. Indika. The country and the people of India and Ceylon . sion, had a religion, believed in the future, and adornedtheir dead with gifts, raiment, and ornaments. In this theygave proof that they believed their dead would attain to a futurelife. That these non-Aryan inhabitants of India were brave andpatriotic, and knew the value of their country, is abundantly at-tested by the great Indian epics, which describe the long struggleof the Aryans to conquer India. Though no authentic historyhas come down to us concerning this mighty war of races, andwe are compelled to rely solely on the mythical
. Indika. The country and the people of India and Ceylon . sion, had a religion, believed in the future, and adornedtheir dead with gifts, raiment, and ornaments. In this theygave proof that they believed their dead would attain to a futurelife. That these non-Aryan inhabitants of India were brave andpatriotic, and knew the value of their country, is abundantly at-tested by the great Indian epics, which describe the long struggleof the Aryans to conquer India. Though no authentic historyhas come down to us concerning this mighty war of races, andwe are compelled to rely solely on the mythical poetry of theepic writers, it is not likely that bloodier battles were ever foughtthan those which resulted in the possession of India by the Ar-yan invaders. The conquerors, if we may believe the Vedichymns, loathed their enemies, whose lands they were striving tooverrun. They called them Dasyus, or slaves. They declaredthem noseless, or flat-nosed, disturbers of sacrifices, gross * Hunter, Brief History of the Indian People, pp. 32 ff. 1MHA I\ THE DUKE OP WELLINGTON. feeders on flesh, raw eaters,1 and without gods and withoutrites. When the aboriginal tribes were conquered, they either fledto the mountains or became serfs to the Aryan lords of the all subsequent ages some of these aboriginal tribes havekept their languages and dialects, and have preserved a certainmeasure of individuality. But they have n tnained the most abject part of the population of India. The servitude which wasthe outcome of the great Aryan struggle lias hit its permanenlimpression upon them. II.—The Great Invasions. India has been the worlds East cin battle-field. The invasionshave been on a vast scale, and are tli<v real measure of the great 38 t INDIKA. foreign estimate placed upon the value of the land and the treas-ures of the people. The great invasions, with two exceptions,by Asiatic forces, have been eleven in number: 1. The Aryan Invasion. 2. Invasion by Sesostris, K
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