The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-17


and thoroughly imbued with the principles
and feelings of modern Hinduism. Profess
sor Wilson held that Sayana undoubtedly
had knowledge of his text far beyond the
pretensions of any European scholar and
must have been in possession, either through
his own learning or that of his assistants of
all the interpretations which had been per-
petuated by traditional teaching from the
earliest times Whatever maybe the weight
attached to these opinions-and that
there is some weight in them will
be readily admitted-still it was inn
possible that Sayana or any other
man, in his position, could have approached
the study of these volumes free from all feel
ing and prejudice in respect of the religion
in which he had been bred, and of which
these writings were held to be the origin.
That institutions of later date did warp his
judgment we shall presently have occasion to
show. Professor Muller admits that 'Sayanas
commentary was n sine QV0 nm for a scholar
like study of the Rig-Neda, in which opinion
he is far more favorable to the schOlast than
some other European critics. but he goes on
to say that ''Sayana in many cases teaches us
how the Neda ought not to be, rather than
how it ought to be, understood. The bias
with which Sayana approached his text will be
sufficiently indicated by one example. In the
Ncdas mention is made of five sorts or classes
of men, and the commentator uuhesitatingly
understands this as referring to the four
great castles of Hindus. and a fifth
comprising the barbarians. The germ
of the great institution of caste may lurk
in this allusion to the various
sorts of men. but nothing is to be found in
the hymns which distinctly indicates the eX-
istence Of a recognized division Of castles.
The author of the present volume sums up
the merits of former translatiOns very shortly
in the following words
"That Of Sayana CEsons) represents the tradi-
ton of India; that Of LangOis is the ingenious but
thoroughly uncritica guess-wOrN of man of taste:
that of Bcnley is the rendering of scholar VINO has
carefully worked out the history of some words, but
who assigns to other words either the traditional
meaning recorded by Sayana, or COnieCtural mean
ing which, however, would not always stand the test
OF an ntcrcomparson of all passages in which these
words occur
He then goes on:-
''It may sound self-contradictory, it, after con-
Tossing the help which | have derived from these
transatons, venture to call my own the first trans
latiOn OF the Bcg-N cda The word translation, how
not a mere rendering Of the hymns of the Rig-Ncda
into English, French, or German, but full account
OF the reasons winch Justify the translator in assign
ing such power to such word, ana such a mean
ing TO such sentence mean by translation real
dcclIheTug a rOIUctiDn TdisOHUcs if such
an expression may he used. Without such a pro-
cess, without running commentary, a mere trans
laton of the hymns iol the Brahmins Will never lead
to amy solid results
The hymns Of which the Rig-Veda consist
are generally short, and are addressed to the
great powers of nature-to Indra, the god of
the trmament, to Fire. the Sun, the Moon:
and, as regards the latter, they are more espe-
cially devoted to the praise of the ,S0Hla, or
mOOn-plant, the juice of which plays a prom-
nent part in many of the Vedic hymns. This
juice was probably fermented and formed into
an eXhillarating or Intoxicating beverage
which was held i'll very high esteem. The
total number of hymns in the Rig-Veda is
about 1920. Their composition was without
doubt the work of many men, and of long
periods of time. They bear evident marks of
having been handed down by tradition, and,
although they were collected and arranged in
their present form long before our era, some
centuries must have passed be-
fore they were brought together
by the sage who, from his perform
ance Of this work, is called Vy0Sd, the COM
piler. The language of the hymns, besides
being archaic, is very involved and elliptical,
with epithets of which it is diff
cult to see the force, and with metaphors and
comparisons which are by no means obvious.
1t teens with words which require ustii-
cation" The hymns consequently demand,
as Mr.. Muller observes, a similar treatment
to that bestowed upon the Interpretation of
ancient inscriptions-a careful collection of
all grammatical forms, and a thorough COM
parison of all passages in which the same
word occurs. The metre of the hymns is a
very important guide to the correct reading
of the text, but this presents 50 many appa-
rent anomalies, that several critics have en-
deavored to explain its rules, and Mr.. Muller
devotes many pages of his preface to set forth
and illustrate his own opinions on the matter.
After working for more than twenty years
on the publication of the text, Mr.. Mule
now endeavors to reap a little of the fruit of
his labors, and presents the world with a
translation of certain portions of the Vedic
HYMNS. This, his first volume, consists of a
part of the hymns addressed to the M0ruts,
or Storm-gods. He brings to the work full
acquaintance with the traditional interpreta-
tion of Indian scholars, a mastery of compa-
rative grammar, mind alive to all points of
resemblance III mythology, and an industry
which has no doubt performed that laborious
work of inter-comparison of which we have
spoken above. But for all this he says, with
the modest diilidence of a true scholar, "my
work is a mere contribution towards q better
understanding of the Vedic hymns, and
though may give in the main a right render
ing of the sense of the Vedic poets, l feel
convinced that on many points my transla-
tion is liable to correction, and will sooner or
later be replaced by a more satisfactory one"
1t IS time, however, that we TOOK some no.
tice of the hymns upon which this vast labor
has been expended, and endeavored to give
some idea of their character and style. First,
then, the reader must not expect to find in
them much poetry of an agreeable or elevated
character, anything that for moment can
bear comparison with the Psalms. AS mere
literary productions, apart from their archaic
value, we doubt if any man could be found to
read them. Snatches Of poetry may here and
there be found; grand and elevated tone
mixed with the most familiar and, to modern