[52] “Nouvelle Géographie Universelle,” par Elisée Reclus, tome viii., p. 873, et seq. Keane’s “Asia,” pp. 678-680.
[53] It is, I think, impossible, after reading the tedious genealogies of the kings in the “Mahabharata,” to avoid the conclusion that there is a substratum of history beneath it all, notwithstanding the clouds of mythological dust which obscure the view.
[54] The “Mahabharata” of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated into English prose, by Pratap Chundur Roy (Calcutta, Bharata Press). If not otherwise stated, all prose quotations from the “Mahabharata” included in the following pages are derived from this work.
[55] “Every race has in its history one grand achievement on which it hangs all its past and all its future: and the memory of which is a rallying cry and a pledge of prosperity. The Exodus, the Jews would say; the overthrow of the Medes, would the Persians; the Median wars, the Greeks in their turn say. These will be recalled on all occasions to furnish arguments, political claims, rhetorical effects, patriotic encouragement in great crises, and in the end imperishable regrets.”—Essai sur l’histoire universelle, par M. Prévost-Paradol, tome premier, p. 166.
[56] “Adi Parva,” of the “Mahabharata,” section xcvi. A somewhat different story is told in section xcix.
[57] The battle, as described by the poet, is of little interest; but Bhisma’s challenge to the assembled kings is worthy of reproduction, as throwing light upon the marriage customs of the olden time in India. “In a voice like the roar of the clouds he exclaimed: ‘The wise have directed that after inviting an accomplished person a maiden may be bestowed on him, decked in ornaments and along with many valuable presents. Others again may bestow their daughters by accepting of a couple of kine, some again bestow their daughters by taking a fixed sum, and some take away maidens by force. Some wed with the consent of the maidens, some by drugging them into consent, and some by going unto the maidens’ parents and obtaining their sanction. Some again obtain wives as presents for assisting at sacrifices. Of these the learned always applaud the eighth form of marriage. Kings, however, speak highly of the swayamvara (the fifth form as above) and themselves wed according to it. But the sages have said that that wife is dearly to be prized who is taken away by force, after slaughter of opponents, from amid the concourse of princes and kings invited to a swayamvara. Therefore, ye monarchs, I bear away these maidens from hence by force. Strive ye to the best of your might to vanquish me or be vanquished.’”—P. C. Roy’s translation of the “Adi Parva” of the “Mahabharata,” p. 307.
[58] The custom referred to in this paragraph and known as niyoga, is considered briefly in the concluding chapter.
[59] P. C. Roy’s “Adi Parva,” p. 325. This story throws considerable light on the ideas of the Hindus with respect to their gods.
[60] Vyasa, as we have seen, was no blood relation of the house of Bharata. Similarly, the widows of King Vichitra-virya and the Sudra slave-girl were not connected to the family by ties of consanguinity; and yet the children of Vyasa by these women are, from the Hindu point of view, lineal descendants of King Shantanu.
[61] This parentage is rather bewildering after what we have learned already about Vidura being no other than Dharma in human form.