Authors and their public in ancient times

by George Haven Putnam

Of rewards or compensations given to the earlier Japanese authors there is no record. The national treasury does not appear to have been utilized as in China and Assyria. It is possible that the dramatists may have secured some share of the stage receipts, but it is probable that the other authors must have contented themselves with such prestige or honors as came to them from the readers of, or the listeners to, their compositions.

India.

—In India, the typical early literature is the myth. There is no national epic in the Greek use of the term, in which are described the doings of heroic men. The literary productions are the work of poets whose imagination has been impressed with the immensity and with the mystery of the universe, and whose poetic fancies take the form of visions. These fancies or visions are concerned with the doings of the gods, while man plays but a small part in the narrative.

Sanscrit literature is said to date back to the fifteenth century B.C. The written characters have an origin common with that of the Greek letters. The oldest existing monuments of Indian script are the edicts of the King Açoka, cut into the stone at Girnar and elsewhere “so that they might endure for ever”. They date back to the third century B.C.

The first literary period of India presents the poetry of the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of the Sanscrit peoples. The hymns and invocations comprising the Vedas are supposed to have been collected about 1000 B.C. This is the date that has by many authorities been accepted for the collecting of the Homeric poems, and corresponds nearly with the time fixed for the writing of the Chinese Book of the Metamorphoses. It also tallies with the period to which is ascribed the production of the Persian Zend-Avesta.

The term Veda means knowledge, or sacred knowledge. The collection of the Vedas comprises four divisions. The Rig-Veda, or Veda of Praises or Hymns; the Sama-Veda, or Veda of Chants or Tunes; the Yajur-Veda, or Veda of Prayers; and the Atharva-Veda, or Brahma-Veda.

The second literary period, beginning about the fifth century B.C., is that of the Folk-Songs, in which the myth becomes legend, and the gods, approaching a little closer to the earth, assume more nearly the character of heroes. The third period is that of the classic poets, whose productions in lyric and dramatic poetry are ranked with the great works of literature of the world. This period appears to have reached its height of productiveness between the sixth and tenth centuries of our era.

The earliest prose works are the theological writings of the Brahmanic priests, which take the form of commentaries on the Vedas, and which elucidate the sacred texts, principally from a sacrificial point of view. The production of these theological commentaries is supposed to date back to the seventh or sixth century B.C.

Buddha, or Gautama, philosopher, poet, reformer, and redeemer of his people, began his work towards the close of the sixth century B.C. His teachings gave rise to an enormous production of theological literature in India, Ceylon, China, and Japan.

The information concerning the materials used by the earlier writers of India, and as to the methods by which their books were placed before the public, is very meagre. According to Louisy, the use of diphtherai, or dressed skins, prevailed to some extent. Prepared palm-leaves were also utilized, particularly by the Buddhist writers of Ceylon. There appears to have been no general or popular circulation of the manuscripts. These were costly, and were beyond the means of any but the very wealthy, while it was also the case that the knowledge of reading was confined to but limited circles.