So far most of our knowledge about the ethics of ancient India has come
to us from the religious writings of the Vedas,
Brahmanas, Aranyakas,
Upanishads, Jainism,
and Buddhism. These are the oldest sources,
as there were no significant historians of ancient India except for the
Greek and Roman accounts of Alexander's conquests. Later we shall see what
epic poetry revealed about Indian civilization. This chapter will review
what we do know about the history of ancient India and then examine the
writings about dharma (law, duty), politics, and pleasure.
As we learned from the Vedas, ancient India
was ruled by kings and councils of prominent men in varying degrees of monarchy
and republican influence. Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador to India shortly
after Alexander's death, wrote a book on India stating that monarchies were
dissolved and democratic governments were set up in the cities. Jainism and Buddhism
flourished particularly in the independent clans. According to Buddhist
texts, in the sixth century BC there were sixteen major states in northern
India of which Magadha, Kosala, and Vatsa were the most powerful. Our last
chapter recounted how Kosala massacred the Shakya clan; after Buddha's death
Kosala also took over Kashi.
Vatsa was a prosperous country known for its fine cotton; its capital was
Kaushambi. Their heroic king, Udayana, was descended from the Kurus of Bharata
and was the subject of several poems and dramas. He was captured by the
cruel King Pradyota of Avanti, but he contrived to escape with the help
of Pradyota's daughter. Interested in Buddhism Udayana was converted by
Pindola, but not before he had tortured Pindola with brown ants while in
a drunken rage.
Magadha rose to imperial power during the long reigns of Bimbisara (c.
544-491 BC) and his son Ajatashatru (c. 491-460 BC); their relations with
the Buddha have been told. Only fifteen years old when he was anointed king
by his father, Bimbisara conquered Anga which had defeated his father. His
son was installed in its powerful capital at Champa, and his diplomatic
and matrimonial relations with Pradyota of Avanti also enhanced his power
with the annexation of Kashi. The Magadha empire included republican communities
such as Rajakumara. Villages had their own assemblies under their local
chiefs called Gramakas. Their administrations were divided into executive,
judicial, and military functions. Bimbisara was friendly to both Jainism
and Buddhism and suspended tolls at the river ferries for all ascetics after
the Buddha was once stopped at the Ganga River for lack of money.
After the death of Bimbisara at the hands of his son, Ajatashatru, the widowed
princess of Kosala also died of grief, causing King Prasenajit to revoke
the gift of Kashi and triggering a war between Kosala and Magadha. Ajatashatru
was trapped by an ambush and captured with his army; but in a peace treaty
he, his army, and Kashi were restored to Magadha, and he married Prasenajit's
daughter.
Jain and Buddhist accounts differ slightly as to the cause of Ajatashatru's
war with the Licchavi republic, but precious gems figured in both accounts.
This conflict would determine the fate of eastern India and drew the attention
of the Buddha who suggested to the democratic
Licchavis that they strengthen themselves by holding full and frequent assemblies
while maintaining internal concord and efficient administration honoring
elders, institutions, shrines, saints, and women.
However, Ajatashatru sent a minister who for three years worked to undermine
the unity of the Licchavis at Vaishali. To launch his attack across the
Ganga River Ajatashatru had to build a fort at a new capital called Pataliputra,
which the Buddha prophesied would become a
great center of commerce. Torn by disagreements the Licchavis were easily
defeated once the fort was constructed. Jain texts tell how Ajatashatru
used two new weapons - a catapult and a covered chariot with swinging mace
that has been compared to modern tanks.
Approaching the Buddha's assembly of monks to ask forgiveness for ending
the life of his father, Ajatashatru could not understand how at night it
could be so quiet near an assembly of more than a thousand people and exclaimed,
"Would that my son Udayi Bhadda might have such calm as this assembly
of the brothers has!"1 This conversation with the Buddha
was a turning point in the life of Ajatashatru, and after the Buddha's death
the chief disciple, Mahakassapa, entrusted the bulk of the relics to Ajatashatru.
The king also repaired the facilities at Rajagriha used by the Buddhists
and sponsored the first Buddhist council by providing clothing, food, residences,
and medicine for about five hundred monks and elders.
According to Buddhist texts the four kings who ruled Magadha after Ajatashatru
all killed their fathers, though Jain texts claim that his first successor
was an adherent of their religion who was assassinated by his political
rival, Palaka, the son of the Avanti King Pradyota who had become powerful
by conquering Kaushambi. Finally the people rose up against being ruled
by murderers and elected Sishunaga king of Magadha who destroyed the power
of the Pradyotas and took over Avanti as well as Vatsa and Kosala. His son,
Kalashoka, succeeded to a powerful empire, but he was murdered by a lowcaste
barber named Ugrasena who founded the Nanda dynasty which ended the traditional
rule by kshatriyas by exterminating their principalities. The last king
of the Nandas was overthrown shortly after Alexander's Greek invaders left
India in 326 BC, because he was hated by his people for his wickedness,
miserliness, and low origin.
Although the Persians extended their rule over the western edge of India
under Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, the only major threat of foreign conquest
came when Alexander of Macedon invaded
India in 326 BC. According to Greek historians, "None of the Indians
ever marched out of their own country for war, being actuated by a respect
for justice."2 Arrian also added that all the inhabitants were free,
since no Indian was a slave, though he did describe seven castes as the
naked wise men, farmers, animal herders, artisans, warriors, supervisors,
and royal officials. Tillers of the soil were so respected that even when
a war raged nearby they plowed and gathered their crops in peace.
After conquering Bactria Alexander crossed
the Hindu Kush mountains. Taking advantage of rivalries between kingdoms
Alexander gained in advance the allegiance
of Shashigupta and eventually Ambhi, king of Taxila. Alexander
sent Hephaestion and Perdiccas with half his forces through the Khyber Pass,
and they laid siege to the Astenoi for thirty days before their King Astes
fell fighting. Alexander also met opposition
from the free peoples, and in one of these skirmishes he was wounded while
scaling the walls. An Athenian quoted Homer that Ichor flows from the blessed
gods, but the conqueror denied this divine implication declaring flatly
that it was blood. Because their glorious leader had been wounded, the Greeks
massacred the entire population of that tribe. Forty thousand Aspasians
were taken prisoner, and the 230,000 oxen captured indicates the prosperity
of the area.
The Assakenoi resisted Alexander with
tens of thousands of cavalry and infantry in a fortress at Massaga. After
the king was killed, the army was led by his mother, Queen Cleophes, and
included the local women. After several days of heroic fighting, Alexander offered these brave people their lives
if the mercenaries would agree to join his army; the city capitulated. But
not wanting to fight other Indians, the seven thousand mercenaries tried
to run away from the camp and were slaughtered by Alexander's soldiers.
Next the town of Nysa surrendered, and the Greeks celebrated with Bacchic
revels the taking of a town they thought was founded by Dionysus. Then Alexander delighted in taking the town
of Aornus, because he heard that Heracles had failed to do so. These incidents
indicate that the motive for these conquests was the glory of mythic renown,
since there was no other known provocation or rationale for the invasion
of another country so far from home except perhaps to steal their wealth
or the progaganda they were spreading Greek culture.
King Ambhi of Taxila responded to Alexander's messengers with gifts and
agreed to surrender his prosperous dominions with the following argument:
To what purpose should we make war upon one another,
if the design of your coming into these parts
be not to rob us of our water or our necessary food,
which are the only things
that wise men are indispensably obliged to fight for?
As for other riches and possessions,
as they are accounted in the eye of the world,
if I am better provided of them than you,
I am ready to let you share with me;
but if fortune has been more liberal to you than me,
I have no objection to be obliged to you.3
Alexander not wanting to be outdone by this generosity gave Ambhi even
greater gifts plus one thousand talents in money. However, a Macedonian
military governor was appointed over Taxila, and Ambhi provided military
support to help the Greeks fight his Indian enemies.
A naval officer named Onesicritus heard a lecture on ethics from the wise
teachers who received free food in the Taxila marketplace. They admired
Alexander's love of wisdom even though he ruled a vast empire, and they
said he was the only philosopher in arms they had seen. They asked about
Socrates, Pythagoras,
and Diogenes, but felt they paid too
much attention to the customs and laws of their country, an illuminating
insight from one of the earliest cross-cultural discussions. One of the
naked sages, Calanus, refused to talk with Onesicritus because he would
not strip off his clothes; but he did show Alexander
an analogy of his government by trying to stand on a shriveled hide, which
when trod on its edges would not stay flat; but when he stood in the middle,
it did. This was similar to the point Dandamis had made when he had asked
Onesicritus why Alexander had undertaken
such a long journey. A young man named Pyrrho who went on to found the skeptical
school of Greek philosophy also talked with these sages, causing his entire
outlook to change.
Alexander tried to negotiate with the other two major Indian kings, Abhisara
and Poros. Abhisara sent gifts and promised to submit, but Poros said that
he would meet Alexander on the field
of battle. Alexander drafted five thousand Indian troops into his infantry,
had a bridge of boats built to cross the Indus River, and met Poros on the
banks of the Jhelum River, which his soldiers were finally able to sneak
across at night to avoid confrontation with the elephants of Poros.
This strategic battle fought in the rainy season was won by Alexander using
flanking movements around the elephants. Thousands were slain, and after
receiving nine wounds himself King Poros surrendered. When Alexander
asked the defeated king what treatment he wanted to receive, Poros asked
only to be treated in a kingly way. Winning Alexander's respect and friendship
Poros was granted the rule over his own people and later additional territory
equal to his own that Alexander also
annexed.
Alexander took Sangala by storm, killing
17,000 Indians and capturing 70,000, while only one hundred of his own men
were killed, though more than twelve hundred were wounded. Once again Alexander offered to spare independent
Indians; but when they fled, about five hundred were caught and killed.
He ordered Sangala razed to the ground. He could see no end to war as long
as some were hostile to his conquering. Alexander was enthusiastic when
he learned of prosperous farmland on the other side of the Hyphasis River,
but that July Alexander's officers and soldiers, seeing the vast plains
that stretched to the east, refused to invade any further, having already
traveled 11,000 miles in seven years. When Alexander
could not persuade them to follow him, he had to admit that the omens had
changed. Arranging for Arsaces to pay tribute to the king of Abhisara he
left his conquered territory under this king, Ambhi, and Poros, and planned
his voyage back to the sea.
Having built a fleet of a thousand boats and expropriating another eight
hundred, in November 326 Alexander began the voyage down the rivers to the
sea. Hearing of opposition at the confluence of the Jhelum and the Chenab,
Alexander marched his army forty-eight
miles across the desert to attack the Mallians by surprise. Alexander
led the attack personally, and the Greeks killed about five thousand Indians.
Impatient with the slowness of those climbing the ladders into the enemy
fort, Alexander jumped down into the
fort almost alone where he was shot by an arrow through his breastplate
into his ribs. Fighting until he fainted from loss of blood, he was then
protected by bodyguards, and the arrow was eventually removed. Alexander recovered, but in revenge all the
Indians in the fort were massacred, including the women and children.
Other independent cities of Brahmins revolted; 80,000 Indians were slain
by the Greeks, and many captives were auctioned as slaves. After this bloody
detour Alexander and his men returned to their ships and sailed down the
Indus to the sea and returned to Babylon. On his boat Alexander
questioned ten of the naked sages he captured for persuading Sabbas to revolt.
Known for their pertinent answers to questions, Alexander
threatened to kill those who gave inadequate responses. According to Plutarch
these philosophers declared that the cunningest animal is the one people
have not found out, that to be most loved one must be very powerful without
making oneself too much feared, and that a decent person ought to live until
death appears more desirable than life.
Alexander had entered India with an army of 120,000 with 15,000 horses but returned with not much more than a quarter of them mostly because of disease and famine. Although this conquest did open up communication between the Greeks and the Indians, it seems to me that this could have been done much better without all the killing and plunder.
Alexander's conquests affected only the westernmost portion of India,
as most of the empire of the Nandas remained intact. However, within a year
or two of Alexander's departure this great empire was overthrown not by
the Greeks but by Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty. According
to Greek historians the young Chandragupta met Alexander, angered him, and
was ordered to be killed but fled. A Pali work describes how Chandragupta
and his minister Chanakya recruited an army from the disaffected people
of the Punjab who had resisted Alexander and then overthrew the existing
government of India.
The Greek satraps Nicanor and Philippus were killed, and when Alexander's
empire was divided up after his death in 323 the Indus Valley had already
been lost to Chandragupta, and Eudemus left India in 317. Seleucus, the
ruler of the eastern portion of the Greek empire, encountered Chandragupta
in 305 and had to cede the Hindu Kush mountain area for 500 elephants, which
enabled him to defeat Antigonus at Ipsus.
Megasthenes was sent as the Greek ambassador to the court at Pataliputra
where he wrote a book on India. A royal road of more than a thousand miles
connected the northwest territory with this capital. Megasthenes described
how this vast empire was ruled by Chandragupta who conducted public business
and judged causes throughout his waking day. Provinces were ruled by governors
and viceroys and the emperor himself with the help of his council. An intelligence
system which included courtesans reported to the king. Irrigation was regulated,
and the army had more than 600,000 men; but they were outnumbered by the
farmers whose work was respected even in wartime.
Literary legends portray Chanakya as the genius behind the throne and the
author of Kautilya's Arthashastra. Jain tradition claims that in
the last days of his life Chandragupta was converted and joined their migration
led by Bhadrabahu. Chandgragupta ruled for a quarter of a century and was
succeeded by his son Bindusara who ruled for about 27 years. According to
a Tibetan source Chanakya also helped Bindusara destroy sixteen towns and
master all the territory between the eastern and western seas. Bindusara
corresponded with the Syrian king Antiochus I offering to buy wine, figs,
and a sophist, but Greek law prohibited the selling of a sophist. Bindusara appointed his son Ashoka viceroy of Avanti, and about
273 BC Ashoka became emperor of India.
Buddhist texts portray Ashoka consolidating his empire by killing ninety-nine
of his brothers, but some consider this an exaggeration to set off the contrast
after his conversion since some of his rock edicts indicate loving care
of his brothers. With a sense of his historic mission Ashoka had these rock
edicts and stone pillars carved all over India with descriptions of his
intentions and actions. These tell a remarkable story of the philosopher
king H. G. Wells called the greatest of kings.
Ashoka admits in Rock Edict 13 that eight years after his consecration as
king when "Kalinga was conquered, 150,000 people were deported, 100,000
were killed, and many times that number died."4 Yet after that he was
converted to justice (dharma), loved it, and taught it. With great
remorse Ashoka transformed himself and attempted to transform his kingdom
and the world, though he warns offenders that they might be executed if
they disobey. Eliminating capital punishment was not one of his reforms
although he did often delay executions. Ashoka expresses his main concern
for the next world.
Ashoka renounced the violence of war, stating that he would have to bear
all that could be borne. He refused to conquer weaker and smaller states,
allowing even forest tribes an equal sovereignty. He wanted all people to
enjoy the benefits of non-injury, self-control, fair conduct, and gentleness.
As a benevolent monarch he declared all people his children and expressed
his desire that all his children obtain welfare and happiness both in this
world and the next. He thus engaged in preaching but also worked hard to
serve his people. Instead of organizing military expeditions he sent out
peace missions throughout his kingdom and beyond to teach virtue and conversion
to a moral life by love.
In another rock edict Ashoka said he has been an open follower of the Buddha for two and a half years. He abolished
royal hunting and animal sacrifices in the capital, reducing the palace's
killing of animals for food from several thousand a day to two peacocks
and an occasional deer, and he promised to eliminate even those three. He
banned sports involving the killing of animals and cruel animal fighting.
In the 26th year of his reign he restricted the killing and injury of parrots,
wild geese, bats, ants, tortoises, squirrels, porcupines, lizards, rhinos,
pigeons, and all quadrupeds that were neither used nor eaten.
Ashoka provided medicinal plants for people and animals to neighboring kings
as well as throughout his own kingdom, seeing no more important work than
acting for the welfare of the whole world. He appointed governors who would
serve the happiness and welfare of the people and insisted on justice and
consistent punishments. He commanded that reports be made to him at any
hour of the day and at any place so intent was he in working for the welfare
of all. To protect people and beasts Ashoka had trees planted and shelters
built at regular intervals along the roads. Mango groves were planted, and
wells were dug.
Although he followed Buddhist dharma Ashoka respected all the religious
sects and also encouraged his people to do so by guarding their speech in
neither praising one's own sect nor blaming other sects except in moderation.
He believed that whoever praises one's own sect and disparages another's
does one's own sect the greatest possible harm. "Therefore concord
alone is meritorious, that they should both hear and obey each other's morals
(dharma)."5 He wanted all sects to be full of learning and teach
virtue, and he promoted the essence of all religions, their unity in practice,
their coming together in religious assemblies, and learning the scriptures
of different religions.
Ashoka's emphasis was on ethical action rather than ritual and ceremonies
which he found of little use. The ceremonies of dharma that he found useful
were "the good treatment of slaves and servants, respect for elders,
self-mastery in one's relations with living beings, gifts to Brahmins and
ascetics, and so on."6 For thirty-seven years Ashoka ruled a large
empire that included all of India except the southern tip. Yet his efforts
were to bring justice and virtue to the whole world. Thanks to his rock
edicts and human memory his admirable intentions will never be forgotten.
Little is known of Ashoka's successors, but it took about fifty years
before the Mauryan dynasty came to an end about 187 BC with the assassination
of Brihadratha by his general Pushyamitra and the invasion of the Bactrian
Greeks. Pushyamitra was able to drive out the Greeks and ruled for about
36 years, but Buddhists complained that he was a cruel persecutor of their
religion who offered gold coins for the killing of monks. The Shunga kings
ruled for more than a century and were followed by the Kanvas whose dynasty
in Magadha lasted 45 years and was overthrown in 30 BC. By this point the
empire was broken up, and little is known of this history except of some
of the Greek rulers in Bactria such as Demetrius II who conquered the Punjab
and northwest India between 180 and 165 BC, Eucratides who was murdered
by his son about 150, and Menander who ruled for about 25 years in the late
first century BC and was said to have become a follower of the Buddha.
Ashoka recognized three neighboring kingdoms in southern India as Chola,
Pandya, and Chera where the Tamil language was spoken. Legends indicate
Dravidian and Aryan tribes coming in from the northwest; Agastya was said
to have brought farmers from the homeland of Krishna. The Chola ascendancy
over the Tamil states began in the first century BC when King Karikala escaped
from prison and eventually defeated the combined forces of the Pandya and
Chola kings with the help of eleven minor chieftains. King Karikala also
invaded the island of Lanka (Ceylon) and removed 12,000 inhabitants to work
building a fortification at the seaport Puhar. He also had irrigation channels
built there at the River Kaveri.
In Ceylon a Buddhist monastery at Mahavihara recorded the early history
of this island now called Sri Lanka. The pre-Dravidian aborigines were called
Nagas and Yakshas. About the fourth century BC they were colonized by people
from Bengal led by Vijaya who had been banished by his father for evil conduct;
he invaded the island with seven hundred men who then imported a thousand
families and many maidens. A century later King Devanampiyatissa sent an
embassy to Emperor Ashoka who sent back envoys to consecrate this king.
Ashoka's brother Mahendra went to Ceylon to convert them to Buddhism, and
a branch of the Bodhi tree was planted in the capital Anuradhapura. Devanampiyatissa
ruled Ceylon for forty years until 207 BC, and he was succeeded by his three
brothers through 177 BC when two Tamil sons of a horse dealer usurped the
throne.
In 145 BC the noble Elara overcame Asela and ruled the island for 44 years
with justice for friends and enemies. Legend records that he even had his
own son executed for accidentally running over a calf and killing it. Elara,
a noble from Chola, introduced their tradition of the bell of justice. However,
he was defeated and killed by King Dutthagamani who established a free and
united kingdom in Ceylon and was succeeded by his brother Saddhatissa who
ruled from 77 to 59 BC. Upon his death his younger son Thulathana was chosen
king by counselors and Buddhist monks, but the elder son Lanjatissa defeated
the younger brother and took the throne. Succeeded by his younger brother
who was killed by rebels after ruling for six years, the rebel was killed
by another brother Vattagamani who married the widowed queen in 43 BC. However,
soon King Vattagamani faced a Tamil invasion and a rebellion by one of his
governors. He tried to quell the rebellion by using the invaders, but then
the seven invaders drove him out of the country. His queen and the Buddha's
almsbowl were taken back to India by two invaders while the other five invaders
ruled Ceylon until 29 BC.
In Indian culture political and social ethics are focused around the
three goals of dharma (justice, duty, virtue), artha (success,
prosperity), and kama (pleasure). The fourth goal of moksha
(liberation) is considered the highest goal sought through spiritual and
religious endeavor. Ways of attaining this spiritual release from the cycle
of rebirth have been discussed in the chapters on the Upanishads, Jainism,
and Buddhism, and will also be discussed in the next chapter on Hinduism.
The era of the sutras in Hindu culture slightly preceded the development
of Jainism and Buddhism in the sixth century BC and lasted until the law
codes began to become more formalized in the Laws of Manu starting
around the 2nd century BC. Each school of the Brahmins had their own collection
of duties with the Shrauta Sutras on the Vedic sacrifices, the Grihya
Sutras on domestic ceremonies, and the Dharma Sutras on personal
and social conduct. All of these follow the sacred traditions of the Aryan
Vedas and distinguish the various duties, obligations,
and privileges of the four castes. The Grihya Sutras delineate detailed
rules for the householder in regard to marriage and household customs, manners,
and rituals.
The Dharma Sutras cover broader areas of social customs and offer
specific rules for almost every aspect of life. The four castes of the Brahmins
(priests), Kshatriyas (rulers), Vaishyas (farmers and merchants), and Sudras
(workers) are a strict hierarchy with each preceding caste superior by birth
to the one following. The twice-born top three are ordained through initiation
to study the Vedas and kindle the sacred fire,
but the Sudras are only ordained to serve the other three superior castes.
Brahmins are initiated in the eighth year after conception in the spring,
Kshatriyas in the eleventh year in the summer, and Vaishyas in the twelfth
in the autumn. The one initiating them becomes their teacher and must be
served loyally according to strict rules. Initiates were not supposed to
associate with those families that were not initiated who were called "slayers
of Brahman."
Respect was to be shown to those in a superior caste and to those of the
same caste venerable for their learning and virtue. Belief in the caste
system is based on the idea of karma that those who act well in this life
will be born in better circumstances or a higher caste next time and those
who do not fulfill their duties will be born in a lower caste and worse
circumstances. Nevertheless this arbitrary system based on birth does tend
to violate the principles of justice and equal opportunity for all.
The student phase of life was quite strict and celibate. These youths were
not allowed to look at dancing, attend festivals or gambling halls, gossip,
be indiscreet, talk with women unnecessarily, nor find any pleasure where
one's teacher could be found. Students were to restrain their organs, be
forgiving, modest, self-possessed, energetic, and free of anger and envy.
The teacher was to love the youth as his own son and give him full attention
in teaching the sacred knowledge without hiding anything in the law; teachers
were not allowed to use students for their own purposes to the detriment
of their studies except in times of distress.
The syllable Aum was chanted prior to studying the Vedas,
and twelve years were considered necessary for the study of each of the
four Vedas, although not everyone studied all
four, as family traditions tended to focus on one of the Vedas.
Meditation was practiced to gain wisdom and recognize the soul (atman)
in all creatures as well as the eternal being within oneself. The eradication
of faults such as anger, exultation, grumbling, covetousness, perplexity,
doing injury, hypocrisy, lying, gluttony, calumny, envy, lust, secret hatred,
and neglecting to control the senses or mind was accomplished by means of
yoga. Detailed rules of penance are described for numerous offenses.
When adequate knowledge of the Veda has been gained by the student he goes
through a bathing ceremony and is henceforth known as a snataka.
Rules for the snataka are detailed as are the duties of the householder
after marriage. Rules of inheritance are defined, and funeral ceremonies
are described. Beyond student and householder are two more stages of life
available to spiritual seekers who leave their home to become a chaste hermit
in the forest possibly to be followed by the final stage of renouncing everything
as an ascetic (sannyasin) who must
live without a fire, without a house,
without pleasures, without protection.
Remaining silent and uttering speech only
on the occasion of the daily recitation of the Veda,
begging so much food only in the village
as will sustain his life,
he shall wander about neither caring for this world
nor for heaven."7
Such a person is clearly seeking spiritual liberation (moksha).
The beginnings of criminal and civil law are also outlined in the Dharma
Sutras, but punishments are differentiated according to the perpetrator's
caste and also the victim's. Neither capital nor corporal punishment were
to be inflicted on Brahmins. A Brahmin might be exiled, but he was allowed
to take his things. The Apastamba Sutra concludes with the idea that
duties not taught in the text must be learned from women and men of all
castes.
Based on earlier Dharma Sutras, the most influential and first
great law code of the Hindus, the Laws of Manu, was written between
the second century BC and the second century CE. The sage Manu begins be
describing the creation from the divine self-existent reality which can
be perceived by the internal organ. The best of the created beings are those
animated ones who subsist by their intelligence, and of those humans the
best are the Brahmins who learn the Vedas and
know God (Brahman). Manu declares the sacred law as it pertains to the four
castes (varna meaning color).
Though action from a desire for rewards is not laudable, there is no exception
in this world; and the study of the Veda is based on the idea of action
(karma) - that acts, sacrifices, and the keeping of vows and laws
are kept on the belief that they will bear fruit. Those who obey the revealed
laws and the sacred tradition gain fame in life and after death unsurpassable
bliss. The sacred law comes from four sources: the Vedas,
the sacred tradition, the customs of the virtuous, and one's own conscience.
The Vedas represent the revealed truth (sruti),
and on them are based the Sutras and these laws which define the sacred
tradition (smriti). Thus study of the Vedas
is still primary for the three castes who are initiated.
The best way to restrain oneself from sensual pleasures is by constant pursuit
of knowledge. The student is to abstain from honey, meat, perfumes, garlands,
spices, women, any acid, and from doing injury to living creatures. Students
especially must watch out for women, because it is their nature to seduce
men, and they can lead astray even a learned man causing him to become a
slave of desire and anger. Originally the castes and laws may not have been
as rigid as they later became. With faith, says the Laws of Manu
(2:238), one may receive pure learning even from a person of lower caste,
the highest law from the lowest, and an excellent wife may come from a base
family.
Many of the rules for students and snatakas follow those in the Dharma
Sutras. There is the deeper belief that injustice practiced in this
world may not bear fruit at once but eventually it will cut off one's roots,
and it may even fall on one's sons or grandsons though one may prosper for
a while through injustice. The following advice is given to the twice-born:
Let him always delight in truthfulness,
the sacred law, conduct worthy of an Aryan, and purity;
let him chastise his pupils according to the sacred law;
let him keep his speech, his arms,
and his belly under control.
Let him avoid wealth and desires,
if they are opposed to the sacred law,
and even lawful acts which may cause pain in the future
or are offensive to people.
Let him not be uselessly active with his hands and feet,
or with his eyes, nor crooked nor talk idly,
nor injure others by deeds or even think of it.8
Though one may be entitled to accept presents, one should not get attached
to accepting them lest the divine light in one be extinguished. The Brahmin
who accepts gifts without performing austerities or studying the Veda sinks
like a boat made of stone.
Everyone is born single and dies the same way. Single one enjoys virtue
or sin, for in the next world neither father, mother, wife, nor sons stay
to be one's companions; only spiritual merit alone remains. The persevering,
gentle, and patient shun the company of the cruel, and doing no injury gains
by controlling one's organs and by liberality heavenly bliss. To lie to
the virtuous is the most sinful thing as it steals away one's own self.
What is most salutary for the soul is to meditate constantly in solitude
in order to attain supreme bliss.
Noninjury (ahimsa) is essential to this ethic. Those who injure beings
in giving oneself pleasure never find happiness in life or death, but those
who do not cause suffering to living creatures and desire the good of all
obtain endless bliss.
Whoever does not injure any
attains without effort what one thinks of,
what one understands,
and what one fixes one's mind on.
Meat can never be obtained
without injury to living creatures,
and injury to sentient beings
is detrimental to heavenly bliss;
let one therefore shun meat.
Having well considered the origin of flesh
and the fettering and slaying of corporeal beings,
let one entirely abstain from eating flesh.9
In spite of these thoughts animals were still sacrificed.
Though where women are honored, the gods are pleased, females are to be
subordinate to men throughout their lives - the child to her father, the
woman to her husband, and after his death to her sons. They apparently believed
that the child was completely determined by the seed of the man and that
the womb was only like the soil of the field. Yet the law also held that
what was sown in someone else's field belonged to the (owner of the) field.
A wife may accompany her husband in the third stage of life as a hermit
in the forest. There one meditates and studies the Upanishads in order to
attain complete union with the soul. After studying the Vedas, having
sons, and offering sacrifices, in the fourth stage one may direct one's
mind to the final liberation. The ascetic gives up all worldly things, bearing
patiently hard words, anger, and curses without returning anger, drinking
purified water, and uttering only speech purified by the truth. Abstaining
from all sensual enjoyments one sits alone delighting in the soul. In deep
meditation indifferent to all objects one may recognize the supreme soul
that is present in all organisms.
The ten-fold law of all four stages of life is contentment, forgiveness,
self-control, non-stealing, purification, control of the organs, wisdom,
knowledge, truthfulness, and abstention from anger. The Kshatriya whose
highest model is the king has the sacred duty to protect everyone and must
also act as judge prescribing proper punishment for those who commit wrongs.
If the king did not punish those who needed it, the stronger would roast
the weaker. The king was to be just to his own subjects, chastise enemies,
be honest with friends, and lenient toward Brahmins.
The main vices the king must watch out for come from the love of pleasure
and wrath. Vice is to be feared more than death, because the vicious sink
down while the one who dies free from vice ascends to heaven. Here we also
find for perhaps the first time the atrocious belief that a warrior who
fights hard in battle goes to heaven if killed. In spite of the concept
of non-injury warfare was still socially acceptable. However, the wise king
arranges everything so that no ally or neutral or foe may injure him, and
this is considered the sum of political wisdom. Foes may be conquered by
conciliation, by gifts, and by creating dissension, but never by fighting.
Civil and ceremonial laws fall into the following eighteen categories: non-payment
of debts, deposit and pledge, sale without ownership, concerns among partners,
resumption of gifts, non-payment of wages, non-performance of agreements,
rescission of sale and purchase, disputes between owner and servants, boundary
disputes, assault, defamation, theft, robbery and violence, adultery, duties
of husband and wife, inheritance partition, and gambling.
Justice violated destroys, but preserved justice preserves. Justice is the
only friend one has after death, for everything else is lost. Yet the soul
is the witness of the soul and the refuge of the soul. The wicked may think
no one sees them, but the gods see them distinctly. Those who commit violence
are considered the worst offenders, and the king who pardons the perpetrators
of violence incurs hatred and quickly perishes.
The Laws of Manu are summarized as non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing,
purity, and control of the organs. The main duty of the Brahmin is to teach,
the kshatriya to protect, the Vaishya to trade, and the Sudra to serve.
Penances are detailed but can be summarized as by confession, repentance,
austerity, and by reciting (the Veda), or by liberality. In proportion
as one confesses and loathes the wrong, one is freed from guilt, and one
is purified by stopping the sin and thinking, "I will do so no more."
Austerities are to be repeated until one's conscience is satisfied.
Realizing what comes after death, one will always be good in thoughts, speech,
and actions. Mental faults are coveting the property of others, thinking
what is undesirable, and adhering to false doctrines. Wrong speech comes
from untruth, detracting from the merits of others, abuse, and talking idly.
Bad actions are taking what has not been given, injuring, and intercourse
with another's wife.
The doctrine of reincarnation helps people to realize that the consequences
of their actions may occur in another life. All actions are good (sattva),
passionate (rajas), or dark (tamas). Goodness comes from knowledge,
darkness from ignorance, and passion from love and hate. Goodness results
in bliss, calm, and pure light; passion ever draws one towards pleasure
and pain; and darkness leads to delusion, cowardice, and cruelty. The good
in their next life are more divine; the passionate are human; and the dark
more animalistic. Ultimately knowledge of the soul is the first science,
because by self-knowledge immortality is attained.
The classic work on the goal of material success is the Artha Shastra
by Kautilya, who is identified with Chanakya, the advisor of Chandragupta,
first king of the Mauryan dynasty. This treatise is a collection of political,
legal, and economic advice from earlier sources put together and commented
on by Kautilya. Unfortunately it is another step down ethically from the
Dharma Sutras and traditional law codes to a worldly strategy of
how to enhance one's own kingdom often at the expense of others. The complete
text of this work was discovered in 1905 and has been translated into English.
In the third chapter Kautilya repeats the traditional views of the Vedas, the caste system, the four stages of life, and
lists the duties common to all as harmlessness, truthfulness, purity, freedom
from spite, abstinence from cruelty, and forgiveness. However, he then goes
on to analyze government as the art of punishment based on discipline. Kautilya
saw his work as the science of politics which deals with the means of acquiring
and maintaining the earth. The study of any science depends on the mental
faculties of obedience, hearing, perception, memory, discrimination, inference,
and deliberation.
Princes were to be celibate until they came of age at sixteen at which time
they were expected to marry; girls came of age at twelve. Restraining the
senses depends upon abandoning lust, anger, greed, vanity, haughtiness,
and overjoy. Kautilya begins to reveal his value system when he places wealth
above charity and desire, because these two depend on wealth. He seems to
forget truthfulness and harmlessness when he recommends the institution
of spies using fraud and duplicity.
Although Kautilya declares that the prince should be taught only justice
(dharma) and wealth (artha) and that he should do what pleases
his subjects, to his rational mind this may mean warfare and treachery against
their enemies. After describing the villages, land, and forts, Kautilya
goes on to delineate the duties of the chamberlain, the collector general,
account keepers, and the superintendents of gold, storehouse, commerce,
forest produce, armory, weights and measures, tolls, weaving, agriculture,
liquor, slaughterhouse, prostitutes, ships, cows, horses, elephants, chariots,
infantry, passports, pasture land, and the city.
Brahmins, ascetics, children, the aged, the afflicted, royal messengers,
and pregnant women are to be given free passes to cross rivers. Diplomatic
negotiation is to be carried out by praising the other's qualities, discussing
mutual benefits, future prospects, and the identity of interests. Law is
based on justice, evidence, history, and the edicts of kings, but for Kautilya
the royal will is the most important though the justice of the sacred law
takes precedent over history when they disagree. Marriage cannot be dissolved
by the husband or wife against the will of the other; but if there is mutual
enmity, divorce may be obtained. Neighborhood elders may be consulted to
settle disputes about fields.
Kautilya recommends cooperation with public projects and suggests, "The
order of any person attempting to do a work beneficial to all shall be obeyed,"10
and those disobeying may be punished. The native Mlecchas who are considered
barbarians may sell their offspring into slavery, but Aryans may not. A
person who has voluntarily enslaved oneself and runs away is to be enslaved
for life, and one who has been mortgaged into slavery is enslaved for life
for running away twice. Violation of female servants, cooks, and nurses
earns them their liberty at once. If a master fathers a child with a slave,
both the child and the mother are to be recognized as free. Slaves can buy
back their freedom for their sale price, and Aryans captured in war can
also purchase their freedom.
Kautilya describes the various punishments for offenses which can include
torture, mutilation, and capital punishment, though fines are most often
applied. Verbal abuse is punished with a fine whether it is true or false,
and the penalties for assault are halved if the offense is due to carelessness,
intoxication, or loss of sense. Fines generally vary according to the rank
of the person and the seriousness of the offense. "No man shall have
sexual intercourse with any woman against her will."11 Mercy is to
be shown to pilgrims, ascetics doing penance, those suffering disease, hunger,
thirst, or fatigue, rustic villagers, those suffering punishment, and paupers.
People are to be honored for their learning, intelligence, courage, high
birth, and magnificent works.
Revenues are to be collected like fruits, only when they are ripe; to try
to collect revenue when unripe may injure the source and cause immense trouble.
In addition to the usual services, artists, and musicians, the court also
supports a foreteller of the future, a reader of omens, an astrologer, a
reader of the Puranas, a story-teller, and a bard. Advisors are to
tell the king what is good and pleasing but not what is bad; though when
the king is ready to listen, he may be told secretly what is unpleasant
but good.
For Kautilya the elements of sovereignty are the king, the minister, the
country, the fort, the treasury, the army and its ally, and the enemy. A
good king is described as born of a high family, godly, virtuous, courageous,
truthful, grateful, ambitious, enthusiastic, not addicted to procrastination,
powerful in controlling neighbor kings, resolute, with a good assembly,
having a taste for discipline, with a sharp intellect and memory, trained
in various arts, dignified, with foresight, discerning the need for war,
not haughty, free of passions and bad habits, and observing traditional
customs.
The acquisition of wealth and its security is dependent on peace and industry.
Kautilya defines three kinds of strength as the ability to deliberate being
intellectual strength, a prosperous treasury being strength of sovereignty,
and martial power being physical strength. The traditional six forms of
state policy are peace, war, neutrality, marching (preparing), alliance,
and the double policy of making peace with one and waging war against another.
Although Kautilya is not reluctant to use warfare, at least he does recognize
that if the situation is equal, peace is preferable, because war involves
loss of power and wealth, traveling, and sin. Kautilya uses rational calculations
of self-interest in deciding whether to march against enemies.
In my opinion Kautilya is to be severely criticized for recommending the
use of war as a political instrument in disregard of human welfare. His
position can clearly be seen as a degeneration from his own teacher's more
humane views in the following passage:
My teacher says that in an open war, both sides suffer
by sustaining a heavy loss of men and money;
and that even the king who wins a victory will appear
as defeated in consequence of the loss of men and money.
No, says Kautilya,
even at considerable loss of men and money,
the destruction of an enemy is desirable.12
Kautilya believes that peace dependent on honesty or an oath is more
immutable in this world and the next than that based on security or a hostage
which is for this world only. Kautilya thought that he and those who know
the interdependence of the six forms of policy can play at pleasure with
kings bound round with chains skillfully devised by himself, but I would
submit that those chains based on human violence and suffering bind such
an advisor as well and cause untold misery.
Once again Kautilya values wealth most of all, for with money one can buy
treasure and an army. Kautilya, who has been compared to Machiavelli, believes
that the skill of intrigue is more important than enthusiasm and power when
invading another country. He coldly calculates whether the expected profit
will outweigh the loss of trained men and diminution of gold and grains
when deciding whether to march. By conciliation and gifts the conqueror
should use corporations (mercenaries) against an enemy; but if they oppose
him, he should sow seeds of dissension among them and secretly punish them.
He may also use rewards for those who help him fulfill his promises to his
people. Kautilya does believe the king should follow the will of the people.
Whoever acts against the will of the people
will also become unreliable.
He should adopt the same mode of life, the same dress,
language, and customs as those of the people.
He should follow the people in their faith
with which they celebrate their national, religious
and congregational festivals or amusements.12
He then goes on to recommend that spies be used to persuade the local leaders of the hurt inflicted on enemies in contrast to the good treatment they receive from their conqueror. He advises the extensive use of spies even in the guise of ascetic holy men. Various descriptions of magical remedies and superstitions are based on traditional folklore. Though worldly wise, the ethics of Kautilya leaves much to be desired.
The fourth aim of life to be discussed is kama, which means pleasure.
The main aspect of pleasure discussed in the Kama Shastra is sexual
love. Like the Artha Shastra these ideas on erotic techniques and
methods were passed down through an oral tradition from the ancients. The
legendary founder is Nandi, Shiva's companion, and about the eighth century
BC Shvetaketu known to us from the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya
Upanishads, is said to have summarized them. This extensive work was
passed down through the family of Babhru, and between the third and first
centuries BC several authors wrote shorter works on different aspects of
eroticism, including Suvarnanabha on erotic approaches, Ghotakamukha on
the art of seducing girls, Gonardiya on the wife's duties and rights, Gonikaputra
on relations with other men's women, Kuchamara on occult practices, and
Dattaka who wrote on courtesans with the help of a famous courtesan of Pataliputra.
These were combined together in the oldest text we have today, the Kama
Sutra by Vatsyayana who probably lived in the fourth century CE. In
style and language the Kama Sutra is considered quite similar to
Kautilya's Artha Shastra. Famous as the world's oldest and most detailed
sex manual prior to our century the Kama Sutra reveals the life-style
and sexual morals of ancient India.
Vatsyayana declares that everyone in life must pursue three aims successively.
Childhood is dedicated to acquiring knowledge and is a celibate phase. The
erotic predominates in adulthood, and old age is dedicated to the practice
of virtue (dharma) and spiritual liberation (moksha). Vatsyayana
defines artha as material goods or wealth and says that it "consists
of acquiring and increasing, within the limits of dharma, knowledge, land,
gold, cattle, patrimony, crockery, furniture, friends, clothing, etc."13
Kama is the mental inclination toward the pleasures of the senses
and is particularly connected to the erotic. Sexual behavior may be learned
with the aid of this text and the counsel of worthy experts in the arts
of pleasure. Nevertheless Vatsyayana acknowledges that money and social
success are more important than love, and virtue more important than success
and fortune. With money one can realize the three aims of life, even in
the case of prostitutes.
Since sex is natural to all animals why does it need to be studied? The
preliminary acts between a man and a woman can benefit from rules of conduct.
Among animals the female is driven by instinct with little consciousness
during the sexual season. Although Vatsyayana says he is a fatalist, he
recognizes that success depends on human effort. The pursuit of pleasure
must be coordinated with virtue and material goods. The lewd man is vain
and scorned, and exaggerated emphasis on the sexual life can be self-destructive
as well as ruining others. Nevertheless sexuality is essential to human
survival. The one accomplished in wealth, love, and virtue attains the greatest
happiness in this world and the next. The art of loving so pleasing to women,
which allows children to be born, has been described by sages in sacred
books.
The erotic science should be studied along with other subjects even before
adolescence and after marriage with one's mate. A girl may learn from a
woman who has had sexual experience. Vatsyayana lists 64 arts which include
music, dance, drawing, carpets, flower bouquets, mosaics, bed arrangement,
games, charms, garlands, ornaments, dressing, perfumes, jewelry, conjuring,
magic, manicure, cooking, needlework, lacemaking, quoting, riddles, bookbinding,
story-telling, basketmaking, woodwork, furnishing, gems, metals, stones,
arboriculture, stockbreeding, teaching parrots, massage and hair care, sign
language, foreign languages, decorating, observing omens, using memory,
reciting, puns, poetry, cheating, disguise, manners, rules of success, and
physical culture.
There are also 64 erotic arts from Panchala country. Prostitutes who are
beautiful, intelligent, and well educated in these arts are honored in society
and called courtesans. A man who is expert in the 64 arts is much appreciated
by women. It is recommended that sexuality be satisfied within the caste,
and marrying one's son to a virgin gains a good reputation, though Gandharva
marriages based on mutual affection are generally considered the happiest.
Exceptions to caste are made for prostitutes or widows provided that it
is only for pleasure. Young girls are also considered suitable for love
affairs, and Gonikaputra recognizes a consenting married woman as a fourth
category.
An atrocious statement is made about a pair of lovers murdering the husband
and taking his goods once the wife has fallen in love. The author also finds
nothing wrong with a poor man having a love affair to become rich. However,
he must not show indifference to her, or she will ruin his reputation with
accusations. Yet generally the seduction of another man's wife is considered
an avoidable risk.
There follows detailed chapters on how to stimulate erotic desire, embraces,
petting and caressing, scratching, biting, copulation, blows and sighs.
Although a woman may be submissive or reticent she is quick to learn the
games of love. Vatsyayana declares that passion knows no rules nor place
nor time, and variety fosters mutual attraction. "Whether they continue
having sexual relations, or live chastely together, true love never decreases,
even after one hundred years."14 Vatsyayana believes that suffering
is not the Aryan way and is not suitable for respectable people. An educated
man knows how to check the violence of his impulses and knows the limits
of the girl's endurance. Amorous practices vary according to the place,
the country, and the moment.
Oral sex is described but not recommended by some teachers as defiling of
the face, though it is popular in some regions. Female and male homosexuality
are both described. A man should respect the woman and consider her pure
as a matter of principle even though she may appear guilty by her behavior.
Since moral codes and local customs differ, one should behave according
to one's own inclinations. Vatsyayana asks rhetorically, "Practiced
according to his fantasy and in secret, who can know who, when, how, and
why he does it?"15 After making love one should be affectionate so
that a solid attachment may be established through friendly conversation.
Courting and seduction are discussed in chapters on how to relax the girl
and ways of obtaining the girl. Those who gain each other's trust end up
becoming attached to one another out of habit. The totally trusting wife
considers her husband a god and is completely devoted to him. She takes
responsibility for the household. Widows may remarry and begin a new existence,
and according to the ancient tradition an unsatisfied woman may leave her
husband and choose another to her taste. Vatsyayana recognizes the ethical
marriage as the best and says that some men do not pursue adulterous relationships
for reasons of ethics. The man who is educated in this erotic art cannot
be deceived by his own wives, according to Vatsyayana. "Reasonable
people aware of the importance of virtue, money, and pleasure, as well as
social convention, will not let themselves be led astray by passion."16
What is refreshing in this treatise is the openness to sexual pleasure and
its naturalness without the shame and puritanical guilt so well developed
in other cultures which have invaded modern India as well. The erotic is
treated as an important aspect of human life and as the sacrament of marriage
which unites the couple closer than anything else can, though relations
outside of marriage are not forbidden. Instead of being buried by inhibitions
in ancient India people were encouraged to learn about their sexuality and
develop the art of loving through education and practice. Only now in the
late twentieth century does the world seem to be acknowledging the wisdom
of these techniques and this highly skilled art.
1. Samanna-phala Suttanta 12 (Digha 1:50).
2. Arrian, Indica 9.
3. Plutarch, Alexander, p. 569.
4. Sources of Indian Tradition ed. DeBary, p. 143.
5. The Age of the Nandas and Mauryas ed. Sastri, p. 236.
6. Sources of Indian Tradition ed. DeBary, p. 149.
7. Apastamba Dharma Sutra 2:9:21:10 in The Sacred Laws
of the Aryas Part 1, p. 154.
8. Laws of Manu 4:175-177.
9. Ibid. 5:47-49.
10. Kautilya, Arthashastra 3:10:173, p. 199.
11. Ibid. 4:12:231, p. 261.
12. Ibid. 13:5:409, p. 438.
13. Vatsyayana Kama Sutra 1:2:9, p. 28 in Danielou.
14. Ibid. 2:5:43, p. 144.
15. Ibid. 2:9:45, p. 194.
16. Ibid. 7:2:53, p. 520.