ANCIENT INDIA. 



of different kinds of water as that of the Ganges " which 

 comes from heaven," sea- water, rain-water and that from 

 snow and ice; the qualities and medicinal properties of 

 milk, as that of kine, goats, ewes, buffaloes, camels, and 

 lastly of women ; also remarks on butter-milk ; on sugar-cane ; 

 on sour gruel ; infusions of rice, barley, and other grains ; 

 oils, different kinds of grain; fruits; on the four kinds of 

 spirituous liquors as made from molasses, honey, mead, and 

 a plant (Bassia?) ; on the medical properties of different kinds 

 of flesh, as of hoofed and horned animals, beasts of prey, 

 birds, fishes, serpents, whether of the water or of arid 

 districts ; and on the moral causes of disease. 



The exact dates of the Ayur Veda and Manu's Law Code 

 are not known, but we may pretty safely fix them a few 

 centuries before our era. 



2. General Condition of the People.' — Several particulars with 

 regard to the general condition of the people of India during 

 the Yedic period are to be gathered from the descriptions 

 of early life contained in the story of the greatest Indian 

 Epic, the Mahabharata. Then, as at the present day, the 

 majority of the countrypeople lived in huts, for, as is still 

 the case, the nature of the climate required the greatest 

 simplicity with regard to accommodation, and also as to 

 clothing ; they smeared the mud-floors and walls with 

 cow-dung by way of cleansing them ; they sprinkled water 

 upon the floor and passages before sweeping ; they decorated 

 their dwellings with flowers, and, in times of rejoicing, 

 assembled under canopies made gay with streamers and 

 decorated with flowers. As population increased new settle- 

 ments were formed, the jungle being for this purpose cleared 

 by means of fire and axe, and huts or villages erected in the 

 newly-opened-up space. Their sacrifices to their gods 

 consisted of the choicest articles of their food, including 

 flesh-meat and simple cakes, parched grain, ghee or clarified 



