Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

Page 179

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DUTY to do such a thing as this! Who, indeed, unless he were stark mad, would pay any attention to what you say? By what power have you caused this mighty Ganges to flow back upstream?' Said the courtesan, 'By the Power of Truth, your Majesty, have I caused this mighty Ganges to flow back upstream.'
"Said the king, 'You possess the Power of Truth! You, a thief, a cheat, corrupt, clest in twain, vicious, a wicked old sinner who have broken the bounds of morality and live on the plunder of fools!' 'It is true, your Majesty; I am what you say. But even I, wicked woman that I am, possess an Act of Truth by means of which, should I so desire. I could turn the world of men and the worlds of the gods upside down.' Said the king, 'But what is this Act of Truth? Pray enlighten mc.'
“'Your Majesty, whosoever gives me money, be he a Kșatriya or a Brāhman or a Vaisya or a Sūdra or of any other caste soever. I treat them all exactly alike. If he be a Kșatriya, I make no distinction in his favor. If he be a sūdra, I despise him not. Free alike from fawning and contempt, I serve the owner of the money.
This, your Majesty, is the Act of Truth by which I caused the mighty Ganges to flow back upstream.'""
Just as day and night alternate, each maintaining its own form, and support by their opposition the character of the processes of time, so in the sphere of the social order everyone sustains the totality by adhering to his own dharma. The sun in India withers vegetation, but the moon restores it, sending the revivifying dew; similarly, throughout the universe the numerous mutually antagonistic elements co-operate by working against each other. The rules of the castcs and professions are regarded as reflections in the human sphere of the laws of this natural order; hence, when adhering to those rules the various classes are felt to be
Milindapañha 119-123. (Cited and translated by Eugene Watson Bur. lingame, "The Act of Truth (Saccakiriya): A Hindu Spell and Its Employ. ment as a Psychic Motif in Hindu Fiction," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1917, pp. 489-441.)
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