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FEB. 2, 1872.)
THE DASYUS AT SÂNCHI.
37
this supposition. Mr. Fergusson himself half and his hair grey, and sees the child of his child, suspects the persons to be hermits, and attributes let him seek refuge in a forest, abandoning all their rarity in the Amaravati sculptures, food eaten in towns and his household utensils, to the scarcity of Das y us at the time.* let him repair to the lonely wood, committing
Some of these figures are repeated on the the care of his wife to her sons, or accompanied temples of Bhuvaneshvara. They ap- by her if she choose to attend him. Let him pear old and emaciated, having by their sides take up his consecrated fire, and all his domestic a pair of tongs, a gourd pot, and a chaffing dish. implements for making oblations to it, and The scene is scrupulously true to life, and may be departing from the town to the forest, let him found to this day not only in every part of India, dwell in it, with complete power over his organs but even beyond it, and everywhere it represents of sense and of action." This state of hermitan Aryan of the third order, i. e., a hermit age or Vána prastha was subsequently exor ascetic (Vána prastha) seated at his changed for that of the Sannyási, or houseless ease, reading his prayer book, or attending to his mendicant, but the distinction was rarely very domestic occupations, and not a non-Aryan. rigidly observed ; and the transition, when it Adverting to some of these houseless hermits on did take place, was so gradual as to be imperthe shores of the Caspian Sea, M. de Pauly ceptible. Hence it is that we find the ancient observes—“Ou trouve en cutre à Bakon quelques sages generally described as living in woods and adorateurs du feu, dont la personnalité est parti- retired places, but not without women and chilculièrement intéressante. L'aspect de ces feux dren about them. Kálid á sa makes the sage perpétuels, sortant spontanément de la terre offre | Kanva live in a wood, with about half a dozen un coup d'œil vraiment magique, surtout pendant | maidens including Shakuntalá, in his herla nuit, dans le voisinage de ces feux se trouve mitage. Káshyap a, in the same way, has une sorte de temple ou de couvent dans lequel les his retreat full of women of different ranks and derniers débris des antique adorateurs du feu, a boy. Sitá is said to have lived in the hermitreprésentés par quelques vieux Indous desséchés, age of Vasish th , with her two sons who presque nus, semblables & des fantômes ambu- were borne there ; and almost every ancient story lants, pratiquent sur eux-mêmes leurs macérations book has its tale of hermitages having feminine contre nature, et célèbrent leur culte idolâtre, and juvenile residents. No doubt those works triste et misérable parodie de la doctrine de treat of avowed fictions, but it is not to be supTserdoucht."
posed that their authors outraged the sense of General Cunningham, from his thorough propriety of their readers by describing hermits knowledge of Indian life, at once took the having wife and children and female lodgers in Sánchi Dasyus for ascetics, and no one their cells, if they had not found such things to who has once seen a group of Sanny asis be common in their times. The Vedas, the at Hardwar, Banares, or other sacred Upanishads, the great epics, and the Puráņas, also places, could for a moment mistake them. The describe sages, pishis, and munis, having females head gear, the style of sitting, the tongs, the about them; and the presence of such persons gourd, and the blazing fire, are so peculiar cannot, therefore, be taken as inconsistent with and characteristic that I, as a Hindu-perfectly ancient Indian ascetic life. familiar with the scene cannot possibly mistake The same practice also prevailed among the it, and I have no hesitation in asserting that Buddhists, and priestesses or female mendithe Das y us in such scenes are entirely cants—the Erwal of Clement of Alexandriaimaginary. It might be said that the hermits of are frequently named in the Avadánas the the present day are generally celibates, whereas Játakas and other legendary writings. In Mr. the Das y us of the Sánchi Top e have James D'Alwis's translation of the Attanagula women and children about them. But the objec- | Vansa we have a remarkable instance of this. tion is of no moment, as we have ample evi- As the story there given is of importance, in dence to show that the ancient Aryan hermite connexion with the question at issue, and canor sages were not altogether free from domestic not readily be had for reference, I shall quote it ties. According to Manu, “when the father entire. It forms a part of the Sáma Játaka, of a family perceives his muscles become flaccid, and runs as follows:
• Tree and Serpond Worship, p. 208.
Pouplas de la Russie, p. 148.
