intrigue and exile of Rama (2) another account
also historical but more vague about the experi-
ence of some early Aryan explorer of the south
(3). The mythical account of Indra and his fight
with the enemy of the harvest which originally
was in the nature of an allegory and was
subsequently regarded as genuine history. In
the Rig Veda, Sita is used as meaning a furrow
and this tradition is maintained in the
Ramayana when describing Sita's birth and
her ultimate disappearance into earth. Pro-
fessor Weber' opinion that Valmiki borrowed
from Homer is clearly
is clearly refuted by Justice
Telang in the Indian Antiquary (1872 pages
(143-147 and 1873 p. 123) and by Professor
Jacobi. On the other hand. Arthur Lillie in his
Kama and Homer maintains that Homer took
his theme from the Indian Epic and Mons
Jallicot inclines to this view. The theory of
Mr. Talboys Wheeler that the Ramayana is a
poetic version of the conflict between Brahmanism
and Buddhism in the South and that the
war with the Rakhshasas may represent
the victories of the Vijianagar Kings is
the face of it untenable. Reference is made
to the Ramayana by poets who flourished
several centuries prior to the foundation of the
Vijianagar Empire. That the Ramayana existed
prior to the data of Panini is very probable as the
names Kausalya and Kaikeyi have been
explained in two Sutras by Panini. It is also
clear that the story of the Ramayana must
have been current long before the Mahabharata
was composed in its present form and there
are numerous references to the Ramayana as sung
by Valmiki in the Mahabharata. It is curious
that the Budhhists and Jains have also
appreciated the story of the Ramayana with
important variations. In the Dasarathi
Jataka, Buddha consols a householder whose
father had died by relating the
story of
Dasaratha. Curiously enough in the Jataka
Sita is described as the sister of Rama
whom he marries after his return from exile.
Professor Jacobi has shown that the Jata-
ka story could not have been the source
from which Valmiki drew and the significance
is that the Ramayana story even to the
details of the Paduka Pattabisheka was known
before 300 B.C. The Jains form of the Ramayana
as found in their Padma Purana of Ravishena, the
Dharma Pariksha of Amritagiri and the
Trishasthi Salaka Parusha Charitra of Heme-
chandra also follow the Ramayana of Valmiki

but with variations. Rama is represented as a vegetarian, the incident of Maricha is omitted. Rama kills Vali a fair fight and in the end turns mendicant. That Valmiki the undoubted author of the Ramayana was an ancient Rishi is abundantly clear from mention being made of him in the Taittareya Pratesakhya and the Vajasenyi Samhita. The state of society as described by him also shows that it must have been prior to the Sutra period and when, as observed by Mr. Vaidya "sacrifice was a most distinguishing feature of Aryan worship, when Buddhism was unknown, when idol worship did not exist, when Brahmins and Kshatriyas freely ate animal food, when women learnt the Vedas and performed Vedic rites, when Kshatriyas competed with Brahmans in learning and Brahmins with Ksatriyas in archery."

Referring to Kalidasa Mr. Smith thinks he flourished in the reigns of Chandragupta II and Kumaragupta and would place him between A. D. 413 or 455 or slightly later. As regards the age on of Kalidasa a great deal depends on who the Vikramaditya was in whose reign tradition asserts be flourished and this again depends on when the Saka Era commenced or by whom it was established. I think Sir William Jones was probably right when he placed Kalidasa in the first century before the Christian Era. There is no very strong reason to discredit the Hindu tradition that the Samvat Era commencing from 57 57 B. C. was founded by Vikramaditya at whose court Kalidasa (one of the nine gems) is said to have flourished. The theory advanced by Fergusson is that the Vikrama Era 56 B. C. was a date arrived at by the taking the date of great battle of Karur in which Vikramaditya of Ujjain finally defeated the Sakas in 544 A. D. and by before throwing back in new era 600 years that date ie. 56 B. C. It is difficult to see why Vikramaditya or anybody else intent on glorifying the battle of Karur and founding an Era on that date should fix upon a date The theory of Fergusson 600 years prior. inclined which Professor Max Muller to accept is rudely inscription in the reign Pulikesin II who

shaken by the Aihole of the Chalukyan King according to Mr. Smith reigned from 608 to 642 A. D. The inscrip tion gives the dates of two Eras, namely 3735 years from the Bharata war and 556 of the Saka Kings.

Kings. (Sakanam Bhubhujam). There

to

must have therefore been a Saka Era dating
at least from 78 A. D. The word Saka really
means an epoch commencing with some cele-
brated prince who is known as Sakeswara, or
Saka Karta (Epoch founder) and Saka Kala is
used denoting either the Vikrama Saka dating
from 56 B. C. or the Salivakana Saka in 78 A. D.
Mr. Narayana Sastri in his interesting work
on the Age of Sankara is of opinion that there
was a third Saka Kala or dating from 550 B. C.
the era established by Cyrus the Great
whom the Hindu Kings assisted in his wars.
He thinks that this is the Saka Kala referred
to by Kalhana in his Rajataringini and by
astronomers like Garga and Varahamitera.
Though he supports his theory by several
conjectures it is doubtful if the founding of an
Empire by the Persians would have led
the foundation of an era in India. It is in
the nature of things difficult to hazard
any specific dates so far as the literary History
of India is concerned; but it seems to me
that the tendency to advance the dates of
Sanskrit authors is often unsupported except
by vague conjectures. That the Sanskrit
language attained a high degree of perfection
some centuries before the Christian Era is clear
from a reference to the works of great
grammarians like Yaska, Panini, Katyayana and
Patanjali. It seem to be pretty clear
that Patanjali flourished in the century before
Christ if not earlier. He speaks of the Mauryas
as a past dynasty and tells us that Ayodhya and
Madhyamika were besieged by the Yavanas
when he lived. The centuries just preceeding
the Christian Era were remarkable in the ad-
vance made in all branches of learning by the
Aryans and it is hardly likely that the growth of
Epic and Kavya literature would have been

delayed for some centuries after the Christian Era.
With book III closes the Hindu period of the
History and thereafter the history of India for
some centuries is written in blood and tears re-
calling the words of Tacitus never has the
judgment of heaven shown more clearly that the
Gods think of us less for our welfare than for
our chastisement." It is with mournful feelings
that one closes the chapter-the end of so much
effort, so much greatness and so much glory.
In following the History one is struck by the
passionate love the ancient Aryans had for their
country, the sacred Aryavarta. Most fortunate
says the Vishnu Purana (II. 3. 22 to 24) are the
persons born in the Bharata Varsha where one is
born as a human being only by reason
his past
merit after thousands of other births. Those
who live in Kurukshetra, says the Mahabaratha,
live in Heaven. Numerous instances may be cited
running through almost the whole of Sanskrit
literature breathing love and devotion to the holy
land that to the Aryans was ever their sacred
mother. To use the words of Hearne (in another
connection) a million lives have been consumed
that hers might be made admirable, countless
minds have planned and toiled and agonized that
thought may reach a higher and purer power in
her delicate brain, countless hearts have been
burned out by suffering that hers might pulse for
joy, innumerable eyes have lost their light that
hers might be filled with wichery and innumerable
lips have prayed that hers might ever smile. Is it
too much to hope that all this greatness and all
his effort will under the fostering care of England
bear a renewed and plenteous harvest and that In-
dians, brothers by blood, by soil, and by a common
heritage of glory, would loyally help to realise the
glorious destiny which as yet is only waiting to
be fulfilled.

WOMEN POETS OF THE RIG VEDA

BY MR. KRISHNA KANTA HANDIQUI, M.A.

N the far off age of the Rigveda, shrouded in "undefined antiquity," in the words of the German scholar Winternitz, the intellect of Indian women did not remain inactive while "the seven singers (sages) were voicing forth, in concert, the (Vedic) speech", to borrow a line from the Rig Veda (10713). Several hymns of the Rig Veda composed by women have come down to us representing the earliest intellectual activities of women in the Aryan world.

The first note worthy poetess whom we meet with is Viswavara Atreyee (R. V. 5.28) who has composed a hymn to Agni in five verses, couched in four different metres. Viswavara's hymn is one of the easiest and simplest that we find in the Rig Veda. Here is a translation of the fourth verse:

"Thy splendour, O Agni! Kindled and brilliant, I do adore. Showerer (of gifts) and possessed of wealth, thou art kindled in sacrifices."

From the first verse of the hymn we gather that there were women "worshipping the gods with oblations" as there were men.

Then comes Apala Atreyee (R. V. 8.91) The hymn is based on a story in which Apala herself is the chief figure. She seems to have been abandoned by her husband owing to her disease, but subsequently heiled by the grace of Indra, for whom the forlorn lady could not afford to press out the soma juice with the Gravans or stones of the regular soma ritual, but only pressed it with her teeth. She prays to

Indra:

"Thou who goest shining, a hero, to every house, drink this (soma) pressed with my (teeth), mixed with grains and curds, with cakes and songs" (8'913)

In the fourth verse she speaks of "women wronged by (their) husbands" as she herself

was.

Let us now turn to Ghosa Kaksheevatee (R. V. 10 39, 40), who has two hymns containing fourteen verses each. Ghosa belongs to a family that has produced a generation of Vedic poets:

Both Ghosa and her son Sanhastya offer their prayers to the Aswins-the Vedic Dioskouroi. Her verses are not as simple and direct as those of Vi wavara or Apala; and in fact Prof. Grassmann styles as obscure the last five verses of one of the hymns of Ghosa (10.40.10-14) She has drawn almost all her allusions from the hymns of her father Kaksheevan in the First Mandala (1116, 117 particularly) and has in some cases reproduced the language of her father. Ghosa's originality however, apart from her independent verses, is manifest in her condensing of the selected allusions and giving them a new back ground to a considerable extent. Here is one of her verses:

"Where among what people are the Aswins, destroyers (of foes), lords of beauty, delighted to-day? Who has detained (them)? To what sage's or what sacrificer's abode are they gone ?" (10:40 14).

We find in Kaksheevan's hymn, 1117 7,— also indicated in verses of Ghosa herself-that she remained unmarried to an advanced age in her father's home till she was favoured with a husband by the Aswins and from 1122.5 we gather that he was Arjuna. We need not take Arjuna as a common noun, after Sayana, for the word Arjuneya in 1 112 23 and 4 26 1 is used as a proper noun to mean "a descendant of Arjuna."

In one of her hymns Ghosa calls herself a princess, so that Kaksheevan may have been a royal sage.

Then there are ten sweet and well-balanced verses composed jointly by two other female poets, Sikata and Nivavaree (9 86·11-20). The verses form part of a hymn, addressed to Soma, by various authors. Here is a verse by Sikata and Nivavaree:

"Clad in an armour (of lustre) that touches the heaven, worthy of sacred rites and filling up the sky fixed in the worlds; and knowing the heaven, he (Soma) comes on with rains and worships heaven's ancient lord" (9'86·14).

There is then a verse by a lady named Godha in a hymn to Indra (10 134) and another by the sister of the sage Agastya in the first half of a heterogeneous hymn in the Tenth Mandala.

We should also take note of two verses on love by Lopamudra (1·179 1-2) her object being to turn her ascetic lord Agastya into a loving husband. Agastya replies to her in the same spirit in the next two verses. There is a similar but indelicate conversation between King Bhavayavya and his wife Romasa, being two verses, added without any apparent connection to Hymn 1.126. The verses are in a metre different from that of the preceding ones and might very well be a frag ment of a popular song, as suggested by Griffith.

So much for hymns by women. In the Tenth Mandala there are two incantations in simple language (10-145, 159) supposed to be by Indrani and Sachi respectively, the subject being the overpowering of rival co-wives. Both Indrani and Sachi are mythical names, but "Sachi" means "action" according to Nirukta and it had probably a historical back ground. Rivalry of cowives is a matter of everyday experience and it is not surprising to have a poem on the subject by the victorious party like that of Sachi. Sachi's tone is exultant indeed-" There rises the sun, then my Fortune is up" (10 1591).

These, then, are our earliest women poets. There are some other names, but it is doubtful whether they refer to real personages. The verse ascribed by the Anukramani to the lady Saswatee (8-1-34) and the hymn ascribed to Juhu (10-109) seem to be rather composed by others about them, by the sage Urdhanabha in the case of Juhu. But even leaving aside the legendary and doubtful names we have, as shown above, not less than eight historical figures as the first cultured women of India, whose hymns were

admitted freely into the holy sacrificial system of

the Veda.

1

The following is a symposium of views on the existing system of University education, culled from the answers given by a number of distinguished educationists before the Calcutta University Commission, for the question :-"Do you consider that the Existing System of University Education affords to Young Indians of ability 'full opportunities of obtaining the highest training? If not, in what main respects do you consider the Existing System deficient from this point of view?" Ed.. I.R.

PROF, PATRICK GEDDES. No; the existing system is not merely deficient; it is a wrong system. However, this may be mitigated by the individual teachers at their best. For the old and false psychology and pedagogy, now and increa- . singly discredited in all living schools, is still, and peculiarly, conserved in the universities. Witness, e.g.:

(a) The essential insistence on passive memorising of lecture notes and text-books, in short on cram for the examinations.

(b) Mass instruction, without sufficient individual contact with teachers, and free questioning of them accordingly.

(c) Insistence on details, and examination too much on these, with insufficient general comprehension and appreciation of the subject.

(d) Deficiency of practical and original work.

(e) Individualistic distinctions, by examination results too much apart from the above considerations. (f) Attainment of mere bread-winning employment, too much apart from true professional ambitions.

(g) Starvation of aesthetic, practical, social, and moral interests generally, inevitable on any diet of mere knowledge.

(h) Resultant college atmosphere too much exhaled from solitary drudgeries, and these in prevalent anxiety and fear-fear alike of approaching examinations and of future uselessness.

(i) Consequent scarcity of true academic life, that of vivid adolescence, inspired and guided by vital senescenis, all feeling at leisure and liberty, yet concentrating these towards active study and discussion, and through (thus clarified) social purpose towards more and more effective attainment and service.

HON. JUSTICE SIR ASUTOSH CHAUDHURI, M.A. The existing system is without an ideal or a definite ultimate aim.

The country wants education to enable the people to stand on their own legs in every respect, "to prepare them for complete living" to develop their work power and character power; to give them all-round strength.

A system originally meant for obtaining efficient clerks and now, to a limited extent, for vocational work, is failing to meet the progressive needs of our people.

Our University has failed to appreciate that it ought to help the process of nation-building. “It is not inspired by motives which things in human nature and the higher things in answer to deeper human aspiration." It is not based upon things which lie close to the hearts of our people.

It has little regard for our permanent environment. It is a makeshift, and without a corporate life. It has not been allowed sufficient freedom of growth. Its utility is doubted, and it is viewed with suspision, as tending to disloyalty. Educational institutions are now subjected to undue political surveillance. There is a lack of proper teachers.

In Government colleges the foreign element is placed on an undeserved and undesirable basis of superiority. The Indian teacher occupies an inferior position.

HON. MR. J. G. COVERNTON, M.A., C.I.E.

At present the existing system of University education does not afford full opportunity of obtaining the highest training.

In the first place, the lower portion of the Univer sity course is little better than a school course. The students entering the university are too young and without a sufficiently high secondary education to enable them to enter on a real university course as soon as they go to college. Hence, the first two years of their University studies would be much better devoted to more thorough work on secondary school lines. If the secondary education were improved and lengthened, students of ability entering the University, would be able to get a better grip on university subjects and thus would be better equipped for the higher work when they came to it in due course.

Secondly, the methods of the present system are not such as to afford the best training. Students look too much to examinations and much of the work done is merely of a mechanical kind for particular examina tions. This applies not only to a large majority of students, but also to many teachers.

Thirdly, as things are at present, the supply of tea. chers able to furnish higher forms of training is very limited. So long as the mass of students think mainly, if not solely, of passing examinations and thereby getting a Government job, the supply of really capable teachers of a high grade will always be small. The present system, in fact, involves a very vicious circle. The existing university methods and ideals are not such as to turn out a sufficient number of really high class university teachers, but until the Universities can produce teachers of this class in adequate num. bers a real reform of university methods and the attainment of higher ideals will remain extraordinarily difficult. The way out of the impasse is, it seems to me, to encourage, as much as possible, the migration of promising graduates to European centres of learning where they can acquaint themselves at first hand with modern methods and, after undergoing training in the West, can return to India and endeavour to put in practice what they have assimilated.

Lastly, if opportunities of obtaining the highest training are to be afforded, much more money will have to be spent on equipment, buildings, and, to a certain extent, on salaries.