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MAGADHAN LITERATURE
BEING

COaRSE OF SIX LECTURES

DELIVERED AT PATNA UNIVERSITY

IN

DECEMBER

1920

AND APRIL

102i

BY

Mauamauupauiiyay

HARAPRASAD

SASTRI, M.A,C.I,E.,

Professor of Sanskrit, Dacca University.

CALCUTTA

PRINTED AT THE HARE PRESS AND PUBLISHED

^Y THE PATNA UNIVERSITY, PATNA.

1923

t^f'SlTV

t\

^^'-'

Printbd bt TJpendra Nath Bhattachartta,

HARE PRESS
46,

Bechu Chatterjeb Strkbt, Calcutta.

^
s 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Paqe:.

Lecture

The

I.

Original Inhabitants of Magadha.

...

Lecture IL
Fatal iputra The Intellectual Capital of India.

Lecture

23

III.

Historical

Lessons

from
...

Kautilya.

Lecture

the

ArthaSastra

of

...

...

49

...

...

73

...

...

97

...

...

117

IV.

Vatsyayana Kamasutra.

Lecture V.
Vatsyayana Bhaya.

...

Lecture VI.
Banabhatta and Aryabhatta.

MAGADHAN LITERATURE.
Lecture

I.

Original Inhabitants of Magadha.

The

vast

to

territory

the

South of

and

the rranges

North of the Vindhya rauges extending from Mndgagiri

in the Kast to the Charanadri (Chunar)in
( Monghyr )

West

the

is

The

Magadha.

calk'tl

Karniana.sa an<l (Jhiinar, however,

is

tract lying

often joined

between
to

Kri^i

on the opposite side of the river.

The word i\ikata occurs once only in tlie HL;-\'('da.
III. 5.') It. and as the word Kikata in later literature meant
MagaiUia or a part of

Ironi

it

L'huuar

Kosa, Iroui Sakti Saugama-Tantra).

think that the wortl Kikata in

The

references

lowing

to

Kikata

in

to

Many

Kajgir

\'isva

are disposed to

Rg-\'eda means Magadha.

later literature are the fol-

'

1^

5TT^T fir^^rT:

gft^^ ^f^^rT

^fagadha, but the scene of the

hymn in the Rg-Veda in which the word occurs, is laid
It is a far cry
in the vicinity of the Indus ( Sindhu ).

These certainly refer

from Indus

to

Magadha. In the w^hole of the Kg-Veda, the

easternmost points mentioned are, Ganga and Yamuna

to

Satyavrata Vol.

III. p. 27.S

Rhagavat

I.

3. 24.

(.Inniua),

most

prol)al)ly their

The word
name
by iSayaua
proper

moimtaias.

and a second

southern courses from

Xi'katu

is

explained

who have no
The only thing which the

Kg- Veda mentions about the Ivikatas

is

their kine, which,

no use in Soma

the hymnist regretfully mentions, are of

licial

Yet he

cov^ets
It is

purposes.

in India are to

the
as a

time as Ndstikas (Atheists),

faith in religious ceremonies.

sacrifice.

once

them

to

use their milk for sacri-

a well-known fact that the best kine

be found within a few scores of miles from

Indus in the districts of Hissar, Sirsa, Bhawalpore

and Bikauer and it is most probable that these places are
the

and not Magadha. The theory

was
the founder of the kingdom of
Pramaganda
Magadha and that the word Magadha is another form

mentioned as

Ki'kata

that

of

"

is to

"

Maganda

in

Pramaganda occuring

say the least of

The country

is

it,

in the

same

rk,

ridiculous.

called

Aranyaka^ and that the

Magadha

in

the

Kausitaki

Kausitakfs had a close

connec-

country will be explained later. The

Atharva-Veda has Magadhas, the plural denoting a tribe.'*
This tribe was not very friendly to the Vedic Aryans as

tion

with

this

the Atharva-Veda

driven

thinks that

^[alarial

Fever should be

Magadhas as beyond the pale of Vedic

civilization.
One Sakha of the Veda joins the Angas with
the Magadhas and the other Sakha joins the Kawis with
them.

away

It is

to

from this

tribe, that in the

Kausitaki Aranyaka

we

Some think
get the name of the country, as Magadha.
that Bagadha mentioned
Bafiga and Chera in the

w^

Aitareya Aranyaka"
>

VII. 13.

is

only* another
a V.
22. 14.

form of Magadha.
"

TI.

1.

1.

-y

iJiit

this

does

seem

not

to

be

tenable.

between

P^or,

Baiiga and Chera or the Dravidian people

in Chutia-

now Burdwan Division has

Nagpiir, the whole country
in it a powerful ethnical race still called Bagdis, which
another form of

They form altogether an

etlinos. with peculiar i'eaturos and peculiar colour.
They
are tall, stout, robust and war-like.
had
a
They
govern meat of their own and T have reason to think that they had
is

lauguage of

tlieir

Bagadha.

own,

too.

So,

from the tribe Magadhas,

country received the name Magadha. The word

Ma^.idha means an inhabitant of Magadha, not necessarily

the

Ijelonging to tli(3 tribe of Magadhas.

neither l>ralimana9 nor Sudras (\ aja.
are

thev

Saiii.

'.\().'2'2),

be sacrificed in the I'urusamodha to the

to

are
antl
<:rod

The liumour of tli(^ thing lies

Noise.")'
(''
fact that the Magadhas made loud noise in their
The word Magadha later meant minstrels, who

Atikrusti
in

The Magadlias

the

souus.

l.iiid

lived by singing loudly the praise of kings

and the Bhats

of Uajputaaa and other

provinces who claimed their
descent from the Magadhas make a huge noise when they

sing the

praises

the

of

donors of

The

gifts.

noise

is

often intolerable.

Tn

the

Magadha

is

are

and

this
still

of

llio

.\tliarva-V(>da'

the

said to be a friend and adviser, a crony

and a
and stanaijitnu)
the character which the Bhatas and Charanas

thunder of the

and

chaptcn'

\'ratya

is

Vratya(/>i/7?'(i, maiVv't,

maintaining in Kajputana,

/ia.sa

When

the

Vratyas

^lagadhas are so intimately connected and when

away all their property to

JfagaJha'le^iii'i Brahmahnndhu in some of the Sutras, it
becomes necessary to sfe who tlie Vratvas were. The
Vratyas are enjoined

V,ij Saiji

XXX.

:.

to

-ii.

give

XV.

those who do
often explained as Savltri-patitd'i^
Those who explain the word in this
not utter Gayatri.

word

is

way seem to have in the back of their mind, the notion

But it cannot be
that the word is derived from vrata.
rule by which a
no
derived from the word vrata. There is
bv a Taddhita suthx. So, L think,
should be derived from the word VrfUay a horde.

necrative can be asserted

it

The word Vrata

eight times used in the Kg^'eda,

thrice in the family nian4alas the oldest portions oi the
Hg-Veda, thrice in the tenth mandala, the most recent,
is

once in the

first

and once in the ninth, in the sense of a horde,

sometimes figuratively, as in the case of dice, but often in

the sense of a collection of men in an indefiuite number.

The word

is

thrice contrasted," so to say, with Ga/ja connot-

ing a definite number and once with Sardha, an assembl}'.

In the sixth mandala'', the word is undoubtedly used in
sense

the

armoury
saha,

an

of

capable of

mandala

In the third' attributed

to

attributed

the

to

Atreya,

horse

mandala,* the

men,

women,

ninth' speaks

and
of live

it is

The
opposed to men.
in
the
two passages

as

In

hordes.

use of vrata

*
'

.M.imi II.
111.

.",;)

-'0. G.

IX. 14,

2.

other con-

The

oldest

Other

the sense of an inimical horde.

In the Atharva-

are not opposed to this sense.

passages

is in

In the hrst

be followed by chariots,

to

vrdias

also.

hguratively used for dice and the

tains a sentence
"we will join the vratas."'
tenth^

sixth

word undoubtedly means a

said

is

and the

may mean an enemy horde

but

describing the
should be vrdla-

the family of Rsi Bharadvaja.

Visvamitra and in the fifth'

to

is

it

horde

the

resisting

attributed

horde,

In

horde.

inimical

in the chariot, the poet says,

am] X. 20.

111.

\.

X.

_>('..
;

5;{.
;;4.

V. 53.

'

.U. 12.

VI.

M.

II.

34.

IJ

'
.

7.'..

H.

1G3, 8.

X. 67.

o.

word is used iu the same sense. In the

Vajasaneya and Taittiriya Samhitas, in the chapter on
Uudra, Viatapati is used along with crCUar European
scholars think that V'ratapati
there means the head
of a robber band.
This also means an inimical horde.
JSo the wortl means a horde and an inimical horde.
They
had their temporary setilements, lor iu the Pauchaviiiisa
Veda'

too, the

Biahmana, they are said to sojourn iu vdUja {crdiijani

pravasanlah,' where pra-vas means a sojourn) and they
had their patriarchs (<.li'hapati), aud one of their (Irliapatis

when

became the

puriiied

Uut

^tg-\'eda.

culture

uo

(Braliiuacharya),

agriculture

stamps them as nouiad hordes.

All

this

the

vrCita,

stolen to the
friends,

who

those

I'vata

iiitiuiates,

\'rar,yas.'

join

ai'e

all

crouies

of the

They had no iJrahmanic

this later ou.

ol

Sakha,

louuder of a

aud

no trade.

Those who form

vrdta aud those

the

So they must be living

who

are

The Magadhas are

crahjas.

and

the

of

loud

praisers

in the

same country

belong

or

in close proximity.

To what stock did

is

the

Vratyas

The answer

given in the Panchaviihs.i Hrahmana." They were Daiva

praja, worshippers

and favourites

of

gods

as were worshipped by the \'edic Aryans.

the same gods

What was

the

The gods of the Vratyas went to Heaven

aud Vratyas became dispirited.
They livtd in thentemporary sojourn. They came to the place whence the
But they did not know the chant
gods went to heaven.
dilference then ?

aud the metre by which they could be united with their

Maruts gave them the chant aud the metre and so
gods.
they rejoiued their gods. This shows lliat they worshipped

II.

It,

2.

XVll. 1,2.

Vaj XVI.
Av. XV,

->0.

Tait

IV.

.3.

4.

1.

'^

'

XVII.

XVU.

1.

1.

o.

12.

<'

same gods

the

they were
terms.

Aryans did and on

as the Vedic

admitted

in

the

V^edic

piirlllcation

on

society

ecjiial

But the peculiar ceremony of the purification of the

Vra^yas is performed by a large number of the Vraiyas' as
yajmanas. The man among them who supplied the yupa
and aiijaaa and uttere
been

the

or

their Orhapiti

Rtaijdjijd

patriarch.-

was said

to

have

Before

puriiication
the \^ratyas w^re siuCid', iaismuch as they forcibly ate
the fool prepared in lixeil Aryan settlements for the

They found

use of sacrilicers.

they punished with death

talked like

uninitiated they
four

the

sins

their

to

fault

with refined speech,

and though
These were

innocent people,
tlie

initiated.

and

credit

all

these

could

be

dispBlled only by four times repeating the sixteen stomas.

One

Saman'

sa nans in

the

of

honour

in

Saman

auspicious

these

the

of

as

stomas

Maruts,

Dyutana,

Maruts was the (Irhapati

who saw this Sanan.

of

tbe

the

is

the

This

is

Dyautana
the most

worshi^jper

Vratyas, and he

of the
it

was

The Panchavims Brahmaiia names another Grhapati

of the Vratyas.
He was no other than Kausitaka/ the
He \va>i an old Vratva who lost liis
son of Sama.sravah.
I

lie

virility,

there was

performed the Vratyastoma with others, but

in the arrangement of the stomas

some defect

and

so Lusakapi,

that

Kausltakls

Kausltaka
If a

is

the son of Khargala cursed

will

Tan.lya VI.

'J,

XVII.

Ciiin,.

prosper.
Sayana says the
one of the sakhas of H^r.-A eda.

Vratya imperfectly purified could

not

the seer of

Xil,

1.
1.

7.
7.

-24

aii.l

him saying

W'li.

7. Cn
Wll. l.'.i.

be the founder

1.

Taii.lva 17, 4, 3

XVII.

aiM C-inni.

1.7.

of

'

Hio Hpi.-Veda, tho Vrjityas

a Siiklia of

could not possilly

belong to auy other stock than the Vedic Aryaus.

Now

the (lueatiou arises, Are

stock ur are

they

seeeders

the Vratyas the earlier

from the Vedic

stuck?

(jt

course, there were some seeeders as the nomads are

But probably
notoriovisly child-lifters and man-lifters.

were the earlier stock, the people of the

they

tion, as Sir

George

the greater part of

(Irierson will say, those

first

who

migraoverran

the Aryavarta and left their stamp on

Denial and Western I'uDJab alike, but

not in the centre of this vast territory, which was occupied
langiia,i;ea of

the

by the second and subsequent migration.

This

evidenced

is
i.c

by

the

that

fact

the 15th Chapter of the Atharva

Chapter
of an Antardesa from which the
,

the West, to the North, to

to

the

N'jatya

Veda speaks

Vratya goes to the Kast,

the South and to the I'pper

Regions and to the Fixed Regions, lie also goes to the

The (luarters protectetl
Antardesa. So he is everywhere.
him and gave him servitors. The East gave him
Soutli
the
Bhava,
Dhruva
Xorth Vgvct,

Sarcu.
(

the

West

the lixed region

Pa.'^upati,

the

Rtidra. the

Mahddeva, and the Antardesa, ffinnc.

Now
Ekavrdtjia, Mahddeva and Imiia.

lie
all

Upper
was himself
these Devas

mentioned here are daily worshipped by every Ibahmana

as differctit forms of Sum. If this Kkavrdtija be our Siva,
he would not be admitted into the ^'edic Pantheon without
a struggle and

that

struggle

would be the struggle of

to some extent foreshadowed

Dahsa-Yajna. This is also

in one of the statements in this Chapter, viz
that if the
a
a
as
to
Brahman's
house
when the
guest
Vratya goes
,

and

Since
I

find

writing this I received

that

the

Brajabliasa

di^uht as regards tlie position

I'f

Sir

G, Grierson's

is still called

Antardesa.

Index of language names

This leaves no
p. 3G.

Antardesi

Brahniana

is en.]:agod

up and ask

the

finished

not,

he should at oneo rise

in a sacrilico,

perform the sacrifice himself.

Vratya
On his declining, he should ask the Vratya's permission to
perform it himself il he permits the sacrifice should be
to

if

it

should not be i)erformed and

if

performed without his permission, the performer instead of

acquiring virtue shall incur sin. This is a digression,

but

it is

could not resist the temptation of the

so fascinating.

digression,

Vratyas were ever^^where, on all sides of the

But the east
Antardci^d and also within the Antardesa,

So the

be their principal resort, for in the Pahckavima

Brdhmana there is an obscure passage, made still more

seems

to

obscure by Sayana's interpretation 7ia/<^w6/jaw prdcliJm

the Eastern (^)uarter").
In the
anuvijachalat (" went to

Atharva Veda the order of the quarters begins always

with Prachi and the quarters have their bearing from
Antardesa,

The Vratyas

differed

in

many ways from

the Vedic

Aryans. Their headdress was worn in a slanting fashion'

while that of the Aryans was not so. They had a bow
without

string

throwing arrows.

as Katyayana

incapable,

The bow was perhaps used

explains, of
as

club

In the Atharva-\^eda the rainas some people still do.

bow is the bow of the Elcavrdtija without string. Its
concave side was red and its convex side blue with the
red side he covered his enemies and with the blue side
he pierced his antagonist. But not so the bow of the
Vedic Aryans. It had a string and it threw arrows.
;

The VrStyas used rough

Avhicli

often

Taiidya XVII,

went out

1.

14. 15.

covered with loose planks,

the road
while the Vedic

carts,

of

Katya XXII.

13-2tV.

Latyvayaiia VIII.

Gff,

Aryan

chariots

liad

with

fiirnisbefl

stroDg

capable of holding a number ol arrows, and

animal, horde or bullock, restrained by reins.

and mules

The horses

drawing chariots were kairipra

while the Vedic Aryans
unrestrained

of the \'ratyas

"
lit.

armoury

the draught

shaky,"

with

restrained their horses

reins.

The animals

of the

Vratyas went out of the road. The Vedic Aryans had

reins but the \'ratyas had pratoda ( a stick with a string
of leather attached,

The

used

still

in driving

bullock-carts).

cloth used by the Vratyas had black border crosswise,

while Brahuiius are

still

They .had two pieces

use

such

borders.

of sheep-skin bordered with white

while*

there

These had

silver

embroidery,
others.

prohibited to

ornaments of gold.
The above mentioned

was no such

border with the

ornaments while the other had

were used by the higher

articles

classes of the Vratyas, their Grhapatls (Patriarchs), while

and with

the ordinary i)eople used cloth with red borders

strings at the other end.

of black

They used two sandals

with ears and two sheep skins.

from the dress of the \'edic Aryans.
skin

This

differs greatly

After puriiication the possessions of the Vratyas were

to be given away to the \^ratya8, those who still remain in
their vrdtijas or to the so-called

Brahmius

of the

Magadha

latter are to be preferred.

country.
Katyayana says the
After the fees are paid to the Rtviks, the purified
may acquire knowledge of the three Vedas and

admitted

to

may be taught
The long
The vipatha

His

society.

food

may be

is

the sacred lore.

disquisition has

some bearing on our

or

to

be

So the Vratyas are

2

and he

taken

"rough cart" of the Vratya

Latyayana Prachyaratha or 'Eastern Chariot'

property

Vratya

may be

given to the
in

many

Brahmanas

of

subject.

called

is

by

and their

Magadha.

ways connected with jMagadha.

10

Aryans of the first migration in nomadic

liordes.
They were simpler and more primitive in tlieir
habits and mode ol' hviug and with a short purilieatory
Thej' were the

ceremoDy

were

they

luUy

admitted

into

Vedic

the

society.

The Vratyas were

certainlj''

confined to the

not

East

every direction, as the Atharva-Veda

Bnt in the north, their exj^ansion was

bnt they were in

distinctly says.

by the Himalayas, in the south by the Vindhyas

limited

and

in the

the East

West by

the pressure of otlier tribes,

they had almost unlimited

while in

scope for expansion.

They made the

original inhabitants, or the

among them,

their friends and

upper .classes
advisers, and lived on

patches of plains cleared of jungles in their temporary

Loot also they
habitations with their horses and cattle.

indulged in and man-lifting and cattle-lifting.

There were another people, the Vrdtinas, the
for the

cruel

rite

priests

This word Vrdtina

of

is
Syena- Vdga
undoubtedly derived from the same word Vrdta a nomad
horde inimical to the Aryans. They had their learning

and they had their warriors. If the warrior's son is a

learned man, he should be preferred as a priest for this
cruel rite. Here the commentator raises a question and a
vital question too.

of a Rsi

that

for

How

can a

man

not born in the family

perform a sacrifice? and comes

this

particular ceremony

to the

a descent

conclusion

from a Ksi

is

But he should have learning,

not absolutely necessary.
though not the learning of a Vedic Aryan. The place for
the ceremony is a recent clearance in the midst of a jungle.
Thick trees and trunks should be cut

The planks

for

the pnrpose of

ambulance carts

for

the purpose.

pressing juice should be

carrying away dead

The priest should wear a red head- dress and red
bodies.
look
fierce and have his bow strung.
One of the
cloth,

the plauks of

for

11

authors, Sandilya, says that Arhats shoukl bo made priests

in this cruel rite.
Now the word " Arhat " is signihcaut.

The word was

use in Pre-Buddhistic days in the sense

in

men, medicine men, wizards, etc as in all

So it was adopted by the Buddhists
and the .Jainas, and it came to mean monks of their
of worthy, Avise

primitive socities.

sects.

So there

were

liordes not within

and

Vrdtijas

tlio

of

pale

cUiiming no descent

Vrdtinas,

Vedic

the

from RhIs, having

nomad

ijotli

Aryan

Society,

priests of

their

own, performing priuiitive rite3 according to their ow^n

ideas.
These, the Vedic Aryans were anxious to bring to
their

own

fold.

the

majority oC

Tliere are

nomads

Aryan land
Thus we have

of the

the

name

varioiM

wi^re

indications

roaming

the

that

in the East,

east

of the \'edas.
in

tlio

Vedic

literature

the

Magadhas

name of the country

Magadha,
by Magadhas, Magadhas, inhabitants of the
of a

inhabited

the

tribe,

Magadha country not belonging to the Magadha tribe.

The country was not in good repute witli the Vedic people.
A Brahmin living in the Magadha country was called a
Br ah mob and!lu a so-called Brahmin a bad Brahmin.
Even in the Puranas, the Sisuuagas were called K^attraThe Kaubitakis alone were
haridhiis or bad Ksattriyas.
disposed

favourably

to

the

country

and

say

in

their

that Madhijauiaprdtl/'odkiputra lived in

Magadha
Brahmin
So the
respectable
country,
country was a non-Aryan country, then came the Vratyas,
the Aryans of the first migration, and they came to stay.
They made friends with the Magadhas and became very
Aranyaka

but was a very

influential

and the

Vedic Aryans,

the

Aryans

of

the

migration tried Iiard to bring them to their own

This is all that we can glean from the scanty
foM.
information vouchsafed to us by the Vedic literature.
second

1^

Magadha

is

known

belter

the classical literature.

in

But before entering into that literature it

to know what time
elapsed between the
Vedic

and the commencement

ture.

Max

Miilier

Literature written

in
in

between COO-200 B.
Introduction to
Scistra in the S.

longer advisable

his

History

1859

limited

C.

of

necessary

close

the

of

Classical

litera-

Ancient Sanskrit
Sfitra

literature

But Biihler in page

xxii of his

translation

his

the

of

is

tlie

the

of

Mdnaca-Dharma^
"

E. Series

(1886)

says,

seems no

It

production of Sutras to so
"
short and so late a period as 600-200 B C.
But works
have been discovered, facts brought to light and interthe

limit

to

pretation put on old materials which

seem

to

the

justify

Sutra activity of the Vedic ( 'liara has

closed sometime before the advent of Buddlia and his

inference

that

the

contemporary reformers, i.e.,

Midler may be the lower limit

the

higher

limit

of

Max

For he
have included the activity of the special schools
within this period which Biihler pronounced to be short

seems

and

of

these activities.

to

late.

The Sutras

of the

Vedic School seem

to

have been

followed by a long period in which many comprehensive

Sutra works of special schools were written.
The aphoristic form of writing continued, but not of the Vedic
Schools.

The

seems

have dealt a death

to

Taxila into the hands of the Persians

fall of

blow

to

the

Vedic

Sfitra

activities, and the transference of the intellectual cai:>i(al

of India from Taxila to Pataliputra gave an impetus to the

Sfitra activity of

another

Taxila seems to have

in Sfitra form,

aiming

at

sort.

been

to

Already

the

tendency

in

write comprehensive works

but at Pataliputra, the rulers of whicii were

Imperial dominion, that tendency was encourag-

'

Lalya^aiiit VI II 5.

13

aud taken special care of and it bore rich

and exhuberant fruits.
The activity was not confined to the six angas of the
Vedas but it spread over various other branches of knowed, fostered

ledge,

such as

philosophy,
aphoristic

Medicine,

at

style

enigmatic and some

own comments

economics,

politics,

dramaturgy and even

science,

last

of

proved

to

be

too

the writers began

history,

The

erotics.

terse
to

and

give

too

their

aphorisms, and then they

hit upon the plan of writing long metrical works to make
the subjects more attractive and easier to commit to
to elucidate the

the

only method ol imparting and receiving

those days and easier to api)ly them to
practical purposes of life. Max Midler thinks that the long
versilied works in aloka metre came into existence at the

memory

instructions

in

But Bidder
period about 200 B. ('.
has shown that they existed some centuries earlier.
This is a digression, but a digression necessary to

close of the sutra

understand

the

condition

Magadha, during the

of

classical

India and

specially

period of aphorisms

of

and

During the period. Western India, the

Antarde^a of the Atharva-Veda, was imder the sway of
Brahmanical institutions with their small political units
sloka

metre.

with their complicated

sacrificial rites,

with

constant and

long isolated parochial ideas, with their class-interest and

with their narrow views. They still remained spell bound

which they found difhcult to break

But not so in the East, where though the Brahthrough.
min influence was paramount, there were other elements

by

their old tradition

which developed in other dircctiims The number of Brahmins were few compared to that of Antarde^a. The majority

Aryan people were Vratyas, or recently converted Vratyas,

the tribe of ]\[agadhas and Magadhas, the most vigorous
of these being the Vratyas in two sections.
They had
of

1-1

no Brail Qianical discipline, no agriculture and no commerce

duriag the Vedic period. But within a short time after
their

had wonderfully develox^ed their

national wealth.
They had freedom to

conversion, they

trade and
develoxD

their

own

their

they had

civil

institutions,

and

military,

and

caught something like Imperialistic idea.

and
]\Iallas in Northern Oudh, Lichhavis
Sakyas
and Videhas in North Bihar, the Aiigas in the East, the
also

The

Kasis on the West and the Barhadrathas in the centre,

Llagadha,
teeming with
ie.f

all

became prosperous

Ijusy

population, country

plent3^ rivers covered over with

with

states
sites

crafts full of

cities

rolling in

merchandise,

with Asseuibly-halls ringing with speeches, songs, plays,

discussions and disi^utations, with horses and elephants in
plenty, with splendid processions

Brahmins were

and imposing pageants.

their teachers, keepers of their conscience,

temples and rtviks in their sacrifices.

But the youug vigorous i^eople soon outgrew the influence
The
of their teachers and began to think for themselves.
the priests in their

mighty upheaval of iatellectual, moral and political life

in the Gth aud 7th centuries before Christ was the result
comparative freedom from the thraldom of the
Brahmins, of the rise of monastic life in their midst

of their

and

of

Taxilla

the transference
to

I'ataliputra

with their numerous

of

the

intellectual

The system
crosses

sat

capital

of the lour castes.

rather loose

The Anlardesa however, showed a

from

different

on them.
spectacle

Various foreign races, flying from invading hordes, sought

refuge amongst them and disturbed the quiet prosperity of

The Suheras driven away from Chaldea by

the Semites settled at Sindh.
The Medcs driven from
tlioir home by the Persians canio to settle in their country.
And last of all, the Persians came and occupied its most
prosperous parts. The Anlardesa which was already

their land.

ITj

much weakened
Pnranas

tli(^

prosperous
a

sale

intornal dissensions

1)}'

contrasted

very

as revealed

with

unfavourably

in

the

which the dispoiled westerners sought lor

This greatly added to the prosperity of

east,

refuge.

that country.

Just at

by a new and vigorous race, the

were characterised as Ksatrahandliavah

overthrown

were

Sisunagas who

"so-called Ksattriyas,"

i.e.,

were
not

psychological moment, the Barhadrathas

this

X'ratyas,

sit

very

whom

on

tight,

meaning no doubt

l^ut

that

they

Hrahminic institutions did

tlie

conformed

they

to

all

that the

Brahmins said. They were mostly converted into Ksatriyas,

and had to give up some of their nomadic habits. The
conforms wonderfully to
the dress described by Latyayana, Katyayana and otliers

dress

of

the

statues

Sisiinaga

as proper for a Vratya.

It

would not be out

of

place to mention here that

since Vedic times, the conception ol X'latyas considerably

changed. In the Vedic literature they were a nomad

horde without Brahmins, without a caste system, without

a fixed residence and without a settled Government.

They were

a patriarchal people,

moving with

their flocks

from one place to another. But in the classical litei-ature

the \'ratyas were regarded as a Brahminic peoi:)le divided
into

the

first

sacraments.

men

women, but

Another

castes,

of tliese

authority

three

says

that

Vedas the

castes

their

sons

own

So the Brahmins seem

sort of caste

without

Braliminical

they were
on their own

that they did not take their

without sacraments on

Vratyas

but

was thought by some that

It

descended from
caste

three

sacraments.

by people
women, were the
have imposed some
begotten

caste

to

In the
system on them during the interval.
Vratyas formed only one class, while in the

classical period

there

were Brahmin Vratyas, Ksattriya

1<"'

Vratyas auJ Vaisya Vratyas. (Hiriously enough, the Brahmin Vratyas were to be found on all sides oT Anfarde^a,

were only Ksattriya Vratyas.

Because the number of the ^'ratyas

but the east, where there

This

is

as

it

should be.

was very very large on the east as I had shown before.

In this matter I will adduce the evidence of three works,
the earliest being that of the Lalita Vistara, which though
reduced to its present shape in later centuries, embodies
Then of
the traditions of the 5th or 6th centuries B. C.
in
the
written
latter
end
of
the
4th
the Arthasastra
century, and of the Mdnava-Dharma-SCislra reduced in its
present shape during the ascendency of the Brahmins of
the

Sunga Dynasty.
The Buddha when surveying

world

this

from the

Tnslta-BJiuvana for his last birth, passed in review all the

The border countries were not
countries then knownj
acceptable
of

him.

to

Yuan Chwaug

The Madhyama, the Middle country

had then sixteen states.

were described and

Of these eight

Pnidi/ofanap>ira
rejected

(Ujjain),
Vanisa
Mathiira,
(3)
(4)
(perhaps
Hasiinapnra,
^\lts^l),
(2)
(5)

Knala,

Vidcha, {7) Mitlrild and (S) Vai^dli.

(6)

The

was rejected because there was no king, and everyone

Hastina was rejected for the
thought he was supreme.
Others were rejected for other reasons.
same reason
It
last

was

at last settled that

family

Brahmins but
was selected

world

the

for

he should be born in

l)y

is

no

Ksattriya
governed by the

longer

Ksattriyas, and

at last, the Sakj'a family

for his birth.'

In the Arthasastra'" of Kautiiya we find that Kamboja

and Saurastra were inhabited by tribes (Sreni) of Ksattriyas

who

lived by agriculture, trade

and by

Lalitavistaifi Bil.le, Ind. Ed. p.

Aitlia Saslra

Mysme

Ed.

the

22

ll'.

p. 32Gff.

profession of

17

The

arms.

Licohavis, the Vijjis, the Mallas, the xMadras,

Kiikuras, the Kurus and the Pafichalas lived by

the
the

title of

Living by the

Raja.

But there

to be strange.

is

Kaja may seem

title of

discussion

in

the

Savara-

Bhasya on the word Uaja which is likely to throw much

"
The word " Raja there is said to
light on its meaning.

mean anyone engaged

or engaged in the

work

in the

work

of

of a Raja, royal officer,

Government.

may

It

or

may

not necessarily mean a Ksattriya, for the Bhasya says that

ia the Andhra country the Rajas or the governing classes
are not always Ksattriyas.
So the Licchavis and others
mentioned in the Arthasastra may or may not be Ksattriyas,
for X'aijayanti, a Buddhist work distinctly says that the
Tj'cchavis were \'ratya- Ksattriyas.

Manava-Dharma-Sastra on the other hand

the

Vratyas

three

in

For

classilied

Brahmins, Ksattriyas and

the Vratya Brahmins were

Varnas,

says that
Avantyas living in the south-west, Batadhauas in the
north-west, the Bhrijyakantakas and the PuspaSekharas.

Vaisyas

The abode
says,

it

of these

were

they

latter

spies

is

and

the

But Biihler

known.

sorcerers.

were the Jhallas,

Ksattriyas

not

The

Vratya-

Mallas, the Licchavis,

the Natas, the Karanas, the Khasas and the Dravidas.

them,

Mallas

the

and

Licchavis

certainly

belong

Of
to

Vratyas Vaisya were Sudhanva, Acharyya,

We know nothing
Karusa, Vijanma, Ma'tra and Satata.

The

the east.

about

the

place

of

abode

and the occupation

of

the

Vratya Vaisyas.

Though

the

commentators

of

the

Mauava-Dharma-

were something like castes, some

living by espionage, some by worshipping images of gods,
some as temple priests, some by drawing water and
"
it is very
some by other means, Biihler thinks that
Sastra

say

probable
3

that

there

that all these

names

originally denoted nations"

18

that

be right as tbo}' all seem to have been

I
know
pale ol Vedic Aryan Society.
Acharyyas are still temple-priests to the lower

order

ol

and

to

-^eoras

lie

the

outside

Hindus

in

gave their name

Karusas, it is weU-known
the country between Kosala and

Nepal.

to

\'ideha.

From
it

the

statements of

these three great authorities

seems that the country east

inhabited

by

nations

Vratyas,

of

Aryan land was

the

who

were imperfectly

They were all lighting

subduing and keeping under

Brahminized.
in

engaged

lived like princes on the produce of

races

control the abori-

Magadhas and others

people, Magadhas,

ginal

or

races,

the laud

and they
cultivated

They were all rajas and so

by their subject people.
were admitted into the caste system by Vedic Brahmins
in their works.
They were most probably the Rajanyas

who like the modern Rajputs were

Brahmin writers from interested or
the

Mahac/orinda-Sntra,

Ksattriyas

b}'

political motives.

most ancient

authoritj''

on

side, on the political geography of India,

Pali version and in the mixed Sanskrit version

Buddhist

the

both
(i.e.

called

in its

Mahavastu)

states that

Magadha was

dependent

of

Anga country and

that Kosala was dependent on

Buddha's time Anga was a state
dependent on Magadha, and KasI on Kosala. This change
ol'
status was brought about most likely by the advent

the

Kai.

But we

lind in

of the Sisuuaga>!,

Ksattrabandhavas or Vratya race, one or

two generations before the birth

life-time
\ov the

the kings of

supremacy

of

Buddha during whose

I\Iagadha and Kosala were lighting

in the

east,

with

the

confederacy

of

the Sakyas, Mallas, Licchavis, Vrjjis, Videhas and others

occupying the territory north of Magadha and east of

Kosala
at

this

The Kurus,

the Paiichalas, the ^fadras were also

time confederacies

and there

is

book and an

eutire

book

iu

the Artliasastm

dealing

with these

coii-

federate people entitled Sanu/hn-Vn'ttam.

Some
scene,

centuries

before

Taxila was the

the

centre

Bnddha appeared on

the

Vedic civilization.

It

of

was here that Jauamejaya performed his famous

Serpentsacrifice
it was here that Aiahabharata was lirst recited
it was here that a
beginning was made of the classical
;

was here that people Hocked from all parts

of civilized India to linish their education
and it was
here that all Indian sciences had their origin. Jivaka,
literature

it

the

man known belongs

grammarian known belongs to

earliest

earliest

medical

earliest writer of

Mimaasa

The
The
The

to Taxila.

that city.

too, belongs to that

city.

on Veterinary science on horse, belongs to

In fact, all works in classical Sanskrit apart

earliest writer
its vicinity

from Avorks written in the

their Pariaads, all

seem

to

interest

of V^edic

Schools

iu

have their origin in Taxila.

But a great calamity overtook Taxila during the lifewas conquered by Darius, the
It
time of Buddha.
Persian monarch who destroyed the dynasty founded by
and kept a considerable portion of the Northwestern India for a century under his control. Taxila

Cyrus,

high position as the centre of learning, compelling

eminent scholars like Panini, Varsa and Upavarsa to

lost its

seek the eastern

was

region

as a field of work.

Pataliputra

fame as the capital of the most

and they came there and
the east

tlien fast rising into

powerful kingdom in
were honoured by the king iu their quinquennial assem;

blies in a

tion

iu

manner

society.

befitting their learning

Thus began

and

the literature of

their

posi-

Magadha,

long after Vedic Sanskrit had ceased to be the language

It was obsolescent, but not yet absoof the Brahmins.

At Taxila, Indian learning had very

nearly shaken off the narrow groove in which the Vedic
lutely

obsolete.

20

moved, hut at Pataliputra it assumed a uuiversal,

nay even an Imperialistic cliaracter.
When the Vedic Literature came to an end and the art

schools

was either invented or introduced, the language

of the Aryans was in chaos. Some stood for the dictionaries
and idioms of the Vedic schools, others for phonetically

of writing

Dialects vary in
softened expressions of the vernaculars.
every district the dialects both of the higher classes, and

the lower putting very great

between one

intercourse

restricted

obstacles

and un-

free

to

and another.

district

The disadvantages were great, specially of the higher

This
classes who had a good deal of travel to undertake.
led to the origin of classical Sanskrit

language the
and

taints

language

puriiied

This

irregularities.

or

from

simj^ly

Sanskrit

vernacular

all

necessitated

writing

of

than Vedic school grammars. There were

such grammars of classical language

grammars

otiier

jifteen or

sixteen

before I^aniui undertook to survey the whole held of the

language of the cultured classes and his two successors
;

such a character and immutability

gave
even

it

each

in its

own

6th century
literature.

is

it

lasts

and the religious reformers

of

the

gave mauy of them, a shape and a

Some a^faiu, wanted to interpret the classical
13.

'J.

common

and used a mixed language,

neither Sanskrit nor vernacular, but a mixture of

ideas to the

which

disti'ict

that

The vernaculars again, developed,

to the present day.

folk

dramas were originally written

in this mixed language, in order that they might be enjoyed both by the higher and the lower classes alike. The
both.

believe that the

reason for

my

that there are

belief is a statement in Dandin's

four

namely Samskrita,

I'rakrita,

/\(iri/a(/a?'i^(t.^

language of India,
Apabhramsa and Mira. For

varietic^s

of

Kavva-larsa

the

;32tl

21

"

Miara he gives the example,

of dramas and others."
We have not as yet been able to lay our hands upon a
drama written purely in the mixed language. In the

dramas that are extant, some people speak Sanskrit and

some Prakrit. Hence the commentators interpret the
statement Nafakddl tu Mi^raka/n as meaning Xataka in
Sanskrit and Prakrit.
But they forget that Dandin was
in that enumeration giving an example of language and
not of a form of literature. The discovery of a considerable
body of literature and of a large number of inscriptions
in the

mixed language confirms me

So in dealing with Magadhan

in

my

belief.

Literature, one has

not

only to think of Sanskrit classical literature, but also of

Prakrit literature in its variety of forms, and also of
Literature iu Classical
literature in the mixed language.

Sanskrit

is

wholly Brahminic in the Magadha Empire, and

Reformed schools. The

mixed lauguige was the result ol putting the
the Reformed schools in Brahminic shape.

literature in Prakrit belongs to the

literature in

ideas of

So you can see the magnitude of the work I have

undertaken to deal with. It includes a vast number of
Sanskrit works, the whole of ancient Buddhist Literature

and

the

whole of

the

ancient Jaina

literature.

But

fortunately for me, the literature of the Buddhists and the

Jainas have so often been revised and re-revised, translated

and retranslated

centuries that they

Magadhan

in

the languages of subsequent

may be

considered to have lost their

character.

THE SEVEN GREAT WRITERS.

Lecture
In

my

first

some idea has been given as to who

Magadha were, and as to the languages

lecture

the inhabitants of
that were

II.

current there at the

Xow

of the Sisanagas.

be dealt with.

it is

commencement

of the rule

time, that its literature should

Time has not

come, researches in

yet

have not yet sullicieutly advanced, for writing

complete and comprehensive literary history of the

literature

But

Magadha empire.
so

fascinating that
is

imperfect,

likely to

the

any attempt
be welcome
so

materials are admittedly

attempt

pages

subject

chronological

is

however
to scholars.

scanty,

it

statement.

will be devoted to an

so interesting
partial

When

and
and
the

would be rash to
So the following

endeavour

to piece together,

from such information as are available, materials which

are likely to throw some light on the literary history of

Magadha, and

the

at

same time

to

be attractive to the

general reader.

The Barhadratha Dynasty ended, and Sisunaga became

the king of Magadha in the beginning of the 7th century
The Sisuuagas are described as Ksattriyabandhus
B. C.
Buddha was born in the reign
/>. so called Xsattriyas.
Ajatasatru founded the city of
Udayi, his grandson transferred the capital
Pataliputra.
from Bajagriha to Pataliputra. Just at this time Taxila,

of

Bimbisara.

His son

Brahmanic learning, languished under

and the great scholars there began to
Thus we have a tradition
the eastern capital.

the centre

of

foreign dominion
resort to

^4

in

*'

The

tradition

Alimamsa

Kavya

Rajasekbara's

words

of

in

examination of

the

Sastras at Pataliputra runs

thus

Here

tlio

followiug

the authors of

Upavarsa and

Varsa, here Panini and Pingala, here Vj^adi and here

Bararuci and Patanjali having been examined rose to

fame."

The

most

Sastrakara.

word

noteworthy

All

tbrough

in

ancient

this

tradition

is

Hindu

or

literature,

the distinction between the Sutra and

Budhist,

Sastra

is,

though not very rigidly, always maintained. So the literature of Magadha begins not with Sutra, but with Sastra
;

that shows that the old Sfltra period

Sutras of Vedic School were

been
place had
called Sastras though
their

now out

taken
still

was

at

an

end, the

of fashion,

and that

by comprehensive works

written in

Sfitra

style

the

In the above
current style of the literature of the time.
list of scholars the name of
Upavarsa stands lirst and
foremost,

and

believe, first also in chronological order.

Upavarsa was a ^Mimamsa writer.' His works have all

been lost. He is sometimes called a Sutrakara or someKiisbnadeva in his Tantra Chudatimes a Vrittikara.
mani, a Mimamsa work says that a Vritti was composed
by Upavarsa. The Catalogus
Catalogorum on the other hand states, on the authority of
Bbaskara-Mib'ra, that there was a Sutrakara named
on the

Mimamsa

Upavarsa.

Kavya

Sutras

Whoever he might have been,

uijiiiiiniiiri

|'.

55.

Sutrakara or

Uall's coiitiilmtions iii?iiiains^

a Vrittikara, he

25

Pataliputra aad was honoured by

Mimamsa as a system of iiiterpretatiou of

came

to

King. The
the Vedic injimctioiis, found in the Brahmanis, and systematized for practical purposes in the Kalpa-Siitras, existed
its

by a variety of names
Miuiamsa, Nyaya, Naya and others. Gautanja-DharmaSastra one of the ohlest Sutras on Dharmu speaks of

from remote antiquity.

It

went

IVatima-Nataka, IJavana speaks to Si(a

of his study of Miiuani^a (Xyaya-Sastra) from "Medhatithi.
It mav be asked here why is it that while Panini's
In

Miinain-a.

tlie

Chauda suppressed
(irammnr and Pingala's
grammars and Chauda works attached to different

all

old

Siikha^,

^fimilm-a did not succeed in suppressing the older KalpaThe Sutras served a practiSntras of the Vedic Schools.
cal purpose.

They

as

thereof,

settled the details

dealt

Alitnam-^a

the

well

as

of sacrilices, while

only with the general principles

The
the laws of interpretation.

Mimam-il served as a corrector of the Xalpa-Sntras and

their practices, and so it could not suppress them.
There
first

long quotation in the

chapter of the
pada of the Savara-Bhasya written in an ancient style
is

which Krsnadeva attributed

must
it

to

first

Upavarsi,

Savara-Bhasya
For

have been written after the rise of Mahayaua.

distinctly says

"Thus are refuted the arguments of the MahayaThe editor of the Bhasya, 50 years ago, not
nists."
knowing the word Mahayanika changed it into Mahajanika, deriving it from Mahajana, though all his manusSo Upavarsa must have been
cripts read 'Mahayanika.'
regarded as an ancient authority when Savara wrote.
But Savara only says Vrittikara and not Upavarsa. It is

decide what work

ditficult to

extremely

26

was written by

Upavarsa, a SSstra in Sutra form, or a Vrtti, most prO'

bably the former, for bis companions in the traditional
verse are

all

There

For

reason to believe that the

is

be shown

will

it

whom

witli

historical

SSstrakaras, original writers.

list is

chronological.

later on, that the people of ]\Iagadha,

evidently the tradition originated, had a good

sense,

and

sound chronological

There

idea.

a grammatical reason too, for believing the list to be

chronological. Ordinarily the copulative compound should
is

be Vaisopavarsan, the shorter word coming

But here

first.

Upavarsavarsau for the special reason of Upavarsa's

it is

being AhJniarldta or more venerable

i.e.^

names which follow, are

^Moreover,
The second name is
chronological order.
the

a contemporary of

The

fifth

strictly

that of Varsa,

is

The fourth

Chandragupta and Bindu-

who wrote

a Sariigraha or a

about

The

V3 adi
on all
work
comprehensive
and seventh are the writers
sara.

ancient.

in

Third Panini himself.

the teacher of Panini.

is Piiigaln,

more
all

words.

of Varttika

sixth

and Bhasya on

Panini.

Yaisa we know nothing except a tradition in

Katha-Saritsagara that he was the Ouru of Panini,

Of

come from Taxila

and so he must have

or

its

suburbs

as Panini himself.

Panini

was an inhabitant of Salaturn, a suburb

of

by Yuan Chwang

as

His statue

Taxila.

is

referred

to

having been in existence at Salatura long before his time.

His age was a subject of fierce controversy for nearly a
century.

Profesaor

diately after the compilation of

Yedas and the composition

with

on

great

the

caution

evidence

him immethe Kk, Yajus and Sama

Goldstiicker would

has

place

of Yaska's Nirukta.

placed

him

Katha-Saritsagara.

in

375

Biihler

B.

C.

Pandit Satyavratfi

27

Samasrami would like to place him before Yaska. But

none of them seem to have been aware of the tradition
ia Kavya Mimamsa.
It is a curious thing,
however,
as will be shown later on, that Kautilya seems not to know
Panini.
Kautilya when speaking of Grammar, speaks of
G3 letters and

four parts

of

while the

number

6i and his parts of speech are

Paniui classilies all the words in the language

in Panini

of letters

only two.

is

He

Subanta and Tinanta.

into

speech

is

so very anxious for a

non-overlapping complete division by dichotomy that he

includes the Avyayaa or indeclinable particles which take

no

grammatical termination, into Subanta and makes

their case endings. Some one may say that that

them drop

is ultra-scientific,

tical

and

older

school

but

dilFicult

it is

for

strictly logical, although unpracbeginners to comprehend. The

had a fourfold divison

Xamau

(noun),

-Nipata

(particles).

Akhyata

To

(verb),
this

of words, namely,

Upasarga

later

on,

(prefixes)

and

perhaps in the

seventh century, Heliiraja, the commentator of Bhart^diari'a

Vakyapadiya, added a
"

governing

positions

fifth,

Karma-pravacaniya or "post-

cases,

like

something

English

Sayana
Rajasekhara followed Helaraja.
in his commentary on Taittiriya Brahmana says that the
prepositions.

fourfold

and the

division

is

Srauta,

though opposed

to

Panini

Yaska adopts the fourfold division lends

support to Sayaua's views. The non-adoption of Panineau
system by Kautilya argues that Panini had not yet taken
deep root, and that he was not regarded as an ancient
fact that

and sacred authority.

Panini
each,

is

there

divided into eight books

being altogether 3983

of four sections

sutras.

Bhattoji Diksita's calculation, they are 3978;

to Professor Goldstiicker's they are

edition

of

3993.

Siddhanta-Kaumudi, publibhcd

According to
and according
In the handy
in

Bombay

in

28

Saka 1815 by Kasiaatha Purava, is given a Sutrapaiba of

At the end of each pada of the edition are given
Paiiiai.
the pratika of groups of 20 sutras and the pratikas of the
group which falls short of 20. It is by counting these
that I have arrived at the figure 3983 and I have checked
it
and I find
by Jivanauda's edition of Sfitrapatha
last

Burnell also arrived at the same ligure. Arrangement of

Sutras in comparatively modern Sanskrit grammars is

made

to

serve

a practical purpose, namely, to teach the

forms of language, so that students

learn

But

as

of the

may

something
such is the

they proceed.
language
of
Panini
that nobody can apply his work to
arrangement
the language without studying the whole of the sutras.

Other

grammars,

so

to

say,

are

school-books

\vhile

work on Philology of the high(3st

His work is based on a number of previous
value.
works on the subject. The authors to whom he is in-

Panini's

is

a scientific

Apiyali,

Kayyapa, Gargya, Giilava, Chakravarman, Bharadvaja, Sakatayana Sakalya, Senaka and

There are other grammarians who are
Sphotayana.
debted are:

quoted by him as northern and eastern.

refers to

the plural,

in

Acharyya
own Guru, Yarsa.
As regards the age

of Panini,

Sometimes he

meaning perhaps

Goklstucker says,

his

"We

have seen that within the whole range of Sanskrit Literature

is known to us, the Samhitas of Kk, Satnan and

80 far as

Yajur-Veda and among individual authors the

exegete Yaska preceded Panini that the whole bulk of
Black

the remaining literature

posterior to the eight

grammabe
must
Therefore,
very ancient.
The entire Brahmana literature was written after him
all the Arauyakas, Upanisids and Kalpa-Sntras arc postl^iuinean.
But GoMstiicker's premises are not all correct.

tical

books."

is

Panini

Panini

writes efitras for the Bralimaua Tiiterature.

lull,

29

GO he gives a rule for Bialimaiias onl3^ lie bas nian^^

rules for mantras ouly (11, iv, 80
llf, ii, 71
VI, i, 151
iii,

one for Yajus only (Vlll, iii, 101), and tsvo for
So the statement made
Vf, iv, 51).
Yajiia (VIII, ii, 88
in general that Panini knew only the three Saihbiias and
VT,

iv, 53),

no Brahmanas cannot be maintained. He makes rnles for

Mantras and Y^ijus as distinct from Chandas. That
also

shows that the majority

the

Brahmana

to be

found

Brahmana
iii,

literature

of his

also,

in the Bjahmaiia?,

of the

105, and

its

Sama

Veda.

Vedic rules refers

because
for

many mantras

instance,

It is also

Varttika that

there

to

are

Mantra-

the

evident from IV,

were Biahmanas in

Pauini's time, regarded as ancient and sacred and also as

modern, such as Yajiiavalkya Brahmana.

Panini's age cannot be so early in the Vedic Period,
as he quotes from so many of his predecessors, grammarians and philologists.

Apisili

on Phonetics.

wrote

small fragment of the work by Apisali was published

40 years ago. Gargya and Galava are quoted also by
Yaska. But their books have not come down to us.

One work however was published

This
used

in

1803 from Madras.

Sakatayana. I believe that it was

by the Jainas of Southern India.

is

Sakatayana

is

there

called

still

recently

The author

Srutakevali-desij'acharyya.

The

Srutakevali's are the direct disciples of the Tirthamkaras.

They became Kevalis or absolutely emancipated

by hearing the doctrine directly from a Tirthamkara. So

Sakatayana must have been a younger contemporary
'

of

Tirthamkara.

And

Patanjali says

that

he.

was so

absorbed in meditation that while sitting on a chariot road

he did not perceive a caravan of chariots passing by.
This is just what a Srutakevali should be.
Of the 24

two are regarded as

Parsvanatha ;who was born ai Benares and

Tirthamkaras
historical,

of the Jainas, the last

30

died at Sametaglri,

modem

Paresuath Hills ia Btazaribagh)

aad Vardhamaaa (who was born at Vaisali and died at

Pava near Rajgir). It is generally understood that two
between the two. ^'ardhamana after
renouncing the world joined a Jaina monastery at Vaisali.
Sakatayana seems to have been a Srutakevali through
centuries elapsed

For he

quoted not only by Paiiini but

also by Yaska, who must have preceded Panini by several
generations, because Yaska's idea of an Upasarga is crude
Paisvanatha.

is

very much advanced and refmed

not a technical term invented by Panini who takes

while Patiini's

his predecessors
of

an Upasarga

a variety of

gatis,

and so does not define

is

it

is

from

Yaska's idea

it.

That

simply this
Upasargas express
But Panini says they are Nipatas or
:

senses.

they are Upasargas when joined to verbal actions

the verbal roots to which they are attached become

panicles
if

It

is

and Karmapravachaniyas when they are detached

and govern nouns. Sakata3^ana on the other hand says

nouns
that

when detached from nouns

distinctly express a sense.

verbs they do not

or

So Yaska

is

advance

in

of

SIkatayana and Panini in advance of Yaska and this

advance must have taken a few generations to develop.
Now, if Sakatayana is really a Srutakevali of Vardha;

mana and

Panini,

the

third

Sastrakara

who came

to

Pataliputra for his reward, there would be lo intervening

space for Yaska and no sufficient time for developing the

idea of Upasargas.
Therefore I should think that he was
a Srutakevali to Parsvanatha.
For he is here not only
called a Srutakevali, but Srutakevalideslyacharyya

i.c

an

Acharyya next only to a Srutakevali. In that case there

would be sufficient space of time for the development of
the grammatical ideas.
I need not enter here into

genuineness

of Sakat.ayana's

the

discussion

grammar

as 'we

as

have

to
it.

the
It

is Biiflicient for

31

u\y purpose to

know

tliat

the quotations in

Panini from Sakatayana are to be found in this work and

even Burnell, who tries to show it to be a forgery and a
*'
These coinclumsy forgery too, is constrained to admit,
;

cidences prove that our existing treatise is really based on

the original work." This is all that I require for my present
say in passing that in

may

purpose.

for interpolation

and forgery

is

grammer

the

room

very limited.

Panini was really a gifted man. His predecessors had

all nouns could be derived from verbal roots.

a notion that

These were called the Vyutpattiva lins, and Sakatayana

headed the list of Vyutpattivadins. But Panini was
opposed to it. He was not a Vyutpattivadin. If the modern
system of comparative grammar has taught us anything,
it has taught that words borrowed from older stages of a
cannot be derived from

language,

the

actual

roots

in

the language itself. Vyutpattivadins have gone so far as to

derive from Sanskrit roots even words evidently borrowed

from foreign languages.

About the personal history

this

much

and

Panini,

that he belonged to Salatura a

that his mother's

Varsa

of

and

we know only

suburb

of Taxila,

name was DaksT, that he was a pupil of

we know from Katha-Sarit-Sagara

this

should be accepted with caution) and that he

distinguished himself in a quinquennial assembly held at
it

There

another piece of information given

to us by Pataujali, that he was famous since a boy.
This

Pataliputra.

gives a

is

direct lie to the story of

Katha-Sarit-Sagara that
he was a dunce in the beginning and that Siva came to
his rescue in his disputation with Katyayana.
Patanjali
also says that he

As

down

works by Panini there is a verse, handed

remote ant'quity, which runs thus :-~r

to other

fron^

had a pupil named Kautsa.

Astakam is Astadhyayi
number of sutras, Ganas

3-

/.''.,

the SiUrapatha.

are mentioned.

la a large
Gana means a

words undergoing a common grammatical change.

There is a book where all these ganas are put together
and it is attributed to Paniui. Bat tradition has it that

list of

even Silkatayana had a Ganapatha. The Ganas were not

made in a day. At the latter end of the Vedic age, pro-

Sakhas carefully indexed

of various

fessors

o:rammatical

peculiarities

in

their

Sakhas.

all sorts of

We

have

indices such as Padagadha, Ohaturjfiana,

Laksanaratna and so on. These are commonly known as

a few of

these

Laksanagranthas. That these indices helped a great deal

in the formation of the sutras which are simply generali-

from these indices, goes without saying. It was

from these that the lists called Gauas wore drawn and
every grammarian had to make his own lists before comsations

piling his book in Siitra form.

So Pauini had also a com-

pilation of Ganas.

Similarly every grammarian had to make his own list

PSniai's Dhjltupatha consists of 1914
of verbal roots.
roots, plus

20 Sauttra dhatus which have

to

be picked up

His Linganusasana consists

Unlike
of 183 sutras and deals with genders of words.
has
a
for
Sanskrit
modern languages
every nouu,
gender

from the

Sfitras of

Paniui.

The liinganusanot necessarily determined by the sex.

sana gives rules for determining the genders of nouns.
Paniniya Siksa consists of 59 verses in

variety

of

gives rules for pronunciation of words, rules

It begins
for reciting the Vedas and rules for elocution.

metres.

It

with a salutation to Paniui and

io

the

verses.

But

in

Paniui

ancient

is

works,

often mentioned

authors

often

33

speak in the ord person as we know from Kautilya. The

salutations at the beginning and at the end are a later
addition.
It says,

enumerates

It

The

soul

to

in the

body and that

wind blowing

lire sets

wind

the

in

The

motion.

produces a deep sound

that in the head a

in the chest,

throat a middling sound

in the

alphabet as 04.

joins intelligence and employs the

The mind strikes the lire
objects.

mind

express

the

of

letters

that

shrill

That wind striking the head comes to the mouth

and produces distinct lett&rs. These letters are divided

sound.

iuto live classes

time,

(iii)

effort

and

high,

(i)

accordiug

according

to touch.

(v) according
low and middling.

head,

throat,

The

(ii)

according to

organs, (iv) according to

The pitches are three,

The time taken may be

Vocal organs are

short, long or prolonged.

chest,

to pitch,

to the vocal

root

of

also

nose,

eight,

tongue, teeth, lips and

the

opening the mouth, shutting,

half opening and slight opening.
The touch is of various
kinds the lips touch each other in pronouncing pa, pha,
palate.

elforts

are,

etc.,

the tip of the tongue touches the teeth in pronouncing

the tip of the tongue touches the hard palate

in pronouncing ta, tha etc., the middle of the tongue
ta,

tha, etc

touches the soft palate in pronouncing ca, eha, etc., and

the root of the tongue touches the throat in pronouncing
ka,

kha.

vowels there

In

etc.,

is

no touch.

vowels arc produced by slight touch.

The

The semi-

sibilants

are

produced by half touch.

It

not

is

my

here

object

to

give the details of the

book. It is distinctly

analysis of sound as given in this

"
stated that
Daksl's son Panini made this analysis
all

known

over the world."

Three more works have

connection.

Sutras and

These
(3)

are

(1)

to

be considered in

Unadi

Paribhasa Satras.

Sutras,

The

(_)

this

Phit

Unadi-Sutras

3i

are

attri

bated

to

Sakata^'ana

Nagoji

by

Bhatta.

For

well-known that Sakatayana held that all words

are derivable from verbal roots.
Vimala, the author of
it

is

attributes

to

]>ut
Vararuci-Kalyayana.
Goldstiicker says that tliough the Uiiadi Sutras are not by

'Tiupamala

Paniai, yet the

list

Phit Sulras.

work

the
into

of

four

is

of the Uirndi suffixes is his.

Everybody agrees that these sutras were

Saatanavacharyya.

sections

The

sutras

and number 87

in

are

divided

Max M Ciller

all.

would place these sutras before Pauiui and assign them

But Goldstiicker on the authority
the Eastern School.

to

of

Indian commentators, thinks that they are posterior to

Paiiini, and that there is no datum to connect them with the

One

Eastern School.

commentators

of the Indian

says,

"

But, on the other hand, these Phit Sutras when considered with reference to Patiini are as if made to-day."

And

Goldstiicker thinks that they

The Phit-sutras mention
Panini.
phical

names

Sankasya,

Some

Aghata.

of

these

were made
the

to criticise

followiug geogra-

Kampilya, Kasikya, Laru and

seem

to

be more modern than

Panini,

There are 134 sutras

end of which

it is

in

Paribhasa-Patha, at tlie
stated that every author of grammar
tlie

sliorteuing his siltra even by half a matia

be as pleasing as the l)irth of a son. These are
Such rules must exist
axioms or rules of interpretation.

considers
to

from the beginning of the Siltra literature. Wherever

there are sutras there must be rules for interpretation of

The present Paribbasa Patlia is a collection

later times by some unknown author, and their

these sOtras.

made

in

usefulness

commented upon.
bliasae.

they have been repeatedly

I>ven before Panini there existed Pari-

being apparent,

Panini

embodied some Paribhasas

Kulyayana added some, and

a large

in his sutras.

number wa; added

35

Some

by Patanjali.

formations given
others called

in

Xyaya

the Paribbasas

of

these

supplement

are called Jiaapakas

siltras,
are applicable to writings other than
;

grammar.
Here ends our
works attributed
school.

id-

brief survey of Panini's Astadhyayl, the

to

and works belonging

him,

think that this

is

to

his

the proper place to discuss the

question of the A'edangas.

The word \'edanga and its division into six were

known to Kautilya and to other, old authors. The theory
is that

every Saklia of the

We

N'ethis

had

limbs com-

six

its

liud that in the matter of

Kalpas many Sakhas

Vedas have preserved their Kalpa works. But of
Vyakarana, we get no Vedic treatises. Their place has
been entirely taken up by Panini. Panini's predecessor
Saiiatayana, whose grammer has come down to us, was a
plete.

of the

Jaina as shown above

rule

for

Vedaiiga.

Si"ira-vaidif>^^i.

Apis.ili is

and the editor says that he has no

So it cannot be regarded as a

quoted both by Yaska and

and tiieouly information about

of

eight

works on
ed

to

As regards

books.

this subject, a large

liis

work

is

that

tiiere

Sd^sa,

number

of

it

are

which

Paiiini,

consisted

is

metrical
attribut-

very very old writers, and they are distributed over

many Sakhas

of the

Vedas

The general opinion

is

that

works and are very old.

Goldstucker says that they are not Vedaiigas and are

later

the Pratisakhyas are

than Panini, while

Max Midler

are older works and

Panini's

great

Siksa

the

says that

the Pratisakh^-as

metrical Siksas are

work, by including

the

But

later.

But

most important

principles of Siksa in his eight books, has cast both the

metrical Siksas and the Pratisakhyas into shade.
At the

present day, these works are very little studied.

After Panini comes
Pimjala^ the fourth Sa^traLdra.

Pingala.

He

did for prosody what Panini did for

Vyaka-

Sd

He

i-ana.

made

the

euitjodleJ in his

Chanda works

work

all

the rules of metre and

different

of

Sakhas go out

of

currency.

Avadana stories,
made in the 8th or the 9th century A D. But. some of the
AvadSnas in this collection are old. One of these Avadaaas
which means that in one of his
is P(lnsapra</dn(lU(uldna,
previous births Asoka helped the Buddha of the period by
giving him a handful of dust; and the Buddhi granted
Divyavadanamala

him a boon

is

collection of

that in one of his future lives he would be the

paramount sovereign of the world. This work is otherwise

It gives the legendary history not
called Asokavadana.
only of Asoka but also of the whole of tlie Alaurya

Asoka was very naughty

Dynasty.

in his early

youth.

So his father Biudusara thought of sending him to the

Asiama of Pingala Kaga. Pingala gave him a linished
education and predicted his future greatness. The authenticity

of

Aeoka

is

book

the

Avritten

very doubtful.

Asoka, a K^attriya.

centuries

alter

work which calls

not known where and by whom

This

It is

many many
is

the only

the Divyavadaoamala was compiled or the A^^okavadaun was

But the tradition embodied in Kavya-AlTmamsa
written.

tempts us

to

fourth

the

identify

Sastrakara

Guru of Asoka
Pingala,
who distinguished himself at

the

a.'^;

Prit;aliputra.
Viiarji, flie fifth

Sdstraldra

Panini's mother was Dak^i,

Daksa's son would be Dak si and

the (laughter of Dak?a.
Daksa's descendants more remote than his grandson would

be Dak^Syana.

iVnd Vyadi

was

Daksayana and a near

great-grandson or the
This Vyadi
great great-grandson of his maternal uncle.
wrote a Samgraha extending over 100,000 slokas.
But
relation

it

is

not

in verse,

of Panini,

possibly

known whether
for

the

work was written in prose or

prose works are often measured by the
this

37

staudarJ of lokas ol 32 lellcrs

admirer of

this

each.

He

Samgraha.

says,

was a a

Pataujali

He

says so in connection with the Varttika II on Panini's

Sutra n, iii, GO, ^^tj rt^ ^Hlf^ which runs

is

VyTuji

times

several

quoted

Kk- Pratisakhya

by

and Goldstiicker says that there is no vali<l reason for

doubting that lie was there the same person as the author
of

tlie

Samgraha.

heard from a

liave

Pandit of

Penares that Patanjali really commented upon Vyadi's

Saihgraha, and his reason was that the first siltra com-

mented upon hy
not the
of

Vyaili

writing

his

frames a

siltra

is

to later

Supadma-Kaumudi
^^}

quotations

cluded

in

his

not absolutely

is

in

in

see

Sariigraha
necessary in

his

in

the

ij^^j^^TSfTr^

Padmanabha
in

.Mithila

Ahnika.

Prom

topics

a grammatical

We know

seventh

century

wdiich

work.

are

For

and non eternity

A. D. saj's

only a part of the Vyakarana Sastra.

The Sixth Sastrakara is Vararuci

He

But what

is

is

of

from Bhartrhari who

that

the

S mgraha contains 1J:,000 points and the Samgraha

gotra.

\\adi's Sariigraha

first

many

on.

Sabda and so

writing

is

that unlike Panini he in-

instance, he speculates on the eternitx'

the

Tliis

13Ui A.D.

o^^ys^J^ o^\f^l\J^^:^V.

we can

f^i

also,

grammarians

twice quoted by Patuiijali

these

which

Vrirttika-[)alhri

known

is

3J^I^3TT?T'TiT

of Panini's Sutrapatha, nor the lirst sutra

first siltra

Katyana's

^^

is

Patafijali

of the

is

Kalyayana

the author of Varttikas on Panini's Sutras.

Varttika?

"The

characteristic features of a

Varttika," says Nagoji Bhatta, "is criticism in regard to

tiiat
which is omitted or imperfectly expressed in a

^8

In Nagoji Bhatt

siltra."

Their number

I's

5032.

is

has as yet come down

words

Xo

to us.

H.t ^g^?^3iFq^[^T^

Varttikapatba of Katyayaua

These Vai'ttikas have been

all

up irom Patanjali's Mahabhasya. Kaiyata iu

commeoting upon the Mahabhasya quotes 34moreVarttikas.
So the number of the ^'arttikas known tons is 50G6 in all.
But in the absence of a manuscript of the Varttikapatha
itself it is impossible to say positively which are varttikas
and which are not, and also whether there were other
These varttikas are attached to different
varttikas or not.
sntras of Panini. Katyayana takes up a siltra of Panini and
picked

achls varttikas to

Panini, and
his

own

Now

The
the

supplement the information given

way he

according to
about 1500 siltras

criticises

go uncriticised.
question is why were so
rest

many

Panini himself was a very careful

necessary.

in

information

modify that

In this

light.

of Panini.

to

it,

also to

varttikas

man

He

did everything to the best of his ability. Why was then so

much modihcation necessary ? The reasons are (i) Panini

belonged

to

the

West and Katyayana

to the Kast.

The

was born
miles
to
30
the
west
of the
only
place where the Ganges and the Jumna meet, and is on
Katha-Sarit-sagara says that Vararuci-Katyaj'^ana
at

Kausambi which

the

southern

intervened

bank

is

of

Jumna,

between the two.

(ii)

Some

become obsolete in Katyayana's

expressioa had come into vogue.
the

Several

generations

of Panini's rules

time

new forms

had
of

Goldstiicker thinks that the Vajasaneya Prati.sakhya is

work of the same Katyayana w^ho wrote the Varttika on

Panini and he

Katyayana wrote the PratiFor he thinks that the

^akhya lirst and then the varttika.
of
both these works is the same, vi/,., to criticise
object
to
think
of what is annlitd and what is f/urukta.
Panini,
is

positive that

30

That

perhaps oue of the reasons why so many rules of

As I have
Pauini go without criticism in the varttika.
is

said before, Gohlstiicker

are iuchuled

among

does not think that Prausakhyas

the Vedangas.

The Katy3,yanas were

a powerful

and there were professors

The S.irvanukramani
There

is

of the

a Kalpasutra by a

Sfitra

by a

seded

by

East

the

family in

Vedas among them.

Rg-Veda
by a Katyayana.
of all the

is

KatySyana

there

is

Grhya

this has been superKatyayana, tliough

Paraskara-Grhya- Sutra so much so, that in

the tradition of the pandits Paraskara is said to be another

name oi: Katyayana. In the Asiatic Society's Library,

however, there are manuscripts based on Katlya Grhya

Sutra which is distinct from Paraskara. There is also a
the pandits that Katyayana was the last
of the sutrakaras.
They regard his stltra as the parisista
tradition

among

Besides these,

to all the sutras.

all

to

him

the

these

are

called

Ksopakas,

PariwisU.

Katyayana

All

tive both to the

of

that

these

Vajasane3'a section of the Yajurveda,

parisista

are IS parisistas to

to Katyayana
Kalpasutra,
Some other Parisista sutras are also attributed

Katyayana's
himself..

tliere

attributed

is,

thrown into

belong

They

to

the

are authorita-

JMadhvamdinas and the Kanvas. Chanda^a

the

Samaveda

too,

is

often

attributed

to

Katyayana.

what Goldstiicker says is correct, that is, if Vajasaneya Samhita was not known to Panini, the whole family
of Katyayana except perhaps the writer of Sarvanukramani
would come within the period under review in this
If

chapter.

The

relation

misunderstood

between Katyayana and Panini is often

India
and in Europe. This

both in

misconception in India has given rise to the tradition that

Panini and Katvavana had a dispuiatiou in the court of

10

Nauda, iu which Xa^jayaua had always the better

Panini

but that the mediation of

God

Siva

of

made Paaiui

and Katyayana his Varttikakara. European

critics say that Katyayana was a captious critic, a hostile
But the real fact seems to be that Pauiui
critic and so on.
his Sutrakara

collected all the facts of the

language existing in his time

and evolved sutras for their explanation. Katyayana also
But instead of writing an independent
did the same.
work, he, as a matter of convenience, ax^pended his criticism
Both are master minds and have laid
to Panini's rules.

whole world nnder great obligation by collectiug

the

all

the facts of a progressive language in their time.

The seventh and

Pataujali.

in

Kavya-Mimamsa

his personal history

is

Patafijali.

is

that he

last

Sastrakara mentioned

All that

was the son

we know about
of

Gonika and

he belonged to the country of Gonarda which the

Vrhat samhita places along with Chedi and Kukura in one
that

and with Dasapura and Kerala in another. But

he seems to have been very familiar with Ujjaini and
Mahismati. Setting from one at sunrise, one could go to
instance,

the other at sun

set.

It is well

known

that in his time the

Greeks under Menander besieged the city of Saketa and

the country of Madhyamika, which may mean, as suggested,
the country round the Udayapura territory. He did not see
liked.
It is also
it himself, but could have seen it if he

well-known that he was an olficiating priest in one

of the

Pataliputra by Pusyamitrn, the

the ^Maurya dynasty early
He was in
in the 2nd century B. 0. and rose to power.
Kasmir for some time where he ate rice. His habitual

great sacrifices held

at

Brahmin general who dethroned

residence

appears to have been at some distance

from

Pataliputra.

He

lived

measures

at

were

time

when Asoka's

bearing most disastrous

anti-Brahmanio
fruits,

xAsoka

prohibited

41

slaughter of animals even

the

in

sacrifices

This was galling to the

vast

his

throughout
empire.
Brahmins, especially Brahmins professing the Sama-Veda
who were the special priests, so to say, in Somayaga. The
Suiigas were the Acharyyas of the Samaveda and they are
stated in the gotra treatises to be the product of a Niyoga

between the Gotras of Bharadvaja and Visvamitra both

well-known as lighting Brahmins. So there is no doubt
that Sunga Pusyamitra who killed Vrhadratha, the last
Raja of the Maurya dynasty and assumed supreme power,
was a Brahmin and a Saniavedi Brahmin
It is
not
improbable that on assuming authority he should signalize
the

event by

the

capital city, but perhaps in the very palace of Asoka,

performance of a horse-sacrifice by
killing hundreds and thousands of animals, not only in
the

from which the

of

first

Rock

animals was issued.

prohibiting the slaughter

There are some who think that
l*>1ict

the Brahmins were averse to killing animals because in

some of the Upanisads there are such statements as

"m f^sn?T ^m

^frnf^T"

"^f^'^

qim ^:"

one or two such stray expressions of the

etc., etc.

Against

Upanisads,

the

authority of the Brahmanas and the Kalpastitras, nay the

whole Sanskrit literature previous to Pusyamitra may be
cited.

Patanj all's work is called the Mahabhasya or the Great

Commentary, but on which work it is dilTicult to say. They
are not on the sutras of Panini alone

If the varttikas are

attached only to the siitras of Panini, then the varttikas

mven in the first two ahnikas of the first pada of the first

Mahabhasya should not have been included

It may be argued that the
in the Varttikas of Katyayana
second ahnika treats of the Sivasutras and therefore they

adhyaya

of the

as a part and parcel of the Sutrapatha of

that argument does not apply to.* the first

may be regarded
Panini.

But
6

^-2

ahuika whicli treats

ot

and

Salxla

philosophy of

the

place (ahiiika 1) the question is raised

whether Salxla is eternal or produced by a cause. Patan-

la one

Artha.

has been principally examined in the

cons have all been
the
pros and

this

that

says

jali

and

Saitigraha

and the conclusion has been, that whether

ofiven,

be

it

eternal or produced by a cause, the rules are applicable

In another place too, ( ahnika 1) the word
all the same.

Siddha

is,

eternal.
like

on the authority of the Sariigraha, interpreted as

In another place, while interpreting something

Varttika

^m

^f^oR^f^^^)

UQcalled-for remark... tofTf^rir:

^ff^'iTrosri:

V(um^ Jr2JT^f%^%f^%f^f?I fl^^m

south are very fond

Patanjali

makes an

^m ^% %%

"The people

therefore

^f?T

the

of

instead

of
Taddhita,
saying 'loke' and 'vede' they say, with Taddhita, 'laukika'
and 'Vaidika' ". Xow, who is the Daksinatya referred to ?

He

caunot be

of

Paiiini, a

an Easterner,

May

it

Westerner

not be Vyadi

cannot be Katyayana,
? May not the whole

Ahnika be an exposition of the first portion of

the work of Vyadi, and the whole of the Afahabhasya, an
and
exposition of Panini with Vyadi and Katyayana

of the first

mmy

of

Vyadi

III, iv,

the 50G8 Varttikas be proved to be

There

one

is

lirst

Ahnika there

is

and criticised.
much which Panini

is

of

cited

rCatyayana would

reject as not falling within the

of

The

Vyakarana.

dicta

such dictum (varttika 3 on Panini

37) in which a varttika

In the

the

Sivasutras

too,

are

and

province

beyond

its

They are not

They properly belong to Siksa
proviuce.
included in Panini's SntrapaUia.
They are there, simply
because Panini wanted

Aindra School

Sarvavarman

too,

to

which

i)egins

use them in that

is

Sakntayana

did

not

most ancient and

with...*'f%#>

as settled the alphabet as

take

form.

it

In

the

really Srauta,

^'Tirm^?!:''.

He

took

was then used by the people.

the

alphabet as actually u^ed

-i3

by the

peoi^le,

but

took

Sivasdtras are thirteen

Panini and

iu

it

and he

Sivasutra

His

form.

more ancient than

is

Laukika only, omitting (^)

writes sutras for

altogether.

In the second ahuika there are

of a varttika to
It is

was

which

Patafijali

dicta in the form

many

appends elaborate exegesis.

suspected that these dicta also belong to

better litted than

as framed

for

the

Katyayana

benefit

of

He

\'yadi.

to interpret the Sivasutra

being a relative.

Pauini,

These dicta are couched

From

iu a very respectful language

the third a'lnika begin Paiiini's sutras and

varttikas of

Katyayana mixed up with the

from the samgraha of Vyadi.

dicta,

apparently

we

For here also

the

the

find

same dicta repeated, ^m ^rR^lf%%^

As regards the style of Mahabha^ya, may here quote
the words of Dc. Kiel horn... "The Mahabha^ya may be
I

said to be

composed

in the

form of

and there can be no doubt that

out by oral discussions
science of grammar."

The same example,

its

among
the

same

series

meaning
scholars

of
is

dialogues,
best brought

versed

principle,

in

the

and the same

the book.
explanation are found
The principle of a \'aiya'iaraiia attempting to reduce the
sutra in as few syllables as passible, has no place in the

repeated several times in

Mahabhasya.
being

dilf use.

ties before

and

Though it is so, the Mahabhasya

The author had a large number

him and

his object

was

is

far

from

of authori-

to reconcile their

views

give a S3^stematic treatise of Sanskrit grammar,

after the fall of the empire of Asoka, who systematically
to

encouraged the vernaculars.

Patafijali

had before him not

only Paiiini,Vyadi andYaska and all the authorities quoted

by them, but also later authors like Sannagaand the author

numerous Karikas, often quoted in his work. His

principal aim was truth, and in linding out truth he did

of the

44

not spare any authority, however ancient and venerable.

"Thus Bharadvaja is completely
lu one place he says

The theory

sent out of court".

Katyayana made a
attempted
These were
best

hostile criticism ou

to

defend the former

all

seekers of truth and

iind

to

that Paiiini wrote

it

is

them and

doing their level

all

their mite to the solution of linguistic

Patafijali

too neat to be true.

There were others

out.

sutras,

contributing
Panini
problems
also,

rigidly excluded all foreign matter from his sutras and

made his work i)urely grammatical, that is, etymological.

was the obsolete or obsolescent \'edic

speech, the current Sanskrit speech which had some
vigorous exponents, notably, Sakatayana, and the vernaIn

his

time

there

speech mentioned in his Siksa as opposed to both

But vernaculars of Panini's
the above forms of speech.
cular

time had

very

little literature.

change however, came

over the spirit of these languages in centuries subsequent

The great upheaval of the fifth and the sixth
to Panini.

and powerful literature and

was very anxious to keep the Brahminic tongue

centuries produced a large

Patafijali

free

from the contamination of the vernaculars.

he was requested

to

undertake

Perhai^s

puritanic work by
he was so closely assothe

Pu^yaniitra himself, with whom

All the Sastrakaras received encouragement from
ciated.
the Sisunagas, Mauryas and Nandas
but Patafijali seems
;

to

have been specially patronized by the Imperial

reviver

of

Brahminism, Pusyamitra.
In his time Pataliputra was a great city along the banks
of the Sona. Its walls were intact and so were its palaces.
There were men to teach Pataliputra, that is, there were
'

'

Roads emanated from Pataliputra

in various directions
on some of these there were wells
here and there. It was more splendid than Sanka.>^ya,
but Mathura was still more splendid than Pataliputra.
guides

to Pataliputra.
:

Ifi

As a

rale Patanjali did not

always speaks of going

in

live

from Pataliputra are mentioned,

of

He speaks

Pataliputra.

Pnsiiamitrasahha.

In

sablia

but

He

is

from this place or

to Pataliputra

Sometimes distances and stages

that place.

of

journey

was

In a word, he

Chandragupta^abha

manuscrij)ts

full

and

Chandraf/upta-

Pus'/umifrasabha is always there.

goiug abroad with images of gods and

omitted,

speaks of

some

of

For he

Pataliputra.

men

goddesses and making a liviug from olferings made to

them.
In one place, he says that when the Mauryas

wanted money they used

to

set

up images

of

gods and

is borne out also by Ivautilya's Arthasastra

on
Chapter
replenishing treasury in times of war and
fmaucial strains.
He is more familiar with Gfirgyayai.ias

goddesses.

This

ia the

and \'atsayauas than auy other gotra

will be

original
at

proved

of

Brahmins

in the seiiuel that the \ atsayanas

home on

the Sona

in

Magadha.

and

it

had their

Patanjali

hints

the revolution which brought about the downfall of the

Buddhists and revival of Brahmiuism in the following

words : ^^?^* ^^5T!( ^m ^\^i:
MT'sr'TTTSft ^
I

"It

is

wonder that a meal

m^wl^:
called cooking and
i

is

Brahmins are in the ascendency". Sale of cooked food in

the bazar was an institution in Kautilya's work, but with
the ascendency of the Brahmins every one had to cook his
own food. The custom of widow-marriage was looked down
upon. But persons marrying widows were not outcasts.
There is an oft-repeated statement in Mahabhasya

"Lofty are the houses of Davadatta, invite him

He
Cattle, horses and gold Devadatta has (in plenty).
rich

and the issue

invitation

difference

is

Xow, here the word for

not
and
niniantrai/asva, for the
dmantrayasva
between dmantrana and niinantrana is this
of a widow''.

is

10

accepting Nlinafitrami is obligatory, but in dmantrann

the person invited may come or may not.

The usage
Mahabhasya as

the

of

sistas

often appealed to in the

is

But who

a standard of purity.

is

a sista

"In this Aryan settlement (the Aryavarta), the Brahmins

who lay by one year's grain-provision, who are not avaricious,

who

extent

in

who

are disinterested,

any one

venerable ones

some

to

the branches of knowledge these

of

are

are proficient

Sistas."

These

should

the

study

Astadhyayl, the eight books of Paiiiui, but there are some

Si^l^as, who even without studying At^tadhyayi attain, by
intuition or by the grace of

The Aryavarta
Manu.

It

is

of

Pataujali's

extensive

the

Aryavarta

Adaraa (which

of

is

Patafijali

not so

between

country

God, the correct speech.

as

Himalayas
is

limited.

not the

and
It

is

Saras vati

the

of

include the whole

to

means

believe,

Aryav^arta

the

Vindhya.

from

the

the

east

place where
to the west of

disappears in the desert),

Kalakavana and from the north of Paripatra (a chain of
mountains joining the Aravalli Hills with the Vindhya)
All people living outside
to the south of the llimalaj^as.

So Sakas and Yavavas, the Sauryas

and Kraunchas, the Kiskindhyas and Gandhikas are all
wudras.
So are Chandalas and Mrtapas. So are the
this

area are sudras.

carjjenters

Among

So are washermen and weavers

and smiths.

those those are regard e

minate plates

In

outsiders

the

who

contamination

contais

not

(saiiiskaraV

the information which

all

from the ]\Iahabhasya

lectures.

as

by eating, and the

removed by purification

To exhaust

is

next

can be gleaned

within the scope of these

lecture you will hear tliat in
not

were only three systems of philoKautilya does not

sophy Saiii'diy a, Yoga and l/jlifiyat a.
But Patau jali tells us
give any information beyond this.
l\aut ilya'a

time

there

47

was the

that Bbagiiri

the

for

writers

the

among

This

light of Lokayata.

time that

first

the Lokayata

of

also speaks of another

we

is

perhaps

have a really historical

of

system

School.

name

Pata&jali
the

Hindu Philosophy,

and Kasakritsni was an eminent Acharyya of

A Kasakritsna was
with
a large following.
this system
quoted by Badarayaiia in his Brahmasutra and Kasakritsni

Mimarnsa

is,

according to grammar a son of Kasakritsna.

quotes also the

often quoted

verse

Patanjali

Mahabharata

the

of

"Kalah pachati bhiitani etc." He speaks of Yudhisthira,

Bhima, Arjiina, Xakula, Sahndeva, \ asndeva, Satyabhama,
He nimes some poems such as
the Kurus and Ugrasena.
Vasivadatta, Bhainiaratha, Vararucha-kavya.
The services of Patanjali in Sanskrit grammar are

acknowledged, but his services as a historian

universally

correctly recording contemporary facts are not to be

looked.

The

careful

important results

regarding

ancient

study of his book

and correct

may

many
One thing may be

India.

more

lead to

the

of

over-

that the tradition embodied in the verse quoted

theories
said here

from the

Kavya-Mimanisa completely refutes the theory of Max

Midler that Sanskrit went to sleep for seven centuries from
the death of

Buddha

to the rise

of

the

Gupta power

in

4th century A. D. It raiy be siid that this tradition is

of as much worth as other Indian traditions, and that so

the

much

reliince should not be placed on

that Indiin traditions

when
facts,

this

tradition

are
is

it.

so absolutely

borne

out

do not think

worthless

and

by well-authenticated

Indians have every right to place absolute reliance

upon it.
The encouragement afforded by the powerful dynasties
of Magadha, namely the Sisunagas, Nandas, Mauryas and
Suiigas, enabled the Brahmins to perfect a grammatical system of their language in a way which has extorted

tlie

admiration

of

tbo

48

philologists

The Brahmins worked upon

this

ail

over tho

world.

theme from generation

to

from century to century, till Patafijali put

the key-stoue ou their triumphal arch. Every one who has
generation,

knows how patient their

If
researches were, how'extensive and yet how accurate.

studied

Sanskrit

grammir

these dynasties did nothing else but only encouraged these

Brahmins, they did not rise into power in vain.

Lecture

III.

Chdnakycis Artha^ddtra.

The discovery
great event, much

of

ChSnakya^s ArthaSftetra is a rery

gfreater than the discovery of Yuan

Chwang'a Travels in Western Countries. Yuan Chwang

came to India in 629 A. D. and remained here for sixteen
years.

here

Kautilya was a native of India, bred up and born

and he flourished about a thousand years before

Yuan Chwang was

Yuan Chwang.

mere

traveller, at

But Kautilya was a politician of

pervading genius and he was the Prime-Minister of a
Yuan Chwang was interested in Budgreat Empire.
dhism only, and that in its higher phases. But Kautilya

best a devout pilgrim.

was interested
a religious

everything Indian. Yuan Chwang was

and looked at Indian society from the

in

man

religious point of view. Kautilya was an administrator and

His interest in India was that of an
a man of the world.

Yuan Chwang's account of

administrator and a patriot.
India was partial and one-sided, that of Kautilya thorough
and many-sided.
Yet when Yuan Chwang's book was translated and
published it revealed a stratum of society which was very
It was read, studied and almost devourlittle thought of.
ed by

all

students of Indian

vista of research

master-minds of

History

and

it

openedj^a

which was enthusiastically pursued by

past generations, both in India and

Kautilya's ArthaSSstra

Europe.

has not yt aroused that

50

This

enthusiasm for

its

becauBe

its

is

not yet twelve years okl and

its

very recent,

is,

The Dasakumaracharita

not so easy.
*'

study.

discovery

study

justly says "rf^ f^T

they say, is dependent on all

Without knowing the whole literature written

That

it

is

Sastra,

Sastras.

or oral,

can not be mastered."

That

is

the reason

why

it

has

arouse

failed to

so

far

enthusiasm which Yuan Chwang's charming

narrative did.
But it deserves close study for years, bethat

sort of

Vcause it will reveal a picture of ancient India as it was

2300 years ago in every walk of life. Dharma- Sastras
teach us what the society should be they give the ideal

a society

of

actually was.

but this gives the picture of society as it

There are many things in the Artha Sastra

which we do not see anywhere

is

disgusting,

But

immoral.

much
it is

There

else.

is

much

that

our standard,
is,
according
a true picture, and a true picture has
that

to

always a great value, and that value has in this case become
enhanced because it is well drawn by a master-hand.

With this preface let us begin to examine the work.

has fifteen books, 150 Chapters and 180 topics and
its extent is 6000 ^lokas.
The books are
(i) On the
It

Training of Kings

(ii)

On Duties

of

Government Superin-

Civil Laws, (iv) On Criminal Law,

(iii) On
conduct of Administration, (vi) On the Sources of

tendents,
(v)

On

strength of Sovereign States, (vii) On Sixfold Policies, (viii)

On Vices and Calamities, (ix) On Invasion, (x) On War,
(li)

On

Corporation, (xii)

Capture of Forts, (xiv)

On

(xiii)

On

of Injuring

an

On Powerful Enemy,
Secret

Means

In dealing with these

I^nemy, (xv) On Technical Terms.
the author displays
a wonderful knowledge
subjects
of the
the
of
world,
past history of the country,
of the sSstras

stiidied in his time,

of

the

character

and

51

the country and

races living in
the military
the strategies of war, of
the various fighting races and of the minute

conduct of various

around

of

it,

qualities

of

details of everything connected

with the administration

Kautilya has a great name even now as an

an administrator. Every clever man is
and
as
organiser
called a Chanakya which is the patronymic of Kautilya.
of a country.

He

compared to Machiavelly and Bismark. Whatever means he might employ, scrupulous and unscrupulous, virtuous or vicious, cruel or benevolent, his sole aim is
and in his mind
the peace and prosperity of the Empire
the interests of the country and of the king and of the
is

often

prime minister are

identical.

we do not know much about the

Some
personal .history of such a great master of Politics.
represent him as a very black and ugly person. But his
disciple Kamandaka describes him as Sudar^a, a handsome
Indian tradition represents him as very
presence.
It is

a pity

He

that

represented as attempting to destroy the

whole species of Kusa grass, because one of the KuSa needle
pricked him and thus disqualified him for the moment for
revengeful.

is

his ancestral ^rd>dh.

He

is

also said to

have destroyed the

dynasty of the Nandas, because the last of the Nandas /

^
insulted him on the occasion of his father's Sradh cere

The present work gives some evidence to the truth

of that traditions, when it says that he uprooted the
Nandas to avenge himself. The Mudra Raksasa represents
him as a poor Brahmin always mindful to the details of
mony.

Vedic Ceremonies, living in thatched hut, on the roof

of which cakes of cow-dung were dried for ceremonial use.
As a Brahmin he lived by teaching his pupils taking no

advantage

of his

position

as

Prime-Minister of a great

empire. He was proud of his birth as a Brahmin and

addressed his Emperor as Vr^ala or Sudra. He is re-

52

anxious to retire to private

presented as always

life

and

employ all the great energy of his mind to the duties of a

Brahmin. But his Emperor was grateful to him for his
eminent services, appreciated the great qualities of
his head and heart and always treated him as his precepTftranath tells us that Kautilya retired from Premier-

tor.
j

jship on Bindusara's attaining

i the reins of Government.

This

book

in

is

in exact

Adhyiya

5,

majority and

assuming

consonance with the teachings of our

Chapter vi, Prakarana xv. In this

Prakarana Kautilya speaks of the common interest of

His teaching in this
the king and the Prime-Minister.

when

the king is on his death-bed, the

Prime-Minister should give out that the king is engaged in

connection

some
for

is

that

ceremony for the prosperity of his kingdom,

the defeat of his enemy, for his longevity or for the
religious

birth of a son.

He should allow somebody else accompanied

the paraphernalia of royalty to sit in the court after

considerable intervals and make him speak to the courtiers

with

all

through his own self or if there is an heir-apparent, he

should gradually delegate powers of administration to him
and then disclose the news of the king's death. Kautilya
;

thinks that the interest

of

the king

and

the

of

Minister should be absolutely identical.

"No," says Bharadvaja, an older authority,

Prime-

"when

the

on his death-bed, the Prime-Minister should set up

king
the princes and chiefs against one another and then have
is

them murdered by rousing the subjects against them

or

by assassinating them, he should seize the reins of GovernFor the sake of Government sons rise against their
ment.
father

and fathers against their sons.

Why

should the

Prime-Minister, the pilot of the kingdom should miss the

opportunity which has presented itself to him ? The common

saying

is.

A woman making

love

of

her

own

accord,

53

curses the

man

discarded.

if

Opportunity presents itself

But it never comes again,

once only to one who seeks it.

even when one is ready for action."
"This is," says Kautilya, "offensive to body" body poliHe should install a prince
tic, unrighteous and unstable.
in the

of strong character

In the absence of a

kingdom.

prince of stroug character, he should bring together

the high officials of the state and placing before them a

prince of unsteady character or a prircess or the queen in

the family way he should say, 'This is b trust.
Remember

Remember your chivalrous

his father.

This

high birth.

is

mere

character and your

under which

(so to say,

flag,

You are the real masters. How should

you are to rally)
I act ?' To him they reply 'Who else is capable of governcastes ? Other

four

ing the

than

this

king under your

ministers should say

'So be it'^and
guidance'.
acknowledge the prince or the princess or the queen big

Other

with child.

He should be shown

to cognates

and relations

ambassadors of the friendly and inimical kings.

He should provide the civil and military officers with
increased subsistence allowance and salaries, promising

and

to the

that this boy

when grown up would do more.

should address to the chiefs of

ions,

and

also

to

the

allies

And

so he

and outlying possessand enemies in a suitable

forts

He should

take steps to educate the king

For himself he should not reserve good things. As to the

manner.

should

provide

him with conveyances, riding

animals, jewels,

dresses,

damsels,

When

the king

king he
gardens.

is

palaces

and pleasure-

grown up he should pray

for the

not pleased with him, he

rest of his mind. If the prince
should leave him, otherwise he should continue to follow
is

not liked by the prince, he may retire to a forest

or engage himself in a long sacrificial session, after com-

him.

If

mitting his son to the care of

men who would undertake

to

54

protect his family and wealth.

evil influence of

an expert

means

in

(intriguing)

political

chiefs,

he should, as he

is.

economy, enlighten the prince by

and legends

of history

the king falls under the

If

in a

way agreeable

to

him

or assuming the garb of a saint he should try to bring the

prince under his influence by showing him miracles, and

doing

so,

should

take

measures against the

coersive

seditious."

Kautilya's disagreement with Bharadvaja and the statement of Prime-Minister's duties at a critical time when
the king is on

was

to

the Empire,

hesitate

to

He

to sacrifice himself.

asks the Prime-minister

king under

loyalty to the

be of unswerving
tances, even though he

,to

shows how deeply loyal he

the good of which he does not

his death-bed,

is

discarded.

He

all

circums-

asks him to be

absolutely selfless in serving the Empire, denying himself

all the good things of the world, when he is virtually the

Even in his retirement when he is

master of the empire.
engaged in sacrifices and in Yoga practice, his sole thought
the good of the Empire he has reared up. Such a PrimeMinister is rare and such was Kautilya alone. Indian

is

tradition,

fragmentary though

it

is,

remembers him

in

this selfless character.

At the end of the Chapter

Kautilya says

of

the

second

book

sciences and having observed practice

also, the rules of drawing up writs are framed by Kautilya

"Having followed

all

for the benefit of

Narendra (Lord

of men)."

This ascribes the authorship to Kautilya, but

not

name

the king for

whom

it

was intended.

it

does

That piece

55

information

of

Dandin

"

by the Da^akumarcharita

afforded

is

in the 8th

Chapter

in the following words

of

Read Dandaniti.

This has just now been presented in

an abridged form extending to 6000 i^lokas by AchSryya
Vi^nugupta for the benefit of Manrya." This leaves
little
-/

doubt as

gupta

to the

Maury a,

name

whose

of the king.

He was Cbandra-

Prime-Minister

Kautilya was,
according to all Indian traditions. The ArthaSatra says
the author was Kautilya, while Da^akumara says, he was

Vi^nugupta. But they were not two different persons

Because at the end, the author himself says
:

"

Having seen discrepancies

in

many ways on

the part

Bha^yas on the Sastras, Vi^nugupta

has himself written both the Satra and the Bha^ya." If

of

the

writers

of

the author describes himself at one place as Kautilya and

at another place as Vi^nugupta, Kautilya and Vi^nugupta

must be one and the same person. But was the author
really the Prime-Minster of Chandragupta in the 4th
century B. C? An answer to this is afforded by another
verse at the end of the last chapter

"

This Sastra has been made by him who under provocation quickly rescued from chaos the science of politics

and of war,
Nandas."

as

well

as the earth from the

hands oef

tjj

56

Kamandaka, an aacient authority on

explicit
its

in

He

author.

says

an account of

^^^TT W^^J^

jf

"

us

giving

'^^ JjHm

more
the ArthaSaetra and
politics

tf^^

is

II

the veritable Providence,

Vi^nugupta,
thunderous
fire, by whose thunder-like rites,
powerful
fell root and branch the mountain-like Nanda Dynasty,
to

Salutation

like

strata

who, like Karttikeya in

fvalour, single-handed, procured by dint of his statesmanship the whole earth for Chandragupta; who, from the oceanfirm in

all

its

political

like science of politics

out, so to say,

the nectar

From

the observation of that handsome presence

has seen the end of sciences, I shall teach something

of polity.

who

churned

that has been accepted by the experts of political science."

KSmandaka speaks of Vi^nugupta as one, who destroyed

the Nanda Dynasty and installed Chandragupta on the
The age of Kamandaka is not known. But he
throne.
I

be far distant in time from his great

perusal of his Nitisara creates an impres-

does not seem

master.
sion

that

to

he was

All the
Vi^nugupta's direct, disciple.
purftnas which give an account of the dynasties of the
Kali Era speak of Chanakya as the destr<'yer of the

Nandas and helper

of the cause of

Chandragupta.

Vi^uu-

57

whose accouut of the

piirarii,

is

dyna9tiei=5

vprr

Kliort,

account more explicitly.

Tlie personal uime of the author is. Vi^nugupta.
The
name (Jhanakya, he derived from his father's name, ("hanatjives the Hutne

ami the name

Hemachandra
confounds him with VataayanM.
But Hemachandra is
evidently wrong, as one cannot bear two gotra names
ka,

Kaujb^iha, frqm^hjs gotra.

Vatsayana and

ie.

with V^atsSvana, the

He

Kantilya.

author of the

on the Gautama Sntra

I^nt this also

VatsSvana quotes a verse which

^j^v: ^^y^^^j

Now,

tiiere is a

confounded
BhSsva commentary

f^^

often

is

runis

thus

iT^tfrT"?r:

verse in the ArthaSastra

For,

it

at

VidySsamudd^^aa, or

chapter called
which runs thus

first

untenable.

is

the end of the

ViddyoddeBa

^,

it is

Evidently

Thus
enemy.

Vatsayana who

gather from the book

(i)

time

The
i,e.

quotas.

about the author, his book, his king, and his

proceed now to give a few lessons we can

far

first

the

lesson

latter

we

half

of

learn
the

that in '"'hSnakya's
4th century B. .C. the
is

Atharva-Veda had uoi yet acquired the same hold on the

mind of the Brahmins as the S5ma, Rik or the Yajus. It
had
thus

"

another
:

The

asgociate,

the Itihasa-Veda.

The

line runs

V'edas,
'8

S&ma, ^i^

*^<^

Yajus, these three constitute

58

There are two more, Atharva-Ved^ and

These are the Vedas."

Trayi.

Veda.

Itiliasa-

seema that in Chanakya's tiQie there was a taste

ior History aud that history is not the History iu its
narrow sense, of the mere statement of facts and
So

it

chronology, but history in its widest sense as accepted in

modern times. He gives the definition of History in these

words

"Itihasa

stories,

events,
civic

law and

one

as

means and includes

of

illustrative

old

anecdotes,

political science",

the

tradition,

Vedas, equal

aud
in

this

records ot

religious

and

history ranked

authority

with

the

Atharva-Veda.

Another lesson we learn

(ii)

pies

the

first

position

been given that

That
'*

is

"

is

Sama-Veda occu-

that

in the Trayi, while K-ik-Veda

position

rather curious.

lia

through the Vedic period.

Uther Vedas, in Sayana's word,

ail

on the

In the Yajur-Veda there are

]^ig- Veda.
the
Kiks
from
90 many
Big- Veda and the Sama-V^eda is
lived

Then why should ChSnakya

the way and give the first place to Sama-Vcda ?

really the ^iiks set to music.

go out

of

Curiously enough, Sri-Kfishna in his Bhagavat-Gita does

He identifies himself with tlie Samn-Veda
the same.

The reason is not far to seek.

(VedSnaai Sama-Vedosmi)
In the Brahmana literature and in the Satras,
Pa^u-Yajna
and Soma-Yajfia are more elaborately treated of than HavirYajna which does not derive much assistance from the
SSmans. All the sacrificial rites described in the Pali Buddhist Literature required immolation of animals, it
appears
that in the East,

SSmau was
were more

originally the

country of the

held in greater reverence

influential.

It

is

Vratyas,

and Sama-Vedins
a well-known fact that it
;

59

was

a Samavecli Brainliin, Piiliyaraitra of the

who destroyed
was

also a

the Maiirya Empire.

Samavedi Brahniio.

Suiga Gotra^

Probably Chfinakya

Ghanakya's Arthasastra is based on works of

previous writers ou the subject; and in the very first
(iii)

names lour schools,

must have taken many centuries to develop. The
rudest and the crudest of these Schools is attributed to
chapter, called Vidyasamudde^a, he
whicli

e'auas or

Sukracharyya who

the preceptor ot

the

Asuras,

that the king's oidy duty

is

the

demons.

coertiou, condine punishment,

assassination and massacre, in other

The next School attributed

known as
He teaches

lor that reason

is

words

[rightfulness.

to Vrhaspati. the

the Gods, adds

Varta to Danda or
commerce
and pasture.
agriculture,
more humane than mere coertiou.

preceptor of
VSrta is
coertion.

This

is

The next

certainly

School,

attributed to the Manavas, adds Trayior the Three Vedas,

which had a much more softening influence than VSrtaaud

Danda.

The

School represented by Chanakya adds

Anvikshiki or Philosophy, and includes in it the Atharva\'eda

last

and the itihasa

too.

The development

ideas from mere coertion to History,

of political

Philosophy and the

Vedas must have taken centuries. The idea of government in all primitive societies is mere protection of person and property.

In the next stage

of trade, agriculture,

This

is

encouragement

commerce and

Next comes encouragement

and social character. Last of
of all sorts.

the

of
all,

the history

industry is added.
education of a religious
comes secular education

of

the

development

of

from the Middle Ages to modern

times.
OhSnakya's idea of government appenrs to be
and it is easy
the same as tlmt of the modern age
centuries elapsed from Oanaa to
to infer how many
political ideas in I'airope

Kautilva.

60

The Artbagastra says that Anvik^iki meaDB and

From this it is
mcliides Saihkhj^a, Yoga and T;okayata.
ax)parent that Nyaya Vaisesika and the two j\liiiiainsas
(iv).

This is
regarded as schools of thought.
For the word Anviksiki in
sometimes misunderstood

were not

tlien

modern Sanskrit means only Nyaya-Sastra, liOgio. What

the Samkhya and Yoga doctrines were in the fourth
For, the
century B C, we have no means to ascertain.
books extant are much later. The only authentic Samkhya work
in

the 70 Karikas of Isvara-Krishna, composed

the 5th century A. D. or earlier
and the Yoga-Sutras
is

are certainly not older.

succession of

But these systems were old. The

the Saipkhya School is long,

teachers in

and quotations from many

of the in

have been found

in

ancient Sanskrit philosophical literature.

The Gita, the
Kathox^ani^ad and other works contain a system of Saip-

khya x)hilo8opby differing greatly from that of Isvara

Krishna. So the system took many centuries to develop.
That V^aiee^ika, Nyaya and Uttara-MimaipsS came later
has been proved.
But the same thing cannot be said
about the Ptirva-Mimaipsa, which is a direct outcome ot
the Brahmna and the Stitra literature of the Vedic schools.
But Chanakya seems to have omitted it, because it was_:
no part of the Rajavidya. But the same cannot be true
of the Nyaya and the Vaise^ika, which every prince
should study even in preference to Saijikhya and Yoga"
Chanakya did not mention them because they did not
There are certain technical terms of
exist at his time

Nyaya and Vaisesika

technical

sense

which are not explained in the

by Chanakya. They seem not to have

assumed that technical sense

(v)

Chanakya enjoins

in his time.

to the

Sudras service of the three

higher castes, V5rta (or skilled labour)

So he makes actors Sudras.

actors.

and profession of
But they always

01

claim a

much

In the last three chapters

KnsTlava or actors are said to have been

hio:her descent.

of

NatyaSastra
descended from

husbands

damsels by liiunan

celestial

the king of

under the

Xahu^a,
following circumstances.
celestial
the
a
time
for
of the earth conquered
regions and
became ludra. There in heaven, Bharata Muni, the
founder of

him

entertained

art

histrionic

th(;

as Indra

him
performance
He became anxious to entertain his comrades
very much.
on earth with the drama, and besought the' Muni to descend
whicli

with some dramatic

on earth
damsels
by

thcjin

in

fell

them.

terrestrial

In a

damsels as his actresses.

with the celestial

came with

and

moment some

caricaturing

the

But

He
the

human

These grew up,

acting anel lormed

jolly

time on earth.

lived for a

love with

fascinated

beings and had children

rebeved their mothers of
a congregation" of actors.

of the

wrote 'comedies

actors

The K^is l)ecame

Ki^is..

furious

aiul

cursed them to become Sildras, leading unholy lives. This

tradition acquired some support from the statement in
the Arthasastra.
(vi)

Max

Literature

in his

Miiller

the

says that

India belore the 1th

History

art of

century

B.

of

Ancient Sanskrit

writing

did not exist in

CMax

Midler's theory

has not been generally accepted and a controversy is still

going on about the antiquity of Indian writing. Now the
Arthsastra says that alter the ceremony of tonsure at the

age of

three,

the

should

boy

learn

Handwriting and

This evidently shows long use of writing

But curiously enough while every first act of the boy, such as
his taking of rice for the hrst time, commencing the Veda,

Arithmetic.

first

shaving

etc.,

etc.

is

celebrated

as a sacrament,

the

assumption of the pen is not regarded as such. There

is no
such sacrament in any of the Grhya Sutras of old.
The Grhya Sutras do not mention it. Yet it was exactly
first

^2

same position at Chanakya's time as it is now. So

writing mnst have been evolved sometime between the

in the

G-rhya Sutras

and Chanakya

how long

before

Chanakya
must have been very early. For
there are inscriptions of Buddha's time or even earlier.
And Vasistha's Dharma- Sutra which is Pre-Buddhist speaks
of Lekhija or written documents as the best evidence in a
law-suit. But writing was very general in Chanakya's time.
There was an
For King's Edicts used to be written.
The accountants
ofhcer called Lekhaka close by the king.
it is difficnlt

to say.

It

in the Audit otHce in sealed

word
used
books, the
being Ptistaka. In courts of law
there were writers, and they used to be fined for not
writing what was stated by witnesses or writing what was

used

to

send their accounts

century writing was not only

generally but very extensively used in all affairs of life
and boys used to be taught writing from the 4th or 5th
year of their life, just as now.
not stated.

So in

the 4th

The chapter on writing

edicts speaks

bad handwriting

and writing not good to look

size and carelessly drawn."

penmanship

The Sutra runs thus

and discourages bad writing.

"Akanti or

of

is

at,

writing on l)lack leavfs

with the letters of unequal

'I'his is

what good penmanship should

later literature in these words
:

be.

just ihe

That

is

opposite of
defiEcd in

"The letters should be of equal size witli their tops in the

same straight line and should be closely set together each
letter

As

being distinct."
to the

writing materials, they were evidently leaves.

e:^

leal oi'
herauso Kautilya uses the word Polra i. e. leaf.
what he does not say. But it is most probable that palmleaves were used.
They were of two kinds, narrow and

are indigenous

N-)rtheru

Both these kinds of pahns

the Malabar Coast and do not grow in

Tala and Tedet.

l)road called

iii

India

Palm-trees are to be

without culture.

found in Northern India only in the vicinity of inhabited

It may be that the culture
localities and not elsewhere.
of palm-tree followed the introduction of the art o writing
in Norl,h<?ru India.
(vii)

vat(^d

At fCautilya's time history was extensively cultiand, as has been stated before, it was regarded as

But very

the Fifth Veda.

lias

that extensive literature

The only remnant is to be found in

chapters of some of the Puranas, viz Matsya,

come down

the historical

little of

to us.

But
VSyu, Brahmanda, Graruda; Visnu aud Bhagavata,
the
one
referred
to
Puran.
Mr.
Purana,
Bhavi^ya
they all
in
these
his
has
worked
now
classical
chapters
up
Pergitar

work

"

Dynastie=^ of the

Kaliyuga Era."

One

peculiarity

of these chapters is that while in other dynasties the

names

are given, the dynasties of Magadha

contain the duration of the reigns of the kings also.
That

only of

the kings

shows that the

art of writing history

of

In Kautilya's

Magadha.

tion about

historical

When

other sources.

facts,

was a peculiar feature

book we get raucli informawhich are not known from

he speaks of the events stated in the

Mahabharata we are bound to infer

that the stories were recorded in some chapter or other
But there are many facts not to be found
of these books.
Here is a list of some of these facts
in them.

USmSyana and

in the

dishonouring a Brahmin
with
his empire and relagirl through passion, perished
tions this is found in some recensions of the Ramavana.

DSndakya,

prince of

So did Karala
grief

of the

by his violence

Bhoja,

Vaideha tribe
to

Brahmins

in

Janamejay came

to

So

fit

of

anger.

fi-1

did Talajangbit by

ou accQiHit of robbing the

Sodid Ajabinrln. the Sauvira.

castes through

loiir

pnffed up

witli

contumely

aii<l

"A

brother

[aihaya prince

prosperity VStapi treated Agastya with

was nnned. So were the Vr^nis by rheir

treatn^eiit of

contemptuous

Arjuna, a

avarice.

disgraced mankind and peiished

pride

Intoxicated willi

Aila perished

violeuce to BliriK"-

h'la

Dvaipayana"

(\, 6,

11).

Bhadraseua concealing himself

kilh^d

in

a sou killed Karu^a, hiding himself

the room of the queen
the queen killed Kairaja by
in the bed of his mother
;

fried grain steeped in poison instead of

honey

witli

anklet

smeared with poison the queen killed Vairatnya with

poisoned gem on hei waistband, the queen killed Sauvira
;

looking glass Jal ad ha was killed by his

Viduratha was killed by his queen with weapons

with a poisoned

queen

concealed in her hair".

These are
the fact

of stringing

knowledge
(viii)

this

remote both

facts

time and in place, and

them together shows an extensive
in

of history.

Sculpture seems to have

work was written.

For

in

made when progress when

every

fort, at

there used to be temples of the following gods

Apratihata,
Asvins, Sri

but

more

Vaisravana

The

AiSvins

Jayanta, A^aijayanta,

and Madira.
in

his

after

phallic

many

oiva,

Of these Siva

vissicitudes has

were well-known Vedic

Vai^ravana,

is still

emblem than
deities.

the centre,

Aparftjita,

in

the

worshipped,
his

image.
become Kuvera.
Sri isLakgrni.

Others are not at present worshipped. Tn the corners are

Last come the
installed the Vastudevatas i. e. the Vasus.

guardian deities of the quarters, these are certainly images.

The principal gates were named after Brahmft, Indra,

Yama and

Senapati.

these gods near them.

Most probably there were images of

Just preceding
tliere is a

'-

passage which runs thus

which has
the North,

the names of deities

these, contaiuing
:

been thus rendered by the

translator

: "To

royal tutelary deity of the city, ironsmiths,

on precious stones as well as Brahmins

i!ie

artisans working

The

shall reside".

translation

needs some modilication.

The word Mevata' being in the midst of a Saniasa should

more fitly be taken widi Karu i. e. artisans, meaning the
makers
house.
i,

e.

images of gods for the city and for the royal

Thus it would imply the existence of image-makers

of

sculptors.

In another part of the

book images

of

Nagas have been

These are certainly not wooden images
mentioned in
because wooden images are separately
connection with the bed-chamber of the king in the palace,
where thej'' are carved on wooden door-frames. If they
inenti )ned.

But stone
wooden, they must be of stone.
images are of two sorts, in bas-relief or in the round.
In me case it is expressly stated that it was in the round.
were

not

Xa,?ja-pratima,
252)

is

said to

image of serpents described in page

have a hole in it and that hole is not possithe

ble in baa-relief.

The
deities.

deities

mentioned are

not

They are mostly Pauranika.

do not hear

development

of
;

images.

and the

nnmber

Vadaa we
a post- Vedic

In the

Image-worship

less the

them, Vedic

of

all

of

is

Vedic

deities,

8iva would be
the greater the distance from Vedic age.
because he is Mna, he is Mahadeva
the most conspicuous
;

Kka-Vratya and he got Sarvva, Bhava and other live

servitors from the quarters, as we know from the Vratya
He is the great deity of the
chapter of the Atharva Veda.
he

is

66

We

Vratyaa.

are

from

to infer

this that

Siva-woiship in
interval between the Vedic

images developed during the

Brahma and
age and the 4th century B. C. [ndra,
Vai^ravana were held in great reverence in Buddha's
Indra was the Lord of the Trayafi-irii^a heaven
time.

Brahma,
in

the

Kamavacaraloka

the

within

Saharhpati,

world

of

and Vai^ravana

link:

connectiner

desire.

heaven assigned to him

beyond the world of desires

had

form,

is

world of

the

or

Maharajas who stand

one of the

between

and

earth

the

as a

heaven.

mentioned in one of the Khilas of the Bg-Vedn, and

she always held a place of moderate reverence through all
A^vinikumaras have now disappeared from the
the ages.
Sri

IB

known only as the

Hindus.
They were,

Pantheon and

originator of Medical

is

science of the

the models of beauty,

but in that character they are no longer remembered.

His worship developSenapati is not known in the vedas.
ed after the Siva legend.
Curiously enough, Visnu does

not appear at
(ix)

all in

Kautilya did not know

in

expression

work

his

technical

for

Gane^vara
There are many

is

Panini.

which

He writes Kriyam

Panini.

So

the Artliasastra.

not

are

approved

Kuryyam. When

using

terras he uses the terras of the old

grammatical
grammarians, for instance,

when speaking

of

parts

uses
>Tamakhyatopasarganipatah and
terms Suvanta and Tinanta
Panini's l)ook

he

speech,
Panini's

written

certainly

by

before

Ihanakya.

but

it

of

not

was

had not then

it acqnired
a century or two later, when
his
wrote
Varttika, Vyadi, his Samgraha and
Katyayana

the currency

Patanjali his

It is after
Bha^ya.
obtained universal currency.

fx)

schools

quoted

ft

of
in

Patanjali

has been already stated that

polity.

the

work

But we have

18

besides AchSryva

that

there

were

different

which

Panini

Mi-.

four

authors

Sham

t)7

Sastry

own

considers as his

justly

own

often at variance with his

He

teacher.

teacher than

with

more

is

others,

and that in many of the books. He is at variance with

Manu, Vrhaspati and Usanas in the book of Vinaya or
He does
training of kings and in the book of civil law.
not quote any other writer on civil law except his
Acharyya.

these

Curiously enough,

very three are the

Arthasastra.
The

propounders of different schools of

quotations are not from metrical Smrti but
works.

are generally

They

There
political

is

another body of

matter.

They

froati

Sutra

named in the plural.

names in the singular on purely

are Btiaiadvaja, Bisalaksa, Para-

sara, Pie una and Vatabyadhi and Bahudanti.

in

several

In one
controversies they are quoted in the same order.
Tlie
place Ambhiya is added in the plural at the end.

order seems

to

upon the ideas

says

chat

One seems

be chronological.

of

the

other.

class-friends

should

to

improve

For instance, Bharadvaja

be made ministers.
No,

Those who are

says Bisalaksa they may not obey him.
intimates
and know each other's secrets should be
No,

appointed

The kiug

also

says

will

be

Parasara,
in

their

Appoint those who are tried

Pis una. this is devotion and not

who can show

efficient

work

the

secrets are mutual.

hands as they
in

difficulties.

intellect.

in

in

his.

No, says

Appoint those

administrative

matters.

may not have other qualiNo, says Kaunapadanta

fications of ministers.
Appoint descendants of old minisfor they

ters

new

No, says Vatabyadhi, they may domineer.

men. They will be in constant dread

master.

No, says Bahudanti, they

Appoint men

of the best family

may make

'

is

another

set

of

their

blunders.

and with highest accom-

plishments.
Kautilya says, every one
those men. who are fit.

There

Appoint
of

names

is

right.

given

Appoint
once

only.

68

Dirgba-Oharayaaa,
Bharadvaja,
But
of PisuLia.
aad
Pisuaa
son
(jrhutamiikLia, Fvinjilka,
These men all speak
Kautilya does nor, exliaurft tlie list.
Kanika,

KatySyana,

of

tbe

the

of

consequences

kings but
Their statements are
ol

displeasure

they speak in enigmatic language.

only understood by those who know moral stories as given
in tbe Naudi-Siltra o the Jainas

Ul these,

stories

and tbe Buddhist Jataka

Ghotamukha has

a sUtta

name

in bis

in

Digba-Nikaya and Digha-Karayana is meutioneii in a

Pali Canonical work as my friend Bimala (,'baran Law has
informed me. They are regarded as politicians and
tbe

wise men.

Kautilya has no mercy for tbe

be destroyed

anyhow

and as

seditious.

hard

it is

to

They are to
punish them

openly, they are secretly to be punished by assassination,

and for this purpose spies are to be employed in any
number. In every department of the state there were

watch over tbe proceedings of the

spies

to

spies

with

ample power.

officeis

are to be in every city

Spies

and everywhere. Kautilya'* spy-system was wonderful.

To the last moment, Raksjasa in Mudra-Haksasa il'ul not
know that bis most confidential friend Bhagurayana was

He believed

also a sp3' of Kautilya.

cribed

book

tbe

in

on

These
Tantric

Atbarva-Veda and

these.

Mantras
mantras.

'bum'

He

uses

in

has

cruel

rites

pres-

devot(M] an entire

Mantras other than

Vedic

considerably from tbe modern

Tliey have no monosyllabic form such

differ

These mantras, tbe rites and

ceremonies conected with them and numerous medicinal

as

"1)1^1,'

substances
evil

(and

etc

are ])ut together for tbe purpose of producing

consequences on tbe enem,y,

it

is

in

one

book,

the

14tb

called tbe Upanisad.)

But ibe most interesting part of the work is tbe 2nd

book consisting of 36 chapters. It opens with tbe coloniza-

69

Vast tracts of couutry are to l)e

These are to be
colouized by establishing villages in it.
protected by forts commanding ten villages, ^00 villages,

tioii

waste lands

of

400 villages and 800

guarded by frontier
free.

Brahmins are

forts

Village-oihcers

no power

Their approaches are

villages.

land

their

get

In each village the

to sell.

to

to be

get lands

free also, but with

old

people

are

to

Those who
minors and gods
tbough capable do not maintain their father, mother, sister
etc. are to be punished.
Any one renouncing the world

protect

the

without

of

properties

the

proviiliug for

maintenance

of their fnmilies

and dependents should be punished. No ascetic other

than Vauaprastha should be allowed to come into the
Mimicks, dancers, singers, drummers, buffoons
and actors should not come to the village. Nor should
These
the village have any building for sports and play.

village.

are

some

resulations

very

are

mendicants are

new

regulations in a

of the village

colony.

The

Buddhists, Jainas and other

strict.

strictly prohibited to enter.

rnculturable land should be

be

kept

for

apart

pasture.

Brahmins
elephants
kept
Larger tracts are to
and Tapasvins are to be given laud for sacrificial
At suitable places strong posil^urposes and penance
tions

are

be

surrounded
to

be

by

for

hills or forests

fortihed.

Within

the

fort,

city

trees
is

to

different quarters for different

reserving

established,

or deserts or

castes, different professions

and

diff'erent classes of labour.

Places should be assigned for erecting temples of gods and

goddesses. Burning and burial grounds are to be made for
different

observed.

castes

Much

and luxuries of

and
store
life

the

distinction

is to

for

replenished by new ones.

a market-place, godowns

be laid of

many

years,

be

is

to

ail

the necessaries

old

strictly

stores being

There should be a treasury,

for grains and forest
produce.

70

aud

an armoury

There should be a mint not

a jail

coin money but also for the purpose

only to

turing ornaments of gold and

of manufacunder the control

silver

Strict
superintendents.
royal
made that the goldsmiths may

of

No

customers.

miue.

the

mendicants,

precious metal

Widows,

was

were

not

their

be

womeu,

crippled

women working

to

regulations

iu default of

cheat

purchased at
female
girls,
hues,

mothers

maid-servauts of the king, temple-girls

the temple should be employed to cut wool,

of prostitutes, old

who have

left

fibres, cotton,

hemp and

They may be made to

Those women who do
wages.

bilk.

work on holidays on extra

those

not stir out of their houses,

whose husbands have

gone abroad, those who are crippled or mere girls, may,

when obliged to work for bread, be provided with suitable
maidservants. Those
through the medium of
women who can present themselves at tlie weaving-house
shall at dawn be enabled to exchange their spinnings for
jobs

Light just enough to examine the thread sliall

wages.
If the superintendent looks at the face of such
be kept.

women

or talks about any oth(M' work,

and more

heavily,

heavil\-

An

for work not vet done.

be immensely useful
as suggested by

The

th(^

he

shall

l)e

fined

he delays payment or pays

establishment like this mav
if

these days of high price of cloths,

hisfh prices (Joinmittee of Bengal.
in

ancient Indian ngricidturists is evidence^l

"
From the Sun, the sproutby the following statement
from the dnpiter. the bunching
in tr of seeds can be told
skill of

of crops,

About

from Venus the

II'|nor-shoi>s.

many rooms, provided

room should contain
the

season

rainfall

is

foretold."

"Liquor-shops should contain

beds and seats. The bed-

with

flower,

water

nnd

othei-

things

as

Spies stationed at the shops shall

ascertain whether the expenditure Incurred by the any
suit

71

customers

in the

shop

ordinary or cxtraonliiuiry and also

is

whether there are any strangers.

value

the

tain

the

cnstomer,

have

to

If

make

Merchants seated

they

pay an additional fine.

half-closed rooms should observe the

appearanc( of local and foreign elastomers

false guise of

in-

anything, the shop-keeper

lose

good and

it

in

gold ot

under the

insensible

there

ascer-

also

sliall

ornaments and

dress,

lying

fluence of wine.
shall

the

of

They

Aryas sleep

tortures them to death

calf, bull

s'lall

in

or

real

with their mistresses.

tlu^re

'attle such ns
Slaiighter-Kouso
cow ^shall not be slaughtered. He
:

who

or

milch-

who slaughters

or

be lined 50 panas.

of
Charitable
Managers
Regulations
Institution-! shall send inl'ormati )ii to the Sthauika or Gopa

Municipal

as

to

any heretics or Pasandas and travellers arriving

to

reside therein.

Whoever throws
with ^th of a pana.

dirt in the

street

shall

be

Whoever causes mire

or

punished
water to

collect in tbe street shall be fined ^th of a pana.

Whoever

commits the above offences on the king's road

shall d)e

punished with double the above

nuisance

in

places

of

Whoever commits

fines.

pilgrimage,

reservoirs

of

water,

be
temples and royal buildings shall
punished with
fines from one pana upwards in accordance with the
gravity

But when they do so on account

any meiliciue or on account of any disease
fine
shall
be
fright, no
Whoever
imposed.

of

the offences.

of the use of

or

from

throws

the

inside

city

the

carcasses

of

animals

such

cats, dogs, mongooses and snakes shall be punished

with a fine of 8 panas
of animals such as ass, camel,
mule and cattle, 6 panas
Whoever throws corpses shall

as

be punished with a fine of 50 panas.

The Buddhists and Ajivakas are
only once

in

"
p.

199,

He who

mentioned by name

entertains in worship

or

Sraddha, Sudra mendicants

72

such as a

Buddhist

or

an

AjJvaka shall pay a fine of 100 panas.'' Kantilya is very

hard upon Pasandis or professors of other religions.

He

says in

p.

242 that active spies should consider the

congregations ol' priests as a trust in the

hands of a dead man and the property of gods not
enjoyable by the Srottriyas as belonging to one whose
house has been burnt (and is homeless).
property

of

Lecture IV.

The Vatsyayanas were settled in Magadlia from very

remote antiquity. They were descendants of Cyavana and
lived in the holiest of holy

the

Sona,

in

Ma^adha, namely,

situated five miles

the hermitage of
of

places

Oyavana
Cyavana was the son

to

the

east

Bhrgu, son of

of

Brahma by Paulomi,

the daughter of Pulona Raksasa.

the
married
Cyavana
daughter of Saryata and had a son
by her, named DSdhica. DadhTca was bred up and born
at the capital of Saryata

who was

never allowed him

to his father at the hermitage.

received

to

go

finished

education

so

at

fond of him

the

that he

He

capital and was

regarded as the most accomplished young Jf-si of his time.

The king then allowed him to go and see his father.
With a suitable escort, he reached the west bank of Sona,
otherwise called Hiranyavaha.

He heard

of

two

celestial

damsels practising austerities close by, and thought

duty to pay homage to them. The younger girl
love wirh

her in

him

return.

at

it

his

fell in

sight and the young Rsi loved

The celestial damsels were no other than
first

Sarasvati and SavitrT.

The

first

was cursed

to live

on the

earth by Durvasa at the court of Brahma and the second

accompanied her out of affection. Tlie hermitage was

only five miles from the place where Sarasvati lived

10

and

74

the lovers had their

The consequence was

own way.

that

Saras vat! gave him all the knowa son was born to them.
But as the curse ended with the
ledge she possessed.
birth of a son, she had to return to heaven, entrusting her
son to the care of Aksainalika, the wife of her husband's

Dadhica renouQced the world and the son, too,

But before he did so,
followed suit, when he came of age.
he imparted all his knowledge, received from his mother,

brother.

to

And from Vatsa proceeded

Vatsa.

cousin

his

the

eminent family of the V^atsyayauas noted foi their learning.

They settled at, Pritikuta within the boundaries of the
hermitage.

Banabhatta, a Vatsyayana gives this account of the

origin of his Gotra and family in the first chapter of his

Harsaaarita

the beginning

in

That the account

tances

(I

is

very ancient

The advent

two

of

of
is

the

7th Century a.d.

proved by two circums-

celestial

beings

in

their

celestial forms to 'arth and leaving a progeny behind is of

a piece with the story of Puniravas and Urvasi, the story

and the story of celestial nymphs coming

In more modern times
earth under Naluisa.

of Sakuntala,

down

to

they do not come in their c

lestial

forms, but are born as

human
(2) it

beings and live till the termination of ihe curse.

records the origin of a gotra.
As yet, no account of

the local

origin

of

Grotra

has

been found anywhere.

Th< account of the local origin of the Vatsyayana Gotra

therefore, a piece of information of ihe highest value.
is,

That ihe Vatsyayanas were settled ai the hermitage of

Cyavana from a very remote antiquity is proved by the
fact that Patanjali is full of

Pataliputra, living as
old,

when engaged
It

may appear

ngarded with

so

Vatsyayanas, as he is full of
he did, very near tlie great city of

writing the Mahabhasya.

curious
tliat
Magadha which

in

much

aversion

by

the

was

Vedic Aryans

75

home and settlement of Rsis such as Cvavana,

The reason is not far to seek. These
most probabl}^ belonged to the converted Vratyas, who had
should be the

Dadhica and Vatsa.

a special attraction for

Vedic
It

name

at the

Magadha

later stage of the

era.

may be urged
of

that

Vatsyayaua,

there were two Gotras under the

mentioned

one

in

Baudhayana*s

Mdhdpravarddhydya as descendants of Bhrgu Cyavana,

Apnavat, Aurva and Jamadaguya and the other mentioned
in Matsya Parana as descendants of Kaeyapa.
But in
;

Gotrapravara, Mr. P. Chentsal Rao, c.i e.,

says that many descendants of other Rsis were affiliated
to the family of Bhrgu and so the Vatsyayanas, descended
chart of

his

from Bhrgu and those descendants from Ka^yapa may be

one and the same family.

Matsya Purana again, the VstsySyanas were

Kau^itaka who were undoubtedly Vratyas,
as we know from Tandya Mahabrahmana.
This is further
In the

closely allied to

borne out by the fact that "Mahapravaradhyaya" puts the

Vatsyayanas in the list of Gotras who are regarded as
Kevala-Bhrgus,

that

is,

not

attached to any of the eight

Jamadagni, Bharadvaja, Vi?vamitra,

Gotama, KaSyapa, VaSistha, and Agastya. Of these
Jamadagni is a descendant of Bhrgu. The other
Gotra-pravartakas

Atri,

descendants are known as Kevafa-Bhrgiis. They differ

from other Brabmanas in th;it they can marry in any

Gotra except those, the majority of whose Pravaras agrees

with theirs
while other Brabmanas cannot intermarry, if
they have a single Pravara Bsi in common.
My conten;

tion, therefore, is that these

Vedic Aryans

at the latter

Kevalas came

to the fold of the

end of the Vedic Period from

among the Vratya Aryans, about whom I have said

much in my first lecture.
The earliest work of the Vatsyayanas is perhaps

so

the

76

The commeutator says that the author's

personal uame was AFallauaga aud that his Gotra name
was Vatsyayana. Tbe work follows in the footsteps of
Kamasiitra.

the

Kautilya,

Arthasastra,

author of

has

It

seven

Adhikaranas or books, 36 chapters, and 64 Prakaranas or

Its extent in slokas is a thousand and a quarter.
topics.

But unlike Kautilya, it gives the tradition of the Sastra

first, and then gives its contents.
Kautilya does not give
the tradition at all.
They are to be inferred from his
quotations.
The tradition of the Kamaatitra
ing.

It

is

after the

says that Prajapati

exceedingly interestcreation, delivered

hundred thousand chapters on the three

aims of human life. These three aims are
Dharma,
Manu
Artha and Kama Law, Economics and Erotics )
a work in one

<

"

*'

the portion assigned to Law

and Vrhaspati
Economics Nandi the follower of Mahadeva

separated
that to

"separated" Erotics in one thousand chapters. Auddalaki

Svetaketu abridged Erotics in live hundred chapters.

PSncala Babhravya abridged Svetaketu's work in one

hundred and fifty chapters divided into seven Adhikaranas
or books, namely, :- (i)
Sadharana (preliminary), (ii)

Samprayogika (union),
ing of

(iii)

Kanyasamprayuktaka (induc-

(iv)
Bharyyadhikaranika (section about a
Paradarika (adultery) (vi) Vaisika (about public

girls),

wife) (v)

women)

(vii)

Aupani^adika

(secrets).

Later on, at the request of the public-women of Pataliputra, Dattaka wrote an independent and exhaustive

on the

6th

subject, that is, on public-women,

Vaisika.
The
commentator notes the following
namely
tradition about the author Dattaka.
A Brahmin from
treatise

Mathiira migrated to Pataliputra.

A son was born to him
at his old age.
The mother died at child bed, and the
father gave the child to a Brahmani, who named him

77

The boy grew

Dattaka (because he was given to her).

acquired a knowledge of

On account

all

up,
the Sastras and all the line arts.

of his great skill in the exposition of the Sastras,

he became famous as Dattakacaryya. Attaining maturity,

he was anxious to learn the ways of the world, which, he
So he
thought, could be best learnt from public-women.

day and learned their ways

so thoroughly did he learn, that at last they used to come
Then Virasena and
to him for advice in matters erotic.

went

to their quarters every

other

noted

courtesans of

Pataliputra requested

him

to

write a treatise on the art of winning lovers.

The example

men were

not

Dattaka proved catcliiug.

of

wanting
So Carayana wrote a

subjects of erotics.
preliminaries,

Learned

to try their skill in the other six

Suvarnanabha od uniou,

treatise

on the

Ghotakamukha

on girls, Gouardiya on wives, Gonikaputra on adultery

Thus many
and Kucumara on the secrets of the science.
authors wrote independent treatises on some topics or
others

of

difficult

extensive

They

erotics.
to

while

study,
to

be

were

mastered.

dillicult

to

collect

Babhravya's work was too

So Vatsyayana abridged

Thus the present work came

Babhravya's work.

and

into

existence.
Patanjali, the author of the
of

Gonika and was born

identified

with the

Paradarika sections,
different persons.

in

Bharyyadhikaranika and
because they are apparently two

authors

of

Ghotakamukha

Kamasutra but in Arthasastra

be one and the same person
not a personal

Mababhasya was the son

But he cannot be

Gonarda.

name but

the

quoted not only in

They do not seem to

is

too.

Because Ghotamukha

name

of

Gotra.

So

it

is
is

with Carayana, a Gotra name.

Attempts have been made to prove that Carayana and
Ghotakamukha in the Arthasastra of Kautilya, in the

identical.

Vat&yaj^aua aud in

of

Kaiiiasiltra

78

But that seems

father of Dattaka

to

the Pali Literature arc

be

impossible

came from Mathnra

For the

to Pataliputra.

or his son Dattaka wonld^be a contemporary of

He

Kautilya.

For, Pataliputra was made capital in the 4th year of

Udayi and the Brahmana who came there seem to have
been attracted by the fact that it was the capital of a big
;

Supposing that the removal of capital from

Rajagrha had taken place in 440 B. C and Kautilya had
been there in 325 B.C., the Brahmana or his son Dattaka
monarchy.

would be

advanced

who was then

Digha-Carayana aud Ghotamukha

in

years.

wrote on erotics after

Kautilya

So Kautilya could not

So Carayana and Ghotamukha,

Dattaka

have quoted from them.

whom

to

contemporaries

cannot be the same who are

Those
quoted by Kautilya were
quoted by Vatsyayana.
Those in the Pali Literature were religions
story-tellers.
quotes

Kautilya

men and politicians.

authors of erotics.
audacious,

And those quoted by Vatsyayana were

To identify these would be rather

A Suvarnanabha

lias

been

mentioned

by

as an author of poetics

in his

Kavya-Mfmamsa
Rajasekhara
Tt would be very bold to attempt
our Suvarnanabha, because Poetics

to identify
is

him with

much younger

science.

a well-known figure in

Vedic Literature.
He was a contemporary of Pravahana Jaivala and also of
He belonged to the latter end of the
.lanaka of Videha.
is better known as
he
But
the Esi who
Vedic period.
Svetaketu

is

instituted marriage

and who

extensive work on erotics.

primitive

and

crude.

is

have written an

likely to

Some

of

his

But he seems

to

ideas

are

very
be a historical

person and there is nothing to prevent onr thinking that

he was the original propounder of the science, as be was
the founder of the marriage system.

79

The aext author

was studied

Pancata

is

His book

liabhravya.'

For Vatsyayaua distinctly

by Vatsyayana.

says,
Babhrabyiyaipsca stitrarthan agamayya vimrsya

ca.

Vatsyayanascakaredam Kamisutram yathavidhi.

So Vatsyayana studied Babhravya's work with his
Mr. Jayaswal thinks that the book may yet be
Giiru.
found

work

quoted in such a late

500
arrangenieut of the

a careful search, for

by

The

as Paticasayaka.

it is

known

chapters in Auddalaki's work is not

divided into seven Adhikaranas.
that division

the

For,

was not

It

credit

of

to

given by Vatsyayana
Babhravya
Most likely Auddalaki wrote more on union or
He divided tliat
Samprayoga than on other subjects

making

is

Pancala

ten

subject into

At the

Dasatayi.
it is

tirst

So his work was called

heads.

major

introduction

just in the fitness of things

of

that

he

marriage system
should abstain

from dwelling upon the duties of a chaste wife, of a girl

wife and of a public- women, nay upon adultery, there being
no marriage at or before his time. It is in fact in a society
which regards marriage as an ancient and sacred institution,

Babhravya's book in

that

Babhravya

possible.
of

union

into

sub-divide

divided

sixty-four

each

seven
the

Adhikaranas

major heads

ten

He

or Kalas.

parts

is

did not

division into eight, but the sum-total of

the sub-divisions was sixty four.

Rgveda
Therefore

v^as

used

it

Pancala country

A^taka

into eight

Oatuhsasti.

rmion only,

originally

The

into

ten

Mandalas.

be called Dasatayi
But in the
was divided into Astakas and each

to

it

Adhyayas and

it

is

therefore

called

entire

Kamasastra, too, consisting of

was originally divided into ten parts and

Babhravya Pancala reduced

or topics.

divided

He

also reduced

it

into

the

sixty-four Prakaranas

subject

of

union

dealt

80

with in the secoud

about

eight sections and

Therefore the Bahvrcas

Adhikarana into
sub-sections

sixty-four

Rgvedi Brahmins used playfully and wickedly to call

The term sixty-four applied to
KaraaSastra "'sixty- four."

or

lvamasa.-.tra,

Vat.^yayana,

is

appropriate

because

ten parts as well as sixty -four.

the author of the change in both cases was a Pancala.

like the

And

says

Rgveda

it

has

its

"Pancala-sambaudhacca."

Improving upon this the commentator says, "Pancalena

Mahar^ina ^.g"-^^^^^^ catuhsastir-nigadita Babhravyenapi
Pancalena svakrte Samprayogike adhikarane alinganadaya
uktah

tatasca dvayorekagotranimittasamakhyena Panca"

lena nigadanat sambandho'steva

rhe word Pancala does not seem to denote

And

but a Gotra.

there

is

a Pancala

country

Gotra among the

Kasyapa. The Gotra might have derived

name from the country of Pancala, its original home

descendants of
its

I3ut

there

is

no certain indication that the works were re

arranged in the Pancala country. The inforiuation, that

a Rsi of the Pancala Gotra re-arranged the Rgveda, is
however, of the highest importance, in as much a?, this
Gotra belonged to the later Vedic Period and that it had

something
this

time

to

do with the Pancala country. Nothing up to

positively known about the author of the

was

re-arrangement of the Rgveda from Mandala

That Pancala is not a country but a Gotra

to
is

Ataka.
clearly

commentary quoted above. So Babhravya

here, is a mere patronymic and not a Gotra, though a
Babhravya Gotra is enumerated amongst the descendants
stated in the

of ViSvamitra.

Kautilya- classifies
,.
,,
^.
Classihratioiis
ot,. the
SastruH,
,,,

...

all

sciences

Anviksiki,
nandaiiiti,

Religion,

ICconomics and

Politics.

under
Trayi,
that

is,

But he

four

heads,

VSrta

and

Philosophy,
concerned

is

81

only wich the Hajavidya or Royal Studies

not in fact a classification of all the sciences

more

are

they

known

in

and comprehensive.
He classifies all human studies under Trivarga, Dharma,
Artha and Kama. Moksa he mentions in one of his Sutras,
his time.

is

Vatsyayaua

explicit

but after that he drops it altogether. He says that Dharma

is to be learned either from Sruti (which iucludes Smriti)

Artha or Economics

or from the learned.

from the conduct of Royal

he

officers or

is to

be learned

Kama

from experts.

generally as the enjoyment of the objects of

It
senses but then restricts to its ordinary sense.

defines

the

all

be learnt from the Kamasutra and from Nagarakas.

Artha, says Vatsyayana, is more important than Kama and
is

to

Dharma

is

more important than Artha

classifications of the

Comparing

Sastras by Kautilya

and Vatsyayana it appears that Dharma is a more comprehensive term than Trayi and includes Anviksiki too.

Artha
is

at all

not

in

more comprehensive than Varta.

is

included by Kautilya either in

restricted

in

the

utility of these studies

Vatsyayana is
arguments. In the

ously opposed.
their

in cr

its

general or

So Vatsyayana represents a

sense.

advanced thought than Kautilya.

There were men in Vatsyayana's
believe

Kamasastra

at

time

did not

which they strenu-

great

matter

who

more

pains in meetof the study of

opponents were the Lokayatikas.

a school
as
Arthasastra mentions them
Kautilya's
of philosophy.
Patanjali says that one of their principal

Dharma,

their

(I)

principal

was Bhaguri.

writers

from

his

Philosophy

But Vatsyayana quotes a Sutra

Varam samsayikat

This

is

the

first

niskat asamcayikah karsapanah.

undoubted quotation that has been

But I think that the

found from their original Sutras.
whole section of the Kamasastra opposiug the utility of the
11

82

study

of

Dbarma

against the Sutras of Lokayatika.

(1)

ca^

Sutras

is

These are

consisting of five

Na dharmaipscaret Esyatphalatvat

samsayikatvat

paragatam kuryyat

hastagatam

Kobyavaliso

(2)

directed

(3) Varamadya kapotali svo mayurat.

It may be said iu tliis connection that at the present
moment the knowledge of the doctrine of the Carvaka or

the Lokayatika School

iu the seventeenth canto of

in the

first

in verse

Sutrakara

Naisadha-Caritam and the other

Both are

chapter of Sarvadarsanasamgraha.

and not
is

One

confined to two quotations.

is

The name

in prose or Siitra form.

given in one place as Vrhaspati

of the

Agnihotnimtrayo veda\i tridandam bhasmapundrakam

Prajfiapaurusabluanam jiviketi Vrhaspatih.
"
Jivika DhatrnirIn one place the fourth padu reads

mitay
Another account

of their Sutra has

been found in the

Saddai Sana-Samuccaya of Haribhadra who died

Here the author devotes several Kaiikas

585.

Samvat

in

to illustrate

The commentator Gunaratna

the Lokayatika
quotes a verse from Vaca^pati which is only another name
doctrines.

of Vrahaspati

tattvaai

Prthivyaptejovayuriti

tat

Sari-

samudaye.

rendriyasaipjna tebhyasoaitanyam.

(Page 307 of Saddars ma Samuccaya. Bibl. Ind. Ed.).

This agrees completely witii the opinion of Ajit;dusakambala as quoted by Mr. UI in his Introduction to the Vaisesika
Philosophy, p. 19-20.

give the whcde passages

in full.

"

Ajitakesakambala contends that a human body is built

when he
up of the four elements (Caturmahabhutika)
;

dies, the earth in

to the

his

mind

him relapses

water, the heat to the

faculties

ap

iho

(Indriyaui,
sixth)

pae-s

to the

earth and the

fire, tiie

the
into

five

winds

fluids

to the air

senses

and

On

space (Akasa)."
r

and
the
thi^

83

UI remarks,

Mr.

There

rialism.

"The opinion

is

real

and radical Mate-

nor any other mental factor

sorts of materials.
Body is the combina-

is

but only the five

no

sonl,

and the sonl

nothing but the body.

Ajitatesakambala is probably a Carvaka."
Kautilya in his Arthasastra says that Vrahaspati and

tion of five elements

is

Royal Studies should be confined

and Politics, excluding Philosophy and

his followers said that

Economics

to

Vedas

There

altogether.

is

an

Indian

tradition

that

Vrahaspati was a Nastika, and I have often been asked

to search for a Vrahaspati Sutra of the Carvaka School.

May

not

pati 's

work

to

the

Sutras as quoted here from part of Vrahas-

Vatsyayana quotes two more Schools closely related

the Lokavatikas.
They are called Kalakaranikas and

the

The commentator

other Arthacintakas.

speaks of

Three Sutras are quoted

another school, Isvarakarariika.
as from the Arthacintaka School.
They are

Bahavasca Kamavasaf;ah. sagnnaeva vinastah. sruyante.

Tatha Dandakyo nama Bhojiih Kamat Biahmana-kanjam

abhimanyamauah

sabandhui astro

vinanasa.

Devaiajas-

cahalyamativalas-ca Kicako Draupadim Pavenas-ca Siiara

apare canye ca vahavo drsyante kamavnsaga vinata
ityarthacintakah.

Of these three the second

and ad literatim
Sutras

evil

be found od verbatim

Arthasastra of Kautilya.
The two
also have come from the Arthacintakas.

in the

may
Kautilva has many more

other

is to

exam]^les, because he

had

consequences of all the six different passions

to

show

while the

present author has to show the consequences of lust akne.

The time of Vatsyayana can be determined by the ages
of authors
The time of Vatsyayana.

age

of

events

whom

-r

^-...^^

he quotes and
.

a^ithors who quote

He
recorded in his book.

him

or by the

quotes from

(84)
Auddalaki, Babhravya-Pancala, Dattaka, Carayana, Ghotamnkha, Suvarnanabha, Kucumara, Gonardiya Gonika-

But the exact date of none of these authors is known

So these afford us no clue to his date. The only thing that
puttra.

is known for certain is that Dattaka belonged to Patalipntra.

The upper limit of his age is that be might be a contem-

porary of Kautilya.

But the lower

limit of his age is not

Vatsyayana mentions one event, a pathetic scandal

He was
in the palace of Kuntala Satakarni Satavabana.
the 13th king of the Andhra dynast}^ and may be placed

known.

in the

And

1st century B.C.

time when the

of the

memory

Vats.yayana flourished at a
scandal was fresh
So he

may be placed in the first century A.D. for, the public

memory is very short and in one or two generations,
people forget these scandals. There are other events also
;

recorded in the Kamasutra.

mentator speaks
killed a

dancing

of
girl

Naradeva

whom

as a General

of

and Colaraja

killed a

the

the com-

Pandya kings,
public-woman,

Citrasena by name. But the names of the kings of Pandya

and Cola are not mentioned and we are at sea as to then-

Vatsyayana mentions Abbira Kottaraja who

was killed by a washerman employed by his brother when
the Raja entered another man's house to find out his ladychronology.

The commentator has enlightened us only

was the name of a place in Gujarata

love.

that Kotta

know nothing

of Kotta,

and Gnjarata

is

so far as

But we

a very later

name,

as Vatsyayana.
The country was so named
of
the Gurjaras.
after the advent
The commentator also

not so old

tells

us that Abbira

is

the

name

of

Raja and not

of a

Vatsyayana also says that Jaj'atseua, king of Kasi

was killed by the commander of his horses. That also
tribe.

does not help us in finding any clue to the date of our

I
am not in a position from the meagre facts
author.
known np to date of Indian History, to hazard a con-

85

All that

jectural date of Vatsyayana.

he seems to have come

two or

can assert

is

that

three generations after

Kuntala Satakarni.

There

another

determining the time of

Vatsyayaua. Take all the countries mentioned by him
and see in what century they existed as social units. For
is

of

units our author had absolutely nothing to

SatakarnJ, Naradeva, the Pand3^a

with political
do.

way

To him Kuntala

Cola Raja were all on the same level. The

tribes and tribal countries mentioned by him are Andhras,
General,

the

Vaidarbhas,

Vatsagulmakas,

Apaiantakas,

Saurastrikas,

Abhirakas, Strairajyakas, Gaudas, Saindhavas, Haimavatas,

Pracyas, Vangas, Angas, Kalingas, Xagarakas, Madhyadesakas Valhikas, Avantikas, Malavas, Abhiras, the land enclosed by six rivers

(with the Sindhu as

the sixth). Lata,

Kosala, Saketa, Ahicchatra, Saurasena Mahaiastra, Dravida,

Vaaavasika and Cola. The commentator gives some accurate
directions for finding out these countries or the habitations

For instance he says

of these tribes.

Pracya Aiigat purvena (Bombay Edition p. 171 ). Saketa

Nagarakah Pataliputrakah
Ayodhyaka^i (p. 172 ibid)
(p. 172). Siurasenali Kausambyali, Kalindyah daksin&tah
kule ye nivasauti

322

bhavanaoi

(p.

sesa^i

302

(p.

(p.

172

SU;iiajy:a3-Tripuri

tatra

Gaudali Kamarupakali Piacyavi-

ibid).

ibid).

ibid).

Saindhavanam Sindhunama nadas-

bhavanam (p. 302 ibid).

Haimavatanam Himavaddroni-bhavanam (p. 302 ibid).
Angali Pomaiahityat (?) purvena Angah (p 302 ibid).
Kalingab. Mabaaandya^ purvena Kalingali (p. 302 ibid).
302 ibid).
Vangali Gaudavisajad daksinena Vangah (p.
The passage giving a description of Anga, Vanga and
The Benares Edition
Kaliiiga is hopelessly corrupt.

tasya pascimena Sindhudesas-tatra

reads

Vangah

Lauhityat

purvena,

Angah

Mahanadyah

purvena, Kalingah Gaiidavisa.yaddakBinena

(p.

295 Benares

Edition).

do do think the Benares Edition improves matters

much.
sadaryyau Rajputrau
deso
Vatsagulman tabhyamadhyavasito
Vatsagulmaka iti
Vaidarbhah Kalanpraticali (p. 295, Bombay Edition).

Daksiimpathe

Vatsagultnakali

nama

jaraddaksineua Vidarbho
(p. 288, Benares Edition).

desas-ta'tra

bhavaQam

Pascimasamudra-samipe ApaLatah Apara-Malarantadesah (p. 130, Bombay Edition).

vatpa&cimena Latavisayah i,p. 130 ibid). Vajravantadfsat

pascimena

SLritajyam

(p.

130

ibid).

Benares

Edition

reads

Vangarakta iu the place of Vajravanta (p. 126,

Benares Edition). And bra iti Narmadaya daksinena deeo
tatra

Daksinapathali
visiyali

(p,

130,

Karnata-visiyat

Bombay

Edition).

purvena Andhra
Maharastraka iti

Narniada Karnat ivisayayor-madhye Mabaiastravisayah.

131,

ibid).

Dravida
(p

lol

Na^arika

Karnat

iti

ibid).

vasavisiyali

iti

Pataliputrakali

naddaksinena

i-vis

(p

131

(p.

ibid).

Dravidavisayah

Vauavasali Kunkanavis;i3at purvena Vana131 ibid).

Abhiradesah Siikantha(p.

Kiiruks^tia libhunih

Malavabliavai,

(p.

l30 ibid).

Avantikai

Malavva

iti

Ujjayiuidesabhavah

Apara-Malavya'i.
Most of these countries are

known

pfirvata

in ancient

eva

works

Biahmanas, the Sutras, Kaiitily's Arthasastra, the

VauavasI
Mahabharata, and in Asoka's inscriptions.
seems to 1)0 rather modern. The ancient name of the

like the

Simoga in ]\Iysore was Jayanti or Vaijayanti

became known as Vanavasi about a century or two

district
It

before the Trinetras rose to powei-.

The Trinetras were
after
four
or
five
superseded
generations by the Kadambas,

who became Ksalriyas from Brahmanas, and who seem

to have come to power iu the
early third century A. D,

87

king of this dynasty, Kakutsthavarma declares

Lewis
that he was a frieud of the Guptas ia the south.
"
Rice in his work entitled,
Mysore and Goorg from
Tbe

tit'tli

that the Gupta king mentioned by

than Samudragnpta who in
no
other
Kakutsthavarma
his Digvijaya came to the south in the middle of the

Inscriptions"

thinks
is

fourth century A, D.

Vanava^a

became

therefore,

Vaijayanti,

begining

(See Rice, Chap, on the Kadambas).

about

the

of the Christian Era.

The country named Saurastra is known to Kautilya.

The whole o Saurastra or a part of it to the west of
Apara-Malava was known to Ptolemy in the middle of
The country seems
the second century A. D. as Liria.
have acquii'ed that name, a century or so earlier than
Laria in Sanskrit would be Lata, and Lata is
Ptolemy.
to

known

to

Therefore.

Vatsyayana.

easily placed

in tlu^ first

Vii:sv ay ana

ca n

be

century A. D.

The Epigraphical remains

in

Aliicchatra range

from

So
the second century B. C. to the third century A. D.
Aliicchatra
was
a
well-known
in the first century A. D,
phice and Vatsyayana says that the

people of Abicchatra
were rather puritanic in their dealinos with public women.

From

these considerations,

century A. D.

As

place Vat:^\ava^.a in the

liivo said before,

first

the luiowle Ige

of

Indian Chronology has not advanced much so as (o enable

students to (in: the date and year of the composition of
any great Sanskrit work of old. It is enongli, if we are
appro.^imateiy within a century iu this matter.
The above, however, is a dry and rather unengaging

be gleaned from the

another aspect of the work

account of historical facts that

Kamasastra.

which
t

IS

But there

is

may

much more engaging and much more

mean the

pictures of the society

of a living society as seen

at

the

time

attractive,

pig tu res

and experienced by the author

^y

round about him.

some

will

of these pictures,

now attempt

in the very

gives the picture of a Nagaraka.

translate the word in English.

"Citizen"

But

meanings of
odour about

"
it.

book, Vatsyayaua
at a loss how to
it

Literally

"Citizen" will
Nagaraka. The word
Gallant does

you

first

am

to present to

not
"

convey
'

the

all

the

bad

has

Dandy

not express

of

means

the social

I,
Nagaraka.
therefore,
my poverty of
"
fashionable
English, should like to translate it as a
man."
tlis first qualification is that he should be well

aspects

His

read.

in

second

qualification is that he

should

be a

married

man. His third qualification is that he should

have competence, either by inheriting a fortune from his

ancestors, or by

acquiring

may be a Brahmana, a
He should live either in a

it

by his own exertions.

Ksatriya,

He

a Vaisya or a Sudra.

great city, or in a

small

town,

or in the suburbs, or in a place inhabited

by good people.
a house, big or small, according to his
a fashionable man he should have a houGe

He should have

means but as
in two compartments, inner and outer, the inner for his
It should be close
family and the outer for his friends.
The
to a sheet of water and have a garden attached.
;

compartments should have many rooms. In the drawing

room of the outer compartment, there should be a
bedstead and a sofa, a polished bed with two pillows, one
at the head and the other at the foot.
The side pillows
of

the

The

Bengalis
bed should

with

there

should be

clean

were
be

whitg

not

in

concave
sheet.

another,

use in
in

the

Alongside
little

ancient

times.

middle, covered
the

bedstead,

lower, similarly

.'fur-

Just above the head, perhaps in a niche, there

should be spread, a seat for the god of the Nagarika
nished.

and a platform, something like a rack projecting from

the wall, where to keep the residue of the ointment

89

used

at

ui.sjht,

tbe garland, a small box containiDg

wax

On

the

and another with

there

ground

scents,

lemon-skin and betel.

should be

should be hanging from

a
a

On

spitoon.

bracket,

the wall, there

a Vina,

painting

some favourite book, and a garland

canvas, paint-box,

of

On

Amaranth

the floor, not very far from the

(Jhinti).
bedstead there should be spread a coverlet with bolsters.

There should

boards for chess and dice put against

room shonld be cages for birds. In

be

the wall. Outside the

a corner there should

be a spinning wheel and tools for

In a shady grove of trees,
playthings.

carpentry as
there should be an ordinary swing and another swinging
round, and also seats covered over with flowers.

He should

rise

perform his daily fimctious,

rinse his teeth, thinly smear his

early,

_,.,,.
The daily duties ot a Naganka.
,

,,

.,

person with ointment, perfume it

with burning incense, wear garlands, paint his lips with
wax and red-paint, chew pcin with scent, stand before the
mirror, then go about his business.

His other duties are

bathing every day, cleaning his

body with perfumes every second day, softening his legs
with Phenaka (something like soaps), shave the upper
:

part of the body every fourth day and the lower part
All this should be done with
every fifth or tenth day.
pt>rfection.

He should

so

behave that

armpits do not
at forenoon and

his

He should have two meals, one

But Carayana, the author
another in the afternoon.

sv\eat.

of

"Saman} adbikarana"says, he should have one inthe evening

instead of in the
a

afternoon.
in

the

In "Mrchhakatika,"

morning

we

find

called

Kalyavarta.
in
nor
1'liat
Vatsyayana. And
Carayana
This may be
Carayana wrote only a Samanyadhikarna.
was
composed even before
an argument that Mrcchakatika
there

is

is

tifiin

early

neither

in

Caravana wrote. Aft^r his meal he should make his parrots

\2

90

Then he sees cock-fight and the butting of rams and

engages him in other diversions mentioned in the list of
fine-arts.
Then come his love-agents and associates in his
After dismissing them he takes a short nap.
intrigues.
talk.

After the nap he dresses himself and goes to company.

Then comes music at dusk. A little later he waits for
his

his lady-loves in

scented

V7ell-furnished room,

with

burning incense, or sends out messengers to them or goes

When the ladies come, they are
to meet them himself.
If their
entertained with pleasant and flattering talk.
dresses are drenched in rain,
with his own hands.

The Nagarika

they are to be

re-dressed

organise all sorts of festivities at

the different seasons and all the year round. There are

all

is to

festive days for particular deities

Occasional Duties.

m
.

the fashionable

men

festivities there.

he

If

the

are to

go

wandering

xt-

Hindu
to

^i

Calendar.

-,

And

temples and organize

theatrical

companies come,

not only to look after their comforts but also to see

that they are put to no difficulty, to help in their diseases
is

and

distress

skill

in

the

and

also to see that they get

The

art.

reward for their

of

Sarasvati
temple
usually
situated at a convenient distance from the inhabited quarters of the city, was generally the resort of the fashionable

the fifth day of the waxing moon in the mouth of

Magha. The day is still celebrated throughout India as

men on

Vasanta-Pancami,

and

The organization

of these

to

in

Bengal as SarasvatT-Pilja.
and other pleasure parties used

be called Ghata.

There were conversazionnes in which people of the

same age and of the same profession joined with fashionable

women and

held

in

talked of art, poetry etc.

These mav be
their own houses, in the assembly-halls or
also

in the houses of the fashionable

women.

There were
with

kinds

all

91

which driuks of all sorts

These were
appetisers were used.

carousals
of

in

generally held in the houses of the fashionable men by

rotation, the women drinking and making other people
drink.

Picnic

A number of Xagarikas

would go on horseback,
gorgeously dressed, with women to gardens in the mornThere they would eat and drink, amuse and divert
ing.
:

themselves

with

gambling, acting and other

pleasant occupations, and then retui-n home with troj)hie8.

In summer, they

cock-fight,

sport in watei- after driving away

dangerous aquatic animalsThere were three occasions lor holding sports,
Sports
the new moon of the month of Kartika, the full moon of

may

month

of Kartika, the full

and the advent

moon

of the

month

of

Asviua

of the spring is also

regarded as one. People

used to be wildly festive on these three occasions. They
sang, they dance(], they swung, they gambled, they played

and they sported themselves to

They had also their country sports,

their musical instruments,

their hearts' content.

pounding mangoes, burning corn and eating the

grain, eating lotus tendrils, running about on soft grass at
the advent of the rains, a procession in the form used in the
such

as,

Pancala country, sporting with flowers under a silk cotton

trc'
lighting with the Kadamba flowers at the advent
,

There are other sports too numerous

to

the picture of the life of a fashionable man

century A. D. in all parts of India, especially

in

of the rains.

describe.

This
the

first

is

Magadha, where the book was

so hard

as

now.

Any man

written.

with

in

Times were not

energy could acquire

competence after a few years' labour and then give reins

Their
to the enjoyment of the good things of the world.
(lavs were passed in a pleasant routine and the years in

92

a round

of

festivities.

What wonder

there, that they

is

should undertake to write a book like Kainasastra on the

physical and mental enjoyments.

give you another picture of what a wife should

be, from the fourth book in which Vatsyayana has abridged
A wife should have a singlethe work of Gonardiya.
I shall

her husband, she should keep her

husband's secrets and should al^vays serve him like a god.
She should take upon herself the management of the house-

minded devotion

hold

to

with the tacit consent of her husband.

She should

keep the house, sweep it clean, decorate it with flowers,

make it bright and polished, pleasing to the e3^e, with
offerings for three sacrifices, morning, noon and evening

and with a neat and clean shrine

is

more charming

for gods.

for a

Nothing, says
householder than this.

Gonarda,
She should behave towards her superiors towards her
their
servants, towards their husband's sisters and
husbands as befits her and as befits them. She is to
prepare on

clean

sugarcanes,

for

ground, beds for green vegetables, for

cumin
for
seeds,
mustard, Joy an

In the garden she should plant all sorts

(Yavani).
of flowers used in worship, plants that flower in all

She should also

seasons and Usira, the fragrant grass.
there.
She should
prepare beautiful seats here and
excavate wells, tanks and ponds.

company

women

beggar womeu,

of
of

indifferent

She should avoid

Buddhist

character,

the

a ad

Jaina nuns,
juggieresses, female

and witches. She should know what food

what is good to
is liked by her husband and what is not
his health and what is not.
When the husband is coming
sheahould, on hearing his voice from outside, remain ready
at home reflecting on what was to be done.
She should
wash the feet of her husband herself, sending away the
fortune-tellers

maid-servant

She should never appear before her husband

93

undressed and undecorated.

evil

for

or spending

with him in secret

In

husband.

all

he

is

spending lavishly

with her friends or

do

should

she

If

purposes, she should remonstrate

If she has to go to marriage parties,

to sacrifices, to picnics

gods,

so

sports and

with

the

temples of
permission of her
to

amusements she

shoiild follow

mind of her husband. She should sleep

her husband is asleep, she should not awaken him

the bent of the

after

She should make the kitchen neat and

At offences given by her husband
clean and well-guarded

when

asleep.

perturbed but should not protest

necessary, use strong language, when
but
or in the midst of his intimate friends

she might be a
loudly.

he

alone

is

little

She may,

if

never should she try to enchant him.

For, nothing, says
She should
distrust
than
this.
more
Gonarda, leads to

angry words, angry looks and turning away while

speaking. She should not long remain at the door, nor
She should not
should she be looking out through it.

avoid

speak to others outside the house. And she should not

She should understand
remain long in any solitary place.
In
that sweat, filth and bad smell cause annoyance.

approaching her husband, she should be well- decorated,

When
Veil-perfumed in her body and well-dressed.
;oing out she should have a few ornaments, have not
much of unguent and should have a plain simple silk
dress and white flowers.
in all his fasts

should

say,

and vows.

"Do

She should follow her husband

When

asked

to

desist,

she

She should

not insist in this matter".

proper season and with the proper price, all

vessels made of earth, wicker-work, wood leather and
She should know how to keep concealed in the
metals.

buy

at the

house

things

procure, such as, salt, oil, scent,

She should collect the seeds
drugs.

difficult to

good vessels and

and plant them in their proper time.

The passage runs

34

tbu-

Mulal^a-]nka-])alanl<i

clamauakarara-takair V^aiuka-

trapiisa-vartaka-kusmandalabu-siirana-sukanasah

svayam

tilaparnikagniraautha-lasuna-palanduprahhrtinam

giipta

sarvansadbinam ca vijagrahanam kale vapas-ca.

She should not speak about her husband's treasure,
nor about his secrets to others. She should excel her
equals in her skill in fine-arts, in her high-mindeduess
and in her devoted service to her husband and in cook-

make an estimate of her husband's

income and spend accordingly. With the surplus of
From mustard seeds and
milk she should prepare ghee.
ing.

She should

sugarcane she should prepare

oil

learn spinning and weaving.

for the preparation of various

learn

rice

She

and charcoal.

servants and

their

She should

She

collect

kinds of strings

and how

husking, cleaning,

should utilize the gruels,

and molasses.

She

to superintend.

feeding.

should look

the

is to

She

husks, particles and scums of

should know the wages of the

She should know

tending

of

sheep,

cocks,

the

all

processes of agriculture and the breeding of cattle

should look after the horses and other conveyances.
a'fter

is to

barks

and
She

fighting

birds, she-parrots, cuckoos, peacocks, monkeys and deer.

She should keep an eye on daily income and expenditure.
She should keep together all old and new clothings, dye

them

in a variety of colours

and grant them as rewards

to

good work or as presents to others.

She should keep jars of wine and of liquor concealed, use
them in time, look after purchases and sales, incomes and
servants

for

their

expenditure.

She should entertain and honour according to their

position, her husband's friends with betels, garlands and
imgnents.

Attendance

to

her

husband's parents, entire

dependence on them, not bandying words with them,

speaking low and sparingly, not laughing loud, deporting

herself to their friends

and enemies, not

to

to

her subordinates

woman

anything
husband.

y5

and enemies as her

be puffed up with

these are the

friends

wealth, liberality

qualities

the ornament of her house.

own
which

make

She should not give

anybody without the knowledge of her

She should employ the servants in their own
to

work and reward them

at the time of festivals.

Lecture V.
Vntsyflyana Bhdsya

There

anothar Vateyayana

is

who did

signal service to

Indian Literature by fixing the terminology and language

of philosophical writings.
He is, if not the, at least one of
the earliest writers on philosophical subjects.

All before

and in mnemonic verses. From his

time easy prose became the language of the higher
His work is the first of the Bha^ya class,
thought.

him was

in

Siitras

reducing the sutras in ordinary language, explaining the

views of the authors clearly and then giving his own

Bhasyas before him were, so

criticism.

to say,

independ-

ent treatises, see for instance, the Nirukta, the Bha^ya on

Nighantu and the Mahabhasya of Patau jali on Panini.

Kautilya

made

and therefore

in

Bhaaya on his own sutras

his

case the

element of

not be present.
It is said that Vatsyayana's

very
that

diificalt to

the

understand and

writer whose

of Arthasastra,

criticism

can

Bhasya on Nyayastitras
it

is

appears rather strange

avowed object was

to bring philos-

ophy within the comprehension of ordinary mortals and

whose style, so lucid and so beautiful, should be regarded
as difficult to understand.

The
The

difficulty

is

not in

the

sutras are a patch-work.

Bhasya, it is in the sutras.
In their compilation and in their revision the working of
The object of these
several haads is clearly visible.

13

08

revisions and interpolations is not always the advancement

of the science, but the interest of parties. And Vatayayaua

had

before

him

the difficult task of reducing this hetero-

genous mass into a harmonious system. That is the reason

why he is often obscure and it cannot be asserted that
his Bhasya, too,

been tampered with in party

has not

interest.

But

to

services,

tion

of

understand his

difficulties

and

to appreciate his

necessary to give a history of the compilathe stitras in general, and of the Nyaya stitras in
it is

particular.

The Vedic

Dharmastitras

Grhya the
century B. C. The

the Srauta, the

siltras,

were over in the sixth

Vyakarana and other sutras of the Aiigas ended

The sutras on
Panini, Pingala and their followers.
subjects of ordinary concern in human affairs ended perThen came
haps with the Kamasiitras of Vatsyayana
the philosophical sutras.
But stitra or no stitra, the
philosophical speculations were there from seventh and
Sik^a,

with

sixth centuries B. C. or earlier.

There was a great upheaval of Indian mind in the

seventh and sixth centuries B. C. and perhaps earlier.
There seem to have been no internal or external war to
disturb

the

peace of India.

And
devoted

the

the

classes,

higlier

the

entire

energy
Brahmanas,
of their mind to the advancement of thought, moral,
It was in fact an
spiritual, social, economic and so on.
all round advancement.
Every one aspired to say someespecially

thing new,

to

solve

thing to the extent of

some

difficult

problem,

human knowledge,

to

add somealleviate and

to

assuage some suffering and to do something to make life

tolerable and pleasant.
Everyone ran with some new
idea and there

was so much

of preaching

and

so

much

of

propaganda work, [f we look into the Upani^ads, the latest

Vedic age and the writings of the early

effusions of the

99

Buddhists aud Jainas one thing that strikes

is

the enormous

Each

of

number

them had

to S3,y

a precept, a concept,

In the

of authors or teachers.

something,

something

something made more

refined.

names

of

to

a new idea, a dogma,

add

to

systematic, more

early Upanisads

us, as strangej

our knowledge,

and more

clear

(Vedic) even

the

five

organs of work were not

well known, for we often meet with such expressions in

organs of perception and

and

Taittiriya

older

other

manah, vak,

srotraip,

five

tvak,

Upanisads

as

Cakauh,

and Annam, pranah, cakguh

srotram.
It is

fro^n these primitive notions that

sutras

phisopliical

to

refined

The process

distinctions.

is

we reach

classifications

long,

tedious

and had taken many centuries.

difficulties

in the

and subtle

and

full of

Scholars are

apt to say that the seeds of the philosophical sutras

to
is

be

were

be found in the literature of the nx:)heaval. But this

The accurate way of saying would
rather misleading.
various

that the

be found

topics dealt with in the sutras are to

in a germinal stage in the
form

in a primitive

literature

of those days.

Some

of these topics

traced with considerable ability by the

according

the

Japanese scholar

the Vaise^ika Philosophy

Dasapadarthi Sutra. Four elements

Mr. Ur, in the introduction

to

have been

to

Upanisads were, Mahabhutas and as such not

Pakuda Kacoayana, one of the six heriatomic.
in

the

Budhists, says that Earth, Fire, Water

pleasure, pain and soul are neither made, nor
caused to be made and that they are barren.
This is not
tical teachers of the

and Air

yet atomic.

quantity of

But he held body and things have the same

elements but they are not same in appearance
;

an atomic theory
may suit better than any other, and it also appears
as a natural consequence Jainas maintain that everything
to reconcile

this distinct contradiction

100

in this world except the soul

and mere space

is

produced
from matter (piidgala) and that all matter consists of
atoms or Paramdnus. Matter, however, may be in a
gross state or in a subtle Ptate, innumerable atoms occupy
the space of one gross atom. Atoms are eternal as regards
their substances, each

atom has one kind

and colour and two kinds

of

of

The

touch.

taste, smell

how-

qualities

permanent and fixed for several atoms but

they may be changed and developed in them. The
VaiSesika system of atoms is more advanced than this.
It has different kinds of atoms corresponding to the
ever, are not

four elements, while in

Jaina system the atoms are

Thus Mr. UI has carefully collected

only of one kind.

from the Indian
modifications

the

and Chinese sources the conditioES and

the

of

atomic

theory in all its various

It is
stages from the Upanisads to the Vaiaesika sutras.
a very interesting investigation and repays perusal. It

is

possible

similarly

theory from

its

to

inception in 6th

the period of the philosophic

As

the development of every

and 7th centuries B.Q. to

trace

stltras.

have already said, we would look in vain for the

But if

origin of the satras in the period of the upheaval.

we

look for the origin of the various topics treated of in

the sutras, we are likely to meet with l)etter success

These various topics were started early and criticised,

remodelled and refined. Each school took such topics

wanted and in such form as it wanted.

schools were formed, some were short-lived

as

Various

it

Kalakaranikas,

remained

and

then

for

Isvarakaranikas,
centuries

disappeared,

to

Arthacintakas,
as

the

others

human

thought

Ajivakas,

Cel^kas,

influence

such

like

Parivrajakas and others. Some |have come down to us

and their traditional number is six. But the number six is
variously counted

Bauddha, Arhata,

A^aisesika, Saqikhya,

101

Mimamsa and Nyava

want

to

one way of counting six. If you

introduce Lokayata, omit Nyaya, which is akin to

Vaisesika.

group

of

The

is

modern
namely,

six,

Samkhya and Yoga

counting enumerates another

Uttara Mimamsas.

Purva and

Nyaya

and Vaisesika.

There

another group of six Brahma, Isvara, Bauddha,

is

Arhata,

Samkhya and Lokayata. So there are several groups

according to the time and taste of the writers.
So there was a time when these ideas were mooted in
Indian Scciety.

They were

were grouped

for

systematized.

The

So

if

sutra

and

criticised

refined.

They

purpose of forming schools and

were compiled sometime later.
to be made i^ito the origin of these

the

sutras

an investigation is
works, one has to begin with the various adhikaranas

or single-topics which

This

is

the

compose the sutra work

general history

philosophic thought in India.

yana's Bhasya

systems

of

we have much

the

Buddhists

stigmatises the Vaisesika

the

of

development

of

with Vatysyawith the heterodox

In dealing
to

and

system

do

and Saipkara
Ardhavainasika or

Jainas
as

were Nihilists pure and

supposed in many quarters to have been

Half-Nihilist, while the Buddhists

simple and it is
unorthodox.
The savant

who composed the sutra took a

from the current thought of the
time, interpreted them in his own Wciy and stringed them
together into Ahnikas and Adhyayas.
Nyaya follows the
number

of adhikaranas

footsteps of the Vaisesikas only giving

Logic than

to

Physics

and Metaphysics.

therefore, of the systems will be useful

and appreciating the work

The

is

more attention
in

Some

to

history,

understanding

of Vatsyayana.

system studied and investigated in India

the Vedanta system as taught in the Upanisads.
But
earliest

Upanisads were long regarded as a part of the Brahmanas

and used in Karma Kanda and so they were kept within

102

Brahmanic circle. The distinction between Jnaaakanda

and Karmakanda came in very late. So the philosophy
of the Upanisads remained, so to say, in abeyance and did
not develop

we hear

the sixth centurj'-

till

who studied Upanisads

rise

in

A. D.

centuries

later

Aupanisadas,

as a school of Philosophy,

i.e.,

giving

So the oldest

the Vedantins.

to

thought in India developed the

Next

Tn the seventh
'

in Harsacarita of a school of

latest.

Vedanta comes Samkhya, the enumerative

fix ideas by numbers and in

to

philosophy, the attempt to

fact in the Kapila Sutras,

number, almost every

sutra contains a number, thus showing that the word
Samkhya is significant. But the age of these 22 sutras is
2,2

in

They show much advanced

not certain.

ideas,

such as

Tripramana, which may be later than that of Nyaya

Scholars are unanimous in thinking that the earliest work
of

Samkhya

extant

is

the 70 Karikas of ISvarakrsna. There

are three

more Karikas giving the succession

and other

historical information about the school.

that there

was

work

of

teachers

These

saj^-

entitled Sastitantra, one

chapter of
which treated of the opinions of other schools and another
of the stories.

Now

there

is

work

in six chapters

known

as Samkhya Pra^acana one chapter of which contains

refutation of the doctrines of the other schools from a

Samkhya point

view and another chapter treats of

of

who

attained Siddhi easily by Samkhya

But scholars are again unanimous in rejecting
practices.
of
the Samkhya Pravacana as an old body of
the claim

stories of votaries

They say that the work is full of Vedanta ideas

and was composed by Vijnana-Bhiksu, the author of the
Bhasya who belonged to the llfh or 12th century and was
sutras.

a follower of Samkara.

Bom. Sans

have found a sutra from the

Servirs Harsacarita

p.

316, "^1.

0.

103

Sastitantra in Gaudapada's Bhasya on the 70 karikas

unfortunately that sutra

is

'

but

not to be found in the

Samkhya
The Pravacana might have been based

Pravacana Sutras.

on the Sasti-tantra but

it

has

been so much altered

by
be beyond recognition.
So the oldest work on Samkhya extant is the collection
of 70 Karikas by Isvarakr^na written in the 5th century of
later modifications as to

the Christian Era or earlier. But there

were collections of

one of which called the Sastitantra

is vouched by the Karikas themselves. The meaning of the
word Sastitantra is involved in obscurity but a modern

sutras, the existence of

commeatator, Narayana, has boldly cut the Gordian knot

by declaring that the work contained sixty topics and by

But we know
which
the
Bhagavat-Gita
Saipkhya

giving the names of the topics.

school

of

it

and

believes in Mahattattva

Kathopani^ad explain
between Avyakta and Buddhi.
;

of another

coming
Budha-

in his

Asvaghosa

the

carita speaks of the Buddhist idea of Nirvana as an advance

on

the

that

doctrines and his system

Samkhya

of

is

Bhagavat-Gita and Kathopani^ad.

certain grounds,

wo

find

the

same

Going

Samkhya being named

as
to

as a

school of thought by Kautilya in the 4th century B.C. This

is all that is known of the ancient Samkhya literature
before

ISvarakrsna.

The Parivrajakas were

the

oldest

school of wandering ascetics in India much older than the

Buddhists and the Jainas. Gunaratna in his commentary

on Haribhadra's SaddarSana Samuccaya says that these

were the, followers of Saipkhya. (P. 95, Bibl. Ind.
Edition).

no doubt that the Samkhya System got its

name from Saipkhya or number. It appears to have been

There

is

Comrn

Gau4

Karika

17.

104

Buddhism which it has profoundly inSome think that Buddhism is a direct outcome
fluenced,
of Samkhya and early Buddhism is full of SaipkhyS
Four Noble Truths, Twelve Ayatanas, Five Skandhas and
older

even than

so

on.

so

much

for a long time stuck to enumeration,

Buddhism,
so,

that

they

little

taught

numbers by

boys,

concepts.

As

have told you the

method

earliest

of

controlling

higher thought was by fixing the concepts by number.

The thoughts were fleeting, vanishing and difficult to fix
in the mind and still more difficult to impart and the
best way to deal with them was to number them.
But
when they became too many and when the sphere of

became necessary to invent another

method was comparison to find similarities

thought expanded

method and that

it

and dissimilarities among concepts fixed by number for the

purpose of classification and this is afforded by the Vaise^ik
Sutras in which Sadharmya and Vaidharmya was the keynote. Throughout the work the idea is similarity and dis-

In fact the special characteristics of the system

are Samanya and ViSe^a, Generalisation and particulari-

similarity.

sation or differentiation. It has got its

number

Take a
particularisation.
similarities or Sadharmaya
which you can predicate

till

to

name Vaisesika from

you come

all

go on finding

of things,

to

the things.

something
This

is

the

highest similarity. Then again, find dissimilarities and

come to the ultimate analysis to individualities, the lowest
In this way classifying and analysing
of dissimilarities.
all

the

numenon and phenomenon

comes to the ultimate

existence

Satta

and

of the world,

Kanada

generalisation Pura-Samanya i.
the ultimate differentiation that

e,,

is

Between these ultimates lie all phenomena to

which both similarity and dissimilarity can be predicated.

Viaesa.

The

History

of

the Vaiie^ika

Sutras

also

have a

105

chequered

It

life.

eighteen schools.^
Vaise^ika with ten
it

differing in

may

it

is

affirmed

known how

not

categories.

called the Prasasta

treatise

so

It

traditionally

many

It is also

that

far the

But recently comes from China

is .'correct.

what

is

well

it

had

tradition

school

known

of

that

but an independent
material points from the sutras,

Bhasya

is

be a Bhagya of the old style which amplified and

The editor of Prasastapada points

criticised the original.

out that 53 siltras have been omitted" altogether and that

Bhagyakara adopted an order of treatment of the subwhich is quite different from that in the sutras.

the
ject

There

another school called the Saptapadarthi, which,

though comparatively modern appears to be based on
an old one because the moderns have not the boldness to
is

start

to rely

new

school

they have

unless

some

old

school

upon.

Saipkaracaryya calls even Saipkhya unorthodox. He

condescended to criticise it because certain orthodox people
The treatment of VaiSe^ika in his
like Manu adopted it.

hands

is

more

Nihilistic.

drastic

He knew that

he
it

Ardha-VainaSika, half
had a heterodox origin though
calls it

was regarded as orthodox because the Kanada Sutras

The Sutra from
often appeal to the Vedas and Agamas.
China makes no such appeal. Kanada has put in a chapter
on the Vedas and defends Vedic rituals. For these reasons
VaiSe^ika is regarded as othodox in modern times.
The progress of philosophical methods from enumeration

it

comparison is represented by the systems of Samkhya

and VaiSesika. Then come arguments and discussion,
to

Nyaya, often mistranslated as Logic. The Nyayasutra begins with Pramana and ends with points defeat in
argument. There is much in the sutras which is outside the
that

is,

Ui. preface

14

Last page, preface, Beuares Ed,

1"6

(Jur forefathers used to call the

province of Logic.

That should be

sutras, TarkaSastra.

Examine the

art of descussion.

its

Nyaya

proper name,

sixteen categories of

the

NySya
means

them relate to discussion. (I) Pramana, the

which
we can discriminate which is true, (2) Prameya,
by
that which is ascertained by true knowledge, (3) Samsaya,

All of

doubt,

Prayojana,

(4)

object,

(5)

examples,

Drstanta,

Siddhanta, doctrine, (7) Avayava, syllogism, (8; Tarka,

attempt to find the truth in unknown subjects by argu(6)

ment, (9) Nirnaya, finding the truth, (10; Vada, finding

out truth honestly by hearing both sides, (11) Jalpa,

own

establishing one's

position by defeating the adversary,

(12) Vitanda, defeating the adversary without establishing

own

one's
(14),

(13)

position,

Chala, quibbling,

thana, points of

The

world.

reasoning

Nigrahasone object,

(15) Jati, futility, (16)

defeat.

All these

relate

There were Parsads

namely discussion.

false

Hetvabhasa,

men

learned

of

to

over the A.ryan

the locality formed the
all

They had to decide all sorts of cases, civil and

criminal.
They had to interpret Sastras. They had to
decide between the various schools of thought.
The
Tarkasastra is really a guide book to the Parsads.
The
Par^ad.

Privy Council of the king used

Pari^ad.

So wherever

it

man and man,

there

some

rules.

there were

named Tantrayukti
defeat,
is,

be called the Mantri-

was necessary to decide between

was a Parisad or Parsad and

The last Chapter of Kautilya,

If the
gives some of the rules.

and simple, the points of

Nigrahasthana, would have no place in it. One
if a party remains silent after he is called
upon to

Nyayasutra
rule

was

to

logic pure

reply by the Parisad three times he

no part of

logic.

is

defeated.

This

is

But the rule is necessary in a work for

There were other guide books

the guidance of discussion.

before these sutr^s were composed, for, in the Kathavatthn

107

composed

Third Council of the Buddhists held at

in the

Pataliputra in the 17th year of Asoka, the system

con-

of

ducting controversy was quite different. In that work, called

in English, Points of Controversy, the first point is
given
in full detail.
But in that detailed description of a contro-

not a word about syllogism.

The Mimamsa

versy there

is

method

conducting controversy also ^vas

of

different.

Visayo VisayaScaiva purvapaksastathottarah.

The Saptabhangi Nyaya of

asat, sadasat

methods
a

Sastro

pancangaip

Nirna3^asceti

the Jainas

and nasat-na-sat

of discussion.

book for the guidance

secondary importance in

As

of the

and the Catuskoti,

In fact in the

the topics to be treated of there, not a

sical

or

this sutra is

Philosophy has but a

of Par^ads.
it.

sat,

Buddhists are different

have said before,

Smrtam.

dhikaranaip

first

word

sutra giving

of

metaphy-

epistemological or of ethical importance,

is to

be

found.

They have been introduced under the head of

Prameya. But Prameya is a subject absolutely necessary
in a book for the guidance of judges.
The metaphysical
and other topics, if expunged, it would not in the least,
detract from
I

its

value as a book on TarkaSastra.

In

fact,

and I will now

show how these interpolations came in.
Originally it was an unsectarian work which could be

think, all these topics are interpolations

try to

used by

all

and that

classes of
of

the

work, the First

men

like the

Auther

Kainasutra but

Book with

it

of the ArthaSastra

was a very small

few sutras omitted.

The

commentators say that all philosophical sutras have three

parts, Uddesa, Laksana, and Parikaa, enumeration, definition and examination or criticism.
The enumeration of
given in the first sutra, the definitions are
spread over the first chapter. But the examination is
neither systematic nor exhaustive.
If systematic, one

topics

is

would expect that Pramana would be examined

first,

but

no

the

first

topic
in
four
Pramanas,
;

108

examined is Samsaya. Then come the

number and then Pramevas. The last

two heads Jati and Nigrahasthana occupy the whole

the Fifth Book.

of

The

Fifth Ghaper has two Ahnikas, one gives the names

of Jatis or futilities in argument and the other Nigrahasof defeat

thahas, points

Yet they do not seem

written by one man. For Matanujna

is

division of Jati in the first Ahnika,

and

to

be

described as a sub-

same Mata-

the

nujna is also described as one of the points of defeat. If

one man wrote both, he, could not have given the same
technical

name

in a philosophical

dissimilar in nature.
lists

These

lists

sutra to two objects so

seem

coming down from generation

to

to

have been old

generation and

These

having therefore acquired a traditional veneration.

are like appendices to the First Chapter
for while

Nyaya Sutra

of

defining Jati and Nigrahasthana, in the First

the
author seem to have done with them

Chapter
For he gave all the sub-di visions of HetvabhSsa and Chala
in book I, but in the case of Jati and Nigrahasthana, he
simply said that they are many. So he really finished
If you say, in the Fifth Chapter, the writer
with them.
'

'

there
simply expanded the meaning of the word many
The term Prakaranawill be another serious difficulty.

The same Prakaranasama

again one of the Jatis. The writer who can use the
same technical term for two things in the same philosoBut if he does so
phical work is not deserving of credit.
again and again, he is still more undeserving of credit.

sama

is

one of the Hetvabhasas.

is

Therefore, to save the reputation of the author of the

Nyayastitra it is better to call the two Ahnikas of the Fifth

Chapter

as

appendices in

incorporated.
In all other philosophical

which

old lists

sutras the

have been

enumeration

of

109

and the object of the

whole work stated there. But in Nyaya we have a second
Sutra.
The topics enumerated there in that sutra has

topics is generally given in one stitra

do either with logic or

to

nothing

discussion.

highest

They

degree.

hankering, fault and false

Why

with

regulation of

All the topics there are metaphysicial in the

after the full

are

misery,

transmigration,

knowledge and emancipation.

enumeration of

all

the topics necessary

for,"Tarkasastra, there should be necessary a second sutra

of a metaphysical nature is a puzzle
to solve it

means
sutra

is

by saying that Nihsreyasa in the first sutra

knowledge of self-emancipation and the second

satisfactory.

the

word

commentator
Nihsreyasa

knowledge alone but

says

that

the

be attained.

is to

His

record

to

necessary

emancipation
take

and Vatsyayana wants

in

Ministers,

men may

in

steps by

which that

The explanation

is

not

Uddyotakara does not

the sense of spiritual

more extended meaning. He

Merchants and even
Generals,
a

the
Nihsreyasa,
highest
in
of
their
lines
the
these
respective
prosperity
by
study
Tarka topics. So he does not confine himself to spiritual

ordinary

attain

I suspect that the second sutra was put

some
one
before
by
Vatsyayana who wanted to give this
non sectarian book on Tarka or Logic a sectarian or
metaphysical turn and there were in those days many

attainment alone.

in

who

held different views in metaphysical subjects.

Vatsyayana did not introduce the sutra himself, he took

sects
If

and to give the whole work a

metaphysical interpretation, and he became in fact the
founder of a school on metaphysics, which has at the

upon himself

to

defend

it

moment given rise to several sects.

may not be out of place to mention here

present
It

Second Sutra in Nayaya sutras smells

of

that

the

Buddhist paticca-

samuppada. Avijjappaccayasaipkhara, saipkharappaccaya-

no

Vinnanani,

Vinnaaappaccayonainanlpam,

namarupappa-

ccaya sadayatanaai, sadayatanappaccaya pliaipso, pbamsa-

ppaccaya vedana,

veduiiappaccuya tanha, tanhappaccayo

bhabo, bhavappaccayo

jatippaccaya jaramaran-soka
parideva-dukkha-domanassapayadi bhavanti.
jati,

I will now explain how the introduction of that siitra

has changed the whole aspect of the work. The topics
there cannot be included in any one of the topics of the

except prameya and in the laksana or description of prameya these have been put in at the end.
See
first

siitra

the 9th sutra

''

Atiua-Sarir-endriya-buddlii inanah

pravrtti-dosa-pretj-a-phala-duhkba.-

pavarg5h Pramej-am.''

The
all

first

acknowledged as prameyas by almost

The last six came from the second sutra

six are

the sects.

with a slight change of names in one or two cases. The

sutras 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 define the objects mentioned in that sutra.

Now,

let

us come

examination or pariksa of
The examination of samsaya, pramana and

these sutras.

to

the

items of prameya take up the second and the

The other six items occupy the first
third adhyayas.
the

first six

ahnika of the fourth chapter ending with metaphysical

ahnika
other
and
emancipation. The
tattvajnana

improves tattvajnana. So this whole chapter has nothing

to do with logic or a guide to discussion.
If, however,
the second siitra and its appendages are removed the
whole work will be rules for discussion and

think,

this

conversion of a book on logic to a book on metaphysics we

owe to a Buddhist savant. Tattvajnaan is not a category,
not one of the sixteen, then

why

it

should be examined at

such length ? As I have said before, the

orthodox people were not much in favour of TarkaSastra.
all

and why

Manu

hates

at

HetuSastra

which

is

another

name

of

HI

Tarkasastra

so this

of the heretics,

was

one time the peculiar property

at

Buddhists and others.

four

believed in

Nagarjuna

This sastra,

pramanas.

four pramanas.
The four pramanas are
four sutras 4, 5, 6. and 7.
Then uncalled for

too, believes in

defined in

comes another sutra

The object

thatvat.

"Sa (^abdah) dividhah dr^tadrstar-

8.

of introducing

this

sutra

appears

pramanas where there is

a long discussion on the authenticity of the Vedas
But
in this matter the interpolator, whoever he is, opposes the
expanded in the examination

of

Mimaipsakas who believe in the eternity of soimd. Thus

the work was made not only metaphysical but brahmanic,
and therefore, orthodox.
In the beginning of the lecture, I called

the

Nyayahave now proved that the

two ahnikas of the Fifth Chapter are by two men, and that
a patch-work,

stitra

and

they are different from the writer of the First Chapter and
that in the First Chapter there are at least two interpolations

made by two authors with two

second ahnika of the Fourth Chapter,

for

strange,

treats

it

category and stranger

I think, I

tattvajnana.

work.

But

if

of

still

am

The

distinct objects.

appears to be
tattvajnana which is not a

it

treats

too,

of

the increase

justified in calling

it

of

a patch-

the sutras are a patch-work, the task of makhomogenous whole is a very difficult

ing the patch-work a

work and

let

now

us

see

how Vatsyayana

has done his

work,

Vatsyayana was conscious of what he was doing that

he was introducing a spiritual significance into something

which is not exactly spiritual. But he has no hesitation,

no prevarication he goes straight to say that it is a spiritual

Seyaip
viksiki pramanadibhih padarthair vibhajyamana,
*,

science,

but not purely spiritual.

He

says

Pradipah sarvvavidyanamupayah sarvakarmanaip.

an-

Asrayah.

112

Vidyoddese

sarvadharmanaiji

prakirtita.

Tadidam tattvajfianam nihsreyasadhigamaitham yatbavidyam veditavyam. Ibato adhyatmavidyayam atmaditattvajfianam, nihSreyasadhigamopavarga-piaptih.

"
This science, anvlksiki, divided into

categories

pramana and others becomes the lamp of all sciences, the

means of all undertakings, and the refuge of all law as
the

said in

samuddesa
this true

Chapter

entitled

ArthaSastra

in the

knowledge

is,

for the purpose of the

according

and the highest good

He

(or

Vidya-

Kautilya).

Therefore,

to the gastra

(you study)

highest good.

spiritual science, the true

is

Vidyoddesa"
of

knowledge

But here in

this

Atma

etc.

is

that

emancipation.

boldly declares the sole object of the

sastra

to

be

attainment of spiritual excellence, but at the same time he

says that the porfessors of other sciences may also benefit

(Commentary on the First Sutra, at the end).

"
That the Nyaya-vidya has
struck a new path inasmuch as it has taken doubt etc.,
by

it.

In another place he says

as

categories.

Unless they were separately spoken

of,

would be a mere spiritual science like the Upanisads.

(P 4, JivaGanda's Edition). The doubt and the rest of
the categories, if not separately enumerated, but included
as they ought to have been, in the second category,
this

prameya, the science would be mere Adhyatmya-vidya.

Sat sat iti grhyamanaip
Tattvajnana, he defines
yathabhutam aviparitaip tattvaip bhavati. Asat ca asat

ili

grhyamanaip yathSbhtitam aviparitam tattvaip bhavati.

"
When entity is taken as entity, as it is, and not

contradicted,

it is

thatness Tattva and

when

non-entity

is

taken as non-entity, as it is, and not contradicted that also

is Tattva.''
This is so like the Buddhist Tathata. The

next quotation, too, smells of Buddhism

Heyaip tasya
nivarttakam hanam atyayitikaip tasyopayo dhigantavyah

113

ityetani catvari artliapadani.

Samyak buddhva

nihsreya-

samadhigacchati.
Is it not the

"

same

as the

Four Noble Truths

Ye dharmS hetuprabhava hetuntesaip Tathagatohya-

vadat

Tesanca yo nirodho evam

vadi mah5nramanah,"
the
and
Dukkhara, Dakkha-saumdayo, Dukkha-nirodhoand
Dakkhanirodhagaimini patipat, of the Mahayaoa and of
the Pali

Buddhism? Even Vatsyayana, who has made

the

NyayaSastra Brahmanic, and orthodox metaphysics, sails

close to Buddhism.
The Nyayasutra wants to prove the

prameya, the object of knowledge both subjective and objective from pramanas, proofs. The Buddhists say how do you
establish your proofs themselves ?
The Nyaya-sutra says
like lamps, they illuminate themselves.

of his

works says

the dark, but

tion,

page

5).

it

"

No, the

Nagarjuna

one

in

lamp can illuminate others in

cannot illuminate

(Ui, Introduc-

itself."

This shows that Nagarjuna

is

later

than

But Nyaya sutra attacks Stinyavada

Nyaya
of Nagarjuna and therefore, Mr. UF comes to the conclusion that the sutra and Nagarjuna must be contemporathe

ries

Stitra.

and

as he

so

goes.

refute

But

whole of the sutra

Mr.

each other.

UI

have established the

is

right so far
fact that the
is

not the work of one man, but of six

men, at least, at six different times. Nagarjuna may refute

one of the earlieer works, namely, that containing the first
chapter minus the interpolations and the greater part of the
second and third chapter. But I am afraid the fourth chapter in which Sunyata and VahyarthabhaAga are dealt with
is

not written by the same

later

than Nagarjuna,

because

theories as Isvarakaranika.

hands

it

is

15

useless

to

That chapter may be

author.

also

it

As the work

attempt to

fix

refutes such late

is

the

by different
date

of

its

114

It

composition.

sufficient to say that the

is

whole book

was compiled between 200 B.C. and 300 A.D.

And

therefore

services

of

to

Vatsyayana

He

India.

now propose

made

has

the

dwell

to

the

upon

the philosophic literature of

heterogenous mass of sulras

compiled from the vast quantity of floating philosophical

speculations of the period into a homogenous whole and
given

a character and consistency

it

On

1600 years

the one hand,

which has lasted nearly

he defended

the

system

against the advocates of extreme idealism of the Mahay ana

Buddhists, like Nagarjuna and Deva and on the other hand

he defended
schools of

against the advocates of the extreme orthodox

His common sense rebelled
the Brahmins.

it

against the theory that the world was produced from void,
and that what we see outside has no reality beyond the

impressions

left in

our mind, as well as against the theory

Vedas were eternal and that

the world was either eternal or all non-eternal and eo on.
that sound

was

eternal,

the

He

stood manfully in the midst of extremists, kept the

evtremists of both sides at arm's length and vindicated
common sense He proved the authenticity of the Vedas,

not by declaring that sound was eternal but in the ordinary

way, because, the seers and speakers were reliable men.

Just as you rely upon your physicians and doctors so

you rely on the Bsis
They have seen the law and they
are mo?it competent to advise and instruct in what to do and

what not

to do.

God

ment

of

He

not an

is

justice

as

But

his greatest

angry God nor

tempered with

according

God

a Personal

to

work, for the

stitra

doee

is

the establish-

and as a Moral Governor.

a benevolent

mercy

Karma.

service

This

God but imparts

and dispenses rewards

is

not believe

own

Vatsyayana's
in

God and

the

road alone will j)roduce an impresbut

sion that the Nyayasutra is Nirisvara i.e., Godless
section

on

rewards

if

115

he explains the sutras in a different way. There is no

But he says there is Atma, one
isvara in the categories.
of these

Atmas

tural powers,

ledge and

full

man

to

the

of
full

of

eight supernaof true kLOw-

righteousness,
concentration of mind.

of

He can do

he sets in motion the inner workings

and elements in their own work. He is father

whatever he
of

Isvara, the possessor

is

full

wills,

Omniscient.

He

the Omnipotent and

beyond comprehension of all creatures.

he

creatures,
is

In later literature he

is

is

the

seer,

Siva and &o Haribhadra says

"Ak^apadanaye Devo

srsti

samharakrt Sivah.

Vibhurnityaikasarvajiio nityabuddhisamasrayah."
And Siva has remained the object of veneration of the

Naiyayikas even

The

to the

services

Vatsyayana are certainly great in

and his (services are no less

of

Metaphysics and

present day.

in iieligion

valuable in the matter of regulating the rules of discussion

The proceedings settled by him

followed in all Hindu courts and

or vicara.

in his

are

controversies.

still

The Madhyastha

sits in

Bha^ya

the place of the Par^ad and hears

both sides, weighs the arguments on both sides according

down by him and decides. The rules are

The most important thing in an Anualso tbe same.
maua is syllogism and the Nyaya Sutra lays down that
have live limbs. But there are some who
it should
discard two of them and reduce the number to three.
to rules laid

Hence some people think that the Hindus have derived

their form of syllogism from Aristoltle who belonged to
But this is not correct. For
the fourth century B.C.
the limbs or parts

ot

syllogism

were

at

one time

ten,

for so says Vatsyayana

commentary on the Avayava
Sutra ([, i, 32) and he gives their names and functions
and says that laterly they were considered superfluous and
in his

Mr. Ul has shown

in a note on p. 83

of his

preface that

116

Bhadrabahu who died iii 293 B.O. elaborates a form of

syllogism with tea members. These ten by later criticism
were reduced

So the Indians developed their

syllogism independently of the Greeks.
Vatsyayaua has
been vehemently criticised by Dinnaga in the middle of
to

five

the 5th century A.D. and so he must have lived sometime

before Dinnaga.
So the services of Vatsyayana

and Religion

of the

to

Logic,

Hindus are invaluable.

Metaphysics

Lecture VI.
During the 5th Century of the Christian Era, when
the Guptas were the masters of nearly the whole of India,
there was in the Vatsyayana family, a Vedic schohir named
wide fame and deep learning. He was the
master of all the sciences of his day and an expert in all

Kuvera

of

sorts of sacrifices.

He had

four sons

of

whom

the

last

was Pasupati
his son was Arthapati who performed
innumerable secrifices. His son was Cittrabhanu who
;

kept up the reputation of his ancestors by his learning and

His son was Vana. Vana lost his mother early'^
piety.'

and
his

He

his fathers at fourteen.^

Vana received

his education in

own

family, but became very unruly and led a wild life.

went on travel. In his tour round Northern India he

had a large following including dancers, actors, musicians,

nuns etc. Though peox)le admired him for his learning,

Brahmanic purity of life was not very

However, after some years of wild and roving life
great.^
he become chastened.^ On his return home he took his
his reputation for

position as the head of the Vatsyayana family which could

then boast of many learned and highly cultured Brahmanas.

He took
^
^

a great delight in Vedic

both Srauta

sacrifices,

Harsacarit, I para 26. Ed. Grajendra Godkr.

* Ibid
Ibid para. 26.

'

Ibid.

Ibid para. 27.

118

and Smarta and

when

in

many

of the

Once upon a

fine- arts.'

work he was eujoying the cool

breeze of the Sona, a man came gallopping on horseback
and alighting from his horse was introduced to him by his
low-caste brother Candrasena, unfolded his turban," handed
him a letter. He read it with intense attention, as it was
from Krsnagupta, the Prime-Minister of Harsavardhana
time

of

after the day's

Krsnagupta pointed out to him that this

opportunity to seek an interview with the great

Thanesvara.

was a

fine

Emperor.^ Next morning Vana prepared for the journey

and in a few days came to where the emperor was in

camp/ The encampment was of a vast dimension and

Vana describes it with a vividity and minuteness which
would do honour

to

any poet

of

any country and

of

any

age.

On
him

entering the Imperial Court Krsnagupta beckoned to

while he was conferring with

the Emperor on state affairs.
The conference was long
and in whispers, which irritated Vana very much, flowto sit quietly close by,

end of the conference Krsnas:upta introduced

'^
the Emperor who simply remarked
Mahdnaya?7i

ever, at the

Vana

to

hhujangah.^'

The remark

irritated

Vana

The

most.

word means not only a serpent but also a "dandy" a

"ladies' man."
Vana thought that the king railed at him
for his behaviour during his tour, but Krsnagupta soon
found an opportunity to soothe his irritation and in a
Vana's position
short time Harsa and Vana were friends.
in the Imperial

Court was very high and he was very

happy/'
After prolonged

stay

at

the

camp with

the

Ibid II, para,

1.

Ibid
II,

paras

Ibid II, para.

7.

* Ibid
II,

10.

Ibid II, 18.

Ibid II, 19.

Emperor

&

7.

U9

Vana became anxious

be in the

to

midst of his family

and secured permission to visit his native place.^ At home

he found the whole family engaged in listening every
evening

to

the recital

a Pravamflna-prokta IPurHna.-

of

Parana came every evening, opened a

palm -leaf manuscript, read out long passages from it and
went away just before dusk to say his evening prayer.
reciter of the

the attentive

Among

One

listeners

were the four cousins of

them remarked after hearing the history

"
of ancient kings in the Purana
These kings of antiquity
had but small territories, yet the Purana records so
Vana.

much

of

achievements and

of their

of their

virtue.

Our

Emperor Harsa has vast territories and he is so virtuous and popular. Why do you not,
Vana, write a
Purana embodying an account of his work." Vana
nodded consent and began to write the Harsacarita.^
Thus began in the early years of the Seventh Century
a historical literature in
fruitful

in

the

the

One

results

now putting forth the best

why it was not fruitful in
unfortunate fact that Vana did not
is

beginning

of the reasons
is

beginning

live to finish his

his vigorous

which though not very

India,

the

work.

If

and inimitable

have followed

in

his

he could have finished

style,

wake.

it,

in

others would certainly

Vana could not

Because

people thought that history was an inauspicious

The same was the
subject and by all means avoided it.
case with the Katha Literature which Vana began with
finish

it,

Kadambari, but which he could not

Katha Literature, therefore, did not flourish,
his

finish.

The

though his

worthy son Bhusana completed bis work.

Vana's Harsacarita is the first historical work written
in Sanskrit.

in,

1.

In ancient India there were

Ibid III, 4.

and

histories

3 Ibid
III,

7.

120

have already told you that history ranked as a Fifth

Veda. But we get no historical works of that time, The
I

we get

only thing

is

the

list

of kings

of the

various

dynasties that ruled in India, and in Magadha only we

get along with the names the duration of each reign,

Mr. Pargiter who has investigated the subject carefully,

Be that as it
says that the lists were kept in Prakit.

no doubt that the men who prompted Vana

write the Harsacarita thought they were asking him
do something new. They were asking him to do for a

may, there
to
to

is

modern king what the Puranas did

and Vana did his work in the spirit

for the ancient kings

of a

teenth or Twentieth century historian.

of his

then of his; immediate

Gotra,

modern Nine-

He

gives a history
ancestors to the

5th generation, and an autobiography of himself, and also

the occasion which induced him to write the history of the
In writing an account of his own life he
did not paint himself as an immaculate person but painted
himself as he was, without hiding any of his faults. He

king he served.

was an ardent admirer

his

faults.

In

of the

the true spirit

king but he has not spared

of a historian he gives the

history of the dynasty to which the king belonged.

What

he says about Prav&karavardhana, Rajyavardhana and

Harsavardhana is well known from the histories of India

which

have

all

exploited

what

historical

information

he has given. The book throws a flood of light on

Indian life at the beginning of the 7th century A.D.
Vana's Kadambari is a tale, but it is a wonderful
tale.

It

extends over three

characters, there are words

births

of

number

which are three four

of its

lines long

and sentences, which run over four or five pages. One

of my professors measured a sentence by a string in the
old edition of the Kadambari in very small type and the
string was 36

ft.

long.

The

story is a wonderful

mixture

121

of the Natural

The moon becomes

and the Supernatural.

one birth Tarapida, the Prince of Qjjaiu, and in another

Sudraka, the king of Vidia, and Punndarika, the son of

in

Laksmi becomes Vaisampaj^ana

The story resembles
a parrot.

in

one birth and in another-

in

many

features the Pali

Buddhist story of Syamavati translated into Bengali from

Chittagong about 30 years ago. That story, too, goes
through several transmigrations of the soul. The story
of Kadambari comes from that inexhaustible source of
the

stories,

Vrhatkatha

of

Gunadhya now

lost

but

re-

The
presented by the Katha-Sarit-Sagara of SomeSvara.
only other work of Vana known is Candiataka' which
goddess Durga. Three
This one by Vana,
Satakas were written about that time.
the Suryyasataka by his father-in-law, Mayura, and the
Bhakta-marastotra
by Manatunga the three Satakas

one hundred verses on

contains

representing the three great religions flourishing side

by

side in the capital of Har^a.

V(lts3>yana the Physician.

The Pancatantra names two physicians

Salihotra

(i)

of AsvaSalihotra,
Vatsyayana."
Western Punjab
But
was an inhabitant of
sastra
Vatsyayana certainly belonged to the family of Pritikuta

and

the

(ii)

on the banks of the Sona

his

Prasthanabheda says

Ayurveda.

From

this

anthor

Modhusudana Sarasvati

that

Kamastitra

Weber

seems

part of
think
that

is

to

in

Vatsyayana the Physician mentioned in the Pancatantra

From the
is the same as the author of KamaSastra.

mere mention of a name it is impossible to draw any

But I am inclined to think that there may
inference.
1

Printed in the KavyainSla Series.

See Webers Sanskrit Literature 166

16

&

267 and note.

122

have been a physiciun of the family of Vatsyayana as the

Gotra was a learned and an extensive one, and the period
of their

influence

turies.

The

Magadha extended over many

iu

author

the

of

in the 6th century

A.D knew more

was

which

Paficatantra

translated into Pehlevi under orders of

cen-

Khusru Nauservan
of the

Vatsyayana

family than we in the 20th century and even Vana in the

7th century.
Madhusudana Sarasvati's inclusion of

Kamasastra

Ayurveda seems

in

have the result of

to

modern neglect of the study of the Sastra. In modern

times Kamasastra meant only the sastra of union, and of
But in ancient times it meant
aphrodisiac mdicines.
much more. It included five hundred and eighteen fine
arts,

in

tolerable

fact

all

that

contributed

and pleasant.

make human

to

included also

It

life

domestic and

social regulations of the best kind.

The ancient Kamasastra was one

divisions

and ranked with Dharmasastra,

of the sastras

ArthaSastra and

of the four recognized

Mokssastra.

The author

tantra in ancient times would not venture to

Madhusudana Saras vati

but an

did, a branch of

of the Panca-

make

it

as

Ayurveda which

Artharva-Veda which goes

Upaveda
under the head of Dharmasastra.
is

the

to

Subandhu.

Subandhu,

Gupta emperors.
Fitzedward

believe,

All

belonged

the

to

Magadha under

the

speculations about his date

Mr. Grey of the Columbian

Hall and
seem
to
be of not much avail. In the new series
University
of the Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic
Society of

by

wrote in page 253

discoursing on the excellences of style
belongs to the 9th century A.D. in his

Bengal Vol.
In

who

I,

Vamana
Kavya-

123

quotes

laipkarasiitravrtti

verse

as

au example

of the

named significance (sabhiprayatva).

verse or rather hemistich runs thus

excellence

The

Soyam samprati Candraguptatanayas CandraprakaSoyuba.

Jato

krtadhiyam di^tya krtartha-

bhupatirasraj'-ah

sramah.

The son

raja

Candra-

the refuge of learned

fortunately his endeavours are successful.

men and

has

prakasa

of

young

now become

Commenting on
"the refuge

the

Caadragupta,

of

tlie

this,

learned

author says that the words

are signilicant because

men"

they bring to mind the fact that Subandhu was one of

Now there were two Gandraguptas in the
his ministers

Gupta Line. Both were called Vikramaditya.

was the founder of the empire and the second
son.
The second Candragupta was a patron

men

Is

it

not likely that

The

first

his grandof learned

Subandhu served under one

of

his sons,

Candraprakasa ?
controversy was raised

in the Indian

Antiquary in

years in which an attempt was made to make the

words '' ca Subandhu into Vasubandhu. But Mr. Nara-

later

siipha Cariar

out that

it

after

consulting

many manuscripts

pointed

was ca Suhandhu and not Vasubandhu.

ray theory stands that

Subandhu belonged

to

the

So

reign

Candragupta II and the subsequent reigns. The only

argument that can be urged against this theory is that
of

Subandhu

in

one place writes

N yciyasthitiriva U ddyotaka-

and so Subandhu knew Uddyotakara, the

author of Nyayavarttika, who, Vacaspati Misra says,
defended Vatsyayaua against the attacks of Dinuaga".
rasarvasvci^

But the

facts so far

17 Bell.

Inded.

known make

p.

235,

the dates of

Dinnaga and

Nyayavarttika*

124

Uddyotakara

later than

think

questions should be

these

get over

the

prakasa who
in

his

that

that

fact

left

But

II.

Candragiipta

One cannot

open.

Subandhu served under CandraHand Subandhu

his Vasavadatta laments that after the

to

death of Virkramaditja'
going to rack and ruin.

who,

people""^,

(Gandragupta

He
I

II)

the

world

to

care

much

is

very bitter against khalas

is

believe,

brought about the

ruin of his patron Gandraprakasa and of himself.

The plot interest of his work is nil and the

seems not

was the son of Gandragupta

preface

or envious

of

for

All

it.

author

he cared

for

were his puns and in that he has shown a mastery never

He was conscious of his superiority and as
surpassed.
prefaces are always written after the works themselves
to which they are prefixed, he gives a criticism on his

own work which

endorsed by

subsequent critics
cakre
Subandhuh sujanaiSarasvatidattavaraprasadah

kabandhuh

is

all

Pratyaksaraslesamayaprabandhavinyasavaidagdhyanidhirnibandham".

There

is

pun

in every letter as he

The

says.

story

is easily told.

Kandarpaketu, the son of Cintamani, a king, dreams

in the morning of a damsel of exquisite beauty and goes
in quest of her.
He sleeps under the spreading arms of
a mighty tree in the Viudhyas and awakening at midnight
She was
hears the quarrel of a parrot and his consort.

angry for his coming late and he falters forth an apology

"
I had been to
There Vasavadatta, the
Pataliputra.
daughter of the king had a Svayambara but she rejected
all the assembled princes and in a dream saw a youth of
*

Preface Vas.. 10

iUd

13.

IMd

voisck 7

&

8.

125

great beauty and sent her female friend in quest of him.

I
have brought the female friend here. Kandarpaketu

was greatly interested, he rose up and saw the young

woman. She took him to VaSavadatta where they learnt
that the king had resolved to give her in marriage to
another the next day. They fly away and hide themselves
bower of creepers in the Vindhyas, But when the
in the morning he finds Vasavadatta
Ijriuce awakes
He roamS over great many places and at last
missing.
in a

finds

stone

statue

of

exactly

same shape

the

as the

that the

He touches the statue and lo she is

tells him of her adventures.
Anxious
prince may have some food on awakening she goes

into the

wood

object of his love.

She
Vasavadatta.

by an army

army

of

to find roots

of

wild

wild

and fruits and she was assailed

tribes

tribes

luckily

close by,

was another

there

and the two

tribes fought

with each other to obtain the possession of her person.

But both armies perished, but at this time in came a

whose hermitage the armies in their fight had

destroyed.
Thinking that she was the cause of the
Rsi

stone.
She
was innocent and he

destruction, he cursed her to be turned

implored him not

said the

to be

angry as she

into

curse will terminate at the touch of

she loves.

the

prince

There the story ends and they return to the

where they passed their days

capital of the prince's father

happy and prosperous.

Aryabhata.
Pataliputra was the birth-place of another

very great

man, namely, Aryabhata, the father of scientific astronomy

and mathematics of the Hindus. He was born in 476
A D. and wrote his Kalakriyapada here at the age of 23

126

499 A.D.'

He was a student of Greek Astroand

the
nomy
nuique notation which goes in his name
and which he gives in his Dasagitika seems to be an

that

is,

The consonants from kaadaptation of the Greek system

ma are valued at 1 to 25 and the eight vowels i, u, r, e,

to
1,

is
is

ou represent multiples of 100 each. Thus ka is 1, ki

100, ku is 10,000, kr is 10 00,000, kl is 10,00,00,000, ke
This is a
10,00,00,00,000, kai is 10,00,00,00,00,000.

ai, o,

modified form of the Greek System.

One

of

fact that

it

Aryabhata's works

is

called BaMgltikci

from the

consists of ten verses in the Gitika metre

which

His other work, the Aryasiddhantika, consists of 108 verses and is divided in three secIn these
tions Kalakriyapada, Golapada and Ganitapada
is

a modification of the Arya.

two works the extent of

v^^hich

does not jointly go beyond

118 verses, Aryabhata has explained the whole system of

Hindu Astronomy. He is even more concise than the
philosophical

and

sutras

is

in strange contrast with the

astronomical Siddhantas which seem to have been written

and are very diffuse.

There seem to have been a

in prose

time

when Aryabhata

of Eras at the
There was the Malava

conflict

flourished.

Western Malwa, the Gupta Km known in the

Gupta Empire, the Saka Era, the Kalacuri Era and so
on all local and tribal eras. Not knowing in which to
date his works which was meant for universal use among
the Hindu* he took up the Kaliyuga Era known to all.
But in subsequent ages the Saka Era vp-as adopted by all
Era

in

astronomers in India.

The reason

is

not far to

seek for

not exclusively,

astronomy and astrology were,

very generally studied and professed by the Sakadvipi
Brahmins or Scythian priesthood the old Magii settled

in India

if

Kfllakitjapada vers 10.

127

from remote ages, for neither the Brahmins or

Buddha has expressthe Buddhists favoured astrologers.
from
Samyak Ajiva or proper
ly excluded Astrology
in India

livelihood.

motion
I

the

of

said

is

Aryabhata

earth'

have discovered

to

which he thought

leave the explanation of these

who

are

making

scientific

this time that

the old

diurnal

scientific matters to those

investigations
is certain that

But one thing

Astronomy.

the

to be spherical.

Krttika series

of

of
it

Hindu

was about

was

asterisms

and the new series commencing from the 1st

The first point of ASvini
point of Asvini was adopted.
recedes one degree or by one day in 73 years and it has
discarded

receded twenty days now giving a total of twenty into

The point
seventy-three (20 X 73) that is, 1460 years.
was on the equinoctial circle on the first day of Vaisakha

and now
seen

it is

on the 10th

So the point was

1921-1460 that is 461

Ohaitra.

of

1460 years ago, that is,

This is only an approximate

there

A.D.

accurate calculation

is

made

it

calculation.

will fall within

the

If

active

period of Aryabhata's life.

Aryabhata had many students and his next successor

Lalla was one of his pupils and some say Varahamihira,
^
too, was his pupil.
Aryabhata had another celebrated astronomer as his
contemporary. This was Varahamihira. In his Vrhajjataka

26th chapter, he says that he was son of

that
he was an Avantaka, that he received
Adityadasa,
his knowledge from his father and that he obtained a
the

in

book from the Sun-God

tells

at

Bhattotpala
say that he was a Magadvija,
*
^

Kampillaka or Kapitthaka.

us that he was a
i.e.,

Migadha

dvija.

Some

one of the Magii long

Panca-Siddhantika preface, page, LVII.

Gapakatarangiul Lalla and Varaha.

128

settled in India.

From

all this

the late Pandit Sudhakara

Dvivedi in his Ganakatarangiui infers

not impossible that Varaha was a

(p.

iJi)

that

Magadha Brahmin.

it is

He

He studied with
might have gone to Ujjain for livelihood
his father at his own house in Magadha and also studied
works

the
self

and
of

of

Aryabhata there, he travelled

make him-

to

known, he worshipped Sun-God at Kampillaka (Kalpi)

obtained a book from him.
I acquired a manuscript
his son's work Prthuyasah-Sastra at Samkhu the

northernmost part of the Nepal valley, the opening verse of

which says that the son Varahamihira asked his father
^

some questions while he was residing at the beautiful city

of Kanyakubja on the Ganges.
Varaha might have retired to Kanyakubja in his old
age to be on the Ganges and there imparted his knowledge to his son Prthuyasah.
commentator
Amaraja, the

Khandanakhandakhadya says that Varahamihira died in the Saka year 509

Some people think that Varaha wrote
that is 587 A.D.
his

Panca-Siddhantika in 505 A.D.

But
impossible
Varaha would then be only
this

after

of

is

if

we
18.

are

that
to

Saka

is

believe

Therefore

4:27.

Amaraja.

Dr Thibaut

carefully considering all the facts of the case thinks

that 427 Saka was the date when Lalla revised the
Romaka-Siddhanta and that the Panca-SiddhSnta was
composed about 550 A.D. So Varahamihira was a later

contemporary and perhaps a student of Aryabhata.

The Ganakatarangiui has given a list of Varaha
works and thinks that the Vrhat-Saipbita
an Eucyclopoedic work. It treats not only
is

It is

his last work.

of

Astronomy

of such subjects as gardening, agriculBis

ture, sculpture, strilak^ana, purusalakgana and bo on.
he
in
which
Pafica-SidhSnta
work
is
the
gives a
great

and Astrology but

summary

of all the

Sidhantas current in his time.

They

129

are five in nnmbftr Paulisa,

Romaka. VaSi^tha, Paitamaha

and Sur.yyasiddhaata. Varaha says that of these five

PmiliSa and Roraaka have been explained by Latadeva.
The Siddhanta made by PauliSa is accurate. Near to it
stands

the

accurate
far

is

by Romaka, more
the Savitra (Saura) and the two remaining are
Siddhanta

from the truth.

Skandha

of Jyotisa "'namely,

Jataka section has been borrowed

from the Yavanas

Kern says
its

proclaimed

This

or Greeks.

caryya

is still

the third

that

is

fact.

regarded as

The Yavana-Jataka of Yavan&an authoritative work on the

subject and there are other works like Miuaraja Jataka

in Nepal a
I found
also taken from the Yavanas.

manuscript of a Yavana-Jataka written in the character

of the tenth century oa palm-leaf which contains the
following statement at the end.
Iti

Bvabha^aracanabhiguptam

Vi^nugraha
ratnakara-vak-samudrat
nvitatattvadr^tih..
sndhaprasa
Idam vabhase niravadyavaktro
Horark^asastrm Yavanesvarah prak
.

Sphujidhvajo nama babhuva raj5

Ya Indravajrabhiridam

cakara.

NarSyanaAkendu mayadi drtva

Krtva caturbhir-matiman sahasraih.
Yavana-Jataka de

parisamaptah (Upendra-

Vajra Vrttam).'^

From

apparent that Yavanesvara translated

in Sanskrit a work which long remained hidden in his
this

own language

it

is

and that a Raja named

Pafisa Chap.

See

17

my

I.

3-4.

paper in

Ja k B part

I,

1897.

Sphnjidhvaja

130

rendered

tbe

vajra metre.
of

Sanskrit prose

The

translation

4000 verses

into

was done

an unknown era and versifications

the

same

the

translation

lOlst year

of

of

is

wrote a work on Jataka or

mihira

in the 9 1st year

in

one independent evidence of

Greek works in Sanskrit. Varaha-

Here

era.

in Indra-

to

Ganakatarangini, in that

According
Varaha quotes from three works
VrhajjStaka.

called

Horoscopy

work

of the

Greeks, Maya,
Yavana aud Manittha (Menetho) and he used many Greek
All this shows the influence of Greek Astronomy
words.

There

on Indian Jyotisa.

Mlechha

hi

is

a saying in

Gargya

that

Yavanaste^u samyak Sastram-idam sthitaip

kim punar Vedaviddvijah.^

The next important book that was written in Magadha
and at Pataliputra was the Degavalivivritih in the 17th
^sivattepi piijyante

But from Varahamihira in the 6th to the DeSacentury.

vali in the 17th century is a great jump.
But Magadha
was not

was

idle

intense.

these thousand years, rather

all

But unfortunately

its

activity

cannot include that

period of intense activity within the limited scope of

course of six lectures.
So I have confined myself

Brahmanical

strictly

The

literature.

activity

of

my
to

the

greater portion of these intervening 1000 years was confined

the

to

6th

Buddhist
century

literature.

is

great

The

rise

event in

of

Nalanda

Indian

in

history.

NSlanda continued to command the attention of the

world for more than five centuries when VikramaSila
rose under the Palas of Bengal and after Vikramaaila we

come

to

learned

Jagaddala

monks

all

in Bengal.

Nalanda used to send its

it drew students from

over the world and

parts of the world specially the east.

Yuan Chwang
received his education here and on his return became the
all

'

Ganait page

12,

131

second founder of Buddhism in China and his st.udents

carried the learning and religion of India to Japan, Korea,

Mongolia and Siberia. When the Chinese ceased to come,

came the Tibetans and Nalanda was the place where they
began the translation of Sanskrit works in Tibetan which
have preserved ten thousand of works from destruction
and oblivion. Then the centre of Tibetan translation
shifted

to

Vikramasila and

Nalanda was

literature of

and philosophical.

thence

to

The

Jagaddala.

the

in

beginning Maliayanist
which flourished
Tantra
began

It

philosophy of
In spite
Nalanda.
which was more scholastic than that of

in all its luxuriance

at

the

Vikramasila,

Vikramasila and in spite of Jagaddala, Nalanda continued to flourish and we have manuscripts written there

of

even

eleventh

in the

I have got manuscripts

character which professor

century.

in

Bengali
copied at Badgaon
Bendall thought belonged to the 14th century, but which
I

think was copied

Badgaon

is

well

The Buddhist

the

b(^fore

known

Muhammadan

conquest.

an integral part of Nalanda.

most interesting

to be

literature of this period is

edifying i)ut unfortunately it dies not exist

Most of
either in Sanskrit or in any Indian language.
Chinese
Tibetan
and
in
the
the works exist only

and

most"

translations,

some

them

of

Benc^ali have been found in

evf

in

Nepal and

n Southern India are contributing

Sanskrit works.

Japan

is

translations and Tibet

also

is

the

their

doing much

the history of the literature of this

Sanskrit

original

in

and

quota of these
contributing to

period

showing

western

or

from Chinese

activity

in

that

body of very learned men

and Berlin are actively engaged
Paris
centres in London,
in reconstructing a history of this period and I hope India
direction.

with

small

specially this province

not be lagging behind.

which

is

most interested

in

it

will

132

The

last

work which

vali-vivrti, a

wish

to describe is the

of Eastern India

DeSain the

gazetteer
composed
17th century at Mogiiltuly in Patna under the patronage of

aChauhan Zamindar named Vijjala Bhupati by his Pandit,

Pandit Jagamohan. One may think that the compilation
work was inspired by the Aini Akbari, but I think
that the inspiration came from a different quarter and the
of the

inspiration

is

absolutely indigenous.

Vidyapati was a greatman, he

Mithila's great poet

was the

first

write

to

name of Bhuparikrama. He was

Zamindar named Vikrama and his work is

gazetteer under the

followed by a

Vikramasagara
Vijjala Bhupati appears to have
been one of the descendents of Vikrama. So Vijjala's
But unforinspirations need not have come from Delhi.
called

tunately good manuscripts of the Gazetteer Literature are

Horace Hymen VVil>;on collected
not yet forthcoming.

a mass of fragments and

Sanskrit College

Library,

is

it

now

deposited

Calcutta and

in the

acquired some

fragments from Bankura which are now deposited in the

study of these fragments

have given us a mass of information about the Hindus
Asiatic Society of Bengal

three hundred years ago in Bihar, Bengal

ing districts, their

temples,

their

administration,

their

fortifications,

their foibles

and

their
their

their

their
trade,

places
their

of pilgrimage,

manufactures,

their

manners,

habits.

and the adjoin-

customs,
Vijjala was followed in

work by the Raja of Pancakot

whose poet'Ramakavi wrote a work under the name of

in this

department

of

Pandavadigvijaya.

Here

bring

my

course of six lectures on the

When

Literature to a close.

undertook

would have

to

Magadha

deliver

up most

my

my
thought
pages with the history of Buddhist and Jaina literature
of Magadha for I thought it would be difficult,
nay
lectures

to

fill

of

me

133

any work of Hindu Literature

But luckily the Kavyaexcept Kautilya's in i\Iagadha.
Mimamsa of Rajasekhara and the Har^acarita of Vana
impossible for

helped

me

to locate

to locate a

works instead

number

of

works there and these

being of sectarian interest are such that

all Indians, nay the whole world may be interested in
them.
I have, therefore, neglected the sects and selected
of

such works only as are of general interest.

It would have afforded me the greatest pleasure if
I could have finished these lectures during the administration of Sir

Edward Gait who

everything Magadhan and

researches in this province

took

keen interest in

always encouraged me in my
But as it is he will read

these pages in his retirement and have the satisfaction to

know that his humble friend has not neglected to fulfil
the task imposed on him.

HARAPRASAD

SASTRI.

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