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CT EW
ADDITIONAL
MORAL & RELIGIOUS PASSAGES
METRICALLY RENDERED
FROM THE SANSKRIT.
WITH EXACT PROSE TRANSLATIONS.
By J. MUIR, D.C.L., LL.D., Pli.D.
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
NO. 11, THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD,
UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.
Price Sixpence.
�H? oSi' inrdpxei Siavolq. peya\oirp<hreia Kai Oeupla 7ra^ros ptu xpovov,
TKaff’ps 8e ovoias, olbv re ol'ei tootco ply a re SoKetv elvai rov dvdp&irivov
piov ;—Plato, Republic vi. 2.
“And do you think that a spirit full of lofty thoughts, and privileged
to contemplate all time, and all existence, can possibly attach any
great importance to this life?”—Messrs Davies and Vaughan’s
Translation, 1852.
“Can the soul then, which has magnificence of conception, and is
the spectator of all time*and all existence, think much of human life ? ”
—Prof. Jowett’s Translation, 1871.
r . '
A soul whose flight so far extends—
A soul whose unrestricted range
Embraces Time’with all it§ change—
All Being’s limits comprehends—
Can such a soul the life of man
...
Deem worth a thought,—this petty span ?
■ -
�ADDITIONAL
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS PASSAGES.
73.
©rtat (Spirit.
No hands has He, nor feet, nor eyes, nor ears,
And yet He grasps, and moves, and sees, and hears.
He all things knows, Himself unknown of all;
Him men the great primeval Spirit call.
(See No.
74.
ioi,
in page 18.)
aWtsstb to ‘dishrtit bg fire
(From the Raghuvansa).
To Thee, creator -first, to Thee,
Preserver next, destroyer last,
Be glory; though but one, Thou hast
. .Thyself in act revealed as three.
..As water pure from heaven descends,
But soon with''other objects blends,
A -And various hues and flavours gains;
So moved by Goodness, Passion, Gloom,*
Dost Thou three several states assume,
While yet Thine essence pure remains.
* See the prose translation of No. 74 in the Appendix.
�4
Though one, Thou different forms hast sought;
Thy changes are compared to those
Which lucid crystal undergoes,
With colours into contact brought.
Unmeasured, Thou the worlds dost mete.
Thyself though no ambition fires,
’Tis Thou who grantest all desires.
Unvanquished, Victor, Thee we greet.
A veil, which sense may never rend,
Thyself,—of all which sense reveals
The subtile germ and cause—conceals :
Thee saints alone may comprehend.
Thou dwellest every heart within,
Yet fillest all the points of space ;
Without affection, full of grace,
Primeval, changeless, pure from sin;
Though knowing all, Thyself unknown,
Self-sprung, and yet of all the source,
Unmastered, lord of boundless force,
Though one, in each thing diverse shown.
With minds by long restraint subdued,
Saints, fixing all their thoughts on Thee,
Thy lustrous form within them see,
And ransomed, gain the highest good.
Who, Lord, Thy real nature knows ?
Unborn art Thou, and yet on earth
�Hast shown Thyself in many a birth,
And, free from passion, slain Thy foes.
Thy glory in creation shown,
Though seen, our reason’s grasp transcends :
Who, then, Thine essence comprehends,
Which thought and scripture teach alone ?
Ungained, by Thee was nought to gain,
No object more to seek : Thy birth,
And all Thy wondrous deeds on earth,
Have only sprung from love to men.
With this poor hymn though ill-content,
We cease :—what stays our faltering tongue ?
We have not half Thy glories sung,
But all our power to sing is spent.
75. JUntal at a future life anb of a (Sob; anb ribirule of the
bortrine of final liberation as nothing else than annihilation.
The scripture says, the bad begin,
When dead, with woe to pay for sin,
While bliss awaits—a happier birth—
The good whene’er they quit the earth.
But here the virtuous suffer pain,
The bad by vice enjoyment gain.
How, then, this doubtful case decide ?
Tell what is urged on either side.
Did God exist, omniscient, kind,
And never speak his will in vain,
�6
’Twould cost him but a word, and then
His suppliants all they wish would find.
If God to men allotted woe^
Although that woe the fruit must be
Of men’s own actions, then were he
Without a cause his creatures’ foe,—
More cruel, thus, than men, who ne’er
To others causeless malice bear.
In this our state of human birth
Man’s self and Brahma co-exist,—
As wise Vedantists all insist,—
But when this wretched life on earth
Shall end, and all redemption gain,
Then Brahma shall alone remain.
A clever doctrine here we see !
Our highest good to cease to be !
76. Im^axhmrnt, nnb ^irtbicatixm, nt the gibitu
(©rrbernment.
Draupadi speaks:
Beholding noble men distrest,
Ignoble men enjoying good,
Thy righteous self by woe pursued,
Thy wicked foe by fortune blest,
I charge the Lord of all—the strong,
The partial Lord-—with doing wrong.
His dark, mysterious, sovereign will
To men their several lots decrees;
He favours some with wealth and ease,
Some dooms to every form of ill.
�7
As puppets’ limbs the touch obey
Of him whose fingers hold the strings,
So God directs the secret springs
Which all the deeds of creatures sway.
In vain those birds which springes hold
Would seek to fly : so man, a thrall,
Fast fettered ever lives, in all
He does or thinks by God controlled.
As trees from river-banks are riven
And swept away, when rains have swelled
The streams, so men by Time impelled
To action, helpless, on are driven.
God does not show for all mankind
A parent’s love and wise concern ;
But acts like one unfeeling, stem,
Whose eyes caprice and passion blind.
Yudhishthira replies :
I’ve listened, loving spouse, to thee,
I’ve marked thy charming, kind discourse,
Thy phrases turned with grace and force,
But know, thou utterest blasphemy.
I never act to earn reward;
I do what I am bound to do,
Indifferent whether fruit accrue ;
My duty I alone regard.
Of all the men who care profess
For virtue—love of that to speak —
�8
The unworthiest far are those who seek
To make a gain of righteousness.
Who thus—to every lofty sense
Of duty dead—from each good act
Its full return would fain extract;—
He forfeits every recompense.
Love duty, thus, for duty’s sake,
Not careful what return it brings :
Yet doubt not, bliss from virtue springs,
While woe shall sinners overtake.
By ships the perilous sea is crossed;
So men on virtue’s stable bark
Pass o’er this mundane ocean dark,
And reach the blessed heavenly coast.
If holy actions bore no fruits;
If self-command, beneficence,
Received no fitting recompense;
Then men would lead the life of brutes.
Who then would knowledge toil to gain ?
Or after noble aims aspire ?
O’er all the earth delusion dire
And darkness deep and black would reign.
But ’tis not so ; for saints of old
Well knew that every righteous deed
From God obtains its ample meed :
They, therefore, strove pure lives to lead,
As ancient sacred books have told.
�9
The gods—for,such their sovereign will—
Have veiled from our too curious ken
The laws by which the deeds of men
Are recompensed with good and ill.
No common mortal comprehends
The wondrous power, mysterious skill,
With which these lords of all fulfil
Their high designs, their hidden ends.
These secret things those saints descry
Alone, whose sinless life austere
For them has earned an insight clear,
To which all mysteries open lie.
So let thy doubts like vapours flee,
Abandon impious unbelief;
And let not discontent and grief
Disturb thy soul’s serenity.
But study God aright to know,
That highest Lord of all revere,
Whose grace on those who love him here
Will endless future bliss bestow.
Draupadi rejoins:
How could I God, the Lord of all,
Contemn, or dare His acts arraign,
Although I weakly thus complain ?
Nor would I virtue bootless call.
I idly talk; my better mind
Is overcome by deep distress,
B
�IO
Which long shall yet my heart oppress :
So judge me rightly; thou art kind.
77. ‘Othe ^Jartitg erf gjatnan Ambition.
How many kings—their little day
Of power gone by—have passed away,
While yet the stable earth abides,
And all the projects vain derides
Of men who deemed that She was theirs,
The destined portion of their heirs !
With bright autumnal colours gay,
She seems to smile from age to age,
And mock the fretting kings who wage
Fierce wars for Her,-—for ampler sway.
“ Though doomed,” She cries, “ to disappear
So soon, like foam that crests the wave,
Vast schemes they cherish, madly brave,
Nor see that death is lurking near.
“And kinsmen, brothers, sons and sires,
Whom selfish love of empire fires,
The holiest bands of nature rend,—
In bloody strife for Me contend.
“O ! how can princes, well aware
How all their fathers, one by one,
Have left Me here behind, and gone,
For My possession greatly care ? ”
�11
King Prithu strode across the world,
And all his foes to earth he hurled.
Beneath his chariot wheels—a prey
For dogs and vultures—crushed they lay.
Yet snatched by time’s resistless blast,
He long from hence away has past;
Like down the raging flames consume,
He, too, has met the common doom.
And Kartavirya, once so great,
Who ruled o’er all the isles, supreme,
Is but a shadow now, a theme
On which logicians subtly prate.
Those lords of men, whose empire’s sheen
Of yore the regions all illumed,
By Death’s destroying frown consumed,
Are gone; no ashes e’en are seen !
Mandhatri once was world-renowned :
What forms his substance now ? A tale!
Who, hearing this, if wise, can fail
This mundane life to scorn, so frail,
So dreamlike, transient, worthless found?
Of all the long and bright array
Of kings whose names tradition shows,
Have any ever lived ? Who knows ?
And now where are they? None can say.
�12
78. “ ^s hating nothing, anb get possessing all things/’
(2 Corinthians vi. 10).
How vast my wealth, what joy I taste,
Who nothing own, and nought desire !
Were this fair city wrapt in fire,
The flame no goods of mine would waste.
79. “ Jfor toe brought nothing into this toorlb, anb it is certain toe
can carrg nothing out.”—(1st Epistle to Timothy vi. 7).
Wealth either leaves a man, O king !
Or else a man his wealth must leave.
What sage for that event will grieve,
Which time at length must surely bring ?
80. Hhe foolish biscontenteb ; the toise content.
Though proudly swells their fortune’s tide,
Though evermore their hoards augment,
Unthinking men are ne’er content:
But wise men soon are satisfied.
81. .Men shonlb think on their enb.
Did men but always entertain
Those graver thoughts which sway the heart,
When sickness comes, or friends depart,
Who would not then redemption gain ?
�i3
82. “ 2111 men think all nun mortal bni ihrmstlbrs.”
(Young’s “Night Thoughts.”)
Is not those men’s delusion strange,
Who, while they see that every day
So many sweeps from earth away,
Can long themselves t’ elude all change ?
83. SBhtr aw iht wallg blinb, btaf, nnb burnt) ?
That man is blind whose inner eye
Can nought beyond this world descry;
And deaf the man on folly bent,
On whom advice is vainly spent
The dumb are those who never seek
To others gracious words to speak.
84.
brbout tohtn in bistrws.
In trouble men the gods invoke;
When sick, submit to virtue’s yoke;
When lacking power to sin, are good ;
When poor, are humble, meek, subdued.
85. Impwtorment of time.
The sage will ne’er allow a day
Unmarked by good to pass away;
But waking up, will often ask,
“ Have I this day fulfilled my task ?
With this, with each, day’s setting sun,
A part of my brief course is run.”
�14
86. 31 mart mag learn front the humblest.
From whomsoever got, the wise
Accept with joy the pearl they prize.
To them the mean may knowledge teach,
The lowliest lofty virtue preach.
Such men will wed, nor view with scorn,
A lovely bride, though humbly born.
When sunlight fails, and all is gloom,
A lamp can well the house illume.
87. 'xEht prtrper aim of life.
He only does not live in vain
Who all the means within his reach
Employs, his wealth, his thought, his speech,
T’ advance the weal of other men.
88. <4ltten art formeb ba their assorxatrs.
As cloth is tinged by any dye
In which it long time plunged may lie;
So those with whom he loves to live
To every man his colour give.
89. (Hasting penrls before stoinc.
He only threshes chaff who schools
With patient kindness thoughtless fools.
He writes on shifting sand who fain
By favours worthless men would gain.
�i5
90. ^eira often spendthrifts.
How many foolish heirs make haste
The wealth their fathers saved, to waste !
Who does not guard with care the pelf
He long has toiled to hoard himself?
91. 0®hat energy ran effect.
Mount Meru’s peak to scale is not too high,
Nor Hades’ lowest depth to reach too deep,
Nor any sea too broad to overleap,
For men of dauntless, fiery, energy.
92. ^Self-respect essential to snccess.
A man should ne’er himself despise ;
Who weakly thus himself contemns,
The flowing tide of fortune stems,
Aid ne’er to high estate can rise.
93. 5® hat toill not men her to set ioeatth ?
Fo: gold what will not mortals dare ?
What efforts, struggles, labours spare ?
The hostile warrior’s sword they brave,
And plunge beneath the ocean wave.
94.
Ionia, bita brebis: TEhe essence of bcrrrhs; to be got.
The list of books is long ; mishaps arise
To bai the student’s progress ; life is brief;
�i6
Whatever, then, in books is best and chief,
The essence, kernel, that attracts the wise.
95. gDxrfie xrf home.
Not such is even the bliss of heaven
As that which fills the breasts of men
To whom, long absent, now ’tis given
Their country once to see again,
Their childhood’s home, their natal place,
However poor, or mean, or base.
96. Q hoxtse toithunt a tuffe is empty; ^eseripiion e£ a jjtmii itfife.
Although with children bright it teems,
And full of light and gladness seems,
A man’s abode, without a wife,
Is empty, lacks its real life.
The housewife makes the house; bereft
Of her, a gloomy waste ’tis left.
That man is truly blest whose wife,
With ever sympathetic heart,
Shares all his weal and woe ; takes part
In all th’ events that stir his life;
Is filled with joy when he is glad,
And plunged in grief when he is sad,
Laments whene’er his home he teaves,
His safe return with joy perceives,
With gentle words his anger stils,
And all her tasks with love fulfls.
�i7
97. ^os-criptirrn rrf a gnah king.
That man alone a crown should wear
Who’s skilled his land to rule and shield :
For princely power is hard to wield—
A load which few can fitly bear.
That king his duty comprehends
Who well the poor and helpless tends,
Who wipes away the orphan’s tears,
Who gently calms the widow’s fears,
Who, like a father, joy imparts,
And peace, to all his people’s hearts ;
On vicious men and women frowns,
The learn’d and wise with honour crowns;
Who well and wisely gifts on those
Whose merits claim reward, bestows ;
His people rightly guides and schools,
On all impressing virtue’s rules;
Who day by day the gods adores,
With offerings meet their grace implores ;
Whose vigorous arm his realm protects,
And all insulting foes subjects;
Who yet the laws of war observes,
And ne’er from knightly honour swerves.
98.
sshoxtlb bz slurton io ignorant uffenbrra.
When men from want of knowledge sin,
A prince to such should mercy show;
For skill the right and wrong to know
For simple men is hard to win.
�99. Compassion shanlb bo shobon to all men.
To bad as well as good, to all,
A generous man compassion shows.
On earth no mortal lives, he knows,
Who does not oft through weakness fall.
100. “ 'Hhe toxrlf alsxr shall ihotll tnith thr lamb,” otc.—(Isa. xi. 6).
With serpents weasels kindly play,
And harmless tigers sport with deer ;
The hermits’ holy presence near
Turns hate to love,—drives fear away.
101. Consoquonco of the krtutolebge of tho solf-oxistont (Soul.
The happy man who once has learned to know
The self-existent Soul, from passion pure,
Serene, undying, ever young, secure
From all the change that other natures show,
Whose full perfection no defect abates,
Whom pure essential good for ever sates,—
That man alone, no longer dreading death,
With tranquil joy resigns his vital breath.
�APPENDIX.
73. ’Svetasvatara Upanishad, iii. 19.
“Without hands or feet,
He grasps, and moves; without eyes He sees, without ears He hears.
He knows whatever is knowable, but no one knows Him. Men call
Him the great, primeval Purusha (Man or Spirit).”
74. Raghuwansa, x. 15 ff.—15. “Glory to Thee, who art first the
creator of the universe, next its upholder, and finally its destroyer;
glory to Thee in this threefold character. 16. As water falling from
the sky, though having but one flavour, assumes different flavours in
different bodies, so Thou, associated with the three qualities [Sattva,
Rajas, and Tamas, or Goodness, Passion, and Darkness *], assumest
[three] states [those of creator, preserver, and destroyer, according to
the Commentator], though Thyself unchanged. 17. Immeasurable,
Thou measurest the worlds; desiring nothing, Thou art the fulfiller of
desires ; unconquered, Thou art a conqueror ; utterly indiscernible;
Thou art the cause of all that is discerned.
18. Though one,
Thou from one or another cause assumest this or that condition ;
Thy variations are compared to those which crystal undergoes
from the contact of different colours.
19. Thou art known as
abiding in [our] hearts, and yet as remote ; as free from affection,
ascetic, merciful, untouched by sin, primeval, and imperishable. 20.
Thou knowest all things, Thyself unknown ; sprung from Thyself (or
self-existent), Thou art the source of all things; Thou art the lord of all,
Thyself without a master ; though but one, Thou assumest all forms.
21. Thou art declared to be He who is celebrated in the seven Samahymns, to be He who sleeps on the waters of the seven oceans, whose
face is lighted up by the god of seven rays (Fire), and who is the one
resort of the seven worlds. 22. Knowledge which gains the four
classes of fruit [virtue, pleasure, wealth, and final liberation], the
division of time into four yugas [ages], the fourfold division of the people
* See Wilson’s Vishnu Purdna, vol. i., p. 41 (Dr Hall’s Edition), where Rajas is
translated “activity,” and not “passion.”
�20
into castes,—all these things come from Thee, the four-faced. 23.
Yogins (devoutly contemplative men) with minds subdued by exercise,
recognize Thee, the luminous, abiding in their hearts ; (and so attain)
to liberation from earthly existence. 24. Who comprehends the truth
regarding Thee, who art unborn, and yet becomest born; who art
passionless, yet slayest thine enemies; who sleepest,* and yet art
awake? 25. Thou art capable of enjoying sounds and other objects of
sense, of practising severe austerity, of protecting thy creatures, and of
living in indifference to all external things. 26. The roads leading to
perfection, which vary according to the different revealed systems, all
end in Thee, as the waves of the Ganges flow to the ocean. 27. For
those passionless men whose hearts are fixed on Thee, who have com
mitted to Thee their works, Thou art a refuge, so that they escape
further mundane births. 28. Thy glory as manifested to the senses in
the earth and other objects, is yet incomprehensible : what shall be
said of Thyself, who canst be proved only by the authority of scripture
and by inference ? 29. Seeing that the remembrance of Thee alone
purifies a man—the rewards of other mental acts also, when directed
towards thee, are thereby indicated. 30. As the waters exceed the
ocean, and as the beams of light exceed the sun, so Thy acts trans
cend our praises. 31. There is nothing for Thee to attain which Thou
hast not already attained : kindness to the world is the only motive for
Thy birth and for Thy actions. + 32. If this our hymn now comes
to a close after celebrating Thy greatness, the reason of this is our
exhaustion or our inability to say more, not that there are no further
attributes of Thine to be lauded. ” These verses have not all been
rendered in verse.
75. Naishadha Charita, xvii. 45.—These words form part of the
speech of a Charvaka, or Materialistic Atheist, who is represented as
addressing Indra and other gods on their return to heaven from
Damayantis Svayamvara. He assails the authority of the Vedas when
they affirm that sacrifice is followed by any rewards, denies that men’s
good and bad actions are recompensed in another world ; recommends
unbridled sensual indulgence; says that adultery has the example of the
gods in its favour; and throws ridicule on the orthodox Indian doctrines.
* This, I presume, refers to the stories of Vishnu sleeping on the ocean in the
intervals between the dissolution of one world and the creation of the next.
t Compare the Bhagavad Gita, iii. 22. “There is nothing which I am bound to
do, nor anything unobtained which I have yet to obtain ; and yet I continue to act.
25. As the ignorant, who are devoted to action, do, so let the wise man also do,
seeking to promote the benefit of the world.”
�21
The following are the verses which have been metrically rendered
45. “ The Veda teaches that when men die, pains result from their sin,
and pleasures from their holy acts. The very reverse, however, is,
manifestly, the immediate consequence of those deeds. Declare, there
fore, the strong and weak points (in this controversy).” 77. “If there
is an omniscient and merciful God, who never speaks in vain, why
does he not by the mere expenditure of a word satisfy the desires of
us his suppliants? 78. By causing living creatures to suffer pain,
though it be the result of their own works, God would be our causeless
enemy, whilst all our other enemies have some reason or other for their
enmity.” 74. “ When the Vedantists say that in our mundane ex
istence both a man’s self and Brahma exist, but that after final eman
cipation, Brahma alone remains, and when they thus define that state as
the extinction of one’s self; is this not a great piece of cleverness ? ”
The Charvaka is briefly answered by the four Deities, Indra, Agni,
Yama, and Varuna.
For an account of the Charvaka system, see Prof. Cowell’s edition
of Mr Colebrooke’s Essays, Vol. I., pp. 426 ff., and 456 ff.
76. Mahabharata, iii. 1124 ff.—In this passage, the greater part of
which has been translated by me in the “ Indian Antiquary ” for June
1874, Draupadi complains of the hard lot of her righteous husband
Yudhishthira, and charges the Deity with injustice ; but is answered
by Yudhishthira. I give the verses, which I have attempted to render
metrically, as well as some others. 1139. “ God (I’sana) the Disposer,
allots to creatures everything—happiness and suffering, the agreeable
and the disagreeable, darting radiance before Him. 1140. Just as the
wooden figure of a woman moves its several limbs, according
as it is adjusted, so too do these creatures.
As a bird
bound and confined by a string is not its own master, so a
man must remain under the control of God ; he is neither the lord
of others nor of himself. Like a gem strung upon a thread, or a
bull tied by a nose-rope, a man follows the command of the Dis
poser, to whom he belongs and on whom he depends. Not' self
directing, a man yields to some conjuncture of time, like a tree which
has fallen from a river bank, and has reached the middle of the
current. Ignorant, and powerless to command his own pleasures and
sufferings, he must go to heaven or hell, according as he is impelled by
God. 1145. As the tips of grass are swayed by the blasts of a strong
wind, so, too, all beings are subject to the Disposer. Impelling to
noble action, and again to sinful deeds, God pervades all creatures,
�22
and it is not perceived that He is there. ... 1153. Acting accord
ing to His pleasure, this Lord, associating them, or dissociating
them, plays with living creatures as with a child’s toys. The Disposer
does not treat His creatures like a father or a mother, but acts angrily,
as any other being like ourselves. 1155. Seeing noble, virtuous, and
modest men in want, and ignoble men happy, I am,* as it were,
agitated with perplexity ; and perceiving this adversity of thine, and
the prosperity of Suyodhana, I blame the Disposer, who regards you
with an unequal eye. Bestowing good fortune on him who transgresses
the rules of conduct observed by noble men, who is cruel, greedy, and
a perverter of justice, what good end does the Disposer gain ? ”
The same sentiments are expressed in the following fragment of
Sophocles, No. 94 (in the edition of Dindorf):—
Aeivov ye roi/s pbv bvo’aefle'is koklov t’&tto
ftXaarbvTas, etra rovcrSe p.ev irpa.ff<rei.v KaXus,
roiis 8’6vras t<r9Xoiis £k re yevvaluv ap.a
yey&ras, eira Svcrrvxeis TrerpvKivac.
oil XPVP TO'S’ outco Salpovas dviyraiv irepi
irpdffffeiv exprjv yb.p robs pev ev<rej3eis (Sporcov
exelv ti K^pSos epcpavbs OeCov irapa,
tovs 8’ Svras ooIkovs T0i<r8e rr/v ivavrtav
8lkt)v kokGov Ti/M-ipbv epipavT) rlveiv,
KoiiSeis av ovtcos evrGxei kcikos yeyios.
“It is strange that those who are impious, and descendants of
wicked men, should fare prosperously, while those who are good, and
sprung from noble men, should be unfortunate. It was not meet that
the gods should deal thus with mortals. Pious men ought to have
obtained from the gods some manifest advantage, while the unjust
should on the contrary have paid some evident penalty for their evil
deeds; and thus no one who was wicked would have been prosperous.”
With verses 1140 ff. compare also Euripides’ Supplices, verses
734 ff- =—
Go Zev, rl opra roiis raXaiirGopovs flporoiis
(j>poveiv XGyovai; aov yap Q'qprqpeGa,
bpGoptv re rotavO’ &v <jij rwx<iv7]s 6£Xoov.
11 O Zeus, why do they say that wretched mortals are wise? For we
are dependent upon thee, and do whatever thou happenest to will.”
* I am indebted to Professor Aufrecht for suggesting the reading which gives
this sense, viz., vih’va.ldmiva for vihvaldn iva which the Calcutta text of the M. Bh.
�23
Yudhishthira replies:
1160. “I have heard, Yajnaseni (=Draupadi), the charming and
amiable discourse, full of sparkling phrases, which thou hast spoken;
but thou utterest infidel sentiments {n&stikyci}. I do not act from a
desire to gain the recompense of my works. I give what I ought to
give, and perform the sacrificial rites which I am bound to celebrate.
Whether reward accrues to me or not, I do to the best of my power
what a man should do, as if he were living at home. [The speaker is re
presented as being at the time in the forests.] . . . 1164. It is on duty
alone that my thoughts are fixed, and this, too, naturally. The man
who seeks to make of righteousness a gainful merchandize is low, and
the meanest of those who speculate about righteousness. The man
who seeks to milk righteousness (i.e., to extract from it all the advan
tage that he can) does not obtain its reward. ... I say it authorita
tively : do not doubt about righteousness: he who does so is on the way
to be born as a brute. . . . 1171. Vyasa, Vasishtha, Maitreya, Narada,
Lomasa, Suka, and other sages are all wise through righteousness.
For thou plainly seest these saints distinguished by a celestial intuition
(yoga), able both to curse and to bless, and more important even than
the gods. These men ... in the beginning declared that righteous
ness was continually to be practised. Thou oughtest not, therefore,
O fair queen, with erring mind to censure and to doubt the Deity and
righteousness. . . . 1183. Righteousness and nothing else is the boat
which conveys those who are on their way to heaven : it only is a ship like
that on which the merchant seeks to cross the ocean. If righteousness,
when practised, were without reward, this world would be plunged in
bottomless darkness; men would not attain to final tranquillity
(nirvana), would lead the life of brutes, would not addict themselves
to learning, nor would any one attain the object of his desire. If
austerity, continence, sacrifice, sacred study, liberality, honesty—if all
these things brought no reward, men now, and others succeeding
them, would not practise righteousness. If works were followed by
no rewards, this state of things would be an exceeding delusion.*
Rishis, Deities, Gandharvas, Asuras, and Rakshasas,—why should
these lordly beings have reverenced and practised righteousness ?
But knowing that the Deity was a bestower of rewards, unalterably
* This and what immediately precedes appears to be irreconcilable with the indif
ference to the recompense of works which is inculcated in the earlier part of
Yudhishthira’s discourse.
�24
attached to goodness, they practised righteousness; for that is the
source of eternal blessedness.
1194. The award of recompense
to works which are declared by revelation to be holy, and to such
as are wicked, as well as the production and dissolution of the world,
—these things are secrets of the gods. . . . 1196. These (secrets) of the
gods are to be guarded ; for the wonder-working power of the deities
is mysterious. Brahmans who have formed the desire, who are
devoted to religious observances, whose sins have been burnt up by
austerities, and who have a clear mental intuition, perceive these
(secrets). No doubts must be entertained regarding righteousness or
the gods, merely because the recompense of works is not visible. . . .
1199. Wherefore let all thy doubts vanish as a vapour. 1200. Be cer
tain that all (this) is (so): abandon the state of disbelief [nastikya). Do
not censure God, the Creator of living beings. Learn (to know) Him :
reverence Him: let not thy opinion be such (as thou hast declared it).
Do not contemn that most exalted (or, most excellent) Deity, through
whose favour the mortal who is devoted to him attains to immortality.”
Compare ALschylus, fragment 369 (Dindorf):—
’A.v8pQ>v yap e<mv evSiKoiv re Kai aotpGv
iv tois KaKoiai pur] re9up<3a0ai 0eots.
“For it is the part of just and wise men when suffering misfortune
not to be incensed against the gods.”
In the Supplices of Euripides, verses 195 ff., Theseus is introduced as
affirming the preponderance of good over evil in human life, as apparent
both in the gifts of reason and speech which distinguish man from the
lower animals, and in the support afforded to him by the fruits of the
earth, in the means which he has of protection from heat and cold, in
the exchange of products procured by foreign commerce, and finally in
the supernatural aids obtained by divination; and then as asking :—
ftp’ ou Tpvrpuip.ev, 0eou KaraTKeupv /3l<p
Sovtos TocadT7)v, o'taiv ouk tipKei rciSe ;
aXX’ 7] tf>p6vr]<Tts rou 0eov pei^ov cr0eveiv
friret, to yaupov 8’ ev (f>pefflv KeKrypevoi,
8oKovpev elvai 8ai.pt>vwv corpoyrepoi.
“Are we not, then, too fastidious, when we are not satisfied with
all this provision which a god has made for our life ? But our reason
seeks to be stronger than the god, and being possessed by conceit, we
fancy that we are wiser than the deities. ”
�25
Draupadi replies:
“ 1202. I do not scorn, or think lightly of, righteousness ; and how
should I contemn God, the Lord of creatures ? In my distress, I talk
thus idly; understand me so : and I shall yet further lament. Do thou,
who art kind, comprehend me.” She then goes on to pronounce a
long discourse, in which she acknowledges and enforces the value of
action and exertion; denounces dependence on fate or on chance,
though she does not appear to deny the influence of these causes
(verses 1233 ff.) ; and affirms that a man’s lot is the result of
his works, i.e., including those performed in a former birth.
The following are some of the verses : “ 1222. For God, the
Disposer, also determines his own acts according to this or that
reason, allotting to men the recompenses of their previous works.
Whatever act, good or bad, a human being performs, know that that
is the realization, fixed by the Disposer, of the recompense of previous
works.
This (present) body is the cause of the Deity’s action.
Just as He impels it, so it acts submissively.* For the Great God
ordains (the man) to do such and such acts: He constrains all creatures
to act, and they are helpless.” Here the man seems to be represented
as a mere machine, but the next verse says : “ Having first of all fixed
in his mind the objects at which he shall aim, a man of himself after
wards attains them by action, preceded by design: of this man is the
cause. ”
77. Vishnu Purana, iv. 24, 48.—The passage, a small part of which
I have versified, may be found in Professor H. H. Wilson’s translation
of this Purana, vol. iv., of Dr Hall’s edition, pp. 237 ff. I subjoin
my own version of the lines I have reproduced in verse. “48, 49.
These and other kings who, blinded by delusion, and possessed of
perishable bodies, claimed this imperishable earth as their own, (saying),
distressed by anxiety, ‘ How [shall she become] mine, and my son’s,
and my descendants’ property,’—these have all come to their end.
50. So, too, others who preceded, and those who followed them, and
those who are to come, and others who again are to succeed them,
shall (all) depart. 51. Beholding princes eager to march and strive
* The commentator translates these words thus : "The existing body is the cause
of the Deity’s action. As it impels Him, He acts submissively,” and remarks that
God and the body are mutually dependent; it, as the result of previous works,
necessitating Him to determine the man’s present lot.
�26
for the subjugation of herself,* the Earth, smiling with flowers in
autumn, appears to laugh. . . . The Earth once said : 52. ‘ How does
this delusion exist in kings, even in the intelligent, through which,
although in their nature (as transient) as foam, they are filled with con
fidence ? . . . 53. We shall thus at length (they say) conquer the Earth
with her oceans ; but while their thoughts are thus fixed, they do not
perceive Death, which is close at hand. . . . 55. On my account,
wars arise between fathers, sons, and brothers, whose hearts, through
exceeding delusion, are seized by selfish ambition. ... 57. How is it
that ambition, directed towards me, finds a place in the heart of the
descendant who has seen his ancestor, whose soul was possessed by the
same desire, following the road to Death, and leaving me behind ? . . .
62. Prithu,—who, unconquered, traversed all the regions, whose chariot
wheels tore to pieces his enemies,—he, smitten by the blast of time, has
perished, like the down of the ’Salmali tree when thrown into the fire.
63. Kartavirya, who invaded and possessed all the zones of the earth,
shattering the chariot-wheels of his foes, and who is celebrated in
narrative tales, is (now merely) a subject for affirmation and denial. +
64. Out upon the royal splendour of Da’sanana (Ravana) Avikshita,
and Raghava (Rama), who illuminated the face of all the quarters of
the globe ! how has it not been turned to ashes in a moment by the
frown of Death? (Or, according to the commentator, the second half
of this.verse may be alternatively rendered: “How has it not even
been turned to ashes,—how have not even its ashes been left,—by the
frown of Death ? ”) 65. Seeing that Mandhatri, who was an emperor
upon earth, has now his only embodiment in a story,—what good man,
even if slow of understanding, would indulge in selfish desire ? 66.
Did Bhagiratha, Sagara, Kakutstha, Da’sanana, Raghava, Lakshmana,
Yudhishthira and the rest exist in truth, or only in imagination ? And
where are they? We do not know.”
* Professor Wilson renders the words which I have so translated as follows :
“Kings unable to effect the subjugation of themselves
and Dr Hall would sub
stitute “harassed with the enterprise of self-conquest.” But on comparing the
parallel verse in the Bhagavata Purana xii. 3, 1, which, as explained by the com
mentator, means, “Beholding kings eager to conquer herself, this earth laughs,”
it appears to me that the word dtman in the line of the Vishnu P. also must be
rendered “ herself,” not “themselves.”
t Professor Wilson quotes as a parallel to this the concluding lines of the wellknown passage of Juvenal (x. 147) about Hannibal;
“ I, demens, et saevas curre per Alpes,
Ut pueris placeas, et declamatio has.”
�27
78. Mahabharata, xii. 529, 6641, and 9917.—This saying, ascribed
to Janaka, king of Videha, occurs in all the three passages here
specified: “Boundless, verily, is my wealth, though I possess nothing.
If Mithila [his capital] were burnt up, nothing of mine would be con
sumed.” In verse 9917 the words, “Most happily, verily, do I live,”
are substituted for “ Boundless, verily, is my wealth.”
79. Ditto, xii. 3892.—“Either, O king, a man must needs leave
his wealth, or his wealth leave a man. What wise man would lament
this?”
80. Ditto, xi. 75-—“Men, after reaching one and yet another dis
tinguished position of opulence, are discontented, and so act foolishly.
But wise men attain to contentment. ”
81. Vriddha Chanakya, 14, 6.— “ If those sentiments which men
experience when duty is expounded to them, or in a cemetery, or when
they are sick, were abiding, who would not be delivered from bondage?”
82. Mahabharata, iii. 17401.—-“Day after day men proceed hence
to the abode of Yama (the ruler of the dead); and yet those who re
main long for a state of permanence (here): what is more wonderful
than this ? ”
83. Dampati-siksha, 26.—“Who, now, are destitute of sight?
Those who do not perceive the future world. Say, say, who are the
deafest? Those who do not listen to good advice.”
Prd'snottara-mdld, 15.—•“ Who is blind? He who is bent on doing
what he should not. Who is deaf? He who does not listen to what
is beneficial. Who is dumb ? He who does not know how to say
kind things at the proper time.”
84. Subhashitarna'va, 163.—“Men in distress bow down before the
gods; the sick practise austerity; the poor man is humble; an old
woman is devoted to her husband. ”
Vriddha-Chdnakya, 176.-—“A man who is powerless will be virtu
ous ; a poor man continent; a sick man devout; an old woman devoted
to her husband.”
85. Sarngadhara's Paddhati, p. 4.—“ Constantly rising up, a man
�28
should reflect [and ask himself], ‘What good thing have I done to
day ? ’ The setting sun will carry with it a portion of my life. ”
86. Manu, ii. 238.—“Let a man accept with confidence valuable
knowledge even from a person of low degree, good instruction
regarding duty even from a humble man, and a jewel of a wife even
from an ignoble family.” See also in Bohtlinok's Indische Spruche,
No. 4440; Siibhashitarnava, 302, and Nos. 4439 and 5507; Hitopadesa, ii. 77 or 78 ; and Sdrngadharais Paddhati, Niti, 34. The latter
verse is as follows : “A wise sentiment should be received even from
a child. In the absence of the sun, does not even a lamp illuminate a
house ? ”
87. Mahabharata, v. 1272; xii. 11,023.—“A man becomes such
as those are with whom he dwells, and as those whose society he
loves ; and such as he desires to become. Whether he associates with
a good man or a bad, with a thief, or an ascetic, he undergoes their
influence, as cloth does that of the dye (with which it is brought into
contact).”
88. Bhagavata Purdna, x. 22, 35. — “What constitutes the birth of.
embodied creatures fruitful is this that they should with their life, with
their means, with their understanding, and with their speech, seek to
advance the welfare of other creatures in this world.”
89. Hitopade'sa, iv. 10.—“To address a judicious remark to a
thoughtless man is a mere threshing of chaff. And beneficence shown
to mean men is, O king, nothing better than writing on sand.”
90. Subhashitarnava, 64.—“Who is not ready to enjoy, and to
give away, the wealth which has been earned by his father ? But
those are rarely to be found who enjoy, or give away, the wealth
earned by their own arms.”
91. Vriddha Chcmakya (MS., p. 32) 5 No. 75^9> in B(Pittingk's
Ind. Spr.~“P\\e. summit of Meru is not very lofty, nor the infernal
world very profound, nor the ocean very far to cross, for men who
possess energy.”
�29
92. Mahabharata, iii. 1259.—“ No man should ever despise himself;
for brilliant success never attends the man who lowers himself.”
93. ’Sarngadharats Paddhati, Dhana-prasam' sa, 12.
What
suffering do not men undergo in their pursuit of wealth? They rush
on the point of the sword, they enter the ocean.”
94. Vriddha Chdnakya, xv. 10.—“Books are endless, the sciences
are many, time is very short, and there are many obstacles ; a man
should therefore seek for that which is the essence, as a swan seeks to
extract the milk which is mixed with water.” Compare a similar
sentiment in (Bohtlingk's Spruche, No. 243), Subhashitarnava, 92.—
“There are many books, the Vedas, &c.; life is very short; and there
are millions of obstacles ; let a man therefore seek to discover the
essence, as the swan finds the milk in water.”
95. Panchatantra, v. 49 (Bombay Edition).—“The same pleasure
is not to be enjoyed even in heaven, which is so delightful from the
contact of celestial objects, as men find in the poor place where they
were born.”
Ditto, iii. 92.—“Embodied creatures do not enjoy the same bliss
even in heaven as they do, even when they are poor, in their own
country, or town, or house.”
Compare with this, Odyssey, i. 57 :
avrap ’OBvcraebs
lepevos Kai Ka.irvw a-rroOpthcrKOVTa voTjaac
■fjs yalTjs, Qav^ecv lp.etpera.1.
“ But Ulysses, longing to see even the smoke rising from his native
country, yearns to die.”
96. Mahabharata, xii. 5497. — “Though crowded in every part
with sons, grandsons, daughters-in-law, and servants, without a wife
a householder’s house will be empty. 5498. It is not the house itself
which is called a house ; the housewife is declared to be the house.
A house destitute of a housewife is regarded as a desert. . . . 5501
f. That man is happy on earth who possesses a wife who is glad when
he is glad, and sorrowful when he is sorrowful, who is downcast when
he goes away from home, who speaks sweet words when he is angry,
who is devoted to her husband, who regards him as the centre of her
life, who seeks after his interests, and promotes his gratification.”
�3°
Compare Euripides, Troades, 649 ff., where Andromache says of
herself:
rXclxrcr^s re (fiyi-jv
r’ Jjavxov vbaet
Trapeixov'rjSeiv 8’ a/j.e XPVV vuccii' iroaiv,
Kelviii re viktjv &v /d expfy itapt,bva.t.
“And I offered to my husband a silent tongue and a quiet eye.
But I knew in what points I ought to gain the victory over him, and
in what points I should yield the victory to him. ”
97. Mahabharata, xii. 3450.—“An unskilful king is unable to pro
tect his subjects ; for regal power is a great burthen, and a thing hard
to exercise. 3340. To wipe away the tears of the poor, of orphans,
of the aged, and so to impart joy to men,—such is declared
to be the duty of a king.
3251. Let a king constantly promote
the welfare, and provide for the sustenance, of the poor, of orphans,
of the aged, and of widows. 3315- Harlots, and procuresses who
abide in drinking shops, loose men, gamblers, and the like, are to be
repressed by the king, for such persons ruin the country where they
dwell, and vex good citizens. 3238. Let the king put an end to all
offences in town and country. 3243. Let religious teachers, priests,
and family priests, (be) actively assisted. 3245. Let the king honour the
virtuous, and restrain the vicious. 3250. Let a king constantly offer
sacrifices, and give gifts, without inflicting suffering. 3303. Let a king,
devoted to righteousness, and seeking the good of his subjects, instruct
them in proper places, and at proper times, according to his under
standing and his power. 3436. When a king protects his dominions,
when he repels robbers, when he conquers in battle, he fulfils what is
declared to be his duty.
3548. Wherefore Manu Svayambhuva
enjoined that a warrior should fight righteously (or fairly). 3549.
The sinful Kshatriya, living by treachery, who is bound to fight
fairly (?), but who conquers his foe unfairly, kills himself.”
98. Ditto, iii. 1055.—“ Those offenders who have erred through
ignorance should be pardoned. For it is not easy for a man to be
wise in every respect. ”
99. Ramayana, vi. 115, 41.—“ A noble man should shew mercy to
men whether virtuous or wicked, or even deserving of death; there
is no one who does not offend.”
�100. Mahabharata, xiii. 651.—One of the characteristics of the saint
Upamanyu’s hermitage is thus described in this verse : “ Weasels play
with serpents, and tigers with deer, like friends, through the great
power of those saints of brilliant austerity, from the proximity of those
mighty ones.” Weasels are well known in India to be the enemies of
serpents, and frequently kill them. This verse is quoted as a parallel
to the text in Isaiah.
101. Atharva Veda, x. 8, 44.— “Knowing that soul, who is wise,
undecaying, young, free from desire, immortal, self-existent, satisfied
with the essence [of good, or blessedness], and in no respect imperfect,
a man does not dread death.”
As the soul (atmari} is masculine in Sanskrit, I have ventured to
put the relative pronoun “who ” in that gender
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Additional moral and religious passages metrically rendered from the Sanskrit. With exact prose translations
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Muir, J. (John)
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 31 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
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Thomas Scott
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[n.d.]
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CT207
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Poetry
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Additional moral and religious passages metrically rendered from the Sanskrit. With exact prose translations), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Conway Tracts
Religious Poetry
Sanskrit
Sanskrit poetry-Translations into English