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The document is a comprehensive overview of 'Our Oriental Heritage,' the first volume of Will Durant's 'The Story of Civilization,' detailing the establishment of civilization through various elements such as economic, political, moral, and mental aspects. It covers the prehistoric beginnings of civilization, the contributions of ancient cultures like Sumeria, Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria, and explores their societal structures, religions, and advancements. Additionally, it includes links to download the book and related works by Durant.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
48 views89 pages

Our Oriental Heritage The Story of Civilization Volume I Durant Instant Download

The document is a comprehensive overview of 'Our Oriental Heritage,' the first volume of Will Durant's 'The Story of Civilization,' detailing the establishment of civilization through various elements such as economic, political, moral, and mental aspects. It covers the prehistoric beginnings of civilization, the contributions of ancient cultures like Sumeria, Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria, and explores their societal structures, religions, and advancements. Additionally, it includes links to download the book and related works by Durant.

Uploaded by

sofolanuzhah
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Contents
INTRODUCTION

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVILIZATION

Chapter I: THE CONDITIONS OF CIVILIZATION


Definition—Geological conditions—Geographical—
Economic—Racial—Psychological—Causes of the decay of
civilizations

Chapter II: THE ECONOMIC ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION


I. FROM HUNTING TO TILLAGE

Primitive improvidence—Beginnings of provision—Hunting


and fishing—Herding—The domestication of animals—
Agriculture—Food—Cooking—Cannibalism
II. THE FOUNDATIONS OF INDUSTRY

Fire—Primitive Tools—Weaving and pottery—Building and


transport—Trade and finance
III. ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION

Primitive communism—Causes of its disappearance—


Origins of private property-Slavery—Classes

Chapter III: THE POLITICAL ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION


I. THE ORIGINS OF GOVERNMENT
The unsocial instinct—Primitive anarchism—The clan and
the tribe—The king—War
II. THE STATE

As the organization of force—The village community—The


psychological aides of the state
III. LAW

Law-lessness—Law and custom—Revenge—Fines—Courts


—Ordeal—The duel—Punishment—Primitive freedom
IV. THE FAMILY

Its function in civilization—The clan vs. the family—Growth


of parental care—Unimportance of the father—Separation
of the sexes—Mother-right—Status of woman—Her
occupations—Her economic achievements—The
patriarchate—The subjection of woman

Chapter IV: THE MORAL ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION


I. MARRIAGE

The meaning of marriage—Its biological origins—Sexual


communism—Trial marriage—Group marriage—Individual
marriage—Polygamy—Its eugenic value—Exogamy-
Marriage by service—By capture—By purchase—Primitive
love—The economic’ function of marriage
II. SEXUAL MORALITY

Premarital relations—Prostitution—Chastity—Virginity—
The double standard—Modesty—The relativity of morals—
The biological rôle of modesty—Adultery—Divorce—
Abortion—Infanticide—Childhood—The individual
III. SOCIAL MORALITY

The nature of virtue and vice—Greed—Dishonesty—


Violence—Homicide—Suicide—The socialization of the
individual—Altruism—Hospitality—Manners—Tribal limits
of morality—Primitive vs. modern morals—Religion and
morals
IV. RELIGION

Primitive atheists
1. THE SOURCES OF RELIGION

Fear—Wonder—Dreams—
The soul—Animism
2. THE OBJECTS OF RELIGION

The sun—The stars—The


earth—Sex—Animals—
Totemism—The transition to
human gods—Ghost-
worship—Ancestor-worship
3. THE METHODS OF RELIGION

Magic—Vegetation rites—
Festivals of license—Myths
of the resurrected god—
Magic and superstition—
Magic and science—Priests
4. THE MORAL FUNCTION OF RELIGION

Religion and government—


Tabu—Sexual tabus—The lag
of religion—Secularization

Chapter V: THE MENTAL ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION


I. LETTERS

Language—Its animal background—Its human origins—Its


development—Its results-Education—Initiation—Writing—
Poetry
II. SCIENCE

Origins—Mathematics—Astronomy—Medicine—Surgery
III. ART

The meaning of beauty—Of art—The primitive sense of


beauty—The painting of the body—Cosmetics—Tattooing—
Scarification—Clothing—Ornaments—Pottery—Painting—
Sculpture—Architecture—The dance—Music—Summary of
the primitive preparation for civilization

Chronological Chart: Types and Cultures of Prehistoric


Man

Chapter VI: THE PREHISTORIC BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION


I. PALEOLITHIC CULTURE

The purpose of prehistory—The romances of archeology


1. MEN OF THE OLD STONE AGE

The geological background—


Paleolithic types
2. ARTS OF THE OLD STONE AGE

Tools—Fire—Painting—
Sculpture
II. NEOLITHIC CULTURE

The Kitchen—Middens—The Lake—Dwellers—The coming


of agriculture—The taming of animals—Technology—
Neolithic weaving—pottery—building—transport—religion
—science—Summary of the prehistoric preparation for
civilization
III. THE TRANSITION TO HISTORY

1. THE COMING OF METALS

Copper—Bronze—Iron
2. WRITING

Its possible ceramic origins


—The “Mediterranean
Signary”—Hieroglyphics—
Alphabets
3. LOST CIVILIZATIONS

Polynesia—“Atlantis”
4. CRADLES OF CIVILIZATION

Central Asia—Anau—Lines
of Dispersion

BOOK ONE
THE NEAR EAST

Chronological Table of Near Eastern History

Chapter VII: SUMERIA


Orientation—Contributions of the Near East to Western
civilization
I. ELAM

The culture of Susa—The potter’s wheel—The wagon-wheel


II. THE SUMERIANS

1. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The exhuming of Sumeria—


Geography—Race—
Appearance—The Sumerian
Flood—The kings—An
ancient reformer—Sargon of
Akkad—The Golden Age of
Ur
2. ECONOMIC LIFE

The soil—Industry—Trade—
Classes—Science
3. GOVERNMENT

The kings—Ways of war—


The feudal barons—Law
4. RELIGION AND MORALITY

The Sumerian Pantheon—


The food of the gods—
Mythology—Education—A
Sumerian prayer—Temple
prostitutes—The rights of
woman—Sumerian
cosmetics
5. LETTERS AND ARTS

Writing—Literature—
Temples and palaces—
Statuary—Ceramics
—Jewelry-Summary of
Sumerian civilization
III. PASSAGE TO EGYPT

Sumerian influence in Mesopotamia—Ancient Arabia—


Mesopotamian influence in Egypt

Chapter VIII: EGYPT


I. THE GIFT OF THE NILE

1. IN THE DELTA

Alexandria—The Nile—The
Pyramids—The Sphinx
2. UPSTREAM

Memphis—The masterpiece
of Queen Hatshepsut—The
“Colossi of Memnon”—Luxor
and Karnak—The grandeur
of Egyptian civilization
II. THE MASTER BUILDERS

1. THE DISCOVERY OF EGYPT

Champollion and the


Rosetta Stone
2. PREHISTORIC EGYPT

Paleolithic—Neolithic—The
Badarians—Predynastic—
Race
3. THE OLD KINGDOM

The “nomes”—The first


historic individual
—“Cheops”—“Chephren”—
The purpose of the Pyramids
—Art of the tombs—
Mummification
4. THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

The Feudal Age—The


Twelfth Dynasty—The
Hyksos Domination
5. THE EMPIRE
The great queen—Thutmose
III—The zenith of Egypt
III. THE CIVILIZATION OF EGYPT

1. AGRICULTURE

2. INDUSTRY

Miners—Manufactures—
Workers—Engineers—
Transport—Postal service—
Commerce and finance—
Scribes
3. GOVERNMENT

The bureaucrats—Law—The
vizier—The pharaoh
4. MORALS

Royal incest—The harem—


Marriage—The position of
woman—The matriarchate
in Egypt—Sexual morality
5. MANNERS

Character—Games—
Appearance—Cosmetics—
Costume—Jewelry
6. LETTERS

Education—Schools of
government—Paper and ink
—Stages in the development
of writing—Forms of
Egyptian writing
7. LITERATURE
Texts and libraries—The
Egyptian Sinbad—The Story
of Sinuhe—Fiction—An
amorous fragment—Love
poems—History—A literary
revolution
8. SCIENCE

Origins of Egyptian science


—Mathematics—Astronomy
and the calendar—Anatomy
and physiology—Medicine,
surgery and hygiene
9. ART

Architecture—Old Kingdom,
Middle Kingdom, Empire
and Saïte sculpture—Bas-
relief—Painting—Minor arts
—Music—The artists
10. PHILOSOPHY

The Instructions of Ptah-


hotep—The Admonitions of
lpuwer—The Dialogue of a
Misanthrope—The Egyptian
Ecclesiastes
11. RELIGION

Sky gods—The sun god—


Plant gods—Animal gods—
Sex gods—Human gods—
Osiris—Isis and Horus—
Minor deities—The priests—
Immortality—The Book of the
Dead—The “Negative
Confession”—Magic—
Corruption
IV. THE HERETIC KING

The character of Ikhnaton—The new religion—A hymn to


the sun—Monotheism—The new dogma—The new art—
Reaction—Nofretete—Break-up of the Empire—Death of
Ikhnaton
V. DECLINE AND FALL

Tutenkhamon—The labors of Rameses II—The wealth of


the clergy—The poverty of the people—The conquest of
Egypt—Summary of Egyptian contributions to civilization

Chapter IX: BABYLONIA


I. FROM HAMMURABI TO NEBUCHADREZZAR

Babylonian contributions to modern civilization—The Land


between the Rivers-Hammurabi—His capital—The Kassite
Domination—The Amarna letters—The Assyrian Conquest
—Nebuchadrezzar—Babylon in the days of its glory
II. THE TOILERS

Hunting—Tillage—Food—Industry—Transport—The perils
of commerce—Money-lenders—Slaves
III. THE LAW

The Code of Hammurabi—The powers of the king—Trial by


ordeal—Lex Talionis—Forms of punishment—Codes of
wages and prices—State restoration of stolen goods
IV. THE GODS OF BABYLON

Religion and the state—The functions and powers of the


clergy—The lesser gods—Marduk—Ishtar—The Babylonian
stories of the Creation and the Flood—The love of Ishtar
and Tammuz—The descent of Ishtar into Hell—The death
and resurrection of Tammuz—Ritual and prayer—
Penitential psalms—Sin—Magic—Superstition
V. THE MORALS OF BABYLON

Religion divorced from morals—Sacred prostitution—Free


love—Marriage—Adultery—Divorce—The position of
woman—The relaxation of morals
VI. LETTERS AND LITERATURE

Cuneiform—Its decipherment—Language—Literature—The
epic of Gilgamesh
VII. ARTISTS

The lesser arts—Music—Painting—Sculpture—Bas-relief—


Architecture
VIII. BABYLONIAN SCIENCE

Mathematics—Astronomy—The calendar—Geography—
Medicine
IX. PHILOSOPHERS

Religion and Philosophy—The Babylonian Job—The


Babylonian Koheleth—An anticlerical

X. EPITAPH

Chapter X: ASSYRIA
I. CHRONICLES

Beginnings—Cities—Race—The conquerors—Sennacherib
and Esarhaddon—“Sardanapalus”
II. ASSYRIAN GOVERNMENT

Imperialism—Assyrian war—The conscript gods—Law—


Delicacies of penology—Administration—The violence of
Oriental monarchies
III. ASSYRIAN LIFE

Industry and trade—Marriage and morals—Religion and


science—Letters and libraries—The Assyrian ideal of a
gentleman
IV. ASSYRIAN ART

Minor arts—Bas-relief—Statuary—Building—A page from


“Sardanapalus”
V. ASSYRIA PASSES

The last days of a king—Sources of Assyrian decay—The fall


of Nineveh

Chapter XI: A MOTLEY OF NATIONS


I. THE INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLES

The ethnic scene—Mitannians—Hittites—Armenians—


Scythians—Phrygians—The Divine Mother—Lydians—
Croesus—Coinage—Croesus, Solon and Cyrus
II. THE SEMITIC PEOPLES

The antiquity of the Arabs—Phoenicians—Their world trade


—Their circumnavigation of Africa—Colonies—Tyre and
Sidon—Deities—The dissemination of the alphabet-Syria—
Astarte—The death and resurrection of Adoni—The
sacrifice of children

Chapter XII: JUDEA


I. THE PROMISED LAND

Palestine—Climate—Prehistory—Abraham’s people—The
Jews in Egypt—The Exodus—The conquest of Canaan
II. SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY

Race—Appearance—Language—Organization—Judges and
kings—Saul—David—Solomon—His wealth—The Temple—
Rise of the social problem in Israel
III. THE GOD OF HOSTS

Polytheism—Yahveh—Henotheism—Character of the
Hebrew religion—The idea of sin—Sacrifice—Circumcision-
-The priesthood—Strange gods
IV. THE FIRST RADICALS

The class war—Origin of the Prophets—Amos at Jerusalem


—Isaiah—His attacks upon the rich—His doctrine of a
Messiah—The influence of the Prophets
V. THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JERUSALEM

The birth of the Bible—The destruction of Jerusalem—The


Babylonian Captivity-Jeremiah—Ezekiel—The Second
Isaiah—The liberation of the Jews—The Second Temple
VI. THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK

The “Book of the Law”—The composition of the Pentateuch


—The myths of Genesis—The Mosaic Code—The Ten
Commandments—The idea of God—The sabbath—The
Jewish family—Estimate of the Mosaic legislation
VII. THE LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE BIBLE

History—Fiction—Poetry—The Psalms—The Song of Songs


—Proverbs—Job—The idea of immortality—The pessimism
of Ecclesiastes—The advent of Alexander

Chapter XIII: PERSIA


I. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE MEDES

Their origins—Rulers—The blood treaty of Sardis—


Degeneration
II. THE GREAT KINGS

The romantic Cyrus—His enlightened policies—Cambyses—


Darius the Great—The invasion of Greece
III. PERSIAN LIFE AND INDUSTRY

The empire—The people—The language—The peasants—


The imperial highways-Trade and finance
IV. AN EXPERIMENT IN GOVERNMENT

The king—The nobles—The army—Law—A savage


punishment—The capitals—The satrapies—An achievement
in administration
V. ZARATHUSTRA

The coming of the Prophet—Persian religion before


Zarathustra—The Bible of Persia—Ahura-Mazda—The
good and the evil spirits—Their struggle for the possession
of the world
VI. ZOROASTRIAN ETHICS

Man as a battlefield—The Undying Fire—Hell, Purgatory


and Paradise—The cult of Mithra—The Magi—The Parsees
VII. PERSIAN MANNERS AND MORALS

Violence and honor—The code of cleanliness—Sins of the


flesh—Virgins and bachelors—Marriage—Women—
Children—Persian ideas of education
VIII. SCIENCE AND ART

Medicine—Minor arts—The tombs of Cyrus and Darius—


The palaces of Persepolis-The Frieze of the Archers—
Estimate of Persian art
IX. DECADENCE

How a nation may die—Xerxes—A paragraph of murders—


Artaxerxes II—Cyrus the Younger—Darius the Little—
Causes of decay: political, military, moral—Alexander
conquers Persia, and advances upon India

BOOK TWO
INDIA AND HER NEIGHBORS

Chronological Table of Indian History

Chapter XIV: THE FOUNDATIONS OF INDIA


I. SCENE OF THE DRAMA

The rediscovery of India—A glance at the map—Climatic


influences
II. THE OLDEST CIVILIZATION?

Prehistoric India—Mohenjo-daro—Its antiquity


III. THE INDO-ARYANS

The natives—The invaders—The village community—Caste


—Warriors—Priests—Merchants—Workers—Outcastes
IV. INDO-ARYAN SOCIETY

Herders—Tillers of the soil—Craftsmen—Traders—Coinage


and credit—Morals—Marriage—Woman
V. THE RELIGION OF THE VEDAS

Pre-Vedic religion—Vedic gods—Moral gods—The Vedic


story of Creation—Immortality—The horse sacrifice
VI. THE VEDAS AS LITERATURE

Sanskrit and English—Writing—The four Vedas—The Rig-


veda—A Hymn of Creation
VII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE UPANISHADS

The authors—Their theme—Intellect vs. intuition—Atman—


Brahman—Their identity—A description of God—Salvation
—Influence of the Upanishads—Emerson on Brahma

Chapter XV: BUDDHA


I. THE HERETICS

Sceptics—Nihilists—Sophists—Atheists—Materialists—
Religions without a god
II. MAHAVIRA AND THE JAINS

The Great Hero—The Jain creed—Atheistic polytheism—


Asceticism—Salvation by suicide—Later history of the Jains
III. THE LEGEND OF BUDDHA

The background of Buddhism—The miraculous birth—


Youth—The sorrows of life-Flight—Ascetic years—
Enlightenment—A vision of Nirvana
IV. THE TEACHING OF BUDDHA

Portrait of the Master—His methods—The Four Noble


Truths—The Eightfold Way—The Five Moral Rules—
Buddha and Christ—Buddha’s agnosticism and anti-
clericalism—His Atheism—His soul-less psychology—The
meaning of Nirvana
V. THE LAST DAYS OF BUDDHA

His miracles—He visits his father’s house—The Buddhist


monks—Death
Chapter XVI: FROM ALEXANDER TO AURANGZEB
I. CHANDRAGUPTA

Alexander in India—Chandragupta the liberator—The


people—The university of Taxila—The royal palace—A day
in the life of a king—An older Machiavelli—Administration—
Law—Public health—Transport and roads—Municipal
government
II. THE PHILOSOPHER-KING

Ashoka—The Edict of Tolerance—Ashoka’s missionaries—


His failure—His success
III. THE GOLDEN AGE OF INDIA

An epoch of invasions—The Kushan kings—The Gupta


Empire—The travels of Fa-Hien—The revival of letters—
The Huns in India—Harsha the generous—The travels of
Yuan Chwang
IV. ANNALS OF RAJPUTANA

The Samurai of India—The age of chivalry—The fall of


Chitor
V. THE ZENITH OF THE SOUTH

The kingdoms of the Deccan—Vijayanagar—Krishna Raya—


A medieval metropolis-Laws—Arts—Religion—Tragedy
VI. THE MOSLEM CONQUEST

The weakening of India—Mahmud of Ghazni—The


Sultanate of Delhi—Its cultural asides—Its brutal policy—
The lesson of Indian history
VII. AKBAR THE GREAT

Tamerlane—Babur—Humayun—Akbar—His government—
His character—His patronage of the arts—His passion for
philosophy—His friendship for Hinduism and Christianity—
His new religion—The last days of Akbar
VIII. THE DECLINE OF THE MOGULS

The children of great men—Jehangir—Shah Jehan—His


magnificence—His fall—Aurangzeb—His fanaticism—His
death—The coming of the British

Chapter XVII: THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE


I. THE MAKERS OF WEALTH

The jungle background—Agriculture—Mining—Handicrafts


—Commerce—Money—Taxes—Famines—Poverty and
wealth
II. THE ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY

The monarchy—Law—The Code of “Manu”—Development


of the caste system—Rise of the Brahmans—Their
privileges and powers—Their obligations—In defense of
caste
III. MORALS AND MARRIAGE

Dharma—Children—Child marriage—The art of love—


Prostitution—Romantic love—Marriage—The family—
Woman—Her intellectual life—Her rights—Purdah—Suttee-
The Widow
IV. MANNERS, CUSTOMS AND CHARACTER

Sexual modesty—Hygiene—Dress—Appearance—The
gentle art among the Hindus-Faults and virtues—Games—
Festivals—Death

Chapter XVIII: THE PARADISE OF THE GODS


I. THE LATER HISTORY OF BUDDHISM
The Zenith of Buddhism—The Two Vehicles—Mahayana—
Buddhism, Stoicism and Christianity—The decay of
Buddhism—Its migrations: Ceylon, Burma, Turkestan, Tibet,
Cambodia, China, Japan
II. THE NEW DIVINITIES

Hinduism—Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva—Krishna—Kali—Animal


gods—The sacred cow-Polytheism and monotheism
III. BELIEFS

The Puranas—The reincarnations of the universe—The


migrations of the soul—Karma—Its philosophical aspects—
Life as evil—Release
IV. CURIOSITIES OF RELIGION

Superstitions—Astrology—Phallic worship—Ritual—
Sacrifice—Purification—The sacred waters
V. SAINTS AND SCEPTICS

Methods of sanctity—Heretics—Toleration—General view


of Hindu religion

Chapter XIX: THE LIFE OF THE MIND


I. HINDU SCIENCE

Its religious origins—Astronomers—Mathematicians—The


“Arabic” numerals—The decimal system—Algebra—
Geometry—Physics—Chemistry—Physiology—Vedic
medicine—Physicians—Surgeons—Anesthetics—
Vaccination—Hypnotism
II. THE SIX SYSTEMS OF BRAHMANICAL PHILOSOPHY

The antiquity of Indian philosophy—Its prominent rôle—Its


scholars—Forms—Conception of orthodoxy—The
assumptions of Hindu philosophy
1. THE Nyaya SYSTEM

2. THE Vaisheshika SYSTEM

3. THE Sankhya SYSTEM

Its high repute—


Metaphysics—Evolution—
Atheism—Idealism—Spirit—
Body, mind and soul—The
goal of philosophy—
Influence of the Sankhya
4. THE Yoga SYSTEM

The Holy Men—The


antiquity of Yoga—Its
meaning—The eight stages
of discipline—The aim of
Yoga—The miracles of the
Yogi—The sincerity of Yoga
5. THE Purva Mimansa

6. THE Vedanta SYSTEM

Origin—Shankara—Logic—
Epistemology—Maya—
Psychology—Theology—
God—Ethics—Difficulties of
the system—Death of
Shankara
III. THE CONCLUSIONS OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY

Decadence—Summary—Criticism—Influence

Chapter XX: THE LITERATURE OF INDIA


I. THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA
Sanskrit—The vernaculars—Grammar
II. EDUCATION

Schools—Methods—Universities—Moslem education—An
emperor on education
III. THE EPICS

The Mahabharata—Its story—Its form—The Bhagavad-Gita


—The metaphysics of war—The price of freedom—The
Ramayana—A forest idyl—The rape of Sita—The Hindu
epics and the Greek
IV. DRAMA

Origins—The Clay Cart—Characteristics of Hindu drama—


Kalidasa—The story of Shakuntala—Estimate of Indian
drama
V. PROSE AND POETRY

Their unity in India—Fables—History—Tales—Minor poets


—Rise of the vernacular literature—Chandi Das—Tulsi Das
—Poets of the south—Kabir

Chapter XXI: INDIAN ART


I. THE MINOR ARTS

The great age of Indian art—Its uniqueness—Its association


with industry—Pottery-Metal—Wood—Ivory—Jewelry—
Textiles
II. MUSIC

A concert in India—Music and the dance—Musicians—Scale


and forms—Themes-Music and philosophy
III. PAINTING

Prehistoric—The frescoes of Ajanta—Rajput miniatures—


The Mogul school—The painters—The theorists
IV. SCULPTURE

Primitive—Buddhist—Gandhara—Gupta—“Colonial”—
Estimate
V. ARCHITECTURE

1. HINDU ARCHITECTURE

Before Ashoka—Ashokan—
Buddhist—Jain—The
masterpieces of the north—
Their destruction—The
southern style—Monolithic
temples—Structural temples
2. “COLONIAL” ARCHITECTURE

Ceylon—Java—Cambodia—
The Khmers—Their religion
—Angkor—Fall of the
Khmers—Siam—Burma
3. MOSLEM ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA

The Afghan style—The


Mogul style—Delhi—Agra—
The Taj Mahal
4. INDIAN ARCHITECTURE AND CIVILIZATION

Decay of Indian art—Hindu


and Moslem architecture
compared—General view of
Indian civilization

Chapter XXII: A CHRISTIAN EPILOGUE


I. THE JOLLY BUCCANEERS
The arrival of the Europeans—The British Conquest—The
Sepoy Mutiny—Advantages and disadvantages of British
rule
II. LATTER-DAY SAINTS

Christianity in India—The Brahma-Somaj—


Mohammedanism—Ramakrishna—Vivekananda
III. TAGORE

Science and art—A family of geniuses—Youth of


Rabindranath—His poetry—His politics—His school
IV. EAST IS WEST

Changing India—Economic changes—Social—The decaying


caste system—Castes and guilds—Untouchables—The
emergence of woman
V. THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT

The westernized students—The secularization of heaven—


The Indian National Congress
VI. MAHATMA GANDHI

Portrait of a saint—The ascetic—The Christian—The


education of Gandhi—In Africa—The Revolt of 1921—“I am
the man”—Prison years—Young India—The revolution of the
spinning-wheel—The achievements of Gandhi
VII. FAREWELL TO INDIA

The revivification of India—The gifts of India

BOOK THREE
THE FAR EAST
A. CHINA

Chronology of Chinese Civilization

Chapter XXIII: THE AGE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS


I. THE BEGINNINGS

1. ESTIMATES OF THE CHINESE

2. THE MIDDLE FLOWERY KINGDOM

Geography—Race—
Prehistory
3. THE UNKNOWN CENTURIES

The Creation according to


China—The coming of
culture—Wine and
chopsticks—The virtuous
emperors—A royal atheist
4. THE FIRST CHINESE CIVILIZATION

The Feudal Age in China—


An able minister—The
struggle between custom
and law—Culture and
anarchy—Love lyrics from
the Book of Odes
5. THE PRE-CONFUCIAN PHILOSOPHERS

The Book of Changes—The


yang and the yin—The
Chinese Enlightenment—
Teng Shih, the Socrates of
China
6. THE OLD MASTER

Lao-tze—The Tao—On
intellectuals in government
—The foolishness of laws—A
Rousseauian Utopia and a
Christian ethic—Portrait of a
wise man—The meeting of
Lao-tze and Confucius
II. CONFUCIUS

1. THE SAGE IN SEARCH OF A STATE

Birth and youth—Marriage


and divorce—Pupils and
methods—Appearance and
character—The lady and the
tiger—A definition of good
government—Confucius in
office—Wander-years—The
consolations of old age
2. THE NINE CLASSICS

3. THE AGNOSTICISM OF CONFUCIUS

A fragment of logic—The
philosopher and the urchins
—A formula of wisdom
4. THE WAY OF THE HIGHER MAN

Another portrait of the sage


—Elements of character—
The Golden Rule
5. CONFUCIAN POLITICS

Popular sovereignty—
Government by example—
The decentralization of
wealth-Music and manners
—Socialism and revolution
6. THE INFLUENCE OF CONFUCIUS

The Confucian scholars—


Their victory over the
Legalists—Defects of
Confucianism—The
contemporaneity of
Confucius
III. SOCIALISTS AND ANARCHISTS

1. MO TI, ALTRUIST

2. YANG CHU, EGOIST

3. MENCIUS, MENTOR OF PRINCES

A model mother—A
philosopher among kings—
Are men by nature good?—
Single tax—Mencius and the
communists—The profit-
motive—The right of
revolution
4. HSUN-TZE, REALIST

The evil nature of man—The


necessity of law
5. CHUANG-TZE, IDEALIST

The Return to Nature—


Governmentless society—
The Way of Nature—The
limits of the intellect—The
evolution of man—The
Button-Moulder—The
influence of Chinese
philosophy in Europe

Chapter XXIV: THE AGE OF THE POETS


I. CHINA’S BISMARCK

The Period of Contending States—The suicide of Ch’u P’ing


—Shih Huang-ti unifies China—The Great Wall—The
“Burning of the Books”—The failure of Shih Huang-ti
II. EXPERIMENTS IN SOCIALISM

Chaos and poverty—The Han Dynasty—The reforms of Wu


Ti—The income tax—The planned economy of Wang Mang
—Its overthrow—The Tatar invasion
III. THE GLORY OF T’ANG

The new dynasty—T’ai Tsung’s method of reducing crime—


An age of prosperity—The “Brilliant Emperor”—The
romance of Yang Kwei-fei—The rebellion of An Lu-shan
IV. THE BANISHED ANGEL

An anecdote of Li Po—His youth, prowess and loves—On


the imperial barge—The gospel of the grape—War—The
wanderings of Li Po—In prison—“Deathless Poetry”
V. SOME QUALITIES OF CHINESE POETRY

“Free verse”—“Imagism”—“Every poem a picture and every


picture a poem”—Sentimentality—Perfection of form
VI. TU FU

T’ao Ch’ien—Po Chü-i—Poems for malaria—Tu Fu and Li Po


—A vision of war—Prosperous days—Destitution—Death
VII. PROSE

The abundance of Chinese literature—Romances—History


—Szuma Ch’ien—Essays-Han Yü on the bone of Buddha
VIII. THE STAGE

Its low repute in China—Origins—The play—The audience—


The actors—Music

Chapter XXV: THE AGE OF THE ARTISTS


I. THE SUNG RENAISSANCE

1. THE SOCIALISM OF WANG AN-SHIH

The Sung Dynasty—A


radical premier—His cure
for unemployment—The
regulation of industry—
Codes of wages and prices—
The nationalization of
commerce-State insurance
against unemployment,
poverty and old age—
Examinations for public
office—The defeat of Wang
An-shih
2. THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING

The growth of scholarship—


Paper and ink in China—
Steps in the invention of
printing—The oldest book—
Paper money—Movable
type—Anthologies,
dictionaries, encyclopedias
3. THE REBIRTH OF PHILOSOPHY

Chu Hsi—Wang Yang-ming


—Beyond good and evil
II. BRONZES, LACQUER AND JADE
The rôle of art in China—Textiles—Furniture—Jewelry—
Fans—The making of lacquer—The cutting of jade—Some
masterpieces in bronze—Chinese sculpture
III. PAGODAS AND PALACES

Chinese architecture—The Porcelain Tower of Nanking—


The Jade Pagoda of Peking—The Temple of Confucius—The
Temple and Altar of Heaven—The palaces of Kublai Khan—
A Chinese home—The interior—Color and form

IV. PAINTING

1. MASTERS OF CHINESE PAINTING

Ku K’ai-chhi, the “greatest


painter, wit and fool”—Han
Yü’s miniature—The classic
and the romantic schools—
Wang Wei—Wu Tao-tze—
Hui Tsung, the artist-
emperor—Masters of the
Sung age
2. QUALITIES OF CHINESE PAINTING

The rejection of perspective


—Of realism—Line as nobler
than color—Form as rhythm
—Representation by
suggestion—Conventions
and restrictions Sincerity of
Chinese art
V. PORCELAIN

The ceramic art—The making of porcelain—Its early history


—Céladon—Enamels—The skill of Hao Shih-chiu—Cloisonné
—The age of K’ang-hsi—Of Ch’ien Lung
Chapter XXVI: THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE
I. HISTORICAL INTERLUDE

1. MARCO POLO VISITS KUBLAI KHAN

The incredible travelers—


Adventures of a Venetian in
China—The elegance and
prosperity of Hangchow—
The palaces of Peking—The
Mongol Conquest—Jenghiz
Khan—Kublai Khan—His
character and policy—His
harem—“Marco Millions”
2. THE MING AND THE CH’ING

Fall of the Mongols—The


Ming Dynasty—The Manchu
invasion—The Ch’ing
Dynasty—An enlightened
monarch—Ch’ien Lung
rejects the Occident
II. THE PEOPLE AND THEIR LANGUAGE

Population—Appearance—Dress—Peculiarities of Chinese
speech—Of Chinese writing
III. THE PRACTICAL LIFE

1. IN THE FIELDS

The poverty of the peasant


—Methods of husbandry—
Crops—Tea—Food—The
stoicism of the village
2. IN THE SHOPS

Handicrafts—Silk—Factories
—Guilds—Men of burden—
Roads and canals-
Merchants—Credit and
coinage—Currency
experiments—Printing-
press inflation
3. INVENTION AND SCIENCE

Gunpowder, fireworks and


war—The compass—Poverty
of industrial invention-
Geography—Mathematics—
Physics—Feng shut—
Astronomy—Medicine—
Hygiene
IV. RELIGION WITHOUT A CHURCH

Superstition and scepticism—Animism—The worship of


Heaven—Ancestor—worship—Confucianism—Taoism—The
elixir of immortality—Buddhism—Religious toleration and
eclecticism—Mohammedanism—Christianity—Causes of its
failure in China
V. THE RULE OF MORALS

The high place of morals in Chinese society—The family—


Children—Chastity—Prostitution—Premarital relations—
Marriage and love—Monogamy and polygamy—
Concubinage—Divorce—A Chinese empress—The
patriarchal male—The subjection of woman—The Chinese
character
VI. A GOVERNMENT PRAISED BY VOLTAIRE

The submergence of the individual—Self-government—The


village and the province—The laxity of the law—The
severity of punishment—The Emperor—The Censor—
Administrative boards—Education for public office—
Nomination by education—The examination system—Its
defects—Its virtues

Chapter XXVII: REVOLUTION AND RENEWAL


I. THE WHITE PERIL

The conflict of Asia and Europe—The Portuguese—The


Spanish—The Dutch—The English—The opium trade—The
Opium Wars—The T’ai-p’ing Rebellion—The War with
Japan—The attempt to dismember China—The “Open
Door”—The Empress Dowager—The reforms of Kuang Hsu
—His removal from power—The “Boxers”—The Indemnity
II. THE DEATH OF A CIVILIZATION

The Indemnity students—Their Westernization—Their


disintegrative effect in China—The rôle of the missionary—
Sun Yat-sen, the Christian—His youthful adventures—His
meeting with Li Hung-chang—His plans for a revolution—
Their success—Yuan Shi-k’ai—The death of Sun Yat-sen—
Chaos and pillage—Communism—“The north pacified”—
Chiang Kai-shek—Japan in Manchuria—At Shanghai
III. BEGINNINGS OF A NEW ORDER

Change in the village—In the town—The factories—


Commerce—Labor unions—Wages—The new government
—Nationalism vs. Westernization—The dethronement of
Confucius—The reaction against religion—The new
morality—Marriage in transition-Birth control—Co-
education—The “New Tide” in literature and philosophy—
The new language of literature—Hu Shih—Elements of
destruction—Elements of renewal

B. JAPAN
Chronology of Japanese Civilization

Chapter XXVIII: THE MAKERS OF JAPAN


I. THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS

How Japan was created—The rôle of earthquakes


II. PRIMITIVE JAPAN

Racial components—Early civilization—Religion—Shinto—


Buddhism—The beginnings of art—The “Great Reform”
III. THE IMPERIAL AGE

The emperors—The aristocracy—The influence of China—


The Golden Age of Kyoto—Decadence
IV. THE DICTATORS

The shoguns—The Kamakura Bakufu—Tie Hojo Regency—


Kublai Khan’s invasion—The Ashikaga Shogunate—The
three buccaneers
V. GREAT MONKEY-FACE

The rise of Hideyoshi—The attack upon Korea—The conflict


with Christianity
VI. THE GREAT SHOGUN

The accession of Iyeyasu—His philosophy—Iyeyasu and


Christianity—Death of Iyeyasu—The Tokugawa Shogunate

Chapter XXIX: THE POLITICAL AND MORAL FOUNDATIONS


I. THE SAMURAI

The powerless emperor—The powers of the shogun—The


sword of the Samurai—The code of the Samurai—Hara-kiri—
The Forty-seven Ronin—A commuted sentence
II. THE LAW

The first code—Group responsibility—Punishments


III. THE TOILERS

Castes—An experiment in the nationalization of land—


State fixing of Wages—A famine—Handicrafts—Artisans
and guilds
IV. THE PEOPLE

Stature—Cosmetics—Costume—Diet—Etiquette—Saki—
The tea ceremony—The flower ceremony—Love of nature—
Gardens—Homes
V. THE FAMILY

The paternal autocrat—The status of woman—Children—


Sexual morality—The Geisha—Love
VI. THE SAINTS

Religion in Japan—The transformation of Buddhism—The


priests—Sceptics
VII. THE THINKERS

Confucius reaches Japan—A critic of religion—The religion


of scholarship—Kaibara Ekken—On education—On
pleasure—The rival schools—A Japanese Spinoza—Ito
Jinsai—Ito Togai—Ogyu Sorai—The war of the scholars—
Mabuchi—Moto-ori

Chapter XXX: THE MIND AND ART OF OLD JAPAN


I. LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION

The language—Writing—Education
II. POETRY

The Manyoshu—The Kokinshu—Characteristics of Japanese


poetry—Examples—The game of poetry—The hokka-
gamblers
III. PROSE

1. FICTION

Lady Muraski—The Tale of


Genji—Its excellence—Later
Japanese fiction—A
humorist
2. HISTORY

The historians—Arai
Hakuseki
3. THE ESSAY

The Lady Sei Shonagon—


Kamo no-Chomei
IV. THE DRAMA

The No plays—Their character—The popular stage—The


Japanese Shakespeare-Summary judgment
V. THE ART OF LITTLE THINGS

Creative imitation—Music and the dance—Inro and netsuke


—Hidari Jingaro—Lacquer
VI. ARCHITECTURE

Temples—Palaces—The shrine of Iyeyasu—Homes


VII. METALS AND STATUES

Swords—Mirrors—The Trinity of Horiuji—Colossi—Religion


and sculpture
VIII. POTTERY

The Chinese stimulus—The potters of Hizen-Pottery and


tea—How Goto Saijiro brought the art of porcelain from
Hizen to Kaga—The nineteenth century
IX. PAINTING

Difficulties of the subject—Methods and materials—Forms


and ideals—Korean origins and Buddhist inspiration—The
Tosa School—The return to China—Sesshiu—The Kano
School—Koyetsu and Korin—The Realistic School
X. PRINTS

The Ukiyoye School—Its founders—Its masters—Hokusai—


Hiroshige
XI. JAPANESE ART AND CIVILIZATION

A retrospect—Contrasts—An estimate—The doom of the


old Japan

Chapter XXXI THE NEW JAPAN


I. THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION

The decay of the Shogunate—America knocks at the door—


The Restoration—The Westernization of Japan—Political
reconstruction—The new constitution—Law—The army—
The war with Russia—Its political results
II. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Industrialization—Factories—Wages—Strikes—Poverty—
The Japanese point of view
III. THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Changes in dress—In manners—The Japanese character—


Morals and marriage in transition—Religion—Science—
Japanese medicine—Art and taste—Language and
education—Naturalistic fiction—New forms of poetry
IV. THE NEW EMPIRE

The precarious bases of the new civilization—Causes of


Japanese imperialism—The Twenty-one Demands—The
Washington Conference—The Immigration Act of 1924—
The invasion of Manchuria—The new kingdom—Japan and
Russia—Japan and Europe—Must America fight Japan?

Envoi: Our Oriental Heritage

Glossary of Foreign Terms

Photographs

Notes

Bibliography of Books Referred to in the Text

Pronouncing and Biographical Index


TO ARIEL
Preface
I HAVE tried in this book to accomplish the first part of a pleasant
assignment which I rashly laid upon myself some twenty years ago: to
write a history of civilization. I wish to tell as much as I can, in as little
space as I can, of the contributions that genius and labor have made to
the cultural heritage of mankind—to chronicle and contemplate, in their
causes, character and effects, the advances of invention, the varieties of
economic organization, the experiments in government, the aspirations
of religion, the mutations of morals and manners, the masterpieces of
literature, the development of science, the wisdom of philosophy, and
the achievements of art. I do not need to be told how absurd this
enterprise is, nor how immodest is its very conception; for many years
of effort have brought it to but a fifth of its completion, and have made it
clear that no one mind, and no single lifetime, can adequately compass
this task. Nevertheless I have dreamed that despite the many errors
inevitable in this undertaking, it may be of some use to those upon
whom the passion for philosophy has laid the compulsion to try to see
things whole, to pursue perspective, unity and understanding through
history in time, as well as to seek them through science in space.
I have long felt that our usual method of writing history in separate
longitudinal sections—economic history, political history, religious
history, the history of philosophy, the history of literature, the history of
science, the history of music, the history of art—does injustice to the
unity of human life; that history should be written collaterally as well as
lineally, synthetically as well as analytically; and that the ideal
historiography would seek to portray in each period the total complex
of a nation’s culture, institutions, adventures and ways. But the
accumulation of knowledge has divided history, like science, into a
thousand isolated specialties; and prudent scholars have refrained from
attempting any view of the whole—whether of the material universe, or
of the living past of our race. For the probability of error increases with
the scope of the undertaking, and any man who sells his soul to
synthesis will be a tragic target for a myriad merry darts of specialist
critique. “Consider,” said Ptah-hotep five thousand years ago, “how thou
mayest be opposed by an expert in council. It is foolish to speak on every
kind of work.”I A history of civilization shares the presumptuousness of
every philosophical enterprise: it offers the ridiculous spectacle of a
fragment expounding the whole. Like philosophy, such a venture has no
rational excuse, and is at best but a brave stupidity; but let us hope that,
like philosophy, it will always lure some rash spirits into its fatal depths.

The plan of the series is to narrate the history of civilization in five


independent parts:

I. Our Oriental Heritage: a history of civilization in Egypt and the


Near East to the death of Alexander, and in India, China and
Japan to the present day; with an introduction on the nature
and elements of civilization.
II. Our Classical Heritage: a history of civilization in Greece and
Rome, and of civilization in the Near East under Greek and
Roman domination.
III. Our Medieval Heritage: Catholic and feudal Europe, Byzantine
civilization, Mohammedan and Judaic culture in Asia, Africa and
Spain, and the Italian Renaissance.
IV. Our European Heritage: the cultural history of the European
states from the Protestant Reformation to the French
Revolution.
V. Our Modern Heritage: the history of European invention and
statesmanship, science and philosophy, religion and morals,
literature and art from the accession of Napoleon to our own
times.

Our story begins with the Orient, not merely because Asia was the
scene of the oldest civilizations known to us, but because those
civilizations formed the background and basis of that Greek and Roman
culture which Sir Henry Maine mistakenly supposed to be the whole
source of the modern mind. We shall be surprised to learn how much of
our most indispensable inventions, our economic and political
organization, our science and our literature, our philosophy and our
religion, goes back to Egypt and the Orient,II At this historic moment—
when the ascendancy of Europe is so rapidly coming to an end, when
Asia is swelling with resurrected life, and the theme of the twentieth
century seems destined to be an all-embracing conflict between the
East and the West—the provincialism of our traditional histories, which
began with Greece and summed up Asia in a line, has become no merely
academic error, but a possibly fatal failure of perspective and
intelligence. The future faces into the Pacific, and understanding must
follow it there.
But how shall an Occidental mind ever understand the Orient? Eight
years of study and travel have only made this, too, more evident—that
not even a lifetime of devoted scholarship would suffice to initiate a
Western student into the subtle character and secret lore of the East.
Every chapter, every paragraph in this book will offend or amuse some
patriotic or esoteric soul: the orthodox Jew will need all his ancient
patience to forgive the pages on Yahveh; the metaphysical Hindu will
mourn this superficial scratching of Indian philosophy; and the Chinese
or Japanese sage will smile indulgently at these brief and inadequate
selections from the wealth of Far Eastern literature and thought. Some
of the errors in the chapter on Judea have been corrected by Professor
Harry Wolf son of Harvard; Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy of the Boston
Institute of Fine Arts has given the section on India a most painstaking
revision, but must not be held responsible for the conclusions I have
reached or the errors that remain; Professor H. H. Gowen, the learned
Orientalist of the University of Washington, and Upton Close, whose
knowledge of the Orient seems inexhaustible, have checked the more
flagrant mistakes in the chapters on China and Japan; and Mr. George
Sokolsky has given to the pages on contemporary affairs in the Far East
the benefit of his first-hand information. Should the public be indulgent
enough to call for a second edition of this book, the opportunity will be
taken to incorporate whatever further corrections may be suggested by
critics, specialists and readers. Meanwhile a weary author may
sympathize with Tai T’ung, who in the thirteenth century issued his
History of Chinese Writing with these words: “Were I to await perfection,
my book would never be finished.”III

Since these ear-minded times are not propitious for the popularity of
expensive books on remote subjects of interest only to citizens of the
world, it may be that the continuation of this series will be delayed by
the prosaic necessities of economic life. But if the reception of this
adventure in synthesis makes possible an uninterrupted devotion to the
undertaking, Part Two should be ready by the fall of 1940, and its
successors should appear, by the grace of health, at five-year intervals
thereafter. Nothing would make me happier than to be freed, for this
work, from every other literary enterprise. I shall proceed as rapidly as
time and circumstance will permit, hoping that a few of my
contemporaries will care to grow old with me while learning, and that
these volumes may help some of our children to understand and enjoy
the infinite riches of their inheritance.
WILL DURANT.

Great Neck, N. Y., March, 1935

A NOTE ON THE USE OF THIS BOOK

To bring the volume into smaller compass certain technical passages,


which may prove difficult for the general reader, have been printed (like
this paragraph) in reduced type. Despite much compression the book is
still too long, and the font of reduced type has not sufficed to indicate all
the dull passages. I trust that the reader will not attempt more than a
chapter at a time.
Indented passages in reduced type are quotations. The raised
numbers refer to the Notes at the end of the volume; to facilitate
reference to these Notes the number of the chapter is given at the head
of each page. An occasional hiatus in the numbering of the Notes was
caused by abbreviating the printed text. The books referred to in the
Notes are more fully described in the Bibliography, whose starred titles
may serve as a guide to further reading. The Glossary defines all foreign
words used in the text. The Index pronounces foreign names, and gives
biographical dates.
It should be added that this book has no relation to, and makes no use
of, a biographical Story of Civilization prepared for newspaper
publication in 1927-28.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to the following authors and publishers for


permission to quote from their books:
Leonard, W. E., Gilgamesh; the Viking Press.
Giles, H. A., A History of Chinese Literature; D. Appleton-
Century Co.
Underwood, Edna Worthley, Tu Fu; the Mosher Press.
Waley, Arthur, 170 Chinese Poems; Alfred A. Knopf.
Breasted, Jas. H., The Development of Religion and Thought in
Ancient Egypt; Scribner’s.
Obata, Shigeyoshi, Works of Li Po; E. P. Dutton.
Tietjens, Eunice, Poetry of the Orient; Alfred A. Knopf.
Van Doren, Mark, Anthology of World Poetry; the Literary
Guild.
“Upton Close,” unpublished translations of Chinese poems.

I. Cf. p. 193 below.


II. The contributions of the Orient to our cultural heritage are summed up in the concluding
pages of this volume.
III. Carter, T. F., The Invention of Printing in China, and Its Spread Westward; New York, 1925, p.
xviii.
List of Illustrations
(Illustration Section follows page xxxii)

FIG. 1. Granite statue of Rameses II


Turin Museum, Italy
FIG. 2. Bison painted in paleolithic cave at
Altamira, Spain
Photo by American Museum of Natural History
FIG. 3. Hypothetical reconstruction of a neolithic
lake dwelling
American Museum of Natural History
FIG. 4. Development of the alphabet
FIG. 5. Stele of Naram-sin
Louvre; photo by Archives Photographiques d’Art et d’Histoire
FIG. 6. The “little” Gudea
Louvre; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 7. Temple of Der-el-Bahri
Photo by Lindsley F. Hall
FIG. 8. Colonnade and court of the temple at
Luxor
Photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG.9. Hypothetical reconstruction of the
Hypostyle Hall at Karnak
From a model in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 10. Colonnade of the Hypostyle Hall at
Karnak
Underwood & Underwood
FIG. 11. The Rosetta Stone
British Museum
FIG. 12. Diorite head of the Pharaoh Khafre
Cairo Museum; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 13. The seated Scribe
Louvre; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 14. Wooden figure of the “Sheik-el-Beled”
Cairo Museum; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 15. Sandstone head from the workshop of the
sculptor Thutmose a Amarna
State Museum, Berlin; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 16. Head of a king, probably Senusret III.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 17. The royal falcon and serpent. Limestone
relief from First Dynasty
Louvre; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 18. Head of Thutmose III
Cairo Museum; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 19. Rameses II presenting an offering
Cairo Museum; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 20. Bronze figure of the Lady Tekoschet
Athens Museum; photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art
FIG. 21. Seated figure of Montumihait
State Museum, Berlin
FIG. 22. Colossi of Rameses II, with life-size figures
of Queen Nofretete at his feet, at the cave
temple of Abu Simbel
Ewing Galloway, N. Y.
FIG. 23. The dancing girl. Design on an ostracon
Turin Museum, Italy
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This Prince and the Carpenter’s son were very great confidential
friends. Because of it, the Prince, having said that he must go [after]
having spoken to his friend, went near his friend, and said, “Our
father, because I am unable to [understand] letters and sciences,
has settled to behead me. Because of it, I am going to another
country.”

Thereupon the Carpenter’s son said, “If you, Sir, are leaving this city
and going away, I also must go to the place where you are going.”
Having said [this], the Carpenter’s son set out to go with the Prince.

Then the Prince said, “As for me, blame having fallen on me from
the King, I am going; there is no reason at all for you to go.” That
word the Carpenter’s son would not hear. Both of them having
mounted on the horse, entered the jungle, and began to go away.

At the time when they had gone a number of gawuwas (each of four
miles), it became night; and having gone upon a high rock, and
eaten the packet of cooked rice that was brought, at the time when
the two persons were talking the Prince saw that a great light had
fallen somewhat far away. Having said, “Friend, get up and look
what is that light,” when that one arose and looked, a great Nāgayā,
having ejected a stone, is eating food.

The Prince said, “How is the way to take the stone?”

The Carpenter’s son said, “You go, and, taking the stone, come back
running, without having looked back. The Cobra will come running;
then I will cut it down.”

The Prince said, “I cannot; you go and bring it.”

Thereafter, the Carpenter’s son having gone, at the time when he


was coming back [after] taking the stone, the Cobra came after him,
crying and crying out. The Prince, taking [the stone] and having
waited, cut it down. Instantly, both of them having mounted on the
back of the horse, began to run off.

Having gone very far, after they halted they looked at the stone. On
the stone was written, “There is a well in this jungle. When one has
held the stone to the well, the water will dry up. Having descended
into the well, when one has looked there will be a palace; there will
also be a Princess in the palace. If there should be a person who has
obtained this stone, it is he himself whom this Princess will marry.”
[This] was written upon the stone.
Thereafter, after it became light, these two persons began to seek
the well. At the time when they were seeking and looking for it they
met with the well. When they held the stone to the well the water
dried up. Both of them having descended into the well, when they
looked about, they met with the palace also; the Princess, too, was
there.

Thereupon the royal Prince said to the Carpenter’s son, “Owing to


your good luck we met with this gem-treasure2 and the Princess.
Because of that, let the Princess be for you.”

The Carpenter’s son said to the Prince, “You, Sir, are a great fool.
You are my royal Prince; it is not right to say this word to me.”

Thereafter, having married the Princess to the Prince, and united the
two persons, and set that Nāga gem in a ring, and put it on the
Prince’s finger, he said, “On the Princess’s asking for this ring on any
day whatever,3 don’t give it. Women are never to be trusted.” Having
taught the Prince [this], having said, “In any difficulty whatever,
remember me,” the Carpenter’s son, plunging into the water, came
to the surface of the ground, and went [back] to their city.

While this Prince and Princess were [there], one day she begged and
got the ring that was on the Prince’s hand, in order to look at it.
When she begged and looked at it, this Princess saw that these
matters were written in Nāgara letters.

On the following day, begging the ring from the Prince, and having
gone noiselessly, when she held it out to the well the water dried up.
Thereupon, the Princess, having mounted upon the well mouth, and
stayed looking about, came again to the palace. In that manner,
several times begging for the ring she stayed on the well mouth, and
came back.

One day, at the time when the Vaeddā who goes hunting for the
King of that city was going walking [in the forest], the Vaeddā,
having heard that this Princess sitting on the mouth of the well is
singing, went and peeped, and remained looking at her. Thereafter
he went and told the King of that city, “In such and such a jungle
there is a well. Sitting on the well mouth, a Princess was singing and
singing songs. Having stayed there, she jumped into the well. When
I went and looked there is only water. The beauty of her figure is
indeed like the sun and moon. In this city there is not a woman of
that kind.”

Thereupon the King having become much pleased, on the following


day the Vaeddā, and the King, and the Minister, the whole three
persons, went to look at the Princess. Having gone, at the time
when they were hidden the Princess came that day also, and sitting
on the well-mouth sang songs. Thereupon the King, taking the
sword, went running to seize the Princess. As soon as the Princess
saw them she jumped into the well. The King having gone near the
well, when he looked there is only water. The Princess was not to be
seen.

Thereafter, the King, having been astonished, came to the city.


Having come, he gave public notice by beat of tom-toms that if
there should be a person who brought and gave him the Princess
who is in the well in such and such a jungle, he will give him goods
[amounting] to a tusk-elephant’s load, and a half share from the
kingdom. [This] he made public by the notification tom-toms.

At the time when they were going in the street beating the
notification tom-toms, a widow woman stopped the notification tom-
toms, and asked, “What is it?”

The notification tom-tom beater said, “The King said that to a person
who brought and gave him the Princess who is in the well in such
and such a jungle, he will give these goods, and a share from the
kingdom.”
Thereupon the widow woman said [to the King], “I can.4 Having
constructed a watch-hut near the well in that jungle, you must give
it to me,” she said. The King very speedily sent men, and built a
watch-hut, and gave it.

This old woman went [there], and at the time when she was in the
watch-hut, the Princess came, and sitting down upon the well
mouth, sang songs.

Thereupon the widow woman, drawing together the folds of her


rags, breaking [loose] her hair and letting it hang down, placing her
hand to her head, weeping and weeping, crying and crying out,
came to the place where the Princess is.

The Princess asked, “What, mother, are you weeping and weeping
for?”

“Anē! Daughter, there is a male child of mine. The child does not
give me to eat, and does not give me to wear. Having beaten me he
drove me away, to go to any place I like.”

Then the Princess said, “I will give you to eat and to wear. There is
not anyone with me.” Calling this old woman she went to her palace.
The Prince also having become pleased, amply provided for the old
woman.

Very many times calling this old woman, [the Princess] having gone
to the well-mouth, and stayed [there] singing songs, returned.

One day this old woman, taking a piece of stone in her hand,
unknown (himin) to the Princess, asked at the hand of the Princess,
“Anē! Daughter, how does the water dry up in this well? How does it
fill?”

The Princess said, “Mother, there is a stone in my hand. By its power


the water dries up, and fills it.”
[Saying], “Anē! Daughter, where is it? Please let me, too, look at it,”
she begged for and got the stone. Having been looking and looking
at it a little time, she dropped that piece of stone which was in her
hand, for the Princess to hear. This gem-treasure the woman hid.

[The Princess] having said, “Appoyi! Mother, you dropped the stone!”
the two persons, striking and striking themselves, began to cry,
saying and saying, “For us, in the midst of this forest, from whom
will there be a protection from everything (saw-saranak)?”

At the time when they were weeping and weeping, having said, “It
is becoming night,” the old woman said to the Princess, “Now then,
daughter, for us two to remain thus, a fine place (hari taenak) is this
forest wilderness! There will be elephants, bears, leopards. Because
of that, let us go. There is my house; having gone [there], early to-
morrow morning let us come again here.” Having said [this],
deceiving the Princess, they went away.

The old woman with dishonest secrecy having sent word to the King,
the King came, and calling the Princess went [with her] to the
palace.

Thereafter, the King published by beat of tom-toms that he has


brought the Princess who stayed on the well mouth. He made public
that on such and such a day he will marry this Princess.

Thereupon the Princess said, “In that manner I cannot contract


marriage. My two parents have told me that the Prince [I am to
marry] and I, both of us, having rowed a Wooden Peacock machine5
in the sky, and having come back, after that must contract marriage,
they have ordered.” This word the Princess said as the Princess
knows that the first friend of the Prince’s, that is, the Carpenter’s
son, can construct the Wooden Peacock machine.

Thereafter, the King of this city employed the notification tom-tom,


“Who can construct the Wooden Peacock machine? If there should
be a person who can, speedily come summoning him near the King.”

At the time when they were beating the notification tom-tom, that
Carpenter’s son, having caused the notification tom-tom to halt,
said, “I can construct the Wooden Peacock machine.” Thereupon,
summoning the Carpenter’s son, they went to the royal house.

The King ordered that he should receive from the palace many
presents. The King commanded that having quickly constructed the
Wooden Peacock machine, and also prepared a person to row it, he
should bring it.

Thereafter, the Carpenter’s son, ascertaining about the Princess who


stayed at the well, quickly having set off, went near the well in the
jungle, and diving into the water, and having gone to the palace,
when he looked, the Prince having become stupefied through want
of sleep,6 had fallen down unconscious.

Thereupon the Carpenter’s son, having spoken to the Prince, said,


“Didn’t I tell you, Sir, ‘Don’t give the ring into the hand of the
Princess,’ ascertaining that this danger will happen? But,” he said to
the Prince, “don’t you at any time become unhappy.7 I will again
bring the Princess near this palace, and give her to you.” Saying,
“Please remain in happiness,” the Carpenter’s son returned to the
city, and began to construct the Wooden Peacock machine.

While constructing it, he made inquiry how this widow woman was,
[and learnt that] a male child of this widow woman’s was lost while
very young (lit., from his small days).

One day, in the night the Carpenter’s son, tying up a bundle of


clothes and a packet of cooked rice, went, just as it was becoming
night,8 to the house at which is the widow woman. Having gone
[there] he spoke: “Mother, mother!”
Thereupon the woman quickly having arisen and come, asked,
“Where, son, where were you for so many days?”

Thereupon the Carpenter’s son said, “Anē! Mother, having tramped


through many countries, I have not obtained any means of
subsistence. I obtained a few pieces of cloth and a little rice.” Saying
“Here,” he gave them into the hand of that woman.

“What are these for, son? Look; I have received from the King much
goods, and a part of the kingdom,” she said to the Carpenter’s son.

The old woman thought he was her own son. Having allowed him to
press her eyes while she is lying down, the old woman said, “Son, I
have still got something.”

Having said, “Anē! Mother, where is it? Please let me look at it,”
begging for it, when he looked [it was] that gem-treasure.

Thereafter, having given it [back] into the hand of the old woman,
and waited until the time when the woman goes to sleep, stealing
that stone the Carpenter’s son came away.

Then, constructing the Wooden Peacock machine, he went near the


King. Having gone, he said, “Except myself no one else can row
this.”

At that time, the King and the Princess, both of them, having
mounted on the Wooden Peacock machine [after] putting on the
royal ornaments, these three persons rowed [aloft in] the Wooden
Peacock machine.

Having rowed very high above the sea, and stopped the Wooden
Peacock machine, the Carpenter’s son, taking the sword in his hand,
asked the King whence the King obtained this Princess. Thereupon
the King said that a widow woman of this city brought and gave him
the Princess who stayed at a well in the midst of the forest.
Then the Carpenter’s son said, “Why do you desire others’ wives?
How much [mental] fire will there be for this Princess’s husband!
What His Highness (tumā) did is a great fault.”

Having said this, he cut down the King and dropped him into the
sea, and, taking the Princess, rowed near that well in the jungle.
Having gone [down the well] to the palace, and caused that Prince
to put on these royal ornaments, the Prince, and the Princess, and
the Carpenter’s son, the whole three persons, having gone on the
Wooden Peacock machine to the city, and said that the King and the
Princess had contracted the marriage, that day with great festivity
ate the [wedding] feast; but any person of the city was unaware of
this abduction9 [of the King] which he effected.

Thereafter, this Prince and Princess having been saluted10 by that


widow woman, having tried her judicially they subjected her to the
thirty-two tortures and beheaded her, and hung her at the four gate-
ways, it is said.

The Carpenter’s son became the Prince’s Prime Minister. The Prince
exercised the sovereignty with the ten [royal] virtues, it is said.

North-western Province.

The ten royal virtues are: Almsgiving, keeping religious precepts, liberality,
uprightness, compassion, addiction to religious austerities, even temper,
tenderness, patience, and peacefulness (Clough).

Regarding the flying wooden Peacock, see also the next story and No. 198 in vol.
iii. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 378, there is also an
account of a similar flying-machine called a Peacock, on which a young man,
accompanied by the maker, first went to marry a girl, and afterwards, against the
advice of its maker, flew aloft to show the people his own skill. He did not know
how to make it return, and at last the cords broke, it fell in the sea, and he was
drowned.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), pp. 378, 380,
etc., there are several accounts of houses under the water; these were the
residences of Bongas or deities.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i, p. 115, Mr. G. H. Damant gave a Bengal story in
which a King’s son descends into a well, and finds there a Princess in a house,
imprisoned by Rākshasas.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day), p. 17 ff., a Prince and a Minister’s son who
was his bosom friend, while on their travels obtained a Cobra’s jewel, and by
means of it saw a palace under the water of a tank. They dived down to it, found
a Princess who had been imprisoned there by the Cobra, which had died on losing
its magic jewel, and the Prince married her by exchanging garlands of flowers.
After the Minister’s son left them in order to prepare for their return, the Princess,
while the Prince was asleep, by means of the magic jewel ascended to the surface
of the water, and sat on the bathing steps. On the third occasion when she did
this, a Rāja’s son saw and fell in love with her. As soon as she observed him she
descended to her palace, and the young man went home apparently mad. The
Rāja offered his daughter’s hand and half his kingdom to anyone who could cure
his son. An old woman who had seen the Princess offered to do it, and a hut was
built for her on the embankment of the tank. When the Princess came to the bank
the woman offered to help her to bathe, secured the jewel, and the Princess was
captured. When the Minister’s son returned on a day previously arranged, he
heard that the Princess was to be married in two days. He personated the widow’s
son, who was absent, and was well received by the widow, who handed him the
magic jewel. He saw the Princess, managed to escape with her, and they joined
the Prince.

In The Kathākoça (Tawney), p. 91, a serpent Prince saved a Queen who had been
pushed into a well by her stepmother, and made a palace in the well, in which she
lived until she was able to rejoin her husband.

In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 52, a Princess who had been carried off
and was about to be married to a Rāja’s son, stated (by pre-arrangement with her
husband’s party, who had come to rescue her) that it was “the custom of her
family to float round the city in a golden aerial car with the bridegroom and
match-maker.” The Rāja sent men to find a car. Two of her husband’s friends, a
goldsmith and a carpenter, now produced such a car. When the Rāja, his son, the
Princess, and the witch who had abducted her, began to sail above the city in it, at
the Princess’s request the car was stopped at a pre-arranged place, the Prince and
his four friends sprang into it, took it high in the air, drowned the Rāja, his son,
and the witch, and returned with the Princess to their own city.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 137 ff.) there is an account of a
flying ebony horse, which rose or descended when suitable pegs were turned.
When it was brought to a Persian King, his son tried it, was carried away like the
Prince in the next story, and at last descended on the roof of a palace, where he
saw and fell in love with the royal Princess, and returning afterwards, carried her
off.

In the Totā Kahānī (Small), p. 139, a young man made a flying wooden horse, by
means of which a merchant’s daughter, who had been abducted by a fairy, was
recovered.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 57, a young Brāhmaṇa who plunged
into the Ganges to rescue a woman who appeared to be drowning found a temple
of Śiva, and a palace in which the girl who was a Daitya (an Asura) lived.

In the same volume, p. 392, there is an account of a flying chariot, “with a


pneumatic contrivance,” made by a carpenter. A man flew two hundred yōjanas
(each some eight miles in length) before descending; he then started it afresh and
flew another two hundred. On p. 390 wooden automata made by the same
carpenter are mentioned; they “moved as if they were alive, but were recognised
as lifeless by their want of speech.” A similar automaton is mentioned in Cinq
Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 170; it was able to sing and
dance. (This work consists of translations from the Chinese Tripiṭaka; all appear to
have been translated from Indian originals, usually in the early centuries after
Christ.)

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. x, p. 232 (Tales of the Panjab, p. 42), in the story of
Prince Lionheart, by Mrs. F. A. Steel, his carpenter friend went in search of a
Princess who had been carried off by a King. He made a flying palankin, and
returned in it with her.

1 Tīndu kālakanni mōdayā. ↑


2 Mānikka-ratnē, the jewel of a Cakravarti sovereign or universal monarch. It
casts a light for a distance of four miles (Clough). ↑
3 Kaemati dawasaka, on any day you like. ↑
4 So, also, in the Mahā Bhārata, it was an old woman who, when others were
unable to do it, undertook to bring to Lomapada, King of Anga, the horned son of
an ascetic whose presence was declared to be indispensable for causing rains to
fall. She effected it by the aid of her pretty daughter, who decoyed him. ↑
5 Dan̆ ḍu monara yantrayak. ↑
6 Ahōmat-welā. ↑
7 Kalāsan = kalya + a + san̥ . ↑
8 Rāe-wenḍa, rāe-wenḍa. ↑
9 Upaharana. ↑
10 According to the text, nawalā, bathed, probably intended for namalā. ↑
No. 81
Concerning a Royal Prince and a Princess1
In a certain city there were a King, a Carpenter, and a Washerman.
There were three male children of these three persons. They sent
these three children to learn letters near a teacher a yōjana distant,
or four gawuwas2 distant. These three having at one time set off
from the city when they went for [learning] letters, both that royal
Prince and the Washer lad went and said the letters; when they are
coming back the Carpenter’s son is even yet going on the road.
Those two go with much quickness. Because of it, the Carpenter’s
son said at his father’s hand, “We three having set off at one time
from the city, when we have gone, those two having got in front and
gone, and said their letters, come back. Having gone (started) at
one time, on even a single day having said my letters I was unable
to come [with them].”

Thereafter, he made for the Carpenter’s son a [flying] Wooden


Peacock machine, and gave him it. He having gone rowing it
[through the air], and said his letters, when he is coming back those
two are still going [on the road], for [their] letters.

One day the royal Prince said to the Carpenter’s son, “Anē! Friend,
will you let me row and look at the Wooden Peacock machine?” he
asked.

Thereupon the Carpenter’s son, having said, “It is good,” and having
told him the manner of treading on the chain, gave him it. Just as
the Prince was taking hold of the chain, he went [up] in the Wooden
Peacock machine, and was fixed among the clouds in the sky. At that
time the King of the city and the multitude were frightened.

Thereafter, having assembled the city soothsayers and astrologers,


[the King] asked, “When will this Prince, taking the Wooden Peacock
machine, come down?”

Thereupon the soothsayers said, “After he has gone for the space
of3 three years and three months, having come back he will fall in
the sea.”

Thereupon the King said to the Ministers, “Having been marking that
number of years and number of days, surrounding the sea (i.e.,
keeping a watch all along the shore), and having been laying nets,
as soon as the Prince falls you must take him ashore,” he
commanded.

Thereafter, at the time when the Prince was holding the cords of the
Wooden Peacock machine, it began to descend lower. At a burial
ground at another city the Wooden Peacock machine came down
upon a Banyan-tree.

Thereupon the Prince, having placed the Wooden Peacock machine


on the tree, and descended from the tree, went to the city, and
began to walk about. At the time when the Princess of the King of
the city, with yet [other] Princesses, was bathing at a pool, the
Princess saw him at the time when this Prince also was going
walking.

As soon as she saw him, the Princess thought, “If I marry the Prince
it is good.” The Prince also thought, “If I marry this Princess it is
good.” Except that the two thought to themselves of each other,
there was no means of talking together. Because of it, the Princess,
plucking a blue-lotus flower in the pool, placed it on her head after
having smelt (kissed) it; and again, having crushed it, threw it down,
and trampled on it. The Princess did thus for the Prince to perceive
that when he married her she would be submissive and obedient to
him. The Prince understood it, and kept it in mind.

Thereafter, at the time when the Prince was going walking in the
city, he met with the palace in which is the Princess. At the time
when the Prince had been there a little while, the Princess opened a
window of the upper story, and when she was looking in the
direction of the street, saw that this Prince was [there], and spoke to
him. At that time she said to the Prince, “After it has become night I
[shall] have opened this window. You come [then].”

Then the Prince having come after all in the palace got to sleep,
when he looked the window was opened. Having spoken to the
Princess, he entered the palace. The two having conversed, the
Prince, before it became light, got out of the palace, and having
gone away, and waited until the time when it became night, comes
again.

Thereupon the Princess, in order to keep the Prince in the very


palace, told a smith of the city to come secretly; and having given
him also a thousand masuran, and made the man thoroughly swear
[to secrecy], the Princess said, “Having made a large lamp-stand,
and made it [large enough] for a man to be inside it, and turned
round the screw-key belonging to it, as though bringing it to sell
bring it to the palace. When you bring it I will tell the King, and I will
take it.”

The smith having gone, and made the lamp-stand in the manner the
Princess said, brought it near the King. Then the Princess having
come and said, “I want this,” took it, and put it in the palace. To the
smith the King gave five hundred masuran.

Thereafter, having put that Prince inside the lamp-stand, he


remained [there]. When not many days had gone by, the Princess
became pregnant. The King having perceived that the Princess was
pregnant, placed a guard round the palace, and having published by
beat of tom-toms [that they were] to seize this thief, the King and
the guards made all possible effort to seize the thief, but they were
unable.
A widow woman said, “I can seize him if you will allow me to go
evening and morning to the palace in which is the Princess, to seize
the thief.” Thereupon the King gave permission to the woman to go
and stay during the whole4 of both times.

When several days had gone by, this woman, having perceived that
a man is inside that lamp-stand, one day having gone taking also a
package of fine sand, during the visit, while she stayed talking and
talking with the Princess put the sand of the package round the
lamp-stand, and having spread it thinly, came away. The Princess
was unable to find this out.

When that woman went on the morning of the following day, and
looked, the Prince’s foot-prints were in that sand. As soon as she
saw it, the woman went and said to the King, “I caught the thief. Let
us go to look.” The old woman having gone, said, “There! It is inside
that lamp-stand, indeed, that the thief is,” and showed them to the
King. At that time, when the King broke the lamp-stand and looked,
the thief was [there].

Thereafter the King gave orders that having tortured the thief, and
taken him away, they were to behead him, he said to the
executioners. Thereupon the executioners [after] pinioning the
Prince, beating the execution tom-tom, took him to that burial-
ground.

At that time the Prince said to the executioners, “If you kill any
person, having given him the things he thinks of to eat and drink—is
it not so?—you kill him. Because of it, until the time when I come
[after] going into this Banyan-tree and eating two Banyan fruits,
remain on guard round this tree. There is no opportunity (taenak)
for me to bound off and go elsewhere.”

Thereupon, the executioners having said, “It is good,” the Prince


ascended the tree, and having mounted on that Wooden Peacock
machine, rowed into the sky. While the executioners were looking
the Prince went flying away.

The executioners having said that blame will fall [on them] from the
King, caught and cut a lizard (kaṭussā), and having gone [after]
rubbing the blood on the sword, showed it to the King, and said that
they beheaded the thief.

From that day, the Princess from grief remained without eating and
drinking. Several days afterwards, the Prince, having come rowing
the Wooden Peacock machine, and caused it to stop on the palace in
which is the Princess, and having removed the tiles, dropped the
jewelled ring that was on the Prince’s hand at the place where the
Princess is. He also dropped a robe of the Prince’s.

Thereupon the Princess, getting to know about the Prince’s [being


on the roof], threw up the cloth [again]. Tying the hand-line to
descend by, at that time the Prince, having descended, said to the
Princess, “To kill me they took me to the burial-ground. I having
caused the executioners to be deceived, and climbed up the tree—
my Wooden Peacock machine was on the tree—I mounted it and
went rowing away.” Thereafter, the Prince and Princess, both of
them, went away.

At the time when they were going, ten months were completed for
the Princess. While they were going, pains began to seize her. [The
Prince] having lowered the Wooden Peacock machine in a great
forest jungle, and in a minute having made a house of branches, the
Princess bore [a child].

Thereupon the Prince said, “Remain here until I go and bring a little
fire.” Saying [this] to the Princess, the Prince went rowing the
Wooden Peacock machine. Having gone, at the time when, taking
the fire in a coconut husk, he was coming rowing the Wooden
Peacock machine over the midst of the sea, the coconut husk having
burnt, the fire seized the Wooden Peacock machine, and it burnt
away.

The Prince having come [there], fell in the sea. That foretold number
of years also had been finished on that day. The person who stayed
casting nets in the sea [there], as soon as the Prince fell got him
ashore. The Prince, planting a vegetable garden at the city,
remained there.

While the Princess who bore [the child] in that forest jungle was
without any protection from all things (sawu-saranak), this trouble
having become visible to an ascetic person who practises austerity in
that forest jungle, he came to the place where the Princess was, and
spoke to her.

Thereupon the Princess, after she saw the ascetic, having a little
abandoned the trouble that was in her mind, said to the ascetic,
“While I walk into the midst of this forest seeking a little ripe fruit,
will you look after this child until I come?” she asked.

The ascetic said, “Should I hold the child it is impure (kilutu) for me.
Because of it, you having made a stick platform (maessak), and
hung it by a creeper, and having tied a creeper to the platform, go
after having sent the child to sleep on the platform. At the time
when the child cries I will come, and hold the creeper by the end,
and shake it; then the child will stop.” Having done in the manner
the ascetic said, the Princess, seeking ripe fruits, ate.

One day, the Princess having suckled the child, and sent it to sleep
on the platform, went to seek ripe fruits. Thereafter, that child
having rolled off the stick platform and fallen on the ground, at the
time when it was crying the ascetic heard it, and came; when he
looked, the child having rolled over had fallen on the ground.
Thereupon, because it was impure for the ascetic to hold the child,
he plucked a flower, and having performed an Act of Truth for the
flower, thought, “May a child be created just like this child.”
Thereafter, a child was created just like it.

The Princess having come back, and having seen, when she looked,
that two children are [there], the Princess asked the ascetic, “What
is [the reason of] it? To-day two children!”

The ascetic said, “When I was coming, the child, having fallen, was
crying and crying. Because it is impure for me to hold the child, I
created a child just like it.”

The Princess said, “I cannot believe that word. If so, you must
create a child again, for me to look at it.”

Thereupon the ascetic said, “According to the difficulty there is for


you to rear one child, when there are three how much difficulty [will
there be]!”

“No matter. [Please] create and give me it; I can rear it.”

Thereupon, the ascetic plucked a flower, and having performed an


Act of Truth, when he put it on the stick platform a child was created
just like it.

Thereafter, the Princess having been pleased, reared the children.


The children having grown up, walked in the midst of the forest,
seeking ripe fruits, and having come back the children gave them to
their mother, and [then] began to eat.

One day, at the time when these three are going walking, they met
with a great river. When they looked, on the other bank of the river
a great vegetable garden is visible. Thereupon these three having
said [to each other], “Can you swim?” swam a considerable distance,
and came back, saying, “Let us come to-morrow morning.” Having
gone seeking a very few ripe fruits, they gave them to their mother.
On the following day, early in the morning, taking bows and arrows,
the whole three went to the edge of the river. Having gone [there],
and the whole three having gone swimming to the vegetable
garden, when they looked many kinds of ripe fruits were [there].

Thereafter, these three having plucked [some], at the time when


they are eating them the gardeners who watch the garden saw
them, and having come running, prepared (lit., made) to seize them.
Thereupon these three, taking their bows, prepared to shoot. The
gardeners bounded off, and having gone running, told it at the hand
of the King.

These three having eaten as much as possible, [after] plucking a


great many crossed over [the river], and went away. At that time the
King said to the gardeners, “Should these thieves come to-morrow
also, let me know very speedily.”

The following day, also, those three persons came, and at the time
when they are plucking [the fruit], the gardeners went and told him.
Thereupon the King, taking bows and arrows, came and shot at
them. When he shot, the arrow having gone, when near these
Princes turned (lit., looked) back, and fell down.

Thereafter, that party shot at the King. Then also, in the very [same]
way, the arrow having gone, when near the King turned (looked)
back, and fell down.

Thereupon, the whole two parties, after having come near [each
other], spoke, “This was a great wonder. The circumstance that out
of the two parties no one was struck, is a great wonder. Because of
it, let us, the whole two parties, go near the paṇḍitayās [for them]
to explain this.”

Thereupon, the whole of the two parties having gone, told the
paṇḍitayās this circumstance that had occurred. Then the
paṇḍitayās, having explained it, said to the King, “You, Sir, now
above three or four years ago, summoned a Princess [in marriage].
The Princess’s, indeed, are these three, the children born to you, Sir.
Because of it, the Gods have caused this to be seen. Go, and
summoning the Princess from the place where she is, [be pleased]
to come,” the paṇḍitayās said to the King.

Thereafter, the King having remembered her, at that moment


decorating a ship, with the sound of the five musical instruments he
went into the midst of the forest in which is that Princess; and
having come back [after] calling the Princess, the Princess, and the
three Princes, and the King remained at the garden, it is said.

North-western Province.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 9, a Prince mounted on a magic


wooden flying-horse that a friend of his, a carpenter’s son, had brought to the
palace, and flew away on it. The carpenter promised that it would return in two
months. The Prince alighted by moonlight on a palace roof five hundred leagues
away, and fell in love with a Princess whom he saw there. After they had
conversed, he flew off, fixed the horse in pieces amid the branches of a large tree,
and stayed at a widow’s house, returning each night to the palace. In the end he
was arrested and condemned to death. When the executioners were about to
hang him he got permission to climb up the tree, put the horse together, sailed
back to the palace, and carried off the Princess to his father’s home.

In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 158, a Prince who had stolen a magic bed
which transported those who sat on it wherever desired, visited a Princess at night
by means of it, and afterwards married her.

In the same work, p. 208, a Prince and Princess saw each other at a fair. While the
Prince watched her from his tent, she took a rose in her hand, put it to her teeth,
stuck it behind her ear, and lastly laid it at her feet. The Prince could not
understand her meaning, but a friend explained it, and said that she intended him
to know that her father’s name was Raja Dānt (King Tooth), her country the
Karnātak (karṇa = ear), and her own name Pānwpattī (Foot-leaf).

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 487, it is stated that while Sītā, the
wife of Rāma, was dwelling at Vālmīki’s hermitage with her infant son Lava, she
took the child with her when she went to bathe one day. The hermit, thinking a
wild beast had carried it off, created another child resembling it, from kuśa grass,
and placed it in the hut. On her return he explained the matter to her, and she
adopted the infant, to which the name Kuśa was given.

In the same work, vol. ii, p. 235, a girl who came to bathe gave signals to a Prince
by means of a lotus flower, which she put in her ear, and then twisted into the
form of an ornament called dantapatra, or tooth-leaf. After this she placed another
lotus flower on her head, and laid her hand on her heart.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 215, a Princess covered her face
with lotus petals, and held up an ivory box to be seen by a Prince who was looking
at her. By these signals he learnt her name and that of her city. He went to the
city, visited her each day in a magic swing, and at length they eloped and were
married.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 110, a wood-carver’s son fashioned a hollow flying
Garuḍa (possibly in the form of a Brahminy Kite), inside which a friend whose wife
had been abducted flew to the Khan’s palace where she was detained, and
brought her away.

In the same work, p. 316, a Princess made signals to a King’s young Minister as
follows: She raised the first finger of her right hand, then passed the other hand
round it, clasped and unclasped her hands, and finally laid one finger of each hand
beside that of the other hand, and pointed with them towards the palace.

In the Mahā Bhārata and Rāmāyana javelins or arrows are sometimes represented
as returning to the sender, who in such cases was a being possessing supernatural
power. Thus, according to one story of Daksha’s sacrifice, when the energy of a
dart thrown by Rudra at Vishṇu was neutralised, it returned to Rudra. In the fight
between Karṇa and Arjuna some arrows which the former discharged returned to
him (Karṇa Parva, lxxxix.).
In performing an Act of Truth such as is mentioned in this story, the person first
states a fact and then utters a wish, which in reality is a conjuration, the efficacy
of which depends on the truth of the foregoing statement.

Thus, in the Jātaka No. 35 (vol. i, p. 90) the Bōdhisatta in the form of a helpless
quail nestling5 extinguished a raging bush fire that was about to destroy it and
other birds, by an Act of Truth, which took this form:—

“With wings that fly not, feet that walk not,


Forsaken by my parents here I lie!
Wherefore I conjure thee, dread Lord of Fire,
Primæval Jātaveda, turn! go back!”

The account then continues: “Even as he performed his Act of Truth, Jātaveda [the
Fire Deity] went back a space of sixteen lengths; and in going back the flames did
not pass away to the forest, devouring everything in their path. No; they went out
there and then, like a torch plunged in water.”

There are several other examples in the Jātaka stories, and one in No. 83 in this
volume. In the first volume, p. 140, the Prince cut in two the gem through the
efficacy of an Act of Truth expressed in a slightly different form: “If so-and-so be
true, may so-and-so happen.” This is the usual type of the conjuration; it occurs
also in the story numbered 11. See also the Mahāvansa, Professor Geiger’s
translation, p. 125, footnote.

Other examples are given in the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 330, vol. ii,
p. 82; Sagas from the Far East, p. 47; Von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p.
284; Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, pp. 358, 396; and in the Mahā
Bhārata.

In chapter xvii. of the Mahāvansa (Professor Geiger’s translation, p. 118), King


Tissa proved the authenticity of the collar-bone relic of Buddha by an asseveration
of this kind. In chapter xviii. (p. 125), the Emperor Aśōka severed the branch of
the Bō-tree at Gayā, in order to send it to Ceylon, by an Act of Truth, previously
drawing a magic line with a pencil of red arsenic round the branch to mark the
place where it was to break off. In chapter xxv. (p. 171), King Duṭṭha-Gāmaṇi by
similar means is said to have caused the armour of his troops to take the colour of
fire, so that they might be discriminated from the Tamils whom he was fighting.

With regard to the messages given by signals, the reader may remember Rabelais’
account of the argument by signs between Panurge and Thaumaste (Pantagruel,
cap. xix.).

Kandian girls make almost imperceptible signals to each other. If without moving
the head the eyes be momentarily directed towards the door, the question is
asked, “Shall we go out?” An affirmative reply is given by an expressionless gaze,
a negative one by closing the eyes for an instant.

1 The text of this story is given at the end of vol. iii. ↑


2 The gawuwa is usually four miles, but in this instance it is evidently the fourth
part of a yōjana of about eight miles; the boys would still have a walk of sixteen
miles each day. ↑
3 Giya taena. ↑
4 Tissē dē wēlē, lit., the thirty of both times—that is, the thirty paeyas into
which each day or each night is divided, the paeya being twenty-four minutes. ↑
5 In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 350, the bird was a
pheasant, and the fire avoided a space eight feet in radius around the bird. ↑
No. 82
The Princes who Learnt the Sciences
At a certain city there is a King, it is said. There are four Princes
(sons) of the King, it is said. At the time when he told the four
persons to learn the sciences that are [known] in that country, they
were unable to learn the sciences.

After that, the King, bringing a sword, told them to [go elsewhere
and] learn the sciences [or he would kill them].

So all the four Princes, tying up a bundle of cooked rice, went away,
and having gone to yet a city and sat down at a halting-place
(rūppayak), the eldest Prince said, “At the time when we are coming
back we must assemble together at this very halting-place.”

After that, the eldest Prince arrived (baehunāya) at a city. At the


time when he asked, “What is the science that is [known] in this
city?” they said, “In this city there is sooth.”

“You must go and send me to the house where they say sooth,” he
said. Then they went and sent him. The Prince learnt sooth.

The next (etanama) Prince arrived (baessā) at a city. He asked,


“What is the science that is [known] in this city?” “In this city there
is theft,” they said.

“Please go and conduct me to the house where theft is [known],” he


said. That one learnt theft.

The next Prince went and arrived at a city. “What is the science that
is [known] in this city?” he asked. “Archery is [known] in this city,”
they said.
“Please go and send me to the house where there is archery,” he
said. They went and sent him. That one learnt archery.

The next Prince went and arrived at a city. “What is the science that
is [known] in this city?” he asked. “In this city there is carpenter’s
work,” they said.

“Please go and send me to the house where there is carpenter’s


work,” he said. That one learnt carpenter’s work.

After that, the soothsayer [Prince] looked into the sooth, [to
ascertain] on what day the other three persons would come. When
he looked, it appeared that on the very day when the eldest Prince
comes back the other three persons also will come.

The eldest Prince having set off and come, returned to the halting-
place (rūppē) at which they stayed that day. Having come, while he
was there the other three also came and arrived at that halting-
place.

“What is the science you learnt?” they asked from the eldest Prince.
“I learnt sooth,” he said.

They asked the next Prince, “What is the science you learnt?” “I
learnt theft,” he said.

They asked the next Prince, “What is the science you learnt?” “I
learnt archery,” he said.

They asked the young Prince, “What is the science you learnt?” “I
learnt carpenter’s work,” said the young Prince.

The three persons asked the eldest Prince, “What is there at our
house?” Then he said, “On the Palmira-tree a female crow (kawaḍi),
having laid three eggs, is sitting on them,” he said.
“What is missing from our house?” they asked. “The Rākshasa
having taken the King’s Queen to that [far] shore of the sea, [after]
putting her in the middle room (lit., house) in the midst of seven,1
has put the seven keys in his mouth,” he said.

After that, the whole seven came to the city. The King having come
rubbing (whetting) a sword, asked the eldest Prince, “What is the
science you learnt?” “I learnt sooth,” he said.

He asked the next Prince, “What is the science you learnt?” “I learnt
theft.” He asked the next Prince; “I learnt archery.” He asked the
youngest Prince, “What is the science you learnt?” “I learnt
carpenter’s work,” he said.

Having said, “It is good,” the King asked, “What is there at my


house?” “On the Palmira-tree a female crow is sitting on three eggs,”
[the eldest Prince] said.

“What is lost from my house?” he asked, to look [if he knew]. “The


Rākshasa having gone away, and put the King’s Queen in the middle
house (room) in the midst of seven, has placed the seven keys in his
mouth,” he said.

“Doer of theft, without the female crow’s flying away, while it is


[sitting there] in that manner, take an egg, and come back,” he said.
Without the crow’s flying away, while it was [sitting] in that manner
he took an egg, and came back.

Having caused the egg to be buried under the rice winnowing tray,
he said, “Archer, without swerving to that side or this side, shoot [for
the arrow] to go cutting it quite across.” He shot so as to go quite
across.

“Doer of carpenter’s work, fasten this [egg] in the very manner in


which it was [at first],” he said. He fastened it in the very way in
which it was.
“Robber, without the crow’s flying (padinnē), go and place [the egg
in the nest], and come back,” he said. He went and placed it [in the
nest], and came back.

“Can you bring back this Queen?” he asked. “We can,” they said.

The whole four persons having gone, the thief went into the
[Rākshasa’s] house, and brought out the Queen successfully. When
he was bringing her the Rākshasa was asleep. Taking the Queen,
they came away.

When they were coming, they told [the soothsaying Prince] to look
by [means of] sooth [what the Rākshasa was doing]. Still he slept.
Having come very far in that way, they told him to look [again]. “He
is now coming on the path,” he said.

When they were returning thus, [the Rākshasa], having come quite
near, sprang at them. At that very time the archer shot [at him; the
arrow] having gone cutting his neck, he fell.

The ship in which they had gone was damaged (tuwāla wunā). The
carpenter made [the damage good]. Then, [after crossing the sea]
they brought the Rākshasa’s head and the Queen, and gave them to
the King. Thereupon the King gave them the sovereignty.

Then the soothsayer says, “[The sovereignty ought to belong to


me]. Through my looking at the sooth, indeed, ye will get the
country, [if ye receive it],” he said.

Then the thief says, “[The sovereignty ought to belong to me]. It


was necessary that I should go and take [the Queen] successfully
from the Rākshasa. [If ye get it], it is owing to me that ye will get
the country,” he said.

Then the archer says, “[The sovereignty ought to belong to me].


When the Rākshasa came in order to go [after] eating you, through
my having shot him and killed him ye will get the country [if ye
receive it].”

Then the Carpenter says, “[The sovereignty ought to belong to me].


Your ship having broken, by my fastening it [together] at the time
when it was becoming rotten, ye will get the country [if ye receive
it].”

Afterwards they gave the sovereignty to the eldest Prince.

Bintaenna, Ūva Province.

The Nobleman2 and his Five Sons. (Variant a.)


In a city there are five sons of a nobleman. In yet [another] city
there is a Princess without both parents. The Princess is a person
possessing many articles. Having thought that when the eldest son
of the nobleman went there she must make him stop [there], and
having spoken with the Princess’s kinsfolk [regarding it], the eldest
son having gone near the Princess she caused him to remain.

After he stayed there many days, this Princess asks this nobleman’s
son, “What do you know of the sciences?” Then he says, “I don’t
know a single one.” Having said, “If so, you cannot stay near me; go
you away,” she drove him away.

This nobleman’s son came home. The nobleman asks his son, “What
have you come for?”

“The Princess asked me, ‘What do you know of the sciences?’ I said,
‘I don’t know anything.’ ‘If so, you cannot stay near me,’ she said.
Because of that I came,” he said.
Immediately, this nobleman says to all his five sons, “Unless you five
learn five sciences, without [doing so] don’t come to my house.”
Having said it he drove them away. Thereupon, these five persons
went to five cities, and learning five sciences, after much time came
home. [One was a soothsayer, the second was a marksman, the
third a thief, the fourth made very rapid journeys, and the fifth could
bring the dead to life.]

This nobleman, after that having summoned the eldest son, asked,
“What is the science that thou knowest?”

“I know [how] to tell sooth,” he said.

To look at this one’s knowledge, the nobleman, having seen that a


female crow had laid eggs in a tree, said, “Should you tell me the
sooth that I ask, you are [really] an astrologer.” Having given his son
betel he asked it [mentally].

After he asked it, this one says, “Father, you have asked me if a
female crow has laid eggs in a tree. Is it not so?” he asked.

Thereupon, the nobleman said to the one who was able to shoot,
“Come here. Without the female crow’s knowing it, and without
breaking the egg, shoot thou so that it may become marked [only],
—an egg out of the eggs that are in that nest,” he said. The
nobleman’s son having said, “It is good,” shot in the manner he told
him.

Then this nobleman, having summoned the thief, says, “Go thou,
and without the crow’s knowing, bring thou only the egg which this
one shot.” Having said, “It is good,” he brought that very egg.

Then the nobleman said, “Go again, and place thou it [back in the
nest].” He said, “It is good,” and went and put it [back].

Thereupon, [having called the eldest son again], what sooth did the
nobleman ask? Thinking it in his mind [only], he asked, “How are
now the happiness and health of the Princess whom you at first
summoned [in marriage]?”

After he asked, this one having looked at the sooth, says, “The
Princess having now died, they have taken her to bury,” he said.

Thereupon, the nobleman said to the one who is able to go on rapid


journeys, “Go, and do not allow them to bury her”; he went
accordingly.

Then this nobleman said to the one who causes life to be restored,3
“Go and restore the life of the Princess, and come thou back to my
city.” Having said, “It is good,” this one went, and, causing her life to
be restored, the person who made rapid journeys, and the one who
caused life to be restored, and the Princess, all three persons, came
to the nobleman’s city.

Thereupon the Prince who caused her life to be restored, says, “I


shall take the Princess whose life I caused to be restored.”

Then the person who went on rapid journeys says, “Unless I had
gone quickly, and had not allowed them to bury her, and if they had
buried her, how would you take her? Because it is so, I shall take
her.”

Then the soothsayer says, “If I had not looked at the sooth, and told
[you about her death], how would you two take her? Because it is
so, I shall take her.”

Then the nobleman says, “Unless I caused the sooth to be looked


at,4 how would you three otherwise take her? Because it is so, I
shall take her.” Owing to that, these four persons were quarrelling.

Now then, out of these four persons, to whom does she belong?
According to our thinking, indeed, she belongs to the nobleman.

North-western Province.
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