1876.1 



at Delhi three thousand years ago. 



385 



Bajasiiya we cannot help accepting a picture of what at least was the ideal 

 of such a rite in those days. 



The Mahabharata does not give any sample of the conversations of the 

 assembled guests at the Eajasuya. The Brahmans are said to have discoursed 

 about the particular forms in which certain ceremonies had to be performed, 

 but the ipsissima verba of their discourses are not given. The speeches of 

 S'isupala, denouncing the claim of Krishna to the arghya, are fluent and fiery, 

 though not quite so elevated in tone as some of the Homeric speeches are ; 

 but such as they are, we cannot gather from them any idea of the common 

 topics of private conversation of the guests. It is probable, however, that 

 Mr. Wheeler is perfectly right in his guess about them. Warriors in olden 

 times were rarely noted for their literary acquirements or polish, and some 

 roughness was inseparable from them even in Europe two hundred years ago ; 

 and the private conversation of such men could not take a very lofty tone. 

 It is extremely doubtful if at Versailles during the coronation of Emperor 

 William, the guests among themselves discussed on transcendental philo- 

 sophy. Certain it is that even in our own day a little less of sensational 

 talk and private scandal at tea parties and private gatherings would be a 

 positive gain to society. Anyhow under no circumstance can the staple of 

 private conversation among particular groups of men help us to any exact 

 idea of the social and intellectual condition of a whole race or tribe. 



As to the ideas of the Pandavas regarding the Divinity, some of the 

 mantras quoted below will, we think, be found to be much more reliable 

 guides, than any guesses based on a priori arguments. 



The rituals of the Eajasuya do not appear in the Mahabharata even 

 in a brief summary. It did not fall within the scope of that work— an 

 avowedly epic poem— to dwell upon so dry and recondite a subject ; nor is 

 there, as already stated, any single treatise or guide-book extant in which the 

 whole of the details may be found arranged consecutively. The Sahhita of the 

 Eig Veda, which supplies some of the principal mantras of the rite, has no- 

 where used the word Eajasuya. The Sama is equally silent, and so is the Athar- 

 va. One of the Brahmanas of the Eig Veda, the Aitareya, however, devotes 

 an entire book to the rites of the last day of the sacrifice on which the king 

 is made to sit on a throne, consecrated with holy water, driven in a chariot, 

 and offered a goblet each of the Soma beer and arrack ; and also specifies a 

 few of the hymns which are to be recited in connexion with some of the 

 different ceremonials and offerings which make them up. The only subject 

 which it describes at any length is the ahhisheka, or the pouring of consecrated 

 water on the king and its attendant rites. The Sahhita of the Madhyandmi 

 Sakha of the White Yajush treats of the subject at a greater length, and 

 supplies most of the mantras required ; but the mantras occur dispersed 

 under different heads. The Taittiriya Sahhita of the Black Yajush and its 



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