
have affected more than h a lf o f A sia. T hey provide a potent sanction against
evil-doing, or at least against a man’s infringing the ethical norms o f his
society, for this leads to inevitable suffering, while righteous conduct brings
happiness to the next life.
M oreover the afflicted can learn to accept suffering with the thought that it
is not sent at the whim o f fate or chance, and is not the visitation o f a capri­
cious god, but is the just recompense fo r one’ s own evil deeds in past lives.
This doctrine is not fatalism, and does not imply that the sufferer should not
try to better his lot— rigid determinism, o f the type propagated by the hetero­
dox sect o f the  jlvikas, is strongly attacked in many classical Indian texts—
but it makes suffering o f all kinds intelligible, and gives hope to the sufferer
who bears affliction patiently. Thus, as a source o f consolation, it has done
much to mould the Indian character and to shape the Indian way o f life.
A further potent factor in the m oulding o f the Indian mind, a relic from the
same axial period that produced the doctrine o f transmigration, is the concept
o f endless cyclic time in a cosmos so immense that the mind boggles at con­
ceiving its size. The simple and com paratively smdll universe o f Ptolem y,
which provided the traditional world-view o f later Judaism, Christianity, and
30This threat, occurring in many copper-plate grants, gives the lie to those neo-Hindu
apologists who declare that it is impossible for the soul inhabiting human beings to fall to
the state o f an animal. M odem Hindus and their supporters rriây believe this, but it has no
basis in any classical Hindu source.
 go Hinduism

Islam, is intelligible and hom ely by com parison; and the traditional Semitic
and Christian doctrine o f linear time— commencing at a period some
4,000 years d.C. and likely to come to an end and give w a y to eternity in the
com paratively near future— was equally intelligible, giving an urgency to
man’ s life which might not be felt in a society which believed that time was
infinite, with an infinite number o f opportunities for the individual to rise or
fall in the scale o f being. The Hindu universe is closer to that o f modern
science than the Ptolem aic one, and fo r this reason am ong others Hindus,
even orthodox ones o f the old school, have little difficulty in accepting scienti­
fic theories on the nature o f the cosmos or or man.
The forbidding universe o f science differs from that o f the Hindus in one
particular, however. The Hindu world, in all its immense length and breadth,
is com pletely and fully underlain by the Divine. There is no corner o f the cos­
mos where G od , or the impersonal Brahman for the monistic Vedântin, is not.
Facets o f the personality o f the one Lord behind the many appear.in all as­
pects o f life on earth, and the immense empty spaces o f the universe are full
o f deities, all aspects or partial manifestations o f the One.
I f the intellectual Hindu prefers to think o f the One spirit as impersonal and
to equate that One with the Atman, the innermost kernel o f his own being, the
ordinary Indian o f all times has thought o f the One as personal— a High G od
w ho created for him self all the lesser gods and the whole cosmos. Com plicated
théogonies evolved in the period follow ing the composition o f the Vedic
literature, and continued to develop throughout the pre-Muslim period and
even after. N ew gods appeared and old gods faded away and almost vanished,
in response to the needs o f the times. T hey formed two broad groups, crystal­
lizing round the two High G ods, Vishnu and Siva respectively ; and the fantasy
and inventiveness o f tbe whole folk, not merely o f the learned brahmans, ex­
pressed itself in the richest collection o f m ythology and legend in the world—
ranging in quality from the sublime to the grotesque and occasionally even to
the repulsive.
T h e universe for the simple Hindu, therefore, despite its vastness, is not
cold and impersonal, and, though it is subject to rigid laws, tbese laws fiD d
room for the soul o f man. T h e world- is the expression o f ultimate divinity; it
is eternally informed by G od , w ho can be met face to face in all things, but
especially in the image in the temple or fam ily shrine, for divine images under­
go consecration ceremonies at which they are converted into channels o f god­
head, means whereby the god they represent can reveal him self to his w or­
shippers. G od, infinite and omnipresent, nevertheless, in his condescension,
projects him self in the form o f an image so that his simpler worshippers may
feel nearer to him.
F o r the Vaishnavites, the worshippers o f Vishnu, the god has in the past
taken material form, in order to save the world from impending disaster. His
incarnations (auatâras), especially those as Ram a and Krishna, have given the
H indus their most exuberant and vital m ythology, legend, and folklore.
R am a and his faithful wife Sitâ combine the ideals o f heroism, long-suffering,
righteousness, loyalty, and justice in a story so full o f exciting incident that it
has becom e part o f the tradition not only o f India, but also o f m ost o f South­
East A sia. And R âm a’s henchman, the gigantic m onkey Hanumân, the arche-
 Hinduism 8r

type o f the loyal helper, striding out with his mighty club, is still am ong the
most popular o f the lesser gods o f Hinduism. Hp figures as the divinity o f
countless miuor shrines throughout the length and breadth o f India, and is
the personification o f the strong arm o f the Lord, ever ready to help the
righteous in the hour o f need.
Krishna, probably even more popular than Ram a, is a divinity o f a rare
completeness and catholicity, meeting almost every human need. A s the divine
child he satisfies the warm maternal drives o f Indian wom anhood. A s the
divine lover, he provides romantic wish-fulfilment in a society still tightly
controlled by ancient norms o f behaviour which give little scope for freedom
o f expression in sexual relations. A s charioteer o f the hero Arjuna on the
battlefield o f Kurukshetra, he is the helper o f all those w ho turn to him,
even saving the sinner from evil rebirths, if he has sufficient faith in the
Lord.
âiva, the divine dancer and the divine ascetic, has a less vivid body o f
mythology and legend associated with him. He dwells in the heights o f M t.
Kailâsa with his beautiful wife Pàrvatï, his bull Nandi, and his two sons, the
elephant-headed Ganesa and the six-headed Kârttikeya. Despite its superficial
forbiddingness, and its bizarre elements, this group o f divinities forms a sort
o f paradigm o f family life. Often worshipped in the litigant, a much-formalized
phallic symbol, Siva represents the eternal power through which the universe
evolves. A s the divine dancer, subject o f some o f the most wonderful bronze
sculpture in the world, tSiva dances new steps in never-ending variety until at
length, in a very fierce and wild dance ((andava), he will dance the universe out
o f existence, later to create a new one by yet another dance.
Stories and legends like these are perhaps almost as im portant as the
austere monism o f the intellectual Adoaita o f Professor Radhakrishnan. It is
they that have provided the raw material for most o f India’s early art and
literature, and they have given courage and consolation in face o f adversity to
countless millions through the centuries. M oreover they have provided India
with her main source o f entertainment.
Hinduism has its dark side. Psychopathic self-torture has long been part o f
it. Evil customs such as widow-burning, animal (and sometimes even human)
sacrifice, female infanticide, ritual suicide, religious prostitution, and many
others like them have in the past sometimes been practised in the name o f the
eternal Aryan dharma. But let it not be thought that Hinduism is morbid,
gloomy, or forbidding. It is fundamentally a cheerful religion. In its temple
courts children play unforbidden; at its temple gates the beggar finds his most
profitable place o f business. And, all the larger temples are places o f pilgrim age
on holy days, centres o f jolly religious fairs, to which peasants come, from
many miles around, not generally with feelings o f guilt, fear, and sin, though
awe is certainly present, but with the intention o f combining religious business
with pleasure, just as did the pilgrims o f Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Here
they are refreshed after hard weeks o f labour in the fields, the burden o f
material care left behind in their villages. The dust and weariness o f the road
are washed away in the ritual bath in the sacred river or tank beside the
temple. F or a while they visit the shrine and pay their respects to the god who,
like a mighty potentate, sits within it. A s a sym bol o f his grace towards them
82 Hinduism

they receive from an officiant the prasâda, in the form o f holy water, sandal­
wood ash, or red pigment, which they rub on their foreheads. Then, freed
from earthly care, they enjoy their holiday among their fellows, secure in the
knowledge o f G o d ’s love, as they understand it.
W e do not intend to disparage the Hinduism o f the intellectual and the
mystic, the Hinduism of the kind expounded by Professor Radhakrishnan,
But let us remember the other Hinduism, the Hinduism o f the artist and poet,
with its rich m ythology and legend, the Hinduism o f the simple man, with its
faith, its ritual, its temples, and its sacred images. B oth are part o f India’s
heritage, and it is impossible to pronounce objectively on their relative merits
or im portance; but there is little doubt which has the more strongly affected
the m ajority o f the inhabitants o f the subcontinent fo r more than 2,000 years.
CH APTER Vili

Buddhism
by B h i k s h u S a n g h a r a k s h i t a

THE BUDDHA
F rom the traditional point o f view Buddhism begins with the believer going
for refuge to-the Three Jewels (iriraina), the Buddha, the D octrine (Dharma)
and the Com m unity o f m onks (Sangha). A s the first o f these, the Buddha him ­
self, although there is no longer any doubt about his historical existence, the
exact dates o f his birth and Parinirvâna (his physical death) are still the sub­
ject o f controversy. In all probability those given b y the Ceylon chronicles, the
Dipavamsa and the Mahàvamsa (excluding its continuation the Culavamsa,
the dates o f which are sixty years out), equivalent to 563-483 B.C., are not too
far wrong. -•
The events o f his life are too well known to be recounted in detail. Born at
LumbinT, in the territory o f the f>akya republic, o f wealthy patrician stock, he
went forth ‘ from home into the homeless life’ at the age o f twenty-nine,
attained Supreme Enlightenment at Bodh G a y à at the age o f thirty-five,
and passed aw ay at Kuéinagara at the age o f eighty. D uring his lifetime his
teaching spread throughout the kingdoms o f M agadha and K osala (corre­
sponding to the modern south Bihar and eastern U ttar Pradesh), as well as in
the circumjacent principalities and republics. His disciples were recruited from
all classes o f society, and included both men and women. Besides instructing
an extensive circle o f lay adherents, he trained a smaller, more select band o f
monks and'nuns w ho constituted the Sangha proper and upon whom , after
the Parinirvâna, the responsibility for carrying on his m ission m ainly de­
volved.
His personality, as it emergés from the ancient records, was a unique com ­
bination o f dignity and affability, wisdom and kindliness. Together w ith a
majesty that awed and daunted kings he appears to have possessed a tender­
ness that could stoop to com fort the bereaved and console the afflicted. His
serenity was unshakable, his self-confidence unfailing. Ever m indful and self­
possessed, he faced opposition and hostility, even personal danger, with the
calm and com passionate smile that has lingered down the ages. In debate he
was urbane and courteous, though not without a vein o f irony, and alm ost
invariably succeeded in winning over his opponent. Such was his success in
this direction, that he was accused o f enticing people by means o f spells.
In addition to the ‘ historical fa cts’ o f the Buddha's career, notice must be
taken o f the myths and legends from which, in the traditional biographies,
these facts are inseparable. When Buddhism first came within the purview o f
Western learning it was generally assumed that myth and legend were synony­
mous with fiction and that, except as illustrations o f primitive mentality, they
were valueless. Since then we have begun to kn ow better. Some fncidents in
84 Buddhism

the Buddha’s biography, such as those in which he exercises supernormal

pow ers, m ay be based on actual occurrences recorded with legendary accre­
tions. Others apparently relate to a different order o f reality and a different
type o f truth altogether, being poetic rather than scientific statements o f
psychological processes and spiritual experiences. Y e t others are in the nature
o f illuminations caused by the tremendous impact o f the Buddha’s personality
on the minds o f his disciples, and express the greatness o f that personality
subjectively in terms o f the feelings o f rapturous adoration which it evoked.
This introduces the great question o f the alleged ‘ deification’ o f the Buddha.
A ccord in g to some modern scholars the Buddha was a human teacher whom
the devotion o f his followers turned into a god, or G o d . Based as it is on
assumptions quite different from those o f Buddhism, such an interpretation o f
an im portant doctrinal development must be rejected outright. W ithin the
context o f a non-theistic religion the concept o f deification has no meaning.
The Buddha claimed to be a fully enlightened human being, superior even to
the gods, and as such he has invariably been regarded. Since he was already
the highest being in the universe there remained no higher position to which
he could subsequently be exalted. W hat really happened was that, since
Buddhists believed that the Buddha had realized the Truth, thereby becoming
its embodiment and sym bol, absolute Reality came to be interpreted con­
cretely in terms o f Buddhahood and its attributes, as well as abstractly in
terms o f sûnyatâ, latitata, etc. A t the same time the devotion with which the
Buddha was worshipped Ivas analogous to that which, in the theistic religions,
is the prerogative o f the Creator.
Tim s there is no question o f the deification o f a teacher whom his contem­
porary followers looked on as ‘ m erely hum an’ ; hence we must also dismiss
the several theories according to which the Buddha was in reality an ethical
teacher like Socrates or Confucius, a rationalist, a humanist, a social reformer,
and so on.
THE D H A R M A

Th e word D harm a probably has more meanings than any other term in the
entire vocabulary o f Buddhism. A s the second o f the three Refuges it has
been variously translated as L aw , Truth, Doctrine, G ospel, Teaching, N orm ,
and T ru e Idea, all o f which express some aspect o f its total significance. T o the
W est the D harm a is known as Buddhism, and the question has often been
asked whether it is a religion or a philosophy. T he answer is that so long as
religion is thought o f in exclusively theistic terms and philosophy remains
divorced from any kind o f ethical and spiritual discipline, Buddhism is neither.
The general characteristics o f the D harm a are summarized in an ancient
stereotype formula which occurs repeatedly in the sütras and which is still
widely used for liturgical purposes. The Dharm a is well taught; it belongs to
the L ord, not to any other teacher; its results, when it is put into practice, are
visible in this very life; it is timeless; it invites the inquirer to come and see
personally w hat it is like; it is progressive, leading from lower to higher states
o f existence, and it is to be understood by the wise each one fo r him self.1
l ‘Svâkkhâto bhsgavatà dhammo sandittbiko akâtiko ehipassiko opaoayiko paccattam
veditabbbo vinnühi.’ '
 Buddhism 85
.The D harm a consists o f various doctrines or teachings. These represent
neither speculative opinions nor generalizations from a limited range o f
.spiritual experience, but are, for the Buddhist, conceptual form ulations o f the
nature o f existence as seen by a fully enlightened Being who, out o f com pas­
sion, makes known to hum anity the truth that he has discovered. It is in this
sense that Buddhism m ay be termed a revelation. According to the m ost
ancient canonical accounts o f a crucial episode, the truth, law, or principle
which the Buddha perceived at the time o f his Enlightenment— in the percep­
tion o f which, indeed, that Enlightenment consisted— and which, on account
o f its abstruseness, he was at first reluctant to disclose to a passion-ridden
generation, was that o f the ‘ conditionally co-producedness’ (paticca-samup-
panna) o f things. Conditioned Co-production is, therefore, the basic Buddhist
doctrine, recognized and taught as such first by the Buddha and his immediate
disciples and thereafter throughout the whole course o f Buddhist history.
Questioned by 3 àriputra, then a non-Buddhist wanderer, only a few months
after the Enlightenment, about his M aster’s teaching, the A rhant A svajit re­
plies in a resounding verse that has echoed down the centuries as the credo o f
Buddhism: ‘ The Tathâgata has explained the origin o f those things which
proceed from a cause. Their cessation too he has explained. This is the
doctrine o f the great Sram ana.’ 1 Elsewhere the Buddha clearly equates
Conditioned Co-production with the Dharm a and both with himself, saying:
‘ He who sees Conditioned Co-production sees the D harm a; he who sees the
Dharm a sees the Buddha.’ 1
A s interpreted by the gifted early Buddhist nun Dham madinnâ, whose
views were fully endorsed by the Buddha with the remark that he had nothing
further to add to them, the doctrine o f Conditioned Co-production represents
an all-inclusive reality that admits o f two different trends o f things in the whole
ofexistence. In one of them the reaction lakes place in a cyclical order between
two opposites, such as pleasure and pain, virtue and vice, good and evil. In
the other the reaction takes place in a progressive order.between two counter­
parts or complements, or between two things o f the same genus, the succeed­
ing factor augmenting the effect o f .the preceding one. The Samsara or Round
o f Conditioned Existence represents the first trend. Herein, as depicted by the
‘ Wheel o f L ife ’, sentient beings under the influence o f craving, hatred, and
. bewilderment revolve as gods, men, demons (asuras), animals, ghosts {prêtas'),
and denizens o f hell in accordance with the law o f karma, and experience
pleasure and pain.
The process is ’set forth Briefly in the first and second o f the F ou r A ryan
Truths, the Truth o f Suffering and the Truth o f the Origin o f Suffering, and at
length in the full list o f twelve nidânas or links, which is often, though
wrongly, regarded as exhausting the entire content o f Conditioned C o ­
production. Conditioned by spiritual ignorance (avidyS) arise the karm a-
formations (samskâra); conditioned by the karma-formations arises con­
sciousness (vi/nana); conditioned by consciousness arises name-and-form

1 ‘ Y e d h arru â h e tu p ra b h a v à h etu m tesh â m ta th à g a la h h y a v a d a t, T e s h à m c a y o n ir o d h a

'e v a m v â d i m a h à ir a m a n a h .’
l ‘ Y a h p ra tity a s a m u tp â d a m p a éy a ti s a d h a rm a n i p a s y a li; y o d h a rm a m p a S ya ti s o B u d -
d h a m p a iy a t i.’
86 Buddhism

(nàma-rûpa); conditioned by name-and-form arise the six sense-fields (shadây-

atana) ; conditioned by the six sense-fields arises contact (sparìa) ; conditioned
by contact arises feeling (vedano) ; conditioned by feeling arises thirst (trishna) ;
conditioned by thirst arises grasping (upâdâna); conditioned by grasping
arises ‘ becoming’ (bhâva)’, conditioned by ‘becoming’ arises birth (jaii); and
conditioned by birth arises decay-and-death (jarâmarana), with sorrow,
lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. These twelve links are distributed over
three lifetimes, the first two belonging to the past life, the middle eight to the
present, and the last two to the future.
The Path to Deliverance and N irvâna together represent the second trend,
N irvana being not only a counter-process o f cessation o f the cyclic order o f
existence (i.e. the twelve links in reverse order) but the furthest discernible
point o f the progressive one. Th is process is set forth briefly in the third and
fourth Aryan Truths, the Truth o f the Cessation o f Suffering ( = Nirvana) and
the Truth o f the W ay Leading to the Cessation o f Suffering, as well as at
length in another set o f twelve links which is continuous with the first one in
the same way that a spiral winds out o f a circle. Conditioned by suffering
(duhkha, the ‘ decay-and-death’ o f the first list) arises faith (sraddhâ); condi­
tioned by faith arises delight (pramodya) ; conditioned by delight arises jo y
(priti); conditioned by jo y arises serenity (prasrabdhi); conditioned by sere­
nity arises bliss (sukha) ; conditioned by bliss arises concentration (samâdhi);
conditioned by concentration arises knowledge and vision o f things as they
really are (yathâbhüta-jnânadarSana); conditioned by knowledge and vision o f
things as they really are arises disgust (niroid, nirveda); conditioned by disgust
arises dispassion (virago) ; conditioned by dispassion arises liberation (vimukti) ;
and conditioned by liberation arises knowledge o f the destruction o f the in­
toxicants (âsravakshaya-jnâna). T h e whole process can be experienced within a
single lifetime. The Path is-usually formulated, however, not in terms o f the
twelve ‘ higher’ links but in various other ways, such as the Three Trainings
(trisiksha), or M orality (iila), M editation (samâdhi), and W isdom (prajna)\
the A ryan Eightfold Path ; and the Six or Ten Perfections (Pâramita). Despite
the fact that the connection o f these formulations with the doctrine o f C on ­
ditioned Co-production is often lost sight of, the fact that the Path is essenti­
ally a sequence o f progressively higher m ental and spiritual states, and that the
practice o f the Dharm a consists above all in the cultivation o f these states, is
in all o f them made sufficiently clear for practical purposes.
A s the doctrine o f Conditioned Co-production is not a theory o f causation
in the philosophical sense, there is no question o f whether, in the case o f either
the Round or the Path, the succeeding link is identical with the preceding one
or different from it. T^he Buddhist position is simply that conditioned by, or
in dependence on A , .there arises B. T o say either that A and B are identical,
or that they are different, is an extreme view, leading in one case to eternalism
(iâivatavâda) and in the other to nihilism (ucchedavâda). For Buddhism neither
the category o f being nor the category o f non-being possesses ultimate validity.
The Dharm a is the Mean. A s applied to the process o f Conditioned C o ­
production this signifies that the one w h o is reborn and the one who died, and
the one who gains Enlightenment and the one who followed the Path, are in
reality neither the same nor different persons. Rebirth takes place but nobody
 Buddhism 87
is reborn; N irvana is attained, but nobody attains it. Thus the doctrine o f
Conditioned Co-production involves that o f miâtmâ or no-self.

THE SA N G H A

;>:The last o f the three Refuges is the Sangha. In its prim ary sense this means
the 'Ârya-Sangha, or Assem bly o f the Elect, consisting o f all those w ho have
succeeded in traversing at least that stage o f the Path whence retrogression
into the Round for more than seven karm a-resultant births is impossible.
Such are the Stream-Entrants, the Once-Returners, the N on-Returners, the
irritants, and the Bodhisattvas.
j^Even as the Buddha is sym bolized by the sacred icon and the D harm a by the
handwritten or printed volumes o f the Scriptures, so the À ry a Sangha is re­
presented, for practical purposes, by the Bhiksh.u-Sangha or Order o f M onks.
This great institution, w hich with the possible exception o f its Jain counter­
part is the oldest surviving religious order in the world, cam e into existence
within a few months o f the Buddha's Enlightenment. It consisted— and
ideally still consists— o f those o f the Buddha’s followers w ho, having re­
nounced the household life, devote the whole o f their time and all their
energies.to the realization o f N irvana. L ike the D harm a, the Sangha passed
through various stages o f development. A t first, during the early lifetime o f
the Founder, the Sâkyaputra sramanas, as they were called, remained ou t­
wardly indistinguishable from the other religious fraternities o f the time.
W hat in fact set them apart was the special D harm a they professed. They, too,
were o f eleemosynary and. eremitical habit, assembled twice a m onth on the
days o f the full moon and new m oon, were o f fixed residence during the
rains, and so on. The second period o f developm ent m ay have started before
the Parinirvâna. It saw the com pilation o f a Rule o f 150 articles known as the
Pratimoksha, the recitation o f whichreplaced the original chanting o f D harm a-
stanzas at the fortnightly assemblies. Finally, the Sangha becam e coenobitical,
whereupon the primitive undivided ‘Bhikshu-Sangha o f the F ou r Q uarters’
split up into a number o f virtually autonom ous local communities, and the
Pratimoksha had to be supplemented b y the Skandhakas or com plete insti­
tutes o f coenobitical monasticism. A ll these developments occurred within the
space o f about tw o centuries. Pratim oksha and Skandhakas together con ­
stitute the Vinaya, a term originally connoting simply the practical or dis­
ciplinary aspect o f the Dharm a.
-[...Parallel with the Bhikshu-Sangha there developed the Bhikshuni-Sangha or
Order o f N uns. But according to the tradition the Buddha was reluctant to
allow women to go forth into the homeless life and, in the history o f Indian
Buddhism a t least, the Bhikshuni-Sangha plays an insignificant part,
x. In a more general sense the Sangha comprises the. entire Buddhist com ­
munity, sanctified and unsanctified, the professed religieux and Jhe lay de­
votees, men and women. A s such it is sometimes know n as the Mahdsangha
or ‘ G reat A ssem bly’ . L ay devotees (upâsakas and upâsikâs) are those who go
for refuge to the Three Jewels, worship the relics o f the Buddha, ’observe the
Five Precepts o f ethical behaviour, and support the monks.
The growth o f coenobitical monasticism naturally encouraged the de­
velopment within the Sangha o f different regional traditions which, after
 88 Buddhism

being consolidated into distinct versions o f the D harm a, eventually emerged

as independent sects. T hus a century or more after the Parinirvàna tensions
arose between the monks o f the east and the m onks o f the west; and the
Mahàsanghikas, w ho were m ore sympathetic to the spiritual needs o f the laity,
seceded from the SthavirauSdins (more commonly know n as Theravâdins, the
P âli form o f the name) w ho tended to interpret the Dharm a in exclusively
m onastic terms. This was the first form al schism within the Sangha. D uring
the century that followed the Sthaviravàdins subdivided twice. First came the
■
schism o f the Pudgalaoâdins, w ho believed in the existence o f the person as a
real absolute fact; then that o f the Sarvàstivâdins, w ho asserted the real
existence o f the ultimate elements o f experience (dharma) throughout the
three periods o f time. In this w ay there had arisen, by the time o f Asoka, four
independent monastic corporations, each with its own centres, its own
ordination-lineage, its own orally transmitted version o f the D harm a, its own
distinctive tenets, and its ow n peculiarities o f outward observance. Together
with their respective sub-divisions, the four m ake up the so-called ‘ Eighteen
S ects’ (actually there were m any more) o f early Buddhism.
In contradistinction to the Mahâyâna, ‘ T he Great V ehicle’, the seeds o f
which were transmitted by the M ahàsanghikas and their offshoots, all the
other sects, but especially the Sarvàstivâdins, were retrospectively designated
the Hlnayàna, ‘ The Inferior Vehicle*.

T H E O R A L T R A D IT IO N
It is well know n that the Buddha him self w rote nothing. Spiritual influence
and personal example apart, his teaching was communicated entirely by oral
means, through discourses to, and discussions with, his disciples and members
o f the public, as w ell as through inspired spontaneous utterance. W hile we do
not definitely know what language he spoke, it w ould appear that he rejected
the more ‘ classical’ Sanskrit in favour o f the vernacular, especially the
dialects o f K oéala and M agadha. W hen two m onks ‘ o f cultivated language
and eloquent speech’ com plained that m onks o f various names, clan-names,
and races (or castes) were corrupting the Buddha’ s message b y repeating it in
their own dialects, and asked for permission to put it into V edic verse he
firmly rejected their petition. ‘ Deluded m en !’, he exclaimed, ‘ H ow can you
say this? This will not lead to the conversion o f the unconverted’. And he
delivered a sermon and com m anded all the m onks: ‘Y o u are not to put the
B uddha’s message into Vedic. W hoever does so shall be guilty o f an.oflence.
I authorize you, monks, to learn (and teach) the Buddha’s message each in his
ow n dialect (sakkâya nirutliya).’ 4 In order to impress his teaching upon the
minds o f his auditors, as well as to facilitate its dissemination, he moreover
had recourse to the repetition o f key words aud phrases, the drawing up o f
numbered lists o f terms, and other m nem onic devices.
A ll these facts are o f far-reaching consequence. In the first place, the
D harm a having been orally taught, there intervened between the Parinirvàna
o f the Buddha and the com m itting o f his teaching to writing a period o f oral
transmission .lasting two or three centuries in the case o f some scriptures, and

4 Vinaya Pi/aka, ii.139.1 ff.

 Buddhism 89
much longer in the case o f others. Then the fact .that the m onks had been
authorized to learn and teach the Buddha’s message in their ow n dialects meant
that the Dharm a was from the beginning extant in a number o f linguistic form s,
so that, when finally it did com e to be written down, this was done not in one
language only but in many. Thus, it is said, the C anon o f the M ahàsanghikas
was in Prâkrit, that o f the Sthaviravàdins in Paisàcf, that o f the Pudgalavàdins
it] Apabhram sa, and that o f the Sarvâstivâdins in Sanskrit.
•; Hence when Buddhism spread outside India it came about that the
Scriptures were translated into the language o f those countries where the
message was preached, into Chinese, Tibetan, Uighur, and so on. A t no time,
not even when Buddhism was confined to north-eastern India, was there any
one.canonical language fo r all Buddhists. The attempts made by some writers
to present Pâli as such are mistaken. T h e word pàli, meaning a line o f the
sacred text, is in fact not the name o f a language at all, and the ‘ P â li’ C anon
ç f Ceylon is probably a M iddle Indie recension o f a version o f the Tripitaka
originating in western India. The historical accident o f its being the only
Indian canon to have survived complete in the original language should not
cause us to overestimate its importance, much less still to regard its excellent
but selective contents as the sole criterion o f what is and what is not Buddhism.
Finally, when the oral tradition was reduced to writing, the m nemonic de­
vices employed by the Buddha and his disciples for the transmission o f the
D harm a were responsible for giving the Scriptures as literary documents cer­
tain distinctive characteristics.

THE CANONICAL LITERATURE

ijiW ith the exception o f the Pâli Canon, the actual writing down o f w hich too k
p|ace in Ceylon, and certain M ahâyâna sütras that may have been com posed
in Central A sia or even in China, the canonical literature o f Buddhism is o f
exclusively Indian provenance. W here, when, and in what circumstances the
thousands o f individual texts o f which it consists were first committed to writ­
in g is in most cases unknown. A ll that can be affirmed with certainty is that
ithe. canonical literature cam e into existence over a period o f roughly a
thousand years, from the first to the tenth century o f the Christian era, as a
series o f deposits from the oral tradition, the tendency apparently being for the
m ore exoteric teachings to be committed to writing before the m ore esoteric
ones. Even during the period o f oral tradition the complete words o f the
•Buddha were referred to as the Tripitaka, the three ‘ baskets’ or collections o f
the Buddha’s words. These three are the Viitaya Pitaka, the Sutra Pìtaka, and
the Abhidharma Pitaka. Together with the Tantras they make up the four chief
divisions o f the canonical writings.
The word viitaya, meaning ‘ that which leads aw ay from (evil)’ , stands for
the practical or disciplinary aspect o f Buddhism, and the Viitaya Pitaka com -
iprises the Collection o f (M onastic) Discipline. In the form in which it is now
extant it consists essentially o f tw o parts, the Vittaya-vibhanga and the
yim ya-vastu, together with historical and catechetical supplements. The
yirtaya-vibhanga or ‘ Exposition o f the V in aya’ contains the Prâtinioksha-
siitra in 150 articles and its commentary the Sùtra-vibhanga, one w ork being
embedded in the other. W hile the former embodies the various categories o f
 90 Buddhism

rules binding upon members o f the eremitical Sangha, the latter gives a word-
for-word explanation o f each rule and narrates the circumstances in which it
cam e to be promulgated. T he Vinaya-vastu contains the Skandhakas or ‘ T he
C hapters’, o f which there are seventeen or more according to the individual
recension. These comprise the complete institutes o f coenobitical monastic-
ism, and deal with such topics as ordination, the Poshadha or fortnightly
meeting, the rains residence, medicine and food, robes, dwellings, and schism.
Inter alia the Vinaya Pitaka records not only the régula o f the monastic life
but also, in the words o f the pioneer scholar Csom a de K orôs, ‘ the manners,
customs, opinions, knowledge, ignorance, superstition, hopes, and fears o f a
great part o f A sia especially o f India in former ages’ .5 Together with the
Sütra Pitaka it is one o f our richest sources o f information on the civilization
and culture, the history, geography, sociology, and religion o fln d ia at about
the time o f the Buddha. In the Buddhist world there are now extant seven
complete recensions o f this collection, one in Pâli and six from Sanskrit.
These are essentially alternative arrangements o f the same basic material and
differ mainly in the extent to which non-monastic matter has been incorpor­
ated. The existence, however, o f the Mahâuastu Avadâna, a bulky V inaya work
o f the Lokottarauadins (a sub-sect o f the Mahâsanghikas) which is not a dis­
ciplinary work at all but a life o f the Buddha in which numerous legends have
been inserted, suggests that the original nucleus o f the V inaya was a primitive
biography o f the Buddha in which the monastic elements themselves were a
later, though still very early, interpolation.
The sütra, literally a thread, and hence by extension o f meaning the ' thread ’
o f discourse connecting a number o f topics, is perhaps the m ost important
and characteristic o f all Buddhist literary genres. It is essentially a religious
discourse delivered by the Buddha as it were ex cathedra to one or more dis­
ciples, -whether members o f the Sangha, Bodhisattvas, lay devotees, ordinary
people, or gods. The Sütra Pitaka is thus the Collection o f Discourses, and
constitutes the principal source o f our knowledge o f the Dharm a. Som e dis­
courses are either partly òr w holly in dialogue form . Others are delivered not
by the Buddha but by disciples speaking either with his approval or under his
inspiration. B roadly speaking the Sutras belong to two groups, Hinaiyâna and
M ahâyâna, the latter being those discourses which were not recognized as
authentic by the followers o f the Hînayâna schools, though the converse Was
not the case. Thé Hinayâna sûtras comprise fou r great collections known as
Âgamas in Sanskrit and Nikâyas in Pâli. The Dîrghâgama (Digita Nikâya) or
‘ L o n g ’ collection còntains, as its name suggests, the lengthy discourses, thirty
in number, while the Madhyamâgama (Majjhima Nikâya) or ‘ M id d le’ collec­
tion contains those o f medium length, o f which there are about five times as
m any. These collections are the m ost important. T h e Samyuktâgama (Samyut-
ta .Nikâya) or ‘ G rouped’ collection contains some thousands o f very short
sûtras arranged accbrding to subject, and the Ekottarâgama (Aftguttara Nikâya)
or ‘ N um erical’ collection a similar number o f texts arranged according to the
progressive numerical value o f the terms and topics dealt with. Both collec­
tions draw partly on the first two Âgam as and partly from original, sometimes
extremely ancient, sources. T h e Pàli Canon also contains a Klutddaka Nikâya
’ Quoted A . C . Banerjee, Saroâstivâda Literature, Calcutta, 1957, p. 79.
 Buddhism 91
òr ‘ M in o r’ collection, consisting o f works such as the Dhammapada, the
Thera- and Theri-gâthâ, and the Jâ takas, which are found in Sanskrit, either
elsewhere in the Canon, mostly in the Vinaya Pitaka, or outside it as inde­
pendent quasi-canonical works.
•■ The M ahâyâna sûtras are distributed into six great collections, the first five
ó f which represent natural divisions, while the last consists o f miscellaneous
independent works. First comes the group o f Prajnâpâramitâ or ‘ Perfection o f
W isdom ’ sûtras, o f which there are more than thirty, ranging in length from
Some thousands o f pages to' a few lines. T heir principal subject-matter is
Sfmyata or Voidness, and the Bodhisattva as the practitioner o f Voidness, and
they are am ong the profoundest spiritual documents know n to mankind. The
Vajracchedikâ, popularly known as the ‘ D iam ond Sütra’ , form s one o f the
shorter texts in this class. The Avatamsaka or ‘ Flow er-O m am ent’ group con­
sists principally o f three enormous and com plex discourses o f that name, one
o f which, also known as the Gandavyttha or ‘ W orld -A rray’ Sutra, describes
the spiritual pilgrimage o f the youth Sudhana, w ho in his search for Enlighten­
ment visits more than fifty teachers. In a boldly im aginative manner it ex­
pounds the mutual interpenetration o f all phenomena. T h e Dasabhümika
Sütra, dealing with the ten stages o f the Bodhisattva’s career, also belongs to
this group. T he Ratnaküta and Mahâsamipâta groups are both made up o f
much shorter sutras, the former including such valuable and historically im ­
portant works as the Vimalakirti-nirdeJa or ‘ Exposition o f Vim alaklrti ’ and
the longer Sukhâvati-vyûha or ‘ A rray o f the H appy Land*. A s its name sug­
gests, the N irvana or Parinirvàna group deals w ith the Buddha’s last days and
his final admonitions to his disciples. The sixth and last group, that o f the m is­
cellaneous independent works, includes some o f the m ost im portant and in­
fluential o f all M ahâyâna sûtras. A m on g them are the grandiose Saddharma-
ptindarika or ‘‘W hite Lotus o f the G o o d L a w ’, which presents in dram atic and
parabolic form the main truths o f the M ahâyâna, the Lankâoatâra, an un­
systematic exposition o f the doctrine o f M ind-Only, and the shorter Sukhâ-.
mtî-vyûha, in which is taught salvation by faith in Am itàbha, the Buddha o f
Infinite Light. .
Abhidharma means ‘ about D h arm a’ , though traditionally the term was
often interpreted as ‘ higher D h arm a’ in the sense o f a philosophically more
exact exposition o f the Teaching. The Abhidharma Pitaka is a collection o f
highly scholastic treatises which annotate and explain the texts o f the Sütra
Pitaka, define technical terms, arrange numerically-clàssified doctrines in
order, give a systematic philosophical exposition o f the teaching, and estab­
lish a consistent method o f spiritual practice. A b ove all, they interpret the
Dharma in terms o f strict pluralistic realism and w ork out an elaborate
philosophy o f relations. T w o different Abhidharma Pitakas have com e down
to us, one compiled by the Theravàdins and one by the Sarvàstivâdins. Each
contains seven treatises which, though covering similar ground in a similar
manner, are really two independent sets o f works.
A m on g the Theravâda treatises the most im portant are the Dhamma-
sangani or ‘ Enum eration o f (Ultimate) Elem ents’ ahd.the gigantic Patthâna
ór ‘ (Book o f) O rigination’. The most im portant SatVâstivâda w ork is the en­
cyclopedic JnUna-prasthana or ‘ Establishment o f Know ledge ’, which is known
92 Buddhism

as the kâya-sâstra or ‘ trunk treatise’, the others being the pada-iàstras or

‘ lim bs’ . According to Theravâda tradition the AbhidharmaPitaka is canonical
inasm uch as, though the details are the w ork o f disciples, the iw trikas or
‘ matrices o f discourse’ were laid down in advance by the Buddha. Sarvâsti-
vâda tradition ascribes the treatises to individual authors. The philosophical
writings o f the great M ahâyâna sages, such as N âgârjuna and A saoga, which
stand in the same relation to the M ahâyâna sütras as the Abhidharm a
treatises do to their H lnayàna counterparts, are sometimes referred to as the
Mahâyâna Abhidharma; but, although immensely authoritative, they were
never collected into a Pi/aka.
T h e Tantras are the m ost esoteric o f the canonical texts. T he word itself,
derived from a root meaning ‘ to spread’ , is applied to a variety o f treatises,
and affords no clue to the contents o f these works. While resembling the
sütras in literary form, they differ from them in dealing with ritual and yoga
rather than with ethics and philosophy and in being unintelligible without the
traditional commentary. M oreover, the techniques they prescribe can be
practised only when, through the rite o f abhiseka or ‘ aspersion’ , the requisite
spiritual power has been transmitted to the disciple by a spiritual master in
the succession. H ow many Tantras were originally published it is impossible
to say. Standard editions o f the Tibetan Kanjur contain twenty-two huge
xylograph volumes o f these works, to which must be added twenty-five
volumes o f so-called Nyingmapa Tantras. Some Tantras exist in various de­
grees o f expansion and contraction, each set o f süch recensions making up
a com plete Tantric Cycle, the publication o f which is associated with the
nam e o f a particular Siddha or ‘ Perfect O n e’ .
T h e greater part o f this enormous literature is now available only in transla­
tion, the principal collections being the Imperial Chinese Tripitaka and the
T ibetan Kanjur or ‘ Translated W ord [o f the B uddh a]’. W ithin the last hun­
dred years, however, a number o f Sanskrit Buddhist texts, both canonical and
non-canonical, have com e to light in G ilgit (Pakistan) and been recovered
from the sands o f Central A sia. W hile the value o f the Buddhist canonical
literature will always be primarily spiritual, much o f it provides, at the same
time, a.useful corrective to any view o f the social, cultural, and religious his­
tory o f India derived exclusively from brâhmanical sources.

PHASES OF D E V E L O P M E N T

From the Parinirvàna o f the Buddha .to the sack o f Nàlandâ (c. 1197)
Indian Buddhism passed through three great phases o f development, tradi­
tionally known as the H lnayàna, the M ahâyâna, and the Yajrayâna, each with
its own characteristics and its own spiritual ideals. These phases were not
m utually exclusive. The earlier yânas, besides continuing to exist as inde­
pendent schools, were also incorporated in the later ones and regarded as
constituting, with modifications, their indispensable theoretical and practical
foundation.
Th e Hlnayàna, ‘ Little V eh icle’ or ‘ Lower W a y ’, was so called ,b y the
M ahâyanists because it teaches the attainment o f salvation for oneself alone.
It is predom inantly cthico-psychological in character and its spiritual ideal is
 Buddhism 93
embodied in the austere figure o f the Arhant, a person in whom all craving is
extinct, and who will no more be reborn. While mindfulness, self-control,
equanimity, detachment, and the rest o f the ascetic virtues are regarded as in­
dispensable, in the final analysis emancipation (moksha) is attained through in­
sight into the transitory (a/iitya) and painful (duhkiia) nature o f conditioned
things, as well as into the non-selfhood (nairâlmyatâ) o f all the elements o f
existence (djiarmas), whether conditioned or unconditioned. This last consists
in the realization that personality is illusory, and that, far from being a sub­
stantial entity, the so-called ‘ I ’ is only the conventional label for a congeries
o f evanescent material and mental processes. A t the price o f complete with­
drawal from all worldly concerns emancipation, or Arhantship, is attainable
in this very birth.
j{.The Hinayâna therefore insists upon the necessity o f the monastic life, with
which, indeed, it tends to identify the spiritual life altogether. T he laity simply
observe the more elementary precepts, worship the-relics o f the Buddha, and
support the monks, by which means merit (punya) is accumulated and rebirth
in heaven assured. As for the difference between Buddha and Arhant, it is
only a matter o f relative priority o f attainment, and o f relative extent o f
supernormal powers. T he most widespread and influential Hïnayâna school
in earlier times was that o f the Sarvâstivâdins, w ho were greatly devoted to
the study and propagation o f the Abhidharm a. T h ey were later also known as
the Vaibhâshikas, the Ifibhâsha being the gigantic commentary on the Jiimia-
prasthâna which had been compiled by the leaders o f the school in K ashm ir
during the first or second century o f the Christian era. The contents o f the
Vibhâsha are systematized and explained in Vasubandhu’s Abhidharma-kosa
or Treasury o f the Abhidharma, a w ork which represents the culmination o f
Hinayâna thought and has exercised enormous historical influence. T he com ­
mentary incorporates Sautrântika views, thus not only bridging the gap
between the Hinayâna and the M ahàyâna but paving the way for V asuban­
dhu’s own conversion to the latter yâita.
The M ahâyâna, literally ‘ G reat V eh icle’ or 'G re a t W a y ’, is so called be­
cause it teaches the salvation o f all. Predominantly devotional and meta­
physical in character, its ideal is the Bodhisattva, the heroic being who,
^practising the six or ten Perfections (pôramità) throughout thousands o f lives,
:aspires to the attainment o f Buddhahood for the sake o f all sentient beings.
^Perspectives infinitely vaster than those o f the Hinayâna arc here disclosed.
T h e earlier vehicle is regarded by the M ahâyânists not as wrong but'only as
inadequate, the provisional rather than the final teaching, given out by the
Buddha to disciples o f inferior calibre whom a sudden revelation o f the trans­
cendent glories o f the M ahâyâna might have stupefied rather than enlightened.
■• In the M ahâyâna Arhantship, far from being the highest achievement, is
only a stage o f the path; the true goal is Supreme Buddhahood. This is
-achieved not merely by piercing the gross veil o f passions (klesâvarana) by in­
sight into the non-selfhood o f the person (pudgala-nairàtmya) but, in addition,
by piercing the subtle veil o f cognizable objects (Jneyâvarana) by the realiza­
tion that the so-called ultimate elements o f which, according to.the Hinayâna,
the person consists, are only mental constructs and, therefore, themselves de­
void o f selfhood (dharma-nairâtmya) and unreal. In this radical manner the
94 Buddhism

M ahâyâna reduces all possible objects o f experience, whether internal or ex­

ternal, to the Void (Éûnyatâ), which is not a state o f non-existence or privation
but rather the ineffable non-dual Reality which transcends all apparent oppo­
sitions, such as being and non-being, self and others, Samsara and N irvana.
Expressed in more positive terms, all things exist in a state o f suchness or
thusness (tathatâ) and, since this is one suchness, also in a state o f sameness
(,samatâ). I
On the mundane level, the polarity o f the Sangha anti the layfolk represents
a socio-ecclesiastical rather than a spiritual division, all followers o f,th e
Buddha being united through their com m on devotion to the Bodhisattva
ideal. Faith, as a means o f attaining Enlightenment, ranks co-ordinate with
W isdom . The Buddha is regarded not only as an enlightened being but also as
the embodiment o f the T ruth and Reality behind the universe. Besides being
endowed with three Bodies (trikâya), -the Dharmakâya or B od y o f Truth, the
Sambhogakâya or B ody o f Reciprocal Enjoyment, and the Nirmanakaya or
Created Body, corresponding to the absolute, the celestial, and the mundane
planes o f existence, he has various Forms and attributes. These are the different
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, such as Am itâbba, the Buddha o f Infinite Light,
and ManjuSri, AvalokiteSvara, and Vajrapàni, the Bodhisattvas o f W isdom ,
Com passion, and Pow er respectively, around each o f whom there centres a
popular cult.
In the field o f philosophy the M ahâyâna is represented by the two great
schools o f the Madhyamikas and the Yogâcârins, the first foupded (or rather
systematized) by N âgàrjuna (c. 1 5 0 a . d . ) and the second by Asanga (c. 400A . D . ) .
B oth are based primarily on the doctrine o f Éûnyatâ as taught in the Perfection
o f W isdom sûtras; but there are im portant differences o f approach which give
to each their special character. T h e M adhyam ikas or followers o f the M ean
emphasize W isdom , and their method is dialectical. They reduce mind and
matter directly to Éûnyatâ, the truth o f which is revealed by exposing the self­
contradictory nature o f all statements about the Absolute. T he Yogâcârins or
practitioners o f Y o g a , on the other hand, stress M editation, and their ap­
proach is intuitive. They reduce matter to mind and then mind to Éûnyatâ,
•the truth o f which dawns upon the purified consciousness in the depths o f
meditation. In later centuries the two teachings were sometimes regarded as
constituting one continuous'doctrinal system, wherein the Y o gâ câ ra repre­
sented the relative and the M àdhyam ika the absolute truth.
T h e Vajrayâna, the ‘ Diam ond V ehicle' or ‘ Adam antine W a y ’ , is so called
because, like the irresistible vajra, meaning both thunderbolt and diamond, it
immediately annihilates all obstacles to the attainment o f Buddhphood. It is
predominantly yogic and magical in character, and its ideal is the Siddha, ‘ a
man w ho is so muclv in harmony with the cosmos that he is under no con­
straint whatsoever, and as a free agent is able to manipulate the cosm ic forces
both inside and outside him self’ .4 Except that it aims at the realization o f
Éûnyatâ not only mentally but also physically, the Vajrayâna differs from the
M ahâyâna less in respect o f doctrine than in its methods. Its goal is the trans­
mutation o f the bodyj speech, and mind o f the initiate into the Body, Speech

6 E. Conze, A Short History o f Buddhism, Bombay, i960, p. x.

I
 Buddhism 95
and Mind o f the Tatliâgata, that is to say, into the Nirmdnakdya, the Sambho-
gakdya, and the DharmakSya. In the case o f the L ow er Tantra it is believed
'that this transmutation can take place in sixteen lives, and in th a t o f the
Higher Tantra in the space o f one life. Such a tremendous acceleration o f the
nòrinal rate o f spiritual evolution requires not only the concentrated practice
d f various highly esoteric yogic exercises b u t also a special transmission o f
spiritual power from an enlightened guru. F o r this reason the guru occupies in
:ifié Yajrayàna an even more exalted position than in the other yânas, being
ïegârded as the Buddha him self in human guise. V arious form s o f Vajrayàna
■qân;be distinguished. These are not doctrinal schools but lines o f spiritual
ftrânsroission which, so far as the human plane is concerned, originated w ith
iotte or another o f the eighty-four Siddhas, prom inent am ong w hom were
Padmasambhava or Padm âkara and Sarahapâda.
'm
TU B S P IR IT U A L LIFE
3 *,-.
I 1 While the experience o f enlightenment is mstantaneouSj the approach to it
is always gradual. In Buddhism, therefore, the spiritual life consists essentially
fin the follow ing o f a path, the successive steps and stages o f which have been
[carefully mapped out by tradition in accordance w ith the spiritual experience
‘o f the Buddha and his disciples, both immediate and remote. A s temperaments
[and methods o f practice differ, this path can be form ulated in various ways
and the number and order o f its constituent factors determined and described
from various points o f view. Thus it comes about that we have not only the
[Aryan Eightfold Path, and the Path o f the Ten Perfections and Ten Stages—
[two o.f'the best-known formulations— but also the P ath as consisting o f seven
stages o f purification, thirteen ‘ abodes’ (vihdra), fifty-two ydnas, and so on,
the list being practically interminable. W h at we m ay call the architectonic o f
the Path, however, does not vary, ju st as different types o f bridges, built in
accordance with the same principles o f mechanics and fo r the same purpose,
reveal the same basic structure. This architectonic is m ost clearly exhibited in
the formula o f the Three Trainings (Irisikshd), nam ely M orality (i/to), M edita­
tion (samddlii), and W isdom (prajnd), w hich according to one tradition was
the recurrent theme o f the discourses delivered by the Buddha during his last
tcmr, and concerning which he is represented as declaring, ‘ G reat becomes the
fruit, great the advantage o f samddlii, when it is set round with i/to. G reat be­
comes the fruit, great the advantage o f prajnd when it is set round with
samddhi."1
" In its primary sense stia means ‘ behaviour* and in its derived sen se‘ good
behaviour’ . A ll behaviour, good or bad, is the expression, o f a mental attitude.
C espite the formidable lists o f precepts w ith which, ill practice, Buddhist
ethics has tended to become identified, i/to is in the last analysis defined in
fiurely psychological terms as those actions which are associated with whole-
sòine mental states, productive o f good karm a, and dissociated from those
which are unwholesome. W hat constitutes a wholesomé mental state differs
from one ydnn to another; or rather, there is a difference Of emphasis. F o r the
Hînayâna, good actions are those connected with the wholesome mental roots

' Dìgha-Nikàya, ii.Sl ff.

96 Buddhism

o f non-grcod (aloblta), uon-hale (aJcesha), and non-delusion (amoha); for die

M ahâyâna and Vajrayàna, those inspired by love (moitri) and compassion
Ckanmâ) for sentient beings. Bodily and verbal actions being the extensions o f
mental states, these states can be induced by the performance o f the actions,
whether good or bad, self-regarding or altruistic, which are their natural ex­
pression. In this fact lies the importance o f sila as a preparation for samâdhi.
Samddhi or M editation (the translation is approximate only) comprises the
exercises by means o f which the practitioner attains mental concentration and
the superconscious states, as well as these states themselves. It is the heart and
centre o f the Buddhist spiritual life. Broadly speaking, in the Hinayâna the
term samâdhi generally refers to the practice o f the meditation exercises, and
in the M ahâyâna to the spiritual states attained by such practice. Thirty-eight
or forty meditation exercises are enumerated, but in fact there are more.
A m o n g the most popular are the contemplation o f the ten stages o f decom­
position o f a corpse, by means o f which craving (lobha) is destroyed, the cul­
tivation o f loving kindness (maiiri) towards all sentient beings, which destroys
hate (dvesha), and mindfulness o f the bodily movements and the process o f
respiration, which leads to the destruction o f delusion (moha). T he M ahâyâna
m akes use o f the same exercises but combines them with the practice o f
Sünyaiâ. In the Vajrayàna, meditation includes the repetition o f the mantras
o f the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the visualization o f their form s, which,
after being conjured forth from the Voidness, worshipped, and meditated
upon, are resolved back into it again. There are also various exercises which,
by m anipulating the gross energies o f the physical body, aim at activating
their subtle and transcendental counterparts. W hatever the type o f exercise
m ay be, the aim o f it is to attain a state o f purity and translucency o f mind
wherein the Truth can be as it were reflected.
In general prajnâ or W isdom is threefold, as based upon learning (literally
‘ h earing’), upon independent thought and reflection, and upon meditation
(bhâvanâ, that which is mentally developed, or ‘ made to becom e’). Here the
third kind or W isdom proper is to be understood. This mây be described as a
direct, non-conceptual apprehension o f transcendental Reality. For the
H ïnayàna such apprehension arises when things and persons are viewed ex­
clusively in terms o f the dharmas, or ultimate elements o f existence; for the
M ahâyâna, when the dharmas themselves are seen as Süuyalâ. In eithet case,
the result is a permanent disruption o f the web ofJIIusion, resulting in
H inayâna in the attainment o f Arhantship and in M ahâyâna o f Supreme
Buddhahood. W hat, for want o f a better word, we are compelled to term
Buddhist philosophy is, in fact, essentially the conceptual form ulation o f the
non-conceptual content o f Wisdom or Enlightenment. Correctly understood,
the Sarvâstivâda, the Sautrântika, the Y ogàcâra or Vijnânavâda, and the
M àdhyam ika are not rival systems o f thought, one o f which must be true and
the rest false, but expressions on the intellectual plane o f successively more
advanced degrees o f spiritual insight. The technique is for a philosophy per­
taining to a more advanced degree o f insight to utilize the form ulations o f a
less advanced degree in order to undermine its basic assumptions, thus im­
pelling the practitioner to move from a more to a less limited experience o f
Reality.
 h.,

g6 Buddhism & Buddhism 97

/•'; . .
o f non-grced (abbha), uon-hate (adcesha), and non-delusion (amohd)', for the C NIRVANA
M ahâyâna and Vajrayâna, those inspired by love (maitri) and compassion
_. Although the state o f perfection attained by following the Path is said to be
{karunâ) for sentient beings. Bodily and verbal actions being the extensions o f
ineffable, it is referred to in the Scriptures by a bewflderingly rich variety o f
mental states, these states can be induced by the performance o f the actions,
names. The best known o f these in the W est is Nirvûna (Pâli, Nibbaua), from
whether good or bad, self-regarding or altruistic, which are their natural ex­
JkïT’ the root vâ, meaning to blow, and the prefix nir, oqt or off. Hence the tradi-
pression. In this fact lies the importance o f slia as a preparation for samâdhi.
[gSp tional explanations o f N irvana as the 'blow ing o u t’ o f the fires o f greed,
Samâdhi or Meditation (the translation is approximate only) comprises the
g a p hatred, and delusion and as the state wherein the thirst for sensuous ex-
exercises by means o f which the practitioner attains mental concentration and
f ÿ p p ç r ie n c e , for continued existence, and even for non-existence, is altogether
the superconscious states, as welt as these states themselves. It is the heart and
absent. Notwithstanding these etymologies, however, the goal o f Buddhism is
centre o f the Buddhist spiritual life. Broadly speaking, irt the Hînayàna the
I?#1;- far from being a purely negative state, a metaphysical and psychological zero
term samâdhi generally refers to the practice o f the meditation exercises, and
Wherein individuality disappears, as some o f the older Orientalists maintained
in the M ahâyâna to the spiritual states attained by such practice. Thirty-eight
that,the Buddhists believed. W hat does not in reality exist cannot be said to.
or forty meditation exercises are enumerated, but in fact there are more.
cease to exist; all that is extinguished Is the false assumption o f an individual
A m o n g the most popular are the contemplation o f the ten stages o f decom­
being distinct from and independent o f the psychophysical processes o f which
position o f a corpse, by means of which craving (labha) is destroyed, the cul­ ■it is composed.
tivation o f loving kindness (maiiri) towards all sentient beings, which destroys
. .Positive descriptions o f N irvâna are in fact o f no less frequent occurrence in
hate (duesha)i and mindfulness of the bodily movements and the process o f
• the Scriptures than negative ones, though in both cases it must be borne in
respiration, which leads to the destruction o f delusion (moha). The M ahâyâna
[ÿî;/, mind that these are not so much definitions in the logical sense as conceptual
m akes use o f the same exercises but combines them with the practice o f
g f ; -, and verbal signposts pointing in the direction o f a realization which leaves
Éûnyatâ. In the Vajrayâna, meditation includes the repetition o f the mantras
them far behind. N o necessary connection exists between the word ‘ orange’
o f the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the visualization o f their forms, which,
and the fruit o f that name; but one who has been told that it is a golden,
after being conjured forth from the Voidness, worshipped, and meditated
fP A nearly globose fruit belonging to the genus Citrus may be able, with the help
upon, are resolved back into it again. There are also various exercises which,
o f this description, to identify it and experience its unique and indefinable
by m anipulating the gross energies o f the physical hody, aim at activating
; flavour for himself. Psychologically, N irvana is a state o f ahsolute illumina-
their subtle and transcendental counterparts. W hatever the type o f exercise
fev" tion, supreme bliss, infinite love and compassion, unshakable serenity, and
m ay be, the aim o f it is to attain a slate o f purity and translncency o f mind
p j; ■unrestricted spiritual freedom. Ontologically, it is for the Hînayàna an eternal,
wherein the Truth can be as it were reflected.
unchanging, extra-mental spiritual entity, wholly unconnected with the cos-
In general prajnâ or W isdom is threefold, as based upon learning (literally
‘ hearin g’), upon independent thought and reflection, and upon meditation
0
' ?-' mie process, and for the M ahâyâna the Absolute Reality transcending all
& 1: oppositions including that between itself and Samsâra. A s the supreme object
{bhavana, that which is m entally developed, or ‘ made to becom e’). Here the
SfëT o f the spiritual consciousness, or Dharmakâya, it is the embodiment o f Great
third kind or W isdom proper is to be understood. This m ây be described as a
ìk fJ Wisdom and Great Compassion and embraces all possible virtues and per-
direct, non-conceptual apprehension o f transcendental Reality. For the
fections. It is the Infinite Light (Àmitâbha) and the Boundless Life (Amitayus),
H înayàna such apprehension arises when things and persons are viewed ex­
f p ij -which has nothing to do with personal immortality,
clusively in terms o f the dharmas, or ultimate elements o f existence; for the
M ahâyâna, when the dharmas themselves are seen as Sünyatâ, In eithef case, | | È ÿ j :S O C l À L A N D P O L I T I C A L I D E A L S
the result is a permanent disruption o f the web oR illusion, resulting in
H înayàna in the attainment o f Arhantship and in M ahâyâna o f Supreme flip ç A s a teaching aiming at the experience o f Enlightenment, Buddhism has no
Buddhahood. W hat, for want of a better word, we are compelled to term -direct concern with the collective life o f man on the social and political level.
Buddhist philosophy is, in fact, essentially the conceptual form ulation o fth e It-does not tell its followers how many wives they may have or what form o f
non-conceptual content o f W isdom or Enlightenment. Correctly understood, government they should support, A t the same time, as the existence o f the
the Sarvâstivàda, the Sautrântika, the Yogâcâra or Vijnânavâda, and the iiP T monastic order indicates, external conditions are not altogether irrelevant to
M àdbyam tka are not rival systems o f thought, one o f which must be.true and I p p the development o f the wholesome mental attitudes on which the experience
the rest false, but expressions on the intellectual plane o f successively more g p P o f Enlightenment depends. A minimum o f social and political teachings is,
advanced degrees o f spiritual insight. The technique is for a philosophy per­ ¥£;(/’ therefore, scaftered'here and there throughóut Ih& Tripitaka. That, notwith-
taining to a more advanced degree o f insight to utilize the form ulations o f a f P C standing the example o f Aéoka, they were never taken up and systematically
less advanced degree in order to undermine its basic assumptions, thus im­ - developed in India is perhaps due to the predominantly philosophical and
pelling the practitioner to move from a more to a less limited experience of tepV other-worldly tendency o f the,.Indian Buddhist mind,
;'Y •• Matters o f everyday social ethics apart, the social teachings o f Buddhism
Reality.
98 Buddhism

concentrate upon two vitally important issues: caste and means o f livelihood.
The Buddha rejected the system o f hereditary caste. A man’s position in
society, he maintained, is determined not by birth (Jâtï) but by worth, by con­
duct (charcma), and by character (charitra) rather than by descent. Brâhmani-
cal pretensions to hereditary holiness were therefore dismissed with ridicule,
and membership o f the Buddhist community, whether as m onks or lay de­
votees, was thrown open to all who too k refuge in the Three Jewels and were
prepared to observe the Sila appropriate to their vocation. Means o f livelihood
(âjiva) are o f two kinds, right (samyak) and wrong (milhya). T h e Buddha re­
fused to concede that a man’s life could be compartmentalized, with his pro­
fessional conduct governed by one set o f standards and his private life by
another, or that the form er constituted a neutral field to which ethical con­
siderations need not apply. H e went so far, indeed, as to prohibit essentially
unethical occupations, such as those o f the butcher, the dealer in poisons, and
the weapon-maker, and to make R ight Means o f Livelihood (samyak-âjiva)
the fifth member o f the A ryan Eightfold Path.
In the sphere o f politics Buddhism holds that the government should pro­
m ote the welfare o f the people (not excluding animals) by all possible means.
Religion is to be made the basis o f national life. In particular, m orality is to
be encouraged and the Sangha supported. This simple but sublime ideal finds
picturesque embodiment in the figure o f the Chakravarti-râja or Dharmarâja
(the latter representing, perhaps, the m ost distinctly Buddhist phase o f the
conception) as described, for example, in the Mahâsudassana Suttanta} H is­
torically speaking, it receives splendid exemplification in the person o f ASoka,
who in his Thirteenth R o ck Edict renounces war and proclaims the ideal o f
dharma-vijaya or victory through righteousness, as well as being cultivated
with varying degrees o f success by some later rulers, both Indian and non-
Indian, who strove to emulate the m ost illustrious o f the M auryas.
D E C L IN E A N D R E V IV A L

T he reason for the decline and alleged disappearance o f Buddhism in the

land o f its birth is a problem that has perplexed historians ever since it became
the object o f scientific study and research. T h e key to the solution lies in the
relation o f the religion to w hat is now popularly known as Hinduism. Both
systems were tolerant to a degree which to the exclusive monotheisms o f the
W est and the M iddle East seems incredible, and neither hesitated to borrow
from the other what was required fo r its own development. Poetic genius
needs a language as its medium o f expression; but by being used in this way
the character o f the language itself is modified. Thus Buddhism, though at the
beginning it had perforce to communicate its unique message in terms o f the
current ethnic religious culture, at the same time charged that culture with
part o f its own more spiritual meaning. Or, to change the m etaphor, while
Buddhism put some o f its new wine into the old bottles, Hinduism redesigned
its bottles the better to accom m odate and preserve the new wine. T he result
was that i f Buddhism appropriated the forms o f Hinduism, Hinduism assi­
milated something o f the spirit o f Buddhism.
A fter fifteen centuries o f mutual interaction the existence o f a Sangha in
' Diglia-NjkSya, Sulla 17.
 Buddhism 99
large centres o f monastic learning remained the chief discernible difference
between the two religions. When these centres— N âlandâ, Vikram asïla,
Odantapurl, and others— were destroyed by the fury o f the M uslim invader,
and the native kings w ho might have sponsored their restoration were re­
placed by rulers with an uncompromising and alien faith, Buddhism quietly
disappeared. There is no evidence whatever o f a deterioration o f spiritual life
in the monasteries, much less still o f a collapse o f m orality, as some have
maintained. T h e suggestion that the disappearance o f Buddhism was som e­
how connected with the introduction o f/ T a n trism ’ (i.e. the V ajrayana) not
only involves the grossest misunderstanding o f this form o f Buddhism but also
fails to explain w hy Hinduism, which had also developed a Tantric aspect,
failed to disappear too.
" M odern Buddhist revival in India began about a hundred years ago with
M ahâvîr Swâmï, an Indian M utiny veteran w ho, after receiving higher
ordination in Burma, settled at KuSinagara, the place o f the Buddha’s
Parinirvâna. Only towards the end o f the century, however, with the inter­
position o f other factors, was real mom entum gained. A fter being awakened
b y the pioneer w ork o f Western Orientalists, historians, and archaeologists,
interest in the cultural and religious achievements o f the long-forgotten faith
was stimulated by the resurgence o f national feeling and reinforced by the
missionary endeavours o f Buddhists from other Asian countries. In 1891
Anâgârika Dhajrmapâla, a Sinhalese, founded the M ahà Bodhi Society o f
India,, which e^er since itsinception has worked fo r the revival o f Buddhism
in the land o f its birth. D uring the first h alf o f the present century appreciation
o f the importance o f Buddhism for the history o f Indian religion and culture
became fairly general am ong the educated classes, from them percolating
down here and there among the masses. T his appreciation was signalized
When, upon the attainment o f Independence in 1947, the A éok a Chakra was
inscribed upon the Indian national flag. Shortly aftenvards, the relics o f the
Àrhants Sariputra and M audgalyâyana, ch ief disciples o f the Buddha, which
for nearly a century had lain in the V ictoria and A lbert Museum, London,
were at the instance o f the Mahâ Bodhi Society restored to India and made a
triumphal progress throughout the land. In 1956-7, the 2,500th anniversary o f
the Buddha’s Parinirvâna, according to the Theravàda tradition, was cele­
brated on a nation-wide scale. The.year 1959 saw the flight o f the D alai Lam a
from Tibet to India and the influx o f about 50,000 Tibetan refugees, am ong
them more than a thousand monks. From the point o f view o f Buddhist re­
vival, however, the m ost decisive and far-reaching pvent o f modern times
òccurred when the late D r. B. R . Am bedkar, the U ntouchable leader, em­
braced Buddhism at N agpur on 14 O ctober 1966 along w ith half a m illion
followers. Despite his untimely death a few weeks later the m ovem ent o f mass
conversion among the Untouchables snowballed to such an extent that where­
as the Census o f 1951 returned 181,000 Buddhists for India, that o f 1961 re­
corded 3,250,000, the greatest gains having been m ade in M aharashtra. W ith
this great upheaval, Buddhism may truly be said to have revived in India and
from beine ‘ the cherished dream o f a few ’ to have become once more ‘ the
C H A P T E R IX

Jainism
by A . N . U p a d h y e

J a in ism is essentially an Indian religion and it is still a living faith in some parts
o f the country. T h e number o f its followers is just over two m illion. Its con­
tribution to the Indian heritage is more significant than might be expected for
its numerical strength. A s an institutionalized religion, it has held its ground
all along. It has sometimes enjoyed royal patronage, and it has produced
w orthy m onks and laymen o f whom any society could be proud. T he Jaina
contributions to Indian art and architecture, to the preservation and enrich­
ment o f Indian literature, and to the cultivation o f languages, both Aryan and
D ravidian, are praiseworthy. Lastly, the religious instincts inculcated by
Jainism have left an abiding impression on many aspects o f Indian life.
The origins o f Jainism go b ack to prehistoric times. They are to be sought
in the fertile valley o f the G anga where there throve in the past, even before
the advent o f the A ryans with their priestly religion, a society o f recluses who
laid much stress on individual exertion, on the practice o f a code o f morality,
and on devotion to austerities, sometimes o f a severe type, as a means o f
attaining the religious summum bomim. These recluses held a number o f
primitive views; such as a pessimistic outlook on life, a belief in man’s poten­
tiality to become god through his own exertions, the doctrine o f the trans­
m igration o f the spirit, an animistic belief in the presence o f souls or life in all
things, and in karma, then conceived o f as material, and its supreme force over
the lives o f all beings. A ll these ideas were later merged into the general
stream o f Indian thought. W ith the growth o f Brahmanism the practices and
preachings o f these recluses were often antagonistic to those o f the priestly
V edic religion. These two categories o f religious leaders, sramanas and
brâhmanas, caught the attention o f foreign travellers; ASoka mentions both in
bis inscriptions; they are frequently referred to in early Jaina and Buddhist
w orks; and Patanjali mentions the natural conflict between their interests. In
the sixth century n.c. we know the names o f a number o f sramana teachers
such as M akkbali Gosâla, PQrana Kassapa, etc.; and at least two o f them,
M ahâvlra and Buddha, have won recognition in the religious history o fln d ia
as leaders o f faiths living to this day. In all likelihood even K apila, o f Sânkhya
fam e, showed positive éramaniç tendencies in his doctrines.
A ccording to Jainism there have flourished in this age twenty-four Tirth-
ankaras, or leaders o f their religion. The first o f them was Rishabha, the
twenty-second N em i or Nem inâtha, the twenty-third Pàrsva, and the last
M ahàvïra. Rishabha figures as a great saint o f antiquity; and, in later Hindu
literature, he is noted fo r his queer practices and credited with propagating
heretic doctrines which are common to Jainism. He is said to have laid the
foundations for orderly human society. Neminâtha is associated in Jainism
with Krishna o f the Y âd ava clan, whom the Hindus adopted as an aoatâra o f
 Jainism lo i

Vishnu. These and other Tirlbankaras are prehistoric in character. It is now

accepted on all hands that Pârsvanâtha, who according to Jaina tradition
flourished two centuries before M ahâvïra, was a historical person. H is
followers lived in the time o f M ahâvïra, with whose disciples they held dis­
cussions. The parents, o f M ahavlra followed the qreed o f Pà réva,
^ M ahâvïra was a senior contemporary o f Buddha. He was born at K unda-
grârna near Vaisàli to the north o f Patnà in Bihâr. He belonged to the N àya
(Jnâta) clan; and he is called N âtaputta in the Pâli canon. His father was
Siddhârtha, a ruler o f that area. His mother, Trisalâ alias Priyakàrinï, hailed
from the royal-family o f the tribe o f the Licchavis. Tradition is not unanimous
about M ahâvîra’s marriage. H e left home at the age o f thirty and started
practising penances in search o f knowledge. U nlike Buddha, he had no need
tó wander in search o f a teacher, because he belonged already to the well-
established religious order o f his predecessor, Pârsvanâtha. W hile wandering
as an ascetic he endured a number o f hardships. A fter twelve years o f rigorous
penance and meditation he attained enlightenment; the knowledge he is said
to have attained was free from the limitations o f time and space. H e preached
what he lived. His was a career o f supreme detachment, and he was c a lle d ;
Nirgraniha, one without any ties, whether internal or external.
A ll living beings want to live, and therefore he conceded to every being the
right to live: thus the sanctity o f life in all its form s constituted the basis o f
his moral values. Everyone is responsible for his own katmas; and when
karmas are annihilated there is an end to transmigration, followed by the*
attainment o f supreme spiritual bliss. T he age M ahavlra lived in was marked
b y great philosophical speculation, in which a number o f eminent teachers
participated, both brâhmanas and éramanas. T h e seeds o f the alma doctrine
o f the Upanishads and the further flowering o f religious systems like À jlvik-
ism, Jainism, and Buddhism are to be assigned to this period. M ahâvïra had
family connections with the ruling dynasties o f eastern India. H e preached
ahimsâ or universal love; and his metaphysics was based on common-sense
realism and intellectual reconciliation. His followers consisted o f monks,
nuns, householders and their wom en-folk; and a well-knit Sangha, or socio­
religious organization, was formed in his own times. He travelled for thirty
years preaching his doctrines, only halting for any length o f time at one place
during the rainy season. He died at the age o f 72, traditionally in 527 b .c., at
Pâvâ in Bihâr. This occasion was celebrated with a larap-festival by the two
ruling families o f the region, the M allakis and the Licchavis; and the present-
day Dìpàvaìf, one o f the most widespread and popular o f Hindu festivals, is
said in Jaina tradition to be a continuation o f this.
Unlike Buddhism, which soon spread far and wide, with numerous
monasteries in India and elsewhere, the Jaina Church has shown quite a
modest yet steady progress. After M ahâvïra eminent teachers such as G au ta­
ma, Jambü, and others led the Church, which received patronage from such
icings as Srenika Bimbisàra o f M agadha, Chandragupta M aurya, India’ s first
great emperor, K M ravela, the Orissan conqueror, and others. The influence
o f Jainism gradually spread to the western parts o fln d ia . Under the leader­
ship o f Bhadrabâhu a number o f monks also went to the south owing to ad­
verse conditions caused by famine in the north. Possibly it was the subsequent
 102 Jainism

differences in ascetic practices which led to a split in (be Church, dividing it

into its two main sections, the D igam bara and the Svetàmbara. This division
affected both the monks and laity. The basic religious principles remained the
. same for both, but they differed am ong themselves on minor dogmas, m ytho­
logical details, and ascetic practices. However, the fundamental philosophical
doctrines o f Jainism have remained the same, unlike those o f Buddhism which
went on changing from school to school.
The ruling classes and the mercantile community were often attracted by
the rigorous asceticism and religious life o f the Jaina m onks and adopted the
Jaina way o f life. In the south, duriog the early medieval period, royal dynas­
ties such as the Gangas, Kadam bas, Châlukyas, and Râshtrakütas patronized
Jainism. Some o f the Râshtraküta kings were zealous Jainas, and they
heralded an Augustan age in the south, in literature, art, and architecture, to
which the Jaina contributions have been o f classical significance.
In Gujarât patronage came from wealthy merchants rather than from the
rulers. Under the Chaulukya K in g K um ârapâla (1142-73), however, Jainism
saw glorious days in G ujarât. A new era o f literary activity started under the
leadership o f the Jaina scholar Hemachandra and other teachers and scholars.
Ministers such as Vastupâla constructed magnificent temples in marble. Later,
A k b ar highly honoured the Jaina teacher, HIravijaya; and some o f the
M ughal rulers issued firmans prohibiting the slaughter o f animals during the
Jaina festival o f Pajjûsana in all those places where the Jainas lived. Prominent
Jaina families in Delhi and Ahm edâbâd built excellent Jaina temples and had
influence in the M ughal Court. Jaina laymen also played an important part in
the political activities o f Râjasthân during the M ughal period. Even during
the period o f the East India Com pany Jaina families like the Jagatseths and
Singhls acted as state bankers, and naturally wielded great influence in
society.
Jainism has all along instilled a religious zeai among its votaries, the con­
crete expression o f which is seen all over the country in works o f art and
architecture: statues, free-standing pillars ([mânastambha), caves, and temples.
T h e 57-foot-high statue o f G om m ateivara at éravana Belgola in M ysore,
erected in about 983 or 984 by the G anga minister Châm undarâya, is a marvel
o f its kind ; and it is imitated in m any places even to this day. The temples at
M ount  b ü and those at Pàlithânà in G ujarât and M oodbidri and K arkal in
the south make a rich contribution to the Indian heritage.
Language is just a means to an end which, according to Jainism, is one’s
own spiritual advancement coupled with the welfare o f humanity. Obviously,
therefore, Jainism has not invested any particular language with religious
sanctity. M ahâvlra preached in Ardham âgadhï, possibly a mixed contem­
porary Prakrit dialect: and hence the language o f the Jaina canonical texts is
designated by that name. Jaina authors used Sanskrit fo r polem ic and literary
works, according to the need o f the times. Besides these two, Jaina contribu­
tions to the literature, in Prakrit including Apabhram éa, Old Hindi, Old
Gujarati, etc. are quite striking. Jaina authors were âm ong the pioneers in
cultivating Tam il and K annada and in enriching the early literature in these
languages. Jaina literature is not only religious but also embraces m any secular
branches o f learning including mathematics and astronomy.
 Jainism 103

Jainism starts with two principles, the living (jiva) and the non-living
(iajiva), T he living is already in contact with the non-living from beginningless
Umè. This contact subjects the living being, on account o f thoughts, words,
end acts, to the influx (âsrava) o f fresh energies known as karmas,* w hich are
conceived as subtle matter. This influx can be counteracted (sanwara) by re­
ligious discipline; and the existing stock (bandita) o f karmas can be exhausted
(nirjarà) through severe-austerities. Then salvation (moksha) is attained; and
therein the living being reaches its pristine purity, divested o f all that is alien
to its nature. This, in general terms, is the scheme o f Jaina principles (tattvas).
5>;Soul and non-soul (Jfva and ajiva) are the basic principles which com prise
all that exists in the universe. T h e soul is characterized by sentiency or con ­
sciousness; but in its embodied state it also has sense-organs, activities o f
mind, speech, and body, respiration, and a period o f life. Souls are infinite in
number; they always retain their individuality, and they cannot be destroyed
dem erged into any other supreme being. Living beings can exist in two states,
liberated (siddha or mukta) and w orldly (samsdrin). T h e latter ordinarily are
classified as mobile (trasa) and im m òbile (sthâvara); and still a third state is
conceived, nam ely that o f nigoda beings. M obile beings are o f five kinds
according to the number o f sense-organs they possess; and some o f those with
five senses have a discriminating faculty, seen in men and divinities, and
dimly in some o f the higher animals. T h e im m obile are in the form o f earth,
water, fire, air, and vegetables, having only the sense o f touch. T h e nigoda are
host-souls with a com m on body and respiration; and they are present all over
the. world. T hey represent the lowest state o f life, as contrasted w ith the highest
state o f the liberated ones; both are infinite, and balance the infinite sum-
total o f the living world. Such a close study o f living beings has, besides m eta­
physical insight, an.ethico-m oral object: to show the Jaina how to practise
ahimsS at various stages o f his spiritual career.
K now ledge is inherent in the soul, being the manifestation o f the con­
sciousness which characterizes the latter; but its function is hindered by K a r ­
mic encrustment, so it is found in different degrees in different souls. D irect
knowledge by the soul itself is o f three types: o f remote time and space
(avadhi), o f the thoughts o f others (manahparyâya), and o f everything in the
universe w ithout the limits o f space and time (kevala-jnâna). Indirect know ­
ledge covers our experience through our sense-organs (mati) and that which
we obtain through scriptures etc. (srtita). T he indirect belongs to all o f us in
varying degrees; the first two o f the direct types are possessed by great saints;
and the third is seen fully in the omniscient Teacher, w ho is soon to obtain
liberation.
N on-living (ajiva) substance is devoid o f sentiency and is o f five kinds.
M atter (ptidgala) is possessed o f sense-qualities. Earth, water, fire, and air are
gross forms o f matter, the indivisible ultimate unit o f w hich is the atom or
ana. Even sound, darkness, light, shadow, etc. are looked upon as form s o f
matter. T h e next two types o f non-living substance are dharma and adharma,
the principles o f m otion and rest. These two terms a ïe used in Jainism in this
special sense, which should be distinguished from their usual meaning. T hey
1 The reader should take special note o f the Jaina use o f this term, which differs from its
general usage in Hinduism and Buddhism, and may thus lead to confusion. fEd.J
104 Jainism

arc imperceptible and all-pervasive. They serve as necessary conditions for, or

fulcrum s of, m otion and rest, and facilitate all movements and static stales in
this physical universe. The next non-living substance is space (âkâsa); it is o f
two kinds, physical and super-physical; its function is to accom m odate all
substances; but the superphysical space is only space, real void, extending
over infinity. T h e fifth ajiva substance is time or kâla which produces the con­
tinuity {variano) in the things o f the physical world. It is constituted o f
minute points which never mix.
T h e living and the non-living (Jiva and ajiva) constitute reality, which,
according to Jainism, is uncreated and eternal. It is characterized by origina­
tion or appearance (utpâda), destruction or disappearance {vyaya), and perm­
anence {dhrauvya). It is possessed o f infinite characteristics, with respect both
to what it is and to what it is not. It has its modifications (paryâya) and quali­
ties (guna), through which persists the essential substratum, substance, at all
times. This basic substance with its qualities is something that is permanent,
while modes or accidental characteristics appear and disappear. Thus both
change and permanence are facts o f experience. The soul with its conscious­
ness is permanent even when it is chauging through various bodies in different
births. G old , likewise, with its colour and density, is something that persists,
though it takes different shapes at different times.
Th e object o f knowledge, thus, is highly com plex; it consists o f substances,
qualities, and m odifications; it is extended over three times (past, present, and
future) and infinite space; and it is simultaneously subjected to origination,
permanence, and destruction. It can be fully known only in omniscience
(,kevala-jndna), which is not possessed by ordinary human beings who perceive
through their organs o f sense. W hat they know is only partial; they are like
blind men who touch some part or other o f an elephant and variously describe
it as a fan, a pillar, a snake, etc. Thus the apprehension o f an ordinary human
being is partial, and therefore valid only from a particular point o f view. This
is what is called nayavâda in Jainism. F or example, in describing different
ornaments, if one has in view only the modifications o f gold, that is the modal
point o f view (paryâyârthika-naya)', but i f one concentrates one’s attention
only on the basic substance gold with its inherent qualities, that is the sub­
stantial point o f view (dravyârthika-naya). In other contexts, they are also
know n as the common-sense or practical (vyavahdra) point o f view and the
realistic (nischaya) point o f view. There are seven points o f view or nayas.
Som e refer to the substance and others to m odification; while some arise out
o f the nature o f the subject and some out o f the verbal statement.
A thing or an object o f knowledge is o f infinite characteristics {amkântàt-
maka) which require to be analysed and apprehended individually, and this
function is fulfilled by the nayas. This doctrine serves as a unique instrument
o f analysis. T h e Jaina philosopher has taken the fullest advantage o f it, not
only in building his system by a judicious search for, and balancing of, various
viewpoints, but also in understanding sympathetically the views o f others
from whom he differs and in appreciating why the difference is there. This
analytical approach to reality has saved him from extremism, dogmatism, and
fanaticism, and has fostered in him remarkable intellectual toleration, a rare
virtue indeed. '
 Jainism 105

W hat the nayas divulge individually is only n part, whiclï should not be
misunderstood for the whole; and it is not enough if various problems about
reality are understood merely from different points o f view. W hat one knows
one must be able to state truly and accurately. In Jainism this need is met by
the theory o f syàduâda. T he object o f knowledge is a huge com plexity covering
infinite modes and related to the three times, past, present, and future; the
human mind is o f limited understanding; and human speech has its imperfec­
tions in expressing the whole range o f experience. In these circumstances none
o f our statements is more than conditionally or relatively true. So Jaina logic
insists on qualifying every statement with the term syàt, i.e., ‘ som ehow ’ or ‘ in
a w ay’, to emphasize its conditional or relative character. Such a qualification
is to be always understood, whether a term like syât is added or not. A ju d ge­
ment, ordinarily cpeaking, can assume two form s: affirmative and negative,
and refers to the substance (dravya), place (kshetra), time (kâla), and shape or
concept (blwva) o f an object.
An affirmative judgement predicates the characteristics possessed by a thing,
while a negative one denies characteristics absent in it but belonging to others.
Besides these two judgements, ‘ Somehow S is P ‘ and ‘ Som ehow S is not P ’,
Jaina logic admits a third kind o f judgement, that o f indescribability: ‘ Som e­
how S is indescribable.’ This is o f great philosophical significance. In view o f
the complexity o f the objective world, and o f m an’s limited knowledge and
imperfect speech, Jaina logic anticipates and admits situations which cannot,
be described in terms o f simple 'y e s ’ or ‘ n o ’. A thing cannot be described at
all when no distinction is made as to standpoints and aspects. Som e aspect can
be affirmed, or denied separately from a certain point o f view, or both
affirmed and denied successively. But, when this predication is to be made
simultaneously, one is faced with contradiction which can be wisely avoided
by this third judgement o f ‘ indescribability’.
These three are the basic predications; and when they are combined suc­
cessively and simultaneously, the maximum number o f com binations is seven
and not more. These should be able to answer every purpose, however qomplex
it may be. This doctrine o f sevenfold predication is often misunderstood and
misrepresented by idealists who have not been able to appreciate it£ m eta­
physical basis and intellectual approach. It reminds one o f the realist relativists
o f the W est, such as Whitehead and others. T h e Jaina logician is neither a
sceptic nor an agnostic; but he is a realist working with sound com m on sense.
He does not want to ignore the relative or conditional character o f the judge­
ment arising out o f the very nature o f the object o f knowledge.
The soul has been in association with karmic matter from time immemorial,
and the object o f the Jaina religion is to free the soul from karma. The.activi­
ties o f mind, speech, and body lead to the coqstant influx o f karmas which
form the kàrmana-sarïra, or karmic body, for the soul, whereby it moves in
Samsara. Everyone is responsible for his own karmas, and there is no escape
from them unless one experiences their fruits, good or bad. Jainism admits no
G od to bestow favour or frown: the law o f karma works autom atically in
shaping one’s lot. There are eight basic’ types o f karmas named according to
their effect on the nature o f the soul, which is inherently endowed with the in­
finite quaternity o f knowledge, insight, energy, and happiness. T he first two
 io6 Jainism

karmas obstruct knowledge and insight, the third infatuates the soul, the
fourth gives rise to pleasure and pain, the fifth determines the period o f life,
the sixth shapes the body, etc., the seventh fixes fam ily, etc., and the last
brings about hindrances o f various kinds. The type, duration, intensity, and
quantum o f each karma is determined when the bondage thereof takes place.
These eight types are further subdivided into 148 sub-types which explain
man’s various experiences in life.
A s the influx and destruction o f karmas entirely depend on man’s activities,
Jainism lays special stress on the ethical code. This takes two forms, one in­
tended for the householder and the other for the m onk. Both are comple­
m entary; and if they differ, it is only in the degree o f the rigour o f practice.
T he basic vows are five: (1) abstention from injury to living beings (ahimsâ);
(2) speaking the truth (satya); (3) not stealing (asleya); (4) chastity (brahma-
charya); and (5) limiting one’s possessions (aparlgraha). The principle o f
ahimsâ is the logical outcome o f the Jaina metaphysical theory that all souls
are potentially equal. N o one likes pain. N aturally, therefore, one should not
do to others what one does not want others to do to oneself. The social im­
plications o f this principle o f reciprocity are profoundly beneficial.
Jainisin is perhaps the only Indian religion which has explained the doctrine
o f ahimsâ in a systematic manner, because all other values were elaborated on
'this basis. Violence or injury is o f three kinds: physical violence, which covers
killing, wounding, and causing any physical pain; violence in words, which
consists o f using harsh language; and mental violence, which implies bearing
ill feeling towards others. Further, violence m ay be committed, commissioned,
or consented to. A householder is unable to avoid all these forms o f violence
in an absolute manner, so be is expected to cause minimal injury to others. In
view o f the sort o f society in which we have to live, injury is classified under
four heads: first, there is accidental injury in the course o f digging, pounding,
cooking, and other such activities essential to daily living; second, there is
occupational injury, as when a soldier fights, an agriculturist tills the land, etc. ;
third, there is protective injury, as when one protects one’s own or other
people’s lives and honour against wild beasts and enemies; and last, there is
intentional injury when one kills beings w ith the full intention o f killing them,
as in hunting or butchery. A householder is expected to abstain completely
from intentional injury and as far as possible from the rest. It is the intention
or the mental attitude that matters more than the act. So one has to take the
utmost care to keep one’s intentions pure and pious and to abstain from inten­
tional injury. The practice o f these various vows puts some restriction on the
choice o f a profession and makes for a humane outlook in society.
There are seven additional vows which help one to develop qualities such as
self-restraint, self-denial, and renunciation. In fact, a layman gradually pre­
pares him self for the life o f an ascetic. Practices such as these have maintained
a close tie between the layman and the m onk; both are actuated by the same
m otive and moved by the same religious ideals, with the result that this close
association between thein has contributed rem arkably to the religious solid­
arity o f the Jaina community.
The course o f right conduct prescribed for laymen is conveniently divided
into eleven steps (pralimâ) which are included in the fifth stage o f spiritual
 Jainism 107

evolution (guna-sthâna). A Jayman, after shedding all superstition, adopts a

right attitude and starts observing the vows given above; he practises self­
contemplation thrice a day, with a view to attaining mental equipoise; he
observes weekly fasts, and stops taking green vegetables etc. and meals after
sunset; he observes strict celibacy, claims no property as his ow n, does not
take interest in w orldly matters, and stops taking food specially cooked fo r
him. H e can proceed stage by stage according to his ability and environment;
but once he reaches the eleventh stage, he is fully prepared fo r practising the
severe course o f ascetic life.
According to Jainism, dying is as much an art as living. A layman is ex­
pected not only to live a disciplined life but also to die bravely a detached
death. There are elaborate rules'about voluntary death (sallekhana), w hich
has been practised not only by Jaina monks but also by pious laym en; and we
have innumerable inscriptions commemorating the detached deaths o f pious
Jainas. This voluntary death is to be distinguished from suicide, which Jainism
looks upon as a cow ardly sin. When faced by calam ity, fam ine, old age, and
disease, against which there is no remedy, a pious Jaina peacefully relin­
quishes his body, being inspired by a higher religious ideal.
W hat apparently distinguishes a Jaina monk from a laym an is his itinerant
way o f life, with no abode o f his own and no possessions or paraphernalia
beyond those required for his religious observances. In outward form and
equipment there are different schools am ong the Jaina monks. T h e Digambara
monk, who goes about naked if o f the highest grade, has a water-pot m ade
from a gourd (kamandain) for the calls o f nature and a bunch o f peacock
feathers to clean the place where he sits, etc. But i f he belongs to the low er
stage, he has a minimum o f clothing to cover his private parts, A Svetâmbara
m onk is clad in white robes, and he is equipped with a staff, a bunch o f w ool,
and wooden pots. These sects differ somewhat in their rules o f outward be­
haviour, which affect their mode o f travelling, eating, etc. T h e inner religious
life, however, is fundam entally the same fo r the various schools.
The five anuvratas (lesser vows) o f a laym an, not to kill, not to lie, not to
steal, to abstain from sex, and to renounce property, are called mahâoratas
(great vows) in the case o f a monk, who has to observe them with maximum
rigour and thoroughness. These sins lead to the influx o f karmas; therefore the
m onk must abstain from them in thought, word, and deed, and neither com ­
mit, commission, nor consent to them. T he rigidity with w hich he is expected
to observe the rules and the elaborate details o f conduct only show how
minutely the whole system o f ascetic m orality is worked out.
The entire spiritual career o f the Soul is divided into fourteen stages called
gimasthânas. T h e soul marches from bondage and gross ignorance to final
liberation and omniscience, gradually overpowering at,different stages wrong
belief, unrighteousness, negligence, passions, and channbls o f activities. In the
first four stages the soul is struggling against wrong belief, which is overcome
in the fifth stage, where righteous conduct begins and is practised by a layman
through the eleven pratimas cited above. In the sixth, he is already a m onk, but
still liable to negligence and lapses. In all stages up to the eleventh, regress
may take place, and the.soul m ay even fall back to the first stage. When he
reaches the twelfth, however, the passions etc. are destroyed, and he begins
 Jainism

meditation. In the thirteenth stage he is still in the world, retaining some

activities o f body, speech, and mind, W hen all liis activities stop, he enters the
last stage, where all karma is destroyed and the soul attains its fullest spiritual
status.
H ere we may broadly outline the disciplina.ry code o f a monk, which he has
to practise for the perfection o f his mahâuratas. His one aim is to stop the influx
of fresh karma and to destroy all that has already bound him. T he flow o f
karmas into the âtmâ or soul is caused by the activities o f body, speech, and
m ind; so it is necessary for him to keep these channels under strict control
(gupti). It is just possible that even in performing the duties o f a m onk the
vows might be transgressed out o f inadvertence. A s a precautionary measure,
the m on k must be very cautious in walking, speaking, begging food, taking up
and putting down things, and in voiding the body (samiti).
It is mainly due to the passions that the soul assimilates karma; so anger,
pride, deception, and greed must be counteracted by cultivating ‘ the ten best
virtues’ (dasadhanna), forgiveness, humility, straightforwardness, content­
ment, truthfulness, restraint, austerity, purity, chastity, and renunciation. T o
cultivate the necessary religious attitude he should constantly reflect on twelve
religious topics (amiprekshâ); (i) everything is transitory, (ii) men are helpless
against death, (iii) the circuit o f existence is full o f misery, (iv) the soul has to
struggle all alone, (v) relatives and others are quite separate from oneself, (vi)
the body is impure, (vii) karma is constantly inflowing, (viii) karma should be
stopped by cultivating necessary virtues, (ix) karma should be destroyed by
penances, (x) the nature o f the universe, (xi) the rarity o f religious knowledge,
and, lastly, (xii) the true nature o f religion.
T o keep him self steady on the path o f liberation and to destroy karma, a
m on k has to bear cheerfully all the troubles {parisaha) that m ight cause him
distraction or pain. There are twenty-two troubles which a m onk is expected
to face unflinchingly, including hunger and thirst, cold and heat, trying cir­
cumstances, unpleasant feelings, illness, etc. His spiritual discipline or con­
duct is fivefold, and its pitch ranges from equanimity to ideal and passionless
conduct (châritra).
T h e m onk has also to practise austerities, external and internal. External
penances are extremely rigorous. H e barely sustains the body with a minimum
o f food and exacts maximum w ork from it in attaining his spiritual ideal. In­
ternal penances are intended fo r self-purification. T he most im portant o f them
is dhyâna or meditation.
It is pure (sukla) meditation which ultimately leads the soul to liberation ;
there is a complete cessation o f physical, verbal, and mental activities, and the
âtmâ or self is absorbed in it. W ith the entire stock o f karmas exhausted the
soul rises to the top o f the universe, where it remains for ever.
It is clear from Jaina metaphysics that there is no place jn Jainism for G od
as a creator and distributor o f prizes and punishments. B y G od Jainism under­
s ta te s a liberated soul as well as the Tirthankaras, w ho provide the highest
spiritual ideals to which every soul can aspire: in this sense G od is an example
to inspire and to guide. Thus the Jaina conception o f G od is very different
from that in Hinduism. Though G od is not a creator, the Jaina religion lacks
neither devotional fervour nor ceremonial rituals. Jainas offer prayers to him,
 Jainism J09
worship him both in concept and in concrete form as an image, and meditate
on him. Respectful prayers are offered to the Tirthankara, the liberated soul,
the preceptor, the preacher, and the m onk, because these represent various
stages o f the soul’s spiritual progress. Such a routine keeps the Jaina vigilant
in pursuit o f his ideal and strengthens his heart, constantly reminding him
that he must depend on himself to destroy the karmas.
Numerous traces.o f Jaina influence on Indian life can be detected. The
worship o f idols in a refined form, the building o f temples, the founding o f
charitable lodges for men and animals, the preservation o f rich libraries o f
manuscripts, and the distribution o f food and other necessities to the poor;
these are some o f the outstanding features o f Jaina society, and to a large
extent they have been imitated by other Indian religious groups. Jainism and
Buddhism have been foremost in upholding the doctrine o f ahimsâ, and
lainism has held firm to its original ideology much more closely than Buddh­
ism.
Jaina monks have led exemplary lives, and as living embodiments o f kind­
ness to all beings they have wandered all over India winning the sympathies
'even o f non-Jaina peasants and princes for the doctrine o f ahimsâ. T he prac­
tic e o f this has often been misunderstood and misrepresented. T h e ideal
.ahimsâ was meant only for a houseless m onk, but to the layman it is pre­
scrib ed according to his position and stage o f religious progress. This has
. allowed Jaina kings and heroes to fight on the battlefield for their kingdoms
: and for their safety and honour. Under some o f the dynasties o f the south and ’
Gujarat, there flourished many soldiers w ho were both heroes and pious
Jainas. A s a com m unity the Jainas have been strict vegetarians, and wherever
they are found in large numbers they have influenced the society around them.
Throughout their literature and in the preachings o f their teachers, animal
sacrifice is condemned. In modern times Jaina leaders in different centres have
'tried to stop the sacrifice o f animals to local deities, and they have been suc-
?cessful in many places. Jaina authors disapprove o f even the sacrifice o f a
;paste model o f an animal, because this involves the intention o f taking life.
Jaina literature includes myths, fairy tales, proverbs, popular stories, model
behaviour patterns, and m oral exhortations, all o f which unanimously de­
nounce cruelty to living beings. A ll these-have done much to discourage
animal sacrifice. M ost o f the Indian religions have casually preached ahimsâ,
but nowhere, except in Jainism, is the basic creed so systematically worked
out to pervade the entire m oral code.
M ahatm a G ândhï was the greatest exponent o f ahimsâ in modern times.
Though he gave it a fresh and up-to-date orientation, the seeds o f his doc­
trines are to be traced in Jainism rather than in any other Indian creed. Some
o f the facets with which G ândhïjî invested his ahimsâ are not found in Jaina
works, because the purpose for which and the circumstances in which he
preached it were different. T h e Jaina m onks were quite aware o f the power o f
ahimsâ as a social factor, but their spiritual aim necessitated no application o f
it outside the religious life. T o manage with the minimum necessities o f life, to
bear no ill will towards anyone, to take recourse to fasting fo r self-purifica­
tion, to undertake long tours on foot to make contact with the people: all
these aspects o f Mahatma G andhi’s life remind us o f Jaina m onks and their
no Jainism

routine. This great son o f India, M ahatm a Gfmdht, has reinterpreted the doc­
trine o f ahimsâ, non-violence, and satya, truth, for the modern world; and
these two principles can be looked upon as universal m oral norms, by which
to judge the behaviour o f men and women, individually and collectively.

I
 CH APTER X

Philosophy
by S. N . D a s G u p ta

IN T R O D U C T IO N B Y TH E E D IT O R

T h is chapter, som ewhat abridged and otherwise edited, has been carried over
from the original Legacy o f India. It is the w ork o f one o f the greatest Indian
specialists in the field, w h o died in 1952. F rom the point o f view o f the genera!
reader it m ay be found difficult in places, fo r within the limits o f the space
permitted the author has attempted not only a m ere survey o f some o f the
m ore obvious basic doctrines, but also a discussion at considerable depth o f
m ore recondite aspects o f the doctrines o f some o f the Indian philosophical
schools. In doing so he seems to have been compelled by considerations o f
space virtually to ignore several other im portant schools o f Indian p h ilosop h y..
B y drastically rem oving Professor D as Gupta's rather lengthy treatment o f
Buddhism, w hich is dealt with elsewhere in this volume, w e have found room
for a few extra paragraphs on the N yâya, Vaiseshika, M lm àm sà, and Vedanta
schools, which are the w ork o f the editor.

One m ay divide the philosophical development o f India into three stages :

pre-logical up to the beginning o f the Christian era, logical up to the M uh am ­
madan domination o fln d ia , a . d . i o o o or n o o , ultra-logical, A .D . 1100-1700.
T he contribution o f the first period is to be found in the philosophical hymns
o f the Vedas, in the morë mature Upanishads, in the Gita, w hich is som ething
like a metrical com m entary on the Upanishads, w orking out their ideals in
their practical bearing" to life; and in the rise and grow th o f Buddhism and the
Sànkhya and the Vaiseshika philosophy. From about the beginning o f the
. first or second century B.c. we have the various systems o f Indian philosophy,
the Yoga-sütras, the Sânkhya treatises,- the Mimâmsâ-sütras, the Brdhma-
sütras, and the Nyâya-sütras, and their numerous commentaries and sub­
commentaries. In the third period w e have keen discussions and dialectics o f
an extremely subtle character such as had never developed in E urope at that
time, and which are in part so difficult that few Occidental scholars have been
able to master them.
In the philosophical hymns o f the Vedas we com e across men w ho were
. weary o f seeking mere econom ic welfare through religious rituals o f a m agical
character. T h ey wished to know something greater than their ordinary religion
• and sought to delve into the mystery o f the Universe— the highest and the
greatest truth. T h ey form ed the conception o f a being w ho is the depository
r and the source o f all powers and forces o f nature, from whom nature with its
manifold living creatures has emanated and by whom it is sustained and m ain­
tained. In spite o f all the diversity in the world there is one fundam ental
reality in which all duality ceases. T he highest truth is thus the highest being,
 1 12 Philosophy
i
who is boih immanent in the world and. transcendent. He holds the world
within him and yet docs-not exhaust himself in the world. The ordinary poly­
theism and henotheism o f Vedic worship thus slowly pass away, sometimes
into monotheism and sometimes into pantheism; and in this way some o f the
Vedic hymns declare the spirituality o f the world and denounce the common-
sense view o f things.
T his view is developed in the Upanishads, which m ay be regarded as a con­
tinuation o f the philosophical hymns o f the Rig-Veda and the Aiharva-Veda.
In the Kena Upanishad we are told the story o f how 'all the presiding gods o f
the powers o f nature, such as fire and wind, tried their best to compete with
Brahm an, as this ultimate being was called, but the fire could not burn a piece
o f straw and the wind could not blow it away against the wishes o f Brahman,
for they all derived their powers from him. W e have a vivid description in the
Mundaka o f how the world has emanated from Brahman, like sparks from the
fire or like the spider's web from the spider. But the Upanishads advance the
thought a little further. T hey do not merely speculate on the nature o f
Brahm an externally as both the immanent and the transcendent cause o f the
world, but they also try to demonstrate its reality in experience. Neither the
Upanishads, nor the philosophical hymns o f the Vedas, give us any reasons in
demonstration o f their conception o f the ultimate being. They do not raise
any questions, or give any premiss from which they drew their conclusions.
Their opinions are only dogm atically asserted with the forceful faith o f a man
who is sure o f his own belief. But, after all, it is only a belief, and not a
reasoned statement, and there naturally arises the question as to its validity.
T h e Upanishads are driven by their inner thought to give some grounds for
such assertions. Y e t there is no attempt at logical speculation and demonstra­
tive reasoning. The intuitive affirmations surge forth with the reality o f the
living faith o f one describing an experience which he him self has had. They
affirm that this ultimate reality cannot be grasped by learning or reasoning. It
reveals itself only in our heart through sublime purity, absolute self-control,
seif-abnegation, and cessation o f mundane desires. M an not only becomes
moral in his relations to his fellow beings, but becomes super-moral, as it
were, by an easy control o f the conflicts o f his lower instincts and desires, and
by superior excellence o f character. It becomes possible for him to merge him­
self in an intuitive contact with the transcendental spiritual essence with
which he can immediately identify himself.
Th e Upanishads again and again reiterate the fact that this spiritual essence
is incognizable by any o f the sense-organs— by eye or by touch— that it is
beyond the reasoning faculties o f man and is therefore unattainable by logic,
and that it is indescribable in speech and unthinkable by thought. The apper­
ception o f it is not o f an ordinary cognitive nature, but is an apperception o f
the essence o f our beings; and, just as external nature was regarded as being
held and maintained in Brahman, so the totality o f our being, our sense-
functions, and thought-functions were regarded as having come out, being
held and sustained in this inner being. It was also regarded as the Antar-yâmin
or the inner controller o f our personality— the spiritual entity which is its root
and in which lie sustained and controlled all our vital activities and cognitive
and conative functions.'W e can have an apperception o f it only when we trans­
 Philosophy 113
centi the outer spheres o f ordinary life and penetrate into the cavern on which
neither the physical luminaries nor the luminaries o f thought and sense shed
any light. Y e t it is a light in itself, from which all other lights draw their
illumination. It is subtle and deep, and reveals itself only to those w ho attain
that high spiritual perfection by which they transcend the limits o f ordinary
personality,
W e find anticipations o f doubt as to the possibility o f such a subtle essence,
which was our inmost being, becoming identical w ith the highest'reality o f the
universe from which everything else emanated. Various parables are related,
in which attempts are made to prove the existence o f a subtle essence which is
unperceived by the eye. In the parable o f the banyan tree we are told how the
big tree can reside inside a grain-like seed. In another parable it is shown that
the salt which is invisible to the eye can be tasted in every drop o f saline water.
W e have also the parable by which Prajâpati instructed Virochana and Indra
how two different states o f the self can be distinguished from the corporeal
body, the dream self and the dreamless self, and how it is the self o f the deep
dreamless sleep that displays the nature o f the eternal unthinkable within us.
T h e deep dreamless sleep brings us into daily contact with the eternal self
within us, which is dissociated from all changes, and which form s the essence
o f our whole being. In the dialogue between Y am a and N achiketas, when the
latter seeks instruction regarding the fate o f men a t death, he is told that when
inquiry is earnestly made the true self in man is discovered to be eternally
abiding, and can be grasped only through spiritual contact and spiritual union.
Taken in this sense, death is a mere illusion which appears to those w ho can­
not grasp the one absolute reality.
There are other passages in which this absolute reality is regarded as one
which is undetermined in itself, but from which all. our faculties and ex­
periences emanate in concrete determinations. W e have thus in ourselves an
epitome o f the emergence o f the world from Brahman. From the subtle state
o f indifference in deep dreamless sleep one suddenly awakes to the varied ex­
periences o f ordinary life. Similarly, concrete varieties o f objects have emerged
into being from the pure subtle being o f Brahman, in which they existed in an
undivided and undifferentiated state. Since that which emerges into m anifold
variety ultimately loses itself in the being o f the transcendent cause, and since
the transcendent cause alone remains unchanged through all the processes o f
emergence and dissolution, that alone is the truth. The multiplicity o f things
is false, for the truth in them is the one abiding essence.
The Upanishads are not philosophy, if w e mean by the word philosophy a
reasoned account or a rationalization o f experiences; yet they contain sugges­
tions o f rationalization as to the nature o f reality from concrete experience o f
dreamless sleep and from ineffable m ystical experience. Though ineffable, the
mystical experience is not regarded as an ecstatic communion with the divine;
it is a revelation o f the subtlest essence o f our being, which lies far below the
depth o f the common animal man. It is only when we transcend the limits o f
the ordinary biological man that we can come in contact with the pure per­
sonality which the Upanishads call the Atman or the self. This pure self is oné
in all and is identical with the highest reality o f the universe. It is pure
«rurihialttv and nun* p.Ynfr'iMire (Jnnn/ii a n d . as such, the absolute c o n c r e te
114 Philosophy

truth which is immanent and transcendent at the same time in all our ex­
periences and in all objects denoted by it. It is infinite reality, limitless and
illimitable. The Upanishads thus lay the foundation o f all later Hiindu philo­
sophy. A ll Hindu thinkers accept in more or less modified form, the funda­
mental tenet o f the Upanishads that self is the ultimate reality, and all ex­
periences are extraneous to it.
B y the beginning o f the Christian era six philosophical schools or systems
had emerged in Hinduism. Though differing very widely, they w ere all looked
on as orthodox, since they all accepted the inspiration o f the Vedas and the
claim o f the brahmans to ritual supremacy. They were finked together in
pairs, as complementing one another or otherwise showing close: relations.
The three pairs were: (i) Sânkhya and (ii) Yoga; (iii) Nyaya and (iv) Vaise­
shika; and (v) Mimâmsâ and (vi) Vedânta or Uttara'mimSmsâ.
T h e Sânkhya is probably the earliest Indian attempt at system atic philo­
sophy. Its foundation is attributed to K apila, who is said to have written the
original textbook o f the school, the Shashti-tantra in sixty chapters. T his w ork
is now lost, and we know only the names o f those chapters. W e find elements
o f Sânkhya even in the earliest Upanishads, and we have reason to tiefieve that
the system was probably not originally written, but underwent a co.urse o f de­
velopm ent at different stages and under different influences; though it is pos­
sible that at some particular stage K ap ila m ay have contributed so much
towards its systematization as to be generally regarded as the original ex­
pounder o f the system. It is generally accepted that the S â n k h y a .has two
principal schools, the atheistic and the iheistic. The theistic Sân khya is now
associated with Patanjali and is otherwise called the Y o g a system . T he oldest
surviving text o f the atheistic or non-theistic School o f Sânkhy a in its gener­
ally accepted form is a compendium o f Iâvara Krishna (third century À.D.).
Patanjali is supposed to have flourished somewhere about the m iddle o f the
second century b . c . The Sânkhya and Y o g a , in their various form s, have pro- •
foundly influenced Hindu culture and religion in all their varied aspects.
According to Sânkhya the word prakriti means the original, substance,
w hich consists o f three classes o f neutral entities called g anas— Sattva, repre­
senting truth and virtue, Rajas, present in all that is active, fiery, or aggressive,
and Tamas, the principle o f darkness, dullness, and inactivity. T hose are con­
tinually associating with one another for the fullest expression o f ’ their inner
potentialities. They form themselves into groups, and not only ai.e the inner
constituents o f each o f the groups w orking in union with one ano ther for the
manifestation o f the groups as wholes, but the wholes them selves are also
w orking in union with one another fo r the self-expression o f the; individual
whole and o f the community o f wholes for the manifestation o l'm o r e and
m ore developed forms. Causation is thus viewed as the actualization o f the
potentials. The order o f all cosm ic operations is deduced from tb:e inherent
inner order and relations o f the neutral reals. Relations are conceived as the
Ainctions o f these reals, with which they are m etaphysically identica I. Prakriti
is regarded as the hypothetical state o f the pure potential conditions o f these
reals. It is supposed that this pure potential state breaks up into a stiate which
m ay be regarded as the stuff o f cosmic mind. This partly individuates itself as
individual minds, and partly develops itself into space, from that int'o poten-
 Philosophy

liai mailer, and later on inlo actual gross m ailer as atoms. The individuated
minds evolve out o f themselves the various sensory and conative functions
and the synthetic and analytic functions called manas. T hey also reveal them­
selves in the psychical planes or personalities o f individuals.
It is evident that the complexes formed from the neutral reals derive their
meaning and functioning through a reference to the other or the others, for
the manifestation o f which they are co-operating together. This other-
reference o f the reals (gunas) is their inherent teleology. But such other-
references must have a limit, if an infinite regression is to be avoided. In a
general manner it m ay be said that the two broad groups, the psychical and
the physical, are working together in m utual reference. It is therefore assumed
that there is an unrelational element, called purusha, a pure consciousness
which presides over every individuated mind. B y reference to this the non-
conscious psychic phenomena attain their final meaning as conscious pheno­
mena. The whole history o f consdious phenomena attains its last m etaphysical
purpose in self-annulment, by dn ultimate retroversion o f reference from
purusha towards the ultimate prihciple o f consciousness, by which the final
other-reference to the purusha ceases. There must be a stage in which the
positive other-references end themselves in self-reference, whereby the u lti­
mate bond o f the psychic manifestation or the personality w ith the purusha
will cease. This cessation in the history o f any individual psychic plane m arks
its culmination and is regarded as a final metaphysical liberation o f the
purusha associated with that individual psychic plane. There are as m any
purtishas as there are psychic planes. T he purusha is regarded as the principle
o f consciousness unrelated to its fellow purushas and also to any o f the coiïfc
plexes o f the neutral reals.
It has already been said that space is derived as a m odification o f the reals.
Tim e is to be regarded as having a transcendental and a.phenom enal aspect.
Under the former, time is identical with the movement inherent in the guna
reals and as such it is even prior to space. In the latter aspect, that is time as
measurable, and as before and after, it is mental construction in which the
ultimate unit o f measure is regarded as the time taken by an atom to traverse
its own dimension o f space. Since all conceivable objects in the world are pro­
ducts o f the guna reals, and since there is n o other agent, the guna reals hold
within themselves in a potential manner all things o f the world, which are
manifested first in the emergent categories o f cosm ic personality, ego, the
eleven senses, five kinds o f potential matter, and five kinds o f actuaj m atter.
These together form the twenty-five categories from the enumeration o f which
the Sânkhya system is supposed to have drawn its name, meaning numeration
or counting.
The Yoga, which is in general agreement with the entire metaphysical posi­
tion o f the Sânkhya, thinks that the elements leading to a positive m isconcep­
tion or misidentification o f the purusha as being o f the same nature as the guna
complexes are responsible for the possibility o f the nisus and the resulting
experience. This is technically called ignorance or avidyâ. Y o g a further holds
that this avidyâ manifests itself or grows into the various cementing principles
o f the mind, emotional and volitional, such as ego-consciousness, attachment,
antipathy, and the self-preservative tendency. A s a result o f the operation o f
 r r6 Philosophy

these principles, as grounded in the avidyâ, the mind behaves as a whole and
? cquires experience and determines itself in the objective environment.
A ccording to both Sànkhya and Y o ga , the individuated mind has a beginning-
less history o f emotional and volitional tendencies integrated ,or inwoven, as it
were, in its very structure as it passes from one cycle o f life to another. T he
determination o f the mind in pursuance o f its end as desire, w ill, or action is
called karma. It is further held that all such determinations create potential
energies which must fructify as diverse kinds o f pleasurable or painful ex­
periences, environments, conditions, and the periods o f particular lives in
which these experiences are realized. .
T h e self-determining movement o f the mind for the attainment o f liberation
can only start when one begins to discover that all experiences are painful. A s
a result thereof the young saint becomes disinclined towards all the so-called
jo y s o f the world and ceases to have any interest in the propagation o f the
life-cycle. Such a cessation cannot be b y death. F or death means further re­
birth. The cessation o f the life-cycles must necessarily be sought in the extinc­
tion o f the conditions determining the mind-structure. For this,, he adopts
means b y which he can invert the process o f operation o f the mind-structure,
w hich consists o f the integrated content o f images, concepts, and their em o­
tional and volitional associates, o f various kinds, below the surface. These are
im mediately absorbed below the conscious level as the subconscious, semi­
conscious, and unconscious. T h e various elements o f the psychic structure in
the different levels are held together to a great extent b y ties o f emotion and
volition referring to the enjoyment o f w orldly objects. It is these that are Con­
tinually attracting our minds.
T h e followers o f Y o g a should in the first instance practise a definite system
o f m oral and religious restraints, such as non-injury, truthfulness, purity,
sincerity, sex-contro), self-contentment, and the like, calledyamas and niyamas,
for the external purification o f mind. Ordinarily all activities associated with
m ental life are o f the nature o f continual relationing and movement. T he
Y o g in who wishes to invert the processes underlying the maintenance o f
psychic structure arrests his mind statically on a particular object to the ex­
clusion o f all others, so that on the focal point o f consciousness there may be
on ly one state, which does not move, and all relationing process o f the mind
is at complete arrest.
Y o g a is defined as a partial or complete arrest or cessation o f the mental
states. A s an accessory process the Y o gin learns to steady him self in a par­
ticular posture (dsana) and gradually to arrest the processes o f breathing
(prânâyâma). His efforts to exclude other objects and to intensify the selected
mental state which is to be kept steady on the focal point are called dhâranâ
and dhyâna respectively. A s a result o f his progressive success in arresting the
mental states, there arise new types o f wisdom (prajna) and the subconscious
potencies gradually wear out; ultimately all the subconscious and unconscious
potencies o f the structural relations are destroyed, and, as a result thereof, the
avidyâ which was determining the nisus o f the mind is destroyed, and the
whole fabric o f the mind is disintegrated, leaving the pure purusha in bis
transcendent loneliness (kamalya), which is regarded as the ultim ate aspira­
tion o f the human mind.
 Philosophy U7

Id the Y o g a process supreme ethical purity in thought, word, and deed is

the first desideratum. W hen the mental field is so prepared the Y o gin attacks
the more difficult bondage o f its psychological nature, consisting o f the sub­
conscious and unconscious forces which m ay drive him to sense-objects and
sense-gratifications. A t each stage o f meditative concentration he has a supra-
consciousness which destroys the roots o f the conserved experiences and the
fundamental passions, and yet does not build any psychological structure.
This leads to the ultimate destruction o f mind and self-illumination o f the
transcendent purusha in an utterly non-phenomenal and non-psychological
manner.
The Y o g a believes in the existence o f G od , w ho is associated with an
absolutely pure mind. W ith such a mind he exerts a will such that the evolu­
tion o f the prakriti or the gutta reals m ay take the course that it has actually
taken in consonance w ith the possible fruition o f the mundane and supra-
mundane or spiritual needs o f the individual persons. The Y o g a thinks that,
had it not been for the w ill o f G od , the potentialities o f the gunas m ight not
have manifested themselves in the present order. The Sânkhya, however,
thinks that the necessity inherent in the potentialities is sufficient to explain
the present order, and the existence o f G od is both unwarrantable and un­
necessary.
The Y o g a School o f philosophy, o f which Patanjali was the traditional
founder, must not be confused with what is com m only called yoga in the
Western world. This, the system o f training known as hatha-yoga, is o f much
later origin, as far as can be gathered from the sources, and is based on
physiological theories related to the ‘ serpent-power’ (kundaiini), which from
its seat in the base o f the spine may be raised by breathing and other exercises
to rise through a vein or channel in the spine to reach ‘ the thousand petalled
lotu s’ (sahasrâra) at the top o f the skull. This is scarcely a philosophy at all,
but is rather a m agico-religious system o f training, with its roots probably to
b e found in primitive Shamanism.
The Nyâya School was essentially a school o f logic, maintaining the view
that clear thinking was an essential preliminary to salvation. This school
evolved, about the beginning o f the Christian era, a system o f syllogistic logic
which seems to have been quite independent o f the Aristotelian system which
conditioned the thought o f Europe. T h e usual form ula o f the Indian syllogism
was as follows :
(i) There is a fire on the mountain,
(ii) because there is sm oke on it,
(iii) and where there is sm oke there is fire, as, for example, in a kitchen.
(iv) This is the case with the mountain,
(v) and therefore there is a fire on it.
W e m ay com pare this with the Aristotelian form ula:
(i) W here there is sm oke there is fire.
(ii) There is sm oke on the mountain.
(iii) Therefore there is fire on it.
The Indian syllogism is more cumbrous than the Greek one, but it m ight be
more effective in debate, since the point is driven hom e by repetition, the first
proposition being virtually the same as the fifth and the second the same as the
 U8 Philosophy

fourlh. The example (here Ihe kitehen) was looked on as an essential element
o f the syllogism, and also seems to derive from debating technique. It is a sur­
vival from the earliest phase o f Indian philosophical thought, when listeners
were often satisfied with analogical arguments. A n example o f such an argu­
ment is the fam ous parable o f the salt in the Chhàndogya Upanishad (vi. 13),
which is mentioned above (p. 113). As salt dissolves in water, so the individual
is dissolved in the absolute Brahman. This, from the point o f view o f logic, is
no argument at all, but it helps to explain a mystical theory and is very
effective as a means o f enforcing conviction upon one already predisposed
to believe the proposition.
O n this basis the N yâya logicians developed the very subtle and difficult
doctrines referred to at the beginning o f this chapter as ultra-logical, which
have been little studied outside circles o f specially trained pandits until quite
recently. T hey are too recondite for consideration here, but it should be noted
that in some respects they prefigure the new logic o f the twentieth-century
' W est, and represent a significant element in the intellectual heritage o f India.
T h e Vaiieshika School was based on a system o f atomism, explaining the
cosm ic process in which the soul was involved. T hé VaiSeshikas, like the Sân-
khyas, held that the soul was w holly different frorn the cosmos, and that its
salvation lay in fully realizing this difference. The first stage in this process was
the recognition o f the world’ s atom ic character. Thé universe was an infinitely
com plex and endlessly changing pattern o f atoms (am) com bining and dis­
solving according to regular principles. A t the end o f the cosm ic cycle the
atom s reverted to a state o f complete equilibrium from which they only
emerged at the beginning o f the next cycle, as the raw material o f a new
cosmos^
T he Indian atom ic system, in many respects anticipating the theories o f
modern physics, was the result not oKexperiment and observation but rather
o f logical thought. Since an endless regress was logically and psychologically
unsatisfactory, it was believed that there must be a final stage in the subdivi­
sion o f any p iecd of matter, beyond which further subdivision was impossible.
Hence the universe must be atom ic in structure. Further developments o f the
theory led to à doctrine o f molecules to accouitt for the multifarious variety o f
the world. The V aiieshika philosophers agreed thus far with modern scientific
physics; they did not, however, hit on a realistic theory o f elements, which
would have demanded practical investigation and experiment. L ike most other
Indian philosophers, they maintained the existence o f five atom ic elements—
earth, water, fire, air, and âkâia, which filled all space; âkâJa is generally
translated ‘ ether’, in the sense in which this term was iised in Western pre­
relativity physics.
T h e Mimâmsâ School was primarily one o f Vedic exegesis, and set out to
prove the complete truth and accuracy o f the sacred texts, in m uch the same
manner as did the doctors o f the medieval Catholic Church or such Protestant
reformers as Calvin. The world-view o f this school was not distinctive, but its
teachers produced interesting and original theories o f semantics, and some o f
them m ade contributions in the field o f law.
O ut o f the M im âm sâ School emerged the most important o f the six systems,
the UItara-Mïmâmsâ (‘ Later Mim âm sâ ’), more com m only known as Vedanta,
 Philosophy r T9
The End o f the V ed as’ . This term was apt because, unlike the M îm âm sakas,
w ho placed equal emphasis on all the V edic literature, the Vedântins stressed
the significance o f the Upanishads, which fo r them formed a sort o f N ew
Testament, not a mere appendix to the earlier Vedic literature. T h e main task,
as they conceived it, was to harmonize the teachings o f these texts into a con ­
sistent body o f doctrine.
T h e basic text o f the Vedânta School is the Brahma Sûtras o f Bàdarâyana,
composed perhaps 2,000 years ago. These are a series o f very terse aphorisms,
perhaps originally intended as lecture notes, to be filled out extem pore by the
teacher. Since they are so elliptical and ambiguous they were com m ented on
and differently interpreted by numerous great doctors o f medieval Hinduism
to produce a wide range o f philosophical and theological systems.
' Undoubtedly the m ost influential and probably the m ost subtle o f these
teachers was Sankara, a south Indian Saivite brahm an who, early in the ninth
century, com posed lengthy commentaries on the Brahma Sutras, the chief
Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita. In these he put forw ard his fam ous
doctrine o f.Adoaita (‘ N o second’, i.e. monism), m aintaining that the pheno­
menal universe with all its multifariousness, and the whole hierarchy o f being
from the greatest o f the gods downwards, were not absolutely real, but were
mâyâ, the secondary emanations o f the one ultimate absolute being, the im ­
personal neuter entity know n as Brahman, characterized by the three atri-
butes o f being (sat), consciousness (chit), and bliss (ânanda). Brahm an was un­
changing and eternally stable, while everything else, being finally unreal, was
subject to change, which, in the case o f the individual being, m anifested.itself
in the form o f samsara, the process o f transmigration.
T h e eternal quest o f the Indian mystic was to be fulfilled b y the complete
tand final realization o f the identity o f his soul or inmost self (âtmâ) with
-:Brahman. This was to b e achieved by spiritual training and meditation.
Sankara did not reject the gods, but taught that they were the prim ary m ani­
festations o f the impersonal Absolute, sharing up tò a point in the unreality
o f all things. Their worship might help humble souls, but the spiritual athlete
^strove to pass beyond them, to direct knowledge o f final reality, w hich was to
be found in his own self. Thus Sankara’s system is sometimes referred to as
'T h e W ay o f K n ow led ge’ (jnâna~mârga). It is wrong, however, to look on
ithis system as fundam entally an intellectual one. T h e knowledge referred to
is n o t com parable with that acquired by learning, but rather w ith the know ­
ledge gained from intensely close acquaintance— the knowledge o f the man
who declares ‘ I know m y w ife’, rather than that o f the one w ho says ‘ I know
the theory o f prime num bers’.
T h e Upanishads contain a very wide range o f doctrines and Sankara’s re­
duction o f their contents to a single consistent system was only achieved by
brilliant exegesis, in no w ay inspired b y the modern open-minded attem pt to
think the thoughts o f the authors o f the texts. L ike most m edieval Christian
schoolm en faced with similar exegetical problem s, Sankara approached his-
texts with the full conviction that he already knew w hat they meant. H is task
was to convince his readers and hearers that this was w hat they really did
mean. His brilliant dialectic was on the w hole successful with later genera­
tions, and his system even today is the m ost im portant one in intellectual
J 20 Philosophy

Hiuduism. It has influenced modern scholarship, and many students o f the

Upanishads have been inclined to ignore the wide range o f speculation in these
lextsan d have followed Sankara’s lead, reading almost everywhere the identity
o f the soul (atma) and the Absolute (Brahman).
Ràm ânuja, a Tam il brâhm an who flourished about a .d . i i o o , gave the
rising piety o f the times a firm philosophical basis, with a philosophy o f ‘ The
W ay o f D evotion ’ (bhakti-mSrga). H e interpreted the same texts as Sankara
had commented on in a different light, to produce the system know n as
Visishtâdvaita (* Qualified M onism ’). Ram anuja rejected Sankara's impersonal
Brahm an, which he interpreted as an inadequate and partial realization o f
'T h e Supreme Person’ (Purushotlama), the god Vishnu, who was ultimate,
eternal, and Absolute. Vishnu, inspired by a sort o f cosmic loneliness, had
diversified him self at the beginning o f time, and hence had produced tbe
cosm os, which, being the w ork o f the wholly real creator, could not be ultim­
ately unreal, but shared in G o d ’ s reality. In the same w ay the individual soul,
created by G od w ho was also an individual, could never wholly lose its indivi­
duality, and even in the highest state o f bliss was always conscious o f itself as
being part o f G od and the recipient o f G od ’s grace and love.
Ràm ânuja m ay not have been as brilliant a dialectician as Sankara, but his
theology has probably as much justification in the Upanishads as that o f
Sankara. It provided a philosophy for the bhakti movements o f the medieval
period, and thus ramified into many sub-schools, whose doctors debated
learnedly and earnestly on problems o f faith and grace. The m ost remarkable
o f these later schools w as that o f M adhva, a Canarese theologian o f the
thirteenth century. M ad h va’s doctrine, also theoretically based on tbe Brahma
Sutras and the Upanishads, was one o f unqualified dualism (Dvaita). Accord­
ing to his system the individual soul was created by G od , but never was and
never w ould becom e one with him or part o f him. In the state o f highest bliss
tbe individual soul drew infinitely close to transcendent godhead, a n d 're ­
mained thus forever, but it was always aware o f its difference from G od.
Several features o f M adhva’s system, as well as this one, suggest Christian in­
fluence, and be m ay have gathered some o f his ideas from the Syrian Christians
o f K erala.
There was a heretical school o f thought which was associated with the name
o f C hârvâka, supposed to be its founder. It was also know n by the^ name
Lokâyata (‘ p o pular’). T he literature o f the system is now practically lost, and
w e have to depend on the accounts o f others to learn its main contents. The
system had many schools, but the fundamental tenets seem to be the same.
This school denied the existence o f any soul or pure consciousness, which is
admitted by all schools o f Hindu thought. It also denied the possibility o f
liberation in any form, the infallible nature o f the Vedas, and the doctrine o f
karma and rebirth. A ll Hindu schools o f thought assume as their fundamental
postulates the above doctrines, and it is on account o f their denial that this
system was regarded as heretical (nâstika). It held that consciousness was an
emergent function o f matter complexes, just as the mixture o f white and
yellow m ay produce red, or fermented starch becom e an intoxicant. C on ­
sciousness being thus an epiphenomenon, nothing remained o f the man after
death. According to the D hürta Chârvàkas, in the state o f life some sort o f a
 Philosophy i11
l
soul was developed which was destroyed at death; but, according to the other
adherents o f the Chârvâka School, no such soul was formed and the be­
haviour o f a man was guided in responses by physico-physiological stimuli.
Thus Chàrvàkas did not believe in the law o f karma or o f rebirth and they also
had no faith in any religious creed or ritual o f any sort. In the field o f logic
they thought that since there is no w ay o f proving the unconditional validity
o f inductive propositions all inferences have only a probable value: percep­
tions are all that we can depend upon.
' Side by side with the doctrine o f the C hârvâka materialists we are reminded
ó f the  jïvaka School o f M akkhali G osàla, and o f the sophistical school o f
A jita K esakam ball, and w e read also o f the doctrines o f Panchasikha,
Sulabhà, and others, which were also inténsely heretical. Thus G osâla be­
lieved in a thoroughgoing determinism and denied the free will and m oral
responsibility o f man. A ccording to him , everything was determined by con­
ditions and environments. K esakam ball also denied the law o f karnta and
insisted on the futility o f all moral efforts. In the specific details, there is a
great divergence o f viesvs in the different systems o f Indian philosophy regard­
ing the concept o f the lasv o f karma. Stated in a general manner, the theory
supposes that the unseen potency o f action generally requires some time be­
fore it becomes effective and bestows on the agent merited enjoyment or
punishment. Through the beginningless series o f past lives, through which
everyone passes, the mysterious potency o f the action accumulates and only
becomes partially mature from time to time. T he period o f life, the nature o f
enjoyment and suffering in a particular life, and the environments are deter­
mined by the nature o f the karma which has ripened for giving fruit. T h e un­
ripe store o f accumulated karma m ay be annulled by the destruction o f ignor­
ance, the rise o f true wisdom, devotion, or the grace o f G od . But there is a
difference o f opinion as to whether the inevitable fruits o f the ripened actions
can be annulled. The theory o f karma is the foundation-stone o f all Indian
systems o f thought, except the aforesaid heresies.
The system o f thought that began w ith the Buddha and was developed by
His followers was also regarded by the Hindus as heretical, as it did not accept
the infallibility o f the Vedas and the existence o f an eternal and immortal
soul. This, and the system known as Jainism, are both very im portant products
o f the Indian philosophical genius, but as they are treated in other chapters
6 f this volume they are not considered here.

E T H IC A L P H IL O S O P H Y

Th e Bhagavad Gita is a metrical interpretation o f the instructions o f the

Upanishads in their bearing on social life. The Gita accepts the fou r types o f
duties fixed for the four classes, brâhmana, kshatriya, vaUya and éüdra, re­
spectively, as study and sacrifice; fighting and the royal task o f protecting sub­
jects; looking after econom ic welfare, agriculture, and trade; and service and
the menial duties. It also accepts the final instruction o f the Upanishads re­
garding the nature o f the self as the ultimate reality, and the means o f the
highest moral perfection as leading to it. But at the same time it enjoins on all
persons that the moral and social duties should be strictly followed. It argues,
therefore, that, having attained the highest moral perfection by cleansing
 122 Philosophy

himself o f all impurities o f passion, such as greed, antipathy, self-love, and the
like, having filled the mind with a spirit o f universal friendship, compassion,
and charity, and having attained perfect stability o f mind, so as to be entirely
unaffected by pleasures and afflictions o f any kind, and being attached to G od
through bonds o f love which also unite man with his fellow beings, the true
seer should continue to perform the normal duties that are allotted to his
station o f life in society. Even i f he has no self-interest in the perform ance o f
his duties, no end to realize, no purpose to fulfil, no fruition o f desire to be
attained, he must yet continue to perform all normal duties, just as an ordinary
•man in his station o f life would. The difference between the seer and the
ordinary man in the sphere o f performance o f actions is that the former,
through the attainment o f .wisdom, the conquest o f passions, the wasting
aw ay o f all inner impurities, through the bonds o f love with G o d and fellow
beings, and through the philosophical knowledge o f the ultimate nature o f the
self, though dissociated and detached from everything else, yet takes his stand
in the common place o f hum anity as represented in society and continues to
perform his duties from a pure sense o f duty in an absolutely unflinching
manner. The ordinary man, however, being engrossed with passions and
bound down with ties o f all kinds, cannot take a true perspective o f life, and
while performing his duties can only do them from motives o f self-interest.
H is performance o f duties is thus bound to be imperfect, and vitiated by. self­
seeking tendencies and the promptings o f lower passions. .
T h e aim o f transcendent philosophy is thus not merely theoretical, but is
intensely practical. However high a man may soar, to whatsoever higher, per­
spective o f things he m ay open his eyes, he is ultimately bound in ties o f social
duties to his fellow beings on earth in every station o f life. A high and trans­
cendent philosophy, which can only open itself through the attainment o f the
highest moral perfection and which leads one through the region beyond good
and evil, again draws him down to the sharing o f com m on duties w ith the
other members o f society. T h e attainment o f the highest wisdom , which
makes one transcend all others, is only h alf o f the circle. T he other h a lf must
be completed by his being on an equal footing with his fellow beings. T he
philosophy o f ‘ beyond good and evil’ does not leave a man in the air, but
makes him efficient.in the highest degree in the discharge o f duties.within
‘ good and evil'. The illusoriness o f good and evil has to be perceived only for
the purpose o f more adequately obeying the demands o f duties in the com m on
social sphere. Alm ost all systems o f Indian philosophy, excepting the followers
o f the Sankara School o f Vedànta, agree in enjoining the perfect perform ance
p f norm al duties on the part o f a seer.
Though the chief emphasis o f the Vaiseshika and N ÿâya systems o f thought
m ay ordinarily appe&r to be placed elsewhere, yet keener analysis w ould show
that in their.case also the ultimate aim is fundamentally the same— the attain­
ment o f salvation through m oral perfection. A large number o f sub-schools
associated with various religious sects developed in India through a form o f
eclectic admixture o f Vedânta, Sânkhya, and Y o g a together with the Bhâga-
vata theory o f lovei But in all these systems the central idea is the same,' the
attainment o f transcendent m oral perfection and o f the perfect social be­
haviour induced by it.
 Philosophy

There is another vein o f thought which runs through Jndian minds, prob­
ably from pre-Buddhistic times, and which m ay be regarded as being in some
sense a corollary and in another sense a supplement to the attitude and per­
spective o f life described above. This attitude consists in the lowering o f em­
phasis on one’s limited self-sense as egoism or selfishness, in the consequent
experience o f equality with all men, and in the developm ent o f a spirit o flo y e
.towards them and towards G od, w ho manifests him self in the persons o f all
men. The cultivation o f love o f hum anity was one o f the dom inant characteris­
tics not only o f the Gita and Buddhism and Jainism, bu t also o f Y o g a and
most systems o f Indian theism, such as those o f Ràm ânuja, M adhva, Nim-
bàrka, and others. T h e Vishnu-Purâna says that to look upon all beings as
equal to one’ s self and to love them all as one w ould love one’ s own self is the
service o f G o d ; for G od has incarnated him self in the form o f all living beings.
T h e Christian principle o flo v e and equality is anticipated in-Buddhism and
Bhàgavatism , which flourished in India long before Christ; b u t the force o f
innate sin is not emphasized as it is in traditional Western Christianity.
Limitations o f space forbid me to enter into the various logical concepts
and philosophical creeds, criticisms o f thought, and dialectic developed in the
semi-lògical and logical epochs o f the evolution o f the history o f philosophy in
India, which could be demonstrated as anticipating sim ilar doctrines and
m odes o f thought in medieval and modern philosophy. Philosophy developed
in India continuously for about 3,000 years over a wide tract o f the country,
and a large part o f it still remains unexplored and unexplained in any modern
language. A careful reader o f Indian philosophy w h o is fully acquainted with
Western philosophy is naturally agreeably surprised to see how philosophic
minds everywhere haye traversed m ore or less the same path and how the same
philosophical concepts which developed in later times in E urope were so
closely anticipated in India. But it is impossible to dilate on this here. M y
chief effort in this chapter has been to show the Indian conception o f the bear­
ing o f philosophy to life, w hich has been alm ost uniform ly the same in almost
all systems o f Indian philosophy and which has always inspired all philosophy
and all religion. T hat philosophy should not remain merely a theoretic science,
but should m ould our entire personality and should drive us through the hard
struggles o f m oral and spiritual strife on the onward path o f self-realization
and should ultimately bring us back again to the level o f other men and make
us share the common duties o f social life in a perfected form and bind us with
ties o f sympathy and Jove to all humanity— this is the final wisdom o f Indian
thought.
CH A P TE R XI

Social and Political Thought

and Institutions
by J. D u n c a n M. D errett

A c i v i l i z a t i o n m ay be know n b y its ideals and the means by which these are

sought to be realized. N o observer o f the complicated picture o f ancient and
medieval Indian polity can fail to note the ideals which were affirm ed.'He will
find them voiced in adages and maxims as numerous as their com panions, the
witty form ulae that em body the essence o f statecraft. The ideals were common
to all regions, and were shared by learned and illiterate alike. O ur treatises on
law and politics contain principles popularized through the epics and the
Purwtas. T h e essence o f good manners and good policy reached the uneduc­
ated by such meaDS, while the worldly wisdom o f these texts fed the compilers
o f fables and less juvenile handbooks. T he great popularity o f Cànakya-nïti,'
that great pool o f wise sayiDgs on ‘ good policy’ , proves that techniques o f
m anaging any social or political question were not the perquisite o f courtiers.
Translation blurs the wording in which the ideals are carried, and obscures
the function and purpose o f the social and political organs. Our texts, too,
answer questions which we should not ask, and ignore problems w hich we
tend to think inescapable, used as we are to a non-Hindu traditional society.
Western writers sought to see familiar elements in an Oriental setting; some
Indian patriots again have either followed that exam ple or idealized the
material at their disposal. The relation o f ideals and theory to practice cannot
be ignored ; but we concentrate rather on the former, since, the legacy o f the
past, both to present-day India and to the world at large, consists rather in the
peculiar balance she achieved and in her view o f life as it should be lived, a
view w hich has, in large measure, outlived experiments and survived failures.
N ow that Indians have migrated in such numbers to countries which might
never have expected them in the heyday o f classical Indology, a need has
arisen to know the virtues, and also the limitations, o f men andiw om en o f
Indian stock, and to estimate what they can, and what they will not, contribute
to their new environments.
Traditional Indian values must be viewed both from the angle o f the indivi­
dual and from that o f the geographically delimited agglomeration o f peoples
or groups enjoying a com m on system o f leadership w hich we call the ‘ state’.
The Indian ‘ state’s ’ special feature is the peaceful, or perhaps m ostly peaceful,
coexistence o f social groups o f various historical provenances w hich mutually
adhere in a geographical, econom ic, and political sense, without ever assimilat­
ing to each other in social terms, in ways o f thinking, or even in language.
1 S e c e .g . Câ(takya-ràja-nlti, c d . L u d w ik S t e m b a c h , A d y a r , 196 3 , a n d th e s u rp ris in g ly
o r ig in a l lit tle h a n d b o o k , LaukikanyòyaSìokàh, e d . V . K r is h n a m a c h a r y a , A d y a r , J963.
 Social and Political Thought and Institutions

Modern Indian law will determine certain rules, especially in relation to the
regime o f the family, upon the basis o f how the loin-cloth is lied, or how the
turban is worn, fo r this m ay identify the litigants as members o f a regional
group, and therefore as participants in its traditional law, though their an­
cestors left the region three or four centuries- earlier. T he use o f the word
‘ state’ above must not mislead us. There was no such thing as a conflict
between thé individual and the state, at least before foreign governments be­
came established, ju st as there was no concept o f state ‘ sovereignty’ or o f any
church-and-state dichotom y. Modern Indian ‘ secularism ’ has an admittedly
peculiar feature: it requires the state to make a fair distribution o f attention
and support amongst all religions. These blessed aspects o f India’s famed
tolerance (Indian kings so rarely persecuted religious groups that the excep­
tions preve-the rule) at once struck Portuguese and other European visitors to
the west coast o fln d ia in the sixteenth century, and the impression made upon
them in this and other ways gave rise, at one remove, to the basic constitution
o f Thomas M ore’s Utopia.1 There is little about modern India that strikes one
at once as U topian: but the insistence upon the inculcation o f norms, and the
absence o f bigotry and institutionalized exploitation o f human or natural re­
sources, are tw o very different features which link the realities o f India and
her tradition with the essence o f all Utopias.
Part o f the explanation for India’s special social quality, its manifest
virtues and compensating shortcomings, lies not in any prudent decisions by
any men or groups o f men, but in the traditional concept o f the society jn
which prajâ (the subjects) and râjâ (the ruler) were the two principal elements,
one might say, polarities; and part again lies in the fact that, though the ruler
was a guardian o f morals, the ‘ cause’ , as it was put, ‘ o f the age’ , the power o f
penance was immeasurably more vigorous than any service the state could
perform— even granted the fact that the prerogative o f corporal or capital
punishment (danda) served also as a penance for the guilty, and granted, too,
that it was in theory one o f the king’s tasks to see to it that penances were
actually performed. Ideals were expressed in terms o f ethics, and are related,
some to people in general, and some, more specialized, to the principal classes,
in particular the brahmans, whose inherited religious and m agical powers,
and responsibility for the spiritual and even material welfare o f the state-,
marked them out for respectful treatment, financial patronage, and, if they
were suitably conscientious, cramping taboos. Special ideals were naturally
developed for the râjâ, the key figure in leadership, whether he was a head o f a
clan, or- an emperor.
Th e ‘ twice-born’ , to w hom we shall return, reached, according to M anu
(vi. 92), supersensory bliss by obeying a tenfold ‘ la w ’, which was a mixture o f
moral and intellectual requirements. H ârita,3 w ho goes into greater detail,
gives the constituents o f iila (good conduct) as ‘ piety, devotion to gods and
ancestors, mildness, avoidance o f giving-pain, absence o f envy, sweetness,
. * J. D :'M .T > e r r e tt, ‘ T h o m a s M o r e a n d J o se p h u s th e In d ia n ’ ,J R A S , A p r . 196 2, p p . 18 -3 4 .
T h e to p ic is p u rs u e d b y th e s a m e a t ‘ M o r e ’ s Utopia a n d I n d ia n s in E u r o p e ’ , Moreana
(A n g e rs ), j ( j 9 65), 1 7 - 1 8 ; * M o r e ’s Utopia a n d G y m n o s o p h y ’, Bib!. Hum. Renaiss. (G e n e v a ),
*7 ( i 9 d j) . d o a - J ; ‘ T h e U to p ia n A lp h a b e t’, Moreana, 12 (1 9 6 6 ), 6 1 - 4 .
1 C ite d b y K u l lü k a c o m m e n tin g on M a n u ii. 6. M a n u h im s e lf m a y b e s tu d ie d c o n v e n ie n tly
in th e tra n s la tio n o f G . B ilh le r, Sacred Books o f the Hast, V o l. 25, 1886.
126 Social and Political Thought and Institutions

abstention from Injury, friendliness, sweet speech, gratitude for kindnesses,

succouring the distressed, compassion, and t r a n q u illit y Dharma, a term we
shall discuss, in its wider sense o f a general m oral ideal (it is also used o f a
‘ la w ’ as such), requires o f every man truthfulness, abstention from stealing,
absence o f anger, modesty, cleanliness, discernment, courage, tranquillity,
subjugation o f the senses, and (right) know ledge/ This attitude towards moral
qualities and forms o f behaviour introduces us to the fact that equilibrium
rather than equality, peace rather than liberty, were the fundamental ideals.
These notions can be interpreted partly as an escape from, and partly as an
attempted insurance against the primeval chaos which was supposed to lurk
in the background, the chaos which was believed to justify indirectly, and
positively to require, the state itself.
Unseen benefits hereafter and prestige in this life were not to be attained
merely by moral qualities and good behaviour. T he quality o f absolute
‘ goodness’ consists also in the study o f the Vedas, austerity, pursuit o f
knowledge, purity, control over the organs o f the body, performance o f
meritorious acts, and meditation on the soul. These properly belong to
brâhmans or brâhraanized classes, but the opposite, the state o f ‘ darkness’, is
demonstrated by covetousness, sloth, cowardice, cruelty, atheism, leading an
evil life, soliciting favours, and inattentiveness,* and these were not confined
to the upper classes. A similar arrangement o f ideals is found in the maxim
that one falls from caste (i) by not observing what is laid down (in law or
custom), (fi) by observing what is prohibited, or (iii) by not bringing the senses
under control.6 Civilized life required that all three sources o f ‘ fa ll’ should be
eliminated— an object no individual’s power could achieve. T he leading
themes are well evidenced in that distinctively Indian, if non-bràhmanical,
sect, Jainism, which combines venerable age and longevity. .
T h e ideal Jaina householder is characterized by spiritual virtues, namely a
spiritual craving, tranquillity, aversion from the world, devotion, compassion,
remorse, repentance, and loving-kindness; and by social virtues, namely non­
violence, abstention from unrighteous speech (o f which lies and slander are
illustrations), abstention from theft or unrighteous appropriation (including
embezzlement), chastity, avoidance o f covetousness, and non-attachment.
Since many Jainas have been commercially minded the significance o f these
virtues is apparent. H ow the social and personal intermingle is revealed in
these standard characteristics o f the Jaina householder: possessing honestly
earned wealth, eulogistic o f the virtuous, wedded to a well-guarded spouse
who is o f the same caste but o f a different patrilineage, apprehensive o f sin,
following the customs o f the locality, not denigrating others (particularly
rulers), dwelling in a secure house (affording no temptations to in-dwellers or
strangers), avoiding evil com pany, honouring elders, eschewing sites o f cal­
amities, eschewing occupations that are reprehensible according to fam ily,
local, or caste customs, econom ical and making a right use o f his income, o f
controlled diet and balanced aims (following righteousness (dharma), wealth
(artha), and physical pleasure (kâma), the three purushârthas or aims relevant
to this life, in due proportion), charitable to monks )ipd the afflicted, mindful
■
* Y â jü a v a lk y a iii. 66. C f . th e s u m m a r y a t M a n u x . 63. » 'M an u x ii. 3 1 , 33,
6 Y â j n . iii. 2 1 9 ; c f. M a n u x i. 44.
 Social and Political Thought and Institutions 127

o f his dependants, and victorious over the organs o f sense.7 W c find through­
out that the most reprehensible misdeeds are theft and adultery, and a com ­
mentary on Indian ethics could be woven on these items alone. Insistence that
women must not be exposed to even a nominal risk o f unchastity, the require­
ment that marriage should subserve the fam ily’s interest and not prim arily
that o f the spouses, and the disfavour in which anything resembling ‘ court­
in g ’ before marriage is held, have developed an attitude towards women, and
a level o f expectation on the. part o f women themselves, w hich set special
limits to Indian social behaviour and give a peculiar quality to Indian life.
Concern fo r the chastity o f their wom enfolk has, at least in the last millen­
nium, been at the summit o f every Indian fam ily’s prime concerns, and when
hatred boiled over, the females were the immediate targets. Obedience to
rulers, as such, we do not find am ongst the typical virtues: but it is inculcated
elsewhere. A voidance o f sin and social disgrace was a prim ary obligation,
while duty to the ruler was secondary and dependent upon the first, for the
ruler’s function was to facilitate such avoidance. Respect for the caste-system
is implicit in the scheme outlined. ‘ H onestly earned w ealth ’, 'reprehensible
occupations’ are terms referring to an established, if theoretical, apportion­
ment o f activities am ongst the castes ( ja t i) . T o search for social and political
ideals anterior to the caste-system would be fruitless.
N o Indian ideal could be inconsistent with dharma, ‘ righteousness’ . T his
word tends to bring cosm ology down into touch with the mundane details o f
private law .8 One who follows his dharma is in harm ony, and attains bliss,
though it remains doubtful how far his contem poraries’ behaviour should
guide him in his understanding o f his dharma. W ithout dharma, in however
etiolated a form , fertility, peace, civilized life are considered to be im perilled.
Dharma is in one sense natural, in that it is not created or determined (though
in practice in obscure cases its exponents determine w hat its sense is), and in
another it is always to be striven for. Dharma is unnatural in that to achieve it
one must put forth uncongenial efforts o f self-control, irrespective o f popular
reaction^ I f dharma (as contrasted with positive legislation) only in part re­
sembles natural law it is nevertheless a code o f m oral obligations to which the
uninstructed nations (mleccjtas), innocent o f bràhm anical learning, cannot
attain. Dharma, indeed, means duty (kartavyatâ), and the study o f dharma in­
volves a discovery o f the duties o f individuals, groups, and, am ong them,
their political leaders. F o r dharma, in the sense w hich predominates in politi­
cal theory, is an abstraction o f sva-dharma, the ‘ own dharma’ o f each caste
and category o f person. A s D . H. H. Ingalls, the Harvard scholar, has neatly
put it, the ‘ essentially isolationist society’ recognized a religious sanction be­
hind an infinite variety o f personal laws. Perhaps the categorization and
tendency to division was overdone in the writings, but th e ya re faithful to the
essential character o f that society. N om inate the m an, state his age, caste, and
status, and one can be told what his dharma is. H e deviates from it at his peril,
his spiritual peril in any case, his physical or financial peril too if the king is
as alert to deviations as he ought to be. But this is not to suggest that dharma
7 R . W illia m s , Jaina Yoga, 1963. C f . M a n u x ii. 2 - 1 0 .
4 T h e le g a l s y s te m b a sed o n dharma liv e s o n in a s p ir itu a l sen se , b u t its a p p lic a tio n in
litig a tio n c e a s e d in I n d ia b y v ir tu e o f th e a c ts c o n s titu tin g th e ‘ H in d u C o d e * (1 9 5 5 - 6 ) .
128 Social and Political Thought and Institutions

was a ‘ natural law ’ in the European sense: the ruler’s conduct could not be
tested by reference to dharma and invalidated thereby, and, though it justified,
it could not delimit his administrative authority.
Adharma (unrighteousness) is the forerunner o f chaos. M an has a natural
tendency to decline into chaos. In one myth chaos required the invention o f
kingship and the appointment o f a semi-divine king. Dharma and kingship
are thus inseparable. Dharma derives linguistically from a root m eaning ‘ to
h o ld ’ . A loose hold is no hold. Dharmas vary according to the person’s varna
(his ‘ q u ality ’, class, or ‘ caste’) and his dirama (stage o f life, or status). Vdrna
was acquired by birth (a principle nowadays under attack), dirama was
optional, though the fam ily lost prestige if the samskdras or sacramental
ceremonies were neglected by which entry into the essential stages was pre­
pared for and celebrated. E very dharma had the king as its protector; and law
could not, as a set o f practical requirements, effectively demand anything that
was not at the same time m orally and legally binding.9 Unrighteous govern­
ment, illustrated by the fall o f the mythical king.Vena, is understood, but the
point o f the myth is that miracles are needed to dissolve the obligation o f
obedience. Texts evidencing the theory that a wicked king could be put to
death by his subjects10 are rare and uncharacteristic. Varndsrama-dharma is
nom inally encyclopedic, com prehensive; laying the king, noble, commoner,
citizen, and peasant under an apparently equal burden o f obligation to a com ­
mon com plex ideal. I f the subjects rebelled they did so because the king’s duty
to protect their dharmas was being neglected, and because his own life, con­
flicting with dharma, prejudiced their welfare from a religious point o f view.
C haos could be forestalled by rebellion, but our texts do nothing either to
encourage or to justify such an attitude. The effort concentrates on m aking
the reigning king a success.
Som e illustrations o f dharma’s ‘ hold’ are needed or we cannot grasp what
was expected o f the king. T h e varna o f the brâhman would limit his freedom
to associate, to mate, to dine; it seeks to number the occupations he m ay pur­
sue— to study, to teach, to officiate at religious ceremonies (including the
samskdras), and to advise and, if necessary, to chide rulers. T o trade ^ speci­
ally in certain goods) and especially to lend at interest are forbidden, except in
limes o f distress. A nd the brahm an’s dharma demands at least a minimum o f
classical education. The varna o f the sudra, at the other end o f the scale o f
‘ clean ’ castes, also delimits. N o t being one o f the twice-born, as are the
brâhman and those w ho intervene between them, he does not study the Veda,
and does not take the sacred thread which indicates initiation; nor m ay he
teach V edic studies or have social intercourse with the twice-born except upon

9 N o t e M a n u v ii. 13 (w h ere iffefii m ean s, p r o b a b ly , ‘ to p ics p r o v id e d f o r in th e s a s t r a ’) :

a n im p o r ta n t v e rs e , p o o r ly (as s o o fte n ) e x p re s s e d . T h e p ro b le m o f th e d iffe re n c e b e tw e e n
M a w ’ a s w e u n d e rs ta n d it a n d L a w as th e dharmaSàstra w rite rs u n d e rs to o d it is h a n d le d in
Festschrift /Hr Otto Spies, e d . W . H o e n e r b a c h , W ie s b a d e n , 19 6 7 , p p . 1 8 - 4 1 .
10 Y is v a r ù p a o n Y â jn a v a lk y a i. 340. T h e g e n e ra l c o m p le x io n o f th e s ta tu s o f 's u b j e c t ' is
h a n d le d in ‘ R u le rs a n d R u le d in In d ia ’ , Recueils de la Société Jean Badin, i l (19 6 9 ), 4 1 7 - 4 5 ;
a n d th e e ffe c t o f th e s e c o n c e p ts o n p rin c ip le s o f in te r n a tio n a l la w is h a n d le d in ‘ H in d u is m
a n d I n te r n a tio n a l L a w : a R e v ie w o f K . R . R . S a s tr y ’s L e c tu r e s a t T h e H a g u e ’ , Indian Year­
book o f International Affairs, 1 5 - 1 6 ( 1 9 6 6 - 7 ), 3 2 8 -4 7 . B o t h a rtic le s c o n ta in b ib lio g ra p h ic a l
in d ic a tio n s . H is s u b je c ts m a y k ill a v io le n t k in g : hfahâbhârata x iii. 60, 19 -2 0 .
 Social and Political Thought and Institutions 129

the footing o f service, whether in the house, the workshop, or the field. Ideally
his very name should suggest a humble status and the higher castes are en­
titled to his labour— an ideal which, needless to say, the most numerous
varna from time to time repudiated. W e hear, accordingly, o f ‘ good südras’
w ho were supposed to be degraded twice-born and generally copied the latter
in their behaviour. Between brahman and südra were ranked the warrior
(kshatriya) and mercantile (vaisya) classes, upon a theoretical basis explained
in terms o f their objective qualities and tendencies. Anom alies abounded
from the first and we meet the theory o f ‘ mixed castes’, sprung from unions
between the four varnas. Distribution o f functions between the varnas and the
mixed castes was often in debate, both historically and throughout our
literature.
The brahman’s ancient hereditary function as a teacher (guru) o f the other
castes is not dead. T o this day brâhmans are from time to time approached to
resolve problems and act as ‘ confessors’ by other castes; and a careful an­
thropological survey o f a remote village in M adhya Pradesh, the abode for
several centuries equally o f brâhmans and non-brâhmans, both occupied in
agriculture, revealed the strange fact that when the econom y suddenly
changed, due to improvements in communications and markets, a large num­
ber o f the brahmans, but not o f the other classes, took to teaching and other
intellectual pursuits. Students o f Western medieval literature know o f the
‘ gymnosophists’ whom Alexander the Great and his companions found in
northern India. These made an impression on the Greeks and earned a not­
able place for the ascetics in the Alexander romance and its m any derivative
contributions to Western culture. T hey spoke fearlessly to kings, telling them
their dharma, and their status as teachers (they were ostentatiously naked) de­
pended on their utter indifference to the world and contempt for death. T he
Jewish heroes o f M asada, before committing suicide, as the Rom ans scaled
the last wall, reminded themselves that they must not be inferior in faith to the
poor Indians (whom they believed to be polytheists at that)."
The ideals o f the dharma-sâstra, the ‘ science’ , or rather ‘ teaching’ o f
righteousness, proceeded far beyond these classifications. M arriage was a
prime concern. M arriage between varnas was lawful provided that it was in
the hypergamous form, the husband having the higher caste. The ideal mar­
riage for a brahman was in the form o f a gift o f the bride, along with her
dowry, to the bridegroom summoned for the purpose; that for the kshatriya
was by capture or in the love-match which, to the minds o f som e'm oralists,
masked too often a mere seduction; while marriage by purchase, deprecated
as barely suited to thv furtherance o f dltarma, was left to the südras. Ideals out­
lived facts, .both in marriage and in occupations. Brâhmans are found func­
tioning as money-lenders or soldiers; südras are actually found occupying
thrones (an eventuality pathetically deplored in m any texts). Intercourse with
a woman other than one’s wife was a sin; yet the keeping o f concubines per­
sisted (never, though, to the total exclusion o f marriage) amongst well-to-do
classes until very recent times.
The dharmas o f a Vedic student (brahmacâri) were naturally not relevant to
a südra youth. The principal cisrama o f the grihastha (householder), the
11 Jo se p h u s, Betlum ludaicum, v ii. 3 4 1 - 5 7 . Y . Y a d in , Masada, L o n d o n , 1966, p . 226.
130 Social and Political Thought and Institutions

dirama upon which in practice all the others depended, was reached by all
varnas ideally at marriage, which should be celebrated soon after the com ple­
tion o f a young man’s academic training (if any) and would signalize his entry
into full social responsibility. M arriage was the one dirama which was nearly
obligatory. Religious and social pressure made it virtually unavoidable. P ro­
creation o f at least one son was recommendéd, and better o f two, so that at
least one might go to G ayâ and perform the efficacious irdddha there which
would secure perpetual bliss for deceased ancestors. I f an aurasa (legitimate)
son could not be expected, the mature m ale ought to provide him self and his
paternal ancestors with a substitute by one o f the approved methods o f adop­
tion. Spiritual responsibility towards the ancestors and the right to inherit
their property were ideally inseparable.
N o survey o f the social order can neglect the slaves, for whom, as a social
class, curiously, the varndsrama-dharma (which calls them biped chatteJs)
makes little or no room, satisfied, we note, to provide that a brahman could
not be enslaved unless he lapsed from the status o f sannydsi, or renunciate.
This, the last dirama, was in theory available to every former householder
who chose to retire from the world, but in practice it became a title to live on
charity, from which, naturally, only a lunatic would be likely to defect.
Slaves were not, in the ideal view, a division o f society, though they were a
fact. In the status and fate o f slaves, especially the ‘ b orn ’ slave, some would
see a dark feature o f Indian social ethics.11 Y e t even an extreme example o f
their situation has its dharmic aspect. A young female orphan, selling herself
into slavery in return for her keep, would acknowledge that if she committed
suicide as a result o f her keeper’s chastisement she would commit a dreadful
sip.13 O n the footing that it is a charity to buy children as slaves in times o f
famine, the residual right to commit, or to threaten to commit, suicide
seemed properly subject to limitation by contract.
T h e politically most significant branch o f dharma, to which we shall devote
attention, was that relating to the râjâ. Preferably a kshatiiya, his dharma
could be summarized as ‘ to conquer and to protect’ . T o fix him with his re­
sponsibilities there must be a state. This existed (and could survive) when,
according to traditional theory, there existed each o f the seven constituents,
the so-called saptdnga, o f that organism. These were the king himself, a
minister o f official class, a capital city, a rural area or inhabited tract, a
treasury or revenue administration, an arm y, and at least one foreign ally. It
was recognized that since all are constituents o f the state no one could be
aggrandized at the expense o f others without endangering the organism. M en­
tion o f the state calls into play the two sciences o f dharma and artha. The last
word means politics and economics, and K autilya’s Arthaidstra is in fact the
sole substantial treatise on the art o f public administration.14 The passages
dealing with the king’s duties and powers in the smritis o f M anu and Yâjna-
valkya, for example, were influenced by artha-sdstra learning. Wherever the

11 Y .B o n g e r t , ‘ R é fle x io n s s u r le p r o b lè m e d e l ’e s c la v a g e . . . ’, BEFE- 0, 51 (19 6 3 ), 1 4 3 -9 4 .

° Lekhapaddhali, p . 44.
14 T h e te x t as w e ll a s th e tr a n s la tio n s h o u ld b e co n s u lte d n o w o n ly in th e v e rsio n s o f
P r o f . R . P . K a n g le , to b e m o d ifie d b y sp e c ia lis t d isco v e rie s p u b lis h e d in th e b o o k s o f
H . S c h a r fe (W ie sb a d e n , 1968) a n d (cum grano salis) T . R . T r a u tm a n n (L e id e n , 19 7 1).
 Social and Political Thought and Institutions 131

two sciences conflicted the ruler was expected to follow righteousness rather
than politics, and the cunning inculcated by the latter was supposed to be at
the disposal o f the former.
1 Politics, sarcastically called the khattaoijjà, or ‘ kshatriyas’ science’ , i.e. un­
restrained opportunism, by the Buddhist writers, subsumed a minimum o f
^righteousness in any scheme upon the basis that the end justifies the means.
iThe ideal and the righteous king is insistently overdrawn in our sources, a fact
telling its own story. It is claimed that, however kings came to exist as pheno­
mena (a question to which we return), the function o f a king is divinely pre­
determined. ‘ The kshatriya he (the Creator) com m anded’ , says M an u ,1* ‘ to
protect the people, to bestow gifts, to offer sacrifices, to study the Vedas, and
to abstain from attaching himself to sensual pleasures.’ The last has a com ical
sound, for to frame a negative precept as if it were a positive one betrays the
historical state o f affairs rather plainly.
For the king’s role an education o f some intensity was recommended, and
no doubt required. ‘ Command o f armies, royal authority, the office o f a
judge, and sovereignty over the whole world he alone deserves who knows the
Veda science’, says Manu elsewhere.16 ‘ Let him act with justice in his own
•domains— Punishment (danda) strikes down a king who swerves from his
•duty— with rigour chastise his enemies, behave without duplicity towards his
•friends, and be lenient towards brahmans.’ The duties o f a king are to protect
the good like a father and to put down evil-doers with rigour. T h e fourteen
‘ faults’ in a king which the epics point to are these: atheism, falsehood, hot
temper, carelessness, procrastination, not seeing the wise, laziness, addiction
to the five pleasures o f the senses, considering state matters by him self (with­
out consulting competent ministers), taking counsel with those who do not
know politics, not commencing that which is decided upon, not keeping slate
secrets, not practising auspicious acts, and taking up undertakings in all
directions at once.
In order to uphold dharma a bureaucracy was required, whose function­
aries were suspected o f corruption, for, as K au tilya puts it, who can tell
whether fish in water are drinking? A plenitude o f regal power was called for,
• and obedience to the king’s orders was imperative, whether or not they were
capricious (as the Jâtaka tales would have us believe they frequently were). T o
complain even after obeying seems not to have been contemplated. ‘ T h e un­
righteous man who does not obey the laws promulgated by the king, shall be
punished and even put to death. . . .’ ‘ Whatever a king does for the protection
o f his subjects, by right o f his kingly power, and for the best o f mankind, is
v a lid .. . . ’ ‘ A s a husband should always be respected by his wives . . . a
monarch should always be respected by his subjects, even though he be a bad
ruler.’ ‘ It is through devotion (or austerities in previous lives) that kings have
acquired their subjects; therefore the king is lord; the subjects o f a king must
obey his commandments, and (as if from a father) they derive their substance
from him .’ 17
The king was surrounded with pom p and demonstrated conspicuous con ­
sumption. His consecration symbolized the dependence o f the state fo r its
crops and cattle upon the king’s existence and attributes. Fertility, power,
“ i 89. ,4 x ii. 100. 17 T h e s e p a ssa g e s a re ta k e n fr o m N â r a d a ’s p r o tfr/ ia iro s e c tio n .
132 Social and Political Thought and Institutions

success were typified by the râja, and a large share (ideally one sixth) o f the
produce o f the lands (except those o f brahmans and deities) and o f every pro­
ductive occupation was not begrudged to him. Unproductive persons such as
ascetics shared with their king their spiritual merit. He was like eight deities
himself, and to some thinkers he appeared to have been created out o f their
attributes. He should shower benefits like Indra who showers rain (Indra and
the king are often equated in the texts); he should extract taxes as the sun
sucks up moisture; he is to penetrate everywhere with his spies like.the wind;
with the rod o f chastisement {dando) he is to control all his subjects as Yam a,
the deity o f death, subdues all in the end; he must punish the wicked as
Yaruna binds sinners with his rope; he is to gladden his subjects by shining
upon them as the full moon gladdens men; he is to visit criminals with his
anger and destroy wicked subordinates as fire burns all; and he is-to support
his subjects as the earth supports all creatures.18
Dharma upheld the king with the aid o f superstitious symbolism, but its
requirements from him were very practical and detailed. T he râjâ was viewed
as the apex o f a broad-based pyramid o f authority, judicial and administra­
tive. A fam ily’s patriarch, with recognized powers o f coercion, ruled his
household according to the ideals which we have reviewed. I f he failed, rela­
tions would attempt to coerce him. There might be some debate whether
custom permitted his acts. Social and moral misdeeds, and m any crimes be­
sides, were dealt with by a similar machinery. A father might fine his wives
and servants, and, where delay in bringing the Crime to the notice o f an official
might result in a failure o f justice, a husband was authorized to slay an
adulterer.1’ A fiction o f delegated authority left the men on the spot with a large
responsibility fo r keeping the peace, suppressing crime, and compensating in­
jured persons. There can be no doubt but that the stifling atmosphere o f the
.smaller o f the extended families out o f which Hindu society was made up
created many personal problems which remained quite unknown, until a
dram atic explosion (such as a daughter-in-law’s suicide) drew public attention
to latent evils.
In pre-classical times the râjâ led in war and administered criminal justice;
the danda was wielded to repel invaders, (o acquire territory, and to execute
or mutilate criminals. T he notion that he was the fountain o f all human
justice came later, and until modern times the distinction persisted between
the military and police power on the one hand and jurisprudence and the
sâstric learning o f the brâhmans (rather than professional administrators as
such) on the other. Regulations, therefore, proposing to coerce an erring
father would rely upon what corresponded to public opinion. I f a compromise
was impossible an eccentric could be brought under the ban o f the village, the
district, and eventually the state, which, slow to awaken and usually keen to
delegate responsibility to local officials, was dreadful when aroused.
T he maintenance o f discipline therefore began in the home, and if that
failed, higher forces, summoned ad hoc, could be brought to bear. The books
speak o f pitga, sreni, and gana tribunals, and these antiquated names refer,
inter alia, to local, lay courts. T he books suggest that the members should be
18 G h o s h a l, History o f Indian Political Ideas, p p . 164, 273.
19 V ijflà n cS va ra o d Y â jn . fi. 286.
 Social and Political Thought and Institutions 133
impartial. The notion o f itts stridimi was totally absent. T he aim, even today,
outside the regular courts, is to effect reconciliation.20 N ot even the king de­
sired to blind justice, come what might. Dharma, as a guide to the solution o f
-disputes, had a built-in equity. W hat was abhorred by the public could not be
dharma. Rule-of-thumb decisions were avoided and mutual adjustment was
■favoured even at the cost o f repeated adjournments, a fact w hich the theory o f
the sdstric tests, however, by no means brings out. These envisage an ideal
court and ideal conditions for discovering the truth, and then a flexible legal
’system fit to cope with it. M any o f the legal rules o f the dharma-sdstra seem
’ vague, or frankly provide the judge with alternatives; the bald prescription o f
2harsh punishment for offenders masks a system in which much wrongdoing
was accounted for by groups interacting in an extra-legal manner.
Securing property-rights, repressing deviations from caste regulations, the
king and his deputies were engaged for much o f their time with actual or
-imaginary complaints against transgressions o f the social order. Blessings
awaited the king who so occupied himself. Instances might be a projected
marriage between jâtis not yet regarded as socially equal; a claim that a
'm arket price had been fixed unconscionably high; a claim that a sect should
have an endowment com parable with that granted to rival sects; or a com ­
plaint that a caste had in a public meeting determined to assume an arrogant
1title. In all hearings which were judicial an ancient maxim came into play, that
•the four feet o f vyavahâra (litigation) were dharma, vyavahâra (court practice),
charilra (custom), and râja-sàsana (royal decree). T h e latter in order overruled
the former, a principle which speaks for itself. These were originally sources o f
law, but the notion that the king could not overrule dharma, in its trans­
cendental sense, grew as time went on, and medieval commentators and even
some late smriti sources saw the maxim as referring to methods o f proof, and
twisted the words accordingly.
In keeping order at home, forestalling attacks from abroad, planning
attacks upon neighbouring kings, and finding his own level within the man­
dala, or circle o f rulers amongst whom tbe theory o f statecraft found his
natural allies and opponents, assistance was available to the king from various
quarters. Trained personnel abounded in the corps o f officiais. Their titles do
not much interest us. The departments o f state, headed by that o f the purohila
or family priest o f the râjâ, included those responsible for war and peace,
•the treasury, the elephant corps, registry and archives, Forts, markets, and
prostitutes (an important source o f royal income). There was a mantn-
parishad, or council o f ministers, to whom the king might have recourse. P ro­
motion to such a council was within his gift, but unfortunately removal from
it was nearly impossible. The ideals o f unquestioning loyalty to a righteous
king and his family produced ministerial houses with hereditary ties to the
sovereign. Such ministers were set up with fiefs in lieu o f salary, they took no
oaths o f loyalty, and there were no reciprocal agreements; thus they could
become troublesome subordinates, feudatories (without a true feudal system)
capable o f becoming kings in their turn. According to the recommendations

10 Report o f the Study Team on Nyaya Panehayats, G o v t , o r In d ia, M in is try oT L a w (19 6 2 ),

w h ic h h as a v a lu a b le h is to ric a l se ctio n .
134 Social and Political Thought and Institutions

o f the texts on statecraft these ministers were to be selected for their know­
ledge, abilities, and character, and were to be tested by agents provocateurs',
but there was nothing but loyalty to prevent their intriguing with junior mem­
bers o f the royal family, and even offering their support to a foreign king. The
king was obliged to consult ministers, especially those holding prestige, but he
was never bound by their advice; responsibility for unpopular acts was there­
fore entirely his, and, as we have seen, the possibility o f deposition was never
entirely lost sight of.21 T he position o f the hereditary minister was more com ­
fortable than that o f the king, for all the books’ recommendation that .he
should be constantly spied upon: even a righteous king is warned by these
same books to be ever on the alert a.nd to trust no one. A n unsuccessful
traitor, had, however, a great deal to lose, for the king’ s revenge would de­
stroy him, family, dependants, and all.
T h e administration o f justice, to which we have already alluded, was ideally
the task o f kshatriya judges advised by brahman assessors; thé b ooks'îay
down the qualifications o f the sabhdsad (judicial assessor), which are admir­
able by any standard. But in the villages all decisions would be taken by
village councils; the villager would be bound by them because dhartnq re­
quired compliance w ith an agreement to .which he was theoretically a party,21
even if (as in the case o f an untouchable) he had no right, o f speech at.the
meeting, and even i f his opinion failed to win the general acceptance Which
always did duty for majority vote. The villager was theoretically present in his
village parliament, and the râjâ, his far-away ‘ father’, was related by less
tangible i f definite religious ties. The râjâ, not surprisingly, was required by
the sâstras to take the local decisions seriously, and i f they affected custom to
inquire into and register them. The king’ s own orders, the sdsanas referred to
above, were likewise recorded and put up in archives for future reference/
I f the village could enact by-laws and the king promulgate regulations by
decree it would seem to follow that the society was progressive, m oulding its
laws and constitution to meet developments. On the contrary some observers
emphasize the static nature o f both. It was at one time supposed that dharma
could disallow positive legislation, but this view has no foundation. Decrees
emanating from the palace are actually contemplated by the dhàrma-sâstra
itself. ‘ These goods shall not be exported’ and ‘ Anim als shall not be slaugh­
tered on these d ays’ are examples. The artha-sdstra actually authorizes the
aggressor to combine tactics, noble and ignoble, and the conflict between the
transcendental and the expedient ends, with a distinct advantage to enligh­
tened expediency. From successful treachery the king can purify him self by
penance; by a failure in diplom acy he m ay lose his kingdom and inflict chaos
upon his former subjects. In a war, or with reference to a projected war, the
dharma-idstra itself did not purport to chart the king’s fiscal and administr­
ative powers.
Dharma had thus an isolated existence o f its own. It was not adjustable to
suit opinions and occasions. W e should look into its origins and relations
with secular law more closely. In matters o f detail, where the established ideals

11 M a n u v ii. 1 1 1 - 1 2 . .
11 M a n u viii. 219 . S ee D e rre tt, Religion, Law ami i/ie Stale in Initia, L o n d o n , 1968, C h . 6.
 Social and Political Thought and Institutions J35
were not clear guides, the sâstra must needs follow custom.*3 A s customs so
recorded became antiquated the sâstrïs, or teachers, felt authorized to pass
over many o f the smritis, i.e. the immemorial maxims or oracular statements,
,-which had accompanied the inspired philosophical and ethical material that
•made the greater dharma-sâstras, in particular that attributed to M anu, such
■splendid vehicles for law. Alternatively, they would interpret them if they re­
gained them, in ways which would save their validity whilst insinuating a m ore
icontemporary meaning,*4 What, was dharma was enunciated by the teachers,
snot-the books, a jealously and successfully guarded privilege. M anu tells us
;that a committee o f ten, o f three, or, i f need be, only one brâhman, properly
.qualified in point o f character and learning, can give an authoritative and
[binding decision on a point o f law, whether ritual or spiritual, or on ju d icial
«matters.*5 N o appeal from such a decision is contemplated, though evidently
the royal court acted as a supreme court o f revision, where the best-qualified
rpandits could give a ‘ final’ reading o f the sâstra to meet the case. T he state as
;such could not redefine dharma in any context. A custom, properly estab­
lish ed , or a genuine iâsana might authorize a departure from dharma in a
particular class o f cases or a particular litigation, but then only if the court’s
atten tion was drawn to the former, and then without any bearing on the
^spiritual aspects o f the question, in respect o f which what was both ‘ righ t’ and
M-law’ was immutable. Legislation by consent o f the people did not exist, and
: the provision, which we have seen, that what the public abhorred could not be
jlaw, was o f merely temporary and conditional effect. The dharma-sâstra from
fits very beginnings must have presupposed professional interpreters and a
^governmental machinery lacking jurisdiction to make more than ad hoc in-
jroads upon it. This in turn presupposes a multiple, if ‘ isolationist’ society, far
jfrom the tribe or clan. W hat was best had been discovered by ancestors long
A g o , w ho had obtained it evidently from revelation; their insigiht and ex­
perience sufficed for their descendants; and it was thought that scholarship
ïShould be devoted to collating, systematizing, and rationalizing what had sur­
v iv e d from the supposed corpus o f injunctions. D ebate was confined to the
^question whether current versions correctly appraised what the past had
jachieved..
Such a theory o f society and its government left no room for progress in
jany modern sense. On the contrary the contem porary state o f society was
Attributed to an inevitable decline, by stages, from a golden age. Apparently
^progressive’ rules, such as that a girl could obtain an annulment o f her
jparriage with an impotent man, preserved in ancient smritis, were held by
sifie time o f the Smriti-chandrika, a thirteenth-century encyclopedia o f law , to
||elong to previous ages, and to be unavailable for the author’s own period.
fjjÇhe seemingly socialistic Directive Principles o f the current Constitution o f
lliidia would have astonished men o f that age. K au tilya him self nowhere
|SUggests that the resources o f a region should be exploited to their utm ost in
f?'
g ï f * N . C . S e n - G u p ta , Evolution o f Ancient Indian Law, 1 9 5 3 , e sp . p p . 3 2 9 -3 5 . S e e a ls o
L in g a t, The Classical Law o f India, B e r k e le y , C a i,, 1972, p t . 2, c h . 2.
3?j- *4 O n th e r o le o f th e ju r is t see Études. . .Jean Macqtieron, A ix - e n - P r o v e n c e , 19 7 0 ,
1p p . 2 1 5 - 1 4 ; D i r r e l t , DharmaSastrn and Juridical Literature, W ie s b a d e n , 19 7 3 , p p . 3, 52, 53.
• 25 xii. i to, 113.
 136 Social and Political Thought and Institutions

the national interest, or that individuals should employ their earning power or
their talents to their utmost limits. That the king should squeeze the peasantry
to the limits o f their capacity for regular payment was indeed recommended,
but that was another matter. T h e principles o f royal m onopoly in numerous
objects o f production, and the regulation o f market prices to avoid undue
com petition, Indicate that the attainment o f a balance was much more the
object o f policy than any adventure into the unknown. Individuals.carried
w eight according to their membership o f a group, and no group was indepen­
dent. Hoarding, for example, was the function o f merchant groups, who might
live very economically, and to appropriate their hoards at his discretion, and
so put the coins back into circulation, was a right o f the râjâ. In turn the râjâ
admitted responsibility for the occasional unfortunate (provided he was not
an outcastc) who found liim self or herself without support, and the râjâ was
the channel through which groups maintained their balance and those with­
out groups to defend them were themselves protected.
U n duly successful claims upon the râjâ for increasing the power or privi­
leges o f one group would drive the others into the hands o f a rival for the
throne. Since stability justified the state, the king was, as the sâstras intermin­
ably insist, bound to practise restraint, not least in forwarding those whom he
favoured, for it was all too simple to exchange one râjâ for another. We hear
o f puppet râjâs whose seals authenticated their hereditary ministers’ acts, and
o f conspiracies between notables which terminated in their favourite’s being
offered the crow n.26 U ltim ately the system aimed at maximizing the spiritual
capacity o f the individual as a member o f a contented household, unambitious,
protected from envy and unduly efficient competition, content with lawful
acquisition, and relying upon the state for opportunities to put the good
things o f this world to the service o f candidature for higher things in the uext.
The entire responsibility for this prospect lay upon the king, a figure who has
obtained less sympathy than he deserved.
T h e machinery o f government was well suited to its limited aim. T he râjâ
rested immune from unseen harm and his enemies’ attacks if his subjects’
welfare was secure, if castes kept to their functions, sages practised austeri­
ties, sacrifices were properly performed, nobles and leisured people roamed
about gaily clad, merchants accumulated infinite wealth, and the toiling multi­
tudes abstained from protest at the inequalities o f life.27 A n arm y o f spies in­
form ed him o f maladjustments and plots. Which o f the three conventional
‘ p ow ers’ o f the king was the most essential, his strength o f counsel, his
material resources, or his personal energy? W e have seen what were his con­
ventional ‘ faults’. He needed each o f these powers to perform his functions.
Th e petty râjâ needed neither elaborate espionage nor bureaucracy. H e had
his parishad or council, as later more extensive kingdoms relied on their sabha
or samiti, the assembly that represented local populations. In Vedic times the
clan assembly advised the king on peace or war. Then women might actually

14 G o p â la , th e fo u n d e r o f (h e P a ia D y n a s ty , an d (h e P a! la v a P a r a m e s v a r a v a r m a n I I are
illu s tra tio n s . D e r r e t t, ‘ H in d u E m p ire s ’, Recueils de ta Société Jean Bodin, 31 (1 9 7 3 ). 56 5 -9 6 .
” T h e r e is a te llin g q u o ta tio n to a s im ila r e ffect fro m Mahnbhârata x ii. 7 8 . 9 - 1 7 by
D . H . H . In g a lls , in 'A u t h o r i t y a n d L a w in A n c ie n t I n d ia ’ , in Authority and Law in the
Ancient Orient, s u p p l. N o . 1 7 , J A O S (195.4).
 Sod ai and Political Thought and Institutions 137

be heard as counsellors, a possibility scarcely contemplated in classical times,

when women had their'ow n rights to property but only anom alously took
upon themselves public responsibility.
r In later times the king’s deputy used to attend local gatherings and gave the ,
royal assent to proceedings which often originated in the secretariat. The
peace o f small units was managed by the delicate interrelations between locally
prestige-worthy families and the royal officials, from the village headmen to
the district governors and tax-collectors, who were often the ministers to
Whom we have alluded already. These latter assisted in but did not necessarily
take responsibility for local self-government. Checks and balances, threats o f
force, and more than anything the appearance o f strength, kept people in their
places. Officials were regulated by custom, and by dharma (if they were un­
corrupt), under the ruler’s oral or written instructions. The village assemblies
Were ruled by dharma in its most elemental sense, the conscience o f the people
understood through its customs.
)t -Upon what did this obedience to the king rest? W e have seen that in most
ancient times his powers were circumscribed. Though a human fertility
‘ deity he was, in his political aspects, more o f an expedient than a necessity,
so long as the tribe had not acquired for itself dominion over strangers. But
that people by that time puzzled over the king's powers is evident from the
variety o f explanations offered for their existence. According to K autilya,
when the king is making an eve-of-battle speech he should point out that he
shares the fruits o f the earth with his troops, and that he is, like them, -an
employee. But did anyone really believe that the king was appointed by his
subjects or that he owed any o f his powers to an agreement with or between
‘them ?
; ...The Mahâbhârata, rich in material 011 this subject, tells o f a primeval king
Who took an oath to gods and sages that he would rule justly. But this was not
a case o f subjects electing their leader, nor o f his m aking promises exclusively
■to. them. W hat would be the outcome o f a breach o f such a promise is not
hinted at. It is true that at the consecration o f each king a suggestion appears
that he should be acclaimed, but elements o f free choice are missing. The
-Vedic ratnins, who seem in very ancient times to have been kingmakers, may
have had no more than sym bolic or ritual functions, and in any case indicate
jthe humble suites o f kings o f a period too remote to serve any purpose in the
discussion. Undoubtedly the ancient preference for prestige and natural
■leadership, when coupled with the later hereditary principle, must have en­
abled the most worthy member o f the royal stock to obtain the approval
necessary for consecration, but an uneasy balance between the supreme power
of the king and the goodwill of his most powerful supporters is visible in the
torrents o f advice poured on him by the sdstras.
li ; That a king secure on his throne bears divinely sanctioned powers is evident.
Constant reiteration o f the theory that the king is the subject’s servant, taking
^revenue as his wages, is coupled with the identifications with Indra o f which
w e have made mention, and with the legendary origin o f kingship from the in­
tervention o f the gods in a crisis. Prithu is said to have been created king by
’the gods, upon complaints by the sages, and he took an oath only to the gods.
The people, in another legend, making compacts with each other, ask the god
i 38 Social and Political Thought and Institutions

Brahm a to supply them with a king. Both these theories are found in the
Mahâbhârata. True, in Buddhist writings we have reference to the mythical
king Mahâsammata, whose very name suggests com pact, who, in keeping
with the then fashion to place kshatriyas above brahmans, was appointed by
consent o f a public whose growing lawlessness required the kshatriya vanta for
their protection. But there is no suggestion, even in the Buddhist tradition,
that the king’s duties are fixed by the public, that it can interfere with his day-
to-day business, or that any part o f the public, such as the nobles, has a right
to preferential treatment from him. T he amalgamation o f the ideas that a king
m ust ‘ please’ (ranjayati), and that bis function exists by divine provision,
ideas hardly reconcilable, shows that the themes were available for use as
occasion demanded.
Y e t no king could have functioned without the agreement o f the people,
ill organized as they were for expression o f disagreement with him. Similarly,
the religious aspect o f kingship, admitted by all shades o f opinion, was so
pervasive that any state must have had someone able to contain it, and unlike
some ancient societies India kept the religious and the political headship in
the same person. In protecting dharma, and relieving or forestalling distress,
the râjâ lived out a role which gave rise to both these explanations.
This leaves open the questions where power resided, and w hat was its
justification. Self-conscious in regard to aberrant customs, fruitful in ex­
pression o f individual opinions and outlooks, tolerant o f curiosities o f faith
or ethic, Indian literature provides no evidence that these problems were
ever probed, and exemplifies at present (there m ay always be.a dramatic dis­
covery!) no specimen o f a profound penetration into political philosophy.
Perhaps the failure is to be explained b y the lack o f conflicts to which we-re-
ferred at the head o f this chapter. T h e kingly power was a trust, as it were,
from the people; Ids religious status depended from his kingship. T he trust
was unconditional, and would have been meaningless without unbounded
discretion. The divergent images suggesting that the king had rights against
his subjects and they against him are misleading,- and the concept that dharma
reigned over all is merely uninformative. Power in fact stemmed from a state
o f affairs produced in a caste society; the state was a symptom or function of
such a state o f affairs. T o maintain equilibrium, which caste cannot dispense
with, detailed interventions in the nature o f adjustment were required. A n in­
herent characteristic was assumed to have an eternal m eahing and purpose,
and on this basis restraints were rationalized. N o school o f thought could
doubt the transcendental expediency o f kingship or the utter necessity o f a
state, the leader cif which had the widest possible discretion subject only to
revolution i f the ultimate goals were prejudiced.
T h e goals themselves were a product o f the rationalizing o f that caste
society. W e have seen them in connection with the ideals, conventionally
phrased as dharma, arlha, kâma, and, ultimately, moksha, ‘ release from re­
b irth ’, ‘ salvation'. The possibility o f pursuing one’s sva-dharma was the test
o f the state; the vast authority o f the râjâ was justified by this narrow require­
ment alone. In modern terms this seems a high price to pay for a rather flimsy
and speculative security. But we must remember that throughout Indian his­
tory until relatively recently the stoical patience o f a people expecting nothing
 Social and Political Thought and Institutions 139
beyond subsistence and regarding prosperity as a tem porary and delusory
windfall moulded their goals and their requirements. By contrast, foreign
ideals, still looked down upon in many quarters, m ake room for corqfort,
liberty, planning a career, and personality in this-worldly terms as an indivi­
dual. The discovery in the Arthasâstra o f recommendations which are un­
ethical by Indian standards is thus to be reconciled, for without artha (material
advantage) dharma cannot be practised, nor kâma obtained, without which
mns cannot be born to worship gods and ancestors, and thus moksha itself is
jfiejeopardy. T h e need, psychologically, for moksha explained all aspects o f
ihe ancient Indian polity, in theory and in history; and with the declipe o f the
desire for moksha we now find a redefinition o f values, and a different con­
ception o f the state.
M The background we have now surveyed m ay throw a welcom e light on
features o f the Indian civilization noticed elsewhere. A com bination o f râjâs
against foreign enemies or ideological opponents was hardly contemplated.
Only an emperor could organize defence against such a foe. T h e advent o f a
nèw râjâ was not feared as such, since even a foreign ruler was still a râjâ,ti
and only the notion that he would convert the subjects to a different religion
dissolved this recognition. Intrigue or com petition between groups was in­
nocuous in a society whose institutions were designed to prevent aggrandize­
ment by groups, let alone individuals. The supreme social category was not
the individual propelled by competitive self-interest.*» U nder the umbrella o f
the râjâ's gift o f abhaya (security) tolerance caused no strain, bigotry could
develop no inhuman aspects, enthusiasms were confined to individuals and
leant towards personal immortality. Opinions which did not deny the funda­
mental requirements o f dharma could flourish. G oo d behaviour or stereotyped
attitudes were more important than opinions. H ypocrisy, self-deception,
morals confined to the groups in which they were significant, an articulant
rather than an integrated concept o f society, these fitted a state in which dog­
m as had no absolute value, and there was no machinery to repress any but
those who flouted the established order.
Similarly the system bred thç notion that breaches o f caste discipline, lapses-
from virtue, were not so much the fault o f individuals as o f the state, and that
just as the king must restore the value o f a cow which was stolen and not re­
covered, so he must punish adulterers; otherwise part o f the guilt attaches to
his own person. Underlying this concept is the fear (perhaps not unsupported
by experience) that the removal o f political authority turns every other man
into a thief and a fornicator. India had a respect for order, custom , institu­
tions, unaccompanied by any belief that these must be justified, without
questioning the very assumption that there must be institutions. One could
argue, and people did argue, that fraternal polyandry was congruent with
dharma, but no one was so eccentric as to doubt fo r a moment that marriage
and property were possible only in civilized political life, nam ely the state.
On the other hand India admitted the individual’s right to try to leaven the
lump in which fate had placed him. Hence the great im portance o f religious
2* P a n d its r e fe r to th e E a s t In d ia C o m p a n y as rûjà in th e ir re p o r t re fe rre d to in ( 1 8 1 7 )
Morion's Mantriou 5 4 7 , 548 . '
25 V a r m a , Studies in Hindu Political Thought. . . , p . 189.
 140 S odai and Political Thought and Institutions

movements. These took the place occupied in the W est by liberal movements
in which political reforms and scientific advances came together. A nother ex­
planation, however, for the non-emergence in India o f a popular striving for
reform , even in the face o f gross exploitation, may be the theory, itself part
o f the system, that those who denied that the king was entitled to his revenue
(on account o f his ignoring their petitions) might properly decamp and live
elsewhere. If grumbling could not keep revenue demands within practicable
limits there was always this remedy. True, the migrants would soon be subject
to a state like that which they had abandoned, but this possibility o f migra­
tion, which remained well into the nineteenth century, excused an investiga­
tion o f inherent weaknesses in the system.
Freedom o f speech, provided the speech was not to the king’s face, and
freedom o f movement were accepted; likewise freedom to agitate and propa­
gate theories o f an intellectual character, whether or not these had practical
implications. Freedom o f property, in the modern sense o f the term freedom,
or o f choice o f occupation and o f way o f life in a chosen environment, no one
seems ever to have desired. Freedom to choose one’s own direction seemed
synonymous with insecurity,30 with disorder and the dreaded state o f affairs
when the large fish swallow smaller fish, or, according to another explanation
o f the celebrated tnâtsya-nyâya (the maxim o f the fish),31 when people are
roasted as fish are roasted on a spit. T h e ideals o f the Indian peoples presup­
posed. insecurity, from which political power rescued them. A gain st this
background one sought one’s soul’s com fort by practising personal and social
virtues; apart from that background, virtues were hardly to be aspired to. It
is o f interest that as soon as the fear o f primeval chaos was actually removed,
a taste for reform, fo f fundamental rights, and civil liberties actually made an
entrance into the Indian mind, and, so far as recent history indicates, their
continuance in India seems not unconnected with a firm intention not to re­
lapse into it.
30 S p c ltm a n , Political Theory o f Ancient India, p. 99.
*' T h is m a x im m ig ra te d , lik e o th e r scra p s o f In d ia n w is d o m , a n d re c u rs in T a lm u d ic
lite ra tu re ( G . F . M o o r e , Judaism, V o l. 2, p p . 1 1 4 - 1 5 ) w h e n c e , v ia S p in o z a at th e la te s t, it
fin d s a p la c e in E u r o p e a n p o litic a l th o u g h t (S . v o n P u fe n d o rf, De lure Naturae el Gentium,
l l.ii.3 .5 ) .
C h a p t e r x ii

Science
b y H . J. J. W i n t e r

F or the study o f the history o f science in A sia the present position is one o f
hópe and anticipation. N o t many decades ago European historians, content
tb regard Islamic science as merely a Greek legacy, tended to look no further
east, whilst in respect o f India H. T . C olebrooke as an interpreter o f her science
Had stood almost alone since 1817. China remained an enigma. N o w critical
evaluations o f ancient astronomical methods by O. Neugebauer have supplied
a new background to our studies. Islamic scientific manuscripts, though rich
jri'examples o f the Greek geometrical and deductive approach, also reveal new
discoveries beyond those o f Hellenism. Further light has been shed in recent
years on the complex nature of the sciences in India through archaeological
research and the collection and examination o f additional m anuscripts.'Abovc
all, for the first time, we have a full and systematic account o f the history o f
Science in China, the monumental w ork o f Joseph N eedham .'
^ L o o k in g at the development o f science through the centuries we see an
accumulating body o f knowledge to which the races o f Asia have made their
own particular contributions by their own methods o f investigation, but we
are also confronted by a jigsaw o f transmissions which render our interpreta­
tion o f these discoveries all the more difficult and uncertain. In studying the
rscience o f India2 these transmissions can only be examined at present against
a'ichronology sometimes open to dispute. Y e t in spite o f this a fascinating
■story emerges which indeed gains in interest because o f its mystery.
I
fh e earliest indigenous cultures which interest the historian o f science are
tifóse centred upon H arappâ in the Panjâb and M ohenjo-dàro in Sind, the so-
,called Indus valley civilization. In technology the prominent characteristic is
jthat o f standardization: cities built to a uniform plan resembling the layout o f
"âiychess-board and o f well-fired bricks o f a controlled size,2 and domestic
pottery turned from the wheel in specification form and capacity. These sug­
gest in turn a methodical system in weights and measures. Indeed, a very large
dum ber o f weights consisting o f accurately cut cubes o f blended grey chert,
;Which are found to follow the ratios 1 :2:8 /3: 4: 8: 16: 32: 64: 160: 200: 320:
640, have been collected at various sites in the Panjâb, Sind, and south
rBalüchistân, and probably the Makran.'*
This system o f weights is unique in the ancient world. It is unfortunate that

J . N e e d h a m , Science and Civilization in China, V o ls . 1 - 3 , a n d V o ls . 4 (1 ), (2), (3) s o fa r,

C a m b r id g e , 19 5 4 -7 2 .
K s fiS e e a ls o J. F ilU o z a t, La Doctrine classique de la médecine indienne, I m p rim e rie N a tio n a le ,
.P a ris, 194 9 , I n tr o d . p . i. 1 U s u a lly 11 b y 5^5 b y 2-5 in c h e s .
•* S . P ig g o tt, Prehistoric India to rooo B.C., H a r m o n d s w o r th , 19 6 1, p p . 1 8 1 - 3 .
 •142 Science

no numerals appear on any o f these weights— as in the case o f the Harappà

script, which is pictographic and has yet to be deciphered, the mathematical
achievements o f the people remain largely a mystery. Clearly there was a con­
siderable merchant class, through whom a commercial arithmetic developed,
but academic achievements, like those o f contemporary Egypt, were no doubt
both channelled and circumscribed. However, it will be seen that the above
system o f ratios m ay be based upon 16, an important number5 in ancient
Indian numerology, and that certain others may be successively obtained by
doubling or halving; also o f interest is the use o f fractional thirds and the de­
velopment o f a decimal form in the higher numbers. Further study o f the
m etrology o f the Indus valley civilization does, in fact, reveal decimal divi­
sions o f length, e.g. the use o f a ‘ fo o t’ o f 13-2 inches divided into tenths. It is
clear from the planning and architecture of the cities that there was a com­
petent knowledge o f simple geometry and surveying based upon two units o f
length, a ‘ fo o t’ o f about 13-2 inches and a ‘ cubit’ o f about 20-6 inches.
Some interesting suggestions might be made from all this, but it would be
unwise to resort to idle speculation in the face o f such incomplete evidence.
L et us be content to add three further practical achievements— the construc­
tion o f main drains having brick ‘ manhole-covers’, the cultivation o f cotton
and the manufacture o f cotton-cloth, and the working o f copper, bronze, and
copper-arsenic alloy. The over-all picture is o f a technology standardized
through several centuries by an inflexible and authoritarian regime.

II
The Aryan invasions o f northern India (c. 1500 B.C.) m ay be said to m ark
the end o f the Indus valley civilization. From he'nceforth the grow th o f Indian
science is to be influenced by the speculative and philosophical mind, to be­
come richer in generalization, to transcend the limited technology o f Harappà,
M ohenjo-dâro, and Chanhu-dâro. In the hymns o f the Rig Veda is to be found
the first account o f the w ay o f life o f the Indo-European conquerors, their re­
cognition o f and devotion to one supreme cause, tbeir realization that behind
the phenomena o f the natural world, wliich appear shifting and changeable,
there is a constant principle (rita) or order in events. P iggott6 has shown that
the war-chariot (rallia) o f the Rig Veda had a central pole and yoke harness,
the so-called throat-and-girth harness, not only unpleasant for the horse but
most inefficient mechanically, yet nevertheless com m on to the regions o f
Indo-European colonization, for example Homeric Greece and Celtic Britain.
Despite the gradual development o f philosophy the personification o f the
primal forces o f nature in, for instance, the god o f the sun, Sürya, or the god
o f fire, Agni, continued. Sacrificial altars, at first mere heaps o f turf, evolved
into elaborate designs demanding arithmetical and geometrical calculations.
Vedic literature, broadly considered, tells us only fragm entary information
concerning the early stages o f Hindu science. The wisest procedure is to ex­
amine the wholeevctluation in the light o f certain terminal writings such as the
5 T h is h a s b een fo u rn i e q u iv a le n t to 13*64 g ra m m e s in th e series o f w e ig h ts.
6 S . P ig g o t t, o p . c it., b p . 2 7 6 - 8 1 . A n e x c e lle n t p la n .a n d s id e e le v a tio n a r e d ra w n to s c a le
o n p . 280. S e e a ls o S . D . S in g h , Ancient Indian IVarfare with Special Reference to the Vedic
Period, L e id e n , 196 5.
 Science 142
Kautihya Arthasâstra, the Éttlva Sûtras, the Caraka Samhità, and ultimately
[thé Sûry a Siddhânta, which present us w ith an established body o f knowledge
mr doctrine. Assum ing tentatively a date o f 1500-1400 b . c . fo r the Rig Veda we
[are confronted by a vast ocean o f time from which sm all ‘ islands’ appear at
[irregular intervals to provide a few bearings, and firm ground is denied us
itìntil after the dawn o f the Christian era in Europe.
^ P e r h a p s the earliest source dealing exclusively with astronom y is the
(Jÿotisha Vedânga; from this work, the text o f which is corrupt and condensed
[irÊform, and m ay date from 500 B.C., one learns the rules for calculating the
position o f the new and full m oon amongst the 27 nakshatras, and o f the
layanas which fall in cycles o f 5 years each o f 366 days. In 5 solar years were
$ 7 lunar months, so that i f these are taken as equivalent to 62 synodic months,
[then a year o f 12 months m ay be retained if the 31st and 62nd months are
Ipmitted from each cycie. This ancient system o f lunar-solar reckoning was
■Widely used in India and occurs also in Jaina literature. A n earlier statement
iph the nakshatras in the Taittirïya Samhità1 (o f the same period as the
-Brâhmanas or priests’ books o f ritual) gives a com plete list o f their names,
|which must have been well established b y the eighth or seventh centuries B.c.,»
and certainly existed in the sixth century at the very latest. O f the three inde­
pend ent systems o f astronom ical reference used in antiquity, the decans o f
'Egypt, the zodiac o f M esopotam ia, and the lunar mansions, i.e. the 27 or
[28 positions occupied by the moon in one sidereal rotation, the last seems to
■ have appeared in India as nakshatras and in China as hsiu at abou t the same
time,'1There is no evidence to show that at this early period the developm ent
'■could have been anything b u t independent: but i f one is looking for a com m on
-origin there is just the possibility that moon-stations could have arisen from
She old Babylonian astronom y o f c. 1000 b . c . and the conception been
[diffused through Iran : their reappearance as al-manâzil am ong the A rabs, the
■Kèirs o f Sassànian Iran, in pre-Qur’ânic times is suggestive.
•. Early Indian cosm ology is generally based upon the square and cube— a
:quotation from C . P. S. M en on 10 summarizes the basic concept adequately:
iT h ere is first o f all the earth based on a square, w ith a c o m e r tow ards the so u th , and
[shaped like a p yram id , w ith a num ber o f successive hom ocen tric sq uare terraces
Cnling up to a p oin t (or rath er, to a sm all sq u are): o n the top o f this is the m o u n t
iM enJ, a pyram id w id en in g ou t as it rises, a t a sm all a n gle to the v ertica l; ro u n d this
Hie the orbits o f th e sun form in g h o m o log ou s squares on a h o rizo n ta l p la n e; ab o v e
(thie su n ’s p lan e is that o f the m oon with sim ilar orbits. W e m ay im a gin e a b o v e this
w ere the planes o f the different planets a t in creasin g heights, as described in the
■Vishnu-Puràna ( o f the H in du s) ; if these w ere also origin ally square orbits, we sh ou ld
have the origin al con cep tio n o f the orbits o f the p lanets as form in g the successive
■terraces o f a p yram id representing th e heavens.
Associated with this early M eru cosm ology were a series o f numbers, such
jas 4 ,12 , 28,60, obtained through sub-division o f the square, or rectangle. The
7 Taittiriyn Samhità, iv. 4. 10.
\ * T h is is s u p p o rte d b y a n o th e r list o f 27 in th e Kâthaka Samhità ( x x x ix . 13) a n d lists o f
.28 in th e Maltrâyani Samhità (ii. 13 , 20) a n d th e Atharva-Veda (x ix . 7).
•: * F o r U ig h u r a n d T ib e ta n v e rs io n s see W . P e tri, Indian Journal o f History o f Science,
•V ol. t , p t. 2 , N e w D e lh i, 19 6 6 , p p . 8 3-9 0 .
10 C . P . S . M e n o n , Ancient Astronomy and Cosmology, L o n d o n , 1 9 3 1 , p . 9 4 .
 44 Science

system was dictated by mathematical rather than by astronomical require­

ments. Thus a ‘ sq uare’ orbit o f 28 could be represented by placing unit squares
around the periphery o f an original square o f side 6 (containing 36 unit
squares) and adding in the unit square at each corner, i.e. ( 4 x 6 ) + 4, giving a
geometrical picture o f the alighting stations o f the moon.
Later Meru cosm ology, which is to be found in the Jaina texts, adopts the
circle as the basic form. This radical departure occurs in the Sftrya Prajnapti
(perhaps 200 b . c .) where the earth is represented as a circular disc with M ount
M eru as its centre and the pole-star directly above. Surrounding the earth are
seven concentric oceans and continents, whilst coplanar rotations o f the
planets are from east to west around Mount M em . In the Jambudoipapra-
jnapti a further step is taken when the detailed geometry and associated cal­
culations o f this circle are made on the basis o f the ratio circumference:
diamcter = V i o . Numerical results are obtained for lengths o f arcs, sagittae,
and segments o f chords, and in certain cases quadratic solutions are required.
T h ou gh the history o f Jaina canonical literature is such that it is difficult to
date, some useful papers have already appeared on the mathematical and
astronom ical aspects.11
M ahà M eru, or Sineru, also occupies the central position in the Buddhist
universe as described in the Pâli B ook s'2 Sâra Sangaha, Visuddhi Magga,
Salta Suryuggantana Suttanta, and Jiwiankdra. O nly one h alf o f it is visible
above the level o f the ocean, whilst between M em and the outermost circle o f
the system, the ridge o f rock called Sakvala, there are seven circles o f rock,
and seven oceans the ‘ w aters’ o f which are so attenuated that the feather o f a
peafowl could not float in them. This picture has been much elaborated, so
that to proceed further would only involve us in vast numbers and fanciful
speculations having no relation to fact, curious and interesting though these
m ày be. The most important achievement o f Buddhist thought from our pre­
sent standpoint is the law o f causation, which was initially concerned mainly
w ith human conduct but has since interested philosophers o f science.11
W hilst dealing with Jaina and Buddhist cosm ology we m ust mention the
doctrine o f paramdnus, better known as the atom ic theory. A tom s could be
grouped together to form molecules, and whilst the atom s envisaged by the
Jains and Yaiseshikas were eternal, those o f the Buddhists, being included in
a phenom enalist view o f nature, appear and disappear by cycles. In the
Kevaddha Suita appended to the Digha N ikdya" we also find that all matter is
ultimately formed from the four elements, fire, air, water, and earth. T o these
is added, in the M aitri Upanishad, a fifth ‘ elem ent’, non-material and all-

11 e .g . G . T h i b a u t .’ O n t h e S u r y a T r a jn a p t i’ .- M S B , 49 (188 0), 1 0 7 - 2 7 ,1 8 1 - 2 0 6 . B . Datta.

‘ T h e J a in a S c h o o l o f M a th e m a t ic s ’ , Bulletin o f the Calcutta Mathematical Society, 2t
( 1 9 2 9 ), 1 1 4 .
12 S e e G . P . M a la la s e k e r a , The Pali Literature o f Ceylon, R . A .S . L o n d o n , 1928. M . H .
B ode, The Pali Literature o f Burma, R .A .S . L o n d o n , 190 9. A ls o issu e s o f th e P a li T e x t
S o c ie ty , D a w s o n P la c e , L o n d o n .
11 \V. M c G o v e m , A Manual o f Buddhist Philosophy, V o l. I , Cosmology, L o n d o n , 1923.
14 G . S . P . M is r a , ‘ L o g ic a l a n d S c ie n tific M e th o d in E a r ly B u d d h is t T e x t s ’ , Journal R.A.S.
London (19 6 8 ), P ts . 1 - 2 , p p . 5 4 - 6 4 . T . W . R h y s D a v id s a n d J. E . C a rp e D te r, Digha Nikâya,
i v o ls .. P a li T e x t S o c ie ty , L o n d o n , 1 8 8 9 -1 9 10 , rep rin te d 19 4 7 -1 9 6 0 .
 Science '45
pervading. The fully developed atomic theory in the Abhidharma Hridaya,
which was translated into Chinese in the third century a . d ., represents the re­
finement o f a doctrine which had existed for several centuries, but M cG overn
is inclined to the view that both the Jaina and Buddhist versions are not
original, but probably derived from the Vaiseshikas. W hatever the source, it
is Indian and seems independent o f the G reek theories o f Leucippus and
D em ocritus.'5
• T o learn more o f the w orldly activities o f the Indian peoples in the last few
centuries b . c . one must seek information other than that supplied by the many
religious and metaphysical writings, and it is fortunate that a text o f the
Kautiltya Arthasâstra, '6 a unique work on statecraft attributed to K autilya,
prime minister o f the M auryan emperor Chandragupta who ruled from about
321 to 300 B . C ., was discovered in 1909. Probably elaborated from the
Mauryan original and containing references to the economics and technology
o f a mean date c. 100 b . c . , it is a store o f information on land and sea com ­
munications, agriculture and irrigation, ores and mining, plants and medicine,
and especially mechanical contrivances or yaittras.'7 Engines o f war and
yantras o f architecture are mentioned, with emphasis mainly on the form er; a
whole chapter is devoted to armoury, and the yantras are classified as station­
ary or mobile; and even though their detailed operation can often only be
inferred it is clear that the main descriptions refer to siege warfare, the role o f
elephants in war, catapult devices for hurling .projectiles, and incendiary
missiles, the composition o f the inflammable materials used indicating the
absence o f gunpowder. In the furtherance o f cultivation, irrigation canals and
large artificial reservoirs such as the lake o f Girnar in Saurâshtra (Kâthiàwâr)
were constructed, and these had their counterpart in the massive ‘ tan k s’ o f
Ceylon, first seen in the Abayaw cw a o f K in g Panduwasa built near the capital
Anurâdhapura as early as 504 B . C . ' 8 A successor, K in g Pandukâbhaya, had
constructed in the latter h a lf o f the fifth century b . c . two further ‘ tanks’, the
Jayawewa and the Gâm ini, in the same region, and such stupendous activity
in irrigation works went on, as in India, into the medieval period. One cannot
but marvel at these splendid monuments, some o f which were 40 miles in
perimeter, and the phenomenal agricultural progress achieved during h a lf a
millennium from the accession o f Vijaya, the first o f the G reat D ynasty, nor
fail to record the scholar’s indebtedness to G eorge T um our, w ho sought out
the ‘ tika ’ with the help o f the Buddhist priest G allé and through inconceivable
difficulties produced an English version o f a third o f the Mahâvamsa in 1836,
which rendered our historical knowledge o f these early public undertakings
possible.
T he machines o f the period o f the Arthasâstra and o f the early centuries
” O lu fse n n o te d th a t th e V a k h a n s b e lie v e in fire , a ir, w a te r , a n d w in d , a n d re fe rs b a c k to
th e M a z d a k s e c t o f th e o ld I ra n ia n re lig io n . W e c o m e to th e H in d u th e o r y o f w in d la te r.
O . O lu fs e n , Through the Unknown Pamirs, L o n d o n , 1904, p . 19 9 . S e e a ls o P . R à y , Indian
Journal o f History o f Science, V o l. 1 , N o . I (19 6 6 ), 1 - 1 4 .
16 R . S h à m a s a s lr y , Kautilya's Arthasâstra, 3rd e d n ., M y s o r e , 1929. R . P . K a n g le ,
Kautiltya Arthasâstra, P t. I, B o m b a y , i9 6 0 .
17 V . R a g h a v a n , Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India, I n d ia n I n s titu te o f
C u ltu r e , B a n g a lo r e , 2nd e d n ., 1956.
** R . L. Brohier, Ancient Irrigation Works in Ceylon, 3 pis., Colombo, 1934-5-
146 Science

a .d . were either useful devices o f everyday life such as the vâriyantra, prob­
ably a revolving water-spray for cooling the air, mentioned by the poet
K âlidâsa in his Mâlavikâgnimitra; or automata and toys such as those de­
scribed by H ero o f Alexandria, Philo o f Byzantium, and Vitruvius.1* R e­
ferences to Yavanas, who were often engineers, in early Tam il literature, and
commercial intticourse between southern India and the West, especially in
Augustan times, suggest acquaintance with Greek and Rom an ideas. Though
Bhoja in his treatise Samarânganasütradhâra gives many technical properties
o f machines neatly classified, refers to the use o f toothed wheels in the opera­
tion o f types o f merry-go-round, and has a general statement concerning the
magnitudes o f effort and load in a machine, we do not find scientific laws as in
G reek mechanics. Perhaps most remarkable is the absence from the Jaina
physics o f a concept o f force, action and change arising out o f time, but, as in
the case o f the atom ic theory, this must be considered in terms o f the contem­
porary philosophy; there is error in reading too much into early texts.
A ncient Hindu mathematics shows an early interest in large numbers ex­
pressed in powers o f ten, in the nature o f numbers and their factors, and in
the division o f time into its smallest units. These large powers occur in the
V ed ic Sanihitâs, Bràhmanas, and Sütras, in the epics MahâbhSrata .&nd
RdntSyana, and in the Laiitavistara (where 1053 is given). O f particular interest
is the Éatapatha Brâhmana, which lists all the factors o f 72O as fa r as 24, and
after stating that 360 nights and days contain 10,800 muhürttas proceeds by
four successive multiplications by 15 to reach the ultimate prânas or breath­
ings. T h e occurrence o f the w ord ròsi (a heap) in the Chândogya Upanisjiad
recalls the use o f the same concept by the Ancient Egyptians, and is clearly
the humble origin o f what was later to becom e the burden o f m any a school­
boy, standing fo r the unknown quantity x. ,
O f the greatest importance to._the historian o f mathematics are the Sulva
Sütras™ which form part o f the Kaipa Sütras and deal with the construction o f
sacrificial altars used in V edic ritual. A s terminal writings they summarize the
knowledge o f several preceding centuries and provide an excellent picture of
the achievements o f Hindu geometry prior to the mathematics o f the Jaina
sect; furthermore, 'when temple worship replaced the old rites o f the agni-
cayana, this geometrical tradition lapsed1* and was subsequently superseded
b y the growth o f analysis for which Hindu mathematicians are justly re­
nowned. From the mass o f literature which must have been the prerogative o f
the priesthood seven Sulva Sütras have survived and o f these three are especi­
ally valuable— those o f Baudhâyana, Âpastam ba, and K âtyâyana.” They deal
w ith such matters as the construction o f squares and rectangles, the relations
o f the sides to the diagonals, the construction o f equivalent squares and rect­
angles, the construction o f equivalent squares and circles, the construction of
'» See e.g. H . J. J. Winter, ‘ Muslim Mechanics and Mechanical Appliances’, Endeavour,
1 5 ( 1956), 25-8. ’
” Bibhutibhushan flatta, The Science of the Sulba, University o f Calcutta, 1932.
JI Bibhutibhusban Blatta, ‘ Geometry in the Jaina Cosmography', Quetten >mdSturile»m r
Geschlchte dec MatKematik, A b t. B.-Bd. 1 (1930), 243-54.
** See e.g. V . Sharrna, KStyàyana Salva Sutra, Benares, 1928. D . Srinivasachar and V . S.
Narasimhachar, Âpastamba Sulva Sutra, with the commentaries o f KapardisvSmi, Kara-
vindasvarai, and Sundararâjà, University o f Mysore, 1931. '
 Science 147
triangles equivalent to squares and rectangles, and the construction o f
squares equal to two or more given squares or equal to the difference between
two given squares. In this connection we may note two interesting formulae,
those giving the diagonal o f a square and the squaring o f the circle. Thus,
Recording to Baudhàyana and Âpastam ba, to obtain the dvi-karani. or
diagonal” ‘ Increase the measure by its third part, and again by the fourth
part (of this third part) less the thirty-fourth part o f itself (i.e. o f the fourth
part).’ This gives a value fo r 1/2 o f

I I I ,
H — I---------------------- or 1-4142156 .
3 3 -4 - 3 -4-34
diverging from modern calculation only in the sixth place o f decimals.
Baudhàyana says: ‘ I f you wish £0 square a circle, divide its diameter into
eight parts; then divide one o f these parts into twenty-nine parts and leave out
twenty-eight o f them; and also the sixth part (o f the previous division) less the
eighth part o f this (last).*” A relation between the radius o f the circle (r) and
the side (20) o f the equivalent square is finally obtained in the form : ■
a = r - gr +, g—
r - ~ u ■r y -,f ; r
8 8.29 8.29.6 8.29.6.8

In the construction o f altars (vedi) requiring numbers o f bricks o f differing

sizes in various layers, e.g. in the falcon-shaped fire altar, w e see the origin o f
those indeterminate problems which form a notable part o f later Hindu alge­
bra. Bibhutibhusan D atta, after examining Jaina canonical literature and the
commentaries o f K apardisvam l and Karavindasvâm ï, inclines also to the
view that the irrationality o f V 2 was understood in the time o f the Sulvas.
A rchaic Hindu medicine in its earliest context is to be found m ostly in the
hymns o f the Àtharva Veda, and the Vedic term blieshaja, used to denote
medicinal charms, which occurs also in the Avesla as baesaza or baesazya,
suggests a common Aryan origin. It is a ‘ psychosom atic’ approach to healing,
part o f a philosophical system-, a scheme in which the lay physician and the
priest perform their respective roles in controlling the ills o f the body and o f
the soul. N ative pre-Aryan lore and practice were absorbed. M ohenjo-dàro,
which had the finest public health facilities in the ancient East, could boast
bathrooms and a drainage system, and no doubt influenced personal hygiene.
(The deity Dhanvantari, custodian o f the elixir o f im m ortality, became the
fount o f wisdom for virility and duration in life (dyurveda) and the remedies
(bhaishajya) to ensure these. He figures in SuSruta as the divine authority in
medicine. W e cannot, therefore, com pare such a system with contem porary
medical education, drawing as it does upon several o f the exact sciences, but
we can perceive the beginnings o f certain features in general practice and in
surgery which are still with us; thus, we find the practitioner teaching his
pupil by personal example, a blend o f experience and tradition with fresh
observation and speculation, whilst specialized surgical equipment in com ­
mon use by the first century a .d . consisted o f twenty types o f knives and
u Being the side o f a square o f area twice that o f the original square. Numerically this
^vas usually a surd; thus dvl-karanl meant V i , trl-karaui meant V 3 (B. D alta, The Science
vf the Ètdba, p, 1S8). 11 Baudhàyana Sulva Sütra, i. 59.
148 Science

needles (saslra), thirty probes (salàka), twenty tubular instruments, and

twenty-six articles o f dressing (upayantra).1S
Its theoretical basis being metaphysical, Hindu medicine was restricted by
tradition and by isolation from other sciences. Life originated in the primal
waters, man the microcosm was inevitably moulded by the forces o f the
m acrocosm ;16 the types o f physiognom y are the result o f specific incarnations.
In the Purdnas fever is a demon, offspring o f indigestion— the commonest
cause o f illness. Since illness in general could be attributed either to a disturb­
ance in the organism or to the entry o f super-human forces, then, should the
physician fail, prayers must be recited and offerings made to propitiate the in­
truder. The human body was maintained in a state o f health by the three
hum ours, phlegm, gall, and wind (or breath) in their correct proportions.17
These proportions could be achieved by proper diet, an im portant considera­
tion in a trying climate. T h e humours were forms o f the life-energy and corre­
sponded to divine forces or agents in the macrocosm, i.e. outside the body;
thus phlegm, cool and heavy, which resided in the chest and lungs, was associ­
ated with the m oon. Hindu interpretation gave wind prime significance
am ong the humours, since it appeared to govern the dynamics o f the body;
from the pre-Aryan Y o g a to the Vedanta philosophy there developed a theory
o f winds (vâyu) or manifestations o f the life-breath.18 This is a theory o f breath­
ing which ignores the lungs. In fact, the lungs (kloman) and the palate were re­
garded by C araka19 as the source o f the vessels which carry water through the
body. Existing alongside C araka’ s description o f the vascular system was that
o f Susruta, postulating the navel as the source; o f the tubular vessels (sirà)
radiating therefrom, each o f the humours (now four in number) occupied 175.
S o in all: ‘ There are seven hundred tubular vessels. A s a garden or a rice field
is irrigated by a system o f canals carrying water, the body, by means o f these
vessels, is moistened and maintained; . . . the root from which they spring is
the n a v e l. . . the navel is surrounded by the tubular vessels, as the hub o f a
wheel is surrounded by spokes.,J0
D isregard o f proper diet leads to a disturbance o f (he balance o f the
hum ours; these become incensed, and overflowing their normal channels in­
vade the domain o f others, thereby causing disease. T h e basis o f dietetics and
pharm acology was the Hindu theory o f the six essences (rasa), which appear
to correspond to the G reek glyky, liparon, stryphnon, hahnyron, pikroit, and

33 H . R . Zimmer, Hindu Medicine (Hideyo Noguchi Lectures), Johns Hopkins Press,

Baltimore, M d., 1948, p. 82.
16 P. J. Deshpande, K . R . Sharma, and G . C . Prasad, ‘ Contribution o f Suiruta to the
Fundamentals of Orthopaedic Surgery’, Indian Journal o f the History o f Science, V ol. 5,
N o . 1 (1970), 13-35. L . M . Singh, K . K . Thakral, and P. J. Deshpande, ’SuSrula’s Contribu­
tions to the Fundamentals o f Surgery’, ibid., pp. 36-50. See J. Filliozat, La Doctrine
classique de la médecine indienne; ses origines et ses parallèles grecs, lmp. N at., Paris, 1949,
C h. VIII.
17 A fourth humour, blood, was later added and is mentioned in the writings o f Caraka
and Suiruta. 11 A s many as ten are listed in the Y o ga treatise Gorakshaiataka.
17 Caraka, vi.5. A . C . Kaviratna and P. S. Kavibhusbana, Charaka-Saihhitd, Calcutta,
1890-1911.
30 Susruta, iii. 7. Kaviraj K . L-. Bhishagratna, SuSruta, Calcutta, 1907-18. Sushruta
Samhità, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Studies, 30. 4 vols., 1963-4.
 Science 149

drimy.)l Tradition had established an elaborate doctrine o f correspondence

between the essences (qualities or flavours) in certain foods and the specific
substances in the humours. A vast pharm acopoeia enshrined traditional
remedies. In the treatment o f the patient an all-powerful arcanum was blended
from various herbs, each contributing specific healing properties, and these
material properties were reinforced b y supernatural powers invoked by the
brahman practitioner w ho claimed a special relationship with the twin horse­
men and divine physicians, the Asvins. H oney possessed unusual healing
virtues, being associated w ith amrita, the elixir o f immortality.
A nother significant feature o f Hindu medicine was the absence o f any
attempt to recognize diseases o f the brain. One would not have expected m uch
progress in this study in ancient times in any case, but the reason fo r such
neglect is to be found in the assumption that the centre o f consciousness,
thought, and feeling is the heart, a generalization which is im plicit also in the
writings o f H om er.32 C araka33 certainly mentions insanity, but it is covered
b y the general explanation o f the overflowing o f ‘ incensed elements’, in this
instance into the special vessels carrying the ‘ mind-stufP, or b y the entry o f
demons.
A m ong the diseases mentioned in V edic medical texts are diarrhoea (âsrâva),
fever (talentati), dropsy (jalodara), consumption (balâsa, yakshma), tum our
(akshatd), abscess (vidradha), leprosy and certain skin diseases (kilâsa), and
congenital diseases (kshetriya). D ropsy was sent b y Varuna, the god o f the
primal waters. Jaundice, for which C araka later records diagnosis and treat­
m e n t , i s characterized b y the presence o f the demon who causes yellowness
(hariman).
On pursuing inquiry to the borders o f the realm o f legend the historian
gleans one indisputable fact, namely, that the fount o f ancient Hindu medical
wisdom was the oral teaching o f Punarvasu Âtreya. According to the Buddhist
Jâtakas à physician  treya taught at Takshaéiiâ (Taxila) in the age o f Buddha.
It appears that six pupils o f  treya first set down this wisdom in encyclopedic
form , but o f these versions only tw o, those o f Bhela and Agniveéa, have sur­
vived. A defective manuscript o f Bhela Samhitâ ,35 discovered in south India,
reveals the same tradition as is to b e found m ore fully expounded in the
Caraka Samhitâ, which is the final form o f the compilation o f A gnivesa and is
our best source o f Hindu medical knowledge as it existed in the last few'
centuries b .c . C araka is generally believed to have been the court physician to
K in g K anishka at Peshawar in the first or second century A.D .
H . R. Zim m er, on the evidence o f the Bow er manuscript,36 suggests a
possible third school parallel with Bhela and Agnivesa. This oldest extant
medical manuscript, discovered by Lieut. A . B ow er in 1890 in a Buddhist
monument at K uchà, Chinese Turkestan, has been dated on the basis o f
palaeography in the second h a lf o f the fourth century A .D . but contains
31H . Zimmer, op. cit., p. xlix. J. Filliozat, op. cit., Ch. Y d .
31 See J. Filliozat, op. cit., C h. DC. 33 Caraka, vi, 9. 34 Caraka, vi. 16.
35 The Bhela Samhitâ, Sanskrit text, University o f Calcutta, 1921. See also P. Ray,
‘ Medicine— as it evolved io Ancient and Mediaeval India’, Indian Journal o f History o f
Science, Vol. 5. N o. 1 (1970), 86-100.
36 A . F. R . Hoem le, The Bower Manuscript, Pis. I, 2, Arch. Survey o f India, N ew Imp.
Ser. 22, Calcutta, 1893-1912.
 150 Science

material deriving from several centuries earlier, and not only has certain
chapters corresponding to those o f C araka but almost identical pharmaceuti­
cal formulae. The work is interesting in that no reference is made to C araka;
it is also significant in showing the penetration o f Hindu medicine into Central
Asia.
Ayurveda (the science o f longevity) as set forth in C araka makes no mention
o f surgery, being solely the province o f the physician. The development o f
surgery is initially attributed to the genius SuSruta w ho m ay have taught and
practised in K à sl (Varanasi, Banaras). He incorporated surgery, into {he
general field o f medicine, advised a wide training and experience gained under
several teachers, stressed the importance o f surgery in the study o f anatom y
(which was the major sveakness in Hindu medical knowledge), and attempted
a stricter classification o f existing data” which still resided in separate m ono­
graphs marred by confusion and repetition. W ith Sulruta also there ended
the specialized tradition o f elephant medicine.38
Hindu tradition made an eight-part division o f the field o f study, broadly in
respect o f (a) diseases, their diagnosis and treatment, and (b) the means o f
healing in relation to the whole man, the philosophical and ethical approach.
Thus under (a) we find illnesses requiring surgery (salya) and the science o f
obstetrics; diseases o f the eye, ear, nose, and throat (sâlâkya); diseases due to
the disturbance o f the humours which involve the therapy o f the whole organ­
ism ; mental and other disturbances o f demoniacal origin; pediatrics, i.e.
children’s diseases, caused by demons; and finally, three aspects o f ayurveda
— medicinal drugs (agada) and antidotes, elixirs o f life, {rasay ana), and
virility (odjikaram). M ore wideiy (b), we consider the organism (sarira), its
moral and physical health (vritii), the origins o f disease, and., the nature of
pain and illness in terms o f the balance o f the humours,, treatment or action
{karman), the consequences o f treatment, the influence o f time (kâla) in re­
spect o f the age o f the patient or perhaps the, seasons, and lastly, the .profes­
sional conduct o f the agent or physician, his diagnosis, his methods and in­
struments (karana). Emphasis was laid.upon the preyentativeaspect.and early
treatm ent.
There is no reference to hospitals in the ancient Hindu medical literature,
but they evolve with the spread.of-Buddhism, The second R ock Edict (r. 256
B.C.) o f the M auryan Emperor ASoka celebrates the beginnings o f sociaL medi­
cine, whilst Çeylon, by the foürth century a . d ., coulc^boast some hospitals,
and a medical service; by royal command each physician served the villages,
and veterinary officers tended the king’s elephants and horses. Am ple evidence
o f the treatment o f out-patients in dispensaries occurs.inithe Sangam literature
o f southern India.”

” T he present text o f the Susriita Samhitâ probably dates from the fourth century a . d .
51 Hastyûyurueda, ed. Mahâdeva Cimanàji Apte (Ânandâtrama Sanskrit Ser. N o. X X VI),
1894. H. Zimmer, Spiel bn der Eiefynlen, MUnchen, 1929. Franklin Edgerton, TheElephanl-
Lore o f the Hindus, the Matanga-LUa o f Niiakantha, New Haven, Conn., 1931, On horse
medicine see ASvavatdyhka by Jayadatta, and Aicacitiksitâ by Nakula, ed. Umèiacandra,
Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta, 1887.
M S. Gurumurthy, ’ Medical Science and Dispensaries in Ancient South India as gleaned
from Epigraphy’, Indian Journal o f History o f Science, Vol. 5. No. I (197.0), 7 6-9.
 Science 151
.• ITI
W e conveniently leave the ancient w orld via the Siddhdntas, the astronom i­
c i 'treatises w hich in themselves exhibit a transition from the Paitâmaha
Siddhânta, which retains the V edânga astronom y, to \hc Surya Siddhânta ò f
a'.d. 400,40 which largely establishes the form o f native astronom y fo r the
duration o f the M iddle A ges.41 Varaham ihira, c. a .d . 505 sum m arized in his
Pàncliasiddhâtitikâ the five Siddhdntas entitled Paitâmaha, ■ Vàsishtha, Paulisa
Rontaka, and Sürya, though ü s version ò f the last-named:iindicates that
gradual changes in the text o f this, the m ost im portant Siddhânta, m ust have
occurred subsequently. K . S. Shukla lists as a minimum twenty-eight com ­
mentaries on it by know n authors, m ostly in Sanskrit but tw o in T elugu,
Reaching to the early eighteenth century, together with at least-.seventeen
ytro.rks based essentially upon its theory; his recent edition44 includes the
com m entary o f ParameSvara ( a .d . 1432) written in K erala in south India.
M uch discussion has centred around the transmission o f G reek astrono­
m ical ideas to India during the first four centuries o f the Christiàn era.4? T his
period coincides w ith that o f the grow th o f the Siddhânta literature, and the
Romaka Siddhânta especially shows signs o f G reek influence, an influence
w hich is notably present in the term inology o f astrological writings such as
the Brihajjâtaka and Laghujdtaka o f Varaham ihira. It is also theperiod o f close
commercial intercourse between imperial R om e and the coasts o f K erala
and Tam ilnâdu, em bracing both the Augustan age and the Sangam age.44
Tam il poems o f the latter make frequent references to yavanas^ w ho were
Westerners fam iliar with Hellenistic science hnd Rom an technology, and w ho
assisted in the design and construction o f yantras, especially engines o f war.
M ore o r less contem porary influences o f G reek and Rom an craftsm anship
are evident in coinage and in sculpture in northern India.46 N o r should one
Overlook the intellectual contacts o f the G upta Em pire w ith Sàsânian Persia,
where there was some study o f astronom y.47
5 . T h e Tam il tradition in respect o f astronom y is especially significant. B y the
study o f two G reek papyri o f the R om an period, which seem to have been
written c. A .d . 100 and c, 250 respectively,48 and o f the-Tam il m ethods o f
'.T- ia The earlier limit. It may still have been developing as late as a .d . iooo.
* :'4' For further sources, see D . Pingree, ‘ Sanskrit Astronomical' Tables in the United
States', Trans, Amer. Philos. Soc., V ol. 58, N o . 3 (1968), 77.
‘ 47 K . S. Shukla, Tlte Siirya-Siddhânta, with the Commentary o f Parameivara, D ept, o f
Mathematics and Astronomy, Lucknow.University, 1957.
41 H . J. J. Winter, Eastern Science, London, 1952, Ch. i l l,
‘,l’ 44 R . E. M . Wheeler, Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers, London, 1954.
' 4SV . R . Ramachandra Dikshitar, Translation o f the Silappadìkaram, Oxford, 1939.
A ; Danieloù, Translation o f the Silappadikâram, N ew -York, 1965. P. T . Srinivas Iyengar,
History o f the Tamils from the Earliest Times to 600 A .D ., Madras, 1929.
46 W . W . T a m , The Greeks in Bactria and India, Cambridge, 1 9 5 1 . 1 . M arshall, Taxila,
3 ’. vols., Cambridge, 1951. R . E . M . Wheeler, ‘ Roman Contact with India, Pakistan and
Afghanistan’, in Aspects o f Archaeology, Essays Presented to O. G. S . Crawford, London,
1951. . .
' 47 S. H .T aqizadeb , Bull. School o f Oriental Studies, 9 (1939), 133-9. D.-Pingree, ‘ A stro­
nom y and A strology in India and Iran’, Isis, V ol. 54, No; 2 (1963), 229-46.
44 O. Neugebauer, The Astronomical Treatise P . Ryl. 27, K gl. D anske Vidcnsk. Selsk.
hist.-filol.'Meddelelser,- X X X II, 2, 1949. Knudlzen-Neugebauer, ‘ Zw ei astronomische
T exte’, Bull, de la Soc. Royale de Lettres de Lund (1946-7), pp.‘77-8.
 Science

reckoning time,” O. Neugebauer has revealed the persistence o f the Baby­

lonian methods o f the Hellenistic period up till recent times in southern India.
Starting from the w ork o f L t. C ol. John Warren o f 1825, entitled Kala
Sankalita; a Collection o f Memoirs on the various modes according to which the
natives o f the southern parts o f India divide time, he has found exact numerical
parallels between the planetary theory o f Varàham ihira’s Panchasiddhântikâ
and that o f Seleucid cuneiform tablets o f c. 200 B.c., the intermediary phase
being the Rom an transmission o f the earlier form o f G reek astronomy, which
owed much to Babylonia, into southern India, probably mainly through the
medium o f the astrological literature. Calculations were made directly for the
prediction o f astronom ical phenomena through certain numerical schemes,
and we m ay call this tradition ‘ arithm etical’ .
W ith the Almagest o f Ptolem y we reach a new and more highly developed
process o f mathematical deduction from geometrical models, which represent
in themselves the complicated motions o f the planets in terms o f epicycles or
eccentrics. The Sürya Siddhànta, in addition to the use o f terminology and
units o f Greek origin, employs epicyclic models in its planetary théory. But it
is significant that it does not include Ptolem y’s refinement o f the lunar theory
or the ‘ punctum aequans’ o f Ptolem aic planetary theory,50 Neugebauer has
now succeeded in reducing the essential features o f the planetary theory o f the
fully developed Sürya Siddhànta to modern terms; thus he says: ‘ T he leading
idea is' the following. The planet moves on an epicycle o f radius r which is
carried on a circle o f radius R and eccentricity e, the ‘ deferent’-around the
observer. Thus we are dealing with two variables, the ‘ mean distance’ a o f the
centre o f the epicycle from the apogee o f the deferent, and the -anom aly’ y
which determines the position o f the planet on the epicycle. The problem now
arises to tabulate this rather complicated function o f a and y .’ 51 Into-this
G reek geometrical system the Hindus injected the im portant concept o f the
sine o f an angle, thus initiating a second tradition which we m ay call ‘ tri­
gonom etrical’ . Both Ihe Paulila and Sürya Siddhântas contain a table o f sines
. .. -
B y remembering that there is a Dravidian com ponent as w ell as an Aryan
one, that there are, in fact, two traditions, the arithmetical and trigono­
metrical, a proper perspective on the development o f Indian astronomy may
be obtained in terms o f the data furnished by both Tam il and Sanskrit
sources.
Th e chapters o f the Sürya Siddhànta51 deal with (1) the mean motions o f the
planets, (II) the true positions o f the planets, (113) direction, place, and time,
(IV -V I) the nature o f eclipses, (VII) planetary conjunctions, (VIII) asterisms,
(IX ) heliacal risings and settings, (X) the rising and setting o f the moon,
(XI) ‘ certain malignant aspects o f the sun and m oon ’ treated in part astro-
■" O. Neugebauer, ‘ Tamil Astronom y’, Osiris, 10 (1952), 252-76; The Exact Sciences in
Antiquity, Copenhagen, 1951, Ch, VI. Sec also: Arch. Internal, d Hist. des Sciences, No. 31,
Paris, 1955, pp. 166-73. ~
50 O. Neugebauer, ‘ The Transmission of Planetary Theories in Ancient and Mediaeval
A stronom y’, Scripta Mathematica, Yeshiva University, New Y o rk, 1955, p. 7.
51 O . Neugebauer, op. cit., p. 8 and Appendix.
41 Revd. E. Burgess, Translation of the Sûrya-Siddhânfa, ed. P. Gangooly and P.
SeneuDta. University of Calcutta, n m .
 Science 153
-logically, (XII) cosmogony, geography, and the ‘ dimensions o f the C reation’ ,
(XIII) measuring instruments, such as the armillary sphere, clepsydra, and
gnomon, and (X IV) different ways o f reckoning time. The geocentric system
pf the universe is assumed, and longitudes reckoned from the prime meridian
through the ancient city o f U jjayinl. In spite o f the imported G reek ideas, the
Sûrya Siddhânta is characteristically Indian in its reaction to this alien know ­
ledge; it absorbs w hat seems to be fitting and treats it in accordance w ith its
gwn way o f thinking, retaining at the same time certain elements o f tradition,
e.g. the established feature in time-reckoning, the tithis, which are constant
and equal to thirtieths o f a mean synodic month,SJ a division which has also
been traced in Babylonian lunar and planetary texts; and the explanation o f
the irregularities o f planetary m otion in terms o f the winds, which were a
significant feature in ancient Hindu philosophy concerning the natural world.
t£hus, in the Éatapatha Brahmano the smallest units o f time were the prônas or
breathings, whilst in the Sûrya SiddhântaS4 we find that ‘ Form s o f T im e ’, o f
invisible shape, stationed in the zodiac (bhagana), called the conjunction
(sighroccha), apsis (mandoccha), and node (pâla), are causes o f the m otion o f
the planets.
T h e planets, attached to these beings b y cords o f air, are drawn a w a y b y them , w ith
the right hand and left hand, forw ard o r b ackw ard, accordin g to nearness, tow ard
their ow n place.
A wind m oreover, called p ro vector (pravaha) im pels them tow ard their ow n apices
(ucc/w); being draw n aw ay forw ard and b ackw ard th ey p roceed b y a varyin g m o tio n .
T h e so-called apex (uccha), when in the half-orb it in fro n t o f the planet, draw s the
planet fo rw ard ; in like m anner, when in the h alf-orbit behind the p lanet, it draw s it
backw ard.
W hen the planets, draw n a w a y b y their apices {uccha), m o ve forw ard in their orbits,
the am ount o f the m otion so caused is called their excess (dfia/ta); w hen they m o v e
backw ard, it is called their deficiency {rind).

H ighly regarded and widely disseminated, the Sürya Siddhânta had a p ro­
found influence on the course o f medieval Hindu astronomy. A ccording to
Sumati (c. A .D . 800), whose w ork was known both in N epal and in K eralâ,
and who wrote his Sumati Tantra and Sumati Karana on the basis o f the earlier
version o f the Sûrya Siddhânta, it provided the essential elements used by
Nepalese astronomers in their construction o f the Hiudu calendar. Evolving
during the period between A .D . 628 and 966, the later version gained greatly in
popularity, especially in the twelfth century, when Bhâskara II quoted from it
and M allikârjuna Süri w rote commentaries on it, first in Telugu then in
Sanskrit.
The more important Hindu astronomers, with the approximate dates at
Which they flourished^ were Âryabhata I ( a . d . 499), his pupil Làtadeva
( A . d . 505), Varaham ihira ( a . d . 550), Brahmagupta ( a . d . 628),.Bhâskara I ss (a
contemporary of; Brahmagupta and a disciple o f Âryabhata I), L alla56
51 O. Schmidt, 'Ori the Computation o f ihe Ahargana’, Centaurus, 2 (1952), 140-80.
14 Ch. II, vv. i r t i. Revd. E. Burgess, op. cit., p. 53. .
5>K . S. Shukla, Mahâ-Bhâskariya (Bhâskara I and his works Pi. 2), Department o f
Mathematics and Astronomy, Lucknow University, i960.
54 Sudhakara Dvivedi, Sifya-dlti-vrtidlrida o f Lolla, Benares, 1886.
154 Science

( a .d . 748), M anjula ( a .d . 932), Aryabhata I I s7 ( a .d . 950), ârïpati58 ( a .d . 1039;

author o f the Siddhànta Éekhara and Ganita Tilaka), and Bhâskara II ( a .d .
1 150), who wrote the im portant treatise Siddhànta Siromani. Since m ost o f
them a!so made significant contributions to mathematics we shall meet them
again in the ensuing pages.
Hindu mathematics is undoubtedly the finest intellectual achievement o f
the subcontinent in medieval times.5» It brought alongside the G reek geo­
metrical legacy a powerful method in the form o f analysis, not a deductive
process building upon accepted axioms, postulates, and common notions, but
an intuitive insight into the behaviour o f numbers, and their arrangement into
patterns and series, from which m ay be perceived inductive generalizations, in
a w ord, algebra rather than geometry. This native power has, fortunately,
survived to modern times; Srinivasa Ram anujan (1887-1920), in whom re­
sided a phenomenal memory allied with great facility in calculation, knew the
positive integers ‘ as personal friends’ . T h e quest for wider generalization be­
yond the limitations o f pure geometry led the Hindus to abandon Ptolem y’s
method o f reckoning in terms o f chords o f a circle and to substitute'reckoning
in sines, thereby initiating the study o f trigonometry. It is to the philosophical
mind o f the brâhman mathematician engrossed in the mystique o f number
that w e owe the origin o f analytical methods. In this process o f abstraction
two particularly interesting features emerged, at the.low er level o f achieve­
m ent tbe perfection o f the decimal system, and at the higher the solution o f
certain indeterminate equations. . .
T h e first Hindu algebraist was Aryabhata I, o f whose mathematical w ork
we have only thirty-three fiokas which form a section o f the astronomical
writing Aryabhatiya.** He had a prolonged influence in both astronom y and
mathematics, a commentary, Bhatadîpikâ, upon the Aryabhatiya being written
b y ParameSVara as late as 1430. T h e condensed form in which the mathe­
matical knowledge o f Aryabhata appears serves mainly as a criterion o f the
state o f the subject at the end of.th e fifth century a .d ., but certain topics
clearly emerge, e.g. square and cube roots, simple areas and volumes, the
simpler properties o f circles, sines, gnomon problems, arithmetical progres­
sions, factors, and simple algebraic identities; whilst w is stated as 3
(i.e. 3-1416). Algebra is now definèd as a separate study (bija) and there is
given a general solution in w hole numbers o f the indeterminate equation o f the
first degree. Sections 3 and 4 o f the Aryabhatiya deal respectively with time
reckoning (kâlakriyâpâda) and spherical astronomy (golapada), the latter
treatment ultimately bearing its full fruition in the spherical trigonom etry o f

57 Id., Maha-Siddhnnta o f Aryabhata II, Benares, 1910.

58 Babuaji Misra, The Siddhanla-Sekhara o f Sripati, with the Commentary o f Makkibhatta
( a . d . 1377), University o f Calcutta, Pt. 1,1932, Pt. 2,1947. H . R . Kapadia, Gapitatilaka by
Sripati, with the Commentary o f Siqthatifaka Stiri (c. A .D . 127ft (Gaekwad’s Oriental Ser, 78),
Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1937. '
57 For source materials see S. N . Sen, A Bibliography o f Sanskrit Works in Astronomy and
Mathematics, National Institute o f Sciences o f India, Calcutta, 1966.
50 P. C . Seogijpfa, ‘ Thé Aryabha|iyam ’, Jottrn. Dept, o f Letters, University o f Calcitila, 16
(1927). W . E. Clark, The'Aryabhatiya o f Aryabhata, Chicago, 1930. K . S. Sastri, Aryabhatiya
o f Aryabhafa I, with the Commentary MahUbhafya o f Nitakaptha ( a . d . 1500) 3 parts,
Trivandrum, 1930-6.
 Science 155
the Muslim astronomers A b u Raihàn al-Birünï61 and N âsir al-D în al-Tüsî.61
Whilst Aryabhata I excelled as an observer and in the classification o f
astronomical data, Brahmagupta was stronger as a mathematician. Brahma-
giipta is noted for his Brâhmasphuta Siddhânta ( a . d . 628),61 where in the
twelfth and eighteenth chapters may be found im portant m athematical de­
velopments, and his Khandakhâdyaka44 (665), with its supplement Uttara
Kliandakhâdyaka. The w ork on cyclic quadrilaterals (i.e. four-sided figures
with their angles on the circumference o f a circle) is an interesting example o f
the achievement o f the Hindus in the geometry o f lines or boundaries, in
terms o f which they tended to think rather than in terms o f angles. Bra^tqa-
gtipta showed that: 1
(1) I f the sides o f a cyclic quadrilateral are o f lengths a, b, c, d, and its
semi-perimeter is s, then its area65 is____________
A = V ( J — o) (s — b) (j - c ) ( s — d)
(2) I f the diagonals o f the same quadrilateral are o f lengths x and y, then
the relations between these diagonals and the sides o f the quadrilateral
are expressed by ‘ Brahm agupta’ s T heorem ’ .
x* = (ad+bc) (ac+bd)-i-(ab + cd)
y 1 — (ab + cd) (a c+ bd)-i-(ad+ bc)
(3) I f a, b, c and p, q, r are the sides o f two separate right-angled triangles,
such that az+ b l = c*, p ï + q 1~ r 1, then i f we m ake a quadrilateral o f
which the sides are the products ar, cq, br, and cp, this quadrilateral,
called ‘ Brahm agupta’s Trapezium ’, will be cyclic and its diagonals will
intersect at right angles.64
Using the newer concept o f sines o f angles, not angles, Brahm agupta, in the
first stanza o f his chapter in the Khandakhâdyaka on the rising and setting o f
planets, gives the formula which is now expressed as

a b c
Sin Z .A = Sin Z.B = Sin Z .C
where a, b, c are the sides o f the triangle A B C .

The astronomical writings o f Brahmagupta were known in western India at

the time o f the Muslim invasion o f Sind ( a . d . 712) and also to A b u Raihân
:al-Blrûnî on his Indian journey some three centuries later, and there is little
6> Islamic astronomers were indebted to Greek and Hindu mathematics and in some re­
spects improved on both. See e.g. Ai-Birûnl, AI'Qânün Al-Mas'üdl, 3 vols., Osmania
'Publications Bureau, Hyderabad-Deccan, 1954-6. E. S. Kennedy and Ahm ad Muruwwa,
ihirDni on the Solar Equation’ , Joitrn. Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 17, N o. 2 (1958). H . J. J.
.Winter, ‘ Formative Influences in-lslamic Science’, Arch. Int. d ’Ulstoire des Sciences, 23-4
(Ì953), 171-92. 61 A . Carathéodory, Traité du quadilatire, Constantinople, 1891.
V Sudhâkara Dvivedi, Brâhmâsphufa Siddhânta and Dhyâna-Grahopadesâdhyâya by
Brahmagupta, reprint from The Pandit, N .S. 24 (1902), Sanskrit text.
^ P . C . Sengupta, The KhandakhSdyaka, with the Commentary o f Pfthûdaka, 2 vols.,
University o f Calcutta, 1934, 1941. 'A short treatise in astronomy which is as pleasant as
food prepared with sugar-candy.'
61 This formula, though arising from the general treatment in the Brâhmasphuta-
Siddhânta, is first explicitly stated in the Ganitasâra Samgraha o f Mahavlra ( a . d . 850).
64 H. J. J. Winter, Eastern Science, London, 1952, p. 47.
 Science

doubt that they were one o f the media through which Hindu astronomy and
mathematics passed to the Arabs during the ‘Abbâsid caliphate.67 O f a
practical nature, the Arabs transmitted to the W est the so-called Hindu
numerals and decimal system and the simpler algebraic and trigonometrical
processes, but ignored the use o f negative quantities and the higher algebra o f
indeterminate equations which they do not appear to have understood.
M edieval Hindu mathematics may be conveniently divided into two pro­
vinces o f study, p â tig a n ita 68 and bijaganita. T he former comprised mainly
arithm etic and mensuration; geometry, which had earlier been a distinct dis­
cipline in the S u lv a S ü tra s, was now widened in scope and assimilated into
mensuration. Perhaps the earliest example o f this kind o f presentation is to be
found in the Bakhshàll manuscript,69 which is written in old S â r a d â characters
on seventy folios o f birch-bark, and was unearthed from a m ound in the
Peshawar district o f north-west India in M ay r88i. Uncertainty surrounds its
age; the m a th em a tics has been dated as early as the third century a .d . and the
manuscript itself as late as the twelfth. B ijagan ita, which was concerned mainly
with the solution o f algebraic equations, embraced problems in which there
were more unknown quantities than there were equations with which to find
tbem. This study o f indeterminate equations was a notable feature o f both
Hindu and Chinese mathematics during the medieval period.
In India indeterminate analysis reached its zenith in Bhâskara II. He de­
scribed the solution o f the first-degree equation in terms o f the pulverizer
{k u tta k a ),'10 a quantity such that, when it is multiplied by a given number, and
the product added algebraically to a given quantity, the sum or difference is
divisible without remainder by a given diviser; that is, he obtained whole-
number values o f x and y which satisfy the equation a x ± b y — c.
Indeterminate equations o f the second degree in the forms
a x -y b y -k c = xy
and a x 1 + c =* y l
had already been investigated by Brahm agupta, but the solution o f the general
equation
a x 1 + b x + c = y*

by the ch akravà la or cyclic method, was effected by Bhaskàra II in a manner

which has perpetuated his name for all time in the history o f the thçory o f
numbers.71 It is salutary to remember that Bhaskàra II made these advances
67 T he so-called Sindhind has not been precisely identified.
69 See the Pâtigattita o f Érldharàcârya, cd. K . S. Shukla, Lucknow University, 1959,
p p . vi, XV.
69 G . R . Kaye, The Bakhshâit Manuscript, Archaeological Survey o f India, New Imperial
Scries, Vol. 43, Pts. 1, 2, Calcutta, 1927; Pi. 3, Delhi, 1933.
70 H. T . Colcbrooke, Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration from (he Sanscrit o f
Brahmagupta and Bhâscara, London, 1817, p. 156.
71 See H. J. I . Winter, Eastern Science, Ch. III. D . Apte, Bijagattila o f Bhâskara.II, with
the Commentary o f Navânkura o f Krfna ( c . a . d . l 6 o o ) , Anandàérama Sanskrit Scries,
Poona, 1930. H. C . Banerji, LUàeati o f Bhaskara-JJ, Calcutta, 1893. G . P. Dvivedi, Sid-
dhnnta-Siromani by Bhâskara II, Sanskrit and Hindi, Vols. 1 and 2, Lucknow, 1911, 1926.
M. Iha, Siddhania-Siromaiii by Bhâskara JI with the Commentaries o f Vasanàvàrtika o f
Nrsiipha (1621) and Marici o f Miinileara (1635), Vol. I, Benares, I917. H. T . Colebrooke,
op. cit., pp. 172-8.
 Science 157
around the middle of.the twelfth century; independent European investiga­
tions o f the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries did not reach completion
until about 1770, with the w ork o f Euler and Lagrange.
The delightful Liiavatt and Bijaganita, whicli form part o f the Siddhànta
Siromani o f Bhâskara IT, have been widely used since their composition. A
Persian version o f LiiaoalP1 appeared in 1587 on the orders o f A kb ar and one
o f Bija ganija in 1635 for Shall Jahân. Bijaganita is interesting in that it con­
tains a demonstration o f the theorem o f Pythagoras which is distinct from '
that o f Euclid r, 47. T h e deductive proof in Euclid represents the squares
drawn externally upon the three sides o f a right-angled triangle, whereas the.
figure in Bhâskara, which may well derive ultimately from the Chinese Chou
Pei Suan Ching o f the Han period, is not part o f a deductive system but is
simply a practical demonstration which shows how two given squares m ay be
so cut that the parts fit together again to form a third square.73 Ltiaoatl was
later rivalled by the Ganitu Kaumudt, composed in 1356 by N ârâyana, a work
notable for its treatment o f magic squares.74 Indian interest in m agic squares
is reflected in Siamese mathematics o f the seventeenth century.75
A vast literature surrounds the history o f the so-called H indu-Arabic
numerals. Whereas the first epigraphic evidence for zero occurs in India in the
Bhojadeva inscriptions at G w alior, around a . d . 870, much earlier records
illustrating the use o f place value come from Cam bodia (604), Cham pa (609),
and Java (732). Again, a Cam bodian inscription o f 683/uses the dot or bindu
to represent zero, whilst an inscription on B anka Island o f 686 shows the
closed ring. These are no doubt the result o f the Hindu influence in South­
East A sia, just as in the case o f the Po-lo-men (brâhman) books transmitted
to China during the great period o f Buddhist interchange (say 350-1050), or
the calendrical texts o f eastern Turkestan which deris'e from Sanskrit, or the
earlier dissemination o f Indian ideas amongst the Greeks, Iranians, and
.Chinese in Khotan in the days o f K anishka. Confining ourselves, through the
limitations o f space, to questions o f origin only, we m ay quote a happy sug­
gestion o f Joseph N eedham : ‘ It may be very significant that the older literary
Indian references simply use the word ‘ sû n ya’— emptiness, just as if they are
'describing the empty spaces on Chinese counting boards.’ 76
kv.During the medieval period the medical tradition o f C araka and Susruta
.was continued by the Buddhist Vâgbhata (perhaps eighth century) who sum­
marized the eight divisions o f medicine in his Ashtâiigaliridaya Samhitâ.™ Im-
h 72 H . J. J. Winter a n d A . Mirza, Journ. Asiatic Society, Bengal, Science, Vol. 18, N o . I
(1952), l-IO.
72 Sec Euclid, Elements, ed. I. Todhunter, intro. Sir T. L. Heath, Everyman Reprint,
London, 1955, p. 266. J. Needham. Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 3, Cambridge,
1959, P- 22. H. T . Colcbrooke, op. cit., p. 222.
72 Nâiâyana Pandita, Gatiita Katnmtdi, Princess o f Wales Bhavâna Texts, G o v e r n m e n t
Sanskrit College, Benares, Vol. 1, 1936; Vol. 2, 19<)2.
73 D e La Loubère. Description dn royaume de Siam, Vol. 2, pp. 235-88; Le Problème des
auarrés magiques selon les Indiens, Amsterdam, 1714.
74 J. Needham, op. cit., Vol. 3, p. 11 n.
77 L. Hilgcnberg and W. Kirfel, Vâgbhafa's Aytàugahfdayasathhilà, ein altindisches Lehr-
buch der fleilkunde, Leiden, 1937-40. K . Vogel, Vdgbhafds Aslângahrdaya Samhitâ. The
First Five Chapters o f its Tibetan Version, Berlin, 1965. But see also A . B. Keith, A History o f
;Sanskrit Literature. Oxford, 1920, p. 510.
15» Science

portance was attached to the use o f minerals and natural salts in prescrip­
tions, and books o f such prescriptions appeared in popular medicine.78
Medicine and chemistry were closely allied. Alchem y was an integral part of
Tantric mysticism. Throughout the Tantric period (c. 700-c. 1300) and the
ensuing latrochem ical period (1300-c. 1550) the philosophy o f mercury, which
in the Rasaratndkara o f the alchemist N àgàrjuna and the Saiva tantra Rasâr-
nava was concerned essentially with the elixir o f life, gradually developed, as
exemplified in the Rasaratna Samucchaya and many other similar treatises, into
the more realistic study o f mercurial remedies and the chemical behaviour .of
the metals.79 Indian alchemy reached T ibet80 in the early eighth century with
the spread o f Buddhism, and is to be found in the great scriptures Kanjur and
Tanjur. In the field o f metallurgy remarkable technological competence was
attained as early as the fourth and fifth centuries; the casting o f the pure-
copper Buddha at Sultanganj in Bihâr and the welding o f wrought-iron shapes
to complete the Iron Pillar near D elhi cannot fail to inspire the highest
respect.81
IV
In astronomy the Muslim tradition o f instrumental technology survived in
India until the middle o f the eighteenth century.87 The astrolabe, which had
been lovingly perfected by generations o f Persian and A rab craftsmen and
was again executed in fine workmanship by the fam ily o f ‘ Isa b. Allâhdâd in
Lahore81 in the reign o f the M ughal Emperor Jahangir (1605-27), was used by
the astronomers in the service o f the M ahàrâja Sawâî Jai Singh II (1686-1743)
at his observatories in Delhi, Jaipur, U jjain, Vârànas! (Benares), and
M athura.84 Though Jai Singh’s principal astronomer was the Hindu Jagan-
nâth he made full use o f European and Islam ic ideas. In particular his massive
masonry quadrants and dials, constructed to attain maximum accuracy, in
the absence o f the telescope in India, closely follow the precedent set by the
Samarkand observatory o f U lugh Beg. On a much simpler level the gnomon,
which in Borneo8.8 consists o f a vertical staff placed in the ground (the co­
tangent form), appeared with a short horizontal piece inserted near the top of
the staff (the tangent form). A shepherd’s timestick o f the latter type, inscribed
in nâgari script and from Nepal, has been described elsewhere by the present
writer.86
D uring the late eighteenth and m ost o f the nineteenth centuries Europeans
resident in India add South-East A sia, excited by the new world o f natural
71 See e.g. Elizabeth Sharpe, An Eight-Hundred Year Old Book o f Indian Medicine and
Formulas, from b id Hindi, London, 1957. .
79 Acharya Prafuil^ Chandra RSy, History o f Chemistry in Ancient and Mediaeval Indi ,
now edited by P. Rfiy, Indian Chemical Society, Calcutta, 1956.
80R ây, op. cit., Tibetan texts, pp. 449-56.
81 See further, Indian Journal o f History o f Science, V ol. 5, N o. 2 (1970), Sections X - X I 1.
81 H.\J. J. Winter, ‘ The Muslim Tradition in Astronom y’, Endeavour 10 (1951).- .
8* J. Frank and M. Meyerhof, Ein Astrolab ans dem indtsches Moguireiche, Heidelberg,
1925. . .
84 G . R . K aye, The Astronomical Observatories o f Jai Singh, Archaeol. Survey o f India,
N ew Imperial Series, V o l. 40, Calcutta, 1918.
85 J. Needham, op. cit., V ol. 3, p. 286.
85 H. J. J. Winter, Physis, Vol. 4, Pt. 4 (1964), 377-84.
 Science 159
history around them, begau the process o f describing and classifying the
native flora and fauna. Thus the rem arkable realism o f the M ughal court
"painters,87 especially o f U stâd Mansur under the patronage o f Jahangir, him-
sëlf an ardent naturalist, was followed by a still more accurate art form dict­
ated by the requirement o f scientific recording. Beautiful drawings by Indian,
Chinese, and European artists survive from this period.88
: India has not failed in this century to produce her Fellow s o f the R o ya l
Society. W e conclude with the three names o f Sir C . V . Ram an, Sir J. C . Bose,
'arid S. Ram anujan. Ram an investigated both experimentally and theoretically
[the general problem o f the molecular scattering o f light,8* which includes an
explanation o f the colours o f the sky and the sea. In the course o f these in­
vestigations he discovered in 1928 that when a transparent liquid is irradiated
by a strong source o f light o f frequency n the spectrum lines as. seen through
the spectrometer used to examine the scattered light contain n ot only the ex­
citing line n but several weaker lines o f frequencies n ± An on either side. The
small values An depend not upon n but only upon the nature o f the irradiated
liquids. This phenomenon has been named the R am an Effect and explained
in terms o f the quantum theory o f Einstein and Planck. Bose crossed the
boundaries dividing physics and biology.*0In a rem arkable series o f researches
during the period 1895-1927, in which the traditional.Hindu sensitivity to the
living world o f plants and animals attained a new understanding, he m ade a
unique contribution to our knowledge o f physiological response. In the course
o f this w ork he devised delicate apparatus to measure extrem ely short inter­
vals o f time and rates o f reaction. O f his high m agnification crescograpb,
which could detect a rate o f growth in plants o f the order o f one millionth o f
a millimetre per second, he wrote: ‘ So sensitive is the recorder that it shews a
change o f growth-rate due to slight increase o f illumination by the opening o f
an additional window.’*1 Bose reached the ultimate in the study o f the inertia
o f mechanical systems prior to the development o f the cathode-ray oscillo­
graph and the new methods o f electronic engineering. In Srinivasa Ram anujan
(1887-1920) w e sèe once again the brahman mathematician inspired by the
theory o f numbers, leaping intuitively to generalizations whilst the less gifted
ponder on the intermediate steps.*2 T he ‘ quiet, meditative child who used to
ask questions about the distances o f the stars’, w ho later said that the goddess
o f N am akkal fed him with formulae in his dreams, and w ho helped to create
the beautiful expressions in the Rogers-Ram anujan. identities,*7 developed, as

87 S. M . Hasan, ‘ The Mughal School o f Zoological Portraiture’, A n s and Letters, Journal

Roy. India, Pakistan and Ceylon Society, Vol. 37, No. I (1963), 3-13. *
88 Mildred Archer, Natural History Drawings in the India Office Library, H .M .S.O .,
London, 1962.
e* C. Y . Raman, The Molecular Diffraction o f Light, University o f Calcutta, 1922. Ram an
and Krishnao, Proc. Roy. Soc. 122 (1929}, 23.
** P. Geddes, The Life and Work o f Sir Jagadis C . Bose, LondoD, 1927. Sir Jagadis
Chunder Bose, Collected Physical Papers, Trans. Bose Inst. Calcutta, and Longmans Green,
London, 1927. ** Ibid., p. 350.
*• G . H. Hardy, P. V. Seshu Aiyar, and B. M . Wilson, The Collected Papers o f Srinivasa
Ramanujan, Cambridge, 1927.
w ‘ Proof o f certain identities in combinatory analysis’, Proc. Camb. Philos. Society, 19
i6 o Science

G. H . Hardy has recorded, an ‘ insight into algebraical formulae, transforma­

tion o f infinite series, and so forth, that was most amazing. On this side most
certainly I have never met his equal, and I can compare him only with Euler
and Jacobi.’ »4
Iu this survey emphasis has been laid upon the more recent investigations;
the older works, important though some o f them, such as those o f Colebrooke
and Thibaut, still are, have been only briefly mentioned, but any further in­
formation relating to them m ay be found by studying the material listed in
the select references at the foot o f each page;95 with the rapid development o f
researches into the history o f science in A sia in the last few years priority o f
space must be given to the results o f these researches, especially those obtained
by native scholars. Thus, the pioneer writings o f Sudhakara D vivedi o f
Yârànasï (Benares) on Hindu mathematics have now been supplemented by
the publications on ancient astronom y and mathematics to the m emory o f
Sir Asutosh M ookerjee by the University o f Calcutta and by the current
series o f texts being issued by the Departm ent o f Astronom y and Mathematics
o f L ucknow University. Islamic science is represented by D r. N izam uddin
through the impressive series o f publications o f the Osmania Bureau o f
Hyderabad in the Deccan.»6 T w o conferences in 1952 and 1961 have helped
to clarify ideas,»7 and research papers are now appearing in the newly estab­
lished Jndian Journal o f the History o f Science.9* (See also Addenda.)
It is in Sanskrit that the soul o f India lies; the problem is one o f interpreta­
tion o f the siokas or stanzas whiGh enshrine the ancient wisdom, a process
often rendered more difficult in astronomy and mathematics by the condensed
nature o f the original presentation. M oreover, many manuscripts have been
lost, for example the eighth-century writings Pdliganita and Siddhânala Tilaka
o f Lalla and the ninth-century Govindakriti o f G ovinda; though there are
others being discovered and examined. It is desirable that the significant birch-
bark and palm -leaf manuscripts should be dated by the Carbon-J4 process.»»
An cient Hindu science, though conservative, is strong in classification. This
is immediately evident not only in medicine but in the world’s earliest scientific
grammar, that o f Panini, established by the fourth century B.c. It is associ­
ative, drawing by intuition from an accumulated background o f experience;
the direct path o f deduction so beloved o f the Greeks is alien to it. It lies
outside the European tradition! In both ancient and medieval times the native
m aster-pupil relationship had its triumphs and its failures; on the one hand
‘ schools’ would merely perpetuate traditional methods or simply die away, on
the other the torch o f learning would be kindled anew by the genius o f some
isolated guru. W e may study Hindu science only within the fram ework o f

»4 The Collected Papers o f Ramanujan, p.'xxxv.

»! Or W . E. Clark in the Legacy o f India, pp. 335-68.
»6 See current catalogue o f the Arabic publications of th eD airat ul-Ma’ arif’il-Osmania,
Hyderabad, Deccan.
91 See e.g. ‘ Symposium on the History o f Sciences in South A sia ’, Proc. Nat. Inst, o f
Sciences o f India, Vol. 18, No. 4 (19 5 2 }, 323-62.
93 One volume has appeared annually since 1966. A Concise History o f Science in India by
D . M . Bose, S. N . Sen, and B. V. Subbarayappa has just been published by the Indian
National Sciences Academy (Calcutta, 1973).
97 \V. F. Libby, Radiocarbon Dating, University o f Chicago Press, and edn., 1955.
 .Science 16 1

philosophy and religion. T o the gum intuition meant illumination from the
infinite ocean o f knowledge, and might, like a final cadence in Indian music,
at any moment fade imperceptibly away.

ADDENDA
A recent attempt by Finnish philologists to read the Indus V alley script
using a computer method seems to indicate that the nakshatras a re o fH a ra p -
pan origin, as also are the later D ravidian names o f the five planets related to
their colours (e.g. Mars, the ‘ red star’). Should this be substantiated, it would
..locate the origin o f the nakshatras, traditionally associated with the Hindus,
within the earlier Indus Valley culture.
(See e.g. A sko Parpola, Annales Academiae Sclentiarum Fennicae, X L , ser.
B. tom. 185. Helsinki, 1973.)
A n Institute o f H istory o f Medicine and M edical Research was inaugurated
at Tuqluqabad, N ew D elhi, early in 1970, and incorporates the library o f
D r. Cyril L. Elgood.
 C H A PTER X III

Ancient and Modern Languages

by T . B u r /r o w

T h e literary tradition o f India goes back more than 3,000 years, and during
the greater part o f this time it was dominated by Sanskrit, first in its Vedic,i and
later in its classical form. The early Aryan invaders o f India brought with
them, along with other elements o f a developed culture, a language o f great
richness and precision, and a highly cultivated poetic tradition. The c h ie f
custodians and exponents o f this poetic art were the families o f priests, eventu­
ally to develop into the brâhman caste, who were also the guardians iand
practitioners o f the Vedic religion. The hymns to various deities composed by
members o f these families were orally preserved, first among the several
families concerned, and were eventually united into one great collection
known as the Rig Veda. This text not only served the purposes o f religion, bpt
it provided a common literary standard for the A ryan tribes o f India. The
compilation o f the later Vedas followed after no great interval, and the corpus
o f Vedic poetry, whose beginnings m ay be fixed somewhere round 1300 B .C .,
was probably complete in the main by about 1000 b . c . A fter this date hymns
were no longer composed in the old poetic tradition, and instead there de-,
veloped an extensive prose literature devoted to ritual matters, in a form o f
language notably younger than that o f the hymns, and showing some signs o f
being based on a dialect situated somewhat further to the east. This prose
literature was also entirely oral, and its language is rem arkably uniform. The
period o f the older Brâhmanas, as these prose texts are called, may be put
roughly at 1000-800 b . c ., but the language continued to be used without
noticeable change for two or three centuries more. T he next milestone in the
history o f Sanskrit is the Gram m ar o f Panini, which describes in complete
detail a form o f the language younger than that o f the Brâhmanas, and based
on the spoken usage o f the educated brahmans o f the time. Pânini’s exact date
is unknown, but the fourth century b . c . m ay be given as a rough estimate. His
grammar quickly gained universal acceptance, and as a result the form o f the
Sanskrit language as described by him was fixed for all time.
The reason why ^anskrit as a language evolved no further after Panini was
not only his authority, but also the fact that by this time the Aryan language
had become divided into two, on the one hand Sanskrit, the language o f learn­
ing, and in particular the language o f the brâhman caste and o f its religion,
and on the other hahd Pràkrit, the language o f the masses. These terms did not
in fact come into use until some centuries later, but the dichotomy was already
established by the time o f Buddha and Mahâvïra. From this time on normal
linguistic evolution affected only the vernacular language, Prâkrit or M iddle
Indo-Aryan; Sanskrit remained fixed in the final form given to it by Panini,
and continued to be used as the language of the educated classes, although, as
 Ancient and Modern Languages 163
time went 011, the difference between it and the ordinary spoken language
increased.
Although the gap between Sanskrit and the ordinary spoken language grew
progressively, this did not have an adverse effect on the use o f Sanskrit, but
rather its importance grew with time. F or instance the language o f administra­
tion in M auryan times, as attested by the inscriptions o f ASoka, was Prakrit,
and this continued for some centuries; but gradually Prakrit was replaced by
Sanskrit until finally Sanskrit was almost exclusively used for this purpose. A
similar development too k place am ong the Buddhists. Originally, according
to the directions o f Buddha himself, their texts were composed in M iddle
Indo-Âryan, and thé scriptures o f the Theravâda School are preserved in one
form o f this, nam ely Pah*, but later, shortly after the Christian era, the
northern Buddhists turned to Sanskrit. T h e old scriptures were translated into
Sanskrit, and new works were composed in that language. A s an intermediate
stage some schools developed a mixed or hybrid language which continued
in use for some time. The Jainas, though at a much later date, follow ed the ex­
ample o f the Buddhists, and also began to com pose in Sanskrit instead o f
Prakrit. On the whole it can be said that during the last 600 years o f pre-
Muslim India Sanskrit was more extensively and exclusively used than at any
time since the close o f the Vedic period.
Th e Vedic literature, both verse and prose, was com posed and handed
down orally. This was a remarkable achievement, and it was only possible be­
cause there existed a class o f people, the brahmans, the m ajor effort o f whose
lives was devoted to this end. A t the same time it had a lim iting effect, inas­
much as such literature as remains is confined m ainly to the religious sphere.
The introduction o f writing took place probably about the same time as
Panini was codifying the rules o f the Sanskrit language, and it rendered pos­
sible a vast extension o f the uses to which the recently codified language could
be put. Nevertheless the process was at first slow, due partly to the above­
mentioned com petition o f Middle Indo-Âryan. The Sanskrit literature pre­
served from the time o f Pànini and the centuries immediately follow ing is still
. mainly religious, consisting o f various sûtras attached to the V edic schools.
. Their language corresponds mainly to that ofP ânini, but tolerates a number o f
^irregularities which would not later be allowed.
> In the field o f secular literature Sanskrit epic poetry was the next m ost im­
p o rta n t development, but the oral tradition in this field seems to have con­
tinued for some time, so that it was not until considerably later that the
written epics in the form that we have them took shape. T h e epic language
also, though follow ing Panini as a rule, admits a considerable num ber o f
irregularities. The use o f Sanskrit prose for scientific, technical, and philoso­
p h ic a l purposes is first exemplified on a large scale by the Mahâbhâshya,
-Patanjali’s commentary on K àtyàyana’s Vârttikas ■ to P ânini’s grammar,
jw hich can be dated with some certainty to the second century b . c . A fter this
time, and particularly during the early centuries o f the Christian era, a great
'corpus o f technical scientific literature, covering the fields o f philosophy,
^medicine, politics, and administration, etc., cam e into existence. In the same
period the rules o f Panini were m ore strictly applied, and deviations from
them were disapproved. Classical poetry, in so far as it is preserved, is rather
164 Ancient and Modern Languages

late, beginning wilh-Kalidasa, w ho is probably to be placed in the fifth century

a . d ., but its earlier cultivation is attested in inscriptions, in Buddhist literature

(Asvaghosba), and by occasional references in Patanjali. The drama also was

probably established in the period immediately preceding the Christian era,
and it continued to flourish in the early centuries a .d ., but here again the
examples that are preserved are much later.
E ven allow ing fo r the loss o f a considerable amount o f early literature, it
still remains a fact that Sanskrit was enjoying its maximum use during the
period a . d . 500-1200. It was current almost as widely in the D ravidian south
as in the Aryan north, and it was also extensively used in the areas o f Indian
cultural expansion in South-East Asia, Indonesia, etc. A t the end o f the period,
in spite o f the fact that the difference between it and the spoken vernaculars
had now become very great, it was flourishing as strongly as ever. Its pre­
eminence was first seriously threatened by.the Muslim invasions, which began
seriously shortly before a . d . 1200 and quickly overran the greater part o f the
country. The new rulers preferred to use Persian as their official language, and
they were unfavourably disposed to all branches o f Hindu culture. Neverthe­
less the tradition o f Sanskrit literature continued strongly and the number o f
Sanskrit works preserved, which were composed during the M uslim period, is
very considerable indeed. T he period o f British rule exercised a further un­
favourable influence on Sanskrit, since a new language o f civilization ap­
peared in the field, while the increasing use o f the modern Indo-Âryan lan­
guages was a further limitation to its use. In spite o f this, literary composition
in Sanskrit has continued on a modest scale down to the present time, and an
interesting development has been the successful adaptation o f the language to
the expression o f modern ideas. From the practical point o f view the main use
to which the Sanskrit language is put qt present is as a source o f vocabulary
for the modern languages. Sanskrit is able to provide on a large scale the new
technical terms which are continually needed, and which the modern lan­
guages cannot supply from their own resources.
T h e M iddle Indo-Âryan languages first came into use as vehicles for the
teachings o f Buddha and M ahàvlra, but the first examples recorded in writing
are the inscriptions o f A soka. Particular interest attaches to these, since they
are recorded in various local dialects, o f which there are three main varieties,
the eastern or MagadhI, the western, and the north-western. The Buddhist and
Jaina scriptures were at first circulated in MâgadhI, and, o f course, orally, but
this dialect seems to have been o f somewhat limited extension, and, in com ­
parison with the more average type o f Prâkrit current in the central and
western regions, rather aberrant. Consequently when these religions spread
over all north India a chaDge in linguistic practice became necessary. The
Theravàda School adopted a straightforward western type o f dialect, which
cam e to be known as Pâli, into which the scriptures were transcribed, not
w ithout considerable traces remaining o f the original M âgadhî. Other local
languages were also used, but the only example still remaining is a version of
the Dhammapada in the Gàndhàrî dialect o f the north-west. This is largely due
to the substitution, mentioned above, o f Sanskrit for M iddle Indo-Âryan
am ong the northern Buddhists, and, in the case o f some schools, o f a peculiar
mixed language known as Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. T he Jainas also modified
 Ancient and Modern Languages

their original M àgadhï dialect, though retaining certain M âgadhI characteris­

tics, and this modified language is appropriately known as Ardham âgadhi or
Half-M âgadhî. It also represents a considerably later stage in the develop­
ment o f M iddle Indo-Aryan than Pâli, and the texts composed in it are m ainly
o f later origin. _
M iddle Indo-Aryan is divided into three stages, and it covers a period
ranging from 500 b . c . to a .d . io o o . The first stage is represented by Pâli and
the inscriptions o f A soka and later rulers, and comprises the period up to
shortly after the Christian era. T he term Prâkrit, when used in the narrow
sense, applies to the second stage. It consists o f the dialects described by the
Prâkrit grammarians, and it is exemplified in the drama, and in certain lyric
and epic poems in the M ahârâshtrï dialect, but principally in the canonical
and post-canonical writings o f the Jains. The dram a is governed by an interest­
ing convention, according to which kings, ministers, and learned men speak
Sanskrit, while men o f lower status and women speak Pràkrit, a practice re­
flecting, no doubt, the current usage o f the time. Various Prâkrit dialects are
used in drama, according to the prescriptions o f the grammarians. The lan­
guage of ordinary dialogue is Sauraseni, which would strictly be the dialect o f
the M athura region, but which no doubt represents the language o f the wider
area now known as Uttar Pradesh. T he M ahârâshtrï dialect, based on w hat is
now the M arâtbâ territory, is used for the lyrics that occur from time to time
in the drama, and outside the drama it was the recognized medium for the
composition o f Prâkrit poetry. The M âgadhI dialect, by a partly artificial con­
vention, is used for the speech o f the lower characters in drama, and other
minor dialects are supposed to be used for specific purpose. T he use o f these
various dialects is best exemplified by the Mricchakatikâ, which is perhaps the
earliest o f the surviving dramas. A s already observed, Ardham âgadhi is the
language o f the 5 vetâmbara Jaina canon; the non-canonical Prâkrit literature
"of the Jainas is composed in either Jaina-MahârâshtrI (Svetâmbaras) or Jaina-
Saurasen! (Digambaras). Finally there is the curiously named Paiéâcï (language
óf the goblins), in which the Brihalkathâ o f G unàdhya was com posed, but
Which is unfortunately no longer preserved. T h e north-western Prâkrit
(‘ G àndhârl’) lies outside the scope o f the Prâkrit grammarians and o f classical
literature; the Dhanunapada, translated into this language, has already been
mentioned. In addition there is an extensive series o f documents from Central
A sia testifying to its use as an administrative language even outside the bound­
aries o fln d ia .
ÿ":The third and final stage o f M iddle Indo-Aryan is represented by what is
■known as Apabhram sa. This represents a stage o f linguistic development
roughly half-way between Prâkrit and the modern Indo-Aryan languages, and
[its- period is roughly a .d . 600-1000. T h e earliest specimen woiild be the
'Apabhramsa verses appearing in the fourth act o f K âlidâsa’s Vikrantorvasiya,
jbut there is doubt as to their authenticity. This form o f language is described
ÿ y some o f the Prâkrit grammarians, and an extensive Jaina literature in
fApabhramsa, m ostly dated round about the end o f the period, has been
'’published in recent years.
I^ T he emergence o f the modern Indo-Aryan languages dates from the period
uiffer a . d . tooo, when already the division o f the regional languages was
 Ancient and Modem Languages

assuming the shape that is familiar today. The main block o f Indo-Âryan
stretches as a solid mass across north and central India. In addition there are
certain minor and eccentric languages outside the main block, which are o f no
literary importance but are often o f great interest for linguistic history. Such
are the D ardic languages o f the north-west, which are both extraordinarily
numerous and remarkably archaic. The gypsy languages were taken to the
N ear East and Europe by itinerant tribes who probably left India about
a . d . 500 or shortly after. T he only literary language outside the main block is
Sinhalese, which was introduced into the island by settlers from north India
about the time o f Buddha. It is o f great interest both on account o f its inde­
pendent growth, and because o f the fact that, with the help o f inscriptions, an
almost continuous picture o f its development can be formed. Its literature is
extensive and the earliest portions o f it considerably antedate the earliest
literature produced in the modern languages o f north India.
The modern languages o f the main block o f Indo-Âryan developed very
much on parallel lines, since there were no major geographical obstacles in­
hibiting mutual contact. Eventually the following literary languages emerged:

south-west: Gujarati and M arathi

west : Sindlû and Panjabi
north-west: Kashmiri
north-east : Nepali
east : Assamese, Bengali, Oriyâ
central : Hindi, Western and Eastern, with which we m ay enumerate
Rajasthani to the west, and Bibârï to the east.

The literary development o f these languages took place at various times,

M arathi and Gujarati being among the earliest. Linguistic, difference was
often associated with differences o f alphabet, e.g. in the case o f Oriyâ,
Bengali, Panjabi (Gurmukhï), and Gujarati, which have alphabets o f their
own differing from the usual Devanâgarï (Hindi and M arathi, and, according
to modern practice, Sanskrit). O f greater importance was the introduction of
the A rabic script by the Muslims for certain languages. In the case o f Hindi
this led to the development o f two different literary languages, Urdu and
Hindi, based originally on the same spoken dialect.
_ A p art from the Muslim influence the development o f the modern Indo-
 ryan languages followed the same lines. The early literature was predomin­
antly religious and almost exclusively poetic. In form and subject-matter it
was based on Sanskrit models. A n important new feature in the modern
languages, as oppbsed to the earlier M iddle Indo-Âryan, was the introduction,
on an extensive scale, o f Sanskrit loanwords. In Prakrit, even a t the Apa-
bhramSa stage, words might in fact be derived from Sanskrit, but they always
appeared disguised as Prakrit by the operation o f phonetic rules. A t the stage
o f Modern Indo-Âryan this practice was no longer feasible and the Sanskrit
words had to be Introduced as such. Another consideration was the poverty
o f the vernacular languages, due to the continued use o f Sanskrit at the ex­
pense o f the spoken languages down to a late date. This was a situation which
could only be dealt with by drawing extensively on the vocabulary o f Sans­
 Ancient and Modern Languages

krit. In the Muslim-dominated literary languages, a similar position was held

by A rabic and Persian.
T he development o f the m odem Indo-Aryan languages continued on these
lines until the end o f the eighteenth century, after which the full effect o f
British rule and European civilization began to be felt. T he introduction o f
printing, which took place in north India about this time, had a profound
effect on the development o f language and literature. W orks in prose, as well
as poetry, began to be produced, the range o f subjects for literature was ex­
tended and modernized, and literary output progressively increased. T h e pro­
cesses initiated at this period have continued with increasing tempo till the
present day. _
fc A m on g the modern Indo-Âryan languages, the position o f H indi is o f out­
standing importance, since it has been officially accepted as the national
language o f India. Its history is also more complicated than that o f the others.
Taking Western and Eastern Hindi together, along with their various dialects,
Hindi occupies the most central position and also covers a much larger area
than any other language. O n the other hand the modern form o f literary
Hindi was developed very late, in fact not until the end o f the eighteenth
century. The reason for this was that earlier writers had used other dialects o f
Hindi (e.g. Braj Bhâshà or the Eastern H indi o f Tulsl D âs), whereas the
Kltari bolt, originally the dialect o f the Delhi-M eerut area, on which both
Hindi and Urdfl are based, was developed in the first place under the in­
fluence o f the Muslims. T he first literary language to emerge from it was
therefore Urdu, written in the A rabic script, and borrowing an extensive
vocabulary from A rabic and Persian. A t the same time, in a somewhat
simplified form, it gained extensive currency as a non-literary colloquial, and
this is still very widely used. On the other hand literary Hindi, written in the
Devanâgarï alphabet and drawing for vocabulary on Sanskrit, hardly appears
at all until the beginning o f the nineteenth century.
' . The partition o f the subcontinent between India and Pakistan had natur­
ally considerable effects on language. T h e principle result was that H indi was
adopted as the official language o f India, while U rdu occupies a similar posi­
tion in Pakistan. Bengal was divided into two, with consequent differences
developing between the Bengali o f East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and that
o f West Bengal. A similar division took place in the case o f Panjabi.
V T h e pre-Aryan languages o f India are grouped into two families, D ravidian
and M undâ (or Kolarian), but languages o f literary status are found only
among the former group. These are the Tam il, M alayàlam , Telugu, and
Kannada languages, occupying respectively the states o f M adras, K erala,
Andhra, and K arnataka. In addition there are a number o f unwritten, tribal
languages in central India, and the fam ily is represented even as far aw ay as
•Baluchistan by Bràhüï, which has also remained a non-literary language. It is
quite likely that the extension o f D ravidian was originally much wider than at
present, and that it has receded before the advance o f :Indo-Âryan. It is also
possible that other families existed which have been displaced by Indo-Aryan,
leaving no trace. The Indus civilization possessed a written language, but it is
undeciphered and nothing can be said about its nature and affiliation.
T he earliest Dravidian language to be developed for literary purposes was
 Ancient and Modern Languages

Tam il, in which there is an extensive corpus o f lyric poetry dating to the early
centuries o f the Christian era, as well as an important grammatical work, the
Toìkàppiyam. T he reason fo r this priority was the fact that the Tam il country
was the furthest removed from the centre o f Aryan expansion, and the develop­
ment o f the native language was not inhibited by the competition o f Sanskrit
or Prakrit. F rom this period on there is a continuous and extensive literature
in Tam il, and three language periods, Old, Middle, and M odern Tam il, are
distinguished. T h e M iddle Tam il period begins with the lyrics o f the Saiva
and Yaishnava religious teachers who flourished under the Pallavas, and con­
tinued until late medieval times. The modern period o f the language begins, as
elsewhere, round about a . d . 1800, when the influence o f English and European
models began to be felt. A lthough considerably modernized, the written
T am il language differs considerably from the spoken language, which has
evolved a good deal further. A movement to bring it more in line with the
spoken language has not, however, made much progress, since the latter is
divided into various kinds according to both locality and class.
The Tam il language was less influenced by Sanskrit than the other three
D ravidian languages, and the number o f Sanskrit and other Indo-Âryan loan­
w ords in it is considerably smaller. A t the Old Tam il stage they are very few
indeed, and there was perhaps a deliberate attempt to avoid them. The
Sanskrit influence is a good deal more extensive in the writings o f the Saiva
and Vaishnava saints, and greater still in some later works, but it never
attained the same degree as it did in M alayâlam , K annada, and Telugu.
Recently there has been a movement to purify the Tam il language o f extran­
eous elements, but in view o f the continual need for fresh technical vocabulary
this is hardly likely to be com pletely effective.
T he M alayâlam language existed in the early period only as a dialect o f
Tam il, and it was not until about a .d . iooo that it achieved the status o f an
independent language. It has its own alphabet with the full complement of
Sanskrit letters (unlike Tam il, which manages with far fewer), and it makes
liberal use o f Sanskrit loan-words. A very highly Sanskritized style was at one
time current under the name o f Mani-praoala. Its literary development in
modern times has been considerable.
The literary development o f Kannada and Telugu was inhibited at first by
the fact that these territories were under the dominion o f the Àndhra Empire,
whose administrative language was Prakrit. In this respect they were followed
by their immediate successors, and it is not until about a .d . 500 that we begin
to have evidence o f the use o f the native languages. K ann ad a inscriptions
begin to occur about a . d . 450, and Telugu inscriptions from about a . d . 650.
The earliest K ann ada literary text dates from the latter part o f the ninth
century, but the names o f a number o f earlier works are known. There is a
considerable body o f w ork from the tenth century, mainly the w ork o f
Jainas. A ll this is written in Old K annada, which gave place later to M iddle
K an n ad a, which was itself, by a continuing process o f evolution, replaced by
M odern Kannada. In the case o f K annada there is no marked difference
between the spoken and written language, such as was noted in the case o f
Tam il.
1 T a lio n hfipins about the end o f the first millennium with N annaya’s
 Ancient and Modern Languages 169
translation o f the Mahâbhàrata. This is followed during the succeeding
centuries by a considerable number o f works based m ainly on Sanskrit
originals, as elsewhere, m ainly in verse. The Vijayanagara Empire coincided
with the most flourishing period o f classical Telugq literature. T he develop­
ment o f the modern language and literature followed the usual lines, and, as
in Tam il, there was during m ost o f the modern period a considerable difference
between the spoken and written languages. Since about 1940, however, there
Has been a strong movement to bring the written language more into line with
the spoken, and, by and large, this movement has been successful.
 C H A P T E R X IV

Classical Literature*
by A. K . W a r d e r

T h e classical tradition in Indian literature is essentially secular. Religious

scripture (àgama) and scholarly treatises (iâstra) are usually distinguished
from ‘ literature’ (kâoya), the latter being both human and an art. ‘ T radition’
(itilwsa), including ‘ antiquity’ (purâpa) and ‘ ep ic’ (âkhyâna), is distin­
guished from all three as the inspired words o f ancient sages. In fact its
simple heroic verse, lacking the style and figurativeness o f kâoya, represents
the narrative poetry o f an age before the institutionalization o f literature as an
art according to the conscious principles o f criticism elaborated in the
Nâtyasâstra (Treatise on Dram a) and elsewhere. Tradition as extant is mostly
not as antique as it purports to be, but it follows the archaic narrative style
and continues to be a source o f classical themes for ‘ literature’ . On account
o f its aesthetic power, some critics allowed the great epic Mahâbhârala to be
‘ literature’ as well as ‘ tradition’ . For our present purpose we too are in­
terested in this ‘ true ’ epic derived from the bards (sütas) o f antiquity as well
as in the ‘ artificial’ epics o f individual authors.
In V edic scripture we find relics, preserved for the liturgy, o f a still earlier
phase (second millennium n.c.) o f epic poetry, celebrating especially the deeds
o f Indra but sometimes o f human warriors, and o f lyric in which, characteris­
tically for India, natural phenomena are personified, such as the goddesses
Dawn and N ight and the gods Sun and Thunderstorm. A few dialogues
suggest dramatic action, e.g. Purüravas and the nymph. In prose (mainly the
somewhat later Brâhmanas) there are examples o f story telling, terse and
abrupt in style, such as M anu and the Fish and the various wars o f the gods
and demons. T h e story o f HariScandra and Sunalriepa is in mixed prose and
verse.
The lay o f the Jaya (‘ V icto ry ’) was handed down orally for at least a
thousand years after the battle it celebrates (c. 900 B . C .) before becoming rela­
tively fixed in writing as the Mahâbhârala, ‘ Great Bhârata (Battle)’ . A
shadowy D vaipâyana or V yâsa is recorded first to have sung o f this terrible
struggle o f his own time. Vaiéampâyana later elaborated the epic in 24,000
verses and c. 750 B .C . Lom aharsana and UgraSravas are supposed to have
recited the complete Mahâbhârala in 100,000 verses. On metrical and other
grounds, however, the text constituted in the Critical (Poona) Edition, which
m ay approximate to the manuscripts o f the fourth century A .D ., includes addi­
tions down to that century, with a balancing nucleus o f archaic verses produc­
ing an average date o f com position not earlier than c. 100 B .C .
The theme o f the Mahâbhârala has been well summed up, by RàjaSekhara,
as the anger o f the Pândavas, sons o f Pându. Pându had been consecrated
* At the special request o f the author, the full apparatus of diacritics is used in this
chapter in the transliteration o f Indian words.
 Classical Literature ill
Emperor, in the Bhârala Dynasty, because his elder brother D hflarâstra was
blind and so legally disqualified from ruling. But Pâpdu died first and
Dhrtarastra seized power, though claiming to act as regent for Pàndu’s son
Yudhisthira, w ho was made crown prince and later given a fief to rule.
Yudhisthira formed a marriage alliance with K rsna, leader o f the Satvants,
and then assumed imperial prerogatives. D hrtarastra’s son D uryodhana, am-
• bitious and envying Yudhisthira’s prosperity, challenged him to a gam bling
match, sure o f victory through the trickery o f an uncle. Yudhisthira loses
everything, his kingdom , and finally bis Queen DraupadT, w ho is publicly
stripped as a slave by D uryodhana’s brother, a humiliation she will never for­
give. The elders intervene and arrange terms: D raupadi is restored but
Yudhiçthira and his brothers are condemned to twelve years’ exile and a
further year incognito. A fter enduring this, they enter the service o f K in g
, Vira{a o f M atsya. From this base, Yudhisthira sends Kpsna as envoy to
negotiate the restoration o f a kingdom, but D uryodhana will not give up even
one village and war becomes inevitable. Yudhisthira marshals his allies against
a huge enemy army and the battle lasts eighteen days. The m ain events are
single com bats: finally, through the stratagems o f K fsija (deceit and foul
blows contrary to the warriors’ code), the Pândavas destroy their enemies and
Yudhisthira becomes Emperor.
W e should note the ethical questions raised by this story o f a fratricidal
war o f succession, with its bitter passions and terrible slaughter. Yudhiçfhira’s
claim was legally sound, but Duryodhana stood for the time-hoDOured right
o f the first bom and his descendants. Yudhisthira lost his kingdom through
deceit and regained it through deceit. T he loss was accom panied by hum iliat­
ing insult, generating an anger that only the blood o f the enemy could quench.
T he Mahâbhârata fascinated Indian historians, w ho too k it as a kind o f model
for their w ork, whilst critics argued about its aesthetic significance and
dramatists and other authors reinterpreted it. M any held that the ultimate
aesthetic experience produced by it was the calmed state arising from the re­
nunciation o f destructive worldly ambitions. Indeed in the extant Mah'â-
bhârata Yudhisthira finally abdicates, after hearing o f the tragic death o f
Kr?na, and retires to the Him alaya, leaving the Empire to his brother A rju na’s
grandson.
In contrast to the simple style o f the Mahâbhârata, with its refrains and
repetitions and verse-filling epithets, kâvya, or literature as it developed gradu­
ally from about the fifth century b .c., becomes highly organized in form ,
richly adorned with figures o f speech, taut in style, profuse in metres, and
above all aimed at producing methodically a defined aesthetic experience in an
audience, hearer, or reader. This trend, especially in metres, can be traced
back to some o f the lyrics o f the Buddhist àgama, the Tripijaka, available in
Pâli, which appear to reflect secular lyrics in the M âgadhï language o f the
Buddha’s time. The Tripijaka was enriched by the art o f certain poets and
actors who, becom ing Buddhist m onks, applied it in praise o f the Buddha
(notably V àglia), in describing mountains suitable for m editation (notably
K âiyap a), and in other unworldly themes. From about 400 n.c. onwards we
find also dram atic dialogues in the Tripitaka, ih verse with prose stage direc­
tions, showing the same new metrical art apparently extended to the stage.
 Classical Literature

A p art from some incidental discussions on genres, figures o f speech, etc., in

the Tripitaka and in grammatical and other works, the Nâtyasâstra o f
‘ B h arata’ (the mythical first ‘ A c to r ’) is the oldest work o f Indian literary
criticism now available. It is the outcome o f several centuries o f theatrical
practice by hereditary' actors, from the fifth century b . c . or earlier down to
about the second century a . d ., no doubt at first handed down by oral tradition
like the Mahàbhârata. The purpose o f drama is the amusement o f the audience,
but the ‘j o y ’ (harsa) and solace given them is not left to chance by the actors
but induced through a special technique or method o f acting. The drama is an
imitation o f all the actions o f the world, but the essential part o f this is the
em otions (bhâvas) which the characters are represented as experiencing during
their actions. There are eight basic em otions: love, humour, energy, anger,
fear, grief, disgust, and astonishment. These are not conveyed directly but by
playing their causes and effects, the latter including other, transient, emotions.
T h e audience, imagining the basic emotions in the characters through this
acting, enjoys eight corresponding tastes (rasas), in other words tbe percep­
tion o f them, the aesthetic experience (not the emotional experience itself)
correspondingly divided into sensitive (perception o f love), com ic, heroic,
furious, apprehensive, compassionate, horrific, and marvellous. Besides being
essentially enjoyable, the drama is incidentally instructive because it repre­
sents all kinds o f actions, good and bad, and the ends or motives which inspire
them.
A ccordin g to the Nâtyasâstra, drama originated because o f the conflicts
which arose in society when the world declined from the G olden A ge (Kpta
Y uga) o f harmony. Thus a drama always presents a conflict and its resolu­
tion, and in construction, tbe conversion o f a story into a ‘ p lo t’ , with its ele­
ments and conjunctions, is based on the single m ain action which ends the
conflict. Each o f the five ‘ conjunctions’ (opening, re-opening, embryo*
obstacle, and conclusion) o f a full-scale play is bodied out with up to a dozen
dramatic incidents and situations (its ‘ lim bs’ or parts), showing the charac­
ters in action; and a large number o f other dram atic devices were available
to express the-causes and effects o f emotion through incidents related to the
ultimate action. A m on g these devices, the discussion o f the ‘ characteristics’ o f
dram atic expression leads into the figures o f speech and qualities o f style in
the language o f drama. T h e Nâtyasâstra describes ten types o f play, dis­
tinguished as history or fiction if full scale (fiye or more acts, implying as
m any nights’ performance since the Indian theatre, though highly organized,
is not rapid in movement). T he remaining eight types, with from one to four
acts only, are heroic, tragic, or com ic plays, together with the satirical mono­
logue, the street play, and three kinds o f archaic play about the gods and
demons. Secondary to all these is the four-act ‘ light p la y’ as a fictitious sensi­
tive com edy about a real character, whilst the solo tâiiâava dance o f Siva and
the delicate lâsya invented by Pàrvatî, as well as group dances (pìndibandhas),
m ay be introduced in dram a where appropriate. The lâsya represents a story,
or part o f a story, and is regarded as the prototype o f the profusion o f inde­
pendent popular ballets which has always accompanied the more serious and
classical theatre o f India.
Bhâmaha (fifth century a . d . 7), the earliest individual critic whose work is
 Classical Literature 173
available, extended the Nàfyasâslra analysis (rasa aesthetics, construction) to
literature as a whole, setting out the genres as drama, epic, lyric, prose b io­
graphy, and the (usually prose) novel. Then he takes up as his main problem
literary expression and what makes it beautiful, which the Treatise o d D ram a
barely touched on. The ‘ ornam ent’ (alankâra) or beauty, which distinguishes
literature from ordinary communication, consists in a kind o f ‘ curvature’
.(vakrata), i.e. artistic distortion, indirectness, figurativeness. Both the mean­
ing and the language (derivation o f words) must be ‘ ornam ent’ and hence the
definition o f literature is ‘ (beautiful) language and meaning com bined’ (this
is urged against earlier writers w ho advocated one or the other only). T i e
beauty o f meaning is analysed into some three dozen ‘ figures’ (alankâraS),
simile, metaphor, etc., taken up from earlier writers but accepted by Bhâm aha
only to the extent that each embodies ‘ curvature’. Bhâmaha, however, favours
realism and rationalism in literature, though transmuted into art in this
‘ curved’ w ay, and he devotes a chapter to epistemology and logic as applied
to literature.
Darxjin (seventh century) adds to the genres campü or narration in mixed
prose and verse, which became extremely popular later (like the biography it is
intended for live recital before an audience). His main contention is that ten
qualities o f style (developed from the Nâlyasâstra) are the essential in liter­
ature, the combination o f the ten giving the excellent vaidarbha or ‘ southern’
style. The ‘ figures’ are secondary. Vàm ana defined style as ‘ a special arrange­
ment o f w ord s’ and carried this stylistics much further, analysing the qualities
into language and meaning. Rudra(a, on, the other hand, greatly increased
the number o f figures, classifying them as ‘ objective’ (e.g. ‘ contrast’), ‘ com ­
parative’ , ‘ exaggerative’ , and ‘ double-m eaning’. He described the genres
further, adding the ‘ short story’ under the novel, and put forward a principle
o f ‘ harm ony’ (aucitya) between form and content.
His contem porary Ànandavardhana (ninth century) redefined the essential
indirectness o f literature as a kind o f im plication or suggestion, ‘ revealed’
(vyangya) as .opposed to ‘ expressed’ meaning, where the revealed m ight even
be the opposite o f the expressed (like an invitation hidden in a warning). A s
the Nâtyasâstra method already m ade clear, rasa, which it is the main object
o f literature to produce, is always the result o f such implication, since the
emotions are portrayed indirectly through their causes and effects.
K un taka (eleventh century) instead revived ‘ curvature’ but reworked
Bhâm aha’s doctrine, reducing the figures to eighteen, mainly on the ground
that whatever belongs to the subject-matter, rather than the expression, should
be excluded and treated instead under rasa. T hough literature is really ‘ indivi­
sible’, it m ay be theoretically analysed into six levels o f expression, all o f
which have ‘ curvature’, the phonetic, lexical, grammatical, sentential, con­
textual, and the w ork as a whole. T h e figures are found at the sentential level.
T h e subject-matter is discussed in relation to the three higher levels, the under­
lying principle being the effective production o f rasa, fo r which the source
material is selected and modified. O n stylistics, K untaka offers a new theory
o f ‘ natural’ versus ‘ cultivated’ (studied) style, either o f which may be beauti­
ful though the second is m ore difficult to succeed in, as Bâpa, Bha vabhüti, and
RajaSekhara did. Throughout, K un taka gives quotations and references from
 174 Classical Literature

the literature and is in the best empiricist tradition o f criticism: he is analysing

literature, not setting up an abstract speculative theory. Mahiman (later
eleventh century) on the other hand explained indirectness as ‘ inference' and
sought ‘ middle term s’ in the expressions studied by Ànandavardhana and
K un taka, through which further meanings were inferred by readers.
Meanwhile» Udbha(a (eighth century) is the first critic known to us (cer­
tainly not the first in fact) to develop.the rasa aesthetics by adding a ninth
rasa, the ‘ calm ed’, with ‘ calm ’ as its basic emotion. Rudraja added a tenth,
the ‘ affectionate’, and held that all the transient emotions might give rise to
as many rasas, apparently following L ollafa w ho believed that rasas were in­
numerable.
L ollata (early ninth century) and D andin thought that rasas were simply
em otions ‘ increased’. Sankuka maintained they were som ething' quite
different, but imitations o f basic emotions (which again did not exist, but
were inferred from their causes and effects being shown). N âyaka (late ninth
century) argued fo r a process o f ‘ development’ which replaced the often un­
pleasant emotions o f individual people by an experience in the highest degree
enjoyable and also socially generalized and enlightened (stopping, the delu­
sion o f worldly emotions). Abhinavagupta ( a .d . io o o ) propounded the m ost
widely accepted theory as to how the prodùctiòn o f rasas actually works.
L ik e N âyaka, he makes rasa a transcendent, non-worldly, experience, which
is even identical with the Jnghest religious experience, transcending individual
involvem ent and emotion as well as space, time, and particular circumstances.
In an act o f pure contemplation the spectator in the theatre forgets him self
and attains a universality o f outlook which is also the highest happiness. T h e
‘ ca lm e d c o n se q u e n tly , appears as the supreme rasa.
D hananjaya ( a .d . iooo, partly follow ing N âyaka) instead described rasa as
a single continuum, with four zones o f thought corresponding to phases o f a
favourable or hostile environment in which the flower o f beauty bloom ed.
These occur in the sensitive, heroic, horrific, and furious, w hich m ay be
follow ed by the comic, marvellous, apprehensive, and com passionate as
secondary rasas giving rise to the same zones o f thought.
B hoja (eleventh century), in the w ake o f these discussions on the nature o f
rasa, maintained that ultimately there was only one rasa, the ‘ sensitive’ , since
love, the ‘ queen’ o f the emotions, absorbs all the others into herself in the
form o f love o f these: each is in fact a kind o f love, love o f its ow n special
passion. In place o f Abhinavagupta’s universalization, Bhoja finds in this
sensitive rasa a supreme form o f self-assertion, an aesthetic developm ent o f
the prim eval instinct o f egoism in the individual soul. In his extensive works,
treatingall aspects o f literature in relation to'the sensitive aesthetic experience,
B hoja is the greatest Indian critic available to us, giving us the largest number
o f quotations and rbferences and showing a very fine taste in selection and
comment.
L ater critics are too often pedants, sometimes m anufacturing their own
examples to suit an abstract theory, but empiricism did not die out com pletely,
w hilst some o f the new explanations o f rasa are interesting. N âràyana,
Dharihadatta, and ViSvanàtha held, fo r example, that the ‘ m arvellous’ is the
only rasa. In the age o f religious revivals, Rüpa (sixteenth century) initiated a
 Classical Literature 175
devotional theory o f dram a and w rote religious plays to exem plify it. On tbe
other hand the anonym ous Naiânkùsa (fifteenth century) defended the old
practice o f the theatre against innovations in K eralâ which slowed down the
performance to the point o f disintegration in order to allow greater scope
for the virtuosity o f individual actors. W e must at least m ention a number
o f other critics between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries, to whose
analysis o f classical w orks we owe so m uch o f our- enjoym ent o f them:
Râjaéekhara, Sâgaranandin,- Râm acandra; Gunacahdra, Sâradâtanaya, and
Singabhüpâla.
In the evolution o f the very numerous and ever-changing.popular theatrical
genres o f India, finally, K ohala (second century ?— known only from quota­
tions) early noticed various musical plays, ballets, and râgakâvyas, from the
last o f which such m odem forms as kathakali eventually developed. A bhinava-
gupta noted a series o f solo performances probably evolved from the lâsya,
am ong which the tfombikâ was m ost characteristic. T h e m odem so-called
bharatanafyam is evidently descended from this, in which the dancer does not
Wear costume but impersonates in mime various characters in a story. M ean ­
while the street play gave rise to yakfagâna with its eastern (Andbra) and
western (K arnataka) variants as well as the T am il street play. W e m ay recall
here the social milieu o f kdvya as described in the Nâfyaiâstra and the
Kâmasûtra, fo r ‘ classical’ literature is not opposed to ‘ p o p u ia r’ and has usu­
ally sought a mass audience. T h e dram a was contrasted w ith the Veda as
being for the whole o f society, iudras (helots) included, and wealthy amateurs
were responsible for patronizing regulax_public festivals in the villages as well
as the cities, w ith plays and other perform ances (m odem yakfagâna in the
villages has substituted the box office and sale o f tickets fo r the vanished
patrons).
’ O f all the characteristics o f kâuya discussed by the critics, the easiest to
identify in the earliest period is the large num ber o f new metres, organized on
different principles from V edic metres. These appear in the Buddhist lyrics
noted above and increase in number in the later parts o f the Pâli Canon,
where we begin to find them used for epic narrations as well. A n im portant
result o f this use o f originally lyric metres in epic is that an epic narration be­
comes a series o f self-contained quatrains instead o f a continuous series o f
funning on lines.
The Rântâyaya,, in Sanskrit, is traditionally ascribed^ to V aim iki, w hom
Bhavabhüti and others call the ‘ First K a v i’ (kaoi.meaning the ‘ a u th or’ o f
a kâoya). A lthough this epic, as we have it, is not as old as the first Pâli kâvyas,
it is form ally on the border line between itihâsa (stlch as the Mahâbhârata)
and kdvya. M etrically it is certainly later than the Mahâbhârata on the average
and it shows a few o f the new lyric metres ju st noted (though only at the ends
o f cantos). It is .also m ore hom ogeneous, lacking com pletely the archaic
rhythms o f the earlier parts o f the old E pic but also having far less apocryphal
matter added after the first century a . d . The average date o f com position
seems to fall in the first century b . c .
I f kâvya is defined by its power to produce aecthetjc experience [rasa), h ow ­
ever, the Râmâyai)a, with its unforgettable story d f the conflicts o f hum an
passions, is certainly a kâvya. This story was rewofked b y ‘ V âlm ik i’ ( if w e
 176 Classical Literature

ap p ly (he Dame to the author o f (he present text) from old traditions contain­
ing two or three probably separate legends in several versions (one is found in
the P âli Canon). In the Rcimayaiia we thus find: (i) the palace intrigue at
A y o d h y â by Queen K a ik eyl resulting in her stepson Ram a’s exclusion from
the succession to his father’s throne and sentence to twelve years’ exile and
(2) Ram a, exiled in the south, finds its inhabitants oppressed by the raids of
demons {râksasas) from Lanka (Ceylon), the island fortress o f the demon king
•Râvana, and himself suffers the abduction o f his wife Sita by Râvana; he
raises an army (mostly o f ’ m onkeys’), gaining allies, invades Lanka, kills
R âvaoa, frees Sîtà, and returns home in triumph, the period o f exile having
elapsed and his noble stepbrother Bharata generously surrendering the throne
to him. The legend or myth o f Râvana itself, with his victorious wars against
the gods, m ay have been a separate source, as perhaps was that o f the great
‘ m on key’ hero Hanumant, son o f the Wind G od . Y âlm îki’s finest cantos are
surely those o f the palace intrigue, with the psychological study o f the
characters o f K aikeyl and her confidante. The apocryphal last book o f the
Râmâyana adds a tragic ending: Sîtà’s new exile on suspicion-of unchastity,
when a captive, and final disappearance. This changes the main rasa to the
‘ com passionate’ , whereas originally the poem would be ‘ heroic’ , though with
a considerable compassionate element resulting from R am a’s sufferings.
Prose story-telling in the Buddhist Canon is a little less heavy and abrupt
than in the Veda but still full o f repetitions and rarely ornamented except by
the occasional insertion o f a verse to emphasize a point. H um our and satire,
however, abound. T h e novel, as an extensive prose fiction (running to
hundreds o f pages), seems to us to begin with G unâdhya’s Brhatkathâ (‘ Great
S to r y ’) about 100 B .c. (thelost Cânmiatï o f Vararuci m ay have been an earlier
novel). G u çâd h ya’s language was PaisacI, closely related to the Pàli o f the
Buddhists, and both the milieu and the matter o f the Brhatkathà were akin to
those o f the old Buddhist story telling. Unhappily Gunàdhya’ s text seems to
be lost save for a few quotations, so that we have to reconstruct the narrative
from the excessively free paraphrases in'Sanskrit, M àbàràs(n, and Tamil
which superseded the archaic and forgotten language o f the original. Though
a fiction, the Brhatkathà is made to seem historical by giving its imaginary
hero N aravàhanadatta a historical father, U dayana, one o f the last descend­
ants o f the Pàndavas (fifth century B.C.). His adventures take place mostly in
the real cities o f that time and the characterization is realistic. O n the other
hand, superhuman ‘ w izards’ (vidyâdharas) intervene, one o f whom , Mànasa-
vega, abducts the hero’s greatest love, M adanam aiicukâ. This leads ultim­
ately to a victorious war against the wizards beyond the Him alaya, after
N aravàhanadatta has acquired the power o f flight from one o f them w ho be­
com es his friend. M ore important than this incidental acquisition o f wealth
and power, however, are the hero’s twenty-six conquests o f love. The novel
m oves between the intrigues and struggles o f the real world and the realization
o f wild dreams largely in the realm -of ‘ science fiction’ (strange sciences and
the construction o f ‘ space m achines’). The rasa is thus the ‘ m arvellous’
(Dandin) rather than the ‘ sensitive’ .
Aévaghoça’s (first century a .d .) are the earliest epics now available
(Pânini’s Jâmbavatijaya is known only from quotations) to show the fully
 Classical Literature >77
fledged kâvya technique : concentration o f the matter in about twenty cantos
only (about 1,500 quatrains) in many metres; perception o f discrete moments
through the separate quatrains instead o f a continuity o f flowing narrative;
numerous figures o f speech. Each ‘ m om ent’ may suggest the them e o f the
w hole story, but we are to dwell on its significance before pressing on to know
what happens next. Asvagho$a was an earnest Buddhist, so that the ultimate
significance he wishes to convey, through the delights o f poetry, is the shallow­
ness o f the world and the true happiness o f renunciation and peace o f mind.
Y e t he appears far from indifferent to the pleasures o f the world, describing
m ost realistically just w hat he holds to be m ost ephemeral. This ambiguity and
tension, which seems to reflect personal experience, inspires all the elaborate
art, or ‘ ornam ent’ o f language and meaning, carrying Aévaghosa’ s philo­
sophy. T w o epics are available, the Life o f the Buddha (Buddhacarita) and the
Handsome N anda (Saundarauanda, who was m ost unwilling to becom e a
monk). It is a heavy loss that only fragments are now available o f a series o f
dramas by Asvaghosa, whose powers o f characterization are so well displayed
in the epics. The Éâriputra and R àf trapala are again well-known stories o f re­
nunciation. A play with a fictitious hero, Som adatta (apparently the son o f a
merchant), takes us to the milieu o f the wealthy amateurs (nàgarakas) o f the
Kâmasütra, with a festival on a hill top and such stock characters as the jester
(or ‘ fo o l’), rogue, geisha girl (who is the heroine), and maid. Another play
had some allegoricalxharacters.
In lyric kâvya the classic model is the Saptaiatï, a Prâkrit (M âhârâçtrî)
anthology collected, we are told, by a ‘ Sàtavâhana’ emperor (more, rarely
called ‘ H â la ’, a dialect form), perhaps Pu]umâyi II Vàsi$(hiputra (second
century a . d .). This seems to represent folk songs (in a dialect o f the peasants,
not o f the imperial administration), each a single verse in a musical metre.
They arc miniatures o f situations in life, mostly village life on the banks o f the
Godavari and in the valleys o f the Yindhya. Love is the theme (always,
according to the critics, though sometimes hidden) and the singers alm ost
always women. Their jo y s and sorrows, invitations and complaints, or the
comments o f gossips, arc set in the village with its cattle, buffaloes, ploughing,
milling, cooking, weaving, working in rice, sesame, or millet fields, or cotton
and hemp gardens. Sometimes the changing seasons and their effects on love
form the background. T h e villages are likely to be poor and affection m ay
either compensate for everything or be severely reprimanded by a more
worldly friend. There is plenty o f humour, ofteu in the ambiguous language
used by the heroines to hide their improper suggestions, Anandavardhana
quoting them for ‘ revealed’ meanings.
Pàdalipta’s novel Tarangaoati, also in Màhâràçtrï, seems now to be avail­
able only in an abridged paraphrase in the same language by one Yasas. T he
action depends on the memory o f form er lives, particularly o f a strange in­
cident in which a hunter accidentally shot one o f a pair o f ruddy sheldrakes.
K illin g breeding birds was against the hunters’ code, so he remorsefully cre­
mated it, whereupon its mate in despair threw herself into the fire. T h e pair
were reborn in merchants* families in Kausàm bï. T he girl Tarangavatï sud­
denly recollects her tragic past on seeing some sheldrakes in a park. Sadly she
paints the scenes o f her past life on a long scroll, which a maid displays on a
I ?8 Classical Literature

balcony for a festival. Her lover happens to pass and is reminded o f his own
past life. The girl’s rich father opposes the match with a mere caravan mer­
chant so the two elope, but are seized by robbers. A young robber frees them
and Tarangavati’s father relents when they reach home. A fter a happy
married life they meet a Jaina m onk, w ho tells them he was the young robber,
who was the hunter reborn, and had freed them because he remembered his
past when the girl told their story. Convinced o f the truth o f the Jaina teaching
about transmigration the two determine to escape it by joining the Jaina
ascetic communities.
Th e Jaina Pâdalipta and the Buddhist philosopher N âgârjuna are both
traditionally connected with the Sâtâvâhana anthologist. N âgârjuna wrote
an ‘ epistle’ to Sâtavâhana and an ethical ‘ tract’ (Ratnavali) to the same ruler,
as well as ‘ hym ns’ (lyric stotras) praising the Buddha, representing a flourish­
ing Buddhist tradition in these minor kâvya genres. Their most celebrated
practitioner was M âtjce(a, w ho wrote an ‘ Epistle to the Great K in g K a n ik a ’
(K aniska III?), probably soon after a . d . 176, and some tracts. H is greatest
works are his hymns, describing the qualities and actions o f the Buddha,
especially in his former lives as bodhisattva, whose self-sacrificing nature is
directly opposed to the worldly nature. T he style is in appearance simple, un­
pretentious, but conceals all the art o f kâvya, especially o f originality in ex­
pression despite the well-worn subject. The figures are handled with a certain
restraint, suggesting the infinite scope o f the subject by contrast w ith the little
the poet feels able to say. M âtrceja’s reticence implies a detachment remote
from Aévaghoça’s involvement.
Possibly a contem porary was £üra, w ho used a somewhat similar terse
style in tracts but whose masterpiece is the campii Jâtakamâlâ, a collection o f
bodhisattva stories (some o f them illustrated in Ajantâ). The prose is as elegant
and fastidious, as com pact and elliptical as the verse.
Bhàsa (second century A .D . ?),-.perhaps the. greatest Indian dramatist,
brings us at last a comprehensive view o f the classical theatre. His master­
piece is the ‘ D ream V âsavadattâ’ , a full-scale history (nòtaka) in which the
heroine sacrifices all her happiness in order to save her husband’s (Udayana)
kingdom from a powerful enemy. Her courageous action, part o f a subtle
plan o f a minister, bears fruit after great mental suffering, which Bhâsa finely
depicts, and she is reunited with Udayana restored to his throne. T h e ‘Conse­
crations’ deals with Râm a’s victory over R avana, the most interesting charac­
ter being perhaps the demon king, vainly courting the captive Sltà and then
suffering increasing anguish as his armies are defeated and his son killed. The
‘ Statue’ treats the Rèm a story more comprehensively and from thè different
point o f view o f Bharata. From such nâtakas we discover the aims o f classical
dramatists, using a familiar story but reinterpreting it and developing new in­
sights into the characters. Another presents the young Kr?na killing Karpsa.
T he ‘ Five N igh ts’ déals very freely with an episode from the Mahâbhârata in
three acts (belonging i f not to the archaic samavakàra type, to that known later
as a saiiâpa, ‘ contention ’). Further scenes from the great epic are presented
in a series o f one-act .heroic plays (vyâyogas) and the death o f D uryodhana, or
rather his ascent to heaven because he died heroically, in a one-act tragic play
(utsfftikânka). ‘ Yaugandharàyana’s V o w s’ is a ‘ light p la y ’ (nâ/ika) on the
 Classical Literature >79
minister who frees Udayann from captivity. T he full-scale ‘ fictions’ (praka-
raijas) Aviinâraka and Daridracârudattu take us to (he world o f N aravàhana­
datta and Somadatta. The merchant Cârudatta is im poverished-and conse­
quently almost friendless, then crosses a parasitic scoundrel on the fringes o f
a corrupt court and narrowly escapes death.
Of'Bhâsa’s time or à little éarlier are two ‘ satirical m onologues ’ (blidnas), by
Vararuci and Isvaradatta. In this type o f play the solo actor represents a
‘ parasite’ (vi/a), a professional go-between fo r tem porary relationships. H e
proceeds about his.business through the streets and public places o f some
metropolis, meeting (in mime) characteristic inhabitants o f the geisha quarter.
‘ B oth G o to M eet’ ( Ubhayàbhisârikâ) thus gives interesting pictures o f the
follies and vices o f Pàtaliputra, with its cultural life (music and drama), to
which the ‘ D ialogue o f the Rogue and the P arasite’ adds a discussion on the
philosophy o f love, the drift o f which is that it is an excellent thing to spend
m oney on women, especially if they are beautiful but best o f all if they are
‘ am iable’.
T o complete the cross-section o f the theatre o f Bhâsa’s day we have a-
‘ street p lay' o f doubtful date (Traivikrama, in dialogue form narrating a story
illustrated by a painting) and the one-act com edy {prahasana) ‘ M aster-
M istress’ (Bhagavadajjukiya) by Bodhâyana. T h e M aster, a saintly teacher o f
yoga, disastrously shows o ff his powers before a student by projecting his soul
into the supposedly dead body o f the Mistress (a geisha), whose soul brought
b ack from the Underworld is then lodged in his body. M eanwhile the girl’s
mother and lover a rr iv e .. . .

Another uà ;aka o f roughly Bhâsa’s period is D hîranàga’s Kundamâlâ from

the apocryphal last book o f the Râmâyatja, which changes the conclusion to
a happy final reunion in accordance with the convention o f an auspicious*
ending.,
In this period o f reinterpretation o f the R am a story the Jaina poet Y im ala
(c. a.d . 200?) produced an epic Padmacarila in M âhàrâs{rl harm onizing with
his own religious background. He criticized the Râmâyarta for such falsifica­
tions as m aking Ràvaija a demon and monster, when he was really a wizard,
and presenting other wizards, R am a’s allies, as monkeys when they merely lived
in M onkey Island. Ram a, w ho in Jaina literature is often called Padm a, finally
attains enlightenment and nirvaoa. T his epic marks an im portant stage in the
development o f the Jaina version o f universal history out o f the b rief sketches
in their àgama. Vim ala’s view is rational and understands events in the light
o f the Jaina doctrine o f m oral action, which rules the universe. It is a universe
in which everything is alive and assault on life is the greatest evil.
Three plays are attributed to K in g âûdraka, supposed to have ruled in the
third century. The Vinâvâsavadatta has the same story as Bhâsa’s ‘ Y au gan -
dharàyana’s V o w s’, but as a full-scale nafaka and with entirely different
scenes: U dayana and Vàsavadattà dom inate the stage whereas in B hâsa’ s
light play they do not appear at all. T h e ‘ T o y C a rt’ (M fcchakafika) stands in
upeculiar relationship to Bhàsa’s Daridracârudatta: it is the same play w ith a
new sub-plot, a political revolution which brings fortune to the hero, and with
numerous inserted verses elaborating the effects o f em otion on the characters.
i 8o Classical Literature

H enceforth all Indian dramas are on this enlarged scale. Sudraka is the equal
o f Bhâsa in characterization and in filling his plays with well-arranged action,
w hilst putting mòre o f the incidents on stage instead o f reporting. His third
play is the satirical m onologue ‘ Lotus G ift’ , in which a parasite proceeds
through UjjayinI, describing the rascals he meets, in order to sound ou t a new
mistress for MOladeva (a historical character subsequently transformed into a
legendary prince o f thieves).
T h e anonym ous ‘ Review o f the Seasons’ (often misattributed to Kalidasa),
a lyric in which the poet describes to his beloved the effects o f the six seasons
o f the Indian year on lovers, is probably o f this period.
F rom -the fourth century little survives except fam ous names and some
quotations, which reminds us that the greater part o f the old literature o f
India has been lost. Sarvasena’s MàhârâstrI epic ‘ V ictory o f H a ri’, on Krçna
carrying off the Pârijâta flower from Heaven for Satyabhâmà, defeating Indra,
seems to have set a new style, with a stronger focus on the emotions and also
longer descriptive digressions. W e get a very good idea o f this lost epic from
B hoja’s discussions and quotations, to which K untaka adds that Sarvasena
was, w ith K âlidâsa, the greatest exponent o f the delicate and natural style in
kâvya. F o r the emotional content, Sarvasena made much o f Satyàbhâm à’s
jealousy o f RukminJ.
T he dramas o f Ram ila and Somila are lost, but Candragom in’s ‘ Joy o f the
W o r ld ’, a Buddhist play on the bodhisatlva M anicüda giving aw ay all his
possessions, survives in a Tibetan translation. O f uncertain date are a group
o f once-fam ous ‘ fictions’ , especially the Pu^padii^itaka o f Brahmayasas and
the Anangasenàharinandin o f Suktivâsa. The first is a story o f unfair suspicion
o f the behaviour o f the heroine by her father-in-law; the second has its hero
in the perilous situation o f a rival (in love?) o f a prince and falsely accused o f
theft. These aud the anonymous Tarangadatta>Fad/nâuatipariiiaya ( 'Padmâ-
vatï’s M a rria ge’, which a rival tries to prevent), and Prayogâbhyudaya are all
know n to us from the critics, w ho by discussing these and m any other lost
plays com pletely change the impression o f Indian theatre we might have from
those available.
T h e Pancatantra seems to have been written in the fourth century. The
author was perhaps the narrator Yiçpuiarm an and his country the Vàkàfaka
Em pire o f the south (Deccan). Its popularity was such that new versions were
made, w ith additions from which it has been difficult to recover the original
w ork (Edgerton’s reconstruction seems a good approxim ation.) T h e genre is
the ‘ illustrating n o ve l’ (nidarsanakathâ), which is satirical and aims to teach
by exam ple. Here the subject is ‘ p o licy ’ (uiti), public and private. T h e frame
story is the instruction o f three young princes averse to form al education.
W ithin this, five stories presentfive ‘ system s’ (tantras) o f policy: (i) splitting an
alliance (or friendship) which obstructs one’s interests, (2) forming an alliance
oneself, (3) m aking war, (4) outwitting a strong but foolish enemy, and (5) a
w arning on the folly o f action without reflection. F o u r o f these are beast
fables, which enhances the sharpness o f the satire. Som e further stories are
em boxed, narrated by the characters to illustrate their own discussions o f
policy.
T h e other prose literature o f this period has suffered badly. T he ‘ Story o f
 Classical Literature 181

Sim pletons’ is known indirectly from paraphrases. Hgricandra, so much ad­

mired by Bâna, is only a name. Lost novels include the Ratnaprabhâ (Paisâci,
thèrefore presumably much earlier), Magadhascnâ, Malayavali, and Manovali
(all named after their heroines). A classical ‘ biography’ was the Mâdhavikâ.
The story' o f Sfldraka, written jointly by Ramila and Somila, was classed as a
novel, therefore apparently fictitious. T o widen our view o f Sanskrit prose we
have inscriptions in kâvya style, especially Hariseija’s on Sam udra G upta, and
the vast Buddhist religious novel Gantjauyilha. A novice bodhisattva wanders
all-over India in search o f ‘ good friends’ w ho guide him. T h e sometimes
formidable prose style harmonizes with the view o f the universe as infinite,
inconceivable, and ambiguous (worldly as usually experienced, beautiful as
the bodhisattva sees it).
T h e G upta Emperor Candra II or ‘ V ikram âditya’ , called also Sâhasànka
and Harsa, appears as a poet through quotations and references, his Gandha-
mâdana seeming to be an epic. H e is more celebrated as a patron, m aking the
poet and critic M atfgupta king o f Kaém îra c. a . d . 410. L ik e his patron,
Mâtrgupta is now known only from quotations o f his beautiful and powerful
verses, but K un taka ranks him first among masters o f the ‘ interm ediate’ style
com bining‘ natural’ and ‘ cultivated’ beauty. M âtfgupta also wrote on dram a­
turgy, but here too he is known only from quotations. P robably he was a
dramatist, but it is a matter o f conjecture which anonym ous plays discussed
later were his (the ‘ Illusion M adàlasâ’ constructed according to his prin­
ciples, the ‘ Joy o f R a m a ’ , both w ith verses in his style?).
Meritba was patronized by both these and is frequently praised later as a
great, or the greatest (Padmagupta), poet, perfecting the vaidarbha style after
àura and Sarvasena. H is famous epic Hayagrivauadha, on Viçnu as the Fish
avatâra slaying the demon Hayagriva, is imperfectly known to us from jquota-
tions, but an incomplete manuscript exists and perhaps others can be found'in
Kerala. M eo{ha’s style is truly epic, a forceful narrative but with many touches
o f humour. T h e story belongs to the wars o f the gods and demons. A t the end
o f the last cycle, when the Earth was overwhelmed by the F lood and Brahm a
slept in the universal night, Hayagriva conquered Heaven and carried o ff the
Veda from Brahm a’s mouth. The rout o f Indra and the gods is described with
subtle humour and M entha provoked controversy over his portrayal o f
Hayagriva as a noble hero, which, however, reflected greater glory on Visnu
w ho alone could overcome him.
Since RâjaSekhara calls M eijfha a reincarnation o f Yàlm ïki, suggesting that
he retold the Râm a story, we should search am ong the kavyas-discussed by
the critics for a work w orthy o f such a tribute. By w ay o f conjecture we may
draw attention to two rem arkable plays which can be reconstructed in outline
from the critics. The Krtyârâvana, ‘ Râvana and the W itch ’ , presented the
main story from Sîtâ’s abduction to her rescue, in the ‘ violent’ m ode o f stage
business, the rasa being the ‘ furious’ but with the ‘ com passionate’ prominent
too on account o f R am a’s extreme sufferings. ‘ Râm a Deceived ’, Chalitaròma,
show's R am a misled by surviving enemies, in the apocryphal sequel, into sus­
pecting Sitâ’s virtue and banishing her. Tw in sons are born to her in exile.
When they grow up, Lava tries to capture Râm a’s sacrificial horse released for
a Vedic asvamcdha, but is taken prisoner by Laksm ana, R âm a’s brother. A t
 Classical Literature

court, Lava recognizes a golden statue o f his mother, her substitute at the
rite. Explanations follow , Râm a is convinced that L ava is his own son and
discovers that the innocent Sita is still living. In both plays the Râmâyaria is
treated with great freedom. T h e style o f the quotations seems consistent with
M eijtha’s, including the hum our and the absence o f lyricism.
Kâlidâsa is associated with ‘ V ikram âditya’ in tradition, but this m ay refer
to Skanda G upta, who used that title, whilst the poet is also supposed to have
met the V àkàfaka Pravarasena II (c. 410-40). Essentially a lyric poet, he wrote
epics and dranias too, taking advantage o f the lyric tendency which had always
pervaded kâvya. He is appreciated for the vaidarbha &ly\t and especially for
‘ sweetness’, whilst his waywardness sometimes puzzled the critics, sometimes
pleased them (Kuntaka found in it the natural play o f genius). K âlid âsa’s
most quoted w ork is the lyric poem Meghasandesa, ‘ Cloud M essage', in
which a distracted lover far from his beloved attempts to send her a message
by a passing cloud at the beginning o f the rains. The description o f the route
to be taken affords opportunity for the utmost fancy in that the landmarks are
such as would be thought to appeal to a cloud : beautiful rivers w ho will re­
turn his love, high palaces, mountains. The short epic Kuniârasambhava,
‘ Origin o f K u m àra', includes Indra’s humorous plot to make a father o fé iv a ,
the gods having been defeated (as usual) by a demon, whom only a- son o f
Siva can kill. The longer epic Raghuvatjisa is a portrait gallery o f the kings o f
R am a’s line, illustrating the four ends, virtue, wealth, pleasure, and release,
pursued by the different rulers. Only in relation to this discussion o f ends can
we see any thematic unity and development in the poem, which otherwise is a
series o f detached episodes. A t the conclusion the dissolute.Agnivarna carries
pleasure to a ruinous extreme, but dies leaving his pregnant queen w ith ‘ royal
fortun e’ and hope for the future o f the dynasty .under the guidance o f the
ministers. v
O f Kàlidâsa’s three plays, the Màlavikâgnimilra is dram atically the best and
the least lyrical; it is probably the earliest. The story is a love intrigue at the
Sunga court, the comic rasa perhaps predominating. The Vikramorvaiiya is a
musical play (tofaka, a variety o f nâfakà) on the Vedic story o f Purfiravas and
the nymph U rvaii. The main interest is the character study o f UrvaéI,.who is
purely human. L yric and /ósya.elements appear, especially in. the pathetic
scene where the hero has lost her. The Abhijiïârtafâkuntaia, ‘ T oken S akuntalâ ’,
is admired for its lyricism, but its hero does nothing, things happen to him
through fate, a curse or divine intervention, his character is a blank. The
heroine is better characterized but also the helpless plaything o f supernatural
powers. Thus there is no real action but only a certain depth o f helpless feel­
ing. The story is changed from the more realistic history in the Maliâbhârata
o f an ancestor o f the Bhâratas. K âlidâsa is a poet o f love, o f women sharply
oortrayed, and for Àpandavardhana one o f the great exponents o f suggestion.
T h e Setubandha, ‘ Building o f the C ausew ay’, by Pravarasena II, is a
M àhàrâçtrï epic on R am a’s invasion o f Lanka) the main theme being loyalty,
especially in the character o f R àm a’s ally Sugrlva. O n the march, Râm a sub­
dues the Ocean G od-so that his army o f monkeys can build a causeway o f
mountains across to Laiikà. A t the critical moment o f the battle, when Râm a
is wounded, Sugriva’s heroism saves the day.
 Classical Literature 183
‘ The K ic k ’ is a satirical m onologue .by âyàm ilaka (fifth century) set in
‘ Imperial C ity ', evidently Ujjayinï, with a collection o f ‘ rogu es’ or parasites
at least partly historical and contemporary. T h e Producer requests inform ers
and hypocrites to leave the theatre, since the play is.oniy.for,enjoym ent./The
parasite, Syam ilaka himself, then convenes the assembly o f parasites to try a
harlot for the sin o f kicking a foolish brâhman. B u t they, find the fa u lt L?,the
brahman’ s and prescribe a suitable expiation for him . ,•
Saipghadasa’s Vasudeuahindl, ‘ Wanderings o f V asu d eva’ , shows the en­
richm ent.of Jaina universal history by the incorporation o f som e o f the ad­
ventures' o f N aravàhanadatta from the Bfhatkathâ, but narrated o f K j$pa‘ s
father Vasudeva instead. Saipghadâsa knew he was writing fiction in this prose
novel in M âhârâstri, though he illustrates Jaina doctrine b y m aking the ad­
ventures the result o f action in a former life, but later, writers, such as
Hemacandra, accepted it all as sober history.
Am aruka perfectly exemplifies the technique o f producing rasa by present­
ing em otional situations, in this case a ‘ H undred’ (Sataka) situations between
lovers, each described in miniature in a single verse. T h ou gh the form is
similar, we are far from the village life o f Sâtavâhana, for the heroes here are
aristocrats or gentry, like the wealthy amateurs o f the Kâmasütra. U sing long
metres, A m aruka concentrates an extraordinary amount o f action or talk in
each verse, hinting at still more in the past. H e writes w ith tenderness; no­
thing is higher than love.
B hâravi’s (sixth century) Kirâtârjunïya is the best epic now available, pre­
senting, as K untaka points out, a short episode from the Mahâbhârata as a
complete whole. The narrative style is truly, epic and heroic, sweeping
vigorously upward from the tense opening scene, the disturbing report o f a
spy, to the sudden clim ax when Siva, the supposed K irà ta fighting^Arjuna
over a hunting incident, reveals him self and grants the decisive w eaponsw hjeh
will enable the Pàrujavas to win the Bhârata battle (thus the outcom e o f the
entire Mahâbhârata is here determined, the story is ended). T h e rich burden o f
description custom ary for an.epic is brought in n a tu ra lly b y such, scenes as
Indra’s arm y o f nymphs attacking the ascetic A rjuna in the mountains. T he
characterization is brilliant.
Subandhu's novel Vâsavadattâ is a highly rom antic and im probable story
treasured by the pandits for the double meanings in alm ost every sentence.
ViSâkhadatta’s Mudrârâkfàsa, ‘ Signet Râk$asa’ , is a p la y o f political in­
trigue and secret agents, in which the famous minister C âp ak ya (K aufalya)
destroys the remaining enemies o f Candraguptà M au rya after the death o f
Nanda, winning over the best man am ong them, N anda’s minister Rfik$asa,
to the new king’ s cause. This is one o f the rare works in w hich anything like a
‘ national’ or ‘ Indian’ sentiment is suggested in place o f the usual universalis-
tic outlook, most o f the enemies being ‘ barbarians' (ruleechos). O nly frag­
ments are now available o f ViSakfiadatta’s other pl&ys: thé Devicandragupta
on Candra ‘ V ikram âd itya’ k illin g.th e last 6 ak a ,:th e Abhisârikâuaflcltaka
which is a sequel to Bhâsa’s ‘ D ream V â s a v a d a t t â and the Râghavânanda
bringing out the heroic character o f Ram a in the war against R àvapa. A ll
these plays were popular with the old critics and their author w as one who
excelled at portraying character on the stage.
 Classical Literature

W e may well remember here the rich repertory o f the classical theatre in
this period by naming a few apparently lost plays important in the discussions
o f the critics: Nalaoijaya in which the loss o f N ala’s kingdom was reported,
not shown, in accordance with a convention; ‘ Rambhâ and N alakü bara’ ;
Ufâharana on U sa and Aniruddha; ‘ M enakâ and N ah u ça ’, a to(aka on the
union o f a king and a nym ph; ‘ Sarm islhâ’s M arriage’ (with Y ayâti); ‘ Joy o f
the P âp davas’ ; Râghavâbliytidaya, with K aikeyi as the root o f all R âm a’s mis­
fortunes; Jâ/iakîrâghava featuring Sïtâ and deviating greatly from the
Râmâyaija by bringing Râvana in at the outset as Ràm a’s rival for her hand.
The last seems the best o f these ‘ histories’ . In contrast we have six famous
com edies: Sasiuilâsa, Éasikalâ, KalikeU, Sairandhrikâ, Byhatsubhadraka and
Vikafanitamba, all named after their heroes or heroines; the last, ‘ Broad
B u ttock s’ , a learned lady who suffered from her husband’s ignorance.
F rom the Emperor Harsa (seventh century) we have three plays which have
stood the test o f time in the theatre, as well as two Buddhist hymns. The
Nâgânanda, a bodhisattva play like Candragom in’s, has held the stage down to
the present day in K eralà, though the audiences there are not Buddhist. The
rasa has always been a matter o f philosophical controversy and practical in­
terpretation; the excellent commentator Sivarâma concludes that it may be
either the calmed or the heroic, besides which all the others are developed too
in a harm onious whole. T he other two are ‘ light plays’ on invented stories
about U dayana, Ratnâvalt and Priyadarsikd. Harsa’s .contemporary, the
Pallava K in g M ahendravarm an I, wrote a comedy Mattauildsa satirizing the
quarrels among ascetics. T h e Veyisamlidra o f Nàrâyana (in Orissa ?) has been
accepted as the best play on the Bhârata Battle. Yudhi$(hira’s brother Bhlma
is the hero, because he kills D uryodhana and binds up D raupadî’s braid o f
hair (ve/d) which she had kept dishevelled until her humiliation was avenged.
T h e p lay opens with his impatience to fight, whilst Yudhi$thira is still trying
for a peaceful settlement.
Bàita at Harsa’ s court is universally regarded as the greatest' master o f
Sanskrit prose. His style varies according to the content and the genre (bio­
graphy bold and studied, novel delicate and flowing), but with m ore o f what
K un taka calls ‘ cultivated’ (‘ beautiful’ through art). The Har$acarita is a bio­
graphy o f tbe young Harça, explaining how he found royal fortune. Kâdanibarï
is a psychological novel o f the timidities and missed opportunities o f youth,
leading to tragedy; but no tragedy is final in Indian literature, since trans­
migration m ay bring the lovers together again. U nluckily Bâija died leaving
the novel unfinished just before the expected culminating tragedy o f Kàdam -
barï herself. His son wrote an ending, we dò not know how close to his father’s
intentions, and others also tried their hands at the enigma. Bâna’s dramas,
o f w hich the best-known was on the Bhârata Battle, seem, to be lost, but we
have his hymn in praise o f the G reat Goddess (Candi, Pârvati), full o f verbal
fireworks such as alliteration. M ayura, said to be Bâna’s father-in-law, goes
much further in this word play in his hymn to the Sun G od.
O f epics in the seventh century we may note first two ‘ gram m atical’ poems,
in w hich the narrative is devised in such a way as to provide systematic
illustration o f Sanskrit derivations. B h ap i’s Rdvatiavadlia thus retells the story
o f R âm a, often with hum orous effect, incorporating as a break four cantos
 Classical Literature 185
illustrating Bhàniaha’s poetics. It proved popular with students and was cVen
translated into Javanese. Bhosa (Bhaum aka, Bhim a, Yyo$a, seem corruptions)
in his Râvaijàrjtmiya performed the more difficult feat o f illustrating the whole
o f Pânini’s grammar (except V edic forms) in the exact order o f the original.
T h e story is the defeat o f R àvapa by A rjuna Kârtavlrya.
It is possible that the mysterious Bhartrhari, author o f the ‘ Three Hundred ’
lyrics on policy, the sensitive, and renunciation, was Bhatti (= B hartr).
Bhartrhari is the philosopher, bitter and ironical; his vacillation between love
and detachment sometimes baffled critics seeking to determine the rasa.
Dharmakirti, the Buddhist philosopher, may be compared with Bhartfhari,
though with a different individual turn, in his lyrics o f despair at seeing how
anything good excites only envy in others, beauty likewise being wasted.
M àgha’s epic ‘ Slaying o f Sisupàla’ is outwardly regular, but in content be
is essentially a lyric poet, so that half the poem is like an anthology o f de­
scriptive verses, much appreciated by critics, relating to places the hero hap­
pened to pass on his expedition. T he story is K içp a ’s killing o f SiSupâla
at Yudhisthira’s râjasûya consecration, but changing the original narrative
in the Mahâbhârala completely to create more rasa, as K u n taka points
out.
Dandin, the critic, was also famous, says Râjasekhara, for two other works,
an epic telling two stories simultaneously (those o f Râm a and Yudhi$(hira)
and the novel Avantisundarï. T he poetic tour de force seems lost; o f the novel
we have 400 pages supplemented by a summary, but the conclusion is still
missing. Deliberately confounding history and fiction, or biography and novel,
according to his own critical doctrine, Daijdin sets his im aginary story o f
Ràjaham sa and his two sons against a detailed panorama o f Purârùc history.
T h e latter having in part the form o f prophecy by ancient sages, D andin uses
the humorous device o f having K in g Rpunjaya o f M agadha (sixth century
b . c .) read his own history, with dismay at learning he is to be the last o f his
line. The K in g takes evasive action, retiring to a forest and consulting a sage,
who enables him to survive more than a millennium until all the prophesied
dynasties o f M agadha have petered out. Rpunjaya then returns and conse­
crates bis son Ràjaham sa, but he is defeated by the K in g o f Avanti and driven
into hiding in the forest. Here his sons Hamsavàhana and Râjavàhana, re­
incarnations o f K rçna’s sons Pradyumna and Samba, are born, and the elder is
mysteriously abducted by a wild goose. Râjavàhana grows up to restore the
family fortune by conquering the world. T h e criticabpoint in his career is his
clandestine marriage with Avantisundarf, daughter o f his father’s enemy,
which almost proves fatal to him and further embroils him with the wizard
Virasekhara, son o f Mânasavega o f the Brhatkatha, who was about to abduct
her for himself. Râjavàhana is taken captive and carried along with the Avanti
army, to be released in a battle which follows and reunited with seven boy­
hood friends who have meanwhile made their fortunes. T h e favourite episode
o f this reunion, bach telling his own adventures, has been circulated separ­
ately under the misleading title ‘ Ten B oys’ (or ‘ Ten Princes’). The continua­
tion beyond this is missing, but it is clear that the story will culminate with the
conquest o f the wizards, rescue ofA vantisu ndari, and reunion with Hamsavà­
hana (who is perhaps N aravâhanadatta temporarily ejected from his empire).
186 Classical Literature

D a i^ in is fond o f fantastic incidents and coincidences, explained by his

philosophy o f fatalism, but in contrast he has many episodes o f extreme real­
ism demonstrating the attainment o f power and wealth through unscrupulous
cunning. His outlook is com pletely amoral;
Kum âradàsa from Ceylon m ay have studied with Dandin in K ancl, His
epic Jânakihar'aija retells the Râmâyana from the incarnation o f Viçnu as
Râm a, preceded by the curse on his father which is supposed to have caused
his exile, to the victory over Râvana. T he style is more epic than M âgha and
the narrative rapid and with m uch briefer descriptions; there is much play o f
sounds. .
M àtrarâja is one o f the masters o f K un taka’s ‘ intermediate’ style. His
Tâpasavatsarâja is a play on the same story as Bhâsa’s ‘ Dream Vâsavadattâ ’,
but with U dayana as the central character instead o f Vâsavadattâ. The
Udâttarâghava, ‘ Exalted R àghavas’ (Râm a and ' Bharata), like Bbâsa’s
‘ Statue’, starts with Ram a’s interrupted consecration and exile and ends
w ith the triumphant reunion o f the two brothers. M àtrarâja made serious
changes in the story in order to enhance the characters-morally, thereby pro­
voking controversy. The Em peror Ya^ovarman (eighth century) objected to
such changes, in the Prologue o f his own Râm a play Ramâbhyudaya. This,
though not now available, is extensively known as a classic o f dram atic con­
struction much discussed and quoted by the old critics. Adhering closely to
thé Râmâyatfa, Yaéovarm an produces unity o f action by starting only with
R am a’s first clash with the demons, in exile. The action and characterization
are pow erful (e.g. R âvana’s anger).
Bhavabhüü, the favourite poet and dramatist o f soinc connoisseurs, from
M a h a r a j a settled at YaSovarm ah’s court in K ânyakubja. His Mâlatimâ-
dhava is a ‘ fiction ’ o f the trium ph o f love oyer obstacles, especially over politi­
cal convenience. 'A king proposes to have the daughter o f one o f his ministers
offered to a court favourite, as part o f a political alliance. The girl lqves an­
other and the lovers resist the plan, aided by sympathetic Buddhist nuns in the
role Of go-betweens; In an unsuccessful attempt at’elopement the hero shows
his mettle, attracts popular support;’and thus so impresses the king that he
changes his plans, preferring to have a brave young man under/his patronage.
The Uttar.arâmacarita Xakhs Up the apocryphal last book o f XhtRâmâyana, the
grievous renewed exile o f SItâ: Public opinion held her unfit to be queen after
bfeing the prisoner'Of R âvâpa. Heré Bhavabhüti brings out-m ost fully the
pathos o f human experience, bitter yet touched by the sweetnèss o f association
with happy moments jn the past, the contrast intensifying both the pain and
the sweetness. -The minds o f sublime heroes are as hard as diamonds yet as
soft as flowers, says Bhavabhüti, since Râm a has unflinchingly done his public
duty whilst privately suffering mental agony.- A secon d 'R âm a ‘ history’,
which is incomplete as now available, the •Mahavlracarita, unified the action
b y introducing RSvapa at the beginning as R am a’s rival (cf. the Jânakî-
ràghava, in which, however,- Sita-is the central character instead o f Râma).
D isappointed when Râm a wins Sita, it is Râvana who* brings about the
intrigue and R âm a’s exile, placing Sita within his reach. Bhavabhüti’s plays
are in the best dram atic tradition o f conflict and passion, but on a scale
giving the fullest scope to lyrics evoking the feelings o f his characters, in rela-
 Classical Literature 187
lión lo society and even more to nature. His lyrics are perhaps unequalled in
expressiveness and in the beauty o f their sound.
Vâkp.atirâja, also at Yaéovarm an’s court, w rote an enigm atic epic in
M âhâràçtri, ‘ Slaying o f the Gautja on his king. T h e expected history o f the
victory over a king o f M agadha (=Gau<Ja) is m erely alluded to and the body
o f the narrative describes a pleasure excursion, rather than a m ilitary expedi­
tion, to the four quarters o f India. The nostalgic atm ospheréand bitter verses
on good and evil, on the vanity o f the present age when success is reserved fo r
m ediocrity and jealously withheld from excellence, suggest that YaSovarm an
had already met his tragic end in battle w ith the K in g o f KaSm lra. The
ephemeral military victories o f a generous poet-empéror, dear to the assem bly
to whom V àkpatirâja reads his epic, are superseded by a m ore durable poetic
conquest.
The eighth century is rich in extant novels. K utühala’s Lilâvati, sometimes
bracketed with Bâpa's Kâdambari as typical novels, is unlike it in being in
Prâkrit (M âhârâçtri) and in verse. T h e jcritics found verse acceptable fo r
Prakrit novels (including Apabhram éa and in due course Hindi), the form
being otherwise unaffected. K utûhala like D at^ in blends history and fiction,
for his hero is Sàtavàhana and is guided by N àgàrjuha, but marries a princess
from Ceylon after an adventure in the ‘ U nderw orld' (Pàtâla) and other fanci­
ful episodes; in fact he claims to have invented the story in order to amuse his
wife.
H aribhadra’s immense Samardditya, in M âhârâçtri prose, is a Jaina ‘ virtue*
{dharma) novel, being written from the standpoint o f ethics instead o f pleasure
or w orldly success. It is also an ‘ entire* {sakald) novel, in that it follow s the
heroes’ experiences through a series o f lives, from thè origin o f a subcon­
scious disposition (the ‘ cause’, nldâna) which torments them until its secret is
revealed to them. Samaraditya in a form er life was negligent towards an in­
tended guest, an ascetic; the latter misunderstood this as deliberate injury
and conceived an inveterate hatred, pursuing and injuring his imagined
enemy through nine livés; Thus in one they are husband and wife and thè wife
repeatedly tries to kill her husband through this, irrational hatred. T he
Dhüriâkhyâna, ‘ R ogues’ H istory’ , is an ‘ illustrating n ovel’- satirizing B rahm ­
anism and especially P u ràçic history and mythology*. A group o f rogues tem­
porarily immobilized b y the rains pass the time b y holding a contest in telling
lies about themselves, the loser to stand dinner for the party."Each lié must be
confirmed as credible by adducing a parallel from the Purarias. In the end a
femgie rogue confounds the others with a tale to the èffect that they are all her
runaway.slaves. Haribbadra makes it clear that his aiin in debim king myths is
not sectarian but rationalist (yuktimant): his satire is directed at the grow th o f
fantasy which has concealed the truth hidden in all the Indian religions.
Haribhadra’s pupil U ddyotana w rote another Ipng M àhârâstrI ‘ entire
novel*, in campii form , illustrating the driving fórcè ó f five passions, anger,
pride, deceit, greed, and delusion, in five souls throijgh several lives. H e calls
it a ‘ mixed* novel, depicting pleasure and success as well as the dom inant
virtue theme. It does indeed contain interesting episodes such as m eeting a
group o f alchemists in the mountains smelting meials and trying to obtain
gold.
 Classical Literature

D àm odaragupta's ‘ illustrating n ovel’ Kut{animata, 'T h eory o f the B aw d ’ ,

is in verse though in Sanskrit. The heroine goes to a marvellously ugly old
bawd for instruction in m aking money from wealthy citizens and receives it
with stories illustrating the science o f harlotry and such pitfalls as falling in
love and trouble with fathers. T h e reader o f this satire, its author claims, will
never be deceived by parasites, hetairas, rogues, and bawds.
M uràri, ‘ disregarding B havabhüti’, again dramatized the m ain Râm a
story. His Anargfiaragitava includes so many lyrics, admittedly beautiful but
often hardly relevant, as to m ake his drama top tenuous.
Yogesvara in the Pala Empire o f M agadha is known through anthologies for
his vivid descriptions o f the hard but usually cheerful life o f the villages.
In the ninth century Abhinanda retold part o f the Ram a story as a Sanskrit
epic, beginning about the same point as Pravarasena. He begins in a simple
style not unlike Y âlm lki’s, but with numerous figures, and elaborates the
speeches in a leisurely manner. This Râmacarita keeps close to the original and
is very long, though its descriptions are strictly subordinate to the narrative.
A bhinanda’s sweet, melodious language, imagery, and occasional theological
reflections made him a favourite o f some critics. He also wrote dramas, among
which the heroic play Bhïmaparâkrama on an episode from the Mahâbhârala
is available."
R atn àkara’s Haraoijaya brought alm ost equal acclaim from the critics,
though it is an epic opposite to Abhinanda’f in every way except great length.
There was little to narrate, for Siva’ s victory over the demon Andhaka, is a
very simple story, so the epic is instead filled with descriptions, exceeding even
M àglia in these and in linguistic difficulty. T h e description o f Siva’s tândava
dance is an appropriate and attractive opening, establishing a transcendental
setting. .
Sivasvàm in’s epic Kapphh.iâbhyudpya returns to the scale, and partly the
style, o f M àgha, whilst the poet claims to follow Mer»{ha and. his style varies
greatly according to the topic. T he story is from Buddhist legend: a war in
which the Buddha intervenes as peacem aker and.sends the invader home to
rule justly. Buddhaghosa’s Padyacùdâmani on the life o f the Buddha is an ex-
p ression.of devotion rather than an epic.
Apabhrarnsa .epic, its conventions established by Caturm ukha whose
w orks have not yet been found, comes into its own with two examples by
Svayam bhü, the Padmacarita on Râm a and the Ariftanemicarita on the
twenty-secondJitta.and the Jaina version o f the events o f the Mahâbhârata
w ith the life o f K fsn a. Svayam bhü takes his narratives from ,earlier Jaina
w orks; he is praised for the beauty o f his language and figurative expressions
and is rem arkable for his tolerant and syncretistic outlook.
âaktibhadra’s Âscaryacütfâ/nani bas proved one o f the most popular plays,
partly because it makes so much o f the transformations o f the demons, parti­
cularly- Ràvana and his sister, going beyond M àtrarâja, w ho already had
several such disguises. The play begins with R àm a’s encounter with
R âvaria’s sister disguised and Sitâ’s abduction by the disguised R âvaija, and
ends "with R àm a’s triumph. The transformations are counteracted (but
too late) by a m agic ring and the magic crest jew el which gives the play its
title.
 Classica! Literature 189

The philosopher Jayanta wrote a play on the religious situation in Kasm îra,
the Âgainadambara, ‘ Pom p o f Scriptures’. His aim is to show the superior
knowledge and humanity o f the brahmans and satirize the Buddhists, Jainas,
Lokàyatikas, and Kàpàlikas. Though some unworthy sects should be pro­
scribed, the better schools share the high moral purpose o f the V edic tradition
and am ong these there should be toleration; their scriptures are different
entrances to the same house.
K ing KulaSckhara (c. a . d . 900) wrote two plays, which have remained
popular, to inaugurate new techniques o f production on the K eralà stage,
claiming to apply Ânandavardhana’s doctrine o f ‘ revealed’ meaning. It is
supposed that all the reforms o f the Keralà actors stem from him, including
the repetition o f the speeches in gesture language and the extemporized
‘ T a m il’ (now M alayâlam ) patter o f the ‘ fo o l’, equivocally m aking fun o f
present-day personalities along with other characters in the play, but this
seems unlikely. The Subhadrâdhananjaya has the story o f Arjuna eloping with
Krsna’s sister, after numerous misunderstandings and the opposition o f
K r jn a ’s brother. The Tapatisatnvarai.ia is the love o f Sam varana, one o f the
Bhârata emperors, and the daughter o f the Sun G od. K ulasekhara’s novel
Âscaryamaiïjari, praised by Râjasekhara, seems to be lost. A popular heroic
play Kaiyanasaugandhika, on Bhîm a fetching the Saugandhika Flower for
D raupadl but being challenged by his unknown brother Hanum ant on the
way, was written by Nilakan{ha, perhaps at KulaSekhara’s court. Vàsudeva
there composed a series o f rhymed epics in Sanskrit, on Yudhiçthira, K f?na,
Siva, and N aia. Though a regular feature o f Apabhraipsa and modern Indo-
Aryan poetry, rhyme in Sanskrit is a special effect like alliteration or punning.
Y àsudeva’s rhymes are complicated, but seem natural and effortless, which
explains the widespread appreciation o f his works. Lïlàéuka probably at
K ulasekhara’s court wrote the very popular lyric Krsiiakan.wmrta, on K j?na
as the sexually precocious infant loved by all women, but interpreted as sym ­
bolizing G od attracting all souls, thus an early example o f Yaisnava devo­
tional kâvya. Another classic rhyming poem, partly double-meaning also, is
Nitivarm an’ s Kicakavadba on Bhïma slaying K lcak a, o f unknown date.
Dhananjaya’s Dvisandhâna (c. a . d . 800) is the earliest double-meaning epic
available, simultaneously narrating the Râmâyana and Mahâbhârata,
Râjasekhara was a junior contemporary o f Kulasekhara. T hough primarily
a dramatist, he is appreciated rather for the innumerable brilliant lyric verses
scattered through his works, being perhaps the most popular poet with the
anthologists. His epic Haravilâsa seems to be lost. His Bâlarâmâyaijia is per­
haps the longest play ever written, exceeding even M uràri’s on the same sub­
ject, and he even remarks that it is designed to be read, expecting that it would
not often be performed. Y et, unlike Muràri, Râjasekhara has some very
effective scenes, such as the confrontation o f Ràvatja and Sita in A c t I on the
occasion o f Sïtâ’s svayaipvara (‘ self-choice’ wedding). O f a similar play on the
Mahâbhârata we have only the first two acts. A ‘ light p la y ’ Viddhasâlabhan-
jikà is a com edy o f palace intrigue, as is the Karpftramaiijari, a satfaka or light
play in M âhârâçfri. The vivid expressions which charmed the anthologists
bring a strong sense o f Rajasekhara’s lively personality to the reader. This is
perhaps strongest o f all in his critical work Kâvyamimâipsâ, where he sets up
 190 Classical Literature

in pseudo-pedantic style as lite model professional writer and legislates a life

o f palatial comfort, but strenuous well-organized work, for authors.
Kçem îsvara (tenth century) follow s Râjasekhara with two plays on stories
not new to the theatre but not available to us in earlier dramas. The Naiyadh-
ûnanda on N aia is particularly effective, with its opening scene o f the hero
stopped by Indra, then his exiling and the doubly portrayed incident o f
N ala’s separation from Dam ayantï, presented by both o f them in turn. The
Canfakausika on HariScandra opens om inously but with touches o f irony
through the presence o f the ‘ fo o l’ and the queen’s groundless suspicion o f her
husband’s night vigil; after this the compassionate and horrific rasas are de­
veloped to the utmost in the slave market and cemetery scenes. This play has
the atmosphere o f a Buddhist bodhisattva drama such as Candragom in’s, pre­
sented in Brahmanical terms. In both plays Ksem ïévara is faithful to his
itihâsa sources. The style is simple and the action relatively rapid: unlike
Ràjasekhara’s, these are primarily plays for the stage and not for readers and
anthologists. It is remarkable that both deal with utter disaster, the loss o f
kingdoms followed by( terrible trials but eventual restoration, and possible-
that the stories were chosen as comment on contemporary events (Mahl-
pâla’s struggles).
Bhallata’ s {ft. 880-900) collection o f anyâpadeia's, ‘ citations o f something
else’, is the classic in a lyric form much appreciated later, which criticizes
social abuses through the imagery o f natural phenomena. His target is the
worthless and crooked people who successfully push their w a y into positions
o f authority and wealth. '
In Siddha’s great allegorical novel o f transmigration, Upamitibhauapra-
paiica ( a . d . 906), ‘ release’ is the only escape from the tyranny o f K in g A ction
and Queen Tim e. Jainism is thus shown as a subversive political movement.
The hero struggles upwards from life to life, this being an ‘ entire’ novel,
against evil passions. Whereas Haribhadra, his model, studied senseless evil in
human relationships, Siddha is concerned with internal struggles..
D hanapàla’s Tilakamaiijari (c. 970), though formally similar, is an interest­
. ing contrast to Bâna’s Kàdambarì. Since the author completed it, it offers a
model o f construction o f a novel, beginning about the middle and bringing in
other segments o f the story in the wrong order narrated by characters, main­
taining suspense to thé end. T hough the author was a Jaina, this is purely a
‘ pleasure’ novel like those o f Gui.utdhya and Bâpa. T he more than ninety
characters are quite different from Bâna’s: youth is less diffident and tragic,
especially in the person o f the impetuous M alayasundarj, and the heroes are
resourceful, though scrupulous (unlike D aodin’s).
A different Dhannpâla about the same time wrote the novel Bhavifyadatta
in Apabhrarpsa verse, a story o f merchant life and sea voyages in which a
second wife tries to destroy her stepson.
The campii now seems to increase in popularity. Trivikram a’s Naia (c. 915)
is renowned as a marvellous exercise in double meanings; his simpler
Madâlasâ is neglected. Som adeva’s Yaiasiilaka (959) on the Jaina legend o f
Yaéodhara, a king poisoned by his unfaithful wife, and his subsequent re­
births, resembles an ‘ entire n ovel’ . His didactic intentions are evident
throughout.
 Classical Literature

Piijpadanla's Mahdpunina is generally acclaimed as the best Apabhran.isa

epic. A modest and disillusioned wanderer w ho finally accepted patronage
with reluctance, his poetry is deeply felt and his wit pungent. The subject is
the vast universal history o f the Jainas, dominated by the ‘ sixty-three great
m en’ (including Râm a, Ràvana, K rsna, and the jinas). A short Yasodhara-
carita retells the legend ju st mentioned. T he Nàgakumàracariia m ight be
classed as a verse novel, or rather a romance, o f an infant prince who falls
down a well and is adopted by a dragon, but the story is a traditional one o f
one o f the twenty-four Kàm adevas, the most handsom e men.
Three eleventh-century epics are based on contem porary history. Pndma-
gupta’s Navasâhasânkacarita on a Param âra king o f A van ti (M âlava)
romanticizes his marriage with a K arn ataka princess in to a w ar with ‘ demons ’
and union w ith a ‘ dragon ’ girl after descending into the underworld. B ut the
Paramâra Ràjputs themselves are o f supernatural origin and their poet relates
the creation o f their ancestor in Vasisfha’s sacrificial fire. Regardless o f the
history, this epic has been enjoyed by critics fo r its descriptions and other
poetic qualities. The same is true o f Bilhana’s Vikramâiikadevacarita on a
Câlukya emperor, which is close to actual facts yet has been m ore admired as
a purely literary classic. Bilhana also wrote a ‘ light p la y ’ on another patron
and the beautiful elegy Caurapancâsikâ, supposedly autobiographical, o f a
liaison with a princess which almost cost him his life. A tu la ’s Müfakavaipsa is
the history o f a dynasty in north K erala from its legendary origin in the time
o f Paraéurâma. Though very useful as history, this epic too has been pre­
served for its poetry.
Laksm ldhara’s Cakrapâniuijaya is an epic on the traditional story o f
Krsçia’s defeat o f the demon Bàna, son o f Bali, after the clandestine marriage
o f his grandson Aniruddha with Bâija’s daughter U çâ. There are no long de­
scriptive digressions here, the story o f love and w ar itself giving plenty o f
scope for the poet’s powers. M ahàsena’s epic Pradyumnacarita gives a Jaina
version o f the story o f Aniruddha’s father. K an akâm ara’s Apabhram sa epic
Karakandacarita narrates an old legend o f a ‘ saint’ recognized by both Jainas
and Buddhists. Jaina epics in several languages, mostly on one or other o f the
twenty-four jlnas, are too numerous from the tenth century onwards to be
discussed here, despite the literary value o f m any o f them.
Soddhala’s Udayasundari {c. 1025) is a Sanskrit compii novel more rom antic
and less realistic than most, with m etamorphoses and adventures in the under­
world and little characterization, but beautifully and im aginatively written.
The critic K in g Bhoja’s èrngâramaiijarî is an entertaining ‘ illustrating novel ’
on the various types o f love. These are shown in cautionary tales instructing a
geisha on which kinds o f lover to accept or avoid, and the heroines generally
have a bad time. Bhoja’s simple and elegant campii vetsion o f the Râmâyana
has been much more widely appreciated in recent centuries. Vâdïbhasim ha’s
Gadyacintâmajii is one o f the rare prose ‘ biographies’ extant, but on the old
Jaina legend o f Jivandhara. This legend owes much to the Bphatkathâ and the
work'is alm ost a novel. It is noteworthy for its fine prose style, perhaps second
only to B àn a’s. A more regular biography is SomeSvara’s Vikramânkâbhyud-
aya, on his father who was also Bilhana's subject.
Some anonym ous popular collections o f short stories, o f unknown date
192 Classical Literature

and in multiple recensions, may be noted here. The Sukasaptati has as theme
Faithless wives and crafty harlots. T he Vetâlapancaoiipsatï and Simhâsana-
dvâtriipsika both concern the legendary Yikram àditya in most versions but
originally it seems Sâtavâhana was the hero (with Nàgârjuna). In the first, the
king has to answer riddles with which the stories end, in the second the
stories are about him. W e may add that Somadeva II (c. 1050) used a sketch
o f the Bfhatkathâ as a frame for a huge collection o f stories skilfully narrated,
the Kathâsaritsâgara. The romance o f M âdhavànala and Kâm akandalâ is a
popular tale o f illicit love, ending happily through the intervention o f the
chivalrous Vikram àditya. The Malayasundari likewise exists in several para­
phrases, but the original is attributed to Keéin (seventh century B .C .) . In fact
it is a romance o f magic and a wicked stepmother, a fairy story not likely to
be earlier than the ninth century A . d .
Ksem endra’s illustrating novels are bitter satires on corrupt bureaucracy
and successful deceit and vice. The Kalâvilàsa introduces M ûladeva (‘ Whose
G o d is C ap ital') in his School o f Theft, instructing a student in the science o f
deception and the various professions through which greed is satisfied:
bureaucracy, harlotry, itinerant music and acting, jewellery, medicine, astro­
logy, drug peddling, trade, begging, imposture, etc. Under bureaucracy the
different types o f arrogance ate treated. These are further displayed as weak­
nesses in the Darpadalana. The Narmamâlâ satirizes the private lives o f the
bureaucrats and their wives. T h e Desopadesa displays scoundrels and cheats,
including the miser, parasite, and undisciplined students. The Samayamâtgkâ
is the life o f the bàwd K ankâlf, who outlives her m any husbands.
K çem endra’s plays seem to be lost,- but Prabodhacandrodaya, a very
different allegorical play on V ed an ta'by his contemporary Krçpam isra, has
been a model for similar plays advocating various schools o f thought.
The best twelfth-century epic is Harsa’s Naifadhacarila■on N aia. The
sensitive rasa predominates, with much o f the comic also. The author was a
philosopher and displays his learning, but the descriptive effusions are rele­
vant to the story and the style full o f charm. The scale is grand and Har$a did
not finish the work. Sukum àra’s Krjriavilasa, on the young Kpsna up to his
carrying off the Pârijâta, in very simple style, is the most popular epic in
K erala. M ankha’ s Srikanth'acarita on Siva burning the three citadels o f the
demons is among the m ost beautiful epics, particularly for its descriptions o f
mountain scenery by the K âsm îrï author, but its action is brief. Jayanaka’s
Prthvirâjavijaya prematurely celebrated the ill-fated C âbam âna king. K al-
hana’s Rdjatarangini, a detailed vatpsavaliOT history o f Kaém ïra, under the in­
fluence o f the Mahâbhârata aims to produce the calmed rasa through the
contem plation o f futile ambitions (the vamsâvalîs continue the history o f the
Purâpas and are rarely literary).
T h e Jaina theatre flourished with eleven plays by the critic Ràm acandra, on
N aia , Ram a, K f?n a, HariScandra, etc., and three fictions. Ràm abhadra and
Hastim alla dramatized Jaina legends. H eroic plays are now numerous, by
V ijayapàla, PrabJâdanadeva, K àncana, and Vatsaràja as well as Ràm acandra.
T h e same Vatsaràja (c. r20o) wrote examples o f the three types o f archaic
play on the gods and demons, a comedy, and a satirical m onologue; his gods
and demons are as hum orous as bis bogus ascetic and gambler. Sankha-
 Classical Literature m
dhara’s Lalakamelaka is a two-act comedy in which a ninety-nine-year-old.
bawd finds herself a husband among a crowd o f çharlalaus. Jayadeva's Glla-
govinda, a râgqkâvya dram a in songs linked by narrative, is a most popular
classic which has often been imitated. Its Sanskrit lyrics use (he metres o f
vernacular Apabhraipsa to express R âdhâ’s love for Krsna.
T h e Jaina novel continued to flourish (relatively few non-Jaina novels have
been preserved, though many titles are known from the critics). D hanesvara’s
Surasundari, in MâhâràçtrT verse, is a regular hovel in the manner o f the
Tilakamai'tjari, except that at the end the hero and heroine leave the world and
attain enlightenment. Sâdhârana’s Vilàsavati is in Apabhraipsa and Mahend-
rasûri’s Narmadâsundari is a dharma novel in Mâhàràs{rï verse and prose.
The Turkish conquests o f more than half India between 900 and 1300 were
perhaps the most destructive in human history. As Muslims, the conquerors
aimed not only to destroy all other religions but also to abolish secular culture.
Their burning o f libraries explains the large gaps in our knowledge o f earlier
literature. Our view now depends mainly on what has been preserved in the
far south, in K eralà, supplemented by some Jaina libraries which m iracu­
lously escaped and by such outlying collections as those o f N epal. T hough the
Indian tradition was thus cut off over wide areas, it developed vigorously
where Indian rule continued, including Rajasthan, Orissa, etc., as well as the
south. In fact about 90 per cent o f the extant Sanskrit literature, even, belongs
to the period since A .D . 1200 and was written in the regions remaining under
Indian rule. I f we now devote little space to it, compared with the classics
above, that should not be regarded as an adverse judgem ent (we rejept the
prejudiced opinion about ‘ decadence’) but as due partly to lack o f space and
partly to the general neglect and lack o f printed editions. W hat follows is a
small selection am ong the noteworthy kdvyas.
Am aracandra’s Bâlabhârala has been popular in Râjasthàn as distilling the
essence o f the whole Mahâbhârata.in a kâvya epic. The author belonged to the
literary circle o f the minister Vastupâla o f G ujarat in the thirteenth century,
from which more than ten epics and six dramas survive to show the w ork o f
such a group. A m ong these, the works o f Somesvara and Bâlacandra are out­
standing and the play ‘ Crushing o f the Arrogance o f the A m ir ’ by Jayasiipha
is remarkable as presenting the contemporary history' of V astupâla’s victory
over the Turks. In this age o f perpetual Turkish wars there is a strong turn to­
wards heroic themes. In Orissa, Jayadeva’s Prasannarâghava, though widely
studied fo r its difficulty and word music, is a variation on M urâri’s Râm a
play. Sakalavidyâcakravartin’s Gadyakariiâmrta is a biography o f a H oysala
emperor o f K arnataka. T h e lyrics o f Utprekçâvallabha and Laksm idâsa are
admired. O f dramas in the south, we may note K avivallabha’s fiction and
Ravivarm an’s Pradyunwâbhyitdaya.
A m ong many interesting playwrights in the fourteenth century are:
Prataparudra, for plays on Y a y ati and on U sa; Narasimha w ho made a well-
constructed drama out o f the novel Kâdambari\ Pürrjasarasvatï w ho staged a
.delightful fable o f a wild goose marrying a lotus amid dangers from an ele­
phant, a thundercloud, and a storm; Sukumâra for a Râm a play; and
Jyotirisvara in whose com edy two ‘ ascetics’ quarrel over a wom an and call in
a brahman arbitrator w ho decides to keep her for himself. A satirical mono-
194 Classical Literature

logue popular in Kerala since ihe reign o f Ramavarman seems inappropriately

entitled Vi/anidra in one manuscript and is therefore naraèless as well as
anonymous, The intrigue is quite different from earlier plays o f the type.
A gastya’ s epic Bâlabbârata has been more popular in the south than Am ara-
candra’s in the north. It is perhaps superior in narrative power, whilst shorter
and more independent. A gastya, a great master o f Sanskrit expression, wrote
also a prose K^nacarita based on the Bhâgavata Purana, in a sweet and flow­
ing style and producing the atmosphere o f a novel Tather than a biography.
T he Purâna source was a relatively modern one, itself almost a kâoya, which
replaced the Harioaipia supplement to the Mahâbhârata and became extra­
ordinarily popular as the K rsna cult spread. Am ong other kSvyas based on it,
the campii o f the ‘ N e w ’ K âlidâsa (date uncertain) is very famous. Vidyâca-
kravartin’s fine but rather alliterative epic Rukminikalyw.ia follow s the same
source. In this century the three rival systems o f Vedanta blossomed in the
shelter o f Vijayanagara with poetic as well as philosophical champions. T he
Advaitin Vidyâranya wrote an epic on the founder o f his school, the Dvaitin
N àrâyana one on his and m any other poetic works. Other D vaitins wrote
epics on different episodes o f the K jsija cycle. T h e Viéiçfâdvaitin Venkaja-
nâtha perhaps deserves his greater literary fam e than any o f these with his epic
Yâdavâbhyudaya on the birth and rise o f K rsqa, a lyric poem and an allegori­
cal play. M ore interesting and original than any o f these is the Princess
G angâ’s epic Madhurâvijaya on her husband’s victory over the Turks in south
India, with circumstantial descriptions such as the horrors o f the Turkish
atrocities in the places they had occupied. It was not new for a wom an to
write a major kdvya, for the critics mention several in earlier centuries, such as
Sîlâ who emulated Bâna as a novelist, but nothing seems to survive except the
mysterious Y ija yà ’s play Kaumudimahoisava o f uncertain date. D âm odara’s
epic éivavilâsa on the marriage o f Ram avarm an o f K erala is interesting for
social history. Kfsnânanda too k the N aia story and wrote an epic contrasting
w ith H arça’s in being short, complete, flowing easily in oaidarbha style, and
free from digressions. A hobala’ s Virüpâkfavasanioisava is à m ost entertaining
campû describing the crowds at a popular festival. Gunasam rddhi’ s Anjanâ-
sundari continues the series o f Jaina dlidrma novels.
T h e greatest fifteenth-century writer was probably Dindim a (Kavisârva-
bhauma), praised b y later authors, but his works, including an epic Râmàbhyu-
daya and a comedy, are not yet printed. K âm âksî, apparently his daughter-in-
law, modestly praises him in her own ‘ N e w ’ Râmâbhyudaya, called ‘ exquisite’
by a modern critic. Other members o f the Dindim a fqm ily wrote historical
epics on the Vijayanagara emperors. T h e circle o f the Eighteen and a H a lf in
K era la is famous and m arks a peak o f activity in the theatre and in poetry
(Uddanda, Dâm odarabhafta, etc.). G op àla’s com ic campii describes the
eleventh avatâra o f Vi?pu— as a mango. Sankara's epic Krfiiavijaya with its
delightful word music is second only to Sukum âra’s in popularity in Keralâ.
In Râjasthàn Nayac&ndra’s tragic historical epic Hammira on a Câham àna
king introduced a new spirit into heroic poetry. In Orissa and A ndhra a
historical campii by Vâsudevaratha and a biography by Vâm ana are more
traditional in outlook. A nanta’s Blmrata is recognized as one o f the best
campits, mainly fo r its elaborate style. The tradition o f the drama in M ithilâ
 L. tass i c u i is U e rM w n

was continued by Vidyàpati, using a mixture o f Sanskrit and M aithiii (instead

o f Prakrit). His modernizing ideas appear also in his Sanskrit illustrating
novel Pimifaparikfâ, introducing recent heroes in place o f Purânic ones.
The ‘ classical’ literature in fact everywhere developed in the closest inter­
action with th e ‘ modern i.e. with the vernacular. In the north it is arbitrary to
draw a line between ‘ H in d i’ (Braj, Rajasthani, M aithiii, etc.) and A pabh -
ramSa, for they are the same language, using the same genres and metres.
Tulsidas’s epic has the same form as Puspadanta’s. In the south, Sanskrit and
Dravidian writers share ideas. The Oriyâ Mahâbhârata, Ràmâyaija, and
Bhâgavata, assimilating antiquity into the life o f the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, influenced the Sanskrit epics o f Divâkara, M ârkandeya, and
Jivadeva. The last also wrote plays and belongs to the Vais ça va m ovem ent o f
the sixteenth century, for which R üpa produced his theory o f devotional
drama on K rspa and plays exemplifying it. M any such plays were written and
performed in Orissà, then circulated elsewhere, and popular form s such as the
râgakâvya and one-act goffhi (e.g. Jayadeva’s Vaifnavâmrta) were revived fo r
the purpose. The K erala variety o f Vaiçnavism is expressed in N àrâyana’s
lyric Nârâyaniya on the whole life o f Rrçna, probably the finest devotional
poem in Sanskrit. This N ârâyana is among the greatest and m ost prolific
Sanskrit writers o f recent centuries. H e wrote a long series o f campus on
Puràpic and Vedic themes for performance as kûtlu m onologues by com ic
actors. The Emperor Kjçnadevarâya o f Vijayanagara wrote a K rçpa play.
Queeh Tirum alà’s Varadâmbikâpariijaya is a beautiful biographical campü o f
her husband Acyutarâya, concluding rem arkably with his m arriage to another
queen and consecration o f the latter’s son as heir apparent. E qual in style and
much richer in content is the long biography Vyâsayogicarita o f a contem ­
porary logician by Somanâtha.
In the seventeenth century Jagannâtha, moving between Andhra, Assam ,
and the M ughal Empire, reflects the b rief flickering o fln d ia n culture within that
Empire in the wake o f A kbar. His Sanskrit lyrics are popular with the pandits.
Jagadisvara’s Hàsyântava is a com edy satirizing K in g River o f Bad P olicy and
his depraved administration and probably aimed at the M ughal government
after it had reversed A k b ar’s policy in 1632. T he K eralà king M ânaveda, after
his Pûrvabhârata campü which complements A n an ta’s and is even m ore diffi­
cult, achieved a unique success with his play Kfpiagiti which today is still per­
formed nightly at G uruvayur (with one night a week rest). In form it is a
râgakâvya and the prototype o f kathakali, but with songs in Sanskrit. It covers
the entire life o f Kf$na, follow ing especially Sankara’s epic. T he great upsurge
o f religion in this period was partly balanced by an output o f satirical m ono­
logues and comedies too numerous to list and presenting every conceivable
subject. A more elaborate satire is Yenkatâdhvariri’s campü Visvagunâdaria,
a dialogue between an optimist and a pessimist; it contains one o f the earliest
references to the British (at M adras). Bracketed with this am ong the best
campüs is N ilakanfha’s Nilakanthavijaya, on the churning o f the ocean by the
gods and demons and how 3 iva got his blue throat, which is full o f hum our.
Am ong his m any other w orks the satire Kalivitfambana is fam iliar to students
for its verses on the evils o f the present age. A m ong dramas- we m ay note
M ahâdeva’ s play on R âm a, a tangle o f spying, suspicion, and im personation
196 Classical Literature

as the demons try to deceive him. With the rise o f the M a r à c a s we have
Param ânanda’s epic Süryavamsa on Sàha, Sivàjî, and Sambhu. Classical
literature flourished at-all the M arâfha courts. In Orissà among epic poems
G ovindam isra’s ‘ O rigin o fP rad yu m n a’ and G angâdhara’s historical Kosalâ-
naitda are noteworthy.
Ràm apânivâda with a wide variety o f works in Sanskrit and Mâhàrâ?{rl
is the greatest eighteenth-century writer. A n epic on Râm a seems his most
admired w ork; a play on the same hero shows the ultimate stage o f uni­
fication o f the elements o f the legend, from the killing o f Tâtakâ. T w o street
plays, dialogues between a king and his fool, and the two-act comedy
Madanaketucarita are more immediately entertaining. A campft and two
M àhàrâçtrï poems belong to the Kïçria cycle. Ràm apânivâda is an elaborate
stylist on the models o f Bâna and Râjasekhara. Ghanasyâm a is an innovator
in the theatre with plays in new forms instead o f the traditional act arrange­
ment. T h e Navagrahacarila is a war am ong the planets; the Damaruka a series
o f satirical and philosophical dialogues. T h e Ânandasundarï is a regular
M àhâràstrï sat/aka, introducing a telescope in a naval battle. T he theatre of
this period is extremely rich, including plays on contemporary events.
Yenkayàm âtya wrote plays o f all the ten types described in the Nâfyasâstra.
D urgesvara’ s Dharmoddharaya is an allegorical play on the restoration o f re­
ligion and learning under the M aràthas, at Vârânasï, U jjayinï, etc. Ràjasthàn
and Orissa naturally shared in the Indian revival (Krçpakavi, Candrasekhara,
etc.), which is marked in V ârânasï by the brief career o f the scholar-novelist
Y isvcsvara.
U nder the British, the Indian tradition was submerged b y the imposition of
English as medium o f administration and education, except in the ‘ N ative
States’ such as Travancore and Cochin. T he modern vernaculars under this
dom ination partly copied European models and developed a hybrid literature
which is neither European nor Indian, W ith political independence the cultural
scene has hardly changed as yet and the unity o f India is threatened by the
centrifugal force o f the vernaculars. Vernacular writers often seek European
orbits, considered ‘ m odern’, lacking the national character and relationship
am ong themselves which only the common Indian tradition could give them.
Sanskrit is the only truly national language India has ever had, linking all
regions and all classes with the immortal springs o f Indian thought. I f it dis­
appears, with its cultural heritage, India will never be a nation and will surely
break up into a series o f European-type states. The decision still lies in the
future; meanwhile the semi-underground classical tradition conserves its
vigour and the twentieth century has produced several hundred Sanskrit plays,
whilst the theatre o f Bhàsa is being revived in K eralà. India’s cultural unity
m ay yet be saved and through it her political unity.
C H A P T E R XV

Early Art and Architecture

by P. S. R a w s o n

V e r y few people yet realize how great a debt the art o f the world— especially
that o f the Eastern world— already owes to India. It is true to say that without
the example o f Indian forms and ideas the arts o f the whole o f South-East
Asia, o f China, K orea, M ongolia, Tibet, and Japan would all have been
radically different, and w ould have lost by that difference. So, too, would
modern Western art, especially architecture and painting. Buddhism, a mer­
chants’ religion par excellence, was the chief vehicle for this artistic influence,
though Hinduism did penetrate South-East Asia and the islands ; and Buddhist
art, at home in India, owed a good deal to the Hindu art that flourished
alongside it.
T h e earliest art o f India, that produced in the great cities o f the Indus
valley civilization (c. 2000 b . c .), could not have had much direct im pact on
the art o f the rest o f the world. There can, however, be little doubt that this
art shared a com m on heritage o f ideas with other regions of' the ancient
M iddle East.
M ost important o f all is the fact that certain symbols and images which
appear in later historical art first showed themselves in the miniature sculp­
tures, in the seals and the sealings o f the Indus valley. Examples are the ithy-
phallic deity seated with knees akim bo as ‘ lord o f the beasts’, the naked girl,
the dancing figure w ith one leg lifted diagonally across the other, the sacred
bull, the stout masculine torso, the ‘ tree o f life ’, and innumerable modest
types o f monkeys, females, cattle, and carts modelled in terracotta.
After the end o f the Indus valley civilization there is the first o f m any gaps
in our knowledge o f Indian art history. W e have always to remember that
what has com e down to us o f early Indian art consists only o f scattered frag­
ments o f what must have been a widespread and flourishing artistic activity
in many media. Alm ost everything made from ivory or w ood— including an
advanced architecture— everything painted on palm -leaf or cloth, o f which
huge quantities must once have existed, has been destroyed by India’s de­
vastating climate. A few ivories have survived by chance, and on the walls o f
a handful o f caves some scraps o f painting. Even the stone carvings and larger
modelled terracottas represent only a tiny proportion o f the art produced by
each successive period in these durable materials. Such items were, however,
often important ones, meant to decorate major dynastic shrines; that is why
they were made, say, in stone rather than something more perishable. But it is
impossible to write an art history for India in the same terms as one can for
medieval Europe, or even for ancient Greece.
O ur knowledge o f historical Indian art begins with the ceramic wares and
figurative terracottas made in the cities o f the broad Ganga basin during the
 Early Art and Architecture

last centuries B.c. W e also know something o f the building techniques and
fortification o f these cities. F or example at Râjgir, south o f Patna, there are
some superb Cyclopean fortification walls (sixth century B.C.), and at
Kausâm bî there was a palace with a substantial tunnel-vault (c. third century
B.C.). But the representational terracottas give the best insight into the visual
imagery with which the inhabitants brightened their lives. From about
200 B.C. onwards large numbers o f miniature reliefs, mostly either hand-
modelled or pressed in moulds, illustrate all sorts o f aspects o f good fortune,
including women loaded with jewels, pleasure parties, and animals. In the
G anga delta at Cha'ndraketugarh, for example, there was a factory fo r such
w orks; and at Patnâ have been excavated some superb terracottas o f dancing
girls, modelled in the full round.
These miniature works set the key for what comes after. T hey are imbued
w ith an atmosphere o f human sensuous pleasure which later art develops into
the typically Indian imagery o f sensual paradise. A flowery and jewelled
opulence, combined with erotic charm, appears full fledged in the earliest
know n ivories, representing gorgeous girls and fantastic animals, those from
Pom peii (before a . d . 79) and those excavated at Begram (c. i . D . 100). Such
purely secular works illustrate the Indian notion o f what are at once the
natural prerogatives o f kings and the typical accessories o f the hero’s heaven
as it is described in the Sanskrit epics.
D uring the third century B.C. the first major works o f architecture and
stone-carving which we know were made. There are reminiscencès in them o f
the dynastic works o f Iranian Achaemenid Persepolis, and they thus reflect
the dynastic pretensions o f the conquering M auryan emperors, chief o f
whom was A éoka (c. 272-232 B.c.). A m ong them are tall footless pillars o f
polished sandstone, whose capitals are carved with sym bolic animal figures.
Some bear inscriptions by Aéoka, enjoining on his subjects a m orality with a
Buddhist flavour. Similar ‘inscriptions appear elsewhere on rocks, one' o f
which, at D haulï, is carved with the three-dimensional forepart o f an elephant.
Saraâth, site o f the Buddha's first preaching, was adopted as dynastic shrine
by the M auryas, who commissioned à polished sandstone railing and dedic­
atory figures. Buddhist stupas, which may have been constructed a century
or so earlier in the kingdoms o f northern India to contain and honour the
bodily relics o f the Buddha, were enlarged and refurbished— a process often
repeated later. A dynastic guild o f sculptors seems to have grown up, able to
carve colossal polished stone dedicatory figures, o f which several survive,
sometimes miscalled ‘ yakshas and y a k s h i s The two best known are the male
from Parkham and the female from Dldârganj, the latter dating from c, a .d . 50.
A number o f caves In the Barâbar hills were also cut to accom m odate mem­
bers o f religious orders in the rainy season, and some were decorated with
simple sculpture o f guardian figures and inscriptions.
It was, in fact, in the decoration o f m ajor religious monuments that the
next developments in Indian art showed themselves. A t a number o f sites,
notably Bhârhut, Sânchî, M athurâ, and Bodh G ayà in the north, and Am ara-
vatl in the Kistnâ delta, decorative and figurai relief-carving was evolved to
ornament Buddhist stüpas and their railings. A t first the style was in low
and flat relief, the figures being carefully outlined and isolated against their
 Early Art and Architecture 199
backgrounds; often they were angular and primitive, a fresh start seeming to
owe nothing to the M auryan dynastic style. But this low -relief style was
capable o f its own kind o f sophistication, as at Bharhut, where the pillars o f
the railing carried half-life-size figures o f country godlings, pressed into ser­
vice at the Buddhist shrine; its coping carries a continuous creeper-design,
framing small reliefs, which suggests that the whole structure was interpreted
as an image o f the mythical ‘ wish-granting tree’. Then, b y the early years o f
the Christian era, at SanchI, on the gateways o f Stüpa I the sculptural style
evolved a characteristic softly rounded deep relief, which could also be de­
veloped to present virtually three-dimensional figures, as on the brackets and
capitals. These works succeed in converting into stone what must have been a
strongly developing style o f two-dimensional narrative expression. T he
scrolled ends to the Sànchï lintels suggest that the Buddhist stories the lintels
bear are transcriptions into a more permanent medium o f the illustrations to
the pictorial story-scrolls so popular in India throughout the ages. W e know
that there was indeed a related pictorial style; for much-damaged fragments
o f wall-painting survive in Caves IX and X at Ajantâ in the D eccan, contem ­
porary with the earlier o f the SânchI gates. They, too, illustrate Buddhist
legend arid piety, perhaps more freely than the stone-cut reliefs could, in
their own softly stereotyped convention. But it is abundantly clear that these,
along with all the later and m ore'fam ous Buddhist paintings at A jantâ, were
instances o f a widespread tradition o f Indian painting, now vanished, which
was essentially secular but was readily adapted to religious needs.
The art first evolved in these early stüpa decorations lies at the root o f all
the later Buddhist styles o f South-East Asia and the F ar East. Its choice o f
legends for illustration, its method o f presenting them through groups o f
principal figures, even certain o f its characteristic types o f costume, becam e
canonical inali Buddhist countries, providing the basis for local developments.
In India itself, during the later first, the second, and the third centuries a . d .
the Buddhist (and Jaina) stupa becam e the focus o f artistic attention, its de­
coration being much expanded and elaborated. The stüpa itself, originally a
domed mound near the crest o f w hich relics o f the Buddha and his saints were'
enshrined, developed, by the addition o f ever higher plinths and crowning
umbrella-spires, into a tall tower. Each stupa came to be metaphysically identi­
fied as ‘ the axis o f the world ’, and ornamented with elaborate carvings which,
for all their cosm ic and sometimes dynastic symbolism, retained a funda­
mental humanity o f scale. The skill o f the sculptors in representing figures
with a powerful plastic ‘ presence’ , and in com posing com plex narrative
scenes full o f overlaps, advanced rapidly. Especially in south-east India, at thé
Buddhist sites around A m aràvatï (e.g. Jaggayapeta, N âgàrjunakonda), the
stüpas, with their railings and gateways, cam e to. be alm ost totally clad in
panels o f white limestone carved with rich ornamental designs or sensuous
figurai relief. T h e style o f these w orks is closely related to contem porary frag­
ments o f painting in the caves at A jan tâ on the othet side o f the peninsula. A t
the vanished stupas o f the most important site o f all, M athura in west-central
India, what was to become the first classic style o f Indian sculpture gradually
evolved.
During the same period, it seems that the custom o f Buddhist m onks
200 Early Art and Architecture

settling down to live in monasteries became widespread. Previously the old

Buddhist regulations had demanded that monks live an entirely wandering
life, detached from any people or places affection for which might impede
their religious aim. T he spirit o f these regulations, however, was gradually
altered by the practicalities o r Indian life. From at least the third century b.c.
all tbe great stüpa-sites have one constant feature: a large hall, aligned with the
stüpa, w ith.an internal colonnade separating a nave from two aisles, linking
them across tbe closed end by an ambulatory. This basic plan is still preserved
at m any sites in Burma and Thailand. Such balls were meant for the preaching
o f Buddhist doctrine and the reciting of the by then numerous canonical texts.
It is probable that only in the last century B.C. were these texts being written
down, and the Buddhist order o f begging monks depended on the support o f
a laity, m ost o f whom would be unable to read anyway.
T h e early halls were certainly built o f wood. W e know more or less what
they look like from representations carved in the decorative reliefs. But in the
western D eccan, am ong the volcanic ridges and gorges o f the western Ghats,
a large number o f man-made caves were excavated from about 200 b .c . on­
wards, which were virtually sculptures in stone o f these wooden preaching
halls. T h e earlier ones (e.g. Bhâjâ) were meant to be completed with actual
w ooden features— roof-ribs, window lattices, and portico. But by about
50 B.C. they were being cut entirely in stone, each containing a sym bolic stupa,
the carvers faithfully repeating the old wooden architectural patterns down to
the rows o f joist-ends. In addition, even the earliest were sculpted w ith ‘ orna­
m ental’ figures in relief, including attractive women sitting on balconies. A t
K a rl! (c. A.D. 10) and Kanheri (c. a .d . 100) there are opulently conceived over-
life-size couples on the façade. The intention was almost certainly that they
should convert the structure into a metaphor o f the 'palaces o f the gods’,
which the Buddha is supposed to have visited to preach—-a metaphor which
becom es a constant feature o f all later Indian and South-East Asian shrines,
Hindu as well as Buddhist.
It is clear that, in the course o f time, the monks who preached the doctrine
at these cave-halls were gradually settling down actually to live on the sites.
Even at Bhâjâ there are a few very early living-caves cut in the rock adjacent
to the ball, and decorated with legendary reliefs. A jantâ, though, is the site
which illustrates the process m ost clearly. For here, over about eight centuries
from the third century B.c., twenty-six caves were cut, fou r being preaching
halls, the others all being progressively larger living-caves, so that in the end
there was accommodation Tor 600 or 700 monks. A ll save one were painted
throughout on plaster, not once, but several times over, with scenes o f
Buddhist legend, most o f the w ork being in a style so sensual that it can only
have been executed by artists whose normal vein was the characteristic Indian
secular eroticism. O nly in some o f the latest paintings before A.D. 600 do more
schem atic and austere doctrinal representations appear. W e m ay legitimately
assume that at all the great Buddhist stûpa-silcs, where most o f the building
was o f wood and has vanished, large monasteries, based on courtyards sur­
rounded by living cells, normally had similar thoroughgoing painted and
carved decorative schemes. It was in such monasteries that the triumphs' o f
Buddhist speculative philosophy, psychology, and logic were achieved.
 Early Art and Architecture 201
There is one regional style o f Buddhist decoration which has attracted a
great deal o f attention in the West, that o f G andhâra, comprising the Afghan
K abul valley with adjacent areas, in the north-west o f the subcontinent.
A p art from the sea routes, this valley has been the main artery along
which have passed innumerable invading armies, as well as the incoming
and outgoing land trade which has linked India with the rest o f mainland
Asia. One group o f invaders, the Central Asian Kushànas, too k command
o f this region from about the end o f the first century B.c. until well
•into the fifth' century a . d . U nder their auspices, .during the second cen­
tury a . d ., a land trade-route was opened to the eastern Mediterranean.
A lon g this route, eastwards, came direct influence from Romano-Hellenistic
art. T he features assimilated into the Buddhist schist and stucco sculp­
. tures which encrusted the wealthy Gandhâran monasteries are semi-classical.
The Buddha wears something resembling a draped toga; deities develop
classical muscular torsos; there are swags and putti, and even illustrations
o f G reek legend.
The great importance o f this regional style lies in the effect it had on the
Buddhist art o f Central A sia, China, K orea, and Japan, an effect only m odi­
fied, not replaced, by later waves o f influence. Since Buddhism was very much
a merchants’ religion, wherever India’s merchants went during these centuries
Buddhism and its art followed. G andhâra was also a region wherè Buddhism
underwent profoundly important philosophical developments, and the local
art, with its cosm opolitan outlook, elaborated new doctrinal imagery. U nder
the Kushàuas the eastward land routes over the Pamir, through the kingdom
o f K hotan, and around the northern and southern fringes o f the desert Tarim
basin, were also opened up. A t the oasis staging-posts along these routes
Buddhist monasteries were constructed, and decorated with sculpture and
painting; some lasted until well into the thirteenth century. M onks from
Gandhâra and K hotan travelled east; converts from inner China travelled
back towards India. Texts were transmitted from India and translated into
F ar Eastern languages. T he art styles which became canonical, first in China,
■ then in K orea and Japan, were closely based, for doctrinal reasons,upon
types established first in K hotan and Gandhâra, and transmitted, probably,
-by pattern works. Even today Buddhist artists in Japan create images which
contain echoes o f Gandhâra,
Also under the Kushànas the city o f M athurâ took on a special importance.
It lies at a focal point o f several trade-routes; and by the first century a . d . it
had becom e a centre for the manufacture o f works o f art. Tow ards the end o f
that century the first representation o f the Buddha himself m ay have been
made there; for all earlier Buddhist illustration had avoided representing the
person o f the being whose essential quality was that he had passed into N irvâna,
and suggested his presence in a narrative through symbols only. A t M athurâ
it seems that vestiges o f the skill o f the old M auryan dynastic school o f sculp­
tors may also have survived, and have been applied to the development o f
massive three-dimensional sculpture, first for Buddhist subjects, and then in
the second century a . d . to represent the Hindu gods 3 iva and Vishnu who were
adopted as patron dynastic deities by Kushàna kings. This skill also influenced
the development o f decorative relief styles. The local pinkish sandstone is
 202 Early A rt and Architecture

■unmistakable; and images made at M athura have been found at other sites
in northern India, for example at Sànchî.
B y the fifth century a sm oothly finished, cool, and subdued type o f Buddhist
sculpture had evolved there, which provided one o f the principal elements in
the G upta style o f art (fourth to seventh centuries). The fine echoing series o f
raised string-like folds o f garments and their curling lower hems, both in­
fluenced by Gandhâran ideas, remained, until the decline o f Buddhism in
India, features o f many images, being either suggested by incised lines or
painted on to the surface. There may well have been some stylistic relationship
between such images and the life-size standing Buddhas made during the later
third century in the monasteries o f south-east India such as Am aràvatl,
carved in the local white limestone or cast in bronze. The bronzes especially
were exported to become the pattern fo r innumerable Buddha icons in the
contemporary Indian maritime settlements around the coasts o f South-East
A sia.
Between the fifth and seventh centuries we find a unified G upta style o f
Buddhist art established in northern India, which we know especially from the
images excavated at Saraâth, again a dynastic site. But the accounts left by
Chinese pilgrims describe numerous monastery-shrines throughout Bihâr,
Bengal, and Orissa, m any o f which have long disappeared, though a few have
been located and excavated. There were ioo-foot-high stupas and multi-
storied monasteries built o f wood, brick, and stone; and each site was filled
with images, large and small, cut in stone, modelled in terracotta or stucco,
and cast in bronze. M any o f them were, no. doubt, intended as costly testi­
m onials to personal piety, since ‘ m ultiplying images o f the B u d d h a’ was con­
sidered an act meritorious in itself. Am ong the excavated sites is the earliest
o f the great Buddhist universities, N âlandâ in Bihâr, which expanded later in
a rather haphazard way. It consists o f clustered courtyards and buildings o f
different patterns, including, o f course, stiipas, many o f which-were decorated
with particularly fine stucco sculptures of'Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Although the Chinese visitors recorded m any flourishing Buddhist centres,
they also.recorded their dism ay.at the decline o f Buddhism relative to Hindu­
ism, the reasons fo r which are.explained elsewhere. Even the Bodhi tree at
Bodh G a yâ was cut down in about A .D . (Sooby a Hindu king and the shrine
converted to Hindu uses. Buddhism was fighting, so to speak, its last rear­
guard battle in most regions o f India. In the ninth century the grpat Hindu
m onist philosopher Sankarâchârya hastened the doctrinal defeat o f Buddhism
everywhere. But in one region o f India, the north-east, including parts o f
Orissa,- Buddhism flourished greatly under the patronage o f the Pâla D ynasty
(e. 75 0 -1150) and too k on a new and fascinating lease o f artistic life, partly in
direct response to the H indu challenge. Other Buddhist universities were
founded, notably at. Vikramaéila, and enormous effort was devoted to .the
elaboration o f schools o f philosophy, logic, ritual, medicine, and m agic— to
which, incidentally,.H indus.w ere also admitted, The scholars gathered to ­
gether all the availàble. branches o f learning into a monumental synthesis
based upon certain medical and yogic symbolisms usually called Tantric. The
art was a direct reflection o f this syncretic activity. It developed systematic
groupings o f ideal figures to symbolize the various elements and processes in
 Early Art and Architecture 203

‘ R e ality ’ and Enlightenment, all focused around a set o f five differentiated

Buddha-principles.
- In India m ost o f this art has disappeared. W e know its character best from
the still-surviving traditions based upon it which were transplanted directly
into N epal and Tibet (seventh century) and sustained-by direct contact with
the Pâla universities. Altars were probably furnished w ith small bronzes,
w hich could be arranged in sym bolic patterns. There m ay well have been sym ­
bolic wall-paintings and hangings, prototypes o f those which are still found
In Tibet, Bhutan, and Sikkim , and were also painted on the walls in twelfth-
century Burmese Pagan. W e have the testim ony o f the great eighth-century
brick temple o f Som apura (Pahàrpur) that architecture was used likewise to
develop the symbolism o f the Tantric cosmos. This jo in t im agery o f man and
world was.transported during the eighth century into the Indianized kingdom
o f Central Java, where its chief monument is Borobudur (c. 800). It is also
[Virtually certain that continuously through this Pala period beautifully illu­
minated long palm -leâf manuscripts o f Buddhist texts were, made, the pages
being bound between painted boards, both covers and pages being illuminated
w ith figures from the Buddhist pantheon. It is probable that such sumptuous
works were-thade actually as objects o f reverence rather than mere reading-
matter. T h e earliest surviving example is dated just before a .d . io o o ; but many
similar manuscripts o f later date survive, especially in N epal.
A n alliance o f M uslim invaders and Hindu sectarian interests eliminated
even this Buddhism with its art from India by the early years o f the thirteenth
cen(tiry, leaving only strong traces o f its presence in later B engali folk-styles.
y H m du art developed later than Buddhist art in India as a whole. T he oldest,
strictljkbrâhmanical form o f Hinduism demanded no perm anent installation
for its various sacrificial rituals. There is an enclosure at Besnagar in M adhya
Pradesh, dated perhaps in the mid-second century B.c., where a named deity,
Vàsudeva, was worshipped. B ut the natural tendency o f the Indian population
has alw ays been, since the remotest past, to adore and m ake offerings at any
rplace in the countryside where the D ivine seems to show its presence. E very
village has a hallows-tree, a sacred ant-hill, or a holy spot m arked by boulders;
Its inhabitants are aware o f spiritual, often hum anoid, beings haunting sacred
places. Buddhism managed permanently to focus this sense o f numen on the
person o f the Buddha, and extend it to the physical relics o f himself, and his
saints enshrined in stupas. From these it was eventually transferred to images
:0f the ‘ essential Buddha nature’ indicated by such basically hum an examples.
.. Hinduism, however, seems to have m ade during the second century a .d . a
successful alliance w ith the Indian theory o f kingship, w hereby the meta­
physical principal to which kings m ight appeal for supernatural patronage
was-awarded name and form as a deity. O nly one o f the m ajor anciènt V edic
gods, Sürya, retained a central place fo r him self in later Hindu art as a dynas­
t ic deity. T h e overwhelm ingly im portant gods o f later art, to whom nearly all
.the major temples are dedicated, are Siva, Vishnu, and the M other Goddess
u n d er her various names (e.g. D urgâ), o f all o f whom there are only traces in
V edic literature. The numerous m uch later m edieval representations o f Vedic
deities appear as the consequence o f self-conscious attempts to bràhmanize
the iconography o f religious art. It is thus natural that the evolution o f Hindu
204 Early Art and Architecture

stone architecture and temple carving— which is all that remains to us from
the centuries earlier than c. a . d . 1200— took place at scattered single sites
which were each fo r a time the capital cities o f royal dynasties, large and
small, and which had probably long been sacred localities. A ll over the sub­
continent there are these sites, many certainly having-vanished w ithout trace,
at each o f which some tens o f temples were built and decorated over a century
or two, dedicated by members o f a royal fam ily and their chief subjects. With
the grow th o f the brâhmans’ encyclopedias o f collected legend, the PurSnas,
places especially sacred— those perhaps where m ajor episodes in legend were
supposed to have taken place— were also dignified w ith successive temple
foundations, attracting pilgrims over a long period o f time.
T h e fundamental pattern behind the beautiful complexities o f the Hindu
temple is very simple, evolving Daturally from the prim itive hallows or sacred
place. T h e sacred Duminous object stands within an enclosure and a cell. The
object is often a Siva lingam (phallic emblem); it can also be a sculptural
image, either replacing an older more primitive hallows, or ceremonially
carved or cast, and dedicated as a new dwelling fo r the sacred. T h e cell is
raised on a plinth and to it m ay be appended extra features, the commonest
beiDg a porch or portico, and a decorated door-frame. Then came an ambul­
atory,, a crowning tower, one or more aligned approach-halls, one o f which
m ay be especially fo r dancing, and perhaps an encircling layout o f lesser cells
or even miniature temples. This last feature, in south India, m ight become a
fantastically elaborate sequence o f concentric enclosures with towering gate­
ways. E ach temple is conceived, as the Buddhist stüpa was, as ‘ the axis o f the
w o rld ’, sym bolically transformed into the mythical M ount M eru, around
which are slung like garlands the heavens and the earth. The heavens are re­
presented on the exterior o f developed temples by bands o f sculpture contain­
ing icons o f gods and other lesser superhuman creatures which popular legend
ascribes to its heaven. Am ong these are the famous erotic carvings, which are
im ages o f the post-mortem delights awarded by celestial girls called apsarases
to the spirits o f heroes and sages. These heaven-bands are at the level o f the
raised interior floor, thus converting it into an analogue o f the ‘ courts o f
heaven’ , which are naturally adorned with ornamental designs reflecting all
that the heart Can desire.The principal image in its cell— called ‘ w om b-house’
— occupies at this level the place o f the enthroned king in his court, to whom
only the officiating brâhman has direct access. It is ‘ dressed’, ‘ fe d ’ , and ‘ en­
tertained’, just as à king might be. From it the ‘ originating energy’ o f the
cosm os is felt to flow out through the fabric o f the temple into the everyday
w orld around its foot.
T h e earliest certain examples o f the basic form o f the temple arc o f the early
fifth century a . d . , on top o f Sânchï hill. But scattered stone and brick in­
stances o f comparable date occur at such places as T igo w â; at Bhûm arâ is an
early shrine w ith an am bulatory. N o doubt there were yet earlier examples
w hich have perished, especially those at M athurâ which housed the icons o f
Y ish n u and Siva produced there during the second and third centuries A.D. A t
K u n d a, near Jabalpur, was also a very simple cell, restored in G upta times.
Caves, which were also developed as Hindu shrines, were being used by the
fifth century; a dynastic ròck-cut sanctuary at U dayagiri bears the date o f 401,
 Early Ari and Architecture 205

and among its main features is a colossal sculpture o f the boar ‘ incarnation’
o f Vishnu, the patron deity o f the site. .
Although there are regional styles in which the temple is conceived more as
a constructed shelter (e.g. K erala, Kashm ir), the process o f stone sculpture
was one o f the principal factors in the evolution o f (he fu lly stone-built Hindu
temple. By about a . d . 750 the temple had come to offer columns and surfaces
expressly meant to be cut with legendary images. Even the volumes o f the
building were thought o f as sculptured masses of, stone, rather than as en­
gineered support, wall, and canopy.
The principal regional centres where Hindu architecture evolved are very
numerous. M any remain to be properly investigated. But after about a . d . 650
it is possible to distinguish two broad types, the northern and the southern,
both o f which evolved as distinctive patterns out o f a previous mixed experi­
mental phase. This phase is represented first by the many ruinous and rebuilt
shrines o f fifth- to seventh-century date in northern India (e.g. Eran, Shankar-
garh, M ukundarra), whose original design can be scarcely made out; and
second by the numerous groups at the successive Châlukya capital cities in
northern M ysore, notably Aivalli (Aihole) and Badami (sixth to seventh
centuries). A t Aivalli, in particular, it is possible to discern am ong the seventy-
odd ruined shrines successive phases o f invention, when different layouts and
decorative schemes were apparently being tried. Some shrines built o f large
Slabs with fiat slabbed roofs (e.g. M ahüà, Parsorâ) are reminiscent o f the
megalithic graves which were still beiDg constructed in this part o f the D eccan
during historical times. T w o, the L àdh K h a n 'and K on t G udi, even lack
separate shrine-cells, the image being set on the back wall. N earby, at Ter,
another temple, once Buddhist, clearly shows how such forms result from the
direct take-over o f Buddhist preaching halls.
The fully characteristic northern temple stands on a plinth adorned w ith
elaborately profiled and rhythmical horizontal mouldings, It is distinguished
by its tall square-planned tower over the main cubical cell; this has a con­
vex curve to its contour and m ay have, around its root, com plex re-entrant
angles, imitative pilasters, small duplicates o f its own profiles, or ogival
hood-mouldings based on the end windows o f old . wooden palaces. This
tower is divided into horizontal bands which probably refer b ack to the actual
reduplicated stories o f earlier examples. Exactly such reduplicated stories do.
appear in early western Indian temples, and in the buildings o f those regions
in South-East Asia where early Hindu patterns o f temple w ere'adopted,
notably Cam bodia and Vietnam,
Th e variations o f the basic northern Hindu temple type are many. N o t all
are fully documented even now. A t individual sites, long lines o f continuous
development can be traced, leading up to immensely elaborate architectural
inventions; but at all times and places small, unpretentious structures which
are no more than modestly towered shrines with porticoes have been con­
tinuously built. A t Osiâ, in Râjasthân, fo r example, a surviving group o f
modest dynastic temples date from the eighth to the tenth century. Their
porticoes and plinths exhibit several variations on the basic design. Deogarh,
a hill-site where many temples once stood, is noted for its restored shrine on a
cross-plan, probably built c..700. Stairways run up each face o f the plinth; the
 206 Early Art and Architecture

shrine itself has its doorway in one wall, which three magnificent large reliefs
o f Vishnuife m ythology match on the other walls. A n early and very large
brick-built version o f the cross-plan, with one stairway rising directly into the
shrine chamber, is at Bhilargaon, near K anpur (Cawnpore). T h e faces o f the
high plinth are tiered with flat pilasters and ogival arcading. This building,
probably only one o f many similar temples which have vanished, is im portant
because it represents an early example o f the type which was developed at
Buddhist Somapura and transmitted to many parts o f South-East Asia. A t
numerous other sites in the different regions local architectural schools
flourished. In Râjasthàn temples were built with tiers o f open pillared bal­
conies (e.g. K irad u, c. 1100). In western India the temples tended to have
squat towers buttressed with regular tiers o f miniature repetitions o f their own
design, and some had superb, elaborately carved dance-pavilions aligned with
the m ain shrine but standing free o f it (e.g. M odherà, 1126). Perhaps the most
fam ous sequences are at Khajurâho in central India and in the cities o f
Orissa, a Hindu state which never w holly succumbed to Islam. B oth groups
are distinguished by their superb figure sculpture.
A t K hajurâho twenty-five temples still stand out o f an original eighty-odd,,
all built between c. 950 and 1050 around a Jake. One is constructed round a
court on a ground-plan based upon a cosmic meditative diagram . T he
m ajority, however, follow the ‘ temple-mouûtain’ design. The most beautiful
individual buildings are also those which are carved with the m ost beautiful
figure sculpture, notably the Viévanàtha and the K andârya M ahâdeva. T he
celestial figures carved around their heaven-bands, m any o f them in overtly
erotic postures and groupings, all flavoured with a profound sensuality, are
w idely regarded as some o f the greatest'and most inimitable achievements o f
Indian art, an essential part o f man’s most precious heritage. The figures are all
cut in what is, in fact, extremely deep relief. T he depth o f the cutting gives them
a strong plastic presence even when they are seen from far off. T h e form s o f the
bodies are sinuous and totally convex; they seem to be bursting out o f the
fabric o f the building itself— an intentional effect with a direct'sym bolic value
in relation to the meaning o f the temple as creative source and centre.
A number o f fragments o f wall-painting suggest that m ost-of these temples,
including thejr sculpture, were plastered and painted, as Hindu temples still
are. It also seems likely that they were decorated with painted and dyed
cotton hangings. W e can, however, be sure that any temple o f significance was
elaborately decorated with precious metals and gems, just as shrines are in
m odern C atholic countries. T h e spoils gathered from Hindu temples by the
early M uslim invaders are reported b y the historians o f Islam to have been im ­
mense. A ll that has now vanished, virtually without trace. However, painting
and sculpture show how highly developed the arts o f the Indian jeweller and
w orker in precious Inetal were; for nearly every figure represented is wearing
a load o f superlative necklaces, hip girdles, head ornaments, bangles, and
anklets. .
Th e second m ajor group, in Orissâ, now contains more than 200 temples,
and once contained many more. A t the cities o f Bhubaneswar and Puri a con ­
tinuous history o f Hindu temple building can be traced through from the mid­
eighth century almost to modern times. The sequence develops through’
 Early Art and Architecture 207

modest stages and culminates in a handful o f very large structures. The

earliest typical shrine is the M uktesvara, at Bhubaneswar. It has a tower with
a curved outline and a substantial porch, both beautifully carved. A lso at
.'Bhubaneswar are the great Lingaràja, with its three aligned balls, and the
Râjarânî (e. a . d . i o o o ) . A t Puri is the com plex o f temples surrounding the
huge Jagannâtha shrine, much restored. But perhaps the most fam ous Orissan
building is the Black Pagoda at K o n ârak (c. 1230), an unfinished or ruined
temple o f the sun, conceived as a colossal stone celestial chariot. T he entire
^sculptural scheme is dominated by erotic groups, superbly cut, once painted,
■•and now world famous.
In Orissâ today a tradition o f illumination on narrow strips o f palm -leaf
■ still survives. T h e oldest know n examples are probably fifteenth century, but
there can be no doubt that this particular tradition preserves perhaps the
:most faithful record o f what was in earlier times a widespread genre o f Hindu
art. Classical Hindu texts are impressed with the stylus on to the leaf-strip and
•colour is rubbed into the impressions ; drawings to illustrate them are executed
in the same w ay, and are painted in bright, clear colours. The figure types and
- conventions o f design in the recent illustrations parallel very closely those
which appear in the eleventh-century sculpture.
In south India, as in Orissa, artistic traditions as a whole did not suffer
total eclipse at the hands o f M uslim invaders, though some regions o f the
.'.northern D eccan were occupied in the thirteenth century. In m any parts o f
the far south, therefore, there are temples which have remained in worship
•down to the present day. Som e o f the oldest sites have virtually been aban-
j doned without being systematically destroyed. A t Badam i a num ber o f Hindu
caves, one dated c. 578, contain the earliest m ajor programme o f m ythological
sculpture, w hich includes m any features adopted from the art represented in
earlier Buddhist caves, including opulent couples on brackets and door-jam bs,
•There are also, in Cave III, som e fragments o f contem porary Hindu painting,
(close to the later Ajantâ Buddhist w ork in style. The most im portant built
temples are perhaps at Pattadakal, at Kânchîpuram , and at M âm allapuram
on the east coast o f the D eccan. T h e early temples, fouuded at these places
(late seventh to early eighth centuries) by the Siva-worshipping Pallava
D ynasty, standardize one o f the experimental types evolved earlier b y the
Châlukyas at Badam i. Thereafter it becomes the pattern upon which were
based both later south Indian styles and styles built in various parts o f South­
East Asia, notably at A n gk or and in Indonesia, during the period o f T am il
overseas expansion.
Its essential characteristics are these: a pyram idal tower surm ounting the
cell, composed o f a restricted number o f storeys decorated with miniature
pavilions and crowned by a kind o f small faceted dom e; an exterior wall unit­
ing cell and main portico, which is vertically banded with pilasters between
foot and lintel, in the panels o f which there m ay be a few relief sculptures; a
surrounding wall, often lined with cells, so close to the structure that it
creates the feeling o f a roofless corridor; pillars supported b y lion caryatids,
with broad-spread capitals; and curvilinear brackets under lintels and eaves.
Pallava sculpture, descended, no doubt, from that at Buddhist A tnaràvatï,
is notable fo r its restrained elegance. Its carvers were responsible for one o f
208 Early Ari and Architecture

the most famous monuments in India. They produced a number o f mytho­

logical reiief carvings in caves and on rock-faces; but the group o f such carv­
ings at M àm allapuram is one o f the chief beauties o f Indian art. The largest
and most complete example (c. 670) is cut into a granite cliiTfacing the sea; it
contains many figures o f gods, sages, and animals illustrating the story o f the
descent o f the celestial G angâ from-heaven to earth.
In external architectural style— though not in sculptural— the colossal
monolithic temple called the Kailâsanâtha at Ellora, on the other side o fth e
D eccan (founded c. 775), is related to Pallava art. It belongs to a complex o f
caves, some Buddhist, some Jain, but is itself sacred to Siva. This, too, is one
o f the splendours o f Indian architecture. It was cut in two chief stages from a
volcanic hillside, carved both inside and out, so that it stands free within an
enormous quarry, the walls o f which are pierced with flanking cave-temples.
The fundamental plan o f cell with broad colonnaded hall is derived from a late
type o f Buddhist living-cave at the monastery o f A jantâ. The sculpture, how­
ever, is unique. Enorm ous figures in deep relief bound, leap, and twist, their
energy bursting beyond their architectural frames. T hey were once plastered
and painted; and here and there on the fabric a few fragments o f pure wall-
painting survive.
O f slightly later date is the equally famous âiva cave-temple on Elephanta
island near Bom bay, far more modest in scale, and architecturally not very
significant. B ut its vast sculptures, one being the well-known triple-head
(Trimürti) o f Siva, radiate an atmosphere o f powerful tranquillity.
U nder the immensely pow erful C hola D ynasty, the eastern coast o f the
peninsula became the site o f yet another flowering of art. A b o u t A .D . iooo at
Thanjavür (Tanjore) the greatest o f the early Chola temples was built, a
stupendous pyramidal shrine, sacred to Siva, its tower nearly 200 feet high
and crowned b y an eighty-ton ornate dome-capstone. On the inner walls o f
the am bulatory which runs around the cell under the main tower are the re­
mains o f an original series o f wall-paintings illustrating Siva m ythology and
celestial female dancers— another hint at how lavish the use o f colour origin­
ally was on Indian architecture. But the-Cholas are perhaps m ore artistically
remarkable fo r the extraordinary school o f bronze sculpture which they
patronized, and which has continued and evolved down to the present day. It
produced icons, ranging from almost life-size to a few inches high, o f Hindu
deities. The largest and most important o f them were sometimes dedicated as
‘ portraits’ o f members o f the royal family in the guise o f gods. M any were
meant to be carried in procession, and so they are modelled completely, in
three dimensions, with slender, elegantly rounded limbs in fluid postures.
There were many images o f Hindu saints in adoration; but perhaps the best-
known type is that which represents the god 3 iva as the beautiful 'L o rd o f the
D a n ce’, posing with one knee cocked out, in an aureole o f flame. T he high
period o f this art was probably the eleventh and twelfth centuries. But many
superb pieces were produced in later centuries, perhaps slightly coarser in
feeling. Again, no doubt, there must have existed during all these centuries a
far m ore widely diffused art o f metalwork— ornamental lamps, basins, trays—
o f which only a few fragments have been found. This w hole bronze art deeply
influenced the arts o f areas o f South-East Asia where south Indian culture
 Early Art and Architecture 209

made its impact, especially Ceylon, Thailand, and the kingdom o f eastern
Java.
In the western Deccan the Western Châlukya Dynasty built its own temples
in an extreme, mannered style, which is related to the general northern style
(e.g. Am barnàth, Bombay, eleventh century; G adag, Palampet, twelfth
century). The exteriors were elaborate and often sqtiat; but the interiors show
a proliferation o f columns with deeply cut horizontal mouldings, each with a
variety o f sections, and with facets for sculpture. T he brackets become agglo­
merations o f fantastic animals. The figures which adorn these brackets and
the pillars develop extremely sinuous postures, their limbs becoming slender,
almost insect-like. In the major icons hard, clearly defined form s often betray
an insensitivity o f touch which suggests a hardening impersonality in social
and aesthetic attitudes.
A somewhat similar effect appears in the strange flowering o f a Râjasthàn
northern temple type in the southern state o f M ysore under the H o yiala
Dynasty during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (e.g. Soinnàthpur, Belür).
The basic squat tower surfaced with repetitions o f itself was multiplied and
adorned with quantities o f ornamental sculpture. Star-shaped ground-plans
were adopted, and rows o f cells were linked upon single plinths. T he surface
ornament was developed into a fantastic mat o f curvilinear foliagc-tracery,
deeply undercut and so standing out against a ground o f shadow. Am ongst it
the human figures and animals, with their somewhat ponderous, simple form s,
are almost overwhelmed ; their heavy jewelled ornaments are woven into the
general proliferation o f design.
The question o f the value o f this vast inheritance o f early and medieval
Indian art to the modern world is a most interesting one. F o r two centuries
and more the West has been unable to come properly to terms with it. Indian
society has long been, and still remains, so rigidly structured that foreigners
have found it exceptionally difficult to enter sympathetically into Indian atti­
tudes, aesthetic as well as social. Europeans are still excluded from m any o f
the most sacred Hindu shrines. There are now clear signs that this situation is
changing. M any V/estemers are making their way to India not merely as
tourists but as eager admirers and students o f Indian culture. M any thousands
o f published illustrations and millions o f words o f text have made the reading
public in the West aware that there still survive (but only just) a culture and
art in India which have something unique and significant to give the modern
world.
The fundamental point is that this Indian ar.t incorporates, in its own terms,
a set o f ideal canons, o f form. The different categories o f architecture were
made according to strict principles o f proportion, following prototypes whose
patterns were considered sacred and were handed down from generation to
generation o f craftsmen, probably in manuals o f written and diagrammatic
formulae (some latish examples survive). Sculptures— and. perhaps paintings
too— were made according to clearly laid-down prescriptions for each type,
both in iconography and in detailed proportions. These canons naturally
seemed to be in violent conflict with the semi-classical idealist-realist canons
o f art which persisted in Europe virtually into this century. It was no accident
that the first Indian art to attract widespread and serious attention in the West
210 Early Art and Architecture

was the somewhat Helleno-Romanized art o f Buddhist Gaudhâra o f c. A .D .

120-500. Furthermore, even when the twentieth-century M odernist and
Cubist Revolution was under way, partly inspired by primitive arts, Indian
art remained at something o f an aesthetic disadvantage precisely because it in­
corporated a canon; and canons were supposedly being rejected. But in the
earlier twentieth century there were discerning collectors who recognized the
immense virtues o f Indian sculpture; two o f the most important were them­
selves distinguished sculptors— Rodin and Epstein. British administrators
who served in the old Indian C ivil Service ahd the Archaeological Survey o f
India before India became independent also admired and collected works o f
early Indian art. But primary obstacles to earlier Western appreciation o f all
this art were those o f its essential qualities which were deeply at variance with
puritanical Western notions— its form al exuberance, its extreme sensuality,
its vivid tactile presence, and its frequent unabashed concern with sexual love.
Indeed, it would be true to say that the whole o f the art so far discussed is
meant in one way or another to stimulate the senses. The multiplied and em­
phatic, but also sophisticated, rhythms o f the mouldings, profiles, columns,
and ornament on architecture are meant to be as vividly exciting as the
subtle rhythms o f Indian music. The brilliant colours o f painting were in­
tended to strike directly at human feelings. The generous, convex, smoothly
strokable sculptured form s o f divine and human figures, male and female
alike, were meant to evoke sensuous responses which include the sexual,
even when the divine person represented was an embodiment o f the m ost
awesome cosmic powers. This was all gathered by old Indian ideology under
the rubric o f ‘ heavenly splendour For the heavens o f the Indian imagination
were characterized by joys o f the most direct and uninhibited kind. A nd art
was always imbued with such attributes o f the divine world, even when it was
apparently dealing with exalted symbolism and solemn myth. T he ornament
on Indian architecture is based upon the flower-garland or flowering vase, the
ju icy vegetable stalk, rich pleated and embroidered cloths, swagged strings o f
jew els, and, o f course, beautiful girls, an abundance o f all o f w hich is what
gives the heavens their natural charm. F o r the heavens are, literally, the place
where every human desire is fulfilled. So enthralling was this vision to ancient
India that its artists saw no virtue in novelty at all. T hey aimed always tb re­
peat and intensify the same sensuous intuition again and again. They ploughed
a narrow furrow, but deep.
Even now, m any people find it very hard to reconcile this exuberant art
w ith the severely ascetic doctrines which were preached by Indian religions,
whose saints tormented to the limits o f endurance and immolated themselves
in the interests o f an absorbing and radiant vision o f the W hole, the Absolute.
B u t it has recently been recognized that, far from being at variance, these two
attitudes are actually sides o f the same coin, the second being inconceivable
without the first. Only the vital sensuous awareness which the art stimulates
can provide the fuel which is consumed in the transcendental fire. The'difficultÿ
was probably caused during the last century by the. reinterpretation o f Indian
philosophy and religion by Western and Indian scholars alike, in the light o f
Western language and philosophy, for which the senses play a role o f pure
‘ ev il’ , and have no place in religion.
 Early Art and Architecture 211
The sensual heavens o f Indian art, however, are ‘ the heavens’ ; they do not
direct the imagination towards the everyday world. Instead, they arouse de­
sires and focus them into a state ‘ beyond ’ this world, where their fulfilment is
promised. T hey are not incentives to appetite, but indicators o f the super­
natural assuaging and fulfilment o f every appetite, on a scale which com m on
life can never match, but only a life imbued with that vision o f the W hole.
This point was made very clearly in the great tradition o f aesthetic writing
produced in Sanskrit, which culminated in the monumental w ork o f Abhinava-
gupta (c. a . d . iooo). It is probably true that the earliest art o f historical India,
that o f the ivories and G anga valley terracottas, was rather a reflection o f the
desires o f a hedonistic public living in cities and towns where kings supplied
their exchequers with income derived from courtesans. But by the third
century a . d . there can be no doubt that the close link between heaven and the
yearnings o f ordinary sensuality had been well established.
The story o f the Buddha’s conversion o f his brother N anda, recorded in
the second century by the poet ASvaghosha, illustrates the mechanism in a
crude form. T he Buddha inveigled Nanda into abandoning his mistress and
joining his order o f monks by showing him a vision o f heavenly girls. In
N anda’s mind their beauty and sexual attraction com pletely eclipsed the
appeal o f his earthly lover. When he had become a m onk, he gradually came
to realize the emptiness and inadequacy o f all his desires. But the point regard­
ing Indian art is well made. Unless the spectator responds to the outer shell o f
the art, to the immediate appeal even purely secular art makes, he m ay not
reach the meaning within, his desires w ill remain vagrant, constantly looking
for satisfaction in the things o f the outer world, and leading him into crime
and cruelty in his search for self-gratification. India’s world o f art is a con­
sistent whole; that is why it followed ideal forms with w hat m ay seem to us
like monotonous insistence. The misunderstandings possible fo r modern men
are that they m ay write o ff such a meaning as ‘ com pensation’ ; that they m ay
read the sensuous appeal as purely worldly, instead o f as super-worldly (even
well-intentioned writers still confuse the celestial images o f art w ith the cus­
toms o f the w orld); or that they m ay lose themselves in feelings that lack the
true centre which Indian art always had. I f it is rightly understood, the art o f
early historical and medieval India has something unique to offer.
C H A P T E R XVI

Music
by N . A . Ja ir a z b h o y

M u s i c in the Indian subcontinent is a reflection o f the diverse elements—

racial, linguistic, and cultural— that m ake up the heterogeneous popu­
lation o f the area. The extraordinary variety o f musical types is probably
unparalleled in any other equivalent part o f the world. M usic plays a vital
role in the religious, social, and artistic lives o f the people. A great deal o f it
could be termed functional, as it is an indispensable part o f the activities of
everyday life, ranging from w ork and agricultural songs to the music which
accompanies life-cycle events, such as birth, initiation, marriage, and death.
In spite o f the great diversity o f music in the area, it is possible to m ake a few
general statements which w ould be valid for most o f the music in India. For
instance, apart from modern developments, Indian music is based mainly on
m elody and rhythm ; harm ony and polyphony, as know n in the W est, have no
part in the music. M uch o f the m usic is m odal in character and is often accom­
panied by a drone which establishes a fixed frame o f reference and precludes
key changes which are so characteristic of.W estern music. There is, however,
such a great variety o f m elodic and rhythm ic forms in India that it would be
injudicious to generalize any further.
In dealing w ith the origins o f this exceedingly com plex musical culture, we
are fortunate that music has been part o f India’s literary tradition for nearly
2,000 years, and references to music go back even further; and that there are
still areas in India which have remained m ore or less isolated from the main
cultural stream and appear to have preserved their ancient musical forms re­
latively unchanged. Through the literary sources, we can trace something o f
the history o f Indian classical music, which is predom inantly an art form
found in the cities. These sources, however, give no indication o f the nature o f
village music, although they often mention the m usic o f various regions. N or
do they discuss the non-classical forms found in the cities. Classical music has
an elaborate musical theory and literature, and this tends to' obscure the fact
that only a small minority o f the population is involved with this kind o f
music. Even in the cities, o f India, classical music is by no means the most
popular form o f music and new form s are evolving which appear to have
much more relevance to the m ajority o f Indians. These new forms, however,
derive much o f their inspiration from the classical tradition and most o f the
musicians involved in their com position and performance have been trained
in the classical idiom .
A fundamental element o f Indian classical music is the use o f a drone,
usually provided by a wind instrument or a plucked stringed instrument,
which is tuned to a pitch convenient to the singer or instrumentalist— there
being no concept o f fixed pitch. Classical music is performed by small en-
 Music 213
semblés usually consisting o f one main melody instrument or singer, one or
more secondary melody instruments which echo, but m ay at times carry, the
main melody line, and one or more percussion instruments which m ark the
time measure and provide rhythmic counterpoint. The melody line is largely
improvised on melodic entities called râgas, each o f which prescribe a set o f
melodic possibilities. These have been handed dov/n as part o f an oral tradi­
tion, from teacher to pupil over many generations. The bases o f the rhythmic
improvisations are called (àlas, each o f which prescribes the length o f a time
cycle in terms o f time units as well as the distribution o f stresses within this
cycle. Râga and tâla arc the two main elements o f Indian classical music. In
embryonic form these tw o elements are also to be seen in much o f the folk
music o f the country.

V E D IC C H A N T

The literary tradition in India begins with the Vedas. A ccording to Hindu
tradition, these texts were imparted by the G od Brahma to sages (rishis) in the
form o f the spoken word and have been handed down from 'one generation o f
b.rahmans to the next in oral form, right down to the present period.
The original Vedic language had an accent system, com parable to that o f
Alexandrian Greece, where a particular syllable in each word was accented.
In some instances, the position o f the accent had a bearing on the meaning.
This applied particularly to compounds, such as indra-satru, which w ith the
accent on the first syllable, meant *whose enemy is Indra ’, but with the accent
on the first syllable o f the second word, meant ‘ enemy o f In dra’ . In the de­
velopment from Vedic to Sanskrit, the original tonic accent was replaced by a
stress accent which was located autom atically near or at the end o f each word
determined by syllable length. The original Vedic accent was expanded to in­
volve three syllables, the anudâtta (which can be described as a preparation
for the main point o f accentuation), the udâlta (the accented syllable), and the
soarita (a kind o f return to accentlessness). In the manuscripts o f the Rig Veda
and certain other texts, which occur much later, the anudâtta is marked with a
horizontal line below, the udâtta is unmarked, and the sparita is indicated by
a vertical stroke above:
I I 1
sahasrasîr$â purujal.t sahasràkçah sahasrapàt
a u s au s a u a u s
There are deviations from the basic pattern indicated above, but they need
not be discussed here.
The ancient phonetic and.grammatical schools which followed the Vedic
period paid considerable attention to matters concerning the accent and it is
thus clear that the position o f the accent in each word has been preserved faith­
fully. However, the terms udâtta, anudâtta, and svarita, and the manner o f
their recitation, received divergent interpretation even in these early texts.
M odern scholars have put forward at least three differing views regarding the
nature o f the V edic accent: that the accent was based on pitch, on stress, and
on the relative height o f the articulatory organ.
There is much evidence for a musical interpretation o f the accent, not only
in the textual sources but also am ong some o f the traditions o f Rig and Yajur
214 Music

Vedic recitation which exist in India today. The most direct correlation be­
tween pitch and accent is found in the recitation style o f the T am il A iyar
brâhmans, the most widespread style o f V edic recitation in India, This is
based on three tones: the udâtta and the non-accented syllables (called
prachaya) are recited at the middle tone, the anudâtta at the low tone, and the
svarita either at the high tone (when the syllable is short) or a combination o f
two tones, middle followed by high. This compares exactly with the manu­
script notation where the anudâtta (the low tone) is marked with a line below
the syllable, and the svarita (the high tone) with a line above. In this style o f
recitation, the duration o f the tones is also directly related to the length o f the
syllables. In the following example it should be noted that the intervals only
approximate to the Western musical stave:
Musical example I, p . 240
The Nam bûdirï brâhmans o f K erala have a very individual style o f chant­
ing, characterized by shakes or oscillations (kampa). F or the most part, how­
ever, there is a similar correlation between accent and pitch. A s in the Aiyar
style, there is also a correlation between the duration o f tones and the length
o f the syllables.
M usical example 2, p. 240
The style o f recitation found in M ahâràshtra, however,.contrasts in prin­
ciple with these two, since the anudâtta is recited at the high tone. T he relation
o f pitch to accent is not nearly so direct as in the tw o previous examples, being
modified by other phonetic factors, such as length o f syllable and whether it
begins with a nasal, semivowel, aspirate, etc. A feature o f this style is the
application o f stress, which falls, surprisingly, on the anudât(a, pushing the
pitch o f this tone as much as a fifth higher than the udâtta.
M usical example 3, p. 240

N on e o f these styles'of chanting compares exactly with the descriptions in

any o f the ancient phonetic and grammatical texts. This is surprising in view
o f the rigorous methods o f training and preparation o f brahman initiates,
which place such emphasis on exact intonation.
Th e close conhection between the notation o f the accents mentioned earlier
and the Aiyar-N am büdirl treatment o f the accents, suggests that these two
styles are probably more than a thousand years old and it m ay well be that
they go back to very early times.
The chanting o f the Sòma Veda is much more musical than that o f the Rig
and Yajur Vedas, and the chants use 5, 6, or 7 tones. It is clear from the
phonetic texts that certain elements o f musical theory were known in Vedic
circles and there are. references to the three octave registers (sthâna), each con­
taining seven notes (yarna). In the auxiliary Sâma Vedic text, the Nâradisikshâ,
the Vedic tonesmre correlated with the secular tones (svaras) as well as. the
accents, suggesting that the Vedic octave was an extension o f the tonal nucleus
found in Rig and Yajur Vedic chant. Here two groups o f notes, a descending
fourth apart, are clearly implied; the wtfn/w'being correlated with the secular
tones ga (F) and m.(C), the anudâtta with ri (E) und dha (B), and the svarita
 M usic 215
with ma (G), sa (D) and pa (A). The two conjunct tetrachords are seen more
easily below:

svarila ma (G ) sa (D)
udâtta ga (F) ni (C)
anuddtia ri (E) dha (B)
svarila sa (D ) pa (A)

A s with the Rig and Yajur Veda, there are several styles o f Sòma V edic
chant. T h at o f the Tam il A iy a r brâhmans, w ho follow the Kauihuma branch
'[■(fâklta) o f Sòma Veda, is the best-known. Their style is quite musical and
Pappears to be an extension o f the Aiyar Rig and Yajur V edic style. T h e hymns
I'seem to be based on the ‘ D ’ mode, the Ecclesiastic D orian. H ow ever, their
^intonation differs quite considerably from the ‘ J u st’ and the ‘ P ythagorean ’
fjtuning systems. Electronic analysis o f their tones shows a great deal o f yaria-
?;tion, even during the course o f a single chant. H owever, it does show that
f much o f their chanting seems to be based on intervals o f three different sizes,
| à semitone o f about 90 cents, a three-quarter tone o f about 140 or 150 cents,
I'and a whole tone generally ju st under 200 cents. T he basic nucleus o f the
j chants seems to lie in the tetrachord F - C , with D as the final (finalis). H ow ­
s ever, the interval F - C seems to be consistently smaller than a perfect fourth
5 (498 cents). In spite o f this, it is possible to see a great deal o f sim ilarity be­
tw e e n the mode generally used in this Sòma Veda tradition and the ancient
t Indian parent scale, the shadjagrdma, which is discussed in the follow ing
hpages.

; M usical example 4, p. 241

The reciting style o f the A iyar brâhmans who follow the Jaiminiya branch
5 Of the Santa Veda differs quite considerably from that o f the A iy a r brâhmans
o f the Kauihuma branch. This chant is much less musical and there is no
I evidence o f anything like the three-quarter tone. In addition, the upper tone is
^generally forced out, has very short duration, and is followed by a descending
«slide (portamento). This upper tone seems to be influenced by stress and varies
I'frbm about a whole tone to nearly a m ajor third.

f Musical example j , p. 241

$ )' T h e N am büdirî brâhmans o f K erala, who also follow the Jaimimya branch,
Shave the most extraordinary style o f Sòma V edic incantation. T h ey exhibit
|hnusual breath control, stretching out each vowel, sometimes fo r as lon g as
t&ight seconds, during which the voice oscillates quickly over a range o f about
ga-fourth:
£&»*•
I M usical example 6, p . 241
t e T h e r e is still a considerable variety o f Vedic chants w hich continue into the
^present period. O f these, the Sdrna V ed ic recitation is clearly dying out m ost
^rapidly, as it was used in the Soma sacrifices w hich are now seldom held.
^EVen the Rig and Yajur Veda chants are m ore or less extinct in m any parts o f
gTndia, and south India is now the main stronghold o f V edic chant.
 216 M usic

A N C IE N T INDIAN MUSIC

T h e Vedas and their ritual are applicable to the dui-ja, the ‘ twice b orn ’, the
three upper castes o f Hinduism. T h e fourth caste, the südras, were introduced
to Hindu m ythology and religious philosophy through the originally secular
epic poems, the Ràmâyana and the Mahâbhârata, and through the Purânas—
popular stories depicting the lives o f the various incarnations o f the' Hindu
deities and other religious legends. These were probably sung and recited,
perhaps even before the Christian era, by bards, in m uch the same w ay as they
still are. These legends were also enacted on stage, and probably the first
detailed description o f music is to be found in this connection in the Nâtya-
iâstra which has been variously dated from the second century B .c. to the fifth
century a . d . This work is, in m any respects, a m anual-for the producer o f
stage plays and deals w ith all the aspects o f dram a, including dance and music.
M u ch o f the present-day m usical term inology stems from this source, and the
NâtyaJâstra has inspired m any treatises oyer the centuries. ’
Scholars are not all agreed on the nature o f this early musical system which
was associated with theatrical performance. It evidently included background
music, performed b y an orchestra, w ith singers, located just o ff stage, in what
was very much like an orchestra pit. M elodies were apparently derived from
modes (jâtis) which were taken from the heptatonic serial progressions
[tnûrchhanâs) o f two closely related parent scales or tone systems, shadja-
grâma and madityamagrâma. (A third parent scale, gândhâragrâma, referred to
in several early texts, is not mentioned in the NàtyaSâstra.') These two scales
differed in the positioning o f ju st one note, which was m icrotonally flatter in
the madhyamagrâma than in the shadjagrâma. This m icrotopal difference was
referred to as th e prantânâ (‘ m easuring’) sruti, w hich presum ably served as a
standard o f measurement to determine that tbe octave consisted o f 22 srutis.
It would appear from the textual source that the srutis were o f a standard
size, or at least were thought to be so. A number o f modern scholars have,
however, argued that the srutis were in fact o f three different sizes. Fox
Strangways gives 22, 70, and 90 cents as the sizes o f the srutis. There is no
doubt, however, that one irid i was not considered a musical interval and the
seven notes o f the octave were composed o f tones having either two, three, or
four srutis. Thus, a single sruti is m ost readily seen as the highest common
factor o f tbe three different-sized tones. There has been no attempt to deter­
mine the exact size o f the érutis in any o f the traditional Indian musical
treatises.
T h e concept o f vâdt, sanwâdi, vivâdt, and anuvâdi seems to have been o f
primary importance in this musical system. These terms are com parable to the
Western sonant, consonant, dissonant, and assonant, respectively. They ex­
pressed-an abstract concept o f consonance and dissonance which could be
applied to specific scales or modes. A s in the G reek Pythagorean system, only
perfect fourths and fifths were considered consonant, while ‘ dissonant’ seems
to have referred to the semitone, and perhaps tbe m ajor seventh. These rela­
tionships are expressed in srutis; the consonant intervals being o f either 9 or
13 srutis, the dissonant o f either 2 or 20. T he remaining tones were considered
assonant.
 M usic 21J

The difference between the two tone-systems, shadjagrâma and madhyama-

grâina, is best seen in terms o f consonance rather than o f the microtonal
deviation mentioned earlier. In the shadjagrâma- the interval between the
second degree and the fifth degree is described as 10 srutis, that is one sruti
larger than the consonant fourth. In the madhyamagrâma this fifth degree is
lowered by one Sruti, thus making it consonant to the second. T his means,
however, that the fifth degree is no longer in perfect relationship with the first
degree, being 12 srutis instead o f the consonant 13 Srutis. This can be seen in
the following schema. T h e notes o f the Indian octave (saptaka, ‘ group o f
seven’), shadja,- rishabha, gândhâra, madhyama, panchama, dhaiuata, and
nishâda, are given in their com m only abbreviated forms, sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dha,
and ni:

Sh\idjf\grân\

----------- 9----------- j fourths

r -Il j (injTirtis)
-10 n
Indian note*: 9 |
fruii intervals^ ~ ^ ma
4 3 2 4 4 3 2 (4)
... . , (C) D E~* F G A H' C (d)
W estern notes: l_________ 13_________ I
(approximate)_______ I______ _—.[3--------------- 1

'---------^ — 13-----------— 1 , fifths

I— -1 3 ---------------- 1

M n d h y a m a g ro m a

fourths

' r, I
Indian notes: ,---- •----- 9---------- ,
sruti intervals (nil su ri eu ina va Jhtt ni . (su)
4 3 2 4 3 4 2 (4)
Western notes: (c) D t:- 1' G A~ li" C (d)
(approximate) 1-------— — 13----- 1
-13------------- 1
I------------------1 3 1 , f ift h s
1 — 13 1

•T h e minus signs indicale that lite Indian notes w ere mkrotonally

[latter than their W estern counterparts.

The madhyamagrâma is, however, said to begin with ma rather than sa,
perhaps because the sa no longer has a consonant fifth. Thus, the shadjagrâma
is similar to the ‘ D ’ mode, the Ecclesiastic D orian, and the madhyamagrâma
to the ‘ G ’ mode, the Ecclesiastic M ixolydian. It w ill be seen that, apart from
the non-consonance o f the ri-pa in the shadjagrâma and the sa-pa in the
madhyamagrâma, both parent scales bave one other non-consonance, ga~dha,
an interval o f eleven srutis. This is the inevitable tritone which was described
as.dìabolus in musica (‘ the devil in m usic’) in Western plainsong. l t was very
likely that, to avoid this tritone, two altered notes were introduced into, the
ancient system— the antara ga (F # ), which was two Srutis sharper and was
thus a perfect fourth below the dha (B), and the kâkaiini (C # ), a perfect fifth
 Music

above the anfora ga. These two notes m ay initially have been leading no.te
accidentals, but later-became scale notes which replaced the norm al ga arid
ni.
From each o f the two parent scales seven modal sequences (mürchhanà)
were derived, based on each o f the seven notes. Thus, there were tw o mûr-
chhanâs based on, for instance, the r i(E), one using the shadjagrdma tuning, the
other the madhyamagrâma tuning, differing from each other only in the one
iruti deviation o f the pa (A). O f each o f the seven pairs o f mürchhanàs, one
was chosen as the basis for a suddha jâ ti (‘ pu re’ mode), four o f which were in
the shadjagrdma tuning, three in the madhyamagrâma. In addition to these
seven, a further eleven vikrita jd tis (‘ m odified’ modes) were derived by the
combination o f tw o or more o f the suddha jdtis. Just how this was achieved,
however, is not indicated in the text. T h e jdtis were musical entities on wliich
compositions and, presumably, improvisations were based and must have re­
sembled the modern concept o f rdga. They are described initially in terms of
ten characteristics : graha (starting note), amia (predominant notes), tara (the
note which forms the upper limit), mandra (the note which forms the lower
limit), nydsa (the final note), apanydsa (the secondary final), alpatva (notes
which are used only infrequently), bahutva (notes used frequently), shddavita
(‘ hexatonic q uality’ , i.e. the note which is omitted to make thejn//' hexatonic),
and audavita (‘ pentatonic q u ality’, i.e. the two notes which must be omitted
to make the jd ti pentatonic).
The fact that jdtis are often allocated more than one amia and in the case of
one— the jd ti shadjamadhyama— all the notes are given as amia, suggests that
these ancient jdtis had multiple possibilities and were not quite the same as the
m odern rdga. Similarly, the use o f the terms shddavita and audavita seems to
indicate that a single jd ti could be performed in either heptatonic, hexatonic,
or pentatonic form. In the modern rdga the possibilities are generally quite
limited, and although the number o f notes might vary in the ascending and
descending lines, a rdga is usually described as being just one. o f the three,
heptatonic, hexatonic, or pentatonic.
It is not clear ju st when the system o f jdtis fell into disuse, since many later
texts refer to them merely out o f reverence for Bharata, the author of. the
Nâtyasâstra. There is, however, mention in the Ndtyaidstra o f certain musical
entities, later called grdma-rdgas, which are said to be performed in the formal
stages o f Sanskrit classical drama. The connection between these and the
elaborately described system o f jdtis is not established in the Ndtyaidstra. The
grdma-rdgas, seven in number, are mentioned in the seventh-century Fallava
Kutum iyâm aiai music inscription in Tam ilnadu, in the Drihaddesi, written by
M atanga about the tenth century, and in the Sangitaratndkara by Sârngadeva,
written in thé thirteenth century a . d . In the Brihaddeiî the grdma-rdgas are
said.to have been derived from the jdtis, but the evidence seems to suggest that
they were more like the parent scales or tuning systems on which the jd tis were
based, namely the shadjagrdma and the madhyamagrâma. In fact, shadjagrdma-
rdga and madhyamagrdmardga are two o f the grdma-rdgas listed in the music
inscription. T h e other five seem to be variants in which either or both antara
and kdkall, the altered form s o f the notes ga and ni, are used. These seven
grdma-rdgas have been reconstructed as follows:
 M usic 219
Madhyama-grâma-râga.
sa ri ga ma pa dba ni sa
3 2 4 3 4 2 4
D E' F G A" B- c d
Shadja-gràma-ràga.
sa ri ga ma pa dba ni sa
3 2 4 4. 3 2 4
D E" F G A B- c d
Shâdava-grâma-râga.
(a)*
sa ri ga ma pa dha ni sa
3 4 2 3 4 2 4

D E" F* G A" B" c d

Panchatna-gràma-ràga.
(a)
sa ri ga ma pa dha ni sa
3 4 2 4 3 2 4
D E" Ff G A B" c d
Kaisika-grâma-râga.
(a) (k)*
sa ri ga ma pa dha ni sa
3 4 2 3 4 4 2
D E” F* G A" B- c* d
Sàdhàrita-gràma-ràga.
(a) (k)
sa ri ga ma pa dha ni sa
3 4 2 4 3 4 2
D E" F* G A B- c* d
Kaisika-madliyama-grâma-râga,
(a) (k)
sa ri ga ma dba ni sa
3 4 2 7 4 2
D E" F* G B- c* d

(a) «ad (le) refer to onfora and k& ka lt, the variant form s o f the notes ga and tit,

M atanga, the author o f the Brihaddesi, claims to be the first to discuss the
term râga in any detail. It seems quite evident that during this period râga was
only one o f several musical entities. T h e prim ary method o f classification
used by M atanga was in terms o f musical forms called giti, which appear to be
related to performance styles, not to tuning systems. F ive categories o f giti
afe discussed : iuddha, bhinna, gaudi, râga (also called vesara), and sâdhârani.
M atanga mentions five ittddha (‘ pure’) gitis which ar.e the same as five o f the
220 Afasie

gràma-ràgas mentioned above, excluding shadjagrdrna-rdga and. tnadhyama-

grdma-rdga. These two are included in the list o f suddha gilts given in the
Sangitaratnâkarfl. The bhinna category is apparently derived from the suddha
by altering one or more o f the m elodic characteristics, for instance, note or
octave register o f emphasis and variation o f ornamentation. T h e gaudi cate­
gory is, however, distinguished from the suddha only in the style o f perform­
ance; it is much more florid and is characterized by fast shakes in all three
octave registers. The other two categories o f giti, rdga, and sâdhârani appear
to be independent from the m elodic point o f view. M ost o f the rdga-gitis
appear to have been named after the different peoples living in various parts
o f the country and this suggests a link with regional folk music. In terms o f
performance style, rdga-giti is described as having ‘ varied and graceful orna­
ments, with emphasis on clear, even, and deep tones and having a charming
elegance’ . The difference between the rdga-giti and the fifth category, sddhdr-
ani-giti, which is said to com bine the stylistic features o f the other four, is not
clear. There is reason to believe, however, that even in M atanga’s time the
grdma-rdgas and the gitis m ay have been slightly out o f date, for M atanga
mentions several other categories under the heading o f desi (lit. ‘ the vulgar
dialect spoken in the provinces’). D esi is contrasted with the term mdrga (lit.
‘ the p a th ’), which M atanga uses to refer to the ancient traditional musical
material, whereas desi refers to the music practice then cunent in the pro­
vinces. The title o f his w ork, Brihaddesi (‘ the great d e ii') , suggests that these
other categories may have been the focus o f the w ork, but the portion o f the
text surviving d oei not support this conclusion.
In the thirteenth-century Sangitaratndkara, the total number o f rdgas had
increased to 264, o f which ju st over 10 per cent were said to be no longer
popular. M odern scholars have not yet been able to reconstruct these rdgas
satisfactorily, in spite o f the fact that a rudimentary form o f notation, based
on the Indian equivalent o f the Western tonic sol-fa, was given by both
Sàrngadeva and M atanga. T h e basic difficulty lies in the interpretation o f the
intervals used in each o f the rdgas. Present-day Indian classical m usic is norm­
ally accorapaoied by a drone which establishes the tonic or ground-note quite
clearly. U nfortunately it is not until the modern period that texts mention the
drone, and it is merely a m atter o f conjecture whether the drone was used in
ancient Indian music, and i f so which were the drone notes. In the jd ti system,
it w ould seem that practical considerations would preclude the use o f a drone,
since each o f the suddha (pure) jd tis apparently had a different ground-note.
On a modern drone instrument, such as the lambûrâ, this would involve re-
turiing the instrument fo r each jd ti and would be extremely im practical. In
modern music the ground-note remains unchanged from one rdga to the next
and changes o f scale are achieved by using vikrita suaras (‘ altered notes’) i.e.
flats and sharps. In the jd ti system, however, scale changes were achieved by
shifting the ground-note to different points o f the two parent scales. Only two
altered notes, kâ k a lini and antaraga, were used, apparently serving as leading
notes, and these were used only in ascent.
It m ay have been, at least in part, because o f the proliferation o f rdgas, and
the number o f overlapping categories to which they were ascribed, that new
methods o f classifying rdgas seemed to become popular during the Musjim
 M usic 221
period. These were apparently not based on musical characteristics, but rather
on associations involving the ethos o f the ràgas. From early times both jàtìs
and ràgas, in their connection with dramatic performance, were described as
having particular moods (rasa) and being suitable for accompanying specific
dramatic events. T h e term râga itself is derived from, the Sanskrit root ranj ‘ to
colour or tinge with em otion’, and it was this aspect o f râga which seemed
to gain precedence.
The most popular method o f classification was in terms o f ràgas (mascu­
line), and their wives, called râgini, which was sometimes expanded to include
puiras (their sons) and bhâryàs (wives o f sons). T he number o f masculine
ràgas is usually given as either five or six, each having six wives. These ràgas
and râginis are usually personified and are associated with’ particular scenes,
sòme o f which are taken from Hindu m ythology, while others represent the
states o f feeling beginning to be expressed in the romantic-devotional liter­
ature o f the period. The climax o f this personification is found in the ràga-
mâlà paintings, usually in series o f thirty-six, which depict the ràgas and
râginis in their emotive settings.
The classification in terms o f ràgas and râginis is now no longer used, and
although one still occasionally hears an older musician use the word râgini,
only the term râga (in north India usually pronounced râg) is now in general
use. This often leads to incongruities o f gender, where the masculine word
râga is followed by a word with a feminine ending, for instance râga Bhairavi,
the wife o f Bhairava, an aspect o f the Hindu deity, Siva.

MODERN NORTH AND SOUTH INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

The thirtecnth-ccntury Sangitaratnâkara was written in the D eccan, just

before the Muslim conquest o f this region by ‘ A la ’u ’d-Din K halji. It is shortly
after this that one notices a gradual differentiation between.north and south
Indian music. Although orthodox Islam frowned upon music, the acceptance
o f the Süfî doctrines (in which music was often an integral part) by Islam
made it possible for many M uslim rulers and noblemen to extend their
patronage to this art. The attitude expressed by A m ir Khusrau, a poet and
musician at the Court o f 'A lâ ’u’d-DTn K haljt, who comments that the music o f
India was the finest in the world, was fairly representative o f the Muslim
attitude to Indian music. Although we know that musicians from Iran,
‘A fghanistan, and Kashm ir were at the courts o f the M ughal Emperors A kbar,
Jahangir, and Shah Jâhàn in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is quite
evident that it was Indian music which captured the imagination o f the Muslim
rulers. Famous Indian musicians such as Svâmï Haridâs, Tânsen, and Baiju
Bâvrà have left their impress on the history o f north Indian music as per­
formers and innovators. Muslim musicians took to the performance o f Indian
music and added to the repertoire by inventing new ràgas, làlas, and musical
forms, as well as musical instruments. This Muslim influence was largely
effective in the north o f India and undoubtedly helped to further the differen­
tiation between north and south Indian music, the two classical systems which
are now generally referred to as Hindustani and Karnàtak (Carnatic) music,
respectively.
 222- Music

The Muslim patronage o f music has had two main effects on the music of
north India. The first was to de-emphasize the importance o f the words of
classical songs, which were originally composed in Sanskrit and were, in any
case, incomprehensible, to anyone less than a traditional Hindu scholar.
Sanskrit songs were gradually replaced by compositions in various dialects
such as Bhojpuri and DakhanI, There were also compositions in Urdu and
Persian, some o f which can still be heard. The textual themes o f the songs were
often based on Hindu mythology and were o f little meaning to the Muslims,
yet Muslim musicians sang these songs, with Hindu religious themes, as they
do to jh is day. T h e reverse is also true, that Hindu musicians sometimes sing
songs dedicated to M uslim saints. Perhaps the best example o f this broad­
minded attitude is to be seen in the poetry o f the M uslim ruler Ibrahim 'Âdil
Shàh II o f the Deccan, who, in his Kitâb-i-Nauras, composed at the beginning
o f the seventeenth century, wrote poems in praise o f both Hindu deities and
M uslim saints. These poems were sung in specified râgas by both Hindu and
M uslim musicians.
The second effect o f court patronage on Indian music was to produce an
atmosphere o f competition between musicians, which placed no little em­
phasis on display o f virtuosity and technique. A great deal o f importance was
also placed on the creative imagination o f the performing musician and
gradually the emphasis shifted from what he was performing to how he was
performing it. Traditional themes remain the basis o f Indian music, but, in
north India particularly, it is the performer’s interpretation, Imagination, and
skill in rendering these that provide the main substance o f modern Indian
music.
Beginning about the sixteenth century, we can see a direct connection*
between tbe textual literature and modern performance practice. A n im­
portant feature o f most o f these texts is that a new system o f classifying râgas
in terms o f scales was introduced. T hese scales are called mela in southTndia
and that in north India. W hile north Indian music was evolving through its
contact with the Muslims, south Indian musical theory was being thoroughly
revamped by its theoreticians. Here a basic difference o f approach becomes
evident. N orth Indian musicians were little influenced by the musical literature
written in Sanskrit because many o f them were M uslim and had no back­
ground in the language. In addition, m ost Hindu musicians were unable to
understand Sanskrit, which had become a scholarly language in north India.
South India had, however, become the centre o f Hindu learning, and Sanskrit
literature continued to play an important part in the development o fits music.
Thus north Indian music seems to have developed, for the most part, quite
intuitionally during this period, and it is only in this century that musical
theory has once again begun to come to grips with performance practice and
to influence its development. In contrast, south Indian theoreticians had
established most q f the perimeters and the parameters o f the system by the
eighteenth century.This, unquestionably, retarded the rate o f ‘ natural’ evolu­
tion o f south Indian music, but opened up a number o f different avenues
based on theoretical possibilities. A s a result, there are now considerable differ­
ences o f detail between the tw o systems to the point where they are, to a large
extent, mutually incomprehensible..
 Afasie 223

RÂGA AND ITS C L A S S I F I C A T I O N

B y this time we can be sure that the old system o f twenty-two srutis was no
longer in existence in either north or south Indian music, and in both systems
the octave was composed o f twelve basic semitones. In south Indian music, a
great deal o f emphasis was placed on heptatonic scale types, melas, as a
means o f classifying râgas, and the seventeenth-century text, Chaturdandi-
prakâsikâ, lists all the possible melas which w.ould fit into the south Indian
musical system. This •jT.-melakarta system still provides the basis o f classifica­
tion in south India. In the following chart are given the modern south Indian
and north Indian notes with their com parable Western notes:

South Indian North Indian Western

I. sa sa C
2. suddha ri kom al re Dl>
3. catusérutï ri éuddha re D
or éuddha ga E»
4. shatéruti ri D*
or sàdhârana ga kom al ga Et
5. antarâ ga éuddha ga E
6. éuddha ma éuddha ma F
7. prati ma tìvra ma F,‘
8. pa pa G
9. éuddha dha kom al dha At
10. catuésruti dha éuddha dha A
or éuddha ni Btt

l i . shatéruti dha A*
or kaiéiki ni kom al ni Bt
12. kâkalï ni éuddha ni B
In both systems, there is the underlying concept that no scale or râga m ay
use both the suddita (‘ pure’) and vikrita (‘ altered’) form s o f a note, but since
in south Indian music there are alternate names for four o f the notes, m any
more scales are possible than in north Indian music. T h e south Indian scales
are described in terms o f tetrachord types as follow s:
1. C Dt Ett F and G At B tt c
2. C Dt Et F G At Bt c
3- C D> .E F G At B c
4- C D Et F G A Bt c
5- C D E F G A B c
6. C E F G A* B c
Each o f the lower tetrachords can combine with six o f the upper tetra-
chords, which gives a total o f 36 possible scales. These 36 scales use the F ; a
further 36 scales are derived by using the F f , m aking a total o f 72. T o facili­
tate the memory, these scales are both numbered and named. T he first two
224 Music

syllables o f the name, when applied in a code, give tbe number o f the scale,
and from the number it is easy to reconstruct the scale if one remembers the
six tetrachord types.
The Chaturdaiuli-prakâsikâ states clearly that only Iy o f the 72 scales were
in current use. Since then, great south Indian composers have composed
râgas in each o f these scales and they are all in the modern repertoire.
In north Indian music the first and sixth tetrachord types o f south Indian
music, which involve the E ^ and and the D 8 and A 8, would not be
acceptable because in their system these notes would be seen as D , A and
E^, B&. Thus, these tetrachords would be ‘ chrom atic’ : C D*i F , G A 1, A ' c,
C E k E" F, and G Bk B*1 c. O f the 72 south Indian scales, only 32 would be
acceptable in north India. T h e north Indian approach to scales has been quite
different. The system generally adopted in north India is that advocated by the
late Pandit V. N . Bhàtkhande, who, after spending many years o f his life
notating songs in many different râgas performed by a number o f musicians
from various parts o f the country, concluded that m ost o f the râgas in north
India belong to ten different scale types, which are called that. These had
evolved quite naturally through performance and without the influence o f
musical theory. There are about ten more scales used In north Indian music,
but there is reason to believe that all o f these represent relatively modern in­
novations, some o f which are clearly derived from south India. One factor
w hich distinguishes these from Bhatkhande’s ten thâts is the fact that, whereas
there are several râgas in each o f Bhàtkhande’s thâts, the other scales are re­
presented by only one râga. N ine o f Bhatkhande’s ten thâts are connected to
each other in the form o f an incomplete circle, very much like the Western
C ircle o f K eys. The basic difference is that in Indian music sa and pa (C and
G ) are not permitted modified forms, either flat or sharp. Thus, the Indian
parallel o f the key o f D, which has F 8 and C }, would be Mâroâ that which has
F 8 and D *, the last being the enharmonic form o f the C ! . T he succeeding
sharps, G 8 and D 8, would thus be A* and E*. The equivalent o f the key o f
5 sharps (i.e. with F 8, D 8, A 5, E 8, and B«) is not used in north Indian music
at the present time. The diagram on page 225 shows this circle o f thâts.
Although the circle is not complete in terms o f the modern repertoire,
there is evidence to show that the missing scale was in fact used until the last
century. The north Indian râga Tori, which had this scale, was, in the seven­
teenth century, described as having four flats and would thus have been classi-
,fied in Bhairavi that o f Bhatkhande’s system. Râga Ton then evolved to the
scale missing in the circle, and is nosy classified in, arid has given its
name to, Tori that, with its three flats and one sharp. There have been many
instances o f north Indian râgas evolving one or two steps around the circle
over the past few centuries. There have, however, also been a few instances of
râgas whose scale has changed drastically, a process which cannot be ex­
plained in terms o f gradual evolution. The rate o f evolution o f the râgas in
south Indian music has been slower and, as a result, the occurrence o f the
same râga name in the two systems does not always indicate the same scale
type.
Bhairav, one o f Bhatkhande’s ten thâts, is not part o f this circle, but is
nevertheless extremely important in both N orth and South Indian music. Its
 Music 225
scale is the ‘ gy p sy ’ scale: C D b E F G Af* B c. The available evidence seems to
suggest that this was introduced into India from A rabic music sometime be­
fore the fifteenth century. Apparently the mode was first known as Hejâz
{Hejuji in south India), and the name Bhairav seems to have been applied
later. This connects with the circle through Purvi that. T he evidence suggests
that the Bhairav scale was already popular by the fifteenth or sixteenth
century, and some o f the rdgas mentioned in the scale at that time, for in­
stance in the Râgatarangmï o f Lochana, have evolved into the circle through
Purvi that. It m ay well be that the popularity o f Bhairav may have provided
the impetus which led to the com pletion o f the circle.

CIRCLE OF THXTS

KALYÂN
COEF* GA8C

There are indications in south Indian music too, that these same ten scales
m ay be the most important; but the fact that m any new rdgas have been in­
vented on purely theoretical bases in the last two hundred years tends to
obscure the evidence.
M ela and that are theoretical devices for the classification o f rdgas. They
may, perhaps, be used for exercises in training students but are never heard in
performance. Rdgas may be heptatonic (sampfirnd), hexatonic (.shddavd), or
pentatonic («audava). They have certain scalar elements; for example all rdgas
have specified movements which enable the melody line o f the rdga to be
carried from one octave to another— the ascending movement being called
droha {drohana) and the descending movement, avaroha (avarohand). In con­
trast to scales, however, which are stcp-by-step arrangements o f notes, rdgas
 226 Music

generally involve omissions o f specific notes (varjya svara) and zigzag move­
ments (vakralva), which are also usually specified. N or are râgas slaves to
scales, since accidentals are com m only used in many râgas, and in râgas such
as the north Indian Bhairavi and Pila all five accidentals are permitted. A
further distinction between scale and râga is found in the varying emphasis
placed on the different notes, which is characteristic o f each râga. In this con­
nection, the term uàdi or jiva-svara refers to the m ost prominent note o f a
râga, and samvâdi to the second most prominènt note. The terms uadi and
samvâdi were used in early Indian music to refer to the sonant and the con­
sonant. In modern times, however, the samvâdi is not always consonant to the
vâdi, for instance in the north Indian râga Mârvâ, where the vâdi is dha (A)
and the samvâdi re {komal) (D>), a descending augmented fifth.
Râgas, however, also have melodic elements and are generally recognized
by what are called ‘ catch ’ phrases (j/akar or raktiprayoga). M any râgas also
have characteristic ornaments associated with certain notes, and these are
further identifying features. In north Indian music one sees the beginnings o f
a different method o f râga classification based on these m elodic elements,
where a number o f râgas which have certain phrases in com m on are given
generic names, such as Kalyân, Malhâr, and Kânhrâ, with specific names
used to distinguish the various râgas within the same genus. This is, however,
a secondary means o f classification and has not been fully developed.
T o illustrate the difference between râga and scale, a musical .example
gives some characteristic phrases in six north Indian râgas which are tradi­
tionally described as belonging to KJtamâj that, the ‘ G ’ mode:
Musical example 7, p. 242

TÂLA AND ITS C L A S S IF IC A T IO N

Just as the system o f classifying râga is more elaborate in the south, so tocr
is the system o f classifying tâla, or time measure. Tâlas are reckoned in terms
o f angas (sections) whose duration is measured either in terms o f akshara or
mâtrâ. These two terms are derived from prosody, where they refer to the
syllable and the metrical unit respectively. In south Indian music, an akshara
is the smallest time unit, the mâtrâ being composed o f four aksharas. The main
group o f tâlas in south Indian music, called the sulâdi tâlas, has three different
angas; laghu, a variable unit consisting o f 3, 4, 5 ,7 , or 9 aksharas; druta, con­
sisting o f 2 aksharas; and anudruta, which is equal to one akshara. B y taking
the different values o f laghu, each o f the seven sulâdi tâlas has five possibilities,
called jâtis. The diagram overleaf shows the tâlas and the number o f aksharas
in their five jâtis.
It will be seen that several o f these time cycles are o f the same length but are
distinguished from e^ch other by their internal subdivisions. In the course o f
a performance, the vocalist as well as members o f the audience m ay m ark the
time b y clapping, hand waving, and finger counting.
In addition to the sulâdi tâlas one m ay also hear one o f the four châpu tâlas,
said to have been derived from fo lk m usic and consisting o f two sections o f
unequal length, i.e. 3 plus 4 , 1 plus 2; 2 plus 3, and 4 plus 5. On rare occasions
one m ay also hear one o f the ‘ classical’ 108 tâlas, based on the unit o f the
mâtrâ (equal to four aksharas), which often involves a gigantic tâla cycle, such
 Music 227

TÂLA ANOA JÂTI

lisra aUurasra khanda mitra sankirna

I. Dhm va L D L L * 3+ 2+ 3+3 4 + 2+ 4+4 S+2+5+5 7+ 2+ 7+7 9+ 2+ 9+9

= 11 = 14 = 17 = 23 = 29
'2. Mathya L D L 3+ 2+3 4 + 2+ 4 5+ 2+5 7+ 2+7 9+2 + 9
f. =8 = 10 = 12 = 16 = 20
,3. R ü p a k a D L 2+ 3 2+ 4 2+ 5 2+7 2+9
=5 =6 =7 =9 = 11
?+ Jhampi L A D 3+1 + 2 4+1 + 2 5+1+2 7+1 + 2 9+1+2
=6 =7 =8 = 10 = 12
^5. Triputa L D D 3+ 2 + 2 4+ 2+2 5 + 2+ 2 7+ 2 + 2 9+ 2+ 2
£ =7 =8 =9 = 11 = 13
% A ta L L D D 3+ 3 + 2+ 2 4+ 4+ 2+2 S + 5+ 2 + 2 7 + 7 + 2+ 2 9 + 9 + 2 + 21
= 10 = 12 =14 = 18 = 22
7. Eka L 3 4 5 7 9

♦L — laghtt, D = drum, A = anttdruta.

as 64 or 72 time-units. These are sometimes to be found in the most difficult

form o f south Indian music, called pollavi, o f which m ore w ill be said later.
In spite o f all this sophistication o f tala in south Indian music, perhaps h a lf
the music is set in âditâla, which is technically described as triputa tâla,
àhaturasra jâti, composed o f 8 beats (4 + 2 + 2). Ritpaka tâla, chaturasra jâ ti
(4 + 2), and misra châpu tâla (3 + 4) are also very prominent. T h e difficult and
long tâlas are used prim arily as a tour 3 e force. Each tâla m ay be performed in
one o f three tempi: slow (viiambita), medium {madhya), or fast (druta), the
medium tempo being double that o f the slow, and the fast double that o f the
medium. There is no gradual quickening o f tempi as is found in north Indian
music.
In contrast to the south Indian system, the m ain tâlas o f north India are
relatively few and are not systematized. T hey are usually listed in terms o f an
increasing number o f time units, the basic north Indian unit being the mâtrâ.
Three factors are o f primary importance in distinguishing one tâla from an­
other; the number o f time units, or mâtrâs, in a cycle; the subdivisions o f the
cycle in terms o f stress and lack o f stress; and the com position o f drum
syllables, called thekâ, which are used as a time-keeping pattern. Thus, two
tâlas o f north Indian m usic might have the same number o f time units and the
same distribution o f stresses within the cycle, but differ in the drum time­
keeping pattern, and be associated with different tempi and specific musical
forms. A n instance o f this is found in the two tâlas, tih â tâ and tintala (shown
below). The form er is only played in slow tempo and is associated w ith the
khyâl form, while tintala has a more general application, This refers only to
north Indian music. Another point o f divergence is the idea o f ‘ absent stress’,
called khâii, found in all the north Indian tâlas. This is a cónscious negation o f
stress which occurs at a point where one would norm ally expect a stress. Its
function appears to be to create an irregularity within the cycle, usually at the
half-way point, so that the repeating cycle cannot be shoftened. F o r instance,
ttntâfa, which has 16 time units, is subdivided into four groups o f four. This
 22$ Music

m ight be thought o f as a time cycle o f four beats, were it not for the fact that
the third group o f four begins with the empty beat— signalled by a w ave o f the
hand— whereas the first, second and fourth groups begin with positive stresses
which are indicated by claps. The beginning o f the first group, called sa/u
(satnam in south Indian music) is the most im portant and serves as the
point o f reference (to some extent like sa, the ground-note, in the melodic
system) and is the point where improvisations are often concluded. T h e other
stresses are called tali (claps). The following scheme shows the m ost common
talas in north Indian music. Tintala, like the south Indian Sditala, is by far the
most com m only used:

N O R T H IN D IA N T A L A S

TIN TÂ L ( TRITALA)
mâtrâ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 1
|hekâ(T) dhâ dhin dhin dhâ dhâ dhin dhin dhâ dhâ tin tic tâ tâ. dhin dhin dhâ
tâla X 0 3 I

T IL V Â R Â
mâtrâ J 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
thekâ(T) dhâ tirakita dhin dhin dhâ dhâ tin tic
tâla X
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
tâ tirakita dhic dhin dhâ dhâ dhin dhin
o 3

 R À CH A U T L
mâtrâ 1 2 3 4 15 6 7 8 : 9 10 11 12 j 14
thekà(T) dhin tirakita dhin nâ : tu nâ ka ttâ ; tirakita dhin nà dhini
tâla X 2 io 3 io 4 !

D lP C H A N D l
mâtrâ r 2 3 4 5 6 1 j8 9 10 II 12 13 14
IhekâÇT) dhâ dhin - dhâ dhâ tin - i tâ tin - dhâ dhâ dhin -
tâla X 2 î0 3
JH Ü M R Â
mâtrâ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
thekà(T) dhin -dhâ tirakita dhin dhin dhâge tirakita
tâla X 2
8 9 10 11 12 13' 14 j
tin -tâ tirakita dhin dhic dhâge tirakita j
0 3 I
DHAM ÂR
mâtrâ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 : 8 9 10 I l 12 13 14
thekâ(P) ka ddhl ta dhi ta dhâ - j ka tti ta ti ta tâ -
tâla X 2 1o 3 I
EKTÂL
mâtrâ 1 2 : 3 4 S 6 17 8 9 10 11 12
IhekâÇT) dhin dhin j dhâge tirakita tu nâ j ka ttà dhâge tirakita dhin nà
tâla X ;o 2 îo 3 4 1
 Music 229
CHAUTÂL
mâtrâ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ì7 8 9 to II 12
thekâ(P) dhà dhà din tà kita dhà j dio tà tita kata gadi gina
(àia X 0 2 jo 3 4
JHAPTÀL
màtrà 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 IO
thekâ(T) dhì nà dhì dhi nà ti nà dhi dhi nà
tâla X 2 0 3
A D D H Â T lN T Â L (SITÀRJ ü IAN I)
mitra 1 2 34 5 6 7 8 !9 IO II 12 13 14 15 16
thekà(T) dhà dhio - dhà dhà dhin - dhà dhà tin - (à tà dhin - dhà
tàla X 2 0 3
KAHARVA
mâtrà 1 2 3 4 : 5 6 7 8
thekâ(T) dhà ge nâ ti i nà ka dhî nà
(àia X io
JtOPAK
màtrà I 2 3 4 . 5 6 7 . I 2 3 4 5 6 7
thekàfT) dhin dhin tirakita dhin dhin dhà tirakita or tin tin nà dhin nà dhin nà
tàla X(o) 2 3 0 2 3
DÂDRÂ
jnàtrà 1 2 3 j4 5 6
!hekâ(T) dhà dhin dhà i dhà tin nà
.tâla X i0

1 màtrâ=time unit, thekà=drum syllables on tablà(T) or pakhâvaj(P), tâla=stress,

FORM AND INSTRUMENTS

Râga and tâla are both independent bases for composition and improvisa­
tion and m ay be heard as such in a concert. Âlâp, with which m ost Indian
classical music begins, presents the râga without reference to tâla, while the
reverse m ay be heard in the percussion instrument solo.
In general, Indian classical music is based on two movements; the first o f
these is in free time and is not accompanied by drums, and the second is in a
fixed time-measure which is introduced by a composed piece and is accom ­
panied by drums. It is in this second movement that râga and tâla are both
employed, since the composition involves a more or less fixed sequence o f
notes and a specific relationship with the tâla cycle. The first movement, the
âlâp or âlâpana, is, from the melodic point o f view, the most im portant o f the
performance. In the âlâp, which is completely improvised, the musician
gradually unfolds the characteristic melodic features o f the râga, in its own
natural rhythm, without the limitations o f a fixed time-measure. It is some­
times described as a prelude, but may last as long as half an hour, depending
on the inclination and imagination o f the performer, and the nature o f the
audience. Within the âlâp there are several stages o f development which may
lead to a section called jo r or nom tom in north India, lânam in south India.
This is also performed without fixed time-measure. but here a distinct pulse is
introduced. In north Indian instrumental music, the jor often culminates in a
230 Music

section called jhàlâ (‘ w eb’), where the fast rhythms produced 011 the drone
strings form a kind o f lattice-work through which the melody line weaves. A t
the conclusion o f the âlàp there is often a short pause, when instruments are
retuned before the composition is introduced and the second movement
commences.
There are a number o f types o f compositions in north and south Indian
music. Each o f these types has implications, concerning not only the form o f
the composition, but also its stylistic treatment, such as the nature and amount
o f improvisation to be used, and the kind o f ornaments which are considered
suitable to the particular form . The form may also have the implication o f
over-all m ood and be associated with certain râgas and tâlas. T he com posi­
tion is rarely an end in itself and one o f its very important functions is to pro­
vide a frame o f reference to which the performer returns at the end o f each set
o f improvisations. The length o f the composition and the emphasis placed
upon it vary from one form to another and may also be influenced by the
personal inclination o f the performer. In general, however, the compositions
are much shorter than in Western music, and, in extreme cases, may last only
two cycles o f the time-measure.
In south Indian music there are no purely instrumental compositions,
whereas in the north Indian system there is a form , called gat, derived from
plucked stringed instrumental technique, and another, called dlum— said to be
derived from folk tunes— neither o f which has text. In both systems, however,
pride o f place must be given to the voice, not only because it can express ideas
through words, but also because o f its versatility as a musical instrument. It is
able to glide sm oothly from one pitch to another (portamento), to produce
staccato effects through the use o f stop consonants, and to change timbre by
■using different vowels, nasalization, etc. Instrumental technique is. naturally
much influenced by the voice, but the exchange is not entirely one-way and
certain ornaments and techniques used by the voice can be traced to the in­
fluence o f instruments.
The vocal form referred to as râgam-lânam-pallavi is generally (he main
item at a south Indian concert. T he term râgam refers here to an elaborately
improvised âlâpana in completely free time. This is followed b y'th e more
rhythm ic tânam which is still unmeasured. The final section, aditi'pattavi, is
a composition o f words and m elody set in a particular tâla, often a long-and
complex one. The com position m ay be either traditional or have been com­
posed by the performer himself, and be unfamiliar to his accompanists, the
violinist and the mridangam player. T he statement o f the composition is
followed by elaborate rhythmic and m elodic variations, still using the text o f
thepattavi. Then passages, called svara kalpana, using the Indian equivalent o f
the sol-fa syllables, are substituted for parts o f the original composition and
the pollavi serves as a point o f return at the conclusion o f each improvisation.
It is customary for this section to be followed by a drum solo and thé per­
form ance concludes With a brief restatement o f the pattavi.
T he râgam-tânam-pallavi is the longest item in a recital o f south Indian
music and may take an hour or more to perform. It makes the greatest de­
mands on the performer’s skill and imagination, as well as on the audience,
who, in order to appreciate the performance to its fullest, need to be well
 M i/s ic 231
versed in the technicalities oF south Indian music. It is not surprising, there­
fore, that this is not the m ost popular form o f south Indian music. The klrtana
or kriti— a devotional song which provides a delicate blend o f elements— text,
melody, and rhythm, is unquestionably the most popular form . T h e m ajor
part o f the modern repertoire o f kriti stems from three composers, T yâgarâja,
Muttuswàmî D ikshitar, and S>yâmasâstrî, w ho lived in the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries. T h e kriti m ay be preceded by an âlâpana, which is
generally shorter and less elaborate than that w hich precedes the pollavi. T h e
kriti has three sections, called pollavi, antipailavi, and charanam, each o f which
is generally composed o f more than one line o f devotional poetry. Consider­
able importance is placed on the com position and the perform er’s interpreta­
tion, but there is also room for the performer to im provise new m elodic
variations using the song text (called niraval) as well as to im provise passages
(called svara kalpana) using the Indian sargam (sol-fa) syllables.
Other forms, derived from the musical repertoire o f Bharata Nâtyam, the
classical south Indian dance, are also heard in south Indian concerts. The
vamam, a completely composed piece, designed to sho.w a râga in its m ost pure
and complete form, is often performed at the beginning o f a concert. Pada and
javali are two kinds o f love-song using poetic imagery characteristic o f the
bhakti movement, o f which more will be said later. T he form tillânâ has a text
composed o f meaningless syllables, which m ay include the onom atopoeic
syllables used to represent the different drum sounds. T he tillânâ is very
rhythmic and is usually sung in fast tempo.
The ensemble used in south Indian music includes a m ain m elody instru­
ment or Yoice, a secondary melody instrument, one or m ore rhythm ic per­
cussion instruments, and drone instruments. A p art from the voice, the m ost
com m only heard main m elody instruments are: viw , a long-necked, fretted,
plucked lute with seven strings; venu, the side-blown bam boo flute, usually
with eight finger holes; nâgasvaram, a long oboe-like double-reed instrument
with finger holes; violin, originally imported from the W est, played while
seated on the floor, with the scroll resting on the player’s fo o t; and gotlu-
vâdyam, a long-necked lute without frets, played like the H aw aiian guitar,
with a sliding stop in the left hand.
The violin is b y far the m ost com m only heard secondary m elody instrument
in south Indian music, and accompanies the voice and other m elody instru­
ments, except the nâgasvaram. It plays in unison where the passage is com ­
posed, but imitates, with a slight time lag, the main melody instrum ent in the
improvised passages. It is quite usual, during the course o f a perform ance, fo r
the main m elody instrument to cease at certain points, when the violin tem­
porarily takes its role.
O f the rhythm ic percussion instruments, the double-conical tw o-faced
drum, called mridangam, is the m ost com m only heard. T h e percussion group
m ay also include the kanjtrâ, a tambourine, the ghatam, an earthenware pot
without skin covering, and the morsing, a m etallic jew s’ harp. A special tw o­
faced drum, called iavil— slightly barrel-shaped in appearance— usually
accompanies the nâgasvaram.
T he most prominent drone instrument is the four-stringed tambiird, a
long-necked lute without frets. The nâgasvaram is traditionally accompanied
 232 Music

by the ôttu, a very long version o f the nâgasoaram, generally without linger
holes. Sometimes, a hand-pumped harmonium drone, called sruti (or sruti
box) replaces the ottu or the tamburo.
N orth Indian vocal form s have m any points o f similarity with south Indian
forms. T he dhrupad-dhamar form , which has been out o f favour for more than
a hundred years, is generally preceded by âlàp and nom-tom, which are very
much like the râgam and tânam which precede thepollavi. The m ore rhythmic
nom-tom derives its name from the use o f meaningless syllables such as te, re,
nâ, nom, and tom. T h e âlâp and nom-tom are completely improvised and are
foilow ed by the four composed sections o f the dhrupad, which is generally
performed in slow or medium tempo. T h e sections are called sthâyî, antarà,
sanchâri, and âbhog, each consisting o f one or more lines o f poetry. They are
usually first sung as com posed, then the performer introduces variations, the
words often being distorted and serving merely as a vehicle for the melodic
and rhythm ic improvisations. These improvisations generally focus on the
rhythm ic elements, and melismatic passages are seldom employed. There are
signs that the archaic dhrupad form is at present undergoing a period of
revival.
The most popular form o f vocal music in north India is the khyâl, a Muslim
word meaning 'th o u g h t' or ‘ im agination’. This is in contrast to dhrupad,
which means ‘ fixed w ord s’ . T h e kliyâl is much less word-bound; not only is
the text much shorter, having only two parts— sthâyî and antarà.— but even
these are not always sung in their entirety. There are two types o f khyâl, barò
(‘ b ig ’) khyâl and chhotâ (‘ sm all’) khyâl, -sometimes also referred to as vilambit
(‘ slo w ’) and drut (‘ fa st’), respectively. The barâ khyâl is sometimes sung in
extremely slow tempo, where each unit (mâtrâ) o f the time-measure might
last as long as 4 or 5 seconds, and one whole cycle o f the tâla as long as a
minute. In this slow tempo each syllable o f the text o f the song is sung with
such extensive melisma that the words are’ virtually unrecognizable. It is also
quite common for musicians to ignore the words, except for the short phrase,
called mukhrd (‘ fa ce ’), which concludes the line and leads to the first beat of
the next tâla cycle. The barâ khyâl is not generally preceded by a lengthy âlâp ;
instead, freely improvised âlâp-type phrases m ay occupy the m ajor part of
each time cycle, concluding with the mukhrâ. Three basic types o f improvisa­
tions are used in the khyâl: bol tâns, melismatic treatment o f the words o f the
song; â-kâr tâns, fast runs to the syllable à ; and sargam tâns, runs using the
Indian sargam syllables. In the barâ khyâl the improvisations gradually get
more ornate and more rhythmic, finally concluding with tbe rapid ârkâr tâns
which are limited to the khyâl form .
There is no sej^ronclusion to the barâ khyâl. A t an appropriate moment the
singer changes, with or without pause, to the chhotâ khyâl, w hich m ay well
begin in a tempo eight times that o f the barâ khyâl, and accelerate to a climax.
T he main feature o f the improvisations here are the â-kar tâns, so characteris­
tic o f the kltyâl form.
Thumri is another popular form o f north Indian vocal music. Its basis is the
romantic-religious literature inspired by the bhakti movement, and the text of
songs is o f primary importance. In contrast- with the khyâl, the thumri is a
much more interpretative form , where the singer attempts to describe and in-
 Music 233
(erprct the words in terms o f melody. It is usually sung in fairly slow tempo
and is not preceded by a lengthy ô/âp. T h e singer first sings a line o f the song,
more or less as composed, then repeats the line m any times, each time with
different melodic improvisations. When he has exhausted the m elodic possi­
bilities, he will go on to the next line. In his improvisations he generally ad­
heres to the words o f the song, but has considerable melodic freedom. It is
quite usual for a singer to deviate momentarily from the râga in which the
composition is set by using accidentals, as well as to evoke other râgas which
might be suggested by the words. When the song is completed, there m ay be a
short section in double tempo, followed by a return to the original tempo, and
then the song is either repeated or concluded with a repeat o f the first line.
O f the other fornis.used in north Indian vocal music, the tarano, similar to
the south Indian tilmàâ, is probably the best-known. It is usually sung in fast
tempo and uses meaningless syllables. T he tarânâ is generally sung afterthe
barâ khyâl in place of-the chhotâ khyâl.
Instrumental music lias gained considerable prominence in recent years.
The most common instrumental form in north Indian music is the gat, a
purely instrumental com position which seems to have derived its elements
from both dhrupad and khyâl. It is usually preceded by âlâp, jor, and jhâlâ.
The gat section usually begins in slow tempo (viiambita lay), like the barâ
khyâl, and is generally followed by a gat in fast tempo (dnita lay), com par­
able to the chhotâ khyâl. T h e final climax (Jhâlâ) on stringed instruments is
achieved by the rhythmic plucking o f the drone strings at a greatly increased
tempo. Other forms played on instruments are the thumri and the dhun. The
latter imposes few restrictions on the musician, and does not necessarily follow
a specific râga. Occasionally, one may hear a piece called râgamâiâ (lit. ‘ a
garland o f râgas’). This m ay be played as âlâp or in tâla. The main feature here
is the gradual modulation from one râga to another, finally concluding with a
return to the original râga.
*; The north Indian ensemble varies in its constitution from vocal to instru­
mental music. It is .now becom ing increasingly common to hear two main
melody instruments or two singers, w ho generally improvise alternately. The
most frequently heard main melody instruments are: sitâr, a long-necked
fretted lute; surbahâr, a larger version o f the sitâr', sarod, a plucked lute, with­
out frets and with a shorter neck than that o f the sitâr ; sârangi, a short-necked,
bowed lute; bâmsri, a side-blown bam boo flute with finger holes; shahnâî, a
double-reed wind instrument, similar to the oboe, but without keys; and the
violin, played in the same manner as its south Indian counterpart. The
secondary m elody line is very important in vocal m^sic, but is not generally
used in instrumental music. The most common secondary instruments are the
sârangi and the hand-pumped harmonium, a keyboard instrument which-was
imported from the West at the end o f the last century. Another secondary
melody instrument often used, especially by Muslim singers, is the surmandal,
a-plucked board zither. On occasions, all three secondary instruments m ay be
irsed at the same time. The most com m only heard drone instrument is the
tambürâ, or tânpûrâ, which has either four or five strings. It is a plucked long­
necked lute, similar to the south Indian tambürâ but differing slightly in
appearance. The drone m ay also be produced on the sur-peti, an instrument
 234 Music

similar lo the harmonium but without a keyboard, or on drone shahnâis,

called sur, when the shahnâî is the main melody instrument.
T h e tabla, a pair o f kettle-drums played .with the fingers, is the most com­
monly heard percussion instrument in north Indian classical music, but the
archaic dhrupad form is usually accompanied by the pakhâvaj, a two-headed
double conical drum, similar to the mridangam o f south India, while the
shahnâî is generally accompanied by a small pair o f kettle-drums, called
dukar-tikar.
Some instruments, such as the sitâr, are not only m elody instruments, but
have drone strings (cliikâri) which are often used rhythmically, and also have
sympathetic strings (tarab) which provide an echo effect, something like the
effect produced by a secondary melody instrument.

TRIBAL, FOLK, AND DEVO TIONAL MUSIC

Classical music is the m ost refined and sophisticated music to be found in

the subcontinent o fln d ia . There are many other forms, however, w hich have
a specific function in the society, and these are by no means devoid o f artistic
expression. The great diversity o f music in India is a direct manifestation o f the
diversity and fragmentation o f the population in terms o f race, religion,
language, and other aspects o f culture. The process o f acculturation, so
accelerated in m odem times, is still not a very significant factonin m any areas
o f the country. There rfemain remote pockets where tribal societies continue to
live much as they have done fo r centuries. Even though some o f these may
show evidence o f borrowing from higher cultures, they nevertheless manage
to assimilate these elements into their own culture in such a w ay as to enhance
their own identity.
There are m ore than a hundred different tribes in India, numbering more
than 30,000,000 people, called Adivasts. They are found mostly in the hill re­
gions, particularly in central and eastern India, extending to the N ilgiri Hills
in the south. Racially, m ost o f these tribes have.been described as Proto-
Australoid, ànd their religions as being animistic. Between them, they create
a considerable variety o f music, some o f it tonally quite simplè and involving
only two or three notes, and some using as much as a full octave, usually
pentatonic. M o st o f their music is monophonic, with the exception o f the
tribes in M anipur, Assam , where a simple form o f polyphony is quite common.
A variety o f instruments is used : some tribes have perhaps no more than a
drum, while others have quite a number, including some in each o f the four
m ajor categories— ehordophones, aerophones, membranophones, and idio-
phones.
M an y o f the tribes have two distinct types o f music, the ‘ outdoor’ en­
semble, which is often perform ed by members o f a different tribe or a Hindu
caste, and their owh characteristic tribal songs. The outdoor ensemble is used
at weddings and on festive occasions. It varies in size and structure, depending
to some extent on the affluence o f the tribe. T he main instruments are the
double-reed oboe-type, a straight, curved, or S-shaped horn, a variety of
drum s— kettle-shaped, cylindrical, or fram e drums similar to the tambourine
— and cymbals. The names o f these instruments sometimes vary from one
 Music 235

tribe to another, although it seems likely that they represent a com m on tradi­
tion.
Songs in a tribal society are mostly functional and often have tbe sanctity o f
a ceremonial rite. Such are, for instance, the songs which accom pany the events
o f the life-cycle— birth, initiation, marriage, and death. Similarly, the agri­
cultural songs which accom pany the burning and preparation o f the fields,
planting, transplanting, harvesting, etc., have an element o f ritual associated
with them, and there is often a real fear that the harvest m ay not prove fruitful
unless great care is taken over the formalities. A lthough mâny o f the tribes
practise this ‘ slash and burn ’ method o f cultivation, there are still tribes
which are in the hunting and food-gathering stage. Some o f these have songs
to propitiate their deities, in the belief that this will ensure the success o f their
ventures, and songs to give thanks at the successful conclusion o f the hunt.
When things go wrong, in times o f disease, drought, or shortage o f food, the
tribal shaman is often invoked, and he generally has his own repertoire o f
songs.
M ost tribes do, however, have more or less secular songs, such as greeting
songs, lullabies, love and courtship songs, ballads, and hum orous songs. On
the occasion o f certain festivals and celebrations, members o f the tribes m ay
dance and.sing for the pure jo y o f it. O n such occasions, one m ay also hear
songs describing their ancestry and the origin o f the tribe.
Some o f these songs might well be completely unaccom panied, or accom ­
panied by just a drum. Sometimes the male musicians play one-stringed, long­
necked lutes, which provide a drone. Certain tribes, however, have stringed
melody instruments, either a small fiddle or a stick zither w ith attached re­
sonators, and these may be used to accom pany the songs. This stick zither
may well have been the prototype o f the vînâ depicted in miniature paintings
during the M uslim period. T he modern stick zither, rudra vînâ, occasionally
used in north Indian classical music, still resembles the tribal instrument, but
is much larger and o f more elegant construction.
The folk m usic o f non-tribal India is a vast subject which has not yet
been adequately studied. There are, however, some points o f similarity with
tribal music, especially in the context o f occurrence. V illage songs, like many
tribal songs, are often associated with the cycles connected with life and death,
agriculture and the seasons'. T h e songs vary in detail, not only from one region
to another, but also within a region am ong the différent strata o f society. A
further parallel can be found in the use o f the ‘ ou td o or’ ensemble which p ro­
vides festival music and is played at weddings and fuherals. This ensemble is
generally m uch like its tribal counterpart, w ith the oboe-like instrument
(called shahnâî in north India, nâgasoaram in.the south), long brass or bronze
horns (usually called turhi or karnâ), a variety o f drurhs, such as kettle-drums
(nagâra) played in pairs with sticks, and the cylindrical or slightly barrel­
shaped double-headed drum (diioiak), and one or more pairs o f cym bals,
generally made o f bell-mefal (jhanjh). Similar ensembles arc also found in the
cities.
The distinction between tribal m usic and folk music is.n ot always clearly
defined. N ettle proposes that folk music is an oral tradition found in those
areas which are dominated by high cultures, having a body o f cultivated
 236 Music

music with which it exchanges material and by which it is profoundly in­

fluenced. This exchange is very m uch in evidence in the folk music o f India.
Hindu m ythology and religious philosophy are an integral part o f m uch o f
Indian folk music. Songs sung at childbirth, for example the sohar songs of
U ttar Pradesh, often describe the birth o f Krishna or Râm a, and wedding
songs might well describe the wedding o f Siva and Pârvatî. A fisherman’s song
could begin with an invocation to a protective deity (such as Jhule L ai in
Sind) and festival songs often have a predominantly devotional character.
T h e Bhagavata Parana, which deals with the life and adventures o f Krishna,
an incarnation o f Vishnu, is probably the most popular o f the Purânas and the
story o f Krishna has had great influence on both north Indian folk and classi­
cal music. The ecstatic devotion o f the gopis (milkmaids), especially Ràdhâ, to
Krishna, and their yearning for him, occur over and over again, in both types.
This literature, composed in Sanskrit, has been received in oral form,
generally through translations, by all except the erudite. T h e legends have
been disseminated in a number o f different ways, but m ost often in the form
o f sermons or readings with commentaries (such as H an katha) at religious
festivals, where they have attracted large audiences. These presentations
generally include songs and music, and on occasions they may include secular,
and even humorous material. A second very important source o f dissemina­
tion is through religious mendicants, bards, magicians, and snake charmers,
who travel from one village to another recounting the stories, often in song,
and receive in exchange ju st enough remuneration to keep them going. A
third source is through musical drama, which is found in one form or another
in m ost parts o f India, sometimes associated with the-tem ples, as in the
kathakali form in K eralà, sometimes produced by wandering bands o f players,
who travel from one village to another carrying their sets (if any), costumes,
and musical instruments by bullock cart, during the festival seasons.
T h e role o f the religious mendicant in the growth and spread o f medieval
Hinduism cannot be overstressed. M an y o f them have since then become
sanctified and are now referred to as ‘ saint singers’ or ‘ poet-saints’. The
popular devotional movements began in Tam ilnâdu and gradually spread
north through M aharashtra into north India. T he songs o f the poet-saints'
were generally composed in the vernacular languages and received immediate
recognition in both the cities and the rural areas.
These songs have had a profound effect on Indian music. M odern K arnâtak
or south Indian classical music is said to have had its beginnings in the songs
o f one o f the K arnataka saints, Purandaradasa (1480-1564), and to have
reached its golden period about the beginning o f the nineteenth century with
the devotional and philosophical songs o f the ‘ trinity’ , Tyâgaràja, Dikshitar,
and Syàm asâstrï. T o this day, south Indian classical music maintains, for the
m ost part, a highly devotional character. T he influence o f the bhakli saints on
north Indian classical music is not quite so obvious. One o f the most revered
north Indian poet-saints, Jayadeva o f Bengal (twelfth century), com posed the
Gita Govinda, a series o f songs in Sanskrit, describing the love o f Râdhâ and
the milkmaids for Krishna. Each o f these songs was composed in a particular
râga and tâla. U nfortunately, although the songs are still sung in Bengal at
Vaishnavite festivals, the original music no longer exists; however, the themes
 M usic 227
of-the songs have been carried over into north Indian classical music, par­
ticularly into the vocal form called thumri, Poet-saints such as M Irâbâl and
Sürdâs have also undoubtedly had some effect on north Indian music, and
specific râgas have been named after them (for example, Mîrâbâî k i Malhdr
and Siirdasi Malhdr).
The greatest impact o f these saint-singers on Indian music was in the up­
surge o f a new type o f song, variously called bhajatt, kirtan, or abhang. These
devotional songs represent^something o f an intermediate stage between classi­
cal and fo lk music, less abstract than the classical, but more sophisticated
than most folk music. W hile classical music placed emphasis on technique and
beauty o f performance, and thus became the preserve o f specialists, the em­
phasis in the devotional songs lay in mystical and em otional experience. The
sound produced was incidental to the act o f singing and one did not need to
he a good musician to derive spiritual benefit from the songs. The songs, how ­
ever, often have ‘ catchy’ tunes, many o f which are derived from the rdgas o f
classical music. T h e wide appeal o f these songs can also be attributed to the
lively rhythms with which they are accompanied. T hey have provided a reper­
toire for congregational purposes in temple services as well as in the many in­
form al gatherings o f devotees (bhajan mandais) which take place during the
festival seasons. .
W hile the devotional movements were spreading through Hindu India, a
parallel phenomenon was taking place am ong the Muslims iu India. Orthodox
Islam, with its strict code o f ethics in which music was generally thought to be
illegal, was being tempered by the mystic Süfï movement, which emphasized a
personal realization o f G od as its goal. One o f the legitimate means o f achiev­
ing this goal, according to som e-of the S ü fî orders, was through singing the
praises o f God, Accordingly, the Süfis had their own religious mendicants,
usually attached to the shrine where they had been initiated, w ho wandered
about the countryside visiting other shrines and singing their devotional songs,
much like their Hindu counterparts. There is no doubt that both Hindu and
M uslim mendicants exchanged ideas, and that they looked upon each other
with respect. The famous poet-saint K abir (1440-1518), originally a low-caste
weaver in Vàrânasï (Banàras)', reflects the extent o f this communication, as he
uses religious themes drawn from both Hindu and M uslim sources, as well as
both Sanskrit and Persian vocabulary. The Indo-M uslim repertoire o f re­
ligious songs, called qawwdli, is said to have begun with A m ir Khusrau, the
famous poet-musician (c . 1300). This repertoire includes songs in praise o f
Allah, and o f the prophet Muhammad and his descendants. It also includes
songs in praise o f the patron saint o f the singer. ,
L ike bhajans, qawwdlis m ay be sung b y individuals, such as the mendicants
(called darwesh among the Muslims), or in groups, for instance at the annual
festivals at shrines. Qawwdlis m ay also be sung by professional singers at the
homes o f patrons, and nowadays in concerts as well. The technique and
sensitivity o f the professional qawwdls, with their vast repertoire o f poetry and
command over music— much o f which is similar to north Indian classical
music - has rêsulted in a new form o f musical expression which now seems to
be spreading beyond its original M uslim religious environment. N o t only
m ay one hear bhajans rendered in the qawwdli style, but also there have been
238 Music

occasions when qawwâh have been invited to sing at Hindu religious functions.
On such occasions the qawwâi may sing songs composed by K abir and others,
where the basic theme is generally that there is only one G od, whether he is
called R im or Rahim ('T h e Merciful*, an epithet o f Allah), and that all
m ystic paths lead to the realization o f the One.
Ghazais are another form o f song sung by qawwâh. These are derived from
an U rdù poetic form o f the same name, composed o f independent couplets.
This is essentially love or erotic poetry; underlying it, however, are the themes
o f the S ü fl mystics, for whom G od is the beloved. The verses o f the ghazal are
open to a number o f different interpretations; secular, mystical, and philo­
sophical. M odern poets have sometimes used this form for social and political
comment as well. Thus a traditional theme, such as a moth sacrificing itselfin
the flame o f a candle, could be interpreted as depicting the intensity o f human
love, divine love, or even the spirit o f patriotism. The ghazal form has achieved
a great deal o f popularity in the northern part o f the subcontinent, and special
meetings, called musha'ara, are held expressly to enable poets to sing or recite
their poems.

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS

M odern developments in Indian music could be said to have begun with

the songs Of the world famous Indian poet, author and painter, Rabindrànâth
T âgore. During his lifetime he wrote more1 than 2,000 songs, drawing his In­
spiration mainly from classical, folk, and devotional music. The.result was a
unique individual expression in which words and melody blend together in'an
extraordinary way. For Tâgore, words without melody: were like butterflies
without wings, an attitude which captures one o f the essences o f Indian
society. Purists in classical music have sometimes found objection to Tagore’s
songs on the grounds that they are not composed in pure râgas. This is indeed
true, but the popularity o f these songs in Bengal, especially am ong the, in­
tellectuals, shows that they are not without sophistication, and succeed in
their intent.
T h e most significant factor in modern developments has been due to .the
influence o f the mass media, particularly cinema and radio. Their influence is
not limited to the cities; the travelling cinema and the temporary, cinema in an
open, thatched-roof structure, which has to be rebuilt each year after.the
monsoons, have made films available to the rural population at extremely low
cost. In these cinemas the majority o f the audience sits on the floor, only two
or three rows o f chairs being provided for .the wealthier members. The in­
fluence o f the radio, too, is steadily growing as relatively inexpensive transistor
radios become available. In villages and small towns one m ay hear these
radios blaring forth into the streets from tbe local shops. .
V ery early, with the introduction o f sound films in the 1930s, the cinema
industry in India discovered that if films were to be successful they had to in­
clude songs, and td this day nearly all successful productions are similar to
the ‘ musicals’ o f the West. T he songs were initially taken from traditional
Indian sources, folk, devotional, and classical, as well as ghazais and qawwâlis,
and were presented in a more or less traditional manner. N ew songs were,
 Music 239

however, Deeded to suit the plot and action in the films and gradually new in­
strumentation and techniques were introduced. T h e influence o f Western
music was delayed, partly by the fact that India had no indigenous tradition
o f orchestral music, which involves lengthy com positions and accurate per­
form ance from notation— neither o f which were part o f the training o f the
traditional Indian musician. There was also the lack o f experience with har­
m ony, counterpoint, and orchestration, techniques which the W est had
gradually developed over a period o f several hundred years.
; It must also be mentioned that music based on harm ony and counterpoint
is, generally; not meaningful to the Indian ear, which is accustom ed to listen­
ing 'h orizo n tally’ to the subtleties o f m elody and rhythm. T hu s Western
tunes based on the logic o f harmony were not immediately acceptable. In its
early stages, the instruments o f the orchestra were used in unison, with only
occasional experiments with-sim ple polyphony. T h e main function o f the
orchestra was to provide dynam ic contrasts, and, by using different instru­
ments, to vary the timbre o f the melody line. In the course o f time, however,
there has been increasing use o f polyphony and there have been m any attempts
to add harm ony to Indian melodies. From the W estern standpoint these m ay
sound naïve, and the chord progressions haphazard, since the melodies were
not conceived harmonically. From the Indian p o in t o f view, however, the
melody supplies the logic fo r the harmonies, and the use o f harm ony adds a
new facet to Indian music. In film songs, the m elody generally retains its
Indian character and the singer .often uses traditional vocal ornaments, a l­
though the accom panying orchestra shows a great deal o f Western influence
and m ay include Western instruments o f all types. Recently, Western popular
music, w ith its lively rhythms, simple harmonic structure, and emphasis o d
tune, has had a considerable influence on Indian film music.
Indian musicologists are generally unable to come to grips with these Dew
trends and are apt to condemn them out o f hand. This attitude is reflected in
the policy o f A ll India R adio, a government-controlled organization, which
has sought to emphasize classical music. F o r a num ber o f years, film music
was not broadcast on A ll India Radio. This policy was modified when it was
discovered that A .I.R . was losing m any listeners to the com m ercially con­
trolled R adio Ceylon, which was presenting film m usic virtually all day. It is
true that much film music is trite, and that some o f the experiments are OYer-
indulgent, but these are necessary stages in the developm ent o f a new tradi­
tion. In the meanwhile, the popularity o f film music is on the increase— some­
times to the detriment o f age-old music traditions— and there is a growing
audience fo r Indian film m usic in m any parts o f South-East A sia, the M iddle
East, and in Africa.
The policy o f A ll India Radio has been to attempt to raise the cultural,
artistic, and m oral standards o f the people o f India. It is not only film music
which has com e under criticism, but certain aspects o f classical music, for
example the use o f the Western-imported harmonium as an accom panying
instrument for Indian music. In spite o f the fact that this is one o f the most
widespread instruments in India, and that north Indian classical singers have
b'een using it for at least forty years, it has been banned from the radio on the
grounds that its more or less tempered tuning does not lend itself to- the
240 Music

subtleties o f Indian intonation. Since this chapter was first written, A ll India
Radio has changed this policy.
A ll India Radio has not been entirely against experimentation. One o f their
projects, the A ll India Radio Orchestra, composed o f seventy or m ore in­
struments— som e o f them being from the West— is devoted to the production
o f serious orchestral music, based on Indian râgas and talas. Some interesting
ideas have emerged from these experiments, but they have not yet succeeded
in creating any great impact on the Indian music scene.

E x. /.

a - sy i tri - ( • ) ■* p a { ja m v ii • p a • tim ia - p i a - p u - tr a m

if - ti - >o b h rl - II s * M a - p r * *|hO li i " Pa *

1f - - - - - -
{yam vii pa - tim »a - pta-pu-fam

E x. J.

ju no W ia -v a * Ivi • m ira Ci * Il
 Music

Ex. 4.

n i •1 ba • a “ • 4 «u ho

Ex. 5.

|f - n i-n o h i - vyi - di i - ka hi • >i • 1 tl-hl-yl* l

ho vi hi b{ - \ì

Ex. 6.

hi .VX i
242 Music

Ex. 7.
tòga fjtamdj
 PAR T TW O

T H E A G E O F M U S L IM D O M IN A N C E
C H A P T E R X V II

The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

S. A . A . R iz v i

.-Muslims believe M uham m ad (d. 632) to be the last o f the prophets. H e not
only preached a new faith, known as Islam and based on a fresh divine re-
.velation embodied in the Qur’an, but also transformed the asabiyah, the proud
narrow tribal traditions o f the A rabs, into a social solidarity and military
strength which conquered and colonized a large part o f the world. His first
four ‘ successors’ (Khalifa) are know n as the Kliulafâ-i-Râshidün (‘ Pious
C aliphs’). A b u B akr (632-4) and ‘ U m ar (634-44) seized Syria, Iraq, m ost o f
Iran, Egypt, Tripolis, and Barqah. T o call this remarkable expansion an easy
walk-over for the new faith is to ignore the m any factors weakening the
Byzantine atid Sâsânian empires, and the able leadership o f the victors.
T he early M uslim s founded several new garrison towns which became both
centres o f their expanded commercial activity and military bases for further
incursions. Political power added a new dimension to tribal rivalries and con­
flicts. The reign o f ‘AH (656-61), the last o f the Khiilafâ-i-Râshidiïn, saw a
period o f bitter civil war, leading to the establishment o f the hereditary cali­
phate o f the Um aiyâds (661-750) at Damascus.
T he second wave o f expansion commenced under Hajjâj, appointed by the
U m aiyàd Caliph ‘A b d u ’l M alik (685-705), governor o f Iraq and Khurâsân.
Under H ajjàj’s brilliant guidance and careful planning, his tw o enterprising
generals Qutaybah bin M uslim and M uham m ad bin-Qâsim m ade successful
-dashes into Transoxiana and Sind.
M uhammad bin Qâsim marched with 15,000 men, and appeared before
Debal in 711 ; his artillery, consisting o f huge balUstae, was sent by sea to meet'
him. Sind was then ruled b y a brahman king, R âjà Dâhir, whose ancestors
had snatched the throne from the Buddhist rulers. D ebal, a commercial p o rt1
near m odem Karachi, was easily seized, but in fierce fighting at A ro r north o f
Hyderabad, D àh ir himself fell in June 712. A ror surrendered, and early next
year M ultan was also conquered. In 714 Hajjâj died; and in 715 the caliph
Walïd I (705-15), w ho had taken a keen interest in the conquests. T he new
government recalled Muhammad bin Qâsim, delivering a mortal blow to the
progress o f the Arab conquests. M an y local chieftains repudiated their A ra b
allegiance; 'U m ar II (717-20) sought to allow them to rule as tributaries on
the promise o f accepting Islam. This policy failed. Junaid, another enterpris­
ing governor, tried to seize both K acch (Kutch) and M àlwâ, but the Pratihâra
and G urjara kings foiled him. Sind, continued to be ruled b y the U m aiyâd
governors but the actual administration remained in the hands o f the, local
chiefs, both Hindus and converts to Islam. In the wake o f the disintegration o f
Um aiyàd power and the establishment o f the ‘Abbàsid caliphate in Baghdad
(750-1258), th e ’hold o f the central authority on Multan and Sind became
246 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

weaker. By 985 an IsnnVili Fâtimid dynasty had proclaimed its independence

in Multan.
M ore lasting was the impact o f the conquests o f Qutaiba in Central Asia
between 705 and 715, although he met an end similar to Muham m ad bin
Qâsim ’s. He established a firm foothold among the T urkic tribes beyond the
Oxus by seizing Tukhâristân w ith its capital Balkh (Bactria o f the Greeks),
Bukhàrâ, and Samarqand in al-Sughd (Sogdiana) with the Jaxartes pro­
vinces and Farghàna.
This vast region became the breeding-ground o f a new non-Arab leader­
ship. The material and cultural glory o f Baghdad, which lasted for about
150 years, was the gift o f its Turkic military and Irani intellectual leadership.
F rom the middle o f the ninth century, governors in Iran and Khurasan
(Chorasmia) began to assume quasi-independent power. The Samânids (864­
1005), a dynasty o f Zoroastrian origin, fully subjugated Transoxiana, making
Bukhara their capital. Ever-increasing supplies o f talented T u rkic slaves from
the steppes made them the strongest m ilitary power o f the East.
Alptigin, whom the Samânids made governor o f Khurâsân in 96t. was one
o f these men. W ithin one year o f his appointment, he was estranged from his
masters. He seized Ghazni, the frontier fortress on the edge o f the Hindu
world, and an entrepôt fo r trade with India because o f its easy access through
the K abul valley. _
The real founder o f the G haznavid D ynasty was, however, Subuktigln
(976-97), slave and son-in-law o f Alptigin. He extended his power to Peshawar
in India and to Khurâsân, leaving a rich legacy to the ambition o f his son
M ahmud (998-1030), who cut all ties with the Samânids, and accepted direct
allegiance to the 'Abbâsid Caliph al-Qàdir (991-1031). He became a bulwark
o f Sunnism, which was faltering under the domination o f different branches
o fS h fls in Persian Iraq and in Sind. T he Caliph awarded him the title Yamin~
ud-Danla, ‘ right hand o f the state’ . M ahm üd and his immediate successors
called themselves only amir (‘ governor’) or saiyid (‘ ch ief’), though posterity
remembered the Ghaznavids as sultans.
Mahmiid won his first great victory against Jayapala near Peshâwar in
November 1001. The Ism àìlt ruler o f M ultân was his second target. After
finally crushing the Ismâ'îlîs in 1008, he carried fire and sword as far as
K ângrâ; he completely overthrew the Hindu Shàhî kingdom, opening the
doors for repeated invasions o f the G anga and Yaraunâ doâb. T he fabulously
rich spoils from the temples, repositories o f wealth, helped him consolidate his
rule in Khurâsân and embellish G hazni with palaces and mosques, but he had
neither the will nor the human resources to rule his Indian conquests. His
dominion extended from the Panjâb to Khurâsân, and included Persian Iraq,
but it was loosely held by force o f arms alone. Turkic slaves were his closest
confidants, but the army was composed o f contingents o f diverse racial
groups, .with comrhanders o f their own, including Indians, whose commander
was called Sipahsâiâr-i-Hmdûyân. He often served as a counterweight to the
Turks.
As soon as the powerful hand wielding the sword weakened, such an or­
ganization was bound to disintegrate. This happened with the Ghaznavids
after Mahmud and M as’ Qd. Their vassals the Ghürids, styled after their
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 247
native region Ghür, around Firûzkoh and the modern Khw âja-Chisht in
c'entral Afghanistan, whom the Ghaznavids had conquered and Islamized,
became their rivals. In 1 1 5 1 'A là ’ u’d-Dîn, known as Jahân-Sôzfj Burner o f the
W orld ’), outdid Mahmüd in ruthlessness, even exhuming and burning the re­
mains o f all the Ghaznavids except M ahm ud and two o f his successors. His
ambitions extended only to holding G hür; he did not annex the G haznavid
territory in eastern Afghanistan. This fell to the lot o f two brothers, G hiyâsu’d-
Dïn Muhammad o f G hür (1163-1203), who expanded towards Khurâsân, and
Shihâbu’d-Dïn (later M u'izzu’d-Dïn) Muham m ad (1173-1206), who con ­
quered the Panjab and Hindüstân.
_• M u‘izzu’ d-Dïn’ s array comprised both G hürï and A fghan troops. T u rkic
slaves formed the strongest part o f his cavalry, alt on mounts from the best
horse-breeding area in the East, the Sulaiman mountains west o f the Indus.
M arching through the G om al pass, the G hürld armies made upper Sind,
which had again passed into Ismâ’ili hands, the target o f their attack. M u ’iz-
zu’d-Din also tried to penetrate the kingdom o f the Chaulukyas o f G ujarat,
but was badly beaten in the battle o f Anhilw âra in 1178. H e met better luck in
the Panjâb where he easily defeated K husrau M alik, the last o f the G h azn a­
vids, in j 186, exposing himself to direct confrontation with Prithviràja Châha-
màna. In their first pitched battle at Tarâin in 1191, M u 'izzu ’d-D in was
worsted, and narrowly escaped death. Prithviràja recovered Tabarhinda
(Bhatinda), but did not garrison i t •effectively. M u 'izzu ’d-D in, undaunted,
marched again in 1192. Prithviràja, with the levies o f his feudatory chiefs and -
other friendly rajas, amounting to 300,000 horses and 3,000 elephants, met the
Sultan on the same field. T h e Sultan’s arm y was less than h a lf the size o f the
R ajput’ s but its strength lay in its organized m obility. H is light-armed horse­
men, in four divisions o f 10,000, were directed to advance and harass the
enemy on all sides with their arrows. W hen the enemy collected bis force to
attack, they were to support each other, and to charge at full speed. A t the end
o f the day the Sultan’ s reserve swooped upon the exhausted Rajputs with
lightning speed, and won the day.
M odern historians enthusiastically advance various explanations for this
total M uslim victory. The religious term inology o f contemporaries ascribed it
to G od ’s grace. European scholars o f the nineteenth century offered such sur­
mises as tbe inevitable victory o f men from cold climates over the enervated
inhabitants o f the tropics. In Pakistan it is confidently claimed that Islam can
never suffer defeat. Hindu scholars o f A . L . Srîvâstava’s school believe that
Islam’s inherent ferocity ensured the Muslim victory. K . A . N izam i and
modernist Indian Muslims, borrowing ideas from the less unreasonable Hindu
scholars, are persuaded to think that Hindu caste distinctions and the R ajput
feudal system with its narrow rivalries weakened the R âjput states and
brought the defeat o f Hindu India. W hile several factors defeated the Hindu
rulers, the overriding elements in the M uslim victory were their advanced
ipilitary tactics and the tenacity o f their T urkic leaders, w ho from their child;
hood were nurtured in the guerrilla warfare o f the steppes. Prospects o f lim it­
less Indian loot united the tribes; i f able leadership counted for anything,
M ahmud and Muhammad were such leaders. M ahm üd had fewer difficulties,
for the Hindus were not prepared; Muham m ad had to fight a form idable and
24» The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

expectant enemy, trained to repulse the Turushka raids. T h e Turkic irruptions

followed the ancient pattern o f expansion o f the steppe tribes over Central
A sia. Their motives were the same as those o f the early A rab conquerors;
A bu Tam m àm , in his well-known poem, Hamâsah, says o f the A rabs:

No, not for Paradise didst thou the nomad life forsake.
Rather, I believe, it was thy yearning after bread and dates.

M u 'izzu ’d-Dîn, unlike M ahm ud, wished to extend his rule beyond Sind and
the Panjâb. U nlike M ahm ud, he had no duties in the west; Khurasan was his
brother’s territory; so he had leisure to devote his exclusive attention to India.
T he problem o f leadership and incentive was solved by the institutions o f
slavery and iqtâ', which for the last 300 years had been at once a cohesive and
a dissolving power for the T urkic dominion in Central Asia and G h a zn i.
T he 'A bbasids recruited T urkic slaves as a counterpoise to their A rab and
K hurâsânl contingents, but the T urkic ruling dynasties o f the Iranian world,
nearer the source o f supply, made them the backbone o f their power. The
Turkic slaves o f the Ghürlds did not always co-operate with the local troops,
but the slaves o f M u'izzu ’d-DIn were infinitely loyal to their master. Promis­
ing boys, seized in war or purchased by the affluent governing classes, were
often trained in an atmosphere o f rare intellectual and military_distinction.
U nder the Ghaznavids and Ghürlds, such talented slaves started their careers
in the service o f the Sultans in such posts as keeper o f the stables, keeper o f
the wardrobe, keeper o f the Sultan’s arm our or weapons, or bearer o f the
ceremonial parasol, and steadily rose to posts o f military and administrative
eminence.
Iqtâ' was the system o f granting the revenue o f a specified area in lieu of
salary. It was prevalent in the 'Abbàsid period, but gained a special signific­
ance in Iran, where the dihqâns, or village chiefs, whose power came from
their hereditary possession o f local administrative functions, controlled the
administration o f the villages. Under the Sàsânids (226-652) they had been
subordinate to the feudal lords. A fter the conquest o f Iran by the Arabs they
became the link between the local subjects and the foreign government, which
adopted as the system o f land-tax muqâta'â (assessment at a lump sum, pay­
able according to the lunar year), in contradistinction to assessment by
measurement (misâhâ) and assessment by a share o f the crop (nniqâsainà),
payable according to the solar year. The areas so assessed, styled iqtâ', began
from the tenth century to be given to military leaders. Charged with the con­
solidation o f their fiefs, they were also allowed to extend them; they were
military bureaucrats, rather than feudal lords. Adm inistration was effected by
officials recruited and controlled by them, known as 'âmils.
The Ghaznavids generally paid their military in cash, food, and clothing,
which spoils o f Indian temples made easy. In the Panjâb, local thâkurs and
sâmantas, counterparts of the Irani dihqâns, became the link between the new
rulers and their subjects, while the iqtâ' holders replaced the feudal lords and
their sub-feudatories. The forts and castles o f the feudatory chiefs became
garrison towns o f the Ghaznavids, but Lâbore remained more open, becom-
' ' --..-j ...I— , „ „ri,h a Muslim mercantile
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 249
community which, even before the Ghürîd conquest, had established contacts
with the courts o f the Rajput rulers o f Gujarat, Ajm er, and Kanauj.
The second battle o f Tarâin is regarded as a landmark in the history o f the
Turkic expansion, for it shattered the Châham âna power from Panjâb to
Ajmer. Som e feudatory chieftains were allowed to continue ruling as tribu­
taries. Before leaving India, M u'izzu’d-DIn M uham m ad appointed Qutbu’d-
D ln À ib ak to act as his deputy. A n occupation army was stationed at Indra-
prastha near Delhi, which seized Baran (Bulandshahr) and M eerut and then
occupied Rantham bhor and Ajmer, garrisoning all the forts there.
, In 1194 M u'izzu’d-Din returned to India, to crush the Gâbadavâla power;
Jai Chand, the ruler o f K anauj and Banàras, fought valiantly, and lost, at
Chandvâr (between K anauj and Etâwah). T he Turks established garrison
towns up to Banâras and Asm . In 1195-6 M u ‘izzu’d-DIn again came to India
and penetrated south to Bayàna and G w alior. A ll the key points were given as
iqtâ* to Turkic slaves. Control and consolidation depended upon their ability
and resourcefulness.
T h e expansion o f Turkic power from Munér and Bihâr to Bengal was the
achievement o f Bakhtiyâr K halji, who like many T u rkic chiefs rose to emi­
nence by sheer merit. He seized N adia in lower Bengal by an adventurous
stratagem, but selected LakhnautI, easily accessible from Bihâr, as his seat o f
government; stations were established at Lakhanor (N agar in Birbhum dis­
trict) and D evakot. The next move o f Bakhtiyâr K h a lji was against Tibet, to
open a direct route to Turkistàn, and ensure a continued supply o f arms and
men from that region instead o f being dependent upon Delhi. This expedition
failed; in 1206 he was brought back to D evakot half-dead, and was treacher­
ously killed by his own lieutenant, ‘A l! Mardân K halji.
Meanwhile the uprising o f the K hokars in the Panjab cut the Lâhore-
Ghazni route and brought Sultan M u ‘Izzu’d-Din once more to India. He
crushed the uprising, but on his way back to G hazni was slain at D am yak, on
the banks o f the Indus, by some unidentified assassin, either an Ismâ'Ilî or a
Khokar.
The record o f his Indian conquests was brilliant, but he was able to crush
only the leading centres o f Rajput power. Ràjput feudatory chiefs occupying
rough inaccessible areas remained a constant source o f trouble to the Delhi
sultans. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, strategic posts from
G w alior to Râjputàna were conquered and reconquered several times, but
always became independent again. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the
emergence o f the provincial Muslim and Hindu dynasties made Delhi only a
small regional power.
M u'izzu’d-Din Muhammad had no sons; even if he had, the question o f
succession could not have remained undisputed. T he Um aiyàds and the
'A bbasids had followed the principle o f hereditary succession, but, with the
rise o f slaves wielding m ilitary and administrative power on their masters’ be­
half, the tradition changed. It was now ability to rule and qualities o f leader­
ship which decided the succession, and scholars and chroniclers soon found
some legal justification for accomplished facts.
A fter the death o f M u'izzu’d-Din the battle for succession was fought by
his slaves and sons-in-law. Qutbu’d-DIn A ibak had been his deputy for his
250 The Muslim Muling Dynasties

Indian conquests, but Bakhtiyâr Khaljl, after gaining power in Bihar and
Bengal, had begun to consider himself independent o f A ib ak and directly
under M u'izzu’d-Din. The successor o f Ghiyâsu’d-Dïn o f Ghür, who had
died in 1202-.3, recognized T â ju ’d-Dïn Y a ld u z as the ruler o f G hazni and gave
him a deed o f manumission. This enhanced his legal rights and he began to
struggle for supremacy over A ibak. The other strong claimant was Nâsiru’d-
D în Qabâcha in Multân, but the chief contenders for the Indian possessions
were A ib ak and Y ald uz. A ib ak transferred his capital to Lahore, gained some
successes over Y ald uz, but died in 1210, leaving the succession to be disputed
again between his son Âràm Shâh and the slave Iltutmish. M inhâj Siràj, the
author o f the Tabàqât-i-Nâsirï, .claims that A ibak, in accordance with, his
master’s orders, manumitted Iltutmish, but this seems a fiction. Neither Aibak
himself nor his rivals were manumitted by M u'izzu’d-Din.
Âràm Shâh was soon replaced by Iltutmish, who enjoyed the support of
most o f the iqtâ'dàrs, conciliated by promotion. He made D elhi his capital,
and tightened his control over the areas extending from the Satlaj to Banâras.
He let Yald uz and Qabâcha fight for the Panjâb, and bear the brunt o f fighting
first with Muhammad Shâh the Khvarizm Shâhï ruler o f modern K hiva, and
then with the M ongol Chingiz K hân. In 1215 he defeated Y ald u z, by then a
fugitive in the Panjâb, and in 1228 Qabâcha, already prostrated by the struggle
against the M ongols. In February 1229 the 'Abbàsid caliph recognized Iltut­
mish as Sultan, added the feather o f legitimacy to his cap, and-enhanced his
prestige in the eyes o f the ’ ulama’ (M uslim theologians and scholars), the civil
bureaucracy and the sQfis, w ho along with the iqtâ'dàrs formed important
pressure groups. .
The Sultan gave asylum to a considerable number o f talented scholars,
statesmen, and generals driven into exile before the onrushing M ongol hordes,
and employed them to strengthen his central government, modelled on the
administrative institutions o f the great SaljQq sultans o f Iran; however, the
core o f his strength was still the Turkic slaves whom he himself had purchased,
trained, and promoted to offices o f trust and responsibility. T hey held high
posts at Court, and some o f them controlled iqtà's o f vital importance. Minhâj
Sirâj gives short biographies o f twenty-five o f lltutm ish’s nobles (»iaiiks)l only
tw o o f whom had been slaves o f M u'izzu’ d-Din Muhammad. Although.they
included members o f several tribes, such as the K h itâ’î, Qipchâq, and Ilbari,
and men from M esopotam ia and Anatolia, prudent management by Iltutmish
kept racial rivalries and ambitions subdued. A class o f petty m ilitary chieftains,
described as iqtâ'dàrs by the historian Baranl, the author o f Târikh i-Elrûz
Shâhl, but clearly distinguishable from the governors or waits (whose extensive
iqtà’s approximated to the provincial sub-divisions o f the present, day), was
also evolved by Iltutmish. T hey numbered about 2,000 and constituted the
nucleus o f the central standing army.
This gave Iltutmish better success in controlling the region tò the west o f
D elhi as far as the Satlaj ; but his hold in the east o f the Haoàìi-i-.Dihli (bf the
region bounded on the east by the Yam unâ, and on the north by the forests
at the foot o f the Siwâliks) was very precarious. W e find the Sultan’s eldest
son, the energetic Prince Nâsiru’d-Dln M ahm üd, as governor o f Avadh
waging incessant war against the Hindu tribes struggling for independence.
250 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties
Indian conquests, but Bakhtiyâr Khaljl, after gaining power in Bihâr and
Bengal, had begun to consider himself independent o f A ibak and directly
under M uhzzu’d-Din. The successor o f Ghiyasu’d-Din o f Ghür, who had
died in 1202-3, recognized T âju’d-DIn YaId 112 as the ruler o f G hazni and gave
him a deed o f manumission. This enhanced his legal rights and he began to
struggle for supremacy over Aibak. The other strong claimant was Nàsiru’d-
D ïn Qabâcha in M ultân, but the chief contenders for the Indian possessions
were A ibak and Yalduz. A ib ak transferred his capital to Lahore, gained some
successes over Yalduz, hut died in 1210, leaving the succession to be disputed
again between his son Ârâm Shah and the slave Iltutmish. M iahâj Siràj, the
author o f the Tabâqât-i-Nâsirî, .claims that Aibak, in' accordance with his
master’s orders, manumitted Iltutmish, but this seems a fiction. Neither Aibak
himself nor his rivals were manumitted by M uhzzu’d-Dln. . | | | f independence in their respective regions. Y e t his achievements were by no
Ârâm Shâh was soon replaced by Iltutmish, who enjoyed the support of
m ost o f the iqta'dârs, conciliated by promotion. He made Delhi his capital,
and tightened his control over the areas extending from the Satlaj to Banâras.
He let Y ald u z and Qabàcha fight for the Panjâb, and bear the hrunt o f fighting
first with Muhammad Shâh the Khvarizm Shâhï ruler o f modern Khiva, and
then with the M ongol Chingiz Khan. In 1215 he defeated Y ald u z, by then a
fugitive in the Panjâb, and in 1228 Qahâcha, already prostrated by the struggle
against the M ongols. In February 1229 the 'Abbasid caliph recognized Jltut-
mish as Sultan, added the feather o f legitimacy to his cap, and-enhanced his
prestige in the eyes o f the 'ulama* (Muslim theologians and scholars), the ctvil
bureaucracy and the süfïs, who along with the iqta'dârs formed important
pressure groups. ; !f|! Some established marital connections with the fam ily o f Iltutm ish; others in-
The Sultan gave asylum to a considerable number o f talented scholars,
statesmen, and generals driven into exile before the onrushingM ongol hordes,
and employed them to strengthen his central government, modelled on the
administrative institutions o f the great Saljüq sultans o f Iran; however, the
core o f his strength was still the Turkic slaves whom he him self had purchased,
trained, and promoted to offices o f trust and responsibility. T h ey held high
posts at Court, and some o f them controlled iqta's o f vital importance. Minhâj
Sirâj gives short biographies o f twenty-five oflltutm ish’s nobles (jnaliks)Kon\y
two o f whom had been slaves o f M u'izzu’d-DIn Muhammad. Although.'they
included members o f several tribes, such as the K h itâ’I, Qipchâq, and Ilbari,
and men from M esopotam ia and A natolia, prudent management by Iltutmish
kept racial rivalries and ambitions subdued. A class o f petty m ilitary chieftains,
described as iqta'dars by the historian Baranl, the author o f Tarlkh i-Elrftz
Shdhl, but clearly distinguishable from the governors or waits (whose extensive
iqta's approximated to the provincial suh-divisions o f the present day), was
also evolved by Iltutmish. They numbered about 2,000 and constituted the
nucleus o f the central standing army.
This gave Iltutmish better success in controlling the region to the west of
D elhi as far as the Satlaj ; but his hold in the east o f the Haoâlî -i-.Dihli (br the
region bounded on the east by the Yam unâ, and on the north by the forests
at the foot o f the Siwâliks) was very precarious. W e find the Sultan’s eldest
son, the energetic Prince N âsiru’d-Dïn M ahm üd, as governor o f Avadh
waging incessant war against the Hindu tribes struggling for independence.
7 The Muslim Riding Dynasties 251
j|j>- Bartü, one o f these chiefs, slew about 120,000 Muslims; this number, if not
It exaggerated, might exceed the casualties at Tarain,
T Between 1224 and 1229, three major expeditions liquidated the K halji
gig-pow er in Bengal. Prince N asiru’d-Din Mahmüd died prematurely in Lakh-
§f|&* nauti, and the future governors o f Bengal admitted the suzerainty o f Delhi
l l ^ o n i y nominally. In the areas south o f the river Cham bal and in Râjputàna, the
gjH Parihàras, the Chàhamànas, the Yaduvam éïs, and the Guhilots repudiated
their vassalage several times, and the Muslim garrison towns o f G w alior,
J|p;Bayana, Thângir, and Ajm er were more than once cut off from one another.
||||J iy e n the regions round Badâün, and Bareilly were not safe and the K ati-
gggiyhariya Rajputs at A onla were formidable.
When Iltutmish died o f cancer in 1235, the Rajputs were still fighting for
|g||:m eans insignificant. He gave an independent status to the' D elhi sultanate,
^ ( o b ta in e d legal recognition for it, and made it possible for his sons and
| | | daughters to rule until 1266. His daughter, Raziya (1236-40), was endowed
fe ^ w ith considerable tact and qualities ofleadership. She tried to play dominant
groups o f the T u rkic slaves o f Iltutmish against one another, but failed, was
|g |; deposed, and killed. The fourteenth-century historian, Z iyâu’ d-Dïn Baranl,
jjjjl speaks o f a group o f forty (Chihalgdnt) who dominated affairs. ‘ The F o r ty ’
;|j|‘ have passed into legend, even though it is probable that the number was
ascribed to them by Baranl merely because o f its traditional mystical value.
|g i. Their number was probably fewer. These men controlled different strategic-
garrisons, and concentrated as much power as possible in their own hands.*
Jp:- trigued with ambitious ladies o f the royal harem. The internecine struggle *
If; among them took a heavy toll o f their ranks, and they were able neither to
strengthen the royal power nor to raise one o f their members to tbe throne.
HI When Balban (1266-87) seized the throne by killing his feeble son-in-law
JH Sultan N âsiru’d-Din M ahm üd (1246-66), power had been fully in his hands
| | | for over ten years. The remnants o f the leaders o f Iltutmish’s reign were
exterminated on one pretext or the other. Balban gave a new basis to his rule
H |ib y rejecting the policy o f co-operation with the dom inant T u rkic élite and
I p proclaiming that a king is the vice-gerent o f G od. H e buttressed this ideal by
f l v imposing strict rules o f discipline in liis court, calling them Sâsânid cere-
Sfe monials, although he appears to have had no special knowledge o f ancient
lf® Iran. He reorganized the central army, kept it active and alert, appointed
loyal officers with, great care, and strengthened the spy system. He retrieved
|p. the prestige o f the Delhi sultanate by controlling the M ongol inroads; in 1241
p | the M ongols had plundered and devastated Lahore. Balban’s frequent raids
r||| in the G angetic dodb subdued the turbulent Ràjput chiefs and his military
| p posts, garrisoned hy A fghan troops, instead o f Turks, restored order in that
|g:; area. By cutting down the jungle and opening roads in the dodb he connected
his military posts with each other. W hen well over seventy, in 1281, he ruth-
lessly crushed the rebellion o f his governor Tughril in Bengal, and appointed
| § his own son Bughrâ K han in his place.
iff. The death o f his eldest son Prince Muham m ad, the warden o f the marches,
jH who fell fighting against the M ongols in 1285, was a mortal blow to his
\W .
252 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

ambitions, but he retained the façade o f vigour and despotism. Balban died a
disappointed man, reading on the wall o f time the message of the disintegra­
t i o n ^ - his centralized monarchy.
H is'grandson K aiqubàd (1287-90) spent a ll his time in drinking and de­
bauchery. Fïrüz, the aged leader o f the K haljis, whom the proud Turks con­
sidered inferior because o f their mixed origin, secured the throne in 1290 and
ruled under the title o f Jalàlu’d-Dîn. His nephew, 'A la ’ u’d-Dln K halji, both as
governor o f K a ra under his uncle (whom he killed in cold blood ini 1296) and
as sultan, gave lustre to the dynasty. In 1292 he penetrated into M àlw â, and
seized Bhîlsâ. In 1294 he appeared before Devagiri, defeated the Y âd ava king,
Ràm achandra D eva, and returned to K ara laden with huge wealth.
A fter becoming king, Sultan 'A lâ ’u’d-Dïn killed all possible claimants to the
throne, and extirpated a considerable number o f the nobles influential under
his uncle. Rebellions led by relatives and prom inent men induced hjm to
launch an entirely new policy designed to isolate potential leaders from one
another, and to deprivenhein o f power and affluence.
H e resumed revenue.grants to charitable institutions and the families o f
religious leaders in to ‘his own hands. H e reorganized the intelligence system,
enforced strict sumptuary laws in Delhi, and imposed harsh regulations upon
the personal behaviour and social relations o f the nobles, particularly pro­
hibiting convivial gatherings.
T o increase his financial resources and reduce to abject -submission the
village leaders, ‘ khüts, chaudhrls, and m uqaddam s’, he introduced two im­
portant reforms. First, he replaced the earlier land revenue assessments with
one based on the measurement o f land. Secondly, he revoked the village
leaders’ hereditary perquisites. T o ordinary cultivators his reforms did not
m ake much difference; the village accountant and the army o f new revenue
officials were corrupt, and even more cruel and oppressive than the hereditary
headmen they replaced. T h e backbone o f 'A la ’ u’d -D in’s strength was the
standing army, directly recruited by the arm y minister ('âriz-i-mamâlik) and
paid in cash from the royal treasury. A descriptive roll o f the individual
horsemen and a system .of branding cavalry horses eliminated the fraud and
deceit which had been (and were to be again) the order o f the day.
T h e central army overawed the tributary Hindu chiefs (‘ ràis, rànâs, and
ràw ats’). Alm ost all northern India was conquered; in 1299, G ujarat was in­
vaded and R âjâ K aran V àghel driven out. H is beautiful queen K am lâ D evi
was seized and married to the Sultan. Another arm y captured Sewistân, and
in 1300, when a M ongol army appeared before Delhi, it was defeated with
heavy loss. N ext, Rantham bhor and C h ilor in Râjputàua were conquered;
but another M ongol invasion compelled 'A lâ ’u’d-Dîn to increase his standing
army, and introduce his famous price controls, reinforced with further re­
strictions on luxurious living. Some m odem scholars believe that the reforms
were introduced out o f philanthropic motives. This view is based upon an
anecdote narrated by the eminent süfï, Shaikh N asfru’d-Dtn Mahmud
C hirâgh o f Delhi (c. 1280-1356) to a gullible sü fî audience, but B aranfs
analysis o f 'AJà’u’d-D ïn’ s motives, followed by other medieval historians, is
irrefutable.
Between 1305 and 1307, the M ongols made two more invasions, but both
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 253

were easily repulsed. The Sultan’s armies conquered M âlwà, penetrated into
Mewâr, and completely crushed the R âjâ o f Jàlor; but the Sultan did not
think Ràjputàna worth the trouble o f annexing. The fabulous wealth o f the
Deccan now attracted him ; he needed money to pay his arm y and his swarm­
ing officials. In 1303 an expedition mounted against W àrangal, the capital o f
the K àkatïya kingdom o f Telingâna, from Orissa had failed. Devagiri now
became 'A lâ ’ u’d D în ’s target. In 1307 he commissioned his trusted slave
M alik K â fù r to reduce Ràmachandra' o f Devagiri, who had paid no tribute
for several years, and had given shelter to Râjâ K aran o f Gujarat, w ho ruled
in Baglâna as his vassal. The invading army was also ordered to bring to the
Sultan D eval D evi, the daughter o f Râjâ Karan by K am là Devi. T he un­
fortunate princess fell into the hands o f the Sultan’s army while being escorted
to D evagiri, and was sent to Delhi, where she was married to the Sultan’s
eldest son KJhizr K kân . M alik K â fü r seized Ellichpur, and proceeded to
D evagiri. T h e Râjâ submitted, went to Delhi, and in return for enormous
gifts received the title o f Rai-i-Râyân (‘ the Principal R a i’). H e remained a
life-long ally o f the Khaljis.
In 1308 M a lik K â fü r besieged W àrangal and inflicted a crushing defeat
upon the R âjâ, compelling him to accept vassalage. T w o years later, he took
the H oysala ruler Vira Ballala III by surprise, and seized Dvârasamudra. H e
made a dash upon M adurai, whose Pàndya ruler abandoned it, adopting
guerrilla tactics to harass the invader. M adurai was sacked, its temples
plundered, and vast booty amassed. It is doubtful if M alik K âfü r actually in ­
vaded Râmesvaram , as many imagine; he may, however, have sent a plunder­
ing column agaiDSt it.
In October 1311 M alik K â fü r returned to Delhi and was loaded w ith
honours. T h e D eccan râjàs were recognized as tributary chiefs. T w o years
later, K â fü r again marched against Devagiri to crush the rebellious Singhava,
son and successor o f Râm achandra. Singhava fought valiantly, but was de­
feated and slain. Devagiri was annexed; but soon after M alik K âfü r hastened
back to D elhi, which was thrown into disorder b y ’A là ’u’d-D ïn’s illness. T he
conspiracies and intrigues o f M alik K â fü r annihilated several eminent mem­
bers o f ’ A lâ ’ u’d-D în’s family. K flizr K hân was disinherited, and, after the
Sultan’s long-expected death in January 1316, M alik K â fü r raised to the
throne one o f 'A ld ’u’d-DIn’s sons, aged six, under the title o f Shihâbu’d-D ïn
'Um ar. A s regent, he blinded KJhizr KJhân and several others, but failed in his
attempt to visit that fate upon another son o f the late Sultan, M ubàrak K hân,
then about seventeen. T h e soldiers, m oved by the prince’s appeals, and his
bribes, slew M alik K â fü r; and M ubàrak became king.
He reversed his father’s harsh administrative regulations, crushed a rebel­
lion in G ujaràt, and reconquered D evagiri; but his infatuation for an Islarn-
ized Hindu slave Hasan, whom he had entitled K husrau K hân, cost him his
life and ended K haljî rule. K husrau belonged to the warlike' Barwâr tribe o f
G ujarât and commanded a considerable follow ing o f his own men.
Khusrau ruled from 15 April to 3 September 1320. Although the M uslim
historians accuse him o f introducing idolatrous worship to the palace and in­
sulting Islam and the Q ur’ân, a sizeable section o f the im portant Turkic
nobles, arid the pious Shaikh N izâm u’ d-Dîn A u liyà’, thé celebrated Chishti
254 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

saint o f Delhi, supported hint. The Shaikh, indeed, accepted money from him.
But G hàzl M alik Tughluq, the ambitious warden o f the marches in the Panjàb,
and his talented son M alik Jauna rallied a parly o f Turkic chiefs in the name
o f Islam and defeated Khusrau in two hotly contested battles.
G h àzl M alik assumed the title o f G hiyasu’d-D?n; his dynasty survived
nominally until 1412, and is marked by tw o important rulers, Muham m ad bin
T ughluq (i32 5-5l) and Firüz Shah (1351-88).
G hiyâsu’d-Dîn Tughluq combined the rare qualities o f a general and a far­
sighted statesman. He tried to recover the treasure squandered by Khusrau,
thus involving himself in conflict with (am ong others) Shaikh N izàm u ’d-Dm
A u liyà’ . He revoked 'A lâ ’u’d-DJn’s rules o f payment o f revenue by measure­
ment o f land and introduced the system o f crop-sharing. H e considered
village headmen useful, and the iglò' systenrbest suited to the m ilitary char­
acter o f his government. He maintained the descriptive rolls and the branding
o f horses.
T w o expeditions o f his son Jauna, now entitled U lugh K han, against
W arangal, resulted in its complete defeat and annexation; the city was re­
named Sultanpur. The Sultan himself marched east and asserted his authority
over West Bengal, ruled by descendants o f Balban’s son Bughrâ K hân. Re­
turning, he reduced Tlrhut to submission. His last halt at Afghânpur, a
village six miles south-east o f Delhi; proved fatal for him. A fter a mid-day
meal in a hurriedly-built wooden pavilion, elephants were being paraded; the
entire pavilion fell, crushing the Sultan and his second son. Some modern
scholars argue, against medieval tradition, that Jauna Khan-did not arrange
this disaster; but the circumstances suggest his guilt. He proclaimed himself
Sultan with the simple style o f Muhammad bin Tughluq.
The Sultan was misunderstood throughout his reign. His intellectual capac­
ity, and love for philosophy, were interpreted as hostility to Islam. His efforts
to break the clique o f the Delhi 't/lama’ and sflfls failed. His friendship, with
yogis and Jains, and his participation in the H oli festival, were considered
evidence o f his being Hinduized. His ambition to establish political contacts
with the world outside India was regarded as madness. The old political
leadership dubbed him a tyrant; some o f the 'ulam a' proclaimed war against
him to be lawful.
In 1326-7 he decided upon a plan to make D evagiri the second administra­
tive capital o f his empire. The policy o f annexing the Deccan'kingdom s made
this imperative. T o make it an effective seat o f government, he wished a sec­
tion o f the élite to be permanently settled-there, with the 'ulam a' and sOfis
giving the lead. They refused to co-operate; but the Sultan was adamant. He
named Devagiri Daulatàbâd, and forced all those whom he had selected to
emigrate. Whht contemporary and later historians call a mass exodus ,\Vas in
fact the transfer o f a selection o f the élite. When Ibn Battuta visited D elhi in
1334, it was full o f sûfïs and 'ulama'.
A growing shortage o f silver led the Sultan to introduce a token currency of
bronze in 1330. The coins were immediately and successfully forged. In 1332
he redeemed the tokens, false and genuine together, against a new debased
silver currency, maintaining the prestige o f the treasury to his immense per­
sonal loss.
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 255
The governor o f M a 'b a r in the extreme south, Saiyid Ahsan, rebelled in
1335 and became independent. T h at year too, Saiyid Ahsan*s son Sharif
Ibràhlm, the governor o f HansI, rebelted. The insurrection spread to Su'nnâm
and Sâmâna, the Saiyids and other M uslim élite groups being well represented
am ong the rebels, In 1338 'A in u ’ I M u lk M ultânî, governor o f A vad h, led a
rebellion provoked by years o f famine and undiminished revenue assessments.
The rebels were predom inantly non-Turkic elements w hom the Sultan had
endeavoured to use as a counterpoise to the intrigues o f the Turks : M on gol
neo-Muslims, foreign nobles, Saiyids and Afghans, and some trusted officers
like 'A in u ’l M u lk . Restless ambition was as much responsible fo r the rebel­
lions as fear o f the Sultan and his vindictive punishments.
H arihara and Bukka, tw o fugitive brothers from W àrangal w hom the
Sultan had taken captive, Islamized, and commissioned to consolidate his
rule in K am plla, renounced Islam and founded the kingdom o f V ijayanagara
in 1336. In 1338 Bengal became independent, and in A u gu st 1347 H asan
Gangaw l detached the w hole D eccan, including D aulatâbâd, from the
Sultan’ s dominions, proclaim ing him self Sultan as Bahm an Shâh. N ever
again, except briefly and insecurely fo r a generation after A urangzeb’s con­
quests, did D elhi rule the D eccan. Sultan M uham m ad bin T ughluq died in
Sind chasing the rebel T agh ï, a leader o f T urkic origin, in 1351 : as a sixteenth-
century historian says, the king was freed from his people and his people from
the king.
The nobles, the süfls, and 'ulam a' in the imperial cam p raised his cousin
Fïrüz to the throne. A m ild man o f unenterprising nature, he allow ed policy
to be controlled by the ‘ ulam a', the siifis, and the strong-willed nobles. F ollow ­
ing the path o f least resistance, he overlooked corruption in the hope that
such kindness w ould be repaid with devotion. H e prohibited bloodshed and
tortures and obtained deeds o f forgiveness for Sultan M uham m ad from the
families o f his victims. H e assigned liberal revenue grants to religious founda­
tions and holy men; he m ade hereditary the revenue assignments given as
salary to soldiers and m ilitary officers. H e had old monuments repaired, and
founded several new towns : H isàr-Fïrüza, with a canal system, and F irüzâbâd
on the Y am u n a were open towns, while Jaunpur was m ainly a garrison town
to strengthen central control over the eastern regions. H e transferred tw o
Asokan pillars from T oprâ and M eerut to D elhi. Orchards were planted fo r
the benefit o f Muslims. F îrü z created a special department fo r the recruitment
o f slaves, at one time m aintaining 180,000 in his household. M an y were hired
out to the Sultan’s profit; trained as artisans and craftsmen, others were
assigned revenue grants. H e abolished several taxes forbidden by the Islam ic
law which yielded little incom e. H e im posed jizya (poll tax) on brahmans,
previously exempted; but Hindu agitation m ade him fix a concessional rate
forThem.
H is military campaigns in Bengal, Jajnagar, and K ângrâ were ineffective;
his Thatta campaign o f 1365-7 was a complete disaster fo r the D elhi arm y.
Fîrüz was followed by w eak successors, puppets in the hands o f am bitious but
incompetent slave leaders. T he.in vasion o f Tïm ür (the great M o n gol con ­
queror, know n in Europe as Tam erlane) in 1398-9 was devastating both fo r
Hindus and Muslims. D elh i was sacked and desolated. R ival representatives
256 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

o f (lie Tughluq Dynasty rompeteci for the shadow o f power; the last survived
until 1412. A dynasty o f Saiyids ruled Delhi and its environs from 1414 to
145r. Elsewhere, control passed to petty chieftains or to provincial dynasties.
N ot until 1451 did Delhi begin to revive, when Dahlol Lodi founded an
Afghan dynasty. The strong central army organized by 'A lâ ’u’d-D în main­
tained its hold down to the reign o f Fîrüz. Restless M uslim leaders caused
disturbances,'but no Hindu tributary chiefs in northern India made any
successful atterrjpt to become independent. Under the successors o f Fîrüz,
Hindu strength surged up from the Panjâb to Bengal, and frequently attempted
to overthrow the provincial dynasties.
A s we have seen, Bengal was hardly ever under the effective control o f the
D elhi sultans. TJbc Ilyâs Shâhl D ynasty o f Bengal (1339-1415 and 1437-87)
unified East and West Bengal, overran Tlrhut, and then tried to annex
Orissâ. M any new areas, such as K hulnâ, were redeemed from jungle and
colonized. Sanskrit learning was revived in Bengal and Hinduism spread in
Assam . The Husain Shahi D ynasty (1493-1538) is characterized by an im­
pressive record o f military activity in Kàm rûp (Assam) and Orissa. After a
brief M ughal occupation, Bengal fell to the Afghans in 1538, and until con­
quered by A kb ar in 1576 it remained the bulwark o f A fghan resistance against
the M ughals.
T h e Sharql (‘ E astern’) D ynasty o f Jaunpur (1394—1479) asserted itself
effectively against the rising powers o f the Hindu tributary chiefs from Avadh
to Bihar. The territory o f M àhvà, a triangular plateau with the Vindhya
mountains as its base, became independent in 1402 under D ilàw ar Khan
G hürî. A s the leading independent power o f central India it had to struggle ón
two fronts: internally against Hindu chieftains and externally against its
neighbours, M ewàr, Jaunpur, Gujarât, and the BahmanI kingdom . Sultan
M ahm üd (1436-69), the first K h alji ruler o f M àlw à, consolidated and ex­
tended his state; but in the sixteenth century it decayed, being reduced in 1531
to a mere province o f G ujarât. Independent again in 1537, it was conquered
by A k b a r in 1561.
R ân à K um bha (1433-68) made M ewàr a very strong Ràjput power, com­
petent to contend against both G ujarât and M àlw à in the race o f expansion.
R ànâ Sànga (1509-28), after crushing his Ràjput rivals, hoped to use Màhvà
and G ujarât as allies, and overthrow the L od i D ynasty o f Delhi. T h e Mughals
forestalled him, and defeated him in turn in 1527.
The real founder o f the independent kingdom o f G ujarât was N âsiru’d-Dîn
M uham m ad Shâh, w ho ascended the throne in 1404. In the reigns o f Ahmad
Shàh (1411-43), the founder o f Ahm adâbàd, and M ahm üd Begarh (1458—
1511) G ujarat grew great. A lthough Bahâdur Shâh (1526-37) conquered
C hitor and repulsed the Portuguese from D iu , the M ughal.em peror Humàyün
defeated him in 1535, and he perished in an encounter with the Portuguese in
1537-
Sind and M ultan were ruled by minor dynasties. T h e sultans o f Kashm ir
(1339-1586), independent even when the D elhi sultans were powerful, did not,
on the whole, pursue an expansionist policy. There the liberal and orthodox
trends in Islam ran parallel. Sultan Sikandar (1389-1413) persecuted brâh­
mans, and demolished and desecrated temples, but Sultan Zainu’l ‘ Abidin
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 257
(1420-70) gave his full patronage to Sanskrit and Hinduism. H e reorganized
the revenue administration, fostered irrigation, and secularized the admini­
stration o f justice.
In the far south the sultans o f M adurai (1335-78) struggled against the new
Vijayanagara Dynasty, until Haribara II (1377-1404) absorbed their shrink­
ing domains. The independent K M ndesh D ynasty came into existence in
1382; they wrested Aslr from its Hindu chieftain and founded Burhânpur.
Khàndesh maintained friendly relations with G ujaràt, M àlw à, and the Deccan
sultans, thus remaining independent to 1600, when it fell to Akbar.
The Bahmani D ynasty was the most powerful in the Deccan, ruling from
Gulbarga until 1422, and then m aking Bidar their capital. The founder,
'A là ’u’d-Dïn Bahman Shah, divided the kingdom into four quarters (tara/)
and assigned each to one trusted officer (tarafdâr). The Raichur doâb was con ­
tested between the Vijayanagara and the Bahm ani rulers. In the eventful reign
o f Fîrüz Shâh Bahmani (1397-1422) three m ajor battles were fought between
the two powers without disturbing the status quo. Fîrüz developed Chaul and
A bhol as ports for trading ships from the Red Sea and Persian G ulf, carrying
luxury goods not only from the Persian, Arabian, and African coasts, but also
(through Egypt) from Europe. Persians, Turks, and Arabs were given a ready
welcome by the Bahmanlds, producing ultimately conflicts between the sons
o f the soil and the foreigners (pardesis).
The Bidar period (1422-1526) was marked by wars with G ujarât and
M àlw â, continued campaigns against Vijayanagara, and expeditions against
Orissa. The Irani adventurer M ahm üd Gàw àn, as wazir o f the Bahmani
sultanate, dominant between 1466 and 1481, annexed the K arnatak region
and seized G oa, which had been jealously guarded by tbe V ijayanagara rulers.
M ahmüd Gâwàn introduced several reforms in administration, but fell to the
intrigues o f the D eccanj élite and was put to death by Sultan M uham m ad
Shâh (1463-82) in 1481. T h e struggle between the pardesis and the Deccanls
drained the kingdom o f its strength; the later sultans were puppets in the
hands o f the dominant DeccanI groups. By 1530 the Bahm ani realm was
broken into five independent sultanates: the ‘ Adii Shàhl o f Bljàpur, the Qutb
Shàht o f Golconda, the N izâm Shâhï o f Ahm adnagar, the Barïd Shàhl o f
Bidar; and the ‘im àd Shàhî o f Berâr. Rivals, they yet co-operated in the face
o f external threats. Early in 1565 a confederacy o f the five powers defeated the
Vijayanagara Râjâ at the battle o f Tàlikota (more precisely Banihatti). T he
vast Hindu kingdom fell to pieces, and Bijâpur and G olconda gathered the
lion’s share o f the spoil.
W hile the provincial sultans strove to eliminate the independent power o f
Hindu chiefs, they were great patrons o f regional culture and regional langu­
ages, and came to rely on their tributary Hindu chiefs fo r aid against their
Muslim neighbours. W ith a few exceptions, even the most orthodox were
tolerant o f Hindus and o f foreign adventurers settled in their lands. The in­
digenous leadership, both Hindu and Muslim, looked upon the latter with
disgust ; the foreigners, however, anxious to prom ote peaceful coexistence, en­
riched local administrative institutions and cultural and social life.
The story o f Delhi must now be taken up once more. Sultan Bahlol (14 5 1­
89) was an Afghan o f the Lodi tribe, whose home was the Sulaimân .range.
258 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties
I
Some members o f this tribe had served in the Ghürid arm y; others, apparently
not yet Islamized, fought under Prithvîrâja. In Balban’s time, Afghans had
been steadily rising as political leaders; indeed, the old nobility had reproached
Jalàlu’d-Dln Fîrüz K h alji with Afghan ancestry. Afghans, useful as soldiers,
were successful also as merchants, dealing particularly in horses. Each tribe
nourished traditions o f independence, which sharpened distinctions and made
concerted Afghan action difficult.
Bahlol Lodi, a military chief o f about forty, induced Shâh ‘Â lam , the last
Saiyid sultan, to resign and retire to Badàün, where he lived unmolested until
his death in 1478. He gained the support o f other Afghans for this coup with
the promise that they would share equally in the fruits o f power. T o a large
extent, he kept his promise; but he also encouraged other Afghans, and par­
ticularly Lodls, to come down from their barren mountains to the fertile
plains o f Hindustan. He distributed rich iqtà's am ong them, and with the aid
o f their contingents, rather than by reviving a central army, he gradually built
up his military strength. He was careful (like the Rom an Em peror Augustus)
to avoid the appearance o f power; he claimed to be no more than the first
am ong equals, and his court resembled more an Afghan tribal assembly than
the council o f a great king.
M ost o f Bahlol’s energy and resources were devoted to crushing Husain
Shah Sharql (1458-77), the last ruler o f Jaunpur, w ho enjoyed the support o f
m any eminent Hindu chiefs and survived in a small enclave until 1505. When
B ahlol’s son Sultan Sikandar (1489-1517) ascended the throne, the Rajputs o f
the Jaunpur district were still in the field to measure swords with the Afghans.
O nly Husain Shâh’s death in 1505 ended this challenge to Afghan power.
In 1506 Sultan Sikandar founded A gra, as an advance headquarters for
campaigns against G w alior and other neighbouring Ràjput lands. Abandon­
ing his father’s policy o f propitiating the tribal pride o f the Afghan leaders by
ostentatious equality, he had spies keep him informed about the minutest de­
tails o f his nobles’ private lives. His son and successor Ibrâhlm L od i (1517-26)
went further, imprisoning and beheading several leading nobles. D au lat K hàn
L od i, governor o f the Panjâb, and his associates invited Bâbur, the ruler o f
K abu l, to deprive Ibrahim Lodi o f his throne and ensure them (as they hoped)
predominance over a grateful king.
B àbur claimed descent from Tlm ür on his father’s side, and from Chingiz on
his mother’s. H è is com m only referred to as a M ughal, the Persian form o f
M ongol, but in fact his blood was very mixed. Driven out from Farghàna and
Samarqand, he conquered K abul in 1505, and began to dream o f bringing
the Indian territories conquered by Tim ur under his control. Before finally
defeating Ibrahim Lodi on the field o f Pânîpat in 1526, he had four times in­
vaded the Panjâb. His victory was the fruit o f his careful planning, and o f his
cavalry and artillery’s superior manoeuvres. His centre was protected by
700 carts connected by twisted bull-hides; between every pair o f guns there
were six or seven movable breastworks for the protection o f m atchlock men,
and the flanking attacks o f his cavalry transformed his carts into a form idable
fort.
On 16 M arch 1527 at Khanuâ, 37 miles west o f A grâ, Bàbur met Rânâ
Sànga, who had seized Bhïlsâ, Sârangpur, Chandëri, and Rantham bor, and
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 259
his gunners made short work o f th e'Râjputs. Bâbur was now superior to any
other Indian power. Emperor from  g râ to K âbu l, he marched against the
Afghans in the east as far as Ghâzîpur. He shook, but did not destroy, their
strength; returning to  grâ, he died prematurely in 1530.
Humàyün (1530-9) was no match to his energetic father. Preferring t o '
conquer C hitor and G ujarat rather than to consolidate M ughal power in the
east, he allowed Shër K h ân Sür, an enterprising petty A fghan chief, to b e­
come an invincible power in Jaunpur, Bihàr, and Bengal. Shër K h ân p ro ­
claimed himself king in Bengal in 1538, defeating Hum àyün at Chausâ in
June 1539, and finally near Bilgram in M ay 1540.
Shër Shâh ruled only to 1545, dying in an explosion, when well over sixty,
at his siege o f K àlinjar, He had subjugated the turbulent tribes o f tbe northern
Panjâb, and conquered M âlw à, M ârwâr, and M ewâr. H e reintroduced m any
healthy features o f 'A là ’u ’d-D ïn’s revenue system. T h e existing parganâs were
grouped in districts under the control o f officers whose duties were carefully
defined. The revenue was fixed on a measurement o f land and carefully drawn
schedules o f rates. Shër Shâh’s road system is still remembered; b ela id out the
Grand Trunk R oad from Peshawar in Pakistan to Sonàrgaon in Bengal. H is
decision to hold village headmen responsible for highway robbery and murder,
and to compel them to restore losses o f money and goods, restored peace in
the villages and on the highways.
His son Islam Shah (1545-52) was a competent ruler; but the tribal rivalries
o f the Afghan chiefs shook the fabric o f the newly form ed sultanate, and he
failed to conciliate them, dying with potential conflicts unresolved and with
no fit successor, Humàyün, after a chequered career as a fugitive in Sind and
Iran and then as ruler o f K abu l, reconquered D elhi in 1555; the political
power o f the Sür Sultan was in the hands o f Hemü, w ho was not a R âjput but
a pedlar by profession and a Vaisya by caste.
Hum àyün did not rule for more than a few months, and his sudden death
on 24 January 1556 made his son A k b ar the ruler o f Hindüstân. Even at
thirteen, A k b ar showed determination and promise, overthrowing Hëm ü in
the second battle o f Pânïpat in N ovem ber 1556. F o r more than three years his
regent Bairâm K hân was de facto ruler, but in M arch 1560 A k b ar, with his
intriguing foster-mother’s help, overthrew the powerful regent and soon
assumed full control o f the government.
Early in 1562 he married the daughter o f R âjâ Bhâr M al, the K achw âha
Râjput o f Am ber. B y 1564 he had abolished the enslavement o f prisoners o f
war, remitted the tax on Hindu pilgrims, and ended the jizya (poll tax on non-
Muslims). W ith persistent determination and dogged tenacity, he conquered
northern India from Bengal to K ashm ir and Sind. B y annexing Qandahar he
handed down to his successors the strongest possible north-west frontier, such
as was held by no ancient Indian power, nor even by the British except
fleetingly in 1880-1. His unexpected death in 1605 cut short his am bition
to annex the D eccan and to push the Portuguese out o f their maritime
strongholds.
He based his rule on the theory that kingship is a light emanating from G od ,
a great gift ‘ not bestowed till m any thousand grand requisites have been
gathered together in one individual’ . His vast conquests had convinced him
2 Ó0 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

tbat be was G o d ’s chosen, holding creation as a trust from G od . It was his

duty to prom ote universal concord (Sulh-i-kull). He believed that tension be­
tween ruler and subjects was not a sign o f healthy government. A kb ar’s
administrative, institutions, although based on Iranian traditions, drew
heavily upon the successful experiments o f ancient India and the Delhi
sultanate, and were immediately adapted from Shër Shâh’s practices.
He gave a new basis to the relations o f the central government with the
Hindu tributary chiefs. U nder the sultans they were confined to the payment
o f tribute and offering military service whenever required.-Akbar absorbed
very many chieftains into his civil and military service. R ank rose in hier­
archical order, with every rank (mansab) marked by the number o f horsemen
the officer was required to bring into the field. F o r each rank was set an
appropriate jâgir, an area o f land whose revenue the officer had to collect
through his ow n officials; in later years, some officers holding civilian posts
were paid in cash. F or a Rajput chieftain, a jâgir included the assessed re­
venue o f his hereditary dominions (watan jâgir); were it insufficient for his
rank, he would be granted further jâgïrs in the imperial dominions. A s the
râjâsl loyal and meritorious service earned them higher and higher ranks,
their share in imperial revenues steadily increased, m aking loyalty more pro­
fitable than rebellion.
In M ughal parlance, such chieftains were known as zamïndâr râjâs. Akbar
and his successors used the term zamindâr for holders o f all types o f landed
interests, except mere cultivators. T o quote Niirul Hasan’ s classification,
prim ary zantindârs ‘ were for all practical purposes the holders o f proprietary
rights over agricultural as well as liabitational lands’ . This class included both
‘ peasant-proprietors who carried on cultivation themselves or with the help of
hired labour, and the proprietors of one or several villages’ . F rom them, in­
termediary zamïndârs collected the revenue and paid it to the imperial treasury,
to jâgir holders, or to zamindâr râjâs. In return, they enjoyed various per­
quisites. Their rights were hereditary, but the state reserved the right to
interfere with their succession, partition their rights, and even revoke them for
negligence o f duty or subversive activities.
B oth the intermediary and prim ary zamïndârs performed several police
functions, maintained law and order in their villages, and kept roads and
highways free from thieves and robbers. Like the zamindâr râjâs, they imitated
the M ughal w ay o f life, dress, and manners. Some learned Persian; M ughal
culture was grafted through them upon Indian society in the villages.-LThe
peaceable zamindâr impressed it upon the minds o f the Indian villagers that
the M ughal power was invincible and based on universal concord.
T h e zamïndârs inherited or built their own fortresses for protection alike
from their rivals and arrogant officials. Zamïndârs whose lands were protected
by hills or ravines, or screened by jungles, were often unruly. T h e whole o f
northern India was dotted with such areas; Katihar. Jalâlï near Aligarh, the
Panjâb hills, and the jungles o f Bihâr were almost inaccessible; and even close
to A gra, there were such areas towards the north and the west, the abode o f
the turbulent Jàts. Such areas were usually known as mawâs. Generally, where
a large number o f villages belonged to zamïndârs o f the same caste or class,
the emperor and his successors found it exceedingly difficult to assert their
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 261
authority; threats, shows o f force, and promises o f rewards and mansabs were
their weapons.
■ Other Hindu castes and classes rose to prominence upon the reorganization
io f the finance and revenue departments. High officers, known as diwâns, were
generally by caste KJiattris and Kâyasthas, and occasionally brahmans. The
jâgirdârs also employed Hindu diwâns. The revenue returns o f jâgirs, and
the rent-free land grants o f Hindu and M uslim scholars, theologians, and
charitable institutions, passed through the hands o f Hindu diwâns. M an y
'ulama' and süfïs, resentful yet powerless, nourished hostility to the Hindus
as a class.
The administrative reforms o f A k b a r changed the structure o f even the
Muslim leadership. The state was no longer the m onopoly o f the Mughals, or
even the Iranis; the Afghans, and Indian Muslims such as Shaikhzâdas,
Saiyids, and Kam bobs shared in its management. T h e hereditary status o f a
new entrant was an important consideration in assigning his first mansab, but
promotion depended mainly upon talents and loyalty.
Akbar never ceased exploring new avenues o f progress, and maintained an
objective attitude. His achievements in the fields o f culture, administration,
diplomacy, and statesmanship would never have been so impressive without
his inquiring mind and painstaking experiments. Faith in G od was his guide,
and his intuitive understanding o f human psychology ruled his decisions. A
galaxy o f statesmen and scholars, both from Iran and India, transformed into
reality his dreams o f a great empire. ’
Before his death, however, he had given no clear lead in the question o f
succession. Tw o o f his three sons had died, and Salim, the only survivor, who
succeeded him as Jahangir, was at once faced with the rebellion o f his own
son Khusrau. This ate into the vitality o f the M ughal power, and set a prece­
dent o f factionalism and party politics. Six years after his succession.
Jahangir married the mature but still beautiful widow o f Shër A fgan, a
nobleman, and entitled her N ür Jahàn. She became his wise counsellor. Her
father and brother, who already held positions o f importance, obtained well-
deserved promotions, raising Irani influence and disturbing other sections o f
the élite, particularly the Turânîs.
In Jahangir’s reign M ew àr submitted, Ahm aduagar was brought further
under imperial control, and.K àngrâ captured. His governor o f Bengal, Islam
Khân, consolidated M ughal rule by liquidating the still considerable power o f
the Afghan zamindârs. Qandahàr, negligently held, fell to Shâh ‘A bbâs o f
Iran in 1622, a serious blow to A k b a r’s frontier policy. The increase o f the
number o f mansabdars made tbe administration unwieldy. The expansion o f
trade with Iran and the establishment o f European factories both enlarged the
manufacturing resources o f India and increased the extravagance and the
luxury o f the Imperial Court.
In the reign o f Shâh Jahàn, who. ascended the throne in 1628, the splendour
o f the Great Mughals touched its height. The new Emperor, w ho had con­
siderable experience in the D eccan, followed a vigorous policy o f southward
expansion. In 1633 D aulatâbàd was seized, and the Ahm adnagar D ynasty
extinguished. Early in 1636 the Em peror himself marched against BIjàpur and
Golconda, and forced them to accept very harsh terms o f peace. Their tribute
 2Ó2 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

was increased ; Bïjâpur was required to stop M arâthâ expansion, and Golconda
to give up Shì'ì practices, which amounted to an admission o f Iran’s overlord­
ship. Towards the end o f his reign, his ambitious son and viceroy in the
Deccan, Aurangzeb, arousing the cupidity o f his father, made a bid to annex
both Bïjâpur and G olconda entirely, but the Emperor’s sudden illness late in
1657, and the subsequent war o f succession, put an end to the plan.
A n expedition to Tibet failed; attempts to seize Balkh and Bukhara could
not be maintained; three attempts to regain Qandahàr, recovered from the
Persians in 1639 and lost again in 1648, ended in defeat. The M ughal army,
now purely Indian, had no training in warfare in those regions, and dreaded
above all else the cold. Better success was met in Assam, where after repeated
attacks on the Ahom s the M ughals stabilized their boundary at the Barnadi.
Imperial authority was effectively imposed upon Bundelkhand and Baghel-
khand; in 1643, the Râjâ o f Palam au was forced into submission. The Gpnds
and Bhils o f M âlwâ were kept subdued. Imperial orders o f this period survive
id large numbers. They exhibit the Emperor’ s deep concern for the extension
o f revenue-producing cultivation, and the promotion o f manufactures to
supply his court, particularly linen o f fine quality.
In September 1657 Shâh Jahàn fell dangerously ill o f a strangury. A ll his
four sons, each talented and efficient, resolved to contest the throne. Shâh
Jahàn had wished his eldest son D àrâ, a man devoted to sufic researches and
o f amiable but selfish temperament, to succeed him. The others had acqui­
esced, knowing full well that the sword would decide. T hey entered into
secret alliances am ong themselves and with various nobles, and strengthened
their power in their respective viceroyalties. Despite Shàh.Jahân’s help, Darà
lost the battle o f Sàmügarh at the end o f M a y 165S to Aurangzeb, a better
general and a more effective leader. Shâh Jabân, imprisoned in  grà fort, died
there in 1666. Through a cunning device Aurangzeb seized his brother Murâd,
form er governor o f Gujarât, and incarcerated him in-Gwalior. He pursued
D arà towards the Panjâb, but returned in January 1659 and defeated Shujà',
the former Viceroy o f Bengal, at Khajuhâ, near Allahabad; Shujà' was finally
defeated by M ïr Jumla near D acca in A pril 1660. In A pril 1659 D ârâ, wrongly
banking upon Ràjput support, and entrenched in the D eorài pass south of
Ajm er, was beaten after a tenacious fight, and fled through G ujarât, K athia­
war; and Sind. A treacherous officer, advanced by him in the days o f his glory,
foiled his attempt to escape to Iran through the Bolan pass. Seized, he was
brought to D elhi and executed on the frivolous charge o f calling Islam and
heresy twins. Some describe this war o f succession as a war o f ideologies, a
triumph for orthodox Islam over Hinduism and the Shi'is. A th a r'A li’s statisti­
cal analysis o f the supporters o f the contending princes has, however,
strengthened the view that it was, like previous wars o f succession, a war of
factions, a natural event in M ughal history. A ll parties claimed that they wère
fighting to strengthen the hand o f their father; Aurangzeb and his allies,
after the Victory o f Samügarh, added to their proclamations a claim that they
took up arms to uproot the un-Islamic influence o f Dârâ.
Aurangzeb begah his reign b y remissions o f revenue and other much-needed
measures o f econom ic relief. He abolished as un-Islamic m any exactions
which, although frequently suppressed by'previous rulers, had always been
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 263
levied again. He restored the department o f Ihtlsâb (‘ m oral censorship’),
which A k b ar had disbanded, to enforce rigid Sunni m orality upon the M uslim
masses, who were henceforth subjected to much petty irritation w ithout any
great change in their daily lives. T he apparatus o f ‘ snoopers’ gave em ploym ent
to many orthodox bigots, and created a vested interest am ong the bureau­
cracy, which coincided with Aurangzeb’s own inclinations, in discarding
A kbar’s secular principles.
In 1665 Aurangzeb introduced discrim inatory'trade regulations; in 1668 he
initiated a series o f puritanical reform s; in 1669 he ordered the closing o f
Hindu schools and demolition o f temples, and several temples were actually
destroyed. By 1672 his stupendous code o f H an afi law, the Fatawâ-i- Âlam-
gïrî, was completed ; but it did not override custom ary law. In 1679, to provide
the army o f Islamizing officials with a source o f incom e legal under M uslim
law, as recommended by GhazàlI, he reimposed the jizy a ; ‘ many o f the honest
scholars o f the tim e’ were appointed to collect it, and it was levied with the
utmost severity, the Emperor never relenting, not even in extreme old age.
Until 1681 Aurangzeb remained in northern In d ia; from tjhen until he died
he was in the D eccan. His Irani general Mir Jumla, after driving Shujâ* into
exile, conquered K ü ch Bihàr, and invaded Assam ; the arm y was decimated
by disease, M ît Jumla him self dying in 1663, and his conquests were, piece
by piece, abandoned. Palam au and N avanagar were annexed outright. In the
Deccan the Emperor’s maternal uncle Shàista K h àn (1601-94) made little
headway against the M aràthâ adventurer Sivâjï, w ho in 1663 plundered the
K hân’s camp, cutting o ff his thumb in his own harem. In 1664 âivàjl sacked
the flourishing port o f Surat; but in 1665 the R âjput general M irzâ R âja Jai
Singh defeated him, forced him by the treaty o f Purandhar to surrender
twenty-three forts, and induced him to wait upon Aurangzeb at À grâ. This
effort to bring Sivàjï into the mansabdâri system failed; fancying him self
slighted, éivâjl made a scene in court, was imprisoned, and, while the
Emperor considered plans for dealing with him, escaped, and reorganized his
.territories.
Jai Singh meanwhile had failed to conquer Bïjàpur, being unprovided with
ia siege train; the Emperor was displeased, and recalled him ; he died on the
w ay home in 1667. In that year the Afridls and Yüsufzaïs rebelled on the
•north-west frontier, and these and other disturbances held A urangzeb’s
attention for several years. Proclaim ing himself Chhatrapati1 in 1674, Sivâjï
assumed equality with his former master, the Sultan o f Bïjàpur; in 1677 he
m ade extensive conquests in the region o f A ndhra Pradesh in the name o f
Qutb Shâh o f G olconda; but in A p ril 1680 he died.
Sivâjï united the scattered and disorganized M arâthâs into a secure state,
administered according to the traditions o f Vijayanagara and Bïjàpur, and
founded upon the plunder levied from other lands by m ounted guerrillas.
Asserting the right to chauth (one fourth o f the assessed revenue) and sardes-
mukhi (a further levy o f one tenth, claimed on the false ground that âivàjï’s
fam ily was entitled to it as being the principal desmukhs, or collectors o f re­
venue, in Maharashtra), he pillaged alike the lands o f the M ughals and the
Deccan kings; but he raised in this way enough to pay his troops in cash, and
Lord o f the umbrella’, implying a completely independent ruler.
264 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties

to recruit auxiliaries, the dreaded bargirs, without having to depend upon a

cumbrous system o f jâgïrs.
In Decem ber 1678 R âjâ Jaswant Singh Râthor o f M ârw àr (Jodhpur) died
on duty on the north-west frontier, with no son to succeed him. Aurangzeb
resolved to annex his dominions. Ignoring Jaswant’s posthumous son, he
soon faced a revolt in M ârwàr, aided by the Rânâ o f M ewâr; and during the
campaign, in January 1681, his son A k b ar rebelled, proclaimed himself
Emperor, and cut Aurangzeb to the quick by suggesting that he, like Shâh
Jahân, was unfit to rule. A k b ar’s revolt soon failed, and he fled southwards,
where he lived until 1687 under the protection o f 5 ambhüjï, the son and
successor o f Sivàjï, retreating finally to Iran, where he died in 1704, while
waiting on the frontier for news o f his father’s death. M ârwàr crushed but
not cowed, Aurangzeb turned south with all his forces. He was never to return
to the north.
The M arâthâs were harassed, and A k b ar prevented from breaking out; in
1686 Bijapur was captured, in 1687 G olconda; in 1689 a daring raid brought
Sambhùjl himself a prisoner to Aurangzeb. H e was barbarously executed.
Aurangzeb appeared totally victorious, yet stood on the verge o f ruin. He was
never able fully to pacify the conquered lands; M arâthâ leaders, their state
destroyed, rose up everywhere to harass and plunder; until the end o f 1705
Aurangzeb, reluctant to leave the Deccan either to his generals or to his sons,
was personally engaged in a dreary and essentially fruitless effort to secure a
final victory'. The very forts he snatched (or bribed) from the M arâthâs often
fell again into their hands, whether through attack or through bribery.
In 1707 Aurangzeb died, in his eighty-ninth year, at Ahm adnagar, con­
scious o f his own failure, yet piously sure he had obeyed the letter o f G od ’s
law. The D eccan plateau, never conspicuously productive, was ruined by
twenty-five years o f marching and plunder; the mansabdârï system was break­
ing up; the empire was, in fact, bankrupt. Administration, discipline, even
society disintegrated.
A urangzeb’s eldest surviving son won a bloody war o f succession, but in
1709 left the D eccan; senile at seventy, he died at Làhore in February 1712.
Four middle-aged brothers contested the crow n; the eldest emerged victorious,
called him self Jahândàr, and retired to a life o f pleasure in Delhi, emerging
only to confront his nephew Fârrukhsiyàr near  grâ, to lose the battle, flee
ignominiously, and be as ignominiously put to death. In 1719 Fârrukhsiyàr,
after an ineffectual reign, was murdered at the behest o f his own wazir. The
Emperor was now a puppet; whatever minister could dominate the dissolving
administration was the true head o f the state. Governors and adventurers
looked to their own interests, and after the outright cession o f Khàndësh and
M àlwà to the M arâthâs and the destructive invasion o f N àdir Shâh o f Iran in
1739, the Emperor had no more authority than aspiring factions found it
convenient to allow him.
A s with the Delhi sultanate after Fîrüz Tughluq, independent principalities
emerged under M uslim rulers: in Bengal, at Fàrrukhâbàd, where Afghans
ruled, and at Fajzâbâd in Avadh, with m any petty states elsewhere. Gujarat
fell to the M arâthâs, w ho did not cease their raids, turning now to Ràjputâna,
which, they ruined. In the Deccan, N izàm u’l M ulk À sa f Jàh created the great
 The Muslim Ruling Dynasties 265
Muslim state, with its capital at Hyderabad near G olconda, which was broken
up in 1948. Everywhere zamïndârs paid no revenue unless forced at the point
o f the sword. They were proud to call themselves zamïndârân-i-zoMalab (in­
subordinate zamïndârs).
The rulers o f Avadh (who in 1775 removed to Lucknow) were Shl'a; the
others were Sunnis; none followed any strong Islamic line. The Afghans in
India allied themselves with Ahmad Shâh D urrani, the new ruler o f Afghani­
stan, in the hope o f suppressing the M aràthà inroads upon northern India,
and the rising power o f the Jâts. Both were destroyed in 1761, at the third
battle o f Pànïpat; the M ughal power was entirely eclipsed, the Sikhs were
definitely established in the Panjâb; and while the M arâthâs retired south­
wards and revived, only to be destroyed by the British, the M uslim powers
sank slowly and irreversibly into inanity. Bengal, indeed, had already fallen to
British power.
W hile religious, political, and economic factors combined to weaken and
finally extinguish M ughal power, the greatest single cause o f the collapse was
the failure o f Aurangzeb to husband his resources; obstinately persisting in a
false policy in the D eccan, he failed utterly to adapt the structure o f the state
to new stresses, while he destroyed much o f the foundation upon which the
imaginative skill o f A k b ar had raised the M ughal Empire.
C H A P T E R X V III

Medieval Hindu Devotionalism

by J. T . F . J o rd e n s

D u r i n g medieval times (thirteenth to seventeenth centuries) Hinduism under­

went a transformation so great that it has been compared to that wrought in
Western Christianity by the Reformation. The focus o f religious attention
moved from the great gods and the liturgies connected with polytheism to the
one G od and his avatars, especially Krishna and Râm a. A new attitude to
G od, emotional, passionate bhakti, replaced the old approaches o f sacrificial
rite and monistic meditation, just as a new mysticism, practical yet ecstatic,
replaced the former philosophical type. Form s o f religious expression changed:
love-songs to Jhe Lord were sung, and group singing created a new popular
cultural form, the kirlan. Pushing aside old gods, old attitudes, old cultural
forms, the.new movément also drove the sacred language, Sanskrit, back into
the memories o f the pandits and the deepest precincts o f temples and mona­
steries. In the first centuries o f their growth all modern Indian vernacular
literatures were moulded by this religious movement, and thus were essenti­
ally mass literatures. The socio-ritualistic order dominated by the brâhmans
was not overthrown, but the brahmans lost much of their spiritual authority,
which passed to the saints and the gurus, whose songs and biographies soon
became a new scripture. The new devotional religion, without destroying the
Hindu social framework, fostered ideas o f brotherhood and equality before
the loving Lord, and its saints drawn from all levels o f society proclaimed that
in bhakti caste had no meaning.

ORIGIN AND SPREAD

Earlier theories that medieval devotionalism originated either in the north

or the south under the impact o f Islam are negated by the simple fact that the
earliest genuine devotional M<v/r//poetry o f Tamilnàdu precedes the coming o f
Islam. Islamic, and particularly S û fî influences, may, however, have been felt
later.
The divinization o f Krishna and later o f Ram a emerged around the begin­
ning o f the Christian era, and connected with it was the earlier type o f bhakti:
a personal devotion, contemplative and sober, to a personal loving Lord, as
we find it supremely expressed in the Bhagauad Gita. In the new literature o f
the Purânas, the Krishna myth underwent a deep transformation. The epic
Krishna receded into the background, and the focus o f attention shifted to the
marvels o f his birth and infancy and to his heroic and amorous exploits as a
youth among the cowherds and cowherdesses o f G okula. N o doubt there is a
connection between this change in the Krishna myth and the slow transforma­
tion o f bhakti itself. But the first clear manifestation o f the new bhakti, em o­
tional, ardent, ecstatic, often using erotic imagery, appears in the Tamil
 Medieval Hindu Devolìonalism 267
country in the early seventh century, in the poems o f the N âyanârs, devotees
of Siva, and o f the Àlvârs, devotees o f Vishnu.
V . Subramaniam has proposed an interesting theory about the sociological
Origins o f this phenomenon. Old Tam il literature was dominated b y a strong
tradition o f romantic-erotic love. This love had tw o characteristics: it dealt
nòt with the nobility, but with the people; and it was closely associated with a
special nature mystique. From the second century a .d . onwards these tradi­
tions came under the strong influence o f  ryan sacerdotalism and philosophy,
tinder pressure from the new culture, especially its reforms o f m arriage
customs, the strong rom antic urge o f the Tam ils was compelled to find new
outlets. These were on the one hand the religious bhakti poetry, and, on the
other, a decadent romanticism.
^"Whether this was so or not, the fact is that at the beginning o f the seventh
century we witness the eruption o f the new type o f passionate bhakti in Tam il.
From the seventh to the tenth centuries a very extensive hymnal literature
câme^to light. T h e collections o f these hymns acquired immense im portance
and soon came to be considered as the ‘ Tam il Veda', the m ain scripture o f the
people, and also as the second Veda to many o f the great theologians. These
hymnodists are treated in another chapter.
H ow did this new bhakti spread from the south into M aharashtra, Bengal,
and the northern plains? O bviously Tam il could not be the vehicle, so it
happened through the Sanskritization o f the new spirit. T h e Vaishnavite
brahman scholars infused this new spirit into the Bhâgavata Purdna (ninth
century) which travelled the highroads o f Sanskrit tradition and soon became
the principal text o f Vaishnavism all over India, m arking a turning-point in
the history o f the Vaishnavite faith. Whereas the other books o f this w ork are
very much in the old purànic tradition, the tenth b ook erupts in a m agnificent
exposé o f the new bhakti, centred on Krishna’s childhood and youth. This is
one o f the truly great works .of Hinduism, and its innumerable translations
into the vernaculars (forty into Bengali alone) testify to its great popularity
and influence. T h e figure o f Krishna holds the stage, as child or lover, hero or
trickster, but always marvellous and entrancing even in his m ost daring ex­
ploits.
... This purànic development o f the new bhakti was paralleled by its grow th in
the work o f the great theologians, both Saivite and Vaishnavite. T hey form ed
religious orders, and their monks carried their message all over India. T he
first and greatest among them was the Vaishnava mystic Ràm ânuja (died
1137) founder o f tbe Srlvaishnava sect. M adhva (1197-1276), a Kanarese
brâhman, founded the M âdhava sect, and the Telugu brâhm an N im bârka
(thirteenth century) settled near M athurà singing the praises o f K rishna and
Ràdhà. Vallabhâchârya (1479-1531), a Telugu born at VârânasI (Banàras),
had tremendous influence through his sect in G ujarat and Ràjputâna. A m ong
the Saivites, the sect o f the Lingâyats was one whose influence reached several,
north Indian saints.
Another cluster o f sects influenced bhakti in the later stages, especially in
Bengal, the chief o f which were the Buddhist Siddhas, the Sahajayàna, and
the N âtha Y o gis. These all shared a basic Tantric approach in which the
male-female polarity, the importance o f the body, the continuous use o f
268 Medieval Hindu Deootionalism

sexual symbolism, and also the use o f sensual rites, are essential. It was
mainly the Bengali Vaishnavas and also some Hindi saints like K abir who
came under this influence.
MAHARASHTRA

A m o n g the Indo-Aryan vernaculars devotional bhakti first appeared in

M arathi. It started in the thirteenth century w ith Jnânesvara (1271-96, also
know n as Jnânadeva), w ho wrote a long M arathi commentary on the Bhaga-
vad GUâ, called Bhâvârthadïpikâ, more com m only known as the Jnânesvari,
the fountain-head o f M aharashtrian devotionalism . M ore than a commentary,
the text constitutes a religious sermon in the form o f a song composed in a
rhythm ic prose which should be chanted. Jnânesvara was initiated in the
N âtba sect, which explains his leaning towards monism, but his bhakti was
due to his connection w ith the Vàrkarî sect, which instituted the regular
popular pilgrimages to the shrine o f Y ithob à in Pandharpur.
The Jnânesvari forms a transitional stage in the development o f devotional
mysticism. It is still greatly influenced by the traditional commentary style of
the theologians, but breaks new ground by using tbe vernacular. Thus was
revived that contact with the masses that the great tradition, o f Hinduism had
lost. It innovated also by using a form meant for kirtan chanting, by address­
ing itself to the mass o f the people, and by drawing from the sim ple life o f the
village for examples and metaphors. The movement lasted till jhe seventeenth
century', and we now describe its main personalities.
N àm dev (1270-1350) was a contemporary o f Jnânesvara, but outlived him
by over fifty years. A tailor hy caste, he was surrounded b.y other low-caste
hymnodist-saints : G ora the potter, Sam vatâ the gardener, C h okhà the un­
touchable, Sena the barber, Janabâî the maid. The object o f his devotion was
V ithobà, the form o f the great god Vishnu residing in the Pandharpur temple.
This V ithobâ was the god o f the Vârkarl-Panth, a sect that has an important
place in the history o f Mahârâshtrian devotionalism . It differs from most other
sects in several ways. Its members are householders, and have a strong aver­
sion to asceticism. Their main cult is the twice-a-year pilgrim age to Pandhar­
pur, when .thousands o f Vàrkarîs walk from village to village, from town to
town, singing the praises o f Vithobâ. The membership cuts across the whole
caste structurel, and their m ost important aid to religion is the society o f
saints, by which term is meant their brothers and sisters in the faith and the
saints w ho have died but left their immortal songs behind. The spread o f this
intensely devotional movement over the whole o f M ahârâshtra was connected
with the names o f Jnânesvara and Nâm dev.
N àm dev’ s songs reflect a passionate nature, com pletely given to the love o f
V ithobà and the continuous invocation o f his name. Often N âm dev is
troubled by the conflict between his all-absorbing bhakti and his everyday
duties. Either his bhakti bears him away from the world and its demands, or
his involvem ent in secular life makes him lose the presence o f bis Lord and
thus have a foretaste o f that 'D a rk N ight o f the S o u l’, the bitter sweetness of
which Tukârâm will experience to the full.
I die unless T h o u su cco u r bring,
O haste and com e, m y G o d and K in g !
 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism 269
T o help m e is a trifling thing,
Y e t T h o u m ust haste, m y G o d and K in g !
O c o m e (h ow N â m à ’s clam ours ring)

O haste and com e, m y G o d a n d K in g ! 1

After N âm dev two centuries went by without leaving any names o f great
saints. T h e com ing o f the Turks and o f Islam drove the movement under­
ground as it were. The temple at Pandharpur was razed, but the spirit did not
die. It was Eknâth (1533-99) who revived the inspiration and the tradition.
H e was a brâhman born in a fam ily o f celebrated saints. A s a scholar, he
published the first reliable edition o f the Jnânesvarï, and thus gave the M arath i
Gita back to his people. By writing a commentary on the Râmâyana, the
B.hâvârtha-râmâyana, be also presented Ràm a’s story to them. His m ystical
teachings found their supreme expression in his famous com m entary on the
eleventh book o f the Bhâgavata Purâna, in which he obviously modelled him ­
self on the great master Jnànesvara.
But Eknâth did more. H e invented, as it were, a new form o f deep religious
life that needed no institutions or monasteries, no resignation from the world.
H e was a fam ily man, devoted, austere, whose life was regulated around his
hearth and his manuscripts, and yet he was a mystic. H e showed how, w hat­
ever obstacles the M uslim s put in the way, the Hindu could aspire to the
deepest experience o f his religion within the ordinary fram ework o f life. Every
day he practised kirtan, and his songs are part o f the M arathi heritage..They
have a strong moral basis, are concerned with the simplest aspects o f life, and
.yet often soar to great heights o f personal mysticism.
Tukàrâm (1598-1650) was no doubt the greatest bhakti poet M ahàrâshtra
produced, and has high claims to be the greatest in the whole o f India. H e was
born in a rural fam ily o f grain traders and a'great tragedy set him on the path
o f devotion. À famine took one o f his two wives and his son, and left him
heartbroken and ruined. His w ork consists o f a collection o f hymns, express­
ing the cry o f his soul.
T h e y sa y that I fabricate poem s
Y e t w ords are n ot m ine, bu t A n o th e r’s.

It is n ot m y art that clothes them in beauty,

It is th e C o sm ic L o rd w h o m akes m e speak.
I am on ly an ignorant peasant,
H o w w o u ld I k n o w those su btle w o rd s?
!
I am o n ly a sim ple secretary, says j u k â .
O n m y b o o k s I prin t the seal o f H is N a m e ,

Tukâràm ’s hymns are the glory o f devotional poetry, the favourites o f the
V àrkarl pilgrims, and they are woven into the very texture o f the Pandharpur
rites. M o re than any other o f his fellow saints, Tukàrâm was a mystic over­
powered by love, by the presence or the absence o f his Lord. Again and again
his songs describe the terrifying passage through the ‘ D ark N ight o f the S o u l',
where his feelings o f sin and nothingness combine with the absence o f the
' A . J. Appasaray, Temple Bells, Calcutta, n.d., p. 50.
 270 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism

Lord to crush him down in the depths o f despair. Y e t even there, love still
possesses him. His burning desire for the L o rd ’s vision is frequently fulfilled,
and in this fulfilment an ecstasy takes hold o f his mind and his senses and
transports him into visions, now cosmic, now intensely personal. A ll this is
expressed in the concise, vigorous, sometimes brutally knotted style that is all
his own.
A s on the bank the p o o r fish lies
A n d gasps and w rithes in pain,
O r as a m an with anxious eyes
Seeks hidden gold in vain ,—
S o is m y heart distressed and cries
T o com e to T h ee again.

T h o u kn ow est, L o rd , the agon y

O f the lost infant’s w ail,
Y e a rn in g his m oth er's face to see.
(H ow o ft I tell this tale!)
I O , at T h y feet the m ystery
O f the d ark w orld unveil!*

Y e t, this poet was o f the people, talking their language, using their similes,
italking about their life, urging them to become pilgrims o f the interior life, to
disregard the pomp, deception, superstitions o f official Hinduism, and to
contemplate the mysteries o f the love o f G od.
A kite careers in the sky,
U p there, so free and high,
T h e child h o lds on to the thread,
B ut his heart is over there,

A w o m an com m its adultery,

She run s the house at hom e.
B ut she lives fo r her lover on ly,
A n d her heart is over there.

T u k â says, w e are all engrossed

In ou r different w ays and jo b s,
B ut o u r heart m ust n ever be
D istracted from the Lord .

Ràmdàs (1608-81), orphaned as a child, left home and, after long years o f
spiritual training and wandering, he settled down on the banks o f the Krishna
where he built a temple to Râm a. This last o f the great M aharashtrian hymno-
dists is in several ways quite different again. His main work, the Dasabodha is
not written in the commentary form, but is rather a compilation o f his writings
and sermons produced over many years. The content too is new, for we have
not only a theologian discussing ideas, but also a reformer concerned with the
contemporary state o f society, w ith the bad condition o f the brahmans, with
the threat o flsla m . There is evidence o f what today we would call ‘ political’
concern in the relationship he had with his pupil Sivàjî, the founder o f the
new M arâthà Hindu kingdom. In him devotionalism and activism were

1 I b i d ., p . 5 4 .
 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism 271
closely wedded: whereas his predecessors were householders, their concern for
society was less than that o f Râm dàs, the ascetic. A nd whereas the others
centred their devotion on K rishna and the Vishnu o f Pandharpur, Râm dàs, as
his name proclaims, was a devotee o f Râma.
Those, then, are the main saints o f M ahàrâshtra. A s a group they have
characteristics that set them apart from those o f other regions: theologically
there is a strong current o f monism, and although m ostly devotees o f ïtrishna
their works are devoid o f erotic imagery. T hey revitalized Hinduism, estab­
lished the M arâthâ literary and cultural identity, and insisted on unifying
social forces: these were to become im portant political factors in the building
o f the great Hindu kingdom o f the M aràthâs, and later characterized the
M ahàrâshtrian nationalist reformist movement.

BENGAL
M edieval devotionalism in Bengal has different roots from that o f M ahârâ-
shtra, and developed in quite a different way. T w o distinct streams o f religio­
sity determined its growth. On the one hand there is the influence p f the
Vaishnava tradition, and on the other the non-Vaishnava influences from
Buddhist and Hindu sources. The Vaishnava impetus came first o f all through
the Blmgavata Parana with its glorification o f the Krishna-lilâ. This came to
Bengal under the Pala kings and found its typically Bengali literary trans­
form ation in Jayadeva’s passionately lyrical Gita-Govinda towards the end o f
the twelfth century. The Gita-Govinda brings into Bengali Vaishnavism a new
aspect, derived from another source than the Bhâgavata, namely the prom ­
inence given to Râdhâ, the favourite o f Krishna. The erotic-mystical theme o f
the love o f Krishna and Râdhâ occupies here the centre o f the stage, and
henceforth dominates Bengâlï devotionalism.
N on-Vaishnava influence came from two sources, distinct yet interrelated.
Buddhism had been on the decline in India for some time, but in Bengal it
survived under the Pala Dynasty, after which it became decadent. In its de­
cadence it produced forms that affected the development o f Vaishnavism , and
both these Buddhist and Vaishnava forms then influenced Bengali devotional-
ism. Their emphasis was on the fem ale principle o f the universe and tirey
exalted the religious value o f sexual passion. In reaction against the rigouts
o f the M ahâyâna discipline they preached the doctrine o f naturalism, thus
idealizing the sensuous and showing a new path to salvation in and through
the senses. Intense emotionalism and eroticism pervaded their rites and mysti­
cal teachings. Chaitanya, the greatest o f the Bengâlï teachers, did not him self
come under their spell, but they certainly had an impact on the erotically in­
spired Krishna-ò/iafcfi o f Bengal, leading in some cases to decadent practices.
Chandïdâs (fourteenth century) is the first great name in Bengali bhakti
literature. His poems, which include poems to the M other Goddess and to
Krishna and Râdhâ, testify to his being influenced by both the Gita-Govinda
and the Sahajîyà doctrines. H e holds that the only way to salvation is the love
o f G od , and that this love must be based on an earthly passion for a particular
person. This passion, however, needs to be sublimated, and therefore one
should choose an inaccessible person, for instance a low-caste or married
woman, for its object. T h e washerwoman R èm i became the focus o f his own
212 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism

desire and some o f his most beautiful poems are about her. M ore influential
than these Sàkta poems was his Krislmakirtan, devoted to the love o f Krishna
and Râdhà, imbued with great depth o f feeling and transfused with profound
symbolism.
Friend, what else can I tell you ?
Love has captured me in my tender youth,
And You leave me no peace in my house.
I will end my life, jump in the sea,
Yearning to be reborn as Krishna,
And You as Râdhà in the next life.
Then my love will snare, then abandon You.
As You go to the well, I will gracefully
Stand under the Kadaqiba with my flute.
Chandïdâs says, You, as a simple housewife,
Will fall under the spell o f my flute.
And then it will be Your turn, O Krishna,
To suffer the burning pangs o f love.
Although Yidyâpati (fourteenth to fifteenth century') did not write in
Bengali, but in M aithiii, an allied dialect, his songs on R âdhà and Krishna are
part o f Bengàlî Vâishnavjsm. H e wrote eight works in Sanskrit, and nearly a
thousand o f his love-ballads have been collected. His work is similar in con­
tent to that of Chandïdâs, but his poetry is m ore classical,-polished, and
learned. In fact it mostly reads as a M aithiii version of Sanskrit courtly
eroticism, and the tradition injected a religious symbolism into the poems
which one sometimes suspects was absent in their making.
. . . On all my limbs
Were spells of love.
What strength I needed
To arrest desire.
My quivering breasts
I hid with trembling hands
As all my body glowed.
No longer could I check my passion
And the shut lotus bloomed in smiles.5
The saint who gathered together the various strands o f Bengali Vaishnavisnt,
became a reformer, and founded a sect with enorm ous influence on Bengal
religious life, was Viévambhar Misra, called Chaitanya (1485-1533). He was
unique in medieval bhakti history in that he was the initiator o f a very broad
movement which covered Bengal and spilled out into the whole o f east India.
It was a movement which encompassed an organized sect, a strong theological
school, and a broad-based popular cult. Chaitanya was probably at first a
member o f the Sankarite DasDâmi sect, and he did not leave any theological
writings, but only a few devotional songs. He him self was primarily a vision­
ary ecstatic.
He sent six theologians, the ‘ six G osvâm in s’, to the sacred Krishnaite
place Vrindàvan (in Bengali- Brindàban) to w ork out the theology o f the
1 Love Songs o f yidyâpati, trans. Deben Bhatlacharya, London, 1963, p. 69.
 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism 273
emerging sect. These were the people who codified its doctrine and formulated
its rules and rites. They were learned Sanskritists, familiar with the revelation
and the tradition, and primarily intent on fitting their theology into com ­
mentaries on the sacred texts, particularly the Bhâgavata Parana. The main'
peculiarities o f their theology are the following. Krishna is considered to be
not a mere incarnation o f Vishnu, but the highest aspect o f the divine, its
‘ true essence’. In this aspect he is united with the highest sakti, which ex­
presses the blissful power o f divine life and is manifest in Râdhà. The aim o f
the devotee is gradually to ascend the ladder o f bhakti till he reaches the
supreme state o f mddhurya, or sweetness, in which he emotionally identifies
himself with Râdhâ and achieves the blissful state o f union with Krishna.
This ladder o f perfection is expressed in a terminology taken over from the
refined science o f aesthetics, describing the experience o f the beautiful. T he
whole theological edifice is thus based on a formalization o f sublimated em o­
tional eroticism, and couched in terms derived from aesthetics. It should be
stressed that this mystical theology insists strongly on virtue and on ethical
training, as the necessary prerequisites for the full realization o f bhakti.
This theology, elaborated at a physical distance from Bengal, in some way
distanced itself from Chaitanya him self and the popular movement that grew
around him. Chaitanya expressed him self in the sankirtan, a session o f hymn-
singing by a group o f devotees. These songs were often accompanied by*
ecstatic dancing to the sound o f tambourines. Sessions took place in homes or
temples, or erupted in the streets in the form o f processions. Chaitanya, the
ecstatic par excellence, was the centre o f the cult, and a whole literature o f
hymns, biographies, legends, and dramas sprang up around him. In fact
Chaitanya him self became the object o f popular devotion, and was considered
the living Krishna, or rather the incarnation o f Ràdhâ-Krishna. T he Chait-
anyites were no social reformers militating against the caste structure, but
within the sphere o f devotional practice they completely rejected all distinction
o f caste and thus promoted a sense o f equality that penetrated deep into
Bengali life.
For three centuries Krishna and Chaitanya remained the main inspiration
o f high Bengâll culture. T h e seventeenth century produced a new crop o f
hymnodists, the greatest o f whom was Govinda D âs.

The sun above is burning like fire,

The sand beneath is burning the path,
B u t R â d h â in dayligh t goes to the tryst,
Butter-soft body, and lotus-soft feet.
T h e wind blow s abou t circles o f dust,
Screening the eyes of suspicious elders,
The beautiful Râdhâ is now on her way,
And all her troubles are blown away.

Govindadàs says, O Loving Râdhâ,

You have how conquered the obstacles,
And the mantra of love. So you must go,
And learn from Hari the rituals of love.
274 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism

Orders o f sâdhus sprang up in the Chaitanya tradition, but they came

strongly under the decadent influence o f the Tantric orders. T he Chaitanya
movement had a great im pact on Bengâli life as a whole. It gave it a special
identity which persisted even through periods o f stagnancy, and provided time
and again new inspiration to its religious reformers and poets: Keshub
Chandra Sen, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, and Rabindranath Tâgore cannot
be properly understood without reference to that tradition.
THE L A N D OF H I N D I

In the Hindi-speaking areas the new movement started not around the
-figure o f Krishna, but around Ram a, and found its leader and organizer in
Râmânanda (1400-70). In his early days he probably resided in south India
and was at first a follow er o f Râm ânuja’s Srïvaishnava sect. On his return to
the north he settled down in Vàrânasi (Banâras) and established his own sect,
the Râmânandïs. Although the old Vâlmiki Râmâyana was followed over the
centuries by a series o f works on Ram a, we have little evidence o f any Râm a
cult before the advent o f Râm ânanda. H e looks upon Râm a as the supreme
G od, who is to be adored with his iakti, Sltâ, and whose- close companions
like Hanumân should also be venerated. The literature o f the sect is not im­
portant— only one hymn o f Râm ânanda him self is extant— and its theology
and ritual are largely modelled on those o f Ràmânuja.
Its main influence lies in a different direction. Râmânanda was strongly
.opposed to the restrictions and injustices o f caste. He threw his sect open to
all, and his twelve personal disciples are said to have included women, an oUt-
caste, and even a Muslim. This frank egalitarian basis and the exclusive usé of
the vernacular set the sect apart from many others. Although egalitarian ideas
did exist in India before, one cannot discount here the possible influence o f the
contemporary M uslim SOfls. The Râm ânanffl yec^has -gre^l, historical -im­
portance because its followers initiated a number o f other sects and m ove­
ments which covered north India. The Râmânandïs stand at the source o f im­
portant later sects like the Sikhs and the Kablrpanthis, who inherited their
social concern.-
K a b lr (1440-1518) started out as a disciple o f Râmânanda, but later de­
veloped his own characteristic eclecticism. Probably a Muslim by birth, or at
least brought up in a Muslim home, he was and remained a low-caste weaver.
His poetry, o f which a good collection has come down the ages, is essentially
a poetry o f the people: it is unpolished and has a rustic, colloquial quality, yet
it is pervaded with a profound symbolism and often reaches great lyrical
power. It is a poetry o f epigrams and short verses, easily remembered, thafhas
penetrated the life o f north India nearly as much as the poetry o f Tulsîdâs.
F o r K ablr there is only one way to G o d : the way o f personally experienced
bhakti, which gives one the vision o f the Lord, and which is a gift o f G o d ’s
grace. M an must purify his soul by righteousness and humility, by renuncia­
tion and love, and by praise o f G od in his kirtan and in his quiet meditation.
K a b lr’s idea o f G od, like his whole theology, is eclectic, with strong influences
from Yaishnavism, Hatha Y o g a , V edàntic monism, and Süfism . He called
G od by many names) like Ràm , Hari, AUàh, Khudâ, Nirguna, Tat, and eVen
Sitnya (the Void) and Éabda (Sound). N o wonder the Muslims claimed him as
 MedieoaI Hindu Devotionalism 275
a Süfï, the Hindus looked on him as a Râma-Bhakta, and the Sikhs incor­
porated his songs in their Âdi-Granth.
K a b ïr was at heart a reformer, and an iconoclast. Continuously he attacks
the externals o f religion, scriptures, pilgrimages, rituals, superstitions, idols.
There is nothing but water at the holy bathing places;
and I know that they are useless, for I have bathed in them.
The images are all lifeless, they cannot speak;
I know, for I have cried aloud to them.
The Puranas and the Koran are mere words;
lifting up the curtain, I have seen.4
T o this religious iconoclasm he adds a social iconoclasm that incessantly
attacks the-injustices o f caste, and denounces the pride o f the brâhmans.
Humanity to him is a brotherhood, and all varieties o f human nature are but
refractions o f the divine.
It is but folly to ask what the caste o f a saint may be;
The barber has sought God, the washerwoman, and the carpenter—
Even Raidas was a seeker after God.
The Rishi Svapacha was a tanner by caste.
Hindus aDd Muslims alike have achieved that End, where
remains no mark of distinction.4
Legend has it that after K abir’s death both Hindus and Muslims claimed the
body. The ghost o f K a b lr appeared and told them to raise the shroud..Beneath
they found only a heap o f fresh flowers. The Hindus took h a lf and cremated
them at Vârânasï, the Muslims buried the other h alf at M aghar.
K a b ïr founded a community, known as the Kabïrpanth, which exists to this
day, and a dozen other sects sprang from his direct teaching. T hey all shunned
idolatry, were open to Hindus and Muslims alike, stressed the value o f the
guru, and limited thçm^elves to the vernacular. In the course o f time, however,
these sects grew mó'rè^xclusive, became increasingly Hinduized, and adopted
orders o f sâdhus. The most important o f these sects, which was to have quite
a different history, was that o f the Sikhs, founded by G u ru N ânak, a disciple
o f K abïr.
Tulsidas (1532-1623) was the other most fam ous spiritual heir o f Râm ân-
anda. His Râm-charit-mânas, the Lake o f the Story o f Róma, has been rightly
called the Bible o f north India. This was a new Râmâyana in the vernacular, a
conception so daring that it aroused the ire o f the brâhmans and made the
people consider Tûlsïdàs a reincarnation o f Vàlm ïki. It is the favourite b o o k o f
a hundred million people, for many o f whom it is their main source o f religious
inspiration. O f Tulsidas’s life w e know little for sure. H e probably studied
Sanskrit, then settled in Vârânasï, where he devoted him self w holly to the
Râm a bhakti. Traditionally six m inor and six m ajor w orks are attributed to
him. O f the latter the greatest, apart from the Râm-charit-mânas, are the
Vinaya-pattrikâ and the Kaoitâvali.
4 One Hundred Poems o f Kabir, trans. Rabindranath Tagore, London, 1962, poem
N o . X L 1I.
s Ibid., poem N o. II. It is to be noted that most o f the versus o f Kabir. translated by
Tfigore are o f dubious authenticity; but they arecertainly the work o f his school, and reflect
the doctrines o f the sect he founded. [Ed.]
 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism

Attem pts to ascribe to Tulsidas a particular theology, either the Sankarite

monism or the theistic monism o f Ràm ânuja, seem fruitless. He was not a
systematic theologian, but in his own way he aspired to harmonize these
different theologies. This attempt differentiates him clearly from both
Ràm ânanda and K ablr. T he main reason for this m ay be found in the
Adhydtma RSmSyana, a w ork that postdates those two and tries to combine
Sankara’s monism with Râm ànuja’s devotion, Tulsidas, while theoretically
he may seem to lean towards Sankara, found that the solution for him lay in
the very practical approach o f living bhakti itself. In his attitude to the tradi­
tional fram ework o f Hinduism he also moves aw ay from his predecessors. He
is not a revolutionary as they were, but upholds firmly the broad basis o f
traditional Hindu society and o f the scriptures, and repeatedlyattacks those
m any sects that endangered these basic structures. For him reform had to be
brought about within the compass o f Hinduism itself through the loving
power o f bhakti. Caste should stand, but, for a devotee as devotee, caste was
o f no importance, and bhakti was open to all.
Tulsidas’s bhakti is the love o f the servant for his loving master. His w ork
is totally free o f even the slightest hint o f sensuality, showing in fact a
scrupulous concern for purity. In this his w ork contrasts strongly with the
Krishna literature, and his enormous influence carried this over into the whole
Râm a bhakti literature o f the north. The divinity and graciousness o f Ram a
pervade every incident o f his Ràmâyana; in fact, their pervasion is so great
that it affects everyone in the epic, transforming eventually even the traditional
villains K aikeyi and Râvana into devotees o f Râm a. D evotion to Râm a is
necessary in order to overcome the cycle o f births and deaths, and the way o f
devotion is the simple and direct way open to all, in whatever condition o f life
they m ay find themselves.
Monkey, boatman, bear, bird or demon,
whichever one you cared for,
Master, that very one
at once became of service;
The afflicted, orphaned, filthy,
wretched, whoever came for refuge,
Each one you made your own,
— such is your kindly nature;
My name was Tulsi, though
I was ugly as the hemp-plant,
I styled myself Dâs— your slave,
and you accepted such a great impostor;
There is none other master
so worthy— son of Dairath,
N or God compassionate,— you alone
care for the shame of those who are yours.4
Tulsïdâs’s incalculable influence on Hinduism in north India was threefold.
H e inspired an intense devotion to Rèm a that touched upon every' aspect o f
life, and made GândhI cry *Hé R a m !’ as he died under the assassin’s bullet.
4 Tulsi Dâs, Knviiàuaìì, trans, with a Critical Introduction by F. R. Allchin, London, 1964,
pp. 136-7.
 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism 277
Tulsïdàs inculcated a high sense o f morality, and o f kindness in human rela­
tionships. And he proved a great force in strengthening the structures o f the
Sanâtana Dharma at a time when both Islam and the m any iconoclastic sects
were threatening it seriously. In this last his stature is no smaller than that o f
the great Sankara himself.
The Hindi world also produced its devotees o f Krishna. M ira Bài (1503-73),
a Rajput princess, was the first to achieve poetic fame. She was widowed at an
early age, and left the Court o f the Rânâ to devote herself to the worship o f
Krishna :

Rànâ, your strange world is not to my liking,

It has no saints, and its people are base.
I’ve given up ornaments and the braiding o f hair,
I’ve given up collyrium and the tying of braids.
Mira has found a perfect groom, Krishna the Lord.

She was no theologian, nor did she leave a great number o f songs, but those
that are extant have a quality all their own. There is a freshness and fem ininity
about them, a deep pathos that expresses itself in lyrical simplicity, without
the frills o f conscious artistry. It is not so much the myth o f Krishna that in­
terests her as her own relationship with him. T h a t relationship is different
from m ost other Krishna sâktas in that it consists o f a spiritual m arriage to
Krishna, her Lord.

Friend, it’s in a dream that the Lord married me,

The doorways were festooned, and he held my hand,
It’s in a dream that he married me,.happy for ever.

In their nuptials the erotic element is totally absent; there is no voluptuous

imagery. It is in her poems o f separation that she reaches her greatest heights,
projecting her sorrow and pining for Krishna on to nature around her.

Thunderclouds came and went, but no message from Hari,

Frog, peacock, partridge and cuckoo started to call.
Lightning flashed’in deep darkness, but I was alone,
Trembling in the roar o f fragrant wind and pelting rain.
Loneliness burnt and stung like a jet black cobra,
And Mira’s heart overflowed with love for the Lord.

Sürdâs (1483-1563) was one o f the eight main disciples o f V allabha, and
the most brilliant. Born in a brahman fam ily and blind, possibly from birth, he
was a musician attached to the temples a t g r â and M athurà, He left a great
number o f songs, collected in the Sürsâgar, which he him self tells us was in­
spired by the Bhâgavata Parana. His songs have as their theme the love o f
Krishna, whose life he sings, taking particular delight in the child Krishna,
and the lover. His verse is renowned for its exquisite melody, and the con­
ciseness o f his little tableaux reminds one o f the contemporary Rajasthan
Krishna miniatures, which also vividly evoke the village life o f the time. A s a
poet he is put second only to Tulsidas. His poetry is suffused with an essenti­
ally tender bhakti, sometimes passionate, yet never too explicitly physical,
often full o f pathos, and pervaded with a gentle affection for all that lives.
278 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism
As the moth for love o f the lotus loses itself in the flower
and yet is happy; so am I Thy devotee, my Lord!
As the stag for delight of a tune stands unconcernedly near the
axe of the huntsman; so am I Thy devotee.
As the pigeon for desire of the sky soars higher though only to be
dashed to the ground; so am I Thy devotee, Beloved!
As the rain-bird in its utter loneliness calls its lover continuously,
so I wait for a vision of Thee, my Lord!
For I feel forsaken and lonely and sad.7

SOUTH INDIA

It was in the south that the new devotional movement Originally started,
and we saw how it spread to the north and changed the religious panorama o f
north India. In general, one can say that in the south the devotional move­
ment was much more closely wedded to the strong theological traditions and
the sects than in the north, although here too the movement threw up the
occasional individualistic revolutionary. Our concern is not with the theolo­
gians and sects themselves, however, but with the devotional popular move­
ment as it expressed itself in the vernaculars.
In Tamil-land the hymns o f the Àlvârs and the N àyanârs continued to
dominate the scene, and they soon gained the status o f divine scripture and
became part and parcel o f temple worship as well as o f popular devotional life.
The first great poet to follow them is K am ban (twelfth century), author o f the
famous Tam il Râmâyana, which is replete with descriptions o f the country
and times o f the Cholas. T he Mahâbhârala and the Bhâgavata Parana also
found their Tam il translators. M uch o f the Vaishnavite effort, however, went
into Sanskrit compositions, and even much o f its vernacular literature de­
rived closely from the Sanskrit, and preferred the purânic approach and style.
Th e Sa ivi tes produced a new devotional literature by the hymnodists called
Sittars or Siddhas. Their innumerable songs gained great popularity, and,.in
their fierce monotheism and equally fierce condemnation o f idolatry, they
arrayed themselves against the powers o f orthodoxy.

When once I knew the Lord,

What were to me the host
of pagan deities,
Some fixed in temple shrines,
Or carried in the crowd;
Some made of unbaked clay,
And some burnt hard with fire?
With all the lying tales
That fill the sacred books,
They’ve vanished from my mind.
But yet I have a shrine—
The mind within my breast.
An image too is there—
The soul that came from God.

7 Tempii Bells, p. 27.

 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism 279
I offer ash and flowers—
The praises o f my heart;
And all the God-made world
Is frankincense and myrrh.
And thus where’er I go
I ever worship God.*

The earliest K annada literature was predominantly Jain, but the Hindu
renaissance was inaugurated by Basava towards the end o f the twelfth century.
He founded the sect o f the ViraSaivas or the Lingàyats, characterized by its
numerous monasteries and by the large measure o f its social equality, which
had a tremendous influence on the K annada country. T h ey invented a new
kind o f vernacular literature, the vachana, little pieces o f rhythm ic prose ser­
mons, meant for the people and inculcating bhakti to Siva. F o r over three
centuries enormous numbers o f these vachanas were composed. The Lingàyats
also left collections o f hymns, and a hagiographie literature in praise o f their
saints. Here is a sample o f a vachana:
Oh pay your worship to God now— before the cheek turns wan, and the neck is
wrinkled, and the body shrinks— before the teeth fall out and the back is bowed, and
you are wholly dependent on others— before you need to lean on a staff, and to raise
yourself by your hands on your thighs— before your beauty is destroyed by age and
Death itself arrives. Oh now worship Kfidala-sangama-deva.*
Vaishnava literature in K annada really started from the sixteenth century,
during the Hindu kingdom o f Vijayanagara, first with translations from the
Sanskrit classics, the Mahâbhârata, the Râmâyana, and the Bhâgavata
Purâna. These were then followed by popular songs composed and sung by
the dâsas, or mendicant singers, inspired by M adhvàchârya and stimulated by
the visit o f Chaitanya to the south in 1510. This tradition continued for a
couple o f centuries, producing songs in praise o f Vishnu, some venerating him
in the form o f the Vithobâ o f Pandharpur, thus linking up with the M aharash­
trian tradition.
M y stock {of sugar candy) is not packed on the backs of strong kioc;
Nor pressed into bags strongly fastened with twine.
Wherever it goes it no taxes doth pay
But still is most great, and brings profit, I say.
It wastes not with time; never gives a bad smell;
Y o u ’ve nothing to pay, though you take it right well;
White ants cannot eat the fine sugar with me;
The city resounds as its virtue men see.
From market to market ’tis needless to run;
The shops know it not, the bazaar can have none.
My candy, you see, is the name o f Vishnu,
So sweet on the tongue that gives praise as is due.10
Telugu literature follows closely the pattern o f development o f K annada
literature, starting with Jain texts, and then moving on to a Hindu renaissance
8 L. D . Bamett, The Heart of India, London, 1913, pp. 91-2.
* E. P. R ic e , Kanarese Literature, L o n d o n , 1921, p. J7. 10I b id ., p. 82.
 Medieval Hindu Devotionalism

by translations from the Sanskrit. The starting-point is N annaya (eleventh

century), who translated part o f the Mahâbhârata, later continued by the
great T ikkana (1220-1300), and finished by Yerrapragada (1280-1350). The
Râmâyana and the great Pur anas too were soon transposed into Telugu.
The Telugu country saw a couple o f figures who in m any ways closely re­
semble some o f the contemporary north Indian saints. Potana (1400-75) was
a poor ruan without scholarship, who lived and died in the countryside. His
volum inous translation o f the Bhâgavata gained immediate popularity, be­
cause it combined a simple language o f great narrative power with a deep in­
tensity o f devotion. Am ong Vaishnava popular devotional literature it is one
o f the classics. Vem ana (fifteenth century) was a low-caste Saivite, and very
much an individualist and a revolutionary'. His sataka (century) o f gnomic
verse is known to all Telugus, and to m ost south Indians. His verses bristle
with sarcastic attacks on the brahmans, on polytheism, idolatry, and pil­
grimages.
The solitariness of a dog! the meditation of a crane!
The chanting of an ass! The bathing of a frog!
Ah, why will ye not try to know your own hearts ?
What are you the better for smearing your body with ashes ?
Your thoughts should be set on God alone;
For the rest, an ass can wallow in dirt as well as you.
The books that are called the Vedas are like courtesans,
Deluding men, and wholly unfathomable; .
But the hidden knowledge of God is like an honourable wife.
He that fasts shall become (in his next birth) a village pig;
He that embraces poverty shall become a beggar;
And he that bows to a stone shall become like a lifeless image.”
The reign o f Krishnadeva R âyâ (1509-29), a poet-king, brought back
Sanskrit classicism, and the religious poetry o f his court is ornate and more
courtly than religious. The inspiration had gone out o f high poetry, which be­
came empty in content whilst seeking after new effects, but in the popular
tradition the great favourites o f the past continued to be treasured.
Other modern languages too like Oriyâ, Assamese, K ashm iri, G ujarati, and
M alayâlam had their devotional hymnodists. In fact, devotional bhakti
changed Hinduism profoundly over most o f India, front the eleventh'century
onwards. U p to the seventeenth century it remained the m ost im portant single
power in Hinduism, and it was only in the nineteenth century that the impact
o f the West was to challenge Hinduism again, and stimulate yet another
renewal.
” L. D . Barnett, op. cit., pp. 1 11-12.
C H A P T E R X IX

Islam in Medieval India

by S.'A. A. R izv i

I s l a m means ‘ subm ission’ or ‘ resignation* to A llah (God). The Qur’an, the

highest authority, calls it ‘ the only true religion’, perfected for those whom
A llah intends to guide. T he Q ur’ân is revealed and not created, being the
eternal word o f G od incarnate. It requires Muslims (the word Muhammadan
is taboo among modern Muslims) to believe in G od , His Angels, His Books;
and His Messengers. A ll the prophets from A dam to Muhammad, and all the
books revealed to them, are regarded as the religious heritage o f Islam ; but as
M uhammad is the last o f the prophets, Islam is the last word in the cycle o f
divine revelation.
Islam’s strongest weapon against the scriptures o f the Jews and Christians
is the accusation that they are no longer authentic, having been corrupted by
the sages and saints of those two faiths. Islam’s condemnation o f the idols o f
M ecca applies equally to all idol worship. According to Islam, only A llah is
to be worshipped, for he is the Creator and Lord o f Judgement, with unlimited
sovereignty (rubübiyya) over His creation. Belief in His omnipotence and
benevolence in its turn demands that Muslims treat all G o d ’s creatures with
kindness, for he who loves G od ’s creatures best, is best beloved o f Him.
The oneness o f G od and the mission o f Muhammad are recognized in the
profession o f faith (shaliâdah): ‘ There is no G od except A llah and M uham ­
mad is A llah’s messenger’. Five times a day, their faces turned towards
M ecca, Muslims are enjoined to p r a y in a prescribed form. The noon prayer
on Friday is the only public one; but these congregational prayers have
obliged Muslims, both rulers and private men, to build mosques in which to
hold them. Another obligation laid on the Muslim is to givca fixed proportion
o f certain categories o f his property as alms. Then, during the month o f
Ram azan, the ninth o f the Muslim calendar and that in which the Q ur’ ân was
first revealed, he must neither eat nor drink from dawn to sunset. Every
Muslim who possesses the means must also make the pilgrimage to M ecca at
least once in his life.
Islam has no priesthood or sacerdotal hierarchy. Heresy is a term not
strictly speaking applicable to Islam, for, as Professor H olt says, it ‘ has been
repressed only when it has been manifested as political subversion: it is also
true to say that, since Islam is both a religious and a political community, the
distinction between religious and political dissent is not clear cu t’ .
D uring the first century o f its history, Islam split into two sects divided on
political as well as religious grounds: Sunnfs and Sbl'is. The religious dif­
ferences between the two arose over the interpretation o f verses o f the Qur’ân
and over the Hadis, or corpus o f traditions about M uham m ad’s sayings and
doings. Although the Qur’ân is common to both sects, their Hadis differ, as
do their doctrines upon the succession to Muhammad. The Sunnis, who have
282 IsIam in Medieval India

always predominated in India, believe that Muhammad appointed no succes­

sor, and left this matter to the discretion o f the élite o f the Umma or com ­
munity o f believers. The Shl'is assert that M uham m ad’s being the last o f the
prophets does not end men’s need o f intermediaries between themselves and
G od. They call such intermediaries Imams, and regard ‘A ll, the cousin and
son-in-law o f Muhamm ad, as their first Imam. Their jurisprudence and re­
ligious practices are based on the teachings o f their Imams.
A ll Shl'Is are in agreement about the legitimacy o f the first six Imams, but
differ as to who succeeded the sixth Imâm, Ja'far al-Sâdiq, who died in 765.
One group, the Ism â'îlls, believe that the succession then continued through
Ismà ‘11 (died 760/1), Ja’far’s son. The other group, the Isnâ ‘Asharis, to whom
the Shi'is o f Iran belong, believe that the line was continued by M üsa al-
K âzim , followed by five others. The Ismâ’ïlïs, who from the ninth to the
thirteenth centuries propagated their beliefs effectively by giving inner or
esoteric meaning to their religious teachings, which they explained allegoric­
ally, ruled M ultân more or less continuously to 1160. Even after losing their
political power there, they continued to preach their doctrines secretly in
India, and one o f their leaders, N ü r Turk, made a final bid for pow er through
a coup d ’état in R aziya’s reign.
The Isnâ ‘ Ashari faith was recognized as the state religion o f Iran by Shâh
Ism à'il I (1501-24), the founder o f the Safavîd Dynasty. In India the accept­
ance o f this faith by the sultans o f Ahm adnagar, Bîjàpur, and G olconda, to­
gether w ith their patronage o f Shl‘1 scholars and learning in tSeir kingdoms,
sharpened the Shi‘I-3 unnI controversy in northern India, where there was-a
considerable influx o f Shi’! élite from both the Deccan and Iran. _
The rulers o f northern India were o f the Sunni faith, as were most o f their
subjects. A m ong the Sunnis there are four principal schools’ o f jurisprudence
named after their founders: the H anafI after A bû Hanlfa o f K ü fah (c. 699—
767); the M âlikite after M âlik ibn Anas (died 795), the leader o f the Meditia
School; the Shàfi'îite called after ash-Shàfi‘1, w ho flourished in Baghdâd arid
C airo (767-820); and, a late-comer, the Hanbalite after Ahm ad ibn Hanbal
(780-855)' o f Baghdad. A ll four systems were based on the Q ur’àn and Hadis,
in this context called the ‘ roots’ or usiil. W here they failed to provide a solu­
tion, the matter was dealt with either on the basis o f analogical deduction
igiyas) o r catholic consent (ijmà‘ ). Private judgement, or ra'y, was allowed a
place o f varying importance in every school. In A b ü H anlfa’s system, the
right o f preference (istihsân) or departure from analogy on grounds o f equity
is also permissible. It was universally agreed throughout the Sunni world to
operate strictly within the existing systems and to allow no further codifica­
tion. Such inflexibility provided a strong defensive position from which
Sunnis could com bat schisms and other threats to their faith, both external
and internal.
The greatest challenge to orthodox Sunnism came from rationalism in the
form o f the M u'tazilâs, who had much in common with the SliI‘Is. T hey pro­
fessed a strict monotheism, denying any resemblance between A llah and His
creatures. F or them, G od is just and has nothing to do with the evil deeds o f
man, for although H e has the power to commit injustice H e does not do so,
aud man is solely responsible for his own actions. Rejecting the orthodox
 Islam in Medieval India 283

view that the Q ur’an was the duplicate o f a celestial original, they proclaim ed
that it had been created. Under the patronage o f the ‘A bbàsid C aliph M â ‘ -
mOn (813-33), the M u'tazilâs ruthlessly persecuted their opponents, thus
setting a precedent for the relentless inquisition into free thinking later prac­
tised by the orthodox.
The M u'tazilâs made a more positive contribution to Sunnï orthodoxy,
however, through A b u ’ l Hasan al-A sh'arl (873-935) a zealous M u 'taziliie
who had learnt their techniques before deserting them, and evolved his ow n
system o f rational argument for the defence o f orthodox doctrine, know n as
kalàm. Parallel to the A sh 'ari School developed the orthodox M âturîdl
School o f A b u Mansûr M àturîdî (died in 944). T h e differences between the
two schools are listed as thirteen, but they are m ore serious than ackn ow ­
ledged.
The A sh 'ari system made great progress under the leadership o f its most
outstanding protagonist, A b ü Hâm id al-G hazàlI (10 58 -1111), w ho fought
against all non-orthodox Sunni systems, including those o f the Falâsîfa
(philosophers) such as F arâbî (c. 870-950) and Avicenna (980-1037) w ho
based their thinking upon Aristotelian, Platonic, or N eoplatonic w orks trans­
lated from G reek into A ra b ic between the ninth and eleventh centuries.
The influence o f G hazall was m uch greater, because o f the new M uslim
religious leaders produced by the educational system devised by the Saljuqld
vizier, N izàm u’l M ulk TusI (e. 1018-92). This centred on seminaries o f higher
Sunnite learning known as madrasas, designed specifically to produce scholars
o f the A sh 'ari School qualified to run the government in accordance with
orthodox Sunni ideas. K n ow n as ‘ ulama’ (singular, 'Slim ), these scholars were
mostly government officials whose religious prestige was exploited by the
sultans as a counterpoise against am bitious m ilitary adventurers. But al­
though the 'ulama' issued fatwâs (legal opinions) declaring that opposition to
the ruling authority was an abom inable sin, not all o f them were themselves
loyal to their rulers. Am bitious ‘ ulama’ did in fact join w ith m ilitary leaders
in plots to replace strong monarchs by their own puppets. M an y monarchs
were able to overcome such situations only by drawing upon the support
o f the süfîs. N o sultan could wield pow er successfully unless he was. able to
balance the interests o f the ‘ ulama’ , the süfîs, and the m ilitary leaders— the
three main pressure groups.
C ontrary to the ‘ ulama’ , who specialized in the form al structure o f Islam ic
law and dealt with the practical requirements o f political, social, and econ o­
m ic life,’ the süfîs claimed to penetrate to the very root and spirit o f Islam .
Professor Arberry describes süfism as ‘ the attempt o f Individual M uslim s to
realize in their personal experience the living presence o f A lla h ’ .
In the form ative period, süfîs generally led a retired ascetic life; but gradu­
ally they evolved a corporate system o f their own, ideas and practices being
borrowed from Christian and Buddhist monasticism and philosophy from
Neoplatonism and Upanishadic concepts. Their originality lay in incorporat­
ing these influences within the fram ew ork o f Islam, thus m aking them an in­
tegral part o f M uslim life.
The most authentic exposition o f süfism is contained in the Risala (Epistle)
o f A b u ’l Qâsim at-Qushairl (d. 1074). W hat endowed süfism with great
284 Islam in Medieval India

prestige, however, and led to its being regarded as the pinnacle o f religious
life, was the sudden change in A b ü Hâmid al-G hazàlî’s life, when in 1095 he
resigned from the chair o f divinity in the N izâm iyya academy o f Baghdad to
lead the life o f a sufi. Poetry also contributed to making sûfism a popular
movement, and its organizational structure did much towards keeping it an
effective one. By the twelfth century, süfïs were divided into différent silsilas
(orders), each with its pir (preceptor), also known as Shaikh or Khwdja, as an
infallible guide fo r the neophyte. Until the fourteenth century, a pir only
initiated disciples into his own order, but later on distinguished preceptors
were authorized to initiate disciples into other orders too.
Th e khânqâh (hospice) was the centre o f the pir s ’ activity, attracting from
afar men seeking the spiritual life. Such disciples were graded into different
categories, the m ost advanced joining the pir in his prayers and meditational
exercises. Som e khânqâhs provided board and lodging for a large number o f
disciples and visitors. Initially the inmates o f the khânqâh lived on the charity/
o f the local inhabitants, but as time went by their affluence grew in step with
their popularity. So much were they venerated, that tbeir relics were sanctified
and worshipped by posterity.
The earliest su fi o f eminence known to have settled in India, where the rich
Hindu m ystic traditions gave a new vitality to süfism, was Hujwiri, .also known
as D ata G anj Bakhsh (died after 1088), the author o f the celebrated manual o f
süfism entitled Kashfu'l Mahjiib. _
The development o f several new su fi orders in the twelfth century led to the
establishment o f a network o f khânqâhs, mainly in Iran, .Central A sia, and
India. In India the first leading khânqâh was established at M ultan by Shaikh
Baha’ u’d-D ln Zakariyya (1182-1262). He was also the founder in India o f the
SuhrawardI order originated by Shaikh Shihâbu’d-Dln SuhrawardI (1145­
1234), the author o f an A rabic manual oji süfism entitled 'Awârifu’ l-A la 'ârif.
Rulers, high government officials, and merchants lavished gifts upon these
khânqâhs, and the hagiological literature relates how, with its overflowing
granaries and general affluence, the khânqâh was often able to give financial
assistance to the state. Shaikh B ahâ’ u’d-Dîn Zakariyya openly took Iltulm ish’s
side in his struggle against Qabàcha, and received from him the title o f
Shaikhu’l IsIàm (‘ Leader o f Islam ’). He avoided ordinary men and associated
only with the religious and political élite. His grandson, Shaikh R ukn u’d-DIn
A b u ’l F ath (died 1335), in his turn was highly respected by Sultan 'A la V d - D in
and the Tughluq sultans. Another SuhrawardI sü fi, Shaikh Shihâbu’d-Dln’ s
disciple Shaikh Jalàlu’d -D ïn T abrëzî, failed in his efforts to establish suprem­
acy in D elhi, and retired to Bengal, where he established a khânqâh and a
langar (centre for the distribution o f free meals), first at LakhnautI, and then
at D evatalla near Pânduâ. H e is said to have converted a large number o f
Bengalis to Islam.
The Panjâb, Sind, and Bengal thus became three im portant centres o f
SuhrawardI activity. It appears that the Suhrawardls were keen to convert
Hindus to Islam, and they were helped to do this by their affluence and con­
nections with those in power. Suhrawardls such as M akhdûm Jahâniyân
(1308-84), w ho had travelled to various parts o f the Islam ic world, and his
brother Râju Qattâl were militant evangelists.
 Islam in Medieval India 285
The second outstanding order to establish khânqàhs in the towns conquered
by the Ghürid invaders was the Chishtlyya, originating from a village near
Herat called Chisht or K hw âja Chisht. It was brought to India by K hw âja
M u ‘ïuu’d-Dïn who was bom in Sijistân in c. 1141. H aving visited the im ­
portant centres o f Islam ic culture in the Middle East, where he came in con­
tact with Shaikhs o f all the im portant sufi orders, he went to Lahore, finally
settling in Ajm er about 1206. T h e story that he settled there when Prithvl-
râja was at the height o f his power, and that his curse upon the Ràjâ, with
whom he had quarrelled, led to his downfall, is nothing more than a pious
legend. In medieval times such tales were used to prove the superiority o f faith
over political power; yet some modern scholars use them as evidence that the
süfîs were the great missionaries o f Islam. W hen stricken in years, K h w âja
M u ‘înu’d-Dîn married tw o wives. T he hagiologists say this was done so that
none o f the Prophet M uham m ad’s practices should go unfollow ed; but it is
more probable that the K hw âja had at last decided to live a settled life. By the
time he died in 1236, Chishtï khânqàhs were firmly established in many parts
o f the D elhi sultanate. ’
A t N âgau r an important Chishtï centre was established by Shaikh Haml-
du’ d-Dïn N âgaurl, whose parents were probably merchants w ho had lived in
Delhi before the Ghürid conquest. T he Shaikh was certainly born there,
about 1 192, and he came into contact with K hw âja M u'Inu’d-DIn at an early
age. Guided by his ascetic temperament, he decided to settle at Sw all in
N âgaur, where he lived uutil his death in 1274 .like an ordinary Ràjasthânî
cultivator, dissociating him self com pletely from those in political power. He
was an authority on G hazâli’s works, and a passionate advocate o f the value
o f studying his Kimiyâ’ i-Sa‘âdai. He was a strict vegetarian. He adopted the
local language, called in Persian Hindawl, as his own, and the Hindawl verses
ascribed to him and his successors arc the best extant examples o f early
H indawl translations o f Persian mystical poetry.
The Chisht! centre in Delhi nourished because o f the towering personality
o f K hw âja Qutbu’d-D în Bakhtyâr K à k ï (died 1236), the successor there o f
K hw âja M u'Inu’d-DIn Chishtï. Although he took no interest in political
activities, his immense spiritual prestige made his khânqâh a rendezvous fo r
M uslim s from all walks o f life. His successor, Babà Farld u ’d-D ln Ganj-i-
Shakar (died 1265), continued living in his own khânqâh in Ajôdhan (Pàk
Pattan), so the Delhi centres became the charge o f K hw âja Qutbu’d-D ln’s
other disciples, in particular Badru’d-DIn G haznavl. This did not prevent the
people o f Delhi, merchants, and even passing armies, from paying their re­
spects at Babà Farid’s khânqâh in the P an jâb ..
Delhi became the real Chisht! centre, mainly because o f Bàbâ Farid’s
talented successor, Shaikh N izâm u’ d-Dln A u liyâ’, who from 1287 until his
death in 1325 was the focus for Muslims all over northern India. M uhammad
bin Tughluq has been blamed by scholars for destroying the im portance o f
D elhi as the. centre o f the Chisht! order, but in actual fact N izàm u’d-D ln’s
successor, Shaikh N asiru’d-Dîn Chirâgh-i-Dihli, died in 1356 without be­
queathing the Chishti mantle to a successor. A nd in any case centralization
was no part o f the süfi tradition.
In Bengal, the Chishti order was introduced by Sirâju’d-Dïn A k h î Siràj
 286 Islam in Medieval India

(died 1357), who lived in G aur. His successors, the most popular o f whom was
N ür Qutb-i-‘À lam (died 1410), established their khânqâhs in Pânduâ. In close
touch with this Bengal centre was the Rudaulï centre, about fifty miles east o f
Lucknow. The founder o f this latter group was Shaikh ‘A lâ ’u’d-D în ‘A li bin
Ahm ad Sàbir (died 1291), a disciple o f Babà Farid. H e him self retired to
Kalyar, about 150 miles east o f D elhi, and his two immediate successors lived
in Pànipat; but Ahm ad bin ‘A b d u ’l Haq (died 1434), third in the order o f
succession in this Sâbiriyya-Chishtîyya branch, established his khânqàh at
Rudaulï, then under the Sharqi rulers o f Jaunpur. Another member o f this
branch, Shaikh ‘A b d u ’l Quddus (c. 1455—1536/7), who established his khânqàh
at G angoh in the Sahâranpür district o f western U ttar Pradesh, made the
Sâbiriyya-Chishtîyya branch very famous in Delhi. ''S
Another Chishti, Saiyid M uham m ad G ësû D arâz (c. 1320-1422), made the,
first capital o f the Bahmani D ynasty, Gulbarga (in the north o f the present
K arnataka State), the centre o f his activities. A number o f other Chishti
‘ saints’ , compelled by Sultan M uham m ad bin Tughluq to leave D elhi fo r .
D aulatâbâd, also becam e instrumental in spreading Chishti süfism in the D ec­
can. The disintegration o f the central power, and the emergence ò f the pro­
vincial dynasties in the fifteenth century, provided more patrons, and led to
the establishment o f Chishti khânqâhs all over India. ’■
The Chishti süfis urged their disciples to lead a life o f poverty and ascetic­
ism. Their simple life devoted to A llah , their dependence upon the charity o f
ordinary people, and théir immediate distribution to the poor o f any money
they received, made a favourable impression upon all sections o f the Muslim
population, and even upon Hindus. M uch interest was aroused by their,
practice o f pâs-i-anfâs (control o f breath), meditation, chilla (forty days o f
hard ascetic exercises in a cell or some lonely place), and chilla'i-ma'kus
(forty days o f ascetic exercise performed with the head on the ground and the
legs tied to the ro o f or a branch o f a tree). Their most popular practice was
samâ‘ (the recital o f holy songs), which was intended to- arouse a state o f
ecstasy in their audience. This practice, which shocked the orthodox, was not
a Chishti innovation.lQushairi and G hazâli had already given it their blessing
and drawn up rules for it. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the
'ulam a' tried to have the government stop the practice, and severàl open de­
bates were held to condemn samà‘ , but théy were foiled by sQfi influence. In
1 attempting to restore orthodoxy and forge an alliance with th e ' ulama'. Shaikh
N asîru’d-Din Chiràgh and some o f his disciples managed to persuade the
'ulam â' in their turn to moderate their attitude towards saniâ', which gave it
some respectability in strict circles.
By the thirteenth century, the sü fï theory o f the Unity o f Being, or Oneness
o f Existence, know n as Wahdaiu'l Wujûd, which had emerged through the
works o f the sufi scholar Ibn ‘ A ra b i (1165-1240), had made an im pact on the
w hole ethos o f Islam. It differed both from the Ash'arite conception o f ‘ the
necessary (wâjib) existence o f the Creator, W ho alone exists from all eternity,
and.alone is self-subsisting’, and from the Indian monist view ‘ Thou A f t
T h a t’ . Ibn ‘A rabi emphasized that, as transcendence and immanence are two
fundamental aspects o f Reality, G od is both Transcendent and Immanent..
'H e is absolute Being, and is the sole source o f all.existence; m Him alone
 Islam in Medieimi India 287
Being and Existence are one and inseparable’. ‘ There is no such thing as
union with G od in the sense o f becoming one with G od, but there is the re­
alization o f the already existing fact that the mystic is one with G o d ’ .
This philosophy was very com patible w ith the theistic philosophy o f
G orakhnâth and his followers, known in sufi literature as N âth Y ogis, N àth
Panthls, Kànphata (split-ear) Yogis, or simply as Y o g is or Jogis, who dom in­
ated the popular level o f Hindu religious and ethical life from the thirteenth to
the fifteenth centuries. T hey had even earlier counterparts in the Siddhas, w ho
came into contact with sufis as early as the eleventh century. B ooks o f silfi
discourses indicate that the Y o gis were welcome guests in Bàbà F arid ’s
khânqâh and in the Chishtï khânqâhs in every town. Sflfis found the Y o g i de­
finition o f Ultimate Reality rem arkably similar to the ideas o f Unity o f Being
expressed in the works o f their own Persian poets. On an intellectual level,
süfîs were influenced by a hatha-yogic treatise entitled Amrita Kwida. It was
translated several times into A ra b ic and Persian, and taught the süfïs their
meditative practices, as well as imparting information about herbs and
chemistry. Various anecdotes indicate that süfîs approved o f some ethical
values o f the Y o g is as well as o f their corporate w ay o f living.
A t samà' gatherings in many khânqâhs, Persian poetry began to be relegated
to the background as Hindawi poetry, with a ll its âaivite and Vaishnavite
imagery, came to the fore. Since Hindawi poetry was already at a highly de­
veloped stage by the time M ullà D âü d (a nephew o f Shaikh N asiru’d-D in
Chirâgh) wrote the Chandâ'in in 1379-80, it would seem that there must have
been a much earlier H indaw i poetry now lost. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-
century su fi Hindi poetry developed equally well in both rural and urban en­
vironments. The emergence o f fifteenth-century sants (‘ saints’) such as K a b ir
and N àn ak, and the devotional literature associated with them, which con ­
stituted a new phase in bhakti, were the result o f two centuries o f interaction
between Hindu sants and sufis.
The development o f madrasas changed the intellectual and ethical climate.
In the m ain they follow ed the curriculum evolved by N izâm u ’ l M ulk, and
trained ‘ ulamâ’ (scholars) to man the civil service. This training for an ad­
ministrative career included the study o f works o f Q ur’anic exegesis, Hadis,
and some su fi texts, but the main emphasis was on fiqh. T he madrasas and
their teachers were m ostly supported by state grants and stipends, but the
system was free enough for madrasas to be established by nobles and the pious
rich. This made the ‘ ulama’ dependent upon the state or upon the nobility, but
both kings and nobles in their turn stood in need o f the ‘ ulamâ ’ ’s fatwâs (legal
opinions) to suppress subversive elements. T he 'ulam â' tried to influence state
policy, and prevailed upon the rulers to enforce orthodoxy. T he extremists
am ong them, such as N ü ru ’d-DIn M ubarak G haznaw i (died 1234-5), even
openly demanded that Hindus be either slaughtered or converted to Islam.
Balban, ‘Alâ-’u ’d-Dïn K halji, and M uham m ad bin Tughluq, however, en­
sured that the ‘ ulamâ’ had as little influence as possible u pon affairs o f state.
Scholars have differed in their interpretation o f the process o f Islam ization.
Sir Thom as Arnold, nurtured in the liberal traditions o f Europe, seeks in his
Preaching o f Islam (1895) to present the process as a purely peaceable m ove­
ment led by the süfîs. M odern M uslim scholars, particularly Indian M uslim s,
288 Islam in Medieval India

think that the rigidity o f the caste system was responsible for the conversion
o f low-caste Hindus to Islam. A contem porary view, expressed by the eminent
Chishti saint, Ja'far M akkl, whose long life stretched from the close o f
M uham m ad bin Tughluq’s reign to the early years o f Sultan Bahlol L o d i’s,
was that conversions were very complex phenomena. Fear o f death or o f the
enslavement o f families, promises o f rewards and pensions, prospects o f
booty and, lastly, the bigotry o f the Hindus, were the main factors in prosely-
tization.-He considered that M uslim preaching also contributed to Islamiza-
tion, but that there was no place for such preaching in Chishti khânqàhs.
Such SuhrawardI proselytizing activities as are known cannot therefore be
ascribed to the m oral or spiritual force o f Islam, being more akin to conver­
sion b y force. T h e preaching was done mainly by madrasa teachers, official
preachers, and qàzis, or M uslim judges, w ho were the butt o f attacks by both
süfîs and Hindu sanls. B y withdrawing state support for proselytizing activi­
ties and stopping forced conversion to Islam, A kb ar compelled the preachers
and the orthodox to rely on their own resources, thereby 'courting their
hostility.
Th e fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw the introduction o f many new
elements into Islam in India. One was coriflict between the followers and
opponents o f iVahdalu’ l IVnjiid, exacerbated by the arrival o f the disciples o f
Shaikh ‘ A là ’u’d-D aula Simnànï (1261-1336}, the great Irani opponent o f Ibn
‘A rabi. In contradistinction to Ibn ‘A rabl’s theory, ‘A là ’u’d-D aula said that
Being cannot be identified with G o d ; it is distinct from His essence although
eternally inherent in Him . H e believed that Wahdatu’ l-Wujüd was the initial
stage in the development o f sufism, the final stage being his own theory o f
ÎYahdatu'sh-Shuhüd (U nity o f Perception). H e urged his followers to lead an
active life o f missionary w ork, and strongly denounced the quiet and passive
life o f the khânqâh. A band o f his followers seem to have had som e success
with G ësü D arâz o f Gulbarga, who wrote a letter condemning as misguided
the works o f Ibn ‘A rab ! and su fi poets such as Rüm l. However, the Chishti
traditions o f Wahdain'l Wujüd were too strong for Gësü D arâz, and his writ­
ings opposing Ibn ‘ A ra b l’s thought did not find much popularity. M ir Saiyid
‘A ll HamadànI (1314-85), another member o f Simnànî’s order, entered
Kashm ir with a band o f followers. A lthough he made little im pact, and left
K ashm ir in frustration, those o f his sons and disciples w ho continued to visit
and settle there introduced orthodoxy into many aspects o f the religious life o f
K ashm ir.
Sim nànï’ s Shuhüdi ideology received its. main setback when the ShattàrI
order was established by Shaikh ‘A b d u ’llàh ShattàrI, w ho reached India to­
wards the end o f his life, after visiting many sü fî centres in the M iddle East.
In India he travelled as far as Bengal before returning to M àlw à, where he
died in 1485. H e loudly challenged everyone, sü fî and yogi alike, either to
teach him U nity o f Being if they knew more than he, or to learn about it from
him. W hile he him self propagated his mission in M àlw à, his disciples estab­
lished strong ShattàrI centres in Bengal and Jaunpur, where the writing o f
beautiful sü fî poetry in local dialects blossomed.
The Em peror H um àyün’s devotion to the Shattàrls made him unpopular
with all other su fi orders, particularly with the Naqshbandis, who were the
 Islam in Medieval India 289
patron saints o f the Turânïs or Central Asian Muslims. This order was one o f
thfc oldcst sû fl orders, and flourished in Transoxiana in the midst o f the still
living Buddhist traditions o f that region. First know n as the Silsila i-K hw àj-
gàn, under the leadership o f K hw àja Bahà’ u’ d-Dïn M uham m ad N aqshband
(1317-89) it became known as the Naqshbandl order. One o f its m ost dis­
tinguished saints was K hw àja ‘ Ubaidu’llâh A hràr (1404-91), who took an
active part in political struggles and made strenuous efforts to save the Sunnis
from the Shi'ï onslaught on their faith. Although the K hw àja had died when
Bâbur was only seven, the latter drew ever-increasing inspiration from his
teachings. In H um àyün’s reign the Naqshbandis suffered temporary eclipse,
but under A k b ar many Naqshbandi saints occupied high governm ent posts.
Tow ards the end o f A k b a r’s reign the Naqshbandi order was reorientated by
K hw àja Bàql B i’Uâh (1563-1603), who settled in Delhi in 1599. In the few
years before his death, he was able, on the basis o f the form er reputation o f
the Naqshbandi order, to enrol as his disciples m any eminent M ughal noble­
men drawn to sü fi teachings.
In the fifteenth century the Qâdirî order, started by Shaikh ‘ A b d u ’l Q âdir
Jïlàni (1077-1166), established a firm hold in the Panjjib and Sind. T he cele­
brated sQfi scholar, Shaikh ‘A b d u ’l H aq Muhaddis o f D elhi (1551-1642), had
Qàdiri preceptors, but the order owed its popularity not to him but to the
Sindi, M iyàn M ir (1550-1635), w ho advocated a broad and humane outlook
on life, and urged both Jahângîr and Shâh Jahàn to be considerate to all
groups o f their subjects. Distinctions between believers and kdfirs, and heaven
and hell, were frivolous; true prayer was devoted obedience to the will o f G od .
His disciple M ullâ Shâh was both a mystic and a poet. H e defined a believer
as one who could reach G od and behold him, and a kdfir as one who failed to
do so. M ullâ Shâh had been D àrâ Shukôh’s preceptor, and after his execution
Aurangzeb tried to harass him, but such was his popularity that the Emperor
was unable to do anything more drastic than banish him from Delhi.
The faldsifa, or M uslim Peripatetic thinkers, came to be hated by the ortho­
dox Sunnï world as a result o f G bazàlï’s denunciation. Baranl considered
them as dangerous enemies o f the Delhi sultanate as the Ism â‘ îlîs, ascribing
Sultan M uham mad bin Tughluq’s atrocities to his devotion to the works o f
these philosophers.
Although the M ongols destroyed many centres o f Islamic culture in Central
A sia and Iran, the religious freedom they allowed individual scholars w ho
supported them led to the revival o f the study o f philosophy, mathematics,
and the physical sciences at their courts. A t one o f them, N asîru’ d-Dîn Tüsï
(1201-74) w rote commentaries on Avicenna’s works. His Akhlâq-i-Nâsirî, a
work on ethics and philosophy, became a textbook for institutions o f higher
learning everywhere in the Persian-speaking world.
T he w ay o f thinking cultivated by Avicenna’s School was based on Peri­
patetic philosophy and syllogistic reasoning, but the Ishrâqi (Illuminatisi)
School o f Iran started by Shaikh Shibàbu’d-Dln SuhrawardI MaqtuI (1153­
91) emphasized that reason and intuition were necessary complements one o f
the other. Reason w ithout intuition and illumination, according to Suhra-
wardi, is puerile and half-blind and can never reach the transcendent source
o f all truth and intellection. The Ishràqîs freely borrowed ideas from the
290 Islam in MedievaUndia

ancient Prophets, from Hermetic traditions, and even from the Zoroastrians.
Their symbolism was compatible with both sufi gnosis and Shi'i thought, with
which it is often inextricably entangled. T im ur’s patronage o f Peripatetic
scholars was continued in the courts o f his successors. B y the fifteenth century,
M ultân and G ujarât had become important centres for Ishrâqï and other
M uslim Peripatetic scholars, whose strong grounding in Muslim theology en­
abled them to defeat the A sh 'ari kalâm on its own grounds.
T w o prominent Peripatetic scholars o f Sultan Sikandar’s reign were Shaikh
‘ A zizu ’ llah and Shaikh ‘A b d u ’llâh; ‘A b d u ’llâh attracted the support o f many
eminent scholars in Delhi and its vicinity. The most outstanding Ishrâqt im­
migrant was M ir R a fi'u ’d-Din Safavl (died 1547) who was greatly respected
by all the Delhi sultans from Sikandar to Islâm Shâh Sur.
Bâbur and Humâyûn were accompanied to India by a large number o f
Irani scholars, poets, and philosophers, as well as by soldiers o f fortune, and
A k b a r’s patronage o f the arts and sciences accelerated the immigration o f the
first three groups. Badâ’ ünl, the orthodox Sunni historian at A k b ar’s Court,
gives us to understand that all o f them were Shl'is, blit in fact many o f them
were Ishràqïs or Tafzlliyas. Both the latter schools believe that although 'A li
should have succeeded Muhammad as the first Caliph, the matter was not o f
sufficient importance to let it cause bitterness so long afterwards.
A k b a r’s tolerant administrative laws, which deprived Sunnism of its position
o f dominance, upset many o f the orthodox. They made common cause with
elements dissatisfied for political reasons and in 1580 organized an abortive
rebellion; as a result, not only the political leaders, but also their supporters
from among the theologians, were punished. This made the orthodox change
their tactics. Instead o f opposing A kbar, they now sought to influence his
policy by m aking a show o f loyalty to him. A t the same time, they misrepre­
sented his policies and activities so as to arouse hatred against him, and also
reviled the élite supporting the Emperor, blaming them for the downfall o f
orthodoxy. A s a result o f their efforts, A k b a r has gone down in history as, the
founder o f a new religion, which subsequently came to be called D in Ilàhi, but
which was never defined by his accusers, who merely presented a distorted
view o f his eclecticism and new policies. The orthodox Sunni point o f view is
voiced in Najatu'r Rashid, written by M ulla ‘ A bd u ’l Qàdir B adà’ünï in 1591.
Tension between the various religious groups mounted during Jahangir’s
reign. Immediately after his accession he banished Shaikh N izâm u’d-Dîn
Fârüqî Thâneswari, an eminent Chishti saint, for blessing his rebellious son
Khusrau. The Shaikh went to Transoxiana and died in Balkh, but not before
he had spread a distorted picture o f the M ughals in that part o f the world,
Jahangir then imprisoned Saiyid Ahm ad Afghan, a devoted supporter o f
‘A lâ ’u’d-Daulâ Simnânî’s Wahdatu'sh-Shuhûd, for he was known to have a
great following among the Afghans and thus be a likely danger to the state.
In 1610 Jahangir had a distinguished Irani Shi'ï, Q â zl N üru’llâh Shustari,
flogged to death, although he was seventy years old. Shi‘is ascribe this to
Jahangir’s bigotry, but the evidence o f contemporary Irani scholars tends to
indicate that the Q âzl.was the victim o f a plot by certain Sunni theologians,
whose subsistence gntnts he had reduced in A k b ar’s reign. His polemical
works are strongly critical o f the Sunnis, but his best-known work, Majqlis-
 Islam in Medieval India 291
u'1-Mûminin, is a valuable contribution to Sh 5‘I history, in which he so extends
the definition o f Shi'ism as to include all the eminent süfîs.
Striving to benefit from the accession o f Jahangir were Shaikh ‘ A b d u ’J H aq
Muhaddis Dehlawl and Shaikh Ahm ad Sarhindi. They wrote letters to dis­
tinguished nobles and imperial officials urging them to persuade the Em peror
to accord dominance to the Sunni Shari'a. Shaikh ‘ A b d u ’l H aq’s letters are
cautious, but Shaikh Ahm ad Sarhindi was outspoken in his demands, which
resembled Badà’ ünî’s. H e claimed to be himself the rebuilder o f the second
millennium (M ujaddid-Alf i-Sàni), and a great supporter o f Wahdaiu'sh-
Shuhfid. The publication o f Sarhindl’s letters and the claim s o f his disciples
alarmed Shaikh ‘A b d u ’l Haq, who wrote him a long letter o f protest. Jahangir
imprisoned Sarhindi in G w âlior fort in 1619-20. U pon bis release m ore than
twelve months later, he lived for some time in the imperial camp in order to
propagate his teachings. In his autobiography Jahangir says that Sarhindi ad­
mitted to him that his punishment had been a valuable lesson. N aqshbandt
hagiological literature has exaggerated his achievements, and modern scholars
regard him as having been the saviour o f Sunnism, but in fact his efforts
failed to induce Jahangir to make any noticeable change in A k b a r’s policy o f
universal concord. The Emperor continued to admire saints o f peaceable dis­
position, such as M iyân M ir and M ullà Shâh. H owever, all those w hom
Jahangir considered a'danger to the state, he punished ruthlessly. In 1627 he
decided to banish Shaikh 'A b d u ’l Haq, with whom he had form erly had good
relations, and Shaikh Husâm u’d-Dîn, an eminent disciple o f K hw âja B âqï
Bi’llâh, having already exiled to K abul ‘A b d u ’l H aq’s son, Shaikh N ü ru ’I Haq.
‘Abdu’ l H aq was only saved from exile by Jahângîr’s sudden death. Jahangir
called the süfîs lashkar i-du'â (army o f those w ho pray for the government)
and he expected them to support government policy in return fo r state
patronage. ■
In Shâh Jahân’s reign, the Chishtls again becam e prominent, although the
Qâdirl was the predominant^süfi order. The Chishtls claimed that they were
loyal supporters o f the government and the Emperor. Shaikh M uhibbu’llàh
o f Allahabad (died 1648) wrote commentaries on the works o f Ibn ‘ A rab! and
popularized his teachings through short treatises on the controversial issues
lie raised. In his letters, Shaikh M uhibbu’llàh denounced the Sunni emphasis
on kaldm, and urged concentration on acquiring true divine knowledge.
According to him, only those ascetics and mystics w ho lacked a true percep­
tion o f spiritual perfection followed ‘A là ’ u’d-D aula SimnânI. He urged his
followers to acquire mystic knowledge even from the Hindus. He considered
himself too old to learn from Hindu philosophy and mysticism, but deputed
one o f his disciples to acquire knowledge in this field.
In A k b ar’s reign a large number o f Sanskrit works were translated into
Persian under his patronage, and after his death such translations continued
to be made by Muslim scholars w orking on their own initiative. For example,
‘ A bdu’r Rahmân Chishti syncretized Hindu theories o f cosm ogony in his
M ir'âlu'1-Makhlüqât, and offered an Islamizing explanation o f the Bhagavad
Gita. O f paramount importance was D àrâ Shukôh’s M ajm a'u'l Bahrain, prov­
ing that Hindu and M uslim mysticism were parallel streams which could be
made to meet without much difficulty. His m ost valuable contribution to
292 Islam in Medieval India

religious literature was a Persian translation o f fifty-two Upanishads, which he

completed within six months in 1656-7, w ith the collaboration o f Hindu
Sanskritists. His approach to Reality was Vedàntist, and differed from that o f
other süfls whose system was more com patible with that o f the N âth Y o gis.
The reign o f Shàh Jahân saw the reconcilation o f Avicennian philosophy
with Suunl orthodoxy. The leader o f the movement which brought this about
was M ullâ ‘A b d u ’l H akim Siâlkotl, w ho wrote several works on Peripatetic
philosophy and the physical sciences. His contem porary, M ullâ M ahm ud o f
Jaunpur, also w rote on these subjects. M ahm ud’s best-known work, Shams-i-
Bâzïgha, was patterned on the Shifâ o f Avicenna, and was included in the
advanced courses o f the traditional learning.
By Shâh Jahân’s time two N aqshbandi schools had emerged. K hw àja B àqï
B i’ llàh’s sons followed the general pattern o f süfism in D elhi; they indulged in
saniâ', believed in Wahdalu'l-iVujitd, and paid little attention to the admoni­
tions o f M ujaddid, the title by which Shaikh Ahm ad Sarhindl came to be
know n. Sarhind was the only centre o f any standing to impart the teachings of
M ujaddid. Its luminaries were M ujaddid’s sons, K hw àja M uham m ad Sa'Id
and K h w àja M uham m ad M a'süm . Another eminent disciple of M ujaddid
was Shaikh Adam Bànürl, who wrote several w orks on his preceptor’s teach­
ings. His own claims that he was protecting Shâh Jahân through his spiritual
power do not seem to have had much effect upon the Emperor, for in 1642-3,
when his band o f A fghan followers were pointed out as a potential threat to
the Empire, Shâh Jahàn had no hesitation in exiling him to M ecca. From a
collection o f his letters which has been published, it is apparent that M uham ­
mad M a'süm had great expectations o f Aurangzeb when a prince, although
the story that Aurangzeb was his disciple cannot be proved. Both brothers
went on pilgrimage in 1656, and did not return until Aurangzeb had ascended
the throne. Muham mad M a'süm occasionally visited Aurangzeb at Court,
where his own son Shaikh Saifu’d-Din had a position, but more often com ­
municated by letter, thanking G od that Sunni orthodoxy had been restored.
Shaikh M uhammad M a ’süm took the credit for several puritanical admini­
strative reforms introduced by Aurangzeb; but it is clear that, in his commit­
ment to restore Sunni orthodoxy, Aurangzeb relied not upon one man, but
upon all the orthodox fo r support. N o sudden change in state policy was
possible, but harassment o f ordiuary people by his Ihtisâb (moral censorship)
department strengthened the Em peror’s orthodox image. A number o f saints
and scholars quite unconnected with M ujaddid’s descendants were far ahead
o f M uham m ad M a'süm and his successors in attempting to restore orthodoxy.
The rise o f the M ujaddidis was resented by m any eminent Chishtis, and
their khânqâhs vied with one another in exposing them as selfish oppor­
tunists. Tow ards the end o f A urangzeb’s reign, the Chishtis obtained great
influence through the untiring efforts o f Shâh K alîm u ’llàh Jabànàbâdl (died
1729) w ho, although h eh im self lived iu Delhi, sent his disciple, Shâh N izà-
m u’d-DIn (died 1730), to the imperial camp in the D eccan. N izâm u’d-DIn was
advised to enrol disciples at all costs, and was even permitted to accept Hindus
and Shi’ls as disciples without converting them to Sunnism; he settled in
A urangabad, and took the name o f the town.
It is wrongly presumed that the influence d f Shl’ism declined in Aurangzeb’s
 Islam in Medieval India 293
reign. Following A k b a r’s policy o f D eccan conquest, Aurangzeb did indeed
seize the two D eccàh Shl'î states, but no Shi‘1 is known to have lost his jo b or
standing for religious reasons. Neither S ilfi nor Irani participation in party
politics lessened in A urangzeb’s reign; and in the cultural and religious
spheres these two forces continued to assert themselves as an integral part o f
Indian Islam, despite Sunni hatred.
By the beginning o f the eighteenth century, although the political pow er o f
Islam had begun to disintegrate, Indian Sunni religious and ethical values had
crystallized into marked attitudes. T h e M ujaddidi outlook, strengthened by
the officials in A uraogzcb’s Ihtisâb department, was narrowly orthodox,
legalistic, and militant, refusing to tolerate any other group. Their aim was to
uproot S hfism , destroy Hinduism, and desecrate Hindu places o f worship, if
not openly then secretly. The Chishti group belonging to Shâh K alim u ’ llah
Jahânàbâdî’s school advocated coexistence with Hindus, Shi‘Is, and even
with militant Sunni groups. Supported by them, and generally helped by the
Qâdirls and the Shattârïs, were a large number o f Muslims whose families had
retained Hindu social practices after their ancestors’ conversion, particularly
in villages in Bengal and in the D eccan. T h e urban Muslim religious élite o f
D elhi and Lahore frow ned upon these syncretic practices. Nevertheless the
rural classes formed the overwhelming majority o f the M uslim population,
and they form it to this day.
 C H A PTER XX

Sikhism
by Hesv M c L e o d

A lth ou gh Sikhism is generally understood to be a simple faith, the definitions

which are offered to describe it can be widely and confusingly divergent. Four
sueh definitions are com m only encountered. A ll four relate prim arily to the
origins o f the faith, each reflecting a distinctive range o f predilection.
For the strictly orthodox Sikh the faith which by preference he calls Gurmat
(in contrast to the western term ‘ Sikhism ’) can be regarded as nothing less
than the product o f direct revelation from G od. Gurmat means ‘ the G uru’s
doctrine’ . G od , the original Gurü, imparted his message to his chosen disciple
N ân ak who, having intuitively apprehended the message, thereby absorbed
the divine spirit and became himself the Guru. This same divine spirit passed
at N ân ak’s death into the body o f his successor, Gurü Angad, and in this
manner dwelt successively within a series o f ten pérsdnal Gurüs. A t the death
o f the tenth Guru, G obind Singh, the divine spirit remained presentwithin the
sacred scripture and the community o f the G urüs’ followers. He w ho accepts
the teachings o f the Gurus as recorded in the scripture (granili) or expressed
in the corporate will o f the community {panth) is truly a Sikh. In its more
extreme form this interpretation holds that the actual content o f Gurmat is
wholly original, owing nothing o f primary significance to the environment
within which it emerged.1
A s one would expect, the three remaining definitions all dispute this claim
to uniqueness, emphasizing instead the features which Sikhism so patently
holds in com m on with other religious traditions in India. M any Hindu com­
mentators, stressing the elements common to Sikh and Hindu tradition, have
maintained that Sikhism is properly regarded merely as one o f the many
Hindu reform movements which have appeared from time to time in Indian
history. In like manner there have been M uslim claims, based upon such
doctrines as the oneness o f G od and the brotherhood o f believers, to the effect
that Sikhism is an offshoot o f Islam.* Finally, there is the interpretation,
popular in Western textbooks, that Sikhism must be understood as the pro­

1 ‘ It is altogether a distinct and original faith based on the teachings of Guru Nanak in
the form o f Ten Gurus, and now through Guru Granth Sahib and the Khaisa Panth.’
Gobind Singh Mansukhani, The Quintessence o f Sikhism, Amritsar, 1958, p. 1.
1 The original edition o f The Legacy o f India gives expression to both the second and the
third definitions. D r. Radhnkrishnan lists Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism as ‘ creations of
the Indian mind [whichl représent reform movements from within the fold o f Hinduism put
forth to meet the special demand's o f the various stages o f the Hindu faith' (op. cit., p. 259,
supra, p. 62). In the following chapter Abdul Qadir, in direct contradiction, cites Sikhism
in support o f his claim that ‘Islam has had a more direct influence in bringing into existence
monotheistic systems o f faith in India’ (ibid., p, 291).
 Sikhism 295
duct o f a consciously eclectic intention; an attempt to fuse Hindu and M uslim
b elief within a single irenic system.
Tw o o f these definitions can be summarily dismissed. Both the M uslim and
the eclectic interpretations are based upon partial and superficial readings o f
Sikh sources. Indications o f M uslim influence do appear in the recorded
utterances o f the Gurus and in subsequent Sikh tradition, but in so far as they
constitute significant elements o f Sikh belief they norm ally do so in direct
contradiction to the M uslim influence.3 The eclectic interpretation depends
primarily upon a misreading o f certain passages w hich appear in the w orks o f
N ànak and o f a cryptic reference recorded in the traditional narratives o f his
life/ G urü N àn ak does indeed lo o k to a faith transcending both Hindu and
M uslim notions, but for him the required pattern o f belief and practice.is one
which spurns rather than blends.
The two remaining definitions require more careful attention. Even i f one is
unable to accept a doctrine o f divine inspiration, there remains an obligation
to consider the teachings o f N àn ak and his -successors in terms o f genuine
originality. H aving acknowledged this measure o f originality we m ust also
pay heed to those features o f Sikhism which so obviously derive from sources
within contem porary Indian society. This must be done in the light o f the
complete range o f Sikh history, from the period o f N àn ak to the present day.
The conclusion which will follow is that Sikhism is indeed a unique phenom e­
non, but that this uniqueness derives m ore from its later developm ent than
from its earliest forms of-custom and belief.
Sikhism is generally held to derive from the teachings o f the first G urü,
N àn ak (1469-1539). In a sense this is true, for there can be no doubt that the
doctrines which he taught survive within the com m unity to this day. M o re­
over, there can be no doubt that a direct connection links the com m unity o f
today with the group o f disciples who first gathered around N àn ak in the
Panjâb during the early years o f the sixteenth century. In another sense, how ­
ever, the claim is open to obvious objections. A n analysis o f the teachings o f
N ànak will demonstrate that the essential components o f his thought were
already current in the Indian society o f his period. N àn ak taught a doctrine o f
salvation through the divine N am e. Others were already preaching this doct­
rine, and a comparison o f their beliefs with those o f the early Sikh com m unity
plainly shows that N ànak taught from within a tradition which had already
developed a measure o f definition.
This was the Nirguna Sampradâya, or Sant tradition o f northern India, a
devotional school com m only regarded as a part o f the tradition o f V aishnava
bhakti. A connection between the Sants and the Vaishnavas does indeed exist,
but there are distinctive features o f Sant doctrine which distinguish it from its
Vaishnava antecedents. M ost o f these can be traced to its other m ajor source,
Tantric Y o g a . The most prominent o f the Sants prior to N àn ak was K abir,
and it is no doubt due to the obvious similarities in their teachings that N àn a k

> This aspect is briefly covered below in the discussion o f eighteenth-century develop­
ments. F o r a more detailed discussion o f this period and its results see W. H. M cLeod, The
Evolution o f the Sikh Community (Oxford, forthcoming).
4 ‘ There is neither Hindu nor M uslim.’ .See W. H . McLeod, Guni Nànak and the Sikh
Religion, Oxford, 1968, pp. 38 and 161.
296 Sikhism

has sometimes been represented as a disciple o f his predecessor. Although

there is no evidence to support this supposition, the measure o f doctrinal
agreement which links them is beyond dispute.*
This debt to the earlier Sant tradition must be acknowledged i f there is to
be any understanding o f the ante,cedents o f N ânak’s thought. It is, however,
necessary to add that, as far as can be judged from surviving Sant works,
N ân ak raised this inheritance to a level o f beauty and coherence attained by
none o f his predecessors. From the quality o f his Panjabi verses and the
clarity o f the message expressed in them it is easy to appreciate why this par­
ticular man should have gathered a following of sufficient strength to provide
the nucleus o f a continuing community. The evidence suggests that N ân ak in­
herited a theory o f salvation which was at best incomplete and commonly
naïve in its insistence upon the adequacy o f a simple repetition o f a particular
divine name. K ablr, master o f the pithy epigram, was certainly not naïve, nor
yet does he appear to have been altogether clear and consistent. These are
qualities which one cannot always expect to find in a mystic, and there can be
no doubt that in K a b lr it was the mystical strain which predominated. For
N ânak also salvation was to be found in mystical union with G od , but N ânak
evidently differed in that he recognized the need to explain in consistent terms
the path to the ultimate experience. It is in the coherence and the compelling
beauty o f his explanation that N ân ak’s originality lies.
The thought o f N ân ak begins with two groups o f basic assumptions. The
first concerns the nature o f G od , who in an ultimate sense is unknowable.
G od , the One, is without form (nirankâr), eternal (akâl), and ineffable (aiakh),
Considerable stress is thus laid upon divine transcendence, but this alone does
not express N ân a k ’s understanding o f G od . I f it did there would be, for
N ân ak, no possibility o f salvation. G od is also gracious, concerned that men
should possess the means o f salvation and that these means should be abund­
antly evident to those who would diligently seek them. There is, N ân ak in­
sists, a purposeful revelation, visible to all w ho will but open their eyes aud
see. G od is sarab viâpak, ‘ everywhere present’, immanent in all creation, both
within and without every man.
The second group o f assumptions concerns the nature o f man. Men are by
nature w ilfully blind, shutting their eyes to the divine revelation which lies
about them. They comm only appreciate the need for salvation, but character­
istically seek it in ways which are worse than futile because they confirm and
strengthen hum anity’s congenital blindness. The Hindu worships at the
temple and the M uslim at the mosque. Misled by their religious leaders they
m istakenly believe that external exercises o f this kind will provide access to
salvation. Instead they bind men m ore firmly to the transmigratory wheel o f
death and rebirth, to a perpetuation o f suffering rather than to the attainment
o f bliss.
This, for N ân a k, is mayà. In N ân ak’s usage the term does not im ply the
ultimate unreality o f the world itself, but rather the unreality of.th e values
which it represents. The world’s values are a delusion. I f a man accepts them

5 Ibid., pp. 15J-8. Ch. Vaudeville, Au cabaret de rumour; paroles de Kablr, Paris, 19.59,
P P - f -9 '
 Sikhism 297
no amount o f piety can save him. They must be rejected in favour o f altern­
ative values. Salvation can be obtained only through a recognition o f the
alternative, aud through the faithful exercise o f a discipline which demonstr­
ably produces the desired result.
N àn ak’s teachings concerning the way o f salvation are expressed in a num­
ber o f key words which recur constantly in his works. G od , being gracious,
communicates his revelation in the form o f the sabad (sabda, ‘ w ord’) uttered
by the guru (the ‘ preceptor’). A n y aspect o f the created world which com ­
municates a vision or glimpse o f the nature o f G o d or o f his purpose is to be
regarded as an expression o f the sabad. The gurü who expresses, or draws
attention to, this revelation is not, however, a human preceptor. It is the
‘ vo ice’ o f G òd mystically uttered within the human heart. A n y means where­
by spiritual perception is awakened can be regarded as the activity o f the
gurü.
D uly awakened by the gurü, the enlightened man looks around and within
himself and there perceives the hukam (the divine ‘ order’). Like its English
equivalent, the term hukam is used by N ânak in two senses, but it is the notion
o f harmony which is fundamental. Everywhere there can be perceived a
divinely-bestowed harmony. Salvation consists in bringing oneself within this
pattern o f harmony.
This requires an explicit discipline, the practice o f nâm sima ran or nâm
japan. T h e word nâm (‘ nam e’) signifies all that constitutes the nature and
being o f G o d ; and the verb simaranâ means ‘ to hold in rem em brance’ . The
alternate verb japanà means, literally, ‘ to repeat’, and for many o f the Sants a
simple, mechanical repetition o f a chosen name o f G o d (e.g. Râm) was
believed to be a sufficient method. For N ân ak much more is required. T he
pattern which he sets forth consists o f a regular, disciplined meditation upon
the nâm. The essence o f the nâm is harmony and through this discipline the
faithful devotee progressively unites him self with the divine harmony. In this
manner he ascends to higher and yet higher levels o f spiritual attainment,
passing eventually into the condition o f mystical bliss wherein all disharmony
is ended and, in consequence, the round o f transmigration is at last terminated.
The proof o f this is the experience itself. Only those who have attained it can
know it.
For most people a reference to Sikhism will at once evoke an impression o f
beards, turbans, and martial valour. It rarely suggests doctrines o f salvation
through patient meditation upon the divine Nam e. Both, however, belong to
Sikhism. In order to understand how they united it is necessary to trace the
history o f the Sikh community since the time o f N ânak.
Concerning N ânak him self relatively little can be known with assurance,
apart from the content o f his teachings. Hagiographie narratives abound
(the janam-sâkhïs), but their considerable importance relates principally to the
later period within which they evolved. It seems certain that N ânak was born
In 1469, probably in the village o f Talvandl in the central Panjâb. D uring his
early m anhood he was evidently employed in the town o f Sultanpur near the
confluence o f the Beàs and Satluj rivers. This was followed by a period visiting
pilgrimage centres within and perhaps beyond India, a period which figures
w ith particular prominence in the janam-sâkhi narratives. Eventually lie
298 Sikhism

settled in the village o f K artârpur above Lahore on the right bank o f the R avi
river and there died, probably in 1539.
The pattern o f teaching through the composition and communal singing o f
hymns was continued by N ân ak's first fou r successors and reached a climax
in the work o f Arjan, the fifth Guru (died 1606). During the time o f the third
G urü, A m ar D âs (died 1574), a collection was made o f the hymns o f the first
three Gurus and o f other writers (Sants and Süfîs) whose works accorded with
the teachings o f N ànak. T o this collection Guru A rjan added his own com ­
positions and those o f his father, Gurü R àm D âs. The new com pilation, re­
corded in a single volume in 1603-4, became the primary scripture o f the
community (the A di Grartth later known as the Gurü Granth Sahib). N otable
amongst Gurü A rjan ’s own compositions is the lengthy hym n entitled
Sukhmani, an epitome o f the teachings o f the Gurüs.
In this respect the first four successors followed N ân ak’s example, faithfully
reproducing his teachings in language o f sustained excellence. T here were,
however, significant changes taking place within the com m unity o f their
followers. The more important o f these developments appear to have emerged
during the period o f the third Gurü. Whereas G urü N ânak had laid exclusive
emphasis upon the need for inner devotion, Guru Am ar D âs, faced by the
problems o f a growing community, introduced features which served to main­
tain its cohesion. Distinctively Sikh ceremonies were instituted, a rudimentary
system o f pastoral supervision was begun, three Hindu festival-days were
appointed for assemblies o f the faithful, and the G urü’s own town o f G oindvâl
became a recognized pilgrimage centre.
A n even more significant development, one which should probably, be
traced right back to the period o f G urü N ànak, concerns the caste con­
stituency o f the growing community. Whereas all o f the Gurüs belonged to
the urban-based mercantile K h atri caste, most o f their followers were rural
Jats. This preponderance o f Jats, which continues to the present day, is o f
fundamental importance in the later development o f the community. M any ó f
the features which distinguish the modern community from that o f Nanajc's •
day can be traced, as we shall see, to the pressure o f Jat ideals.
Signs o f Jat influence become apparent during the period o f the sixth Guru,
Hargobind (died 1644), an influence which is perhaps discernible even earlier,
during the years under Gurü A rjan. It was during this period that the com ­
munity first entered into overt conflict with the M ughal administration. A c ­
cording to tradition it was G urü Hargobind who first decided to arm his
followers, a decision which he is said to have reached following the death o f his
father A rjan in M ughal custody. There can be no doubt that the followers o f
G urü Hargobind did bear arms (three skirmishes were fought with M ughal
detachments between 1628 and 1631), yet it is difficult to accept that the
martial Jats would have spurned the use ó f arms prior to this period.
. These martial traditions received further encouragement within the com­
munity as a result o f Gurü H argobind’s decision to withdraw'to the Shivâlik
hills in 1634. During their actual tenure o f the office o f Guru, all four o f .his
successors spent m ost o f their time in the Shivâliks. T he move was significant
in that it exposed thé developing community to the influence o f the dominant
é a k ti culture o f the hills area. This did not produce a transformation, but
 Sikhism m
such features as the exaltation o f the sword which emerge prom inently during
the period o f the tenth G uru should probably be traced to Shivâlik influences.
It was during the lifetime o f the tenth G uru, G obind SiDgh (died 1708), that
the conflict with M ughal authority assumed serious proportions. S ikh tradi­
tion ascribes to this period and to G uru G obind Singh the features which
distinguish the later com m unity from its precursor. It is said that G u ru
G obind Singh, confronted by the evident weaknesses o f his followers, decided
to transform them into a powerful force which would w age w ar in the cause o f
righteousness. This he did by inaugurating a new brotherhood, the K h âlsà,
in 1699.
T o this decision and its fulfilment are traced alm ost all the distinctive
features o f contem porary Sikhism. A ll who joined the K h âlsâ (both men and
women) were to accept baptism and swear to obey a new code o f discipline.
Prom inent amongst the requirements o f this new code were an obligation to
bear the panj kakke, or ‘ F ive K ’s ’ , and to refrain from various kurahit, or
‘ prohibitions’ . T h e F ive K ’ s comprised the k e i (uncut hair), the kanghâ
(comb), kirpân (dagger, or short sword), kara (bangle), and kachh (a variety o f
breeches which must not reach below the knee). The prohibitions included
abstinence from tobacco, from m eat slaughtered in the M uslim fashion(/ia/a/),
and sexual intercourse with M uslim women. A change o f nam e was also re­
quired o f the initiate. A ll men w ho accepted baptism into the K h âlsâ brother­
hood were thereafter to add Singh to their names, and all wom en were to add
K aur.
Sikh tradition also relates to the period and intention o f G uru G obind
Singh another o f the distinctive features o f the later Sikh com m unity. Im ­
mediately prior to his death in 1708 Gurü G obind Singh is said to have de­
clared that with his demise the line o f personal G urus would com e to an end.
Thereafter the function and the authority o f the G urü w ould vest jo in tly in
the scripture (the gratuli, which accordingly comes to be know n as the Gurü
Granili Sâhib) and in the corporate com m unity (the panth, or Khâlsâ Partili).
Tradition thus accords to the period and to the deliberate purpose o f G urü
G obind Singh almost all o f the characteristic features w hich outwardly dis­
tinguish the modern Sikh com m unity. It is a tradition which must in some
measure be qualified. There can be no doubt that som ething did in fact hap­
pen in 1699 and no reason exists for questioning the claim that G u rü G obind
Singh instituted some kind o f brotherhood during his lifetime. Beyond this,
however, it is still difficult to proceed with assurance, fo r there is evidence
which suggests that particular features o f the K hâlsâ code must have emerged
subsequent to the death o f G urü G obind Singh in response to pressures inde­
pendent o f his intention.
T w o o f these pressures deserve particular emphasis. There is, first, the con ­
tinuing im pact o f Jat ideals upon the com m unity, which num erically the Jats
dominated. During the period o f the Gurüs this influence would have been min­
imized although, as the events o f G urü H argobind’s period indicate, it was by
no means without effect. W ith the termination o f the personal authority o f the
Gurü in 1708 the pressure to incorporate features derived from Jat cultural
patterns evidently became much stronger. T he confused political circum ­
stances o f eighteenth-century Panjâb further enhanced this Jat ascendancy,
300 Sikhism

for periods o f m ilitary strife would be handled with much greater success by
the martial Jats than by any other group in Panjâb society. Their ascend­
ancy was by no means com plete (three o f the prominent leaders o f this period
were not Jats), but it was nevertheless extensive and it left its imprint upon the
evolving community. The militant attitude o f the Sikh com m unity must be
traced to this source, together with particular features such as the Five K 's.
The second o f the important eighteenth-century influences also concerns the
battles o f that century. Because Ahm ad Shâh A b d âlï chose to represent his
invasions as a Muslim crusade, the Sikh resistance developed a pronounced
anti-M uslim aspect.6 T o this development can be traced the three examples o f
the Five Prohibitions cited above.
It was also during this critically im portant century and the early decades o f
its successor that the Sikh doctrine o f the Gurü emerged in its modern form.
F or N ân ak the gurü, the voice o f G od, spoke mystically within the human
heart. Because N ân ak was believed to give utterance to the divine message the
title was conferred upon him, and upon his nine successors in the manner o f a
single flame successively igniting a series o f torches. The death o f Guru
G obind Singh without surviving heirs created a serious crisis, for ever since
the time o f the fourth Gurü, Râm D âs, the office had been hereditary within
his fam ily o f Sodhi Khatrls. A n attempt was made to continue the pattern o f
personal authority (a disciple named Banda was widely acknowledged as
leader until his execution in 1716), but disputes within the com m unity and its
dispersion during the period o f persecution which follow ed Banda’s death
eventually produced a different pattern o f leadership. ‘
D uring this period and the subsequent years o f the Afghan invasions there
emerged twelve separate guerilla bands (the misls). In order tó preserve a
measure o f cohesion the leaders o f the misls assembled on specified occasions
to discuss issues o f com m on interest. Together they constituted the Sikh
com m unity and it was as a community (panili) that they deliberated. Well
back in the period o f the personal Gurüs there had developed, in response to
the increasing growth and dispersion o f the com m unity, the doctrine that the
G u rü ’s bod ily presence was not actually essential. W herever a group o f the
faithful gathered to sing the songs o f the G urü, there the Gurü was himself
m ystically present. This doctrine was now extended to cover the periodic
meetings o f the mis! leaders. Assem blies were always held in the presence o f a
copy o f the sacred scripture and decisions reached by these assemblies were
acclaimed as the will o f the G uru (gurrnatta).
A further development in the doctrine o f the G uru cam e during the early
nineteenth century when M ahàràjà Ranjit Singh, having established his
dom inance over his fellow misaldârs, suppressed these confederate assemblies.
The doctrine o f the GurûPanth then lapsed into desuetude and in its place the
theory o f the Gurü Granlh assumed virtually exclusive authority. The presence
o f the Gurü in the scriptures had long been acknowledged. A ll that was re­
quired was a shift iu emphasis.
T o this day the Guru Granlh Sâhib occupies the central position in all ex­
pressions o f the Sikh faith. Decisions are com m only made by using it as an
6 Ahm ad Shâh Abdâlï o f AfghaoistaD invaded north India nine times between 1747 and
1769. '
 Sikhism 301
oracle, continuous readings are held in order to confer blessing or avert
disaster, and the presence o f a copy is mandatory for all important cere­
monies. The scripture which is used in this manner is Gurü A rjan ’s collection,
the A di Granili. It should be distinguished from the so-called Dasam Granili,
a separate collection compiled during the early eighteenth century which de­
rives from the period o f G uru Gobind Singh. Although the Dasam Granili
also possesses canonical status it is in practice little used. The bulk o f the
collection consists o f a retelling o f legends from Hindu mythology.
Another institution which deserves special notice is the Sikh temple, or
gurdwârâ (guraduârâ, literally ‘ the G uru’s d o o r’). F ollow ing earlier prece­
dents the disciples of N ànak in any particular locality would regularly gather
in a room set aside for their communal hymn-singing (kirlan). This room (or
separate building) was called a dharamsâlâ. As the community’s interests ex­
panded beyond the narrowly devotional into areas o f much wider concern the
function o f the dharamsâlâ expanded accordingly. In the process its name
changed to guraduârâ. The gurdwârâs still remain the centre and focus o f the
community’s activities, partly because their substantial endowments provide
a considerable annual income. Contem porary Sikh political activity (ex­
pressed through the A k àil party) depends to a marked degree upon control o f
the wealthier o f these institutions. T he most famous o f all gurdwârâs, and still
the primary centre o f Sikh politicai power, is the celebrated Golden Temple
in Amritsar.
Out o f these five centuries o f history there has emerged the modern Sikh
community, a community which occupies in the life o f India today a position
o f prominence considerably in excess o f its actual numerical strength.7 Sikhs
today are renowned for their participation in progressive farming, the armed
forces, sport, and the transport industry. In all four areas the prominence
belongs principally to Jat Sikhs, the caste group which still constitutes more
than half o f the total strength o f the community. O f the other groups which
have significant representations within the community, the K batrïs and the
Arorâs, both mercantile castes, are more particularly distinguished for their
work in manufacturing industries, commerce, and the professions. Other sub­
stantial constituents are a group o f artisan castes, jointly known as Râmgarhlà
Sikhs; and converts to Sikhism from the scheduled castes (M azhabï and
Râmdâsiâ Sikhs).
Although a measure o f caste consciousness certainly persists within the
community, all can join the K hàlsà brotherhood and observe the common
discipline. Here, however, a final qualification is required. A lthough Khàlsà
organizations normally insist that only the K hàlsà Sikh is a true Sikh, there
are others who lay claim to the title without observing the formal discipline.
These are the so-called sahaj-dhâri Sikhs, noted for their adherence to the
devotional patterns taught by G urü N ànak and his successors. In a sense

7 The total number of Sikbs living in India today is approaching 61 million, or 1-75 per
cent o f the country’s population. O f this total number 94 per cent live in the Panjâb,
Haryànà, Delhi, and the northern district o f Râjasthân. There arc substantial pockets of
Sikh emigrants in East Africa, Malaysia, and England. (More than 75 per cent o f the recent
entrants into the United Kingdom from India have been Sikhs.) Smaller groups are to be
found in several other countries.
CHAPTER XXI

Medieval Indian Literature

by K r i s h n a K r i p a l a n i

S i n c e th e beginning o f the Christian era, Indian literature has had at least two
m ajor vehicles: Sanskrit with its many Indo-Âryan offshoots, Pàli, the various
Prakrits and their later developments, through the stage o f Apabhram sa, into
the modern languages o f northern India; and the fou rD ravid ian languages o f
southern India. T w o other distinct speech-families, the Nishàda or A ustrie
(the oldest and m ost indigenous) and Kirâta or Sino-Indian, have also existed
side byjside for 3,000 years or more, but apart from what they have contri­
buted, by w ay o f vocabulary, grammar, and folk-lore, to the developm ent
o f the Indo-Âryan and Dravidian languages and literatures, they have not
served as literary vehicles o f m ajor significance.
T o some extent the multiple character o f Indian literature was always there.
Even in the heydey o f classical Sanskrit, there existed side by side a consider­
able body o f non-conformist literature in other languages— in P âli, in the
Prâkrits, and in Tam il. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Sanskrit was the
unifying link which has maintained the continuity o f Indian civilization.
W hile it has never wholly ceaséd to do this, its vitality was impaired under the
onslaught o f M uslim invasions beginning with the eleventh century. T hen it
lost its exclusive sovereign claim as the fountain-head o f national culture in
India, and had to share increasingly its pride o f place with Persian for about
eight centuries.
Persian too was Indo-Âryan in origin and a distant cousin o f Sanskrit; it
married into a Semitic fam ily whose script it had adopted, along with the
Islamic faith. This rich, graceful, and melodious language brought with it the
refreshing breath o f SQfic thought, which served as a stimulus to the resur­
gence o f religious consciousness in medieval India, widening the intellectual
horizon o f Indian poets and thinkers who felt its affinity to the spiritual in sigh t.
o f the Upanishads. Its influence on Indian thought was both healthy and
liberative, a fact which is am ply borne out by a considerable body o f Indian
literature, from K a b lr to R âm M ohan R oy. It also brought with it a tradition
o f secular poetry, both narrative and lyric, which was a much-needed relief
from the m onotony o f the prevailing modes o f piety.
A ll the modern languages o f India have had substantial literatures o f their
own, ranging over a period o f 500 to 1,000 years, and in the case o f three
Dravidian languages, Tam il, K annada and Telugu, even longer. Tam il, in
particular, has a literary history older than any o f the European languages save
classical G reek and Latin. Indeed, it may well claim a classic age o f its own.
Its earliest extant grammar, Tolkâppiyam, is placed by conservative estimate
in the fifth century a . d . It is also recognized, even by the most conservative,
that the extant Sangam poetry, later collected in anthologies know n as the
304 M edieval Indian Literature

Eltutogai, was written in the second and third centuries a . d ., if not earlier; the
famous Kitral, known as the Veda o f the Tamils, in the sixth century; and the
kâvyas or epics, Manimegalai and Silâppadigâram, in the ninth century' a . d .1
This literature is more secular than religious, a fact o f alm ost unique signi­
ficance in early Indian writing. However, from the sixth century onwards the
religious consciousness began to gather strength and momentum, bursting in
a remarkable flowering o f bhakti or devotional poetry o f the Saiva and
Vaishnava saints, known respectively as the Nâyanârs and the Àlvârs, and
culminating in the superb classic, the Râmàyana o f Kam ban, in the ninth
century.
O f the three remaining Dravidian languages, Kannada and Telugu have a
fairly old and well-established literary tradition, that o f K annada being some­
what older than that o f Telugu, its earliest extant classic, Kavirâjamârga,
belonging to the ninth century. This is a treatise on poetics and refers to
several earlier works, which indicates that the language had attained its dis­
tinctive literary form some centuries before, an assumption well corroborated
by literary records in inscriptions o f the fifth and sixth centuries. The early
literatures in both these languages, as well as in Tam il, owe a good deal to
Jaina inspiration, Kannada being the most indebted. Tam il, though it could
not altogether avoid Sanskrit influence, has maintained a m ore o r less in­
dependent literary tradition; Kannada and Telugu, along w ith M alayàlam ,
are permeated with this Sanskrit heritage and have taken freely from its
vocabulary.
While the early literature in north Indian languages was alm ost entirely in
verse, the Dravidian languages have always had a considerable body o f prose-
writing, particularly in the genre known as champü, a mixed form o f verse and
prose, also fam iliar in Sanskrit. This form attained great distinction in
K annada during the period between the tenth and twelfth centuries in the
hands o f three remarkable poets, Pampa, Ponna, and Ranna, known as the
Three Gems o f early K annada literature. The Telugu poets, N annaya o f the
eleventh century and Tikkanna o f the thirteenth, also employed this form in
their famous renderings o f the Mahâbhârala. In the middle o f the twelfth
century a popular religious movement, known as Virasatoisnt, swept over
K àrn âtaka (the Kannada-speaking area) and later over Andhra. The founder
o f the movement, Basava, and his followers embodied their teachings in a
simple unadorned prose and their works, known as vaclianas, are a landmark
in medieval K annada literature.
T w o other historical phenomena which have also left a powerful impact on
K ann ad a and Telugu literatures were the rise and consolidation in the four­
teenth century o f the Vijayanagara Empire, which served as a bulw ark against
further Muslim encroachment on the south for more than two centuries, and
the spread o f Vaishnava devotional movements all over India in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. Both o f them served incidentally as powerful factors
in the revival o f the Hindu Sanskrit tradition. The Vijayanagara Empire
achieved its highest glory in the sixteenth century under Krishnadeva R aya,
1 N o attempt is made to harmonize the dates given here with those in Chapter IV. The
wide discrepancy shows how uncertain is the chronology o f many aspects of ancient Indian
history and culture. There are good arguments on both sides. (Ed.'J
 M edieval Indian Literature 305
one o f the greatest rulers in Indian history and him self u poet in both Telugu
and Sanskrit. Several remarkable poets flourished under his patronage, o f
whom the best known is Peddana. W hile this Sanskrit-inspired profusion o f
verse was mainly in narrative form , known as kâvya or prabandha, the.inipact
o f Yaishnavism resulted in a rich crop o f devotional songs in K annada com ­
posed by mendicant singers who called themselves Dâsas (Slaves o f G od), o f
whom Purandaradâsa is the most famous.
, The destruction o f the Vijayanagara Empire by the Muslim rulers o f the
Deccan in the latter h a lf o f the sixteenth century had its inevitable crippling
consequences, and although miscellaneous literature continued to be pro­
duced it became increasingly ornate and artificial, tending not infrequently to
eroticism. There were, however, two notable exceptions in Telugu, the didactic
verses o f Vemana in the seventeenth century or earlier, and the musical com-
•positions o f Tyâgarâja in the eighteenth, which are justly admired all over
south India. But in the maiu, literature had lost its creative individuality and,
bereft of intellectual stimulus, was becoming a preserve o f pedantic learning
or a vehicle o f moral instruction, or was allying itself with song and dance to
provide popular entertainment, as exemplified in the development o f Yaksha-
gàna in Kannada.
The most remarkable development o f this particular form o f literary com ­
position, .which aims at dramatic representation o f Purànic episodes with the
help o f song, dance, and mime, was, however, achieved in the Kathâkalî
literature o f M alayâlam , particularly in the work o f Kunchan N am biar, also
o f the eighteenth century. M alayâlam is the youngest o f Dravidian languages
and, although some songs and ballads o f an earlier age have survived in oral
tradition and some written texts are also available o f the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, the language established its full identity and distinctive
quality only in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, mainly through trans­
lations o f the Sanskrit epics by the gifted poet Ezhuttachan. Despite its
Dravidian origin, the literary development o f Malayâlam has been m ainly
under Sanskrit influence, which is not surprising i f one recalls that Sankarâ-
chàrya, the great Hindu philosopher o f the ninth century, was a brâhman from
Keralà. A modifying factor worth noting is that there are m ore Christians in
this part o f India than in any other, many o f whom owe allegiance to the
Syrian Church, which according to tradition came to this region in the
first century a . d ., Jong before Christianity was accepted in m ost parts o f
Europe.
A s regards the languages o f north India derived from the spoken dialects
o f M iddle Indo-Aryan (o f which the cultivated literary form was Sanskrit),
their separate identities were not perhaps established till after the eleventh
century, fo r their earliest extant literary classics are not older than the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries. T h e fact that the collection o f mystic songs o f the
tenth and eleventh centuries known as Charyâpadas (discovered in 1916 by the
Bengàli scholar Haraprasàd Shâstrï in the Nepal D arbàr Library) is claimed
by several o f these languages as their oldest literary document is ample evidence
that their identities had not yet distinctly emerged. These songs hide beneath
their surface meanings esoteric doctrines, the legacy o f a decadent M ahâyâna
Buddhism with Tantric and N âlh-cult affiliations, which seem to have been
3o6 M edieval Indian Literature

popular religious lore all over north India. This lore is still embedded in the
Hindu consciousness and has had significant literary expression in many
languages, for example in the medieval narrative poetry o f Bengal known as
mangala, celebrating the worship o f D harm a, Manasâ, or ChandT, all non-
Y ed ic divinities.
A m on g these modern Indo-Aryan languages, Hindi, with its rich and mis­
cellaneous heritage o f literary achievement in a number o f widely spread
dialects, m ay well claim the distinction o f possessing one o f the earliest literary
records and also the earliest well-established tradition o f secular writing, in the
Râjasthànî classic Prithvïrâja Rasait (twelfth century) by Chand Bardai, the
court minstrel o f Prithvïrâja, the last Hindu king o f Delhi whose exploits it
narrates. Strangely enough, one o f the pioneer experimenters in Hindi is the
M uslim poet A m ir Khusrau, the remarkably versatile genius o f the thirteenth
to the fourteenth century. M arathi has given to north Indian languages their
first great religious poet and thinker in Jnânesvara whose commentary on the
Bhagaoad Gita, written in the thirteenth century, still holds an unrivalled place
as a literary classic. He firmly established the tradition o f M arathi literature
in which bhakti, devotion, and jndn, philosophy and'scholarship, are admir­
ably blended.
The term Hindi is used loosely to denote a number o f Middle Indo-Aryan
dialects which had evolved, over a period of about five centuries, distinct
literary forms o f their own and were know n by their separate names. There
was (and still is) the Braj-bhâshâ, the vehicle par excellence o f medieval
Vaishnava literature and o f classical Hindustani music, the language o f Sürdâs
and Bihàrl; the AvadhI which has given to ‘ H indi’ literature its greatest poet
Tulsïdâs, whose Râmâyana is sung with devotion even today almost all over
the Hindi-speaking region; Rajasthani, in which is recorded the earliest
secular literature o f north India in the form o f heroic ballads, and in which
M ira B ài wrote her exquisite songs which are today claimed by .both Hindi and
Gujarati as part o f their literary heritage; and Bhojpurl, M agahl, and M aithili
o f modern Bihâr. Bhojpuri was the mother tongue o f the great poet K abir o f
the fifteenth century, although he wrote his poems in a mixed dialect and
evolved a rich and vigorous vocabulary o f his own which did not disdain
Perso-Arabic words. M aithili was one o f the richest medieval tongues, which
in the hands o f Vidyâpati attained such grace and power in the fifteenth
century that its influence was felt as much in Bengal and Assam as in the
western zone and penetrated even into N epal. Even today the people speaking
it, who number several million, claim the status o f a separate m ajor language
for M aithili.
W hat is today known as Hindi has behind it this vast and varied heritage,
though by itself and in its present standard literary form it is o f comparatively
recent origin, not earlier than the first decade o f the nineteenth century. It is
built on the basic structure o f a wèstern Indo-Aryan dialect spoken in Delhi
and its neighbourhood known as K har! B oll (an epithet originally used in a
derogatory sense, meaning rough, crude, or raw speech). Begun as a tentative
experiment to cope with the demands o f modern education and knowledge,
Hindi has absorbed during the last 150 years the heritage o f its illustrious
predecessors and, drawing its capital from the vast reserves o f Sanskrit, has
 M edieval Indian Literature 307
established itself as the standard literary medium o f the largest zone in
northern India. This position has been recognized in the Constitution o fln d ia ,
which has conferred on it the status o f the official language o f the Indian
Union, without prejudice to the remaining fourteen languages scheduled
therein, ail o f which are recognized as national languages o f India.
'.A m o n g them Urdu is in a class by itself. Linguistically it is Indo-Âryan,
bom in India and built, like Hindi, on the same basic structure o f K h arì B oll.
But having affiliated itself to the Persian literary tradition and adopted the
Perso-Arabic script, it has evolved an individuality o f its own, with the result
that Hindi and Urdu in their highly standardized forms seem two different
languages, scions o f the same stock turned rivals by m arrying into different
cultural clans. '
The word Urdu is o f Turkish origin, and is a cousin o f the English word
horde. The original Turkish word ordit meant an arm y or camp. Ever since
the eleventh century, when the Muslims invaded India from the north-west,
the rulers, whether Afghans, Turks, or M ughals, used Persian as the language
o f the Imperial Court. Their army, belonging to different races, also spoke the
same language, although the soldiers in course o f time picked up rudiments
oT the local dialects so as to communicate with the com m on people, mainly
Hindus or M uslim converts. The crude, improvised speech thus born o f the
confluence o f Persian and a western Hindi dialect cam e to be known as U rdu.
Its first standardized literary form, know n as D akhnl, was developed in the
fifteenth century in central and south India, where M uslim adventurers had
carved out powerful kingdoms for themselves. Its early writers were naturally
Muslim poets who adopted for their purpose the Perso-Arabic script to which
they were used and who increasingly loaded their language w ith a vocabulary
and other literary paraphernalia, including prosody, borrow ed from Persian
and to a lesser extent from Arabic.
This literary medium travelled b ack to the north, where, under the patron­
age o f the M ughals and later o f the Lucknow Court and society, it developed
a highly polished, sophisticated, and urbane form which has made it different
from every other Indian language and given it an elegance and a vigour all its
own. The patronage o f the court and aristocracy had-at one time lent it such
prestige that it was freely adopted by a large number o f educated H indu
families o f north India, in whose hands, however, the language tended to lose
its lop-sidedness and to maintain a fairer proportion o f Sanskrit and Persian
vocabulary. Such is, for instance, the language o f families like the Nehrüs
and the Saprüs. It is not without significance that the best-known o f m odem
Hindi writers, Premchand, wrote his first stories and novels in UrdQ and later
turned them into Hindi.
It was, however, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that the modern
Indo-Âryan languages had their richest literary flowering. Its source o f in­
spiration was twofold, a revival o f interest in the Sanskrit heritage, particularly
as embodied in the great epics, and the upsurge o f Vaishnava bhakti, a w ide­
spread cult o f devotion to a personal G o d identified with Râm a, the hero o f
the RSmSyana, or Krishna, the hero o f the Mahâbhârata and the Bhâgavata
Parana; less important, but still significant, were the grow th o f cults o f de­
votion to Siva and his consort K a li or Chandl.
 M edieval Indian Literature

This lyrical overflow o f religious adoration had had an earlier literary bur­
geoning in Tam il, in the-poetry o f the Saiva and Vaisbnava saints o f the sixth
century onwards, referred to earlier. Its philosophy as expounded by the Tamil
sage Ràm ànujàchârya was carried to north India in the fourteenth century by
R âm ânanda, who was traditionally the teacher o f the famous poet Kablr.
M adhvâchârya froru K àrnâtaka carried bhakti to Bengal where its most
ecstatic exponent was the Bengâlï saint Chaitanya, whose teachings spread
from Orissa in the east to V rindâvan (near M athura, a district specially con­
nected with the K rishna myth) in the west, and travelling south had a marked
influence on the development o f Vaishnava poetry in K annada— a significant
example o f the cultural interaction o f Dravidian and Indo-Âryan influences.
A lm ost all Indian languages, Dravidian or Indo-Âryan, count am ong their
early classics translations or free renderings o f the epics, the m ost famous o f
them being Tulsidas’s Râm-charit-mânas in A vadhl-H indi (sixteenth century)
and K am b an ’s Ràmâyana in Tam il (ninth century). T hey are creative adapta­
tions rather than translations, and freely omit or m odify incidents, scenes, and
settings o f the original narrative and in some cases introduce new ones. The
authors have coloured the texture o f their poetry with regional flavour and
suffused it with their own personal devotional attitude, turning the manly
hero o f the epic into G od Incarnate. T he loss in classic dignity is, however,
partially compensated by added lyrical fervour. _
A lo n g with translations or free adaptations o f the epics, there was a con­
siderable output o f devotional song and verse by saint-poets„whose number is
legion. A few names might illustrate how widespread this upsurge was and
how the same impulse worked in different languages: Sankaradeva in Assam ­
ese, Chandïdâs in Bengali, Vidyâpati in M aithilî, N arasï M ehtâ in Gujaràtl,
M ira B ài in Rajasthani, K a b ir in a mixed form o f Bhojpuri and Urdu,
Sûrdàs in Braj-bhâshâ, N âm dev and Ekoàth in M arathi, Saralàdàs in Oriyâ,
G uru N ân ak in Panjabi. Exceptional am ong bhakta bymnodists, the K ash­
miri poetess L ai D ed was a Saivite mystic and belonged to the fourteenth
century. T h e output o f their successors in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries was no less impressive. Its im pact on Indian thought has been so
profound that its echo can be heard even in the poetry o f the twentieth century.
Besides this overflow o f devotional exuberance, often wearisomely repeti­
tive and only occasionally relieved by heroic ballad and romance, there was in
most Indian languages a not inconsiderable output in other literary forms:
metaphysical speculation, maxims on life, in polished and condensed verse,
commentaries on aesthetics, rhetoric, and grammar, exposition o f Purànic
legends with not a little pseudo-scientific rigmarole, and biographical liter­
ature which was mainly hagiographical and full o f an astounding naïveté.
There was also a body o f sophisticated verse analysing possibilities o f erotic
rapture with obvious, unashamed, and even devout delight. The famous Sat
Sài o f the seventeenth-century' Hindi poet Bihàrîlàl embodies this odd Sans­
krit tradition with much ingenuity and charm.
A lthough prose was not unknown to Sanskrit and to some Dravidian
languages, its scope and range were limited. So far as the north Indian lan­
guages are concerned, what specimens there are in the Assam ese Buranjis
(court chronicles) and in the later historical records in M arathi and Urdu
 M edieval Indian Literature 309
have survived as literary curiosities rather than as milestones in literary de­
velopment. Poetry was the vehicle par excellence o f literary expression, and
rhyme, in the case o f thodern Indo-Âryan languages, its main constituent. N or
was this surprising, considering that literature itself was subservient to reli­
gious fervour and was almost entirely dependent on oral delivery for its
propagation.
T h e Muslim contribution to medieval Indian literature was not inconsider­
able. Apart from the fact that the development o f Urdu language and liter­
ature is due mainly to Muslims, several m odem Indian languages have been
enriched by the contribution o f individual Muslim writers. A lthough their in­
spiration was mainly derived from a nostalgia for the faded glory o f A rabia
and Iran, they also made imaginative use o f purely Indian themes, e.g. the
heroic tale o f the Rajput Queen PadminI o f C hitor which inspired M alik
Muhammad Jâyasï's Padmâvat, an allegorical narrative in A vad hï written in
the sixteenth century, as well as the Bengali poet A lâ o l’s poem o f the same
name a century later. T o this may be added the general impact o f M uslim
thought, particularly in its nonconformist Sufi tradition, and the gradual in­
filtration o f Perso-Arabic vocabulary and literary lore. This influence was so
profound in the case o f Kashm iri, Panjabi, and Sindhi as to be deemed pre­
dominant. The poems o f Hàbâ Khatün in Kashm iri, Bulley Shâh, and Wàris
Shâh in Panjabi and Shâh L a tîf in Sindhi are landmarks in these literatures.
These two Panjabi poets o f the eighteenth century and their Sindhi contem ­
porary wove their exquisite lyrics round popular romantic lore, the tragic love
tales o fH ir and Ranjhà, Sassi and Punnü, and Sohnî-M ahiwâl. A curious fact
o f Kashm iri literature is that its three greatest poets were women, Lai D ed o f
the fourteenth century, Hâbâ K hàtün, o f the sixteenth, and Arnim al o f the
eighteenth.
Such then, at a glance, was the general picture o f Indian literature on the
eve o f its next revolutionary' phase in the beginning o f the nineteenth century.
Linguistically, its two main sources were Dravidian and Indo-Âryan; cultur­
a lly , it derived from the religious and literary tradition as embodied in Sans­
krit, supplemented and modified by Buddhist and Jaina influences as well as
by local indigenous lore. T h e most vital impulse that had conditioned the
character o f Indian literature was religious. This is true o f the entire course o f
its develppment, Vedic, Buddhist, Jaina, classical, Dravidian and later Indo-
Âryan, although classical Sanskrit and early Tam il literatures show ample
evidence o f full-blooded and secular vigour. The most passionate as well as
:the m ost characteristic expression o f this religious impulse was in devotional
poetry’, both narrative and lyric, inspired by one or the other form o f V aish­
navism or Saivism. This impulse, clothed in Süfistic garb and adorned with
.Persian finery, is also evident in the literary contribution o f the Muslims,
whether in Urdu or in other Indian languages.
C H A P T E R X X II

Muslim Architecture in India

by M a r t i n S, B r i g g s

T o m ost people the title o f this chapter would seem to be above reproach and
to describe its contents accurately. Indeed, it would be difficult to find any
other precise and simple description to cover the various styles o f buildings
produced in the vast area o f India under the Muslim dominion that lasted
from the year x 193 up to the eighteenth century. E. B. Havel!, an enthusiastic
and pugnacious champion o f the Hindu genius, strongly objected to the term
‘ Indo-Saracenic’ as ‘ an unscientific classification based on the fundamental
error which vitiates the w orks o f most European histories of Indian civiliza­
tio n ’ .1 H e was thinking primarily o f James Fergusson’s great book, the first
really scholarly survey o f the subject, but other and later historians came under
his lash by adopting the same terminology. W e may abandon the word
‘ Saracenic’ nowadays, because it was never more than a picturesque'nick­
name and'has been discarded for many years by the learned, but it seems
ridiculous to suggest that the great influence and power o f jsla m , implied in
the words ‘ M uslim ’ or ‘ M uham m adan’, can be neglected in considering the
long series o f mosques, palaces, and other buildings erected during more than
five centuries. On the other hand, Muslim architecture in India does differ
radically from its works in other countries. As M , Saladin has well said:
Ii'Inde est si éloignée du centre géographique de l’Islam que l’architecture musul­
mane y a subi l’influence de l’art florissant qui y était implanté depuis des siècles. Le
.continent indien, peuplé de races très diverses, dont, les antagonismes assurèrent la
servitude, constitue cependant un monde particulier. Une civilisation religieuse s’est
étendue sur les races ennemies et a donné à l’art indou une vie puissante et originale.1
It was in 712 that the Muslim hosts first entered India and established
themselves in Sind, but the colony there soon became detached from the
Caliphate, eventually expired, and left no architectural remains o f importance.
In the tenth century, about 962, a form er Turkish slave named. Alptigin en­
tered Afghanistan from Turkïstàn and established a small independent princi­
pality at Ghazni. His successor Sabuktigln, another ex-slave, became Am ir of
G hazni in 977, raided the Panjâb ten years later, and founded a dynasty. His
son M ahm ud, who sufcceeded him in 997, assumed the title o f Sultan and soon
began to make his power felt beyond the Indus, capturing Kanauj, the capita!
city o f northern India/ in 1019. But it was only in G hazni itself that he became
famous as a builder, and the sack o f that city by a rival chieftain in c. 1150 de­
stroyed all the buildiiigs except M ahm ud’s tom b and two others.
G h azni lies in the modern Afghanistan, and therefore does, not strictly
belong to our subject. But it must be recorded here that, in the days o f its
1 E. B. Havell, Indian Architecture, 2nd edn., London, 1927, p. 121.
1 H. Saladin, Manuel d ’art musulman, Paris, 1907, Vol..l,- p. 545.
 M uslim A rchitecture in India BU
glory, it became a city o f some im portance. A contem porary chronicler,
Firishta, w rote that ‘ the capital was in a short time ornamented witji mosques,
porches, fountains,'àqueducts, reservoirs, and cisterns, beyond a n yb ity in the
Éast.’ 3 Fergusson says that: \
Even the tomb o f the great Mahmüd is unknown to us except by name,' [but that its
gates, removed to India long ago,] are o f Deodar pine, and the carved ornaments on
them are so similar to those found at Cairo, on the mosque o f Ibn Tulun and other
buildings of that age, as not only to prove that they are o f the same.date, but also to
show how similar were the works of decoration at these two extremities of the
Muslim empire at the time of their execution. . . . At the same time there is nothing
. Hindu . . . about them.'*
IWhen Robert Byron visited this tomb he described it as follow s:
The tomb resembles an inverted cradle o f white marble, and bears a beautiful Kufic
inscription whose high spots have grown translucent beneath the devotions of nine
centuries. It was covered, when I entered, with a black pall, on which fresh rose-
pëtals had been strewn, to show that the memory o f the first great patron o f Persian
Islamic art is still revered among the people he once ruled.5
flyron does not mention the Jâmi’ M asjid (‘ Friday m osque’), w hich Fergus-
son expected to provide interesting information when it cam e to be examined,
but he saw the tw o remarkable towers described and illustrated by Fergusson.
Apparently only the lofty six-sided bases now remain, the tapered cylindrical
superstructure having vanished. Byron speaks o f them as ‘ m inarets’, but
Fergusson says that they were pillars o f victory, adding that ‘ neither o f them
f a s ever attached to a m osque’ . Be this as it may, the form o f these towers or
minarets became important in the later history o f M uslim architecture in
India.
2 ';A fter M ahm ud’s death in 1030 the power o f G h azni began to decline, and
jj^was occupied in 1173 by the rival prince o f G hür. Tw enty years later,
Mii.hammad, the Ghürï ruler o f Ghazni, with his generals Q utbu’d-Din A ib ak
and. M uham mad B ak h tiyà r,'conquered Hindustan and established the new
MUSHm capital at Delhi. This date, 1193, marks thé real beginning o f M uslim
afchitecture in India itself. Except for the scattered and ruined fragments at
Ghazni in Afghanistan, no earlier buildings o f any note survive which are due
î& M uslim influence or bear its characteristic features.
HjBefore' describing the early architecture ó f D elhi and A jm er it is necessary
ra indicate briefly the point o f development to which M uslim -building had
attained in 1193 in Persia and the neighbouring coiintries whence its influence
must have reached India, and then to study the nature o f the existing indi­
genous architecture with which it became fused and on which, in spite o f all
statements to the contrary, it eventually impressed the unm istakable features
iofislam ic tradition.
fejThe congregational m osque or ‘ Friday M o sq u e’ ,(Jâmi’ M asjid) had long
attained its norm al and alm ost standardized form ,'consisting o f a large open
rectangular court (sahn in Arabic) surrounded b y arcades or colonnades
-

p ’ Quoted in Fergusson’s History o f Indian and Eastern Architecture, revised edn., London,
È19Ì0, V ol. 2, p. 191. < Ibid., p. 193. ,
1 In The Times for 28 D ec. 1934, article entitled ‘ M iddle Eastern Journey’ .
312 M uslim Architecture in India

Uwânat in Arabic) on all four sides. The lïwân nearest to Mecca was usually
made much deeper than the others and formed the sanctuary'. In the centre of
the back wall o f the sanctuary, and on its inner side, stood the mihrâb, a niche
with a pointed head, indicating the proper direction (qiblah) for prayer, i.e. the
direction o f M ecca. The call to worship {aditati) was chanted by a muezzin
(imu’adhdhin) from a gallery near the top o f a minaret (ma’ dltana), a tail slender
tower. W ithin the mosque the chief ritual furniture consisted o f a pulpit
{mimbar) and facilities for ceremonial ablution. A large mosque might have
several minarets, their form being usually cylindrical or polygonal in Persia,
though the first known example, at Qayrawân near Tunis (eighth century), is a
massive square tower, slightly tapered. Arches were freely used in all parts o f
the mosque, their form being generally 'P ersian ’ (i.e. somewhat depressed and
struck from four centres like our ’ T u d or’ arch), or less frequently o f ogee type.
Cusping was occasionally used. Windows were often filled w ith plaster or
stone lattices or claire-voies to break the force o f the sun, but glazing does not
appear to have been introduced before the thirteenth century. Enamelled tiles
were certainly employed, also bands o f decorative lettering and geometrical
surface patterns (’ arabesques’) in profusion, while the famous ‘ stalactite’
ornament, the hallmark o f Muslim architecture in all countries; had made its
aopearancc in the mosque o f A l Aqm ar at Cairo in 1 125. Lastly, the masonry
or brick dome had come into general use for tombs and tomb-mosques,
though in ordinary congregational mosques it was normally o f small size and
placed over the space in front o f the mihrâbfi
Th e buildings which the Muslim conquerors found in India in 1193 were
numerous and decidedly florid in character. Indeed, it is the profuseness o f the
decoration in early Hindu temples that tends to obscure their structural
features and thus makes them difficult for a European Critic to analyse dis­
passionately. H avell writes that ‘ it may seem to the Western eye, trained in tbe
form ula o f the classical schoolmaster, that the Muhammadan prescription is
m ore pleasing, just because it is more correct according to the canons called
classical’ ,7 but the difference seems to be more fundamental than that. How­
ever, it should be possible in this brief survey to avoid unnecessary and futile
com parisons between varying styles o f building, concentrating rather on
matters o f ascertained fact in the story o f architectural development.
T h e story' o f architecture in India prior to the Muslim invasion in 1 193 lias
already been extended backwards by 3,000 years or more since the discoveries
m ade at B arappâ and M ohenjo-dâro. Until then the prevailing belief was that
the earliest surviving Indian buildings were constructed mainly o f timber, but
w ith sun-dried brick for foundations and plinths. In the prosperous reign o f
A so k a (c. 272-232 B.C.) stone came into use, but the forms o f timber members
were often reproduced in stone. A^oka, whose dominions included the whole
o f m odern India except its southern extremity and part o f Assam , became a
devotee o f Buddhism. Hence the monuments surviving from his day consist
chiefly o f great stone pillars inscribed with his religious edicts, and stupas, i.e.
structures or shrines enclosing relics o f Buddhist saints, or m arking places
* F o r a concise summary o f the characteristics o f Muslim architecture in general, see my
chapter in The Legacy o f Islam, Oxford, 1931, pp. 155-79.
7 E. B. Havell, op. cit., p. 5t.
 M uslim Architecture in India 313
where Buddha lived or worked; a few artificial caves with highly polished in­
teriors, used as hermitages for À jïvika monks, also go back to Iris day. In
these buildings, which were scattered all over A éok a’s vast empire, there are
m any indications o f foreign influence, even at this early date.
Thus the Aéoka pillars have capitals somewhat resembling the type used at
Persepolis 700 years before, decorated with Persian mouldings, and crowned
with lions or other beasts. Where these lions were disposed in pairs or in fours
(as on the fine capital from the Sàrnàth pillar, which w as 50 feet high from the
ground), we find the prototype o f the famous ‘ bracket-capital’ which later
played so important a structural part in Hindu architecture and carne to be
freely used in Muslim mosques. T he stupas are extremely interesting m onu­
ments, but do not appear to have influenced mosque-building to any marked
extent.
The Buddhist monasteries (vihâras), o f which the earliest surviving ex­
amples date from a century or two after Aéoka, were often placed near the
shrines (chaityas). Some o f them were hewn out o f the solid rock, others were
free-standing structures; some had columns, others were astylar. The chaitya
interior as a whole suggests a Christian basilica, and Fergusson pointed out
that the dimensions o f the temple at K ârlî are almost identical with those o f
the choir at N orwich Cathedral. Light was admitted through a huge sun-
window in the rock facade so that it fell upon the stupa or chaitya, the focal
point o f worship. The sun-window almost invariably assumed the form o f a
horseshoe, and Havell explained its sym bolic purpose in some detail.8 He took
great pains to prove that this horseshoe-arch, which eventually became a
characteristic feature o f Muslim architecture in certain countries, was in­
vented in India a thousand years or so before the first mosque was erected. It
is tru<$ that this horseshoe window resembles some types o f arch used in
Islamic and Western architecture but the fact remains that, except for an early
example at Kausâm bi and a few small examples in a later Buddhist monastery
in Orissa, which seem to have had no successors, no true arches or domes
dating from before the M uslim conquest have been found in India. Thus
claims such as H avell’s will not stand critical exam ination, and the direct
debt o f Indian Muslim architecture to ancient Indian art appears to be limited
to the use o f bracket-capitals (a Persian heritage) and certain arch-forms, the
latter being disputable. Other details borrowed front Persia, Greece, and per­
haps Rome (e.g. the quasi-Doric capitals at Elephanta and the fluted pillars
o f the temple at M ârtând in Kashm ir and elsewhere) passed out o f use long
before the Muslim invasion and so had no effect on M uham m adan archi­
tecture.
But it must not be inferred that nothing o f importance was transmitted
indirectly, and after considerable modification, from the earlier period to the
later. Certain features developed during the ensuing centuries before 1193,
and passed almost imperceptibly into the design o f mosques after that date.
M eanwhile Indian craftsmen were acquiring great skill in all decorative de­
tails. M oreover, it is quite fallacious to regard the rock-hewn chaitya-cave
type as archaic or barbaric. A s Havell says, *in India it represents a refinement

* Havell, Ancient and Medieval Architecture o f India, p. 55, etc.

 M uslim Architecture in India

o f luxury for the users, an exceptional trial o f skill for the craftsmen, and a
special act o f devotion and consecration on the part o f the individual or the
community for whom the w ork is perform ed’ ;9 and again, that ‘ the sculptur­
esque or architectonic quality which is generally lacking in pure A rab buildings,
belongs pre-eminently to Hindu architectural design: the Hindu builder was a
sculptor as well as a mason, having acquired his skill at Elephanta, Ellora, and
Ajantâ in many generations from dealing with great masses o f living rock ’ .10
This last claim must be borne in mind as we come to consider the fully de­
veloped Muslim architecture o f India, later in this chapter.
D uring the period between 650 and 1200 India was a mass o f rival states.
Brâhmanical Hinduism replaced Buddhism as the religion o f the majority of
the inhabitants, but Jainism— which was as old as Buddhism in its origin—
continued to flourish abreast o f it, and was responsible for the erection o f
many im portant temples. The typical Hindu temple o f this period consists
o f two elements: a shrine-cell crowned by a curvilinear tower or steeple
(sikhara) and an entrance porch or veranda. Havell considered that this type
was directly derived from the primitive village shrine o f a thousand years
earlier, with its veranda giving shelter to 'th e two guardians o f the shrine,
human or divine’.11
In south India, instead o f the curved sikhara, we find a more primitive
structure, a vimâna or pyramidal tower w ith stepped sides^ not unlike the
Babylonian ziggurat. Otherwise, variations from the standard plan take the
form o f the addition o f pillared halls (mandapam) and enclosures (prâkâra)
round the original shrine as a nucleus, w ith lofty gateways (gopurams) at the
various entrances. It is only in the pillared halls that any noteworthy struc­
tural experiments are to be seen, and there one sometimes sees primitive stone
domes on an octagonal arrangement o f pillars, a system which found its way
into Muslim architecture.
I f one can so far forget the overgrowth o f ornament and the complexity o f
subdivision as to penetrate to the underlying structural forms and elements, it
appears that the Hindu temples prior to 1193 were mainly o f trabeated stone
construction, based in large part on timber prototypes. Great stone lintels,
beams, and purlins are freely used, and arches are alm ost if not entirely un­
known, the tops o f window openings and doorways being flat. Bracket-
capitals are employed to reduce the span o f openings. Pyram idal roofs are
formed by successive projections o f masonry courses, and domes o f primitive
type are constructed in the same w ay on an octagonal base o f stone lintels,
themselves supported on stone columns in late examples (after the tenth
century). The top or cap o f such a structure, the âmaiaka, sometimes appears
to be carried on the slightly curvilinear piers or ribs form ing the skeleton of
the iikhara, where the walls o f the sikhara are not entirely solid, and in this
system Havell finds the origin o f the later ribbed dome. Colum ns were seldom
used in the architecture o f Hindu temples in north India, but are frequently
found in buildings erected further south. There is no doubt that the Muslims
borrowed many o f these structural features, notably lintels and bracket-
capitals, from Hindu tradition; and it is equally certain that the domes they
built in India showed similar influence. But their architecture was not based
* Ibid., p. 69. 10 Ibid., Indian Architecture, p..23. 11 Ibid., p. 37.
 M uslim Architecture in India 3*5
entirely on Hindu models, as extremists would have us believe. T he largest
group o f early Hindu temples in north India is to be found in Orissa, which
escaped invasion by the M uslim s until 1510.
The chief Jain temples were erected between c. iooo and c. 1300, and are
distinguished by the large number o f cells provided for im ages, as m any as 236
being found in one building, but architecturally they do not differ in character
very much from Hindu temples. They are usually picturesquely situated, often
on hill-tops. Some o f them are rock-cut, as at Ellorà and in O rissa; others are
free-standing structures, such as the temples a t Lakkandl in D harw ar, at
Palitànà and Girnàr in G ujarat, at Somnâth south o f Girnâr, and at Vindhya-
giri and Chandragiri in M ysore. But the most famous examples are at M ount
 bü, about 400 miles from Bom bay on the line to D elhi. Here the older
tem ple,built in i0 3 i,fo rm so n e o f the finest architectural groups o f the period.
The shrine itself, with its pyramidal ro o f and porch, is surrounded by a'closed
courtyard 128 feet by 75 feet, lined with 52 cells.
When the M uslims under M uham m ad o f G hür invaded India in 119 1, th eyat
first encountered defeat from the Hindu râjâ who ruled over D elhi and Ajm er.
In the following year, however, they were successful, and in 1193 D elhi,
K anauj, and Vârànasï (Banâras) were captured. T h e surrender o f G w alior
occurred three years later, the conquest o f Upper India being completed in
1-203. M ost o f the Muslim rulers were o f Turkish or A ra b blood, and several
o f the early sultans o f D elhi were Turkish slaves who, like the M am elukes o f
E gypt including the fam ous Saladin himself, rose to the highest positions in
the state from this lowly origin. The general in command o f the arm y which
conquered Delhi in 1193 was one such slave, by name Qutbu’ d-Din A ib a k , a
native o f Turkistan, and it was he who, even before he becam e the first sultan
or king o f D elhi on M uham m ad’s death in 1206, put in hand the building o f
two large ‘ congregational’ or m etropolitan mosques in D elhi and Ajm er. U n ­
doubtedly this step was intended as a sym bol o f conquest, as an evidence o f
the M uslim s’ belief in the faith o f their fathers, and possibly also as a memorial
Of their triumph over idolatry.
T h e invaders were certainly soldiers, probably m arching light and without
any elaborate system o f administration prepared in advance for the van­
quished territories. But those writers who have assumed that no architects
were brought into India from Persia or Turkistan have been rather rash: even
i f there is no record o f such an im portation, it seems conceivable that it m ay
have happened. A t all events the point is unimportant, because it is obvious
that somebody— perhaps Q utbu’d-D in himself-— must have given precise in­
structions to craftsmen and labourers for the building o f the two mosques
just mentioned. It may also be assumed that these workm en were m ainly if
not entirely H indus: that fact is proved by the clumsy w ay in which they dealt
tvith the few non-Hindu items o f construction required by the conquerors.
M oreover, this was the practice in all the countries subdued by the Arabs in
the early days o f Islam. The plan o f the mosque, utilitarian as well as sym ­
bolical in its nature, was prescribed by tradition and was insisted upon by the
Muslim governor or ruler; the materials employed, and the constructional
methods used to achieve the desired effects, were largely left to be determined
by the local circumstances and the particular skill o f the native craftsmen. A s
3 16 M uslim A rchitecture in India

we have seen, Hindu temple architecture had reached a high level; and sculp­
ture had become almost too easy, as it was perhaps too common.
The first mosque at D elhi, dedicated to the Quwwat-ul-Islâm (‘ M ight o f
Islam '), is adm irably situated on a slight eminence and was completed in I19S.
It originally measured externally about 210 feet from east to west (that is,
from front to back) and 150 feet from north to south, the measurements in­
side the colonnade being 142 by 108 feet. (In India, the mifiriib is always at the
west end.) It was erected on the site o f a Hindu temple, but an A ra b ic in­
scription on the east wall states that the materials o f twenty-seven ‘ idolat­
ro u s’ temples were used in its construction. T he sanctuary at the west (Mecca)
end is now in ruins, only twenty-two o f its numerous columns remaining, but
the fine stone arcade or screen forming its frontage to the courtyard survives
to show the m agnificence'of the original design, with a central arch o f slightly
ogee shape, 22 feet wide and 53 feet high. T h e low colonnaded sanctuary be­
hind it, like the other colonnades surrounding the courtyard, appears to have
survived from the earlier temple, so that Q utbu’d -D in’s w ork was mainly
confined to the erection o f this huge arcaded sanctuary-façade. T h e Hindu
craftsmen employed were unaccustomed to the construction o f arches; hence,
instead o f proper voussoirs, they used projecting courses o f m asonry such as
were fam iliar to them in building sikharas.
A fter Qutbu’d-D in’s death, his son-in-law and successgr Iltutmish pro­
ceeded in c. 1225 to extend this arcaded screen to treble its original width
north and south, and also to erect a new east colonnade to the mosque, so that
it now measured some 370 by 280 feet. W ithin the extended courtyard he
built the great Qutb M inar, a detached tower or minaret 238 feet high, which
may possibly have been commenced by Qutbu’d-D in himself. There is some
doubt as to the real purpose o f this remarkable monumènt. A n inscription,
and a reference b y the poet A m ir K husrau,.support the theory that it was a
norm al minaret used by a muezzin; but m any authorities hold that it was a
tower o f victory, perhaps inspired by the ‘ pillars o f victory’ which still stand
on the plain o f G hazni. A detached minaret is not unknown, and there arc
yery' early examples at Sam arra in M esopotam ia (846-52) and at the mosque
o f Ibn TulQn in Cairo (868-969). T he sharply tapered cylindrical form is
found at D am ghân in Persia (twelfth century), and the fluting o f the surface
is a Persian feature (as at R ayy) derived from older M esopotam ian proto­
types. The ‘ stalactite’ cornices under the tiers o f galleries round the Qutb
M in ar recall one o f the earliest uses o f that feature on a twelfth-century min­
aret at Bostam in Persia. A ll things considered, there is no reason to doubt the
statement that the Q utb M inar was designed by a M uham m adan architect
and built by Hindu craftsm en.11 It is absurd to say that it is ‘ a Saracenic
modification o f the Indian typ e’.13
T he tom b o f Iltutmish, w ho died in 1235, lies near the mosque, and is a
beautiful example o f nearly pure Persian art, though there are certain features
o f its decoration— such as the design o f the shafts and the cusped arches—
that suggest Hindu taste, and much o f the ornament betrays an inexperienced

11 Vincent Smith, History o f Fine Art in India anti Ceylon, p. 69.

15 Havell, Indian Architecture, p. 49,
 M uslim A rchitecture ht India 3*7
hand. The mosque at Ajm er, already mentioned, was commenced c. 1200 and
finished during the reign o f Iltutmish. It originallyi measured 264 by 172 feet
and was erected on the site o f a Jain temple or college built in 1153. A s at
D elhi, the chief alteration to the temple consisted in erecting a great screen or
arcade o f Persian arches in stone, bordered with characteristic A rabic decor­
ative lettering, and as at Delhi the arches are quite unconstructional, having
horizontal joints formed by projecting courses o f masonry. But only a frag­
ment o f this beautiful building now remains, including the ruins o f two small
fluted minarets. The legend that it was built in two and a h a lf days, repeated
by nearly all historians, m ay be ignored as Oriental hyperbole carried to
excess.
T h e M ongol wars which devastated Central A sia in the thirteenth century,
and the weak character o f the rulers o f Delhi after Iltutmish, m ay account for
the fact that no outstanding monument was erected for nearly a hundred
years by the Muslims o f India. Then in 1300 ‘A lâ ’u’d-DJn, w ho had succeeded
to the throne o f Delhi in 1296 and had previously conquered part o f south
India, began to enlarge the Quwwat-ul-Islâm mosque and to build a minor
which was intended to be more than double the height o f the lofty Qutb
M inâr. ‘A lâ ’u’d-Dïn was a megalomaniac, and his vast projects remained un­
finished, but in the so-called D arw àza, a noble south gateway to the mosque
enclosure (1310), he has left us a very charming and delicate little building
which may be considered to mark the culmination o f early Indo-M uslim art.
Its general character and its ornament are Persian, but the Hindu tradition
may be seen iu the same features as at the tomb o f Iltutmish described.
; >For the next period, corresponding with the duration o f the Tughluq
D ynasty in Delhi (1321-1421), that city continued to be virtually the capital
of-M uslim India, though from time to time various principalities, such as
Bengal, asserted their independence. Delhi was certainly a flourishing, place
when the Muslims captured it in r 193. Its favourable strategical situation is
considered to explain its continuance as a capital through a thousand years.
The site o f the old 'c itie s’ o f Delhi, reckoned at least seven in num ber without
the pre-Muslim town, is spread over a triangular area measuring some ten or
eleven miles from north to south, with the apex o f the triangle at the junction
o fth e ‘ R id ge’ with the River Yam unâ. T he site o f N ew D elhi is about in the
'centre o f this triangle, and that o f Old Delhi, the first M uslim city, founded by
Qutbu’d-Din, at its south-west corner. The second city, Siri, lies north-east o f
Old Delhi, and the third, Tughluqâbàd, founded in 1321, in the south-east
corner o f the triangle. The fourth and fifth cities, Jahànpannâh (1327) and
îurozâbàd (c. 1354), were also established during the rule o f the Tughluq
Dynasty, which provided a number o f interesting buildings, very different in
character from the earlier architecture just described.
T h e tomb o f Ghiyâsu’d-DIn Tughluq (died 1325), first o f the line, is a square
structure o f red sandstone with sharply battered walls, enorm ously thick,
crowned with a simple white marble dome. This building, massive and severe,
is surrounded by an enceinte o f lofty stone walls with bastions. N othing more,
like a warrior’s tomb, and nothing less like ‘A lâ ’ u’d-Dîn’s gateway, could be
Imagined. T h e other tombs o f the period are no less stark in their aspect and
the walls o f Tughluqâbàd are equally impressive, while the surviving parts o f
318 M uslim A rchitecture in Indio

the walls o f Jahànpannàh and Fîrozàbàd show a dour disregard o f architec­

tural prettiness that seems to indicate a rigid puritanism o f outlook as well as
a consciousness o f defensive needs. Am ong Delhi mosques o f the fourteenth
century the most important is the K'alàn Masjid (finished 1387), a citadel-like
building o f forbidding aspect with domed bastions at its angles and acutely
tapered cylindrical minarets on either side o f the main entrance-. It stands
within Shâhjahànâbâd, a crowded quarter o f Delhi. The remaining mosques
are at Jahànpannàh and elsewhere.
Outside Delhi the chief M uslim buildings o f the fourteenth century were
erected in Gujarât, Bengal, and the Jaunpur area. Gujarât was a seat o f Hindu
craftsmanship, and such mosques as the Jâm i’ Masjid at Cam bay (1325) and
the mosque o f Hilâl K hàn Q âzl at K holkâ near Ahm adâbâd (1333) contain
numerous Hindu fragments as well as Hindu ideas, the columnar or trabeated
effect being frequently produced. A t G aur in Bengal the enormous Àdïna
Masjid near Pânduà (c. 1360) has a huge courtyard surrounded by five aisles
o f arches on the M ecca side and three aisles on the remaining sides. These
arcades, constructed o f brick, originally carried 378 domes o f identical size
and design, a most unimaginative and monotonous conception. Nothing
could be less characteristic o f Hindu art.
A t Gulbarga in the Deccan is another large and very remarkable mosque,
the only one o f its kind in India, built about the middle o f the century. There
is a tradition or legend to the effect that it was designed by an architect from
Cordova, and certainly it resembles the famous mosque in that city to the
extent that the whole area is covered. There are the usual arcades on the
north, south, and east, with domes at each angle and a large dome over the
mihrâb ; but the ro o f over the remaining area (normally occupied by the open
court) and over the sanctuary consists o f sixty-three small domes resting on
arcades. With its stilted domes, its foliated battlements, and its fine arcades o f
Persian arches this striking building is èssentially ‘ Saracenic’ . One wonders
w hy the type was not reproduced elsewhere, and it has been suggested that the
innovation o f having the external arcade open to the public gaze was un­
popular with the mullahs, who preferred the usual type enclosed within blank
walls.
Returning to north India we find two interesting mosques at Jaunpur, near
Vàrânasî (Banâras): the mosque o f Ibrahim N âib Barbak in the fort, com­
pleted in-1377, and the fine A tàla M asjid (1408). The latter has a truly impres­
sive propylon or central feature in the Persian style, with a great Persian arch
over the entrance, but the walls o f the square flanking towers, which look as
though they ought to carry minarets, are battered and are frankly Hindu, as
are the colonnades on either hand. Y et the interior arches and domes are
distinctly Muhammadan in character.
The next century, from 1421 to 1526, was interrupted by frequent wars, and
D elhi ceased to occupy its predominant position o f control over the semi­
independent kingdoms o f Bengal, Jaunpur, Gujarât, M àlw à, the D eccan, etc.
Nevertheless m any riotable buildings were erected in the area* m ost o f them
being tombs. T h e group o f three, known as Tin Burj (‘ Three T o w ers’) are
rough and massive square structures with blank arcading on their exteriors,
the Persian arch being used. The domes are rather lower than the typical high
 M uslim Architecture in India 319
Saracenic dome, and thus approximate nearer to the Hindu form . The tombs
o f M ubarak Shâh Sayyid and Muham m ad Shâh Sayyid, in or near Khairpur,
are plain octagonal structures with domes, ‘ k io sk s’ surrounding the domes,
and external arcading. There is another fine but nameless tomb o f the same
type, square on plan, in Khairpur, with Hindu brackets over the doors and
blue glazed tiles used in the Persian fashion. A ll these are w orks o f the Sayyid
period (1421-51). Rather later is the plain but impressive tom b o f Sikandar
L odi (1517) at Khairpur, surrounded by a fortified enclosure. The chief Delhi
mosques o f the period are the beautiful M oti-kl-M asjid, a rem arkable com ­
position with high blank walls flanked by arcaded pavilions and w ith effective
domes, and the splendid domed m osque o f K hairpur.
The two chief mosques o f this century at Jaunpur are the fine Jam i'M asjid
(begun in 1438) and the small L â l D arw âza mosque. B oth have been fre­
quently illustrated, and both have the characteristics already mentioned in
connection with Jaunpur mosques o f the preceding period.
Gaur, the capital o f Bengal at this time, sim ilarly follow ed and developed
its fourteenth-century tradition o f brick arcuated construction, a curious
medley o f M uslim and Hindu methods. A m ong its buildings m ay be mentioned
the so-called Firüz Shâh M inar (dated 1490), a curious structure resembling
an Irish ‘ round tow er’ rather than a minaret; the E klàkhï m osque and tomb,:
a fine domed building 80 feet square o f uncertain date; and the Sona M asjid
or ‘ Golden M osque’, so styled because o f its gilded domes, erected in 1526,
and now the finest ruin in Gaur. It has no fewer than forty-four brick domes
over the principal liwân and there are six minarets, but the courtyard has
practically disappeared. The exterior is a monumental and most unusual de­
sign, combining both Hindu and Saracenic elements, yet remaining decidedly
original.
Another great centre o f building activity at this period was M ândü, the
capital o f the old kingdom o f M âlw â, in the former principality o f D har. The
Jâmi' M asjid, finished in 1454, is a magnificent congregational mosque, o f
which Fergusson says that ‘ for simple grandeur and expression o f pow er it
may, perhaps, be taken as one o f the very best specimens now to be found in
India’ .14 The great courtyard is surrounded by five arcades o f pointed arches
on the M ecca side, two on the east, and three oh the north and south. There
are large domes over the mihrnb and the north-west and south-west corners,
the remainder o f the arcades being covered by an enormous number o f small
domes. This is an essentially M uslim building, free from Hindu trabeated
construction, and is carried out in red sandstone with m arble enrichments. In
south India the most notable Muhammadan architecture o f the period 1421­
1526 is to be found in the city o f Bldar, which supplanted G ulbarga in 1428.
Here there are many interesting royal tombs, and a fine madrasa (college) and
mosque.
But the most important architectural centre o f the time was Ahm adâbàd,
the capital o f the kingdom o f Gujarat. Here the mosques and other buildings
erected by the Muslims are predominantly Hindu in character, in spite o f the
occasional use o f arches for symbolical purposes. T h e Jâmi’ Masjid (begun

14 Op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 249.

320 M uslim Architecture in India

c. 14 11) is a huge mosque o f this type, all interest being concentrated on the
M ecca liwân, which bas 260 slender pillars supporting fifteen symmetrically
arranged stone domes, built up o f horizontally projecting courses in the Hindu
fashion. The method o f lighting the liwân is ingenious and admirably suited to
clim atic needs. A t Sarkhej, about five miles from the city, is another large
mosque completed in 1451, which is skilfully designed and is devoid o f arches.
T h e smaller mosques o f Ahm adàbâd include those o f M uhàfìz K han, Sidi
Sayyid, and R ani Sipàri: all o f this period and all characterized by Hindu
tradition. The Jâmi' Masjid at D holkâ (e. 1485) is another interesting ex­
ample, and the Jâmi' Masjid at Champanir (finished in 1508) is a large mosque
resembling the Ahm adàbâd example in general arrangement but with two
graceful minarets flanking the central doorway o f the liwân, which has eleven
domes in its roof as against fifteen at Ahm adàbâd. This-is one o f the largest
and finest o f Indian mosques; certainly one o f the most Indian. T he Nâgïna
M asjid at Cham panir is a small and beautiful mosque o f the same period. The
most notable o f many fine tombs in Ahm adàbâd a re those.of Sayyid Usmân
(1460), Sayyid M ubarak (1484), and R ànï Sipàri ( i 514); and the tomb o f
Ahm ad Ganj Baksh at Sarhej, begun in 1446. The second o f these has arches,
but for the most part the tombs o f Gujarât have domes carried on an arrange­
ment o f columns in the Hindu manner.
With the year 1526, when Bàbur the M ughal king o f Kabul, with the aid o f
700 field-guns, defeated the vast army o f the Sultan o f Delhi on the plain o f
Pânîpat, we enter on the M ughal period o f architecture, which lasted nomin­
ally until 1761, but which may more conveniently end for our purpose at the
death o f Aurangzeb in 1707. The Muslim buildings o f these two centuries
form a more distinctive and homogeneous group than the architecture de­
scribed hitherto, which varied greatly from province to province, and they are
more fam iliar to foreigners, all o f whom have at least heard o f the Tàj Mahal.
T h e term ‘ M u g h a l’ as applied to architecture has its drawbacks, but the fact
remains that the buildings erected under the M ughal emperors were more de­
finitely M uhammadan in character than those which preceded them and need
to be classified as a separate school. The chief monuments were erected by
A k b ar (1556-1605) and Shâh Jàhàn (1628-58); during the reign o f Aurangzeb
(1658-1707) architecture progressively declined.
M ost o f the buildings o f this important period are to be fpund in the north­
western part o fln d ia , especially in Delhi, À grâ, Lâhore, Fatehpur-SIkrl, and
A üahàbâd, with an isolated group at Bïjâpur. Babur established his capital at
À grâ, but his stormy reign only lasted fou r years, and only two o f his
numerous buildings remain: the mosques at Pânîpat and at Sambal in Rohil-
khand. His son Hum àyün ruled from 1530 to 1540 and again from 1555 till his
death in 1556, the intervening period being occupied by the reign o f an Afghan
usurper, Slier Shâh. O f buildings erected between 1526 and 1556, the best-
known are in D elhi. They include the JamàlI Masjid (1528-36); the mosque o f
‘Isâ K hàn (1547); and his richly decorated tomb adjoining, with ‘ kiosks’
grouped round the central dome, altogether a bold com bination o f Hindu
and Islam ic elements. Then there is the walled ‘ sixth c ity ’ o f Delhi known as
the Purânà Qila, in which stands the splendid mosque o f Sher Shâh, a clever
blending o f richness and refinement. A t Fathâbâd, in the Hissâr district o f the
 Muslim A rchitecture iti Indio 321

Panjâb, is a mosque (c. 1540) o f massive proportions, well designed and de­
corated with tiles in Persian fashion. Slier Shâh’s tomb stands on a high plat­
form or podium o f masonry in the middle o f a lake at Sasarâm in the Shâhà-
bàd district. Al the corners o f Ibis podium arc little domed kiosks, while two
tiers or still smaller kiosks are grouped round the great octagon beneath the
dome. Tiiis is a picturesque and delightful group, thoroughly Indo-Muslim.
One o f the first monuments erected during A k b ar's reign was the tom b o f
his father Humàyün at Delhi, built in 1565-9 by Humâyün’s widow, who was
afterwards buried there. It is surrounded by a formal garden which still retains
its originai layout, though many o f the trees have vanished, Tiie base o f tbe
tomb consists o f a huge podium o f red sandstone 22 feet high, with arches
ornamented with white marble. From this noble foundation rises the tomb
itself, 156 feet square and 125 feet high to the top o f the dome. But though the
building forms a square on plan, in fact it consists o f a central domed octagon
buttressed by four octagonal towers. T he facing material is red sandstone,
picked out with white marble, and the dome is faced with white marble. In
shape the dome is slightly bulbous, thus introducing into India for the first
time a feature characteristic o f late work in Persia and Turkistân, and in con­
struction it is double, another innovation. Its summit is crowned with the
A rab finial, not the Hindu water-pot finial (kalasa), and indeed it is a de­
cidedly 'S aracen ic1 design. The exterior o f the building has Persian arches and
severely flat surfaces, relieved only by the brilliant marble inlay.; and the
kiosks on the angle towers are the sole legacy from Hindu tradition. Every­
thing here suggests the experienced hand o f a M uslim architect from Persia,
or more probably from Samarqand, where the rulers had developed tomb-
building to a fine art. It is generally considered that this splendid monument
was the prototype o f the T âj M ahal. Other tombs in Delhi o f A kb ar’s reign
were erected in m emory o f Adham Khan and A tgah Khân (1566), two deadly
rivals; and at G w âlior is the large and very' fine tomb o f Muham m ad Ghaus.
It is an Indo-Muslim hybrid, with Hindu kiosks at the angles o f its podium .
A kbar resided in several cities, among them Allahâbâd, Lâhore, where he
held his court from 1585 to 1598, and A gra, where he remained from that date
until he died in 1605. A t  grâ he began building the famous fort in 1566, and
within it he laid out the first part o f the palace, which was continued by his
successors and has since been so much altered that the various stages o f ex­
tension are difficult to trace. The courtyard o f the Jahàngîrï M ahal, probably
A k b ar’s w ork in spite o f its name, is an Indian design with square pillars and
bracket-capitals, richly carved, and rows o f small arches constructed in Hindu
fashion without voussoirs. Other parts o f A k b ar’s palace are slightly more
Persian in style. The hall o f the palace at Allàhàbâd (1583), with its boldly
projecting veranda ro o f supported on rows o f Hindu pillars, is a definitely
Indian design, with hardly a single 'S aracen ic’ feature in it.
But the chief centre o f A k b ar’s building activity is the city o f Fatehpur-
Sîkrï, twenty-three miles from  grâ, which he founded in 1569 and was the
seat o f his court until 1584 or 1585. It was systematically laid out by him, has
hardly been altered since, and is now deserted. It originally had a circum ­
ference o f nearly seven miles, with walls on three sides pierced by nine gate­
ways and a very large artificial lake on the fourth side. The Jàmi' Masjid o f the
322 M uslim A rchitecture in India

city has a quadrangle 433 feet by 366 feet, surrounded by cloisters, with a vast
number o f small domed cells, one behind each bay o f the cloister, which
accommodated the Muslim teachers and their pupils, for this m osque served
as the university o f Fatehpur. The Mecca liwân with its three domes, its rows
o f pillars supporting the roof, and its lofty central propylon, follows an Indo-
M uslim type we have met before. T w o tombs stand in the quadrangle on the
north side; there is a central gateway in the east colonnade; and in the middle
o f the south side is the magnificent Buland D arw âza (‘ high gatew ay’),
130 feet wide, 88 feet deep, and 134 feet high. Built to commemorate A kbar’s
conquests, it is universally recognized as one o f his greatest buildings. Though
its huge recessed and vaulted portal, with a wide rectangular frame o f flat
ornament, is essentially Persian in character, the kiosks on its ro o f give it an
Indian flavour. The palace o f Fatehpur-Slkri contains a number o f remarkable
buildings, including A k b ar’s office or Diwan-i- Am, a Hindu design with a
projecting veranda ro o f over a colonnade; and the wonderful H all o f Private
Audience (Dîwân-i-Khâs), a masterpiece o f planning, construction, and orna­
ment, all o f a distinctly Indian character. T he city also contains two large
houses o f notable and unusual form, the palaces o f R aja Birbal and o f Jodh
Bài. _
A k b a r’s mausoleum (c. 1593-1613) is at Sikandara near  grâ. It is a
colossal structure standing on an enormous arcaded podium 30 feet high and
320 feet square. T he mausoleum proper is rather m ore than 150 feet square
and several stories high, with stepped walls o f marble pierced with delicate
trellis-work. The ro o f o f this structure-is flat, with a small kiosk at each
corner, and it seems probable, if not certain, that a central dome was origin­
ally intended to complete the group.
A k b a r was followed by Jahangir (1605-28), who lived mainly at Lâhore,
where he carried out the charming M o ti M asjid (‘ Pearl M osqu e’) and a con­
siderable amount o f extension to thé palace in the fort. Jahangir, even more
than A kbar, was a lover o f gardens, some o f them laid out in patterns like a
Persian carpet. H e built ‘ paradises’ at Udaipur, Srinagar, and Fatehpur-
Slkri; but the chief examples were the Shâh-Dâra or ‘ Garden o f D eligh t’ near
Lahore, surrounding his own mausoleum, and the garden o f the tom b o f
I'tim adu’d-daula at  grâ. This last monument (1621-8) is noteworthy less for
its general design than for its decoration, the exterior being covered with an
inlay o f pietra dura, a fashion which may have been imported and thereafter
became popular.
The reign o f Shâh Jahân (1628-58) was the golden age o f M ughal archi­
tecture in India and produced a series o f noble buildings. B y far the most
magnificent o f all these was the celebrated T àj M ahal at À grâ (1631-53),
erected in memory o f his favourite queen, M um tâz-i-M ahal (‘ the Elect o f the
P ala ce’), after whom it is named. The frequently quoted statement that the
architect was an Italian has been denied by some historians. It is not in­
credible, though insufficiently documented, and may be a legend invented by
those who consider the design o f the building so marvellous that they wish to
find a non-Indian authorship for it. Adm ittedly it is the greatest w ork o f the
M ughals, but it is a natural grow th from the tomb o f Humâyfm and to a lesser
extent from certain otHers. But it is far superior to any o f them in the dignity
 M uslim Architecture in India 323

o f ils grouping and disposition, in the masterly contrast between the central
dome and the slender minarets, in the chaste refinement and painstaking
craftmanship o fits details, and above all in the splendour o f its materials. The
design is more Persian and less Indian than any building we have encountered
hitherto, yet nothing quite like it is to be found in Persia. The mausoleum itself
closely resembles the tomb o f Humâyùn, being a square (o f 186 feet) with
canted angles rather than an octagon. The square is composed o f a high
central block, octagonal within, buttressed at each angle by projections, with
a great Persian portal between each pair. The slightly bulbous dom e rises from ,
a circular drum. A ll the arches are o f Persian type. On each angle o f the sub­
structure stands a small domed kiosk. The beautiful centra! cham ber is rest­
fully lit through marble trellis-work in the window openings, to break the
glare o f the sun. The mausoleum stands on a terrace 22 feet high and 313 feet
-square with a cylindrical minaret, divided into stages by galleries, at each
angle. The w hole o f these buildings are in dazzling white marble and large
parts of them are inlaid with coloured marbles and precious stones in delicate
Persian patterns. The group is surrounded by a lovely form al garden, with
avenues o f cypresses and long lily-ponds leading up the mausoleum, and the
river which bounds the garden on the north provides marvellous reflections.
The Tâj M ahal is one o f the great buildings o f the world, and has inspired
every serious critic who has seen it to express his admiration.
Only second in importance to the T aj is Shâh Jahàn’s w ork in the palace at
Àgrâ, carried out between 1638 and 1653, and including the Diwân-i-'Âm, the
Dhvân-i-Khâs, and. the M oti Masjid. In these various buildings, though red
sandstone is used to some extent, white marble with coloured inlay is the pre­
vailing material. Opulent elegance pervades the w hole scheme, and the effect
is a satisfactory blending o f Indo-M uslim elements. Som e writers indeed p ro­
fess to rate the M ot! Masjid higher than the T âj. Shâh Jahàn also laid out
charming gardens at D elhi and Lâhore, and in the latter city the mosque o f
W azïr Khàn (1634) was built in his reign. It is the chief m osque o f the town,
Persian in general character, and freely decorated w ith coloured and glazed
tiles. A t Ajmer are some beautiful marble pavilions on the embankment o f the
lake, also due to Shâh Jahân.
His w ork at Delhi, too, was considerable. It included the walls o f the
‘ seventh c ity ’ o f D elhi called after him ‘ Shâhjahànàbâd’ , and built between
163S and i6$8. Its fine walls and gates have been well preserved, as bave his
fort and the palace within it. Bounded on one side by the river, this vastcom -
plex o f buildings, covering an area over 1,000 yards by 600 yards, is admirably
laid out in an ordered sequence o f courts, but it suffered severely from British
military occupation in the unimaginative period before Lord C urzon cam e on
the scene. A s in the other M ughal palaces described, the two chief buildings
are the Dimin-i- Am and the Diwân-i-Khâs, and here they are o f great beauty,
richly decorated with marble inlay, and Indo-M uslim in character.
Shâh Jahân also built in 1644-58 the huge Jâm i' M asjid near the fort at
Delhi, with a quadrangle 325 feet square and two fine cylindrical minarets. Its
outstanding feature is its commanding position, fo r it is placed on a high
podium, a most unusual arrangement for a Muham m adan mosque. Whereas
the dômes, the minarets, and certain other parts o f the building are Persian,
324 M uslim A rchitecture in India

.the general efiect is hybrid, and llic angle pavilions arc definitely Indian.
M arble is used here too, but in combination svith red sandstone.
A t Bïjâpur, which was the capital o f an independent kingdom from 14S9
until it was taken by Aurangzeb in 16S6, there was a nourishing school
throughout the M ughal period, characterized by m any distinctive features o f
design. These included the use o f purely ornamental minarets— the call to
prayer being chanted by the muezzin from a small platform elsewhere— rich
cornices, and ingenious domc-construction in which pendentives were em­
ployed. Fcrgusson wrote o f the architecture o f Bïjâpur in terms o f the highest
eulogy. Cousens, whose survey o f the buildings o f Bïjâpur provides a mine o f
inform ation, says that ‘ there is abundant evidence to show that first-class
architects were induced to come south from Northern India’ to Bïjâpur, while
there are traces o f Hindu tradition in some o f the buildings, proving that the
Hindu craftsmen retained some o f their individuality. Bïjâpur at the height of
its prosperity, early in the seventeenth century, is said to have contained nearly
a million inhabitants and some 1,600 mosques; but during the Marâthâ
suprem acy in the eighteenth century it fell into ruin and its buildings were
freely plundered for stone and other material. They were then smothered in
jungle up to 1883, when Bïjâpur became a British headquarters.
L ack o f space forbids more than a mention o f the chief examples. T h e large
but incomplete Jami' M asjid, commenced about 1576^ is one o f the finest
mosques in India, severely plain but relieved by delicate elatre-voies (pierced
windows). In front o f the mihrâb is a large dome o f unusual construction, the
external appearance of which would be improved by the addition o f a drum.
T h e rest o f the M ecca liwân is covered with a number o f small stone domes,
supported on piers and arches but concealed externally by a flat terrace roof.
Th e gorgeous gilt and coloured mihrâb is o f later date (1636). T he numerous
halls, pavilions, and mosques in the citadel include the graceful M ihtar Mahal
(c. 1620), a small mosque with a striking gate-tower, said by Fergusson to be
‘ equal i f n otsuperior to anything in C a iro ’ ; the Sat M anzil, a small palace o f
many stories; the Gegen M ahal (? 1561), an assembly hall with a noble arch­
w ay; and the Jalamandir, a dainty water-pavilion. Elsewhere in the city are
two large isolated monuments: the tomb o f Ibrâhîm II and his fam ily (1626­
33), com m only called the ‘ Ibrâhîm R a u za ’, and the mausoleum (Gol Gumbaz)
o f M uham m ad, his successor, which was finished in 1659. T h e former is
chiefly notable for its rich decoration, the latter for the remarkable and daring
construction o f its enormous dome.
Shâh Jalnin, whose pris'ate life was less creditable than his architecture, was
deposed in 1658 by Aurangzeb, his third son. The buildings o f Aurangzeb’s
reign are inferior in all respects to those o f Shâh Jahân. Am ong them may be
mentioned the M ott Masjid at Delhi (1659) with delicate marble decoration;
and the Bâdshàhï mosque at Làhore (1674), which is almost a copy o f the
Jâmi' M asjid at D elhi, though inferior to it in several respects. From that date
onwards M uslim architecture in India declined but never died. T he superb
standard set by the Tâj was imitated in buildings o f all kinds— mpsques and
tombs, palaces ànd houses— till the British finally introduced Indo-Muslim
railway-stations and hotels. Thus the well-known buildings erected by Tïpü
Sultàn at Srlrangapatnam in the eighteenth century are Muslim architecture
 M uslim Architecture in India 3?-5
o f a sort, though in its most Indiau form, but they are decadent in their
elegance.
Undoubtedly the long occupation o f the chief M uslim cities o f India by
British army officers with little sympathy for historical architecture led to
clumsy and sometimes barbarous treatmcut o f certain buildings, such as those
royal palaces which lay inside forts. But under the administration o f Lord
Curzon the care o f ancient monuments began to receive really serious atten­
tion. It seems that historical buildings in India may now be regarded as sacro­
sanct, but neither the official mind nor the intelligentsia in India appears to
have any clear idea as to the proper relation between traditional architecture
and modern needs in that country. Was it really desirable, as Havell so
fiercely contended, that the N ew Delhi should be designed on old Hindu lines,
with its secretarial offices and its sanitary conveniences hidden behind imita­
tion temple facades ? Is the style of the Tàj M ahal, erected by an enormously
rich emperor three centuries ago, suitable in any way to the severely econo­
mical requiremeuts o f modern commerce and industry?
A t a recent London exhibition o f Indian architects’ designs it was evident
that the Indian architect o f today is producing schemes and erecting buildings
in every shade o f fashion from the archaic Hindu temple style to the latest fad
in reinforced concrete and stainless steel, while the outstanding design in the
exhibition— for a mosque at Bhopal, with a charming Cairene minaret and
admirable traditional detail— bore a Muslim signature and an office-address
in Baker Street, London. It will be interesting to see how India will regard her
architectural heritage in the next generation: whether she will continue and
revive the Indo-Muslim style o f the M ughals; whether she will follow a m odi­
fied European fashion, with domes and minarets added here and there; or
whether she will evolve some new formula, not necessarily based on any
European precedent, to meet the changed economic conditions and social
habits o f the day.’ 5
ls Though we have somewhat abridged the final paragraphs o f this chapter, we leave them
essentially as they were written forty years ago. The exhibition referred to has long been
forgotten, but the author's remarks on it may still be valid, despite many impressive build­
ings in modern style recently erected in India and the importation o f the great architect Jo
Corbusier to plan Chandigarh, the new capital o f the Indian state o f Panjâb. Typical o f
much modern Indian architecture is the Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi, which, further developing
the hybrid styles o f the government buildings o f New Delhi, is an unsatisfactory mixture of
Hindu, Muslim, and twentieth-century functional features. (Ed.J
C H A P T E R X X III

Medieval Indian Miniature Painting

by P ra m o d C h a n d r a

T h e painting o f the period ushered in by the rise o f Islam to political

supremacy in India can be divided into two broad movements. One o f these
exemplifies an attempt to preserve past traditions with almost superstitious
tenacity. These traditions, though often emptied o f meaning, retained at least
the trappings o f outer form which, in more propitious times, were again to
quicken with life. The second movement is rooted in new artistic forms intro­
duced primarily from Iran in the wake o f the Muslim invasion. T he old and
the new, the ‘ foreign’ and the ‘ indigenous*, had gradually to come to terms
with each other; and this process, in which the individual qualities o f each
were enhanced and brought to a new fulfilment, resulted in some o f Indiati;
painting’s greatest achievements. A mode o f development in which fresh
stimulus is received, reinterpreted, and transformed is hardly n e w to Indian
art and can be seen at almost every great epoch in its history. It is true/though,
that in the period with which we are dealing, this process, so natural to. the
Indian genius, is to a considerable extent masked and Obscured by the icono­
clastic zeal and religious fanaticism o f the invaders,' w ho set themselves in
conscious opposition to the infidel and his traditions. But however repressive
some o f them may have been, the forces m aking for synthesis and assimilatioii..
were ever at work beneath the surface. In this context it is hardly surprising iò
notice the striking parallelism between the development o f M aurya art in the
third century B .c . and M ughal art 1,800 years later in the sixteenth century
a . d ., and the w ay in which styles o f Iranian inspiration in each case wërc
quickly and dram atically transformed under the impetus o f the Indian artistic
environment and taste.
T h at the early Muslim kings o f India who ruled before the Mughal em­
perors patronized painting has been denied by some, mostly o n grounds of
their religious scruples, in spite o f the rather explicit statements in contehi-
porary literature to the contrary. But this view, like many others on the paint­
ing o f this period, is proving to be quite incorrect. Patient exploration and
study is constantly adding to the list o f illustrated manuscripts produced
between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, even though it must be ad­
mitted that they indicate little that is distinctive, much o f the w ork being a
somewhat impoverished imitation o f the various styles o f contemporary Iran.
A manuscript o f the Büstân in the N ational Museum o f India painted at
M ândû for the Sultan N âsir Shàh K halji ( a . d . 1500-10)1 differs little but for
colour from the sub-schools o f Herat; significantly enough, however, a n
illustrated manuscript o f the N i’inat Nwtw o f almost the same date (c. a .d .

1 R. fittinshnusen, ‘ The Ruslan Ms ol'Nasir-Shah K halji’, Mtirg, Vol. 12, No. 3 (1959)1
pp. 42-3. ' "
 M edieval Indian Miniature Painting 327
1500),* though indebted to the contem porary style o f Shiraz, shows pro­
nounced Indian features, particularly in draughtsmanship and the rendering
o f female figures, and m ay therefore be counted as representative o f a stage-ôf
artistic development when Persian influences are beginning to be assimilated
by the Indian painter, a process that is o f profound im portance in the creation
o f the M ughal, and to a much lesser extent o f the Rajasthani style in the
sixteenth century.
It would be well at this stage to consider the state o f Indian painting aside
from these w orks o f Indo-Persiàn character, a term that m ay be appropriately
applied to what amounts, in a m ajority o f instances, to little more than an­
other provincial Persian idiom. T h e national style o f the period was the
western Indian style, found in one version or another over alm ost all o f India.
Surviving examples indicate that the greatest concentration was in G ujarât
and that the main patronage was provided by the Jainas, though this m ay be
accidental and occasioned by the especial care with which that com m unity
preserved its sacred books. M anuscripts with Hindu themes are known as well,
and we also have illustrations-done in Rajasthan, Delhi, and Jaunpur in
eastern India. The favourite Jaina texts chosen for illustration were the
Kalpasutra and Kâiakâchârya-kathâ, large numbers o f which have been pre­
served, though works o f distinguished quality are rare, and m uch o f the paint­
ing m ay be characterized fairly as mechanical w orkshop output. The style is
emphatically linear, the form s flat, with sharp angular contours, the faces
generally in profile but'w ith both eyes shown, one o f them protruding into
empty space. The colours are few, red, green, blue, yellow, and black pre­
dominating, a monochrome patch o f red often constituting the background.
Difficult though it m ay be to believe at first sight, the western Indian style
is directly descended from the classic style o f ancient India established around
the fifth century a .d ., so brilliantly represented and preserved at A jantâ, and
is the result o f a progressive simplification, abstraction, and linearization, the
various stages o f which are clearly demonstrable. T hough not immune to
stylistic change, the western Indian style was nevertheless rem arkably con­
servative, adhering closely to set form ulae right up to the end o f the sixteenth
century, around which lime it gives way under the pressure o f rising new
schools. ,
Though the conservative character o f the western Indian style is generaliy
accepted, it has nevertheless to be realized that around the middle o f the
fifteenth century the style does begin to show signs o f real change, though it is
not clear whether this is due to acquaintance with paintings o f Persian deriva­
tion or due to a natural development o f its own inherent tendencies. Paintings
illustrating this change are rare, but are clearly represented in three fine
illustrated manuscripts, the Kalpasutra painted at M àndü in 1439, a Kâla-
kâchârya-kathâ o f about the same date and provenance, and the Kalpasutra
produced a t Jaunpur in eastern U ttar Pradesh dated a .d . 1465.1 T h e line
1 R . Skelton, 'T h e N i’mat N am a: a Landmark in Malwa Painting’ , ibid., pp. 44-50.
1 M oti Chandra and K . Kliandalavala, ‘ A Consideration o f an Illustrated Ms from
Mandapadurga (Mandu) dated a .d . 1439’, Laid Kaia, 6 (Oct. 1959), 8-29, and ‘ A n Illu­
strated KalpasQlra Painted at Jaunpur in a .d . 1465', ibid. 12 (Oct. 1962), 9 -15; P. Chandra,
*A Unique Kâlakacârya-kathâ Ms in the Style o f the Mandu Katpnsutra o f a .d . 1439',
Bulletin o f the American Academy o f Benares, 1 (Nov, 1967}, 1-10.
328 M edieval Indian M iniatura Painting

flows more smoothly, the forms are fuller, and the figures begin to lose their
hieratic, effigy-like character. It should be obvious that these manuscripts
herald the birth o f a hew style, and that this new style did come into being and
was flourishing by at least tbe early years o f the sixtecntji century' is confirmed
by the discovery o f an illustrated manuscript o f the Aranyaka Parvan o f the
Mahâbhârata dated a .d . 1516 and o f a Mahâpurâna manuscript dated a . d .
1540.+ T h e promise o f this new style is carried to fulfilment in the splendid
Bhâgavata Parana, now unfortunately dispersed in collections all over the
world, and the Chaurapanchasika o f Bilhana in the museum at Ahm edâbâd’. 5
A m ore refined version o f this style is to be found in manuscripts like the
Chandâyana o f M ullà D àüd in the Prince o f Wales M useum ,6 Bom bay, which
is marked by a preference for pale and cool shades o f colour, o f Persian in­
spiration, together with a delicate and fine line.
The first h alf o f the sixteenth century, as far as painting is concerned, was a
time o f fervent activity. W e find in existence at this time Indo-Persian styles,
patronized presum ably by M uslim courtly circles, a western Indian style, and
new styles developing from it which have not yet been named but are repre­
sented by the group o f manuscripts, including the Mahâbhârata and the
Chaurapanchasika, mentioned above.
Thus the stage was set when in a . d . 1556 A kb ar, a grandson o f Bâbur, the
founder o f the M ughal Empire in India, ascended the throne. The young em­
peror had himself received training in painting as a child and his teacher,
K hw âja ‘A b d us-Samad o f Shîràz together with M ir Saiyyid ‘ A ll o f Tabriz
had been leading artists in Iran before they came to India at the invitation of
H um àyün. Under the general supervision o f these tw o artists and the discern­
ing enthusiasm o f A kbar, whose role as a patron was o f the greatest import­
ance, a vigorous atelier o f painters drawn from all parts o f the Indian Empire
grew up at the imperial court. These artists brought with them elements o f the
various traditions to which they belonged and, in what is probably the
earliest w ork o f the M ughal School, the Tûti Nâtna o f the Cleveland Museum
o f A rt,7 we can actually see the process by which their disparate idioms were
welded to form something new— a style which represents a synthesis o f the
Persian and the Indian but is different from both. V ery soon we have the fully
formed M ughal style in the unusually large illustrations o f the Dâstân i-Amir
Hamza,* the most ambitious undertaking o f the atelier o f A kbar, quite unlike
Persian w ork in its leanings towards naturalism, and’ filled with sweeping
movement, bright colour, and an innate sense o f wonder.
The Hamza Nâma was certainly completed by A.D. i 575 and an undertaking
o f this scale was never again attempted by the A k b arl atelier. It was followed

4 M oll Chandra and K arl Khandalavala, ‘ An Illustrated M s o f the Âranyaka Parvan in

the Collection o f the Asiatic Society o f Bom bay’, Journal o f the Asiatic Society o f Bombay,
38 (1963). 116-21.
5 K . Khandalavala and Moti Chandra, New Documents o f Indian Painting, Bombay,
1969. PP- 83-4, 79-83­
6 Ibid., pp. 91-8.
7 S. E. Lee and P. Chandra, ‘ A Newly Discovered Tüti-nâma and the Continuity 01' the
Indian Tradition of Ms. Painting’, Burlington Magazine, 55 (Dec. 1963), 547-5.1.
* H. G lück, Die indischen Miniaiuren des Haemsae-Romanes, Vienna, 1925.
 M edieval Indian M iniature Painting 329
by a group o f profusely illustrated historical manuscripts which share several
hundred paintings between them. T he earliest o f these now known is an in ­
complete history o f the house o f Tïm ûr, once extending to the twenty-second
year o f A k b a r’s reign and now in the Khudd Bakhsh Library at Patna;» and
one o f the most accomplished is the Akbar Nânta in the Victoria and Albert
Museum, L ondon .10 The Patna manuscript can be dated about a .d . 1584
while the Akbar Naina should not be more than a decade later. T he miniatures
are smaller in size than those o f the Hamza Nâma and the most notable change
from the point o f view o f style is an ebbing o f the explosive energy and m ove­
ment and its.gradual replacement by a studious striving for delicacy and re­
finement. M o st o f the paintings are the result o f join t w ork by two artists, one
o f them the designer, generally an important painter, if not a master, and the
other the artist who actually applied the colour and ‘ painted’ the picture. T o
these is sometimes added a specialist in portraiture and, in rare instances, we
get the name o f the artist who mixes the colours, indicating the close attention
paid to the manufacture and use o f colour.
Stylistically belonging to the same phase as the historical manuscripts are
the remarkable illustrations to the Persian adaptations o f the H indu epics, the
Mahâbhârala and the Râmâyana, the imperial copies o f which are now in the
collection o f the M aharaja o f Jaipur.11 The M ughal painters, m ost o f whom
were Hindus, here had a subject close to their hearts, and they rose to great
heights, revealing an endlessly inventive imagination and great resourceful­
ness in illustrating the myths.
The closing phases o f the style of A k b ar are marked by the grow th o f a very
personal and intimate idiom, shown in a series o f illustrations to w orks o f
classical Persian poetry, notably the Kitamsa o f N izam i in the British
Museum, a Khamsa o f A m ir Khusrau Dihlavr in the W alters A rt G allery,
Baltimore, a Diwân o f Hâfiz in the Rezà Library at Râm pur, and other
poetical manuscripts.12 T he illustrations to each o f these manuscripts are re­
latively few and each painting is executed by a single artist who lavishes upon
the w ork all the skill o f his art, filling it with exquisite detail and the m ost
sumptuous and delicate colour.-
The outstanding painters o f the reign o f Akbar, according to the perceptive
court chronicler A b u ’ l Fazl ‘Aliam i, were D asw ant and Basâwan. O f
D asw an t’s work the greatest part is preserved in the Jaipur Mahâbhârala, and,
though another painter is associated with him in these paintings, his genius is
manifest. Basâwan’s paintings are more broadly distributed and we have in
him a painter o f extraordinary accomplishment, who builds primarily in
colour, prefers full and voluminous forms, and shows a great understanding
o f human emotions and psychology.
The painting o f Jahangir’s reign (a . d . 1605-27) departs markedly from the
9 A . Muqtadir, ‘ Note on a Unique History of Tim ur’, Journal o f the Bihar and Orissa Re­
search Society, 3 (1917), 263-75­
10 E. Weiicsz, ‘ A n Akbar Namah M s.’, Burlington Magazine, 80 (1942), 135-41.
11 T . H. Hendley, Memorials o f the Jeypore Exhibition, Vol. 4, London, 1884.
12 F. It, Martin, Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India, and Turkey, London,
1912, Pis. 178-81; E. Griibe, Classical Style in Islamic Painting, Venice. 1968; and S. C.
Welch, 'Miniatures from a Ms. o f the Diwan o f H afiz’, Mûrg, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1958),
pp. 56-62.
 330 Medieval indiali Miniature Painting

style o f the A kbar period, though many elements that come to the fore had
been previously anticipated. The tradition o f book illustration is gradually
abandoned and there is a pronounced emphasis on portraiture. T h e great
darbar pictures, thronged with courtiers and retainers, are essentially an
agglomeration o f a large number o f portraits. The compositions o f these
paintings are also much more restrained, being calm and formal. T he colours
are subdued and harmonious, as is the movement, and the exquisitely de­
tailed brushwork is a marvel to behold. A large num ber.of studies o f birds
and animals were also produced for the Emperor, who was passionately in­
terested in natural life, and who never ceased to observe, describe, measure,
and record the things rare and curious with which the natural world abounds.
T o Jahangir, painting is the favourite art; he prides him self on his con-
nóisseurship, and greatly honours his favourite painters. A b u ’] Hasan, the son
o f ^.qâ R izà, who migrated to the M ughal Court from Herat, is m ost ad­
. mired'; Ustâd M ansür is singled out for praise as a painter o f animals and
1 birds; and Bishandâs is said to be unequalled in his age for taking likenesses.
The works o f these painters bear out the Emperor’s judgement. There were
other painters o f exceptional quality, though they did not find their way into
the Emperor’s memoirs, and o f these M anohar, son o f Basàwan, Govardhan,
and D aulat are easily as great as the Em peror’s favourites.
W ith Shâh Jahân, whose main interest was architecture,- but who was also
a keen connoisseur o f painting, the Jahânglrl traditions nre continued, but in
a modified way. T h e compositions become static and symmetrical, the colour
heavier, the texture and ornament more sumptuous. The freshness o f drawing,
the alert and sensitive observation o f people and things, is overlaid by a weary
maturity, resulting not in the representation o f living beings but in effigies with
masked countenances. The output o f the imperial atelier also appears to de­
cline so that there are far fewer works available, and o f these the Shah Jahân
Nâma in the collection o f Her M ajesty Queen Elizabeth,” looted during the
sack o f Lucknow by British troops, is the finest and most representative ex­
ample o f the style. There are also several portraits o f Shâh Jahân and the
grandees o f the court which again demonstrate the movement towards rich­
ness and luxury at the expense o f life.
D uring the reign o f Aurangzeb ( a .d . 1658-1707) patronage seems increas­
ingly to shift away from the court; works which can be identified as products
o f the imperial atelier are extremely few and continue the style o f Shâh Jahân.
This would at least indicate a lack o f interest, though Aurangzeb’s antipathy
to the arts has been greatly exaggerated. The fairly large number o f paintings
assigned to his reign were probably executed for patrons other than the
Emperor, this leading to an inevitable decline, for M ughal painting was
essentially a .carefully nurtured court art, and its removal from the natural
habitat led to its impoverishment and debasement. There was a brief revival
during the reign o f Muhammad Shâh ( a . d . 1719-48), but the rapid disintegra­
tion o f the M ughal Empire sealed the fate o f the arts which were intimately
associated with it. Artists dispersed to the various provincial centres where the
great nobles were establishing kingdoms o f their own, and there, on occasion,

'* L . AslUon (ed.j, A n o f t m t ia M il Pakistan, L&ndoii, 1940. PI. i jtì.

 Medieval Indian Miniature Painting 331
the néw environment induced a brief spasm o f life. T he decay, however, was
irreversible, and was reinforced by the change in taste, progressively corrupted
by ill-understood Western influences. Thus when the M ughal style finally
passed into oblivion it was natural for it to be replaced by the so-called C o m ­
pany School, catering specifically to the patronage o f the British ruling class
in India and to the Indian gentry whose traditional tastes had been already
subverted.
T h e Rajasthani style o f painting, spread mainly over the various states o f
Rajasthan and adjacent areas, came into being at approxim ately the same time
as the M ughal School, but represents a direct and natural evolution from the
western Indian style, and from painting in the style o f the B om bay A siatic
Society’s Mahâbhârata, rather than a revolutionary transform ation o f those
traditions, as was the case with the M ughal style. T he subject-matter here is
essentially Hindu, its prim ary concern the Krishna myth, which was the central
element in the rapid expansion o f devotional cults at this time. The style, in
marked contrast to the naturalistic preferences o f M ughal painting, remains
abstract and hieratic, and its language, though mystical and sym bolic, must
have immediately evoked a sympathetic response in the heart o f the Hindu
viewer. Though the M ughal and the Rajasthani styles were operating on
different levels o f reference, some contact between them is clearly evidenced
by shared conventions and form ulae; these similarities should not blind us,
however, from realizing that fo r the most part the Ràjasthânl schools were
essentially unaffected by the M ughal, at least during the sixteenth and seven­
teenth centuries. This w as true to a lesser degree ip the eighteenth century,
when the distance between the two styles was narrowed, but was never entirely
closed.
Th e Rajasthani style developed several distinct schools, their boundaries
seemingly coinciding with the various states o f Rajasthan, notably M ew âr,
Bünéi-, K otah , M àrw àr, Kishangarh, Jaipur (Am ber), Bikaner (which is som e­
thing o f an exception to the rule in being quite heavily indebted to the M ughal
School), and yet others whose outlines are slqwly beginning to emerge. T h e
School o f M ew àr is am ong the m ost important, producing pictures o f con ­
siderable power and em otional intensity during the seventeenth century, th.e
early phase between 1600 and 1650 marked by the dominance o f the School o f
Sâhibdîh, a painter whose name has been fortunately preserved. The fervour
o f the early years begins to subside towards the close o f the seventeenth
century, and eighteenth-century paintings, though often full o f charm, never
capture the earlier m ood. The School o f BündI, sharing slightly more with the
M ughal School than does the School o f M ewâr, comes into being about the
end o f the sixteenth century and is distinguished by a more refined line and a
love for vivid, rhythmic movement which survives well into the eighteenth
and even the nineteenth century in the spectacular scenes o f sport and hunt
painted in the neighbouring state o f K o tah . The vitality o f m any Rajasthani
schools, even in the nineteenth century, when the M ughal style had collapsed
and shifting patronage under Western influence made survival difficult, is
really quite remarkable.
Although the themes o f Bikaner painting are the same as other Ràjasthânl
schools, the delicacy o f line and colour are strong M ughal features which first
33 2 Medieval Indian Miniature Painting

become evident in painting o f the mid-seventeenth century execûted by artists

imported from D elhi, and these features are retained to some extent even
when the school begins to conform more closely to the neighbouring schools
o f Râjasthàn. O f these, the School o f M ârw âr is o f prim ary importance, and
though its history in the seventeenth century, unlike that o f M ewâr, is hardly
clear, it produced works o f exceptional quality in the eighteenth century, all
characterized by strong, almost dazzling colour, and by a direct, unhesitating
statement. The School o f Kishangarh, filled with lyrical mysticism, is one o f
great charm and finesse, owing much to M ughal technique o f the eighteenth
century. It is, however, much more consciously stylized, and, in its best works,
quite transcends the inane secularism o f the'”late M ughal style from which it
was derived. The state o f Jaipur, known as A m ber in the seventeenth century,
had attained a position o f great wealth and influence- because o f its close
alliance with the M ughal power. One w ould therefore expect a flourishing
school there, but little o f its early history in the seventeenth century bas come
to light. A rather form al and mannered style is evident.during the eighteenth
century, and some exceptionally fine paintings were done toward its closing
years when there was a brilliant phase during the reign, o f Savàî Pratàp Singh
(a . d . 1718-1803). '
T h e Pahàrî style is yet another im portant school o f miniature painting, so
called because o f its prevalence in the form er principalities o f the Him alayan
foot-hills, stretching roughly from Jammü to Garhw àl. T w o broad phases have
been distinguished. T h e earliest Pahàri paintings are marked by bold colour,
vigorous drawing, and what can be called a prim itive and intense expression,
analogous to the m ood o f some early Râjasthânl painting o f the first half o f
the seventeenth century, though the Pahàrî examples, are later in date and
executed on a much more sophisticated and accomplished level. T he themes
are Hindu, and shared in com m on with Râjasthânl painting. T he name most
com m only used for this kind o f w ork is the ‘ Basohlt’ style, after a state o f
that name, but paintings in a similar idiom are-found in other hill states also.
T h e later phase o f the Pahàrî style that comes into its.own about the third
quarter o f the .eighteenth century is similarly called the ‘ K à n g rà ’ style after a
stale o f that name, though it too is found in other hill centres. Considerable
confusion thus exists with regard to the nomenclature, and an orderly classi­
fication suited to the nature o f the material would considerably help under­
standing. W hat js com m only understood as the ‘ K à n g rà ’ style, however,
stands in somewhat marked contrast to the ‘ B asohli’ School, being charac­
terized by a sentimental and lyrical mood,- sm ooth rhythms carried by curving
lines, and cool and refreshing colour. The reasons for this dram atic change in
the m ood o f Pahàri painting are probably to be sought in a strong incursion
o f the later M ughal style or the plains, but these influences were once again
radically transformed in the course o f assimilation, a process, it must be re­
membered, with which Indian art is hardly unfam iliar. The Pahàrî style also
lasted on into the nineteenth century, sharing in the general decline and not
quite displaying the tenacity o f some o f the contem porary schools o f
Râjasthàn.
M ore poetic in m ood, though similar in technique to the M ughal School,
the D eccanï style again evolves as a com bination o f foreign (Persian and
 Medieval Indian Miniature Painting 333
Turkish) and somewhat strongly indigenous elements inherited seemingly
through the artistic traditions o f the Vijayanagara Empire. The various king­
doms o f the Deccan plateau evolved idioms with their own distinctive flavour
from the middle o f the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. O f these, the
Bïjàpur version, particularly under the patronage o f the remarkable Ibràbim
‘À d il Shâh II (1580-1627) is marked by a m ost poetic quality. Important
w ork was also done in the powerful sultanates o f G olconda and Ahmednagar.
Contem porary with the M ughal School, the D eccani styles were in close con­
tact with it, and their development too follows a parallel course. In the
eighteenth century, Hyderâbâd, the capital o f the À sà f Jàhï D ynasty, became
a very vigorous centre o f painting, a large volume o f w ork similar in m ood to
the output o f provincial Mughal centres being produced there.
The history o f Indian painting from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century
is filled with many riches and what has been said above provides only the
faintest indications o f its wealth. T h e M ughal School has been studied fo r the
longest time, so that it is more or less well known, but, as far as Ràjasthânl
painting is concerned, most o f the material has come to light only during the
last twenty years or so and our knowledge o f it is at best elementary. The
broad currents are becom ing clear but the details remain obscure, and fresh
discoveries make constant reappraisal necessary. M any difficulties remain in
the understanding o f the Pahâri style, though its obvious beauty and charm
evoke an immediate response, and the same can be said about the various
schools o f the D eccan. In spite o f the fact that a great deal remains to be done
before we can truly appreciate the achievements o f Indian miniature painting,
it is apparent, that these were considerable. L acking the monumentality o f
architecture, it is nevertheless o f the greatest vitality and richness, and, on a
more intimate level, as precious an expression o f artistic skill.
C H A P T E R X X I V

The Portuguese
by J. B. H a r r i s o n

A t the turn o f the fifteenth century two invaders approached India: the
Portuguese by sea, the M ugbals by land. Both initiated great and lasting
changes. B u t whereas the M ughal contribution, political, administrative, and
cultural, has been justly appreciated, that o f the Portuguese has been both
undervalued and almost perversely misunderstood. In popular m ythology the
Portuguese contribution to India has often seemed narrowed down to ju st two
personages— Vasco da G am a, dauntless navigator and to Europeans ‘ dis­
coverer’ o f India, and Albuquerque, the creator by terror and the sword o f a
brief sea-borne Portuguese empire in Asia. For after 1515, by which time the
w ork o f these two was done, it is som ehow assumed that a decadent obscurity
set in, fitfully lit by the flash o f swords at D iu or the glare o f Inquisition fires,
but otherwise steadily darkening under Portuguese intolerance, miscegena­
tion, and greed.
Y e t to Indian contemporaries it must have been the growing prosperity, the
strength and resilience, the stability and permanence o f the Portuguese pow er
in India which was most notable until well into the seventeenth century and
even beyond. Within fifty years o f da G am a’s arrival the Portuguese had
occupied some sixty miles o f coast around G oa, with territories stretching up
to thirty miles inland. N orthw ards from Bom bay to D am ao, the key, with
D iu across the G ulf, to the approaches to rich G ujarat, they occupied a still
larger though narrower tract with four important ports and several hundred
towns and villages. Southwards they held a long loosely linked chain o f sea­
port fortresses and trading-posts— Onor, Barcelor, M angalor, Cannanor,
Cranganor, Cochin, and Quilon. But though their power here in M alabar was
more fragmented, it was sufficient, when supplemented by judicious subsidies,
to ensure influence or control over the local rulers who were masters o f the
pepper, ginger, and cinnamon lands. Even on the east coast at Negapatam
and San Thom é further military posts and settlements were created, while, as
the sixteenth century drew to a close, a wealthy settlement grew up at Hugli in
Bengal and direct Portuguese rule was established over the lowlands o f Ceylon.
T h e Estado da India was thus a larger element in the Indian state system
than is sometimes recalled. The Portuguese early abandoned that Western
attitude which had denied membership o f the community o f states to non-
Christian powers, recognizing that the Persians, Mughals, and Deccanîs were
‘ m ostpow erful nations, politic, well trained in w a r’ . Equally, Indian governors
and rulers soon gave their recognition to the Estado as a settled and accepted
presence. Envoys and resident ambassadors were exchanged between G oa and
most o f the major Indian states. Treaties with G oa concluded by Deccan
sultans in 1570 were regularly renewed as long as their kingdoms lasted. In the
successive balances o f power struck between Vijayanagara and the Deccan
338 The Portuguese

sultans, between the Deccanis and the Mughals, between the Mughals and the
Marâthâs, the Portuguese were always one element, thrown in upon the
weaker side.
The Portuguese power in India was also notably long-lasting. The number
o f European troops garrisoning the string o f forts and manning the fleets
which annually cruised against pirates and smugglers was never more than a
few thousand. But behind them was the much larger body o f settlers, the
casados or married men, who from Albuquerque’s day had been encouraged
to take local wives. In G oa and the Province o f the N orth they established
themselves as village landlords— often im proving landlords, building new
roads and irrigation works, introducing new crops like tobacco and cashew
nut, or superior plantation varieties o f coconut. In the larger.cities,-Gpa and ;
Cochin especially, they settled as artisans and master-craftsmen. A n d every­
where they were traders. Such men, holding villages for three lives Or organized
in guilds, felt, and were, established. A s a D utch governor, V an Diem en, put
it, ‘ M ost o f the Portuguese in India look upon this region as their fatherland,
and think no more about Portugal. They drive little or no trade thither,but
content themselves with the port-to-port trade o f Asia, just as if they were
natives thereof and had no other country.’ Their permanent presence was in­
strumental in establishing Portuguese cultural influence. But with their
families, their often considerable bodies o f household slaves, and the horse­
men or musketeers which as landowners they were required to maintain, they
also form ed the major element in the defensive strength o f the Estado. They
defeated a most determined, lengthy, conjoint attack by the sultans o f Bijâpur-
and Ahm adnagar and the Zam orin o f Calicut in 1569. It. was with their aid
that the loose-knit Province o f the South survived for over 150 years, M alabar
only falling finally to the D utch in 1663 after a four-year siege o f Cochin. And.
equally it was because they were fighting for their homes:that the Portuguese
in the Province o f the N orth, the. real settler country, held out still longer
against M aràthà attach, only surrendering after a m ost desperate defence o f
Bassein in M ay 1739. It- was almost in thefitness o f things that when G oa,
D am âo, and D iu were overrun by the Indian army in 1961, they were the last,
foreign possessions in the continent-.
W hat was . the nature o f this Estado da India, which for two and a half
centuries was a considerable, and for another two still a m inor element in the
Indian political system? A casual reading o f Barros, C outo, or Castanhcda,
the great Portuguese chroniclers o f its rise, would suggest that it was based
solely upon force, upon a policy o f calculated terror ashore and piracy at-sea,
sustained by a combination o f reckless valour and technical skill. But these
historians were writing in a court tradition for a m ilitary nobility, whose
vanity was best flattered by heroic descriptions o f every skirmish in which they
were engaged. A nd even from their works, or m ore clearly still from-those o f
Correa and Bocarro, it is not difficult to see that the Portuguese in A sia were
more concerned with trade than conquest, once the necessary minimum of
coastal bases had been acquired.
The Portuguese were certainly ready to use force where it would pay. But
their numbers were small, and their technical superiority much less consider­
able than was once supposed. In M alabar and Ceylon in the sixteenth century
 The Portuguese 339
their use o f body armour, o f matchlockmen, o f guns landed from the ships,
might he a military innovation. But to G ujarât, the D eccan, and the M ughal
north it was the Mamelukes and Ottomans who had demonstrated the use o f
fire-arms and defensive works, and at a level o f sophistication which the
Portuguese could barely match. T he Portuguese m ay have contributed by
example to the M ughal use o f field guns, the ‘ artillery o f the stirrup’ , and to
the more aggressive and important role given to bodies o f m atchlockm en by
D ârâ Shukôh and Aurangzeb. But it was only late in the seventeenth century
that the royal arsenals at G oa and at M acao in China began to produce guns
which were clearly superior in finish and lightness to Indian pieces and there­
fore sought after by Indian pow ers.' T h e one m ajor m ilitary contribution
made by the Portuguese ashore was the system o f drilling bodies o f infantry,
grouped and disciplined upon the Spanish model, introduced in the 1630s as a
counter to D utch pressure. Taken up first by the French and English, then by
the M arâthâs and Sikhs, such sepoy armies became new instruments o f em ­
pire in India.
A t sea the Portuguese were more clearly carriers o f improved techniques.
T h e heavier construction o f their multi-dècked ships, designed to ride out
Atlantic gales rather than run before the regular m onsoons, permitted a
heavier armament. Their use o f castled prow and stern, an admirable device
for repelling or launching boarding parties, was also new. Indian builders
adapted both to their own use. But some o f the Portuguese lead was organiza­
tional— as in the creation o f royal arsenals and dockyards, the maintenance o f
a regular system o f pilotage and cartography, or the pitting o f organized state
forces against private merchant shipping. Their legacy here was partly secured,
it m ay be thought, by the M ughals and M arâthâs, w ho both developed
auxiliary naval forces. But the m ore certain heirs were other Europeans, the
D utch and English, in Asia.
The Portuguese used their real superiority at sea, limited though it always
was by the very vastness o f the ocean world which had opened up to them in
A sia, to establish new patterns o f trade. An obsession w ith the conquests o f
Albuquerque has obscured what is quite clear in the history written by Correa,
for example, that the driving impulse behind the search for a sea-route to
India was commercial, and that the m ost clear-cut orders w ere given and quite
strenuous efforts made to secure trade without war. There occurred, it is true,
an initial period o f violence, sometimes provoked by the hostility o f existing
merchant communities, more frequently by the rashness and personal grèed o f
Portuguese commanders on the spot. In the western Indian Ocean there was a
longer-term constraint imposed by the posting o f annual Portuguese fleets
upon the main sea-lanes to make sure that local shipping to o k out Portuguese
safe-conducts or cartazes, which prescribed what ports m ight be visited, what
goods carried— and at which Portuguese customs-posts dues were to be paid.
But, as C . R . Boxer and M . A . P. M eilink-R oelofsz have effectively dem on­
strated, early violence was followed by a long period o f pacific trade, con­
ducted very often in partnership with Asian merchahts and upon level terms
with them. It can be argued indeed that it was the peaceful pursuit o f profit,
1 Maràthâ treaties o f the early eighteenth century regularly provided for the purchase o f
guns and ammunition from the Portuguese.
340 The Portuguese

whether in the unwieldy, cargo-burdened carracks o f the Estado or the lighter

craft in which handfuls o f private individuals carried on their port-to-port
trade, which made the Portuguese so vulnerable to early D utch attacks. D iogo
do C outo, in his O ld Soldier’s Dialogue, deplored the passionate concern
which everyone displayed in trade, because it weakened the military spirit:

In the old days, when men reached India they asked ’ which is the most dangerous
outpost?' or'where are the fleets in which the most honourable service can be done?’,
whereas nowadays covetousness has got such a hold, that on their arrival they ask,
‘ who is preparing for a trading voyage to China, or Japan, or Bengal, or Pegu, or
Sunda?’

However, it must be recognized that it was the profits o f trade, the port-to-
port trade especially, from India westwards to Africa and Arabia, and east to
M alacca, the Spice Islands, China, and Japan, which sustained the w hole
edifice o f the Estado da India. Trade, and the dues levied upon trade legally or
corruptly, paid for the troops and administrators, made possible a “missionary
effort extending from Abyssinia to Peking, and made G o a , the hub o f the
whole system, the golden city o f travellers’ reports.
With their trade between Lisbon and G oa the Portuguese initiated that
m ajor com m ercial revolution which ended in the effective incorporation o f
India, indeed, o f all A sia, into a single global system o f exchange. T he fleets
returning from G oa to Lisbon and thence to the royal ‘ fa cto ry ’ at Antw erp
tapped the growing m arkets o f north Europe more thoroughly than ever be­
fore/B u t by w ay o f L isbon India was also linked with the Portuguese colony
o f Brazil and w ith their settlements in West A frica, totally new markets. Initi­
ally the use by tbe Portuguese o f the Cape route to India was followed by some
dislocation o f existing routes from India to southern E urope via the Levant.
H owever, the old pattern was soon re-established, but was now supplemented
b y an additional trade, o f almost equal proportions, by w ay o f the Cape. In
M alabar the cultivation o f pepper, the old staple o f trade with Europe, and o f
ginger and cinnamon, was extended almost to its natural limits. Also, to m eet
the enlarged demand for coir rigging and cordage, there was a systematic
planting o f coconut groves. And in the weaving areas o f Gujarat, Corom andel,
and Bengal the first ripples were felt o f what'was to becom e in the late seven­
teenth century a wave o f demand from Europe for cotton textiles, m ainly for
household use still, rather than dress, but with some re-export o f cloth for the
N egro slaves in the colonies.
N o less im portant was the return flow from Europe to India, not o f goods
but o f bullion. From south G erm any and Hungary one stream o f silver and
copper was drawn, and then, once the mines o f Spanish Am erica had been
discovered, a second and much larger flow o f silver and gold by way o f Cadiz.
In this w ay the gross imbalance in the supply o f bullion, which caused an
equally great and ham pering variation in price levels between the various
trading areas o f tbe world, began to be reduced— a process further speeded
up as Spanish silver began to m ove to.the Philippines and thence to the rest o f
A sia. The price rise which followed, no less than the opening o f new world
markets, helped to stimulate Indian production and trade.
The Portuguese not only linked India with Europe, A frica, and tbe
 The Portuguese 341
Am ericas, they also tied India more closely and effectively to other Asian
markets. Annually there set out from -G oa voyages fo r East Africa, Bengal,
M alacca, the Spice Islands, China, and Japan, which between them brought
together three trading areas hitherto semi-independent in their organization.
A t the same time individual Portuguese merchants and ship-masters, often in
conjunction with Indian partners, penetrated to all corners o f the Indian
Ocean and China Sea on smaller trading ventures. T he Dutchman, Linscho-
ten, in 1583 noted that in G oa one could buy the products o f all Asia. It is
typical that among the church vestments o f G oa there are to be seen not only
fine examples o f local raised gold and silver embroidery, but a chasuble which
in style, motifs; and composition has all the qualities o f eighteenth-century
Chinese porcelain, altar frontals strongly marked in their treatment o f foliage
by Persian influences, and capes whose decorations o f flower sprigs declare a
M ughal flavour.
O f such actual manufactures o f the time com paratively few specimens have
survived— just sufficient to trace the interchange o f goods and styles which the
Portuguese trade fostered. That same interchange has,' however, been much
more clearly and permanently recorded in the flora o f India, to which the
Portuguese made many notable contributions. Tobacco was one o f their
earliest introductions— carried to the Deccan by 150S, it reached north India
in A k b ar’s day and was denounced by Jahangir as a pernicious weed. Another,
less noxious gift from South Am erica was the pineapple, brought to Europe by
C ortez in 1513, carried by the Portuguese to India, and sufficiently established
there in the same century for the M ughal emperor to have one on his table
daily. The arrival o f yet another fruit which today is fully a t home in India
was recorded in the 1580s by Linschoten: ‘ There is another fruit which came
from the Spanish Indies, brought thence by way o f the Philippines or Luzon to
M alacca and so to India: it is called the papaya and much resembles a m elon’ .
The Muslim name for the cashew nut— bâdâm-i-farangi— reveals that this
tree, now naturalized in the K onkan and the Chittagong hills, was also a
Portuguese introduction. There has been much argument about whether
maize was really brought to India by the Portuguese, but that they introduced
the peanut from Africa, the mandioca from which tapioca is made, and the
sweet potato seems certain enough. Even the familiar Indian lâl mirich or red
pepper turns out to have been brought by them from Pernambuco. They also
did much to spread Asian plants within Asia itself— the durian and mangosteen
from M alaya, smilax glabra, the drug ‘ China ro o t’, lichees, and the sweet
orange among them. Since their physicians were always on the look out for
new specifics, they also introduced a number o f medicinal drugs, while even a
number o f decorative garden plants were carried with them— o f which
mirabilis jalopa, or the M arvel of Peru, may stand as an example. With such a
list o f introductions to their credit, the high praise given by Jean-Baptiste
Tavernier, who travelled widely in seventeenth-century India, that ‘ the
Portuguese, wherever they came, make the place better for those that come
after them ’, m ay seem fully deserved.
If the Portuguese enriched the flora, they also enriched the languages o f
India. In the island o f G o a and adjacent Bardes and Salsette the Portuguese
language itself was ultimately entrenched. For a while the need to reach out to
342 The Portuguese

the Hindu population, and to instruct and confess converts to Christianity,

led the Provincial Councils to stress the importance o f K onkanl and M arâthî
in missionary and pastorat w ork. Later, however, fear that Hindu ideas and
sentiments would retain their influence, while the language in which they had
heen expressed survived, led to a viceregal decree in 1684 ordering parish
priests and school-teachers to instruct the people in Portuguese ‘ so that in the
course o f time the Portuguese idiom will be common to one and all, to the ex­
clusion o f the mother tongue*. The Archbishop in 1812 followed this up by
requiring that children in the parish schools should talk only Portuguese dur­
ing schoot hours, while in 1831, when the first state schools were established,
the V iceroy stressed the need, ‘ in a country like this, forming part o f the
Crown o f Portugal, and governed by Portuguese law s’, for a wide diffusion o f
the Portuguese language. In the main G oa territories that was achieved. In the
other settler areas, too, in the Province o f the N orth, at M angalor and Cochin
south o f G oa, and even around Negapatam on the east coast, a creole Portu­
guese appeared.
H owever, Portuguese in one guise or another spread far beyond the limits
o f the Estado da India, sometimes with the missionary and-priest, sometimes
with the trader and skipper. A t Calicut, never under Portuguese rule, private
devotions were said and cathedral records maintained in Portuguese until the
twentieth century, while over in eastern Bengal Augustinian converts, Kâlà
Feringhis, preserved another pocket o f corrupt Portuguese. Since the Portu­
guese Crow n exercised the powers o f patron over the Rom an Catholic Church
in India, the spread o f Portuguese and its long survival might be expected
within that community. But throughout the eighteenth century the ministers
o f the English East India Com pany were required to learn Portuguese, and in
1780 Kiernander was to be heard preaching in that lahguage in the old Mission
Church at Calcutta.
M oreover, as Lockyer noted,* the Portuguese merchant, too, carried his
language w ith him : ‘ Thus they m ay justly claim that they have established a
kind o f Lingua Franca in all the Sea-Ports in India, o f great use to other
Europeans who would find it difficult in many places ,10'be well-understood
without it.* O n first landing at Surat the English bought and sold through
Portuguese-speaking Indian brokers— and two centuries later Portuguese was
still the language most com m only used in business by the C om pany’s servants
in C alcutta. A n d , as Marshman noted, ‘ Clive, who was never able to give an
order in any Indian language, spoke Portuguese with fluency’ . Even today,
when Portuguese as a language has died away in India except in G oa, loan
words survive. In Laskarl, or seamen’s Hindüstânî, naturally they are mainly
technical nauticat terms, but in the vocabulary o f north Indian languages it is
in such quite comm on words as those for room, table, bucket, or key that
Portuguese lingers on.
One other Portuguese legacy to Indian linguistics sprang from that earlier-
mentioned missionary need to understand and be understood by Indian
people, and took the form o f grammars and dictionaries o f the Indian
languages and o f a Christian religious literature in them. Jn this w ork the

* 'An Account of Trade in India’, p. 286.

 The Portuguese 343
Jesuits, those schoolmasters o f Europe, proved perhaps the m ost active, but
all the orders contributed. Thus we hear o f Francis X avier, spearhead o f the
Jesuit missionary thrust, busy learning the language o f M alabar and com ing
out with a manual o f grammar and a vocabulary ‘ to the astonishment o f the
natives and great benefit to our Fathers and Brothers, w ho ever since then by
means o f this and other works learn “ M a lab a r” as easily as L a tin ’.3 The
English Jesuit Thom as Stephens, best known fo r his Christian Pur ana or epic
in Konkani, also produced a grammar or Arte da lingua canarini, later en­
larged by D iogo Ribeiro, author also o f a vocabulary and o f one o f those
booklets on Christian doctrine which were everywhere am ong the earliest
vernacular works produced. A ll three were am ong the early productions o f the
printing press in India, which indeed owed its origin to the missionaries' needs.
A s the mission field expanded so did the w ork o f the grammarians. W orks
were early printed in Tam il— a Christian D octrine in 1578— and translations
into Persian marked the creation o f missions to the M ughal C ourt. The first
book in Bengali, though printed in the Rom an script, was a grammar— the
famous w ork on the Bengali language by the Augustinian M anoel da A s-
sumpçâo printed in Lisbon in 1743. His prologue sets out very clearly the
driving force behind the labours o f these men:
Dear Reader and novice Missionary, since I suppose that you have come to Bengal
in a spirit o f Apostolic charity and zealous to convert the whole world to the law of
Jesus Christ, and to bring the lost sheep into the fold o f the Church, and that to that
end, as foundation to your undertaking, you wish to leam the Bengali language, I
here offer you this work in which you will find the grammatical rules of this language
and a vocabulary in two parts, the first Bengali into Portuguese, the second Portu­
guese into Bengali, wherein you will find if not all, at least the major part o f the
words used by the people.
T o the missionary or priest an ability to use the language o f his flock was
undoubtedly fundamental. But he called all the arts to his aid in attracting
and holding the interest o f his audience, and in strengthening the faith o f
those whom he had converted. W hile the Hindu songs o f G o a , the vovios, and
the dakhinu, or songs o f the Muslim dancing girls, were put under the ban o f
the Inquisition, the music o f Portugal was taught in tbe parish schools and in
the seminaries o f the orders. There was a powerful tradition o f church schools
o f music in Portugal— as at Coim bra and Evora— as well as university chairs
o f music and enthusiastic royal patronage through the Chapel R oyal. T rain ­
ing acquired there was thence exported first to the Estado da India, later to
Brazil, as were particular traditions such as that o f the Jesuit religious opera.
A t the Jesuit College at Rachol, for example, in Salsette, a school for thirty or
forty poor boys was maintained in which they were taught not only Christian
doctrine and the three R ’s, but dance, music, and the playing o f instruments.
This school produced clergy and chapel masters ‘ from whom great fruit and
increase o f Christianity follow ed throughout In d ia’ . W hat is more, m any
churches had such music schools, so that in every parish mass might be sung,
accompanied ,by organ and instruments, to the greater glory o f the Lord and
edification o f the new Christians.

3J. Lucena, ffistoria da vida do padre Francisco de Xavier, Bk. V, Ch. 25.
344 The Portuguese

From such.schools came the singers and musicians who performed Cam ôes’s
Filodemo in G oa in 1555, or those who at the end o f the century were sum­
moned from G oa to celebrate a Feast in the Jesuits’ little chapel at the M ughal
C ourt, or those who som ewhat later still provided the elaborate production,
with Indian pupils skilfully perform ing on twelve different instruments, for
the Germ an traveller M andelslo. They also taught the less elaborate skills
locally required for parish services and for those in honour o f the patron saint
or the H oly Cross o f the village or quarter, for the more elaborate nones and
vespers o f the Feast o f the Virgin with their triple choirs and, most popular
and m oving, the motets sung on the Passion theme during Lent. The same
skills and traditions were also put to secular use, in singing o f such traditional
forms as the vilhancico and the loa, sung by the women at weddings, or in the
mando, the languid, two-part dance, sung by the Christians o f G oa in K onkani,
which is the most characteristic popular musical form o f Portuguese India.
Such has been the strength o f these traditional schools that for many years
Goans have provided most o f the interpreters and players o f Western music
in India.
The missionaries and the Church were also teachers and patrons in India o f
the arts o f the painter, carver, and sculptor. A s in music, moreover, they were
the interpreters, not narrowly o f Portuguese, but o f European art to India. N ot
only was it the case that members o f the religious orders came from all over
Europe. Portugal itself after the establishment o f the royal factory in Antwerp
was strongly exposed to the influence o f Flemish and thence o f Italian art,
while after 1580 the union o f the Crowns o f Spain and Portugal opened the
latter country again to foreign influences. India Portuguesa was thus heir to
many artistic traditions.
M ost o f the pictorial art was religious in theme and inspiration. There sur­
vives a great gallery o f portraits o f the governors-general and viceroys, full-
length studies— though o f uncertain date and attribution— covering some
four and a h a lf centuries in G o a . In the convent o f Santa M onica there are
patches o f impressive, lively murals which record the G oan world o f about
1600. Som e private portrait painting survives, too. But the m ost influential
works were certainly those which adorned churches and chapels. H ow they
affected the great M ughal School o f painting has been well explored— as, for
example, in M aclagan’s Jesuits and the Great Mughal. Portuguese, English,
and M ughal records show how interested in Christianity and its art were the
Emperors A k b ar and Jahangir— and their successors in less degree. A b u ’l
FazI, Akb.ar’s biographer and minister, wrote o f ‘ the wonderful works o f
European painters who have attained world-wide fam e’, and the presence o f a
Jesuit mission in north India until the eighteenth century sustained their in­
fluence.
There were important paintings in the Jesuit chapels at A gra and Lahore,
but many were also presented to the emperors. The Jesuits in 1595 record that
A k b ar possessed paintings o f Christ and o f the Blessed V irgin; the English
envoy Hawkins, that Jahangir had others o f the Crucifixion and o f the
M adonna and Child. One Jahângîrî album o f miniatures shows large E uro­
pean paintings as part o f the audience hall decorations, while other albums
introduce European subjects in their borders, or even bodily incorporate
 The Portuguese 345
copies o f imported engravings. Figures and themes from an illustrated P oly­
glot Bible presented to A kb ar in 1580, from a calendar by Hans Sebald Behan,
and from engravings, sometimes after Dürer, produced by John W ierix, all
appear in the Mughal albums. A nd if Rem brandt used Indian themes and
models, there are m ost delicate copies o f his pen-and-ink sketches done by
M ughal Court artists— one o f whom, Kesho the elder, had a whole album o f
such copies. European art, thus presented, influenced the M ughal School at a
number o f points. The idea o f the equestrian portrait, the use o f a dark back­
ground o f foliage, the rounding out o f figures, new ways o f handling spatial
relationships are examples o f such borrowings. N or was the appreciation o f
European art confined to court circles. T h e Jesuits report great crowds o f
people coming to view the Borghese M adonna in 1580 or the M adonna del
Populo in 1602, when displayed in their chapel. And, as M aciagan has
pointed out, the modern Hindu treatment o f D ev3kl and the infant Krishna
seems to owe something to such paintings o f the M adonna and Child.
N o t only painting interested the M ughals— Jahangir had sketches made o f
the interior'decorations o f the Jesuit church at Lahore. This was not surpris­
ing, for the church interiors o f Portuguese India were notable for the richness
o f their decoration, particularly in elaborate gilding o f woodw ork, which,
carved over the ceilings, produced the igreja loda de ouro, the church all o f
gold. The retable, in particular, was most sumptuously handled, with eia-;
borate 'M an n erist’ columns decorated with cherubims, festooned and
swagged, starred and diamonded, w ith shafts, now channelled, now octagonal,
twined about with vines and creepers. Such set pieces, or Solom onic columns,
with polychrome sculpture, coffered and painted ceilings, and lavish use o f
gilding, produced the m ost.striking effects.
Such effects, which were secured not merely in the great churches o f old
G oa, but also in the churches o f D iu and Bassein, and even such parish
churches as N .S. de Penha da Franca or that o f Talegaon, were reinforced
with rich church plate and vestments. G oa was a centre o f the silversmith’s
and goldsmith’s art before Albuquerque's conquest— and at least one G oan
goldsmith, Raulu Chatim , early travelled to the Court at Lisbon. A fter the
conquest there evolved a mixed style in which Portuguese forms were married
to Goan exuberance in decoration. T he Goan cathedral chalices, with their
open, fretted foliage work and bejewelled hafts, or the reliquaries o f Verna
and M argâo, combining Renaissance forms with the decorated, jewel-
encrusted w ork o f local artists, are fine examples o f this marriage o f styles to
produce an appropriately telling effect. A particularly notable example is pro­
vided by the tomb o f St. Francis X avier in the Bom Jesus— a silver casket o f
Italianate design, worked by Goan silversmiths, with scenes from the saint’s
life modelled upon religious engravings, and much elaborate filigree work, the
whole set upon a Florentine marble mausoleum shipped out to G oaiin 1698.
Despite their wealth o f w oodw ork and sculpture, further enlivened perhaps
by painted ceilings, church interiors in Portuguese India were generally simple
in'their architectural plan, with square apse and usually aisleless nave. Amy
architectural embellishment that there was, other than the attachment o f
chapels, lay in such surface designs as the shell-capped niche. The exteriors,
too, echo this taste for solidity and simplicity o f general plan, combined with
 346 T he Portuguese

flat, linear ornamentation in façades o f considerable richness and power. The

earliest considerable Jesuit façade was that o f their church at Bassein, now
otherwise in ruins, which dates back to the mid-sixteenth century. The most
famous is that o f the Bom Jesus, in the dull red local kankar, with its strong
vertical emphasis, its rectilinear treatment, and its unusual use o f buils-eye
windows to form its third storey. But one o f the most satisfying o f all is that of
the church at Diu which belonged to the order before its exclusion by Pombal.
F or sheer size and magnificence, however, the Augustinian church at old G oa
was perhaps unrivalled— still impressive with its one surviving flanking tower,
dominating the approach to the old capital. G oa, despite its narrow compass,
is wonderfully endowed with religious buildings, and the Portuguese church
provided the earliest introduction to European architectural ideas over the
whole length o f India. Portuguese domestic architecture— the long, two-
storeyed house, with high-pitched roof, balconies and verandas often running
the w hole length o f the building, and many-windowed, outward-giving
façades, with inside the sala, or saloon, its walls lined with chairs and sofas,
elaborately carved or inlaid— survives mainly in Goa itself and in the Province
o f the N orth.
The churches, with their European architecture, music, sculpture, and
painting, arfc the aspect o f Portuguese India most plainly visible today. The
most substantial Portuguese contribution to India, however, is the community
o f Indian Roman Catholics, m ost numerous where Portuguese rule was
longest lasting, but found all over India. Y asco da Gam a, àskëd what brought
him to India, replied ‘ Christians and spices’ . And though, to begin with, trade
was the more important, the propagation o f Christianity was always an enter­
prise to which, throughout Asia, the Portuguese Crown devoted much thought
•and a considerable part o f its resources. English historians, W hiteway in
particular, stressed the coercive element in Portuguese missionary effort: the
1 destruction o f Hindu temples and confiscation o f their lands, the ban upon
heathen festivals, songs, and ceremonies, the forcible handing over o f Hindu
and Muslim orphans to be brought up as Christians, and the w ork o f the per­
secuting Inquisition. A juster approach might note the inefficiency o f many o f
these measures, acknowledged even at the lime, or the concentration o f the
Inquisition upon heretics, the hapless Jewish convert in particular. It would
also stress the great educational effort made by all the orders, the effort to
master languages, the early use for proselytizing purposes o f the press, the
importance o f the creation o f an Indian-Christian secular clergy. (On the debit
side the racial discrimination against Indian converts within the regular orders
would also be noted.) T he efforts o f the Jesuit de N obili, o f the M adura mis­
sion, to Indianize or Brahmanize Christianity and to understand Hinduism as
a means o f going beyond it, might also be given some attention, though that
particular venture was an isolated one, and soon condemned as verging upon
the heretical. Ultim ately, perhaps, the success o f the missionary enterprise
under the Portuguese Padroado might be seen as another illustration o f
acclimatization. Just as the Portuguese casado, the married settler, made India
his home, so did the Portuguese missionary. Jesuits called down from Nepal
or Nâgpur, to travel by way o f Âgrâ and Patnâ to explore a new mission’field
near D àccà in 1680, moved through a countryside familiar to their colleagues
C H A PTE R XXV

The Mughals and the British

by Perci var, Spear

In considering the nature of the British impact upon India it is necessary first
to clear the mind on a number o f points. W e have to distinguish in that impact
between the political, the administrative, the economic, and the social ele­
ments. W as, for example, the member-of-council, the settlement officer, the
trader, the missionary, or the educationist the most important fo r the future
o f India? O r were they all so m any examples o f ntâyâ, waves o f action break­
ing portentously on the shores o f Indian time and then vanishing like so many
dreams? I f the im pact was in fact real, vve have still to distinguish between
what was the restoration o f existing institutions fallen into decay, and what
was the introduction o f something new'. W e have further to consider how far
the British were bringing, as it were, their own wares to India and how far
they were acting as agents for European or Western culture as a whole. And,
for full measure, it must be remembered that W estern culture and civilization
was itself undergoing rapid change and development during most o f the British
period.
A s a first step we m ay consider the validity o f any lasting British impact.
That something occurred to India through British agency is o f course certain,
but it is b y no means so certain that it will have a lasting effect upon the
country'. The Kushanas ruled large areas in north and north-west India for
upwards o f two centuries, not much less than the British period, yet w ho can
say that India changed permanently because o f them? W hat effect have all
those dynasties bad w’hose coins and copperplates tantalize numismatists and
epigraphists with their hints and silences and whose chronologies tax the in­
genuity o f historians? In the British case, however, we have, and in spite o f
their nearness in time to our obsers'ation, a yardstick for measurement. This is
tw'enty-five years o f independence, during which India has been free not only
politically but also mentally and morally to retain and discard as she will from
the British inheritance. W e are also able, with the help o f modern documenta­
tion, to com pare the before and after o f the British impact. From a considera­
tion o f these, two points emerge as certain facts. The first is that the India of
T947 was a very different place from the India o f 1757 or even o f 1818. I f this
is thought to be an expression o f the obvious, let the India o f 1526 (the year of
the com ing o f the Mughals) be compared with the India o f 1761 (the M ughal
collapse), or the India o f 1300, with the Delhi sultanate fully established, with
the India o f 1526. The second emergent fact is that a mentally free India has
chosen to retain a great deal o f the British inheritance. M uch o f the British
contribution has become the w orking capital o f the new India. T he admini­
strative and judicial fram ework remains the same. In. the educational and in­
dustrial fields there has been expansion, but not supersession. Culturally the
English language has been reprieved, now that there is no political opponent
 The Mughals and the British 349
to be annoyed by abolishing it. Parliamentary institutions and notions o f de­
mocracy seem to be firmly based. The argument about them has been not with
what to replace them, but how to m ake them work properly. M uch o f the
criticism o f the British in the past is ou the grounds o f un-British actions,
h'ehavioûr, or policies.
H aving accepted the British impact upon India as both real and lasting, we
come to the next question. H ow much o f the British action in India was in fact
a restoration or a ‘ follow -up’ from the wrecks o f the previous regime. Though
the British did not themselves overthrow the Mughals, but stepped, region by
region, into their empty political shoes, they found everywhere traces o f
Mughal rule and unquestionably made much use o f them in their reconstruc­
tion. Here we have not only to consider the question o f administrative ‘ know ­
how ’ but also the spirit o f government. The M ughal legacy to India was in
fact a legacy also to the British in India. W e have therefore to assess the
Mughal share in the apparent British achievement before we can attempt to
assess that achievement in its own right.
. When Bàbur descended into northern India he found a country still recover­
ing from T im or’s invasion o f 1398 and the collapse o f the Tughluq D ynasty o f
;the D elhi sultanate which followed it. F o r two centuries a series o f able
Turkish soldiers had ruled with such ability that they had been able both to
hold the formidable M ongols at bay and to extend their rule to south India.
They had devised.an effective administrative machine and made Delhi one o f
the great cities and cultural centres o f Asia. In the next 120 years this ordered
imperialism vanished. Hindustan was ruled by Afghan chiefs whose kingdoms
jyere tumultuous confederacies o f nobles rather than well-organized states.
Prosperity had departed to Bengal and the D eccan and the sultans o f Delhi
could barely hold their own against the râjâs o f Râjasthàn, whom once théy
had harried. T h e M ughals had thus very largely a free hand in reorganizing
the north, and the result o f this w ork was largely handed on to the Deccan
during the seventeenth and the south in the early eighteenth centuries.
The M ughals in general were a secular-minded race. In the late S ard ir
Panikkar’s happy phrase they were ‘ kings by profession’ , more interested in
ruling than in propagating religion. Bâbur set greater store on Samarqand
than on M ecca, on musk melons and drinking parties than on strict religious
observance. His descendants in general followed him. It is this aspect o f their
rule with which we are concerned.
The first contribution o f their rule may be described as the imperial idea.
There had o f course been previous empires in India, and Hindus retained the
idea o f an overlord emperor or chakravartin râjâ. But actual examples o f such
empires, like the Mauryan and the G upta, lay so far in the past that they had
ceased to exercise any practical influence. The ideal o f unity lived on, but its
actuality had ceased to be a memory. In their extension o f empire from north
to south India, an extension which, it is often forgotten, was still continuing
while their power was collapsing in the north, the M ughals were only reviving
or putting into practice a very ancient tradition. But their treatment o f the idea
o f imperial authority was original and lasting. Briefly they removed the person
and office o f the emperor from the religious to the secular plane and at the
same time surrounded it with a halo o f mystical and religious sanctity.
350 The Mughals and the British

The first step was the use o f Persian titles and ceremonies which in them­
selves were neither Hindu nor Muslim. T he nattrnz ceremony, for example,
was simply the Persian rite m arking the solar new year in the spring. Persian
also was the ceremony o f weighing the emperor on his birthday against
sundry grains and precious metals. These things were in themselves mere
foreign im portations: it was A k b ar who added the element o f divinity that
doth hedge a king. His new or D ivine Faith is usually thought o f as the
eccentricity o f genius or a dismal political failure. In fact, while we m ay grant
the element o f whim or eccentricity, the whole episode was a calculated
political risk which in the long run became a brilliant success. A k b a r never
dreamt o f producing a new religion in whose favour both Hindu and Muslim
would abandon their own tenaciously held traditions. W hat he wanted was.to
find a way o f canalizing the immense reservoir o f Indian devotion to ward s.an
object distinct from the traditions o f both communities. His method, which
seemed fantastic both at the time and later, was to create a religious cull
centred round the emperor. W ith his death the cult disappeared, but reverence
for the imperial office remained. It secured, unlike the case o f the previous
M uslim dynasties, the succession and recognition o f M ughal emperors whçn
they had lost all imperial power. It was a potent factor, overlooked by the
British, in rallying anti-British sentiment before and during the revolt o f 1857.
One o f the symptoms was the use o f the halo fo r the imperial head b y Mughal
painters, which even the orthodox Aurangzeb allowed ; another the worship
or veneration o f the imperial person in the style o f the Hindu darshan ; another
the taking o f disciples or nturtds by the last emperors. The essence o f the idea
was that the emperor ruled, not only by divine permission, but with divine
approval. Hé therefore had assumed a semi-sacred character and required not
only obedience, but veneration as well. --■
A second M ughal gift to India was in the realm o f administration. The
M ughals as a race were not m arkedly original, but they had been ‘ charm ed’
by the Persian culture with which they had come into contact and o f which
they had proved apt pupils. T hey imported much o f the Persian administrative
apparatus into India and above all the idea o f ordered bureaucratic authority.
I f it could hardly be called the rule o f law it was certainly.the rule o f rule.
There were regulations (as the  ’în testifies) fo r everything, whether for the
emblems o f royalty and court ceremonial, the assessment and collection of
revenue, the payment o f troops, or the branding o f horses for the imperial
cavalry. M uch Persian term inology is in use today. Setting aside details, we
m ay note some m ajor contributions to India in this sphere. It is true that Sher
Shah the A fghan (1540-5) made a significant start in this direction, upon
whose foundations A k b ar later built. But as he only reigned for five years,
m ost o f which were spent campaigning, his measures as recorded by the
chroniclers must be regarded as a blueprint for the future rather than as. an
actual achievement. Outstanding in this department were the revenue
arrangements, which are associated with the nam e o f A k b a r’ s revenue
minister, Râjâ T od ar M ai. T heir essence was an assessment o f the revçniie
according to the extent o f cultivation, the nature o f the soil, and the quality
o f the crops. There whs laborious measurement, analysis o f possibilities, and
calculation o f prospects. T h e actual demand was adjusted to meet seasonal,
 The Mughals and the British 351
price, aod cultivated area variations. The system was administered whole or
partially, well or ill, at different times and places. A t times it broke down alto­
gether. But it Was never altogether abandoned or forgotten and it has never
been superseded by something quite novel. It is the underlying basis o f the
revenue system today.
In the political sphere the Mughals contributed the mansabdar system. This
was a graded set o f imperial officials who together form ed an imperial
military-cum-civil service. The higher grades were the ‘ om rah ’ described by
European travellers like Bernier. They owed the appointment to the em peror
arid were paid, at first in cash and then by means o f assignments on the re­
venue or jagirs. These grants had no resemblance to feudal tenures, fo r they
were revocable at the imperial will and in any case lapsed a t death. T h e
mansabdari service was not hereditary and in fact lacked a pension or its
equivalent, since the mansabdâr’s property was im pounded at his death to off­
set cash advances made by the treasury during his life. T his procedure
amounted to a death duty o f nearly 100 per cent. From this service were
appointed governors o f provinces (sttbahs), the high officers o f state from the
m zir downwards, administrators o f districts, commanders o f armies, cities,
and forts. T hey were in fact the arteries o f the M ughal system, the pulsating
blood from the M ughal heart at court. They were the effective agents o f the
M ughal will. The titles and grades survived as aristocratic distinctions, like
European titles o f nobility, in the N izam ’s dominions until they were ab ­
sorbed by India in 1948, but the system collapsed with the empire itself in the
eighteenth century. Nevertheless the system as a whole perm anently in­
fluenced the Indian consciousness. During the two centuries o f its effective
existence it accustom ed nearly the w hole country to the idea o f an im perial
bureaucracy representing and enforcing the central governm ent’s will. It re­
placed in the Indian mind as the sym bol o f government the feudal and clan
relationships o f the Râjputs and the loose tribal links o f the Afghans. Though
the extent o f .government m ay seem slight in m odern terms, there was in fact
during this period and thanks to this system m ore regular administration than
most o f India had known for a thousand years. In this respect the system p ro ­
vided a foundation upon which the British could build far m ore easily than
w ould otherwise have been the case, because India had been conditioned
already to a form o f bureaucracy.
:S The mansabdari system had another characteristic which was im portant fo r
the future. Its personnel was mainly foreign. A n analysis o f the lists given in
,the  'in i-Akbari shows that approximately 70 per cent o f the officers, had
cpme to India from the north-west within fifty years; the remaining 30 per
cent were Indian, roughly h a lf o f these being M uslim and h a lf H indu.1 The
service continued to be heavily recruited from abroad through the seyenteenth
century. India thus became used, not only to a regular administration, but
also to a foreign one. Previous governments in north India'had either been
irregular or not foreign. This trait also was o f value to their British successors.
Indians were accustomed to rule by foreigners; the charige for them was from
one kind o f foreigner to a stranger one.
A further feature o f M ughal rule in general, remarked on by most non-
1 W. H . Moreland, India at the Death o f Akbar , London, 1920, pp. 69-70.
352 The Mugliali and the British

governmental sources and particularly by European travellers, merchants, and

ambassadors, was the arrogance and cupidity o f the average official. T h e latter
quality, as recorded by Sir Thom as R oe during his embassy to Jahangir, went
right up to the heir-apparent himself. It was perhaps to be accounted for by
the sense o f insecurity o f the nobles, liable, as they were, to be superseded or
dismissed at any moment w ithout a chance o f appeal, and knowing that their
property would be confiscated at death. They not only took presents, held up
goods to ransom and so on, but also engaged largely in trade. Here again was
a feature which smoothed the transition to the early British merchant officiât.
W hat was strange in the British operations to the Indian observer was not
their indulgence in commerce but the extent and method o f their activities.
T he arrogance o f the M ughal nawâb was proverbial, so that no surprise was
caused by com parable conduct on the part o f their British successors. But the
M ughals treated each other in the same w ay as they treated the Hindus. What
eventually caused complaint against the British was the discovery that they
had one code o f behaviour am ongst themselves and another for their relations
with Indians.
A n other characteristic o f M ughal rule was tolerance. Toleration was not
absolute, and was subject to considerable variations. There were times, not­
ably in the reign o f Aurangzeb, when the ruler aspired to be the head o f an
Islamic state rather than the M uslim head o f an Indian state. But even so,
though-some discrimination was practised such as the imposition o f the jizya
on non-believers and the occasional demolition o f temples, toleration was the
general rule. Tem ples received grants as well as mosques, and were rarely de­
molished w ithout a political motive. T he emperor intermarried with Ràjput
families and Hindu customs were countenanced at court. It m ay be said that
such regimes had existed before during the Islamic period, and that in any case
religious toleration was an Indian tradition. But the duration and extent o f
the M ughal Empire, in contrast to the varying policies and briefer periods o f
other dynasties, served to stamp the policy afresh on the Indian mind as part
o f the accepted order o f things.
B ut perhaps the most striking o f the M ughal legacies were the artistic and
the cultural. B oth o f these began with Persian importations^ which were
exotics to the M ughals themselves who came from Central A flu- It was as if
the Scots, having adopted the French language and culture, had conquered
England and then introduced French as the language o f governm ent and
society, covering the country with French-style chateaux and churches.
B âbur brought with him a taste for all things Persian and the Persian invasion
went on through several generations o f talented and artistic rulers. But it en­
countered the current Indian form s and its genius was to form harmonious
and original com binations with them. In the field o f architecture the M ughals
met the existing Indo-M uslim ‘ P a th in ’ style in north India, itself an earlier
synthesis o f Indo-M uslim form s, as well as the surviving Hindu style. Bâbur
began the artistic invasion by laying out Persian gardens wherever he went.
H um àyün continued with his palace fortress in D elhi, the Purânâ Q ilà'. But it
was A k b a r who was the real parent o f the Indo-Persian or M ughal school o f
architecture. In his palaces and mosques in À grâ and Fatehpur-Sikn he em­
ployed Hindu masons under M ughal direction so extensively and skilfully as
 The Mughals and the British 353
lo produce a harmonious whole, neither Persian nor Hindu, but properly
Indian in character. The proportion o f Hindu elements was reduced without
being eliminated by his successors, to produce a completer synthesis. His
grandson Shâh Jahàn was the director as well as the patron o f M ughal build­
ing and it was in his time that the style attained its zenith with the Tâj M ahal,
the palaces in Delhi and Âgrâ, the Pearl M osque o f Âgrâ, and the Jâmi'
Masjid o f Delhi. From Delhi and Âgrâ the style spread to the far south. It be­
came the norm o f all domestic and official buildings in the north and even
many small temples included the M ughal arch pattern. The style as a living
tradition must now be pronounced moribund. But it is significant that when
Western architects wished to draw on Indian tradition it was to this style that
they primarily turned.2 T h e M ughals set the pattern for gardens, palaces,
mosques, and houses.
The same Persian invasion occurred with painting. Bàbur brought Persian
miniature painters with him and Humàyün encouraged them. A kbar, by em ­
ploying Hindu artists steeped in their own tradition along with Muslims,
created the M ughal School o f painting. Jahângîr, who was the artistic director
o f the school as his son was o f architecture, expanded the range with his
passion for nature and love o f animals. W ith Shâh Jahâu came the M ughal
School o f portraiture. Like architecture, Mughal painting lingered on in many
branches long after the fall o f the empire. But unlike the architectural heritage,
it can still be said to be a living infiqence on m odem Indian painting.
The third form o f Persian influence was that o f literature and manners. T h e
M ughals did not, o f course, introduce the Persian language and literature into
India. This had been done by the Delhi sultans, so that under the Tughluqs
Delhi was a leading Persian cultural centre; the traveller Ibn Battuta, who
visited the city in the time o f Muham m ad Tughluq, considered it one o f the
principal cities in A sia. B ut the Persian spell was broken by Tlm ür, and not
restored by the Afghans who ruled north India after him. The M ughals m ay
be said to have re-established Persian influence, not so much by bringing in
something which was not there before, as by the enthusiasm with which they
propagated all things Persian. Though Turkish-speakers, they were Persian-
lovers, and the love remained when their descendants became Persian-
speakers. They spread the use o f Persian from the court and diplom acy to the
whole range o f administration. Their conquests extended their administration
to the south o f India and with it a widespread and pervading Persian in­
fluence. Indo-Persian poets and historians there had been before, though none
surpassed FaizT and A b u ’ l Fazl o f A k b ar’s day. W hat was new was the spread
not only o f the Persian language, but o f Persian ideas, tastes, and terminology
to a wide Hindu class as well as the M uslim ruling class. T he Hindu managerial
and secretarial classes cultivated Persian and produced a school o f poets
which has persisted to this day. A long with literature went Persian manners
and customs. Persian modes o f address, dress, etiquette, and tastes (such as
the love o f form al gardens) spread with the new regime all over the country.
Their traces w ere to be found in Râjput and M arâthâ courts, whatever their
political or religious feelings towards the M ughals at any given time. T hey
became the norm o f social judgement and social deportment.
2 e.g. the work o f Sir Swinloo Jacob of Jaipur and sundry buildings in Bombay.
 354 The Mughals and die British

In fact the Mughals went a long way towards grafting upon Indian society
a new aristocratic Indo-Persian culture. Under their aegis Persian and local
influences combined to produce new forms o f art and literature, new canons
o f behaviour, and a new type o f speech. M ughal architecture and painting,
though compounded o f Persian and Hindu elements, were fused into some­
thing distinct from either. The same was true o f language. U rdu was born
under the sultanate, but it was the Mughals under whom it developed as a
literary language in its own right and Muhammad Shâh Rangila who ad­
mitted it to Court. In manners the Delhi Court became the Versailles ofln d ia.
A k b ar’ s religion, followed by the exaltation o f the person o f the emperor, pro­
vided an emotional centre for aristocratic loyalty, and the imperial services,
with their large employment o f Hindus outside the mansabdâr ranks, an ad­
ministrative cement. The effort to create a new culture proved ‘ abortive’ in
the Toynbeian sense, perhaps because it was too confined to the aristocracy or
perhaps because the middle class, which should have mediated it to the masses,
was too-small. But it left indelible marks on India in the developed Urdu
language, in the arts o f architecture and painting, and in manners and tastes.

W e can now consider briefly how much o f what is associated with the British
period is really a carry-over or restoration o f M ughal influences and institu­
tions. A glance at the foregoing is enough to show that the British were by no
means so original in many o f their contributions to India as one has been
tempted to think. The British achievement must be judged in conjunction with
that o f its M ughal predecessor, as the 'Mughals themselves must not be
credited with what they took over from theirpast. In surveying the two periods
together we can trace three processes. There is an element o f restoration by
one o f the work o f the other; there is a clothing in new forms o f tendencies
carried over from the past ; and there is, alohg with a similarity o f policy, an
introduction o f new content. Even restoration can be quietly revolutionary
and revolution can be a violent form o f restoration. It is the interaction of
these processes which has produced the authentic British contribution. Thus
while the introduction o f dem ocracy in France at the Revolution was new, it
did not alter the centralizing and authoritarian tendencies o f the old monarchy,
while the Restoration o f 1815, like the English Restoration o f 1660, was itself
in large measure a recognition o f revolution.
The concept o f the emperorship as a semi-sacred office apart from the old
religions was a M ughal innovation. A t first the British spurned this. One could
hardly imagine a less sacred institution than the East India Com pany, or a less
mystical person than the governor-general. This common-sense attitude
strengthened with success until it received a rude shock when the M utiny re­
vealed the depth o f sentiment still surrounding the M ughal pâdshàh and
M arâthâ Peshwâ. The assumption o f government by the Crow n and the per­
sonal attitude taken by Queen Victoria towards India were in fact leaves taken
out o f the M ughal book. T h e m ove was abundantly rewarded, so that it can
be safely said that in the last years o f her reign the Queen was m ore venerated
in India than in Britain. T h e religious aura surrounding the great M ughals re­
attached itself to her. T h e assumption o f the imperial title in 1876 was a
corollary o f the move o f 1858, not in itself anything new. In idea it was a good
 The Mughals and the British 355
move as appealing to the mass imagination, but this effect was largely offset
by its constant use in adorning imperialist speeches. India liked being the
brightest jew el, but why o f someone else’s crow n?
There is a close relationship between the British and the M ughal revenue
arrangements. From Bengal to Gujarât, as the British spread over the country,
they found either Todar M ai’s bandobast in decline, or beheld its relics in the
form o f custom or what was done ‘ before the troubles’ . A fter the early years
o f confusion and over-assessment, they felt their w ay towards a knowledge o f
the unique Indian revenue system and became m ore and more impressed w ith
the range and thoroughness o f the previous regime. T he British in effect be­
came pupils at'the M ughal school and it was on this basis that they made their
lasting contribution to the administration o f rural India. T hey took over the
Mughal system o f exact measurement o f the land, o f distinguishing soils and
crops in estimating production, and o f using various kinds o f agents in collec­
tion. A t first they were less flexible than the M ughals in such matters as re­
missions on account o f floods and famine and in dealing with defaulters, with
much resulting hardship. T he harsh dealings at the time o f the Bengal fam ine
o f 17703 and the over-assessment in the early days o f the D elhi Territory are
examples. W ith experience they improved. Their assessments became m ore
accurate and scientific, their revenue demand m ore lenient as well as more pre­
dictable than that o f their predecessors. On the whole their achievement was
notable, for they built up a rural administration not only stable but generally
equable and equitable. There were, however, two significant departures from
Mughal practice. One was the action o f Cornwallis, Pitt, and D undas in
creating the Permanent Settlement o f Bengal in 1793 (which extended to
Bihâr, Orissa, and parts o f the M adras Presidency). This converted the zamin-
ddrs into something like English landlords and their peasants virtually into
tenants-at-will, giving them the unearned increment o f land which was then
far from completely cultivated. Zamindârihad long been recognized as a form
o f property; it was the British who turned it into landed property.4 The con ­
sequence was the creation o f a landed class which as a whole was loyal but not
progressive, tenacious but not enterprising. This w ork was already being un­
done when the British left India. The other departure was the system o f selling
up defaulters in the land revenue, instead o f bullying them as the M ughal
officials did and then leaving them in possession. This produced a displace­
ment o f classes, tending to replace old rural families by absentee city-dwellèrs,
more interested in rents than tenants.
The M ughal mansabdari system as an effective executive service was in
collapse before the British began to rule. It cannot seriously be maintained
that the British restored it or borrowed from it. But it is significant that they
found that they could not do without an equivalent. Their administration did
not settle down until they had organized a service recruited with some eye to
ability, trained to some extent for the duties it had to perform , inculcated with
a high sense o f duty, and disciplined both financially and m orally. It is
1 See \V. \V. Hunter, Annals o f Rural Bengal, London, 1897, p. 39. Thirty-five per cent o f
the peasantry died. Less than 5 per cent of the revenue was remitted in 1769/70: it was in­
creased by 10 per cent in 1770/1.
4 See Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System o f Mughal India, London, 1962, Ch. V.
 356 The Mughals and the British

interesting to note that the C om pany’s officials were paid for a time (till 1787)
by means o f percentages on the revenue, a method com parable to the later
M ughal practice o f assignments on the land revenue. It was Cornwallis who
returned to A k b a r’s practice o f fixed salaries as well as cash payments. A n ­
other point in comm on was the foreignness o f the two services. F rom this
point o f view the British were not as bad as they have been painted, fo r they
were only exaggerating a standing M ughal practice. T he indictment, if any, is
that they failed to do better. From this point the comparison fades.
The British had two separate services, the civil and military, as com pared to
tbe undivided M ughal one, and the civil had several sub-sections. T he foreign
ascendancy was progressively reduced until even the highest o f the services,
the Indian Civil Service, was half-Indian. Here indeed was a contribution o f
value to contem porary India. T h e services were handed over intact to the new
administration as going concerns. T hey were loyal to authority and to each
other. They were highly capable, they possessed a high morale, they were aloof
from politics, and they possessed a degree o f self-reliance and readiness to act
in emergencies which was unusual in such bodies. Though shorn o f their
European cadres the services possessed enough Indian members w ho had
been sufficiently integrated to shoulder the burden o f independent administra­
tion. They not only did this but successfully met grave crises as well. T he de­
velopment o f modern India could not have proceeded as it has w ithout them.
This legacy was not particularly original, since others had organized imperial
services before. But it was a genuine legacy in a familiar field, since the British
were responsible fo r the form , the tone, and the quality o f the bodies they
handed over.5
A further M ughal bequest to the British was official ostentation, arrogance,
and greed. These epithets were freely applied by ambassadors, travellers, and
merchants to the ‘ orarahs’ in the M ughal heyday and to nawâbs in general in
the eighteenth century. It was not inadvisedly that the merchant officials who
returned from C live’s Bengal and Benfield’s M adras with fortunes were called
‘ N a b o b s’ in England. W hatever degree o f envy may have entered into the
jibes, the traits which called them forth were clear enough. There is no doubt
that the arrogance o f the British officials, and its long continuance, owed
much to the M ughal example. This was the climate o f authority as the British
found it; not unnaturally they enjoyed and continued it. This fact Should
temper the criticism o f British official arrogance as though it was a wholly
new evil imposed on a hitherto unafllicted people. T he early C om pany’s
officials, or m any o f them, undoubtedly shared in the M ughal ostentation and
greed. But neither lasted long, the one swept aw ay by the economies o f a
utilitarian age and the other by the reforms o f Cornw allis and his successors.
The m ost corrupt and colourful o f services became in the nineteenth century
the m ost dutiful and sedate; our only regret must be that in shedding their
colour the services also lost som e degree o f imagination.
The M ughal policy o f tolerance was extended and amplified by the British.
But while it was more complete it was also more frigid, fo r the M ughals, while
occasionally demolishing temples,, would also endow others, give grants to
5 For the best account o f the Indian Civil Service as a living body see P. W oodruff’s two
volumes The Founders, London, 1953, and The Guardians, London, 1954.
 The Mughals and Ihe British 357
Hindu as well as Muslim divines, and patronize Hindu festivals. The religious
neutrality o f the government, as pressured by Christian groups in Britain, for­
bade all this and left the people with a feeling o f aloofness and disdain. On
occasion indifference can be m ore w ounding than hostility. T h e tradition o f
aloofness from religion as a complement to the policy o f toleration is not one
calculated to endear the idea o f the secular state to the average Indian heart.
When we turn to the M ughal cultural heritage, we com e to a parting o f the
ways with the British. Influence there was, but it was peripheral and fleeting.
The British remained faithful to their own style o f building, limiting their
M ughal loans to the ornate marble bathroom with sunken bath (up-country)
and to Bengali style annexes for the 'ze n a n a ’. T hey patronized the miniature
painters to some extent and used them widely for studies o f buildings,, plants,
and animals; they were even influenced in their ow n painting by Indian tech­
niques. But this died aw ay as European contacts increased and photography
came in. The taste for Persian literature did not survive the generations o f
Warren Hastings, M etcalfe, and Elphinstone. T he flood o f books from the
W est overwhelmed it, and Orientalism retired to the studies o f western
Europe. M ughal manners never challenged the London version o f Versailles,
nor did their dress m ake an appreciable impact. T h e use o f pyjamas can 'per­
haps be ascribed to them, but otherwise Oriental fashions in dress came from
Persia. The British needed no tutoring in wine or spirits; the taste for outdoor
sport was mutual, the fashion o f hookah smoking had died aw ay by the mid­
nineteenth century. Their ch ief loans were the gam e o f polo and the custom o f
bathing.
It is now possible to consider the rest o f the British contribution in its own
right, as it were. The observer w ho visits India today will still find m any
visible traces o f the British. Houses, public buildings, and memorials strew the
land. B ut he w ill not see much o f these for long. T he houses were mostly
brick-built and are subject to decay and change; m ost o f the public buildings
are quite undistinguished. Few o f the more pretentious possess much merit
and some o f those that possess it are copies from England, like Barrackpore
H ouse in Calcutta. The British brought with them the classical vogue o f
eighteenth-century England which produced a number o f graceful churches
and houses in Calcutta and elsewhere. Thereafter G othic cam e in, with its
memorials in the Calcutta and L âhore cathedrals and ‘ P .\Y .D .’ churches.
T h e G othic fashion extended to bungalows, but though there was some grace­
ful imitation o f the classic style, the G othic never too k root in India. Then
came Lord Curzon, w ho intended a British Tâj M ahal and achieved the
Calcutta Victoria M em orial. In its ostentation, its obtuseness, and its solidity
it was not an unfitting sym bol o f the current imperialism. The final British
effort was N ew D elhi, where Lutyens and Baker disagreed in producing
something o f high merit and sym bolic beyond their intentions. F or the central
complex as it now stands is an epitome, not Of imperial power, but o f bureau­
cracy. A rocky eminence, approached b y a processional way, is crowned by
two secretariat blocks, with the legislature dropped on one side as an apparent
afterthought (as indeed it was), and the central feature o f the President’s (ex­
Viceroy’s) house pushed (unintentionally) too far back to be dominant. ‘ W hat
a noble ruin it will b e ’, exclaimed M . Clemenceau; as it stands it is the
358 The Mughals and the British

monument, not o f British power but o f bureaucracy; it is the mausoleum, we

may say, o f the British I.C .S.
N o r will the observer be much impressed by the British artistic contribution.
Painters like ZofTany and the Daniells came to India but, apart from some
activity in Bom bay, no schools o f Indo-British painting arose. T he best ser­
vice rendered by the: British in this direction was the creation o f schools o f art
which led Indian artists to fresh inspiration through study o f their own tradi­
tions. In literature the story is different, for they have founded a living tradi­
tion, but this is connected with language, which is dealt with elsewhere. A
minor contribution has been the English garden. The Mughals introduced the
form al garden freshened with running water. T he British, with their passion
for landscaping, introduced parks wherever they had the means or opportunity
and lawned flower gardens wherever flowers and grass would grow. The com­
pensation for their cavernous and often grotesque bungalows was the profu­
sion o f their gardens.
In considering the British im pact as a whole it is necessary to distinguish
between the various functions which they performed. They dominated the
country for a century and a h a lf as its rulers; they acted as agents for the entry
o f ideas and techniques from the West, and they possessed characteristics o f
their own which they implanted on the country. The first im pact is the more
(obvious, the second the more profound, and the third the m ost engaging.
T akin g the last first, we.may note, as characteristics o f the British as a people,
marked individualism, a love o f sport and games, class-consciousness, and the
habit o f working in groups. Some o f these traits, like class-consciousness and
love o f sport, dovetailed into-existing social habits. But in the realm o f sport
the British have added to the Indian stock by contributing their own games.
In hockey India now leads the world, but it is three others, football in Bengal,
tennis and cricket everywhere, which have attained the level o f addiction and
becom e-part o f the country’s contem porary life. British individualism has
worked by example rather than precept; it has been an impalpable influence
in prom oting independence in a society weighted with the restrictions o f caste,
the authority o f parents and the joint fam ily, and the reverence for age. The
co-operative or group mode o f action has taken root in the vogue o f the com­
mittee, from the Congress down to the tennis club.
>T h e British as rulers erected a system o f power which had strong affinities
with its predecessor. The ultimate control lay in London and it contained no
trace o f sanctity, but there were the same pyramid and levels o f authority; the
division into civil and military arms, and the means o f making the govern­
ment’s will effective, showed marked resemblances, U p to the 1820s the
system might be described as the M ughal model restored and improved, and
as such it contained nothing novel. T he government was a law-and: order
state, concerned with preserving the social organism from attack and promot­
ing its sm ooth workihg. Its basis was authoritarian and its concern with wel­
fare was negative, to prevent oppression. It had, however, already made one
important innovation, and from this time made several more. It will be con­
venient to view them together as the sum total o f the British political impact.
Th e first o f these new departures, one which has been accepted by the new
India, is the judicial system and the rule oflaW which went with it. T he judicial
 The Mughals and the British 359
system began with M ayor’s Courts in the settlements which were, however,
only intended for the settlers themselves. Later the Supreme C o u rt was set up
in Calcutta (1774), which created confusion by applying British law to Indian
cases. W ith the acquisition o f Bengal the C om pany at first too k over the
M ughal courts; in fact in that respect they were then M ughal agents. A long
period o f trial and error m ay be said to have culminated with the com pletion
o f the Indian Penal Code. B y that time India had a complete judicial system
from High Courts downwards, which is functioning sm oothly today. It was
thè first official sphere in which Indians won distinction, and perhaps fo r that
reason is specially cherished. T he law adminjstered was Hindu and M uslim
on the personal plane, and M uslim tempered with British humanism in the
criminal sphere. The effect o f thus bypassing the British penal system in the
early years o f .the nineteenth century was to m ake it m ore humane than the
contem porary British system. Since then a great body o f com m ercial and
public law has been added, drawing on British precedents.
But it is not so much the lawyer or the content o f the law as the m odes o f
procedure that haye been significant. India had m any learned qâzis and
pandits and her own systems were also highly developed. T he w hole procedure
was lifted from Britain, and all proceedings were subject to record. There was
therefore a steady infiltration o f the principles implied by the procedure and a
rapid growth o f a body o f case law resting on those principles. There has been
much criticism o f the law ’ s delay in India and the contum ely borne by the
poor man, but when m uch o f this is admitted certain broad results remain.
The idea o f a secular law, related to justice but apart from the great religions,
has been implanted in the Indian mind. It is to the judge, not to the pandit or
the mullâ, that people lo o k for justice. The courts stand out as a secular em ­
bodiment o f the concept o f right. T hey form in fa ct a pillar o f the secular state.
A second characteristic o f the courts has been their independence, not only
from religious interference, but notably from the state executive. This inde­
pendence was a British loan and it was not merely a loan on paper. F ro m the
time o f Sir Elijah Im pey and W arren Hastings they were often thorns in the
side o f the administration. Lord Ellenborough described one troublesom e
judge as a rogue elephant to be guarded by a tame one on either side. Canning
objected to their independence in expressing their views in his Legislative
Council and to the end they periodically pricked the skin o f official com ­
placency. T hey have continued this course in both India and Pakistan, w ith
general approval. This independence o f the judiciary on political issues, which
England m ay claim to have won in the seventeenth century, was som ething
new to Indian experience.
There remains the rule o f law, which both emphasizes the independence o f
the courts and provides a safeguard against executive tyranny. The rule was
declared by Cornwallis in 1793, in these words: ‘ T h e collectors o f revenue and
their officers, and indeed all the officers o f Governm ent, shall be am enable to
the courts fo r acts done in their official capacities, and G overnm ent itself, in
cases in which it may be a party with its subjects in blatters o f property shall
submit its rights to be tried in these courts under the existing laws and regula­
tions.’ 6 The idea that the government could be sued as o f right instead o f
6 Cornwallis Correspondence, Vol. 2, p. 588.
360 The Mughals and the British

being petitioned as o f grace or mercy, was something quite new. If (he govern­
ment itself could be sued with impunity, why not the big man o f the district,
the zamindâr, the princeling, the wealthy entrepreneur? The whole legal pro­
cess did much to implant the idea o f individual civil rights in the popular
mind. A further aid in this process was the separation o f thejudicial and execu­
tive services. This was introduced by Cornwallis but modified later and
abandoned in the north-west. Indians never ceased to argue in its favour and
restored it with independence.
A further British contribution was the introduction o f the idea that the
positive prom otion o f public welfare was a normal duty o f government.
Classical Hindu and Muslim ideas o f government made for non-interference.
Society for both was a socio-religious organism which it was the governm ent’s
function to protect so as to ensure its smooth working. It was not to mould
or to create but to preserve. In Hindu thought for example, the dharma o f the
râjâ was to protect the Hindu way o f life. In M ughal times it was thought that
Shâh Jahân had come nearest to this general ideal. ’ H ail O K in g ’, said the
rhapsodist, ‘ Thou owest a thanksgiving to G od. The K in g is just. The ministers
are able and the secretaries honest. The country, is prosperous and the people
contented.’ 7 The Chinese attitude was similar in implication though secular in
tone. Society was an organism best left to itself. The better the government the
less government there would be.
T h e early C om pany’s officials took over this view and maintained it into
the nineteenth century. But pressures, religious, rational, and utilitarian,
m ounted in Britain which led the Tory Ellenborough to write in 1828 to the
G overnor-General Lord W illiam Bentinck: ‘ W e have a great m oral duty to
perform .’ The India debates o f Hastings’s time and the eloquence o f Burke
had enforced the principle o f responsibility o f the government for good ad­
ministration. W ith Bentinck the further step was taken o f positive promotion
o f public welfare. T he first steps in this direction were the negative ones o f the
prohibition o f salt (suttee), the suppression o f thuggee, and the discourage­
ment o f infanticide. But they were followed by the new education policy, the
introduction o f English, irrigation projects and the building o f roads and rail­
ways, and health measures. Self-interest m ay have entered into some o f these
measures, and in many respects it m ay be held that they did not go nearly far.
enough. Nevertheless the principle was there, a principle which nationalists
often used as a rod with which to beat the foreign government and cheerfully
accepted afterwards. W as it not in the name o f this principle that Gandhi
launched his attack on the salt tax? W ith N ehru the new government accepted
in principle, and to some extent realized in practice, the idea o f a welfare state.
Th e principle o f welfare can take many forms. One o f these in the British
case was the development o f self-government. For this in itself no originality
can be claimed, for it is not to be supposed that Indians in general have in the
political sphere desired anything else through the centuries o f foreign domina­
tion. But representative and parliamentary governm ent was something new,
and it is this which the British, in the later stages o f their rule, introduced into
the country and which has taken root. T h e British rulers in India were them­
selves inclined to the M ughal idea o f the state; these innovations were almost
7 lbni-Hasan, Central Structure o f the Mughal Empire, London, 1936, p. 360.
 The Mugliali and the British

entirely due to pressure from outside. The first ideas o f the ultimate indepen­
dence o f a modernized India appeared in the 1820s and 1830s with men like
M ountstuart Elphinstone and M acaulay, but little was done to implement
them for another eighty years. Representation o f Indian opinion was intro­
duced in a tentative way, to reach its logical development with the M o rley-
M into reforms in 1909. T he advent o f responsible self-government on the
parliamentary model was a twentieth-century development, beginning as late
as 1921 with the inauguration o f the M ontagu-Chelm sford reforms. Neverthe­
less it immediately took root; this type o f government became a fixed Indian
demand and has been sedulously maintained since independence. But this is
not surprising, because the various acts were themselves tardy responses to
long-expressed Indian demands, in their turn the result o f absorption o f
British political ideas by the Westernized classes. Parliamentary government
as government by discussion and majority vote in representative assemblies
seems now to be firmly rooted in the modern Indian mind. A n estimate o f the
effectiveness o f the system in practice was blurred for a time by the towering
personality o f Nehru. But there seems to be a general conviction that the
parliamentary is the only respectable form o f democracy, as democracy is
the only respectable form o f government. The Indian innovations on these
lines, such as universal suffrage, the revival o f panchâyats, and the ending o f
autocratic princely rule, are only extensions o f existing British practice and
principles.
A lon g with parliamentary government we must link nationalism. This is
perhaps one o f the most remarkable examples o f the British impact, for the
British neither designed, nor form ally introduced, nor advocated it. N ation ­
alism was ‘ caught’ by the new Indian intellectuals, especially in Bengal, by
the join t effect o f observing the habits o f the British and studying their liter­
ature. M other India, a new secular goddess, was created. The feeling was
recruited on the intellectual plane by the study o f Continental as well as
English writers, especially M azzini, and on the emotional by its linkage with
religion. T o M ahatm a G andhi belongs the credit o f bringing it to the people
at large, and presenting it 2s a religious but not a sectarian cult. Indian
nationalism has a distinctive ethos o f its own, but it is a fact o f the present day
and it owes its existence to the British impact.
The concept o f welfare has many forms. In the 1830s it included the educa­
tion and language policy o f the Indian Government. Briefly, English was sub­
stituted for Persian as the language o f government and the higher courts, the
local languages being used in the lower. English also became the medium o f
instruction in the higher government educational institutions, and the content
o f learning included contem porary Western knowledge. Western science and
history therefore came into the curriculum, and the whole range o f Western
ideas and attitudes was conveyed through English and European literature.
Adm ittedly the motivation o f the policy was mixed, as was that o f the Indian
attitude towards it. But, if a supply o f English-knowing subordinates was one
motive on the British side, so also was the desire to throw open Western in­
tellectual treasures to the East. W hile on the Indian side many learnt English
as a passport to a career, there was an active group led by the reformer Râm
M ohan R oy which desired the spread o f Western knowledge for its own sake.
 362 The Mughals and the British

The fact was that the decisions o f 1835 gave governmental sanction and im­
petus to a process by which the culture and knowledge o f the W est were pre­
sented to India. The positive means were the government’s educational
institutions, reinforced by missionary educational and other activity and by
the personal attitudes o f the British officials and others scattered all over the
country. There was no com pulsion; no one was compelled to become
Christian, profess utilitarianism, wear English clothes, or play cricket.
Western thought and attitudes were placed side by side with Indian in an ever-
widening circle o f Indian minds. The significant fact is that those minds were
influenced by this process to an increasing degree. An index o f this fact is that
whereas before the M utiny nearly all the new educational institutions were
governmental or missionary, in the twenty years from 1873 to 1893 the num­
ber o f colleges, in spite o f a reduction in government support, increased nearly
threefold from 55 to 156.8 '
In this process the British were not merely acting for themselves; they were
the agents for the whole process o f the expansion o f Westèrn culture into the
East, brokers, more or less honest, managing agents, more or less efficient.
T he failure to recognize this distinction has been the cause o f much mis­
understanding. W hile to the British bridges and railways and m odern techno­
logy were all part o f the ‘ manifold blessings o f British ru le’, to Indians they
seemed to be things which had to come anyhow. I f anything, the British were
to blame fo r not bringing them sooner or in larger quantity. In view o f the
rapid shrinkage o f the world it must be accepted that India would have been
largely Westernized anyhow ; the exact nature o f such a process is now-,a
profitless speculation. N one the less, the British in fact deliberately started the
process with their policy decisions o f the 1830s.. India is the richer today be­
cause that decision,- though sometimes tardily implemented, was taken as long
ago as 1835, the date o f Bentinck’s language decisions, instead of, as in the
case o f Indonesia, not until the twentieth century was well advanced.
T h e role o f the British as agents covers much o f the British m aterial achieve­
ments and also much ideological merchandise. In the form er realm the
British were the agents for the developing science o f the W est with its in­
ductive logic and experimental methods. The first visible sign o f this importa­
tion was the Calcutta M edical College established by Bentinck, where dedic­
ated Hindu students broke caste in the name o f the new knowledge and the
new methods. These new principles came in their theoretical form through the
colleges and in their concrete form at first through engineering and then
through the new industrialism. The growth o f the mechanized cotton industry
in the later nineteenth century was sym bolic o f practical India’s acceptance o f
Western techniques, as the growth o f private arts colleges was sym bolic o f
Indian acceptance o f Western ideas. The word acceptance should not be in­
terpreted as wholesale adoption to the exclusion o f Indian ideas. It would be
more accurate to say that these things were entertained alongside their Indian
counterparts. T h e critical process o f assimilation had still to come, but it was
recognized that these things had come to stay in the country and in future had
to be reckoned with as part o f its heritage.
On the ideological .side must be placed the whole range o f ideas and values
* B. B. Misra, The initiait Mithtte Classes, London, 1961, p. 283.-
 The Mughals and (he British 363
which come from (he West. Officials, non-officials, and missionaries carried
them in very varied forms, but these forms were all expressions o f funda­
mental concepts rooted in the West as a whole. N one o f these things were
really new to India viewed in her totality; they were new to contem porary
India becausè they had been overlaid by custom through long stretches o f
Indian history. Intellectually the concept o f the critical reason, more particul­
arly a product o f the Enlightenment, was introduced under the cloak o f
criticism o f Indian customs, institutions, and ideas. T he cry o f ‘ superstition’
and 'abom ination o f heathenism’ were Anglicized versions o f V oltaire’s
‘ écrasez l ’infâm e’ and further back o f Greek scepticism. W hen these things
roused echoes in Indian minds it was the European tradition as a whole
rather than the British in particular they were recording.
From the same basis o f European values came the emphasis on universal
human rights and duties, on the rights o f the individual as a person, and his
responsibility for and to society as a whole. These things came in the British
forms o f evangelical and radical humanism, o f the radical rights o f man, and
o f W hig contractual civil rights. But they had their root m ore im m ediately in
French thought and more ultimately in the whole classical Christian tradition.
T o this source must be ascribed social criticism o f such things as sali, infanti­
cide, Hindu widowhood, caste, and popular religious cults. E qually from the
same source must be derived the positive aspect o f these ideas, the equality o f
all not only before G od but also before the law, the personality and citizen­
ship o f women as well as men, the principles o f dem ocracy. T h e part o f the
British in introducing these things was very great. But in this respect they are
to be judged, not so much by the things they sponsored, as by the fidelity o f
the sponsorship. A s in the material sphere, w e cannot say that these things
would not have come without them ; we can only say that they would have
come at a different time and in a different way.
There remains the question o f an Indo-British» culture analogous to the
Indo-Persian culture o f the M ughals. W ill the European intrusion prove no
more than a smile on the face o f the elusive goddess M âyâ? T h e M acaulayes-
que dream o f brown Englishmen m ingling the waters o f the Tham es with the
Ganges has long since faded. But authorities like the late G . T . G arratt and
G uy Wint have thought that they discerned signs of. a hybrid culture m ore
serious than the social curiosities recorded by K ipling. In so far as it existed, it
was confined to a much smaller Indian circle than in the case o f the M ughal
‘ nearly but not quite’ Indo-Persian culture. The mixing o f the races in the
British case was far less free and less continuous. Y o u cannot develop a hybrid
culture on board ship or in the intervals between leave in Europe and retire-
mént. T h e real impact o f the West on India has been the steady percolation o f
Western ideas and values into Indian minds by all kinds o f agencies and at all
levels. This has produced a ferment in the corporate Indian mind itself. T h e
symptoms first appeared with Ram M ohan R o y ’s activities o f nearly a
century and a h alf ago. They have since appeared in religious, social, political,
and intellectual movements. But they do not add up to a new Indo-European
culture. Rather these forces are working within the mind o f Hinduism to
* This term is used in preference to the old term Anglo-Indian, which now has a different
and defined connotation.
364 The Mughals and the British

produce modifications o f outlook and attitude. I f the Western pressure is

long and strong enough it may produce eventually a culture compounded
o f Eastern and Western elements but distinct from either. Previous foreign
contacts could not be sustained long enough to provoke permanent large-scale
change. The shrinkage o f the world and the Western technological drive sug­
gest that this condition no longer holds, in which case the prospect is exciting
indeed. But the excitement is a long-term one and for the present it can only be
said that a process o f assimilation, o f give and take, is going on. And, let it be
added, the giving will not only be on the Western or the taking on the Indian
side. M odern Indian influence on Europe began in the eighteenth century; it
has increased in the twentieth with such figures as G andhi; it will steadily
grow in largely im palpable but significant ways with the increase o f East-West
contacts. One thing is certain: the traditional bràhmanical attitude of'neither
a borrower nor a lender b e ’ is gone for good.
CHAPTER XXVI

Hindu Religious and Social Reform in

British India
by J. T . F . J o r d e n s

IN TR O D U CTIO N
V i e w i n g the millennia o f Indian history, one can hardly think o f a greater
contrast than the one that exists between eighteenth-century and twentieth-
century India. On the one hand we have a stagnating traditional culture and
society at very low ebb, in fact in a state o f decadence not witnessed before, a
decadence condemned by most modern Indians from R âm M ohan R o y on­
wards. On the other hand we have a still traditional society in the throes and
the creative excitement o f modernizing itself, o f emerging as a new nation, re­
maining thoroughly its own and rooted in its culture, yet taking its place in
the contemporary world. The nineteenth century was the pivotal century that
saw the initiation o f this process, that brought about an enormous transforma­
tion in the religious, social, econom ic, political, and cultural spheres.
H ow did this transformation come abou t? M any interrelated factors were
involved. First we have the total impact o f the British. Raj. It influenced
Indian life through many channels: administration, legislation, trade, the
creation o f a network o f communications, inchoative industrialization and
urbanization, all had great influence not only on the m any Indians w ho be­
came directly involved in them, but also on society as a whole, because every
measure in some way interfered with some traditional patterns o f life. In the
cultural field too the British exerted pressure through the w ork o f scholars,
educators, and missionaries, orientalist, utilitarian, or evangelical. The sum
total o f this influence acted on the life and ideas o f the people in multiple
ways, forcing them to adjust their patterns o f life to the new circumstances
and thus effecting a continuum o f social change.
Standing out as landmarks in this gradual adaptation to new conditions are
the reformers. These are the Indians w ho consciously reacted to the new
situation and advocated deliberate changes in social and religious attitudes
and customs, involving a break with tradition itself. They saw change not as a
.'slow adaptive process, but as a positive value in itself, and contrasted it with
the negativity o f existing patterns. A s a group they had a great im pact on
nineteenth-century India, though they were not by far the only factor in
effecting change.
Social and religious reformers were, naturally, not a new phenomenon in
H induism ; in fact in some ways the very nature o f Hinduism is to be con­
tinuously adaptive and reformist. Y e t the nineteenth-century reform m ove­
ment was in general distinguished from previous Hindu reform by a cluster o f
new characteristics. It became closely wedded to a political movement, and
•consequently sought to influence political authority, administration, and
366 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India

legislation. This political movement became very soon an all-ltulin nationalist

movement, and reform acquired a nationalist flavour and an all-India exten­
sion. Whereas previously social reform was inextricably interwoven with re­
ligious motivation and religious reform, in the nineteenth century the relation­
ship o f the two oscillated, and sometimes secular and rationalistic motives
were the decisive ones, though in fact the century did produce a few reformers
who remained totally within the traditional pattern, and whose influence on
the period remained insignificant. Am ong them the most noteworthy are
Swàm î N àrâyana o f G ujarât, initiator o f a sect bearing his name, and
M ahatm a Râm alingam o f Tam ilnâdu. .
The reformers themselves had no doubts as to the main stimulants o f this
new spirit. The British administration, English education, and European
literature brought to India a constellation o f fresh.ideas which constituted a
challenge to the new intellectuals. Rationalism as the basis for'ethical think­
ing, the idea ofhum an progress and evolution,the possibility o f ‘ scientifically’
engineering social change, the concept o f natural rights connected with in­
dividualism, were all alien to traditional society. A n equally strong influence
was exerted by the ideas and the w ork o f the Christian missionaries. Although
some later nationalist writers tend to discount this influence, the nineteenth-
century reformers themselves, starting w ith Ràm M ohan R oy, did not hesitate
to give credit where it was due, and acknowledged their indebtedness in no
uncertain terms, even while vigorously opposing certain aspects o f missionary
activity.
I. T H E F I R S T S T A O É : U P T O l8 8 o

In the first decades o f the nineteenth century, India had already produced a
small new social group, the English-educated intelligentsia, m ostly closely
associated with British administration or British trade. It was amongst these
people that several ideas o f reform first arose. They were primarily trying to
deal with a personal problem that affected their own lives very deeply: con­
stant contact with Britishers and European ideas made them lo o k upon some
social and religious characteristics o f their own society with horror and dis­
gust. Social reform in this first stage was mostly prompted by the desire o f
these people to cope with the difficulties which they expérienced,themselves
and which were experienced too by others, belonging to their European-
influenced group. Thete was not as yet any concern.for the mass o f the people,
or any desire to transform the structure o f society at large! W hat they wanted
was to reshape their lives according to the new standards and values they were
discovering. T hey sotight to clarify their own ideas, and propagate them
am ong their kindred intelligentsia. Thus this first stage was a time o f pro­
paganda rather than o f organization, a time when the reformer was almost
exclusively concerned with his own group, a time also when political concern
was inchoative and when it was generally held that personal social reform
needed to be based upon the solid foundation o f religious reform.
Bengal
Bengal was first to undergo significant British'influence and to produce the
new English-educated group. By the early 1800s we notice already a crystal­
 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India 367
lization o f different reactions to Western influence, and there emerge three
distinct groups, the radicals,. the reformers, and the conservatives. R âm
M ohan R oy (1772-1833) was the first great m odern reformer, and has for
good reason been called ‘ T he Father o f M odern In d ia’ . In his youth he
studied Persian and A rabic, as well as classical Sanskrit texts. H is w ork for the
E ast India Com pany and his commercial success allowed him at the age o f
forty-tw o to retire from business and settle in Calcutta in com fortable cir­
cumstances. The twenty years left o f his life were o f param ount im portance to
Bengal and the rest o f India. His studies o f Islam and Hinduism and his deep
acquaintance w ith the thought o f the W est equipped him m ore than any o f his
contemporaries for the role o f social and religious reformer that he was to
play.
In the religious sphere R âm M ohan ’s main target o f attack was the Hindu
system o f idolatry, its m ythology and.cult. H e proposed as an alternative a
deistic type o f theism, strongly influenced by European deism and the ideology
o f the Unitarians with whom he had close links. His remote, transcendent G od
was to be praised and adored from a distance w ithout the quest fo r interces­
sion or mystical union. His study o f other religions convinced him that below
their dogmas, rituals, and superstitions there lay hidden a com m on core o f
rational reh'gion and humanitarian ethics. T hat is w hy he could write a eulogy
o f Christian m orality in his Precepts o f Jesus and yet attack ChristianJheology
and engage for several years in controversy with the missionaries. He claimed
that his reformed Hinduism was to be found in the ancient Upanishads, some
o f which he translated, and in the Vedanta. In fact his very schem atic religious
creed has, apart from the name o f Brahm a, practically no specifically Hindu
content.
A s a social reformer, R âm M ohan’ s interest was mainly in the appalling
condition o f women in Hindu society, an interest that was to dom inate the
social reform movement for m any decades. He is rightly fam ous for his long
and successful campaign for the abolition o f sati, the. self-im m olation o f
widows on the funeral pyres o f their husbands, and he fought incessantly
against child marriage and for female education. .
Râm M ohan’s method was primarily propaganda, leading on to agitation.
His propaganda was carried out by streams o f tracts from his pen, all related
to his reforming ideas. This was reinforced by journalism : he was a pioneer in
the birth o f the vernacular press, m ainly through his Bengàl! and Persian
weeklies. He also strongly prom oted English-type education as the main in­
strument for reform. Râm M ohan’s propaganda led on to agitation proper, in
order to marshal public opinion by meetings and petitions and thus to in­
fluence the government. H e was the first to agitate, organize, and succeed. A s
.time went on R âm M ohan realized m ore and more that political agitation had
to be used to influence the government, and the last years o f his life spent in
^England were mainly directed to this work, again settihg a trend for the de-
■cades to come. ,The crowning achievement o f R âm M bhan’s organizational
.efforts was the foundation o f the Brâhm o Sabhâ (later know n as Bràhm o
Sam âj)in 1828. This was a religious body ‘ to teach and to practise the worship
o f the one G o d ’. It had a temple o f its own, where congregational worship
;took place, free from idolatry and superstition, modelled mostly-on U nitarian
368 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India

worship. D uring Rani M ohan’s lifetime and for a decade afterwards it was but
a small body o f men gathering regularly for religious services, but later under
new leaders it became o f much greater significance. __
Râm M ohan never broke with Hinduism, and in his public life he was care­
ful not to offend the orthodox: he felt reform had to be carried out from within
the Hindu community. T his view was repudiated by the young radicals o f the
time, led by the brilliant Eurasian teacher Henry D erozio (1809-31), whose
movement came to be known as ‘ Y o u n g B engal’. Their religion was rational­
ism, and they bitterly attacked orthodoxy in all its aspects. N ot only was their
talk revolutionary, but their actions often matched their convictions: some
threw away their sacred thread, ate beef, and openly flaunted their contempt
for Hinduism, and for ‘ half-liberals’ like Râm M ohan. O rthodox society was
up in arms and acted sw iftly to dismiss D erozio from Hindu College and put
pressure on the other young men. It was a massive campaign in which many
suffered severely even from their families. D erozio’s premature death in 1831
weakened Y o u n g Bengal, and by the 1840s it was dead as a movement: the
youth o f its members, their lack o f clear ideology and leadership, their isola­
tion from real society, were handicaps too great to allow them to survive as a
group the onslaught o f the orthodox. But many individuals o f this group,
matured by age, trained in the hard school o f rational thought and fired with
burning nationalism, became outstanding figures in governm ent posts and in
the hectic political and cultural life o f Bengal.
The orthodox formed the extreme right in the Bengali society o f the time.
U nder the able leadership o f Ràdhàkânta D eb (1794-1876), they were the de­
fenders o f the'socio-reiigious status quo against both reformers and radicals,
and they formed in 1830 the Dharm a Sabhâ. This was the m ost wealthy o f the
H indu parties, and the largest in numbers. Through its newspaper it fought
the reformers every inch o f the way for the protection o f orthodoxy. Y e t the
orthodox party in fact contributéd considerably to the reform movement by
its very active role in prom oting English education, even am ong girls.
A fter Râm M ohan R o y’s death the Brâhmo Samàj was in the doldrums for
a decade, and then Debendranâth Tâgore (1817-1905) took over its leadership
and gave it a new direction. He changed the Samàj from a loose society into
an organization with members form ally initiated by a ceremony. He drew up
a declaration o f faith, established a theological school, sent out the first
B râhm o missionaries, and created a new liturgy, the ‘ Brahma R ites’ . He him ­
se lf was inclined towards the contemplative and the bhakti aspect o f Hindu­
ism, and averse to Râm M ohan ’s rationalism. W ith a stress on devotion,
ethical duties, and the near-Yedic but non-idolatrous Brahma rites, the Samâj
m oved closer to the mainstream o f Hinduism, as it grew quickly in numbers.
Its m ain preoccupation was with religious not social reform, arid it avoided
offending orthodoxy too much.
B ut w ith Keshub Chandra Sen (1838-84) a new wind started to blow in the
Samàj. Soon after his accession to the Society, Debendranâth elevated him to
leadership next to himself. Keshub was an impatient iconoclastic reformer, re­
pudiating all Hindu cult, rejecting caste and the seclusion o f women. In reli­
gion he had a new ‘ universalisée’ tendency, with strong leanings towards
Christianity, Soon the Sam âj split in tw o; on the one hand Debendranâth and
 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India 369

the older members, cautious -in reform, Hindu in religion, formed the Adi
Bràhmo Sam âj; on the other K eshub and his young men, impatient and cos­
mopolitan, established the new Brâhm o Samâj o f India. Sen’s Samâj was the
most popular. Universalism was stressed by the introduction o f selected texts
from the great religions, and on the other hand the connection with Hinduism
and with Bengal was strengthened by the adoption o f modes o f worship
characteristic o f the followers o f Chaitanya, siich as the public devotionalism
o f the samkirtan. In the social sphere too K eshub forged ahead, and in 1871,
after visiting England, he founded the Indian Reform Association, which
organized female education, workers’ education, charity, and temperance
bodies. Keshub achieved a great success in the passing o f the M arriage A ct
(1872) which legalized Brâhm o marriages. This, however, was perhaps the
main factor in effectively separating the Bràhraos from the Hindu com m unity,
thus impeding greatly their effectiveness as a leaven o f society.
The year 1872 constituted the peak o f K eshub’s career and influence: at
that time he was no doubt the most vigorous, inspiring, and admired religious
and social reformer in India. It was perhaps the influence o f Râinakrishna that
now made Keshub become increasingly obsessed with his own religious de­
velopment. He saw him self more and more as a new prophet, a new Christ, a
new Chaitanya. He introduced new eclectic Hindu rites involving lights and
fire and M other-worship, while at the same time he was more and more
attracted to. Christianity. A ll this mystic preoccupation drew him aw ay from
social reform. When in 1878 be allowed his thirteen-year-old daughter to
marry a prince with Hindu rites, it was the occasion for the m ajority o f
Brâhmos to break away, form ing the Sâdhâran Bràhmo Samâj. Keshub now
formed the Church o f the N ew Dispensation, intended to unite all creeds. It
was a strange syncretism o f beliefs and cults, with as its centre K eshub, the
new Christ. Soon after K eshub’s death it broke up into insignificant parties.
O f the three Samâjes it was the Sâdhâran which persisted and remained a
force for reform in Bengal. Keshub somehow made it impossible for this first
socio-religious reform movement in India really to become an all-India affair,
and, despite his popularity, the movement proved to have no lasting effect on
the masses. On the other hand, Keshub at his best did augur the next stage o f
the movement in his vision o f an all-India reform and one that concerned the
masses.
During this time Bengal also produced the scholar Isvarachandra
Vidyâsâgar (1820-91) who took up the widow remarriage movement, the first
social reform cause that was taken up all over the country, and who saw it to
a successful conclusion. Scholar and principal o f Sanskrit College, he is
venerated as the ‘ father o f the Bengali prose style’ . The reform he advocated
and saw become law, namely that a high-caste widow could legally remarry,
affected few individuals and in fact was taken advantage o f by very few for
many years to come. Nevertheless, the widow remarriage movement was very
important because it became the inspiration o f other reform movements all
over the country.

Maharashtra
From 1840 on we find in Mahârâshtra ample evidence o f a growing
 37° Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India

religious and social reform awareness. There were already iu many places local
reform groups and societies, many o f which were started by students o f the
lElphinstone Institution founded in 1827. In this early stage two personalities
already stand out. G opàl Hari Deshm ukh (1823-92), known as Lokahita-
wàdî, was English-educated and destined for a legal career. His writings iu
M arathi contained bitter attacks against the social iniquities o f traditional
society, the caste system, and the condition o f women, He also denounced
loudly that typical feature o f M aharashtra, the absolute intellectual and
moral dominance o f brâhmans over Hindu life. His friend and collaborator
Jotibà Govind PhQle (1827-90), o f low caste, took up this fight against bràh-
m anic oppression in his voluminous prose and poetic works, and gave it con­
crete form in his organization for the uplift o f -the low castes, the Satyasodhak
Samàj. Am ong many theoretical reformers, Phüle was a very practical man:
.h e started girls’ schools, schools for untouchables, a foundling home for
widows’ children. His passionate and practical concern was for the poor, the
low-caste workers, the peasants. In his w ork we find the beginnings o f the later
political anti-bràhman movement o f Maharashtra, and also o f the trade
unions..
In 1867 M aharashtra brought forth its own organization o f religious and
social reform, the Prârthanà Samâj. It was a visit o f Keshub Chahdra Sen as
a Brâhm o Samâj missionary that inspired the Mahârâshtrians to found their
own society. T h e theism o f the Prârthanà Samâj was similar to that o f its
! Bengali counterpart, but it was consciously linked with the bhakti tradition o f
the M aharashtrian saints. There was the same rejection o f idolatry, a negative
attitude to the Vedas and transmigration, and a similar type o f congregational
worship. Social reform was also closely connected with religious reform, con­
cerning itself m ainly with the iniquities o f the caste system and the condition
o f women.
Despite these similarities to Bengal, the movement in Maharashtra was also
in certain aspects quite different from its Bengali counterpart. The Maharash­
trians saw reform as.a gradual process o f transformation o f values and in­
stitutions. They invoked their own medieval bhakti tradition as another reform
movement that'was evolutionary, not revolutionary. Reform should not break
with Hinduism nor'should it break with society. Their social behaviour was
guided by this caution: though iconoclastic in their pronouncements, they
were careful not to offend orthodoxy and caste prejudices by rebellious action.
They also had a different attitude towards the connection between religious
and social reform. Whereas the Bengàlïs felt the need o f a close relation be­
tween the two, and wére inwardly compelled either to become atheists or to
form a new creed and cult in order to make the two harmonize, the M ahârâsh­
trians believed that social and religious reforms could go their separate, yet
connected, evolutionary ways. There was no need to revolutionize the social
fabric or the Hindu reljgion. A s a result they concentrated on the propagation
o f their ideas througffeducation and writing on the one hand, and they got
down to the practical task o f social work on the other.
The Prârthanà Samâj, as an organization, never had a great influence. But
its members, like M . G . Rânade, R . G . Bhândarkàr, and K . T . Telang, were
am ong the great leaders o f nineteenth-century M ahârâshtra and they became
 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India 371
the founders o f the Social Reform M ovement in later years. The special
character o f this movement ensured the possibility o f its reaching out to the
whole society, and not ju st to a separate sectarian group, and thus it was
able to develop into a movement for general social reform; as we shall
soon see.
A t this early stage religious and social reform was practically non-existent
in Madras. There were some Brâhm o Samâj and som e Pràrthanâ Sam àj
-groups, established by Bengali and M aharashtrian missionaries, but M adras
"was very slow to get really started. The reason for this seems to have been the
peculiar social structure prevalent there. It was a very rigid, ossified system,
fiercely dominated by the brâhmans, w ho were also the few jlnglish-educated
south India had so far produced. Social reform to o k long to break through in
: this region.

North India
Northern India in the meantime produced a real Hindu Luther, whose re­
form w ork was to have the deepest and most lasting effect. D ayânanda
Saraswatï’s (1824-83) form ative years were very different from those o f m ost
other reformers, for whom English education was a m ajor element in their
development. D ayânanda, from a G ujaràtî brahman fam ily, ran aw ay from
hom e in his youth to becom e an ascetic. F or seventeen years he wandered
around India, putting him self to school under different teachers, and observ­
ing Hinduism with a closeness no other reformer ever achieved. In 1863 he
became a wandering preacher, and five years later he added the establishment
o f schools to his activities. In 1872 he met the Brâhm os in C alcutta, and he is
said to have followed two suggestions o f K eshub : to give up his sarmyàsi's
near-nakedness and dress like a townsman, and to preach in the vernacular
instead o f in Sanskrit. B y now his ideas had crystallized, and in 1875 he
published his major work the Satyàrth Prakdsh and founded his reform society,
the  rya Samàj.
This enormously impressive and powerful figure was a striking com bination
o f the traditional ascetic and the m odem reformer. T he form ative years o f his
life were spent as a wandering sannyâsi learning the scriptures, striving
through yoga and asceticism to find his religious fulfilment, and all the time
observing living Hinduism from within. Then quite suddenly he appears on
the stage as a Luther, attacking the excrescences o f Hinduism. But his style is
still very traditional: his preaching is done orally in Sanskrit, and he challenges
the great pandits to public debates where he endeavours to prove his point o f
view by reference to the scriptures. A nd finally, after his contact with the
Bràluno and Pràrthanâ Samâj leaders, a new approach emerges: that o f the
organizing reformer. And here we see him successfully adopt the modern re­
form techniques: the vernacular, publication, education, organization. It was
the powerful combination o f all these elements that made D ayânanda into a
unique figure among the nineteenth-century reformers.
D ayànanda's theological visiop was one that errlerged neither from a per­
sonal mysticism nor from Western ideas, but from the intimate observation o f
the corrupt Hinduism o f his day. He attacked polytheism, idolatry, and the
372 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India

many superstitious beliefs and rites connected with them, and the stranglehold
o f the brâhmans on sacred lore and religious practice. He had the vision o f a
primeval monotheism, above the paraphernalia and hostilities o f all human
creeds. This religion, he felt, was in fact the original V edic religion, which was
contained in the four Vedas but had become corrupted over the centuries. It
was his aim to propagate the truth o f that religion, to reinstate it in its purity,
and thereby to reinstate the Indian people in their, forgotten glory. Thus
D ayânanda’s religion, whilst denouncing much o f contemporary Hinduism,
kept close to orthodoxy in several basic ways: belief in the Vedas, and in
karma and transmigration, and allegiance to the six darshanas and tó the
various Hindu names for the one G od . This theology had a great attraction
for many, especially because o f its proud assertion o f the superiority o f the
Vedic faith over all religions, and its offer o f the possibility o fb e in g a non-
idolatrous monotheist without ceasing to be a thorough Hindu.
In his reform o f ritual D ayànanda was inspired by the same spirit. Though
he purged them o f their idolatrous and superstitious impurities, he kept
the basic rites o f Hinduism: the five daily sacrifices and the sixteen sacra­
ments. T o these he added the new reformist type o f communal worship,
including the singing o f hymns, sermons, and lectures, besides the new homa
sacrifice.
D ayànanda’s social reform was founded on the basic assumption that the
many sectarian or caste taboos and customs that tyrannized over every aspect
o f a Hindu’s life had in themselves no religious meaning. Over the centuries
these excrescences had accumulated and had been given religious im portance
by the brahmans in order to dominate the people. T h e contemporary caste
system was nothing but the utter degeneration o f the original V edic varna
system: society was then divided in four classes according to the deeds and
qualities o f each individual person, and women had equal rights with men.
That was the system, D ayànanda felt, to which India should return, and the
main instruments o f reform would have to be three. Schools would rear the
children in the new spirit, com pletely isolated from contem porary society;
government action would reclassify people according to qualities and merit;
and a sudditi campaign would bring Christians and Muslims back to the Hindu
fold. This aim and program m e were obviously long-range, and D ayànanda
was too much o f a realist to expect implementation o f the perfect society in
his own day: he did not launch a direct attack on caste, nor did he expect
anti-caste action from his followers.
The beginnings o f the  rya Samâj were tentative. Although m any aspects
o f D ayânanda’s social platform and the iconoclastic side o f his religious pro­
gramme appealed to many, the intellectuals o f Bom bay and Calcutta, in­
fluenced as they were by their own provincial attitudes towards religious re­
form, found D ayânanda’s V ed ic creed not at all palatable. But after a few
years the Samâj scored explosive success in the Panjâb, and from then on it
became the most broadly based movement o f all. Although D ayànanda does
in a sense belong to this first period o f individualistic reform, in another way
he represents a transitional stage and inaugurates future developments with
his vision o f a complete overhaul o f Hindu society and his creative am algam a­
tion o f reform and nationalism.
 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India 373

II. The Second Stage: 1880-1900

From 1880 two important tendencies which had been stirring in the previous
decades occupied the Indian scene: nationalism and political action. From
now on individuals and groups openly identified themselves with an Indian
nation, a nesv concept in Indian history; and this élite group, consciously
nationalist, conceived its function as being primarily one o f political agitation
and reform. This predominance o f nationalism and politics now began to
exert influence on the ideas o f religious and social reform which had pre­
viously prevailed. Nationalism itself developed two patterns, a religious one
and a secular one, and each school assigned a different place to social reform.
T w o early outstanding examples o f the new religious nationalism are
Bankim and T ilak. It is very striking how the religious nationalism o f both in
fact had deep provincial roots, and m ay be seen as Bengali and M aharashtrian
nationalism respectively, only half-heartedly projected on to an all-India scale.
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838-94) found Bengal divided between the
traditionalist orthodox and the progressive reformers, both o f whom he saw
as unable to create a real revival, the ones slaves to rigid tradition, the others
blind admirers o f the W est. Bankim felt that real revival could only be
achieved by changing the national character through an internal reform o f
Hinduism. F or the last twenty years o f his life Bankim wrote volum inously
with that one purpose: to lay the religious foundations o f the revival o f a
strong Bengal, virile and independent. His religion combines the humanism o f
Positivism with the activist interpretation o f the Krishna m yth and o f the
Bengali cult o f the M other Goddess. His novels in particular awoke in the
Bengalis, first the middle class, and later the masses, a self-confidence and
pride in their language and their religion. It was a new nationalism, pro­
foundly Bengali, and radically Hindu, the religious aspect o f which was re­
inforced by a new pride in the historical heroes o f Bengal as celebrated in
Bankim’s novels.
Bal Gangâdhar Tilak (1857-1920) was as Maharashtrian in his nationalism
as Bankim was Bengali. He too wanted the Indians to become strong again,
proud and united in nationalism, and he too saw Hinduism as the very basis
o f this new spirit. T o promote this spirit he published books and articles,
exalting the antiquity and greatness o f Hinduism, and preaching activism in
his GUâ Rahasya. But he did m ore: he inaugurated new Hindu festivals, the
Ganapati festival and the éivâjî festival, thus reaching the populace with his
ideas o f Hindu nationalistic activism, instilling in them a pride in their
glorious Maharashtrian past. Although he was not himself against social
change, he was against social reform inspired by Western ideas. H e advocated
the severance o f social reform and political agitation. N ationalist Hindu
politics should come first and extend to the masses, and this was incom patible
in his mind with social reform. He relentlessly fought the reformers on this
point.
It was in the 1880s that the social reform movement at last became or­
ganized on a national basis. It was a Bom bay Parsi, Behrâmjî M alabârï (1853—
1912), who launched the issue that set social reform on its way to becoming
consciously national: the campaign for the legal checking o f infant marriage
374 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India

by aD A ge o f Consent Bill. M alabârl's campaign was different from earlier

ones in that it was the w ork o f a determined and skilful journalist who was
primarily intent on putting tbe concrete and harrowing reality before the
people in such a way that it could not be ignored. And ignored it was not. N o
other cause excited such a storm over the whole o f India fo r such a prolonged
period. N o reform er or politician could afford not to take sides. T he A g e o f
Consent Bill controversy put social reform on the national m ap, never to be
ignored again, and achieved the indissoluble wedding o f social reform with
the nationalist movement. On the one hand it thus propagated effectively
social reform ideas, but on the other hand it also publicized the anti-reformers,
revivalists like Tilak, and made them close their ranks. This first battle
between the reformers and the revivalists was won by the former, whose
ideology was best expressed by Rânade and implemented in the National
Social Conference.
When the Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 the question came
up immediately whether or not the Congress should include social reform in
its deliberations. The question was debated for a couple o f years, while the
A ge o f Consent Bill controversy was raging, and it was finally decided to ex­
clude social questions from Congress deliberations, but to form a separate
body, The N ational Social Conference, to meet each year immediately after
the Congress meeting. M . G . Rânade (1852-1901) was the key theorist and
organizer o f this Conference. The first important way in which the C on­
ference broke with the existing provincial social reform bodies, was in its
affirmation o f a secular ideology: thus it had the same secular roots as the
Congress, emphasizing that individual conscience and humanism were the;.
basic .motives o f reform. The Conference was not an active instigator o f re­
form ; its role was that o f a national focus o f local reform w ork: local work
was given national recognition, and the reformers discussed their aims and
methods in this forum , and passed resolutions o f an all-India nature. Rânade,
the guiding fight, walked the tightrope in trying to keep the different ap­
proaches together, advocating reform along the lines o f least resistance. But
as the century drew to a close, the more radical reformers became more vo ca f :
and pressing for .action. When Rânade died in 1901 and bis leadership was
taken over by Chandavarkâr, an era o f moderation ended, and a new urgency
and impatience, a bolder spirit asserted itself.
W hile during the last two decades o f the nineteenth century the evolution
described above was going on on the national stage, the provincial reform
groups continued their own growth. In this period the social reform move­
ment experienced a steady growth o f adherents and activities in all areas,
except Bengal.

Maharashtra
In M aharashtra all rpajor towns started their own local Reform Associa-.,
tions, the activity and !growth o f which depended much on the individual
leaders. A n outstanding personality was the widow Panditâ R am âbâl (1858­
1922) who founded in 1890 the Sharada Sadan, a home for high class widows
in Poona. She was closely assisted by D hondu Kheshave (later Mahârshi)
K ârve, who married a widow him self and revived the W idows Remarriage
 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India 375

Association o f Poona. H e too established a home fo r widows, and prom oted

female education. The Prârthanâ Samâj continued its w ork, and sponsored
reform mainly through educational w ork directed at wom en and low-caste
workers, elementary schools, and orphanages. Although it was little pre­
occupied with religious life and reform, it retained, in an age when secularist
humanism was strong, the vital connection between social and religious
reform.

Madras
M adras at this time was only just beginning to interest itself in social re­
form. T h e rigidity o f the caste structure and the slower political awakening in
this province were certainly important causes o f this delay. In 1892 the M adras
Hindu Social Reform Association came into being, led m ostly by radical re­
formers. They, however, were a small high-caste group, and their ambition
was m ostly turned inwards upon the members, w ho individually took a num ­
ber o f reformist pledges. T w o individual reformers did m ake their mark in
local work at the time: Vîresalingam Pantulu (1848-1919), whose efforts were
concerned with the plight o f widows, and R . V enkata Ratnam N aidu (1862­
1939), who started a ‘ social purity m ovem ent’ advocating temperance and
com bating the devadâsï custom.

Bengal
In Bengal, where social change had advanced rapidly, social reform went
into a depression. The Sâdhâran Bràhm o Samâj was very active in philan­
thropic w ork on behalf o f the underprivileged and the low er classes, but it was
not engaged in social reform as such. A n outstanding exception was Shashl-
pada Banerji, w ho worked valiantly for the uplift o f women and widows, and
married a widow himself. In this province, where the commitment by some to
orthodoxy and by others to the W est was more passionate and fanatical than
elsewhere, the all-absorbing intensity o f political commitment and the passion
o f cultural revival relegated social reform into the background.
Nevertheless, Bengal did produce a religious figure o f immense influence:
Râm akrishna (1834-86). A simple temple priest at the tem ple o f K a li ait D ak-
khineshwarl near Calcutta, he achieved fame as a great mystic. H e combined
simplicity o f preaching, mystical and philosophical depth, spiritual intensity,
and direct earnestness, with a pure Hinduness to such a .degree that even the
most Westernized and sophisticated could hardly withstand his fascination.
1 His doctrine, arrived at by experimentation with other religions, was simply
that 'a ll religions are tru e’, but that for everyone the religion he was born in
was the best possible one. In a âankarite way he did not condemn idolatry, as
it met the religious needs o f simple péople. In the last years o f his life he at­
tracted around him self a group o f youn g educated Bengfills w ho were capti­
vated by his personality and his doctrines. T h e leader o f these was
Narendranâth D atta (1862-1902), w ho became V ivekânàhda, the founder o f
the Râm akrishna M ission and o f a new order o f monks. H is influence on
Indian nationalism will be discussed later, and also thè im portance o f the
Râmakrishna M ission as a religious and social reform organization.
376 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India

North India
In northern India, the Panjâb and the North-Western Province, social re­
form was organized in a unique way. General bodies had little impact here: it
was the  rya Samâj and the caste organizations that dominated the scene.
The  rya Samâj, though it experienced a split between orthodox and liberals
in 1893, grew as no reform b od y ever grew: by the end o f the century' its mem­
bers were fast approaching 100,000. Their educational work was advancing
steadily and they soon rivalled the Christian missionaries in the number o f
their schools. D ayànanda had certainly found the right formula for success: a
combination o f elements found in isolation elsewhere. The Samâj was effi­
ciently administered and it had the cohesion and strength o f a caste organiza­
tion without being one; its members rivalled the Brahm os in religious zeal; yet
its social programme avoided the radicalism o f the Bràhm ós, but was rather
inspired by the liberal approach o f the Prârthanà Sam âj: whilst continuing its
intensive propaganda against idolatry, polytheism, and'the social abuses o f
Hinduism, a propaganda reaching effectively an increasing percentage o f the
north Indian population, the Samâj did not require a break with Hindu
society. The À ry a Samâj began effectively to reach out to the masses and
started the process o f changing Hindu society from within.
It was in the north that the first new caste organizations arose. Here the
caste system had some characteristics which distinguished it from other re­
gions and made reform through caste possible: the dominance o f the brah­
mans was com paratively weak, the m ajority o f people belonged to inter­
mediate contiguous castes, and the lowest groups were not so depressed as in
other areas. Castes were traditionally welj organized and held effective power
over their members. W hat was new was that associations o f related castes
came into being: these were voluntary bodies to which caste leaders attached
their own groups. Their prime concern was the w elfare o f the members, but
their programm e included many o f the ideals and principles advocated by
social reformers, so that the N ational Social Conference officially acknow­
ledged them as reform societies.
In 1887 the K âyastha Conference was formed in Lucknow, comprising the
group o f subcastes whose traditional occupation was that o f writer. The early
split o f the organization into a reformist and an orthodox section testifies to
the eager reformist ideas o f a good number o f its leaders. Another important
organization was that o f the Vaisbyas, established in 1891. T hey succeeded in
avoiding a split although their social reform platform was quite advanced, and
their number and influence grew quickly, as can be gathered from the fact
that by 1900 over too local sabhds were associated with the Conference. In
this period the caste organizations kept away from politics, but in the twen­
tieth century they assumed in several areas o f India very great political
importance, in fact frequently dominating the political game.

III. The Third Stage: from 1poo

The first two decades o f the twentieth century saw Indian politics engaged
in .the great debate between the moderates and the extremists, and in their
struggle for control o f the Congress. That story is told in another chapter. The
 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India 377
development o f the social reform movement, however, was intimately con­
nected with that debate and that struggle. T h e main objections o f the .ex­
tremists against the moderate leadership were tw o: that in aims and methods
the moderates were completely British-oriented and therefore slow and un­
patriotic; and that they did not reach down to the mass o f the people. The
extremists advocated a militancy based on national and religious identification
and wanted involvement o f the masses. W e have seen how these two essential
aspects o f religious nationalism and concern for the people were beginning to
make themselves felt in Dayânanda, K eshub, and Bankim . N o w they became
the distinguishing characteristics o f some o f the most influential leaders o f the
lime: Aurobindo Ghose, Làjpat Râi, and Vivekananda.
W e saw how in the last two decades o f the nineteenth century social reform
was dominated by the nationalistic secularists. T he revivalist extremists
naturally opposed this approach vehemently, as being denationalizing and de­
grading because it was based on European ideas and aspired' to European
models. So an intense debate between the reformers and the revivalists en­
sued. H ow ever, most o f the revivalists, except T ilak, were themselves very
much committed to social reform in m any spheres o f life. In their interchange
w ith the reformers it became increasingly clear that, as far as the programme
o f reform was concerned, there was a very large area o f agreement between
the two groups. The differences lay in inspiration, in m otivation, and in the
model o f society they aspired to. T he revivalists succeeded in demonstrating
that a purely nationalistic motive and a Hindu model could be the inspiration
for whatever reform the reform er envisaged. B ut they proved m ore than that:
they showed that Hindu nationalism and an ideal Hindu society had a mass
appeal that was absent in Western-type reform. These arguments were irre­
sistible, and the reform movement as a whole changed its image and its m odel
in the direction o f revivalist Hindu nationalism, and veered towards a concern
^for- the mass o f the people. L et us now see how this revivalist Hinduism
r evolved in different ways in some o f the outstanding personalities, and how
S the concern for broader-based social reform affected the evolution o f re-
'.'formist bodies.
I 'Vivekananda (1863-1902), the great disciple o f Râm akrishna, was strongly
^‘influenced by very different streams o f thought. First there was his Western
5 education, and close contact with K eshu b’s Brâhmo Samàj. Then followed the
5 influence o f his master Ramakrishna, tbe Hindu mystic. A fter the master’s
j; death Yivekânanda wandered around India, and then he spent several years in
r Am erica and Europe. Thus, among the nationalists o f his time, his experience
■ was perhaps the broadest. His knowledge o f living Hinduism approached
fD ayân an d a’s. His knowledge o f the W est was not only theoretical, but he
■ knew the W est from personal experience, which allowed him to renounce all
fits evils and yet .acknowledge its strength. He knew tbe reform movement at
iifirst hand, and on his. wanderings through India he had verified the paltriness
'o f its impact. T he influence o f Râm akrishna on him was very great; it gave
Shim an overriding pride in the theoretical and practical achievements o f
^Hinduism. He saw the deficiencies o f Hinduism more clearly than many, and
■he denounced them more vehemently: the tyranny o f the brâhmans, the de­
gen eration o f caste, the stultification o f ritual, the physical and m oral
 J78 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India

cowardice. Y et he castigated the reformers mercilessly for their literature o f

abuse, their ‘ ornamental ’ reforms, their arrogance borrowed from a veneer o f
Western education. The reform he preached passionately was to be evolu­
tionary, not breaking with the past, inspired by the Hindu religious conviction
that man is God, reaching out to the root o f all evils, the condition o f the
poor. Such reform would lead to the punya bhümi, the holy land o f India,
where the nobility o f man and his spirituality would both be fully developed.
His influence on his time in the short decade o f his public life, on the
national scale, was the influence o f the powerful message o f a great national
saint. H aving shown to the W est the greatness o f Hinduism, he was listened
to when he spoke harshly o f Hindu shortcomings, and when he proclaimed
the message o f national religious renaissance. This message, however, was not
worked out into a programme, and.he did not have a political base; therefore
he did not become a national leader.- However, his leadership found scope in
the Râmakrishna Mission, which in this century has become an im portant
agency o f religious reform and social service, especially in Bengal.
The long life o f Aurobindo G hose (1872-1950) was full o f contrasts. His
education was completely English: from the age o f seven he spent fourteen
years in England.-On his return to India his political period began, ending in
1910 when he retired to his Pondicherry ashram and devoted his life to philo­
sophy and mysticism. In an early pamphlet, Bhaudni Mandir, Aurobindo
shows how strongly he had been influenced by Bankim ’s ideas. W e have here
the idea o f a religious order devoted to the Mother, and to political and social
action to regenerate India. The' Sakti, or M other, represents India, the mother­
land, which must be the focus o f these modern monks. This religious basis o f
nationalism remained essential'to Aurobindo throughout his political career;
in fact to him nationalism was religion. F rom his.very. early days hie also
accused the Congress o f failing to reach the masses, and proclaimed that it was
through the religion o f the M other that the masses could be effectively reached.
These ideas came to their full efflorescence during the years when he collabor­
ated with B. C . Pal.in the editorship o f Bande MStaram. His term in jail in
1908, where he-studied the Gita and experimented in yoga and form s o f
mysticism, completely redirected his life. H e retired to Pondicherry, where he
established an âshram. Here he built his own original philosophy o f integral
non-dualism and achieved the reputation o f a great mystic and a saint. He
acquired a number o f Indian and European followers, biit the Pondicherry
ashram was. very much.a.circle o f initiates in an esoteric gnostic religion with­
out any significant influence on Indian life.
Lâlâ Làjpat Râi (1856-1928), born in the Panjâb, was the son o f a Hindu
father with ieanings to Islam, who was a follow er o f Syed Ahm ad K hân, and
an orthodox Sikh mother, He was brought up on Islamic teachings, but soon
he rejected his upbringidg and strongly identified him self with Hinduism.
'A fter a time as a member o f the Brâhm o Samâj, he joined the À rya Samâj. In
1885 he founded with Hans R àj the D ayànanda Anglo-Vedic College at
Lahore, and became involved in À rya leadership; at the time o f the split in
1898, Lâjpat became the Ifeader o f the liberal branch. In the last decade o f the
nineteenth century his initial interest in Congress politics faded, but he came
back into the political sphere from 1900 onwards, became a very powerful ex-
 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India 379
tremisi leader, and was accused by the non-political A ryas o f draw ing thp
Samâj into politics against the desire o f D ayânanda. :
Làjpat R âi’s writings and actions clearly demonstrate th e.m an and his
ideas: Â rya ideology wedded to extremist nationalist politics. D uring the-
famines o f 1896-7 and 1899-1900, he was extremely active in relief operations,
largely financed by his ow n funds, and in ‘ rescuing’ thousands o f orphans
from Christian missionaries. A t the 1900 Lahore Congress he m oved the re­
solution to devote at least h a lf a day o f each annual session to the discussion
o f industrial and educational problems. H e was also largely responsible for the
new interest o f the  rya Sam âj in the low castes, and in 1920 he was elected
president o f the first A ll-India Trade U nion Congress. In his opinion the
moderate Congress had à beggar mentality, was smug with false hopes from
the British, did not see beyond its own little circle, and was satisfied with
holding an annual festival o f English-educated Indians. A fter his visit to
England he declared that the Congress was foolish to expect the British people
and politicians to help India: they were not interested. Congress, he declared,
should becom e a bold Hindu organization, building a nation from below,
based on a nationalism rooted in Hinduism. H e indicted the social reform
leaders for basing their reform on ‘ rationality’ instead o f ‘ nationality’, but,
being a liberal  rya, his revivalist reform ideas were tempered and he worked
hard at the new nationalist direction given to the reform movement. In
October 1928, although his health was failing, he led a procession against the
Simon Com m ission and was struck in a lathi charge. This aggravated his con­
dition and he died a fortnight later.
It now remains to look at the provincial social reform organizations and see
how the new spirit o f the twentieth century influenced them to direct their
main attention to the masses o f the population and make social reform
effectively a national mass-based movement.

North India
In northern India the  rya Samâj gave the lead. U ntil 1900 the Samâj had
preached caste reform but had not really expected anybody but ardent Âryas
to. act upon it, and its membership was in fact m ostly restricted to the educ­
ated classes. From 1900 onwards the Samâj, the tw o factions collaborating,
started a campaign to reform the caste system. T he m ethod was nothing short
o f revolutionary: the low-easte groups were recruited and their status was
ceremonially raised to that o f the twice-born with rights o f interdining, and
intermarriage. The success o f Christian missionaries in converting these low
castes was definitely an important, factor in the action o f the Sam âj. In fact the
movement for conversion o f low castes grew out o f the sudditi m ovem ent for
conversion o f Christians and Muslims, the child o f D ayànan da’s fierce Hindu
nationalism, and gradually involved the Samâj more and m ore in com m unal
agitation and in collaboration with the communal orthodoxy o f the M ahâ-
sabhà. Once the first induction o f a low-caste group was achieved, the m ove­
ment gained a momentum which even surprised the  rya reformers them­
selves. Scores o f low-caste and untouchable groups were admitted, swelling
the numbers o f the Samâj from about. 100,000 at the turn o f the century to
380 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British ìndia

500,000 by 1921, and lo nearly a million by 193J. Tbe procedure_sfjhis eleva­

tion was such that it did not unduly offend orthodoxy, while yet-attacking its
principles. A lthough the new recruits were introduced to Vedic ritual, invested
with the sacred thread, allowed to take water from a high-caste well, and thus
moved up in the social scale, they retained their own group identity, and caste
distinctions between high-caste Âryas and the purified groups were not as such
abolished. Both by its successful syncretism o f social reform and Hindu
nationalism and by its successful reaching out to the mass o f the people, the
 rya Samàj proved the most impressive and influential religious and social
reform movement o f the era.
Maharashtra
M aharashtra had its own approach: revivalism here did not coalesce with
social reform , probably because o f the hostility o f T ilak and tbe influence o f
Rânade. But social reform in the twentieth century expressed its new spirit by
an increased concern for the mass o f the people. In M aharashtra a great num­
ber o f societies arose, not unified like the  rya Samâj, but in a w ay more
practical and down to earth in their approach. Only the most im portant can
be mentioned here. The Social Science League, started in 1911 in Bom bay by
Chandavârkâr, active to this day, pioneered in its concern for the working
classes by initiating night schools, technical schools, libraries, recreational
facilities, and co-operative credit societies. The Sevâ Sadan, on the other
hand, established b y M alabâri, specialized in the care o f women o f all castes,
providing educational, welfare, and medical services. M ahârshi K à rv e put the
crown on his work for wom en’s uplift by inaugurating a wom en’s university.
The Servants o f India Society, founded by G . K . G okhale in 1915, was a
society for an élite o f dedicated individuals, who were rigorously trained and
paid a subsistence salary only. Its membership remained small, its influence as
an institution limited, but the w ork o f its members in social reform was very
considerable, again in the practical field o f fam ine relief, union organization,
co-operatives, and uplift o f tribals and depressed classes. The Pràrthanâ
Sam àj, similarly limited in influence as a body, also entered this field by its
most effective Depressed Classes M ission o f India, founded in 1906. B y 1913
it ran thirty educational institutions and has rightly been called ‘ a forerunner
to G andhian programmes for the H arijans’ . The non-brahm an m ovem ent o f
Jotibâ Phüle, mentioned previously, languished after his death, but was re­
vived in the 1900s by the M aharaja o f K olhapur State. In order to break the
stranglehold o f the brâhmans and raise the low-caste people, he trained non­
brahmans to perform the V edic ceremonies for them ,atid later called in the
 rya Samâj to continue this religious reform. H e also reserved 50 per cent o f
the civil service posts in his state for non-brâhmans and organized schools for
them. Later on this non-bràhman m ovem ent was to becom e a formidable
political force in south India. The later m ovem ent in M aharashtra for the
em ancipation o f the untouchables, led by D r. A m bedkar, was primarily
political in nature.
Madras
Afte.r 1900 the slow-starting movement in M adras got under way. Revivalist
thought in south India had received a powerful stimulus from Vivekânanda’s
 Hindu Religious and Social Reform In British India 381
visit and the writings and speeches o f Annie Besant, the leader o f the Theo-
sophical Society. A t first M rs. Besant was an anti-reformist religious revivalist,_
but around the end o f the nineteenth century one o f the many changes in her
attitudes was on the w ay, and in 1904 she founded the M adras Hindu A ssocia­
tion ‘ to prom ote Hindu social and religious advancement on national lines in
harmony with the spirit o f Hindu civilization’ . Her great influence both in
Madras and on a national scale supported the new alliance o f revivalism and
social reform. M adras thus became in tune with the national tendency. The
great social problem o f the south was the tremendous gap between the high
and the low castes, and the utter degradation o f the latter. Their rise in status
and in power during the twentieth century was spectacular, but not as a
direct result o f the w ork o f the social reform movement as such. M ore effective
factors were first the great advance in social services for depressed classes and
workers, conducted by a variety o f organizations, Christian missions, the
Theosophical Society, the Depressed Classes Mission, and the Râmakrishna
Mission. In fact it has been stated with good reason that before the First
World W ar Madras may have led Che rest o f India in this field. The second
important factor in the uplift o f the lower classes, outside the scope o f this
survey, was tbc work o f the political non-brâhman movements o f later years.

Bengal
The situation in Bengal was very different from that in the other provinces.
On the one hand Bengal possessed by far the most ‘ socially reform ed’ group:
the Brâhmos and the Western-educated gravitating around them. O n the
other hand, the social movement as such had become practically non-existent.
T he Bengali leaders themselves recognized this fact and they even analysed the
causes o f this decline. Essentially, the reason was the combination o f the
peculiar quality o f Brâhm o reformism and the enormous vigour o f political
nationalism and cultural revivalism. Bràhmoism was the prototype o f reform
in Bengal, and it was intensely individualistic and Western-inspired. When
cultural revivalism was set in motion by Bankim, and the intense political pre­
occupation was spurred to excess by the partition o f Bengal, these two took
complete hold o f the Bengâll mind, and the appeal o f the reform movement in
Bengal soon dwindled to insignificance.
A good deal o f practical social w ork was increasingly undertaken, mostly
by the Sàdhâran Brâhm o Samâj, but it did not grow out into social reform
crusades nor did it take organizational forms. When Shashlpada Banerji with­
drew from active life ju st before the partition o f Bengal, Bengal lost her last
reformist crusader.

Conclusion
By the 1920s the Indian religious and social reform movement had lost its
peculiar identity as an important and distinct phenomenon o f Indian life.
M any factors contributed to this. One o f them was the appearance on the
national stage o f Gàndhï, who was to dominate and often confuse it with his
new ideas on politics, religion, and society. Politics themselves developed in a
different way, and from now on we see a much closer association o f concern
for social reform with political awareness and action, and a conviction that
382 Hindu Religious and Social Reform in British India

the stale through legislation must lake responsibility for the reform o f society.
Nehrü’s concept o f the Welfare Stale embodied this ideal at its best. Another
important factor was that agitation for social reform dispersed itself more and
more into the practical business o f organizing social service in different
special fields, such as the education and uplift o f women by the All-India
W omen’s Conference, village developm ent projects, the organization ò f the
depressed classes, and the foundation o f labour unions. But, in the final in­
stance, these new attitudes and approaches, while pushing ‘ social reform ’ as a
specifically identifiable label into the background, owe their very existence to
those leaders and organizations that, from Râm M ohan R oy to Làjpat Râi,
worked for the emergence o f national identity and social reform, and for their
successful integration.

s
C H A P T E R XXVII

Islamic Reform Moveinents

by Aziz A hmad

T he M ughal Empire crumbled rapidly after the death o f Aurangzeb (1707).

E ven during his rule Hindu communities like the M arâthàs and Jàts, as well
as the Sikhs, had becom e a challenge to M uslim power. A fter the death o f
Aurangzeb, as these elements, especially the M arâthàs, overwhelmed the
M ughal Empire, they threatened and largely destroyed the M uslim econom ic
and political supremacy. There was no M uslim power in the subcontinent
which could face this challenge or overcome it. it was at this stage that Islamic
revivalism became a movement o f religio-political thought rather than action
in the writings o f Shâh W alï-A llâh (1703-62).
He was essentially a theologian, and only in a very secondary measure con­
cerned with political thought. A t the pre-modernist stage o f Islam ic thcologi-
:cal thinking in .the first h a lf o f the eighteenth century the emphasis in the
writings- o f W alï-A llâh, as o f his well-known A rab contem porary M uham m ad
ib n ‘A b d al-W âhhâb, the founder o f the W ahhabi movement in Nejd, was on
fundamentalism,' whicl) meant either.a rejection or a symbiosis o f the dogmas
o f various schools .of.jurisprudencej^ç/ij and their replacement by a direct re­
ference to the Q ur’an o r w hat was generally regarded as authentic prophetic
tradition (hadith). In the case o f both it meant a rejection o f innovations or
‘ accretions’ borrowed from other sources. W alï-A llâh especially rejected
customs and beliefs borrow ed from popular Hinduism, or custom s and cere­
monies analogically developed and thinly Islamized.
Both W alï-A llâh and M uham m ad ibn ‘A b d al-W ahhâb had a sense o f
mission and considered themselves as reformers or renovators o f M uslim
society. The latter was more successful in this than the former. W alï-A llâh was
treated with suspicion by traditional Muslims and even his life was threatened.
His political thought achieved results only after two generations; and it will
be an exaggeration to say that his correspondence with the A fgh an ruler
Ahm ad Shâh A b d àlï or the N izâm al-M u!k o f Hyderàbâd or N ajib at-D awla
o f Rohilkhand played any direct part in the political history o f the period, in
inciting these Muslim potentates against the M arâthàs.
B ut the impact o f his religious and political thought was m om entous in the
second generation after him on the group o f religious reformers referred to as
M ujahidin (holy warriors) or as the followers o f Tartqa-i Muhamadiyya, re­
ferred to, rather confusingly, in the British records and writings as the
‘iW ahâbîs’.- In subsequent generations, especially after the M u tiny (1857-8),
his religious rather than his political thought influenced every school o f Islam ic
revivalism: the modernism o f Sayyid Ahm ad K h ân and the A ligarh m ove­
ment, the. traditionalist theologians o f the D eoband School, and the neo­
traditionalist ahl-i hadith (followers o f M uh am m ad’s traditions).
3«4 Islamic Reform Movements

His school in Delhi had probably, iu Ihose days o f chaos and insecure com­
munications, only a local significance. But his sons translated the Q ur’ân into
Urdù, as be had done iuto Persian. The most eminent o f them, Shâh ‘ Abd
al-‘ A zîz, has received wrong publicity for an anti-British ruling, in which he
declared India as dâr al-harb (enemy territory); recent research has shown his
relations with the officers o f East India Com pany were ambivalent, and at
certain points friendly. His influence on T ïpü Sultan has also been suggested,
but is very doubtful. Tïpü Sultan’s conflict w ith the British and the Marâthâs
was much less an ideological Islamic struggle than an ambitious effort to
maintain and extend an independent principality under his rule.
But when we come to the M ujahidin in the first two decades o f the nine­
teenth century, there is no doubt that W alï-A llàh’s movement takes the form
o f a social and political organization. T he organizer o f the m ovem ent o f the
Mujâhidîn was Sayyid Ahm ad Barëlwi, a disciple o f Shâh ‘A b d al-‘ A ziz. Two
learned scions o f the fam ily o f W alï-Allâh, Shâh Ismà'îJ and Shâh ‘A b d al-
H ayy, formed his brains trust. His was the first movement in Indian Islam to
contact the masses, rural as well as urban. The party (jamâ'a) which he built up
consisted o f a vast network am ong the Muslim population in northern India,
with branches in certain major cities in the south. Propaganda was carried out
by word o f m outh and through tracts and poems; leaders o f prayers were
appointed in certain mosques to teach essentials o f faith; even courts were
established to administer justice am ong Muslims according to the Islamic law,
parallel to government courts. In doctrine the movement was strictly funda­
mentalist and monotheistic, rejecting all associationism (shirk) o f custom and
folk-belief, and strongly opposed to syncretist trends such as visits tò Hindu
shrines, participation in Hindu festivals, or such social customs borrowed
from Hinduism as excessive expenditure on weddings or prejudice against the
remarriage o f Hindus.
In the later 1820s the movement became militant, regarding jihâd as one of
the basic tenets o f faith. Possibly encouraged by the British, with whom the
m ovement did not feel powerful enough to come to grips at the outset, it chose
as the venue o f jihâd the north-west frontier o f the subcontinent, where it was
directed against the Sikhs. Barëlw i temporarily succeeded in carving out a
small theocratic principality which collapsed owing to the friction betwe’en his
Pathân and north Indian follow ers; and he was finally defeated and slain by
the Sikhs in 1831. The movement survived him for several decades, came into
conflict with the British Governm ent, and eventually petered out.
A n almost independent offshoot o f Barêlw l’s movement was organized in
W est Bengal by one o f his disciples, M lc N ith a r ‘A ll (1782-1831), popularly
known as TitO Mir, whose organizational w ork am ong the M uslim peasants
led to the opposition o f Hindu landlords, powerful since the Permanent
Settlement o f 1793, and British indigo planters. Som e Hindu landlords im­
posed a beard-tax on his followers and persecuted them in other w ays. TitQ
M ir’s organization and his movement were not really as militant *or revolu­
tionary as the British records m ake out; only during the last year o f his life
was there confrontation between him and the British police. Finally he was
killed in action in 1831 by a British regiment o f native infantry.
A b o u t the same time, further to the east in Bengal, there spread another
 Islamic Reform Movements 385
fundamentalist reformist movement known as the Farà'idi because o f its
emphasis on the Islamic pillars o f faith {farà'id). Though any considerable link
between Titü M ir and the F a rà ’idîs is generally denied by scholars, there can
be little doubt that these two Bengali movements overlapped, in view o f their
proximity in time and place. T hey have several features in com m on. Both
came in conflict with Hindu landlords and British indigo planters and eventu­
ally with the British administration in Bengal. Both preached a change in the
mode o f dress to distinguish the Muslims from the Hindus. Both preached in­
tensively and in detail against customs and beliefs borrowed from popular
Hinduism. The main difference between the two movements is that whereas
the F arà’idîs suspended Friday and 'Id prayers, thinking of, if not proclaim ­
ing, India under the British as dar al-harb (enemy territory) where these
prayers are not required, T itü M ir did not do so.
B ut there can be little doubt that the genesis o f the two movements was
different. The F arà’idi movement shows the influence o f A rab W ahhabism
and little acquaintance with the general theological thought o f Shâh W all-
A llâh. Its founder, Hâji Sharï'at-Allâh, had lived in the H ijâz from 1799 to
1818 and probably visited it once again soon after. The movement he started
affirmed strongly the unity o f G od and aimed at the eradication o f social in­
novations current among the Muslims o f Bengal, many o f them borrowed
from Hinduism. These included quasi-worship at various syncretistic or
pseudo-Muslim shrines, and floating o f the bherâ (ceremonial boat), a fertility
rite, ceremonial dances, planting o f banana trees (phallic symbols) round the
house on the occasion o f the first menstruation o f a girl, and other such rites.
Though Sharî'at-AUâh’s movement clashed with the interests o f the landed
gentry o f Bengal and he was suspected and persecuted, it remained under him
religious and social rather than political. Under his son D udü M iyân, from
1840 onwards, it became revolutionary. D udû M iyân built it into a hierarchi­
cal organization rising from the village to the provincial level w ith a khalifa
(authorized deputy) at each level. This hierarchical organization was alm ost
like a parallel government embracing all the F arà’idls, their affairs and dis­
putes. H e organized a para-military force, armed only with clubs, to fight the
henchmen o f Hindu landlords or even the police. H e was arrested and re­
leased a number o f times; but the F arà’idi movement, which could once count
one third o f the Muslim population o f D àccâ am ong its adherents, became
w eak after his arrest in 1847. A fter D udü M iyân’ s death in 1862 it survived
merely as a religious movement without any political overtones.
Th e main traditional M uslim opposition to the Farà’idi movement came
from the T a'ayyun l movement led by K aràm at 'A li Jawnpurl and deriving its
inspiration from the religious thought o f Shâh W all-Allah. The direct conflict
between the F arà’idîs and the T a'ayyunls began about 1839 and lasted for
nearly two decades. Like the F arà’idîs, the T a'ayyunls also rejected innova­
tions aud syncretistic practices. But they rejected the Farà’idi doctrine that
faith without w ork was insufficient. Other differences were on poinfs o f ritual.
They were strongly critical o f the F arà’idi suspension o f Friday and *Id
prayers, arguing that, since there was religious freedom for the Muslims un­
der British rule, India was not dar al-harb; if it was not dër al-Islâm (Islamic
territory), it was at least a land o f peace (dâr al-amân).
 386 Islamic Reform Movements

T h e M utiny o f 1857-8 is the watershed which divides the earlier pre­

modernist fundamentalist movements from the modernist, the reformist, and
even the traditional movements o f modern times. Recent hagiographical
historiography has over-emphasized the participation and role o f the 'ulamâ’
(Muslim theologians) in the M utiny. While the influence o f the 'ulama' on the
course o f the M utiny can be stated as minimal, some o f them at Thâna
Bbawan did put u p some resistance against the British, while some others in
D elhi, presumably under pressure from the mutineer Bakht K h an , issued a
fatwâ’ (edict) proclaiming holy war.
T he M utiny shattered the fabric o f M uslim upper classes in and around
D elhi, though not perhaps to the same extent in the Panjâb and A vadh. It
was a M uslim o f Delhi, Sayyid Ahm ad K h a n ,1 who. first saw not merely the
advisability but the necessity o f a change in the religious and political outlook
o f the Muslim community. The prolonged Muslim confrontation with the
East India Com pany in northern India had failed everywhere from the north­
west frontier to Bengal. A change in the entire political outlook was as neces­
sary as a recognition o f the need for adjustment with the new age o f Western
domination and Western intellectual outlook. Sayyid Ahm ad K h a n ’s pro­
gramme o f reform and adjustment was threefold: educational, religious, and
political.
His educational programme emphasized from the outset the advantages o f
the use o f English as the medium o f instruction. In .1864 he founded a
Scientific Society for the introduction o f Western sciences through translations
into U rdù o f works on physical sciences and through a bilingual journal. The
same year he founded a modern school at Ghâzlpur. In 1868 he prom oted the
form ation o f education committees in several districts) to initiate modern
education am ong the Muslims.
D uring his visit to Europe in 1869-70 he developed the plans o f his life-
w ork, a major educational institution for Indian Muslims. This institution
cam ein to being at Aligarh, where the school classes were opened in 1875 and
collège classes in 1878. This Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College was to be­
com e the Muslim University after his death. It became the nursery o f Muslim
political and intellectual leaders as well as o f the M uslim element o f the bureau­
cracy. Even today it is the last bastion o f Muslim scholarship in the Republic
o f India. In 1886 Sayyid Ahm ad K hân founded the M uham m edan Anglo-
1Oriental Educational Conference fo r the general prom otion o f Western
education among Indian Muslims.
Sayyid Ahm ad K han ’s efforts at religious reform were m ore personal,
though linked with, and to some extent necessitated by, his educational pro­
gramme. His first m ajor religious writing, his Com m entary on the Bible, pre­
dates his educational activities, and was no doubt a genuine effort at under­
standing the Christian faith from a M uslim viewpoint. It was also one o f the
few and rare experimehts in religious pluralism in the intellectual history o f
Islam. But his m ajor religious writings followed his educational programme.

■W e retain the author’s spelling, which is an accurate transliteration o f the Perso-Arabic

script. Elsewhere in this volume the first Dame o f this famous reformer will be found spelt
Syect, which is the spelling he himself favoured when rendering his name in Roman script.
[Ed.)
 Islamic Reform Movements 387
The journal Tahdhib al-akhlâq, which w as'to revolutionize U rdù journalism ,
was founded to counteract the scepticism, agnosticism, and atheism which
followed the study o f Western sciences at Aligarh. T o counter these trends
Sayyid Ahm ad K han and his two major associates, Chirâgh ‘A ll and M uhsin
al-M ulk, developed a new apologetics, explaining aw ay whatever appeared to
them as contrary to the conclusions o f science or o f ‘ natural la w ’, in Islam
and in the Q ur’an. Sayyid Ahm ad K h a n ’s basic religious position was that the
Qur’an was the word o f G od , and ‘ nature’ was the w ork o f G o d ; it follow ed
that between the ‘ word o f G o d ’ and the ‘ w ork o f G o d ’ there could be no
contradiction. His apologetics took a very anti-traditional route in explaining
aw ay the Q ur’an’s eschatofogy, angelology, dem onology, and cosm ology. His
most characteristic religious work was his Com m entary on the Q ur’àn which
was so ‘ m odernistic’ and anti-traditional that it was vehem ently attacked by
the theologians and-Sayyid Ahm ad K h an was dubbed a ‘ naturalist’ (nichari).
In detail the religious thought o f Sayyid Ahm ad K h an and his associates had
no general follow ing; but its general effect was tremendous. He liberalized
Indian Islam and made it susceptible to new ideas and new interpretations.
Sayyid Ahm ad K h a n ’s political activity began with the propagation o f the
view that it was futile to challenge the British role in India, that it was to be
accepted as a reality, and as such the M uslim com m unity should adjust itself
to a modus vivendi with it. This should take the form o f a staunch loyalism
and a support for pax Britannica under which the Indo-M uslim com m unity
could transform itself and come to terms with the new age. In the beginning
this loyalism was in conflict with emerging Hindu nationalism. The U rdü-
Hindi controversy made Sayyid Ahm ad K hân doubtful o f the com m unity o f
Hindu and M uslim interests, in the first instance. W hen a M uslim , Badr al-DIn
T ayyibji (Tyabjee), was elected the leader o f the Indian N ational Congress in
1887, Sayyid Ahm ad K h ân emerged actively in opposition to it. In his view
a Hindu-Muslim alliance could only be disadvantageous to the M uslim
community, which was much smaller in number, educationally backw ard,
politically immature, and econom ically insecure. A llian ce w ith the Hindus
against the British could only lead to the loss o f the British patronage and its
substitution by the exploitation and subjugation o f the M uslim s by the over­
whelming Hindu majority. Thus began modern M uslim political separatism
in India.
Another interesting, though strictly apolitical, religious movement dates
from the same period. This was the Ahm adI m ovem ent founded by M irzâ
Ghulàm Ahm ad o f Qâdiyàn (1839-1908) who began his w ork as a defender o f
Islam against the polemics o f the  rya Samâj and the Christian missionaries.
In 1889 he claimed to be Maslh (Messiah) and M ahdi, and later also to be an
incarnation o f the Hindu god Krishna as well as Jesus returned to earth. T h e
movement was really a heresy well within the bounds o f Islam, as G hulâm
Ahm ad, though he called himself a m inor prophet, regarded M uham m ad as
the true and great prophet whom he followed. His Christology, which created
a m ythology o f Christ’s sojourn and death in K ashm ir, differs from the
Christologies o f both Islam and Christianity. In social m orals the A h m ad !
movement has been very conservative, adhering to polygam y, veiling o f
women, and the classical rules o f divorce. The Ahm adls have their own
 388 Islamic Reform Movements

mosques and do not pray with other Muslims. T he members o f the com­
m unity pay 4 per cent o f their incom e to a religious fund and may make
further contributions to it. T he organization o f the community is strong and
centralized. Its headquarters were in the town o f its origin, Qàdiyân, which
went to India in the partition o f the subcontinent in 1947; since then their
centre has been at R abw ah in W est Pakistan. They total about h alf a million,
h a lf that number living in W est Pakistan. A split occurred in the movément in
1914 and it came to be divided in two groups: the Qâdiyânî which does, and
the L ab ori which does not believe in the prophethood o f M irzà Ghulàm
A hm ad. Both groups have produced an extensive religious literature in Urdu,
English, and other languages; and the Q âdiyânî Ahm adîs have been for
several decades very busy in the propagation o f their form o f Islam in A frica
with considerable success. They have also missionary centres in several cities
in the West.
Th e later h a lf o f the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries also saw
an orthodox revival, which was as much a reaction against-the ‘ naturalist’
modernism o f Sayyid Ahm ad K hân and the heretical messianism o f the
A hm ad ï movement as an assertion in its own right o f the traditional Islam.
The traditional revival was spearheaded by the seminary at D eoband,
founded in 1867 by theologians o f tbe School o f W ali-Allâh, the m ost pro­
minent am ong whom was Muham m ad Qâsim N anotaw ï who also took a
prom inent part in counter-polemics against the Christian missionaries and the
 ryâ Samàjists. T h e principal objectives o f the seminary at D eoband were to
re-establish contact between the theologians and the educated M uslim middle
classes, and to revive the study o f Muslim religious and scholastic sciences. A s
a religious university Deoband soon became an honoured institution, not
only in M uslim India but also in the world o f Islam at large, and had a re­
putation second only to that o f A l-A zh ar in Cairo. T h e later scholars o f
D eoband, M ahm üd al-Hasan and Husayn Ahm ad M adani, participated in the
Indian nationalist movement, in alliance with the Indian N ational Congress,
while another D eoband scholar, Shabblr Ahm ad ‘ Uthmanî, supported the
Pakistan movement; and yet another, 'U b ayd -A llâh SindhI, developed a
theory o f Islamic socialism.
A school less conservative than D eoband and m ore responsive to the de­
mands o f the modern age was the N adw at a l-'u lam a ’, founded in 1894 at
L ucknow by the historian Shibli N u'm ant and other scholars. T he school
aimed to offer an enlightened interpretation o f religion in order to fight the
trends o f agnosticism and atheism which had follow ed the advent o f modern
Western education. One o f the side-grow ths'of this school was a publishing
institution at A'zam garh which made a valuable contribution to Indo-Islam ic
studies from a liberal M uslim point o f view.
T h e third fam ous traditional school is the much older one at Farangl
M ahal in Lucknow . Its fame rests principally on evolving the ‘ N izâm iyya’
syllabus which was followed by m ost religious or com m unal M uslim schools
all over India. U nlike the two other schools, the one at Farangi M ahal
accepted Süfism as a valid experience and a valid field o f study.
A nother traditionalist movement which developed in the second h a lf o f the
nineteenth century and continues to the present day is that o f the ahl-l hadith
 Islamic Reform Movements 389
or o f the followers o f the dicta o f the Prophet, It was also influenced con­
siderably by the scholarship o f W all-Allàh and earlier Indo-Muslim theolo­
gians. The ahl-i hadith accepted the entire corpus o f the Prophet’s dicta in the
six classical collections as genuine and tried to mould their faith and life
in the light o f these dicta. They were accused by the British o f W ahhabi sym ­
pathies, a charge which was, on the whole, unfair. Bid‘a (innovation) was, for
the ahl-i hadith, the antithesis o f the sunna (the Prophet’s practice) and there­
fore abominable. In this category they counted the modernism o f Sayyid
Ahm ad K hàn as wçll as the messianistic ’ heresy’ o f the Ahm adls. T hey en­
joined a life o f conformity, and their religious experience was sublimated by
an all-embracing pessimism apprehensive o f the approaching D ay o f Judge­
ment. In politics they preached quietism and held fitna (chaos, uprising) in
horror. The principal leader o f the movement was Nawwàb Siddlq Hasan
K h àn whose works, written in U rdu, were also translated into Arabic.
Com parable and complementary to the religious revivalist movements was
the political revivalist movement from the 1880’s onwards. This was essenti­
ally a movement o f political separatism initiated, as we have seen, by Sayyid
A hm ad K hân. The political instinct o f the Indo-M uslim élite was to partici­
pate in and develop this movement. In 1906, a delegation o f Muslim leader­
ship, including Sayyid Ahm ad K h a n ’s successor at Aligarh, Muhsin al-M ulk,
as well as A ghâ Khân III met the viceroy, L ord M in to ,a n d pressed the two
M uslim demands; that the representation o f the Muslims in various assem­
blies should be on the basis o f a separate electorate o f Muslims by M uslim s;
and that the percentage o f the Muslim representation should be higher than
their percentage in the population, in view 'of the special identity and interests
o f their community. The British Government m ay have encouraged this stand,
though-it did not ‘ inspire’ it, as it has been accused o f doing by Indian
nationalists. It certainly conceded the substance o f the Muslim demands. T he
Muslim party, called the M uslim League, was founded in the same year, and
became the first platform o f Muslim political interests. Bengal was partitioned
in 1905 by the viceroy, L ord Curzon, a move which was advantageous econo­
mically and politically to the Muslims o f East Bengal.
The partition o f Bengal was annulled in 1911 under strong Hindu pressure.
Muslim leaders realized the instability o f British patronage and the M uslim
League came to terras with the Indian N ational Congress in an understanding
that they would face the British power jointly.
From 1919 to 1924 the Muslim League was superseded by the K hilàfat
Conference as the party o f the politically active Muslim élite. The K h ilàfat
Conference had a mass following, which the M uslim League did not have until
the late 1930s. It worked in close co-operation with the Indian N ational
Congress and accepted the over-all leadership o f Gandhi. F or three or four
years it seemed that Muslims would weld themselves into one nation with the
Hindus. But, as Jawàharlâl Nebrü has observed: ‘ This nationalism was itself
a composite force and behind it could be distinguished a Hindu nationalism
. . . and a Muslim nationalism partly looking beyond the-frontiers o f India.’
The real objective o f the Khilàfat Conference was to prevent the dismember­
ment o f Turkey, to preserve the independence and integrity o f the Ottom an
caliphate, and to prevent the subjugation o f A rab lands. These objectives
390 Islamic Reform Movements

involved an anti-British stance, which coincided with a similar stand taken by

the Indian National Congress and its non-co-operation movement against the
British. The Congress-Khilàfat alliance was basically an alliance o f con­
venience. A s early as 1922 it was cracked by communal riots. It received its
coup de grace with the abolition o f the Ottom an caliphate by Kemalist
Turkey in 1924, when the K h ilâfat Conference lost its raison d’être. From 1924
to r937 Muslim politics in India remained in its Wanderjahre, lighting rear­
guard actions against the advances and encroachments o f the Hindu-domin­
ated Indian N ational Congress. It was initially concerned only with the
separate electorates and safeguards for Muslims. Gradually Muslim leaders
like the veteran K h ilâfat leader Muhammad ‘A ll began to place emphasis on
the future o f the provinces in the north-west and the east in which Muslims
were in majority. This attitude is reflected in the proceedings o f the Round
Table Conferences called by the British Government from 1929 to 1931.
In 1930 the famous poet and thinker Muhammad Iqbâl suggested the idea
o f a separate M uslim state in the north-west. His view was that the stable
political future o f the Hindus and the Muslims demanded a parting o f the
ways. T h e name ‘ P akistan ’ was given to the Muslim state thus conceived by
him, b y a group o f Indian Muslim students, most prominent am ong whom
was Chaudharl Rahm at A li.
In 1937 there was a possibility o f the realignment o f the Indian National
Congress and the M uslim League which was spurned by the leaders o f the
Congress. The M uslim League from then onwards became the chief forum o f
M uslim opposition to the Congress. In 1940 in the ‘ Pakistan R esolution ’ the
League committed itself to the concept o f Pakistan. This concept was con­
ceded in various degrees by a British Cabinet delegation led by Sir Stafford
Cripps in 1942, by the depressed class leader B. R. Am bedkar, and by the
Congress leader C . Râjagopâlâchârï. In 1944 there were even discussions
between Jinnah and Gandhi on the question o f Pakistan. As late as 1946 a
com prom ise which could have resulted in a united India was possible, when
the M uslim leader Jinnah accepted the British Cabinet M ission’s concept o f a
union o f India divided into three sub-federations, o f which G roup A was to
consist o f provinces with Hindu majority, G roup B o f provinces in the north­
west with a substantial Muslim majority, and G roup C o f provinces in the
east w ith a marginal Muslim majority. Once again the ambivalence and lack
o f political foresight on the part o f the Congress leadership led to the loss of
this opportunity. Jinnah withdrew the Muslim League’s acceptance o f the
Cabinet M ission’s plan. Gradually the Indian leaders, first Sardâr Patel, then
N ehru, and finally Gàndhï were convinced by Lord Mountbatten that
Pakistan was the only solution o f the political problems o f India. In August
1947 the British power withdrew from India and the modern states o f India,
and Pakistan came into being.
C H A PT E R XXVIII

The Nationalist Movement

by H. F. O w e n

T he nationalist movement was at once a reassertion o f traditional values and

symbols against alien intrusions, and itself an alien, modern, untraditional
phenomenon. This paradox is found embodied in the different brands o f
nationalism represented by such figures as Bankim Chandra Chatterjee,
D ayânanda and the A rya Samâj, Aurobindo, Tilak, Sir Syed Ahm ad K h an
and the Aligarh School, Annie Becant, and above all G andhi and the N ational
Congress as he influenced it. It is hardly surprising then if the paradox has
continued to echo in the subcontinent since independence was won.

I
During the seventy or so years from the foundation o f the first nationalist
associations until the achievement o f independence, the Indian nationalist
movement changed its character in various ways, under the influence o f the
traditional past and the more recent British past, and also as a result o f the
new ideas and methods that marked its development. M odifying slightly
the periodization which Michael Brecher has distinguished in the history o f the
nationalist movement,1 one might divide the history o f the movement into
(i) the 187OS-189OS: the period o f M oderate pre-eminence; (2) the 18 9 0 s -
1 9 1 4 : the struggle for supremacy within the movement between the M oder­
ates and Extremists; and (3) 1 9 1 4—1 9 4 7 : the period o f agitational politics and
Gandhi’s leadership. Broadly speaking, in the first o f these periods the
nationalist movement was essentially British in its intellectual origins; in the
second it drew both on indigenous symbols and ideas and upon W estern (in­
cluding British) ideologies and exam ples; and, in the third period, the m ove­
ment drew upon widening circles o f Indian and imported inspiration while
becoming increasingly inventive, particularly under the impetus o f G andhi's
creative genius,
A n y nationalist movement in a colonial situation is bound to have both a
negative and a positive aspect. T he negative aspect is the determination to
expel the foreign rulers and achieve self-government; the positive aspect is the
concept o f the sort o f nation which should emerge from the struggle for inde­
pendence. In negative terms the Moderates aimed at m oving slowly towards
self-government for India, with the ‘ w hite’ colonies o f the British Empire as
their model. The moderate Indian Association emerged in 18 76 in Calcutta
and spread across northern India with the express goal o f stimulating ‘ the
sense o f nationalism amongst the people’ ;2 and from its earliest sessions in
1885 and 1886 the Indian N ational Congress pointed to Canadian and

1 M. Brecher, The New States o f Asia: a Political Analysis, London, 1963, P- a -

2 Cited in J. C. Bagal, History o f the Intlian Association, 1876-1951, Calcutta, [1953], p. 8.
392 The Nationalist Movement

Australian self-government as the models for India.3 In terms o f the sort o f

nation they wished to see emerge, the Moderates worked actively for a liberal,
secular, democratic India through education and social and religious reform.
In this they were carrying forward the social and intellectual reform move­
ments o f Ràm M ohan R oy, Rânade, and others, aiming, in G okhale’s words,
at the selective ‘ assimilation o f all that is best in the life and thought and
character o f the West ’ .•* The M oderates set up associations, such as the Poona
Sarvajanik Sabhâ in 1870, to work for the improvement o f the whole o fln d ian
society,5 seeking educational and other so.cial reforms through their member­
ship o f legislative bodies and organizations such as the National Social C on ­
ference. T hey hoped to achieve their ends through the introduction o f repre­
sentative dem ocratic political reforms by the N ational Congress, and b y such
methods as public meetings, deputations, and the presentation o f memorials—
all m odelled directly upon British constitutional politics.
The Extremists (who might more happily be termed ‘ m ilitants’, if the other
term had not been sanctioned through use by the Extremists themselves and
by their opponents or rivals) became increasingly assertive from the 1890s on­
ward, and demanded self-government more rapidly than the Moderates did,
and without the latter’s concern for gradual preparation. The Extremists’
aims in terms o f the sort o fln d ia they wanted are not so clear cut as those o f
the M oderates, but they'extolled India’s pre-British past, particularly its
Hindu past, as the model for the present and future, and they deplored what
they regarded as the M oderates’ over-hasty, subservient, and damaging
acceptance o f British and other Western models as suitable for reforming
Indian religion, society, or polity. Aurobindo, for example, spoke rather
vaguely o f self-government For India as ‘ the fulfilment o f the ancient life o f
India under modern conditions’ and ‘ the final fulfilment o f the V edantic ideal
in politics’ .6 In this the Extremists were the political counterpart to the Hindu
revivalist movements o f the last third o f the nineteenth century, represented by
such organizations as the Sanâtana Dharm a M aham andal, the  rya Samâj,
the Theosophical Society, and the Ràm akrishna Mission. B oth Hindu revival­
ism and Extrem ist nationalism were hybrids, springing from Western and in­
digenous sources. Their indigenous origins were obvious enough— the
conscious turning back to the Vedas, the Gita, and Vedanta; the defçnce o f
Hindu ideas and worship against the criticism o f missionaries and liberals; the
movements to reclaim Hindu converts to Islam and Christianity initiated in
the 1890s; the public festivals in honour o f the Hindu god, Ganesh, and the
Hindu hero-king S ivâjï; and the invocation o f the M other Goddess as an em­
bodiment o f both Bengal and India, to be cherished and restored, and as
witness to the oaths o f patriotic conspiracy. But the very turning back to an
idealized national cultural past for inspiration was in the mainstream o f nine-
5Proceedings o f the First Indian National Congress held at Calcutta , . . 1S86, Calcutta,
1887, p. 99­
4 Quoted in T. V. Parvate, Gopal Krishna Gokhale: a Narrative and Interpretative Review
o f his Life, Career and Contemporary Events, Ahmedabad, 1959, p. 164.
> Sec I. C . Masselos, ‘ Liberal Consciousness, Leadership and Political Organization in
Bom bay and Poona, 1867-1895’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Bombay, 1964), p. 286.
6 Cited in H . and U . Mukherjee, Sri Aurobindo's Political Thought (1893-1908), Calcutta,
1957, P- 40.
 The Nationalist Movement 393
teenth-century European romanticism and its offspring, nationalism. The
Extremist nationalists used largely Western techniques— trying to mobilize
the support o f public opinion through newspapers and public meetings, em­
ploying passive resistance in its various phases,7 and occasional terrorist
tactics. T he hybrid am algam was epitomized in T ila k ’s fam ous' epigram:
‘ Swarâj is m y birthright and I will have it.’ T he term Swarâj (‘ self-rule’) was
hallowed by its association with the area o f the M arâthâ confederacy which
remained self-governing longest; but the whole notion that self-government
(now broadened to include the whole o f India) is somehow the individual’s
and the nation’s right has a particularly Western ring to it.
T o generalize thus about the Extremists is to blur the reality o f change
am ong them with the passage o f time, o f individual differences, and above all
o f regional variations. The social groupings from which they cam e and to
which they appealed varied from region to region, as did the traditions they
invoked and the extent to which they drew upon Western and Indian sources.
The Mahàrâshtrian Extremists o f western India were m ainly from the Cbit-
pàvan Brâhman community, which inherited traditions o f political leadership
and resistance to invaders. It has been argued that they shared a cultural con­
sensus with the lower castes o f the region8which enabled them to recruit wide­
spread support, but they were also anxious to preserve their social dominance.
In the Panjâb, on the other hand, the À rya Samâj, which greatly influenced
the character o f Extremist nationalism there, shared m uch o f the M oderates’
rather Western-style concern for reform and the purification o f Indian society
and religion— notably by assimilating the untouchables in the higher castes.
In Bengal, again, the traditions o f the high-caste bhadralok w ho predominated
am ong the Extremists were essentially élitist, m aking difficult the recruitment
o f lower-caste, not to mention Muslim, participants. The Extremist nation­
alists’ influence was concentrated in these three regions, and it was partly
because o f this and their failure to unify or at least to federate these regional
movements that they failed in their attempt to capture Congress. Follow ing
their ejection from Congress in 1907, nationalist activity declined markedly.
In 1914 there began a revival o f nationalist activity, which led on to the
triumph o f agitational politics which marks the third period o f the movement.
Mrs. Annie Besant inaugurated this transformation, drawing on both h'er
personal knowledge o f radical methods o f agitation in Britain and upon her
understanding o f Indian history and Hindu traditions, acquired as the head o f
the Theosophical Society. Under her leadership, in conjunction with Tilak,
between 1914 and 1918 agitational nationalism began for the first time to
spread from the cities into the countryside on a nationwide scale.9 U nder
Gàndhï’s leadership this process gathered momentum.
7 See Sri Aurobindo, The Doctrine o f Passive Resistance, Calcutta, 1948; B. G . Tilak,
•Tenets o f the New Party’ (1907) in Alt About Lok. Tilak, M adras, 1922, pp. 492-505; re­
garding Western models, see C. M. Case, Non- Violent Coercion; a Study in Methods o f Social
Pressure, N ew Y ork, 1923, e.g. pp. 326-8.
8 R . K um ar, IVestern India in the Nineteenth Century: a Study In the Social History o f
Maharashtra, London and Canberra, 7968, pp. 6 -rr, 3r-2, 319-20, 332.
9 See the writer’s ‘ Towards Nation-wide Agitation and Organisation: the Home Rule
Leagues, 1915-18’ in D . A . Low (cd.), Soundings in Modern South Asian History, London
and Berkeley, Cai., 1968.
394 The Nationalist Movement

Gandhi himself learned much from the West— methods o f civil disobedience
and passive resistance from Thoreau, fo r instance, and the concepts o f the dig­
nity o f labour and social reform --as did Jawaharlal Nehrüand other younger
leaders in their attachment to socialism and large-scale industrialization. But
there was also a deliberate turning back to the indigenous and the traditional.
Gandhi advocated swadeshi(‘ one’s own country’), by which he meant the use
o f indigenous and local institutions as well as Indian-made goods,10 and
fostered the use o f the traditional Indian spinning-wheel, the charkhâ; he in­
voked Hindu and Jain concepts such as ahimsâ (non-violence) and tapasyâ
(self-inflicted suffering); and called fo r hartals or the cessation o f business
activity, a traditional means o f persuading the authorities to m odify what the
protesters regard as oppression.” Through his celibacy (brahmacharya) and
asceticism Gandhi was invoking extraordinary, super-physical pow ers in
which tens o f millions o f his countrymen believed deeply.11 M uch o f GândhI’s
success in attracting a vast follow ing was due to his use o f concepts such as
moksha, symbols and parabies drawn from the stories o f Râma and Prahlâda,
o f institutions (even the M uslim K hilàfat), and o f techniques like the hartal
which were already part o f the consciousness o f various Indian groups..
A s one o f the most creative figures in modern history Gandhi combined his
own ideas and responses with influences from m any sources to form a social
psychology and a programme o f action fo r remedying situations of.conflict.
He was probably less concerned with the *negative ’ nationalist goal o f evicting
the British than with the positive question o f the sort o f India he wished to see
emerge. Even so, Indian self-government was essential— the vision o f India for
which he was working was that of. a self-reliant, fearless country obedient to
its conscience and its sense o f m orality: as he him self said, such a country
would be self-governing in reality even if foreigners remained in the admini­
stration. B ut he was even more concerned to inculcate his technique o f
satyâgraha as the means o f solving social and political conflict in India, and
eventually in the rest o f the w orld.13 E rik H. Eriks on” has suggested, com par­
ing him with Freud, that Gandhi offered a cure for the neuroses which
threaten to destroy society through the technique o f satyâgraha (literally
‘ holding firm ly to truth’). In this technique o f non-violent resistance, or even
non-violent coercion, im portant differences which prove unamenable to com ­
promise or arbitration are solved by one o f the opponents refusing to com ply
w ith the other’ s wishes and accepting the consequences, even i f this involves
physical injury or deprivation o f liberty: such sufferings patiently endured
will ultimately, possibly assisted by the non-violent pressure o f public opinion,
bring about a change o f heart in the enemy.

*• See ‘ Swadeshi’ (14 Feb. 1916) in Speeches and Writings o f Mahatma Gandhi, Madras,
■9J 3i PP- 336- 4 4 ; Young India, 3 D ec. 1919, p. 8.
" See A . L . Basham, ‘ Traditional Influences on (he Thought o f Mahatma G andhi’, in
R . Kum ar (ed.), Essays on Gandhimt Politics: the Rowlalt Satyagraha o f 1919, Oxford,
1971, pp. 17-42; N . K . Bose, Studies in Gandhism, Calcutta, 1962, esp. 'C onflict and its
Resolution in Hindu Civilization', pp. 69-115.
11 See A . L. Basham, The Wonder that was India, London, 1936, pp. 244-6.
” See the writer’s ‘ Non-Co-operation, 1920-22* in S. N . Ray, Gandhi, India and the World,
Philadelphia, Pa., 1970, pp. 171-2.
14 Gandhi's Truth: on the Origins o f Militant Nonviolence, London, 1970..
 The Nationalist Movement 395
During this third period o f Indian nationalism, G andhi led three great ex­
tended campaigns involving increasingly large numbers o f people drawn from
virtually all sections o f society— in 1919 and, after a lull, 1920-2; in 1930 and
1931-2; and again in 1940 and 1942. H e also led or guided satyâgraha cam ­
paigns, which were at first more localized but had widespread effects— such as
those in Champaran and G ujarât in 1917-18, which demonstrated his tech­
nique and attracted lieutenants and adherents w ho were to participate in the
first nationwide campaign in 1919. The campaigns at V ykom in 1924-5 and
Bardoli in 1928 focused national attention upon such matters as how to im ­
prove the lot o f depressed social groups and how to refuse to pay taxes.
A s we have seen, much o f G ândhi’s success in attracting a great follow ing in
his major campaigns was due to his invocation o f traditional and fam iliar
concepts, symbols, institutions, and techniques— though, by m odifying them
or combining them with exotic or novel ideas, he alienated some o f the most
orthodox Indians. A t the same time, his success was based upon concern fo r
the material problems and deprivations o f millions o f his fellow-countrym en:
his first campaigns were on issues o f rural exactions and taxes and w orkers’
wages. His advocacy o f the charkha and khâdi(hand-spun, hand-woven cloth)
was aimed at supplementing the incomes o f poor people, particularly in the
countryside, and forcing better-off groups to identify themselves with them ;
his manufacture o f salt in illicit circumvention o f the tax on this dietary staple
• was the most flam boyant example of-his concern to increase m aterial and
social welfare,-w hichinçluded improvement in the status of-women and un­
touchables; and even his adoption o f the loin-cloth in 1921 marked his
identification with the poorest Indians rather than his asceticism.,s
Whether any o f these elements in G àndhï’s programme put m ore than a few
paise into any Indian’ s purse is doubtful, but certainly G àndhï did bring
practical benefits in terms o f improved status to deprived groups, and above
all he succeeded in convincing millions that their own lives and those o f others
would be better and nobler for follow ing him. Recognizing that in some ways
the colonial situation debased the characters o f m any o f those w ho were ruled
(and occasionally brought out the worst in the characters o f some o f the rulers
and their wom enfolk, as E. M . Forster and J. R . Ackerley have illustrated),
Gàndhï increased his appeal by arousing the m oral indignation o f Indians
against, for example, the repressive Rowlatt bills, the terms o f the peace
treaty with the Muslim Turks, the salt laws, the involvement o fln d ia in the
Second W orld W ar without consulting the Indians, and generally against the
imperial relationship itself, which could be seen as responsible for so m any
o f the deprivations or weaknesses o f the Indian people.
Even though Gàndhï bestrides the decades from 1919 like a colossus, other
leaders with other policies also made their m ark on Indian nationalism . D u r­
ing the 1920s, after the subsidence o f the N on-Co-operation agitation, the
Swarajists, under the leadership o f M otïlàl N ehrü, Srinivasa Iyengar, K elk âr,
and Vïthalbhâï Patel, contested successfully with the M oderate nationalists or
Liberals for entry into the legislatures: they entered with a policy o f n on-co­
operation with the Governm ent from within but stayed to co-operate in par­
liamentary politics. In this many influences m ay be discerned— Gândhïan
15 See Hindu, 23 Sept. 1921. p. 5.
 396 The Nationalist Movement

moral indignation at British rule; T ila k ’s responsive co-operation; and even

M oderate appreciation o f British institutions; as well as concern to protect
and further the élite social and econom ic groups from which the Swarajist
members in the various provinces were mainly drawn.16 In the mid-r930s
Congress again contested the elections, going on to form the Governm ent in
seven o f the ten provinces, and in 1945-6 it stood forelection, emerging as the
dominant party at the centre. Already at its K arachi session in 1931 Congress
had passed its resolution on Fundam ental Rights and Econom ic and Social
Changes, which, as well as including a declaration o f rights and freedoms,
posited the public ownership or control o f basic industries and com m unica­
tions. This resolution owed some elements to Gandhi, such as total prohibi­
tion, the abolition o f untouchability, and the reduction o f land revenue, but
its underlying socialistic tone and its passage at that time were primarily the
w ork o f Jawaharlal N chrû and the nascent Congress Socialists— and their in­
spiration was largely non-Indian, notably the Am erican and Frènch bills o f
rights, and European socialism, underscored by the example o f Russian
communism.
II
In terms o f its negative goal o f evicting the British, the history o f the Indian
nationalist movement is a ‘ success story’ . T o what extent, though, was the
Indian nationalist movement responsible for the departure o f the British ? The
British were apparently unm oved by early nationalist demand's for progress to
self-rule and by the various devices by which these demands were pressed. A s
early as the revision o f the Partition o f Bengal in 1912, however, it was re­
vealed that a determined agitation— even though largely confined to one region
o f India— could m ake the British respond to the wishes o f articulate groups o f
Indians organized in nationalist bodies. A gain, in the mem orandum which
the V iceroy, Lord Hardinge, sent home in October 1915, he and at least some
o f the provincial executives and the members o f his Council showed themselves
responsive to the Indians’ arguments for political reform .11 The. Hom e Rule
agitation at the time o f the First W orld W ar, reinforced by the reform pro­
posals produced by various branches o f the nationalist movement and jointly
by the Congress and Muslim League, forced the Secretary o f State to concede
that Indian legislators’ ‘ authority and responsibility’ must be increased,’ 8
which led on to the M ontagu-Chelm sford Reform s, and the attempts by the
British governments in India to find allies am ong the Moderates, now com­
prising the Liberal Party, all o f which fostered the developm ent o f parlia­
mentary institutions in India. G an d hi’s agitation o f 1920-1 seems to have pre­
pared the Viceroy, Lord Reading, for a major concession o f pow ers,1' and the

16 See D . E. U . Baker, ‘ The Break-down o f Nationalist Unity and the Formation o f the
Swaraj Parties, India, 1922 to 1924’ , in University Studies in History, Vol. 5, N o. 4 (1970),
esp. pp. 86-7.
u See Memorandum by His Excellency the Viceroy, Oct. 1915, in Hardinge Papers,
Cambridge University Library.
18 Sir A . Chamberlain to the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, 29 Mar. tg i7 and 2 M ay 1917,
in Government o f India, Home Dept. Political file A , July 1917, N os. 299-313.
” See D . A . Low, ‘ The Government o f India and the First Non-Co-operation Movement
— 1920-1922’, Journal o f Asian Studies, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Feb. 1966), p. 249.
 The Nationalist Movement 397
agitations o f the later 1920s and early 1930s encouraged the British G overn ­
ment to put to one side the Indian Statutory Com m ission’s report and call the
Round Table Conferences, thus reopening the w hole question o f the amount
o f power to be devolved.
Following the British Conservative Party’s rejection o f the *die-hard’
opposition to Indian reform , led by Churchill, at its December 1934 con­
ference,10 the Governm ent o f India A c t o f 1935 provided for provincial re­
sponsible government on the basis o f greatly enlarged electorates. It was
ironic that it was Churchill, under the pressure o f the threatening ‘ Quit In d ia’
agitation in the wartime circumstances o f 1942, who sent his Lord Privy Seal
— significantly a Labour man— to offer the Indian nationalist leaders inde­
pendence at the end o f the war, recognizing wryly that Britain was defending
‘ India in order, if successful, to be turned o u t’ . The ultimate timing o f the
departure was affected by other factors as well as Indian nationalist pressures.
Britain was exhausted by the war, financially and militarily, and this weakened
her determination to hold on imperially. Attlee and his Labour Party col­
leagues, the last and m ost unfettered o f a line o f liberal-minded politicians
committed to political advance for India— in this case to the hilt— were elected
to power at the critical moment. But at the same time the British were en­
couraged in their exeunt by the memory o f the bitteruess and extent of.th e
wartime nationalist agitation in India, by the spectre o f mutiny foreshadowed
in the Indian N ational A rm y, by the disturbances surrounding the I.N .A .
trials and the subsequent mutinies in K arachi, Bom bay, and elsewhere. '
The effect o f the nationalist movement, then, was to move the British to
m ake specific devolutions o f power at various points from 1916 onwards, even
if these devolutions fell short o f the ‘ home rule’ or ‘ swaràj in one y ear’ or
agreement to ‘ quit In d ia’ which had been demanded by the nationalists; and
overall it moved a sufficient number o f British statesmen in positions o f
power and a sufficient am ount o f public opinion, both in Britain and elsewhere,
to a readiness to grant self-determination without a: war o f independence.

I ll
India is a parliamentary dem ocracy in the sense that the central and state
governments o f the day arc responsible to the Parliament or state legislatures
and through them to the adult population, who at election time have a true
choice between candidates o f various parties. T b e seed o f Indian dem ocracy
was planted by the Western, and particularly the British, education intro­
duced in the nineteenth century, but that India has grown into the w orld’s
largest dem ocracy is due largely to the lengthy experience o f the nationalist
movement and its interaction with British governments. The demand for par­
liam entary dem ocracy was also strong in other former colonial countries, but
that it has taken root and lasted longer in India than in most o f them is partly
.because Indian nationalists had formulated this demand at least sixty years
.“ See S. C . Ghosh, ‘ Decision-Making and Power in the British Conservative Party: a
Case-Study o f the Indian Problem, 1929-34’, Political Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 1965),
,ppi 198—212; D . A . Low, ‘ Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and the First Round-Table Conference',
in D . A . L ow (ed .), Soundings In Modern South Asian History, p. 296.
39« The Nationalist Movement

before independence was gained and had argued the case for this institution,
and had heard it argued, with clarity and emotion throughout this long period.
Numbers o f Congress Moderates had found their way into the legislatures
in the elections on very restricted franchises (described as ‘ selection’) under
the 1892 and 1909 Councils A cts: here they learnt to operate the limited
parliamentary institutions available and to press for more. Having withdrawn
from Congress to form the Liberal parties in 1918, they were returned as one
o f the largest and certainly most articulate groups in the expanded legislatures
under the M ontagu-Chelm sford reforms in 1921, in the absence o f Congress­
men as a result o f the Non-Co-operation campaign. In these councils they
were able to achieve reforms and to influence the executive, which reinforced
the notion o f the government and the bureaucracy, being answerable, and in
certain areas o f policy under ‘ dyarchy’ even responsible, to elected repre­
sentatives. The activities o f the Liberals, along with other elected members o f
the councils such as the non-brâhmans in M adras and Bombay, also demon­
stra ted that the legislatures were repositories o f power, and so made numbers
o f Congressmen anxious to obtain election, both to further nationalist goals
and to gain the fruits o f power and influence for the social groups from which
they came. Even when the numbers o f elected Liberal members o f the legisla­
tures were reduced by Congress competitors at elections in the 1920s arid
1930s, the Liberals continued to be important in Indian political and nation­
alist life, as nominated if not elected legislators; as members o f the V iceroy’s
or governors’ executives and as their advisers; as members ó f important con­
stitutional inquiries such as the M uddiman Committee, the committees asso­
ciated with the Simon Commission and the Round Table Conferences; as
commissioners and investigators; and as negotiators between Congress and
the British. Men such as V . S. Srlnivâsa Sàstrî, P. Sivaswàmî Iyer, R . P.
Paranjpye, and M . R . Jayakâr played important roles for much o f this period,
and a Liberal like T. B. Saprü not only seems to have.playéd an important
part in drafting Congress constitutional documents such as the Lucknow
Pact o f 1916 and the Nehru Report o f 1927 but also continued this role in
drawing up independent India’ s constitution.
Those Congressmen who were elected as Ssvarâjists in 1923 and 1926 re­
ceived training in operating institutions o f a parliamentary type. They found
that they had to learn to operate them even in order to obstruct and protest.
This constitutional tradition was reinforced in Congress when Congressmen
stood successfully for election in J937 and in 1945-6, and the experience gained
in running responsible provincial governments between 1937 and 1947 stood
many members o f the later Congress ruling party in good stead after inde­
pendence.
Under the 1935 A ct the provincial governments followed the Westminster
prime ministerial model rather than presidential models; it was this which
Congress politicians learnt to operate and which they introduced at the centre
and retained in the provinces at India’s independence. A n irresponsible execu­
tive was identified with foreign rule, and responsible parliamentary govern­
ment was aspired to as the hallm ark o f self-government. In certain ways the
British model was quite clearly modified or even transformed by Indian
practice before independence. One o f the chief examples o f this is in the
 The Nationalist Movement 399
dom inance o f the system by one party, which only seemed to com e into ques­
tion for four years, 1967-71, out o f the 25 since independence. T h e dom inance
o f the particular party in question, the Congress Party, is the natural result o f
its role as, in a sense, the embodiment o f the Indian nation during the
nationalist struggle, and o f the organization, prestige, leaders, and member­
ship it inherited from that struggle.
T w o factors im portant in maintaining the conditions in which democracy
can flourish are a civil service.that is impartial, intelligent, apolitical, and
uncorrupt, at least in its upper levels, and an arm y which is independent and
at the same time subordinate to the political wing. T he nationalist period
helped to bequeath such a bureaucracy and army to India. W hile G andhi had
called for government servants to desert their imperialist masters, the
nationalist movement made little attempt to undermine the position o f the
law, the civil service, or the army as such, and on the other hand through
agitation and participation in government it contributed to their Indianization.
India’s federal structure is inherited from the British, w ho devised it as a
w orkable means o f ruling and as a structure within which power could be de­
volved in the parts while retaining control at the centre, drawing on the
m odels o f the United States or the ‘ w hite’ dom inions. It also marks a re­
cognition o f the facts o f human political geography in India. B ut in addition
it bears influences from the nationalist period; G andhi reorganized Congress
into linguistic provincial units in 1921, and through linguistic reorganization
the Indian states have approxim ated increasingly towards the structure o f the
dominant party. The strength o f the central governm ent vis-à-vis the states,
epitomized in the role o f the President and in matters such as finance, develop­
ment investment, tariffs and, imports, m ay be seen as the administrative re­
flection o f the strong W orking Com m ittee or H igh Com m and in Congress.
India is a secular state— or rather, in so far as Indian governments assist all
the religious groups in the county, it is m ore accurately described as ‘ pluralis­
tic ’ . This owes much to the persistence o f the M oderate aim o f a secular state,
but was modified by G andhi’s insistence that m orality and politics were one
and by his appeals to the convictions o f various religious groups. It was m odi­
fied, too, by the Hindu com m unal movements o f the 1920s and 1930s, such as
the sangathan and sudditi movements, the Ràshtrîya Swayam sevak Sangh,
and the Hindu M ahâsâbhâ, in some ways the descendants o f the Hindu
assertiveness o f Extremist nationalism ; and by Congress’s blunting o f their
appeal to Hindus by resisting the M uslim m inority’s demands for safeguards.
The resulting dominance o f the Hindu m ajority com m unity inside and out­
side -Congress was reinforced in the newly independent India by the flight o f
som e o f the best Muslim talent to Pakistan, so that there has been a continu­
ing problem o f ensuring that Muslims are treated equally w ith the other com ­
munities,21 and feel themselves to be treated equally. A t the same time, the
M oderates’ goal o f secularism was pursued through the 1930s and 1940s b y
nationalists, such as Jawaharlal N ehru, attracted by the notions o f social

11 O f recruits to the Indian Administrative Service between 1948 and 1960, for example,
nearly 90 per cent were Hindu and only 1-9 per cent M uslim. See R . Braibanti and J. J.
Spengler (eds.), Administration and Economic Development in India, Durham , N .C ., 1963,
pp. 53-4.
 4oo The Nationalist Movement

egalitarianism and econom ic development which were gaining ground in the

West.
The nationalists prom oted too the other elements that are essential to
Western liberal dem ocracy— freedom o f speech, freedom o f association, and
freedom o f the press— which accord well with Indian religious notions o f the
relativiLy o f truth and characterize the spirit o f modern India. The modern
Indian provision o f special facilities to underprivileged o r-b a ck w a rd ’ groups,
which include a wide range o f castes and tribes, flows in a straight line from
the M oderates’ and  rya Samàjists’ w ork fo r social reform through Gândhîan
social uplift and N ehru’s concern for greater social equality.
The nationalist movement therefore did much to form modern India, and it
may be asked why its consequences were so very different for Pakistan which
is not secular but Islamic, and which has experimented both With presidential
dem ocracy and m ilitary autocracy. In fact considerable areas o f West Pakistan
in particular had hardly been affected by British education and large parts o f
the population were relatively untouched by the nationalist movement, many
M uslim s having deliberately held alo of from it and from active or at least in­
dependent participation in the legislatures. The Muslim League, which
achieved Pakistan, had only developed into a well-organized party in the seven
years or so before partition, and had little experience of-running parlia­
m entary or other large-scale political institutions. Even in the principal
M uslim majority regions, Bengal and the Panjâb, the M uslim League had
little experience o f running government. T h at Pakistan was a rom antic and
im practical solution to the M uslim s’ very real fears and problems— at least
for m any Muslims in the subcontinent— is indicated by the fact that half as
m any M uslim s remained in post-indepeiidence India as in Pakistan before the
breakaw ay o f Bangladesh. The abandonment o f secularism and the concept o f
Pakistan as an Islam ic state provided little guide to how the state should be
ruled, as the long agony o f drawing up a constitution demonstrated, and,
once Pakistan had been achieved, the need for co-operation between Muslim
politicians, many o f them able men, disappeared. Jinnah set the country on a
presidential path, but before this institution, novel to the subcontinent, could
be developed he and then his successor, L iàqat A li K han, died. Inheriting,
like its Indian counterpart, the same traditions, the Pakistani arm y was at
first reluctant to interfere, but on the breakdown o f dem ocratic and con­
stitutional forms it was drawn into the process o f governing.

IV
The political sociology o f the independent states o f tbe subcontinent has
continued to change since independence11— particularly under the im pact o f
universal franchise and econom ic development— but many o f the social
groups which have been active in politics since independence had established
themselves over the preceding sixty years. Their energies had been mobilized
“ See e.g. R . Kothari and R . Maru, 'C a sle and Secularism in India: Case Study of a
Caste Federation', Journal o f Asian Studies, Vol. 25, N o. I (Noy. 1965), pp. 33-50; L .I . and
S. H. Rudolph, The Modernity o f Tradition: Political Development o f India, Chicago and
London, 1967; M. Rashiduzzaman, ‘ The A warn i League in the Political Development of
Pakistan’ , Asian Survey, Vol. 10, N o . 7 (July 1970), pp. 574-87.
 The Nationalist Movement

frequently but not invariably by the nationalist movement. Research in pro­

gress on the United Provinces, for instance, shows that while the nationalist
movement there was almost dormant for most o f the l^ter part o f the nine­
teenth century, local government boards were arenas of increasing political
activity, particularly along lines o f rivalry between Muslims and rising Hindu
groups.23 Sooner or later, however, most groups which had stood outside the
nationalist movement found that they could not afford to remain aloof from
it— as in the case o f the Hindus and Muslims o f the United Provinces (now
U ttar Pradesh), when Congress and' the Muslim League sought to arrange
electoral concessions on behalf o f those communities in 1916.14 Either they
decided that they would benefit from joining Congress; or else the nationalist
movement set out to w oo and accommodate them.
The first groups to be mobilized in the nationalist associations and sabhâs
and in Congress in the 1870s and 1880s comprised Western-educated Indians,
mainly men engaged in the professions or in the service o f government or
business firms, as well as students aspiring to such jobs. They came almost
entirely from the castes and communities with traditions o f administration
and learning, notably brâhman castes, writer castes (Kàyasthas and Prabhus),
Pârsîs, and, to a much lesser extent, Muslim groups associated with trade.
Initially, they were to be found largely in the W estern port-cities and Poona.15
During the 1890s and the early years o f the twentieth century, however, the
Extremists drew increasing numbers o f less successful members o f these
Western-educated groups into political agitation, in the up-country towns in
Maharashtra and Bengal, and in the Panjâb as well. In addition, T ilak in
western India and Làjpat Ràì in the Panjâb succeeded in involving members
o f some peasant castes and urban labouring groups.
The Home Rule movement o f the F irst W orld W ar period carried agita­
tional politics to many new regions— to the Tamil-, Telugu-, Malayàlam -, and
Kannada-speaking regions o f the M adras Presidency, to G ujarat, Sind, the
United Provinces, and Delhi, and to Bihâr— and it caught up new social
groups, notably commercial men and their caste-fellows in Bom bay, Gujarât,
and Sind, and members o f agricultural castes in the rural towns and villages of
Gujarât, Maharashtra, and northern India. A t the same time, the Home Rule
agitation contributed to political mobilization iu ways that its leaders had not
intended. Non-bràhmans in western and southern India were provoked into
opposing the Home Rule movement, which they saw as likely to benefit only
those high-caste groups already predominant in the nationalist movement.

11 L . Brennan, 'L an d Policy and Social Change in Rohilkhand, 1801-1911 ’ (unpublished

M .A . thesis, University o f Western Australia, 1968); F. Robinson, 'M unicipal Government
and Muslim Separatism in the United Provinces, 1883-1916’ (unpublished paper, European
Conference on Modern South Asia, Copenhagen, 1970); cf. C. Bayly, ‘ Local Control in
Indian Towns: the Case o f Allahabad, 1880-1920’, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 5, part 4
(Oct. 1971), pp. 289-311.
23 See the writer’s ‘ Negotiating the Lucknow Pact, 1916', Journal o f Asian Studies, Vol. 31,
N o. 3 (May 1972), pp. 561-87.
25 See J. C. Massclos, ‘ Liberal Consciousness, Leadership and Political Organisation in
Bombay and Poona, 1867-1895’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University o f Bombay, 1964);
B. T . McCuily, English Education and the Origins o f Indian Nationalism, New York, 1940,
esp. pp. 225-9, 281-387.
402 The Nationalist Movement

These non-brâhmans were members o f peasant castes in M aharashtra and the

K ârn âtak16 and landowners and traders in the south.*7 The Hom e Rule
movement responded to these developments in turn by setting out, with some
success, to enlist the help o f members o f these non-brâhman groups in nation-
list activities.
Gandhi’s local political movements and first all-India movements in the
period 1917-22 mobilized a wide range o f groups in various parts o f British
India. These included peasant-proprietors, notably in Andhra and the Panjâb,
as well as members o f ‘the Patidàr and Anâvlâ brâhman castes in G ujarât on
a much larger scale than in the Home Rule movement; and also rural tenants
in parts o f the United Provinces and Bihâr and in the M idnapore district o f
Bengal and Kârarüp district in Assam . The response in urban areas was wide­
spread, but varied in terms o f the social groups it involved. One can point
specifically to less-Westernized businessmen, such as M àrwârîs in Calcutta,
central India, and towns in M adras Presidency, Baniàs, Bhàtiâs, and Jains in
western India, and local money-lending and commercial castes in Delhi and
the Panjâb cities and towns; to artisans and urban proletarian groups, such as
transport operatives and market labourers in the major Indian cities and in
the towns o f the Panjâb, G ujarât, Sind, and the United Provinces, and in­
creasingly in the later part o f the period mill-operatives in cotton-milling
centres; and to groups which had long been active in nationalist politics but
now were so on a larger scale than ever before, professional men and college
students. Conspicuously, too, the K hilâfat movement drew into the agitation
large numbers o f Muslims from virtually every socio-econom ic background
and geographic region, though in many cases their political activity was later
to be diverted into separatist channels.1®
One should not assume that people caught up in one Gàndhïan agitation
remained fully active politically thereafter. Nevertheless, once people had been
involved in hartals or demonstrations they were linked to the network o f
nationalist communications and leadership, and it was easier to enlist them
again later.” Furthermore, in the periods between his great agitational cam- •
paigns o f 1919-22, 1929-32, and 1940-2, GândhI continued to win support
through his constructive programmes which Congress too k up, and through'
smaller-scale agitations. D uring the 1920s, for instance, through the Y ykom
and Bardoll satyâgrahas and through G ândhî’s campaign for wom en’s rights
and the promotion o f kifSdi, he and his lieutenants drew groups o f untouch­
ables and women into the political sphere. It has been argued, too, that the
ideas o f social equality and justice injected into Congress by Jawàbarlàl

14 See À . T. Tansley, ‘ The Non-Brahman Movement In Western and Central India, 1917—
23 ’ (unpublished M .A . thesis, University o f Western Australia, 1969), pp. 53-74; Maureen
L . P. Patterson, ‘ Caste and Political Leadership in M aharashtra’, Economic Weekly
(Bombay), 6 (25 Sept. 1954Î, 1065-6.
” E. F . Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India; the Non-Brahman Movement
and Tamil Separatism, iç/6-,iÿ2ÿ, Berkeley, Cai., 1969, pp. 48, 51, 61-2.
11 This period is starting Id receive close attention from scholars, see e.g. It. Kum ar (ed.),
Essays on Gandhtan Politics; the Powlatt Satyagraha o f 1Ç19, Oxford, 1971.
15 On theimportance o f communications for nationalism, see K . W. Deutsch, Nationalism
and Social Communication; an Inquiry into the Foundations o f Nationality, Cambridge, Mass.
1966.
 The Nationalist Movement 403
Nehru and the Socialists from 1930 onwards helped to retain for the nation­
alist movement the adherence o f the underprivileged, notably working-class
and peasant groups.30 Indeed it seems that the activities o f the Socialists and
o f the K isân Sabhàs (peasants’ associations) attracted such people in larger
numbers as time went on.
This process was reinforced by the constitutional political activity o f
Congress in lengthy periods in the mid-i920s, Ì930S, and 1940s, follow ing the
major Gàndhlan agitations. During these periods Congress participated,
along with other parties, in the elections for the provincial and central legisla­
tures— as it did at all times in those for local governm ent bodies— and the
mounting competition for seats, accompanying extensions o f the franchise,
brought increasing circles o f society into the political process.
A s Congress expanded its organizational machinery and achieved electoral
success, it became increasingly attractive to groups which had stood a lo of
from the nationalist movement or opposed it. N otably the non-brahmans o f
western India joined Congress in form ing governments in Bom bay from the
1937 elections onwards31 and the non-brâhmans o f south India likewise in the
1950s.32 One group o f whom this was not true was, o f course, the Muslims.
Some Muslims were attracted by the growing success and influence o f C on ­
gress, and its secular ideology, but the legacy o f extremist nationalism and the
Hindu communal movements o f the 1920s and 1930s stiffened Congress re­
sistance to concessions and safeguards for the M uslim m inority. This gave
Muslims ample cause fo r apprehension, and enabled the M uslim League to
draw Muslims into the separatist movement in the 1940s.
The nationalist movement thus helped to foster the m ovem ent fo r Pakistan,
and by contributing to Muslim fears helped to submerge or disguise the very
real conflicts o f interest between the two wings o f Pakistan which soon began
to appear after partition. On the Indian side the political legacy o f the
struggle for independence was clearer, in terms o f social groups which had
been mobilized and the major political party through which they were to
operate, though here, too, regional tensions and loyalties had developed in the
course o f the struggle but were som ewhat disguised by the nationwide sweep
o f the movement for independence and were to flower later.

V
The Indian nationalist movement has had a lasting effect not only upon the
successor states in the subcontinent but upon m any other countries as well.
As the first great modern anti-colonial movement, in the non-W estem
world, it encouraged nationalist movements in other A sian colonies— in
Indonesia, Burma, Indo-China, and Ceylon. In the later 1920s the Indonesian
nationalist movement looked explicitly to G andhi’s ideas and the m odel o f
Gândhïan non-co-operation, even though Sukarno came to criticize what he
regarded as Gandhi’s concern with abstractions.33
30 See R . Kum ar, ‘ The Political Process in India’, South Aito, 1 (Aug. 1971), 106.
31 See A . Tansley, op. cit., pp. 216-17.
33 See L. I. and S. H. Rudolph, The Modernity o f Tradition: Political Development In India,
Chicago, 1967, pp. 55-61. _
33 B. Dahm, Sukarnos Kampfum Indonésiens Unabhângigkeit: Werdegang ttndIdeen eines
 404 The Nationalist Movement

N ehru became acquainted with Mohammad Hatta, the Indonesian nation­

alist, at the Brussels anti-imperialist conference o f 1927, and between 1947
and 1949 India assisted the Indonesian movement for independence at the
United N ations and by banning D utch flights across Indian territory.
N ationalist movements in A frica, particularly in British colonies, also
looked explicitly to India, as well as to other successful nationalist movements
in A sia. Uganda, Zam bia, and M alawi each had its 'C on gress’, which sought
to represent the whole nation; Africans in South A frica have their African
N ational Congress, even though it is banned. And the Ghanaian national
movement, for example, was to have its share o f imprisonment before self­
government was won in 1957.34 ~
India’s successful movement for self-determination also had a practical
implication for independence movements elsewhere. Once India was inde­
pendent, the raison d'être for much o f the rest o f the British Empire35 ceased to
exist. It took British statesmen some years to recognize this, but, as they did
so, they became more willing to let it go, and this in turn accelerated the whole
process o f decolonization.
T h e Indian national movement has provided an inspiration to other move­
ments for political and social reform, particularly in the democracies o f the
W est, and these movements have turned to G andhi’s techniques for models.
In the black civil rights movement in the United States, as early as 1942 the
leaders o f the M arch on Washington M ovement, aiming at equal treatment in
wartime employment for both blacks and whites, considered the use of
Gandhi's methods o f civil disobedience.36 In 1950 M artin-Luther K in g was
greatly attracted by what he heard o f Gandhi, and in his campaigns for black
rights, beginning with the successful M ontgom ery bus boycott in 1956, he de­
liberately modelled his strategy upon G andhi’s methods.37 From here,
Gandhi’s methods have been extended to other movements for reform and the
remedying o f injustice. These methods have not always been fully understood
by those w ho adapted them to other situations o f conflict or confrontation,
but they were taken over by such movements as the anti-Vietnam W ar cam­
paigns in Am erica and Australia, and in the south A sian subcontinent itself
after independence by the states reorganization campaigns in India, and by
ashtischen Notionalisten, Schriften des Instituts fiir Asienkunde in Hamburg, Band X V 151,
1966, pp. 52, 80, 83, 125. For Indian influences on Burmese nationalism, see D . E. Smith,
Religion and Politics in Burma, Ithaca, N .Y ., 1958, pp. 193, 217-21, 300-3, 319, 412-18. For
Vietnamese nationalists' invocation o f Indian models, see D . G , E . Hall, A History o f South­
East Asia, London, 1964, p. 719; J. Buttioger, Vietnam: A Dragon Embattled, London, 1967,
Vol. 2, pp. 728, 1077, n. 27. For Ceylon, see C. Jeffries, Ceylon— the Path to Independence,
London, 1962, pp. 37, 89, 102, n o , 113-14.
14 S e e T . Hodgkin, nationalism in Colonial Africa, London, 1956, pp. 146-8; R . Emerson
and M . K ilson <eds.), The Political Awakening o f Africa, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965,
pp. 3, .8, 16, 49, 5 2 -3 ,7 1.
73 Sec R . Robinson and J. Gallagher, with A lice Denny, Africa and the Victorians: the
Official blind o f Imperialism, London, 1963, pp. 76, 86,93, 1 1 4 ,117-18, 123, 133,162, 190-3,
199-202, 255, 283-91, 306, 464.
36 H. Garfunkel, IVhen Negroes March: the March on Washington Movement in the
Organisational Politics o f the F.E.P.C., Glencoe, 111., 1959, pp. 133, 135.
37 See L. D . Reddick, Crusader without Violence: a Biography o f Marlin Luther King, Jr.,
New Y o rk , 1959, csp. pp. 8 0-1,133-55, 208; Coretta S. King, M y Life with Martin Luther
King, Jr., London, 1970, pp. 176-8, 192, 202, 218, 353-4.
 The Nationalist Movement 405
movements against military governments both in Pakistan and in what has
become Bangladesh.

VI
In the context of south Asia’s history, the contribution o f the Indian
nationalist movement may prove to be long- or short-lived. T he participants
in the movement and their leaders were human, and as such fallible: the ob ­
server may not admire or approve o f everything they did, and those w ho try
to apply their methods to other situations o f conflict or discontent may some­
times do so inadequately. But the Indian nationalist movement has earned its
place in history alongside the greatest developments in human organization
and men’s thought, most o f all because o f the moral stature o f its greatest
leader, Gandhi. Gandhi was not the first Indian nationalist to appeal to the
conscience o f his opponents and his would-be followers, nor was he the last—
Dâdâbhâi N àorojl deplored the ‘ un-British’ nature o f British rule in India,
and under Jawaharlal Nehru India for a while became a sort o f conscience to
the world. But there is a transcendent nobility in G ândhî’s work— in lus
efforts for the uplift o f the depressed and for social reconciliation, in his
technique o f satyagraha, and in his concern to love his adversaries and change
their hearts through self-suffering. A b o v e all, in his successful appeals to
millions o f people he called upon their better natures and noblest impulses.
C H A PT ER XXIX

Modem Literature
by K r is h n a K r ip a l a n i

T h e present linguistic position o f India has been summed up in the Constitu­

tion, which has scheduled fifteen major languages o f the country: the eleven
Indo-Âryan languages consisting o f Sanskrit with its tenfold progeny:
Assamese, Bengâlï, Gujarâtï, Hindi, Kashm iri, Marathi,' O riyâ, Panjabi,
Sindhi, and U rdu; and the four Dravidian languages: K annada, Malayâlam ,
Tam il, and Telugu. T o these fifteen the Sâhitya A kadem i (National Academ y
o f Letters, India) has for its own purposes added five more: M aithiii, the
language o f north-east Bihâr, which has a rich heritage o f medieval literature,
Rajasthani the language o f Râjasthàn, rich in ballads, D ogri the language of
the Jammü region in the State o f Jammü and Kashmir, M anipurl the language
o f M anipur in eastern India, and English. Sixteen o f these twenty languages
are the speeches o f specific regions; Sanskrit and English cut across all
regional boundaries, while the people speaking Urdu and Sindhi are scattered
over different regions. A ll o f them are the mother tongues o f large or small
communities,-with the exception o f Sanskrit, which is no longer a spoken
tongue in India, although nearly 5,000 persons entered it as their mother
tongue in the 1961 Census.
These twenty languages, including English, m ay be deemed the languages
o f m ajor use in modern India. From the strictly philological point of
view the number o f languages and dialects, like the creeds and castes in the
country, is indeed legion. T h e 1951 Census enumerated 845 languages and
dialects, but whatever the interest o f such meticulous analysis o f minor
linguistic variations for the professional philologist, it need not concern us
here. Suffice it for us to note that o f the four speech-families o f India, over
70 per cent o f the population speak one or the other o f the various Indo-
Âryan languages and less than one third the D ravidian languages, while a
little over r per cent use the Austrie and less than 1 per cent the Sino-Indian
languages.
Although the importance o f a language is not necessarily to be measured
by the number o f persons speaking it, the relative strength o f numbers is not
without its significance. From this point o f view Hindi may be deemed the
leading language o f modern India, covering as it does the major part o f north
India with a population o f about 150 million. This wide sweep o f Hindi is,
however, not without its limitations, and might be viewed more as a process
than as an accomplished and uncontroverted fact.
There is, besides High Hindi and High Urdu, a large indeterminate zone
where the common speech is an unpretentious middle path between the two,
known as Hindüstânï. This was the speech which M ahatm a G andhi cherished
as the lingua franca o f modern India, hoping that it would be accepted as a
 Modem Literature 407
common heritage by Hindus and M uslim s alike. But, like many o f his other
dreams, the hope survives as a historical memory. T od ay U rdu is the official
language o f Pakistan and a national language o f India. D espite the sharp
cleavage between High H indi and High Urdù and the ill-concealed contem pt
which the protagonists o f both have for their com m on foster-child Hindü-
stânî, the position continues to remain so fluid that the 1961 Census was un­
able to compile separate statistics fo r it, a large number o f persons describing
their language as Hindi-Hindüstânl, Urdü-H indûstâni, or some other per­
mutation.
The relative strength o f the people speaking the languages o f modern India,
as revealed by the 1961 Census, may be briefly summed up as follow s:
Assamese 6-8 million, Bengali 33*8 million, D ogrI 2-6 m illion, G ujarati
20 3 million, Hindi 1334 m illion, K ann ada 17*4 m illion, K ashm iri 1*9 m illion,
M aithili 5 million, M alayàlam 17 million, M anipuri o-6 m illion, M arathi
33-2 million, Oriyâ 15-7 million, Panjabi 10-9 million, Rajasthani 1 2 3 m illion,
Sindhi 1*3 m illion, T am il 303 m illion, Telugu 37*6 m illion, and Urdu
23-1 million. Panjabi and Sindhi are also languages o f Pakistan and Bengali o f
Bânglâdesh, and it is w orth noting that the number o f people speaking
Bengâlï in Bânglâdesh and Urdu in Pakistan w ould be as large as, i f not larger
than, in India; while the number o f Sindhi speaking people in Pakistan w ould
be much larger and o f Panjabi speakers considerably more.
Such then is the linguistic jigsaw puzzle o f modern India. W ithout a proper
appreciation o f this com plex pattern one is likely to miss the significance o f
one o f the most characteristic aspects o f m odem Indian literature, nam ely, its
multiple character. It has been said that Indian literature is one, though
written in m any languages— a faint echo o f the fam ous V ed ic verse: ‘Truth is
one though sages call it by various nam es’. This characteristic permeates not
only literature but almost every significant aspect o f Indian culture. Hence
the hackneyed phrase, ‘ U nity in diversity’, which our politicians and culture-
mongers are never tired o f repeating, although there is at least as much diver­
sity in our unity as there is unity in our diversity.
English had the historical advantage o f com ing to India at a time when
Sanskrit and Persian had long played out their roles as languages o f enlighten­
ment and had become mere custodians o f past glory and refuges o f orthodoxy.
India has had m any dark ages in the long course o f her history, but the latter
h a lf o f the eighteenth century was perhaps the darkest. Political chaos had
combined with intellectual lethargy to proliferate a wilderness o f cankerous
growth in which i f culture survived at all it was as a few isolated oases in a
vast desert.
T he English language thus came at a. fime when all other doors to a pro­
gressive and enlightened existence seemed hopelessly closed. Patriotic Indians
o f the Gândhlan era resent the harsh words with "which M acaulay, with more
zeal than understanding, contemptuously pooh-poohed the pretensions o f
Oriental learning in his fam ous Minute on Education in India. B ut it is well to
recall what, more than a decade earlier, R âm M ohan R o y, him self a m onu­
ment o f Oriental learning, had written to the G overnor-G eneral, Lord
Am herst, protesting against the G overnm ent’s proposal to open a Sanskrit
college in Calcutta.
4o8 Modem Literature
I f it had been intended [wrote th e most enlightened Indian o f his age, w h o is univers­
ally acclaim ed as the F a th e r o f m odern India] to keep the British nation in ignorance
o f real kn ow led ge, the B aco n ian Ph ilosoph y would not have been allow ed to dis­
p lace the system o f the S ch oolm en, w h ich w as the best calculated to perpetuate
ign oran ce. In the sam e m anner the Sanskrit system o f edu cation w ould be the best
calculated to k eep this co u n try in darkness, if such had been the p o licy o f the British
legislature. B u t as the im provem en t o f the native p op u lation is the object o f the
G overn m en t, it w ill con sequ en tly prom ote a m ore liberal and enlightened system o f
instruction em bracin g M athem atics, N atu ral P h ilosop h y, C hem istry, A n atom y,
with other useful sciences . . .

T h e English language was thus voluntarily, and even enthusiastically,

learnt by the young intelligentsia o f Bengal, and later o f other parts o fln d ia ,
fretting under the load o f an inhibiting and meaningless discipline which the
traditional learning had come to be. N o doubt even at that time the orthodox
were not lacking who denounced with righteous fervour the British Govern­
ment’s decision to ‘ im pose’ English on Indians, though they were no less
ambitious to learn the language for themselves. This bitterness (with its
anom aly o f denouncing English while acquiring it) has survived and has been
considerably reinforced; it has been made not a little virulent b y political
passions— until English has been dislodged from its position as the official
language and has been retained on sufferance as the associate language, while
continuing in fact to perform the same service, more or less.
This sendee was twofold. Politically English developed and strengthened the
consciousness o f national oneness more effectively and more profoundly than
had ever happened before in Indian histpry. It also linked this consciousness
with the aspiration to realize the national destiny in the context o f democratic
freedom . Intellectually it shook the intelligentsia out o f a mental torpor which
had well nigh paralysed all initiative and spirit o f inquiry. T he intelligentsia
fostered under the new regime took to English readily, impressed by the
wonderland o f scientific knowledge and technique which it revealed, and
charmed by a literature that seemed the more stimulating because it was so
different from their own. A ll this would have come in any case in the course
o f time, as it has come to other peoples, but historical circumstances made the
English language the agent o f this revolutionary ferment in India and gave it
a unique historical role in the development o f modern India and its literatures.
It would be ungracious, if not churlish, to disown this debt.
Strangely enough, knowledge o f the English language and the attraction of
English literature (and through it, later, o f other Western literatures), instead
o f impeding the development o f Indian languages, have proved a powerful
stimulus. Perhaps this was not strange at all, but was inevitable. A n d this is the
ultimate testimony to the creative nature o f the im pact. A ll the modern
languages o f India were fertilized by this contact and have yielded, some
sooner, some later, rich harvests o f their own. Even Sanskrit, past its age of
rejuvenation, was made to reveal its treasures in a manner not hitherto ex­
ploited.
This new era o f modern Indian literatures m ay be said to begin in 1800, when
F ort W illiam College was established in Calcutta and The Baptist Mission
Press in Serampore, near Calcutta. The College was founded by the East India
 M odem Literature 409
Com pany to provide instruction to British civil servants in the laws, customs,
religions, languages', and literatures o f India in order to cope with' the increas­
ing demands o f a fast-growing administrative machinery. T he Press, the first
to be set up in north India and still one o f the best, was founded b y the
Baptist Mission mainly with the object o f propagating Christian literature
am ong the ‘ heathen’ population. W hatever their original objects, the actual
w orking o f these two institutions produced results far beyond their scope.
T he credit for this must largely go to D r. John Gilchrist, a professor o f the
College, his learned and indefatigable associate William Carey, and an able
and devoted band o f Indian scholars. Textbooks for the teaching o f Bengali,
Hindi, Urdu and other Indian languages, as well as for imparting the various
branches o f knowledge, had to be literally manufactured, for there was little
written prose available in the Indian languages, and what was available was
hardly adequate for the purpose. Reading material was translated from the
Sanskrit classics as well as from foreign literature, and dictionaries and
grammars were compiled. W illiam Carey, who was also one o f the founders o f
the Baptist Mission Press, himself wrote a Bengali grammar and compiled an
English-Bengâll dictionary as well as two selections o f dialogues and stories.
H e was also the author o f A Grammar o f the Karnataka Language.
The first printing press in India was set up by the Jesuit missionaries in G oa
in 1566 and books in Tam il and other Dravidian languages began to be
printed in the second half o f the sixteenth century. M any foreign missionaries
learnt the languages o f the people. T hey not only translated the Bible and
wrote Christian Purànas but also rendered considerable service to the
languages by compiling the first modern grammars and dictionaries. T he
pioneer labour o f the Germ an missionary Ziegenbalg and his Italian succes­
sor Beschi in Tam il and o f Father Leonardo Cinnom a in K ann ad a, as well as
o f m any others in Telugu and M alayâlam , is still recalled with gratitude in the
history o f these literatures. But, although the printing-press came to south
India much earlier and the foreign missionary enterprise functioned much
longer and more zealously than in Bengal, the im pact o f Western learning as
such was comparatively slow and the resurgence o f literary activity bore fruit
in its modern form much later than in Bengal. ^
W hen, in 1800, the F ort W illiam College was founded in Calcutta and the
Baptist Mission and its Press were set up at Serampore, their primary objects
were to train a more efficient civil service and to propagate Christianity among
the ‘ heathens’ , but the indirect result o f this two-pronged drive to hold India
in thrall turned into a blessing. T he textbooks written and the translations
published by the Baptist Mission Press provided the much-needed incentive to
the development o f prose, the essential backbone o f literature, which Bengali,
in com m on with most other north Indian languages, had so far lacked.
Bengali type was first designed and cast by Charles W ilkins, the distinguished
Sanskrit scholar (and collaborator o f Sir W illiam Jones, w ho founded the
A siatic Society o f Bengal in 1784), and was first used in Halhed’ s Bengali
Gram m ar in 1778.
The establishment o f Hindu College in 1817 and the replacing o f Persian by
English as the language o f the law and the increasing use o f Bengali were other
landmarks which encouraged the introduction o f modern education and the
 M odem Literature

development o f the language o f the people. It was, however, Ràjâ Râm

M ohan R oy (1772-1833) who laid the real foundation o f modern Bengali
prose, as indeed he did o f the Indian renaissance in general. Though essenti­
ally a religious and social reformer, the learning, versatility and zeal o f this
extraordinary man blazed new trails in almost every field o f Indian life and
culture. The form which he gave to Bengali prose, necessarily somewhat crude
and tentative, revealed its rich potentiality in the hands o f livarachandra
V idyâsàgar (1820-91) and Akshaykum âr D atta (1820-86), both o f whom
were, like their great predecessor, primarily social reformers and educationists.
Because they were men o f serious purpose w ho had much to say, they had little
use fo r the flamboyance and rhetoric natural to a language derived from
Sanskrit, and they chiselled a prose that was both chaste and vigorous.
Path-finders rather than creative artists, they standardized the medium
which their younger contemporary, Banldm Chandra Chatterjee (1838-94),
turned with superb gusto and skill into a creative tool for his novels and
stories. He is known as the father o f the modern novel in India and his in­
fluence on his contemporaries and successors, in Bengal and other parts o f
India, was profound and extensive. N ovels, both historical and social— the
tw o form s in which he excelled— had been written before him in Bengâlï by
Bhfldev M ukherjl and Peary Chand M itra. M itra’s Aiâler Gharer Duìàl is in
fact the first specimen o f original fiction o f social realism with free use o f the
colloquial idiom, and anticipated, however crudely, the later development o f
the novel. But it was Bankim Chandra w ho established the novel as a major
literary form in India. He had his limitations, he was too-romantic, effusive,
and didactic, and was in no sense a peer o f his great Russian contemporaries,
Tolstoy and D ostoevsky. There have been better novelists in India since his
day, but they all stand on his shoulders.
T hough the first harvest was reaped in Bengali prose, it was in the soil o f
poetry that this cross-fertilization with the West bore its richest fruit. And no
wonder. The Bengali temperament is emotional, its genius essentially lyrical;
the Bengali language is supple and m usical, as though fashioned for poetry.
M ichael Madhusfidan D utt (1824-73) was the pioneer who, turning his back
on the native tradition, made the first conscious and successful experiment to
naturalize the European forms into Bengàlî poetry by his epic in blank verse,
Meghnâdbadh, based 011 a Râmâyana episode unorthodoxly interpreted, as
well as by a number o f sonnets. His personal life was a tragic struggle to
justify Western values in an Indian context, but the fusion he vainly sought
to achieve in life he successfully accomplished in his best creative verse. He
led the way but could not establish a vital tradition, for his own success was a
tour de force o f a rare genius.
It was Tàgore who naturalized the Western spirit into Indian literature and
thereby made it truly modern in an adult sense. He did this not by any con­
scious or forced adaptation o f foreign models but by his creative response to
the impulse o f the age, with the result that the Upanishads and K âlidàsa,
Vaishnava lyricism, and the rustic vigour o f the folk idiom, are so well
blended with Western influences in his poetry that generations o f critics will
continue to wrangle over bis specific debt to each o f them. In him modern
Indian literature came o f age— not only in poetry but in prose as well. N ovel,
 Modern Literature 411
short story, drama, essay, and literary criticism, they all attained m aturity in
his hands. Though Indian literature in its latest phase has outgrow n his in­
fluence, as indeed it should, Tàgore was the most vital creative force in the
cultural renaissance o f India and represents its finest achievement.
A s poetry in M ichael M adhusüdan’s hands and the novel in Bankim ’s, the
modern drama too owed its inspiration to the Western model. The tradition
o f classical Sanskrit drama had long been lost and had not in any case per­
colated into the popular pattern o f culture. But there is hardly a people who
do not love to watch a visual représentation o f their life and lore, and so there
arose a kind o f composite folk drama— Kathâkali in K erala, Yakshagdna in
Karnâtaka, Âttkiyà Nât in Assam , Tamâshâ in M ahâràshtra, Yâtra in Bengal,
Râs-lHâ in Braj and ManipurT, etc.— in which Purànic themes were interpreted
on an improvised stage with the help o f declamation, mime, song, and dance,
and this was popular all over India. Whatever its other virtues, it was not
drama proper. It was a composite entertainment, in the sense in which the
word is understood today, more melodrama than drama, which is essentially
an urban growth and a cultivated and sophisticated art, requiring consider­
able organization and resources.
Calcutta being the first cosmopolitan city in India to grow under the new
regime, it was natural that it should witness the birth o f the modern drama. It
has still a lively stage tradition. Curiously enough, the first stage-play in
Bengali produced in Calcutta was by a Russian adventurer-cum-Indologist,
Lebedev, in 1795. It was an adaptation o f a little-known English comedy, The
Disguise, by Richard Paul Jodrell, oddly mixed w ith English and Hindustani
dialogue to suit the needs o f a mixed audience. The main dialogue was, how ­
ever, in Bengali and tbe actors and actresses were likewise Bengàll.
M any years passed before a serious attempt was made to build an authentic
stage, mainly under private patronage. The first original play in Bengali was
Kulin Kulasarvasva, a social satire against the practice o f polygam y among
Kulln brâhmans, written b y Pandit Râmnârâyan. Râm nârâyan’s second play,
Ratnaoali, based on a Sanskrit classic, provoked MadhusOdan D u tt to try his
hand at this medium. His impetuous genius turned out a number o f plays in
quick succession, some based on old legends and some social satires. He may
: thus be said to have laid the foundation o f modern Indian drama, as he did of
poetry, although his achievement in this form did not equal his perform ance in
poetry and he soon retired from the field.
; His place was taken by Dlnabandhu M itra (1829-74), a born dramatist
whose very first play, N il Darpan (published in i860), exposing the atrocities
o f the British indigo planters, created a sensation, both literary and political.
The Revd. J. Long, a noble-hearted missionary w ho had the audacity to
publish the play in English, was fined and imprisoned by the authorities.
Dlnabandhu wrote many more plays and was follow ed by a succession o f
■playwrights am ong whom were Rabindranath T agore’s elder brother
Jyotirindranâth, Manoraohan Basu, and, later, the m ore famous Girlschandra
G hosh and Dwijendralâl R o y. Girlschandra was actor, producer, and play­
wright, and it is to his indefatigable zeal that the public theatre in Calcutta is
largely indebted. But though both he and Dwijendralâl achieved phenomenal
popularity in their day, their popular appeal was due more to the patriotic and
412 M odem Literature

melodram atic elements in their plays than to any abiding literary merit. On
the other hand, Rabindranath T agore's plays, though they had considerable
literary merit and were marked by originality and depth o f thought, were too
sym bolic or ethereal to catch the popular imagination. A nd so he too failed
to create a firm tradition in this field, with the result that o f all literary forms
in modern Indian literature the drama remains the least developed.
Bengali had the advantage o f bearing the first impact o f the introduction of
English education and Western learning in India. Being a sensitive and emo­
tional people, the Bengalis reacted to this with whole-hearted and passionate
warm th. But the general pattern o f literary resurgence was more or less the
same in al: Indian languages, each responding in its own manner,'some sooner
and som e later. In most o f them the early spade-work was done by Christian
missionaries, who helped to fashion the basic material on which the develop­
ment o f prose was built. Gradual fertilization by English education and
literature was reinforced by the natural receptivity o f the Indian mind, with
its subconscious heritage o f a highly refined spiritual sensibility, to the liberal-
humanist tradition o f Western thought. Thus stimulated and further equipped
with the Western technique o f research, the Indian mind discovered anew, as
it were, the rich treasures o f its Sanskrit legacy. T h e earlier renaissance in Ben­
gal not only invited emulation in other parts o f India but also generated a re­
formist zeal and a new faith in Indian destiny. T h e life and w ork o f Ràjà
Ràm M ohan R o y, the M ahârshi Debendranâth Tâgore, K eshub Chandra
Sen, Râm akrishna Paramahamsa, and later Swàm î Yivekânanda and Sri
Aurobindo were sources o f inspiration to the whole o f India. N o wonder that
the early pioneers in almost all Indian literatures were also active social re­
formers and men o f outstanding moral stature.
O f the numerous languages o f India perhaps M arathi was, after Bengali, tbe
most vigorous in its response to the spirit o f the new age, partly because o f its
robust intellectual tradition, reinforced by memories o f the erstwhile glory of
the M arâthà Empire, and partly because Bom bay, like Calcutta, provided a
cosmopolitan modern environment. Am ong the stalwarts w ho laid the
foundation o f its modern literature m ay be mentioned the poet Keshavsut,
the novelist Hari N âràyan Àpte, and Agarkàr, T ilak, and Chiplunkàr as the
builders o f prose. À p te’s novels stimulated the development o f the novel in
some other languages too, particularly in the neighbouring Kannada.
K irloskâr and D eval did for the M aràthi stage what Girischandra had done
for the Bengâlï.
N arm ad ’s poetry blazed the trail in. Gujarati, while Govardhanrâm ’s
Sarasuatichandra made a landm ark in G ujarâtî fiction. Hindi had to face the
difficult task o f cutting a new broad channel into which the waters o f its many
tributaries could flow and which could be perennially fed from tbe vast re­
servoir- o f Sanskrit. This feat was performed by 'B hàratend u ’ Harischandra
and M ahàvïrprasâd Dwivedi.
The problem o f Urdfl was different. Its form , derived from the same basic
structure as Hindi, the common speech known as K han Boli, had been
standardized much earlier. Flourishing under court patronage, it had made
phenomenal progress and was the most important Indian language to prosper
in the eighteenth century. But it luxuriated in its own affluence and remained
 Modem Literature 413
alo of from the vital currents that were sweeping the country forward in the
nineteenth century. It is not without a certain significance that its greatest
poet, G hâlib, was still com posing doleful— though magnificent— ghazals re­
dolent o f Persian rose gardens when M ichael Madhusüdan, Bankim , and
Dinabandhu were cutting new paths for Indian literature.
The development o f modern Assamese and Oriyâ, the two eastern neigh­
bours o f Bengali, was also late in com ing and was preceded by valuable spade­
work done by the Christian missions. Assam was torn by civil strife in the
eighteenth century and was later under Burmese occupation until the British
annexed it in 1827. Orissâ too had been dismembered, and recovered its
homogeneous integrity in the present century. The intelligentsia in both the
regions were educated in Calcutta (which was for long the main educational
centre in eastern India) and carried back with them the impact o f the literary
resurgence in Bengal. Lakshm lkânta Bezbaruâ and Padm anâth G ohàin
Baruà in Assamese, and Fakirm ohan Senapati and Râdhànâth R ây in Oriyâ
were the early pioneers in their respective fields.
Kashm iri, Panjabi, and Sindhi had an even more retarded development,
partly on account o f the political conditions and partly because o f the cultural
glamour o f U rdu in regions predominantly Muslim. A ll the more credit to the
pioneers who held aloft the banner of their mother tongue when it hardly paid
to do so: M ahjùr and Master Z in d i K au l in Kashmiri, Sardâr Püran Singh
and Bhàï V lr Singh in Panjabi, and M lrza K alich Beg and Dew ân K aurom àl
in Sindhi.
W hat is surprising is the rather late and tardy resurgence in the fou r
Dravidian languages, which had had a longer and a richer literary past than
the northern languages as well as an earlier and closer contact with the
Christian missions. The past has weighed more heavily on the south than on
the north in India and nowhere more heavily than on Tam ilnadu. However, in
course o f time the creative spirit in these languages too responded to the im ­
pulse o f the age, in as rich a flowering as in the other languages o f India, led
by Puttanna, ‘ Sri’, and Kailàsham in Kannada, by Kerala V arm à and
Chandu M enon in M alayâlam , by Bhàrati and K a lk l in Tam il, and Vlresal-
ingam and Guruzâda A p p a R âo in Telugu. It is worth observing that the
youngest o f the Dravidian languages, M alayâlam , has responded to the new
age more dynam ically than the oldest, Tamil, which even now looks too
wistfully to the past.

M A IN T R E N D S

The development o f modern Indian literature has been marked by certain

characteristics, some o f which it shares with modern literatures the world
over, while others are incidental to the special circumstances attending its
birth. One o f the latter is a certain dichotom y in the mental attitudes o f the
writers, some welcoming the new impulse, some resenting it— a dichotom y no
less discernible in the make-up o f the individual writer, whose one eye looks
wistfully backwards, the other longingly ahead. There has always been in all
countries and ages a conflict between the orthodox and the unorthodox, but
in India, because the new impulse was identified with an alien culture and
 414 Modem Literature

foreign domination, the clash o f loyalties has been sharper. The very impact
o f Western thought, with its emphasis on democracy and self-expression,
stimulated a nationalist consciousness which resented the foreign imposition
and searched for the roots o f self-respect and pride in its own heritage.
T agore’s novel Gorâ is a masterly interpretation o f this built-in conflict in the
very nature o f Indian renaissance, a conflict which still persists and has
coloured not only our literature but almost every aspect o f our life.
The first outstanding Bengali poet o f the nineteenth century (and the last in
the old tradition), Iswar Chandra Gupta (1812-59), whose remarkable
journal, Sanwâd Prabhâkar, was the training-ground o f many distinguished
writers and who wrote the first literary biographies o f his predecessor poets,
was a doughty champion o f the native heritage and poured hi^ biting ridicule
on everything that savoured o f the new, irrespective o f whether it was good or
bad. Even the great Bankim Chandra, him self a leading herald of-the new,
looked more and more wistfully to the past as he grew older. T ilak in M arathi
and Bharatl in Tam il were even m ore aggressive in their native pride and had
their counterparts in all Indian languages.
This pride in India’s past grew more lyrical under the stress o f political
aspirations and provided increasing fuel to the movement for national free­
dom. W hilst it thus served a useful purpose, it had its unhealthy and-reac­
tionary aspect in so far as it encouraged an exaggerated self-righteousness and
distorted the historical perspective. Even so chaste a spirit as M ahatm a
Gandhi could fall under its spell and uttter with passionate sincerity the dis­
mal halfitm th that the British association had ruined India not only econo­
m ically but intellectually, morally, and spiritually.
On the other hand, it is well to recall the testimony o f Romesh Chunder
D utt, the distinguished scholar and historian w ho was him self one o f the
builders o f the nineteenth-century renaissance, as recorded in the first edition
o f his The Literature o f Bengal, published in-1877.

The conquest of Bengal by the English [wrote India’s first modern historian] was not
only a political revolution but ushered in a greater revolution in thoughts and ideas,
in religion and society. We cannot describe the great change better than by stating
that English conquest and English education may be supposed to have removed
Bengal from the'moral atmosphere of Asia to that of Europe. A ll the great events
which have influenced European thought within the last one hundred years have
also told, however feeble their effect may be, on the formation of the intellect of
modem Bengal. The independence of America, the French Revolution, the war of
Italian independence, the teachings of history, the vigour and freedom of English
literature and English thought, the great effort of the French intellect in the eighteenth
century, the results o f Gentian labour in the field of philosophy and ancient history
— Positivism, Utilitarianism, Darwinism— all these have influenced and shaped the
intellect of modem Bengal,.In the same degree all the great influences which told on
the Bengali mind in previous centuries, the faith o f Krishna, the faith of-Chandi or
Kali, the preachings o f Chaitanya, the belief in the truth o f Hinduism and the
sacre'dnesspf the Shastras, the unquestioning obedience to despotic power in all its
phases, the faith in the divine right o f royalty and in the innate greatness o f princes
and princesses^-all these ancient habits and creeds have exercised feebler and yet
i -feebler influences on the modem Bengali intellect." In habits,- in tastes, in feeling,
.freedom and vigour and patriarchal institutions, our literature therefore has under­
 Modem Liter attire 415
gone a corresponding change. The classical Sanskrit taste has given place to the
European. From the stories of gods and goddesses, kings and queens, princes and
princesses, we have learned to descend to the humble walks o f life, to sympathise
with a common citizen or even a common peasant. From an admiration o f a sym­
metrical uniformity we have descended to an appreciation of the strength and free­
dom of individuality. From admiring the grandeur and glory o f the great we now
willingly turn to appreciate the liberty and resistance in the lowly.

In so far as this somewhat effusive.acknowledgement o f India’s debt to the

West contains the core o f a fair analysis, it was true in. 1877 o f a'very limited
intelligentsia in the city o f Calcutta. It was hardly true o f the’ rest o f Bengal
and India. Nevertheless, it was this limited intelligentsia that was the main
vanguard o f the moral and intellectual upsurge o f the nineteenth century. In
any case the passage indicates the fundamental trends which are still operative,
despite the contrary trends released by powerful counter-movements, led
partly by the very stalwarts who were the products o f this upsurge. It is also
relevant to record that the author omitted this passage from the second edi­
tion o f his b ook, published in 1895.
From the beginning o f the twentieth century Indian literature was increas­
ingly coloured by political aspirations, passionately voiced in the songs and
poems o f the Tam il poet Bhàratï and the Bengali poet K â z ï N azrul Islam. The
spiritual note o f Indian poetry which had attained a poignant and rapturous
pitch in the medieval Vaishnava outpourings became fainter and fainter and
was drowned by more earthly pains and longings. T agore’s Gitânjalï is the
swan song o f this great tradition. Religious poetry continues to be written to
this day in India, but in the main it is little better than an inane repetition o f
what had been much better expressed earlier. The devotional content o f
poetry was henceforth increasingly replaced by the political, the ethical bias
by the ideological, the plaintive tone by that o f challenge and m ockery, until
the dominant note o f Indian literature today is that o f protest.
Tâgore’s influence, after the award o f the N obel Prize in 1913, crossed the
frontiers o f Bengal artd was for some time a source o f exhilaration, if not
always o f inspiration, to bis contemporaries all over India, from M aster
Zinda K aul in Kashm ir to Kum âran A san in K erala. T he influence was, how ­
ever, superficial, since most o f them knew him only through the English
translations. T h e influence was more fruitful in the case o f Assamese, Oriyà,
Gujarati, and Hindi, where the young poets too k the trouble to learn Bengali,
mainly to read him in the original. T h e Chhâyâvâd or Rom antic school in
Hindi poetry, led by N iralâ, Pant, and others, which was a potent stimulus in
the development o f modern Hindi literature, was ^directly inspired by it.
Tagore’s main impact was, however, indirect, inasmuch as it gave confidence
to Indian writers that they could achieve in their mother tongue w hat had been
achieved in Sanskrit or European languages.
But T agore’s influence, such as it was, was soon overshadowed by the im ­
pact o f Gandhi, M arx, and Freud, a strange trinity. Though none o f these
three was a man o f letters proper, they released intellectual and m oral passions
and introduced new techniques o f thought and behaviour which had a pro­
found effect on young writers all over India. -Gandhi’s im pact, confined to
India, was both widespread and deep, though it was deeper on some languages
4 16 Modem Literature

than on others, much deeper, for instance, on Gujarati and H indi than on
Bengâlï. Gandhi transfigured the image o fln d ia and turned national idealism
from its futile adulation o f the past to face the reality o fln d ia as she was, poor,
starving, and helpless, but with an untapped potential o f unlimited possibili­
ties.
Both Vivekânanda and Tàgore had said the same thing before, but it was
Gândhï more than anyone else w ho made this image vivid and real and gave
a new insight to the Indian intelligentsia, enlarging their sympathies and add­
ing a new dimension to their im agination; Indian writers learnt to discover
their own country, not in ancient Banâras and M adurai but in the slums o f
Calcutta and Bom bay, and in the innumerable ‘ dunghills scattered over the
lan d ’, as Gandhi described the Indian villages in their poverty and squalor.
H e thus provided a powerful ethical stimulus to the literary tread, which had
already begun, from romanticism to realism, from thehighflow n and artificial
' literary ’ style to the vigour and raciness o f the spoken idiom. The M ahatm a’s
insistence on non-violence and on simplicity and purity in personal life
touched a responsive chord in the inherent idealism o f Indian thought and
thus served as an indirect inspiration to creative literature. His own em ploy­
ment o f a simple and direct prose style, shorn o f all superfluous rhetoric,
was a very healthy corrective to the natural tendency to flam boyance in
Indian writing. This influence was particularly fruitful in Gujarati, in which
language he wrote. In Bengali the crispness o f the colloquial speech had al­
ready achieved a literary status in the writings o f Tagore and Pramatha
Chaudhury.
The eminent Hindi novelist Premchand has described in an autobiographical
essay how, inspired by the M ahatm a, he resigned from governm ent service
and settled down in a village to see life in the raw and to write about it. His
later career as the foremost Urdu and Hindi nos'elist, his im aginative insight
into the life o f the common folk, particularly in the villages, and his simple
and direct delineation o f it formed a major influence on m any o f his contem­
poraries and reflect the impact o f Gandhi on modern Indian literature. Am ong
other writers o f note who responded to this impact, each in his own fashion,
m ay be mentioned the gifted G upta brothers, M aithilisharan and Siyârâm-
sharan, as well as Jainendra K um âr in Hindi, K à kà K âlelkàr and Umâshan-
kar Josbl in Gujarati, M àm à W àrerkâr in M arathi, Mllmani Phookan in
Assam ese, Kàlindîcharan Pànigrâhl in Oriyâ, Annadàshankar.Rây in Bengâlï,
Bhàrati in Tam il, Yallathol in M alayâlam , and m any m ore in these and other
languages.
The influence o f the philosophy o ftirl Aurobindo is also noticeable among
some writers, like the K annada poets, Bendre and Puttappa, and the G ujaràtl
poets, Sundaram and Jayant Parekb, but beyond im parting a certain mystic
glow to their verse and confirming their faith in the reality o f the Indian
spiritual experience, it has not given any new trend or horizon to Indian
literature in general.
The eruption o f Marxism in the early 1930s is a phenomenon which India
shares w ith many other countries. The infection caught by Indian literature
was, however, neither virulent nor on the whole unhealthy. G ân d h ï.had al­
ready given a new orientation to the popular imagination by looking for God,
 Modem Literature 417
not in the temple but in the daridra-nârâyana, the hungry outcaste. This moral
vaccination had a twofold reaction : on the one hand, ethical sensibility moved
leftwards and it became almost virtuous to be radical; on the other hand, class
hatred was softened i f not rendered com paratively innocuous. This would ex­
plain how a V allathol could invoke Lenin with as much gusto as the lyrical
fervour with which he sang o f M ary Magdalene and Gàndhï, and why
Premchand, w ho ended his autobiographical testament with an affirmation o f
the Vaishnava faith that not a blade o f grass stirs but as G od wills it, came to
be hailed by the ‘ Progressives’ as the G orky o fln d ia . On the other side is the
example o f the works o f Bengali writers with professed M arxist leanings—
M anek B andyopâdhyây’s Putul Nâcher Itikathâ is a fine illustration— w ho are
not ashamed to delineate bourgeois types in their fiction with real sym pathy
and understanding. ‘ Progressive’ writers in U rdù and Panjabi, w ho are a
dominant influence in these literatures, are less sensitive, and indulge with
naive gusto in m ockery and hatred. They m ake up for this lack o f sensibility,
however, with an added dash o f virility.
The literary impact o f the current explosion, in Bengal, in K erala, and in
some other parts o f India, o f class hatred and violence, and o f an organized
campaign to desecrate and destroy all vestiges o f inherited cultural values in
the name o f a M aoist ‘ cultural revolution’ , is a phenomenon too recent for a
proper assessment. T o some extent this rebellious and desperate mood is part
o f a world-wide eruption. H ow far it will turn out to be a lasting or vital
literary inspiration it is hard to predict. A lready its excesses are causing a
general revulsion.
Freud, like the Vedas, is hardly ever read by Indian writers, but as the
pious justify every folly in the name o f scripture, so there is no dearth o f
writers who imagine that they are probing the depths o f the human psyche by
smelling sex everywhere. Nevertheless, the impact o f Freud, however naïvely
interpreted, has helped to loosen m any inhibitions from which the earlier
writers, brought up in the climate o f nineteenth-century puritanism, had
suffered. The traditional Hindu altitude to sex was healthy and unashamed, as
can be seen in V àtsyàyana’s classic, the Kâmasûtra. Even medieval devotional
poetry such as that o f Jayadeva and Vidyàpati revelled in a voluptuous sym­
bolism which modern orthodox scholarship would gladly slur over. But the
influence o f Victorian England and Brâhm o reformism, reinforced by the
puritan fervour o f Gândhism , had overlaid the Indian consciousness with a
complex o f inhibitions which it needed the prestige o f scientific psycho­
analysis to break through. Having lost the honest indigenous tradition we are
obliged to borrow the Western technique which, however ‘ scientific’, is so
crude that the modern gloating over sex is invariably accompanied by a sense
o f guilt, if it is secret, and by a sense o f bravado, i f it is brazen. W hat was a
means o f legitimate enjoymeDt to the ancients has become a source o f morbid
excitement to the moderns.
T o these two foreign and non-literary stimuli, Marxist dialectics and
Freudian probings, must be added a literary one proper, though equally an
importation, namely the new formalist experiments which have achieved both
popularity and prestige in the West. These experiments, known under various
high-sounding names associated with such writers as Ezra Pound, T . S. Eliot,
41 8 Modem Literature

James Joyce, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others, are mainly in form and technique
and have little to do with any particular faith or ideology, although they may
reflect a significant mental attitude. A writer m ay be very daring in form but
conservative or even reactionary in religious or political faith, or vice versa.
Bishnu D e and Buddhadeva Bose in Bengali, Ajneya and Shamsher Bahadur
in Hindi, M ardhekâr and Vinda K ârandikâr in Marathi, and a host o f other
parallels in Indian languages share a common iconoclastic zeal in form but
are faithful to their respective orthodoxies in faith.
On the whole, the im pact on Indian writing o f the mixed interaction o f these
three imported influences has been a salutary one, despite some wild aberra*
tiens. It has given a much-needed jolt to the smugness o f the traditional
attitude, with its age-old tendency to sentimental piety and glorification o f the
past. The revolt began in Bengal, although Bengal was already the hom e o f
unorthodoxy in literary form, Tâgore and his contemporaries, having long
blasted ‘ the castle o f conform ism ’ . Blit the adulation o fT â go re was itself be­
com ing an orthodoxy, which provoked in the early 1920s a group o f young
gifted writers known as the K allo l group to proclaim their revolt. The revolt
o f the new, as Tâgore pointed out, is very often its audacity only, and these
writers soon discovered that Tâgore could outmodem them \vhenever he
cared to. Nevertheless, the revolt yielded a rich harvest, in both poetry and
prose, in the work o f Jivanânanda D âs, Premendra Mitra, Buddhadeva Bose,
M anek Bandyopâdhyây, Subhâs M ukhopâdhyây, and others. This movement
has been paralleled in alrhost all Indian languages and has been particularly
fruitful in the lyric and its counterpart in prose, the short story. W hile valiant
champions o f the older tradition have continued to hold their own, like
V isw anadha Satyanârâyana in Telugu, M ahàdevi Varm â in Hindi, and many
more in the various languages, it is the spirit o f nonconformism that gives
variety and colour to much o f modern writing in India. The'contem porary
literary output, particularly in poetry and fiction, is both lively and volum -
nous, and its quality— in the work o f the more mature writers— is distinguished
and m ay well stand com parison with similar w ork published anywhere outside
India.
B ut poetry hardly suits the temper o f the modern industrial society and if it
continues to be written in India in such profusion and with such exuberance,
it is partly because the tradition o f poetry being sung or chanted is very old
and deep-rooted there, and partly because a certain prestige clings to poetry
as ‘ purer’ literature than any other. Even so, poetry as a form o f narrative has
lost its ancient vogue and has willy-nilly yielded the place o f honour to the
novel and the short story, which are today the most popular as well as the
best cultivated forms o f literature. In Bengal both these forms attained an
early maturity in the hands o fT â g o re and have since made phenomenal pro­
gress, under his younger contemporaries and successors, among whom Sa rat
Chandra Chatterjee achieved a popularity, both in Bengal and outside, which,
equalled, if not surpassed, that o f Tâgore. Though not so spectacularly
popular, the novels and stories o f Bibhüti Bhüshan Bannerji (whose Father
Panchâli in its screen version has since received wide publicity), Târâshankar
Bannerji, M anek Bandyopâdhyây, Satinâth Bhâdurî, ‘ B onophûl’, A chintya
Sengupta, Prabodh Sanyal, and many have maintained a high standard.
 Modem Literature 419
Whether the treatment is romantic, realistic; or impressionist, whether the ex­
ploration is historical, regional, tribal, or psychological, the bias M arxian or
Freudian, they have continued the tradition o f humanism and o f sym pathy for
the fallen bequeathed by Tâgore and Sarat Chandra.
Am ong notable contemporaries in other Indian languages who have
handled the art o f fiction with originality and skill may be mentioned Biren
Bhattâchàrya and A b d u l M alik in Assamese, Pannalàl Patel and D arshak in
Gujarâtï, Jainendra K u m âr and Yashpàl in Hindi, M asti and Karanth in
Kannada, A khtar M ohiuddin and S u fi G hulâm M oham m ad in Kashm iri,
Thakazhi (whose Chemmin has been published in several foreign editions)
and Bashir in M alayâlam , Khandekàr and G adgil in M aràthï, the M ohan ty
brothers in Oriyâ, N àn ak Singh and D uggal in Panjabi, M i. Pa. Som asunda-
ram and Kn. N a. Subramanyam in Tam il, Bâpirâju and Padm arâju in Telugu,
and Kishan Chunder and Bedi in U rdu. These names are m erely illustrative
and can be matched by many more. They represent not only a m edley o f
techniques and attitudes but also uneven levels o f creative achievem ent and
conflicting trends. But India is a land o f contrasts, not only econom ically but
culturally as well.
The position o f Sanskrit itself is an apt illustration. Deemed a ‘ d ea d ’
language because it is no longer a spoken tongue, it is nevertheless n ot only
a very vital source-language on which almost all Indian languages, except
Urdu, draw for their vocabulary, but also a living fount o f literary inspiration
to Indian writers, an honour rivalled only by English. Perhaps there has not
been a single writer o f outstanding distinction in the modern period (Urdù
writers excepted) w ho has not drawn freely on the wealth o f both Sanskrit and
English literatures, though some have taken more from the one than the
other. Some ultra-modem s, like Sudhîn D atta in Bengali, are indeed a
curious complex o f Sanskrit, Baudelaire, and Eliot, as some leftists like
Râhula Sankrityàyana are o f Sanskrit, Tibetan, and M arx. But even apart
from its significant role in the development o f modern Indian literature
Sanskrit continues to be used as a literary vehicle, both for scholarly research
and for creative writing, as can be testified by a large number o f books and
journals published in Sanskrit annually. N o t only m any modern Indian
writers like Bankira, Tâgore, and Sarat Chandra have been translated into
Sanskrit but Shakespeare and G oethe also.
The position o f English is in some respects unique in India. On the one
hand it is resented by the ultra- nationalist sentiment as a relic o f erstwhile
foreign imposition and is allowed to continue officially on sufferance; on the
other it is still the main medium o f higher education in most o f the universi­
ties, especially in the sciences and technology which are the backbone o f
modern education, and the one link am ong the intelligentsia all over India.
The fact that Jawaharlal Nehrû when he was the Prime M inister o fln d ia and
D r. S. Ràdhâkrishnan the then President o f India could converse with each
other in English only and employed it as their main literary vehicle, as also the
fact that the collected w orks o f M ahatm a G ândhï ate being published (under
the auspices o f the Governm ent o f India) in English are themselves a com ­
mentary on the current usefulness o f this language in India as ‘ a link
language’, to quote Jawàharlâl NehrQ’s description o f it in the Indian
 420 M odem Literature

Parliament. It m ay also be noted that more books continue to be published

in English than in a n y in d ia n language in India.
But apart from its utilitarian value as a language o f higher education in the
sciences and as a ‘ liuk language’, a fair number o f Indian writers, including
such eminent thinkers steeped in Indian thought as Vivekànanda, Rànade,
G okhale, A urobindo, and Râdhàkrishnan, have voluntarily adopted it as
their literary medium. Even the bulk o f Mahatma G andhi’s writings are in
English. This phenomenon is as old as modern Indian literature itself. There
has been, from D erozio in the 1820s to R. K . N âràyan today, an unbroken
tradition o f some gifted Indians choosing to write in English. M any o f them,
like the D utt sisters, Toru and A ru , their versatile uncle Romesh Chunder,
M anom olian Ghosh, SarojinI N aidü, and, among contemporaries, M ulk
R âj À nand, R àja R âo, Bhabân! Bhattâchârya, and many others, have
achieved distinction.
Some early pioneers in the Indian languages were also tempted at the thres­
hold o f their career to adopt English for their creative writing, partly because
they owed their inspiration to English literature and partly because they
hoped thereby to reach a wider audience. Madhusüdan D utt's first narrative
poem, The Captive Ladie, and Bankim Chandra’s early novel Rajmohan’s
Wife, are classic examples. W isely they discovered in time that they could
create best in their own language. Tagore, a lover o f the English language to
which he owed much, was never tired o f stressing that no great literature
could be produced except in one’s mother tongue, and be likened an exclusive
reliance on English to the use of crutches which make a lot o f clatter while the
natural limbs become atrophied by disuse. Perhaps he overstressed the mother
tongue aspect o f it, for it is doubtful if Sanskrit was the tongue in which either
Kâlidâsa or Jayadcva lisped to their mothers. M any distinguished writers in
Hindi and Urdü— Prcmchand and Iqbâl are illustrious examples— had to dis­
card the dialects which were their mother tongues and wrote in languages
which they cultivated; and even today there are a number o f noted poets and
writers, M ast! and Bendre in K annada, K â k à K àlelkâr in Gujarati, Annadâ-
shankar R â y and A b u Sayeed A yyü b iu Bengali, and m any others in Hindi,
born to one language and successfully writing in another o f their adoption.
It might be more correct to say that, if not necessarily the m other tongue
proper, the language o f one’s cultural upbringing and environment is the best
medium fo r one’s creative expression. T he names o f Joseph Conrad and
several Am erican writers who (or whose parents) migrated from Germany,
Italy, or Russia can be cited as relevant instances. It is therefore not only un­
charitable but unreasonable to belittle Indian writers who choose to write in
English. In any case a writer should be judged by the quality o f his writing,
irrespective o f the medium he adopts. Some English novels o f R. K . N âràyan,
a bom story-teller with any eye for observation and the gift o f gentle irony,
are superior in intrinsic literary merit to a great deal o f mediocre stuff that
passes for literature in some Indian languages. On the other hand, it cannot
be denied that, as far as creative writing is concerned, no Indian writer in
English has reached anywhere near the heights attained by some o f the great
writers in the Indian languages.
W hat m odem Indian literature sadly lacks is a well-proportioned and
 Modem Literature 421
many-sided development. Against its achievement in poetry and fiction must
be set its poverty in drama, in critical apparatus, and the literature o f know­
ledge in general. Though Indian life is full o f drama which is being well ex­
ploited in fiction, in scenarios for the screen, and even in plays for the radio,
drama proper has failed to keep pace with the best in poetry and fiction,
either in quality or output, the reason probably being that dram a has little
scope fo r growth independently o f the stage and there is almost no pro­
fessional stage worth the name in the cities o f India, despite some brave en­
deavours in Calcutta and Bom bay, and recently in Delhi.
There is, indeed, no dearth o f books published on literary research and
criticism. But much o f it, unfortunately, is laborious and unimaginative
pedantry, flogging the dead horse o f Sanskrit aesthetics or indiscriminately
applying borrowed canons and -isms from abroad, irrespective'of the context
o f Indian life and tradition, or, worse still, unashamedly boosting regional or
national claims. Happily, despite this clamour o f pedantry, patriotic piety,
and political bias, good literature continues to be written and, as it justifies
itself, it helps to sharpen the reader’ s sensibility. Since the time o fT â g o re a
growing minority o f intelligent critics well versed in the literary traditions o f
their own country and o f the W est have bravely maintained a more w hole­
some approach that is neither overwhelmed by the burden o f the past nor
overawed by the glamour o f the latest fashion. This healthy trend should gain
in strength with a growing realization that, in the republic o f letters as in that
o f men, a sensitive and well-trained critical apparatus and its judicious and
fearless exercise are the sine qua non o f happy results.

T HE W A R A N D I N D E P E N D E N C E

The last great war, which nearly shook the foundations o f the modern
world, had little impact on Indian literature beyond aggravating the popular
revulsion against violence and adding to the growing disillusionment with the
‘ humane pretensions’ o f the Western world. This was eloquently voiced in
T agore’s later poems and his last testament, Crisis in Civilization. The Indian
intelligentsia was in a state o f moral dilemma. On the one hand, it could not
help sympathizing with England’s dogged courage in the hour o f peril, with
the Russians fighting with their backs to the wall against the ruthless N azi
hordes, and with China groaning under the heel o f Japanese militarism; on
the other hand, their own country was practically under military occupation
by the ver)' people who were resisting such occupation o f their own soil, and
an Indian army under Subhâs Bose was trying from the opposite camp to
liberate their country. N o creative impulse could issue from such confusion o f
loyalties.
One would imagine that the achievement o f Indian independence in 1947,
which came in the wake o f the Allies’ victory and was followed by the collapse
o f colonialism in the neighbouring countries o f South-East Asia, would have
released an upsurge o f creative energy. N o doubt it did, but unfortunately it
was soon submerged in the great agony o f the partition, with its inhuman
slaughter o f the innocents and the uprooting o f millions o f people from their
homeland, followed by the martyrdom o f M ahàtm à Gandhi. These tragedies,
along with Pakistan’s invasion o f Kashm ir and its more recent activities in
422 Modern Literature

Bangladesh, did indeed provoke a spate o f poignant writing, particularly in

the languages o f the regions most affected, Bengâlï, Hindi, Kashm iri, Panjabi,
Sindhi, and U rdù. But poignant or passionate writing does not by itself make
great literature.
W hat reserves o f enthusiasm and confidence survived these disasters have
been mainly absorbed in the task o f national reconstruction and econom ic de­
velopment. The faith in One W orld, so luminous for a while, was soon over­
cast by suspicion and rivalry between the great powers and the menace o f
nuclear war. India’s trust in the peaceful pursuit o f a good life and in the
power o f non-violence have received a series o f rude shocks, culminating in
the tragic happenings in Bangladesh and in Vietnam. '
I f no great literature has yet emerged out o f this chain o f convulsions, it
must be recalled that h a lf a century had to elapse after N apoleon’ s invasion
o f Russia before War and Peace was written. Meanwhile, Indian literature is
richer today in volum e, range, and variety than it ever was in the past, even if
no great peaks are visible, such as once marked its landscape. The writers are
exploring new fields and there is hardly a branch o f literature in which experi­
ments, some feeble, some vigorous, are not being made. Translations from
one Indian language into another, as well as from many foreign languages,
help to widen the writer’s horizon and to stimulate his urge to experiment and
to emujate. The U nion and State Governments are increasingly aware o f the
role o f literature in society and do what they can to encourage good writing,
both directly and through the National and State Academ ies and B o o k Trusts.
The number o f writers w ho derive a comfortable income from their royalties,
which was negligible twenty years ago, has risen rapidly. T h e readers’ market,
still poor, has nevertheless such vast potential for m ost languages in India
that, as poverty and illiteracy are eliminated and- as the publishing industry
gets better organized^ the Indian writer can confidently hope for opportuni­
ties such as his counterpart in the advanced countries o f the W est enjoys.
W hat produces great literature and when it will com e again, it is difficult to
say. W hat one p n say w ith modesty is that Indian literature m ay look for­
ward to a future full o f possibilities. F o r m odem Indian literature is not a
mushroom growth o f exotic plants in a native wilderness. I t draws its susten­
ance from an old and rich soil to which m any streams have brought their
alluvial deposits. T h e latest stream has com e from the W est and its fertilizing
agent has been the English language. N o t that Indian literature w ould not
have had its m odem crop but for this historical accident. T h e spirit o f the age
would in any case have stirred its soil, sooner or later, and the winds were
blowing fast, carrying the seeds from one part o f the world tó another.
 PART FOUR

I N D IA A N D T H E W O R L D O U T S I D E
CH A PTER XXX

Early Contacts between India

and Europe
by H . G . R a w l in s o n *

N o t h i n g is m ore misleading than a half-truth, and it would be hard to find a

m ore apposite illustration o f this than the old adage about East and W est
never meeting. N o statement could be more inaccurate. In spite o f geographi­
cal, linguistic, and racial obstacles, the intercourse between India and Europe
throughout the ages has been almost uninterrupted, and each has reacted
upon the other in a remarkable fashion. India had never been entirely isolated.
Before the dawn o f history, as archaeological investigations since 1921 have
shown, an extensive chalcolithic culture existed in the plains o f the lower
Indus, which was closely connected w ith contem porary cultures in M esopo­
tamia and A sia M inor.1 Com m erce between the m outh o f the Indus and the
Persian G u lf was unbroken down to Buddhist times, while we have direct
evidence o f early trade by sea between the Phoenicians o f the Levant and
western India as early as 975 B .C ., when Hiram , king o f T yre, sent his fleet o f
‘ Ships o fT a rsh ish ’ from Ezion Geber, at the head o f the G u lf o f A k a b a in the
Red Sea, to fetch ‘ ivory, apes, and peacocks’ from the port o f Ophir to de­
corate the palaces and the Tem ple o f K in g Solom on. W hether Ophir is the
ancient port o f Supâra, not far from Bom bay, or an unidentified harbour on
the south-east coast o f Arabia, there is no doubt that the objects imported
cam e from India. A nd with merchandise there invariably comes an exchange,
not only o f motifs in pottery, jewellery, and woven materials, but o f language
and ideas. T h e Phoenicians were the earliest connecting link between, the
Indian and Mediterranean cultures, and this link goes b ack to very early
times. _
W e next turn to the Greeks. T he language o f the A ryan invaders o f the
Panjâb, their culture, and their social and religious, traditions have sufficient
similarity to those o f the Indo-Germ anic peoples o f early E urope to warrant
the conclusion that at some early period they must have been in close >contact,
though it is scarcely necessary to warn the m odem reader that identity o f
language and culture do not necessarily indicate com m unity o f race; B ut there
can be no doubt about the similarity between the societies depicted in the
H om eric and Vedic poems. Both worship the gods o f the ‘ upper a ir’, Father
Heaven ( Z d s -narfjp, Jupiter, D yaus pitar), M other Earth, the wide expanse
o f Heaven {Oùpavés, Varuna), the D aw n (Aurora, Ushas), the Sun ("HXios,
* T h e fin a l p a r a g r a p h , to g e th e r w ith a fe w fo o tn o te s a n d s m a ll c h a n g e s in th e b o d y o f th is
chapter,- h a v e b e e n a d d e d b y D r . F r ie d r ic h W ilh e lm . [E d .]
1 C f . S ir M o r t im e r W h e e le r , Early India and Pakistan, L o n d o n , 1 9 5 9 ; H . M o d e , Das friihe
Indien, S tu ttg a r t, 19 5 9 ; J . M . C a s a t, La civilisation de l ’Indus et ses énigmes, P a ris , 196 9 ;
a n d W . A . F a irs e rv is , The Roots o f Ancient India. N e w Y o r k , 1 9 7 1,
426 Early Contacts between India and Europe

Sürya). Society in both is patriarchal and tribal. It consists o f a number o f

loosely knit clans, in each o f which the king is the father o f the tribe. T he re­
semblance between the epic age as depicted in Hom er and the Mahâbhàrata is
very striking. In both, for instance, the warriors fight from chariots, and not,
like the later Greeks or the Râjputs, on horseback. Neither the Hellenes nor the
A ryans o f the Panjâb, however, retained any recollection o f the time "when
they had been united, and, when they once m ore met, it was as strangers.
They were brought into touch through Persia. The mighty Persian Empire,
ruled over by the Iranians, stretched from the Mediterranean to the Indus*, and
included both Greeks and Indians am ong its subjects. The earliest contact
between Greece and India was made about 510 b . c . , when Darius the Great,
having advanced as far as the head-waters o f the Indus, sent a Greek mer­
cenary named Scylax o f Caryanda to sail down the river to its mouth, and
make his w ay home by the Red Sea. Scylax took the old route followed by the
Phoenicians, and, after a voyage lasting tw o and a h a lf years, duly arrived at
Arsinoe, the modern Suez. His account o f his adventures was probably
utilized by Herodotus, who was born at Halicarnassus, not far from Caryanda,
in 484 b . c . , about the same time as the death o f Gautama Buddha. Herodotus
has a good deal to tell us about India: he knows that there were two races, the
d ark aboriginals and the fair A ryans (‘ white like the Egyptians’, as a later
writer calls them). H e talks o f the crocodiles o f the Indus, the extremes o f
heat and cold in the Panjâb, and the cotton, superior to sheep’s w ool, o f
which the Indians made their clothes. H e is the first to recount the famous
legend o f the gigantic ants which guarded the Indian gold, and several o f the
stories which occur in his narrative, for instance that o f the foolish Hippo-
cleides, w ho ‘ did not care’ when he danced away his wife, hâve been traced to
the Buddhist Jôtokar or birth stories. M ore important, perhaps, is his descrip­
tion o f a religious sect which ate nothing which had life and lived on a grain
like millet, for this seems to be a reference to the Jains. A later G reek traveller
and writer about India w ho flourished abou t a century after this was Ctesias,
w ho was for twenty years a resident at the C ourt o f Susa, where he was
physician to ArtaxCrxes Mnem on, having been taken prisoner at the battle o f
Cunaxa (401 b . c .) . Unfortunately Ctesias has none o f the sobriety o f H erodo­
tus. H e is quite uncritical, and overlays a kernel o f historical fact with a mass
o f picturesque fable. A t this time India was fully aware o f the existence o f the
G reéks or Iòniàfis'01'nwJna; lfo/itt)i w h o are also mentioned in the inscriptions
o f D arius. D uring the whole o f this period Persia was the link between Greece
and India. Indian troops took part in the invasion o f Greece in 480 b . c ., while
Greek officials and mercenaries served in various parts o f the Empire, includ­
ing India. ‘ A t no time*,' it has been said, ‘ were means o f communication by
land m ore open, or tbd conditions more favourable for the interchange o f
ideas between India and the W est.’ 1
This m ay account fo r the influence o f Indian ideas upon the development o f
G reek philosophy. One o f the most m arked features o f the period preceding
the Persian W ars was the revolt against the simple eschatology o f Hom er, and
the search for a deeper explanation o f the meaning o f life. These speculations,
it must be observed, originated with the Ionian Greeks o f A sia M inor, who
3 R a p s o n , Ancient India, C a m b r id g e , 19 1 4 , p p . 8 7 -8 .
 Early Contacts between India and Europe 427
were in touch with Persia. The father o f G reek philosophy was Thales o f
Miletus, but the foundations o f G reek metaphysics were laid b y the E leatic
School, Xenophanes, Parmenides, and Zeno, w ho sought fo r the One
R eality underlying m aterial phenomena in very much the same spirit as the
authors o f som e o f the later V edic hymns and the Upanishads. T hen came the
O rphic movement. On the ultimate origin o f the com plex esoteric doctrines
which we may conveniently group together under the title o f Orphism we are
quite in the dark, but we know that its chief features were a m ore or less ex­
plicit pantheism, a depreciation o f the body in com parison w ith the soul, and
the belief that the soul is imprisoned in the body, from w hich she seeks re­
lease. Orphism appears to have originated w ith Pherecydes o f Syros
0c. 600 b . c .) , and his disciple Pythagoras.
Pythagoras was born about 580 b . c . in the cosm opolitan island o f Sam os,
and, according to his biographer IambLichus, travelled-widely, studying the
esoteric teaching o f the Egyptians, Assyrians, and even the brahmans.
I t is n o t t o o m u c h [ s a y s G o m p e r t z ] t o a s s u m e t h a t th e c u r i o u s G r e e k , w h o w a s a
c o n t e m p o r a r y o f B u d d h a , a n d it m a y b e o f Z o r o a s t e r t o o , w o u l d h a v e a c q u i r e d a
m o r e o r le s s e x a c t k n o w l e d g e o f t h e E a s t , in t h a t a g e o f i n t e l l e c t u a l f e r m e n t a t i o n ,
t h r o u g h th e m e d iu m o f P e r s ia . I t m u s t b e r e m e m b e r e d in t h is c o n n e x i o n , t h a t th e
A s i a t i c G r e e k s , a t t h e ti m e w h e n P y t h a g o r a s s t i l l d w e l t in h is I o n i a n h o m e , w e r e
u n d e r th e s in g le s w a y o f C y r u s , th e f o u n d e r o f t h e P e r s i a n E m p i r e . 3

The most startling o f the theories o f Pythagoras was that o f the transm igration
o f the soul from body to body. Herodotus traces this to Egypt.
T h e E g y p t i a n s [h e s a y s ] w e r e t h e f ir s t t o b r o a c h t h e o p i n i o n t h a t th e s o u l is i m ­
m o r t a l , a n d t h a t , w h e n th e b o d y d ie s , it e n t e r s i n t o t h e f o r m o f a n a n i m a l w h i c h is
b o r n a t th e m o m e n t , t h e n c e p a s s i n g o n f r o m o n e a n i m a l t o a n o t h e r , u n t i l it h a s
c i r c l e d t h r o u g h th e f o r m s o f a l l t h e c r e a t u r e s w h i c h t e n a n t t h e l a n d , th e w a t e r a n d
t h e a i r , a f t e r w h i c h it e n t e r s a g a i n i n t o a h u m a n f r a m e , a n d is b o r n a n e w . T h e w h o l e
p e r io d o f th e t r a n s m i g r a t i o n is ( t h e y s a y ) th r e e t h o u s a n d y e a r s . T h e r e a r e G r e e k
w r it e r s , s o m e o f a n e a r lie r , s o m e o f a l a t e r d a t e , w h o h a v e b o r r o w e d t h is d o c t r i n e f r o m
t h e E g y p t i a n s , a n d p u t it f o r w a r d a s t h e ir own.-*

H erodotus, like Plato and others, attributes all wisdom to Egyptian sources,
as was only natural. The Greeks were deeply impressed by the great antiquity
o f Egyptian civilization, its lofty temples, and its closely guarded religious
mysteries. ‘ Omne ignoturn pro magnifico.’ U nfortunately, it is. extrem ely
doubtful whether the Egyptians did actually believfe in transm igration, and it
is probable that the Greeks were misled by the paintings on the tombs de­
picting the tribunal o f Osiris, which they did not jiroperly understand. It is
more likely that Pythagoras was influenced by India than by Egypt. Alm ost
all the theories, religious, philosophical, and m athem atical, taught by the
Pythagoreans, were known in India in the sixth ceiltury b . c ., and the Pythag-
'oreans, like the Jains and Buddhists, refrained from the destruction o f life and
eating meat, and regarded certain vegetables, such as beans, as taboo.
The theory o f metempsychosis plays almost as great a part in G reek as in
Indian religious thought. Both Pytbagoras and Empedocles claimed to possess
3 T . G o m p e r lz , Greek Thinkers, L o n d o n , 1 9 0 1 . V o l. [ , p . 1 2 7 .
< H e ro d o tu s ii. 12 3 . C o m p a r e C ic e r o , Tnsc. Disp. i. 16.
 428 Early Contacts between India and Europe

the power o f recollecting their past births.s Metempsychosis is referred to in

many passages in Pindar, and, with the complementary doctrine o f karma, it
is the key-stone o f the philosophy o f Plato. T he soul is for ever travelling
through a ‘ cycle o f necessity’ : the evil it does in one semicircle o f its pilgrim­
age is expiated in the other. ‘ E ach soul,’ we are told in the Phaedrus, ‘ return­
ing to the election o f a second life, shall receive one agreeable to his desire.’
But most striking o f all is the fam ous apologue o f E r the Pam phylian, with
which, Plato appropriately ends the Republic. Er sees the disem bodied souls
choosing their next incarnations at the hands o f ‘ Lachesis, daughter o f
N ecessity’ (karma personified). Orpheus chooses the body o f a swan, Thersites
that o f an ape, Agam em non that o f an eagle. ‘ In like manner, some o f the
animals passed into men, and into one another, the unjust passing into the
wild, and the ju st into the tame.’ 6
It is interesting to note that India was passing through a parallel stage o f
developm ent about the same time or somewhat earlier (700-500 b . c .) . Men
were no longer content with the pursuit o f earthly happiness, to b e followed
by an endless life o f bliss in the'halls o f Y am a. They wanted to achieve the
release o f the soul by correct knowledge. Transm igration first appears in the
Brâhmanas and Upanishads, the most ancient prose commentaries on the
Vedas., T h e essence o f their teaching is that the individual soul is an emana­
tion o f the W orld Soul, which, entering on a cycle o f terrestrial incarnations,
passes from body to body in a seemingly endless round, now as a god, now as
a man, now as an animal or even a plant, finding no relief from pain and
suffering until it is finally absorbed, *as the dewdrop is absorbed in the O cean ’ .
This is ‘ deliverance’ (moksha, mukli, AuW). T o this the Indian thinker added
the doctrine o f karma or action. H e whose actions in a form er life were pure
will be reborn as a brahman or kshatriya, while the evil-doer will be reborn
as ‘ a dog, a hog, or a C han d âla’. A s in Orphism, the soul during its earthly
pilgrimage is regarded as a fallen angel, doing penance for her sins : only when
the wheel o f births and deaths comes full circle can she regain her lost in­
heritance. Orphism and its later developments and In d ian . transcendental
philosophy abound in parallels. Hindu philosophy attributes rebirth to
ignorance (avidyâ): this is the Socratic doctrine that ‘ no one sins w illingly’ .
T h e well-known simile o f the Cave, with which the seventh book o f P lato’s
Republic opens, reminds us o f the Vedanta doctrine o f Mâyâ or Illusion. T he
soul, imprisoned in matter, thirsts after objects o f desire as the hart pants for
the m irage-water o f the deSert. T he noble prayer o f the oldest Upanishad,
From the Unreal lead me to the Real,
From Darkness to the Eight,
From Death to Immortality,
finds m any an echo in P lato’s Dialogues. The resemblances are so numerous
that it w ould be tedious to enumerate them, and one or two examples must
suffice. T h e most remarkable is. the Orphic legend that the Universe was
5 P y t h a g o r a s re m e m b e re d h a v in g fo u g h t, as E u p h o r b u s , in th e T r o ja n W a r . E m p e d o c le s
h a d b e e n , in p a s t in c a rn a tio n s , ‘ a b o y , a g iri, a b u s h , a b ir d , a n d a s c a ly fish in th e o cea n *
( F r a g . 1 1 7 , D ie ls ).
* F o r th e p a ra lle ls b e tw een P la to n is m an d I n d ia n p h ilo s o p h y , s e e B . J. U r w ic k , The
Message o f Piato, L o n d o n , 1920.
 Early Contacts between India and Europe m

formed io the body o f Zeus, after he had swallowed Phanes, the offspring o f
the great ’ W orld E gg’ , in whom all the seeds o f things arc present. Thus the
world is the body o f G o d : the heavens are his head, the sun and m óon his
eyes, and the ether his mind. In the same way, we arc told in the tenth b ook o f
the Institutes o f Manu how the Supreme Soul produced by a thought a G olden
Egg (Brahmânda) from which he was born as Brahm a. T he resemblance
between the two legends is too close to be accidental. The doctrine o f
Xenophanes (570 b . c . ) , that G od is the eternal.U nity, permeating the uni­
versal and governing it by His thought, occurs tim e after time in post-Vedic
Hindu literature. Empedocles, besides believing in transmigration, holds a
number o f tenets which are curiously like those o f K apila, the author o f the
Sânkhya system. K apila traces the evolution o f the material world to primeval
matter, which is acted upon by the three ‘ qualities’ or gttnas, i.e. saliva, rajas,
and lamas, lightness, activity, and heaviness. Empedocles looks on m atter as
consisting o f the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire, acted upon by the
motive forces o f love and hate.
Attention has been called to the resemblance between the Hindu varnas or
classes, brâhmans, kshatriyas or warriors, vaiéyas or merchants, and Südras,
and the division of the ideal polity in Plato’s Republic into Guardians,
Auxiliaries, and Craftsmen.7 The story that Socrates proposes to tell about
their divine origin, in order that the system m ay be perpetuated, ’ otherwise
the state will certainly •perish’ , is curiously like the V edic myth about the
origin o f the four classes from the mouth, arms, thighs, and feet o f Purusha,
the Primeval M an.8 A re these mere coincidences? Eusebius preserves a tra d i-
tion, which he attributes to a contem porary, the well-known writer on har­
monics Aristoxenus, that certain learned Indians actually visited Athens and
conversed with Socrates. T hey asked him to explain the object o f his philo­
sophy, and when he replied, ‘ an inquiry into human affairs’, one o f the Indians
.burst out laughing. ‘ H o w ’ , he asked, ‘ could a man grasp human things
without first mastering the D ivin e? ’ 9 If Eusebius is to be believed, we must re­
vise many o f our preconceived notions about early intercourse between the
two countries.
Greece and India, however, were destined to be brought into yet closer and
more direct contact. The older G reek states were exclusive in their outlook.
T o them, all.non-Greeks were barbarians, and it needed some great shock to
break down the barriers dividing them from the outer world. Th is was pro­
vided by Alexander the G reat, him self only half-Greek, but w holly inspired by
the Greek spirit o f inquiry. When he set out on his famous expedition to the
East it was as an explorer as well as a conqueror: on his staff were a number
o f trained historians and scientists. In the spring o f 326 b . c . , the'M acedonian
hoplites, having marched half-way across A sia, entered the defiles o f the
Hindü K ush and found themselves in the fertile plains o f the Panjâb.
Alexander’s first halt was at the great city o f T axila, where for the first time
the civilizations o f East and West found themselves directly confronted.
Taxila was o f special interest for the scientists in Alexander's train, as being
one o f the leading seats o f Hindu learning, where crowds o f pupils, sons o f
7 B . J. U r w ic k , The Message o f Plato, L o n d o n , 1920.
1 Republic, B o o k iii; Rig Veda, x . 90. • E u s e b iu s , Praep. Evang. x i. 3.
 430 Early Contacts between India and Europe

•princes and wealthy brâhmans, resorted to study ‘ the three Vedas and eighteen
accomplishments A fter defeating the Hindu prince Porus on the banks o f the
Hydaspes (Jhelum), Alexander travelled down the Indus to its mouth, estab­
lishing fortified posts or ‘ colonies’ at strategic points, and turned his face
westwards in October 325 B.C. In June 323 he died o f fever at Babylon.
The actual effect o f Alexander’s invasion o f India was negligible, and no
mention o f the event occurs in ancient Indian literature. Alexander’s Indian
campaign lived on in the romance o f Alexander which goes back to Pseudo-
Callisthenes, and adaptations o f which existed in more than thirty languages
o f medieval Europe and A sia M inor.10 This Indian episode has always been
subject to fantastic figuration. In Jean R acine’s drama, Alexander falls in love
with the Indian Princess Cléophile, for instance. After Alexander’s death, the
empire which he had founded quickly dissolved, and by 317 b . c . nearly all
traces o f Greek rule had vanished. But Alexander had broken down the wall
o f separation between East and West, and the contact thus made was never
again totally lost.
A bout the time o f Alexander’s death, a new ruler, Chandragupta M aurya,
had established him self in the Ganges valley, and he quickly extended his
empire to the Panjâb. He was so successful that when, in-305 b . c ., Seleucus
N icator tried to repeat his predecessor’s exploits, he was defeated and glad to
come to terms. A n alliance was form ed and cemented by a marriage between
the Indian king (or a member o f his family) and a Greek princess. This was
the beginning o f a long, intimate, and fruitful intercourse between the Greek
and Indian courts, which was continued by Chandragupta’s son and grand­
son, Bindusâra and ASoka. Am bassadors from the Greek monarchs o f the
W est resided at Pàtaliputra, the M auryan capital. The most important o f these
was Megasthenes, who wrote a detailed account o f Chandragupta’s empire,
much o f which has been preserved." Megasthenes was greatly impressed by
the resemblance between Greek and Indian philosophy. '

I n m a n y p o in t s [h e s a y s ] th e ir t e a c h i n g a g r e e s w i t h t h a t o f th e G r e e k s — f o r in ­
s t a n c e , t h a t th e w o r l d h a s a b e g in n in g a n d a n e n d in t im e , th a t it s s h a p e is s p h e r i c a l ;
t h a t t h e D e i t y , w h o is it s G o v e r n o r a n d M a k e r , in te r p e n e t r a t e s t h e w h o l e . . . . A b o u t
g e n e r a t io n a n d th e s o u l t h e ir t e a c h in g s h e w s p a r a lle l s t o t h e G r e e k d o c t r in e s , a n d o n
m a n y o t h e r m a t t e r s . L i k e P l a t o , t o o , t h e y i n t e r w e a v e f a b le s a b o u t th e im ç n o r t a lit y
o f th e s o u l a n d .th e j u d g e m e n t s in d ic t e d in t h e o t h e r w o r l d , a n d s o o m "

The account written by Megasthenes, supplementing as it did the earlier works

o f Alexander’s companions, gave the Greek world a viyid impression o f the
great and opulent civilization o f contemporary India. T h e intercourse be­
tween the Indian and Syrian courts was not confined to the interchange o f
occasional courtesies. Megasthenes repeatedly visited Pàtaliputra. Bindusâra
maintained an amusing correspondence w ith Antiochus I. He asked him to
buy and send him samples o f G reek wine, raisins, and a Sophist to teach him

10 G . C a r y , 'The Medieval Alexander, C a m b r id g e , 1956.

" R . C . M a ju m d a r h a s e d ite d a n E n g lis h tra n s la tio n o f th e c la s s ic a l a c c o u n ts u n d e r th e
title The Classical Accounts o f India, C a lc u t ta , i9 6 0 . F e lix J a c o b y e d ite d a G e r m a n e d itio n
e n title d Die Fragmente der griechischeit Hisioriker, D r it te r T e il C , N r . 7 1 5 , L e id e n , 1958.
" S e e th e p a ssa g es q u o te d in th e Cambridge History o f India, V o l. 1, p p . 4 19 -2 0 .
 Early Contacts between India and Europe 431
how to argue. Antiochus wrote in reply saying that he had pleasure in sending
the wine and raisins as desired, but regretted that ‘ it is not good form am ong
the Greeks to trade in Soph ists!’ Megasthenes was apparently succeeded at
Pàtaliputra by Daïm achus o f Plataea, w ho went on a series o f missions from
Antiochus I to Bindusâra. N or was Syria the only G reek state to depute am ­
bassadors to the M auryan Court: Pliny tells us o f a certain D ionysius w ho was
sent from Alexandria by Ptolem y Philadelphus (285-247 b . c .). W hen A éoka
became a convert to Buddhism his first thought was for the dispatch o f a mis­
sion for the conversion o f his neighbours, ‘ the K in g o f the Greeks named
A n tioch us’ , and the four other G reek kings, Ptolem y Philadelphus o f Egypt,
Antigonus Gonatas o f M acedonia, M agas o f Cyrene, Ptolem y’s half-brother,
and Alexander o f Epirus (or o f Corinth). W hether the yellow-robed messen­
gers o f the L aw o f Piety ever actually reached M acedonia or Epirus m ay be
regarded as doubtful, but there is no reason to suppose that they did not get
as far as Alexandria and Antioch. A éo k a ’s object was not m erely to prom ul­
gate Buddhism, but to establish a ‘ world peace’ , and prevent the repetition o f
tragedies like the K alinga massacre, which had led to his conversion.'3
A t the same time a flourishing trade was being carried on between Syria and
India. Strabo tells us that Indian goods were borne down the Oxus to Europe
by way o f the Caspian and the B lack Sea. N o doubt they travelled along the
R oyal R oad from Pàtaliputra to T axila, and b y the old route from T axila to
Balkh. This was made easier by the fact that A so k a ’s empire stretched far
west o f K abu l, and the passage o f merchandise through this wild country was
com paratively safe. T h e evidence o f the coins shows that during the period
when history is silent a busy life was throbbing on both sides o f the frontier,
and G reek and Indian merchants were constantly com ing and going, buying
and selling.M
W ith the death o f Aéoka in 232 b .c . the close connection with Pàtaliputra
appears to have been broken off, but in the meantime the G reek descendants
o f Alexander’s colonists in Bactria, w ho had declared themselves independent
in £50 b . c ., had crossed the Hindu K ush, and established themselves in the
Panjâb. The greatest o f the Indo-Bactrian rulers was M enander (c. 150 B .C .).
M enander’s capital was at Sàgala (? Sialkot), and he conquered for a time a
considerable portion o f the M auryan Empire. T h e Bactrian G reeks have been
called ‘ the Goanese o f antiquity’ . B y this time they had becom e thoroughly
Indianized, and M enander was converted to the fashionable creed o f Buddh­
ism. His conversion is recorded in that fam ous work, the Milinda-panha, or
Questions o f Milinda, a kind o f Platonic dialogue in Pâli, in which the sage
Nâgasena plays the part o f Socrates. This history o f the Bactrian G reek rulers
o f the Panjâb has been reconstructed from their coins. T h e earlier issues are o f
great beauty, but they tend to degenerate, and the appearance b f bilingual
superscriptions tells its own tale. Curiously enough, the G reeks have left no
other .memorial in India except a column erected at Besnagar in M adhya
Pradesh by Heliodorus o f Taxila, an am bassador from the M aharaja

,J Am ong recent books on ASoka cf. P. H . L . Eggermont, The Chronology o f the Reign o f
Asoka Moriya, Leiden, 1956; R . Thapar, Aioka and the Decline o f the Mauryas, Oxford,
1961.
14 Cambridge History o f India, Vol. 1, pp. 432 II.
4^2 Early Contacts between India and Europe

Antialcidas to K in g Bhàgabhadra. This column records the fact that Helio-

dorus was a devotee o f Vishnu, and shows how rapidly the Greeks were
adopting the religions o f their neighbours.15 The Bactrian Greeks were suc­
ceeded by a number o f Saka and Parthian princes, and it was at the court o f
one o f these that the Apostle Thom as is said to have suffered martyrdom. The
A cts o f Judas Thomas, which exists in Syriac, Greek, and Latin versions, is
apparently based on a kernel o f historical fact, and some o f the proper names,
both o f persons and oi places, have been identified. Gondophernes has been
recognized as Gaspar, the first o f the M agi.16
A bout a . d . 48 these tribes were replaced by the Yiieh-chih or Kushàna
horde from Central Asia. T h e -Kushàna Empire reached its zenith under
Kanishka, who seems to have succeeded to the throne about a .d . 120, a date
which is still much disputed, however. His .capital was at Peshawar, but his
far-flung empire extended as far west as K a b u l and as far north as Kashgar.
Kanishka was a convert to Buddhism, but his coins, with their curious medley
o f deities, Zoroastrian, Hindu, Greek, and Buddhist, indicate the cosm opoli­
tan nature o f his territories, a veritable coliuvies gentium, at the meeting-piace
o f the Central Asian trade-routes. Am ong the deities depicted are Helios,
Selene, and Buddha (BOAAS2), the latter in Greek dress. Kanishka employed
G reek workm en and silversmiths, and the relic-casket discovered at the Shâhjl-
ki-D heri mound near Peshawar bears a Kharoshthi inscription to the effect that
it was the w ork o f ‘ Agesilas, overseer o f K anishka’s vihâra’ . Excavations at
Taxila have revealed a wealth o f beautiful objets d ’art o f the Saka and
Kushàna periods, showing how strong was G reek influence there. Some o f the
friezes are decorated with Corinthian pillars. Under the Kushànas that
curious hybrid product, the so-called Gandhâra School o f sculpture, flouri­
shed. It is a mistake, perhaps, to apply the term ‘ school* to a number o f
artists o f different nationalities, working in a variety o f materials over a long
period. Their most striking achievement, however, was the application of
Hellenistic methods to the portrayal o f scenes in the life o f the Buddha, and,
more especially, to the delineation o f the M aster himself. Hitherto, Buddhists
had been content to represent him by conventional sym bols: it was probably
the Indo-G reek artists o f Gandhâra who evolved the Buddha figure which is
accepted as canonical all over the Buddhist world today.17 A cosmopolitan
culture, borrowed from Iranian, Hellenistic, Indian, and Chinese sources,
sprang up along the Central Asian trade-route, wi{h its centre in what is now
the desert between the Tarim and Khotan rivers.
M eanwhile, the pax Eomana was prom oting the growth o f a cosmopolitan
culture in the N ear and Middle East, where the old racial and linguistic pre­
judices were fast melting away. ‘ Videtis gentes populosque mutasse sedes’,
says Seneca. ‘ Quid sibi volunt in mediis barbarorum regionibus G raecae
artcs? Quid inter Indos Persasque M acedonicus serm o? Atheniensis in

15 R a p s o n , Ancient India, p p . 13 4 , 156 .

16 A fu ll b ib lio g r a p h y o f th e T h o m a s a n d G o n d o p h e r n e s le g e n d is g iv e n in th e Cam­
bridge History o f India, V o l. I , p . 687. S e e a ls o V . A . S m ith , Early History o f India, 4th
e d n ., p . 260, a n d J. F . F a r q u h a r in Bulletin o f the John Hylands Library, 1 9 2 6 -7 .
17 T h is is d is p u te d . A . K . C o o m a r a s w a m y c o n te n d e d th a t th e B u d d h a fig u re o rig in a te d a t
M a th u r a , q u it e in d e p e n d e n tly o f G a n d h â r a .
 Early Contacts between India and Europe 433
A sia turba est.’ 18 In Antioch, Palm yra, and Alexandria, Indian and Greek
merchants and men o f letters met freely to exchange ideas. Antioch,* the old
Seleucid capital, was the great meeting-place o f caravans (owoSlm) from the
G u lf o f Suez on the one hand and from the headwaters o f the Euphrates on
the other, and its bazaars and market-places were thronged with a cosm o­
politan crowd, second only to that o f Alexandria. Travellers from Barygaza
(Broach),1» at the m outh o f the N arm ada, would probably follow the overland
route up the. Euphrates and then cross the desert to A ntioch, while those from
south India and Ceylon would preferably go via Aden and the Red Sea.
Palmyra, Solom on’s Tadm or in the Wilderness, on the oasis which lies m id­
way on the desert route between the great Red Sea port o f Berenice and
Thapsac'us on the Euphrates, enjoyed a short but brilliant period o f prosperity
between the time when it ousted its rival, Petra, and its destruction b y the
Rom ans ( a .d . 130-273).
The Kushânas were particularly anxious to be on good terms with Rom e,
whose eastern boundary was the Euphrates, less than 600 miles from their
western border. The closeness o f their intercourse is illustrated in a striking
manner by the Kushâna coinage, which imitates that o f contemporary Rom an
emperors. The Kushâna gold coins are o f the same weight and fineness as the
Rom an aurei. It appears probable from an inscription that the K ushâna K in g
Kanishka II used the title o f Caesar-.
The friendly and intimate nature o f the relations between Rom e and India
is shown by the number o f embassies dispatched by various Indian rajas from
time to time. O n e 'o f these, from an Indian king whom Strabo calls Pandion
(probably one o f the Pàndya kings o f the south), left B arygaza in 25 B .C . and
encountered Augustus at Samos four years later. T he time occupied by the
journey seems less strange when we study the Elizabethan travellers’ itiner­
aries: people had to wait for prolonged periods at stopping-places until
caravans were formed and escorts arranged for. The ambassadors brought
Augustus a variety o f queer presents, including tigers, a python, and an arm ­
less boy who discharged arrows from a bow with his toes. T he leader o f the
embassy was a monk named Zarm anochegas (Sramanâchàrya), who brought
a letter, written on vellum in Greek, offering the Emperor an alliance and a
free passage fo r Roman subjects through his dominions. L ike K alanos, the
m onk-who accompanied Alexander the G reat to Babylon, Zarm anochegas
committed suicide by burning him self to death on a funeral pyre. From this
it is perhaps permissible to conclude that he was a Jain, as Jainism looks upon
voluntary immolation as a laudable act. According to Strabo,-his epitaph was
‘ Here lies Zarm anochegas, an Indian from Bargosa, who rendered himself
immortal according to the customs o f the country.’ 10 Another Indian embassy,
prob ab ly from the Kushâna king Kadphises II, went to Rom e in a . d . 99 to
congratulate Trajan on his accession. Trajan treated his Indian visitors with
distinction, giving them senators’ seats at the theatre. From the time o f M ark

'* De Cons. adHelv. c . v i. ‘ W h o le trib es an d peoples h a v e c h a n g e d th e ir h a b ita ts . W h y d o

th e y w a n t G r e e k a rts in th e m id st o f b a rb a ria n r e g io n s ? W h y is th e M a c e d o n ia n to n g u e
s p o k e n a m o n g In d ia n s a n d P e rs ia n s ? . . . T h e r e is a c r o w d o f A th e n ia n s in A s i a .’ T h e L o e b
e d itio n o f S e n e c a g iv e s urbes (cities), in p la c e o f artes (arts) in th e te x t u sed b y P r o fe s s o r .
R a w lin s o n . [E d .] 15 S a n s k rit, B h rig u k a c c h a . _ 10 S tr a b o , Geography, x v . 73 .
434 Early Contacts between India and Europe

Antony to that o f Justinian, i.e. from 30 b . c . to a . d . 550, their political im­

portance as allies against the Parthians and Sàsànians, and their commercial
importance as controllers o f one o f the main trade-routes between the Hast
and the West, made the friendship o f the Kushânas and other dynasties who
held the Indus valley and Gandhâra o f the highest value to Rome.
Meanwhile, a brisk trade was springing up between the great mart at
Alexandria and the coast o f M alabar. The products o f southern India had, as
we have seen, been in demand in the Mediterranean from time immemorial,
and Alexandria had replaced the old Phoenician ports o f Tyre and Sidon as
the clearing-house for Oriental goods. O w ing to the discovery about a . d . 50
o f the existence o f the monsoon winds, it was now possible for vessels to run
directly across the Indian Ocean, from Aden to the great M alabar port o f
Muziris (Cranganore), instead o f hugging the coast. This so shortened the
distance that the journey from Italy to India could be accomplished in six­
teen weeks.i: The importance o f this fact will be realized when we recollect
that, up to the opening o f the overland route in 1838, it took travellers from
five to eight months to reach India. India was nearer to Europe in the first
century a . d . than at any time up to the middle o f the nineteenth.
A n interesting little book, called The Periplus o f the Erythraean Sea, written
by an Alexandrian sea-captain about the time o f Nero, gives an account o f a
voyage down the Red Sea and round the Indian coast from the mouth o f the
Indus to that o f the Ganges. Pliny, who complains o f the ‘ drain’ o f Eastern
luxuries upon Rom e, which he estimates at over a million pounds sterling,1"1
deplores the fact that the two countries had been ‘ brought nearer by lust for
gain ’ ; and, from the enormous number o f Rom an coins found in southern
India and references in Tam il writers, it is highly probable that there were
actually Rom an .colonies at Cranganore or M uziris (where there is said to
have been a Rom an temple), M adurai, Pugar at the mouth o f the K aviri, and
other places. A small seaport containing numerous sherds o f Arretine pottery
and other evidence o f contact with the Rom an West has been discovered at
Arikam edu south o f Pondicherry on the Indian east coast.12A T a m il poet sings
o f ‘ the thriving town o f Musiri, where the beautiful large ships o f the Y avanas,
bringing gold, come splashing the waters o f the Periyar, and return laden with
pepper’. These colonies doubtless resembled the European factories at Surat
and other places along the.Indian coast in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. The colonists were probably natives o f Syria and Egypt. It also
appears that Rom an mercenaries, ‘ dumb mlecchas’ or barbarians, were em­
ployed by some o f the Tam il kings. T he Periplus mentions the import of

11 P lin y (Natural History, v i. z z ) tells u s o f a re v e n u e -sh ip o f A n n in s P lo c a m u s , in .th e re ig n

o f C la u d iu s , w h ic h w a s ca u g h t in th e m o n s o o n a n d co v e re d th e d is ta n ce b e tw e e n A d e n an d
C e y lo n in fifte en d a y s . T h e u s u a l tim e w a s a b o u t fo r ty d ays.
“ ‘ ■The a u th o r w a s w r itin g in th e 1930s. T h e s o u rc e (Nat. Hist, x ii, 4 1) re a d s : ' B y th e
lo w e st r e c k o n in g In d ia , C h iq a , a n d th e [A ra b ia n ] P en in su la ta k e fr o m o u r e m p ir e to o
m illio n seste rce s e v e ry y e a r— this is th e su m w h ic h o u r lu x u rie s a n d o u r w o m e n c o s t u s .’ It
is n o t c le a r h o w m u ch o f tHis su ra P lin y b e lie v ed w a s a b s o rb e d b y I n d ia . T h e sestertiu s
w a s a la r g e b ro n z e c o in . [Ed.]
“ S ir M o r tim e r W h e e le r, 'R o m a n C o n ta c t w ith I n d ia , P a k is ta n a n d A fg h a n is ta n in
A s p e c ts o f A r c h a e o lo g y ’ : Essays Presented to D. G. S. Crawford, ed . W . F . G rim e s , L o n d o n ,
1951.
 Early Contacts between India and Europe 435
Greek girls for the Indian harems, and Chandragupta’s guard o f A m azons
may well have been Greeks. It was not unusual for Indian sovereigns to em­
ploy a foreign bodyguard as a protection from assassination.
Alexandria, in the first century a . d . , was the second city^n the Em pire. In
the height o f her glory she must have resembled Venice in .the full tide o f her
prosperity. The mercantile shipping o f half o f the ancient world tied up at her
quay-sides, and scholars from the four quarters o f the earth met and disputed
in the Museum, and made use o f the vast stores o f literature in her great
libraries. The Alexandrians were essentially cosm opolitan. T h ey had none o f
the contempt for the ‘ barbarian’ o f the old G reek city-states, and a large
proportion o f the population, like the Athenians, ‘ spent their life in nothing
else, but either to tell or hear some new thing’ . A Buddhist m onk from Bary-
gaza would receive the same attentive hearing as did Saint P aul at the hands
o f the Areopagus, and the medium was Hellenistic G reek, the lingua franca
(/cotvjJ) from the Levant to the Indus. The MUinda-panha mentions A lexandria
as one o f the places to which Indian merchants regularly resorted, and D io
Chrysostom, lecturing to an Alexandrian audience in the reign o f Trajan, says:
‘ I see among you, not only Greeks and Italians, Syrians, Libyans, and Cili-
cians, and men who dwell m ore remotely, Ethiopians and A rabs, but also
Bactrians, Scythians, Persians, and some o f the Indians, who are am ong the
spectators, and are always residing there.’ 13
These Indian residents must have come to Alexandria from one o f the
numerous seaports on the western coast,.p robably B arygaza or M uziris.
Barygaza was the chief port o f call for vessels from the Persian G u lf. A road
ran from Barygaza to Ujjain, a place where several rou.es converged, and
from U jjain through Vidisâ, Bhàrhut, KauSâmbI, and Pravâga to Pâtaliputra.
Pâtaliputra was linked up with Cham pa, the port on the G anga for trading-
vessels going to Ceylon, the Golden Chersonese, and the F ar East. T h e traders
who settled at Alexandria were probably mostly Jains or Buddhists, as caste-
rules discouraged, and later forbade, orthodox Hindus from crossing the
black water. The Jâtakas are full o f references to Buddhist merchants and
their adventures on voyages to distant countries. For this reason Alexandrian
writers are generally better acquainted with the Buddhists than with any other
Indian sect.
Indian philosophy was acquiring a growing reputation in the Hellenistic
schools o f A sia M inor and Egypt. That famous miracle-monger, A pollonius
o f Tyana (c. a . d . 50), went to Taxila to study under brahman preceptors.
Bardesanes the Babylonian, the well-known Gnostic teacher, learnt m any
curious facts about India from an Indian embassy which came to Syria in the
reign o f Elagabalus (a .d . 218-22). The lost w ork o f Bardesanes is freely
quoted by later writers, and was evidently held in great esteem. Bardesanes
knew a great deal about the brâhmans and Buddhists and their discipline and
mode o f life. He describes, in accurate detail, life in a Buddhist monastery;
and a visit to a cave-temple in western India, containing an androgynous
image o f the god £iva.M Plotinus, the founder o f the N eoplatonic School, was
so anxious to be instructed in Indian philosophy that he accom panied the
13 Oratio xxii. McCrindle, Ancient India, p. 177.
Stobaeus, Physica, i. 56. McCrindte, op. cit., pp. 172-3.
 436 Early Contacts between India and Europe

expedition o f G ordian against Sapor (Shâbpuhr, Shàpur), king o f Persia, in

A.D. 242, in the hope that this m ight bring him into personal contact with some
one w ho could help him. T he resemblances between Neoplatonism and the
Vedanta and Y o g a systems are very close. T he absorption o f the individual
into the W orld Soul is described by Plotinus in words which have a typically
Indian ring: ' Souls yvhich are pure and have lost their attraction to the cor­
poral will cease to be dependent on the body. So detached they will pass into
the world o f Being and R eality.’ N eoplatonism also has many points o f con­
tact with Buddhism, especially in enjoining the abstention from sacrifices and
animal food.
Buddhism was well known to Clement o f Alexandria ( a . d . 150-218). He
repeatedly refers to the presence o f Buddhists in Alexandria, and declares that
‘ the G reeks stole their philosophy from the barbarians’ . He is the first Greek
writer to mention Buddha by name. ‘ There a re’, he says, ’ some Indians who
follow the precepts o f Boutta, w hom by an excessive reverence they have
exalted into a god .’ 15 He know s that Buddhists believe in transmigration.
(■traXiyytv(OLa) and ’ worship a kind o f pyram id (stüpa) beneath which they
think the bones o f some divinity lie buried’ . Perhaps these facts throw some
light on the curious resemblances between the Gospel story and the life o f
Buddha as told in late Buddhist w orks like the Lalita Vistara. Som e o f these
are the B uddha's miraculous conception and birth; the star over his birth­
place; the prophecy o f the aged A sita, the Buddhist Sim eon; the temptation
by M ara; the twelve disciples w ith the ‘ beloved disciple’, À nanda; and the
miracles, coupled w ith the Buddha’s disapproval o f these as proofs o f his
B uddhahood.
M ore startling still are the points o f similarity between the Buddhist and
Christian parables and miracles. Thus in Jâtaka 190 we read o f the pious dis­
ciple w ho w alks on the water while he is full o f faith in the Buddha, but begins
to sink when his ecstasy subsides. On his arrival the Master inquires how he
has fared. ‘ Oh, Sir,’ he replies, ‘ I was so absorbed in thoughts o f the Buddha,
that I walked over the water o f the river as though it had been dry grou n d !’
A s M ax M üller remarks,16 mere walking upon the water is not an uncommon
story; but w alking by faith, and sinking for want o f it, can.only be accounted
for by som e historical contact and transference, and the Jâtakas are centuries
older than the Gospels. In Jâtaka 78 the Buddha feeds his 500 brethren with a
single cake which has been put jrito his begging-bowl, and there is so much
over that what is left has to be thrown aw ay. In a late Buddhist w ork, the
Saddharma Pundarika, there is a parable which bears a close resemblance to
that o f the Prodigal Son.
D uring this period,
nascent C h ristian ity m et fu ll-gro w n B udd hism in the A cad e m ie s and m arkets o f
A s ia and E g yp t, w h ile b o th religion s w ere exposed to the influences o f surroundin g
P aganism in m a n y form s, and o f th e countless w o rk s o f a rt w h ich gave expression to

15 Stromata, i. i j . M cCrindle quotes other passages from other Alexandrian divines re­
ferring to Buddha, which show that Alexandrians must have been well acquainted with him
and his leaching by the third century a .d . (Ancien/ India, pp. 184 ff.). They were greatly im­
pressed with the story o f the Immaculate Conception o f Queen M àyà.
“ ‘ Coincidences’, in t a s i Essays, tst Ser. (1901), p. 230. Gifford Lectures (1890), ii. 390.
 Early Contacts between India and Europe 437
the forms of polytheism. The ancient religion of Persia contributed to the ferment of
human thought, excited by improved facilities for international communication, and
by the incessant clash o f rival civilizations.17
It is possible that the rosary, the veneration o f relics, and the exaggerated
forms o f asceticism which were such a striking feature o f Alexandrian
Christianity, m ay be traced to Indian sources. When the French missionary
travellers, Hue and Gabet, visited Lhasa in 18 42, they were deeply shocked at
the close resemblance between C atholic and Lam aistic ritual.
T h e crozier, the mitre, and chasuble, the card in al's r o b e ,. . . tbe d o ub le ch o ir at the
D iv in e Office, the chants, the exorcism , the censor w ith five chains, th e blessing
w h ich th e L a m a s im part b y extending the right hand o v e r the heads o f the faithful,
the rosary, the celibacy o f the clergy, their separation fro m the w orld, the w orship o f
saints, the fasts, processions, litanies, h o ly w ater— these are the poin ts o f con ta ct
w h ich the Buddhists h ave w ith us.

M ax M üller traces these to the contact between Tibetan and Nestorian monks
in China between a . d . 635 and 8 4 1, when both were suppressed. A t the famous
monastery o f Hsian-Fu they actually collaborated.
Gnosticism was a deliberate effort to fuse Christian, Platonic, and Oriental
ideas at a time when syncretism was particularly fashionable at Alexandria.
Gnosticism has been described as 'Orientalism in a Hellenic m ask’. The great
Gnostic teacher Basilides, a Hellenized Egyptian who was a contemporary o f
Hadrian ( a . d . 1 1 7 -3 8 ), definitely borrowed his philosophy from the wisdom
o f the East, which he interwove in an ingenious fashion into the fram ework o f
Christianity. L ike Buddha, he was a pessimist. ‘ Pain and fear are inherent in
human affairs.’ He had a remarkable explanation o f the reason why G od per­
mitted His saints to suffer martyrdom, which is evidently based on the
Buddhist doctrine o f karma. 'T h e theory o f Basilides’, says Clement, 'is that
the soul has previously sinned in another life (irpò rrja&t ri)s ivoatpardiotws),
and endures its punishment here, the elect with the honour o f martyrdom, and
the rest purified by appropriate punishment.’ Basilides was a firm believer in
transmigration, and cited texts such as John 9 : 2 and Romans 7 : 9 in support.
Basilides’ theory o f personality has strong Buddhist affinities. The soul is
without qualities, but the passions, like the Buddhist skandhas, attach them­
selves to it as appendages or ‘ parasites’ (irpooaprqpaTa). G od is unpredicable,
almost non-existent- (où/c wv 8t6s), and the divine entity o f Jesus at death alone
passed into N irvana (ùncpKoofiîd).1*
After many vicissitudes Alexandria as a centre o f learning came to an end in
a . d . 642. But the Arabs were far from being mere vandals, and schools arose
in Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordova, which rivalled the glories o f the civilization
which they superseded. Baghdad, founded in a .d . 76 2 , occupied a commanding
position on the overland route between India and Europe. It was frequented
by G reek and Hindu merchants. The ‘Abbâsids, like the Sàsânians, were
great patrons o f literature, and had foreign w orks translated into A rabic.
Baghdad remained the great clearing-house for Eastern and Western culture
until its destruction by the M ongols in a . d . 12 58 . During the D ark A ges it

17 V. A . Smith, Oxford History o f India, p. 134.

71 ‘ Buddhist Gnosticism’ , by J. Kennedy, J.R.A.S., 1902.
43^ ■ Early Contacts between India and Europe

was the Arab's who kept the torch o f learning alight, when Rom e had perished
and Europe was still plunged in barbarism. The Arabs had little indigenous
culture, and much o f their learning was borrowed from Hindu or Greek
sources. The widespread diffusion o f the A rabic language, however, made it
an excellent medium for the transmission o f ideas from Asia to Europe.
A ra b ic travellers and scholars like Albîrünl were strongly attracted by Hindu
civilization, and transmitted it to the West. A lbîrûnï is particularly important
in this respect. Born in a . d . 973, he accompanied Sultan Mahmüd o f Ghazni
to India, learnt Sanskrit, and read the Hindu classics, the Puranas, and the
Bhagavad Gitâ. H e was acquainted, we are told, with ‘ astronom y, mathe­
matics, chronology, mathematical geography, physics, chemistry, and
m ineralogy1.
One curious result was that m any ideas, which were originally borrowed by
India from the West, fòtmd their w ay b ack to Europe in an A ra b ic guise.
Three typical exam ples'are provided by Arabian astronom y, mathematics,
and medicine.1* Hindu astronomers freely acknowledge their indebtedness to
Alexandria. One o f the principal Sanskrit astronomical treatises was the
Romaka Siddhânta or Rom an manual. Another, the Paulisa Siddhânta, was
based on the works o f Paul o f Alexandria ( a . d . 378). The Sanskrit names for
the signs ó f the-Zodiac, and other astronomical terms, are o f G reek origin.
These Sanskrit treatises were later translated into Arabic, and from A rabic
into Latin. M uch the same happened in the case o f Hindu mathematics,
though the question is too technical to be discussed here. T h e medical works
o f Charaka and SuSruta may have been somewhat influenced by Hippocrates
and Galen, and if, as is usually stated, C haraka w a s'cou rt physician to
K anishka, this is easily explicable. T hey had a marked influence on A rabic
medical writers like Avicenna, whose works, in Latin translations, were the
standard authorities in medieval Europe. The game o f chess found its way
from India to Europe through the Arabs, perhaps at the time o f the Crusaders.
It is first mentioned by the Sanskrit novelist Bàna, about a . d . 625: its Sanskrit
name is chaturanga, the ‘ four arm s’ o f the Hindu army. In Persian this be­
comes shatranj. .Many o f its terms, such as ‘ checkm ate1 (shâh mât, the king is
dead), and ‘ ro o k 1 (rtikh) are o f Persian origin.
The East is the home o f fables, and some o f the oldest folk-stories, which a're
woven into the very web o f European literature, m ay be traced to those great
Indian collections o f tales, the Buddhist Jâtakas or Birth-stories, the Pancha-
tantra, and the Hitopadesa or B ook o f Useful Counsels.3* Some o f thèse tales
reached the W est at a very early date. The story o f the Judgement o f Solomon
is an excellent example. In thé Buddhist version the two women are ordered
to try to-pull the child away from one another by main force. The child cries
out, and one o f the women at once lets go, whereupon the wise judge awards
him to her, as the true jjiother.31 It is impossible not to wonder whether this
story m ay not have reached Judaea along with the ivory, apes, and peacocks
from Ophir. M any o f these folk-stories are tales o f talking beasts, and appear
19 See Macdonell, bidia's Past, pp. 175-93.
39 See M ax Müller, ‘ On the Migration o f Fabtes’, in Chips from a German Workshop, iv.
412. Selected Essays, i. 500. ’
31 Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, i, xiii, xliv.
 Early Contacts between India and Europe 439
on Buddhist sculpture at Bhârhut and Sanchi, and later in G andhâra. They
began to find their w ay to Asia M inor as far b ack as the sixth century b . c ., and
the earliest Greek version was attributed to Aesop, w ho was said to have
lived at the Court o f Croesus o f Lydia. Some o f them, as we have seen, appear
in Herodotus. There is a reference to the fable o f the ass in the lion’s skin in
Plato's Cratylus (411 A ). A collection, o f ‘ A esop’ s ’ fables was made in Latin
by Phaedrus in the time o f Tiberius, and by Babrius in G reek at Alexandria
about A.D . 200.
One o f the most famous o f all the old Indian story-books is the 'Seven ty
Tales o f a P arrot’ (Sukasaptati). This was several times translated into
Persian under the name o f Tûtïnâmeh, and through it many Indian stories
found their way into Europe, the best-known, perhaps, being the tale o f the
fraudulent ordeal, made famous in Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan and
Isolde.*1 Another source through which many Indian motifs reached medieval
Europe was the Arabian Nights. M as'üdi, the ‘ Arabian H erodotus’, writing
at Basra about A . d . 950, says that this great collection contains Persian, G reek,
and Hindu tales, and it was no doubt put together in the first instance at
Baghdad, perhaps shortly after the reign o f Hàrûn al-Rashïd, to w hom so
many o f the tales allude. The best-known ó f the stories, that o f Sindbad the
Sailor, is o f Hindu origin, and contains may Indian references.33 One o f the
best-known o f the stories which found its w ay from the Arabian Nights to
Europe is that o f the Ebony Horse, which appears in Chaucer’s Squire’s
Tale.3* Another collection o f Indian fables, the Panchatantra, was made and
rendered into Pehlevi in the sixth century a . d ., by order o f the Sâsânian K in g
Anushìrvàn, and from Pehlevi into A rabic by the Caliph al-M ansür ( a . d , 753—
84). Their A rabic and Syriac title, Kalilah wa Dimnah, is apparently derived
from the two jackals, K arataka and D am anaka, who play a leading part in
them. These stories were translated into Persian, Syriac, Latin, Hebrew, and
Spanish. A Germ an version, made in 148.1, was one o f the earliest printed
books. In the next century they were turned into Italian, and from Italian into
English by Sir Thom as N orth, the translator o f Plutarch, and in this guise
were probably known to Shakespeare. In Europe they were know n as the
Fables ofP ilp ay, Pilpay being probably a corruption ofB id yàpat or V idyàpati,
‘ M aster o f W isd om ’, a wise brâhman who plays a leading part in them. La
Fontaine made use o f the fables o f the ‘ Indian sage P ilp a y ’.
That the migration o f fables was originally frorA East to W est, and not vice
versa, is shown by the fact that the animals and birds w ho play the leading
parts, the lion, the jackal, the elephant, and the peacock, are mostly Indian
ones. In the European versions the jack al becomes the fo x : the relation
between the lion and the jackal is a natural one, whereas that between the lion
and fox is not. This change in the species o f the animals in the course o f the
wandering o f the fables is very instructive. T ake, for instance, the well-known
31 Macdonell, India’s Past, p. 128. ,
» Ibid., p. 129. Macdonell is confident that the Arabian Nights was originally composed
by a Persian poet imitating Indian originals. The framework, as well as a large number of
the stories, is o f Indian origin.
” Burton says that the story of the Ebony Horse originated in a Hindu story o f a wooden
Garttiia. It came from India via Persia, Egypt, and Spain to France (Le Cheval de Fust) and
thence to Chaucer’s cars.
440 Early Contacts between India and Europe

Welsh story o f Llewellyn and Gelert. The Father comes home and is greeted by
his hound, which he had left to guard his infant daughter. Its jaws are covered
with blood and, thinking it has killed the child, he slays it. Then he finds the
child asleep in her cradle, safe and sound, a dead w o lf by her side. In the
original tale in the Ppnchatantra, a mongoose and a cobra play the part o f the
dog and wolf. Again, in La Fontaine’s fable, a girl carrying a pail o f m ilk (in
some versions, a basket o f eggs) on her head, builds ‘ castles in the a ir ’ about
what she is going to do with the proceeds o f selling it. She becomes so absorbed
that she drops her burden. In the original, a brahman whose begging-bowl has
been filled with boiled rice dreams o f the profits he will m ake when a famine
breaks out and he sells it. In his sleep he kicks the bowl over and the contents
are spilt. The ' beast-story’ has been revived in a delightful manner in
Rudyard K iplin g’s Jungle Books.
Numerous European fairy-stories, to be found in Grimm or Hans Andersen,
about the magic mirror, the seven-leagued boots, Jack and the beanstalk,
and the purse o f Fortunatus, have been traced to Indian sources. M any o f
them are found in the Gesta Ronianorum, the Decameron, and Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales. The Pardoner's Tale is derived ultimately from a story in
the Vedabbha Jâtaka, One o f the most interesting examples o f the migration
o f a tale is provided by the famous story o f Barlaam and Josaphat.35 This is
the edifying history o f the young Christian prince Josaphat, who is so moved
by various distressing sights which he encounters, that he renounces the world
and becomes an ascetic. It was written in Greek by John o f Dam ascus in the
eighth century a.d. From Greek it was translated into A rabic at the C ou rt of
the Caliph al-M ansür, and from A rabic into a number o f European languages.
In the M iddle Ages it was immensely popular, and in the sixteenth century
Josaphat actually became a Christian saint! This is extremely interesting, as it
is now evident that Josaphat is the Bodhisat or Bodhisattva, and the story is
nothing more or less than that o f the Great Renunciation o f G autam a Buddha,
as narrated in theLalita Vistara. It is adorned with numerous apologues. One
o f them is the story o f the Three Caskets, which was utilized by Shakespeare
in the Merchant o f Venice. Another story in. the Merchant o f Venice, that o f
the Pound o f Flesh, is also o f Buddhist origin, though it does not appear to
be clear by what channel it came to Shakespeare’s knowledge.
The classical accounts remained the main source on India, and it is through
them that references to India came into medieval epics like the Dioina Com­
media and Parzival. In the latter, India is called ‘ T rib alib ot’ , which is a play
on the Latin word Paiibothri (the inhabitants o f Pàtaliputra).36 N ew contacts
with the. Orient were established through the Crusades and A rabic rule in
Spain, but they Only led to fantastic exaggerations such as can be seen in
romances like Herzog Ernst. India lies at the end o f the world, and to have
been to India becomes, pars pro loto, to have seen the whole world, Thom as
33 The text and translation are in (he Locb Classics. See M ax Müller, Selected Essays,
i. 500; F . Jacobs, Barlaam and Josaphat (1896); E. Kuhn, Barlaam und Josaphat, Abhand-
lungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Munich, 1894. A n extensive biblio­
graphy on this subject is given by H. Peri (Pflaum) in A d a Salamanticensia, Vol. 14, No. 3,
Salamanca, 1959.
34 F. Wilhelm, ‘ Die Entdeckung der indischcn Oeschichte’,' Saeculum, xv/t, Freiburg,
19 6 4 , p . 30 ff.
 Early Contacts between India and Europe 441

M ore obviously made use o f Indian motifs in his Utopia.31 There are striking
coincidences in medieval thought between Sankara’s Vedànta and the mystic­
ism o f M eister E ckart; and parallels in the field o f fine arts: Indian mandaias
and the symbolism o f the knot’Jbave their Western counterparts.38 However, as
long as w e have no conclusive p ro o f o f Indian influence w e should always
keep in mind that such convergences can be the result o f similar spiritual
attitudes.
” J. Duncan M . Derrett, ‘ Thomas M ore and Joseph Ihc Indian’, Journal o f the Royal
Asiatic Society, A p r. 1962, pp. 18 ff.
J* A . K . Coomaraswamy, ‘ Iconography o f Diirer’s Knots and Leonardo’s Concatena­
tion’, Art Quarterly, Detroit, 1944.
CHAPTER XXXI

Indian Influence in Ancient

South-East Asia*
by A l a s t a l r L am b

B y the opening o f the Christian era the civilization o f India had begun to
spread across the Bay o f Bengal into both island and mainland South-East
A sia; and by the fifth century a . d . Indianized states, that-is to say states
organized along the traditional lines o f Indian political theory and following
the Buddhist or Hindu religions, had established themselves in many regions
o f Burm a, Thailand, Indo-China, M alaysia, and Indonesia. Some o f these
states were in time to grow into great empires dominating the zone between
m etropolitan India and the Chinese southern border, which has sometimes
been described as ‘ Further In d ia’ or ‘ Greater India*. Once rooted in South­
East Asian soil, Indian civilization evolved in part through the action o f
forces o f South-East Asian origin, and in part through the influence o f cul­
tural and political changes in the Indian subcontinent. M any scholars have
described the eastward spread o f Indian civilization in terms o f a series o f
‘ w aves’ ; and there are good reasons for considering that such ‘ w aves’ are
still breaking on South-East Asian beaches today.
The cultures o f modern South-East A sia all provide evidence o f a long
period o f contact with India. M any South-East Asian languages (M alay and
Javanese are good examples) contain an Important proportion o f words o f
Sanskrit or Dravidian origin. Some o f these languages, like T hai, are still
written in scripts which are clearly derived from Indian models. South-East
Asian concepts o f kingship and authority, even in regions which are now
dominated by Islam , owe much to ancient Hindu political theory. T he Thai
m onarchy, though following Hinayâna Buddhism o f the Sinhalese type, still
requires the presence o f Court brahmans (who by now have become Thai in
all but name) for the proper performance o f its ceremonials. The traditional
dance and shadow-puplpet theatres in many South-East Asian regions, in
Thailand, M alaya, and Java for example, continue to fascinate their audiences
with the adventures o f Râm a and Sita and Hanumân. In B ali an elaborate in­
digenous Hindu culture still flourishes, and preserves intact m any Indian
ideas and practices which have long passed out o f use in the subcontinent ; and
here we have a fossil record, as it were, which can be exploited to throw much
light on the early cultural history o fln d ia itself. The fact o f Indian im pact on
South-East Asian civilization, past and present, is, indeed, in no doubt. M uch

* A s South-East Asian archaeology is one o f the most rapidly developing fields o f study
at present, and as Professor Lamb has not for the last few years been directly involved in
that fieid, Professor Lam b has agreed that D r. H . H 1. E . Loofs should add a brief appendix
to his contribution to cover the latest evidence o f Indian contacts with the region. [Ed.]
 Indian Influence in Ancient South-East Asia 443
controversy, however, has arisen over the precise way in which this im pact
took place.
There has long been a temptation for Indian scholars, and those brought up
in an environment o f Indian studies, to see in early Indianized South-East
Asia an exact reflection o f the various periods and schools o f the civilization o f
metropolitan India. M uch scholarly writing, fo r example, has been devoted to
attempts to determine the precise Indian prototypes for such great South­
East Asian monuments as the B orobodur stüpa in Java and the K hm er temples
o f Cam bodia. These structures are obviously in the Indian tradition. T heir
ground-plans, for example, and the subject-matter o f their sculptural decora­
tion, can easily be related to Indian religious texts. Y e t a careful study o f
monuments such as these suggests that the Indian aspect is only one part o f
the story. W hile beyond doubt showing signs o f Indian influence, yet B o ro b o ­
dur and A n gk or W at are not copies o f Indian structures. There exists nothing
quite like them in the Indian archaeological record. The vast m ajority o f the
Hindu and Buddhist monuments o f South-East A sia which were constructed
in the pre-European period, that is to say before the opening o f the sixteenth
century, possess, as it were, a definite South-East Asian flavour. It is reason­
able to consider the styles 01 art and architecture o f the Khm ers, Cham s, and
Javanese as styles in their own right and something much more than the im ita­
tion o f Indian prototypes. These styles, as Coedès and other scholars have ex­
pressed it, are Indianized rather than Indian. T h e Indian inheritance in South­
East A sia is not to be found in the unthinking repetition o f Indian form s;
rather, it is to be seen in the inspiration which India gave to South-East A sia
to adapt its own cultures so as to absorb and develop Indian concepts. The
resulting syntheses are peculiar to South-East A sia.
The concept o f Indianization, which is one o f the keys to the understanding
o f South-East Asian cultural history, raises a number o f questions which are
not at present easy to answer. W hy, and when, did India begin to extend her
influence eastwards? W hat kind o f people did the early missionaries o f Indian
civilization meet across the Bay o f Bengal? W ere they naked savages follow ­
ing a food-gathering economy in the jungles, or were they settled populations
with ways o f life which might be.described as civilizations o f their ow n? H ow
exactly did the form s o f Indian civilization enter into the fabric o f South-East
Asian cultural life? Inevitably, suggested solutions to these problems o f the
first phases o f Indianization must be rather tentative and expressed in general
terms. Neither the indigenous South-East Asian texts and inscriptions, nor the
narratives o f foreign visitors to the region, take us back with any degree o f
certainty beyond the third century o f the Christian era. T he record o f South­
East A sian protohistoric archaeology is as yet far from fully elucidated. The
term South-East A sia, moreover, covers a very extensive area within which
there exists a considerable range o f environments and ethnic types, and
throughout which there cannot possibly have been 1» uniform operation o f any
one o f the several likely processes o f Indianization. Some populations, like the
Khm ers, the Chams, and the Javanese, became heavily Indianized. Others,
like some o f the tribes in Sulawesi (the Celebes), were indeed subject to Indian
irfluence, but lightly and, most probably, indirectly. Y e t others, like the
Negritos o f the M alay Peninsula, cannot be said to have been Indianized at all.
444 Indian Influence in /indent South-East Asia

The evidence at present available, which is far less abundant than might be
desired, suggests that there must have been a measure o f contact between
India and South-East A sia for several centuries before the opening o f the
Christian era. While it is extremely unlikely that there was at this early period
any extensive migration eastwards o f Indian populations— the theory o f the
Indian origin o f the M alays, for example, is no longer taken very seriously,
and most authorities are inclined to agree w ith Heinc-Geldern in seeing a
Chinese origin for the prehistoric migrations into South-East A sia w hich have
left an archaeological or anthropological trace capable o f detection— yet
sufficient Indian trade across the B ay o f Bengal there must have been to ex­
plain the presence in early Indian epics like the Râmâyana o f references to
such South-East Asian regions as Siwarnadoipa (the G olden Island or
Peninsula, usually identified with Sumatra or the M alay Peninsula). Significant
cultural influence, however, can hardly have begun before the ASokan period;
and we have no real archaeological or literary evidence for it until well on into
the Christian era. It seem s'm ost probable, on the present available inform a­
tion, that Indianization started in earnest in the period from the first century
b . c . to the first century a . d . There can be no doubt, at all events, that by the
fifth century a .d . Indian culture was widely known in South-East A sia, and
that Indianized states had appeared not only in regions with relatively large
populations practising a settled agriculture, like Cam bodia, Vietnam , and Java,
but also in remote and sparsely peopled districts like Kalim antan (Indonesian
Borneo) and Sulawesi (Celebes).
I f this chronology is correct, then it is unlikely that, as has sometimes been
suggested, the initial.im petus to Indianization in South-East A sia was pro­
vided by the migration overseas o f the people o f R alinga follow ing A so k a ’s
devastating invasion in about 261 B .C. There is certainly no archaeological re­
cord o f an extensive Indian population movement into South-East A sia at
this period, or, indeed, at any period until fairly recently. Indian colonization
o f South-East A sia, on the pattern o f European colonization o f North
Am erica or Australia and N ew Zealand, is no longer regarded by the m ajority
o f scholars as a m ajor factor in the initiation o f the Indianization process,
which now tends to be interpreted in the light o f an expansion o f international
maritime trade.
The links by land trade-routes between the major centres o f population on
the Eurasian continent date back to at least the days o f the Persian Em pire o f
the Achaem enians. N o doubt by the time o f Alexander the Great there also
existed a measure o f maritime trade in the Indian Ocean, follow ing coastal
routes, particularly between the Persian G u lf and the Indus. In the first
century b . c . the m ajor Eurasian land routes were supplemented to an im­
portant degree by sea lanes across the Indian Ocean which exploited the con­
venient seasonal alternations in direction o f the monsoon winds. T h e dis­
covery o f the monsoons was unlikely to have been, as the story has it, the feat
o f a single G reek sea captain, Hippalus by name. It was rather the em ploy­
ment on a wider scale o f a phenomenon, no doubt well know n to the in­
habitants o f many an Indian Ocean coast, under the powerful stimulus o f
econom ic and political factors, o f which the creation o f the great consumer
market o f the Roman world was probably the most im portant. The demand
 Indian Influence in Ancient South-East Asia 445
in the Mediterranean for Chinese silks and for the spices and medicinal plants
o f the Indies, combined with the rapacity o f the powers straddling the main
land routes, certainly stimulated the quest for new and unobstructed channels
o f trade. Just before the opening o f the Christiaq.era the sea routes to the east,
with termini jn the Red Sea and the Persian G ulf, had become important to
the commerce o f the Rom an world, as is made clear in the writings o f such
authorities as the Eider Pliny and Strabo. By the second century A.D . these
routes had brought Mediterranean (If not Roman) merchants to the shores o f
India and Ceylon, to parts o f mainland South-East Asia, and to China. In the
process, South-East A sia was joined to India by bonds which have never since
been entirely severed.
W hether Mediterranean and M iddle Eastern trade brought Indians into
South-East Asia, or the W est was exploiting routes which India had already
pioneered, is an issue which it is now impossible to resolve. A rchaeology in
mainland South-East A sia has revealed objects o f Western origin (Mediter­
ranean and Iranian) which appear to antedate the first undoubted Indianized
artifacts. The bronze lamp o f Mediterranean provenance from P ’ong T ü k in
central Thailand and the Roman medal dated a . d . 152 from O c-Eo in South
Vietnam near the M ekong D elta are examples o f a trade which helps explain
how South-East Asia m ay have entered into the ‘ known w orld ’ and have
found its place in the Geography o f Claudius Ptolem y, writing in the second
century a . d . O c -E o , it is probable, was an entrepôt o f considerable importance
in the East-W est trade in the first centuries o f the Christian era; and research
at this site has yielded a wealth o f small finds, such as glass and metal beads
and intaglio seals, o f Mediterranean and Iranian (Parthian and Sàsânian)
origin which invite reference to the site o f the ancient trading port at A rika-
medu near Pondicherry on the south-east coast o f India, which was certainly
an entrepôt used by M editerranean merchants at this period. There is arch­
aeological evidence from both India and South-East Asia to suggest that it was
the stimulus o f demand in the West which set Indians sailing in significant
numbers across the B ay o f Bengal; but positive proof is lacking. It is certain,
however, that once the econom ic importance o f the routes from India east­
wards through South-East Asia was cs.tablished, they were extensively ex­
ploited by Indians who, unlike the Westerners o f this time, left a lasting im­
pression upon the South-East Asian cultural landscape.
We possess very little direct evidence as to the manner in which the Indians,
once they began to trade and travel widely in South-East A sia, actually pro­
ceeded to Indianize the indigenous peoples with whom they came into contact.
It is clear, however, that more than one mechanism must have operated and
that there can have been no question o f a single pattern o f events holding good
for the whole region. In some places it is reasonable to suppose that there
grew up actual settlements o f Indian merchants, ju st as European merchants
later established themselves in the modern entrepôt cities like Penang and
Singapore. W e have no positive evidence for such early Indian mercantile
colonies; but.we know from inscriptions that settlements o f this type existed
at Baros in western Sumatra and Takuapa 011 the Isthmus o f K ra by the tenth
or eleventh centuries a .d . Such communities would no doubt provide an
example for the techniques o f urban life along Indian lines and the practical
446 Indian Influence in Ancient South-East Asia

advantages o f the major Indian religions, which could be copied by neigh­

bouring indigenous populations.
A nother mechanism can perhaps be detected in the deliberate borrow ing by
indigenous South-East Asian rulers o f the techniques o f Indian political or­
ganization, o f which they learned either from merchants visiting their terri­
tories or from themselves visiting the early entrepôts. M ore recently we have
examples o f this kind o f mechanism at w ork in Asia in the efforts towards
self-Westernization made by Japan and Thailand in the latter part o f the
nineteenth century. Here there was no blind swallowing in its entirety o f -an
alien culture: rather, specific aspects o f Western civilization, mainly technical
and political, were married into the indigenous way o f life. The finer points o f
art, philosophy, and literature tended to be ignored. Since ancient Indian
political life was so inextricably bound, up w ith the religious cosm ology, one
would expect that self-Indianization, as it were, would result in the establish­
ment, at an official level, o f an Indian-type religion in the charge o f a bràhm-
anical priestly caste, whose role would be comparable to that filled today by
Western advisers in an under-developed nation.
For a third mechanism o f Indianization the narratives o f Chinese travellers,
which, preserved in the Chinese histories, are an invaluable source for the
early history o f South-East A sia, give us some indications. This was Indian­
ization through the activities o f adventurers, Indians who sought fame and
fortune overseas, and who either became advisers to the indigenous rulers of
South-East Asian states (as did that remarkable Greek, Phaulkon, at the
C ourt o f the Siamese K in g N arai in the seventeenth century), or actually
carved out kingdoms for themselves (as did R aja Sir James Brooke in Sarawak
in the nineteenth century). The Chinese texts, confirmed by epigraphy, de­
scribe tbe founding o f tbe Indianized kingdom o f Funan in Indo-China in
terms which could well suggest the career o f the Indian equivalent o f Brooke.
Kaundinya, so the story goes, guided by a dream, set out in search o f a king­
dom w hich he won by kidnapping and marrying W illow Leaf, Queen of
Funan. This tale was later phrased in more orthodox Indian terms, with the
brâhman Kaundinya marrying N âgï Som a, the daughter o f the K in g o f the
N âgas, or serpent spirits, a legend strikingly similar to that accounting for the
origin o f the Pallava D ynasty o f south India. The Khmers, whose empire was
a successor state to Funan, later adopted this story as their official myth,-and
the Maga m otif came to dominate their decorative art.
There can be little doubt that the fusion o f brahman and N âga, o f Indian
and indigenous South-past A sian, took place during the early stages of
Indianization mainly at the official level and had relatively little im pact upon
the popular cultures o f the regions concerned. M ost o f the archaeological re­
mains o f this early period, images o f Buddha and Vishnu, lingas and other
Hindu cult objects, are far more ‘ Indian’ and far less characteristic o f any
regional culture than was to be the case later on. Alm ost ubiquitous in South­
East A sia, for example, is a category o f Buddha image showing very clear
signs o f Gupta or Am arâvatî influence; and some examples o f this can, on the
established principles o f Indian iconography, be dated to very early in the
Christian era. Specimens have been found in Indo-China, Thailand, Burma,
M alaysia, Indonesia, arid the Philippines. T he earliest South-East Asian in­
 Indian Influence in Ancient South-Easi Asia 447
scriptions, some o f which m ay perhaps date to the fourth century a .d ., show
the use o f a script generally considered to be o f a south Indian type, w ith little
i f any sign o f evolution in a South-East Asian environment. A ll this rather
suggests the deliberate acquisition by the first South-East Asian Indianized
rulers o f the signs and symbols o f Indian political organization, the language
and script o f the brâhmans, and the cult objects o f the m ajor Indian religions.
(The distinction between Hindu and Buddhist sometimes tends to becom e
blurred in early South-East Asia.) It is difficult, however, to use this archaeo­
logical record to prove that Indian influence cam e from any one Indian region,
as m any scholars have attempted, but with little success, to do. There is
evidence pointing to influence from north India; there is also evidence in­
dicating D ravidian origins: but much o f this evidence consists o f cult objects
which m ay well have been either imports or local copies o f imports, and o f
which the significance should be interpreted with extreme caution:
In time o f process o f regional evolution, the interaction o f Indian and in­
digenous ideas began to produce a number o f distinctive styles o f Indianized
South-East A sian art and architecture. T h e M on art o f Burm a and o f the so-
càlled kingdom o f D vàravatî in w hat is now Thailand, while retaining m uch
that might be called G upta, had by the sixth century a . d . begun to show a
number o f distinctive features o f its own, some o f them easy to detect by eye
but very hard to define verbally. Perhaps the m ost obvious departure from the
Indian norm is to be seen in the representation o f the human face, which
comes to show physical features characteristic o f a non-Indian ethnic group.
T he Khmers, Cham s, and Javanese had all likewise by the end o f the eighth
century evolved styles so individual as to have become som ething much more
than a reflection o f one or more Indian prototypes.
There is much evidence to suggest that Indian ideas, as well as Indian art,
were modified in ‘ Further In d ia’ through the influence o f indigenous cultures.
The cult o f the Devarâja, .the G od K in g, though certainly expressed in Indian
terminology, developed, so m any scholars believe, into a distinctive corpus o f
political and cosm ological ideas which lies behind the proliferation o f K hm er
temples built in the form o f m ystic mountains and the Javanese chandis
which were not only places o f worship but also royal tombs and mechanisms,
as it were, designed to link the dynasty on earth with the spirit world. N o
more extreme examples o f this cult, with its identification o f ruler w ith god,’
be it Siva, Vishnu, or Buddha, can be found than in A n gk o r Thom , the city
o f the late twelfth- and early thirteenth-century K hm er ruler Jayavarm an V II.
Here, on the gatew ay towers o f the city, and on its central monument, the
Bayon, the face o f the king him self becomes the dominant architectural m otif.
From all fou r sides o f every tower o f the B ayon, Jayavarm an V II looks out
over his capital, his lips and eyes suggesting an enigmatic and slightly m ale­
volent smile. This is something which the R om an etaperors, w ho deified
themselves in their ow n lifetimes, would have understood, but which would
have been beyond the comprehension o f the great Hindu and Buddhist
dynasties o f India. The Devarâja cult o f the K hm ers, Cham s, and Javanese
Indianized kings has survived to the present day in Thailand, where it ex­
plains m any features o f the modern Th ai m onarchy.
The individuality o f the major art styles o f Indianized South-East A sia is,
448 Indiali Influence in Ancient South-East Asia

as we have already noted, to a great extent the result o f interaction between

Indian and pre-Indian indigenous South-East Asian concepts and traditions.
The South-East Asian component in this cultural equation, however, is far
more difficult to define than the Indian. Archaeological, anthropological, and
linguistic research has indicated two categories to which many elements o f the
pre-Indian cultural substratum m ay be assigned, the Dong-son and the
‘ M egalith ic’ . Neither o f these terms can be used with particular precision,
and they must be regarded as being on the whole no more than convenient
labels for features which it would otherwise be extremely hard to classify.
D ong-son refers to a site in what is now North Vietnam which revealed,
between the two W orld Wars, a wealth o f objects in iron and bronze o f which
a number o f bronze kettle-drums are perhaps the best-known. The D o n g:son
drums, like many other artifacts from this site, show strong signs o f Chinese
influence. Dong-son geometrical decoration is closely related to the art o f Han
D ynasty China. Since the Second W orld W ar a number o f important D ong-
son sites have been found in Yunnan Province o f China. The typical Dong-son
drum, however, is not quite Chinese; and in its decoration, especially in the
bands o f highly stylized human and animal figures on its tympanum and
around its barrel, have been detected features relating Dong-son to m any o f
the surviving folk-arts o f both island and mainland South-East A sia. This
discovery, coupled with the wide distribution outside Indo-China o f bronzes
identical to those found at D ong-son, has given rise to the concept o f the
existence o f a definite D ong-son culture among many of the peoples whom
the first missionaries o f Indianization encountered. The significance o f D ong-
son has perhaps been exaggerated; but it does provide a useful term under
which to group many elements o f similarity between the arts of, for example,
the heavily Indianized Javanese and peoples like the Borneo D yaks, w ho show
very little trace o f Indian influence.
Th e term ‘ M egalithic’ is even less precise than Dong-son. It refers to a wide
range o f the discoveries o f South-East Asian archaeology, , including align­
ments o f standing stones (menhirs) from M alaya and Sumatra which would
not look out o f place in Brittany, carved bouldeis from Sumatra, Borneo,
Laos, and Sulawesi (Celebes), cyst burials from Sumatra, M alaya, and Java,
large cylindrical stone burial urns from Burma, Laos, and Sulawesi, and ex­
tensive fields o f burials in ceram ic jars from many parts o f Indonesia, (he
Philippines, Vietnam , and Burm a. There is no reason to believe that all these
manifestations o f indigenous South-East Asian cultures, to which the term
‘ M egalith ic’ has been applied, are o f necessity closely related to each other.
N or have attempts to add precision to the ‘ M egalith ic’ concept by subdivid­
ing it into two or more chronological phases been particularly convincing.
Like D ong-son, ‘ M egalithic’ is a very useful term, but one into which too
much significance should not be read. There is some evidence that a number
o f ' M egalithic’ remains have Dong-son affinities: a boulder from south
Sum atra with a Dong-son kettle-drum carved on it is perhaps the best ex­
ample. ‘ M egalith ic’, whatever its validity as a category for indigenous South­
East Asian cultures, does not o f necessity mean very old; and many ‘ mega­
lith s’ are still used by modern South-East Asian peoples.
In some Indianized South-East Asian styles there was a marked tendency
 Indian Influence in Ancient South-East Asia 449
in the course o f time for features o f Dong-son and ‘ M egalithic’ type to all but
swamp the obvious Indian elements. In the last stages o f Hindu and Buddhist
art and architecture'in Java, for example, from the fourteenth century on­
wards when Islam was actively establishing itself, in the archipelago, temples
both in plan and in decoration became increasingly hard to com pare with any
known Indian style. They tended, in the M ajapahit period, to become open
altars, situated on hill terraces or on masonry platforms representing mystic
m ountains; and in the process they acquired striking similarities to certain
‘ M egalithic’ and definitely non-Indian structures o f which good examples are
to be seen in south Sumatra. The decoration o f these monuments departed
widely from those Indian canons so obvious in the earlier Javanese structures
o f the Sailendra period (c. ninth century A .D .); and it can easily be related to
Javanese folk-art, in which has been detected many Dong-son elements. The
evolution o f later Javanese Indianized art has often been interpreted, and
convincingly so, as the wearing thin, as it were, o f the Indianized veneer and
the resurgence o f an indigenous pre-Indian civilization to which are applicable
the terms Dong-son and ‘ M egalithic’. A similar process, though generally not
quite so dramatic in its results, has been observed in the other major Indian­
ized South-East Asian styles o f the mainland, those o f the Khmers, Chams,
and Burmans.
The revival o f the indigenous was not, o f course, the only factor leading to
Indianized South-East Asian cultural evolution. Indianization, once initiated,
did not come abruptly to a halt. Contacts between'India and South-East A sia
along the trade-routes, once established, persisted; and cultural changes in
the Indian subcontinent had their effect across the Bay o f Bengal. D uring the
late Gupta and the Pâla-Sena periods many South-East Asian regions were
greatly influenced by developments in Indian religious ideas, especially in the
Buddhist field. The pilgrimages to Indian religious centres like N àlandà, o f
which devout Chinese like Hsiian Tsang and I Ching have left celebrated
accounts, were also made by South-East Asians, sometimes with much en­
couragement on the part o f their rulers. T he Indonesian K in g Bâladeva, for
example, so an inscription records, made in a . d . 860 a benefaction to the
Buddhist university at Nàlandà. It should cause no surprisè, therefore, to find
a strong.late Gupta and Pàla influence in many manifestations o f M ahâyâna
Buddhism in South-East Asia. T h e art o f the Sailendra D ynasty in Java, the
builders during the eighth and ninth centuries a . d . o f Borobodur and many o f
the other architectural glories o f central Java, shows abundant evidence o f this
particular influence, as also does the art o f Srlvijaya, a state which dominated
the Malayan and Sumatran shores o f the M alacca Straits from the seventh
to the thirteenth centuries a . d .; and Pala influence can also be seen to a vary­
ing degree in the major styles o f the South-East Asian mainland. Thus the
great temple at Pahârpur in Bengal, dating perhaps from the seventh or
eighth century, o f which excavation has revealed the ground-plan, m ay well be
representative o f an inspiration shared in common by such widely separated
monuments as Borobodur and Prambanan in central Java, A n gkor W at in
Cam bodia, and the Ânanda temple at Pagan in Burma.
Inscriptions show that there was also a very close contact between many
South-East Asian regions and tbe Tam il kingdoms, particularly during the
450 Indian Influence in Ancient South-East Asia

period o f the Chola D ynasty (ninth to thirteenth centuries a .d .). There were
Tam il trading settlements at this time at Baros in western Sumatra and at
Takuapa on the K ra Isthmus. Indonesian rulers endowed shrines in Chola
territory in India. This connection between both sides o f the Bay o f Bengal
was so important that, in the eleventh century a . d ., it induced the Chola
kings Ràjarâja and Rajendra to undertake demonstrations o f their sea power
in the direction o f Sumatra and the M alay Peninsula, with the probable ob­
jective o f securing a commercial m onopoly rather than the acquisition of
territory. It is not difficult, therefore, to find explanations for the presence of
a Chola element in many South-East Asian arts and architectures.
In the thirteenth century two closely related people, the Shans and the
Thais, migrating from the Chinese province o f Yunnan, began to dominate
much o f Burma and Thailand. A t about the same time another group from the
Chinese borderlands, the Vietnamese, were advancing southwards down the
Annamese coastal strip into Cham territory. These movements o f peoples had
a profound effect upon the subsequent shape o f the cultural history o f main­
land South-East Asia. The Shans, follow ing in the wake o f a series o f attacks
by the M ongol (YUan) D ynasty in China, had by a .d . 1300 brought about the
abandonment o f the great Burman c it y 'o f Pagan with its thousands o f
Buddhist temples. The Thais, entering w hat is now Thailand, brought M on
and K hm er peoples under their rule; and their pressure, by the end o f the
fourteenth century, had proved too much for the Khm er kingdom with its
centre at A n gkor in Cam bodia. The Vietnamese, by the end o f the fifteenth
century, were, well on the way to bringing all o f what is now Vietnam under
their sway, and, in the process, creating a m ajor South-East Asian population
which, unlike the Indianized Cham s, looked for its example to China.
T he Thais, once established in the Menam basin, underwent a process o f
Indianization which, because it is well documented, provides an invaluable
example o f the mechanics o f cultural.fusion in South-East Asia. On the one
hand, T h ai rulers set out deliberately to Indianize themselves. T hey sent, for
example, agents to Bengal, at that time suffering from the disruption of
Islamic conquest, to bring back models upon which to base an official sculpture
and architecture. Hence Thai architects began to build replicas o f the Bodh-
G ayâ stüpa (W at Chet Y o t in Chiengmai is a good example) and T hai artists
made Buddha images according to the Pala canon as they saw it. On the other
hand, the Thais absorbed much from their Khm er and M on subjects; and the
influence o f A n gk or and D varavatl is obvious in Thai art. Thai kings em­
braced the Indian religions, and they based their principles o f government
upon Hindu practice as It had been understood by their Khm er predecessors.
Hence the Khm er version o f the Devaràja cult was absorbed by the Thai
m onarchy; and traces o f it survive to this day.
The thirteenth century, which saw the conquests- of the Thais, also wit­
nessed two m ajor developments in South-East Asian religious life, both, if
sometimes rather indirectly, the product o f Indian influence. Theravada
Buddhism established itself as the dominant form o f religious expression on
theSjouth-East Asian mainland; and the saffron-robed m onk became ubiqui­
tous in Burm a, Thailand, Laos, and Cam bodia. This movement appears to
have originated in Ceylon and is unconnected, except in the most remote way,
 Indian Influence in Ancient South-East Asia 45»
with the Buddhism which came to South-East Asia in the first centuries o f
Indianization. A t the same time, in the archipelago, the M alay Peninsula, and
Cham pa (all inhabited by peoples speaking languages o f the M alayo-P oly-
nesian group), Islam began to spread. M uslim traders had been in contact
with|South-East Asia at least since the days o f the eârly ‘Abbâsid Caliphate.
Archaeological sites like Takuapa on the Isthmus o f K ra have yielded Islamic
glazed wares, almost certainly brought by Persian traders, which date to the
ninth or tenth centuries; and in both Java and Vietnam Islamic inscriptions o f
the eleventh century have been found. B ut it seems that the actual conversion
o f South-East Asian populations to Islam on a significant scale did not begin
until the thirteenth century, when Indian M uslim merchants from G u jarat or
Bengal brought the faith with them as their ancestors had brought the Hindu
and Buddhist religions. W hen M arco P olo passed through the M alacca
Straits in the late thirteenth century there were thriving M uslim communities
in Sumatra. W ith the conversion to Islam in the middle o f the fifteenth century
o f the M alacca kingdom , which was an heir to Srivijaya in the dom ination o f
commerce through the Straits, Islam began to penetrate deep into the M alay
Peninsula; and at the same period it extended its influence eastwards through
Java and the rest o f the archipelago, continuing a rapid expansion up to the
middle o f the sixteenth century.
The conversion to Islam o f much o f island South-East A sia was the last
phase o f Indianization which we can treat in the same terms as our discussion
o f the earlier establishment o f Hindu and Buddhist influence; for in the
sixteenth century the South-East Asian cultural scene was greatly com plicated
both by the coming o f the European empire-builders and by the great increase
in Chinese settlement. Indian influence, o f course, has continued up to the
present; but it has done so in com petition with the influences o f Europe and
China, to which, in recent years, have been added those o f A m erica and
Japan. The Islamic conversion in South-East A sia took place along lines very
similar to those which marked the com ing o f Buddhism and Hinduism in
earlier years. It was established by influence and example; not b y force; and
there is no South-East Asian parallel to the Islam ic Turkish invasions o fln d ia .
Once established on South-East Asian soil, Islam began to acquire peculiarly
South-East Asian features, the product o f its intermarriage with earlier cul­
tural strata, both Indianized and pre-Indian. Thus women in M alaysia,
Indonesia, and the Philippines have not, as they have in India and the M iddle
East, taken to veiling their faces in public. Thè first South-East Asian mosques
were not replicas o f Indo-Saracenic art: they were based on the forms o f exist-,
ing Buddhist and Hindu temple architecture; and the dome is a late, and rather
exotic, development in this region. M an y old pre-Islamic customs and cere­
monies survived. Islamic peasants continued to be entertained by stories from
the Rânmyâna. M uch o f M alay and Indonesian court ceremonial, marriage
customs, and the like can be traced without difficulty b ack to the days o f
Buddhist and Hindu dominance. Perhaps no bettêr sym bol o f the w ay in
which South-East A sia absorbed Islam can be found than in the ‘ M egalith ic’
menhir from Pengkalan Kem pas in the M alaysian State o f Negri Sembilan,
which has carved upon it in high relief in K u fic letters the M uslim name o f
God.
 Indian Influence in Ancient South-East Asia

The Indianization o f South-East A sia was a slow and gradual process. With
a few exceptions like the Chola attacks o f the eleventh century, it was carried
out by peaceful means; and in consequence, as it developed, it did not build
up a resistance to its further progress. Though its initial impact was probably
at the level o f the ruling classes, Indian influences had no difficulty in merging
with indigenous cultures to create a series o f distinct South-East Asian amal­
gams in which it is now virtually impossible to disentangle all the Indian from
the non-Indian. The result may not have simplified the task o f the cultural
historian; but it has without doubt guaranteed the Indian heritage a place in
South-East Asian civilization from which it cannot possibly be dislodged with­
out the totaj destruction o f that civilization.
A P P E N D I X B Y H. H. E. LOOFS

Possibly no other area in the world has recently experienced such an

astonishing development in archaeological research as South-East A sia. Once
a backwater in this respect, it has become in the past few years one o f the
centres o f attention o f world archaeology, as this area’s importance for the
understanding o f the early cultural history o f other parts o f Asia is slowly
being recognized.
These new developments can be put under three headings. First (because
most striking), those leading to the reappraisal o f the cultural level o f popula­
tions at the receiving end o f Indianization at the time when the latter began.
Here mention must be made in particular o f discoveries made in Thailand
which, although still somewhat controversial, point to the possibility that
South-East Asia, far from baying constantly been an area culturally less de­
veloped than its neighbours,- was on the contrary ofteu one from which
powerful cultural impulses radiated to both east and south Asia, npt to speak
o f the Pacific. It now seems that not only the cultivation o f plants but also the
developm ent of sophisticated (though not literate) metal-using civilizations
started here considerably earlier than hitherto thought; some even maintain
that they began earlier than in China and India. The notion o f a ‘ Neolithic
South-East A s ia ’ as the receiver o f influences from an India culturally vastly
'superior in all aspects has to be abandoned: it was rather as equals that the
two met. This would also explain the surprisingly rapid and willing acceptance
and assimilation o f Indian cultural elements, which is difficult to account for
if the gap between Indian and South-East Asian civilizations was a wide one.
Secondly, there are new theories about the reasons for the com ing o f Indian
influence to ancient South-East A sia and the way this influence spread. These
show a clear tendency away from a predominantly commercial or economic
interpretation o f the process o f Indianization (i.e. traders seen as the main
agents o f the spread o f Indian influence), let alone one based on the assump­
tion o f large-scale migrations, abandoned long ago. Emphasis is now put on
brahmans or missionaries, or even on the initiative o f South-East Asians
themselves, a development foreshadowed by Professor L am b ’s adoption o f
the term ‘ self-Indianization’ to describe one.possible mechanism o f the pro­
cess. The frequent use o f the words ‘ Sanskritization’ or ‘ brahm anization’ in
recent publications underlines this tendency. Archaeological evidence now
available also points to a slightly earlier date than that suggested by Professor
 Indiali Influence in Ancient South-East Asia 453
Lam b for the effective results o f this Sanskritization in some parts o f South­
East Asia, if not for its beginning.
One theory (published in 1969 by Eveline Porée-Maspero) even has it that
the Sanskritization o f Indo-China too k place far earlier than usually thought,
and also that it was the w ork not o f Indians coming b y sea, but" o f Man
peoples from southern C hina; South-East Asian seafarers then established the
first direct contact with India by maritime routes. In view o f the extremely
scholarly work on which this theory is based, it cannot be dismissed off-hand.
As regards the extension o f Sanskritization, which until recently was thought
not to have reached the eastern parts o f South-East Asia, it has now been
shown that even the Philippines got a fair share o f it, although it did not re­
sult there in the establishment o f Indian-inspired kingdoms as in the more
western and southern parts o f the region.
Thirdly, discoveries made during the last decade have added to our know­
ledge both o f the growth o f some Indianized kingdoms themselves, and o f the
role non- or pre-Indian indigenous cultural elements played in the develop­
ment o f these civilizations, leading to several quite drastic reappraisals. Thus
the formerly'rather nebulous concept o f ‘ the M egalithic ’ and the latter’s rela­
tion to art styles in South-East Asia, China, and the Pacific have been con­
siderably clarified by the last works o f Heine-Geldern, whose earlier theories
on the South-East Asian N eolithic are now, however, far less generally
accepted than they were ten years ago. A number o f other publications have
also helped to elucidate the matter, to which several international symposia
have been devoted in recent years.
With regard to the earliest phase o f development o f Indianized kingdoms in
South-East A sia, the m ost recent research— again mainly in Thailand— also
paints a different picture from that we are used to. Older archaeologists saw
Funan developing in the southernmost part o f the ludo-Chinese peninsula,
whence it extended its domination westwards over large parts o f what is now
Thailand, where the kingdom of D varavati emerged in the sixth century a . d .
as a result o f the breaking up o f Funan. N ow some archaeologists propose to
see in the Lower Menam basin itself the heartland o f Funan. From there,
Funanese civilization expanded on all sides, possibly even into Low er Burma,
where recent excavations have yielded objects astonishingly similar to those
found not only in central Thailand but even in O c-Eo, usually considered the
main site o f Funan and dated to the same time. D varavati would thus be the
successor state o f Funan, and would have expanded into northern Thailand.
T he related problem o f the origin and migration o f the T hai has also been
dealt with at length during the last decade, and various alternative theories to
that of their migration from Yunnan into northern Thailand just prior to the
thirteenth century have been put forw ard; however, no agreement has yet
been reached on this matter. The same is true for the question o f the origin of
the Sailendras, the date o f the Borobudur, etc., where much o f what has been
written recently has only added to the mystery surrounding these issues, which
looked so beautifully clear and simple only ten years ago.
The stages o f the development o f Thai art (in particular o f the Buddha
figure and o f religious architecture), on the other hand, with its alternating
urge to affirm its own identity and to copy Indian, Khm er, or Mon models,
C H A P T E R X X X II

Indian Influences on China

by J. L e R o y D a v id s o n

B u d d h is m was India’s contribution to China. M oreover, it was a contribution

that had such shocking and seminal effects on the religion, philosophy, and
arts o f the adoptive country that it penetrated the entire fabric o f Chinese
culture.
W e know that Buddhism had been brought to China by the year a .d . 69, for
it was then that the W hite Horse M onastery was founded in the city o f Loyang.
A n y contacts that might have been made earlier cannot have been influential.
D uring the first and second centuries, however, China was torn by numerous
rebellions and econom ic disasters and it was then, evidently, that the M iddle
Kingdom was ready to receive the unfamiliar religio-philosophical tenets o f
its neighbour to the west. China’s own traditions, supported for centuries by
Confucianism , had reached a state o f flux, having been weakened by one
com ponent o f the population masquerading as Confucianists and by another
openly favouring the totalitarian philosophy o f the Legalists. Philosophical
Taoism had degenerated to such a degree that it had become a vehicle for
practitioners o f alchemy and magic. Rationalist thought was prom ulgated
chiefly by W ang C h ’ung ( a .d . 27-c. 97), but scepticism such as his added an
even greater force to the disruption o f Han society. N either W ang C h ’ ung nor
any other individual could direct the future o f Chinese thought at a time when
traditions, ideals, and the social Structure were disintegrating sim ultaneously.
B ut Buddhism could— and did.
In times o f national security and well-being the introduction o f a foreign
religion such as Buddhism would have had little chance o f success in a country
as traditional and xenophobic as China. But conditions in the last centuries o f
the Han D ynasty were propitious for the Buddhist missionary, whether he
came directly from India or from Central A sia, where Buddhism had already
been firmly implanted.
Buddhism had many facets and consequently could appeal to different.seg­
ments o f Chinese society. Proselytizing monks, masters o f the expedient, had
no scruples in choosing tactics for their campaigns. In order to impress a
people with a long tradition o f reverence for the written word, w hat was m ost
essential, however, was a Buddhist literary canon and in due course this was
established. The earliest known text, The Sütra in Forty-two Sections (Ssii-
shih-erh-chang-ching), was composed in the first century. This sütra is a sim­
plified statement o f Hinayâna doctrine.
B y the end o f the third century great strides had been made both quanti­
tatively and qualitatively in translations o f Indian sûtras. This was accom ­
plished under the direction o f D harm araksha (260-313), a m onk, and him self
a distinguished translator. But it was K um ârajiva, a brilliant missionizing
456 Indian Influences on China

inonk from Central Asia, who, together with a large secretariat o f assistants,
produced numerous translations in excellent Chinese. By the beginning o f the
fifth century they had completed a corpus that was acceptable to a nation in
which the literati enjoyed both power and prestige. K um àrajîva’s heroic out­
put provided the proponents o f Buddhism with a literary arsenal.
The most basic doctrines o f Buddhism had to be taught to a people who
had never been exposed to such philosophical concepts as karma, samsara,
and nirvana. The dispossessed were attracted less to the ideal o f a vague,
distant, and incomprehensible nirvana than to the possible attainment o f im­
mediate rebirth in the delightful paradise o f the Buddha Am itâbha or
M aitreya. Cults focusing on the paradises o f different Buddhas developed
rapidly; they required no abstruse philosophical knowledge on the part o f the
believer. T h e way to salvation from the unpredictable W heel o f Life was easy,
merely requiring faith in the Buddha, a bodhisattva, or even a few words from
a sütra such as the Saddhannapundarika, the Sukhavati Vytiha, or any M ait­
reya sütra. In effect, this religion o f faith ultimately derived from the Indian
concept o f bhakti.
I f Buddhism attracted the masses because o f future rewards in heaven, or
even for more immediate advantages in this world, it also had an appeal on a
higher level to many o f the Chinese intelligentsia. Anarchical warfare had
divided their country into various contending kingdoms; they were dis­
illusioned and alienated. But they were fascinated by the elaborate meta­
physics and hair-splitting philosophy o f the Buddhist commentators.
Other segments o f the population were attracted by the extraordinary
powers o f those missionaries w ho demonstrated the potency o f their religion
through acts o f magic. A case in point is the career o f F o T ’u-teng, the subject
o f a study by Professor Arthur F. Wright. F o T ’ u-teng, a fourth-century re­
ligious, attached him self to a warlord named Shih Lo whom he had impressed
initially by the performance o r a simple magical trick. The missionary sub­
sequently rose to power because o f what was believed to be an ability to in­
duce rain, cure the sick, and, perhaps most o f all, to advise successfully in
matters o f warfare, a function inherently non-Buddhist.
The numbers o f Chinese won over to Buddhism increased alarm ingly dur­
ing the fifth century. M onks, nuns, clergy', and monasteries multiplied so
rapidly that, in the years 444 and 446, repressive measures were imposed on
them by the court. The charges levelled against the clergy were on moral and
political rather than religious grounds, not always without reason. Certainly
many had become monks in order to evade military conscription. Further­
more, laxities in the monasteries gave the government additional cause for
punitive measures.
Despite occasional setbacks, a good percentage o f the population was per­
suaded for one reason or another to espouse the new faith. Converts, temples,
and m onastic establishments continued to proliferate throughout the land. In
time, the concepts pervading Buddhist thought found tbeir w ay into Confuc-
ian philosophy. Occasional persecutions and attacks by the Confucian gentry
failed to halt the growing power o f the Buddhists. Indeed, when China, after
centuries o f fragmentation,.was unified under the Sui D ynasty (589-618), the
religion adopted from abroad became a stabilizing force within the empire.
 Indian Influences on China 457
The Sui ruler, in order to gain support from his numerous subjects, compared
himself to a chakravartin and, like a latter-day Asoka, noted that, after
having been victorious in many battles, h e .to o j promoted the ten Buddhist
virtues. R o yal and governmental support of Buddhism became, in fact, a
matter o f state policy under the Sui. Further, in 591 the last o f the Sui em­
perors, Y a n g Kuang, convened an assembly o f monks under the auspices o f
Chih-i, founder o f the T ’ien-t’ ai sect. There the Emperor himself took the
‘ bodhisattva vo w s’ o f a lay Buddhist.
During the early part o f the T ’ ang D ynasty (618-906) Buddhism com ­
manded considerable prestige in the royal court and was even manipulated
for political control. T h e usurping Empress W u (684-710) went to such
lengths as to have a .sütra written in which it was prophesied that the
future Buddha, M aitreya, would be reborn as a woman destined to rule
China. T o maintain that deceit the Empress occasionally dressed herself as a
bodhisattva.
The worldly success o f Buddhism, however, led to its eventual downfall.
Just as Buddhism had insinuated itself into China during a period o f anarchy,
it lost much o f its vitality and power during a similar period o f disruption that
occurred in the ninth century. The foreign religion was a convenient scape­
goat, and in 845 severe persecutions drastically reduced the influence o f ortho­
dox Buddhism. W hile it survived as a popular religion, Buddhism changed as
it fused with Taoism and incorporated beliefs and superstitions o f indigenous
cults. The concept of karma, however, was engraved permanently on Chinese
thought, as were the Indian visions o f the heavens and hells in the hereafter.
The creative impulse o f Buddhism was to come from the Ch’an or D hyân a
sect which, according to legend, had its roots in the sixth century. This emi­
nently unconventional form o f Buddhism has been characterized by D r.
Hu Shih as the Chinese ‘ rejection’ o f Buddhism. It should be noted, however,
that some aspects o f C h ’ an philosophy are closely akin toTantricism , another
ofTshoot o f traditional Buddhism, and one that was prevalent in India during
the ninth-céntury persecutions in China.
With the decline o f orthodpx Buddhism, Confucianism triumphed, bu t it
was a Confucianism so permeated with Buddhist thought that, as Professor
Arthur F. W right has said, it would have been incomprehensible to a Con-
fuciabist living in Han times. Even the definition o f li, a term that encompassed
the basic Confucian ideal o f an empirical natural order, was transformed to
mean the transcendental absolute, a principle o f the Mahâyânists. T h rou gh­
out the Sung D ynasty (960-1279) Neo-Confucianism remained dependent on
Buddhist philosophy. Even as late as the M ing D ynasty (1368-1644) the most
prominent N eo-Confucianist, W ang Yang-m ing (1472-1529), was criticized
by his opponents for being a crypto-Buddhist. Actually, his inspiration came
specifically from C h ’an Buddhism.
Under the M anchus, who established the C h’ing Dynasty (1644-1912),
Buddhism once again achieved royal approval. But this time Tibetan in­
fluence prevailed and Indian ideals were obfuscated by elaborate rituals.
Europe rather than A sia was to become the revitalizing force in China.
We have said that India’s contribution to China was Buddhism. T o this we
should also add trade, which followed the same long and difficult routes
458 Indian Influences on China

ploughed by the missionaries. As China expanded territorially under the

T ’ang, silks flowed westward in exchange fo r an abundance o f exotica trans­
ported eastward along those same routes. India sent incense, fruits, flowers,
and spices. M ore, it sent music, which had a vogue in the T ’ang capital,, and
information about discoveries in astronom y. It is even said that, during the
eighth century, three Indian families had a m onopoly as calculators for the
official calendar. A century later, Gautam a Siddhârtha, an Indian w ho was
director o f the R oyal Observatory under Emperor Hsiian Tsang (847-60),
tried to introduce the zero and table o f sine functions, but these Indian in­
ventions were not acceptable to the Chinese.
W hile m ost o f the influences from abroad were ephemeral, the effect o f
Indian art was m ore lasting. The acceptance o f Buddhism by the Chinese
created a profound change in the art o f China, not only because o f the nature
of the religion but also because o f the nature o f the art form s that had evolved
in India and Central Asia. The Chinese craftsman had to absorb a totally new
roster o f subjects and styles as well as a totally new religion.
Before the advent o f Buddhism, anthropom orphic sculptures in m onu­
mental scale were rare. There was no need for them in daily worship. T h e skill
o f the sculptor was employed mostly for the elaborate burial requirements
connected with ancestor worship. Large sculptures, usually in anim al form,
were designed specifically for ceremonial approaches, or spirit paths, to the
tombs. Within the tomb chambers didactic reliefs represented either historical
events or subjects relating to Taoist or Confucian traditions. There were also
enormous quantities o f tomb figurines, modest in scale, made to accom pany
the deceased in their future existence.
Probably the earliest example o f Buddhist art extant in China is a small
Buddha that was carved in relief on a lintel over the entrance o f a cave tomb
in Chiating, Szechwan, c. a .d . 200. T he Buddha is seated and has his right
hand raised in abhaya niudra, signifying ‘ have no fe a r’ . This figure, while
small and in relief, m ay be regarded as a model for countless numbers of
Buddhas 'that were to embody the religious and aesthetic attitudes o f later
centuries. Stylistically, however, it is alm ost a direct copy o f the type of
Buddha image prevalent in the Gandhâran region at the same time.
The concentric folds o f the heavy drapery on the Szechwan Buddha leave
no doubt as to the source. T he same is true o f the earliest dated Buddha, cast
in a .d . 338, about a century later. This figure, now in the Brundage Collection
(San Francisco), still maintains the Gandhâran tradition, but the Chinese
artist has left his imprint by slightly levelling the folds o f the drapery and
abstracting the facial features o f the Buddha. These tw o objects are particu­
larly important because they are the chance survivors o f w hat must have been
a prodigious output during the initial impact o f Indian iconography. Records
tell o f many hiige and magical images, some o f which, it was believed, had
been transported miraculously from India. Some were even said to have been
associated with ASokâ, which would have endowed them with an antiquity
even greater than any anthropom orphic im age o f the Buddha in India. The
extraordinary prestige o f such icons persisted for centuries. For example, a
temple possessing a sculpture that had been found in the sixth, century and
subsequently installed in that building, was visited by the great T ’ang Em­
peror, T ’ai Tsung, who was so impressed by the history o f the im age that he
provided fo r the adornment o f the shrine. W e have another echo o f the pres­
tige o f Indian icons in fragments o f a painting (found at Tun-huang and now
in London and N ew Delhi) in which some Chinese devotee m ade careful
renderings o f various sculptures o f Buddhas and bodhisattvas. W hile all o f
his models were apparently Indian, one is actually identifiable as an U dayana
Buddha, a type o f image mentioned in m any reports as having come miracu­
lously to China.
The art o f India was m ore than a reservoir o f images from which copies
could be made. It was an inspiration. By the third quarter o f the fifth century,
Chinese sculptors at Y u n K an g were transforming the Indian idiom (already
adapted in Central Asia) into a purely Chinese statement. Planimetrie and
linear stylizations o f drapery and archaic m odelling produced a Buddha image
that reflected the most profound teachings o f the Enlightened One. These
icons are recognized as being human and iconographically identifiable as
deities. But the stylistic abstraction removes them from the immediacy o f
humanness while the simple purity o f the line emphasizes the concepts they
embody.
W e have already noted that as Buddhism was adapted to China during the
sixth century, pragmatic Chinese attitudes led to the dominance o f the
Paradise cults or Pure Land sects. W e can infer from many inscriptions that
the g o a l.o f an after life in a paradise, i f not the ultimate one, became an
acceptable substitute for an abstract, indefinable nirvana. T his compromise,
probably a subconscious one, was reflected in the iconography and style o f
Buddhist sculpture. Avalokiteévara, known in China as K u an Y in , became the
m ost popular Bodhisattva. A t this time the quintessential linearity o f Chinese
art was evolving toward three-dimensional naturalism. Sculptors were m odel­
ling the human figure with greater subtlety and drapery with.moré freedom ;
painters were reaching beyond the picture plane into deeper space. The move
toward naturalism seems to have been in response to the materialism inherent
in the Paradise cults. It seems obvious that the Chinese devotee, his goals
focused on the Sukhavati Paradise o f Am itàbha, wanted to find in his icons
the richness he could visualize through the magnificent imagery o f the sûtras
describing the Land o f Bliss.
In the seventh century, when Buddhism was virtually the state religion,
Indian art had its last great impact on China. Earlier, while thé Chinese
Buddhist was in the throes o f conversion, a peak o f idealism and passionate
orthodoxy, his art failed to register any interest in emulating the sensuousness
so characteristic o f the full-bodied images from India. But around the year
700, when the arts burgeoned under the w orldly T ’ang rulers, Chinese sculp­
ture became thoroughly imbued w ith the warm, human, and sensuous quality
o f Gupta and post-Gupta Indian forms.
M ajor persecutions o f Buddhism in 845 greatly weakened the religion,
which, however, continued to be a creative force Under the C h ’ an (Zen)'sect.
Chinese painting was the major vehicle for C h ’ an art and India ceased to be a
significant influence on the culture o f China. Y e t the tenacity o f Buddhism,
despite hostility and change, has been demonstrated even in recent years and
by none other, surprisingly, than the People’ s Republic o f China. In 1959
C H A PT E R X X X III

India and the Medieval Islamic World

by S. A . A . R i z v i

B y the eleventh century the ‘Abbâsid Caliphate o f Baghdad had started to

disintegrate, and t h e 'ulama’ and ministers in the service o f the Iranian Saljüq
D ynasty (1038-1 r57) had come to regard the sultanate as an institutlon'apart
from the caliphate, and the sultans as the ‘ shadows o f G od upon earth’ .
M any sultans who had acquired their own independent kingdoms nevertheless
found recognition by the K halifa a valuable asset in dealing with pressure
groups and internal rebellions.
Am ongst these was Iltutmish, who celebrated in splendid style the arrival o f
the envoys sent to Delhi by Caliph Mustansir B ’illàh to invest him, and who
went to the extent o f having the Caliph’s name inscribed in the local Devanâ-
gari script on his billon currency. Even after Hulâgü’s conquest o f Baghdad in
1258 the last caliph’s name, or his titles, continued to be inscribed on Indian
coins until 1296, when R uknu’d-DIn Ibrahim and then ‘A tâ ’u’d-Dîn replaced
it by general titles such as ‘ The Right Hand o f the Caliphate’ . Am ir Khusrau
in his time made no distinction between the caliph and the sultan, and
Qutbu’ d-Dîn M ubârak Shâh (1316-20) proclaimed himself Khalifa on his
coins. In fact, from the fourteenth century on, ‘ caliph’ and ‘ sultan’ were inter­
changeable designations.
When Muhammad bin Tughluq found him self unable to crush incessant
rebellions, and wished to justify his rule as legitimate, he sought and eventu­
ally found in Egypt an alleged successor to the ‘Abbâsid caliph, whom he
recognized as his overlord and in whose name he commenced striking coins in
1340. F our years later he received form al investiture, but, in sp ite-of the
dramatic expressions o f humility he uttered to the caliph’ s envoy, and the
celebrations to mark the occasion, he did not manage to stave off disaster.
However, a precedent had been established, and when FlrOz received his in­
vestiture it was with genuine respect for the caliph.
O f m ore real concern to the Delhi sultans were their efforts to establish
peaceful relations with the M ongols, who -played havoc on the north-west
frontier o f the sultanate and tried their utmost to seize Delhi. In 1260 Balban
gave a magnificent reception to Hulâgü’s envoy, parading his forces in their
full splendour to impress the latter with his m ilitary power. Later the llkhânld
M ongol ruler, Ghâzân Mahmud (1295-1304), sent the celebrated scholar
Rashldu’ d-Din as an envoy to ‘A la ’u’ d-DIn KhaijI, mainly to gain his friend­
ship and submission, but incidentally to procure useful drugs. Rashldu’d-DIn
had gifts showered upon him and the revenue o f four villages allotted to him
in perpetuity, to be remitted through merchants. '
Such friendly overtures on the part o f the D^lhi sultans to the M ongols,
both heathen and Islamized, did not, however, stem the tide o f their invasions.
 462 inditi miti the M oiliera! Islamic Work!

The country remained vulnerable to the cataclysm o f Tim ur’ s invasion, which
prostrated Delhi for a long time afterwards.
In the sixteenth century T urkey and Iran began to emerge as great m on­
archies in the eastern Islamic world, the former being Sunni and the latter
Shi'i. The conversion.of the sultans o f Bïjâpur, Ahmadnagar, and G olconda
to ShJ'ism increased Irani influence in the Deccan. Diplom atic relations be­
tween Iran and the sultans'of the Deccan had commenced in the reign o f Shâh
Ismâ'il (1501-24), the founder o f the ShTi Safavi Dynasty, and the Mughal
designs upon the Deccan, swelling steadily from A kbar's reign, further
strengthened the friendship between them. Shâh ‘Abbâs II (1642-66) made
persistent efforts to dissuade Shâh Jahân from depriving the Deccan sultans
o f their independence; but Shâh Jahàn’s aggressive policy towards the sultans
o f Bïjâpur and G olconda was primarily designed to force them to give up
their special-relationship with Iran; and Qutb Sluth, the ruler o f G olconda,
was compelled to abandon his practice o f naming the Shâh o f Iran in the
khutbn (the exordium o f the Friday and ‘Id sermons in the mosque).
The belief that the last ‘Abbàsid caliph o f Egypt transferred his office to
Sultan Selïm I (1512-20) o f Turkey, who conquered Egypt in 1517, is a late
eighteenth-century fiction, exaggerated for political purposes by twentieth-
century Indian advocates o f Pan-Islamism. What Sultan Sellm-in fact prided
himself on was that his conquests had given him control o f M ecca and
Medina, and that the Sherif o f M ecca was obliged to admit'his suzerainty.
This must have strengthened Shër Shâh in his resolve to annihilate Iran and
to establish diplom atic relations with Turkey, with the specific purpose of
‘ knitting the bonds o f religious brotherhood’ and obtaining.from the sultan
the, guardianship o f either M ecca or Medina.
A k b ar’s relations with the contem porary Islamic world were ruled by a new
political realism. N o longer was the main aim to strengthen the bonds between
the M ughals and other powers o f thesam e religious and sectarian persuasion;
it was to achieve a balance o f pow er between countries.such as Shi’I Iran,
Sunni Transoxiana, and Turkey, which m ight not only have different religious
beliefs, but also be suspicious o f A k b ar’s political motives.
D irect confrontation with Transoxiana was narrowly avoided. When its
ruler, ‘Abdullah Khan Uzbeg, acquired Farghâna in the east and.Balkh and
Badakhshân in the south, the form er ruling princes and chiefs o f these re­
gions took refuge in India under A k b ar's protection. In order to save Kabul,
hitherto independent, from ‘A bdullâh K han Uzbeg, Akbar annexed it to the
M ughal Empire in 1585, upon the death o f its ruler, his cousin M irza Hakim.
‘A b d yllâh K hân Üzbég, his ambitions thwarted in this area, then turned his
attention to Khurâsân. Backed by Turkey, which shared his aggressive de­
signs on Iran, he endeavoured to extinguish the Shi‘I dynasty o f Iran, thus
arousing sectariah hatred, with each side condemning the other as heretics.
Qandahàr, cut o ff from the Iranian Government by the U zbeg conquest o f
Herat, was now itself ih danger. A k b ar faced this crisis with, decision and him­
self seized.Qandahàr ih 1590, and soon afterwards Sind and Baluchistan. He
had already annexed .Kashm ir (in 1586) to prevent the K hân turning his
attention in that direction, and to.strengthen his own frontiers. It was not until
Transoxiana was weakened by civil strife following the death o f .‘Abdullah
 India and the Medieval Islamic World 463
K han Uzbeg in 1598 that A kbar felt free to return to Âgrâ from the Panjâb,
where he had remained since 1585, except for occasional tours to Kashm ir and
Kabul.
But throughout this period A k b ar had kept up diplomatic correspondence
with ‘Abdullah K b àn U zbeg, trying to dissuade him from aggrandizement at
the expense o f Iran, and pointing out that even if the Iranian D ynasty were
Shl'i, they were still descendants o f the Prophet Muhammad. A t one stage he
even went to the length o f suggesting to the K h ân that the Indian and T urani
armies might combine to save Iran from Tu rkey; an im practicable scheme,
but serving to remind ‘Abdullâh K hân U zbeg that were he to favour Turkey
too much, A k b ar could retaliate by supporting Iran. In order to wield some
influence in Turkish-occupied M ecca and Medina, where the im age o f the
Mughal Government needed better presentation, A kb ar showered upon the
Sherlf and the religious and other élite o f these tw o centres a regular supply o f
money and gifts.
Jahangir at first followed lus father’s foreign policy where Iran was con­
cerned, his respect for Shâh ‘A bbâs increasing until he retook Qandahàr.
Jahangir thereupon began to consider an alliance with the Uzbegs and the
Ottomans against Iran, one o f fellow Sunnis against Shi'is; but this did not
eventuate. Shâh Jahân in his turn made a bid for a Turkish alliance in 1638,
.when M uràd IV was preparing to reconquer Baghdâd from Iran, but M urâd
captured Baghdâd without his help and the proposal lapsed. Shâh Jahàn then
invaded Balkh and Badakhshàn, inviting mutual suspicion between the
Ottomans and the M ughals and precluding any thought o f a Sunni alliance
against the hated S h fis. Nevertheless the diplom atic contact, once made, con ­
tinued more or less uninterruptedly throughout Shâh Jahân’s reign.
When Aurangzeb succeeded, Balkh and Bukhara prom ptly sent envoys to
welcome his accession, but the Sherif o f M ecca and the Turkish governors o f
Yemen and Basra waited seven years before recognizing him, while the
Ottomans sent no envoy at all until 1690, when they needed his help as a result
o f their defeat at Vienna in 1683, and loss o f Hungary in 1686. T h ey did not
know that he was now having great difficulty in keeping his own empire in­
tact.
Long before that, in February 1661, a Persian envoy had arrived in D elhi,
to be given a royal welcome. But it seems that his report o f the circumstances
o f Aurangzeb’s accession, together with an exaggerated account o f rebellions
by the zamîndârs, convinced Shâh ‘A bbâs II that India retained only the
shadow o f its past glory. N o doubt he was already disgusted by the behaviour
o f Aurangzeb as related by envoys from Shâh Jahàn and D âra Shukôh. A t all
events, although in 1663 he graciously received the return embassy led by
Tarbiyat K han, G overnor o f Multan, he did not forbear from condemning
Aurangzeb for the unscrupulous manner in which he had ascended the throne,
and for his presumption in taking the title o f ‘AJanjgTr (‘ W orld C on qu eror’).
On his return, Tarbiyat Khân was temporarily disgraced by Aurangzeb for
not having w on over the Shâh, and relations.between Iran and the M ughals
deteriorated; but the mutual military build-up on the borders was an idle
threat in both cases, fo r neither power was strong enough to attack the otherr
Beset by domestic problems, India was diplom atically isolated under
 464 India and the Medieval Islamic World

Aurangzeb, although the fugitive Prince A kbar tried in the 1680s to persuade
the Shâh to help him overthrow his father.
The position was different where trade and cultural relations were con­
cerned. The fact that the Arabs dominated seaborne trade before the discovery
o f the Cape route and the com ing o f the Portuguese meant that Indian
Muslims were easily able to develop commercial links with the Muslim world
at large, and at the same time maintain their cultural contacts. Thus, when
diplomatic relations with other Muslim countries failed, trade, commerce,
visits by scholars, and the exchange o f ideas made for a certain unity.
The M alabâr coast was a key area in the pattern o f trade at this time, with
such ports as Calicut the entrepôt for trade between Pegu and M alacca in the
cast and the Persian G u lf and Red Sea in the west. Although not itself under
Muslim rule, as the centre o f this medieval commercial activity M alabar was
the point from which the message o f Islam radiated peacefully to the Far East
and other non-Islamic regions.
From the Red Sea and the Persian G u lf there were two overland trade-
rou tes to Europe, one through Egypt and the other through Syria. T he contact
made through the Egyptian route in particular is responsible for India’s
figuring so prominently in fourteenth-century Arabic books on geography,
travel, and adventure, although there are also numerous accounts o f India
dating from the ninth and tenth centuries. Sbihâbu’d-DIn al-‘ Umari of
Damascus (1297-1348), for instance, based the account o f India In bis en­
cyclopedic Masâlik al-Absâr f i Mamâlik al-Amsâr mainly on information
supplied by merchants. But, even though his information on the political,
religious, social, and economic life o fln d ia was obtained at second hand, it
has been largely corroborated by the Indian political histories o f the period
and by the monumental Refila o f the M oorish traveller Ibn Battuta (1304-77).
There was also an overland trade-route, with Ghazni and Multân as entre­
pôts, from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. The importance of G hazni de­
clined in the thirteenth century, but the M ultan route continued to be used. In
the sixteenth century the route through Lahore and K abul became more
popular.
D uring the twelfth and thirteenth centuries many merchants, süfîs, and
scholars came to M ultân and U ch through the Khurram, TochI, and Gomal
passes. These areas were as heayily studded with flourishing centres o f süfism
as with trade centres. By this time a close connection had developed between
the Muslim craft and trade guilds and the s ü fî saints; in fact many eminent
süfîs had originally been merchants or artisans. Some Chishtï süfîs o fln d ia
had close links o f this kind, and depended for their subsistence 011 cash
gifts from merchants rather than on permanent revenue grants fromi official
sources, which would have made them dependent upon fluctuating political
power.
The Muslim merchants o fln d ia often maintained cordial relations o f their
own with the outside world. F or example when the M ongol chief Tayir
attacked Lahore in 1241, the Lahore merchant community, who constantly
travelled to Khurasan and Turkistàn, took no part in defending Lahore or
resisting the Mongols, from whom they had passes to travel in the countries
under M ongol control. N or did the Indian rulers interfere with the merchants,
 India and lite Medieval Islamic World 465
who were valuable as intermediaries between themselves and the Mongol
rulers, and who invariably remained neutral in any political struggle.
B y the reign o f Muhammad bin Tughluq there were also Iranian merchants
in India. Khurâsànî merchants owned great mansions in D elhi, and were en­
gaged in exporting slaves, gold, silver, paper, and book's to Khurasan, and
also elephants to the Iranian courts.
Slaves were imported too, from Egypt, Aden, and Turkistan; and horses
were bought from Turkistan, Iraq, and Bahrain, the horse trade being mono­
polized by the Afghans from the fifteenth century onwards. It is well known
that luxury goods were imported for the Court at Delhi; but there was also,
from the sixteenth century, an extensive export trade in silk and linen from
Bengal and Cam bay to Iran, Tartary, Syria, Africa, Arabia, and Ethiopia.
Indian herbs, too, were in great demand at the Iranian Court, and their in­
fluence on medicine is reflected in contemporary medical works.
A n important factor in the trade o f the medieval Muslim world was the
role o f Hindu merchants, bankers, and money-lenders. Documents from the
thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries are lacking, but there is no reason to
believe that the situation then was radically different from that prevailing in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, for which there is ample evidence.
The Arabic Fatâwa literature and trade documents o f the period do not
distinguish between Hindus and Jains, and the appellation Baniyân al-Kuffâr
('H eretic M erchants’) was given to Indian merchants living on the south
Arabian coast irrespective o f which community they belonged to. Their clerks
were called karrârtis, a term which was thus in use long before it became
popular because o f its usage by the East India Com pany. The baniyâns mainly
handled the cloth trade and money-iending. T he best-recorded aspects, o f their
life amongst a predominantly Muslim population are the accounts o f their
disputes with Muslims over such matters as non-payment o f loans by Muslim
debtors or the conditions o f employment o f Muslim menials such as sweepers.
In the latter case, where employees gave religious reasons as grounds for in­
subordination, it was ruled that such service should not be regarded as de­
grading the status o f a Muslim (Bwnah li’ l-Muslimin), and Hindu employers,
like Hindu creditors, were protected by the government in return for the
taxes they paid.
Pietro della Valle and Thom as Herbert found Hindu merchants in both
Isfahan and Bandar ‘A bbâs when they visited Iran in the reign o f Shah
‘A bbâs I (1581-1629); and another traveller, Chardin, noted that they.charged
exorbitant rates o f interest, remitting their profits to India in the form o f
precious metal, and exerting a decisive influence on the money market. The
Shâh generally favoured them in disputes. Another visitor, giving their num­
ber as 12,000, describes them as mostly good-natured and friendly, occasion­
ally short-tempered, vegetarian, and p f poor physique. They were closely in
touch with the M ughal Court and were authorized to make advances to
M ughal envoys and Iranian scholar's invited to visit India, their Delhi agents
being reimbursed for these by the Mughal administration.
A gTeat number o f outstanding poets, scholars, süfîs, and theologians emi­
grated to India from the twelfth’century on, but the number o f Indian Muslim
scholars who made their mark in the medieval Islamic world at large was also
466 India and the Medieval Islamic World

by no means small, and many Indian ideas had a significant impact on con­
temporary thinking outside India. For example, M aulâna R azlu’d-Dïn
Hasan Sàghànl, born and educated in Badàün (about 170 miles east o f Delhi),
wrote a celebrated work on the traditions o f the Prophet Muhammad entitled
Mashâriqu’ l Anwâr. This text was copied, read, and studied throughout the
Islamic world.
There was the legendary figure, Ratan al-Hindi or Babà Ratan, said to have
been converted to Islam by the Prophet himself. This legend was obviously
concocted to prove the cosmopolitanism o f Islam. Together with other un-
authentic traditions, it was criticized by Sâghâni in the Mashâriqu’ l Ànwâr.
The gullible pious paid little attention to such critical scholars, however, and
popular Islamic literature continued to draw upon unauthentic traditions.
Those concerning Babà Ratan were defended even by the celebrated .Irani
sufi and scholar, Shaikh ‘A là ’u’d-Daula Simnànî (1261-1336)'; and another
Irani sü fi scholar, M ir Saiyid ‘A ll Hamadânl (1314-85), and his disciples pro­
pagated Islamic orthodoxy in Kashm ir, popularizing traditions relating to
Babà Ratan through their writings.
Another Indian scholar who left an indelible mark on the world o f A rabic
learning was Shaikh ‘A li M uttaqi (1480-1567), who completed his higher
education in Mecca. A prolific writer, his main contribution to learning was
his edition o f the Hadis entitled Kanzu'l ‘ Umma!, in which he rearranged more
systematically the traditions given in A b u ’l Faz! ‘Abdu’r Rahm an Suyütl’s
(1445-1505) monumental edition.
The recognition accorded to Shaikh ‘A ll M uttaqi by leading A rabic scholars
enhanced the reputation o f Indian scholarship as a whole, and many Indian
scholars, such as Shaikh ‘A ll’s disciple Shaikh ‘Abdu’l Wahhâb M uttaqi,
settled in M ecca as teachers and preachers and became celebrated for their
encyclopedic knowledge o f all branches o f Islamic theology.
These Indian teachers in M ecca and Medina attracted other Indian scholars
who wished to specialize in Hadis. Although pilgrims from many other places
settled there, Indians in the seventeenth century enjoyed a special status,
thanks to the temporary or permanent residence o f Indian süfîs. The disciples
o f one eminent 'âlim and sufi, Shaikh W ajlhu’d-Dln Gujarati (died 1589/90),
propagated the teaching o f the Shattârï order in Mecca and Medina, whence
it spread to other parts o f the Islamic world, in particular to the M alay
archipelago.
The spread o f knowledge about Indian Islam to Acheh and Fansur in north
Sumatra would seem to have been the work o f merchants. A b u ’l F azl’s Ain-i-
Akbari shows that Fansur camphor, for instance, was greatly in demand at
Akbar’s Court, and it is not unlikely therefore that merchants from Acheh
and Fansur visited Delhi and Àgrâ, and returned home via the western Indian
ports and Mecca, where they acquired information about Indian süfîs.
The main link in the spread o f the Shattàrî order to the M alay archipelago
was Safl-u’d-Dln Ahm ad, known as QushàshI, who had been initiated into the
Shattàrî order before he left India to conduct schools in M ecca and Medina.
He was fortunate to have among his disciples ‘A bdu’r R a ü f o f Singkel. This
famous scholar, w ho is said to have been bom in Acheh in 1615, left for
M ecca in 1643. There he studied under QushàshI for nineteen years before
 ìndia and the Medieval Islamic World 467
returning to Acheh, writing important sufi works in both A ra b ic and M alay.
Some o f the Indian süfîs who visited Mecca would appear to have been so
impressed with what they heard there o f Acheh, then known as the ‘ Forecourt
o f the H oly L an d ’, that they wished to visit the Court o f the Acheh rulers
themselves. One such was N üru’d-Din al-Rànîrî o f Rander, G ujarat, who
visited M ecca in 1620. In 1637 he went to Acheh and did not return home until
1644, dying in 1658. He wrote several works in A rabic and M alay, the most
significant being his süfic work, Asràr-al-Insân {Secrets o f Human Beings), and
his Bùstàn al Salatili {Garden o f Kings), a history o f the kings o f A cheh on the
lines o f those o f the regional sultans o f India.
In the seventeenth century the Naqshbandî order became a channel through
which sufi works, and Indian ones in particular, were popularized throughout
the Arabic- and Turkish-speaking world. A prominent member o f this order
was Shaikh T âju’d-Dïn. After the death in 1603 o f his preceptor, K hw âja
Bâql Bi’ llâh, he tried in vain to gain supremacy over Shaikh Ahm ad Sarhindi
in spiritual matters; he then left for Mecca. He translated from Persian into
Arabic K â sh iffs Rashahât ‘Ain ul-Hayât {Distillations o f the Spring o f Life), a
leading work on N aqshbandî history and doctrines, and wrote in A rabic him­
self on the N aqshbandî order. M any o f the important disciples he initiated
came from Java and Sumatra, where they in turn spread Naqshbandî influence.
T âju’d-Dîn is much quoted, for instance, in the A rabic treatises o f Shaikh
Y ü su f o f M acassar (Borneo). Shaikh Yüsuf, who flourished in the second half
o f the seventeenth century, was à very influential figure at the Court o f Sultan
H ajjl (1682-7) o f Bantam, the last o f the independent sultans in this region.
In 1656-7 Shaikh Ahm ad Sarhindi’s sons, K hw âja Muham m ad Sa'Id and
Khw âja Muhammad M a'süm , went to Mecca. Their two-year visit seems to
have increased the involvement there in the controversy then raging in India
between the supporters and opponents o f Waltdatu'l Wujüd, and consequently
led to its being reflected in the works o f Sumatran scholars. Tow ards the end
o f the seventeenth or early in the eighteenth century, compilations o f the
letters o f Shaikh Ahm ad Sarhindi and Shaikh Muhammad M a'süm were
translated into Turkish, and the existence o f many copies, both manuscript
and printed,’ in the libraries o f Turkey indicates that the subject was o f con­
siderable interest in that country too. In response to the inquiries o f a Turkish
correspondent, Shâh W alï-A llâh (1703-62) wrote a treatise suggesting.a com­
promise between the tw o opposing views.
A rabic translation o f Sanskrit works had been going on since the end o f the
eighth century, when philosophical, astronomical, and mathematical texts
were translated for the ‘Abbàsid Court, leading to the development o f the
decimal system and the numerals now adopted throughout most o f the world.
The works o f scholars such as Shahrastânî (1076-1153), the author o f Kitàb al
M ilal wa't Nahl, a treatise in A rabic on various religions and sects, show the
influence o f Gardezi’ s Zainu'l Akhbâr, written in about 1041, and o f AI-
bïrünî’s A rabic translations o f several Sanskrit works and his own contribu­
tion to the knowledge o fln d ia , Kitâb f i Tahqiq mâ L i'I Hind.
The depth o f the impact made by theistic Upanishadic concepts such as
Brahmâsmi (I am Brahma) or Tat ivam asi (Thou art that) is illustrated in
such utterances by BàyazTd Bistâml (died 874) as ‘ G lory be to me. H ow Great
468 Indio and the Medieval Islamic World

is M y M ajesty!’, and in his-assertion that he had finally shed his ego infanà
(passing away) as a snake sheds its skin ; and also in the celebrated declaration
o f the great süfi martyr Hallàj (executed in 922) : Ana'l Hag (1 am Truth). It is
not known whether Bàyazîd had any contact with Indians (the story o f his
learning the doctrine o f fana from a Sindi teacher is a myth), but Hallàj was
definitely in personal contact with Buddhist scholars. The Indian system o f
breath control, prânàyâma, became an integral and increasingly important
part o f sQfism in Iran and Ghazni as early as the tenth century.
Hujwiri (died after 1088) speaks o f the Hashwiyya and Mujassima (anthro-
pomorphist) sufi orders in Khurasan, whose ideas on Unification were in­
fluenced by brahmanicai concepts. Although they said they were Muslims,
they denied that the Prophets were specially privileged. Annihilation or fanà
does not involve among the süfîs the loss o f essence and destruction o f per­
sonality, but according to Hujwiri some süfîs did regard the soul in a brah­
manicai light. Tbe following verse by M aulânâ Jalàlu’d-D în Rüm ï (1207-73)
presents man in microcosmic terms similar to Brahmanicai terminology con­
cerning the transmigration o f the soul:
I died as m ineral and becam e a plant
I died as plant and rose to anim al
I died as anim al and I was a M an .
W h y should I fe a r? W hen was I less by d yin g?
Y e t once m ore I shall die as M an , to so ar
W ith angels blest; but even from angelhood
I m ust pass o n : all except G o d doth perish.
W hen I have sacrificed m y angcl-soul,
I shall becom e what n o jn in d e’er conceived.
O h, let m e n ot exist! for N on-existence
Proclaim s in organ tones: ‘ T o H im shall w e re tu rn !’

Another Islamic movement which gained a new dimension because o f the

teachings o f anlndian, in this case Saiyid Muhammad o f Jaunpur (1443-1505)
and his Indian disciples, was the M ahdawl movement based on the expecta­
tion o f the appearance o f a M ahdl or Islamic messiah. After-examining all the
traditions on the subject, Ibn K haldun sums it up ‘ It has been well knovvn. . .
by Muslims in every epoch, that at the end o f time a man from the fam ily [of
the Prophet] will without fail make his appearance, one who will strengthen
religion and make justice triumph. The Muslims will follow him, and he will
gain domination over the Muslim-realm. He will be called the M ahdl.’ This
belief has been responsible for the appearance in Islamic countries o f various
adventurers who sought political power by claiming to be the M ahdî, each
causing the traditions to be distorted or reinterpreted in such a way as to sup­
port his own claims. Saiyid Muhammad o f Jaunpur, according to.M ahdaw i
sources, declared himself M ahdl at Mecca in 1495-6, and again at Ahm adâbâd
in 1497-8. His significance lies in his reorientation o f the M ahdl traditions,
stressing that when these allude to the M ahdl ruling the whole world, they
refer not to political domination, but to spiritual domination through an
Islam restored by thé M ahdl to its pristine state. Hounded from Gujarat and
Sind b y the local ‘ ulama’ , who branded him a heretic and a danger to the state,
he started for Khuràsân but died on thé way; at Farâh in Afghanistan, where
 India and the Medieval Islamic IVorld 469
he seems to have made a deep impression. Some o f his disciples who remained
there tried to prove, by livés led in poverty and service to G o d and mankind,
that Mahdiism was the real Islam.
As far as the influence o fln d ia on Persian literature is concerned, the most
indelible m ark was left by A m ir Khusrau (1253-1325). Born at Patiâlï about
150 miles east o f Delhi, he was as popular at Court as he was at the Chishti
hospice o f Shaikh N izâm u’d-Din A uliyâ’ . Although his masnawis (long poems)
and panegyrics on sultans and nobles have historical importance, his most im­
portant contributions to literature are his ghazals, which are models o f sim­
plicity, harmony, inner coherence, and wealth o f feeling, and were recognized
as outstanding by the leading Irani poets.
Further lustre was added to Persian poetry by F aizl (1547-95), the poet
laureate o f A k b ar’s C ourt. Having absorbed all he could learn from A m ir
Khusrau and the Iranian poets, he strengthened the .Sabk i-Hindi (Indian
style) which was to dominate sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Persian
poetry. Later, under the Safavids, this style spread rapidly in Khurâsàn,
Turkistân, and Iraq, but in the second h alf o f the eighteenth century it was
strongly discouraged by official circles in Persia, and so it virtually disap­
peared.
The second outstanding contribution made by India in the realm o f
Persian literature was Insita or letter-writing. The pioneer in this field was
Shaikh A b u ’l Fazl, F aizi’s younger brother, who freed epistolography from
conventional rhetoric and theological idiom and developed a powerful style
o f his own to express broadly based humanitarian and philosophical grounds
for his opinions. In Iran the main reason for the popularity o f this style.was
its profuse use o f concepts borrowed from Ishrâql theosophy o f illumination
(p. 289). A b u ’l Fazl was successfully imitated by Chandrabhân Brahman
(c. 1600-60), a secretary at the Court o f Shâh Jahàn; M uslim scholars lost
their predominance in the aft o f epistolography as the merits o f Hindu writers
in Persian were given full recognition by scholars o f the contemporary
Persian-spéaking world.
C H A P T E R X X X IV

India and the Modern West

by F r ie d r ic h W il h e l m and H. G. R a w l in s o n *

D u r i n g the M iddle Ages there was little or no direct intercourse between

India and the West. Direct contact was established for the first time since the
fall o f the Roman Empire on the eventful day, 20 M ay 1498, when V asco da
Gam a sailed into the harbour o f Calicut. A poetical description o f his landing
is contained in Os Lusiadas by the Portuguese poet Camoëns (1525-80). The
English appeared on the field much later. T h e first Englishman (if we except
the rather mythical Sighelmus, sent in the reign o f Alfred on a pilgrimage to
the shrine o f St. Thom as at M ailàpur) to visit India was Father Thomas
Stevens, a Jesuit who went out to G o a in 1579. He W3S one o f the earliest
Europeans to take an interest in Oriental languages; he published a grammar
o f the K onkanl dialect, and in 1615 he wrote a remarkable poem, entitled the
Kristana Purâna, in Konkanl. This covers the whole Bible story from the
Creation to the Resurrection, and was intended to be used by Indian converts
in the place o f the Hindù Purânas, or popular poems about the gods. It con­
tains many beautiful passages, and from its wealth o f classical allusions and
the polish o f the style and metre it appears probable that Father Stevens knew
Sanskrit. F o r the M arathi language he has the highest admiration. ‘ Like a
jew el among pebbles, like a sapphire among jewels, is the excellence o f the
M arathi tongue. Like the jasmine am ong blossoms, the musk among per­
fumes, the peacock among birds, the Zodiac among the stars, is M arathi
among languages.’ Another distinguished visitor to G oa at the same time was
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, who was the guest o f the Archbishop o f G oa
from 1583 to 1589. His Itineratio, published in 1595-6, is one o f the earliest
and best European books o f its day on India, and was translated into English
and other languages. One o f the m ost interesting reports on India, that o f the
fifteenth-century Russian merchant Afanasiy Nikitin, entitled Khozheniye za
tri morya ( Voyage beyond Three Seas), 1466-72, has been neglected by his­
torians o fln d ia .1
In 1583 a party o f English merchants, armed with a letter from Queen
Elizabeth to the Emperor A kbar, set out to India by the overland route
through A sia M inor. They went to Tripolis in the Tyger, a fact which is
alluded to in Macbeth, when the witch says:
Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tyger.
From A leppo they followed the old caravan route to the Euphrates, and made
their way downstream to Basra. From here they went to Ormuz, where they
* T h e p a ra g ra p h s o n m u sic, p p . 4 8 5 -8 6 , a r c c o n trib u te d b y D r . N . J a ira z b h o y .
' Ed. Moscow, i960. On the Russian-Indian relations in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries a collection o f documents in two volumes was published in Moscow in 1958 and
iq 6s .
 India and the Modern West 47!

were arrested by the Portuguese and sent to Goa. Eventually, however, they
escaped and, after many adventures, three o f them, Ralph Fitch, John New-
bery, and William Leedes, reached the Imperial Court at À g râ in 1585, but
only the first-named returned alive to England. Fitch describes À g râ as ‘ a
very great city and populous, built with stone, having fair and large streets,
with a fair river running by it, which falleth into the gu lf o f Bengala. It hath a
fair castle and a strong, with a very fair ditch.’ In 1608 the East India Com ­
pany received permission from the Emperor Jahângîr to hire a house to serve
as a factory on the banks o f the Tâptl at Surat, and this was the cradle o f the
British Empire in India.
But the English came to India as merchants, not as antiquarians or ex­
plorers, and were little interested in the religion or culture o f the country. An
exception may be made in the case of the two chaplains, Lord and Ovington.
Henry Lord’s Display o f Two Forraigne Sects in the East Indies (1630) is the
first English account o f the Hindus and Pârsîs o f Surat, and Ovington's
Voyage to Surat in the Year 1689 also contains a number o f lively and interest­
ing observations. There was, however, a steady stream o f travel literature re­
lating to India in the seventeenth century, and upon one great poet the magic
o f the ‘ Silken E ast’ reacted powerfully. John Milton, sitting in blind solitude,
‘ by darkness and by dangers compassed round’, must have been deeply im­
pressed by the accounts o f the M ughal Empire given by travellers like Sir
Thomas Roe, and it is probable that he heard more than one o f them first­
hand. When we read how
H igh on a throne o f royal state, w hich far
O u tshon e the w ealth o f O rm uz or o f Ind,
O r where the gorgeous East with richest hand
S how ers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold
Satan exalted sat

our minds instinctively go back, as M ilton's must have gone back, to R oe’s
dramatic first interview with the Emperor Jahangir, when ‘ high on a gallery,
with a canopy over him and a carpet before him, sat in great barbarous state
the Great M ogul ’. References to India in M ilton’s epic are alm ost too numer­
ous to be quoted, but few can forget the wonderful description o f the fig-tree,
beneath the branches o f which A dam and Eve take refuge after eating the
forbidden fruit:
T h e y chose
T h e figtree, not that kin d for fruit renow ned,
B u t such as, at this day to Indians kn ow n ,
In M a la b a r or D eccan spreads her arm s,
B ran ch in g so broad and long, that in the ground
T h e bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
A b o u t th e m other tree, a pillared shade,
H ig h over-arched, with echoin g w alks betw een;
T h e re o ft the Indian herdsm an, shunning heat,
Shelters in co o l, and tends his pastu rin g herds
A t loop-h oles, cu t through thickest shade.*
1 F o r o th er refe re n c e s to th e In d ia n fig-tree in E n g lis h lite ra tu re s e e th e a r tic le o u 'B a n y a n
T r e e ’ in Y u le ’s Hobson-Jobson.
472 India and the Modern tVesl

The flying Fiend, winging his way through the air, suggests to him a fleet of
East Indiamen under fui! sail,
B y equinoclial winds
C lose sailing from Bengala, o r the isles
O f T ernate and Tidore, whence m erchants bring
T heir spicy drugs.

Asiatic proper names had a peculiar attraction for M ilton, and he uses them
with magnificent effect in the Vision o f Adam, where he beholds
the destined w alls
O f C am balu, seat o f Cathaian C an ,
A n d Sam archand b y O xus, T em ir’s throne,
T o T aqu in o f Sinaean kings, and thence,
T o A g r a and L a h o re o f G reat M o g u l. . .
M o m b a za and Q u iloa and M elind
A n d S ofala thought Ophir.

Nor, lastly, can we omit the beautiful and arresting little pen-picture of
T h e utm ost Indian isle, T ap roban e,
D u s k faces with white silken turbants wreathed.

T o seventeenth-century England, India was the land o f the Great M ogul,

whose C ourt was so dramatically, if fantastically, portrayed in D ryden’s
popular drama Aurengzebe in 1675. This impression was strengthened by the
narratives o f the two famous French travellers, T avem ier and Bernier, which
were translated into English in 1684, and give a vivid picture o f the M ughal
Empire. European travellers in India in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries usually- too k the Muhammadan point o f view about the Hindus.
They looked upon them as degraded and superstitious, and this attitude was
strengthened by the publication o f works by missionaries like the A bbé
D ubois,3 w ho saw only the darker side o f Hinduism. I f Europeans studied any
Oriental language, it was Persian. The poetry o f Persia has certain affinities
with classical.iiterature, and the.rendering o f the stanzas o f Sa'di or H âfiz into
English verse was an elegant"exercise almost as diverting as making versions
o f Horace;/ Curiously enough, it was through Persian sources that the West
first became/acquainted with the language.and literature o f the Hindus. In the
eighteenth century a few missionaries like Hanxleden had managed to gather
materials for-a. Sanskrit grammar, arid a Dutchm an named Abraham R.oger
had made;a translation o f the Hindu poet Bhartrihari, but these had excited
little attentioriì’-.Thé.S%x'òri: rnissionary Ziegenbalg became famous for his
Grammatica ^âm« 7iça;Çl7 j®.’ Voltairç’s praise o f the .lore o f the Ezotrr Vedam
created'soiné; interest, though ih.wris'proved afterwards to be founded on a
worthless forgery. Brit the great Emperor A kbar, and-after him that brilliant
fiut ill-fated.prince, Dàræ;Shukôh,.\yere-both keenly interested in Hinduism,
and ihe traveller Bernier brought home to France a manuscript translation
into Persian o f those ancient Sanskrit works, the Upanishads, made by order

3 Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies;i&iy. The Abbé wandered about south India
from 1792 to,1323/and had unique opportunities for observation, which he utilized to the
full. "- •=. ' '
 India and the Modern West 473
o f D arà. This fell into the hands o f another famous French traveller and
scholar, AnquetilD uperron, who in l'j'ji had discovered the A vesta, D u perron
translated it into a strange mixture o f Latin, Greek, and Persian in 1801, and
this caught the attention o f the German philosopher Schopenhauer.
M eanwhile, in British India, W arren Hastings was encouraging the study o f
Sanskrit for purely utilitarian reasons. He was engaged in drawing up a code
o f laws for the C om pany’s Hindu subjects, and for this purpose it was neces­
sary to obtain an accurate knowledge o f the ancient Sanskrit law-books. In
1785 Charles Wilkins published a translation o f the Bhagavad Gita, the first'
rendering o f a Sanskrit w ork into English, and a few years later Sir W illiam
Jones (1746-94), the real pioneer o f Sanskrit studies and the founder of.the
Asiatic Society o f Bengal, produced his famous version of the Code o f M anu,
the greatest o f the Hindu law-books. In 1789 a brâhman pandit told him o f the
existence o f the Sanskrit drama, and in that year he astonished the Western
world by a translation o f K alidasa’s famous masterpiece èakuntalâ. Scholars
now prosecuted the search for Sanskrit manuscripts with the avidity o f ex­
plorers seeking for Australian goldfields, and the study o f Sanskrit was put
upon a scientific footing by H. T. Colebrooke (1765-1837), the greatest o f all
the early Sanskrit scholars.
Here4 mention should be made o f what is probably the earliest European
novel about India, written from first-hand experience. This is Hartly House
Calcutta, the work o f an anonymous author, apparently a lady,"published in
London in 1789. Evidently the writer had had first-hand experience o f the
Calcutta o f Hastings’s day, and her w ork combines the characteristics o f a
novel and a travel book. Like many o f the novels o f the period it is in the form,
o f a series o f letters written by the heroine, Sophia Gotdborne, to.ajclose lady
friend in England. It is o f small literary merit, but a pirated edition appeared
in D ublin in the year o f publication and a German translation two years
later.s
The novel gives an interesting picture o f the luxurious life o f the Calcutta
nabobs, as seen by their ladies. Its most significant feature, from the historian’s
point o f view, is its very sympathetic attitude to Hinduism. Sophia, who ad­
mires their music and dancing, writes thus about ‘ the Gentoos ‘ : 6 ‘ T hey live...
the most inoffensively and happily o f all created beings— their Pythagorean
tenets teaching them, from_their earliest infancy, the lesson o f kindness and
benevolence’ . (Letter X II.) She meets a young brahman, a student o f ‘ the
Gentoo university at Benares’ , with whom she falls platonically in love. She
understands the broad principles o f the Hindu class system, w hich she
approves of, and she admires the brahmans who have 'countenances such as
G uido would have bestowed on a heavenly saint’ . She seems to have no ob­
jection to Hintju idolatry and she even admires the devoted self-sacrifice o f the
salt. She is half-inclined to believe the doctrine o f transmigration. She is
taught the principles o f Hinduism by her brâhman student, and in one letter
she even states that she has become a Hindu. ‘ Ashamed o f the manners o f
modern C hristian ity. . . I am become a convert to the Gentoo faith, and have
4 This and the following paragraph are inserted by the Editor.
5 A reprint, annotated by John Macfarlanc, was published by Thacker, Spink and Co.,
Calcutta, 1908. 4 i.e. the Hindus; from the Portuguese gentio, ‘ gentile’.
474 India and the Modern West

my Brarnin Jj/c] to instruct me per diem,' (Letter X X V I,) The convenient death
o f the brâhman (‘ O ! he was ail that heaven has ever condescended to make
human nature— and I will raise a pagoda to his memory in my heart, that shall
endure till that heart beats no m ore’) makes it possible for Sophia to marry
without misgivings the young East India Com pany officer who has been pay­
ing her court (‘ for much did he honour and prize my Bram in’) (Letter X X X II),
and return to England. The novel is a striking comment on the effects o f self-
confldent nineteenth-century imperialism and o f the rise o f the Evangelical
movement on the attitudes o f the British in India.
Sanskrit was introduced into Europe by a curious accident. One o f the
East India Com pany's servants, Alexander Hamilton, was detained in Paris
during the N apoleonic Wars. He spent his time in. cataloguing the Indian
manuscripts in the Bibliothèque N ationale and in teaching Sanskrit, and
am ong his pupils was the Germ an poet and philosopher Friedrich von
Schlegel. Schlegel, on his return to Germ any, published his work On the
Language and Wisdom o f die Indians (1808). This sudden discovery o f a vast
literature, which had remained unknown for so many centuries to the
Western world, was the most im portant event o f its kind since the rediscovery
o f the treasures o f classical Greek literature at the Renaissance, and luckily it
coincided with the German Rom antic revival. The Upanishads came to
Schopenhauer as a new Gnosis or revelation.
That incom parable b o o k [he says] stirs the spirit to the very depths o f the soul. From
every sentence deep, original, and sublim e thoughts arise, and the w h ole is pervaded
by a high and holy and earnest spirit. Indian air surrounds us, and original thoughts
o f kindred spirits. A n d oh, how th orou ghly is the mind here washed clean o f all
early engrafted Jewish superstitions! In the w h ole world there is n o stud y, except
ihat o f the originals, so beneficial and so elevatin g as that o f the Oupnekhat, It has
been the solace o f m y life, it w ill be the so lace o f m y death.7

Through Schopenhauer and von Hartmann, Sanskrit philosophy profoundly

affected German transcendentalism. K a n t’s great central doctrine, that things
o f experience are only phenomena o f the thing-in-itself, is essentially that of
the Upanishads. This may be a coincidence. However, K a n t was indeed deeply
concerned with Indian culture, and lectured on India on the basis o f the
knowledge available at that period. Thus his judgement o f the Hindus was
that ‘ They are gentle, that is why all nations are tolerated amongst them and
why they are easily subdued by the T a rta r s .. . . They are industrious and up­
right in their business and much more honest than the Chinese.’ Kalidasa’s
Meghadtila (The Cloud Messenger), that beautiful lyric in which the banished
yaksha sends a message by the monsoon-clouds, hurrying northwards, to his
wife in the distant Himalayas, has an accidental parallel in the passage in
Schiller’s Maria Stuart where the exiled queen calls on the clouds, as they fly
southwards, to greet the land o f her youth. The poem in honour o f Luke
Howard, the English meteorologist, written by Goethe in 1821 is, on the other
7 Welt als Witte und Vorstellung, 1st edn., p. xiii; Parerga, 3rd edn. i. 59, ii. 425-6.
Schopenhauer, curiously enough, preferred Duperron’s barbarous translation to later and
more readable versions. Paul Deussen spoke o f the Vedanta as ‘ the strongest support of
pure morality, the greatest consolation in the sufferings of life and death’. Elements o f
Metaphysics, p. 337.
 India and the Modern West 475
hand, full o f conscious allusions to the Meghadüta, which Goethe had read
and admired in W ilson’s translation (1813).
Sakuntalâ was translated into Germ an by Forster in 1791, and was w el­
comed by Herder and Goethe with the same enthusiasm that Schopenhauer
had shown for the Upanishads. Goethe’ s epigram on the drama is well known :
Willst Du die Blute des frühen, die Früchte des sp<ïteren Jahres,
YVillst D u was reizt und entzlickt, willst du w as sâttigt und ndhrt,
W illst D u den H im m el, die Erde, mit E inem N am cn begreifen;
N en n ’ ich Sak o n tala, D ich , u nd so ist A llé s gcsagt.
W ou ldst thou the y ou n g year’s blossom s and the fruits o f its decline,
A n d all by w hich the soul is charm ed, enraptured, feasted, fed,
W ou ldst thou the earth and H eaven itself in on e sole nam e com bine?
I n am e thee, O S ako n tala! and all at once is said.
The Prologue o f Faust, where the author, stage-manager, and Merry-
Andrew converse, is modelled on the prologue o f the Sanskrit drama, which
consists o f a dialogue between the stage-manager and one or two o f the actors,
including the Jester or F ool (vidüshaka). Goethe had at one time formed a plan
for adapting Sakuntalâ for the German stage. H e toyed with the idea o f
metempsychosis, and used to explain his attachment to Frau von Stein by the
hypothesis that they had been man and wife in a previous existence. G oethe’s
poems Der Gott und die Bayadere and the Pariah trilogy were based on
Indian legends which he had found in the Germ an translation o f Sonnerat’s
Voyages aux Indes. The first part of the trilogy contains the pariah’s prayer to
God Brahma. The second part tells o f the brâhman wife w ho has faithless
thoughts and is beheaded by her husband. H er son wishes to bring her back
to life, but joins her head to the body o f an executed woman. The new being
so made becomes the patron goddess o f all pariahs. The third part contains
‘ The Pariah’s Thanks’ :
M igh ty Brahm a, now I 'll bless thee!
’ T is from thee that w orlds p ro ceed!
A s m y ruler I confess thee,
F o r o f all thou takest heed.
A ll thy thousand ears thou keepest
O pen to each child o f earth;
W e ’m ongst m ortals su n k the deepest,
H a ve from thee received new birth.
B ea r in m ind, the w o m an ’s story,
W h o through grief, divine becam e;
N o w I’ ll w ait to v iew H is glory,
W h o om nipotence can claim . (Trans. A . B ow ring.)
A drama, The Pariah, was written by M ichael Beer (1800-33), a brother o f the
composer Meyerbeer. Actually it was a camouflaged advocacy o f Jewish em-.
ancipation, and Heine commented ironically that the Pariah is a ‘ disguised
Jew ’ .
Heinrich Heine (1795-1856)® attended the lectures o f August Wilhelm von
Schlegel (the first Germ an Professor o f Sanskrit, appointed in 1818) in Bonn,
and o f Franz Bopp in Berlin. In his prose writings Heine again and again
* I7. Wilhelm, ‘ Das Indicnbild Heinrich Heines’, Saecuhun, x /i Freiburg, 1959, pp. 208
 476 India and the Modern West

makes critical comments about the first achievements o f Western Indology,

and opposes biased interpretations o f Indian culture. In his poetry (Book o f
Songs, etc.) we find ironical references to Indian myths such as that about
Visvamitra who makes efforts to win the cow o f plenty. However, the romantic
approach is predominant:
On the wings of song, my dearest,
I will carry you off, and go
To where the Ganges is clearest,
There is a haven I know . . .
And lightly, trespassing slowly,
Come the placid, timid gazelles;
Far in the distance, the holy
River rises and swells.
O, that we two were by it!
Beneath a palm by the stream,
To drink in love and quiet,
And dream a peaceful dream.
Heine’s Lotus-blossom became known as a song set to music by Schumann:
The lotus-blossom cowers
Under the sun’s bright beams;
Her forehead drooping for hours,
She waits for the night among dreams.
The Moon, he is her lover,
He wakes her with his gaze;
To him alone she uncovers
The fair flower of her face.
She glows and grows more radiant,
And gazes mutely above;
Breathing and weeping and trembling
With love and the pain of love.
We remember the Indian poet Bhartrihari:
yârp cintayàmi satatarp mayi sa viraktâ
sàpy anyam icchati janarn sa jano ’nyasaktah.
when we read Heine’s poem:
A young man loves a maiden
Whose heart for another has yeamcd
This other loves another
By whom his love is returned . . .
(Translations o f Heine’s poems by L. Untermeyer.)
It is interesting to speculate to what extent Indian philosophy influenced
Coleridge, Carlyle, and the pioneers o f the English Rom antic movement
through the medium o f Germany. Shelley and W ordsworth looked to France
•rather than Germany for inspiration, but their pantheism seems full o f re­
miniscences o f Hindu thought. There is no evidence, however, that either of
these poets had any special interest in India, or had read much Indian liter­
ature in translation. We must attribute their mystical ideas chiefly to Neo­
 India and the Modern West 411
platonism, which itself may have been influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism.
Attempts to show that W illiam Blake’si poetry was directly influenced by India
are equally unconvincing and the theory that some o f the names o f his m ytho­
logical beings are Indian-inspired is equally so. His art, however, shows that
he had seen images or pictures o f the Hindu gods, and that he had read
Wilkins’s translation o f the Bltagavad Gitâ.
Hindu philosophy played an important part in the American Transcendent-
alist movement, which was a strange compound o f Plato and Swedenborg,
German idealism, Coleridge, Carlyle, and Wordsworth, Emerson, one o f the
leading spirits in the movement, though he was no Orientalist, had read
Sanskrit, Pàli, and Persian literature in translations. Ideas which he had im­
bibed in this way emerge from time to time in his essays, especially those on
the Oversoul and Circles, and in his poetry. Human personality presented it­
self to him as a passing phase o f universal Being. Born o f the Infinite, to the
Infinite it returns. Nowhere does Emerson’s Transcendentalism find more
complete expression than in his remarkable poem Brahma:
If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.
Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.
They reckon ill who leave me out;
W hen me they fly, I am the wings ;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
A n d I the hym n the Brahm in sings.

The Western response to Indian culture, which manifested itself in the ways
just mentioned among others, came to its first culmination at the end o f the
eighteenth and the beginning o f the nineteenth century.5 However, a great
number o f Western poets, essayists, novelists, and philosophers continued to
be indebted to the cultural heritage o f the south Asian subcontinent.
We must thank the great scholars of Indology for providing the Western
approach to India with a scientific foundation. Indology started with Sir
William Jones, who declared in his presidential address to the Asiatic Society
o f Bengal in 1786, that Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and probably the Celtic and
Teutonic languages, sprang from a common source, no longer existing; and
this led to the foundation o f the science o f Com parative Philology by Franz
Bopp in 1816. ‘ I fI were asked’, says M ax Millier, ‘ w hatI considered the most
important discovery o f the nineteenth century with respect to the ancient
history o f mankind, I should answer by the following short line: Sanskrit
Dyaus Pitar = Greek Zeus /7ar7jp = Latin Jnpiter = Old Norse T y r.’
A t first, scholars had been mainly confined to classical Sanskrit, though
Jones and Colebrooke had both seen some Vedas. Gradually, however, manu­
scripts were obtained, and in 1838 Rosen published the first edition o f some o f
9 S ee R . S c h w a b , La Renaissance orientale, P a ris, 1950.
473 India and the Modern West

the hymns o f the Rig Veda. Milestones in Indotogy were the Sanskrit dic­
tionaries o f Bôhtlingk (Petersburger Wôrterbuch) and Monier-Williams,
Aufrecht’s Catalogus Catalogorum, and editions o f famous Sanskrit texts.
Rosen’s w ork was carried on by Burnouf, Roth, and M ax Muller, and from
their patient researches sprang the study o f Comparative Religion, which has
had an effect upon modern thought only comparable to that o f Darwin's
Origin o f Species, M ax M üller said that the two great formative influences in
his life were the Rig Veda and the Critique o f Pure Reason. The publication, in
1875, o f the first o f the great series o f the Sacred Books o f the East, under the
editorship o f M ax Müller, made the Hindu scriptures available for the first
time to the ordinary reader; and here, perhaps, is the proper place to pay
homage to the great scholar who did so much not only to popularize Sans­
krit learning, but also to break down the barriers o f prejudice and misconcep­
tion between East and West. Sanskrit led to Ptili, and the study o f the Buddhist
scriptures revealed for the first time to the West thè life and teachings o f the
greatest o f all Indian religious reformers, Gautama Buddha. Pioneers in
Buddhist studies were Burnouf, Lassen, Rhys Davids, Stcherbatsky and
Trenckner. Standard works appeared on Indian history, literature, religion,
and linguistics. Scholars from nearly all Western countries took part in this
research, not only from England, France, and Germany (still the majority),
but from Poland and N orway, from Switzerland and Denm ark, etc. Western
research led to a new orientation in India itself, and collaboration between
Indian and Western scholars has always proved most fruitful since the days o f
Sir W illiam Jones and even long before, in the days o f the first travellers and
missionaries.
It would be out o f place here to make more than a passing reference to the
work o f archaeologists. Generations o f devoted scholars, including Horace
'Hayman Wilson, Alexander Cunningham, Sir John M arshall, and Sir
Mortim er Wheeler, have wrested from oblivion, brick by brick and stone by
stone, the long-buried secrets o f India’s glorious past. In 1834 James Prinsep,
by discovering the clue to the Kharoshthî alphabet from the bilingual
Bactrian coins, enabled scholars for the first time to read the early inscrip­
tions, the contents o f which had hitherto baffled interpretation, and so to re­
construct the pre-Muhammadan history o f the country. In the present century,
the excavation o f the remains o f the Indus civilization, carried out by British
and Indian archaeologists, has fundamentally altered our approach to south
Asian history. ■>
In addition to the scientific exploration o f Indian civilization, a great num­
ber o f popular books, such as Sir Edwin A rnold’s famous poem on the
Buddha, The Light o f Asia (1879), have increased our knowledge o f Indian
religion and philosophy. It is even more through the medium o f such books
than through the works o f specialists that Western, poets and thinkers have
become acquainted with India.
In France, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, and Alfred de V igny bear witness to
the fascination o fln d ia in the course o f tfye nineteenth century. One o f H ugo’s
poems is modelled on a passage from the Kena Upanishad.10 Exoticism and
10L . Renou, The Influence o f Indian Thought on French Literature, The Adyar Library,
 ìndia and the Modern West 479
symbolism were am ong the new literary movements in which Indian culture
evoked a response, in the form o f M allarm é’s Contes indiens or Pierre L o ti’s
picturesque travel book L ’Inde sans les anglais, for instance. In Poland, the
representatives o f M loda Polska (the Young Poland party) were inspired by
Indian religiosity, as is shown by K . Przerwa-Tetmajer's Hymn do Nirwany
(1894), for instance. N o t seldom, however, do we find references which show
little more than a taste for the exotic and exaggerated. One example amongst
many is found in Apollinaire’s La Chanson du M al-Aim é:
L ’époux ro y al de Sacontale
Las de vaincre se réjouit
Q u an d il la retrou va plus pâle
D ’attente et d’am our y eu x pâlis
Caressant sa gazelle m âle . . ,

The technical achievements o f the nineteenth century, exemplified in the

completion o f the Suez Canal, which ‘ welded together’ the world and brought
far India near, may have been the initial inspiration for the American W alt
W hitman’s enthusiastic poem Passage to India (18 7 1):"
P assage O soul to In d ia !
E claircise the m yth s A sia tic, the prim itive fables . . .
L o so u l, the retrospect brought forw ard,
T h e old, m ost p op u lou s, w ealthiest o f earth's lands,
T h e flow ing literatures, trem endous epics, religions, castes,
O ld o ccu lt B rah m a interm inably far back, the tender and ju n io r Buddha,
C entral and southern 'em pires and all their belongings, possessors,
T h e w ars o f T am erlan e, the reign o f A urun gzeb e,
T h e traders, rulers, explorers, M oslem s, V enetians, B yzan tiu m the
A ra b s, Portuguese,
T he first travelers fam o u s yet, M a rco P olo, B ato u ta the M o o r,
D o u b ts to be so lv ’d, the m ap incognita, blanks to be filled . . .

Y e t it is more than ‘ the retrospect brought forw ard’, it is the truly romantic
appeal which attracts him to India:
Passage indeed O soul to prim al th o u g h t. . .
T o rea so n ’ s early paradise,
B a c k , b a c k to w isdom ’s birth, to innocent intuitions,
A ga in w ith fa ir creation.

Am ong the exponents o f neo-Romanticism affected by India was Hermann

Hesse ((877-1962),IJ w ho was particularly attracted by Indian thought. The
conflict between spirituality and sensuality revealed in the poems o f Bhartri-
hari led him to regard the Indian poet as his ‘ ancestor and brother’ :
W ie du, V o rfa h r und B ruder, geh au ch ich
im Z ic k z a c k zw ischcn T rie b und G eist durchs L eben ,
H e u t W eiser, m orgen N a rr, heut inniglich
D e m G o tte , m orgen heiss dem F leisch ergeben . . . ”
" G. W. Allen and C. T . Davis, Wait Whitman's Poems, New Y o rk, 195s, pp. 233 S .,
Critical N ote, pp. 242 IT.
11F . Wilhelm, ‘ The G erm an Response to Indian Culture’, Journal o f the American
Oriental Society, Vol. 81, N o. 4 (1961), p. 402. !
 48o India and the Modern West

Y o ga and M âyâ are interwoven in Hesse’s Glasperlenspiel (1943) to which he

attaches an imaginary Indian curriculum vitae. In his Siddharlha the way to
redemption is based on the story o f the Buddha. It is because o f such adapta­
tions from Indian thought, as well as novels such as Steppenwolf, that Hesse
has posthumously become one o f the prophets o f the ' psychedelic generation
H ugo von Hofmannsthal also had an awareness o f India, and in one o f his
poems reflects on samsara:
Jede Seele, sic durchw andelt der G csch ôp fe Stufenleiter . .

He envisages mauifold rebirths:

. . . A b e r wissend seines W erdens, hat er werdend auch erschaffen :
H a t G estalten nachgebildet der durchlaufnen W esensleiter:
D e n V am p ir, den niedern Sklavcn , G au kler, T run ken bold und Streiter.15

A psychological approach tempered the romanticism o f Stefan Zw eig, whose

story Die Atigen des ewigen Bntders (The Eyes o f the Eternal Brother) was
written in 1922 some time after he had visited India. It tells o f an Indian
warrior who wins a great victory, but who kills his own brother, whose eyes
he sees again and again until he renounces the world. Ultim ately, however, he
must experience the fact that even inactivity is entangled with guilt. Thomas
M ann’s short story D ie vertauschten Kopje (The Transposed Heads, 1940),
which treats o f the interaction between body and mind in a sophisticated,
ironic way, also using a psychological approach, was suggested to him by a
story from the Vetâlapanchavimsati made known to him by the Indologist
Heinrich Zim m er.16
India also had its effect on the Danish writer K arl Gjellerup (1857-1919),
whose novel Pilgrimen Kamanita (The Pilgrim Kamanita), which won him the
N obel Prize, tells o f a pair o f lovers forcibly separated on earth and brought
together with the help o f the Buddha in the-paradise o f the west, both finally
attaining nirvana. In Den Fuldentes Hustru (The Perfect Wife), the Buddha’s
wife tries to make him abandon his renunciation, but is converted by him and
becomes the leader o f a religious order. Gjellerup’s Verdensvandrerne (The
Wanderers in the World) is based on the Indian conception o f rebirth.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) came in contact with Oriental literature at the
University o f K azan. Gradually his intellectual interest in Indian culture led
to a profound understanding o f Indian thought. He amalgamated Buddhist
and Hindu ideas with corresponding Christian conceptions. T olsto y’s prin­
ciple o f uon-violeuce, while applicable to Christian pacifism also, was mainly
modelled on Buddhist ahimsâ, and it was largely through T olstoy that this
principle became an effective part o f the life and work o f M ahâtm à G andhi.17
Tolstoy, as author o f the Letter to a Hindu, had a strong influence on Gandhi,
u ‘ Like you, forerunner and brother, I too go through life zigzagging between natural
ways and spirit, today a wise mau, tomorrow a fool, today intimate with God, tomorrow
intensely devoted to the flesh.’
>* ‘ Every soul passes along the step-ladder o f creation.’
15 ‘ But knowing o f his becoming, in becoming he has also created, has copied the forms
o f the [adder o f being which he has climbed : the vampire, the base slave, buffoon, drunkard,
and fighter.’
16 F. Wilhelm, ‘ Thomas Mann fiber seine indische Legende’, Euphorion Vol. 64, nos. 3-4,
t97°, PP- 399 0 - ” M ilan I. M arkovitch, Tolstoi et Gandhi, Paris, 1928.
 India and the Modern West 481
who regarded himself às à disciple o f the Russian writer. T olstoy congratul­
ated him on his successful struggle in South Africa, where he founded a
‘ Tolstoy F arm ’ which was to be a faithful copy o f an Indian âshram. A d ­
herence to the principles o f non-violence, service to mankind, and simplicity
o f life were as characteristic o f Tolstoy in his later phase as o f Gandhi, who
advocated that social and political progress should be based on moral and
religious principles.
It was also through T olsto y’s influence that a famous French writer gained
a deep understanding o f Indian thought. This was Rom ain Rolland (1866­
1944), called the ‘ L eo Tolstoy o f Fran ce’ by G orky, and the ‘ Conscience o f
E urope’ by Stefan Zweig. He wrote a monograph on Gandhi, and his Essai
sur la mystique et l'action de l ’Inde treats o f the Indian saint Ràmakrishna and
his student Vivekânanda, on both o f whom he wrote biographies. Rolland
fully appreciates the combination o f mystic insight and m oral policy in the
work o f these Indian teachers and emphasizes its universal appeal. His diary
(published as Inde in 1952) bears witness to his role o f mediator between India
and the West.
British rule in India resulted in the appearance o f a body o f Anglo-Indian
literature.'8 A m ong the m ost successful o f its writers was Rudyard Kipling
(1865-1936), whose verdict that ‘ East is East, and West is West, and never the
twaiu shall m eet’, out o f its context,19 has been as often taken for granted as it
has been disputed. His Indian novels and short stories, such as the Jungle
Books (1894 and 1895) and Kim (1901), both o f which were later made into
films, are adventurous blends o f elements from the Indian scene. Very different
was E. M. Forster’s famous novel, A Passage to India (1924), which throws a
critical light on British rule and, in the romantic symbolism o f its three sec­
tions ‘ M osque’, ‘ C av es’, and ‘ Tem ple’, reveals a deep understanding o f
Indian psychology. Rumer Godden gives a fascinating description o f Kashm ir
in Kingfishers Catch Fire, which explores the effects o f alien surroundings on
isolated Europeans, as does her Black Narcissus, in which the five members o f
an English religious sisterhood are confronted with conditions o f life in a
Himalayan, state which constitute a challenge they are unable to meet. In
Elephant Hill, Robin W hite has written an Indian version o f the chalk circle
theme, in which an Indian boy is torn between his foster-father, an American
missionary, and his real father— a conflict which isxesolved by the missionary’s
sister-in-law who loves the boy’s father. T w o American novelists who wrote
o f India are Pearl Buck and Louis Bromfield. The former, better known for
her books about China, wrote Come, M y Beloved, which can be regarded as
an attempt at reconciling Christian and Hindu beliefs. The novel for which
Louis Bromfield became world-famous was The Rains Came (1937), in which
the bursting o f a dam constructed by Europeans in an Indian state reveals the
true characters o f the people concerned. James Hilton has perhaps a more
symbolic intent in giving his novel Lost Horizon (1933) a Himalayan setting
** For details, see The Cambridge History o f English Literature, Vol. 14, Cambridge, 1961,
Part 3, Ch. X . '
19The ballad, written in 18S9, goes on:
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at G od’s great Judgement Scat;
But there is neither East nor West, border, nor breed, nor birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends o f the earth.
482 ìndia and die Modem li'est

with a Lamasery called Shangri-La preserving the spiritual treasures o f man­

kind, a modern utopia in a world threatened by technology.
The number o f travel books on India is tremendous. Ever since the Age of
Discoveries, travellers, merchants, missionaries, and diplomats have written
about the south Asian subcontinent, and since the end o f the nineteenth
century this type o f literature has greatly increased. M any such books merely
aim at catering for a certain European taste for Oriental glamour. Others give
realistic descriptions and are o f true literary worth, for example Alberto
M oravia’s Un idea dell' India (1962) and Allen Ginsberg’s Indian Journals
(1970). Some, such as Indiabrand (Conflagration in India) by Arthur Lunquist
and Indiya bez chudes (India without Miracles, 1948) by O. Tshetshetkina, em­
phasize the economic and social aspects o f modern India. The contrast be­
tween Gândhï and Lenin is reflected in Arthur Koestler’s book The Yogi and
the Commissar (1945), but his The Lotus and the Robot, written after a ration­
alistic pilgrimage to India and Japan in 1958-9, scintillates with biting com­
ments on Hindu Yoga.
Since the days o f Friedrich Rückert (17887-1866), Western writers have
made literary adaptations into their own languages o f Indian works. W e find
several poetical versions o f Naia and Damayanti, by Mallarmé for instance.
Sanskrit poems have even been translated into such-unfamiliar languages as
Albanian, by Anton Zako (1866-1930), which demonstrates more clearly than
do long enumerations the wide response to Indian poetry in the West.
K alidasa’s dramas, especially his Abhijiwtasakuntala, have been translated
into nearly every European language, including Czech (by H. Hrubin) and
Rum anian (by the poet Gbeorghe Cosbuc, 1866-1918). Sakuntalâ and The
Little Clay Cart, and-from modern times the plays o f Rabindranath Tâgore
(Post Office, etc.), have been staged in many European theatres. André Gide,
w ho translàted various works ofT âgore, voiced the then-prevalent enthusiasm
fo r this poet: ‘ It seemed to me that no thinker o f modern times deserved more
respect, I might almost say devotion, than Tagore. I took pleasure in humbl­
ing m yself before him as he had humbled himself to sing before G od .’ *0
Since the second h alf o f the nineteenth century an increasing number o f
Europeans have declared their faith in Indian religions. A Theosophical
Society was founded by H. P. Blavatsky in 1875, and a number o f neo-
Buddhist sects have also come into being. Nowadays the interest in Y o g a and
Tantra is stronger than ever before. M adam e Blavatsky had a remarkable in­
fluence on the Irish poet W illiam Butler Yeats, who himself had founded a
'H erm etic Society’ . His interest in the occult attracted him also to Indian
religiosity. Three Indians played an influential role in this respect: Tâgore,
Sri Purohit Swàmï (with whom Y eats translated The Ten Principal Upanishads,
in 1937), and MohinI Chatterjl, who brought about his belief in rebirth. In the
poem he called after the latter,’ Yeats writes:
I asked i f I should pray,
B u t the B rahm in said,
‘ Pray for nothing, say
Every night in bed
10 L . Renou, The Influence o f Indian Thought on French Literature, Adÿar Library, 1948,
p. is.
 India and the Modern West 483
“ I have been a king,
I have been a slave,
N o r is there anything,
F o o l, rascal, knave,
T h a t I have not been . .
Attem pts'to spread the teaching o f Râmakrishna in the West have proved
very successful. Vcdântic in its theology, it has been combined with social
aims. Universal in its appeal, it regarded each religion as a ‘ ghfit’ to the
spring-water o f godhead. Ràm akrishna’s disciple Swàmî Viveicânanda estab­
lished the Râmakrishna Mission in 1897, three years after he had founded the
Vedanta Society in N ew Y ork. This mission had great influence in the United
States, especially in California. T w o prominent writers engaged in furthering
the mission’s aims were Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood. The
latter, together with Swâml Prabhavananda, translated the Bhagavad Gita and
Sankara's Crest-Jewel o f Discrimination. A volume entitled Vedanta fo r the
Western World was edited in 1948 by Huxley, Isherwood, G . Heard, J. van
Drutcn, and various Indian monks. For those ‘ not congenitally members o f
an organised church’, Aldous H uxley advocated the line taken by Râm a­
krishna and Vivekânanda as ‘ the minimum working hypothesis’ :
T h at there is a G od h ead , Brahm an, C lear L ight o f the V o id , which is the
unm anifested principle o f ail m anifestation.
T h a t the ground is a t once transcendent and im m anent.
T h at it is possible fo r human beings . . . to becom e actu a lly identical with
the divine ground.
T h a t to achieve this unitive kn ow led ge o f the G o d h ead is the final end
and purpose o f hum an existence.
N ot only Indian religion, but also Indian philosophy has occupied the minds
o f Western thinkers from K ant and Schopenhauer onwards. Henri Bergson
compared Indian and Christian mysticism in his D eux sources, and recognized
that the ultimate aim o f the Hindu was ‘ s’évader de la v ie ’ ; and in Die
Weltanschauung der indischen Denker (1935),11 A lb ert Schweitzer emphasized
the Tife-negation’ o f Indian thought in contradistinction to Western beliefs as
well as to those o f Zarathustra and o f Chinese philosophers.
In the twentieth century science and learning are replacing a biased Western
approach with a universalist attitude. T he imaginary ‘ glass curtain’ between
East and West should, it is felt, be removed; and a new humanism is being
postulated in place o f the parochial limitations o f the recent past.21 Whereas
formerly ‘ world histories’ were confined to Europe and A sia M inor, with the
writer’s own country o f central importance within this fram ework, today it
stands to reason that equal rights (if not always equal space) should be con­
ceded to other continents, as is evident from the historical works o f Arnold
Toynbee. Such a change in emphasis is equally valid for other sciences, for the
fine arts, and for the production o f modern encyclopedias.
In the field o f sociology, M ax W eber included Hinduism and Buddhism in
his Die Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen (1916-17). But as early as 1853
K arl M arx had started presenting his views on India’s social problems in the
11 English translation: Indian Thought audits Development, London and New York, 193(5.
l! R. Iyer (ed.), The Glass Curtain between Asia and Europe, London, 1965, pp; 329 ff.
484 India and the Modern West

New York Daily Tribune. While M arx restricted himself to the assumption of
an ‘ Asiatic mode o f production’ , Lenin imposed the Marxist theory o f the five
stages o f historical development on the interpretation o f the history o f India
and other Asian countries.
In works such as Yoga und der Westen (1936) and Über Mandalasymbolik
(1938), .the psychologist C . G . Jung showed how modern psychology could
elucidate Y o g a and Tantrism, and even profit by a confrontation with these
systems. According to Jung, the ‘ psychology o f the unconscious’ has its
counterpart in the klesas (afflictions) o f Indian mystical psychology, although
with the basic difference that Y o ga knows no moral conflict. Jung’s psychology
o f the ‘ collective unconscious’ was applied by Heinrich Zimmer to the inter­
pretation o f Indian myths and symbols.
A s far as the fine arts are concerned, Indian influence has been restricted to
occasional adaptations. John N ash was commissioned by George IV when
Prince o f Wales to construct the R oyal Pavilion at Brighton, for example, and
this became the m ost extravagant specimen o f M ughal architecture in the
West, demonstrating the nineteenth-century ‘ Indian taste’ . In Great Britain
theVe were even country-houses built in Indian style. N ow adays the Indian
word ‘ bungalow ’ has become a widespread term in the West for the modern
one-storey villa.
In India itself, colonial rule led to strange but fascinating amalgamations o f
European and Oriental styles o f architecture. After Independence, .Albert
Mayer and Le Corbusier designed the new capital o f the Indian state o f
Panjab at Chandigarh, which developed into a remarkable mixture o f
Western functionalism and Indian town-plauning. Since 1968 a new cosm o­
polis has been under construction near Pondicherry: Auroville, named after
Sri Aurobindo. In accordance with bis philosophy it is to become a city o f
human unity with the Tem ple o f Truth (Mâtrimandir) in the centre— a virtual
mandala in the form o f a town constructed by all nations and open to all
mankind.
W hile East Asian, Polynesian, and African art has had a remarkable in­
fluence on modern Western painting, the appeal o f India has been less evident,
although there are cases in which it is apparent, such as in E. L. K irchner’s
style in a picture like/Vatre/i imBade, which owes something to the representa­
tion o f women in the Ajantâ frescoes as depicted by Griffith. A . K u bin was
devoted to Buddhism, but the inspiration for his ‘ Sansara’ collection is to be
found in the Japanese colour prints o f H okusai rather than in Indian Buddhist
works. And several o f Gauguin’s sculptures (Idole à la perle, Idole à la coquille)
are iconographically indebted to Borobudur rather than to any Indian model.
The sculptor Brancusi was attracted by Indian and Tibetan mysticism
(Milaraspa) and he designed a Temple ofLiberation for the M aharaja o f Indore.
His sculptures represent abstract conceptions, however; his wooden figure, the
Spirit o f Buddha (in the Guggenheim Museum), using the spiral as a symbol o f
transcendence, for example. Although there is no hint in ancient Indian liter-
ture o f religious experience being induced by the use o f drugs, modern psyche­
delic art, as exemplified in the w ork o f A . Atwell for one, shows a predilection
for mandatas, and names pictures after Indian concepts, for example
I. Abram s’s A ll Things are Part o f One Thing.
 India and Ihe Modern IVest 485

In the early 1950s, Indian classical music was introduced into western
Europe and North Am erica, mainly through the pioneering efforts o f Pandit
Ravi Shankar and, a few years later, Ustàd A li A k b ar Khân. These two emi­
nent musicians gave concerts in many cities o f the world, sometimes to small
audiences and for insignificant remuneration, but their incredible technique
and musicianship did not pass unnoticed, and by the beginning o f the 1960s
they were already performing to fuit concert-halls, at least in the larger cities.
Admittedly the audiences often consisted mostly o f Indians, but more and
more Westerners were gradually being brought into the fold. A s news o f their
success reached India, other famous musicians, such as Ustàd Vilâyat Khân,
Ustàd Imrat Khân, Ustàd Bismillah Khân, and Pandit Nikhit Bannerjee,
were persuaded to visit the West and were received by groups o f enthusiastic
followers. Perhaps Indian music might never have reached much beyond a
select audience if it were not for the fact that Yehudi Menuhin and the
‘ Beatles’ became interested in it. Menuhin’s interest was an important factor
in conveying to the ‘ serious’ musicians o f the W est that Indian music was a
complex and sophisticated musical form which had retained a feeling o f
spontaneity and audience communication in spite o f being a system o f
classical music.
Apart from the fact that there is a growing awareness o f Indian music, and
that a few modern composers such as Alan Hovhancss, Peter Feuchtsvanger,
John Barham, and Olivier Messiaen have tried to utilize elements o f Indian
music in their compositions, there does not appear to have been much impact
on ‘ serious’ music in the West.
The ‘ B eatle’ involvement with Indian music and with Ravi Shankar did,
however, result in a short period of hysteria when numerous ‘ pop’ and jazz
groups, and films, as well as radio and television advertisements, incorporated
the sound o f the sitâr and labki, largely to be in with the ‘ craze’ . The sitar be­
came fashionable, as did Ravi Shankar; Indian music was swept along on a
wave o f popularity, but it was clear from the outset that it was the sound o f the
instruments which was the focal point o f the craze, not Indian music in itself.
Some o f the “ Beatles” songs do, o f course, show the influence o f Indian
culture, but their achievement lies rather in broadening the horizon o f ‘ pop’
music than in channelling it in any one direction. B y using Indian instruments
and some Indian philosophical ideas, they showed how foreign elements
could be incorporated into the mainstream o f Western ‘ po p’ culture. Purely
from the musical point o f view, those o f their compositions which are said to
been influenced by Indian music are not particularly Indian, nor do they have
the spirit o f Indian music. One recognizes the occasional Indian motif, the
tambürâ drone and the modal basis, but this appears to be the full extent of
the influence. The unique properties o f the sitâr, for instance, the technique o f
producing sliding tones by deflecting the melody string sideways, have not
been utilized by these ‘ p o p ’ musicians. On the rare occasions when this tech­
nique has been used it has sounded like a parody, for accurate intonation by
this method requires a long period o f training. Perhaps the influence o f Indian
music on popular music in the West can be seen in the gradually increasing
use o f drone-likc effects, the greater use o f modes, and the more frequent use
o f melisma in the songs.
486 ìndia and the Modern West

The moment o f hysteria is now over, but a few more non-Indians have be­
come seriously involved with Indian classical music. Conscious attempts at
fusing Indian and Western music have not been particularly successful as yet.
It would appear that most o f these attempts were premature and based on an
incomplete understanding o f one or the other system. Ethnomusicology pro­
grammes in many universities, especially in N orth America, have been de­
veloping over the last decade. Some o f these are focused on the music o f Asia,
and a better understanding o f Indian music could well lead to new develop­
ments and more realistic attempts at fusion.
A part from the large number o f scholars in Europe and America who are
engaged on research work in all fields o f Indology, people in all walks o f lire
in the West are once more fascinated by India. Incense sticks and j/Vnr-playing,
Indian hemp and the Indian look, are accessories in the life ó f the ‘ psyche­
delic generation’ . Indian influence is apparent in ‘ pop’ art and ‘pop’ music.
M any young people strive for esoteric initiation. Mahàgurus from India or
from the West teach the experience o f unity with the universe. The use o f
drugs is given a religious motivation, and Varanasi and Kathmandu have be­
come hippy Meccas. ‘ Flower pow er’ is advocated against aggressiveness.
N ever before have the achievements o f technology been so conspicuous as
today when man has set his foot on the moon. Despite, or in consequence of,
these efforts, the influence o f India, where the accent has always been on.
spirituality, is having a second renaissance.
C H A PTER XXXV

Conclusion
by A. L. Basham

This book was originally intended as a second edition o f The Legacy o f

India, published in 1937. It contained fifteen chapters, written by fourteen
contributors who included some o f the ablest scholars o f the day. y e t only
four o f those chapters have been retained in this volume, and that after con ­
siderable editing. The interval between the two volumes is less than forty
years. Perhaps the time for writing yet a third volume on the lines o f this one
will come even sooner, with the rapid growth o f our knowledge o f the past
and the even more rapid change in the world's attitudes. N o book like this,
even in those chapters dealing with remote antiquity, can be more than pro­
visional. W hatever we m ay write about India, past, present and future, will be
open to correction in com ing years, and we can only draw up an interim
balance-sheet. India’s history, like that o f many other lands, teaches the lesson
o f her most famous son, Gautam a the Buddha, that nothing is permanent,
that the most solid rocks may crumble, slow ly or suddenly, that the values
and institutions seemingly so securely established may gradually weaken until
they become mere vestigial traces o f their former selves, or m ay even vanish
almost overnight.
Though even in the nineteenth century a few far-sighted people in Britain
realized that sooner or later their imperial regime in India would come to an
end, and the conviction spread during the first decades o f the twentieth cen­
tury, the comparative ease and speed with which the British withdrew sur­
prised m any nationalist Indians themselves. The orderly replacement ofB ritish
rulers by local ones, however, was offset by immense movements o f people
across the borders o f the two-succession states o f the old Indian Empire, with
much bloodshed, pillage, and human suffering. T h e situation was worsened by
actual hostilities in Kashm ir and the assassination o f M ahatm a G andhi by a
Hindu fanatic, an event which flung practically the whole o f India into a mood
o f extreme grief. M any Western observers (especially some o f the old British
governing class) forecast indefinite anarchy— the return o f India to the con­
dition ?hè was in at the end o f tbe M ughal Empire, broken into several states
with fluctuating boundaries, dominated by warlords constantly harassing and
raiding one another.
That such conditions did not return was perhaps chiefly due to three factors.
The first o f these was the spirit o f M ahatm a G andhi, which had for nearly
thirty years inspired and disciplined the Indian N ational Congress and its
supporters to service and sclf-sacrifice, and continued to do so after his death ;
the average Indian responded to the challenge o f the times with remarkable
self-discipline. Another factor was the army, police, and civil service in­
herited by both India and Pakistan from their form er rulers. These maintained
488 Conclusion

law and order and kept the machinery o f government in motion in very
difficult circumstances. A third factor making for stability was the very sense
o f freedom, the faith in the democratic process which most of the more
politically minded Indiaus and Pakistanis had learnt, chiefly from the West.
N ow that their lands were free parliamentary democracies, there was reason­
able hope that regional and sectional wrongs would be righted without blood­
shed.
Whatever strains may have been imposed upon it, democracy has survived
in India. Unlike m ost former colonial countries, India is a land where the
critic can still freely express his dislike o f the government, in the press, in the
public meeting, and in the polling booth. Political consciousness, if sometimes
of a rather naïve kind, has permeated every section o f the population, and
even the small peasant in the outlying village is aware o f his power as an
elector. It is this, perhaps more than any other factor, which has held India
together. In Pakistan, on the other hand, democracy did not take root so
firmly. With the imposition o f m ilitary dictatorship the two sections o f the
state lost their cohesion, for the government was o'ne o f West Pakistan. Thus
the Bengali inhabitants o f the Eastern wing saw no prospect o f legitimately
redressing their grievances, and soon their loyalty to the very idea o f Pakistan
began to waver, ultimately resulting in repression, carnage, and the birth o f the
state o f Bangladesh. Had Pakistan continued to be governed by a stable
democratic system, her two wings might yet have held together. In India, on
the other hand, incipient Separatist movements in some parts o f the country
were contained and pacified because the people as a whole had faith in the
ballot box.
Industrially South Asia has made much progress in the past twenty-five
years. The Gàndhlan policy o f local self-sufficiency based on cottage indus­
tries and small-scale production is virtually forgotten, and large-scale indus­
try, much o f it state-owned or state-controlled, is the order o f the day
throughout the sub-continent. Striking industrial progress has been made,
though, allowing for differences o f size and population, this is not as impres­
sive as the economic progress made by certain other formerly backward
countries with more uncompromisingly capitalist regimes, such as Taiwan,
South K orea, and Iran— not to speak o f communist China.
The material, and to some extent the cultural, progress o f both India and
Pakistan has been set back by the armed confrontation o f the two states,
occasionally boiling over into brief hostilities. The loss, both human and
material, incurred by the two countries as a result o f this confrontation has
been very considerable, and stable peace and co-operation between India and
Pakistan are absolutely essential before real prosperity can be achieved. In­
dia’s efforts to raise her standards have also been set back by another factor.
Following on the occupation o f Tibet, China laid claim to certain frontier
areas o fln d ia and proceeded to occupy them. Thus India was forced to di­
vert a greater proportion o f her national income to military expenditure,
without being able to dislodge the Chinese.
M eanwhile alt the nations o f the sub-continent have had to face a terrible
problem which at the time o f partition seemed to most observers a cloud no
bigger than a man's hand— the ‘ population explosion’. W e have no clear evi-
 Conclusion 489

dence o f the population o fln d ia before the nineteenth century, but'there is no

doubt that it was kept more or less stable by the natural factors o f plague,
drought, flood, and warfare. Whatever its shortcomings, the British regime
produced a situation in which these factors became progressively less opera­
tive. Rudimentary health precautions, attempts at flood control and famine
relief, inadequate though they might be, and the absence o f enormous
predatory armies overrunning large areas o f the countryside all tended to
lower the death-rate, especially that o f small children, without raising the
standard o f living o f the masses. T he process has operated approxim ately by
geometrical progression, and has been accelerated since independence by in­
creased efforts at epidemic control, child welfare, and famine relief. The
phenomenal growth o f the population has robbed the average south Asian of
most o f the benefits o f a greatly increased gross national product. Valiant
attempts are now being made to lower the birth-rate, by methods which
would have horrified earlier reformers such as M ahatm a Gândhï. Ultim ately
the situation will be brought under control, whether by human effort or
natural forces or, more probably, by a com bination o f both. But meanwhile
India and her neighbours are faced with a tremendous problem unique in
their history, for which no easy solution presents itself.
Nevertheless India, for all her unsolved problems, for all the shortcomings
o f her rulers, has cause for sober satisfaction, when she compares herself with
many other former colonies. Com m unal, social, and regional tensions have
been contained, and the country remains a single political unit. G reat ad­
vances have been made in popular education and the literacy rate has risen
considerably, though the standards o f higher education m ay have declined
somewhat. Industrialization has advanced so far that India has even exported
the products o f her heavy industry to the United States. N ew strains o f seed,
the increased use o f fertilizer, and the spread o f technical knowledge have
greatly raised agricultural output. How is this affecting the legacy o f India
from her own past? *
The social system based on the join t fam ily and the caste is slowly breaking
up. From the days o f the Buddha, if not before, reformers had.attacked the
caste system, but to little real effect. It resisted the M uslim 'iilwnâ' and the
Christian.m issionaries. But now, at least in the cities, it is'beginning to
crumble. Though one can imagine a caste system permitting miscegenation,
which in fact seèms to have been possible in very early times, the*Hindu law­
givers realized that the hierarchical social structure o f India depended on
arranged marriages. These are still the rule in India, but inter-caste marriages
freely contracted between the parties concerned are becoming increasingly
common, and the presence o f more and more people o f good social status,
claiming to be Hindus b u tin fact having strictly no caste at all, must ultimately
destroy the old social system. Steadily, moreover, the taboos associated with
caste are disappearing. When the young M ohandâs G ândhï first travelled
abroad, almost every respectable Hindu who crossed the seas was compelled,
under penalty o f complete social ostracism for him self and his fam ily, to per­
form an expensive purificatory ritual on his return. N o w hardly anybody
bothers to do this, even among the more conservative sections o f the com ­
munity.
490 Conclusion

The institution o f the joint fam ily, graded heirarchically according to age
and sex, is also beginning to lose its grip on India, at least among many o f the
educated folk in the towns, though the sense o f kinship in India is still in
general much stronger than in the Western world. Younger members o f the
family are no longer so inclined to contribute to the upkeep o f impoverished
relations or to carry out the wishes o f their elders implicitly, especially when
they have reached maturity. Industrial society and the influence o f Western
social ideas are chiefly responsible for these developments, and such ideas arc
carried to a wide range o f ordinary people through the film and the popular
novel, both o f which, though in theory respecting traditional values, exploit
the Romeo-and-Juliet theme with telling effect, with the variation that the
star-crossed lovers are often members o f different castes. Though one cannot
foretell with confidence, it seems that, if modern trends continue, in fifty years’
time the social and fam ily system o f India will be little different from that o f
the contemporary W est. This forecast is not necessarily made in a spirit o f
hope or optimism, for the caste and the fam ily have in earlier times been
potent sources o f material and psychological security for the individual, and
they cannot be satisfactorily replaced by the state on the one hand and the
small nuclear family on the other. But already the old Hindu family law has
been abrogated, replaced by a new code, modelled largely on that o f the
West. D ivorce is now possible both for wives and husbands, monogam y is en­
forced, and women are entitled to possess property of their own.
In politics there have been conscious attempts to revive the past in a new
form, and to fit traditional Indian conceptions into the fram ework o f twen­
tieth-century democracy. T he process began early in the present century,
when able historians like R . K . M ookerjee showed with some justification
that certain villages in ancient and medieval India had local semi-democratic
ruling bodies, and when K . P. Jayaswàl, a competent Sanskritist, proved to
his own and his readers’ satisfaction that ancient India had republics and
constitutional monarchies, with popular assemblies and cabinet'government.
Jayaswàl’s handling o f his sources verged on the unscrupulous, like the clever
barrister, who by taking a crucial phrase out o f its context and interpreting its
words in a forced, unnatural manner, succeeds in persuading judge and jury
that it means something com pletely different from what its author obviously
intended. But Jayaswàl succeeded in convincing a wide audience o f educated
Indians that constitutional dem ocracy and limited monarchy were well known
to their remoter ancestors, and there was some truth in his arguments, though
his claims were greatly exaggerated.
Thus the ancient texts on polity have been ransacked for apophthegms on
statecraft appropriate to contem porary progressive democracy, socialism, and
the welfare state. Even Indian communists have utilized their country’s
ancient literature to further their ends. But this is hardly evidence o f the sur­
vival o f India’s political legacy, but rather the use o f that legacy, otherwise
almost forgotten except in academ ic circles, to support political concepts
which are in fact modern imports.
The hereditary is still strong in many aspects o f Indian life, but the Indian
tradition o f monarchy has been undermined by contemporary values. The
Hindu o f earlier centuries was used to obeying a charismatic hereditary
 Conclusion 491

ruler who lived in great luxury and pomp and was thought by many o f his
subjects to be in some sense divine. T he M uslim sultans, bâdshâhs, and
nawâbs did not claim divinity but the justification o f hereditary principles was
made by their apologists. They too lived in luxury and pom p, far above the
heads o f their subjects. T he British rulers o fln d ia , especially after the Sepoy
Revolt, recognized this tradition in Indian political life and preserved the
maharajas as tributary kings, while their viceroys enjoyed a pom p and circum­
stance hardly equalled by that o f the British monarchs whom they represen­
ted.
The events o f 1947 changed all this. Gândhian ethics on the one hand and
progressive Western political ideas on the other were not particularly favour­
able even to limited monarchy, far less to that o f a king hedged about with
charismatic splendour. In this Hindu India was definitely untrue to her trad­
itions, and one wonders whether she did not make a mistake in this respect.
Shortly before independence, when the Cabinet Mission o f 1946 was vainly
attempting to bring Hindus and Muslims together in a last effort to avoid
partition, a number o f fairly important Indians put forward a suggestion that
received very little publicity and no support whatever. This was to the effect
that, when the British withdrew from India, power should law fully rest with the
M ughal Empire, in the person o f the closest sucviving relative o f the last em­
peror, Bahadur Shâh II, who died in exile in 1862. This man, it was suggested,
should become the.constitutional emperor o f a free India.
Such a suggestion had no hope o f acceptance by the political leaders in the
atmosphere o f the times. It was, however, in keeping with India’s traditions,
and it had the advantage that it would have effectively prevented the partition
o f the country, for a restored M ughal emperor, ruling from D elhi, would
surely have won enough Muslim support to undermine the movement for
Pakistan. From the point o f view o f strict legality, it may have been the right
thing to do. One wonders how India would have fared if this suggestion had
been adopted. A s it is, even the tributary maharajas have lost all their powers
and privileges and much o f their wealth, so strongly has the twentieth century
affected the thought o f India’s rulers. Possibly in many o f the form er princely
states the common man still feels respect, and in some cases affection also, for
his former ruler and his family, but it seems that the tradition o f m onarchy
has gone fo r ever in India, as it has in most other parts o f the world. India is
certainly less colourful as a result.
In one respect, however, the Indian government has consciously tried to
revive past political traditions. This is in the establishment o f elected village
councils, continuing the tradition o f the panchâyats. These committees o f
about five village elders, generally the most substantial peasants o f the com ­
munity, usually holding office by heredity or appointed by co-option, were
most vigorous when the central government was weak. T h ey declined in
influence in British days, but they are now again active, as small dem ocratic
units o f the governmental system.
In the field o f the arts the fate o f India’s ancient heritage has varied. The
classical tradition o f music, once reserved for the rich, is now available to
much larger audiences through the radio and the electronically amplified per­
formance in a large hall. A unique genre o f popular music, a hybrid o f Indian
492 Conclusion

and Western conventions, com m only known as Jilmî git (‘ film song') is
immensely popular. Decried by conservatives and purists, it is nevertheless
(in the opinion o f one observer at least) am ong the finest music o f its kind
composed anywhere in the world. The wonderful traditions o f the Indian
dance (an aspect o f the legacy o f India which we have not been able to cover
in this book), once mainly exploited by devadâsis (temple-prostitutes) and
courtesans, have been made respectable, and classical dances are performed
before large audiences. On the other hand Western dancing, whether ballet
or ballroom, has not ‘ caught o n ’, and few Indians are interested in it.
In the field o f the visual arts the ancient traditions, whether Hindu or
Muslim, have virtually disappeared. M odern buildings, often in hybrid
Hindu-Muslim styles with a few twentieth-century functional features added
for good measure, have appeared in all the great cities, alongside others
which have nothing distinctively Indian about them at all. Architecturally the
latter are usually the more pleasing. The wonderful traditions o f Hindu
classical sculpture have been dead for many centuries. N ow sculpture is
perhaps the weakest o f the arts in India, and few traces o f the Indian tradition
are to be seen in the products o f post-independence ateliers. The tradition o f
Indian painting seems also to be lost. In the closing years of the last century a
group o f able Bengâlï artists, led by Abanïndranâth Tâgore, brother o f the
great poet, tried to develop a typically Indian style o f painting, based on the
murals o f Ajantâ and the Rajput and Pahârl miniature schools, but this
school, its productions always rather effeminate, survives only in the humbler
fields o f applied painting, such as book illustration and the designing o f
greeting cards. Later the greatest o f modern Indian painters, Jâminî Roy,
developed a very personal style based on the folk art o f his native Bengal.
His followers, like those o f Abanïndranâth Tâgore, are now mainly concerned
with the production o f advertisements and greeting cards. The woman painter
Am ritâ Sher Gil, half-Sikh and half-Hungarian, developed a beautiful and
individual style, but it was more European than Indian in inspiration, though
she paintèd Indian subjects. N ow there is probably no good Indian painting,
though there is plenty o f good painting in India. The w ork o f the best painters
o f modern. India is not true Indian painting— it is international painting
which happens to b eproduced by Indians.
Literature flourishes. Probably more poems are composed in India, in
proportion to the population, than in any part o f Europe or Am erica, though
thé Far East and Iran may rival India in this. Poems are still com posed ac­
cording to strict conventions and traditions, especially in U rdù, but here too
the influence o f the West is apparent, and all the major trends in Western
poetry writing have had their impact on India. The novel and short story also
flourish, in all the languages o fln d ia including English. Here too the influence
o f the West is felt, but o f course the tradition is also in evidence. T he stories
o f the epics and Purânas provide most Indian writers with material for meta­
phors and similes, as, until recently, the Bible and the classical w orld pro­
vided an easily available stock o f allusions to writers o f Europe and America.
N ow adays the most popular form o f aesthetic entertainment, for the
average Indian, is the film. The Western observer, who has seen only a few
Indian films o f the very highest quality, such as those made by Satyajit Ray,
 Conclusion 493
may obtain a very false impression o f the character o f the more popular
cinema. The ‘ highbrow ’ Indian film may give a vivid, accurate, and moving
picture o f one or other aspect o f Indian life, but its style and technique are
essentially international. The legacy o f the past survives better (some would
say in a degenerate and perverted form) in the popular films made by the big
commercial film companies o f Bom bay and Madras. These films o f epic
length, immensely popular with the masses, were once divided into two
broad classess, according to the terminology o f their distributors, ‘ mythologi­
c a l’ and ‘ social’, with a third, smaller category ‘ historical’, giving thoroughly
inaccurate pictures o f the great men and women o f India from Chandragupta
M aurya to the R ani o f Jhânsî. N ow adays ‘ m ythological'-film s, telling very
freely adapted stories o f the gods and heroes, with many interludes o f song
and dance and wonderful effects produced by trick photography, are be­
coming progressively less popular, and few are made. The emphasis o f Indian
production is on the ‘ social’ film, dealing with contemporary and near-con­
temporary life. Here the influence o f Hollywood is clearly in evidence, but
nevertheless these films have a distinctively Indian flavour which commer­
cialism cannot suppress, for the public will not have it otherwise. Intense
melodrama, tear-jerking partings and reunions, the hero or heroine (or both)
saved from a dreadful fate at the last minute, the conventional exaggerated
over-acting, much reinforced by carefully controlled gestures, the regular in­
terpolation o f songs and dances, without which the average film-goer would
demand the return o f his admission fee— all these features show a striking
continuity with the ancient Indian dramatic tradition, particularly as exempli­
fied by such plays as âüdraka’s Little Clay Cart and Bhavabhüti’s Malati and
Màdhava. It is very doubtful if there has been any conscious transmission o f
the dramatic tradition from the Sanskrit play to the film— rather the taste o f
the Indian audience has remained stable over the centuries, and still demands
the same strong simple melodrama as it did in-the past. It is fashionable
among educated Indians to decry the popular film (though many o f them arc
its secret devotees); but it is in a class by itself, and in its techniques, though
not always in its content, it is thoroughly in line with the Indian dramatic
tradition. M oreover its pleasant songs and delightful dances provide evidence
o f how Indian culture can still absorb foreign elements and make them dis­
tinctively its own.
Only two o f the ancient sciences o f India continue as effective elements in
the life o f the country. The traditional Indian systems o f medicine, the Hindu
ayurveda and the Perso-Islamic yünânî, are still very active. Both these sys­
tems, though based in their classical forms on false premisses, are pragmati­
cally effective in curing and relieving many diseases, and their drugs and
therapy are less expensive than those o f modern Western medicine. Thus
ayurveda in India and yünânl medicine in both India and Pakistan still have
an important part to play in maintaining the health o f thq?pepple, especially
o f the poorer people. In India ayurvedic practitioners are trained at special
schools, some o f them attached to universities, where they learn the elements
o f scientific physiology and biology as well as traditional-m edical lore.
W hether traditional medicine will survive once India becomes rich enough
494 Conclusion

not certain, but meanwhile it is very important in contributing to the well­

being of the poorer folk. In this connection notice should be taken o f a
medical system, imported from the West, where it is now almost forgotten,
though in India it still flourishes. This is homoeopathy. Every city o f India
has many homoeopathic pharmacies, which still do a lively trade, and often
claim spectacular cures.
T h e other traditional science o f India which appears to be as thriving as
ever is astrology. The highly reputed practitioners o f this art seem to find as
many wealthy patrons as ever, and the roadside astrologer, who will cast a
horoscope for a rupee, still flourishes in town and village. Probably almost
every ordinary Hindu even now believes in the power of the astrologer to
forecast his future, and most educated Hindus, even those who claim to be
rationalists with no faith in the gods, still look on his art with a degree o f
grudging respect. This pseudo-science, incidentally, is a com parative late­
comer on the Indian scene. N o Indian astrological text is earlier than the
Gupta period, before which time prognostication was carried out mainly by
the study o f physiognomy, birth-marks, and portents. Astrology came to
India from the West, probably in the wake of the trade with the Roman
Empire.
Though the orthodox, both Hindu and Muslim, com plain o f the decline o f
faith, it seems that it is in her religious life that India’s ancient heritage is best
preserved. On the other hand the number o f worshippers attending the great
festivals or the more famous temples is said to be decreasing, and the priests,
feeling that there is no future in their profession, are said to be training their
sons in other trades and crafts. In South India the long-standing anti-bràhman
movement has a lively anti-religious wing, which stages demonstrations near
famous temples, and displays posters bearing crudely vigorous cartoons
which pour scorn on the gods.
Nevertheless the traveller is far more likely to be impressed by the vitality o f
India’s religious life than by its decline. Hindu reform movements, such as the
Râmakrishna Mission, expand their activities. The temples are thronged on
festival days. As in the days o f the Buddha, young men still abandon their
homes and become penniless tnendicants in search o f the divine, and the old
men, feeling that the world is too much with them, still give up their pro­
fessional and family affairs in order to prepare for the next life. N ew swwnls
and gurus appear every year, and draw large followings, often including well-
educated people and followers from the Western world. Even the myth­
m aking capacity o f Hinduism, so vigorous in earlier centuries, is still alive.
T his is proved by the appearance o f a wholly new divinity, the goddess
Santoshï M ata, who was unheard o f in i960, but is now worshipped widely
throughout the Ganga plain as a bringer o f good luck and material advantage,
and has been equipped with a m ythology and legend o f her own. Another
divinity, o f somewhat earlier origin, whose creator was the nineteenth-century
BengaLi novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, is Bhârat M âtâ, M other India,
w ho has shrines here and there, and.in. Varanasi is worshipped in a special
temple where a large map of.India replaces the sacred image. But though evi­
dence o f patriotic fervour is not lacking in modern India, Bharat M âtâ has
 Conclusion 495
The most vigorous features o f modern Hinduism are to be found in popular
manifestations o f simple faith (bhakti), rather than in the intellectual religion
o f the philosopical schools. In the great religious centres such as Varanasi and
Mathura the traditional pandits’ training colleges are still there, and attract
many students, but their principals complain that the annual intake is dimini­
shing, as is the intellectual standard o f the students. Similarly, as with the
classics in W estern universities, the number o f university students taking
Sanskrit or the M uslim classical languages, A rabic and Persian, has diminished
considerably since independence. Thus it is the grass roots o f Hinduism that
seem to show the strongest persistence, rather than the fine flowers o f mystical
philosophy.
One significant feature o f the Indian religious scene, especially in M aha­
rashtra, is the revival o f Buddhism. After the coming o f the Muslims Buddh­
ism virtually disappeared from most parts o f India, surviving only in the
hills o f the North. It began to return early in this century, when the M ahâ-
bodhi Society, based on Ceylon, established new monasteries at the sacred
sites o f Buddhism and increasingly attracted the attention o f intelligent young
Indians. In recent years it has received a great accession o f strength as a
result o f the conversion o f the great untouchable leader, the late D r B. R.
Am bedkar, who, mainly no doubt out o f inner conviction but also in order to
raise the status o f his followers in their own eyes and in the eyes o f the world,
proclaimed him self a Buddhist and was imitated by large numbers o f his
followers. A t first, it appeared that this was merely a political gesture, and
their profession o f a new faith had very little effect on the lives o f the converts.
But Theravàda missionary monks from Ceylon and South-East Asia began to
take an interest in these humble people, and the neo-Buddhists now have an
active religious life. They number over a million.
Islam maintains its hold on its followers in India and Pakistan. O f all the
great world religions this one is perhaps least affected by contem porary ten­
dencies to doubt and unbelief. In Pakistan, founded by Muslims and for
Muslims, .everything is done to further the faith. India is officially a secular
state, but understandably it has a certain leaning towards Hinduism. Y e t the
Muslim citizens o fln d ia do not appear to suffer any legal disadvantages, and
their personal law regarding marriage, inheritance, and the administration o f
endowments remains secure and guaranteed.
O f the lesser Indian religious communities the Sikhs hold their own and
claim to be gaining converts. Some o f their younger members are restless
under the restrictions o f the faith, and, when removed from parental control,
cut their hair, shave their beards, and smoke tobacco, but they rarely renounce
their religion altogether. The same is true o f the Indian Christians, who also
claim to be gaining converts, although foreign missionary prop agan d a^ now
forbidden in India.
Though India’s religious life is thus still very vigorous, m uch o f the earnest
ethical quality implanted in the social life o fln d ia by M ahatm a G andhi has
been lost. M any religious bodies still work for the welfare o f the masses, but
the Sarvodaya movement is little heard o f nowadays. This movement was
founded by V inobâ Bhâve on Gàndhîan principles to bring about village up-
lifj-, and especially the improvement o f the lot o f landless and near-landless
 496 Conclusion

peasants by the voluntary gift o f land on the part o f richer villagers. Sarrodaya
was very active immediately after independence, and many sympathetic ob­
servers believed that it might ultimately change the face o f rural India. But it
has had little effect, in fact in present-day India the most important work for
the uplift o f the underprivileged is done by state agencies.
A nd what o f (he world’sdcgacy from India? In fields o f literature, music,
and the arts this has been far from negligible, but it can be overestimated.
Some o f India’s religious literature has made a considerable impression on the
Western world, but this has been in respect o f its spiritual content rather than
its literary form. N o classical Indian author is so well known in the English­
speaking world as the Persian Omar K hayyam , thanks to Fitzgerald, or the
Chinese Li Po, thanks to Arthur W aley. Germ any has done better in pro­
ducing literary translations o f classical Indian literature, but even in German
one would hardly claim that classical Indian literature had had a major im­
pact. A n exception, for a while, was Tagore, who in the twenty years following
his winning the N obel Prize was widely read and admired, and was translated
into many languages. Since then his writings have lost ground in the West,
though they are still much loved and respected in India.
In music the influence o f India has been even less significant, until very
recently, when the sitar has been introduced into popular music. Nevertheless,
as pointed out in the previous chapter, the influence o f India on Western
popular music is more apparent than real. The same is true o f Western art,
though Indian classical sculpture has been increasingly admired in the present
century, and had some influence on Rodin and Epstein.
The influence o f India on the rest o f the world has always been most
strongly felt in the fields o f religion and philosophy, and this is still the case.
It is easy to overemphasize the religious content o f traditional Indian culture
— -.at all times, but especially at the present time, the land.has known a
vigorous secular life. But from the time when Charles Wilkins first translated
the Bhagauad Gita into a European language, and Anquetil Duperron the
Upanishads, it has been the ‘ spirituality’ o f India that has made the greatest
impression on the Western observer. The previous chapter has shown how,
over the last two centuries, the life o f the West has been subtly affected by
Indian religious ideas, even though it may not be fully conscious o f this.
Since Keshub Chandra Sen lectured with great success in Victorian Eng­
land, a series o f Indian sages, swamis, mystics, thaumaturges and yoga
practitioners have followed his footsteps to Europe and Am erica, with varying
success. Already before the original Legacy o f India was published, the
percipient philosopher D r C . E. M. Joad, with his eye mainly on Professor
Râdhâkrishnan, could write about a cultural ‘ counter-attack from (he E ast’.
Since those days the counter-attack has intensified, especially after the Second
W orld W ar, when many people in the Western world have lost faith in their
'traditional religious valhes. The widespread psychological insecurity o f an age
without belief, the lonely inner agony o f individuals w ho feel isolated in a cold
and unfriendly cosmos immeasurable in its vacuities, have led many to turn to
India in search o f solace and strength. The ‘ counter-attack front the E a st’
has generally been inspired by intellectual Vedanta and has had most impact
nnon the well educated. It a n n e a le d to n h ilo so n h e rs a n d lite ra rv m en sneh as
 Conclusion 497
Schopenhauer, Emerson, and Aldous Huxley. Some o f the most impressive
recent developments, however, are making a wider appeal, and are affecting
other classes and categories o f the people o f the West.
Thus (he streamlined Vedanta o f neo-Hindu propagandists has found a
wider response than ever before. Some have turned to the sexual mysticism o f
the-Tantras, in an age when widespread knowledge o f simple and secure con­
traceptive techniques has so much altered the sexual life o f the world. Modern
India is now filled with y o u n g men and women o f all nationalities from
Europe, Am erica, and Australia, most o f them living very simply and some
suffering real hunger, who have come in search o f what to them will be the
truth, o f a deep wisdom beyond words which they hope will bring them peace
o f mind and a stable bliss transcending any o f the fugitive and inadequate
substitutes provided by sex, wine, or drugs. Few really find what they were
seeking, but many return happier and wiser than when they set out on their
pilgrimage.
Y o g a has become popular in many circles in the.W estern world, and
regular yoga classes are held in almost every city o f Western Europe, Am erica,
and Australia. Usually the form o f yoga taught by Western practitioners is
based on the Indian Itatha-yoga, ranging from simple breathing exercises to
complicated and difficult acrobatics, and m ost o f those w ho attend yoga
classes seem primarily interested in promoting their health and longevity
rather than their spiritual welfare. Am ong such forms of mystical and psychic
training the ‘ Transcendental M editation’ o f Mahesh Mahârishi has achieved
fame since it was taken up some years ago by a number o f popular enter­
tainers, who gave it considerable publicity. The methods o f the Mahârishi in
inducing a state o f meditation, with a minimum o f preliminary training and
metaphysical presuppositions, are followed by a growing number o f people,
and their pragmatic effectiveness in relieving tension has been proved by con­
trolled physiological and psychological tests.
A new aspect o f the counter-attack from the East is the importation not
only o f the mystical gnosis o f India, but also o f her simple faith. This is
chiefly the work o f what is generally called the Hare Krishna movement,
founded by Swàmï Prabhupâda. This society now has branches in many o f the
larger cities o f the West and its adherents follow the rituals o f the devotional
Vaishnavism o f the Chaitanya Sect o f Bengal, wearing orthodox Hindu dress
and dancing and singing in the streets. The movement is looked on by most o f
the Western public with some amusement, and its members are thought o f as
harmless cranks, but, whatever the public reaction to the Hare Krishna cult, it
is historically very significant, for now, for the first time since the days o f the
Rom an Empire, an Asian religion is being openly practised by people o f
Western origin in the streets o f Western cities.

Throughout the world the speed o f change grows faster, and two opposed
trends m ake themselves felt with increasing force. The first is the tendency for
culture to become one and the same, with slight regional variations according
to climate. This can be seen already in architecture, art, and music, and to a
lesser extent in the general values o f civilization. The other tendency is a
 49» Conclusion

regional cultures against the pressure o f twentieth-century technology, which

makes for greater uniformity, and against other pressures, often o f a political
type, which tend in the same direction. Both trends are to be seen in contem­
porary India.
M any qualified observers at the present time would say that the first ten­
dency, the tendency towards international uniformity, is bound to triumph, in
India as elsewhere, within another generation or two. But certain cultural
traditions seem to have considerable power o f survival, and we cannot be sure.
Indian art and architecture, as distinct from international art and architecture
practised by Indians, may be dead or dying. The future literature o fln d ia may
only differ from that o f the rest o f the world in respect o f its languages and
subject-matter. Y e t there are some aspects o f life and thought which go deeper
than aesthetics, or than artistic and literary fashions and styles. The Indian
tradition o f a hierarchically graded society may yet survive, but in a form
rather different from the traditional caste system. The intense feeling o f kin­
ship which seems comm on to almost all Indians, whatever their religion, may
persist even after the break up o f the joint family.
Throughout the history o f India for more than 2,500 years many men and
women have been striving for moksha, release from the bonds o f transmigra­
tion in a state o f bliss believed to be permanent and unchanging. Different
sects interpret this in different ways. For the Buddhist it is the impersonal,
ineffable state o f nirvana. For the Jain it is the complete isolation o f the soul in
kaivalya. F or the Vedântic Hindu it is the full realization o f the identity o f
âtmâ, the individual soul, and brahman, the impersonal world-spirit. For the
Hindu who practises bhakti it is union with G od. This quest has not been by
any means the only driving force in the life o f India— the myth o f India as a
land wholly devoted to religious values and aims is absolutely false o f any
period o f Indian history, perhaps most o f all o f the present day. But it is a fact
that in the past this aim, moksha, has been looked on-by almost every Indian
(the Muslims having their own terminology for it) as in theory the final goal of
all men, for which they should strive at least indirectly. The theoretical pur­
pose o f the whole social and political structure o f classical India was to
promote, moksha-—to help as many individuals as possible to achieve it. The
complex social order o f Hinduism existed primarily to serve this end, and the
state was there to promote the well-being o f society. Prior to the state was the
social order, and. prior to the social order was the individual, striving in the
best way he could for salvation. W e emphasize the word ‘ individual’ here,
because despite all appearances to the contrary the thought o f India is essen­
tially individualist. The ancient Indian seer, unlike the Chinese sage or the
Hebrew prophet, thought not in terms o f the salvation o f the whole people, an
aim which he believed to be impossible in an age o f decline, but o f the salva­
tion o f individual men and women. This fundamental individualism is perhaps
the reason why India, unlike most other former colonial countries, has taken
so enthusiastically to parliamentary democracy, where ultimate political
power is in the hands o f an enormous number o f individuals, each castibg his
vote alone and in secret.
The Indian quest for moksha goes on, and there is no reason why it should
not remain the aim o f the India Of the future. It may express itself in new, non­
 Conclusion 499

religious terms, but this concept, which has been the desire o f India for so
long, and the search for which has given direction and point to many o f her
best minds through all her vicissitudes, will not, we believe, disappear, what­
ever the technological or political forces which affect India in the latter part
o f the twentieth century. The highest com m on factor o f the various legacies o f
India is simply the message that there are values more important than material
ones, that prosperity and political power are not the ultimate tests o f a
nation’ s greatness or o f the greatness o f an individual, that there arc aims and
purposes in man’s existence which override even the claims o f society and the
state. Alone, as best he can, whether by acceptance or detachment, the wise
man strives for a harmony transcending the temporal, a peace passing all
understanding. Few reach that goal— but the secret o f the good life is to
travel hopefully towards it.
 BOOKS FOR F U R T H E R R E A D IN G
(Except where mentioned the titles are provided by the
■authors o f the chapters concerned)

CHAPTER I

Introduction
(Some general books on South Asia)
Basham, A . L. The wonder that was India. 3rd ed., London, 1967.
D e Bary, W. Th. (ed.). Sources o f Indian tradition. N ew Y o rk ; 1958.
Dodwell, H. PL (ed.). The Cambridge history o f India. 6 vols, and supplement
(vol. ii has not appeared), Cam bridge, 1922-53.
Mahar, J. Michael. India: A critical bibliography. Tucson, Arizona, 1964.
Majumdar, D . N . Races and cultures o f India. 4th ed., Bombay, 1961.
M ajunidar, R . ' C. (ed.). History and culture o f the Indian people. II vols.
London, Bombay, 1952-65.
Singhal, D. P. India and world civilization. 2 vols. Michigan State University,
1969.
Smith, V. A ., ed. Spear, T . G . P. The Oxford history o f India. Revised ed.,
Oxford, 1958.
Spate, O. H. K . India and Pakistan: a general and regional geography. 3rd ed.,
London, 1967.

C H A P T E R II

The Indus Civilization

(compiled by the Editor)
Mlchin, Bridget and Raym ond. The birth o f Indian civilization. Harmonds-
worth, 1968.
Fairservis, W alter A ., Jr. The roots o f Ancient India. New Y o rk , 1971.
Gordon, D . H. The prehistoric background o f Indian culture. Bom bay, 1958.
Lai, B. B. Indian archaeology since Independence. D elhi, 1964.
M arshall, Sir John. Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus civilization. 3 vols,, London,
1931.
Piggott, Stuart. Prehistoric India. Harm ondsworth, 1950 (and reprints).
Sankalia, H. D , Prehistory and protohistory in India and Pakistan. Bom bay,
1962.
Sankalia, H. D . Indian archaeology today. Bom bay, 1962.
Subbarao, B. The Personality o f India. 2nd ed,, Baroda, 1958.
Wheeler, Sir R. E. M ortim er. Early India and Pakistan. London, 1959.
Wheeler, Sir R. E. M ortim er. The Indus civilization. 3 rd ed., Cambridge, 1968.
502 Books for Further Reading

ch ap ter ill
The Early Aryans
Childe, V . G . The Aryans: a study o f Indo-European origins. London, 1926.
Crossland, R . A . ‘ Immigrants from the N orth ’, Cambridge Ancient History,
Vol. I, Chapter X X V II. Cambridge, 1967.
Geiger, W . ‘ L a Civilisation des A ry as’, L e Museon, III, pp. 430-438, and IV,
pp. 1 1-36.
La Vallée Poussin, L. de. Indo-Européens et Indo-Iraniens: l ’Inde jusque vers
300 av. J.C. Paris, 1924.
M ayrhofer, M. D ie Indo-Arier im allen Vorderasien. Wiesbaden, 1966.
Piggott, S. Prehistoric India lo 1000 B .C . London, 1962.
Tliieme, P. ‘ The “ A ry an ” gods o f the Mitanni treaties’, Journal o f the
American Oriental Society, Vol. 80 (i960), pp. 301 ff.

C HA PT ER IV
The Early Dravidians
Asher, R . E. (ed.). Proceedings o f lite second international conference-seminar
o f Tamil studies, Madras, rç6S. Vol. I. Madras, 1971.
Caldwell, R . A comparative grammar o f the Dravidian or South-Indian family
o f languages. 3rd ed., London, 1913.
Daniélou, Alain (tr.). Shilappadikaram (The Ankle Bracelet). London, 1967.
Kailasapathy, K . Tamil heroic poetry. Oxford, 1968.
Lahovary, N . Dravidian origins and the West. Bombay, 1963.
Mahadevan, I. ‘ Corpus o f the Tamil Brahmi inscriptions’ , in Seminar on in­
scriptions, pp. 57-73. M adras, 1966.
M arr, John R . ‘ Letterature dravidicHe’, in Storia delle letterature d'Orienle,
Vol. IV , pp. 559-626. M ilano, 1969.
M cCrindle, J. W . Ancient India. Vol. IV . Bombay, 1885.
Nilakanta Sastri, K . A . The culture and history o f the Tamils. Calcutta, 1964.
N ilakanta Sastri, K . A . Foreign notices o f South India. Madras, 1939.
N ilakanta Sastri, K . A . A history o f South India. 3rd ed., Madras, 1966.
Parpola, A sko, and others. Decipherment o f the Proto-Dravidian inscriptions
o f the Indus civilization. Scandinavian Institute o f Asian Studies Special
Publications N os. 1 to 3. Copenhagen, 1969-70.
Schoff, W . H. (tr.). Periplus o f the Erythraean Sea, with translation and anno­
tation. Philadelphia, 1912.
Thani N ayagam , X. S. (ed.). Proceedings o f the first international conference-
seminar o f Tamil studies. Kuala Lumpur, 1966. V ol. I. K uala Lumpur,
1968.
CHAPTER V
Asokan India and the Gupta Age
Kosam bi, D. D . The culture and civilisation o f Ancient India. London, 1965.
Majumdar, R. C . (ed.). The Gupta-Vakataka age. Lahore, 1946.
 Books fo r Further Reading 503

Majumdar, R. C. (ed.). History and culture o f the Indian people. Vol. III. The
classical age. Bombay, 1954.
Narain, A. K . The indo-Greeks. Oxford, 1957.
Nilakanta Sastri, K . A . (ed.). A comprehensive history o f India. V ol. II.
Calcutta, 1957.
Subrahmanian, N . Sangam Polity. Bom bay, 1966.
Thapar, R. Asoka and the decline o f the Mauryas. Oxford, 1961.
Warmington, E. H. Commerce between the Roman Empire and India. Cam ­
bridge, 1928.
Wheeler, R. E. M. Rome beyond the Imperial frontiers. London, 1957.
Yazdani, G. (ed.) The early history o f the Deccan. London, i960.

C H A P T E R VI
Medieval Hindu India
Devahuti, D. Harsha, a political study. Oxford, 1970.
Gopal, Lallanji. The economic life o f northern India (c. A .D . 700-1200)'. Delhi,
1965.
Nazim, Muhammad. Sultan Mahmud o f Ghazna. Cambridge, 1 931.
Nilakanta Sastri, K . A . The Colas. 2nd ed., M adras, 1955.
Ray, H. C. The dynastic history o f northern India. 2 vols., Calcutta, 1931-36.
Sewell, Robert. A forgotten empire ( Vijayanagar). London, 1924. (First ed.
1900).
Sharma, Brij Narain. Social life in northern India (A .D . 600-1000). Delhi,
1966.
Sharma, R. S. Indian feudalism c. 300-1200. Calcutta, 1965.
Tod, James, Annals and antiquities o f Rajasthan. Rev. ed., 2 vois., London,
1957-60 (first published, 1829).
Tripathi, R. S. History o f Kanauj. Benares, 1937 (reprints).

C H A P T E R VII
Hinduism
(compiled by the Editor)
Carpenter, J. Estliu. Theism in medieval India. London, 1921.
Crooke, W . Religion and folklore o f northern India. 2 vols., Oxford, 1926.
Eliade, M ., tr. Trask, W . R . Yoga, immortality andfreedom. (Bollirigen scries
N o . 56), New Y o rk , 1958.
Farquhar, J. N . An outline o f the religious literature o f India. 2nd ed., Oxford,
1920 (Indian reprint, 1967).
Farquhar, J. N . A primer o f Hinduism. 2nd ed., Oxford, 1912.
Gonda, J. Aspects o f early Vift.iuism. 2nd ed., Delhi, 1969.
Gonda, J. Visnuism and Sivaism. A comparison. London, 1970.
Jaiswal, Suvira. The origin and development o f Vaisyavism. Delhi, 1967.
 504 Books fo r Further Reading

Kane, P. V. History o f Dharmasâstra. 5 vols., Poona, 1930-62. (For reference.)

M ahadevan, T. M . P. Outlines o f Hinduism. 2nd ed., Bom bay, i960.
Radhakrishnan, S. Eastern religions and western thought. 2nd ed., Oxford,
1940.
Radhakrishnan, S. The Hindu view o f life. 10th impression, London, 1957.
Singer, Milton (ed.). Krishna: myths, rites, and attitudes. H onolulu, 1966.
Walker, Benjamin. Hindu World. 2 vols, London, 1969. (For reference.)
Zaehncr, R . C. Hinduism. Oxford, 1962.

CHAPTER v n i
Buddhism
(compiled by the Editor)
Bareau, A . Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule. Paris, 1955.
Conze, E. Buddhism, its essence and development. Oxford, 195 r.
Conze, E. Buddhist thought in India. London, 1962.
Dasgupta, S. B. Introduction to Tantric Buddhism. 2nd ed., Calcutta, 1958.
Keith, A. B. Buddhist philosophy in India and Ceylon. Oxford, 1923.
Lamottc, É fH istoire du Bouddhisme indien. Vol. I. Louvain, 1958.
Murti, T . R. V . The central philosophy o f Buddhism. London, 1955.
Robinson, R. 14. The Buddhist religion. Calcutta, 1970.
Stcherbatsky, T. Conception o f Buddhist Nirvana. Leningrad, 1927 (reprint,
The Hague, 1965).
Thomas, E . J. History o f Buddhist thought. London, 1933 (reprint, 1958).
Thom as, E. J. The life o f the Buddha as legend and history. London, 1927 (re­
vised ed., 1951).
Warder, A . K . Indian Buddhism. Varanasi, 1970.

C H A P T E R IX
Jainism
Basham, A . L. History and doctrines o f the Ajiuikas. London, 1951. (For the
historical background o f early Jainism.)
Glasenapp, H. von. Der Jainismus. Berlin, 1925 (photographic reproduction,
1964).
Handiqui, K . K . Yasastilaka and Indian culture. Sholapur, 1949.
Jaini, J. L . Outlines o f Jainism. Oxford, 1916 (revised ed., 1940).
Kalaghatgi, T . G . Some problems in Jaina psychology. Dharw ar, 1961.
Mehta, M. L. Jaina psychology. Amritsar, 1956.
Pndmarajiah, Y . J. Jaina theories o f reality and knowledge. Bom bay, 1963.
Rcnou, L. Religions o f ancient India. London, 1953.
Schubring, W. D ie Lehre der Jainas nacli den alien Quellen dargesteih.
(Grundriss. HI. -A. Berlin, l o i s fF.noIkh translation Dnlhi inA il
 Books fo r Further Reading 505

Tatia, N. Studies in Jaina philosophy. Banaras, 1951.

Williams, R. Jaina yoga. London, 1963.

CHAPTER X

Philosophy
(compiled by the Editor)
Chatterjee, S. and D atta, D . M. An Introduction to Indian philosophy. 5th ed.,
Calcutta, 1954.
Dasgupta, S. N . A history o f Indian philosophy. 5 vols., Cambridge, 1922-55.
Dasgupta, S. N . Yoga philosophy in relation to other systems o f Indian thought.
Calcutta, 1930.
D atta, D. M. S ix ways o f knowing. 2nd ed., Calcutta, i960.
Hiriyanna, M. The essentials o f Indian philosophy. London, 1949.
Keith, A . B. Indian logic and atomism. Oxford, 1921.
Müller, F. M ax. The six systems o f Indian philosophy. London, 1919 (reprint).
Potter, Karl H . Presuppositions o f India's philosophies. Englewood Cliffs,
N.J., 1963.
Radhakrishnan, S. Indian philosophy. Revised ed., 2 vols., London, 1958.
Radhakrishnan, S. and M oore, C . A. A source book o f Indian philosophy.
Princeton, 1957.
Srinivasachari, P. N . Adoaita and Visiftâduaita. Bom bay, 1961.

CHAPTER XI

Social and Political Thought and Institutions

Àiyangar, K . V . Rangaswami. Aspects o f ancient Indian economic thought.
Banares, 1934.
Aiyangar, K . V . Rangaswami. Aspects o f the social and political system o f
Manusmfti. Lucknow, 1949.
Altekar, A . S. State and government in ancient India. 4th ed., Delhi, 1962.
Chatterjee, Heramba. Law o f debt in ancient India. Calcutta, 1971.
Derrett, J. D . M . Religion, law and the stale in India. London, 1968.
Ghoshal, U . N . History o f Indian political ideas. Bombay, 1959.
Gonda, J. 'A n cien t Indian kingship from the religious point o f view.-’ Numeit,
Leiden, V ols. III-IV , 1956-57. Reprinted, Leiden, 1966.
Heesterman, J. C . The ancient Indian royal consecration. The Hague, 1957.
Kane, P. V. ‘ Ràjadharm a.’ History o f Dharmdsastra, Vol. I ll, pp. 1-24!.
Poona, 1946 .
Lingat, Robert. The classical law o f India. Berkeley, 1972.
Losch, Hans. Ràjadharma. Bonn, 1959.
Spellman, John, W . Political theory o f ancient India. Oxford, 1964.
Q k o rm q D Q 6 . >*>» . . . . ^ Î . . 1 .1 1 . . . ! . . . T S a II* . .n ^O
5o 6 Books for Further Beading

Sharma, R . S. Aspects o f politicai ideas and institutions in ancient India. Delhi,

1959-
Varraa, V . P. Studies in Hindu political thought and its metaphysical founda-
lions. 2nd ed., Delhi, 1959.

C H A P T E R XII
Science
Bhishagâcârya, G . M . History o f Indian medicine. 2 vols. Calcutta, 1923-26.
D atta, B. and Singh, A . N . History o f Hindu mathematics. 2 parts in 1 vol.,
Bom bay and London, 1962. (Has excellent bibliography at the end of
Part I.)
Filliozat, J. ‘ L ’Inde et les échanges scientifiques dans l’antiquité.’ Journal o f
World History (U N E SC O ), Vol. I, p. 353, 1953.
Filliozat, J. and others. ‘ Transmission o f scientific ideas and techniques.’
Indian Journal o f the History o f Science, V ol. V , N o . 2, Section X III, N ew
Delhi, 1970.
Gurjar, L. V . Ancient Indian mathematics and Vedha. Poona, 1947,
M enon, C . P. S. Ancient astronomy and cosmology. London, 1931.
Neugebauer, 0 . The exact sciences in antiquity. Copenhagen, 1951 ; Princeton,
1952.
Quaritch Wales, H. G . The making o f Greater India. London, 1951.
R ay, P. History o f chemistry iti ancient and mediaeval India. Indian Chemical
Society, Calcutta, 1956.
Sachau, E. C. Alberimi’s India. 2 vols, London, 1910.
Sanyal, P. K . A story o f medicine and pharmacy in India. Calcutta, 1964.
Scngupta, P. C . Ancient Indian chronology. Calcutta, 1947.
Sigerist, H . E. History o f medicine. V ol. II, Early Greek, Hindu and Persian
medicine. Oxford, 1962.
Winter, H . J. J. Eastern science (Wisdom o f the E ast series). London, 1952.

CHAPTER XIII

Ancient and Modern Languages

Andronov, M. S. Dravidian languages. M oscow, 1970.
Bloch, J. La développement de la langue marathe. Paris, 1915.
B loch, J. L ’Indo-aryen du Veda aux temps modernes. PariSj 1934.
B loch, J. Morphologie comparative des langues dravidiennes. Paris, 1946.
Burrow, T . The Sanskrit language. 2nd éd., London, 1959.
Chatterjee, S. K . The origin and development o f the Bengali language. Calcutta,
1926.
Chatterjee, S. K . Indo-Âryan and Hindi. 2nd éd., Calcutta, 1960.
Geiger, W . Pali Literatur und Sprache. Strassburg, 1916.
 Books fo r Further Beading 507
Macdonnell, A . A. Vedic grammar. Strassburg, 1910.
Pischel, R . Grommatile der Prakrit-Sprachen. Strassburg, 1900.
Renou, L . Histoire de la langue sanskrite. Paris, 1956.
Zvelebil, K . Comparative Dravidian phonology. T h e Hague, 1970.

CHAPTER XIV

Classical Literature
Asvagho?a. Buddhacarita, translated b y E. H. Johnston, Panjab University,
Calcutta, 1936, and Acta Orientalia, 1937; first part reprinted M otilal
Banarsidass, Delhi, 1973.
Bdna. Harfacarita, translated by Cow ell and Thom as, R oyal A siatic Society,
London, 1897.
B âça. Kâdambarï, translated by C . M . Ridding, R oyal Asiatic Society,
London, 1896.
Bhâsa. Translated by W oolner and Sarup as Thirteen Trivandrum Plays
attributed to Bhâsa, Panjab University Oriental Publications, Oxford
University Press, London, 1930-1.
Bhavabhüti. Mâlatimâdhava, translated (French) by G . Strehlÿ, Leroux,
Paris, 1885.
Bhavabhüti. Uttararâmacarita, translated (French) by N . Stchoupak, Institut
de Civilisation Indienne, Collection Émile Senart, Paris, 1935.
Gunâdhya. Bfhatkathà; the Slokasatpgraha by Budhasvâmin has been trans­
lated into French by Lacôte, Leroux, Paris, 1908-29.
Har$a. Naifadhacarita, translated by K . K . Handiqui, Deccan College M ono­
graph Series, Poona, 1956.
Kàlidâsa. Abhijnânasàkuntala and ‘Süd raka’ : Mpcchakajika, translated by
M onier W illiam s and Ryder in The Genius o f the Oriental Theater,
M entor Books, N ew Y o rk , 1966.
Krìshnamachariar, M . History o f Classical Sanskrit Literature, Oriental B ook
Agency, Poona, 1937, reprinted M otilal Banarsidass, D elhi, 1970.
Sâtavàhana or ‘ H à la ’ . Gâhâsattasaï (Saptasati), translated (Germ an) by
W eber in Abhandlungen fu r die Ktmde des Morgenlandes, Leipzig, 1870
and 1881, reprinted K raus, Liechtenstein, 1966.
Vidyâkara. Subhâfitaratnakofa, translated by D . H . H . Ingalls, Harvard
Oriental Series, Cam bridge, M ass., 1965, is an excellent anthology o f
Sanskrit lyrics from about 250 classical poets, readably translated with
good introductions.
VHàkhadattai Mudrârâkfasa, translated by K . H. Dhruva, Oriental B ook
Agency, Poona, 3rd ed. 1930. .
Viçnuiarman. Pancatantra, reconstructed and translated by F . Edgerton,
Am erican Oriental Series, N ew Haven, C onn., 1924.
W arder, A . K . Indian Kâvya Literature, M otilal Banarsidass, Delhi, V ol. I,
1972, V ol. H, 1973, Vol. I ll, in press.
 Books fo r Further Reading

CHAPTER xv
Early Ari and Architecture
Auboyer, J. in Eliky Zinrtif, Khajurâho. ’s-Gravcnhage, i960.
Auboyer, J. \n The.Oriental IVorld. London, etc.,' 1967.
Barrett, and Gray, B. The Fainting o f India. Cleveland, 1963.
Brown, P. Indian Architecture Buddhist and Hindu. 3rd ed. Bombay, 1956.
Coom araswam y, A . K . History o f Indian and Indonesian Art. London, 1927.
Frederic, L. Indian Temples and Sculpture. London, 1959.
G oetz, H. India: Five Thousand Years o f Indian Art. London, 1959.
Piggott, S. Prehistoric India. Harmondsworth, 1950.
Rawson, P. S. Indian Fainting. London etc., 1961.
Rowland, B. The Art and Architecture o f India. Revised edition. London, 1967.
Singh, M. The Cave Paintings o f Ajanta. London, 1965.
Wheeler, M . Early India and Pakistan. London, 1959.
Zimmer, H . The Art o f Indian Asia. N ew Y o rk , 1955.
Zimmer, H, M yths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization. N ew Y ork,
1946.
CHAPTER XVI

Music
Bake, A . A . ‘ The music o f ln d ia ’, in The new Oxford history o f music, Vol. I.
London, 1957.
Bhatkhande, V . N . A short historical survey o f the music o f Upper India.
Bom bay, 1934.
Bhatta'charya, S. Ethnomusicology and India. Calcutta, 1968.
D eva, B. C . Psychoacoustics o f rnusjc and speech, Madras, 1967.
Fox Strangways, A . H . The music o f Hindostan. Oxford, 1914.
G angoly, O. C. Rdgas and Rdginis. Bom bay, 1958.
Grosset, J. ‘ Inde: histoire de la rousique. in A . Lavignac, Encyclopédie de
la musique, V ol. I. Paris, 1921.
Jairazbhoy, N . A . The Rags o f North Indian music. London, 1971.
Joshi, B. and L obo, A . Introducing Indian music. Bom bay, n.d. (A series of
four records, with spoken text, musical examples and booklet.)
K aufm ann, W, The rdgas o f North Ipdia. Bloom ington, 1968.
Popley, H, A . The-music o f India. C alcu tta, 1950.
Powers, H. S. ‘ A n historical and comparative approach to the classification of
ragas (with an appendix on ancient Indian tunings)’ , in Selected reports.
Los Angeles, 1970.
Prajnananda, Swami. A history o f Indian music, V ol. I. Calcutta, J963.
Sam bam oorthy, P. South Indimi music. 6 vols., M adras, 1958-69.
Shankar, R . M y music, my life. N ew Y o rk , 1968.
Staal, J. F. Nambudiri Veda recitation. The Hague, 1961.
 Books fo r Further Reading 509
C H A P T E R XVII
The Muslim Ruling Dynasties
Ashraf, K . M . Life and conditions o f the people o f Hindustan (under the Sultans
before Akbar). 2nd cd., Delhi; 1959.
Athar A li, M . The Mughal nobility under Aurangzeb. Aligarh, 1966.
Ahm ad Aziz. Studies in Islamic culture in the Indian environment, Reprint,
Oxford, 1966. '
Bosworth, C . E. The Ghaznavids. Edinburgh, 1963.
Frykenberg, R . E. (ed.). Land control and social structure in Indian history.
Wisconsin, 1969.
.H abib, I. The agrarian system o f Mughal India. London, 1963.
Habib, M. and Nizâm ï, K . A comprehensive history o f India. V ol. V , Bom bay,
1970. ' ■
Hardy, P. Historians o f Medieval India. London, i960.
Hasan, I. The central structure o f the Afughal Empire. Reprint, K arachi, 1967.
Ikram, S. M . Muslim civilization, edited by T . Embreç Ainslie. N ew Y o rk ,
London, 1969.
Irvine, W. The army o f the Indian Moghuls. 2nd ed., New.Delhi., 1962.
M oreland, W . H . The agrarian system o f Moslem India. Cambridge, 1929.
Moreland, W . H . India at the death o f Akbar. London, 1920.
M oreland, W . H . From Akbar to Aurangzeb. London, 1923.
N igam , S. B. P. Nobility under the Sultans o f Delhi. Delhi,, i960, ..... .
Qureshi, I. H. The Muslim community o f the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent ( 610­
1947). The Hague, 1962. ' ‘ " "
Rizvi, S.-A . A . Religious and, intellectual history o f Akbqr’s reign. Delhi, in
press. . " ’ . '
Saran, P. Provincial government of'the Mughals. AJlahàbdd,1Ì9 4 i. v
Tripathi, R. P. Some aspects o f Muslim administration. 2nd rey. ed.", Ailaha?
■ bad, 1959. ;!,^ C v ’".'
;; Tripathi, R. P. Rise atte!fa ll 1963)

, C H A P T E R XVIII

Medieval Hindu Dèvotionalism

Appasam y, A . J. Temple bells: readings from Hindu religious literature.
Calcutta, 1930. . - i » dì:?,;:--,Ui'unh ib/
Barnett; L. D . The heart offndia;-.fNisàòtìi o f the ^ stséries> L,oh dóh;iÌ9qg;
Deleury, G . A . The cult ofV ifhoba.^Poona^:196a- - a a a v j w .J w :
Farquhar, J. N . An outline o f hie irëlig io m tit^ iitm êiû fÎm ia M ^ Æ im ^ ÿ S o }^
Jnânadeva. Jnâneshvari (BhâvarthàdîplkMMisàisïhŸ'NK G/'Pradhân, edv by
H. M . Lambert, 2 vols., London, 1967,1965. ., .
K abir. One hundred poems o f K a b ir,trans. b'ÿ Rabinijfahatli Tâgore, assisted
by Evelyn Underhill. London^ 9l5;.s. vJai
Kennedy, M. T . The Chaitanya Movement. Calcutta, 1925.
, 5 10 Books fo r Further Beading

Kingsbury, F. and Philips, G . E. (trans.). Hymns o f the Tamil Saivite Saints.

Calcutta, 1921.
Macnicol, N . Psalms o f the Maratha Saints. The Heritage o f India series.
Calcutta, 1919.
N ilakanta Sastri, K . A , Development o f religion in South India. Bom bay, 1963.
Ranade, R . D . Indian mysticism: mysticism in Maharashtra. Poona, 1933.
Rice, E, P. Kanarese literature. The Heritage o fln d ia series. Calcutta, 1921.
Tulsidas. Kavitàvali, trans, with critical introduction by F. R. Allchin.
London, 1964.
Westcott, G . H. Kabir and the Kabir Panth. Cawnpore, 1907.

CHAPTER x i x
Islam in Medieval India
Arnold, T . W . The preaching o f Islam. Reprint, Lahore, 1961.
Carpenter, J. E. Theism in medieval India. London, 1926.
de Bary, W . T. Sources o f Indian tradition. N ew Y o rk , 1958.
Hasrat, B. J. Dârâ Shikûh. Visvabharti, 1953.
' Hollister,,J. N . The ShVa oflndia. London, 1936.
Ja'far Sharif. Islam in India (Qânün-i IsIàm), trans, by G . A . Herldots.
Oxford, 1921.
N izâm l, K . A . Some aspects o f religion andpolitics in India during the thirteenth
century, Aligarh, 1961,
Qanungo, K . R. Dârâ Shukôh. Lucknow, 1953.
Rizvi, S. A . A . Muslim revivalist movements in northern India in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, Agra, 1965.
Sharma, S. R . The religious.policy o f the Mughal emperors. 2nd ed., London,
1962. __
Tara Chand. Influence o f Islam on Indian culture. 2nd ed., Allahabad, 1963.
Y u s u f H oszia.M edieval Indian culture. Bom bay, 1959.
Zaehner, R . C. Hindu and Muslim mysticism. London, i960.

CHAPT 8 R XX
Sikhism
Banerjee, Indubhusan. Evolution o f the Kitalsa. 2 vols., Calcutta, 1936.
Ganda Singh (ed.). Sources on the life and teachings o f Guru Nanak. Patiala,
1969.
Grewal, J. S. Guru Nanak in history. Chandigarh, 1969.
G upta, H ari Ram . A history o f the Sikhs. 3 vols., V ol. I, Simla, 1952, Vol. II,
Lahore, 1944.
Harbans Singh. The heritage o f the Sikhs. Bom bay, 1964.
K apur Singh. Parasharprasna or the Baisakhi o f Guru Gobind Singh. Jullundur,
1959.
 Books fo r Further Beading 511

Khushwant Singh. A history o f the Sikhs. 2 vols., London/Princeton, 1963,

1966.
Macauliffe, M . A . The Sikh religion. 6 vols., Oxford, 1909.
M cLeod, \V. H. Gurü Nânak and the Sikh religion. Oxford, 1968.
Sinha, Narendra Krishna. Rise o f the Sikh power. Calcutta, 1946.
Teja Singh. Sikhism: its ideals and institutions. Calcutta, .1951.
Trilochan Singh, et al. The sacred writings o f the Sikhs. London, i960.

C H A P T E R XXI

Medieval Indian Literature

Àjwani, L. H. History o f Sindhi literature. N ew Delhi, 1970.
Barua, Birinchi Kum ar. History o f Assamese literature. N ew Delhi, 1964.
Chatterji, Suniti Kum ar. Languages and literatures o f Modern India. Calcutta,
1963.
Contemporary Indian literature: a symposium. 2nd ed., N ew Delhi, 1959.
Iyengar, K . R . Srinivasa. Indian writing in English. Bombay, 1962.
Jesudasan, C . and H. A history o f Tamil literature. Calcutta, 1961,
Jhaveri, K . M . Milestones in Gujarati literature. Bom bay, 1914.
Jindal, K . B. A history o f Hindi literature. Allahabad, 1955.
Mansinha, M ayadhar. History o f Oriya literature. N ew D elhi, 1962.-
M ugali, R . S. History o f Kannada literature. N ew Delhi, English ed. in pre­
paration.
Parameswaran, P. K . History o f Malayalam literature. N ew D elhi, 1967.
Sen, Sukumar. History o f Bengali literature. N ew Delhi, i960.

C H A P T E R XXII

Muslim Architecture in India

(compiled by S. A . A . Rizvi)
Batley, G. The design development o f Indian architecture. Bom bay, 1965.
Briggs, M . S. Muhammedan.architecture in Egypt and Palestine. Oxford, 1924.
■Brown, P. Indian architecture: the Islamic period, 2nd ed,,Bom bay, n.d,
Cresswell, K . A . C . Early Muslim architecture. 2 parts, Oxford, 1932, 1940.
Cresswell, K . A . C. A provisional bibliography o f the Muhammadan architecture
o f India. Bombay, 1922.
Fergusson, J. A history o f Indian and Eastern architecture. 2 vols., London,
1910.
Havell, E. B. Indian architecture. London, 1914.
Havell, E. B. A handbook o f Indian art. London, 1920.
Hiirliman, M . Delhi, Agra, Fathpur-Sikri. London, 1965.
Pope, A . U . Persian architecture. London, 1965.
Rizvi, S. A. A . Fatehpür-Sikri. Delhi, 1972. (A brief guide)
512 Books fo r Further Reading

Rizvi, S. A . A . and Flynn, V . J. A . Fathpiir Sikri. Bombay, 1974. (Detailed

study.)
Saladin, H. Manuel d ’art musalman. Paris, 1907.
Smith, V . A . History o f fine art in India and Ceylon, revised by K . de B.
Codrington, Oxford, 1930.
Unsal, Behset. Turkish Islamic architecture. London, 1959.

CHAPTER XXIII

Medieval Indian Miniature Painting

Archer, W . G . Central Indian painting. London, 1958.
Archer, W . G . Indian painting in the Punjab hills. London, 1952.
Arnold, T. W . and Wilkinson, J. V . S. The Library o f A. Chester Beatty.
3 vols., Oxford, 1936.
Barrett, D . E. Painting o f the Deccan X V 1- X V I II century. London, 1958.
Barrett, D . E. and G ray, Basil. Painting o f India. Geneva, 1963.
Brown, Percy. Indian painting under the Mughals. Oxford, 1924.
Chandra, M oti. Jaina miniature paintings from western India. Ahm edabad,
1949 -
Chandra, M oti. Mewar painting. N ew Delhi, 1958.
Chandra, P. Bundipainting. N ew Delhi, 1959.
Coom araswam y, A . K . Rajput painting. Oxford, 1916.
D ickinson, E. and Khandatavala, K . Kishangadh painting. N ew Delhi, 1959.
Khandalavala, K . Pahari miniature painting. Bombay, 1958.
Khandatavala, K . and Chandra, M oti. New documents o f Indian painting.
Bom bay, 1969.
Skelton, R. Indian miniatures from the X V th - X I Xth centuries. Venice, 1961.
Stchoukine, I. La peinture indienne. Paris, 1929.
Welch, S. C. Arts o f Mughal India. New Y o rk , 1964.

C H A P T E R XXIV
The Portuguese
Boxer, C . R . Portuguese society in the tropics. Madison, W is., 1965.
Boxer, C . R. Race relations in the Portuguese colonial empire, 1415-1825.
O xford, 1963.
Boxer, C . R. The Portuguese sea-borne empire. London, 1969.
Potter, G . R. et al. (eds.). The new Cambridge modern history. Vols. II, III, IV
and V , Cam bridge, 1958-1970.
Cam pos, J. J. A . History o f the Portuguese in Bengal. Calcutta, 1919.
Chatterji, S. K . and Sen, P. M anoel da Assumpçam's Bengali grammar.
Calcutta, 1931.
Correia-Afonso, J. Jesuit letters and Indian history. Bom bay, 1955.
 Books fo r Further Reading 513

Lach, D onald F. India in the eyes o f Europe: the sixteenth century. Chicago,
1968.
Livermore, H. V . Portugal and Brazil. Oxford, 1953.
Maclagan, Sir E. D . The Jesuits and the Great Mogul. London, 1932.
Priolkar, A . K . The printing press in India. Bom bay, 1951.

C H A P T E R XX V

The Mughals and the British

L The Mughals
Bernier, F . Travels in the M ogol empire, edited by V . A . Smith and A.
Constable. 2nd ed., Oxford, 1934.
Brown, P. Indian painting under the Mughals. O xford, 1924.
Edwardes, S. M . and Garrett, H . L. O. Mughal rule in India. London, 1930.
Moreland, W. E. India at the death o f Akbar. London, 1920.
Qureshi, I. H. Administration o f the Mughal empire. Karachi, 1966.
Sarkar, J. A . History o f Aurangzeb. 5 vols., Calcutta, 1916-25; 3rd single­
volume ed., Calcutta, 1962.
Smith, V. A . Akbar, the Great Mogul. Oxford, 1917.
Smith, V. A . History o f fine art in .India and Ceylon, revised by K . de B.
Codrington. Oxford, 1930.
Spear, T . G . P. The twilight o f the Mughuls. Cambridge, 1951.
Villiers-Stuart, C . M . Gardens o f the Great Mughals. London, 1913.
II. The British
Archer, W . G . Indian painting fo r the British. London, 1955.
Mayhew, A . The education o f India. London, 1926.
Misra, B. B. The Indian middle class. London, 1961.
O ’ Malley, L. S. S. (ed.). Modern India and the IVest, London, 1941.
Spear, T . G . P. History o f India, Vol. 2, The Mughals and the British. 4th im­
pression, London, 1970.
Spear, T. G . P. The Oxford history o f modern India. Oxford, 1965.
Thompson, E. and Garratt, G . T. Rise and fulfilment o f British rule in India.
London, 1934.
Wint, G . The British in Asia. 2nd ed., London, 1955.
Woodruffe, P. The Men who ruled India, Vol. I, The founders', Vol. II, The
guardians. London, 1953, 1954.

CH APTER XXVI

Religious and social reform in British India

Ahmed, A . F . Salahuddin. Social ideas and social change in Bengal 1818-1835.
Leiden, 1968.
514 Books fo r Further Reading

Chintamani, C. Y . Indian social reform. Madras, 1901.

Farquhar, J. N. Modern religious movements in India. London, 1924.
Heimsatb, C . H. Indian nationalism and Hindu social reform. Princeton, 1964.
Irschick, E. F. Politics and social conflict in South India: the non-brahman
movement and Tamil separatism, 1916-1924. Berkeley, 1969.
Kum ar, R. Western India in the nineteenth century. Canberra, 1968.
Lajpat Rai, Lala. The Arya Samaj. An account o f its origins, doctrines, and
activities, with a biographical sketch o f the founder, Swami Dayananda
Saraswati. London, 1915.
Natarajan, S. A century o f social reform. Bom bay, 1959.
Ranade, M . G . Religious and social reform. A collection o f essays and speeches,
edited by M. B. Koiaskar. Bom bay, 1902.
Saradananda, Swami. Sri Ramakrishna, the great master, trans, from the
Bengali by Swami Gagadananda. M adras, 1965.
Sen, P. K . Biography o f a new faith. 2 vols., Calcutta, 1950, 1954.
Sivanath Shastri. History o f the Brahrno Samaj. 2 vols., Calcutta, 19x1, 1912.
W olpert, S. A . Tilak and Gokhale. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1962.

CHAPTER XXYJI
Islamic Reform Movements
Ahm ad, Aziz. Islamic modernism in India and Pakistan. London, 1967.
Ahm ad, A z iz and yon Grunebaum , G . E. Muslim self-statement in India and
Pakistan. Wiesbaden, 1970.
Ahm ad, Qeyamuddin. The Wahabi Movement in India. Patna, 1966.
A ziz, K . K . (ed.). Ameer A li: his life and work. Lahore, 1968.
Baljon, J. M . S. The reforms and religious ideas o f Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan.
Leiden, 1949.
Ikram, S. M . Modern Muslim India and the birth o f Pakistan. Lahore 1965.
Jalbani, G . N . Teachings o f Shah Waliyullah. Lahore, 1967.
K han, M . A . History o f the Fara'ldi Movement in Bengal. Karachi, 1965.
M alik, Hafeez. Moslem nationalism in India and Pakistan. Washington, 1963.
Philips, C . H. (ed.). The evolution o f India and Pakistan, 1858-1947. London,
1962.
Qureshi, I. H. The struggle fo r Pakistan. K arachi, 1965.
Rizvi, S. A . A . Muslim revivalist movements in Northern India in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. Agra, 1965.

CHAPTER XXVIU
The Nationalist Movement
Bondurant, Joan. Conquest o f violence: the Gandhian philosophy o f conflict.
Princeton, 1958.
Bose, Nirm al K . Studies in Gandhism. Calcutta, 1962.
 Books fo r Further Reading 515

Brecher, Michael. Nehru: a political biography. London, 1959.

Gandhi, Mohandas K . An autobiography, or the story o f my experiments with
truth. Ahmedabad, 1940; London, 1966.
Heimsath, Charles H . Indian nationalism and Hindu social reform. Princeton,
1964.
Kumar, Ravinder (ed.). Essays on Gandhian politics: the Rowlatt Satyagraha
o f IÇIÇ. Oxford, 1971.
Lewis, Martin D . (ed.). Gandhi: maker o f modern India. Problems in Asian
Civilizations series. Boston, 1965.
Low , D . Anthony (ed.). Soundings in modern South Asian history. London,
Berkeley, Canberra, 1968.
M cLane, John R. (ed.). The political awakening in India. Englewood Cliffs,
1970.
Park, Richard L. and Tinker, Irene (eds.). Leadership and political institutions
in India. Princeton, 1959.
Rudolph, Lloyd I. and Susanne H. The modernity o f tradition: political de­
velopment o f India. Chicago, London, 1967.
Smith, Donald E. (ed.). South Asian politics and religion. Princeton, 1966.
Wolpert, Stanley A. Tilak and Gokhale: revolution and reform in the making o f
modern India. Berkeley, 1962.

CH AP TER XXIX

Modern Literature
See bibliography to Chapter X X I,

CHAPTER XXX
Early Contacts between India and Europe
(compiled by D r. F. Wilhelm)
Basham, A . L . (ed.). Papers on the date o f Kanifka. Leiden, 1968.
Cary, M . and Warmington, E. H . The Ancient explorers. Hannondsworth,
1963-
Derrett, J. D . M . ‘ Greece and India: the Milindapanha, the Alexander-
romance and the Gospels ’, Zeitschriftfiir Religions- undGeistesgeschichte,
Vol. X IX , pp. 33 ff. Cologne, 1967.
Gary, G . The medieval Alexander. Cam bridge, 1956.
Majumdar, R . C . Classical accounts o f India (compiles the translations o f
J. W . M cCrindle). Calcutta, i960.
Narain, A . K . The Indo-Greeks. O xford, 1957.
Rawlinson, H . G . Intercourse between India and the Western World. C am ­
bridge, 1916 and later editions.
Warmington, E. H. Commerce between the Roman Empire and India. C am ­
bridge, 1928.
Wheeler, Sir Mortimer. Rome beyond the Imperial frontiers. London, N ew
Y o rk , 1955.
 INDEX
Abbreviations
ajch.— archaeological
c.-— city
dyn.— dynasty
k.— king
le g .— le g e n d a ry
A b a y a w e w a , C e y lo n , irrig a tio n la n k , 145
‘A b b â s id C a lip h a te , 156 , 24 5, 249, 4 3 7, 4 5 1 ,
4 6 1;
a r m y , 248;
C o u r t o f, 4 6 7 ;
a n d Iltu tm is h , 250
'A b d u ’ l H a k im S iâ lk o t l, M u lla , 292
‘A b d u ’l H a q M u h a d d is D e h la w l, S h a ik h ,
S ü f î s c h o la r, 289, 291
‘A b d u 'J lâ h , S h a ik h , P e r ip a te tic .s c h o la r ,
290
'A b d u llâ h K h â n U z b e g , ru le r o f T r a n s o x i-
a n a , 4 6 2 -3
‘A b d u 'lla h S h a ttà rI, S h a ik h , fo u n d e r o f
S ü fl o rd e r, 288
A b d u l M a lik , A ss a m e s e w rite r, 4 19
'A b d u ’ i M a lik , C a lip h , 245
A b d u l Q a d lr, 2940.
’A b d u 'I Q â d ir B a d â ’ ü u l, M u lla , see B a d â '-
Ont
‘A b d u 'I Q â d ir J llâ n l, S h a ik h , fo u n d e r o f
Q â d ir i S ü f l o rd e r, 289
‘A b d u ’l Q u d d ü s , S h a ik h , 286
’A b d u ’ l W a h h S b M u lta q i, S h a ik h , 466
‘A b d u ’r R a h m â n C h is h ti, M u s lim s c h o la r,
291
‘A b d u ’r R a ü f o f S in g k e l, S h a ttà rI s ch o la r,
4 6 6 -7
‘ A b d u s -S a m a d , K h w â ja , p a in te r, 328
abhang, see klrtan
abhaya, ‘ s e c u r it y ’, in p o litic a l sen se, 139
abhaya mudra, h a n d -g e s tu r e in B u d d h is t
ic o n o g r a p h y , 458
Abhidharma, ‘ h ig h e r D h a r m a ’ o r p h ilo ­
s o p h y , in B u d d h is m , 9 1 , 93
Abhidharma Hrldaya, B u d d h is t treatise,
145
Abhtdharma-koia, 'T r e a s u r y o f th e A b h i­
d h a r m a ’ , H in a y â n a tre a tise , 93
Abhidharma Pitaka, th ird s e ctio n o f the
P â li C a n o n , 89, 9 1 - 2
AbhiJiidnaSBkuntaia, 'T o k e n S a k u n t a la ’, see
Éakùntàla
A b h in a n d a , w rite r, 188
A b h in a v a g u p ta , p h ilo s o p h e r an d c r itic , 174,
175, Î H
M .P .— M a d h y a P ra d e sh
n.— p ro p e r n am e
pl.— p la c e nam e
reg.— regio n
U .P .— U tta r P ra d e sh
Abhisârtkâvaiicitaka, p la y , 183
abhlieka, ’ a s p e rs io n ', r o y a l c o n s e c r a tio n ,
B u d d h is t r it e f o r tr a n s fe r o f s p iritu a l
p o w e r, 92
Bbhog, m u sica l m o v e m e n t, 232
A b h o l, p o r t , 257
a b lu tio n , ritu al, 312
A b o r ig in e s , 61 ;
A u s tr a lia n , 6
A b ra m s , I., p ain te r, 484
À b ü , M o u n t, tem p les o f , 102, 3 1 5
A b ü B a k r, first C a lip h , 245
A b ü jlâ m id a l- G h a z â li, see G h a z â li
A b ü H a n lfa o f K ü f a h , 282
A b u 'l F a z l ‘A b d u 'r R ahm ân S u y ü tl,
s c h o la r, 466
A b u ’ l F a z l ‘A llâ m l, S h a ik h , M u g h a l c h r o ­
n icle r, 329, 344, 3 5 3 , 466, 469
A b u 'l H a n lfa o f K ü f a h , 282
A b u ’l H a s a n , p a in te r, 330
A b u ’ l H a s a n a l- À s h 'a r l, see A s h 'a r i
A b u 'l Q â s u n a l-Q u s h a irl, see Q u s h a lri
A b ü M a n sü r a l- M â tu r ld i, 283
A b u S a y e e d A y y ü b , B e n g â lï w r ite r, 420
A b u T a m m â m , p o e t, 248
A b y s s in ia , see E th io p ia
A c a d e m ie s , N a tio n a l a n d S ta te , 422
ac cen t, Y e d ic , an d m u s ic , 2 1 3 - 1 4
A c h a e m e n ia n d yn , o f P e rs ia , 56 , 444;
in In d u s V a lle y , 54
A c h e h , Isla m in , 466, 4 6 7
A c h in ty a S e n g u p ta , B e n g â lï n o v e lis t, 4 18
A c k e r le y , J .R ., 395
a c to rs , 172, 175 , 179
Acts o f Judas Thomas, 432
A c y u t a r â y a , k ., 19 5
A d a m , 28r
A d a m a n tin e W a y , see V a jr a y â n a B u d d h is m
A d a m B S n ü rl, S h a ik h , 292
addhâ tintai, m u sica l tala, 229
A d e n , 4 33, 434, 465
A d h a m IG iâ n , b o m b o f , 321
adharma, 'u n r ig h te o u s n e s s ’, a n d dharma,
128; in Jain ism , 1 0 3 -4
A d i B r â h m o S a m â j m o v e m e n t, 369
Adi Cranth, see Gurü Granth Sdhib
520
'Adii Shâhi dyn. of Bijâpur, 257
Adina Masjid mosquc, Gaur, 318
Uditala, lime measure, in music, 227, 22$
Âdivâsï, aboriginal tribes, 234
administration, 132-4;
of Delhi Sultanate, 250;
Mughal, 350-52,353; of Akbar, 260, 261 ;
British, 355-6;
local, 137;
see also bureaucracy, civil service
adoption, 130
adultery, 127, 132
Advaita, monism, 81, 119, 194
adventurers, as lndianizers, 446
advesha, ‘ non-hate’, in Buddhism, 96
advisers, Indian, in South-East Asia, 446
aerophones, 234
Aesop, 439
aesthetics, Sanskrit, works on, 211
Afghanistan, 21, 38, 53, 54-5, 221, 247, 265,
. 3 io;
Aryans in, 26;
Hellenization in, 4!, 45;
trade with, (8
Afghânpur, near Delhi, 254
Afghans, 255, 258, 264, 265, 290, 307, 353;
tribal organization of, 351 ;
In India, 55, 56, 256; in Balban’s army,
251; as Delhi Sultans, 256, 257-8;
rivalry between, 259; tinder Akbar,
261; under Shâh Jahân, 292; as rulers,
349; as zamïndârs, 261;
and horse trade, 465
Africa, 239, 341, 465;
Ahntadi movement in, 388;
art of, 484 ;
nationalist movements in, 404;
and trade, 257, 340
see also East Africa, South Africa, West
Africa, and individual countries
African National Congress, 404
Africans, in India, 7
Afridis, rebellion of, 263
Agam, category of Tamil poetry, 35
àgama, religious scripture, 170;
Buddhist, 171; Hînayàna, 90;
Jaina, 179
Agamaçlambara, ‘ Pomp o f the Scriptures’ ,
play by Jayanta, 189
Agamemnon, 428
Agarkar, writer, 4(2
Agastya, writer, 194
Age of Consent Bill, 374
Agesilas, craftsman, 432
agglutination, in Dravidian languages, 31
Aghâ Khan Ilf, 389
Agni, god o f fire, 23-24, 25, 142
agnlcayana, ritual preparation o f fire for a
Vedic sacrifice, 146
Index
Agnivarçia, k., 182
Agnivcia, physician, 149
Agra, U.P., 4, 259, 260, 263, 264, 277, 346,
347. 463. 466;
foundation of, 258;
architecture of, 320, 352; fort, 321, 362;
palaces, 323, 353; Jesuit chapels, 344;
English merchants in, 471
agriculture, 5, 145;
‘ slash and burn’ , 235;
Indus Valley, 17;
Mauryan, 38, 40;
under Shâh Jahân, 262;
rise in output of, 489
ahimsâ, non-injury to men and animals, 52,
75, 79 !
Jain concept of, 101, 103, 106, 109, n o ;
in Buddhism, 109,1 10,480; under Afoka,
42 , 43 !
Gandhi and, 394;
see also non-violence
ahl-i hadith, followers o f Muhammad’s
traditions, 383, 388-9
Ahmadâbâd (Ahmedabad), Gujarat, 102,
468;
foundation of, 256;
architecture of, 319, 320
Museum, 328
Ahmad bin ‘Abdu'l Haq, Süfi, 286
Ahmad Ganj Baksh, tomb of, 320
Ahmad ibn Hanbal, jurist, 282
Ahmadi movement, 387-8, 389
Ahmadnagar (Ahmcdnagar), 257, 264, 333;
sultans of, 282, 338, 462;
end of, 261
Ahmad Sarhindi (Mujaddid), Shaikh, t66,
291, 292, 467
Ahmad Shâh, ruler o f Gujarat, 256
Ahmad Shâh Abdâii, Afghan ruler, 300, 383
Ahmad Shâh Durrâni, Afghan ruler, 265
Ahobala, writer, 194
Ahoms, people, 262
Aibak, see Qutbu’d-Din
Aiholc (Aivalli), shrines at, 205
Â'ln-i-Akbarl, 'Institutes of A kb a r’, 350,
351, 466
‘Ainu’l M ulk Multânî, governor o f Avadh,
*55
airyanam vaëjô, Aryan homeland, 21
Aitareya BrShmapa, 27
Aivalti, see Aiholc
Aiyar bràhmans, 214
Ajantà, arch, site, 3, 208, 314;
paintings of, 48, 178, 199, 200, 207, 327,
492; influence of, 484 .
a/tva, 'means o f livelihood’, in Buddhism,
98
ajlva, ‘ non-soul’, ‘ non-living’, in Jainism,
103, 104
 Index
Ajivika sect, 41, 101, 121;
monks of the, 313;
determinism o f the, 79
Ajmer, Rajasthan, 249, 251. 262, 285, 311,
315;
architecture of, 323; mosque, 317
Ajneya, writer in Hindi, 418
Ajôdhan (Pâk Pathan), Panjâb, 285
Akaba, G u lf of, 425
Akâli party, Sikh, 301
â-kâr tans, musical improvisation, 232
ôkâsa, in Jainism (‘ space’), 104; as ‘ ether’ ,
118
Akbar, Mughal emperor, 102, 157, t95, 221,
259-61, 265, 341, 356, 470;
conquests of, 256, 293;
foreign relations of, 462, 463;
Court of, 466, 469;
and Ihtisâb, 263;
attitude to religion of, 288, 289, 290; to
Christianity, 344, 345; to Hinduism,
472; Divine Faith cult of, 350, 354;
policy o f universal concord of, 291 ;
as patron o f arts and sciences, 290; o f
architecture, 320, 321, 352; of painting,
328,329, 3531
tomb of, 322
Akbar, son o f Aurangzeb, 264, 464
Akbar Naina, ill.. MS. of, 329
Akhtâq-i-Nâsiri, philos, work, 289
Akhtàr Mohiuddin, Kashmiri writer, 419
âkhyâna, ‘ epic’ form o f literature, 170
akshara, mus. term, 226, 227
Ataler Gbarer Dulâl, novel, 410
‘Alamglr, ‘ World Conqueror’, see Aurang-
2eb
Alamgirpur, U .P., 11
'Àlam Shâh, Saiyid sultan, 25S
alaitkaras, ‘ ornamentation’, lit. term, 173
Alâol, Bengâlîpoet, 309
âlâp (alò pana), mus. movement, 229-33
passim
A l Aqmar mosque, 312
‘ A li’ u’d-Daula Simnanì, Shaikh, Sufi
scholar, 288, 290, 291, 466
‘A là’u’d-Din ‘Alt bin Ahmad Sabir, Shaikh,
Süfi, 286
‘A l l ’u’d-Din Bahman Shâh, 257
‘A lâ'u’d-Dîn Khalji (Jahân-Sôz), Delhi
sultan, 58, 221, 247, 252, 253, 259, 284,
287, 317,461
Al-Azhar University, Cairo, 38S
Albanian language, 22; Sanskrit poems in,
482
Albïrünî (al-Blrûni), A b u Raihân, 155,438,
467
Albuquerque, Affonso de, 337, 339, 345
alchemy, 158, 187, 455
Aleppo, Syria, 470
521
Alexander the Great, 38, 43, 56, 129, 433,
4441 -
Jn India,'54, 429;
death of; 430;
romance of, 430
Alexander, k. o f Epirus, 431
Alexandria, Egypt, 431, 433, 439;
trade with Malabar of, 434;
Indian merchants in, 435;
as centre o f learning, 437, 438
algebra (bija), 147, 154, 155, 156
‘Ali, Caliph, first Imâm, 245, 282, 290
‘A li A kbar Khân, Ustâd, musician, 485
Aligarh, U .P., 389; Muslim University at,
386; A . Movement, 383, 391
‘A li Mardân Khalji, 249
'Ali Muttaqi, Shaikh, 466
Allah, 237, 274, 281, 283
Allahabad, 46; architecture of, 320, 321
All-India Oriental Conference, Third, 33
All India Radio, 239-40
All-India Trade Union Congress,’ 379
All-India Women’s Conference, 382
Almagest o f Ptolemy, 152
al-manazil, moon-stations, 143
alphabets, 166; Malayâlam, 168; see also
scripts
Alpine, human type, 6, 17
Alptigin, Turkish leader, 246, 310
alobha, ‘ non-greed’, in Buddhism, 96-
altars, 14, 21, 142, 146; falcon-shaped,! 147
Alvars, Tamil Vaishnavite hymnodists, 267,
304; hymns of, 58, 278
amalaka, top of temple tower, 314
Amaracandra, epic writer, 193
Amaràvati, arch, site, 198, 202; stupa at, 45,
199;
influence of, 207; in South-East Asia, 446
Amar Dâs, Gurü, 298
Amaruka, poet, 183
Amazons, 435 ’
Ambarnâth temple, 209
Ambedkar, B.R., 99, 380, 390, 495
Amber, 259, 331; 332; see also Jaipur
America, 341, 377, 404, 414;
influence in South-East Asia of, 451 ;
South, 341 ; Spanish, 340
'Bmils, administrative officials, 248
amir, governor or official o f high rank, 246
Amir Khusrau, poet, 221, 237, 306, 316,329,
461,469
Amitâbha, ‘ Infinite Light’, 97;
the Buddha of, 91, 94, 459; paradise of,
456 .
AmitSyus, ‘ Boundless Life’, 97
Amherst, Lord, Governor-General 182,
407
ntoha, ‘ non-delusion’ in Buddhism, 95
mrita, see elixir o f immortalitv
522
Armila Kunda, hatha-yogic treatise, 287
Amritâ Sher Gil, painter, 492
Amritsar, Puqjâb, 301
Anâgârika Dharmapâla, founder o f Mahà-
bodhi Society, 99
ananda, ‘ bliss’ , 1 19
Ananda, disciple o f Buddha, 436
Ananda temple, Pagan, 449
Anandasmidart, play, J96
Anandavardhana, literary critic, 173, 174,
177, 182, 189
AnangasenBharinandin, play, 180
Ananta, writer, 194
Anargharaghava, drama, 188
onâtmâ, ‘ n o-self, Buddhist doctrine of, 87
Anatolia, 33, 250
anatomy, 150
Anàvlà brâhmans, Gujarât, 402
ancestors, 130;
songs of, 235;
worship of, 458
Andersen, Hans, 446
Andhaka, demon, 188
Andhra Empire, see Sâtavâhana dynasty
Andhra Pradesh, 263, 304, 402;
language and literature in, 167, 194;
Andhra tribe, 27.
AAga, reg., 27, 28
Angad, G urü, 294
Angkor, 207, 450;
A . Thom, 447 !
A. Wat, 443 . 449
Anglo-Indians, 7
Anguttara NlkSya (Ekottaragarm), Pàli
text, 90
Anhilwâra,-battle of, 247
animals, domestication of, 17;
Hindu attitude to, 75;
slaughter of, 102;
in fables, t8o, 439-40;
io Chinese sculpture, 458
animism, 70, 100, 234
Aniruddha, grandson o f Krishna, 184, 291
Ankiyâ NSI, folk drama, 4 1 1
AiiJanSsundart, Jaina novel, 194
Annadâshankar Rây, writer in Bengâlï, 416,
420
Annam, coast of, 450
Anquetil-Duperron, Abraham-Hyacinthe,
473. 49 6
anlara, musical movement, 232
antaryâmin, (Antar-ydmin), 'inner control­
ler’ in Hinduism, 69, 112
Antialcidas, n., 432
Antigonus Gonatas, k. o f Macedonia, 431
Antioch, Syria, 431, 433
Antiochus I, 430-31
ants, leg., 426
Antwerp, 340, 344
Index
ami, see atoms
anudâtta, in Vedic chant, 213, 214, 215
anudruta, musical term, 226, 227
anupallavl, musical movement, 231
anuprekshS, Jaina concept, 108
Anuràdhapura, Ceylon, 145
Anushlrvân, Sâsânian k., 439
anuaralas, Jaina vows, 107
anySpadeias, ‘ citations of something else’,
Bhallata’s collection of, 190
Aonla, pl., 251
Apabhrantfa, medieval vernacular language,
89, 102, 166, 187, 189, 303;
date of, 165;
literature in, 188, 190, 191;
and Hindi, 195
Âpastamba, author o f sütras, 146, 147
Apollinaire, Guillaume, 479
Apollonius of Tyana, 435
apsarases, nymphs, 204
Apte, Hari Nàràyan, novelist, 412
Àqâ Rizâ, painter, 330
aqueducts, 311
Arabia, 309, 425, 465;
trade with, 257, 340
Arabian Nights, 439
Arabic lang., 167, 307, 495;
script, 166, 167;
as medium for exchange o f ideas, 438;
translations into, 437, 467;
accounts of India in, 464
Arabs, 257, 389, 43s, 437;
expansion of, 243, 248;
in Sind, 53, 54 !
as traders, 7, 464;
and learning, 438; astronomy, 153;
mathematics, 156;
architecture of, 315
contribution to music of, 225
ara chaulai tâta, musical classification, 228
A ral Sea, 2t
Arâm Shâh, son of Aibak, 250
Aranyaka Parvan, ill. M S. of, 328
Ara(|a tribe, 28
Arberry, A.J., 283
arch, 3, 314, 316;
horseshoe, 313;
H in d u ,321
Muslim, 312, 313; Persian, 317, 323;
Mughal, 353
Archaeological Survey ofln d ia, 210
archaeology, in India, 478
in South-East Asia, 443, 444, 445, 448,
452-3
architecture, 3, 203, 210;
pre-Muslim, 312-15; Indus civilization,
11-15 , 142; post-Indus, 198; Buddhist,
200; Jain, too, 102; Hindu, 58, 204-9,
316; Chola, 57;
 Index 523

Muslim, 310-325; influence of Hinduism Hindu, 197, 203-9;

on, 318, 319, 320. 321. 324, 352-3; Jain, loo, 102;
beginnings of, 3 11; Mughal, 4, 320-24, Mughal, 326; see also painting;
352-3; _ Bengâli folk, 203 ;
Portuguese, in India, 345-6; Portuguese, 344-5;
British, in India, 357-8; influence o f British on, 358
modem, 325 n., 484, 492; influence on West of, 197, 209-10, 484,
Indian, and the West, 325, 353, 484; 496;
in South-East Asia, 443, 447, 449, influence on China of, 458-9;
450 future of, 498
Ardhamâgadhi language, 102, 165 art, and architecture in South-East Asia,
Arhant, Buddhist, one who has reached 443 , 447. 449 ; in Thailand, 453-4;
Nirvana, 87, 93, 96 psychedelic, 484
Arik(k)amedu, arch, site, 33, 434, 445 Artaxerxes Mnemon, 426
Aritfanemicarita, epic, 188 Arie da lingua canarini, 343
Aristotle, 6j, 70, 1 17 artha, wealthy rz6, 130, 138 ,139; a.-ioslra,
Aristoxenus, 429 politics and economics, 130, 134
ariyan1 ajlhaiiglkam maggnin, see Path, Anhaiâstra, text on polity ascribed to
Noble Eightfold Kautilya, 2, 39, 130-31, 139. J43,;
ariyarjt âyatanarjt, North India, in Pâli, 30 on taxes, 40; '
'ârli-1-mamâlik, army minister, 252 on guilds, 41 ;
Arjan, Gurü, 298, 301 discovery of, 145
Arjuna (Kartavirya), leg. hero, 8r, 171,283, artillery, 258, 259
i8 j, 189 artisans, 41
Armenian tang., 22 Aruni Gautama (Uddâlaka Aruni), philo­
Armenoid, human type, 6, 33 sopher, 78
arms, 298 ârya-, meaning of, 20
army, 55, 307; Aryabhata I, astronomer and mathemati­
Mauryan, 39. 43 ! cian, 48, 153, 154, 155
Arab, in Sind, 245 ; Aryabhata II, astronomer, 154
o f Mahmüd, 246; Aryabhatiya, astronomical treatise, 154
Ghürid, 247, 258; Aryan, misuse o f term, 24-5
o f Prithviràja, 247; Aryan Eightfold Path, see Path
o f Iltutmish, 250; Aryanization, 27-8, 41;
o f Balban, 251 ; In South India, 57
o f 'A là’u’d-Dln, 252, 256; Aryan language, too,.425;
Tughluq, 254; division in, 162
o f Bahlol Lodi, 258; Aryans, 20-29, 62, 100, t62, 426;
o f Bàbur, 258; date o f detachment from other Indo-
Mughal, 260, 262, 351; o f Aurangzeb, Europeans, 22;
339 ! coming to India o f the, 6 -7 ,19 , 20-21, 24,
o f Sivâjl, 263-4; 25,142;
Portuguese, 339; migration route of, 26, 27;
Indian, at Independence, 399,487; expansion of, 27-8;
takes Portuguese possessions, 338 in Near East, 23, 24, 26-7;
Pakistani, 400; in Panjâb, 54; language of, 425;
see also Indian National Arm y culture of, 40;
Amimal, poetess, 309 and after-life, 78;
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 478 influence o f philosophy of, 167; legacy of,
Arnold, Sir Thomas, 287 2;
Aror, pl., 245 see also Vedas
Arorâ, mercantile caste, 301 Aryan Truths', in Buddliism, 85-6
arsenals, 339 Arya Samâj, Hindu'reform movement, 371,
Arsinoe, see Suez 372, 379-80, 387, 388, 391 ,- 392, 393.
art, Indian, 210, 451, 453 400;
perishable nature of, 197; growth of, 376;
Mauryan, 326; split in, 378
‘ Buddhist, 45, 201-3, 43 * i it e also Gan- Arya Sangha, ‘ Assembly o f the Elect’, see
dhâra; Sanglia
 S24 Index
Àryâvarta, ‘ the country o f the A ryans’,
North India, 20, 28
osobtyah, Arab tribal tradition, 245
Àsàf Jâht dynasty of Hyderabad, 333
âsona, posture, in yoga, 116
ÀsandivaDt, pl., 28
Asanga, Buddhist philosopher, 92, 94
Ascaryaciidamaiti, drama, 188
Ascaryamaiijari, novel, 189
ascetics, asceticism, 76, 129, 132, 184, 268,
394. 4371
Jain, 100, 102, 106-7, 108;
Chishti, 286;
o f Dayananda, 371;
and art, 210;
in literature, 193
al-Ash'ari, A bu ’l Hasan, founder o f
A sh ’ari school, 283
Ash’arites, 283, 286;
school o f katBm of, 390
Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi, 325 n.
ashram, ‘ hermitage’, o f Aurobindo, 378;
o f Gandhi, 481
Ashtdngahridaya Samliitâ, medical treatise,
157
Asia, science in, 141 ;
trade in, 340, 341 ;
cultural influence on'West of, 496-7;
see also Central Asia, East Asia, South
Asia, South-East Asia, Western Asia,
and individual countries
Asia M inor, 23, 425, 430, 470;
Indian philosophy in, 435;
folk-stories reach, 439;
Ionian Greeks of, 426
Asiatic Society o f Bengal, 409, 473, 477
Asiatic Society o f Bombay, 331
.ksir, pl., 257
Asita, sage, 436
Aim aka, pi., 28
Asnî, pl., 249
ASoka (Devanampiya Piyadassi); Mauryan
emperor, 2, 38, 40, 41-2, 44, 88, 97,
198, 430, 457 ; .
as Dharmarâja, 98 ; ‘
non-violence of, 52;
sends Buddhist missionaries, 431;
and Kalinga, 444;
Chinese image associated with, 458;
architecture of, 312-3;
inscriptions and edicts of, 39, 40, 41-2,
98, 100, 150, .163, 154, 165;
pillars, Asokan, 255;
A , Chakra, 99
Ssratnas, the four stages of life, 128, 129-30
Asrar-ai-Insan, ’ Secrets o f Human Beings’,
SOft work, 467
Assam (Kâmrüp), viii, 51, 195, 256, 310,
4i f .
chronicles of, 308 ;
devotional hymns of, 2S0; poetry of, 308,
415;
Maithili in, 306;
language of, 166, 406, 407, 413;
Mughals in, 262, 263;
Burmese and British and, 413
assembly ball, Mohenjo-dâro, 12
Assembly o f the Elect, see Sangha
Assumpçào, Manoel da, 343
Assyrians, philosophy of, 427
astrolabe, 158
astrology, 494;
astronomy, astronomical, 3, 45, 141, 143,
144, I 5 I - 4. 155, 16a, 438, 467;
Gupta, 48;
Jain, 102, 144;
Hindu, and Arabs, 156;
Mughal, 158;
Indian, in China, 458
Asvajit, Arhant, 85
asvamedha, royal horse-sacrifice, 51, 181
Aivins, Vedic twin gods, 149
Afvagbosha, Buddhist poet and philo­
sopher, 164, 176-7, 178, 211
Atâla Masjid mosque, Jaunpur, 318
Atgah Khan, tomb of, 32)
A Char ‘Ali, scholar, 262
Athan>a-Veda, (>2, 70, 112, 147
Athens, Indians in, 429
âtmâ (Atman), the soul, the self, identical
with Brahman, the World-Spirit, 68,
69, 80, 101, 108, 113-14, 1 19, 120, 498
atoms (anu), atomism, doctrine o f para-
mama,
in Jainism, 103, 146; and Buddhism,
144- 5 ; .
in Sânkhya philosophy, 115;
in Vaileshika philosophy, 6 j, 144-5
Atreya, Punarvasu, physician, 149
Attila, 49
Attlee, Clement, 397
Atula, writer, 191
Atwell, A .‘, 484
aucitiya, ‘ harmony’, literaiy term, 173
Aufrecht, Theodor, 478
Die Augen des ewigeit Bruders, ‘ The Eyes of
the Eternal Brother’, 480
Augustinian church, G oa, 346
Augustus, Roman emperor, 258, 433
Aurangabad, pl., 292
Aurangzeb (‘Alamgir), Mughal emperor,
262-74, 289, 324, 339, 350, 352. 463-4;
and Deccan, 255;
failure of, 265;
and Sunni orthodoxy, 292;
dcath'of, 56, 383;
and architecture, 320, 324;
and painting, 330
 Index
Aurangzebe by Dryden, 472
aurasa, legitimate son, 130
aurei, Roman currency, 433
Aurobindo Ghose, Sri, 377, 378, 391, 392,
4(2, 420, 484;
influence on writers or, 416
Aurora, see Ushas
Auroville, Pondicheny, 484
Australia, 392, 404
Austrie languages, 303, 406
autocracy, military, in Pakistan, 400
Avadh (Oudh, Awadh), 250, 255,164, 386;
Hindu chiefs of, 256;
Shi'a rulers in, 265
Avadhi language, 306, 309;
A-Hiodi, 308
avadhi, Jain concept o f knowledge, 103
avaidika, non-Hindu, 66
AvalokitcSvara (Kuan Yin), Bodhisattva of
Compassion, 94, 4S9
Avanti (Mâlava), reg., 28, 191 ;
k. of, 185
Avantisundari, novel, 18s
Avatamsaka, ‘ Ffower-Ornament ’ sutras, 91
avatâr(a)s, incarnations o f a god, especially
of Vishnu, 80-81, 266
Avesta, sacred text of Zoroastrianism, 147,
473 J
language of, 21
Avimdraka, play, 179
Avicenna, 283, 289, 438;
philosophy of, 292
avidyâ, ‘ ignorance’,
in Buddhism, 85;
in Y oga, n s - 1 6 ;
in Hindusim, 428
'Awârifu't-Ma'ârif, work on Süfism, 284
axes, socketed, 18
ayanas, time cycles, 143
Ayodhyâ, c., 176
ayurveda, science o f longevity, system of
Hindu medicine, 147, 150, 493
A'zamgarh publishing house, 388
‘Azizu’llâh, Shaikh, scholar o f Peripatetic
school, 290
Babà Ratan, see Ratan al-Hindi
Babrius the Greek, 439
Bâbur, Mughal emperor, 55, 290, 328, 349,
353 ;
military operations of, 56, 258-9, 320;
and religion, 289;
gardens of, 352
Babylon, 433;
astronomy of, 143, 152, 153
Bactria, Bactrians, 43, 49, 246,435;
Greeks of, in Panjâb, 55, 431 ;
coins of, 478
Badakhshân, prov. o f Afghanistan, 462,463
525
Bâdâmi (Vàtàpi), Châlukya capital, 205;
Hindu cave-temples at, 297
Bâdarâyana, philosopher, 1 19
Badâün, reg., 251, 258, 466
Badâ’ûni, ‘Abdu’l Qadir, historian, 290,291
Badr al-Din Tayyibji (Tyabjee), Congress
leader, 387
Badru’d-Din Ghaznavi, Sufi, 285
bâdshâh, see padshah
Bâdshâhi mosque, Lahore, 324
Baghdâd, 246, 439, 461;
‘Abbàsids of, 245;
law in, 282;
learning in, 437;
captured by Turks, 463
Baghclkhand, reg. near Âgrâ, 262
Baglâna, reg., Deccan, 253
Bahadur Shâh of Gujarat, 256
Bahadur Shâh, last Mughal emperor, 491
Bahâ’u’d-Din Muhammad Naqshband,
Khwàja, 289
Bahâ’u’d-Dîn Zakariyya, Shaikh (Sliaikhu’ l
Islam, ‘ Leader of Islam ’), 284
Bahlol Lodi, Delhi sultan, 256,257,258,288
Bahmani dyn., 256, 257, 286
Bahman Shah (Hasan Gangawi), Bahmani
sultan, 255
Baiju Bâvrà, musician, 221
Bairâm Khan, regent for Akbar, 259
Baker, Sir Herbert, 357
Bakhshâli manuscript, 156
Bakht Khân, leader in Mutiny, 386
Bakhtiyûr Khalji, Turkic chief, 249, 250
Bâlabhârata, kâvya epics, o f Amaracandra,
' 93,'941
of Agastya, 194
Bâlacandra, writer, 193
Bàladeva, Indonesian king, 449 .
Bâlarâmâyana, play by Râjasekhara, 189
Balban, Delhi sultan, 251, 254,258, 287,461
Bali, demon, 191
Bali, Hindu culture in, 442
Balkh (Bactra), Afghanistan, former capital
o f Bactria, 246, 290, 431, 462;
Mughals and, 262, 463
baliistae, 55, 245
Baltimore, U.S., 329
Balto-Slavonic languages, 22
Balûchistân, Pakistan, 141, 462;
Dravidian-speakers in, 31, 167
bimsri, musical instrument, 233
Bâpa, author, 52, 173, 181, 184, 190, 191,
438
Baqa, demon, 191
banana trees, 385
Banaras, see Vàrânasi
Banda, Sikh leader, 300
Bandar ‘ Abbas, Iran, 465
Bande Mâtaram, journal, 378
526
bandobast, revenue system of Todar Mal,
355
Bandopâdhyây, M., see under Manck
Banerji, Shashipada, reformer, 375, 381
Bânglâdesh, viii, 167, 400, 405, 407, 422,
488
Baniâ caste, 402
BaniySn al-Ktiffar, Indian merchants in
Arabia, 465
Banka Island inscription, 157
bankers, Hindu, and medieval trade, 465
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, novelist and
reformer, 274, 373, 377, 378, 381, 391,
410, 411,413, 414. 4 >9,494
Bannerjce, Pandit Nikhil, musician, 485
Bannerji, Bibhûti Bhushan, 418
Bannerji, Târàshankar, writer, 418
Bâqi Bi’llah, Khwâja, Naqshbandî saint,
289, 291,467;
sons of, 292
Barâbar caves, 198
barâ khyâl, form o f vocal music, 232, 233
Baran (Bulandshahr), U .P., 249
Barani, Ziyàu’d-Din, historian, 250, 251,
252, 289
Barbar, Persian Gulf, 18
Barcelor, Portuguese in, 337
Bardes, near G oa, 341
Bardesanes, Gnostic teacher, 435
Bardoli satyagraha, 395, 402
bards (sàtas), 170, 216, 236
Bareilly, U .P., 251
Barèlwî, principality of, 384
bargirs, auxiliary troops, 264
Bargosa (Barygaza?), pl., 433
Barham, John, 485
Barid ShShi, sultanate o f Bidar, 257
Barlaam and Josaphat, 440
Barnadi R ., 262
Baros, Sumatra, 445, 450
Barqah (Barka), Libya, 245
Barrackpore House, Calcutta, 357
Barros, Portuguese chronicler, 338
Bartu, Hindu tribal chief, 251
Baruâ, Padmanâth Gohâin, Assamese
writer, 413
Barwàr tribe, 253
Barygaza (Broach), Gujarât, 433, 435
Basava, Saivite teacher, 37, 279, 304
Basàwan, painter, 329, 330
Bashir, Malayâlam writer, 419
basilicas, Christian, 313
Basilides, Gnostic teacher, 437
Basohli style o f painting, 332
Basque language, 32
Basra, Iraq, 439 . 463. 470
Bassein, Bombay, 338;
churches of, 345, 346
Basu, Manomohan, playwright, 411
Index
bath, great, of Mohenjo-dâro, 1 2
bathrooms, 147
Baudelaire, Charles, 419
Baudhayana, author o f sütras, 146, 147
Baudhayana Dharntasiifra, 28
Bayana, Muslim garrison town, Rajasthan,
251
Bâyazid BistSmi, Muslim mystic, 467-8
Bayon, Angkor Thom, 447
beads, from
Indus valley, 18;
Oc-Eo, 445
beans, 427
Beâs R., 54, 297
'Beatles, the' and Indian music, 485
Bedi, writer in Urdu, 419
Beer, Michael, 475
Begram, ivories from, 198
Behan, Hans Sebald, 345
Belür temple, 209
Benares, see Vârânasï
Bendre, writer, in Kannada, 416, 420
Benfield, Paul, 356
Bengal, 45, 54 . 238, 264, 340, 341, 342, 349,
. 392.400, 40 1,411,450, 451,465;
Aryans in, 28;
Pâlas of, 53;
Turks in, 249;
and Delhi Sultanate, 251, 254, 255, 317;
Shàhì dyn. of, 256;
Shêr Khân Sur as king of, 259;
Mughals and, 259, 261;
British in, 265, 356, 359;
famine in, 355;
religious and social reform in, 366-9, 370,
374. 375. 378, 381;
nationalism in, 361, 373, 393;
partition of, 381, 389; revision of, 396;
Buddhism in, 58; monasteries of, 202;
bhakti in, 236, 267, 271-4, 308;
tantricism in, 267;
Sûjfls in, 284, 285-6, 288;
Muslim converts iu, 293;
influence o f Maithili in, 306;
art of, bronzes, 3 ; folk, 203 ; painting, 492 ;
Muslim architecture in, 318
intelligentsia of, 408;
Western influence in, 367, 381;
literary renaissance in, 375, 409, 412, 413,
414-15; revolt against, 418;
West, 167; and Muslim reform, 384;
East, Muslim reform in, 384-5; Muslims
of, 389
Bengal, Bay of, 57, 445. 449. 450
Bengali, lang., 166, 167, 406, 407, 409-jo,
416;
grammar of, 343;
literature in, 308, 369, 409, 4 11, 417, 418,
422
 Index
Bentinck, Lord William, Governor-General
1828-35, 360;
language decision of, 362
Berâr, sultanate of, 257
Berenice, port of, 433
Bergson, Henri, 483
Berlin, 475
Bernier, François, 351, 472
Besant, Mrs. Annie, 381, 391, 393
Beschi, Father Costanzio, 33, 409
Besnagar, Madhya Pradesh, 203 ;
column from, 43 r-2
Bhadrabâhu, Jain teacher, 101
bhadralok, Extremist Nationalists, Bengal,
393
Bhâgabhadra, k., 432
Bhagatrâv, on K im R., 11
Bhavagadajjukiya, comedy, 179
Bhagavad Gita, Hindu religious text, 3, 58,
72, 75. m . 121-2. 123. 392, 438, 483.
, 496;
in Marathi, 269;
first English translation of, 473;
commentary on, 119, 306;
and bhakti, 266;
Islamic explanation of, 291 ;
Aurobindo studies the, 378;
Blake and the, 477
Bhâgavata, Vaishnava sect, 122
Bhâgavata Parana, 61, 58, 194, 195,-236, 269,
271, 277, 307;
ill. MS. or, 328;
Kannada trans, of, 279;
Tamil translations of, 278;
Telugu translation, 280;
commentaries on, 273;
and bhakti, 267
Bhairava, see Siva
Bhairaui, râga, musical classification, 221,
226; that, musical term, 224-5
bhaishajya, medical remedies, 147
Bhâî Vir Singh, writer, 413
Bhâjà, Buddhist caves at, 200
bhajan (abhang), devotional song, see kirlait ;
b. mandais, gatherings of religious
votees, 237
bhakti, devotion to a personal god, 3, 48,
74-5, 266, 306, 308, 368, 370, 495,498;
Saivite, 279;
Vaishnava, 307;
Krishna-inspired, 271;
ladder of, 273;
o f Kabir, 274; of-Tulsidas, 276;
o f Sürdâs, 277 j
and Chinese Buddhist cults, 456;
early, o f Bhagavad Gita, 266;
new, first,appearance of, 266-7;
movement','.58, 120, 287, 295;
origin and spread of, 37, 266-8;
527
in South India, 278;
and coming o f Islam, 269;
effect on Hinduism of, 280;
and music, 231, 236;
literature of, 232; poetry, 269, 287,304,
306,308,417
bhakti-marga, ’ Way o f D evotion’, 120
Bhallata, writer, 190
Bhâmaha, writer, 172-3, 185
bhanas, satirical monologues, 179
Bhândarkâr, R .C ., 370
Bharata, author of Ndtyaidstra, 172, 218
Bharata, brother of Râma, 176, 178, 186
Bhârata battle, 183, 184
Bharata, campii by Ananta, 194
bharatandtyam (Bharata Ndtyam), S. Indian
dance form ,.175, 231
‘ Bharatendu’, see Harischandra
Bhâratï, Tamil writer, 4 13 ,4 14 ,4 15 , 416
Bharat Mâtâ (Mother India), goddess, 494
Bhâravi, poet, 183
Bhârhut, arch, site, 198, 435;
stupa at, 45;
sculpture of, 439
Bhâr M al, Ràja o f Amber, 259
Bhartrihari (Bharlrhari), poet, 185, 472,
476;
H. Hesse and, 479
Bhâsa, dramatist, 178-9, 180, 183, 186, 196
Bhâskara I, astronomer, 153
Bhâskara II, astronomer, 153, 154, 156-7
Bhatadipika, mathematical commentary, 154
Bhâtiâ caste, 402
Bhâtkhande, Pandit V .N ., 224
Bhattâchârya, Bhabâni, 420
Bhattâchârya, Biren, Assamese writer, 419
Bha|ti, poet, 184, 185; see also Bhartrihari
Bhaumaka, see Bhosa
Bhavabhüti, dramatist, 173, 175, 186, 188,
493
•bhavana, ‘ meditation’, in Buddhism, 96
Bhavdnl Mandir, pamphlet, 378
Bhdvarthadipika, see Jndnésvari
Bhdvdrtha-rdmdyana, commentary, 269
bhdvas, ‘ emotions’; in drama, 172
de­
Bhâvc, see Vinobâ Bbave
Bhavifyadatta, novel in verse, 190
Bhela, physician, 149
Bhela Samhità, medical treatise, 149
bherd, ceremonial boat, 385
bheshaja, medical charms, 147
Bhikshtt-Sangha, Order o f Monks,
. Sangha
Bhikshuni-Sangha, Order o f Nuns, 87
Bhils, tribes, 262
Bhilsâ, Madhya Pradesh, 252, 258
Bhlma, leg. hero, 184, 189
Bhima, see Bhosa
Bhiniapardkrama, play, 188
 528
bhinna giti, musical form, 219, 220
Bhitargaon temple, 206
Bhogavo JR., 14, 17
Bhoja, k., 146, 174, 180, 191
Bhojadeva inscriptions, 157
Bhojpuri dialect, 222, 306, 308
Bhopal, M .P., 325
Bhosa (Bhaumaka, Bhima, Yyoja) poet, 185
Bhubaneswar temples, 58, 206-7
Bhùmara, shrine at, 204
Bhutan, painting in, 203
Bible, the, 409, 470, 492;
Old Testament, 2; Gospels, 436;
Polyglot, 345;
commentary on, 3S6
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 474
bhl'a, innovation in Muslim belief or prac­
tice, 389
BFdar, Bahmani capital, 257;
architecture of, 319
Bidyâpat, see Pilpay
Bihâr, 54, 83, 256, 260, 355, 402;
Guptas of, 51 ;
Pa las of, 53
Buddhism in, 58; monasteries of, 202;
Turks and Afghans in, 259
languages of, 306, 406;
political agitation in, 401
Bihâri, language, 166
Bihâri(Iàl), poet, 306, 308
btja, ornaments, 17
bijaganita, branch of mathematics, 156
Bija-Ganita, mathematical treatise, 157
Bïjàpur, 257;
Mughals defeat, 261-2;
capture of, 264;
sultans of, 263, 338, 462;
and Shi'is, 282
Mughal architecture in, 320, 324;
painting in, 333
Bikaner school o f painting, 331-2
Bilgràm, battle of, 259
Bilhana, poet, 191, 328
Bimbisàra, k. o f Magadha, tot
binila, zero, 157
Bindusâra, Mauryan k., 38, 41, 430-31
biography, 308
biology, 159
birds, paintings of, 330
birth control, 489
al-Birûni, see Albirünï
Bishandas, portraitist, 330
Bishnu D e, Bengali writer, 418
Bismillah Khân, Ustàd, musician, 485
black civil rights movement, U.S., 404
Black Narcissus, 481
Black Pagoda, see Konârak
Black Sea, 431
Blake, William, 477
Index
Blavatsky, Madame H.P., 482
boar, incarnation of Vishnu, 205
Bocarro, Portuguese chronicler, 338
Bodhâyana, playwright, 179
Bodh Gayâ, arch, site, 83, 130, 198, 202,
450
Bodhi tree, under which Buddha obtained
enlightenment, 202
Bodhisattva,
in Htnayâna Buddhism, a previous in­
carnation o f the Buddha;
in Mahâyana, a heavenly being who post­
pones his Buddhahood to work for the
welfare of the world, 87, 91, 93, 94, 96,
202, 456;
B. plays, 184
Bdhtlingk, Otto von, 478
Bolan Pass, 262
boi tâas, type of musical improvisation, 232
Bom Jesus, 345; •
façade of, 346
Bombay, 208, 209, 315, 337, 397, 398, 401,
403, *412, 416, 425, 493;
intellectuals of, 372;
reform in, 380;
painting in, 358;
theatre in, 421 ;
Asiatic Society of, 331
Bonn, 475
‘ Bonophül’, writer, 418
Book o f the Dead, 2
books, 465; Book Trusts, 422
Bopp, Franz, 475, 477
Borghese Madonna, 345
Borneo, 448;
gnomon of, 158
Borobudur, Javanese tcmple-mountain, 203,
443. 449, 484;
dale of, 453
Bose, Buddhadeva, writer, 418
Bose, Sir Jagadis Chunder, 159
Bostam, Persia, 316
botany, 159
‘ Both G o to M eet’ ( Ubhayâbhisârikâ),
play, 1 7 9
Boutta, see Buddha
Bower, Lieut. A ., 149; B. manuscript, 149­
150
B o x e r, C .R ., 339
bracket-capitals, 313, 314, 321
Brahmà, god, 72, 138, 181, 213, 367, 475;
birth pf,' 429
Brahma, poem by Emerson, 477
brahmacàri, Vedic student, the first asrania,
129
brahniacharya, celibacy, 394
brahntodarsana, insight into truth, in Hindu­
ism, 63
Brahmagiri, arch, site, 33
 Index 529
Brahmagupta, astronomer and mathemati­ Braj-bhâshâ, Hindi dialect, 167, 195, 306,
cian, IJ3, 155, 156 308,411
Brahman, the World-Spirit, 69, 80, m - 1 2 , Brancusi, Constantin, 484
113, 118, 119, 120, 428 Brazil, 340, 343
Brahmanas, texts on sacrificial ritual, 20, 27, breath control, 148, 215, 286
28, 143, 146, 170; Brecher, Michael, 391
date or, 162; bricks, fired, II, 12, 13, 14, 17, 141, 147
transmigration in, 428 Brighton, Royal Pavilion at, 484
Brahmdnda, Golden Egg, 429 Brihadàranyaka Upanishad, 78
Brahmanism, see Hinduism Briluiddesi of Matanga, 218, 219, 220
brahmans, brâhmanas, the priestly class, 2, Brihajjâtaka, work on astrology, 151
45, 98, 100, lo t, 114, 121, 131, 132, Br(t)hatkath5, collection o f stories, 165,176,
162, 270, 275, 371, 372, 376, 377, 428 183, 185, 191, 192
429, 430, 435. 473 ; Brl,i)hatsttbhadraka, comedy, 184
Aiyar, 214, 215; Brindâban, see Vrindâvan
AnàvIS, 402; Britain, 367, 369, 379. 421;
K u h n , 4 11 ; Celtic, 142;
Vaishnavite, 267; Sikhs in, 30m.;
as gurus, 129; pressures for social reform in, 360
and war, 55 ; British, 399;
and kshatriyas, 138; in India, 195, 339, 470-71, 481, 491;
and slavery, 130; debt to Mughals of, 349-52, 354-7,
as judicial assessors, 134; and law, 135; 358 ;
in medicine, 149; attitudes of, 352, 356, 473-4;
position and duties of, 125, 128, 204,213, criticism o f rule of, 405;
214; and North-West frontier, 259;
in Vedic times, 28 ; and Marâthâs, 265;
in A iok an times, 42; in Bïjâpur, 324;
in Gupta times, 48-9; assumption of government by Crown,
land grants, to, 47, 79; 354 !
persecution of, 256; annexation o f Assam, 413;
and jizya tax, 255; and Indian nationalism, 391;
as Mughal officials, 261 ; and Muslims, 384, 3 85 , 3 87. 389;
and bhakti movement, 266; opposition to, 379. 384, 386, 390;
in literature, 163, 183, 189, 193; departure of, 396-7, 487;
and Pythagoras, 427; and Indian art, 210; and architecture,
opposition to, 275, 280, 370, 372, 380; 324, 325; painting, 331, 357;
non-bràhman movements, 380, 381, and public welfare, 360;
398, 401-2, 403, 494; and reduction in death-rate, 489;
in South-East Asia, 442, 446, 447; as impact on India of, 348-9, 365, 366;
lndianizers, 452; compared with Mughal, 363;
position o f today, 494 effect on language and literature of,
brahmamibhava, intuition o f reality, in 164, 167, 196;
Hinduism, 63 as purveyors o f Western culture, 358,
‘ Brahma R ites' o f Debcndranath Tagore, 362;
368 nature o f contribution to India of, 354,
brahmasamsparsa, contact with the supreme, 357-63; to Pakistan, 400;
in Hinduism, 63 constitutional policies of, as model, 392
BrSlwiasphnta Siddh'nta, mathematical British East India Company, see East India
treatise, 155 Com pany
Brahma Stitras, 58, III, 119, 120 British Empire,
Brahmayaâas, dramatist, 180 colonics of, 39, 404;
Brâhmi script, inscriptions in, 32, 33, 34, end of, 404
41-2 British Government, 397, 408;
Brâhmo Sabhâ, see Brâhmo Samâj Cabinet delegation o f 1942, 390;
Brâhmo Samâj, Hindu reform movement, Cabinet Mission o f 1946, 491
3 6 7 -8 , 36 9 , 371 . 3 7 6 , 377 , 378 , 3 8 t. British Museum, 329
4*7 Brittany, 448
B r â h ü î ia n g ., 3 1 , 33, 167 Broach, see Barygaza
530
Bromfìeld, Louis, 481
bronzes, bronze-casting, 3;
Indus Valley, 16, 17;
Chola, 57, 208;
o l dancing Siva, 81;
Tantric, 203;
Buddha images in South-East Asia, 202
Brooke, Raja Sir James, 446
Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 458
Brussels, anti-imperialist conference at, 404
Buck, Pearl, 481
Buddha, vi, 29, 64, 87, 92, 94, 95, 96, to t,
162, 166, 171, 200, 427, 436, 437, 456,
478, 487, 489;
date of, 83;
Enlightenment of, 83, 83;
at Sarnith, 198;
converts Nanda, 211 ;
death of, 426; date o f 99;
deification of, 84;
as Dharma, 85;
and Arhant, 93
and guru, 95 ;
teachings of, £8, 88, 100;
influence of, 2;
and language, 163, 164;
in literature, 188;
and Josaphat, 440;
and Devaraja cult, 447;
Mao Tze-tung as, 460;
representations of, 201, 432;
images, 158, 201, 202; in South-East
Asia, 446; Thai, 450, 453; in China,
458 , 459
Buddhacarita, 'L ife o f the Buddha’, 177
Buddhadeva Bose, see Bose
Buddhaghoja, Buddhist commentator, 188
Buddhahood, 93 ; Supreme, 96
Buddha-principles, Five, 203
Buddhism, t, 63, 83-99, 101, 111, 121, 123,
189, 314. 431, 442, 477. 483;
spread of, 3, 29;
and merchants, 41, 201, 43s;
and Hinduism, 62;
A iokan, 42;
B. councils, 4 s ;
schism in, 88;
three stages of, 92-5;
oral tradition of, 88-9;
Menander converted to, 431 ;
Kanishka converted to, 432;
in Gandhàra, 201;
Church of, in Gupta times, 47;
Pâia support of, 54;
decline of, 41, 58,98-9, 202, 203;
decadent, in Bengal, 271;
revival of, 99, 482, 495
and transmigration, 78
and ahimsa, 109, 427;
Index
cosmology of, 144;
doctrine o f (Dharma), 84-7;
spiritual training of, 95-7;
social and political ideals of, 97-8, 138;
scriptures, 87, 88-92, 176, 200, 203;
language of, 163, 164;
transmitted to East Asia, 201 ;
and West, 478;
lyrical, 175, 178;
in China, 455-6, 459-60;
date of arrival, 45;
persecution and adaptation of, 457,
459;
effect on Chinese art of, 458-9;
in South-East Asia, 447, 449, 451 ;
in Transoxiana, 289;
influence of, 436;
and Western literature, 480;
art of, 197, 198-9; monuments, 312-13;
and medicine, 150;
see also art, architecture, monks, mis­
sionaries, philosophy
Buddhist Council, Fourth, 45
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, 164
Buddhists in India, number of, 99
Bughrâ Khan, son o f Balban, 251, 254
‘ Building of the Causeway’, epic, 182
Bukhara, U.S.S.R., 246, 262, 463
Bukka, co-founder o f Vijayanagara, 255
Bufand Danvâza, ‘ high gateway’,Fatehpur-
Sikri, 322
bull, worship of, 2
Bulley Shâh, poet, 309
bullion, 340
Bundelkhand, reg., M .P., 54, 262
Bundi school of painting, 331
bungalows, 484
Buranjls, Assamese court chronicles, 308
bureaucracy, 131, 133-4, 358, 398;
Mauryan, 38, 39, 43;
Gupta, 46-7;
post-Gupta decline of, 51;
Chola, 57;
in Delhi Sultanate, 250, 287 ;
Mughal, 351,352, 354; under Aurangzeb,
263;
under British, 355-6; at independence,
399 !
in literature, 192;
see also administration, civil service
Burhânpur, M.P., 257
burials,
Indus Valley, 18; Sialk, 433;
‘ Megalithic’, 448;
Chinese, 458
Burke, Edmund, 360
Burma, 99, 403, 448, 449, 450; Chola ex­
pedition to, 57 ;
Buddhist monasteries in, 200;
 Index 531
Indianized stales in, 442; Cape o f G ood Hope route, 340, 464
Indian images in, 446; The Captive Ladle, 420
Mon art of, 447; Caraka, see Charaka
occupation o f Assam by, 413; Caraka SamhltS, medical treatise, 143, 149
Lower, archaeological finds in, 453 caravans, 433
Burmans, 449 Carbon-14 dating, 18-19, '6o
Bumouf, Émile Louis, 478 Carey, William, 409
BCtstan, ill. MS. of, 326 Carlyle, Thomas, 476, 477
Biistan al Salatili 'G arden o f K in gs’, cartaies, Portuguese safe-conducts, 339
history of kings of Acheh, 467 cartography, 339
butchers, 98 Câmdatta, n., 179
Buzco, Father, 347 Cdrumati, novel, 176
Byron, Robert, 311 Caryanda, pi. 426
Byzantine empire, 245 casados, Portuguese settlers, 338, 346
cashew nuts, 338, 341
Cadiz, 340 Caspian Sea, 21, 44, 431
Cairo, 282, 311, 312, 316, 324; Castanheda, Portuguese chronicler, 338
schools of learning in, 437 caste system, 22, 41, 49, 127, 276, 358, 363,
Cakrapanivijaya, epic, 191 370, 498; origins of, 29;
Calcutta, 342 , 367, 3 7 1 . 375. 39 L 4«2, 4 ° 8, rules, 126;
416,421; sub-castes, 50;
architecture of, 357; mixed castes, 129; intermarriage, 133;
drama in, 411 ; agricultural, 401 ; and Home Rule, 402;
as educational centre, 413; c. organizations, 376
intelligentsia of, 372, 415; and guilds, 45;
Medical College of, 362; and warfare, 55;
Sanskrit College, 407-8; in Buddhism, 98;
University of, 160 and bhakti movement, 266, 268;
Caldwell, R., 32 and Chaitanyites, 273;
calendar, 153 and politics, 138;
Calicut, port, 342, 464, 470; and defeat of Hindu India, 247;
Zamorin of, 338 in Mughal times, 261 ; and conversion to
California, 483 Islam, 288;
calligraphy, 312 and Sikhism, 298, 301 ;
caliph, title of, representative or successor in Madras, 375, 381;
(of Muhammad), 461 and medicine, 362;
Caliphate, spiritual and temporal leader­ attacks on, 274, 275, 368, 370, 372, 379­
ship, 310 380;
Câlukyas, see Châlukyas and nationalism, 393, 401;
Cambay, 318, 465; degeneration of, 377, 489;
G ulf of, 14 see also classes, jdti
Cambodia, 47, 157, 443, 444; Catalogus Catalogormn, 478
;Hindu-type temples of, 205 cathedrals, 357
Camôes (Camoëns), Luiz Vaz de, 344, 470 Catholic Church, 342, 344;
camphor, 466 Indian members of, 346;
campii (champft), literary genre, 173, 187, ritual, 437;
190, 194, 196, 304 see also missionaries
Canada, 391 Caturmukha, writer, 188
Capakya, see Kautilya Caucasian languages, 32
Cânakya-ntti, collection o f wise sayings, 124 Caucasoid, human type, 6, 7
canais, 255 Caucasus, 53
Ca ndakattiika, drama, 190 Caurapahcdiika (Chaurappnchaiikd), elegy
Câpdâla, forest tribe, 27 by Bilhana, 191, 328
Candra, names with, see also Chandra causation, in Buddhism, 144
Candragomin, dramatist, 180, 184, 190 cavalry, 55 ; Ghurid, 247
Candraiekhara, writer, 196 caves, artificial, 2, 200;
Cannanor, Portuguese settlement, 337 monasteries, 198; —
Canning, George, Prime Minister 1827, 359 as Hindu shrines, 204;
Canterbury Tales, 81, 439, 440 temples, 207, 208, 435
532 Index
Cedi tribe, 27 Chambai R., 251
Celebes, see Sulawesi Champa, 157;
celibacy, 394 Buddhists in, 45;
Celtic languages, 23, 31, 477 Islam in, 451
Census o f India, 99; Champa, port on Gangs, 435
of 1951, 406; Champanir, mosque at, 320
o f 1961, 406, 407 Champaran, Bihar, 395
Central Asia, 4, 150, 165, 284; champii, see campii
Aryans in, 21, 22; Chams, 443, 447, 449, 450
migrations from, 44, 49, 50, 53; Châmundarâya, Ganga minister, 102
peoples of, 7, 55, 56; expansion of, Ch’an (Dhyana, Zen) Buddhism, 457;
248; and painting, 459
Kushanas from, 432; Cham/a'in (ChanrfaySiia), poetry, 2S7;
Turks in, 246, 248; ill. MS. of, 328
Mongols in, 289; Chandala, an untouchable, 428
Mughals from, 352; Chandavârkâr, reformer, 374, 380
Buddhist art of, 201, 458; Chandayana, see Chanda’in
Buddhist texts in, 41, 89, 92; Chand Bârdài, Hindi poet, 306
Buddhism in, 455—456; Chandella (Chandel) dyn., 54
and trade, 18, 45, 49, 432 Chandêri, M.P., 258
centralization, Mauryan, 38, 40, 41, 42, Chandi, goddess, 306, 307, 414
43i Chandidls, bhakti poet, 271-2, 308
Gupta, 46-47; Chandigarh, Panjâb, 325.n., 484
factors mitigating against, 139, 260-61 chandis, Javanese temples, 447
and regionalization, 399 Chândogya, see Chhândogya
ceramic ware, 197 Chandrabhàn Brahman, secretary at M ug­
ceremonies, hal court, 469
tribal, 235; Chandragiri, temple at, 315
Sikh, 298; C(h)andragupta Maurya, emperor, 38, 40,
Mughal, 350 41, 46, 101, 145, 183, 430, 434, 493
Ceylon (Sri Lanka), vi, viii, 176, 182, 1S6, Chandra Gupta I, Gupta k., 46
187, 209, 403, 433, 435, 444, 495; Chandra Gupta II Yikramâditya(Sâhas-
.Aryans iu, 29; ânka), 46, 49, 51, 181, 183
relations with Asoka, 41; Chandraketugarh, Ganga delta, 198
and Guptas, 46; Chandvâr, U .P., 249
Chola conquest of, 57; Chanhu-dâro, Indus arch, site, 142
Buddhism in, 3, 41, 45; scriptures, 89; Le Chanson du Mal-Ainte’, 479
Theravâda Buddhism from, 450, 495; cliSpu tâla, musical form, 226
Portuguese in, 7, 337, 338; Charaka (Caraka), physician, 148, 149, 150.
hospitals in, 150; 157, 438 ;
irrigation in, 145; Samhitâ attributed to, 143, 149
and RamSyana, 176 charana, conduct, in Buddhism, 98
Châbaniâna dyn, o f Rajasthan (Chauhâns), Chardin, Jean, 465
54, 249, 251; chariots,
in literature, 194 Aryan, 25, 56
Chaitanya (ViSvambhar MiSra), Bengali in warfare, 142, 426
teacher, 271, 272-3, 279, 308, 369, charitra,
414 ; character, in Buddhism, 98;
as object of devotion, 273; custom, in law, 133
C. sect, 273, 274, 497 charity,
chaityas, shrines, 3F3 institutionalized, 109, 261, 369;
chakravâla, mathematical method, 156 Muslim, 281, 286
chakravartin, universal emperor, 457; charkha, spinning-wheel, 394, 395
c.-râja, 98, 349 Chàrvâka (Lokâyata) sect, 41, 120-21, 189,
chalcolithic culture, Indus, 425 Charyâpadas, songs, 305
chalices, Goan, 345 Chatterjee, B.C., see under Bankim
Chalitarama, ‘ Rama Deceived’, play, 181 Chatterjee, S.C ., 418, 419
Châtukya dyn., 50, 51, 57, 102, 191, 205; Chatterji, Mohini, 482
temples of, 207, 209 choturanga, see chess
 Index 533
Chalurdandi-prakâsikâ, text, 223 chit, consciousness, 1 19
Chaucer, 8i, 439, 440 Chitor, Rajasthan, 252, 256
Chaudhari Rahmat A li, Muslim student, Chitpavan Brahman community, 393
390 Chittagong hills, 341
chaudhris, village leaders, 252 Chokhà, hymnodist, 268
Chaudhury, Pramdtha, 416 Chola dyn. and rcg., 44, 278;
Chauhâns, see Châhmânas naval expedition of, 57, 450;
Chaul, port, 257 art of, 57, 208-9
Chaulukya (Solflnki) dyn., 34, 247 Chorasmia, sec Khurâsân
Chaurapanchasika, see Caurapancâsika chordophones, 234
Chausâ, battle of, 259 Chou t e 1 Sua/t Ching, mathematical treatise,
chaulât lata, musical form, 229 157
cltaulh, tax claimed by Marâlhâs amounting Christianity, 62, 78, 123, 305, 342, 363,
to one-quarter o f revenue, 263 368;
chemistry, 158, 287 cosmology of, 79-80;
Chenuntn, novel, 419 scriptures of, 281;
chess (chaturanga, shalranj), 438 theology of, 367;
Chhândogya Vpanishad, 78, i t 8, 146 propagation of, 409; see also missionaries;
Chhalrapali, title, 263 Alexandrian, 437; '
Chhâyâvâd, school of poetry, 413 Western 266;
chhotâ khyâl, vocal music, 232, 233 arrival in India of, 45;
Chiating, Szechuan, China, 458 and Buddhism, 436-7;
Chiengmai, Thailand, 450 and Islam, 386;
Chihalgâni,-' G roup of F orty’, 251 and Mughals, 344;
Chih-i, founder of Buddhist sect, 457 in Portuguese India, 346; see also
childbirth, 236 Catholic Church
Childe, Gordon, 32 and Tamil literature, 37
chitla, Süfî ascetic exercises, 286 Christians, 305, 357, 372; Syrian, 120;
China, I, 44 . 340 , 34 C 4 * 1»45*»4531 Indian, 495;
antiquity of, 2; Christology, o f Ghulâm Ahmad, 387
trade with, 45, 47; Chronicles,
Buddhism in, 45, 455, 436; scriptures of, Ceylon, 42, 83, 145;
89, 455; art of, 157, 201; Assamese, 308
influence o f India on, 197, 455-60; chronology, 304 n.;
Tibetan and Nestorian monks, in, 437; Indus Valley, 18
pilgrims from, 201 ; Chrysostom, Dio, 435
Western merchants in, 445; churches, 345-6, 357
as origin o f prehistoric migrations, 444; Churchill, Winston, 397
and Dong-son culture, 448; Church o f the New Dispensation, 369
in South-East Asia, 450, 451 ; ‘ Cilicians’, 435
science in, 141; astronomy, 143; cinema, 492-3; and music, 238-9
People’s Republic of, 459-60; relations cinnamon, 337, 340
with India of, 488 Cinnoma, Father Leonardo, 409
‘ China root', drug 341 Circle o f Keys (Thais), 224
China Sea, 341 citadels, Indus Valley, 11, 12
Chinese, the, 474 cities, 25, 26, 212, 489
Chinese histories, 446 City Boards, Gupta, 47
Chinese language, 89 civil disobedience, 394, 404; see also non­
Chinese Turkistàn (Turkestan), 23, 149 violence
Ch’ing dyn., Chinese, 457 civilization, Indian,
Chingiz Khân, 250, 258 antiquity of, 2, 4;
Chirâgh ‘A li, Muslim reformer, 387 classical period of, 3, 38
Chiplunkàr, writer, 412 civil rights, 360;
Chisht, village, 285 in U .S., 404
Chishti, ‘A bdu’r Rahmân, 291 civil service, British, 356;
Chishti(yya), Sufi order, 285-6, 291, 292; training for, 409;
attitude to Hinduism of, 293 ; legacy of, 487
grants to, 464; see also bureaucracy, administration
hospice of, 469 claire-voies, 312, 324
534 Index
clans, 426; Vedic assemblies of, 136 consonance, musical, 216, 217
class-consciousness, British, 358 Constitution of India, 307, 398;
classes, four, see varna, caste; Directive Principle of, 135;
rural, displacement of, 355; languages in, 406
depressed, 27, 380, 381, 382, 395, 400, Constitution of Pakistan, 400
405 between, 496; Contes indiens of Mallarmé, 479
haired, 417 conversion, 379;
Clemenceau, Georges, 357 Hindu attitude to, 71-2;
Clement o f Alexandria, 436, 437 or Hindus to Islam, 284, 287-8, 293,
Cléophile, Pcincess, 430 392 ;
clepsydra, 153 to Islam in South-East Asia, 451 ;
Cleveland Museum of Art, 328 to Christianity, 342, 346, 392;
climate, 4-5; Chinese, to Buddhism, 456
Indus Valley, 17, 19; Coomaraswamy, A .K ., 432 n.
and Muslim victory, 247 co-operative credit societies, 380
Clive, Robert, 342, 356 copper, 340
clothes, Corbusier, Edouard Jeanneret le, 325 n.,
Indus Valley, 17; 484
Persian, 353; Cordova, Spain, 318, 437
and communalism, 385 Corinth, 43!
The Cloud Messenger (or Message) (Megha- Cornwallis, Lord, Governor-General 1786—
dîna) o f Kâlidâsa, 182, 474 1793, 1805, 355. 3591
Cochin, 196, 338, 342; reforms of, 356
Portuguese, 337 and legal system, 360
coconut, 338, 340 Coromandel, reg., 340
Code o f Manu, see Manu Correa, Portuguese chronicler, 338, 339
Coedès, Georges, 443 corruption, 252, 352
coffin burials, t8 Cortez, Fernando, 341
Coimbra, Portugal, 343 Cosbuc, Gheorghe, 482
coins, z, 48, 461; cosmogony, cosmology, 79-80, 120, 446;
Indo-Grecic, 43, 151, 431; early Indian, 143-5;
Bactr'ian bilingual, 478; Hindu, 204, 291;
o f Kanishka, 432; Kushàna, 433; in Yaiseshika phil., ti8;
o f Samudra Gupta, 46; Tantric, 203;
Roman, 434; Orphic, 428-9
Colcbrooke, H.T., 141, 160, 473, 477 cotton, 426;
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 476, 477 in Indus Valley, 17, 142;
colleges, arts, 352 industry, 340, 362
colonialism, end of, 404, 421 councils, Buddhist, 45; Portuguese Provin­
colonies, Roman, 434 cial, 249; village, see under village
colonization, Indian in South-East Asia, 444 Councils Acts, 398
Come, M y Beloved, 481 counterpoint, 239
communalism, 379, 390, 399, 401, 403 courts, of justice,
communications, 40, 145, 365 lay, 132-31
communism, 396 royal, as final court of appeal, 135;
Com pany School of painting, 331 Islamic, 384;
concubines, 129 British system of, 359, 361
conditionalism, Chàrvàka, 121; Iain, 105 Cousens, Henry, 324
Conditioned Co-production (Faliccasamup- Couto, Diogo do, Portuguese chronicler,
pffda), in Buddhism, 85-7 338, 34°
Confucius, 63, 64, 84 Cranganore (Muziris), port, 337, 434, 435
Confucianism, 455; Cratylus of Plato, 439
influence of Buddhism on, 456, 457 crescograph, 159
Congress, see Indian National Congress Crest-Jewel o f Discrimination o f Sankara,
Conrad, Joseph, 420 483
consecration, royal (râjon'iyn), 131-2, 137, cricket, 358
«85 _ crime, 2j9
'Consecrations’ the, drama, 178 Cripps, Sir Stafford, 390
Conservative Party, British, 397 Crisis in Civilization by Tagore, 421
 Index
criticism, literary, 172-5 passim, 189-90,421
Critique o f Pure Reason, 478
Croesus, k. o f Lydia, 439
crops, 4;
c.-sharing, 248, 254
Crusades, 438, 440
‘ Crushing of the Arrogance o f the Am ir',
play, 193
Ctesias, Greek historian and physician, 426
Cubism, 2to
Cvlavamsa, Ceylon Chronicle, 83
‘ cultural revolution’, 417
Cunaxa, battle of, 426
cuneiform tablets, Seleucid, 152
Cunningham, Sir Alexander, 478
currency, under Tughluqs, 254
Curzon, Lord, Viceroy 1899-1905, 323, 325,
357, 389
customs duties, 339, 340
cymbals, 234
Cyrene, Libya, 437
Cyrus, emperor of Persia, 427
cyst burials, 448
da Assumpçao, M anoel, missionary, 343
Dacca, 262, 346, 385
Dâdàbhâi NSoroji, Congress leader, 405
dàdrâ tùia, musical form, 229
Daimachus o f Plataea, 431
Dakhani, Urdu dialect, 222, 307
dakhinu, songs, 343
Dakkhineshwari, temple, 375
Daksha, sacrifice, of, 61
Dakçinâpatha, reg., 28
D alai Lama, 99
Damâo, MahSrâshtra, 337, 338
Damartika, play, 196
Damascus, 245
Damayanti, n., 190
Damghân, Persia, 316
Damirica (South India), 30
Dâmodara, writer, 194
Damodarabhatfa, writer, 194
Dâmodaragupta, writer, 188
Dam yak, pl., 249
dances, dancing, 175, 204, 216, 231, 305,
385, 49 2;
group (pindibandhas), 172
temple pavilions for, 206;
at sànkìrtan, 273 ;
and theatre, South-East Asia, 442
danda, punishment, 125, 131, 132
Daptjin, writer, 173, 174. 176. 185, 187, 190
Danieli, Thomas and William, 358
Dantidurga, Ràshtraküta k., 57
dar al-amâit (land of peace), dâr al-Isiâm
(‘ House o f peace', a land ruled by
Muslims), dâr al-harb (‘ House o f w ar’,
non-Muslim country), 384, 385
535
Dârâ Shukoh, son o f Shâh Jahân, 262, 289,
339. 463, 472 ;
on mysticism, 291-2
Dardic languages, 166
Daridracârudatta, play, 179
daridra-nârâyana, outcaste, 417
Darius, emperor of Persia, 426
Darpadalana, novel, 192
Darshak, writer, 419
darshan, 'seeing*. The beholding o f kings
and other distinguished persons,
thought to confer merit, 350
darshanas, the sue orthodox systems o f
philosophy, 372 j
Darwaza gateway, Qutb Minar, 317
darwesh, religious mendicants, 237
Darwin, Charles Robert, 478; Darwinism,
414
Dâsa (Dasyu), peoples, 20, 26, 61 ;
identity of, 25;
and Aryans, 27;
(Slave o f God), mendicant singer, 279,
305
Daiabhümika Sütra, 91
DaSabodha, work by Râmdâs, 270
daiadharma, ten Jain virtues, 108
Dasam Granth, Sikh scripture, 301
Dasnami, Sankarite sect., 272
Dâstân l-Amir Hamza, ill. M S., 328
Daswant, painter, 329
Dasyu, see Dâsa
Dâtâ Ganj Bakhsh, see Hujwiri
Datta, Akshaykumàr, writer, 410
Datta, Bibhutibhusan, 147
Datta, Narcndrandth, see Vivekananda
Datta, Sudhln, writer, 419
D âüd, see Mullâ Dâüd
Daulat, painter, 330
Daulatâbâd (Devagiri), Mahârâshtra, 252,
253. 254. 261
Daulat Khân Lodi, governor of Panjâb, 258
Dawn goddess, 425
Dayânanda Anglo-Vedic College, Lahore,
378
Dayânanda Saraswatî, Hindu reformer,
371- 2, 376, 377, 379, 391
De, Bishnu, writer, 418
death, 113;
voluntary, in Jainism, 107, 433;
penalty, 59;
duty, 351
Deb, R., 368
Debal, near Karachi, 245
Decameron, 440
decans, Egyptian astronomical system, 143
Deccan, 6, 180, 200 205, 208, 257, 259, 282,
286, 293, 318, 339, 341,349;
Mauryas in, 29;
Sâtavâhana kingdom in, 44;
536 Index
Deccan, ( c o m / .)
and Guptas, 46;
kingdoms of, 50, 57;
Châlukya dyn. in, 51 ;
Râshtrakûtas of, 53;
Muslims in, 5S, 207, 221, 253;
independent of Delhi, 255;
Mughais in, 293, i6 t , 263, 264, 263, 292;
sultans o f the, 305, 337, 338;
Irani influence in, 462;
temples of, 207, 209;
style o f painting, 332-3
decimal system, 154, 136, 467
deities, dynastic, see gods
de Kôrôs, Csoma, 90
Delhi, 4, 102, 158, 249-57 passim, 262, 264,
289, 290, 293, 327, 353, 384, 386, 401,
402, 461, 466;
Ghürid conquest of, 315;
as capital, 311, 317;
Mongol army at, 55, 252, 255;
Mughal Court at, 354;
SDfism in, 285, 289, 292;
Khuràsànt merchants in, 465;
dialect of, 167;
artists of, 332;
architecture of, 318, 319, 320, 323-4, 353;
theatre in, 421
Delhi Sultanate, 3 , 56, 246-59, 264, 348,
349, 353 . 3541
administration of, 260;
and falasifa, 289;
foreign relations of, 461 ;
defeat by Mughals, 258-9
Delhi Territory, 355
della Valle, Pietro, 465
democracy, 349, 36t. 363;
parliamentary, in India, 397-8, 488, 490,
49S ' social and political significance of, 126­
Democritus, 145
demons, 176, 181;
medicine and, 148, 149, 150
de Nobili, see under Nobili
Deoband, U .P., 388;
theologians of, 383
Deogarh, temple at, 205-6
Dcorâi Pass, 262
Depressed Classes Mission of India, 380,
381 ; see also under classes
D erozio, Henry, 368, 420
Dcshmukh, G opâl Hari (Lokahitawadi),
Hindu reformer, 370
desi, typé o f music, 220
deSmukh, revenue collector, 263
DeiopadeSa, satirical novel, 192
determinism, 79;
Ajivaka, 121
Dcusscn, Paul, 474 n.
Deux Sources by Bergson, 483
deva, a god, etymology, 21
devadâsi, temple prostitute, 59, 375, 492
Devagiri, see Daulâtabâd
Devaki, mother of Krishna, 345
Dcvakot, Bengal, 249
Deval, playwright, 412
Deval Devi, daughter o f Râjâ Karan, 253
Devanagari script, 166, 167
DeoSnampiya Piyadassi, title o f Asoka, 42
Devarüja, ‘ God K in g’, cult in South-East
Asia, 447, 450
Dcvatalla, Bengal, 284
Deuicandragttpla, play, 183
de Vigny, Alfred, 478
devotional movement, see bhakti
Dewân Kauromal, Sindhi writer, 413
dltamSr tola, musical rhythm, 228
Dhamtna, Prakrit form o f Dharm a, which
also see, Asokan ideology of, 42, 43
Dhammadinnâ, Buddhist nun, 85
Dhanunapada, Buddhist text, 91, 164, 165
Dhamma-sangani, Theravâda treatise, 91
Dhannrljaya, writer, 174
Dhanapâta, author of Tilakamaiijari, 190
Dhanapâta, author of Bhavifyadatla, 190
Dhaneivara, writer, 193
Dhanvantari, deity, 147
Dhâr, principality of, 319
dharamsâlâ, free hostel for pilgrims, room
for singing, 301
dhâranâ. Yoga term, 116
Dharma, a divinity, 306
Dharma,
in Buddhism, a) ‘ the D octrine’, 83-91;
b) ultimate element o f experience, 88,
93, 96 ;
in Hinduism, virtuous conduct, Universal
Law, 76, 81;
139 passim, 360 ;
in Jainism, 103-4; d. novels, 187, 193, 194
Dharmadatta, writer, 174
Dharmakdya, ‘ Body o f Truth o f the
Buddha’, 94, 95, 97
Dharmakirti, Buddhist poet and philoso­
pher, 185
DharmapSla, k., 53
Dharmaraja, title, 98
Dharmaraksha, Buddhist monk, 455
Dharma Sabhâ, right-wing party, 368
dharma-sSslra, teaching on morals and law,
129, 133, 134, 135
dharma-vijayo, ‘ victory through righteous­
ness’, A fokan concept of, 98
Dhannoddharana, play, 196
Dhauli rock inscription, 198
Dhiranàga, playwright, 179
dholdk, drum, 235 '
Dholkâ, mosque at, 320
 Index 537
dhoti, 1 7 Dogri language, 406, 407
Dlirtarâîtra, leg. k., 171 dombika, solo dance, 175
dhrupad-dhamar, form o f vocal music, 232, dome, 3, 312, 314, 318—g, 321, 323, 324;
233 in South-East Asia, 451
dhun, form of musical composition, 230, 233 dominions, British, 399
Dhürta Châtvâkas, see Chârvâkas Dong-son culture, 448-9
Dhiirtakliyana, ‘ Rogues’ H istory’, work of do Nirwany, hymn, 479
fiction, 187 Dostoevsky, Feodor, 410
dhyana, see meditation drains, 11, 12, 142, 147
Dhyana Buddhism, see Ch'an, 457 drama, 3, 171, passim, 216, 421, 475 ;
diaboius in musica, 217 beginnings of, 164;
‘ Dialogue of the Rogue and the Parasite’, language of, 165;
179 in Tripitaka, 171 ;
Dialogues of Plato, 428 ten types of, 172;
‘ Diamond Sütra’, 91 devotional, 175;
Diamond Vehicle, see Vajrayâna Buddhism and music, 216, 218, 221, 236, 305, 411
dictionaries, 342, 409 modern, 411, 412;
Didârganj, statue from, 198 and cinema, 493;
dietetics, 148-9 Treatise on, see Nâtyaiâstra
Digambara, Jain sect, 102, 107 Draupadi, leg. queen, 171, 184, 189
Digha Nikâya (Dirghâgamd), Pâli text, 90, Dravidian, etymology of, 30
144 Dravidian languages, 31, 32, 33, 37. too,
. dihqans, village chiefs, 248 167, 303, 308, 406;
Dikshitar, Muttuswâmi, composer, 231, 236 and literature, 309, 413;
Dilâwar Khân Ghüri, ruler o f Mâlvvâ, 256 and South-East Asian languages, 442
Dinabandhu, see under Mitra Dravidian peoples, 6, 29, 30-37, 61
Piodim a (Kavisârvabhauma), writer, 194 ‘ Dream Vâsavadattâ’, drama, 178, 183, 186
Din llâhï, Divine Faith cult o f Akbar, 290, drishti, ‘ what is seen’, Hindu concept of, 64
35° , . drone, in music, 212, 220, 230, 231, 235, 485
Dinnâga, Buddhist philosopher, 37 dropsy, 149
Dionysius, ambassador, 431 D ftadvati R., 26
Dipanali, Hindu festival, lot drugs,
Dipavamsa, Ceylon Chronicles, 83 medicinal (agada), 148-9, 150, 158, 341,
dipchandl tâla, musical rhythm, 228 461,465; ‘
Dirghagama, see Digha Nikâya and religion, 486
disciples, 274, 284; drums, 227, 230, 234, 235;
Christian and Buddhist, 436; Dong-son, 448
disease, 5, 148, 149, 150* Drydcn, John, 472
The Disguise, comedy, 411 dualism, see Dvaita
dispensaries, 150 Dubois, Abbé, 472
Display o f Two Forraigne Sects in the East Dudü Miyàn, Muslim activist, 385
indies, 471 Duggal, writer, 419
Diu, 256, 337. 338 ; duhkha, ‘ suffering’, in Buddhism, 86, 93
churches of, 345, 346 dukar-tikar, kettle-drums, 234
Divâkara, writer in Sanskrit, 195 Dundas, Henry, 355
Divijendcalâl R oy, playwright, 411-12 Duperron, see Anquetil-Dupcrron
Divina Commedia, 440 Dürer, Albrecht, 345
Divine Faith cult, see D in llâhî Durgà, goddess, 203
divorce, 387, 490 Durgesvara, playwright, 196
diwân, official, 261 durian, 341
Diwân, o f Hafiz, ill. MS. of, 329 Ducyodhana, leg. prince, 171, 178, 184
Diwân-i-'Âm, Diwân-i-Khâs, Dutch, the, 338, 339, 340
Fatchpur-SikrT, 322; Dutt, Aru, authoress, 420
Àgrâ, Delhi, 323 Dutt, Romesh Chandra, historian, 414-15,
doàb, land between two rivers, 420
Gangâ-Yamunâ, 11, 246, 251; Dutt, Toru, authoress, 420
Raichur, 257 Dvaipâyana (Vyâsa), poet, 170
dockyard, at Lothal, r i , 14, 18; Dvaita (dualism) o f Madhva, 120;
Portuguese, 339 literature of, 194
538 Index
Dvàrakâ, pl., 28 electorate, demand for Muslim, 389
Dvârasamudra, pl. 253 elements, the,
Dvâravati, South-East Asian kingdom, 447, in India, 144-5;
450,453 o f Empedocles, 429
dvi-ja, see twice-born Elephanta, cave-temple, 208, 313, 314
dvi-karani, mathematical term, 147 Elephant Nili, 481
Dohandhana, epic, 189 elephants, 2, 150, 405;
Dvivcdi, Sudhakara, mathematician, 160 in warfare, 55, 133, 145, 247
Dwivcdi, Mahâvirprasâd, writer, 412 Eliot, George, 64
Dyaks, people of Borneo, 448 Eliot, T.S., 417. 419
Dyaus, god, 425, 477 elixir, o f immortality (amrita), 147, 149;
o f life (rashyana), 150, 158
East Africa, 341 Elizabeth I, Queen, 470
East Asia, 435, 452; Elizabeth It, Queen, 330
art of, 199, 484; Ellenborough, Lord, Governor-General
Islam in, 464; 1842-4,359,360
poetry of, 492 Ellichpur (Achalpur), Maharashtra, 253
East India Company, British, 4, 56, 102, Ellora, arch, site, 208, 314, 315
139 n., 342, 354, 359, 367, 386, 408-9, Elphinstone, Mountstuart, 357, 361
465.473; Elphinstone Institution, 370
at Sural, 471; Emerson, Ralph W aldo, 64, 477, 497
officials of, 356, 360, 384 emotions, in literature, see rasa
Ebony Horse, story of, 439 Empedocles, 427-8, 429
Ecclesiastic Dorian (musical mode), 215,217 emperor, constitutional proposal for a, 491
Eckart, Mcister Johann, philosopher, 441 endowments, Indonesian, 450
economics, 145 engineers, 146;
Edgerton, Franklin, 180 engineering, 362
education, 489; England, English, see Britain, British
Gupta, 49; English laoguagc, 164, 168, 196, 348, 360,
Hindu, 160; 361, 386, 406;
Muslim, 283, 287, 388; Sayycd Ahmad contribution of, 407;
K h an and, 386; replaces Persian, 409 ;
Portuguese, 346; position of, 408, 419-20;
under British, 360, 361-2, 367, 368, 408, and literature, 422; Indian writers in, 420
412,4 14 ,4 19 ; Enlightenment, in Buddhism, 94, 95, 96, 97
reformers and, 369, 370, 392; ensembles, musical, 213, 231, 233, 234-5
o f women, 367, 375, 382; entertainers, wandering, 236
Minute on, 407 Epic o f Gilgamesh, 1
egalitarianism, 274, 279, 400, 402-3 epics, 3, 28, 124, 163;
Egg, Cosmic, 429 ‘ true’, 170-71, 175-6;
Egypt, 2, 11, 17, 40, 61, 142, 143. 146, 245, ‘ artificial’, 192-6 passim, 176, 180, 181,
257; 183-8 passim, 191;
and transmigration o f the sou), 427 ; double-meaning, 189;
colonists from, 434; Sanskrit, 198;
Indian philosophy in, 433 ; adaptations of, 308; ill. Persian, 329;
Caliph in, 461; as inspiration, 492
conquered by Turkey, 462; Epirus, Greece, 431
and trade, 464; epistemology, 173
slaves from, 465 ‘ Epistle to the Great King K anika', 178
Eight Anthologies, see E l ltd toga! Epstein, Jacob, 210, 496
Eighteen-and-a-Half, literary circle, 194 Er the Pamphylian, 428
Einstein, Albert, 159 Eran, shrine at, 205
Eklàkhì mosque, Guar, 319 Erân Vèj (airyanam vâejd), Aryan home­
Eknâth, bhakti poet, 269, 308 land, 21
Ekottaragama, see Angultara Nikâya Essai sur la mystique et l ’action de l’Inde by
ektâl tâla, musical rhythm, 228 Zweig, 481
Elagabalus, k., 435 essence, spiritual, 112-13
Eleatic School o f philosophy, 427 Estado da India, Portuguese, 337, 338, 340,
elections, 403 342. 343, 347
 Index
Etâwah, U .P., 249
eternal ism (fsivataoâda), 86
ethics, Indian social and political, 125-8;
Jain, 106
Ethiopia, Ethiopians, 340, 435, 465
ethnomusicology, 486
etiquette, Persian, 353
Ettuttogal (Eight Anthologies), Tamil clas­
sics, 34, 304
Euclid, 157
Euler, Leonhard, 157, 160
Euphrates, R ., 433, 470
Euripides, 65
Europe, 158, 166, 377. 386, 438, 457;
Aryans in, 22;
as Indo-European homeland, 25;
medieval, 59, 438, 440-41;
early contacts with, 425-441 ;
trade with, 257, 340, 431;
art of, and Indian miniatures, 344-5;
values of, 363; influence in India ot,
criticized, 377;
influence o fln d ia on, 364;
see also the West
Europeans,
in India, 4, 7, 158-9, 209, 261 ;
in Southeast Asia, 451
Eusebius, 429
Evangelical movement, 474
Evora, Portugal, 343
exoticism, 478
Ezhuttachan, poet, 305
Ezion Geber, G u lf of Akaba, 425
Ezour Vedam, 472
fables, 438-40;
Fables o f Pilpay, 439
Fa-hsien, Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, 49
Failaka, Persian G ulf, 18
Faizâbâd, Avadh, 264
Faizi, poet, 353, 469
Falaslfa, philosophers, 283, 289
family system,
Vedic, 2;
joint, 358, 489, 490, 498;
and law, 132
famine, 255, 355 . 379 !
relief, 380, 489
fana, passing away, Sufi doctrine of, 468
Fansur, Islam in, 466
at-Fârâbi, philosopher, 283
Farâh, Afghanistan, 468
Farâ’idt movement, 385
Farangl M ahal, Lucknow, Muslim semin­
ary, 388
Farghâna, 246, 258, 462
Faridu’d-Din Ganj-i-Shakar, Babà, 285,
286, 287
Fârrukhâbàd, Bengal, 264
539
Fârrukhsiyâr, Mughal ruler, 264
fasting, z8t_
Fatâwâ-i-'Alamgiri, code o f law, 263, 465
Fatehpur-Sikri, U.P., 320, 321-2, 352
Fathâbâd, mosque at, 320-21
Fâtimid, Ismâ'ili dyn., 246
fatwâs, statements by ' ulama' on points o f
Shari'a, legal opinions, 283, 287, 386
Faust, 475
Fergusson, James, 310, 311, 313, 319, 324
‘ Fertile Crescent’, 1
fertility, ritual, 67
and kingship, 131, 137
fertilizers, 5
festivals, 175, 23d, 237;
Hindu, to t, 236, 357, 384, 392;
Jaina, 102;
Sikh, 298;
tribal, 235
Feuchtwanger, Peter, 485
feudalism, quasi-, 51-2, 133;
Rajput, 247
fever {takman), 148, 149
fiction, 176, 195. 4i8, 421, 492
fig-tree, Indian (banyan), 471
filmi git, ‘ film song’, 492
films, 492-3 ; music of, 239
Filodemo o f CamSes, 344
finials, architectural, 321
Finno-Ugrian languages, 22, 32
fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence, 287, 383
fire-worship, 21; ‘ altars’, 14, 18
Firishta, writer, 311
Firozàbâd, Delhi, 5th city of, 317, 318
Firûz, see Jalalu’d-DIn Khatji
Firüzâbâd, U.P., 255
Firüzkoh, Afghanistan, 247
Firûz Shâh Bahmani, 257
Firûz Shâh Minar, Gaur, 319
Firûz Shâh Tughluq, 254, 255, 256, 264, 461
Fitch, Ralph, 471
fitna, chaos, uprising, 389
Fitzgerald, Edward, 496
‘ Five K ’s ’ , Sikh, 299, 300
‘ Five N ights’, historical drama, 178
flag, Indian, 99
Flood, the, 181
floods, Indus Valley, 19, 25 n.;
control of, 489
flora and fauna, 159;
Portuguese and, 341
‘ Flower power’ , 486
folk music, 220, 226, 230-
folk-art, South-East Asia, 448, 449
folk-stories, 438-40
football, 358
‘ Forecourt o f the H oly L an d’, see Acheh
Forster, E.M ., 395, 481
Forster, Georg, 475
540 Index
forts, fortifications, 198, 248;
Delhi, 323;
o f zamindars, 260
Fortunatus, purse of, 440
Fort William College, Calcutta, 408-9
'Forty, the' (CliihalgSni), military oligarchy
in Delhi, 251
Fo T'u-teng, missionary, 456
Fox Strangways, A .H ., 216
France, French, 363;
in India, 339, 478-9
franchise, 398, 400, 403
Frauen ini Bade (Women Bathing), picture,
484
freedom, extent of, 140
Freud, Sigmund, 394, 416;
influence on Indian writing of, 417, 418
Friday prayers, Muslim, 281, 385
frontiers, 56;
Akbar’s policy concerning, 261 ;
Chinese and, 488;
see also North-West Frontier
Den Fuldcnfes Hustru (The Perfect Wife),
480
Funan, 45;
founding of, 446;
location of, 453
fundamentalism, Islamic, 383
Fundamental Rights and Économie and
Social Changes, resolution on, 396
furniture, 346
‘ Further India’, 442, 447
Crabet, I., French missionary, 437
Gadag, temple, 209
Gadgil, writer, 419
GadyacintBmani, biography, 191
GadyakarijSmrta, biography, 193
Gàhadavàla (Gâhrwâl) dyn., 54, 249
Galen, 438
Gallé, Buddhist priest, 145
games, 17
Gâmini irrigation tank, 145
gana (group) tribunals, 132
Ganapati festival, 373; see also GaneSa
Gandaoyt'tha (‘ W orld-Array’) Sutra, 91, 181
Gandhamadana, epic, 181
Gandhâra, reg., 45, 434;
school o f art, 201, 202, 210, 432, 439, 458
gândhara-grâma, tone system, 216
Gândhârï, dialect, 164, 165
Gandhi, Mahatma Mohandas, 360, 361,
364, 380, 381, 389, 390, 399, 400, 404,
405, 414, 4 *7, 481, 482, 489, 495 ;
death of, 276, 421;
and nationalism, 391, 393-5, 396-7, 402;
policy o f self-sufficiency of, 488;
and tanguage, 406-7, 420;
works of, 419;
origin of ideas of, 109-10, 394;
influence of, 487; on literature, 415-16;
abroad, 403, 404, 405;
and Tolstoy, 480-81
Gancsa (Ganesh, Gaoapati), Hindu god, I,
81, 392; festival of, 373
Ganga, Princess, authoress, 194
Ganga dyn., 102
Ganga (Ganges) R ., vii, 5, 6, 26, 28, 51, 57,
430, 434 ;
valley of, 19, 20, .27, 41, 53, 54, 78, too;
terracottas from, 197-8, 211;
plain, 38, 43, 46, 59, 494 !
relief o f the descent of the, 208
Gangâdhara, writer, 196
Ganges, see Ganga
Gangoh, U.P., 286
Ganita Kainmidi, mathematical treatise, 157
Ganitatilaka, astronomer, 154
Ganjàm, Orissa, 31
gardens, Mughal, 321, 322, 323, 352, 3531
British, 358
Gardezi, writer, 467
Garhwâl, U.P., 332
Garratt, G.T., 363
Garuda Parana, 76
Gaspar (Gondophemes), 432
gal, movement of improvised musical com­
position, 230, 233
gateways, Sanchi, 199 ; South Indian temples
(gopurams), 204, 3 14
Gautja, reg. o f Bengal, k. of, 187
gaudi gui, musical style, 219, 220
Gauguin, Paul, 484
Gaur, Bengal, 286, 318, 319
Gautama, Iain teacher, lot
Gautama Siddhartha, astronomer, 458
Gegen Mahal, assembly hall, Bïjâpur, 324
gems, 18, 45, 206
Gentoos, see Hindus
geography, of India, 4-6;
Geography o f Ptolemy, -445
geometry, 146, 156
Georgians {Gruz), people, 53
Germany, 340, 496
Gesta Romanorum, 440
Gësü Darâz, see Saiyid Muhammad
Ghaggar (Sarasvati) R ., 13, 17, 19
Ghâlib, poet, 413
Ghana, 404
Ghanasyàma, dramatist, 196
ghatam, percussion instrument, 231
Ghâts, Western, 200
ghazal, form used in poetry, 238, 413, 469
al-Ghazàlï, Abu Hamid, Sufi, 263, 283-6,
passim, 289
Ghàzân Mahmud, Ilkhânid Mongol ruler,
461
Ghâzî M alik Tughluq, see Ghiyàsu'd-Din
 Index 541
Ghâzipur, U .P., 259, 386 o f Gandhi, 417
Ghaznavid dyn., 246, 247, 248, 468 Godavari R ., 28, 177
Ghazni, Afghanistan, Turks in, 54, 246, Goddcn, Rumer, 481
248; goddesses, worship of, 58
architecture o f,3 io - i 1 ; ‘ pillars of victory’ gods, 119, 181;
at, 316; as kingmakers, 137-8;
as entrepôt, 464 dynastic, 201, 203;
Ghiyâsu'd-Dïn (Shamsu’d-Din) Muham­ Indo-European, 425; Vedic and Iranian,
mad of Ghür, 54, 247, 250 21, 24, 67, 70, 112, 170, 203;
Ghiyâsu’d-Din (Ghâzi M alik) Tughluq Hindu, 72, So-Sl
Delhi sultan, 254; Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 419, 474-5
tomb of, 317 Goindvâl, pilgrimage site, 298
Ghosh, G ., see Girîschandra Gokhalc, G opâi Krishna, 380, 392,420
Ghosh, Manomohan, writer, 420 G okula, U .P., 266
Ghulâm Mohammad, Kashmiri writer, 419 Golconda, sultanate, 257, 261-2, 263, 264,
Ghür, Afghanistan, 54, 247 265, 282, 333, 462
Ghürid dyn., 246-7, 248, 285 gold, 340;
Gide, André, 482 legendary, 426
Gilchrist, John, 409 Golden A ge (Krta Yuga), 172
Gilgil, Pakistan, 92 Golden Chersonese, 435
ginger, 337, 340 Golden Egg (Brahmaada), 429
Ginsberg, Allen, 482 Golden Temple, Amritsar, 301
Girischandra Ghosh, playwright, 411-12 goldsmiths, 345
Girnâr, Gujarat, lake at, 145; Gol Gumbaz, mausoleum, 324
temples or, 315 Gomal pass, 247, 464
Glia Gouinda, of Jayadeva, 193, 236, 271 Gom al (Gomati) R., 26
GUânjal! of Tâgore, 415 Gommatcfvara, Jain saint, 102
Gita Rahasya o f Tilak, 373 Gompertz, T ., 427
giti, musical form, 219-20, Gond, tribe, 262
Gjellerup, Karl, 480 Gondophernes, Indo-Parthian king/432
Glasperleiispiei (Glass Bead Game) by H. Gopâla, k., 136 n.
Hesse, 480 Gopâla, writer, 194
gnomons, 153, 158 gopis, cowherds’’ wives or daughters, milk­
gnosis, Sufi, 290 maids, 236
Gnosticism, 437 gopurams, see gateways
G oa, 31, 257, 337, 338, 339, 340, 342. 409 . G orâ, hymnodist saint, 168
47* ; ’ Gorâ, novel, 414
and trade, 341 ; Goraknàth, philosopher, 287
churches of, 341, 345; Augustinian, 346; Gordian, emperor, 435
music of, 344; G orky, Maxim, 417, 481
Archbishop of, 470 Gosàla, M akkhali, sramana religious
Gobind Singh, tenth Sikh Guru, 294, 299, teacher, 100; school of, 121
300 gosfhi, one-act play, 195
God, 65, 123, 372; ‘ Gosvâmtns, the six’, theologians, 272-3
and kingship, 259-60; Der Gott und die Bayadere, poem by Goethe,
post-Yedic conception of, 429; 475
Basilides' conception of, 437; gotttwSdyam, musical instrument, 231
in Hinduism, 63-4, 67-77 passim, 8 0 ,1 17, Govardhan, painter, 330
120, 122, 123; change in Hindu attitude Govardhanram, novelist, 412
to, 266; government,
bhakti love of, 2 71 ; Buddhist conception o f roje of, 98;
in Jainism, 105, 108-9; departments of, 133;
Muslim conception of, 281; in Süfism, aim of, 135-6;
237, 238, 286-7, 288; Qâdiri, 289; parliamentary, in India, 360-61, 398-9;
Mu'tazilà, 282; Farâ’idt, 385; o f Pakistan, 400
in Sikhism, 294, 296; Government of India Act, 1935, 397, 398
o f Kabir, 274; governors, 250, 351;
of Râm Mohan R oy, 367; g.-gcnerals, 354
of Vivekananda. 278: Gnvinda. author. 160
542 Index
Govinda III, Râshtraküta, k., 53
Govinda Dâs, bhakti hymnodist, 273
Gouindakrili, (realise, 160
Govindamifra, poet, 196
gràma-râgas, musical forms, 218-19, 220
A Grammar o f the Karnataka Language, 409
grammarians, Prakrit, 165
grammars, 213, 214, 342, 409;
of Panini, 160, 162, 163;
Tamil, 168
Grammatica Damulica, 472
‘ grammatical’ poems, 184-5
granary, Mohenjo-dâro, 12;
Harappâ, 13
Grand Trunk Road, 259
Granili, Sikh scripture, 294, 299; see also
Gurü Granth Stthib
‘ Greater India’, 442
Greece, Greeks, I, 30, 45, 54, 425, 435;
antiquity of, 2;
origin of, 25;
Homeric, 142;
Alexandrian, 213;
Persian invasion of, Indians and, 426;
geographers of, 30;
science of, I4i;m edicine, 148; astronomy,
151. 15*. I53; geometry, 154;
scientific method of, 160;
philosophy of, influence of, 283; Indian
influence on, 426-9 passim;
in India, 40, 201, 426, 43Ô;
and Indian architecture, 313;
as source o f Arabic learning, 438
Greek language, 23, 435,477
Griffith, J., 484
grihastha, householder, the second âirama,
129
Grimm, Jacob Ludwig and Wilhelm Karl,
stories of, 440
guerillas, o f Éivâjî, 263
Guggenheim Museum, 484
Guhiiot, Ràjput clan and dyn., 251
guilds, 40 , 41 . 45 , 47. 49 !
sculptors’, 198;
Portuguese, 338;
Muslim trade and craft, 464
Gujarât, 54, 102, 109, 193, 247, 249, 253,
256, 262, 290, 337. 339, 340, 366, 395,
401,402, 451,467, 46S;
name of, 52;
Maitraka dyn., in, 51 ;
invaded by Khaljis, 252;
as independent kingdom, 256;
and Khàndesh, 257;
Mara (has take, '264;
Vaishnavism in, 267;
literature in, 306;
architecture of, 315, 318, 319, 320;
painting in, 327
Gujarati language, 166, 406, 407;
Old, 102; •
literature in, 280, 308,412, 415; influence
o f Gândhï on, 416
Gulbarga, Bahmani capital, 257, 286, 288,
319; mosque at, 318
Gunacandra, writer, 175
Gunâdhya, writer, 165, 176, 190
gunas, three classes o f natural entities or
qualities, 114-15, 117, 429; in Jainism,
104
Guoasamrddhi, writer, 194
giinasthâiias, spiritual stages in Jainism,
107-8 '
gunpowder, 145
guns, field, 56, 339
G upta dyn. and period, 1, 3, 38, 43, 45-51
passim, 56, 59, 151, 349;
post-imperial rulers of, 51 ;
art and architecture of, 58, 202;
influence in South-East Asia of, 446, 447,
449 !
influence in China of, 459
Gupta, M ., writer in Hindi, 416
Gupta, S., writer in Hindi, 416
gurdwârâ (guraduârâ), Sikh tempie, 301
Gurjara, people, 52-3, 245;
-Pratihâra dyn., 53
Giirmat, ‘ the G uru’s doctrine', Sikhism, 294 ;
see also Sikhism
gurmatta, ‘ will o f the G uru’, 300
Guni Granth Sahib, Sikh scripture, 275, 298,
299, 300-301
Gurü Nànak, see Nànak, Gurü
Gurü Panth, Sikh doctrine, 300
Gurüs, Sikh doctrine o f the, 294, 299, 300;
the ten Sikh, 294, 295 .
gurus, religious teachers, especially brahman
teachers o f Vedic lore, 95, 160, 161,
266, 275, 295, 486, 494
Guruvayur, Kerala, 195
Gwalior, 157,-249, 251, 258, 262, 291, 315;
architecture of, 321
‘ gymnosophists’ , 129
gypsies, v n., 166
Hâbâ Khatün, poetess, 309
Hadis (hadith), collection of traditions relat­
ing to Muhammad, 281, 282, 287, 383,
466
Hadrian, emperor, 437
Hàfiz, poet, 472
Haihaya, tribe, 28
Hâji, see Shari’at-Allâh
Hajjâj, governor o f Iraq and Khurâsàn, 245
Hajji, Sultan o f Bantam, 467
Halhed, Nathaniel Brassey, 409
Halicarnassus, pl., 426
Hallài. Sufi. 468
 Index 543
halo, 350 Harshacharita (The Career o f Harsha), by
Hamàsh, poem, 248 Bâna, 32, 184
Hamidu’d-Din Nâgauri, Shaikh, Chishti hartals, cessation of business activity, 394,
Sufi, 285 402
Hamilton, Alexander, 474 Hartly House Calcutta, novel, 473-4
Hammlra, historical epic by Nayachandra, Hartmann, von, 474
194 Hârün al-Rashid, ‘Abbasid Caliph, 439
Hammurabi, 2 Hasan, see Khusrau Khân
Haipsnvàhana, n., 185 Hasan Gangawi, see Bahman Shâh
Hanna NSma, ill. MS. of, 328, 329 Hashwtyya Süfi order, 468
Han dyn., China, 448, 455 Hastimalla, writer, 192
Hanafi, school o f Islamic jurists, 263; Hastings, Warren, Governor-General 1774-
law of, 282 _ i_785 , 357, 359. 36o .473
Hanbali, school o f Islamic jurists, 282 Hasyarnava, comedy, 195
hangings, temple, 206 hatha yoga, 1 ,3 , 117, 274, 497
Hansi, Panjâb, 255 Hatta, Mohammad, 404
Hanumân (Hanumant), Hindu monkey HavSll-i-Dihli,' reg., 250
god, i, 80-81, 176, 189, 274; Havell, E.B., 310, 312, 313-4, 325
in South-East Asia, 442 Hawkins, William, English envoy, 344
Hanxleden, Father, 472 Hayagriva, demon, 181
Harappâ, arch, site, 11, 13, 16, 17, 31, 61, Hayagrlvauadha, epic, 181
141, 142, 312; health, public, 360, 489
burials, 18; Heard, G ., 483
Cemetery H, people of, 19; heart, 149
culture, legacy of, 2; people of, 6; see also heavens, Hindu conception of, 204, 210-11 ;
Indus Valley civilization and hell, Buddhist, in China, 437
Harappans, 34 Heine, Heinrich, 475-6
Harauijaya, epic, 188 Heine-Geldern, Robert, 444, 453
Haraoilasa, epic, 189 Hejaz (Hejttji) or Bhairav, musical mode or
Hardinge, Lord, Viceroy 1910-16, 396 râga, 225
Hardy, O .H ., t6o Heliodorus o f Taxila, ambassador, 431-2
Hare Krishna movement, 497 Helios, deity, 432
harems, 251, 435 Hellenistic culture, 62; art of, 201, 432;
Hargobind, sixth Sikh Guru, 298, 299 also Greece ’
Hari, name for God, especially Krishna, Hemachandra, Jaina scholar, 102, 183
273. 274 Hemu, Sur leader, 259
Haribhadra, writer, 187, 190 Herat, Afghanistan, 285, 326, 330, 462
Haricandra, writer, 181 herbs, 287;
Haridâs, Svàmi, musician, 221 medicinal, 149, 445, 465
Harihara, co-founder o f Vijayanagara, Herder, JohannGottfried von, 473
255 heresy in Islam, 281
Harihara II, k., 257 ‘ Hermetic Society’, 482
Harijans, see untouchables Hermetic traditions, 290
Hart këthâ, commentary, 236 Hero o f Alexandria, 146
Hari Nâràyan Àpte, novelist, 412 Herodotus, 426, 427, 439
Hariscandra, leg. king, 170, 190, 192 'Herzog Ernst, 440
Harikhandra, ‘ Bhâratendu’, writer, 412 Hesse, Hermann, 479-80
. Harijena, writer, 181 High Courts, 359
Hàrita, writer, 125 Hijâz, Arabia, 383
Hariuantia, supplement to Mahâbhârata, H iîà fK h ân Qâzi mosque, Kholkâ, 318
72, 194 Hilton, James, 481
harmonium, 233, 239 Himâlayafs), 4, 2 8 ,3 2 ,171,176 ,4 74 ;
harmony, 212, 239 stales, 332
harness, Indo-European, 142 Hinayâna Buddhism (the Lesser Vehicle),
harja, ‘jo y ’, in drama, 172 one o f the three divisions of Buddhism,
Harja, philosopher, 192, 194 45. .88, 92-3, 95-6, 97;
'Ûai$a,-Harfacarita, see Harsha . . . sûtras, 90-91;
Harsha ' (Harshavardhana), k., 3, 32, in Thailand, 442;
184 in China, 455
544 Index

Hindawi language, 285; poetry, 287 Hisâr-Firüza, town, 255

Hindi lang., 37, 166, 167, 187, 195, 406, 407, Hissâr dist., Panjâb, 320
412, 416; history, historians, 483
Old, 102; Muslim, 253
bhakti movement in area of, 274-8; Hitopadesa, ‘ Book of Useful Counsels’, 438
literature in, 306-7, 415, 418, 422 Hittites, 23-4, 25
Hindu College, Calcutta, 368, 409 hockey, 358
Hinduism, 1, 2, 3, 29, 54, 60-82, too, 108, Hokusai, Japanese artist, 484
120, 187, 203, 256, 314, 342, 442, 477, Holi, Hindu festival, 254
480, 4S3, 494, 495; Hollywood, 493
ritual of, 2, 372; new, 369; Holt, P.M ., 281
spirit of, 60-61 ; homa sacrifice, 372
universality of, 62-3; Home Rule movement, 396, 401, 402
eclecticism of, 70-72; Homer, 149; epics of, 425, 426
and perfection in man, 72-3; homoeopathy, 494
social code of, 75; sacred places of, 203, hone}’, 149
204 hom, musical instrument, 234
history of, 61-2; in Gupta times, 48; horses, 2, 24, 47, 258;
medieval, 58-9, 236; army, 252, 254, 350, 426;
revitalization of, 266, 271; It. medicine, 150;
devotional movements, 236-7, 276; -sacrifice, see asoamedlta',
challenge of the West to, 280; trade in, 465
and reform, 77, 365, 367, 368, 370, 371, horticulture, 341 ; in South-East Asia, 452
372. 373, 376, 377 hospitals, 150
and nationalism, 377, 379, 399; houses,
revivalism, 392 Indus, H -12;
and Buddhism, 98-9, 202, 203; Portuguese, 346;
and Tantricism, 58-9; English, 484
and Islam, 262, 284, 291, 293, 383, 384, Hovhaness, Alan, 485
385; Howard, Luke, 474
and Sikhism, 294, 295, 297; Hoysala dyn., 193;
European attitude to, and influence on, architecture of, 209
346, 363, 472. 473-4; Hruben, H., 482
in Assam, 256; Hsian-Fu monastery, 437
in Kashmir, 257; lisiu, lunar mansions, 143
in South-East Asia, 447, 450, 451; in Hsi-yu chi (Records o f Western Countries),
Bali, 442; Î-2
see also art and architecture, gods, bhakti, HsiianTsang, Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, 49,
philosophy 52. 449
Hindu Kush, reg., 429, 431 Hsiian Tsang, Chinese emperor, 458
Hindu renaissance, 279 Hubert, Thomas, 465
Hindus, 275, 465, 471, 473; Hue, Father E., 437
laws and prohibitions regarding, 359, Hugli, Portuguese in, 337
4351 Hugo, Victor, 478
Muslim attitude to, 287-8; Hujwiri (Dâtâ Ganj Bakhsh), Sufi, 284, 468
under Mughals, 260, 350, 351, 352, 354; hukam, ‘ the divine order’, in Sikhism, 297
and Muslims, 384, 38J, 387; ' Hulâgü, Mongol leader, 461
as merchants in Arabia, 465; in K ant’s humanism, British, 363;
opinion, 474 new, 483
Hindush, satrapy, vii humanity, love of, 123
Hindustan, 247 human rights, concept o f universal, 363
Hindustani, 342, 406-7 Humâyûn, Mughal emperor, 55, 256, 259,
Hindustani (North Indian) music, 22t 288, 289, 290, 320, 328, 352, 353;
Hippalos, Greek sea captain, 444 tomb of, 320-21, 322, 323
Hippoclcides, story of, and Jâtakas, 426 humours, in medicine, 148, 150
Hippocrates, 438 Hünas, tribe, 49-50, 52-6 passim
Hir and Ranjhà, story of, 309 Hungary, 340, 463
Hiram, k. o f Tyre, 425 Huns (Hunni), people, 49
Hlravijaya, laina teacher, 102 Hurrians, people, 23, 24
 Index 545
Husain Shâhi dyn., 236 Independence 1947, 99 , 348, 36t. 391, 397,
Husain Shâh Shârqi, ruler of Jaunpur, 258 398, 399, 403, 471, 484;
Husâmu'd-Din, Shaikh, SüfJ, 291 and legal system, 360;
Husayn Ahmad Madani, scholar, 388 and literature, 196
Hu Shih, D r., 457 India, name of, vi-vii ;
Huxley, Aldous, 483, 497 South, Aryans in, 29;.
Hydaspes R., see Jhelum in Mauryan times, 44;
Hyderabad, Deccan, 160, 245, 265, 333, 383 influence on West of, 486;
Nizàm (governor or ruler) of, 351 and Pakistan, 488;
hymns, 37, 58, 162, 267, 300 legacy of, 496
Indiabrand ('Conflagration in India’), 482
Iamblichus, biographer, 427 Indian Association, 391
Iatrochemical period, 158 Indian Civil Service, 210, 356
Ibn ‘Arabi, Süfî scholar, 286-7, 288, 291 Indianization in South-East Asia, 442-4;
Ibn Battuta, geographer, 254, 353, 464 date of, 452-3;
Ibn Khaldun, 468 trade and, 47, 445;
Ibn Tulun mosque, Cairo, 3 11,3 16 official character o f early, 446-7;
Ibrahim ‘Âdil Shâh II o f Bïjàpur, 222, 333; indigenization of, 447, 449;
tomb of, 324 of Thais, 450, 453;
Ibrahim Lodi, Delhi sultan, 238 Islamic, 451
Ibrahim Naib Barbak mosque, Jaunpur, 318 Indian Journal o f the History o f Science, t6o
Icaillaniil, genre of Tamil literature, 35 Indian Journals of Ginsberg, 482
I Ching, Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, 449 Indian National Army, 397, 421
‘Id prayers, 385 Indian National Congress, 376, 378, 379,
Un idea dell’ India by Moravia, 482 388, 390, 391, 392, 396, 398, 399, 401,
idealism, German, 477 487;
idiophones, 234 founding of, 374;
idolatry, 69, 72, 80,81-2, 109,281, 367, 375, Muslims and, 387, 389, 403;
473 ! Extremists ejected from,. 393;
condemnation of, 275, 278, 280, 370, 371, and Gandhi's programmes, 402;
376; Indian Ocean, 341, 444;
igreja loda de otiro, the Church o f all gold, Portuguese in, 339
345 , . Indian Penal Code, 359
lhanah H’I-Musliinin, Muslims in menial Indian Reform Association, 369
employment, 465 Indian Statutory Commission, 397
Ihtisab, ‘ moral censorship’, department of, Indies, Spanish, 341
263, 292,293 indigo, 47;
ijma\ consensus of the Islamic community planters, 384, 385, 411
as source o f law, 282 individualism, 358, 366, 415, 498
Iliad, 2 individuality, and Buddhism, 97
libati tribe, 250 Irtdlya bez chudes (India without Miracles),
Illuminatists, see Ishràqì 482
‘ Illusion M adâlasâ’, play, 181 Indo-Âryan peoples, 24, 32
Iltutmish, Delhi sultan, 250, 251, 284, 317, Indo-Âryan language, languages, 31, 34,
461 ; 303, 308, 309, 406;
tomb of, 316 extension of, 28;
Ilyâs Shâhi dyn., Bengal, 256 Old, see Sanskrit;
‘Imâd Shâhi, dyn. of Berâr, 257 Middle, 29, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 305,
Imams, rightful successors o f Muhammad 306;
according to Shi'i belief, 282 and Dravidian languages, 167, 168;
immortality, elixir of (amrita), 147, T49 modem, 164, 165-7, 307
imperial concept, 38, 52, 183; Indo-British culture, 363
Mughal, 349-50 (and British), 354-55 fndo-China, 403, 446;
imperialism, 355, 357, 474 Indianized states in, 442, 453;
Impey, Sir Elijah, 359 see also individual countries
improvisation, musical, 229, 230, 232, 233 Indo-European peoples, 7, 24, 425;
Imrat Khan, Ustàd, musician, 485 homeland of, 25;
Inde o f Rolland, 481 date o f split in, 22;
546
Indo-European languages, 6, 21, 22-3, 31
Inüo-Germanic peoples, see Indo-
Europeans
Indo-Iranians, origin of, 22, 24, 25
Indo-Iranian language, 21-2, 23
Indology, 476, 477-8, 486
Indo-Muslim élite, 389
Indonesia, 362, 448;
Indianized states in, 442;
Sanskrit in, 164;
South Indian temple types in, 297;
Indian images in, 446;
Islam in, 451, 466;
Nationalist movement in, 403, 404
Indo-Persian culture, 327, 328, 354, 363
Indore, Maharaja of, 384
‘ Indo-Saracenic’, as designation, 310, 451
Indra, god, 21, 23, 25, 113, 170, 180, l8t,
182, 183, 190;
and kings, 132, 137
Indra III, Ràshtraküta k., 53
Indraprastha, c., 249
Indus (Sind, Sindhu) R., 5 ,17 , 26, 38, 51,55
249, 310, 4 ^ , 430, 434, 4351
and trade with Persian Gulf, 425, 444;
valley of, 43. 54 , 434
Indus Valley civilization, 2, 6, 11-19, 141,
247, 478 ;
chronology of, 18-19;
end of, 25, 26, 27, 142;
people of, 62 ;
language of, 31-2, 33, 167;
script, 16, 31, 32, 33, 142, 161;
religion of, 61; and Hinduism, 63;
art of, 197;
see also architecture, Chanhu-dàro, Har­
appà, Mohenjo-dâro
industrialization, 362, 365, 394, 488, 489
industry, cottage, 488
infanticide, 369, 363;
female, 59, 81
infantry, Portuguese, 339
Ingalls, D.H .H ., 127
inlay, in Muslim architecture, 322, 323
Inquisition, 337, 343, 346
insanity, in Hindu medicine, 149
inscriptions, 157, 164, 165, 304, 446, 478;
on Indus seals, 16;
Kalingan, 43;
o f D irius, 426;
A iokan; 41-2, 150, 163, 198, 312;
Brahmi, 30,, 33, 34;
Samudra Gupta in, 46;
Indo-Greek, 431;
Besnagar column, 431-2;
land grant, 47;
post-Gupta, 52;
Index
Kharoshthi, 432;
in kâuya style, 181 ;
musical, 318;
in South-East Asia, 443, 445, 447, 449;
(Islamic), 451 ;
Chinese, 459
Insilò, epistolography, 469
inspiration, and Hinduism, 64-5
Institutes of Manu, see Manu
intelligentsia, 361, 366, 408, 415, 416, 419,
421
intermarriage, between castes, 379
intuition, in Hindu scientific method, 160-61
investitures, of Delhi sultans, 461
Ionians (Yavana, Yona), 426
Iqbâl, Muhammad, 390, 420
iqtâ', revenue rights to soldier-oflficials, 248,
249, 250, 254,255, 258;
see also jagir
Iran, see Persia
Iranians, 246, 426; see also Persians
Iranian language, 21, 23;
literature in, 24
Iraq, 2, 18, 245, 246, 465, 469
iron, 2, 40
Iron Pillar, Mehrauli, near Delhi, 48, 158
irrigation, 4-5, 338, 360;
in CcyloD, 145;
in Kashmir, 257
Irurhpàral, Tamil title, 34
'Isa bin AJIàhdâd, instrument-maker, 158
Isaiah, 64
‘Isa Khân, mosque and tomb of, 320
Isfahan, Hindus in, 465
Isherwood, Christopher, 483
Ishràqi (Illuminatisi) school o f philosophy,
289-90,469
Islam, 3, 62, 78, 206, 245, 253, 254, 262, 277,
442, 468;
cosmology of, 80;
meaning of, 281;
split in, 281;
conversion to, 245, 284, 287-8;
victory of, in India, 247;
in Kashmir, 256;
and bltakli, 266, 269;
as religious threat, 270;
Sufis, 283;
in Bengal, 284, 450;
decline'in political power of, 293;
Sikhism and, 294, 295, 297;
revivalism in, 383, 388;
in India and Pakistan today, 495;
in South-East Asia, 449, 451;
date of arrival in, 454;
extension from Malabar of, 464;
and science, 141 ; Western, 387;
influence on astronomy of, 158;
 Index 547
IsIàm Kbân, governor of Bengal, 261 Jainism, Jains, ioo - io , i a i , 123, 178, 189,
Islam Shâh, Sûr sultan, 259, 290
Ismâ'il, son of Ja'far, 282
, , . . , ;
254 304 314 427 435 465
origin of, 79, 100;
Ismà'ìlis, extremist Shi'is, 247, 282, 289 spread of, 29;
Isnâ ‘Ashari, Shi'is o f Iran, 282 split in, 102;
istiksân, ‘ right of preference’, Sunni legal philos, system of, 103-9;
term, 282 cosmology of, 144;
livara, G od, 69 ethical code of, 106, 126-7;
Iivaradatta, playwright, 179 and Hinduism, 62;
Ifvara Krishna, Sânkbya philosopher, and merchants, 41, 102;
TI4 influence of, 109-10;
Iswar Chandra Gupta, poet, 414 political activity of, 402;
Italians, 435 scriptures of, 102, 163, 164, 163;
Italian war of independence, 414 literature of, 109, 143, 168, 179, 188, 190,
Italic languages, 23 191, 279; J. 'virtue' (dharma)
itihasa, ‘ tradition’, historical literary genre, novels, 187 193. *94!
170,175 theatre of, 192-3;
l'timadu’d-daula, tomb of, 322 and mathematics, 146, 147;
Itinerario o f van Linschoten, 470 architecture of, 198, 315;
ivories, 197, 198, 2 n and painting, 327;
lyorramil, Tamil poetry, 35 mentioned by Herodotus, 426
Iyengar, Srinivasa, 393 Jaipur, 158;
Iyer, P. Sivaswâmi, 398 Maharaja of, 329 ;
(Amber) school o f painting at, 331,
Jabalpur, M .P., 204 332
Jack and the Beanstalk, story of, 440 Jai Singh II, Maharaja Sawâi, 138
Jacobi, Karl Gustav, 160 Jaivali Pravâhaha, Panchâia chief, 78
Ja'far al-Sàdiq, sixth Imam, 282 Jàjnagar,.pl., 255
Ja’far M akki, Chishti saint, 288 Jalâli, near Aligarh, 260
Jagadiivara, writer, 195 Jalâiu’d-Din (Fîrüz) Khaljî, Delhi sultan,
Jagannâth, astronomer, 158 252,258
Jagannâtha, poet, 195 Jalâlu’d-Din Tabrezi, Shaikh, Suhrawardi
Jagannâtha shrine, Puri, 207 Süfi, 284
Jagatseths, Jaina family, 102 Jalamandir water-pavilion, Bïjâpur, 324
Jaggayapcta, sthpa at, 199 Jâlor, Râjâ of, 253
jnglrs, non-inheritable grants o f land re­ jamâ'a (party) o f Sayyid Ahmad Barëlwi, 384
venue rights, 260, 264, 351'; Jarnàli Masjid mosque, 320
holders of, 46 l Jâmbavolljaya, epic by Pânini, 176
Jahândâr, Mughal emperor, 264 Jambü, Jain teacher, 101
Jahàngir (Salini), Mughal emperor, 758, Jambudvlpaprajnapli, Jaina text, 144
221, 261, 289, 290, 34T, 345; Jàmi’ Masjid (‘ Friday M osque’),
and Sunnis, 291; Ghazni, 311;
as naturalist, 159; Cambay, 318;
and architecture, 322; Jaunpur, 319;
and painting, 329-30, 353; Mândü, 319;
and Christianity, 344; Ahmadâbâd, 319-20;
foreign relations of, 463 ; Champanir, Dholkâ, 320;
English embassy to, 352; Fatehpur-Sikri, 321 ; •
and Bast India Company, 471 Delhi, 323-4, 3531
Jahângiri Mâhal, Agra, 321 Bijâpur, 324
Jahânpanhâh, fourth city o f Delhi, 317, Jâmini Roy, 492-
318 Jammü, reg., 332;
Jafìón-Sòz, title, see ‘A là’u’d-Din language of, 406
jJai Chand rpler o f Kanauj, 249 Jamunâ R ., see Yamuna R .
Jalmfrilytf, branch o f Sòma Veda, 215 Janabâi, hymnodist-saint, 268
Jaina-Mahârâshtri (Svetâmbara) language, Jdnaklharana, epic, 186
16$\ -Sauraseni (Digambara) language, Jânaklrâghava, historical play, 184, 180
jmumt-sàkhis, Sikh hagiographie literature,
Tain^nH ra TC tim Sr w r it e r AM-ft. A IÛ 207
548
Japan, 340, 341, 446;
Buddhism in, 45;
artistic debt to India of, 197;
Buddhist art of, 201 ;
militarism in, 421 ;
in South-East Asia, 431
jar burials, 448
Jaswant Singh Râthor, Ràjâ o f Mârwâr,
264
Jâlakas, folk tales and other stories incor­
porated into Buddhist Pâli canon, <>t,
131. 149, 426,435,440
and Gospels, 436;
as source of European fables, 438, 439
Jâtakamâlâ of Sura, 178
jâti, ‘ birth’, in Buddhism, 86
jSti, caste, 98,127, 133 ; see also caste system
jati, musical mode, 216, 218, 220, 221,
226
Jâts, 260, 265, 383;
and Sikhisrd, 298-301 passim
Jauna, see Muhammad bin Tughluq, 254
Jaundice, 149
Jaunpur, city and sultanate, 255, 256, 258,
259, 286, 288;
architecture of, 318, 319;
painting of, 327
Java, 47, 142, 157, 203, 209, 443, 448;
art and architecture of, 447, 449;
Islamic inscriptions of, 451 ;
Naqshbandî influence in, 467
jâoali, love-song, 231
Javanese language, 442, 448
Jaxartcs R., 21 ;
provinces, 246
Jaya, ‘ Victory’, lay of, 170;
see also Mahâbhârata
Jayadcva, poet, 193, 236, 271, 417, 420
Jayadeva, Orissan writer, 193
Jayakâr, M .R., 398
Jayànaka, writer, 192
Jayant I’arekh, Gujarati poet, 416
Jayanta, philosopher, 189
Jayapâla, k., 246
Jayasirpha, writer, 193
Jayaswâl, K .P., 490
Jayavarman VII, Khmer k., 447
Jayawcwa irrigation tank, 145
Jesuits, 342, 344, 345. 346- 7 !
see also missionaries
Jesuits and the Great Mughal by Maclagan,
344
Jesds, 64, 367, 437;
Mirzâ Ghulàm Ahmad as, 387
Jewels, Three (triratna), in Buddhism, 83,
87,98 ' judicial system, 358-9;
jewels, jewellery, 17, 47, 206
Jews, 129, 281;
rn n v p rfc ij/î*
Index
see also Judaism
jhâlâ, *web’, part of musical movement,
230, 233
jhanjh, cymbals, 235
Jhânsï, Rani of, 493
jhaplâl lâlâ, 229
Jhclum (Hydaspes) R ., 430
Jhule Lâl, deity, 236
jhûmrâ tâla, musical form, 228
;î7iô(/ (Holy War) in Islam, 384
Jilàni, see ‘Abdu’ l Qâdir Jilânl
jina, ‘ conqueror’, title o f twenty-four Jain
Tlrthankaras, 101;
twenty-second, 188
Jinnah, Muhammad Ali, first Governor-
General òf Pakistan, 390, 400
jlva, ‘ life’, the soul in Jainism, 103, 104
Jivadeva, writer in Sanskrit, 195
Jivânânda D is , writer, 418
Jivandhara, Jain legend of,' 191
jizya, poll-tax on non-Muslims, 239, 255,
263,352
/nanfa), philosophical enquiry, 69,74, 306
Jnâna, pure experience, in Upanishads, 113
jnâna-rnârga, ‘ The Way o f Knowledge',
philos, system of éankara, 119
Jnâna-prasthâna, Buddhist work, 91, 93
Jnânesvar(a) (Jnànadeva), bhakti writer,
268, 269, 306
Jnânesvari (Bhâvârthadlpikâ) of Jnânesvara,
commentary on Bhagavad Gita, 58,268,
269
jneyâvarana, 'veil o f cognizable objects',
Buddhist concept of, 93
Joad, Dr. C.E.M ., 496
Jodh Bài, house of, 322
Jodhpur (Mârwâr), Rajput stale, 259, 264,
331
Jodrell, Richard Paul, 411
Jogis, see Yogis
John of Damascus, 440
Jones, Sir William, 409, 473, 477, 47S
jor (nom tom), part o f musical movement,
2 2 9 , 23 3
Josaphat, 440
Joshi, I/., see under Umàshankar
Joyce, James, 418
'Joy of Râm a’, 181
‘ Joy of the Pâjjijavas', play, 184
‘ Joy of the W orld’, drama, 180
Judaea, 438
Judaism, 78;
cosmology of, 79, So;
see also Jews
judges, 134, 359
separation from executive, 360
Junaid, Arab governor, 245
T im o P a rU rì âR a
 Index
Jungle Books o f Kipling, 440, 481
Jupiter, 425, 477
jurisprudence, 132;
Sunni schools of, 282
justice, administration of, 132-5 passim,257;
under Shër Shâh, 259;
under British, 358-9, 360, 361;
see also courts o f justice
Justinian, emperor, 434
Jyotirisvara, playwright, 193
Jyolisha Veddnga, astronomical treatise,
M 3, i 5 <
Kabir, poet and religious reformer, 237,238,
268, 276, 287, 295-6, 303, 306, 308;
poetry of, 274-5
Kabirpanth, community, founded by Kabir,
274, 275
Kabul, 53, 56, 201, 246, 258, 259, 320, 431,
432, 462, 463, 464
Kabul (Kubhâ) R ., 26
Kaccb, see Kutch
kachh, Sikh breeches, 299
Kadamba, kingdom and dyn., 57, 102
Kadambari, novel, 184, 190, 193
Kadphises II, Kushàna k., 433
kafirs, non-believers, in Islam, 239
kaharvd tala, musical form, 229
Kaikeyi, leg. queen, 176, 184, 276
Kailâsa, M t., 81
Kailâsanâtha temple, Ellora, 208
Kailâsham, writer, 413
Kaiqubâd, grandson of Balban, 252
Kaisika-(madhyama)-gr5 ma-rdga, musical
forms, 219
kaivalya, Jain concept of, 498
Kâkû Kâlelkâr, writer in Gujarati, 416, 420
kâkall ni, musical note, 217, 218, 220
Kâkatîya, dyn. and kingdom, 253
kola, time, Jaina concept of, 104, 105;
in medicine, 150
Kâlâ Feringhi, Augustinian convert, 342
Kâlakâchârya-kathâ, Jain text, 327
kaldrn, defensive'apologia in Muslim theo­
logy, 283, 291
Kalàn Masjid mosque, 318
Kalanos, monk, 433
kalaSa, finial in Hindu architecture, 321
Kola Sankatila, astronomical work, 152
Kalavilasa, satire, 192
Kalhana, writer, 192
K S K goddess, 307, 375, 414
Kâlibangan, arch, site, 1 1, 12, 13-19 passim
Kâlidâsa, poet and playwright, 3, 48, 58, 65,
146, 164, 165, 180, 182, 194, 410, 420,
473, 474 . 482
Kalikeli, comedy, 184
Kalilah wa Dimnah, stories, 439
:— t»—
549
Kalindicharan Pânigràhï, writer in Oriyâ,
416 '
Kalinga, rcg., 28, 43;
massacre in, 431;
possible migration to South-East Asia
from, 444;
see also Orissa
Kalingas, tribe, 28
Kâlinjar, Madhya Pradesh, 259
KalivUtambana, satire, 195
Kalki, Tamil writer, 413
Kallol, group o f writers, 418
Kalpa Sidra (Kalpasidra), Jain text, 146, 327
Kalydn, group o f rdgas, 226
Xalyditasaugandhika, play, 189
Kalyar, pl., 286
kSma, physical pleasure, 126, 138, 139
Kâmadevas, leg. heroes in Jainism, 191
Kâmâkst, woman writer, 194
Kdmasidra, text on crolics, 49, 175,177,183,
417
Kamban, poet, 278, 304, 308
Kambôhs, Indian Muslims, 261
Kamlà D evi, Queen, 252
Rampila, reg., 255
Kàmpilya, Aryan town, 28
Kâmrüp dist., 402, see also Assam
Karpsa, leg. k., 178
Kanakàmara, writer, 191
Kanauj (Kânyakubja), 51, 52, 53, 54, 186,
M 9 , 3 Ìo, 315
Kàftcana, playwright, 192
Kânchipuram, 46;
temples at, 58, 297
Kàdci, city, 186
Kandahar, Afghanistan, 56
Kandârya Mahàdeva temple, Khajurâho,
206
kangha, Sikh comb, 299
Kàngrà, mountain area, 246, 255, 261 ;
style o f painting, 332
Kanheri, Buddhist cave-temples at, 200
Kânhrâ, group o f rdgas, 226
Kanishka, Kushàna k., 44, 149, I 5t, 438;
date of, 432
Kanishka II, Kushàna k., 433
Kanishka (Kaniska) III, 178
kanjirâ, tambourine, 231
Kanjur, Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, 92,158
Kahkàiî, n., 192
Kannada language, 29, 30, 102, 167, l6£
406, 407, 409;
literature in, 37, 279, 303, 304, 308, 412,
4M
Kannagi, n., 35, 36
Kânpbata, see Yogis
Kanpur (Cawnpore), '206
K ant, Emmanuel, 64, 474, 483
550
Kànyakubja, see Kanauj
Kanyâlcumàri (Cape Comorin), 6
Kamtt’ l 'Ummâl, edition of Hadis, 466
K àpàlika sect, 189
Kapardisvami, writer, 147
Kapila, philosopher, too, 114, 429
Kapphinabhyudaya, epic, 188
karâ, Sikh bangle, 299
Kara, U .P., 252
Karachi,
Congress session at, 396;
mutiny in, 397
Karakandacartta, epic, 191
Karamnt ‘AH Jaunpurl, Muslim leader, 385
KàrandikSr, V ., see under Vinda
Karautb, writer in Kannada, 419
Kâraskara tribe, 28
Karavindasvâmi, writer, 147
Karkal, Jain temples at, 102
Kârli, Buddhist caves at, 200;
temple, 313
karma, effect o f deeds in present or past life
on one’s present or future condition,
75-7, 79, 116, 120, 121, 372, 428, 456;
pre-Aryan conception of, 100;
origin o f doctrine, of, 78;
in Buddhism, 85, 437;
in Jainism, 10 1,10 3,10 5-6,107,10 8,109;
and philos, o f Plato, 428;
in China, 457
karman, medical treatment, 150
karna, (musical) hom instrument, 235
Karnâtak (Carnatic), South Indian music,
221 ; origin of, 236
Karnataka,(Mysore), viii, 44, 193, 257, 286,
304, 308, 402;
language of, 167
Karoura, city, 34
Karpüramanjarl, play, 189
karranls, clerks, 465
Kartârpur, village of/298
karlavyalS, duty, and dharmb, 127
Kàfttikeya, god, 81
kartma, compassion, in Buddhism, 96
KSrur (Karuür), Madras, 34
KaruvOr, âétal town, 34
Kârve, Dhondu Kheshave (Maharshi),
374- 5 . 380
Kashgàr, 432
Kashfu'l Mahjiib, Süfî work, 284
Kâshifî, writer, 467
Kashm ir (Kaim ira), 7, 50, 51, 93, r 81, 189,
205, 221, 259, 463;
history of, 192;
Islam in, 256, 288, 466;
contention over, 421, 487
Kashmiri language, 166, 309, 406, 407;
literaturp in, 280, 308, 413, 422
V i éî va» U3r^n/><i;
Index
K âii, state of, 27
Kajmlra, King of, 187
Kassapa, Pùrana, {romana religious teacher,
100
Kassitcs, 23
Kâiyapa, Buddhist monk, 171
kathpkali, form o f dance-drama, 175, 195,
^36, 3 0 5 ,4 1 1 #
Katbâsarilsâgara, collection o f short
stores in verse, 192
Kalha Vpanishad, 78
KathiawSr, 44, 145, 262
Kathmandu, 486
Katihâr, Bihâr, 260
Katihâriyâ Rajputs, 251
Kâtyâyana, author o f sûtra, 146
Kâtyâyana, author o f Vâritikas to Pânini’s
grammar, 163
Kaumudimahotsava, play by Vijayâ, 194
Kaundinya, leg. brahman founder o f
Indianized kingdom o f Funan, 446
Kaur, n., 299
Kauromâl, see Dcwân Kauromâl
Kaufâmbi, c., 177, 435;
architecture of, 198, 313
Kaiilhama, branch o f Sòma Veda, 215
Kautitya (Kautalya, Chàoakya), Mauryan
statesman, 2, 39, «31, 135, 137, 145,
183; ree also Arthaiâstra
'K a vi, H is t’ , see Vâlmiki
Kavlrâjamârga, Kannada classic, 304
Kavisârvabhauma, see Qipijima
KavilSuali, attributed to Tulsidas, .275
Kavivallabha, writer, 193
ka\/ya, courtly poetry or poetic prose, 170,
171, 175, 177. 178, 180, 181, 194, 3° 4,
305
KSoyambnStpsa, treatise on literature, 189­
90
Kâyastha caste o f clerks and writers, 261,
401
Kâyastha Conference, Lucknow, 376
Kazan, University of, 480
Kazars, steepe people, 53
K à zi Nazrul IsIàm, Bengali poet, 415
Kelkâr, Swarajist leader, 395
Kena Upanlshad, 67, 112, 478
Kerala, reg. (âeranâdu), 30, 51, 120, 151,.
153, 181, 184, 189, 191, 192, 195. 205,
2 1 5 ,4 1 1 ,4 1 5 .4 1 7 ;
Christians in, 305;
language and literature of. 167, 175, 193,
194,236
Keralaputras, kingdom 'of the/.44
.JCerala Varma, see Varmà
Kerobothros, k., 34
k ei, uncut hair, Sikh requirement, 299
Kejakambali, Ajitp, sophistical school of,
 Index
Keshavsut, Marâthi poet, 412
Kesho, artist, 345
Keshub Chandra Sen, reformer, 274, 368—9,
370. 371. 377.412.496
Keoaddha Slitta, Buddhist text, 144
kevaia-jnâna, omniscience, in Jainism, 103,
104
khâdl, handmade cloth, Gandhi’s promo­
tion of, 395, 402
Khairpur, tombs at, 3f9
Khajuhà, battle of, 262
Khajurâho temples, 58, 206
KJtalifa, successors to Muhammad, 245,
461;
Farâ’idi, 385
Khalji dyn., 249, 250, 252-3
Khâlsâ (Panth), Sikh community, 299, 301,
302;
Khamsa, ill. MSS. of, 329
Khaim) that, musical form, 226
Khandakhâdyaka, mathematical work, 155
Khandekàr, M arâthi writer, 419
Khândesh dyn., 257, 264
khânqàh, Sufi hospice, 284-8, 292
Khanuâ, battle of, 258
Khàravela, k. o f Kalinga, 43, 101
Khari Boli dialect, 167,306, 307,412
Kharoshthi script, 432, 478
Kha(t)trl, mercantile caste, 261, 298, 301;
Sodhi family of, 300
khattaeijjâ, politics, 131
Khilâfat Conference, pan-Islamic organiza­
tion, 389, 390, 394, 402
Khitâ'i tribe, 250
Khiva, pl., 250
Khizr Khân, son o f ‘A lâ ’u’d-Din, 253
Khmers, 443, 446, 447, 449;
and Thais, 450, 453
Khokars, rebels against GhOrids, 2,49
Kholkâ, near Ahmadàbâd, 318
Khotân, Chinese Turkistan, 157, 20Ì;
R.,432
Khozhenlye za tri morya [Voyage beyond the
Three Sens), 470
Klntdâ (Pers.) G od, 274
Khudâ Bakhsh Library, Patnâ, 329
Khuddaka Nikâya, Buddhist works, 90-91
Khulifâ-i-Râshidün, ‘ Pious Caliphs’, 245
KhulnS, colonization of, 256
Khurâsân (Chorasmia), reg., Iran, 245, 246,
248, 462, 464, 465, 468, 469
Khurram pass, 464
Khusrau, son o f Jahângir, 261
Khusrau Khan (Hasan) o f Delhi, 253, 254
Khusrau Malik, Gaznavid ruler, 247
khutba, sermon at Friday prayer in mosque,
including prayer for ruler, 462
khiits{ village leaders, 252
551
Khwàja ‘A bd us-Samad, 328
Khwàja Bâqi Bi’llâh, see Bâqî B i’llâh
Khwàja-Chisht, Afghanistan, 247
Khwàja M u‘inu’d-Din Chishti, see under
M u'inu’d-Din
Khwàja ‘jUbaidu’Ilâh Ahrar, see ‘Ubaidu-
’llâh Ahrar '
khyâl, form o f vocal music, 232
Klcakavadlia, poem, 189
‘ Kick, T he’, satirical monologue, 183
Kierkegaard, S., 72
Kiemander, J. Z ., 342
Kikkuli, author o f Milannian text, 24
Kim by Kipling, 481
Kim R ., 11
Ktmiyâ' i-Sa'âdat, by Ghazàli, 285
King, Martin Luther, 404
king, kingship, 33, 34, 127-8, 13 1-4 passim,
137, 138. 485. 490-91;
origin of, 137-8;
responsibility of, 139;
Indian theory of, 203;
Akbar’s theory of, 259-60;
and administration of justice, 132, 133,
134. 139 ; .
abandonment of, 491;
in South-East Asia, 442;
see also consecration, raja
kingdoms, development of, 2;
post-Gupta, 50-53 passim
Kingfishers Catcli Fire, 481
kinship, 498
kiosks, architectural, 319, 321, 322
Kipling, Rudyard, 363, 440, 481
Kiradu, temple at, 206
Kirâta, n., 183
Kirâta (Sino-Indian) languages, 303
Kirâtârjuniyn, epic, 183
Kirchner, E.L., artist, 484
Kirloskâr, Marâthi playwright, 4J2
kirpâit, Sikh dagger, 299
kirtan, type o f song or group singing, 237,
266, 268, 269, 273, 301, 369
ktrtana, see kriti
Kisân.Sabhâs, peasants’ associations, 403
Kishan Chunder, writer in Urdu, 419
Kishangarh, school o f painting of, 331, 332
Kistnà R ., see Krishna R .
Kitâb al M ilal wa'I Nahl, Arabic treatise on
religions, 467
Kltqb.fi Tahqlq m3 LIT Hind, by AlbirOni,
467
Kìtàb-i-Nauras, poems, 222
kleias, ‘ afflictions’, and Jungian psycho­
logy, 484;
kieiavarana, ‘ veil o f passions’, in Bud­
dhism, 93
Knorozov, Yu., 32
552 Index

knot, symbolism of the, 441 Küch Bihâr, 263

knowledge, Jaina concept of, 103; Kulaickhara, King, 189
see also under JnSna Kalin brahmans, 411
K o Àtan Ce(ra)l Irumpòrai, Tamil k., 34 Kalin Kutasarvasva, Bengali satire, 411
K ohala, critic, 175 Kumâr, Jainendra, Hindi writer, 416, 419
Kotarian languages, 167 KumSradâsa, writer, 186
Kolhapur, Maharaja of, 380 Kumâra Gupta, k., 49, 50
Konârak, ‘ Black Pagoda' at, 207 Kucnàrajiva, Buddhist missionary monk,
Konkan hills, 341 455-6
Konkanl iang., 342, 343, 344, 470 Kumàran Asan, writer, 415
K ont G udi, Hindu temple, 205 Kumârapâla, Chaulukya k., 102
Koran, see Qur’an Kumarasambitaua, 'Origin o f Kum âra',
Korea, Buddhist art of, 197, 20t epic, 182
Kosala, Kosala, rcg., 27; kingdom of, 83; Kunchan Nambiar, writer, 305
dialect of; 88 Kundâ, U.P., 204
Kosatananda, epic poem, 196 Kundagrâma, Bihâr, 101
Kotah, school o f painting of, 331 kuntlalinl, 'serpent-power', vital force, 117
Kovalan, n., 36 KandamSla, play, 179
Kra, Isthmus of, 445, 450 Kuntaka, writer, 173-4, 180-86passim
Krishna (Kphja), hero and god, eighth in­ Kural, Tamil work, 304
carnation o f Vishnu, 28, 80, S t, too, Kurinji, plant, 35
171, 307, 382, 414 ! kurohlt, Sikh prohibitions, 299
cult of, 37. 58. 194. 266, 271, 277, 308, Kurram R., 26
373 ; Kurukshetra, battlefield of, 81
in literature, 178, 180, 1S3, 185, 188, 189, Kuru, tribe, 27
191, 192, 193, 195. 196. 236. 267. 272. Kushànas (Yiieh-chih), 44, 54, 55, 201, 348,
273, 276; Krishna-///», 271; 432;
in painting, 331, 345 coinage of the K . dyn., 433;
Krishna (Kistna) R ., 198, 270 and Rome, 434
Krishnadeva Râyâ, 195, 280, 304 Kusinagara, pl., 83, 99
Krislmakirtan, poem, 272 Kutch (Kacch), reg., 44, 245
Kristana Parana, poem o f Bible story, 470 Kuitanlmata, ‘ Theory o f the Bawd', )88
kriti (kirtana), South Indian vocal music, kiittu, monologues, 195
231 Kutiihala, writer, 187
Kr?na, see Krishna Kutumiyâmalai music inscription, 218
Krjiiacaritn, biography, 194
Krstjadeyaraya, see Krishnadeva Ràyà labour, forced, 40
Krfitagiti, play, 195 Labour Party, British, 397
Kr}iiakart.mmrta, lyric, 189 Lachesis, personification o f karma, 428
Krsnakavi, writer, 196 Lâdh Khan Hindu temple, 205
Kfsnamisra, writer, 192 La Fontaine, Jean de, 439, 440
Krstjànanda, writer, 194 Lagash, Mesopotamia, 18
Krfijavijaya, epic, 194 taglia, unit o f musical time, 226, 227
KrfnavilOsa, epic, 192 Laghujataka, treatise, 151
Krtyârôvana (‘ Râvana and the W itch’), Lagrange, Joseph Louis, comte, mathe­
play, 181 matician, 157
Krta Y u ga (Golden Age), 172 Lahore, 53,158,248, 249,250,264,285,293,
Kruniu R ,, see Kurram R. 298, 321, 378, 464;
kshatriya, the warrior class, 52, 55,121,129 , Mongols in, 251, 464;
130, 428,429; architecture of, 320, 322, 323, 324, 344,
and kingship, 130, 131 ; 345 !
as judges, 134; Ahmadis of, 388 ;
and brahmans, 138 cathedral at, 357;
Kjem endra, writer, (92 Lahore Congress, 379
K?emiSvara, dramatist, 190 Làjpat Râi, Lâlâ, 377, 378-9, 382, 401
Kuan Y in , see Avalokiteîvarâ Lakhanor (Nagar), pl., 249
Kubhâ R ., see Kabul R. Lakhnauti, Bengal, 249, 251, 284
Kubin, A ., 484 Lakkandi, Dhàrwar, 315
 Index
Lakjm apa, brother o f Râma, 181
Laksmìdàsa, poet, 193
Lakjmjdhara, writer, 191
Lâl Darwâza mosque, Jaunpur, 319
Lai Ded, Kashmiri poetess, 308, 309
Lolita Vistara (Lalitavistara), Buddhist
text, 146, 436, 440
Lalla, astronomer, 153, 160
lâl mirich, red pepper, 341
Lamartine, Alphonse, de, 478
Lamas, ritual of, 437
Lam b, A ., 452
lamp, Mediterranean, 445
land grants, 47, 52, 261 ; see also revenue
landlords,
under British, 355;
Hindu, in Bengal, 385
langar, centre for distribution of free meals,
284
language, languages, 409;
Vedic, 213;
o f Jainism, 102;
tribal, 167; vernacular, 88-9,164,166,196,
274, 275, 278, 343;
and literature, 303-4;
recognized in Constitution, 307;
number of, 406; speakers of, 407;-
Portuguese influence on, 341-2, 343;
British policy regarding, 361;
o f South-East Asia, 442
Lartkâ, see Ceylon
Lankovatâra sütra, 91
Laos, 448, 450
iashkar i-dtt'â, name for Süfis, 291
Laskari, sailors’ Hindustani, 342
Lassen, Chr., 478
lâsya, dance, 172, 175, 182
Lâtadeva, astronomer, 153
Lafakamelaka, .comedy, 193
Latio, 477
Lava, son o f Râma, 181-2
law, 3, t i8, 125, 127;
Muslim, 263, 359. 495 Î
rule of, 358, 359-60;
new family code of, 490;
see also justice, jurisprudence
lawbook, 51, 473;
o f Manu, see Manu;
leather, 49
Lebedev, G .S., 411
Lcedes, William, 471
Legacy o f India, the, 60, 487, 496
Legalists, Chinese, 4 55
legends, religious, 83-4;
dissemination of, 236
Legislative Council, 359
legislatures, provincial, 398
Lemuria, legendary island, 30
Tallin Ain aRa
553
Letter to a Hindu by Tolstoy, 480
Leucippus, 145
Levant, 340, 425, 435
Lhasa, 437
li, Confucian concept o f order, 457
Liàqat A li Khân, 400
Liberals, Liberal Party, 396, 398
libraries, 109, 193, 380, 435
Libyans, 435
Licchavi tribe, 46, 101
lichees, 341
Light o f Asia, The, by Sir Edwin Arnold, 478
Lilâjuka, poet, 189
Lilavatl, novel by Kutühala, 187
Lllavatl, by Bhâskara II, 157
Limyrikê, Greek name for South India, 30
linen, 45, 262, 465
Unga (Skr.), lingotti (Tamil), phallic emblem,
18, 81, 204;
in South-East Asia, 446
Lingarâja temple, Bhubaneswar, 207
Lingàyats, Saivite sect, 267, 279, 304
linguistic divisions, 196, 399
links, Buddhist, sec nidânas
Lioschoteo, Jan Huyghen van, traveller,
341.470
lion caryatids, 207
Li Po, Chinese poet, 496
Lisbon, 340, 343, 345
literacy, 489
literature, 26, 212;
development of, 3 ;
oral, 162;
early, 162-4;
classical, 170-96;
Tam il, 30, 33, 34-7, 267;
Jain, too, 102, 109, 183;
critical, 173, 180, 184;
medieval, 58, 303-9; types of, 308;
Persian, 357 !
vernacular, 166, 266;
growth of, 167;
Christian, 342;
modern, 406, 407, 416; influence o f West
on, 196, 358, 408, 410, 411, 417-18,
422, 492;
•main trends in, 413-21 ; present state of,
421-2, 492; future of, 498;
discovery by West of Indian, 473-4;
Anglo-Indian, 481
Literature o f Bengal, The, 414
Little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika) or 'T o y
C art’, drama by Südraka, 165,179,482,
493 , 495
liwan, arcade, 312, 319, 320, 322
Llewellyn and Gelert, story of, 440
h a , Portuguese wedding song, 344
lobha, ‘ craving’, in Buddhism, 96
Ink'll »a t
554 Index
Lochana, writer on music, 225 mâdhurya, ‘sweetness’, in bhakti, 273
Lockyer, Charles, 342 Madhusùdan Dutt, see Michael Madhusü-
Lodi dyn., 256, 257-8 dan Dutt
logic, Madhva (Madhvâchârya), theologian, 58,
Jaina, 105; 65, 120, 123, 267, 279, 308
N yaya, 117-18; Madhyamâgama (Majjhlma Nikâya), ‘ M id­
o f Chârvâkas, 121 ; dle’ collection o f Buddhist discourses, 90
in literature, 173 madhyama-grâma, tone system in music,
Lokahitâvvâdi, see Dcshmukh 216, 217, 218;
Lokâyata, see Chârvâka -râga, tig , 220
Lokottaravâdin, Buddhist sub-sect, 90 M âdhyamika, Mahâyâna Buddhist school,
Lollata, writer, 174 68,94,96
Lotnaharsapa, bard, 170 Madhya Pradesh, 129
London, 358, 459 Madonna del Populo, 345
Long, Rev. J., 4 1 1 Madras, Madras Presidency, 33, 355, 35^>
longitudes, 153 398,402, 493 ;
Lord, Henry, chaplain, 471 language of, 167;
Lost Horizon, 482 reform in, 371, 375, 380-81 ;
Lothal, arch, site, 1 1 ,1 4 —15, 17, 18, 19 agitation in, 401
Loti, Pierre, 479 tnadrasas, Sunni colleges o f theology and
Lotus and the Robot, The, 482 jurisprudence, 283, 287, 288, 319
Lotus-blossom, poem by Heine, 476 Madras Hindu Association, 381
‘ Lotus G ift’, play, 180 Madras Hindu Social Reform Association,
Loyang, China, 45, 455 375
Lucknow, U .P., 265, 288, 330, 376, 388; Madras Industry, stone age, 32
Court at, 4, 307 Madura(i), c. 33, 35, 36, 253; 416,434;
Lucknow Pact, 398 Muslim sultanate of, 58, 257
Lucknow University, 160 mission at, 346
LumbinJ, birthplace o f Buddha, 83 Magadha, reg., 2 7,2 8 ,3 8 ,4 0 ,4 1,4 3 , 46, 83,­
lunar mansions, 143 18 5 ,187, 188
lungs, 148 Magadhasenâ, novel, 181
Lunquist, Arthur, 482 Mâgadhi dialect, 88, 164, 165, 171
lutes, 235 Magahl language, 306
Luther, Martin, 64 Magas, k. o f Cyrene, 431
Lutyens, Sir Edwin, 357 Magba, poet, 185, 186, 188
Luzon, Philippines, 341 Maghar, U .P., 275
Magi, the, 432
M a'bar, Kerala, 255 magic, 456;
M acao, China, 339 squares, 157;
M acassar, Borneo, 467 schoqls of, 202
M acaulay, Lord, 361; magicians, 236 _
Minute on Education of, 407 Mahâbhârata, (Great Bhârata Battle), epic,
Macbeth, 470 3. 4 «, <37. 138, 146, I7 Z> 175. ' 78,
Macedonia, 431 182, 183, 185, 188, 189, 192, 193, 194,
M cGovern, W ., 145 216, 307;
machinery, 146 origin of, 29;
Maciagan, Sir, E .D ., 344, 345 story of, 170-71;
Madâlasâ, campii by Trivikrama, 190 Kannada translation of, 279;
Madanaketucarita, comedy by Râmapàjçi- Tamil translations of, 278;
vâda, 196 Telugu translation of, 169, 280, 304;
MadanamaAcukâ, n., 176 Oriyâ version of, 195;
M adani, Husayn Ahm ad, scholar, 388 ill. M S. or, 328, 329, 331 ;
M âdavi, n., 36 and Homeric epics, 426
ma'dhana, see minaret Mahâbhâshya, treatise, 163
Mâdhava, Hindu sect, 267 Mahâbodhi (M aba Bodhi) Society, 99, 495
M âdbavânala and Kâmakandalâ, story of, M ahâdcva, playwright, 195
192 Mahadevan, I., 33-4
Mâdhauikâ, *biography ’, 181 MahSdevi Vanna, Hindi writer, 418
Madhurâoijaya, epic, 194 Mahâgurus, 486
 Index
Mahâ Meru, see Meru, Mt.
Mahânadi delta, 43
Mahâpurâija, epic, 191, 328
innhSrâjâdhirâja, tille, 46
rmhàrSjas, 51, 491
Maharashtra, seg., 6, 99, 214, 263, 401, 402
4ii;
Buddhism in, 495;
bhakli movement in, 236, 267, 268-71,
279;
reform in, 369-71, 373. 374-3, 380;
Extremists in, 393
Mahârâshtri dialect, Mâhàrâçtri, 165, [89;
literature in, 177, 179, 180, 182, 183, 187,
193. «9<S
Mahâsabhâ, Hindu, communal political
movement, 379, 399
Mahâsammata, leg. k., 138
Mahàsangha, ‘ G reat’ Asserobly’, Buddhist,
87 . language of, 343, see Malayàlam
Mahâsanghikas, Buddhist sect, 88, 89, 90
Mahâsannipâta sûtras, 91
Mahasenar, writer, 191
MahSsudassana, Sut tanta, Buddhist work, 99
Mahâvamsa, Ceylon Chronicle, 83, 14s
Mahâvastu Auadana, life o f Buddha, 90
Mahàvtr Swàmï, Buddhist revivalist, 99
Mahâvïra (Nâtaputta), founder o f Jainism,
too, rot, 102, 162, 164
Mahâviracarifa, play by Bhavabhuti, 186
mahâoratas, vows, in Jainism, 107, 108
Mahâyâna (Great Vehiclè), one of the three
main divisions o f Buddhism, 43, 88,
9274, 96. 97. 271. 305. 457 !
sûtras, 89, 91 ;
art and architecture of, in South-East
Asia, 449
Mahâyâna Abhidharma, 92
Mahdawi movement, 468
Mahdi, a Messiah, the twelfth Imam, ex­
pected to return to purify Islam, 387,461
Mahdisim,'468-9
Mahendrapâla, Gurjara-Pratihâra k.,
Mahcndrasüri, writer, 193
Mahendravarman, I Pollava k., 184
Mahesh Maharishi, 497
Mahiman, literary critic, .174
Mahïpâla, k., 190
Mahjür, writer, 413
Mahmüd ( Yamin-ud-Daula) o f Ghazni, 53,
54, 55. 56,246, 248, 438;
architecture of, 310;
tomb of, 311
Mahmüd o f Jaunpur, .Mulla, 292
Mahmüd al-Hasan, scholar, 388
Mahmüd Begarh o f Gujarat, 256
Mahmüd Gâwân, Bahfüaoi wazìr, 257
Mahmüd Khalji, sultan o f M àlwâ, 236
• ' » ._ _J £ .
S55
Mailâpur, 470
Maithili language, 306;
literature in, 195, 272, 308, 406, 407
Maithilisharan Gupta, writer in Hindi, 416
Maitraka dyn., 51
Maitreya, future Buddha, 456;
Empress W u as, 457;
paradise of, 456
maitrl, love, in Buddhism, 96
Maitri Upanishad, 144
maize, 341
Majâllsu’l-Mùrninln, a Shi ‘1 history, 291
Majapahit period, Java, 449
Majjhima Nikâya, see Madhyamagama
Majma'u'l Bahrain by D arà Shukoh, 291
M akhdüm . Jahàniyân, Suhrawardi mis­
sionary, 284
Makrân, the 141
Malabar, 337, 338, 434, 464;
Malabâri, Behramji, reformer, 373-4, 380
Malacca, 340, 341, 431, 464;
Straits of, 449/431
MBlatiniadhaua (Malati and Madhaca), play
by Bhavabhuti, 186, 493
Malavar clan, 35
Mâiavikâgnimitra, play by Kâlidâsa, 146,182
Malawi, 404
Malayauatl, work of fiction, l8 t
M alay long., 442
Malayàlam tang., 30,167,168,304,406,407,
409;
literature in, 37, 189, 280, 305, 413
Malayasundari, n., 190
Malayasundarl, romance attributed to
Keiin, 192
Malayo-Polynesian lang., 451
Malay Peninsula, 443, 444, 451
Malays, 444
Malaysia, 47, 341, 442, 446, 448;
Chola expedition to, 57
Maihâr râga, musical classification, 226
M alik ibn Anas, founder o f M àlikt school of
jurists, 282
Màlikite school o f law, 282
M alik K afu r, general, 58, 253
M alik Muhammad, Jayasi, writer, 309
rnaliks, nobles, 250
M allaki dyn., tot
Mallarmé, Stéphane, 479, 482
M allikâijuna Süri, astronomer, 153
Màlwà, ceg., 51, 54, 205, 245, 256, 257, 259,
288, 318 ,319;
Gurjara-Pratihàras in, 53;
Khaljis in, 252, 233;
ceded to Marâthâs, 264; _
Mâmallapuram, temples at, 207; reliefs, 208
Mâmâ W arerkâc, writer in Maràthi, 416
A iT n v n a fo L o e n f C itim i 9413
556 Index

Mà'mün, ‘Abbâsid caliph, 283 Marâthâs, 53, 264, 265, 339, 353, 383;
Man people, 453 territory of, 165;
inaila, function o f the mind, 115 expansion of, 262;
manana, logical reflection, second stage in state, 263-4, 270, 27*i
Hindu religious quest, 66 in Bijâpur, 324;
Manasâ, goddess, 306 foreign relations of, 338
Mânasavcga, n., 176, 185 and Tipü Sultan, 384;
manastambha, Jain pillars, 102 confederacy, 393
Manavcda, k., 195 Marâthi Iang., 37, 166, 342, 406, 407,470;
Manchu dyn., China, 4 J 7 literature in, 58, 196, 268, 306, 308, 412,
mandata, 4(8
doctrine o f circle of rulers, 133; March on Washington Movement, 404
circular magical diagram, 441, 484 Marco Polo, 451
mandapam, temple halls, 314 Mardhekâr, writer, 418
Mandelslo, German traveller, 344 mârga, 'the path’, traditional music, 220
mandioca plant, 341 Margâo, Portuguese settlement, 345
mando, Portuguese Indian music, 344 Maria Stuart by Schiller, 474
Mandu, capital o f Mâlwâ, 319, 326, 327 Mârkaodeya, author, 19s
Manek Bandyopâdhyây, writer, 417, 4(8 Mark Antony, 434
mangata, narrative poetry, 306 marriage, 127;
Mangalor, Mysore, 337, 342 child, 59, 367, 373;
mango, 194 ideal Hindu, 75;
mangostcen, 341 and caste, 129, 130, 379;
MaijicüiJa, Bodhisattva, 180 customs, 267;
Manikkavnsagar, poet, 37 re-m., 384;
Manimegatai, Tamil epic, 37, 304 io India today, 489
Mani-praunla, style in Malayâlam, 168 Marriage Act, 369
Manipur, Assam, 234 Marshall, Sir John, 61, 478
Manipuri iang., 406, 407, 411 Marshman, J.C., 342
Mailjula', astronomer, 154 Màrtând, temple at, 313
Manjuéri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, 94 M ânvâr, see Jodhpur;
Martkha, writer, 192 school o f painting of, 331, 332
Mann, Thomas, 480 Mârwâri caste, 402
Manohar, paioter, 330 Marx, K arl, 415, 419, 483-4
Manomohan Basu, see under Basu Marxism, 416-17, 418
Manomohan Ghosh, see tinder Ghosh Mary Magdalene, 417
Manovali, novel, i8r Masada, siege of, 129
mansab, rank, 260, 261 Masâlik ai-Absdr f i Mainalik at Amsâr, 464
mansabdâr, official in Mughal military or MashSriqu't Anwâr by Sâghâni, 466
civil service hierarchy, graded in Masih (Messiah), 387
accordance with a decimal ranking masnawis, long poems, 469
system, 261 masses, the, and nationalism and reform,
mansabdârt, system for public services un­ 377» 378, 380, 384
der Mughals, 263, 264, 351; ‘ Master- Mistress ’ (Bhagavadajjuklya),
and British, 355-6 comedy, 179
Mansukhani, Gobind Singh, 294 n. Master Zinda Kaul, Kashmiri writer, 413,
al-Mansür, Caliph, 439, 440 415
Mansur, Ustâd, painter, 159, 330 Masti, writer in Kannada, 419, 420
mantras, verses or phrases believed to have Mas'Od of Ghazni, 246
magical or religious efficacy, 96 Mas'Qdi, Arab writer, 439
inantrt-parishad, council of ministers, 133 Matanga, writer, 2t8, 219, 220
Manu, leg. first king, 125,130 ,13 1, 135 matchlockmen, 339
lawbook of, 261, 429, 473 mathematics, 3, 48, 102, 142, 143-4, 146-7,
manufacture, 262 154- 7, 159- 6o, 289, 458, 467;
manuscripts, 160; Chinese, 156
illustrated, 326-30 M athura, c., 44, 158, 165,198, 267, 277,308,
Maoism, 417 495 ;
M ao Tze-tung, 460 sculpture of, 199, 201-2, 432 n.;
M 5 ra <V*a 'R iiH H tiicf Ç a f a n MmnW of ■ »*•>A

m atra, measurement of time in music,
227, 232
Màtrarâja, dramatist, 186, 188
Màtrceta, poet, 178
Mâtrgupta, k. of KaJmira, 181
Matrimandir (Temple of Truth), Aurovillc,
484
Matsya, kingdom of, 171
matsya-nyaya, ‘ the maxim, o f the fish’,
anarchy, 140 ' ‘ Menaka and Nahusa’, play, 184
MattavUdsa, comedy, 184
al-Màturîdi, Abu Mansur,
Mâturidi School of kalâm of, 283
Maudgalyayana, Arhant, discipie o f Bud­
dha, 99
Maukhari dyn., 51
Maurya, dyn. and period, 1, 2, 29, 38-43,
45 , 46. 51. 56, 198, 3491
art of, 199, 201
mawâi, remote.areas, 260
Max Müller, Friedrich, 436, 437, 477, 478
Màyâ, Queen, 436 n.
maya, illusion, 119, 296-7, 428, 480
Mayer, Albert, 484
MayQra, writer, 184
Mayûraâarman, founder o f Kadamba dyn.,
57
Mazhabi Sikhs, 301
Mazzini, Giuseppe, 361
Mean, the Buddhist, 86, 94
meat-eating, 17, 75, 79, IQ9 . 368, 427, 436
Mecca, 281, 292, 312, 349, 466, 467, 468;
Shccif of, 462, 463;
Indian Sufis in, 467
medicine, 48, 145, 438, 465;
traditional Hindu (ayurvedic), 147-50,
157-8, 493- 4 ;
training o f practitioners in, 147, 493;
schools of, 202;
Western, 362, 493
Medina, Arabia, 282, 462, 463, 466
meditation, 94;
in Buddhism (samadhi), 86, 95, 96
in Jainism, 108; in Yoga, 116
Mediterranean,
human type, 17;
civilization of, l ; Dravidian link with,
3 2 -3 ;
trade with, 45, 47, 201, 425, 426, 445
Meerut, U .P., 167, 249, 255
megalithic culture,
South India, 32, 33, 44;
graves, 20j ;
in South-East Asia, 448, 449, 453
megaliths, 32, 33 ..
Megasthenes, ambassador, 6, 40, 430
Meghadüta ( MeghasandeSa), ‘ The Cloud
Messenger (Message)’, by- Kalidasa,
Index 557
226 , Meghnâdbadh, epic, 410
Mehrauli, Iron Pillar of, 48
Meilink-Roelofsz, M .A.P., 339
Mekong Delta, 445
mela, musical scale, 222, 225;
-karta system, 223
melisma in songs, 485
melody, 212
membranophones, 234
Menam basin, 450, 453
Menander, Tndo-Baclrian ruler, 431
mendicants, religious, 236, 237
menhirs, 448, 451 •
Menon, Cliandu, writer in Malayâlam, 413
Mcnon, C.P.S., 143
Mentila (Padmagupta), poet, iS r, 182, 188
Menuhin, Yehudi, 485
mercenaries, Roman, 434
Merchant o f Penice, 440
merchants, 136, 445;
Indus, 142;
Mauryan, 41 ;
as patrons, 45, 47;
and Jainism, 102;
and Buddhism, 197, 201, 435;
Afghan, 258;
Muslim, 248-9, 464-5;
and Süfism, 466;
Hindu, and medieval trade, 465; in
Baghdad, 437;
British, 356, 470, 471 ;
Indian, in South-East- Asia, 445-6, 451
mercury, 158
merit (j>unya) in Buddhism, 93
merry-go-round, 146
Merli, Mount (Mahâ), 143, 144, 204
Messiaen, Oliver, 485
Messiah, 387
Mesopotamia, i t , 61, 143, 250;
and India, 18, 197, 425
metal, metallurgy, 48, 142, 158, 208;
in South-East Asia, 452
metaphysics, 112-23;
Hindu, 63, 67-70, 73-4;
Buddhist, 85-7, 93-4, 96;
Jain, 103-106;
Greek, 427
Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 357
metempsychosis, see transmigration
metrology, 141-2
Mewâr (Udaipur), 253, 256, 259, 261;
Rànâ of, 264;
school o f painting of, 331, 332
Meyerbeer (Jacob Liebman Beer), 475
Michael Madhusüdan Dutt, poet, 410, 411,
413,42,0
middle classes, 354, 388
558 Index
tvlidnaporc disi., Bengal, 402
migration,
Aryan, 26, 27;
as political safety valve, 140;
into South-Bast Asia, 444, 452
Mihira Bhoja, k., 53
Mihirakuia, Hüna k ., 50
mihrâb, niche in mosque indicating direc­
tion o f Mecca, 312, 316
Mihtar M ahal mosque, Bïjâpur, 324
mines, 40
Milarnspa, mysticism, 484
Milinda-panha ( Questions o f Milinda), 431,
435
military rule in Pakistan, 438
military service, 356
Milton, John, 471-2
Mîmàmsâ, school o f philosophy, u i , 114,
Il8 ; PQrva, 63
M.-sûtras, III
mimbar, pulpit, 312
minor, detached tower or minaret, 316,
317
minaret (nta'dlwna), 312, 316, 317, 324
mind, the, in Sânkhya and Yoga, 116
Ming dyn., China, 457
Minhâj Sirâj, author, 250
miniatures, see painting
ministers, state, position of, 131, 133, 134,
136
Minto, Lord, Viceroy 1905-10, 389
Mira Bài (Mtrâbàî), Râjput princess and
bhakti poetess, 237, 277, 306, 308
Mirâbâi k l Malhâr râga, North Indian râga,
237
mirabilis jalopa (Marvel o f Peru), 341
miracles, in Buddhism and Christianity, 436
Mir'âtu l-Makhûqât, by Chishti, 291
Mir Jumla, general, 262, 263
M îr Nithâr *Ali, see Titü Mir
Mir R afl'ù ’d-DIn Safavi, Ishrâqi philo­
sopher, 290
Mir Saiyyid.‘Ali, painter, 328
Mir Saiyid ‘Ali Hamadâni; Sufi scholar,
288, 466
Mirzâ Ghulâm Ahmad p f Qâdiyàn, 387
Mirza Hakim, ruler o f Kâbul, 462
Mirra Kalich Beg, 413
M ir a R àja Jai Singh, Râjput generai, 263
mìsìs, Sikh guerilla bands, 300
missionaries,
Buddhist, I , 45, 99, 43 1, 455, 456;
Theravâda, in India today, 495;
Christian, 37, 343, 344, 367, 376, 379,
381, *387, 388, 392, 413, 478, 495 !
Portuguese, 340, 342,--34$.; Jesuit, 409;
British, 365; as interpreters o f India,
*'T47 Î as educators, 362; influence of,
Indian, in South-East Asia, 452;
Brâhmo, 368, 371;
Ahmadi, 388
Mitanni, Hurrian state of, 23
Mithilâ, c., 194
Mitra (Mithra), god; 21, 23, 24
Mitra, Dinabandhu, dramatist, 411
Mitra, Peary Chand, Bengali novelist, 410-
Miyan Mir, Qâdiri saint, 289, 291
mieccha, designation for non-Indian, bar­
barian, 20, 127, 183, 434 '
Mloda Polska (Young Poland Party), 479
mode, in music, 212,216,485 ; see also jâti
modernization, 365 '
Modherâ, temple at, 206
‘ M ogul, the G reat', 471, 472
moha, ‘ delusion’, in Buddhism, 96
Mohanty brothers, the, 419
Mohenjo-dâro, 11-19 passim, 31, 33, 61,
141, 142, 147, 312 ;
floods at, 25 n,
moksha (mukti), liberation or salvation, 74,
76-7, 120, (22, 138, 139, 296, 394, 428,
498- 9 ;_
in Buddhism, 93;
in Jainism, 103; in Sikhism, 297
monasteries, monasticism, 283, 313, 437;
Buddhist, 47-8,49, 8 7 ,9 0 ,9 3 ,9 7, 99, lo i,
198, 200, 201, 202, 313, 435, 455; in
China, 456; modern, 495;
Hindu, 279
money-lenders, Hindu, 465
Mongolia, 7, 197
Mongols, 258, 289, 317, 349 ;
in India, 55, 250, 251, 252-3, 255, 461 ;
destroy Baghdad, 437;
(Yiian) in Burma, 450
Mongoloid, human type, 17
Monier-Williams, Sir M ., 478
monism, 268, 271, 275; ‘ Qualified’, 120;
see also Advaita
monkeys, 179;
army, of, 176, 182
M onkey Island, 179
monks,
Buddhist, 83, 87, 171,199-200, 2 U , 455-
ó\ Tibetan, 99, and Nestorian, 437;
in China, 457;
Jain, 87, 101, 102, 105-9 passim;
Hindu, 267; o f Râmakrishna Mission,
375; o f Aurobindo, 378;
Ajivika, 313
monogamy, 490
monopolies, royal, 136
monotheism, 48, 278, 282, 372
monsoons, 4;
m. winds, 434, 444
Mons, people, 450;
 Index 559
Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, 361, 396, traditions of, 466
398 Muhammad, Prince, son o f Balban, 251
Montgomery, U .S., bus boycott in, 404 Muhammad, ruler of Bïjâpur, 324
Moodbidri, Java, 102 Muhammad o f Ghür, see M ii’izzu’d-DIn
Mookerjee, Sir Asutosh, 160 Muhammad ‘Ali, 390
Mookeijee, R .K , 490 Muhammad Bakhtiyâr, 311
moon, 143, 148 Muhammad bin Qâsim, general, 245, 246
Moravia, Alberto, 482 Muhammad bin Sâm, see M u'izzu’d-Din
More, Thomas, 125, 441 Muhammad o f G hür
Morley-Minto reforms, 361 Muhammad bin Tughluq (Ulugh Jauna
morsing, percussion instrument, 231 Khân), Delhi sultan, 254,255,285, 286,
Moses, 64 287, 288, 353. 465;
mosques, 281, 3 11-12 , 315-24 possimi atrocities of, 289;
teaching in, 384; seeks legitimization, 461
Ahmadi, 388; Muhammad Ghaus, tomb of, 321
in South-East Asia, 451 Muhammad ibn ‘A bd al-Wahhâb, 383
Mother Goddess, 2, 3, 58, 61, 271, 373, 392, Muhammad Ma'süm, Khwâja, son o f
425i Sarhindi, 292, 467
in Indus Valley civ., 18; Muhammad Qâsim Nanotawi, 388 .
Sakti as, 72; Muhammad Sa‘id, Khwâja, son o f Sarhindi,
in art, 203 292,467
Mother India, 361; (Sakti), 378; (Bharat Muhammad Shâh, Khvarizm Sbâhl ruler,
Mâtâ), 494 250
Mother-worship, 369 Muhammad Shah, Bahmani sultan, 257
Moti-ki-Masjid mosque, D elhi, 319 Muhammad Shâh Rangila, Delhi emperor,
Moti. Masjid (Pearl Mosque), 33° . 354
Lânore, 322; Muhamma<j Shâh Sayyid, tomb of, 319
A g ri, 323, 353; Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College,
Delhi, 324 Aligarh, 386
Mountbatten, Lord, Viceroy 1947, 390 Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental Educational
Mricchakatika, sçe Little d a y Cart Conference, .386
mridangam, musical instrument, 230, 231, Muhibbu’llàh o f Allahâbâd,. Shaikh, 291
234 _ Mubsin aJ-Mulk, Muslim reformer, 387,389
nui'adhdhln, seë muezzin M u ‘inu’d-Dïn, Khwâja, founder o f Chishti
Mubàrak K hâp, K halji sultan, 253 order in India, 285.
Mubârak Shâh Sayyid, tomb of, 319 M u‘Î2zu’d-Din (Shihabu’d-Din) Muham­
Muddiman Committee, 398 mad (bin Sâm) o f Ghür, 54, 55,56,247,
MudrSrSkjasa, play, 183 248, 249, 2 5 0 ,3 11,3 15
muezzin, 312, 316, 324 Mujaddid, see Ahmad Sarhindi
Mughal, dyn. and empire, 1, 4, 56, 195, 258, Mujaddidis, followers o f Sarhindi, 292, 293
260, 261, 259-65, 290, 307, 328, 329, Mujahidin, holy warriors,.383, 384
339, 348. 349, 353- 4 . 383,4<>5 . 471.472. Mujassima Sufi order, 468
49 i ; Mukherji, Bhûdev/410
Court of, 102, 343; Jesuits at, 344; M ukhopâdhyây, Subhâs, 418
bureaucracy of, 261, 351, 352, 354; Muktedvara shrine, Bhubaneswar, 207
succession, 350; mukli, see mùksfta
and Sikhs, 298, 299; MOladeva, c l , 180, 192
and Deccan, 462; M ülaka, pl., 28
foreign relations of, 337, 338; M ulk R â j Ànand, author, 420
and music, 221 ; Mullâ D âüd, author, 287, 328
and painting, 326-333 passim, 344, 345; M ullâ Shâh, music and poet, 289, 291
architecture of, and West, 484; see also Müller, M ax, see M ax M üller
architecture; Multân, Pakistan, 245, 246, 256, 282, 284,
legacy to British of, 349-J2, 354-7, 358 290,464
Muhaddis, see 'A bdu'l H aq Muhaddis Miimtâz-i-Mahal, queen, 322
Muhâfiz Khân, mosque of, 320 M undâ (or Kolarian) languages, 167
Muhammad (the Prophet), 237, 245, 281, Mundaka Vpanishad, 73, 112
287. 780. : M n n R r Tn rfc* in ia c*
5<>o
muqâla'â, Irani lax, 248
muquddam, village leader, 252
Muràd, son of Shâh Jahân, 262
Murâd IV o f Turkey, 463
Muràri, dramatist, 188, 189, 193
mûrchhanâ, modal sequences in music, 218
niurids, disciples, 350
Musa al-Kazim, as one o f Muhammad’s
successors, 282
Mtlfakavainsa, history, 191
rnusho'aro, poetry meetings, 238
music, 210;
ancient, 214, 216-21;
classical, 212-34, 237. 3°6; in South
India, 222, 230-31, 236; in modern
limes, 239, 491 ; and West, 485-6
tribal, 234-5;
folk, 235-6;
devotional 236-8;
Portuguese, 343-4;
modem, 220, 239-40;
popular, 492;
Indian, in China, 458;
Indian and Western, 239, 496
musical instruments, 221, 231-2; tribal, 234
musician, rôle of, 222, 230
Musici, port, 434
Muslim League, 396, 400, 4qt, 403;
founding of, 389;
and Congress, 390
Muslims, 7, 164, 193. * 07. 275. 3° 7> 372;
as soldiers, 55;
invasion o f India, 164, 247, 303, 307, 310,
315» 32«;
effect on Buddhism of, 99, 203;
and Hinduism, 62, 206;
and Sikhism, 300;
provincial dynasties, 249, 255, 256, 264;
in South India^ 304;
decline in power of, 383;
rural, 293;
reform movements of, 386;
separatist movement of, 387, 389, 390;
and nationalism in Bengal, 393;
demand for safeguards for, 399;
political activity of, 400, 401, 402;
and Congress, 403 ;
position of, in India today, 399;
and music, 220-22
literary contribution of, 309;
influence on painting of, 326;
architecture of, 310, 312-22
Musfansir B ’illâh, Caliph, 461
MQtabas, tribe, 27
Mu'tazilite school o f philosophy, 282-3
mutiny, mutinies, 397;
Sepoy, 350, 354, 362, 383, 386, 491
Muttaqi, Shaikh ‘A bdu’l Wahhâb, 466
Index
Muziris, see Cranganore,
Mysore, architecture of, 205, 209, 315;
see also Karnataka
mysticism,
Hindu and Muslim, 291 ;
Indian and Christian, 483;
see also religions, philosophy
myths, mythology, 80, 484;
and music, 221, 236
Nabobs, 356, 473!
see also tiawab
Nachiketas, n., 78, 113
Nadia, Bengal, 249
Nadir Shâh, Persian ruler, 264
Nadwat al-’uiamâ’ (organization to bring
old and new Islamic learning together),
Lucknow school of, 388
Nâga, serpent spirit, or tribe, 446
Nâgabhata II, Gurjara-Pratihâra k., 53
NâgaktnnBracarila, verse novel, 191
Nôgânanda, play, 184
Nagar (Lakhanor), Bïrbhüm dist., 249
nagârâ, kettle-drums, 235
nâgarakas, dilettantes, 177
Nâgâijuqa, Buddhist philosopher, 68, 92,
94, 178, 187, t92
Nàgârjuna, alchemist, 158
Nâgârjunakonda, stüpa at, 199
Nàgasena, Buddhist teacher, 431
nâgasvaram, musical instrument, 231, 232,
' 235
Nâgaur, Râjasthân, 285
Nâgina Masjid mosque, Champanîr, 320
N âgi Somâ, leg. princess, 446
Nàgpur, 99, 346
Naidü, R . Venkata Ratnam, reformer, 375
Naidû, Sarojini, writer, 420
Naifadhacarila, epic, 192
NaifadhBnand, drama, 190
Najâlu'r Jfashld, by B adâ’üni, 290
Najib al-Dawla o f Rohilkhand, 383
nakshatras, lunar mansions, 143, 161
Naia, leg. k., 184, 189, 190, 192, 194;
and Damayanti, story of, 482
Nâlandâ, 449;
Buddhist university at, 202;
destruction of, 92, 99
Nalaoijaya, play, 184
Namakkal, goddess, 159
NambQdiri brahmans, 214,-215
Nâmdev, hymnodist-saint, 268, 308
n~m japan, nòni simaran, Sikh meditation,
297
Nânak, Guru, 287, 294, 295, 300, 301, 308;
and Kabir, 275, 295-6;
life of, 297-8;
philosophy of, 296
 Index 561
Nanda, brother o f Buddha, 211 extremists of the, 376-7, 378-9, 391, 392,
Nanda dyn., 38; 393. 401, 403;
last ruler of, 183 and Muslims, 388, 389;
‘ Nanda, the Handsome’ {Soimdaranauda), Gândhian agitation of, 402, 403;
epic, 177 influence of West on, 391, 393, 400;
Nandi, Siva's bull, 81 as inspiration abroad, 403-5
NaDnaya, Telugu poet, 168, 280, 304 National Museum of India, 326
Napoleonic Wars, 474 National Social Conference, 374, 376, 392
Naqshband, Khwàja Bahà’u'd-Din M u­ naturalism, 271
hammad, 289 NSfyasSstra {Treatise on Drama), 170, 172,
Naqshbandi order o f Süfis, 288-9, 4^71 173» 175. 196, 216, 218
split in, 292; Naura, pl., 30
literature of, 291 naurûz, Iranian spring ceremony, 350
Nâradisikshâ, Vedic text, 214 Navagrahacarita, play, 196
Narai, k. of Siam, 446 Navanagar, Bombay, 263
Narasi Mehta, Gujarati poet, 30S NavasBhasBnkacarita, epic, 191
Narasimha, playwright, 193 navel, in medicine, 148
Naravâhanadatta, n., 178, 179, 183, 185 navy, Portuguese, 339
Nàrâyan, R .K ., 420 nawâb, Mughahtitle, 352, 356, 491
Nârâyana, mathematician, 157 Nawwâb Siddiq Hasan Khân, ahl-i hadiih
Nârâyana, writer on literature, 174 leader, 389
Nârâyana, dramatist, 184 Nàya (Jnâta) clan, tot
Nârâyana, poet, author o f NBrByaniya, Nayacandra, writer, 194
195 Nâyaka, writer, 174
Nârâyana Swâmi, reformer, 366 Nâyanârs, devotees of Siva, 58, 267, 278,
Narmad, poet, 412 304
Narmada, R., 6, 11, 433 nayas, ‘ points o f view’, Jain doctrine of,
Narmadasundart, dharma novel, 193 104-5
NarmamSIB, satirical novel, 192 Nazis, 421
Nâsatya, Vedic deity, 23 Near East, 432;
Nash, John, 484 Aryans, in, 23, 24-, 26-7;
Nâsir Shah lÒialji, 326 see also Middle East, West Asia
Nâsiru’d-Din Mahmüd, Prince, son o f Needham, Joseph, 141, 157
Iltutmish, 250, 251 Negapatam, Portuguese settlement, 337, 342
Nâsiru’d-Din Mahmüd, Delhi sultan, 251 Negri Sembilan, Malaya, 451
Nâsïru'd-Din Muhammad Chiràgh (-i- Negritos, racial type, Malay Peninsula, 443
Dihli), Süfi Shaikh, 252, 285, 286, 287 Nehru, family, 307
Nüsiru’d-Din Muhammad Shâh, founder of Nehru, Jawaharlal, 289, 360j 361, 382, 390,
sultanate o f Gujarât, 256 394. 396. 399. 400, 403. 404, 40,5. 4*9
Nâsiru’d-Din Qabâcha, see Qabâcha Nehru, Motilal, 395
Nasiru’d-Din Tüsi, see Tüsî Nehrü Report, on future constitution for
nâstika, non-believer, 66, r20 India, 398
imfaka, drama, 178, 179, 182 Nejd, Arabia, 383
Nâtakattamil, ’ Dram a T am il’, 35 Nemi(nâtha), Jain Tirthankara, too
NatBnkuia, critical work 175 Neo-Confucianism, 457
Nâtaputta, see Mahâvira Neolithic, in South-East Asia, reappraisal
Nâth(a) Y ogi (or Pâothi) sect, 267, 268, 287, of, 452 . 453
292, 305 Neoplatonism, 435, 438, 476-7;
nâtikâ, type of play, 178 and Süflsm, 283;
National Academy o f Letters, 406 and Indian religion, 436
National Congress, see Indian National neo-Romanticism, 479
Congress Nepal, 51, 153, 158, 193, 203, 306, 346
nationalism, 99, 361, 393 Nepal Darbar Library, 305
nationalist associations, 401 Nepàli Iang., 166
nationalist movement, 360, 366, 367, 368, Nero, Roman emperor, 434.
373. 378, 381. 391- 405 ; Nestorianism, 437
and reform, 271, 274, 380; Nettl(e), Bruno, 235-6
moderates in, 376-7, 391, 393, 399, 396, Neugebauer, O,, 14!, 152
108. uoo: Newbcry, John, 471
562 Index
New Delhi, 317, 459;
architecture of, 325, 357
New Y ork, 483
New York Daily Tribune, 484
NibbStta, see Nirvana
nidftnas, twelve links, Buddhist theory of,
85-6-
nidarsanakatha, .‘ illustrating novel’ , 180
nididhyôsnna, ethical discipline, third stage
in Hindu religious quest, 66-7
nigoda, ‘ host-soul’ , Jain concept of, 103
nihilism, 86
Niknyas, see Âgamas
Nikitin, Afanasiy, 470
Nilakaijtha, writer, 189, 195;
Nilakaiilhauijnya by, 195
Nil Darpan, Bengali play, 4 11
Nilgiri Hills, 234
Nilmani Phookan, writer, 416
Ni'mat Nama, M S. of, 326
Nimbiirka, Vaishnavite theologian, 123,267
Niralâ, Hindi poet, 415
1tiraval, song text, 231
Nirgrantha, title 'of Mahavlra and Jain
ascetics, tot
Nirguna, ‘ qualityiess’, the ultimate im­
personal God, 274
Nirguna Sampradâya, Sant devotional
school, 295-6
Nirmânakâya, Created Body (of Buddha),
. 94 . 95
Nirvana (Nibbana), the state of final bliss,
in Buddhism, 91, 94, 97, 201, 437, 456,
480, 498 ;
Chinese approach to, 459
Nifâda, forest tribes, 27;
as designation for non-Àryan tribes, 20
NishSda (Austrie) languages, 303
niti, polity, i8t> '
Nitivarman, poet, 189
niyainas, see yantas
Nizàm a)-Mulk o f Hyderabad, see Nizâm-
u’l M ulk À saf Jâh ‘ churning of the, 195
Nizami, poet; 329
Nizami, K .A ., Muslim scholar, 247
Nizâmiyya academy, Baghdad, 284
‘ N izâm iyya’, Muslim educational syllabus,
388
Nizâm Shâhi dynasty of Ahmadnagar, 257
Nizamuddin, D r., 160
Nizâmu’d-Dîn A uliyâ’, Shaikh, Chishti
Sufi, 253-4, 285, 469
Nizâmu’d-Din Fârüqi Thâneswarî, Chishti
saint, 290
Nizâmu’l M ulk À saf Jâh of Hyderabad, 264,
383 - ' ' Vedic, 213
Nizâmu’l M ulk TOsi, Saljuqid vizier, 283,
287
P/-Î7** -lie /«An
Nobili, Father Robert de, Jesuit missionary,
346
nobles, 287;
under Delhi Sultanate, 250, 252, 255,25S ;
Mughal, 289, 351- 2. 354
nom tom, section of musical movement, 229,
232
Non-Co-operation movement, 39°. 393.
394. 395, 398. 403
Non-Returners, in Buddhism, 87
non-violence, 416, 422, 480, 481 ;
see also ahimsB
Norm , Buddhist, see Ditarm
North, Sir Thomas, 439 .
north-west frontier, 259,.263, 384, 386
North-Western Province, 376
Norwich Cathedral, 3*3
notation, musical, 217-18, 220, 223, 239
N .S. de Penha da Franca, church of, 345
numerology, 146, 157, 467
nuns, Buddhist, 83, 87, 456:
Jain, 101
N ür Jahân, wife of Jahangir; 261
Nür Qutb-i-’Âlam, Chishti Sufi, 2S6
N D rTurk, IsmS’ili leader, 282
NOru’d-Din a! RSniri, Sufi, 467
NOru’d-Din Mubarak Ghaznawi, member
of 'ulama', 287
NOru’ l Haq, Shaikh, son o f ‘ Abdu’l Vlaq,
291
Nürul Hasan, 260
Nüru’llâh Shustari, Qazi, Shi’I, 290-91
Nyàya school of philosophy; i l l , 114, 1 17­
18, 122;
N.-sûtras, t i l
Nyingmopa Tantras, Buddhist texts, 92
nymphs, 183, 184,204
oboe, 234
observatories, 1585458
Ocean,
God o f the, 182;
Oc-Eo, South Vietnam, finds from, 453,445
octaves, in Indian music, 214, 216, 217, 223
Odantapuri, Buddhist centre, 99
Old Soldier's Dialogue of do Couto, 340
Omar Khayyam, 496
‘ om rah’, Mughal official, 351, 352, 356
Orice-Returners, in Buddhism, 87
Onor, Portuguese settlement, 337
On the Language and IVisdom o f the Indians,
by F. von Schlegel, 474
Ophir, port of, 425, 438
oral tradition in Indian literature, 172, 309;
’■
oranges, 341
orchards, 255
n r r h i* < t r f l 7-ao

Orientalists, 97, 99, 357
‘ Origin o f K um âra’, epic, 1S2
‘ Origin o f Pradyumna1, epic, 196
Origin o f Species, 478
Orissa (Ralinga), 28, 43. 51, 193. 195. 207,
253. 256. 257. 308, 355. 413 ;
literature in, 194, 196, 280;
architecture of, 202, 206, 3Ì3, 315;
Oriyâ language, 166, 406, 407, 413;
literature in, 308, 41s, 419
Ormuz, pi. 470, 471
orphans, orphanages, 346, 375, 379
Orphism, 427, 428
OsiS, Rajasthan, 205
Osiris, 427
Os Cusiadas o f Camoëns, 470
Osmania Bureau, Hyderabad, 160
Ottoman Caliphate, 339, 389, 390, 463
òtta, musical instrument, 232
Oupnekhat, see Upanishads, 474
outcasles, 417;
see also classes
Ovinglon, John, 471
Oversoul, Emerson’s concept or, 477
Oxus R., 21, 246, 431
Pacific, (he, 452, 453
pacifism, Christian, 480
pnda, song, 231
Pâdalipta, author, 177, 178
Padirrtippatttt, Tamil poems, 34, 36
Padmacarita, epic, 179, 188
Padmagupta, poet, see Metj(ha
Padmagupta, epic writer, 191
Padmarâju, writer in Telugu, 419
Padmasambhava (PadmSkara), Buddhist
siddha, 95
Padmàval, n., 309
PadmSvatlparinaya (‘ Padmàvati's
riage’), play, 180
Padmini, queen o f Chitor, 309
pâdshâh (bâdshôh), titles used for Mughal
rulers, 354, 491
PadyacndBmavi, epic, 188
Pagan, Burma, 203, 449, 450
Pahâri, style o f painting, 332, 333, 391
Pahàrpur/ree Somapura
painting, 3, 197, 206, 207, 20S, 209, 2(0;
miniature, 4, 159, 235, 277, 326-33. 353!
riiga-mâlâ, 221 ;
and British, 357;
Chinese, 459;
modern, 492; see also Ajantâ
Parsaci language, 89, 163, 176, 181
Paitâmaha Siddhânta, astronomical treatise.
15t
Pajjüsana, Jain festival, 102
pakhovaj, drum, 234
Pakistan, 7,2 4 7 , 388, 390, 40J.421 -2;
Index 563
law in, 359
Muslims and, 399;
and nationalists, 400;.
government of, 405, 488;
.East, yiii, 167;
languages of, 167, 407
’ Pakistan Resolution 390
Pài, B.C., 378
Pâla dyn., 53, 54, 188, 271;
and Buddhism, 202, 203;
and art, 203;
influence in South-East Asia of, 449, 450
‘ palaces o f the gods’, 200
Pnlaeo-Mediterranefin peoples, 6, 7 ; see
also Dravidians
Palamau, Râjâ of, 262
annexation of, 263
Pafampet temple, 209.
Pâli, language, 89, 165, 176, 303, 478
'Pâli Canon, Buddhist scriptures, 89. 90,
to t, 163, 175, t76
Palibothri, inhabitants of Pâtalipütra, 440
Palitànâ (Pàlithànâ), Gujarât, t02, 315
Pattava dyn., 50, 51, 57, 168, 446;
sculpture of, 207-8
pallaui, form of South Indian music, 227,
230, 231, 232
palm-leaf manuscripts, 203, 207
Palmyra, Syria, 433
Pamir, Central Asian plateau, 201
Pampa, Kannada poet, 304
Paflcâla (Panchâla) tribe, 27, 78
Paiicliama-granta-iiiga, musical form, 219
Paàchasiddhântikâ by Varâhamihîra, 15t.
152
PanchaSikha, philosopher, 121
Pancltataatra (Pancatantra), collection of
fables, 15, 180, 43?, 439, 44°
Mar­ panchâyat, village council, 5, 361, 491
Pàndavas, leg. princes,. 170-71, 176, 183
Pandharpur, mahârâshtra, 268, 269,'271,
279
Pandion, k „ 433
Pândiyar, Tamil dyn., 35
Pându, leg. k., 170-71
Pânduâ, Bengal, .284, 286, 318
Pandukàbhaya, k., 145
Panduwasa, k., 14s
Pândya dyn., 44, 58, 253, 433
Panikkar,'Sarda r, 349
Panfili, grammarian, 160, 162, 163, 176. 185
Pânipat, Panjâb, 286, 320;
battles of, 258, 259, 265
Pan-lslamism, 462
Panjâb, 7, 19. 26, 40, 43 , 14t. 25°. 260, 262,
285, 32t. 378, 386, 393. 401, 402, 463.
■484;
climate of, 426;
Aryans in, 20, 21, 27;
5&4 Index

Panjâb (com.) Parmenides, philosopher, 427

M a u ry a n s ill, 430; Parpola, Asko, 32, 161
Hünas in, 50; Parsora, shrine, 205
Greeks in, 55, 4*9; Pârsva(nâtha), Jain Tirlhankara, too, tot
Turks in, 54, 56, 246, 247, 248, 249, 310; Pârsis, 7, 62, 401, 471
Hindus in, 256; Parthians, 44, 432, 434, 445
Babur in, 258; partition, 167, 388, 390, 400, 403, 421, 487,
Sikhs in, 265, 295; 491
Suhrawardis in, 2S4; Pârvati, wife.of Siva, 8t, 172, 184, 236
Qâdiris in, 289; Parsival (Parsifal), 440
in eighteenth century, 299-300; pâshandins, followers o f non-Yedic rites,
Ârya Samâj in, 372; 61 n..
social reform in, 376, 379-S0; pâs-i-anfâs, breath control practised by
Muslims in, 400; Sufis, 286
architecture of, 325 n. Passage to India,
Panjabi (Gurmukhi) language, 166, 167, poem by Walt Whitman, 479;
309, 406,407; novel by E.M . Forster, 481
literature in, 296, 308, 413, 417, 422 Pusupali, Siva as, 18
panj kakki (‘ Five K ’s ’) in Sikhism, 299 Pàtaliputra, c „ 38 ,4 0 ,43 ,179,430 . 4 )>. 435,
Panncerselvam R.. 33 440
Pant, Hindi poet, 415 Patanjali, philosopher and grammarian,
panili, Sikh community, 294, 299, 300 too, 114, 117, 163, 164
pantheism, 427 Patel, Pannata!, Gujarati writer, 419
Panlulu, Viresalingam, reformer, 375 Patel, Sardâr, 390
p a p a y a ,341 Patel, Vithalbhâi, Swarajist leader, 395
paper, 3, 464 paternalism, 39-40
parables, Christian and Buddhist, 436 Path, Aryan (Noble) Eightfold, to Enlight­
paradise cults, 456, 459 enment in Buddhism, 20, 86, 95, 98
Paraman3nda, svriter, 196 ‘ Pathan’ architectural style, 352
paramânus, atomic doctrine, 144-5; Pathans, 384
see also atoms Pather Panchail, novel, 418
Paramâra, dyn. of Màlwâ, 54; Patiâli, U .P., 469
Rajputs, rgi paticea-samuppanna, see Conditioned C o ­
Paramesvara, mathematician, 151, 154 production
Paramesvaravarman II, Pallava k., 136 n, Patidâr brahmans, 402
Pâramitâ, the six or ten Perfections, Bud­ patiganita, branch of mathematics, 156;
dhist concept of, 86, 93 treatise on, 160
Paranar, Tam il poet, 35 Patnâ, 198, 329, 346
Paranjpye, R .P ., 398 Pattadakal, temples at, 207
Parasurâma, 11., 19! Patthâna, Buddhist treatise, 9t
pardêsi, 'foreigners’ in Deccan, 257 Pattini, goddess, 36
Pardoner's Tale, o f Chaucer, 440 Paiiupâuu (Ten Songs), Tamil poetry, 36
Parekh, Jayant, poet, 416 Paul o f Alexandria, 438
pargana, group of villages constituting a PauHsa Siddhànta, astronomical treatise,
subdivision o f the sarkâr, the basic ad­ 151. 152.438
ministrative unit in Mughal India, 259 Pàvâ, Bihar, tot
Pariah, by Goethe, 475 pavilions, 323
Pariah, The, by Michael Beer, 475 pax Romana, 432
Paricakrâ, c., 28 peanuts, 341
Parihâra, clan, 251 Pearl Mosque, see Moti Masjid
Pàrijâta, flower, 180, 192 peasants,
Parinirvàna, death and final entry into Muslim, 384;
Nirvana o f the Buddha and others who associations of, 403
have attained perfection, 83, 99 Peddana, poet, 305
Paripadal, Tamil poetry, 34, 35 Pegan, 11., 35
Paris, 474 Pegu, Burma, 340, 464
parlsaha, 'troubles', in Jainism, to8 Peking, 340
parisliad, council, J36 pcnauce, 108, 125
Parkliam, pl., 198 Penang, Malaysia, 4 4 5
 Index 565
Pengkalau Kempas, Malaysia, 451 philosophy, 111-123, 435-6, 467;
pepper, 337, 34°, 434 î earliest systematic, 114;
red, 341 ' _ _ Hindu, 3, 48, 58;
Perfection of Wisdom sütrâs, see Prajnapara- Buddhist, 94, 96, 201, 202;
milâ . Jain, 102, 103-6;
Perfections, Buddhist, see pâràmilâ Islamic, 289;
Peripatetic philosophy, 289, 290, 292 Peripatetic, school of, 289, 290, 292;
Periplm o f the Erythraean Sea, The, 434 o f Aurobindo, 378;
Periyâr R ., 434 Indian and Western, 123, 210, 474-7
Permanent Settlement of Bengal, 355, 384 passim, 483 ;
Pernambuco, pl., 341 influence o f Indian, 496-7
persecution, religious, 283, 300; Chinese, 483;
o f Buddhism in China, 456, 457 Indian and Greek, 426-9, 430, 436;
Persepolis, Iran, 198, 313 and science, 142;
Persia, 18,33,41,46, 143, 151,221,2 51,2 57, and medicine, 147, [48
259, 261, 262, 264, 284, 289, 309, 315, Phoenicians, 415, 426
407, 426, 427, 462, 465, 488, 492; phonetics, 213, 214
Aryans in, 21, 24; Phookan, Nilmani, author, 416
raids on India of, 50, 53, 56, 264; photography, 357
Arabs in, 245; Phûie, Jolibà Govind, writer and reformer,
governors of, 246; 370, 380
government and administration of, 248, physicians, 147, 148, 149, 150
250, 260; physics, 118, 146, 159
Shi’is of, 282; Piggott, Stuart, 142
Süfism in, 468; pilgrimage, 81-2, 268, 281, 297;
relations with Aurangzeb, 463; attacked, 275, 280
influence on India of, 353; at Mughal Pilgrimen Kamanita, by Gjellcrup, 480
court, 350, 352; in Mughal administra­ pilgrims, 204;
tion, 350; on architecture, 311-23 Chinese, 202;
passim; on painting, 332, 353; Hindu, 259;
as source o f South-East Asian finds, 445; Western, 497
traders from, 451 pillars,
Persian Gulf, 257, 425, 435, 444, 445, 464 ASokan, 41, 42m, 46, 198, 255, 312-313;
Persian language, 21, 167, 222, 237, 260, Jain, 102;
303, 307, 353, 409, 472, 4951 ‘ o f victory', 316;
as official language, 164, 307; superseded Corinthian, 432
by English, 361 ; Pilpay (Bidyâpat, Vidyâpati), 439
literature in, 343, 469 Pindar, 428
Persians, 435; in India, 7, 261, 293, 337 pioflbandhas, group dances, 172
Perso-Arabic, 309 pineapple, 341
Peshawar, 149, 156, 246, 259, 432 pipai tree, 2
Peshwâ, hereditary minister and de facto k pir, Sùn preceptor, 284
o f Marâthâs, 354 piracy, 338
Petersburger iVSrterhuch, Sanskrit diction­ Pitt, William, 355
ary, 478 plainsong, 217
Petra, Jordan, 433 Planck, Max, 159
Phaedrus, The, 428 planets, 152, 153, 155, i6r
Phaedrus, fables of, 439 plants, growth-rate of, 159
Phanes, n,, 429 Plato, 64, 427, 428, 429, 430, 439, 477
pharmacology, 148-9, 158; Pliny, the Elder, 40, 43 r, 434/445
see also drugs Plotinus, 64, 435-6
Phaulkon, Greek adventurer, 446 plunder, 246, 247, 248, 263
Pherecydes o f Syros, 427 poetry, 3, 4, 238, 309;
Philippines, 340, 341, 446, 448, 451, 433 classical, 163-4, 165, 170, 171, 177, 178,
Philo, 64 181, 183, 185, 189, 190, [96;
Philo o f Byzantium, 146 medieval devotional, 304, 306, 308, 417;
philology, see also bhakti;
Finnish, 161; Muslim, 465; Persian,- 303, 353, 469;
comparative, 477 Sufi, 284, 285, 287, 288;
566 Index
poetry, (con/,) Prabhu, caste, 401
modem, 410, 413, 418, 411, 492; Prabhupâda, Swâmi, 497
Tamil, 34-7, 44, 168; Prabodhacandrodaya, play, 192
Western, influence o f India on, 47J, 472, Prabodh Sanyal, writer, 418
474-480 passim, 482-3 Pradyumna, son o f Krishna, 185
poison, dealers in, 98 Pradyumnabhyudaya, drama, 193
Poland, 478,479 Pradyumnacarita, epic, 191 '
police, 487 prahasana, form o f comedy, 179
lamlndârs functions as, 260; Prahlâda, n., 394
and Farâ'idis, 385 Prahlâdanadeva, writer, 192
politics, prajò, thè ruled, 125
Indian values and, 124-3; Prajâpati, god, 113
Hindu theory of, in South-East Asia, 442; prajnS, wisdom,
past and present, 490-1 in Buddhism, 86, 93,96;
pollution, ritual, 49, 76 in Yoga, 116
polo, 357 Prajiwpâramilâ, ‘ Perfection of Wisdom
Po-lo-men (brahman) literature, 157 sfltras’, 91,94
polyandry, 139 prakara, temple enclosures, 314
polygamy, 387 prakaranas, type o f play, 179
Polynesia, art of, 484 Prakrit language, 89, 102, 162-6 passim,
polyphony, 212, 239 168, 303;
polytheism, 70, 266, 371, 376’ literature in, 187
Pornbai, Sebastian Marquis of, 346 prakriti, original substance, 114, 117
Pompeii, 198 Pramatha Chaudhury, 416
Pondicherry, 378, 434, 445, 484 Prambanan temple, Java, 449
P’ong T iik, Thailand, 445 pròna,
Ponna, Kannada poet, 304 breathing, 146;
Poona, 374, 375, 401 unit o f time, 153
Poona Sarvajanik Sabhâ, 392 prânâyâma, breath control,
‘ pop’ culture and India, 485, 486 in Yoga, 116;
population, peoples, o f India, 6-7, 426; in Süfism, 468
Indus Valley, 17; Pranüna tribe, 28 .
Aryan, 24; Prarthana Samâj, reform organization, 370,
Sikh, 301 n.; 371, 375, 376, 380
‘ explosion’, 488-9 prasada, ritual decoration, 82
Porée-Maspero, Eveline, 453 Prasamarâghava, play, 193
portraiture, 330, 344, 353 Pratâparudra, playwright, 193
Portuguese, 471; in India, 4, 7, 58, 123, Pratihüra dyn., 30, 245
156, 239, 337- 471 ; pratimSs, prescriptions for laymen in
coming of, 338, 464; Jainism, 106, 107
military power of, 339; Pratimoksha, 150 articles in Buddhism, 87;
introductions of, 341; P-sBtra, 89
music, art and architecture of, 343-6; Pravarasena II, Jr., 182, 188
end of, 338 ‘ Prayâga, pl., 435
Portuguese language, 341-2 prayer, Muslim, 281, 385;
Porus, k., 430 SQfi, 289
Poshadha, meeting of Buddhist monks, 90 PrayogBbhyttdaya, play, 180
Positivism, 373, 414 Preaching o f Islam, 287
Posi Office, play by Tagore, 482 Precepts, Five, o f Buddhism, 87
Poiana, Telugu writer, 280 Precepts o f Jesus, 367
potato, sweet, 341 Prerachand, novelist, 307, 416, 417, 420
pottery, Premendra Mitra, writer, 418
Indus Valley, 15, 19, 141; Press, Baptist Mission, Serampore, 408,409
Arikkamedu, 33; •press, freedom of, 400
A n ctin c, 434 price control;' 136, 252
Pound, Ezra, 417 priests, see brâhmans
poverty, 378 Prince o f Wales Museum, Bombay, 328
prabandha, literary form, 305 Prinsep, James, 42, 478
Prabhavânanda, Swàmi, 483 printing-press, 167, 343, 346, 367, 408, 409
 Index
prisoners o f war, 259
Prithviràja Chàhamàna, k., 54, 56, 247, 258,
305, 315
Prithviràja Râsau, epic, 306
Prithu, k., 137
Priyadariikâ, play, 184
Prodigal Son, parable of, 436
‘ Progressive’ writers, 417
pronunciation, o f Indian languages, xi-xiii
Prophets, the, 290, 46S
prose literature, 176, 177-8, 180-81, 184-8
passim, 190, 191-2, 193, 308-9, 410
prostitution, 133, 211;
religious, 59, 81; see also decadasi;
in literature, 1S8
Proto-Aryans, 24
Proto-Australoid, human type, 6, 7, 17,
234
Prolo-Dravidian language, 30
Provinces o f the North and South, Portu­
guese, 338, 342, 346
Provincial Councils, Portuguese, 342
provincial dynasties,
Hindu, 249;
Muslim, 237, 461 ;
see also under names of individual dynas­
ties
Pfthvlrûjavljaya, epic, 192
Przerwa-Tctmajer, K ., 479
Pseudo-Callisthenes, 430
‘ psychedelic generation’, 486
psychoanalysis, 417
psychology, 484
Ptolemy, 34, 152, 154, 445;
cosmology of, 797-80
Ptolemy Philadelphus o f Egypt, 431
puberty rites, 385
pudgala, matter, in Jainism, 103
Pudgalavâdin, Buddhist sect, 88, 89
piiga tribunals, 132
PugalOr, inscriptions, 34
Pugàr, c., 36, 434
Pukkasa, forest tribe, 27
Pulinda, non-Aryan tribe, 27
Pu|umSyi II Vâsiç(hiputra, Sâtavâhana em­
peror, 177
l’ unira, reg. and tribe, 27, 28
Punnü, n., 309
pnnya bhiimi, holy land of India envisaged
by Hindu reformers, 378
puppets, shadow, 442
Puram, heroic genre o f Tamil poetry, 35, 36
puramdara, 25; see Indra
purâna, ’ ancient', type o f religious and his­
torical literature, 170
Purâna, Christian, 343, 409
PQrana Kassapa, iraniana teacher, 100
Purâna Qilâ, sixth city o f Delhi, 320, 352
Purânas, sacred texts o f Hinduism, 3-, 28,48,
72, 124, 148, 185, 187, 192, 204, 216,
275. 43 «, 470
purâna, ‘ ancient’, as class o f religious and
historical literature, 170;
heroes of, 195;
and Krishna myth, 266;
in Telugu, 280;
dramatized, 305;'
as literary inspiration, 195, 411, 492
Purandaradàsa, singcr-saint, 236, 305
Purandhar, treaty of, 263
Pure Land sects, 459,.46o t
Puri, Orissa, 206-7 «
Puritanism,
o f Aurangzeb, 263;
Western, 210, 417
PQrnasaraswati, playwright, 193
Purohit Swâmi, Sri, 482
purohita, chief priest, 133
PurOravas, n., 170, 182
PurufaparlkfS, npvel, 195
purusha,
consciousness, in Sânkhya philosophy,
i i j ; in Yoga, 116, 117;
P., the Primeval Man, 429
purttshSrlhas, three aims in Jainism, 126
Purushottama (The Supreme Person), see
Vishnu
Pürvabhârata campii o f Mânaveda, 195; of
Ananta, 195
Pürva Mimâmsâ, philosophical system, 63
Pushyabhuti, dyn., 51, 52
Pu;padanta, poet, 191, 195
Pufpadiifitaka, ptay, 180
putra, musical classification, 221
Puttanna, writer, 413
Puttappâ, poet in Kannada, 416
Pulnt Nocher Itikathâ; novel, 417
pyjamas, 357 '
Pythagoras, 427-8;
theorem of, 157;
musical system of, 213, 216
Qabâcha, Nàsiru’d-Din, 250, 284
al-Qàdir, ‘Abbâsid Caliph, 246
Qâdiri Süfi order, 289, 291, 293
Qndiyàn, pl., 387, 388 _
Qandahàr, Afghanistan, 239, 261, 262, 462,'
463
qaivwâls, singers, 237-8
Qayrawân mosque, 312
qâzl, judge administering Islamic law, 288
Qtpchâq tribe, 250
qiyâs, analogical deduction, in Sunni law
282
‘ Qualified M onism1 ( Visishtadvnita), 120
quasi-feudalism, see feudalism
Questions o f Milinda, see Miliitda-panha
 568 Index
Quilon, Portuguese post, 337
'Q u it India’ movement, 397
Qur'àn (Koran), 245, 253, 275, 281, 282,
283, 383, 384, 387
al-Qushairi, Abu’l Qasun, 283, 286
Qushashi (Safi-u’d-Din Ahmad), 466
Qutaiba bin Muslim, general, 243, 246
Qutb Minar, 316, 317
Qutb Shàhi dyn., of Golconda, 257, 263,462
Qutbu’d-Din Aibak, 249-30, 311, 315, 316,
317
Qutbu'd-Din Bakhtyâr Kâkï, Khwâja, 285
Qutbu’d-Din Mubarak Shâh, 461
Quwwat-ul-IsISm mosque, Delhi, 316, 317
Rabwah, West Pakistan, 388
Rachot, Salsctte, Jesuit College, 343
racial discrimination, 346, 352, 363
Racine, Jean, 430
Râdhâ, n „ 193, 236, 267, 272, 273
Râdhâkânta Deb, 368
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, 60, 81, 82,
294m, 419, 420, 496
Râdhânâth Rày, writer, 413
radicals, radicalism, 368, 417
radio,
drama, 421 ;
influence on music of, 238, 239, 240
Radio Ceylon, 239
râga (rag), a series of notes on which a
melody is based, 213, 218, 219, 220,
229, 230, 231, 233, 236, 237, 242;
classification of, 220-26 passim;
and raginis, personification of, 221
and orchestral music, 240
râgakSuya, musical drama, 175, 193, 195
râgamâtâ, musical form, 233
painting associated with, 221
râgam-tânam-pallavi, form of vocal music,
230
Râgatarangini, treatise, 225
RSghavabhyndaya, play, 184
RSghavânanda, play, 183
Raghuvai/iia, epic, 182
Rahim , Muslim name for God, 238
Râhuia Sankrityayana, writer, 419
râi, tributory Hindu chief, 252
Rai-i-RSyân, see Râmachandrà
railings, carved, 198, 199 .
railways, raihvay-stations, 324, 360, 362
The Rains Came, novel, 481
Ràj, Hans, Hindu reformer, 378
râjâ, 132, 139;
position of, 125;
duty to, 127;
and dharma, 130;
and local councils, 134;
restraints on, 136;
m a sites* H i > n U n o c K tn
Raja-Birbal, house of, 322
Râjâ Dàhir of Sind, 245
Râjagopâlâchâri, C „ 390
Râjahaipsa, n., 183
Râjâ Karan Vâghel o f Gujarât, 252, 253
Râjarâja 1, Chola k., 57, 450
Râjarâni temple, Bhubaneswar, 207
Râja Râo, author, 420
ràja-sâsana, royal decree, 133, 134, 135
Râjasekhara, dramatist, 170, 173, 175, 181,
189-90, 196
Râjasthàn, 33, 34, 102, 206, 209, 277;
literature in, 193, 194, 196;
painting of, 327, 331-2, 333;
râjâs of, 349
Rajasthani language, 166, 195, 306;
literature in, 308, 406, 407
RSjalaraiigiiji, history of Kashmir, 192
Râgavâhana, n., 183
Râjcndra I, Chola k., 57, 450
Ràjgir, fortifications at, 198
Rajmohan's Wife, 420
Ràjput clans, Ràjputâna, 53, 54, 247, 249,
251,426, 492;
feudal organization of, 351 ; .
and Delhi sultans, 249, 251, 253, 258;
and Mughals, 252, 259, 262;
Marâthâs and, 264;
Vaishnavism in, 267;
royal courts, 353
Râju Qattâl, Sûfi evangelist, 284
Rakjasa, minister of Nanda, 183
râkfasas, demons, 176
Râm, God, 238, 274, 277
Râma, hero, incarnation of Vishnu, 80, 81,
176, 178, 179, t8 t, 182, 183, 184, 185,
186, t8S, 191, 192, 196, 269, 271, 276,
307;
birth of, 236;
as god, 37, 266;
cult of, t, 274-6;
temple to, 270;
in literature, 188, 193, 195, 394; see also
Râmâyana ;
in South-East Asia, 442
Ramâbâi, Panditâ, 374
Râtnabhadra, writer, 192
Râtmbhyudaya, play, 186; epic, 194
'Rârnacarlla of Abhinanda, 188
Ramac(h)andra, dramatist, 175, 192
Ramachandra (Râi-i-RSySn), le. of Deva-
giri, 252, 253
'R âm a Deceived’ (Chalilarâma), 181—2
Râmakrishna Mission, 375, 378, 381, 392,
483, 494
Râmakrishna Paramahnmsa, 369, 375, 377,
412, 481, 483
Râm al ingam, Mahatma, 366
Rnman Sir C. V i<o
 Index
Râmànanda, religious reformer, 274, 275,
276, 308
Raman Effect, the, 159
Râmânuja, philosopher and theologian, 3,
58, 62, 65, 66, 120, 123, 267, 274, 276,
308
Ramanujan, Srinivasa, mathematician, 151),
159
Râmapâpivâda, writer, 196
Râmavarman, k., 194
Râmâyana, epic, 3, 48, 72, 146, 175-6, 181,
182, 184, 186, 189, 216, 274, 307,
410;
origin of, 29;
rcinterpretation of, 179;
Eknâth’s commentary on, 269;
campii version of, 191;
in vernacular, 275;
Tàmil version of, 37, 278;
in Oriya, 195;
of Tulsidas, 276, 306;
id Kannada, 179;
in Telugu, 280;
o f Kamban, 304, 308;
Persian adaptations of, 329;
in South-East Asia, 80, 444, 451
Ramazan (Ramadan), month of, 281
‘ Rambhâ and Nalakübara’ , play, 184
Râm-charit-mânas (Lake o f the Story o f
Râma) o f Tulsidas, 275, 308
Râmdàs, hymnodist, 270-71
Râm Dâs, Guru, 298, 300
Râmdàsiâ Sikhs, 301
Ramesses II, 2
Ràmcsvaram, Tamilnàdu, 253
Râmgarhiâ Sikhs, artisan castes, 301
Râmi, n., 271-2
Ramila, dramatist, tSo, 181
Râm Mohan R oy, 303,361, 363,365,367-8,
382, 392, 407-8, 410, 412
Ràmnàràyan, Pandit, playwright, 411
Ràmpur, Rezâ Library at, 329
rana, Hindu title for chief, 252
Rânade, M .G ., 370, 374, 380, 392, 420
Rânà Kumbha o f Mewâr, 256
Rànâ Sânga o f Mewâr, 256, 258
Randcr, Gujarât, 467
Rangpur, arch, site, 19
Rani Sipàri, mosque of, 320'
Ranjhâ, n., 309
Ranjit Singh, Sikh leader, 300
Ranna, Kannada poet, 304
Ranthambhor, Rajasthan, 249, 252, 258
Rào, Guruzâda Appa, 413
Rao, Venkoba, 33
Ras-al-Qala, Persian Gulf, 18
Rasaratnâkara, treatise, 158
Rasaratnasamucchaya, treatise, 158
r* — fi . - -ft
569
rasas,
six essences, Hindu theory or, 148-9;
emotions, in poetics, 172, 173, 174, 175,
181, J82, 183, 185, 190, 192;
in Râmâyana, 176;
o f Nâgânamia, 184 ;
and music, 221
rasâyana, elixir o f lire, 150, 158
Rashahât ‘Ain ul-Hayâi, Naqshbandî work,
467
Rashidu’d-Din, Mongol envoy, 461
Râshtraküta, dyn. and kingdom, 50, 53, 57,
102
Rashtriya, Swayamscvak Sangh, Hindu
communal movement, 399
râsi, mathematical concept, 146
Rask, R .K ., 32
Râs-lilâ. folk drama, 411
Râf/rapâla, drama, 199
Ratan al-Hindi (Babà Ratan), 466
ratha, war-chariot, 142
rationalism, 366, 368
Ratnâkara, writer, 188
Ratnakûta sütras, 91
Ratnaprabhâ, novel, 181
Ratnâvali,
ofN âgârjuna, 178;
o fH a rja , 184;
o f Rümnàrâyan, 411
ratnins, court dignitaries, 137
Raulu Chatim, goldsmith, 345
Râvatja', demon, 176, 178, 179, 183, 184,
186, 188, 1S9, 191, 276;
defeat of, 185
Râvanârjnniya, ‘ grammatical’ poem, 185
Rauanavodha, ‘ grammatical’ poem, 184-5
Ravi R ., 13, 17, 298
Ravi Shankar, Pandit, 485
Ravivarman, writer, 193
râwats, 252
Rây, Râdhânâth, writer, 413
ta'y, private judgement, in Sunni law, 282
Rayy, Persia, 316
Raziya, daughter of Iltutmish, 251, 282
Reading, Lord, Viceroy 1921-6, 396
rebellion, 128, 138
recitation, Vedic, 214
Records o f Western Countries, 52
Red Sea, 257,425,426, 433, 434, 445, 464
reform, 140, 376;
religious, in Hinduism, 71, 270-71, 377,
392; Muslim, 383, 386—7;
social and religious, 365-6, 381, 393;
social, 274, 369, 373, 377, 400
Reform Associations, 374
Reformation, the, 266
Refuges, see Jewels, Three
regionalism, 50, 403;
_r ______ n
570
Refila o f lbn Battüta, 464
relativism, in Jainism, 105
reliefs, 198-5, 200, 204, 205, 206;
Chinese, 458 '
relics, reliquaries, 437;
Buddhist, 87; 93, 198, 199, 203; casket or
time o f Kanishka, 432;
o f Süfîs, 284
religion,-1, 63-4, 78,.l39r4q, 187, 210;.
and drama, 175;
and literature, l89,;309;
Indus Valley/,14,: 17-18; ,>
Vedic, 31, 61, too, 111—12, 162,; 372;
•. Hinduization of, 29;-
under M ongols,,289;
Mughals and;>349;.357; A kbar's attitude
to, 290, 3jo ; '
and nationalism, 361,.378;
popular cults, 363; ,.
Indianj'in South-East Asia, 446,449,450-
4Jl ; Comparative, 478;
Indian, and Europeans, 482-3, 496-7;
continued vitality of, 494—5 ;
see also individual religions
Rembrandt, 343.
renaissance,
Hindu, in South India,.279;
in Bengal, 410; 411; '<
European, 474 t . .. ..>
Republic, o f Pla.to,.428, 429
republics, 38,..49q:; ':- ■ ■V
restoration, politiça.1,.334:
1Review o f théSèasbns !,:poent ; 180' ; /'>■
revenue,-132, 140;
land,.38^9,47,''252-, 234; 259,w f c . p -
•^grants; of; 252/255 ; fc1
'systems, 257; 259,,262,350-51, 355
Revolution,- French, 1. 354, 1.4I4::.'sei? ; also
mutinies-' - •,'ï-rb .itt'nftoriv»*1
Reiâ-Library, Râmpur, 329 w:
Rgveda',,see RigjVeda,
Rhys.Dàvidsi:T.W ./478
rhythin; iri:'niusi.c,-2t2 ' ' ... mz' j ï ,
RibeirS/î).iôgÔj4343'J.li jn
Rig Veda;-ii-ityrir;-.26;.;27, ,61;.62, 69,-72,
' 112 ,14 2 ,1 6 2 ,2 13 ; ! Sacred Booki.of^thë .East/478 j;. :
culture of, 24 ;
daté üf,ii.43 f 4j?:..,V ’ ••
■ tchinting o.f; 214/215J' >•.. - n .s v * u :.‘.5
"in West,- 478 v v *" j•
Risd!a (Epistie),\$ûri:pta.tise by al-Qushairi,
183/ 4: jtttih-'.'7-» i>-i
Rìshàbtìa/Jain;:TÌrthankara,;ì l oo ijï t î t ... r
rishis, leg: sagés;'64,2l3
rita, thé order ofnatuxe, 142
roads, 40, 259, 360, 435 -
Rodin, A uguste,-2to;'496.,-
Roe, Sir Thomas, 352,.471 .2.
R oter. Abraham. à 72 ''.?-tr-
Index
Rogets-Ramanujan identities, 159--.
RohilkHand,' U.P., 383 «•,.
Rolland, Romain, 481
Roniaka 'Siddhànta;,Ueatise,, 151,438-
romanticism, Tamii, 267; '
in Hindù poetry, 414;
European,-393/474, 476;. ;
Rome, Romans, 21,129 , 152, 313, 438;
relations between,India and, 45, 146,151,
434. 444. 4941 Embassies to, 433-4 1
emperors,òf,;447;.; :
. - fall of, 470 : :$■t ,, . .f
Romesh Chunder Dutt, see D u tt.R om esh
Chandra
Ropar, Indus Valley, 11, 17
rosary, 439
Rosen, Friedrich August, 477
Roth, Rudolf, 478
Round Table Conferences, 390, 397, 398
Rowlatt bills, opposition to, 395
Roy, Dvijendratâl, playwright, 4 [ r—12
Royal Society, the, 159
Rpufljaya, k. o f Magadha, 185..
Rückert, Friedrich; 482,1.
Rudaulï, U.P.; 286
Rudra, g'od, 61, 7 2 "
Rudratà,-writer, 173
rudra, sinâ;:musical instrument; 235
■Rukminl; queén of.Krishna, :i8o •
Ri/kmltfkôlyBQa,~tpic,:i 94,i vv '>
"Ruknu’d-Din A bü’i'Fàth; Shaikh, 284
jU lk n u ’d-Din Ibrahim çKhâlki, Delhi sul­
■ ’ 'tàn,-'46r'" . ‘‘.t ;-;.
-jj':.-. Rumi/ Maùlânâ Jalâlii’d-Din, pq-et, 288,468
''R û p â,.writer,■-•r74^i;.l9Sr;.i;'! /Je
< Rustara I^^;::Mugh'al:0fBciiij' 347 . .
Sabad (labda, ’ word I): in,Sikhism,-297-.
Sabari.tnbe/zy,;.- nulM -''-
Sabda, ‘ sound V;asname for,G od, 274
rohAa,'iqcal;4«eiitb ly,.l 36;.376; 40l.i,r.-<r
-v>q ... sabhasad, judicial assessor,,i34..K
.S ib iity y ^ C IiiA ti^ ,:Sfif!sr486ii/m f i ,
. t riaftììt • SabjiH-àiiìdi, póeticijstyle; s -à-.,,
Sabuktigìn/«è Sub.üktigin •
Sacrèd Law, seéDharnia . j,.
\:.sw sàcnficés;T 4 ,’ '4 8 ; 61/215,-372/436; .1!:
animai; '59,, 79,' ;i 69 ; vi-i u,
Ÿ : >>1 see also abiamedha
Saddharmdpunddr!kàA;^Sàddhqrma'(\Punda~
/jBudtìinst sùtra/ 5 ^
S tófitói^,''w ritér?Jìi 3 ^;'/V-s»iiihri.!<5'
Sâdbâfan Brâhmo Samâj, .369,-1375; 381
• sâdhâfanigiti, musical classification,,219,220
.-.o-.. sâdhus, rejigioui mendicants,.274,. 275..
Sa'di,' pcs&i- 47Ì
Safari, see M irR afïthM . i .....
 Index 571

Safavid dyn, 282, 462, 469 -. Saladin,.Ayyubid sultan, 3 1 5 - -

Safi-u’d-Din Ahm âd, see QushàshI Saladin, H., 310 -
Sâgala (Sialkot), Pakistan, 431 Salim, see Jahangir,.,
Sâgaranandin, writer, 175 Saljüq dyn., 259,-461... / ,
sages, see rishis sallâpa, type o f play, i.78 . , j ....
Sâghànî, M aulâna Raziu’d-Din Hasan sallekhanS, voluntary death in Jainism,:.ip7,
Sâghâni, 466 •433
Saha, n., 196 Salsette, near G oa, 341
Sahajayàna, Buddhist sect, 267 salt,.360, 39J:
sahaj-dlwrt Sikhs, 301-2 salvation, ;
Sahajiyâ, Hindu sect,'271 in Hinduism, 76—7, 120, Ì22, 296;.f
Sahâranpür dist,, U .P., 286- in Buddhism, 93 ; '
SâhasSftka, see Chandra Gupta II, 181 in Sikhism, 297; . „ „.
Sàhî, dyn, and kingdom, 53, 56 see also tnoksha . . . ;f
Sâhibdin,-painter, 331 soma1, recitals o f . holy songs, ,286, . 287,
Siihitya -Akademi (National Academy o f 292 ■ . - j r ’. r , - ' ”
Letters), 406 samâdhi, ree meditation, hi Buddhism.
sahn, open court, 3 1 1 Sâmâna, Panjâb, 255- '
Saifu’d-Din, Shaikh, 292 Samanid dyn., 246 ,. ...
Sailendra, dyn., 449, 453 sâmanta, provincial ruler ór.chief, (.vassal.',
sailors, 453 ‘ 51,248
St. Augustine, 64 Samarâditya, novel,. 187
St. Francis Xavier, see under Xavier Samarânganasûtradhâra, treatise, 146
St. Paul, 64 Samarqand (Samarkand), J58,.. 246,, 258,
saints, bhakti (sants), 236, 266, 287, 288, 321’ 349 . .
295-6, 298. 304, 308; Samarra, Mesopotanua, 316 - y
Sufi, 286, 287; see also Süfism samatâ, 'sam eness', in Buddhism, 94,...
St. Thomas, 45, 62; 432, 470 samauakdra, type o f play, 178..-,*.
Sairandhrikd, comedy, 184 Sàrtia Veda, 214, 215 ... ..
èaùia Siddhânta movement, 37, 69 Samayamatfka, satiricaj.ppem, ( 92 ,
Saivism, cult o f the god Siva, 3, 37, 48, 6t, Samba, son o f Krishna, 185 ' ""
67, 168, 267, 279, 307; Sambal, Rohilkhand, 320, -.. _ , ....
•• and literature; 278, 309 ; see also bhakti Sambhogakâya,- •heavenly: aspect lo f the
saiyid, liti''lo r d ’-, usédlto signify, a descend­ • Buddha, 94V'ftS-r:-.i ?, -•
ant of. the'Prophet,-246; Sambhufji), son o f Sivâjî, 196, 264
SaiyidsyMustint élite, 255, 261 v- Saipghadâsa, writer, 183 .... " v.
Saiÿid (Sayyid) dyn.; -256, 3 i9 : Saiphilâs, treatises, 20, 146 ;,(Ji. ..
Saiyid Ahmad Afghan, supporter of samiti, local assembly,-136; .-
\Vahdatu’sh-Shuh0d,-29O'>i:.''' samklrtan, see klrtan ’
Saiyid Ahsan, governor o f M a’ bar, 255 Samos, island, 427, 433 ‘ i...... .
Saiyid Muhafnmad Gêsû Darâzy286, 288 samsâra, the cycle o f transmigrai ion,.78-79,
Saiyid 'Muhammad o f Jaunpur, 468.1 1' 9 . 456, 480 ,ci;i , s., 4t
sakala, typé' o f novel;’ 187 tfof vas 4nBuddhismi',85,. 94;i97 ;^.3^ r y r ^ g . ;,;
Sakàlàvidyàcàkràvaxtin,''writer,' 193" ; in Jainism, 105 ; see dlso tritnsmigration
Sakas, Scythians in India, 44, 46, 54, 55, samsârin, state o f being, in- Jaiùism'; ip3
183, 432 ; samskâra, karma-formations,- -in -Buddhism,
era, 44 n. 85 ;
sakkâya nirutliya, local dialects, 88-9 snmskdras, Hindu sacramental ceremonies,
Sakti, iaktism, the-active, energetic aspect o f 128 3 -‘ «i-;*::."
a god, personified as his wife, the cult Samudra Gupta, k., 46, 52(-.l8l . .-
associated with this,‘ 6t,. 67,"72;:27l-2, Sam 0 garh/;bat.t!e!ofy262; ; 37,.ii7 -Jjahirij
273,298 ' ' . samvâdi, musicalftennl-i2.i6j-'226iï.f hÌ!»t.*s«4-
Saktibhadra, dramatist, i88-.'-(;''> t SaimâdPrabhâkarfjOtsnxdliÀtfc-f^, '■ -,
&akiintdlâ;\ drama .•‘ôT'' Kâlidâsa iaìid. its
heroine; :6 5 , 182,479; ■ ? .... Samvatâ, hyriinodis't saint- 268..m;-,.:a, ;;
’ÈufùpeafihfânslationSof,473 ,-'475/i482 samyak-Sjivql ‘ Right Meatm^fJ^YçiilÎQod'*-
Sakvàià, cosmic rock, 144 ' •' in B u d d h is m ^
Sàkyà tribe,‘83 ' i ‘ y s ,^-i ■ .th; ' Sàntyutia-v^ikâ^aJl(Sqntyukjâgqn)a)i^ÿi
 572 Index
SanStana Dhanna Mahâmondai, Hindu re­ Sâradâtanaya, writer, J75
form movement, 277, 392 Sarahapâda, Buddhist Siddha, 95
sanchari, musical movement, 232 Saralâdâs, Oriyâ poet, 308
Sânehî, arch, site, 198, 202; sârangi, musical instrument, 233
stüpa at, 45, 199; Sàrangpur, M.P., 25S
temple at, 204; Sara Songaita, Pâli work, 144
sculpture of, 439 Sarasvati R. (Ghaggar R.), 19, 26
sandalwood, 47 Sarasvatichandra, novel, 412
Sangam literature o f Tamils, 44, 150, 303-4 Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, see Chatterjee,
sangatltan Hindu communal movement, 399 S.C.
Sangha, Sarawak, Malaysia, 446
Buddhist order o f monks, 42, 83, 87-8, Sardàr Patel, 390
90 , 94 , 9 8 ; Sardâr Pu ran Singh, writer, 413
in Jainism, 101 sardesntiiklil, a tenth o f the revenues in
Sangitaratnâkara, treatise, 2t8, 220, 221 addition to chautlt, exacted by Marâ-
Sankara(chârya), philosopher, 3, 58, 6z, 65, thâs from provinces they plundered,
66, 67, 68, 119-20, 122, 202, 276, 277, 263
305, 375. 440, 483; sargam tans, musical improvisation, 232
monism of, 276 Sarhindi, see Ahmad Sarhindi
Sadkara, writer, 194, 195 Sâriputra,
Sankaradcva, Assamese poet, 308 Buddhist Arhant, 85, 99;
Sankhadhara, writer, 193 drama, 177
Sânkhya school o f philosophy, 63, 100, Sarkhej, near Ahmadâbâd, 320
II4-16, 118, 429; ‘ âarmijtha’s M arriage’, 184
treatises of, i n ; Samâth, arch, site, 198, 202, 313
and G od, 117 Sârngadeva, writer on music, 218, 220
sankirtan, see kirtan sarod, musical instrument, 233
Sadkuka, writer, 174 Sarojiui NaidQ, see under Naidü
sannyàst, ascetic, wandering religious men­ Sartre, Jean-Paul, 418
dicant, 76, 130, 371 Sarvajanik Sabhâ, Poona reform associa­
‘ Sansara’ painting, 484 tion, 392
Sanskrit, 21, 38, 48, 88, 89,102,160,162-4, •Sarvasena, poet, 180, 181
167, 168, 189, 196, 237, 256, 257, 291, Sarvâstivâdin (or Vaibhâshika) Hinayâna
307. 371 . 406, 407, 4° 8, 4 ,2< 415 . 4 *9 . Buddhist sect, 88, 89, 91, 93,96
477, 495 ; Sarvodaya reform movement, 495
and music, 213, 222; SSsana, see râja-Iasana
script, 166; Sâsdnian dyn. and empire, 245, 248, 434,
grammar, 472; 437, 445 ! '
dictionaries, 478; ceremonial of, 2JI
literature in, 165, 169, 193, 195, 196, 309; Sasarâm, Bihar, 321
see also literature Éaiikalâ, comedy, 184
and bhakti, 265, 266, 278; Saiivilâsa, comedy, 184
in South India, 280; Sassi, n., 309
revival o f 304, 307; Sâstra (Sbastra), scholarly treatise, 135, 136,
influence of, 303, 304; 1 3 7 , T70, 4 1 4
in South-East A sia, 442, 452-3; iâstri, teacher, 135
Europeans and, 473, 474; Sâstri, V.S. Srinivasa, 398
in modem times, 164; aesthetics, 421 iâioatavâda, etemalism, 36
Sanskrit College, Calcutta, 369, 407-8 sat, ‘ being’, attribute o f Brahman, 119
Santa Monica, 344 £ataka, verse,
San Thomé, Portuguese settlement, 337 o f Amaruka, 183;
Santoshi M àtâ, goddess, 494 o f Vemana, 280
santi, see saints Salapatlia Brahmano, 146, 153
Sapor (Shâhpuhr, Shâpur), Persian k., 435 Sâtavâhana (Andhra), dyn. and empire, 29,
SaprQ family, 307 44. 45 . 46, 168
Saprû, T .B ., 398 Sâtavâhana (Hâla), k., writer, 177, 178,183,
saptânga, constituents of a state, 130 187,192
Saptaiati, Prakrit anthology, 177 satent languages, 22-3
 Index 573
widow immolating herself on her hus­ Arabic, 166, 167, 307;
band’s funeral pyre, 59, 81, 360, 363, South-East Asian, Indian-derived, 442,
367. 473 447
Satinâth Bhâdurï, writer, 418 scrolls, pictorial, 199
satire, 195 sculpture, 2, 3, 49, 198, 204, 208, 210, 316,
Sâtiyaputras, kingdom of, 44 492;
Satiuj R., 17, 19, 150, 297 canons of, 209;
Sat Manzil palace, Bijâpur, 324 Indus Valtey, 16, 197;
Sat Sai, poetical work, 308 Gupta, 48, 58, 202;
sal/aka, light play, 189, 196 Gandharan, 151, 201, 439;
SattaSuryuggamanaSuttanta, Pali work, 144 Hindu, 205, 207; erotic, 204, 206;
saliva, one of three gunas, 114, 429 Jain, 102, 315;
Satvant tribe, 27, 171 Pallava, 207-8;
satya, ‘ truth’, in Jainism, 106, I to Chàlukya, 209;
Satyabhâmâ, n., 180 Chinese, 458, 459
satyagraha (’ holding firmly to. the truth’) Scylax o f Caryanda, Greek mercenary, 426
campaigns, 394, 395, 402, 405 Scythians, 44, 435;
Satyajit Ray, film producer, 492 languages of, 32;
Satyanàràyana, Viswanadha, Telugu writer, see also Sakas
418 seals, 445;
Satyârth Prakâsh, by Dayànanda, 371 Indus Valley, 15, 16, 17, 31, 33, 197;
Satyasodhak Samâj, caste organization, 370 West Asian, 18
Saundarananda (‘ Handsome Nanda'), epic, sea-routes, 339, 453
177 secularism, 125, 263, 399, 400
Saurâshtra, see Kâthiâwâr seer,, 122
Sautrântika, Buddhist sect, 93, 96 Selene, deity, 432
Sauvira, reg., 28 Seleucid dyn., 43, 152
Savâi Pralap Singh, ruler o f Jaipur, 332 Seleucus Nicator, k., 38, 40, 430
Sayyid Ahmad Barêlwi, Mujahidin leader, self, see attua
3S4 self-government, 360-1, 392, 393, 394; see
Sayyid (Syed) Ahmad Khân, 378, 383, 386­ also Swarâj
387,388, 389, 391 Selim I, Ottoman Sultan, 462
Sayyid dyn., see Saiyid dyn. semantics, 118
Sayyid Mubarak, 320 Sena, hymnodisl saint, 268
Sayyid Usmàn, 320 Sena dyn., 54
scales, musical, 214—5, 217, 223-4, 225 Senâpati, Fâkirmohan, writer, 413
Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies, 32 Sengupta, A ., see Achintya Scngupta
Schiller, Friedrich, 474 separatism, movement for Muslim, 403
Schlegel, August Wilhelm von, Professor of sepoys, 339;
Sanskrit, 475 see also mutiny
Schlegel, Friedrich von, poet and philoso­ Seral(ar) kings, 34, 36
pher, 474 Serampore, Bengal, 408
scholars, 261, 465-6 Seranâdtt, see Keralâ, 30
schools', in India, 263,371,372,375,376,380; Servants o f India Society, 380
Portuguese, 342, 343; Setuhandha ('Building o f the Causeway’),
Muslim, 388 epic, 182
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 473, 474, 475, 483, Sevâ Sadan, reform group, 380
497 ‘ Seventy Tales o f a Parrot’, see Sukasaptati
i Schumann, Robert, 476 Sewistàn, pl., 252
Schweitzer, Albert, 483 sex,
science, 48, 80, 141-61, 493-4; and religion, 3, 58-9, 268, 271 ;
Islamic, 289, 292; Hindu attitude to, 417
Western, 362, 386 Shabbir Ahmad ‘ Uthmani, scholar, 388
Scientific Society, 386 shadja-grâma, scale or lone system, 215, 2 16,
scientists, Indian, 159 217,218;
screenplays, 421 s.-g.-raga, 219, 220
scripts, 2, 33-4, 166, 167; Shâfi’î.ash-, Sunni jurist, 282
Indus Valley, 16, 31, 32, 33, 142, 161; Shâh 'Abbâs I, 26/, 465
5K
Shàh ‘A bd al-'Aziz, son o f Wali-Allâh, 384
Shâh ‘A bd al-Hayy, Muslim reformer, 384
shahâdah, Muslim profession of faith, 281
Shàh ‘Àlam , Saiyid sultan, 258
Shàh-Dàra garden, 322
Shâhî dyn., 246, 256
Shâh Ismà'il I, founder of Safavid dyn., 282,
462
Shâh Ismâ'il, Muslim reformer, 384
Shàh Jahân (Prince Khurram), Mughal em­
peror, 157, 221, 261-2, 264, 289, 292,
360, 462, 469;
foreign policy of, 463 ;
and Chishtls, 291 ;
architecture of, 320, 322-4, 353;
and painting, 330, 353
Shâhjahànâbâd, seventh city o f Delhi, 318,
323
Shàhji-ki-Dheri, arch, site, 432
Shâh Kalim u’llâh Jahânâbâdî, Chishti Sufi,
292, 293
Shâh Lâtif, poet, 309
shâhnâi, musical instrument, 233, 234, 235
Shâh Nizâmu'd-Din Aurangâbàd, Chishti
Süfî, 292
Shahrastàni, scholar, 467
Shâh W ali-Allâh, Muslim reformer, 383-4,
385. 389, 467;
School of, 388-
Shaikh, Sufi preceptor, 284
Shaikhzàdas, Indian Muslims, 261
Shaista Khan, uncle o f Aurangzeb, 263
Shakespeare, 419,439, 440
shamanism, ri7 , 235
Shanis-i-Bazigha, Islamic treatise, 292
Shangri-La, 482
Shankargarh, U.P., 205
Shans, people, 450
Shâradà Sadan, home for widows, 374
Shari'a, H oly Law o f Islam, 291
Sharî‘at-Allâh, Hâji, leader of Farâ’idi
movement, 385
Sharif Ibrahim, governor o f Hansi, 255
Sharqi dyn. o f Jaunpur, 256, 286
Shoshti-tontra, Sânkhya text, 114
Shastras, see sastras, 414
Shâstri, Haraprasâd, scholar, 305
ShattàrI, Shaikh ‘Abdu'IIâh, 288
Shattârî Süfi order, 288, 293, 466
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 476
Shêr Afgan, Mughal noble, 261
Sher Khân Sur, Afghan chief, 259, 260, 320,
321, 350, 462
Shiblï N u ’mâni, historian, 388
Shifâ by Avicenna, 292
Shibâbu’d-Dïn, see M u‘izzu’d-DIn
Shihâbu’d-Din al-'Umari o f Damascus, 464
Shihâbu’d-Dïn Suhrawardi Maqtül, Shaikh,
28a. ?.8o
Index
Shihàbu'd-Din ‘Umar Khalji, 253
Shih Lo, Chinese warlord, 456
Shi’is, Shi'ism, 246, 262, 265, 290, 291, 292­
293, 4 fo. 463;
in Golconda, 262;
two groups of, 282 ;
and Sunnis, 281-2, 289;
and Sufis, 291
ships, 470
Portuguese, 339, 340;
‘ o f Tarshish’, 425
Shiiàz, Persia, 327, 328
Shivâlik hills, 298, 299
shrines, 200, 205, 237, 314, 384, 385, 450
Shuja'â, ?on o f Shâh Jahan, 262, 263
Shukla, K .S., 151
Sialk, Iran, graves at, 33
Sialkot, Pakistan, 431
Siam, see Thailand
Siddha, class of dcmi-god, 92, 94, 95, 103,
267
Siddha (Sittar), hymnodist, 278, 287
Siddha, writer, igo
Siddhânta, treatise, 151;
S. Sekharn, 154;
S. iitomani, 154, 157
S.-tilaka, 160
Siddhârtha, father of Mahâvîra, lot
Siddharlha by Hesse, 480
Sidi Sayyid, mosque of, 320
Sidon, Lebanon, 434
siege engines, 56
Sighelmus, leg. pilgrim, 470
Sikandar Lodi, Delhi sultàn, 258, 290,
319
Sikandar, Sultan o f Kashmir, 256
Sikandara, U.P., 322
sikhara, tower of a temple, 314, 316
Sikhism, Sikhs, 4, 265, 274, 275, 294-302,
339. 383. 4951
definition of, 294-5;
prohibitions of, 299, 300;
and Hinduism, 62;
and Muslims, 299, 300, 384;
Sikkim, state, 203
Silâ, woman writer, 194
sila,
morality, in Buddhism, 86, 95-6, 98;
in Jainism, 125-6
&ilappadigâram (Tale of the Anklet), Tamii
epic, 36, 304
silk, 47, 445, 458, 465;
‘ S. R oute’, 47
Silsila i-Khwâjgân, see Naqshbandî order
silsiias, Sufi orders, 284
silver, 254, 340
Siq\h5sanadcatri>iiiika, short stories, 192
Simnâni, see under ‘A là ’u’d-Dauiâ
S im n n P n m rm c c in n n rt 'in R

Sind, Pakistan, 5, 31, 44, 14t. 246, 256, 259,
401, 462, 468;
Muslims in, 53, 155, 245, 247, 248, 310;
Sufis in, 284, 289
Sindbad the Saiior, 439
Sindhi language, t66, 309, 406, 407;
literature in, 413, 422
Sindhu, reg.( 28
Sineru, see Meru
âingabhüpâfa, writer, 173
Singapore, 445
singers, 232-4
Singh, 299
Sardâr Püran, 413
Singhava, ruler o f Devagiri, 253
Singhis, Jain family, 102
Singkel, pl., 466
Sinhalese language, 166
Sino-Indian languages, 303, 406
SipahsSlâr-i-HittdüySn, military title, 246
sirâ, vessels, Hindu medical concept, 148
Sirâj, Minhâj, author, 230
Sirâju’d-Dïn A khi Sirâj, Süfi, 286
Siri, second city o f Delhi, 317
‘ Siiupâla, Slaying o f ’, poem, 185
Sitâ, wife o f Râma, 80, 176, 181, 182, 184,
186, 188, 189, 274, 442
sitar, musical instrument, 233, 485, 496
Siva, god, 58, 72, 80, 81, 182, 204, 208, 221,
236, 267;
as Pasupati, 18;
as Kirâta, 183;
blue throat of, 195;
dance of, 172, 208;
in literature, 188, 189, 192;
in art, 2or, 203, 435;
temples to, 207, 208;
and Deoarâja cult, 447;
see also Saivism
Sivàji,
Marâthâ leader, 196, 263, 270;
festival, 373, 392
Sivandnakodam, treatise, 37
éivarâma, writer, 184
Sivasvamin, writer, 188
SivaoilSsa, epic, 194
Siwâlik (Sbivaiik) range, 250, 298, 299
Siyârâ'msharan Gupta, see Gupta, S.
Skanda (Sewel), god, 33
Skanda Gupta, k'., 50,182
skandha, in Buddhism, 437
Skandhakas, Buddhist institutes of mona­
sticism, 87, 90
slaves, slavery, 7, 130, 259, 465;
Turkic, 246-51 passim, 255, 315;
Portuguese, 338;
negro, 340 .
‘ Slaying o f the Gauda*. epic, 187
K 1 1 . . J ____»<• J .r » /r .t..
Index 575
smiiax glabra, 340
smoking, 299;
hookah^ 357 |
sturiti, ‘ remembered’, class o f religious
literature consisting o f lawbooks, epics
and PurSnas, 65, 66, 135;
S-chandrikS, lawbook, 135
snake charmers, 236
Soan Industry, pnlaeliothic culture, 32
socialism, socialists, 394, 403;
Islamic, 388;
European, 396
‘ social purity movement’, Madras, 375
Social Reform Movement, 371
Social Science League, 380
social system, 498; goals of, in ancient
India, 138-9; Indian and Western, 309
social welfare, 382, 495-6
sociology, 483-4
Socotra, Indian Ocean, 47
Socrates, 64, 84, 428, 429
Soddhala, writer, 191
Sodhi Khatri sub-caste, 300
Sogdiana, 246
Sohni-Mahiwâl, n., 309
soldiers, 55
Solomon, k., 425, 438
Soma, sacred inebriating drink, personified
as god, 2 t, 215
Somadatta, n., 177, 179
Somadeva, writer, 190
Somadeva II, writer, 192
Somadundaram, Mi. Pa., writer in Tamil,
419
Somanâtha, writer, 195
Somapura (Paharpur), temple at, 203, 206,
449
Someivara, writer, in n th century, 19]
Somefvara, writer in 13th century, 193
Somila, writer, 180, 181
Somnâth, temple at, 315
Somnâthpur, temple at, 209
Sonâ Masjid, ‘ Golden M osque’, Gaur, 319
Sonàrgâon, Bengal, 259
songs, 231, 234-7 passim, 279, 343;
classical, 222;
devotional, 266, 305, 308; see also
bhakti;
and dance, 305, 493
Sonnerat, Pierre, 475
Sophists, 430-31
S O u l, 118, ' 120-21 ;
in Jainism (jlva), 103, 105-6;
in Buddhism, 121;
in Orphism, 427, 428
Soul,
World, 428, 436;
Supreme, 429;
. n - n . . . _______ ts_ _ v-.-i . - - i *
57 6 Index
South Africa, 404, 481 Stephens, Thomas, 343, 470
South Asia, vi Steppenwolf by Hesse, 480
South-East Asia, 1, 158, 239, 442-54; steppes, 24, 25
prc-Indianized culture of, 448, 452; Stevens, see Stephens, Thomas
contact with India of, 3, 45, 46, 47, 202, Sthànvisvara, see Thâncsar, 51, 52
445. 449 Î Sthaviravâdin, see Theravâdin
influence o f India in, 157, 442; see also stone,
Indianization; in Indian architecture, 312, 314; kankar,
scripts of, 33; 346;
Sanskrit in, 164; boulders, carved, 448;
Râmâyana in, 37 S. Age, 32
art and architecture of, 197, 199, 200, 205, ‘ Story of the Simpletons’, fiction, t So—SI
206, 207, 208; Strabo, Greek historian and geographer,
end o f colonialism in, 421 ; 4 JI. 433 , 445
Buddhist missionaries front, 495 Strassburg, Gottfried von, 439
South Korea, 488 Stream-Entrants, in Buddhism, 87
space, 104, 114, 115; sec also âkâia Strobilanthes [Kurinji) plant, 35
Spain, 344, 440 stupa, a tumulus-like structure containing
sphere, armillary, 153 relics o f the Buddha or others revered
spices, 4, 47, 337, 346, 445. 45 » by Buddhists, 2, 45, 198, 200, 202, 203,
Spice Islands, 340, 341 204, 313,436;
spies and informers, 40, 132, 134, 136, 251, evolution of, 199;
252, 258, 263 at Mohenjo-dâro, 12;
Spinoza, 63 Jaina, 198;
Spirit o f Buddha, Brancusi sculpture, 484 A iokan, 312;
sport, 358 South-east Asian, 450
Squire's Tale, by Chaucer, 439 subah, Mughal province, 351
sraddhâ, ‘ faith ’, in Buddhism, 86 Subandhu, author, 1S3
sraddha, Hindu rite in commemoration of Subhadrâdltanaüjaya, play, 189
ancestors, 130 Subhâs Bose, 421
iraniana, heterodox ascetic, 85, too, tot Subrahmanya A yyar, K .V ., 33
Srantanâchôrya, see Zarmanochegas Subramaniam, V., 267
stavano, first stage in Hindu religious quest, Subramanyam, K a. Na., Tamil writer, 419
66 Subuktigln (Sabuktigin), founder of Ghaz-
Sravana Bclgola, Karnataka, 102 navid dyn., 246, 310
sreni tribunals, guild courts, 132 succession,
Srcnika Bimbisâra, k., toi in Delhi Sultanate, 249;
‘ Sri’ , writer in Kannada, 413 Mughal, 261, 262, 350;
Srikanthacarita, epic, 192 to Muhammad, 281, 282, 290
Sri Lanka, see Ceylon Suddita, notes in music, 223;
Srinagar, Kashmir, 322 jâtl, musical mode, 218, 220;
Sripati, astronomer, 154 giti, musical classification, 219, 220
Srirangapatnam, architecture of, 324-5 sudditi movement for reconversion to
Srivaishnava sect, 267, 274 Hinduism, 372, 379, 399
Srivàstâva, A .L ., historian, 247 Sudhana, n., 91
Sri vÿaya, Sumatran kingdom, 449, 451 sttdra, lowest of the four classes, 20, 26, 49,
Sritgâramaâjarl, novel, 191 I 2 F, 175, 216, 429
sruti, revealed (Vedic) literature, 64, 66 restrictions on, 128-9
sruti, microtine, 216, 217, 223; drone instru­ Südraka, n., t8i
ment, 232 Südraka, k. and dramatist, 179, iSo, 493
Ssü-shih-erh-chang-ching, Sutra, 455 Suez (Arsinoe), 426;
standardization, cultural, 497-8 G u lf of, 433;
state, Canal, 479
definition of, 124, 125; Sflfts, Süfism, 3, 250, 254, 255, 261,
constituents of a, 130 283-93 passim, 298, 388, 465, 466, 468;
Stales, Indian, 196, 361, 400-401, 404 and guilds, 464;
‘ Statue, T h e ’, drama, 178, 186 and 'ulama', 283
Stcherbatsky, Theodore, 478 and music, 221, 237;
■ sîPin P ran v rtrt 00H rnt»lrtt
 Index
Kabir as, 274, 275;
and literature, 303, 309;
as missionaries, 285,466
al-Sughd (Sogdiana), 246
Sugriva, n., 182
Suhma, pl., 18
Suhrawardi, Sufi order, 284, 2S8
Suhrawardi, see Shaikh Shihâbu’d-Din
suicide, 81, 107, 130
Sui dyn. o f China, 456-7
Sukarno, 403
Éukasaptati {Tùli Nâma, Tütinâmeh), ‘ Sev­
enty Tales o f a Parrot’, 192, 328, 439
Sukhâvali, Paradise or Amitâbha, 459
Sukhavati-vyiiha (‘ Array o f the Happy
L an d' sütra), 91, 456
Sukhntani, hymn by Guru Arjan, 298
Suktivâsn, dramatist, 180
Sukumâra, author o f epic, 192, 194’
Sukumâra, playwright, 193
SulaimSn mountains, 247, 257
Sulabhâ, n., 121
Sulawesi (Celebes), 443, 444, 448
Suih-i-kuU, universal accord, Akbar's con­
cept of, 260
‘ sultan’, title of, in early usage implying de­
pendence on the caliph, 461
sultanates, provincial, 461, 491; attitude o f
Hindus to, 257
Sullâuganj, Bihâr, 158
Sultânpur, see Wârangat
Salva Sûtras, 143, 146, 156
Sumati, astronomer, 153
Sumati-tantra, Sumati-karana, 153
Sumatra, 443, 444, 448, 449;
Chola expedition to, 57 ;
fslam in, 451, 466, 467
Sumeria, see Mesopotamia
sun, gods of, 184, 189, 425-6;
temple of, 207;
see also Sürya
Sunda, 340
Sundaram, Gujarati poet, 416
Sung dyn., China, 457
Sunga dyn., 43, 182
sunna, ancient A rab idea of normative legal
custom, 389
Sunnâm, pl., 255
Sunnis, Sunnism, majority group of Mus­
lims, claiming the authority o f the
sunna of the Prophet as transmitted in
the Hadis, 246, 263, 265, 281-2, 289-92
passim, 463
Stinya, sunyata, the Void, 157, 274;
in Buddhism, 84, 91, 94, 96
Supira, ancient port, 425
Supreme Court, Calcutta, 359
sur, drone instrument, 234
* s ü r- . u .rii.r , -v ,0 .
577
Surâjtra, reg., 28
Surasundari, fiction, 193
Surat, port or, 263, 342, 471
surbahür, musical instrument, 233
Sürdâs, poet-saint, 237, 277, 306, 308
SuriuS, 23
surgery, 147-S, 150
Surkotâdâ, Indus Valicy town, 11, 15, IS
surmandai, musical instrument, 233
sur-peti, musical instrument, 233-4
Siirsagar, collected songs of Sürdàs, 277
Sürya, god, 23, 142, 203, 425-6
Sürya Prajnapti, treatise, [44
Sürya Siddhânta, treatise, 143, 151, tS2,
*53 ’
Sùryavunisa, epic, 196
Susa, Mesopotamia, 18, 416
Susruta, medical text and its author, 147,
148, 150, 157, 438
siitas, bards, 170
Sutkagcn-dor, Baluchistan, tt
stura, text consisting of aphorisms, a reli­
gious text, 84, 89, 90-91, 92, 146, 163;
in China, 455-6, 459
Stitra in Forty-two Sections, the, 455
.Surra Pitaka (Çollection o f Discourses),
' Buddhist text, 89, 90,91
Sulra-vibhanga, Buddhist text, 89
suttee, see sati
Sauraseni dialect, 165
Suvarnaduipa, pl., 444
Suvâstu, see Swât
svn-dharma, dharma pertaining to each
caste and category o f persons, 127, 138
svara, musical term, 2(4;
s. kaipana, musical passage, 230, 231
svarila, in Vedic chanting, 213, 214, 215
Svayambhü, writer, 18S
Svetâmbara, Jain sect, 102, 107, [65
swadeshl, ‘ one’s own country’, Gandhi's
ideology of, 394
swami, ‘ master’, especially a Hindu ascetic
teacher, 494
Swarâj, self-rule party, 393, 395-6, 398;
see also self-government
Swât (Suvâstu), Pakistan, 26
Swedenborg, Emmanuel, 477
syâdvâda, ‘ c.onditionalism’, in Jainism, 105
Syâmasàstri, composer, 231, 236
Syamilaka, dramatist, 183
syât, used as qualifier in Jaina logic, 105
Syed Ahmad Khân, see under Sayyid
syllogism, 117-18
symbolist movement, 479
Syria, 23, 62. 245, 434, 464, 465;
Indian embassy to, 435;
Church of, 305
Szechwan, China, 458
578 Index
Tabâqât-i-NÔsirl, by M inhij Sirâj, 250
Tabarhinda (Bha(inda), Panjâb, 247
tabla, drums, 234, 485
Tabriz, Persia, 328
Tafzîiyas, Sunnis who consider ‘ A li to be
superior to the other three of the first
four Caliphs, 290
Tughi, Turkic rebel leader, 255
Tagore, Abanîndranâth, artist, 492
Tâgore, Mahârshi Debendranâth, Brâhmo
Samâj leader, 368, 412
Tâgore, Jyotirindranâth, playwright, 411
Tâgore, Rabindranath, 238, 274, 410-11,
4 14 ,4 16 ,4 18 ,4 19 .4 2 1;
plays of, 412, 482;
influence of, 415; in West, 496;
on use of English, 420
Tahdhib al-akhlSq, Urdu journal, 387
T 'ai Tsung, T ’ang emperor, 459
Taittiriya Samhitâ, treatise, 143
Taiwan, 488
Tâj Mahal, 4, 320, 321-5 passim, 353
Tàju'd-Din, Sufi Shaikh, 467
Tàju'd-Din Yalduz, ruler of Ghazni, 250
Takuapa, Isthmus of Kra, 445, 450
tâla, rhythmic pattern in music, 213, 221,
227-9, 230, 232, 233, 236;
classification of, 226-9;
and orchestral music, 240
Talegaon, Bombay, 345
Tâlikota (Banihatti), battle of, 257
Talvandl, Panjâb, 297
tambourine, 273
tambiira, drone instrument, 220, 231, 232,
2.33, 485
Tamerlane, see Timur
Tamil, etymology of, 30
Tamil language, 33, 34, 102, 167, t68, 169,
406, 407, 409;
inscriptions in, 32, 33-4 ;
printing in, 343;
literature in, 34, 35, 44, 146, 267, 303-4,
308, 309 . 4<>9,413
Tamilnadu, Tam il land, 3, 6, 33, 41, 51, 57,
218, 366,413;
kingdoms of, 57
and Rom e, 151; astronomy of, 151­
2;
devotional movement in, 266, 278;
people of, ,6, 29; expansion of, 207;
kings of, 434;
and South-East Asia, 449, 450
tSnam, section of first musical movement,
229, 230, 232
tândaoa, dance o f Siva, 81,.172, 188
T'nng dyn., China, 457, 458, 459
Tanjitr, Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, 158
Tânsen, musician, 221
Tantras, Lower and Higher, 95
Tantras, scriptures o f tantric sects, 89, 92,
497
Tantricism, Tantrism, cults and sects often
worshipping goddesses with magical
ceremonies, 58, 99, 158, 267-8, 274,
305, 371, 497 ;
and art, 202-3;
and medicine, 158;
and psychology, 484;
and C h’an Buddhism, 457;
in West, 482
Taoism, 455, 457
Tôpasavatsarâj, play by Màtrarâja, 186
tapasyâ, self-inflicted suffering, 394
Tapatisaqwarana, play by King KulaSekhara,
189
tapioca, 341
Tâpti R ., 11, 4 71
tarafdâr, Bahmani official, 257
Tarâin, battles of, 54, 247, 249, 251
tSrana, North Indian vocal music, 233
Tarangadatta, play, 180
Tarangavatt by Pàdalipla, 177-8
Tarbiyat Khân, governor of Multân, 463
Târlkh i-Firûz Shâhi, history, 250
Tarim R., and Basin, zor, 432
Tariqa-i Muhamadiyya, see Mujahidin
Tartars, people, 474;
Tartary, 465
Tat, name for G od, 274
Tâ(akâ, n., 196
Tathâgala, 85, 95; see also Buddha
tathatâ, Buddhist concept, 84, 94
tattvas, principles o f Jainism, 103
Tavcrnier, Jean-Baptiste, 341, 472
tavil, drum, 231
taxation, 39, 40, 248, 254, 255, 259, 395;
on beards, 384;
defaulters, under British, 355;
see also revenue
Taxila (TakshaSila), Pakistan, 4 0 ,149,429­
30 , 431, 432,435
Tayir, Mongol chief, 464
technology,
ancient, 142, 145;
modem, 362
Telang, K . T ., 370
Telingâna, kingdom, 253
Tell Asmar, Mesopotamian arch, site, t8
Telugu language, 29, 30, 167, 168, 406, 407,
409;
literature in, 37,168-9,279. 303, 304.3°5.
413
temples, 3, 236, 246, 248, 435;
Indus Valley, 12;
Hindu, 1, 48, 57, 58, 59. 204, 205, 312,
314. 315. 346 ; North Indian, 205-6;
South Indian, 207-8; desecration and
demolition of, 256, 263, 352,. 356;
 Index
Mughal grants to and influence on,
352, 353. 356 ;
Jain, 102, 109, 315;
Sikh (gflrdwâra), 301 ;
Roman, 434;
temple-mountains, 206; Khmer, 447;
Javanese, 449;
in South-East Asia, 206, 443, 450, 451 ;
see also caves
Temple o f Liberation, sculpture by Brancusi,
484
‘ Ten B oys’ (or ‘ Ten Princes’), see Avanti-
sundarl
tennis, 358
Tennyson, Lord Alfred, 65
Ten Principal Upanishads, The, 482
Ter, temple at, 205
Ternate, pl., 472
terracottas, 2 11;
Indus Valley, 15-16, 197;
early, 197, 198;
Gupta, 49
Teutonic languages, 23, 477
Teoârain (Garland o f God), Tamil hymns, 37
textiles, 47
That people, 453
Thai script, 442
Thailand (Siam), 47, <57. 442. 447. 45®!
Buddhist monasteries in, 200;
Indian images in, 209,446;
archaeological finds in, 452, 453;
art, 453-4
Thakâzhi, M alayâlam writer, 419
thâkurs, village chiefs, 248
Thales o f Miletus, 427
Thâna Bhawan, U .P., 386
Thànesar (SthânviSvara), Panjâb, 51, 52
Thângir, Muslim garrison town, 251
Thanjavür (Tanjore) temple, 58, 208
Thapsacus, port, 433
thâts, types o f musical scales, 222, 224-5
Thatta, Pakistan, 255
theatre, 411, 421;
street, 175, 179
theft, 127
theologians, 261
Theosophical Society, 381, 392, 393, 482
Therd-gâthâ and Theri-gâthâ, Pàli Buddhist
texts, 91
Theravàdin (Sthaviravidin) Buddhist sect,
88, 89, 91 ,1 6 3 .1 6 4 ;
in South-East Asia, 450
Thersites, n., 428 . tombs, Muslim, 312, 3t&-24 passim;
Thibaut, G eorge Frederick William, 160
Thomas, Apostle, see St. Thomas
Thoreau, Henry D avid, 394
thread, sacred, 128, 368, 380
Three Gems, o f Kannada literature, 304
Three Jewels, see Jewels
579
Three Trainings, see trisikshâ
thuggee, 360
thumri, form of vocal music, 232-3, 237
Tiberius, Roman emperor, 439
Tibet, 99. <5®. <97. 203. 249, 262, 488;
Buddhism of, 457;
language of, 89, 419
Tidore, pl., 472
T ’ien-l’ai, Chinese Buddhist sect, 457
Tigowâ, temple site, 204
Tikkana, Telugu poet, 280, 304
Tilak, Bâ) Gangâdhar, Congress leader, 373,
374. 377. 380, 39 t. 393, 396. 401, 412.
414
Tilakamanjari, by Dhanapâla, 190, 193
tiles, Persian-style, 312, 319, 321, 351
tillânâ, musical term, 231, 233
tiivarn tâla, musical term, 227, 228
Tamâshâ, Maharashtra folk drama, 411
timber, 312
time,
concept of, 79-80, 115; ,
measurement of, 143, 146, 152, 153, 154,
<59 i '
in music, see tâla,
Timur (Tamberlainc or Tamerlane), 55,
255, 258. 290, 329, 353;
invades India, 349, 462
Tin Burj (Three Towers), 318
tintala tâla, musical term, 227, 228
Tipü Suitân, 324-5, 384
Tirhul, Bihar, 254, 256
Tirthankaras, ‘ ford-makers’, the twenty-
four teachers o f Jainism, io o -to t, to8,
109
Tirukkovaiyâr, Tamil poem, 37
TuTO&Hrn/, Collection o f Tamil aphorisms, 37
TirumalS, queen, 195
Tirumarai, Tamil hymns, 37
Tiruvâsagam, Tamil poem, 37
Tissa, king of Ceylon, 41
tithis, lunar days, 153
titles, Gupta, 46
Titü Mir (Mir Hithàr ‘ Ali), 384, 385
tobacco, 338, 341
Tochârian languages, 23
Tochi pass, 464
Todar M al, Râjâ, revenue minister, 350, 355
toleration, religious, 42, 125, 139, 222, 352,
356-7
Totkâpptyam, Tamil grammar, 34, 168, 303
Tolstoy, Leo, 410, 480-81
Chinese, 458
Toprâ, p !„ 255
Toramâna, Hüna k., 50
totaka, musical play, 182, 184
towns, 28, 49, 245, 248, 249, 255;
planning, tt , 141
 580 Index
‘ Toy Carl, T h e ’, see ‘ Little Clay Cart*
Toynbee, Arnold, 354, 483
toys, t6, 146
trade, traders, 18, 40, 44-5, 47, 157, 425,
435, 445 !
under Mughals, 261, 263, 352;
Portuguese, 338,339, 340, 341, 342,346;
with Syria, 431 ;
with West, 434;
with South-East Asia, 444, 45c, 452;
Chinese and Indian, 457;
between Muslim countries, 464-5;
routes, 434, 444; land, 201, 470-71
trade unions, 370, 380, 382
Traivikrama, street play, 179
Trajan, Roman emperor, 435;
embassy to, 433
transcendentalism, 1.12-13;
German, 474
American, 477
'Transcendental Meditation’, 497
transmigration o f souls, doctrine of, 2, 77,
78, too, 1 19, 276, 296, 297, 370, 372,
427, 428, 429, 430, 436, 437, 46S, 473,
4S0, 482, 49S
origin o f doctrine of, 78-9:
in Yoga, 1 16;
in Jainism, tot ;
and Chârvâkas, 120, 121;
Goethe and, 475;
in literature, 177—S, 183, 184, 190
Transoxiana, 289, 290, 462;
Arabs in, 245;
Samanids subjugate, 246
Travancore, 196
travel, 433, 434
treaties, with Portuguese, 337, 339 n,
trees,
sacred, 18, 203;
mythical, 199; ‘ t. of life’, 197
Trenckner, V., 478
‘ Tribalibot’ as name for India, 440
tribes, 234, 250, 400;
Aryan, 26;
non-Aryan, 28;
trigonometry, 154
trikaya, three ‘ Bodies’ o f the Buddha, 94
Trimurti (God in three aspects), Elcphanta,
208
Tripitaka (Three Baskets), Buddhist Canon,
89- 9 ' , 92, 97, 171 -2
Tripolis, 245, 470
triratna, see Jewels, Three
Trisala (Priyakârini), mother o f Mahâvirà,
tot
trisiksha (the Three Trainings), in Buddh­
ism, 86, 95
Tristan and Isolde of Gottfried von Strass-
burg, 439
Trivikrama, writer, 190
Troeltsch, Ernst, 71
True Idea ia Buddhism, see Dharm
Tshetshetkina, O., 482
Tughluq dyn., 254-6, 284, 317, 349
Tughluqàbàd, third city of Delhi, 317
Tughril, governor in Bengal, 251
Tukàrâm, bhakti poet, 268-70
Tukhâristân, 246
Tulsidas (Tulsi Dâs), bhakti poet, 167, 195,
274, 275- 7, 306, 308
litmbai plant, 36
Tun-huang, China, 459
Turânis, Central Asian Muslims, 261, 289
tttrhi, musical instrument, 235
Turkey, 389, 390, 395, 462, 463, 467
Turkic languages, 31, 32
Turkish language, 353
Turkistân, 157, 249, 310, 315, 321, 464, 465,
469;
Chinese, 23, 149
Turks, 59, 252, 255, 307;
in India, 7, 53, 56, 246-57, 269, 451;
reasons for success of, 54-6; effect on
literature of, 193; atrocities of, 194;
administration of, 349;
influence on India painting of, 333
Turnour, George, 145
Turushkas, see Turks
al-TOsî, Nâsiru’d-Din (Nâsir al-Din), Per­
sian Shi’i, 289;
as astronomer, 155
Tütinâmeh, Tûti Nâma, see Sukasaptati
twice-born (doi-ja), the three upper classes of
Hinduism, 125, 128, 216
Tyâgaràja, composer o f devotional songs,
23 r, 236, 305
Tyndis, pl., 30
Tyr, Norse god, 477
Tyre, Lebanon, 425, 434
’ Ubaidu’llâh Ahrar, Khwâja, Naqshbandi
saint, 289
’ Ubayd-Allah Sindh!, 388
Ober Mandalasymbolik, ‘ On the Symbolism
o f the M andala’ o f Jung, 484
Ubhayâbhisârikâ, play, 179
ucchedauâda, nihilism, 86
Uch, Pakistan, 464
Udaipur, Rajasthan, 322
adatta, raised tone in Vedic chant, 213, 214,
215
Udâttarâghava (Exalted Râghavas), play of
M aharaja, 1 36
Udayagiri, M .P., 204
Udayana, leg. k., 176, 178, 179, 184,
[86
Udayana Buddha image, 459
 Index 581

Udayasundari, campii novel, 191 Upâvft, state, 28

Udbha(a, writer, 174 Ur, Mesopotamia, it , 18
Uddâiaka Àruoi, see Âruni Gautama Ural Mountains, 22
Uddapda, writer, 194 urbanization, 365
Uddyotana, writer, 187 Aryan, 28;
Uganda, ‘ Congress’ of, 404 Mauryan, 40
Ugrasravas, epic poet, 170 UrdQ language, 4, 166, 167, 308, 354, 386,
Uighur language, 89 406, 40 7,412-13,419 ;
Ujjayini (Ujjain), city, 153, 180, 183, 196, -Hindi controversy, 387;
435 ; in songs, 222;
observatory at, 158 literature in, 238, 307, 417, 422
‘ ulamS’ (pl.), 'âlhn (s.), Muslim theolo­ urn burials, 448
gians and scholars, 250, 254, 255, 261, Urvasi, nymph, 182
283, 286, 386, 461; U?â, n., 184,191, 193
training of, 287; Ufiiharapa, play, 184
and caste, 489 Ushas, goddess, 425
Ulugh Beg o f Samarqand, 158 usisi (‘ roots’), Qur'an and Hadis, 282
Ulugh Jauna Khân, see Muhammad utilitarianism, 356, 360, 414
Tughluq Utopia o f Thomas More, 125, 441
Umaiyàd caliphate, 245,249 Utprck?âvallabha, poet, 193
'U m ar II, caliph, 245 istsrftikanka, type of play, 178
Umàshankar Joshi, Gujarati writer, 416 Uttara-Mimâmsâ, see Vedanta
Umma, Mesopotamia, 18 UttararSmacarita of BhavabhQti, 186
Uiwna, community o f believers (Muslim), Uttar Pradesh (formerly United Provinces),
282 19. 27, 51, 83, 236, 401, 402;
Unitarians, 367 language of, 165
United Nations, 404
United Provinces, see Uttar Pradesh
United States of America, 399, 404, 489 Vacanakâvyas, poems in Kanuada, 37
Unity of Being, see Wahdatss'i Wujiid vachana, form o f vernacular literature, 279,.
Unity of Perception, see iVahdatu'sh ’ 304 r
Shishiid vâdi, musical term, 216, 226
universalism, 483 Vàdibhasirpha, writer, 191
universal suffrage, 361 Vagbhaja, medical writer, 157
universities, 473; Vagif a, Buddhist monk, 171
Buddhist, 202, 203, 449; Vatbhâshika, see Sarvâstivâdin
Muslim, 322, 386, 388; vaidarbha, ‘ southern’ literary style, 173, 181,
for women, 380 182, 194
untouchables (Harijans), 49, 134, 379, 395, Vaifâli, Bihâr, lo i
396, 402; Vaifampâyana, leg. epic poet, 170
schools for, 370; Vaifeshika school o f philosophy, n 1, 114,
emancipation of, 380; ii8 , 122;
in Panjâb, 393; atomic theory of, 144, 145
conversion to Buddhism of, 99, 495 Vaishnavism, the cult o f Vishnu, 69, 80,
Upasnitibhavaprapaiica, novel, 190 168, 195, 274, 295,417;
Upanishads, mystical texts, 58, 62, to i, i n , change in, 267-8;
120, 121, 367, 410, 427. 428, 475, spread of, 304;
496; in Bengal, 268, 271, 272;
origin of, 79; in West, 497;
doctrine o f transmigration in, 78, 428; literature, 189, 278, 279, 280, 305, 306,
philosophy of, 112, 113-14, 119; 309,410,415;
influence on Islam of, 283, 303, 467; see also bhakti, Vishnu
Persian translations of, 292; in Europe, vaifya, the third, mercantile, class, 121, 129,
472-31 259. 429
and European philosophy, 474; Vaiyai R ., 35
see also Brihadaranyaka, Chhandogya, vajikarana, virility, in medicine, 150
_Kasha Upanishads vajra, diamond or thunderbolt, 94;
sipasokas, upasikas, lay Buddhists, 87 V. cchedika, ‘ Diamond SQtra’, 91
ttn / itn n n H ^ v n tin n £0 Vairanâni. Bodhisattva. oa
 Index

Vajrayâna Buddhism (the ‘ Diamond Vedângas, studies subsidiary to that of

Vehicle’ or 'Adamantine Way ’), 92,94-5, Vedas, 143, 15!
96, 99 Vedanta (Unara-Mimâmsà) school of
Vâkâlaku dyn., 46, j8o philosophy. 58, l i t , >t4, 118-19, 148,
Vâkpaliràja, poet, 187 367, 392.436.474 n., 496
vakralii, ‘ curvature', literary term, 173 in literature, 192, 194;
VaUabbn(chârya), Vaishnavite theologian, monism of, 274
267, 277 Vedanta for the Western World, 483
Vallathoi, writer in Malayâlam, 416, 417 Vedanta Society, New York, 483
VSlmiki, the ‘ fir s t K a v i', sage to whom the Vedas, 25, 64-6, 72, 76, i l l , 114, 118, 126,
RamSyana is attributed, 175, 176, 181, 128, 131, 170, 175, 176, 203, 181, 370,
188, 274, 275 372, 4 >7 . 425, 428;
Vâmana, writer, 173, 194 ‘ Tamii V.’, 267;
vamsBvali, a history, 192 later, 427;
Vanavàsi, Mysore, 57 period of, 78;
Van Dicman, Dutch governor, 338 culture of, 20, 28, 29, 51-2;
van Druten, J., 483 philosophy of, 111-12 ;
Vanga, reg., 28 infallibility question, 120, 121;
Vanji, city, 36 religion of, 162;
VarodSmblkSpariijaya, biography, 195 ritual of the, 380;
Varâhamihara, astronomer, 48, 151, 152, and castes, 216;
153 exegesis, 118, 119;
Varanasi (Knsi, Bamlras, Benares), 44, 54, in literature, 195, 392;
>50, 158, 160, 196, 237, 249, 250, 267, oral tradition of, 163; chanting of, 213—
274. 275. 315. 416, 473, 486, 494 , 495 2 >5 i
Vararuci, writer, 176, 179 and Europeans, 477
vdriyan/ra, mechanical device, 146 ■vedi, see altars, 147
Vârkari(-Panth), sect, 268, 269 Vehicles, in Buddhism, see Mahâyâna,
Varma, Kerala, Malayâlam writer, 413 Hînayàna, Vajrayâna
Varma, Mahâdevi, Hindi writer, 418 Vemana, Telugu poet, 280, 305
ooriuwi, musical composition, 231 Vena, leg. k., 128
varnas, the four classes o f Hindu society, 2, Venice, 435
27, 128, 129,130, 473; VeidsatphBra, play, 184
Vedic origin of, 22, 372, 429; Venka|adhvarin, writer, 195
duties of, 121 ; Venka(anatha, epic writer, 194
and Plato's social divisions, 429; see also Venkayàmàtya, dramatist, 196
caste, classes venu, flute, 231
uarnSSrama-dharma, rules of conduct for Verdensvandrerne {'The Wanderers in the
the four classes and stages o f life, World'), by K . Gjcllerup, 480
128-30 Vernâ, pl., 345
Vnrttikas, treatise by Kàtyâyana, 163 vertauschten KBpfe, Die (‘The Transposed
Varuna, god, 23, 132, 149, 425 H eads’), by H. Hesse, 480
Vàsavadatta, n., 178, 179, 186; Vetnlapanc(h)avhiiiati, short stories, 192,
Vâsavadatta novel, 183 480
Vasco da Gama, 337, 346, 470 veterinary officers, 150
Vasijtha, n., 191 Vibltasha, Buddhist commentary, 93
Vaslshtha Siddhànta, treatise, 151 Victoria, Queen, 354
Vastupàla, minister o f state, 102, 193 V. and Albert Museum, 99, 329
Vasubandhu, Buddhist writer, 93 V. Memorial, Calcutta, 357
Vasudeva, father of Krishna, 183 ‘ Victory o f Hari', epic, 180
Vâsudeva, author, 189 Vidarbha, kingdom, 27
Vâsudeva, god, 203 VlddhaSBlabhanjikB, comedy, 189
Vasudeoahindi (Wanderings o f Vasudeva), Videha, reg., 27
novel, 183 Vidima, pl., 435
Vàsudevaratha, author, 194 vidüshaka. Jester or Fool, 475
Vatsarâja, dramatist, 192 Vidyâcakravartin, writer, 194
Vatsyâyana, author o f KSmasiitra, 417 vidyadharas, 'w izards’, 176
vayu, theory o f winds, 148 Vidyâpati, poet, 195, 272, 306, 308,417, 439
Vedabbha JBtaka, 440 Vidyâranya, writer, 194
 Index
Vidyâsâgar, Isvarachandra, scholar and
reformer, 369,410
Vienna, 463
Vietnam, 422, 444, 451 ;
Hindu-type temple in, 205;
War, 404 ;
South, 443;
Vietnamese, 450
vihâra, in Buddhism, 93
monastery, see monasteries;
of Kanishka, 432
Vijayà, woman dramatist, 194
Vijaya, k., 145
Vijayanagara Empire, 48,169,194,257,263;
emperors of, 145, 195; in literature, 194
foundation of, 255;
destruction of, 305;
and literature, 279, 304-5;
art of, 333;
foreign relations of, 337
Vijayapàla, dramatist, 192
Vijnânavàda, see Yogâcâra
Vika/anitambâ (Broad Buttocks), comedy,
184
‘ Vikramàditya', title of, 182, 192
see also Chandra Gupta II
Vikramânkàbhyudaya, biography, 191
Vikramâiikadevacarita, epic, 191
Vikramafila, Buddhist centre, 99, 202
Vikramorvaitya, play, 165, 182
vikrita, musical term, 218, 220, 223
Vilâsavalt, novel, 193
Vilàyat Khân, Ustâd, musician, 485
vilhancico, songs, 344
villages, 188, 416;
Aryan, 23, 40;
headmen, 252, 254, 259;
government, 490; assemblies, 137; coun­
cils (panclidyat), 5, 37, 134, 361, 491
reform in, 495-6
Vimala, poet, 179
Vimalaktrli-nirdeia ‘ Exposition of Vimala-
kirli') sutra, 91
vintSna, South Indian temple tower, 314
viiiâ, musical instrument, 231, 235
Vltmvasavadafta, play, 179
Vinaya, rules o f Buddhist monasticism, 87
Vinaya-pattrikS, attributed to Tulsidas; 275
Vinaya Pitaka, section o f the Pâli canon, 89,
90,91
Vinaya-vasln, part o f V, Pitaka, 89, 90
Vinda Kârandikâr, writer in Marathi, 418
Vindhya mountains, 6, 28, 177, 236
Vindhyagiri, temple at, 315
Vinobâ Bhave, 495
violin, 231, 233
Vira Ballala III, Hoysala k., 253
virSina, Sanskrit phonetic term, 33
Viraéaivism, see Lingâyats
583
ViraSekhara, n., 185
Virà(a, k. o f Matsya, 171
Viresaiingam, Telugu writer, 413
Virochana, deity, 113
Virûpakfaçasanlolsava, campii, 194
Visàkhadafta, dramatist, 183
Viiishtâdvaita (Visiç|âdvaitin), ‘ Qualified
M onism ', 120
Vishnu (Purushottama, ‘ The Supreme Per­
son ’), god, 72, 80,120, 267, 432;
avataras of, lo t, 273; as Fish, 181; as
Râma, 186; as mango, 194; as boar,
205; as Krishna, 236; see also, Krishna,
Râm a;
worship of, 3, 48, 279; see also Vaishnav-
ism;
in art, 203, 206; images of, 201, 204, 446;
o f Pandharpur (Vithobâ), 268, 271, 279;
and Devarâja cult, 447;
V.-Parana, 123, 143
Vijnusarman, author, 180
Visuddhl Magga, Pâli text, 144
Visvaguimdarja, campii, 195
ViSvambhar MiSra, see Chaitanya
Visvâmitra, myth of, 476
Viévanâtha, literary critic, 174
ViSvanâtha temple, Khajurâho, 206
Visveivara, scholar and novelist, 196
Vi/anidra, monologue, 194
Vithoba, form of Vishnu, 268, 271, 279
Vitruvius, Roman architect and engineer, 146
Vivahvant, Vivasvant, n., 21
Vivekânanda Swâmi (Narendranath Datta),
375. 377-8, 380, 412, 416. 420, 4S1, 483
vocal music, 230-31, 232
Void, the, see Sûnya
Volga R ., 22
Voltaire, 472
von Hofmannsthal, Hugo, 480
vovios, songs, 343
Voyage aux Indes, 475
Voyage to Sural in the Year 1689, 471
Vrindàvan (Brindâban), near Mathurâ, 272,
308
Vftrahan (Vr- 0 ragna), title o f Indra, 2 1
vyangya, *revealed ', literary term, 173
Vyâsa (Dvaipàyana), epic poet, 170
Vyasayogicarita, biography, 193
vyauahâra, litigation, 133
vyàyogas, one-act heroic plays, 178
Vykom, Keralâ, 395, 402
V yo ja see Bhosa
‘ W ahabis’, see Mujâhidin
Wahdatu'l Wujnd, Süfi theory o f Unity o f
Being, 286-7, 288, 292, 467
Wahdatu’sh Shuhüd, Simnâni’s theory o f
Unity o f Perception, 288, 290, 291
aT-Wahhâb, see under Muhammad
584 Index

Wahhabi, movement for Muslim religious reaction to Indian culture of, 197,209-10,
reform, 383, 385, 389 474- 7 . 496 ;
Wajihu’d-Din Gujarati, Shaikh, 466 and Indian religion, 388, 478, 496
Waley, Arthur, 496 West Africa, 340
Wali-Allâh, see Shâh Wali Allah West Asia, 33;
Walid f, caliph, 245 Mauryan links with, 40-41 ;
waits, governors, 250 and megalithic South India, 44;
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 329 and Buddhism, 45
Wang C h ’ung, philosopher, 455 Westernization, self-, 446
Wang Yang-ming, Neo-Confucianist, 457 Wheeler, Sir Mortimer, 33, 478
War, Wheel o f Life, Buddhist, 85, 456
First World, 381, 397, 401; Whigs, 363
Second World, 395, 397, 42r, 496 White, Robin, 481
War ami Peace, 422 Whitehead, A .N ., 105
Wârangal (Sultanpür), capital of Telingâna, White Horse Monastery, Loyang, 455
253 , 254, 255. 297 Whiteway, R.S., historian; 346
warfare, 25, 51-2, 54, 55-6, 145, 247 Whitman, Walt, 479
Wâris Shâh, poet, 309 widows, 363, 370, 374-51
Warren, Lt. Col. John, 152 burning of, see salt;
wutan jagir, revenue rights to hereditary remarriage movement, 369, 374-5
dominions of Rajput chieftain, 260 Wierix, John, 345
Wat Chet Y o t, Chiengmai, Thailand, 450 Wilkins, Charles, 409, 473, 477, 496
water-spray, 146 Willow Leaf, leg. queen o f Funan, 446
‘ W ay o f D evotion’, see bkakli-mârga Wilson, Horace Hayman, 475, 478
'W ay o f Knowledge’ , see jnâna-mârga Wind God, 176
wàsìr, Mughal official in charge o f revenue winds,
and finance, 351 theory of, 148;
Wazir Khan, mosque of, 323 and planets, 153
weapons, 4, 55-6, 145; windows, 312, 323, 324, 346
bronze, 17; Wint, Guy, 363
makers of, 98 Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligion, Die (‘The
Weber, M ax, 483 Economic Ethic o f the World Re­
weddings, 384; ligions’) by Weber, 483
songs at, 234, 235, 236 women, 274;
weighing ceremony, Mughal, 350 position of, 127, 367, 368, 370, 372, 3B2,
weights and measures, 16-17, I4 C 142 395; in Vedic times, 136-7;
welfare, public, 360, 382 rights of, 363, 402, 490;
wells, 380 education of, 368, 369, 370, 380
Weltanschauung dec iitdisclten Denker, Die, wool, 45
by Albert Schweitzer, 483 Wordsworth, William, 476, 47.7
Wesley, John, 64 workers,
West, the, 361, 421; quarters of, Harappà, 13;
concept of Asia of, 1 ; wages of, 395
contact with India of, World Soul, see Bralunan
with South, 146; through trade, 445 worship, congregational, 37°, 372
{see also trade); in Middle Ages, 470; Wright, Arthur F ., 456, 457
and Indian Muslims, 386; writers, 376
ideas of, writing, 2 ;
purveyed by Arabs, 438; by British, m atcrialsfor, 3-4;
358, 362; introduction of, 163;
rejection of, 373, 377, 378; see also scripts
influence of, 392, 397, 414; W u, Chinese empress, 457
nature of, 363—4 ;
cultural, 62, 348; on music, 239, 344;
Xavier, St. Francis, 62, 343, 345
in Bengal, 367, 375, 381;
Xenophanes, philosopher, 427, 429
on reform, 392; political, 391,393, 394,
397, 398 , 400 ;
on literature, 4.10,41 r, 417-18,422,492 ; Yâdava, tribe, 100
science of, 387; medical, 493; Yâdavas, Marathâ dyn. o f Devagiri.-252
 Index 585
Yâduvamsis, Rajput dyn., 251 Yogeivara, writer, 188
Yâjnavalkya, sage, 78, 130 Yogi and the Commissar, The, 482
Yajur Veda, 213-14, 215 Y o gi (Jogi) practitioner o f yoga, 254, 287
yaksha, class o f demigod, 198 Yoita, Greeks, 426
yakslii, female yakslta, 198 yotii, female symbol, 18
yakfagana (yakshagnna), type o f popular ‘ Young Bengal’ movement, 368
theatrical entertainment, 175, 305, 411 Yudhijthira, leg. hero, 171, 184, 185, 189
Yalduz, see Taju'd-D in Yiian dyn., see Mongols
Yam a, god, 21, 113, 132, 428 Yüeh-chih, see Kushanas
yama, ytinâni, Pcrso-Islamic medicine, 493
notes, in music, 2(4; Yun Kang, China, 459
moral and religious restraints, 116 Yunnan Province, China, 448, 450, 453
Yamin-ud-Daula, see Mahmud Yusuf, Shaikh, Süft, 467
Yamunâ (Jamunâ) R ., 26, 51, 250, 255, 317 Yüsufzais, Pathân tribe, 263
yânas, fifty-two, in Buddhism, 95
Yang Kuang, Sui emperor o f China, 457 Zainu’l ‘Abidin, sultan of Kashmir, 256
yantras, mechanical devices, 145-6, 151 Zainu’ l AkhbSr by Gardezi, 467
Yasas, writer, 177 Zakariyya, see under Baha’u’d-Din
Yasastilaka, campii, 190 Zako, Anton, 482
Yashpàl, Hindi writer, 419 Zambia, 404
Ya^odhara, k., 190 zamindSrs, holders o f proprietary land
Y.carita, story of, 191 rights, 260-61, 355, 463;
YaSovarman, emperor, 186, 187 z. rajas, 260 ;
Yiilra, folk drama, 411 insubordinate (zanilndürân-i-zor-talab),
‘ Yaughandharâyana’s V ow s’, type of play, 265
178-9 Zarathustra, see Zoroaster
Yavana, a westerner, particularly a Greek, Zarmanochegas (Sramanàchârya), monk,
44 , 146. 151, 416,434 433
Yayàti, n., 184, 193 Zen, see C h ’an Buddhism
Yeats, William Butler, 482—3 zenanas, 357
Yemen, 463 Zeno, philosopher, 427
Yerrapragada, Telugu writer, 280 zero, 157,458
Yim a, n., 21 Zeus, 429, 477
Yoga, 1 16, 148; Zicgenbalg, B., German missionary, 409,
school o f philosophy, 114, 115—17, 122, 472
i î 3 , *95 , 436, 480, 484, 497; ziggurat, 314
hatha-yoga, mystical training, I, 3, 73-4, Zimmer, Heinrich, R., 149, 480, 484
92 , 94. 95 , 117, 179, 202, 274, 371, 378, Z in d i Kaul, Master, writer, 413
497 ; zither, 235
Koestler on, 482; zodiac, 143, 438
and psychology, 484 Zoffany, John, 358
Yogâcâra (Vijnânavâda), school o f Mahâ­ zoology, 159
yâna Buddhism, 94, 96 Zoroaster (Zarathustra), 21, 64, 427, 483;
Yoga-sûtras, 1 1 1 Zoroastrianism, 62, 290, 437
Yoga mid die Westen, 484 Zweig, Stefan, 480, 481
SjtfH 5h>Kia,^rh',A;
,MinsCrd'

fn d r*prtit> « a

/ / •L«li|a PAtin(KatV»/pa«vdü)
slatSur*. '- L R » m o « r w â
'Bairat,/ <j.'Lâu>îrxHaAda«^aeh
(BhaVraj,
wlr/
magaomS % ^
/^•halramy’^V"
y * B ir â b a / y y y V

4SURASHTRA,
S VGiman//
/A V < a
/X P U L IN D A S y

'7 < < > |T I N I K A S

ANQHR)

A SO K A ’S E M P IR E
Ì5AT1YAPUTRA ( 2 5 0 B .C .)

Rock Edicts and M inor RcKb E d ict* . . . » A

CHOLAS P i ll a r E d i c ts J-

P r o b a b lc B ov n cJacy • • • • — — — —

M ap II
/ '- /sx
' KASHMIR

THE GUPTA EM PIRE

A T THE C L O S E O F TH E
FOURTH CENTURY

Slvll’K't C|«fl^4 OI ~-f-

M af III
 KASHMIRI

M ÜLTAN

ARABS
• GhtU^.U J^V ^
of
(M A N S U R A H
’ ’ GUR J A R A E R A T I HAR A:

PA LAS
'A N A R T A

UTKALÂ

G AN&AA

RASH TR AKÜTAS W ï
\\ [U
*
wuM'ili)

INDIA
A T THE C L O S E OF THE
CHOLAS NIN TH C E N T U R Y
Afp'»*'»»!* 0»waV*^i*
Ff¥C»w»tio« F/*o»Up

M a p IV
M ap Y
 THE.

MUGHAL EM PIRE
A T THE D E A T H OF
A K B A R (1605)
B o v f ld ir j c i t f t f - f i — — — —
O tK tf

AKbJM Pro*In<«$ tlw> Q£ LH I

M ap VI
M ap VII
 St

THE PORTUGUESE POSSESSIONS

Cam ofx* .V ^ IN THE EAST
Good H *pT ------------

T»i‘, ( n rfi C»nk>

AND THE ROUTE TO INDIA

M ap V III
M ap IX
PERSIA

M ap X
IX
A rab i a n

Sea

Andirnia n
libnds r y
Laccadive
Is h n d s □H D ever 6000 fat.
ܧ8Π#ttr 18000 fa t.
Contours drown at
1200, 3000, fSOO 6ooo,
9000, J2O0O A 18000ft/

PHYSICAL
FEATURES
M ap I
K n r l i : in t e r io r o f c h a î t y a c a v e . r. 150 b .c .

IQ N u * it * cu n .w in rtn w f anrJ f>r>rcAehr***..>»r/-f>

 gÆaSaSsK

20. B ow -harps and flutes, A m arâvatï. c. a . d . 200

21 . VTna in the hands o f SarasvatT. c: a .

22. A j m e r : G r e a t M o s q u e , c. a . d . 120 0
T o m b o f H um àyün
ÿing Inâyat Kahn, miniature painting. Early 17 th century
5 cm

28. Àsvâri Râgini (a musical mode personified). Early 17th century.

14*5 x 10 cm
 lÉ l

m m

m SM :

Plaque with Siva and Pârvati, carved ivory. From South India, 3 0 . G ir d l e (patka)%s t e n c ille d a n d p a in t e d c o t t o n , R a ja s t h a n .
N o rth Indian A stro lab e, brass. ? 18th cen tury. O bverse N o rth Indian A stro lab e, brass. ? !8ih century. Reverse
 5 . Ind o-G reek and Persian coins
1. Persian daric struck in India, c. 337 B.C.
2. Athenian owl, struck in India.
3. Coin o f Sopliyles, king o f the Salt Range, c. 327 b .c .
4. Coin o f Eucratides, king o f Bactria, c. 175 b .c .
Surkòtada: general view o f the citadel, w ith entrance-ram p in the m iddle distance on the right
4. 'S u rk otad a; entrance to the citadel, with n m n <t»îr/~acA «nH *>*>->rAw^rs~*~s'>\
 M R

10 . M o th er G oddess, m oulded terracotta plaque. 11. Yakça, stone. B csnagar, n ow in Vîdirê

T am lu k (near C alcu tta), c. 1st century b .c . Ht. 20 cm Museum, c. 1st century d.c.