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MAXIMS, &c. FROM THE MAHABHARATA.
NOVEMBER, 1876.]
32. An Indian Free-thinker's Fate. xii. 6736ff.
While yet a human form I bore, I loved profane and useless lore; Contemned the Scriptures, steeped in pride, And took poor reason for my guide. In halls where reverend scholars met To talk, and questions deep debate, I liked to argue, plied the rules
Of logic, called the Brahmans fools. Oft battering hard with impious knocks My grave opponents orthodox.
Untaught in sacred wisdom's school,
A doubter, unbeliever, fool,
In every point the truth I missed,
A vain, pretentious sciolist,
Who others viewed with scornful eyes, And deemed myself most learn'd and wise. Now see the retribution meet Of this my doubt and self-conceit !
Behold me here a jackal born, Who once the Vedas dared to scorn! But now my hope is this; perhaps, When many, many days elapse, From this brute form I shall escape, And gain once more my human shape. Devoutly then, with right good-will, Shall I religious rites fulfil, With liberal gifts the priests delight, And 'gainst my lawless senses fight, Will real knowledge seek, and shun Whate'er I ought to leave undone.
33. Means do not always lead to desired ends.t Mahâbh. v. 1430.
The clever do not always wealth command‡
Nor stupid fools from lack of fortune pine. The wise the course of mundane things divine; No other men the secret understand.
It will be seen from the preceding verses that the requirements of Indian orthodoxy are no less stringent than those of some other religions. The words are part of an address of the god Indra, who had taken the form of a jackal, to the sage Kasyapa, in which various topics, not all very closely connected with each other, are touched upon, and which concludes with a jackal giving the account of himself which I quote. At the end of the address the sage is struck with the wisdom of the speaker, and by supernatural intuition discovers that it is Indra who has been talking to him. According to the intention of the story, however, it is not the god, but a man, who has undergone the fate described. This introduction of Indra, therefore, makes no difference as to the lesson sought to be conveyed, which is meant as a warning to men.
I add a literal translation of the original lines, in which the slightly jocular turn which I have here and there given to them in the metrical version will not be found :
"I was a would-be pandit, a rationalist, a contemner of
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34. Union is strength. v. 1318.§ Long threads, if all alike they be,
And mary, ev'n if thin, sustain, Unbroken, many a heavy strain: Of good men here an emblem see.
35. A guide through the gloom. xii. 12064. The night approaches now; hold fast
The lamp of holy knowledge, bright With ever slowly-kindled light,
To guide thee, till the gloom is passed.
36. The cure for grief. iii. 14079 (= xi. 76b, f.; xii. 12494).
With drugs the body's pains are healed; But wisdom mental anguish quells; Such wholesome power in knowledge dwells.
To grief, then, never weakly yield. 37. Marks of a good man. ii. 2439. The good kind actions recollect,
But base, injurious deeds forget: On doing good to others set, They never recompense expect. 38. The same. i. 6254 and iii. 13252. Kind deeds are never thrown away On men of real goodness, such, As not content to give as much As they have got, far more repay, Nay, ev'n a hundredfold bestow; For here the gods no measure know.
39. The requiter not equal to the doer of good acts. xii. 4493.
The man who manifold hath paid
A kindness on himself conferred Does less than he who, only stirred By generous impulse, lent him aid.
(To be continued.)
the Vedas, food of logic, the useless science of reasoning, an utterer of reasoned propositions, a propounder of argu'ments in assemblies, a reviler and abuser of Brahmans in theological discussions, an unbeliever, a universal doubter. a fool, who plumed myself on being a pandit (learned man). The recompense which I have earned by this career is that I have been bor i a3 a jackal. But perhaps it may yet happen that, hundreds of days and nights hence, I shall be born again as a man; and then, contented and alert, devoted to the practice of sacrifice, of liberality, and of selfrestraint, I shall seek to know (only) what is to be known, aud avoid all that is to be avoided."
† See also No. 14, p. 158.
Compare Ecclesiastes ix. 11:-"I returned, and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to me of anderstanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." § See also No. 1, p. 152.
