The meaning of the latter part of this verse is that human life is among those things which are liable to sudden and incalculable changes; the authors therefore, say-enjoy life, but enjoy it wisely and forget not that all enjoy ment is instable. உரன், , written also 27, strength of mind, fortitude. - எனனும் which is called; the fu. part. of Ùr by the elephant & GOT OUT OOT hook; 2. may be considered as one compound and rendered strength of mind typified as an elephant hook.-i one adjectively; this term is frequently connected with nouns of number in a collective sense, but as eco, which performs the same function, here occurs, it is redundant.- the five, senses being understood: in its collective capacity with nouns of number or quantity may often be rendered by the definite article.- he will govern, from arsso guard, protect, govern.—, the or being substituted as above for 4, from the Sans. root to chuse, select, lit. choise, secondarily a boon, an endowment. This is the only term of Sans. derivation which has hitherto occurred, with the exception of the compound in the first verse of the first Chapter; unless that with which the verse commences should be derived from the Sanscrit and the breast, which is one of the meanings of the Tamil word.- as before.—3, this is a verbal noun in the dat, case from esse to place, and means lit. the placing, also, deposit a place, a township; is a periphrasis for heaven, quasi the choicest or most eminent place.- one : before vowels and before consonants are properly rendered by the indefinite articles an and a.- a seed. ஒரு IV. ந்தவித்தானாற்றல்கல்விசும்புளாரகொமான் இந்திரனெசாலுங்கரி (®)) Let Indren say, the king who all controls "Let Indren say"-This alludes to a story, which is told at length in the 38th and 39th Sections of the Bála Cándam, or First Book, of the Rámáyanam of Válmici and with some variation in the 9th section (ULSE) of the same Candam of the Rámáyanam of Camben, respecting the God Indren, who, in consequence of an intrigue with Ahalyà, wife of the Sage Gautama (the Latin commentator says erroneously Agastyen), suffered a dreadful punishment from the effects of an imprecation pronounced against him by the enraged husband. In the former the curse is conceived in the following terms, It s §'s 2) & Gow 2ND GENTES 0 29 2 ̄@jTM ∞ 2 சுகத்த வ and in the latter thus,-ஆயிரமாதாக்குள்ளவறிகுறியுனககுணடாகென்று. Tatwabódhaca Swami gives an abstract of this fable in the 24th lecture of his treatise entitled A'tma-nirnayam, a controversial work on the nature of soul; in which he condemns, in the style of the ancient fathers, the fables told in the Puranams and other Hindu writings of the amours of their deities, but, though in the original appropriate to the subject and, consequently, as it stands, unobjectionable, it will not bear translation. The foregoing is the explanation usually given by the commentators to this verse: Parimèl- azhager alludes briefly to it, saying only BBQIWI துசாபமெய்தி நின்ற வித்தவன் தாற்றலு ரத்தினானாகலி னிந்திரனே சா JESfQw he himself (Indren) not having subdued his senses லுங்கரியென was made to know the power of the Sage whose senses were subdued by the effects of his curse; therefore he says Indren himself is a sufficient witness. The Jainer, however disputing the authority of the mythological story, give it a vecy different interpretation; Cavi-raya-pand'iten accordingly thus renders the couplet, ஐமபொறிகளையுமாசையின் வழியெபோகாமல்டக கினவ னுடைய வல்லமைக்குத் தேவலோகத்திற் றேவரககெல்லாமிராசா வாயிருக்கின்றதேவேந்திரனகரி பின்னொருவருஞ்சாலுங் கரியல்லவென USIOLET DUI Of his power who restrains his senses from straying into the path of carnal desire Devendiren the King of all the Gods inhabiting the celestial world is himself the witness and besides him there is no sufficient witness; this is the meaning of the author. The difference here indicated turns chiefly on two points, in which the opinions of the Jainer are opposed to the other sects; first they do not admit that a devotee either possesses or would exert the malignant power ascribed to the imprecation of Gautamen, which they consider as utterly incompatible with the purity of devotion; secondly, they argue that the Author conld not intend to include under the term f 3,577 or §an, as used in this Chapter or elsewhere, any person, who, like this Sage, was still in the state of marriage. This argument they support by reference in the second division of this Book On Religious Virtues and, especially, to the 8th complet of the Third Chapter On Penance, and the 3rd and 4th of the Eleventh On Retirement. The former as relating to the first and principal point I quote. தன்னுயிரதானறப்பெற்றாவினையேனைய மன்னுயிரெல்லாந்தொழும் He who entirely possesses his own soul is reverenced by the immortal spirits who have not attained to this state of perfection. In this verse the inferiority of the Gods, who though immortal are not perfect, and consequently their chief Indren, to the perfect devotee is expressly declared; the latter, as here forcibly described, is free from the eight defects enumerated in Page 20 of this work, but how can he be said to be divested of these, or to have mastered the emotions of his soul, if, like Gautamen, he be still subject to jealousy and anger ? "Who his five senses in subjection holds"-The subjection of the senses by meditation has been already noticed and will, with the assistance of the commentator, be further explained in the observations on the next verse. From these it will clearly appear that the Devotees to whom this Chapter is dedicated are not the vain-glorious and irrational zealots who inflict on the body tortures, which must, as the natural consequence of over excitation, render the mind incapable of all exertion. These, the Tapaswis, must be carefully distinguished from the contemplative Yogis or Nittàr, as, though extolled in the Puránams and heroic Poems, they are no where mentioned in the Védas, nor authorized by Smritis; for the exercises prescribed for the Vanaprast ha are intended merely to keep the attention awake and do not amount to torture. Crishna, after having revealed himself to Arjuna as an incarnation of the Divinity, says in the Bhagavat Gità, எல்லாததவமுமியற்றிநின்றோனினு நல்லானயோகிபே நீயதைநணணுவாய Than him who has performed every species of austerity; than him who has acquired every branch of learning; than him who has assiduously performed every religious rite; the contemplative sage (Yógi) is more excellent; adhere thou, therefore, to the practice of contemplation. In the Sancrit the words parapharsed in the first line of this verse are த உஹொ)கொயா the Yogi is more excellent the Tapaswis. The Tamil version of this work is much more florid than the original, which is remarkable for the terse simplicity of its language, and, as usual, the commentary is often intermingled with the text. By modern writers, however, even by those whose intercourse with the natives of India was unrestrained and whose knowledge of their language and literature must be alluded to be extensive, these marked distinctions appear to be unkuown, or, if known, unnoticed: it is not surprising, therefore, that the ancients, whose communication with this country was comparatively restricted and imperfect, should be liable to mistakes on this subject and great praise must be allowed to their indefatigability of research, opposed as it was by such impediments, when their conclusions are found to coincide with the truth. Philosophy. and Religion had been confounded, or, rather, the former substituted for the latter, in Greece in the period immediately preceding their Asiatic conquests, which in their progress made them directly acquainted with India: hence the Greeks always describe the Indian Ascetics as Philosophers, and possibly, judging of them by their descendants, from their speculative habits and their power of logical investigation, they deserved the appellation equally with those by whom it was then arrogated in Europe. It was a greater mistake to confound them generally with the Brachmanes, or Bráhmans, though no doubt the majority were really of this caste. The names usually assigned them by the ancient writers are Gymnosophists, Samanians, Germanes, Sarmanes, and Pramnes. The first of these words only is Greek and in it's literally acception can apply to none of the Indian Devotees, except the Jaina Digambara, as garments were used by all others. Pliny's description of the exercises of those intended by this term, so nearly resembles the rule appointed by the 'Sastras to be observed by the Vanaprast,ha that I quote it and the corresponding text of Menu, remarking that the Romans in the age of this author, from their inmediate communication with India by sea, had acquired and communicated a more precise knowledge of it than the elder Greeks ever possessed, as is evident, not only from his writings, but those of Strabo and the Geographical tables of Ptolemy. "Philosophos eorum quos Gymnosophistas vocant,ab exortu ad occasum perstare, contuentes Solem immobilibus oculis: ferventibus arenis tota die alternis pedibus insistere.” ENT11:20 51 521029 25 2021 of 22: Either rolling backwards and forwards on the ground, or standing tiptoe all day, let him pass his time, or continue alternately standing and sitting, bathing thrice a day. It is probable, therefore, that, though this term was only strictly applicable to one description of devotees, it was extended to others, not because they were absolute naked, but because they were more slightly clothed than the secular classes. This use of a similar term is exemplified by Lucian in his dialogue entitled the Cynic; for, though the Philosopher therein introduced is described as being naked, it appears afterwards from the mention of his torn mantel and his defence of the fashion of his vestment as being that of the Gods, that he could not have been entirely so. The passage alluded to, which opens the dialogue, and another towards the conclusion of it, I here trans cribe.-Wherefore is thy hair so long and thy beard so large and why goest thou thus naked and unshod, lying on the bare ground and leading a savage life more fit for a beast than a man? Wherefore wanderest thou incessantly from place to place, mortifying thy body and, instead of cherishing and satisfying it as others do, denying it that which it requireth of thee?--Let the earth be my bed and the heavens my covering; let the whole world be my habitation and all sorts of food indiscriminately my aliment; let the pernicious desire of accumulating wealth, the cause of all evil, never infect my soul, but let me suffer from want rather than be anxious for superfluity. An Indian Sanyási of the ancient rule, as he still exists, and the mode of life he is bound to follow, is here distinctly described, as various extracts in this Chapter will demonstrate. The Cynic philosopher in his costume and professions at least, though by no means in the purity of his life, was minutely the same as the Indian Devotee; the staff, and the single mantel, sometimes of skins as worn by the Vanaprastha, sometimes of rags, as worn by the Bhicshaca, were common to both; the Greek, however, carried a wallet instead of a water-pot. Samanien is evidently the same as the Tamil word Samanen and Pramnes as Brahmana, which in that language is written pirámanen. An othographical alteration nearly similar seems to have converted the word Brahma, which, besides being the name of the third person of the Hindu triad, signifies the same as the derivative term Brahmana, into Piromis, the title given to the Egyptian High-priests (see Herodotus, Euterpe Chapt. 163); in Tamil this word is written rus piramen and virumà. Germanes and Sarmanes are probably the same word differently spelt and, if the latter mode be, as I conceive it is, the more correct, it will be easy to account for, the distinction made between the Brachmanes and Sarmanes by some authors, who introduce these terms as describing two several sects of Philosophers. si s'ravanah in Sanscrit, with a short a in the first syllable, means the same as Digambara, and was the title probably by which those naked saints denominated themselves to the European enquirer; s'rávanah,, with a long á, on the contrary, signifies a heretic, and was the title by which they are denominated by the other sects: now from either of these words Sarmanes may be legitimately derived. By the term Brachmanes, therefore, which as the name of a caste is properly common to all Indian sects, the ancients meant the devotees who derived their tenets from the Védain and by Sarmanes those who derived them from the Paramágamam. the five; and the word our extinguished, from should be added, as in the preceding verse, senses supplied.— of him who has அவிததான to destroy, extinguish, quench.—ppo |