New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-05
ANCIENT INDIA.
NINE RAGOZIN ON THE VEDIC ClVlLZA-
ton.

entail Society OF the Societf Ethnologlque. Up
XII 457 g. I. Putnam's Sons
Nine. Ragozn has made an Interesting BOOK
q, g,ean,nes from the Rig-veda. But there is
more folklore and myth and popular custom
and religious opinion in 1t than there ~
., his,orv II seems strange to modern
,n,rds that tribes as far advanced In the
arts Of ufe> with n literature. oral II not
written so elaborate rs the prehistoric
invaders Of Hindostan possessed should nave
neglected the narrative Of their own decds'
Plainly they did not mean TO neglect II. but
their idea OF history writing differed much from
that Of other times and other regions. Far from
hcine content with mere annals, they enVeioped
,a,r facts in a haze of fancy. Heroes and
de:ties josted each other. they were so many;
and the uuarrels of tribes were described as
though they were wars Of nations Ana alter
ALL there is to be got out of the narrative barely
more than is obtained by comparative study OF
the mirrations of races. Everywhere the Indo-
Germanic peoples found population already IN
possession of the soil. This was as true with the
Aryans Of India as with the Celts of Britain
Wherever they overcame. they made their foes
their servants This was as certain to happen
in Hindostan as it was in Scandinavia Ihere
Is no sign of caste in the proper sense or the
term anywhere in the Rig-Veda. But there are
the same signs Of class differences that there
are in old Morse poetry. and gradatlons Ill 'he
one case as in the other are marked by uiner-
ences in the color of hair and SKIN. IN the o'u
Northern Lay of RICH" these classes appear
v,tbout q reminiscence Of a time when they were
AT war with each other. The lowermost class
comprised the thralls They were OF swarthy
hue Even in childhood the skin OF their hahus
was wrnked. the knuckes crooked, the myers
thick the face ugly. the back broad. the heels
ntxlO ~ a
and she had scars on her feet sunburned arms
and broken nose. Her name and the names
Of her children were such as betokened famil-
iarity with the farm yard, the peat bog and the
herds Above these were the Carries, owners or
a little land and Of house which they called
n hall They were rudy Of hue. and red as TO
their hair and their names Indicated the lnde-
pendence of their life compared with that OF the
serfs below them Above these was the war
rior class. The master of a forfeited haIl pusled
himself twisting bowstrings bending the elm
for his bow or shafting his arrows. The lazy
was careful Of her dress and her skin was winter
than the driven snow. The family ale rom
silver-mounted dishes, and drank and ate ana
talked in a leisurely way. They were not ooiged
10 labor. These were the Earls. And the dNiie
RICH favored the children Of the Earls. lie
taught them spells ard swimming and horseman-
could win lands by force and hold the people in
subiec.ion The names Of these favored beings,
both men and women, were such as showed their
high breeding and their beauty
With changes in details this description would
be correct enough for Vedic India, that Is, Tor
the narrow region far in the north where the
invaders first got their foothold in the peninsula
The races that they conquered were Of dark com
plexion and these gradually fell into condition
of servitude Above these were the invading
warriors among whom there had already emerged
a classification In which certain families
took precedence of the rest, precedence when
was partly due to cheftainship In war pafuy
To leadership in religion partly to the poetic skin
which they possessed themselves or were ape
10 retain In their dependents, There was as Yet
M sign Of the porienious significance ~ ths
priesthood whioh distinguished The Subsequent
his,orv If India iiul The poet had ALREADY
GAINED a pT0ininnnre ~ which hafdle iehuWh
a,nans the Csis was only faint counterpart,
This development ~ society iouh place ~ Tho
midst of little wars ~ conquest iy when tho
families and fihes ~ invaders gradually made
the country their own. n The question ls asked
whether these invading Tribes were settled ar
nomadc In their habits, the answer Will be
found to depend the dubious meaning Of
single m-word. that which forms the basis
Of the English adjective arabic From the
infinite modification Of that word and It's UNI
doubted antiquity is inferred the agricultural
habits Of men who proudly called themselves
Aryans that Is to say. ploughmen. This dehni-
,,on NJ the word corresponding to Aryan is not
beyond dispute. but It Is at least as good as any
other that has been offered II 1t be asked
whether they found any civilization among their
neighbors. or any facilities of trade, the answer
bo okc1f for I'm their
or literature or word-forms. But 1t Is curious
that the name by which the Babyonian mer-
chants knew the delicate cotton fabric for which
India has always been famous was neither a
Turanian nor a Semitic word. but Aryan,
lust as the word by which moderns Know
a fabric more or less similar, namely, mus
lin. is derived from the name OF town
on the Euphrates. one or two other de-
tails perhaps as trivial as this point TO TRACE IN
other articles. The evidence that the travelling
traders were not the fair-skinned Aryans, but
the dark-sknned Turanians and Semites, lies IN
the fact tina, the weight Of gold by which the
value of commodities was measured was known
by a Chaldean name the same which became
douesticated under exactly similar conditions In
Greece.
II trade Is the great civilizer 1t is pretty certain
that tho Arvans were not the first in advancement
among the primitive races. They had learned no"
To make certain articles that were salable and th'
it,nerant merchants gathered these up and, by &
process OF barter in which every intervening trip'
had share. transferred them to the coast or TN
sea- where they were taken up by the factors
the great buyers Of the West Chaldaea, Sabaei
and Egypt OF the sea, the primitive Aryan
knew nothing The ocean which they imagined
WAS above the armament whence 1t sometime
cont down vast floods on earth. Their scienc
NAV have been faulty. but it was guided by Undue
t,on. In such regions as they inhabited they ha
GOOD cause for thinking that the sky held up al
immense body of water. There is no reason I
suppose that atmospheric conditions have change
much on the southern slopes OF the Himalayas i
thousands OF years. At the present day in Assaf