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ARCHEOLOGICAL NOTES.
MARCH, 1880.]
ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Vêmana despised a fool as utterly as any Hebrew prophet: "should a fool," says he, "find even the philosopher's stone, it would melt in his hand like a hailstone." There is quite a ring of Emerson in this saying "That alone is yours which you have bestowed upon others, the rest is not at your disposal," and here is one of the last words of the philosophy of to-day:-"Lo, all fear is ignorance: when fear leaves us the divine spirit shall become our own." It is no bad Indian version of the maxim-"To thy own self be true," to say with Vêmana, "If dissimulation leave thy heart, none in the world will be deceitful towards thee."
It has been conjectured that Vêmana lived at Kondavid near Guntûr in the south-west Telingana country; certain passages in hie writings seem to favour this supposition, but it cannot be held certain. Whether contemporary with Shakespeare, or living as early as Chaucer, it is clear that he had intellectual strength and insight enough to shake off the worst superstitions that swayed the people amongst whom he lived. He had no respect for the Vedas or the Hindu deities; declares all castes equal; and scoffs unsparingly at Brâhmans, ascetics, ceremonial observances, and the respect paid to omens and auguries. In effect he was a Stoical Pantheist, and his countrymen to-day, though outwardly conforming to the Brahmans, have all his bitter sayings at their finger-ends.
It has long been the fashion in Europe to regard the Hindus, as beyond other races, bigoted, fettered by caste, and immoveable in their religion and customs, but in fact no country can show more signal instances of the revolt of the intellect and conscience against idolatry, superstition, and priestly domination. Indeed it may be asserted that Europe has lagged behind India in the sphere of moral and religious insurrection. The Jaina and Buddhist systems, older than Christianity, are examples on the largest scale of triumphs over priestly pretensions, at times too when Brahmanical law and ascendancy were strongest, and the view taken of Buddhism in the Indian Antiquary (vol. VIII. page 180) seems to me certainly correct. Again, no Puritan or Cove
Bramhanandam, parama sukhadam, Kevala jñanamurtim Drandv&titam, gagana sadrisam, tatvamaay&dilakshyam
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nanter of the old stamp could have gone to work in a more root-and-branch style than Basava, the founder of the Jangam or Vira saiva sect in the 12th century. Himself the son of a Brahman, he was led to rebel against the orthodox creed, even in its stronghold, and resolutely rejected all the Brahminical priesthood and principles, renounced the Vedas, Ramayana and Bhagavat Gitá, on which they are founded, and discarded all the observances. and purificatory rites so tenaciously enforced by the Brahmans, teaching in their place the doctrine that all men are equal by birth and holy in proportion as they are temples of the great spirit, and that worship is due only to Śiva conceived as the one God and Father of all. His teaching spread wide, many of the Rajas on the Western Coast were his followers, and they are still numerous in the Maratha and Kanara countries and in Maisûr and Berar. Three centuries later in Bengal, where Brahmaṇical tyranny was most fixed and supreme, Chaitanya, born in the same year with Luther, renounced caste and priesthood, proclaimed the sufficiency of simple faith without works, ceremonial, or observances, and died with four millions of followers, now said to be doubled. And Vê ma na, surrounded by Brahmans, shot shafts at them and all their works unceasingly. But India also exemplifies the apparently ineradicable tendency of the human mind towards sacerdotal direction, authority, and ritual, for the Brahman, though so often defeated and seemingly near extinction, is again supreme, and his rivals have faded away, or exist in comparison as but a few scattered dissenters. Still amongst all the follies and servitudes of idolatry and priestcraft there will never be wanting in India many whose daily aspiration will be as of old, the famous hymn ascribed to the Muni Agastya always prefixed as a motto to Jangam and Jaina books, and continually uttered as a credo or confession of faith. The Being, endless, giver of goodness, image of wisdom, whom pain and grief Never can reach, the sky his emblem, whose names are countless, and Truth the chief. The One, everlasting, stainless, stedfast, who knows all secrets, himself unknown, Passionless ever, of perfect justice,-Him do I worship, and him alone."
Ekam, nityam, vimalam-achalam, sarvatas ef.kahi bhutath Bhavatitam, triguna rahitarh, sad garam tam namami!
