The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-12-27
Hindu Hunor.

The Hindus have their epics, their
dramas, their popular tales and their
poetry. Their VedaS contain passages sub
lime as any to be found in the sacred books
of other nations. Their law books are full
of wise AMI humane counsels. Their epcs
celebrate the actions of men and women not
unlike the heroes and heroines of Homer,
and their dramas bear strong affinity
to ours-a fact which led Sehlegel
to declare that the English version OF
the Sakuntala of Kalidasa presents so
striking resemblance to our romantic
drama that we would conclude its transla-
tor to have been undUly influenced by his
love for Shakespeare, if his accuracy we're
not well established by Sanskrit scholars.
But still we can not look to Indian lite
nature for an GGdipus, Hamlet orr Faust,
nor, conversely, for an Eulenspiegel, q
Panurge or Sanchs Panza. This dogma
Ofquiesccnt prevented the creation of the
great types Of tears or OF laughter
which have baen the glory of the
literatures of other countries. and
which will live for ever. According to
our conception of the tragic, the llndus
have no tragedies, and the humor which
many of their writers possess is a humor
distinctly their own. While the trus hui
morist laughs at the follies Of mankind,
and, even as he laughs, loves them because
they are so human, the Eastern humorist,
inspired by Bruhminism or Buddhism,
laughs at men for rejoicing or despsiring in
world which has no reality. He never
could thoroughly understand the broth
erly sympathy with the downward side"
which was the inspiration of Shakespeare,
Rabelais and Cervantes.
1t is at first difficult for the Western
reader to define what is earnest and what is
humorous in Sanssrit works. That which
strikes us as grotesque and ludicrous is to
the Hindu sublime and serious, The diff,
ference in the standards Of taste adopted
by Eastern and Western Aryans is admira-
bly, exemplifed intheir types of godhead.
The Greek gods and godd0sses are beauti-
tul and perfect in form; HephWstos, whose
trade is little suited to divinity, is miss
hapen and the horns, tails and goats feet
of Pan, and the satyrS harmonic with their
semi hestile natures. The Morse gsds are
strong, brave and energetic and are models
of complete manhood. The Hindu gods,
however are tremendous monsters, with
eight arms and thrse heads, like silva, with
an elephants head; like Ganesa; or black,
bloody and terrible, like the much. feared,
much-honored Durgs. In the Mahabha-
rata. Aryuna begs for one glimpse Of the
infinite, universal deity, and kushna an:
pears, with many arms, stomachs, eyes aud
mouths with projecting teeth, in which the
sons of Dritarashta are sticking, even as
the pilgrims, concealed in the salad, were
held fast in the teeth of Gargantua. There
is, moreover, the same wild luxuriance in
everything Indian. The Rumayann and
Mahabharata are the longest of a. epios.
The Pansha-tantra and other popular tales
thread; and there are stories within
stories, until an rninitiated reader,
before he Is halfway through this
labyrinth of incident, has lost the
thread that was to guide him. Iii, keep
ing with the rich fertility Of the Hindu inn
aginstion that the early neutrality-suspicious.
evolved the most tremendous humorous
conception that has ever entered into the
mind of man. When the philosopher
paused in his speculations on the infinite,
To look out on the world about him. he saw
a land teeming with life and beauty, and
men and women who lived and struggled,
loved and hated, laughed aud cried. The
contrast between tho truth which he in his
isdom had OWNED and life as II seemed
aroused within him grim sense OF the hu.
morous. After all, what was creation .Out
MAYA, a delusion-a joke, colossal In design,
which Brahm, the one reality, had imagined
for his own amusement. IL was even as
Heine fanoied Il might be-thc dream OF q
Jolly. tipsy deity-[Atlan Monthly.