THE MYTHICAL WARS OF INDIA 669
They saw theirtownsand villages ravagedby fireand sword, while rivers of blood, ingloriously and fruitlessly spilt, deluged their fields. The readiness with which they bent their necks beneath their oppressors ' yoke, and the feebleness of the efforts which they put forth to recover their independence, proved how inferior they were in courage and discipline to the proud Tartars who invaded and conquered them.
The wars of India may be classified under three heads: those of the mythical ages, those of the ancient kings, and those of modern times. By the last I mean only the internecine wars between native princes before the time when these princes, convinced of the superiority of European military science, determined to introduce foreigners amongst their troops, and to this end enlisted in their service those
European adventurers who offered to help them in their undertakings. It was an imprudent policy, and the native princes did not see until too late the danger of surrounding themselves with such intriguing and ambitious auxiliaries.
I will say nothing about the wars of the gods and the
giants, which the majority of Hindu books describe with equal bombast and prolixity. Such exaggerated flights of imagination can hardly be considered worthy of a place in
serious history. It is always the same story of armies of giants whose heads touched the stars, and who were mounted
on elephants of proportionate size. One of these giants, for example, is depicted as upheaving the very firmament with his shoulders, giving it such a violent shock as to overthrow all the gods who dwelt therein, and thereby warning them of what they might expect from an adversary of such prowess. On the other hand, a god who is about to engage these formidable enemies takes the earth for his chariot, a rainbow for his bow, and Vishnu for an arrow. He shoots this extraordinary missile, and with one shot overthrows an immense city, in which all the villains that he is pursuing are entrenched, burying them all in the fallen ruins of the city.
Ab uno disce omnes. I do not think that the history of the wars of the ancient kings of India is one whit less absurd.
It is only the poets who have undertaken the task of transmitting details to posterity, and as Hindu poets are not