New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-10-29

LIAM DWIGHT WHITNEY. limo. PIP he scrohcr'
Armstrong, Go.
It's rarely that the collected fugitive productions
even of the most accomplished scholars can boast OF
Abe weight and authority of the contents of this
volume Without exception, they are made mp OF con-
trbutons 10 various periodicals of the day. but they
are sngularly free from the desire of popular effect
and the consequent supercialty of treatment which
no usually characterize that form of literature
Although the methods of a scholastic treatise nave
not been adopted in their composition, they oeuay
afuness of erudition. thoroughneSs OF research
power of saga0Ous criticism, and hgh degree 0,
fbe reasoning faculty, which are seldom eXhlolted
even in the productions that hold the rank OF clas-
~ scs in our libraries Professor Whitney was one OF
e the earliest cultiyators in this country OF the
,sculiar and dificnlt branch of learning TO which
these ESSAYS are mainly devoted. His paper on
the Yedas was the first in which the conclusions OF
modern study respecting the most ancient period Oh
Indian history were presented IN the Enghsh
1ancnace. This was originally published about
twenty wears ago in the journal of the American
Oriental Society andalthOugh the subject since that
time has engrossed the attention of many of the
most profound scholars Of the age, we are IN pos
session OF no analysis, more lucid and compTehen-
siye Of the character and design of those antique
memorials Of religion in the East
According to Professor Whitney, the Vedas COM
prise the whole body of HindoO sacred literature, eX-
tending over the entire religious and philosophical
history Of that people. He. however employs the
term in a more limited sense as denoting the VIII
inrs which are regarded canonical text, and are
distinguished from the Brahmanic comments and
expostions of a subsequent period. The general form
of The Vedas as thus understood, is that OF lyrical
poetry. They contain the earliest songs OF the
primeval Hindoos and are probabythe most ancient
existing literary records of our race No Writings
have been preserved to modern times which SO COM
petey represent the lyrical epoch which IS assumed
by the students of antiquity the earliest in the
literary history of every people. The mass
is of a strictly religious character This is probably
due to the character of the people itself No great
nation ever founded the whole structure of its social
and political life more absolutely on a religious
basis None ever meditated more deeply on super
natural things, or recevedNa more profound lnnu-
ence from the tendency to ideal thought The songs
for the most part are invOcatons and praises Of the
deities to which each is addressed. Their metrical
form is of the simplest character. The language Is
nm older dialect than the classical Sanskrt from
which IL varies considerably in its grammatical and
lexical forms. 1t is characterized by blooming
freshness and vicor Of life. Its freedom is untram
meled by other rules than those Of common usage
1t has not yet lost its vernacular raciness and be-
come mere instrument Of the learned for the com
muncatiOn of ideas.
\ With regard to the period IN which the Vedas
were composed and their history collections, the
data are still too obscure to furnish even an approx
innate solution Of the problem. We can hardly fix
the Vedc period more neatly than by assigning IT on
general considerations the earlier half of the
ond thousand years before the Christian COCO
1890 b. c. The time which the hymns themselves
cover cannot he measured by less than centuries
When their collection took place. or under whose
direction it was made it is not possible to de-
ternne But al whatever date the work may have
been performed, il must have constituted
pregnant epoch in the literary history of India
From that time, the texts became a chief
object Of the science and industry of the nation
They have been preserved with such curious sollc-
tude that although thousands of years have elapsed
since their collection scarcely single various read
ing has been detected in their manifold contents.
The influence which they have exerted on the lit
erary development Of after ages cannot be rated too
high large portion of the Sanskrt literature
which We now possess, was called forth by them.
The Vedic grammar the basis Of the Sanskrit
grammar, which rescued the language from further
eorrupion and established it as the instrument of
learned and elegant composition
Among the results which Professor Whitney emu
mcrates arising from the Vedas in the history OF
Indian antiquity, is the unconscious picture that
they present of the primitive condition out of which
sprung the institutions of following times. They
faithfully exhibit the relations which existed at the
time of their composition. Nor have they been fall
SIZED by succeeding generations The VedicperiOd,
in fact is more clearly set before us than some Of
those which follow it, and many steps in the progress
Of transition to more recent times remain obscure
The geographical and social RELATIONSHIP the coun
try are amply illustrated in the poems of the Vedas
They represent the Indian people not the earliest
owners of the soil, but as lingering on the borders
of their promised land. The Indus, with the region
on each side of H. the place of their original
abode. The Ganges is scarcely mentioned in the
sacred lyrics. The territory broken up into
many petty districts each shut out from near con-
nection with it's neghbors by mountains wastes.
TIE political state OF the people was in accordance
with the natural conformation Of the country.
They were divided into clans tribes, Independent
of one another, and with no common tie but the
consciousness of the same descent, language and re-
hgon and their united hostility to the earlier posses
OTIS of the soil ON which they had now gained
foothod As distinguished from these they called
Themselves Aryans word of which do not now
know the primitive meaning and denotes the
others az enemies dstuTbers." The exact
form of their state is not brought clearly light in
the hymns. The individual is seldom represented as
the subject Of a government. He makes his appear
anee as the head Of family and the Of wealth.
But we may safely conclude that they were commun-
tiles Of freemen whose kings more thar their
chief men and leaders in war; They were not strict
Iy AGRICULTURAL though they did not neglect the Gull
tjvation Of the soil Flocks and herds their
chief possessions. The main source Of their wealth
was horned cattle. Sheep and goats are often men
toned but they held a comparatively inferior
plaee The horse was common and highly valued.
He is made frequent subject of eulogy in the
He .Uaa chiefly ueed "a au ally in war. and