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 39

CHAPTER 7
SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS

7.1 (i) The coefficient on male is 87.75, so a man is estimated to sleep almost one and one-half
hours more per week than a comparable woman. Further, t male = 87.75/34.33 ≈ 2.56, which is
close to the 1% critical value against a two-sided alternative (about 2.58). Thus, the evidence for
a gender differential is fairly strong.

(ii) The t statistic on totwrk is −.163/.018 ≈ −9.06, which is very statistically significant. The
coefficient implies that one more hour of work (60 minutes) is associated with .163(60) ≈ 9.8
minutes less sleep.

(iii) To obtain Rr2 , the R-squared from the restricted regression, we need to estimate the
model without age and age2. When age and age2 are both in the model, age has no effect only if
the parameters on both terms are zero.

7.3 (i) The t statistic on hsize2 is over four in absolute value, so there is very strong evidence that
it belongs in the equation. We obtain this by finding the turnaround point; this is the value of
hsize that maximizes sat ˆ (other things fixed): 19.3/(2 ⋅ 2.19) ≈ 4.41. Because hsize is measured
in hundreds, the optimal size of graduating class is about 441.

(ii) This is given by the coefficient on female (since black = 0); nonblack females have SAT
scores about 45 points lower than nonblack males. The t statistic is about –10.51, so the
difference is very statistically significant. (The very large sample size certainly contributes to
the statistical significance.)

(iii) Because female = 0, the coefficient on black implies that a black male has an estimated
SAT score almost 170 points less than a comparable nonblack male. The t statistic is over 13 in
absolute value, so we easily reject the hypothesis that there is no ceteris paribus difference.

(iv) We plug in black = 1, female = 1 for black females and black = 0 and female = 1 for
nonblack females. The difference is therefore –169.81 + 62.31 = −107.50. Because the estimate
depends on two coefficients, we cannot construct a t statistic from the information given. The
easiest approach is to define dummy variables for three of the four race/gender categories and
choose nonblack females as the base group. We can then obtain the t statistic we want as the
coefficient on the black female dummy variable.

 = β̂ + δˆ (1 – noPC) + β̂ hsGPA + β̂ ACT = ( β̂ + δˆ ) −

7.5 (i) Following the hint, colGPA 0 0 1 2 0 0

δ 0 noPC + β̂1 hsGPA + β̂ 2 ACT. For the specific estimates in equation (7.6), β̂ 0 = 1.26 and δˆ0
ˆ
= .157, so the new intercept is 1.26 + .157 = 1.417. The coefficient on noPC is –.157.

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 40

(ii) Nothing happens to the R-squared. Using noPC in place of PC is simply a different way
of including the same information on PC ownership.

(iii) It makes no sense to include both dummy variables in the regression: we cannot hold
noPC fixed while changing PC. We have only two groups based on PC ownership so, in
addition to the overall intercept, we need only to include one dummy variable. If we try to
include both along with an intercept, we have perfect multicollinearity (the dummy variable
trap).

7.7 (i) Write the population model underlying (7.29) as

inlf = β 0 + β1 nwifeinc + β 2 educ + β 3 exper + β 4 exper2 + β 5 age

+ β 6 kidslt6 + β 7 kidsage6 + u,

plug in inlf = 1 – outlf, and rearrange:

1 – outlf = β 0 + β1 nwifeinc + β 2 educ + β 3 exper + β 4 exper2 + β 5 age

+ β 6 kidslt6 + β 7 kidsage6 + u,
or
outlf = (1 − β 0 ) − β1 nwifeinc − β 2 educ − β 3 exper − β 4 exper2 − β 5 age
− β 6 kidslt6 − β 7 kidsage6 − u.

The new error term, −u, has the same properties as u. From this, we see that if we regress outlf
on all of the independent variables in (7.29), the new intercept is 1 − .586 = .414 and each slope
coefficient takes on the opposite sign from when inlf is the dependent variable. For example, the
new coefficient on educ is −.038, while the new coefficient on kidslt6 is .262.

(ii) The standard errors will not change. In the case of the slopes, changing the signs of the
estimators does not change their variances, and therefore, the standard errors are unchanged (but
the t statistics change sign). Also, Var(1 − β̂ 0 ) = Var( β̂ 0 ), so the standard error of the intercept
is the same as before.

(iii) We know that changing the units of measurement of independent variables, or entering
qualitative information using different sets of dummy variables, does not change the R-squared.
But here we are changing the dependent variable. Nevertheless, the R-squareds from the
regressions are still the same. To see this, part (i) suggests that the squared residuals will be
identical in the two regressions. For each i, the error in the equation for outlf i is just the negative
of the error in the other equation for inlf i , and the same is true of the residuals. Therefore, the
SSRs are the same. Further, in this case, the total sum of squares are the same. For outlf, we
have

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 41

n n n n
SST =
=i 1 =i 1
∑ (outlfi − outlf =
)2 ∑ [(1 − inlfi ) − (1 − inlf )]2 =
=i 1 =i 1
∑ (−inlfi + inlf=
)2 ∑ (inlf i − inlf ) 2 ,

which is the SST for inlf. Because R2 = 1 – SSR/SST, the R-squared is the same in the two
regressions.

7.9 (i) Plugging in u = 0 and d = 1 gives f1 ( z ) = ( β 0 + δ 0 ) + ( β1 + δ1 ) z .

(ii) Setting f 0 ( z * ) = f1 ( z * ) gives β 0 + β1 z * = ( β 0 + δ 0 ) + ( β1 + δ1 ) z * or =

0 δ 0 + δ1 z * .
Therefore, provided δ1 ≠ 0 , we have z * = −δ 0 / δ1 . Clearly, z * is positive if and only if δ 0 / δ1 is
negative, which means δ 0 and δ1 must have opposite signs.

(iii) Using part (ii), we have= =

totcoll * .357 / .030 11.9 years.

(iv) The estimated years of college needed for women to catch up to men is much too high
to be practically relevant. While the estimated coefficient on female ⋅ totcoll shows that the gap
is reduced at higher levels of college, it is never closed – not even close. In fact, at four years of
college, the difference in predicted log wage is still −.357 + .030(4) = −.237 , or about 21.1% less
for women.

7.11 (i) The coefficient on male in the second equation means that in the sample of 856
students, if we consider males and females with the same level of grade point average at the
start of the term, the male scores on average 3.83, which is more than the female. The 95%
confidence interval is 3.83 ± (1.96)0.74 or about 2.38 to 5.28. Clearly, this interval excludes
zero.

(ii) The F test for joint significance of male and colgpa, with 1 and 852 df, is about .12 with p-
value ≈ .729; these variables are jointly very insignificant. Therefore, we can conclude that there
is no gender difference in the model.

(iii) The last equation is obtained by replacing male.colgpa with male.(colgpa – 2.81); the
coefficient on male is now gender difference when colgpa = 2.81. From part (ii), we observe that
there is no gender difference in the model with the interaction and so the coefficient on male is
closer to that in the second equation.

SOLUTIONS TO COMPUTER EXERCISES

C7.1 (i) The estimated equation is

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 = 1.26 + .152 PC + .450 hsGPA + .0077 ACT − .0038 mothcoll

colGPA
(0.34) (.059) (.094) (.0107) (.0603)
+ .0418 fathcoll
(.0613)
n = 141 , R2 = .222.

The estimated effect of PC is hardly changed from equation (7.6), and it is still very significant,
with t pc ≈ 2.58.

(ii) The F test for joint significance of mothcoll and fathcoll, with 2 and 135 df, is about .24
with p-value ≈ .78; these variables are jointly very insignificant. It is not surprising that the
estimates on the other coefficients do not change much when mothcoll and fathcoll are added to
the regression.

(iii) When hsGPA2 is added to the regression, its coefficient is about .337 and its t statistic is
about 1.56. (The coefficient on hsGPA is about –1.803.) This is a borderline case. The
quadratic in hsGPA has a U-shape, and it only turns up at about hsGPA* = 2.68, which is hard to
interpret. The coefficient of main interest on PC falls to about .140 but is still significant.
Adding hsGPA2 is a simple robustness check of the main finding.

C7.3 (i) H 0 : β13 = 0. Using the data in MLB1.RAW gives β̂13 ≈ .254, se( β̂13 ) ≈ .131. The t
statistic is about 1.94, which gives a p-value against a two-sided alternative of just over .05.
Therefore, we would reject H 0 at just about the 5% significance level. Controlling for the
performance and experience variables, the estimated salary differential between catchers and
outfielders is huge, on the order of 100⋅[exp(.254) – 1] ≈ 28.9% [using equation (7.10)].

(ii) This is a joint null, H 0 : β 9 = 0, β10 = 0, …, β13 = 0. The F statistic, with 5 and 339 df,
is about 1.78, and its p-value is about .117. Thus, we cannot reject H 0 at the 10% level.

(iii) Parts (i) and (ii) are roughly consistent. The evidence against the joint null in part (ii) is
weaker because we are testing, along with the marginally significant catcher, several other
insignificant variables (especially thrdbase and shrtstop, which has absolute t statistics well
below one).

C7.5 The estimated equation is


log( salary ) = 4.30 + .288 log(sales) + .0167 roe − .226 rosneg
(0.29) (.034) (.0040) (.109)

n = 209, R2 = .297, R 2 = .286.

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 43

The coefficient on rosneg implies that if the CEO’s firm had a negative return on its stock over
the 1988 to 1990 period, the CEO salary was predicted to be about 22.6% lower, for given levels
of sales and roe. The t statistic is about –2.07, which is significant at the 5% level against a two-
sided alternative.

C7.7 (i) When educ = 12.5, the approximate proportionate difference in estimated wage between
women and men is −.227 − .0056(12.5) = −.297. When educ = 0, the difference is −.227. So the
differential at 12.5 years of education is about 7 percentage points greater.

(ii) We can write the model underlying (7.18) as

log(wage) = β 0 + δ 0 female + β1 educ + δ1 female ⋅ educ + other factors

= β 0 + ( δ 0 + 12.5 δ1 ) female + β1 educ + δ1 female ⋅ (educ – 12.5)

+ other factors
≡ β 0 + θ 0 female + β1 educ + δ1 female ⋅ (educ – 12.5) + other factors,

where θ 0 ≡ δ 0 + 12.5 δ1 is the gender differential at 12.5 years of education. When we run this
regression, we obtain about –.294 as the coefficient on female (which differs from –.297 due to
rounding error). Its standard error is about .036.

(iii) The t statistic on female from part (ii) is about –8.17, which is very significant. This is
because we are estimating the gender differential at a reasonable number of years of education,
12.5, which is close to the average. In equation (7.18), the coefficient on female is the gender
differential when educ = 0. There are no people of either gender with close to zero years of
education, and so we cannot hope – nor do we want to – to estimate the gender differential at
educ = 0.

C7.9 (i) About .392, or 39.2%.

(ii) The estimated equation is

e
401k = −.506 + .0124 inc − .000062 inc2 + .0265 age − .00031 age2 − .0035 male
(.081) (.0006) (.000005) (.0039) (.00005) (.0121)
n = 9,275, R2 = .094.

(iii) 401(k) eligibility clearly depends on income and age in part (ii). Each of the four terms
involving inc and age have very significant t statistics. On the other hand, once income and age
are controlled for, there seems to be no difference in eligibility by gender. The coefficient on
male is very small – at given income and age, males are estimated to have a .0035 lower
probability of being 401(k) eligible – and it has a very small t statistic.
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 44

(iv) Somewhat surprisingly, out of 9,275 fitted values, none is outside the interval [0,1]. The
smallest fitted value is about .030 and the largest is about .697. This means one theoretical
problem with the LPM – the possibility of generating silly probability estimates – does not
materialize in this application.

(v) Using the given rule, 2,460 families are predicted to be eligible for a 401(k) plan.

(vi) Of the 5,638 families actually ineligible for a 401(k) plan, about 81.7 are correctly
predicted not to be eligible. Of the 3,637 families actually eligible, only 39.3 percent are
correctly predicted to be eligible.

(vii) The overall percent correctly predicted is a weighted average of the two percentages
obtained in part (vi). As we saw there, the model does a good job of predicting when a family is
ineligible. Unfortunately, it does less well – predicting correctly less than 40% of the time – in
predicting that a family is eligible for a 401(k).

(viii) The estimated equation is

e
401k = −.502 + .0123 inc − .000061 inc2 + .0265 age − .00031 age2
(.081) (.0006) (.000005) (.0039) (.00005)
− .0038 male + .0198 pira
(.0121) (.0122)
n = 9,275, R2 = .095.

The coefficient on pira means that, other things equal, IRA ownership is associated with about a
.02 higher probability of being eligible for a 401(k) plan. However, the t statistic is only about
1.62, which gives a two-sided p-value = .105. So pira is not significant at the 10% level against
a two-sided alternative.

C7.11 (i) The average is 19.072, the standard deviation is 63.964, the smallest value is –502.302,
and the largest value is 1,536.798. Remember, these are in thousands of dollars.

(ii) This can be easily done by regressing nettfa on e401k and doing a t test on βˆe401k ; the
estimate is the average difference in nettfa for those eligible for a 401(k) and those not eligible.
Using the 9,275 observations= gives βˆe401k 18.858
= and te401k 14.01. Therefore, we strongly
reject the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the averages. The coefficient implies that,
on average, a family eligible for a 401(k) plan has $18,858 more in net total financial assets.

(iii) The equation estimated by OLS is

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 45

 = 23.09 + 9.705 e401k − .278 inc + .0103 inc2 − 1.972 age + .0348 age2
nettfa
(9.96) (1.277) (.075) (.0006) (.483) (.0055)

n = 9,275, R2 = .202.

Now, holding income and age fixed, a 401(k)-eligible family is estimated to have $9,705 more in
wealth than a non-eligible family. This is just more than half of what is obtained by simply
comparing averages.

(iv) Only the interaction e401k⋅(age − 41) is significant. Its coefficient is .654 (t = 4.98). It
shows that the effect of 401(k) eligibility on financial wealth increases with age. Another way to
think about it is that age has a stronger positive effect on nettfa for those with 401(k) eligibility.
The coefficient on e401k⋅(age − 41)2 is −.0038 (t statistic = −.33), so we could drop this term.

(v) The effect of e401k in part (iii) is the same for all ages, 9.705. For the regression in part
(iv), the coefficient on e401k from part (iv) is about 9.960, which is the effect at the average age,
age = 41. Including the interactions increases the estimated effect of e401k, but only by $255. If
we evaluate the effect in part (iv) at a wide range of ages, we would see more dramatic
differences.

(vi) Choose fsize1 as the base group. The estimated equation is

 = 16.34 + 9.455 e401k − .240 inc + .0100 inc2 − 1.495 age + .0290 age2
nettfa
(10.12) (1.278) (.075) (.0006) (.483) (.0055)

− .859 fsize2 − 4.665 fsize3 − 6.314 fsize4 − 7.361 fsize5

(1.818) (1.877) (1.868) (2.101)

n = 9,275, R2 = .204, SSR = 30,215,207.5.

The F statistic for joint significance of the four family size dummies is about 5.44. With 4 and
9,265 df, this gives p-value = .0002. So the family size dummies are jointly significant.

(vii) The SSR for the restricted model is from part (vi): SSR r = 30,215,207.5. The SSR for
the unrestricted model is obtained by adding the SSRs for the five separate family size
regressions. SSR ur = 29,985,400. The Chow statistic is F = [(30,215,207.5 − 29,985,400)/
29,985,400]*(9245/20) ≈ 3.54. With 20 and 9,245 df, the p-value is essentially zero. In this
case, there is strong evidence that the slopes change across family size. Allowing for intercept
changes alone is not sufficient. (If you look at the individual regressions, you will see that the
signs on the income variables actually change across family size.)

C7.13 (i) 412/660 ≈ .624.

(ii) The OLS estimates of the LPM are

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 46

 = .424 − .803 ecoprc + .719 regprc + .00055 faminc + .024 hhsize

ecobuy
(.165) (.109) (.132) (.00053) (.013)

+ .025 educ − .00050 age

(.008) (.00125)

n = 660, R2 = .110.

If ecoprc increases by, say, 10 cents (.10), then the probability of buying eco-labeled apples falls
by about .080. If regprc increases by 10 cents, the probability of buying eco-labeled apples
increases by about .072. (Of course, we are assuming that the probabilities are not close to the
boundaries of zero and one, respectively.)

(iii) The F test, with 4 and 653 df, is 4.43, with p-value = .0015. Thus, based on the usual F
test, the four non-price variables are jointly very significant. Of the four variables, educ appears
to have the most important effect. For example, a difference of four years of education implies
an increase of .025(4) = .10 in the estimated probability of buying eco-labeled apples. This
suggests that more highly educated people are more open to buying produce that is
environmentally friendly, which is perhaps expected. Household size (hhsize) also has an effect.
Comparing a couple with two children to one that has no children – other factors equal – the
couple with two children has a .048 higher probability of buying eco-labeled apples.

(iv) The model with log(faminc) fits the data slightly better: the R-squared increases to about
.112. (We would not expect a large increase in R-squared from a simple change in the functional
form.) The coefficient on log(faminc) is about .045 (t = 1.55). If log(faminc) increases by .10,
which means roughly a 10% increase in faminc, then P(ecobuy = 1) is estimated to increase by
about .0045, a pretty small effect.

(v) The fitted probabilities range from about .185 to 1.051, so none are negative. There are
two fitted probabilities above 1, which is not a source of concern with 660 observations.

 ≥ .5 and zero
(vi) Using the standard prediction rule – predicting one when ecobuy i

otherwise – gives the fraction correctly predicted for ecobuy = 0 as 102/248 ≈ .411, so about
41.1%. For ecobuy = 1, the fraction correctly predicted is 340/412 ≈ .825, or 82.5%. With the
usual prediction rule, the model does a much better job predicting the decision to buy eco-labeled
apples. (The overall percent correctly predicted is about 67%.)

C7.15 (i) The smallest and largest values of children are 0 and 13. The average value is about
2.27. Naturally, no woman has 2.27 children.

(ii) Of the 4,358 women for whom we have information on electricity recorded, 611, or
14.02 percent, have electricity in the home.

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 47

(iii) Naturally, we must exclude the three women for whom electric is missing. The average
for women without electricity is about 2.33 and the average for women with electricity is about
1.90. Regressing children on electric gives a coefficient on electric which is the difference in
average children between women with and without electricity. We already know the estimate is
about −.43. The simple regression gives us the t statistic, −4.44, which is very significant.

(iv) We cannot infer causality because there can be many confounding factors that are
correlated with fertility and the presence of electricity. Income is an important possibility, as are
education levels of the woman and spouse.

(v) When regressing children on electric, age, age2, urban, spirit, protest, and catholic, the
coefficient on electric becomes −.306 (se = .069). The effect is somewhat smaller than in part
(iii), but it is still on the order of almost one-third of a child (on average). The t statistic has
barely changed, −4.43, and so it is still very statistically significant.

(vi) The coefficient on the interaction electric ⋅ educ is −.022 and its t statistic is −1.31 (two-
sided p-value = .19). Thus, it is not statistically significant. The coefficient on electric has
become much smaller in magnitude and statistically insignificant. But one must interpret this
coefficient with caution; it is now the effect of having electricity on the subpopulation with educ
= 0. This is a nontrivial part of the population (almost 21 percent in the sample), but it is not the
entire story.

(vii) If we use electric ⋅ (educ − 7) instead, we force the coefficient on electric to be the effect
of electric on the subpopulation with educ = 7 – both the modal and median value. The
coefficient on electric becomes −.280 (t = −3.90), which is quite different from part (vi). In fact,
the effect is pretty close to what was obtained in part (v).

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Title: The Great Indian Epics

The Stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata

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 PREFACE
The Indian Epics are precious relics of the spring-time of Eastern
thought, revealing a new and singularly fascinating world, which
differs very remarkably from that depicted in the epic poetry of
Western lands. But although these epics are extremely interesting,
and although they are accessible in English translations, more or
less complete, they are such voluminous works that their mere bulk
is enough to repel the ordinary English reader, and even the student,
in these days of feverish occupation.
I may, no doubt, be justly reminded that every Indian History, written
within recent years, contains abstracts of the two epics; but these
abstracts, I would observe, are skeletons rather than miniatures of
the poems; they are the dry bones, on which the historians try to
support a fabric of historical inferences or conjectures, and they are
necessarily deficient in the mythological, romantic and social
elements so important to a proper comprehension of the
“Ramayana” and “Mahabharata.” Besides, when the structures are
so colossal, so composite and in many respects so beautiful, there
can be no harm in having yet another view of them, taken probably
from a new standpoint.
In Europe the Homeric poems are very extensively studied in the
original Greek; they are productions of very moderate size in
comparison with the Indian Epics; many and excellent translations of
them, in both prose and verse, are always issuing from the press;
and yet condensed epitomes of the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” are
welcomed by the reading public, by whom also prose versions of the
poetical narratives of even English poets—as Chaucer, Spenser,
Shakespeare and Browning—are favourably received.
Such being the case, I make no apology for the appearance of this
little volume, in which I have not only tried to reproduce faithfully, in a
strictly limited space, the main incidents and more striking features of
those gigantic and wonderful creations of the ancient bards of India
—the “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata”—but also to direct attention to
the abiding influence of those works upon the habits and
conceptions of the modern Hindu.
As they are often very incorrectly cited in support of views for which
there is no authority whatever in their multitudinous verses, it has
been my especial aim to give as accurate a presentment as possible
of the Indian Epics, taken as a whole; so that a fair and just idea—
neither too high nor too low—of their varied contents and their
intellectual level might be formed by the readers of this volume, be
they Europeans or Indians. And from what I have recently learned, I
have good ground for believing that both classes of readers will, after
perusal of this little book, be in a position to see the erroneous
character of many ideas in regard to life in ancient India which are
current in their respective circles.
Where, for any reason, I have especially desired that an event
recorded, or an opinion expressed, in the epics should be
reproduced without the possibility of misrepresentation on my part, I
have thought it best to quote verbatim the translations of them made
by Hindu scholars; although, unfortunately, their versions are by no
means elegant, and, indeed, often quite the reverse. But as they, no
doubt, reflect the structure and texture of the poems in a way that no
more free or polished English rendering could possibly do, I fancy
the citations I have made will not be unwelcome to most readers.
My book is divided into two distinct parts dealing separately with the
“Ramayana” and the “Mahabharata,” and at the end of each part I
have given, in the form of an Appendix, one or two of the more
striking legendary episodes lavishly scattered through these famous
epics, and which, though not essential for the comprehension of the
main story, are too beautiful or important to be omitted. Of these
episodes I should say that they are the best-known portions of the
“Ramayana” and “Mahabharata,” having been told and retold in all
the leading Indian vernaculars, and having, most of them, been
brought before the European world in both prose and verse.
A General Introduction to the two poems, and a concluding chapter,
containing remarks and inferences based on the materials supplied
to the reader in Parts I. and II., complete the scheme of this little
volume, which, I trust, will be found to be something more than a
mere epitome of the great Sanskrit epics; for, in its preparation, I
have had the advantage of considerable local knowledge and an
intimate acquaintance with the people of Aryavarta.
J. C. O.
 CONTENTS
Section Part / Chapter Page

General Introduction 1
PART I.—THE RAMAYANA
CHAPTER I
Introductory Remarks 15
CHAPTER II
The Story of Rama’s Adventures 19
CHAPTER III
The Ram Lila or Play of Rama 75
APPENDIX
The Story of the Descent of Ganga 87
Notes 91
PART II.—THE MAHABHARATA
CHAPTER I Introductory Remarks 95
CHAPTER II The Story of the Great War 101
CHAPTER III The Sacred Land 197
APPENDIX
(1) The Bhagavatgita or Divine Song 207
(2) The Churning of the Ocean 219
(3) Nala and Damayanti 225
Notes 237
Concluding Remarks 241
FOOTNOTES
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Illustration Page

The Abduction of Sita.

(From an illustrated Urdu Version) face 50
Hanuman and the Vanars Rejoicing at the
Restoration of Sita. (Reduced from Moor’s “Hindu
Pantheon”) face 70
Men with Knives and Skewers passed through their
Flesh.(From a Photograph) face 76
“The Terrible Demon King of Lanka and his no less
Formidable Brother.” (From a Photograph) face 80
The Temple and Bathing Ghâts on the Sacred Lake
at Kurukshetra.(From a Photograph) face 200
The Churning of the Ocean. (Reduced from Moor’s
“Hindu Pantheon”) face 220
GREAT INDIAN EPICS
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Foremost amongst the many valuable relics of the old-world
literature of India stand the two famous epics, the “Ramayana” and
the “Mahabharata,” which are loved with an untiring love by the
Hindus, for they have kept alive, through many a dreary century, the
memory of the ancient heroes of the land, whose names are still
borne by the patient husbandman and the proud chief.[1] These
great poems have a special claim to the attention even of foreigners,
if considered simply as representative illustrations of the genius of a
most interesting people, their importance being enhanced by the fact
that they are, to this day, accepted as entirely and literally true by
some two hundred millions of the inhabitants of India. And they have
the further recommendation of being rich in varied attractions, even
when regarded merely as the ideal and unsubstantial creations of
Oriental imagination.
Both the “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” are very lengthy works
which, taken together, would make up not less than about five and
twenty printed volumes of ordinary size. They embrace detailed
histories of wars and adventures and many a story that the Western
World would now call a mere fairy tale, to be listened to by children
with wide-eyed attention. But interwoven with the narrative of events
and legendary romances is a great bulk of philosophical, theological,
and ethical materials, covering probably the whole field of later
Indian speculation. Indeed, the epics are a storehouse of
Brahmanical instruction in the arts of politics and government; in
cosmogony and religion; in mythology and mysticism; in ritualism
and the conduct of daily life. They abound in dialogues wherein the
subtle wisdom of the East is well displayed, and brim-over with
stories and anecdotes intended to point some moral, to afford
consolation in trouble, or to inculcate a useful lesson. To epitomize
all this satisfactorily would be quite impossible; but what I have given
in this little volume will, I hope, be sufficient to show the nature and
structure of the epics, the characteristics that distinguish them as
essentially Indian productions, and the light they throw upon the
condition of India and the state of Hindu society at the time the
several portions were written, or, at any rate, collected together. The
narrative, brief though it be, will reflect the more abiding features of
Indian national life, revealing some unfamiliar ideas and strange
customs. Even within the narrow limits of the reduced picture here
presented, the reader will get something more than a glimpse of
those famous Eastern sages, whose half-comprehended story has
furnished the Theosophists of our own day with the queer notion of
their extraordinary Mahatmas; he will learn somewhat of the wisdom
and pretensions of those sages, and will not fail to note that the
belief in divine incarnations was firmly rooted in India in very early
times. He will incidentally acquire a knowledge of all the fundamental
religious ideas of the Hindus and of the highest developments of
their philosophy; he will also become familiar with some primitive
customs which have left unmistakable traces in the institutions of
modern social life in the East as well as in the West; and will,
perhaps, be able to track to their origin some strange conceptions
which are floating about the intellectual atmosphere of our time.
Woven out of the old-time sagas of a remarkable people, “the
ancient Aryans of India, in many respects the most wonderful race
that ever lived on Earth,”[2] the Sanskrit epics must have a
permanent interest for educated people in every land; while all Indian
studies must have an attraction for those who desire to watch, with
intelligent appreciation, the wonderfully interesting transformations in
religion and manners, which contact with Western civilization is
producing in the ancient and populous land of the Hindus. Not less
interesting will such studies be to those who are able to note the
curious, though as yet slight, reaction of Hindu thought upon modern
European ideas in certain directions; as, for example, in the rise of
Theosophy, in the sentimental tendency manifested in some quarters
towards asceticism, Buddhism and Pantheism; in the approval by a
small class in Europe of the cremation of the dead, and in the
growing fascination of such doctrines as those of metempsychosis
and Karma.
Although it is difficult for the Englishman of the nineteenth century to
understand the intellectual attitude of modern India in respect to the
wild legends of its youth, it may help towards a comprehension of
this point if one reflects that had not Christianity superseded the
original religions of Northern Europe, had the Eddas and Sagas, with
their weird tales of wonder and mystery, continued to be authoritative
scripture in Britain, the religious faith of England might now have
been somewhat on a par with that of India to-day—an extraordinary
medley of the wildest legends and deepest philosophy. It is a subject
for wonder how the gods of the ancestors of the English people have
entirely faded from popular recollection in Britain, how Sagas and
Eddas have been completely forgotten, leaving only a substratum of
old superstitions about witchcraft, omens, etc. (once religious
beliefs), amongst the more backward of the populace. How many
Englishmen ever think, how many of them even know, anything
about Thor or Odin and the bloody sacrifices (often human
sacrifices)[3] with which those deities were honoured? How many
realize that the worship of these gods and the rites referred to had a
footing in some parts of Europe as recently as eight hundred years
ago?[4]
The almost complete extinction of the ancestral beliefs of the
European nations is a striking fact to which the religious history of
India presents no parallel. In Europe the great wall of Judaic
Christianity—too often cemented with blood—has been reared, in
colossal dimensions, between the past and the present, cutting off all
communication between the indigenous faiths and modern
speculative philosophy of the Western nations; while diverting the
affectionate interest of the devout from local to foreign shrines.
No barrier of nearly similar proportions has ever been raised in India.
Islam, it is true, has planted its towers in many parts of the country
and has, to some restricted extent, blocked the old highways of
thought, causing a certain estrangement between the old and new
world of ideas; but the severance between the past and the present
has nowhere been as complete as in Europe, for many an Indian
Muslim, though professing monotheism, still lingers upon the
threshold of the old Hindu temples, and still, in times of trouble, will
stealthily invoke the aid of the national deities, who are not yet dead
and buried like those of the Vikings. Hence it may be asserted of the
vast majority of the Indian people that their vision extends
reverentially backward, through an uninterrupted vista, to the gods
and heroes of their remote ancestors.
And who were those remote ancestors, those Aryan invaders of
India in the gray dawn of human history? We have had two answers
to that question. A few years ago the philologists assured us, very
positively, that the Aryans were a vigorous primitive race whose
home was in central Asia and who had sent successive waves of
emigration and conquest westwards, right across the continent of
Europe, to be arrested in their onward march only by the wide waters
of the Atlantic. We were also assured, by these learned investigators
into the mysteries of words and languages, that one horde of Asiatic
Aryans, instead of following the usual westward course adopted by
their brethren, had turned their thoughts towards the sunnier climes
of the South, and, scaling the northwestern barrier of India, had
conquered the aborigines and settled in the great Indo-Gangetic
plain at the foot of the Himalayas. These conclusions find a place in
all our text-books of Indian or European history. The schoolboy, who
has read his Hunter’s brief history[5] of India, knows well that “the
forefathers of the Greek and the Roman, of the English and the
Hindu, dwelt together in Central Asia, spoke the same tongue,
worshipped the same gods,” and that “the history of ancient Europe
is the story of the Aryan settlements around the shores of the
Mediterranean.” However, these conclusions have recently
undergone revision and radical modification. Within the last decade a
theory, which originated in England with Dr. Latham and which met
with contemptuous disregard when first propounded, has been
revived by certain German savants and scientists.[6] Supported by
the latest results of craniological and anthropological investigation,
Latham’s theory, in a modified form, has, under the erudite advocacy
of Dr. Schrader and Karl Penka, gained all but universal acceptance.
The theory now in favour, which is founded more on inferences from
racial than linguistic peculiarities, differs from the one referred to
above in a very important respect. The home of the Aryans, instead
of being found in Central Asia, is traced to Europe, so that the Aryan
invaders of India, many centuries before Christ, were men of
European descent who pushed their way eastward and gradually
extended their dominion first over Iran and subsequently over
Northern India, having scaled the snowclad Himalayas, literally in
search of “fresh fields and pastures new.” When they reached India,
after a long sojourn in Eastern countries, they were a mixed
European and Asiatic race, with probably a large share of Turanian
blood,[7] speaking a language of Aryan origin.[8] A strong, warlike,
aggressive race, these Aryans won for themselves a dominant
position in ancient India, and have left to this day the unmistakable
traces of their language in many of the vernaculars of the land.
The decision of the question of the origin of the Aryans and the
locality of their primitive home is not one of purely antiquarian
interest, it is one of national importance, as anyone will be prepared
to admit who knows, and can recall to mind, the effect upon the
educated Hindus of the announcement that their own ancestors had
been the irresistible subjugators of Europe. Whether the Norman
conquerors of England were of Celtic or, as the late Professor
Freeman insisted, of Teutonic stock, is not unimportant to the
Englishman for the true comprehension of his national history and
not without some influence even in practical politics; but of far
greater moment will it be for the Hindu whether he learn to regard
the Aryans of old as an Asiatic or a European race, cradled on the
“Roof of the World” or in the flats of the Don.
Although all Hindus look upon the Aryan heroes of the Indian epics
as the ancestors of their race, and fondly pride themselves in their
mighty deeds, the claim, in the case of the vast majority, is, of
course, untenable; since the great bulk of the Indian population has
no real title to Aryan descent. Yet Rama and Arjuna are truly Indian
creations, enshrined in the sacred literature of the land. And the
pride and faith of the Hindus in these demigods has, perhaps,
sustained their spirits and elevated their characters, through the
vicissitudes of many a century since the heroic age of India.
What genuine facts, or real events, may underlie the poetical
narratives of the authors of the “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” will
never be known. The details naïvely introduced are often such as to
leave an irresistible impression that there is a substratum of
substantial truth serving as a foundation for the fantastic and airy
structure reared by the poets, and we now and then recognize, for
instance in their despairing fatefulness, a distant echo of ideas which
have travelled with the Aryan race to the Northern Seas. But the too
fertile imagination of the Indian poets, their supreme contempt for
details and utter disregard of topographical accuracy, leave little
hope of our ever getting any satisfactory history out of the Sanskrit
epics, or even of our establishing an identity in regard to localities
and details of construction such as has been traced, in our own day,
by Schliemann, between the buried citadel of Hissarlik on the
Hellespont and vanished Ilion. For those who do not share these
opinions there is a wide and deep field for industrious research; but I
confess that I am somewhat indifferent regarding the extremely
doubtful history or the very fanciful allegory that may be laboriously
extracted from the Indian epics by ingenious historians and
mythologists. Indeed I would protest against these grand epics being
treated as history, for then they must be judged by the canons of
historical composition and would be shorn of their highest merits.
They are poems not history, they are the romantic legends and living
aspirations of a people, not the sober annals of their social and
political life.
Like the other great poems created by the genius of the past, the
Indian epics have a value quite independent of either the history or
the allegory which they enshrine. They appeal to our predilection for
the marvellous and our love of the beautiful, while affording us
striking pictures of the manners of a bygone age, which, for many
reasons, we would not willingly lose.
Being religious books, the “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” are,
more or less, known to the Hindus; but it is a noteworthy fact that
even educated Indians are but little acquainted with the details of
these poems, although both epics have been translated into the
leading vernaculars of the country and also into English. I have
known educated young men, with more faith in their ancient books
than knowledge of their contents, warmly deny the possibility of