PHILOSOPHY OF MORAL ORDER IN SANSKRIT LITERATURE: Rediscovery of the Greek Concepts of Arett,Aides, Dikk, Sophrosynk and Hybris.

By Pratap Bandyopadhyay

The universal popularity of Sanskrit literature is due not only to the aesthetic pleasure it has given to the connoisseurs all over the world but also due to the fact that the world has found in it plenty of ideas and ideals which are always highly valuable for giving human life a decent form. Although there is still a dispute over the issue of the didactic purpose of literature, the fact remains that great classicists of the wdrld have left an eternal message for mankind apart from giving aesthetic pleasure. The Sanskrit literary critics, who rightly admitted aesthetic pleasure or rasasv&da as the main poirpose of the literary art, noted its educative purpose as well. They did not think that this would belittle the real spirit of the art, because, they maintained, the writer never taught like a master or even like a friend, but like one's beloved. 1 The theory is not a baseless one. The critics simply noted what the writers actually did. A philosophy of moral order is truly found reflected in Sanskrit literature. There is an insurmountable order underlying our worldly existence. The early Greek writers gave excellent expression to this truth in the superb pieces of Tragedy. As Werner Jaeger points out 2 , the Greeks were aware of the position of the individual in the community, their organic point of view was that, individuals belonged to a living whole as its constituent elements and that the cosmic whole was governed by some comprehensive laws or natural principles. The basic theme of Greek poetry from Homer onward was man,- his destiny and his relation to the gods. The ancient Greek writers have shown, in their ^ respective manners, how man should act with relation to his surroundings. The fundamental organic view gave rise to a number of basic concepts, such as, aret&, aides, dik'e, sophrosyn'e and hybris* Jaeger's enlightening discourse on arett presents a nice picture of the ancient Greek culture. Arett

is often translated as 'honour.' This is a real attribute of the aristocratic nobleman.

Jaeger informs us that the word first appears in Greek literature the word for *proud and courtly morality and warlike valour' a d V gradually it came to denote the kernel of early Greek aristrocr f education. As such, this involves airfos or the sense of duty. This 1 d to the concept of dike which may be roughly rendered as 'justic' S This denotes keeping within the hounds of the rational world ord When this order is broken, even though unintentionally, the gods react to set the same aright. Dike holds society on a firm ground by preventins lawlessness and self-assertion. Keeping to this order, by doing one' duty in conformity with the laws (nonws) of gods, is known as sophrosynb or balance. Doing otherwise is an act of hybris. From Homer onward the aforesaid concepts have represented true religion which consists in the modest submission to life's bounds. As the Greeks believed, Zeus has an absolute jurisdiction over the creation which is set in a definite order. One should abide by this order. Anyone violating it must be punished. Prometheus violated this order, even though his purpose in giving away fire to mankind was apparently noble, and was, therefore, bound (Aeschylus, Prometheus Sound). Judged by the standard set up by Zeus, his act was unpardonable, an act of hybris consisting in the transgression of the limit of one's allotment. Agamemnon sacrificed his loving daughter ; the Greek fleet moved, but in the long run he was murdered by his wife (Aeschylus, Agamemnon). The story did not end here. A murder is a contemptible crime- a strong blow against the order of the creation. For what she did, Clytemnestra had to suffer the consequences. She was killed by her own son Orestes (Choephon). This act of Orestes was viewed differently by the three tragedians. Aeschylus and Euripides brought mhere the Erinyes haunting the murderer whereas Sophocles eliminated this part of the story (also not found in Homer), Aeschylus and Euripides appear to hold the view that by taking the law in his own hand and committing another murder, Orestes was equally guilty as Clytemnestra-on the part of both of them murder was an act of hyoris and therefore, according to the norm of dik^ both were to be punished, Sophocles, on the other hand, laid more emphasis on the

crime committed by Clytemnestra; so much so that what Orestes did appeared to him quite negligible. He considered the act of Orestes to be a readjustment of Okt. As H. D. F. Kitto puts it, <A violent disturburice of dike has been violently annulled'.* In accordance with Irl't T ^ a was * c duty of Orestes to take action a s ainst the fn?t! Trt Wh ^ everma ybethe difference in the approach of the law I;?! ? S1C P ? llo l sophy is same : One has to abide by the divine order ? Tt^ "f \ thus ' show ^phrosyne; to transgress the limit of this order is to show hybris which brings evil consequences.

This basic philosophy of a natural order is revealed again and again in the Greek tragedies. Ajax was highly arrogant, too much self reliant; he defied the divine power* This led to his downfall. Oedipus disturbed dik6 by killing his father and marrying his mother, though this was unintentional on his part. Sophocles maintains that the doer's intention or its absence makes no difference no thing goes unpaid. Oedipus' life met a tragic end for his own deed. The reader of Sanskrit literature would feel that the idea of the law ofdik& upheld by the Greek tragedians was shared by the Sanskrit writers as well. The two Epics, viz., the Rdmayana and the Mahdbhdrata have acted as inexhaustible store-houses of ideas and plots for the posterior Sanskrit literature. The plots of both the Epics clearly illustrate the law of justice dik& or rtiti. Ravana transgressed the limit of propriety and showed hybrls or anaucitya by abducting S'.ta . The punishment of this was rightly inflicted on him. Justice came from Rama who, we may say, represented world order. The arrogant Kauravas in the Mah&bharata violated the codes of ethics and were rightly vanquished in the battle of Kuruksetra, which is known through ages as dharmayuddha or a fight as a duty on the part of Pandavas to establish on earth righteousness which corresponds to Greek dikt. As alamkdrikas point out in noting the educative value of literature, we learn from these Epic stories that one should behave like Rama and other righteous persons and not like Ravana and other evil-doers. 4 This is illustrated throughout the whole realm of classical literature in Sanskrit.

The plots of all the works of Kalidasa have a moral basis. The RaghuvamSa begins with the story of King DiJipa and Sudaksina who did not get a child because of the indifference shown to the divine cow Surabhi by the King who was once in a hurry to meet the queen after her periodical bath. For this offence the king had to suffer, because, says the poet, if one fails to do one's duty of paying homage to those who deserve it, an impediment is caused to the former's attainment of prosperity. 5 The king deviated from what the Greeks would call the ideal of aidos and what our sastrakdras called dharma. As an atonement of this, the king had to serve Surabhi's daughter Nandini like a very ordinary servant. That the atonement was sufficient and that the king was entitled to a reward for his humility or act of sophrosynt had to be proved through his encounter with the lion in the. second canto of the poem.

... . The story would remind one of what Aeschylus says in Agamemnon : 'Cry aloud without fear the victory of Zeus, you will not have failed the truth : Zeus, who guided men to think, who has laid it down that wisdom comes alone through suffering/ 6 "i Zeus represents world order. In the story of the JRaghuvamia this world order was violated by King DilXpa. This led to his suffering V/hich ultimately brought him wisdom from sage Vasistha, This exactly ansvyers what Aeschylus says in the above passage, or Sophocles in the following passage of the Antigone. "Our happiness depends

on wisdom all the way. The gods must have their due. Great words by men of pride bring greater blow upon them. So wisdom comes to the old. 7 ^ In course of hunting, king Da&iratha killed the only son of a blind sage by mistake and was, therefore, cursed by the sage*. Though the act was not intentional, the law of the world is that, nothing goes unpaid. The same was the case with Oedipus. As Da&iratha committed the crime unawares, the curse proved true by way of giving him four sons whereas the king himself was longing for (at least) one. In the end the Raghuvam^a shows, through the story of Agnivarna, when the king is addicted to sensual pleasures with utter disregard for all duties -an act of deviation from the idea of amtk ,-he becomes responsible not only for his own downfall, but for that of the whole race and Kingdom. The whole story of the Kum&rasambhava is based on this very Concept of hybris and dlkt relating to the demon Taraka who tried to owpower he three worlds. For his apt punishment, i.e., for the SS^??*** 1 the birth ^Kumara was necessary. In order make this happen, the gods sought for Mariana's help. The price '' that ends wel1 ^ the long run the

consists in sending a message Yaksa to his beloved, now in separation, Kfilidftsa has

riot forgotten to mention in the very opening verse the own negligence of duty (svadhikarapramattah) whereby he disturbed 1 the order set up by Kubera. Hence by the law of justice the Yak$a ; had to be punished according to the penal code of Kubera 's admidfetration. For one whose too much attachment to the beloved caused a negligence of duty deviation from the ideal of aidos separation was the most suitable punishment. In the Abhijnanasdkuntala, Kalidasa's sense of moral justice has

excellently revealed. In order to present his hero as a righteous pe the playwright has changed the Mahabhd.rata story of Sakuntala , Dusyanta. This is a literary principle which later on Vivan5tha noted in the following words : yat sydd anucitam vastu nayakasya rasasya vd / viruddham tat parity &jyam anyatha vd prakalpayet / J 9 One denying a marriage intentionally - as did the Dusyan$a,'of the Mahdbharata 10 cannot deserve a wife like Sakuntala who is certified wmurtimart satkrfya 11 . Kalidasa, therefore, introduced the curse of Durvasa to exempt Dusyanta from the unpardonable charge. ! Itis due to the curse that the king forgot everything regarding his loveaffairs with the hermit's daughter. For the curse of Durvasa, again, ^akuntala herself was responsible. When Kanva was absent from the hermitage, it was Sakuntala's duty to offer due hospitality to sage Durvasa who arrived there as a guest. She was so much absorbed in thinking of her lover Dusyanta that the arrival of the sage could not draw her attention. This went against the ideal of aidos and by the law of dikb her punishment was inevitable. Hence was pronounced, the curse : vicintayantl yam ananyamanasa tapodhanam vetsi na mdm upasthitam / smarisyati tvarh na sa bodhito'pl son kathdm pramattah prathamam krtam iva / / 12 Here too, as in the Meghaduta, the punishment matches well with the offence. As regards Dusyanta, he did not care to wait till the return of Sage Kanva and to take his permission to marry his daughter in his own hermitage. Was this not an act of hybris on his part ? 18 If so, the punishment was inevitable. This is the law of justice. Repentance is the best form of punishment and the whole sixth Act of the play is devoted to this repentance. This, again, would remind us of the Greek pfiflosophy, viz., wisdom coming through suffering (already noted). The Indian Writers believed neither reward nor punishment to be eter-

nal. After the reward is enjoyed man comes back to the ordinary

life from where he has to earn additional merit for further r i Similarly, when the punishment is over, the door for brighter d ^ opened. Thus, after Sakuntala and Dusyanta have suffered the T 6 of their actions, they get their desired object in the mutual reunkm *t the hermitage of Marica. Turning our attention to a few other writers we find that Magha author of the Sisupdlavadha, chose the Mahabharata^ story of Si^uoa] * depicting the punishment of an evil-doer. The Cedi King Sisfopala ha** been tormenting the three worlds for the last three births. But this cannot continue for ever. Narada conies down on earth to inform Lord Krsna, then living in one of His incarnations in the house of Vasudeva, of the wretched plight of the gods and others. The story finds it catastrophe in the killing of Si^upala by Krsna in the battle fie'd caidyavasadah phalam, as Mallinatha puts it. The actions of SiftipSla reached the maximum point of hybris, dikk was highly disturbed and it was high time forJLord Krsna to reestablish the order. In the philosophy of the Greek writers the question of endurance was vitally connected with the concepts of aret& 9 aides, dik'e and sophrosrynt. One should accept ungrudgingly what is allotted to one by the gods, irrespective of whether that is pleasant or not. Thus in sophocles' Trachiniae, Heracles says : 'Always without a groan I followed my painful course.' 16 Sufferings can be endured if one remembers that man himself is the architect of his fate. This philosophy is brought to light in several passages of sophocles. Thus his Oedipus accuses himself in the following words : &

'And it is 1, I and no other have so cursed myself. And I pollute the bed of him I killed by the hands that killed him. Was I not born evil ? Am I not utterly unclean* 17 am t <h ? U ,* ht Can *" tra * ed in Sanskrit literature. In the

when Lak jnuma communicates to Sltft the most cruel order th T Z " . er banishme * t to the hermitage ofValmiki, Sltft, though hurt at the bottom of her heart, admits the incident as au allotment of her fate and tries to find a reason for this in her own

actions of the previous births a concept which plays a vital role in Hindu philosophy : mamikeyam tanur nunam srstd duhkhdya laksmana / dhdtrd yasyds tatha me'dya duhkhamurtffi pradrsyate // klm nu pdpam krtam purvam ko vd ddrair viyojitaft J ydham suddhasarndcdra tyaktd nrpatind sati // 18 In kalidasa's Raghuvam^a, 19 Slta makes herself responsible in more emphatic terms : kalydnalniddher athavd tavdyam na kdmacdro mayi sankanlyah / mamaiva janm an tarapdtak dn dm vipdkavisphurjathur aprasahyah jj When the worst calamity had befallen Dasaratha with the banishment of Rama, he recalled the inc : dent involving himself leading to the death of the son of a sage and inviting curse from the sage. Dafaratha realized that the present situation was an outcome of his own past deed. He said to Kau^alya : yad dcarati kalyani Subham vd yadi vdsubham / tad eva labhate bhadre kartd karmajam dtmanah // 20 And then he related to her the whole story. At the end of the Kuruksetra war when Dhrtarastra realizes that he has lost his friends and relatives including his sons, he admits himself to be responsible for this utter disaster and surmises that he must have committed sins in the previous births :

na krtam suhrddm vdkyarn jamadagnasya jalpatab / ndradasya ca devarseh krsnadvaipdyanasya ca / / nunam vyapakrtam kiftcin mayd purvesu janmasu j I 21 The basic philosophy that nothing goes unpaid may also be expressed thus : Anything to be achieved must be paid for. Dusyaiita paid for his union with Sakuntala, so did the latter. The same is the case with the heroes of other kdvyas and ndtakas. If not by any other means, at least by striving sincerely for the goal one has to pay. The course of love is not a smooth one. Agnimitra, Purwravas, Rama, Carudatta, Nala each had to pay for union with his beloved. In the

case of Parvati's penance for Siva, kalidasa clearly says : avdpv katham anyathd dvayam tathavidham prema pat is ca tddrsah 722 Elsewh ^ Slta, when abandoned by Rama in the hermitage of Valrniki, says tlT after giving birth to her child she will practise austere penance so th^ in the next birth she may be again united with Rama from whom th ** no separation will be apprehended : * n '

Saham tapah s urdhvam prasutes carltum rat/syu / bhuyo yathd me jananantare^pi tvam eva bhartd na ca vlprayogah // a3 The same truth is illustrated in a different way by Arjuna's penance and fight with -Siva in Bharavi's Kirfitarjnntya, also based on the Mahabharata** Nor was Caaakya's fight for winning Raksasa (in ViSakhadatta's Mudraraksasa) an easy task. It would have been a violation of the universal order if these characters were sketched as achieving the goal without any difficulty. Achievement of a desired goal for which one has not to pay any-

thing is unthinkable in the world of justice. Anything to be achieved must be paid for and anything done must produce a result, good or bad, as the case may be. This philosophy has found expression in the thinking of our sastrakaras and also of the literary writers. This is not virtually different from what the early Greek writers wanted to establish and is followed by many other writers and poets all over the world through ages, including the Great English poet William Shakespeare. Macbeth could not evade the consequences of murdering king Duncan. "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this lilttlc hand" 5 of Lady Macbeth who was the main instigation behind the crime. None of the conspirators against Julius Caesar was flowed to enjoy the position after the hideous crime had been carried out. The tragedy of Othello was the evil consequence of his blind suspicion against his loving wife. The throne of Claudius, who killed the king of Denmark and married his widow, was not without thorns and he as well as the queen met death eventually (Hamlet). Injustice cannot be allowed to prevail. Writers of different countries have given expression to this common thought in 'different periods indifferent languages and various modes. Habits vary from person to person, customs vary from land to land, time to time, but the basic ideals are always the same, and as such, they are eternal. They are equally acceptable to men of all ages. In giving expression to the prindwriters TJv r f r ' T great wi ^s of the world, specially the classic ,;i !!! y contrib ^ed to world culture** which basically at the betterment of mankind. Culture of one country may vary

from that of another, but when we speak of the world culture we think of mankind as a whole. Whatever does some good to mankind in general contributes to the culture of the world taken as a whole. The moral thought of the classicists helps men of all ages to mould their life according to certain eternal principles. It inspires us to abide by the eternal principles of universal order and to do good to mankind, at least to refrain from doing evils, because, there is always the assurance of an outcome of anything done knowingly or unknowingly.

NOTES

1. kdvyam yasase' rthakrte vyavahdravide sivetaraksataye / sad yah paranirvrtaye kanfasammitatftyopadcsayitje // Kdvyaprakdia, 1.2. 2. Paideia* translated dy Gilbert Highet, Vol.1 (Second Ed s , New York, 1962) : Introduction, pp. XVII ff. 3. Greek Tragcdv (University Paperback edition, London, 1966), p. 136. 4. Cf. kdvyasya prayojanam hi rasdsvddasukhapindaddnadvdrena veda sdstravimukhdndm sukumdramatindm rdjaputraprabhrtlndm vineydndm rdmddivat pravartitavyam na rdvanddivad ityddikrtydkrtyapravrtli nivrttyupadesa iti cirantanair apyuktatvdt/Sdh!tyadarpana (5th Ed. by Haridasa Siddhantavagisa, Calcutta, 1875 Saka era). Ch. I. p. 16. 5. pratibadhndtf hi srcyah pujyapuj&vyatikramah // Raghu, 1.79.C D, 6. Lines 174-78, translated by Richmond Lattimore : The Complete Greek Tragedies edited by*David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, Vol. I, Aeschylus, Chicago, 1959. 7. Lines 1347-52, translated by Elizabeth WyckorT : ibid, Vol. 2, Sophocles, Chicago 1959. 8. Raghuvamsa Canto IX; Rtimdyana (edited by Sivarama Sarma Vasistha, Chowkhamba Vidyabhavan, Varanasi, 1957), Ayodhydkdnda, Cantos 63-64.

9, Sahiiyadarpana, VI. 32 (Siddhantavagisa's 5th Ed,).

10. So j tha srutvaiva tadvdkyafn tasyfi raja srnaran napi / abravin na smardniiti kasya tvam dustatdpasi // Mahahharata (Vol. I,jGrita Press, Gorakhpur, 2013 Vikrama era), Adiparvan, 74.19. 11. Abhijhanasakwrtala (edited by M.R. Kale, Eighth Ed., Bombay 1957), V, 15*! 12. Ibid IV. I . This would remind us, by way of contrast, that in Euripides' Alcestis, Admetus did his duty to his guest Heracles even in his (AdmetusT) worst time and was, therefore, unexpectedly rewarded by the latter who brought Life back to his dead wife. The lesson of the play, so to say, is presented in the words of Heracles : c Admetus, be just, Treat your guests as they deserve' .Line 1148, translated by Richmond Lattimore : The Complete Greek Tragedies edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, Euripides, I, Chicago, 1955. 13. On the part of ^akuntala also the same was the offence. Kalidasa seems to suggest this in the fourth Act : cliff hid dhumdulidadittino vf jaamdnassa pdvae evva ahud'i padidd, / ibid., p. 136. 14. Cf. fe tarn bhuktvd svargahkam vHalam kstne punye martyalokam vUanti JGlta, IX. 21, A-B. 15. Sabhaparvan, Chs. 33-45 (Gita Press ed., Vol. I). 16. Line 1074, translated by Michael Jameson : The Complete Greek Tragedies, Vol. II (see note 7). 17. Oedipus The King> translated by David Grene, lines 819-23 : ibid. 18. Rdmdyana (Chowkhamba, 1957), Uttarakanda, 48. 3-4.

19. XIV. 62. 20. Rdmdyana (Chowkhamba, 1957), Ayodhydkdnda, 63.6. 21. See Mahdbhdrata (Gita Press ed., Vol. Ill 2014 Vikrama era), Strtparvan, 1.13-19.

n^An ,V, 1 CD,

23,

/ vn/ ^ at XIV. oo.

14 Ff , ft, 27-41 (Gita Press ei, MI), 4 II ^ A ' ' /

edited i)j Peter Alexander, London

,f4^1'