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PREFACE
No apology is needed for writing a book on Varanasi, nor for writing it in English, because no full-blooded book has yet been written about this holy city.. Books written by Europeans merely
describe what they saw or heard from hearsay—and even of these the
last was written in 1909, and they areall out of print too. Some modern authors writing in English have given us only sketchy books. Books written in Hindi cannot be of much profit to Westerners interested in ancient Indian lore—or to Indians not proficient in that language. It was for these reasons that I decided to clothe my thoughts on the subject in English garb.
One or two new viewpoints have been presented here about the development of religion in this holy city and some fallacious thinking on the part of previous writers has been challenged. If these impel our modern Social historians to undertake researches in these spheres, my labours would be more than rewarded.
Old writers on Varanasi, whose books have provided valuable information—and sometimes views too—have placed me under a debt which I thankfully acknowledge. I am also conscious of my indebtedness to hundreds of friends, who have given me help in my labours extending over twenty five years and more. It is my regret that it is not possible to thank them individually here and I offer them all my grateful thanks and sincere apologies for this omission. Dr Bhanu Shanker Mehta and Sri Ram Krishna have helped me in crystalizing my ideas on Varanasi culture and otherwise and Dr. Nilkanth Joshi, Director of the U. P. State Museum has been of great help in all spheres. So have been Dr Jagannath Misra and Sri Jwala Prasad Misra, and I gratefully acknowledge their kindness.
= Rai Krishna Das, the great art critic and litterateur, who has seen —
Varanasi from inside for eighty years and more, has kindly seen the manuscript and offered valuable suggestions. I cannot express my gratitude to him in adequate words. The Bharat Kala Bhavan
has been generous in . permitting me te use of its collection, and
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4
some others possessing old paintings have done the same, I offer them my sincere thanks. My debt to Princepis immense and I express my gratitude in that connection.
I am also very much beholden to the Proprietors of the Bhargava Bhushan Press for having undertaken to print this book and to Professor Kameshwar Nath Sukul for agreeing to publish it.
Varanasi : Kubernath Sukul Ram Navami 2031 S.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
1.
2 3 4. 5: 6 7 8 9
10. 11
12. 13: 14.
The Kingdom of Kasi and the City of Varanasi Trade and Commerce ae
. Agriculture, Crafts and Allied Ane
Music and Dancing ; Educational set-up including Physical Culture Development of religion at Varanasi Varanasi’s Religious Set-up Religious and Monastic Institutions ..
Saints and Spiritual Giants of Varanasi Fairs and Festivals —
The River Front i Varanasi in the Nineteenth Century
The Varanasi Culture
Appendix
A
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Clay-Sealing of the Bahvricha Charana - Clay-sealing of the Sarva Traividya Terra-cotta plaque showing the swinging damsel
The Stone Capital of the Maha Shmashana Sule ne
Sarnath in the Gupta period .. -
Mir Rustam Ali
The sleeping open-air apartments
The Western facade of the Gyanvapi Mosque The Gyanvapi area in 1665 A. D.
The Bharat Milap Fair at Nati Imli
. A scene from the Ram Lila Celebrations
The Burhwa Mangal Festival (line drawing) The Burhwa Mangal (painting ) Chhote Paramhansa
. Swami Vishuddhanand Saraswati . Eve of a Lunar Eclipse
Maharaja Isvari Prasad Narain Singh z M. M. Gangadhar Shastri Manavalli, C.I.E. .. M. M. Bapu Deva Shastri, C.I. E.
. Waidyaratna Triambak Shastri Joshi
Kaviraj Satya Narain Shastri (Padma Bhushana)
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61 180 181 242 243 258 259 260 260 261 308 309 309 309 309
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VARANASI DO
CHAPTER 1
_ THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI
Even though for the last several centuries the two names Kashi and Varanasi have been used for the city and have been fully exchangeable yet in the hoary past they represented. different entities. Then Kashi was the name of the Kingdom and Varanasi was its Capital. In- the Atharva Veda Samhita Kashi did not refer to the city and even the Mahabharata mentions two Janapadas — Kasheya and Apar Kasheya. In the Maha Janapada age Kashi was the name of the Janapada and Varanasi was its Capital (Cambridge History of India). In those days Koshal Janapada was in the North, Magadha in the East, and Vatsa in the West of Kashi Janapada. On this strength Dr. Altekar places its eastern and western bound- aries at Ballia and Kanpur respectively. He also presumes that its southern boundaries were somewhere in the Vin- dhyas. Rahul Sankrityayan, however, differs with this view and according to him the extent of the Kashi Janapada practically coincided with that of the present Varanasi Division. Dr. Motichandra seems to agree with the latter view but is of opinion that some portions of the present Gorakhpur Division were also patt of the Kashi Janapada in those days. |
Be that as it may, there is no disagreement on the point that Varanasi was the Capital of this Janapada at all times.
In regard to the synonymous use of Kashi and: Varanasi
it may be mentioned that some of the Jatakas do mention
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2: VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
Kashipur or Kashinagar occasionally, but generally the —
city is referred to as Varanasi. By the Seventh century A. D., however, Kashi was being used for the city also as is proved by the use of the term “Kashiti Vikhyatam puram” used in Maharaja Prakataditya’s stone inscription discovered at Sarnath. It may in this connection be pointed out that centuries before that time an independent Kingdom of Kashi had ceased to exist and it was rapidly changing hands between the Kingdoms of Koéhal and Magadha, although the king of Koshal had at one time placed his brother on the throne of Kashi as a gesture of goodwill to the Kashyas.
What were the limits of the Varanasi city in those eatly days can be partially gleaned from the Jatakas and early Jaina books, the Puranas or earlier Sanskrit sacred books giving absolutely no indication about the city. There the terms Varanasi and Kashi are invatiably used to refer to the Dharma-Kshetra concerned, the boundaries of which were well-defined, and they did not always coincide with the boundaries of the city as will be presently seen. .
On the strength of material available, supplemented with knowledge gained from archaeological sources, it may be assumed that in the earliest days the city was not very extensive. It is certain that in the days of the Mahabharata the city as well as the Dharma Kshetra extended on both sides of the Varana river as the sacred spots mentioned therein are situated on both sides of the latter. Besides even a casual visit to Sarai Mohana
(area to the north-east of Varanasi) will convince anyone
that an extensive city existed there in the earliest days, teaching very near Sarnath in the north. Havell believes
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mi O ee ee eee ee ee ee oe al
THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 3
that this was the Buddhist city, which sprang up in con- sequence .of Buddha’s associations. (Benares the Sacred City -Havell p. 42). He, however, ignores the evidence of the Mahabharata, which clearly states that the area concerned was central part of the Varanasi Dharmakshetra, and the ruins clearly indicate that it was part of the city too. Besides the name Varanasi itself has been derived from the ancient name of Varana—Varanasi, which is found in the Mahabharat and from which the name of the city situated on its banks was derived as Varanasi. In the second century B. C. the city extended along the banks of the Ganga (vide Patanjali’s Mahabhashya). This fact has been corroborated by the excavations near Raj-
‘ghat, where Mauryan and Shunga strata have revealed the
existence of the city, which continues till the Gupta period. To the west of the confluence of the Varana and Ganga there is a high plateau on which stood a fort upto the twelfth century A. D. Mauryan pottery is extensively found in these parts and also stone images and idols, which shows that the city was situated from the confluence upto Rajghat quite upto the Gupta period. Later on, the city continued to grow towards the west and south west and in the twelfth century it extended upto near Gaighat— where an old gate still exists and is called Patan Darwaza (Sanskrit Pattana Dwatam ) which means the city gate and even today the gate is surmounted by a stone image of Genesha belonging to the ninth century. Towards the west of Rajghat is situated the ward called Bhadaun, which has been mentioned in the copperplate grant of Maharaja Govind Chandra Deva, made in the early twelfth century under its Sanskrit name of “‘Bhadrya”’ i
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4. "+ = `. "VARANASI. DOWN THE AGES
According to the Jatakas there was a city-wall round Varanasi which had a circumference of 24 miles}, and an earthwork of this kind did exist till the last century, to which Sherring testified as an eye witness. He says “on the whole, it appears not unlikely that this long embank- ment was the old bounndaty of the city in this direction. The embankment may have been carried on, originally, to the Ganges in a straight line with its present direction, or making a short circuit it may have entered it by Telia Nala”’ (Sherring—Benares the Sacred City of the Hindus. P- 300) “The ridge is in one part formed of three terraces, the uppermost being perhaps thirty feet above the land” (Ibid p. 302). |
In 1035 A. D. Varanasi was looted by Nialtagin but he stayed in the city for only a few hours and left it, as he had come, by the river. Soon after, however, Syed Salar Masud, sister’s son of Mahmud. of Ghazni, started from Ajmer on his mission of spreading Islam, and although he himself went towards Gonda, one of his followers Malik Afzal Alvi led a campaign against Benares and teached as far as the present Kashi Railway Station. There seems to have been a fiercebattle and the invading army was annihilated. Those days, however, had: there own ethics and the civilians accompanying the army were permitted to live unmolested in a distant corner, which subsequently was called Alavipura and still exists under that name. These Muslims became loyal subjects of the Hindu rulers of Varanasi and in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries established two settlements in-other parts of the city and named them Madanputa and Govindpura after
(1) SORT aa ATA Wie eni wah |
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 5
Maharaja Madanpal and Maharaja Govind Chandra Deva tespectively. The former was the great grand father and the latter grand father of Jaya Chandra. These Mohallas (quarters of the city) are still inhabited mostly by Muslims.
Later, Benares was invaded by Kutubuddin Aibak
Commander-in-Chiefof Mohammad of Ghor in1194A.D. and this time the Muslim army was victorius. The fort of Varanasi at Rajehat fell and was razed to the ground, and the city was looted and as the Muslim historians them- selves say a thousand temples were pulled down and the -booty sent to the Muslim overlord on 1400 camels. A ` governor was appointed, who ruled rather ruthlessly; but somehow Benares again succeeded in shaking off its shackles and Kutubuddin had to reconquer it in 1197 A. D. This time sterner measures were taken to per- petuate the new administration. There are, however, no further details available except that in Balban’s day Haji Idris was the governor, who lived quite near Gaighat, and whose name is still preserved in.the name of the locality as Hajidaras Mohalla.
As has been said eatlierthe city was at that time situated north east of Gaighat inside the then city gate—Patan Darwaza. With the destruction of the Rajghat fort, citizens who lived within the ramparts, had to find some other place to live and the present locality known as ‘Garhvasi Tola’ (Living place of old residents of the fort) was founded by clearing the forest. This process of cutting the forest and establishing living localities is famousin Benares lore under the name of Pankati (Cutting down of the forest) In course of time people from other localities near the fort
area, which was under the direct heel of the local Muslim ae :
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6 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
~ governors, shifted to more and more distant places towards the South.and thus the city grew in a southerly direction. This process has continued eversince and is continuing today also and as the population has grown, the city has gtown southwards too. The northern portion was gradu- ally becoming inhabited also but by Muslims, whose numbers were growing fast because of conversions and other similar factors. It may be noticed that these northern localities are even today inhabited by Muslims generally and bear names after Muslim governors and others. e. g. Jalaluddinpura, Jamaluddinpura, Rasulpura, Qazi Sadullapura etc.
The ancient town of Varanasi from the third century B.C. to seventh century A. D. as has been laid bare in the ' Rajghat excavations consisted of houses big and small built along narrow streets with temples interspersed " here and there, and this pattern continued to be the norm even afterwards right upto the seventeenth and even eighteenth centuries. Later on the well-to-do citizens built - garden-houses on the outskirts of the then city but they never became their permanent residences. ‘This does not, however, mean that there were no gardens in the city proper. Small gardens could be found in very large numbers in the middle of congested areas and as Greaves says “one is able to realise to some extent what a con- gested population there is, and yet is surprised to find, however, that even in the most densely populated areas there are little patches of green (single trees or tiny gar- dens.” (Greave’s Kashi the City Illustrious p- 32). It seems that in ancient times this was the usual pattern of city planning, because in most of the older towns of nor- thern India one finds the same plan. Agra, Mathura, and
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 7
old Delhi all exhibit similar patterns. In fact Havell goes further and mentions similar conditions in Spain and Southern Italy. He says “There is a great deal of pictur- esqueness in the narrow alleys, but, if it were not for the temples and the people it would be easy to imagine one’s self tobe wandering in an old town of Spain or Southern Italy” (Havell—Benares the Sacred City. p. 75).
An effort has so far been made to provide a picture of Varanasi City along the ages, but Varanasi and Kashi were not only civic units. They were big and large religious units also and that aspect of theirs was and still is, the more important, both for those who lived in this holy city and those living thousands of miles away, who aspired to pay their homage to it some day. To distinguish these from political units of the same name they have been called Kshetras. Thus there was a Kashi Kshetra anda Varanasi Kshetra and both of them had well defined boundaries. Some western writers and modern Indian historians have made the mistake of confusing the political and religious units and the result has been chaos. On the basis of this error they have declared that Varanasi is not in its old place or the northern portion of Varanasi city is Kashi and more sacred etc etc. Some of them have-even gone so far as to declare that even the more important temples have moved southwards along with the growing city. It is, therefore, worthwhile to study this matter more carefully.
The earliest details about the religious unit Varanasi Kshetra now avaliable are from Linga Purana and ex- cerpts from some other Puranas, which were authoritative books in 1110 A. D. As is evident therefrom the different
religious entities were in the same position then as they are now. Adikeshava was and is near the Varana-Ganga ~
A
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8 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
confluence. Shaileshwar was and is in the extreme north on the banks of the Varana tiver. Lolarka was and is near the southern most point of Asi and Ganga’ confluence and Durgakund to its west. Gokarna and Dhruveshwar marked and still mark -the western limit. The earliest Site of the temple of Visvesvara is clearly mentioned on the spot where Razia’s mosque now stands.1 Quotations from the Brahma Purana and Matsya Purana on that same date say clearly that Varanasi Kshetra spread between Varana and Asi tivers north and south and was about five miles east and west and also that it was about a mile north and south in certain portions. ‘The name of the Asi river as given there is Shushka Nadi (dried up.tiver). | ve
AS has been observed earlier Kashi was a larger unit than Varanasi and its teligious boundaries have vatied from time to time. On the authority of the Padma Purana, in the earliest period it was on the top of three hillocks and it was this fact that bestowed upon it the distinct- lon of being situated not on earth but on Shiva’s trident. Subsequently its boundary was a circle of about ten miles tadius, and yet later the Kshetra was cut down to a chariot shape by the removal of the pottion on the eastern side of the Ganges, Still later it was reduced towards the North also and became of the shape of a Conch, which is its Present shape and it is round this unit that the Pancha $$
1. This is not the place to quote original texts but those interested may see the Tirtha Vivechana Kandam of Kritya Kalpa Taru by Lakshamidhar Bhatta, Published in Gaekwad’s Oriental Series, 1942 Edition pp. 44, 54, 118, 118, 113, 114, 90, also pp. 39-49.
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 9
Kosi perambulation is performed. At first sight it may appear a little confused, but this variation in size is a reflection of historical events. The first stage is the position in the hoary past when the Aryans established themselves in Kashi, which was formerly a Non-Aryan Kingdom (the details of this to be discussed later). Even now Varanasi is situated on three distinct mounds. One North-East of Varana is in ruins, the second from Varana confluence to Dasaswamedha Ghat and the third from Dasaswamedha Ghat to Asi-confluence.
The third stage was*reached when Magadha Kingdom conquered the portion east of the Ganges, which becom- ing enemy territory was banned for pilgrimage, and the last stage represents the present one when the Kingdom of Kosala usurped the northern portion. It may also be accounted for by the developments consequent on Sarnath becoming a rival religious centre.
As has been said earlier the area south of Gaighat was full of forests, and the temples and sacred spots were interspersed inside the forest area. When inhabitants of the old town built up new localities, these were set up near the various temples, the surrounding forests being
cut down to provide necessary space. Thus in the course:
of several centuries a large number of residential localities
sprang up all over the Kshetra area—and these localities.
took the names of the prominent temple there. Very many of these names still persist, even though many of them have received new names. A look at Princep’s map would show these localities and their names—and as time went on the forest area gradually diminished but the names ofits various portions continued and maybe traced even today. Thus Bhadravana has given us Bhadaini,
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10 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
Daru-Vana has yielded Daranagar, Bilva-Vana has become Belvaria and so on.
The plan of the town that sprang up in this manner, was inevitably irregular and the old pattern of small houses situ- ated in close proximity of oneanother, with narrow lanes running between them, which was the universal pattern in the oldentimes all over India, and which had been follow- ed in Varanasi itself from the Mauryan period onwards, continued to form the basis of thie new colonies that were set up between 1194 A. D. and the end of the sixteenth century, and the collective name given to them was Pucca- Mohal—meaning a locality with houses built of bricks and Stones. If any one wants to see teal Varanasi, he has to wander about in these narrow and winding lanes— about which Havell’s opinion has been already quoted. Some of these lanes are ten to fifteen feet wide but the Majority of them are very narrow and tortuous. ‘The space occupied by the various houses being small, their height usually ran to several storeys—three and four bein the norm. V ;
- Very many of them, however, were even higher, eure up to the seventh storey. Naturally, therefore, the streets were dark and i ; K Ponce ee cee even act the only redeeming es presence of innumerable small gatdens
spersed all over. While this kind of town-plannin cramped the atmosphere ; P P 6 ld ki Sphere, it provided better security than wou ave been possible otherwise. At many street cornets there were gates, which were closed at night or on
occasions of dance anak Rae et or public disorder. It was for this
reason that Varanasi esca d looti se gis
ped looting by Muslim troops on
severa casi I occasions. These streets were and still are also
interspersed with temples h ate pies Here and there, both big and
em quite beautiful, and the tinkling
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“HE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 11
of bells in the morning and evening and on other occa- sions of worship, produces an atmosphere of harmony
and cheer. In course of time the outskirts of this area were sur-
rounded by gardens and gardenhouses—and the various ponds, the number of which in Varanasi was legion, enhanced the beauty of this surrounding area—and got Varanasi the name—City of Gardens.
This completes the picture of Varanasi as it was and as it developed over the ages. It is, however, incomplete without a description of Sarnath, where Buddha preached his first sermon, and where a new city of temples and mon- asteries grew up thereafter.
Sarnath
After seeing Light and obtaining Buddhahood, the Buddha decided to preach his first sermon to the five
Brahmans, who had left him when he renounced the path
of Hathayoga, and for this purpose he started for Varanasi but stopped at Isipattana Mrigadava (Deer park—the present Sarnath), four miles to the north-east of Varanasi across the Varana river. Buddha, however, met the five Brahmans before reaching this place and later on Asoka built a large stupa at present seventy four feet in height made of solid brickwork (now surmounted by an octa- gonal tower built in Akbar’s day to mark the ascent of the mound by Humayun). It is known as the Chaukhandi stupa. Later Buddha delivered his first sermon, known
in Buddhist phraseology as Dharma-chakra-Pravatana, to
the five Brahmans and converted them. This spot was again marked out by Asoka with a stupa in front of which
he also placed one of his famous pillars, the four-lion —
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12 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
Capital of which, discovered almost intact, has given India
its State Emblem. ‘This Stupa was known as the Dharma-
rajika Stupa. Asoka also built another stupa in which Buddha’s relics were deposited in a green marble box— placed inside a bigger stone box. ‘This stupa originally had a diameter of 49 feet but it was repaired by Sthirapal and WVasantapal in 1026 A. D. and an additional layer of brickwork 163 feet in thickeness was built around it thus increasing the diameter to eighty two feet. Unfor- tunately this was dug out by Jagat Singh to build Jagat- ganj near the Queen’s College and only the foundations have been preserved but they have their own story of its splendour to tell. By an irony of fate instead of being called as Asokan Stupa it is now known as Jagatsigh Stupa after the name of its spoliator.
Asoka also built a third Stupa believed to be at the Site of the conversion of the five Brahmans. ‘This is called the Dhameka Stupa., It was renovated in the Gupta period and its outer surface was lined with carved
“stone-work, which is the pride of Varanasi Sculpture. The first Vihata at Sarnath was however, built by Yasha the son of a wealthy merchant of Varanasi, who was one of the earliest pupils, and a large number of buildings had already been built before Asoka appeared on the scene. In the seventh century A. D. there was the mon- astery of the Deer Park, surrounded by a wall on all sides with fout gates, inside which were two storied palaces and a Vihara 200 feet high according to Huen Tsang. Inside there were a hundred rows of niches each one of which had a statue of Buddha in embossed gold. There was also a big statue of Buddha in bronze. ‘There were also quite a large number of small Stupas to mark the location of
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 13
various activities of the Tathagata (Buddha) and three tanks.
Thus a township developed at Sarnath inhabited by the Buddhist monks and others and there were a very large number of buildings, Aramas, Viharas, and temples. The queen of Maharaja Govindchandtra also built a Vihara there in twelfth centuty. |
Starting from the sctatch with Buddha’s own teachings, Sarnath became a centre of the Mahayana cult and towards -the end of the twelfth century it was a stronghold of the Vajrayana School of Buddhism, when the sword of Islam fell on it and the township was sacked and burnt. It was excavated by Colonel Mackenzie in 1815, to be followed in 1835 by General Sir Alexander Cunningham, and subsequently by Major Kettoe and Mr. Thomas in 1851. In 1905 Mr. O.F. Ortell also did some excavation and soonafter, the work was taken up by Sir John Martial, the Director General of Archaeology in India. As a result of these excavations a large number of foundations and broken walls were dug out in situ and confirmed the glory
that had fled. Hundreds of stone sculptures of immense value and of usnurpassed beauty were discovered, which
Gan be seen in the Museums at Calcutta and at Sarnath ©
itself.
The Lion Capital, the State emblem of India, was discovered here and is now in the National Museum at Delhi. There are in the Sarnath Museum several superb statues and sculptors ranging from the third century B.C. to the twelfth century A. D.—the excellence of which it is difficult to describe.
In 1921 the rejuvination of the site was taken in hand
by Anagarika Dharmapal by whose efforts and with the S=
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active help of the Mahabodhi Society, a beautiful temple— Mulgandha Kuti Vihara—was built and a replica of the famous Gupta period image of Buddha was installed there. Later, the famous Japanese artist Kasetsun depicted on its inner walls incidents of Buddha’s life which are very beauti- fuland soul-stirring. Soonafter the Chinese built a temple in the Chinese style, in which a statue of Buddha in the Bhumisparsh mudra has been installed. Then there are the Burmese temple, monastery, Rest House and Library. Some other Buddhist nations like Thailand and others have also putchased land in the locality for constructing temples in their own style of architecture. The Govern-
- “ment of India have also spent several lacs of rupees in
beautifying the locality and providing accommodation to visitors. There is a deer park and a waterfall, in the beautiful lawns which provide a suitable setting for all that is old and also all that is new.
Of the sculptures discovered the pride of place obvi- ously goes to the Mauryan Lion Capital and the monolith stone railing found in the foundations of the Southern Chapel. The broken pillar with its Ashokan inscription speaks for the greatness and skill of the artisans of those days. There ate quite a large number of sculptures cover- ing the Shunga period, and the Kushan period provides the collosal statue of a Bodhisatva in the standing posture.
. It was constructed in the third year of Kanishka’s reign, -
and unlike most other statues of the place is made of red
Mathura stone. It was donated by Friar Bala. The
Gupta petiod, however, carries the palm in providing the largest number of sculptures as well as in their artistic beauty. Buddha’s statue in the Dharma Chakra-
ptavartan Mudra is a piece of exceptional excellence.
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 15
So is the Avalokiteswara icon of the Mahayana School. The floral and geometrical decorative designs on the Dhameka Stupa have been already referred to as pethaps the best specimens of decorative att in the Gupta period. Besides these Buddhist sculptures quite a large number of Jaina and Hindu icons have also been discovered at Sarnath. There afe also two temples — one of the Jaini’s in honour of Tirthankar Sreyansa Nath and the other of Siva, known as Sarnath (the latter being originally built of Mauryan bricks), which attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims on every Monday of the month of Sravana from
Varanasi and neighbouring villages. Origin of the name of the Kingdom and the Town
Quite several hypotheses have been variously put forward to expain the derivation of the name of the Kingdom as Kashi. One derives it from the Sanskrit root ‘Kash’ and makes it mean “that which shines”. Another makes Kasha, a king in the twelfth generation from Manu, its founder. Yet another derives it from the richness of Kasha (a kind of grass) in the locality. But all these etymologies ignore one basic fact and that is that in the Atharva Veda the name of the residents of this locality has been given as “Kashi”. (i to be pronounced as in sit?) It is obvious, therefore, that the name of the locality was already Kashi in those days and as will be shown later the locality was at that time under the rule of Non-Aryans. Thus the name Kashi must have been given to the place by its Non-Aryan masters long before the Aryans took
possession of it. l ‘In regard to Varanasi the derivation of the name is
simpler though it has
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16 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
exercise of grammarians, Originally its derivation was simple — a town situated on the banks of the river Varanasi (the first and the third “a” to be pronounced as ‘w’ in cut and the second as in “‘far’’), which is the ancient name of Varana as given in the Mahabharata. This name is also present in one or two other Puranic quotations from the Matsya Purana and has also been used by Ashwa Ghosha in his Buddha Charitra (15/44). After the trans — Varana portion of the city was abandoned its northern boundary did actually become Varana (which name became current after the Gupta period i. e. after the fifth century A.D.) and its southern boundary was in fact Asi also called ‘Nashi’ in the Jabal Upanishad (which cannot be placed later than Mahabharata) although it had dried up before the fifth the century A. D:, when it was known as Shushka (the dried up river). So grammarians found it easy to combine the two and declare that the place situated between Varana and Asi was Varanasi and this derivation got ready acceptance and became commonplace, replacing the old derivation in the public mind.
The question now remains as to when the Aryans took possession of Kashi and when the township of Varanasi was founded and who was its founder. To answer these we have to delve deep into ancient literature. The Shatapa- tha Brahmana, the date of which has been accepted between 1200 B. C. and 800 B. C., mentions that Videgha Mathava made his journey of conquest towards the east inthe hoary past in the wake of a big forest fre, which starting from Kurukshetra spread eastwards and stopped only when it reached the Szadanira tiver (modern Gandak), and that the entire land thus traversed came under the Atyan sway. Surely it was in this campaign that Kashi
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE ‘CITY OF VARANASI 17
too was conquered and occupied. That it was formerly in the possession of Non-Aryans is proved from a quotation from the Atharva Veda, where it is invoked that Takma (Malaria) be driven away to the land of the Mujavans (North Kashmir), and the Vahlicans (residents of Balakh), and to people yet distant, which places had been its old home. It is further said that “we offer Takma (Malaria) to the residents of Gandhara -(modern Kandahar), Mujavan, Kashi and Magadha (Bihar) as a servant and as a present’”! l From this it is obvious that Kashi was enemy territory, as no one would offer a present of fever to friends. It is further to be noted that this version of the Mantras is found in the Pippalada version of the Atharva Veda only. In the Shaunakiya and other recensions the word ` See ee
(0) amq ma Ts afaa aT TREAT [ Atharvaveda V. 22-7] Go fever to the Mujavans or further to the Bahlikas —[ Griffth’s translation ] THA AAAI: RNN ATTA: | taq aafaa sate aaa cheats I [ Atharvaveda V. 22-14 Pippalad version } THA WAATATSS A ATA: | gaa safna dafa ara aafe 1 [Atharva veda V. 22-14 Shaunakiya and other Versions ] In the Pippalad Version the translation would read as :— We to Gandharis, Mujavans, to Kashis, and to Magadhas. Hand over Fever as it were a servant and a thing of price. In other versions :— We to Gandharis, Mujavans, to Angas, and to Magadhas. Hand over Fever as it were a servant and a thing of price.
[Griffith's Atharva veda Vol, IP. 225]
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“Kashibhyo” has been replaced by ‘Angebhyo’ and the invocation therein sends Takma to the residents of Anga (Eastern Bihar) instead of Kashi. The conclusion is, therefore, obvious that at the time of the Puppalad version Kashi was enemy territory, while at the time of Shaunakiya and other versions, it had become friendly territory and the more eastern Anga desha had become enemy territory. This clinches the issue, and if any further corraboration be needed it is provided by Yaska in his Nirukta (seventh centuty B. C.), where it is said that Kikata country (South- ern Bihar) is inhabited by non-Aryans. )
To judge the time factor in these events one has to remember that the Shatpatha Brahamana has been dated between 800-1200 B. C., and the campaign of Videgha Mathava has been mentioned therein as an event of very distant past. Then this event also occured long long before the Mahabharat war which took place at the latest between 1000 and 1200 B. C. if not between 1200 and 1400 B. C., for in that war a Kashiraj was present. The approximate date for the occupation of Kashi by the Aryans and for the establishment of an Aryan Kingdom there thus comes to be placed somewhere before 1800 B.C.—almost at 2000 B. C.
This fact is further corraborated by a quotation from the Maha Govind Sutta of Diggha Nikaya—a Buddhist authority which says that Varanasi city was founded long long before Buddha by Mahagovinda the Brahman minis- ter of king Renu with the latter as its first overlord and ` Dhritarashtra as the first sovereign. Now Renu was the Son of Vishvamitra according to the Aitereya Brahman (7/17/7) and the Sankhyayana Shrauta Sutra (15, 26, 1), and Vishvamitta’s defeat in the Battle of Parushni is
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 19
mentioned in the Rigveda. The founding of the Aryan kingdom of Kashi and the City of Varanasi may thus be taken to be simultaneous events.
Besides Varanasi, the city has had other attributive names given to it at different times by different classes of people. Buddhist Jatakas have mentioned several of these. Dr, Moti Chandra has enumerated some of them. The Udaya Jataka calls it “Surundhan’, the Sutsoma Jataka ‘Sudarshana’, the Sondand Jataka Brahmavardhana, the Khandahal Jataka ‘Pushpavati’, the Yuvanjaya Jataka ‘Ramma Nagar’, and the Sankha Jataka “Molini.” Inthe second centuty B. C. the business- men called it ‘Jitvari? for they got great profits there It is obvious from a perusal of these names that they em- phasise one or the other of the qualities of the great city viz. its protectedness, its beauty, its great philosophical statute, its profuseness of flowers, which is even now recognised, and its commercial importance, most of them being of an ephemeral nature, but one of them “Brahma Vardhana, which depcts its importance as a centre of philosophical learning deserves pointed notice.
After the establishment of the Aryan Kingdom and the founding of its capital Varanasi, the Aryans there specialised in learning and erudition, and as time progressed a great galaxy of learned men and philosophers grew up, which earned for it the name of Brahma Vardhana, and one of its kings Ajatasatru (not to be confused with
f
another Ajatsatru—the patricide) was a noted philosopher x
in his day. A similar centre of this kind was also developing
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simultaneously in Behat—the Janakpur in Mithila—where Janakas were the Kings. In course of time the fame of this latter seems to have surpassed that of Varanasi because in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishada, it is clearly mentioned that Ajatashatru, the philosopher king of Varanasi on being told by Gargya Balaki that the latter would give a discourse on ‘Brahma’, exclaimed that he would give him a thousand cows simply for his having = cometo his court at Varanasi for this purpose instead of going to the court of Janaka at Mithila as every one seemed to do (Brihadaranyaka Upanishada 2, 1,1,), and in the course of Balaki’s discourse Ajatashatru showed him that the former’s philosophic hypotheses were errone- ous. It was this aspect of Varanasi’s life that earned it the name of Brahma Vardhana—the philosophical light- head.
It may be noted here that Brahmavarta, land round about Kurukshetra, was still the holiest of the holy and Varanasi and Mithila though famous for philosophical supetiority were mot yet accepted as holy places. The eastern limit of the Madhya-Desha the holy land occupy- ing the second place in matter of sacredness stopped at Prayaga (modern Allahabad). We have, therefore, yet to find when Vatanasi came to be accepted as a holy place. The Mahabharata clearly mentions Varanasi as a place of pilgrimage and this is perhaps the earliest indication of the recognition of its holiness; but the very fact of its being mentioned there also indicates that this status had been in existence for some considerable period before its enumera- tion in the list of holy places there. The present version of the Mahabharata has been dated about 500 B. C. There is also a mention of the holiness of Varanasi by Valmiki the
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 21
author of the Ramayana and also in the Jabala Upanishada. Both these authorities are contemporary of, if not earlier than the Mahabharata. It is obvious, therefore, that Varanasi had been recognised as a holy place long before the fifth or even sixth century before Christ. In fact, Buddha’s choosing Varanasi as the appropriate place to preach his first sermon, known as the Dharmachakra-Pravartana, indicates that Varanasi was already being considered a . Stronghold of Brahmanical religion, and this takes us quite a couple of centuries earlier, if not a little more. _
The Puranas give quite a long list of kings of Kashi - and though it is not possible to fit them in the time Sequence as we understand it, yet it is obvious that they all belong to. the period prior to the Mahabharata war and that isapretty far cry: So we have to be content at that, so far as those ancient—almost prehistoric—ruletrs of Kashi are concerned.
After the Mahabharata war the kingdom of Kashi came in for trouble. It was attacked by Vasudeva Krishna’s army and the town of Varanasi was burnt down. This may be taken to be the beginning of the end of Kashi’s independence for ultimately it fellto Magadha and Kosala Janapadas by turns and became united there- ` with. At this time we came across the term Kashi- Kosala very frequently. According to Buddhist Jatakas — it was Kansa, the king of Kosala, who conquered the Kashi Janapada and united it with his own kingdom and thus secured the title of Varanasiggaho. Later on towards the end of the sixth century B. C. when Bimbisar the Magadhan king married Kosala Devi the daughter of king Mahakosala of. Kosala, he received the village Kasik as some sott of ‘pin money’ for the bride. After the ~
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murder of Bimbisar by his son Ajatasatru, and the death of the Kosala Princess his queen, Prasenjit, the new king of Kosala claimed back this village of Kasik anda series of wars were fought in this connection. As a result of the last confrontation, the king of Kosala was victorious and thus the Kasikgrama was re-conquered, though subsequently a peace treaty was concluded and Prasenjit married his daughter Vajira Devito Ajatasatru and once again gave away the Kasikgrama to her as had been done by his father before. This incident clearly proves that Kashi Janapada had lost its independent status and had been’ under the sway of the Kosala kings for some considerable time. Prasenjit, however, placed his brother on the Kashi throne as a subsidiary king to give the Kashi people some sort of satisfaction, but Kashidid not remain under the Kosala kings for long and towards the end of Ajatashatru’s reign Kashiand some parts of Kosala were incorporated in the Magadha kingdom and thus even this subsidiary role of the Kashi King came toan end and the dual term Kashi-Videha came into use.
The Bauddha Jatakas have also enumerated a large number of Kashi Kings but, as has. been said before, it has not yet been possible to place them in any regular time--sequence Development of Varanasi over the years
Having cast a glance at the history of Varanasi since its inception as a city and also the geographical and other details about it during the earlier stages and the expansion of the town in the middle ages and after Muslim occupat- ion, we may now examine how it developed over the ages and eatned for itself a name and a fame unsurpassed by any other city in India and perhaps even outside.
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 23 F
In the earliest period of its existence, with Emperor Renu as the overlord and King Dhritarashtra as its king, the city had a well-established administration. Its new masters, the Aryans, were a cultured and educated people, who had brought with them the best traditions of Vedic religion and culture from the Sapta Saindhava region. It had been but recently conquered from the non-Aryans and it must have taken sometime to smoothen out the post-war angularities, but after that had been achieved, its development along contemporary normal lines proceeded at quite a rapid pace for soon enough the king decided to perform the Asvamedha (Horse-Sactifice). It must _ be remembered that a very large number of craftsmen and others efficient in various other fields are needed in the performance of this Yajna, and a full complement of them - must have become already available. Unfortunately the horse was captured by Shatanika Satrajit, king of Kuru- panchala in the west. ‘This indicates that the country to the north and south of that kingship had already accepted _ the political authority of the Varanasi King but the western states had not done so. Thus the sacrifice remained incomplete and had to be given up in despair. But the vow taken by the people of Kasi (including Varanasi) not to worship the daily sacred fire (Shrauta-agni) till they had revenged this defeat, is a glowing evidence of their organization and unity of purpose. Defeated in
the west, Dhritarashtra seems to have fixed his attention (1) daqatenradissiieread areata eft Tae: | [ Shatapatha Brahmana [ 13-5 7
The ressidents of Kashi gave up the worship of the Shrautagni
because they said that.drinking of Soma had been snatched away
from them. ; ;
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towards the east and soonafter conquered the Angadesha (Eastetn Behar) from Non-Aryans; and thus retrieved the lost prestige of his kingdom by extending its area. During all this period the people of Varanasi were specialising in the various professions and skills in accordance with the tenets of the Varnashrama Dharma, (dividing the citizens in to four categories Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra) and in due course the city of Varanasi became a prosperous city, with special- ists, in all spheres of life of that period. Vedic learning in its various aspects, arts of war, crafts and agriculture, all had their full share in this development. ‘There were learned teachers living in Ashramas, where the Vedas and other sister disciplines were taught, and a life of purity and austerity was practised and thus inculcated in the pupils. The kings were learned too and one of them Ajatasatru outshone some of the Brahman sages in his knowledge of Philosophy. The atmy was well-organised and the Vaishyas developed the various arts and crafts. Centuries passed in this manner and the progress continued till a Kashiraja participated in the Mahabharata wat as atespected colleague of the Pandavas. Yet later, as the Jatakas tell us, Varanasi had become the most import- ant city in Jambudwipa (Asia)—[Gullala Jatak]. It had. a flourishing commerce, and opulent commercial magnates, who wete called the Shreshthis (the modern word Seth has been derived from this sanskrit word). The Dirgha Nikaya also confirms this fact. According to the Babbu
` Jataka one of the businessmen of Varanasi had buried gold )
worth forty crores in the ground for safety, in addition to what was needed for everyday business. There were sevetal persons of this financial status in Varanasi. In
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 25
fact, according to Sumangal Vilasini only that person was considered affluent in the days of Buddha who possessed
at least forty crores in cash, and who bought and sold
maunds of copper and silver coins every day. Agriculture and cow-breeding wete two prominent professions and thereafter came trade and commerce, and art and crafts, and Varanasi had already become famous in the latter combination viz. commerce and art and crafts, as we shall presently see. Butthe fameof Varanasi didnot rest on its commerce and craftsmanship alone, nor on its art. There was another and perhaps a more durable foundation for its developing greatness. Eversince the capture of Kashi by the Aryans and the foundation of Varanasi, the latter had become a centre of learning, where notable thinkers and learned men where being produced—and as time progressed these academic giants created a name for their city. Obviously, in the beginning Vedic lore ‘was the subject of special study and the Vedangas must have received particular attention,, This naturally led to the astablishment of Ashramas, in which learned men lived and taught, and soon enough they gained such fame as to attract pupils from far and near. Kuddakapatha Atthakatha tells us that some educational institutions of Varanasi were older than those of Taxilla (p.198). A little later, another centre of learning developed at Taxilla, ‘which was ultimately outshone by Varanasi, but there
-was a free exchange of pupils between these two academ-
ic centres at all times. It is said that graduates of Taxilla came and settled down at Varanasi and they further developed the fame of thistown. Unfortun- ately, the political conflicts brought about by Greek ‘and Scythian invasions resulted in Jaxilla’s decline,
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but free from these diversions, Varanasi not only held its old place but even progressed, and in the Gupta period it reached the zenith of its fame as a centre of learning as we shall see in a subsequent chapter.
Religion was yet another sphere in which Varanasi shone, and that too with an effulgence that dazzled into insignificance other places of religious importance. Start- ing from the scratch it built for itself the most honoured place in this sphere also—and is considered as the holiest of the holy in India today, to which flock Hindus of all leanings from Kanya Kumari (Cape Comorin) to Kashmir, and from, Dwarikato Manipur and Tripura. In factit has been said of Varanasi that it is India in miniature, for here one can see ‘representatives of all states in India in their true form and colour, speaking a variety of languages and presenting a picturesque pageant of different kinds of dresses—in varied shades from the palest blue to deeper notes of indigo and crimson’ (Havell).
It is not the Hindus alone, who yearn for a visit to Varanasi. They are joined in this yearning by the Jainis from all over India, and Buddhists from all over the world, and today one could see hundteds of American and _ Europeans jostling in the crowds at the ghats or in the narrow lanes of Varanasi.
Writing about the antiquity of Varanasi, Reverend M. A. Sherring, usually an adverse critic, observes “when Babylon was struggling with Nineveh for supremacy, when Tyre was planting her colonies, when Athens was. stowing in strength, before Rome had become known, or Greece had contended with Persia, or Cyrus had added lustre to the Persian monarchy, or Nebuchadnazzar had captured Jetusalem, and the inhabitants of Judaea had
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THE KINGDOM OF KASHI AND THE CITY OF VARANASI 27
been carried into captivity, She (Varanasi) had already risen to greatness, if not to glory. Nay, she may have heard of the fame of Soloman, and have sent her ivory, her apes, and her peacocks to adorn his palaces’”
In another place he writes “Benares represents India religiously and intellectually, just as Paris represents the , olitical sentiment of France. There are few cities in the world of greater antiquity, and none that have so uninterruptedly maintained their ancient celebrity and
distinction.’
Dr. Hobert Fael Waxy of the University of Vienna goes a step further. He writes “as a Historian I am in a position to assert that the citizens of Varanasi are pri- vileged to be placed in a divine atmosphere by having taken birth in the lap of Indian civilization, the greatness of which cannot be compared with the history of any other place in the world.” |
And perhaps the last word on the subject has been = said by the Iranian poet Sheikh Ali Hazin, who settled down in Varanasi a little after 1739, and who refused to leave it even to return to his homeland, with his famous couplet which means “I will not leave Benares, because it is a general place of worship, where every Brahman is the son of Ram and Lachhaman.* Not only this, he also asserts that it was at Benares that he found peace. «Sare shorida bar baleen-i-asaish rasid inja”.
1. The Sacred City of the Hindus by Rev. M. A. Sherring p- 7. 2. Preface to the above book p. 1. ; 3. Quoted by Dr. R. B. Pande in his book ‘History of Hinduism’
Page 71. | ‘4. The couplet runs “Az Banaras no rawam Maabad-i am ast inja.
Har Barahman pisare Lachhman-o-Ram ast inja.”
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CHAPTER 2 TRADE AND COMMERCE
We have seen before that Varanasi was already the most important city in Jambudwipa in the Jataka times
according to the Gullala Jataka because of her flourishing ©
commerce and it is but proper to discuss this matter in some detail. As a centre of Vedic culture in the earliest period of its history there was enough cattle wealth in Varanasi to make the city overflow with milk and honey and the granaries of her farmers were bursting with agricultural produce—for how could the city become wealthy otherwise ? |
Handicrafts, another important source of wealth, were considered the very sine-qua-non of respectability. They had a double role to play. On the one hand they utilised the raw material produced by the agriculturists and on the
other they provided them with useful articles; but of this anon.
Later on, quite a number of handicrafts were prevalent in Varanasi in Buddha’s day as we shall presently see and some of these could be looked upon almost as industries. The silk-cloth trade of Varanasi for example: engaged a very large number of artisans and was of such excellence that a single piece thereof fetched a hundred. thousand Karshapans in the distant parts of India and in foreign lands Mahapadma Sutra). ‘Then there were the metal Industry and the manufacture of cotton textiles and woollen cloth. The jewellers of Varanasi were famous too- and so wete the artists who worked in Ivory.
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All these industries and crafts combined to make Varanasi the foremost city in India at the time.
There was another important factor which contributed to the city’s greatness. It enjoyed unusual transport facilities both by the road and river systems. It was also a central market for articles from all over India, and horses from Sindh and elephants from the Himalayan forests were available here at regular well-organised fairs.
There is evidence to show that handicrafts were not conducted merely on an isolated or individualistic basis, but that there were well-organised guilds called Shrenis or Senis. There were eighteen such guilds according to the Jatakas (Jatakas vol. VIp.22) and of these at least four have been definitely mentioned at Varanasi in the Jatakas viz the Vaddhaki Seni, the Kammart Seni, the Chammakar Seni, and the Chittakar Seni, and Gupta period seals of two more Vatanasyatanyaka Shreni and ‘Gavayaka Shreni’ have been discovered in the excavations of 1940 at Rajehat. Each of these Senis had a ‘jeththaka’ as its head, who was an elected official; and who exercised a certain amount of administrative authority recognised by the king. Business- houses too had jeththakas, and in this case they were of special importance — for some of them were taken in the king’s cabinet as ministers (Urag Jataka). Jeththakas also disposed of quarrels between the workmen of their guild.
Then there were business magnates called Shreshthies (giving us the current Hindi epithet Seth), who owned crores and crores of Karshapans as has been already men- tioned and and it was these, who formed the backbone of the City’s commerce. They carried on business
in a large way — arranging to transport huge quantities of —
menchandise across the country in all directions. There is
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mention of Varanasi merchants going to Bharoch from here, and from Sravasti (Gonda District) to Thana and Surat in the south or to Rajgraha in Bihar. Thus one merchant has been mentioned as carrying five hundred bullock — carts laden with red-cloth from Varanasi to Sravasti, but as he could not cross a river on the way he stopped on the wayto sell his ware Dhammapatha Katha). Similarly another Varanasi businessman is found bringing sandalwood from Pratyanta (Paramatha Jataka- Jatakas vol. II p. 523). A Varanasi-merchant is also re- corded as going to Taxilla on a business venture (Dhamma- patha Katha: Vol. Ip. 123). Varanasi also had trade relations with the Cheti Country (modern Bundelkhand) and Ujjain (Jatakas vol. II p. 248 and Vo. III p. 365). The prestige enjoyed by the Shreshthis in society was very great indeed. In fact they received considerable dis- ` tinction at the hands of the King, who very often treated them as friends and maintained social relations with them. King Prasenajit of Kosala actually went in the marriage party of Mrigar Shreshthi’s son and stayed at Saket for severalmonths. Anideaofthewealthofthese Shreshthis can be gathered from the fact that in this very marriage the bride Vishakha’s father Seth Dhananjaya actually got an ornament named ‘Mahalata? made for her costing nine crores and had given her 5400 cart-loads of money for her toilet expenses (Anguttra Nikaya). The bride’s father-in-law had given her one ornament valued at a lac of Karshapans. The bride (Vishakha) had also taken with her five hundred cart-loads o“ copper, silver, and gold vessels each and an equal number of carts carrying silk and other valuable clothes, besides 60000 oxen and an equal number of cows. (Vishakhaya Vaththu of Dhammapad
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TRADE AND COMMERCE 31
Aththakatha). The Varanasi magnate Yasha, who was the first person from Varanasi to embrace Buddhism, is mentioned as owning forty crores (Dhammapaththa Katha).
In the Gupta period, there was at Varanasia guild of merchants owning more than a crore called a ‘Nigama’. Six seals of this institution have been recovered in Rajghat excavations. Three of them give names of their presi- dents as Bharat, Sridatta and Shauryaddhya. |
We must remember that Varanasi lay on the way from the eastern to the western parts of India and most of the businessmen going about east and west visited it on their way to end from their destination. It was also connected by direct roads with all other important centres of the time. Thus we come across frequent mention of business contacts between Varanasi and all the important places in ‘India. It enjoyed the same privilage in the matter of river transport also.
Besides this inland commerce, Varanasi merchants also carried on business across the seas. ‘They carried their merchandise from Varanasito Suvarna Bhumi (South Burmah) by boat via ‘Tamralipti. (Sankha Jataka). Some of these voyages occupied up to six months at a time. Balahassa Jataka mentions a group of five hundred Vara- nasi merchants going to Ceylon by river and sea. Milind- panho actually mentions merchants voyaging to China in connection with business transactions. Journeys to Malaya, Indonesia, and Indo-China were also undertaken (Apadan). In later times this sea-route (V aranasi— Tam- ralipti— Suvarnabhumi — Malaya, Indo-China — China) was a regular means of transport between China and India. On the western side, both land and sea routes were used.
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The highway that joined Tamralipti with Taxilla via Rajgriha and Varanasi continued beyond to Central and Western Asia. (Baveru Jataka). Similarly starting from Bharoch vessels laden with merchandise went up to the Persian gulf. It was by a combination of these western sea and land routes that Varanasi silks and ivory articles reached Babylon, Greece and Rome. The Greeks called Bharoch by the name of Berigaza (Macctindal’s India as described in Classical Literature), which in itselfis an evidence of its contact with Greece. [It also finds a mention in ‘Periplus of the Erythrian Sea p. 40.] Radha Kumud Mukerji actually mentions Indian merchants carrying on trade with Arabia, Egypt, and some other countries of the Mediteranian Sea.
So far as commerce was concerned the transport system was well-organised also. Those trading by land-routes were called Thala-patha-Kammika, while those travelling by tivers and over sea-routes had the designation of Jala- patha-Kammika. Both these groups had their own guilds and their leader was called a Jetthaka or Seththi. These latter were not only wealthy merchants but were also treated as representatives of their guild by the kings, and received honoured treatment and in one Jataka (Vol. V p. 382) one Jeththaka has been called “‘Raja-pujito, Nagar- Janapada-pujito” (Revered by the king and the citizens of the town and the Janapada). In bigger guilds he was assisted by an Anu-Setthi (Deputy Setthi).
These commercial magnates belonging mostly to Grahpati Vaishyas carried on international and inter-state business on their own, there being no international or even inter-state contacts on governmental basis. This _ is suggested by the fact that there is no mention any
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TRADE AND COMMERCE 33
where about kings taking any part in these matters. There is only one reference in which the king of Kosala, Prasen- jit, requested the Magadhan King Bimbisar to send one or two Shreshthis to his Capital as there were none in his kingdom and the latter sent Dhananjaya the famous Shreshthi of his kingdom, who settled down in Saketa and in whose daughter’s marriage Prasenjit was present on the bridegroom’s side as mentioned earlier. The king, how- ever, did realise some sort of octroi on the merchandise at check-posts set up near big cities and at river-crossings.
As the land journeys were very often performed through jungles there was always the danger of dacoits and so several merchants going in one direction combined under the superintendence of a temporary “Sanykuta Jeth- thaka’ (joint-Jeththaka) and elaborate arrangements were made for watch and ward. ‘There is mention of a group
of 500 dacoits in one place and also that the road between
Chedi and Varanasi was infested with them. There was a separate officer called “Thala Niyyamaka’, who was tes- ponsible for camping on the way and for the safety and security of the combined Sarthavaha (Caravan), and who had under him quite an army of watch and ward men. ; Inland commerce dealt with the products of the vatious crafts tobe mentioned subsequently in connection with those crafts, or with agricultural products and animals and Varanasi was a central market forthem all, for example mules and horses from Kamboja, elephants from northern Behar, pedegreed dogs from Kekaya (Valmiki Ramayan), and peacocks and other birds from different places. Cows and bullocks were of course on sale in large
numbers. International commence however, dealt chiefly
3
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34 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
with textiles, specially finesilk, and cotton cloth of Varanasi, the former fetching fabulous prices, shawls of Shivi and blankets from Gandhara, swords and daggers of Dasarna, semi-woollen cloth also from Varanasi. Sandal prepara- tions for the toilet and articles of ivory were also exported from Varanasi. So were gold ornaments and jewellery. Silk cloth embelished with gold and studded with gems, head-dresses for kings made of Kanchana Patta, silk inter- woven with gold thread and embedded with gems were also supplied by Varanasi (Mahapada Sutta, Mahaparinir- vana Sutta), and peacoks and other beautiful birds were also exported.
It was the richness and variety of these articles of commerce at Varanasi which impelled Macaulay, not always a friendly critic, to say “Nor was superstition the only motive which allured strangers to that great metro- polis (Varanasi). Commerce had as many pilgrims as religion. All along the shores of the venerable stream lay gteat fleets of vessels laden with tich merchandise. From the looms of Benares went forth the most delicate silks that adorned belles of St. James’s and of Versailles: and in the Bazars the muslins of Bengal, and the sabres Oudh were mingled with the jewels of Golcunda and the shawls of Cashmere.” [Macaulay’s Warren Hastings]. Obviously he is writing here about the conditions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but Reverend Sherring, already quoted inan earlier chapter, speaks of Varanasi as having pethaps sent her ivory, her apes, and her peacocks to adorn Solomon’s palaces. |
We do not know what articles of import were brought back by our merchants from China, or from South East Asia, nor from Central Asia and southern Europe, for
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these have not found mention in the Jatakas or elsewhere in any detail, but we know that they brought the price of their articles in gold and sometimes in precious stones and corals as well. Obviously these latter could have come only from Central Asia, Burmah and Ceylon.
In local trade and in transactions in India currency was generally used, although barter was also prevalent in small transactions. It would, therefore, be worth- while to examine the system of coinage prevalent in the Buddhist and pre-Buddhist periods.
The most common coin during this period was the Kahapan (Karshapan), which was made of copper and also of silver. The former was being used for petty transactions and the latter, called Rajat also, in bigger business and com- merce. Specimens of both these varieties have been dis- covered in great numbers in archaeological excavations. There were also current Addhakahapan (half Kahapan), Pada (one fourth), and Masak (one twentieth). The price of the copper Kahapan at the time in terms of modern currency has been variously guessed, but the consensus seems to be that its purchasing power at the time was about as much as that of a rupee and a quarter or a shilling as it was before the first world-war. The gold coins were called Hitanja (Hiranya), and the biggest coin in this line was the Nikkha (Nishka), which weighed about ten ounces of pure gold.
An idea about the value of these coins can be gathered
from some of the transactions at the time. A pair of
bullocks cost 24 Kahapans, and a donkey about 8 of them. A bundle of grass cost a Masak and the daily wages of a labourer were a Masak or addha-masak (half-masak). A well-bred horse cost 1000 to 6000 Karshapans.
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A local copper coin bearing the figure of a horse on the obverse and the Ujjani symbol and the words Varanasi in Brahmi script of the first century B. C. has been discovered at Rajghat—but it is not possible to say. whether it was struck by the king or by the Shreshthi- Shreni or Nigama of Varanasi,
Grain was not weighed but measured, and the usual unit was the Nali, which was perhaps equal to 50 ounces or a seer and a half in weight. This measure is even now cufrent in the hill tracts of Almora and is still called Nāli. It is a tubular wooden vessel closed at one end and might have been made of bamboo pieces in earlier times. A smaller unit of weight was the Pattha (Prastha), equivalent to about 8 ounces or 4chhataks anda bigger one Drona. A still bigger unit was called amna, which appears to be the ancestor of the Indian Man (maund of 40 seers) of today.
The above accounts have been gathered from the Jatakas for the most part and cover the period from the sixth to the fourth century B. C. Kautilya’s Artha Shastra enables us to study conditions obtaining later, but as it deals with generalities and has Pataliputra or Rajagriha for its centre, we can say little about Varanasi on that basis. We do, however, gather from that wonderful book the impression that things continued to improve in all spheres during the Mauryan period, and we have evidence to show that this improvement continued, in spite of occasional breaks due to disturbed political situations, tight up to the seventh century A. D., when India had her golden age in the Gupta period.
Archaeological evidence has come forward to support this view. Senis or Shrenis of Craftsmen atu continued.
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and although osily two seals ofsuch institutions have been discovered at Rajghat in 1940 as mentioned earlier the richness and profusion of craft material during this period ensures the existence of other Shrenis too. The Kumbhakar Shreni of potters, which produced such wonderful clay toys and other articles, which are the pride of all import- ant museums, and the Manikar Shreni, the members of which produced such beautiful beads of precious and semi-precious stones, and the Karmakar Shreni which gave us the beautiful jewellery of the period were all at the height of their glory. Then there was the Shreni of Stone-cutters, who developed the famous Varanasi style of sculpture, and samples of whose workmanship can still be seen on the facade of the Dhameka Stupa at Sarnath.
_ During subsequent centuries the arts declined but the Commerce of Varanasi continued to flourish and it was considered a rich city all through the middle ages and even afterwards. Yet later even in the fourteenth century and onwards it was a prosperous city and its silk and brocade industry continued to bring it wealth and fame. Accotding to Ralph Finch (1583-89 A. D.) it was also a market centre for the articles from Bengal, and of course it continued to be a centre for the manufacture of fine cotton cloth too. Yet later (1665) Tavernier observes that Banaras was famous for its brocade, and the far- flung markets of the world were kept full of it. The same was the case with its cotton textiles. Its business in jewellery also continued to flourish.
During the Eighteenth century also the same condi- tions prevailed but in the nineteenth century things went a
little awry consequent on the East India Company flooding —
the market, with foreign material at rates with which the
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38 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
local crafts could not compete. ‘Thus while the bankers and business-magnetes continued to have plenty of money, the craftsmen became poor and continued to grow poorer. ‘The brass-business, however, kept flourishing and thus the commerce as a whole kept its head above water, and in this matter the brocade business also continued to play its ever-important role.
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CHAPTER 3 AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ARTS
In the chapter on Trade and Commerce we have seen the flourishing condition of Varanasi over the ages. We have now to study the various crafts which were respon- sible for this opulence.
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.
The foremost place in this matter has to be given to agriculture and along with it to animal husbandry—the care of animals—specially the cow and its progeny, which were essential for the proper performance of agricultural processes.
As agriculture was the chief occupation in the villages, it was spread all over the country and the number of wealthy farmers was quite substantial. Inthe Vedic times¢ only Vaishyas were connected with this profession and were assisted by the Shudras and Dasyus as workmen, ` but by thetime we reach the Jataka age this caste restrict- ion had broken down and Brahmans had also taken to agriculture. Kashi Bharadwaja Sutra and Samykta Nikaya mention, Kasi Bharadwaja ( a Brahman) carrying on agri- culture with 500 ploughs at a time. Similar other cases are also mentioned in the Jataka literature. Apart from individual holdings, there were also common holdings, called gam-khetta in which there were plots belonging to different families of the village and as the plots wete clearly marked by water-channels or otherwise, the term
joint farming could be applied to them. ‘These different — plots were rectangular or squate and were placed in regular
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40 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
tows, which pleased Buddha so much that he suggested preparation of Chivara (Cloth sheets for the Bhikkhus) on a similar pattern by sewing together small square pieces of cloth of different colours (Vinaya Pitak). The Gamika or Gam Bhojaka(who may be compared to the Gram-Pradhan of today) was specially responsible for these village-farms and he also enjoyed’ certain powers in this connection. Some of these fatms were very extensive indeed and the Suvarana-Kakkata Jataka actually mentions a farm of 1000 Karises (8000 acres according to Maleskar). The agti- cultutal processes of the times were almost the same as obtain today, but the ploughing process-was considered a matter of national importance (Sihachamma Jataka), and the Shakyas actually observed Bappa-mangala, a festi- val of ploughing and sowing, in which a thousand ploughs worked simultaneously and the king himself drove a ‘plough along with his ministers (Jataka-First-Volume- Kausalyayan’s translation p. 75). ‘This fact clearly shows the great importance and even the Status that agriculture enjoyed in those times. ‘The people in general were well Supplied with grain and were happy (Thera Gatha).
Paddy was the chief cropin Eastern U. P. and Magadha at the time and several varieties of these were known and sown. Barley, Kangu (probally Kakuni or Bajra), gram, Mung and Urad, Til (Sesamum), Sarso (mustard), and castor-oil-seeds were also grown. Betels were quite in vogue and along with them betelnut trees were also planted. Sugarcane was extensively grown and Gur . Qaggery) and sugar were also manufactured (Jatakas. _ Vol. TI p. 240). Two diseases of paddy and sugarcane have also been mentioned (Vinaya pitaka). Cotton was also extensively sown—and a very fine variety of it
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND’ ALLIED ART 41
was specially cultivated round about Varanasi, for ‘the manufacture of fine cotton textiles. ( Tundil Jataka). Onions and garlick were also cultivated, so` were bottle- gourds and cucumbers. Fruits received adequate attention, and the gardener of a Varanasi King is said to have had the technical skill of making sour mangoes sweet and vice-vetsa. (Jatakas. Vol. V p. 3). Flowers too were grown for making flower garlands (Vinaya pitaka) by the Malakaras or Pannikas (the present day Malis). Irrigation by the construction of small dams on rivers was carried on in some places but most farmers depended on the rains only. It was, however, the duty of the king to make provision for seeds by the distribution of Bija Bhatta (advance for the purchasing seed like takavi of today). The king levied tax (known as Ranjobhaga)
on land. It was usually collected in the form of one-tenth
of the total farm-produce (Jatakas Vol. II. p. 378); which was later on raised to one-sixth (History and Culture of the Indian People). On suitable occasions the king exempted farmers from paying the tax altogether too.
The cow continued to be treated with respect in that period too and well-to-do persons decorated their cows with bells and covered them with sheets of cloth (Digha Nikaya). Every village had a certain piece of land for gtazing cows, and there were petsons who took cows for grazing on payment (Jatakas Vol. I. p. 193-194). The number of cows kept by individuals, was quite large, the kings owning thousands of them. Mahasudassana Sutta tells us that the king of that name owned eightyfour thousand milch—cows, all covered with cloth and decorated with bells. ‘Thus there was plenty of milk and milk-products in the countty.
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In addition to cows and their protectors there were Ajapals also, who looked after sheep and goats and collected their wool (Jatakas Vol. IV. p. 363).
Crafts
Handicrafts, as already mentioned earlier, had an im- portant role to play in the national life and they command-
ed respect. In Vedic times too crafts were considered —
important and by Panini’s time they had well-defined names, which ate mentioned in his Ashtadhyayi.
The Jatakas, however, give as plenty of information about these crafts and specially about Varanasi’s specialisa- tion in this matter.
In Buddha’s day the craftmanship of the bridegroom was carefully scrutinised before marriages could be fixed up. This was trueat all social levels including the highest — that of Princes. In fact according to Lalita Vistara when Shuddhodana (Buddha’s father) asked Dandpani Shakya for his daughter Bhadra Kalyani’s hand for his own,son Siddhartha (Buddha himself), the latter replied that it was the Kula-dharma (family tradition) of the Shakyas not to marry their daughters with persons who were not proficient in handicrafts and as the Kumara was
not so qualified, how could he marry his daughter to him? The Prince, however, showed his proficiency in several handicrafts and so the marriage was fixed up [Jatakas Vol. I. p. 76]. Proficiency in domestic crafts was also conside- ted essential in the case of girls e. g. handicrafts connected
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[ Lalita Vistara p. 143 ]
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 43
with cotton or wool spinning. (Angathera Nikaya Vol. III. p. 37-38).
A very large number of crafts were in vogue those days, out of which twenty five have been enumerated in the Samanjaphal Sutta of Digha Nikaya, and king Ajata- satru while commenting on this list had actually exclaimed that surely there were many other crafts not enumerated there (ibid). We would, however, consider only those which had importance at Varanasi and in these the craft dealing with spinning and weaving occupies the first place.
Spinning and Weaving and. allied crafts
At Varanasi cloth was made from cotton, Kshauma (thread produced from linseed fibres), and silk, and also from wool (both pure and mixed with one of the above three.) (Maha Sudarsan Sutta of Digha Nikaya 2-4). Varanasi cloth was famous for its fine texture, softness, smoothness, and polish on both sides. In fact the cloth in which Buddha’s body was wrapped after his Pari- nirvana came from the looms of Varanasi and it was so very fine and soft and yet woven so tight that it would not absorb even oil [Maha Parinibbana Sutta’s Commentaty 5, 26]. Varanasi cloth was ‘called Kasi Kuttam or Kasey- yaka or Varanaseyyaka, of even Kasiya. The cotton employed was fine-fibred, the women spinners were clever and the weavers expert in their trade and water of Varanasi soft and well suited for washing the material. Thus the cloth produced was soft and smooth on both sides (Ibid). The Tundil Jataka speaks of cotton culti-
vation neat Varanasi and its processing by women. $ workers— and spinners, Who supplied the fine thread
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44. _.. . VARANASI -DOWN THE AGES
to the city weavers. .Needle-wortk was also done on these cotton textiles and beautiful designs were made. These were called Kasika Suchi Vattha (Jataka Vol. VI. p. 144, 145, 164).
__ Thus far about cotton cloth. To come to silk textiles which were the pride of the city, these wereusually red, or blue, and were soft, fine, and smooth on both sides — þe- sides being well-polished. Some of them were also ador- ned with gold thread and sometimes precious stones were embedded in the fine silk and gold meshes. It was pethaps this variety which fetched the fabulous price of a hundred thousand Karshapans. [Mahapadam Sutta 2.1, Mahaparinibbana Sutta 2.3, and Sangiti Pariyaya Sutta 3.10]. Kanchanpatta (gold-embroidered cloth) was also used for Kings’ headdress—andalso for decorated sheets for covering the royal elephants. Floral and animal designs were also exhibited on them. Blankets made of wool mixed with Kshauma were also made at Varanasi and fetched as much as 500 Katshapans a piece (Maha- bagga 8.1. 4 and 8-2). Mathura was another centre for silk cloth but its products were considered inferior to those of Varanasi and fetched less ptice as has been stated by Patanjali in his Mahabhasya. (2nd centuty B. C.). —
_ Even in the Kushana period Varanasi continued to be famous for its textiles. They wete called ‘Kashika Vastta’, Kashi, or Kashikanshu (Divyavadana pp. 391, 328, 318). The Bhaishjya Guru Sutra in the Gilgit text also tells us that Varanasi textiles were very fine. ‘There was a shop exclusively selling Varanasi cloth at Bharoch. In the Gupta period the craft continued its progress and continued to develop and as mentioned elsewhere formu- lated exclusive and remarkably beautiful designs, which
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 45
can still be seen on the outer casing of the Dhameka Stupa—engraved in Stone. It had now become an art and continued to be so fot several centuries, and even in later times it continued to flourish and brought not only name and fame to the city but also plenty of money— as it continues to do upto the present day in its silk and brocade textiles. > Dying of fabrics was also a sister craft and in the Jataka times the favourite colours used by dyers being various shades of yellow, red, and blue; and cloth was dyed in gold and silver colours too. (Mujjhim Nikaya). This craft was usually in the hands of the Rajakas or Rajakaras (washermen). Tailoring of excellent garments was also . aside-profession carried on by Tunnakaras [Mahabagga; also Kassap-Sechanada Sutta of Digh Nikaya], and their workmanship was of a high order [Vinaju-pitak]. Beautiful ornaments were made of gold by Suvarna- karas (Sonnakaras), and Manikaras, the latter also polish- ing and making precious stonebeads for necklaces. These craftsmen were very rich persons. “Suvarnakaro aham bahudhano” (Therigatha). Various ornaments were made in beautiful designs e.g. Hathattharan (bangles), Muddika (rings), Kundal (Eat-rings of several varieties), Graiveyaka (necklaces ) etc. Precious stones were also
embedded in gold ornaments besides having ‘ekavalies’
made of pearls and beads. This craft continued to
flourish all through the succeeding ages and Varanasi
is even today famous for its beautiful ornaments and precious stone jewellery.
Clever coppersmiths manufactured vessels of different
kinds in copper, bell-metal, and brass. ‘This craft too
continues in its full glory in Varanasi even today, in spite
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46 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
of a keen competition with Mirzapur. The former still | holds the banner in matter of finish and beauty of design, the latter lagging far behind in these respects but exceed- ing in matter of quantity.
The blacksmiths of Varanasi in the Jataka times were very clever too, and Varanasi was at that time famous for its needles. They were light, smooth, well polished, and sharp-pointed, with regular round eyes and easily penetrated the cloth. Fine metal wires (brass and iron) were also a speciality for use in the various musical string instruments. [Suchi-Jataka’ and Jataka Vol. II. p.249]. The Chapakaras or Usukaras made straight and pointed arrows.
There wete also craftsmen who produced excellent ivoty atticles. They were called Dantakaras, and ivory atticles made in Varanasi were exported to foreign coun- tries. We ate also told of a whole locality where these danta-karas lived called the Dantakar Vithi (Jataka Vol. II p. 1977). An ivory seal with a rhinoceros engraving has been recently unearthed in an excavation neat Rome. There .wete only two centres of ivory work- manship in India those days—Varanasi, and the other in one of the western Janapadas. Rhinoceros was found chiefly in the Himalayan forests and so this seal is likely to have been made at Varanasi.
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Then there was a whole village in Varanasi inhabited 3 by a thousand families of carpenters, the Vaddhakigam ) with two jeshthakas controlling five hundred families 4 each, and these craftsmen produced a steady tale of good ~ workmanship.
Artistic earthen vessels were produced on the pottet’s, wheel as today and fine paintings were made thereon.
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 47
So were a large variety of earthen pottery and perhaps toys too, which developed over the ages and gave us the beauti- ful terra-cotta figurines of the Shunga and Gupta periods, and as mentioned elsewhere Varanasi still holds the pride of place in this craft. |
_ There was another important craft in Varanasi, which brought it fame. It was preparation of toilet articles from sandalwood. Kasi-Chandan and Kasi-Vilepana are the terms used and although we do not know the precise form of these preparations, we can safely say that they
were intended for the decoration of the body and for `
toilet purposes. We know that fine sandal powder and scents made from sandalwood were being ardently sought after by the ladies of China and one need not be susrprised if they went there from Varanasi. ‘There is mention of a Varanasi merchant going to Pratyanta (South India) to purchase five hundred cartloads of sandal wood (Para- pashtha Jataka Vol. IT p. 523), and that could give us an idea of the scale on which this craft was carried on.
As mentioned earlier there were many other crafts producing articles needed in daily life, which it is not necessary to enumerate. It is, however, important to emphasise that most of the crafts continued in later centu- ries also at Varanasi and continue even to day, their quality rising and falling from age to age and from century to century. Beautiful silk and brocade textiles are still made at Varanasi— but the fine cotton fabrics have dis- appeared. Dying and washing of these delicate textiles is still a speciality here. Jewellery and ornaments, specially those set with gems, continue to enjoy a place of honour
and tothat craft has been added the art ofenamelling, and
the red-enamel on gold ornaments, produing a wonderful —
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+ te Ie an fede
48 `. VARANASI DOWN THE AGES--
effect is Varanasi’s speciality today and has been for the | last three centuries. Brass and copper utensils of excellent | quality are still manufactured and to these have been added 4 | those made of silver, which too ate quite artistic and have r left behind Lucknow in this sphere, though, Nasik still remains heads and shoulders above Varanasi in this matter, | Varanasi no longer enjoys fame in iron-mongering—and the famous needles of Varanasi have ceased to be manu- factured, but wires forthe musical string instruments are | still made. Ivory articles, however, continue to be made but they are now inferior to those of South India, nor are there many craftsmen in the line at Varanasi. Kasika- |
. chandan has also ceased to be an article of export from | Varanasi, but the art. of clay-modelling still exists and articles and toys par excellence are stil] made—and even the clay pots and small cups of Varanasi remain altogether unbeaten in Northern India. They ate so thin and so light and yet so strong, producing a metallic sound when smashed.
Allied Art R |
Having given a detailed account of the development — : of crafts in Varanasi and their intrinsic qualities. We have now to consider several of them from the att point | of view.
A craft remains a craft only so long as it serves a uti- litarian purpose, but the moment its handiwork creates some sort of an emotional excitement, it transcends into art, and attains immortality. Some such process has been going on in the s phere of some crafts in Varanasi.
The first and foremost in this sphere may be considered
to be the brocade industry.. We have seen that cotton _
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 49
and silk fabrics were a speciality of this city in the sixth and seventh centuries before Christ. We have also seen that gold and silver work and occasionally precious- stone work thereon was also prevalent at the time and some of these beautiful pieces of cloth fetched as much as a hundred thousand Karshapans. We have no means now to study the various designs on these fabrics and have to be content with the knowldge that they exhibi- ted floral and animal designs, which were occasionally decorated with studded gems. As time went on and this art continued to develop, even better things must have been produced and the zenith of workmanship was reached in the Gupta period (Std to 7th century A. D.). By that time the craft had already developed into an art and the designs were not only beautiful but also transcendent. According to the great art connoisseur Dr. Vasudeva Sharana Agrawal “The textile designs were transferred on to stone with great fidelity, as in the covering at the Dhameka Stupa (at Sarnath). The variety and richness of the decorative motifs consisted of intricate scroll work, floral designs, rising cteepers with intetlacing filaments, figures of human beings, Yakshas, birds and animals, and many kinds of geometrical patterns. These motifs demonstrate the un- usual mastery in covering wide areas with decorative patterns of exceeding charm, conceived in right harmony and proportion.” We do not know how long this artistic excellence continued, for there are no specimens of this work available, but one is persuaded to think that like all other atts so exquisite during the Gupta period, this art too declined during the later centuries. Brocades of great Oe
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50 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
beauty were still made in Varanasi and the nobles and Princes all over India praised them and used them but the old spirit was perhaps less prominent.
There was, however, a revival during the Moghal period and Tavernier has praised itin words of admiration. The motifs now changed. They were now borrowed from the Kashmiri Shawls and the corners specially imi- tated the Shawl embroidery. Beautiful floral designs once again came into fashion and birds - specially peacocks, were often employed as a motif. Hunting scenes and earden-scenes were also depicted. This progress conti- . nued for several centuries and one could see these designs being made till about a hundred years ago. One critic Forbes Watson wrote in 1866 “of the variety and beauty of the patterns produced in India by the combination in the loom of silk, gold and silver, only a faint idea can be obtained from the specimens given in this book.” (The Textile Manufactures and Costumes of the People of India).
Early in the present century an attempt was made to create the effect of a painting by employing silk threads of varied colours, which gave the impression of light and shade and thus viewed from a few yatds the fabric appeated.to be a print rather than a brocade. In this too gold and silver threads were employed as ornamenta- tion. Yet later, fashions demanded only silk workman- ship and it came to the fore.
Latterly, since the disappearance of gold from the scene altogether and the price of silver touching new heights, plastic thread producing gold effect has come -into vogue, which has altogether deprived the fabrics of artistic delicacy and made it entirely bizarre. Art seems to
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 5t
have now found its grave and pure and simple craft holds the market. Occasionally, however, some old craftsmen still produce artistic material and design—and the old art still lingers in these rarer specimens, but there is no gold ot silver in the threads, they are made of gilt copper wire and so tarnish and turn black after some time.
Sculpture
No stone icons dating before the Mauryan era have come to light so far. We have, therefore, to begin our description of this craft from that period. Several ex- cellent specimens of that period have been discovered but one is not sure if they were manufactured at Varanasi or have reached here as travellers. In the Shunga period, however, stone was being definitely used for artistic ex- pression in Varanasi itself and several Shunga railing- pillars have been discovered at Sarnath. Even during the Mautyan period work on stone had already risen from the stage of craft to that of art and the Shunga sculptures catried forward that tradition. About twentyfour miles from Varanasi there is an archaeological site at Agiabir and several Shunga headswere found there. In Varanasi itself a beautiful image of Balarama was discovered near Rajghat and is now in the Bharat Kala Bhavan Museum. During the Kushana period a colossal Bodhisatva image made of spotted red sandstone of Mathura was dedicated at Sarnath but it seems to have been manufactured at Mathura because its donor Bhikshu Bala himself
was a resident of that city and he donated a similar statue
to Jetavanarama at Sahet Mahet. No sculptures of the Bharshiva period seem to be now available, but till the early years of the nineteenth century a stone horse was in
tw riwu vied.
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52: - VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
existence at the Rajendra Prasad Ghat, which is still called Ghora-ghat because of that sculpture, but no one seems to know what became of it. ‘That horse marked the site of
the ten Ashwamedhas petformed by the Bharshiva Kings.
referred to in the famous Bharshiva stone-inscription.
During the Gupta period, however, there was a general upsurge of artistic excellence and this art too seems to have blossomed forth with great vigour, and superb specimens of sculpture were made at Varanasi. Here it may be em- phasised that the excellence of these specimens clearly proves that they do not represent the efforts of novices. They are masterpieces and as such quite several centuries of hard work must have preceded their execution. We may, therefore, conclude that even though few specimens of the earlier centuries of the Christian Era are available at Varanasi, the art was not only in existence but was slowly and surely developing.
In the Gupta period itself the artists were already master craftsmen producing masterpieces. Quite several of these are on exhibition at the Bharat Kala Bhavan and at the archaeological museum at Sarnath. These give positive evidence of the development of a clearcut school of sculpture, which has been called the Varanasi School. In the words of Dr. V. S. Agrawal “We find here a new inspiration for plastic form, decorative design, architect- ute, and above all, for exquisite figurative representa- tions of both Buddhist and Brahmanical affiliations”.
Sevetal hundred exquisite figures in this style and of this period have been discovered at Varanasiin several patts of the city and could be seen at the Bharat Kala
Bhavan, but we would mention here only a few of the 3
best.
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ones eee es
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 53.
First of all there is the beautiful figure of Skanda discovered near the Mahatha Ghat, which was perhaps worshipped in the Skandesvara Temple of Pishangila Tirtha, from where it was removed when the iconoclastic avalanche descended on Varanasi in 1194 A. D. It can now be seen at the Bharat Kala Bhavan.
Then there is the superb figure of Govardhandhari Krishna, retrieved from inside the Bakaria Kund lake, where it had been thrown after mutilation perhaps in the Same year. It must have been installed there in one of the important temples of that locality, many of which still survive as mosques or Mausolea. ‘This too is now in the main gallery of the Bharat Kala Bhavan.
Thus far the images of Brahamanical leanings. In regard to the Buddhist masterpieces of the period there are quité a number of them at the archaeological museum at Sarnath but the best among them, which could be the pride of any school of art, is the image of Buddha seated in Padmasana and adorned with a lotus halo. ‘To quote Dr. V.S. Agrawal “The smiling introvert expression proper to a Yogin in his ecstatic experience of Samadhi or mental illumination is of abiding charm. It is an eloquent testimony to the genius of the master sculptors of Varanasi, who were responsible for the beauty of foim and richness of design and motif witnessed in the works attributed to this School.”
The decorations of the Dhammekhe Stupa have been
placed in this period and as has been said earlier provide
an excellent example of the attainments of the Varanasi School of Sculpture in the sphere of designs and figure work. . Unfortunately most of these carved stones have
‘Bie
been lost but those that still remain offer a “feast forthe — SAE
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EN ÈY SNA
54. VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
eye in the matter of decorative and symbolical designs of utmost richness. The coalescing meanders of the horizontal creepers with their crests and troughs enclosing different figures are shown encircling the Stupa in bold sweeping movement and appearas the richly embroidered girdle round the middle portion of the divine Stupa, which in truth symbolises the body of the Maha-Buddha, whose images in the Gupta period were sometimes as high. as 100 or 150 feet” (V. S. Agrawal).
The symbolism of these decorations has exercised the mind of many an art critic and they have invariably gasped in wonder at this representation of eternal truths and philosophical principles in stone.
In centuries after Harsha this artistic excellence started fading but specimens of stone-work even upto the ninth century continued to be impressive e. g. image of Varaha popularly known as Tamra Varaha in the locality known as Nilkantha neat Brahmanal and the image of Ganesha in the Bharat Kala Bhawan, obtained from Dehli Vinayak atea. Some specimens of the tenth century also exhibit beauty,but thereafter there was a definite decline, although sporadic excellencies did appear now and then. As a result of the conquest of Varanasi by Kutubuddin Aibak artistic life of this great city suffered a serious setback and images constructed during the thirteenth and foureenth centuties show a further decline (vide the image of Brahma at’ the Brahmaghat). The form is there but the soul is lost. There- after sculptureas an art almost perished even though stone craft continued and continues evennow. This was true not only of Varanasi but of art as such all over northern India: It seems as if the creative originality and spiritual outlook petished with the country’s independence.
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ee Aiea D Cema SS eS a,
Š oe es ee ee ee ee eee eee, — (|
AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 55
In regard to the temple architecture old material is almost non-existent. The earliest temples in northern India date from the Gupta period. TIwoof themhavebeen preserved -one at Bhitargaon in Kanpur District and the other at Bhitinear Allahabad. Both these are made of bricks, there being no stonework of any kind in them. The bricks, however were very ornamental and some- times had human figures on them but they have become mutilated and besides donot concern this account. The earliest temple — somehow preserved at Varanasi—is the Kardamesvara temple at Kandwa, near the Benares Hindu University. It was built in the tenth century and isa noble fane. Unlike temples of Southern India, the temples of the north are not very elaborate structures. There is the sanctum sanctorun under the main spire with four doors on the four sides. ‘The lingam is in the centre in the case of Siva temples and the icon is placed along one of the walls in. the case of other deities. Round the temple there is usually a covered Pradakshinapatha in the case of bigger temples and also a hall in front called the Sabha Mandapa. ‘This is the general pattern. Itis on record, however, that an elaborate temple the Karna Meru was also built at Varanasi in the eleventh century. Two large temples of Padmesvara and Manikarnikesvara were built in 1302 but we donot know any thing about their construction details. All the three were, however demo- lished by the Muslim rulets.
In 1194 A. D. all temples of Varanasi were pulled down and this process continued till 1669, during which period there were five waves of wholesale destruction. The first temple a portion of which has been preserved, is the
CC-0. Mumukshu Bhawan Varanasi Collection. Digitized by eGangotri see
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Visvesvara temple at Gyan Vapi (1585 A. D.)—and the E
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56 VARANASI DOWN THE. AGES
richness of its workmanship jis self-evident. All other temples-that exist were built after 1735, and they exhibit but the decayed art of stone-cutting. Perhaps the best specimen of Varanasi workmanship during this period can be seen in a small temple built a little more than a hurdred years ago—the Putliwala Shivala in the Dhun- dhiraja Gali. It shows very good craftsmanship but it is difficult to accept it as a piece of art. Painting 3 The earliest examples of painting in India have been obtained from Mohenjodato, where an urn has been discovered with beautiful paintings thereon. Other pieces of tetra-cotta have also been found there in plenty with angels, birds painted on brown terra-cotta surface in black. | | | We have also seen that in the Buddhist period beauti- ful pictures of men and women wete painted on house walls and also on wooden planks in Varanasi itself by Rajakas or Rajkats but there is no mention of painting on papet. We also know that there are some paintings inthe Jogimara Caves, which have been attributed to the third century B.C. During the Shunga period literary evidence tells us that portraits of the bride and the bride- groom were occasionally used to celebrate marriages by proxy. Vasavadatta having eloped with Udayana, King of Kaushambi, her father completed the religious rites of the marriage cetemoney with the help of their portraits. Patanjali too mentions paintings of Krishna Lila in his Mahabhashya—written in that period. It is also accepted that the earliest Ajanta Cave paintings date from the Shunga petiod and that work there continued right up to the end of
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 57
the 6th century A.D. It would not be very presumptuous, therefore, to suggest that painting asa craft in the hands of the Rajakas or Rajakaras of Varanasi was also progress- ing in Varanasi and in the Kasi Janapada during those distant centuries and may have attained the status of an att. This view is strengthened by the presence of painted Earthenware—specially those beautiful terra-cotta figurines of the Gupta period discovered at-Rajghat in 1940. Some of these have still preserved the colour and fine line paint- ing on them. “The Sari of a female figure is painted in ‘wavy bands of red and white, and the breast-band is indi- ‘cated in black. On the figure of a small boy the short knickers ate marked by vertical bands in alternating colours. Both these styles are shown in the Ajanta paintings also. On some female heads the painter has indicated in: fine black lines the hair on the head, and ornaments such as armlets, torques, and necklaces falling on the breasts. In others the eyebrows and the lines of the eyelids are marked” [V. S. A. in Illustrated Weekly]. 7
It seems ccrtain, therefore, that the art of painting had ‘developed and grown at Varanasi side by side with other atts during the intervening centuries since the Buddhist times and was flourishing as such during the Gupta period. -In fact the similarity of design on the Sari of the female figurine and the knickers of the small boy, with similar ‘designs in Ajanta might suggest 2 common source. It -was not very easy for the Varanasi artists to have seen the Ajanta paintings and the employment of the same style and colour scheme at both the places might turn out to
be an evidence of painters from Varanasi having had ae their hand at Ajanta. ie
4. as
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mere T A Aro a Uk outst EEN
58 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
There is literary evidence on the point of paintings on terra-cotta during this period in Kalidas’ Shakuntala. Chittrita mrittika mayuram (painted clay peacock) and the adjective vatna-chittrita, ensure the painting of clay figures in natural colours. The art of painting in this sphere had thus already attained considerable heights.
Plenty of evidence is available that painting as an art continued to flourish all over India from the Shunga period right up to the twelfth century A. D. Paintings in the Ellora caves cover the eighth century and the Chittra Sutra of the Vishnu Dharmottara Purana (Eighth century . A.D.) gives full details about the theory and practice of painting. Bhavabhuti in his Uttar Ram Charita bases the story on the presentation of paintings on the wall depict- ing scenes from Rama’s life. There ate similar stray evidences showing that the art of painting was in the
ascendant during the early mediaeval period. In 1129
Somesvara Bhupati Chalukya wrote a book “‘Manasollas’’, in which there is a long chapter on the art of painting, giving full details about the technique and material employed.
It seems, however, that the era of classical wall paintings came to an end with the early mediaeval period and there- after the artists used palm-leaves and wooden covers of _ religious books for the display of their art. Thelong tradi- tion of painting and its recognised excellence in the Gupta. period must have ensured its continued development in subsequent centuries, and when paper became common these masters must have exercised their art thereon. This is, however, only a presumption as no paintings. of this period by the Varanasi artists have been wise discovered.
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The earliest known example of painting on paper ‘belonging to Kashi Janapada area is an illustrated manu- script of the Jaina Kalp-Sutra, now in a Jain a library at Ahmedabad. ‘This was painted in 1465 A. D. at Jaunpur during the reign of Hussain Shah Sharqi and shows some originality of style over the Apabhramsa School, suggest- ing “the existence of an independent court style.” (Rai K. Das). Now, specialised styles are not created in aday. ‘They are result of prolonged activity. It is thus clear that the Apabhramsa School of painting was current in what had once been Kashi Janapada, during the centuries previous to the fifteenth century A. D., and Varanasi could not have remained innocent of the art being prac- tised at Jaunpur. We have, however, no firm evidence. Almost a century later was painted another manusctipt that of Mrigavati, now in Bharat Kala Bhawan, which shows further developmental characteristics. “T his sup- posed court style (of the Sharqi court at Jaunpur) gave tise to certain far-reaching results as manifested in the Mrigavati illustrations. Thus the importance of the con- -tribution of this part of the country to the revival of the att of painting, which fully developed in Rajasthan during the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries can be assessed as a tesult of this discovery” (Rai Krishan Das). fe: We would, thus see that Varanasi and its neighbouring town of Jaunpur had an important place in the develop-
ment of painting, although it later on blossomed forth in
profusion far away in Rajasthan and Nalanda. 2 enth century onwards,
From the beginning of the eighteenth ds, however, painting seems to have found its soul in Varanasi
proper too, for there is in the Bharat Kala Bhawan collect-
ions a painting showing Mir
Rustam Ali the then governor
60 VARANASI DOWN. THE 'AGES\ -
of Varanasi (1731-1737 A.D.) celebrating the Holi Festival. (See illustration) This pieceshows the existence ofa Provin- cial Moghal Style of painting existing in the second quarter of the eighteenth century at Varanasi. Soon afterwards one of the Moghal princes fell into disgraceat Delhiand came to live in Varanasi between 1784 and 1789 A. D. under the protection of the East India Company, and with him came his court painters headed by Lalji Mal Musavvir. This latter was a scion of the famous house of Niddhamal so assiduously sought after by the Peshwa. He was a master of the then existing Moghal School, and laid the founda- tions of that School in Varanasi by initiating Sardar Sikkhi in its tenets. Sikkhi was followed by his son Ustad Mulchand and the latter was succeeded by his talent- ed son Ustad Ram Prasad, who excelled his ancestors and was indeed a great master not only of the Moghal School but also of the Company School. Fortunately his son Sharada Prasad has kept up the family tradition and is pet- haps the sole representative of the Moghal School of ‘painting in India today. MARE ` mE Soon after 1764 A. D. Varanasi came under the influ- ence of the East India Company by the grant of Diwani to it and in consequence ‘the Company School of painting soon claimed it as its centre. This School was the result of European painters training Indian painters in the art of water-colour painting, in order to procure paintings of scenes from Indian life. Soon this School supplemented. the local styles and even the later Moghal style prevalent in these parts because of the royal patronage of the East India Company. ore During the nineteenth century this new style was the
ctaze, and most of the Varanasi gentry patronised it, At `
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Ram Nagat the Banaras Court was at that time presided ovet by Maharaja Ishwari Prasad Narain Singh—the great connoisseur and patron of all that was good and great. His court painters Dallu Lal and his disciples Lal Chandra and Gopal: Chandra have given us a large number of paintings showing scenes fromthe court life of the Banaras Darbar. There were also at the time some artists, who specialised in the art of painting beautiful designs on the walls, and the most famed among these was Julla Miyan. It was a prevalent fashion those daysto get the inner walls of rooms of houses and temples decorated by these wall paintings, and some excellent specimens of these existed till about fifty years ago..
Early in the ptesent century the Tagore School of painting took its birth in Bengal, and soon it travelled to Varanasi and had its influence on Ustad Ram Prasad too, the then unquestioned King of Varanasi painters. His Omar Khayyam paintings clearly show this influence. A little later came Sri Kedar Sharma on the scene, who modified the Tagore tradition by his own individuality and imparted this new style to alatge numberof admiring pupils.
It would be invidious to name the present-day masters in this sphere at Varanasi and so one has to be content with saying that not only are there several stars of considerable brilliance but that there is a gallaxy of tising brilliants too. 7
Clay Work
Ancient clay work from ite mee ta S period upto the Gupta period has been excavated at Varanasi and is availablefor inspection not only at the Bharat Kala Bhawan
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62 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
but also in the museums at Allahabad and Lucknow. An old site near Varanasi—Agiyabir—has yielded beauti- ful terra-cotta heads of the ‘Shunga and Kushan periods.. Dighwat, Prahladpur, Hathibarni, Hingutar and several other old sites have also made their contribution in this sphere—and on this basis it can be safely asserted that Varanasi Kumbhakaras were producing masterpieces in those ages also in continuation ofthe artistic articles men- tioned in Jatakas. |
By the Gupta period, however, this art had reached the acme ofits achievement and clay figurines of this period discovered at Rajghat are sheer ‘jewels’ in this line. Not only this, their number exceeds two thousand and the area from which they have been recovered is quite small. Thus the fecundity of the workmen of this period is also a noteworthy feature.
The colour scheme on some of these superb figurines of -
the Gupta period has been already discussed earlier but the figurines themselves are yet to be described. This is important for two reasons. Firstly because they represent the highest standard of achievement in this art—not only in Varanasi but anywhere in India, or outside, and secondly because they give us some idea of the social life of those - days. ‘They display several varieties of dresses and the hair-styles of the Gupta period. This latter is their specia- lity. “The faces, combining elegance of features with got- geous arrangement of hair on the head, constitute a gallery for the study of the beautiful types admired in that age”. (V.S.A.). It would not be wrong to say that each oneof
these figurines isa poem in itself—a lyricof extreme beauty. _
In the words of a learned art critic “we find in them specimens of Alaka Coiffure shown in the form of frizzled
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 63
locks arranged on the two sides of the Central Kesa Vithi. Women in the Gupta period had a fondness for this hair style as Kalidasa very often describes Alaka to be the mark of a beautiful face.” “Scholars have already observed the gorgeous wig like arrangement of hair on the clay figurines of the Gupta period. There are some excellent specimens showing a hair style in the form ofa peacock feather turn- ing at the ends and arranged on thetwo sides ofthe central , ` parting. A straight sweep starting from the simanta. ends in volutes. This is described by the epithet barba- bhara Kesa in Meghaduta. The style imparts a princely dignity to the face. ‘The aristocratic appearance is height- ened by full round eyes, a prominent nose, full lips and prominent cheeks. Of special interest are those female heads, in which the hair-style resembles a honey-comb.
In some figurines the hair is tied in a single or triple
top-knot, which is interwoven with a flower garland and fastened with pearl festoons. About six figurines show a style of coiffure in which the right side consists of matted locks and the left half of spiral curls. These may be re- garded as heads of the Parvati-Paramesvara type combin- ing the male and the female forms of the deity.” (V. S. A.). All these figurines are representations of common: men and women, of princesses and princes. There are drummers and instrument players, and so many representa- tions of other vocations. For example an extremely beautiful woman is enraptured in playing ona small drum. A boy is partaking of some eatable held in his right hand. There is also a beautiful plaque representing a woman swinging on a swing suspended from the branches of an Ashoka tree. “The rich ornamentation of the female figurine consists of a very attractive chhanua vira in front,
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z Me — WAE ý > . = ma FN an PON S ~~
64 i VARANASI. DOWN THE AGES
an ekavali of pearls round the neck, a /atanka kundala (round ear-ring) in the left ear and bangles on the atms and legs. This piece of art reflects the culture of the age with its emphasis on love of nature and sylvan sports” (see illustration). There is also a plaque showing dancing dampati figures and a fragmentary terra-cotta represents a woman holding “a mango branch in the right hand and tempting a Krida-Shuka (a pet parrot ) to nibble at the fruit.” “A circular plaque shows a Kinnara-Mithuna (a pair of centaurs). Another shows a hunter feeding gtass to a deer. He has a short dagger attached to his girdle. He wears a heavy coat gathered on the sleeves and unbuttoned on the chest.” (V. S. A.).
It is not possible to do justice to these beautiful speci- mens of this Varanasi plastic art by word descriptions and the truth of the old dictum that things seen are mightier than things heard strikes one with greater force than ever in this regard.
Like all other aspects of art this art too declined after the seventh and eighth centuries and the idyllic beauty of figures was lost, though clay figures of all varieties and representing the life and its interests inthe various subse- quent periods continued to be made and exhibited. One fact, however, has to be emphasised that in spite of this decline Vatanasi continued to enjoy supremacy in this art even in those dark days, and even today Varanasi produces clay toys, which are matched only by those produced at
Krishnanagar in Bengal. Even Lucknow with its tradi- tion of realism and in spite of its School of Art has not Succeeded so fat in coming up to the standards of this popular craft of Varanasi. ‘This latter city exports its Clay-toys all ovet Northern India, specially on the
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AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, AND ALLIED ART 65
occasion of the Dipawali festival even today. During the nineteenth century the toy-makers of Varanasi made an effort to image the Maharaja of Benares—Maharaja Iswari Prasad Narain Singh—and succeeded wonderfully in producing his majestic likeness. Later they made images of Maharaja Sir Prabhu Narain Singh also. In the present century there was an effort to make the images of five literary giants of Varanasi—Kabir, Tulsidas, Bharatendu Harishchandra, Prem Chand, and Prasadaji. Excellent copies of the Lion Capital—the National emblem—ate being produced too. |
Varanasi had been celebrating a very large number of festivals throughout the year and for each festival there
used to be a particular clay figute—a toy or the image of -
a deity. Thus one could get that toy or that image only on that occasion and not at any other time. This specialis- ation still continues but to an abated extent.
Brass-Ware
We have seen’ earlier that Varanasi workmen pro- duced very good articles made of brass and bell-metal in the Buddhist period and have occasionally come across brass and copper articles belonging to the period third century B. C. to sixth century A.D. It is difficult to say when this craft attained the status of an art. Some beautiful images of deities both male and female have been discovered in excavations and they certainly empha- sise the artistic aspect of this craft, but these specimens are few and far between. Itis difficult, therefore to build an edifice of this craft as an art, and so it has to be left an open question to be decided by further research. One
thing is, however, certain that in South India this craft did —
5 :
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attain the status of an Art quite early and the chances are that as aresult of further research we may place Varanasi metal work also in that category.
In regard to recent times Varanasi specialised in this sphere of brasswate quite several centuries ago and attained considerable excellence. It also developed ,its own parti- cular shapes and styles. As mentioned earlier there seems to have been some sort of a competition between Varanasi and the neighbouring town of Mirzapur in this industry and it appears that while the latter exceeded in the commercial sphere, Varanasi excelled on the artistic side. That position obtains even now. ‘There isa better organised brassware industry at Mirzapur but the handi- work there is crude and inartistic. Varanasi on the other hand still produces excellent specimens of brasswaré and not on an insignificant scale. One has only to see the Thatheri Bazar (Brassware market) on the Dhanteras day to be convinced of this reality.
Writers on Indian arts and industries have sometimes called this craft in its modern setting an art but the present writer would prefer to call it an industry rather than an art, even though some excellent and artistic arti- cles have been and are being produced‘by Varanasi work- men even today. |
Enamelling of brassware has also been a speciality of Varanasi for the last two centuries and some excellent Specimens of it can be seen in the drawing tooms of European nobility in Europe and even in the Buckingham Palace—but only inferior specimens ate available at Vatanasi itself, and the articles now being produced do not deserve the title of being artistic.
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Wooden Toys
What has been said about brasswate above is even truer of wooden toys. RRA
Quite decent toys of wood are made at Varanasi and some of them show originality too. Formerly they were in great demand because they were tougher and could stand wear and tear at the hands of children to a greater extent than earthen toys, but the medium of their construction being harder it was not always possible to provide finer finish and look to the images so made. The faces could
hardly ever attain the excellence of clay toys and no ‘ex-
pression’ could be created in them. They remained, there- fore, toys for children only. Foreigners praised the round. boxes and other articles of that type for theit original fine ~ lacquer work but since the end of the last centuty flowers and other designs are being painted on them, which: have, if anything, reduced their original indigenous beauty. Greaves writing about this says “Practically all the toys are turned. At present, however, a rage is setting in for painting flowers etc. on these toys, to theno small detri- ment of their artistic worth.” (Kashi the City Illustrious or Benares by Edwin Greaves p. 26.).
Obviously he is speaking of the “turned”? varieties, but the other vatiety representing deities, men, women, animals, and birds do not deserve this opinion. There is an effort at fine workmanship and the miniature animal figurines are quite beautiful and well made. Latterly musical Band-sets and other modernisms have been in-
ith good effect. i
ae oan i haere but a craft— nothing less and nothing more. 5 ;
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CHAPTER 4 MUSIC AND DANCING
Music has been subdivided into vocal and instrument- al and we find that both of these in their varied manifest- ations were well known to the Rigvedic Aryans.
In regard to the former there is ample evidence in the Rigveda itself to prove that not only rhythm and cadence but also the seven notes of music were known and that this knowledge applied to both forms of music—vocal and instrumental. The number of melodies known to the Aryans in the Vedic times was quite large. Indeed R. Simon has computed it at 8000, and each melody had its own name. | |
The Udatta, Anudatta, and the Svarita,. the three ori- ginal Vedic Svaras, had already yielded the now well- known seven notes of music. A Rigvedic poem clearly mentions this knowledge, although it was quite late in the day that Panini”, Narada,” and Yajnavalkya? codified. this development. The Sama Veda, with its Upaveda—the Gandharva Veda—was essentially a music-
(1) “ale agda qais area acrarghesra:” : [ Rigveda X. 32.4 ] Translated by Griffith thus : “Where the herd’s mother counts as first and best of all, and round her are the seven-toned people of the choir” [ Griffith’s Rigveda Vol. IV p. 167 ] (2)a Sata FATTER Atal ATTA | ELEGEK EIRG] GEqHeAATAAT: I «Udatta means and includes Ni and Ga; anudatta Ri and Dha; and Svarita Sha, Na, and Pa.”
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MUSIC AND- DANCING 69
al lexicon.’ C. V. Vaidya observes that the modern Ragas or arrangements of different notes could.be easily equated with “the different Samans, named after a typical song (the cha/a of Indian music)” and their names are a
legion “ʻe. g. Varuna, Sambhara, Brahma, Rathantara, —
Vinardi, Yajna-Yajniya, Yodhejaya etc.”. Of these Rathan- tara was known to Rigveda. .So was Brihat.
In regard to instrumental music there were several musical instruments in use during the Rigvedic times. In fact all the three recognised groups of instruments viz. those of percussion, wind, and string were there. There is not only a clear mention of Dundubhi® (drum), the Karkari# (lute), the Vana® (harp or lyre) and the
Breage eae rs (Db “sai, Aaa | geg afanan: Veet aeaa TAAT: NN"
«The high toned [ udatta ] means and includes Ni and Ga; the low toned ( anudatta ), Ri and Dha; while the rest Sha, Ma, and Pa are derived from Svarita.” na
(Qc “iail À RM: AANSTAAN: FART: | yaa fata: aa Sena: AT: UI”
<The self same seven Svaras beginning with Sa as employed in the Gandharva Veda ( Science of Music ) are to be understood as being implied in the three Svaras of the Vedas, beginning with Udatta.”
[ Ancient Indian Education by R. K Mukerji pp. 63-64 ]
(3) iaai aa waaay Sgt [ Rigveda I. 28.5]
«Here give Thou. forth thy clearest sound loud as the drum ~
of conquerors. [ Griffith’s Rigveda Vol. I Page 48 ] 4) agaaa aaa waar ee [ Rigveda II. 43.3]
«When flying off thou singest, thou art like a lute.” [ Griffith’s Rigveda Vol. I. p. 404 ]
-< j
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AAE
Aega ees MADS
‘10 VARANASI DOWN’ THE AGES
Nadi® (flute),-but there is a full appreciation of their various notes,”
Of these the Dundubhi had two varieties. One was the mobile Dundubhi of which the body was made of baked clay and the two ends were covered with stretched hide. This was a precursor of the present Pakhavaj and Mridanga. ‘The other variety was immobile. A cylindrical pit in the gtound was covered with a stretched hide of a bullock with the tail intact. This has given us the big Nagaras— SO common in the temples. It was beaten with the tail of the hide mentioned above. — |
_ The lute- has given us so many instruments of our time, in conjunction with the Vana. This latter had many varieties and many shapes. Ithada variable number of sttings—from five to a hundred—and its narne was deter- mined by their numbér. Thus we had Panch-tantriki Vana Vina, Ekadash-tantriki-Vina and so on. Its shape too varied. The Gupta Emperor Samudra Gupta actually had a gold coin struck in which he was shown playing on
(5) “amaai gais area aag RESA: SE | [ Rigveda X. 32. 4 ] ‘Where the herd’s mother counts as first and best’ of all, and round her are the seven-toned people of the choir.” [ Griffith’s Rigveda Vol. IV. p. 167 ] (6) “qara stad aretarmnfa: fga: [ Rigveda X. 135. 7] Here minstrels blow the flute for him : here he is glorified with songs.” $ [ Griffith’s Rigveda Vol. IV p. 376 ] (7) Please see foot note (5) above.
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MUSIC -AND DANCING: - Tt
a multi-stringed-Vana Vina. Panini has mentioned a Bahu-tantriki Vina (4.4.55).
The Vana-Vina with a hundred strings was enjoined to be played on the occasion of the Maha Vrata Yajna—and was thus a reality and not an exaggerated exhuberance of the poet. In fact the modern Kashmiri instrument ‘Shantur’ is a direct descendant of that Vina.
The Nadi has .given us the Bansuri—and even in
Vedic times it was made of bamboo tubes - and the Shahnai, which literally means the ‘king of bansuris’, and which has been further elaborated in modern times. Incidentally this latter instrument is a Varanasi speciality.
The conch was also a wind instrument played on all festive and warlike occasions—and has given us the trumpet. `- ;
From the above account it would be clear that music held an important place in those early days. It was an essential part of worship—specially on the occasion of the various Yajnas. In fact the very classification of the Vedas was based on this basis. All poetical Mantras were gather- ed in the Rigveda; all musical mantras went to form the Sama Veda and musical verses from the Rigveda were also included in it. The prose mantras gave us the Yajurveda. The Samans of the Samaveda were actually sung and the Archika was compiled to provide guidance to the singer in regard to the tune in which a particular song was to be sung. “Here,” as R. K. Mukerji remarks, “it is not usually the case, as in the west, that a verse is sung to a
particular tune. Tt is the reverse : this or that Saman
(melody) issung upon particular stanza”. (A.I. E.—p.62) This was the sacred aspect of the question, but there
was also a profane facet. The Vedic Samhitas give us
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i VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
indications not only of religious life but also of a worldly life, fully lived and enjoyed, and music must inevitably have been a prevalent ‘mode’. ‘The art was considered respect- able and-was widely practised. The Shatapatha Brahmana actually mentions a Royal personage as a lute-player and singer in a Horse-Sacrifice (XIII—4. 3. 5.). The Taitta- tiya Samhita (VI.—1. 6. 5.), the Maitra Samhita ( II.— 7. 3), and the Shatapatha Brahmana (III.—2. 4. 3.-6) tell us that women were taught singing and dancing.
This brings us to a consideration of the complementary art of dancing. Siva is the patron god of this latter att and his Tandava dance has earned enormous praise and veneration. In fact it has been suggested that his Damaru was the original instrument of percussion, which gave us all the others in due course. Marking time is an impotrt- ant activity in dancing and the instruments of percussion— specially the Tabla—are even now an indispensable accom- paniment to dancing. 7
In the Rigveda there is also the mention of an instru- ment aghata, which is said to be some form of Manjira, also an important instrument for marking time both in music and in dancing.
The Ramayan and the Mahabharata catty forward the tale of the development of these arts further and we come actoss a much lager number of instruments as we reach the times of the Jatakas. Panini alone gives the names of Mardagika, Madduka, and Jharjhara, and the Sutra litera- ture gives us an elaborate list, in which the various varieties of the Vina predominate, and this predominance con- tinues for a thousand years thereafter. In fact the string insttuments Occupy an important place in all spheres of music even today.
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MUSIC AND DANCING 73
As time progressed the importance of music as a source of enjoyment increased and in the first century A. D. Charudatta, the author of the famous Mrichchhakatika, actually praises the. Vina-music as the companion of the heart—sick, the entertainer of the distracted, the consoler of the Virahi(a person separated from his or her beloved), and an appetiser for the lovers.
The effect of music on the human brain has been established beyond any doubt now, and people versed in the theory and practice of music have been Known to forget acute physical pain, when classical music has been played to them.* .
The above description presents to out view the develop- ment of music and dancing in ancient India in general. There is no mention of Varanasi in the literature sited above. We would therefore, now tty to see the applica- bility of these facts in the case of this ancient city.
In order todo so wehaveto go back to the hoary past when the city of Varanasi was founded by Mahagovinda, the minister of Emperor Renu (Son of Vishvamitra), and Dhritarastra was anointed its first king. It was the same
Dhtitarastra, who attempted a horse-sactifice, which
remained incomplete as mentioned in the Satapatha
Brahmana. The band of Aryans, who founded the city
carried with them the Vedic-tradition and practices. The d the Sama-gana
Sama Veda was there in all its glory an : p was widely prevalent on the occasion of Yajnas an otherwise. The life of these Aryans was not confined to
-
(i) Dr. D.R. RanjitSingh of Allahabad underwent a painful ` surgical operation without clinical anaesthesia while absorb-
‘bed in the classical music of Professor Kashalkar.
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74 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
religion alone. The Brahmans apart, the Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas lived a life of enjoyment and homely pleasures. Music, therefore must have been an important art and received adequate attention, and in conse- quence all the progress it made in other parts of the Aryan India at the time, must have had its counterpart in Varanasi. Even the Upanishadas tell us that music ennobled the mind and appeased disturbed thoughts.
This presumption is confirmed as we turn to the Jataka literature. There we find that Varanasi had al- ready gone ahead of Taxilla(Taksha-sila)in the teaching of cettain subjects and music was one of them. ‘There existed at Varanasi.a School for the teaching of music, presided over by an expert, who was the chief of his kind in all India (Jataka 243), and this could have happened only if the art was at its zenith in this city. |
We have already seen that Varanasi was the centre of a flourishing commerce and its inhabitants were conseq- uently in affluent circumstances. Many of its Shreshthis owned hundreds of crores of Karshapans and lived a life of luxury. Music and musicians, dancing girls and actors played an important role in providing enter- tainment to the people in general and the rich in parti- cular.. The dancing girls of Varanasi had already earned fame in the times of Buddha. There is mention of one such, named Atthakasi, who had migrated to Rajeriha, the capital of the Magadha Emperors, and whose fees for one night’s entertainment was five hundred Karshapans. There is mention of thousands of dancing girls present in the court of the Varanasi Kings on the occasion of the Chhatra-mangal festival. Loar E |
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masterpieces.
MUSIC AND DANCING: ` 15°
In the Gupta period, however, Varanasi reached ‘its zenith in music as in all other spheres of life. There is men- tion of a dancer from Varanasi, Parakramika by name, who lived a life of great luxury at Ujjain, in Padataditakam (beginning of fifth century A. D.); and the profusion of clay figurines depicting musical scenes found at Rajghat in 1940 has its own story to tell. ;
<
This tradition continued during the middle ages and we have an interesting picture of Varanasi dancing girls in Damodar Bhatta’s Kuttanimatam, which describes a con- gtegation of actots, and accomplices of the dancing girls and the women touts, who lured young princes and rich men. |
At this stage, however, we must remember that the art of music itself was still respectable but it was getting into wrong hands and in the end this tendency proved its undoing and degraded it, with the result that it was discard-
entry. SS $ ee of if this, the Varanasi people continued their interest in music, and during the reign of Hussain Shah Shirqi of Jaunpur it received a great impetus. This-king was himself a great musician and he is said to:have given : us two new styles of Todi—the Jaunputi Todi and Hussaini Todi. Varanasi was a frequent haunt of Jaunpur oe and itis averred that it was Varanasi singers, who wor a e admiration of, Hussain Shah by their renderings Of : During the reign of Emperor Mohammad Shah two famous singers of Varanasi Sadarang and Adarang gave a new complexion to Khayal uae ee
In the reign of Aurangeb music had ne receive royal patronage and the tyrannical behaviour a this Rae | arch had subdued the spirit of the music enthusiasts Of
`
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16 ` VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
Vatanasi. ‘There was, however, an unprecedented cultural tevival in Varanasi when Mir Rustam Ali took over as the govetnor of Varanasi. He was a cultured man and posses- sed great love for music. He was an accomplished singer himself and freely joined public festivities of the Hindus. In fact some people actually declare him as the person, who started the famous music festival of Varanasi, known as the Budhwa Mangal—a full account of which will be found in the chapter on ‘Fairs and Festivals.’
Soonafter King Jahandar Shah II of Delhi came to Varanasi and was given Chet Singh’s palace at Shivalaghat for his residence—and with him came his court singers and musicians. Asafuddaulah the Nawab Vazir of Oudh was also a great connoisseur of music and he is said to have reformed Tappa music, originally a Panjabi folk tune, and in the court of the Maharaja of Benares Mian Gamu and his sons won approbation by attaining near perfection in this style. Several female singers of Varanasi also won praises in this melody.
In thenineteenth century Thumti came into great vogue and there appeared on the scene two distinct schools of Thumri music—the Benares .School and the Lucknow School. Of these the former has succeeded in retaining the popular qualities of this Ragini and represents its more pleasing forms, and above all is more lyrical. About the same time the Varanasi singers set the folk music forms of Panjabi, Khayal, Chaiti and Ghanto into the tal and garb of classical melodies. This was a great achievement, which popularised Varanasi music in other places including the rival centre of Lucknow, where Bhairavi Thumris and Dadras of the Varanasi School earned a great reputation;
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MUSIC AND DANCING 77
and the court singers of the great Maharaja Iswari Prasad Narain Singh of Benares represented the best of Varanasi music at the time. It was at this stage that Varanasi established its reputation in instrumental music also— in Tabla, Sarangi and Shahnai. It was also a famous centre for Khayal and Dhrupad music. Sitar-players also earned fame for their delicate rendering of the finer shades on that difficult instrument.
Before closing this chapter on Varanasi music it is but proper that a tribute be paid to the masters who brought both name and fame to this city. A great many of these names have been lost but those that have been preserved may be mentioned. |
Chittra and Imambardi were great singers in the first
half of the nineteenth century. Sarasvati Bai and Rajeswari Bai took the front seat later on and continued to please their audience for over fifty yeats. Among the masters of
the Dhrupada music may be mentioned the name of Hari
Narayan Mukerji of Dasasvamedha, who was perhaps the last giant in this field—though Jayakaranji Kathak was an- other master andhis son-in-law Ram Das kept up the tradi- tion till his death in recent years. Moyuziddin was the great master of the Thumrti style. Among the giants of Umrao Khan andhis brother Muham-
instrumental music, mad Ali specialised in Vina while Anokhelal earned fame
in Tabla. Mahesh Chandra De was also considered a great player of Vina. Of the female singers, whe created a name not only for themselves but also for their city during the frst fifty years of this century i continua- tion of the closing years of the nineteenth, mention may be made of the names of Maina, Vi
Toravi, Chhoti Moti, Husna, Jaddan,
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78 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
Janaki Bai, Kashi Bai, Shahjahan Bai, and Tami Bai. These minstrels of Varanasi music never agreed to sing cheap popular forms. ‘They specialised in and insisted on sing- ing the classical melodiesalone. ‘They had powerful voices and when some of them sang at Ramnagar in the early morning during the Budhwa Mangal fair, not only were the songs audible at Dasasvamedha ghat but one could easily recognise the voice and name the singer. The audience of these singers at Varanasi was itself extremely sensitive to musical excellence and it was not always easy to establish . one’s reputation as a singer without possessing real ability and art. Jaddan Bai, whose name has been mentioned above, proved one such failure. In spite of her great acquirements she did not succeed in coming up to the standards of her audience and at last she left Varanasi for Calcutta and thence for Bombay, where her daughter Nargis is now a film star.
The name of Gauhar Jan has not been mentioned in the above list, in spite of the fact that she earned all-India fame in her day, because she never lived at Varanasi as a singer—although she learnt the art while Sitting at the feet of Husna Bai, (Who had brought her up as an adopted child), one of the unquestioned queens of her domain.
Of these latter but one or two are now alive. Vidya- dhari being the top-notcher in her day also earned a reputa- tion for passing the life of an ideal Hindu widow for thirty five years at her birthplace in village Jasuri—in Chandauli Tahsil after the death of her admirer. There is an interesting anecdote about Vidyadhari and het companion at the court of Maharaja of Benares, Husna Bai. ‘The Prince of Wales was coming to Varanasi and there was a reception in his honour at the Maharaja’s palace, in which there was also a
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MUSIC AND DANCING 79
ten-minute music programme. The authorities did not want to ‘bore? His Royal Highness with Indian music, which they always considered as dull and inferior to European music, The Maharaja was, however, anxious to rebut this unfair impression and Vidyadhari received the necessary cue. The programme started and the Prince of Wales remained spell-bound for more than ninety minutes, and even after that interval had to be reminded of later engagements. Times have since changed and Indian music is not only appreciated but also sought after in most of the western countries. |
As has been mentioned earlier the Varanasi gentry and even the laity had developed a well educated ear for music and quite a large number of persons in all walks of life were themselves singers of repute. Thus there was no dearth of amateur musicians in the. Varanasi of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—and occasionally they gave an unpleasant shock to the professionals by their superiot performance. Aclassicalexample ofthis occurred when Akkhoji, an amateur singer, sat singing on the steps ‘of Dasasvamedha ghat. It was late in the evening and a moonlit night with a favourable wind blowing. The singer was singing for his own pleasure and was lost in ecstasy, and as his voice picked up volume and tone in the course of a Tan, the song was clearly heard in the Palace at Ramnagar and Maharaja Iswari Prasad Narain Singh, a great connoisseur of music as he was, was $O charmed by its sweetness and cadence that he immediately despatched a servant by boat to find out who was the author of | that sweet melody. Akkhoji was invited to the Palace the next ; day and the Maharaja after praising his abilities requested him to give him a song or two. Akkhoji agreed , but on.
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80 VARANASI DOWN. THE AGES
condition that he would receive no payment for his songs; and then he sang, and all were spell-bound. The Maharaja then turned to his own singers and asked their opinion and some of them, instead of accepting Akkhoji’s superiority submitted that the music was but ordinary and the Mahataja’s ecstacy was caused by the religious theme of the songs. On hearing this Akkhoji arose and went to | a nearby window from where he looked out for some secular theme and this he found in the carcass of a goat Suspended in a butchers’ shop. He returned to his seat and extemporised a line which was extremely repulsive
in content! and he sang this line in various ways and in
different tunes and floored everyone Iinciuding his critics. The Maharaja was very much pleased but was bound by his promise not to offer any rewards. He, however, fepaid the singer by the unprecedented courtesy of accompanying him to the palace gate—an honour rarely
_ bestowed on an individual of Akkhoji’s status.
The splendid traditions of Varanasi music seem to be safe, for even today there are celebrities of international fame in all branches of music belonging to this city. Some of them have even earned distinction by receiving national awards. Kanthe Maharaj, Gopal Mishra, Rasoolan Bai, Siddeshwari Devi, Girija Devi, Rai Das, Chhote Hari Shan- kar Mishra, Shamta Prasad, Krishna Maharaj and many others are still carryiing the banner sky-high. Andthen there are Pandit Ravi Shankar, who has earned fame by his mastery of the Sitar, and Bismilla Khan, the wizard of Shah- nai, who have created for their country a name in the
—— EE eee 1. The line he sang ran “aaa aft ett eff sez ac a7? Tn English it
would run ‘‘The carcass of the goat is suspended upside down by the hind legs.”
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MUSIC AND DANCING QT
western world and obtainedthe Padmabhushanand several other distinctions and yet are so modest, so full of humility. The latter’s youngest son Nazim, who is still in his teens, has shown considerable promise and has already been praised by foreigers and others. This is a good augury for this city of music and emotional bliss. Thereis also Gopi Krishna, who holds aloft the best traditions of dancing, as a representative of the Benares gharana of the Kathaks. Fortunately two amateur singers of olden times ate still among us. Ramaji and Brindabandas Gujrati though very old are yet. young enough to delight thir hearers. So is Udai Shankar the great dancer. Talking of old amateur singers one is reminded of that great but unfortunate artistMadhava Rao Sapre of Varanasi who had by sheer pertinacity succeeded in so training his voice that in the course of an a/ap he could raise it to the end of the seventh septet. In other words starting from
the first Sahe went up to the usual Ni butthat was not, the .
end. His voice continued to rise beyond this Né and passed through another complete Septet till it reached the second Ni, and so he went on till he had reached the seventh Ni. ‘The strain on his vocal apparatus was tte-
mendous but.he was able to stand it by peseverance and -
j un- practice.. It was a miraculous performance. One
fortunate day, however, he was singing before Maharaja
dive evecare . rand as he started the last Digvijai Singh of Balrampu ood vessel of his throat
Septet he gota sneeze and the S eae burst sian died there and then. He had aa a
self at the altar of his att.
6 . ;
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ER ETT san E
CHAPTER 5
EDUCATIONAL SET-UP INCLUDING PHYSICAL CULTURE .
Sanskrit Education.
The sphere of Vedic culture in the earliest times was the Sapta-Saindhava region with its centre round Kuru- kshetra. It was there that the Vedas were revealed and it was there that the Vedic Education had its beginning so far as India is concerned. Every child belonging to the Dwija families i.e. Brahmans, Kshattriyas and Vaishyas
had to learn the Vedas and the Vedangas. “There were,
therefore, arrangements for this education. It was the duty of évery Brahman to teach the Vedas and Vedangas to those boys who approached him for this purpose. Thus the homes of most Brahmans were schools for these boys. Some of the more learned among these formed centres of greater importance. They lived in forests or gardens usually away from the cities and practised religious abstinence and Yogic practices. The pupils living with them were considered to be members of the family, who shared the duties of the household and received education both deliberate and intuitional. These centres were called Ashramas—and these’ teachers were very often given the appelation of Rishis. The number of persons involved was not very great and the society was well-knit and usually the standards of educational achievement were very high.
The Vedas and Upavedas and the Vedangas provided varied knowledge and fulfilled all the requirements of the
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people in those times. Life was simple and needs few. The educational curricula were, therefore,less diversified and specialisation came rather late, and this latter usually depended on the prescribed distribution of the Brahmans according to their eligibility fora particular Veda. ‘The distribution of Vedic lore was accordingly along these grooves and there were the different Sakhas, Charanas, and Chhandas to educate pupils in the relevant branches of Vediclearning. ‘Thus a Yajurvedin knew all the Vedas in a cursory manner but specialised in the Yajurveda.
There were elaborate and clearcut rules for reciting a patti- —
cular Veda and these had to be assiduously learnt and prac- tised. Naturally, therefore, it was a laborious process. A student thus, had to join his Guru’s Ashram when he was but a child— mare] ag matar (in the eighth year from conception or from birth), and he grew up in the Guru’s home as one of the family. He served the Guru and his family as his.own and performed any and every sort of domestic duties from grazing cows to agricultural farming. In between these duties he learnt his lessons. He lived for sixteen to twentyfour years at the Ashrama and left it only when he had fully mastered the subject of his special study. The guru had to provide his physical needs all these years and when leaving he paid Guru Dakshina (honorarium) according to his means. All these years he led a life of Brahmacharya and now he was to go back to his home, his parents and relations and lead thelifeof a Grihastha (householder) after marriage. A few words seem necessary to give an idea of what Brahma- charya implies. It means not only physical celibacy but
even mental discipline, sex and sexual enjoyments,
~ n .
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ps —
which precludes all thought of . And now that he was leaving”
84 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
his guru’s Ashrama to enter the world, he was given the following parting advice :
“Speak the truth. Practise virtue. Do not neglect the study of the Vedas. Having paid the honorarium to your preceptor (i. e. having returned home at the close of your studies) do not cut off the line of children (1. e. marry
_ and bring up a family). Do not swerve from the truth.
F
Donot swerve fromvirtue. Donot swerve from the good. Do not be indifferent to the attainment of greatness. Do not neglect your duties to the gods and to your parents. Honour your mother as a deity. Honour your father as a deity. Honour your guest as a deity. Do those deeds which are commendable, and not those that. are other- wise. Imitate our good deeds and not those that are other- wise....Give alms with a willing heart. Do not give with an unwilling heart. Give wisely. Give with modesty. Give with fear. Give with a sympathetic
heart.” Quoting the above E. B. Havell says ‘“The ethical
standpoint of the Aryan Race, as put forward in the Upanishads some three thousand years ago, can hardly be surpassed in the present day.” !
In course of time the size of some of the Ashramas grew and famous teachers had quite a sizable following of pupils. In these Ashramas the gutu was of course the presiding deity but the older pupils taught the younget ones and initiated them into the intricacies of grammat or logic or other disciplines. Notonly this. Even learned men and thinkers visited these Ashramas occasionally either to get their own intellectual doubts removed of with a desire to get some sort of a recognition for their
1. Benares the Sacred City by E. B. Havell pp. 11-12.
N
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learning and even of their spiritual hypotheses. In the latter case there were discussions and desertations often in the Ashramas but sometimes also in the courts of kings, who wete very often themselves learned men, having passed their boyhood and early youth in some Ashrama or the other. Writing about these discussions Havell says “The greatest freedom of thought was allowed and the rules, which regulated the debates were only those which were approved of as likely to lead to sound conclusions. The rewards for debaters who showed profound thought and argument were not less liberal than those which were given to successful composers and sactificets, but the penalties for those who infringed the rules of logicor spoke foolishly, were heavy.’ Rigveda has actually mentioned such discussions". These Ashramas were thus not only schools or colleges but the greatest among them had the reputation and the authority of giving. recognition to meritorious scholarship which latter in the result bore the hallmark of a University Doctorate.
It would be worthwhile giving a brief account of one or two of such ashrams—or centres of education. This is. also necessary to show that all education did not continue to be religious or philosophical—though the development of all branches took place round the central
religious needs.
Notable Educational Centres | In those early days some teachers had earned special
reputation and theirt Ashramas attracted not only young
pupils but also senior Vratacharins and learned men well
ee E
1. Benares the Sacred City by E. B. Havell p. 7. 2. Rigveda 10—71. ©
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advanced in Vedic studies. The Mahabharata tells us ofsome of these outstanding centres of light and learning of which two will be mentioned here in detail.
The most important among these at the time was in the Naimisha forest in the present Sitapur District, the hermitage of Shaunaka, who performed a twelve year Yajna, as part of which there had to be discourses and dis- putations of learned men on religious, philosophical, and scientific topics. It was a full-fledged Ashrama with all the eight departments properly organised viz. (i) Agnisthan—worship and prayets (ii) Brahmasthan— Department of Vedas; (iii) Vishnusthan—Department for teaching Rajaniti, Arthaniti, and Vartta; (iv) Mahendra- sthana—Military Section ;(v) Vivasvatasthana—Depattment of Astronomy; (vi) Somasthana—Department of Botany; (vit) ‘“Garudasthana—Section dealing with transport and conveyances; and (viii) Kartikeyasthana—Department
teaching military organisation, how to form patrols, battalions, and army.1
Then there was the hermitage of Rishi Kanva, situat- ed on the river Malini. It was a large settlement and round it were several other hermitages. “In modern phra- Seology it was a University-colony in the midst of a forest, Where the whole forest resounded with the chanting and recitation of the Vedas by thefamilies of a largenumber of teachers and their pupils. ‘There were specialists in’ all branches of learning in that colony : specialists in each of the four Vedas, in sacrificial literature and art, Kalpa- Sutras, in the art of reciting the Samhitas according to the Pada and Kramapatha, and in orthoepy generally, and in
1, Ancient Indian Education—Radha Kummid Mukerji—p. 333.
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Shiksha (Phonetics), Chhandas (Metrics),Sabda(Vyakarana), and Nirukta. There were also philosophers well-versed in Atma-Vijnana (Science of the Absolute), in Brahmo- pasana (worship of Brahma), in Mokshadharma (the way to salvation), and in Lokayata (Vaisheshika). There were also logicians knowing the principles of Nyaya and of Dialectics. ‘There were also specialists in physical sciences and atts e. g. experts in the art of constructing sacrificial alters of various dimensions (solid geometry), dravya- gyana (chemistry and medicine), physical processes and their results, causes and their effects, and zoologists having special knowledge of monkeys and birds. ‘The hermitages of Vyasa, Vashishtha, Visvamitra and several others near Kurukshetra and in Kamyaka forest on the banks of Sarasvati, were also famous for producing eminent Rishis, who carried forth the torch of Vedic learning.+
It may be noticed here that Taxilla and Varanasi find no mention here, showing that they attained importance later on—after the Mahabharata War. It has also to be realised that the above descriptions given in the Maha- bharata are not descriptions of contemporary events but of-institutions of the hoary past, which continued their existence even at the time of the Mahabharata War (1200- 1400 B. C.).
As time advanced Vedic religion continued. its process through the well known Sutra and Epic entres of Education and Varanasi, and Mithila. galore of the centre at
of evolution
Philosophy developed at Taxilla, ‘The Upanishads give us descriptions
—— ; 2 1. Ancient Indian Education by R. K. M. p- 333 et seq.
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Mithila under the famous Janaka, and occasional references are also. available about Varanasi, where its king Ajata- satru held his court, but very few details of this centre ate available. ‘axilla is to be inferred from the incident of Asvapati, the king of Kekaya instructing five great Brahman theologions—Prachinasala, Satyayajna, In- dradyumna, Janaand Budela, who approached him under the leadership of Uddalaka Aruni, himself a very great teacher, for instruction in the mystery of Vaisvanara. These three seats of learning continued their glorious
existence for several centuries but gradually the fame of Mithila did not keep pace with that of the other two and learned men gathered at Taxilla and Varanasi in greater numbers, even though later on Mithila had a tenaissance and was famous for several centuries beginning with 1350 A.D.; and it was Mithila which gave birth to the famous Nadia University if one could call it as such.
During the Buddhist period Vedic education conti- nued its onward march and to it was added the Education of Buddhist philosophy. and religion. The decriptions of education and educational centres during this period deal specially with Buddhist subjects but Varanasi does find respectful mention along with Sarnath. For example Kosiya and Titter Jatakas clearly mention that the teachers at Varanasi taught the three Vedas and eighteen crafts. Khuddakapatha Atthakatha tells us that some edu- cational institutions of Varanasi were older than those of Taxilla. ‘Taxilla is, however, described in greater detail as an educational centre where learned teachers of the arts of peace and war continued to flourish.
There were schools of medicine, law and military _ science, and a king of Varanasi sent at the King’s
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expense a Brahman boy—Jotipala—to ‘Taxilla for education in archery. The fame of Varanasi even according to the Jatakas was so great in the matter of learning that it had been given the name of Brahma- Vaddhana as has been already shown in an earlier chapter, and it has been clearly said there that Varanasi was one of the six most important cities and the most important educational centre in India. It is said that teachers of Varanasi were graduates of Taxilla and that there was ‘a free exchange of teachers and pupils. ;
A rather detailed account of the educational System of the Vedic and later period has been given above to familiarise the reader with a subject which has often received rather harsh treatment for want of correct information, the general impression being that during these long-days of Indian history, the Rishis had no interest in anything non-religious and that life was all
worship and penance. We know that at the time of the Mahabharata War
(1200 to 1400B.C.) life was fully lived and enjoyed. There .
-were giants in all the fields of learning, art, and crafts, ‘and these great personalities could not have been pro- duced without a well developed scheme of education, both religious and secular. Even a cursory look at the literature produced before 700 B. C. would show that the educational system as it had developed from about 2000 B. C. (according to Max Muller) and earlier had - borne ample friut in all spheres of life.
it would be but a truism to say
To come to Varanasi, 1t WO E that the best traditions of education and learning wer
being followed in this “city since its establishment and ‘under the rule of KingDhritarashtza and
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Renu, the son of Visvamitra. The very fact that the former in due course attempted the Ashvamedha (Hotse- sacrifice) is evidence of continued Vedic education here —forthis sacrifice needs a pretty long list of religious functionaries and learned men. Notonly this, there are needed a still larger number of persons adept’ in secular. arts and crafts.
Before the time of the Mahabharata War Varanasi had already earned a renown for its learning during the days of Ajatasatru, its great philosopher king, and even later it was considered as a great centre of philosophical disciplines. That the system of education obtaining here was the same as the one described above is proved by the existence of Educational institutions of the earliest type— the Charanas and Chhandas tight upto the Gupta period (500 A. D.) the seals of which have been discovered in the Rajghat excavations at Varanasi. These seals show that there was at least one Bahvricha Charana-for the teaching of the Rigveda, (See illustration) and a Charaka Charana for the teaching of Krishna Yajurveda. For the Samaveda there were several institutions for six separate seals have been discovered. They all bear the heading ‘sraa’ on the obverse but there are different emblems or. inscriptions on the reverse. Then there. was an institution for the teaching of all the four Vedas called Chaturvidya Charana, and for three Vedas a Traividya Charana (see illustration). There was also a Sarvatra Vidyacharan for the teaching of all aspects of Vedic learning. :
Thus far about Vedic education at Varanasi. In regard to other branches of learning the very fact that pupils. from all over India clustered at Varanasi for education.
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is an. evidencë that’ all those branches received their full quota of instruction in various institutions. It must, however, be remembered that all these institutions were being run by individual Acharyas and that there were
pethaps no organised schools, where a large number of —
pupils were to study. Even in the Gupta period when Nalanda and Vikramashila had come up as organised centres of education, Varanasi did not consider it worth- while to establish such an institution. It was satisfied with the individual teachers carrying on their sacred duty of teaching by themselves. There was to be no mass-pro- duction of Pandits ` so far as Varanasi was concerned : ‘they were to stand on the sounder principle of personal contact and individual attention. Itmay be mentioned here that this practice continued at Varanasi all along and -continues even to this day, in spite of the fact that there are quite a large number of Pathashalas teaching upto the post-graduate standard (Achatya degree) anda full-fledged Sanskrit University. It has all along been considered a sacred duty by these Acharyas of Varanasi to teach at their own houses any one who sought this privilege, and even the teachers employed in the Pathashalas and the Univers- ity continue to do so at home, and all the time it has been
a labour of loveand even the proverbial Guru Dakshina —
has not been demanded or ‘accepted. By the time we teach the eleventh and twelfth centuries A. D. the scheme
of Sanskrit education had already been split up into two
‘sections. On the one hand there were the traditional Vedic Pathashalas, which specialised in the Shastric . leaning and where the pupils received expert and specialist ins- truction in the Vedas, Sahitya (literature ), grammar,
different systems of Philosophy like Nyaya, ‘Mimansa,
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Sankhya, Yoga, Vedanta, and Vaisheshika, Astronomy and Astrology, or Ayurveda (medicine). Theseinstitutions, which were often connected with famous temples and
me
monasteries, were the life line of Sanskrit education and they produced learned specialists in these lines. Fora thousand years the ideal before the scholars had been the attain- ment of specialised knowledge in all the six Shastras (dis- ciplines) and those who were able tọ achieve this status were called Shatsbastris (learned in the six Shastras) and they received not only respect but veneration from every one including the reigning sovereign. Sri Harsha, the author of Naishadha, who was attached to the court of the Gahadwal Kings of Varanasi and Kannauj writes “are anai a saa: taga” (I am he who receives a couple of prepared betels and an honoured seat from the king of Kannauj). Another example is that of Bhatta Lakshmi- dhar, the Prime Minister of Maharaja Govind Chandra Deva of Varanasi and Kannauj and the author of Kritya Kalpataru, an authorative book on Dharmashastra with encyclopaedic contents running into several thousand pages (published in the Gaekwad Series). And this great scholar, now a Prime Minister and earlier the Chief
Justice, was also a soldier of repute and an able administrator. ;
This variety of educational institutions continued to: exist right upto the time of the East India Company and does exist even now though in an abated and crumbling condition as we shall see in due course.
The other variety of Pathashalas was that which gave the pupils an elementary knowledge of Sanskritt for daily use. Here the mehods were altogether different. Sans- -krit was now (eleventh century onwards) no longer the:
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language of the people. It was now the language of the learned and the educated. To be considered an educated man, a person had to acquire a working knowledge of Sanskrit. ‘The method employed to give this knowledge was to compare phrases in the then current language (whatever name be given to it) and their Sanskrit parallels. Damodar Bhatta’s book ‘Ukti Vyakti Prakaranam’ written in the twelfth century may be considered almost a text book of this methodology. (This book has recently been published in the Sindhi Jaina Granthamala Series). We have clearly said that in ancient India very often the teachers not only taught their pupils but also provided them with food and other necessities of life and treated them as members of their family. This practice could be traced right up to the twelfth century. The Gahadwal Kings of Varanasi had been granting villages to learned men in Varanasi and that these men were learned special- ists is evident from the appelations RAT ACT, agaat, Waa ae, aadar, feral, Gravatt to their names. It needs to be clearly realised here that agact, fact, farsi,” were not family names at the time as they. have since be- come but rather denotedthe academic abilities of persons- It was out of these resources that the teachers supported their families including a certain number of pupie! S had given birth to several classical giants
in the sphere of medicine. In fact the father of Indian
Medical Science Dhanvantari was born as Kashiraj in this
1. Rigveda Charana, Chaturvedi, Yajurveda Charana, Atharva Veda Charana, Dvivedi, Chhandogya Charana,
2. Chaturvedi, Dvivedi, Tripathi.
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Tripathi etc.
= : Vist A í Ah KS a Sa a d- nN 7 < x aa EE
BQ ANS a; VARANASI DOWN THE AGES.
city and it was here that he taught the science to Sushruta, who specialised not only in Rasa-Prakriya (use. of metals and their salts as medicines), but also in surgery, the plastic surgery of today having been born directly from his writings as acknowledged by westen surgeons. ‘The tradition was kept up down the centuries as we shall see in due course. After 1194 A. D. when Varanasi was con- quered by Qutubuddin Aibak, no doubt Sanskrit educa- tion as such received asetback but remained quite alive. In Varanasi proper the teachers continued their work as before, but more quietly. The Vedas were perhaps recited in the seclusion of rooms in a lower voice. The narrow winding lanes of the old town helped beause the Muslims were not always going into the interior. Besides after the destruction of the Rajghat fort and occupation of nearby localities by the Muslims, people living in these localities were cutting down forests and settling down in small groups around the ruins of old temples — surrounded by forest all around. This condition must have remained only for a hundred years or so because we find that inthe reign of Mohammad Tughlaq (1325-1351 A. D.) Varanasi _ was once again flourishing as a centre of Sanskrit learning.
According to Jina Prabha Suri—a Jaina savant, who had received respectful attention in the court of that sovercign, there were quite a number of specialists not only in Shabdanushasana (grammar and linguistics, dramatics, and figures of speech), astronomy and astrology, Churamani, Nimitta Shastra and literature, but also experts in Dhatuvada (metallurgy) Rasavada (chemistry including medicine), Khanyavad (geology and mining), and Yantravidya (mechanics). We may remember here that soon after this periodin the reign of Firoz Tughlak (1351-1388)
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considerable anti - Hindu activities continued in Varanasi. Not only Jazia was imposed on the Brahmanas for the first time but also quite a number of mosques were constructed in place of Hindu temples, and the tone of Vedic Education must have been, therefore, rather subdued. It is on record that during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries quite an exodus of learned Pandits took place towards South India. It is, however, averred that Kullabha Bhatta wrote his commentary on the Manusmriti at Varanasi during this period. ` l Development of the medical Science had continued all these days even after 1194 A. D. but surgery had not only declined but had been practically given up by the medical men. It was now being practised by the cleverer barbers and Muslim Jarrahas. There was, however, to bea further brightening up of medical education at Varanasi soonafter in later centuries because of an influx of Maha- rashtra and Karnataka scholars to this holy city, who brought with them great traditions of scholarship in alk branches of learning including the medical science. A great upsurge of educational activity was thus brought about as we shall presently see. l It appears, however, that Varanasi was soon to face another violent storm of religious, bigotry in 1496 A. D., fot soon after Sikandar Lodi ascended the throne another _-wave of iconoclastic violence visited Varanasi. We ‘do not know what the actual condition of education in Varanasi was those days but we can imagine its fate. Practically all temples in Varanasi were pulled down and
the educational institutions connected with them suffered
the same fate. Individual teachers were thus the om , Source of education left and they too suffered considera s
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persecution at the hands of their new sovereign. Sans- krit education as such was now really in doldrums. Writ- ing in the eleventh century Firdosi had clearly stated that ‘earned men had already left the places of Muslim influence and had fled to Kashmir and Vatanasi. The same fate overtook the Pandits.of Varanasi now and they fled to the South or hid themselves in remote villages. For more than fifty years the lamp of learning burnt very low indeed in Varanasi- though the number of learned men as such was perhaps unaffected. Meanwhile Muslim power had reached the South too and so the exodus of learned men from Varanasi to the southern provinces of India had to come to an end. In fact a counterwave had already started and Pandits from Maharashtra and Karnatak were now moving to the nothern states, and as we shall see, the resurrection of Sanskrit learning in Varanasi was brought about by these savants from the southern states. In the earlier years of his reign even Akbar, was — against Varanasi and in 1567 A. D. when he conquered the city for the second time, he actually ordered it to be plundered. [Altekar — Tabakat-i-Akbari]. It was only after 1584 A.D., when the fort at Allahabad had been complet- ed and the headquarters of the Suba had been transferred there, that Varanasi went out of Muslim political lime- light and in this twilight of political neglect a reconstruct- ion of intellectual Varanasi took place.
That Sanskrit learning was in doldrums during three centuries and more since 1194 A.D. is proved by the fact that practically no learned books were written during this period. Early in the sixteenth century, however, as stated above, several learned families from Maharashtra and Karnatak came to Varanasi and permanently settled down
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here. Dharmadhikaris, Sesas, Bhattas and Maunis were the chief among these, and as Dr. Altekar says “members of these families and their disciples dominated Benares scholarship for more than three centuries”. Of these families the Dharmadhikaris have been credited with writing the Dattaka-mimansa and the Parasuram-prakasa, eminent and authoriative works on Dharmashastra. Of the Sesas, Sesa Vishnu wrote an elaborate commentary on Patan- jals Mahabhashya to be followed by Sesa Krishna with seven books on Sanskrit and Prakrit grammar and one on Dharmashastra. The latter’s brother Sesa Chintamani wrote several books including the famous Rasa-manjari-parimala. Sesa Krishna’s son Viresvata earned fame from his three pupils, who shone and still shine with rare brightness in the Sanskrit firmament. Of these Jagannath Panditraja hardly needs an intro- duction. The name of Bhattoji Dikshit is resonant all over the Sanskrit world as the author of the Siddhanta Kaumudi in which he rearranged Panint’s Sanskrit Grammar and which practically usurped the place of Panini’s Ashtadhyayi and is even now consi dered to be the last word in modern Sanskrit Grammar. The third was Annambhatta, whose Tarka Sangraha 1s still considered an authority. Of the Bhattas, the most
, who earned the title of Jagad- noted was Bhatta Narayan gelee
ru and whose memory is kept alive by oks Paana A and Tristhalisetu, and who was responsible
in 1585 A. D. for the re-erection by Todarmal of the
Visvesvara temple, which had lain in ruins since 1496.A.D.,
when it was demolished by Sikandar Lodi. Several of
his descendants and members of the family have produced important books,which are still considered authoxitiss in
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their spheres. Members of these and other families conti- nued their above mentioned literary activities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and as Dr. Altekar says “Contribution of Benares to Sanskrit scholarship and literature during the period 1500 —1 800 A. D. is undoubt- edly much greater than that of any other three con- temporary centres of Sanskrit learning put together”. (History of Benares p. 43).
The details of literary contribution given above may seem to be somewhat out of placein a chapter on education but actually this is not so, for literary traditions were created not by individuals alone but by their pupils and these pupils were products of the educational system — the guru teaching his sons and nephews along witha large number of pupils, some of whom occasionally outshone
their teachers themselves. Describing the system of
Sanskrit education at Varanasi in 1660 A. D. Bernier writes “Varanasi actually is a sort of University but unlike the European Universities there are no colleges and no organized classes. Teachers ate spread all over the city and teaching goes on at their residences. Some teachers have four, others six pupils, the most famous teacher may have twelve to fourteen students but never more. ‘These pupils first learnt Sanskrit with the help of gtammar. Puranas came next and ultimately they specialised in Philosophy, medicine, astronomy etc.”
Early in the eighteenth century there was another influx of learned men from the South specially from Maharashtra. The main cause of this has been attributed to the establishment of Maratha States and consequent escalation of Maratha influence in northern India, and this
is strengthened by the fact that quite a large number of
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important familes of Maharashtra Brahmans moved north- wards and settled down in Gwalior, Jhansi, Jalaun, Banda, Chittrakut, and Bithur (Dt. Kanpur) in addition to Varanasi, where Narayan Dikshit, the spiritual preceptor of the Pesh- wa settled down. He was not only a learned scholar but also a person of considerable spiritual achievements and humanitarian outlook. The mansion in which he lived is still in existence and the quarter of the city round about bears his name (Narayan Dikshit Ka Mohalla). Of the scholats who came to Varanasi at the time, there were several Vedic scholars, who founded their own Vedic seminaries. Thus there were once again two kinds of institutions for the teaching of the Vedas. Those wherein learned scholars taught a limited number of pupils in there own homes, and those which accommodated a larger number of pupils and where discipline was more formal.
Varanasi tradition knows of several such Vedashalas, the earliest among these being that of Dinkar Anna Joshi— a great Vedic Scholar, who had travelled on foot all the way from the south. He settled down neat the present Shitalaghat and started a school in his own house. It had a small beginning but very soon it attracted pupils by its excellence. ‘There was also a special reaon for the growth ‘of Vedic Education. The Indian Princes provided not
ment to learned Pandits in their own courts eee agricultural land and residential houses to
scholars in Varanasi. They also established Chhatras
dent got free food. here where any and every Brahman stu o foc As the number of pupils gtew, Dinkar Anna Joshi had
to run his seminary in two shifts—from six in the morning to eleven in the forenoon, and from two in the afternoon
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to six in the evening. This giant among scholars had all the ten books by heart and so he could tackle 5 or 6 pupils at a time, giving each of them guidance in his separate sphere of studies. He was a stern teacher and a strict disciplinarian——and to him the welfare of the school was a passion, which excluded altogether thoughts of a personal nature. He was now getting old and was-worried about his successor, whom he soon found in the person of Bala _ Dikshit Kale—a young man of twenty or so. ‘This young scholar was found to be a fit successor to Dinkar Anna Joshi and soon enough the latter had installed him in his own place in the Pathashala—and after some time he found his final restat Manikarnika —thecynosure of Hindus approaching death. The school continued to maintain its reputation for quitesa long time till the death of Bala Dikshit Kale in due course, after whom it gradually de- clined but only after it had produced a large number of eminent Vedic scholars of whom the names of Rama Bhatta Ratate, Babubhatta Randohkar, Vinayak Dikshit Panchgaonkar, Chunni Lal Dave, Vireswar Bhatta Rando- hkar, Ram Krishna Phadke, Triambuk Dikshit Bhatt, Visnupadhye Gurjar, Somnath Dikshit Kale, and Rajaram Bhatta Patwardhan deserve special mention. Contemporaneously with Dinkar Anna Joshi another great Vedic Scholar came to northern India with a de- sire to start a Vedic school at Varanasi but. circum- stances compelled him to settle down at Jalaun, where he started a Vedic School and in due course of time sent his best pupil to start a similar school at Bithur, who in his turn sent his top pupil Vinayak Bhatta Dongre to start a Vedic shcool at Varanasi. The latter settled down at Brahmaghat and soon started
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‘ EDUCATIONAL SET-UP INCLUDING PHYSICAL CULTURE 101
a seminary in the nearby Shenbai Math, which gained in reputation and in a short time was the leading Vedashala of the time. The discipline and rules here were quite as stringent as those at Dinkar Anna Joshi’s. The pupils had to reach the school at six inthe morning after partaking of a light meal of rice, ghee, and salt. Ifsome pupil came without this morning meal the teacher (Dongre) arranged for it in his own house, but he never allowed any pupil to sit down to the hard exercise of Vedic learning on an empty stomach. There sat Dongre himself teaching several pupils at a time till eleven in the forenoon. The school was again to meet in the afternoon at two to continue till 6 P.M. There were no holidays. The four traditional weekly holidays were utilised in revising old lessons. After Dongre’s death his best pupil Bhikkam Bhatta Patwardhan took charge-of the school and transferred it to his own residence in Hathigali and continued to run it as efficiently as before and produced a host of eminent Vedic scholars, of whom Sonbhatta Achawal, Bhik Bhatta Nanal, Kashinath Hardikar, Vishwanath Deva, and Mor- bhatta Dhekare may be mentioned as the best pupils of ' Dongre himself; and after him Balkrishna Sapre, Anant alias Babuguru Patwardhan, Dattu Dikshit Panchgaon- kar, Mukund Dewasthale, Ganapati Pitre, Babu Padhye and Raghunath Bhatta Kelkar sat at the feet of Bhikkam Bhatta Patwardhan and earned the reputation of being great Vedic scholars. Bhikkam Bhatta was. followed by
his son Babaguru, who is still running the school as | :
efficiently who has been: awarded the ti
the Ratnagiri Institute. This existence for over 125 years and
tle of Vaidik Ratna by
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Pathashala has been in ; is perhaps the oldest now. $
-as before at the age of eighty and more and —
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Several pupils of Dongre later on opened their own Vedashalas and produced a sizable number of eminent Vedic scholars. Besides these Rajaram Kslekar, Sri- krishna Deoghar, Balkrishna Nene, Babu Dikshit Yagya- vartu, Chandra Shekhar Dravid, Ganesh Vapat, and Somnath Vapat ran their own Pathashalas and sent out many able Vaidikas.
Of these latter Kashi Nath Shastri introduced the system of conducting discussions in Vyakarana afterthe style of Navya Nyaya—asystem which was developed by his pupil Raja Ram Shastri Karlekar, who earned great fame as the preceptor of the brilliant all-sided schoar Bala Shastri of international fame. The latter’s best pupils were Mahamahopadhyaya Shiva Kumar Shastri, Mahamaho- padhyaya Gangadhar Shastri C.I.E. (see portrait) and Vaiyakaran Kesari Damodar Shastri Bharadwaja. These three giants pave Varanasi a host of great scholars, among whom may be mentioned M. M. Giridhar Sharma Chaturveda, Nityanand Parvatiya, Bhavani Dutt Dikshit, Sabhapati Upadhyaya, Ram Yash, Chandradhar Sharma, Damodar Lal Goswami, Ramavatar Sharma, Tara Charan Bhattacharya, Narain Shastri Khiste and Satya Narain Shastri. The last named scholar earned international fame as an Ayurvedic Physician and passed away but pesca Ly (see portrait).
Then there was Mahamahopadhyaya Nyaya-Kailas- _ Shiromani Vama Charan Bhattacharya, at whose feet sat Panditraja Rajeshwar Shastri Dravida, the first Sanskrit scholar to receive Padma Bhushana. M.M. Prabhu Dutta, Vidyadhar Gauda, Ananda Charan ‘Tarkachudamani, Gopinath Kaviraj, Sitaram Shastri were also shining lights of their times and each and all of them have left behind
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EDUCATIONAL SET-UP INCLUDING PHYSICAL CULTURE 103
them a galaxy of brilliant stars. ‘These scholars followed the ancient tradition of teaching pupils at their houses free ofany obligation. It may bementioned here that over and above these great men there were hundreds, ifnot thousands of pandits — great and small— who were engaged in carrying forward the torch of Sanskrit learning at Varanasi, whose names it is not possible to enumerate.
The other type of schools mentioned earlier ewhich sought to provide working knowledge of Sanskrit on the basis of the language of the people, were functioning all the time since the production of Ukti-Vyakti-Prakaranam mentioned earlier (Twelfth century A. D.). In the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries, however, two more books of the same variety appeared on the scane. One Gir- vanapada Manjari was written between 1600 and 1650 A.D. by Varadaraja, a pupil of the famous grammarian Bhattoji Dikshit, mentioned earlier as one of the greatest scholars of Vyakarana. Theother, Girvana Vak Manjati was written by Dhundhiraja between 1702 and 1704 A. D. and these three continued tobe used as text books in this type of schools for a very long time.
As said earlier the learned type of Pathashalas were entirely based on the individual efforts of teachers and consequently with the exception of one of two (described in detail earlier) catered to the need of only four or five scholars atatime. ‘The first step in establishing a regular school was taken by Maharaja Jat Singh of Amber in : the Kangan-wali Haveli near Bindu Madhava T emple built by him in 1585. A.D. It provided instruction to
sons of social highups an mbe: pils was not very large. The school continued its good work =
wr 1669 A. D. when the temple of Bindu Madhava wis i
d even there the number of pupils
104 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
demolished along with the school—though the building in which it was housed still remains as the Ram Mandir next door to the Minarettes Mosque.
The real step in this direction was, however, taken in 1791 A. D., when Jonathan Duncan, the Agent of the East India Company at Varanasi founded the Sanskrit Pathashala, which later on became the Government Sanskrit College, and since 1958 has been raised to the status of a chartered University as the Varanaseya Sanskrit Visvavidyalaya. |
In 1791 Jonathan Duncan suggested to the Earl of Cornwallis, the then Governor General, that “a certain portion of thesurplus revenueof the Province or Zamindari of Benares should be set apart for the support of a Hindu College, or academy for the preservation and cultivation of the Sanskrit literature and religion of that nation, at this the centre of their faith and the common resort of their tribes.” Two advantages were expected to accrue from this —one, to popularise the British Government to the Hindus, and two, to provide learned Pandits to assist the Judges in deciding cases involving the Hindu Law. A sumofRs 1400/-perannum was sanctioned for the purpose and the institution then known as the Sanskrit Pathshala came into existence on 28th October 1791 in a rented house near the Maidagin Tank. Hight Pandits were appointed, of whom six were to recieve a monthly salary of 100/- each and two that of 80/- each. Nine students wete to receive free education and the rest had to pay for their tuition. In 1795 Kashinath Sidhanta, educated at the Pathshala was appointed as a Pandit of the Diwani Adalat at Shahabad. In 1798 2 committee consisting of G. F. Cherry, Samuel Davis, and Captain Wilford with the
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EDUCATIONAL SET-UP INCLUDING PHYSICAL CULTURE 105
Governor Generals’s Agent as President, was formed to look after the affairs of the institution with all the powers enjoyed by the Resident so far. Later on the salaries of the teachers were reduced and ranged from Rs 40 to 60/- pet month and 60 stipends to pupils at Rs 1 |-to Rs 10/- per pupil werefixed by the commitee. The Head Preceptor, or Rector was to receive a salary of Rs 200 per month.
In 1802 another pupil of the Pathshala was appointed as Pandit of the Zila Court at Rangpur and two others in 1807 and 1809. ‘The Pathshala was reorganised in 1820 and Captain Edward Fell of the 10th Regiment Native Infantry was appointed Secretary to the Committee and directed to work as Superintendent of the College, now called Benares College, on a monthly allowance of Rs 450/- in addition to his military pay. In January1821, thirty two students outstanding in their own subjects were rewarded 4 sum of Rs. 960/- in gold mohurs, most of them getting two mohurs each except two who got three and one who got only one., A public examination in the form of a disputation was also held at the time, in grammar, logic, metaphysics, philosophy, and law. The annual public disputation was a glorious one, for on that occasion the college received a sum of Rs. 4378/- as donation from local elite, including 1000/- from the Maharaja of Benares.
In July 1823, a General Committee of Public Instruct-
ion was constituted and the control of the college was
d to it. ; PASAS Raat 1830 the Benares Anglo-Indian Seminaty was
established—not as part of the pune institution. Its name was changed in enares
Government School, and its He as Secretary to the Local Committee an
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college but as an independent
admaster was. appointed d Superintendent —
106 VARANASI DOWN THE AGES
of the Sanskrit College in addition to his own duties. It was only in 1844 that a whole