Pandavas to a match at dice-throwing, for the purpose of depriving them of their possessions, and although they attained this end by skill, the use of loaded dice is evidently referred to in the poem. Mr Wheeler says that "more than one Hindu legend has been preserved of Rajas playing together for days, until the wretched loser has been deprived of everything he possessed and reduced to the condition of an exile or a slave." In the case of the Pandavas the player, after having lost everything else, staked himself, then his brothers, and finally their wife, the beautiful Draupadi, an act which was possibly not unusual among the ancient Kshatriyas, who appear to have valued women chiefly on sensual grounds.1 The conduct of this primitive people in war appears to have been as barbarous as during peace. Before fighting commenced the warriors used abusive language towards each other, and when they engaged in single combat they fought with clubs, knives, and clenched fists, "and cut, and hacked, and hewed, and wrestled, and kicked until the conqueror threw down his adversary, and severed his head from his body," which he carried away in triumph. To gain this end treachery, deceit, and foul play, were freely employed, even at the suggestion of the divine hero of the piece, Krishna, who afterwards extenuates the deed. This conduct is on a par with the revengeful feelings by which the ancient Kshatriyas were actuated. We have a curious instance of this in the extraordinary revenge which Aswatthama took for the death of his friends, by surprising the camp of the Pandavas at night, slaying their followers by hundreds, among them their five sons, whose heads they cut off and carried to the dying leader of the Kauravas, making him believe that they were the heads of the Pandavas themselves. The chief rejoiced at having the heads of his 1 Wheeler, pp. 175 seq., 184. 2 Do., p. 280. 3 Do., pp. 292, 344. 3 enemies in his grasp, even when he was at the point of death, and he crushed between his hands the skull which he thought to be that of his chief foe, Bhima. As a redeeming feature of this barbarous scene, it should be added that when Duryodhana discovered that not the Pandavas but their innocent sons had been slain, he upbraided Aswatthama for having performed so terrible a deed in killing those against whom he had no enmity; although it was not the act which he abhorred so much as its consequences, in cutting short the race of which he was the head.1 The Kaurava chieftain died, and his soul passed away to the mansions of Indra, where those who fought bravely were thought to enjoy happiness and glory.2 This sketch of the manners of the ancient Kshatriyas may be fitly concluded by that given by Mr Wheeler of the probable character of the Rajas present at the great sacrifice celebrated by the Pandavas. He says that in all probability they were "a rude company of half naked warriors, who feasted boisterously beneath the shade of trees. Their conversation was very likely confined to their domestic relations, such as the state of their health, the condition of their families, the exploits of their sons, and the marriages of their daughters; or to their domestic circumstances, such as herds of cattle, harvests of grain, and feats of arms against robbers and wild beasts. Their highest ideas were possibly simple conceptions of the gods who sent light, heat, and rain; who gave long life, abundance of children, prolific cattle, and brimming harvests, and who occasionally manifested their wrath in lightning and thunder, in devastating tempests, and destroying floods. Such, in all probability, was the general character of the festive multitude who sat down upon the grass at the great feast to eat and 1 Wheeler, p. 350 seq. 2 Do., p. 355. drink vigorously to the honour and glory of the new 4 We can hardly expect to find among people such as those above described any very refined system of morals. There is in fact no evidence they had the slightest idea of what we understand as the obligations of morality. It is true that Mr Wheeler sees in the events which led to the second exile of the Pandavas, and also in the evils which befell Nala, the lover of Damayanti, related in the Mahabharata, the conception of an avenging nemesis. But true nemesis possesses a moral element,3 and is not merely vengeance called forth by envy of another's good fortune, as was the case in relation to both the Pandavas and Nala. If a knowledge of the obligations of morality are to be sought anywhere amongst the ancient Hindu Aryans, it must be with the people who may possibly be identified as the ancestors of the Brahmans. Mr Wheeler says of this people that they "evidently possessed strong religious instincts. They prayed in earnest language to primitive deities for such simple benefits as colonists in a new country might be expected to crave, namely, seasonable rains, abundant harvests, prolific cattle, and plenty of children. were certainly a peaceful community, and appear to have been altogether indisposed for war, for they prayed not for victory but for protection. They do not seem to have sacrificed to any god of war, unless Indra may be regarded as such; but their offerings were exclusively made to what might be termed family or domestic deities, who were supposed to supply the daily wants of a simple but contemplative people. But neither in this description of the character of the peace-loving ancestors of the Brahmans, nor in the original conception of their 1 Wheeler, p. 167. " 5 They deities as exhibited in their earliest hymns, is there any appearance of a moral element. No doubt the Vedic deities had finally come to be regarded as rewarding goodness and punishing wickedness. This is shown by the noble hymn to Varuna, translated as follows by Professor Max Müller: 1 "Let me not yet, O Varuna, enter into the house of clay; have mercy, almighty, have mercy! "If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by the wind, have mercy, almighty, have mercy! 66 Through want of strength, thou strong and bright god, have I gone to the wrong shore; have mercy, almighty, have mercy! "Thirst came upon the worshipper, though he stood in the midst of the waters; have mercy, almighty, have mercy! "Whenever we men, O Varuna, commit an offence before the heavenly host, whenever we break thy law through thoughtlessness, have mercy, almighty, have mercy!" Noble as the language of this hymn undoubtedly is, it yet leaves uncertain what are the actions which give offence to the gods, and therefore even if it had belonged to the earliest Vedic age, it would not have thrown much light on the moral ideas of those who used it. A late French writer affirms that the ancestors of the Indian and Iranian races believed in an almighty, self-existent God, who was essentially good, and who disposed of the world and of man according to his goodness, and in the immortality of man. They also believed that evil is only an accident which can be overcome by the assistance of God, in applying oneself to good thoughts, good words, and good actions; and that conscience imposes on us moral obligation. That such ideas are to be found in the Avesta of the Iranians may be true, but this can hardly be said of the early Vedic hymns. M. Schoebel 2 1 "History of Sanskrit Literature," p. 540. 2 "Recherches sur la Religion Première de la Race Indo-Iranienne,” par O. Schoebel (1872), p. 135. admits that a first study of the texts would seem to show that moral good exhibits itself in the Veda only as a fruit of material good, and not as springing from a divine source. He adds, however, that the the Vedic writers distinguish between earthly and heavenly blessings, the latter being referred to as the reward for good works. Heavenly blessings are not only such virtues as wisdom or intelligence, right action, and the good reputation which depends on it, but also faith and piety. Moreover, the Vedic writers express their aversion to evil thoughts and pray to be delivered from them, and that their speech may be without deceit. "The desire of sincerity and of truth," says M. Schoebel, "is so strong in them, that it causes them to break out in imprecations not only against evil, but also against those who commit it.' These sentiments undoubtedly reveal a knowledge of good as distinguished from evil, but they are far from proving that the early Aryas had any definite idea of moral obligation. Their bards seem to have had an abhorrence of lying and deceit, which they used to denote moral evil,2 and possibly abstention from those practices and the observance of the sacrificial rites constituted the "1 whole duty of man in their eyes. Simplicity of character and truthfulness may be ascribed to them, but certainly no elevated notions of morality, such as those must have had who give themselves to good thoughts, good words, and good actions. Among the Vedic writers the last named included the destruction of the enemies of the deity, and on the other hand they incessantly prayed the deity to destroy their enemies, without distinction, relations or strangers.3 M. Schoebel supposes that the early Hindu Aryas saw in Ahi, the serpent enemy of Indra, the emblem of |