The Great Epic of India

by E. Washburn Hopkins

Long age when this book first appeared in the opening year of the century the great Epic, Mahabharata had not been thoroughly examined to see what literature it reflected had not received a careful investigation from the metrical side its philosophy had been reviewed only in a most haphazard fashion and its relation to other epic poetry had been almost judgment on the question of the date and origin of the poem of which scholars knew as yet this poem of which scholars knew as yet scarcely more than that before a definitive answer could be given the whole huge structure must be studied from many points of view.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• I. Literature known to the epic poets
  1. The Vedas
  2. Divisions of Veda
  3. Upanishads
  4. Upavedas and Upangas
  5. Sutras
  6. Dharmacastras
  7. Vedic citations in the Epic
  8. Upanishads in the Epic
  9. The Cvetacvatara Upanishad
  10. The Kathaka or Katha Upanishad
  11. The Maitri Upanishad in the Epic
  12. The Atharvaciras Upanishad
  13. Acvalayana Grhya Sutra
  14. Puranas and Itihasa
  15. Drama
• II. Interrelation of the two epics
• III. Epic philosophy
  1. Epic Systems
  2. Heretics
  3. Authority
  4. Vedanta
  5. Nyaya
  6. Vaicesika
  7. The Four Philosophies
  8. Kapila and his System
  9. Samkhya and Yoga
  10. Fate and Free-Will
  11. Samkhya is atheistic
  12. Yoga as deistic and brahmaistic
  13. Difference between Samkhya and Yoga
  14. Sects
  15. The different Schemata
  16. The Gunas
  17. Plurality of Spirits
  18. The Twenty-fifth Principle
  19. Samkhya is Samkhyana
  20. The Samkhya Scheme
  21. The Twenty-sixth Principle
  22. Maya, Self-Delusion
  23. Pancacikha's System
  24. The Thirty-one Elements (Pancacikha)
  25. The Secret of the Vedanta
  26. Details of philosophical speculation
  27. The Sixty Constituents of Intellect
  28. The Seventeen
  29. The Sixteen (A) Particles
  30. The Sixteen (B) or Eleven Modifications
  31. The Eight Sources
  32. The Vital Airs and Senses
  33. The Five Subtile Elements. Gross and Subtile Bodies
  34. The Colors of the Soul
  35. The Five Faults of a Yogin
  36. Discipline of the Yogin
  37. The Destructible and Indestructible
  38. The Gods and the Religious Life
  39. Heaven and Hell -Death
  40. The Cosmic Egg and Creations
  41. The Grace of God
• IV. Epic versificaiton
  1. Epic Versification
  2. Cloka and Tristubh. The Padas
  3. Rhyme
  4. Alliteration
  5. Similes and Metaphors. Pathetic Repetition
  6. Cadence in Cloka and Tristubh
  7. Tags
  8. Common forms of Cloka and Tristubh
     • The Epic Cloka. The Prior Pada of the Cloka. The Pathya
     • The Vipulas
     • The Posterior Pada of the Cloka
     • The Diiambus
     • Poetic Licence
     • The Hypermetric Cloka
     • Dialectic Sanskrit
     • Prose-Poetry Tales
     • The Epic Tristubh. i, The Regular Tristubh in the Mahabharata
     • Bird's-eye View of Tristubh Padas
     • The Ramayana Tristubh
     • The Scolius
     • Catalectic and Hypermetric Tristubhs
     • The Catalectic Tristubh
     • The Hypermetric Tristubh. iv-vi, Simple hypermeters
     • Double Hypermeters or Tristubhs of Thirteen Syllables
     • Defective Tristabhs
     • Mora-Tristubhs
     • The Tristubh-Stanza. Upajatis. Upendravajras and Indravajras
     • The Syllaba Anceps
     • Emergent Stanzas
     • The Fixed Syllabic Metres
     • Ardhasamavrtta (Matrachandas)
     • The Distribution of Fancy Metres in the Epic
• V. Origin and development of the epic.