śāstra

“ Then the King of the Gods, Śakra, laid aside his Brahman’s form, assumed his proper shape, and said to Madrī: “O fortunate one, I am not a Brahman, nor am I a man at all. I am the King of the Gods, Śakra, the subduer of the Asuras. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Yet another letter gives his name as Abdi-Aš-ra-tum, in the second element of which we must see another form of Abdi-Aširti, unless the scribe has also made a mistake in this case, and written Ašratum for Aštaratum, which is just possible. In any case, it shows a close connection between the goddess Aštarte or Ištar, and the Ashera, which was in Palestine, at that date, and for centuries before and after, her emblem. To be the servant of the one was to be the servant of the other, though the bearer of the name seems to have the desire rather to be considered the priest of the goddess. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ If the Shastras cannot help all men in all conditions at all times, of what use, then, are such Shastras? If the Shastras show the way to the Sannyasins only and not to the householders, then what need has a householder for such one-sided Shastras? ”

“ If, now, I am shortly to sum up the results of the preceding enquiry as to the teaching of the Sûtras, I must give it as my opinion that they do not set forth the distinction of a higher and lower knowledge of Brahman; that they do not acknowledge the distinction of Brahman and Îsvara in Sa@nkara's sense; that they do not hold the doctrine of the unreality of the world; and that they do not, with Sa@nkara, proclaim the absolute identity of the individual and the highest Self. ”

“ For, as the life of the Hindu, more than that of any other nation, was, even in the Vedic age, surrounded with a network of religious forms, both in its daily course and in its more important divisions, the domestic ritual as well as the legal Sūtras are our most important sources for the study of the social conditions of ancient India. They are the oldest Indian records of all that is included under custom.
Besides these ritual and legal compendia, the Sūtra period produced several classes of works composed in this style, which, though not religious in character, had a religious origin. ”

“ By God, these Hindus are fools! What was it to me whether She was Hindu or Jain—scavenger, leper, or whole? I would have married Her and made Her a home by the ford. The Seventh of the Nine Bars says that a man may not marry one of the idolaters? Is that truth? Both Shiahs and Sunnis say that a Musalman may not marry one of the idolaters? Is the Sahib a priest, then, that he knows so much? I will tell him something that he does not know. There is neither Shiah nor Sunni, forbidden nor idolater, in Love; and the Nine Bars are but nine little fagots that the flame of Love utterly burns away. ”

“ The Sūtras form a connecting link between the Vedic and the classical periods of literature. But, although these treatises, so far as they deal with Vedic subjects, are included by the native authorities among the Vedic writings, and in point of language may, generally speaking, be considered as the latest products of the Vedic age, they have no share in the sacred title of śruti or revelation. They are of human, not of divine, origin. ”

“ But in his epics Kālidāsa, in due accord with the duty of a poet to display every form of his erudition, has emphatically shown a far-reaching competence in the terminology of the Çāstra. In the Kumārasambhava159 Çiva and Pārvatī watched the performance in honour of their nuptials of a Nāṭaka in which the different dramatic manners were combined with the junctures, the modes of the music corresponded with the sentiments, and the Apsarases displayed their grace of form. There are similar references in the Raghuvaṅça.160 The knowledge of the Çāstra by later writers goes without saying. ”

“ When the king saw his grandchildren brought before him destitute of clothing and with foul bodies, he fell from his throne to the ground, and the assembly of ministers, and the women, and all who were present began to weep. Then the king said to the ministers: “Let the bright-eyed one, who, even when dwelling in the forest, delights in giving, be summoned hither at once, together with his wife.”
After this the King of the Gods, Śakra, having paid reverence to the Bodisat, returned to his own habitation. ”

“ It is no use seeking refuge in quibbles. It is no use telling people that the Shastras do not say what they are believed to say, grammatically read or logically interpreted. What matters is how the Shastras have been understood by the people. You must take the stand that Buddha took. ”

“ The language of the prose part of those Sûtras does not differ from that used in the simple Sûtras of the Northern canon. Should the Sanskrit text prove to be younger than the Pâli text, then we may say that we do not possess the Northern tradition in its original shape. That result, however, affords no criterion for the distinction between the simple Sûtras and the Mahâvaipulya Sûtras, for both are written in the very same Sanskrit, if we except the Gâthâs. ”

“ Let us invite with songs and holy hymns for help Sarasvati who slayeth the Paravatas. 3. Thou castest down, Sarasvati, those who scorned the Gods, the brood of every Brsaya skilled in magic arts. Thou hast discovered rivers for the tribes of men, and, rich in wealth! made poison flow away from them. 4. May the divine Sarasvati, rich in her wealth, protect us well, Furthering all our thoughts with might 5. Whoso, divine Sarasvati, invokes thee where the prize is set, Like Indra when he smites the foe. ”

“ Dugald Stewart, rather than admit a relationship between Hindus and Scots, would rather believe that the whole Sanskrit language and the whole of Sanskrit literature—mind, a literature extending over three thousand years and larger than the ancient literature of either Greece or Rome—was a forgery of those wily priests, the Brahmans. ”

“ Having a northern aspect, this room was always cool, and was the ordinary resort of the Shastree. Here he received his friends and neighbours, held disputations, and instructed his pupils. The women seldom entered it except in the evenings when undisturbed; for, though unsecluded from men, a certain degree of reserve and retirement is always observable in the women of Hindu families. ”

“ Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the music, shall fall down and worship the golden image: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. ”

“ The male nature of the triad was supposed to require to be supplemented by each of the three gods being associated with a female energy (Śakti) . Thus Vāch or Sarasvatī, the goddess of speech and learning, came to be regarded as the śakti, or consort of Brahmā; Śrī or Lakshmī, “beauty, fortune,” as that of Vishṇu; and Umā or Pārvatī, the daughter of Himavat, the god of the Himālaya mountain, as that of Śiva. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There gathered the Uthras, there gathered the Škīnās, they erected a throne to Jāwar, the king of the Uthras. Jāwar, the king of the Uthras, they erected a throne, placed on his head resplendent wreaths. His splendor rose over the Uthras and Škīnās. When the Uthras and Škīnās saw the splendor of Jāwar, king of the Uthras, they all gathered at him. All gathered at him and laid their pure right hand on him. They blessed him with the great blessing, With which the king Jāwar was blessed in his Škīnā.
And life is victorious. ”

“ The account of these rites contained in the Grihya Sutras is deeply interesting, because after a lapse of over two thousand years the Hindus still practise the same rites, sometimes under the same name, and often under a different name and in a somewhat different way. The Grihya Sutras also contain accounts of social ceremonies performed at marriage, at the birth of a child, at his first feeding, at his assuming the life of a student, and at other important periods in his life, and thus we get a complete idea of domestic life among the ancient Hindus from these Grihya Sutras. ”

“ Then the Baniya, having reflected, said to himself, ‘He who is acquainted with the Shastras is a Brahman, he who could shoot an arrow at the sound was [Pg 159] a Kshatriya or warrior, and he who made the cloth was a Shudra or servile. But the youth who understands the language of birds is of our own caste. To him, therefore, will I marry her.’ And accordingly he proceeded with the betrothal of his daughter. ”

“ Sāri, a word often occurring in the composition of proper names, and is fancied by the natives to convey the idea of flower, beauty, ornament, young woman. Thus at the courts of the native princes, you sometimes hear of the Pagĕr Sari, which means: the fence of flowers, by which is implied the collection of handsome young woman, who surround the person of the Sovereign. CLOUGH does not give Sari in this sense, and yet the word is evidently of Sanscrit origin ”

“ Now hear the dire results when one scorns my skilfulness and the Buddha-rules for ever fixed in the world; when one, with sullen brow, scorns the vehicle.
113. Hear the destiny of those who have scorned such a Sûtra like this, whether during my lifetime or after my Nirvâna, or who have wronged the monks.
114. After having disappeared from amongst men, they shall dwell in the lowest hell (Avîki) during a whole kalpa, and thereafter they shall fall lower and lower, the fools, passing through repeated births for many intermediate kalpas. ”

“ The rabbis taught: Whoso vows to derive no benefit from his neighbor for a year, must reckon (for the year) twelve months, from day to day; but if he said "for this year," if he made the vow even on the 29th of Elul, as soon as the first of Tishri comes, that year is complete, for he vowed to afflict himself and that purpose (even in so brief a period) has been fulfilled. But perhaps we should say Nissan (should be regarded as the new year in such a case) ? Nay, in the matter of vows we follow the common practice among men (who generally regard Tishri as the New Year) . ”

“ The very name of this class of literature, sūtra, “thread” or “clue” (from siv, “to sew”) , points to its main characteristic and chief object—extreme conciseness. The prose in which these works are composed is so compressed that the wording of the most laconic telegram would often appear diffuse compared with it. Some of the Sūtras attain to an almost algebraic mode of expression, the formulas of which cannot be understood without the help of detailed commentaries. ”

“ Strict fasting is observed till the worship is over. Young boys, though their mothers may permit them to eat their food, will not touch anything lest the goddess Sarasvati be displeased. When the head of the house finishes his puja all the others assembled there stand up with flowers in their hands reciting the praises of Sarasvati to the dictation of the master and offer the same to the goddess. Thus concludes the Sarasvati puja and a sumptuous feast in honour of the goddess follows. People who are rich present clothes on this occasion, to married women. ”

“ It is, perhaps, advisable to remind the reader that the Persian art -referred to was itself based upon Assyrian models, so that in a sense the Indian capitals may be described as Assyrian. But the bas-reliefs, while closely related to those of Alexandria, differ completely in style from the stiff formal bas-reliefs of Assyria and Persia. I believe it to be probable that India was never, up to quite recent times, more exposed to the impact of foreign ideas than it was during the Maurya age. ”

“ Hind. śāstrī (see SHASTER) . A man of learning, one who teaches any branch of Hindu learning, such as law.
[1824.—"Gungadhur Shastree, the minister of the Baroda state, ... was murdered by Trimbuckjee under circumstances which left no doubt that the deed was perpetrated with the knowledge of Bajerow."—Malcolm, Central India, 2nd ed. i. 307.]
SHAWL, s. Pers. and Hind. shāl, also doshāla, 'a pair of shawls.' The Persian word is perhaps of Indian origin, from Skt. ”

“ It is here worthy of note, that he does not, in this letter, call himself Abdi-Aširti, “servant of the Ashera,” but Abdi-Aštarti, “servant of Astarte,” using the Assyro-Babylonian ideograph for Ištar, the original of the goddess in question. On another document from him, the word is spelled out, Ab-di-aš-ta-ti, in which the scribe intended to write Ab-di-aš-ta-ar-ti, but omitted the last character but one. ”