the Kânvas into seventeen books (kânda). The first nine books of the former, corresponding to the first eleven of the Kanvas, and consisting of sixty adhyayas, form a kind of running commentary on the first eighteen books of the Vaj.-Samhita; and it has been plausibly suggested by Prof. Weber that this portion of the Brahmana may bo referred to in the Mahâbhâshya on Pân. iv. 2, 60, where a Šatapatha and a Shashti-patha (i.e., "consisting of 60 paths") are mentioned together as objects of study, and that consequently it may at one time have formed an independent work. This view is also supported by the circumstance that of the remaining five books (10-14) of the Madhyandinas the third is called the middle one (madhyama); while the Kânvas apply the same epithet to the middlemost of the five books (12-16) preceding their last one. This last book would thus seem to be treated by them as a second supplement, and not without reason, as it is of the Upanishad order, and bears the special title of Brihad (great) aranyaka.1 Except in books 6-10 (M.), which treat of the construction of fire-altars, and recognize the sage Sândilya as their chief authority, Yajnavalkya's opinion is frequently referred to in the Satapatha as authoritative. This is especially the case in the later books, part of the Brihad-âranyaka being even called Yajnavalkîya-kânda. As regards the age of the Satapatha, the probability is that the main body of the work is considerably older than the time of Pânini, but that some of its latter parts were considered by Pânini's critic Katyayana to be cf about the same age as, or not much older than, Pânini. Even those portions had probably been long in existence before they obtained recoguition as part of the canon of the White Yajus.

The contemptuous manner in which the doctrines of the Charakaadhvaryus are repeatedly animadverted upon in the Satapatha betrays not a little of the odium theologicum on the part of the divines of the Vâjasaneyins towards their brethren of the older schools. Nor was their animosity confined to mere literary warfare, but they seem to have striven by every means to gain ascendency over their rivals. The consolidation of the Brâhmanical hierarchy and the institution of a common system of ritual worship, which called forth the liturgical Vedic collections, were doubtless consummated in the so-called Madhya-desa, or "middle country,' lying between the Sarasvati and the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganga; and more especially in its western part, the Kuru-kshetra, or land of the Kurus, with the adjoining territory of the Panchâlas, between the Yamuna and Gangâ. From thence the original schools of Vaidik ritualism gradually extended their sphere over the adjacent parts. The Charakas seem for a long time to have held sway in the western and north-western regions; while the Taittiriyas n course of time spread over the whole of the peninsula south of he Narmada (Nerbudda), where their ritual has remained preeminently the object of study till comparatively recent times. The Vâjasaneyins, on the other hand, having first gained a footing in the lands on the lower Ganges, chiefly, it would seem, through the patronage of King Janaka of Videha, thence gradually worked their way westwards, and eventually succeeded in superseding the older schools north of the Vindhya, with the exception of some isolated places where even now families of Brâhmaus are met with which profess to follow the old Samhitâs.

In Kalpa-sutras the Black Yajurveda is particularly rich; but, owing to the circumstances just indicated, they are almost entirely confined to the Taittiriya schools. The only Srauta-sutra of a Charaka school which has hitherto been recovered is that of the Mânavas, a subdivision of the Maitrâyanîyas. The Mânava-srautasutra 2 seems to consist of eleven books, the first nine of which treat of the sacrificial ritual, while the tenth contains the Sulva-sûtra; and the eleventh is made up of a number of supplements (pari. sishta). The Manava-grihya-sutra is likewise in existence; but so far nothing is known, save one or two quotations, of a Manavadharma-sutra, the discovery of which ought to solve some important questions regarding the development of Indian law. Of sûtraworks belonging to the Kathas, a single treatise, the Kathakagrihya-satra, is known; while Dr Jolly considers the Vishnu-smriti, a compendium of law, composed in mixed sûtras and slokas, to be nothing but a Vaishnava recast of the Kâthaka-dharma-sútra, which seems no longer to exist. As regards the Taittiriyas, the Kal pa-sûtra most widely accepted among them was that of Apastamba, to whose school, as we have seen, was also due our existing recension of the Taittiriya-samhita. The pastamba-kalpa-sutra consists of thirty prasna (questions); the first twenty-five of these constitute the Srauta-sûtra; 26 and 27 the Grihya-sûtra; 28 and 29 the Dharma-sûtra; and the last the Sulva-sútra. Prof. Bühler has tried to fix the date of this work somewhere between the 5th and 3rd

3

8

centuries B.C.; but it can hardly yet be considered as definitely settled. Considerably more ancient than this work are the Baudhayana-kalpa-sútra, which consists of the same principal divisions, and the Bharadvaja-sutra, of which, however, only a few portions have as yet been discovered. The Hiranyakesi-sutra, which is more modern than that of  pastamba, from which it differs but little, is likewise fragmentary; and several other Kalpa-sutras, especially that of Laugâkshi, are found quoted. The recognized compendium of the White Yajus ritual is the Srauta-sutra of Kâtyâyana," in twenty-six adhyâyas. This work is supplemented by a large number of secondary treatises, likewise attributed to Katyâyana, among which may be mentioned the Charana-vyaha, a statistical account of the Vedic schools, which unfortunately has come down to us in a very unsatisfactory state of preservation. A manual of domestic rites, closely connected with Kâtyâyana's work, is the Kâtiya-grihya-sutra, ascribed to Pâraskara. To Kâtyâyanawe further owe the Vajasaneyi-prátiśåkhya,1o and a catalogue (anukramant) of the White Yajus texts. As regards the former work, it is still doubtful whether (with Weber) we have to consider it as older than Pânini, or whether (with Goldstücker and M. Müller) we are to identify its author with Pânini's critic. The only existing Prâtisâkhya11 of the Black Yajus belongs to the Taittiriyas. Its author is unknown, and it confines itself entirely to the Taittirîyasamhitâ, to the exclusion of the Brâhmana and Aranyaka. D. Atharva-veda.-The Atharvan was the latest of Vedic col- Atharva. lections to be recognized as part of the sacred canon. That it is vedasamhita. also the youngest Veda is proved by its language, which, both from a lexical and a granımatical point of view, marks an intermediate stage between the main body of the Rik and the Brâhmana period. It is not less manifest from the spirit of its contents, which shows that the childlike trust of the early singer in the willingness of the divine agents to comply with the earnest request of their pious worshipper had passed away, and in its place had sprung up a superstitious fear of a host of malevolent powers, whose baleful wrath lad to be deprecated or turned aside by incantations and magic contrivances. How far some lower form of worship, practised by the conquered race, may have helped to bring about this change of religious belief it would be idle to inquire; but it is far from improbable that the hymns of the Rik reflect chiefly the religious notions of the more intelligent and educated minority of the community, and that superstitious practices like those disclosed by the greater part of the Atharvan and a portion of the tenth book of the Rik had long obtained among the people, and became the more prevalent the more the spiritual leaders of the people gave themselves up to theosophic and metaphysical speculations. Hence also verses of the Atharvaveda are not unfrequently used in domestic (grihya) rites, but very seldom in the Srauta ceremonial. But, even if these or such like spells and incantations had long been in popular use, there can be no doubt that by the time they were collected they must have adapted themselves to the modifications which the vernacular language itself had undergone in the mouths of the people.

This body of spells and hymns is traditionally connected with two old mythic priestly families, the Angiras and Atharvans, their names, in the plural, serving either singly or combined (Atharvângirasas) as the oldest appellation of the collection. Instead of the Atharvans, another mythic family, the Bhrigus, are similarly connected with the Angiras (Bhrigvangirasas) as the depositaries of this mystic science. The current text of the Atharva-samhita 12-apparently the recension of the Saunaka school -consists of some 750 different pieces, about five-sixths of which is in various metres, the remaining portion being in prose. The whole mass is divided into twenty books. The principle of distribution is for the most part a merely formal one, in books i.-xiii. pieces of the same or about the same number of verses being placed together in the same book. The next five books, xiv.xviii., have each its own special subject:-xiv. treats of marriage and sexual union; xv., in prose, of the Vrâtya, or religious vagrant; xvi. consists of prose formulas of conjuration; xvii. of a lengthy mystic hymn; and xviii. contains all that relates to death and funeral rites. Of the last two books no account is taken in the Atharva-prâtisâkhya, and they indeed stand clearly in the relation of supplements to the original collection. The eighteenth book evidently was the result of a subsequent gleaning of pieces similar • The Sulva-sûtra has been published, with the commentary of Kapardisvamin, and a translation by G. Thibaut, in the Benares Pandit, 1875. The Dhurma-sûtra has been translated by G. Bühler, Sacred Books, xiv. 7 Edited by A. Weber. 8 Weber, Ind. Stud., iii.

Text and German translation by A. Stenzler.

10 Edited, with Uvata's commentary, and a German translation, by A. W、ber, Ind. Stud., iv.

11 The work has been published by W. D. Whitney, with a translation and a commentary by an unknown author, called Triblashyaratna, f.e., "jewel of the three commentaries," it being founded on three older commentaries by Vararuchi, (Katyayana), Mahisheya, and Atreya.

12 Edited by Profs. Roth and Whitney, 1856. The second vol., which was to contain the Varia Lectiones, remains still unpublished. Prof. Whitney, however, has lately brought out an Index Verborum to the work. The first three books have been translated into German by Prof. Weber, Ind. Stud., vols. Iv xill., xvii.

Atharvavedabrâh

mana.

Atharvavedasutras.

Upani.

shads,

to those of the earlier books, which had probably escaped the collectors' attention; while the last book, consisting almost entirely of hymns to Indra, taken from the Rik-samhita, is nothing more than a liturgical manual of the recitations and chants required at the Soma sacrifice.

1

The Atharvan has come down to us in a much less satisfactory state of preservation than any of the other Samhitas, and its interpretation, which offers considerable difficulties on account of numerous popular and out-of-the-way expressions, has so far received comparatively little aid from native sources. A commentary by the famous Vedic exegete Sâyana, which has lately come to light in India, may, however, be expected to throw light on some obscure passages. Even more important is the discovery, some years ago, through the exertions of Sir William Muir, of an entirely. different recension of the Atharva-samhita, preserved in Kashmir. This new recension, supposed to be that of the Paippalâda school, consists likewise of twenty books (kânda), but both in textual matter and in its arrangement it differs very much from the current text. A considerable portion of the latter, including unfortunately the whole of the eighteenth book, is wanting; while the hymns of the nineteenth book are for the most part found also in this text, though not as a separate book, but scattered over the whole collection. Possibly, therefore, this recension may have formed one of the sources whence the nineteenth book was compiled. The twentieth book is wanting, with the exception of a few of the verses not taken from the Rik. As a set-off to these shortcomings the new version offers, however, a good deal of fresh matter, amounting to about one-sixth of the whole. From the Mahabhashya and other works quoting as the beginning of the Atharva-samhita verse that coincides with the first verse of the sixth hymn of the current text, it has long been known that at least one other recension must have oxisted; but owing to the defective state of the Kashmir MS. it cannot be determined whether the new recension (as seems likely) The only Brahmana of the Atharvan, the Gopatha-brahmana, is probably one of the most modern works of its class. It consists of two parts, the first of which contains cosmogonic speculations, interspersed with legends, apparently taken from other Brâh manas, and general instructions on religious duties and observances; while the second part treats, in a very desultory manner of various points of the sacrificial ceremonial.

corresponds to the one referred to in those works.

5

The Kalpa-sfitras belonging to this Veda comprise both a manual of srauta rites, the Vaitdna-saira, and a manual of domestic rites, the Kausika-sutra. The latter treatise is not only the more interesting of the two, but also the more ancient, being actually quoted in the other. The teacher Kausika is repeatedly referred to in the work on points of ceremonial doctrine. Connected with this Sutra are upwards of seventy Parisishtas, or supplementary treatises, mostly in metrical form, on various subjects bearing on the performance of grihya rites. The last, sûtra-work to be noticed in connexion with this Veda is the Saunakiya Chaturddhyayika, being a Prâtisâkhya of the Atharva-samhita, so called from its consisting of four lectures (adhyaya). Although Saunaka can hardly be credited with being the actual author of the work, considering that his opinion is rejected in the only rule where his name appears, there is no reason to doubt that it chiefly embodies the phonetic theories of that teacher, which were afterwards perfected by members of his school. Whether this Saunaka is identical with the writer of that name to whom the final redaction of the Śâkalapratisâkhya of the Rik is ascribed is not known; but it is worthy of note that on at least two points where Sakalya is quoted by Pânini, the Chaturâdhyayikâ seems to be referred to rather than the Rik-prâtisâkhya. Saunaka is quoted once in the Vajasaneyipratisâkhya; and it is possible that Katyayana had the Chatur adhyâyika in view, though his reference does not quite tally with the respective rule of that work.

Another class of writings already alluded to as traditionally connected with the Atharvaveda are the numerous Upanishads which do not specially attach themselves to one or other of the Samhitas or Brahmanas of the other Vedas. The Atharvanaupanishads, mostly composed in slokas, may be roughly divided into two classes, viz., those of a purely speculative or general pantheistic character, treating chiefly of the nature of the supreme spirit, and the means of attaining to union therewith, and those of a sectarian tendency. Of the former category, a limited number --such as the Praśna, Mundaka, and Mandukya-upanishads-have

1 It is in the hands of Prof. R. v. Roth, who has given an account of it in his academic dissertation, "Der Atharvaveda in Kaschmir," 1875. Edited, in the Bibl. Ind., by Rajendralâla Mitra. Text and a German translation published by R. Garbe. This difficult treatise is about to be published by Prof. Bloomfield, Two sections of it have been printed and translated by A. Wober "Omina et Portenta," 1859.

Edited and translated by W. D. Whitney.

For a full list of existing translations of and essays on the Upanishads, see Introd. to Max Müller's Upanishads, Sacred Books, i.

probably to be assigned to the later period of Vedic literature; whilst the others presuppose more or less distinctly the existence of some fully developed system of philosophy, especially the Vedanta or the Yoga. The sectarian Upanishads, on the other of Vishnu (such as, the Nârâyana, Nrisimha-tâpaniya, Râmnahand-identifying the supreme spirit either with one of the forms tâpaniya, Gopala-tâpaniya), or with Siva (e.g. tue Rudrovanishad). or with some other deity-belong to post-Vedic times.

II. THE CLASSICAL PERIOD.

The classical literature of India is almost entirely a product of artificial growth, in the sense that its vehicle was not the language of the general body of the people, but of a small and educated class. It would scarcely be possible, even approximately, to fix the time when the literary idiom ceased to be understood by the common people. We only know that in the 3d century B.C. there existed several dialects in different parts of northern India which differed considerably from the Sanskrit; and Buddhist tradition, moreover, tells us that Gautama Sakyamuni himself, in the 6th century B.C., made use of the local dialect of Magadha (Behar) for preaching his new doctrine. Not unlikely, indeed, popular dialects, differing perhaps but slightly from one another, may have existed as early as the time of the Vedic hymns, when the Indo-Aryans, divided into clans and tribes, occupied the Land of the Seven Rivers; but such dialects must, at any rate, have sprung up after the extension of the Aryan sway and language over the whole breadth of northern India. Such, however, has been the case in the history of all nations; and there is no reason why, even with the existence of local dialects, the literary language should not have kept in touch with the people in India, as elsewhere, but for the fact that from a certain time that language remained altogether stationary, allowing the vernacular dialects more and more to diverge from it. Although linguistic research had been successfully carried on in India for centuries, the actual grammatical fixation of Sanskrit seems to have taken place about contemporaneously with the first spread of Buddhism; and indeed that popular religious movement undoubtedly exercised a powerful influence on the linguistic development of India.

A. Poetical Literature.

>

1. Epic Poems.-The Hindus, like the Greeks, possess two The great national epics, the Râmâyana and the Mahabharata, nation The Ramayana, ie., poem "relating to Rama," is ascribed "pics/ to the poet Valmiki; and, allowance being made for later additions here and there, the poem indeed presents the appearance of being the work of an individual genius. In its present form it consists of some 24,000. slokas, or 48,000 lines of sixteen syllables, divided into seven books.

(I.) King Dasaratha of Kosala, reigning at Ayodhya (Oudh), has four sons born him by three wives, viz., Rama, Bharata, and the twins Lakshmana and Satrughna. Rama, by being able to bend an enormous bow, formerly the dreaded weapon of the god Rudra, wins for a wife Sitâ, daughter of Janaka, king of Videha (Tirhut). (II.) On his return to Ayodhya he is to be appointed heir-apparent (yuva-raja, i.e., juvenis rex); but Bharata's mother persuades the king to banish his eldest son for fourteen years to the wilderness, and appoint her son instead. Separation from his favourite son soon breaks the king's heart; whereupon the ministers call on Bharata to assume the reins of government. He refuses, however, and, betaking himself to Rama's retreat on the Chitrakata. mountain (in Bundelkhund), implores him to return; but, unable to shake Rama's resolve to complete his term of exile, he consents to take charge of the kingdom in the meantime. (III.) After a ten years' residence in the forest, Râma attracts the attention of a female demon (Rakshasf); and, infuriated by the rejection, of her advances, and by tho wounds inflicted on her by Lakshmana, who keeps Rama company, she inspiros her brother Ravana, demonking of Ceylon, with love for Sita, in consequence of which the latter is carried off by him to his capital Lanka. While she resolutely rejects the Rakshasa's addresses, Rama sets out with his brothor to her rescue. (IV.) After numerous adventures they

mind of Europe, namely, by their loving appreciation of natural beauty, their exquisite delineation of womanly love and devotion, and their tender sentiment of mercy and forgiveness.

2. Puranas and Tantras.-The Puranas are partly legendary partly speculative histories of the universe, compiled for the purpose of promoting some special, locally prevalent form of Brahmanical belief. They are sometimes styled a fifth Veda, and may indeed in a certain sense be looked upon as the scriptures of Brâhmanical India. The term purana, signifying "old," applied originally to prehistoric, especially cosmogonic, legends, and then to collections of ancient traditions generally. The existing works of this class, though recognizing the Brahmanical doctrine of the Trimurti, or triple manifestation of the deity (in its creative, preservative, and destructive activity), are all of a sectarian tendency, being intended to establish, on quasi-historic grounds, the claims of some special god, or holy place, on the devotion of the people. For this purpose the compilers have pressed into their service a mass of extraneous didactic matter on all manner of subjects, whereby these works have become a kind of popular encyclopædias of useful knowledge. It is evident, however, from a comparatively early definition given of the typical Purâņa, as well as from numerous coincidences of the existing works, that they are based on, or enlarged from, older works of this kind, more limited in their scope, and probably of a more decidedly tritheistic tendency of belief. Thus none of the Purâņas, as now extant, is probably much above a thousand years old, though a considerable proportion of their materials is doubtless much older, and may perhaps in part go back to several centuries before our era.

In legendary matter the Purânas have a good deal in common with the epics, especially the Mahabharata,—the compilers or revisers of both classes of works having evidently drawn their materials from the same fluctuating mass of popular traditions. They are almost entirely composed in epic couplets, and indeed in much the same easy flowing style as the epic poems, to which they are, however, geatly inferior in poetic value.

According to the traditional classification of these works, there are said to be eighteen (mahd-, or great) Purâņas, and as many Upa-puranas, or subordinate Purânas. The former are by some authorities divided into three groups of six, according as one or other of the three primary qualities of external existence-goodness, darkness (ignorance), and passion-is supposed to prevail in them viz., the Vishnu, Náradiya, Bhagavala, Garuda, Padma, Vardhar Matsya, Karma, Linga, Siva, Skanda, Agni,-Brahmânḍa, Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavishya, Vamana, and Brahma-Puranas. In accordance with the nature of the several forms of the Trimurti, the first two groups chiefly devote themselves to the commenda tion of Vishnu and Siva respectively, whilst the third group, which would properly belong to Brahman, has been largely appropriated for the promotion of the claims of other deities, viz., Vishnu in his sensuous form of Krishna, Devi, Gaṇeśa, and Surya. As Prof. Banerjea has shown in his preface to the Markandeya, this seems to have been chiefly effected by later additions and interpolations. The insufficiency of the above classification, however, appears from the fact that it omits the Vayu-purana, probably one of the oldest of all, though some MSS. substitute it for one or other name of the second group. The eighteen principal Puranas are said to consist of together 400,000 couplets. In Northern India the Vaishnava Puranas, especially the Bhagavata and Vishnu, are by far the most popular. The Bhagavata was formerly supposed to have been composed by Vopadeva, the grammarian, who lived in the 13th century. It has, however, been shown that what he wrote was a synopsis of the Purâna,

Of

There are several Indian editions of these two works. The Bhagavata has been partly printed, in an édition de luxe, at Paris, in 3 vols., by E. Burnouf, and a fourth by M. Hauvette-Besuault. the Vishnup. there is a translation by H. H. Wilson, 2d ed. enriched with valuable notes by F. Hall. Several other Purânas have been printed in India; the Mârkandeya and Agni Puranas, in the Bibl. Ind., by Prof. Banerjea and Rajendralâla Mitra respectively. 2 Rajendralâla Mitra, Notices of Sansk. MSS., ii. 47.

and that the latter is already quoted in a work by Ballâla Sena of Bengal, in the 11th century.

From the little we know regarding the Upa-purânas, their character does not seem to differ very much from that of the principal Purânas. One of them, the Brahmanda-purana, contains, as an episode, the well-known Adhyatma-Ramayana, a kind of spiritualized version of Valmiki's poem. Besides these two classes of chronicles recounting the history and merits of some holy "place" works there is a large nuinber of so-called Sthala-puranas, or or shrine, where their recitation usually forms an important part of the daily service. Of much the same nature are the numerous Mahatmyas (literally "relating to the great spirit"), which usually profess to be sections of one or other Purana. Thus the Devmáhatmya, which celebrates the victories of the great goddess Durga over the Asuras, and is daily read at the temples of that deity, forms a section, though doubtless an interpolated one, of the Markandeya-purâṇa.

The Tantras, which have to be considered as a later Tantras. development of the sectarian Purâņas, are the sacred writings of the numerous Saktas, or worshippers of the female energy (sakti) of some god, especially the wife of Siva, in one of her many forms (Pârvati, Devi, Kâlî, Bhavânî, Durga, &c.). This worship of a female repre sentation of the divine power appears already in some of the Purânas; but in the Tantras it assumes quite a peculiar character, being largely intermixed with magic performances and mystic rites, partly, it would seem, of a grossly immoral nature. This class of writings does not appear to have been in existence at the time of Amarasimha (6th century); but they are mentioned in some of the Purâņas. They are usually in the form of a dialogue between Siva and his wife. Their number is very large; but they still await a critical examination at the hands of western scholars.

Among the best known may be mentioned the Rudra yamala, Kulârnava, Syâmâ-rahasya, and Kalika-tantra. 3. Modern Epics.-A new class of epic poems begin to Modern make their appearance about the 5th or 6th century of epics. our era, during a period of renewed literary activity which has been fitly called the Renaissance of Indian literature. These works differ widely in character from those that had preceded them. The great national epics, composed though they were in a language different from the ordinary vernaculars, had at least been drawn from the living stream of popular traditions, and were doubtless readily understood and enjoyed by the majority of the people. The later productions, on the other hand, are of a decidedly artificial character, and must necessarily have been beyond the reach of any but the highly cultivated. They are, on the whole, singularly deficient in incident and invention, their subject matter being almost entirely derived from the old epics. Nevertheless, these works are by no means devoid of merit and interest; and a number of them display considerable descriptive power and a wealth of genuine poetic sentiment, though unfortunately often clothed in language that deprives it of half its value. The simple heroic couplet has mostly been discarded for various more or less elaborate metres; and in accordance' with this change of form the diction becomes gradually more complicated, a growing taste for unwieldy compounds, a jingling kind of alliteration, or rather agnomination, and an abuse of similes marking the increasing artificiality of these productions.

The generic appellation of such works is kavya, which, meaning poem," or the work of an individual poet (kavi), is already applied to the Ramayana. Six poems of this kind are singled out by native rhetoricians as standard works, under the title of Mahdkávya, or great poems. Two of these are ascribed to the famous dramatist Kâlidâsa, the most prominent figure of the Indian Renaissance, and truly a master of the poetic art. He is said to have been one of the nine literary "gems" at the court of Vikramâditya, now generally identified with King Vikramaditya Harsha of Ujjayinî (Ujjain or Oujein), who reigned about the middle of the 6th century, and seems to have originated the Vikramaditya era, reckoned from 56 B.C. Of the poets whose works have come down M. Müller, India: What can it teach us note G