ERRATA. Page 33, line 22, for declare read declares. Page 85, chapter heading, for Hymnal read Hymnic. Page 103, line 11, for pent read pen. Page 159, last line but one, for breast read breath. Page 203, line 9, for Thee read Thou. Page 275, line 33, for broodest read broodedst. Page 332, page numbering, for 322 read 332. Page 339, line 6, omit But. Page 347, line 7, for taken read when. Page 382, line 29, for 1847 read 1867. Page 393, line 29, for the heart read thy heart. Page 401, line 14, before the Mahratta insert and. Page 414, line 24, for a read that. Page 436, line 21, omit comma after Dearest. Page 463, line 5, for deserves read deserve. Page 476, last line but one, for channles read channels. THE HYMN LOVER. CHAPTER I. HYMNS OF OTHER RELIGIONS. HYMNS are to be found in the literature of nearly every religion, but so far as we are able to judge, save in the Hebrew and Christian, they have rarely been used as a constant and integral part of worship. That hymns formed no part of the worship of the Greeks is clear from the fact that their temples were not constructed as places of religious assembly or for public devotion, but as a shelter for the image of the god, and a habitation for the deity supposed to be attached to his image. They were generally confined localities, and half-dark within on account of the absence of all window-light. Bright light was not required, as, in fact, no religious observances ordinarily took place in the temple.* "Greece never had a sacred book, she never had any symbols, any sacerdotal caste, organised for the preservation of dogmas. Her poets and her artists were her true theologians."t Some small place was assigned to hymns in the worship of Rome. * Döllinger, "Gentile and Jew," I, 239. B Many prayers and hymns were taken up with the praise of the gods and salutations to them. Arnobius speaks of morning serenades sung with an accompaniment of fifes as a kind of reveille to the sleeping gods, and of an evening salutation in which leave was taken of the deity, with the wishing him a good night's rest."* Professor Max Muller has referred me to his History of Sanskrit Literature for information on this point, and the conclusion I draw therefrom is that although the Hindus had much of poetry both Epic and Hymnic, yet that the hymns were chiefly used for meditation or recital. "Women were not allowed to learn the Sacred songs of the Vedas, the knowledge of which constituted one of the principal requirements for a Brahman before he was admitted to the performance of the sacrifices. As it was necessary, however, for a husband to perform sacrifices together with his lawful wife, and as passages of the hymns speak clearly of man and wife as performing sacrifices in common, it was laid down in the Sûtras that the husband or the priest should at the sacrificing itself, make his wife recite those hymns which were necessary for the ceremony." The Sametri who had to slay the sacrificial animals learnt the hymns appointed by heart, and were allowed on account of the difficulty of mastering the euphonic rules for recitation, to mutter them, so that no one at a distance could hear or understand them. Some part of the sacrifice had to be accompanied by songs, and hence another class of priests arose whose particular office it was to act as the chorus, which was more than a mere chanting. A third class called the Hotres recited certain hymns during the sacrifice in praise of the deities to whom any particular act of the sacrificer was addressed. Their recitation was loud and distinct, and required the most accurate knowledge of the rules of euphony. The Rev. G. O. Newport, who for nearly a quarter of a century has laboured as a missionary in India, has been good enough to send me the following note : "In Hindu worship, so far as I have seen it in South India and I think it is much the same in this respect throughout the whole country-there is no periodic gathering of the people into the temples for united religious service. There is no fixed hour for assembling, nor is there any regular priestly observance or ceremony at any stated part of the twenty-four hours. Individuals who are eligible for admission to any particular temple, may go in and prostrate themselves, and repeat their prayers, &c., whenever they please. United gatherings at stated hours and seasons for religious service, as in our Christian worship, are unknown. There cannot, therefore, be any congregational singing or musical performance in the Western sense in these temples. And yet singing in connection with the worship is not altogether absent. On anniversary festival days and in processions there are always songs sung in honour of the gods. Some of these songs are so obscene in their nature that even respectable votaries of the Hindu religion are taking active steps to put down the public singing of them. The female attendants on the idol, called Dhasis in the south, who are, in fact, temple prostitutes, are all professional singers of these religious songs. The priests also join in, and the masses of the people too, according to their knowledge and musical ability. There must also be certain times when the priests and the Dhasis practise together these songs within the temple limits; and perhaps this may be done as in some way an act of worship, but not as part of a public service in which ordinary worshippers participate. I write thus, because on one occasion when travelling late at night I heard a sound of singing in a temple, and went to the very wall within the outer gate without being discovered. The villagers were asleep, the temple was almost in darkness, only a dim lamp here and there flickering in the gloom; there was evidently no religious observance going on, and yet there was the singing of Hindu songs by various voices manifestly accustomed thereto. It was perhaps a kind of rehearsal in anticipation of a forthcoming festival. I believe I am strictly accurate when I say there is nothing corresponding to our choir or congregational singing at the ordinary every-day religious observances in Hindu temples. What is done on festival occasions would correspond largely to the singing of songs by the choir when marching at the head of a Sunday school procession, and would have about as much of religious worship in it. "As to the subject matter of the songs thus used, so far as my knowledge goes, it consists of the names, titles, epithets, &c., of the gods in general, and of that god in particular in whose honour the festival is being held. And when it is remembered that the various names of one single god in the Hindu Pantheon amount to a thousand, it will be seen that a great deal of song may be expended in this one direction |