So far most of our knowledge about the ethics of ancient India
has come to us
from the religious writings of the Vedas,
Brahmanas,
Aranyakas,
Upanishads, Jainism,
and Buddhism.
These are the oldest
sources, as there were no significant historians of ancient India
except for the Greek and Roman accounts of Alexander's conquests.
Later we shall see what epic poetry revealed about Indian civilization.
This chapter will review what we do know about the history of
ancient India
and then examine the writings about dharma (law,
duty), politics, and pleasure.
As we learned from the Vedas,
ancient India was ruled by kings and councils
of prominent men
in varying degrees of monarchy and republican influence.
Megasthenes,
a Greek ambassador to India shortly after Alexander's death,
wrote
a book on India stating that monarchies were dissolved and democratic
governments
were set up in the cities.
Jainism
and Buddhism flourished particularly
in the independent clans.
According to Buddhist texts, in the
sixth century BC there were sixteen major states
in northern India
of which Magadha, Kosala, and Vatsa were the most powerful.
Our
last chapter recounted how Kosala massacred the Shakya clan;
after
the Buddha's death, Kosala also took over Kashi.
Vatsa was a prosperous country known for its fine cotton; its
capital was Kaushambi.
Their heroic king, Udayana, was descended
from the Kurus of Bharata
and was the subject of several poems
and dramas.
He was captured by the cruel king Pradyota of Avanti,
but he contrived to escape
with the help of Pradyota's daughter.
Interested in Buddhism, Udayana was converted by Pindola,
but
not before he had tortured Pindola with brown ants while in a
drunken rage.
Magadha rose to imperial power during the long reigns of Bimbisara
(c. 544-491)
and his son Ajatashatru (c. 491-460); their relations
with the Buddha have been told.
Only fifteen years old when he
was anointed king by his father, Bimbisara conquered Anga,
which
had defeated his father.
His son was installed in its powerful
capital at Champa,
and his diplomatic and matrimonial relations
with Pradyota of Avanti
also enhanced his power with the annexation
of Kashi.
The Magadha empire included republican communities such
as Rajakumara.
Villages had their own assemblies under their local
chiefs called Gramakas.
Their administrations were divided into
executive, judicial, and military functions.
Bimbisara was friendly
to both Jainism and Buddhism and suspended
tolls at the river
ferries for all ascetics after the Buddha was once stopped
at
the Ganga River for lack of money.
After the death of Bimbisara at the hands of his son, Ajatashatru,
the widowed princess of Kosala also died of grief, causing King
Prasenajit to revoke
the gift of Kashi and triggering a war between
Kosala and Magadha.
Ajatashatru was trapped by an ambush and captured
with his army;
but in a peace treaty he, his army, and Kashi were
restored to Magadha,
and he married Prasenajit's daughter.
Jain and Buddhist accounts differ slightly as to the cause
of Ajatashatru's war
with the Licchavi republic, but precious
gems figured in both accounts.
This conflict would determine the
fate of eastern India and drew the attention of the Buddha,
who suggested to the democratic Licchavis that they strengthen
themselves
by holding full and frequent assemblies while maintaining
internal concord
and efficient administration honoring elders,
institutions, shrines, saints, and women.
However, Ajatashatru sent a minister, who for three years
worked
to undermine the unity of the Licchavis at Vaishali.
To launch
his attack across the Ganga River Ajatashatru had to build a fort at a new capital
called Pataliputra, which the Buddha
prophesied would become a great center of commerce.
Torn by disagreements
the Licchavis were easily defeated once the fort was constructed.
Jain texts tell how Ajatashatru used two new weapons—
a catapult
and a covered chariot with swinging mace
that has been compared
to modern tanks.
Approaching the Buddha's assembly of monks to ask forgiveness
for ending the life
of his father, Ajatashatru could not understand
how at night it could be so quiet
near an assembly of more than
a thousand people and exclaimed,
"Would that my son Udayi
Bhadda might have such calm
as this assembly of the brothers has!"1
This conversation with the Buddha
was a turning point in the life of Ajatashatru,
and after the
Buddha's death the chief disciple, Mahakassapa, entrusted the
bulk
of the relics to Ajatashatru.
The king also repaired the
facilities at Rajagriha used by the Buddhists and sponsored
the
first Buddhist council by providing clothing, food, residences,
and medicine for about five hundred monks and elders.
According to Buddhist texts the four kings, who ruled Magadha
after Ajatashatru,
all killed their fathers, though Jain texts
claim that his first successor was an adherent
of their religion
who was assassinated by his political rival, Palaka,
the son of
the Avanti king Pradyota, who had become powerful by conquering
Kaushambi.
Finally the people rose up against being ruled by murderers
and elected Sishunaga
king of Magadha; he destroyed the power
of the Pradyotas and took over Avanti
as well as Vatsa and Kosala.
His son, Kalashoka, succeeded to a powerful empire,
but he was
murdered by a low-caste barber named Ugrasena,
who founded the
Nanda dynasty, which ended the traditional Kshatriyas' rule
by
exterminating their principalities.
The last king of the Nandas
was overthrown shortly after Alexander's Greek invaders
left India
in 326 BC because he was hated by his people
for his wickedness,
miserliness, and low origin.
Although the Persians extended their rule over the western
edge of India under Cyrus,
Darius, and Xerxes, the only major
threat of foreign conquest came when
Alexander
of Macedonia invaded India in 326 BC.
According to Greek historians,
"None of the Indians ever marched
out of their own country
for war, being actuated by a respect for justice."2
Arrian
also added that all the inhabitants were free, since no Indian
was a slave,
though he did describe seven castes as the naked
wise men, farmers, animal herders,
artisans, warriors, supervisors,
and royal officials.
Tillers of the soil were so respected that
even when a war raged nearby,
they plowed and gathered their crops
in peace.
After conquering Bactria Alexander
crossed the Hindu Kush mountains.
Taking advantage of rivalries
between kingdoms,
Alexander
gained in advance the allegiance of Shashigupta
and eventually
Ambhi, king of Taxila.
Alexander
sent Hephaestion and Perdiccas with half his forces through the
Khyber Pass,
and they laid siege to the Astenoi for thirty days
before their king Astes fell fighting.
Alexander
also met opposition from the free peoples,
and in one of these
skirmishes he was wounded while scaling the walls.
An Athenian
quoted Homer that Ichor flows from the blessed gods,
but the conqueror
denied this divine implication, declaring flatly that it was blood.
Because their glorious leader had been wounded,
the Greeks massacred
the entire population of that tribe.
Forty thousand Aspasians
were taken prisoner,
and the 230,000 oxen captured indicates the
prosperity of the area.
The Assakenoi resisted Alexander
with tens of thousands
of cavalry and infantry in a fortress at
Massaga.
After the king was killed, the army was led by his mother,
Queen Cleophes,
and included the local women.
After several days
of heroic fighting, Alexander
offered these brave people their lives
if the mercenaries would
agree to join his army; the city capitulated.
But not wanting
to fight other Indians, the seven thousand mercenaries
tried to
run away from the camp and were slaughtered by Alexander's soldiers.
Next the town of Nysa surrendered, and the Greeks celebrated
with Bacchic revels
the taking of a town they thought was founded
by Dionysus.
Then Alexander
delighted in taking the town of Aornus,
because he heard that
Heracles had failed to do so.
These incidents indicate that the
motive for these conquests was the glory of mythic renown,
since
there was no other known provocation or rationale for the invasion
of another country
so far from home except perhaps to steal their
wealth or the propaganda
they were spreading Greek culture.
King Ambhi of Taxila responded to Alexander's messengers with
gifts and agreed
to surrender his prosperous dominions with the
following argument:
To what purpose should we make war upon one another,
if the design of your coming into these parts be not to rob us of our water
or our necessary food, which are the only things
that wise men are indispensably obliged to fight for?
As for other riches and possessions, as they are accounted in the eye of the world,
if I am better provided of them than you, I am ready to let you share with me;
but if fortune has been more liberal to you than me,
I have no objection to be obliged to you.3
Alexander, not wanting
to be outdone by this generosity, gave Ambhi even greater gifts,
plus one thousand talents in money.
However, a Macedonian military
governor was appointed over Taxila,
and Ambhi provided military
support to help the Greeks fight his Indian enemies.
A naval officer named Onesicritus heard a lecture on ethics
from the wise teachers,
who received free food in the Taxila marketplace.
They admired Alexander's love of wisdom even though he ruled a
vast empire;
they said he was the only philosopher in arms they
had seen.
They asked about Socrates,
Pythagoras, and Diogenes,
but they felt they paid too much attention to the customs and
laws of their country,
an illuminating insight from one of the
earliest cross-cultural discussions.
One of the naked sages, Calanus,
refused to talk with Onesicritus
because he would not strip off
his clothes; but he did show Alexander
an analogy
of his government by trying to stand on a shriveled
hide,
which when trod on its edges would not stay flat; but when
he stood in the middle, it did.
This was similar to the point
Dandamis had made when he had asked Onesicritus
why Alexander
had undertaken such a long journey.
A young man named Pyrrho,
who went on to found the skeptical school of Greek philosophy,
also talked with these sages, causing his entire outlook to change.
Alexander tried to negotiate
with the other two major Indian kings, Abhisara and Poros.
Abhisara
sent gifts and promised to submit,
but Poros said that he would
meet Alexander on the field
of battle.
Alexander drafted
five thousand Indian troops into his infantry,
had a bridge of
boats built to cross the Indus River,
and met Poros on the banks
of the Jhelum River, which his soldiers were finally able to
sneak
across at night to avoid confrontation with the elephants of Poros.
This strategic battle fought in the rainy season was won by Alexander
using flanking movements
around the elephants.
Thousands were slain, and after receiving
nine wounds himself King Poros surrendered.
When Alexander
asked the defeated king what treatment he wanted to receive,
Poros
asked only to be treated in a kingly way.
Winning Alexander's
respect and friendship,
Poros was granted the rule over his own
people
and later additional territory equal to his own that Alexander also annexed.
Alexander took Sangala
by storm, killing 17,000 Indians and capturing 70,000,
while only
one hundred of his own men were killed,
though more than twelve
hundred were wounded.
Once again Alexander
offered to spare independent Indians;
but when they fled, about
five hundred were caught and killed.
He ordered Sangala razed
to the ground.
He could see no end to war as long as some were
hostile to his conquering.
Alexander
was enthusiastic when he learned of prosperous farmland on the
other side
of the Hyphasis River, but that July Alexander's officers
and soldiers,
seeing the vast plains that stretched to the east,
refused to invade any further,
having already traveled 11,000
miles in seven years.
When Alexander
could not persuade them to follow him,
he had to admit that the
omens had changed.
Arranging for Arsaces to pay tribute to the
king of Abhisara,
he left his conquered territory under this king
Ambhi and Poros,
then planned his voyage back to the sea.
Having built a fleet of a thousand boats and expropriating
another eight hundred,
in November 326 BC Alexander
began the voyage down the rivers to the sea.
Hearing of opposition
at the confluence of the Jhelum and the Chenab, Alexander
marched his army forty-eight miles across the desert to attack
the Mallians by surprise.
Alexander
led the attack personally, and the Greeks killed about five thousand
Indians.
Impatient with the slowness of those climbing the ladders
into the enemy fort,
Alexander
jumped down into the fort almost alone
where he was shot by an
arrow through his breastplate into his ribs.
Fighting until he
fainted from loss of blood, he was then protected by bodyguards,
and the arrow was eventually removed.
Alexander
recovered, but in revenge all the Indians in the fort were massacred,
including the women and children.
Other independent cities of Brahmins revolted; 80,000 Indians
were slain by the Greeks,
and many captives were auctioned as
slaves.
After this bloody detour Alexander
and his men returned to their ships
and sailed down the Indus
to the sea and returned to Babylon.
On his boat Alexander questioned
ten of the naked sages
he captured for persuading Sabbas to revolt.
Known for their pertinent answers to questions,
Alexander
threatened to kill those who gave inadequate responses.
According
to Plutarch these philosophers declared that the cunningest animal
is the one people have not found out, that to be most loved one
must be very powerful
without making oneself too much feared,
and that a decent person
ought to live until death appears more
desirable than life.
Alexander had entered India
with an army of 120,000 with 15,000 horses
but returned with not
much more than a quarter of them,
mostly because of disease and
famine.
Although this conquest did open up communication between
the Greeks and the Indians,
it seems to me that this could have
been done much better without all the killing and plunder.
Alexander's conquests affected only the westernmost portion
of India,
as most of the empire of the Nandas remained intact.
However, within a year or two of Alexander's departure this great
empire was overthrown,
not by the Greeks but by Chandragupta,
the founder of the Mauryan dynasty.
According to Greek historians
the young Chandragupta met Alexander,
angered him,
and was ordered to be killed but fled.
A Pali work
describes how Chandragupta and his minister Chanakya recruited
an army
from the disaffected people of the Punjab who had resisted
Alexander
and then overthrew the existing government of India.
The Greek satraps Nicanor and Philippus were killed; when Alexander's
empire
was divided up after his death in 323 BC,
the Indus valley
had already been lost to Chandragupta; Eudemus left India in 317
BC.
Seleucus, the ruler of the eastern portion of the Greek empire,
encountered Chandragupta in 305 BC and had to cede the Hindu Kush
mountain area
for 500 elephants, which enabled him to defeat Antigonus
at Ipsus.
Megasthenes was sent as the Greek ambassador to the court at
Pataliputra,
where he wrote a book on India.
A royal road of more
than a thousand miles connected the northwest territory with this
capital.
Megasthenes described how this vast empire was ruled
by Chandragupta,
who conducted public business and judged causes
throughout his waking day.
Provinces were ruled by governors and
viceroys
and the Emperor himself with the help of his council.
An intelligence system, which included courtesans, reported to
the king.
Irrigation was regulated, and the army had more than
600,000 men;
but they were outnumbered by the farmers, whose work
was respected even in wartime.
Literary legends portray Chanakya as the genius behind the
throne
and the author of Kautilya's Arthashastra.
Jain
tradition claims that in the last days of his life Chandragupta
was converted and joined their migration led by Bhadrabahu.
Chandgragupta
ruled for a quarter of a century and was succeeded by his son
Bindusara,
who ruled for about 27 years.
According to a Tibetan
source, Chanakya also helped Bindusara
destroy sixteen towns and
master all the territory between the eastern and western seas.
Bindusara corresponded with the Syrian king Antiochus I, offering
to buy wine, figs,
and a sophist; but Greek law prohibited the
selling of a sophist.
Bindusara appointed his son Ashoka viceroy
of Avanti,
and about 273 BC Ashoka became emperor of India.
Buddhist texts portray Ashoka consolidating his empire by killing
ninety-nine of his brothers;
but some consider this an exaggeration
to set off the contrast after his conversion
because some of his
rock edicts indicate loving care of his brothers.
With a sense
of his historic mission Ashoka had these rock edicts and stone
pillars
carved all over India with descriptions of his intentions
and actions.
These tell a remarkable story of the philosopher
king H. G. Wells called the greatest of kings.
Ashoka admitted in Rock Edict 13 that eight years after his
consecration as king
when "Kalinga was conquered, 150,000
people were deported, 100,000 were killed,
and many times that
number died."4
Yet after that, he was converted to justice (dharma), loved it, and taught it.
With great remorse Ashoka
transformed himself
and attempted to transform his kingdom and
the world,
though he warned offenders that they might be executed
if they disobey.
Eliminating capital punishment was not one of
his reforms,
although he did often delay executions.
Ashoka expressed
his main concern for the next world.
Ashoka renounced the violence of war, stating that
he would
have to bear all that could be borne.
He refused to conquer weaker
and smaller states,
allowing even forest tribes an equal sovereignty.
He wanted all people to enjoy the benefits of non-injury,
self-control,
fair conduct, and gentleness.
As a benevolent monarch he declared
all people his children and expressed his desire
that all his
children obtain welfare and happiness both in this world and the
next.
He thus engaged in preaching but also worked hard to serve
his people.
Instead of organizing military expeditions, he sent
out peace missions throughout
his kingdom and beyond to teach
virtue and conversion to a moral life by love.
In another rock edict Ashoka said he had been an open follower
of the Buddha for two and a half
years.
He abolished royal hunting and animal sacrifices in the
capital,
reducing the palace's killing of animals for food from
several thousand a day
to two peacocks and an occasional deer,
and he promised to eliminate even those three.
He banned sports
involving the killing of animals and cruel animal fighting.
In
the 26th year of his reign he restricted the killing and injury
of parrots, wild geese, bats,
ants, tortoises, squirrels, porcupines,
lizards, rhinos, pigeons,
and all quadrupeds that were neither
used nor eaten.
Ashoka provided medicinal plants for people and animals to
neighboring kings
as well as throughout his own kingdom, seeing
no more important work
than acting for the welfare of the whole
world.
He appointed governors who would serve the happiness and
welfare of the people,
and he insisted on justice and consistent
punishments.
He commanded that reports be made to him at any hour
of the day and at any place,
so intent was he in working for the
good of all.
To protect people and beasts Ashoka had trees planted
and shelters built
at regular intervals along the roads.
Mango
groves were planted, and wells were dug.
Although he followed Buddhist dharma, Ashoka respected
all the religious sects
and also encouraged his people to do so
by guarding their speech
in neither praising one's own sect nor
blaming other sects except in moderation.
He believed that whoever
praises one's own sect and disparages another's
does one's own
sect the greatest possible harm.
"Therefore concord alone
is meritorious, that they should
both hear and obey each other's
morals (dharma)."5
He wanted all sects to be full
of learning and teach virtue,
and he promoted the essence of all
religions, their unity in practice,
their coming together in religious
assemblies,
and learning the scriptures of different religions.
Ashoka's emphasis was on ethical action rather than ritual
and ceremonies,
which he found of little use.
The ceremonies of dharma that he found useful were
"the good treatment
of slaves and servants, respect for elders,
self-mastery in one's
relations with living beings,
gifts to Brahmins and ascetics,
and so on."6
For thirty-seven years Ashoka ruled a large
empire
that included most of India except the southern tip.
Yet
his efforts were to bring justice and virtue to the whole world.
Thanks to his rock edicts and human memory,
his admirable intentions
will never be forgotten.
Little is known of Ashoka's successors, but it took about fifty
years
before the Mauryan dynasty came to an end about 187 BC with
the assassination
of Brihadratha by his general Pushyamitra and
the invasion of the Bactrian Greeks.
Pushyamitra was able to drive
out the Greeks and ruled for about 36 years,
but Buddhists complained
that he was a cruel persecutor of their religion
who offered gold
coins for the killing of monks.
The Shunga kings ruled for more
than a century and were followed by the Kanvas,
whose dynasty
in Magadha lasted 45 years and was overthrown in 30 BC.
By this
point the empire was broken up, and little is known of this history
except of some of the Greek rulers in Bactria, such as Demetrius
II
who conquered the Punjab and northwest India between 180 and
165 BC,
Eucratides who was murdered by his son about 150 BC,
and
Menander who ruled for about 25 years in the late second century
BC
and was said to have become a follower of the Buddha.
Ashoka recognized three neighboring kingdoms in southern India
as Chola,
Pandya, and Chera, where the Tamil language was spoken.
Legends indicate Dravidian and Aryan tribes coming in from the
northwest;
Agastya was said to have brought farmers from the homeland
of Krishna.
The Chola ascendancy over the Tamil states began in
the first century BC
when King Karikala escaped from prison and
eventually defeated the
combined forces of the Pandya and Chola
kings with the help of eleven minor chieftains.
King Karikala
also invaded the island of Sri Lanka and removed 12,000 inhabitants
to work building a fortification at the seaport Puhar.
He also
had irrigation channels built there at the River Kaveri.
A Buddhist monastery at Mahavihara recorded in the
Mahavamsa
the early history of Sri Lanka.
The pre-Dravidian aborigines were
called Nagas and Yakshas.
About the fourth century BC they were
colonized by people from Bengal led by Vijaya,
who had been banished
by his father for evil conduct;
he invaded the island with seven
hundred men followed by the importation
of a thousand families
and many maidens.
A century later King Devanampiya Tissa sent
an embassy to Emperor Ashoka,
who sent back envoys to consecrate
this king.
Ashoka's brother Mahendra went to Sri Lanka to convert
them to Buddhism,
and a branch of the Bodhi tree was planted in
the capital Anuradhapura.
Devanampiya Tissa ruled Sri Lanka for
forty years until about 210 BC,
and he was succeeded by his three
brothers.
Then two brothers from southern India named Sena and
Guttika
usurped the throne and ruled for twenty years.
The noble Elara from Chola overcame Asela and ruled the island
for many years with justice for friends and enemies.
Legend records
that he even had his own son executed
for accidentally running
over a calf and killing it.
Elara introduced their tradition of
the bell of justice.
However, he was considered a Tamil usurper,
and after fifteen years of war
he was defeated and killed by King
Dutthagamani (r. 161-137 BC),
who battled thirty-two chiefs to
establish a united kingdom in Sri Lanka.
He was succeeded by his
brother Saddhatissa (r. 137-119 BC).
Upon his death his younger
son Thulatthana was chosen king by counselors
and Buddhist monks,
but the elder son Lanjatissa defeated the younger brother
and
held the throne for ten years.
He was succeeded by his younger
brother Khallatanaga,
who was killed by rebels after ruling for
six years.
The rebel king was soon killed by another brother Vattagamani,
who married the widowed queen in 103 BC.
However, the same year
King Vattagamani faced
a Tamil invasion and a rebellion by one
of his governors.
He tried to quell the rebellion by using the
invaders,
but then the seven invaders drove him out of the country.
His queen and the Buddha's alms-bowl were taken back to India
by two invaders
while the other five invaders ruled Sri Lanka
103-89 BC.
Vattagamani recovered his kingdom from the Tamil invasion
in 89 BC
and governed for twelve years during which the extensive
Buddhist Tripitaka
was written down along with the Atthakatha.
Vattagamani was succeeded by two sons, but the second, Choranaga
(r. 63-51 BC),
had Buddhist sanctuaries destroyed.
He and several
succeeding kings were poisoned by his wife Anula;
then she was
killed by Kutkannatissa, who ruled for 22 years until about 20
BC.
In ancient Indian culture political and social ethics were
focused around
the three goals of dharma (justice, duty,
virtue),
artha (success, prosperity), and kama (pleasure).
The fourth goal of moksha (liberation) was considered
the
highest goal sought through spiritual and religious endeavor.
Ways of attaining this spiritual release from the cycle of rebirth
have been discussed
in the chapters on the Upanishads,
Jainism, and Buddhism,
and will also be discussed in the next
chapter on Hinduism.
The era of the sutras in Hindu culture slightly preceded
the development of Jainism
and Buddhism in the sixth century BC
and lasted until the law codes began to become
more formalized
in the Laws of Manu starting around the 2nd century BC.
Each school of the Brahmins had their own collection of duties
with the Shrauta Sutras
on the Vedic sacrifices, the Grihya
Sutras on domestic ceremonies,
and the Dharma Sutras
on personal and social conduct.
All of these follow the sacred
traditions of the Aryan Vedas
and distinguish
the various duties, obligations, and privileges
of the four castes.
The Grihya Sutras delineate detailed
rules for the householder
in regard to marriage and household
customs, manners, and rituals.
The Dharma Sutras cover broader areas of social customs
and offer specific rules for almost every aspect of life.
The
four castes of the Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (rulers),
Vaishyas
(farmers and merchants), and Sudras (workers) were a strict hierarchy
with each preceding caste superior by birth to the one following.
The twice-born top three are ordained through initiation to study
the Vedas
and kindle the sacred
fire,
but the Sudras were only ordained to serve the other three
superior castes.
Brahmins were initiated in the eighth year after
conception in the spring,
Kshatriyas in the eleventh year in the
summer,
and Vaishyas in the twelfth in the autumn.
The one initiating
them became their teacher
and must be served loyally according
to strict rules.
Initiates were not supposed to associate with
those families
that were not initiated called "slayers of
Brahman."
Respect was to be shown to those in a superior caste
and to
those of the same caste venerable for their learning and virtue.
Belief in the caste system was based on the idea of karma that
those who act well in this life
will be born in better circumstances
or a higher caste next time,
and those who do not fulfill their
duties
will be born in a lower caste and worse circumstances.
Nevertheless this arbitrary system based on birth does tend to
violate
the principles of justice and equal opportunity for all.
The student phase of life was quite strict and celibate.
These
youths were not allowed to look at dancing, attend festivals or
gambling halls, gossip,
be indiscreet, talk with women unnecessarily,
nor find any pleasure where one's teacher could be found.
Students
were to restrain their organs, be forgiving, modest, self-possessed,
energetic,
and free of anger and envy.
The teacher was to love
the youth as his own son and give him full attention in teaching
the sacred knowledge without hiding anything in the law;
teachers
were not allowed to use students for their own purposes
to the
detriment of their studies except in times of distress.
The syllable Aum was chanted prior to studying the Vedas,
and twelve years were considered
necessary for the study of each of the four Vedas,
although not everyone studied all four,
as family traditions tended
to focus on one of the Vedas.
Meditation was practiced to gain wisdom and recognize the soul
(atman) in all creatures
as well as the eternal being within
oneself.
The eradication of faults such as anger, exultation,
grumbling, covetousness, perplexity,
doing injury, hypocrisy,
lying, gluttony, calumny, envy, lust, secret hatred,
and neglecting
to control the senses or mind was accomplished by means of yoga.
Detailed rules of penance are described for numerous offenses.
When adequate knowledge of the Veda has been gained
by the student,
he goes through a bathing ceremony and is henceforth
known as a snataka.
Rules for the snataka are detailed
as are the duties of the householder after marriage.
Rules of
inheritance are defined, and funeral ceremonies are described.
Beyond student and householder are two more stages of life available
to spiritual seekers,
who leave their home to become a chaste
hermit in the forest,
possibly to be followed by the final stage
of renouncing everything
as an ascetic (sannyasin) who
must
live without a fire, without a house, without pleasures, without protection.
Remaining silent and uttering speech only on the occasion of the daily recitation
of the Veda, begging so much food only in the village as will sustain his life,
he shall wander about neither caring for this world nor for heaven."7
Such a person is clearly seeking spiritual liberation (moksha).
The beginnings of criminal and civil law are also outlined
in the Dharma Sutras,
but punishments are differentiated
according to the perpetrator's caste and also the victim's.
Neither
capital nor corporal punishment were to be inflicted on Brahmins.
A Brahmin might be exiled, but he was allowed to take his things.
The Apastamba Sutra concludes with the idea that
duties
not taught in the text must be learned from women and men of all
castes.
Based on earlier Dharma Sutras, the most influential
and first great law code of the Hindus,
the Laws of Manu,
was written between the second century BC and the second century
CE.
The sage Manu begins by describing the creation from the divine
self-existent reality,
which can be perceived by the internal
organ.
The best of the created beings are those animated ones
who subsist by their intelligence,
and of those humans the best
are the Brahmins
who learn the Vedas
and know God (Brahman).
Manu declared the sacred law as it pertains
to the four castes (varna meaning color).
Though action from a desire for rewards is not laudable, there
is no exception in this world.
The study of the Veda is
based on the idea of action (karma)—
that acts, sacrifices,
and the keeping of vows and laws
are kept on the belief that they
will bear fruit.
Those who obey the revealed laws and the sacred
tradition
gain fame in life and after death unsurpassable bliss.
The sacred law comes from four sources:
the Vedas,
the sacred tradition, the customs of the virtuous, and one's own
conscience.
The Vedas represent
the revealed truth (sruti), and on them are based the Sutras
and these laws which define the sacred tradition (smriti).
Thus study of the Vedas is
still primary for the three castes who are initiated.
The best way to restrain oneself from sensual pleasures is
by constant pursuit of knowledge.
The student is to abstain from
honey, meat, perfumes, garlands, spices, women, any acid,
and
from doing injury to living creatures.
Students especially must
watch out for women, because it is their nature to seduce men,
and they can lead astray even a learned man,
causing him to become
a slave of desire and anger.
Originally the castes and laws may
not have been as rigid as they later became.
With faith, says
the Laws of Manu (2:238), one may receive pure learning
even from a person of lower caste, the highest law from the lowest,
and an excellent wife may come from a base family.
Many of the rules for students and snatakas follow those
in the Dharma Sutras.
There is the deeper belief that injustice
practiced in this world may not bear fruit at once;
but eventually
it will cut off one's roots, and it may even fall on one's sons
or grandsons,
though one may prosper for a while through injustice.
The following advice is given to the twice-born:
Let him always delight in truthfulness, the sacred law,
conduct worthy of an Aryan, and purity;
let him chastise his pupils according to the sacred law;
let him keep his speech, his arms, and his belly under control.
Let him avoid wealth and desires, if they are opposed to the sacred law,
and even lawful acts which may cause pain in the future or are offensive to people.
Let him not be uselessly active with his hands and feet, or with his eyes,
nor crooked nor talk idly, nor injure others by deeds or even think of it.8
Though one may be entitled to accept presents, one should not
get attached
to accepting them lest the divine light in one be
extinguished.
The Brahmin, who accepts gifts without performing
austerities or studying the Veda,
sinks like a boat made
of stone.
Everyone is born single and dies the same way.
Single, one
enjoys virtue or sin, for in the next world neither father, mother,
wife, nor sons
stay to be one's companions; only spiritual merit
alone remains.
The persevering, gentle, and patient shun the company
of the cruel,
and doing no injury gains heavenly bliss by controlling
one's organs and by liberality.
To lie to the virtuous is the
most sinful thing as it steals away one's own self.
What is most
salutary for the soul is to meditate constantly in solitude
in
order to attain supreme bliss.
Noninjury (ahimsa) is essential to this ethic.
Those
who injure beings in giving themselves pleasure never find happiness
in life or death,
but those who do not cause suffering to living
creatures
and desire the good of all obtain endless bliss.
Whoever does not injure any attains without effort what one thinks of,
what one understands, and what one fixes one's mind on.
Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures,
and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to heavenly bliss;
let one therefore shun meat.
Having well considered the origin of flesh and the fettering and slaying
of corporeal beings, let one entirely abstain from eating flesh.9
In spite of these thoughts animals were still sacrificed.
Though where women are honored, the gods are pleased,
females
were to be subordinate to men throughout their lives—
the child
to her father, the woman to her husband, and after his death to
her sons.
They apparently believed that the child was completely
determined by the seed
of the man and that the womb was only like
the soil of the field.
Yet the law also held that what was sown
in someone else's field
belonged to the (owner of the) field.
A wife may accompany her husband in the third stage of life
as a hermit in the forest.
There one meditates and studies the Upanishads
in order to attain complete union with the soul.
After studying the Vedas, having sons, and offering sacrifices,
in the fourth stage
one may direct one's mind to the final liberation.
The ascetic gives up all worldly things, bearing patiently hard
words, anger, and curses
without returning anger, drinking purified
water,
and uttering only speech purified by the truth.
Abstaining
from all sensual enjoyments, one sits alone delighting in the
soul.
In deep meditation indifferent to all objects one may recognize
the supreme soul that is present in all organisms.
The ten-fold law of all four stages of life is contentment,
forgiveness,
self-control, non-stealing, purification, control
of the organs,
wisdom, knowledge, truthfulness, and abstention
from anger.
The Kshatriya, whose highest model is the king, has
the sacred duty to protect everyone
and must also act as judge,
prescribing proper punishment for those who commit wrongs.
If
the king did not punish those who needed it, the stronger would
roast the weaker.
The king was to be just to his own subjects,
chastise enemies,
be honest with friends, and lenient toward Brahmins.
The main vices the king must watch out for come from the love
of pleasure and wrath.
Vice is to be feared more than death, because
the vicious sink down while the one
who dies free from vice ascends
to heaven.
Here we also find for perhaps the first time the atrocious
belief that a warrior
who fights hard in battle goes to heaven
if killed.
In spite of the concept of non-injury, warfare was
still socially acceptable.
However, the wise king arranges everything
so that no ally or neutral or foe may injure him,
and this is
considered the sum of political wisdom.
Foes may be conquered
by conciliation, by gifts,
and by creating dissension, but never
by fighting.
Civil and ceremonial laws fall into the following eighteen
categories:
non-payment of debts, deposit and pledge, sale without
ownership, concerns among partners,
resumption of gifts, non-payment
of wages, non-performance of agreements,
rescission of sale and
purchase, disputes between owner and servants, boundary disputes,
assault, defamation, theft, robbery and violence, adultery, duties
of husband and wife,
inheritance partition, and gambling.
Justice violated destroys, but preserved justice preserves.
Justice is the only friend one has after death, for everything
else is lost.
Yet the soul is the witness of the soul and the
refuge of the soul.
The wicked may think no one sees them, but
the gods see them distinctly.
Those who commit violence are considered
the worst offenders,
and the king who pardons the perpetrators
of violence incurs hatred and quickly perishes.
The Laws of Manu are summarized as non-injury, truthfulness,
non-stealing, purity, and control of the organs.
The main duty
of the Brahmin is to teach, the Kshatriya to protect, the Vaishya
to trade,
and the Sudra to serve.
Penances are detailed but can
be summarized as by confession, repentance, austerity,
and by
reciting (Vedas), or by liberality.
In proportion as one
confesses and loathes the wrong, one is freed from guilt;
one
is purified by stopping the sin and thinking, "I will do
so no more."
Austerities are to be repeated until one's conscience
is satisfied.
Realizing what comes after death, one will always be good in
thoughts, speech, and actions.
Mental faults are coveting the
property of others, thinking what is undesirable,
and adhering
to false doctrines.
Wrong speech comes from untruth, detracting
from the merits of others,
abuse, and talking idly.
Bad actions
are taking what has not been given, injuring, and intercourse
with another's wife.
The doctrine of reincarnation helps people to realize that
the consequences
of their actions may occur in another life.
All
actions are good (sattva), passionate (rajas), or
dark (tamas).
Goodness comes from knowledge, darkness from
ignorance, and passion from love and hate.
Goodness results in
bliss, calm, and pure light;
passion ever draws one towards pleasure
and pain;
and darkness leads to delusion, cowardice, and cruelty.
The good in their next life are more divine; the passionate are
human;
and the dark more animalistic.
Ultimately knowledge of
the soul is the first science,
because by self-knowledge immortality
is attained.
The classic work on the goal of material success is the Artha
Shastra by Kautilya,
who is identified with Chanakya, the
advisor of Chandragupta,
first king of the Mauryan dynasty.
This
treatise is a collection of political, legal, and economic advice
from earlier sources
put together and commented on by Kautilya.
Unfortunately it is another step down ethically from the Dharma
Sutras
and traditional law codes to a worldly strategy of
how to enhance one's own kingdom often at the expense of others.
The complete text of this work was discovered in 1905 and has
been translated into English.
In the third chapter Kautilya repeated the traditional views
of the Vedas, the caste system,
the four stages of life, and lists the duties common to all as
harmlessness, truthfulness, purity,
freedom from spite, abstinence
from cruelty, and forgiveness.
However, he then goes on to analyze
government
as the art of punishment based on discipline.
Kautilya
saw his work as the science of politics,
which deals with the
means of acquiring and maintaining the Earth.
The study of any
science depends on the mental faculties of obedience,
hearing, perception, memory, discrimination, inference, and deliberation.
Princes were to be celibate until they came of age at sixteen,
at which time they were expected to marry; girls came of age at
twelve.
Restraining the senses depends upon abandoning
lust, anger,
greed, vanity, haughtiness, and overjoy.
Kautilya begins to reveal
his value system when he places wealth above charity and desire,
because these two depend on wealth.
He seemed to forget truthfulness
and harmlessness
when he recommended the institution of spies
using fraud and duplicity.
Although Kautilya declared that the prince should be taught
only justice (dharma)
and wealth (artha) and that
he should do what pleases his subjects,
to his rational mind this
may mean warfare and treachery against their enemies.
After describing
the villages, land, and forts, Kautilya goes on to delineate
the
duties of the chamberlain, the collector general, account keepers,
and the superintendents of gold, storehouse, commerce, forest
produce, armory,
weights and measures, tolls, weaving, agriculture,
liquor, slaughterhouse, prostitutes,
ships, cows, horses, elephants,
chariots, infantry, passports, pasture land, and the city.
Brahmins, ascetics, children, the aged, the afflicted, royal
messengers,
and pregnant women are to be given free passes to
cross rivers.
Diplomatic negotiation is to be carried out by praising
the other's qualities,
discussing mutual benefits, future prospects,
and the identity of interests.
Law is based on justice, evidence,
history, and the edicts of kings;
but for Kautilya the royal will
is the most important,
though the justice of the sacred law takes
precedent over history when they disagree.
Marriage cannot be
dissolved by the husband or wife against the will of the other;
but if there is mutual enmity, divorce may be obtained.
Neighborhood
elders may be consulted to settle disputes about fields.
Kautilya recommended cooperation with public projects and suggested,
"The order of any person attempting to do a work beneficial
to all shall be obeyed,"10
and those disobeying may be punished.
The native Mlecchas, who were considered barbarians,
may sell
their offspring into slavery, but Aryans may not.
A person who
has voluntarily enslaved oneself and runs away is to be enslaved
for life,
and one who has been mortgaged into slavery is enslaved
for life for running away twice.
Violation of female servants,
cooks, and nurses earns them their liberty at once.
If a master
fathers a child with a slave,
both the child and the mother are
to be recognized as free.
Slaves can buy back their freedom for
their sale price,
and Aryans captured in war can also purchase
their freedom.
Kautilya described the various punishments for offenses, which
can include torture,
mutilation, and capital punishment, though
fines were most often applied.
Verbal abuse was punished with
a fine, whether it was true or false,
and the penalties for assault
were halved if the offense was due to
carelessness, intoxication,
or loss of sense.
Fines generally varied according to the rank
of the person and the seriousness of the offense.
"No man
shall have sexual intercourse with any woman against her will."11
Mercy was to be shown to pilgrims, ascetics doing penance, those
suffering disease,
hunger, thirst, or fatigue, rustic villagers,
those suffering punishment, and paupers.
People were to be honored
for their learning, intelligence,
courage, high birth, and magnificent
works.
Revenues were to be collected like fruits, only when they were
ripe;
to try to collect revenue when unripe may injure the source
and cause immense trouble.
In addition to the usual services,
artists, and musicians,
the court also supported a foreteller
of the future, a reader of omens, an astrologer,
a reader of the Puranas, a story-teller, and a bard.
Advisors are to tell
the king what is good and pleasing but not what is bad;
though
when the king is ready to listen,
he may be told secretly what
is unpleasant but good.
For Kautilya the elements of sovereignty were the king, the
minister, the country, the fort,
the treasury, the army and its
ally, and the enemy.
A good king was described as born of a high
family, godly, virtuous, courageous, truthful,
grateful, ambitious,
enthusiastic, not addicted to procrastination,
powerful in controlling
neighbor kings, resolute, with a good assembly,
having a taste
for discipline, with a sharp intellect and memory, trained in
various arts,
dignified, with foresight, discerning the need for
war, not haughty,
free of passions and bad habits, and observing
traditional customs.
The acquisition of wealth and its security was dependent on
peace and industry.
Kautilya defined three kinds of strength as
the ability to deliberate being intellectual strength,
a prosperous
treasury being strength of sovereignty,
and martial power being
physical strength.
The traditional six forms of state policy were
peace, war, neutrality, marching (preparing),
alliance, and the
double policy of making peace with one and waging war against
another.
Although Kautilya was not reluctant to use warfare, at
least he did recognize
that if the situation is equal, peace is
preferable,
because war involves loss of power and wealth, traveling,
and sin.
Kautilya used rational calculations of self-interest
in deciding whether to march against enemies.
In my opinion Kautilya is to be severely criticized for recommending
the use of war
as a political instrument in disregard of human
welfare.
His position can clearly be seen as a degeneration
from
his own teacher's more humane views in the following passage:
My teacher says that in an open war, both sides suffer by sustaining a heavy loss
of men and money; and that even the king who wins a victory will appear
as defeated in consequence of the loss of men and money.
No, says Kautilya, even at considerable loss of men and money,
the destruction of an enemy is desirable.12
Kautilya believed that peace, dependent on honesty or an oath,
is more immutable in this world and the next than that based on
security or a hostage,
which is for this world only.
Kautilya
thought that he and those who know the interdependence of the
six forms of policy
can play at pleasure with kings bound round
with chains skillfully devised by himself;
but I would submit
that those chains based on human violence and suffering
bind such
an advisor as well and cause untold misery.
Once again Kautilya valued wealth most of all, for with money
one can buy treasure and an army.
Kautilya, who has been compared
to Machiavelli, believed that the skill of intrigue
is more important
than enthusiasm and power when invading another country.
He coldly
calculated whether the expected profit will outweigh the loss
of trained men
and diminution of gold and grains when deciding
whether to march.
By conciliation and gifts the conqueror should
use corporations (mercenaries)
against an enemy; but if they oppose
him, he should sow seeds of dissension
among them and secretly
punish them.
He may also use rewards for those who help him fulfill
his promises to his people.
Kautilya did believe the king should
follow the will of the people.
Whoever acts against the will of the people will also become unreliable.
He should adopt the same mode of life, the same dress, language,
and customs as those of the people.
He should follow the people in their faith with which
they celebrate their national, religious and
congregational festivals or amusements.12
He then went on to recommend that spies be used to persuade
the local leaders
of the hurt inflicted on enemies in contrast
to
the good treatment they receive from their conqueror.
He advised
the extensive use of spies even in the guise of ascetic holy men.
Various descriptions of magical remedies and superstitions are
based on traditional folklore.
Though worldly wise, the ethics
of Kautilya leaves much to be desired.
The fourth aim of life to be discussed is kama, which
means pleasure.
The main aspect of pleasure discussed in the Kama
Shastra is sexual love.
Like the Artha Shastra these
ideas on erotic techniques and methods were passed down
through
an oral tradition from the ancients.
The legendary founder is
Nandi, Shiva's companion, and about the eighth century BC
Shvetaketu
known to us from the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads,
is said to have summarized them.
This extensive work was passed
down through the family of Babhru,
and between the third and first
centuries BC several authors wrote shorter works
on different
aspects of eroticism, including Suvarnanabha on erotic approaches,
Ghotakamukha on the art of seducing girls, Gonardiya on the wife's
duties and rights,
Gonikaputra on relations with other men's women,
Kuchamara on occult practices,
and Dattaka who wrote on courtesans
with the help of a famous courtesan of Pataliputra.
These were combined together in the oldest text we have today,
the Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana, who probably lived in the
fourth century CE.
In style and language the Kama Sutra
is considered
quite similar to Kautilya's Artha Shastra.
Famous as the world's oldest and the most detailed sex manual
prior to our century,
the Kama Sutra reveals the life-style
and sexual morals of ancient India.
Vatsyayana declared that everyone in life must pursue three
aims successively.
Childhood is dedicated to acquiring knowledge
and is a celibate phase;
the erotic predominates in adulthood;
and old age is dedicated to the practice of virtue (dharma)
and spiritual liberation (moksha).
Vatsyayana defined artha
as material goods or wealth and said that it "consists of
acquiring
and increasing, within the limits of dharma,
knowledge, land, gold, cattle, patrimony,
crockery, furniture,
friends, clothing, etc."14
Kama is the mental inclination toward the pleasures
of the senses
and is particularly connected to the erotic.
Sexual
behavior may be learned with the aid of this text
and the counsel
of worthy experts in the arts of pleasure.
Nevertheless Vatsyayana
acknowledged that money and social success
are more important
than love and that virtue is more important than success and fortune.
With money one can realize the three aims of life, even in the
case of prostitutes.
Since sex is natural to all animals why does it need to be
studied?
The preliminary acts between a man and a woman can benefit
from rules of conduct.
Among animals the female is driven by instinct
with little consciousness during the sexual season.
Although Vatsyayana
said he is a fatalist, he recognized that success depends on human
effort.
The pursuit of pleasure must be coordinated with virtue
and material goods.
The lewd man is vain and scorned, and exaggerated
emphasis on the sexual life
can be self-destructive as well as
ruining others.
Nevertheless sexuality is essential to human survival.
The one accomplished in wealth, love, and virtue attains
the greatest
happiness in this world and the next.
The art of loving so pleasing
to women, which allows children to be born,
has been described
by sages in sacred books.
The erotic science should be studied along with other subjects
even before adolescence
and after marriage with one's mate.
A
girl may learn from a woman who has had sexual experience.
Vatsyayana
listed 64 arts which include music, dance, drawing, carpets, flower
bouquets,
mosaics, bed arrangement, games, charms, garlands, ornaments,
dressing, perfumes, jewelry,
conjuring, magic, manicure, cooking,
needlework, lacemaking, quoting, riddles, bookbinding,
storytelling,
basketmaking, woodwork, furnishing, gems, metals, stones, arboriculture,
stockbreeding, teaching parrots, massage and hair care, sign language,
foreign languages,
decorating, observing omens, using memory,
reciting, puns, poetry, cheating, disguise,
manners, rules of
success, and physical culture.
There are also 64 erotic arts from Panchala country.
Prostitutes
who are beautiful, intelligent, and well educated
in these arts
are honored in society and called courtesans.
A man who is expert
in the 64 arts is much appreciated by women.
It is recommended
that sexuality be satisfied within the caste,
and marrying one's
son to a virgin gained a good reputation,
though Gandharva marriages
based on mutual affection
were generally considered the happiest.
Exceptions to caste were made for prostitutes or widows,
provided
that it was only for pleasure.
Young girls were also considered
suitable for love affairs,
and Gonikaputra recognized a consenting
married woman as a fourth category.
An atrocious statement was made about a pair of lovers murdering
the husband
and taking his goods once the wife has fallen in love.
The author also found nothing wrong with a poor man having a love
affair to become rich.
However, he must not show indifference
to her,
or she will ruin his reputation with accusations.
Yet
generally the seduction of another man's wife was considered an
avoidable risk.
There follows detailed chapters on how to stimulate erotic
desire, embraces,
petting and caressing, scratching, biting, copulation,
blows and sighs.
Although a woman may be submissive or reticent,
she is quick to learn the games of love.
Vatsyayana declared that
passion knows no rules nor place nor time,
and variety fosters
mutual attraction.
"Whether they continue having sexual relations,
or live chastely together,
true love never decreases, even after
one hundred years."15
Vatsyayana believed that suffering
is not the Aryan way
and is not suitable for respectable people.
An educated man knows how to check the violence of his impulses
and knows the limits of the girl's endurance.
Amorous practices
vary according to the place, the country, and the moment.
Oral sex is described but not recommended by some teachers
as defiling of the face,
though it was popular in some regions.
Female and male homosexuality are both described.
A man should
respect the woman and consider her pure as a matter of principle
even though she may appear guilty by her behavior.
Since moral
codes and local customs differ,
one should behave according to
one's own inclinations.
Vatsyayana asked rhetorically, "Practiced
according to his fantasy and in secret,
who can know who, when,
how, and why he does it?"16
After making love one should
be affectionate
so that a solid attachment may be established
through friendly conversation.
Courting and seduction are discussed in chapters
on how to
relax the girl and on ways of obtaining the girl.
Those who gain
each other's trust end up becoming attached to one another out
of habit.
The totally trusting wife considers her husband a god
and is completely devoted to him.
She takes responsibility for
the household.
Widows may remarry and begin a new existence, and
according to the ancient tradition
an unsatisfied woman may leave
her husband and choose another to her taste.
Vatsyayana recognized
the ethical marriage as the best and said that some men
do not
pursue adulterous relationships for reasons of ethics.
The man
who is educated in this erotic art cannot be deceived by his own
wives,
according to Vatsyayana. "Reasonable people, aware
of the importance of virtue, money,
and pleasure, as well as social
convention,
will not let themselves be led astray by passion."17
What is refreshing in this treatise is the openness to sexual
pleasure and its naturalness
without the shame and puritanical
guilt so well developed in other cultures
which have invaded modern
India as well.
The erotic is treated as an important aspect of
human life and as the sacrament of marriage
which unites the couple
closer than anything else can,
though relations outside of marriage are not forbidden.
Instead of being burdened by inhibitions in
ancient India people were encouraged
to learn about their sexuality
and develop the art of loving through education and practice.
Only now in the late twentieth century does the world seem to
be acknowledging
the wisdom of these techniques and this highly
skilled art.
1. Samanna-phala Suttanta 12 (Digha 1:50).
2. Arrian, Indica tr. E. J. Chinnock, 9.
3. Plutarch, Alexander, tr. J. Dryden, p. 569.
4. Sources of Indian Tradition ed. DeBary, p. 143.
5. The Age of the Nandas and Mauryas ed. Sastri, p. 236.
6. Sources of Indian Tradition ed. DeBary, p. 149.
7. Apastamba Dharma Sutra 2:9:21:10 in The Sacred
Laws of the Aryas
tr. Georg Bühler, Part 1, p. 154.
8. Laws of Manu tr. Georg Bühler, 4:175-177.
9. Ibid. 5:47-49.
10. Kautilya, Arthashastra tr. R. Shamasastry, 3:10:173,
p. 199.
11. Ibid. 4:12:231, p. 261.
12. Ibid. 7:13:303-304, p. 335.
13. Ibid. 13:5:409, p. 438.
14. Vatsyayana Kama Sutra 1:2:9 in Danielou, p. 28.
15. Ibid. 2:5:43, p. 144.
16. Ibid. 2:9:45, p. 194.
17. Ibid. 7:2:53, p. 520.
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