FOOTNOTES:

[260] On the early use of letters for public inscriptions, see Hayman, Journal of Philology, 1879, pp. 141, 142, 150; Hicks, "Manual of Greek Historical Inscriptions," pp. 1 seqq.

[261] Herod, (v. 59) says: "I saw Phenician letters on certain tripods in a temple of the Ismenian Apollo at Thebes in Bœotia, the most of them like the Ionian letters."

[262] Munch, "Die Nordisch Germanischen Völker," p. 240.

[263] Herod. (v. 58) says: "The Ionians from of old call βὑβλος διφθἑραι, because once, in default of the former, they used to employ the latter. And even down to my own time, many of the barbarians write on such diphtheræ."

[264] Hekatæos and Kadmos of Miletos (520 b.c.), Charon of Lampsakos (504 b.c.), Xanthos the Lydian (463 b.c.), Pherekydes of Leros (480 b.c.), Hellanikos of Mitylene (450 b.c.), etc.

[265] Lewis, "Astronomy," p. 92.

[266] See Hayman, Journal of Philology, 1879, p. 139.

[267] See M. M., "History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature," pp. 497 seqq., "On the Introduction of Writing in India."

[268] M. M., "History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature," p. 515.

[269] M. M., "Hibbert Lectures," p. 153.

[270] Learning was anciently preserved by memory. The Jewish, or rather Chaldaic Kabala, or Tradition was not written for many centuries. The Druids of ancient Britain preserved their litanies in the same way, and to a Bard a good memory was indispensable, or he would have been refused initiation.—A. W.

[271] See my article on the date of the Kâsikâ in the Indian Antiquary, 1880, p. 305.

[272] The translation of the most important passages in I-tsing's work was made for me by one of my Japanese pupils, K. Kasawara.

[273] See Bunyiu Nanjio's "Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka," p. 372, where Âryasûra, who must have lived before 434 a.d., is mentioned as the author of the "Gâtakamâlâ."

[274] Wellington, 1880.

[275] De Bello Gall. vi. 14; "History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature," p. 506.

[276] See De Coulanges, "The Ancient City," Book I. II. "We find this worship of the dead among the Hellenes, among the Latins, among the Sabines, among the Etruscans; we also find it among the Aryas of India. Mention is made of it in the hymns of the Rig-Veda. It is spoken of in the Laws of Manu as the most ancient worship among men.... Before men had any notion of Indra or of Zeus, they adored the dead; they feared them, and addressed them prayers. It seems that the religious sentiment began in this way. It was perhaps while looking upon the dead that man first conceived the idea of the supernatural, and to have a hope beyond what he saw. Death was the first mystery, and it placed man on the track of other mysteries. It raised his thoughts from the visible to the invisible, from the transitory to the eternal, from the human to the divine."

The sacred fire represented the ancestors, and therefore was revered and kept carefully from profanation by the presence of a stranger.—A. W.

[277] "Principles of Sociology," p. 313.

[278] "The Hindu Law of Inheritance is based upon the Hindu religion, and we must be cautious that in administering Hindu law we do not, by acting upon our notions derived from English law, inadvertently wound or offend the religious feelings of those who may be affected by our decisions."—Bengal Law Reports, 103.

[279]

"Earth-wandering demons, they their charge began,
The ministers of good and guards of man;
Veiled with a mantle of aërial light,
O'er Earth's wide space they wing their hovering flight."

[280] Cicero, "De Leg." II. 9, 22, "Deorum manium jura sancta sunto; nos leto datos divos habento."

[281] See Atharva-Veda XVIII. 2, 49.

[282] Rig-Veda X. 14, 1-2. He is called Vaivasvata, the solar (X. 58, 1), and even the son of Vivasvat (X. 14, 5). In a later phase of religious thought Yama is conceived as the first man (Atharva-Veda XVIII. 3, 13, as compared with Rig-Veda X. 14, 1).

[283] Rig-Veda X. 14.

[284] In the Avesta many of these things are done by Ahura-Mazda with the help of the Fravashis.

[285] See Satapatha Brâhmana I. 9, 3, 10; VI. 5, 4, 8.

[286] Rig-Veda VIII. 48, 3: "We drank Soma, we became immortal, we went to the light, we found the gods;" VIII. 48, 12.

[287] Rig-Veda IX. 97, 39.

[288] L. c. X. 14, 6.

[289] L. c. X. 16, 10.

[290] A translation considerably differing from my own is given by Sarvâdhikâri in his "Tagore Lectures for 1880," p. 34.

[291] Cf. Max Müller, Rig-Veda, transl. vol. i. p. 24.

[292] In a previous note will be found the statement by Professor De Coulanges, of Strasburg, that in India, as in other countries, a belief in the ancestral spirits came first, and a belief in divinities afterward. Professor Müller cites other arguments which might be employed in support of such a theory. The name of the oldest and greatest among the Devas, for instance, is not simply Dyaus, but Dyaush-pitâ, Heaven-Father; and there are several names of the same character, not only in Sanskrit, but in Greek and Latin also. Jupiter and Zeus Pater are forms of the appellation mentioned, and mean the Father in Heaven. It does certainly look as though Dyaus, the sky, had become personal and worshipped only after he had been raised to the category of a Pitri, a father; and that this predicate of Father must have been elaborated first before it could have been used, to comprehend Dyaus, the sky, Varuna, and other Devas. Professor Müller, however, denies that this is the whole truth in the case. The Vedic poets, he remarks, believed in Devas—gods, if we must so call them—literally, the bright ones; Pitris, fathers; and Manushyas, men, mortals. (Atharva-Veda, X. 6, 32.) Who came first and who came after it is difficult to say; but as soon as the three were placed side by side, the Devas certainly stood the highest, then followed the Pitris, and last came the mortals. Ancient thought did not comprehend the three under one concept, but it paved the way to it. The mortals after passing through death became Fathers, and the Fathers became the companions of the Devas.

In Manu there is an advance beyond this point. The world, all that moves and rests, we are told (Manu III., 201), has been made by the Devas; but the Devas and Danavas were born of the Pitris, and the Pitris of the Rishis. Originally the Rishis were the poets of the Vedas, seven in number; and we are not told how they came to be placed above the Devas and Pitris. It does not, however, appear utterly beyond the power to solve. The Vedas were the production of the Rishis, and the Pitris, being perpetuated thus to human memory, became by a figure of speech their offspring. The Devas sprung from the Pitris, because it was usual to apotheosize the dead. "Our ancestors desired," says Cicero, "that the men who had quitted this life should be counted in the number of gods." Again, the conception of patrons or Pitris to each family and tribe naturally led to the idea of a Providence over all; and so the Pitri begat the Deva. This religion preceded and has outlasted the other.—A. W.

[293] Satapatha Brâhmana XI. 5, 6, 1; Taitt. Âr. II. 11, 10; Âsvalâyana Grihya-sûtras III. 1, 1; Pâraskara Grihya-sûtras II. 9, 1; Âpastamba, Dharma-sûtras, translated by Bühler, pp. 47 seq.

[294] In the Sânkhâyana Grihya (I. 5) four Pâka-yagñas are mentioned, called Huta, ahuta, prahuta, prâsita.

[295] Âsv. Grihya-sûtras I. 3, 10.

[296] Manu III. 117-118.

[297] L. c. III. 85.

[298] See Des Coulanges, "Ancient City," I. 3. "Especially were the meals of the family religions acts. The god [the sacred fire] presided there. He had cooked the bread and prepared the food; a prayer, therefore, was due at the beginning and end of the repast. Before eating, they placed upon the altar the first fruits of the food; before drinking, they poured out a libation of wine. This was the god's portion. No one doubted that he was present, that he ate and drank; for did they not see the flame increase as if it had been nourished by the provisions offered? Thus the meal was divided between the man and the god. It was a sacred ceremony, by which they held communion with each other.... The religion of the sacred fire dates from the distant and dim epoch when there were yet no Greeks, no Italians, no Hindus, when there were only Aryas. When the tribes separated they carried this worship with them, some to the banks of the Ganges, others to the shores of the Mediterranean.... Each group chose its own gods, but all preserved as an ancient legacy the first religion which they had known and practiced in the common cradle of their race."

The fire in the house denoted the ancestor, or pitri, and in turn the serpent was revered as a living fire, and so an appropriate symbol of the First Father.—A. W.

[299] "Taittirîyâranyaka," Preface, p. 23.

[300] Mâsi mâsi vo 'sanam iti sruteh; Gobhilîya Grihya sûtras, p. 1055.

[301] See "Pindapitriyagña," von Dr. O. Donner, 1870. The restriction to three ancestors, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, occurs in the Vâgasaneyi-samhitâ, XIX. 36-37.

[302] There is, however, great variety in these matters, according to different sâkhâs. Thus, according to the Gobhila-sâkhâ, the Pinda Pitriyagña is to be considered as smârta, not as srauta (pinda-pitriyagñah khalv asmakkhâkhâyâm nâsti); while others maintain that an agnimat should perform the smârta, a srautâgnimat the srauta Pitriyagña; see Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras, p. 671. On page 667 we read: anagner amâvasyâsraddhâ, nânvâhâryam ity âdaraniyam.

[303] "Über Todtenbestattung und Opfergebräuche im Veda," in "Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft," vol. ix. 1856.

[304] Asvalâyana Grihya-sûtras IV. 4, 10.

[305] Manu V. 64-65.

[306] Bühler, Âpastamba, "Sacred Books of the East," vol. ii., p. 138; also "Srâddhâkalpa," p. 890. Though the Srâddha is prescribed in the "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," IV. 4, 2-3, it is not described there, but in a separate treatise, the Srâddha-kalpa.

[307] As meaning the food, srâddha occurs in srâddhabhug and similar words. As meaning the sacrificial act, it is explained, yatraitak khraddhayâ dîyate tad eva karma srâddhasabdâbhidheyam. Pretam pitrîms ka nirdisya bhogyam yat priyam âtmanah sraddhayâ dîyate yatra tak khrâddham parikîrtitam. "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 892. We also read sraddhânvitah srâddham kurvîta, "let a man perform the srâddha with faith;" "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 1053.

[308] Manu III. 82.

[309] Pitrîn uddisya yad dîyate brâhmanebhyah sraddhayâ tak khrâdd ham.

[310] Âpastamba II. 16, 3, Brâhmanâs tv âhavanîyârthe.

[311] L. c. p. 142.

[312] Manu III. 138, 140.

[313] "Âsv. Grihya-sûtras" IV. 5, 8.

[314] It is described as a vikriti of the Pârvana-srâddha in "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 1011.

[315] One of the differences between the acts before and after the Sapindîkarana is noted by Sâlankâyana:—Sapindîkaranam yâvad rigudarbhaih pitrikriyâ Sapindîkaranâd ûrdhvam dvigunair vidhivad bhavet. "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 930.

[316] "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 1023.

[317] "Grihya-sûtras," ed. Oldenberg, p. 83.

[318] A pratyâbdikam ekoddishtam on the anniversary of the deceased is mentioned by Gobhilîya, l. c. p. 1011.

[319] "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 1039.

[320] "Sânkh. Grihya," p. 83; "Gobh. Grihya," p. 1024. According to some authorities the ekoddishta is called nava, new, during ten days; navamisra, mixed, for six months; and purâna, old, afterward. "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 1020.

[321] "Gobhilîya," l. c. p. 1032.

[322] "Gobhilîya," l. c. p. 1047.

[323] "Life and Essays," ii. p. 195.

[324] Colebrooke adds that in most provinces the periods for these sixteen ceremonies, and for the concluding obsequies entitled Sapindana, are anticipated, and the whole is completed on the second or third day; after which they are again performed at the proper times, but in honor of the whole set of progenitors instead of the deceased singly. It is this which Dr. Donner, in his learned paper on the "Pindapitriyagña" (p. 11), takes as the general rule.

[325] See this subject most exhaustively treated, particularly in its bearings on the law of inheritance, in Rajkumar Sarvâdhikâri's "Tagore Law Lectures for 1880," p. 93.

[326] "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 892.

[327] L. c. p. 897.

[328] See p. 666, and p. 1008. Grihyakârah pindapitriyagñasya srâddhatvam âha.

[329] Gobhila IV. 4, 3, itarad anvâhâryam. But the commentators add anagner amâvasyâsrâddham, nânvâhâryam. According to Gobhila there ought to be the Vaisvadeva offering and the Bali offering at the end of each Pârvana-srâddha; see "Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtras," p. 1005, but no Vaisvadeva at an ekoddishta srâddha, l. c. p. 1020.

[330] L. c. pp. 1005-1010; "Nirnayasindhu," p. 270.

[331] See Burnell, "The Law of Partition," p. 31.

[332] Kalau tâvad gavâlambho mâmsadânam ka srâddhe nishiddham, Gobhilena tu madhyamâshtakâyâm vâstukarmani ka gavâlambho vihitah, mâmsakarus kânvashtakyasrâddhe; Gobhilîya Grihya-sûtra, ed. "Kandrakânta Tarkâlankâra, Vigñapti," p. 8.

[333] It may be seriously doubted whether prayers to the dead or for the dead satisfy any craving of the human heart. With us in "the North," a shrinking from "open manifestations of grief" has nothing whatever to do with the matter. Those who refuse to engage in such worship believe and teach that the dead are not gods and cannot be helped by our prayers. Reason, not feeling, prevents such worship.—Am. Pubs.

[334] A deeper idea than affection inspired this custom. Every kinsman was always such, living or dead; and hence the service of the dead was sacred and essential. The Srâddhas were adopted as the performance of such offices. There were twelve forms of this service: 1. The daily offering to ancestors. 2. The srâddha for a person lately deceased, and not yet included with the pitris. 3. The srâddha offered for a specific object. 4. The offering made on occasions of rejoicing. 5. The srâddha performed when the recently-departed has been incorporated among the Pitris. 6. The srâddha performed on a parvan-day, i.e., new moon, the eighth day, fourteenth day, and full moon. 7. The srâddha performed in a house of assembly for the benefit of learned men. 8. Expiatory. 9. Part of some other ceremony. 10. Offered for the sake of the Devas. 11. Performed before going on a journey. 12. Srâddha for the sake of wealth. The srâddhas may be performed in one's own house, or in some secluded and pure place. The number performed each year by those who can afford it varies considerably; but ninety-six appears to be the more common. The most fervent are the twelve new-moon rites; four Yuga and fourteen Manu rites; twelve corresponding to the passages of the sun into the zodiacal mansions, etc.—A. W.

[335] See "Hibbert Lectures," new ed. pp. 243-255.

[336] The same concept is found in the Platonic Dialogue between Sokrates and Euthyphrôn. The philosopher asks the diviner to tell what is holy and what impiety. "That which is pleasing to the gods is holy, and that which is not pleasing to them is impious" promptly replies the mantis, "To be holy is to be just," said Sokrates; "Is the thing holy because they love it, or do they love it because it is holy?" Euthyphrôn hurried away in alarm. He had acknowledged unwittingly that holiness or justice was supreme above all gods; and this highest concept, this highest faith, he dared not entertain.—A. W.

[337] In Chinese we find that the same three aspects of religion and their intimate relationship were recognized, as, for instance, when Confucius says to the Prince of Sung: "Honor the sky (worship of Devas), reverence the Manes (worship of Pitris); if you do this, sun and moon will keep their appointed time (Rita)." Happel, "Altchinesische Reichsreligion," p. 11.

[338] Rig-Veda I. 164, 46; "Hibbert Lectures," p. 311.

[339] Rig-Veda X. 114, 5; "Hibbert Lectures," p. 313.

[340] Rig-Veda I. 164, 4.

[341] Τὺ δὲ φρόνημα τοῦ πνεὺματος ζωὴ καὶ εὶρἡνη. See also Ruskin, "Sesame," p. 63.

[342] Major Jacob, "Manual of Hindu Pantheism," Preface.

[343] "Life and Letters of Gokulaji Sampattirâma Zâlâ and his views of the Vedânta, by Manassukharâma Sûryarâma Tripâthî." Bombay, 1881.

As a young man Gokulaji, the son of a good family, learned Persian and Sanskrit. His chief interest in life, in the midst of a most successful political career, was the "Vedânta." A little insight, we are told, into this knowledge turned his heart to higher objects, promising him freedom from grief, and blessedness, the highest aim of all. This was the turning-point of his inner life. When the celebrated Vedânti anchorite, Râma Bâvâ, visited Junâgadh, Gokulaji became his pupil. When another anchorite, Paramahansa Sakkidânanda, passed through Junâgadh on a pilgrimage to Girnar, Gokulaji was regularly initiated in the secrets of the Vedânta. He soon became highly proficient in it, and through the whole course of his life, whether in power or in disgrace, his belief in the doctrines of the Vedânta supported him, and made him, in the opinion of English statesmen, the model of what a native statesman ought to be.

[344] Professor Kuenen discovers a similar idea in the words placed in the mouth of Jehovah by the prophet Malachi, i. 14: "For I am a great King, and my name is feared among the heathen." "The reference," he says, "is distinctly to the adoration already offered to Yahweh by the people, whenever they serve their own gods with true reverence and honest zeal.(A1) Even in Deuteronomy the adoration of these other gods by the nations is represented as a dispensation of Yahweh. Malachi goes a step further, and accepts their worship as a tribute which in reality falls to Yahweh—to Him, the Only True. Thus the opposition between Yahweh and the other gods, and afterward between the one true God and the imaginary gods, makes room here for the still higher conception that the adoration of Yahweh is the essence and the truth of all religion." "Hibbert Lectures," p. 181.

A1: There is, we believe, not the slightest authority for reading Malachi in this way; any reader of the Old Testament is competent to judge for himself.—Am. Pubs.

[345] The author's enthusiasm has carried him beyond bounds. The weight to be given to Schopenhauer's opinion touching any religious subject may be measured by the following quotation: "The happiest moment of life is the completest forgetfulness of self in sleep, and the wretchedest is the most wakeful and conscious."—Am. Pubs.

[346] "Sacred Books of the East," vol. i, "The Upanishads," translated by M. M.; Introduction, p. lxi.

INDEX.