THE GREAT INDIAN EPICS.*
THIRTY years ago, when Professor (now Sir) Monier Williams published his very useful little book, Indian Epic Poetry (now quite out of print), the Ramayana had already
been translated into French and Italian, and many of the more interesting episodes of both the great poems, such as the "Churning of the Ocean," and "Nala and Damayanti," had been translated into English by the earlier Orientalists, and had become known through being popularised or re- ferred to by Milman, Southey, and other literary men.
The Bhagavad-Gita (the famous philosophical poem which forms an episode of the Mahabbarata) had also been trans- lated, though the time for the fall appreciation of Indian philo- sopby in Europe had hardly yet arrived. But to Sir Monier Williams belongs the credit of having first put forth a brief and accurate English synapsis of the two great epics, one of which, the Mahabharata, is probably the longest poem in the world, consisting of upwards of two hundred thousand verses, though it bears traces of having been composed by many different authors at many different periods. Perhaps the Persian "Shah Nameh " is the longest poem ever com- posed by a single author.
In 1863, the veteran Orientalist, Hippolyte Fauche, who had already translated the Ramayana into French, commenced the formidable undertaking on which he had set his heart, the translation of the Mahabharata into French prose. He kept faithfully to his promise to issue two volumes a year of at least five hundred pages each, until his death, after the pub- lication of the ninth volume, in 1868. Vol. X., completing the Barna Parva, the eighth only of the eighteen books of the poem (though the remaining ones are much shorter than most of the earlier ones), was left ready for publication, and was issued early in 1870. It was announced that the work would be continued by G. Destailleur, and that the succeeding volume was in the press ; but this continuation never appeared, having doubtless been arrested by the war which broke out in the summer of 1870.
Since that time, however, much has been done to extend the knowledge of the Indian epics by complete English translations in India and England, as well as by more or less popular works on the same subject, an account of which will be found in Professor Oman's book. We regret, however, that some at least of these English translations are divided into sections, instead of the verses being carefully indicated, as was done by Monier Williams and Fauche. This plan would, we think, have greatly facilitated reference in the use of these translations. But in spite of these works, the epics are far less known to English readers than ought to be the case, and hence we welcome the appearance of a book which gives an interesting and read- able, if somewhat condensed, account of these two great poems, the longest of which—the Mahabbarata—is a
• The Oral Indian Epics the blories of the Bamayena and the 'Wallah harafa. By John Campbell Oman, Profen.or of Iintnrel Reiman In the Government College, Lahore. With NOt(Bi At VendlOCA. and Illustrative& London; Otergil Bell and Sees. 1604,
huge and inexhaustible compendium of Indian religion, tradition, custom, and belief, apart from the main thread of the story. Professor Oman, having lived a long time in India, has necessarily acquired much knowledge of the country and people, and gives an interesting account of the village performances which he has witnessed of the story of Rama, which seem much to resemble our own mediaeval miracle plays in character. This forma the subject of one of the quaint illustrations scattered through the book, the oddest of which represents the churning of the ocean by the gods and demons, to obtain the water of immortality.
Turning to the principal portion of the book, the prose outlines of the plots of the epics, that of the Mahabharata appears to us to be worked out most completely and success- fully. Here and there, however, the story might have been a little expanded, if only for the sake of clearness. Thus, the curious and interesting story of Sikhandin, the Cwneus of the Mahabharata, is given even less fully than in Sir Monier Williams's compendium, two disjointed and unconnected references to it being all that we find in Professor Oman's book. The Princess Amba, who was carried off by Bhishma along with her sisters (as related by Professor Oman, at p. 97, though he does not mention her name), was permitted by him to return to her fiance ; but be refused to receive her. Thereupon she immolated herself, and was reincarnated as Sikhandin, expressly for the destruction of Bhishma.
The Indian mind is too serious for us to look for very much which approaches wit or humour in these great semi-religious epics. Life is a very serious and solemn matter to the Indians—not a mere single existence with nothing behind it, and a vague, intangible future (if any) before it, but a single link in an endless chain ; and this gives life a dignity and importance which we in the West are at present unable to appreciate, and causes everything to be regarded in the most serious light. Thus anything which strikes the Western mind as comic in these poems usually arises rather from the grotesqueness and incongruity of the ideas than from any- thing else.
This is the case with the strange interview between Arjuna and the famous Apsara Urvasi, the heroine of one of the most beautiful of the Indian dramas, the Vikramorvasi of Kalidasa, the author of the better-known drama of Sakuntala. But the story of Arjana and Urvasi, which is imperfectly related by Professor Oman, has nothing to do with Kalidasa's drama, and may be briefly out. lined as follows. While Arjuna was at the Court of his father Indra, the latter saw that his son took particular notice of Urvasi, so Indra ordered her to make herself as agreeable as possible to him. But imagine her disgust when Arjana informed her in the most respectful terms, that he had only taken special interest in her, because he recognised her as his own great-great-grandmother ! Upon which, she turned upon him, and inflicted a severe curse, which Indra was forced to tone down as well as the circumstances of the case permitted. It was afterwards fulfilled according to Indra's interpretation, though not as Urvasi had intended it, by the somewhat degrading position occupied by Arjuna during his year's residence at the Court of King Virata.
Some of the most interesting episodes of both poems have been given a place in Professor Oman's appendices ; but we should have liked more of these, especially the curious story of King Janamejaya and the Sacrifice of Serpents in the Adi Parva (the first book of the poem), which is generally overlooked in popular books on Indian mythology and poetry. It is not even referred to by Monier Williams. The Ramayana is much the shorter poem of the two, and relates the adventures of the hero Rama, one of the incarnations of Vishnu, and especially his war against the Rakshasas, or demons, inhabiting Ceylon, whose king, Havana, had carried off Rama's consort Sita. (India was infested with Rakshasas too, but those of Ceylon appear to have been the most powerful and formidable at that time.) The Mahabharata relates the negotiations and wars between two rival families of cousins for the throne of India. But it must surely be through a slip of the pen that Professor Oman states that the Golden Age is supposed to have ter- minated with the battle of Kurukshetra. We believe that the Indians consider that the Kali Yuga, the Dark Age, or the Iron Age, in which we now are, commenced about five thousand years ago, soon after the battle aforesaid ; but even according to Ovid, it was the Copper (or Bronze), and not the Golden,
Age, which preceded the Iron Age ; in which, in a very different, though more literal sense, modern arobEeology
concurs.
The Ramayana is apparently the older poem of the two, and its substance is actually incorporated in one of the episodes of the Mahabharata. For the latter poem, at least in its present form, it will be seen that no very great comparative antiquity can be claimed, even in India, though we are not inclined to treat seriously the theories mentioned by Professor Oman, that the Ramayana may be an imitation of the Iliad, or that the Bhagavad-Gita may have been written under Christian influence. It is unfortunately in no very sympathetic spirit that Professor Oman approaches Indian philosophy, but in that of the pessimistic agnosticism of a portion of the West, than which nothing can be more at variance with it. It may be paraphrased as follows :—" Yes, it is all very fine, no doubt ; but what does it all amount to ? Nobody can know anything about such matters; and, at best, Indian philosophy, like all other philosophy, is no more than baseless imaginings." Hence it is not surprising that the references to Indian philosophy which occur here and there in this book are meagre and unsatis- factory. Our author's presentment of the important doctrine of Karma (p.137 note) can hardly be regarded as anything but a caricature. We have always understood Karma to be neither more nor less than the practical exposition and explanation of the saying of Christ,—" With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." The author would, perhaps, have done better to have regarded the vast subject of Indian philosophy as irrelevant to the plan of his work, and have re- ferred his readers to some other book where it is treated more fully and in a more sympathetic spirit. It is fortunate, not for India alone, but even for the world at large, that every one does not take so hopeless a view of philosophy as Professor Oman appears to do. A short list of the numerous translations of the Bhagavad-Gita in prose and verse (only one or two of which are briefly mentioned) might have been useful to those who do not know the book, but whose curiosity or interest may be excited by the short account of it which Professor Oman has given in an appendix. The most accessible of these, and perhaps not the least attractive to the general reader, is Sir Edwin Arnold's " Song Celestial."
We have already mentioned two of the illustrations to Professor Oman's book ; the frontispiece is a quaint coloured illustration of the gambling match between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. In spite of the defects of this work, it contains much useful and interesting matter, which will be new to most readers ; but although the book is not a large one, it is closely printed, and would have been improved by a carefully prepared index.
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