Sruti

“ In some places they teach that the subtle elements of material things proceed from the great principle, in other places again that they proceed from self-consciousness. Sometimes they speak of three internal organs, sometimes of one only335. That their doctrine, moreover, contradicts Sruti, which teaches that the Lord is the cause of the world, and Smriti, based on Sruti, is well known.—For these reasons also the Sâ@nkhya system is objectionable. ”

“ It is clear, therefore, that what the Brahmans understood under Sruti was nothing more than literature composed in an ancient language (for the Brâhmanas are also composed in an ancient language, though [pg 166] not as ancient as that of the hymns) , and treating of matters on which apparently man alone can establish no authority. For how could ordinary man take on himself to speak about the gods or to give directions for the sacrifice, to make promises for the reward of pious works, or even to decide what is morally right or wrong? ”

“ Moreover, even if those 'perfect' men were accepted as authorities to be appealed to, still, as there are many such perfect men, we should have, in all those cases where the Smritis contradict each other in the manner described, no other means of final decision than an appeal to Sruti.—As to men destitute of the power of independent judgment, we are not justified in assuming that they will without any reason attach themselves to some particular Smriti; for if men's inclinations were so altogether unregulated, truth itself would, owing to the multiformity of human opinion, become unstable. ”

“ Which having no flavour in it, gives savour to all things; and whose presence being withdrawn from all substances, reduces them to infinitesimal atoms, (i.e. by destruction of cohesion. So the Sruti.—Raso vai tat.—He is flavour etc. Attraction of all kinds, is a manifestation of Divine power—ákrishti, personified in the form of Krishna—the regent of the sun, whose gravity supports the solar world) .
19. Who is it that by his self-pervasion, connects the particles composing the world (as by their power of attraction) ”

“ A vast mass of Sutra literature thus gradually sprang up in India, but of the Sutras which must have been composed and taught in these numerous Sutra-charanas comparatively few have survived. The Sutra literature falls into three great classes, dealing respectively with religion (Srauta Sutras) , law (Dharma Sutras) , and domestic life (Grihya Sutras) . ”

“ To the general reader the Srauta Sutras are but dreary and tedious reading, and we therefore turn with pleasure to the Dharma Sutras, which present to us the customs and manners and laws of the times, and are far more valuable for our historical purpose. In the Srauta Sutras we see the Hindus as sacrificers; in the Dharma Sutras we see them as citizens. ”

“ Thus, then, did I bid farewell to that most rich and pleasant town of Surat, and to my fellow-servants of the Company there, that had showed themselves, with scarce any exception, as genteel and agreeable persons as any man need desire for his fellows. And I am right glad now that I departed from East India before this famous city lost her pre-eminence in our trade, the which was given over to that low and sultry island of Bombaim, to the great scandal of all in the Factory. ”

“ The maidens ground, Their might they tested, Young and fresh In giant-frenzy: The bin-poles trembled, And burst the flour-box; In sunder burst The heavy boulder. And the sturdy bride Of Hill-Giants spake: 'We have ground, O Fródi! Soon we cease from grinding; The women have labored O'er long at the grist.' Thus sang Einarr Skúlason:
I have heard that Fródi's hand-maids Ground in the mill full gladly The Serpent's Couch; with gold-meal The king lets peace be broken: The fair cheeks of my axe-head, Fitted with maple, show forth Fenja's Grist; exalted Is the skald with the good king's riches. ”

“ Sûraj Nârâyan, the Sun Godling.
The first and greatest of the “pure” godlings is Sûrya or Sûraj Nârâyan, the Sun godling. He is thus regarded as Nârâyana or Vishnu occupying the sun. A curiously primitive legend represents his father-in-law, Viswakarma, as placing the deity on his lathe and trimming away one-eighth of his effulgence, leaving only his feet. Out of the blazing fragments he welded the weapons of the gods. Sûrya was one of the great deities of the Vedic pantheon: he is called Prajapati or “lord of creatures:” he was the son of Dyaus, or the bright sky. ”

“ And Smriti texts such as 'With me as Supervisor, Prakriti brings forth the Universe of the movable and the immovable, and for this reason the world ever moves round'; 'Pervading this entire Universe by a portion of mine I do abide' (Bha. Gî. IX, 10; X, 42) . Scripture and Smriti likewise declare that of the bliss which is enjoyed by the released soul the highest Person alone is the cause—'For he alone causes blessedness' (Taitt. Up. II, 7) ; 'He who serves me with unswerving devotion, surpasses these qualities and is fitted for becoming one with Brahman. ”

“ It seems therefore a word of a more modern origin. There is a passage in Âpastamba's Dharma-sûtras which betrays, on the part of the author, a consciousness of the more modern origin of the Srâddhas: [306]
"Formerly men and gods lived together in this world. Then the gods in reward of their sacrifices went to heaven, but men were left behind. Those men who perform sacrifices in the same manner as the gods did, dwelt (after death) with the gods and Brahman in heaven. Now (seeing men left behind) Manu revealed [255] this ceremony which is designated by the word Srâddha." ”

“ If the master loses his wealth, he should with excessive zeal be supported by the Sudra servant. A Sudra cannot have any wealth that is his own. Whatever he possesses belongs lawfully to his master. [184] Sacrifice has been laid down as a duty of the three other orders. It has been ordained for the Sudra also, O Bharata! A Sudra, however, is not competent to titter swaha and swadha or any other Vedic mantra. For this reason, the Sudra, without observing the vows laid down in the Vedas, should worship the gods in minor sacrifices called Paka-yajnas. ”

“ What is there that renders your services at Surat so valuable that they would be missed should you accept of my offer?”
“My lord,” says I, “the meanest Englishman hath three things to consider—viz., his honour, his soul, and his body—whereof the last is precious to his friends, the second to God, and the first to himself. Under your lordship’s leave, I believe that I should put in jeopardy all three of these, did I accept of your most obliging offer, and I must therefore ask humbly to be allowed to decline it.” ”

“ To this moment sometimes the Sunda mountaineers scratch a bit of fresh green bambu with a sharp pointed knife and in Arabic characters when better writing materials fail them. The word Surat, altered to Suratra, also exist in the Malagasi of Madagascar, and means not only writing, but also painting. This Crawfurd, in his Dissertation, page 157, considers as of Arabic origin. The word Surat, when it assumes the verbal form becomes in Sunda Nyurat, Nyuratan, when the intitial Sa is dropped. ”

“ For although the Company hath made, and doth still make, many rules and advices for the better governing of the younger among its servants, yet rules are not always kept, and more than once hath Mr Martin brought me out of some trouble into which I was fallen, either through the natural heat of youth, or through the ill offices of Mr Spender.
For our life at Surat, there was in it always an admirable good order. We all ate in company, saving only the snack taken on rising for to comfort the stomach. ”

“ And ’tis thus the matter stands at this present. Mr Secretary and his cousin Mr Spender are prodigious bitter against you, and have moved his honour the President and the Council to their acts of harshness; but Mr Martin is confident in your honesty, and will by no means suffer it to be impugned in his presence.”
“Then my course now,” says I, “must be to return to Surat and declare all my ill fortune.”
“Not so fast,” says he, “for we are but just sailed from Surat, and I must take the Boscobel to the Factory at Bengall before she can drop anchor again in Swally. ”

“ The Tapti, owing to a sand-bar, affords entry only to small vessels, and the commerce of Surat, which from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century was very extensive, has been steadily diverted to Bombay. Surat is a place of military importance, with a castle dating from 1540, centrally situated on the river front, and a cantonment, the residence of a British military commandant and other dignitaries. Surat rose into importance as the spot whence the Mohammedans of Hindustan embarked on their pilgrimage to Mecca. ”

“ At this Rusty was frightened, and he said: "I knew it, I knew it. Only by special favor of the gods do creatures wander in a wild wood, bellowing like that, and fearlessly cropping the grass. But what did you say?"
"Master," said Victor, "I said: 'This forest is the domain of Rusty, vehicle of Shiva's passionate wife. Hence you come as a guest. You must meet him, must spend your time in brotherly love, must eat, drink, work, play, and make your home with him.' All this he promised, adding: 'You must make your master grant me a safe-conduct.' As to that, the master is the sole judge." ”

“ So the Bráhman Śrutadhi at once said to him by way of consolation, “Why, my sovereign, do you lose your firmness, and despair, though you have learned wisdom? For it is the man, who is not distracted in calamity, [364] that obtains prosperity. Did you not find those ministers, after they had been separated from you by the curse of the Nága? In like manner shall you again recover them, and get back the others also, and moreover you shall soon be united with Śaśánkavatí.” When Śrutadhi said this to the prince, he answered him ”

“ When I drew near the governor's house, I was told he was not well, but I rather think he was drunk with affion [or opium,] being an aged man. I went therefore to the chief customer, being the only officer to whom sea-faring causes belonged; as the government of Surat pertained to two great noblemen, one of whom, Khan-Khana, was viceroy of the Decan, [186] and the other, Mucrob-Khan, was viceroy of Cambaya or Guzerat, who had no command in Surat except what regarded the king's customs, and with him only I had to deal. ”

“ A favorite plan of raising money in Surat is for the members of the trade to keep a certain day as a holiday, and to shut up all their shops except one. The right to keep open this one shop is put up to auction, and the amount bid is expended on a feast. The trade-guild or caste allows none of its members to starve. It thus acts as a mutual assurance society and takes the place of a poor-law in India. The severest social penalty which can be inflicted upon a Hindu is to be put out of his caste. ”

“ In books the Sudras are described as the fourth, the low, servile caste; but in fact a vast number in Northern India, who are loosely reckoned Hindus, are far below the Sudras, and thus the Sudras acquire a relatively high place. [Pg 344] These low-caste people, on whom the people above them look down with contempt, are in their own fashion as tenacious of caste as their superiors, and they, too, multiply their divisions, one class maintaining its superiority to others. ”

“ Being thus addressed Dhruva repeated to his mother all that the arrogant Suruchi had said to him in the presence of the king. Her son having related all these sighing, she was greatly distressed. And Suniti, rendered poorly, with her eyes dimmed, sighed and said,—"Suruchi has rightly spoken; thine, child, is as an unfortunate fate: those who are born to fortune are not liable to the insults of their step-mothers. Yet be not afflicted, my child, for who shall efface what thou hast formerly done, or shall assign to thee what thou hast left undone. ”

“ Perhaps, in the parts west from the river Kali, the Hindus from the south have not, in fact, been so bad as they pretend; and, although no one is willing to acknowledge a deficiency of zeal, or a descent from barbarians, yet, in fact, they may have permitted to remain such of the cultivators as chose to adopt the rules of purity, and to take the name of Sudras. ”

“ So self is the instructor. Śridhara) "For it is self that finds out final bliss by direct perception and by inference. Wise men, well versed in Sânkhya and Yoga, look upon Me as Purusha pervading all beings, and possessing all powers. (This is according to Śridhara, the direct perception by which final bliss is attained. The word Purusha here has something like the sense of a Monad in Theosophical literature. The passage quoted by Śridhara from the Upanishads to illustrate the idea of Purusha also shews this.) ”

“ By this very qualitative caste system which obtained in India in ancient days, the Shudra class was kept down, bound hand and foot. In the first place, scarcely any opportunity was given to the Shudra for the accumulation of wealth or the earning of proper knowledge and education; to add to this disadvantage, if ever a man of extraordinary parts and genius were born of the Shudra class, the influential higher sections of the society forthwith showered titular honours on him and lifted him up to their own circle. ”

“ The son fled into India, and finally settled at [Pg 72] Surat, a city or considerable commercial importance, about twelve coss from the sea. Being of an enterprising turn of mind, he assumed the business of a merchant, and, in the course of a few years of successful traffic, became a man of great wealth.
Although he found few Mahomedans at Surat, there were a number of old Parsee families, who had fixed their abode in a certain quarter of the city. ”