Page:The Modern Review Vol 11 (Jan.-June 1912).djvu/8

2 .THE MODERN REVIEW FOR JANUARY, 1912

have none of it, and the worship goes unperformed.

YupHISTHIRA ‘GOING TO: HEAVEN.. .

A time came in Hinduism, when religion turned its back on all the deities of power ‘and worldly good. The god, like his worshipper, must eschew wealth and material "benefits. Since five hundred years before ‘the Christian era, the Buddhist orders had been going up and down amongst the people, popularising amongst them certain great conceptions of renunciation’ and | per: sonal development, as the true end of religion. About the time of the Christian -era, the volume of these ideas was becoming ripe ‘for the taking of,organised shape, in. India- itself, as .a new.:faith: . But the. evolution did not cease at this point,. with the emergence of :the, worship. of Siva. .Some few centuries: later, a new, phase. .of,.this. higher -Hinduism was ,again elaborated;.and the worship of ;Satya-Narayana,, appeared: ia his embodiment as,: Krishna. This réligion was laid down. and ‘promulgated, -in- the form of a great -epic—the. Indian, ‘national epic,. par excellence—which was now cast into its final-form, the Mahabharata. -

In the opinion .of ‘somé amongst’ the learned, we have here in the Mahabharata recapitulation of-all the old wonder-world of the early sky-gazer. Gods, heroes, and demi-gods jostle each other through its pages, and. whence they came, and what has been ‘their previous history, we have only a name here’.or a side-light. there; to help us to discover; As in some marvellous tapestry, ‘they are here gathered . together, in one case fora battle, in “another, for a life,—and out of: the clash of the -foe- men’s steel, out.of the loyalty of vassal and:

.comrade, -out.:of: warring . loves: and. conflicting ideals,‘is made ’.one’ of -the: noblest.

_of. the ‘scriptures ‘of the ‘world.: Is ‘it- true that, with the.exception -of what has. .been. added and.-remoulded ‘by -a supreme ‘poet fusing‘into a single: molten mass the:.images of aeons: past, most: of ‘the. characters - that move with:such ease across : these’ inspiring - pages, have stept' down. from :the-stage of ’ the midnight sky? However: this ‘may -be, _one thing is certain, the very last scene that ends the long panorama is that of a man -glimbing ‘2 mountain followed by a dog,

_in the last act of kingly worship, - ‘proceed ‘to climb -the heights of the Hima- and finally, with his dog, translated t heaven in the flesh.

The five royal: heroes for whose sake the ‘battle of their prime was fought and won, ,

. .-have held the empire of India for some’ thirty-six years; and now, recognising that the time for the end has come, they, with Draupadi their queen, resign their throne to their successors, and set forth. on their last.solemn journey, the pilgrimage of death,: followed by a dog who will’ not leave them. First circling their great realm, they

layas, evidently by way of ascending to ‘their rightful places amongst the stars. He who has lived in the world without flaw may hope for translation at the last. But great as is the glory of .the Pandava brothers, only one of them, Yudhisthira the “eldest, isso unstained by life as to mérit -this,, the ‘honour of reaching heaven in the flesh. One-by one the‘others, Bhima, Arjuna, .and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, together -with Draupadi the queen, faint, and. fall, ‘and die. And still without once looking back, without groan or sigh, Yudhisthira and the dog proceed alone. Suddenly a ‘clap of thunder arrests their

“steps, and in the midst of a mass of bright- ness, they see the God Indra, King of Heaven; seated in his chariot. ‘He is there, to’ carry Yudhisthira back with him to heaven, and immediately begs him to ‘enter the chariot. is.

- Jt is ‘here, in the Emperor’s answer, that ‘wé are able to measure how-very far the “Hindu people have gone, since the early worship of purely. cosmic deities, in the “moralising and spiritualising of their gods -and demi-gods. ° Yudhisthira refuses to enter -'the.chariot, unless his dead brothers are all “first. recalled, to enter it with “him; and ‘adds, on their behalf, that. they ,will none of them accept the invitation even then, . unless with them be their ‘queen, Draupadi, ‘who was-the first‘ to -fall. Only when he ‘is. assured, by’ Indra, that his wife and brothers have’ but preceded him,:and will “meet him again‘on his arrival ‘in- the state of eternal felicity, does he consent to enter

the divine chariot,..and stand aside ‘to let

the dog go first.

. But here Indra objected. To the Hindu, the dog is unholy. It. was impossible. to